by Jude Watson
airspeeder.
He could see, out of the corner of his eye, how fast arid accurate
Ferus was, deflecting blaster fire on the weaving vehicle. He kept pace
with the turns, amazingly able to balance without falling off. Obi-Wan
careened down the wide hallway. It was hard to negotiate such a tight space
on an air-speeder, especially one that wasn't balanced, and he was afraid
of knocking Ferus off.
Someone shot off a rocket. They heard the whoosh of air displacement.
"Left!" Ferus shouted, looking back, and Obi-Wan yanked the speeder to
the left.
The targeting computer sent the rocket after them. The airspeeder did
a wild dance in the air, zigzagging crazily down the hall while officers
and troopers dived for cover. The rocket missed them by a millimeter and
exploded against a wall, sending several stormtroopers flying. Obi-Wan felt
it stir his hair. That was way too close for his comfort.
The engine began to smoke. Obi-Wan pushed it one last time, making a
sudden, quick right turn into an empty hallway. The speeder made the turn
but then the steering gave out. Obi-Wan and Ferus leaped off and the
airspeeder crashed into the wall.
The vehicle burst into flames. The hallway filled up with smoke.
Alarms went off. Sprinklers sprayed water down on the hallway.
They had seconds. Less than seconds.
Above their heads, Obi-Wan spied an air vent. He wrenched the cover
off.
Ferus needed no prompting. He hoisted himself up and swung his legs
inside. Obi-Wan followed, pulling himself up and into a wide plastoid duct
in the air control system. He repositioned the vent. They wouldn't take
long to figure out where they'd gone, but this should buy a few minutes.
Ferus began to crawl down the duct, moving as silently as a Jedi.
They had only crawled a few meters when they heard the blaster fire
riddle the vent cover. They heard the clang as it fell.
They hadn't bought minutes, after all. Only a few seconds. Which,
considering that they were in the midst of an Imperial garrison, wasn't
nearly enough.
They quickly scurried around a curve. Ferus pointed to a filtering
screen. Obi-Wan nodded.
Carefully, Ferus lifted it off and disappeared through the hole. Obi-
Wan followed. Ferus was balanced on a water pipe, holding the screen. Obi-
Wan hoisted himself out, and Ferus replaced the screen. They were now
outside the air grid and in the middle of a matrix of pipes. Some of the
pipes were hot, and the air felt close and steamy.
They would have to move by hanging onto the pipes. It would take
extraordinary stamina, but the stormtroopers would not think of checking
for them there.
Ferus moved hand over hand quickly. Obi-Wan followed. They moved
swiftly through the building until they could not hear their pursuers in
the adjacent airflow ducts.
Ferus hauled himself up and straddled a pipe. Obi-Wan did the same.
Ferus's forehead was damp with sweat. "Any ideas on where to go next?"
"We'll never get out of here if we don't know where we are," Obi-Wan
said. "We have to find an exit."
"If we find an empty office with a datapad, we can look up the
building diagrams," Ferus said. "We need a couple of exit strategies."
"Let's try it," Obi-Wan agreed.
They continued on until they found a utility panel below them. Obi-Wan
hung by his knees. He closed his eyes, listening, searching for the living
Force. When he was sure, he pried off the panel. Past the sensor suite
inside, he could look down into an empty office. There was just enough room
to crawl through.
Carefully Obi-Wan wiggled into the sensor suite and then dropped into
the room. Ferus followed. The room held only a table made out of one slab
of polished stone and one chair. A cloak with a deep hood was thrown over
the chair. It was the darkest of maroons, the red of a terrible bruise.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Obi-Wan said.
"I think we've landed in Malorum's private office." Ferus's eyes
gleamed. "We get lucky at last."
"My point is, hurry up."
Ferus moved immediately to the datapad on the table. Obi-Wan stood
guard at the door.
"Find the building schematic first," Obi-Wan said. "If we don't get
out of here, we can't do much of anything."
"Right. I'll download the building diagrams." Ferus quickly accessed
the file and downloaded it into his pocket datapad. He tossed it to Obi-Wan
while he accessed the files.
"He's got tons of surveillance files, but not much on Bellassa... hey,
have you ever heard of a place called Polis Massa?"
Obi-Wan felt himself turn to ice. "Yes."
Ferus began to scroll through the file. "It's got about ten levels of
security on the file. Must be something."
"Try to crack it."
