Suddenly, through a break in the trees and coming over the mountains that skirted the nearby cliffs, he spotted the shuttle. He couldn’t believe she’d heard it. Even as the craft drew closer, the sound of its engines was barely audible as it came in to land on the platform.
“Cargo vessel,” he observed. “I’m not sure of the type.” Alex nodded. Here to pick up some ore for transport to the Tempest. Looked as if the underground would have no chance to stop this shipment.
Chance let his macros drop around his neck and noticed the frown on Alex’s face. “You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking,” he said, wondering if she was reconsidering using the Plex against that shuttle platform.
“No,” she said wistfully. Suddenly, she jerked her head to scan the hillsides behind them. She turned quickly back to Chance and held a finger up to her lips. He still heard nothing, but caught a movement through the trees about 20 meters from their position.
“C’mon, this way,” he whispered.
Two scout troopers were patrolling on foot. They hadn’t spotted their quarry, but it was evident that sensors had tipped them off to a presence nearby. Fortunately for Chance and Alex, the troopers had been unable to pinpoint them because sensors didn’t work well around the mines.
Alex crawled behind Chance through the thick underbrush and realized there were more than two troopers. Obviously, they’d called for reinforcements. At least a half dozen more were trying to encircle them.
“They’re all over the place,” Chance whispered back to her.
“We’d better split up,” she told him.
“Okay, head for the speeder,” he said. “And don’t wait for me.”
Alex turned north, hoping the troopers wouldn’t expect her to head toward the perimeter fence that skirted the mining center. With a little luck she could slip right through their trap. She took one look back and saw Chance disappear over a ridge heading east.
Two scout troopers did pass about 10 meters to either side of her. Noise from the mining center masked her footsteps over fallen branches. She moved quickly through the hills, then headed east to find the speeder she and Chance had hidden in one of Garos’ many caves.
Two kilometers later, with no sign of pursuit, she felt safe. Then blaster fire erupted off to her right. Alex moved toward it. Through the trees she spotted Chance, on his knees and cradling his right arm. Moonlight reflected off white armor. One lone scout trooper stood there, with a blaster pointed at Chance’s head. His comrades wouldn’t be far behind. Alex knew there wasn’t much time.
Oh, how she wished to hear those screeching cranes near the mining center now! They were just a distant hum, not nearly loud enough to allow a stealthy approach. She only had one choice.
Okay, Alex. One shot, and it’s got to he a good one. She took a deep breath and brought her blaster rifle up to bear on the scout trooper. She aimed and fired. The blast lit the hillside for a split second before the trooper fell.
“You okay?” Alex asked as she ran up to Chance.
“I’ll make it, LG. Thanks,” he smiled at her. “C’mon, his bike’s over there — agh!” He made the mistake of pointing with his wounded arm and grimaced aloud.
“Better hurry!” she said, helping him to his feet. She could already hear the distant whine of other speeder bikes. “We’re gonna have company.”
They climbed on the bike. Chance sat behind Alex, grasping her waist with his good arm. Alex revved up the engine, punched a button to jam the other troopers’ communications, and hit the accelerator.
Desto Mayda sat in Paca’s office. He was not a happy man. “I still can’t believe we can come up with no reasonable plan to destroy that shuttle platform,” he repeated for the third time.
“Desto, old friend, look what happened to one of our best operatives last night!” His voice was filled with exasperation. “If you can find a way to take out that platform without getting anyone unnecessarily killed. I’m willing to listen,” Paca told him as Alex entered the office.
“Hello, Alex,” Paca greeted her, noticing that the grim expression on her face matched his own mood this morning. “You’ve got something?”
“I was just upstairs with Dair in General Zakar’s office,” she said, referring to one of their people who worked undercover in the Imperial Army. “Have our ops picked up any news of Coruscant?”
“No. Why? What have you heard?”
“The Empire has blockaded Coruscant!”
“We’ll never see help from the New Republic now!” Mayda bellowed.
