“It’s all right, Mezdec,” Shalini said quietly. She put her hand on his arm.
“I heard the blaster fire,” Rajana said, taking up the account, as Mezdec had fallen silent. “I heard Samdew fall, and I ran in. While he was on the ground, he tried to shoot Mezdec just as Thik came in after me. Thik was hit in the knee and went down.” Rajana looked at Mezdec. “I was the one who fired the fatal blast. Not you.”
“Samdew died,” Shalini said. “What we didn’t know was that before he died, he activated the fire system in the sleeping quarters. The room goes into lockdown, and all the oxygen is sucked out.”
“He had disabled the warning siren, but not the procedure. Four of our crew were in there,” Mezdec said. “They suffocated. By the time we realized what had happened, they were dead.”
“He meant for all of you to be in there,” Anakin said.
“Yes,” Shalini said. “We imagine that he was sending his last transmission. He didn’t need to be undercover anymore, and the easiest thing to do was get rid of us.”
“If the Vanqors know your location, why haven’t they attacked?” Obi-Wan asked.
Shalini shook her head. “We don’t think they do. We think Samdew was in deep cover. He never sent a transmission before that night, and Mezdec stopped him before the transmission went through. All transmissions were coded and timed, so we would have known if he’d been in contact with the Vanqors. We assume that his mission was to remain until we had cracked the Vanqor code and learned something vital.”
“Which we did,” Rajana said.
“Yes, let’s get back to that,” Obi-Wan said. “What have you learned?”
“We have the details of the Vanqor invasion plans,” Shalini said. “Troop movements, coordinates, the invasion sites. We have it all on this.” Shalini held up a small disk. “It’s crucial that we get the information to TyphaDor.”
“We’ll have to leave from here,” Obi-Wan told her. “We have good reason to believe that the Vanqors have destroyed our ship. I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before they find this outpost.”
“Samdew sabotaged the transport,” Mezdec reminded them. “I can fix anything, but I can’t fix it.” Anakin stood. “Let me try.”
CHAPTER THREE
Anakin disappeared into the transport hangar. Obi-Wan had no doubt that if anyone could fix the vehicle, it would be Anakin. He had a genius for fixing the unfixable.
Shalini looked worried. “Mezdec has tried for weeks to fix the ship. With all possible respect for your apprentice, he’ll never be able to get it up and running. Are you certain nothing can be salvaged from your transport? Maybe we should chance a walk there. We don’t know for sure that Vanqor has set an ambush. There might be parts we could use. I’ll go, if you can give me the coordinates.”
“Shalini, no,” Mezdec protested. “It’s too dangerous.”
“No, it’s not,” Shalini said. “It’s necessary.”
“You’d never make it at night,” Mezdec argued. “Survival gear can’t protect you from that kind of cold. Besides, you know the rule. We only go in pairs.” He touched her hand. “As you and I do,” he said in a gentle tone.
She smiled, but shook her head. “We should try every avenue. I am responsible for this disk.” She touched her belt, where she had tucked the disk into a hidden slit. “I have another idea. We could return to the Jedi ship, expecting an ambush. A few of us could pretend to surrender. Then the others could attack the Vanqor ship. We could get off-planet in their transport.”
“That’s a highly unlikely scenario,” Obi-Wan said. “And a last resort. Let’s give Anakin a chance before we make that decision.”
Everyone ignored Obi-Wan. “Maybe we should split the team,” Olanz said. “A few of us could go with Shalini at first light. We could take the missile tube and some flechette launchers.”
“Our strength is in our numbers,” Rajana argued. “We should remain together.”
“Thik can’t travel,” Mezdec pointed out.
“I can travel,” Thik said. “Just not very fast.”
“And what of the ones who remain behind?” Rajana asked. “We’re almost out of heating fuel. Whoever stayed would be facing death.”
“We have faced death all along,” Thik said.
“That doesn’t mean we should invite it in,” Mezdec said.
Thik smiled slightly. “Isn’t this just like our homeworld. We spend so long arguing about what’s the best way to do something that we never get anything done.”