going to be together, right?"
"We could get separated," Mara pointed out patiently. "Or you could be
hurt or otherwise incapacitated. I don't want to have to lug you around and
look for the way out at the same time."
There was a short pause. "I suppose that makes sense," Sansia conceded
reluctantly at last. "Okay. You head out the door over there and turn right...
"
She went through the whole route, describing each turn and intersection
in precise terms. Clearly, the woman had an eye for detail. By the time she
finished, the second squeeze bottle was full.
And they were ready. "Okay," Mara said, handing Sansia the second empty
vial and taking the full squeeze bottle back from her. "Ditch those empties
somewhere out of sight and then move over toward the door. You ever have fire
drills in here?"
Sansia blinked. "Not since I arrived, no."
"Well, you're going to have one now," Mara said. "When the Drach'nam come
barging in, make sure you don't get run over. Other than that, just wait near
the door until I come for you."
"Understood." Sansia took a deep breath."Good luck."
She moved away from Mara, easing gingerly through the press of still
slime-covered women. Mara stayed with the crowd, moving slowly forward as
places at the trough opened up, running through a slow mental countdown and
wondering if she could risk cleaning up a bit herself before they made their
break. Probably shouldn't take the time, she reluctantly decided. The Bith
would notice the missing vials the first time he looked into the supply
cabinet, and he'd probably be as quick to report the loss as he'd been to
scrape the slime off the surveillance cam.
The last woman in front of her moved away, and Mara was finally in
position. Palming her last full vial, she stepped to the trough, and, with a
smooth wave of her arm, she poured its contents into the filthy water.
And with an angry hiss, the trough abruptly erupted with a sizzle of
flame and a cloud of yellow smoke.
There were a half-dozen piercing screams as women whose minds had been
systematically reduced to near catatonia woke up enough to claw their way back
from this sudden and inexplicable danger. The smoke continued to billow up and
out, and within seconds the room was impossible to see across. There were more
screams and shouts, the thudding of feet and colliding bodies, as a sudden
panic gripped women who had nearly lost the ability to feel emotion of any
sort. There was no place to go, no place to hide, and they all knew it.
Praysh's guards were faster on the uptake than Mara had expected them to
be. She was barely halfway to the door, pushing her way through the chaos,
when the heavy panel slammed in and a dozen of the Drach'nam thundered into
the room. Mara caught a glimpse of heavy extinguisher canisters as they passed
her on their way to the smoking trough-
And then she'd made it to the door, and Sansia was at her side. "What did
you do?" the other woman hissed.
"Just a little chemical diversion," Mara said, peering through the smoke
at the doorway. Not all the guards had charged to the rescue of Praysh's
precious slave laborers: two of them were blocking the corridor just outside
the room, neuronic whips held ready for any attempt by the slaves to take
advantage of the confusion. "Stay behind me," she added, getting one other
squeeze bottles in each hand and stepping out the door.
One of the guards snorted at this slim human female apparently
challenging them. "Where do you think you're-his"
He never got to finish his question. Raising her hands, Mara squeezed a
shot of liquid from one of her bottles into each of the guards' faces. They
sputtered, lunging forward even as they tried to turn away from the stream of
spattering fluid. Crossing her wrists, Mara switched aim and gave each guard's
face a dose from the other bottle-
And with howls that shook the corridor, both Drach'nam dropped their
whips and staggered back away from the women, hands clutching at their faces.
"Come on," Mara snapped to Sansia. Ducking between the Drach'nam, she
snatched up one of the fallen whips and headed at a dead run down the
corridor.
She reached a cross corridor just as another pair of Drach'nam came
around it. Gaping, they grabbed for their whips, but before they could get
them into position, Mara's lash snaked out, wrapping around both of their
necks. They bellowed almost as loudly as the last pair had as they fell into a
tangle of arms and legs onto the stone floor. Mara plucked a replacement whip
from one of their hands, and continued past.
"This way," Sansia called, in the lead now. "At the next corridor we turn
right up the stairs-was
"Stop them!" a voice bellowed from behind them. Mara glanced back over
her shoulder, her senses tingling with sudden danger-
And ahead of her, Sansia screamed.
Mara twisted back around, her whip already in motion. Two Drach'nam had
appeared from ambush out of doors on opposite sides of the corridor, both
their whips now wrapped around a violently twitching Sansia.
