"I can"t be certain but I think they have a Jedi with them... and he knows we"re here."
Jan looked alarmed.
"Then where are the TIE fighters? How come we"re alive?"
Kyle shook his head.
"I have no idea."
"So we go in?"
"That"s what we came for."
"Yeah," Jan said thoughtfully. "That"s what we came for."
The first of three moons popped over the eastern horizon and threw light across the land.
The Rebels put the Crow down about five klicks from the target. It was dark, and the maneuver called for some fancy flying. The kind Jan had perfected over the last few years. It was a long way from the Valley - but as close as they dared come. The area was crawling with troops, attack droids, and AT-STs. By landing in a canyon, and covering the ship with camouflage netting, they hoped to escape detection.
Wee Gee beeped forlornly when ordered to remain behind, but Kyle was adamant.
The droid would be a liability when it came to mountain climbing - and they had enough problems already. The scouting party consisted of Kyle, Jan, Grif, and the bouncer called Floater. Once the ship was secured, they set off in what Kyle knew to be a southerly direction. Floater led them through a labyrinth of twisting, turning canyons. How the bouncer managed to navigate through the maze was a mystery.
Kyle was surprised by the ease with which the native managed the mountainous terrain.
Especially given the extent to which his species had adapted to life in the open desert. The seemingly fragile, balloon-like body and tentacle-style arms were deceiving though. Thanks to his negligible body weight and multiple limbs, Floater climbed with ease. And, while the humans were forced to rappel down the face of vertical cliffs, the bouncer loved to fling himself out into the void and float to the ground.
The darkness made the trek even more treacherous, and if it hadn"t been for their night-vision goggles, the humans would have been unable to proceed.
All went well, very well, until the Rebels were half a klick from the Valley. Dawn saw the group ascending the nearly vertical slope of a brittle ravine. Floater had the lead, and Grif came next with Kyle and Jan strung out on ropes below. Grif had just scrambled up onto a broad shelf when he heard the unmistakeable sound of jets firing. An attack droid, now alerted to the Rebel"s presence, rose from a dark cleft in the ledge to Grif"s left, who did the first thing that came to mind - he charged.
The attack droid had two sometimes countervailing objectives: to gather intelligence and kill intruders. The second imperative took momentary precedence over the first.
That being the case, the machine met charge with charge. There was no time to pull his blaster, so Grif opened his arms and swore as the machine slammed into his body.
Kyle heard a noise and looked up just in time to see the attack droid, Grif plastered across the front of its casing, sail out over the abyss. It would have been comical if the droid hadn"t seized one of the colonist"s legs and crushed it with a pair of powerful pincers. Grif roared in pain, pulled his half-meter-long hunting knife, and rammed it through the robot"s thin alloy skin. The blade, which had been fashioned from diamond-hard hull metal, sliced through the machine"s wiring harness and shorted the guidance system.
Jan locked herself in place and waited for a shot. The droid spun on its axis and took Grif for a ride. Jan wanted to fire but was afraid to do so. The odds of hitting Grif were way too high - not to mention the fact that her rope had started to sway.
The outposter was furious now, stabbing the machine over and over, and screaming his hatred.
"This is for Katie, this is for Carole, and this is for me!" The settler hit something critical, and the attack droid staggered and then accelerated away. There was a momentary flash of light as it hit the canyon wall and fell to the rocks below.
Kyle felt Grif"s death via the Force, and Jan bit her lip. But there was nothing they could do - nothing but turn back or go on. Kyle scrambled onto the ledge and waited for Jan to join him. Common sense argued that they go back - but the importance of the mission urged him on.
They were close, so close, and there was no a.s.surance that conditions would improve later. In fact, it seemed logical to suppose that the Imperials would tighten their grip, making any sort of incursion that much more difficult. Still, there were other lives at stake, and Kyle had no right to make decisions for Jan or Floater. Kyle waited until Jan was on the ledge and held a brief council of war.
"There"s no way to know if the droid sent some sort of report, but we should a.s.sume it did. The Imperials will send out a patrol - and it will find the wreckage."
"And Grif"s body," Jan said soberly.
"And Grif"s body," Kyle agreed. "But what will they conclude when they find it? That he was part of a group? Looking to penetrate the Valley? Or a loner who wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
"We can hope for the second possibility," Jan said judiciously, "but the first seems more likely. Smart people would leave in a hurry."
