Halt's Peril (2 page)

"Can you get me a reading on the layout and security?" she said softly.

Lowbacca growled a question. In response, Jaina sent him mental images of their recent battle in the Yuuzhan Vong worldship, flashed back to him the terror and uncertainty of fighting their way through the unknown. A knowledge of the worldship's layout might have made a difference, might have saved some of the lives lost in that terrible place. A soft, whirring moan escaped the Wookiee as he acknowledged their shared loss, and the prudence of Jaina's precaution.

She straightened up and turned to the technician. "I need to speak with Sinsor Khal. Can you show me where I might find him?"

A peculiar expression crossed the young womans face, but she pulled out her comlink again and relayed Jaina's recuest. Lowbacca deftly affixed a holocube to an output terminal and transferred the requested data. This he surreptitiously passed to Jaina.

In moments an armed escort arrived and guided her through a maze of pristine white halls. They left her before a large door, nodded toward a palm reader mounted beside the door, and left at a much faster pace than that which had brought them here.

Jaina shrugged, then placed her hand against the device. The door irised open. She ducked through into a large room, one crowded with so much equipment, all of it in such disarray, that for a moment Jaina suspected she was viewing the result of a head-on collision between two large ships. The door snapped shut behind her with a clan? like that of a prison door.

She crept through the room, surveying it as she might a battlefield. When she knew all she needed, she slipped out the way she'd come and retraced her steps through the corri-dors, finally making her way back to their ship.

Kyp awaited her in the hold, his lean face grim and his eyes holding no trace of the sly humor bed turned against Tenel Ka. He nodded toward their shared secret-- the Hapan prisoner hidden in the hold, kept in a Force-induced trance so deep that the two other Jedi couldn't perceive the presence of a fifth person aboard ship.

"Lets hear it," he said without preamble.

"You know that this man is a Yuuzhan Vong collaborator," Jaina began, "and that he attacked Tenel Ka, a member of the Hapan royal family. That's a capital crime on Hapes. If we hadn't helped him escape, he would have been executed."

Kyp shifted one shoulder in a negligent shrug. "Jedi are sworn to protect all living things, yet I find myself strangely unable to shed tears on his behalf."

"The Vong gave him a coral slave implant," she went on. "This is a communication and control device. I want to have it removed, tested, and modified. Ultimately I want to hit the Yuuzhan Vong with their own

"weapons."

Interest sparked in the Jedi Masters eyes. Jaina activated the holocube, and a shining model of the building's layout took shape, floating in the air between them.

"Lowbacca's good. He got me this without anyone realizing what he was doing. He can just as easily remove any records from the system. We get this man in, we get out, we erase our footsteps.

Lowbacca can wipe anyone off the security records we don't want to leave there, and rumor has it that you've had practice removing unwanted memories from people."

She glanced expectantly at Kyp. He nodded for her to continue.

"Heres the lab, down in this lower level. I've already been there. These plans have all the details we need, but I wanted to see the layout "with my own eyes and get a feel for it through the Force. Here's what I think we should do."

Kyp listened intently to her plan, his expression inscrutable. His eyes flickered, once, when she concluded her proposal by noting, "You asked me to be your apprentice. This is where it starts."

He leaned against the wall and folded his arms. "You have a high opinion of your value."

"Thats the asking price." Jaina spread both hands and gave him her best imitation of her fathers trademark smirk. "Do you want me or not?"

For a long moment tbe two Jedi locked stares.

"You know we could never speak of this, not to anyone," Kyp said.

"Wbo would I tell?" sbe retorted. "Uncle Luke?"

He lowered bis head in a slow nod, holding ber gaze. "All right, then. Let's get it done."

It took both Jedi to wrestle their prisoner into a green flight suit, even though he was still deep in stasis. The Hapan was a big man, at least a bead taller than Kyp and heavily muscled. He was enough trouble as deadweight; Jaina figured bed be much worse awake.

His recent fight with Tenel Ka bad revealed considerable skill in tbe Hapan kickboxing style. Two Jedi could certainly bandle him, but not without drawing unwanted attention.

Finally the task was done. Jaina sat back on ber beels and tucked a stray wisp of brown hair behind one ear.

