Dark Warning

by Jude Watson

  indicating the gridwork above.

  Ferus grinned. "Can a bantha fly?"

  "Actually, no."

  "You're such a stickler for details, Obi-Wan."

  Suddenly, the Force surged, and Obi-Wan heard a slight whine. D'harhan

  had released another blast from his laser cannon. The cruiser under repair

  suffered a direct hit. Flames blew back toward Obi-Wan and Ferus, and they

  leaped to avoid them.

  It was just what Boba Fett was waiting for. Obi-Wan's lightsaber

  danced, deflecting the bounty hunter's blaster fire as Obi-Wan leaped to

  safety on a strut high above. Ferus landed on a ship next to the now-

  destroyed cruiser, then used the momentum of his jump to make a second

  leap, calling on the Force this time. He sailed into the air, his

  fingertips grazing the lowermost beam. Obi-Wan saw panic in his eyes. He

  reached down and grabbed Ferus's wrist, then hauled him up.

  Boba Fett moved quickly, activating the propellants on his jetpack and

  zooming into the air, firing as he came. Deflecting the bolts, Obi-Wan took

  up the rear as he and Ferus raced to the roof opening.

  Ferus had his own crude weaponry to employ. He reached into his

  pocket, then tossed something at Fett, a shining disk that spun in a clean

  line, straight toward him. Fett dodged, but the disk hit his armor near the

  shoulder, searing a crack into the surface. Obi-Wan realized that Ferus had

  filled his pockets with the round laser cutting blades that fit into a

  servocutter tool. He tossed another and another, and Fett had a hard time

  dodging them. With every burst from his jetpack, he zoomed perilously close

  to the beams.

  Silently congratulating Ferus for his inventiveness, Obi-Wan reversed

  course and charged toward the careening Fett, swinging his lightsaber over

  his head as he ran. He pinpointed the bolts that held the sheets of

  durasteel in place for the roof, hitting each one with a quick, cutting

  touch in a careful pattern. Now all D'harhan had to do was cooperate.

  The cyborg was nothing if not predictable. Obi-Wan saw his laser

  cannon revolve as it followed him. The red tracking light began to pulse.

  Boba Fett instantly knew what was going to happen. Obi-Wan saw a new

  urgency in his attempts to dodge Ferus's spinning laser cuttings as he dove

  down to stop D'harhan.

  He was too late. The cannonfire streaked toward them. Obi-Wan had

  anticipated it and swung on a beam, flying through the air toward the rear

  of the hangar. Ferus was close on his heels.

  The firepower ripped into the roof where Obi-Wan had been. The bolts

  had all been cut by the lightsaber on this particular panel, and the thin

  durasteel peeled back like the rind of a fruit, falling toward the floor

  below.

  Boba Fett made it to safety, but D'harhan was caught. The falling

  durasteel panel hit him squarely on the back, crashing him to the ground

  and pinning his legs.

  Obi-Wan and Ferus dropped to the floor below. Swinging his lightsaber,

  Obi-Wan advanced on Fett. Ferus took shelter behind the various ships,

  trying to get behind Boba Fett so they could corner him. With D'harhan

  temporarily out of commission, this would be their best chance to stop

  Fett.

  Unfortunately the damage had not gone unnoticed by the spaceport

  security. A fight among pilots was one thing, property damage another.

  Suddenly speeders soared into the space, piloted by security officers armed

  with blaster rifles. Fett was their first target, and they headed for him.

  The bounty hunter now had his hands full as he turned to meet their

  assault.

  With a quick swipe, Obi-Wan destroyed the control panel on D'harhan's

  laser cannon. The cyborg's usual smile was now a grimace. His

  expressionless voice was hoarse. "You think you've won, don't you. But we

  don't lose. One day you'll be another Jedi prisoner on Coruscant. Malorum

  has his ways."

  Blaster fire suddenly ripped into the ground next to them. More

  security officers had arrived.

  "Don't move," an amplified voice said.

  As Ferus joined them, D'harhan's grin grew wider. "Now we'll all be in

  prison together."

  Ferus leaned down. "We're not going anywhere with you, you slab of

  circuit parts."

  Obi-Wan heard the hum of an engine. He saw through the partially open

  door that a space cruiser had jockeyed out of the line and was edging

  toward the hangar.

  Trever.

  Ferus saw him, too. "Time to catch the air taxi," he said.

  They raced toward the ship. Trever spun it around and released the

  landing ramp even as he began to rise in the air. With a flying leap, Obi-

  Wan and Ferus hit the ramp and pulled themselves onboard.

  Blaster bolts peppered the closing ramp as they ran up into the belly

  of the ship. They reached the cockpit just as Trever sent the cruiser

  screaming above the spaceport.

  As they streaked up into the atmosphere, the Red Twins dwindled into

  two pulsating crimson dots, then just a single reddish glow.

