She had informed Nolaa Tarkona of the intruders, and the Twi'lek leader had promised to deal with them appropriately. Raaba swallowed hard. Lowie himself might be on the Rock Dragon, and even if he wasn't, his human friends were surely aboard. But her loyalty was clear-at least she thought it was. She couldn't let her emotions or sentimentality get in the way. She had thought about this for part of an hour, ever since she had spotted the ships, and she had to come to a decision. Sitting down in her command chair, she ordered the front viewscreen's magnification to be increased. She swung a console into position in front of her, then ordered half the weapons systems to be switched to her control.

The Ugnaught weapons officer complied, and Raaba took careful aim on the Rock Dragon. She could not betray Nolaa Tarkona, but for the sake of their friendship, she would do this one thing for Lowie-even if she never had the chance to tell him about it. Raaba's fingers depressed a firing stud. Her shot narrowly missed the Hapan cruiser. She knew she had to be cautious: she only wanted to disable the ship, not destroy it. She took another shot and scored a good hit, though the Rock Dragon's defensive shields held admirably.

Suddenly a third shot exploded against the hull of the Rock Dragon-but Raaba had not fired again. The Ugnaught weapons officer turned to grin at her, obviously waiting for Raaba to commend him on his excellent shooting. She commanded the crew to wait, but another blast lanced out, this time directed by the security console on the other side of the bridge. Seeing her actions, everyone had decided to take a potshot.

No! Raaba wanted to cry. Do not destroy the ship! But she knew she had no reason to give the command. Nolaa Tarkona's orders had been specific.

Shoot to kill. Take no prisoners.

"Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all," Jaina muttered, throwing the Rock Dragon into a spin to avoid a new volley of fire from the Diversity Alliance armada. "How many?" she gasped.

Jacen's voice was tense. "I'd say thirty-maybe forty ships."

"Standard Old Imperial attack formation," Tenel Ka added in clipped tones. "Use the asteroid as a shield."

"Full sublight," Jaina snapped, pulling the ship into a tight curve around the asteroid. "I guess we won't be getting back down there as soon as we planned."

Jacen leaned forward to help Tenel Ka yank the power levers into position, and all three pa.s.sengers were thrown backward in their seats.

The ship shot out of range as laser fire speared through s.p.a.ce behind them. Within seconds Jaina had managed to put the bulk of the depot asteroid between the Rock Dragon and the Diversity Alliance fleet.

"Not much of a shield for us," Jacen pointed out. "Those ships will not fire on the asteroid as long as Nolaa Tarkona is down there," Tenel Ka said.

The flagship of the Diversity Alliance armada appeared around the edge of the asteroid, and Jaina dodged back into the asteroid's shadow for cover again.

"I don't know how much longer we can keep this up," she said. A moment later her heart skipped a beat as Diversity Alliance ships appeared around the edges of the asteroid from three directions simultaneously.

The split armada triangulated and converged on the Rock Dragon. The young Jedi Knights' ship shuddered as turbolaser fire struck the hull, further weakening their shields. Jaina zigged and zagged. Bright fire lanced under, above, and to either side of the ship. Then-suddenly-their path was cleared. More ships streaked overhead, emerging like missiles out of hypers.p.a.ce.

New Republic ships-at last! A wild cry of exhilaration sounded over the comm speakers, followed by a Wookiee roar of challenge. Jacen and Jaina gaped briefly at each other in astonishment.

"Dad?" Jaina said.

"Chewie?" Jacen asked.

"Half of the New Republic fleet," Tenel Ka said. The warrior girl was not exaggerating. An entire cavalry of friendly vessels had dropped out of hypers.p.a.ce to engage the Diversity Alliance attackers. A few of Nolaa Tarkona's ships, apparently not yet ready to give up their quarry, began firing again at the Rock Dragon. A moment later one of those ships exploded into a fireball in s.p.a.ce behind them.

Han Solo's voice came over the comm speakers again.

"I suggest you kids get to safety while we handle the heavy artillery out here."

"But Dad-Lowie and Zekk and Raynar are still on the asteroid!" Jaina objected as turbolaser fire exploded uncomfortably close to their port shields.

"We're just heading back there." Chewbacca roared so loudly over the speakers that sparks flew. Han Solo spoke grimly, communicating both his concern for his children and his high estimation of their competence.

"Just stay clear of the crossfire," Han said. "Wait for an opening, but until then, stick close to the Falcon."

Tenel Ka pointed out, "Until the Diversity Alliance armada is under control, our safest alternative is to stay with the New Republic fleet."

