The Day of Reckoning(22)

“What now?” Andra asked.

“I have an idea,” Obi-Wan told her. “When | was plowing through those memos back at UniFy, many of them dealt with Tech Dome D. They were building a landing pad there. But I don’t see one, do you? It has to be concealed inside, so it wouldn’t be visible to anyone in the air. Considering the size of this operation, I’d say they were planning to bring in maintenance haulers.”

Andra nodded. “Good guess.” “That means Offworld,” Obi-Wan said. “They have a fleet of haulers. And they need other air transport for smaller jobs. If we can get into Tech Dome D, we can find evidence of Offworld and escape at the same time.”

“So all we have to do is find Tech Dome D, then figure out how to get inside, record evidence, steal transport, and make it back to Than! before Katharsis is over,” Andra said. “As Den would say, kill me now.”

Obi-Wan grinned. “We can do it.”

Keeping to the shadow of the malab hill and ducking out of sight when surveillance teams marched into view, Obi-Wan and Andra made their way to where they had glimpsed tech domes in the distance. Obi-Wan focused his macrobinoculars on each dome until he found Tech Dome D. He focused on its bay doors. Workers busily walked in and out, some piloting gravsleds, some carrying durasteel bins.

When you want to leave someplace unobserved, pick the busiest spot.

“That’s where we’ll find transport,” he told Andra.

“But the place is crawling with workers. And surveillance has been stepped up,” Andra murmured. “The droids are everywhere.”

“They’re looking for intruders,” Obi-Wan said. “Not workers.”

Obi-Wan pointed to a worker exiting a small shed near them. He was fastening up his gray unisuit.

“Wait here,” Obi-Wan instructed Andra.

He hugged the side of the hill of malab stone. There were only a few meters between him and the shed. He would have to chance it.

Quickly, he began to walk across the space. He gained the shelter of the door and slipped inside. A weary worker sat on a bench in front of a row of lockers. He looked up, surprised.

Obi-Wan nodded a hello. “I came for my unisuit. I’m new. Late for my shift,” he added, trying to forestall any conversation.

The worker looked at him suspiciously. “The shift doesn’t start for ten minutes. And you look awfully young.”

Obi-Wan summoned up the Force. He directed his glance at the worker.

“But you wouldn’t mind getting me a couple of suits,” he said.

“Why don’t I get you a couple of suits?” the worker said.

Obi-Wan took two suits from the pile the worker offered and held them up. The smaller one would fit Andra.

“See you around,” he said.

“See you,” the worker repeated.

Obi-Wan quickly donned the suit before exiting. He tucked the other under his arm and walked back to where Andra stood in the shadows. He handed her the unisuit and she slipped into it.

They headed for Tech Dome D. Once they got closer, Obi-Wan saw that it was three times the size of the other domes, extending back for hundreds of meters. He and Andra headed for the big double doors and strolled inside. They walked purposefully down a long aisle stacked with supply bins.

“Here, pick this up,” he directed to Andra, pointing at a durasteel bin.

“Now what?” she muttered.

“Look busy.” Obi-Wan scanned the area. There were several skyhoppers parked near the spaceport door. The hangar itself was big enough to park a good-sized hauler. Offworld had to be involved here.

Obi-Wan scanned the supply bins. Apparently they stored the explosive devices here. He saw a case of thermal detonators.

“Wait a second.” Obi-Wan bent down to read the side of the box. Burned into the durasteel case was a broken circle.

“Offworld,” he said. “We’ve got them!”

Andra watched for trouble while he turned the recording rod toward the cases.

They heard a noise overhead, and the roof began to retract. For a moment, the sun blazed down, then was blocked out as a huge maintenance hauler appeared. The massive ship maneuvered through the open roof and slowly lowered onto the landing bay. A moment later, a ramp slid down and workers hurriedly began unloading mole miners.

“I think we just got all the evidence we need,” Obi-Wan murmured to Andra.

“Why?” she asked.

He pointed to the side of the ship. Written in laser-pulse letters along the side was offworld.

Obi-Wan panned the letters and widened his shot to take in the unloading of the mole miners. The ramps retracted. The maintenance hauler had never cut its engines. Now it fired its repulsors and began to lift off again.