Star Wars_ Rebel Force 05_ Trapped - Alex Wheeler [38]
This, X-7 finally understood, was what made him superior. He'd deceived himself long enough, pretending he could be one of them. He'd torn himself apart, pretending to be someone he wasn't. Pretending to be someone.
It was a lie. He was no one.
He was X-7.
There was no escaping that.
"What is this?" Div said quickly. "We've been over and over this. It's not a trap.
Everything I've told you has been the absolute truth. You're my—"
"Brother," X-7 said. "Don't worry. I believe you."
Div released a nearly imperceptible sigh.
"That's why I need to do this," X-7 said.
He fired.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"Something's wrong," Luke whispered, nervously adjusting his maintenance uniform as they approached the garrison's workers' entrance.
"Of course something's wrong," Han shot back, sounding annoyed. "We're walking into an Imperial garrison. Two of us against two hundred of them. And we're doing it voluntarily. What's not wrong about that?" He hoisted his toolbox, which held six Merr-Sonn Munitions Class-A thermal detonators. The plan was simple. They would use the security access codes X-7 had given them. Div and X-7 were doing the same on the opposite end of the garrison. They would sneak in, place the detonators at the heart of the building, a weapons arsenal, where any explosion would ignite a wider blaze. The detonators were on a timer set for thirty minutes. Just as Darth Vader was surveying his latest triumph, the building would explode.
Two Rebel strike forces under Leia's command were positioned around the perimeter of the building, ready to go at a moment's notice.
Han reached the designated entrance. He raised his hand to enter the code that would let them slip in unnoticed. Without thinking, Luke grabbed his wrist to stop him.
"What now, kid?" Han asked irritably. "If you don't have the stomach for this—"
"It's not that," Luke whispered. "Something's wrong."
He had that feeling, the dark, suffocating cloud that sometimes descended over him when danger was near. The Force, warning him of trouble. But it wasn't just that. It was something he didn't feel—something missing.
The last time he'd been near Darth Vader, he'd sensed a different darkness. He hadn't understood it then, but he remembered it vividly. It was power, sizzling in the air, like the change in air pressure before a storm, subtle at first, then overwhelming.
And it was missing.
"Vader isn't here," Luke said.
"How would you know?" Han asked.
"I just know." And if X-7 had been lying about Vader's presence, what else had he been lying about?
Han shook his head. Luke knew he had little patience for what he thought of as Jedi mumbo jumbo, which meant Luke wasn't going to convince him with talk of gut feelings and trusting the Force. He had to speak in a language Han understood.
"You don't trust X-7 any more than I do," Luke pointed out.
Han didn't disagree.
Luke pushed on. "So if he gave us the wrong codes—"
"Kid, if X-7's against us, we've got bigger problems than the wrong codes," Han said.
"And—" He jerked his head toward the AC-1 surveillance droids keeping their mechanical eyes on the entrance. "It's probably already too late." He gave the barrel of his blaster a loving tap. "But it's not like we're going in unprepared."
"Two of us and two hundred of them," Luke reminded him. "You're prepared for that? "
Han laughed. He entered the security code. The door slid open. No stormtroopers, no alarms, no nothing. "Looks like you were worried about nothing," Han said as they stepped inside.
Then his comlink pinged. "Luke! Han!" Leia's tinny voice blared through the static.
"It's a trap—" Her voice was cut off by the thunder of an explosion.
The transmission went dead.
Ferus didn't know why he'd been compelled to turn back. To anyone else—to Leia, especially—it would look cowardly. He'd abandoned his designated post for no particular reason. He'd fled the base just before the Rebel raid