Hero of Cartao Part 13

"Besides, the plant's the one place on Cartao both sides are intent on protecting," Binalie agreed. "I think Jedi Tories is right."

"I suppose," Laytron said doubtfully. 'That's going to make for a muchtrickier diversion, though. The Outlink isn't all that far from the siege linearound the plant, and from what you said it sounds like the tunnel pa.s.sesalmost directly beneath the landing ship."

"Are you saying there's no way to do it?" Binalie asked. Laytron smiled tightly. "Not at all," he said. "When did you want to start this operation?"

"As soon as possible," Tories said. "It would be nice to get to them while they still have the strength to walk out under their own power."

"Fine," Laytron said, waving over one of the clone troopers."Thisafternoon, just before sundown, then. I suggest, Master Tories, that you beready."

"Master Tories?" Corf's voice called softly. "It's time."

Tories blinked his eyes open, letting the Jedi meditation trance fadeaway into the corners of his mind. Corf was standing over his cot, a pinchedlook on his face. 'Thank you, Corf," Tories said, yawning and stretching hisarms and hands. "Where's your father?"

"He left with Master Doriana and that Republic lieutenant about an hour ago," Corf said. "Dad said you were supposed to meet him at Outlink Four."

"I know," Tories said, glancing at his chrono. Still early. Plenty oftime for a nice casual stroll through the woods west of Spaarti Creations."How are you holding up?"

The boy shrugged. "Okay, I guess," he said. "A little worried." "No needfor that," Tories a.s.sured him. "I'll make sure your father stays clear of thefighting."

"I know," Corf said. "Dad promised me that, too. I'm mostly worried about you."

"I'll be fine," Tories said, smiling. "I'm a Jedi, remember?" "Oh, that's right," Corf said. He tried to smile in return, but his heart clearly wasn't in it. "I forget sometimes."

"Well, don't," Tories admonished him lightly as he tucked his lightsaber inside his robes. "Stay out of sight and trouble, and I'll see you later."

"Okay," Corf said; and to Tories' surprise, he stepped forward and gave the Jedi a quick hug. "Be careful."

Tories had spent part of the day wondering about Laytron's seeminglycasual choice of timing for the operation. It was only as he slipped off theBinalie estate and made his way westward through the edge of Foulahn City thathe realized the timing hadn't been nearly as random as he'd first thought. Atsunset, most of the enemy forces surrounding Spaarti would have to facedirectly into the setting sun to see Roshton's quiet exit from Outlink Four.Even droid optical sensors had trouble with direct sunlight, and Tories'estimation of the young lieutenant had gone up as he realized the young manhad taken that weakness into account.

Twice along the way, Tories had to take quick cover as a pair of droidson wide picket marched past. But he'd planned for possible delays when he'dscheduled his wake-up call, and he reached the flat, sod-covered roof ofOutlink Four with time to spare.

Binalie was waiting beneath a cl.u.s.ter of trees, along with a pair ofarmored clone troopers. "Master Tories," Binalie greeted the Jedi, his voiceand sense tight with nervous antic.i.p.ation.

"Anyone see you?"

"No one shot at me, anyway," Tories told him, eyeing the camouflaged roof. "We aren't going to have to raise the whole roof to get in, are we?"

Binalie shook his head. 'There's a service stairway along the side."

"Then let's get to it," Tories said, peering into the sky. A dozen STAPswere circling in the east, patrolling the sky over the plant and the landingship beside it.

"Shouldn't we wait for the diversion to start?" Binalie asked.

"We can't afford to," Tories said. "We'll need every bit of diversion time just to move all those people out of the plant."

"You're right." Binalie took a deep breath, and set off across the open ground. "Follow me."

The section of roof over the service stairway swung open with gratifyingspeed and silence. Binalie led the way down the steps, then waited at thebottom for the others to catch up before using the small control panelattached to the railing to seal the top again. "All the wiring is in place,"he said as he flicked on a pair of glow rods and handed one to Tories. "But I thought running any power in here, even just enough to handle the lights, might be risky."

"Good point," Tories agreed, turning to the clone troopers. "You two stay here and guard the exit," he ordered.

"Acknowledged," one of them said.

Tories nodded, and he and Binalie set off at a quick jog down the empty tunnel. Ten minutes later, they reached the other end.

"There should be a set of pumps right here, and the intake for thetunnel's ventilator system about here," Binalie said, pointing out spots tothe left and right of the wall. "It would make this operation a whole lotcheaper if you could manage to miss both of them."

"I'll do my best," Tories said, igniting his lightsaber. Pushing the tip of the blade carefully through the center of Binalie's indicated safe zone, he began to cut.

A minute later had carved a man-sized rectangle. Closing down thelightsaber, he stretched out with the Force and deftly pulled away the half-meter-thick section of wall.

To find himself gazing down the muzzles of a half dozen blaster rifles.

"Commander Roshton?" he called.

The muzzles instantly lifted. "About time," Roshton said, stepping intoview in front of his troops, a grim look on his face. He was equipped foraction, Tories noted, wearing his usual clone trooper comlink headset and apair of bolstered blasters on his belt.. "I was starting to wonder if you'dbeen caught."

"What are you talking about?" Binalie asked. "We're right on time."

"You're two minutes late," Roshton corrected tartly. "If Lieutenant Laytron is on schedule, the diversion will be starting in fourteen minutes. We want to be already moving people out the other end of the tunnel by then."

