“I didn’t leave him!” There was conflict in her thoughts, as memories clashed clumsily against one another. She was losing all hope of finding some purchase on reality. “Did I?”
“Remember me!” This time it wasn’t a question, but a growled command, which effectively brought a name from the tangle of thoughts in her mind.
“Riina?” she said, still reluctant to look around.
But there was no reply, only the distant roar of the reptile calling her name from somewhere far behind.
The sound of the AT-AT firing again dragged her attention back to her friends. The black sphere had arrived, and she could now see that it was a swarm of flitnats come to engulf her. She stood firmly in the face of the incoming wave of insects, determined not to turn away, but nevertheless feeling the weight of futility tugging at her very soul.
“Why can’t the Force be with me for once?” she said. The words were whispered, and yet their echo boomed around the dunes.
Deciding that there was really nowhere else to go but to her friends, she threw herself forward. The task was made difficult, however, by the paste caked to her feet. No matter how fast she tried to run, she didn’t seem to be making any progress; no matter how many dunes she scaled, her friends stayed the same distance away from her; no matter how much she wanted to shake it, the thing with her face remained at her shoulder, whispering words that nurtured the guilt and regret that she had kept buried deep inside.
She summoned what strength was left in her to move faster. The whining from the flitnats rose and fell in pitch as they continued to sweep past her ears …
Tahiri woke with a jerk to the sounds of shouting and sirens. Her head spun dizzily when she sat up, and her vision was hazy.
“What’s going on?” she asked anxiously.
A golden blur appeared before her. “Oh, Mistress Tahiri. Thank goodness you’ve finally awoken!”
“Threepio?” The siren was joined by a voice booming for attention. She rubbed at her temples, wishing that everything would settle down long enough for her to at least get her bearings. “Is that you?”
“I wish it wasn’t, Mistress Tahiri, given our circumstances,” came the droid’s fretful reply. “I’d much rather be anywhere else than—”
“Don’t panic, Threepio,” Tahiri said, forcing herself to sit upright. “Everything’s going to be fine, I’m sure.”
It seemed strange to be offering reassurances when she herself was in need of them. An explanation as to what was happening wouldn’t have hurt, either. But she knew that she was going to need the protocol droid’s help right now, so it was a priority to calm him down before worrying about anything else. Besides which, his fretting would only exacerbate her confusion.
“Help me stand, Threepio.”
The room swayed around her as the droid levered her upright, but she managed to remain on her feet with C-3PO’s help. Outside the room she could hear voices arguing; focusing on these, she recognized Anakin’s parents remonstrating with one of the Fia.
“I said, unlock this door!”
“I’m sorry, Captain Solo, but that won’t be possible.” There was no mistaking the wheedling tones of Assistant Primate Thrum. “We’re in the middle of a state emergency and—”
“What sort of emergency?” Han’s voice was rising sharply with each syllable uttered.
“As I have already stated, I really don’t know what—”
“Then get someone down here who does know,” Han bellowed. “Or so help me, I’m going to use your head as a batt—”
“Assistant Primate,” Princess Leia cut in quickly over her husband’s threat. Her tone was soothing, but there was no mistaking the note of steel beneath. “We are very concerned that we have lost contact with the rest of our mission. It seems that all communications from ground to orbit are being jammed—”
“That is part of the emergency!” the exasperated Fia said.
“We gathered that much,” Han said. “But if you’ll just let us get to the Falcon, we can—”
“That is not possible!” Thrum shot back, his frustration causing his voice to come across louder than he had probably intended. “I am not authorized!”
The voices were coming from the common area, through the door to her right. Snatching her lightsaber from the cabinet beside her bed, Tahiri moved unsteadily toward the door.
“What’s going on, Threepio?” she hissed.
