'Did you ever want to be a Jedi knight, Ca'narn?' Peiter asked as he leaned lazily back in his chair.

Ca'narn skilfully piloted their skimmer through the open channels of the estuary, leaving a foaming wake in the water beneath them. The wind still buffeted the little craft but at some time in the night the cloud had cleared and the sky above them was cold and blue.

'No,' he said, not looking away from the terrain ahead of them. 'I am not suited to diplomatic work. I do not understand other races well enough. And I do not like being cold and hungry and injured and knowing that many other lives depend on me. I do not want to have to kill. To be a Jedi knight is hard and unpleasant, Peiter. My friend Obi-Wan first had to kill when he was twelve years old. That is not the life I would choose for myself.'

Peiter stared at him, then swore softly as the skimmer jolted, causing the hot tea he was holding to spill over his fingers. He put his cup carefully back in its holder. 'Please tell me that's just some weird lizard joke of yours, Ca'narn.'

Ca'narn spared him a rueful glance. 'It is not usual for someone so young to be put into a dangerous operational situation, Peiter. There were pirates attacking a mining transport on which Obi-Wan and his Master were travelling. Their ships had docked in order to board. Obi-Wan piloted the transport away and broke the docking connections. Many of the pirates were killed in the vacuum.'

'Ca'narn, what kind of master would put a kid of twelve in a position where he had that kind of responsibility for the lives of others?' Peiter demanded angrily.

It had been a tactical error to mention Obi-Wan, Ca'narn realised, but he continued anyway. 'I know it is hard to understand and that it seems unfair, but in this case there was nobody else. Hundreds of innocents would have died or been sold into slavery if Obi-Wan and his master had not been there.'

Peiter shook his head. 'When I was twelve years old the biggest problem in my life was worrying that the girls in my clan would think I was weird because I wanted to grow up to be a geologist. This kid gets taken from his family when he's hardly old enough to walk and brought up to fight and kill to uphold some corrupt system of government. How fair is that? What kind of choice does he get in the matter?'

Ca'narn frowned at the choice of wording. 'We are all given the choice to leave whenever we wish, Peiter. It is only my subjective opinion but I believe Obi-Wan is content doing what he does, as am I with my own choices in life.'

'Neither of you had any kind of choice,' Peiter argued. 'When you're a kid you can't be expected to make any kind of rational decision about leaving your friends and the people who look after you. You get told you're different all your lives...'

Far in the distance ahead of them one of the needle-like satellite control towers glittered in the sun. Ca'narn noted its position and made an adjustment to their course, turning the skimmer and sending up a plume of spray as one of the hydrofoils touched the surface of the water for a second.

'Peiter, you forget that we are different,' he explained patiently. 'The children chosen by the Jedi are sensitive to the Force and we are also able to manipulate it and let it work through us. That offers us the potential to wield tremendous power, but there is also the potential for terrible exploitation. It is better that we are brought to a place where we can be protected while we learn to use our abilities fully and ethically.'

'Ca'narn, you get taken away when you're too young to have any ability to make a choice or to understand what it means,' Peiter said passionately. 'Your parents get blackmailed into giving you up because they think it's for your good, or the good of the Republic or because the bad guys will get you if they don't or whatever the hell your people tell them. There's no appeal, no redress, nothing. You can't tell me that's right.'

Ca'narn bowed his head. 'Peiter, I do not agree with you, but I understand that you feel strongly in the matter and I respect your right to do so.'

Peiter looked away, out at the grey-gold expanse of reeds that stretched before them. 'Ca'narn, I wasn't going to tell you, but I've thought a lot about joining the Shade,' he said quietly.

Ca'narn was silent for a moment. 'The Shade is a legal organisation and it is your right to protest as you wish, Peiter,' he said at last. 'But I do not like the Shade. Many of its members truly believe in the rightness of what they do but there are others whose motivations are less clear.'

Peiter glanced across at him and took another sip of his drink. 'You guys think the Shade are dangerous?' he asked.

'The Shade would wish to believe so, I think,' Ca'narn said heavily. 'In truth the Shade gives those who are in opposition to the Jedi a more or less harmless outlet for their feelings. But I wish you would reconsider this, Peiter. I do not like this idea.'

