Jedi Quest 10: The Final Showdown (звёздные войны)

by Jude Watson

  What you are and what you do mean nothing next to what we are and can do….

  Thinking of Ferus made anger spurt through Anakin. It was something hard inside him. It filled him up. It felt natural, it felt right, to allow his anger to grow. Why had he tried to quell it? He had every right to feel it! Just feeling it now gave him strength.

  Obi-Wan held up a hand. "Stop. Energy trap."

  Anakin could see nothing. Everything was dark except for the light from Obi-Wan's lightsaber.

  Obi-Wan spoke in a hushed tone. "Concentrations of dark power. They are capable of immobilizing a Jedi for a time."

  "I don't see anything," Ferus said.

  "Look away, then look back. Use the Force," Siri instructed.

  Anakin looked away, then looked back. He caught the faintest shimmer of purple in the air. It appeared and disappeared. You could miss it if you blinked.

  "I see it," Darra said.

  "There will be more," Obi-Wan warned. "The Padawans must be very careful. You most likely won't be able to escape alone. Stay close to your Masters."

  They moved forward, avoiding the trap.

  The chuckle split the fetid air.

  "I would expect no less of you, Obi-Wan." The voice came out of nowhere. Mocking, sure of himself. Granta Omega.

  Obi-Wan stopped.

  Slowly, Omega walked out from behind a tomb, just meters ahead.

  He tapped a finger on his utility belt. "Did you really think you could avoid a few traps and catch me?"

  "Get back here, you fool," Zan Arbor hissed, appearing behind him out of the darkness. "Why must you always talk to him?" In her blue shimmersilk, she looked as well-kept as ever, her blond hair piled in a profusion of neat braids on her head.

  "Because I'm enjoying myself," Omega said. His handsome face creased in a wide smile. He appeared utterly at home in the terrible tomb. "I have, let's see — one, two, four, eight Jedi, all sent to capture little old me!"

  "Are you forgetting I'm here, too?" Zan Arbor snapped. "Typical. I was a Jedi enemy before you were born, Granta."

  "My father was their enemy before me," Omega said.

  Xanatos. Omega's father, the former Jedi who had tried to destroy Qui- Gon. Obi-Wan had told Anakin about him. His son maintained the same arrogance, the same cruelty, the same howling need to hurt the Jedi, to make them pay for everything they lacked themselves. Honor meant nothing to either Xanatos or Omega. Only power. Only revenge.

  Zan Arbor waved a hand. "This isn't a contest. I'm going on. Sith or no Sith, I can't wait to get off this planet. Come along. He's waiting for us. Come on," she urged sharply. "He'll take care of the Jedi — he promised us that. He's about to give us everything we worked for. Resources. Secrets of the galaxy. Wealth. An army of our own, Granta!"

  But Omega didn't move. Here would come his downfall, Anakin thought suddenly. The reward he was about to receive meant nothing in the face of his personal revenge.

  "I can take care of this," Omega said. "With his help."

  "Can I remind you of something?" Zan Arbor exploded in exasperation.

  "You are not a Sith!"

  "I have surprised you every step of the way, Obi-Wan," Omega said, ignoring her. "And I didn't even know the secrets of the dark side! Can you imagine what I'm capable of now, in this place, where the very walls are your enemy?"

  Obi-Wan held his gaze. Anakin glanced at him. He saw that Obi-Wan had no desire to speak. In his gaze Anakin detected no anger, no response to Omega's taunts. There was simply the grim will to get this done. There was no way Omega was leaving this tomb unless Obi-Wan led him out.

  "Don't want to talk to me, Obi-Wan? Giving me the silent treatment?

  You're spoiling my pleasure." Omega gave a theatrical sigh and raised his hand, revealing a KYD-21 blaster. Anakin recognized it. Fast, precise, compact.

  "I must admit, it's inconvenient that the Jedi found me here. But in a way, it's such a delicious end. I'm invincible now, you see. I fight with the power of the Sith behind me. And that means I can watch you die, Obi- Wan. You and your apprentice. I can't wait. Do you want to follow me back there, or are you too afraid to finally meet your defeat?"

  He had gotten no further than a flex of one finger muscle to fire before Obi-Wan exploded in movement. He raced toward Omega, his lightsaber held in a classic offensive maneuver.

  The blaster bolts came fast and furious. Obi-Wan deflected each one, swinging his lightsaber in a wide arc.

  A horrid stench suddenly rolled out from behind Omega. He smiled, as if he knew what was coming. No doubt he did.

  Then the undead came. Korriban zombies, revived by the Sith to guard the tombs. Anakin had read about them, but never thought he'd see them; the Sith must have activated them to defend Omega and the sacred Sith ground.

  The zombies were used to eating the flesh from the tombs; now they had living targets in mind. And they had blasters and detonators to make the kill. They came careening out of the darkness now, different species but all moving with the same odd, lurching gait… the air came alive with smoke and fire.

