He recalled how the masked man had reluctantly assisted him, and also how he had tricked Fett into helping Bornan Thul get away. He swallowed hard, prepared to die. Suddenly the bounty hunter whirled about with such speed that Zekk could barely follow his actions. Boba Fett fired both of the pistols continuously, strafing from one Diversity Alliance guard to another. He ruthlessly mowed them down as they stood paralyzed with shock.
Without wasting time on questions, Zekk reacted as well, opening fire and taking out the aliens Boba Fett hadn’t already shot down. In the suddenly silent, smoke-filled corridor, Boba Fett stood motionless, victorious. Rock dust and sifting debris drifted down from the ceiling. The smell of melted metal burned Zekk’s nostrils. He couldn’t move. Lowie held up his lightsaber, not knowing how to react. Raynar had stepped up behind Zekk and Lowie, directly into the line of fire—but no Diversity Alliance fighter remained alive.
Zekk’s astonishment gave way to scorn. He looked at the black slit in the helmet of the bounty hunter.
“So you’re a turncoat? Just like that, you’re on our side?” Lowie also grumbled his disbelief.
Raynar exclaimed, “I thought you were working for Nolaa Tarkona. She had you out looking for my father.”
Fett turned to him. “Nolaa Tarkona wanted the location of this depot. I gave it to her. My work for her is finished, paid in full.”
Zekk stared in astonishment, remembering how Boba Fett had told him that all obligations to an employer ended once the bounty had been delivered.
“So what made you choose our side? A twinge of moral responsibility?” He raised his eyebrows.
Fett’s impenetrable helmet gave the slightest shake. “A bounty hunter does not take sides.”
“Then why are you here?” Raynar asked. A flush colored his cheeks.
“Tyko Thul hired me. He offered a large reward if I could bring you and your father safely away from this asteroid.”
Raynar hung his head. Zekk could barely speak himself. “Too late, Boba Fett. Bornan Thul is dead from the plague.”
Fett seemed unaffected.
“Then I will complete the rest of my assignment, and see that Raynar gets out safely. I will cover your retreat. I trust you can make it to your ship without assistance?”
Zekk regarded the masked man with distrust.
“It doesn’t trouble you that your very next bounty is to assist the enemy of your former employer?”
Boba Fett straightened, as if the answer to the question should be obvious. “I don’t judge right or wrong. I just do my job.”
Zekk squared his shoulders and suddenly knew he was stronger than Boba Fett. His mind was clearer. His heart was cleaner.
“Then I guess I don’t want to be a bounty hunter after all,” he said, and tossed his long black hair over his shoulders. “I don’t let a paycheck decide between right and wrong for me.”
Leaving Boba Fett behind, he walked with Lowie and Raynar down the last remaining tunnel to the Lightning Rod and their escape from the asteroid.
27
Raaba’s stomach lurched as she threw the Rising Star’s engines into full reverse and pulled away from where she had been docked against the asteroid. Yes, it looked as if they might escape after all. But something was terribly wrong with her leader. Nolaa Tarkona coughed again, and her pale face streamed with oily perspiration. Her single head-tail writhed and contorted in convulsions of pain. Watching the Twi’lek woman, Raaba hovered just above the rocky surface. Nolaa’s breathing was labored, but her eyes burned with unquenchable fervor.
“Hurry,” she said, “we must get back to the armada. Our time of triumph is at hand. Don’t hesitate now.”
But Raaba could not deny the evidence before her eyes: Nolaa had been exposed to the Emperor’s plagues. One of the diseases had killed the human Bornan Thul, and another had killed Rullak—and now it was apparent that one was also working its poison on Nolaa Tarkona herself. Raaba shook her head to clear it and growled a question: how many plagues had been let loose in the Emperor’s biological weapons chamber? The Twi’lek woman looked surprised.
“Three, four, perhaps a dozen. What does it matter? Many of the canisters were destroyed.” Nolaa reached inside her cloak and pulled out a fistful of vials labeled HUMAN, FAST-ACTING. “Don’t you see?” she said. “We have what we came for. The means to destroy our enemies for all time!”
Raaba felt her chocolate-colored fur stand on end. She sucked in a deep breath, but coughed instead. Only then did Raaba understand what she had done. Yes, she had rescued her leader from the plague chamber—but at what cost? The Twi’lek leader was sick, perhaps dying from one of the plagues she had encountered. Certainly, she’d been exposed to both the human and the Quarren specific organisms. Even if Nolaa’s intention was to kill every human in the galaxy, how could she not recognize that she also endangered every Quarren and every Twi’lek, at the breathe. By going into the plague chamber to rescue her leader, Raaba herself might have been exposed to a virulent plague that could also be fatal to Wookiees.
Perhaps she was doomed as well. With her clawed hands shaking, Nolaa Tarkona attempted to work the copilot’s controls and take the Rising Star on a heading toward the armada. Raaba knew that the time for a decision was now.
Jaina, Jacen, and Tenel Ka finished setting their last explosives in record time and threw themselves into the cockpit of the Rock Dragon. Em Teedee had just transmitted a message from Lowie, Zekk, and Raynar in the Lightning Rod to inform the other young Jedi Knights that they were on their way, escaping from the asteroid. He also passed along the news about the death of Bornan Thul. But they had no time to grieve now. Not in the middle of a battle, with the fate of the plague storehouse at stake. Like a team long accustomed to working together, they flicked switches, sealed airlocks, and programmed courses with deft hands guided by the Force.
“Fifteen seconds,” Tenel Ka stated in a firm voice, referring to the amount of time left on the five detonators they had found and been able to set without going any farther into the weapons complex.
“Fifteen seconds? No sweat,” Jacen muttered.
“Almost got it.” Jaina slapped the repulsorlifts to full.
“Ten, nine…”
Tenel Ka hit the switch to release the Rock Dragon’s airtight seal on the depot docking hatch.
“Eight, seven, six…”
“Hang on. This ride’s going to be anything but smooth,” Jaina shouted.
“Five, four, three…”
The Rock Dragon’s engines whined as the Hapan cruiser began to pull away.
“Let’s just get away from this place,” Jacen said.
“Two … one.”
The Rock Dragon lifted fractionally from the pad on which it had rested, then rose higher.
“Zero.”
Although the Rock Dragon was no longer touching the ground, the asteroid rocked around them. One of the secondary domes exploded in a hail of transparisteel fragments that momentarily clouded the front viewscreen with a crystalline spray. Something struck the Rock Dragon hard.
“Get those shields up,” Jaina barked at her brother, and he scrambled for the controls. None of the companions had had a chance to fasten their crash webbing, and the blow sent them reeling out of their seats.
Struggling with the panels, Jaina yelled, “Help me! We need to get farther away.”
Tenel Ka reached out with her mind for Jaina’s, felt Jacen’s mind join the two of theirs. Together the three minds visualized the asteroid beneath them and placed their combined pressure firmly against it like a springboard and pushed. Suddenly the ship spun clear of the asteroid in open space, halfway to the New Republic fleet.