Trouble on Cloud City

11

As they followed the Ugnaught through convoluted catacombs to the lower, darker levels of Cloud City, Jacen wondered if the creature had any idea where he was going.

“I think this guy’s lost,” he muttered quietly to Tenel Ka.

Lowie groaned softly, and Em Teedee translated as the little droid bobbed in front of them on his microrepulsorjets. “We must be quiet. Stealth is of utmost importance.”

After passing through the cluttered, seedier levels of Port Town—the “bad part” of Cloud City—Jacen and his friends needed to use their Jedi skills to the fullest just to keep track of their quarry. They hurried through dimly lit sectors, ducked around junked equipment and debris that had been waiting for centuries to be hauled away and sorted into one of the scrap incinerators.

Each time they thought they had lost the Ugnaught, they managed to glimpse his patchy-furred head once again, just as they were about to give up hope. If the former foreman knew he was being followed, he certainly made no attempt to elude or avoid them.

After they hurried past a group of Ishi Tibs huddled in a corner placing bets on some sort of combat insects, they saw the small apelike creature turn sharply to the left.

“Where did he go?” Jacen asked.

Lowie grunted, extending a furred arm to point at a small chute opening. Without hesitation, Tenel Ka sprinted ahead and scrambled into the chute. Jacen and Lowbacca followed. “Oh, my!” Em Teedee said. “Are you certain these passages are safe enough to use for transportation?”

“The Ugnaughts use them,” Tenel Ka said. “They live in these tunnel warrens.”

As they proceeded, the light around them grew red and warm. Lowie sniffed, using his Wookiee nose to follow the scent. They ducked low and took shortcuts through passageways that seemed no larger than air shafts. Em Teedee hovered next to the big ginger-furred Wookiee, who had considerable difficulty fitting into the cramped spaces while remaining quiet and secretive. Somehow, they managed to stay on the Ugnaught’s trail as he led them deeper and deeper into Cloud City’s interior.

Jacen mentally reviewed what he knew about the Ugnaughts and their culture, how they had come here as slave creatures for a rich and eccentric developer named Ecclessis Figg. Lord Figg had promised them their freedom if they would help him to complete his impossible dream of building a city in the clouds.

Now, Ugnaughts were among the most respected inhabitants of the huge metropolis in Bespin’s skies. The creatures filled important positions in all strata of society, from city politicians and bureaucrats to salvage engineers on the hot conveyor lines.

This Ugnaught had been an engineer, the chief construction foreman on SkyCenter Galleria, before Cojahn had fired him for “certain irregularities.” So what had he been doing back at the amusement facility? And where was he going now?

The Ugnaught scuttled along without a backward glance, seemingly without noticing the young Jedi Knights following him. In the cramped tunnels and halls they heard few other creatures moving around, just the throbbing sounds of machinery and equipment deep in the Tibanna gas processing levels of the giant city.

A tingle of fear skittered up and down Jacen’s spine. Tenel Ka touched his arm and he could feel the tension rippling through her as well.

“Something is not right,” she said.

“I know it,” he answered, frowning. He knew they had been quiet, using their Jedi skills, but in such an uninhabited area, he found it hard to believe that the Ugnaught ahead didn’t suspect their presence.

The furry creature popped down another dropshaft, and Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Lowie hurried so they wouldn’t lose sight of him. “I wish I knew where he was going,” Jacen muttered. “This is like a scared-mynock chase.”

At the bottom of the shaft they emerged into a large storage area, and Jacen immediately sensed the danger. The large chamber was silent, muffled with shadows; they saw no sign of their quarry whatsoever, though he had dropped into this room only seconds ago.

The three companions stood together, stock still in the shadows. Jacen glanced around, his Jedi senses at the peak of alertness. He saw no movement. A shroud of deathly quiet hung around them. It was too quiet.

Lowie snuffled, trying to detect scents in the musty air. Each breath echoed in the enclosed storage room. Em Teedee’s golden optical sensors glowed in the dimness as he floated above them, unconsciously marking their position.

Tenel Ka pressed closer to Jacen, her back against his. The contact sent a tingle through his senses, though he would have enjoyed it more had they not been in such a tense situation.

Lowie growled deep in his throat. The Wookiee formed no actual words, but the miniaturized translating droid relayed the meaning anyway. “Master Lowbacca believes the Ugnaught has led us into a trap.”

Just as Jacen’s hand twitched toward the lightsaber at his waist, all the room’s glowpanels flashed on, dazzling their eyes with the burst of light. Blinking furiously in an attempt to focus, Jacen saw only blocky shadows, stacked crates, and hunks of decommissioned machinery wrapped in transparent sheeting.

A moment later seven burly, murderous-looking creatures stepped forward, a mix of races: some human, some craggy-faced brutes. One glistening alien dripped blue slime in tiny puddles onto the floor plates. The seven were armed with blasters, grenade launchers, and various long-distance weapons—and each of them looked mean and scarred and intent on mayhem.

