“I have arranged for you to have an assistant. Linna
Naltree has trained at the best scientific institutes. She has extensive experience in neural studies. You both can work in the Imperial labs on Coruscant.”
“And the human subjects?”
“I will send them shortly.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Volunteers from the Eleven had set up shifts and worked through two nights on the tunnel. It had been a dangerous job. Imperial patrols moved around Moonstone Lake in random patterns and times. The cold lake water required special suits, and the volunteers had to stay underwater for long periods. In the end, the volunteers couldn’t guarantee the tunnel was completely watertight, but they were able to add enough meters to get close to the hangar itself.
Solace, Ry-Gaul, and Clive found the entrance cleverly hidden in the rocks, behind a holographic portal.
The trio crawled inside the small opening and then continued to crawl into the tunnel.
“This is fun,” Clive remarked, wrist deep in mud as he moved along. “Remind me to thank Ferus for this.”
Ry-Gaul said nothing, of course. He was a tall man, and yet he seemed to move with great ease through the mud, even on his hands and knees. Solace was already twenty meters ahead.
Clive sighed. What was he doing here anyway, slogging through mud underneath a half-frozen lake? He was no Jedi. He didn’t have the mind control to pretend he wasn’t in pain. Freezing water dripped through the makeshift tunnel onto his head. It snaked down the neck of his tunic. He’d thought nothing could be worse than an Imperial prison.
Okay, this might be worse, he admitted to himself. Why was this always happening to him? He had resolved to stay neutral in the Clone Wars, and he’d wound up a double agent. Well, at least he’d done that for the credits that were shoved his way. But here he was, involved in the resistance on a planet that wasn’t even his homeworld, working with two Jedi he barely knew while his pal Ferus was off hobnobbing with the Emperor’s favorites!
At first he’d thought it would be a lark to help out Ferus. And, well, he’d had nothing better to do. He’d expected to be hiding out in some cushy joint and waiting out the Empire. It had to fall sooner or later. Why did he have to get involved in giving it a push? He had actually volunteered for this.
He would have to revisit his stand on loyalty. That was it. He owed Ferus a favor, and fell in with Ferus’s mates, and they had taken him in, so he’d figured he owed them. And he did. But how much? Did that include getting on his hands and knees in mud and crawling toward heavily armed stormtroopers?
With every gain in forward movement, the water rose. Soon they were slogging through a half-meter of cold lake … and it was still rising. The plastoid above his head was starting to crack.
The lake was so large it had tides. Had anyone investigated that? What if the tide came in?
With such thoughts for company, Clive was surprised when Solace stopped moving and held up a hand to stop. The ceiling of the tunnel was now only centimeters over his head. He was almost flat. If he laid down, he’d be underwater.
She signaled to them that they had reached the end of the tunnel. That meant they were squarely in Imperial territory.
They were right on schedule. And in his experience, the Empire’s forces were usually right on the dot. He touched his utility belt to make sure his blaster was there. It was a nervous habit. He wasn’t a shooting kind of guy; he preferred more unusual weaponry. Ry-Gaul and Solace had told him if all went according to plan, he wouldn’t have to shoot at all.
In his experience, all never went according to plan.
His teeth began to chatter from cold and nerves. Clive clamped his jaw shut. Sometimes being brave was just doing what you said you’d do.
Solace held up five fingers. The countdown. That meant that the stormtroopers had emerged with Ami and were leading her to the transport. He couldn’t see thing except the gleam of Solace’s fingers and the blackness beyond.
Five
Four
Three
Two
One
Go!
He found he could move fast if he had to, but not as fast as Ry-Gaul and Solace. He scuttled forward, moving on his elbows now. Solace had disappeared into the blackness ahead. Then Ry-Gaul shot out of the opening. Clive pushed himself through.
He emerged on a rocky beach of black sand. The Jedi’s eyes must have adjusted immediately, but it took him a few long moments to see through the early dawn and the streaking, icy rain. The outdoor landing platform glistened ahead. There were no lights on. He could barely make out some droid hover-loaders in inactive mode. I took him several blinks to see the figures walking quickly toward a black starship. Stormtroopers surrounded a slight figure, propelling her forward by her elbows. Sometimes her feet dragged and they yanked her up.