“There was a terrible commotion,” the droid said. “Mistress Jaina returned to inform us that the Yevetha have been destroyed! But at the same time as her return, a number of other ships also arrived in the system. And now it seems that our communications have been jammed and we can’t—”
“Ships?” she asked. “What sort of ships? Were they Yuuzhan Vong?”
“I believe so, Mistress,” the droid said. “Although there was some uncertainty—”
“It’s them,” Tahiri said. “I know it is.”
A disconcerting feeling spread through her, like ice crystallizing. It had to be the Yuuzhan Vong. She was as sure of it as she was of her own name. They or their representatives had been on Galantos before—the totem of Yun-Yammka proved that. They had probably struck a deal with the Fia: protection from the Yevetha in exchange for resources. The Fia would have assumed that they meant the minerals brought to the surface of their planet by its restless crust—but Tahiri knew better. The Fia were going to learn the hard way that the resource the Yuuzhan Vong valued most was living tissue.
She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, then stepped through the doorway and into the common area. Thrum had positioned himself in front of the door leading from their suite. Leia gently restrained Han, who was towering angrily over the Fia. The Noghri guards stood nearby, silently overseeing the exchange.
“I’m sorry.” The assistant primate was apologizing again to Anakin’s parents. He seemed to be in a state of almost absolute panic. “But there are no regulations to cover such circumstances!”
“We don’t need your regulations,” Tahiri said, influencing her words with the Force as she took a couple of steps toward the Fia. Leia and Han were as surprised to see her as Thrum. “Open the door and let us through.”
Something shifted behind Thrum’s eyes, and for a moment it seemed as though he might concede to Tahiri’s demand. But protocol, in this instance anyway, was stronger than Force suggestion.
“I cannot,” he insisted, shaking his head violently as though to shake loose the unwanted thought. “I have already said that I don’t have the authorization to—”
He trailed off in midsentence as Tahiri’s lightsaber hissed to life, its bright blue blade reflecting in his wide and frightened eyes.
“This is all the authorization you require,” she said, brandishing the weapon close to his face. “Now, please, open this door.”
“Why didn’t you think of doing that, Leia?” she heard Han whisper to his wife.
“I would,” Thrum said, flustered, “but—”
Tahiri cocked her eyebrows. “But?”
The soft features of the Fia looked as though they were about to melt from the heat of Tahiri’s saber. “But there are guards—”
The crackle of blasterfire from the other side of the wall interrupted him. There was a click, followed by the door sliding open. Han stepped forward with his own blaster at the ready, past Thrum and into the hallway outside. Tahiri could see the two guards who had been stationed outside lying dead across the entrance, one with a hole smoking in his back, the other with one in their chest. Han took one look at them and turned to face Tahiri.
“How did you do that?” he asked her.
“It—it wasn’t me,” she stammered, too surprised by the sudden turn of events to realize that he was only joking.
She removed her thumb from the activation stud of her lightsaber, extinguishing the blade. Then she stepped over to the doorway to look outside. Apart from the bodies of the guards and Han standing over them, the corridor was empty. But
there was a smell there that immediately caught her attention—and it wasn’t just the tang of blasterfire, either. This was something else altogether …
“There’s no one here,” Leia said as she came up beside her husband, the two of them glancing up and down the passageway. “So who shot them?”
Han shrugged. “Maybe they fell on their own blaster bolts.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Leia said. “We’re out, and that’s the main thing. We can worry about the hows and whys later. Let’s just get off this planet before we become prisoners of Fian regulations again.”
Everyone made to move, except for Thrum, who held back within the room. Leia stepped up to him and grabbed him by the arm.
“You’re coming with us,” she said, leading the quivering Fia firmly out of the room and into the corridor with the others.
“But …” he started, shuffling forward on his big, flat feet. He quickly dropped his protests, however, when he realized that nobody was bothering to listen to him anymore.
Han led the way through the diplomatic section, with Thrum close behind. Leia and her Noghri bodyguards followed him, while Tahiri brought up the rear. She was still a little dizzy, but could feel her old self quickly returning.
