movement. And I think.."
They turned a corner. Ahead they could see a team of intruders
hauling something over the wall. It was about the size of a person, black
and shiny. There was a slit in the top.
Qui-Gon recognized the sensory deprivation container from the Museum
of the Absolute. But why were the intruders dragging it over the wall?
Then he saw, through the slit at the top, a strand of golden hair
waving.
"They have the twins," he said.
They activated their lightsabers and charged.
The intruders were masked and dressed in dark clothing. They saw the
Jedi approaching. One of them reached for a transmitter.
"Overhead, Obi-Wan!" Qui-Gon shouted.
Probe droids suddenly buzzed above them. Blaster fire rained down.
Lightsabers swinging, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan deflected fire while they raced
to the wall.
Other probe droids approached, high enough to avoid retaliation and
peppering the Jedi with fire. The intruders had the advantage. They dropped
over the wall and disappeared.
It would be difficult to leap over the wall and deflect fire at the
same time. Qui-Gon knew that. He had no choice.
He accessed the Force and leaped. Beside him, he saw Obi-Wan do the
same. They sailed over the wall, high above. In those quick seconds, Qui-
Gon had a chance to swipe two probe droids. Obi-Wan neatly cleaved one in
half. The three droids fell sizzling to the ground.
They landed on the other side of the wall. A long expanse of grass
stretched before them. Parked on it were large swoops.
The intruders had already loaded the two containers onto swoops. As
the Jedi raced forward, they took off.
A concealed door in the wall opened and security forces rushed
through. Qui-Gon recognized Balog, the head of security.
"What's going on?" he barked angrily. "What are you doing here?"
"I think the twins have been taken on those swoops," Qui-Gon said,
pointing at what was now a fleet of dots in the sky.
Balog spoke quickly into his comlink, giving the coordinates of his
position and asking for air support.
"Did you see them?" he asked.
"We saw two sensory deprivation containers, the same design that we
saw at the museum. I saw one of the girls' hair. That's all."
Balog turned to the guards. "Check the house again. And check the
grounds." He then turned back to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. "I thought you were
tourists. What were you doing here?"
"We are Jedi," Qui-Gon answered. "We are not here on an official
mission. I knew the girls six years ago. We came to see them."
Balog gave them the hard stare of a security officer who was used to
lies. Something must have convinced him, because he sighed. "This happened
on my watch. I thought security was perfect. Somehow they got through the
house security and immobilized the guards. They tripped the alarms, but it
took too long for us to get here."
"Do you have suspects?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Obviously, it could be the Absolutes," Balog said. "Those devices
were supposed to be destroyed, but of course we know that some must have
been smuggled out. Anyone could have bought them on the black market. In
other words, no, I don't know who took the twins." He gazed at the sky. "I
just hope that whoever took them is planning to ransom them. I hope this is
a kidnapping, not..."
He did not complete the sentence. "The use of the containers points
to that," Qui-Gon said. "If the intruders were going to kill the twins,
they would have done so here."
Balog ran a hand over his forehead. "I must tell Roan personally. He
will be devastated."
He walked off, too distracted to say a farewell.
Qui-Gon stared after him. "Unless Roan already knows," he said.
CHAPTER 14
They met Tahl in a prearranged location deep in the Worker Sector. It
was a small park that commemorated an early protestor of Apsolon's system.
A single white glass column stood in the middle of the small green. They
kept their hoods drawn over their faces as they circled the park, around
and around. Once she heard the news of the twins, it had taken three turns
for Tahl to speak.
"I do not think it was the Absolutes," she said finally. "I believe I
would know it. There were extreme factions of the group, but they are under
the control of the central committee now. At least I think so. It's a
possibility, but I'm more inclined to think that Irini and the Workers
kidnapped the twins. They feel strongly that Roan murdered Ewane. Perhaps
they could even justify the kidnapping as keeping the twins away from
danger."
"You should join us in tracking the kidnappers," Qui-Gon said. "If
you believe the Absolutes are not involved, it is a waste of time for you
to remain there."
