Джуд Уотсон - Jedi Apprentice 12 - The Evil Experiment

Obi-Wan sighed. "We're not offering you a job. We want information and we're willing to pay for it."

Cholly attempted to look shrewd. "What kind of information? We don't squeal on friends."

"Unless they get on our nerves," Weez said quickly.

"This friend is dead," Obi-Wan said.

"In that case, let's see the credits," Cholly said, as Weez and Tup looked more cheerful. Astri held out a few credits.

"That's all?" Tup asked in dismay.

"We haven't heard anything worth paying for yet," Obi-Wan pointed out.

"What do you want to know?" Cholly asked. He reached out for the credits, but Astri closed her fist before Cholly could grab the currency.

"It's about Ren S'orn," Obi-Wan said. "Can you tell us about his last days?"

At the name, the three friends traded sad glances.

"Ren." Tup took a deep breath, then let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

"Poor Ren. He told us about this offer he got. He was going to get paid a lot of credits. We're always talking about the big score. Something to get us out of here. Ren said he found it."

"Did he say what it was?" Astri asked.

"He was going to be part of this big experiment," Weez said. "Some scientist thought his brain was really special or something. Wanted to study him. Ren said he'd do it for awhile, but she was going to end up paying bigger than she thought."

"Obviously, Ren ended up paying bigger than he'd thought," Cholly said. The three friends bowed their heads.

"Did he tell you where the lab was?" Obi-Wan asked.

The three of them shook their heads. "When he got back, he wouldn't say."

"What was he like when he came back?" Astri asked.

"Different," Tup said.

"Weak," Weez said. "He shook all the time." "He was scared," Cholly said flatly.

"And then he was killed," Tup said. "Woosh. It was sad."

Again, the three bowed their heads.

"Why was he scared?" Astri demanded. "Don't know. He wouldn't say."

"Maybe Tino would know," Weez said.

"Who's Tino?" Obi-Wan asked. Asking this trio questions was like pulling the fur off a Wookiee one hair at a time.

"Ren's roommate. He took him in when he got back from that experiment," Cholly said.

"Ren said he needed to hide out for awhile," Weez added. "Tino used to hang around with us, but he got a job. Works over in that big warehouse near the landing platform."

"Can we have the credits now?" Cholly asked. He held out a hand.

Astri counted out a few credits.

"Hey, that's not very much," Weez complained.

"You didn't give us very much," Obi-Wan said. He had a feeling the three knew more. He was anxious to talk to Tino.

Obi-Wan and Astri left the three squabbling about how to divide up the credits and hurried back the way they'd come. Obi-Wan had noticed the big warehouse by the landing platform.

"Maybe Tino will have more answers than that bunch," he told Astri.

"Let's hope so," she agreed.

By the time they reached the warehouse they were almost as muddy as Cholly, Weez, and Tup. Huge loading doors stood open and inside they could see a multilayered structure of catwalks, ladders, ramps, and chutes.

Small, compact tech droids rolled through the aisles, pushing graysleds filled with durasteel crates and boxes. Obi-Wan scanned the area until he glimpsed the person in charge, a woman of middle years in a gray unisuit with a headset, who was barking orders at the droids.

Obi-Wan approached her.

"We're looking for Tino," Obi-Wan said.

She didn't take her eyes off the droids. "He's unloading in Sector Two. Through that door there. Tell him to get a move on and get back here,"

she said. "I need those droids!"

Obi-Wan and Astri followed the woman's directions and hurried through the door into the Sector One portion of the huge warehouse.

There was no one on the ground floor, but one level up they saw a sandy-haired young man in a unisuit. Droids on the next level were pushing crates onto a chute. The crates slid down and the young man hefted them and loaded them one at a time onto a gravsled.

Obi-Wan glanced around for the ladder that would take them up one level. He paused as he felt a sudden disturbance in the Force.

Quickly, he scanned the warehouse. The droids moved in orderly rows, the crates rolled down. There was no movement on the catwalks above…

Then he saw her one level above Tino. At first she was just a shadow.

Then she moved, and the shape became Ona Nobis. Dressed all in black, she looked down at Tino. Unaware, the young man below continued to work, sweeping a bin off the chute and loading it onto the gravsled.

She unfurled her whip.

"Watch out!" Obi-Wan shouted.

Tino looked up, startled by Obi-Wan's cry. Obi-Wan was already gathering the Force to make his leap. He landed on the catwalk overhead and teetered back for an instant, trying to get his balance.

Fortunately, Ona Nobis was surprised and her timing was off. The whip flailed uselessly in the air. Obi-Wan had time to note the shock turning to anger on Ona Nobis's face as he raced down the catwalk and onto the chute leading straight toward her.

Astri was already running up the stairs, trying to get to Tino. His lightsaber in his hand, Obi-Wan dodged the boxes that Ona Nobis began throwing down at him. He did not look forward to tangling with the bounty hunter without Qui-Gon by his side.

He reached the next catwalk. The whip flashed above his head. Obi-Wan saw it coming and slashed at it with the lightsaber. The two lasers tangled as the whip wrapped around the blade of his lightsaber.

Below him, Astri pushed Tino behind a stack of durasteel bins. Ona Nobis unfurled her whip once more, releasing Obi-Wan's lightsaber.

Immediately, he charged toward her. In a flash, she set the whip to normal mode and snaked it around the railing of the opposite catwalk. Then she used the whip to swing to the other side. Obi-Wan heard the clang of her landing on the metal catwalk.

She now had a clear shot at Tino.

"Astri!" Obi-Wan yelled.

Astri looked up and saw Ona Nobis. Her face was white and drawn with fear but she grabbed Tino and pushed him farther behind the bins, making sure he was safe before joining him. Obi-Wan admired her courage as he jumped on top of the catwalk railing and paused before his leap across open space.

For him, the Force was sometimes elusive. He was still learning. But now he could feel it around him, steady and strong. It was almost as though Qui-Gon was with him, joining his strength with Obi-Wan's. He leaped across the gap.

He grabbed the railing of the opposite catwalk, his body slamming against the metal. He had no time to feel the pain. He swung himself up and over and charged.

Ona Nobis's lip curled as she set her whip to laser mode. With the other hand, she drew her blaster. The fire pinged around him as he swung his lightsaber in a wide swath, deflecting the fire. He moved steadily toward her.

Meanwhile, Astri urged Tino onto the gravsled. Kicking aside several bins, she got behind the controls and pushed the gravsled to full power. It zoomed down the catwalk away from Ona Nobis.

Good work, Astri.

Ona Nobis cracked her whip. It tangled with the lightsaber. Obi-Wan twisted his wrist, hoping to flick the whip away. Instead, it curled back and struck again.

Obi-Wan twirled his lightsaber around in a lightning-fast move, corkscrewing around the flexible whip. It wound around his lightsaber in a complex tangle.

With a snarl, Ona Nobis pulled back on the whip, but could not dislodge it. She fired her blaster, but she was off-balance and Obi-Wan was able to turn away to avoid it.

He knew he would not be able to avoid it for long, however. He needed his lightsaber to deflect the fire. Still, he was anxious to deprive his opponent of her most potent weapon. He did not want to let go of the whip.