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"But I'm not a miner," Obi-Wan protested as Guerra dragged him toward the doorway.
"Oh, so sorry. In that case, you don't have to work." Guerra's odd, patchy face leered at him. "Instead, you can be thrown off the platform. You'll have such a lovely swim — "
"Not so?" Obi-Wan guessed.
Guerra chortled and slapped Obi-Wan on the back, sending him flying. "Good one, Human boy! Not so! Thrown off to drown. Except the fall will kill you first! Now, come along."
Guerra pushed him through the doorway. A cold wind hit his face. Around him were piles of mining equipment. Droids were busy hauling beamdrills to a lift tube, where workers were waiting. Guards were everywhere on the platform, patrolling with electro-jabbers and blasters.
As they climbed stairs to the second level, Obi-Wan saw that the platform was much bigger than he'd thought, about the size of a small city. Hydrocrafts sped back and forth from the deepsea platforms that ringed the main structure.
Guerra pushed him into a storage room. He rubbed his eyes to survey the equipment, and the white patches around his eyes widened. Obi-Wan realized that Guerra's skin was actually fair. He was covered with mining dust and grime.
Guerra caught him staring. "Showers once a month, but why bother? Soon, you'll look like me, Human boy."
"Guerra, I'm not a miner," Obi-Wan repeated. "I've been kidnapped and sent here. I'm — "
Guerra burst out laughing. He slapped his knees with flapping hands. "Kidnapped? How awful! Let me alert the security forces! Oh, I lie again! How do you think I got here? Do you think I volunteered? We're all slaves, don't you see? At the end of five years, they give you enough to pay transport off-planet and start over. If you survive. Most don't."
"Five years?" Obi-Wan asked, swallowing hard.
"That's the contract you sign," Guerra said. "You'll need a thermosuit. And a tech-helmet. Some tools…"
"But I didn't sign a contract!"
Guerra laughed again as he held a thermosuit against Obi-Wan and rejected it as too small. "Stop distracting me with jokes, Human boy! Did I sign? They forge it so!"
"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. I am a Jedi pupil."
"Jedi, Kedi, Ledi, Medi," Guerra said in a nonsense singsong. "Doesn't matter who you are. You could be the Prince of Coruscant No one will find you here." He tossed another thermosuit at Obi-Wan. "This one will have to do. So, now for a tech-helmet."
Obi-wan clutched the suit against him. It was stained and damp. He couldn't imagine putting it on. He was already chilled to the bone. His head pounded again, and he touched it carefully. He could feel the bruise on the back of his scalp. Blood matted his hair. His ribs were on fire.
The he remembered the collar. He touched it. "Is this some sort of healing device, Guerra?"
This time, Guerra fell back into the pile of thermosuits. He laughed so hard he began to choke. "So! You make me laugh again, Obawan. Healing device!" He hooted with laughter, then cleared his throat. "Not so! It is an electro-collar. If you try to leave the mining platform, ga-coosh!" Guerra's rubbery arms waved. "You blow up!"
Obi-Wan touched the collar gingerly. "The guards can blow us up?"
"Not the guards," Guerra explained cheerfully. "Electro-collars are activated on the mainland. Just in case of rebellion, you see. If we overpowered the guards, we might be able to dismantle the devices, got it? So the guards can't blow us up, no." Guerra smiled amiably at him. "They can only beat us and blast us and stun us and throw us overboard."
"What a relief," Obi-Wan muttered.
Guerra gri
Obi-Wan climbed reluctantly into the thermosuit. He grabbed the tech-helmet and strapped on the servo-tool belt. He had no choice. Not yet. He had to figure out how to escape. Guerra said that no one had ever done it. But a Jedi had never been here before. He hoped.
Obi-Wan cleared his mind. He pushed away his fear and despair. He focused on the collar around his neck. Surely he could use the Force to override the device.
He concentrated hard, bringing the Force around him to bear on the collar. He used every ounce of his training and discipline.
But the collar still hummed with its electro-charge.
He was too weak perhaps. He would have to bide his time.
If he survived…
As he returned to the deck, he saw a guard viciously stun a miner who had stumbled. How could he survive this?
Play along for now, you will.
The word came to him clearly. Yoda's words. Just hearing the tones of the Jedi Master pushed the despair away and gave him courage.
Obi-Wan lifted his head. He was a Jedi. He would play along. And he would survive.
Chapter 12
"We have one last mission," was all Yoda would allow Qui-Gon to say to Xanatos. "And then you will become a Jedi Knight…"
Si Treemba knew nothing. Clat'Ha told Qui-Gon that one minute Si Treemba had been asleep and the next, he woke up to find Offworld guards hustling Obi-Wan away. Obi-wan had been unconscious. Qui-Gon's heart twisted at this news.
Si Treemba had not seen anyone resembling Xanatos. Still, Qui-Gon knew he had to be involved. He had been away from Bandor. Surely that was no coincidence. He'd heard from SonTag that Xanatos had since returned.
Yoda had told him not to confront Xanatos directly. But that was before he knew that Obi-Wan had been kidnapped. The rules of the game had changed.
Of course, he should contact Yoda with an update and await instructions from the Council. But he wouldn't. He was tired of being played with. This wasn't just a game. Xanatos was taunting him, daring him to risk open confrontation, and now he had involved the boy.
As an apprentice, Xanatos' chief failing had been overconfidence. Qui-Gon hoped it still was.
Qui-Gon knew that Xanatos was overseeing the operation of Offworld's largest azurite mine on the outskirts of Bandor. He waited until dusk.
He watched Xanatos leave the small cramped administration building that served the mine and the adjoining smelting plant. The shifts had just changed, and the area was clear of miners. All the administrative workers had left. Just as Qui-Gon had hoped.