'Who is your father?'
Cerasi drew herself up.'Wehutti, the great hero. I must tell him that my aunt Sonie is dead. She was blown up by a foul Daan proton grenade. You must let me pass!'
'You are Wehutti's daughter?'
'Yes, look. I have an identity card.' Cerasi showed the guards her Melida card.
One of the guards took it, then swiped it down his readout. When he handed it back to her, his voice was kind.
'I haven't seen Wehutti here. He's most likely on the streets. We're being invaded, you know.'
'You think I don't know that?' Cerasi cried. 'The Daan are taking the Hub block by block. They'll be here any minute. I need my father! He promised he'd be here if I needed him. He promised!' Cerasi's voice wobbled. With her slight figure and her quavering voice, she seemed younger than she was.
The guards exchanged a glance.'All right. But then you've got to clear out and seek shelter,' the second one said.
Cerasi hurried down the hall and turned the corner. A moment passed, then another. Qui-Gon waited patiently. He had confidence in Cerasi. She would need time to circle around to the other side of the guards.
Suddenly, the sound of blaster fire echoed down the hallway in the direction opposite from where Cerasi had disappeared. The two guards exchanged glances.
'Daan!' the first guard hissed. 'The girl was right! They're attacking!'
Qui-Gon was out the door, lightsaber in hand, before the guards could turn and react. Obi-Wan raced alongside him.
The guards fired their blasters rapidly as soon as they saw the Jedi. But they were too late. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon deflected the fire with their lightsabers without missing a step.
Moving in synch, they jumped the last few meters to the guards, feet first. Deflecting blaster fire with their lightsabers, they hit the guards in the chest with a powerful kick. The guards flew back, their blasters flying out of their hands.
'Cover me,' Qui-Gon instructed Obi-Wan crisply. He moved to the door. As he began to slice through the lock with his lightsaber, the guards recovered and reached for the electro-jabbers on their belts.
Obi-Wan didn't wait for them to rise. He leaped over them so that they would need to turn and twist to attack. He knocked the electro-jabber out of one guard's hand with a kick and sliced down with his lightsaber toward the other. The guard howled and dropped his weapon.
'Don't move,' Obi-Wan warned them, keeping his lightsaber over their heads.
The lock gave, and Qui-Gon pushed open the door. He stopped, stricken at the heart by Tahl's appearance. She had gone throughTemple training with him. She had always been beautiful, a tall woman from the planet Noori, with eyes striped gold and green and skin the color of dark honey.
Now she appeared thin and wasted. Her beautiful skin was marred by a white scar that ran from one eye and curved around her chin. The other eye was covered with a patch.
'Tahl,' he said, keeping his voice steady. 'It's Qui-Gon.'
'Ah, rescue at last,' she said in the gently mocking tone that had always made him smile. 'Do I look that bad, old friend?'
He realized then that she could not see.
'You look as lovely as ever,' he said. 'But can you wait on the compliments? My hands are full at the moment.'
'I'm afraid I'm a little weak,' Tahl confessed.
'I'll carry you.' Qui-Gon scooped up Tahl in his arms. She felt as light as a child. 'Can you hang onto my neck?' he asked.
He felt her nod as her arms tightened around him. 'Just get me out of here,' she said. 'I've had better food in a Hutt cantina.'
Just then Qui-Gon heard the sound he'd hoped he wouldn't: rapid blaster fire. Reinforcements had arrived. Obi-Wanwas in trouble. His time had run out.
He proceeded cautiously to the door. He peered out.
Six soldiers had charged out of their quarters and were shooting at Obi-Wan from the end of the hall. Obi- Wan had flung open a door andwas using it for cover. The soldiers had rearmed the two on the ground, so there were now eight soldiers to fight.
'What's the bad news?' Tahl asked.
'Eight so far,' Qui-Gon said.'Maybe more coming.'
'Piece of cake for you,' she said weakly.
'Just what I was about to say.'
Blaster fire rebounded off the door that Obi-Wan crouched behind. The doors were armored, Obi-Wan realized. They could use that to their advantage.
Qui-Gon flung his own door wide open and stepped out behind it, making a quick calculation. Obi-Wan had held off the soldiers so far by periodically deflecting blaster fire back at them with his lightsaber, but they would soon realize that he wasn't armed with a blaster.
Then they would rush him.
