Cahi popped into the system well out of the range of any sensors that might be located on the planet. The cockpit was crowded as everyone on board tried to get a look at Hibris II. "There's a Star Cruiser orbiting the planet," Tiros said, looking at the sensors. He and Tian were back in the pilot and co-pilot's seats, as if Tian's incapacitation hadn't happened.
"A Star Cruiser?" Lotah asked, frowning. She hadn't said one word to Melana about the Force since that discussion the first day of travel. Now it was ten days later, Tian was as healthy as he ever was, everyone was impatient to get down to the planet, and Melana was going nearly crazy with curiosity, both about the planet and Lotah. There had been no connections that she could trace back home about her mother's death - would there be some link here?
Somewhere at the back of her mind, Melana realized that their search had become much more important than just finding her mother's killer, but she didn't think about that. There were enough things for her to think about without having to worry about strange hunches and feelings.
"Yup. It's beacon says that it's called the Blade," Tian snorted his opinion of that name. "They really have to work on their creativity."
"Creative or not, there's no way we can go up against that," Tiros said practically. "They'd blast us into a million pieces, or latch onto us with a tractor beam and haul us aboard. In that case, they'd interrogate us, then kill us. Either way, we'd end up dead sooner or later. It's just a matter of when and how long it'd take."
"So we're going to turn around?" Kenneth asked, his always scratchy voice sounding worse than usual. Melana stared at him. He sounded almost disappointed. What happened to the coward she'd brought on board?
Then she realized he probably had no idea of the dangers involved, and was just interested in the flora on the planet. This system revolved around a star that gave off almost pure white light, yet still managed to support life. Apparently there were a number of gases in the atmosphere that refracted the light, making the sky appear to be streaked with all different colors all the time. It must make for interesting plant life. She turned away, slightly disgusted by how blind he was.
But when she turned, she saw Lotah staring at Kenneth with an odd expression on her face. Since Melana now knew about Lotah's power, she tended to trust the girl a little more. "Anything wrong?" she murmured, leaning over so that only Lotah could hear her.
Lotah shook her head, and Melana felt a surge of some emotion before she controlled it. What was that? Fear? Confusion? Suspicion? That last one sounded right, but the surge was gone before Melana could positively identify it. "It's nothing," Lotah murmured back, without taking her eyes off the planet. Melana considered trying to reach out to the girl with the Force, but based on her earlier response to that stimuli, it probably wasn't the way to earn Lotah's trust.
"No," Tiros said in response to Kenneth's question. "I've seen this sort of pattern before. The cruiser is in geosyncronous orbit above the only port on the planet. Any ships that go by them will have already been cleared. One of the moons is inside their orbit, though. We'll just wait until the cruiser is on the other side of the planet. Then we make a microjump, sneak in behind the moon, and land with the rest of the cleared ships."
"Are you sure?" Lorb asked. He was looking over Tian's shoulder at the screens. "The moon's spinning, and it's only between the cruiser and the planet for a few minutes. You'll have to stay on the far side of the moon, and then move with the moon so that the cruiser stays on the far side when you try to jump into the pack. And even if that works, I think that they'll notice if an extra ship suddenly appears on their sensors when they get out of the moon's shadow."
"We know that," Tian said, sounding insulted that Lorb would think them so stupid. "We hide in the shadow of one of the other ships until we hit the atmosphere. By then, their sensor readings are confused enough that they won't be able to tell if we're another ship or just interference."
"Oh." Lorb fell silent.
"It's risky," Tiros admitted, staring at the cruiser. It was just beginning to pass behind the planet. "I've already calculated the microjump, but there's always a chance that something will go wrong with that. It's going to be tough to keep the moon in the right place, relative to us, and even harder to stay with one of those ships long enough to land, but it's the only chance we've got. Our information shows that they only do brief checks on the people they let through, and that they let all sorts of traders go down to pick up slaves, so we ought to be safe enough once we land." He paused, then said, "It would be a lot easier if the cockpit wasn't so crowded."
They took the hint, and everyone except for Tian cleared out of the cockpit. To Melana's surprise, Lotah seated herself next to Melana in the main room. "Are you scared?" Lotah murmured, staring blankly ahead of her.
"No," Melana said immediately, then reconsidered her answer. "A little, maybe, more apprehensive, or excited. Are you afraid?"
"I'm not sure. Something big is going to happen down there," Lotah shivered. "I can feel it."
"A premonition?"
"A what?"
"Seeing the future?"
"I don't know. That planet is very important to me, but I'm not sure why." Lotah looked across the room, then glanced at her feet. "Kenneth is watching us."
Melana looked up, and saw that Kenneth was staring at them, an odd expression on his face. "You're right." Something in Lotah's posture made her ask, "Is there something wrong with that?"
"I don't know. I don't trust him. He lies."
"How do you know?"
Lotah shrugged, and Melana could see her building a wall up between them again. "Just be careful with him," Lotah said, then turned away.
Melana slowly counted to ten, and then repeated the action. This was so frustrating! Lotah had obviously had training, but she wouldn't tell where. She knew tricks that Melana didn't, but she wouldn't tell what they were! The only thing that made the trip bearable was the fact that her search for evidence against her mother's killers was leading somewhere. But for Lotah to open up, and tell her something that was so close to an answer, and then to pull away... Melana caught herself about to loose her temper, and counted to ten again. She was training to be a Jedi, and Jedi did not let themselves be ruled by their emotions. Lotah obviously had that part of the training down.
Once she got her temper back under control, Melana considered Lotah's words. So far, other than being a general annoyance with his naivete, Kenneth had been completely helpful. He had done his job, then stayed on to help out. Or did he? At the time, Melana had wondered why he would choose to stay with them. It was true that she was paying them a lot of money, but he didn't seem to be the type who would risk his neck for money. For interest in the different plant life on the planets they visited? At the time it seemed to make sense, but now that explanation seemed hollow. So why? Melana resolved to keep a closer eye on him.
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The entire operation went smoothly. The microjump went flawlessly, and Tian and Tiros alternated turns keeping the ship behind the moon, so that neither of them got tired and careless. Then Tiros flew the ship around the far side of the moon, and Tian flew it in behind and below one of the bigger slave ships. The two of them worked effortlessly together, often not even bothering to talk when they had to work in unison.
The trip from the outskirts of the system to the planet's surface took nearly six hours, and both of the pilots were exhausted by the time they landed. It was also the middle of the night. Because of that, and because of the fact that they knew so little about the planet in general, they decided to wait until morning to venture outside the ship. Tiros ran a quick sensor sweep of the area around them and found one anomaly - there didn't seem to be any other ships parked nearby.
A quick discussion led to the decision that they would still wait until morning. The anomaly could be explained by any number of simple explanations - they were in a shielded room, or the other ships had shielding, or they just happened to be parked in an almost deserted landing area. After all, they had followed the directions that the landing coordinator had sent them, to the letter, and these were the exact coordinates. Lotah had a bad feeling, but she didn't say anything. How was she supposed to explain a 'bad feeling' to Tian and the others? Melana would believe her, but Lotah wasn't sure that she wanted Melana listening to her hunches.
So she went to the bunk with everyone else, and tried to get some rest for the day ahead. But it was no good. For several hours, she couldn't sleep at all, and when she finally did fall asleep, it was to nightmares. There were dim, shadowy figures reaching for her out of the darkness, and faces she didn't recognize stared at her with odd - colored eyes. Finally one of the shadows grabbed her and pulled her into the darkness, and she was falling... Lotah woke up screaming, and woke up everyone else in the ship.
Reacting with the instincts of a soldier, Tiros was on the floor, his blaster aimed at Lotah. Also acting instinctively to the sight of a blaster, Lotah threw herself to one side and kicked the blaster out of Tiros's hand. "What the hell?" Lorb yelled, flicking on the lights, and Melana walked into the room.
"What is going on?" she asked, her tone as cold as ice.
Tian paused, half way out of his bunk, his blaster also drawn. "What's wrong?" he asked, looking at Lotah.
"I... I..." Lotah said. She stared across the room, and saw light reflecting off something in Kenneth's hand. A second later, the reflection disappeared, and Kenneth looked up into Lotah's gaze. Their eyes locked, and Lotah was thoroughly chilled by what she saw. Then Kenneth looked away, and Lotah was left to wonder at what she had seen.
"She," Tiros pointed accusingly at Lotah, "started screaming her head off. What are you trying to do, get every official in three systems to come down on us?"
"I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to - I had a nightmare." Lotah flushed. That excuse did sound really stupid right now.
"A nightmare!" Tiros exclaimed, sounding disgusted. He rolled over onto his side, muttering just loud enough for her to hear, "Never thought I'd end up halfway across the galaxy with a bunch of babies." He fell silent for a second, then said, "And turn off the light!" Lorb turned off the light.
"Are you all right?" Tian asked from his bed. He sounded genuinely concerned, although he had to be half-asleep.
"I'm all right, really. I'm just going to go get a drink of water." She smiled into the darkness.
"OK." He yawned and rolled over, settling in the exact same position his father had.
