Then something odd happened. Aayla could still hear Blue speak, but his mouth moved out of sync with his words. A lightsaber sailed across the warehouse, and she snatched it from the air. As she ignited it and swung the silver blade around to ward off the droid’s shots, she sensed Ylenic moving between her and the Gotals, protecting her back.
Then the vision faded. Ylenic still stood at her right. Her hands remained empty, and one of the Gotals snapped his head in Blue’s direction. “The Force, they are using it.”
The Corellian groaned. “Stupid Jedi.” Blue stroked the blaster’s trigger. Smoked puffed from Tane’s jacket. The man gasped and slumped. Blue let him fall to the floor.
Then almost exactly as it had been in her vision, a lightsaber flew across the room. She did snatch it from the air and ignite it. The battle droids started to focus on her, but she gathered the Force and launched herself into the air. She soared to the level of the highest droid, landed, and batted aside one bolt before she swept the blade through its middle and sent the pieces tumbling to the duracrete floor.
Aayla leaped away as more scarlet bolts chewed into the shelving and blasted other crates to melting shards. She landed in a crouch and cut the legs from beneath one of the droids. She reversed the blade and stabbed it through the chest of a second as she stood up. With a flick of her left hand, she dumped a third droid backward into the crate from which it had emerged.
A bit more of the Force lifted that crate and dropped it, dashing crate and contents on the floor.
Yanking the silver blade free of the pierced droid, Aayla spun and redirected a hail of bolts at the droids who fired them. Three shots hit one on the left side, spinning it about wildly before its legs tangled and it went down smoking. Yet another bolt took the head of the last one clean off. It stood there for a moment, then a gentle Force push dropped it backward, where it lay with limbs splayed and unmoving.
Aayla turned and looked at where the Gotals and Blue had been standing. Both Gotals writhed on the floor, their hands clutching painfully at their horns, Ylenic stood over them with his lightsaber burning brightly.
Blue was also down, his blaster in two pieces on the floor. Tane knelt beside him, his right hand on the man’s forehead and his left hand wrapped around the hilt of Aayla’s lightsaber.
Aayla thumbed the silver blade off and reversed the hilt. “Your lightsaber? Thank you for the loan.” She floated the lightsaber over to Tane, who caught it in his right hand.
The man then stood, extinguished her lightsaber, and extended it toward her. “I would send this to you, but I am afraid it wouldn’t get very far.”
Aayla crossed to him and retrieved her lightsaber. “Who are you?”
The man held up one finger before bending and scooping up one of the Gotals’ blasters. He flicked the selector lever to stun and pumped a blue bolt into each the horned ruffians. Their bodies bowed spasmodically and relaxed.
Ylenic rested his left hand on Tane’s shoulder, “This is Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon.”
“What?” Aayla bowed her head. “I am honored, Master.”
“I’m the one who is honored. You’re a hero of Geonosis.”
“I was there. Others were heroes.” She looked at him and at Ylenic. “I couldn’t get a sense of him in the Force because he was shielding his thoughts.”
The Caamasi nodded. “He had to, or else the Gotal would have spotted him as a substitute.”
She frowned and her lekku shivered. “We were sent here on a mission to get Tane and not involve the Jedi guardians of Corellia. I don’t understand. Was I included because Master Windu suspected I would be out of control enough to alert the Gotal? Clearly you wanted Blue to think Jedi were after you, so he’d believe you were the genuine article. I was chosen not for my skill, but for my lack of experience.”
Nejaa shook his head. “Actually, Aayla Secura, you are here because Master Windu thought you best for the job.”
She snorted. “Anyone could have done what I have done.”
“I would disagree.” Halcyon clasped his hands together at his waist. “What we have accomplished here was rather complex.”
“And, so far, done very well.”
Aayla spun at the new voice and saw Rostek Horn entering the warehouse. “You knew about this place and this scheme?” She looked back over her shoulder at Ylenic. “And you are part of this conspiracy, too?”
“Don’t forget me, pretty Jedi,” Lorfo flapped down from the rafters. “I played a key role.”
Aayla sighed and sat on a crate. “I didn’t think gullibility was a trait for which Jedi were valued.”
“That is not why you were chosen.” Nejaa pointed at the wreckage of the droids. “Your combat skills were vital. Moreover, you are known as a hero of Geonosis. The Separatists watch for the Jedi it knows about, and Geonosis survivors come high on their list. Lorfo was able to spot you, to draw attention to you at Homestar. That’s why Blue’s people were close to you when the shooting started - which it would have done regardless of how you reacted, to keep you occupied while they got me. I had on me a small tracking device, but it failed to work. Had you used it to find me, Lorfo would have betrayed you to Blue as he did, but without guiding you here first. When Ylenic discovered he could not track me with the locator, Lorfo flew up to lead you.”
She shook her head. “So, Lorfo keeps them looking at us, so they won’t realize you’re not really Tane. We were the misdirection.”
Ylenic smiled. “More correctly, we all are misdirection. You and I, here, for Blue, yes; but this whole operation as well.”
Aayla’s lekku twitched and she nodded. “While the Confederacy is looking here for Tane, he’s already off being relocated. And that would mean the files and prototype are flawed.”
“They are.” Nejaa nodded solemnly. “Not hopelessly, though, just a hasty attempt at sabotage. Techno Union scientists will repair the damage, but Tane is willing to prepare counter-measure products that will render the new droids less than effective. The entire Separatists’ effort to retool factories and produce a new generation of battle droids will be futile.”
He pointed to the robotic carnage Aayla had left behind. “Those droids and the fact that Dooku is paying for captured Jedi likely will not be enough to sway the Corellian government to throw in with the Galactic Republic. On the other hand, they should be enough to show the other Jedi in this system that the evil of the Clone Wars is at hand. I hope it will free us to act with the rest of the Jedi.”
