Free Jedi Trial by David Sherman

known,” he muttered. “A recon trooper and her speeder, a pilot and his fighter.” He shrugged. “Come on, trooper, we’re both widows now.”
    Odie smiled through her tears. “It’s stupid but, well, you know, that speeder and me …” She threw up her hands.
    “How far do you think we are from the center?”
    “Maybe seventy-five or one hundred kilometers?”
    “Can we make it on foot?”
    Odie shook her canteen. “If we can conserve our water.” They had both drunk as much water as they could hold before starting out from the caves in an attempt to tank up for the long journey ahead of them, but they had been figuring on riding Odie’s speeder, not walking.
    “Do you know where there’s any water along the way?”
    Odie shook her head. “We’ll look as we go.” She popped open the storage compartment beneath herseat and began to withdraw items they’d need on the trek.
    “We just have everything going for us, don’t we?” Erk said wryly.
    “Well, I hope those bug stompers you’re wearing will hold up.” Odie gestured at her own heavy boots, standard issue for reconnaissance troopers, who needed such footwear to protect their feet and legs from brush, stones, and debris. Erk’s boots were much lighter and didn’t look very sturdy.
    “With me as your copilot, we’ve got it made,” Erk replied as, bowing, he bade her lead the way.
    “We are
what
?” Tonith shrieked, jumping to his feet and spilling some tea down the front of his white robe when his chief of staff told him they were being attacked. “By whom? Full details,” he demanded, recovering some of his composure.
    “Apparently, sir, we were being shadowed by another force. They couldn’t have come from Coruscant or Sluis Van, and they had to be small to avoid our detection—”
    Tonith impatiently waved a hand at Karaksk. “Get on with it.” Already his mind was working. He didn’t like surprises, but one had to deal with them. By the time the Bothan finished with his report, his fur was continually rippling, but the worse the news became, the calmer Tonith grew.
    “Sir,” Karaksk ventured, “I believe you should have stayed with the fleet. The ships are being thrown into confusion.” As soon as he uttered those words he regrettedthem and almost cringed at the angry outburst that he was sure would follow.
    Tonith held up a hand. “No, the issue shall be decided here, not in orbit.” He paused, and Karaksk sighed with relief that the admiral had let his remark pass. “Very well,” Tonith went on, as though talking to himself. “They are much smaller than our force; they are behind us. Here is what they’ll do: they will attempt to close with us as soon as possible, get close enough so our ships in orbit won’t be able to fire on them for fear of hitting us. We should expect a flexible battle plan and plenty of individual initiative—they’d have to have that, and boldness, to attack us like this.” He raised a bony forefinger and waggled it at the Bothan. “There is a fine line between boldness and foolhardiness. Let’s see how we can turn that against them. Begin fortifying our positions immediately. We’ll let them attack us all they want. When their strength is depleted, that’s when we’ll counterattack.”
    Carefully, Tonith recovered his teacup. He shook out the few remaining drops and methodically, in a well-practiced gesture, poured more of the steaming liquid. From close by came the rumble of fighting. He grinned, revealing his purple-stained teeth. “Ah, a challenge,” he said, sipping the tea. “Very interesting, very interesting indeed.”
    The one factor Zozridor Slayke hadn’t counted on was Pors Tonith.

8
    S upreme Chancellor Palpatine made a series of calls, one of them to Senator Paige-Tarkin.
    Senator Paige-Tarkin had never seen the Chancellor looking this worried, HoloNet transceiver image or not. His hair appeared even grayer than it did in person, and his face was more lined by worry.