Star Wars: The Last of the Jedi, Volume 2

by Jude Watson

  “So, how good are you with that lightsaber?”

  “Actually, I’m a little rusty.”

  “I wish I hadn’t heard that.”

  “Do you have any other weapons?”

  “No.”

  “Take my blaster pistol.”

  “What’s your plan?” Garen asked.

  “I’m supposed to have a plan?”

  “Well,” Garen said, “I’d suggest one. Let’s refer to our Temple training.”

  “A quiz? Now?” Maybe he hadn’t missed the Jedi so much after all.

  “When you meet overwhelming force and you’re outnumbered, what are the strategies available to you?”

  “Retreat, for one,” Ferus said, his eyes on the stormtroopers. “That’s always a favorite.”

  “Impossible in this situation, I’m afraid. Let’s try number two.”

  “Turn the enemy’s advantage into yours.” Ferus found the words coming easily to him. He remembered sitting in classes at the Temple, studying scenarios. It was thought that even though the Jedi were peacemakers, they should have a knowledge of military strategy. It had served him well as an officer in the Clone Wars. “Capture the grenade mortar,” he said slowly. “But how?”

  “I came to this cave many years ago to find my crystals,” Garen said. “I decided to wait outside until I was ready, until I felt the Force grow around me. Well, that’s what I told myself. Actually, I was stalling. I sat for a long time, just studying the cave opening. And I noticed something—a bird. It was one of those tiny white snowfeather birds, and it had built a nest over the cave opening. And I saw that I’d been looking at the cave wrong—it looks as though it’s carved out of the face of the mountain, but actually, there’s a little overhang above it.”

  “I’m not getting this,” Ferus said. “And I don’t like to remind you, but there’s a troop of stormtroopers and about a hundred grenades sitting out there.”

  “The overhang is big enough for a snowfeather nest, but it’s also big enough for a man to perch,” Garen said.

  “Perch?! I don’t want to perch! I’d be one big target.”

  “You can get up there by concealing yourself behind the boulders just inside the entrance,” Garen went on. “Climb up the side of the cave, then swing yourself out and into the ledge outside. If you do it quickly, you might not be spotted.”

  “Might not?”

  “They won’t be looking above the cave, they’ll be looking into it, trying to spot movement. Then you can Force-leap over the first columns and land close to the mobile mortar. When they spot you, I’ll try to divert their attention.”

  Ferus looked at Garen dubiously. He looked as fragile as the snowfeather he spoke of. This was the craziest plan he’d ever heard.

  But he didn’t have a better one.

  And time was running out.

  “They’re going to advance,” Garen said, watching. “Let them. You go after that grenade mortar. I’ll stay here to meet them.”

  Ferus looked at him incredulously. “Alone?”

  “I won’t be alone,” Garen said. “The visions will help me. Now go! And may the Force be with you.”

  Was this the right plan, or was he just used to listening to Jedi Masters? Ferus kept to the side of the cave as he approached the entrance, pressing himself into the shadows until he merged with the cave wall. He climbed up on the boulders, moving stealthily. He balanced on the top boulder, hooking his fingers around the top of the cave, searched for a secure handhold. He would have to do this blindly; he couldn’t see out of the cave. He’d have to trust that once he swung himself up and out that he’d be able to slide onto the overhang.

  He scanned the stormtroopers, now below him. They were facing forward, blaster rifles held at the ready. No doubt they were waiting for orders on their headsets. Behind the lines the mobile grenade launcher hovered. He saw the stormtrooper on the front platform with his hands on the controls.

  Now or never.

  He swung out into midair, flipped his body over, missed ramming the cave wall by a hair, and landed on the narrow ledge. He rolled as far back as he could, concealing himself in the shadows. His heart hammered as he waited, wondering whether a grenade would blast him into the sky.

  Nothing happened. They hadn’t seen him. So far, so good.

  Ferus felt the Force gather. Garen. Garen had accessed it and it was growing.