An icicle of dread slid down Jacen’s back. Even three Jedi Knights would not be able to resist a combined attack from these hired killers.

“Don’t move,” snarled the slime-dripping alien. Weapons came up and took aim, holding them at bay.

A broad-shouldered human with a hairy face from eyebrows to chin growled in a wet, phlegmy voice, “Are these the ones?” One side of his face appeared to have been eaten away by acid.

The seven thugs pulled out images printed on evaporating flimsiplast. The patchy-furred Ugnaught scurried out from his hiding place behind a rusty disconnected pumping generator. He chittered and squealed, pointing vigorously at them.

“Yeah, I know they were following you. Good job,” the hairy-faced man gargled. “But this is only half the number we’re supposed to kill. Where are the rest—the Lando guy and the other kids?”

The Ugnaught squealed something. Em Teedee said, “Shall I translate what the Ugnaught has just explained?”

“No,” Tenel Ka said quickly.

The Wookiee roared, and Jacen nodded. “I agree, Lowie—if we can’t fight them, we’d better turn around and run!”

The thugs shouted in surprise and fired off scattered blaster shots as Jacen, Lowie, and Tenel Ka bolted toward the nearest exit door. Their feet clanging on the metal decks of the lower levels in Port Town, the young Jedi Knights dashed out of the room, sprinting ahead as fast as they could go. Jacen swung around metal-walled corners, his sweaty hands squeaking on grimy durasteel plates as he grabbed them for balance.

Lowie banged his head on the low ceiling and yowled in pain, but kept charging ahead. Em Teedee sputtered along, doing his best to keep up. “Wait for me!”

The suspicious Ugnaught had led them into a trap. They had blundered into it in spite of sensing warnings through the Force. But what chilled Jacen most was knowing that he and his friends had already been marked as targets. These assassins, carrying images of Lando and the young Jedi Knights, apparently had orders to kill all of them. He had seen a glimpse of his own face on the printed flimsiplast, a contract for their deaths.

The surly bunch behind them bellowed, firing their blasters recklessly. Apparently they had no training in teamwork, though. The searing energy bolts bounced off the reflective walls, skittering like molten cannon-balls down the passageways.

Ahead, Jacen saw an opening in the floor that dropped into a wide air shaft. He leapt down it and the others followed, bouncing and jolting against the slick metal walls until they shot out into an open bay where cold steam hissed upward. Tubes dangled like tentacles from overhead supports. They landed on a rickety catwalk, and Jacen grabbed the railing to reassert his balance. Amber light burned from mini-glows hidden in pipes, conduits, and pressure-release valves.

Beside Jacen, Lowbacca reached out to grab a horizontal dangling chain overhead. Using his powerful Wookiee muscles, he hauled himself across it handover-hand until he reached a lower platform on a solid catwalk, then swung a chain back down to his friends so that Tenel Ka and Jacen could each swing over to him. Em Teedee flew across by himself.

The lift-shaft door opened with a hiss. A blocky, gray-skinned man and the slime-dripping alien lunged into the industrial chamber, immediately spotting their prey. More blaster fire rang out. One bolt breached a lubricant-containment vessel, cracking open its outer shell. Slick greenish-blue liquid spilled onto the floor, turned smoky, and slowly began to burn. The two hitmen growled and coughed, waving the curling, noxious smoke away from their faces. More blue slime dripped from the messy alien.

“This is no place to camp out,” Jacen said. “How about we try somewhere else?”

They ran along the catwalk and scrambled down a set of metal ladders rung by rung until they reached an even lower level, then scurried across a dirt-stained floor.

“Where is everybody?” Jacen said. “Is this section of Cloud City off-limits, or what?”

“Perhaps today it is.” Tenel Ka, barely even breathing hard, stopped next to him. “I believe they moved all workers out of this area. They wished to keep the field clear for their hunt.”

“You mean they planned this that much ahead?” Jacen said.

Lowie chuffed and nodded in agreement. “Oh, no! We’re doomed!” Em Teedee wailed.

They ducked under a half-open shipping bay door and entered an inventory sector where canisters of spin-sealed Tibanna gas stood behind guard fields. Since Tibanna gas was used for hyperdrive cores as well as blaster powerpacks, hazardous-material signs marked every door and each separate shipment.

Still running, they dropped down two more levels. With each new room or corridor intersection, they hoped to encounter crowds again. That way they could disappear among other sentient beings and find protection … but it appeared as if these hidden levels of Port Town had been entirely evacuated.

“We are close to the bottom of Cloud City,” Tenel Ka said after climbing down three more ladders. Jacen could see her arm beginning to shake from the effort. “Perhaps there is an express lift tube that would return us to the upper levels.”

“Not down here,” Jacen said. “They try to keep these levels separate from the tourists and credit-paying customers.”