"I say we transport him like this. Put bim on a repulsor sled."

Kyp shook his head.

"Three of us walking away from the ship wouldn't draw much notice.

Two walking and one floating... thats likely to raise some questions.

Plus, the ventilation tunnels are light and beat sensitive. The sled doesn't generate much heat, but tbe control lights might be enough to tip off trie sensors"

"I could reset the controls."

"Sure, but that would take time. I doubt we've got mucb to spare."

Jaina conceded with a nod. She watched intently as Kyp placed a hand on the mans temples. She felt the Jedi Master reach out into the prisoner's mind, felt him use the Force to peel back the shields holding him in torpor.

The big man came awake suddenly, thrashing and sputtering like a man drowning in a sea of nightmares. His eyes focused on Jaina, and he abruptly fell still and silent. Memory flickered in them, and then a searing flash of panic... hers had been the last face he'd seen before an invisible fist seized bis mind and crushed it into darkness and silence.

The Hapan hauled himself to a sitting position and scuttled away, crab-walking backward as he put as much distance between himself and the young Jedi as possible.

"Why?" he demanded in a dry, raspy tone.

Jaina knew precisely what he meant. Why had his escape from the prisons of Hapes heen arranged? Why were his two compatriots allowed to continue the escape, while he was kept hehind? Why had he been mind-controlled and stashed in the hold of some ship: She sent him a reassuring smile.

"Princess Tenel Ka has issued a conditional pardon. She understands the Yuuzhan Vong implant might have prompted you to attack her. We've brought you to Gallinore to have it removed. Afterward, if you'll recant your desertion, and if a Jedi inquiry shows that you're free of any further treasonous intent, your pardon will take full effect."

"Why?" he repeated in a stronger tone.

"We're trying to win back deserters, especially those who might possess valuable infor mation about the Yuuzhan Vong. Hapes needs all the good pilots it can get."

Wary blue eyes searched her face as the man weighed her claim.

"And the other two men? The pirates who escaped with me?"

"They'll be picked up before they leave Hapess atmosphere. Since were circumventing Hapan law, we've got to keep this quiet until we know for sure that the effort is worthwhile. Your friends set-away ships will be reported as destroyed. That way, if they don't rehabilitate, they'll already be listed as dead."

Jaina lifted one eyebrow, underscoring the choices before him. She deliberately made her story grim enough to be plausible and added a powerful nudge of Jedi persuasion. After a moment the man accepted his

"reprieve" with a nod. The two Jedi helped him to his feet and flanked him as they headed toward the pilot refresher facility.

"We're going in through the ventilation tunnels," Jaina explained as they slippec into a dimly lit side corridor.

They stopped before a large, circular hatch. Kyp caught her wrist as she reached for the controls. "Wait. The light in this hall could trigger an alarm."

He drew his lightsaber and swept it in a shining arc toward the ceiling lights. They flared sharply and then blinked out, leaving the hall in darkness.

Immediately a profound chill swept through Jaina. She reached out for their prisoner with a hand that suddenly was heavy and numb. Her fingers closed around the Hapar.s wrist. His skin felt cold to the touch.

"What is this?" he demanded thickly. "What's happening?"

"I have to lower our body temperature to match the air temperature in the tunnels," Kyp responded. "It might not be comfortable, but its necessary. Move slowly, keep alert.

Remember, if we're caught, the Gallinore officials will send you right back to that Hapan prison."

"I copy," the man mumbled.

Jaina eased the door open and hauled herself into the tunnel. The rounded passage was just big enough to crawl through, and it sloped downward. As Jaina pulled herself along, she quickly became grateful for the decline. The tunnels were cold, and her chilled limbs felt sluggish and unresponsive.

Finally the tunnel leveled out, and an almost imperceptible bluish glow dawned at the end. Jaina picked up her pace. The tunnel opened into a rounded corridor big enough to allow them to walk upright. She rolled out, reveling in the soft light. The tunnel was still painfully cold, but after the utter darkness of the side tunnels, the faint diffused light felt oddly reassuring. She stepped aside to allow the Hapan to emerge.

The big man crawled out and stretched, then rolled his shoulders to loosen cramped muscles.

