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He saw Laranth standing before him, coolly firing both of her weapons with enough accuracy to block the incoming fire.

Laranth ended the fight—which surely hadn’t lasted more than a couple of seconds—by shooting the droid’s arm cannon squarely in its barrel, temporarily deactivating it. “Don’t move,” she said, her own blasters still held ready. “Either one of you.”

Jax managed to get to his feet. Halfway there he felt I-Five’s strong, cool hands helping him to stand. He shrugged them away angrily.

Jax saw the other droid standing several paces away. This, no doubt, was 10-4TO. He could see why its nickname was Bug-Eyes. He’d expected to see the droid, so its presence came as no surprise. He did not, however, expect to see a Falleen standing slightly behind it, or another being lying on the floor between them.

This latter was of a species Jax had never encountered before. It was bipedal, around one and a half meters tall; the parts of its body that he could see were covered in a fine pale blue down that made him think of feathers. The shape of the skull was also oddly avian.

Where was this creature from? What was it doing here? Jax felt suddenly confused, uncertain, to a degree that actually made him dizzy. He noticed that the Falleen’s skin color had changed from green to reddish orange, and from the corner of his eye he saw that Laranth was looking somewhat confused as well.

He had just enough time to make the connection before the Falleen snatched a blaster from his holster and fired at them.

Jax reached for the Force again. Ironically, it was the confusion caused by the reptiloid’s chemical discharges that saved him this time; his mental state was in such turmoil that he had no time to be uncertain about his ability to connect. And this time, the Force was there again for him. He deflected the blaster bolt with his lightsaber, then leapt the distance between them—perhaps ten meters—aided by the Force. But his savaged nervous system caused one leg to buckle under him when he landed, throwing him off-balance.

Taking advantage of this, the Falleen moved quickly. He scooped up the supine biped and slung him over his shoulder. “Come!” he shouted to Bug-Eyes, and ran. The droid followed, and they both disappeared into the shadows. A moment later Laranth ran past him in pursuit.

The entire episode had taken less than a minute to play out, although it had felt like forever. The others—Nick, Dhur, and the droid—had already rounded the corner and joined them.

“Zu woohama!” Nick shouted, and Jax belatedly remembered the control phrase. It was too late now; the droid was gone. He shook his head in disgust.

“Are you all right?” I-Five asked. Again his—its—disturbingly human demeanor annoyed Jax, as did his own tendency to think of the droid as a he instead of an it. He didn’t show it this time, however; his voice was level and neutral as he answered, “I’m fine.” He turned away so he wouldn’t have to see the look of relief projected on the droid’s metal face, which he knew would be there, just as surely as the look of concern that had been there before.

“Don’t beat yourself up about forgetting the control phrase,” Nick told him. “Kind of hard to remember things like that when you’re being zapped by a blaster.”

Laranth emerged from the shadow, alone, looking disgusted. “I lost them,” she said. “It’s a maze in there.” She frowned. “I should have been able to track them through the Force, but—I got confused.” It was obviously hard for her to admit this.

Jax wondered briefly if Laranth, for whatever reason, was encountering the same difficulty in accessing the Force as he was. When he looked at her threads, however, they seemed as strong as ever.

“I have an idea,” I-Five said. “We can use the Falleen’s own defense against him. Follow me—if none of you mind,” he added, glancing at Jax. Then he turned and strode off in the direction the Falleen and the other droid had taken.

Jax did mind, but he was also smart enough to realize that I-Five’s tracking abilities were probably the only thing that would