The Emperor's Plague

25

As soon as she set foot on the Imperial weapons asteroid, Raaba had her blaster out and ready, unsure of what she might encounter. She raced down the corridors. Her instincts were good, and she had found a space to dock on the edge of the primary biological weapons complex. She understood security systems well and had an uncanny knack for finding her way to the heart of any important facility. It was one of the skills that had made her so valuable to Nolaa Tarkona. This time it might just save her leader’s life—or at least, Raaba hoped so as she searched through one tunnel after another. Hold on, Raaba thought. I’m coming. Too many lives had been lost already this day. Coming upon a sealed doorway with a safety interlock and a flashing hazard symbol, Raaba used her blaster to fry the controls. Then she wrenched the door open using the manual override and her own Wookiee strength.

Good, Raaba thought. Directly before her, she saw Nolaa Tarkona emerging from a vault-locked chamber whose bent and battered door stood wide open. Nolaa’s rose-quartz eyes held a strange look, somewhere between overwhelming grief and wild triumph.

“Raabakyysh! I knew I could count on you.”

Raaba loosed a happy roar to see her leader alive, but her cry of joy turned to a questioning growl when she looked past Nolaa Tarkona to see the body of Rullak sprawled on the floor in the chamber, blotched with disease.

“Rullak is dead through his own fault—and the human’s,” Nolaa said, spitting out the word with obvious contempt. She swayed on her feet, looking very unwell. “Bornan Thul is dead, too. Their foolishness nearly put an end to my plan. Most of my guards were killed, and all my generals are lost to me now. But we have no time to mourn them. You must get me back to the fleet.”

Raaba paused in confusion. How had Rullak died? And Bornan Thul? But then a pair of blaster bolts zinged past her and ricocheted off the vault door, nearly striking Nolaa Tarkona. The emergency distracted Raaba from worrying about any additional questions. Raaba did not think—she acted. She spun and fired on her assailant.

It was the assassin droid IG-88. Nolaa Tarkona had her own blaster out now and fired, but Raaba could not let the great leader put herself in danger. Stepping forward, Raaba let loose a volley with her blaster and backed down the hallway, pushing the Twi’lek woman behind her and shielding her with her own body.

IG-88 fired again. In desperation, Raaba shot back, but she knew she couldn’t hold off an assassin droid forever. They had been very lucky to escape injury for this long. With stubborn determination, Raaba pushed her leader back toward the questionable cover of a corner at intersecting corridors. A blaster bolt grazed Raaba’s knee, singeing fur, and she dove after Nolaa Tarkona. Then a strange thing happened. As soon as Raaba and Nolaa Tarkona disappeared into the adjoining tunnel, the blaster fire ceased abruptly.

Stunned and suspicious, Raaba peeked back around the comer, only to find that the droid had apparently lost all interest in them. Instead, IG-88 clanked slowly, almost mournfully, through the vault door and into the steaming, sparking plague chamber. Although Raaba did not understand why the droid had given up his attack, she wasted no time questioning their good fortune. Instead she grasped Nolaa Tarkona’s arm and propelled the Twi’lek leader down the long corridors toward the place where the Rising Star waited. As they ran, Raaba explained that the New Republic fleet had arrived to drive back the Diversity Alliance armada.

Without slowing, Nolaa Tarkona attempted to switch on her mobile comm unit. When there was no answer, Raaba snatched the comlink from her belt and handed it to her. They were almost to the Rising Star now. A burst of static and then a squawk of surprise and delight came over the comlink.

“You’re alive! Esteemed Tarkona, is it truly you?”

“Yes,” she said. “Raaba and I will be with you shortly, but we need your help to escape from this accursed asteroid.”

“Anything, Esteemed Tarkona,” the voice on the comlink replied.

“Drive the human fleet away from here,” Nolaa said. Apparently out of breath, she coughed a few times and gasped. “We’ll join you soon. And then I will personally lead you to victory.”