The voice booming over the intercom continued to warn people to stay indoors and remain calm. The disruption was temporary, the voice assured, and would soon be sorted out. The howling of the sirens, however, contradicted this, and Tahiri could feel a great hysteria and dread lifting around her in the Force.
“I don’t think this was a trap,” she whispered to Leia. “They’re as surprised as we are.”
“I agree,” Leia responded. “The Fia didn’t know in advance that we were coming, and no ships or transmissions have left the system since we arrived. But that doesn’t mean they won’t take advantage of us being here, now that something has happened. I’m sure that the life of a Jedi still has some currency with the Yuuzhan Vong.”
Tahiri nodded, firmly realizing that it was more likely her than Han and Leia that had resulted in them being locked up in their luxurious suites. The Fia would never downplay the roles Anakin’s parents had in the liberation of the galaxy from the Empire, but as far as they knew, it was only the Jedi that the Yuuzhan Vong were interested in. If she hadn’t been here, they might have been able to leave unobstructed.
As expected, when they reached the exit to the diplomatic quarters, they found a couple of guards stationed there. Han drew them all to a halt around a corner and turned his blaster on Thrum.
“Okay, flatfoot,” he said, pushing the barrel of his weapon into the small of the Fia’s back. “You’re going to take us through here and to the landing field. Got it? We’re your guests and they’re just guards, so I’m sure regulations will cover it.”
“Y-yes, of course,” Thrum said as he was nudged forward.
Tahiri sent a command through the Force to give the nervous Fia the confidence he needed to pull off this simple task. She watched as in midstride the assistant primate seemed to summon a strength from within himself, straightening his clothes haughtily as he led the group forward.
Han holstered his blaster as they followed Thrum, while Tahiri hid the handgrip of her lightsaber in the folds of her clothes.
“I am taking the prisoners to interrogation!” Thrum announced loudly. Too loudly, Tahiri thought, realizing she might have overdone it with her Force command on the Fia.
“Interrogation?” one of the guards asked dubiously. He seemed a little taken back by Thrum’s belligerence. “Where?”
“Section C,” Thrum said curtly.
“For how long?” the other guard asked.
“Two hours.”
“And will you accompany them on your return?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Thrum replied irritably. “It’s not important. None of this is! All that matters is that I am authorized. I have jurisdiction here, and I will not have you questioning me like this!”
The guards, stunned by Thrum’s uncustomary outburst, waved them through without further questioning.
“You know, that felt surprisingly good,” Thrum said as they headed off down the corridor.
He seemed genuinely pleased with his performance, but Tahiri could tell that it had taken a lot out of him. His skin was moist and his hands were trembling almost uncontrollably.
“I’m proud of you,” Han said, patting Thrum’s sloping shoulder. “But you’re not out of this yet.”
Assistant Primate Thrum faced Han as they walked, detecting the unstated threat in the man’s tone.
“Wh-what do you mean?” he asked, his nervous disposition returning to the fore.
“I mean that you’d better hope no one’s touched the Falcon,” Han said. “Because if they have, I’m going to take those long arms of yours and tie them in a bow around your head.”
Thrum shuddered noticeably as he turned imploringly to Leia, who simply rolled her eyes and shook her head at her husband’s lack of diplomatic skills.
They made it almost as far as the landing field without being obstructed. Whatever was going on above the planet seemed to have distracted the security forces on the surface to the point that the absence of their prisoners wasn’t even noticed until they had almost escaped.
The slap of footfalls alerted Tahiri to the fact that they were being followed. As Thrum pointed excitedly to the exit to the landing field, a squad of Fian security guards rounded the corner behind them. Seeing the fugitives, they began firing immediately. Their blasters were set for stun, but that only delayed their hostile intent. Tahiri ignited her lightsaber, effortlessly blocking the shots and sending them ricocheting back at the guards. Three fell immediately to the ground, causing the remaining guard to beat a hasty retreat around a corner. It was enough of a delay to allow everyone in her party to get safely through the exit.