Lotah stood up and walked as quietly as she could to the main room. Melana followed her. "What did you dream about?"
"What difference does it make?" Lotah tried not to snap. She really was not in the mood to talk to anyone right now, especially not to Melana. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. People tended to do stupid things when they were angry - which might be part of Melana's plan anyway.
"Was it about this planet? One of us?"
"Why?"
Melana didn't speak for several minutes, and they stood in absolute silence, each waiting for the other to say something. Lotah was about to leave when Melana said, "Sometimes Jedi have visions of the future or the past. I was wondering if you had one of those."
"It wasn't about any of you guys or the planet. Just a regular nightmare." But now she wondered. The night before her master had died she had had horrible nightmares, and spent most of the night lying awake, too scared to even try to sleep.
Melana nodded, and turned towards the cargo bay. "Melana!" Lotah called. The cat woman had just given her a little information, it was only fair to reciprocate. Or so I tell myself. But since when have I cared what was fair? Or do I just want to protect them? She stopped herself. If she thought about this too much, she'd talk herself out of giving away any information. And I do want to tell her this. I think.
"What?" Melana asked while she was struggling to figure out her own mind.
"It's about Kenneth." Lotah shook her head involuntarily, thinking of the coldness in his eyes. "Don't trust him."
"You said something about that before. Why don't you trust him?"
"I don't know. There's just something wrong with him. He's lying."
"You said that, too. About what?"
"I don't know." Now Lotah was feeling really foolish. Who was she to tell Melana who to trust? And all on an 'odd' feeling. She didn't have any proof, not even any real suspicions. Just a bad feeling.
But Melana just nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him. Anything else?"
Lotah shook her head, amazed that Melana would trust her so easily. Or maybe she's just pretending to agree. I can't always tell with her. "Nothing else."
"Are you going to sleep?"
Lotah shook her head again. "I think I'll wait up."
"You may need your energy tomorrow."
"I never need more than a few hours sleep anyway. I've stayed up for three days in a row with no problems." Lotah nearly hit herself. What the hell was she doing, volunteering information like that?
Melana nodded again. "Good night." She walked into the cargo bay, leaving Lotah alone. She sat down on the couch, rested her elbows on the table and rubbed her temples. This was a dangerous game she was playing. She questioned her own motives every other minute, and she was beginning to get too close to these people. But that annoying voice demanded, What's wrong with finally getting some friends? Who says you can never trust anyone?
That bounty on my head says so, she told the voice.
So what are you going to do, run forever? she asked herself.
With a low moan she buried her head in her arms. What was wrong with her?
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When Tian woke up the next morning, Lotah wasn't in the bunk. He got up, pulled on his shoes, strapped on his blaster, and went into the main room. There he found her sitting at the table, staring into space. "Have you been up all night?" he asked.
"Couldn't sleep," she replied, not looking at him. He took a closer look at her, and decided something was wrong. He was getting better at reading her expressions, and from the hollow look in her eyes, something was really bothering her. He also knew her well enough to know that if he asked her about it, she would probably either ignore him or deny everything.
"So what are we going to do today?" he asked, grabbing a nutrient bar. They tasted like something a bantha stepped in, but at least they filled his stomach.
"Probably much of the same. Scout for a while, get some information, then strike. We might actually find what we're looking for here."
"But this is an Imperial-controlled world."
"So?"
"Aren't you nervous?"
"What difference does it make? We've been dealing with criminals on every world we've visited, most of whom would have just as soon killed us as talked to us. This is no more dangerous, no different." But it was different, he could tell from the way that she refused to look him in the eye.
"I guess so. What are we going to dress like?"
"Traders. They're the only ones who aren't natives or Imps on this planet. Not exactly a tourist attraction. Actually, Melana and I are the only ones who have to wear disguises. She doesn't exactly look like a trader, and I'm too memorable."
That reminded him of something. "On Melana's world, you told me that your parents changed your eyes and hair to look like that. But you were raised as a slave..." He mentally kicked himself as he saw her stiffen up at the use of that word. Great going, you idiot. Think you'd know better by now... He hurriedly continued, "... so it wasn't your parents. So why do you look like that?"
"How should I know? Why do you look the way you do? Maybe I'm part alien. Maybe that's why I was sold into slavery. I'm not going to figure it out, so what difference does it make?"
"Sorry."
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, making this the first time she had actually looked at him this morning. "It's all right. I don't like talking about it, and I'm a little grouchy from not enough sleep. I really don't care, though."
He nodded and took a bite of the bar, grimacing. A few minutes later Tiros and Lorb came out of the bunk and started eating breakfast. Melana emerged almost a half-hour later, wearing a shirt and a loose pair of slacks. Her head was covered with a big, floppy hat, and she looked nothing like the warrior he knew her to be. Lorb made a choking sound, covering his mouth with one hand, unsuccessfully trying to hide his smile, and Melana glared at him. That made Tian start to laugh, but he tried to cover it with a cough, also unsuccessfully. Melana glared at him. She was a lot easier to deal with now than she used to be - less stuffy. At least now she had some sense of humor, even if it wasn't particularly evident.
"Get ready," she told Lotah. "We're leaving in fifteen minutes." Lotah nodded and walked into the bunk without a word. Tian frowned. Was it just him, or was something happening between the two women? He watched Melana all through breakfast for some kind of clue, but when nothing happened, he decided it must be all in his mind.
When Lotah came out fifteen minutes later, her eyes were blue and her hair was a uniform dull brown. She was dressed in a loose shirt and black stretch pants, with a blaster at her left hip. She was right-handed, he remembered. "Thought you don't like guns," Lorb said, pointing at the blaster. "Don't use them. Thought you swore."
Lotah didn't even look angry. "It's not charged and I don't intend to use it, but it might make someone think twice about attacking me."
Lorb nodded, but he didn't look happy. Still sore over that earlier incident, probably. "Is everyone ready to go?" Melana asked.
"Am I going?" Kenneth asked.
"You're going to watch the ship until we have a better idea what we're facing on this planet," Melana told him.
"We're facing the entire Imperial fleet, what else?" Tiros muttered.
Melana ignored his comment. "You stay in the ship until we return. Don't go outside for anything, not even to go look at some flower. Do you understand?"
Kenneth frowned but nodded. Melana ignored that too and stood up. "Then lets go." She led the way to the ramp. When the door opened, bright light flooded over them. Tian already had his blaster out of the holster before he realized that this wasn't some sort of an ambush, it was just the sun's natural brightness. He blinked rapidly until the glare died down. And when his eyes cleared, he stared around him.
Hibris was beautiful. As promised, the sky looked like an unending rainbow swirl, with all the colors of the spectrum visible to the human eye chasing each other back and forth across the sky. Much of the plant life was white or cream-colored, but every now and then one plant would pop up, bright blue with orange flowers, or reddish with blue leaves. Everywhere there was color - in the sky, on the ground(the white plants reflecting the sky's color), and in the fields.
Then Tian noticed what was wrong. They were in the middle of a field. In the far distance, two or three kilometers away, he could see the spaceport. What were they doing out here? There were no ships nearby, no houses to indicate that this was some sort of landing sight. Melana murmured, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
"You're not the only one," Tiros said, one hand on his blaster.
They stood silently for a minute. "Well," Tian said, looking around nervously. "Are we going to the city or not?" They started off for the city. It was not a pleasant walk, because each of them was waiting for an ambush around every corner of the road.
When they were under a quarter of a kilometer from the city, Lotah said, "Could they have made a mistake when they sent you the coordinates?"
Tian glanced at his father, then said, "I guess it's possible, but if they sent us that far out of the city by accident, they're the worst traffic controllers I've ever seen." Then he realized the impact of his words, gulped, and fell silent again. They walked into the city, still tense, but nothing happened, other than a local merchant deciding that they would be perfect customers. Finally Lorb glared at him, and the sight of his menacing face convinced the merchant leave them alone, although he shouted insults at their backs.
They wandered around the city for a half-hour, finally sitting down at a bar. "So, what do you think?" Lorb asked.
"Who, me?" Tian asked.
"Whoever." Tian fell silent, thinking the comment hadn't been directed at him. But everyone was staring at him, so he decided he might as well answer.
"I don't think that the traffic controllers gave us those coordinates by accident," he said finally. "I mean, it happens sometimes, but not on an Imperial slave world. That seems just a bit careless, don't you think? Especially if they're catching natives and shipping them off the planet, I don't think they'd want anyone else getting close enough to catch natives without paying for them. It just doesn't feel right."
Tiros shook his head when Melana asked him for his opinion. Either he didn't have one, or he just didn't feel like sharing it yet. Lorb also didn't have an opinion, and Lotah wouldn't say anything. Tian had never seen her this nervous - she kept glancing around the bar, as if she was expecting to be attacked at any moment. If Melana had any opinions, either about Lotah or the planet, she kept them to herself.
They decided to split up after lunch and return to the ship before sunset. Surprisingly, Melana broke from the usual patters and took Lotah with her and told the other three to stay together.
