by Jude Watson
". . love each other," Siri finished softly. "Let's name it. Let's not avoid saying what we know."
She reached out and touched his sleeve. "You know and I know that they won't change the rules for us. The Jedi Order doesn't work that way. The rules are there for reasons that go back thousands of years."
"All the more reason to change them," Obi-Wan said. "We could wait a few years, until we are Masters. Then we could be a team. We could go on missions together!"
Siri's eyes sparkled. "We would be such a great team." Then her gaze dimmed. "They won't allow it. And I won't let you leave the Jedi. I know what it cost you last time."
"I don't want to leave the Jedi. And I know you couldn't."
"It's everything to me," Siri said. "It's part of me. It's home." Her voice was soft. "But so are you."
"We'll just have to keep this secret." Even as he said it, Obi-Wan felt his heart fall. Keep a secret from Qui-Gon? Could he do that?
He's kept secrets from me.
But he was the Master. He had that right. Obi-Wan dismissed the thought. He knew it was born in the resentment he felt against anything that stood between him and what he wanted. It wasn't fair to blame Qui-Gon.
He could dismiss his resentment easily. What he could not dismiss was the awful feeling of concealing his heart from Qui-Gon.
"It would be hard."
Siri's gaze was cloudy. "It's the only way. Or else we decide we turn away from this."
Turn away? Obi-Wan couldn't bear it when her fingers dropped from his sleeve. In a matter of hours he had come to realize that Siri was as necessary to him as breathing. She was part of him. She was his heart and his lungs and part of what kept him standing.
He swallowed. "I can't turn away from this. I can't let you go."
Siri's eyes filled with tears, and that was the worst thing of all.
"We'll keep the secret, then? We'll see each other when we can, how we can."
Obi-Wan felt so dizzy. So full of relief at just being alive. So grateful that Siri was standing beside him. So full of joy that she loved him. But when he looked ahead, he saw deceit. Could he walk that path?
"We need to find Taly first," Siri said. "End the mission. Then we can decide what to do."
"Taly is the most important thing," Obi-Wan agreed. Everything seemed against them, but strangely, he felt hopeful. They would find a way.
CHAPTER 17
The pilot left Adi and Qui-Gon off at the main spaceport on Rondai-2, telling them that the Jedi were "one amazing nova of a group." He'd be happy to help them out anytime.
It was close to dawn. The sky was still dark, but was beginning to gray. Qui-Gon and Adi lost no time in hurrying to the meeting site. Their two-day journey had given them plenty of time to plan. The Ulta Center was an exclusive conference site that had been built specifically to host high-level corporate and diplomatic meetings.
The center took up a large compound in the city of Dal. On the journey Qui-Gon and Adi had done their research. The center boasted top-level security for the most private of meetings and retreats. They had their own landing platform on the roof where guests could arrive in secret. No one was allowed inside unless he or she was a guest. It was necessary to reserve rooms months in advance, and guests from different groups did not ever see each other, as there were separate wings for each meeting. Every guest had to undergo a high-level security check. There was no way that Qui-Gon and Adi could simply stroll in.
"Any ideas?" Adi asked. "We have to get in so we can figure out the plan of attack. We don't want to advertise the fact that we're Jedi. Better if the bounty hunters don't know we tailed them here."
Qui-Gon glanced around. "That café is just opening. It's a fine morning to sit outside."
Adi looked exasperated. "Surely we have better things to do." She scanned the area for a moment. "Oh, I see. We can conduct surveillance from there. Is that your purpose?"
"It is," Qui-Gon said. "And I'm thirsty."
Adi raised an eyebrow instead of smiling, but he was used to that.
They ordered a pot of Tarine tea and sat at a table outside. The chill in the air began to lessen as the sun began to rise. The Rondais began to emerge from their homes and go off to work. They walked past, some with purpose, some enjoying the morning. Several stopped in at the café. It seemed to be a popular morning spot. Qui-Gon was glad of the company. It would conceal them more effectively. Rondai-2 was a cosmopolitan world with many visitors. No one gave them a second glance.
