The Last of the Jedi_ Underworld Part 8

"I think we've already been introduced," Trever muttered.

They kept to the middle of the tunnel as they walked. The walls dripped moisture. Occasionally they would pa.s.s a reeking toxic pool, glowing strangely in the darkness. They heard slithering noises, but no creatures appeared.

"The original cities of Coruscant were built on the crust, centuries ago," Guide explained as they walked. "Much of the infrastructure is still underground. Most of the water and power tunnels have caved in, but there was a people-moving system that relied on some sort of primitive engine that connected to a track in the ground. These tunnels were built out of blocks of stone, and some are still intact.

Later they were used to pump the oceans into the caverns. That's where we're going."

They walked until they lost a sense of where they were and whether it was day or night above them. Ferus began to feel the lack of sleep and decent food. He pushed on.

Suddenly he heard the echo of lapping water. Guide stopped. "The water will grow deeper, but we'll come to catwalks that will take us above it."

Soon they splashed through ankle-deep water. Up ahead he saw a crude stairway, and as Ferus followed the stairs with his eyes he saw that it connected to a series of platforms and more stairs. When Guide reached the stairs, he began to climb.

They climbed from platform to platform in the darkness. Ferus didn't know how deep the water was below them, but he could sense it: It was almost as though it still had tides, for it seemed to roar and recede as though it were constantly moving. He couldn't see it, he could only smell it and hear it now.

They heard a splash and looked over the side. Far below they could just make out a huge sea creature turning and slipping under the water again.

"Oh, yes," Guide said. "I should warn you - don't fall in."

The scaffolding suddenly opened out into a wide s.p.a.ce that ran the width of the cavern. Planks of plastoid and wood were laid in a pattern. Structures had been built in separate circular encampments that connected to each other through metal walkways. It was like a small city.

In several of the structures Ferus saw lights come on. Whoever was inside was waking up.

Guide held up a small device, and an electronic noise pinged.

The denizens began to emerge from the structures. They were from many worlds, and all were armed with weapons. They slowly walked toward Guide.

The Erased found themselves pressed together in a small group as the settlers ringed around them.

Ferus began to feel uneasy. They were completely surrounded. Outnumbered.

A murmur began, some words pa.s.sing from being to being. Guide held up a hand for silence.

"I brought them to you from above," he said.

Then he suddenly turned on his heel and merged with the crowd. "They are yours now."

The crowd began to move closer. Ferus, Trever, and the Erased backed up. But there was nowhere to go. Only the thin railing of the catwalk, and the long drop to the black ocean below.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

It wasn't as though he didn't see this one coming from a kilometer off. Ferus had been poised for Guide to betray them. He would have been stupid not to expect it.

But it turned out he was foolish anyway. He had thought Guide might lead them into an ambush of some kind. He didn't expect the ambush to come from the members of Solace.

"Solace takes care of us," a woman said.

"Solace brings us what we need," someone called.

They were talking about Guide, Ferus realized. Solace wasn't a place - it was a person.

This was how they survived. They were scavengers. They spread the rumor of Solace above, and when Guide led a group back, they stole from them and used their credits or items of value to buy supplies. That was all painfully clear.

He felt the steady support of Keets, Oryon, and the others next to him. Trever's fingers appeared to be hooked into his belt, but Ferus knew he was fishing for a small explosive device. Maybe a smoke grenade.

The first line of settlers charged. Trever tossed the grenade, and the smoke rolled toward their attackers. At the same moment, Ferus drew his lightsaber, ready to deflect the blaster bolts he was sure would be streaking toward him.

He saw someone somersaulting through the smoke and air, and he held his lightsaber ready. "Wait!"

The command came from Solace, who landed directly in front of the group. Everyone froze.

He walked forward. It was so quiet they could hear his boots click on the walkway.

He came close to Ferus, so close the glowing tip of the lightsaber was only millimeters from his chest.

"Jedi," he said.

"Unfortunately for you, yes," Ferus said.

Solace held up the glowlamp and examined Ferus's features. "Not quite, I think."

"Not quite what?" He wasn't supposed to be having a conversation, he was supposed to be fighting, but he certainly didn't mind the delay. It gave him more time to look for openings, avenues of escape, individuals who looked more competent than others, hidden weapons.

"You should have done that already, Not-Quite-a-Jedi," Solace said. "You should have done it the first moment you arrived."

"Are you giving me lessons?"

"Obviously, you need them. Padawan."

Admittedly, Ferus's instincts seemed to fail him at the worst times. But he suddenly understood what was off about their guide, and what he should have guessed all along.

"You're Fy-Tor," he said. "You're a Jedi."

"It's about time." Their "guide" slowly removed his helmet. Ferus recognized her now. Fy-Tor had pitched her voice deeper, moved differently, but he knew her.

She was gaunt, her cheeks hollowed. Her forehead marking was still there, but it was faint now, a faded tattoo. She had shaved her dark hair, but her blue eyes were still piercing.

She held up a hand.

"These are not for you," she called to the settlers. "Disperse."

The crowd melted away, except for one man who remained a few steps behind her. His hands rested on his thick utility belt as though he was prepared to defend Fy-Tor at any moment.

She spoke to him without turning. "Donal. Can you get Ferus's companions some food? They've been walking most of the night."