The three of them wandered around the city all day. No one asked them any questions, and their questions were met with glares. Once or twice they saw figures in shabby clothes and with their heads bowed down running up and down the streets, but they never saw one up close. A trader trying to sell them some highly illegal drugs said that they were native slaves before stomping off, disgusted by their lack of interest.
All in all, they found out absolutely nothing of value, saw a lot of stormtroopers, and were tired and footsore by the time they went back to the ship.
Melana and Lotah had a similarly discouraging and fruitless day, and no one was in a good mood when they ate dinner. The only one saying much at all was Kenneth, and he was just complaining about not being allowed to go outside and look at the plants all day. His scratchy voice was extremely irritating, more so because of the silence when he didn't talk.
Tian didn't understand what had happened to the group. Yesterday they had been enthusiastic about finally finding the planet, and excited over the possibilities. Yet they'd only been here one day, and already they were acting as though the mission was a failure. He excused himself from the table and went outside to watch the sunset, which he'd heard was extremely beautiful.
It was phenomenally beautiful, even prettier than the sky during the day. The gases in the atmosphere refracted the sun's light in a thousand different directions, and Tian imagined he could see each individual ray of light bouncing off the clouds. . "It's beautiful," said a soft voice behind him. Tian spun, reflexively reaching for his blaster before he realized that it was Lotah.
"Don't sneak up behind me like that. Someday that's going to get you shot!" he exclaimed, embarrassed that she had snuck up behind him so easily.
"No it won't," she said quietly, stepping up next to him. "In all my traveling, I've never seen anything like this before."
"It is nice," he said, looking down at her face. It was tilted up towards the sky, and she had removed the contacts and hair dyes. For the first time he noticed how the colors reflecting from the sky seemed to blend in with her eyes and hair. It was an odd effect, although not unpleasant.
They were silent for a minute, staring at the sky. Then Tian slowly reached for Lotah's hand. She stiffened when he touched her and started to pull her hand away, but he held on, and after a few moments she stopped pulling away. They stood there for a long time, enjoying the sunset together.
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That night Lotah slept well, but the next morning she was up early (earlier than usual), wandering restlessly around the ship. Lorb woke up soon after her, and ate his breakfast while Lotah walked in circles around the main room. "Are you all right?" he finally asked, staring at her.
"I'm fine," she said automatically, and forced herself to sit down. Something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Extending her senses out beyond the ship, she couldn't feel anyone out there, but the feeling of 'wrongness' increased. Shivering, she pulled back.
Melana emerged from her room a few seconds later, and made a beeline for Lotah. "What were you doing?"
"Nothing. I was just checking outside."
"Is there anyone out there?"
"I don't think so." As soon as she said this, something banged several times on the outside of the hull.
"What the hell..." Lorb said, rising. There was a bang from inside the bunk, and a few seconds later Tian emerged, rubbing his head. Tiros followed him out into the main room.
"Who's the joker? Almost gave myself a concussion jumping out of the bed with all that banging," Tian complained, sitting down.
The banging noise repeated, and everyone looked towards the hatch. "Who is that?" Tiros snapped, drawing his blaster.
"I'll go see," Melana said calmly, but Lotah could feel her apprehension. Her own sense of danger was going crazy, but she didn't see that many options right now.
"We'll come with you, to give you cover," Tiros said, and no one argued. They walked to the hatch. Melana and Lorb stood in the doorway, and Tiros, Tian, and Lotah arranged themselves out of sight around the door. Melana hit the controls, and the door opened and the ramp extended itself.
"Who's there?" Melana called as soon at the door was open.
"My name is Pouli," said a female voice that sent chills down Lotah's spine. She wasn't sure, but she thought that she recognized the voice as that of her former master. "I'd appreciate it if you and the rest of your crew would please come out here."
"Why?" Lotah heard the clang of metal as someone stepped onto the ramp, but neither Melana nor Lorb had moved, so it had to be the woman.
"I believe that you have a fugitive among you," the woman said. Lotah heard another step. "I have some local authorities here to verify this. The ship is surrounded, and above us there is a cruiser with its turbolasers aimed directly at this ship. If you do not come out I will tell that cruiser to open fire."
"What has this fugitive done?" Lotah edged closer to the door. She had to get a look at the visitor, to make sure.
"That is no business of yours," the woman called back. "Come out now or I will tell them to come in." Lotah peeked around the corner and froze. It was her!
Her hesitation cost her. The woman saw her face and shouted, "There she is, grab her!"
Lotah immediately backed away from the door until she hit the wall opposite the hatch. She started to run, but Kenneth appeared in the doorway, asking what was wrong. They ran head-on into each other, and a second later two of the stormtroopers grabbed her by the arms. "Let me go!" They didn't listen to her, dragging her outside and throwing her to the ground at the feet of the woman.
One of them planted a blaster at the base of her neck. "Don't move."
"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" Tian shouted, running down the ramp, his blaster drawn. In a second he would do something stupid, and they would shoot him. She reached out and turned on the safety on his gun. Tian pulled the trigger, nothing happened, and then he noticed the half-dozen heavy-duty blasters aimed at his chest. He dropped his own blaster and raised his hands in the air.
"Send everyone else out here now or I'll have your ship destroyed!" A few seconds later, everyone came down the ramp, unarmed. The woman looked at Tian. "Now, as to what I think I'm doing, I'm taking back what is rightfully mine. This, this thing," she nudged Lotah with her boot, "Is an escaped slave. I've been hunting for her for almost a year, and now that I've found her, I intend to keep her."
"What about us?" Lorb asked.
"I don't care about you," the woman said. She's lying! Lotah realized. It's something about Melana... she's going to kill them! "These fine men will make sure you don't do anything stupid until we're well away. Then they let you go. I suggest you leave this planet immediately afterwards, the authorities will find you soon enough." She glanced down at Lotah, then nodded to the trooper. The gun was removed, and Lotah was jerked to her feet. One of the troopers fitted a rough metal collar around her neck. A chain trailed from it to the ground. "Bring her," the woman said, and two men, not stormtroopers, grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the ship.
All this time Lotah had been silent, dazed at the sudden reversal in her fortune. She felt numb, stumbling away from her friends and her freedom. Then a cloaked figure approached her, one she hadn't noticed before. It was a man, middle aged and with a friendly face. He leaned close to her and murmured, "So glad to meet you face to face at last." Then Lotah felt the strange presence in her mind, the same one she remembered after fleeing Op's house.
She stopped short. "What do you want?" she whispered. "He's dead."
"But I don't want him. I want you." He reached into her mind again, and she was powerless to fight back. He reached out with one hand to touch her face, and the instant his fingers brushed her flesh, she could feel all the evil he'd done rushing out to claw at her mind. Jerking her face back, she broke the contact, and at the same time got control of herself again.
He was evil. It was just as simple as that. And evil should not be tolerated, especially with power such as he possessed - that much of Op's lessons had been clear. Lotah looked around her. They were still only about twenty meters from the ship, fifteen from her friends. She was only ten feet from the nearest stormtrooper, and neither of the men holding her were armed. This might be her only attempt to eliminate him. She could always escape later, as long as she was alive and her mind was her own she could try. But if he remained, he'd destroy her and everything else that he touched, one way or another. "What are you looking at?" the woman asked, sparing only a glance towards the man. "You belong to me now."
"No," Lotah said quietly, and with a quick motion, threw off both of the men who were holding her. She turned towards the ship and grabbed the gun from the hands of the nearest guard. It flew to her hand, and she turned... The man was standing there, a big grin on his face.
"Shoot me. I'll die, and so will you." Again she hesitated, the blaster pointed slightly to one side - she'd never actually killed anyone, not ever. What he said was true - she would die. But I've been a slave before - what kind of life was that? It's worth my life to kill him, I think. Op would tell me to do what feels right.
"It's worth it," she murmured. She aimed the blaster and started to pull the trigger. Something hit her in the back, and she blacked out, her own shot going harmlessly into the dirt.
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The woman had actually been truthful - twenty minutes after the woman had taken Lotah away, the stormtroopers got into a sled and drove away. Of course the cruiser could still be waiting in orbit to blast them, but there was nothing they could do about that anyway, so it wasn't worth bothering about.
Melana had spent the last twenty minutes planning. There was no way that she was going to sit by and allow Lotah to be treated like so much cargo to be sold. The girl showed tremendous potential for becoming a Jedi, but even if she hadn't, she'd been completely loyal during the trip, and had risked her life multiple times to help Melana succeed in her quest. There was no code of honor that would have her abandon Lotah at this point.
As soon as the troopers left, she ran up the ramp and collected her blaster, a strong rope, and a short dagger. A second later, she picked up Lotah's knives, which were lying on the floor under her bunk. On her way out of the ship she met everyone else, going in. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Tiros asked.
"I'm going after her," Melana told him.
"Are you crazy?! Whoever that woman is, she's got connections to the Imperial navy, if she got a bunch of stormtroopers out here just to pick up her slave. And we're on an Imperial world, if you forgot. She's probably off-planet by now!"
"They took her to the local jail," Melana told him. "They're waiting for something."
"For what? And how the hell do you know where they're taking her?"