Aayla pointed at Halcyon’s jacket. “Blue shot you at point blank range. Why aren’t you dead?”
Halcyon shrugged. “The Halcyons are weak when it comes to telekinesis. We are good at broadcasting visions, however. Hence, you saw my message. We also have a rare ability. With preparation, we can absorb a fair amount of energy. We have to bleed it off somehow, so I used it to send my lightsaber to you - as I could not normally have done.”
As he finished speaking, he held up his left forearm and slipped the lightsaber into the sheath hidden there, “Tearing yours away from the Gotal would have been a bit much for me to do and get a blade to you quickly.”
The Twi’lek looked over at Ylenic. “What did you do to the Gotal?”
He smiled. “You’ll recall the alley stench was overwhelming?”
“Yes.”
“The Gotal pick up on things like the Force through their horns. I simply used the Force to hit them with its version of the stench.”
Aayla winced. “Neat trick.”
Ylenic’s smile broadened.
“So, how much of all this did Master Windu know? I caught no deception from him.”
The Caamasi opened his hands. “Nejaa is an old friend. When Tane reached Corellia and this plan began to form, Nejaa asked me to act as a liaison between him and the Jedi Council. The Jedi getting Tane and his family to safety are not from Corellia. They are acting under Master Windu’s orders.”
Nejaa nodded. “Of internal Corellian Jedi politics, h
e knows about as much as anyone does on Coruscant.”
Inspector Horn smirked. “That’s likely as much as anyone here knows about it, too.”
Nejaa shook his head, and Aayla sensed a strong bond of friendship between the two men. “Nothing could send us over to the Confederacy, so the chance of finding something to win us over to the Republic’s fight was one worth taking. You were not told everything, so your reactions would be natural and read true to anyone watching.”
“I don’t like it, but I understand. There is something else I need to know, however.” Aayla thought for a moment and narrowed her eyes. “Your intention is to implant a memory in Blue that he will carry off to his masters, and that will verify that the data and prototype are the real thing?”
“That’s the plan.”
“That may be the plan, Master Halcyon, but I am willing to bet that Count Dooku will sift through his mind, and things will unravel from there.”
Ylenic canted his head to the side. “Her point is a good one.”
Nejaa nodded. “Agreed, but I’m not sure I see a good fix.”
“Don’t worry.” Aayla boosted herself off the crate. “I know just what will do the job.”
Tendir Blue drifted back to consciousness as Lorfo tugged on his left arm. The man had slumped against the wall in a passageway in the spaceport. The Toydarian’s breath came heavy and sour, his words rushed and full of panic.
“Get going. Now! She’s still coming after you.”
Blue shook his head to clear it. He raised a hand to his forehead, where fingertips brushed over the wound from a glancing blaster boit. What happened? “Who’s coming, Lorfo?”
“The Jedi!” The winged creature’s eyes grew wide. “The Jedi you didn’t kill.”
Tendir scrambled to his feet and patted his pockets. He had datacards and the prototype of the chip. Those things he remembered. He added to that the memory of shooting Tane. After that, blackness, nothing - must be amnesia from the bolt.
He looked around and recognized his surroundings. “This way, to my ship.”
“I know. I called and it’s pre-flighted.” The Toydarian fluttered in front of him. “You owe me.”
“Yes, yes, you’ll be paid.”
“Paid, no. Get me off this rock.”
Pain throbbed through the man’s head. “What happened?”
“Everything, There was shooting and lightsabers - and the gold Jedi, he died. Your Gotals, your droids, gone. She is hurt, but you stumbled out. I helped.” The Toydarian’s voice rose to a shriek. “There she is!”
Blue took one glance behind him. He saw her in the tunnel, illuminated by the azure light of her lightsaber. She dragged her left foot, and he could hear her rasping breath. She slumped against the wall but pointed her lightsaber at him.
“You won’t escape me, Tendir Blue!”
She gestured with her left hand and Lorfo squealed. His fingers clawed at the shoulder of Blue’s coat, and the man could feel the Jedi tugging at the little Toydarian with the Force. He tried to keep going, but Lorfo’s grasp kept him anchored to the spot.
“Help me, Blue!”
“If it’s you she wants…” The man smashed a fist down on Lorfo’s hands. “She can have you.”
Another blow broke his grip, and the Toydarian flew back to slam into the Jedi. Both of them went down in a tumble, and Tendir sprinted forward. He cut through the crowd, knocking people left and right as he ran to his ship. Once inside, he sealed the airlock and lifted off. As he urged his ship forward, he saw the Twi’lek Jedi enter the hangar bay. She gestured at him, and he slewed the ship around, letting his turbine exhaust knock her back into the tunnel.
With a laugh, Tendir Blue pointed his ship to the stars.
Ylenic helped Aayla up. “You are unhurt?”
“My pride is wounded,” she said, “but I’ll live.” She brushed her backside off and used the Force to call her lightsaber to hand and tucked the weapon inside her jacket again. “I think he believes you’re dead and that he just barely escaped. Dooku can sift his mind all he wants. Amnesia explains the lack of memory of the fight, and his fear will confirm the ‘truth’ of what he says happened here.”
Nejaa and Inspector Horn came up, with Lorfo hovering behind them. The Corellian Jedi nodded, “And he thinks Lorfo was apprehended by you, so he will not suspect he was really working for us all along. A neat and tidy package.”
“As it should be, Master.” Aayla smiled. “After all, tying things up that way must be why I was put in charge of this mission, don’t you think?”
From Star Wars Insider 66 (13-04-2003)
11.6.18.15.14.5-1
Michael A. Stackpole, Star Wars - Elusion Illusion
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