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But Lowie knew the codes. He and Sirra could use the Rock Dragon as an escape vehicle. They had few choices at this point. He had to get his friends away from Ryloth and Nolaa Tarkona.

Lowie hoped the preprogrammed warning sirens would keep the Diversity Alliance soldiers occupied. Technicians, dock workers, inventory control officers, and maintenance engineers ran through the tunnels, panicked by the ala klaxons.

Lowbacca had stripped off his guard armor and tossed it down a waste chute into an underground well. He smoothed his black streak back with a brush of his hand, and once again looked like a studious Wookiee who spent too much time around computers.

Lowie had found Sirra diligently helping out in a loading bay. She hadn't seemed to mind the hard work of lifting pallets of materials in sealed containers labeled FOOD or MEDICAL SUPPLIES to be taken to downtrodden alien worlds. And she had been glad to see him.

Lowie had pulled her aside and breathlessly told his story of betrayal.

The truth had been kept from them, he explained; the young Jedi Knights were being held captive down in the spice mines. Sirra was shocked at the news, and reluctant to believe it. But she had seen the Rock Dragon herself, Lowie reminded her. Em Teedee's very presence substantiated his story. How else could Lowie have gotten his translator back, since he had left the little droid on Yavin 4?

Lowie crept behind one of the supply crates and motioned for his sister to follow him. The other workers, intent onthe blaring alarms, took no notice of them. Lowie punched his fist through the side of a crate, breaking a hole in its thin veneer to reveal not medicinal supplies or food, as the labels declared, but power packs for long-range, military-style blaster rifles.

Sirra swallowed hard; her shaved patches and tufts of fur stood out prominently in all directions.

She picked up one of the blaster packs and stared coldly at it.

"I believe Mistress Sirra will require no further demonstration of the veracity of your claims," Em Teedee said.

Sirra groaned, realizing that Raaba herself must have known the truth.

Lowie growled in sympathy. Hi wanted very much for Raaba to see the light, to escape with him and Sirrambut their Wookiee friend was too much a part of the Diversity Alliance and its plans.

As Lowie and his sister left the loading dock behind and made their way toward the small-craft bay and the Rock Dragon, he found himself wondering if the young Jedi Knights had found their way to safety in the mountains by now.

When the false sirens fell silent, though, Lowie realized instantly that they were in trouble.

He grabbed Sirra's patchwork-furred arm and dragged her forward. They raced down one level, then through a long corridor. Just as the doorway to the vehicle bay loomed up ahead of them, tantalizingly close, Nolaa Tarkona's angry voice burst over the intercom, declaring the presence of a traitor in their midst.

Em Teedee waded, "We're doomed! Oh, my! Whatever shall we do?"

Lowie growled a response that did not require any translation. His heart sank. He had left his human friends to fend for themselves, and now they would be pursued harder than ever. At least his false emergency had given them a small head start toward the surface. That was all the time he'd been able to buy them; he hoped it was enough.

The minimal Diversity Alliance crew st'all working in the small-craft bay came to attention as the two Wookiees approached. Lowie took a deep breath. Before they could enter, though, a hulking form stepped out of the shadows and blocked their way. The giant reptilian form of Corrsk blocked the passageway. The Trandoshan held a blaster cannon powerful enough to fry both Lowie and Sirra to ragged, smoking hunks.

"Traitors die," he said in a rough, gargling voice. "Kill Wookiees!"

His fang-filled jaws flexed in a vicious grin. He brought his blaster cannon to bear. "These are traitors!" Corrsk bellowed, glancing over his shoulder to the workers in