A slow hour passed by with very little conversation. Quinlan meditated for a while, feeling his way in the Force as he sent his mind out through the catacombs and up to the surface of the planet. This chamber wasn't that deep underground, all things considered . . . maybe fifteen meters or so. And there was a thin shaft that wound its way up through the roof of the cavern, twisting as it went. Maybe . . . No. The smaller drone species might fit through, but the warriors wouldn't, which meant Quinlan and the others definitely wouldn't.
Well . . . the most obvious way didn't always mean the best way. Quinlan sank deeper into the Force and kept looking for a way out. Every few minutes, he took a moment to come back to his immediate surroundings. At some point, Cody dozed off.
The next time Quinlan came back to his surroundings, Hunter was fidgeting a little, carefully moving both arms as though to keep the circulation in his hands going.
Smart. Quinlan opened and closed his own fingers a few times against his shoulders.
Over the next half hour, he found and memorized seven possible escape routes. Somehow, he must have fallen asleep while tracing through the eighth, because when someone elbowed him in the back, he jolted upright with the realization that a lot of time had passed. The air from the narrow shaft through the roof was noticeably cooler, and Cody was awake again.
"Sorry, sir," Hunter said automatically, lifting both hands a little as he twisted to see him. "I was trying to get out of these cuffs."
"Yeah." Quinlan stared down at the double loops of the chain that tied him to Cody. "I'm not going to be much use there, sorry. Uhh . . . how long has it been?"
"A couple hours since the Geos left," the sergeant answered. "There are still a lot of the dead ones outside, though."
"Noticed." Quinlan lowered his knees, straightening both legs out in front of him, and leaned forward as much as he could without yanking on his companions. He gave it a few seconds, then sat up and drew his knees to his chest again. "Well. I guess we'll just have to fight them when they get back. How are you feeling, Codes?"
Cody let out a faint, almost tolerantly annoyed huff.
Quinlan cleared his throat delicately. "Ehm, I'm not sure that was an answer. Got anything more definite?"
Cody twitched. "I'm as well as can be expected, sir."
"Okay, so you're feeling awful. Got it."
"General. . ."
"And – moving on!" Quinlan tilted his head as far back as he could against Hunter's shoulder in an obnoxious attempt to see his face. "Hey, Sarge," he said loudly.
Hunter twisted with a surprised grunt and knocked Quinlan off-balance, almost making him fall over backwards. His arm got pinned behind Cody's, and then the commander turned to see what was happening, which didn't help matters at all. There was a short scuffle before everyone managed to sit up properly again, followed by a disgruntled silence.
Quinlan let it continue for all of a minute before clearing his throat again. "I was just asking if you had any idea about how those queens intend to eat us. They're not exactly that big . . . are they? I mean, when they first hatch?"
"General." Hunter still sounded annoyed. "Does this really seem like a good time to make us all remember that?"
The Jedi was about to make a snippy retort when Cody elbowed him. "The guards are coming back, General."
Quinlan opened and closed his hands nervously, but kept his voice light. "Ohhh, dinner time!"
Hunter let out a concerned growl. "I hope you're saying that because you think the Geos are going to let us grab some food before they terminate us."
There was a pause while Quinlan considered that. He actually hadn't thought about it from that angle before, but Hunter made a good point.
"General, please say that is what you were thinking."
"Okay," Quinlan said agreeably. "That's what I was thinking."
"Good."
"No problem." Quinlan leaned his chin against his knees. "Just let me know if you need me to lie to you again."
"General . . ." Hunter groaned.
"Well, what was I supposed to say?" A sharp warning in the Force made Quinlan cringe momentarily, so he drowned out the worry by talking. "You asked me to say that, so I did. I was gonna say, 'hey, I wonder if we're going to be the main course at dinner!' but you wouldn't have liked that."
Cody let out a faint, disgusted scoff that reminded Quinlan of Obi-Wan in his snobbier moments.
But then an outburst of clicking and buzzing that came from the hall outside made Quinlan close his mouth, his pretended levity vanishing. If there was even a chance of getting a weapon, he had to be able to take it. He could feel Cody and Hunter focusing similarly, their minds sharpening in the Force.
