Текст книги "Jedi Apprentice 3: The Hidden Past"

Автор книги: Джуд Уотсон

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Chapter 8

The Syndicat headquarters were housed in a once grand but now crumbling mansion with extensive security. There were heavy gates to get inside the compound, and a laser security beam over each door and window.

«All you have to do id get us by the two guards,» Guerra whispered to Qui-Gon. «we'll do the rest.»

Qui-Gon hated having to rely on Guerra's honesty, but he had come too far now to turn back. He nodded.

Paxxi and Guerra led the Jedi around the compound to a back entrance. There, a guard in the usual long silver coat and dark visor stood, hand on a blaster slung in a holster crossed over his chest.

There was nothing to do but walk straight up to him. «Good evening,» Qui-Gon said. «We have an appointment.»

The guard's head tilted to take in the two Jedi and the two Phindians. They couldn't see his eyes. «Move along, worm.»

Qui-Gon brought the Force to bear. He surrounded the Syndicat guard's mind with his own will. «of course, we may enter,» he said.

The guard lowered his blaster. «Of course, you may enter,» he repeated.

«You see, my brother Paxxi!» Guerra exulted. «The Jedi are powerful. I do not lie!»

«I see, brother Guerra,» Paxxi said. «It is so!»

They walked quickly through a small yard packed with landspeeders, speeder bikes, and a few gravsleds. Another guard stood before a wide stone staircase leading to the back door of the mansion.

He stepped forward, raising his blaster. «Who are you and what is your mission here?» he challenged.

Again, Qui-Gon summoned the Force. With guards like these, it was easy to overpower their small minds. They were used to taking orders and rarely thought independently.

«We are welcome to look around,» Qui-Gon said.

«You're welcome to look around,» the guard said blankly, lowering his blaster.

They walked past him and up the stairs. Beams of laser security crisscrossed the doorway.

«Your turn,» Qui-Gon said to Guerra.

«Ah, I do nothing,» Guerra said. «You'll see.»

A second later, the beams shut off. The door opened. An older Phindian woman with dark hair threaded with silver stood facing them. She wore the long silver coat of the Syndicat guards. Qui-Gon tensed, but she waved them inside.

«Quickly,» she said.

They stepped into a grand room with gilded walls of brilliant green stone. Soft rich carpeting was under their feet, covering the floor. The windows were hung with shimmering tapestries.

«All looted from our citizens,» Guerra murmured.

The woman led them down a hallway. It must have been built for droids or servants, for it was narrow and the floor was a dull gray stone. A long bin with various pegs and shelves held a number of weapons? blasters, force pikes, and vibo-shivs.

«For the guards to take as the go out into the streets,» Paxxi explained. «They are always well armed.»

«Yes so, just more weapons to shoot us with!» Guerra said cheerfully.

The older woman led them to a narrow door. «Here. No security downstairs now, but you must hurry. Now I must go,» she said. Before any of them could thank her, she left, hurrying down the hall.

«She enjoys her work,» Guerra said, watching her disappear. «She can't wait to return. No so, I lie,» he said softly. «The silver coat she wears has a tracking device in the fabric. She is monitored all the time. If Duenna spends too much time in the wrong place, assassin droids will track her down and ask her politely to return to her post. Not so, I lie! They kill her on the spot.»

Paxxi opened the door. A stone staircase led downward. Paxxi started along the way, and they followed.

The staircase took them to a large empty room.

«First storage space,» Paxxi said. «Empty, my brother. Strange, or not so?»

«It is so,» Guerra said. He walked through a doorway into another space. It was also empty. Hurrying now, Guerra and Paxxi passed from empty room to empty room in the vast storage level.

«All gone,» Paxxi said.

«Yes so,» Guerra agreed sadly.

«You risked all out lives for this?» Obi-Wan asked incredulous.

Qui-Gon was just as irritated as Obi-Wan, but he tried to keep calm. «Didn't you check your information? Or did your spy betray you?»

