by Jude Watson
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 Sixteeen
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 could 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.
The Sith.
Anakin faced out to the valley. He felt the cold wind blow against his face. The Sith was calling him.
Chapter Seventeen
Obi-Wan turned to the others. "We need to get to the cruisers. It's too far to hike to the valley. We only have about an hour of dusk left. We don't want to go in at night. Madame Nu gave me coordinates for the best approach."
Obi-Wan saw both relief and trepidation on the faces of the other Padawans. They all wanted to go. They wanted it and feared it.
He saw no fear on his Padawan's face, however. He wasn't sure how Anakin was feeling. There was something going on… underneath. Korriban had unsettled them all, Obi-Wan knew.
Even the Masters were not eager to enter the valley. They knew they were heading into great trouble. They knew there would be difficulty.
Traps. Attacks. Surprises. The dark side of the Force could snare them, confuse them. But they each felt strongly that this was their only chance.
The hidden darkness every Jedi felt was here. They could find it and expose it. End it. Here. Now.
Back at the Dreshdae landing platform, they hurried to their cruisers.
Anakin sprang into the cockpit. He entered the coordinates Obi-Wan had given him for the Valley of the Dark Lords. They would have to find it through instruments, since it would not be visible. Then they would survey the area before deciding on a landing point.
Anakin did a preflight check, working quickly but carefull
y. All the indicator lights turned green. It was a go.
Except…
He tapped on an indicator. The light had shone green immediately. It should have cycled from orange to yellow first. Just a small thing, an indicator for the portside fuel baffles. If the light was red it would indicate a clogged baffle. Even that wouldn't prevent takeoff. He could fly with a clogged fuel baffle.
But why hadn't the indicator cycled through the colors?
"Problem?" Obi-Wan looked at him.
Anakin turned in the seat. The toolkit was clamped to the bottom of the counter. One of the clamps hadn't engaged all the way. It would rattle during turbulence. He would have noticed it on the flight here.
Someone had been aboard.
Through the windscreen, in the ship next to him, Ry-Gaul gave him a thumbs up.
"No!" Anakin shouted. He jumped forward and hit the comm. "Don't start the engines!"
Ry-Gaul looked at him, puzzled, and nodded. "Anakin, what?" Obi-Wan asked, frowning at the urgent tone in Anakin's voice.
"Not sure yet." Anakin quickly disengaged the hatch and climbed down into the engine. He only a needed a few seconds before he saw it.
He vaulted out of the engine bloc. "We've got to get out. The other ship, too!"
Obi-Wan hit the comm. "Evacuate! Now!"
Anakin hit the ramp control at the same time. He, Ferus, Siri, and Obi-Wan charged down. They met Ry-Gaul, Tru, Darra, and Soara.
"Take cover!" Anakin shouted.
The Jedi raced to the opposite side of the landing platform and dived behind a cruiser as the two star-ships exploded in a fiery blast. They felt the heat on their faces. A wall of air hit them.
Slowly, Anakin rose. He regarded the skeletal frame of the starship with regret.
"That was one sweet cruiser," he said.
"What happened?" Siri asked.
"I saw an indicator light malfunction. It didn't cycle through."
"Which one?" Ry-Gaul asked.
"Fuel baffles. Then I noticed that someone had used the stowed toolkit. When I looked at the engine, I saw that someone had rigged the main reactor to blow on ignition. Then I noticed a small timer. I figured that after the preflight check if takeoff didn't take place, it would blow anyway."
"Well done," Ry-Gaul said.
"Very well done," Soara seconded, gazing at the burning ships.
"We're running out of time," Obi-Wan said. He took out his comlink.
"What are you going to do?" Anakin asked.
"I'm afraid that Teluron Thacker is going to find his courage."
"I doubt he'll want to give us a hand," Siri said.
"He doesn't have to give us a hand," Obi-Wan said. "Just a ship."
Within minutes, Thacker pulled into the landing platform in a large airspeeder with a bright orange shell. He looked at the smoking hulks of the cruisers.
He shuddered. "I'm not going to ask."
"Thanks for this," Obi-Wan said as Thacker quickly hopped out of the vehicle.
"It's the company airspeeder. For clients." Thacker looked worriedly at the smoking cruisers. "I'm not supposed to lend it out."
"We'll take good care of it," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin looked at the large speeder with disgust. "This will be like driving a gravsled." He knocked on the decorative fins on the outside. "A gooped-up gravsled, at that."
"It will fit all of us and it will get us there," Obi-Wan said.
