by Jude Watson
"You all right?"
Tru smiled wanly, but didn't look up. "Just a few bruises. Ferus fixed
me up."
Ferus tucked the med kit back into his utility pouch. He didn't look
at Anakin, either. Darra studied the hilt of her lightsaber.
"I saw someone trying to escape, so I had to go after him," Anakin
said. "It turned out to be a Sith. Obi-Wan is sure of it."
"Well, that's not surprising," Darra said. "We're on Korriban, after
all."
There was an unfamiliar hard note in Darra's voice, as if she resented
Anakin.
"Our mission is to find Granta Omega," Anakin said. "You had things
under control, so I went after him - or, who I thought was him."
"So you were sure we had everything under control?" Ferus
straightened, wiping his hands on his tunic. "That's what I said."
"Tru was wounded, I was helping him, and Darra had to face off against
a dozen droids, but everything was under control?"
"Obviously I made the right call," Anakin said, gesturing at the
fallen droids.
"And you were only thinking of the mission, of course," Ferus said.
"Of course." Anakin knew what Ferus was getting at. He felt his neck
heat up, and he turned away before the flush could reach his cheeks and
betray him. The truth was less certain than his words. He was thinking of
the mission, but he was also thinking of himself. He had been in a position
to capture Omega without help. He had left Ferus behind with a secret
satisfaction. He had wanted to win.
He sneaked a look back at Tru. His friend looked strained and unhappy.
Anakin resolved to talk to him as soon as he could do so privately. Tru's
friendship was very important to him. But Tru had to understand what was
important to Anakin, too.
Anakin joined the Masters. Ry-Gaul and Soara were examining the battle
droid wreckage.
"These are the super battle droids we've been hearing about," Soara
said. "A complete violation of Republic regulations."
Obi-Wan looked grim. "We are lucky to all be standing. This could have
been much worse. I think our next step is to trace the route of the Sith if
we can. He most likely used the exit that you used to get inside, Ry-Gaul."
Ry-Gaul nodded. "That's why he blocked it." "There's another
possibility," Siri said. "The landing pad could be functional."
Anakin shook his head. "Auben said it's buried." "So maybe it just
looks buried," Siri said.
"Let's ask Auben," Anakin said. "She can show it to us, at least."
They walked inside the service bay. It was empty. "She was hiding
behind the old cruiser," Soara said. "Where could she have gone?"
"I doubt she'd return to the monastery," Ferus said. "She was afraid
of the Commerce Guild army."
"She must have sneaked behind us when we were tending to Ferus," Siri
said.
"Most likely heading for the other exit." Ferus swallowed. "She went
toward the Sith."
The Jedi exchanged glances.
Without a word, they moved back to the dark front of the hangar. Using
the Force, they searched each service bay as they ran, making sure Auben
hadn't hid there. Finally they ended at the pile of vehicles and debris the
Sith had used to block his escape. Grimly, they set to work with their
lightsabers and cleared a smoking hole through the pileup. One by one, they
crawled through.
They walked into the last bay on the line. A new cruiser stood there,
its ramp down.
"Did you see this when you came in?" Obi-Wan asked Ry-Gaul.
He shook his head. "It must have landed after I left." As they moved
closer, they saw a body on the ramp. It was Auben.
She was dead.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Anakin rushed forward. He checked her vitals, even though he knew she
was gone. "What happened?" he asked. "There's not a mark on her."
"Her heart just stopped beating," Siri said. "It's said that the Sith
were capable of stopping a heart without even touching their victim."
"The question is, what was she doing here?" Obi-Wan asked.
Ferus had climbed up the ramp into the cruiser. He poked his head out.
"That's easy to answer. Stealing." He held out two thermal capes. "She told
Anakin and me that she could get her hands on some luxury goods."
"While you check out the ship, Darra and I will see if we can find the
landing platform," Soara said.
Obi-Wan ran up the ramp. Quickly, he moved through the ship, searching
for clues. It was evident that the ship had been left bare of everything
except essentials or items that couldn't be traced. He quickly checked the
nav computer. Even the archives were wiped.
"This is the Sith ship," he said.
"Expensive tastes," Ferus said, dropping the thermal capes with
distaste.
"Auben must have found the ship sometime earlier," Obi-Wan guessed.
"She wanted to nab some items on her way out."
"Never got the chance," Ferus said.
"Maybe," Obi-Wan murmured.
He started out of the cruiser. "Something I learned from Qui-Gon. When
you catch a thief, he'll always pretend he was on his way in, not out."
