by Watson, Jude
Anakin was moving quickly, hugging the wall of the hangar. His focus was so intent that he did not sense Obi-Wan behind him. Obi-Wan noted this with alarm. How many times had he warned Anakin to never focus on the goal ahead only, but to cast his attention like a net, as far around him as he could? He should have sensed his Master. Obi-Wan quickened his pace. He felt the dark side of the Force grow and gather, and he wanted to call out to Anakin, but didn’t want to give away their positions.
He needn’t have worried. Whoever the Sith was, he knew exactly where Anakin was, for, to Obi-Wan’s horror, his apprentice was suddenly lifted like a doll and flung into the air. Anakin’s body slammed into the wreck of a cruiser. He fell to the ground.
Obi-Wan raced forward, his lightsaber activated and ready for battle. He kept his focus wide, just as he had taught Anakin. He knew the Sith was aware that he was there, and no doubt was aware that he would rush to help his apprentice.
No attack came. Anakin was already recovering as Obi-Wan bent over him, quickly checking for breaks or contusions.
“I’m all right.” Anakin grunted. “Just…embarrassed. I’ve never felt anything like that.”
“Did you see him?”
“Only from behind. Tall. Dressed in a black-hooded cape that trailed all the way to the ground. I didn’t see his face. He didn’t even turn. I felt the Force come at me like an autoblaster cannon.…” Anakin struggled to his feet. “It could be a Sith.”
“I know.”
Anakin started forward.
“Where are you going?” Obi-Wan asked.
When he turned, Obi-Wan could see Anakin’s face undergo a change. Every muscle tightened, and his eyes turned flinty.
“We have a chance to make a stand,” Anakin said.
“We need the others.”
“It will be too late.”
Obi-Wan hesitated only a fraction. Anakin was right. They had to try. He started forward, and together they moved farther into the darkness.
“Keep your focus loose,” Obi-Wan warned him in a low tone. “He will come from anywhere when he comes.”
“This time I’ll be prepared.”
“Don’t be so confident,” Obi-Wan answered. “You probably won’t be.”
They were nearing the end of the hangar. He sensed it rather than saw it. The corroded vehicles were more numerous now, lined up like dark, giant phantoms.
Like phantoms…
Phantoms that move…
Obi-Wan wrenched his gaze away. He could have sworn the ancient ships were moving.
Then he knew.
“This way!” he yelled, as the first vehicle suddenly flipped over. It would have crushed them if Obi-Wan hadn’t dashed to the side with Anakin on his heels. He flattened himself against the wall as another vehicle moved, its jagged wing a lethal weapon, capable of slicing them to ribbons. A cruiser suddenly zoomed toward the wall, straight at them.
“Drop!” Anakin and Obi-Wan hit the floor, hugging the stones as the cruiser passed over them and smashed into the wall.
Vehicle parts began to fall like rain. The crashes were deafening. They leaped, twisted, and dived to avoid them, using the Force to deflect them when they could. Finally they came to rest in the shadow of one of the giant statues. Obi-Wan leaned against a clawed foot and squinted into the darkness.
He could not see the Sith, but he felt the Sith’s amusement, his triumph.
The vehicles now smashed into one another, creating a solid mass of screaming metal, effectively blocking them from the front of the hangar.
Anakin ran to the mountain of metal and tried to climb over it. Obi-Wan felt the dark side rise in a crest and then fall, leaving a vacuum behind.
“It’s no use,” he told Anakin. “The Sith is gone.”
“Gone.” Anakin repeated the word dully.
“Don’t worry.” Obi-Wan sheathed his lightsaber. “I have no doubt that we’ll meet him again.”
Chapter Fourteen
Anakin immediately hurried to Tru’s side while Obi-Wan went to confer with the Masters.
“You all right?”
Tru smiled wanly, but didn’t look up. “Just a few bruises. Ferus fixed me up.”
Ferus tucked the med kit back into his utility pouch. He didn’t look at Anakin, either. Darra studied the hilt of her lightsaber.
