Chapter 90

"When did you made this?" Yarmod asked amazed, while he took the string in his hands.

"Last night. After you told me you still hadn't a good plan to fix those explosive balls at the wall I thought about the rope we used to create the rope ladders and how we fixed the different rungs of the ladder. Those connections can be used to fix the explosive ball too. How many explosives are we taking with us?"

"Thirty," Ian said.

"Great! I already have made four wreathed ropes. Each of them can hold five explosives balls. I can expand this example to hold five balls, then I only have to make the last one. We only have to think about how we will attach them solidly against the wall."

Ian took the string and pointed at the spaces between the balls.

"We can use duraflex tape between the explosives and at the ends of the rope. It's solid and molds every surface. Once attached, duraflex plasters won't come off anymore. We should Han or Yarnick if they have duraflex tape."

"We'd better ask Leia. She took the initiative for this plan. Let's find Leia so Chati can explain what she has in mind."

The three friends left the tree house of the two Jedi and went over to Leia and Han's, but no one was there.

"She probably helping Han at the outcropping. Shall we descend to the plateau."

"If we tell her while other are listening they will oppose her plan. We'd better use our way to communicate with her," Yarmod said, "Ian, she was once your master, so I think you'd better use Jedi telepathy to reach out to her."

Ian closed his eyes for a moment to become one with the Force.

'Ma... Leia. We want to discuss something with you about your plan.' He said.

'I'll meet you in your tree house in about an hour.' The answer came.

'Yes, ... Leia, we'll be there waiting for you.'

He released himself from his Force connection.

"She comes to our tree house. We have to wait for her there," He said to Chati, for he knew that Yarmod had heard Leia's answer already.

"I'll get some more rope. While we're waiting I can prepare the last string, maybe even extended the sample string. I'll see you in your tree house." Chati said and rushed over the path that descended to the storage cave down the mountain path. Ian and Yarmod watch her go.

"I thought that I was good at proposing ideas," Yarmod said, "but she has a far more better insight in finding a solid solution to some problems immediately. She must have been working on these ropes the whole night and still I didn't sense any fatigue."

"It's still a long way off, before she will be a Jedi Knight, but the Force skills she possesses will once let her succeed and reach her goal. Master Luke and I sensed her Force potential the moment we first met her."

Wedge, Liane, Doran and the two droids drove back to Ribana.

"Where is your speeder, Doran?" Wedge asked.

"At the main plaza, hidden behind the wall where I left those killer droids."

Wedge steered his speeder to the main plaza and stopped at the administration building.

"Shaayla-Car, you're sure you're going with Doran, Artoo and Threepio and Trevor's droids ahead," Wedge asked.

"Yes, we'll meet again at the cave where Doran has to leave his speeder. Where are you going to leave the speeder of the Astræga."

"In the vineyard among the vines. You and Doran need so time to fix the inactivate droids on his speeder. In the mean time I leave the vineyard building at the front and take the short cut to the cave entrance. We'll keep in touch with our infocoms."

"We'll wait for you in the lower cave where I will show you the hidden staircase."

"Very well. Let's split up now, for I want this speeder to be hidden securely."

Wedge started the engine and drove off. Liane watched him go. Now she was on her own with Artoo and Threepio and the imperial agent Doran Whain. For a while Doran vanished behind the wall but within moments he appeared with the speeder around the corner of the main administration building. He jumped through the gap in the wall and returned with one of the inert droids.

"Can you give me a hand, Ma'am," He asked.

Liane followed him and together they brought the ten droids to the speeder. Doran hoisted five of them at the last backseat. The other five he put at the seat in front of the backseat. He looked at Liane and grinned.

"A bit cramped, but they won't object I guess."

Liane looked at the remaining empty seats in the speeder.

"I suggest that you and Artoo take the next seats and Threepio and I will take the driver's and passenger's seat," Doran said.

"How much time do we need to reach the rendez-vous point at those lower caves?" Liane asked.

"It took me about an hour to reach Ribana with the droids."

Liane's infocom buzzed. She activate the device and Wedge's image popped.

"I've reach the vineyard building. I've found a good spot to leave the speeder."

"We're still in Ribana, but we're about to leave. Doran has to take those droids back. We put them in the back seat rows of his grand speeder. We'll meet you in about an hour, Wedge."

