Jedi Apprentice 15: The Death Of Hope (звёздные войны)

by Джуд Уотсон

  "You left in order to save your people," Qui-Gon said.

  "And I failed them. If Kevta is dead, I don't want to see the rest of the camp." Yanci gently laid her head on Kevta's chest. "I will stay here.

  I can't leave him."

  Qui-Gon squeezed her shoulder. Then he stood. Wordlessly, he nodded at Obi-Wan. The two Jedi knew what they were about to find. Death lay ahead of them.

  They walked farther into the camp. Some of the dwellings were still smoking from fires the Absolutes had set. Bodies lay alongside the road.

  The Rock Workers still clutched the tools they had used as weapons.

  Obi-Wan saw Bini on the ground. Her sightless eyes stared up at the sky. He knelt beside her and gently closed her eyelids. "Sleep well," he murmured.

  Qui-Gon entered the school. Several long moments passed before he exited. "It is better for you not to go in," he told Obi-Wan. "The Rock Workers tried to hide the children there. The Absolutes left no one alive."

  Obi-Wan turned away. Qui-Gon was right. He did not need to see it.

  The sound of a speeder rose above the eerie quiet. Eritha rode slowly toward them, her head turning to take in the devastation. She stopped the speeder and got out shakily.

  "This is what they are capable of," she said, her face ashen. "I didn't know. Alani can't be part of this. She must not know the things that they are willing to do."

  They continued their grim tour, looking for survivors. The death toll was complete. There was not a living being in the camp.

  As they started back, they saw Yanci walking toward them. Her legs moved, but she did not seem to be powering them herself. She moved like a droid, with jerky, articulated motion.

  "Everyone is gone," she said. "It was a massacre. There is nothing I can do. I can't find Bini — "

  "I'm sorry," Obi-Wan said gently. "I found her."

  Yanci bowed her head. "I was jealous of Bini. She was close to Kevta.

  It was stupid of me. I can never tell her that." She wandered away and sat on the ground, her head in her hands.

  "Yanci," Qui-Gon called. "Can you tell us what the Absolutes took this time?"

  She lifted her head. "Everything," she said numbly. "All our blasting equipment is gone."

  Qui-Gon nodded. It was what he had expected. "Let's look for clues,"

  he said in a low tone to Obi-Wan.

  They started with the target of the Absolutes — the sheds where the blasting equipment was stored. Here the fiercest fighting had taken place.

  Obi-Wan pushed down the revulsion he felt rise in his throat at the desperate postures of the dead. They lay as they had died, fighting to the last.

  He concentrated on the task, picking over the ground carefully, then moving into the shed.

  Qui-Gon stooped and sifted something through his fingers. When he held up his hand to Obi-Wan, his fingers were stained red.

  "This soil is not from this area," he said. "The Absolutes tracked it in. Look at the boot marks. They aren't the same patterns as the Rock Workers'."

  Obi-Wan bent and took a small sample of soil. He tapped it into a specimen container from his utility belt. "Let's ask Yanci. She said she knew the quarries better than anyone."

  They returned to Yanci, and Obi-Wan showed her the soil. She rubbed it between her fingers.

  "Red," she murmured. "I've seen this soil." She closed her eyes. When she opened them, her gaze was filled with certainty. "I know exactly where their hideout is."

  Chapter 13

  Within minutes, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Eritha were back on their transports. They had entered the coordinates Yanci had come up with into their nav systems.

  Qui-Gon turned to Eritha. "I cannot order you to stay here. But I strongly recommend that you do so."

  She shook her head. "You haven't been able to get rid of me yet.

  After seeing this, how can I stay behind?"

  Qui-Gon turned away, displeased. It would be so much easier if he did not have to worry about Eritha. Despite her strong words, he knew she was not prepared for what they might find.

  "The site is to the west, in the quarries abandoned years ago. As you get closer, the canyons will narrow," Yanci warned. "You will have to abandon your vehicles, even the swoop. You must approach on foot. There is a road, but I'm sure it will be under surveillance. This is the best way to approach without being seen."

  "What will you do?" Obi-Wan asked, concerned. The haunted look had not left Yanci's eyes. She had been damaged and would never be the same.

  "I will bury my dead," Yanci said.

  "I contacted the Workers in the city," Eritha told her. "They are sending help to you. They will be here by dawn tomorrow. Will you be all right?"

  "I am with those I love," Yanci said. "I wish you success on your mission."

  Qui-Gon turned away. He felt a heaviness inside him. For the first time since he had become a Jedi Knight, he could not face someone's grief.

  Grief was part of life, and Jedi saw it more than most. Qui-Gon knew the forms it could take, how it could twist and spiral into rage or revenge or dead numbness. There had been times when sorrow had been so much a part of what he saw that it became the only thing he saw. Part of his training had been to see the joy in the galaxy that existed alongside the grief. He remembered early in his life as a Jedi Knight how he had returned to the Temple for long talks with Yoda. Yoda had helped him see the balance in the galaxy, just as he had taught him the balance in the Force.

