by Jude Watson
He didn’t like the setting of this battle. Teleq was adept at navigating the trees. He had chosen his ground wisely. And Obi-Wan couldn’t help the nagging suspicion that somehow Teleq was luring them into a trap. They would have to get him first. But how?
Another bird squawked overhead, its mate joining it to circle above a nest.
Use everything you have…
While he deflected more darts from the flechette canister, Obi-Wan searched the branches near Wren’s tree. Obviously, Teleq was trying to drive them there. He was being clever about it—he was trying to make them think that he was attempting to keep them away from the tree—but Obi-Wan knew better.
There—he saw it. A large nest near Teleq, guarded by two birds. That would do.
He did not have time to communicate his plan to Anakin. He would have to trust that his Padawan would get the idea.
Obi-Wan jumped from his tree to the next, and the next, following the route he felt sure Teleq wanted him to follow. He kept his lightsaber activated, swinging at the darts to clear his way. He could hear Anakin behind him, jumping from tree to tree.
When they were closer to Teleq, Obi-Wan swung off to another tree to his right. Anakin hesitated, then moved in the opposite direction.
It was not the first time that Obi-Wan was grateful for his Padawan’s excellent instincts. Time and again, Anakin would read Obi-Wan’s strategy faster than Obi-Wan ever expected.
Moving fast now, the two Jedi leaped from tree branch to tree branch. Obi-Wan could not see Teleq’s face, but he could tell by his movements and the frantic bursts from the flechette canister that the bounty hunter was unnerved.
As Obi-Wan grew closer, Anakin swung out to the side, so that Teleq was forced to move back, exactly where Obi-Wan wanted him.
Obi-Wan gathered the Force. It would be a difficult leap, bypassing one tree to land on another. But it was the only way to surprise Teleq enough to get him to leap to the next tree.
Obi-Wan jumped. The speed and power of the move surprised Teleq. Obi-Wan saw the shock on his face as he stumbled on the wide branch, then awkwardly leaped to the next tree. At the same time, Obi-Wan changed direction in midair. He collided with Teleq, sending the bounty hunter sailing straight into a bird’s nest.
Screeee! Screeeee! Screeee! Screeee! The birds erupted in wild, furious calls. Two small baby birds lifted their heads and tried to flap their wings at the intruder.
The two large birds guarding the nest suddenly rose in the air. Together, they extended their powerful claws and snatched Teleq from the nest. Beating their wings, they carried a struggling Teleq away.
Anakin leaped onto the branch next to Obi-Wan. “Good plan, Master.”
“We need to get Wren down from that tree. It can’t be as easy as it looks.” Obi-Wan leaped from branch to branch. When he got onto the tree next to Wren’s, he examined the area carefully. Wren could not move his eyes, yet Obi-Wan felt the Force roll out from him in strong waves. Wren was warning him.
“I know, Wren,” he called to him. “We will take our time, but we’ll get you out.”
The ground at the bottom of the tree was thickly carpeted with blooms, just like every other tree. But here the blooms were massed a little too thickly. The pattern was not random enough.
“Anakin, swing down and examine the ground under the tree,” Obi-Wan instructed. “But be careful. Don’t get too close.”
Anakin eased down to the ground. He circled the tree, gazing carefully down. “These blossoms have been placed here.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Something is underneath.” Before Obi-Wan could stop him, Anakin tossed a rock into the mass of flowers. It disappeared.
“There’s a trench down there,” Anakin called up.
“You’re lucky there wasn’t an explosive,” Obi-Wan said disapprovingly. Sometimes Anakin acted too rashly. If he could teach the boy one thing, it would be to wait.
He began to study the tree branches. He noticed seams running through several of the branches.
“I think I get it,” he called down to Anakin. “These branches have been cut through, then resealed. They won’t take our weight. We would have crashed through, right into that trench.”
“And then he could have hit us with some paralyzing darts,” Anakin finished. “Pretty simple plan.”
“Simple is sometimes best,” Obi-Wan said. “Lucky for us, it was not in this case. We’ll have to use our cable launchers to get Wren.”