  Ferus leaped over the heads of the attacking stormtroopers. But if those stormtroopers didn’t see him, the ones on the mobile mortar did, clattering it to life. Grenades flew through the air, heading toward him in midair. Garen’s lightsaber felt balanced in his hand, and the blue shaft glowed. He deflected the grenades as they whizzed toward him, batting them down to the stormtroopers below.

  It felt extraordinary to have a lightsaber back in his hand. His training came back to him, and he didn’t have to push for it. It was there in the way he moved, there in the precise angle of his attack.

  He landed on the mobile platform, his boots connecting with the stormtrooper and sending him flying off the platform. He slid into the seat, reversed the repulsorlift engine with a jerk, gunning the motor to capacity. The stormtrooper behind fell off.

  The battalion scattered before him as he hit them with a barrage of grenades. He could use the mortar to enter the cave and swoop up Garen.

  But suddenly the mortar pitched to the side. The stormtrooper had suddenly leaped back aboard. Ferus felt the heat of a blaster bolt by his ear. He ducked, trying to wield his lightsaber at the same time. It was a difficult move, but one he could have easily managed in his youth. Now his lightsaber skills were rusty and he was just a bit off balance. To Ferus’s horror, he began to fall off the mortar as the stormtrooper aimed his blaster and fired.

  So. Maybe I’m not as up to speed as I thought I was.

  He felt the searing heat in his shoulder. He was blown back off the mortar and hit the ground hard.

  Okay. A gorgodon uses me as a punching bag and an evil vision throws me around like a laserball. Now I’ve been shot with a blaster. Not a good day.

  He saw the mortar stop in midair and spin. It was coming back for him.

  Fury pounded through him. Fury at himself. He’d blown it. It was going to end here for him, outside the caves of Ilum. The most sacred place to the Jedi, and here his bones would lie. The Force slowed down time, and he reactivated his lightsaber. He couldn’t move out of the way of the coming barrage in time, he knew that, but he would join the Force still fighting.

  He saw a shimmer out of the corner of his eye, a flicker of light. Something was falling from the sky. Suddenly, an explosion of light sent him crashing back to the ground.

  An alpha charge. A small blast thrown right on the mobile mortar. Then another, and another.

  The grenades went up in a huge blast. Ferus rolled down the slope, tumbling, anything to get away from that terrible heat. He came to rest by knocking his head against a boulder.

  He saw Trever in a fighter, releasing explosives onto the squad below, with a bulkier transport ship in pursuit. The stormtroopers went scurrying for cover.

  Ferus didn’t stop to experience the pain he was feeling. He accepted it and set his mind to the next thing. Under the cover of Trever’s attack, he took off for the cave. His eyes streamed tears from the smoke, and his shoulder felt as though it was on fire.

  He found Garen near the mouth of the cave, slumped on the floor, a blaster held in his fist.

  The ship touched down right outside the cave entrance. Ferus picked up Garen. He felt as light as a bird. He ran toward the ramp. The stormtroopers peppered him with blaster bolts, but Trever managed to release a few more explosives behind the boulders, and the blasterfire abated.

  Ferus ran up the ramp with Garen. He collapsed on his knees on the floor.

  As the transport that had been chasing him made its way down, Trever jammed the controls up. Pushing the engines, they streaked off. They couldn’t boost off-planet, but they could outrun
the transport.

  “I know a place we can hide,” Garen said. “Obi-Wan can find us there.”

  The distress call reached Obi-Wan as he was leaving Polis Massa. He knew exactly which cave they would be hiding in, waiting for him—a crystal-less cave on Ilum that the Jedi often used as a safe hangar.

  For the rest of the ride, Obi-Wan could only think two things: Garen is alive and Malorum must be stopped. When he reached the cave, Ferus and Trever carried Garen on board. Obi-Wan wanted to go back and see his old friend immediately, but he knew a quick escape was essential. It was only after they reached deep space and a recovered Ferus took over the controls that Obi-Wan went back to the cabin to see his friend.

  If before he had merely been grateful to know that his friend was alive, now his heart broke to see him.

  He would not have recognized him. With his eyes closed, Garen lay back, his skin as pale and fragile as snow. Obi-Wan felt as though if he breathed on him he could dissolve into vapor. Garen had always been robust and vibrant. His body had crackled with electricity, his eyes brimming with life and humor.

