Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance (49 page)

The
frightened-looking commander of the transport saluted as Darth
Chratis closed on him.

"Tell
me the drives are locked" was all the Sith said.

"I-I
cannot, my lord. The engine room is not responding. I ordered a
maintenance team..."

"They
will already be dead. Stay here. We will effect the repairs
ourselves. "

Darth
Chratis was already leaving.

"Perhaps
you should evacuate, " said Shigar to the commander before
following. "There's nothing you can do here. "

"Leave
my post?" The Imperial looked affronted at the suggestion.
"Never!"

Shigar
wanted to argue. The blast doors were down, and the hexes would be
back before long. Staying meant certain death for the commander and
his bridge crew.

Instead
he shrugged. Who was he to fight the stubbornness of the Imperial
officer? That wasn't a Jedi's job.

"It's
your decision, I guess. "

Putting
them from his mind, he hurried after Darth Chratis.

"You
waste time, " said the Sith when Shigar caught up.

"You
waste lives. "

"Humans
are replaceable. Seconds are not. "

Shigar
didn't have a good answer to that, so he concentrated on what they
were doing. Darth Chratis was leading him along the transport's
spine, past endless rows of viewports. Outside, the galaxy turned
around them, completing a circuit once every few seconds. The
transport was spinning, although thanks to the artificial gravity
within there was no way of telling. Several hexes were visible,
either swimming helplessly through space or crawling along the outer
hull. The sphere of Sebaddon came and went, and Shigar couldn't tell
if it was growing nearer or not.

A
mass of hexes was waiting for them at the far end, at the entrance to
the engineering section. Force lightning spread through them in
waves, breaking the mass into manageable parts. Shigar leapt into
their midst, deflecting laser pulses back at their owners and
dismembering anything that came within reach. When he misjudged a
sweep and caught a flesh wound on his side, the pain only heightened
his concentration. He moved as though in a dream, with the Force
guiding his every step.

Almost
with regret he reached the far side. There, Darth Chratis was
examining the ion drive controls. They had been partially dismantled
by one of the hexes, presumably with the intent to take control and
send the transport angling upward to infect the rest of the fleet.

Darth
Chratis worked quickly, rewiring the controls into an approximation
of their former state. The deck shook as downward acceleration
resumed.

"You've
done it?" Shigar asked him.

"I
have. "

Darth
Chratis raised a hand, and a section of the wall peeled in, exposing
the space outside. Not space anymore, Shigar realized, hearing a
rising howl around them. They were entering atmosphere.

"After
you, my boy, " said the Sith.

Reluctant
though Shigar was to turn his back on one of the Jedi's ancient
enemies, he knew that for now he was safe. His Master had been
utterly correct. That bloodred blade was the last thing he had to
fear.

Four
running steps took Shigar to the hole. The fifth would take him all
the way from the burning ship to the planet's surface.

He
leapt, vowing, I will never be your apprentice, Darth Chratis.

A
silken sinister voice came back to him in reply.

Make
no rash promises. After all, I may soon be in need of a new one.

Shigar
closed his mind against any further intrusions, and concentrated
solely on falling.

CHAPTER
36

Ax
touched down neatly on both feet. The ground was secure: no hidden
traps or pitfalls. She punched the button on her harness, and the
jet-chute shut down and her airfoil fell away. Sebaddon's gravity was
a little less than standard, leaving her feeling slightly
light-headed, but only for a moment. Apart from the yellow jets from
the black hole, the sky was red, reflecting the glow of the
surrounding lava. Keeping her eyes peeled for hexes, she took two
steps forward and looked around for the others who had dropped from
orbit with her. Master Satele was one of them. She didn't like
knowing there was a Jedi loose she couldn't account for.

The
squad she'd been nominally part of had aimed for one of the most
complex sections of the CI center. From the air, the island as a
whole resembled a giant hedge maze, with long, winding buildings
connected by thick cables and pipes. She had landed in what could
have been an angular, steep-walled street, except that there were no
doors, windows, or pedwalks. The purpose of the buildings was
unknown, but it was clear that the site was still under construction.
One squad had targeted the machines responsible for expanding the
structure, while the rest intended to strike at its heart-or what
appeared to be its heart from orbit, at least. There were three
possible locations, and she was in one of them.

Above
her, troopers rained from the sky like seedpods, dropping into their
own droid-made little canyons. None appeared to be landing near her.
She tried her suit's comlink, but both Darth Chratis and Master
Satele were either off the air or being jammed. The former's stricken
transport shone in the sky like a bright star, haloed with black
smoke. It appeared to be coming right for her.

She
quickly decided that her landing spot was jinxed, lacking even hexes
to kill. So, picking a direction at random, she loped along the
canyon, taking what cover she could in blurry-edged shadows. She kept
her unlit lightsaber in her hand. Discretion was the better part of
valor, particularly on a planet of hexes programmed to kill Sith
warriors on sight.

If
only, she thought as she had many times, there was some way to tap
into that core programming and turn it to her advantage. It was
entirely possible that Lema Xandret had put a little more of herself
in them than just her thoughts and prejudices. The biological
component of every hex had to mean something, after all. If she could
appeal to that something, make it listen to reason-her reason...