“I saw someone trying to escape, so I had to go after him,” Anakin said. “It turned out to be a Sith. Obi-Wan is sure of it.”
“Well, that’s not surprising,” Darra said. “We’re on Korriban, after all.”
There was an unfamiliar hard note in Darra’s voice, as if she resented Anakin.
“Our mission is to find Granta Omega,” Anakin said. “You had things under control, so I went after him—or, who I thought was him.”
“So you were sure we had everything under control?” Ferus straightened, wiping his hands on his tunic.
“That’s what I said.”
“Tru was wounded, I was helping him, and Darra had to face off against a dozen droids, but everything was under control?”
“Obviously I made the right call,” Anakin said, gesturing at the fallen droids.
“And you were only thinking of the mission, of course,” Ferus said.
“Of course.” Anakin knew what Ferus was getting at. He felt his neck heat up, and he turned away before the flush could reach his cheeks and betray him. The truth was less certain than his words. He was thinking of the mission, but he was also thinking of himself. He had been in a position to capture Omega without help. He had left Ferus behind with a secret satisfaction. He had wanted to win.
He sneaked a look back at Tru. His friend looked strained and unhappy. Anakin resolved to talk to him as soon as he could do so privately. Tru’s friendship was very important to him. But Tru had to understand what was important to Anakin, too.
Anakin joined the Masters. Ry-Gaul and Soara were examining the battle droid wreckage.
“These are the super battle droids we’ve been hearing about,” Soara said. “A complete violation of Republic regulations.”
Obi-Wan looked grim. “We are lucky to all be standing. This could have been much worse. I think our next step is to trace the route of the Sith if we can. He most likely used the exit that you used to get inside, Ry-Gaul.”
Ry-Gaul nodded. “That’s why he blocked it.”
“There’s another possibility,” Siri said. “The landing pad could be functional.”
Anakin shook his head. “Auben said it’s buried.”
“So maybe it just looks buried,” Siri said.
“Let’s ask Auben,” Anakin said. “She can show it to us, at least.”
They walked inside the service bay. It was empty.
“She was hiding behind the old cruiser,” Soara said. “Where could she have gone?”
“I doubt she’d return to the monastery,” Ferus said. “She was afraid of the Commerce Guild army.”
“She must have sneaked behind us when we were tending to Ferus,” Siri said.
“Most likely heading for the other exit.” Ferus swallowed. “She went toward the Sith.”
The Jedi exchanged glances.
Without a word, they moved back to the dark front of the hangar. Using the Force, they searched each service bay as they ran, making sure Auben hadn’t hid there. Finally they ended at the pile of vehicles and debris the Sith had used to block his escape. Grimly, they set to work with their lightsabers and cleared a smoking hole through the pileup. One by one, they crawled through.
They walked into the last bay on the line. A new cruiser stood there, its ramp down.
“Did you see this when you came in?” Obi-Wan asked Ry-Gaul.
He shook his head. “It must have landed after I left.”
As they moved closer, they saw a body on the ramp. It was Auben.
She was dead.
Chapter Fifteen
Anakin rushed forward. He checked her vitals, even though he knew she was gone. “What ha
ppened?” he asked. “There’s not a mark on her.”
“Her heart just stopped beating,” Siri said. “It’s said that the Sith were capable of stopping a heart without even touching their victim.”
“The question is, what was she doing here?” Obi-Wan asked.
Ferus had climbed up the ramp into the cruiser. He poked his head out. “That’s easy to answer. Stealing.” He held out two thermal capes. “She told Anakin and me that she could get her hands on some luxury goods.”
“While you check out the ship, Darra and I will see if we can find the landing platform,” Soara said.
Obi-Wan ran up the ramp. Quickly, he moved through the ship, searching for clues. It was evident that the ship had been left bare of everything except essentials or items that couldn’t be traced. He quickly checked the nav computer. Even the archives were wiped.
“This is the Sith ship,” he said.
“Expensive tastes,” Ferus said, dropping the thermal capes with distaste.
“Auben must have found the ship sometime earlier,” Obi-Wan guessed. “She wanted to nab some items on her way out.”
