CHAPTER THIRTEEN:  A TRAITOR AMONGST US

          When Jaina and Ganner reached the control center, they both saw Zekk and Riley hunched over a computer console, grim expressions evident on both of their faces.  Jaina rushed over to join them.

          The base's long-range sensors were picking up a foreign spaceship, and as much as she wanted to believe it was a normal alien ship, she knew it wasn't.  The blips on the screen had become all too familiar to her in the past couple of years.

          "I don't understand," she said to no one in particular.  "How could they have found Anoth when they have no idea it exists,"

          Ganner spoke up from behind her.  "Someone must have contacted the Vong and given them the coordinates,"

          Zekk could hear the accusation in his words – and they were being directed sorely at him.  "You think I led them here?  You're delusional Rhysode,"

          "It wouldn't be the first time you've sold out your friends to the enemy,"

          "Placing blame isn't going to fix anything," said Jaina, feeling Zekk's temper reaching the breaking point at Ganner's remark.  The last thing they needed right now was to start fighting amongst themselves.

          Riley asked, "what are we going to do?"

          They could head for their ship and try and make a run for it, but their chances of outrunning a large, heavily armed cruiser with dozens of coralskippers, were slim to none.  What they needed to do was buy themselves some time to think of how to escape without getting blown into space dust.  Taking charge, Jaina started assigning duties.  "Riley, you and Ganner try to get out a distress signal to Master Skywalker, warning him not to come near Anoth.  Zekk and I are going to try and get this place's defense systems up and running before it's too late,"

          She saw the disapproving look on Ganner's face, but she never gave him the chance to protest.  "You have your orders," then she took off down the corridor with Zekk.

          "Where are we going?"  Zekk said as they ran.

          "The security features of the stronghold were disabled years ago when the Imperials landed here," she began.  "We can coordinate the defense system from up in the control room but first we have to get them working again," she explained.  "There's a room beneath the control center that has the equipment we'll need to fix it.  We get that working and we'll have a fighting chance when the Vong decide to come down for a visit,"

          They reached the room Jaina was talking about and hurried inside it.  Several large computer consoles lined the room.  They wasted no time in getting to work on them.

          "When the Imperials landed here, they never bothered to destroy the generator.  They thought blasting machinery up in the control room would be enough,"

          "I guess it's a good thing for us Imperials were never too smart," Zekk said, working on the console beside her.

          "I'm rerouting power to the defense systems," she told him.

          "Jaina," Zekk began in a serious voice, "you have to believe me when I tell you I'm not working with Yuuzhan Vong.  I know I've done a lot of horrible things, but selling out Jedi to the Vong isn't one of them,"

          She did believe him.  Contrary to Ganner's beliefs, she knew he was not the one that had betrayed them, even though she had nothing but his word to go on that he had not led the Yuuzhan Vong to Anoth.  "I know that, but that's not going to help us get out of the trouble were in," she frowned at the reading in front of her.

          "What?"

          "We've fixed everything, but the weapons still haven't come back on line,"

          "Maybe, there's something wrong with the generator," Zekk suggested.

          "It's possible," she conceded.  It could be that after all those years without maintenance it had broken down.

"I'll go see what I can do,"

"I know where it is," she said, "I'll go,"

Frowning, Zekk said, "you shouldn't go alone,"

"I'll be fine," she said, brushing aside his concern.  "You go back to the control room because the second I get the generator working again, you can start firing the ion cannons," when he didn't move, she said, "I'm in charge, remember?  That's an order I just gave you, now follow it,"

He didn't know why he listened to her – it was not as if she had ever followed anything he had told her to do, but he headed back to the control room regardless.  He knew she could take care of herself – most of the time that is.

"What's the status of the Vong ship?"  Ganner asked Riley.

Riley ignored the flashing blip that was getting closer to their current position.  "They're just sitting there," he replied.

"Let's hope it stays that ways,"

While Jaina had chosen Zekk to help her fix the defense systems – much to Ganner's dismay – he had assigned himself the task of getting out a warning message to Master Skywalker, while Riley was busy monitoring the status of the Yuuzhan Vong cruiser.

