The Desperate Mission

by Jude Watson

  airspeeder.

  He could see, out of the corner of his eye, how fast arid accurate

  Ferus was, deflecting blaster fire on the weaving vehicle. He kept pace

  with the turns, amazingly able to balance without falling off. Obi-Wan

  careened down the wide hallway. It was hard to negotiate such a tight space

  on an air-speeder, especially one that wasn't balanced, and he was afraid

  of knocking Ferus off.

  Someone shot off a rocket. They heard the whoosh of air displacement.

  "Left!" Ferus shouted, looking back, and Obi-Wan yanked the speeder to

  the left.

  The targeting computer sent the rocket after them. The airspeeder did

  a wild dance in the air, zigzagging crazily down the hall while officers

  and troopers dived for cover. The rocket missed them by a millimeter and

  exploded against a wall, sending several stormtroopers flying. Obi-Wan felt

  it stir his hair. That was way too close for his comfort.

  The engine began to smoke. Obi-Wan pushed it one last time, making a

  sudden, quick right turn into an empty hallway. The speeder made the turn

  but then the steering gave out. Obi-Wan and Ferus leaped off and the

  airspeeder crashed into the wall.

  The vehicle burst into flames. The hallway filled up with smoke.

  Alarms went off. Sprinklers sprayed water down on the hallway.

  They had seconds. Less than seconds.

  Above their heads, Obi-Wan spied an air vent. He wrenched the cover

  off.

  Ferus needed no prompting. He hoisted himself up and swung his legs

  inside. Obi-Wan followed, pulling himself up and into a wide plastoid duct

  in the air control system. He repositioned the vent. They wouldn't take

  long to figure out where they'd gone, but this should buy a few minutes.

  Ferus began to crawl down the duct, moving as silently as a Jedi.

  They had only crawled a few meters when they heard the blaster fire

  riddle the vent cover. They heard the clang as it fell.

  They hadn't bought minutes, after all. Only a few seconds. Which,

  considering that they were in the midst of an Imperial garrison, wasn't

  nearly enough.

  They quickly scurried around a curve. Ferus pointed to a filtering

  screen. Obi-Wan nodded.

  Carefully, Ferus lifted it off and disappeared through the hole. Obi-

  Wan followed. Ferus was balanced on a water pipe, holding the screen. Obi-

  Wan hoisted himself out, and Ferus replaced the screen. They were now

  outside the air grid and in the middle of a matrix of pipes. Some of the

  pipes were hot, and the air felt close and steamy.

  They would have to move by hanging onto the pipes. It would take

  extraordinary stamina, but the stormtroopers would not think of checking

  for them there.

  Ferus moved hand over hand quickly. Obi-Wan followed. They moved

  swiftly through the building until they could not hear their pursuers in

  the adjacent airflow ducts.

  Ferus hauled himself up and straddled a pipe. Obi-Wan did the same.

  Ferus's forehead was damp with sweat. "Any ideas on where to go next?"

  "We'll never get out of here if we don't know where we are," Obi-Wan

  said. "We have to find an exit."

  "If we find an empty office with a datapad, we can look up the

  building diagrams," Ferus said. "We need a couple of exit strategies."

  "Let's try it," Obi-Wan agreed.

  They continued on until they found a utility panel below them. Obi-Wan

  hung by his knees. He closed his eyes, listening, searching for the living

  Force. When he was sure, he pried off the panel. Past the sensor suite

  inside, he could look down into an empty office. There was just enough room

  to crawl through.

  Carefully Obi-Wan wiggled into the sensor suite and then dropped into

  the room. Ferus followed. The room held only a table made out of one slab

  of polished stone and one chair. A cloak with a deep hood was thrown over

  the chair. It was the darkest of maroons, the red of a terrible bruise.

  "I have a bad feeling about this," Obi-Wan said.

  "I think we've landed in Malorum's private office." Ferus's eyes

  gleamed. "We get lucky at last."

  "My point is, hurry up."

  Ferus moved immediately to the datapad on the table. Obi-Wan stood

  guard at the door.

  "Find the building schematic first," Obi-Wan said. "If we don't get

  out of here, we can't do much of anything."

  "Right. I'll download the building diagrams." Ferus quickly accessed

  the file and downloaded it into his pocket datapad. He tossed it to Obi-Wan

  while he accessed the files.

  "He's got tons of surveillance files, but not much on Bellassa... hey,

  have you ever heard of a place called Polis Massa?"

  Obi-Wan felt himself turn to ice. "Yes."

  Ferus began to scroll through the file. "It's got about ten levels of

  security on the file. Must be something."

  "Try to crack it."