  "Nice driving, kid," Ferus told Trever. "Where'd you get the ship'?"

  Trever's face was flushed. "Traded for it while you were dancing

  around. I figured we'd need a clean getaway."

  "Not so clean," Obi-Wan said. A glowing light was streaking across the

  sky.

  Boba Fett had escaped to his ship.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Trever looked at the control panel. "Aw, you've got to be kidding me.

  This guy is really starting to get on my nerves."

  Without taking his eyes from the fighter following them, Obi-Wan said,

  "We can lose him in hyperspace."

  "Right," Trever said. "If only we had a hyperdrive."

  Ferus rotated arid fixed Trever with an incredulous look. "You didn't

  trade for a ship with a hyperdrive?"

  "I didn't have much time, you know," Trever protested.

  "We're at the edge of the Outer Rim," Ferus said. "Every ship has a

  hyperdrive out here. Except the one we're on."

  "I didn't see you being choosy when I came to rescue you," Trever shot

  back.

  "If you two don't mind a suggestion," Obi-Wan said. "The what-ifs

  aren't helping. Fett is gaining."

  Ferus was starting to hate it when Obi-Wan was right. "You want me to

  take over?" he asked, pointing to the controls.

  "Sure." Obi-Wan crossed to the nav computer. "I hate flying. And,

  Trever, I think this might be a little beyond your experience."

  Ferus took over the controls. He wondered about his own experience.

  For the past few years he'd been living quietly on Bellassa, trying to put

  his Jedi past behind him. The decision to leave had been the hardest one

  he'd ever made, and it had haunted him every day and every night. He'd let

  his rival, Anakin Skywalker, push him into leaving. He'd left behind a life

  of missions and meaning for... isolation. He and his friend Roan had lived

  quietly - until the rise of the Empire had turned them into Rebels. Ferus

  had found his cause once more. And he had vowed to stick to it this time,

  until the Empire was defeated. Roan was lost now, Bellassa a new part of

  his past. Once more, Ferus found hims
elf on the path of a Jedi - but unsure

  whether it was a path he was allowed to take.

  He pushed the speed, then dropped back, trying to get a feel for the

  unfamiliar engines. "I'm just going to have to outfly him."

  Obi-Wan cast an uneasy glance out the cockpit window. "I have

  confidence in your piloting skills, Ferus, but I've seen this Firespray in

  action. For a small ship, it's impressive. Don't let it fool you. In

  addition to those blaster cannons, it has laser cannons and seismic

  minelayers."

  "Piece of sweetcake," Trever said, but he looked pale as he saw how

  quickly Fett was gaining on them. "Don't you want to speed up?" he asked

  Ferus nervously.

  "We know he can outrun us," Ferus pointed out. "The only way we're

  going to win this is if we're able to outmaneuver him."

  Obi-Wan studied the star map. "Let me see if I can find an asteroid

  shower to hide in or a dense nebula," Obi-Wan said. "We need to play hide-

  and-seek."

  They were almost within firing distance now. Obi-Wan quickly flipped

  through the different quadrants on the nay computer. "There's a dense

  nebula close by. All uninhabited star clusters. If we can manage to hold

  on, we can make it in a few minutes."

  The armored plating on Boba Fett's ship slid back and the laser cannon

  sprang to life. Streaks of light headed toward them. Ferus went into a

  steep dive even as Fett put on speed, zooming toward them.

  "I didn't think he'd be... quite this fast," Ferus said, pushing the

  speed and making a hard right.

  The cannonfire just missed them. Another barrage flew in their

  direction.

  Ferus tumbled and turned the ship, spinning and diving. Trever was

  slammed against the console and quickly leaped into a seat in order to grab

  the armrests.

  They were in a race now, a race they couldn't possibly win. The attack

  sent shock waves that buffeted the ship, rocking it. It shook so hard that

  Obi-Wan was afraid it would break apart. He felt his teeth rattle.

  "We'd better get there soon," Ferus said. "We're running out of fuel."

  "He said he'd just refilled it!" Trever protested.

  "Never trust a pilot, kid," Ferus said.

  The cannon fired again, and though Ferus went into a dive, the ship

  quaked as it was struck. Fett followed up the cannonfire with a targeting

  torpedo.

  "Hang on!" Ferus shouted.

  The ship dived, then looped up. The torpedo followed, tracking them

  precisely.

  "This is a cargo ship, right?" Obi-Wan asked Trever. The boy nodded.

  "Release the cargo."

  Trever flipped the switch. The cargo bay opened and spilled out empty

  bins and boxes. At the same moment, Ferus pushed the ship into another

  steep dive. The torpedo's tracking device followed the cargo instead.

  "That'll only work once," Ferus said. "And we've got a problem. I

  don't think the power systems are used to getting knocked around like this.

  We have some yellow warning lights flashing. Our systems are failing."

  "Nebulae coming up!" Trever shouted.

