Chapter 9

"You probably don't want to ignite those," she said the same casual tone. "The guards will be sure to see it, and then the whole fortress would be brought down on you."

For some unknown reason, Luke found himself trusting this little being, and he clipped his lightsabre to his belt. Mara, always suspicious, let her guard down but kept her lightsabre in her hand.

"Who are you," he asked the girl.

"My name is Annaïse," she replied. She glanced around furtively for a moment, it was the first sign of nervousness she had exhibited so far. "We should find a more suitable location to make introductions. The shifts will be changing soon."

Annaïse swiftly pivoted and began to nimbly climb the ladder to the rocky platform above. Luke made as if to follow her, but was held back by Mara's hand on his arm.

"Where are you going?" she hissed. "Do you really think she can be trusted?"

"I don't know," Luke admitted. "But there's something about her - yeah, I do trust her. Come on, if she meant us any harm, she could have just sounded the alarm."

"Well, what about him." Mara pointed at the still unconscious man lying in the corner. "As soon as he wakes up, he's sure to sound the alarm on us."

"Are you coming?" Annaïse peered down at them.

"Just a second," Luke replied. He gently dragged the man back to his work station. Then he laid a nearby carton next to his head in a haphazard fashion. "See? He'll just think something fell over and hit him on the head."

"No one would ever buy that," she snapped shaking her head disparagingly.

"We'll just have to take that chance. Now come on."

* * * * *

Luke and Mara followed the girl through the shadows, inching along several platforms. Several times, progress was slow as they had to bypass a faster route to wherever they were going in order to avoid being detected by the scientists or the guards. Mara was beginning to think they were walking in circles. She had lost count of the number of platforms they had crossed, and with no markers to distinguish one from another, she was starting feel a little lost.

She kept an eye on their little tour guide. She would never understand Luke's mental process when it came to trusting people. There never seemed to be any logic to it. He either trusted you or he didn't. It didn't matter if he didn't know you, or your affiliations, or even if you had sworn to kill him.

At first Mara thought it was just farmboy naïveté or Jedi arrogance. Then again, maybe it was some kind of Force ability he had honed. But she knew that he couldn't read the Force now, so perhaps his ability trust was something that went deeper than the Force. She chewed on her lip as she thought about this until she felt his eyes on her. There was an almost imperceptible break in her stride, but she could tell that he had noticed by the slight raise in his eyebrows.

"What?" she demanded a little defensively.

"Don't worry," he said soothingly. "I'm sure she's harmless. I have a feeling about her. Annaïse may even be able to give us some more information on this dark Jedi."

Mara kept her face neutral when she nodded. Inside, she was annoyed. Even without the Force, he was reading her thoughts ... or he was hitting pretty close the mark.

Before she could dwell too much on those thoughts, they arrived at a door that resembled the one they had used to gain access to this underground laboratory. Annaïse pushed the door open, slipped inside and motioned for them to follow. Once the door closed behind them, they were once again emerged in darkness.

Annaïse shuffled around in the dark for a few moments. She did not seem hindered by the lack of light and soon appeared within the golden halo of a rustic lantern. The contraption looked archaic with an open flame flickering between four panes of glass. With each movement the girl made, the flame danced and cast eerily moving shadows on the rock walls. Mara took in their new surroundings and discovered that they were in a passageway much like the one they had used to enter the underground cavern.

"We are walking along the old, abandoned part of the house now," Annaïse informed them with a friendly smile. "When Guru moved in here, he built his fortress right on top of the old one. We can talk freely here without fear of unwanted ears."

"How long have you been down here?" Luke asked.

Annaïse shrugged and began moving up the passage. "Time doesn't really mean much down here. But that is not the reason you have come."

"And why have we come?" Mara asked suspiciously.

Annaïse glanced at her over her shoulder with a knowing look. "You are here to save them," she said matter-of-factly.

Mara noticed that she said "them" and not "us," but she chose not to comment on it. Instead she asked, "Who exactly is them?"

