at the doorway.
'It's all right,' Shalini said. 'They've been sent by Typha-Dor.' She tucked her blaster into her belt.
One man leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He looked weak and pale. 'About time.'
A tall, muscular woman slipped her blaster into a shoulder holster.
'Past time.'
The welcome wasn't quite the friendly one Obi-Wan had imagined. Then a tall man in a thick pullover strode forward. 'Don't mind us. It's been a long haul. We're very glad to see you.'
'This is Mezdec,' Shalini said. 'He's our first officer. I am Shalini, the leader of the group. The others are Thik' — the weak-looking man nodded at them — 'Rajana, and Olanz.' The muscular woman nodded curtly at them, and the other man, bald and as tall as Mezdec, raised a hand in greeting.
'But where are the rest?' Obi-Wan asked. 'There are supposed to be ten of you.'
'Not anymore,' Shalini said. 'We had a saboteur in our midst. Samdew was the communications officer. We discovered that he was a spy for the Vanqors. He destroyed our comm system right after we were able to intercept the Vanqor invasion plans.'
'He also disabled our transport,' Mezdec said. 'So we've been stuck here. We're almost out of food, so we're especially glad to see you.'
'In that case, let's begin with a meal.' Obi-Wan reached for his survival pack. 'We brought extra rations in case.'
He and Anakin doled out the protein packs. The group sat down and split up the food. While they ate, Obi- Wan scanned the equipment. He took a second look at the damaged comm control console. 'What happened?'
'It was the middle of the night,' Mezdec said. He swallowed and pushed the rest of his food away. 'I was awake, and I heard Samdew at the comm unit. I thought he was doing a sweep — we monitored the channels constantly, and I assumed he was checking to see if anything turned up. I was awake anyway, so I got up to see if anything was happening.'
'There was quite a bit of chatter on the system,' Shalini said. 'The Vanqors knew we had been able to monitor their comm channels. In order to confuse us, they'd flood us with information. That made Samdew a crucial member of our team. He was our senior information analyst.'
'I stood in the doorway. He didn't hear me,' Mezdec said, his eyes clouding at the memory. 'And I saw that he wasn't monitoring transmissions.
He was transmitting to the Vanqor fleet. I realized he was a spy. I blasted the console. I didn't know what else to do. It was the fastest way to stop him. I didn't want to kill him. But he turned and moved toward me, and the next shot hit him in the chest.'
'It's all right, Mezdec,' Shalini said quietly. She put her hand on his arm.
'I heard the blaster fire,' Rajana said, taking up the account, as Mezdec had fallen silent. 'I heard Samdew fall, and I ran in. While he was on the ground, he tried to shoot Mezdec just as Thik came in after me. Thik was hit in the knee and went down.' Rajana looked at Mezdec. 'I was the one who fired the fatal blast. Not you.'
'Samdew died,' Shalini said. 'What we didn't know was that before he died, he activated the fire system in the sleeping quarters. The room goes into lockdown, and all the oxygen is sucked out.'
'He had disabled the warning siren, but not the procedure. Four of our crew were in there,' Mezdec said. 'They suffocated. By the time we realized what had happened, they were dead.'
'He meant for all of you to be in there,' Anakin said.
'Yes,' Shalini said. 'We imagine that he was sending his last transmission. He didn't need to be undercover anymore, and the easiest thing to do was get rid of us.'
'If the Vanqors know your location, why haven't they attacked?' Obi- Wan asked.
Shalini shook her head. 'We don't think they do. We think Samdew was in deep cover. He never sent a transmission before that night, and Mezdec stopped him before the transmission went through. All transmissions were coded and timed, so we would have known if he'd been in contact with the Vanqors. We assume that his mission was to remain until we had cracked the Vanqor code and learned something vital.'
'Which we did,' Rajana said.
'Yes, let's get back to that,' Obi-Wan said. 'What have you learned?'
'We have the details of the Vanqor invasion plans,' Shalini said.
'Troop movements, coordinates, the invasion sites. We have it all on this.'
Shalini held up a small disk. 'It's crucial that we get the information to Typha-Dor.'
'We'll have to leave from here,' Obi-Wan told her. 'We have good reason to believe that the Vanqors have destroyed our ship. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before they find this outpost.'
'Samdew sabotaged the transport,' Mezdec reminded them. 'I can fix anything, but I can't fix it.' Anakin stood. 'Let me try.'
Chapter Three
Anakin disappeared into the transport hangar. Obi-Wan had no doubt that if anyone could fix the vehicle, it would be Anakin. He had a genius for fixing the unfixable.
Shalini looked worried. 'Mezdec has tried for weeks to fix the ship.
With all possible respect for your apprentice, he'll never be able to get it up and running. Are you certain