Kyle scanned her face.
"And?"
She shrugged. "We have a mission to carry out. Let"s get on with it."
Kyle nodded, looked for Floater, and couldn"t find him. He pulled the night-vision goggles down over his eyes and tried again. The native was high above - still climbing. The Rebel grinned and pointed upward.
"Well, if actions speak louder than words, then we know what Floater thinks... Let"s go."
The next few hours were difficult, because of both the physical demands involved and the constant threat of discovery. A shuttle rumbled over their heads on one occasion - and a speeder-bike-mounted patrol pa.s.sed through an intersecting arroyo on another. The Imperials were so thick, in fact, that Kyle was about to look for a hiding place when Floater led them to the aqueduct. It was about ten meters across and six high.
Unlike the open irrigation ca.n.a.ls common on many planets, the aqueduct incorporated a lid designed to limit the amount of water lost through evaporation. A lid that hid the Rebels from ships pa.s.sing above. The fact that the ancient waterway followed the contour of the land and led toward the Valley of the Jedi made it perfect. Kyle gave Floater an approving pat and followed the native into the darkness.
Jerec stood, hands clasped behind his back, and stared out through the transparisteel window. Or that"s the way it appeared, given that the Jedi was blind. However, "seeing" involves as many dimensions as "knowing," and Jerec saw many things that were hidden from others, not the least of which was the metaphysical storm that raged around the Valley below and the power imprisoned there. The thought brought a smile to Jerec"s lips.
The Valley was everything he had hoped for and more... By tapping the power resident there and shaping it to his will, the Dark Jedi would control the Empire. No, not the pathetic remains of what Palpatine and others had frittered away, but something new, something glorious, something never seen before.
An Empire that reached beyond the accomplishments of the past, beyond the surrounding star systems, beyond neighboring galaxies to include all that was or would ever be - now that was a goal! That was an empire. He would have to be careful, however, very careful, since the forces that prevented the Jedi spirits from leaving the Valley had weakened with the pa.s.sage of time and needed to be strengthened. An escape would be disastrous, since the power he required flowed from the prisoners.
No need to worry, though, since repairs had begun and would soon be complete. The thought pleased him, and the Jedi frowned as a voice sounded from behind him.
"Lord Jerec?"
"Yes? What now?"
The officer, a relatively junior lieutenant, swallowed nervously.
"A report, sir... from Attack Droid AD-43. A party of three humans and an uncla.s.sified alien pa.s.sed through Perimeter Two and are headed this way."
"Current status?"
"We aren"t sure. AD-43 was destroyed. Other a.s.sets have been dispatched but haven"t arrived yet."
The Jedi considered the officer"s words. Now that the Valley was under his control, Jerec was in no particular hurry. He needed time to prepare, but more than that, time in which to savor that which destiny had placed before him, much as a gourmet might linger over a rare and carefully prepared dessert. There was leakage, though - leakage that could double or even triple his ability - and whet his appet.i.te for more.
The Jedi Master directed a thought outward, steered a circle around the cauldron of churning energy, and located a place where a steady stream of pitch-black energy had broken through the protective sh.e.l.l and strobed into s.p.a.ce. Jerec chose a single shaft of negative energy, drew on its power, and felt himself expand. Bigger and bigger until his mind was everywhere, until he was one with the dark inner fabric of the Force itself, until he stood on the very brink of what he perceived as being all-powerful.
Not the state of enlightenment that so many prattled on about, but a state in which power could be accessed, shaped, and applied - all without the years of tedious meditation, study, and apprenticeship that proponents of the light side considered so necessary.
Even better was the next step, the step beyond Jedi Mastery, into which Jerec now pa.s.sed. And it was there, in a state approaching all-knowingness, that he swept the ethers for signs of life.
Thousands appeared, each instantly identifiable, each distinct from all the rest. He felt the lieutenant, only meters away, frightened and eager to leave; his bodyguards, their minds blank with boredom; Sariss, seething with plans; Boc, relishing someone else"s discomfort; Yun, confused and unsure; Maw, looking to express his rage; animals, following the dictates of their genetic programming; and there, closer than he would have thought, the intruders.
