Jedi Apprentice 8: The Day of Reckoning (звёздные войны)

by Джуд Уотсон

  Xanatos stepped away from the platform for a moment. Qui-Gon saw him speak rapidly to one of the security police ringing the arena. He saw one of them speak into a comlink.

  Dread filled Qui-Gon. "Put your hood up, Obi-Wan," he said quickly.

  Moments later, the faces of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan flashed onscreen.

  "Have you seen these men?" Xanatos boomed. He pointed to the screens. "They are enemies of Telos! Condemned to death, they escaped and now continue to work their evil! They are here, in this arena. They are the ones who switched the image tapes. Look at your neighbors. Do you see them? They are the ones who tricked you!"

  "Uh-oh," Andra breathed. She leaned forward, shielding Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon by pretending to search the crowd around her.

  But it was no use. A Telosian in front of them turned and peered beneath their hoods. Surprise and recognition made his mouth drop. Then, he stood and screamed out, "Here! Here they are!"

  There was no chance to move, and nowhere to go. Security police poured down the aisles and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were caught.

  Chapter 15

  The security police dragged Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon into the aisle. They surrounded them with blasters drawn. Two of them held Qui-Gon by the arms, two more held Obi-Wan.

  "Hey!" Den shouted from the stage. "Enough of this. I won! Where's my prize?"

  The crowd took up the cry. This is what they waited for? to see the winner accept a fortune in credits and crystalline vertex. Even the security police wanted to see it. Although their blasters stayed leveled at the Jedi, their eyes darted to the stage.

  Xanatos hurriedly strode forward, a transparent box in his hands. Crystals glittered inside and credits spilled from the top. Xanatos seemed visibly anxious to get the ceremony over with, Obi-Wan noted.

  Xanatos handed the box to Den. Everyone turned toward him. It was customary for the winner to say a few words.

  Den stood, looking at the box. He did not speak.

  Obi-Wan glanced at Qui-Gon. This was the test. Things had changed. They were in custody. Den could see that. Andra could not stop him alone. If Den didn't follow through on their plan, he could keep a fortune. The amount in the box would tempt almost any being, let alone a thief.

  Instead of addressing the crowd, Den turned and spoke to the tall, silver-haired man in the first tier of seats. "Governor?"

  The Governor of Telos stood.

  "Will you read the durasheet I handed you before the final contest took place?"

  The Governor reached into the pocket of his tunic. He leaned over and read into the amplification device. "The winner will be Kama Elias by twenty points. Deleta will experience a steering problem. Kama will push past to win."

  The crowd looked on, mystified. Kama had won by twenty points. But how did the winner know that Deleta would have a steering problem?

  "Citizens of Telos, I wrote that before the games began," Den announced. "I broke into the Katharsis computer. Every Katharsis contest is rigged! The equipment of the contestants is subtly altered as the games go on so that the prechosen winner will triumph. Even the winner of the lottery is chosen ahead of time. The winner must agree to split the fortune with UniFy. This whole thing is a setup designed to get your money!"

  Den reached into the box and withdrew fistfuls of credits and crystalline vertex. He tossed them to the crowd. The credits and vertex rained down, and people scrambled to pick them up. Around them the screens flashed images of the devastated Sacred Pools.

  "They've lied to us!" he shouted. "Look at the screens! This is what your money has bought! Look around you? look at each other. Are you in debt? Do you only think about money? Good? because that's what they want! And while we scheme and dream, our world is being destroyed. Look at the logo on those crates of explosives, on that ship. UniFy is Offworld! Our planet has been sold to the biggest mining corporation in the galaxy while we bet on a game. And who runs Offworld? The mighty Xanatos!"

  For a moment, the collective silence of the crowd seemed to suck all the air out of the dome. Then the silence broke into a great roar, as mighty as the sea.

  The security police holding Obi-Wan were just as transfixed as the crowd. The crowd rose as one body, leaping to its feet and screaming for Xanatos. The screen still flashed image after image of the ravaged park.

