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[Last Of The Jedi] - 05(14)

By:Jude Watson


The place was mainly staffed by Class Five labor droids. Binary load lifters were busy with cargo.

Freight droids moved smaller durasteel bins filled with weapons. Battle droids handled the security.

“This is why they won,” Oryon said. “Look at this place. They’re so efficient they can build this in no time at all.”

“They cut corners, though,” Solace said. “Antiquated docking system, no fuel lines to individual hangar bays.”

Oryon gazed overhead. “No automated fire protection.”

“Why bother? They can afford to lose droids and stormtroopers.”

“We need to get to a dataport,” Oryon said.

“It’s best if they don’t know we broke in,” Solace said. “I could take out the droids, but …”

“What we need is a diversion,” Trever said. “Sure,” Oryon agreed. “But what?”

Trever glanced around the hangar. A group of labor droids was using a welding tool to fix a battered speeder. The sparks flew as they busily wheeled about. Next to them was a fuel storage bin and a parked gravsled. A power droid was nearby, its generator humming as it recharged several smaller freight droids.

“Give me thirty seconds,” Trever said.

Ducking around speeders and ships for cover, he raced toward the droids. When he got within tossing distance of the fuel storage bins, he reached into his utility belt. Carefully modifying an alpha charge, he lobbed it toward the first bin. The tiny explosion was covered by the noise of the hangar.

The charge blew a small hole in the fuel container. The fuel began to dribble out. It formed a small stream that snaked toward the sparking tool. Trever backed up slowly, then dashed toward Solace and Oryon.

He felt the explosion at his back. It lifted him through the air and slammed him down on the permacrete. He felt his breath leave his body.

“Galactic,” he breathed. He rolled over and took cover.

Droids converged by the fire. With no automatic fire protection equipment or hoses, they had to scuttle back and forth between the fire stations and the blaze. The labor droids turned to monitor the situation, but the confusion overwhelmed them.

Oryon was already moving, leaping toward the dataport. Solace moved to guard him in case he was spotted. Trever decided to stay where he was. He watched Oryon’s fingers fly over the datakeys.

Something alerted him, a flicker at the corner of his vision. It was a security droid, trying to get a fix on his position. Trever reached for a charge in his belt, but Solace had already seen the droid. She leaped up to slash it in two with her lightsaber.

And just like that, they were spotted.

Security droids wheeled and advanced, firing at them. Oryon raced from the dataport, Solace covering his retreat with her lightsaber. She moved like wind and water, with no trace of effort. Her lightsaber was a revolving circle of light. Trever waited, knowing that Oryon and Solace would come for him.

They did, running quickly, Oryon’s blaster firing, Solace’s lightsaber arcing and moving. Trever tossed a few half alpha-charges and then ran.

Solace motioned to them and they charged into a small shuttle. Oryon jumped behind the controls. Trever leaped for the laser cannon. He blasted away at the droids as Oryon fired up the engines and they zoomed out of the hangar and shot up into the atmosphere. In moments, the landing platform was a spot on the surface of the planet. A thin trail of gray smoke marked where the fire was.

“So much for not attracting attention,” Oryon said.

“Can’t be helped,” Solace answered. “Did you get any information?”

“Not enough,” Oryon said. “The ship’s location is coded, and I didn’t have enough time to break it. I did learn something interesting, though — the ship is the pet project of a Senator named Sano Sauro. There’s a direct comlinkage between his office and the vehicle.”

“Never heard of him,” Solace said. “I stay away from Senate politics.”

“He’s in the Emperor’s inner circle,” Oryon said. “A nasty piece of work. Maybe Keets and Curran can help us from their end.”

“I’ll send them the information,” Solace said, taking out her comlink.

“Sorry I couldn’t get more,” Oryon said.

Trever looked around the cabin. “No sweat. At least we got a nice ship.”

“There’s nothing more we can do at the moment,” Solace said. “We’ll have to play hide-and-seek with the Empire for a while. We’ll see what Curran and Keets can come up with.”





CHAPTER EIGHT


The atmosphere at Dex’s hideout was tense. Dexter Jettster had finally left Curran and Keets alone in the study, unable to put up with their bickering. They were going through information sheets on any link between Samaria and either the Senate or the Empire, and it was rough going. There was plenty of information to study, but no links that stood out. The search was wearing on both Keets’s and Curran’s nerves. They both needed to be doing something, and this felt like a waste of time.