Enemy Lines II_ Rebel Stand - Aaron Allston [86]
Mara crept along the metal girder forty meters above the floor. The light from the lamps, dying glowrods, and torches below barely reached her; with her dark garments and skill at movement, she doubted very much that she would be seen.
The floor below was irregular, partially buckled, the result of one of the quakes that Danni said had plagued Coruscant since the Yuuzhan Vong had begun to shift its orbit. It was covered in black material, gummy and sticky, the sort of material Mara had seen on countless roofs of buildings on other worlds. Its use here meant that this surface was not intended as a work or habitation area—but now it was full of beings, a constant stream of haggard males and females of a variety of species emerging from and descending into stairs at the chamber’s four corners. Wearing tatters, not interacting, barely blinking, they carried duracrete blocks and rubbish and portions of bodies, hauling these things out through a side tunnel and returning unencumbered.
Clearly they were excavating something in the chamber or chambers below that black floor, and doing so at the bidding of another. But where, and what, was that being? There was no sign of the Yuuzhan Vong, no sign of Lord Nyax.
From the end of a metal beam that bobbed occasionally under the combination of her weight and the stray breeze that moved through the chamber, Mara could look straight down at the center of the floor. It sagged, suggesting that there was a single large chamber beneath. She pulled out her comlink. “Luke,” she whispered.
“I’m here.”
She knew that; she could feel him, dozens of meters away, toward one of this chamber’s four upper corners, at the hole Elassar had found. He was with Tahiri, Face, and Kell. Any of them could have been the one to crawl out on this metal beam, but it had been Mara’s turn.
“I suspect it would be child’s play to join one of the work gangs,” Mara said. “I don’t think they’d react if a wampa in a war helmet and a dancing skirt started working with them.”
Face’s voice came back: “Give me a minute, I can work up that disguise.”
“How about you just keep your current outfit and go see what they’re digging up?”
“Spoilsport. Give me about ten minutes to get down there.”
“Will do.” She stiffened. “Wait a second. Something’s changing.”
The line of workers stopped in place, every one of the dozens of blank-eyed Coruscant survivors turning toward a far corner of the chamber. Mara strained to see, then gave up and brought out her macrobinoculars.
In that corner, a flap of sheet metal was pulled aside by something on the other side … and Lord Nyax stepped through.
Mara felt a hiss try to escape her. She stilled it, an unnecessary precaution, as at this distance no living creature could have heard her. But the contrast between the malevolent Force presence she could feel from that man and his cheerful looks atop that monstrously tall body was startling.
She almost dropped the macrobinoculars. “Luke, did you feel that?”
“I did. Maybe you should get back here.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t.” She returned her attention to the man in the distance. “But keep talking to me.”
“Will do. What are you seeing?”
“Lord Nyax. He’s come through the wall and he’s walking toward the work crews. He’s alone.”
“How’s his expression?”
“Happy. Childish-happy.” For a moment, she could see into Lord Nyax’s thoughts deeper than mere visual evidence should allow her. “He’s pleased with their progress. They’ve got it ready to go.”
“Got what ready?”
“What they told him about.” Mara shook her head again as if trying to fling the alien thoughts from her skull by centrifugal force. “I can’t seem to close myself off, Luke. I can’t seem to block it.”
“Me, either. Or Tahiri. I’m coming out there.”
Mara looked back. In the distance behind her, she saw a dark shape emerge from a ceiling-high hole in the wall and come trotting across intact metal beams, more nimble than any acrobat.
She felt another sensation in the Force, a hunger that seemed decidedly out of character for Lord Nyax.