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Rostu reached overhead and flipped a few switches. Den felt his stomach flip in response, along with the ship’s landing gear extruding. A moment later the Far Ranger touched down, and Rostu cut the secondary lifts. “Let’s hope we don’t find out for ourselves how much truth there is to the stories,” he said. He peered through the cockpit’s blister. “There’s their ship—but where are they?”

“A better question is, Why are they here in the first place?” Jax said.

“And an even better question is, Why are we?” Den added.

Rostu lowered the ramp. They started down it cautiously, the two Jedi first, then Rostu and I-Five flanking Den, who was the only one unarmed. Of course.

The buildings were dark, boxy geometric shapes under the leprous light of the moons. Centax 2 would rise soon as well, and their combined radiance would make the landscape almost as bright as day. After all, Den thought, we wouldn’t want the assorted monsters to have any trouble finding us, would we?

“I’ve picked up the Falleen’s scent again,” said I-Five. “This way.” He started toward an open entrance to one of the buildings that was as black as Rokko’s heart.

“By the way,” he added, “we shouldn’t stay too long. According to my sensors, this entire place was powered by one of the old-style ion-neutrino reactors. I’m detecting some low-level radiation leakage.”

Den shook his head. It just keeps getting better.

Kaird was between Xizor and 10-4TO as they moved through the dark interior of what had once been a droid-manufacturing plant. Xizor apparently knew the way by heart, because he led them through a maze of corridors, stairs, and chambers before they finally stopped. They were in a small room, coldly lit by moonlight through a grimy set of windows. Kaird saw no movement in the shadows, and felt slightly relieved. His sensitivity to light made the room more visible to him than to either of his comrades. There didn’t seem to be an immediate threat, although he’d still feel a lot better with his hands uncuffed and his mouth ungagged.

The Falleen said, “I imagine you’re curious about why I’ve brought you halfway around the planet to this forsaken place, Kaird. It’s simple—I wanted you to meet someone.” He set a portable sconce on a shelf and turned it on. Kaird looked at Xizor; the prince was smiling, and from long experience the Nediji had come to know that this was never a good sign.

The prince turned to 10-4TO and said, “Deactivate yourself for ten minutes.”

The droid’s photoreceptors winked out, and its body slumped slightly. Xizor waited a moment to make sure Bug-Eyes was inert, and then removed Kaird’s muzzle. He gestured behind the Nediji.

“I’m sure no introductions are necessary,” he said.

Kaird, with a mounting sense of dread, turned. Behind him, near one wall and formerly concealed in thick shadow, stood a man. A man whom Kaird recognized immediately, despite the utter impossibility of his being there. He stared in shock.

It was Underlord Dal Perhi.

thirty-six

Nick kept his hand on his holstered blaster as he, Laranth, Den Dhur, I-Five, and Jax moved toward the dark entrance. Jax and Laranth took point, and Nick brought up the rear.

It wasn’t going to be difficult to find them—at least not as long as I-Five’s olfactory sensors functioned. The droid’s photoreceptors were on maximum brightness, so lack of illumination wasn’t a problem, either. Nick’s rudimentary connection with the Force sensed no immediate danger, although at the far fringes of his awareness he was fairly sure there lurked monsters.

And at least one lurks quite a bit closer, he thought. That would be me.

Time was running out. Nick knew he had to make a decision. He’d been putting it off, hoping against hope that something would happen to spare him from this terrible task.

There were a dozen different ways he could justify turning Jax over to Darth Vader. It wasn’t like the Jedi was a close friend or relative. And he didn’t know what fate Vader had planned for him