by Watson, Jude
He found himself in what was obviously meant one day to be a transit tunnel. It had been blasted out of rock, but the job had not been completed. Razor-sharp shards of rock jutted out from the sides of the tunnel.
A small, sleek silver cruiser was parked in a flat area ahead. Obi-Wan did not recognize the make, but it was clear to him that Omega would be able to fly aboveground and then blast out of Mawan airspace into the galaxy. He would escape again. He was seconds away from doing it. Even now, he was accessing the cockpit shell to climb in, Feeana at his heels.
Not this time.
“Always have a second exit plan,” Omega said as he stood inside the craft, the cockpit dome still raised. “My father taught me that.”
Something about the expression on Omega’s face stopped Obi-Wan from moving forward. Omega would sacrifice Feeana in order to escape. Obi-Wan knew it, Omega knew it. The only one who didn’t know it was Feeana. She was still on the hull of the ship, impatiently waiting for Omega to move so she could slide into the passenger seat.
Obi-Wan was also puzzled. In his investigation of Omega’s background, he had learned that Omega never knew his father.
“Surprised?” Omega said. He was almost drawling now, as if he had all the time in the world. “I had reasons to keep my father’s identity a secret. But I think it’s time I had the pleasure of telling you. I am the son of Xanatos of Telos.”
Xanatos! Obi-Wan felt as though he had been struck. The former Padawan of Qui-Gon’s who had turned to the dark side. Qui-Gon’s greatest enemy. Obi-Wan had seen the evil that Xanatos had done. Xanatos had even invaded the Temple and tried to kill Yoda.
“You killed my father,” Omega said. “He was greater than his Master, and Qui-Gon couldn’t bear it, so he killed him—with your help.”
“He killed himself,” Obi-Wan said. “He jumped into a toxic pool on Telos rather than be captured by Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon tried to save him.”
“My father would never have killed himself!” Omega shouted.
“You have spent your life constructing your own brand of truth,” Obi-Wan said. “But it is not the real truth.”
“Granta, let me in,” Feeana said, an edge of pleading to her voice. “We have to get out of here!”
“My father protected me,” Omega said. “He told me tales of the Jedi and the Temple and how they misunderstood the Force.” A bitterness crept into his tone. “He had hoped that I would inherit his gift. But he knew when I was an infant that I would never be Force-sensitive.”
Obi-Wan saw the opening. He saw the pain in Omega. “And he was disappointed,” he said.
“He left me his company!” Omega burst out, as if he were bragging. As if his father had left him something better than love, better than approval. “He left me his fortune in Offworld.”
Offworld was the corporation that Xanatos had formed, a mining operation that had used slaves and bribes and violence to build its wealth. Omega didn’t create his wealth out of nothing. He had started with it.
Obi-Wan wanted to kick himself down the tunnel. He should have guessed! He should have known that beneath the jibes and insults there was something personal, something bitter, in the way Omega felt about him and the Jedi. He should have known!
He had the clues—why else would Sano Sauro pluck the promising boy away and send him to school? Sauro was hardly a benefactor to the poor. Sauro had known Xanatos well, had operated himself on Telos. And then there was the mystery of the boy’s origins—why else were the mother and son on Nierport Seven, a moon that was basically a refueling stop? They were hiding, of course. Xanatos had sent them there. And after he died, they didn’t have the resources to leave.
Omega blamed Obi-Wan for his father’s death. He was bitter that he did not inherit his father’s gift. So he would chase the Force all over the galaxy. He would grow even wealthier than his father had been. He would prove to a man no longer living that he was worthy.
Now Obi-Wan even saw Xanatos in his son. The eyes with the metallic glint of blue durasteel. The thick black hair.
He had every clue, and he had missed it.
“You are just like your Master,” Omega sneered. “My father told me about Qui-Gon, how he held him back. You do the same with Anakin. Control is what you seek, and you hide it behind Jedi lessons.” He spat the word “Jedi” like a curse. “Why don’t you let him be himself? Why don’t you show him what power he can have?”
Obi-Wan didn’t have to turn. The Force hummed in the tunnel, and he knew Anakin was behind him. Anakin had heard everything.
“It ends here, Omega,” Obi-Wan said.
“It will never end until you are dead,” Omega said. He reached out and grabbed Feeana’s ankles. With a quick, powerful thrust, he threw her off the hull of the ship. Screaming, Feeana flew in midair, straight for the jagged, knife-edged rocks.
Anakin leaped. The Force added distance and precision. He caught Feeana in his arms just millimeters from the pointed shards, twisting in midair in order to land safely.
Obi-Wan, too, had leaped, trying to land on the cruiser hull. But he had to swerve to avoid Anakin, and Omega had already gunned the engine. He took off, the cockpit dome still unengaged. Obi-Wan landed badly and fell to one knee.
The cockpit dome slid down. The cruiser gained speed.