  "Okay..." Ferus's fingers flew over the keys. "I got the first one...

  he hired an investigator to examine med records from the clinic. But

  there's no record of what he was looking for. Or if he found anything."

  Obi-Wan closed his eyes briefly. Polis Massa was where they had taken

  Padm¨ to deliver her children in safety. In what he had thought was safety.

  It was where she had died.

  Here it was. Here was the connection he was looking for. Ferus was the

  key, because the man who was looking for Ferus was looking for information

  on Padme's death as well. The rumor was that she'd been killed by a Jedi

  during the "rebellion."

  "He's gathering data for Lord Vader, but he hasn't transmitted any,"

  Ferus said. "I can't make it out. The security controls are too tight."

  "Someone's coming."

  "Aw, I was just going to take the wheels off his chair."

  "Ferus, will you come on?" Obi-Wan jumped behind the curtains. It

  wasn't the best hiding place, but they didn't have much choice. They didn't

  have time to get up into the ceiling again.

  They heard the door swish open. Heavy boots thumped in.

  Obi-Wan peeked through the curtain. He had to suppress a groan. It was

  Malorum - and Boba Fett.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Ferus heard Malorum's voice ring through the room. He and Obi-Wan

  could see through a slit in the heavy curtains.

  "I took a chance on you." Malorum's voice hissed like a slithering

  creature. "Even though you failed to bring me what I needed on Polis Massa,

  or Naboo. Your record, despite your youth, was impressive."

  Boba Fett was no longer wearing his helmet. He stood, holding it under

  one arm. His dark eyes didn't flicker despite the abuse. Ferus had seen

  that look before, in other young beings after the wars. They had seen too

  much and had suffered too much at an early age. Boys like Trever. Yet

  Trever, despite his criminal ways, was good at heart. This one, Ferns

  thought, was damaged.

  "You let them get away!" Malorum raised his voice and hit each word

  hard.

  Still, Boba said nothing. Ferus was impressed and a little

  disconcerted at. Boba's silence. The young man had a little too much

  assurance. It was unnerving.

  Even Malorum looked u
nsettled. "Aren't you going to say anything'?

  Because of you, Ferus Olin escaped and was able to return to Ussa. Now he's

  somewhere in this building!"

  "Isn't that what you wanted'?" Boba asked. "You wanted to show the

  citizens of Ussa that you could get him. You got him. If he's in the

  building, you'll find him. He can't get out."

  Malorum leaned in closer. "You were hired to find him. I'm telling you

  that he's here. Bring him to me."

  "I told you when I took the job that I needed to know everything,"

  Boba said. "You didn't tell me Jedi would be involved."

  "I didn't know."

  "It was your business to know it."

  "Did you recognize him?"

  "No. But he's very skilled."

  "Interesting," Malorum murmured. "Are you using the Jedi as an excuse

  for your failure?"

  "No," Boba said. "It just makes the job more challenging. And more

  expensive."

  "You have already been paid the top rate," Malorum said. "I'm not

  authorized to pay any more."

  "Then get authorized," Boba said.

  "I need you to track them right now! They could be anywhere!"

  Boba still didn't answer.

  "This will be your last job for me," Malorum hissed angrily. "Consider

  yourself authorized. Now get that lethal companion of yours and find those

  two. And don't fail this time."

  The door opened. Boba Fett strode out. Malorum followed, the train on

  his robe twitching like a tail.

  "That Boba seems eerily competent," Ferus murmured. "Can you imagine

  what his father was like?"

  "All too well," Obi-Wan said, remembering a certain battle on Kamino.

  Obi-Wan accessed the building diagrams and studied them quickly.

  "There's a landing platform next to the prison area. It's used for a

  service entrance and also the registration for prisoner transfer. I think

  we should try that one. We can get there through the piping system."

  "Not to argue with you, Obi-Wan, but wouldn't you think there might be

  additional security in the prison?"

  "Trevor told me that the Imperials couldn't get the citizens of the

  city to help them with garbage collection, laundry, things like that - it

  was hard to find people who would profit from the occupation of their

  planet."

  "Yes. It drove the Imperials crazy. They have to import most of their

  support services. They hate that."

  "They brought in droids to run all the internal waste removal and

  laundry collection systems. According to Trever, Mariana picks up the

  laundry from the droids at nine every morning. That means the droids have

  to access the service door..."

  "... to the landing platform, where there might be a vehicle for us to

  liberate. That's in about six minutes." Ferus pushed his hands through his

  hair. "Are you telling me that in order to get out of here, I have to break

  into prison?"

  Obi-Wan nodded.

  "I like your thinking, Master Kenobi."