Activating their launchers, the Jedi swung close to Wren and managed to cut him free. Obi-Wan supported him as he released his cable launcher and they dropped to the ground.
He carefully lay Wren down and examined him. There was a long gash on one leg and his arm looked bruised. He had a blaster wound to the shoulder. He must have been in pain.
Obi-Wan reached for the bacta in his kit and administered it.
“You will be fine, but you need better care than we can give you here,” he told Wren. “We must get you back to the Temple.”
“That means we need a ship,” Anakin said.
“Teleq’s must be nearby,” Obi-Wan said, rising to his feet.
Anakin looked around. “Where are Floria and Dane? They were supposed to wait by the hill.”
“I think I know where I can find them, too,” Obi-Wan said.
Chapter Twelve
Floria and Dane sat by Teleq’s ship at the end of the meadow. They jumped up when they saw Obi-Wan and Anakin.
“We saw the battle,” Floria said. “I’ll never underestimate the Jedi again. The way you strategized! The way you moved!”
“Nice star cruiser,” Anakin said, circling around Teleq’s ship. “We could get to Coruscant on this.”
“Don’t bother going inside yet,” Obi-Wan said. “The engine’s been disabled.”
Anakin poked his head around the side of the ship and looked at Obi-Wan quizzically. Obi-Wan looked at Floria and Dane.
“Well?” he said sternly.
Dane opened his hand. A sensor lay in it. “Just a little part,” he said. “And the engine is easily fixed. It’s an activation sensor for the sublight drive.”
“So Teleq wouldn’t be able to leave the atmosphere,” Anakin said. “He’d have to rely on repulsorlift engines.”
“And a warning light would tell him so,” Obi-Wan finished. “He’d know he wouldn’t be able to take off without work on the engine. And while he was working on it, you’d disable him. And take off with us for the prize.”
Floria tried to smile. “Hey, it was worth a try.”
“Wait a second,” Anakin said. “This means that you expected Teleq to capture us!”
“No offense,” Dane said. “What kind of bounty hunters would we be if we didn’t explore all the alternatives?”
Glaring at Dane, Anakin strode forward and snatched the part from his hand. “Don’t worry, Master. I can fix the engine in no time at all.”
Anakin accessed the engine panel on the exterior of the ship. He withdrew a small hydrospanner from his utility kit and his head disappeared inside. Muffled exclamations floated out to the others.
Finally Anakin emerged, his face streaked with grease. “You shorted out the sublight engine fuses and deactivated the power converter! I can’t fix this!”
“I did?” Dane looked surprised. “I didn’t mean to. I don’t know that much about engines,” he confided to Obi-Wan.
Floria smacked her brother on the arm. “I told you to be careful! Now how are we supposed to get out of here?”
“You’re the one who told me to disable it!” Dane protested.
“You said it was a good idea! If I’d known you didn’t know how, I wouldn’t have suggested it!”
Obi-Wan heaved an exasperated breath. If he could leave these two behind, he would. But something told him that he still needed them. “Stop squabbling, you two. We have to take Wren back to the Temple. We’ll have to return and find the other bounty hunter’s ship.”
/> “Go back down the mountain?” Floria asked in dismay. “I’m exhausted!”
“And dusk will be here soon,” Dane added.
Obi-Wan shouldered his pack. “Then we’d better get started.”
They left Wren wrapped in a blanket inside Teleq’s ship. Anakin was able to reconfigure the ship’s security code so that Wren would be protected inside. Even if Teleq somehow managed to get free of those birds, he would not be able to board his ship. At least Wren would have warmth and shelter. Promising to return soon, they set off down the mountain again.
“It’s been almost five hours,” Obi-Wan told Anakin. “With luck, the bounty hunter will be just getting over his paralysis. He’ll have no choice but to cooperate.”
“We certainly are developing a collection of bounty hunters,” Anakin remarked.
“Unfortunately they’re not all as harmless as Floria and Dane,” Obi-Wan said.
Anakin looked at him curiously. “You knew Floria wasn’t telling the truth from the beginning, didn’t you?”
“I suspected as much,” Obi-Wan admitted. “But I had no way of knowing what she was concealing.”
“I believed her story,” Anakin said, frowning. “Why didn’t the Force warn me?”