'Look, I know some of the people who end up in the Shade are a bit weird, but I agree with a lot of what they say,' Peiter said defensively. 'The Jedi are above the law. You're not answerable to anyone.'

'You have already said that you believe the Republic is corrupt,' Ca'narn pointed out. 'Isn't independence better than being answerable to a corrupt body? The Jedi do not always do as the Senate demands and I think that many members of the Senate wish that the Jedi did not exist.'

'Yeah, but no organisation should have that kind of power without some kind of accountability,' Peiter said, warming to his subject.

'The Force guides us in what we do,' Ca'narn said simply. 'We are answerable to the laws of the Republic, to the Jedi Council, to the Jedi Code and to the Force itself.'

'Well yeah. That's another thing. I don't believe that some religion that maybe only half the Republic's citizens have even heard of should hold its entire system of government to account.'

'We do not abuse that power,' Ca'narn stated firmly. 'The Temple veto has only been used twice in the last three hundred years, and both times it has been more than justified. Perhaps it would help for you to consider the existence of the Jedi to be the lesser of two evils. Perhaps in an ideal universe the Jedi should not exist, but this is not an ideal universe. Peiter, I think that you should go to the Shade and ask to learn more about them. Attend their meetings. See the kind of people who are members. If you feel that you fit in with them and you agree with their arguments and their philosophy and feel that their activities will be a relevant use of your time, then you should join them. Until then, if you have any questions about the Jedi, I will answer them as honestly as I can. If you wish to visit the Temple on Coruscant, I will take you there as my guest.'

Peiter gave him a sideways glance. 'Whoa. You're really pissed about this, aren't you.'

Ca'narn closed his eyes briefly. 'Peiter, you are passionate and dedicated and articulate. There are many causes which would be well served by you. The Shade's aims are negative. It offers no solutions, only opposition.'

'Sometimes opposition is important too, Ca'narn,' Peiter began. 'I think...' He stopped. Ca'narn was looking down at the readouts, frowning.

'What?' Peiter asked, a little irritably.

'Nothing, I think. Listen for a moment.'

'What is it?'

'The engines.'

Peiter frowned, tilting his head to hear better. 'What about them? They sound fine to me.'

'They are handling badly. Their tone is irregular,' Ca'narn said. He scanned the instruments in front of him. His eyes narrowed, then he hit the console heavily with a scaled fist. Three or four red lights flickered on briefly, then extinguished again.

Peiter groaned. 'Oh Force. Don't tell me...'

Ca'narn gave him a level look. 'Our power is almost completely drained, Peiter.'

'I don't believe this!' Peiter exclaimed in disgust. 'Ca'narn, they may as well just issue us with waders and make us walk everywhere in this damn swamp! Why the hell can't the Institute pay a couple extra thousand dactaris and get us some reliable transport for a change?'

'I will assume that is another rhetorical question,' Ca'narn said dryly. 'We will have to set down, Peiter. And then we really will have to walk the rest of the way. We are just fortunate that we are almost across the main channel of the estuary and that the ground on the way back to the camp is relatively stable from here.'

The little craft shuddered, then again.

'Okay, I felt that,' Peiter said tensely. 'We're in trouble, aren't we?'

'I will try to put us down on dry land,' Ca'narn said. 'I do not wish to swim in this water.'

'Yeah. Makes two of us,' his friend agreed fervently.

'Hold on, Peiter,' Ca'narn advised. As he spoke the whine of the engines grew more laboured, then shuddered, then cut out completely. 'That is it. There is no more power except battery. I will steer us down through the reeds. They will help to slow us.'

'I hate this,' Peiter muttered, gulping down the last of his tea, then clinging to the armrests of his seat with both hands. 'I really hate this. I hate this skimmer, I hate this job, I hate this miserable, lousy swamp...'

Whatever else he had to say was lost. They hit the reed bed head on, and for a moment there was only the crash of a thousand splintering stems. The skimmer hit the water with a jolt, bounced, then hit again. They slid across the surface of the water, out of control, until the skimmer turned at an angle and finally hit the muddy bank sideways on.

