Free Conquest: Edge of Victory I by Greg Keyes Page A

one,” Anakin whispered, pointing at a light transport a little apart from the rest. “I don’t think I’ll have trouble flying it, and we can get it down the pit.”
    “You’re the captain, Captain.”
    Anakin peered more closely at the ship and then began sneaking across the clearing. A guard several hundred meters away glanced in their direction, but it took only a faint suggestion to turn Anakin and Tahiri into shadow and planetlight.
    They found a guard in front of the ship, too, sitting on the open ramp. He came quickly to his feet when they saw him.
    “You’re needed around the other side of the temple,” Anakin told him, with a slight wave of his hand.
    The fellow hesitated an instant, scratching his chin. “I’m needed elsewhere,” he allowed. “I’ll go, then.”
    “See you later,” Anakin said as the man started away, pace quickening as he went.
    “What the—?” A young man’s face stuck around the corner. He looked as if he had just awakened. Seeing Anakin and Tahiri, the fellow’s eyes went wide and he reached for his blaster. He stopped with the
snap-hiss
of Anakin’s lightsaber igniting, probably because the glowing purple tip was centimeters from one of his gray eyes.
    “Easy,” Anakin said.
    “Hey,” the fellow said. “I’m always easy. Ask anyone. Would you, uh, mind getting that a little farther from my face?”
    “You have restraining cuffs here somewhere?”
    “Maybe.”
    Anakin shrugged. “I can cut your arms off and get more or less the same effect.”
    “In the locker over there,” the fellow said, pointing.
    “Get them, Tahiri. What’s your name?”
    “Remis. Remis Vehn.”
    “You pilot this thing?”
    “Sure.”
    “Any surprises I need to know about before I fly her?”
    Vehn winced as Tahiri pulled his arms back and snapped them in the cuffs. “Not that I can think of,” he said.
    “Good. I’ll keep you aboard though. If any occur to you, let me know.”
    Anakin shut his lightsaber down, made his way to the controls, and looked them over. They weren’t that different from those on the
Millennium Falcon
, his father’s ship.
    Vehn cleared his throat. “I just remembered. Before you engage the repulsorlift you have to enter a clearance code.”
    “Really? Or what happens?”
    “The cabin will sort of electrify.”
    “I’m glad you remembered that,” Anakin said dryly. “The code, please?”
    Vehn recited it while Anakin entered it. Then the young Jedi turned back to his captive. “Let me explain something to you,” he said. “My name is Anakin Solo, and this is my friend Tahiri Veila. We are Jedi Knights, some of the people you came here to betray to the Yuuzhan Vong. If you lie to us, we’ll know it. If you try to keep something from us, we’ll find it out. The only uncertain factor is how much we’ll have to damage you to do so.”
    Vehn snorted. “They were right. You Jedi and your high-minded ideals—it’s all smoke screen.”
    Anakin shot him a withering glance. “Next time I’m trying to capture children for Yuuzhan Vong sacrifices, I’ll be sure to have a talk about ‘high-minded ideals’ with you. Until then, or until you have something useful to say, you keep your garbage lock cycled shut.”
    He turned back to the controls. “Hang on, Tahiri. Thismight go a little rough until I get the feel of it. And pay attention to Vehn. If you feel the slightest twinge from him, dig it out.”
    “Yes, sir, Captain Solo.”
    Anakin engaged the repulsorlifts, and the ship began to rise. Before he closed the ramp, he heard someone shouting outside.
    “Call out to Master Ikrit,” Anakin told Tahiri. “Use the force to let him know we’re coming.”
    And it’s going to be tight
, he finished, to himself.

CHAPTER SIX
    Talon Karrde clasped his hands beneath his goatee and studied the scene on the
Wild Karrde
’s command deck viewscreen through pale blue eyes.
    “Well, Shada,” he told the striking woman at his right hand, “it appears