Ganner was no computer genius, and he figured that was one of the reasons he had been unsuccessful in getting a message out.  The other reason being because it was very likely they were being jammed.  He had to keep trying, though, or else Luke and whoever else he had aboard his ship would be walking straight into the arms of the waiting warship.

He continued going through the different communication frequencies, still getting nothing more then annoying static.  When he did come across an open channel he nearly passed by it.

Riley noticed Ganner's triumphant expression.  "You found one?"

"Yeah, but I don't even know if the signal's strong enough to do much good,"

"Too bad you'll never know," Riley said in a regretful voice.

The warning of danger came too late for Ganner.  The butt of Riley's concealed blaster smacked against the side of his head with such force he dropped to the floor like a tonne of duracrete bricks.  Fighting to stay conscious, he willed his body to get up, but he remained where he was.

"Sorry, Ganner," Riley said, sounding anything but regretful this time. "But I can't have you getting off a warning to Skywalker.  And now that you know who I am I have no choice but to kill you," he aimed his blaster at Ganner's head.

"At least Rhysode knows now that I'm not the one who betrayed us to the Vong," said Zekk, his own blaster out and pointed at Riley.

"You wouldn't shoot a fellow Jedi, would you?"

"No I wouldn't," Zekk said, inching closer to Riley.  "But you're not a Jedi.  You're a traitor,"

"Traitor is such a harsh word, Zekk, don't you think?  But I guess you're the expert on traitors, seeing that you were one yourself at one time,"

Not wavering, Zekk said, "put down the blaster Riley,"

"I don't think so," he said and shot a round of blaster fire in Zekk's direction.

Zekk dove for cover behind a console that smoked and sparked with each shot that hit it.  Without thinking or feeling, he stood up and started shooting where he thought Riley would be.  His shots came close, but Riley was a trained Jedi, and managed to avoid each one.

When Zekk ducked back down to avoid another burst of fire, Riley took off down the corridor, firing over his shoulder as he went.  Zekk started after him but soon gave up on the pursuit.  Riley would not be coming back, he was sure of that.  He would wait somewhere for his Vong friends to show up.  There was no way he would attempt another attack when he was outnumbered three to one.

He holstered his blaster and jogged over to Ganner, who had managed to get himself into a sitting position.  Blood was gushing out from beneath the hand that he had put over the wound.

Zekk reached into one of the larger pockets on his utility jacket and pulled out the portable med kit he was carrying with him.  The supplies in it were basic, and it would not do much good for a life-threatening injury, but he was sure Ganner would survive a little bump on the head if he stopped the bleeding.  He took out a graft bandage and much to Ganner's disgust – and Zekk's – he put it over the wound.

"So, I guess you saved my life," Ganner said, sounding as if death would have been preferable over having Zekk come to his rescue.

"I guess I did,"

Before Ganner could respond they both heard Jaina's voice say, "what happened?"

"Riley's the traitor," Zekk informed her.

"Where is he now?"  Jaina asked when she reached Ganner's side.

"I don't know," Zekk said with a shrug, "he took off after some exchanged blaster fire,"

"Then he must be the one who sabotaged the generator, because when I reached it all the cables had been cleanly cut through," she said.  "Ganner did you manage to get out a warning?"

"No.  Riley stopped me before I had the chance,"

"Then we need to see if we can still get one out," said Jaina, taking charge again.  Before she tried the com, the base's sensors caught her attention.  "Uh-oh, we've got trouble,"

Trouble was an understatement.

"How big?"  Zekk asked, coming over to get a look at the readings.

"Big.  Coralskippers and a couple of other transports heading for the surface.  They'll be here in minutes and without any defenses it won't take them long to get in here.  We only have one option left,"

"What's that?" Zekk asked.

"There's a trap door in one of the rooms that leads outside.  There should be a speeder at the end of the tunnel that we can use to get a head start on the Vong,"

Jaina had no idea where they were going to go once they reached the speeder.  They couldn't run across the planet.  The Vong would catch them long before that happened.  They just had to buy themselves time until one of them thought of a better plan.

"Are you okay to walk?" She asked Ganner, trying to mask the concern in her voice.

"I'm fine," he assured her, but allowed her to give him a hand in getting up.

