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Obi-Wan approached him awkwardly. "Nield and Cerasi have asked me to share their quarters," he said. "They watch over the youngest children."
Qui-Gon gave him a questioning look, but he nodded. "Sleep well, Padawan."
Obi-Wan picked up a sleeping quilt and returned to Nield and Cerasi.
They slept in a small anteroom off the vault. Nield put a finger to his lips as Obi-Wan entered.
"The children are asleep," he whispered. "We should be sleeping as well. We'll need all our rest for tomorrow." He put his hand on Obi-Wan's forearm. "Cerasi told me you will join us. I'm honored."
"It is my honor to help you," Obi-Wan answered.
He settled himself on the floor next to Nield and Cerasi. He thought he wouldn't be able to sleep, but the children's quiet breathing lulled him.
It was hard to tell what time it was when he awoke. Cerasi rose from her sleeping area and leaned over Nield to touch his shoulder. Nield was already awake and stood immediately.
Obi-Wan stood as well. He was ready. He was acting not as a Jedi, but as a person — a friend. He grabbed his lightsaber and the slingshot Cerasi had given him the night before. There was an entrance from the anteroom directly into the tu
Obi-Wan knew he was wrong not to ask permission, but he wasn't sure how angry Qui-Gon would be when he discovered he was gone. After all, Qui-Gon himself had offered to help with strategy for the battle.
Obi-Wanwas glad he'd made the decision as he joined Nield and Cerasi on the deserted streets of theDaan-controlled Outer Circle. The three moved as one unit in the chilly early morning air. They walked purposefully down the deserted streets, their soft footfalls barely making a sound. Nield and Cerasi had already decided on their first targets.
They shimmied up a pipe and climbed onto the roof of a dwelling. From here, they could see the sun, more a suggestion of gathering light than a source of radiance.
"I hate to wake everybody up," Nield said, flashing a grin.
"It's time they were out of bed anyway." Cerasi held up a toy missile tube. "I'm ready."
Obi-Wan had clipped various projectiles onto his belt. He stuffed one into the missile tube. The projectiles had been fashioned around tiny amplifiers so that the sound they made when they hit would mimic the sound of a real proton missile. Cerasi and Nield had chosen a street that would echo the sound.
"Let's go," Obi-Wan agreed.
Cerasi aimed the toy missile at the abandoned building across the street. She fired.
The loud sound of the explosion surprised them.
"Listen to that. It worked!" Nield exulted.
He fit a laserball into his slingshot and fired at the wall across the street. The unmistakable ping ping ping of blaster fire erupted. Obi-Wan quickly stuffed another projectile into the tube and Cerasi shot it off. The blam echoed off the building fronts below.
Nield continued to shoot laserballs from his slingshot, and Obi-Wan followed suit. They shot ball after ball, reloading and firing rapidly. The sound of blaster fire echoed down the street. Someone emerged from a door across the way and looked up and down the street quickly. Nield and Obi-Wan shot a rain of laserballs into an abandoned building, where no one would see them land.
Crackcrackcrack! The laserballs hit the solid surface, making an even louder sound. The Daan quickly ducked back into the building.
"He'll sound an alert," Nield said. "We're done here. Let's go."
Jumping from building to building, they made their way to another quiet street. They repeated the procedure, then moved on. Racing now, they fired down randomly with laserballs while Cerasi shot projectiles where their explosive sound would echo the most. While they moved from block to block, they shifted barricades where they could to block any military vehicles. At checkpoints, they rained their false weapon-fire over the heads of the guards, who took defensive postures, sweeping the empty streets with infrared electrobinoculars to look for the unseen attackers.
The sun rose, and sirens began to sound over the city. Nield turned to them. The rising sun reflected red off his dark hair."Now for military headquarters."
Excitement coursed through Obi-Wan. It was almost like a game, this ruse that Nield and Cerasi had concocted. But now the game would get serious. Hitting a military target, even with fake explosives, would be dangerous.
Nield led the way across the rooftops to the Daan military headquarters. From the roof of a building across the street, Obi-Wan could see soldiers ru
"So far, so good," Cerasi breathed. "There won't be as many soldiers around."
This part would be tricky. They would not be firing at houses full of sleeping civilians. The military would react swiftly. But Nield had pointed out that if they did not convince the military that an attack had been launched, their plan wouldn't work. If the military thought they were under fire as well, they might conclude that this was not random sniper fire, but a full-scale attack.
In addition to Nield, Cerasi, and Obi-Wan, other groups of the Young should have been heading out to other Daan and Melida neighborhoods. Their attacks would be launched simultaneously with the attack on military headquarters.
They waited until the soldiers had taken off in their speeders. Two guards stood outside behind transparent armored shields. Cerasi loaded her beam tube. Obi-Wan and Nield placed laser-balls in their slingshots. On the whispered count of three from Cerasi, they fired.
The laserballs hit the building, sounding like blaster fire. The projectile boomed. Already, the three had loaded and shot again, then quickly scuttled back on their hands and knees and ran to the edge of the roof to jump to the adjoining building. They fired again.
Soldiers streamed out of the building in full plastoid armor, blasters in hand. Electro-binoculars were trained on the street and buildings above. Armored plates rattled down over windows and doors. A siren blasted insistently. Soldiers began to spread out down the street. Floaters took off for air surveillance. Armored vehicles poured out from an underground holding station.
"It's time to get out of here," Cerasi said.
Stuffing the toys and slingshots into their belts, they dashed across the rooftop and quickly shimmied down a drainpipe. When they hit the street, they slowed theirpace, trying to look like Daan teenagers out for a morning walk.