[Jedi Quest] - 06(26)

“Hurry,” Obi-Wan said. “They’ve released the hoses.”

“… one more second…”

“They’re starting…”

“Done!” Swanny exclaimed. He slumped against the pipe.

Rorq patted it. “Let’s hope this baby holds,” he said. Anakin felt a drop of sweat trickle from his neck and down his back.

He heard the gush of liquid through the pipes. Swanny and Rorq kept their hands on the pipe, listening.

“That’ll be the wastewater,” Swanny whispered, as if Decca and her gang could hear. He patted the pipe. “The seal is holding.”

“Looks like it’s a go,” Anakin said into his comlink. “I’m on my way.”

Leaving Swanny and Rorq with the pipes, Anakin raced along the tunnels. He found Obi-Wan and Yoda hidden behind a speeder directly inside the entrance to the depot.

“They’ve almost finished fueling,” Obi-Wan said.

Anakin saw Decca lumber into the depot and speak to her pilots. The technicians ran back and forth, replacing the heavy hoses and making last-minute checks.

The pilots left Decca and hurried to their transports.

The first pilot started up the engine. It coughed and died. The next fired his up. Another cough, a sputter, and the engine wound down. One after the other, the transport engines whined and sputtered out.

“What is happening?” Decca roared in Huttese.

“We’ve been sabotaged!” one of the pilots said. “Engine checklight says the fuel tanks have a foreign substance in them.”

“Granta has double-crossed me!” Decca bellowed. “Ah,” Yoda murmured. “Suspicion among thieves, one can count on always.”

Decca turned to the Kamarian by her side. “Send the seeker droid. We’ll find that slimy monkey-lizard and take every weapon he has. We’ll crush him!”

“Time I think to take the speeder,” Yoda said.

Obi-Wan slipped into the pilot seat while Yoda hopped in behind and Anakin jumped in the passenger side. They kept their heads low. Obi-Wan started the engine and quietly zoomed out of the depot. He idled outside, and the seeker droid appeared a moment later. It darted down the tunnel like a fast-moving bird.

Obi-Wan gunned the motor, and they took off. It was easy to keep the seeker droid in their sights. Decca could not move very fast, but no doubt she was gathering her troops to follow the trail of the seeker wherever it ended up.

The seeker suddenly slowed, so Obi-Wan did the same. It hung in the air, which meant it was keeping its target in sight without alerting him to its presence. Obi-Wan glided to a stop, and they jumped out of the speeder.

They hurried along the few remaining meters. The tunnel curved ahead. Omega must be somewhere beyond the curve.

Walking slowly and cautiously now, they rounded the corner. They had come to a large landing area. The doors were slid back into the walls, revealing the large open space. Omega stood talking to a man dressed in heavy armor.

Anakin saw rows upon rows of bins marked with their contents. FlŠchette launchers. Flamethrowers. Missile tubes. There were enough weapons here to mount an invasion.

Which, of course, was the point.

“A troop of battle droids and some guards,” Obi-Wan murmured. “Nothing we can’t handle.”

“Prepared for this, he was not,” Yoda said.

The seeker buzzed closer. Suddenly, a shadow moved, and blaster fire erupted. The seeker exploded into shards of metal.

“Got it,” Feeana said. “Looks like we have company. Just as I told you.”

From behind Feeana, the battle droids appeared, rolling into attack formation. First one line, then another, and another. A grenade launcher rolled into place.

Omega smiled, and Anakin realized that he had known they were coming.

Feeana had betrayed them.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN


Obi-Wan saw at once they were hopelessly outnumbered. Behind the attack droids row after row of gang soldiers appeared, all of them armed with repeating blasters. They wouldn’t lack for additional weaponry. It was piled up around them.

Behind his troops, Omega stood on a gravsled with Feeana. Omega’s arms were crossed, as if in expectation of a staged battle for his pleasure, and a slight smile was on his face.

“Do we have a plan?” Anakin asked hopefully.

Yoda drew his lightsaber. “Time for strategy, it is not. Time for battle, it is.”

Obi-Wan felt the Force move, a giant wave that propelled him forward into the room. He caught the flow and felt it charge his first move, a devastating sweep at five attack droids at once. He cut a swath through them all and they clattered to the floor, smoking.

Omega’s smile slipped, just a fraction.

Yoda had moved forward with Obi-Wan and Anakin, but his style was less dramatic than Obi-Wan’s sweeps and Anakin’s whirling lightsaber. His arm barely seemed to move; his attacks seemed more flicks than stabs. Yet ten attack droids were on the floor in a heap of twisted metal.