[Last Of The Jedi] - 05(29)

The lasso snaked around the missile, hard enough to yank it slightly off course. It crashed into the side of the hangar. Solace zoomed away, under fire from the ground now.

More stormtroopers were spilling up the ramp, blaster rifles firing. Ferus released Trever and kept the two boys behind him as his lightsaber arced in the air, deflecting fire. While he moved backward, he considered what to do. Solace was circling around, trying to avoid fire and get back inside the hangar. The battalion was between her and Ferus. More were coming every moment. One of them fired a missile and it hit only meters away. Ferus felt the heat of the blast on his face.

Thinking frantically, Ferus jumped onto a small airspeeder. He shepherded Trever and Lune inside, then started the engine. “Drive!” he ordered Trever. He leaped onto the back of the speeder, lightsaber in hand, and deflected fire. Trever took off.

“Where to?” Trever shouted.

“The roof next door!” Ferus dropped back into the speeder as Trever pushed the engines. They shot out into the air and straight over to the roof. Here they were finally out of range of the blasterfire and missiles.

“Let me take over,” Ferus said, reaching for the controls. He zoomed over the beams, searching. Then he dove the craft down into an unfinished turbolift shaft. Safe for the moment, he let the craft hover.

“What now?” Trever asked.

Ferus thought carefully back on the design of the tower. He knew the wall would be thin near the roof, since the reinforcing durasteel hadn’t been added.

“Solace will find us,” Ferus said. He directed the craft up the shaft and maneuvered it closer to the wall. “I need you to do something for me.”

Trever saw the order in Ferus’s eyes. He shook his head. “No. I’m not leaving you. Not again.”

“You have to. You have to take Lune.”

“I can take care of myself,” Lune said.

Trever sighed. He knew he had to go. “Every time I leave you, you end up captured.”

“Not this time. The Emperor wants me free. I don’t know why, but he needs me. All I have to do is walk out. I can buy time until you can get away. Trever, it’s the only way.”

Trever nodded. “All right. But just so you know, you can’t get rid of me for good.”

“I know.” Ferus activated his lightsaber. He buried it in the wall. It glowed, and the wall began to disintegrate, peeling back on itself. Lune watched, wide-eyed.

“I’ve never seen a Jedi in action before,” he said. “I wish I could do that.”

“Maybe someday you will,” Ferus said. He jumped onto the partially demolished wall. Hanging on with one hand, he scanned the air. He was high over Sath, on the opposite side from the lobby. Stormtroopers were specks below him, lined up and ready to receive orders. Several seeker droids zoomed below but hadn’t tracked him yet. He saw no sign of Darth Vader but still felt his presence.

A glint on a wing, and Solace was diving, heading for him.

“You’re going to have to be quick,” he told Trever.

Trever balanced on the speeder, holding Lune by the hand. He stepped carefully onto the wall, helping Lune to stand beside him. They balanced there, waiting, while Solace cut back on the engines.

She expertly guided the craft to nudge against the wall. Astri’s face was white with suspense.

Lune and Trever stepped easily into the craft and were pulled into seats by Astri’s eager hands.

“Get to the base. I’ll join you,” Ferus shouted over the wind to Solace.

He watched as the ship zoomed away. Then he turned, jumped into the borrowed speeder, and raced back up to the roof. He picked his way past the blasted beams and took the stairs down to street level to meet Darth Vader.





CHAPTER NINETEEN


The dark side was so strong that Ferus felt like he was being engulfed by it as he walked up to Vader. He had to pull himself together and act as normal as he could, not like he’d just fought a heated battle.

“I think we’re tracking the same person,” he told Vader. “Any luck?”

Vader didn’t answer for a moment. A long moment. Ferus tried not to sweat. All he could hear was the tunnel-echo whooshing of Vader’s electronic breath-mask.

“Several battalions of droids and troopers have been demolished. Prowler droids as well. The saboteur has help.”

“Lucky that you came prepared,” Ferus said, indicating the armed activity around him.

“Strange. Captain Chainly reported that lightsabers were involved.”

“That doesn’t seem likely,” Ferus said, relieved that he’d hidden his own.

Vader didn’t answer. “Do you have the saboteur’s name?”