Dark Forces_ Jedi Knight Part 4

"I propose to go there, with Jan if she's willing, and find a way to stop him. We did it on Danuta... and we can do it again."

Mon Mothma considered the mission to Danuta. It had been a long shot, but the agents had located the Death Star plans and brought them out. An accomplishment that, when combined with information secured by others, enabled the Rebels to win the Battle of Yavin. The twosome had been lucky, very lucky, and the odds were against them being that lucky again.

"I admire your bravery, Kyle, not to mention your dedication to the Rebel cause, but the odds are stacked against you. You can bet that Jerec has a Destroyer, who knows how many support vessels, and plenty of troops. No, what we need is a fully equipped Battle Group."

"A nice thought," Leia said gently, "but where would it come from? We're stretched thin as it is."

"True," Mon Mothma acknowledged thoughtfully, "but consider the alternative. How would Kyle and Jan make their way past the picket s.h.i.+ps? And even if they did, what would they do on the surface? Very little is known about the planet, but one thing is for sure: There's no civilian population in which to hide."

Luke had a distant almost dreamy expression. It was he who broke the ensuing silence.

"Everything Mon Mothma says is true... but truth has many levels. The power that Jerec seeks to control flows from spirits trapped within the Valley... spirits who must be freed. If Kyle freed the spirits, the threat would disappear. All without the use of a Battle Group. Easy? No, but there is a flow to such things, a flow with power of its own." The Jedi eyed those around him.

"I am told there is a species of sentients on Ruusan, a species with a long history, much of which has been captured in something they refer to as the poem of ages. There are numerous prophecies toward the end of the poem, including one that reads, And a knight shall come, a battle will be fought, and the prisoners go free.' They believe that it refers to the Valley - and I agree."

Kyle had heard those words before, but he still felt a chill run down his spine and wondered if he should feel proud or very, very frightened. The second possibility seemed more logical.

Mon Mothma sighed. Yes, she knew that there was more to life than what she could hear, touch, taste, feel, and see. She knew that certain individuals, Luke being an excellent example, had what might be described as additional senses. But knowing it, and being comfortable with it, were two different things. She preferred direct access to relevant data where important decisions were concerned - and this decision was extremely important. Still, if Luke said something was so, it generally was.

She forced a smile. "Okay, given the problems mentioned earlier, how would Kyle and Jan reach the planet's surface?"

Han cleared his throat. His voice was hoa.r.s.e after more than twelve hours of giving orders.

"While it's true that the picket s.h.i.+ps would stop one of our vessels, an Imperial s.h.i.+p would make it through."

Kyle was quick to seize on the idea.

"Han is right! We could stow the Crow on one of the captured transports, deliver some supplies, and slip away... It's perfect!"

"Not so fast," Mon Mothma said cautiously. "Give the Imperials some credit. The transport would be challenged and, lacking the proper recognition codes, searched."

"True," Jan put in, "but every commanding officer wants all the supplies he or she can lay their hands on, especially where munitions are concerned. If a transport drops out of hypers.p.a.ce and offers them a load of proton torpedoes, the Imperials will jump on it. Especially if the s.h.i.+p and crew seem legit."

Mon Mothma raised an eyebrow.

"'Proton torpedoes'? You've got to be kidding... How 'bout field rations instead?"

"Some field rations are just as lethal," Han said jokingly, "but I understand your concern. How 'bout some special torpedoes? The kind that explode in the launch tube?"

"Exactly what I had in mind," Jan agreed.

"Is it settled then?" Mon Mothma looked around the table and saw each head nod in turn. She added her approval to all the rest. "One last question. Who's going to crew the transport? And even more importantly, who will command it?"

"I volunteer to command," Han responded quickly.

"This could be fun."

"And time consuming," Mon Mothma added cautiously. "We can't afford to let you go right now."

Leia, conscious that she was more than a little biased, nodded in agreement. Han looked in her direction but chose to remain silent.

