by Jude Watson
The barrage of fire was constant, shrieking by his ears and filling the room with more sparks and heat. Electrojabbers waved in the air, and he saw one land by accident on another member of Decca's gang who was firing his blaster rifle in the air. The gang member went down, his legs paralyzed for a good two hours or more. He managed to drag himself away from a Phlog who was stomping toward the blaster fire, swinging a vibroax. Screams and battle cries filled the air.
It was a demonstration of sloppy fighting, Obi-Wan judged. Decca's gang might be large and fierce, but it certainly wasn't organized.
Striker's soldiers were more efficient, moving slowly but surely toward the corner where Decca had been. Now the smoke was so thick it was impossible to tell where she had gone.
A panicked voice panted by his ear. "Wherever you're going, take me with you."
"Swanny, what are you doing?" Obi-Wan asked, whirling his lightsaber to deflect a sudden barrage of blaster fire. "Stay by the band platform, you'll be safe there."
"Are you kidding? There is no band platform. Some Phlog stepped on it on the way to Striker's gang."
"We're sunk," Rorq said, suddenly appearing as he crawled up to Obi- Wan. "You've got to get us out of here."
Obi-Wan looked down at them, exasperated. The Force surged, and he quickly whirled around to slice an electrojabber in half, held by a Decca gang member who had mistaken him for an enemy.
He had to get to those datapads. He couldn't do that and protect Swanny and Rorq.
Obi-Wan leaped closer to Swanny, protecting him from a sudden barrage of fire from a repeating blaster. The fire was fast and furious. Obi-Wan had to twirl his lightsaber in a continuous motion. He called out to the Force, using it to slow down time so that he could see each individual blaster shot. Where was Anakin?
As if his thought had conjured him, Anakin appeared through the smoke.
His lightsaber held high and constantly moving, he was leaping toward the repeating blaster, which some enterprising members of Striker's gang had set up against the wall.
Anakin hit the repeating blaster with both feet, using the split second between the blasts to make his strike. The blaster flew off its supports. Anakin came down, slicing the weapon in two.
Then he snaked his way back to Obi-Wan.
"Get Swanny and Rorq to safety," Obi-Wan shouted above the din. "I'm going to get to those records. As soon as they're safe, follow me." There was no time to come up with another plan. The smoke rolled toward him, and he plunged into it.
Instantly his eyes began to tear again, and he felt the smoke in his lungs, making his breathing difficult. He fought his way forward. Even in this smoke, it would be hard to hide a Hutt.
He had to step over the bodies of the dead and wounded. Obi-Wan tasted smoke and death in his mouth. He felt tiredness seep into his bones. Greed had that effect on him. He could better understand the Mawans, who had fought for ideas, than those who worked for the crimelords. Stamping out greed was impossible; controlling it was a never-ending task. His job would never be finished. In the middle of a battle such as this, a great tide of weariness could wash over him at the thought.
His battle mind had slipped. That wasn't good. Obi-Wan wrenched back his concentration. Suddenly the bank of datapads burst into flame. They had been hit by a grenade.
Obi-Wan stopped to consider what to do next. But he didn't have time to change his direction. A percussive force almost blasted him off his feet. The floor rose to meet him and he fell on one knee, his ears ringing.
The size of the blast told him that it had been caused by a thermal detonator. More smoke filled the air, and he could hear screams and cries.
He leaped to avoid a sudden stab with a stun baton. His assailant disappeared into the smoke as quickly as he had appeared.
Obi-Wan decided to find Decca. If he followed her, he might discover her exit strategy and her backup plans. Perhaps she would lead him to another hideout. He reached the end of the substation at last. He could just glimpse Decca lowering her bulk into a specially designed speeder, wider and larger than normal. The pilot jammed its throttle forward, and it sped down the back tunnel.
He had missed the chance to follow her by seconds. There was no other speeder in the tunnel to take.
Obi-Wan turned. The smoke was clearing. He saw the gang members lying on the floor, or sitting, their heads in their hands. Some who could still run had taken off after the retreating members of Striker's gang.
Swanny was holding out a hand, helping Rorq to rise. They had taken cover behind a garbage bin.
Obi-Wan scanned the crowd. Where was Anakin? He hurried over to Swanny and Rorq. "Did Anakin follow the others?"
Swanny shook his head. "I don't know, I didn't see. He pushed us back here just before something very big exploded."
The thermal detonator. What if Anakin had been close to it?
Something lay on the floor nearby. Obi-Wan felt a terrible dread steal over him. Slowly, he walked forward and crouched down by the object.
He picked it up and ran his fingers over it. The hilt was caked with dust and one deep scar now marred the finish.
It was Anakin's lightsaber.
Chapter Seven
At least I'm alive, Anakin thought. I may be stupid, but I'm alive.