Jaina swerved to avoid another turbolaser blast. Then, with a determined whoop, she pulled the Rock Dragon alongside her father's ship.

JAINA'S BLAST IN the subsidiary dome rocked the entire asteroid. The eruption destabilized the munitions depot, knocking out several artificial gravity generators in distinct sections. The shockwave threw Lowbacca to his knees as he fled from Corrsk down a long corridor. The walls shook, and suddenly the tug of gravity went slack and the floor and ceiling spun around him. The Wookiee lost his footing and tumbled, disoriented in the weightlessness. He banged against the wall, flailing his furry arms and legs. Em Teedee clanged on the metal plates with a loud ringing sound.

Lowie's ears popped from a surge of decompression elsewhere in the asteroid. At the other end of the corridor, Corrsk lurched through an open pressure door, unbothered by the shift. His entire attention was focused on his prey.

The Trandoshan aimed his blaster at the Wookieebut an aftershock threw him to one side. His shot streaked past Lowbacca and struck the airlock at the tunnel juncture. Alarms rang out after the explosion created a violent decompression. With a grunt, Lowie surged toward the end of the hall, but he was too late. Automatic systems slammed the blast doors closed, sealing off and compartmentalizing sections of the asteroid to stop the loss of air. The heavy door closed shut just as Lowie reached it, pounding his hairy paws against the unyielding surface. He was trapped in a dead end, facing the reptilian hunter. At the far end of the corridor, Corrsk gave a dry rasping laugh, like sandpaper on a raw wound.

Lowie didn't intend to give the predator the satisfaction of an easy kill. He drew his lightsaber, and its molten-bronze blade blazed brightly as he bounced from one wall to the other, as if dancing on marionette strings. The asteroid's natural gravity was barely enough to keep his feet touching the floor. Corrsk blasted at him again, and Lowie leaped up, hitting the ceiling, ricocheting back down at an angle to the wall, and then springing off again.

He took the initiative and lunged toward the Trandoshan. Blaster bolts streaked in another haywire pattern, and Lowie swung his lightsaber in the air for intimidation. Its humming, buzzing sound was like a swarm of deadly insects in the enclosed tunnel.

"No escape," the Trandoshan gargled. Lowie growled something untranslatable in response. He was concerned about his friends, about the explosion that had just rocked the asteroid, about Nolaa Tarkona and the plague-but right now, despite all his training as a Jedi, the primary force surging through him was a b.e.s.t.i.a.l hatred of this reptilian species that had slaughtered hundreds, maybe thousands, of Wookiees, taking their fur as trophies. The Trandoshans were Lowie's natural enemies, and he did not intend to become a prize pelt for Corrsk. Corrsk braced his blaster and fired again, but Lowie ducked out of the way.

The bolt singed the metal wall near a control panel for the environmental systems and the pressurized doors. Lowie crashed into the tall reptilian, and they grappled, hammering at each other. He did not simply strike Corrsk dead with the lightsaber as he could have. He resisted that-for now-but he doubted there could be another end to this battle. He snarled, and the Trandoshan hissed back at him. During the fight, the catch holding Em Teedee onto Lowie's prized syren-fiber belt snapped, and the little droid sprang free, using his microrepulsorjets to bob into the air.

"Master Lowbacca, please be careful-I could have been seriously damaged!"

Lowie rammed the Trandoshan into the wall, and Corrsk struck back, pushing hard and driving Lowie across the corridor. The low gravity made resistance futile, and they bounced and caromed like foam b.a.l.l.s in a spin-dagat tournament. Lowie saw that on the other side of the sealed pressure door the dome had been ripped open, leaving only the vacuum of s.p.a.ce. He could not take the time to find a different way out; he would have to go back the way they had come. Many corridors reeled out behind them, but other pressure doors had locked down as well-and right now all he could see was the blazing hatred in Corrsk's eyes; all he could smell was the sour breath of half-digested raw meat that clung between the Trandoshan's teeth. They continued to fight. Lowie backed off, raising his lightsaber.

The Trandoshan fired his blaster, and Lowie deflected it. Corrsk fired again, stepping closer, raising his weapon. Lowie had no room to move. As the Trandoshan prepared to push the firing stud again, Lowie had no choice but to slash with the lightsaber, severing Corrsk's arm high above the elbow. The reptilian roared, but before his amputated arm could fall to the floor, he, reached out with his other hand and grabbed his detached wrist, trying to s.n.a.t.c.h the blaster pistol from its twitching grip.

"It will regenerate," he said. Em Teedee flew free, spinning up and over to the control panel on the wall. The little droid bounced against it, pushing b.u.t.tons with his casing. As Corrsk stood up and lunged, a hot blast of steam came from an environmental control nozzle in the ceiling.