“Where’s this information coming from?” Paca asked calmly.
“Zakar’s aide Nilo heard it from someone in Imperial communications,” she told them, knowing that a large percentage of the information they’d come across from that particular source was reliable. “And there’s a Star Destroyer on the way to Garos,” she added, repeating the news her father told her. “It looks like they plan to move that ore.”
“What next?” Mayda exclaimed.
It seemed like they’d heard nothing but bad news since this Grand Admiral had surfaced. Even on Garos, the underground had been unable to make any inroads in recent days. When would it all end.
Mayda impatiently tapped the monitor on Paca’s desk which showed a display of the mining center. “Alex, speaking of the ore,” he said. “We’ve been discussing that shuttle platform.”
Alex’s eyebrows raised in question. Paca rubbed his hand across his forehead, unable to believe that Mayda was pursuing this topic again. Alex saw the look on his face and hid a grin.
“You’re one of the few people who’ve seen the complex up close,” Mayda was saying. “Is there no way we can destroy it?”
“Desto, we’ve been over this a hundred times,” Paca reminded him. “To the west and south, we’re cut off by the Tahika Cliffs. And security has been quadrupled in the last few months —”
“What about using the Plex?” he looked at Alex, ignoring Paca. “We’d practically have to be in the complex to get a good shot at It,” Alex said.
“Too risky,” Paca interrupted. “At that close range, what would be your chance of getting away before Imperial troops came down on top of you?”
Alex looked Mayda straight in the eye. She remembered what she and Chance had gone through just a few hours earlier. “Impossible.”
He pounded his fist on the desk, filled with frustration. “What about a supply run?” he asked, though that idea had already been rejected in other discussions.
Paca was shaking his head, no again. But suddenly, Alex’s eyes lit up.
“Wait a minute,” she said, suddenly remembering another conversation she’d overheard in the general’s office. “Inspection tour.” Alex’s eyes darted around the room as a plan began to formulate in her mind. “My father and the general are going on an inspection tour tomorrow,” she told them.
“No, Alex,” Paca said firmly. “If you went along, and if you managed to plant some charges, you’d be a prime suspect —”
“Let’s hear her plan, Paca,” Mayda said.
“This will work,” she said, nodding her head. “Let me explain …”
A little while later —
“… And we’ll have a team waylay the pilot after we return from the inspection. The platform explodes, the pilot turns up missing — they’ll have to suspect he’s responsible for the sabotage.”
Mayda nodded excitedly. “The explosion will have to be timed to go off before there’s a change of guards. When that platform blows, there won’t be anyone around to dispute your story,” he observed. “No one would dare question the daughter of our Imperial Governor.”
Paca nodded slowly. “It just might work,” he said.
“It will,” Mayda said confidently.
Paca looked from Mayda to Alex. There were a lot of details to work out. “Okay. Let’s go over this one more time …”
The Lambda-class shuttle swept in from the west, approaching the mining center complex over
the Locura Ocean. The pilot turned southward and skirted the Tahika Cliffs after receiving clearance from Air Defense Command.
Shortly after they’d departed the spaceport, Alex made herself at home in the cockpit, casually throwing her cape over the back of her seat. She engaged the pilot in conversation, enchanting him with her knowledge of the shuttle. She tried to talk him into letting her fly — after all, she did have nine years of experience and was considered one of the best pilots on Garos IV. But with General Zakar on board, the young lieutenant wasn’t about to let any civilian, even the daughter of the Imperial Governor, fly his ship.
The shuttle flew inland over the Cliffs. For several seconds the only view was of treetops, then the landing platform came into view, carefully nestled between trees and mountains. The pilot eased his way through the towering trees and gently set the ship down, landing near a cargo vessel.
Major General Carner, the commanding officer of the mining center, approached the shuttle with four stormtroopers at his heels. They snapped to attention as the shuttle’s hatch hissed open.