Anakin followed closely on Obi-Wan's heels. Obi-Wan bent over Auben.
Gently, he reached underneath her body and withdrew her hand. He uncurled
her fist.
"We just got lucky," he said. "The Sith was in a hurry. He didn't
check."
"What is it?" Anakin asked.
"A holo-recorder," Obi-Wan said, holding it up. "One of the micro
versions. She'd get a good price for it on the black market. And there's a
received message here in the archive."
He pressed a button, and a miniature image of Granta Omega appeared.
Omega bowed. "Greetings, Master. We are grateful that our failure to
complete our mission at the Senate did not disappoint you. As you
generously said, the intent to disrupt and demoralize was achieved. The
Senate is more divided than ever. It gratifies us that you have decided to
entrust us with your secret. We have received the coordinates for our
meeting. At last you will reveal yourself to us. We will then truly be able
to further your cause throughout the galaxy." Omega bowed again. "Until we
meet, I, Granta Omega, and Jenna Zan Arbor, servants to no one in the
galaxy, remain servants to the Sith."
The hologram fragmented into a shimmer.
"Whew," Anakin said. "What a toadying dungcreeper."
"So they came here to meet the Sith, just as you thought," Siri said.
"He's going to reveal his identity to them."
"Which means if we can find out where the meeting is, we'll find out
as well," Obi-Wan said.
Siri pressed her lips together. "We have a whole planet to search."
A faraway look was in Obi-Wan's eyes. "No. There is only one possible
place for them to meet," he said softly.
Soara and Darra appeared. "We found the landing platform," Soara said.
"It's still completely functional. We found new access controls hidden in
the ruins. Works like a charm. There's evidence of a recent takeoff. By the
looks of the scorch marks, I'd say it was a small airspeeder."
Obi-Wan
looked back at Auben's body sprawled on the ramp. He tried to
reconstruct what had happened. "He's been using this place as a hideout. He
bumped into Auben - and he killed her. Then he left the cruiser and took
the airspeeder. More maneuverable. Harder to track." And the airspeeder,
Obi-Wan thought, would get him where he needed to go.
Obi-Wan felt a tug, as though a string had been tied to his
breastbone. He walked down the ramp, across the remains of the hangar, and
stood out on the landing platform Soara and Darra had found.
The chill wind knifed through his clothes as he stood outside. He was
deep in the mountain. He could see the valley far below, and a vast expanse
of gray sky.
He felt Omega. For the first time, he felt his energy. Though he
wasn't a Sith, Omega had sought out the dark side of the Force. He had been
unable to harness it for himself, but he had lived in it. Obi-Wan was tied
to him, energy to energy. He could track him now without instruments. He
didn't need clues, or tips.
"Master?" Anakin drifted to his side. "What is it?"
"I know where Omega is," Obi-Wan said. "He's in the Valley of the Dark
Lords. And the Sith has gone to meet him there. We can uncover them both."
CHAPTER SIXTEEEN
Obi-Wan contacted Jocasta Nu. They needed more information on the
Valley of the Dark Lords. Superstition, legend, anything that could help
give them an edge. The problem, of course, was that no one had dared to
enter the valley for centuries. Or, at least, had lived to report on it.
Soara and Darra saw to Auben. They couldn't move her yet, so they
wrapped her carefully in the thermal capes.
Anakin looked for Tru. He had disappeared, and so had Ferus. Feeling
uneasy, Anakin headed off to see what they were up to. Would Ferus try to
steal his best friend? He might fill Tru's mind with his version of why
Anakin had left them to fight the droids alone. He would twist the facts to
make Anakin look bad.
Tru and Ferus were sitting in one of the service bays, talking
quietly. Ferus was busy working on Tru's lightsaber. Anakin paused in the
shadows. Were they discussing him? He thought he heard his name. He
concentrated fiercely.
"I noticed it," Ferus told Tru "That droid must have pulverized your
power circuit."
"It slips back into half-power without warning," Tru said in a worried
voice.
Tru's lightsaber must have been damaged in the battle. But why hadn't
Tru told Ry-Gaul? An apprentice was obligated to tell his or her Master if
a lightsaber was damaged.
As if Tru had overheard Anakin's question, he said, "I know I should
have told Ry-Gaul. But he's so correct. He might leave me out of battle
situations, or even send me back to the Temple."
"If your lightsaber is permanently damaged, Ry-Gaul would be right to
do so," Ferus said.
Typical, Anakin thought. Ferus always had to inform you of rules you
knew by heart already.
"After all," Ferus continued, "you don't want to meet a Sith without a
lightsaber."