Obi-Wan smiled. “The Force is not a truth serum, Padawan. The ability to read a being’s true motives comes with experience and patience. I was once very bad at it. Qui-Gon taught me how to look and listen. Floria betrayed herself by playing on our sympathies just a bit too much.”
“And you knew they would find Teleq’s ship and try to disable it.”
“Experience,” Obi-Wan said. “It tells me that beings follow their best interests. Floria and Dane have had to fight their way through the galaxy. They are used to looking out for themselves. Naturally they would still try to foil another bounty hunter winning the prize.”
Obi-Wan put a hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “Do not trouble yourself, Padawan. You have an open heart. This is a good thing. With time you will learn the balance you need in a galaxy where all beings do not tell the truth. Your impulsiveness is a source of energy and power for you. But it can lead to trouble. You will learn to be more careful. Sometimes it is better to walk than run.”
“I got us into trouble with the malia, and then in the cavern,” Anakin admitted. “I am sorry, Master.”
“Danger finds us on every mission,” Obi-Wan said. “Let us look forward.”
They followed the winding path down the mountain once again. When they reached the site of their battle with the Tursha, they hurried through the meadow. Ahead they could see the camouflaged tent. As they walked forward, they could distinguish the Tursha still slumped against the tree.
“He’s still paralyzed,” Anakin said, starting forward.
Obi-Wan stopped him. “No, Padawan. He is dead.”
Chapter Thirteen
Obi-Wan crouched over the body. “Poisoned,” he said.
Anakin leaned forward curiously. “Flechette canister?”
“No. See the flecks on his lips? It was a fast poison, injected in the neck.” Obi-Wan gently moved the Tursha’s head. “Here.” Obi-Wan stood. “Do you have your tarp?”
Anakin withdrew the tarp from his survival pack. Gently, Obi-Wan wrapped the body. “We will come back for him,” he murmured. “We must take him to Coruscant. He might have had family.” He stood, his eyes roaming the area. “Now we must return to our problem. We must find his ship.”
They split up and searched the area thoroughly, but they could not find the ship the bounty hunter had used.
“One of the other bounty hunters must have stolen it,” Obi-Wan said. “Mol Arcasite, perhaps.”
“Do you think she killed him?”
“Possibly,” Obi-Wan said. “But one of the others could have done it. We have no way to know.”
“What now?” Anakin wondered. “We’re stuck on the planet with no comm unit.”
“We have one last sabaac card to play,” Obi-Wan said. He turned to Floria and Dane.
“What?” Floria shifted nervously. “We told you everything we know.”
“I don’t think so,” Obi-Wan answered. “If you had captured us, where would you have taken us?”
“To Granta Omega, of course,” Dane answered.
“How would you have contacted him?” Obi-Wan asked. “You must have some sort of prearranged line of communication.”
Floria and Dane gave each other a nervous look.
“Because you’re going to use it. You’re going to contact him and tell him that you’ve captured us,” Obi-Wan said. “And you’re going to ask him to meet you on Ragoon-6.”
“What if we do?” Floria asked. “Do you think we’re crazy enough to contact Granta Omega and lie to him?”
Obi-Wan merely looked at them. It was enough.
“All right, all right,” Floria muttered. “We’ll contact Granta Omega and lie to him. Just arrange a really nice funeral for us, will you?”
Obi-Wan shook his head. “No funerals. But the game is over. We’re not chasing any more bounty hunters. Granta Omega will come to us.”
Floria agreed grudgingly. “I guess we’ll cooperate. I’m tired of trying to outthink you, anyway. Obviously, we’re outmatched. Besides, I’m starting to like you. And I bet Dane is, too.”
Dane groaned. “Guilty. Some bounty hunters we are. We befriend our prey instead of betraying them. Okay.” He gazed seriously at Obi-Wan. “If we do this, will you protect us?”
Obi-Wan nodded. “You have my word.”
Slowly, Dane withdrew a comlink from a hidden pocket in his cloak. “It’s only got one channel,” he said. “It’s a direct line to Omega.” Dane activated it and inputted a code.
“We have the Jedi,” he said. “But we lost our transport. You must come to us.”