"I don't know, and it's a long story. Wait here. I'll be back by tomorrow morning or not at all. If you see anyone coming on the sensors, get ready to move. If any stormtroopers come back here, get out if you can. All right?"
"What are you planning to do?"
"I'm going to rescue her."
"That's crazy!" Tiros exploded. "We're lucky that they didn't shoot us for harboring an escaped slave! The law is on their side this time! What you're talking about is suicide!"
Melana glanced around the group. A few weeks ago, she wouldn't have cared what they thought, but now she was willing to listen to them, at least, before she left. Lorb was obviously more worried about Cahi the ship than Lotah, although to his credit he did look worried. Tiros was obviously on the side of leaving right away - Melana had noticed that he was no longer referring to Lotah by her name, just calling her 'the slave.' It was as if he had already written her off in his mind. Tian was clearly torn between his desire to side with his father and his fondness for Lotah.
"She saved your son's life," Melana pointed out. "Lotah risked her own freedom to come here with us."
"But she's still an escaped slave," Tiros murmured.
"Does she deserve to be abandoned?" Melana countered. "I will be back by tomorrow afternoon or not at all. You may do as you see fit with the ship. I hope it will still be waiting for us when we come back." And with that, she turned and ran full speed towards the city.
--------------------------------
They hadn't taken Lotah off planet immediately. When she woke up from the stun shot, she was lying on a cot in a jail on the surface of the planet. They're going to kill Melana, and Tian, and the others. And I can't even warn them. For several hours, she saw no one at all. Then he arrived.
He was still wearing that cloak, and now carried a length of chain and a blaster. It was then that Lotah noticed the chain that had been attached to the collar around her throat was gone. She backed up into a corner of the cell, holding her hands out in front of her. He wasn't going to attach that thing to her throat without a fight. She still remembered her decision back by the ship, that it was worth her own life to kill him, but it was pointless to get herself killed before she had another chance. Even now her mind was absorbing all the information she had, dismissing the earlier failure and looking towards the future.
"You may be wondering why you're down here instead of on that ship," he finally said, not moving towards her. "The traders believe that we picked you up for brawling in a local bar, and the natives are useless, so don't expect any help there. And everyone else on this planet is either working for the Empire or part of it. Don't expect any rescue. Your friends were killed right after we left." He's lying about them being dead. I know he's planning to kill them, but why bother lying to me about it now? "The reason you're down here is that here my connection to the Force is stronger, as I suspect yours is. Down here on a planet full of life, instead of a void my powers are greater. It will make the training easier." He reached into her mind again. Lotah opened herself to the Force and blocked him.
"You've gotten stronger since we last met."
"You killed Op."
"That I did, and in the process found you."
"Why?"
"Because the Empire needs more people who can use the Force."
"I won't work for the Empire."
"Don't be so certain. You will gladly work for the Empire, once your training is complete. Did you know that the training that little thing you call Op gave you is actually more than that Cat woman's training?" Lotah refused to comment. "I wonder, did you even know that she was trained in the Force? She spent the last year of her life at that Jedi Academy. Pathetic, isn't it? She had to hire all those sad little mercenaries just to find the planet where the id is grown." Lotah tried to mask her surprise at this statement and failed. "Oh, yes, I knew about that vengeful search of hers. The saddest part is that she'll never know that our people ordered her mother killed, to draw her out into the open. It's almost funny when you think about it. If she hadn't gone to become a Jedi, her mother might have succeeded in uniting the people of that planet against us and driving us off the planet. We would never have seen it in time. But because she was a Jedi, we stopped the movement before it started, and in a few years we'll have that planet as cowed as this one!" But they aren't dead yet - I would know. So there's still a chance I can stop you and save them, if not myself. "Well, have you nothing to say about this grand scheme?"
Lotah carefully controlled her face and voice. "I think it's just delightful to hear about the wonderful plans of the Empire, but I was wondering if you were ever going to get to the point, or just sit around talking about how perfect everything is working out for you?"
He stared at her for a moment, and she touched his mind for a second, then drew back. He's surprised about something. My lack of grief over my friend's deaths? Or something else?
"The point, Lotah, is that you will be there to see it happen. You will happily order hundreds of thousands into slavery, and will kill any that resist. And you will enjoy doing it."
"You're crazy."
"Most prophets were considered crazy in their own day. I've seen the power and mad genius of a Dark Jedi. That path is not my destiny, but it can be yours. Once someone steps onto the Dark path for the first time, it is easier and easier to return. I can help you make that first step."
"I won't do it. You can't make me."
"We'll see."
----------------------------------------
Tian strode back and forth across the bunk. He knew his father was doing the same thing out in the main room. "Are you all right, kid?" Lorb asked.
"No."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Do you want to hear about it?"
"Not really, but it would be better than listening to you walking back and forth for the next twenty hours." Lorb looked completely at ease, lying on his side in his bunk, playing with a very large knife. In the last half-hour, he had started a contest with himself. He would toss the knife in the air and have it spin end-over-end once, then catch it. Then he'd throw it up again and have it spin end-over-end twice before catching it, and so on. If he didn't spin it enough times or dropped it, he started all over again. So far his record was seven revolutions.
"She lied to me!" the words exploded out of Tian's mouth. "She said that she'd been set free, not that she ran away! All this time people have been hunting her, and she didn't even tell me! It's just, I... I thought she trusted me more than that!"
"Maybe that's why she didn't tell you."
"If she trusted me at all, even if she liked me at all, she should have told me. I wouldn't have told anyone."
"Like I said, she probably had a good reason not to tell you."
"What reason?! If you're friends with a person, you tell them your secrets. She was in danger all of this time, and she risked her life for me, but she never told me! How could she?!"
"Boy! Listen to me! Did it ever occur to you that she did like you, and that was the reason that she didn't tell you? Look at this from her point of view. She's an escaped slave - never known any other life but that of a slave - certainly never had friends. People were hunting her, and she knew it. She may have been trying to protect you, keep you from getting hurt because of her. Or she might have thought that if you knew what she was, that you wouldn't like her anymore."
"You think so?"
"I don't know - you're the one who was friends with her. Look, whatever she did, she had reasons for it. I don't know her that well, but I do know that she never did anything without a reason, and a damn good one at that. If you don't know that, you didn't know her at all. Just think about that, and be glad that she lied to you to keep you out of trouble, rather than getting you into it." He fell into a broody silence, and Tian remembered that Lorb's first partner had kept a secret from him that almost got him killed. He certainly hadn't kept that secret out of friendship.
Tian thought about it for a minute. Then he said, "You think that Melana will bring her back?"
"I don't know - maybe. I guess that if anyone can do it, that woman can. Lotah's not the only one who's been hiding stuff from us." Tian remembered the way that the stormtrooper's gun had flown to Lotah's hand, the same way the shirt had on the first day. "On the other hand, she may get herself killed, or captured. Or she may fail, but decide not to come back. She's from a planet a lot like this one - she could just disappear and survive on her own for years here. We'd certainly never find her. Whatever she does, we're stuck here until tomorrow afternoon. I'm kind of surprised that your dad agreed to that."
"Me too." Tian decided that he wanted to go talk to his father.
Tiros was in the main room, pacing back and forth. "Hi, Dad," Tian said quietly. Tiros paused in his pacing long enough to give Tian a weak smile, then went back to the business of wearing a trench in the floor. "Dad, you want to talk? It might help."
Tiros grunted in surprise. "About what?"
"Whatever's bothering you. It helps to get it off your chest."
Tiros actually stopped pacing. "When'd you get so smart?"
Tian shrugged. "Actually, it was Lorb's idea. So what's bugging you, other than the fact that we might all end up dead? That's nothing new."
"It's about that girlfriend of yours. I think I recognized that trick of hers - the Empire has been trying to wipe out people like her since before you were worn."
"People like who?" Tian asked, but Tiros continued as if he hadn't heard.
"If she is one of them, there's very little chance that Melana will return. When the Empire dedicates itself to wiping out a people, they're very thorough. That's what I'm worried about. We've been in dangerous situations before, but I've always avoided going head-to-head with the Empire. Now, all of a sudden, we've just been launched to the top of the list of people the Empire wants to kill, exactly what I've been trying to avoid. I don't even think that Melana knows the danger, and she ran off before I could tell her."
"Why would they want to kill us?"
"Do you even need to ask?" Tiros raised a hand and started ticking off reasons. "First, we've found a definite connection between the Malachite Poisoners and the Empire. Second, we've managed to sneak onto an Imperial slave planet near the New Republic's territory. Third, we've had contact with the girl. When I say that they're trying to eliminate her kind, I mean that they're trying to eliminate everyone who ever heard about them or met them, which includes us."
"So why are we staying?"
"'Cause Melana's right. Lotah doesn't deserve to be hauled off in chains to be a slave for the rest of her life. She may not be the most wonderful person I've ever met, but she's certainly not the worst. She saved your life, so she at least deserves that we attempt to do the same. We'll wait until tomorrow afternoon, no longer."
There was a muffled thud from the bunk. "Lorb?" Tian called. "Are you all right?" No answer. "Kenneth? What happened?"