Peiter opened his eyes. Somehow they had stayed upright. He took an unsteady breath, then another.

'Peiter, are you all right?' Ca'narn asked from beside him.

'Yeah. Oh Force.' He buried his face in his hands. 'I never, never want to have to do that again, Ca'narn.'

Ca'narn lay a scaled claw on his shoulder. 'Be calm, Peiter. We have both survived and we have reached relatively dry land. The outcome could have been far worse.'

'Yeah, I guess,' Peiter said shakily. 'Are we okay here?'

'For a little while. The skimmer is too light to sink quickly into the mud, but our weight will not help. We will have to abandon it. Gather the things you need, Peiter.'

Outside the skimmer the sun shone brightly, but the wind was bitingly cold. The craft had come to rest with one of its hydrofoils almost completely submerged in the muddy bank. Peiter stepped out gingerly, and instantly sank into the mud to the top of his boot. He glared at Ca'narn who had lightly and easily leapt the seven feet or so to drier ground. He waded awkwardly to shore while Ca'narn moved round to the skimmer's power coupling.

'Not one of your better landings,' he muttered, knowing full well that Ca'narn could hear him perfectly. He sat back against a bed of stiff reed stalks and poured the muddy, freezing water out of his boot.

'If you wish to pilot the craft next time you need only say, Peiter,' came Ca'narn's dry response from the back of the skimmer.

Peiter managed a grin at that. 'So, what's the verdict?' he asked, as Ca'narn re-emerged.

Ca'narn's expression was grave. 'Peiter, this wasn't a leak. The external fuel charge moderator has been set to emergency drain.'

Peiter let his head fall back against the reeds. 'I don't believe it,' he said, more in resignation than anger. 'It's that damn Hulf of yours again. He's not happy with just stealing my stuff, now he's sabotaging our skimmer as well.'

'He is not my Hulf,' Ca'narn said, rather shortly. 'In any case this is more likely to be a result of the storm. Maybe some of the systems did not reset properly. I left switching the generator off for too long yesterday.'

Peiter glared at him. 'Oh, so now it's my fault?'

'I did not say that, Peiter. If anyone is to blame I am. I should have been more thorough in my systems check before we left this morning.'

Peiter sighed. 'So what do we do? Stand around and wait to be rescued?'

'We should try to communicate with the camp and at least leave a message as to our circumstances,' Ca'narn suggested.

Their portable comms unit, however was as unresponsive as the one in the skimmer had been earlier. Peiter scanned through the available frequencies, then shook it experimentally. 'Nothing. Maybe the outcrop is jamming us still.'

Ca'narn checked his wrist monitor. 'No, the readings are in the low hundreds. That is strange. The communications system at the camp should be operational by now.'

'Now I have a bad feeling about this,' Peiter muttered. 'Is it worth even trying the militia channels?'

Ca'narn shook his head. 'If we cannot get a signal from the camp less than ten kilometres away, we are not likely to be able to reach Holm Direnni. In any case there has just been what we must assume is a major belt outage. Even if we could contact the militia it could be many days before they have time to deal with us. Our situation is not yet an emergency. I think it would be better to simply leave the skimmer here and return to the camp on foot.'

'I guess.' He looked around unenthusiastically at the water-logged terrain that surrounded them. 'Do you want me to wait here for you? You're going to be able to make more speed on your own.'

Ca'narn shook his head. 'I would be concerned for you, Peiter. The storm may have brought out predators. I would be happier if you were to come back with me to the camp.'

Peiter nodded. 'Okay, but you're going to have to wait up for me.'

Ca'narn effortlessly swung both their packs onto his back. 'I will go ahead and check the ground. If it will hold my weight it will certainly hold yours.'

Peiter scrambled to his feet. 'You're the boss, big guy.'