Outside, the sky was uncannily blue. A tremor rocked the ground beneath her feet as they ran out onto the stressed ferrocrete—the first she had noticed since arriving on the unsteady planet. Either her senses were more highly attuned than before, or the city’s stabilizers weren’t being properly tended. With death about to rain down on the planet from above, she supposed that the usual perils of life on Galantos weren’t as important right now.
The others ducked and ran for cover as another wave of blasterfire came from a building across the landing field. Tahiri sent a telekinetic punch to bring down a wall in front of the new threat, and their path was temporarily clear again.
“This way!” Han shouted, leading them from cover across the flat field.
Tahiri noted that where it had been empty before, there were now several small spacefaring vessels in various stages of warming up. Ground crews watched nervously as they ran among the ships, fleeing new shouts from behind. The occasional bolt of energy bounced off armored hulls, sending innocent bystanders diving for cover.
“This is all too much,” C-3PO complained, the sound of the servomotors that moved his limbs a constant whine as he hurried to keep up.
Amid the confusion on the landing field, Tahiri’s attention was drawn to one man who appeared to be pursuing them. A lean, vaguely nonhuman figure dressed in a dark blue flight suit, with a breath mask obscuring his face, he tagged them closely as Tahiri and the others dodged between the other vessels. He kept up with them easily enough, too, unencumbered as he was by the need to avoid pursuit or ambushes. He simply followed along, with his easy, loping strides, casually monitoring their progress.
When they were within a sprinting dash of the Falcon, Tahiri peeled away from the others to intercept their pursuer. She had no idea if he meant them harm or not, but she had no intentions of leaving her back exposed to him.
“Tahiri!” Leia called out. Han had the boarding ramp already lowered and they were all about to run in.
Tahiri ignored the calls; she had only about three minutes before the Falcon would be ready to launch, so every second counted.
The mysterious figure did
n’t run away as she approached. Quite the opposite, in fact. Waving, he indicated for her to join him behind the curved hull of a small yacht. She did so, realizing as she did what it was about him that had drawn her to him.
“It was you,” she muttered breathlessly as a tingle of recognition ran through her, courtesy of the Force, first, then via her nose: his smell was strong and familiar. “You’re the one who killed the guards and let us out!”
He nodded. “And one good turn deserves another, wouldn’t you say?”
Tahiri’s eyes narrowed, wondering what he was getting at. “You want our help?”
“I’ve been looking for a way off this rock ever since the Fia made their deal with the Brigaders.”
“You want to come with us, is that it?”
“Not quite,” he replied. He patted the hull of the yacht they were standing beside. “I want you to use your powers of persuasion to get the air lock of this thing open for me. After that, I can do the rest.”
Tahiri was naturally wary of using her Force powers to help a complete stranger steal a ship. “Why should I do that?”
“You’re just going to have to trust me,” the masked being said. “I’m one of the ones who brought you here. That must count for something.”
“Yeah, thanks a whole bunch.” She glanced over her shoulder at where the Falcon was prepping up. Princess Leia called urgently to her from the ramp, an edge of something more than concern creeping into her voice.
“I can explain everything later,” the stranger said, “if I survive. Right now there simply isn’t any time.”
Tahiri vacillated only for a moment, curiosity warring with caution. Then she reached out through the Force, feeling for the yacht’s pilot. It was a Fian woman, and she was rushing through her preflight checks with terrified haste. A quick glance, however, told Tahiri that the pilot had missed a crucial stage in her engine warm-ups; the first atmospheric punch would overload the yacht’s repulsors and cripple them forever. With that in mind, she felt more reassured that intervening with the Force in this instance was acceptable. If it meant saving this pilot’s life, then that had to be a positive thing, surely?
Remnant: Force Heretic I Page 24