CHAPTER FIFTEEN: A CHANGE OF PLANS
"Can I take a look at that?"
Jaina silently handed over her data pad to Zekk so he could take a look at the map on it.
What had possessed her to come over to him in the first place, escaped Jaina but it beat sitting around feeling sorry for herself or going at it again with Ganner.
"We should go back," Zekk said when he was finished looking at it.
She gave him an incredulous look. "And do what? Have the three of us take on an entire force of Vong warriors? I don't think even Anakin would try a stunt that crazy,"
"They wouldn't expect us to come back. We'd have the element of surprise," he insisted.
"For about two minutes,"
"We could take our ship and slip out,"
"We don't even know if it's still in one piece,"
"I think it is," Zekk said, no trace of doubt in his voice. "Think about, Jaina. We weren't traveling in the speeder all that long, so if the Vong had sent out a search party, why haven't they found us yet?"
"But why else would the Vong have come down here?" She answered her own question. "They must think the Tsirran are here and that we're hiding them somewhere in the stronghold,"
Zekk nodded his head in agreement. "Exactly. But they've had hours to search the base. They should have expanded their search by now,"
"It has to be Riley," Jaina said. "He must have told them the Tsirran won't be arriving for days,"
"That would be my guess,"
"If we do go back, they'll be waiting for us,"
"You've never shied away from a fight before," Zekk said to her. "If I remember correctly, you usually run towards it with open arms. What's changed?"
"Nothing's changed. It's just the reason we never tried to shoot our way out of here in the first place was because we were outnumbered twenty to one. Those odds haven't changed,"
"But the situation is different. Instead of dozens of Vong skips flying threw the air, the majority are grounded here. We'll only have to worry about the one warship,"
"You hope. We don't know they don't have more then one ship up there. Who knows how many more ships could have showed up since we abandoned the stronghold,"
"We can't keep running, Jaina," Zekk pointed out. "It's not getting us anywhere. Sure, it was necessary in the beginning to get us some distance from the Vong, but the only way we're ever going to get out of here is to stand our ground and fight,"
She hated to admit it but he was right. "So what's the plan when we reach the stronghold?"
"Since I thought of going back, I figured I would leave it up to you to come up with a plan. You are in charge after all," he added.
Of course, how could I forget?
"Did you get a message out?" Anakin said to Tahiri. She had spent the last hour sitting behind the com station.
"Yeah, I did," she replied. "I just hope they get it,"
"They will, if they're monitoring their communications," he shook his head in amazement. "Using the com's natural interference and static to send a message. I wonder if anyone else has thought of doing that,"
"It's no big deal. I mean, it's only good for sending short transmission, or the message gets too confusing,"
"Still, it's a perfect way to send a transmission when the com channels might be monitored. It would just be dismissed as static. Did you help the Tsirran come up with this?"
He sounded impressed and she hated to disappoint him. "The Tsirran came up with it on their own. Through the planets the Vong have conquered, their scientists have used planetary communication devices to monitor our transmissions. The Tsirran who were posing as Vong warriors would use this technique when they got near a com as a way of contacting others without making themselves look suspicious. I just learned how to use it,"
"Just to have learned how to interpret and send a message is impressive enough,"
It felt weird having Anakin compliment her like that. Technical junk was what he was always so good at it. She would usually be the one amazed at what he could do, and at the same time not understand any of it. She found she liked impressing him.
"How's it going?" Luke said, joining the two of them at the com station.
"I got out a transmission," Tahiri reported. "We'll know soon whether they got it,"
"In the meantime," Luke began, "we should get ready to make the run down to Anoth – even if the Tsirran don't show in time. Any suggestions on how we're going to accomplish that?"
"We make a run down to Anoth's surface," began Anakin. "Master Skywalker and I will jump out of the ship without it landing and then Tahiri blasts off. The Vong will think we just made a quick run down to the surface and then took off again," he sounded as if he had the entire plan worked out in his head for quite some time.
"It sounds like a plan," Tahiri said, "except I should be the one going with you,"
"Someone needs to stay behind and fly the ship,"
"Someone who knows what they're doing," she countered. "You let me fly and there won't be a ship to come back to,"
"Tahiri's right," Luke said, siding with her. "The second we make a run for Anoth, coralskippers will be hot on our tail. Even an experienced pilot will have a difficult time evading them. That's why I'm staying with the ship and you two will see if you can find Jaina and the others,"
"Then Tahiri should stay with you and work the Shadow Chaser's weapons. I can track Jaina on my own,"
"Stop trying to get rid of me," Tahiri snapped at him.
"I'm not. I'm just trying to look at the situation from a logical perspective,"
Hands on her hips, Tahiri said hotly, "that's a load of bantha fodder, Anakin, and you know it,"
Anakin turned to his Uncle. "Could you give us a minute?"
Luke nodded. "I'll go work on a trajectory that will get us down the Anoth the fastest," he said and then he left them alone.
"You have some nerve, Anakin Solo," Tahiri exploded the second she felt Luke's presence was out of earshot, "trying to keep me here when you know you're going to need my help. And you think by getting rid of Master Skywalker you can convince me otherwise,"
"Tahiri, would you calm down? I'm not the enemy," Anakin said, trying to be reasonable with her – which was not always an easy thing to do. "I asked my Uncle to leave because I didn't think you'd want me to say this in front of him,"
"Say what? That you're trying to keep me safe and that I should be grateful for that?"
"That's not it at all," he said, "I know you're planning on doing something stupid if you go down there,"
She refused to meet his gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about,"
"It's written all over your face. You're out for blood and you don't care if it kills you. Don't tell me you're not because I was the same way when I thought I'd lost you,"
"Anakin, I'll be okay down there," she insisted.
"I'm not so sure,"
"Look," she said, losing her temper again, "if anyone knows whether I'm ready to face the Vong, it's me. Not you. I'm going whether you like it or not,"
And Tahiri, being Tahiri, stormed off without letting Anakin get another word in.