He fell into step with the two Jedi, walking nearly as quietly as his much-smaller captors. Jaina reached out with the Force, trying to measure his mood and intentions. She picked up a high level of anxiety, but under the circumstances that see reasonable.

They moved silently through a maze of tunnels, counting off sidetunnels and drainage shoots, following the pattern that Kyp had committed to memory. Finally the Jedi Master pointed to a hatch on the far wall.

"That's it," he said softly.

Without warning, the Hapan dropped to the floor and executed a quick leg sweep. His attack was unbelievably quick - - would have been even if he hadn't been chilled to near-immobility. Kyp went down, and his tumble save Jaina time to stumble back a couple of paces. The prisoner completed the spin and came up in one fluid movement.

He pivoted to one side, brought his knee up and snapped off a quick kick. Instantly Jaina fell back into lessons learned during her brief apprenticeship with Mara Jade. Recognizing the feint, she ducked - under the first high kick. She pivoted hard toward the kickboxer, timing her momentum to his second kick and slamming her stiffened forearm against the sensitive tendon just below the bunched muscle of his calf.

The jolt of impact was not nearly as hard as shed expected. Too late, Jaina recognized the double feint. The Hapans third, powerful kick caught her off balance and sent her flying.

Jaina hit the rounded wall and rolled down. She came up on one knee, too cold and too angry to feel the pain that would certainly come later. The kickboxer advanced, sweeping one stiffened leg up high for a powerful downward chop.

Instinctively Jaina threw out one hand toward her attacker. Dark lightning flared from her fingertips. Jagged, eerily dancing tendrils caught the Hapan, lifted him, and then hurled him across the tunnel.

Once before Jaina had unleashed Force lightning. This time it came more easily - - but once summoned, it was harder to dispel. Streaks of dark energy edged with searing blue-violet shadows poured from her, pinning the writhing, struggling man against the tunnel wall.

She was dimly aware of another power falling like a shadow on her dark and brilliant rage. The lighting ended with an abrupt, audible sizzle as Kyp seized her wrist. He spun her around to face him.

For a moment she simply stared at the Jedi Master, stunned at her own actions and not at all sure whether they would meet with condemnation or approval.

Kyp broke off first. She tracked his gaze up at the ceiling, and noticed the faint hiss com-ing from dozens of small round openings.

"The flash set off the sensors," he said curtly. "Lets get him out."

They hauled the dazed Hapan to his feet and started toward the hatch. A wall of durasteel suddenly slammed down into their path, sealing off the tunnel. Jaina spun in time to see a similar wall fall behind them. The hiss rose in volume, and suddenly a stream of cold, acrid-smelling fluid poured from the valves.

A swift flood of coolant pourec; ir.to the locked-off tunnel, knocking Jaina's feet from •under her and sending her spinning down into the churning fluid. She went under briefly and came up spitting out a mouthful of the bitter stuff.

Something seized her foot and yanked her under again. Jaina flailed about until her hand gazed some metallic hold on the rounded wall. She seized it and struggled to pull away from her attacker. She hauled herself upward, found another handhold. Up she went, rising toward the ceiling by slow, painful centimeters. The coolant numbed her, and her lungs ached and burned. Her struggle ceased abruptly, and she shot upward. Her head broke the surface, and for a few moments all she could do was gasp in air and cling to her cold metal perch.

Jaina looked around for Kyp. Hed found a similar handhold. To her surprise, his free arm was looped under the Hapan's chin, keeping him afloat in a rescuers hold. Shed assumed that the big man had been trying to pull her under, but realized at a glance that he was in condition to continue his attack.

The coolant level continued its swift rise, and the powerful spray coming from above made breathing difficult and speech impossible. Jaina slanted a glance toward the ceiling.

The fluid would soon reach the top. If they didn't find a way out soon, they'd drown.

Kyp caught her eye and looked pointedly toward her left-- toward the unseen force that had tried to pull her under. Jaina noted the vortex rising to the surface, spreading toward them. A drainage tunnel, most likely.

The Jedi Master let go, deliberately releasing himself and his charge into the powerful spiral. Jaina took a long, deep breath and followed.

Down she fell, whirling through the cold and darkness. Her tumbling descent slowed as the wall narrowed, and then diffused light rushed toward her through the tumbling water.