Mara snapped her whip at the attacker on the left, catching him a
glancing blow across shoulder and back as he ducked away. He snarled something
vicious as the current shot briefly through him, but he managed to keep his
grip on his own whip. Mara brought the lash back over her shoulder and sent it
toward the other Drach'nam-
And then, without warning, the weapon abruptly seemed to catch in midair,
the sudden loss of momentum nearly yanking it out of her hand. A movement
above her caught her eye, and she looked up.
To see that the rocky ceiling overhead had vanished, replaced by a forest
of thick, multi-barbed spines pointing down toward her. Her lash had hung up
on them, hopelessly entangled among the barbs.
"Foolish human," Praysh's voice purred from some hidden speaker amid the
thicket. "You didn't really think I would rely solely on neuronic whips and
Drach'nam muscle to keep my slaves in line, did you?"
Mara ignored him, heading toward the two guards still pinioning Sansia in
place between them. With their whips locked around her, they had only their
knives left in reserve....
"Stop," Praysh ordered, all the levity gone from his voice. "I don't
particularly want to kill you, human, but I will if you force my hand."
Mara kept going. Both guards had their knives out now, and had half
turned to point them at the suicidal human charging toward her death. Mara
stretched out toward the blades with the Force, preparing to twist them aside
atjust the right moment-
And then, behind her two opponents, the corridor was suddenly filling
with Drach'nam.
Mara came to a reluctant stop, the sour taste of defeat in her mouth.
Force skills or not. Imperial combat training or not, there was no way she
could take on the entire garrison by herself. Not here, not now. "I'm willing
to make a deal," she called toward the ceiling.
"I'm sure you are," Praysh said, purring again. "Guards: release the
second wo
man and bring them both to my audience chamber. I have some questions
I want to ask our scrappy little fighter."
With Sansia still suffering from the partial muscular paralysis brought
on by the neuronic whip, their progress up the stairway and along the stony
corridors was decidedly slow. Mara supported the other woman as they walked,
the guards glowering around them the whole way. Several times Mara asked for
their help in carrying the injured woman, requests that went ignored.
Which was, of course, precisely the response - comor lack of it-that
she'd hoped for. With the task of supporting Sansia falling totally on her,
she was able to adjust the timing and stall off their arrival at Praysh's
audience chamber until Sansia was mostly recovered from her ordeal. Any fresh
escape attempt they were able to make, after all, would be considerably
simplified if they were each able to do their own running.
It was quickly clear, though, that Praysh had no intention of making any
such attempts easy for them. From the number of Drach'nam lined up against the
walls or standing in a protective ring around Praysh's throne, it looked like
His First Greatness had half his garrison in here. "Looks like you're having a
party," Mara commented as she and Sansia were led to within a couple of meters
of the inner guard ring. "Are you that afraid of us?"
"Oh, the guards are merely here in hopes you'll give them an excuse to
avenge what you did to Brok and Czic outside the slave quarters," Praysh said
offhandedly. "I'm curious: where did you obtain the acid you sprayed into
theirthe faces?"
"I borrowed the ingredients from your dispensary," Mara told him. There
was no point in deflecting the question; if they hadn't noticed the thefts
yet, they would soon enough. "It's just a matter of knowing which chemicals to
mix."
"Interesting," Praysh said, leaning back in his throne and regarding Mara
with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "Hardly the sort of knowledge a
slave sent by the Mrahash ofKvabja should be expected to have."
He shrugged elaborately. "But of course, that's an irrelevant comment,
isn't it? Given that you weren't sent by the Mrahash ofKvabja."
Mara felt her throat tighten. Bardrin had assured her that the Mrahash
was currently out of the sector, and that there was no way Praysh could check
out her cover story. "Of course he sent me," she said, stretching out to the
alien's mind, trying to figure out if this was some kind of trick.
"Spare me your lies," Praysh said, his voice suddenly harsh. And no,
there was no trickery in his thoughts. "I have a communication from the
Mrahash himself, saying he's never heard of you. In fact, I was just about to
send for you when you made your pitiful escape effort."
"I told you Daddy would try to force you to leave without me," Sansia
murmured.
A whip cracked from the side, and Sansia jerked, inhaling sharply in
pain. Mara glanced at her, saw the bright streak of blood across her cheek.
"If you have something to say, you will say it to me," Praysh said coldly.
"And you will start by telling me who you are and exactly why you're here."
"And if I don't?" Mara asked.
Praysh's gaze shifted to Sansia. "We'll start the persuasion with your
friend here. I don't think you want to hear the details."
Mara looked around the room, searching for a chink-any chink-in Praysh's
defenses. But there wasn't one. About all she could do now was refuse to talk
and hope there would be fewer guards to deal with in whatever torture chamber
they took her and Sansia to.
