Star Wars_ Splinter of the Mind's Eye - Alan Dean Foster [42]
First through the gap were the two Yuzzem. The Princess followed immediately behind. Once clear, she turned and called to Luke. “What are you waiting for … come on!”
But Luke was back at the window. “Are you all right, old woman?”
“I will be,” Halla quipped, her face still showing the strain, “if you don’t call me that too often. Couldn’t have done it without your help, boy. Your control is good.”
“Not as good as your guidance,” he responded gently. “You showed me the way. I’ve been lucky. I’ve had good teachers.”
She reached through the bars and patted his hand. “You’re kind, Luke boy. There’s a big landspeeder garage and maintenance yard nearby. You turn right as you exit this mausoleum and pass some prefab administrative coops. Continue on until you hit a small adjusted stream. Turn right again, follow the stream. You’ll pass a few more, larger buildings. Eventually you’ll reach the depot.
The garage is the big structure on the immediate left. I’ll meet you there with your ’droids.”
“What happens when we get there?”
“Happens? Why boy, we’ve got to steal a landspeeder or crawl-high. Or do you think we’re going to walk to the crystal? Not on this planet! See you there.”
“Right,” Luke acknowledged.
“Hurry up, Luke!” the Princess was calling to him, expecting a flood of troops at any moment. When he didn’t reply, she rushed back into the cell, grabbed one arm and pulled. He came willingly, still glancing back toward the window Halla had already abandoned.
A loud commotion sounded ahead and Luke made worried noises.
“What’s wrong?” the Princess asked, trying to see around corners in front of them.
“It’s the Yuzzem.”
“Sounds like they’re having fun,” she demurred, after an especially violent crashing echoed down the corridor.
“We ought to be trying to sneak out of here quietly.”
“A subtle Yuzzem. You might as well wish for a squadron of Y-wings,” she snorted derisively. She picked up the tray and passed it over the cell lock, then slipped it back inside the bars.
“That should give them something to think about,” she announced with satisfaction. “Let them think we dematerialized the bars. It won’t bother Grammel, but it might make some of his troops uneasy. I want anyone trailing me to be as nervous as possible.”
Together, they started up the corridor.
Hin and Kee were waiting around the second corner. The first Yuzzem was standing over the limp forms of three troopers. He was using a ’droid to beat a fourth soldier to pulp. The ’droid he was holding by one leg was coming apart at roughly the same rate as the man.
Kee had a long armful of weapons apparently taken from the decommissioned troopers. Luke caught a pistol tossed to him, as did Leia, while the two aliens armed themselves.
Kee promptly assumed a listening pose, turned and dashed toward a far doorway. “No, not now!” Luke protested. Reaching out, he came away with two handfuls of brown hair. This did not seem to affect the big alien in the least.
“I was afraid of this,” he groaned. It took only seconds for Kee to flatten the door and burst inside. They followed.
The large room was a communications center, possibly the central one for the whole temple complex. Kee was rushing about, firing wildly with a rifle held in one massive hand while using the other to demolish both instrumentation and operators with casual indifference as to whether the target was inorganic or protesting.
Luke charged in behind, yelling in Yuzz: “We’ve got to get out of here, Kee! Listen to me!”
No use. The creature was beyond reason. Luke left the room. As he did so an energy bolt smashed into the wall just above him. Dropping to one knee, he whirled and fired his pistol, dropping an Imperial trooper down a secondary corridor. Leia caught another in the midsection and the remaining pair dove for cover, firing as they did.
“Regulars are beginning to show up, Luke!” she shouted. “We can’t stay … we’ve got to get out.”
“I can see that,” Luke shot back nervously. He pressed back against the wall,