It was a very un-Jedi thought. Jedi did not berate themselves. Anakin didn't care. He felt stupid and careless. He tried to rearrange himself within the garbage container he found himself in, but there was no room, and whenever he moved, his shoulder sent out a scream of protest. He wasn't hurt badly. He had landed on his shoulder when the thermal detonator hit.
He had seen it but not soon enough. It had exploded, and he'd been hit.
And dropped his lightsaber. Something a Jedi was never, ever supposed to do.
Now he was being brought somewhere. He had been dazed from the thermal detonator, picked up like a sack of onions, and dropped into a container on top of a pile of greasy bones from the feast. His assailant had ripped his utility belt off his tunic, so he'd lost his comlink, too. He had been banged down the tunnel, been thrown into a vehicle, and now was careening..
somewhere.
He couldn't wait to hear what his Master would say about this one.
Things were bad enough with Obi-Wan. What would happen when he found out that Anakin had lost his lightsaber and been captured?
Anakin pictured the exchange.
I saw the thermal detonator too late, Master. It was a surprise.
There are no surprises when the Force is with you, my young Padawan.
Anakin grimaced. He couldn't wait for that one. If he ever got out of here.
He moved his fingers along the container. It was a standard-issue garbage bin. The lid was hinged and had a simple lock. If he could manage to get on his back, he might be able to kick the lid with enough power to shatter the lock.
He could try it. He was on fire to get out of this stinking prison.
But thanks to Obi-Wan, he had learned how to wait.
He was almost certain that he'd been captured by Striker's gang.
Without his lightsaber, he might not be taken for a Jedi. Perhaps he was one of many prisoners. He guessed that he would be taken to Striker's hideout. He could bide his time and observe. They were here to gather information, after all. Maybe he could discover something valuable about Striker, something they could use.
So maybe the best thing he could do was lie here and wait to be released.
As he had that thought, Anakin felt the speeder slow. It stopped, and the container was grabbed roughly, then dropped. Anakin had braced himself, but he banged his head on the side. Patience was hard to find now, with a smarting head, but he reached for it, calming himself for whatever lay ahead.
The container lid was yanked open. Rough hands reached in. Anakin let his body go slack. He was grabbed and slung over someone's shoulder, then dumped on the ground.
Anakin looked up into cruel yellow eyes.
"There's your
welcome, slug." A giant lmbat smiled down at him with mossy teeth. Then he reached for his utility belt, where a pair of stun cuffs dangled. They looked like delicate bracelets in his huge hand. He slapped them on to Anakin. Then with a grunt, he simply turned and walked off.
Anakin rose unsteadily to his feet. His shoulder still ached, and he could feel a lump rising on the side of his forehead near his left eye.
Around him, activity swirled, but no one paid him any attention. He was free to wander, but the stun cuffs guaranteed he would not be able to wander far. From what he could tell, he was the only prisoner.
Anakin did what he knew Obi-Wan would want him to do. He observed.
The substation was even larger than the one Decca had used. Banks of monitoring equipment, now unused, ran along one wall. Benches and chairs had been ripped from their floor supports and were piled in a corner. A weapons rack held an impressive array of small arms.
The gang members were busy and didn't even glance at him. Some were checking and cleaning weapons. Others sat at improvised computer stations, entering information. Others manned comm units. Everyone seemed to have a job. Compared to the slipshod air of Feeana's operation and the chaos and suppressed violence of Decca's, this seemed like a professional operation.
Which told him that of all three criminals, Striker was the one to worry about.
Anakin had no idea where he was. How would Obi-Wan ever be able to find him?
But he didn't want Obi-Wan to find him. Not until he had a chance to learn something. It would redeem him in his Master's eyes. Maybe he could discover something important and then escape.
Anakin drifted closer to the computer banks. He focused his attention on the fingers of a man entering information. He tapped into the Force to help him. He felt time slow down, and he tried to put words together from the letters the man was entering.
B I 0… he missed several letters, someone walking by… P 0 N T 0 X Frustrated, Anakin leaned forward to see. A huge hand suddenly landed on his sore shoulder, sending a fresh jolt of pain through his body. "The boss wants to see you."
Without checking to make sure that he was following, the lmbat loped across the space. He accessed a durasteel door that led to a room off the main substation. He waited for it to open, then shoved Anakin inside. The door slid shut behind him.
The room was almost empty except for a bare table and one chair. The man standing in front of him was smiling and holding out his hands.
"Forgive my manner of bringing you, my friend. I was impatient to see you."
Anakin felt shock ripple through him.
It was their greatest enemy, Granta Omega.
Chapter Eight
"You want us to bring you to Striker's hideout?" Swanny asked. "But no one knows where that is."
"You said you knew where everyone was, and everything that went on,"
Obi-Wan said.