"Okay..." Ferus's fingers flew over the keys. "I got the first one...
he hired an investigator to examine med records from the clinic. But
there's no record of what he was looking for. Or if he found anything."
Obi-Wan closed his eyes briefly. Polis Massa was where they had taken
Padm¨ to deliver her children in safety. In what he had thought was safety.
It was where she had died.
Here it was. Here was the connection he was looking for. Ferus was the
key, because the man who was looking for Ferus was looking for information
on Padme's death as well. The rumor was that she'd been killed by a Jedi
during the "rebellion."
"He's gathering data for Lord Vader, but he hasn't transmitted any,"
Ferus said. "I can't make it out. The security controls are too tight."
"Someone's coming."
"Aw, I was just going to take the wheels off his chair."
"Ferus, will you come on?" Obi-Wan jumped behind the curtains. It
wasn't the best hiding place, but they didn't have much choice. They didn't
have time to get up into the ceiling again.
They heard the door swish open. Heavy boots thumped in.
Obi-Wan peeked through the curtain. He had to suppress a groan. It was
Malorum - and Boba Fett.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ferus heard Malorum's voice ring through the room. He and Obi-Wan
could see through a slit in the heavy curtains.
"I took a chance on you." Malorum's voice hissed like a slithering
creature. "Even though you failed to bring me what I needed on Polis Massa,
or Naboo. Your record, despite your youth, was impressive."
Boba Fett was no longer wearing his helmet. He stood, holding it under
one arm. His dark eyes didn't flicker despite the abuse. Ferus had seen
that look before, in other young beings after the wars. They had seen too
much and had suffered too much at an early age. Boys like Trever. Yet
Trever, despite his criminal ways, was good at heart. This one, Ferns
thought, was damaged.
"You let them get away!" Malorum raised his voice and hit each word
hard.
Still, Boba said nothing. Ferus was impressed and a little
disconcerted at. Boba's silence. The young man had a little too much
assurance. It was unnerving.
Even Malorum looked u
nsettled. "Aren't you going to say anything'?
Because of you, Ferus Olin escaped and was able to return to Ussa. Now he's
somewhere in this building!"
"Isn't that what you wanted'?" Boba asked. "You wanted to show the
citizens of Ussa that you could get him. You got him. If he's in the
building, you'll find him. He can't get out."
Malorum leaned in closer. "You were hired to find him. I'm telling you
that he's here. Bring him to me."
"I told you when I took the job that I needed to know everything,"
Boba said. "You didn't tell me Jedi would be involved."
"I didn't know."
"It was your business to know it."
"Did you recognize him?"
"No. But he's very skilled."
"Interesting," Malorum murmured. "Are you using the Jedi as an excuse
for your failure?"
"No," Boba said. "It just makes the job more challenging. And more
expensive."
"You have already been paid the top rate," Malorum said. "I'm not
authorized to pay any more."
"Then get authorized," Boba said.
"I need you to track them right now! They could be anywhere!"
Boba still didn't answer.
"This will be your last job for me," Malorum hissed angrily. "Consider
yourself authorized. Now get that lethal companion of yours and find those
two. And don't fail this time."
The door opened. Boba Fett strode out. Malorum followed, the train on
his robe twitching like a tail.
"That Boba seems eerily competent," Ferus murmured. "Can you imagine
what his father was like?"
"All too well," Obi-Wan said, remembering a certain battle on Kamino.
Obi-Wan accessed the building diagrams and studied them quickly.
"There's a landing platform next to the prison area. It's used for a
service entrance and also the registration for prisoner transfer. I think
we should try that one. We can get there through the piping system."
"Not to argue with you, Obi-Wan, but wouldn't you think there might be
additional security in the prison?"
"Trevor told me that the Imperials couldn't get the citizens of the
city to help them with garbage collection, laundry, things like that - it
was hard to find people who would profit from the occupation of their
planet."
"Yes. It drove the Imperials crazy. They have to import most of their
support services. They hate that."
"They brought in droids to run all the internal waste removal and
laundry collection systems. According to Trever, Mariana picks up the
laundry from the droids at nine every morning. That means the droids have
to access the service door..."
"... to the landing platform, where there might be a vehicle for us to
liberate. That's in about six minutes." Ferus pushed his hands through his
hair. "Are you telling me that in order to get out of here, I have to break
into prison?"
Obi-Wan nodded.
"I like your thinking, Master Kenobi."