“Governor Winger, General Zakar, Miss Winger. Welcome to the mining center. We are ready for inspection,” he said crisply.
“Thank you, General,” Winger replied. “I see you’re already busy transporting the ore,” he said, pointing to the cargo shuttle.
“Yes, we’re finally able to get our work done without interference from the underground,” Carner told them.
“Excellent,” General Zakar agreed.
“If you will please follow me.”
The turbolift whisked them down to ground level in less than a minute. Not much time, Alex thought. Another stormtrooper popped to attention when the door slid open, then followed the group at a discreet distance down a path toward the main part of the complex. Major General Carner delighted in showing off his crack troops, his well-defended garrison, and of course, his shuttle platform.
Alex shivered as a cold breeze swept through the complex. She reached over and touched her father’s arm. “I left my cape on the shuttle, Father. You continue with the tour, and I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes.”
“Of course, my dear.”
“I’ll start our inspection at the bunker, Miss Winger,” Carner said, pointing to a building that was carved into the mountain on the far side of the complex.
“I’ll meet you there,” she said, returning to the turbolift. As the lift sped back up some 40 meters. Alex studied the access control panel. Boy, she thought, this is going to be interesting.
The door slid open. Stormtroopers remained on guard. Alex ignored them and headed straight for the shuttle. The pilot nodded to her and smiled when he saw her grab the cape. “Cold out there?”
“Very cold,” she told him as she threw the cape around her shoulders and walked back down the ramp.
All right, she thought. Here goes nothing.
The turbolift door had barely closed behind her when Alex reached for the medallion she wore. The sharp, pointed edges of the sunburst design made an excellent tool for prying things open. Wouldn’t her father be surprised that she’d found such an ingenious use for his gift?
In less than four seconds, the access panel was open. Alex pulled some specially-rigged charges from her cape’s inside pocket. She pressed the detonite compound into the recess around exposed control circuits, then pushed the timer into the opening. In the darkened niche, her fingers fumbled across tiny buttons. And too late, she realized that the timer was counting down, set to go off in four minutes!
Alex beat her fist against the wall. “Relax,” she told herself. “It will all work out.” She replaced the control panel a half second before the turbolift door opened back on the ground level.
But she wasn’t prepared to see the stormtrooper blocking her way out of the lift. She gasped, and took a step backwards. But he, too, seemed to be caught off guard, then stepped aside to let her pass. That’s when she came face to face with Cord Barzon.
No! This can’t be happening!
Cord’s eyes met hers. He smiled, almost embarrassed by his predicament. He shrugged his shoulders, lifting his hands to display the binders. Alex was struck by his calmness, his casual acceptance of the situation. She could sense that Cord understood the politics behind his imprisonment. And there was no fear in his heart, no anger toward his father.
“Cord, I —”
“Sorry, Miss. No talking with the prisoner,” the stormtrooper told her.
Alex walked past Cord, holding his gaze.
Was there anything she could do to stop them? It wasn’t just a matter of compromising herself — she’d be condemning dozens of others in the underground. Her knowledge alone, in the hands of the Empire, could wipe out the resistance movement in Ariana.
Could she hold them here a few minutes — three very long minutes? “Sergeant, where are you taking this man?”
“You’ll have to take that up with General Zakar.”
“But —”
Another stormtrooper prodded Cord into the lift. Alex started to say something else, but the door slid shut, rendering its own judgement. She stared at the door, unable to look away, knowing that for whatever ill-timed stroke of fate. Cord Barzon was about to die.
Alex turned slowly, and forced herself to move away from the shuttle platform. Her mind was filled with turmoil. Though she’d risked her own life time and again, she’d never been faced with a situation like this. To sacrifice one life so others could continue the fight — it was a decision she hoped she would never have to make again.
Major General Carner had just finished explaining the bunker’s defensive system as Alex joined the inspection tour. “Ah, just in time, Miss Winger,” he said. “Shall we go in?”