Kenneth stepped into the main room. In his hand he held a small blaster, which he promptly used to shoot Tiros. Tian just had the time to identify the blue of a stun-beam when Kenneth turned and shot him.
"A Star Cruiser?" Lotah asked, frowning. She hadn't said one word to Melana about the Force since that discussion the first day of travel. Now it was ten days later, Tian was as healthy as he ever was, everyone was impatient to get down to the planet, and Melana was going nearly crazy with curiosity, both about the planet and Lotah. There had been no connections that she could trace back home about her mother's death - would there be some link here?
Somewhere at the back of her mind, Melana realized that their search had become much more important than just finding her mother's killer, but she didn't think about that. There were enough things for her to think about without having to worry about strange hunches and feelings.
"Yup. It's beacon says that it's called the Blade," Tian snorted his opinion of that name. "They really have to work on their creativity."
"Creative or not, there's no way we can go up against that," Tiros said practically. "They'd blast us into a million pieces, or latch onto us with a tractor beam and haul us aboard. In that case, they'd interrogate us, then kill us. Either way, we'd end up dead sooner or later. It's just a matter of when and how long it'd take."
"So we're going to turn around?" Kenneth asked, his always scratchy voice sounding worse than usual. Melana stared at him. He sounded almost disappointed. What happened to the coward she'd brought on board?
Then she realized he probably had no idea of the dangers involved, and was just interested in the flora on the planet. This system revolved around a star that gave off almost pure white light, yet still managed to support life. Apparently there were a number of gases in the atmosphere that refracted the light, making the sky appear to be streaked with all different colors all the time. It must make for interesting plant life. She turned away, slightly disgusted by how blind he was.
But when she turned, she saw Lotah staring at Kenneth with an odd expression on her face. Since Melana now knew about Lotah's power, she tended to trust the girl a little more. "Anything wrong?" she murmured, leaning over so that only Lotah could hear her.
Lotah shook her head, and Melana felt a surge of some emotion before she controlled it. What was that? Fear? Confusion? Suspicion? That last one sounded right, but the surge was gone before Melana could positively identify it. "It's nothing," Lotah murmured back, without taking her eyes off the planet. Melana considered trying to reach out to the girl with the Force, but based on her earlier response to that stimuli, it probably wasn't the way to earn Lotah's trust.
"No," Tiros said in response to Kenneth's question. "I've seen this sort of pattern before. The cruiser is in geosyncronous orbit above the only port on the planet. Any ships that go by them will have already been cleared. One of the moons is inside their orbit, though. We'll just wait until the cruiser is on the other side of the planet. Then we make a microjump, sneak in behind the moon, and land with the rest of the cleared ships."
"Are you sure?" Lorb asked. He was looking over Tian's shoulder at the screens. "The moon's spinning, and it's only between the cruiser and the planet for a few minutes. You'll have to stay on the far side of the moon, and then move with the moon so that the cruiser stays on the far side when you try to jump into the pack. And even if that works, I think that they'll notice if an extra ship suddenly appears on their sensors when they get out of the moon's shadow."
"We know that," Tian said, sounding insulted that Lorb would think them so stupid. "We hide in the shadow of one of the other ships until we hit the atmosphere. By then, their sensor readings are confused enough that they won't be able to tell if we're another ship or just interference."
"Oh." Lorb fell silent.
"It's risky," Tiros admitted, staring at the cruiser. It was just beginning to pass behind the planet. "I've already calculated the microjump, but there's always a chance that something will go wrong with that. It's going to be tough to keep the moon in the right place, relative to us, and even harder to stay with one of those ships long enough to land, but it's the only chance we've got. Our information shows that they only do brief checks on the people they let through, and that they let all sorts of traders go down to pick up slaves, so we ought to be safe enough once we land." He paused, then said, "It would be a lot easier if the cockpit wasn't so crowded."
They took the hint, and everyone except for Tian cleared out of the cockpit. To Melana's surprise, Lotah seated herself next to Melana in the main room. "Are you scared?" Lotah murmured, staring blankly ahead of her.
"No," Melana said immediately, then reconsidered her answer. "A little, maybe, more apprehensive, or excited. Are you afraid?"
"I'm not sure. Something big is going to happen down there," Lotah shivered. "I can feel it."
"A premonition?"
"A what?"
"Seeing the future?"
"I don't know. That planet is very important to me, but I'm not sure why." Lotah looked across the room, then glanced at her feet. "Kenneth is watching us."
Melana looked up, and saw that Kenneth was staring at them, an odd expression on his face. "You're right." Something in Lotah's posture made her ask, "Is there something wrong with that?"
"I don't know. I don't trust him. He lies."
"How do you know?"
Lotah shrugged, and Melana could see her building a wall up between them again. "Just be careful with him," Lotah said, then turned away.
Melana slowly counted to ten, and then repeated the action. This was so frustrating! Lotah had obviously had training, but she wouldn't tell where. She knew tricks that Melana didn't, but she wouldn't tell what they were! The only thing that made the trip bearable was the fact that her search for evidence against her mother's killers was leading somewhere. But for Lotah to open up, and tell her something that was so close to an answer, and then to pull away... Melana caught herself about to loose her temper, and counted to ten again. She was training to be a Jedi, and Jedi did not let themselves be ruled by their emotions. Lotah obviously had that part of the training down.
Once she got her temper back under control, Melana considered Lotah's words. So far, other than being a general annoyance with his naivete, Kenneth had been completely helpful. He had done his job, then stayed on to help out. Or did he? At the time, Melana had wondered why he would choose to stay with them. It was true that she was paying them a lot of money, but he didn't seem to be the type who would risk his neck for money. For interest in the different plant life on the planets they visited? At the time it seemed to make sense, but now that explanation seemed hollow. So why? Melana resolved to keep a closer eye on him.
----------------------------------
The entire operation went smoothly. The microjump went flawlessly, and Tian and Tiros alternated turns keeping the ship behind the moon, so that neither of them got tired and careless. Then Tiros flew the ship around the far side of the moon, and Tian flew it in behind and below one of the bigger slave ships. The two of them worked effortlessly together, often not even bothering to talk when they had to work in unison.
The trip from the outskirts of the system to the planet's surface took nearly six hours, and both of the pilots were exhausted by the time they landed. It was also the middle of the night. Because of that, and because of the fact that they knew so little about the planet in general, they decided to wait until morning to venture outside the ship. Tiros ran a quick sensor sweep of the area around them and found one anomaly - there didn't seem to be any other ships parked nearby.
A quick discussion led to the decision that they would still wait until morning. The anomaly could be explained by any number of simple explanations - they were in a shielded room, or the other ships had shielding, or they just happened to be parked in an almost deserted landing area. After all, they had followed the directions that the landing coordinator had sent them, to the letter, and these were the exact coordinates. Lotah had a bad feeling, but she didn't say anything. How was she supposed to explain a 'bad feeling' to Tian and the others? Melana would believe her, but Lotah wasn't sure that she wanted Melana listening to her hunches.
So she went to the bunk with everyone else, and tried to get some rest for the day ahead. But it was no good. For several hours, she couldn't sleep at all, and when she finally did fall asleep, it was to nightmares. There were dim, shadowy figures reaching for her out of the darkness, and faces she didn't recognize stared at her with odd - colored eyes. Finally one of the shadows grabbed her and pulled her into the darkness, and she was falling... Lotah woke up screaming, and woke up everyone else in the ship.
Reacting with the instincts of a soldier, Tiros was on the floor, his blaster aimed at Lotah. Also acting instinctively to the sight of a blaster, Lotah threw herself to one side and kicked the blaster out of Tiros's hand. "What the hell?" Lorb yelled, flicking on the lights, and Melana walked into the room.
"What is going on?" she asked, her tone as cold as ice.
Tian paused, half way out of his bunk, his blaster also drawn. "What's wrong?" he asked, looking at Lotah.
"I... I..." Lotah said. She stared across the room, and saw light reflecting off something in Kenneth's hand. A second later, the reflection disappeared, and Kenneth looked up into Lotah's gaze. Their eyes locked, and Lotah was thoroughly chilled by what she saw. Then Kenneth looked away, and Lotah was left to wonder at what she had seen.
"She," Tiros pointed accusingly at Lotah, "started screaming her head off. What are you trying to do, get every official in three systems to come down on us?"
"I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to - I had a nightmare." Lotah flushed. That excuse did sound really stupid right now.
"A nightmare!" Tiros exclaimed, sounding disgusted. He rolled over onto his side, muttering just loud enough for her to hear, "Never thought I'd end up halfway across the galaxy with a bunch of babies." He fell silent for a second, then said, "And turn off the light!" Lorb turned off the light.
"Are you all right?" Tian asked from his bed. He sounded genuinely concerned, although he had to be half-asleep.
"I'm all right, really. I'm just going to go get a drink of water." She smiled into the darkness.
"OK." He yawned and rolled over, settling in the exact same position his father had.
Lotah stood up and walked as quietly as she could to the main room. Melana followed her. "What did you dream about?"