Omega had escaped again.
Chapter Sixteen
Anakin watched as his Master rose. A heaviness seemed to lie on Obi-Wan, a weariness Anakin had never seen before.
He kept a firm grip on Feeana, who was staring down the tunnel in shock, amazed that she had been left behind.
Anakin knew that all his questions were in his eyes. He had heard of Xanatos. Every Jedi student had heard the story of the Temple invasion. Obi-Wan had told him a little of it. Now Anakin realized how much more there was to know.
“We will discuss this later, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “We have a mission to complete.”
When they emerged back into the substation, the battle was over. Decca was just arriving with her troops. They were staring in disbelief at the litter of broken droids, fused weapons, captured forces, and only three Jedi.
Obi-Wan stepped over a pile of droids to speak to Yoda. “Omega has escaped. What should we do now with Decca?”
“A little reason now we shall use,” Yoda said. “A dead end, she has come to. Listen now, she will.”
He moved forward to talk to Decca.
“I thought you would lose,” Feeana said numbly to Anakin. “I was afraid for my troops. I had had some dealings with Granta. He always said I could join him. He said he would protect me and my gang. I was such a fool.”
There was nothing to say, Anakin saw. He led Feeana to sit with the other prisoners and then returned to Obi-Wan.
“So your vision was true,” Obi-Wan said. “Yaddle met her death here. We just did not know how to interpret it.”
Anakin nodded. A lump rose in his throat. Why did having the vision make him feel so responsible?
“And yet it was not true, as well,” Obi-Wan said. “The vision was not about Shmi. It was about you. It was about the temptations in your life.” He hesitated. “What did Omega tell you?”
Anakin hesitated and then said, “That the Jedi were holding me back. That I could free the slaves on Tatooine, free my mother. He said he would help me do it.”
“That must have tempted you,” Obi-Wan said.
Anakin said nothing. He could not admit it, but he could not lie.
“It is all right, Anakin. It is understandable that you would want to ease your mother’s life. But being a Jedi means that your ties are to all beings. You are the only Jedi with such a strong, deep tie, and it makes it harder for you. But remember, a life of service is not only about giving up. It is about giving.”
“I don’t believe you’re holding me back,” Anakin said. “I hate him for saying it.”
“Hate is not an answer,” Obi-Wan said. “Understanding is.” He sighed. “Xanatos could twist feelings in just
that way. He was a dangerous being. Just as Omega is. We’ll meet him again, I’m sure of it.”
Anakin was sure of it, too.
Yoda walked slowly back to them using his walking stick, his lightsaber tucked into his utility belt, his robe swinging. It was the Yoda Anakin knew best, the wise teacher, rather than the warrior. He was glad he had seen the warrior, however. He had seen how powerful Yoda was, and yet he knew somehow that he had seen only one small corner of his power.
“Leaving the planet, Decca is,” Yoda said.
“How did you manage that?” Obi-Wan asked.
“Informed her I did that the Jedi are thinking of setting up a satellite Temple on Mawan,” Yoda said. “Seemed to dismay her, it did.”
“We’re thinking of setting up a satellite Temple?” Obi-Wan asked, surprised.
“From time to time, discuss an outpost, the Council does,” Yoda said. “Merely suggesting it, I was. Enough it was to convince her that it was best to leave.” He blinked at Anakin. “See you do that the right diplomacy is always better than battles, young Padawan?”
Anakin nodded obediently, but something in his face must have alerted Yoda, for suddenly his gray-blue gaze grew keen. “Know you do that Yaddle’s death was not your fault,” he said.
“I had the vision,” Anakin burst out. “I should have known!”
“And Obi-Wan and myself?” Yoda asked sharply. “Told us of the vision you did, and yet know we did not. Blame us as well, do you?”
“Of course not,” Anakin said. “But things in the vision started to come true when I was with Omega. I should never have asked Yaddle to meet with him. I should have refused. I should have tried to escape.”
“When you look back, lose your place on the path, you do.” Yoda’s voice gentled. “Learn you will, Anakin, that stars move and stars fall, and nothing at all do they have to do with you.”
Yoda walked off with his Master. Anakin was grateful for his words.
Why hadn’t his Master said them? When he’d said that Yaddle’s death was his fault, Obi-Wan had remained silent.
He knew in his bones that he had caused a chain of events that led to a Jedi Master’s murder. Even if that didn’t make him responsible, he knew it would make it hard for him to sleep at night.
The vision hadn’t been wrong. The essential truth it had left him with was part of him now. He felt it inside him like a wound. It was loss. The gulf between him and Obi-Wan was wider than ever.
About the Author
JUDE WATSON is the New York Times best-selling author of the Jedi Quest and Jedi Apprentice series, as well as the Star Wars Journals Darth Maul, Queen Amidala, and Princess Leia: Captive to Evil. She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest.