  Recovering from a moment of shock, Anakin moved to flank Obi-Wan. The zombies had strength beyond the living. They were half-rotted, a horrifying sight. Anakin did not look at their dead gazes. He went after them ruthlessly, his lightsaber deflecting their fire while he cut them to ribbons.

  They were an obstacle, nothing more. A sorcerer's trick from long ago.

  He would not let their gruesome appearance or their grasping bloodied hands deter him.

  He had to be in on the capture of Omega. Working together, he and Obi- Wan deflected fire while they moved toward a steadily retreating Omega. Zan Arbor had disappeared. For Anakin, she had ceased to matter.

  Then the darkness came alive with visions. The Sith Lords, mighty in their armor, terrifying in their decaying, bloodied faces. They rushed at the Jedi, only to disappear in a shower of splintered shadow. Anakin tried not to flinch, to keep his eyes on the blaster fire, but the confusion was everywhere.

  The dark side of the Force was like a presence, interfering with concentration and sapping energy. The Jedi reached out to one another, calling on the Force to battle the dark side, the undead who kept on coming.

  Anakin saw Shmi rise and fall, rise and fall. He felt the familiar need, the familiar guilt. The feelings overwhelmed him and Obi-Wan had to leap in front of him to protect him from a detonator heading his way. Obi- Wan swiped it out of the air.

  They didn't choose me, and yet I fight for them, Anakin thought in anger. They chose Ferus, and yet I must fight to protect him, protect them.

  My Master didn't protect me, why am I doing this?

  A phantom Sith Lord smiled at him. Reached out a hand.

  "Anakin." Obi-Wan's voice was close. "Keep your focus."

  His focus. Yes. Of course the dark side would go after him, not just with phantom Sith, but phantoms in his brain. Thoughts that weren't his.

  Anakin reached out to the Force to help him battle the voices. He felt his head clear.

  Tru had leaped up on a tomb to fight two zombies. With his flexible arms and legs, he moved like a rolling wave. He took down three thermal detonators that were flying through the air. He swung his lightsaber in an arc. It flickered. Anakin watched in horror as it buzzed, the shaft flickering again and again. It was losing power!

  Tru was in the middle of them. Obi-Wan hadn't seen it. He had charged forward, the way to Omega now clear.

  Everything in Anakin screamed to follow Obi-Wan, to be in on the capture of Omega. Except one thing. Friendship.

  But he had hesitated too long. As he watched, Ferus and Tru exchanged a glance. Simultaneously, Ferus and Tru flipped their lightsabers through the air. Tru caught Ferus's, and Ferus caught Tru's.

  Re-energized, Tru went after the undead, hacking off limbs and disabling the living corpses. Ferus dropped to a backup position with the half-powered lightsaber.

  But suddenly Omega appeared again. He had sneaked around
the back of the tombs. Zan Arbor reappeared at his side. Anakin realized that they were trying to trick the Jedi. They had set up most of the firepower in the middle of the tomb. While the Jedi expected them to retreat to the rear, they were actually about to escape through the front door.

  He saw it again, the flicker at the end of his vision, a cape furling as fast as a serpent's strike. The Sith stood at the entrance to the tomb.

  Waiting. His face was hidden in the shadow of his hood.

  Zan Arbor hurried toward him.

  Anakin wrenched his attention back to Tru. Because Ferus was watching Tru's back, he was the only one in Omega's path. The Jedi Masters had all been at the fore of the fight. Ferus's lightsaber flickered in the dark.

  Seeing that he was in trouble, Darra Force-leaped toward Ferus, her lightsaber held high, determined to save him.

  Anakin saw the smile on Omega's face when he fired.

  The bolts hit Darra straight in the chest. She fell, still keeping her body between Omega and Ferus.

  Soara cried out. Anakin felt the moment spin out into impossible time, time that froze everything, even his heart.

  He saw the blue shimmersilk move like a breeze as Zan Arbor took advantage of the distraction to dash for the entrance. Blue Force-lightning erupted in the darkness, a barrier shielding her from the others, giving her space to run.

  He saw Tru's mouth open in a howl. He saw Ferus drop to his knees and crawl toward Darra, saw him take a blaster bolt in the shoulder and keep on going. He saw Siri leap forward to defend all of them, saw Soara fly through the air in a great Force-leap to be near her Padawan. Saw Darra's head turn toward him, her cheek against the dirt. Saw the cloudy film in Darra's eyes, the shock of catching the blow. He saw, as if it were a physical struggle, her gathering her courage to accept the blow.

  He saw all this, and still he didn't move.

  And then Omega moved, reversing course once again, quickly retreating away from the tomb.

  Anguish on his face, Obi-Wan turned away from the Jedi and followed him.

  Real time came rushing back, and there was not enough of it.

  Anakin turned away from Darra and raced after his Master.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  The tomb narrowed at the rear. The stench almost made Anakin gag. It was as though everything foul was concentrated back here. He could barely make out Obi-Wan ahead, running, attacking the undead that guarded Omega, circling him constantly like a cloud of rotting flesh.

  Anakin put on a burst of speed. His Master was battling with incredible speed and accuracy. Anakin could feel the Force like a great pulsing, speeding, enveloping wave that barreled Obi-Wan toward his opponent. Toward his destiny.