***

In the skimmer it had been possible to see for miles in any direction. On foot the towering reeds made it impossible to see more than a few metres ahead. Despite the fact that it was almost winter Peiter soon found himself sweating uncomfortably, and the heat of his body drew clouds of insects. The stink of the swamp rose about them, and from his mud-soaked clothes. Often what appear to be solid ground turned out to be deep and clinging mud, but even this was safer than the treacherous stubble of roots and stems left by the storm. It was hard going, and he was rapidly growing exhausted. Peiter wiped the sweat from his forehead for perhaps the hundredth time, leaving a streak of mud across his face. Ca'narn moved ahead quickly, accurately leaping from tussock to tussock while Peiter stumbled after, trying to keep up.

Ca'narn must have been aware of his difficulties, for he called a break after only fifteen or twenty minutes when they reached an area of slightly higher ground, where a low cairn of dark stones had been placed beside a low, wind-twisted tree stump.

For a while Peiter was content to lay against the cairn and let the red spots clear from his vision. Ca'narn handed him the canteen of water, and took position readings as they rested.

'How far did we come?' Peiter asked, when he was able to speak again.

'Just under twelve hundred metres,' Ca'narn said as he scanned the horizon.

Peiter groaned. 'Oh Force, is that all? It nearly killed me.'

Ca'narn nodded sympathetically. 'I am sorry, Peiter. I know that it was hard, but that was the worst. The journey should be easier from here onwards.'

Peiter nodded. 'You getting anything?'

'The global positioning system has been at least partially restored,' Ca'narn reported. 'Still no communication trace for the camp or any of the other skimmers.'

'I hope nothing bad happened. I guess the sooner we're back the sooner we'll know.'

'We should hurry. I have...'

'A bad feeling about this,' Peiter finished. 'Yeah, I know.'

'I was going to say that I had to transmit the data we recovered before the maintenance sweeps at noon,' Ca'narn said blandly.

Peiter managed a grin. 'Yeah, right. Like hell you were.'

Ca'narn's face grew grave. 'Seriously, though,' he said. 'I am troubled and I do not like the feeling. Something is wrong.'

Peiter nodded. 'Okay, big guy. Give me a few minutes to get my breath back and I'll be with you. By the way...'

'Yes, Peiter?'

'Did you mean what you said about the temple?' Peiter asked uncertainly.

'Of course,' Ca'narn said, looking down at him with surprise. 'It is over a year since I have visited Coruscant myself. I would welcome the chance to return there. In fact since we have a break rotation shortly perhaps we could go then. Have you ever been to Coruscant, Peiter?'

Peiter grimaced. 'Yeah, once, about seven or eight years ago with my Citizenship class. We were there for two days; we stayed in some hostel about thirty levels down. It was dark the whole time and there were five of us in one room. We were going to meet our Senator but he got stuck in some closed session and we had to see one of his aides instead. Then we went to the Senate and ended up on a viewing platform about a kilometre away from the speaker while the six guys who bothered to turn up that day argued about some administrative affairs bill. Then we got lost trying to find the entertainment quarter and ended up at some private corporate station about fifty kilometres out of the way. The security guards finally got sick of us and put us back on a shuttle going in the right direction. Then when we got to the entertainment quarter we found we couldn't afford anything anyway. Then on the last day we got ripped off buying scene clips to send back home. And the food was bad everywhere we went. I think it was all synthetic, but it was really expensive.'

'A typical experience, then,' Ca'narn commented. 'But the Temple is very beautiful, Peiter. It has many gardens and I think you would enjoy the library and the Hall of Planets. There are also many places in the city that we could visit. I could take you to see the tunnel markets, and the Monath Kleyil, and if there is time Conduit 1 and the Tower of Bones and Stones. Also there are many good places to eat. It is a long time since I have had good shellfish.'

Peiter absently brushed at the cloud of creatures that surrounded them. 'Yeah, you said. You should get Jalie to barter for some for you when she goes out to Holm Direnni on the next supply run. But I'm thinking - are we have enough time on Coruscant? Two days out, two days back and four days there? Maybe we should leave it a couple of months 'til our phase is finished.'

'I may be reassigned,' Ca'narn said regretfully. 'It has happened before. I am due leave but if there is an emergency it may be delayed again. We should take this opportunity, Peiter.'

'Well... I'm kind of broke at the moment, Ca'narn,' Peiter admitted. He scrambled wearily to his feet. Ca'narn shouldered their packs again.