"Master Antilles, take care you stay out of sight of the main entrance." Doran remarked.

"I'll get to that lower cave unseen, don't worry, Doran," Wedge answered.

The connection vanished. Liane walked over to the speeder, looked at the inactivate droids and started to laugh. Doran looked at her uncomprehendingly. Liane turned to him.

"Must have been very scaring, driving to Ribana with those droids while they were active, wasn't it?" She asked him.

"I didn't really feel at easy. Especially when I had noticed I couldn't control these ten killer droids with the device I assembled, Ma'am."

He took a small device from his pocket.

"With this I can control all the droids I have reprogrammed so far. I didn't expect that Trevor had more killer droids. Well, at least these ten won't be under his command any longer."

"Have you taken this device with you when you were asked to look at Trevor's damaged comsystem."

"No, I assembled it secretly while I was held hostage. When I went inside the cave system all my personal belongings were confiscated, including my original infocom. It's lucky that I met with Luke. He gave me his infocom, so I could get in touch with him when needed. I still wonder where he has been staying on this planet without being hardly noticed. I once saw a recording from a probe droids that were busted with the blow of a lightsaber. I altered those images so it looked that the probe droids were attacked by some predator birds."

"And you managed to do all this under Trevor's nose?" Liane said with admiration.

"Most of the time I had nothing to do and after I pledge loyalty to Trevor he seldom came to the comsystem cave. Besides I did a lot of alteration at his comsystem and his droids during night hours. Now we'd better go, otherwise master Antilles might be detected some how."

Liane nodded and jumped at the seat next to Artoo. Doran helped Threepio on the passendger's seat, jumped at the driver's seat and started the engine. Once outside Ribana he activated the autopilot and turned to Liane.

"Ma'am, where did you learn to program or re-program droids on the right circuit board.?"

Liane started to laugh.

"Stop addressing me so officially, master Whain. Just call me Liane or Shaayla-Car, but to answer your question. I once studied the textbook you have written on droid programming. I could use that knowledge when I was sentence to an eight year detention on Wegoyy."

Doran nodded.

"Please call me, Doran, Shaayla-Car. I know you have been on Wegoyy and what happened to you there. It must have been a very difficult time for you, not knowing who you were and where you came from."

"It's all in the past, Doran. A lot has happened to me afterwards, before I finally was convinced I had to use my skills as a Jedi Knight. That reminds me, don't let Trevor know what we have discovered reading the transcriptions of those files."

"Do you think, he can also notice what I'm thinking, like you and Wedge could."

"I don't think he can, Doran, but any suggestion about what we know about him, might still be dangerous. We don't know how many other of those killer droids he has at hand."

Doran looked at the display of the autopilot.

"We're nearing our rendez-vous point with master Antilles. I have to make a slight detour to avoid that any droid near the entrance of the cave system will be aware of our approach."

Doran left the road and steered through shrubs on the plains to a lower hill cover with dense vegetation of shrubbery and overgrown bushes. Through a narrow thoroughfare he reached a path that lead uphill to the right. Slowing down he turned left and stopped the engine in front of a cave entrance.

"I guess, we have to wait for a while to meet with master Antilles, but once inside this cave no one will notice us." He said and made a sweeping gesture to the cave, "This is Trevor's speeder parking lot. To right the path leads to the main entrance, where we will go inside and where you will meet Darth Golluth. Are you nervous?"

"A bit, Doran, but I can handle my feelings. This quite some time since I met Trevor the last time. Look, there's Wedge," She said and pointing to her Jedi companion who walked over to them from the cave.

Wedge joined them.

"I have already done some investigation inside, Doran. I've found the stairwell you mentioned. Look all very straight forward. As you said I have to follow some caves to get to the main system."

"You've been inside already," Doran asked surprised.

"I didn't enter the main cave system, yet, but I wanted to make sure I understood the information you gave me. Does Trevor knows about it."

"I guess not, but I'm not sure, but the low cave behind the stairs might give him some difficulty. I have never seen him entering the chasm in the wall of the main corridor. Once I have accompanied Shaayla-Car inside to meet Darth Golluth, I will come to the chasm and make sure you can hide inside the cave which has been assigned as my private quarter."

"Very well, Doran. I wait inside the chasm. Take care of my Jedi friend. May the Force be with you, Shaayla-Car."

"Thanks, Wedge. May the Force be with you."

