"We could go out the front entrance," Solace said. "Take our chances. Leave the Temple and let it be destroyed."
"I can"t," Ferus said.
Solace nodded. "Neither can I."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
They raced through the main hallways. There was no time for subterfuge.
Malorum and his officers had withdrawn most of the stormtroopers, but they had left attack droids to continue the patrols, to prevent interference from intruders. Ferus bounded toward the first group as it wheeled to engage them. His lightsaber moved rapidly as he mowed through them from one side while Solace took the other. She was all movement and no wasted motion, her lightsaber a blur. She was faster and better than Ferus and together they destroyed the droids in only seconds. They met in the middle and raced through the gap they"d created, smoke rising around them. Trever kicked through the hot metal and followed.
They knew where the central core generator was. The only chance they had was to shut it down before the bomb was fully armed.
Not trusting the turbolifts, they swung downstairs, leaping down and letting Trever catch up when they had to pause to dispatch more attack droids. They made it to the power source, a white room where the mighty sublight generator hummed. The reserve power light was blinking.
"Here"s the bomb," Trever said, hurrying over to it. "They didn"t bother to hide it. You"ve got to shut down the main generator. But do it gradually, or it could trigger the bomb."
"Thanks for telling me." Ferus turned his attention to the power-core controls. He knew how to do this. He had made it a personal course of study to find out how the infrastructure of the Temple worked. Quickly, he accessed the power computer bank. He went through the necessary series of steps to shut down the system. He went slowly, powering each subsystem down from green to yellow to red.
The lights flickered and failed. They heard the gentle sigh as the air system shut down.
"What now?" Solace asked.
"We wait," Trever said. "And hope we don"t blow."
Solace held up her lightsaber, which gave a soft blue glow. Trever got out his glow rod. The seconds ticked by. He looked at the power indicator on the bomb. Slowly, the indicator began to move.
"It"s draining," he said. "It won"t arm." He looked up at Ferus. "You can kill it now. It"s dead."
Ferus swiped a clean strike through the bomb. The device split into two neat halves.
"How long before they figure it out?" Solace asked.
"Soon," Ferus said. "I would imagine that Malorum is nearby. He"ll want to see it blow."
"We stopped him this time. But all he has to do is set another one," Trever said.
"I think Vader will find out and stop it," Ferus said. "That"s my guess, anyway. Word will get back. If the Emperor wanted the Temple completely destroyed he would have ordered it done. He wants it to remain. It"s a symbol to the galaxy - the wreck of the Jedi Order. But to us, it"s a symbol of what we can be again."
"I don"t know if it"s a symbol of anything anymore," Solace said. "I just know it was my home, and I don"t want them to blow it up."
They walked out of the central power control center and started down the hall again. Suddenly they heard the noise of stormtroopers clacking down the hallway. Ahead, from this vantage point, they could see the entrance to the Temple. As they looked, the doors flew open and stormtroopers poured in. Malorum was at the head. They could hear his voice boom, bouncing off the high stone walls.
"Find them!" he screamed.
A sea of white flooded the main hallway. They turned and ran. They could not meet this display of force. Overhead, seeker droids began to fan out, searching for them.
They ran back the way they had come. They had to get to Solace"s ship. It was their only hope for escape.
Pursued by a seeker droid, they raced down the hallway. Ferus leaped and twisted, slicing it in two.
They could hear the stormtroopers behind them, running now. "They must have picked us up on surveillance," Solace said.
They had seconds. Ferus hurried Trever through the hole to the turbolift shaft. Solace followed. Blaster fire peppered the lift door as Ferus stood, deflecting it. When he was sure Solace and Trever were inside the craft, he turned to leap inside the hole.
At that moment, at least fifty more stormtroopers appeared, some of them on AT-RT walkers. If Solace waited for him, they would all be captured or dead.
He looked at Trever, whose eyes were wide, pleading. "I"ll be back!" he yelled.
"I told you not to say that!"
Ferus deactivated his lightsaber and lifted his hand. Solace saw his intention and leaped up momentarily to catch it as it flipped through the air. He would allow himself to be captured, but not his light-saber.
"Now go!"
Solace hesitated. He saw how close she was to joining him. He couldn"t let her.
"You"ve got to get him out of here!" Ferus shouted.
As Trever screamed and hammered her back with his fists, Solace pushed the controls, and the ship took off.
It had all taken less than a moment. He knew Malorum would want to take him alive. Ferus turned toward the onslaught, defenseless now, and alone.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
He sat in a prison. Somewhere. He hadn"t been taken off Coruscant, he knew that much. He had a bruise on the back of his head where they"d hit him with a stun baton. His legs still tingled from the blow to the back of his knees.
It was only the beginning, he knew.
He had been in an Imperial prison before and had escaped before they tortured him. He didn"t think he would be that lucky twice. The last time, Malorum had been the head officer.