'There are regular Temple shuttles to Coruscant from Dabar and back,' he said. 'And there should be no difficulty in getting passage to Dabar on one of the supply ships. We can stay at the guest rooms in the Temple. The view is beautiful and there will be no cost except what you choose to spend while you are there.'

'Hey, okay, you talked me into it,' Peiter said, with a tired grin. 'Beats me why you didn't stay there in the first place.'

'With very few exceptions only the children and members of the warrior branch of the order live permanently in the Temple itself. I do not wish to become a knight,' Ca'narn said again. 'I like my life to be comfortable.'

'Right. And this is comfortable?' Peiter said with friendly scepticism, as they began again. The ground was better here, and they set off on the trail side by side.

'I have a plan, Peiter,' Ca'narn confided. 'I will work my field training and then I will request an academic assignment to the Geo-Corps Institute on Tolley. The institute is equatorial. It is situated by the sea. The water is warm and low in sodium salts, and well stocked with fish.'

He looked at the murky water around them with some distaste.

Peiter grinned. 'So it all comes down to fish, huh?'

Ca'narn did not meet his eyes. 'Peiter, I must confess that there is another reason. Be'zeteran works there. She is head of inter-system field studies. Most of the other Scaran I meet are males who work as mercenaries. She is the only female I know of who has chosen to leave our world.'

Peiter raised an eyebrow. 'So, what's she like? She's a professor, right? so I'm guessing kind of old, no dress sense, looks like your grandmother...'

Ca'narn's eyes appeared to unfocus slightly. 'Not at all. I have heard that she weighs more than three hundred pounds. Her eyes are almost orange.'

Peiter nodded wisely. 'Ah. So she's a babe. I bet you think she's too good for you.'

Ca'narn heaved a sigh. 'Yes, Peiter. I am not aggressive enough and I am too big. I would still like to work alongside her, though. And if I worked with her on Tolley perhaps I could ask her to come fishing with me.'

'Wait... so a Scaran female has to be big to be considered attractive, but the guys have to be small?'

Ca'narn nodded. 'If a female is large her eggs will be large and healthy. But if a male is small, he will be a better diver and catch more fish.' The path ahead of them disintegrated into another morass. He jumped it effortlessly.

Behind him Peiter stumbled through the same stretch of mud, almost losing his balance as his boot sank in deeply. 'Ah, right. Uh, not that I think you need to, but maybe if you got to Tolley and did some swimming you could lose some weight.'

'It is height and not weight that is important,' Ca'narn said. He reached back and pulled Peiter out of the mud before he lost his balance.

'Well, you never know with women,' Peiter said kicking the worst of the thick mud off his boot. 'Maybe she likes 'em big and dumb.'

Ca'narn looked down critically at the fine mosaic of scales that covered his arm. 'My patterning is also very commonplace.'

'C'mon, don't do yourself down, Ca'narn,' Peiter chided as they began again. 'This is the only female you know who chose to leave your world, remember? She's gotta be out of the ordinary. How do you know if you don't give her a chance?'

'She is of high caste,' Ca'narn said mournfully. 'If I approach her and she considers me an unworthy mate she may choose to ask her uncles and brothers to hunt me down and kill me.'

Peiter managed to keep his expression serious. 'Yeah. I can see how that would be kind of off-putting for a guy.'

Ca'narn spared him a pained glance. 'Do not laugh at me Peiter. This is not at all amusing.'

Peiter sighed. 'Okay. How about this. She's a professor, she goes to a lot of conferences. You sign up for a few of the same conferences. If she's interested, she'll make the first move.'

'It is a strategy I cannot find fault with,' Ca'narn admitted, after a moment's thought. 'Thank you, Peiter. I will take your advice.'

'Hey, just name your first egg after me,' Peiter said, with a breathless grin.

'It's usually customary for the maternal grandmother to eat the first egg,' Ca'narn informed him.

Peiter made a face. 'I really, seriously didn't want to know that, Ca'narn.'

'I will endeavour to leave such details out in the future,' Ca'narn said gravely.

