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Anakin shook his head. "No, they're controlled from either the landing ship or from orbit."
"No stress with that," Ferus said. "If you get aboard, can you pilot the ship?"
"I can pilot anything," Anakin said flatly.
"Didn't you say that the ship is also a weapon?" Ferus asked.
The four Padawans looked at one another.
"Of course," Anakin said. "If we control the ship, we control the battle."
"There's the deployment hatch," Tru said. "But the release valve is on the bridge."
"I think the only way is — " Anakin began.
"You're right," Tru said. "But we'd have to do it — "
"Exactly. But the venting system — "
"So we don't have to worry about being seen." Tru nodded rapidly. "Okay, that's it, then."
"That's what?" Darra cried. "Are you two speaking some weird language from the Outer Rim?"
Anakin turned to her. "The MTT is designed by the Baktoid workshop. The Trade Federation buys most of their ships, but they rotate out the old ones and sell them off to various planets. I'm betting that's what this transport is. Which means that its exhaust and cooling system is vented straight down toward the ground. There's some unusually large vents on the bottom. That's why you see all that dust around it.
It's kicked up by the wind coming out of the ship."
"So the dust will give us cover," Tru said. "And the vents are big enough. We can just climb up them to get aboard."
"Won't the wind blow you back?" Ferus asked.
"If the ship was moving, it would," Anakin said. "But the engines are idling. The ship is in passive mode. We shouldn't have too much trouble."
"We've got another problem," Darra said. "If you get control of the ship, our Masters won't know it. They'll most likely attack the ship when it comes toward them."
"That's why we have to split up," Ferus said. "Darra, you and I have to make contact with the Masters while Anakin and Tru steal the ship. We have to get the droids to follow us to an ambush." He looked at Anakin and Tru. "Does that sound okay to you?"
It was the first time Ferus had asked his opinion. Anakin nodded. "Sounds like a good plan."
"We have an agreement," Darra muttered. "Remind me to declare this an a
She leaned over and accessed a map to the canyons. Quickly she flipped through different sites. Then she stabbed at the viewscreen with a finger. There. If you can maneuver the ship there, we can bring the droids through that smaller canyon and out into the clearing. Then we've got them."
The four Padawans looked at one another, exhilarated. They were going to save their Masters.
"No stress with that," Ferus said confidently.
"Completely," Anakin echoed.
There was a pause. After the initial confidence, the weight of the task ahead settled on them.
"May the Force be with us," Tru said quietly.
Ferus and Darra exited the airspeeder. Hugging the rocks, they started off through the canyon toward the sound of blaster fire.
Anakin and Tru headed in the opposite direction. They paused in the shelter of a rock to watch the MTT and its inhabitants. They could just make out the heads of the droid pilots. They rotated in constant surveillance.
"Anakin — "
"I know," Anakin said. "It's a question of timing."
"I was going to say, we just have to run really, really fast," Tru said, flashing him a quick grin.
"Aim for the dust cloud."
"Right."
Anakin fitted a filter mask over his nose and pulled his hood up. Tru did the same. They slipped goggles out from their utility belts and pulled them on.
As soon as the droids' heads turned the opposite way and they were no longer in their sight line, they ran, Anakin felt the Force rise around him from the rocks and dust. It seemed to push him faster, allowing him to dive into the sand cloud kicked up by the ship's exhaust.
Anakin hated sand. He had seen and tasted too much of it while a slave on Tatooine. Now it filtered through the dust mask and settled in his mouth. He could barely see. He could sense rather than see Tru beside him.
He held up a hand, feeling along the underside of the ship. The sand and dust were so disorienting it was hard to visualize where he was. Then he felt a raised piece of metal. Could it be the repulsor cooling fins? He ran a hand along one ridge, then another. That meant the vents were just ahead.
The wind blasts were stronger than he'd anticipated. The thought of his Master pi
Anakin reached the vents. He hoisted himself up and inside, spreading his hands out to support himself against the rounded walls and bracing himself with his feet. He would be able to move sideways up the shaft. The blast of wind was warm, but not hot. It pushed against him, but he was able to move slowly up the shaft, meter by meter, first using one hand and foot, then the other. Tru was directly beneath him.
Halfway up the vent, Anakin felt as though his legs were made of ferrocrete and his arm muscles had begun to shake.
One foot slid and he almost lost his position and fell. He felt Tru touch his back. Anakin turned, and Tru motioned to him. He would lead the way.
Anakin curled himself into a ball so that Tru could crawl past him. As soon as Anakin was behind Tru, he felt the wind lessen. Tru's flexible arms and legs were much more suited to scrambling up the vent. His body now acted as a shield.
It gave Anakin a chance to restore his own strength. This is what Obi-Wan means, he thought suddenly. I do not a/ways have to prove I can lead. Sometimes someone else can do the job better.
At last the vent opened out into the engine room, next to the humming repulsorlift generators. Anakin and Tru collapsed on the floor, trying to catch their breath.
"Whew. Some stress with that," Tru said, gasping.
They got to their feet and looked around the engine room.
"I'd say-"Tru started.
"That way," Anakin agreed.
Once they left the engine room, they had to turn sideways to navigate the corridor. Every centimeter of space was used on the vessel to pack in droids. They squeezed past the empty troop deployment racks and climbed a narrow metal staircase to the bridge. Outside the bridge door they activated their lightsabers. Taking a breath for concentration, they accessed the door and burst inside.