Back up into the vent again, they squeezed along the tiny opening that
led to the pipes. There was a larger outflow pipe here that they were able
to crawl on top of. Obi-Wan had memorized the route, and he led the way to
the prison.
Suddenly he stopped. "We must be entering the prison now," he said.
"There's a security system up ahead."
"Can you tell what kind'?"
"Infrared. It scans for all known body temperatures and bypasses
mechanical heating systems. Just in case one of the prisoners decides to
crawl up into a vent to hide, I suppose. An alarm will go off."
"Let me disable it."
"No, that will just tip them off. We're going to have to use the Force
to slow our body processes down. We don't have far to go. Do you think you
could manage it?"
Ferus hesitated. "Maybe. But if I can't, you'll be caught. I'm still
rusty, and if I fail, we both fail. You go, Obi-Wan. I'll find another way.
"
Obi-Wan held his gaze. "You can do it. I've felt it. I know you can do
it. I know you can be a Jedi again."
Ferus swallowed. What if he was responsible for Obi-Wan being
captured? He had dragged him into this.
Come on, Ferus, I can see you thinking. Siri's crooked grin rose in
his mind. Looks like it might hurt, thinking that hard. Let's just go ahead
and do it. Let your thoughts be actions until you aren't thinking at all.
Just moving.
"Let's do it," he said.
They reached out for the Force together, and he felt it grow.
I know you can be a Jedi again.
He closed his eyes, calling on the Force and willing his body
temperature to drop. He felt his skin, and it was cold.
Obi-Wan began to move. Ferus followed. They moved quickly, their
bodies staying cool despite the heat coming from the pipes. Ferus didn't
feel it. He felt only the Force, and the connection to Obi-Wan.
Remembering the diagram, Obi-Wan kicked through a vent and they landed
in a closet. They peeked out the door. They saw a droid with a repulsorlift
cart filled with laundry. He stopped outside a room and entered, leaving
the cart outside.
Ferus and Obi-Wan slipped out the door and leaped into the cart,
burrowing underneath sheets and comforters. A moment later a load of towels
was dropped on their heads. The cart lurched forward.
The cart moved slowly down the hall as the droid stopped every few
meters to collect more laundry. At last they drew up in front of the door
leading to the private landing platform.
The droid moved forward to access the control panel.
Suddenly there was the sound of booted feet striking the hard floor. A
voice rang out: "Stop!" It was a lower-ranked Imperial officer, accompanied
by a lone stormtrooper.
The droid turned. "Access to landing platform daily at this time."
"We're on high alert. No exits. That includes building utility
servicing."
The sensor light flashed.
"Laundry service requesting delivery," the droid said.
"Tell them to go away," the officer said curtly. The droid moved
forward and pressed a button on the security panel. "No laundry service
today. No admittance to landing platform."
"Aw, c'mon, chief!"
Ferus and Obi-Wan exchanged a glance. It was Trever.
"Not a chief, a service droid. No admittance," the droid repeated.
"I'm not leaving."
The Imperial officer strode forward. "Then we'll blast you out. Get
moving." He pressed a button, and a vidscreen was suddenly filled with
Trever's image.
"Look, I've got General Malorum's robes here - " Trever said.
"He's not a general, he's Inquisitor Malorum."
"Whatever. I've got his robes, and he specifically requested this
morning delivery."
"We're on high alert..."
"Yeah, yeah, I heard that. So you tell him he won't get his stuff.
Have you ever told him one of his orders wasn't followed?" Trever shrugged.
"Better you than me."
"Hold on."
Obi-Wan could see a trickle of sweat bead on the officer's hairline
and drip down the side of his face. He could refuse the delivery, and
; Malorum would blame him. Or he could just let the delivery pass through,
and Malorum would get his robes.
"Just this one delivery," the officer told the droid as he pressed the
release.
The droid activated the cart and it began to move toward the doors.
They were almost there. Almost free.
An alarm suddenly sounded, and the door stopped sliding open.
"Something overrode the door," the officer said nervously.
Ferus and Obi-Wan leaped out of the cart at the same instant. This was
their only chance, and they had to take it.
The officer turned, his mouth agape, and began to fumble for his
blaster. Obi-Wan leaped up and Force-pushed the officer against the wall.
The stormtrooper had his blaster out. Ferus held out a hand to Force-
push him away from the door, but nothing happened.
Well, it's not like he could expect to get it right every time.
