Jedi Apprentice 13: The Dangerous Rescue (звёздные войны) Page 2

  He could not use Obi-Wan's lightsaber to get through the door. He could not take any aggressive action. With a sensor in his body and one in the other prisoner's, both of them could be dead in an instant.

  He would have to use stealth. He had found the ventilation shaft that ran through the ceiling. He had been crawling for what felt like a long time. He could not make a sound to alert her, and he had to be mindful of his direction as well. The various shafts were a maze. But if he was careful, he could wind up in the ceiling over Zan Arbor's head.

  What then? Qui-Gon wondered. He could drop down on her from above.

  But what if the trigger for the sensor was concealed in her clothing? Even if it were somewhere on a console, could he persuade her to disable the sensors? Could he believe her if she said she had?

  He didn't know the answers to those questions. But he could not wait outside the door, wondering what was going on inside.

  He spied a vent ahead and carefully moved toward it. He lowered his face and peered through.

  He was over the lab at last. He saw the top of Zan Arbor's head. The same kind of transparent chamber he had been kept in was in the middle of the room. It was filled with a cloudy gas, so he could not see the occupant.

  Zan Arbor paced back and forth with short, quick steps. He recognized the angry movement. Something else had gone wrong.

  "Do not think you can fool me," Zan Arbor said furiously. "I know you are willing yourself to die. You refuse to access the Force. I will not let that happen!" She strode over to a bank of equipment. "You want to die?"

  she asked shrilly. "Then know what it feels like to die!"

  She turned an indicator knob. Qui-Gon did not know what she was doing. He could only imagine. Zan Arbor's goal was to break down the essential elements of the Force into something she could measure and control. Qui-Gon knew firsthand how ruthless she could be if her subject did not cooperate.

  Hold on, he urged the prisoner silently.

  She switched off the dial. "Well? Are you still so interested in dying? Now show me the Force!" Qui-Gon saw her send a sharp gaze to a chronometer to check the time. She was under some kind of pressure. Why?

  "All right, then. If I cannot use you, you are just a liability. But I'll take all your blood before you die, just for being so uncooperative."

  Her hand went for the dial again. It was time to act. Qui-Gon eased out Obi-Wan's lightsaber in one swift, practiced movement and reared back to kick through the vent.

  But he checked himself just in time as an indicator buzzed and Zan Arbor hesitated. She pressed the communication button.

  A voice blared, "Droid shipment."

  "It's about time," she snarled.

  She whirled and stalked from the room without another word. Qui-Gon settled back on his haunches, thinking. He could not release the prisoner until he knew that Zan Arbor was immobilized and unable to kill him. But any delay could seal his doom completely.

  He was more trapped in his freedom than he'd been as a prisoner. What should he do?

  Chapter 4

  The gravsled ride was smooth while they were outside, but Cholly, Weez, and Tup had trouble maneuvering the craft through the narrow hallways of the lab. Each time Weez slammed into a wall, Obi-Wan, Astri, and Adi were thrown against one another, and the droids rattled noisily overhead.

  "That's enough!" Obi-Wan recognized Zan Arbor's commanding tone.

  "Just stop! You can unload where you are."

  With a last shuddering lurch, the repulsorlift engine lowered the gravsled to the floor.

  "You can see that we only brought you the finest droids," Cholly said.

  "These are your finest? I'd hate to see the rest."

  "If you pardon my saying this, this is Simpla12, ma'am," Weez said respectfully. "There isn't much choice to be had."

  "I suppose so. Give me the CIP."

  Obi-Wan tensed. The Central Intelligence Processor would program all the droids at once. Adi had instructed Cholly to try to program the droids himself. Would Zan Arbor allow him to do so?

  "There's the matter of our fee…" Cholly said.

  "Not until I'm sure these droids are operational."

  "I can program them for you, ma'am," Cholly offered. "Part of our service. We aim to please!"

  "It pleases me to program them myself. Give me the CIP." Apparently, Cholly hesitated, for Zan Arbor snapped, "Now!"

  Adi let out a breath. Obi-Wan knew what she was thinking. It would have been easier if they didn't have the droids to contend with.

  They heard a series of beeps and the sound of the droids' movements as they were activated.

  "Follow my voice command only," Zan Arbor rapped out. "You will surround and protect me. We will be leaving from the launch pad on sublevel one in five minutes."

  The droids beeped an affirmative response.

  "Now unload them and I'll pay you the credits," Zan Arbor said to Cholly, Weez, and Tup. "Quickly!"

  Overhead, Obi-Wan heard the noise of droids being unharnessed and wheeled off the gravsled platform.

  "Watch out, Tup!" Cholly called. "You just — " "I didn't! Weez — "

  "Don't pull that way, push — "

  "Not that way, over here, you idiots!" Zan Arbor shouted.

  "I have it!"

  "No, you don't!"

  "I do!"

  "No, you — "

  A screeching noise and a great crash sent the gravsled shaking.

  "Woosh," Tup said in a small voice. "Guess I didn't."

  "Do it this way, Tup," Cholly shouted.

