Star Wars_ Children of the Jedi - Barbara Hambly [95]
“All personnel, report to your section lounge.” The computer’s voder contralto broke abruptly into his thoughts. “All personnel, report to your section lounge. Abstention or avoidance will be construed as …”
>Better go< flashed the orange letters on the screen.
>Can’t let your actions be construed as sympathetic to the ill intent of the etcetera. Watch your back<
For that moment he could almost see her grin.
• The Imperial Military Code Section 12-C classifies as capital offenses, among others: Incitement to mutiny against duly constituted authority; participation in mutiny; concealing known or suspected mutineers from central authority of the vessel; concealing evidence of planned or executed acts of mutiny or sabotage from chain of command, physical plant, or automatic self-checking devices on board any Fleet vessel
• After examination of all evidence, the defendant has been found guilty of mutiny against the central authority of this vessel, and of inciting by her participation further mutiny and acts of sabotage by persons unknown
“What, are they blaming the Jawas on Cray now?” murmured Luke to Threepio, who had switched on again to accompany him to the section lounge. They stood in the portside doorway, half hidden by the Kitonaks who had been brought yesterday to observe Cray’s trial and had remained there, chatting, ever since.
Closer to the screen, the Gakfedd tribe squealed and snarled and yelled, “So it’s her fault, the witch!” and “She’s the one behind the festerin’ Rebels!”
• Despite the excellent record of the accused, it is the decision of the Will that Trooper Cray Mingla be executed by laser enclision at 1600 hours tomorrow. All personnel are to report to their section lounges …
“Luke …” Cray raised her voice above the voder monotone of the Justice Station. Her face was gray and haggard under the bruises, her dark eyes exhausted and sick with inner pain. “Luke, get me out of here! Please get me out! We’re on Deck Nineteen, Starboard Front Sector, Maintenance Bay Seven, we came up Lift Shaft Twenty-one, it’s guarded and booby-trapped—”
The Gakfedds hooted and yelled, and in the Justice Chamber the nearest Klagg guard snapped, “Zip it, skag-face,” and Cray flinched—Cray, who despite her makeup and stylishness had never, to Luke’s knowledge, shown physical fear in her life. Hot rage flooded him, blotting the pain in his leg.
But she went on, fast, as the guards seized her arms, dragged her to the door, “Lift Twenty-one! Ten guards, they ricochet blaster bolts down the shaft to hit the lower doors, there’s a booby-trap ten meters down the corridor—”
“Yeah, tell us about it, Rebel tramp!” “Blow this laser enclision, steam her!” “Dump her in the shredder!” “Throw her in the enzyme tanks!” “Hey, toss her to the garbage worms …”
“Sixteen hundred hours tomorrow,” whispered Luke, icy chill fighting the red rage in his veins. “We can—”
“Hey! You.”
Ugbuz, Krok, and three or four other boars stood before him, heavy arms folded, yellow eyes glittering evilly in the reflected glow of the emergency lights that were at this point the only illumination in most of the sector. As more and more systems failed, the ship was growing dark. Since the Jawas were stealing power cells out of the emergency lamps, and any glowrods they could find, someone had set burning wicks in red plastic bowls of cooking oil all around the lounge—there’d already been one fire in a nearby rec room from the same source. The MSEs and SP-80s were still cleaning up the sodden mess left by the overhead sprinklers—when Luke had passed on the way to the section lounge, he’d seen Jawas, like myrmins at a picnic, carrying away several MSEs and looting the power cells out of the larger droids.
The whole section smelled now of Gamorreans and smoke.
“I put your name through Central Computer,