"Well, all of them," she replied with a rather surprised tone. "Most of them are so far gone on the spice particles floating in the air that they don't have any comprehension of their existence. But the new ones, the ones who haven't been broken, are waiting for a leader to show them the way to freedom. The ones like your missing crew."

"They're here?!" Mara exclaimed. "Where?"

"They've been stationed on the bottom platforms in the cavern," Annaïse informed her. "That's where it's hottest, and some of the poisonous gases from the volcano leak through and intensify the spice effects. It's the fastest way to break a new worker."

"And the fastest way to get them killed!" Luke snapped.

Mara put a hand on his arm to still his outburst. She didn't really expect it to work and was surprised when he calmed down. She chalked it up to years of Jedi meditation and patience. But to be on the safe side, she steered the conversation in another direction.

"What did you mean when you said that this was a trap?" she demanded.

"The artifacts had nothing to do with this operation except that they brought you here," she said. "Guru knew that Skywalker would have followed the trail of the lost Jedi artifacts across the galaxy and back again. So he made sure he led him here where he could test his new spice on him. He wasn't expecting you though." She nodded in Mara's direction.

"Why would he need to test it on me when he already has a dark Jedi?" Luke asked momentarily forgetting his cover.

Annaïse glanced at him and laughed lightly. "I knew it was you from the first moment I saw you."

"How?"

She shrugged again. "I don't really know. I've never met the buyer, but I think he has something special planned for you."

"Why do you say that?" Mara demanded casting a slightly worried glance in Luke's direction.

"I overheard Guru several cycles ago. He was on a private comm with the buyer and he sounded rather agitated. He said, 'I'll get Skywalker for you in time. Everything is still on schedule. The spice is almost ready.'"

"Well, it seems like the spice is working pretty effectively," Luke retorted. "Both Mara and I can't read the Force at the moment, and we have no idea how it was administered."

"I don't know that either," Annaïse replied. "I only see the spice when it is harvested, then it goes to the labs on the uppermost levels of the cavern. After that the spice is sent to a secret distribution center. I've seen the door, but there it is under such tight security that I can't get through to see what they are doing."

"Where's the door?" Mara asked.

"It's on the uppermost level on the west side of the cavern," Annaïse said. "I believe it is only a passage that leads to another room in the house. Guru never comes down here, so there must be another entrance from the house."

"The other entrance is probably less guarded," Mara remarked to Luke.

He nodded. "We can look for it at the party tomorrow night." Then, glancing at his chrono, he amended, "okay, tonight. In the mean time, we should be coming up with a plan to free the prisoners and find this buyer and neutralize him and this spice."

Mara allowed herself a smile. "You certainly don't ask much, do you?" Something within her was tweaked by his take-charge, let's get something done attitude.

"We should stop talking now," Annaïse interrupted her thoughts. "We are getting close to the inhabited parts of the house.

Within minutes, they stopped in front of a door that appeared to have no handle. Annaïse reached behind a small rock outcropping and triggered an opening mechanism. The door swung outward. Mara had expected to emerge in Guru's office again, but was surprised to find herself in the shared living quarters separating her bedroom from Luke's.

"I suggest you get some rest," Annaïse said. "The sun will be up in less than an hour, and you have a long day and night ahead of you."

When she reached for the door mechanism, Luke involuntarily leaped forward. "Where are you going?"

She smiled patiently. "I have my own quarters."

"But how will we find you when the time comes?"

"I'll be around," she replied mysteriously.

With that, the door swung back into place and melted against the wall. No seam could be distinguished indicating a doorway. Mara shifted her weight uncomfortably. With so many hidden passages in the house, there was no telling when or where she and Luke might be overheard. Then another thought sent chills down her spine. It was entirely conceivable that Guru had men posted to spy on them from these secret passages.

With this thought in mind, she stepped closer to Luke and made as if to give him a goodnight kiss on the cheek. She couldn't resist a hidden smirk as his face turn pink, but getting back to business she whispered, "Let's get some rest. We can explore the house and the ground more thoroughly tomorrow. It's a good bet that Guru knows who we are, but let's play along and see what we can find out."

Luke nodded, and the two of them slipped off to their separate sleeping chambers.