Twelve Geonosian warriors zipped through the high doorway and surrounded the three prisoners at a dizzying speed before grabbing them by the shoulders. Before Quinlan could do more than kick out at the nearest, the cuffs around his wrists were removed and discarded. Then the chains were being unfastened and whipped away, and one end hit him between the shoulder blades, knocking him forward into the grasp of two Geonosians, who flew off the ground.
Quinlan jerked in their grip and twisted, hurling the guard on his left into the nearest wall. The second guard, left to carry him alone, buzzed angrily as it was dragged towards the ground, but the Jedi kicked it in the knee and reached for one of the pulse guns on its belt.
He was too slow. The warrior caught his wrist, wrenching his hand hard, then landed with a jolt and shoved him back against one of the pillars. Three more guards swooped to the other's aid, caught him roughly by all four limbs and slammed him against the pillar, knocking the breath right out of him.
Quinlan struggled uselessly as they bound him in place all over again. "Ya' know," he grunted, "I really don't appreciate being – manhandled like this!"
As usual, and unsurprisingly, his protests did exactly nothing. They didn't even seem to annoy the warriors.
Within moments, he had ropes tied around his waist, knees, and ankles. His arms were jerked behind the pillar and bent at the elbow, and his forearms cuffed together.
He glanced up just in time to see Hunter shoved against the pillar on the far side of the room, almost opposite to Quinlan. The sergeant was struggling, but two guards kept him pressed back against the stone while another tied his hands behind it.
Cody was being pushed towards a third pillar, midway between Hunter and Quinlan – in fact, the three of them were spaced out pretty evenly around the wide room. Quinlan wondered if that had any significance, or if it was just convenient.
Out of all of them, Cody seemed to be the one taking the Geonosian's rough treatment the most casually – maybe because of the injury to his shoulder. He resisted, but not nearly as much as Hunter or Quinlan had. Instead he was . . . what was he doing?
The next second, Quinlan got his answer. Before Cody could be shoved against his pillar, the commander dug in his heels and ducked, taking the force of the push in his knees as he shoved back, momentarily shaking the guard off him.
The other guards flew into the air, then back down, jumping out of his range of attack for just an instant, but Cody didn't attack. He twisted around, his right hand going briefly to the right side of his belt. As he continued his turn, he brought his hands together, and Quinlan distinctly saw him slip something inside his left sleeve.
Then the warriors were swarming him, clutching his arms and legs and pinning him in place, tying his wrists behind the pillar.
Quinlan watched silently, wondering what Cody had managed to hide – and if it would be able to help them at all, or if it would only get the commander killed.
The bugs had left nearly half an hour ago, clicking and buzzing aggressively as they communicated with each other. Since then, Cody had been resting, keeping his eyes open but his body relaxed as he waited. His shoulder was burning again, and felt swollen and tight, but what little he could see didn't look too bad. There were no signs of dangerous infection, anyway.
The small explosive in his sleeve might not be powerful enough to save them, but then again, it might – if he used it properly. Either way, having a weapon at his disposal, even if it was currently hard to reach – and would be even harder to throw – was better than not having one at all.
After Cody had told his companions about the explosive, they'd mostly been quiet, apart from the occasional rattling of cuffs as one or the other of them tried to free his hands.
Then, the Jedi lifted his head. "They're coming back with the queens."
Cody nodded and cast a darting glance at the door. The undead were still milling aimlessly around, without seeming to be aware of each other. He saw a human man's body nearly fall over one of the slugs before clumsily regaining its balance. The slug didn't even retaliate – it only paused for a moment, then moved again, shifting its weight heavily as it made its way through the crowd. The Geonosians were the most nimble, but they seemed weak and slow . . . even though they sure hadn't seemed that way when chasing Cody and his team through the tunnels.
Even as he thought that, the worm-controlled bodies outside suddenly moved to either side, clearing a pathway for living Geonosians, who came through the doorway in three groups of six warriors. Each group was working together, tugging laboriously at a monstrous object – a huge, red-brown egg, nearly the height of a clone, with a translucent, reddish covering that hung from its shell in loose wrinkles.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cody saw Hunter swallow hard, fidgeting against his pillar, expression tight and eyes wide.