The reptilian yowled in surprise, and Lowie bent over, pushing against the floor and springing outward. He crashed full force into the Trandoshan's torso, knocking him backward. Corrsk spun end over end in the low gravity, leaking black blood from the broken cauterized stump of his arm. Lowie fought to regain his footing, his balance. He wasn't accustomed to struggling in near - weightlessness.

Em Teedee wailed, "Over here, Master Lowbacca! I'm over here, if you're trying to find me."

Lowie was more interested in the control panel itself. As he drifted past, he snagged the square box, then held on to a st.u.r.dy support pipe that ran up the wall. Staggering and unable to catch his footing, Corrsk drifted to the back of the pa.s.sageway and slammed into the pressure door on the opposite end. Still clutching his severed limb in his good hand, he tried to wrestle the blaster pistol away from the reflexively clenched dead fingers. At the control panel, Lowie frantically worked to a.n.a.lyze the Imperial codes and the b.u.t.tons used for fail-safe mechanisms. Corrsk succeeded in prying his blaster free from his dead hand's grip and held it out in his left hand, aiming at Lowie.

Lowbacca punched in the final sequence and disengaged the airlock mechanism, which popped open the pressure door. The metal bulkhead slid aside right behind Corrsk. He snarled and reached out to grab for support, but his arm was no longer there. Suddenly, with a wail, the vacuum of s.p.a.ce ripped him away. The Trandoshan flew backward into open s.p.a.ce. Air gushed out, swooping and cold. Lowie fought to lash his syren-fiber belt around the support pipe, which held him firmly in place against the wall.

"I'm being pulled out!" Em Teedee wailed, fighting a losing battle with his microrepulsorjets at full power, being sucked away in the vacuum.

With one hand Lowie snagged the little translating druid as he frantically used his other hand to punch the b.u.t.tons that would seal the door again. Air roared around him. As atmosphere rushed from the compartment, Lowie managed to get the door shut again, sealing Consk outside. The towering Trandoshan drifted up and out into airless s.p.a.ce, still flailing feebly in outrage. Lowie grabbed the power conduit connected to the control panel and yanked it free.

Sparks flew. Then emergency power sources flickered on, and the artificial gravity generators cycled, adding normal weight to the room again. Debris crashed to the floor.

"Oh, my. That was a close call," the little droid said as he bobbed in the air, released from Lowie's grip. Lowbacca slumped down to the cold metal deck, feeling weak from the battle. His stomach clenched and he fought to control his feelings after having just killed a sentient being, even one as despicable as Corrsk. Lowie clipped Em Teedee back into place. He looked in both directions down the corridor. The heavy pressure door behind him had also sealed shut... and he had just ripped out the power conduit.

He groaned in dismay. Now he would have to rig a way to fix the controls, or he would never get back to the central plague chamber and complete his mission.

THE ROCKING EXPLOSION also caused Raynar to slip and stumble, and thus lose his grip on the delicate munitions he carried. Zekk reacted quickly.

He sensed the instant danger and s.n.a.t.c.hed the explosives from the Alderaanian boy's hands, catching and cradling them before Raynar could drop them to the floor.

"I hope that wasn't an accident from one of our team," Boman Thul said.

Raynar looked about, his face pale in its texture of fear.

"Maybe we're under attack!" Zekk held the explosive pack carefully, trying to control his trembling. He shook his head. "That was Jaina.

She's all right, but something's gone wrong." He marched forward. "We'd better find Lowie quick and make sure he's set the detonators in the plague chamber. Then we can all get off this rock before anything else happens."

Raynar swallowed hard and followed him.

"Unless some disaster has already taken place."

They dashed down the curving corridors from the munitions chamber back to the central room that stored the plague canisters, pausing only briefly to plant the last of their explosives at strategic points. Pressing his lips together in a grim line, Zekk fixed the linked detonation transponders so they could set off all the bombs at once. Zekk's Jedi senses tingled. Despite his ordeals of the past, he was no longer entirely reluctant to use the Force, especially in a situation where those skills might mean the difference between life and death. He pulled himself up short and looked at Raynar; they could both sense danger around the corner.

Bornan Thul eased past them, taking the lead.

"We can't waste any time."

As soon as he turned the comer, though, Boman Thul nearly ran into a lumbering Gamorrean guard, who appeared to be lost. The guard grunted at him in surprise and blinked stupid-looking eyes. Boman Thul s.n.a.t.c.hed out the blaster pistol he had taken from the munitions room and shot the guard twice before the piglike brute could make a move.