  "Arrest him!" they shouted. "Arrest Xanatos!"

  Xanatos stepped forward once again. He waited out the shouts and jeers. Slowly, people in the crowd began to hush one another. Everyone expected Xanatos to calm them again. To tell them that what Den was saying was a lie.

  Xanatos surveyed the crowd for a long moment, waiting out every murmur until the dome was silent once more.

  Then, he smiled and shook his head like a teacher admonishing a class of students. "You pathetic fools."

  Moving astonishingly fast, his cloak streaming behind him, he leaped onto the winner's swoop. He rose into the air, pushing the swoop to maximum speed. Weaving to avoid the floating boxes, he expertly maneuvered the craft out of the dome toward the exit.

  "Not this time, Xanatos," Qui-Gon said grimly.

  It was easy to break the holds of the distracted guards. Obi-Wan struck out with his elbow and knee, freeing himself. Afraid to fire their blasters in the midst of the weaving, angered

  Qui-Gon had hidden their swoops behind a stack of benches. They leaped on them and took off in the direction Xanatos had gone.

  Chapter 16

  By the time they roared out of the dome, the boulevard seemed completely empty. Qui-Gon closed his eyes for a moment and focused. When he opened them again, he caught the flicker of movement down the street to his right. Perhaps it was just a shadow. But the Force told him it was Xanatos.

  Qui-Gon pushed his engines as high as they would go. He could hear Obi-Wan directly behind him. The boy would keep up. He knew that.

  Determination tightened every muscle. He would not lose Xanatos now. No doubt he was heading somewhere he would be safe, or perhaps toward transport off-planet. Xanatos always had an escape route.

  But they had taken him by surprise. Perhaps there were details left to arrange. Xanatos could not have prepared for this.

  To Qui-Gon's surprise, Xanatos headed out of the city and took off over open country.

  "I think he's heading to the Sacred Pools," Obi-Wan shouted. "This is the way we went."

  "We'll have to stay behind him," Qui-Gon answered. "He knows we're following him. If we can't catch him, we can keep him in sight."

  The swoop engines could only be pushed so far. Xanatos had a faster craft, since the ones used for the games had modified engines. The Jedi could barely manage to keep him in sight, and there were stretches where they lost him completely.

  Over the course of the ride, Obi-Wan never lost his focus. He settled in over the handlebars, his eyes trained on the speck in the distance that was Xanatos. Qui-Gon's face was set in determined lines.

  At last they reached the road to the park. They roared down it, heading for the entrance. The gate was formed from electrowire. Sensors were aimed above to blast any vehicles flying over it.

  A swoop lay abandoned on the road. Xanatos was nowhere in sight.

  Qui-Gon pulled his swoop over. He examined the swoop on the ground. It was out of fuel.

  "He must be in the park," he said. He eyed the gate.

  "I have another way in," Obi-Wan assured him.

  Obi-Wan led the way back down the road through the trees. He left his swoop and splashed through the creek toward the fissure in the cavern wall. He pressed himself inside.

  Qui-Gon followed with difficulty. He was a big man, and it was a small crack. Somehow he was able to push himself through.

  They quickly made their way to the entrance of the cavern and burst out into the open air. Xanatos was crossing the yard, heading for Tech Dome D.

  "There's a landing pad inside," Obi-Wan told Qui-Gon. "No doubt he has transport off-planet waiting there."

  Qui-Gon began to run. Xanatos must never
reach the Tech Dome.

  He moved silently, his feet not making even a whisper of sound on the soft ground. But before he could reach Xanatos, his opponent suddenly leaped on a gravsled and took off.

  Qui-Gon grabbed an abandoned gravsled and followed, knowing Obi-Wan would be only moments behind him. He maneuvered around a pile of equipment and managed to cut Xanatos off from the tech dome. With a snarl, Xanatos wheeled the gravsled, making a sharp right and zooming off. Qui-Gon was on his tail.