Alex smiled and nodded. She took one last look at the shuttle platform. She hoped that Carl Barzon would understand.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the complex. Alex grabbed her father and instinctively fell to the ground, pulling him down with her. Within seconds, a dozen more explosions erupted outside the perimeter fence. Alex looked up cautiously and watched as the support leg of the landing platform groaned. In what seemed like slow motion, twisting, screeching metal finally gave way as the platform crashed to the ground.
General Zakar read the preliminary report on his datapad, then shook his head in disgust. He had stormed into Imperial Headquarters over an hour earlier, after that disaster at the mining center. He had underestimated the Garosian underground for the last time. As soon as this business with Dr. Barzon was concluded he would deal with them.
He clicked on the intercom. “Haslip, would you come into my office?”
“Right away, sir,” the voice on the other end replied.
“You wanted to see me, General?” Dair Haslip said as he entered Zakar’s office.
“I’ve prepared this report for Captain Emba on the Tempest,” Zakar said as he pulled a card from the datapad. “Please take it down to communications and have them encrypt and transmit immediately, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, General,” he replied.
The intercom buzzed. “Yes?” Zakar said.
“Dr. Barzon is here, General,” Lt. Polg called from the outer office.
“Bring him in,” Zakar said, catching a glimpse of the frown on Haslip’s face, but dismissing it as a sign of curiosity.
Dair recovered quickly, his straight-laced expression gave no hint that he and Carl Barzon were comrades in the underground. “Will there be anything else, General?” Dair asked.
“No, that will be all for now, Haslip.”
Carl Barzon’s hands were manacled, his face was pale and drawn. As Dair walked past him, they exchanged a brief glance, an imperceptible nod of the head. The door slid shut.
“Dr. Barzon. Please, come in. Sit down,” he said.
Barzon didn’t say a word. He eyed his adversary, taking a seat across from the general.
Zakar ignored the glare. “I’m sorry to bring you here in this manner,” he apologized
. “Guard, remove Dr. Barzon’s binders.”
“What is it that you want, General?” Barzon finally asked as he massaged his sore wrists.
“I understand your son was arrested earlier this week,” Zakar said, noting the momentary flicker of pain in the other man’s eyes. He paused, waiting to see a further response, but Barzon offered none. “Doctor, if you want my help in securing Cord’s release, then you must cooperate with me.”
“Cooperate?” Barzon questioned. “My son has done nothing wrong!”
Good, thought Zakar, a reaction — there was anger in Barzon’s voice. “No. of course not,” he agreed.
“Why have you taken Cord, General?”
Zakar chose not to answer that question. No, he couldn’t let
Barzon know that Cord was already dead. They’d have nothing to hold over him. He leaned forward in his chair. “You see, Doctor, your recent inactivity has not gone unnoticed. The Grand Admiral is —” he paused for more effect, “displeased that you’ve not made progress on your research with the ore.”
Barzon turned defensive. “I have spent years working on this project! Research takes time, General.”
Zakar studied the other man’s face. “The Grand Admiral feels you may need more incentive to complete your research,” Zakar told him.
Barzon sighed, nodding his head in understanding. “So you have kidnapped my son and will hold him hostage until I give you what you want.”
“Kidnap is such a harsh word, Doctor.”
“General, if I had the answers, I would gladly give them to your Grand Admiral to secure my son’s release. But I do not. Breakthroughs do not come overnight. It may be years before the ore is refined to a point that the Empire might find it useful in the construction of cloaked weapons.”
“Nevertheless, Doctor, perhaps this will give you a reason to work harder.” Zakar noticed that Barzon’s anger was subsiding, the emotion that replaced it was not hard to decipher. Barzon stared out the window, a blank expression on his face. Breaking a man’s spirit was not something Zakar relished, but orders had to be followed. Was it not for the glory of the Empire?
Star Wars - The Adventures of Alex Winger 6 - Shadows of Darkness Page 2