Everything here was mild — the weather, which never dipped to freezing; the landscape, which had no high mountains, only rolling hills; and the tempo of the cities, which was busy, but not frenzied. Everything at the conference center had been designed to conceal its high security and make it blend in with its pleasant surroundings.
A security wall curved around the conference center. The entrance was staffed with two security guards. The wall was softened by fountains that flowed invisibly from the top and splashed down in a continuous, musical stream to a long pool that served as a moat around the curving structure. Colored lights that were concealed underwater presented a constantly changing array of soft blues and violets. In front of the pool, flowering shrubs massed in the same colors, shading to deep purple and navy.
The conference center behind the wall was built in a radial design, with wings that extended from a central lobby like outflung arms. It was faced in durasteel that had been buffed to a medium blue. In sunlight, Qui-Gon thought, it would blend with the sky. It was a building that tried to make itself as invisible as it could.
Airspeeders and air taxis floated by. The pace was beginning to quicken. Still, these were the early morning workers, the ones who went to work when the sky was still dark.
"Security traps in the wall," Adi murmured. "Motion sensors at the gate. Iris scans for guests. It won't be easy to launch an attack here."
"Which is why it will be here," Qui-Gon said. "They feel safe here. And why else would Argente hire five bounty hunters? He knows that he's asking the impossible."
"So," Adi said, "how will they make the impossible possible?"
"Each bounty hunter has different skills," Qui-Gon said. "Gorm is brute force. Lunasa is the impersonator. Raptor is the efficient killer. Pilot is the best at planning getaways."
"And Magus?"
"He's the mastermind. He comes up with the plan. If we can put the pieces together, we can figure it out before it happens."
"In other words," Adi said, "we have to be masterminds, too." Suddenly she gave him a sharp look. "You're waiting for something. What?"
Qui-Gon took a sip of tea. "In hotels such as this, they pride themselves on not using droids to clean rooms or deliver food. Not even protocol droids. They only use living beings. They say it gives the service a 'living touch.' That beings can anticipate needs and make you comfortable, do things that droids can't."
"So?"
Qui-Gon shrugged. "Rooms have to be cleaned." He swirled his teacup. "Did you notice how Lunasa looked on the ship during the battle?"
"I noticed the weaponry she pointed in my direction," Adi said. "Can you get to the point?"
"Her hair was different."
The familiar line of exasperation appeared between Adi's eyebrows. "I don't pay attention to hairdos, Qui-Gon."
"When we first saw her, she was fair-haired. She wore her hair in braids. During the battle, her hair was short and dark." Qui-Gon noted Adi's impatience but willed himself not to smile. Adi did not spend much time in tune with the Living Force. "Did you notice that the natives of Rondai-Two are all dark-haired?"
Adi pressed her lips together. She knew now that Qui-Gon was leading her somewhere. Adi did not like to be led.
"Ah, here come the service workers," Qui-Gon said.
Across the avenue an air bus pulled up. A group of Rondai natives got off. They wore trim black uniforms. They headed up toward the security office. The officer yawned and waved them in.
"No securi
ty check," Adi breathed.
"They come every day. Guards get bored. They cut corners. That's what makes every security system fallible." Qui-Gon took a gulp of tea. "See anyone you know?"
Adi drew in her breath sharply. "It's her. Lunasa. She's walking right in! Let's go!"
"Wait a moment. The others will be arriving. I have a feeling the attack will come this morning."
"Qui-Gon." Adi's voice was sharp. "That cloud car. Look."
Qui-Gon glanced to where Adi indicated. Pilot and Raptor were in a speeder, cruising by. Squeezed between them was Taly. The boy didn't see them. He stared straight ahead. It was clear that he was trying not to look as terrified as he felt.
"They've got Taly," Qui-Gon said. "So where are Obi-Wan and Sid?"
Adi shook her head, her dark eyes troubled.
"Why are they keeping him alive?" she asked. "And for how long?" Qui-Gon wondered.
CHAPTER 18
Afraid of attracting suspicion, Qui-Gon and Adi left the café. They strolled down the street and doubled back, concealing themselves in the foyer of a building while office workers streamed past them.
"She will get the others in," Qui-Gon said. "Each of them — they've already planned it. Or else some of them are already inside. They've already been here for two days. We have no way of knowing."