Raynar gasped.

"I can't believe how fast you reacted!" he said to his father. "You protected us all."

Bornan looked at the dead Gamorrean and sighed.

"I used to be a merchant lord. My entire battlefield was in trade negotiations. I was able to pull a faster trick than even the great Lando Calrissian." He drew a long, heavy breath, and then shook his head. "At one time I thought I could sell sand to Jawas-look at how I've changed."

Raynar put a comforting hand on his father's arm.

"Maybe it's because you're concerned with more than just the Bomaryn fleet this time. Maybe you're thinking on a much broader scale, and your priorities have changed."

Thul looked at his son and smiled.

"That's very perceptive, Raynar."

Zekk looked down at the fallen Gamorrean guard and urged them to move again.

"I admire your reactions, Boman Thul." He tossed his long dark hair behind him. "This means we're not alone on the asteroid. Nolaa Tarkona and the Diversity Alliance must be here already."

They hurried along the corridors as rapidly and as cautiously as they could. They reached the plague chamber without incident, but they did not see Lowie when they surrept.i.tiously peered through the transparisteel windows into the collection of plague containers. Instead, they looked down in astonishment to find Nolaa Tarkona standing triumphant in the middle of the chamber.

She held a control box, the central connector for all the incinerators and thermal detonators Lowie had dispersed among the plague cylinders.

Her single head-tail thrashed, making the tattoos ripple. Flashing her pointed teeth and looking utterly confident, Nolaa disconnected the explosives. Boman Thul watched with cold anger on his face. Raynar stifled a soft moan of despair.

Zekk gritted his teeth.

"Looks like we need to try something else then-if it isn't already too late."

Surrounded by hundreds of liters of concentrated death, Nolaa Tarkona experienced the thrill of long antic.i.p.ation, the payoff of years of searching. At last she had a weapon to exterminate the human vermin for all time. Then alien races could be free. They could work together. They could reclaim their stolen worlds and live with all the glory they were meant to have. As she stood among the transparisteel containers, she breathed the oh-so-clean-smelling air, sterilized and disinfected. But she knew something was terribly wrong. The sealed door had already been opened, and her guards scoured the plague chamber, searching for evidence of sabotage. They had shouted in outrage when they found dozens of incinerators and thermal detonators strung together, planted at strategic points. Nolaa had moved to the center of the room and found the control box.

She could smell Wookiee in the air, and she knew that Lowbacca, one of the great traitors to the Diversity Alliance, had been here already. He wanted to destroy this stockpile in the war for alien freedom. With her rose-quartz eyes, she studied the control box now that she had disconnected the sabotage devices. Then she yanked out the remaining cables before tossing away the useless box. It made a resounding, satisfying clang on the metal floor. Nolaa glowered down at it, her sensitive head-tail twitching. The Twi' leks had an extensive but subtle language that depended on the movements of their head-tails. But she had only Diversity Alliance soldiers beside her, none of her own Twi'lek people to understand her thoughts and her emotions.

No race could truly comprehend the downtrodden hopelessness the Twi'leks had endured-centuries of slavery, technological inferiority, h.e.l.lish environmental conditions, even treachery from their own race. Now that she had control of the Emperor 's plague, though, Nolaa could become the savior of aliens everywhere, and she relished that position. As she glanced at the various liquid solutions, Nolaa saw other test plagues, hideous viruses targeted to nonhuman species-the biological weapons Evir Derricote had developed and tested on those hapless alien prisoners they had found sealed in the small cells. These other plagues certainly had potential as well.

The Diversity Alliance could free all nonhuman races by spreading one kind of plague... but in the aftermath, she was certain to encounter further resistance, struggles against her benevolent rule by various commando groups from different species. She might have to deal with strongholds that resisted their own liberation, and these biological.

solutions would give her an edge against the Wookiees, the Calamarians, and other races that might prove troublesome. She had to take samples of these other plague organisms as well.

With the optical sensors mounted in the stump of her severed head-tail, she saw a flash of movement behind the transparisteel windows above.

Someone spying on her. She set her sharpened teeth on edge. A part of her already knew who the intruders were. Nolaa took a deep breath and stifled the anxious twitching of her head-tail.

She was not worried. She had gotten here in time to secure the plague samples. She had plenty of soldiers with her, all armed with blaster rifles. The little Jedi saboteurs had been foiled in their plan, and Nolaa would bide her time. They would come to her. Then, with all the plague solution she would ever need, and with the human meddlers all dead, she could begin the great work of her life.

