Jedi Quest 4: The Master of Disguise (звёздные войны)

by Jude Watson

  Chapter Eight

  Obi-Wan hurried into the library. It had been restored to its usual pristine state. Jocasta Nu was at a datascreen, working.

  "What is it?" she asked, looking up for a moment and then back down at her screen.

  "You sent for me," Obi-Wan said.

  "Right." Jocasta clicked off the screen. "I have good news and bad news. Good news — I found out Granta Omega's listed birthplace. It's Coruscant."

  "Coruscant?" Obi-Wan grew excited. That meant he could investigate a good deal of Omega's background without leaving the planet. A being's records were always stored on his or her home planet, and Coruscant was especially careful about storing every scrap of information. Thousands were employed in record-keeping.

  Then he remembered Jocasta had said there was bad news as well. "And?"

  "I can find no record of his birth. Nothing. And you know Coruscant is very organized about these things. So either he lied and was born somewhere else, or he lives under an assumed name."

  "In other words, we know nothing more," Obi-Wan said, sinking down in a chair. "Every time I think I have a lead, it disappears. I'm left with nothing."

  Suddenly holofiles began to zoom from Jocasta's fingers toward him.

  "What is this?" Obi-Wan said.

  "You say you have nothing on Omega," she said. "I'm showing you differently."

  "But I've already seen these. They don't say anything!" "They say many things," Jocasta said, exasperated. "You just can't put the pieces together."

  Obi-Wan almost smiled. Jocasta reminded him of Qui-Gon. What would his Master say if he were here? Qui-Gon had always been better at research, at putting pieces together. He was always able to connect the dry facts with the living person. That would lead him to motives and reasons, and soon he would have a picture of what he was looking for.

  What is the emotion here? he would say. What does this being want more than anything? What does he need?

  How am 1 supposed to know that, Qui-Gon?

  "Start with what you know for sure," Obi-Wan suddenly blurted. "That's what Qui-Gon always said." Jocasta sniffed. "Exactly."

  "I know he has a vendetta against the Jedi," Obi-Wan said. "He hates us. I know he was on Haariden." Obi-Wan straightened. "I know he was on Haariden!" he repeated. "And it couldn't have been because the Jedi were there. It would have been impossible for him to plan the attack beforehand.

  " "Not impossible," Jocasta corrected. "There is little that is impossible."

  Now she sounded like Yoda. "But we received the summons and left within one hour," Obi-Wan said. "Improbable, then. No, I think he was on Haariden for another reason. When he discovered the Jedi were there, he saw a way to make trouble for us." He began to search randomly through the holofiles. "He made his fortune by buying up minerals on different worlds and creating shortages," he said. "We know that, too."

  "Let me get the file on Haariden," Jocasta said. Her eyes were alight with interest now. She quickly accessed a file and began to flip through it. "Interesting. Do you know why the two factions on Haariden have been fighting this time?"

  "Land disputes," Obi-Wan said." Yes, but this isn't about territory.

  It's about what is underneath the land. Traces of titanite have been found.

  " "Titanite? I don't think I know it."

  "That's because it's extremely rare," Jocasta said. "Not only that, it's very hard to mine. It's usually buried so deep near the core that it costs more to extract it than it is worth."

  "What is it used for?" Obi-Wan asked.

  "Until recently, not much," Jocasta said. "But in the last couple of years, it's been discovered that when titanite is synthesized, a substance is extracted that is one of the essential ingredients of bacta."

  Obi-Wan shook his head. "Bacta." He began to flip through the files in front of him. "Here it is. One of Omega's vast land holdings is on the planet Thyferra. That's the only place where the alazhi plant grows. Alazhi lotion is the main ingredient in bacta."

  "So if he had alazhi lotion and the titanite substance….. Jocasta said, her voice trailing off. Obi-Wan and Jocasta stared at each other as the conclusion struck them.

  "He could corner the galactic market on bacta," Obi-Wan said.

  "This is getting very interesting," Jocasta murmured. "When was the titanite found on Haariden?" Obi-Wan asked.

  "Only a few months ago," Jocasta said. "That's why the fighting began again. It's also one of the reasons the scientists were sent there.

  Haariden was included on the mapping expedition for precisely that reason.

  The Senate felt that if it had a complete picture of where the titanite deposits were, it could persuade the two sides to come to an agreement."

  "Did the scientists make a final report?"

  "Yes, but it was inconclusive. They couldn't conduct the tests they needed to because the fighting moved too close."

  "Maybe Omega wanted that to happen," Obi-Wan said. "Maybe he didn't want the report to get back to the Senate."

  "He would need to make his own tests, then," Jocasta said. "He'd need to have his own scientific team. That would be a hard thing to keep secret on Haariden."

