Tales From the New Republic

by Peter Schweighofer

  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.