Immediately after his secret meeting with Fonterrat on the isolated world of Kuar, Thul had decided to disappear.
Fonterrat had mentioned giving Thul a navicomputer module. And it seemed that the navicomputer was the one thing Nolaa Tarkona desperately wanted. But what information could it hold? The location of something?
What had Nolaa lost … or what did she need to find?
Because Nolaa had loosed the plague on Gammalin, Fonterrat had expressed his hope that the Diversity Alliance would never find Bornan Thul and his cargo. Could there be a connection, then, between the navicomputer and the plague?
The plague had killed every human on the colony, but then it had died out. Surely Nolaa Tarkona could make no further use of it.
But if Nolaa ever found the original source of the plague, it was possible that nothing would ever stop the spread of the disease.
Zekk shifted uncomfortably at the thought.
Fonterrat had said something about giving Nolaa Tarkona two samples.
Surely one more vial could do no worse than the first had—though that was bad enough. But what if Nolaa decided to unleash the plague on Coruscant, for example? Or what if she found a way to replicate it, and infect all human worlds?
No. Fonterrat had seemed fairly certain that this was not possible; otherwise Bornan Thul could never have thwarted Nolaa Tarkona’s plan just by hiding from her. What then, would the navicomputer tell her?
Something clicked in Zekk’s head. It was almost like one of those puzzles that Jaina’s younger brother Anakin loved to solve. Suddenly, a dozen snatches of conversation and stray bits of messages whirled together and resolved themselves into a logical pattern in his mind. Without understanding for certain how, he knew now what Bornan Thul had.
Fonterrat’s navicomputer must contain the location of the place where the scavenger had found the plague. The two small samples must have been Fonterrat’s bargaining tools, samples to show his good faith so that the Diversity Alliance would barter with him for more. But Fonterrat had not trusted Nolaa Tarkona enough—with good reason—to sell her the information directly. And in the end, something had caused Fonterrat to warn Bornan Thul about the danger he carried.
The scavenger had clearly wanted to profit from the information, but maybe he had hoped the Diversity Alliance would never use it. Nolaa, however, had used the sample he had given her.
Indiscriminately.
Yes, it was possible, Zekk thought. But where could such a horrible plague have come from? A planet with no human population? Somewhere in the Outer Rim? But surely a planet with a virus so deadly to humans would have been reported long ago.
Or the disease could be some substance that had been found by a mining company in an asteroid or a comet. It was even possible that some crazed alien on an uncharted world had actually developed the virus on purpose.
In any case, Zekk knew he’d have to gain Bornan Thul’s confidence, if he was to be of any help to the man. Thul couldn’t protect such an important secret forever. Zekk would be able to fend him as soon as the homing beacon activated.
And if he managed to get a lead on Bornan Thul, it wouldn’t be long before one of the other bounty hunters was successful as well … someone sly and skillful like Boba Fett.
Still staring at the glowing streak of comet in front of him, Zekk shook his head. He couldn’t allow that to happen. If anyone could get Bornan Thul to trust him at this point, it would be his son Raynar.
Zekk set his mouth in a grim line. He hoped Raynar would believe him when he explained the urgency of the situation. Zekk thought he had established a basis for trust with Raynar on Mechis III, but he’d have to convince the young man once and for all that he no longer wished to collect the bounty on his father.
Zekk now knew exactly where he wanted to go.
It was time to pay a visit to Yavin 4. With growing anticipation, he leaned forward and entered a new set of coordinates into his navicomputer.
Zekk turned the Lightning Rod in a quick arc and peeled away toward the Jedi academy, leaving the comet to streak onward alone in the darkness.
11
Tenel Ka watched one of the Gamorrean guards shove Raynar, who fell hard against the mine car that would take them deeper underground.
“I’m cooperating—there’s no need to get rough!” the young man objected.
He regained his balance and stumbled onto the personnel transport vehicle.
When the guard muttered something vaguely conciliatory, two other Gamorreans cuffed their apologetic companion.
In silence the young Jedi Knights climbed aboard the mine car and eased themselves onto the dirty metal seats. The guards held tight to handles beside their seats as the vehicle accelerated with a lurch.
The mine car picked up speed, carrying them farther from Nolaa Tarkona’s throne room, farther from their impounded ship … and farther from Lowie.
Staring out the open sides of the vehicle, Tenel Ka watched the walls blur by. She noticed places where chunks of rock had broken away, as well as scars and craters left by blaster fire that had ricocheted off the stone. Much of the fighting during Nolaa’s revolution must have taken place down here, when the old Twi’lek clans had fallen to the reactionary Diversity Alliance.
When the vehicle stopped, the companions were ordered to get off.
Though they all stood immediately, Hovrak grabbed Tenel Ka by the arm and yanked hard. “Stop gawking at the walls, human—you’ve got work to do.”
Tenel Ka’s poise was good, and she managed to keep her balance. Even so, Hovrak’s sharp claws scratched her unprotected skin. Warm blood flowed from a shallow wound on her upper arm, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her wince in pain.
“Hey, leave her alone?” Jacen said, trying to push his way forward.
Hovrak dismissed the tousle-haired young man with a snort, then looked pointedly at the stump of Tenel Ka’s other arm. “You are lucky the Esteemed Tarkona considers you too important to kill. You are sure to be a burden down in the spice mines. We won’t get much work out of a one-armed female. Worthless.”
Tenel Ka reacted with spring-loaded reflexes, whirling about to slam the flat of her hand full force against Hovrak’s snout. The impact made a sound like ripe fruit struck with a hammer.
Continuing her spin, Tenel Ka brought her booted foot up and kicked the wolfman unmercifully in the abdomen. Then she lashed out with her other foot to smash him sharply in the knee.
Hovrak fell.
It all happened in two seconds. The Adjutant Advisor yowled in unexpected pain even before the blood began to spurt from his smashed snout.
The other Jedi Knights could not leap to her aid before Hovrak’s guards dragged Tenel Ka away from him but she was finished.
One eyebrow arched, the warrior girl shot Hovrak a look of challenge.
“Perhaps a one-armed female is not quite as helpless as a complacent wolfman,” she said coldly.
Hovrak coughed blood and got back to his feet while the guards chuckled at her retort. They froze, looking sheepish, when Hovrak glared at them. Struggling to regain his dignity, he wiped a sleeve of his uniform across his snout. Blood smeared the meticulously clean cloth.
“Throw them in with the other mine slaves. And if this girl’s production is one gram less than the requirement … we shall see how well she can work with no arms.”
Many Twi’lek caves began as natural formations that were hollowed out over centuries of labor into a larger and larger underground labyrinth. As the civilization expanded and the population grew, they dug deeper into the mountain ranges.