"I'll find some volunteers," Jan put in. "Folks with Special Ops experience."

"Fine," Mon Mothma said, glad to delegate at least one task to someone else. "Final comments?"

"Just one," Kyle responded soberly. "Wish us luck... I have a feeling we're gonna need it."

Sunlight rippled across a sea of s.h.i.+mmering gla.s.s. Gla.s.s that had once been part of iridescent domes, towering minarets, soaring archways, vertical towers, and all the other structures that const.i.tute a city. A city reduced to a sea of manmade lava, as Imperial laser cannon carved swathes of destruction through the once-beautiful metropolis. The resulting slag was thicker where buildings had been cl.u.s.tered and thinner out toward the suburbs, where the military base had been established.

The past could still be seen, on a hill where a nearly translucent temple glittered with emerald beauty, on a rise where a half-melted statue stretched a hand toward the heavens, and out on the silicone plain where isolated groups of dwellings remained untouched.

Prisoner 272-20-136 released the T-shaped handlebars and waited for the impact hammer to fall silent. Then, careful of what he was doing, the man took air deep into his lungs and pulled the mask away from his face. Milagro had a thin atmosphere, which was why he and the other prisoners were allowed to work without leg irons. There was nowhere to go - not without air.

The prisoner wiped his forehead with a rag, allowed elastic bands to pull the mask against his face, and checked the seal. The air left a coppery taste in his mouth.

The comm set was part of the head gear - and the factory-issued voice was part of his life.

"That was an unauthorized break, Unit 136. Twenty-seven seconds will be deducted from your next rest period." The prisoner looked back over his shoulder and saw that a detainment droid had approached from behind. It looked like a floating garbage can and had a personality to match.

"My name is Obota - Alfonso Obota - Al to my friends."

"No," the droid replied unemotionally, "that's who you used to be and may become again. At this particular moment you are Unit 136 - and the most likely member of my crew to be disciplined. Please return to work."

Obota started to object and thought better of it. He had enough trouble without making more.

The prisoner took the handlebars and made the hammer dance. The comm mast required six anchors, each sunk into the subsurface strata and fused in place. His task was to drill down through a three-meter-thick mantle of fused gla.s.s. The drill rattled dully, the noise m.u.f.fled by the thin atmosphere. Gla.s.s projectiles peppered the lower part of Obota's legs.

They stung, but he knew better than to stop. The hole was a little more than one meter deep when the voice boomed into his ears.

"They want you in the admin hut, Unit 136... on the double."

Surprised, but happy to get off work, Obota started to jog. Everything the prisoners did was carried out "on the double." Failure to comply would almost certainly result in punishments that the nearly identical detainment droids dispensed with machine-like consistency. The base hadn't existed three months before and consisted of sixty-three prefab buildings. It was a sprawling affair that included a landing strip, repair facility, surface-to-air missile batteries, barracks, and a military detention facility. Normally busy, the place seemed even busier in the aftermath of the battle, as ground personnel struggled to service battle-scarred starfighters, a somber-looking burial party made their way toward a row of recently excavated graves, and an infantry company marched the width of a lavender parade ground.

Building twenty-three served as headquarters for the Military Correction Facility, or MCF.

It, like the structures on either side, had an external air lock, inflatable walls, and a protective berm. Obota waited for the lock to open, shared the chamber with an admin droid, and cycled through. The interior was standard-issue puke green. A long list of things you weren't supposed to do scrolled across a reader - board, and the floor, which some other prisoners had buffed to a high gloss, stretched left and right.

The droid, who had privileges the human didn't, chose the hall to the right. The machine's foot cleats made a squeaking noise and left black skid marks on the otherwise immaculate floor. Obota removed his mask, attached it to his belt, and approached the fiberboard door. The sign read: MCF 63 HONOR THROUGH DISCIPLINE Knock before you enter.

