Survivor's Quest

"Is it?" Jinzler asked her pointedly. "Is it really?"

"Yes," Luke put in firmly. "And bringing up anyone's failures—anyone's—isn't going to accomplish anything. Let's concentrate on finding these people and seeing what we can do for them, all right?"

"Of course," Jinzler muttered. "I'm sorry. I'm just—"

"Something's coming," the stormtrooper beside Fel cut in, swinging his BlasTech toward a half-crushed equipment crawl space branching off the corridor to their right.

The other three stormtroopers were at his side in an instant, spreading themselves into a defensive semicircle between the crawlspace and the rest of the party, their weapons leveled at the opening. "Steady," Fel warned. "If there's going to be shooting, we don't want to be the ones to start it."

Soft but steady footsteps could be heard now. Mara drew her lightsaber but didn't ignite it, stretching out to the Force. There didn't seem to be any presence that direction that she could detect. "Probably a droid," she said.

"What kind of walking droid could fit through that opening?" Fel objected.

A few seconds later he got his answer as a low-slung, badly dented box about half a meter long and a few centimeters high rolled into view on battered treads. "A walking droid with a bad limp?" Luke suggested as one of the treads gave a soft thunk that sounded exactly like a footstep. "What is that, a floor cleaner?"

"Probably does floors and small-object retrieval," Fel said, stepping back as the droid rolled past his feet toward a pile of shattered plastic insulation, leaving faint tread marks in the dust as it went. "Part of the main cleaning system, I'd guess."

"I see," Luke said, looking over at Mara.

She nodded back. Given the layer of dust on everything, it seemed unlikely that their group had shown up just as the cleaner was starting its monthly or yearly run. It was far more likely that the droid had been equipped with a holocam and comlink and sent to check out the intruders.

Either as an observer, or as a decoy.

She shifted her attention away from the droid, searching the corridor ahead. There was too much debris to see very far, but it looked like the passageway widened a short way ahead. A perfect place for an ambush. She caught Luke's eye and nodded toward it; he nodded back and slipped past her into the corridor.

"It is truly amazing," Bearsh said, shaking his head in wonderment as they watched the cleaner droid extend a pair of slender arms and begin sorting through pieces of the insulation. "So that is a droid. And it runs all by itself?"

One of the stormtroopers looked over at Luke as he disappeared behind a section of hanging ceiling material, the armored chest lifting slightly as he took a breath to speak. Mara shook her head in warning; his helmet dipped slightly in acknowledgment and he remained silent. "This one's probably co

"I see," Bearsh said. "But there are those that do, correct?"

"All sorts," Jinzler confirmed. "Everything from protocol droids to astromech droids to medical droids."

"And battle droids and droidekas?" one of the other Geroons asked. "Did they also run independently?"

"Some of the later versions could," Jinzler said. "But again, most of them were run off a central computer system."

"A terrifying weapon," Bearsh murmured.

"Not really," Fel said. "The whole droid army concept is pretty well outmoded these days, at least in the Empire of the Hand. How about in the New Republic, Ambassador?"

"A few systems still use droidekas," Jinzler said. "Mostly smaller colonies on undeveloped worlds in Wild Space where people need perimeter guards at night to protect against native predators."

Bearsh shivered. "Such awesome power in your hands. Yet you make no use of it?"

"We're not in the conquering business anymore, Steward," Jinzler reminded him.

"Besides, power's only one part of the equation for good soldiers," Fel said. "The problem with battle droids was that they were really pretty stupid..."

Mara felt the urgent touch of her husband's mind. Leaving Fel to his lecture, she slipped quietly down the corridor.

Luke was standing just inside the wide area she'd spotted earlier. "What've we got?" she murmured.

He pointed at a stack of flat gray boxes along the left-hand bulkhead. "Looks a little too neat for random debris," he murmured back. "Booby trap?"

Mara ran through the Jedi sensory-enhancement techniques and took a slow, careful breath. The subtle background smells of the ship suddenly jumped into full focus: dust, plastic, metal, rust, a general odor of age. She took another breath, sorting through them all.

And this time she caught the faint but unmistakable tang of explosives.

"If it's not, it's a terrific imitation of one," she confirmed, letting the odors fade into the background again. "Remote-triggered, you think?"

"You're the demolitions expert in the family," he reminded her. "They can't have it on timer, though, and I can't see anyone wasting a droid to come in and set them off."

"Me, neither," Mara agreed. "I presume we're not stupid enough to just rush the stack?"

"I don't even think we're stupid enough to get anywhere near it," Luke said. "Let's back up a bit and see if we can find another route."

"I don't know," Mara said doubtfully, looking around at the devastation. "There's enough damage here in the central corridor. The other, smaller passageways are likely to be even worse."

"Only until we get through the weapon and shield sections," Luke said. "The rest of the ship may be in better shape. Actually, this is one of four central corridors through this part of the ship. They run parallel to each other on opposite sides of the centerline, collapsing down to two main corridors as you get closer to the bow."

"Really," Mara said, frowning. "Since when do you know so much about Dreadnaughts?"

"Since Han and I had a ru

Fel had finished his lecture by the time they rejoined the group. "There you are," Drask said, his eyes flashing. "Where did you go?"

"Just scouting ahead," Luke assured him. "Looks like we're going to have to cross to one of the other corridors."

Drask's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Luke looked over at the housekeeper droid, still picking through the rubble. "There's a booby trap in there," he said. "I'd just as soon not have to take the time to disarm it. There's another cross-corridor we can use about ten meters ahead that'll get us back to this one."

"There is a trap?" Bearsh gasped. "But why would anyone wish to hurt us? We have come to honor them."

"Yes, but they don't know that," Luke said. "All we can do is try to avoid trouble until we can explain it to them."

"Until then, we must make certain such a meeting does in fact take place," Drask said grimly, pulling out a comlink.

"Wait a minute," Fel said. "What are you doing?"

"Summoning an escort," Drask said. "This is no longer a matter for diplomats."

"We have an escort," Fel countered. "Trust me: the Five-Oh-First can handle things."

"That is not sufficient," Drask insisted. "Even if they are as good as you claim, they ca

"That might not be a good idea, General," Luke warned. "If the inhabitants are monitoring our progress, a show of that much force might be taken as a threat."

"He's right," Formbi said, not sounding particularly happy about it. "Leave the warriors in reserve for now, General Drask. We'll retreat and use the route Master Skywalker suggests."