School of Fear (9781484719770)

by Watson, Jude

  “Yet they are operating against school rules,” Obi-Wan pointed out. “If you are willing to violate trust, you cannot claim virtue.”

  “The school doesn’t deserve their trust. It let them down.”

  “Nonetheless, they are attending the school and agreed to abide by its rules,” Obi-Wan said. “I can understand the attraction they have for you, Anakin, but I fear you are getting too involved. You must be a Jedi at all times. You must constantly strive for inner balance. This includes being swayed by the ideas of others. They often mask a different purpose.”

  “What purpose could they mask?”

  “That is your job to find out. Do not forget that you are trying to find a missing boy. Anakin, the fact that you are a Jedi is what will keep you steady always. That is something to hold on to. If you know your first loyalty, the rest falls into place. Do you understand?”

  “I do, Master. Have you made progress in the Senate?”

  Obi-Wan sighed. “Yes and no. Nothing to report yet. I’m sure there is a connection between Rana Halion and Sano Sauro, but I can’t find it.”

  “Rana Halion?”

  “Ruler of Ieria. The leader of the countermovement in that system. I think she might have something to do with Gillam’s disappearance. Keep me informed if you learn anything more, Padawan.”

  “Yes, Master.” Anakin frowned as Obi-Wan cut the communication. His Master had not been very forthcoming with information. And he did not seem interested in the secret squad. Anakin had the feeling that Obi-Wan didn’t think they were involved in Gillam’s disappearance.

  But Anakin felt differently. And here, he could follow his own rules.

  All his life, he had known only two ways to live: as a slave, or as a Jedi. As a young boy on Tatooine he had looked to the Jedi as the most free beings in the galaxy. Even before he knew much about them, he had dreamed of being a Jedi.

  But was being a Jedi being free? Or had he traded one form of slavery for another?

  The thought was so shocking that Anakin couldn’t face it once he dredged it up. He tucked it away in the place in his mind that he did not visit. It was a place where fear ruled. He never went there, not even in the middle of the night when he woke, his head full of dreams, and did not know where he was or why his mother was not near.

  Anakin put his comlink back into his tunic. For the first time since entering the school, returning to comm silence did not make him feel cut off. He was glad not to answer to anyone, even for twenty-four hours. He headed out to find Marit and the squad, where there were no Masters to chide him.

  Chapter Ten

  Frustration boiled inside Obi-Wan. He could not trace a connection between Sano Sauro and Rana Halion. He was working on it; Tyro was working on it. The best researchers at the Temple were working on it, including Jocasta Nu, the Jedi Archivist. Though she usually demanded that Jedi Knights do their own research, she agreed to help Obi-Wan since the matter was so pressing. A young boy’s life could be at stake. The image of Gillam still tore at Obi-Wan’s heart—the way he’d clutched the blanket around his shoulders, the courage he tried to convey.

  None of these experts had come up with anything. And Obi-Wan was plagued by the feeling that he was missing something. Something obvious.

  He retreated to his private quarters to think. He felt more in need of a Master than Anakin. He wished someone could give him the direction he was looking for.

  In his reports from the Leadership School, Anakin had sounded self-sufficient, completely in charge of the situation. Obi-Wan didn’t know if the secret squad was involved in Gillam’s disappearance, but he was proud of his Padawan for infiltrating it so quickly. He just wished he hadn’t heard something in Anakin’s voice that reminded him of his own past. When he had been a Padawan, he had briefly left the Jedi after meeting a rebel group on Melida/Daan called The Young. To him, The Young had passion and commitment and an important cause. When Qui-Gon had forbidden him to stay and help them, he had turned his back on the Jedi. It had made complete sense to him then. He had felt so right—and he had been so wrong.

  Inner balance. It took experience to know when the wrong instinct had made it careen off-kilter.

  But Anakin was not the same. Being a Jedi meant everything to Anakin.

  Obi-Wan returned to his more pressing problem. He stared down at the security report once again. What was he missing? He had a feeling that Qui-Gon would know. His Master was always able to combine emotion with logic to reach the correct conclusion. Find the emotion behind the logic—or the illogic, Qui-Gon would say. If you can’t see the solution, try to see the emotion. But if something seemed logical to Obi-Wan, it was difficult to see the illogical heart of it.