  Obi-Wan approached with quiet steps. Garen didn’t stir. Obi-Wan could see the delicate blue veins in his eyelids, the dark circles of shadow under his eyes. His cheeks were hollow, his hair sparse. His once muscular chest looked as though it had caved in.

  Garen’s eyes opened as though it was the hardest thing he ever had to do. He focused on Obi-Wan.

  “Can I get you anything?” Obi-Wan asked.

  Garen’s voice was a whisper. “Just don’t bring me a mirror. I can see on your face how bad it is.”

  “You’re alive,” Obi-Wan said. “For that I’m thankful.”

  “I’m not so sure about that, myself. But thanks for finding me.”

  Each word seemed to cost Garen an effort. What could Obi-Wan do now? How could he care for him? He couldn’t bring him back with him to Mos Eisley. It would attract too much attention, and besides, there was hardly good care on Tatooine. He needed rest and constant monitoring.

  Garen was already slipping back into unconsciousness.

  “We can talk later,” Obi-Wan said. He rested a hand on his friend’s shoulder, feeling mostly bone. All his feeling welled up in him, the love for his friend, the helplessness he felt, the memory of what Garen had been. The loss of what they’d had.

  He collected himself and went back to the cockpit. He slipped into the chair next to Ferus. Trever had given in to exhaustion and had fallen asleep curled up in the galley seating area.

  “Thank you for rescuing Garen,” Obi-Wan said.

  “This is only the beginning,” Ferus said. “D’harhan said there was another Jedi prisoner on Coruscant. Garen said he met another Jedi at the cave and she went on to Coruscant. It could be the same Jedi. She could still be alive and a prisoner.”

  “Coruscant is a big place. She could be anywhere.”

  “They can’t hide a Jedi. We can find her. We can find them all.”

  “And then what?”

  “We take them to a secret base.”

  Obi-Wan shook his head. “You would only be bringing more danger to them, Ferus. Our best hope for survival is to stay scattered for now. Too much concentrated Force energy in one place might alert the Sith.”

  “I hardly think a handful of Jedi would trigger a response,” Ferus said. “Besides, we’ll be well hidden.”

  “How are you going to find this place?”

  “I’ve already found it. So have you.”

  Obi-Wan thought for a moment. “The asteroid.”

  “It’s not mapped, it travels constantly.”

  “It’s a hunk of rock with no shelter in the middle of an atmospheric storm.”

  “See what I mean? Perfect.” Ferus’s voice was strong, determined. “I’ve already contacted Roan, my friend from home. I know it was dangerous to risk a transmission, but he’s the only person I can trust who isn’t already on this ship or on that asteroid. We have a coded system we set up years ago, a series of places to meet. He’s bringing supplies and then returning to Ussa. I gave him a detailed list of med supplies that we’ll need for Garen and some other things. We’ll have to be self-sustaining.”

  Obi-Wan could hear the excitement in Ferus’s voice, but he could not join in. It was not a time to argue. It was a time to rest and plan.

  “Wake me when we get to the spaceport,” he said.

  Trever peered out through the cockpit window at the Nixor spaceport. It was a small port that orbited around the Nixor system. It was a crowded, disorganized mess. The Nixors, feuding with the rest of the system, refused to update the port or even do regular repairs. Pilots went out of their way to avoid it if they could, but it was always crowded due to its central location in the Mid-Rim. It was an easy place to hide.

  “You sure pick some nasty holes in the galaxy to meet in,” Trever observed.

  “That’s the whole point. Sometimes the best place to hide is in a crowd.” Ferus activated the ramp and hurried down. He searched the scruffy crowd and saw him almost immediately. Roan was thinner, and looked as though he still hadn’t fully recovered from his injuries during a stay in an Imperial prison. But his smile was the same.

  They walked toward each other slowly.

  “You look like a durko on a bad day,” Roan said.

  Ferus knew it was true. He’d administered bacta on the ship, but the combination of the blaster wound and the battering from the gorgodon had drained him. And given him quite a lovely greenish bruise on his temple, near the silver streak in his hair.

