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By Root 211 0

up the wall. Staggering and unable to catch his footing, Corrsk drifted to the back of the passageway and slammed into the pressure door on the opposite end. Still clutching his severed limb in his good hand, he tried to wrestle the blaster pistol away from the reflexively clenched dead fingers. At the control panel, Lowie frantically worked to analyze the Imperial codes and the buttons used for fail-safe mechanisms. Corrsk succeeded in prying his blaster free from his dead hand's grip and held it out in his left hand, aiming at Lowie.

Lowbacca punched in the final sequence and disengaged the airlock mechanism, which popped open the pressure door. The metal bulkhead slid aside right behind Corrsk. He snarled and reached out to grab for support, but his arm was no longer there. Suddenly, with a wail, the vacuum of space ripped him away. The Trandoshan flew backward into open space. Air gushed out, swooping and cold. Lowie fought to lash his syren-fiber belt around the support pipe, which held him firmly in place against the wall.

"I'm being pulled out!" Em Teedee wailed, fighting a losing battle with his microrepulsorjets at full power, being sucked away in the vacuum.

With one hand Lowie snagged the little translating druid as he frantically used his other hand to punch the buttons that would seal the door again. Air roared around him. As atmosphere rushed from the compartment, Lowie managed to get the door shut again, sealing Consk outside. The towering Trandoshan drifted up and out into airless space, still flailing feebly in outrage. Lowie grabbed the power conduit connected to the control panel and yanked it free.

Sparks flew. Then emergency power sources flickered on, and the artificial gravity generators cycled, adding normal weight to the room again. Debris crashed to the floor.

"Oh, my. That was a close call," the little droid said as he bobbed in the air, released from Lowie's grip. Lowbacca slumped down to the cold metal deck, feeling weak from the battle. His stomach clenched and he fought to control his feelings after having just killed a sentient being, even one as despicable as Corrsk. Lowie clipped Em Teedee back into place. He looked in both directions down the corridor. The heavy pressure door behind him had also sealed shut... and he had just ripped out the power conduit.

He groaned in dismay. Now he would have to rig a way to fix the controls, or he would never get back to the central plague chamber and complete his mission.

THE ROCKING EXPLOSION also caused Raynar to slip and stumble, and thus lose his grip on the delicate munitions he carried. Zekk reacted quickly.

He sensed the instant danger and snatched the explosives from the Alderaanian boy's hands, catching and cradling them before Raynar could drop them to the floor.

"I hope that wasn't an accident from one of our team," Boman Thul said.

Raynar looked about, his face pale in its texture of fear.

"Maybe we're under attack!" Zekk held the explosive pack carefully, trying to control his trembling. He shook his head. "That was Jaina.

She's all right, but something's gone wrong." He marched forward. "We'd better find Lowie quick and make sure he's set the detonators in the plague chamber. Then we can all get off this rock before anything else happens."

Raynar swallowed hard and followed him.

"Unless some disaster has already taken place."

They dashed down the curving corridors from the munitions chamber back to the central room that stored the plague canisters, pausing only briefly to plant the last of their explosives at strategic points. Pressing his lips together in a grim line, Zekk fixed the linked detonation transponders so they could set off all the bombs at once. Zekk's Jedi senses tingled. Despite his ordeals of the past, he was no longer entirely reluctant to use the Force, especially in a situation where those skills might mean the difference between life and death. He pulled himself up short and looked at Raynar; they could both sense danger around the corner.

Bornan Thul eased past them, taking the lead.

"We can't waste