Around
a bend came a Republic trooper, swinging his gun back and forth and
running lightly on his feet. Ax stepped back into the shadows. Better
to run on her own, she decided, until she was sure what lay ahead of
her. She didn't want anyone getting in the way at a critical moment.

As
the trooper went by, she noticed a strange thing. The air was
literally shimmering before her eyes. At first she thought it was
something to do with her-her sight being interfered with, perhaps.
But then she realized that the distortions came from the air itself.
It was hot.

Kneeling
down and touching the ground, she could feel the heat even through
her gloves. All around the CI complex was lava, so that made sense,
she supposed.

Something
dropped soundlessly behind her.

She
was up with lightsaber lit in an instant.

"Impressive
reflexes, " said Master Satele, to all appearances unconcerned
by the possibility that Ax might have cut her in half. She hadn't
even activated her own lightsaber. "Your peripheral vision could
use some work, though. I've been on your tail ever since you landed.
"

"Well,
that's a productive way to spend your time. " Ax lowered her
weapon to her side. "It didn't occur to you to do something
about the mission, I suppose?"

"I'm
the first to admit that I've got a lot on my mind. " The Jedi
smiled. "But not that much. Take off your helmet and tell me
what you hear. "

"But-"
It's hot, she was about to say. Then she noticed that Master Satele
was sweating inside her own helmet. Clearly she had done exactly as
she asked Ax to do-and if she survived, so could Ax.

"All
right, " she said, triggering her neck seals. The helmet hissed,
and she tugged it off.

The
air seared her skin and the inside of her nose. It stank of
chemicals, and fire, and ozone. In the distance she could hear voices
shouting familiar phrases over and over again.

"We
do not recognize your authority!"

"We
ask only to he left alone!"

"Hexes,
" Ax said. "They're here somewhere. "

"Not
that, " said Master Satele with a quick shake of her head.
"Deeper. Behind everything. "

Ax
listened again. Then she heard it: a low-frequency growling at the
very edge of her hearing, almost impossible to catch.

"Is
it the ship?" she asked, indicating the transport still falling
from the sky. It was larger now, and still coming right for them.

"I
don't think so. Sounds to me more like drilling. "

"What's
the CI doing mining at a time like this?"

"Material
for more hexes, perhaps. "

"This
isn't a factory. "

"No,
but there must be nests here somewhere. "

"So
let's find them, " Ax said, not hiding her impatience. "Isn't
that what we're supposed to be doing?"

High
above, an orange flare blossomed into life, painting strange shadows
across both their faces.

"That's
what I was waiting for, " Master Satele said. "The troopers
have found a way in. Let's go help them. "

Satele
Shan moved from a standing start with surprising speed. Ax was taken
by surprise, and had to hustle to keep up. They followed the base of
the artificial ravine to the next intersection, and then leapt to the
top in order to travel in a straight line, leaping from wall to wall
over the empty spaces below. The maze seemed to stretch forever. Ax
was reminded of circuit diagrams or logic flow charts, but this
strange landscape lacked any overall order or purpose that she could
discern. It was more like the random etchings of a wood-boring insect
than anything a sentient might design.

Explosions
puffed brightly in the distance, reflected from wispy clouds above.
The sound of each retort arrived split seconds later. Master Satele
changed direction slightly to head straight for the combat zone.
Troopers still dropped from the sky, firing at cannon emplacements
mounted over the maze. A pall of smoke hung over everything, denser
in some places than others. Ax could smell the hexes' "blood"
faintly on the air. It gave her the jitters. She was missing out on
the fun.

Glancing
over her shoulder, she saw a dozen hexes following them, leaping on
their six legs from wall to wall. She laughed. She wouldn't be
missing out for much longer!

Master
Satele unexpectedly dropped down into a ravine, and Ax followed.
There she stopped dead. The Jedi was standing on the ground with one
finger to her lips. She counted down three fingers with her other
hand, and then leapt straight up into the air with lightsaber
flashing. The first of the pursuing hexes fell in two equal pieces.
The rest shrieked and rushed in to fight.

The
battle was fast-paced and glorious. On seeing Ax, they immediately
fell upon her, but she had the measure of them now. Her Force shield
repelled all but the most concentrated fire, and she had more than a
mere Padawan and a disinterested Mandalorian to back her up.

The
Grand Master possessed prodigious Force powers. A gesture crushed
hexes into balls or blew them apart from the inside. A look stilled
them in mid-lunge while Ax rushed in to finish them off. In a matter
of moments, the dozen were dealt with and Ax was looking around for
more.

"This
way, " said Master Satele, guiding her to where the flare had
come from.

"Shouldn't
we be worried about that?" she asked, pointing at the transport.
It was huge in the sky now-or seemed so-and blazed like a false sun.

"Worry
all you want, " said Master Satele. "Unless there's
something you can do about it, I don't see what good it will do. "

Ax
had no good answer to that, so she followed with something
approaching obedience. The Grand Master had impressed with more than
her telekinetic and telepathic skills. Her speed and decisiveness in
combat were unbelievable-but she never once made a sound. Her face
was calm, almost serene, as she slashed and hacked through the hexes.
There was a tranquillity about her, almost a blissfulness, that spoke
of an intimacy with violence Ax had not expected.