  He heard Qui-Gon’s voice clearly in his head. If something is not possible, then it did not happen.

  Obi-Wan stood up so suddenly that the report slid off his lap. Security wasn’t breached. Gillam never left the academy campus!

  He was still there. But was he alive…or dead? And who took him?

  Ferus had reported that Reymet had hinted that he knew how to visit places he wasn’t supposed to go within the school campus. What if Reymet wasn’t just trying to impress Ferus? What if Reymet had seen something that night?

  Obi-Wan shook his head. It didn’t seem logical that Reymet would keep silent when the life of a fellow student was at stake. Reymet might be a sneak, but he had no reason to suppose he would support a kidnapper.

  Obi-Wan had never attended a regular school, but the Temple was like one in many ways. He thought back to his own training. Why would Reymet keep silent?

  The answer roared into his brain.

  Because adults didn’t take Gillam. Students did. A boy Reymet’s age wouldn’t turn in fellow students. What had Anakin told him students called someone who snitched?

  If Reymet told, he’d be a womp fink.

  His comlink signaled. Hoping it was Anakin, he snatched it and activated it.

  He felt the thud of disappointment when he heard Jocastu Nu’s voice. Unless Anakin contacted him on the emergency channel, he would have to wait until their next scheduled communication the following day.

  “I have traced the payment for you, even though you were perfectly capable of doing so yourself, if you had paid attention to my instructions,” Jocasta Nu’s crisp voice said. “There was a credit payment from Rana Halion to an account on Andara. The account is anonymous, but through a series of traces I’ve discovered that it is used by that secret renegade squad the Council is so concerned about. A boy named Rolai Frac set it up. An impressive use of cloaking maneuvers hid his identity. I’ve rarely seen better.”

  “Thank you, Madame Nu,” Obi-Wan said fervently.

  “Next time, you will do your own research, Master Kenobi. I do not have time to indulge your many requests, and I—”

  “Yes, Madame Nu,” Obi-Wan said. “May the Force be with you. You may have just given me the key to find the boy.”

  “That’s good, then. May the Force be with you,” she answered, the disapproval fading from her voice.

  It was the confirmation he needed. Anakin’s hunch that the secret squad was involved was right after all. Gillam had been kidnapped by his fellow students on the secret squad. But they hadn’t done it on their own—Rana Halion had arranged it. Whether Sano Sauro was involved, he might never know.

  Obi-Wan hurried out of his quarters toward the vehicle requisition area. He felt as though he should kick himself down the hall. He had chastised Anakin about inner balance while he was losing his own! His need to investigate Sano Sauro had led him to make assumptions and go off on a dangerous tack. He had wanted Sauro to be responsible, so he had tried to build a case around it.

  He had been so wrong. He had lost sight of his goal: to find the missing boy. The answer wasn’t at the Senate. It was on Andara.

  Chapter Eleven

  Anakin left his room well before the call for the morning meal. There was no hologram on Marit’s door. He hesitated, fig
hting his urge to knock. It was unusual for the squad not to meet again. There had been several things to resolve. And he’d had the feeling that Marit was avoiding him.

  He left without knocking, however, and continued down the hall. Maybe Ferus had some new information. Anakin was beginning to get impatient. Days were passing, and they were no closer to finding Gillam.

  He was almost at Ferus’s door when he saw the door to the athletic storeroom slide open. Rolai stepped out.

  Anakin quickly retreated back around the corner. He peered around the wall and saw Tulah, Hurana, and Ze hurrying out behind Rolai. They all disappeared around the corner.

  Anakin strode forward and pushed open the door. Marit was just tucking her datapad under her arm. She looked at him, startled.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded. “I thought I was in the squad. Why am I being left out?”

  “We don’t know if we can completely trust you yet, Anakin,” Marit said reluctantly.

  “You’ve accepted a new mission, haven’t you?” Anakin guessed.

  Marit nodded, biting her lip.

  Exasperated, Anakin turned on his heel. “Fine. I’m out.”

