“Serves them right,” Jacen said.
“It is always tragic when warfare causes unintended casualties,” Tenel Ka pointed out. “Even Imperial ones.”
“Well, if we destroy this depot, the Emperor won’t cause any more casualties,” Jaina said. She activated the space mine, and its lights winked green: READY FOR DETONATION. She went farther down the wall of the dome and planted another mine on the opposite wall. “That should take care of this dome,” she said.
“Now let’s move on to the next one.” Jacen followed, planting detonators at the branchpoints of corridors.
Once they set off all this destruction, nothing would remain of the asteroid but a rock as dead as it had been before the Empire set foot on it.
Lowbacca hesitated outside the doorway to the central plague chamber. This airtight room contained more death than he had ever seen in one place: sealed transparent cylinders filled with multicolored liquids, vials of plague solutions, nutrient baths teeming with virulent organisms. It was his responsibility to destroy them all, and he carried high-temperature incinerating explosives to do the job. It wouldn’t do just to crack open the vials and disperse the liquids. He had to make sure the explosion was hot enough, with incandescent heat from a dozen thermal detonators, to annihilate the virus that had been created to kill human beings.
“Well, Master Lowbacca, it does no good to wait,” Em Teedee scolded. “It’s high time we went inside and plant the detonators. The others are counting on us.”
Lowie growled something, and Em Teedee huffed.
“I am not being impatient. Just because I’m a droid and can’t get a plague doesn’t mean I don’t understand the dangers. I can well imagine computer viruses, you know.” Rather than endure more of the droid’s talk, Lowie worked the airlock controls, assisted by Em Teedee’s rapport with the computer systems. The air within the pressurized chamber was kept sterile, and backup systems and fail-safes prevented any possible leaks. Lowie stepped inside, his fur bristling with apprehension. The metal floor felt cold against his feet, and the air smelled harsh and disinfected. He looked around at the tubes and spheres of deadly solution and planned his strategy. He left the pressure door open behind him, not relishing the prospect of being trapped inside the lethal chamber.
Then he cautiously walked in among the towering cylindrical tanks. He moved slowly, carefully, until he finally snapped himself out of his daze and removed the thermal detonators from his pack. He was a Jedi Knight, and he had a threat to wipe out. He placed his first set of heat explosives under the largest of the bubbling tanks in the center of the room; then he spiralled outward, ducking down, moving like a machine as he planted one detonator after another.
He didn’t want to think about the swarming virus behind the thin walls of transparisteel. He didn’t want to smell the reprocessed air. He just wanted to be out of here and destroy it all behind him. As he planted another set of detonators, though, he noticed a marking near the base of the tube labeling the solution inside—KRYTOS PLAGUE, MULTIPLE SPECIES, SLOW-ACTING.
Lowie stiffened, recognizing this disease that had harmed so many aliens, including Wookiees, just after the fall of the Empire. So … this plague storehouse held far more than just the human-killing plague after all! Lowie now turned his attention to the other tanks and vials, inspecting their labels. The colored solutions contained numerous deadly agents. Label after label made his blood run cold. GAMORREAN, SLOW-ACTING. QUARREN, FAST-ACTING. WOOKIEE, SLOW-ACTING. TWI’LEK/CALAMARIAN, VARIABLE VIRULENCE.
Lowie realized that if Nolaa Tarkona got her hands on all of this, not only could she destroy humans, but she could also threaten every other race in the galaxy! The leader of the Diversity Alliance could assert her power over any species in a way that even the Emperor had not dared to do. Lowie planted his remaining detonators as fast as he could, then rigged up a central explosive controller, which he placed near the main containers in the middle of the room. He would be very glad to get out of this place.
Not even he was safe in here.
After the other young Jedi Knights went on their way, Raynar stayed beside his father inside the munitions bunker. Zekk put his hands on his hips and looked up at the remaining explosives, blasters, and detonators. “Still plenty left here to cause quite a bit of destruction,” he said.
Bornan Thul went to work opening cases and linking detonators, preparing to trigger the remaining explosives.
“If we set off all these,” Thul said, “we’ll put this entire asteroid into a spin.”
“I’d rather not be here when that happens,” Raynar said.
His father looked down at him with an understanding smile. “We won’t be, Raynar,” he said. “I’ll make sure you get out of here safely.”
Bornan Thul worked hard to arrange boxes, linking up blast points for sympathetic explosions. His son dutifully opened more cases, while Zekk moved from one to another, making connections, checking timers, and setting the stage for the biggest explosion he could imagine.
“If Jaina can find enough structural weak points to booby-trap, then this should take care of the weapons depot once and for all,” Zekk said, confident in his friend’s abilities.
Bornan sighed. “I should have found a way to do this myself a long time ago.”
“We’re finished here,” Zekk said, impatient to get moving again. He grabbed several explosive packs to take with him. “We’ll plant these along the way,” he said, “then pick up Lowbacca back at the central chamber.”
13
With each explosive she planted, Jaina felt the metal-lined hallways seem to close in on her. At her direction, Jacen set timed explosives in alternate places, while Tenel Ka drew her lightsaber and sliced partway through support beams or disabled safety interlocks.
“Blaster bolts! When this place blows, it’s really going to blow,” Jacen observed. “Hey, how many thermal detonators does it take to blow up an Imperial weapons depot?”
“Ah. Aha,” Tenel Ka said, responding to Jacen’s attempt at humor as if the question were a serious one.
“The answer is obvious.” Jaina finished setting the time delay on her detonator, moved farther down the corridor, and began setting up the next one. “Okay then,” she said, rising to the bait, “how many thermal detonators does it take?”
Still holding her lightsaber, Tenel Ka shrugged eloquently. “All of them, of course.”
Jacen chuckled. “Yeah. I think you’re right. We…”
“Wait.” Tenel Ka held up her hand for silence. She listened, then switched off her lightsaber so its hum would not mask any other noises. Jaina heard the sound and sprang to her feet.
“Company?”
Tenel Ka backed a few steps down the corridor toward Jaina and Jacen, alert and looking in the direction from which the sound had come.
“Uh-oh,” Jacen said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Something tells me that whoever our visitors are, they didn’t arrive on the Lightning Rod or the Rock Dragon.”
Jaina bit her lower lip as she felt the same tingle of warning.
“The Diversity Alliance?”
“This is a fact,” Tenel Ka said. “We must stay ahead of them in order to complete our mission.” But before the three young Jedi could move, several figures rounded a corner far down the hallway. A furry white Talz and a tentacle-faced Quarren were in the lead. They all recognized the Quarren, whom they had seen on Ryloth with Nolaa Tarkona. Lowie had told them his name.
“Rullak,” Jaina said. Before Nolaa Tarkona’s henchmen took another step, the three friends ran in the opposite direction down the corridor. Behind them the Quarren burbled a command and fired his blaster. The energy bolt spanged harmlessly off a metal wall and deflected into the ceiling, where it left a small, smoking hole.