Obota knocked three times, shouted "Prisoner 272-20-136 reporting as ordered, sir!" and waited for a reply.

"Enter."

Obota opened the door, stepped through, and crashed to attention. A weary-looking officer nodded, consulted his datapad, and looked up again.

"Take a left in the hall... fourth door on the right. Move it."

Obota yearned to ask"why" but knew better than to do so.

"Sir! Yes, sir!"

Obota did a smart about-face, pa.s.sed through the door, and marched down the hall. The officer watched the door close, wondered what the cloak-and-dagger types wanted with the poor slob, and returned to his work. Obota marched down the hall, located the proper office, and discovered it was empty.

"Hurry up and wait." A phrase that could have served as the real motto for the MCF. There were chairs, and Obota felt the strong urge to sit in one of them but knew it was against the rules.

Rules enforced by holo cams mounted high in each corner of the room. That being the case, the prisoner went to parade rest, chose a spot on the perfectly blank wall, and forced himself to stare at it. A minute pa.s.sed, followed by five, followed by ten more.

Had they forgotten him? Obota was just about to conclude that they had when he heard voices and felt the fiber foam deck vibrate under his boots. He came to attention as the tech sergeant and two civilians entered the office. Not because they rated the courtesy - but because prisoners honored everyone. Obota decided to ignore the tech sergeant and focus his attention on the civilians. They were the ones who had summoned him - or so he a.s.sumed - and they were the ones to worry about.

Why had he been summoned? What did they want? There was no way to tell. Both wore nondescript flight suits and neutral expressions. And what was that hanging at the man's side?

A lightsaber? Now that was unusual. The sergeant nodded in Obota's direction.

"There he is... anything else you need from me?"

The woman shook her head.

"No, sergeant, we'll take it from here."

The noncom nodded, left the room, and closed the door behind him. The woman consulted a handheld datapad, looked up, and met Obota's gaze.

"My name is Jan Ors - this is Kyle Katarn. You are Alfonso Luiz Obota, service number 272-20-136, originally from the Adega System. You graduated fourth in your cla.s.s from the Merchant Academy, qualified as third officer on a freighter, and resigned to join the Alliance. That was more than a year ago. You accepted a commission as second lieutenant, became the second officer on a Special Operations transport named the Pride of Aridus, and led a mutiny six standard months later. True so far?"

Obota remembered Captain Nord's face, the beads of sweat that dotted his forehead, and the way his hands shook. The Aridus, now bearing the name Spirit of Solaris, had made ground fall and, under the cover of discharging a completely legitimate cargo, had landed a Special Ops team. They'd been gone for six hours and two minutes, two minutes longer than the insertion plan called for, and Nord wanted to lift.

Lift and leave twelve men and women stranded on a planet swarming with Imperial troops. Obota forced his mind to the present.

"Ma'am! Yes, ma'am!"

Jan nodded thoughtfully.

"The transcript from your court martial says that you refused a legal order, confined your commanding officer to his cabin, and seized control of the s.h.i.+p. True?"

Obota remembered the explosion that momentarily turned night to day. The sound of sirens and the comm call as the Commandos raced for the s.h.i.+p. He remembered Nord screaming at the crew shouting, "Lift! Lift! Lift!" - and his fist connecting with the older officer's chin. It was all a matter of record, captured on the control room recorders and witnessed by the bridge crew.

"Ma'am! Yes, ma'am!"

Kyle watched the emotions play across the prisoner's face. He himself was a renegade, a deserter with a price on his head, and could imagine how Obota felt. The conflict between the oath he had sworn and what he knew to be right. Or was it more complicated than that? Captain Nord claimed his second officer had been insubordinate from the start. A self-serving lie? Or a statement of fact?

Jan looked up from her datapad.

"The records say that while three of the commandos made it to the Aridus and were successfully extracted, TIE fighters attacked your transport above the atmosphere. Five of your fellow crew members were killed during the battle. The s.h.i.+p suffered serious damage and barely made it to hypers.p.a.ce. Three lives for five... a rather poor trade, wouldn't you say?"