Keep it together, lad . . . he thought, firmly setting aside the awareness of his own thudding heart.
The Jedi's gaze was flickering between the warriors and the eggs and his companions, as though he was trying to keep an eye on everything and everyone all at once.
One of the leading Geonosians clicked loudly, thudding a narrow wooden staff against the sandy ground. The warriors split up. Each group of six dragged an egg towards one of the prisoners. The ones near Cody maneuvered theirs to stand on the wide end, then tugged it up onto the sandy mound until it was practically touching him.
But that wasn't what worried Cody. What did worry him was the fact that he thought he had just seen a bug-eyed face pressing up against the inside of the semi-transparent shell. With the way he was tied, he couldn't quite see, but he received the distinct impression that the queen in the egg was looking at him.
Cody's gut twisted at the sight of the thing inside the egg that stood within reach, and he looked quickly away. There was nothing to be gained by watching it – not until it hatched, at any rate.
He wished he knew how long that would take, and whether the three eggs would hatch all at once, or one after another.
Rotating his left arm slightly, he felt the reassuring press of the small explosive between his sleeve and wrist. Too bad there were three queens. Killing one with an explosive would be easy enough, especially if, once the egg started hatching, he could manage to throw the detonator into the shell.
A rasping call came from outside the chamber. The undead were getting impatient, for some reason. Maybe they were irritated by the living beings inside the room. Maybe they were just without direction, because the hivemind's leader had not been replaced.
Cody glanced at his companions. Hunter and Quinlan looked at him, then back at the living warriors, who were clustered together in the center of the room. The Geos buzzed their wings intermittently as they communicated in short, sharp clacks and guttural hums.
What were they doing?
Hunter squirmed against his bonds to face the Jedi a little better, then whispered loudly. "What do you think they're doing, sir?"
Quinlan slumped against his chains with an irritated sigh. "I dunno. Prepping the grill? You're the one who told us what bugs do for baby showers."
Cody felt his mouth twitch briefly despite himself.
Hunter, for his part, looked completely confused, his whole expression going crooked as he stared at Quinlan.
"Hey," the Jedi continued, pretending not to notice either of them. "Actually. I wonder how they eat people. Are they going to suck our blood out and turn us into husks? Sheesh. Good thing we'll be dead before we can see what that looks like. Or do you think they'll literally – eat us – like we eat nerf burgers?"
Hunter shuddered. "Did you have to give us that imagery, sir?"
"Well." Quinlan shot him a slightly wry grin. "Forewarned is forearmed and all that. Especially if you're a Besalisk, because those guys are four-armed. . ."
Hunter blinked, opened his mouth, and closed it again.
"General," Cody said, in his best 'if I weren't tied up right now I'd smack you' tone.
"Yeah?"
Still watching him, Cody raised a slow, unimpressed eyebrow. "If we're going to die, the last thing I hear had better not be one of your jokes."
The Jedi sniffed, then glanced at Hunter. "Don't worry. I'm pretty sure the Geos aren't big enough to eat us like we're burgers."
"Very reassuring, General," grumbled the sergeant, grimacing.
At that moment, the distinctly Geonosian sound of flaky wings buzzed through the air, followed by chittering clicks and shrieks. An entire swarm of bugs was approaching – and the dead warriors didn't fly, as far as he'd seen. The survivors from the last mission must be coming to watch the initiation of their new queen.
"Oh, snap," Quinlan said, staring at the doorways in realization as Hunter muttered, "Kriff."
They fell silent as the swarm entered. Scores of Geonosians zipped into the room and flew up to land on the ceiling, where they clung with all four claws. Others, undead ones, crawled in and made their way up the walls. Within a minute, the ceiling and walls were almost completely covered by a press of shifting bodies and flickering wings that made the whole room seem to move.
"I want a can of bug spray," Quinlan announced. "I don't like how infested this place is."