One thing you really didn"t want, Perils reflected through his crashing headache, was an Imperial Inquisitor with a grudge.
He lifted his head when the doors swished open. Malorum walked in. Ferus could feel his enjoyment of the situation. Ferus decided then and there that no matter what they did to him, he was going to give Malorum a hard time.
"We"ve got to stop meeting like this, Malorum," he said.
"Very amusing."
"No, I mean it. We really do. You"ve just got to get out of prison. See the galaxy. Have some fun - "
"I"m having fun right now. I"m enjoying this immensely."
"Wow, me too. At last, we"re bonding."
"So let"s talk."
Ferus nodded and stretched out his legs. The pain nearly made him wince, but not quite.
Be a Jedi, Ferus. Be the Jedi you never were, for star"s sake. Accept your fear and find your center.
"Let"s talk about the Jedi. I underestimated you, Ferus. I thought you left them and never looked back. But you"ve been doing nothing else but trying to save them. Who is the Jedi you were with at the Temple?"
"I was with thousands of Jedi at the Temple. And it was so long ago... "
"You know what I mean. Today. When you broke into Imperial property. What is the name of the Jedi you were with on Bella.s.sa?"
Ferus pretended to frown. "Funny, he never mentioned it."
"You never caught his name?"
"He never dropped it."
"I find that hard to believe."
"Now there"s the difference between you and me. I find it absolutely believable. If all your friends had been wiped out, do you think you"d be going around telling people your name? I don"t think so. You"d keep it to yourself, I think."
"If I was a coward."
"Ah, in my opinion, cowardice is underrated. It keeps you alive."
"Is being alive so important to you? That"s a pity."
"Are you feeling sorry for me now? I didn"t know you cared."
Malorum laughed. "You think I haven"t seen this before? Bravado in the face of certain death? You"d be surprised how often those about to die put on a show. You aren"t unique."
"I don"t care much about being unique. Remember, I was raised a Jedi."
"Yes, you"re all the same, I suppose. Hypocrites. Hungry for power. You were about to take over the Senate, you tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate Emperor Palpatine... all while wearing those Jedi cloaks of humility. It was a good scam, but it"s over."
Ferus waved a hand in the air. "I love the rhythm of the party line. Just say the lies loud enough and long enough arid put a drumbeat behind it, and the next thing you know, everyone is singing the same tune."
"The truth is that - "
"The truth," Ferus said quietly, "is that the Republic is now an Empire, and power is consolidated in the hands of one man. He will do anything to keep it, anything to make it grow, and you are his lackey."
"This isn"t a debate. As you say, it"s been fun, Ferus Olin. But if you aren"t going to cooperate - "
"You have ways to make me talk? Let me think. Torture is still against the bylaws of the Senate. Last time I heard."
"Then you"re wrong. The Senate approved the Emperor"s call for more freedom in how he handles enemies. In times such as these, extreme measures can be called for."
And so the Senators continued to give the Emperor anything he wanted, Ferus thought. He was changing the galaxy, breaking the covenants the Senate was founded on, and they were voting yes to it. The Sith was clever. Always he acted with the "approval" of a Senate that could not say no.
"I"m sending you to a prison world where no one goes. And if you don"t reveal the name of the Jedi you know are alive, you will be executed for crimes against the Empire. Do you think anyone will care? They"ve already forgotten your name on Bella.s.sa."
"Well, I never call, I never write..."
"I"m talking to a dead man," Malorum said. "And it"s time for my lunch."
With the same indifference he"d shown throughout the interview, Malorum turned and walked out.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
As soon as Solace had landed the ship in its parking place tucked under the cavern wall, Trever vaulted forward and slapped his hand on the c.o.c.kpit canopy release. Even as it opened, he clambered out over her.
"You left him! You just left him!" he shouted. "It"s your fault they caught him!"
"He gave himself up, Trever," Solace said, jumping off the ship and landing lightly next to him. "There was nothing I could do. He left me no other choice."
"Jedi don"t leave Jedi!" Trever felt his fury take him over. "But you do, don"t you? Twice that I know about. You don"t know anything about loyalty!"
Solace stood, impa.s.sive. He couldn"t tell if she was angry. She didn"t seem angry. He wanted her to be angry, he wanted to fight.
"My choices are not your business," she said.
"Ferus is my business," Trever said. "He"s my friend."
"We"ll find him," Solace said. "Wherever they take him, we"ll find him."
Trever heard her words as though from a distance. They didn"t make sense for a moment. "What?"
"I said we"ll find him. I won"t stop until we do. This isn"t over. But first we need supplies and information. I have to - "
Solace suddenly stopped. She appeared to be listening, but there was nothing to hear.
"Solace, what - "
She turned and ran, silently and swiftly, along the catwalks. She made a leap so impossible that Trever knew it was Force-a.s.sisted, vaulting over the catwalks to gain time.