  Ahead lay a ravaged landscape. The lowering sun painted it with bloodred rays. Steaming pools of black acid bubbled and sent vapor into the air. The area was lumpy with hardened lava and sticky with tar. The air seemed thick and yellow with chemicals. Occasionally a large burst of steam erupted from fissures in the rock.

  Xanatos flew off the gravsled. He landed on his feet, lightsaber in hand, perfectly positioned to attack. Taken off guard, Qui-Gon turned the gravsled too rapidly. He felt the vehicle was close to overturning and he jumped off.

  The leap was awkward, but it saved him. He felt Xanatos' lightsaber buzz near his ear as it came down and struck rock.

  Qui-Gon landed off balance and on one knee, but his lightsaber was activated and in his hand, ready to ward off the next blow. The tubes of light met and tangled, buzzing and sending a charge into the air.

  "You won't kill me, Qui-Gon," Xanatos said, their faces close. His blue eyes burned with hatred.

  "I am not here to kill you," Qui-Gon said. "I am here to bring you to justice." He somersaulted backward and reversed direction, hoping to knock the lightsaber from his opponent's hand.

  The blow came down, but Xanatos met it and twisted away.

  "Tell the truth for once, Qui-Gon," he sneered. "You spend so much time mouthing those Jedi pieces of wisdom that you've lost touch with your honesty, if you ever had it at all. You won't be satisfied until I'm dead. Look, here comes your young puppet."

  Qui-Gon saw the blue glow of Obi-Wan's lightsaber as the boy rushed toward them. He sensed Obi-Wan would move to the right. If they flanked Xanatos, perhaps they could disarm him.

  They moved at the same split second without exchanging a glance. Qui-Gon knew when and how Obi-Wan would strike, with a downward blow at the hilt of the lightsaber. Qui-Gon dropped to one knee for an upward strike. It would be difficult for Xanatos to counter both blows.

  But Xanatos had anticipated their moves. He whirled away from Obi-Wan's blow and leaped backward, using the Force to add distance to the jump. Qui-Gon struck upward but only dealt a glancing blow to Xanatos' lightsaber. A fissure exploded near him, the steam hissing upward in a powerful column. He had to leap aside to avoid being scalded.

  The steam column separated the Jedi from Xanatos, who smiled.

  "Here we go again," Xanatos said. "The noble Jedi try to pretend they only come for justice when actually they come for blood. Remember, Obi-Wan? You took off after a thirteen-year-old boy and then he turned up dead. Do you remember the look in Bruck's eyes when you killed him? Are you trying to tell yourself that you're sorry your rival is dead? Admit the feeling in your heart. Admit your gladness! Admit your thirst for revenge."

  Qui-Gon saw the distress in Obi-Wan's face. The hand holding the lightsaber trembled.

  "Don't listen," he said quietly. "Don't listen, Obi-Wan."

  The steam was sucked back into the fissure. At the same moment, Xanatos leaped forward. Still shaken, Obi-Wan was caught off guard. He barely was able to parry Xanatos' blow with his lightsaber. Xanatos whirled, one leg kicking out, sending Obi-Wan flying backward.

  Then Xanatos leaped after the fallen boy.

  Chapter 17

  "No!" Qui-Gon cried. He reached out to the rocks and vegetation that surrounded him, for the current that connected him to all things, that connected him to Obi-Wan.

  He hit Xanatos in midair. Their bodies connected like mountains of hard rock. There was no give to Xanatos' muscles, no yielding in Qui-Gon. The clash was titanic. Qui-Gon felt the shock of it move through his bones. For a moment, Xanatos gripped Qui-Gon's arm, forcing them to remain entangled.

  "You brought me to this," he said, his midnight eyes burning.

  They landed inches apart, lightsabers already engaged. The lava was slippery and Qui-Gon had to avoid the fissures of steam. He saw Obi-Wan beginning to struggle to his feet.

  "So the pupil has learned from the teacher," Xanatos went on relentlessly. "Lie about your feelings while you talk of Jedi honor. Leave murder in your wake."