A warrior standing beside him turned sharply to hit him across the face with one end of the pikestaff, and Quinlan slumped against his bonds.
"General," Cody hissed, watching as other warriors approached Hunter. "Now might be a good time to shut up. We need you conscious."
The Jedi nodded, wincing as he straightened against the pillar. There were two guards near him, now, and two next to Hunter, but the remaining two were still in the center of the room, waiting. Then, a third, much larger Geonosian, who looked like a bonier version of Poggle the Lesser, entered the room. As he neared the center, he swung a long staff sharply around his head.
The whistling sound caught the other Geonosians' attention, and the room went still and quiet, except for the restless shuffling of the undead.
The leading warrior swung the pikestaff again, then let out a high-pitched, warbling call, which the others repeated together. As the sound died away, the excited shifting and buzzing and hovering broke out all over again.
Cody met Hunter's eyes, then Quinlan's. "Guess it's time to see what they want with us," he muttered, twisting his hands in their cuffs until he could reach the explosive.
"You make it sound like we should look forward to it." Hunter did a pretty good job of sounding casual, despite how he was staring up at the clinging Geonosians in wide-eyed fright.
The lead warrior fluttered into the air. As it approached Cody's pillar, the noise and movement increased until the whole room vibrated.
The warrior landed in front of the commander, sniffing around as if searching for something.
Cody swallowed, clenching one hand hard against his opposite sleeve, where the explosive was hidden. What if the Geo found it? What if that was what it was looking for? It would make sense for the warriors to search him, to ensure he posed no danger to the queens.
Quinlan met his eyes sharply, ready to act – but before Cody could decide whether he should set the explosive off now and give the Jedi an opening, the guard let out a satisfied click as it found what it was looking for.
To Cody's cautious surprise, the warrior reached up and closed one clawed hand around the left side of his shoulder and collarbone.
The commander practically felt Hunter's eyes go wide and his breath catch in his throat; but Cody forgot about that when the Geonosian unexpectedly shot his hand forward, dug his claws into the half-closed wound, and pulled.
Cody didn't scream – he didn't – but kriffing Sith it hurt!
Tears pricked his eyes, and Cody slammed them shut, flinging his head back in a useless attempt to block the pain as a strangled shout caught in his throat.
There was a sudden scuffle and a pained grunt from the other side of the room, but he couldn't make out any details.
The slow-spreading warmth of fresh blood dribbled down his shoulder, soaking into his blacks with alarming ease as the warrior stepped back. It sniffed once at its bloody claws, then raised its hand and let out a shrill cry. The other Geonosians responded, louder than ever, and the leader moved to stand next to the egg, where the queen shifted restlessly inside. As Cody dragged in a breath, the other two warriors finally approached.
The spike of fear in the Force made Quinlan jerk his gaze to the sergeant. Hunter was staring at the commander, face pale and eyes wide as he stared from Cody's injury to the lead Geonosian, who was moving to stand beside the egg.
The sergeant was even more afraid than Cody, and Quinlan remembered Hunter's enhanced senses. Maybe he could feel the fear rolling off them in waves. The excitement of the Geonosians surrounding them would probably clash against what he and Cody and Quinlan were feeling, each wave getting stronger.
At least – that's what was happening in the Force. Quinlan didn't know what was going on with the sergeant, but it looked like he was trying not to panic. The Jedi glanced at the guard beside him, who – based on the way he kept hitting him – seemed to want him to stay quiet. Not wanting to risk being knocked unconscious, Quinlan decided against calling Hunter and instead tried to send him a wave of serenity.
When nothing happened, he scowled at his own forgetfulness. With fellow Jedi, he could do it easily, but for non-Force-sensitives, he couldn't do it without physical touch.
Blast the cuffs . . . and ropes . . . and everything. Come on, Hunter, don't panic, not now. I know you can't hear me, but – wait . . .
Maybe the sergeant could hear him, despite the din and the distance and the fact that Quinlan would have to speak quietly enough that the Geonosian guard couldn't hear him. That time he had tested Hunter's hearing – maybe it hadn't been such a frivolous idea after all.