  "If you didn't shout like that, I wouldn't be so confused," Tup dithered. "Just let me — "

  The gravsled rose slightly in the air. There was a crash.

  "Turn off the engine! You're tipping it!" Zan Arbor screamed. "The droids are falling — " "Gibbertz and ham, let me — "

  "Don't touch that!" Cholly and Weez screamed at the same moment.

  It was too late. Tup hit the hidden lever, and the compartment door sprang open. Adi, Obi?Wan, and Siri tumbled out onto the floor. They rolled away from the repulsorlift engine as the gravsled hovered a few inches above the floor.

  "Jedi!" Zan Arbor screamed.

  Most of the droids had been unloaded, and the Jedi had landed right in the midst of them. The gravsled hemmed them in against the wall.

  "Attack!" Zan Arbor shouted, backing away from the gravsled. "Shoot to kill!"

  Tup's face went white, and he dropped to the floor. Cholly and Weez jumped off the gravsled. The droids wheeled, positioning the blasters built in their arms.

  Adi, Obi-Wan, and Siri reached for their lightsabers. Blaster fire erupted from every direction. They were caught in a deadly crossfire.

  Chapter 5

  Qui-Gon had just decided to go through the vent and rescue the prisoner when he heard the sound of blaster fire. That could mean only one thing. A Jedi team had arrived.

  With one smooth motion he cut through the shaft with Obi-Wan's lightsaber and dropped to the floor. Then he accessed the lab door and burst out into the hallway, racing toward the sound.

  He rounded the corner and swept the battle with one glance. The Jedi were faced with twenty armed droids. Obi-Wan had no light-saber, just a vibroblade. Jenna Zan Arbor stood in the opposite corner, watching. The sneer on her face announced that she was confident of victory.

  Qui-Gon watched for a few extra seconds in order to grasp Adi's strategy. Even while she mowed down droids, she protected Obi-Wan from the worst of the fire. She was using a series of short, fast combinations designed to obscure the fact that she was steadily making progress toward Jenna Zan Arbor and the hallway to the rest of the lab.

  Obi-Wan was using the vibroblade effectively, but it was no match for blaster fire. Qui-Gon decided, even as he leaped, that his job would be to protect his Padawan, leaving Adi free to go after Zan Arbor.

  A flash of joyful relief lit Obi-Wan's face as he saw Qui-Gon sail toward him. His moment of distraction was smoothly cove
red by Adi, who in a lightning strike took out a droid who aimed a blaster at Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon came down, knocking out two droids as he landed and whirling to deflect fire from a third. He was surprised to find that although he had succeeded, his reaction times were slow. He could not trust his body to move quickly.

  The days of captivity had taken a worse toll on him than he'd thought.

  Qui-Gon received a sense of satisfaction when he saw Zan Arbor's expression turn from smugness to alarm. She knew now that the tide would turn against her. With a sharp command, she ordered four droids to surround her. Her back was to the wall.

  Qui-Gon accessed the Force to help him overcome his body's weakness.

  He deftly attacked, slashing through the metal bodies of the droids while Siri whirled and dived, her lightsaber a blur. The young girl's footwork was impeccable. Obi-Wan was hampered by his vibroblade but kept up a steady attack, sweat pouring down his face.

  There were only five droids left, excluding the guard around Zan Arbor. Qui-Gon did not need to look at Adi for confirmation as he drove the droids toward her. They would catch them in a pincer movement.

  Understanding his intent, both Siri and Obi-Wan moved to flank him.

  The plan would have worked perfectly if Tup hadn't chosen that moment to make a break for safety. Hearing a slight lull in blaster fire, he scrambled out from underneath the hovering gravsled arid dashed toward the hallway.

  Unfortunately, he crashed into two droids, driving them back toward Obi-Wan. The droids wheeled and raised their arms toward Tup, prepared to blast him.

  "G-giberbtz and h-ham!" Tup screamed.

  Obi-Wan was closest. He accessed the Force and leaped, coming down with both feet hitting the two droids squarely. The droids wobbled and the blaster fire went awry. Obi-Wan landed and swung his vibroblade at the first droid. It raised its blaster toward Obi-Wan.

  Qui-Gon reached out a hand to use the Force to send the droid flying.

  Nothing happened. Adi reversed direction to neatly slice the second droid in two.

  "Zan Arbor," Siri said tersely.

  Jenna Zan Arbor had taken advantage of the distraction to slip out from behind the droids that were guarding her and dash down the hall. She was just disappearing into a turbolift.

  "There are stairs," Qui-Gon told Adi. "Second door on the left."

  "Siri and I will follow," Adi told him, already starting off.

  "We'll see to the prisoner," Qui-Gon said, signaling to Obi-Wan.

  He raced down the hallway, his Padawan by his side. They burst into the lab. Qui-Gon strode to the cloud-filled chamber and cut through the material with Obi-Wan's lightsaber. The transparent material peeled back and gas escaped in a vaporous cloud.

  The chamber was empty.

  "We have been fooled," Qui-Gon said quietly. "Maybe Noor R'aya is in the other lab," Obi-Wan suggested.

