“I get your point, Marit,” Rolai said. “Now let’s move on. Here we are. Are you going to join us, or not?”
Anakin watched Marit’s face. He could see that she was torn. No one cared what he thought, but he would throw his support behind Marit if she voted to back out.
“I’m in,” she said in a low tone.
The group looked relieved. Even Rolai did, although he tried to hide it.
“Hold on,” Anakin said. “What about me? I’m part of the squad. Don’t I get a vote, too?”
Rolai gave him a glance that was so neutral Anakin felt a chill. It was as though Anakin wasn’t even there.
“We don’t have time for this,” Rolai said. “Let’s inspect the starfighters.”
Rana Halion suddenly appeared again. “We have a slight change in the timing of the attack. We need to go over the coordinates and warning systems now. You’ll have to come to the briefing room.”
Rolai gestured to the group. “Let’s go.”
“While you’re doing that, I’ll check out the starfighters,” Anakin said. “I need to look at the controls and see if I can handle them.”
Rolai gave him a glance. “I thought you said you could fly anything,” he hissed so that Rana could not hear.
Anakin shrugged. “I sure hope I can,” he murmured. “I don’t tell you everything. But then again, you don’t tell me everything, either. Do you?”
Rolai shot him a murderous look. “We’re coming,” he called to Halion. “You,” he whispered angrily to Anakin, “check out those starfighters. You’re going to have to give the rest of us some quick lessons.”
Anakin waited until the group had left with Rana. Then he hurried to the hangar. There wasn’t much time. He didn’t have a choice now. He couldn’t let the mission go through. He had to disable those starfighters. He knew that now. He was nowhere near discovering what happened to Ferus or Gillam, and he was about to start a war. He was probably breaking every Jedi rule in the archives.
The lerian starfighters were modifications of the Delta-6 Aethersprite that he was used to. Anakin knew every bolt on the engine. He thought for a minute. He needed to disable something that would show up as a warning light midflight but wouldn’t put the ship in danger. He wanted to give the pilots plenty of time to turn around and land. It would have to be something that would immediately lead them to abort the mission.
The laser cannon capacitors. Anakin swung open the maintenance panel. Small tools were snapped onto the panel within easy reach. He selected a small servo-driver and within minutes had disabled the capacitators.
He started toward the next ship, wondering if he should alter the engine cooling system just enough to cause the engines to overheat slightly. That might add a little urgency to the decision to abort the mission…
“What are you doing?”
Marit’s voice echoed across the hangar. Anakin paused and peered around the control panel.
“Just a little tweaking.”
She walked forward and peered into the system controls. “Do you think I’m stupid, Anakin? You’ve neutralized the laser cannon capacitators. I’ve studied the blueprints of this engine. I came back to see if you needed help. I guess you don’t, do you?” She turned and looked at him. Their faces were very close. He could see the speculation and the disappointment in her eyes. “Why?”
“You don’t think we should go on this mission, either,” Anakin said.
“I voted to go.” Marit’s voice was firm. “The group rules.”
“But I’m part of the group! The rule is that all decisions must be unanimous. Why isn’t Rolai letting me vote?”
Marit shifted from one foot to the other. “He says new members shouldn’t have full voting privileges until they’ve completed a mission - “
“And did you vote on that, or did Rolai just tell you?” Marit’s silence told him what he needed to know. “So I’m supposed to risk my life without having a say in what we do? Do you think that’s fair?”
“Do you think it’s fair to sabotage our engines to get what you want?” Marit’s voice rose challengingly. “How could you do this? I trusted you! I brought you into the group!”
Marit’s brown eyes held anger and reproach. Anakin felt it was time for the truth. He owed her that.
“I’m a Jedi,” he said. “I’m not really a student at the Leadership School. I was sent there to investigate Gillam Tarturi’s disappearance.”
“Gillam?” Marit was surprised.
“Don’t you want to know what happened to him?” Anakin asked. “And before we left, Ferus Olin disappeared. What if Rolai had something to do with it? What if he’s funding the squad with ransom money? He’s the one in charge of your treasury, and he’s the security expert. He’s the one with the connection to Rana Halion. What if she got him to kidnap Gillam? All the pieces fit. Why did he lie to you about this mission? Don’t you want to get to the bottom of it?”