Part 30 (2/2)

The emergency tractor beams were obviously not as hair-trigger as he'd feared, and he reached the other side without so much as a nudge from them. Catching the top of the other skyarch's guardwall, he swung his legs through the opening between guardwall and roof to land in a slight crouch on the nonmoving section of the walkway.

He took in the tableau laid out before him in a glance. The two prospective victims, as he'd already seen, were standing ahead and to his right, their backs pressed against the guardwall. The hood on the taller of them bad slipped back, revealing the lined face and white hair of an old woman. The face of the child clinging to her side-most likely a grandchild or even great-grandchild, considering the woman's age-was still completely in shadow. But Luke didn't need to see an expression, the way the child clutched the old woman's side was all the evidence anyone needed to recognize the silent terror there.

A terror that was well founded; From the lower skyarch Luke had seen three knife-wielding men closing in on them. Now, from his new vantage point, he could see that those three were merely the inner circle of a much larger group. Nine other men were standing a few paces farther back, forming a semicircle around their intended prey. All nine of them had the hardened faces of men whose lives had been shaped by violence and cruelty; all nine had blasters out and ready.

And at the moment, all nine of those faces-and five of those blasters-were pointed at Luke.

”That's far enough,” Luke called, straightening up from his landing crouch. ”Put down your weapons.”

”I've got a better idea,” one of the men snarled, his voice as nasty as his appearance.

”Why don't you turn around and walk away. While you still can.”

”I don't think so,” Luke said, trying to sound more confident than be felt. With five-six; now-blasters trained on him, it was going to be a race to see whether be could get his lightsaber out fast enough to deflect the shots that would be coming his direction the instant he made a move toward the weapon.

But there was the slideway two steps to his left. One section in each direction; both moving at reasonably high speed. ”We're wasting time,” one of the other men spat ”Burn him and let's-”

And in that instant, in the middle of the sentence, the child moved.

It was so quiet and so smooth that at first Luke didn't realize what was happening. The child rotated out of his panicked death rip on the old woman toward the nearest of the knife-wielding a.s.sailants, one arm swinging across the man like a stylized slap cross his chest that fell short of its intended mark. The arm movement seemed to deflect the child like a ricocheted stone toward the second a.s.sailant; the slapping movement again, and he was now winging toward the third man&mdash And with a gurgling gasp, the first man collapsed into a heap on the ground.

Someone swore with startled viciousness, the blasters pointed at Luke wavering as sudden confusion intruded on what had two seconds earlier been a solidly secure situation. Heads turned back toward the child and his grandmother&mdash And then the second man crumpled, and the third man started to do the same, his knife now inexplicably in the child's hand. But only briefly; an instant later, with an abbreviated flick of the wrist, the knife flashed across the short distance to bury itself in the chest of one of the other a.s.sailants.

And as it did so, the hood fell back far enough to finally expose the child's face.

It wasn't a child beneath that cloak. It was a Noghri.

That single glance was the last clear view any of them had of the he alien. For some, it was the last clear view of anything they would ever have. Even as Luke grabbed for his lightsaber the Noghri became a blur of motion: diving, rolling, slas.h.i.+ng with blades now in both hands, evading the frantic sputtering of blaster shots with casual ease. A grenade clattered to the walkway at the old woman's feet, vanished as Luke reached out through the Force to maneuver it through the gap between guardwall and roof and, send it hurling straight up.

By the time it exploded harmlessly far above them, the battle was over.

”Master Skywalker,” the Noghri said, nodding gravely from the center of the carnage as be slid his two a.s.sa.s.sin's knives back to concealment. ”I am honored by your presence, and grateful for your a.s.sistance.”

”Such as it was,” Luke said, shaking his bead in astonishment. seen Noghri in training and practice combat and had thought knew the limits of their fighting skills. He hadn't even been close. ”Somehow, I think you would have managed quite well without me.”

”Your pardon, but that is not true,” the Noghri demurred, stepping over the bodies and coming over to him. ”Your distraction was most timely, allowing me nearly four extra seconds I would otherwise not have bad.”

