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Eritha pitched her voice loudly, and it echoed off the walls of the cave. "You fools, don't you know who I am? I am Eritha, daughter of Ewane.
Contact my sister Alani right this minute. We are helping the Absolutes, you idiots!"
"You are a Worker — " one of the security officers started.
"I am a patriot!" Eritha shouted. "Now let me go!"
"We'll have to check this out first," the officer said. "You'll have to come with us."
"I will not forget this!" Eritha said as they placed her in the center of the group and began to march her off. "I will get each of your names and you will be hearing from us!"
"She certainly didn't show fear," Obi-Wan said admiringly.
"Yes, she handled it well," Qui-Gon said as he stepped out from the shelter of the tu
Chapter 15
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan waited a moment, then slipped out of the tu
Obi-Wan could see that his Master was disturbed by this turn of events.
They kept a good distance between themselves and Eritha and her guards, but kept her in sight. The guards marched her farther inside the cave until they came to another high-security entrance to a tu
"They could be keeping Tahl there," Obi-Wan said. "No doubt it's where they take prisoners."
"Most likely," Qui-Gon said. He studied the tu
"Any other ideas?"
"I think there's only one thing to do," Qui-Gon said. "We need a diversion."
They retraced their steps back to the weapons tu
Qui-Gon quickly read the labels on the various bins. "We must be careful," he warned. "Too much, and we risk collapsing the cave. But there has to be enough to cause confusion and chaos."
Obi-Wan was not an expert on explosives. He let Qui-Gon choose what they needed. Qui-Gon handed him a supply of small explosives.
"We'll have to set these up away from here," Qui-Gon said. "If we're too close, it could cause a chain reaction."
He tucked more explosives inside his tunic along with timing devices.
"This should do it. No one should get hurt, but there will be confusion.
That's all we'll need. As soon as we get Tahl and Eritha, we'll head to the cave entrance."
"What if we're spotted?" Obi-Wan asked. "No doubt everyone will be heading there."
"We'll have to get a tech jacket for Tahl. We'll just have to count on the smoke and confusion."
Obi-Wan remembered what Lenz and Irini had said about the drug that was used to paralyze subjects inside the deprivation device. He was prepared for the fact that Tahl might not be able to walk or move. Qui-Gon did not seem to want to deal with that possibility.
"Hurry, Obi-Wan. We need to get to Eritha before they do something to her."
Obi-Wan followed Qui-Gon back to the cave. They set a small amount of explosives farther down the cave, toward the entrance, then a second at the entrance to the tech-control tu
"We'll set these to go off later," Qui-Gon said. "It will be a small explosion, but it should destroy most of the transports. Just in case we're followed." He grabbed another tech jacket and rolled it up, shoving it inside his own. "Now let's get back to where they took Eritha."
Obi-Wan had seen his Master focused before. This was different. His gaze was intent, his every movement economical. Although Obi-Wan could feel Qui-Gon's anxiety, there was no trace of it in his speech or his actions.
He appeared completely calm. Where did the desperation go? Obi-Wan admired how his Master had taken his emotion and given it discipline and purpose.
It was a supreme example of how a Jedi should act.
They were steps away from the first tu
"It's back that way!" Qui-Gon shouted. He feinted a move in that direction and he and Obi-Wan ran a few steps. They let themselves be overtaken before turning back the way they were headed.
Smoke began to drift back toward them. Obi-Wan saw a figure appear and disappear ahead of them amid the drifting smoke.
"I think it's Balog," he said to Qui-Gon. "He's headed toward the explosives tu
They melted back against the cave wall and watched as Balog went through the retinal scan and hurried back toward the tu
"Should we follow?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Let's wait here. We know Tahl isn't back there. When he returns, we'll follow him," Qui-Gon said.
Another explosion split the air. Smoke rolled back toward them.
"That should be the tech center," Qui-Gon said.
Suddenly Balog appeared, darting out of the side tu
Qui-Gon nodded grimly. "When one's home is burning, one goes for the most valuable item."
"He's heading for Tahl," Obi-Wan agreed.
The two Jedi followed him. Obi-Wan expected Balog to turn toward the tu
"The fuel tanks of the vehicles," Qui-Gon said.
They passed a side tu
Balog abruptly turned into a small tu