  But now he looked at Yanci, and he saw a possibility of what he would become. His eyes would be that empty. His heart would be that shattered.

  Qui-Gon accelerated the engines. The wind blew in his face, making his eyes tear. He knew he was pushing his craft in order to outrun his fear, and he knew it was not what a Jedi should do. But at that moment, the wind and the speed comforted him as no Jedi wisdom could.

  Now that they had a clear direction, they made good time through the quarries. The landscape was rough, with unexpected looming cliffs and canyons. Yanci had prepared them for switchbacks and sudden huge pits of water as large as lakes.

  At last they reached an area where the canyons narrowed to mere slits in the cliff walls. They abandoned their transports as Yanci had told them.

  They proceeded single file through the narrow passages.

  Qui-Gon took the lead. Ahead he saw a line of sky and ground and knew that soon they would be through. He slowed his pace and drew up to the opening.

  In front of him the cliffs widened to embrace a small canyon. A deep pit was to the right, filled with water. The soil around the pit was a muddy red dotted with huge boulders. Sunlight danced on the smooth surface of the water. Some distance to the left he could see the dark opening of a cave. He saw no movement, no sign of living beings.

  Obi-Wan and Eritha crowded behind him to scrutinize the area.

  "There's no one here," Eritha said, disappointed. "Yanci was wrong."

  Obi-Wan spoke quietly. "What do you think, Master? Are we in the wrong place?"

  Qui-Gon reached out for the Force. He tested the air, searching for vibrations. He sent a message to Tahl. 1 am here.

  He received something back a reverberation. Like a gentle touch on his cheek. Like a tiny sigh. Something "No," he said. "This is the place."

  Suddenly they saw the water ripple on the lake. The ripples grew into waves. The two Jedi grew alert.

  "We're wasting time. We should go back," Eritha said.

  The two Jedi remained focused on the lake. "There is no wind," Obi- Wan said.

  "Exactly," Qui-Gon murmured.

  A structure rose from the surface. Water streamed off its curved top.

  An opening slowly widened and a ramp emerged. It extended over the water to dry land. A few seconds later, two tech vehicles sped down the ramp, hit land, and then headed for the cave. They disappeared inside. They did not see the Jedi.

  "Everything is hidden," Qui-Gon said. "The camp can't be seen from the air. Clever."


  "How shall we infiltrate, then?" Obi-Wan asked.

  "We'll have to start with the cave. The tech vehicles didn't seem to go through a checkpoint," Qui-Gon said, scanning the cave entrance. "I don't think there are sensors outside the cave." He turned back to Eritha.

  "Stay here until we send for you."

  "No. If you go without me, I'll follow you." Eritha's jaw set.

  Qui-Gon frowned. "Then stay behind us. Realize that you can endanger this mission if you act hastily. You will follow my orders. Agreed?"

  "Agreed." Eritha flashed a shaky grin. "I'm stubborn, but I'm not stupid."

  "All right," Qui-Gon muttered. "Let's go."

  Chapter 14

  They kept close to the cliff walls and boulders for as long as they could. Then they purposefully walked the short distance to the cave entrance. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan checked for scanners as they moved closer but saw none. Obi-Wan guessed that the Absolutes considered their hideout so well hidden that they did not need to install them.

  They slipped into the darkness of the cave entrance with relief.

  Immediately to the right was a pen where gravsleds and small speeders were kept. There was a bin filled with tech jackets. Qui-Gon signaled to the others, and they each donned one. Eritha hid her hair under a cap and dirtied her face, so she was less recognizable.

  Feeling a little less exposed, they proceeded farther into the cave.

  Glow rods set high in the walls gave faint illumination. They could see that the small opening to the cave was deceptive. As they moved deeper into it, the space widened and extended far in the distance.

  "It goes out under the water," Qui-Gon said in a low tone. "This is bigger than it appears."

  Ahead a few Absolutes in the same tech jackets came walking toward them. Qui-Gon gave them an impersonal nod of greeting. They nodded back and continued walking.

  Eritha let out a shaky breath. "Whew."

  "It appears that there are enough Absolutes working here that not everyone knows one another," Qui-Gon murmured. "Good. Obi-Wan, look for any high-security devices on the tunnels leading off the cave. That could mean that Tahl is being held there."

  Obi-Wan could feel his Master's tension. They were so close now. He reached out to the Force to help him with his perceptions. Nothing could go wrong now. If they were captured, it would mean a delay that could cost Tahl her life.

  They paused by a tunnel that was lined with computer equipment. "This must be the tech-control area," Qui-Gon said. He moved away quickly as someone walked out of a durasteel door and began checking the equipment.

  They walked on, passing other beings who either nodded or walked quickly, focused on their business. Eritha kept her face turned away in case she was recognized despite her disguise. Obi-Wan noted a security sensor bank near an offshoot tunnel. He pointed it out to Qui-Gon.