«Not so, Jedi-Gon!» Guerra cried, flustered. «Duenna is on our side!»

«How can you be so sure?» Qui-Gon asked. «Never mind. We have to get out of here.»

Suddenly they heard a slight whirring noise. Qui-Gon cocked his head. He knew that noise. But something about it was strange. He did not expect to hear it indoors.

«Speeders,» Obi-Wan said.

A small floater suddenly zoomed around a corner, driven by a Syndicat guard. Behind him appeared three more floaters. Guards drove the speeders, and each had an assassin droid behind him. The first guard maneuvered his speeder to get a clear shot at Paxxi.

«Move!» Qui-Gon shouted. He reached out with the Force and propelled Paxxi backward. The blaster fire missed him by inches as he slammed against the wall.

Obi-Wan's lightsaber was in his hand in a movement so fast it was just a blur of pulsating light. He slashed at the guard, but was only able to knock the hand behind him on the speeder. Qui-Gon leaped forward but the speeder zoomed ahead, almost knocking him down. Qui-Gon was only able to deliver a glancing blow to the guard.

Suddenly, a slender beam of light shot out from the wall, straight at Guerra. Guerra saw it a began to move. Qui-Gon saw the light, too, and summoned the Force to help. Guerra leaped over the beam just in time.

«Disruptor beams!» Qui-Gon shouted to Obi-Wan. The weapons had been outlawed on most worlds. It sent a visible blast of energy capable of cutting someone in two.

Obi-Wan charged at a floater heading for him and struck the driver across the neck with his lightsaber. The driver cried out and lost control of the floater, which crashed into the wall, knocking him unconscious. A disruptor beam suddenly shot out from the wall and hit the assassin droid, whose right-hand controls suddenly smoked and sputtered. The droid fell, but began to push off with his left-side controls. Meanwhile, the beam came straight at Obi-Wan, who leaped over it, twisting in midair to land safely next to Qui-Gon.

«The beams are triggered by movement,» Qui-Gon said tersely. «Others are on constantly. Avoid them at all costs. Use the Force, Padawan.» Qui-Gon turned and sliced at the assassin droid from the downed floater, cutting off its head. Then he leaped forward and lunged at the nest floater. He dealt a glancing blow to the guard as it zoomed past and leaped over a disruptor beam.

The beams left on were easy to avoid, if the Jedi didn't allow themselves to be maneuvered into them. It was harder to predict where the beams triggered by movement would strike. Qui-Gon reached out for the Force, drawing it around him, feeling it, gaining strength from it. He sent his senses out to meet Obi-Wan's so that the Force would multiply and fill the room.

A floater headed for Paxxi, who bounded away, using his arms to propel himself. Qui-Gon knew the brothers had no weapons. He leaped after the floater, avoiding a disruptor beam with a twist of his body. Obi-wan was already moving to the left, and the flanked the floater in a pincer movement, driving toward it with their lightsabers slashing. The guard fell backward from the blows, knocking himself and the assassin droid off the floater. Blaster fire came at Qui-Gon from his right, but he was already twisting to the left. He half turned to deliver a final blow to the guard.

The guards on the two remaining floaters were more agile. They drove Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan before them into the next room. Since the ceilings were high, the Syndicat drivers could easily avoid the disruptor beams by flying higher, then zooming down to assault Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.

The drivers of the floaters drove them relentlessly. It became a game to them. They laughed as they aimed at the Jedi, sending them leaping out of the way.

Qui-Gon and Obi-wan developed at strategy born of desperation: run, turn, fight, reverse, and run again. Disruptor beams sizzled around them. One hit Qui-Gon's lightsaber and the shock sent a jolt of pain up his arm.

The faceless guards were determined, the assassin droids keeping up a steady stream of blaster fire. So far, the armor protected the Syndicate guards well. Qui-Gon began to deflect blaster fire at any part of them exposed, neck, wrist, their booted feet. Obi-Wan did the same.

