[Last Of The Jedi] - 08(29)

He sidled around, trying to see who she was talking to. Someone was sitting on an examining table while she entered data on her medboard.

He was here to investigate Darth Vader, not track down Zan Arbor’s next evil experiment. He should keep going. The chrono was ticking off the minutes. He had no way of knowing if this place would come alive with morning. And until then, anything could happen - Jako could wake up, a request for med info could come in, a random patrol could snag him. He needed to keep going. He couldn’t save every being. He had to choose his battles.

Ferus turned away from the door, sensing only the presence of the dark side of the Force.





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


Trever kicked his pillow across the room. He knew it was childish and didn’t help anything. But it felt good.

He was locked in.

He had failed.

He had no doubt that from now on he would be separated from Lune. They wouldn’t leave them alone together again. And they’d make sure security was tighter than before. Maybe they’d be sent to the Mining Corps. Or, even worse, they’d be here so long that they’d turn into little Imperials and march out of here in those little caps and forget their hearts and brains.

He kicked the pillow again. This was some new moon night. He didn’t know how he’d ever face Astri and the others.

Soon Maggis would come for him. He’d be done with Lune. Then it would be Trever’s turn.

Trever couldn’t sit around and wait. He had to get out of here. Tonight. He had to find Lune. If he waited, they would never escape.

He had his last resort hidden in his utility belt. Several sweet alpha half-charges. Not enough to blast open a hangar door, but it would do for the small door to his quarters. It would blow his cover as well as his door, but he couldn’t worry about that now.

He carefully set one charge on the door. He placed his pillow over it and then one of the extra pillows he had never given back, but hidden under his sleep couch. They would muffle the sound somewhat.

He picked up the cushions from his sleep couch and used them as a wall to protect him. In these small quarters the blowback could be tricky.

The charge went off. Trever felt the explosion and was catapulted back against the wall. He peeked over the cushion. The door had been blown off its hinges. All he had to do was give it a little push in order to get out.

Leaping over the blackened fabric of the pillows and the multitude of feathers, he slammed through the door. It fell with a thud, and he ran.

He’d try the hangar first. He didn’t know where else to go. Maybe Maggis would still be there with Lune.

He made his way there, racing through the dark halls, ducking into empty rooms when he heard the dick-clack of stormtrooper boots. If they weren’t in the hangar he’d search the entire place for Lune.

To Trever’s surprise, the hangar door was still open…

Maggis sat slumped in a chair, his eyes closed, his head resting against the wall.

Trever stopped in the doorway, unsure of what to do. What had Maggis done with Lune?

Maggis opened his eyes, saw him, then closed them again. “Do you know what I was before this?”

Surprised at the question, Trever’s answer was close to a squeak. “No.”

“A professor of navigation and sublight technology. At the Celestial School of Spaceflight Engineering on Argus. Ever heard of it? Well, it’s gone now. They closed it. And offered me this job. I thought, sure. How bad could it be?”

Maggis opened his eyes and looked at Trever. He looked puffy and defeated. “I’m just not in the Empire swing of things, I guess. It takes its toll.”

“Oh.”

“Do you know what they do to you if you quit? Happened to someone here. You’re told you’ll never teach again. You’re blacklisted from every academy in the galaxy. Et cetera. It’s the thing they do when you cross them. They lean on you until there’s no breath left in your lungs. Until you have no bone or muscle left. You turn into a dry leaf. And then they just want you to …” he puffed out his lips and blew. “Disappear. You might as well be dead.” Maggis looked around the hangar. “I liked teaching once. Oh, well.”

“I’m sorry.”

Trever’s words seemed to wrench Maggis’s attention back to him.

“Why are you here? Trying to escape again? This place more than you bargained for?”

Trever was bewildered. He didn’t know whether Maggis would suddenly turn on him. “Where’s Lune?”

Maggis gave him a shrewd glance. “Why do you care? You just met him today.”

Trever shrugged. “I got him in trouble.”

“If you say so. Well, his daddy came for him.”