X-Wing Wedge's Gamble by Michael A. Stackpole

Author:Michael A. Stackpole [Stackpole, Michael A.]
Language: spa
Format: epub
Tags: 7 ABY
Amazon: B000RUIMOE
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 1996-07-15T03:00:00+00:00

23

Though he marched at the head of the parade, Gavin Darklighter felt

anything but happy. He'd been searched and deprived of his hold-out

blaster. The Gotal walked behind him, occasionally poking him with a

blaster, and Asyr Sei'lar walked on his right. She seldom looked over at

him, but when she did he saw only venom in her violet eyes.

The other Rogues had been dragged along in his wake, with a thick knot of

denizens from the cantina traveling behind them. The Rogues had been

allowed to keep their weapons, but their power packs had been taken away,

reducing the blasters to oddly shaped clubs. Shiel seemed the most angry,

but Aril and Ooryl insulated him from the individuals on either side so no

violence broke out.

Asyr led the way through a set of corridors and stairways that provided

easy and instant access to the city's lower reaches. Unlike the pathways

Gavin and Shiel had located, this one appeared to have been built in place,

not hacked out of what construction droids had created. It didn't seem that

new-and certainly not as new as Asyr had made the Alien Combine sound-

so Gavin guessed it had been built after a Hutt or some other criminal

bribed the city planners to program it into a construction droid. The journey ended in a large rectangular warehouse area that they entered through

double doors in one of the narrow walls. Scattered throughout the space

were all sorts of makeshift hovels. They had been cobbled together from

ferrocrete blocks, duraplast packaging, broken sheets of transparisteel,

and ragged bits of cloth. Dwellings for larger creatures formed the

foundation of the makeshift apartment blocks.

Smaller creatures like Sullustans, Ugnaughts, and Jawas occupied the

upper levels. Gavin felt pretty certain things actually roosted up in the

shadows ten meters overhead, but the light was too dim for him to see

more than silhouettes moving about.

The Bothan led them to a central clearing. Wide roll-up doors had been slid

down in place where they bisected the longer walls. The one off to Gavin's

left had a hole cut in it large enough to permit transit by most humanoid

creatures. A couple of Twi'leks and a Rodian bearing guns stood watch

nearby. Since both of the roll-up doors were large enough to admit

repulsorlift trucks, Gavin assumed they led out onto whatever passed for

streets at this level of the city.

Asyr stopped Gavin at the center of the clearing. The rest of the aliens

fanned out in a semicircle behind them to ring half the clearing. This left the rest of the Rogues halfway between Gavin and the circle. The Gotal

came around from behind him and stalked forward to where a steel post

had been set into the duracrete floor. He picked up the hammer that hung

from a string and pounded it against the post's flattened top.

A heavy mournful tone rang from the post and filled the room. Gavin could

feel vibrations play through the floor. All around curious faces peered out

through holes, windows, and doorways in the hovels. The Gotal hit the post

again, summoning more people to come out of their homes. He hit it a third

and final time, then let the hammer drop.

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