  “Anakin, wait!” Marit put her hand on his arm.

  “It’s Rolai, isn’t it? He doesn’t want me in the squad.”

  “No, Rolai is the one who wants you on the mission,” Marit said. “It’s just that I think it’s dangerous, and it might not be the right way to start.”

  “Just tell me, and let me decide,” Anakin said.

  “It’s a mission very close by,” she said. “Right here in the Andaran system. You might not know this, but there’s a countermovement here.”

  “I’ve heard something about it,” Anakin said.

  She gave him a keen look. “How do you stand on the issue?”

  Anakin shrugged. “I don’t know enough about it.”

  “Andara is the largest and richest planet in the system,” Marit said. “As a result, it has grabbed the best trade routes and built up its manufacturing and exporting to the detriment of the other planets in the system. They aren’t fairly represented by their Senator. They can’t get what they need from the Senate because they don’t have a voice.”

  “That doesn’t seem fair,” Anakin said.

  “It’s not. A representative of the countermovement came to us and asked for our help.”

  “Who?”

  “You don’t need to know that yet.”

  Anakin started for the door again.

  “All right!” Marit’s voice was amused, and she was smiling when he turned. “You’re very tough.”

  He grinned. “Yeah. But isn’t that why you recruited me?”

  “It’s Rana Halion, the leader of Ieria. She approached us through Rolai. The countermovement is willing to negotiate with Berm Tarturi, but the Senator hasn’t taken them seriously enough. They want to show him how powerful they are.”

  Rana Halion! This could be the connection Obi-Wan was looking for.

  “How?” Anakin asked.

  “They want to conduct a passive strike on the Andaran security transport landing platform,” Marit said.

  “Passive strike?”

  “We’re just going to penetrate their airspace and then get out. Buzz the starfighters. Show Tarturi that we could have destroyed his fleet if we’d wanted to. That way he’d be forced to join negotiations. We need to get in and get out quickly. There could be some antispacecraft fire.” She hesitated.

  Anakin waited.

  “We were going to vote on whether to include you tonight,” Marit said.

  Anakin said nothing. He had learned from Obi-Wan that not asking a question sometimes got you more information.

  “We need a pilot,” Marit said. “Hurana is good, but she’s not as good as she thinks she is. She takes too many chances. We need a lead pilot. But this won’t be on a simulator. Ieria is loaning us the air transport. I don’t expect you’ve ever flown a starfighter, have you?”

  “As a matter of fact, I have,” Anakin said.

  “Are you as good in a starfighter as you are in a swoop?”

  “Better.”

  “I can talk to them…convince the others…if you’re sure you want to go.”

  “I’m sure,” Anakin said. He wanted to go on the mission. If the planets in the Andaran system were being exploited, they should have a voice in their destiny. Marit’s ideas made sense to him. He had been a witness to the greed of Senators. It sounded as though Ieria needed help.

  “Well, I’m not authorized to tell you that you can go,” Marit said. She grinned. “But you’re on board. We’re scheduled to leave tomorrow.”

  Elation roared through Anakin. Then he realized something startling. He hadn’t been glad because of the Jedi mission. He’d been glad because he wanted to go. Not for the Jedi. For himself.

  Chapter Twelve

  Anakin was filled with excitement about the coming mission. He had a strong feeling that not only would he help the Andaran system, he would also discover the key to Gillam’s disappearance. Rana Halion must be behind it. Her cause might be just, but her methods could be ruthless. Anakin felt sure that Gillam was on Ieria.

  He saw Ferus in the hall between classes and signaled that he needed to talk to him. They met in Ferus’s room and closed the door. They had a few minutes before the midday meal before they needed to pass the checkpoint to the dining hall.

  Anakin quickly filled in Ferus on what had happened.

  Ferus frowned. “You told Marit that you would go?”

  “I think I should,” Anakin said. “I still have a feeling about Gillam.”

  “That’s fine,” Ferus said. “But penetrating a planet’s airspace? You can’t do that.”

  “No one will be hurt.”