"Except for Pilot and Raptor," Adi said. "And someone has to watch Taly, if they . . . if they don't kill him."
"If they were going to, they would have done so already. Pilot will watch Taly. He's responsible for the getaway. But Raptor still has to get inside. We know that for sure. He could be the last piece. When he gets in, the plan begins."
"We should notify security."
Qui-Gon shook his head. "Not yet. If the place goes on alert, it could hamper us from getting in. That is, if they even believe us. These bounty hunters are used to security officers. They'll mow them down in a flash. They won't be any help, and they'll lose their lives. I think we should do this ourselves."
Adi considered this. "Agreed." As much as Adi hated taking direction from someone else, she never let that interfere with her judgment.
She gazed over at the center, thinking. "The pool," she said. "We know that each suite of rooms has its own pool, too. They must be fed from a central source. And it must be substantial."
"Raptor," Qui-Gon said. "He has gills."
"Exactly what I was thinking."
Just then a large repulsorlift truck pulled onto the street, going fast. It veered out of its lane and crashed into a speeder bus. The driver waved his arms in frustration, blaming the speeder bus driver. They immediately picked out Pilot in disguise as the driver of the truck. The security guards in the entrance booth craned their necks.
"And there is the diversion," Qui-Gon said. "Come on."
They raced down the street and skirted the truck, not wanting to alert Pilot. Suddenly, they saw Raptor climb out of the flowering bushes and slip into the reflecting pool. He disappeared underwater.
Qui-Gon and Adi were only moments behind him. They donned their aquatabreathers as they ran and immediately slipped into the pool. The water was cold and surprisingly deep. They swam down quickly as the colors flashed, swimming through blue, then lavender. Adi nudged Qui-Gon. A shadow was moving, swimming quickly toward the wall. They followed.
The shadow disappeared. One moment he was there.
The next moment, gone. Qui-Gon swam forward, kicking his powerful legs. He came up against a blank wall.
Adi gestured at the bottom of the pool. Reflective surfaces had been set up and angled in different ways in order to deepen the effect of the colored lights. They had not seen Raptor's shadow. They had only seen his reflection. It had been impossible to tell the difference underneath the shimmering water. Qui-Gon wanted to groan aloud, but he didn't want to drop his breather.
Now they had lost a precious minute. They had to figure out the angles of reflection, and fast. The pool was too vast to search centimeter by centimeter. They didn't have the time. Adi kicked downward toward the reflectors. Qui Gon followed. He puzzled over the angles. Where was Obi-Wan when he needed him? This was exactly the type of thing that his apprentice was good at. Obi-Wan's brain was wired for logic.
But so was Adi's. She pointed and began to swim with a powerful stroke. Qui-Gon followed. Adi found an underwater conduit in a maze of smaller pipes. It was big enough to swim through. Qui-Gon saw her shadow on the wall in the same spot where Raptor had disappeared. She turned the lever and the sluice opened. She swam inside.
Qui-Gon followed. He could not use his arms to propel himself. The pipe was too small. He relied on kicking, following the movement of Adi's boots and the bubbles that streamed behind her.
The pipe spilled them out into another pool. The light changed, and he knew the pool was partially open to the air. Adi began to swim toward the surface.
They surfaced silently. Across the pool and in front of a wide transparisteel door Raptor had already met up with Lunasa, Magus, and Gorm. All of the bounty hunters were heavily armed. Lunasa now had weapons strapped to her ankles and wrists. Gorm was wearing a weapons belt. A repeating blaster was strapped to Raptor's back. Magus wore an armorweave vest with various pockets and had two holsters strapped around his hips.
The four bounty hunters pushed through the door and split up. They still hadn't seen the Jedi, now running silently behind them. Magus headed for the roof, Lunasa down a corridor. Raptor took a second corridor and Gorm slipped through another door. Surprised, Qui-Gon and Adi stopped to consult for a moment.
"I'll take Lunasa," Adi said. Lunasa was still in sight, at the end of the corridor.
Qui-Gon had a split second to choose. Raptor. He was closest. The quicker they could take them down, the better.
