In a daring move, the swoops headed straight for the prison towers. Qui-Gon saw the towers grow closer and closer, so close he could see the cracks and pits in the surface. At the very last moment, Andra turned sharply. They came so close that Qui-Gon's hand was scraped. Two of the swoops pursuing them crashed into the towers. Andra and Den zoomed away.
Qui-Gon allowed himself one glance back. The last thing he saw was Xanatos, standing straight and tall and unmoving, watching him go. He could feel the coiled hatred spring at him from across the distance. They would meet again, he knew. Xanatos would make sure of it.
Chapter 10
When she was sure they were away from their pursuers, Andra loosened her hood.
"Thanks for not falling off," she called back to Qui-Gon.
"Thanks for rescuing us," Qui-Gon responded. "I was almost starting to worry."
She grinned and gunned the motor. In another few minutes, they landed in the alley near her house. Den and Andra concealed the swoops behind a pile of rusty abandoned floaters.
"Whoa!" Den called as he swept off his hood. "Did we beat those odds, or what? The next time I'm outrunning some security police, I want a Jedi at my back!"
Obi-Wan didn't respond to Den's friendly grin. "You wouldn't have had to rescue us if you'd warned us back at UniFy," he pointed out.
"I was about to," Den protested. "I didn't get the chance. At least I came through in the end."
"Only because I insisted," Andra said. "I'm the one who proposed the rescue."
"Kill me now if I wasn't going to! You didn't give me a chance!" Den protested.
"I suggest we continue this inside," Qui-Gon said, his eyes sweeping the sky overhead with a glance. "In my experience, security on Telos doesn't give up easily."
They climbed up the drain and entered Andra's snug home. Andra began to heat some drinks and set out a plate of bread and fruit. Obi-Wan reached for it hungrily.
"I don't know what to do now," Andra said worriedly. "We can't break into UniFy again. I'm sure they plugged the holes in their security. We'll never be able to get the proof we need that UniFy is tied to Offworld."
"If only we'd had more time to look," Den said.
Qui-Gon gave him a hard look. "But you weren't looking very hard for an Offworld connection, were you?"
Den shifted in his seat. "Of course I was. There were too many files. You said so yourself."
"I saw your screen, Den," Qui-Gon said. "You weren't looking at the Sacred Pool files. You were looking up Katharsis."
"Katharsis?" Andra turned. "Why?"
"Don't look at me like that, all of you," Den protested. "I'm an honest man!"
Qui-Gon cocked an eyebrow. Obi-Wan looked disgusted. Andra blew out an exasperated breath.
"Okay, so I'm not one hundred percent honest," Den admitted. "But I'm loyal! I was looking up Katharsis. When I worked there I found out by chance? well, not so much by chance, but because I broke into some files? that UniFy controls Katharsis."
Andra swiveled, the pot in her hand. "You mean the government doesn't control it?"
Den nodded. "They just want you to think they do. If everyone knew that a corporation controlled Katharsis, they'd realize that.."
"UniFy decides how the profits from Katharsis are spent," Andra said rapidly. "Which means they totally control our public lands."
Den nodded. "UniFy came up with the idea for Katharsis in the first place. They paid off some key government people in order to push it through. Basically, the government is in UniFy's pocket."
Andra sank into a chair, stunned. "Do you think that UniFy deliberately devised Katharsis just to distract the population from their intentions? They're going to open all our global parks for development. And we're going to pay for it!"
"It's pretty diabolical," Den said. "You almost have to admire it. Some kind of evil genius had to come up with this plan."
Qui-Gon exchanged a glance with Obi-Wan. "Xanatos," he said quietly. The plan had a simple elegance to its evil that was pure Xanatos.
But Qui-Gon wasn't finished with Den. "Why were you looking up Katharsis again, Den?" he asked. "If you knew this already, there wasn't much more to discover."
They all turned to Den. He met their gaze with steady innocence. That meant he was no doubt about to lie, Qui-Gon guessed.
"I was just hoping to help Andra and the POWER party?" he started.
Andra interrupted him. "Don't con me. Den. Not now. This is too important."
He looked at her a long moment. Qui-Gon noticed the vulnerability in the look. He cares for her, he realized.
"Okay," he said. "I was hoping to help you. But I was also looking for a way to rig the lottery."
"Always looking out for yourself, aren't you?" Andra said bitterly.
"No," Den said quietly. "I look out for you, too. But you won't see that."
"So did you find out how to rig it?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Not exactly," Den hedged.
"Did you find out anything?" Obi-Wan asked impatiently.
"Yes, I found out something," Den admitted. "The lottery already is rigged."
Chapter 11
"Things are happening too fast here," Andra said weakly. "Let me pour the tea."
They sat around the table, warm mugs of tea in their hands. The enormity of the plan stunned Andra. She had expected conspiracies and corruption, but not on such a vast scale. It was obvious that they had stumbled on a scheme to take over the resources of an entire planet. The question was how the pieces fit together, and what they could do about it.
Qui-Gon drained his mug. "I suggest a two-part plan," he said. "First, Den will infiltrate the lottery system."
"Whoa, hold on," Den said. "What do you mean, I'll infiltrate the lottery system? What makes you think I can do that?"
"I have a feeling you already know how," Qui-Gon said coolly. "Why else would you risk so much to get back inside UniFy? Why else did the security get triggered? You were able to invade the system."