“So, how do we get out of here?” Clive asked. Astri looked at both of them. “You won’t turn me in?”
“We won’t,” Ferus promised. He tried not to think about Roan. He had to have hope that he had already been rescued.
“If we can get to the Tower One hangar, I have a star cruiser,” Astri said.
“The droids will be all over the hangars,” Clive said. “And if we go out the front, the stormtroopers will get us.”
“There is always a way,” Astri said.
Ferus looked at her, surprised. “That’s what Obi-Wan used to say.”
“He was my friend, too,” she said with a sad smile.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“We have a problem,” Oryon said. “I’ve checked ate comm system, and there’s no way we can send a message to Ferus. It will get picked up by Sauro.”
Solace leaned over the holographic map. “We’re close to Samaria. We could just go there.”
“It’s closed to everything but Imperial traffic.”
“We are Imperial traffic.”
“I have no doubt,” Oryon said, “that they know we’ve hijacked the ship. I’ll change the ID profile and hope for the best.”
“Change it to an Imperial diplomatic ship,” Solace advised. “Come on, Trever. Let’s find some uniforms.”
Trever left the cockpit with Solace. They searched several storage rooms and came up with Imperial officer uniforms for everyone. Quickly, the group pulled them on.
It wasn’t long before they approached the landing platform at Sath. Oryon transmitted their identification. They waited. They all knew that if their ruse didn’t work, they could be blasted right out of the sky.
“If they don’t answer soon, we go in anyway,” Solace muttered.
Just then the confirmation code flashed. “We’re in,” Oryon said.
Trever looked down as Sath drew closer. The city looked impossibly big. “How are we going to find Ferus?” he asked.
“We’ll find him,” Solace promised. “We can activate the homing signal on his comlink now that we’re on the same planet.”
The dockmaster gave a quick look at their ID does and waved them through. “All checked in, watch out in the space lanes, controls not functioning today,” he said in a breath and hurried off.
They went down into the cargo hold and piled into the cruiser. They zoomed out into the chaotic space lanes of Sath. Solace took the pilot seat, confidently zigzagging through the snarled air traffic. As they approached the coordinates, she slowed down, then made a wide turn around the Fountain Towers.
“Something’s going on down there,” she said.
“Those are security vehicles,” Oryon observed.
“Stormtroopers,” Trever said.
The ship clipped down. “I’m going in,” Solace said, parking it close by but out of sight range of the building lobby. They piled out.
“Just act like you belong,” Solace said.
Dressed as Imperial officers, no one stopped them as they headed purposefully into the building. Stormtroopers were stopping any residents and requesting ID dots as they arrived or departed, but Solace’s group was waved through.
“Ferus is here somewhere,” Solace murmured.
Trever suddenly saw something that made him feel as though ice had been dumped down his neck. “Vader,” he said. “Over there.”
They ducked down a hallway. Solace crept back to survey the situation.
“Vader is leading the search,” she said. “We’ve got to find Ferus first.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“We’ve got to go up,” Ferus said.
“There is no up,” Astri told him. “There are just beams up there. No access to the hangar.”
“That’s where we have to go,” Ferus said. “We’ll just have to figure out a way to get across to the hangar. Can Lune make it?”
“He’s just a boy!” Astri protested.
“I can make it, Mom.” The boy stood in the doorway, looking suddenly more mature than his years. Astri’s face softened. “I know you can.”
They started as they heard a rapid knocking on the door. Clive reached for his blaster, as did Astri. But Ferus smiled. He knew that knock.
He hurried down the hall and opened the door. Solace, Oryon, Trever. And Dona and Roan.
He and Roan grabbed each other’s upper arms in their special greeting. “You’re free!” Ferus said.
“Thanks to your friends.”
“We couldn’t contact you from the ship, so we thought we’d just drop by,” Solace said, striding in. “I assume you know Vader is downstairs.”