And not just any intruders - but Kyle Katarn! But wait - the boy had changed, had grown into more than an annoyance: a Jedi Knight! Not entirely unexpected, since Jerec had been aware of the boy"s potential before he had, but surprising nonetheless. A self-taught Jedi was nearly unheard of - unless!
- and the truth flooded his mind.
The youth had a mentor: Rahn! Laughter came as if from a long way off - and Jerec felt a sudden stab of fear. He felt a desire to reach out, to crush that which opposed him, but brought the impulse under control. It was an interesting development, but not an immediate threat.
"Besides," Jerec mused, directing the thought outward, "even the best blade can be turned against those who forged it."
The laughter stopped, and a smile touched Jerec"s lips. A nerve had been struck.
Somewhere within the maze of beliefs, thoughts, and experiences that made up Kyle Katarn"s personality, a flaw existed, a flaw that, like Yun"s need for approval or Boc"s senseless sadism, could be leveraged. The thought pleased the Jedi, and a decision was reached.
"Maintain surveillance. Keep me informed."
The lieutenant"s boots made a clicking sound as he popped to attention.
"Sir! Yes, sir!"
A column of troops wound past the tower and made their way toward the ancient storerooms hidden within the Valley"s walls. The harvest continued. Life was good.
The aqueduct was old, very old, or so it felt as Jan followed Kyle toward a distant pinpoint of light. Their glow rods projected blobs of light onto walls smoothed by the pa.s.sage of water. Side tunnels appeared from time to time, their mouths gaping open, hinting at destinations deep within the rock.
Kyle said, "Watch your step," but not before something crackled underfoot.
Jan directed her light downward. The skeleton, or what remained of a skeleton, belonged to a species she hadn"t seen before. Had it been sentient? The eye sockets looked reproachful - as if the answer was obvious. The light grew brighter, and the tunnel opened onto a ledge. Floater gestured with his tentacles, and Kyle crawled out.
Jan followed. A wall of hand-fitted stone provided some cover, or so it seemed until a pair of TIE fighters roared by, banked around a pillar of rock, and disappeared.
Jan low-crawled to Kyle"s side, got up onto her knees, and looked over the side.
A tower soared hundreds of feet into the air. Landing platforms sprouted to either side, as did retractable loading arms. Jan watched as a heavily laden freighter broke contact, dropped fifty meters, caught itself, and lumbered away.
The ship would have to wend its way through a series of interconnecting canyons before emerging over the desert where it could build speed. Speed that would allow it to break free of the planet"s gravity well and pa.s.s through the atmosphere.
A sure sign that the Imperials had found something worth stealing. There were other freighters, too, along with shuttles and a gaggle of TIE fighters. Kyle scanned the valley below. He watched a pair of AT-STs lumber along a trail, a trio of attack droids scoot toward the tower, and a column of stormtroopers march toward a prefab building.
Jan nudged his arm.
"So, what do you think?"
"It"s worse than I imagined," Kyle responded, scanning the column through his electrobinoculars. "Much worse. The Imperials really have their hooks into this place."
Jan nodded.
"That"s for sure."
"Wait a minute," Kyle said softly. "Look who"s here."
The Jedi handed the electrobinoculars to Jan and pointed toward the tower. "On the topmost landing platform. A man and a woman."
Jan focused on the very top of the tower and allowed the gla.s.ses to drift downward until a platform appeared. The woman wore black, as did the man.
"I see them - who are they?"
"The man is Jerec," Kyle answered thoughtfully. "The woman is one of the many Jedi who serve him."
"Like the ones you killed on Sulon?"
"Exactly."
"So what do we do now?"
"You wait here," Kyle said, "while I visit the tower."
"I"m coming, too."
"And leave Floater all by himself?"
Jan regarded the Jedi with open suspicion. Was he trying to protect her? While using the bouncer as an excuse? Or was he genuinely concerned for the alien"s safety? It was impossible to tell.
"You"ll get into trouble." Kyle grinned. "And you"ll get me out."