  "You are responsible for Bruck's death," Qui-Gon told him as they fought. "Not Obi-Wan. You corrupted the boy, exposed him to the dark side. He followed you blindly."

  Obi-Wan limped slightly as he headed toward them. He had turned his ankle. His face still looked naked and young, still stung by what Xanatos had flung at him.

  Qui-Gon thought that Obi-Wan had come to terms with what had happened. He had regretted and mourned Bruck's death, for even though Bruck had done evil, there was still hope for him while he was alive. Obi-Wan had not seemed to blame himself.

  Yet somewhere inside, he had. A life had been ended. That was a loss not easily absorbed. Qui-Gon knew that well. And Xanatos would see that hesitancy in Obi-Wan, and would use it to taunt him. He would see weakness where Qui-Gon saw strength. Such was the nature of evil.

  Courage, Obi-Wan. Grab your conviction. Know what you know. Do not let him reach you.

  "I see my words have touched you, Obi-Wan," Xanatos said in the silky, insinuating tone he used to manipulate those around him. "Can it be because I'm right?"

  "No, Xanatos," Obi-Wan said. "I grieve for a life lost. And I thank all who taught me for my grief. It does not make me weak. It makes me strong."

  Suddenly, Obi-Wan's lightsaber whirled. Qui-Gon was astonished at how quickly and gracefully the boy moved, leaping off a mound of lava to strike at Xanatos. Xanatos stumbled backward from the ferocity of the attack. A cloud of steam suddenly erupted, and he quickly lurched to one side, losing his balance and landing on one hand.

  "Stronger than you," Obi-Wan added fiercely, leaping after him.

  Qui-Gon followed, admiring Obi-Wan's focus. Now the two fought as one. Xanatos had weakened, and they used this to drive him back, back against the black pool. If they could get his back against it, they would be able to disarm him or defeat him. It would be his choice.

  Two swoops suddenly appeared from behind the pool. Andra and Den had found them. They landed and ran to help, their blasters at the ready.

  "You will pay, Xanatos!" Andra shouted. "We will take you back to Thani for trial!"

  Xanatos stood at the edge of the water behind him. He had no hope of escape. He was surrounded, and there was nowhere to run to. His gaze traveled from Den to Andra to Obi-Wan, finally resting on Qui-Gon. The depths of his hatred turned his gaze as black and foul as the steaming pool.

  "You will never have the satisfaction of killing me, Qui-Gon Jinn," he said softly. "And I will never submit to anyone's laws. Your hate drove you, though you won't admit it. You destroyed me because you could not save me. I am your biggest failure. Live with that. And live with this.

  "No!" Qui-Gon cried, starting forward.

  But he was too late. With a cruel smile that stretched his lips over his teeth like an animal, Xanatos took two quick steps backward and leaped into the boiling black pool. Andra cried out as he disappeared.

  "He can't survive," she whispered. "The acid will strip the flesh off his bones."

  Obi-Wan shuddered. He had seen what the pool could do. Xanatos was pure evil. But he was a living being, and he had gone to a horrible fate. Qui-Gon seemed frozen, staring at the murky, stinking pool.

  Slowly, something stirred in the water, spiraling upward. It was a black cape. As they watched, it disintegrated before their eyes.

  Xanatos was dead at last.

  Chapter 18

  Den stretched his arms over his head and smiled. "Whoever would have thought that a thief and a dinko would be the grand heroes of Tel
os?"

  Andra threw a pillow at him. "I'm glad all the attention hasn't gone to your head."

  Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon smiled, used to Den and Andra's squabbling by now. They knew a deep affection was growing between the two.

  Their return to Telos had brought everything Andra had wanted for so long. UniFy had been exposed as a front for Offworld. Their treacherous activities had come to light. The government had apologized to the people, then called for special elections. Investigations had begun into payoffs to various government heads. The governor who had turned a blind eye had resigned. The treasurer, Vox Chun, was in jail.