Free Abyss by Troy Denning Page B

quiet about this, Baxton.”
    “Yes, sir,” Baxton confirmed, tucking the weapon back inside the driver’s door. “As far as GAS is concerned, I didn’t see anything.”
    “Lying to a GAS agent is a crime here,” Jag said. “Just tell them you’re not authorized to discuss my activities with anyone. That’s well within your immunity rights, and you won’t run the risk of arrest.”
    Baxton snapped to attention. “Thank you for considering my welfare, sir.”
    Han took Yaqeel’s shoulders and helped Jag lift her, then started toward the tunnel. Bazel Warv’s huge form floated off the limousine roof and followed them through the gate, where Han tripped over a cleaning droid with a faulty right-of-way routine. He fell to the floor with Yaqeel’s shoulders slumped in his lap.
    “Captain Solo?” Jag asked. “If she’s too heavy, I can—”
    “I just
tripped,
” Han barked, clasping the Bothan to his chest with one arm and using his free hand to push off the tunnel floor. “The droid got in my way. I’m not
old
, you know.”
    “Of course not. I wasn’t thinking that.”
    Han rose to his feet and glared at Jag across Yaqeel’s unconscious form. “Kid, for a Head of State, you’re a lousy liar.”
    The color drained from Jag’s face. “Captain Solo, I have no doubts about your—”
    “Jag!”
Jaina’s voice came from somewhere on the far side of the huge Ramoan bulk that was still out in the speeder lane waiting to float into the access tunnel. “Will you stop worrying about the old man’s feelings and get
moving
? The last thing you need is a GAS squad seeing you actually help us hide a pair of crazy Jedi.”
    “Right.” Jag stepped past Han and started down the tunnel backward. “
I’ll
take the lead.”
    Knowing there was no time to protest, Han simply nodded, then shot a glower toward the little dome-shaped droid watching from just inside the gate. Its response modules must have detected his anger, because the droid expelled a cloud of steam cleanser and quickly spun its photoreceptor away.
    Cursing under his breath, Han followed Jag around a tunnel bend into the hangar itself. Two apprentices stood at the entrance, looking worried and uncertain as to whether they should leave their duty stations. Han pushed Yaqeel’s shoulders into the arms of the closest guard, a red-furred Jenet, then stepped out of the way as Bazel Warv’s green bulk floated through the entrance behind him.
    “Comm Master Cilghal and tell her we lost two more,” Han ordered. He pulled the tranquilizer pistol from his waistband and slapped it into the hands of the Jenet’s partner, a young Duros female whose dark eyes seemed about twice as bulging as normal. “And if either one twitches before someone gets here to take them off your hands, hit ’em
both
with a couple of tranquilizer darts.”
    The Duros accepted the pistol with an air of bewilderment and fear. “They went sick?
Both
of them?”
    “You have your orders, apprentice,” Jaina said, lowering Bazel into an empty speeder bay. “Just carry them out.”
    With that, she started back up the tunnel, Han and Jag following close behind.
    By the time they rounded the bend, Han could see Leia just inside the tunnel entrance, standing toe-to-toe with a blue-uniformed captain who had managed to position himself on the threshold before she could lower the gate. A couple of paces behind him were ten troopers in black assault armor. And ten paces beyond
them
, four more GAS agents had Jag’s driver, Baxton, at blasterpoint.
    But what really bothered Han were the holocams. They were peering down from atop the adjacent safety wall, carefully recording every word and gesture that passed between Leia and the GAS captain.
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Captain Atar,” Leia was saying. “Nothing has happened here that is any concern of yours.”
    “
I
decide what my concerns are, Jedi Solo,” Atar spat back. He was a tall human with a dark mustache