Unless they didn't plan to let her watch. Or, worse, let her watch on a
monitor from a different location entirely. That would mean letting them put
Sansia under a knife....
A quarter of the way across the room, one of the guards at the chamber's
main entrance door abruptly stepped forward, a comlink in his hand. "Your
First Greatness, a word if I may," he called toward the throne. "I've just
received word that there is new evidence of who this spy is."
"Excellent," Praysh said, swiveling his throne around to face that
direction. "Bring it to me."
The guard spoke into the comlink, and the door opened to reveal two more
Drach'nam and Have'sishi, the Togorian scavenger Mara had met briefly outside
the palace wall. Clutched in Have'sishi's hands was a section of the packing
cylinder Bardrin's floater globe had been in.
The section that had had Mara's lightsaber concealed in it.
Mara clenched her hands tightly as the trio marched through the assembled
guards toward the throne. Any chance she and Sansia might have of escaping was
going to depend heavily on the fact that Praysh didn't know about her Force
abilities. If Have'sishi showed the lightsaber to him, that advantage would
vanish in that same heartbeat. She had to make her move before that happened.
But there was still no chance. A Drach'nam on either side of her, more of
them crowding the room, the packing cylinder section too far away for her to
rip out the inner lining and get the lightsaber out...
"Who is this?" Praysh demanded.
"A scavenger from the street," one of the guards said. "This is a section
of the packing cylinder which the human brought your gift in." He reached over
to take the cylinder section from Have'sishi-
The Togorian pulled it away from him. [It is mine to show,] she hissed.
[My discovery. My reward.]
"Just let her bring it," Praysh said, gesturing impatiently. "Show me
this supposed evidence."
Deliberately, Mara thought, Have'sishi looked over at the two women.
Then, stepping through the inner ring of guards, she held the cylinder section
up in front of Praysh. [You see here,] she said, pointing a claw to the
bottom. [It is the marking seal of the Uoti Corporate.]
"What?" Sansia muttered as Praysh leaned close to look, and Mara could
sense her sudden confusion and suspicion. If her would-be rescuer was actually
from their Uoti competitors instead of from her father-
"Quiet," Mara muttered back, frowning in some confusion of her own. There
hadn't been any marking seals on the cylinder-she'd made sure of that. Had the
Togorian mixed her cylinder up with some other piece of garbage?
"That is indeed the Uoti symbol," Praysh agreed, taking the section from
Have'sishi and turning his gaze on Mara again. "So that's what this is all
about, is it? Uoti wants their new toys back."
Mara didn't reply, her eyes on Have'sishi as she tried to figure out what
was going on. But the Togorian's expression was totally unreadable.
"Yes, that must be it," Praysh decided. "And I suppose I should have
expected this. I must congratulate you on your speed and efficiency in
locating me-it's been, what, only a week since that particular acquisition?"
"Yet perhaps the efficiency is only an illusion. Your First Greatness,"
one of the Drach'nam spoke up, eyeing Have'sishi suspiciously. "Recall that
all the packing from the Uoti acquisition was similarly thrown to the
scavengers. This alien could have obtained one of the marking seals and
transferred it to this
cylinder."
"No," Praysh told him. "The seal has the proper edge engraving carved
into the metal around it. It's genuine."
He gave Mara a smile that sent an involuntary shiver down her back.
"Besides, why else would a warrior of such skill deliberately step beneath my
hand as she has?"
Mara looked back at Have'sishi. The Togorian was gazing back at her now,
and as their eyes met, she lifted a hand to casually rub at her neck,
stretching her claws a little further from the ends of her fingers as she did
so. Was she trying to show Mara how she'd faked the edge engraving? Or was
there some other message there?
And suddenly, Mara got it.
"I don't know what kind of trick this is supposed to be, Your First
Greatness," she called, putting an edge of scorn into her voice. "But it's a
pretty feeble one. I can tell from here that's not part of the cylinder I
brought."
Praysh face darkened. "Can you really," he rumbled. "What remarkably good
eyes. Or what a remarkable wretched memory. Perhaps that memory needs some
encouragement."
[Perhaps a closer look at it would help. Your First Greatness,]
Have'sishi suggested.
"I think not," Praysh bit out. "The preliminary games are over. She's
refused to play." He glared at Mara. "Your last chance, warrior, to do this
the easy way."
Have'sishi glanced at Mara, her expression suddenly looking stricken.
Tales From the New Republic Page 14