"A slight exaggeration can often seal a deal," Swanny said. "Note the word 'hideout,' however. That implies that something is hidden, doesn't it?
" "Then we're just going to have to find it," Obi-Wan said.
"We?" Rorq asked. "What do we have to do with it?"
"Anakin came close to that thermal detonator because of the two of you," Obi-Wan said. "He saved your lives."
"And we're sure he wouldn't want us to lose them, after all the trouble he went to," Rorq said earnestly.
"Look, Master Obi," Swanny said. "The reason Striker is so effective is because nobody knows anything about him. They don't know where he came from. They don't know his name. They don't know where he lives. They don't know when he'll strike again. There are kilometers and kilometers of tunnels, some of them half finished, and empty substations on the perimeters. He could be anywhere. And it's not like we ever wanted to look very hard."
"Then we'll smoke him out," Obi-Wan said.
"I think I've had enough smoke for one night," Swanny said, rubbing his fingers along his smoke-blackened face.
"Not real smoke," Obi-Wan said. "I mean provoke him so that he'll come out into the open."
"Provoke him?" Rorq moaned. "That doesn't sound good."
Obi-Wan was feeling on the edge of his patience. He should have stayed with Anakin when they were under attack. Now he did not know if Anakin was badly wounded or worse.
He remembered feeling so angry on Andara. thought you'd be proud of me, Anakin had said. And he had wanted to reply that he was proud, that Anakin's progress astonished him, that there was so much about Anakin that he admired. Instead he had held his tongue, thinking there would be a better time. He did not want to praise Anakin when his apprentice had made such an error.
But maybe he should have. That better time had not arrived.
"Where is Striker most vulnerable?" he asked Swanny.
"I have no idea," Swanny said. "Nowhere, if I had to guess. He's got personal guards that surround him at all times. Plus surveillance, weapons, assassins, a huge army… can I stop now?"
Obi-Wan's comlink signaled. He snatched it up eagerly.
"Speak with you, I must," Yaddle said. "At the airlift, meet we will."
"Of course," Obi-Wan said. "But I was just about to contact you.
Anakin is missing. I think Striker has taken him."
Yaddle hesitated for only a beat. He could feel her concern. Then she said slowly, "Your problem, my problem — fix each other, they might."
Swanny and Rorq seemed relieved at the diversion. They were happy to lead him to the airlift.
Yaddle stepped off the airlift with the graceful, gliding step that never seemed to abandon her, even when she was tired or impatient.
"In addition to the mainframe substation of the power grid, taken over another crucial station, Striker has," she said. "Substation 32, a central relay station. Crucial it is as a network point for restarting the grid."
Swanny nodded. "That's right. He can override the power surge you need for start up from that substation."
"Retake it, we must," Yaddle confirmed.
"I was looking for a way to provoke Striker," Obi-Wan said.
"That will do it," Swanny muttered. "He just got that substation back from Decca tonight. I imagine he feels pretty good about it."
"If we attack the substation, he'll have to send reinforcements," Obi- Wan said to Yaddle. "We can tail them back to the hideout."
"Can I say something here?" Swanny asked. "Taking the substation is impossible. Just wanted to mention that."
"What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asked.
"He has his best men protecting the power grid," Swanny said. "His most explosive weapons. I've seen the Jedi in action and it's a sweet sight, don't get me wrong. But can two Jedi go up against grenade launchers and missile tubes?"
Obi-Wan exchanged a glance with Yaddle.
"There's only one entrance to substation 32," Swanny went on. "It's the only way in. And you won't go more than two meters before you're blasted to pieces."
"I guess that's that, then," Rorq said. "There's no other way."
Yaddle smiled. Obi-Wan turned to Swanny and Rorq. "For the Jedi, there is always another way," he said.
Chapter Nine
Don't let him see your surprise. Don't give him even a flicker of satisfaction.
"Oh, come on, Anakin," Granta Omega said. "You're surprised. Admit it.
And maybe just a little bit pleased?" Omega smiled at him. Anakin was always mystified by his charm. He had liked him, once. Before he'd tried to kill Obi-Wan. Before it was clear that the dark side dominated his acts.
Granta Omega was out to lure a Sith into the open. He was not Force- sensitive, but he wanted to be close to the Force. He wanted to understand the source of such power. He would do anything to attract the one Sith he knew was at large in the galaxy. He was enormously wealthy, and would use anyone or anything to get what he wanted. Even the Jedi.
"I wouldn't say pleased," Anakin replied. "And I wouldn't say surprised. I'd say very unhappy."
Omega cocked his
head and regarded Anakin. "I'm sorry to hear that.
But I know that soon you'll understand why we keep running into each other.
You are strong in the Force. Stronger than any Jedi. Stronger than your Master — and he knows it. I'm still interested in the Sith, but I'm becoming even more interested in you."
"The feeling isn't mutual."
