by Джуд Уотсон
He nodded. "I will."
Obi-Wan could see that he meant it. Siri had won his trust.
They set off. Because it was market day, the road was crowded with beings heading into Settlement 5. That was lucky. The crowds gave them plenty of cover.
The marketplace was set up around the landing platform, which was another lucky break. Stalls and vendors crowded the square where ramps and lift tubes led to the landing platform several stories above. Siri, Obi-Wan, and Taly blended in with the others in their plain robes and hoods. Siri and Obi-Wan kept their gazes constantly moving but they did not catch a glimpse of the bounty hunter. Nor did the Force give them a warning.
The freighter was docked and ready for loading. One passenger ramp was already down. It would be easy to board and search for seats, but Obi-Wan thought it best to wait until the last possible moment.
They saw metal bins being carried to the back ramp, fresh fruit and vegetables spilling over the top. Obi-Wan watched for several minutes as they milled through the crowd, pretending to study the wares set up in booths and spread out on tables. The bins were carried by workers who plodded back and forth up the ramp. When they disappeared inside the freighter, they were usually gone for a minute or so. That would easily give Obi-Wan, Siri, and Taly a chance to pick up a bin and bring it aboard. If they timed it right, they could pull it off.
Obi-Wan nudged Siri. "There. They're loading the fresh food. If we pick up a bin we could get aboard. Nobody is really watching."
Siri nodded. Then suddenly she paled. "He's here."
"Where?"
"I feel him." Siri's gaze raked the crowd. "There." Obi-Wan looked where Siri's gaze was resting. Magus was across the square. He stood in a clever spot, right where the sun was in shadow, behind a bin of vegetables that were a popular item for shoppers. It would have been hard to pick him out if Siri hadn't felt his presence.
"It's all right," Obi-Wan said. "He's searching the crowd. Now's our chance."
Siri swallowed. She kept her head down. "He's standing with the vendor I bought the food from. He knows we're here, Obi-Wan!"
Obi-Wan looked again. He realized that vendor standing next to Magus was also watching the crowd. Magus was smart. While the vendor concentrated on the passenger ramp, his own flinty gaze roamed. Now Obi-Wan saw how the bounty hunter kept his eye on the cargo ramp as well as the food ramp. There were now less than a dozen bins to carry. Time was running out.
"What are we going to do?" Taly asked.
Obi-Wan knew it was hopeless. There was no way they could board without Magus spotting them. No matter how cleverly they tried. Yet staying on the planet wasn't a good idea. Sooner or later, Magus would find them. And it would probably be sooner.
The panic in Taly's eyes made Obi-Wan angry. They had to protect him. They had to get him to a place that was safe.
"If he's here, that means his ship is unguarded," Obi-Wan said.
A flash illuminated Siri's blue gaze. "You want to steal his ship?"
"The freighter is due to leave in five minutes. We've got to find it first."
"It will be close," Siri guessed.
"Come on."
They threaded through the crowd with a purpose now, but were careful to move with the flowing surge. Obi-Wan checked out the possibilities. It would make sense for Magus to keep the cruiser near. Usually there was a holding pen for star cruisers near landing platforms. He hadn't noticed one here, but there should be one somewhat close.
"There," Siri breathed.
Around a corner, down an alley, a clearly marked space. It was empty but for one cruiser, the light freighter they knew belonged to Magus. They hurried toward the durasteel gate.
There was no time to lose. Obi-Wan cut a hole in the gate with his lightsaber and they squeezed through.
He prowled around the outside of the ship. Siri did the same.
"There should be an exterior control panel for the ramp," he said.
"Here it is." Taly's voice came from underneath the ship. "Sometimes these SoroSuubs are refitted with foiling devices. I can cross the wires and tinker with the controls here… "
"Taly, let me," Obi-Wan urged.
The ramp slid down. "No need." Taly slid out and jumped up, dusting off his hands, a huge grin on his face. "We're done."
They ran up the ramp. Obi-Wan slid into the pilot seat.
"Wait." Taly ducked underneath the control panel. "Let's make sure there's no locking device. I can bypass the access code."
"Are you sure?" Siri asked.
"Easy as cutting through air." Taly took a small servo-driver from his utility belt. "Standard security devices.. Code deactivated… Remote tracking device cut… Okay. Let's go."
Obi-Wan fired up the engines. He kept the engine speed down until they were safely away from the city. Then he blasted into the upper atmosphere.
He grinned at Siri. They made it.
"Set the course for Coruscant."
"Course set."
Minutes passed. Siri watched the computer screen avidly. There was still a chance they could be followed.
"Setting hyperdrive," Obi-Wan said. He flicked the controls. Space rushed toward them in a shower of stars. They were free.
With a sigh of satisfaction, Taly leaned back in his seat. "I bet I'm really starting to get on that guy's nerves," he said.
