Corrsk climbed into the impounded Rock Dragon. His scaled feet clomped on the deck plates. He moved about, sniffing, touching seats, opening storage lockers. With his clawed fingers he ripped open one of the rear passenger chairs, but found no hidden weapons, no clue as to the ship’s origins.
The ship’s computer had apparently been coded with unbreakable passwords, though Corrsk suspected that the Diversity Alliance’s expert slicers could dig out all the information he needed. They would rip the answers from the Rock Dragon’s memory banks.
The stench of humans was strong, heating his blood, increasing his desire to kill. Everything around him took on a reddish tinge as his stalking lust increased. His claws flexed like durasteel talons; his muscles pumped like the pistons of an Imperial walker.
He had waited too long to fight—waited too long to kill. He needed to find a victim soon or he would go into a murderous frenzy and slaughter everything in sight.
Corrsk inspected the Rock Dragon again, searching for any shred of evidence. Then, focusing on his olfactory senses, he returned to the copilot’s chair and inhaled deeply. A familiar scent, delicious … and infuriating.
He hadn’t been certain before, but now he knew that he detected more than just the pungent, overpowering smell of human…. Mingled with it was the incredible, distinct aroma of Wookiee.
But not just any Wookiee. This was the unmistakable scent of the gingerfurred one Nolaa Tarkona had welcomed into the Diversity Alliance, the one Raaba had recruited and brought to Ryloth Lowbacca.
He smelled Lowbacca, here in the impounded ship. The lanky Wookiee had some connection with this mysterious passenger craft.
The Trandoshan growled deep within his throat. He sensed a deadly plot here: danger and betrayal.
Lowbacca must have something to do with the Rock Dragon. What treachery was he planning?
Corrsk growled again as he climbed back out of the small ship. He would keep this information to himself for now. He would have to be content in the knowledge that the time for bloodshed would be soon.
Very soon.
He would get his chance to kill humans. And at least one Wookiee…
8
Tenel Ka led the way through the dim and winding tunnels, her warrior senses alert, every muscle taut and ready. She was acutely aware of the danger they faced: anyone who noticed the companions would immediately recognize them as intruders in the realm of the Diversity Alliance.
Nolaa Tarkona would not tolerate the presence of humans.
Jacen clung close beside the warrior girl, and together they used their Jedi senses, casting out through the Force like a net for any glimmer of their friend Lowbacca.
Raynar struggled to keep up with Jaina, who hung back a bit, staying close to him in case he needed her help. He limped a little on his healing leg, but made no complaint. The little translator droid hovered between them at shoulder level, bobbing along as part of the expedition.
With whispering footsteps as quiet as spring leaves brushing together, the young Jedi Knights hurried down one long corridor to an intersection.
Tenel Ka paused, studied the adjacent corridors, and listened.
Finally, detecting a slight tingle of Lowie’s presence, she chose a corridor that led in that general direction. “This way.”
She touched her rancor-tooth lightsaber, fingering the carvings on its hilt. “If we are seen,” Tenel Ka said, “we should return to the Rock Dragon. We must use our lightsabers—the fight will be for our very lives.”
“I propose that we not allow ourselves to be seen in the first place,” Em Teedee said. “It would be entirely too dangerous.”
“Great suggestion,” Jacen said, rolling his eyes.
“Now why didn’t we think of that?”
They saw alcoves chopped out of the rock walls, and passages that plunged steeply down into deeper rock. The entire mountainous region of Ryloth was a tangled warren dug out by the Twi’leks over thousands of years. Many of the tunnels were now unused, the sites of battles in ancient clan wars.
In her training as a princess of Hapes, Tenel Ka had learned about many distinctive civilizations, including the Twi’leks. Short on resources and living space, the Twi’lek culture had developed into a violent and angry one. They had built several underground cities of linked caverns and tunnels, cramped hives for the various clan factions.
Since the Twi’leks could not easily spread out into the inhospitable territory of the frozen night side or the burning day side, they were forced either to dig new tunnels or to kill each other off and keep their population to a manageable level.
Nolaa had chosen isolated tunnels far from the cavern cities for her headquarters. From there she could direct space traffic and ryll mining operations. In her takeover she had disposed of the leaders of the most powerful clans. Now she controlled the planet through the ostensibly noble and peaceful rule of the Diversity Alliance—not to mention a carefully chosen assassination here or there when it became absolutely unavoidable.
Tenel Ka crept forward, using all senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell … and the Force. The air tasted of damp coolness and rock dust with a sour undertone of moss and fungus, and the faint metallic odor of minerals and old blood.
Tenel Ka motioned for the others to follow her as she hurried through an uncomfortably long stretch of corridor. She normally enjoyed running at full speed, but here she felt naked and exposed. Some guard might see them and sound the alarm at any moment. But she heard no movement, no footsteps, only a trickle of water that ran from a crack in the ceiling above.
Tenel Ka chose another dim tunnel and turned left. She had just turned again into a side passage when she heard the clomping of something large around a blind corner ahead. In fact, several somethings—or someones.
Jacen brought himself to a skidding halt, and she pushed him back the way they had come.
The young Jedi Knights scrambled for cover.
“In here, quick!” Jaina whispered, pointing to a small storage alcove. “We’ve got to hide.”
A tarpaulin just large enough to conceal them hung across the opening.
A bright blue triangle had been painted on the rock beside the opening; Tenel Ka did not recognize the symbol, but this was no time to speculate about what it might mean. Jaina drew the tarpaulin aside and tugged Raynar into the alcove. “What are you waiting for?”
They ducked inside, and Em Teedee barely managed to zip beneath the thick cloth before it dropped back into place. The four sat crouched in the shadows, holding their breath, listening intently.
Raynar looked pale and frightened, but ready to fight if necessary.
Jaina sat next to him, wearing a grim expression. Though the caves were cool, Tenel Ka could feel perspiration trickling down her back beneath her scant reptile armor.
With a clank and a shuffle, three hulking guards rounded the corner.
Their heavy footsteps pounded closer, accompanied by grunts and snuffling sounds.
Around the edge of the tarpaulin, Tenel Ka saw three squat Gamorrean guards stride by on patrol. The huge brutes seemed wary, their piggish eyes open for any intruders. The guard on the right stumbled and lurched into the one in the middle, who shoved him back. The Gamorreans snorted at each other, then continued plodding along.
Tenel Ka narrowed her granite-gray eyes and heaved a faint sigh of relief after the guards moved past the hidden alcove.
Jacen touched Tenel Ka’s arm and indicated the storeroom where they had taken refuge.
“Hey, look at this,” he whispered.
“Oh my!” Em Teedee brightened his optical sensors to help light up the shelves. “I daresay this is quite an impressive array of firepower!”