He listened for a moment, then shut off the comlink. “He’s agreed to meet us. He sounded surprised that Floria and I were the ones to catch you. Kind of insulting, actually. But he’s coming.” Dane looked at his sister. “Unfortunately, he wants to meet us on top of the mountain.”
Floria groaned. “Not again.”
“Don’t worry,” Obi-Wan said. “We’ll get up a faster way.”
This time, they did not follow the trail. They used cable launchers to vault straight up the cliffs. From that spot, they were able to hike above the tree line. The air was thin and cold here, and Obi-Wan and Anakin paused to don their thermal capes. The snow was ankle-deep on the trail.
“There’s a good chance he’ll be wary,” Obi-Wan told Anakin. “We must pretend to be Dane and Floria’s prisoners until the last possible moment. I don’t have to tell you that we need to take Granta Omega alive. Perhaps more important than catching him will be finding out why and how he targeted us.”
Floria and Dane slipped laser cuffs over Anakin and Obi-Wan’s wrists but did not seal them. It would appear that the two were prisoners. They marched ahead of Floria and Dane.
“Wasn’t it your idea to become bounty hunters?” Floria grumbled to her brother as she pushed her way through the snow. “‘Floria, we can see the galaxy. Floria, it will be fun. Floria, it’s an easy way to make a fortune—’”
“Floria, you’re driving me crazy,” Dane interrupted.
“We’re getting closer, you two,” Obi-Wan warned from behind them. “Try to act like professionals. We could be under surveillance.”
“Master, there is someone ahead,” Anakin said under his breath.
A humanoid male sat on top of ice-encrusted snow ahead. He was dressed all in white, and had blended in with the snow.
“It must be Hunti Pereg,” Dane murmured to them. “He’s the only bounty hunter left.”
The stranger did not move as they approached.
“Greetings,” Dane called. “We are Dane and Floria, bounty hunters. We have caught the Jedi.”
The man smiled pleasantly. “I can see that. Congratulations. I am Hunti Pereg. Bounty hunter as well.”
Obi-Wan
was poised for an assault. Surely the fearsome Hunti Pereg would not let two children take away his prize. His face looked fierce and frightening. It had the patched-together look of a recent application of synth-flesh, as though he had been badly injured.
The scars of the life of a bounty hunter, Obi-Wan thought. It bothered him to think of young Floria and Dane continuing with such a life. Despite their grumbles and their tricks, they were not bad creatures.
And they are exactly the sort of beings Qui-Gon would befriend. And I would not understand why. Now I do, Qui-Gon. Now, I do.
“Don’t worry, kids,” Pereg told them. “I won’t interfere with your prize.”
“I’m glad to see you abide by the rules of honor,” Dane said.
“It’s not that,” Pereg said. “I can’t move my legs. That scoundrel son of a gravel-maggot Teleq shot me with a paralyzing dart four hours ago. So it looks like you’ve won.”
“Is there anything we can do for you?” Floria asked politely. “It’s awfully cold up here.”
“Very kind of you to ask,” Pereg said. “After you collect the reward, if you wouldn’t mind sending a ship back for me, I’d appreciate it. Professional courtesy. I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Have you seen Granta Omega, by any chance?” Floria asked him.
He shook his head. “Sorry. It’s just been me and the mountain.”
They left Hunti Pereg behind and continued to the rendezvous point. They were almost at the top of the mountain now. The sun had slid behind the peak, and the wind had picked up. A few snowflakes drifted down from a white sky. Floria wrapped her cloak tighter around her.
They stopped at the coordinates Granta had given them. They looked up at the sky, waiting to see a ship. Dane got out a tarp with thermal coils and spread it on the ground. He and Floria sat, trying to keep warm. Obi-Wan and Anakin stood, holding their arms so the laser cuffs were visible. Obi-Wan did not feel the cold.
The minutes ticked by.
“He isn’t coming,” Obi-Wan said at last.
“Do you think he knows it was a trick?” Anakin asked.
“There’s no way to know,” Obi-Wan said. “But a storm is coming, and we need to find help for Wren. We’ll have to track Omega after we get Wren to safety.”