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"Wait for me!"

The suspicious Ugnaught had led them into a trap. They had blundered into it in spite of sensing warnings through the Force. But what chilled Jacen most was knowing that he and his friends had already been marked as targets. These assassins, carrying images of Lando and the young Jedi Knights, apparently had orders to kill all of them. He had seen a glimpse of his own face on the printed flimiplast, a contract for their deaths.

The surly bunch behind them bellowed, firing their blasters recklessly.

Apparently they had no training in teamwork, though. The scaring energy bolts bounced off the reflective walls, skittering like molten cannonballs down the passageways.

Ahead, Jacen saw an opening in the floor that dropped into a wide air shaft. He leapt down it and the others followed, bouncing and jolting against the slick metal walls until they shot out into an open bay where cold steam hissed upward. Tubes dangled like tentacles from overhead supports. They landed on a rickety catwalk, and Jacen grabbed the railing to reassert his balance. Amber light burned from mini-glows hidden in pipes, conduits, and pressure-release valves.

Beside Jacen, Lowbacca reached out to grab a horizontal dangling chain overhead. Using his powerful Wookiee muscles, he hauled himself across it hand-overhand until he reached a lower platform on a solid catwalk, then swung a chain back down to his friends so that Tenel Ka and Jacen could each swing over to him. Em Teedee flew across by himself.

The lift-shaft door opened with a hiss. A blocky, gray-skinned man and the slime-dripping alien lunged into the industrial chamber, immediately spotting their prey. More blaster fire rang out. One bolt breached a lubricant-containment vessel, cracking open its outer shell.

Slick greenish-blue liquid spilled onto the floor, turned smoky, and slowly began to burn. The two hitmen growled and coughed, waving the curling, noxious smoke away from their faces. More blue slime dripped from the messy alien.

"This is no place to camp out," Jacen said. "How about we try somewhere else?"

They ran along the catwalk and scrambled down a set of metal ladders rung by rung until they reached an even lower level, then scurried across a dirt-stained floor.

"Where is everybody?" Jacen said. "Is this section of Cloud City off-limits, or what?"

"Perhaps today it is." Tenel Ka, barely even breathing hard, stopped next to him. "I believe they moved all workers out of this area.

They wished to keep the field clear for their hunt."

"You mean they planned this that much ahead?" Jacen said.

Lowie chuffed and nodded in agreement. "Oh, no! We're doomed!" Em Teedee wailed.

They ducked under a half-open shipping bay door and entered an inventory sector where canisters of spin-sealed Tibanna gas stood behind guard fields. Since Tibanna gas was used for hyperdrive cores as well as blaster powerpacks, hazardous-material signs marked every door and each separate shipment.

Still running, they dropped down two more levels. With each new room or corridor intersection, they hoped to encounter crowds again.

That way they could disappear among other sentient beings and find protection... but it appeared as if these hidden levels of Port Town had been entirely evacuated.

"We are close to the bottom of Cloud City," Tenel Ka said after climbing down three more ladders. Jacen could see her arm beginning to shake from the effort. "Perhaps there is an express lift tube that would return us to the upper levels."

"Not down here," Jacen said. "They try to keep these levels separate from the tourists and credit-paying customers."

Tenel Ka flicked her red-gold braids away, and he saw a sheen of sweat on her face. He wondered if it was from exertion or from fear.

He decided it must be from exertion.

All around them the room became too quiet again. The three of them moved toward a heavy door that led out into the dim passageways of living quarters. Lowie sniffed. They could hear noises, conversations, sounds of the city's