"What difference does it make?" Lotah tried not to snap. She really was not in the mood to talk to anyone right now, especially not to Melana. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. People tended to do stupid things when they were angry - which might be part of Melana's plan anyway.
"Was it about this planet? One of us?"
"Why?"
Melana didn't speak for several minutes, and they stood in absolute silence, each waiting for the other to say something. Lotah was about to leave when Melana said, "Sometimes Jedi have visions of the future or the past. I was wondering if you had one of those."
"It wasn't about any of you guys or the planet. Just a regular nightmare." But now she wondered. The night before her master had died she had had horrible nightmares, and spent most of the night lying awake, too scared to even try to sleep.
Melana nodded, and turned towards the cargo bay. "Melana!" Lotah called. The cat woman had just given her a little information, it was only fair to reciprocate. Or so I tell myself. But since when have I cared what was fair? Or do I just want to protect them? She stopped herself. If she thought about this too much, she'd talk herself out of giving away any information. And I do want to tell her this. I think.
"What?" Melana asked while she was struggling to figure out her own mind.
"It's about Kenneth." Lotah shook her head involuntarily, thinking of the coldness in his eyes. "Don't trust him."
"You said something about that before. Why don't you trust him?"
"I don't know. There's just something wrong with him. He's lying."
"You said that, too. About what?"
"I don't know." Now Lotah was feeling really foolish. Who was she to tell Melana who to trust? And all on an 'odd' feeling. She didn't have any proof, not even any real suspicions. Just a bad feeling.
But Melana just nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him. Anything else?"
Lotah shook her head, amazed that Melana would trust her so easily. Or maybe she's just pretending to agree. I can't always tell with her. "Nothing else."
"Are you going to sleep?"
Lotah shook her head again. "I think I'll wait up."
"You may need your energy tomorrow."
"I never need more than a few hours sleep anyway. I've stayed up for three days in a row with no problems." Lotah nearly hit herself. What the hell was she doing, volunteering information like that?
Melana nodded again. "Good night." She walked into the cargo bay, leaving Lotah alone. She sat down on the couch, rested her elbows on the table and rubbed her temples. This was a dangerous game she was playing. She questioned her own motives every other minute, and she was beginning to get too close to these people. But that annoying voice demanded, What's wrong with finally getting some friends? Who says you can never trust anyone?
That bounty on my head says so, she told the voice.
So what are you going to do, run forever? she asked herself.
With a low moan she buried her head in her arms. What was wrong with her?
-------
When Tian woke up the next morning, Lotah wasn't in the bunk. He got up, pulled on his shoes, strapped on his blaster, and went into the main room. There he found her sitting at the table, staring into space. "Have you been up all night?" he asked.
"Couldn't sleep," she replied, not looking at him. He took a closer look at her, and decided something was wrong. He was getting better at reading her expressions, and from the hollow look in her eyes, something was really bothering her. He also knew her well enough to know that if he asked her about it, she would probably either ignore him or deny everything.
"So what are we going to do today?" he asked, grabbing a nutrient bar. They tasted like something a bantha stepped in, but at least they filled his stomach.
"Probably much of the same. Scout for a while, get some information, then strike. We might actually find what we're looking for here."
"But this is an Imperial-controlled world."
"So?"
"Aren't you nervous?"
"What difference does it make? We've been dealing with criminals on every world we've visited, most of whom would have just as soon killed us as talked to us. This is no more dangerous, no different." But it was different, he could tell from the way that she refused to look him in the eye.
"I guess so. What are we going to dress like?"
"Traders. They're the only ones who aren't natives or Imps on this planet. Not exactly a tourist attraction. Actually, Melana and I are the only ones who have to wear disguises. She doesn't exactly look like a trader, and I'm too memorable."
That reminded him of something. "On Melana's world, you told me that your parents changed your eyes and hair to look like that. But you were raised as a slave..." He mentally kicked himself as he saw her stiffen up at the use of that word. Great going, you idiot. Think you'd know better by now... He hurriedly continued, "... so it wasn't your parents. So why do you look like that?"
"How should I know? Why do you look the way you do? Maybe I'm part alien. Maybe that's why I was sold into slavery. I'm not going to figure it out, so what difference does it make?"
"Sorry."
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, making this the first time she had actually looked at him this morning. "It's all right. I don't like talking about it, and I'm a little grouchy from not enough sleep. I really don't care, though."
He nodded and took a bite of the bar, grimacing. A few minutes later Tiros and Lorb came out of the bunk and started eating breakfast. Melana emerged almost a half-hour later, wearing a shirt and a loose pair of slacks. Her head was covered with a big, floppy hat, and she looked nothing like the warrior he knew her to be. Lorb made a choking sound, covering his mouth with one hand, unsuccessfully trying to hide his smile, and Melana glared at him. That made Tian start to laugh, but he tried to cover it with a cough, also unsuccessfully. Melana glared at him. She was a lot easier to deal with now than she used to be - less stuffy. At least now she had some sense of humor, even if it wasn't particularly evident.
"Get ready," she told Lotah. "We're leaving in fifteen minutes." Lotah nodded and walked into the bunk without a word. Tian frowned. Was it just him, or was something happening between the two women? He watched Melana all through breakfast for some kind of clue, but when nothing happened, he decided it must be all in his mind.
When Lotah came out fifteen minutes later, her eyes were blue and her hair was a uniform dull brown. She was dressed in a loose shirt and black stretch pants, with a blaster at her left hip. She was right-handed, he remembered. "Thought you don't like guns," Lorb said, pointing at the blaster. "Don't use them. Thought you swore."
Lotah didn't even look angry. "It's not charged and I don't intend to use it, but it might make someone think twice about attacking me."
Lorb nodded, but he didn't look happy. Still sore over that earlier incident, probably. "Is everyone ready to go?" Melana asked.
"Am I going?" Kenneth asked.
"You're going to watch the ship until we have a better idea what we're facing on this planet," Melana told him.
"We're facing the entire Imperial fleet, what else?" Tiros muttered.
Melana ignored his comment. "You stay in the ship until we return. Don't go outside for anything, not even to go look at some flower. Do you understand?"
Kenneth frowned but nodded. Melana ignored that too and stood up. "Then lets go." She led the way to the ramp. When the door opened, bright light flooded over them. Tian already had his blaster out of the holster before he realized that this wasn't some sort of an ambush, it was just the sun's natural brightness. He blinked rapidly until the glare died down. And when his eyes cleared, he stared around him.
Hibris was beautiful. As promised, the sky looked like an unending rainbow swirl, with all the colors of the spectrum visible to the human eye chasing each other back and forth across the sky. Much of the plant life was white or cream-colored, but every now and then one plant would pop up, bright blue with orange flowers, or reddish with blue leaves. Everywhere there was color - in the sky, on the ground(the white plants reflecting the sky's color), and in the fields.
Then Tian noticed what was wrong. They were in the middle of a field. In the far distance, two or three kilometers away, he could see the spaceport. What were they doing out here? There were no ships nearby, no houses to indicate that this was some sort of landing sight. Melana murmured, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
"You're not the only one," Tiros said, one hand on his blaster.
They stood silently for a minute. "Well," Tian said, looking around nervously. "Are we going to the city or not?" They started off for the city. It was not a pleasant walk, because each of them was waiting for an ambush around every corner of the road.
When they were under a quarter of a kilometer from the city, Lotah said, "Could they have made a mistake when they sent you the coordinates?"
Tian glanced at his father, then said, "I guess it's possible, but if they sent us that far out of the city by accident, they're the worst traffic controllers I've ever seen." Then he realized the impact of his words, gulped, and fell silent again. They walked into the city, still tense, but nothing happened, other than a local merchant deciding that they would be perfect customers. Finally Lorb glared at him, and the sight of his menacing face convinced the merchant leave them alone, although he shouted insults at their backs.
They wandered around the city for a half-hour, finally sitting down at a bar. "So, what do you think?" Lorb asked.
"Who, me?" Tian asked.
"Whoever." Tian fell silent, thinking the comment hadn't been directed at him. But everyone was staring at him, so he decided he might as well answer.
"I don't think that the traffic controllers gave us those coordinates by accident," he said finally. "I mean, it happens sometimes, but not on an Imperial slave world. That seems just a bit careless, don't you think? Especially if they're catching natives and shipping them off the planet, I don't think they'd want anyone else getting close enough to catch natives without paying for them. It just doesn't feel right."
Tiros shook his head when Melana asked him for his opinion. Either he didn't have one, or he just didn't feel like sharing it yet. Lorb also didn't have an opinion, and Lotah wouldn't say anything. Tian had never seen her this nervous - she kept glancing around the bar, as if she was expecting to be attacked at any moment. If Melana had any opinions, either about Lotah or the planet, she kept them to herself.
They decided to split up after lunch and return to the ship before sunset. Surprisingly, Melana broke from the usual patters and took Lotah with her and told the other three to stay together.
The three of them wandered around the city all day. No one asked them any questions, and their questions were met with glares. Once or twice they saw figures in shabby clothes and with their heads bowed down running up and down the streets, but they never saw one up close. A trader trying to sell them some highly illegal drugs said that they were native slaves before stomping off, disgusted by their lack of interest.