Qui-Gon could see that Obi-wan was tiring. His own legs ached from the constant running and leaping to avoid the beams and blaster fire. They could not hold out for much longer. The guards drove them from room to room. Qui-Gon began to see that the rooms formed a kind of maze. He tried to keep his focus. He doubted that he remembered how to reach the exit. They had lost Paxxi and Guerra completely. He only hoped that the brothers had found a place to hide.

At last they reached a room where the disruptor beams were thicker than before. They crisscrossed the room in a thick web. It would be impossible for the Jedi to evade them.

The whirr of the two floaters was behind them now. Any moment they would burst into the room. Qui-Gon quickly took several steps back from the threshold of the room until he was almost in the corner. He directed Obi-Wan to take the opposite corner. Obi-Wan nodded bravely at Qui-Gon, letting him know that he had guessed the desperate plan Qui-Gon had devised.

They would have to gauge the exact speed and height of the floaters a second before they appeared. Then they would run, using their momentum and the power of the Force to leap into the air. They would attack the first speeder, colliding with it midair, hoping to dislodge both the pilot and the droid. And then they would have to land safely themselves.

There was no time to review. Qui-Gon only hoped Obi-Wan could follow him.

The whirr of the floater grew closer. Qui-Gon began the charge. Obi-Wan took off at the same moment. The built up speed in the huge room as they ran, and both lifted off the ground at the exact moment the floater burst into the room.

Qui-Gon had time to see the surprised gape of the Syndicat guard before he hit him full in the chest. The guard flew off the bike, with Qui-Gon managing to get a lightsaber blow to his neck as he fell. The assassin droid had time to fire a quick burst before Obi-Wan hit him, feet-first, and sent him flying.

The power of their leap kept them in midair. Obi-Wan somersaulted before landing.

Then the second floater burst into the room and immediately collided with the first. The crash sent the second guard and droid flying. The two floaters kept moving through the air and hit a disruptor beam, which sent them careening out of control. The room shook as they crashed into the wall.

Suddenly, a portion of the huge wall dislodged with a groan, revealing an opening. The disruptor beams sizzled and went silent.

The Syndicat guards were just as surprised as the Jedi. Only the assassin droids kept moving, damaged but nat destroyed. One had lost an arm, one a piece of its control panel. Their blasters were still operational. The shots missed the Jedi by a distance so small it sounded like a whisper by their ears.

The Force told Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon to jump, and they did, vaulting over the guards to attack the assassin droids first. Qui-Gon cut through one, rendering it worthless. Obi-Wan went straight for the other's control panel and with a stab of his lightsaber turned it into a sizzling junk heap.

The Syndicat guards had recovered from the surprise of being knocked off their floaters and uncovering a hidden room. They pulled out force pikes and advanced on the Jedi.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan stood their ground, lightsabers held down, pointing at the floor. Qui-Gon counted off the seconds in his head. He hoped his Padawan would have the same battle rhythm. They would need to keep their head clear their blows methodical. They could not let their exhaustion drive them. He reached out to the Force. It surged around him now; he had only to tap into it.

The Syndicat guards were still a few steps away when Obi-Wan leaped forward. Too early! Qui-Gon cried in his head. But he sprang to the right to cover Obi-Wan's flank. Obi-Wan attacked in a fury, his lightsaber a blue blur in the dimness. Qui-Gon had to match his speed or be unable to protect him. He tried to slow down the boy's rhythm, but Obi-Wan had let his exhaustion push his control to the breaking point. Qui-Gon realized that he could not always count on Obi-Wan to pick up on his pacing. Something to work on later, when they had time. If they had time.

Together the Jedi slashed and Jabbed, always moving, ducking, rolling, lunging until they had defeated their opponents. The two Syndicat guards fell heavily.

Qui-Gon stepped over them, sheathing his lightsaber in the same movement. He went to the opening and peered inside.

«I think we found the vault,» he told Obi-Wan.

Chapter 9

A voice came from behind them. «Good work, Jedis!» Guerra approved in a hushed, reverent tone.

«We knew that even though you were greatly outnumbered, you would win,» Paxxi assured them.