”Not to mention the grenade,” the old woman added. She had crouched down beside one of the dead and was going through his pockets with practiced fingers. ”If not for your quick action, we would all have been killed. Thank you.”

”You're welcome,” Luke said, eyeing her with growing doubts she finished her search and moved on to the next body. A Noghri warrior and a woman with the expertise of a professional pickpocket were not exactly what he'd had in mind when he'd come leaping to the rescue. ”May I ask who you are?”

”Not who you're probably afraid I am,” the woman said, pausing in her search to flash him a smile. ”It's really quite honest and mostly respectable. My name is Moranda Savich; Plakhmirakh here is currently attached to me as my bodyguard. We work for an acquaintance of yours: Talon Karrde.”

”Really,” Luke said. ”Oddly enough, I was just thinking out trying to make contact with Karrde.”

”Well, you've come to the right place,” Moranda said, straightening up. ”He's just arrived on Cejansij.”

”You're joking,” Luke said, frowning. ”What's he doing here?”

”Who ever knows what Karrde's doing anywhere?” Moranda interred philosophically. ”Why don't you come along and ask him yourself?”

Luke looked down through the guardwall at the city lights below. Once again, he'd managed to be in the right place at the right time. The Force was indeed with him. ”Thank you,” he said to Moranda. ”I believe I will.”

”Chief?”

Karrde looked up from his desk to find Dankin's head poking around the open office doorway. ”Yes, what is it?”

”Savich and her Noghri guard are here,” Dankin said. ”She's got the data drop you wanted.”

”Good,” Karrde said, frowning slightly. Back when the Wild Karrde's bridge crew had been preparing to spring Booster Terrik's Errant Venture on the unsuspecting H'sis.h.i.+, Dankin had been wearing a half-concealed grin. He was wearing the same grin now. ”And?” Karrde prompted.

The grin came fully out of concealment ”And they also brought you a surprise.”

”Really,” Karrde said, letting the temperature of his voice cool a couple of degrees. ”I hope you remember hew much I like surprises.”

”You'll like this one, Chief,” Dankin a.s.sured him, stepping aside and gesturing.

Plakhmirakh and Moranda Savich emerged around the doorway and stepped into the office, the latter holding a data drop cylinder in her hand. And coming in behind them&mdash ”Well, I'll be Kesseled,” Karrde said, getting to his feet. ”A pleasant surprise indeed.

h.e.l.lo, Skywalker.”

”Karrde.” Skywalker nodded in greeting. ”I'm surprised to find you here.”

”The feeling is mutual,” Karrde agreed. ”Are you alone?”

”Artoo's with me,” Skywalker said, nodding back over his shoulder. ”He spotted a GV9T repair droid working off your cargo bay and stopped for a chat.”

”I hope he enjoys it,” Karrde said, taking the cylinder from Moranda and glancing at its markings. ”That's the last GV9T I'm ever going to buy. Any trouble, Moranda?”

”We were jumped on the way back,” she told him. ”Twelve men, very professional, no indications as to who they were working for.”

”Probably one of the Hutts,” Karrde said, turning the cylinder over in his hand. ”They weren't exactly thrilled about losing this.”

”Could be,” Moranda said. Whoever they were, Plakhmirakh took care of them.”

”With a.s.sistance from Master Skywalker,” the Noghri added in his gravelly voice. ”He arrived at exactly the proper moment.”

”Jedi Masters have that knack,” Karrde said dryly, handing the cylinder back to Moranda.

”Good. Take it to Odonnl, then you can go and relax in the crew lounge while he checks it out and issues your payment. Would you be interested in taking on another a.s.signment?”

”Only if it's more fun than courier work,” Moranda said. ”Apart from the attack, it was all rather boring.” She waved a hand each toward Luke and Plakhmirakh. ”And with these two around, even that part wasn't very exciting.”

”I'll try to do better the next time,” Karrde promised. ”As a matter of fact, I have one job in particular where your talents might prove useful. Check back here after you've been paid and we'll talk, all right?”

”Fine,” Moranda said, nodding. Plakhmirakh gave an abbreviated Noghri bow, and together they left the office.

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