[Last Of The Jedi] - 07(6)

The ship righted itself. It was an Imperial ship all right, a modified Sienar starship. Clive kept his finger on the trigger of his blaster. If they were lucky, the Imperials wouldn’t come up fighting. The group here had worked to create an impression of an abandoned base. The idea was to lure the Imperials in and then attack.

“Hold your fire.” Solace’s voice was soft from the speaker.

The ship executed. A wobbly landing. Nothing happened for a moment. Clive couldn’t see through the windscreen into the cockpit.

The ramp slid down. His finger cramped, but he didn’t move it.

Then a miniature model of a Vulture droid fighter zoomed out, did a lazy twirl, and eased onto a landing on the dirt.

“Could be a trick,” Oryon muttered.

A slight figure with blue hair poked his head out from behind the shell of the ship. “Don’t shoot!” Trever said. “I brought presents!”

Clive leaped across the rock. He couldn’t wait to wrap his hands around the kid’s scrawny neck. Trever’s eyes widened and he bolted. Clive chased him around the ship, but the kid was faster than a dinko.

“Hey! I came back!” Trever shouted.

“So I can kill you,” Clive replied evenly•

Suddenly Solace did one of those show-offy Force-assisted leaps and landed in between them. She held up a hand. “Stop.”

Clive stopped. He learned to have a healthy respect for anyone in possession of a lightsaber, even an unclipped one. He’d seen how fast those things could come out.

“Whew. Thanks, Solace,” Trever said.

She turned with such vehemence that Trever backed up a step. An inflamed Solace was a scary sight. The small blue facial marking over her eyebrow deepened, and her pale blue eyes blazed in her gaunt face.

“You sneaked away. You stole a ship. You went against the group.” Solace’s tone was furious.

“But I was trying to save Ferus!”

“We all wanted to save Ferus,” Solace said. “It was not your decision to make.”

The others gathered, all forming a circle around Trever.

“I came back,” he said in a faint voice. “And look at the ship! Flame bought it and let me take it, can you believe that? It’s a good ship, real fast, handles like a dream –“

“You aren’t a used-starship salesman,” Oryon said to him. “You pledged your support to this group. That means you have to follow the rules.”

“I hate rules,” Trever said.

Raina crossed her arms. “You put us in danger.”

“You left us here without transport,” Toma said.

“I know all that,” Trever said. “And I’m sorry I did it, believe me. Especially since things

well, they didn’t work out quite the way I thought they would.”

Dona held up a broad hand before anyone could speak. “Why don’t we all calm down and let the boy talk. He seems to have a story to tell.”

Clive backed away. He hadn’t really wanted to kill Trever anyway. Just to scare him. Or maim him.

Trever sat uneasily on a stool inside the shelter. Confronting this many disapproving faces wasn’t easy. As a former street thief, he was used to taking off when things became hostile. It wasn’t exactly a day in the space park when you had to stay and take it.

“Things went okay at first,” he said. “I mean, I crashed the ship when I landed on Samaria, but at least it was around the correct coordinates. And it was an old rust bucket anyway.” He looked at them uneasily. “Anyway, that’s where I met up with Flame. Of course she was in the middle of being chased by stormtroopers, but we managed to lose them. It was so totally galactic; I was up on this crystal formation thing, and she flew underneath –“

Roan dropped his head in his hands. Oryon groaned.

“You were supposed to sneak in without attracting attention,” Raina said.

“Yeah, I know. Anyway, then we contacted the resistance. And I met up with Ferus. He wasn’t too happy about seeing me but did agree to take Flame’s message about Moonstrike to the resistance.”

Solace leaned forward. “What did he think of Moonstrike?”

“Well, he thought it was a pretty good idea,” Trever said. “But he didn’t want to get involved. He thought it would expose the Jedi.”

Solace nodded. “Exactly what I think.”

Trever felt annoyed. “Yeah, I get that it’s in the Jedi handbook,” he said. “But you should see Flame. She’s full-moon amazing.”

“What happened next?” Roan asked. “Where is Ferus ?”

“I’m not sure,” Trever said. “He sent me and Flame to Rosha to escort the Roshan delegation. Our ship was attacked as soon as we entered Roshan airspace. Everyone else died. The last time I saw Ferus was on the HoloNet. Standing next to Darth Vader.”

“So he’s still a double agent,” Oryon said.

“I guess so,” Trever answered. Solace gave him a sharp look. “Anyway, I have to get back to Flame. I promised her I’d return the ship. We’re going to Bellassa.“

“We?” Solace asked.

“Bellassa?” Roan asked.

“She wants to talk to the Eleven about joining up with Moonstrike. She’s ready to fund their attacks on the Empire if they’re interested. Hey, Roan, you’re one of the Eleven – what do you think?”