He gave the companions a brief rundown of the main tunnels and airshafts that led directly up to the surface. Some of the passages opened to a narrow band of tolerable temperatures on the surface. The young Jedi Knights would have to make their way up one of the major tunnels to the mountains while Lowie returned for the Rock Dragon. Despite the threat of retaliation from the Diversity Alliance, he would find a way to steal the ship, then come pick them up.
“But Master Lowbacca,” Em Teedee objected. “Surely this can’t be the wisest course of action. Why shouldn’t we simply stay together?”
Lowie dismissed this idea as too dangerous. Lowie could pass through Diversity Alliance security; the humans could not.
“Is there no other way to procure a ship, then?” Em Teedee asked. “Why must we risk going back now?” The Wookiee drew a deep, angry breath and spoke one word that Jacen understood clearly.
“Sirra.” Lowie would not leave his sister behind in the clutches of Nolaa Tarkona.
As they ran uphill together, panting, tasting the chalky air with its sour, mildewy stench, Lowie handed his friends back their lightsabers, as well as Tenel Ka’s utility belt. Jacen clipped his weapon to his side, as did Jaina, while Tenel Ka kept hers in her handgrip, ready for battle at any moment. She was also glad to have the resources of her belt again. Only Raynar seemed to be at a loss, with no weapon of his own.
Lowie knew exactly where he was going. Tenel Ka studied all the passages as they went, memorizing as best she could the layout of the Twi’lek tunnel systems. Jacen, who ran next to her, was unsurprised to find the warrior girl not the least bit out of breath. Despite the grime that crusted her hair and skin from hours of labor in the ‘mines, he still thought she looked beautiful.
As they rounded a corner, entering the main passageway, they came to an abrupt halt. Three piggish Gamorrean guards marched down the hall, shoulder to shoulder. Their tiny, close-set eyes were devoid of intelligence. The guards grunted and snuffled at each other, upset by the loud alarms ringing in their ears.
In numerous languages, an intercom voice warned of the dangerous toxic gas spill and ordered everyone to evacuate the lower levels immediately.
The guards did their best to look intimidating. They pounded on doors and kicked in the ones that remained sealed; some doors opened immediately, and the Gamorreans kicked the occupants instead.
Lowie stood in the corridor, boldly showing off his armor plates and chest band. His streak of dark fur bristled. The four young humans huddled behind him, trying to look like weak and downtrodden prisoners.
Lowie growled a challenge at the Gamorreans.
The guards grunted in surprise at this new obstacle. So intent had they been on bashing in doors, they hadn’t noticed the Wookiee. The head guard shoved his warty chin and tusks forward. He muttered something in a language that sounded like the burbling of phlegm.
Em Teedee said. “The guard inquires—if I may translate rather loosely-‘Aren’t you humans?’” Jacen stepped forward. “Blaster bolts, no! These are only disguises. Part of a top-secret project. Pretty good, aren’t they?” Reaching out with the Force, he gave the guards’ minds a gentle nudge. “Very realistic.” He tugged at one of his cheeks to demonstrate.
The guard snuffled and looked doubtful.
“Yes,” Jaina said, stepping up beside her brother.
“Nolaa Tarkona’s new ‘human configuration’ disguises. We developed these to infiltrate human cities and governments. But we’re really aliens underneath—aren’t we?”
Raynar nodded briskly, as did Tenel Ka. “This is a fact,” she said.
The guard grunted another question, but Em Teedee said indignantly, “They most certainly will not remove their disguises for mere guards! Indeed! This project is highly classified. I suggest you make yourself useful instead of trying to meddle in affairs that are clearly beyond your comprehension. Go apprehend some fugitive or seal off a toxic gas leak.”
The guard’s grumbled to each other and continued along their way, muttering their admiration for Nolaa Tarkona’s cleverness as they took turns banging open doors.
Jacen touched Tenel Ka’s wrist to move her hand away from the hilt of her lightsaber. “Sometimes you don’t need Jedi fighting skills to take care of a problem.”
“Ah,” Tenel Ka said. “Aha. But such tricks may not work unless your opponent is as stupid as those guards.”
Jacen peered down the surrounding corridors.
After a few more minutes of running they reached another main intersection, a confluence of catacombs. Lowie stopped, frowning in distress, and indicated that he had to leave them here.
“Master Lowbacca insists on locating his sister Sirra without delay,” Em Teedee said. “I do believe that’s quite honorable, though it places us all at greater risk.”
Jacen understood that the four humans could not go with Lowie; they had to keep as far away from the alien radicals as they could. Their Wookiee friend regarded each of them fondly.
With words and gestures he reviewed for them the directions he remembered from the computer map of the catacombs. They all found it painful to see Lowbacca leave again, but knew that this time he would come back … with the Rock Dragon, to help them get home.
“We’ll meet you outside, Lowie,” Jacen called. “In the mountains.”
With a last glance over his shoulder, Lowie sprinted down the long winding tunnel into a whirlpool of shadows.
After less than twenty minutes of cautiously toiling their way up the steep passage Lowie had indicated, a complete and deafening silence fell behind them like a curtain. All the alarms shut off; the emergency was canceled.
“That means they’ve discovered Lowie’s trick,” Jacen said.
Nolaa Tarkona’s voice came over the intercom.
“There is no poisonous gas spill. What you just heard was a false alarm, triggered by a traitor in our midst.” She paused a moment for effect. “Four human prisoners, important hostages, have just escaped. They must be found. I demand your most diligent efforts in the name of the Diversity Alliance.” When Nolaa Tarkona switched off the intercom, her angry voice ended abruptly with the force of an ax chopping through a branch.
“This is trouble,” Tenel Ka said.
“We’ve been in trouble,” Jaina countered.
Raynar leaned with a heavy sigh against the corridor’s rock wall. “Nobody’s going to fall for our ‘human disguise’ trick a second time.”
Tenel Ka suddenly stood up straight. As always, her hearing and eyesight were sharper than any of the others’. She gripped her lightsaber.
An instant later Jacen sensed the approach of numerous enemies. He drew his weapon, as did his sister. The footsteps were coming closer from a single direction, but the tunnels heading away branched out in many other directions.
“Fighting here will be difficult,” Tenel Ka said.
Jacen nodded. “We don’t have to make a stand here,” he pointed out.
“We can run toward the outside,” Raynar suggested.
“It’ll buy us some time,” Jaina agreed. “Let’s move.”
Clipping their lightsabers to their belts, they raced along the corridors, zigzagging, turning at random intervals as they headed upward. Every tunnel seemed to be filled with thundering footsteps and the rumble of armored feet. The hunt was on in every catacomb; Nolaa Tarkona had no intention of letting the humans escape.
As they picked up speed, the young Jedi Knights dispensed with caution, running as hard as they could. Tunnels branched one direction, then another.
Confusing as the choices were, they kept running uphill.
As they plunged across a corridor intersection, they startled a group of five guards—a pair of one-eyed Abyssin, a Duros, and two furry white Talz. All of the aliens bellowed, drew their weapons, and fired. Blaster bolts ricocheted from the curving tunnel walls, spurting rock dust and smoke.