USING HIS POWERFUL fingers as tools, in addition to Em Teedee's cables and diagnostics for leads and crossovers, Lowie managed to hot-wire the inner door. The sealed pressure barrier hissed open, finally allowing him to run back toward the central plague chamber. At least he didn't have to worry about Corrsk anymore, and the gravity here was normal again.

Farther along, he encountered another barricade, more sealed doors. Lowie groaned, disconcerted. His fingers still ached from prying open the previous control panel, and now he had to work his way through a second one. He had no idea how many other pressure doors had automatically closed behind him after the explosion.

"Now then, Master Lowbacca," Em Teedee said, "we mustn't lose patience.

We must be cautious and persevere. We have a mission to complete. I will offer whatever a.s.sistance I can."

Lowie fully understood the implications. Nolaa Tarkona might even now be making her way off the asteroid with the deadly plague samples, and he knew he had to stop her. The companions each had their separate missions, but he cared too much for his friends not to worry about them, all the same. First, though, he had to get past this door. Lowie dug his hard claws into the screw bolts holding the cover plate on the access controls. He twisted with his fingers, and one of his claws cracked, but the screw finally turned, and he pried it away. After loosening another, the plate came away sufficiently that he could just bend it aside, ignoring the other two screws. Impatient, he studied the wires, circuit boards, and cyberfuses.

This control setup was more complex, governing four different automatic doors in the adjoining pa.s.sages. He dug his fingers into the nest of electronics and jammed wire leads through Em Teedee, connecting one circuit to another. He took the final cable and without double-checking, jabbed it into position, just as Em Teedee squealed, "No, Master Lowbacca, not-" Sparks flew as two incompatible linkages short - circuited. The control panel blazed, as a small fire erupted.

Black smoke spewed up, stinking of insulation, burned plastic, and melted wires. Lowie yanked the wires away, but it was too late.

"Oh, my!" Em Teedee wailed. His voice warbled up and down, quickened then slowed. "I think all my circuits are scrambled. What day is it today?"

Then he made strange bleeping noises as he ran a diagnostic and bypa.s.sed his damaged circuits. "Ah, there! Much better. Please don't do that again, Master Lowbacca. You must be more cautious."

Lowie gave a long sigh as he looked at the blackened panel. He would never be able to operate the door controls now. He had ruined them. He stepped back. At the very least, he could use his lightsaber to hack his way through. Lowie gripped the weapon in his right paw, finding the power stud with his thumb. But before he could activate the energy blade, a loud booming sound came from one of the other sealed bulkheads.

"Oh, dear," Em Teedee wailed. "Perhaps it's the Diversity Alliance firing upon us. What if they break through and take us prisoner? What if it's that horrible Nolaa Tarkona?"

The Wookiee ignited his lightsaber, this time ready to fight. The crash came again. It sounded like something immensely heavy, metal against metal, like a relentless battering ram. The bulkhead buckled outward, and convex mounds appeared in the center of the heavy door, as if someone were punching fists into a thin sheet of dough. After another slamming crash, the hinges groaned.

Lowie stood with his feet planted apart, his lightsaber raised in a fighting stance. After enduring three more heavy strikes, the blockading door broke free of its supports and toppled into the corridor with a crash like an explosion. Out of the sparks from tearing metal, and the shadows of smashed and flickering glowpanels in the ceiling, a giant angular shape lumbered into the intersection. Lowie froze as he recognized the blinking red lights on the conical metal head, the broad durasteel shoulders, the arms, torso, and legs made of impenetrable metal tubing. The framework created a body somewhat resembling a human's, but it was clearly a droid-an a.s.sa.s.sin droid.

"My, how very unexpected!" Em Teedee said. "IG-88! What are you doing here?" The a.s.sa.s.sin droid clomped forward, raising its scarred durasteel fists and arming grenade launcher and built-in blaster rifles.

"What is he doing?" Em Teedee said testily. "IG-88, don't you recognize us? I wonder if he's becn this sluggish ever since Jaina reprogrammed hiia back on Mechis III."

The a.s.sa.s.sin droid did not seem the least bit impressed by Lowie's lightsaber. Instead, IG-88 paused, swiveling sensor eyes toward them, and then lowered his own weapons.

"Ah, very good. You do know who we are," Em Teedee said.

The towering droid's lights flashed, and Lowie wondered if Em Teedee could understand them as some sort of communication.

"I know why he's here, Master Lowbacca," Em Teedee said. "Mistress Jaina reprogrammed IG-88 to search for Boman Thul. His a.s.signment was to find Raynar's father and stay as his bodyguard, following his wishes, or at the very least protect him from harm."