The sun rose, and sirens began to sound over the city. Nield turned to them. The rising sun reflected red off his dark hair."Now for military headquarters."
Excitement coursed through Obi-Wan. It was almost like a game, this ruse that Nield and Cerasi had concocted. But now the game would get serious. Hitting a military target, even with fake explosives, would be dangerous.
Nield led the way across the rooftops to the Daan military headquarters. From the roof of a building across the street, Obi-Wan could see soldiers running toward landspeeders, carrying blasters and torpedo launchers. Obviously, they were hurrying to investigate the many alarms that had sprung up.
"So far, so good," Cerasi breathed. "There won't be as many soldiers around."
This part would be tricky. They would not be firing at houses full of sleeping civilians. The military would react swiftly. But Nield had pointed out that if they did not convince the military that an attack had been launched, their plan wouldn't work. If the military thought they were under fire as well, they might conclude that this was not random sniper fire, but a full-scale attack.
In addition to Nield, Cerasi, and Obi-Wan, other groups of the Young should have been heading out to other Daan and Melida neighborhoods. Their attacks would be launched simultaneously with the attack on military headquarters.
They waited until the soldiers had taken off in their speeders. Two guards stood outside behind transparent armored shields. Cerasi loaded her beam tube. Obi-Wan and Nield placed laser-balls in their slingshots. On the whispered count of three from Cerasi, they fired.
The laserballs hit the building, sounding like blaster fire. The projectile boomed. Already, the three had loaded and shot again, then quickly scuttled back on their hands and knees and ran to the edge of the roof to jump to the adjoining building. They fired again.
Soldiers streamed out of the building in full plastoid armor, blasters in hand. Electro-binoculars were trained on the street and buildings above. Armored plates rattled down over windows and doors. A siren blasted insistently. Soldiers began to spread out down the street. Floaters took off for air surveillance. Armored vehicles poured out from an underground holding station.
"It's time to get out of here," Cerasi said.
Stuffing the toys and slingshots into their belts, they dashed across the rooftop and quickly shimmied down a drainpipe. When they hit the street, they slowed theirpace, trying to look like Daan teenagers out for a morning walk.
"You there! Halt!"
They froze. The voice had come from behind them. Nield had already given them identity cards, so they thought they'd be able to pass. Cerasi slipped a package out of her tunic. Obi-Wan glanced at her, puzzled. Did she have a weapon? Of course, he had his lightsaber, but he would never be able to take on the troops swarming over the streets. He would only endanger Cerasi and Nield.
They turned and saw three soldiers approaching them, blasters aimed straight at their hearts.
"Identity cards," one soldier said in a clipped tone. Quickly, the three handed them over. Nield had given Obi-Wan a disc from a Daan boy who was his age and weight. The soldiers inserted the discs into a readout machine. Obi-Wan waited for them to handthem back, but instead, the first soldier gave a look at the other two to keep them. He was still suspicious. He gave Nield, Cerasi, and Obi-Wan a hard look.
"Is there anything wrong?" Nield asked worriedly.
"What do you have there?" The first soldier pointed at Cerasi's package with his blaster.
"M-muja muffins," Cerasi stammered nervously. She held out the package."For breakfast. We go every morning."
"Let me see." The soldier opened the top of the package. Inside, Obi-Wan saw a row of muffins wrapped in napkins.
"What's on your belts?" the other soldier asked. "Aren't you a little old for toys?"
"We're practicing for the army," Nield answered. He lifted his chin. "We can't wait to fight the filthy Melida."
"What's that?" the soldier pointed to Obi-Wan's lightsaber.
Obi-Wan held it up and activated it."The newest toy on Gala. My grandfather sells them over onVictory Street."
The soldiers eyed it. "We never had toys like that when we were young," the first said ruefully.
"In the next battle of Zehava, the Daan will prevail!" Obi-Wan answered, waving his lightsaber.
"We might be in the next battle of Zehava right now, so hurry along and take shelter," the third soldier said gruffly. He handed Nield back his identity card and motioned for the other soldiers to do the same. "You may be fighting with real weapons before long."
The three soldiers marched off, their corn-links crackling with reports of more attacks in the city.
"That was close," Cerasi breathed. "I'm glad I brought those muja muffins. It gave us a reason to be on the street so early."
"And I thought you brought them in case I was hungry," Obi-Wan managed to tease. His heartbeat was returning to normal. He didn't want to think about how Qui-Gon would have reacted if he had been captured by the Daan.
"That was a smart move, to activate that lightsaber and call it a toy," Nield said to Obi-Wan. "Lucky for you they were too dumb to realize you were a Jedi."
Cerasi eyed him. "I have a feeling Obi-Wan was ready to use it."
Nield grinned broadly. "I have a feeling he can save us all."
The three laughed together in relief. Obi-Wan felt a current run between himself and Cerasi and Nield. Even though he was still in danger, he had never felt so free.
Qui-Gon sat in the shadows, watching the furious activity of the Young as they dashed in and out of the vault for supplies, then hurried out to return to the streets above.
Something had woken him before dawn, a soft flurry of movement. He had seen Obi-Wan leave with Cerasi and Nield. He had let his Padawan go.
It would have been easy to step forward and challenge Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon's anger had surged, and he had wanted to confront the boy. Obi-Wan had no right to leave without permission. He had violated Qui-Gon's trust. It was a small violation, but it stung.
He and Obi-Wan had not yet achieved the perfect mind-communion of the Master-Padawan relationship. They had merely taken a few steps on a long journey together. They occasionally had disagreements and misunderstandings. But Obi-Wan had never deliberately concealed something from him before.