  Back up into the vent again, they squeezed along the tiny opening that

  led to the pipes. There was a larger outflow pipe here that they were able

  to crawl on top of. Obi-Wan had memorized the route, and he led the way to

  the prison.

  Suddenly he stopped. "We must be entering the prison now," he said.

  "There's a security system up ahead."

  "Can you tell what kind'?"

  "Infrared. It scans for all known body temperatures and bypasses

  mechanical heating systems. Just in case one of the prisoners decides to

  crawl up into a vent to hide, I suppose. An alarm will go off."

  "Let me disable it."

  "No, that will just tip them off. We're going to have to use the Force

  to slow our body processes down. We don't have far to go. Do you think you

  could manage it?"

  Ferus hesitated. "Maybe. But if I can't, you'll be caught. I'm still

  rusty, and if I fail, we both fail. You go, Obi-Wan. I'll find another way.

  "

  Obi-Wan held his gaze. "You can do it. I've felt it. I know you can do

  it. I know you can be a Jedi again."

  Ferus swallowed. What if he was responsible for Obi-Wan being

  captured? He had dragged him into this.

  Come on, Ferus, I can see you thinking. Siri's crooked grin rose in

  his mind. Looks like it might hurt, thinking that hard. Let's just go ahead

  and do it. Let your thoughts be actions until you aren't thinking at all.

  Just moving.

  "Let's do it," he said.

  They reached out for the Force together, and he felt it grow.

  I know you can be a Jedi again.

  He closed his eyes, calling on the Force and willing his body

  temperature to drop. He felt his skin, and it was cold.

  Obi-Wan began to move. Ferus followed. They moved quickly, their

  bodies staying cool despite the heat coming from the pipes. Ferus didn't

  feel it. He felt only the Force, and the connection to Obi-Wan.

  Remembering the diagram, Obi-Wan kicked through a vent and they landed

  in a closet. They peeked out the door. They saw a droid with a repulsorlift

  cart filled with laundry. He stopped outside a room and entered, leaving

  the cart outside.

  Ferus and Obi-Wan slipped out the door and leaped into the cart,

  burrowing underneath sheets and comforters. A moment later a load of towels

  was dropped on their heads. The cart lurched forward.

  The cart moved slowly down the hall as the droid stopped every few

  meters to collect more laundry. At last they drew up in front of the door

  leading to the private landing platform.

  The droid moved forward to access the control panel.

  Suddenly there was the sound of booted feet striking the hard floor. A

  voice rang out: "Stop!" It was a lower-ranked Imperial officer, accompanied

  by a lone stormtrooper.

  The droid turned. "Access to landing platform daily at this time."

  "We're on high alert. No exits. That includes building utility

  servicing."

  The sensor light flashed.

  "Laundry service requesting delivery," the droid said.

  "Tell them to go away," the officer said curtly. The droid moved

  forward and pressed a button on the security panel. "No laundry service

  today. No admittance to landing platform."

  "Aw, c'mon, chief!"

  Ferus and Obi-Wan exchanged a glance. It was Trever.

  "Not a chief, a service droid. No admittance," the droid repeated.

  "I'm not leaving."

  The Imperial officer strode forward. "Then we'll blast you out. Get

  moving." He pressed a button, and a vidscreen was suddenly filled with

  Trever's image.

  "Look, I've got General Malorum's robes here - " Trever said.

  "He's not a general, he's Inquisitor Malorum."

  "Whatever. I've got his robes, and he specifically requested this

  morning delivery."

  "We're on high alert..."

  "Yeah, yeah, I heard that. So you tell him he won't get his stuff.

  Have you ever told him one of his orders wasn't followed?" Trever shrugged.

  "Better you than me."

  "Hold on."

  Obi-Wan could see a trickle of sweat bead on the officer's hairline

  and drip down the side of his face. He could refuse the delivery, and

 
; Malorum would blame him. Or he could just let the delivery pass through,

  and Malorum would get his robes.

  "Just this one delivery," the officer told the droid as he pressed the

  release.

  The droid activated the cart and it began to move toward the doors.

  They were almost there. Almost free.

  An alarm suddenly sounded, and the door stopped sliding open.

  "Something overrode the door," the officer said nervously.

  Ferus and Obi-Wan leaped out of the cart at the same instant. This was

  their only chance, and they had to take it.

  The officer turned, his mouth agape, and began to fumble for his

  blaster. Obi-Wan leaped up and Force-pushed the officer against the wall.

  The stormtrooper had his blaster out. Ferus held out a hand to Force-

  push him away from the door, but nothing happened.

  Well, it's not like he could expect to get it right every time.