Timothy Zahn - Survivor's Quest

"So nothing has changed," one of the other old men murmured.

"Apparently not," the spokesman agreed, his voice edged in bitterness. "Very well, Jedi. We'll heal your wounded. As you command." He drew himself up. "But when this is over, you will leave us. Is that understood?"

"Perfectly," Mara said, turning her back on him in disgust. "All right, Feesa, you and the Aristocra can go with them. You, too, Ambassador."

"A moment, if I may?" Jinzler asked, stepping up to her. "I'd like to ask you a favor," he added, lowering his voice.

Mara stared at him in disbelief. A favor? "Jinzler, we don't have time for this."

"It's a very small favor," he assured her. "I want you to take Evlyn with you."

Mara frowned past his shoulder at the woman and the girl huddling together uncertainly behind Feesa and Formbi. "You must be joking."

"Not at all," Jinzler insisted. "She has rudimentary Force abilities. And you've already seen how Director Uliar and the other Survivors feel about Jedi. I think she'll be safer with you than with them."

"She'll be safer in a war zone?" Mara countered pointedly.

Jinzler's eyes were steady on her. "Please?"

Mara shook her head in exasperation. But even in her annoyance, she could sense that Jinzler was deadly serious.

And now that she was focusing her attention on the woman and girl, she could feel the gnawing fear within them, as well. A fear that seemed more personal than just the fact that there were armed Vagaari running loose aboard their ship. "Fine," she said with a sigh. "But she stays way behind me where it'll be at least halfway safe."

"Thank you," Jinzler said, beckoning to the girl. "Evlyn? Come on."

Mara shook her head again as the girl hurried toward her. How to make a difficult situation even harder, in one easy lesson. She just hoped it would be worth it.

"Mara?"

She turned to see Pressor coming toward her. "Yes?" she asked in a tone designed to warn him away from any further arguments.

But to her mild surprise, he hadn't come to argue. "Here—you might need these," he muttered, thrusting a pair of comlinks toward her. "Like you said, we have to work together here. These will connect you directly to me and to the other Peacekeepers."

"And there's a channel that cuts through jamming, too," Jinzler added. "Just in case Bearsh finds those controls and turns it on again."

"It's here," Pressor said, pointing out the setting.

"Thanks," Mara said, stuffing the comlinks into her belt.

"Be careful." Pressor glanced at his niece, then over at the old men glaring at them from across the room. "And," he added, lowering his voice, "may the Force be with you."

There were three armored Vagaari standing guard in the turbolift lobby when Fel, Drask, and the 501st arrived. They weren't standing guard for long.

"Power levels seem fine," Watchman said, glancing around. "Their line creepers must not have gotten this far aft yet."

"This will be the last place they will spread them," Drask said. "The Jedi said that the forward turbolifts have already been compromised. The Vagaari must make certain these remain operational if they hope to escape again to the surface."

"Makes sense," Fel agreed, visualizing the ship's layout in his mind. "To be specific, they need the turbolift that connects to the starboard side. That's the only one left that'll get them to D-Four."

"Which means they will have committed a large number of troops to its defense," Drask said thoughtfully. "What do you think, Commander? Would that be a good place for an ambush?"

"Maybe," Fel said doubtfully. "Of course, it's also the most likely place for them to be expecting an attack."

"I did not say an attack," Drask said, his eyes glittering maliciously. "I said an ambush. The aft turbolift cluster consists of six cars, does it not, operated singly or in groups?"

"Should be the same setup as the forward ones, yes," Fel said, nodding.

"And the starboard tube connects with D-Four, D-Five, and the storage core?"

Fel smiled tightly as he finally understood. "Yes, sir, it does," he said. "How do you want to proceed?"

Drask looked at the stormtroopers. "We will assign two to each mission, I think," he said. "Normally I would prefer three or more for the ambush unit, but the Five-Oh-First has shown itself capable of handling unusual odds."

"And if we don't have at least two of them here with us, the Vagaari may notice and get suspicious," Fel agreed. "Watchman and Shadow, how would you like to take a walk?"

"Ready and willing, sir," Watchman said. "Once we've reached the turbolift pylon, what exactly do you want us to do?"

"You will take up position at the point where the tube from the storage core connects with the tube running between D-Four and D-Five," Drask told him. "We will attempt to drive the Vagaari back into the cars. As they lift toward D-Four, we will alert you, and you will destroy them in transit. Can that be done?"

"I think so," Watchman said. "It should be easy enough to lock down one of the cars just below the intersection point and climb the rest of the way into position."

"And as long as you have that one car tucked away out of the line of fire, you can shoot up any of the others that you need to," Fel added. "But make sure that one car stays tucked away, or we won't be able to get back to the surface ourselves."

"And watch out for the same kind of trap Pressor had set in the forward cars," Grappler warned. "They are likely to have wired this group, as well."

"No problem," Watchman assured him. "Now that we know how it works, we should be able to get up onto the roof of the car and either bypass or reroute the wiring."

"Good," Fel said. "Everyone clear on their job?"

There were four nods. "Then carry out your orders," Drask said. "Maintain comm silence unless absolutely necessary—the enemy may be able to locate your transmissions and thereby anticipate your movements. May warriors' fortune smile on your efforts."

Stiffening briefly to attention, Watchman and Shadow returned to the turbolift car. "Now," Fel said as the car's creakings faded into the distance. "What are your plans for the rest of us?"

"First, we borrow these." Stooping, Drask relieved one of the dead Vagaari of his blaster carbine and helmet. "The armor, unfortunately, is too small for us. Still, the weapons may be enough. Choose a weapon for yourself, Commander, and let us plot out our best approach to the enemy."

Cautiously, Luke eased an eye around the jog in the corridor just ahead of him. Somewhere nearby he could sense a pair of vaguely hostile alien minds...

There was a flicker of warning from the Force, and he ducked back just as a pair of red bolts blew pieces of the corner past his face.

"Okay," he murmured aloud to himself. So they were closer than he'd realized, and more than just vaguely hostile. That was handy to know.

"Anyone ever tell you that talking out loud when you're alone is a bad sign?" Mara murmured from behind him.

"When the Force is your ally, you're never truly alone," Luke said gravely, turning around and blinking in mild surprise as he caught sight of the girl trailing silently behind his wife. "We have company?"

"So it would seem." Mara gestured to the girl. "You remember Evlyn, don't you?"

"Quite well," Luke said. "Hello, Evlyn."

"Hello," the girl said, a bit timidly. "I'm sorry about... earlier."

"That's all right." Luke looked at Mara, lifting his eyebrows questioningly.

"It's a long story," she said, "and I only have half of it myself. The short version is that Jinzler thinks she'll be safer with us right now than with her own people."

"All right," Luke said, setting his curiosity aside in favor of more pressing business. "Did you get the message from Fel?"