The Last of the Jedi_ Underworld Part 9

"I'm tired of running. They've driven me here. Here is where I stay."

"We just left the Temple a few days ago. I don't think it's possible to get in and get out now. Let alone navigate once we're inside. They'll be on full alert."

"Double full extra red alert," Trever put in.

"How did you get in?" Solace asked. Her face was intent. Ferus saw that she had already made up her mind.

"Through one of the towers, then down through the service tunnel to the main building."

"The hard way."

"I didn't say it was easy."

"Why didn't you go through the supply turbolift shaft along the southeast wall?"

"There is no supply turbolift shaft on that side."

"Of course, you don't know about it.... It was built during the Clone Wars. We had so many more pilots, so much more gear to move back and forth to the hangar. The main shaft runs vertically up from the storage areas and then connects to a horizontal shaft that runs to the living quarters. Was that part of the Temple destroyed?"

"No, it's been damaged, but much of it's still intact."

Solace reached into her belt and withdrew a small device. She sent a holographic map spinning into the air. It was a schematic of the Temple.

She pointed. "You see? The shaft is here and runs from the base of the building. You can connect to the horizontal shaft here. Then it connects to the main turbolift shaft in the spire."

"The spire is damaged."

"I know, but it doesn't matter. They probably don't use this turbolift. There's no reason to - it mainly served the living quarters and the hangar. Where is Malorum?"

"In what used to be Yoda's quarters."

"Then his office is here. It's only a short distance from the shaft."

Ferus felt his blood quicken. Was it possible? But he shook his head. "Even if we could use the new turbolift, how will we get in?"

"I have a way. Unlike most of the buildings at that level, the Temple was built by sinking pillars into the crust. I've found those pillars. We can follow them up to the base. Then we can break right into the new turbolift shaft."

"Through the floor?"

"We'd have to blast it," Trever said. "They'd be on us in seconds."

"No, I have a different way." Solace sprang to her feet. "Let me show you."

They stood in front of a small, two-person craft. It was the oddest thing Ferus had ever seen. It looked like an ARC-170 with a cut-off nose. Devices he didn't recognize were set into the hull.

"I can see it's a vehicle, but I can't figure it out. Looks like it could be an interceptor, but..."

Solace grinned. "I started with a sh.e.l.l and built it myself. It's a hybrid - a fighter with a mole-miner capability. I bought the mole miner and took out the plasma jets. They're mounted below. I had to remove the s.h.i.+elds and the laser cannons, so I lost some defensive and offensive capability, but it's still fast. The s.h.i.+p can burrow through solid rock. It can get through the base of the Temple, I promise you."

"But why did you build it in the first place?" Ferus asked.

"I live under the crust. I need an exit strategy. So, what do you say'? I'm going. Are you in or out?"

Ferus looked at Trever. It might be foolhardy, but it might be brilliant. They could steal back the lightsabers. They could raid Malorum's files. He could find out what Malorum had learned about Polis Ma.s.sa. He could find a way to stop him, follow through on his promise to Obi-Wan. This could be his only chance.

"I'm in," he said.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

"You're not going without me," Trever said.

Ferus's expression clearly said not this again. But Trever didn't care. He wasn't going to be left behind. He'd been left behind before. By his mother, by his father, by his brother. Each time, they'd said It's too dangerous. You'll be safe here.

Each time they said I'll be back.

"It's a two-person s.h.i.+p," Ferus said. "There's no room. I'll be back - "

"No! Don't say that," Trever warned. "Just... don't. I can help. I've been to the Temple. I'm small - I can get into tight s.p.a.ces. And you'll need some blasting expertise."

Solace looked at him doubtfully, and he bristled.

"I've got half - and quarter-alpha charges, and I've made my own mini-blasts," Trever said. "No noise, no smoke, just sweet entry anywhere you want to go."

Solace looked at Ferus.

"Trever has had an interesting history," he said.

"If we take the tool kit out, you can fit behind the seat." Solace looked at Ferus. "The kid can handle himself. You could, too, at his age. So relax."

"Ferus doesn't know the meaning of the word," Trever said.

Solace and Trever laughed, and some of the pressure Ferus felt inside eased. It was good to be laughed at again. It. felt like friends.h.i.+p.

Hume, Rhya, Keets, Oryon, Curran, Gilly, and Spence were sitting at a table fas.h.i.+oned out of a slab of permacrete balanced on some old protocol droid legs. Ferus approached them and sat.

"I'm taking off. Solace promises you'll be safe here. Her a.s.sistant Donal will look out for you. I don't think I'll be long. Solace and Trever and I have decided to break into the Temple again. This time, I'm going to get a look at the files and see exactly what Malorum is planning. Unless we go, this place won't be safe."

"We'll come with you," Hume said.

"No. First of all, there's no room. And second - well, you came with me to find Solace, and you found it. This is my battle."

Ferus stood. He looked at each of them. They'd been together only a short time, but he felt tied to them, tied to their struggle to stay alive.

It was Curran who spoke up, using the words of the Svivreni. On their world, it was considered bad luck to say good-bye.

"The journey begins," Curran said softly. "So go."

When Ferus returned, he found that Solace had already done the preflight check. Trever had squeezed into the s.p.a.ce behind the seat. Ferus slid into the pa.s.senger seat directly behind Solace. The craft was so small that they easily navigated through the cavern and zoomed into the underground tunnel.