  “How can you be sure of that? Are you saying that no one will fire their laser cannons? Are you saying that if they fire on you or the others, you won’t fire back? Think about it, Anakin! And what about the reaction in the Senate? This will be seen as an unprovoked attack on Andara.”

  “Not unprovoked,” Anakin argued. “Senator Tarturi refuses to negotiate a compromise. This will force him to.”

  Ferus shook his head. “Jedi can’t take part in such things. Have you told Obi-Wan this?”

  “No,” Anakin admitted. “Our next scheduled communication isn’t until tonight.”

  “We can use the emergency signaling system,” Ferus said.

  “But that could blow our cover! We’re on comm silence. The school could trace the frequency.”

  “We have to risk it,” Ferus said. “I can’t believe that you even considered going without consulting him. Even you should know that—”

  “Even me?” Anakin took a step toward Ferus, angry now. “What does that mean, Ferus?”

  Ferus went very still. “A personal argument is not productive,” he said stiffly. “Will you meet me later and contact Obi-Wan?”

  Anakin counted several beats of his tripping heart. He accepted his anger and tried to let it go. He pictured it leaving him like a black storm cloud blown by a high wind, but traces of it clung to him and he could not shake it off.

  “Yes,” he said reluctantly.

  He left and hurried toward the dining hall. He sat with Marit and Hurana. Hurana was quiet, but Marit was in high spirits. They did not talk about the mission ahead, but the secret lay between them, giving a charge to their conversation. He could see that Marit had accepted him fully into the squad. She trusted him now.

  But you’re going to betray that trust.

  Was he? He hoped not. But the time was coming when he would have to leave the school and the squad.

  Anakin went to his next class so that he would not be missed and compromise the squad. Then he faked an illness and started toward the med clinic. Their emergency plan was for Ferus to also fake a reason to leave class. They were to meet in his room.

  Ferus wasn’t there. Anakin waited, watching the clock, knowing that he was pushing his lu
ck. When Ferus didn’t appear, Anakin hurried to his next class. He would see Ferus there, and he hoped to get a chance to ask him why he had insisted on a meeting he didn’t show up for. Maybe he was busy polishing his utility belt.

  Anakin took his usual seat. He glanced over, but Ferus’s seat was empty. The professor began, but Anakin couldn’t listen. Ferus’s seat remained empty. Suddenly, Anakin was seriously worried.

  After class, Anakin walked quickly through the halls. He searched the library, Ferus’s room, and all the classrooms. He searched the athletic fields and the research centers and the computer labs. He casually asked Reymet if he’d seen him, but Reymet hadn’t, either.

  Ferus had disappeared.

  Anakin could not believe it. Security had not been violated. No one had seen Ferus, not even Reymet. It was just like Gillam’s disappearance. If Ferus hadn’t shown up for class, it would have been reported. Soon the school would be involved. Security would tighten even further.

  He would have to contact Obi-Wan. The disappearance of a Jedi was a matter for the whole Council, not merely his Master.

  Still, Anakin hesitated. It was hard to be certain that Ferus had truly disappeared. What if he was chasing a lead and hadn’t told Anakin? Anakin knew it would be out of character for Ferus not to fill him in, but Ferus might be teaching him a lesson after Anakin hadn’t asked his opinion about going off with the squad.

  Yet if Anakin violated comm silence, he risked the whole school being put into lockdown. How would the secret squad be able to get out then?

  Marit found him in the library during his free mod period, still debating the issue in his mind.

  “We’ve moved up the mission,” she whispered. “We’re leaving now. We all signed out for leave. If you’re coming, you’d better do it, too. I’ll come with you. We made up a research trip to the library in Utare and got Professor Totem to sign a pass for us.”

  Anakin hesitated.

  “Aren’t you coming?” Marit asked. She frowned. “Did you change your mind? I know the mission sounds dangerous.”

  Anakin felt the conflict inside him as though he was being physically torn apart. He knew his duty as a Jedi. He had to inform Obi-Wan about Ferus. But if his suspicions were correct and the answers were on Ieria, that meant he could find out answers about Ferus’s disappearance as well. If he broke comm silence he could jeopardize everything. His only chance to find Ferus and possibly Gillam was to maintain his cover.