Wedge disappeared inside the cave. Liane saw him walking to a darker corner where she spotted the steps of a stairwell.

Meanwhile Doran had begun to unload the droids with help of Threepio. Liane turned around and started to lend him a hand. Once unloaded Doran took the device from a hidden pocket in his sleeve. Liane raised her hand.

"Wait, Doran, don't activate them yet! You can't take me to the cave entrance this way!" Liane said, looking at the droids, "Trevor has ordered you to capture me, if he sees you and me walking ahead of his droids, he certainly will get suspicious. Do you have handcuffs and a blindfold?"

Doran looked at her, shaking his head.

"You suggest that I should treat you as a prisoner?"

"I am your prisoner. I have a blindfold, do you have any handcuffs? After you have activate the droids, let them surround me and my droids."

"With a blindfold on you might stumbled. This path is peppered with all kinds of sharp rocks."

"Don't worry. I'll manage."

Liane put on her blindfold and held out her hands. She felt Doran's resistance to her proposal, as he hesitantly fixed a pair of binders around her wrists.

"Show you are in charge, Doran. Now bring me inside."

"Shaayla-Car, Luke asked me to bring you inside. I am his ally."

"I know, but you're also still a loyal officer to Trevor Matrik who dreams to be the next Emperor. Once inside, you also have to treat me very distantly while I'm in the company of Trevor. There will be moments when we can talk more freely."

"You, Jedi, probably know what you're doing, but I find it difficult to agree with your point of view." The droids activated and stepped inline.

Still feeling insecure he pressed the code on his device and ordered the ten droids formed a cordon around Liane and her droids.

"Mission complete, colonel," The main droid said, "We have captured the woman."

"Good job," Doran answered, "Escort her and those two droids to our master."

Reluctantly Doran let the group to walk uphill to the entrance of the underground cave system. Liane with Threepio and Artoo at her side followed inside the cordon of former killer droids.

On the other side of Palomintar Four Cornell, Wollin and Manall nodded at the Grann brothers.

"Let's proceed with a small trial, master Yarnick," Cornell said.

The six Grann brothers and the three Quelans stood on top of the high wall where the a construction of hollow branches had been set up to lead the water from the lake down to the plateau.

"We can interrupt the water flow at any moment, master Cornell," Yarnick said, pointing to the hollow branch near the lake, "We only have to lift that branch from the lake and the water flow will stop immediately."

"Let's proceed," Manall said, "Warn the others on the plateau and near the inlet. Let's see if everything is ready."

Bran activated his infocom and called Han Solo.

"Han, we're ready. You warn the others to stay away from the canal on the plateau."

"We already found several spots on high ground to follow the trial." Han answered.

Yarnick turned to Ronan and Kieran.

"Go over to Brion and Conor you two and slowly lowered the branch in the lake. Use the lever construction you've developed to get the water in the first branch section."

The four Granns rushed over to the edge of the lake where an ingenious construction had been set up to pump the water from the lake into the first section of the gutter branch. Slowly they put the end of the branch under the water surface and began to swing it carefully up again. Again they lowered the branch and raise it. A small trickle of water flowed to the next section of the gutter branches. After repeating their effort several time, suddenly the water flow from the lake started to flow by itself and filled all the section of the gutter construction to th edge of the high wall. At the end of the last gutter branch the water flow plunged down along the wall inside the shallow pool on the plateau. The pool filled up and the continued to flow through the canal to the other end of the plateau where the outcropping had been leveled, so the water would lead to the inlet.

There were loud cheers when those looking at the water flow on the plateau filled the canal, but near the outcropping the water flow choose a different path and began to flow in the direction of the mountain ridge.

Han immediately contact Bran.

"Stop the flow now, guys. Great work, but we need to do some extra work near the outcropping to keep the water in the direction of the inlet."

Bran warned his brothers who immediately took the gutter branch above the lake surface, ensuring that no more water passed through the construction. Cornell and Wollin looked a bit disappointed, but Manall waved to the Grann brothers.

"Excellent work," The old harvest man said, "This little demonstration is a success. I expected that near the outcropping we still had to do some digging. We have to create a wall to make the water flow in the right direction. We should use a similar construction as we have build along the edge of the plateau. That last part of the canal has to be much steeper so the water will rush inside the inlet. Let's get all down to the plateau and fix it. Next we will do another trial."