Vision of the future

'It does look like it,' Luke said, craning his neck. 'Like a spiral slideway going up.' They reached the end of the corridor, and Mara eased an eye around the corner. More corridors like the one they were in were visible, spreading out like sunburst rays centered on the open area around the spiral slideway. 'Definitely a barracks section,' she said. 'I wonder where the down ramp is.'

'It's on the inside half of the up ramp,' Luke said, pointing. 'See—that inner section is going down?'

'I see it.' Mara nodded. 'Must be tricky getting across the up ramp when you want to get off.'

'We'll probably get a chance to try it,' Luke said, stepping close to Mara and putting his arm around her shoulder. She frowned at him, opened her mouth to ask what he was doing—

— no one, Keeper Of Promises's voice came as the Qom Jha fluttered into sight from one of the other corridors. Some of the other passages end in walls, but most continue on into other such caverns.

'Did you see anyone?' Mara asked.

We saw no one, Keeper Of Promises said in the slightly miffed tone of someone who's been asked a question he's already answered.

'Thank you.' Luke tilted his head to look at Mara. 'What do you want? Up or down?'

'Up,' Mara said, easing away from him. It was always a little disconcerting to look at someone whose face was barely fifteen centimeters away. 'All the command rooms and other interesting stuff at Hijarna were on the upper floors.'

'Up it is,' Luke said, releasing his grip on her and crossing to the spiral slideway. 'Looks clear,' he added, looking cautiously up into the opening as Mara joined him. 'You picking up any danger?'

'No more than I have been for the past ten minutes,' Mara said. 'Sure, let's try it.'

'Right.' Luke waved at Keeper Of Promises. 'Come on, Qom Jha—we're heading up.' They stepped onto the outer section of the slideway, both of them stumbling slightly as their bodies were forced to catch up with suddenly moving feet. 'It definitely feels like we're getting closer to the aliens,' Luke commented as the group of Qom Jha flapped past on their way to the next level.

'I just wish I had a better benchmark for the species.'

'Yes, it'd be nice to know how close they actually were,' Mara agreed, watching above them as the Qom Jha split up again and headed off in all directions. One of the reinforcements—Flyer Through Spikes, Mara tentatively identified him—reappeared overhead as she and Luke reached the level, jabbering away. 'He says they've found no one up here, either,' Luke reported. 'Splitter Of Stones has suggested—'

The flare of her danger sense was Mara's only warning. 'Luke!'

'Down!' Luke snapped, igniting his lightsaber.

Mara was already dropping to one knee, spinning around as her eyes and blaster searched for a target. A movement just inside one of the corridors caught her eye—she tracked her blaster toward it—

And abruptly the world exploded into a flash of brilliant blue.

Instinctively, she ducked away from the bolt, her blaster spitting return fire. Another blue flash changed to green as Luke's lightsaber slashed across it, deflecting the bolt across the room. There was another blue flash, again caught by the lightsaber blade. Mara fired twice, had the satisfaction of seeing the half-hidden gunman duck back—

'Behind you!' Luke barked.

Mara dropped from her kneeling crouch to land flat on her stomach on the ramp, twisting around to face the other direction as she did so. Two burgundy-uniformed gunmen were visible back there, sprinting from the end of one of the corridors toward the protection of something that looked like a small service vehicle. She fired two shots— missed with both—

And abruptly one of the gunmen stopped dead in his tracks, raising his weapon toward her in a two-handed grip. Mara tracked her blaster toward him, a small part of her mind noting the blue skin of his face and hands and the glowing red eyes glaring out at her—

'Watch out!'

But the warning came too late. Even as Mara fired again and then twisted around to search out the new threat there was another flash of blue—

And a lance of agony jabbed into her right shoulder.