"No kidding," Tru said. "This mission is crucial. That's why I can't
be sent back. I just thought if I could fix it without having to tell Ry-
Gaul..." Tru wound one flexible arm around his back to hug his opposite
elbow, a gesture Anakin knew well. It was something Tru did when he was
especially nervous. "Look, I know I wouldn't be the first or second
candidate to enter the acceleration program - you and Anakin will be the
first. Maybe Darra would be third. But I don't want to be left behind."
Ferus frowned. "Tru, your advancement is not the reason we're here."
"That's not what I mean!" Tru said, upset. "I want to stand with my
fellow Jedi because we all know that the darkness is growing. We need every
Jedi. I want to be there."
"We all do," Ferus said. He bent over the lightsaber, fine-tuning it.
Anakin couldn't see what he was doing, but he was itching to get his own
hands on the lightsaber. He was sure he was a better technician than Ferus.
"All right, I fixed it." Ferus put the handle back together and handed
the lightsaber back to Tru. "You shouldn't have any more problems. Your
power cell is boosted."
Anakin started to step forward. If Ferus had worked on the power cell,
that meant that Tru needed to check the flux aperture again. Anakin had
tweaked it before, but it might need an adjustment to compensate for the
power boost. Anyway, it would be wise to double-check. Anakin had better
tell him. But he stopped when he heard his name.
"Why didn't you ask Anakin to fix it?" Ferus asked. "He's better at
this than I am."
"He was busy with Obi-Wan," Tru murmured.
Anakin realized that Tru had evaded the question. He could have asked
him to help. He frowned as he watched the two Padawans, their heads close
together.
Tru was drifting away from him. He could feel it.
Ferus stood. "I don't see any reason to tell Ry-Gaul, now that it's
fixed. We'd better get back."
Angrily, Anakin retreated back into the shadows, then turned and
headed for the others. He felt betrayed. Tru had chosen Ferus to confide
in. He was Tru's best friend - he should have been the one to help him!
Obviously, Tru was holding a grudge against him for not coming to his aid.
Well, if Tru didn't want his help, he certainly wasn't going to offer
it. Most likely Ferus had done a perfect job. After all, he was almost a
Jedi Knight.
What was strange, Anakin reflected, was that Ferus had agreed to keep
Tru's secret. He would have expected Ferus to tell Ry-Gaul about the
damaged lightsaber, or at least encourage Tru to do so. Instead, he had
fixed it himself. Technically, it was a breach of the rules, and Ferus
never broke the rules.
Anakin smiled. So the perfect Padawan wasn't so perfect after all.
He paused by the wreckage of the vehicles that the mysterious Sith had
moved so easily. There was a disturbance in the air, as though the dark
energy of the Force still pulsed around the wall of debris. As if the Sith
had vanished, but left a pool of his darkness behind.
He felt something new inside him, but he couldn't put a name to it. He
looked out into the grayness of the valley, just visible past the dark
outlines of his Master and the other Jedi as they conferred on the landing
platform. He concentrated hard. What was he feeling?
A beating heart. A being out there - somewhere - reaching out to him?
It wasn't a connection... it was a call. It was something he didn't want,
but something that drew him, pulled him....
Granta Omega? Did he have the same connection as his Master did? He
didn't think so. Not this time. It didn't feel right. It felt... bigger.
Hidden.
The Sith.
Anakin faced out to the valley. He felt the cold wind blow against his
face. The Sith was calling him.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Obi-Wan turned to the others. "We need to get to the cruisers. It's
too far to hike to the valley. We only have about an hour of dusk left. We
don't
want to go in at night. Madame Nu gave me coordinates for the best
approach."
Obi-Wan saw both relief and trepidation on the faces of the other
Padawans. They all wanted to go. They wanted it and feared it.
He saw no fear on his Padawan's face, however. He wasn't sure how
Anakin was feeling. There was something going on... underneath. Korriban
had unsettled them all, Obi-Wan knew.
Even the Masters were not eager to enter the valley. They knew they
were heading into great trouble. They knew there would be difficulty.
Traps. Attacks. Surprises. The dark side of the Force could snare them,
confuse them. But they each felt strongly that this was their only chance.
The hidden darkness every Jedi felt was here. They could find it and expose
it. End it. Here. Now.
Back at the Dreshdae landing platform, they hurried to their cruisers.
Anakin sprang into the cockpit. He entered the coordinates Obi-Wan had
given him for the Valley of the Dark Lords. They would have to find it
through instruments, since it would not be visible. Then they would survey
the area before deciding on a landing point.