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By Root 503 0

and others declared “enemies of the state.” These included Temple workers, aides-de-camp, Force-sensitives, and even, it was rumored, a few Jedi Padawans and Knights. The fugitives were smuggled via cargo vehicles, utility tunnels, and various other clandestine means from all over the cityplanet, along routes known collectively as the Underground Mag-Lev. They were eventually placed onto freighters, transports, pleasure yachts—any ship whose captain was sympathetic to the cause, or mercenary enough to be swayed by credits—and so ferried safely offworld. While Palpatine had stated publicly that the Jedi and their aides were no longer considered a threat, Jax suspected that finding and stopping the UML was on the Imperial agenda, if only for the propaganda value. Imperial troops had located and shut down some of the routes, but others had quickly taken their places.

As a Jedi Knight, Jax Pavan was guaranteed a berth on one of the transports, freighters, or other vessels participating in the seditious action. But he’d consistently refused to go, opting rather to stay on Coruscant and help others escape.

Now he had little choice in the matter. He had to let go of the tatters of his old life and find another world, preferably a good many parsecs distant. Because once Rokko knew that he was a Jedi, it would be only a matter of time before the sector police knew. There wasn’t all that much of a bounty on rogue Jedi, but Rokko would turn in his own crèche-mother without a backward glance if credits were to be had.

Jax turned away from the abyss and entered the building. Once inside, he found a convenient turbolift, and in less than a minute he was back on the street.

He realized he hadn’t even thought that much about the money that the Hutt owed him, although fifteen thousand creds was a lot to lose, especially all at once. Such a windfall would have aided him considerably in relocating to a new world and a new life. But he knew the chances of getting it from Rokko now were nil.

Even so, despite all reason to the contrary, Jax actually felt his spirits rising. It was time for a change. He wondered if perhaps he’d unconsciously revealed his Jedi identity to force himself into some new paradigm. In any event, what was done was done.

It was getting colder. Unlike the favored upper levels, where the climate was as regulated as everything else, in the downlevels actual, local weather was still something to contend with. The near-perpetual inversion layer, combined with nonregulated releases of heat exhaust and water vapor, often caused localized warm and cold fronts to develop. As Jax walked down the narrow street, moving quickly to dodge the frequent automated tumbrels loaded with trash and rubble that hurtled by, he was lashed by a sudden flurry of cold rain. A few moments later the temperature began to rise again, and ground fog hid the pavement. The street and pedestrian traffic had thinned, fortunately, though he was nearly knocked into the path of an oncoming surface car when a drunken Shistavenen blundered out of a tavern and collided with him, and a few minutes later he was accosted by a pushy young Toydarian scalping tickets to a heavy isotope concert, before he finally reached his destination.

The micro-conapt that he called home—or had, until an hour ago—lived up to its name. It was scarcely a blister in the cubic ferrocarbon bunker that a flickering sign outside proclaimed THE CORUSCANT ARMS. Returning to it reinforced his belief that whatever new life he might make for himself on some outfar world could scarcely be any worse than this one.

Inside, Jax pulled a much-worn fleekskin portmanteau from the tiny closet and opened it on the foldout bunk. Fortunately, he’d learned to journey light: a single change of clothes, toiletries, and a few personal possessions he’d allowed himself to keep from his days at the Temple. These included a small holocron of the sage Yoda, holding forth on the various aspects of the Jedi Code; a crystal from the caves of Dantooine with which he could “hone” the energy blade of his lightsaber;