  It wasn't a moment too soon. Ferus counted off the seconds as Fett

  pounded behind them. The Force filled the cabin. In times of need, Ferus

  was able to access it and use it - that had never fully gone away. He felt

  it move through him, and he relaxed his grip on the controls. Once, he had

  based his life on trusting the Force. He had to remember to do that again.

  The ship suddenly entered a tunnel of tiny stars rotating around a

  central energy core. Golden light filled the ship, and the atmospheric

  disturbance caused it to bounce alarmingly. "Hang on!" Ferus shouted. He

  maneuvered the cruiser so that it rode the currents, rotating as it jolted

  from one edge of the star corridor to the other. "How long will we be in

  this?" he barked to Obi-Wan.

  "Not long. We're on the edge of an unstable current, but it's moving

  fast away from us."

  Fett followed, not giving up, just as intrepid as Ferus - and just as

  willing to push his ship.

  Obi-Wan hung on to the console as he studied the star map. There was

  incomplete information here, gaps in the mapping, no doubt because of the

  volatility of the atmosphere. "It looks like there's a planet called

  Deneter up ahead. It was abandoned after the Clone Wars - it was so

  decimated by battles that the population emigrated to the Core. It has

  twenty orbiting uninhabited satellites." He shouted out the coordinates to

  Ferus. They might be able to lose Fett among the satellites.

  They passed through the star tunnel and into the planet's atmosphere.

  Ferus pushed the ship, zooming from one satellite to another, lurking

  behind one to zoom out behind the next. Boba Fett stayed on their tail,

  blasting his cannons.

  "This isn't working," Obi-Wan said. "We can't shake him."

  "I'm not out of tricks yet," Ferus muttered, hoping it was true.

  "Trever, remember your gravsled action?"

  On the streets of Ussa, Trever had used the unwieldy gravsled like an

  airspeeder, pushing its capabilities in order to evade Empire security.

  "Which action?" Trever asked, his eyes on Fett's ship.

  "The one where you pretend to spin out, and then recover and zoom off?

  " Ferus said.

  "Yeah. Worked every time."

  "How'd you do it?"

  "Well, it takes a certain touch," Trever said. "And an extra boost on

  the stabilizers."

  "I'll need a boost from another system," Ferus said. "Can you patch in

  some power from the hydraulics?"

  "Wait a second," Obi-Wan said. "That could leave us without enough

  braking power to land."

  Another barrage of cannonfire sent the ship into a steep dive. This

  time, the blast hit them in the rear. The ship careened out of control for

  several long, agonizing seconds while Ferus fought to stabilize. At last,

  with a great groan, the ship righted itself.

  "Then again," Obi-Wan said, "we can worry about landing when the time

  comes."

  "My thoughts exactly," Ferus said through gritted teeth.

  Trever dived to the floor and wrenched open the engine panel. He

  leaped inside the small space. "I don't have much experience with sublight

  engines, but..." They heard muttering and clanking. "Got it!" Trever

  shouted from below.

  "Okay, everyone," Ferus said. "When I say 'hang on,' I really mean it

  this time."

  Ferus speeded up, pushing the engines past maximum now. A slight

  wobble on the wings told them the ship was at the edge of its control.

  "Here we go," he muttered. The ship began to list, as though he'd lost

  control of the left engine. Dizzily, it spun, falling now through space,

  straight toward the asteroid. Fett followed, no doubt to record their death

  spiral... and hasten their end. Laser cannons streaked their firepower

  through the atmosphere, but they were traveling too erratically for any of

  the targeting computers to get a fix on them.

  The surface of the satellite loomed. At the last moment, Ferus pulled

  the ship out, its control centers screaming with the effort. Fett zoomed

  past them. Now he was the one fighting for c
ontrol. They watched as his

  ship careened close to the surface. Fett had no choice but to crash-land.

  There was a small bloom of fire, and they saw smoke rise.

  Obi-Wan studied the life-form sensor. "He's evacuated the ship. It's

  not destroyed, but its not going anywhere soon."

  Ferus soared back up into the atmosphere. "I hope that's the last we

  see of him," he said. "But somehow I don't think so. Now, I'm afraid, we

  have our own landing problem to deal with."

  CHAPTER FOUR

  They didn't have many choices. They could land on the uninhabited

  planet, but they'd be a little too close to Boba Fett for comfort. Besides,

  they had no reason to think they'd be able to scavenge fuel to get back

  off.

  "We've got one chance," Obi-Wan said as he scanned the nav computer.

  "The computer is showing we don't, have enough fuel to make it, but we

  might be able to eke out a few more kilometers than the computer shows.

  It's a fairly large planet; so there's bound to be an orbit dock or an

  orbiting shipyard. It's called Acherin."

  "Sounds familiar," Ferus said.

  "It was where one of the last sieges of the Clone Wars took place,"

  Obi-Wan said briefly. The name of the planet brought a heavy load to his