Star Wars - In Changing Season 1 - Guardian of the People

by Timothy Zahn

  "Kit," Trissa said reprovingly as she set mugs in front of Obi-Wan and Anakin.

  "Actually, I can’t," Obi-Wan told him. "Not unless you were born with the ability." His comlink beeped, and he pulled it out. "Yes?"

  "All clear," Commander Fivvic's voice came. "We got most of the backups, except for a few who managed to escape into that big gorge to the east."

  "So that's it?" Trissa asked.

  "It is for now," Anakin told her. "We'll alert Coruscant that there's definitely a Separatist presence here, and when they can free up a task force they'll send it here to clear them out." He looked at Kit and Zizzy, “That is, if they don't give up and run away before that."

  "But you'll be leaving?" Zizzy asked.

  "No," Obi-Wan said. "Not just yet."

  Anakin looked at him, and he could sense the Padawan's surprise. "Why not?"

  "Because there's something wrong here," Obi-Wan said, trying to put his thoughts and impressions into words. "That droid commander said that they'd seen Kit and Zizzy in the fields when at least one of them should have been working on the crop stubble. But that kind of reasoning is way beyond combat droids. That means there must be some Neimoidians or other living beings here as well."

  "Doesn't sound right for a small garrison," Anakin said, his voice suddenly thoughtful.

  "It isn't," Obi-Wan agreed. "But it's exactly right for a research or development facility ... and my scout was taken out by an attack I didn't see coming."

  "A new weapon," Anakin murmured, gazing out into space.

  "Looks like it," Obi-Wan agreed. "And Fivvic said that the surviving droids just now fled into the gorge. How would they know there was enough room for them to fly in there unless they'd already checked it out?"

  "That could be where their base is," Kirlan suggested. "Those cliffs go back ten kilometers. Plenty of room in there for any kind of facility they want."

  "I agree," Obi-Wan said. "But when they first came searching for me, they didn't come from that direction. They came from the west. I remember that because the barn was blocking their view."

  "That's right, they did," Kirlan murmured thoughtfully- "Huh."

  "So what does that mean?" Kit asked.

  "It means they took the time to circle way around so that no one would guess where their base was," Obi-Wan told him.

  "But they just showed us where it is," Zizzy objected.

  "Exactly," Obi-Wan said. "Which implies that whoever's in charge decided it didn't matter anymore if we knew. Which implies in turn that whatever they're doing in there is about finished."

  He looked at Anakin. "Which implies that we'd better take a look while we still can."

  "I don't know," Anakin said doubtfully. "The survey team's on a pretty tight schedule, and there aren't any attack teams anywhere in the sector."

  "So we'll let the survey team go," Obi-Wan told him. "They can leave us your starfighter and one of the scout ships, and we'll rejoin them when we're done."

  "Wait a second," Trissa put in, starting to sound alarmed. "You're the one who told us a Jedi couldn't take on a whole enemy base."

  "I said a Jedi couldn't take on a base alone," Obi-Wan corrected, smiling tightly. "Now, there are two of us."

  Kirlan shook his head. "Why," he said, "do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?"

  To Be Concluded...