"Drive."
The Jedi climbed into the airspeeder. Thacker remained outside, watching them.
"At least it has a couple of sniper blasters," Anakin said approvingly as he surveyed the instrument panel. "They might come in handy."
"You've been a friend to the Jedi," Obi-Wan told Thacker. "We won't forget it."
Thacker swallowed. "I'm sorry."
"About what?" Obi-Wan said as Anakin powered up the engine.
"It isn't very fast, or agile…"
"It's all right."
"I'm sorry!" Thacker yelled as they took off. "Jumpy fellow," Siri said, settling into her seat. "Everyone's jumpy on Korriban," Darra said.
"Can you blame them?"
Anakin guided the airspeeder high above Dreshdae. He entered the coordinates into the computer. "Estimated arrival in ten minutes," he said, pushing to the maximum speed.
Siri twisted around. "Hey, looks like security cruisers on our tail."
Suddenly, the comm unit crackled on the emergency channel.
"Attention, Koro-1 Deluxe Airspeeder. Land and show documentation.
Stolen vehicle check. This is the Commerce Guild Army Patrol."
Obi-Wan pressed the transmission button. "Correction. Owner loaned the vehicle. Please check with owner Teluron Thacker."
"Negative. Owner Teluron Thacker reported vehicle stolen. Land or undergo firepower from laser cannon."
"Thacker betrayed us," Obi-Wan told the others. "That's why he was so jumpy. Somebody got to him."
"Someone he's more afraid of than the Jedi," Soara said. "Anakin, can you outfly those security vehicles?"
"Thirty seconds to land," the comm unit thundered. "In this bucket?"
Anakin gripped the controls. "If I have to."
"Then do it," Obi-Wan said.
"Hold on."
The words had barely left Anakin's lips when the Jedi were nearly plastered to the cockpit canopy as the ship went into a screeching dive.
The army speeders struggled to keep up.
A blast from a laser cannon thundered by, shaking the ship. Anakin put the ship into a tight turn.
"Come on, come on," he muttered. "You can do it." The second blast was closer.
"Use those sniper blasters," Obi-Wan directed. "If we give them some firepower they might back off. Just don't hit anything."
Anakin flipped on the sniper blaster controls. "They've been disabled.
" Obi-Wan groaned. "Great."
"We've got to outrun them, then," Siri said.
"Head for the monastery," Ry-Gaul suggested. "The canyons will give you cover."
Anakin pushed the speeder into a climb that slammed them back into their seats. He tried a corkscrew turn, a movement that he could make with his eyes closed in a decent speeder. This one groaned with the effort. The controls shook in his hands as blaster bolts skittered across the hull.
"This isn't going to work," he muttered. "Ry-Gaul, can you take over?"
Ry-Gaul quickly slid into the pilot seat and Anakin transferred the controls. He crawled past the others to the rear.
"What are you doing?" Obi-Wan asked.
"If I can reduce the air drag, it can go faster." He spoke to Soara, who sat near a small toolkit built into the cabin wall. "Hand me that fusioncutter, will you? It's going to get windy," Anakin warned, before flipping open the canopy.
The wind whipped through the cabin. Anakin used a servodriver to disengage the canopy completely. It flew off the airspeeder, smacking the first security speeder straight in its windscreen. The blow sent the cruiser careening downward to the planet's surface.
"That was lucky," Anakin muttered.
He crawled out on the airspeeder. Buffeted by air currents and hanging on for his life whenever Ry-Gaul swerved to avoid cannonfire, Anakin crawled to the port fins. Using the fusioncutter, he sliced through the fastenings and kicked off the decorative fins. Laser bolts made the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention as the charge shuddered through the air. Anakin held on with his knees as he made deep cuts in the bright plastoid shell and kicked it off into space.
He crawled back inside the speeder. "Better?" he asked Ry-Gaul.
"Better. I can get it up past maximum speed."
To Anakin's surprise, Ry-Gaul inclined his head toward the controls, even as he made a hard left and went into a dive. "Take over."
Feeling pleased, Anakin slipped back into the pilot seat. A Jedi Master had passed the controls to him! Ry-Gaul was renowned as a pilot, and he thought Anakin better able to handle the evasive flying. Take
that, Ferus!
Anakin kept pushing the speed. Even when the mountains loomed ahead, he didn't slow down. The air-speeder screamed down into the valley. He looped around a peak and dived into a canyon dotted with boulders. The three remaining army security speeders followed.