“Never got the chance,” Ferus said.
“Maybe,” Obi-Wan murmured.
He started out of the cruiser. “Something I learned from Qui-Gon. When you catch a thief, he’ll always pretend he was on his way in, not out.”
Anakin followed closely on Obi-Wan’s heels. Obi-Wan bent over Auben. Gently, he reached underneath her body and withdrew her hand. He uncurled her fist.
“We just got lucky,” he said. “The Sith was in a hurry. He didn’t check.”
“What is it?” Anakin asked.
“A holo-recorder,” Obi-Wan said, holding it up. “One of the micro versions. She’d get a good price for it on the black market. And there’s a received message here in the archive.”
He pressed a button, and a miniature image of Granta Omega appeared.
Omega bowed. “Greetings, Master. We are grateful that our failure to complete our mission at the Senate did not disappoint you. As you generously said, the intent to disrupt and demoralize was achieved. The Senate is more divided than ever. It gratifies us that you have decided to entrust us with your secret. We have received the coordinates for our meeting. At last you will reveal yourself to us. We will then truly be able to further your cause throughout the galaxy.” Omega bowed again. “Until we meet, I, Granta Omega, and Jenna Zan Arbor, servants to no one in the galaxy, remain servants to the Sith.”
The hologram fragmented into a shimmer.
“Whew,” Anakin said. “What a toadying dungcreeper.”
“So they came here to meet the Sith, just as you thought,” Siri said. “He’s going to reveal his identity to them.”
“Which means if we can find out where the meeting is, we’ll find out as well,” Obi-Wan said.
Siri pressed her lips together. “We have a whole planet to search.”
A faraway look was in Obi-Wan’s eyes. “No. There is only one possible place for them to meet,” he said softly.
Soara and Darra appeared. “We found the landing platform,” Soara said. “It’s still completely functional. We found new access controls hidden in the ruins. Works like a charm. There’s evidence of a recent takeoff. By the looks of the scorch marks, I’d say it was a small airspeeder.”
Obi-Wan looked back at Auben’s body sprawled on the ramp. He tried to reconstruct what had happened. “He’s been using this place as a hideout. He bumped into Auben—and he killed her. Then he left the cruiser and took the airspeeder. More maneuverable. Harder to track.” And the airspeeder, Obi-Wan thought, would get him where he needed to go.
Obi-Wan felt a tug, as though a string had been tied to his breastbone. He walked down the ramp, across the remains of the hangar, and stood out on the landing platform Soara and Darra had found.
The chill wind knifed through his clothes as he stood outside. He was deep in the mountain. He could see the valley far below, and a vast expanse of gray sky.
He felt Omega. For the first time, he felt his energy. Though he wasn’t a Sith, Omega had sought out the dark side of the Force. He had been unable to harness it for himself, but he had lived in it. Obi-Wan was tied to him, energy to energy. He could track him now without instruments. He didn’t need clues, or tips.
“Master?” Anakin drifted to his side. “What is it?”
“I know where Omega is,” Obi-Wan said. “He’s in the Valley of the Dark Lords. And the Sith has gone to meet him there. We can uncover them both.”
Chapter Sixteen
Obi-Wan contacted Jocasta Nu. They needed more information on the Valley of the Dark Lords. Superstition, legend, anything that could help give them an edge. The problem, of course, was that no one had dared to enter the valley for centuries. Or, at least, had lived to report on it.
Soara and Darra saw to Auben. They couldn’t move her yet, so they wrapped her carefully in the thermal capes.
Anakin looked for Tru. He had disappeared, and so had Ferus. Feeling uneasy, Anakin headed off to see what they were up to. Would Ferus try to steal his best friend? He might fill Tru’s mind with his version of why Anakin had left them to fight the droids alone. He would twist the facts to make Anakin look bad.
Tru and Ferus were sitting in one of the service bays, talking quietly. Ferus was busy working on Tru’s lightsaber. Anakin paused in the shadows. Were they discussing him? He thought he heard his name. He concentrated fiercely.