When Ganner appeared to be steady on his feet, Jaina led them at a hurried pace to where the trap door lied.  Riley didn't know of its existence, but once they were out in the open it would only be at matter of hours – or if they were lucky – days before the Yuuzhan Vong found and killed them.

Traveling through hyperspace was something Anakin had found himself doing a lot of lately.  The only difference this time was the outcome of this trip could change the fate of the galaxy in a huge way.

He sat alone in the back compartment of the Shadow Chaser, while Tahiri was up in the cockpit with his Uncle, continuing to fill him in on every bit of information she could remember about the Tsirran.  That gave Anakin time to think.  Something else he had been doing more then his usual share of in recent days.

Not surprising, it was Tahiri who occupied his thoughts.  He could not even begin to describe how happy he was to have her back in his life, to be able to hold her again…but she was different somehow, and he wondered if anyone else noticed the changes.  She was no longer the chatterbox girl he used to know, and she fought more aggressively with a lightsaber then he had ever seen her do before.  But the most disturbing part was how she would go off into the jungle for hours – alone.  Tahiri hated being alone.  She had always wanted someone or a whole crowd of people to talk to.  She loved attention and that's why he was having a hard time understanding her strange behaviour.  It didn't help him to figure out what was going on with her when the majority of the time she kept her thoughts and feelings locked up and away from him.  Tahiri had always been like an open book to him and vice versa, but now, it seemed as though she was fighting hard to keep her thoughts from him.  She had never put up barriers to keep him out before.  That was what had him worried that her experience with the Yuuzhan Vong was a lot more serious then she was letting on.

She knew that he knew she was keeping stuff hidden from him, but he had told her he would give her time and that when she was ready to talk about it, he would be there.  He only wished she wouldn't wait too long to let him help her deal with whatever was bothering her.

"Master Skywalker says we'll be coming out of hyperspace shortly," Tahiri announced, coming over to sit beside him.

He nodded but did not reply.

"You're still worried we can't trust them, aren't you?"

"I can't help it, Tahiri.  The Yuuzhan Vong are ruthless killers, and the Tsirran look a little to much like their cousins for my tastes,"

His distrust was linked to the fact that the Vong had taken people close to him.  First Chewie and then her.  He didn't come out and say it because she already knew all that.

"Anakin, it's okay," she said, grabbing a hold of his hand.  "Sometimes I'm not sure if I trust them,"

Surprised, he said, "I didn't know that,"

"There's a lot about me you don't know,"

He shot her a questioning look.  What had she meant by that?  His Uncle's voice broke through the ship's com system though, before he could question her about it.

"Anakin, Tahiri, get up here.  There's a Yuuzhan Vong warship orbiting Anoth,"

The two of them raced to the cockpit and joined Luke up there.  All they had to was glance out the view port and they knew the situation was grim.

"Have they seen us?"  Tahiri said to the Jedi Master.

"Their sensors must have alerted them the second we came out of hyperspace," Luke said.

"But I don't get it," Tahiri said, confused.  "The Vong don't know Anoth exists, but even if they did they wouldn't know how to find it," her eyes widened in sudden realization.  "Unless -"

"Someone gave them the coordinates," Anakin finished for her.

"Or," said Tahiri, "we could be missing the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong knew about Anoth all along.  It could be a coincidence they're here when we are,"

"Coincidence?"  Anakin snorted.  "I doubt it.  Besides, they've been pushing towards the core.  It wouldn't make any sense for them to waste time with an uninhabited rock in the middle of nowhere.  Someone had to have tipped them off that we were meeting with the Tsirran here.  That's the only explanation that makes sense,"

"You may be right, Anakin," his Uncle said, "but for the moment, I don't think it matters how the Yuuzhan Vong found Anoth.   It appears we that have attracted their attention,"

"We can't leave the team down on Anoth," said Anakin.

"I have no intention of leaving.  We're going to find a spot to hid until we figure out how deal with this situation we're in,"

"What about the Tsirran?  They're walking right into a trap?"  Anakin could not believe he actually cared.

"I think I may be able to solve that problem," Tahiri said to them.

There's still 4 more chapters to come!!