"Hey," he said, in a low voice. "Hunter."
Hunter turned his head with a jerk, eyes locking on Quinlan's.
"We'll get out of here," the Jedi said reassuringly, as though he believed his own words. He hoped he believed them, anyway.
The sergeant studied him for a moment, then gave a small, stern nod.
"Okay." Quinlan smiled faintly. "Just . . . stay with me."
And same goes for you, Cody, he thought, casting a sympathetic glance at the commander.
Cody was jerking back against the pillar, face as impassive as ever but eyes almost frantic as the two warriors stopped in front of him.
Knowing what was about to happen didn't make it any easier. Quinlan supposed it was fortunate that by some stroke of the Force or luck, or the sergeant's own willpower, Hunter shut his eyes just in time. The next instant, first one Geonosian, then the other, clawed at the torn gash along Cody's shoulder and collarbone.
The sergeant stared determinedly at the ground and focused on steadying his breathing, only jerking a little when Cody yelled through his teeth.
Quinlan flinched and looked away as the Geonosians stepped back. For some reason, he found himself wondering what it would be like to be Hunter. What could he hear that the Jedi couldn't? What was he gathering from their situation that no ordinary human would notice?
He considered it for less than half a second before deciding that he would hate to be the sergeant – especially now, but maybe all the time. Psychometry was bad enough, but it typically lasted for only a few seconds. And, in general, psychometrics could cover their skin to keep from reading objects they didn't want to. But enhanced senses such as Hunter's – however many of them there were? Maybe they couldn't be stopped, or muted. And even if they could, they would probably last for as long as he was alive . . . similar to Force-senses, maybe.
Cody had fallen silent and was leaning forward against his bonds. When Quinlan reached out, he wasn't surprised to find the commander wavering in and out of consciousness. Unfortunately, that only lasted for a few seconds. By the time the two warriors had reached the other eggs, Cody was standing upright again. Somehow.
The lead Geonosian gave another staccato command, then used his pikestaff to pierce the top of the egg beside him.
To Quinlan's surprise – and disgust – the guards standing beside him and Hunter stabbed their weapons into the tops of the other two eggs, then set to work removing a few small pieces near the top and flinging them aside.
A sickly-sweet smell, like rotting melon, wafted through the air. Quinlan caught a glance of Hunter gagging and grimaced in sympathy.
The warriors who had clawed Cody stuck their hands inside the three eggs at the same time, smearing blood on the inside of the shells close to the barely-visible heads of the queens.
A brief moment of silence was followed by frenzied movement. Quinlan didn't look, but he could clearly hear the queen next to him licking the shell clean of blood. He winced and turned his head in an effort to block out the sound. Cody was doing the same, staring blankly at the pillar above Quinlan's head, but Hunter was leaning as far forward as he could, pale around the mouth.
Then, with a shrill piping sound, the Geonosian queen to his left suddenly tore into the shell from the inside, jabbing at it with her claws. The other two eggs were hatching as well. The Geonosians buzzed in excitement, but even as they did they were crawling farther up the walls, as though trying to gain some distance from the slowly emerging queens.
Then the chittering began all over again, followed by a papery rustling. Looking up, Quinlan watched as undead Geonosians crawled down from the upper walls, climbing over and past each other in a dark, writhing curtain of dried wings and broken limbs. Within moments, they had amassed on the ground. They moved inward until they stood a meter in front of the three prisoners, their bodies forming a circular wall.
Quinlan glanced at the queens' heads, which were only just beginning to emerge from the top of the eggshells, then at the clear area in the center of the floor, and suddenly understood. The undead were creating a dueling ring – that was where the queens, fueled by their hunger for blood, would fight each other to the death.
To his left, a clawed forelimb poked out of the egg, and another piece of shell tore off and thudded into the sand.
The Jedi swallowed, trying to find something to distract him from the situation. In the end, all he could think of was the fact that, if nothing else, they would be attending a death-match, in what were practically front row seats . . . or stands. Whatever.
And if Quinlan had guessed right, then chances were, he and the others were meant to be the post-entertainment refreshments.