"I said I thought they weren't involved," Tahl corrected. "There is
always the possibility that rogue members have done this. I need to stay in
place and investigate. It would be natural for the Absolutes to try to find
out who did it. I can use their surveillance resources."
Obi-Wan noted that his Master seemed to be restraining his objection.
He did not understand why. Tahl was right. She should remain undercover, at
least until they knew who had taken the twins.
"Do you think Roan could be involved?" he asked Tahl.
"I don't know," Tahl said. "Of course we need to entertain the
possibility."
"We were on our way to speak to him when we interrupted the
kidnapping," Qui-Gon said.
"Maybe we should try to speak to him now," Obi-Wan suggested.
"It might be hard," Tahl pointed out. "He will be on a full-scale
alert. He won't have time for us.
Just then Qui-Gon's comlink signaled. When he answered it, it was
Balog. Qui-Gon listened intently for a few moments, then clicked off the
communication.
"It will be easier than we thought," Qui-Gon said. "Roan has asked to
see us."
Roan met the Jedi in his office at the massive Institute of
Government Service building. Despite the grandeur of the building, his
office was sparsely furnished, with chairs lined up against a wall, a long
table that served as a desk, and a bare floor of gray stone. The window
looked down on the streets. On their own, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had seen the
signs of protest beginning. As the word spread of the twins' fate, people
were spilling out into the streets.
The Workers had organized quickly. Across the street in the square
they had formed a solid cube of beings in the same shape as the many
monuments in the city. More continued to arrive. The front line carried a
banner: ARREST ROAN NOW
Roan turned from the window as they entered. He was, in midlife, an
imposing figure, with one silver streak on one side of his dark hair. He
bowed in greeting.
"Welcome. If I had known you were here before this, I would have
called for this meeting earlier."
"We are not here officially, so did not want to trouble you," Qui-Gon
said.
"Consider yourselves offic
ial," Roan said grimly. His dark eyes
looked haunted. "We need help to find the girls. I know that you want to
find them, too. I am also aware that there are those who believe that I was
behind the murder of their father and now their abduction. I have summoned
you here to tell you this is not so."
"Why do you think the rumor began?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Because since Ewane's murder the structure of the government has
been in a precarious state. There are those who are calling for new
elections. My enemies have encouraged the rumor that I killed Ewane." Roan
paced in front of the window. It was coated so that he could see out, Qui-
Gon noted, but the people massing below could not see him.
He turned and faced the Jedi. He spread his hands. "I do not know
what to do. My planet has struggled for fairness and achieved freedom for
all its people. Now it is in danger of losing that stability. I see visions
of ruin whenever I close my eyes. Yet I know I can prevent this ruin. I
just don't know how. Events seem to unfold before me and I am powerless
over them."
Qui-Gon felt a rush of sympathy for Roan. The man truly looked
haunted. And Qui-Gon himself knew what it was like to be plagued by
visions. He knew what it felt like to have events rush by as if he'd once
seen them unfold in a dream and had only now remembered it.
"What would you like us to do?" Qui-Gon asked.
But just then Roan's internal communication unit signaled. With an
impatient gesture, he went to answer it.
"I left instructions that I was not to be disturbed - "
"Yes, Governor. But we have received an external communication. They
ask for you only. They say they are the kidnappers."
Roan looked at the Jedi. "I would like you to hear this." He spoke
into the comm unit. "Please put them through."
The voice that came through the comm unit was obviously
electronically manipulated. It had an eerie, echoing quality, half machine,
half living being.
"Good afternoon. Today the descendants of Ewane were taken in a raid.
We are holding them. We are willing to release them upon your meeting
certain conditions."
"Are they all right?" Roan asked. "Let me speak to them."
"They are safe and were not harmed. Do not speak. Listen."
"I will pay for their release - "
"Do not speak! We do not want money. We want you to resign your
position as Supreme Governor. You will say you are bowing to the will of
the people. You will call for new elections. You will never reveal that you
have resigned in order to free the twins."
Roan met Qui-Gon's eyes. Qui-Gon saw that he would agree. He had no
choice.
