Part 11 (1/2)
”Dead, or scattered,” Tories said quietly, and Doriana could hear thepain and self-reproach in the Jedi's voice ”Except for the ones Roshton tookinto Spaarti with hiood as dead, aren'tthey?”
”I can't see it any other way,” Doriana agreed, gazing out toward SpaartiCreations Above the plant, a hundred STAPs were circling through the nightsky like carrion-eaters, glinting with the light frorounds around the plant, invisible from where the three men stood, athousand combat droids and a dozen battle tanks stood their own silent watch
And between the Binalie mansion and the plant, acrid smoke still rosefrom the crater where the Separatist hailfire droid had e the tunnel and cutting off the clonetroopers' last avenue of escape The Separatists had been nothing if notthorough ”The only reason they're still alive is that the Separatists don'twant to wreck the plant trying to force them out,” he added
”But then, they don't have to, do they?” Tories said quietly ”By thetiround troops, they'll likely havestarved in there”
”Yes,” Binalie said ”Ironic, isn't it? Commander Roshton spent all that effort to retake the plant And he succeeded
”And that's where he's going to die”
Hero of Cartao
Episode III
Hero's End
by Timothy Zahn
The streets of Foulahn City were dark and deserted as Kinh the litter of broken droids, seneral clutter of war The militarycomlink he'd borrowed from Commander Roshton had allowed him to listen in onthe Republic side of the battle, and he'd known the fighting here and at theTriv spaceport had been fierce But even that knowledge hadn't prepared hie the soldiers had left behind
A half dozen craters overlapped each other across the street in front ofhis the missiles had destroyed anda few ht in the crossfireThe fighting here her-ranking officer directing the Republic side of the attack Maybe here he'dfinally find what he was looking for
He hoped so It ell after ly tired, and thenew Separatist masters of this part of Cartao undoubtedly had a curfew inplace for the citizenry The first patrol that spotted hi with combat droids Despite the dras were still adheringreasonably closely to Lord Sidious's plan, but that didn't mean Dorianahimself had to enjoy the situation He'd had his fill of battles a long tio, and very much preferred to stay at his desk in Supreme ChancellorPalpatine's office and handle his scheliht his eye, and he picked his waycarefully toward it through the shattered road material Probably just anotherpiece of the deco-rative white roof triht sourly, but it still had to be checked out
But it wasn't a piece of roof trim It was the half buried body of a clone trooper A lieutenant, fros on his armor
Finally
Under normal circumstances, it would have been the work of perhaps two the body out of the rubble With the need for absolute silence,it took Doriana closer to ten But it orth the effort Hidden away in theback of one of the survival pouches on the lieutenant's utility belt was anunlabeled datacard Slipping it into his pocket, Doriana resealed the survivalpouch and started to straighten up
”Halt,” a flat mechanical voice ordered from behind him Doriana froze inhis hands slowly to the sides so that the droids could see they were empty ”I'm an official medical observer”
”Turn and identify,” the voice ordered
Doriana obeyed, turning carefully on the uncertain footing It was acoht: six of the old-style battle droids, one of theht, Doriana couldn't tell whetherthere was anyone of co them ”Identify,” the droid in the leadrepeated
”My naauMedical Observer Corps We're a neutral poorn to observe and report onany atrocities taking place during this conflict”
The droid seeest that ”Come forward,” he ordered ”Do you have official identification?”
”Of course,” Doriana said, slipping his hand into his ID pocket as hewalked toward the group The droids lifted their blasters warningly as he withdrew his hand, relaxed slightly as they saw he held only a datacard
”Which of you has a reader?” he asked
”I will take it,” the spokes a claw-like hand
Doriana stepped to him and handed him the datacard So this one wasdefinitely the leader; and at this distance, he could see now the pale yellows of a command officer on its head and torso Excellent ”I believeyou'll findcasually aroundThere was no one else in sight, human or droid
”We will see,” the officer droid said, taking the datacard and sliding it into a reader slot set into the lower part of its jaw line ”It says here that your assigned observation area is'
”Barauch seven-nine-seven,” Doriana said in a low voice ”Filliae gron one-one-three”
The officer broke off in ht, watching to see if the droids and their weapons would track hismovement
They didn't To all appearances, the entire squad was frozen andoblivious ”I'll be crocked,” Dorianaic backdoor lockout codethat Sidious had given to him actually worked
And if the lockout code worked ”Pinkrun four-seven-two aprion one-eight-one-one,” he said, reaching out to the spokeshis false ID ”Backskip three minutes; pause one roup shi+ver ”Accessed,” the spokes sohtly, Doriana sidled past the back the directionthey'd co his ankle onthe loose stone He had just one minute to disappear before the droids cameout of their freeze and restarted their patrol, with this little incidentconveniently erased froroup memory He reached the nearest corner andducked around it, pausing there to listen A few seconds later he heard thedistinctive clunk as the droids ca, theycontinued on their patrol, their footsteps fading off into the night breezesSain, Doriana detached himself from the wall and headed back towardthe Binalie estate
”You all right?” a voice asked softly from the shadows Doriana jumped violently ”Who's there?” he hissed
”Relax,” Jafer Tories calhtsaber ready in his hand ”It's just me”