***

Half an hour later they had made little more progress, and Ca'narn called another halt as they reached another area of higher ground.

'Ca'narn, we're never going to get back if we stop for rest-breaks this often,' Peiter complained, although he nonetheless sank gratefully onto the wet grass.

Ca'narn shook his head. 'It looks as though we may be back far more quickly than I anticipated. Look, Peiter. Over there.'

Peiter squinted against the morning sunlight. In the distance he could just about make out what Ca'narn had seen instantly; the unmistakable shape of a second skimmer, half-obscured by reeds. 'It looks like the Stinky,' he commented. 'She's out kind of early. Can you see anyone?'

'No,' Ca'narn said. He raised his head, narrow nostrils opening as he scented the air 'There's nothing moving there.'

Peiter frowned. 'What would she be doing out here, anyway? This isn't one of our sites.'

'Peiter, I think something is wrong,' Ca'narn said slowly.

'What? Why?'

Ca'narn turned to look at him gravely. 'I do not like the angle at which the Stinky has put down and I can smell smoke. We are within two kilometres of the outcrop here. Maybe the Stinky was taken out last night and was unable to land in time when the storm hit.'

Peiter let out a breath. 'Oh no. Who was signed out with her?'

'I do not know,' Ca'narn said. He started to walk briskly in the direction of the distant skimmer. 'It was not assigned to anyone when we left. We were the only team out on a rotation.'

Peiter rose and hurried after him. 'This is weird. Shouldn't someone have found her by now? Shouldn't someone be arranging to salvage her or something?'

'It depends whether communications are still down at the camp. Perhaps there has been a generator failure,' Ca'narn said, as he moved intently through the reeds.

'But this doesn't make sense,' Peiter said. Ca'narn's sudden sense of urgency had made him forget his former weariness. 'We're less then ten kilometres out. They should have heard something or sent one of the other skimmers out, at least.'

'Perhaps she was just recently abandoned,' Ca'narn suggested. 'Perhaps whoever was piloting her decided to make his way back on foot.'

'That's the most likely scenario, I guess, but I still think we should check her out. It's too much of a coincidence that both skimmers should get mech trouble on the same morning. I don't like it.'

'I do not like it either,' Ca'narn agreed. 'My feelings tell me that something is wrong. We must go and see what has happened. It may be that the pilot is injured. It will not be far out of our way and it is possible that the skimmer is salvageable, in which case it will save us some hours of walking.'

'Okay. You lead, big guy.'

This time Ca'narn moved ahead quickly and purposefully, and Peiter found himself falling further and further behind, stumbling through the mud and tangled undergrowth that Ca'narn seemed to pass through without thought or effort. The heat was starting to grow oppressive and the air felt thick and poisonous. He caught up finally, almost running into Ca'narn's broad back.

'What's wrong?' he asked breathlessly. 'Why did you stop?'

'There is another smell,' Ca'narn said softly. 'Peiter, hide here. I will go on ahead and find out what has happened.'

'Another smell? What do you mean?'

'I am not sure, but I think there is danger. Stay here. I will be back soon.'

The ground was less waterlogged, and there was a dry, dead hollow in the centre of the low thorn bushes that grew here, covered over with the year's new growth. Peiter edged underneath nervously and waited. It was an uncomfortable hiding place. The bushes seemed to be a haven for the biting insects that had plagued them earlier and their thorns were long and sharp enough to penetrate his clothes in half a dozen places. His face was hot with exertion; the water in his canteen was warm and musty and his stomach burned with something that was not quite yet fear. Nonetheless he stayed still and silent. It was several minute before Ca'narn returned, moving in a low, crouching run, and he emerged stiffly from his cramped hiding place.

'What happened?' he demanded.

'Peiter, the skimmer was not damaged by the storm,' Ca'narn said quietly.

Peiter blinked at him. 'Ca'narn, I don't understand. What's happening?'

'The skimmer was attacked. Brought down by weapons fire.'

'Oh no. Was anyone...?'

'Yes. Timon was the pilot.'

'Timon...?' Peiter made to move towards the downed shuttle.

Ca'narn held him back. 'Do not go down there, Peiter. He is dead. It is not pleasant.'