Chapter 11
The problem with eavesdropping, Qui-Gon thought, was that it required beings who liked one another enough to exchange information. He and Adi had hoped to overhear more of the bounty hunters' plans, but as soon as their argument was over and the ship blasted off, they all retreated to separate areas of the ship and did not speak. They passed one another in the corridors, they met in the galley scrounging for food, they bumped into one another at close quarters, but all Qui-Gon and Adi heard was an occasional grunt or grumble of, "Blast your stinking carcass, stay out of my way."
They had been on the ship for three days and had learned nothing. They didn't know their destination, and they didn't know the bounty hunters' targets. They had moved from hiding place to hiding place, from storage compartment to empty stateroom and back again, and at last found what they felt was safe refuge in the small escape pod compartment.
When night fell, the sound of snoring penetrated even the thick door on the compartment. Pilot slept across the hall.
"We've got to do something," Adi said. "We could be landing soon. Not to mention that I'm going to go out of my mind."
"Meditation not working?"
Adi cocked an eyebrow at him. "Very amusing, Qui-Gon. You forget that I am the Jedi without a sense of humor. We need a plan. Something logical."
Qui-Gon smiled. "Why don't we just sneak around some more and see what we can turn up?"
Adi regarded him gravely. "Sounds good."
"I have an idea," Qui-Gon continued. "Pilot said he's in touch with their employer. And that he's keeping records on Magus. Maybe he's kept things he shouldn't."
They listened to the snoring that thundered down the corridor.
"He does sound like a heavy sleeper," Adi said. "Let's go."
Together they crept into Pilot's cabin. He stirred but didn't wake, instead sighing and turning over on his sleep couch. One long arm flopped over the side, his knuckles grazing the floor.
Adi nudged Qui-Gon. Pilot had dislodged his pillow. Now his head was half-on, half-off, and they saw a small datapad underneath the pillow.
Slowly, Adi leaned over. She slid her hand toward the pillow.
Pilot grunted. Adi froze.
Slowly, bit by tiny bit, she moved her hand underneath to grab the edge of the datapad. As if she had all the time in the world, she slid it out from underneath.
Pilot snuggled more deeply into the blankets.
Adi and Qui-Gon bent over the datapad. Quickly, they accessed its files. They were all in code. They accessed the last file used. It was correspondence between Pilot and someone whose name was also in code. But Pilot had made an a
dditional notation and had not coded it.
20 targets. mtg day one set.
Pilot began to stir. He was waking this time. They saw him lift his arm. He began to pat underneath the pillow, eyes still closed, to reassure himself that the datapad was still there.
Adi moved noiselessly across the floor. She had to bend over him, only centimeters from his cheek, as she slid the datapad back in place. Wrinkling her nose, she jerked her chin toward the door. Time to go.
Moving slowly, she withdrew from the sleep couch. Suddenly, Pilot's hand shot out and grabbed her tunic.
"Where do you think you're going?" His eyes snapped open and confusion shot him to a sitting position. "And who are you?"
With a quick movement Adi dislodged herself from his grasp and kicked him in the chest, sending him back across the sleep couch with an oof.
She and Qui-Gon hurtled out the door, drawing their lightsabers. As they ran, an alarm began to clang. There must have been an alert button right near the sleep couch.
They heard pounding footsteps behind them. Lunasa must have slept half-dressed. She still wore a tunic and boots, but she was bare-legged and her hair was matted from sleep and stood out in dark wisps around her head. A small rocket whistled toward them and then blaster fire richocheted in the air. Qui-Gon sliced through the rocket while Adi deflected the blaster fire.
From the opposite side of the corridor, Gorm the Dissolver strode toward them, fire shooting from the blasters in both hands. Adi and Qui-Gon kept constantly circling. Pilot had advanced out from his stateroom and joined the melee.
"Any ideas?" Adi muttered to Qui-Gon as she twirled, deflecting fire. The corridor was filled with smoke.
"Seems like a good time to escape," Qui-Gon said. "How about the pod?"
An ominous clacking came to their ears. Droidekas suddenly rolled down the corridor, unfurling to their full, deadly length.
"The pod sounds good," Adi replied.
Qui-Gon and Adi moved grimly forward.
Qui-Gon moved to the left, trying to get Gorm between him and the droidekas. But the two had excellent homing devices and moved accordingly. Gorm kept on a steady pace, thumping forward, blasting with a repeating rifle.
Qui-Gon saw that he had to end this. Between the droidekas and the bounty hunters, he saw a danger of being wounded or captured.
He surged forward, cutting off the leg of a droideka and almost getting clipped by blaster fire in the process. The droideka lost its center of balance and spun. Blaster fire peppered out in a random pattern, almost hitting Lunasa. She yelled and hit the ground, still firing at the Jedi. Raptor almost got in the way, and had to leap over Lunasa, placing himself between Gorm and the Jedi.
All this happened in just a few seconds.
Qui-Gon and Adi leaped through the door of the escape pod hatch. They accessed the door and tumbled inside. They could hear the bounty hunters pounding after them.