  “Thanks. You’re not exactly a prize,” he answered.

  Roan moved forward and grasped Ferus’s upper arms. It was their own special greeting to each other after a long absence. When Roan touched Ferus, he saw him grimace.

  “What is it?”

  “Just a blaster wound. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Can’t you just escape and hide, like everybody else? Do you have to go looking for trouble?” Roan teased, but his eyes were worried.

  “Well, you know those Imperials, they’re such a bundle of fun. I just can’t stay away.”

  Roan’s smile was forced. “I guess you have to do this.”

  “I do. I wish…”

  “…it were different, I know.”

  “There are Jedi alive out there,” Ferus said. “I want to find them, make them safe.”

  Roan nodded slowly. “I thought you left the Jedi Order.”

  “I did.”

  “Really? Doesn’t look that way from here.”

  “Now they need me. Some are still alive. Hiding. If they had a place to come to, a place to be safe, that would give them a chance to fight again. So I’m going to establish a secret base.”

  “Ah, that explains the greenhouse,” Roan said.

  “Were you able to bring it?”

  “I have a pre-fab greenhouse, food supplies, seeds, plants, water purifying system, and a complete med unit. Everything you asked for. Plus extra fuel and some datapads, a few other things. Your vioflute, so you can torture others in the evenings the way you used to torture me.”

  Ferus laughed, but sadness overtook him. His old life was truly gone. Gone forever.

  “You’re putting yourself in great danger,” Roan said. “But I guess you know that. Well, don’t worry, partner. We can see each other from time to time. I have work to do on Ussa, too. The Empire has cracked down on the resistance, but we’re biding our time. You’re doing the right thing.”

  “I don’t know if that’s true,” Ferus said. “I only know I have to do it.”

  “Sometimes,” Roan said, “that’s all you get to know.”

  The homing beacon worked perfectly, but they still had to dive into the atmospheric storm to make it back to the asteroid. Ferus was more used to the space shears now as well as the sudden gravity vortexes that could send the ship spinning out of control. Still, when the asteroid came into view, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

  Toma and Rai
na must have seen them approach, because they stood waiting while Ferus landed the craft. Ferus lowered the ramp and the three of them walked down.

  “We’re very glad to see you,” Toma said.

  “We were getting tired of each other’s conversation,” Raina said. She was trying to joke, but there was strain on her face. No doubt she’d been afraid they weren’t going to return.

  “We have supplies,” Ferus said. “And a wounded comrade.”

  “Let me see to him,” Raina said. “Before the Clone Wars, I was completing my med training.” She lightly ran up the ramp into the ship.

  Ferus turned back to Toma. “We are going to establish a base here. We hope to find more Jedi to come. I have enough supplies to keep us self-sustaining. What I need is for beings to run it while I’m away. I was hoping to talk you and Raina into it. I realize it’s not exactly an appealing job, but…”

  “I can’t speak for Raina,” Toma said, “but I can imagine no better cause.”

  They unloaded the supplies. Obi-Wan and Ferus and Toma set up the prefabricated housing that was packed neatly into durasteel containers. The plastoid structures were durable and built to withstand heat and cold.

  When they were done, they paused to watch the dark sky overhead. Since the asteroid traveled continuously and had no sun, it did not have a division between night and day. Still, there was the feeling that a day had passed, and it was time for sleep.

  Obi-Wan looked in on Garen. Raina had set up a kind of clinic in one of the structures. Garen was sleeping.

  “It will take some time for him to recover,” Raina said quietly. “There is nothing we can’t do for him here that he couldn’t get in a first-class facility. He needs rest and food and basic med care. I’ll make him better, Obi-Wan.” She looked at Garen with sorrow in her face. “I remember him from the Clone Wars. He’s greatly changed.”

  He put his hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for caring for him.”

  Obi-Wan ducked out of the structure. Ferus was standing alone, looking up at the sky.

  “How’s Garen?”

  “Sleeping. Raina doesn’t know how long his recovery will take. But he’ll be all right here.”