Qui-Gon lifted an eyebrow. «Not so?»

«So!» the brothers chorused.

Obi-Wan tried to control his shallow breathing. The last stand against the guards had drained him of his energy. He knew that he had been at the edge of his control. Qui-Gon had remained cool and methodical, covering any sloppy moves of Obi-Wan's with his own swift strokes. Although they had defeated the guards, Obi-Wan was disappointed in himself. He knew he had given in to his impatience and had lost his focus. It had been a difficult fight.

«Thanks for your help,» Obi-wan said irritably, deactivating his lightsaber.

«Oh, we help by hiding, Obawan,» Guerra assured him. «The Derida brothers are no good on a battle. We'd be in the way.»

«Yes, you are so much better at fighting!» Paxxi said, beaming.

Obi-Wan wiped the seat from his forehead with his sleeve. He wished he could feel as enthusiastic as the Deridas about his abilities.

He turned to find Qui-Gon studying him. «You fought well, Padawan,» his Master said quietly. «Next time, you will do better. It is time to focus on the now. We achieved our aim here.»

«Yes, you found the vault! Excellent!» Guerra exclaimed. He frowned when he took in the fallen Syndicat guards and assassin droids. «This isn't good. We have to leave without the Syndicat knowing we were here. It is better so.»

«I'll find a place to hide them,» Paxxi said

«Paxxi is good at that,» Guerra said.

«We won't ask why,» Qui-Gon said with a sigh.

«No, is better so,» Guerra agreed. «But first, we should take the armor coats. Might come in handy. Blaster fire seems to follow Jedi.»

«You're the one who brought us here!» Obi-Wan cried. He couldn't help being irritated at Guerra. He was beginning to realize how his friend twisted facts to suit his own purposes.

«True, Obawan!» Guerra said cheerfully. «You make a point!»

Paxxi found an equipment room piled with old parts for speeders and various circuits. There was inch-thick dust on the parts and the floor.

«Good,» Qui-Gon approved. «The room is no longer used. The guards won't be discovered for quite some time.»

Using the floaters and carefully avoiding the remaining disruptor beams, they transported the fallen guards and droids there. They took four armor coats and visors with them and closed the panel door behind them.

«I saw a pen for the floaters by the stairs, so we can leave them there,» Guerra said. «Now let's see the vault.»

«Let us go first,» Qui-Gon directed. «Obi-Wan and I will alert you to disruptor beams.»

But before they could take a step, a comlink embedded in one of the coats began to signal.

«Guard check,» a voice said. «Guard check. Why were disruptor beams activated?»

Guerra's orange eyes went wide. Paxxi threw a hand to cover his mouth. Qui-Gon frowned.

He found the comlink and activated it, using the Force to respond in a way that would not draw attention. «Routine check. Repeat, routine check. All safe below. Suggest shutting off disruptor security beams on lower level for further check.»

«Done.»

With a buzzing noise, the disruptor beams retracted.

«Beams retracted,» Qui-Gon said.

«End shift,» the voice responded. «Leave premises. Lockdown in ten minutes.»

«Message received,» Qui-Gon responded. He shut off the comlink and looked at the others. «We don't have much time.»

«Then we must hurry,» Paxxi said.

They hurried to the vault and eased into the wall opening. Obi-Wan gasped. He had thought the room upstairs was grand. This room glittered with treasures. Rich rugs were piles on the floor, one on top of the other. Sleeping platforms were draped with the finest, softest coverlets. Large pillows embroidered in golden and silver thread were stacked next to the platforms.

Qui-Gon prowled, looking at the various boxes and cartons stacked along the wall. «There's enough food and medical supplies here to last for months.»

«Music, hologram visuals,» Paxxi said, poking into another corner.

«Emergency supplies and weapons,» Obi-Wan added, checking the cartons near him.

«It's their sanctuary,» Qui-Gon said. «They could last here for months if they had to.»

«Here!» Guerra called.

They hurried toward him. A door with a control panel was almost completely concealed in the corner.