"Oh, yes. If you say you will do this, and you go back on your word,
both you and the twins will be killed. Make no mistake that we are capable
of getting to you anywhere. Even with Jedi protection."
"All right," Roan said, leaning toward the comm unit. "I agree to
your terms. But I must see the twins and escort them to safety. I don't
want them frightened again."
"That would be acceptable. We will contact you with details."
"When?" Roan asked urgently, but the communication was cut off.
Roan sat down heavily. "They are alive, at least. If we can believe
them."
"You must not go to this meeting alone," Qui-Gon said. "When they
contact you again, you must ask for a Jedi escort. You must ensure that
both you and the twins come back from this meeting alive."
Roan nodded. "I will. I know you will protect them. I am all they
have. I must do as the abductors ask. But I will be grateful for your
assistance. Our first concern is the lives of those girls."
CHAPTER 15
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan left Roan, who promised he would call the Jedi as
soon as the kidnappers contacted him again. They had only gone a few steps
from the government building when Qui-Gon's comlink signaled.
"Qui-Gon, I need you."
It was Tahl. Qui-Gon felt his worry collect into one burning mass in
his chest. She sounded breathless, in trouble. Not to mention that she was
asking for his help.
"Tell me."
"I don't know how, but they discovered that I am a Jedi. They are
afraid of how much I know. I escaped from the headquarters, but they've
sent probe droids after me. Qui-Gon, I... I can't see the droids - "
"Do you know your location?"
"I crossed to the Worker Sector. I went four blocks south, three
blocks east. I am concealed in a memorial, you know the ones with the
standing columns?"
"Yes." Qui-Gon was already walking rapidly toward the Worker Sector.
"I'm hiding between the glass columns, but it won't take long before
the probe droids locate me. There are many beings on the streets, so that
will confuse them for a time, but - "
"We are on our way."
Qui-Gon quickly explained the situation to Obi-Wan, and they began to
run. Tahl could not sense the droids through the Force, and this made her
predicament all the more dire. He remembered precisely the location of the
Absolute headquarters.
Was this it, was this the meaning of his vision? Would he find Tahl
curled up between the columns? Would the probe droids have found her?
Her eyes were black and dull, but they sparked to life when she saw
him..
He had seen Tahl's eyes in the vision, and they were dark, the color
of the lenses she had donned to conceal their distinctive color. Qui-Gon
remembered this detail like a blow. Did that mean the rest of the vision
would come true?
"Qui-Gon, we're here." Obi-Wan spoke quietly by his side, his breath
roughened by the hard run. "We should be cautious now. The probe droids
might be searching for us, too."
It was a good point. He should have thought of it. He slowed his pace
to a walk so that they were not obvious among the passersby. Then they
gradually increased their speed, mingling with the crowd. Because of the
unrest concerning the twins' disappearance, the streets were crowded.
Qui-Gon counted off the blocks, struggling not to run. Attuned to the
air above, he did not see any probe droids. He did not know whether to be
reassured or worried by this.
At last they reached the corner where the monument to the dead
Workers stood. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan hurried toward the glowing columns. They
searched through the rows, at last finding Tahl near the back, at a place
where she was hidden but still had room to escape the cube and run.
She turned her face up at the sound of their footsteps. Her eyes were
dark, but not dulled with pain. She was fine. Her wry smile tore at his
heart. "Thanks for coming."
Qui-Gon crouched down and signaled to Obi-Wan to do the same. "There
are many on the streets. It will be hard for the probe droids to track you.
I think the safest place for us now would be with Roan. Even if he is
behind the kidnapping, he must maintain the illusion that he is not. Since
your cover is blown, it doesn't matter who knows that you are Jedi."
"True," Tahl said. "Let's go."
Obi-Wan scanned the sky.
"Surveillance will be heaviest around here.
Once we get into the Civilized Sector, the probe droids might give up."
"Stay between us, and stay close," Qui-Gon told her.
They made their way cautiously out from the glowing glass columns,
then into the flow of pedestrians. Gradually it became clear that the
passersby had a destination.
"They are heading somewhere," Qui-Gon murmured.
"Probably a demonstration," Tahl guessed.