  "Maybe he didn't need a team," Obi-Wan said. "Maybe he could do it himself." He waved at the holofiles surrounding them. "Think about it. Look at what he's done over the years. Look at the fact that he doesn't employ many people at all. It would have been impossible for Omega to have done what he did in his career without some serious scientific knowledge. Which means," he said, turning to Jocasta excitedly, "he would have to have had some serious study. Can you search the records of the finest scientific institutes in the galaxy?"

  Jocasta raised an eyebrow. "All of them?"

  Obi-Wan nodded.

  "I'll start with the Core Worlds," she said with a sigh. "Maybe we'll get lucky."

  Obi-Wan was sipping a cup of tea in the Room of a Thousand Fountains and trying to calm his mind when his comlink signaled. It was Jocasta.

  "He attended the All Science Research Academy on Yerphonia," she said.

  "Can we contact them?" Obi-Wan asked eagerly.

  "I already have. He was granted his degree only seven years ago. He was a star student. His home world is a small moon called Nierport Seven."

  Obi-Wan knew the place. It was less than a day's travel from Coruscant.

  Within an hour, he was on his way.

  Chapter Nine

  "Again," Soara said.

  Anakin ran at the wall again. He no longer knew how many times he had done so. Fifty? Seventy? Two hundred, five hundred? His brain didn't register numbers. There was just him and the wall.

  He ran up the wall, flipped over into a backward somersault, and landed on his feet again. It was a basic Temple exercise. He'd learned it when he was nine. But with Soara he was discovering that it was a much more complex maneuver than he'd imagined. Apparently his shoulders were wrong.

  His landing was too hard. And the whole thing took too long for him to accomplish.

  "Stop." Soara's voice cut through him like the cold wind that howled down the deserted alley straight to the secluded lot where they were training. The building in front of him was sheer durasteel, slippery now with morning dew. The sun was just rising.

  "Close your eyes," Soara said.

  Anakin closed his eyes.

  "Get rid of that impatience," Soara said. "Now." Anakin tried to obey.

  "Nothing is solid," Soara said. "The hardest wall is just a connection of particles. Find the spaces between the particles, and the wall will yield. It will push you off. Listen to the wall and hear the wind through the gaps."

  Listen to the wall? Anakin felt his impatience rise again.

  He remembered Darra's words. She'll push you hard, and then she'll tell you something strange, something you don't want to understand. That's what she wants. The more tired you are, the emptier you are. That's when she really starts to work.

  He listened to the wall. And then the sound of the
wind changed. He heard the howl of it, but he also heard the whisper. He heard it stir a piece of trash on the street, disturb a pebble. And then he heard it whistle softly through the gaps. Nothing felt solid. Not the ground under his feet, not the buildings around him.

  He felt the Force move, even though he hadn't summoned it. He saw the wall in his mind, and this time, it shimmered. It wasn't a solid thing. It would yield to him He ran at the wall. He ran easily, as if it were the first time. He felt the wall give against his boots. He pushed off and the wall sprang against him, helping him propel. He somersaulted and flew backward, landing lightly, gracefully, his lightsaber held at the ready.

  He blinked. He had fought with the help of the Force before. But never like that.

  He looked at Soara, amazed.

  She didn't smile or nod or show by even a flicker of an eyelash that she was pleased. But she didn't correct him, and that meant something.

  Anakin made sure his own pleasure didn't show on his face.

  "That's enough for today," she said crisply.

  Anakin deactivated his lightsaber. For the first time, he felt that he had glimpsed a future in which his connection to the Force and his lightsaber skills would be so meshed that he would truly be the best he could be. He could also see how far he was from that goal, but it didn't bother him as it would have the day before. He would get there.

  They had walked to the training site, and Soara had already left for the Temple. She rarely said good-bye. Anakin looked down at his tunic and made a face. There was a ragged tear down the side, and it was stained with sweat and filth. He had already gone through five tunics since he'd begun training with Soara.

  He started to trudge toward the lift tube that would bring him to the Senatorial level. From there he could take a series of connecting walkways to the Temple. It would be good to walk and see the morning bustle begin.

  He felt as though he had been facing nothing but a blank wall for hours.

  Anakin grinned. He had.

  Soara seemed to know every hidden corner of the seamier side of Coruscant. Over the past few days he'd climbed over junk heaps and through half-demolished buildings, crawled through tunnels, and even fought a battle with training droids in an airspeeder garage. He'd fallen into a vat of oil. That was a lesson he wouldn't forget.

  Anakin zoomed up on the turbolift with a crowd of workers. At least he was too tired to dwell on his disappointment that Obi-Wan had left for Nierport Seven without him. His Master had assured him that he was going only for research purposes. When and if Obi-Wan decided to pursue Granta Omega, he would bring his Padawan with him. Obi-Wan had promised that.

  Yet Anakin knew that Obi-Wan might run into surprises on Nierport Seven. He might find a clue he had to pursue immediately. He might not have time to send for Anakin. He could be left behind after all.

