"What now?" Ferus asked. His voice was steady, even though he was running hard. Siri's Padawan did not have Anakin's great Force connection, but he made up for it with excellent physical training and a keen mind.
Anakin's head cocked. "I hear something. This way."
Following Anakin now, they ran through the maze. They passed gravsleds and durasteel bins marked as waste. They didn't see any tiny creatures or birds here. No living thing would linger in this place if it didn't have to.
Their race ended at a tall stone wall. Anakin stopped. Now the others could hear what he had detected so many twists and turns before. A crowd was on the other side of the wall.
The Jedi activated their cable launchers. Quickly they scaled the wall. The crowd was just ahead, focusing on a female Falleen who was speaking. Her voice rolled over the crowd.
They jumped down and quickly moved into the crowd for concealment. The two teams had doubled back during their run and were now standing outside the main gate of the factory. The Falleen female stood, hanging on to the gate with one hand to keep herself above the crowd while she spoke into a voice amplifier headset. She was tall for the species, with the distinctive gray-green color to her scales.
"… and we ask them, what are the wastes you produce, and what is your disposal system? And they tell us — "
"NOTHING," the crowd shouted.
"And we ask them, what is the nature of the experiments you are conducting in your secret wing? And they tell us — "
"NOTHING!"
"And we ask them, what about the four workers over the past three months who have died without any reports being filed? And they tell us — "
"NOTHING!"
"And we ask them, when you have your products and your profits, what will you do for the citizens of Falleen? And we know the answer, don't we?"
"NOTHING!" The crowd screamed the word.
"And will we do nothing, or will we demand what is our right to demand — a full accounting of what is made here?" the female Falleen shouted. "If our leaders will not make them obey our laws, we must! Are you with me?"
"YES!" the crowd shouted.
"Are you willing?"
"YES!"
"Are you ready to go in and find what we need?" "YES!"
"Then come on!"
A small explosive charge went off. The Falleen female leaped to the ground. At first Obi-Wan thought she'd been hurt, but then it was obvious that she or one of her cohorts had set it off, for the gates swung open.
With a cry, the crowd surged forward.
"We shouldn't be in the middle of this," Ferus said. Anakin looked fascinated.
It didn't matter if they should be there; they were caught. The crowd was ahead of them and behind them now. As it moved, they moved with it. And then ahead, Obi-Wan saw black objects fly out from the factory.
"Attack droids," he shouted. "Take cover!"
The crowd panicked and moved backward like one great breaking wave.
Then they turned and ran, back toward the walkways. The Jedi fought their way through the crowd, moving against them, toward the droids.
Obi-Wan watched the Falleen female. As soon as the droids had come, she had dropped from the gate. Instead of fleeing with the others, she ran along the outside of the gate. He knew she was heading toward the alleys.
He saw her make a turn. In that direction, she would run straight into a wall.
Two of the droids peeled off and followed her. "Anakin!" Obi-Wan called. "Let's go."
Chapter Two
Anakin had seen the same thing as his Master, and he read Obi-Wan's intention before it was fully formed. They needed to talk to the Falleen.
Anakin looked around quickly. There was no one in sight, and no danger of blowing their cover.
He charged toward the droids, leaping and slashing, his lightsaber moving so fast that it was back in his belt before he hit the ground. The two droids lay in smoking ruin.
Grinning, Obi-Wan kept pace with him. "Nice work." "Don't mention it."
Siri and Ferus joined them. Racing now, the four Jedi turned a corner and saw the female Falleen futilely trying to scale the wall. She whirled and tensed when she heard their footsteps.
"We're not with Blackwater," Obi-Wan said quickly. "We were in the crowd."
She nodded. "I'm afraid we're trapped."
"The droids tracking you crashed into each other," Siri told her.
"They're destroyed."
"There will be others," the Falleen said. "The factory owners have my vitals. They can track me. If I were you, I wouldn't stick with me. I'm afraid my back is literally to the wall."
Anakin admired her bravery. She spoke coolly, but he could feel that inside she was terrified.
"The wall," Obi-Wan said, "is not a problem."
He strode forward and attached one end of his cable launcher to the Falleen's utility belt. "Always be prepared," he said. His tone was light, and Anakin knew he was trying to reassure her.
The Jedi moved forward. In a few seconds, they had activated their launchers and swung up and over the wall, Obi-Wan keeping the Falleen steady as they climbed. They dropped down on the other side.
The Falleen looked around. "I know a back way to the cloud-bus stop from here," she said. "I'm Mazara, by the way."
She gazed at them curiously.
"We arrived on Falleen recently," Siri said. "Looking for jobs."
"We'd better hurry," Obi-Wan said. "It won't take them long to look further."
Mazara took them on a different path through the maze of alleys that ran behind the factories. They had to scale the locked gates between the properties, but they saw no new evidence of tracking droids.
Mazara waved at the surrounding plains as she walked. "This is why Falleen is so ideal for them," she told them. "There is plenty of land outside our city. Transports can land and take off without being logged in.
Waste can be dumped or offloaded onto orbiting platforms." Her voice was full of disgust. "Not to mention that as Falleen, we don't like to raise our voices. The population is growing distressed with the situation, but no one says anything. It is not 'appropriate, — she said, giving a wry twist to the word. "Believe me, I'm not an activist. I was a journalist, before I got fired for writing an article on Blackwater. Both our land and our skies are becoming dumping grounds. I've seen it happen to other worlds. I can't watch it happen to my homeworld."
"Why did you target Blackwater Systems?" Obi-Wan asked.
"They are the worst offenders," Mazara answered. "The factory was built quickly, with little regard for basic safety practices. Enormous bribes were paid to inspectors to overlook violations that are part of the laws of Falleen. There have been several deaths at the facility and each time an investigation is done the result is the same — the worker was at fault."