"I've explored all through the tunnels down here," Solace said. "There are more than I told you about. It took me months to get all the parts for this craft and build it."

She piloted through the tunnel, flipping the craft sideways when she had to. Then she zoomed up through a huge crack in the ceiling and they entered the main lane of the old city on the crust. They buzzed through the empty place.

"The columns for the Temple were sunk near the tech warehouses," Solace continued. "They were hard to find because the trash heaps were built around them about a century later."

After maneuvering for nearly an hour, the craft dipped down into a vast smoking heap of garbage piled hundreds of meters high. Solace navigated the s.p.a.ce, veering around the piles. At last they saw a thick column ahead, and then another, and another. "There are the supports. Hang on."

Now they were going straight up, hugging the column as it rose through the sublevels of Coruscant. Trever fought against dizziness. He was looking straight up through the c.o.c.kpit canopy. Level after level rushed at him, floors, spires, walls, walkways, lights, beings, cloud cars, air taxis, landing platforms.

It had taken them so long to get down to the crust, and now it was all receding behind him so quickly.

The buildings grew more thickly around them. Lights came on. Dawn was breaking above them. Speeders and air taxis streaked past them. And they were still below the surface.

He knew they were close when Solace pulled back on the speed. "Our best chance is to do this quickly," she said. "In and out."

Above them Trever saw the base of the ma.s.sive Temple building. Even down here he could see evidence of damage, blackened stone and missing chunks, as though the building had been hacked away at.

Slowly they cruised around the base, searching for the place Solace was looking for. She positioned the s.h.i.+p's nose against the wall. A whirring noise began, and the plasma jets began to slice through the base.

Fine dust coated the winds.h.i.+eld, but Solace had thought of that, too. A rotating device cleared the winds.h.i.+eld every few seconds, leaving them complete visibility.

The plasma jets cleared a hole just big enough for the s.h.i.+p to get through. They flew inside and found themselves directly in the turbolift shaft.

"It worked!" Solace exclaimed.

"I wish you didn't sound quite so surprised," Ferus remarked.

"Malorum's office first. Then back down to storage if we haven't been discovered."

The craft ascended the shaft, then turned into a horizontal turbolift corridor. They could see the turbolift itself now, unused, at the end of the shaft. Beyond it they could see that the corridor had been blasted, some of it caving in. The turbolift was partially destroyed.

Solace gently brought the craft to rest on the shaft flooring. The c.o.c.kpit canopy whirred back, and one by one they climbed out.

"This lift door opens out into the service hallway," Solace said in a low tone.

She and Ferus stood by the door. Trever watched them. Something was pa.s.sing between them, and he supposed it was the Force. He couldn't feel it, but he was starting to recognize its presence, just by the quietness that surrounded Ferus when he accessed it. Then, without a word being spoken, Ferus stepped forward and cut a hole in the door with his light-saber. They stepped through.

The hallway was empty. Trever followed behind as the two Jedi moved quickly and silently. He almost tripped on a conductor wire, but caught himself just in time. He broke out into a sweat at the thought of the noise he would have made if he fell.

In and out, Solace had said. Attract no attention.

This hallway had been used recently. He saw evidence of sc.r.a.pe marks along the power vents, as though they'd been pried off. Was the Empire looking for something hidden in the Temple? They'd heard the same rumors he had about treasure being kept here. Of course, according to Ferus, Palpatine had started the rumors, but that didn't mean Imperial officers knew that.

Why had there been conductor wire on the floor?

Ferus accessed a doorway to the main hallway.

Trever could see the door to Malorum's office. It was open. They could hear the sound of others in the building, but the hallway was clear.

Quickly they crossed the hallway and went into the office. Ferus hurried to the desk.

"The holofiles - they're gone. So are the data-pads."

Solace looked around. "It's been cleaned out."

"I guess Vader wanted Malorum back under his nose."

"I won't learn the name of the spy now," Solace said in disgust.

Ferus frowned. He went to the window and looked out, keeping out of sight. "Where are the troops?" he wondered. "This place was crawling with them when we were here last. You'd think there would be even more."

"Something's wrong," Solace said. "I feel it."

"I feel it, too."

"Let's find the lightsabers and get out of here," Solace suggested.

The glowlights dimmed for a moment, then resumed. It was just a glitch, Trever told himself. But something was making him uneasy. Something that had nothing to do with the Force, and everything to do with the Empire.

The wire he'd almost tripped on. The scratch marks on the power vents.

"Wait," he said.

He whipped out his servodriver and hurried to the power panel. He unscrewed it from the wall and looked inside.

"Trever, what is it?"

"Power leakage," he said. "Something is sucking the power from the core generator."

"Why?"

"I can think of only one reason," Trever said. "A version of a sleeper bomb. They've tapped different power stations, all at once, to fuel it. They're draining the power to build the explosion. They've gone into different power vents. I'd say they wanted to tap enough power to blow the entire Temple."

"It's Malorum," Ferus said. "That's why he cleared out his office. Vader told him to do it, so he's doing it. Even though Vader wasn't serious. It's Malorum's way to disgrace Vader in the eyes of the Emperor. He can claim that Vader gave the order."

"Do you have any idea when it could blow?" Ferus asked Trever.

"It's just a guess," Trever said. "But if that glitch means what I think it means, we could have just made the s.h.i.+ft to reserve power."

"Which means what?" Ferus asked.

"Which means soon. Minutes." Trever swallowed. "We don't have time to leave the way we came."