The hallway was dark, the stone floor pitted with holes. Wehutti led the way to a room on the left. Dark material was hung over the windows, shutting out any light. A lamp in one corner emitted a tiny glow that failed to chase away the shadows.
Obi-Wan made out a group of men and women sitting at a long table against the wall. They appeared to be waiting for them.
“The Melida Council,” Wehutti explained to them in a whisper. “They rule the Melida people.” He closed the heavy door behind them with a clang. Obi-Wan heard a lock spring. He glanced at Qui-Gon, trying to read if his Master felt the same jolt of apprehension.
“I have returned, comrades,” Wehutti announced. He spread his arms to indicate Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. “And I have brought two more Jedi hostages for our grand cause!”
Wehutti had barely finished speaking when Qui-Gon moved. His lightsaber was activated and in his hand while the smile still beamed on Wehutti’s face. Qui-Gon whirled, striking Wehutti on the shoulder. At the same time, he tossed Obi-Wan’s lightsaber to him, hoping the boy was prepared to catch it.
Qui-Gon had been ready for Wehutti’s betrayal. He did not need the Force to tell him that Wehutti had led them into a trap. His instincts had told him so before they had even reached the gates of the Inner Hub. When Wehutti had asked them to leave their weapons, Qui-Gon had only feigned his hesitation. He had foreseen the request and was already planning to get around it. It had been easy to unfurl his cloak to cover his recapture of the lightsabers. Even clever men can see only what they want to see. Wehutti had already been congratulating
himself on his own ingenuity in luring the Jedi into his trap.
Wehutti fell with a cry of rage and pain. Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber.
“The door,” Qui-Gon said to him, and prepared to defend himself against the group seated at the table. Several had half-risen, but the remaining Melida were still too shocked to react.
He heard Obi-Wan strike a blow to the lock. Two warriors, a man and a woman, had been quicker to react than the others. They started toward Qui-Gon, blasters in hand.
Suddenly, a light blazed on. Obi-Wan must have activated the lighting while he struggled with the door. It was better not to fight in the dark, though every Jedi is trained to be able to do so.
Qui-Gon suppressed a start of surprise when the Melida soldiers were fully revealed. All of them had already been severely wounded. He saw evidence of synth-flesh covering faces and exposed skin, as well as plastoid limbs. Two of the group wore breath-masks.
The Melida and the Daan were truly destroying each other, piece by piece.
This was only a fleeting thought, gone as quickly as it had come. Qui-Gon knew he must concentrate on the threat. He deflected the blaster fire as he ran to Obi-Wan, who had easily melted the lock. The door stood open. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon raced from the room into the corridor.
Pounding footsteps overhead made them pause. A red light blinked insistently on the wall. Bars suddenly slammed down over the front door.
“Someone triggered a silent alarm,” Qui-Gon said.
“We’ll never get out that door,” Obi-Wan warned.
They turned toward the hallway, racing to find a back exit. They knew they had little time before the rest of the Melida soldiers found them.
As they passed various points in the hallway, an electronic beep sounded.
“Those are location sensors,” Qui-Gon said. “They’re tracking us. They know exactly where we are.”
At the end of the hallway they came to a heavily fortified door. Qui-Gon turned to the left and opened the first door he saw. They would have to get out a window if they could.
The room was high-ceilinged and full of stored equipment: circuits, nav-computers, sensor parts, dismantled droids.
Qui-Gon crossed to the window. Electro-bars ran in a grid over the pane. The security device
would keep out life-forms and resist some forms of weaponry. But it was no match for a Jedi lightsaber. Qui-Gon cut through the bars with one swipe, leaving a gap big enough for them to leap through. Then he did the same with the window pane.
“Gome, Padawan,” he urged Obi-Wan.
The boy leaped easily through the gap. Qui-Gon followed. They found themselves in a walled and fortified courtyard. The wall would be easily scaled, Qui-Gon calculated. Too easily.
“Come on, Qui-Gon,” Obi-Wan said impatiently.
“Wait.” Qui-Gon walked closer to the wall. He crouched down and studied it. “It’s mined,” he told Obi-Wan. “Thermal detonators. If we climb it or even leap over it, the infrared sensors will blow us sky-high.”
“So we’re trapped.”
“I’m afraid so,” Qui-Gon answered, his mind sifting through the possibilities. They would have to reenter the Melida fortress and fight their way out. They didn’t have much time. The soldiers would figure out where they were in seconds.