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.She came out of her trance as they passed through the last open doorway, and struggled to get down from his shoulder."Where are we?" she cried out, and then stared up at the pinwheel in the night sky and the rolling blanket of stars beyond.A shadow passed over the landing field and their Sekotan ship.It blocked out the pinwheel and then dropped down to cover the ship like a predator pouncing on its prey.This was not another Sekotan ship, and it was not the Star Sea Flower.Anakin heard the whine and roar of repulsor engines pounding against the rock.It was a sky-mine delivery ship, doing double duty now as a landing craft.A shaft of light appeared in one side of the hulk.Troops marched down the ramp in quick tight cordons and surrounded Anakin and Jabitha.A squad circled the body of the Blood Carver.Two officers walked down the ramp with more dignity, as if they had all the time in the universe.Anakin thought they might be brothers, they so resembled each other, though they wore quite different uniforms.Both were thin and carried themselves with assurance and perhaps too much pride.Both looked arrogant.He knew instantly, with instincts he had developed long before becoming a Jedi, that they were very dangerous.They turned toward the boy and the girl.In the ordinary scheme of things, neither would have cared much for the fate of two children.The taller of the two, by a spare centimeter or two, lifted his hand and whispered something into the other's ear."Him," the shorter man said, pointing imperiously at Anakin."Leave the girl here."Anakin tried to stay with Jabitha.She reached out for him, and their fingertips gripped for an instant before a bulky soldier dressed in a Republic Special Tactics trooper uniform pulled him away.For a second, the boy's anger threatened to flare again, but he saw they were not going to harm Jabitha, and he could not kill them all.And would not if he could."My name is Tarkin," the shorter of the officers said to him in deeply mannered tones."You're the Jedi boy who collects old droids, no? And marvel of marvels, you're now the pilot of this ship?"Anakin did not answer.Tarkin rewarded his silence with a smile and a pat on the head."Learn some manners, boy." Two soldiers hurried him, struggling, into the innards of the dark ship."What about Ke Daiv?" Raith Sienar asked."A failure from the beginning," Tarkin said."Leave him here to rot."Jabitha yelled for Anakin, but the ramp closed with a hiss and a metallic bang.He felt the ship rise abruptly and climb.Tarkin and Sienar immediately escorted him to the bay where the Sekotan ship had been hoisted and stowed in a catchall harness."Stay with your ship, boy," Tarkin said."Keep it alive.You are very important to us.The Jedi Temple awaits your speedy return."Chapter 58They'll keep the sky mines away from that ship," Obi-Wan told Shappa as they ducked in and out of the mountain ravines at the cloud line."No one trusts them in close quarters not to go after friendlies."Three droid starfighters still doggedly followed, but Shappa's craft was too swift and maneuverable to be caught."They'll take the Magister's daughter!" Shappa said grimly.He pushed his hand even deeper into the console, which wrapped its tissues up to his elbow, shoving back his sleeve."I don't think so," Obi-Wan said, brow furrowed in intense concentration.He closed his eyes, feeling ahead for all futures, for the knot rapidly coming unwound, for the strands of fate whirling off in all directions, not unlike the pinwheel that filled the sky."You're right," Shappa said as they leapt up over the rim of the field and circled."They've left her behind, and she's alive!""Move in and retrieve her," Obi-Wan said."Leave me on the field.""But the starfighters will kill you!""Perhaps," Obi-Wan said."But there's nothing more you can do for me, and nothing I can do for you."Shappa opened and closed his mouth, trying to think of something appropriate to say, then nodded and concentrated on bringing his ship down.There was no time for farewells [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]