All in all, they found out absolutely nothing of value, saw a lot of stormtroopers, and were tired and footsore by the time they went back to the ship.
Melana and Lotah had a similarly discouraging and fruitless day, and no one was in a good mood when they ate dinner. The only one saying much at all was Kenneth, and he was just complaining about not being allowed to go outside and look at the plants all day. His scratchy voice was extremely irritating, more so because of the silence when he didn't talk.
Tian didn't understand what had happened to the group. Yesterday they had been enthusiastic about finally finding the planet, and excited over the possibilities. Yet they'd only been here one day, and already they were acting as though the mission was a failure. He excused himself from the table and went outside to watch the sunset, which he'd heard was extremely beautiful.
It was phenomenally beautiful, even prettier than the sky during the day. The gases in the atmosphere refracted the sun's light in a thousand different directions, and Tian imagined he could see each individual ray of light bouncing off the clouds. . "It's beautiful," said a soft voice behind him. Tian spun, reflexively reaching for his blaster before he realized that it was Lotah.
"Don't sneak up behind me like that. Someday that's going to get you shot!" he exclaimed, embarrassed that she had snuck up behind him so easily.
"No it won't," she said quietly, stepping up next to him. "In all my traveling, I've never seen anything like this before."
"It is nice," he said, looking down at her face. It was tilted up towards the sky, and she had removed the contacts and hair dyes. For the first time he noticed how the colors reflecting from the sky seemed to blend in with her eyes and hair. It was an odd effect, although not unpleasant.
They were silent for a minute, staring at the sky. Then Tian slowly reached for Lotah's hand. She stiffened when he touched her and started to pull her hand away, but he held on, and after a few moments she stopped pulling away. They stood there for a long time, enjoying the sunset together.
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That night Lotah slept well, but the next morning she was up early (earlier than usual), wandering restlessly around the ship. Lorb woke up soon after her, and ate his breakfast while Lotah walked in circles around the main room. "Are you all right?" he finally asked, staring at her.
"I'm fine," she said automatically, and forced herself to sit down. Something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Extending her senses out beyond the ship, she couldn't feel anyone out there, but the feeling of 'wrongness' increased. Shivering, she pulled back.
Melana emerged from her room a few seconds later, and made a beeline for Lotah. "What were you doing?"
"Nothing. I was just checking outside."
"Is there anyone out there?"
"I don't think so." As soon as she said this, something banged several times on the outside of the hull.
"What the hell..." Lorb said, rising. There was a bang from inside the bunk, and a few seconds later Tian emerged, rubbing his head. Tiros followed him out into the main room.
"Who's the joker? Almost gave myself a concussion jumping out of the bed with all that banging," Tian complained, sitting down.
The banging noise repeated, and everyone looked towards the hatch. "Who is that?" Tiros snapped, drawing his blaster.
"I'll go see," Melana said calmly, but Lotah could feel her apprehension. Her own sense of danger was going crazy, but she didn't see that many options right now.
"We'll come with you, to give you cover," Tiros said, and no one argued. They walked to the hatch. Melana and Lorb stood in the doorway, and Tiros, Tian, and Lotah arranged themselves out of sight around the door. Melana hit the controls, and the door opened and the ramp extended itself.
"Who's there?" Melana called as soon at the door was open.
"My name is Pouli," said a female voice that sent chills down Lotah's spine. She wasn't sure, but she thought that she recognized the voice as that of her former master. "I'd appreciate it if you and the rest of your crew would please come out here."
"Why?" Lotah heard the clang of metal as someone stepped onto the ramp, but neither Melana nor Lorb had moved, so it had to be the woman.
"I believe that you have a fugitive among you," the woman said. Lotah heard another step. "I have some local authorities here to verify this. The ship is surrounded, and above us there is a cruiser with its turbolasers aimed directly at this ship. If you do not come out I will tell that cruiser to open fire."
"What has this fugitive done?" Lotah edged closer to the door. She had to get a look at the visitor, to make sure.
"That is no business of yours," the woman called back. "Come out now or I will tell them to come in." Lotah peeked around the corner and froze. It was her!
Her hesitation cost her. The woman saw her face and shouted, "There she is, grab her!"
Lotah immediately backed away from the door until she hit the wall opposite the hatch. She started to run, but Kenneth appeared in the doorway, asking what was wrong. They ran head-on into each other, and a second later two of the stormtroopers grabbed her by the arms. "Let me go!" They didn't listen to her, dragging her outside and throwing her to the ground at the feet of the woman.
One of them planted a blaster at the base of her neck. "Don't move."
"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" Tian shouted, running down the ramp, his blaster drawn. In a second he would do something stupid, and they would shoot him. She reached out and turned on the safety on his gun. Tian pulled the trigger, nothing happened, and then he noticed the half-dozen heavy-duty blasters aimed at his chest. He dropped his own blaster and raised his hands in the air.
"Send everyone else out here now or I'll have your ship destroyed!" A few seconds later, everyone came down the ramp, unarmed. The woman looked at Tian. "Now, as to what I think I'm doing, I'm taking back what is rightfully mine. This, this thing," she nudged Lotah with her boot, "Is an escaped slave. I've been hunting for her for almost a year, and now that I've found her, I intend to keep her."
"What about us?" Lorb asked.
"I don't care about you," the woman said. She's lying! Lotah realized. It's something about Melana... she's going to kill them! "These fine men will make sure you don't do anything stupid until we're well away. Then they let you go. I suggest you leave this planet immediately afterwards, the authorities will find you soon enough." She glanced down at Lotah, then nodded to the trooper. The gun was removed, and Lotah was jerked to her feet. One of the troopers fitted a rough metal collar around her neck. A chain trailed from it to the ground. "Bring her," the woman said, and two men, not stormtroopers, grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the ship.
All this time Lotah had been silent, dazed at the sudden reversal in her fortune. She felt numb, stumbling away from her friends and her freedom. Then a cloaked figure approached her, one she hadn't noticed before. It was a man, middle aged and with a friendly face. He leaned close to her and murmured, "So glad to meet you face to face at last." Then Lotah felt the strange presence in her mind, the same one she remembered after fleeing Op's house.
She stopped short. "What do you want?" she whispered. "He's dead."
"But I don't want him. I want you." He reached into her mind again, and she was powerless to fight back. He reached out with one hand to touch her face, and the instant his fingers brushed her flesh, she could feel all the evil he'd done rushing out to claw at her mind. Jerking her face back, she broke the contact, and at the same time got control of herself again.
He was evil. It was just as simple as that. And evil should not be tolerated, especially with power such as he possessed - that much of Op's lessons had been clear. Lotah looked around her. They were still only about twenty meters from the ship, fifteen from her friends. She was only ten feet from the nearest stormtrooper, and neither of the men holding her were armed. This might be her only attempt to eliminate him. She could always escape later, as long as she was alive and her mind was her own she could try. But if he remained, he'd destroy her and everything else that he touched, one way or another. "What are you looking at?" the woman asked, sparing only a glance towards the man. "You belong to me now."
"No," Lotah said quietly, and with a quick motion, threw off both of the men who were holding her. She turned towards the ship and grabbed the gun from the hands of the nearest guard. It flew to her hand, and she turned... The man was standing there, a big grin on his face.
"Shoot me. I'll die, and so will you." Again she hesitated, the blaster pointed slightly to one side - she'd never actually killed anyone, not ever. What he said was true - she would die. But I've been a slave before - what kind of life was that? It's worth my life to kill him, I think. Op would tell me to do what feels right.
"It's worth it," she murmured. She aimed the blaster and started to pull the trigger. Something hit her in the back, and she blacked out, her own shot going harmlessly into the dirt.
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The woman had actually been truthful - twenty minutes after the woman had taken Lotah away, the stormtroopers got into a sled and drove away. Of course the cruiser could still be waiting in orbit to blast them, but there was nothing they could do about that anyway, so it wasn't worth bothering about.
Melana had spent the last twenty minutes planning. There was no way that she was going to sit by and allow Lotah to be treated like so much cargo to be sold. The girl showed tremendous potential for becoming a Jedi, but even if she hadn't, she'd been completely loyal during the trip, and had risked her life multiple times to help Melana succeed in her quest. There was no code of honor that would have her abandon Lotah at this point.
As soon as the troopers left, she ran up the ramp and collected her blaster, a strong rope, and a short dagger. A second later, she picked up Lotah's knives, which were lying on the floor under her bunk. On her way out of the ship she met everyone else, going in. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Tiros asked.
"I'm going after her," Melana told him.
"Are you crazy?! Whoever that woman is, she's got connections to the Imperial navy, if she got a bunch of stormtroopers out here just to pick up her slave. And we're on an Imperial world, if you forgot. She's probably off-planet by now!"
"They took her to the local jail," Melana told him. "They're waiting for something."
"For what? And how the hell do you know where they're taking her?"
"I don't know, and it's a long story. Wait here. I'll be back by tomorrow morning or not at all. If you see anyone coming on the sensors, get ready to move. If any stormtroopers come back here, get out if you can. All right?"