«This must be the treasury,» Guerra said.

«Well, at least you were right about that,» Qui-Gon said.

«All right, break in,» Obi-Wan urged. «We don't have much time.»

Guerra looked at Paxxi. Paxxi looked at Guerra.

«Of course, Obawan, no problem,» Paxxi agreed. «Oops, I lie, not so! Just one problem.»

Qui-Gon closed his eyes and took a breath, as if to gather his shredded patience. «What?»

Thy both looked at the floor. «Ah,» Guerra said. «So. We told the whole truth, yes. But not the complete whole truth. Yes, we can break in to treasury. So easy! But we need something first. You see, the Syndicat robbed us first. They broke into our hiding place and stole everything! Everything we had spent so much effort and time to accumulate?»

«To steal,» Obi-wan corrected.

«Just so, Obawan, we stole it, yes, but only to sell it back to the people,» Guerra said earnestly. «We had speeder parts, circuits, engines? all things we used to have here on Phindar in great abundance, but no more. We would sell to the people for much cheaper prices that the Syndicat! So you see we do a great public service?»

«Just stick to the facts, Guerra,» Obi-Wan interrupted impatiently. His friend was really beginning to test their friendship. Why hadn't Guerra told them this before?

«Of course, good advice, Obawan,» Paxxi agreed. «So they stole from us. But what they did not know is that among those things was something very valuable.»

«Something my good brother Paxxi invented,» Guerra added eagerly. «An anti-register. It can undo the action of a transfer register.»

The two brother nodded and smiled at the Jedi. A transfer register was a method of recording transactions in the galaxy. An electro-optical device recorded the prints of the buyers and sellers.

«Paxxi's device can duplicate any print in a security or registration system,» Guerra told them.

Obi-Wan understood at once. Paxxi's anti-register device could be valuable beyond measure. It would allow the user to seize property and goods and break into any print-reliant security system throughout the galaxy.

«That device is very dangerous,» Qui-Gon said quietly.

«Dangerous?» Guerra asked. «Not so, Jedi-Gon! It will help us!»

«But if the Syndicat knew you had it? if anyone knew, it would put you in great danger.»

Paxxi waved a hand. «we are not afraid. Not so! I lie, of course we are. But that makes us careful. We can steal the treasury, leave the planet if we have to, even sell the device on the black market?»

«Can you imagine how much it's worth?» Guerra chortled. «Twelve fortunes!»

Qui-Gon looked stern.

«Not that this is important,» Guerra hurriedly said. «First, we break the Syndicat, yes?»

«Which brings us back to our problem, my brother,» Paxxi said. «Our stolen goods were here. Now they're not. So,» he said to Qui-Gon, «we can't break in.»

«Yet,» Guerra added. «But so, we will.»

«As soon as we find the device,» Paxxi added helpfully.

«We had better return,» Guerra said. «Lockdown will be soon. Duenna will be waiting.»

With an exasperated sigh, Qui-Gon followed them from the room. They located the device that moved the wall, and it slid smoothly back into place. Then they took the floaters back to the pen behind the staircase. Quickly, they headed up to the main level.

«You're late,» Duenna whispered worriedly when they appeared. Her bright orange eyes swept the corridor behind her. Then her tense face softened when she looked at Paxxi and Guerra. «But I am glad to see you. They ordered a random routine sweep of the lower floors. I could not warn you.»

«We took care of the guards,» Paxxi assured her. «But downstairs is empty now. No goods are stored.»

«So sorry to tell you now,» Duenna said, walking quickly down the corridor with them. «I just found out after I left you. The supplies were moved to the warehouse by the spaceport. Most of them will be loaded onto Prince Beju's transport to be taken back to Gala.» She paused near the door. Now you must go. Quickly! Terra and Baftu have returned. Lockdown is in only a few minutes."

«Duenna!» The voice was sharp, commanding. Footsteps clicked in the corridor off to the right. «Duenna!»

Duenna's face went pale. «It is Terra!» she whispered.