There were only four. Five, if Pilot had somehow found a way inside. But Qui-Gon doubted that. He was betting that the huge truck outside was holding a cruiser in back that he could blast out and fly onto the roof. Taly, no doubt, was also in the back of the truck.
Four bounty hunters. Two for each Jedi. Not a problem. Qui-Gon told himself this, but he also knew that the Jedi were somewhat at: a disadvantage. The bounty hunters had probably studied the structural plans of the conference center for weeks. If they'd done their job — and he had no doubt that they had — they would know every passageway, every utility turbolift, every duct.
And he also knew that time was against him. Even if one bounty hunter got through, he or she would be enough to wreak havoc.
Raptor saw Qui-Gon on his trail and veered off. He sent a blast of fire behind him, hoping to slow the Jedi down, but Qui-Gon did not ease his pace, deflecting the fire as he ran.
He followed Raptor into a vast space full of steaming pipes — the laundry. The heat and steam hit him. The clouds of vapor obscured his vision. He stopped, listening for footsteps. Only silence.
Then he heard the hiss of a rocket launcher. He was poised to move or deflect it if he could, but it hit at least a meter away.
Bad aim, he had time to think in a puzzled way, just before the pipe burst and scalding water spewed out in a violent flume.
Qui-Gon used the Force to leap and avoid the scorching water. Steam chased him as he landed meters away. Now he saw Raptor, saw his teeth flash in his grimy face as he grinned and released another rocket. As the rocket launched he charged forward toward Qui-Gon.
Qui-Gon ducked and rolled away from the rocket, which continued to chase him. Using the Force, he leaped over Raptor. Unable to track him, the rocket exploded into a large washing unit. Water sprayed out and hoses sprang from the machine like deadly snakes.
Qui-Gon backed up and collided with a bin of sheets that had been jarred from a conveyor belt. The folded sheets flew into the air like large, clumsy birds and then fell, an obstacle course of soft, downy fabric.
He saw that he had landed near a series of raised conveyor belts that ran high above his head. On the belts were large bins of linens, sheets, and towels. In a g
lance he saw that after being folded by droids, the sheets were loaded and sent to be dumped into bins. Then the bins continued on the conveyor belt to the exit, where wheels snapped down.
Raptor was inserting another rocket into the launcher on his wrist. Qui-Gon could see from this distance that it was a Merr-Sonn K21 — powerful enough to knock a swoop from the air and turn it into melted scrap. He saw the pinpoint of light that meant its laser homing system was activated. He had no doubt it was locked on him.
He directed the Force toward the bins. The conveyor belt moved faster. The bins smacked into each other and began to fall.
As Raptor shot the rocket, the bins crashed into it and the sheets wrapped around it, immediately interfering with its homing device. As Qui-Gon expected, the rocket slowed, momentarily hampered from target lockdown. At the same time, Raptor jumped forward in the same fashion he had moved when shooting off the other rockets. He plowed right into the sheet-wrapped rocket, which, misreading him as a target, exploded on impact. Qui-Gon turned away from the blast. Raptor was no longer a danger to anyone.
Qui-Gon now raced in the opposite direction, back toward the door through which he'd entered. He didn't want to get lost in the maze of corridors. He needed to backtrack.
He ran down the corridor and saw Adi racing toward him. "I've got Lunasa pinned down by security guards," she said. "No weapons on her. But I can't find the others. There's a security alert on, but it's silent. They don't want the guests upset."
"There'll be quite a few upset guests if we don't get Gorm and Magus," Qui-Gon pointed out. "We've got to comb this entire wing. Have you found out where the meeting is?"
"Down this way — the Constellation Suite. They're sending security there. They told me they'll handle this."
"Let's go," Qui-Gon said.
Their route took them past the place where Lunasa was supposed to be held. Four dead security guards lay on the ground.
"I shouldn't have left them," Adi said.
"You had to. Come on." Qui-Gon raced on. He was worried now. They could have used Obi-Wan and Siri in this situation. The bounty hunters were spread out. They wouldn't leave until they did their job. They would have to come together eventually, but in the meantime, anyone who got in their way would be killed.