Tenel Ka flicked her red-gold braids away, and he saw a sheen of sweat on her face. He wondered if it was from exertion or from fear.

He decided it must be from exertion.

All around them the room became too quiet again. The three of them moved toward a heavy door that led out into the dim passageways of living quarters. Lowie sniffed. They could hear noises, conversations, sounds of the city’s other inhabitants, and Jacen guessed these must be the warrens filled with Ugnaught families tucked into cramped tubes and small dwelling areas.

Tenel Ka drew her lightsaber and switched it on. The turquoise blade hummed and flickered in the shadowy room. “Still quiet,” she said. “But we are now close to other people.”

Jacen, trusting his friend’s instincts, removed his own lightsaber. Lowie did the same. But before they could switch on their weapons, a side door whisked open and three of the deadly hunters charged out, bellowing and opening fire without even taking aim.

Tenel Ka deflected one of the blaster bolts with her blade. The shot left a smoking hole in the metal wall mere centimeters to avoid the head of the man who had fired it. More blaster fire erupted, ricocheting off walls and blasting equipment into ruined shreds.

Jacen ducked to avoid the blizzard of powerful shots. “I don’t think this is a good place either,” he panted. They backed up.

Lowie grabbed Tenel Ka and Jacen, hauling them after him as he charged back through the door, sprinted toward another access shaft, and jumped down to a final level. Tenel Ka held her glowing lightsaber far away from her friends as they all scrambled backward onto a metal grid floor covered with strange circular markings, ribs, and hatches that led to other shafts. The corridor glowpanels pulsed, too bright and harsh for Jacen’s eyes to adjust quickly. Twirling alarm signals overhead warned them of some impending hazard, but gave no indication as to what it might be.

Jacen looked around, his tangled hair damp with sweat. His lungs burned from the long run. “Do you think we’ve gotten away from them?” he said.

“Too easy,” Tenel Ka answered with an emphatic shake of her head. Her lightsaber still hummed and vibrated in her hand.

Up ahead they spotted a ladder that would lead to a higher level. “We must climb again,” Tenel Ka said. She switched off her lightsaber and clipped it back to her belt so she could use her single hand for climbing.

“It’s a long way back up,” Jacen gasped. He struggled to force air back into his lungs, then sighed. “So I guess we’d better get started.”

But as they rushed toward the beckoning escape ladder, a trio of their pursuers scrambled out of another side shaft and came to a halt, leering at the three young Jedi clustered together. A scaly-skinned, skull-faced bandit snarled, preparing to fire; the hairy man brought up his heavy blaster rifle. Beside them the little Ugnaught panted. Raising a gnarled, furry hand, the creature chittered and squealed in triumph.

Em Teedee said, “Oh no! He says he’s going to—”

The Ugnaught slapped a button set into the wall, and suddenly the floor dropped out from under Jacen’s feet. He, Tenel Ka, and the ginger-furred Wookiee all tumbled down into a bottomless shaft. They fell and rolled, slamming against the walls with bruising force—nothing at all like their enjoyable experience in the vortex tunnel at the SkyCenter Galleria.

Dropping first, Lowie bounced and jolted down the curves of the steep tube, with Tenel Ka close behind. In the rear, Jacen tried to grab Tenel Ka’s leg or foot, anything to slow them down, but the shaft walls were far too slick, and gravity did its work. They picked up speed.

Twenty meters below them, a wide hatch opened up, a round circle that let in a breeze and raw daylight. Jacen realized with horror that this was a garbage chute or an exhaust tube—something that led out into Bespin’s open sky.

With a yowl of dismay, Lowbacca shot down through the hatch, falling, tumbling, dropping into empty space.

He reached out with his long Wookiee arms and managed to grab on to a dangling transmission antenna. With a sudden severe jerk, he hung still, holding on with his powerful grip, his legs dangling over the sea of infinite clouds.

He roared and extended his other arm as Tenel Ka dropped beside him. With lightning reflexes he snatched at her. Just in time the warrior girl reacted, flailed backward with her single arm—and grasped his powerful furred grip like a Karduran acrobat.

A split second later, Jacen came tumbling down, yelling at the top of his lungs, flailing his arms and legs, trying to grab on to something.

Lowie hung in the notch of the antenna with one arm and grasped the dangling Tenel Ka with the other. He roared, but he had no free arm. Tenel Ka had only one hand, and that was grasped tightly in Lowbacca’s. Thinking fast, she swung her body, arched her back, and reached out with her legs.

Jacen managed to grab her calf but then slid down, clutching at her lizard-hide boot for just a moment. His sweat-slick fingers gripped her ankle; then slipped….

“Jacen!” Tenel Ka cried.

Jacen looked up at her for one last fleeting instant as she tried to reach out to him. Lowie yowled in despair.

Jacen’s fingers slid from Tenel Ka’s boot, and he dropped….

Dropped far away from Cloud City … plummeting into the bottomless sea of sky, where he vanished like a speck of dust.