Survivor's Quest

"I disagree completely," Drask growled. But he put the comlink away without further argument. "Very well, Master Skywalker. Lead the way."

The side corridors Luke had chosen weren't any easier to navigate than the main corridor had been. There was less actual debris lying around underfoot, but the state of the bulkheads and ceiling more than made up for it. Many of the bulkheads had buckled, twisting wall plates out at crazy angles into the corridor, many of them broken and sharp-edged. Something in here must have exploded during the battle, Mara decided as the group eased gingerly past the rubble.

It took them more than an hour to pick their way through that first 150 meters. They saw two more droids in that time, both of them housekeeping types, both of them eliciting words of amazement from the Geroons. It was clear, at least to Mara, that someone was indeed watching their progress.

But there were no other booby traps, at least none that they were able to detect. Certainly nothing went off in the confining spaces. Perhaps, as Luke had hoped, whoever was monitoring the droids had gotten the message that their visitors had no ill intentions toward them.

Or else they were simply preparing a more memorable reception farther in.

As expected, once they were past the main turbolaser batteries the damage began to drop off considerably. Fifty meters after that, it became no worse than a sort of dusty clutter. "What is this place?" Bearsh asked as they passed through a large room lined with consoles and monitor displays.

"This is the fleet tactical room," Fel said. "In a battle, this is where this ship would coordinate combat with the rest of its companion ships."

"The Vagaari must have had rooms like this aboard their vessels," one of the other Geroons said. "Larger even than this, perhaps. They had huge fleets."

"Yes," Bearsh agreed, a shiver ru

"This appears to be in a workable state," Drask commented, stepping over to one of the consoles for a closer look. "Would this be a place Mitth'raw'nuruodo might have deliberately spared?"

"It's possible," Fel said. "The six Dreadnaughts were presumably coordinated directly from the primary command ship, without any need for this room to even be crewed."

"Unless this is the command ship," Jinzler reminded him.

"And of course, we don't know whether any of these consoles actually works," Mara added, frowning as she stretched out to the Force. There seemed to be a flicker of a presence lurking somewhere ahead of them. But the sensation came and went, as if the person was appearing and then disappearing. Someone only half conscious, perhaps?

"Might be worth trying to start them up," Luke suggested, throwing a glance at Mara. So he'd caught the tentative contact, too. "What do you think, Commander?"

Fel's forehead furrowed briefly, then cleared as he caught on. "Sure, why not?" he agreed with false enthusiasm. "In fact, it might be easier to find records back here than it would on the command deck. That console you're looking at, General—let's see if we can get it started."

Drask stepped back and gestured toward the board. "Go ahead."

"Right," Fel said, pulling out the chair and sitting down. "Let's see now..." Tentatively, he keyed a few switches. The console beeped twice, and a few of its indicators came reluctantly to life. "Okay. Let's try this..."

Luke, Mara noted, was already gone. She waited until the entire group was watching Fel, then slipped out after him.

He was waiting for her just outside the tactical room. "You felt her, too?" he asked quietly.

Her? Mara's mind flashed back to Jinzler's story about his sister. "I felt something, but it kept coming and going," she said. "You think it's a woman?"

"A girl, actually," he said. "Too young to be Lorana. Sorry."

"Well, it was a long shot," Mara conceded, trying not to feel too disappointed. "Let's see if we can find her before we're missed."

"Too late," a voice murmured darkly from behind her.

She glanced at Luke, caught his grimace. "Hello, General," she said as she turned around.

Drask was standing alone in the corridor, his posture stiff. "You must think we are fools," he bit out. "You and Commander Fel both. Do you really think the Chiss can be so easily deceived in the same way twice?"

"Forgive us," Luke said, bowing to him. "We were merely concerned for your safety."

"I do not need my safely guarded," Drask countered. "I do not know how you humans do such things, but Chiss leaders do not merely sit behind the young warriors and watch them fight."

"I understand," Luke said. "Perhaps I misspoke. I meant we were concerned for the Aristocra's safety."

"Better," Drask rumbled. "But be advised: this is still a Chiss vessel, and you will not again move ahead of me."

"Understood," Luke said. "Again, our apologies."

"Very well." Drask glanced back over his shoulder. "Then let us continue before the others notice our absence."

They had gone perhaps ten meters when the wisp of sensation again touched Mara's mind. Luke had been right: it was definitely female. "She's just ahead," she warned Luke, peering at the equipment and occasional piles of debris as she tried to pin down the girl's location. Five meters ahead, the corridor opened into a large room with its door frozen partially open, and she could see more of the same type of consoles as they'd found in the tactical room.

"She must be in the sensor room," Luke said, pointing toward the frozen door. "You want to hang back while General Drask and I check it out?"

Mara bit back a retort. Obviously, Luke was being diplomatic. "Sounds good," she said. Stepping to the side, she planted her back against the corridor wall. Luke and Drask continued forward, the general's hand resting on the charric belted at his waist. They stepped to the sensor room door and Luke ducked down and started to ease his way beneath it—

"Are you Jedi?" a soft voice asked from behind Mara.

Mara spun around, old combat reflexes flaring as her hand automatically went to her lightsaber. The girl standing quietly in the corridor was no older than ten, plainly but neatly dressed, her dark auburn hair glistening in the light. She was looking at Mara with bright, unblinking blue eyes.

Standing in the corridor behind Mara. How in blazes had she managed that?

Mara found her voice. "Yes, we are," she told the girl. "We're here to help you."

"Oh," the girl said. For a moment she seemed to study Mara, an uncertain look on her face. Then she shifted her gaze to Drask and Luke, eyeing her in turn as they stood together by the sensor room door. "And a Blue One," she went on. "Are you here to hurt us?"

"No one will hurt you," Drask assured her. "As the Jedi said, we are here to help."

"Oh," the girl said, her voice completely matter-of-fact. "Well, you can tell him that." She gestured to an alcove just behind her. "He's waiting for you."

"We'll look forward to seeing him," Luke said, wondering who she was talking about. The survivors' leader, perhaps? "What's your name?"

"I'm Evlyn," she said. "Will you follow me, please?"

"We must first alert the others of our group," Drask added, pulling out his comlink.

"They'll be all right," Evlyn assured him as she stepped into the alcove. "They'll be brought through right behind us."

She touched a control. The wall blocking the far end of the alcove slid smoothly up into the ceiling, revealing a short corridor with another door at the far end. "Come on," she invited, stepping inside and heading for the door in the opposite wall.

Mara frowned. Aside from the door at the far end and another one midway along the left-hand wall, the corridor was completely bare. A security transit, perhaps, with hidden sensors that would allow whoever was beyond to get a close look at prospective visitors?