  My destiny, Anakin thought. Mine!

  He focused so much on his Master, on his need to catch him, that he blundered into an energy trap.

  Anakin was caught. He couldn't move. Frustrated, enraged, he slashed at the invisible cage with his lightsaber. He could not free himself. He kicked. He hammered. Caught.

  He had met a power greater than his. Impossible!

  "Master!" he called, but Obi-Wan didn't hear him. The energy trap sucked his voice out of the air and imprisoned it.

  I just need the Force. Obi-Wan said a Master can summon the Force and fight this. I am as good as a Master. I can do this.

  Strange, though. He could reach out for the Force, but visions got in the way. And not visions from the dark side. Visions of what had just happened. Tru's mouth, open in a howl of anguish and disbelief. Darra, falling, eyes wide with the shock.

  Darra, her head turned toward him, her cheek in the dust of the tomb.

  He had seen her like this before, when she'd been wounded on Haariden.

  He had felt her wounding then was his fault. Unsure of her abilities, sure of his own, he had leaped to protect her and crashed into her instead. He had thought himself the better fighter, and because of that, he had pushed her into blaster fire.

  She had never held it against him.

  He saw her face again, so pale. The bright ribbon she always wove through her braid, trailing in the dust of the tomb.

  He knew she was badly wounded. He felt it choke him. He had not gone to help Ferus. Darra had. She was lying on the ground. He tried to put those facts together to have them make sense.

  Tru's lightsaber had slipped to half-power.

  Anakin had never offered to check the flux aperture, just in case. He had meant to.

  What is happening to me? Anakin wondered. His mind felt suddenly clear, sharp. Why didn't I help my friends? Have I changed? Am I changing?

  What am I becoming?

  When he had first become a Padawan, he would not have hesitated. His first loyalty had been to them.

  Things were more complicated now. There was more at stake.

  Maybe he was changing for the better.

  Control rule supremacy greatness…

  Was he more mature now? A better fighter? Better able to assess a situation, move toward the goal? Was that why he had raced to confront Omega? Or had his own jealousy propelled him? How could he separate those things? Why did he have to?

  Power rules by results…

  Anakin shook his head. The voices would not leave him.

  He thought of Darra. Tenderness filled him, and the voices went away.

  Years ago, he had gone to see Darra in the med clinic, filled with remorse. She had shaken him out of his guilt with a grin. Now I have something to impress the younglings with. I've been wounded in battle.

  And then he remembered something he hadn't thought of in years. He had always thought of her strength during that time. Now he remembered her fragility. He remembered her hand on the coverlet. Her fingers had so briefly touched his sleeve.

  Stay with me until I fall asleep. It's lonely here.

  Anakin beat at the trap again. He felt the rage rise inside him. He knew the rage was interfering with the Force, but he couldn't control it.

  If only… if only he could use the rage. But that was something a Jedi should not do.

  The frustration boiled in him. He could not move. His Master was gone now, into the darkness.

  Obi-Wan shouldn't have been surprised when the visions of the Sith Lords faded and he saw Qui-Gon. But he was. He should have known the Sith were capable of drawing his most painful memory from within him.

  Qui-Gon, with a gaping wound in his chest where Darth Maul had struck.

  "You were always so afraid of disappointing me," Qui-Gon said. "And you have."

  Obi-Wan stopped. His lightsaber dangled in his hand.

  It's not real. It's not real.

  "You've failed me, Obi-Wan."

  Not.. real.

  "And you don't even know why."

  Obi-Wan took a breath. He walked forward, straight at Qui-Gon. The image disappeared.

  Shaken, he continued into the darkness. Now it was easier to walk past the Sith Lords, the visions who snarled and hissed and sent out grasping fingers as he walked past. He had seen the worst.

  He heard a hiss, felt the dark side surge, and barely had time to prepare when the flash lit up the darkness. A luma blast, sent by a rocket, designed to blind him.

  Obi-Wan threw himself on the floor and rolled. Behind his closed eyes, he saw explosions of orange and yellow, bright as a double sun. Using the Force, he guided himself alongside a tomb and crouched behind it. When he opened his eyes, he could see nothing.

  Then more blaster fire, so rapid he realized that Omega must have set up a repeating blaster. From the sound of it, an E-Web, one of the most powerful repeating blasters ever manufactured. It sat on a tripod. It took two gunners, but one could handle it, if very skilled.

  Omega didn't know where he was… yet. Obi-Wan was painfully aware that the E-Web had enough power to punch through armor plating on a cruiser. He heard the stone tombs shatter across the space as they were hit. He couldn't remain here. He had to keep moving.

  He kept himself low to the ground and fe
lt his way around the tomb. He could track the blaster fire through the Force, could defend himself if he had to. It was part of Jedi training to be able to fight without sight.

  Younglings learned with novice helmets that blocked their vision. Obi-Wan was suddenly, fiercely glad for that training.

  Omega would expect him to hide. Therefore, he had to expose himself.