Neither noticed the sky-eye that rode the thermals above them - nor were they aware of the high-res holo beamed to the tower... The hours after Kyle"s departure pa.s.sed with excruciating slowness. The sun rose, the temperature increased, and Floater was forced to retreat into the relative darkness of the aqueduct. Jan, fearful that she might miss something, remained where she was. It was difficult, however - difficult to remain hidden, and difficult to stay awake. It had been a long, strenuous night, and that, combined with the warmth of the sun, made her drowsy. That"s why the combat skimmer was able to get so close and Jan turned too late. The skimmer, the stormtroopers, and the knowledge that she had committed a terrible error all registered on Jan"s consciousness at the same moment.
The vehicle carried a half-dozen troops. An officer pointed and yelled. Once alerted, the Rebel was fast, extremely fast, and the blaster seemed to leap into her fist. She fired, the officer fell out of the skimmer, and the pintle-mounted energy cannon burped in response. The beam pa.s.sed over Jan"s head and hit the aqueduct. Super-heated rock exploded in every direction, and the opening collapsed.
An officer yelled, "Alive, you idiot!" and Jan fell backward as the skimmer threatened to crush her. It took less than three minutes for the troopers to pile out of the skimmer, pat down the agent, and secure her hands. An officer, anonymous behind his visor, gave the necessary orders.
"Put her aboard... shift enough rock to make a hole. There could be more - and I want every single one of them."
Jan remembered the side tunnels that led deep into the mountainside and knew where Floater would go. It was a small consolation - but better than nothing. Her thoughts turned to Kyle.
What would he do without her? And if it came to that, what would she do without him?
Kyle felt something was wrong but couldn"t put a finger on what it was. He pushed his consciousness outward, searching for danger, and found nothing but tranquility. Comforting - but impossible given the circ.u.mstances. It was as if someone or something had smothered his senses. But that was impossible, wasn"t it? The uneasiness continued as Kyle lowered himself down through a three-sided chimney and dropped to the ground. He"d been lucky, almost too lucky, but there was nothing he could do about it. The Jedi considered the rope and decided to leave it. a.s.suming that his luck held and he made it back, the line would come in handy.
The pa.s.sage of time, combined with natural forces of erosion, had caused boulders to acc.u.mulate at the foot of the cliff. The Rebel used them to conceal his movements. The tower made an excellent and highly visible landmark. The agent waited until he was opposite the structure, worked his way out toward the Valley floor, and peeked through a gap in the rocks. The area between Kyle"s hiding place and the base of the tower was completely open. To cross was out of the question. All he could do was wait.
An hour pa.s.sed. The sun pounded down, sweat poured off his body, and his water disappeared one swallow at a time. The agent"s situation was desperate by the time a tractor appeared and offered the only chance he was likely to get. He saw a single guard sitting next to the driver, engaged in conversation. Kyle waited for the tractor to draw abreast of his position, dashed across the intervening s.p.a.ce, and jumped onto a coupler. A train of fifteen cars jerked along behind the tractor and raised an enormous cloud of reddish brown dust. It made him cough, but the noise generated by the tractor"s engine covered the sound. The train pa.s.sed a half-filled vehicle park and wound past the tower. Kyle waited till the moment was right, jumped to the ground, and made a dash for one of the enormous footings on which the vertical structure rested. He waited for an alarm.
None came. Kyle turned and scuttled toward the tower"s inner core. The sentries, their attention focused on the Valley beyond, stood with their backs to him. The Rebel marched by, hit the "up" b.u.t.ton, and waited for the lift. The doors opened and a brace of Commandos appeared. Kyle had his lightsaber tucked under his arm, much as an officer might carry a swagger stick, and nodded as he marched by. The Rebel did a smart about-face, saw that one of the imperials looked as if he wanted to say something, and frowned. That, plus the lightsaber, did the trick.
The Dark Jedi, because that"s who the Imperials a.s.sumed he was, were notoriously short-tempered.
So much so that neither one cared to try his patience. The door rolled into place, and the turbolift rose with what would have been commendable speed had Kyle been in a hurry. Yes, he was Jedi, and yes, he had proven himself against three of the Dark Master"s subordinates, but the thought of going one-on-one with Jerec himself terrified him. What he needed was help - a whole bunch of it. Thought was answered with thought as Rahn flooded Kyle"s mind.
"The Force is with you - as am I." Kyle forced a grin. "What? No breaks?"
"Not lately," the Jedi Master replied dryly, "not since your arrival on Ruusan."