Anja accepted the news without flinching. Then she glanced around at Jacen, Zekk, and Tenel Ka, meeting each pair of eyes in turn. “Thank you for using your powers to heal me.”
Jacen shook his head. “Hey, most of those powers came from inside you. From your wanting to stay alive and wanting to be healed.”
Anja smiled at them all, a warm, genuine smile. “Maybe. But I don’t think I’d have found that strength inside me if I hadn’t had friends.”
17
Groping through the spice mines’ access tunnels, Jaina, Lowie, and Em Teedee decided that their next step would be to liberate Nien Nunb and his loyal workers. With the help of the prisoners, maybe they could retake Kessel.
Throughout the previous hours, they had heard teams marching up and down the main tunnels, shouting to each other, shining bright glowlamps into dark corners. Judging from the angry tones Jaina heard, the destruction of the transmitter had been a complete success! She could tell that Czethros had stepped up his efforts to find them … but the mercenary teams were so loud and clumsy, only a fool would be unable to avoid them.
Jaina and Lowbacca were no fools.
The advantage to the young Jedi, now that Black Sun had all of its resources dedicated to finding the mysterious saboteurs, was that there were too few troops to keep careful watch on the captives. Only one guard remained standing in front of the security field by the prison quarters where Nien Nunb and the Kessel workers were held.
Peeking from the shadows of a low access tunnel, Jaina observed the lone guard near the shimmering stun-field. The guard was gray-skinned, with a long lantern jaw, smooth lipless mouth, and sunken orange eyes. He looked as if he had been dead for some time and had begun to mummify, but Jaina decided this must be what his species looked like. The guard carried only a small blaster at his side. Although either of the two young Jedi could easily have dispatched him with their lightsabers, Jaina preferred to do this without killing. Instead, she thought, this was a perfect time for them to use their Jedi powers.
Quietly she whispered her plan to Lowie, and the two companions concentrated, reaching out with their minds through the Force and probing until they touched the glimmering consciousness of the guard. They sent messages of relaxation to place him into a suggestible state of calm, partially hypnotized, partially asleep.
When they stepped out into the open hall, he spotted them and reacted, nearly making them lose control of his mind. Jaina strode forward quickly. “I wouldn’t move, sir—especially not if I had a Kessel scorpion-rat on my shoulder … one that’s prepared to sting.”
The guard glanced down, and his sunken orange eyes widened in shock and dismay. In his imagination, he saw the horrible crablike creature resting on the shoulder pad of his uniform, its segmented tail and wicked hooked stinger poised and dripping with a deadly greenish venom.
He wailed and thrashed around. “Get it off! Get it off!”
Lowie rushed forward. Instead of drawing his blaster against the oncoming Wookiee, the guard swatted again and again at his neck and upper arm, as if he continued to see the hideous creature scuttling back and forth there.
Lowie grasped the guard by both shoulders and pushed him into the pulsing stun-field that held the prisoners hostage. The guard raised his hands as crackling sparks flew all around, then slumped backward onto the floor, unconscious.
“Easy enough,” Jaina said.
“It may require significantly greater skill to break through these Black Sun security codes,” Em Teedee said.
“Maybe,” Jaina answered, looking over at Lowie. “But then, I’ve got you two to help.”
Nien Nunb and the other spice mine workers, seeing what had happened, clamored and cheered from the other side of the security barricade. They knew they were about to be rescued.
Within moments Lowie and Em Teedee had succeeded in switching off the stun-field. The crackling shimmer in the air faded, and Nien Nunb and his companions rushed out. Smiling and laughing, they clapped each other on the back and offered profuse thanks to Jaina and Lowie.
As Jaina looked at the crowd of former captives now loose in the spice mines, she knew the tide was turning. At first, Czethros had used armed guards and the element of surprise to imprison them. But the tables were turned now, and his advantage was lost.
Czethros had a lot more to worry about than just two young Jedi Knights.
While most of the guards continued to comb through distant and isolated spice tunnels in search of the fugitives, Nien Nunb led the escapees to a main armory and control chamber, protected from outside attack, near the darkest and least used of the excavation shafts. Here his people would be able to pick up supplies, arm themselves, and prepare for the fight to retake Kessel.
Together, they entered the deeply buried control chamber. Once inside, Nien Nunb keyed his administrative codes into the computers. With a blur of furry fingers, he punched in commands. Lowie assisted, growling and offering suggestions. Rapidly, block by block, the Sullustan Chief Administrator denied access to Czethros and his takeover crew.
Cheering, the workers gathered up their weapons and requested permission to return to their quarters to make sure the invaders had not destroyed or commandeered their private possessions. Kessel was a dreary assignment for many of them; they couldn’t bear the thought of Black Sun mercenaries pawing through their personal effects. Regretfully, the Chief Administrator shook his head.
Jaina paced the floor of the control center, still anxious, knowing they weren’t safe yet. They had a long fight ahead of them to drive the invaders from Kessel. “Can we use this room as our base of operations?” she said. “It’s well guarded and we can take care of it.”
Nien Nunb nodded.
“Perfect.” She explained how she and Lowie had successfully sabotaged the communications array so that the Black Sun plans could not proceed. Things were already falling apart for Czethros, and now that his prisoners were freed, this resistance would be the last straw.
Nien Nunb turned back to his computer console, satisfied with what he had accomplished, and brought up the security holocam images. Lowie rumbled a warning. Figures were moving down the tunnel, sporting weapons and dark uniforms—led by the treacherous Second Administrator Kymn! Directly beside him strode the smiling blond-haired captain who had lied about being impressed with Nien Nunb’s part in destroying the Death Star at the Battle of Endor.
The Sullustan made a thin growling sound in his throat and jabbered brief instructions, telling everyone to stay alert. He would take care of this instantly—he had his own score to settle.
“But whatever shall we do?” Em Teedee said.
“I think we’ll just have to be prepared—for anything,” Jaina answered.
Workers brought up their weapons and made ready for a fight as the Chief Administrator scuttled out the door of the control center and down the dark and winding corridors. Nien Nunb felt anger blazing inside him—a new sensation for the timid Sullustan. He vowed to show that blond-haired captain just how a hero really handled himself.
He hustled along, moving with determination … trying belatedly to figure out his plan. Kymn’s crew of searchers would be surprised to see him free, since they were simply hunting for one or two hidden saboteurs: Jaina and Lowbacca. Or so they thought.
Nien Nunb turned the next corner—and froze stock-still as the treacherous Second Administrator and the blond-haired captain cried out in surprise.
“He’s escaped!” Kymn yelled. “Grab him! No—shoot!”
“I thought Czethros wanted him kept alive as a hostage,” the blond captain said as the guards surged forward.
“Don’t trouble yourself,” Kymn sneered. “This little rodent has been bossing me around in various jobs for too many years. I’d like the pleasure of seeing him squirm for a change.”