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"Unfortunately this one has security coding. I was never able to get in to see if I was correct."

Tenel Ka snatched at her lightsaber handle and flicked on the turquoise energy blade.

"A Jedi Knight could find a way in."

"Excuse me," Em Teedee said quickly, "but perhaps I could manage the code? I have had some experience with Imperial systems."

Jacen paused, his hand on his lightsaber handle.

"Let him try, Tenel Ka. We can always use our lightsabers later."

The warrior girl agreed.

"I will save my weapon for the real battle."

Jaina hooked up the leads in Em Teedee's case to the door control systems. The little droid's golden optical sensors glowed and pulsed as his computer brain worked through the encryption levels. With a thunk and a hum, the locks unsealed themselves and the door slid open.

"Quite masterful, if I do say so myself," Em Teedee stated, sounding insufferably pleased with himself. The young Jedi Knights drew together.

Bornan Thul and Zekk moved closer as they gazed into a room filled with explosives, detonation packs, sonic grenades, and every form of compact destruction Jacen had ever heard of. The shelves of demolition equipment seemed to go on and on.

"I think that'll be quite enough firepower," Zekk said, crossing his wiry arms over his chest. Tenel Ka nodded and whispered, "This is a fact."

WHEN NOLAA TARKONA'S armada arrived at the plague storehouse, the Twi'lek leader could barely contain her excitement. She gripped the bridge rail and leaned forward as the Wookiee woman Raabakyysh guided the flagship into orbit high above the small asteroid. Nolaa's single head-tail thrashed from side to side, while she observed the expressions of her crew through the optical sensors in the stump of her other head-tail. She saw anticipation, eagerness for battle, and a bloodthirsty desire for vengeance upon the cursed humans.

The asteroid depot itself was small and nondescript, studded with pressurized domes. Slash marks showed where excavation had shaped the giant rock. The place looked abandoned, though the numerous domes and airlocks and hollow bays offered plenty of hiding places for small ships.

She had feared she might encounter an entire guardian fleet of New Republic warships-but she had beat them all. She had arrived first.

"The human-killing virus is down there," she said. "It is the only weapon we need for our ultimate victory. Raaba, you will command my armada while I go down personally to make sure we get everything we need. Corrsk, Rullak, come with me. Bring guards... and plenty of weapons. I'm not in the mood for further delays."

Nolaa spun about as Raaba proudly took her seat in the flagship's command chair.

The Diversity Alliance guards suited up, belted blasters to their waists, and prepared to go down to secure the Emperor's plague. After docking to an isolated dome at the pole of the asteroid, Diversity Alliance guards stormed out of their ships. They marched through mazes of interconnected corridors, weapons raised and ready to shoot anything that moved. Nolaa fervently hoped her soldiers wouldn't blast any of the plague cylinders in their enthusiasm. She didn't want to waste the precious deadly substance. She walked with brisk footsteps, her dark robe swirling, her body armor confining but protective. This place stank of humans. It had been built by the human Emperor, used by human scientists, guarded by human stormtroopers. The twisted biologist Evir Derricote had worked here-also a human.

But in a way he hadn't been so terrible.... Derricote had, after all, devised the means for bringing about the extinction of his own race.

"Spread out," Nolaa said sharply. "This is a small asteroid. It shouldn't take long to find what we need."

Directing Rullak and Corrsk each to take a team of guards, she herself took charge of the third group.

"And remember, this was a munitions storehouse." She turned back with a smile, flashing teeth that had been filed to delicate points. "Keep an eye out for anything else we might find useful to our cause."

They split up, each choosing a different