'Oh Force,' Peiter said, in a thin voice. 'Ca'narn, what's happening? What are we going to do?'

'We must assume that the camp has been attacked too,' Ca'narn said softly. 'Whoever has done this will be searching for more survivors. We must find a place of safety, and quickly.'

'But I don't understand. Was Timon killed in the crash?'

'No, Peiter,' Ca'narn said gently, taking hold of his arms. 'He was killed by disrupter fire as he tried to run.'

'But who could have done this? Why?' Peiter whispered. 'The Hulf?'

'I would not think so, Peiter. They do not have energy weapons, and we have treaties with all the local tribes. They do not rely on technology. If they had been angered by us in some way they would have attacked under the cover of the storm when the camp generators were down. They would not have waited until afterwards.'

'Afterwards?'

'The clothing beneath the body is damp from the ground, but the rest is dry. The Hulf did not do this. The attack was carried out after the storm. The attackers may have waited until the worst of the storm was passed and attacked while the camp was still defenceless.'

'Then we have to go back to the camp!'

Ca'narn held him steady. 'No. We cannot return. We must hide.'

'Damn you, Ca'narn, they need our help!' Peiter said, voice rising in anger.

'No,' Ca'narn stated simply. 'It's too late. We are the only ones left.'

'Fuck! I don't believe this!'

Ca'narn took him by the shoulders and shook him very gently. 'Peiter, you must stop shouting and be calm. I am a big dumb lizard and I do not know the reason for this attack but I sense that if we are not very careful now, we will be killed too. I need you to trust me. Do you trust me?'

'Yeah,' Peiter whispered. 'Yeah, okay, I trust you.'

Ca'narn looked into his friend's tear-stained face. 'That is good. Now listen to me, Peiter, we do not have much time. I hear an engine in the distance, very powerful, not a militia craft or one of ours. They must have been waiting at the camp for us to return.'

'No, you're wrong. It must be the militia,' Peiter said numbly.

'Not the militia, Peiter. Peiter, they will only be looking for one pilot. This is what we have to do. I will lead them away and you will stay here and hide until it is safe...'

Peiter looked at him without comprehension for a moment. Then: 'No!,' he exclaimed, in fury and despair. 'You'll be killed! Ca'narn, we should stay together...'

'Then they will find us both. I will run towards the outcrop, as Timon tried to. If I am able to get close enough they will not be able to follow me.'

'No! No! Like Hell!'

'Peiter, I'm sorry,' Ca'narn said. He made an almost infinitesimal gesture with his claw. 'You will stay here, in hiding. You will be silent and still until nightfall, then you will seek the protection of the Hulf and find out who has done this.'

Whispered. 'I will stay here...'

Ca'narn nodded. 'I'm sorry, Peiter. You are my very good friend and I hope you can forgive me for this, but I have to leave you now.' He turned, and did not look back.

Reeds and the low tangled branches of the thornbushes whipped against his legs; Ca'narn ignored them. He drew upon the Force to sense out the ground ahead, leaping effortless across the streams, across the stretches of clinging mud. The reed stubble cut at his bare feet, but he ignored the pain. Ahead of him his goal filled the sky, the grey, rain-washed bulk of the outcrop.

He was growing closer. Beneath his feet the ground began to slope upwards. He could feel the first of the dull crystal fragments exposed by the rain; his claws scraped against them as he ran on, not even making the most rudimentary attempt to conceal himself. Within the shelter of the outcrop the reeds finally thinned. Taller bushes grew here instead, and long grasses and needle-leafed trees. Ahead the last grey remnants of the storm still clung to the heights. And he knew that his one hope, his only hope, was to reach a place where the ion disruption would not be strong enough to kill him, but where it would be too dangerous for his pursuers to bring their ships.

But now the noise of the engine behind him was growing louder, almost loud enough to deafen him, and the indicator on his wrist read 529, and it was close, but not quite close enough. Then the craft soared above him, a dark, blunt shape filling the sky and he knew that only a miracle could save him now.

This time, there was no miracle.

The searing, unforgiving heat and light of a disrupter blast filled his world, and then there was nothing.