  Qui-Gon looked startled. "Noor R'aya? The prisoner was a Jedi?"

  "Adi thinks so."

  "She said I did not know him, but I was close to him," Qui-Gon murmured. "Of course that is so. Every Jedi shares a bond."

  "We should head for the launching pad," Obi-Wan said. "Zan Arbor said it is on sub-level one.

  "In that case," Qui-Gon said, "I am sure it is not. Come, Padawan."

  He did not know for certain if he was right, but he had come to know the turnings of Zan Arbor's mind, the way she strategized. She would enjoy flipping the situation so that the Jedi were in the opposite place of where they should be when she made her escape.

  So instead of heading for sub-level one, Qui-Gon headed for the roof.

  He did not trust the turbolift. No doubt she would have sabotaged it.

  He took the stairs, Obi-Wan at his heels.

  They burst out onto the roof just in time to see Jenna Zan Arbor's craft rise in the air. They saw the body of Noor R'aya in the seat next to her. He was slumped over as if he were too weak to raise his head. She smiled and waved a split second before the craft shot into the upper atmosphere.

  They had lost her again.

  Chapter 6

  Obi-Wan waited while the Jedi medic, Winna Di Uni, attended to Qui- Gon. She located the sensor implanted in his bloodstream and carefully extracted it. While he waited, Obi-Wan searched the lab and located Qui- Gon's light-saber. It was a great pleasure for him to place it back in his Master's hands.

  "How is Didi?" Obi-Wan asked Winna.

  She smiled. "On the mend. He is already suggesting better ways to prepare his meals."

  Qui-Gon groaned. "Whatever you do, don't listen to him." Didi's abilities as a chef were dismal.

  Winna touched Qui-Gon's shoulder. "You've been through a trauma, Qui- Gon. Your body has not recovered fully. I suppose it would be fruitless for me to tell you to take it easy."

  Qui-Gon winced as he slid off the examination table. "Not until we find Noor."

  Obi-Wan saw the signs of fatigue he had missed in his joy to have his Master well and safe. Jenna Zan Arbor had drained Qui-Gon's body of blood.

  She had kept him confined for long periods of time. His skin looked pale and his face drawn. The experience had weakened him.

  "Are you sure you shouldn't return to the Temple?" he asked Qui-Gon in a low voice.

  "No," Qui-Gon said sharply.

  Adi and Siri strode into the room.

  "We've checked all the computer files," Adi said crisply. "There's no indication of where she might go next."

  "There was an assistant, Nil," Qui-Gon said.

  "Not anymore," Siri said. "We found him in one of the storage rooms.

  A lethal injection, we think."

  "He was a liability," Qui-Gon said. He turned away. "She will stop at nothing."

  "Yes, that's why we must find her," Adi agreed quietly.

  Cholly, Weez, and Tup peered around the corner.

  "If you're no longer in need of our services, we thought we would go back to our poverty-stricken but basically safe existence," Cholly offered.

  "She had the credits in her hand," Weez said. "If only Tup hadn't started the engine — "

  "Or knocked over the droids — "

  "Woosh, everything is all my fault, all the time, forever," Tup complained.

  "Yes, it is," Cholly and Weez said together.

  Qui-Gon's comlink signaled. "It's Tahl."

  A miniature hologram of Tahl appeared before them. "I am relieved to hear that you all are safe and that Didi will recover," she said. "The Force is with us. Winna, how is Qui-Gon?"

  "Fine," Qui-Gon said tersely.

  "Excuse me, did I ask you that question?" Tahl demanded. She was one of the few Jedi who was brave enough to challenge Qui-Gon, let alone tease him. "Winna?"

  "He has undergone a great trauma," Winna said. "My best advice would be to return to the Temple, but I know he is needed. There will be no lasting damage. He just needs rest and food."

  "Then you will release him on a mission?" Tahl asked.

  "Release me?" Qui-Gon thundered irritably. "Am I still a captive?"

  "No, you are a stubborn Jedi who might push himself beyond a limit his body cannot handle," Tahl answered.

  "I see no danger to him," Winna said reluctantly. "I have seen how quickly Qui-Gon is able to recover his strength. As long as he has been honest with me about how he is feeling and not covering up any weakness."

  Qui-Gon glared at her.

  "I'm sure he was covering them up," Tahl said crisply. "However, we must pursue Jenna Zan Arbor. The Council wishes the two Jedi teams to join together to find Noor."

  Obi-Wan glanced at Siri. So he would have to work with her again, side by side. He hoped she had learned a little more humility since their last mission.

  "I have news for you, Obi-Wan," Tahl said. "And you will not like it.

  Nor do I. As soon as she was assured that Didi would make a full recovery, Astri left the Temple. She has gone off to pursue Ona Nobis in hopes of getting the reward."

  "Astri is no match for Ona Nobis!" Ob
i-Wan cried in surprise.

  Tahl sighed. "I know this. Yet there is nothing the Jedi can do. She does not wish our protection any longer. We cannot force it."