"The airlock!" Adi yelled.
Qui-Gon hit it. He quickly activated the prelaunch sequence. The door thudded with the impact of blaster bolts.
"Not a grenade, you idiot!" Lunasa shouted. "You could damage the — "
They never knew who the idiot had been, but the grenade exploded. At the same moment the escape pod shot out into space, rocking with the motion of the grenade blast. They heard shrapnel pepper the shell of the pod, but it did not damage any systems.
Qui-Gon took over the manual controls. He pushed the speed to maximum.
"That was close," Adi said.
They had escaped. But where were they headed?
Chapter 12
With the ship in hyperspace, Obi-Wan and Siri were able to relax for the first time in days. Taly fell asleep curled up on a cushion in the cockpit. He was exhausted.
"At least the bounty hunter has a well-stocked galley," Siri said in a low voice. "When Taly wakes up he can have a decent meal."
"We should get some rest, too," Obi-Wan said.
Siri went over to sit next to him on the cushioned seat in the cockpit. She hugged herself for a minute, hands on her elbows in an uncharacteristically nervous gesture.
"Obi-Wan? I just want to say thanks."
"Thanks for what?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I could have put Magus on our tail by selling my crystal. He might not have known for sure we were alive. Or that we were close to Settlement Five."
"We don't know that."
"I feel it. And I shouldn't have done it. But thanks for not telling me that."
"I admire you for what you did," Obi-Wan said. "Taly needed to know that you'd take care of him. He was losing hope, and I didn't see it. You did. It would be logical for Magus to go to Settlement Five to watch the boarding of the freighter. Even if he hadn't found the vendor, he would have been there."
Siri's gaze was warm and amused. "You're a terrible liar, Obi-Wan Kenobi. It's one reason I like you so much."
"Ah, so you like me," Obi-Wan said lightly. "I thought I'd lost your good opinion."
She leaned against him for a moment, nudging him, then swung away. "Don't worry so much."
Siri's smile was so free of tension that it transformed her face. It was almost as though he had a glimpse of another Siri, a Siri without the engine that drove her, the need to excel, the stubbornness, the discipline. There was a Siri inside that Siri, someone he didn't know very well at all.
Obi-Wan felt his cheeks heat up. He looked down at his hand, resting next to hers on the cushion. He knew the shape of her fingers, the texture of her skin almost as well as his own. He had to fight the urge to slip his hand over hers, wind his fingers around hers.
Obi-Wan stood quickly. He turned his head away to hide his flaming cheeks.
Siri stretched out on the cushioned bench. She grabbed a blanket and drew it over her. She closed her eyes. He could tell she wasn't sleeping. Had he hurt her feelings by getting up so abruptly?
Obi-Wan had never worried about things like that before with Siri. Why was he so conscious of it now? Why was he so conscious of her?
He didn't like the feeling. But he liked it, too. Thoroughly confused, Obi-Wan stamped over to stare with unseeing eyes at the nav computer and try not to look at his friend again.
A day later, they drew close to the coordinates for reversion. They were almost to Coruscant.
"By nightfall, we'll be sitting in the Temple," Obi-Wan said with satisfaction. He would be glad to be back. Glad to get Taly to safety. Glad to put this mission behind him.
Siri worked at the nav computer. "Coordinates set for reversion outside Coruscant airspace."
Obi-Wan began to flip switches. He frowned. "Everything okay?"
"I'm getting a funny readout from one of the security system checks. I've never seen one like it before."
Obi-Wan went to the manual security scan. He ran through the readouts. Suddenly, he felt the blood drain from his face.
Taly drew closer behind him. Siri spun around in her chair. "What is it?"
Obi-Wan's throat felt tight. "It's an anti-thievery device. Magus did have a surprise for us. The ship is programmed to self-destruct upon reversion." He turned to Siri and Taly. "We can't get out of hyperspace without blowing up."
Chapter 13
Obi-Wan looked at Siri. "How much fuel do we have?" Siri hesitated. She glanced at Taly.
"Say it," Taly said. "I need to know, too."
"Two hours. We barely had enough to get to Coruscant."
"Cancel reversion," Obi-Wan said. "We have to dismantle this device."
"Let me look," Taly said eagerly. Obi-Wan motioned him over and pointed to the schematic on the datascreen. "There are two places to try to dismantle it — at the switch, or at the source. The only problem is…"
"If you do something wrong, you destroy the ship," Taly said, nodding.
Siri leaned over the datascreen. When she turned to speak, her face was very close to Obi-Wan's. She quickly moved away. "These kinds of things aren't my strong suit," she said. "I don't know engines
like you do, Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan didn't know them that well, either, but he decided it was better not to say that. He, like any Jedi, could diagnose problems, even if the shipboard computer wasn't functioning. He knew how to bypass systems and tinker with a sublight engine. But this was way over his head.
"I can try to find the contact point for the device," he said. "If only we could contact the Temple and someone could talk me through it!"