  "Let's try it," Qui-Gon said.

  Obi-Wan studied the offshoot tunnel entrance. "There's a retinal scan grid to the right. If we pass through, an alarm will go off."

  Qui-Gon studied the sensors and the retinal scan carefully. "They mounted it too low," he said. "I think if we use cable launchers, we can swing over the sensors without tripping them. They probably didn't have time to perfect the system. Look at the drill marks around the sensors.

  This was done recently."

  "Since Balog brought Tahl here?" Obi-Wan asked.

  "Maybe." Qui-Gon turned to Eritha. "You must stay here, Eritha. Alert us with the silent alarm on your comlink if there's trouble. We'll be back as soon as we can. If a patrol comes, walk away as though you have a destination, then circle back. If you hear an alarm sound, hide. It does not necessarily mean that Obi-Wan and I have been captured. Turn on your homing device on your comlink and we'll find you."

  Eritha nodded. "I'll be all right."

  Obi-Wan saw that Qui-Gon didn't like to leave her, but they had no choice. He watched as his Master aimed carefully, sending his cable launcher high into the air to bite into the ceiling of the offshoot tunnel.

  He activated the launcher and it carried him high above. His head almost bumped the ceiling of the cave, but he cleared the sensors and landed on the other side.

  Obi-Wan hoped he would have the same graceful skill. He followed Qui- Gon's lead, holding his breath until his own cable launcher was secure.

  Then he activated the launch mode. It pulled him up quickly, and he scraped against the rough ceiling. He was over the range of the sensors, and was pulled into the tunnel. He landed next to Qui-Gon.

  They hurried down the tunnel. At the end was a durasteel door set into the cave wall. There was no security panel outside the door.

  "What now? If Tahl is in there, someone could be with her."

  Qui-Gon closed his eyes. "I don't feel her," he said in a low voice.

  "But we need to find out why this tunnel has such high security when the others don't. We have to go in."

  He activated his lightsaber and cut through the durasteel, making an opening big enough for them to walk through. Qui-Gon ducked inside the room, and Obi-Wan quickly followed.

  They were in a storage area filled with bins and crates. There was no sign of Tahl or of the sensory deprivation device she had been imprisoned in. Instead, the room was filled with explosives. Crate after crate was labeled, showing that there were extremely powerful devices within.

  "This must be what they stole from the Rock Workers," Obi-Wan said.

  "And some bought on the black market, as well," Qui-Gon added. "Look.

  This is Mota's mark. They have enough explosives here to level the city."

  Obi-Wan looked worriedly at his Master. "What does this mean?"

  "That they are prepared to take over with violence, if they must,"

  Qui-Gon said. "But why the change in plan? As far as we knew, the Absolutes were working to gain power through infiltration and deceit."

  Qui-Gon gave a last swift look around. "Let's go, Padawan. There's nothing here to lead us to Tahl. And I don't like leaving Eritha back there alone."

  Not to mention that they had left a gaping hole in a security door, Obi-Wan thought. As soon as that was discovered, the complex would go on alert.

  They ran back down the tunnel toward the main cave. Suddenly, Obi-Wan felt a disturbance in the Force. His steps slowed just as Qui-Gon's did.

  They didn't need to compare notes. They both knew what they had felt.

  Something had gone wrong.

  They melted back against the wall of the tunnel, then proceeded carefully. The cave came into sight. They saw Eritha surrounded by security. Obviously she was trying to bluff, and not succeeding. She gave one last, desperate look down the tunnel.

  Qui-Gon put his hand on Obi-Wan's arm to prevent him from moving.

  "We can't," he murmured. "As soon as they see us, they'll sound an alarm. Whoever is holding Tahl will know the cave has been invaded. We can't risk it. Let's see how Eritha deals with this."

  Eritha pitched her voice loudly, and it echoed off the walls of the cave. "You fools, don't you know who I am? I am Eritha, daughter of Ewane.

  Contact my sister Alani right this minute. We are helping the Absolutes, you idiots!"

  "You are a Worker — " one of the security officers started.

  "I am a patriot!" Eritha shouted. "Now let me go!"

  "We'll have to check this out first," the officer said. "You'll have to come with us."

  "I will not forget this!" Eritha said as they placed her in the center of the group and began to march her off. "I will get each of your names and you will be hearing from us!"

  "She certainly didn't show fear," Obi-Wan said admiringly.

  "Yes, she handled it well," Qui-Gon said as he stepped out from the shelter of the tunnel wall. "Unfortunately, now we have two to rescue."

  Chapter 15

  Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan waited a moment, then slipped out of the tunnel.

  Obi-Wan could see that his Master was disturbed by this turn of events.

 
; They kept a good distance between themselves and Eritha and her guards, but kept her in sight. The guards marched her farther inside the cave until they came to another high-security entrance to a tunnel. One of the guards accessed the security panel and punched in a code, then pressed his eye against the sensor. When the sensor cleared him, they half-carried Eritha through the opening and down the tunnel.