They ran up the ramp. Obi-Wan slid into the pilot seat.
"Wait." Taly ducked underneath the control panel. "Let's make sure there's no locking device. I can bypass the access code."
"Are you sure?" Siri asked.
"Easy as cutting through air." Taly took a small servo-driver from his utility belt. "Standard security devices.. Code deactivated… Remote tracking device cut… Okay. Let's go."
Obi-Wan fired up the engines. He kept the engine speed down until they were safely away from the city. Then he blasted into the upper atmosphere.
He grinned at Siri. They made it.
"Set the course for Coruscant."
"Course set."
Minutes passed. Siri watched the computer screen avidly. There was still a chance they could be followed.
"Setting hyperdrive," Obi-Wan said. He flicked the controls. Space rushed toward them in a shower of stars. They were free.
With a sigh of satisfaction, Taly leaned back in his seat. "I bet I'm really starting to get on that guy's nerves," he said.
Chapter 11
The problem with eavesdropping, Qui-Gon thought, was that it required beings who liked one another enough to exchange information. He and Adi had hoped to overhear more of the bounty hunters' plans, but as soon as their argument was over and the ship blasted off, they all retreated to separate areas of the ship and did not speak. They passed one another in the corridors, they met in the galley scrounging for food, they bumped into one another at close quarters, but all Qui-Gon and Adi heard was an occasional grunt or grumble of, "Blast your stinking carcass, stay out of my way."
They had been on the ship for three days and had learned nothing. They didn't know their destination, and they didn't know the bounty hunters' targets. They had moved from hiding place to hiding place, from storage compartment to empty stateroom and back again, and at last found what they felt was safe refuge in the small escape pod compartment.
When night fell, the sound of snoring penetrated even the thick door on the compartment. Pilot slept across the hall.
"We've got to do something," Adi said. "We could be landing soon. Not to mention that I'm going to go out of my mind."
"Meditation not working?"
Adi cocked an eyebrow at him. "Very amusing, Qui-Gon. You forget that I am the Jedi without a sense of humor. We need a plan. Something logical."
Qui-Gon smiled. "Why don't we just sneak around some more and see what we can turn up?"
Adi regarded him gravely. "Sounds good."
"I have an idea," Qui-Gon continued. "Pilot said he's in touch with their employer. And that he's keeping records on Magus. Maybe he's kept things he shouldn't."
They listened to the snoring that thundered down the corridor.
"He does sound like a heavy sleeper," Adi said. "Let's go."
Together they crept into Pilot's cabin. He stirred but didn't wake, instead sighing and turning over on his sleep couch. One long arm flopped over the side, his knuckles grazing the floor.
Adi nudged Qui-Gon. Pilot had dislodged his pillow. Now his head was half-on, half-off, and they saw a small datapad underneath the pillow.
Slowly, Adi leaned over. She slid her hand toward the pillow.
Pilot grunted. Adi froze.
Slowly, bit by tiny bit, she moved her hand underneath to grab the edge of the datapad. As if she had all the time in the world, she slid it out from underneath.
Pilot snuggled more deeply into the blankets.
Adi and Qui-Gon bent over the datapad. Quickly, they accessed its files. They were all in code. They accessed the last file used. It was correspondence between Pilot and someone whose name was also in code. But Pilot had made an additional notation and had not coded it.
20 targets. mtg day one set.
Pilot began to stir. He was waking this time. They saw him lift his arm. He began to pat underneath the pillow, eyes still closed, to reassure himself that the datapad was still there.
Adi moved noiselessly across the floor. She had to bend over him, only centimeters from his cheek, as she slid the datapad back in place. Wrinkling her nose, she jerked her chin toward the door. Time to go.
Moving slowly, she withdrew from the sleep couch. Suddenly, Pilot's hand shot out and grabbed her tunic.
"Where do you think you're going?" His eyes snapped open and confusion shot him to a sitting position. "And who are you?"
With a quick movement Adi dislodged herself from his grasp and kicked him in the chest, sending him back across the sleep couch with an oof.
She and Qui-Gon hurtled out the door, drawing their lightsabers. As they ran, an alarm began to clang. There must have been an alert button right near the sleep couch.
They heard pounding footsteps behind them. Lunasa must have slept half-dressed. She still wore a tunic and boots, but she was bare-legged and her hair was matted from sleep and stood out in dark wisps around her head. A small rocket whistled toward them and then blaster fire richocheted in the air. Qui-Gon sliced through the rocket while Adi deflected the blaster fire.
From the opposite side of the corridor, Gorm the Dissolver strode toward them, fire shooting from the blasters in both hands. Adi and Qui-Gon kept constantly circling. Pilot had advanced out from his stateroom and joined the melee.
"Any ideas?" Adi muttered to Qui-Gon as she twirled, deflecting fire. The corridor was filled with smoke.
"Seems like a good time to escape," Qui-Gon said. "How about the pod?"
An ominous clacking came to their ears. Droidekas suddenly rolled down the corridor, unfurling to their full, deadly length.
"The pod sounds good," Adi replied.
Qui-Gon and Adi moved grimly forward.
Qui-Gon moved to the left, trying to get Gorm between him and the droidekas. But the two had excellent homing devices and moved accordingly. Gorm kept on a steady pace, thumping forward, blasting with a repeating rifle.
Qui-Gon saw that he had to end this. Between the droidekas and the bounty hunters, he saw a danger of being wounded or captured.
He surged forward, cutting off the leg of a droideka and almost getting clipped by blaster fire in the process. The droideka lost its center of balance and spun. Blaster fire peppered out in a random pattern, almost hitting Lunasa. She yelled and hit the ground, still firing at the Jedi. Raptor almost got in the way, and had to leap over Lunasa, placing himself between Gorm and the Jedi.