"Of course."

"No one will hurt you now," she told them.

The Erased moved off, but Trever stayed stubbornly by Ferus's side.

Fy-Tor raised an eyebrow. "Your apprentice?"

"I wouldn't say that," Ferus said.

"Me either," Trever said.

"We've been looking for you, Fy-Tor," Ferus continued.

She held up a hand. "Don't use that name. I've left it behind. I'm Solace now. You left the Jedi. Some sort of spat between Padawans, I heard. "

A spat? Ferus remembered the depths of his heartache, his guilt. "Hardly a spat."

"So you say. Where did you find that light-saber?"

"It was a gift from Garen Muhl. The Jedi you left in the cave at Ilum. The one you said you'd return for."

"I tried."

"So you say."

They faced each other, close to adversaries now. Ferus didn't know how it happened, but it had. He wouldn't back clown, although he could tell she was waiting. Either she still thought of him as a Padawan, or she was used to subservience from the settlers here. That was apparent in the way she gave orders, the way she expected them to move when she told them to move.

"I see we're off to a good start," she said. "Come on, Olin, let's sit and you can tell me why you were looking for me. Step into my office."

She sat astride a bench fashioned from what appeared to be a reclaimed speeder seat. Ferus sat, too. Trever crouched on the floor. The expression on his face was wary; he didn't trust Solace yet. Neither did Ferus. The reunion he'd imagined taking place had been filled with relief and emotion, the core of understanding between Jedi. This wasn't even close. Solace was unreadable to him, and she seemed to have no wish to connect, Jedi to Jedi. Instead, so far she'd taken every opportunity to remind him that he wasn't one.

"I know of another Jedi who is alive, besides Garen," Ferus said. Although Obi-Wan had given him permission to tell other Jedi that he was alive, Ferus elected to wait with details until he had a better grasp of what Solace was like. He was still bothered by the fact that she had led them here and then turned her back indifferently to their fate. Whatever had happened to her had pushed her very far from the Jedi path.

"He is in exile, but Garen and I have established a secret base for any Jedi I can find. If we gather together again, we can become stronger."

Solace took this in. "You're serious? You're going to travel the galaxy, picking up stray Jedi - who may not even exist - and bring them to some camp?" She gave a bark of a laugh. "Count me out!"

"If we stay together, we'll be better able to fight when the time comes."

Solace shook her head. "The galaxy is controlled by the Sith. They've killed us all. Your plan is doomed, Ferus, and I want no part of it." She spread her arms. "I've got everything I need here."

"Beings who worship you," Ferus said. "Yes, I can see you have all the attention and service you could want."

She refused to be baited. "What's wrong with that?" she asked. "I've taken those who the Empire would have squashed like slugs and given them a safe place to live. What makes you think your plan is so much better than mine?"

"We were destroyed," Ferus said quietly. "Betrayed. Even our younglings were slaughtered. What makes you so indifferent to that?"

Solace looked away, down through the grating to the ocean below. "Those were black days, and I don't choose to revisit them."

"Someday we can rise against them," Ferus said.

"I believe that with my whole heart. And if I can help in any small way, protect even one Jedi, then I've pledged myself to that."

"May the Force be with you, then," Solace said. "But I'm not going anywhere. I've got a good deal here. I go on the occasional bounty-hunting job to finance this place. It's filled with beings I trust. The Empire doesn't know where to find me. It doesn't even know I'm alive."

"I'm afraid they do," Ferus said. "Trever and I broke into the Temple and overheard the head Inquisitor Malorum with Darth Vader. Vader knows you're alive, though he doesn't seem to care much. He's a Sith."

"There are always two," she said. "I didn't know who they were, but of course that makes sense."

"Malorum knows you're alive, too. He's planning to take back the sublevels of Coruscant, to go all the way down to the crust. That's why the Erased came down here - to see if they'd be safe. But Malorum also mentioned that he'd planted a spy near you."

"A spy? Here? I don't believe it."

"I don't know if it's true, I'm only telling you what I heard. He could have been trying to impress Vader." Ferus waited a beat. "But can you take that chance?"

Solace didn't answer.

Ferus leaned closer. "They've kept the light-sabers."

Solace looked up.

"Hundreds of them. Maybe more. From the Jedi they killed."

She clasped her hands and leaned forward, resting her forehead against them.

"They're lying in one of the storage rooms, gathering dust."

"What do you want from me?" she asked.

"I'm only here to find a Jedi...."

She took another breath, then lifted her head. "We should go back to the Temple."

Ferus wasn't expecting this. "What?"

"We'll get inside and find out what they're planning, for the settlers here and for the Erased."

"I don't think we can," Ferus said. "The security will have been tightened."

"We'll steal the lightsabers back. If, as you say, there are more Jedi alive, we'll have lightsabers for a whole army, if we need it. In any case, you can hide them. They shouldn't lie with the Sith." Her face hardened. "It's a... desecration."

"I agree, but - "

"And I'll discover who the spy is, if there is one. Too much is at stake. We can leave immediately."

"Solace, wouldn't it make more sense to abandon this place and leave Coruscant altogether? Even if you don't want to come to the asteroid, the galaxy is a big place. You can find somewhere to hide."