Obota remembered the fear, carnage, and smoke. He saw the faces of those who had died, knew they might have lived if he had obeyed orders, and wished he had died in their places.

"Ma'am! Yes, ma'am!"

"So," Jan said quietly, "knowing how the whole thing turned out, would you make the same decision again?"

"Ma'am! Yes, ma'am!"

"Why?"

Obota knew the answer - had lain awake countless nights thinking about it - but hesitated. Who were these people? They were covert operations types, that much was obvious, but doing what? And for whom? Knowing would give him an edge, but he didn't know and had no way to find out. That being the case, he settled on the truth.

"Because it seemed like the right thing to do."

There was silence for a moment. Jan looked at Kyle - and the Jedi considered Obota's words. No complicated excuses, no fancy rationalizations, no self-serving explanations. He smiled.

"At ease, Lieutenant Obota, we need an experienced deck officer, and you fit the bill."

The High Hauler dropped out of hypers.p.a.ce and probed the out-of - the-way solar system for s.h.i.+ps. There were plenty to find, including a screen of picket s.h.i.+ps, a Star Destroyer, numerous escorts, and an alarming number of TIE fighters. Most were centered around the fourth planet from the sun. Obota, a newly restored lieutenant, but packing the honorary t.i.tle of "captain," felt something heavy hit the bottom of his stomach.

Yes, he'd been expecting to find an Imperial Battle Group and would have been disappointed if he hadn't, but the sight of all those blips on the detector screens still scared the heck out of him. The challenge was nearly instantaneous.

"This is the Imperial Star Destroyer Vengeance... identify yourself or be fired on."

"Fighters closing fast, sir," a tech interjected. "An escort frigate broke orbit and is coming for a look-see."

Obota checked the Imperial uniform to ensure that the closures were properly snapped, adjusted the bandage that encircled his head, and scanned the bridge. The bridge crew wore grimy uniforms, blood-stained bandages, and carefully applied makeup. They looked exhausted. Even the untrained eye would see the makes.h.i.+ft hull patch, the dangling cables, and the fire-blackened control console and know what they meant: The High Hauler had been in a fight.

A warrant officer, who bore a striking resemblance to Kyle Katarn, intercepted Obota's glance and gave a cheerful thumbs-up. The deck officer winked, turned toward the holo pickup, and touched a b.u.t.ton.

"The Vengeance? This is Lieutenant Hortu Agar - engineering officer for the Imperial Transport High Hauler. I a.s.sumed command when Captain Drax and the majority of the bridge crew were killed."

The holo swirled, and a real captain appeared. He had narrow-set eyes, a beaklike nose, and a slash-shaped mouth.

"Listen carefully, lieutenant whoever-you-are... I want recognition codes and I want them now."

Would the Destroyer actually fire on them? Obota had pooh-poohed the idea earlier - but had started to wonder. The desperation in his voice was real.

"I don't know the codes, sir! They're issued on a need-to-know basis, and engineering officers aren't cleared to receive them! We were on a run to Byss when the Rebels jumped us. We fought - but it was no use. The bridge took a direct hit. So, given the fact that we're carrying a full load of proton torpedoes, I thought... "

"Did you say 'proton torpedoes'?" the Imperial inquired.

"Why, yes," Obota replied innocently, "two hundred and fifty proton torpedoes to be exact, straight from the factories in the Corporate Sector. That's why... "

"Enough," the officer commanded. A boarding party will inspect your s.h.i.+p, and, a.s.suming that the facts match your story, emergency repairs will be made. You and your crew performed well, lieutenant... and the Empire knows how to show its grat.i.tude."

Obota tried to look modest.

"Thank you, sir."

"One more thing," the officer added.

"Sir?"

"What sort of condition is your docking bay in?"