“I noticed it,” Ferus told Tru. “That droid must have pulverized your power circuit.”
“It slips back into half-power without warning,” Tru said in a worried voice.
Tru’s lightsaber must have been damaged in the battle. But why hadn’t Tru told Ry-Gaul? An apprentice was obligated to tell his or her Master if a lightsaber was damaged.
As if Tru had overheard Anakin’s question, he said, “I know I should have told Ry-Gaul. But he’s so correct. He might leave me out of battle situations, or even send me back to the Temple.”
“If your lightsaber is permanently damaged, Ry-Gaul would be right to do so,” Ferus said.
Typical, Anakin thought. Ferus always had to inform you of rules you knew by heart already.
“After all,” Ferus continued, “you don’t want to meet a Sith without a lightsaber.”
“No kidding,” Tru said. “This mission is crucial. That’s why I can’t be sent back. I just thought if I could fix it without having to tell Ry-Gaul…” Tru wound one flexible arm around his back to hug his opposite elbow, a gesture Anakin knew well. It was something Tru did when he was especially nervous. “Look, I know I wouldn’t be the first or second candidate to enter the acceleration program—you and Anakin will be the first. Maybe Darra would be third. But I don’t want to be left behind.”
Ferus frowned. “Tru, your advancement is not the reason we’re here.”
“That’s not what I mean!” Tru said, upset. “I want to stand with my fellow Jedi because we all know that the darkness is growing. We need every Jedi. I want to be there.”
“We all do,” Ferus said. He bent over the lightsaber, fine-tuning it. Anakin couldn’t see what he was doing, but he was itching to get his own hands on the lightsaber. He was sure he was a better technician than Ferus.
“All right, I fixed it.” Ferus put the handle back together and handed the lightsaber back to Tru. “You shouldn’t have any more problems. Your power cell is boosted.”
Anakin started to step forward. If Ferus had worked on the power cell, that meant that Tru needed to check the flux aperture again. Anakin had tweaked it before, but it might need an adjustment to compensate for the power boost. Anyway, it would be wise to double-check. Anakin had better tell him. But he stopped when he heard his name.
“Why didn’t you ask Anakin to fix it?” Ferus asked. “He’s better at this than I am.”
“He was busy with Obi-Wan,” Tru murmured.
Anakin realized that Tru had evaded the question. He coul
d have asked him to help. He frowned as he watched the two Padawans, their heads close together.
Tru was drifting away from him. He could feel it.
Ferus stood. “I don’t see any reason to tell Ry-Gaul, now that it’s fixed. We’d better get back.”
Angrily, Anakin retreated back into the shadows, then turned and headed for the others. He felt betrayed. Tru had chosen Ferus to confide in. He was Tru’s best friend—he should have been the one to help him! Obviously, Tru was holding a grudge against him for not coming to his aid.
Well, if Tru didn’t want his help, he certainly wasn’t going to offer it. Most likely Ferus had done a perfect job. After all, he was almost a Jedi Knight.
What was strange, Anakin reflected, was that Ferus had agreed to keep Tru’s secret. He would have expected Ferus to tell Ry-Gaul about the damaged lightsaber, or at least encourage Tru to do so. Instead, he had fixed it himself. Technically, it was a breach of the rules, and Ferus never broke the rules.
Anakin smiled. So the perfect Padawan wasn’t so perfect after all.
He paused by the wreckage of the vehicles that the mysterious Sith had moved so easily. There was a disturbance in the air, as though the dark energy of the Force still pulsed around the wall of debris. As if the Sith had vanished, but left a pool of his darkness behind.
He felt something new inside him, but he couldn’t put a name to it. He looked out into the grayness of the valley, just visible past the dark outlines of his Master and the other Jedi as they conferred on the landing platform. He concentrated hard. What was he feeling?
A beating heart. A being out there—somewhere—reaching out to him? It wasn’t a connection…it was a call. It was something he didn’t want, but something that drew him, pulled him.…
Granta Omega? Did he have the same connection as his Master did? He didn’t think so. Not this time. It didn’t feel right. It felt…bigger. Hidden.