"Then we'd better get started," Tories said. "Your people ready to move?"

In answer, Roshton lifted a hand. The clone troopers who'd been pointingtheir rifles at Tories lifted the weapons into carry position across theirchests and pa.s.sed single-file through the newly made opening. Reforming intoranks of three, they set off down the tunnel at a quick jog. They werefollowed by another squad of six, and another, and another. "What about thetechs?" Tories asked as the fifth batch of troopers jogged past him.

"When will they be coming through?"

"When we've got enough firepower at the other end to protect them,"Roshton grunted, stepping through himself and giving Binalie a nudge. "Comeon, both of you. Our turn to move." The clone troopers who'd gone on ahead ofthem were waiting at the far end of the tunnel when Tories, Binalie, andRoshton arrived. 'Two minutes to go," the commander said, consulting hischrono. "What's cover like up there?"

Binalie opened his mouth to answer - "Open s.p.a.ce for three meters to thenorth, twenty meters to the south," one of the clone troopers they'd leftbehind on guard duty spoke up. 'Tree cover begins five meters to the east andremains intermittent."

"Not perfect, but it'll do," Roshton decided. "Line up on the stairway.

Lord Binalie, is there any trick to operating the exit door?"

"The controls are right there," Binalie said, pointing to the panel, his tone suddenly sounding strange. "But-"

"But what?" Roshton demanded, glaring at him.

Binalie threw a quick, ambiguous glance at Tories. "Nothing," he muttered. "It'll keep."

"Fine." Roshton looked up the stairway as his troopers headed up. "Get in position," he called softly. "We break cover at the sound of the first shot."

"Two minutes to go," Lieutenant Laytron said, consulting his chrono. "All squads, report by number."

He fell silent, listening intently to the reports coming in over hisheadset. Doriana found himself gazing off to the north, across the open gra.s.sland and the picket line of combat droids standing guard there. The forcewas largely a token one, of course, since there were no doors or windows onthe southern side of the plant. The main droid army, plus all their remainingAAT battle tanks, was concentrated around the more vulnerable eastern,western, and northern approaches.

But even a single person or machine on that forbidden stretch of lawn wasanathema to the Cranscoc twillers who were the actual heart of the Spaartioperation. They were probably still twitching their indignation, in fact, overall those droids standing around out there. But of course, the Separatistcommanders didn't care about that.

On the other hand, since the plant's tooling was still set for thecloning cylinders the Republic forces had been sent to Cartao to manufacture,Roshton probably didn't much care if the twillers were upset, either. Two hugepolitical systems, locked in a ma.s.sive battle of wills and weapons and death,completely oblivious as to how their actions affected those around them. b.u.t.those actions frequently involved a lot of unexpected collateral damage. Thatwas a lesson someone was going to learn today.

"One minute," Laytron said. "Stand ready."

Doriana took a deep breath, willing calmness into himself. He had carriedout his part of the plan, he knew, maneuvering both sides to precisely theright place and the right time. The rest was now out of his hands, and hecould feel the churning sense of frustration that always came upon him attimes like this.

"And... go."

With the multi-level roar of a dozen different engine models, a dozencommandeered civilian landspeeders leaped into view from concealment among thehills dotting the landscape, each loaded with anywhere from four to eightclone troopers. Quickly, they maneuvered around their hills to form an attackline on the southern edge of the gra.s.sland. Then, as the enemy pickets and thehigh-flying STAPs seemed to take notice, the engine pitches changed, and thevehicles set off at full speed toward the plant.

"Stand by, cover fire," Laytron ordered. The STAPs were swooping in tothe attack, their twin blasters spitting fire at the landspeeders. Ahead ofthe advancing landspeeders, the picket forces were drawing inward to form asolid counterline between the clone troopers and the plant. Their blastersopened up, too, searching for the range...

"Fire," Laytron said.

The tops of a dozen nearby hills suddenly blurred as camouflage coverswere thrown off and heavy weapons scavenged from damaged gunships and AATswere swung around to bear on the enemy. Laser cannon bolts sizzled across theincoming STAPs, destroying half a dozen in the first salvo and sending therest twisting away into evasive maneuvers. A pair of missiles streaked fromone of the hills to hit the droid counterline dead center. When the smoke,dust, and purple afterimage of the explosion cleared from Doriana's sight,there was nothing left of the picket line but a crater and a hundred smokingpieces of combat droid.

"Here they come," Roshton murmured, pointing to the east. Doriana shiftedhis eyes that direction. Three AAT battle tanks had appeared around the sideof the building, laying down fire of their own as they lumbered toward theincoming landspeeders.

"They're too late," Doriana said, estimating distances and speeds.

"Absolutely," Laytron agreed as the hilltop covering fire shifted aim and began pummeling the AATs. "The fatal flaw of droid armies, Master Doriana: the soldiers actually on the scene can't think or antic.i.p.ate."

Doriana smiled. "Which is why the Republic is going to win."

The battle tanks were still firing uselessly as the landspeeders reachedthe plant. Even before the vehicles came to a complete stop the clone trooperswere leaping out, slinging their heavy rifles over their shoulders as theyformed up beside the wall. The first two dozen to reach position liftedliquid-cable guns and fired upward. The grapplers caught the top edge of therooftop, and a moment later, the soldiers were being reeled swiftly upward as their comrades held guard position beneath them. The remaining STAPs swung to this new threat, managing to kill two of the rising clone troopers before fire from the troopers below eliminated that threat.