  There was nothing he could do about it, however. The turbolift doors opened and Anakin stepped out, carried along with the crowd for a few steps until he broke away. The sun was rising now, the pink rays flashing on the cruisers in the space lanes and the buildings surrounding him.

  He chose the least crowded walkway, the one that would bring him down the center of the fountains that lined one quadrant of the Senate complex.

  The coolness of the water freshened the air. He felt the droplets hit his skin. His weariness lifted, and he began to think about the morning meal ahead of him at the Temple.

  A man sat on the edge of the fountain, his face lifted toward the spray. Then he turned and saw Anakin and waved.

  For a moment, Anakin couldn't place him. Then he realized it was Tic Verdun, one of the scientists from Haariden. Verdun was now dressed in a cloak made of deep blue veda cloth. He looked completely different from the weary scientist he had met on Haariden.

  "I'm so glad to see you!" Tic said, hurrying toward Anakin. "At this exact moment I was thinking of you. I didn't want to be forward, but I was wishing I could go to the Temple and inquire about the young girl."

  "Darra will be fine," Anakin said. "The blaster bolts carried a chemical compound, but the medics were able to find the antidote."

  "That's good news," Tic said warmly. "I will see the others at the hearing, and they'll be happy to hear it, too. We've submitted our final report and now we have to answer questions from the committee." He sighed.

  "Too bad the expedition ended badly. We didn't get to do the experiments on Haariden that we hoped. We could have put a stop to that bloody civil war if we had."

  "How?" Anakin asked.

  "The two tribes are fighting over possible titanite deposits," Tic explained. "If we had found exactly where the titanite was and how much there was, the Senate might have been able to come up with a plan to divide it equally. Instead, the two tribes are fighting over something that might not even exist."

  "That's too bad," Anakin said.

  Tic nodded, discouraged. "The worst part of it is, there was another scientist on Haariden who was also conducting experiments. If we could talk to him, maybe he had found out more. But nobody can seem to locate him."

  "Another scientist? Who?" Anakin asked.

  "Granta Omega," Tic Verdun said. "We ran into him on Haariden."

  "You mean you know him?" Anakin asked, amazed.

  Tic nodded. "Not well. But I've met him several times." He noted the interest on Anakin's face. "Why do you ask?"

  "Because we're looking for him," Anakin said. "The Jedi would like to talk to him, too."

  "Popular fellow." Tic frowned. "You know, I'm here on Coruscant with a group of friends. Some of them are scientists, some involved in business.

  We're having a kind of reunion. Most of them know Omega, too. Or they've met him, at least. Maybe if we put our heads together, we could come up with a lead for you. There's a chance we could know things you don't know."

  "That wouldn't be hard," Anakin said ruefully. "We don't know much."

  "I'll talk to them and see if I can come up with anything," Tic said.

  "They would be happy to help the Jedi, I am sure."

  Anakin agreed enthusiastically. He said good-bye to Tic and hurried toward the Temple. He wouldn't contact Obi-Wan about this, he decided. Not yet. First he would compile information.

  Wouldn't it be amazing if he were to be the one to find Granta Omega?

  Chapter Ten

  Nierport Seven was within the Core, but its desolation reminded Obi- Wan of an Outer Rim planet. It was a cold, barren moon with only one small settlement. Nierport's meager vegetation appeared to be a wild bush with red thorns well over a meter long. It was said the bushes bloomed with beautiful violet flowers in the summer, but the summer only lasted a month.

  The rest of the year was numbingly cold and bleak. The buildings were built with thick blocks of stone designed to keep out the cold wind.

  Nierport Seven was one of seven moons in a small system that was notable only because it was a convenient refueling stop on the way to Coruscant. Most of the intragalactic travelers chose to refuel on the planet Eeropha, which at least had several small cities. But Nierport Seven was able to support a refueling stop of its own and a few small guesthouses, all serving the kind of pilots who could not afford to scrounge up even the low prices Eeropha charged.

  At least the moon was small, Obi-Wan told himself. The population was clustered around the refueling station. It did not take him long to locate several people who had known Granta Omega.

  That was the good news. The bad news was that no one knew very much about him.

  There was only one cafc on Nierport Seven, and it was next to the refueling station. The cafc was called Food and Drink, and the owner turned out to be as cut and dry as the title of his establishment.

  "Never knew him personally. Heard of him. He left." That was all the owner had to say.

  "Is there anyone else who would know him?" Obi-Wan asked. "Anybody who still lives here? He left seven years ago."

  "Most folks leave in three years," the owner said. "Can
't take any more."

  Obi-Wan waited. He had learned this from Qui-Gon. Most beings would come up with additional information if you just stayed quiet.

  "Might try that trio in the corner," the owner said gruffly. "They've stuck around. They were born here and they'll die here."

  The three natives of Nierport sat around the table. They were wearing grease-stained clothes that told Obi-Wan they had just finished a shift at the refueling station.