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"Quiet," Zekk cautioned in a whisper. "Sonic punchers are activated by disturbances in the air. If we get too close, we'll set it off."

Despite their warning to stay back, Anja came up behind them.

"How are you going to get rid of it? Once a puncher is activated, no one can get close without blowing it up."

"Maybe we can," Jacen murmured, raising an eyebrow. For some reason, he wanted to impress Anja. He saw sweat darkening the leather headband she wore and heading on her forehead. He and Zekk stood shoulder to shoulder, looking deeper into the darkness.

"Our Jedi senses can do the searching for us," Zekk said in a low voice.

He turned to his friend. "Are you up to it?"

Jacen nodded. Calming himself, he reached out with his mind, and used the extra eyes and ears the Force gave him. He could tell Zekk was doing the same. They scanned into the dimness of the tunnel, locating rocks, crystalline formations, rubble piled at the bottom of the channel. His mind moved in farther. He breathed slowly, feeling his heartbeat. Blood pounded in his temples.

There. He sensed something wrong, an object out of place... a device that didn't belong in the rocky debris.

"Found it," Jacen said.

"Me too," Zekk answered.

With his mind Jacen ran invisible fingers over an outer metal casing, glittering controls, and finely tuned sensors just waiting to be triggered by an unexpected motion in the air.

"Careful," Jacen whispered. "Help me lift it out."

They used the Force, stretching out together with their minds, to move the rubble gently away from the weapon. This small device contained enough power to crack open fissures in the tunnel walls and bring the entire ceiling down.

Anja came up close behind them. "Maybe you should just detonate it in there," she said. Her soft words startled Jacen, nearly making him lose control of his concentration. He could feel her warm breath on the side of his face and neck. "Throw a few rocks down the tunnel and set it off."

Zekk glanced back over his shoulder toward her. "No.

We may need to explode some of them, but I think we can do most of the punchers our way. There's been enough damage already."

Working as a team, they used a silent Jedi mind grip to lift the sonic puncher, carefully raising it off the floor. Just then, a loose rock fell from a pile and clattered to the floor. The sound was like thunder, and the vibration was enough to activate the trigger.

"No!" Jacen cried. With his mind he clamped onto the distant controls, freezing the mechanism.

Zekk reacted in a different way, lashing out with the Force to rip circuits free inside the detonator, deactivating it forcibly. An instant later his face fell, as if he was ashamed of himself "You found a better way, Jacen. "

"Either one would have worked," Jacen said. "Just let the Force guide you, and stay calm inside."

Together they walked into the tunnel and picked up the now-inert sonic grenade. Jacen handed it to Anja. "A souvenir for you. Our first success."

"Fine," she said, and looked skeptically at it. "But don't get cocky.

I hear we've still got about forty to go."

Lowbacca reveled in being in the forest again, despite the hidden traps and dangers he knew waited for them there. Tenel Ka trotted at his side among the silvery trees. A few miners and fanners came with them, trying to recall where each group had planted weapons.

They stopped at the edge of a pristine-looking meadow, with its colorful wildflowers like fireworks among the grasses. Tenel Ka marched immediately to where the holographic generator covered a spike-filled pit. She picked up a rock and threw it. They all watched as it vanished into the lush grasses. The camouflage hologram rippled with a flicker of static, then returned to its serene appearance.

The miners gasped. Lowie went over to a stout tree and with his bare hands ripped the controls away, shorting them out. The hologram flickered and faded, revealing the open pit and its sharp spikes.

The miners looked furious at the thought of the cowardly trap the farm villagers had set.