"What are you planning to do?"
"I'm going to rescue her."
"That's crazy!" Tiros exploded. "We're lucky that they didn't shoot us for harboring an escaped slave! The law is on their side this time! What you're talking about is suicide!"
Melana glanced around the group. A few weeks ago, she wouldn't have cared what they thought, but now she was willing to listen to them, at least, before she left. Lorb was obviously more worried about Cahi the ship than Lotah, although to his credit he did look worried. Tiros was obviously on the side of leaving right away - Melana had noticed that he was no longer referring to Lotah by her name, just calling her 'the slave.' It was as if he had already written her off in his mind. Tian was clearly torn between his desire to side with his father and his fondness for Lotah.
"She saved your son's life," Melana pointed out. "Lotah risked her own freedom to come here with us."
"But she's still an escaped slave," Tiros murmured.
"Does she deserve to be abandoned?" Melana countered. "I will be back by tomorrow afternoon or not at all. You may do as you see fit with the ship. I hope it will still be waiting for us when we come back." And with that, she turned and ran full speed towards the city.
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They hadn't taken Lotah off planet immediately. When she woke up from the stun shot, she was lying on a cot in a jail on the surface of the planet. They're going to kill Melana, and Tian, and the others. And I can't even warn them. For several hours, she saw no one at all. Then he arrived.
He was still wearing that cloak, and now carried a length of chain and a blaster. It was then that Lotah noticed the chain that had been attached to the collar around her throat was gone. She backed up into a corner of the cell, holding her hands out in front of her. He wasn't going to attach that thing to her throat without a fight. She still remembered her decision back by the ship, that it was worth her own life to kill him, but it was pointless to get herself killed before she had another chance. Even now her mind was absorbing all the information she had, dismissing the earlier failure and looking towards the future.
"You may be wondering why you're down here instead of on that ship," he finally said, not moving towards her. "The traders believe that we picked you up for brawling in a local bar, and the natives are useless, so don't expect any help there. And everyone else on this planet is either working for the Empire or part of it. Don't expect any rescue. Your friends were killed right after we left." He's lying about them being dead. I know he's planning to kill them, but why bother lying to me about it now? "The reason you're down here is that here my connection to the Force is stronger, as I suspect yours is. Down here on a planet full of life, instead of a void my powers are greater. It will make the training easier." He reached into her mind again. Lotah opened herself to the Force and blocked him.
"You've gotten stronger since we last met."
"You killed Op."
"That I did, and in the process found you."
"Why?"
"Because the Empire needs more people who can use the Force."
"I won't work for the Empire."
"Don't be so certain. You will gladly work for the Empire, once your training is complete. Did you know that the training that little thing you call Op gave you is actually more than that Cat woman's training?" Lotah refused to comment. "I wonder, did you even know that she was trained in the Force? She spent the last year of her life at that Jedi Academy. Pathetic, isn't it? She had to hire all those sad little mercenaries just to find the planet where the id is grown." Lotah tried to mask her surprise at this statement and failed. "Oh, yes, I knew about that vengeful search of hers. The saddest part is that she'll never know that our people ordered her mother killed, to draw her out into the open. It's almost funny when you think about it. If she hadn't gone to become a Jedi, her mother might have succeeded in uniting the people of that planet against us and driving us off the planet. We would never have seen it in time. But because she was a Jedi, we stopped the movement before it started, and in a few years we'll have that planet as cowed as this one!" But they aren't dead yet - I would know. So there's still a chance I can stop you and save them, if not myself. "Well, have you nothing to say about this grand scheme?"
Lotah carefully controlled her face and voice. "I think it's just delightful to hear about the wonderful plans of the Empire, but I was wondering if you were ever going to get to the point, or just sit around talking about how perfect everything is working out for you?"
He stared at her for a moment, and she touched his mind for a second, then drew back. He's surprised about something. My lack of grief over my friend's deaths? Or something else?
"The point, Lotah, is that you will be there to see it happen. You will happily order hundreds of thousands into slavery, and will kill any that resist. And you will enjoy doing it."
"You're crazy."
"Most prophets were considered crazy in their own day. I've seen the power and mad genius of a Dark Jedi. That path is not my destiny, but it can be yours. Once someone steps onto the Dark path for the first time, it is easier and easier to return. I can help you make that first step."
"I won't do it. You can't make me."
"We'll see."
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Tian strode back and forth across the bunk. He knew his father was doing the same thing out in the main room. "Are you all right, kid?" Lorb asked.
"No."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Do you want to hear about it?"
"Not really, but it would be better than listening to you walking back and forth for the next twenty hours." Lorb looked completely at ease, lying on his side in his bunk, playing with a very large knife. In the last half-hour, he had started a contest with himself. He would toss the knife in the air and have it spin end-over-end once, then catch it. Then he'd throw it up again and have it spin end-over-end twice before catching it, and so on. If he didn't spin it enough times or dropped it, he started all over again. So far his record was seven revolutions.
"She lied to me!" the words exploded out of Tian's mouth. "She said that she'd been set free, not that she ran away! All this time people have been hunting her, and she didn't even tell me! It's just, I... I thought she trusted me more than that!"
"Maybe that's why she didn't tell you."
"If she trusted me at all, even if she liked me at all, she should have told me. I wouldn't have told anyone."
"Like I said, she probably had a good reason not to tell you."
"What reason?! If you're friends with a person, you tell them your secrets. She was in danger all of this time, and she risked her life for me, but she never told me! How could she?!"
"Boy! Listen to me! Did it ever occur to you that she did like you, and that was the reason that she didn't tell you? Look at this from her point of view. She's an escaped slave - never known any other life but that of a slave - certainly never had friends. People were hunting her, and she knew it. She may have been trying to protect you, keep you from getting hurt because of her. Or she might have thought that if you knew what she was, that you wouldn't like her anymore."
"You think so?"
"I don't know - you're the one who was friends with her. Look, whatever she did, she had reasons for it. I don't know her that well, but I do know that she never did anything without a reason, and a damn good one at that. If you don't know that, you didn't know her at all. Just think about that, and be glad that she lied to you to keep you out of trouble, rather than getting you into it." He fell into a broody silence, and Tian remembered that Lorb's first partner had kept a secret from him that almost got him killed. He certainly hadn't kept that secret out of friendship.
Tian thought about it for a minute. Then he said, "You think that Melana will bring her back?"
"I don't know - maybe. I guess that if anyone can do it, that woman can. Lotah's not the only one who's been hiding stuff from us." Tian remembered the way that the stormtrooper's gun had flown to Lotah's hand, the same way the shirt had on the first day. "On the other hand, she may get herself killed, or captured. Or she may fail, but decide not to come back. She's from a planet a lot like this one - she could just disappear and survive on her own for years here. We'd certainly never find her. Whatever she does, we're stuck here until tomorrow afternoon. I'm kind of surprised that your dad agreed to that."
"Me too." Tian decided that he wanted to go talk to his father.
Tiros was in the main room, pacing back and forth. "Hi, Dad," Tian said quietly. Tiros paused in his pacing long enough to give Tian a weak smile, then went back to the business of wearing a trench in the floor. "Dad, you want to talk? It might help."
Tiros grunted in surprise. "About what?"
"Whatever's bothering you. It helps to get it off your chest."
Tiros actually stopped pacing. "When'd you get so smart?"
Tian shrugged. "Actually, it was Lorb's idea. So what's bugging you, other than the fact that we might all end up dead? That's nothing new."
"It's about that girlfriend of yours. I think I recognized that trick of hers - the Empire has been trying to wipe out people like her since before you were worn."
"People like who?" Tian asked, but Tiros continued as if he hadn't heard.
"If she is one of them, there's very little chance that Melana will return. When the Empire dedicates itself to wiping out a people, they're very thorough. That's what I'm worried about. We've been in dangerous situations before, but I've always avoided going head-to-head with the Empire. Now, all of a sudden, we've just been launched to the top of the list of people the Empire wants to kill, exactly what I've been trying to avoid. I don't even think that Melana knows the danger, and she ran off before I could tell her."
"Why would they want to kill us?"
"Do you even need to ask?" Tiros raised a hand and started ticking off reasons. "First, we've found a definite connection between the Malachite Poisoners and the Empire. Second, we've managed to sneak onto an Imperial slave planet near the New Republic's territory. Third, we've had contact with the girl. When I say that they're trying to eliminate her kind, I mean that they're trying to eliminate everyone who ever heard about them or met them, which includes us."
"So why are we staying?"
"'Cause Melana's right. Lotah doesn't deserve to be hauled off in chains to be a slave for the rest of her life. She may not be the most wonderful person I've ever met, but she's certainly not the worst. She saved your life, so she at least deserves that we attempt to do the same. We'll wait until tomorrow afternoon, no longer."
There was a muffled thud from the bunk. "Lorb?" Tian called. "Are you all right?" No answer. "Kenneth? What happened?"
Kenneth stepped into the main room. In his hand he held a small blaster, which he promptly used to shoot Tiros. Tian just had the time to identify the blue of a stun-beam when Kenneth turned and shot him.