[Last Of The Jedi] - 08(25)
Lune shook his head. “That’s a last resort. If you can’t hotwire the ship, we have to be able to go back to our quarters. Then we wait for another chance.”
“So how are we getting into the hangar?”
“The security codes for the classrooms and hangar are changed every twelve hours. Maggis will have the code for the hangar on his security card since he’s going to teach a class there first thing in the morning.”
“The security card is clipped to his tunic,” Trever said. “That’s the first problem. The second one is that he’d notice it was gone in about two seconds flat. He needs that card to go just about anywhere.”
Lune held up the card. “He doesn’t need it while he’s in the refresher.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. You stole Maggis’s security card?”
“Every night Maggis takes a shower and then a long steam. He’s in there for forty-five minutes, minimum. Plenty of time.”
Trever shook his head at Lune’s audacity. “What are we waiting for?”
The hallways were dark, but they were able to move quickly. Those reprogrammed battle droids made random checks, but they announced their imminent arrival with the clack of circuits, and they were easy to avoid, thanks to Lune’s Force-ability to hear things from corridors away. They reached the hangar without being spotted.
Lune quickly swiped the card. The door slid open.
“Full moon amazing,” Trever breathed. “It worked.”
They hurried inside. The ships looked ghostly in the dim light, like giant creatures ready to pounce. Trever quickly headed toward the first starship, a tidy little number that was built for inner atmosphere traffic. The ramp had been left down and he raced up it and swung into the cockpit. He didn’t dare start the engines yet, but he quickly flipped through a systems check.
“I’m going to have to override a security code,” he whispered to Lune. “It might take a few minutes.”
“Hurry.”
Trever ran through the coding, trying to break it. It was more complicated than a standard security code. He tried all his tricks, but nothing worked. He went back and studied the console carefully. He’d have to think his way through this one.
“Trev, duck!”
He hesitated for only a moment and went down just as the door opened and the lights went on to full power. Footsteps started across the duracrete floor.
Underneath the console, Trever and Lune stared at each other, wide-eyed. Their only hope was to remain quiet. They had to hope that whoever it was wasn’t searching for them.
The footsteps came closer. And closer. Trever felt the craft quiver as footsteps thudded up the ramp. Then boots appeared, striding into the cockpit.
A pair of dark, sleepy eyes in a pudgy face appeared, ducking under the console. “Imagine my surprise when I emerged from my relaxing steam to find my security card gone. Imagine when I plugged into security and found I was actually in the hangar.”
“We were just…”
“Spare me the ‘we-were-justs.’ Believe me, I’ve heard just about every ‘we-were-just’ ever invented. Now squirm out, worms.”
Maggis backed up so that Trever and Lune could wriggle out.
“Divinian, you stay with me. Fortin, get yourself back to your chamber. And try not to break another rule. Or run into Kestrel.”
“It was my idea,” Trever blurted. “Divinian shouldn’t be punished, he…”
“I’m not hearing this,” Maggis said. “Any more degrades and you get sent to the solitary chamber.”
Trever shut up. He couldn’t help Lune in solitary.
Stormtroopers marched in, “Escort Recruit Fortin to his chamber and lock him in,” Maggis said. “If he moves, stun him.”
The troopers surrounded Trever. He had no choice. Feeling helpless, he threw Lune one last look and walked out.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“C’mon,” Maggis said to Lune. “This way.”
Lune felt tremors of nervousness moving through Maggis. Shouldn’t he be the one to be nervous?
He didn’t know whether it was a connection to the Living Force or not, but he’d always been aware of emotions. It was one reason he’d always been afraid of his father. He’d always known how much Bog had pretended. Pretended to be a husband. Pretended to be a father. Bog’s real self had leaked out no matter how much he tried to pretend.
Was it so wrong, Lune wondered for the thousandth time, not to love your own father?
It was a question he just couldn’t ask his mother. He knew she would give him a careful answer. He was too Young to be told the truth. Instead, Mom would call Bog “confused” or “too ambitious.” No, Mom. Dad is a bad guy.