by Jude Watson
at the Temple, the access to design archives, special tools, and power
cells. The crystals were the most important, however. He could figure out a
way to do the rest.
But the visions weren't done with him yet. Another vision appeared, an
ancient Jedi slumped against the cave wall, his tunic tattered, his eyes
closed. It was as though he held the defeat of all the Jedi in his shrunken
frame.
Ferus walked toward the vision. He would confront this, too. The sound
of his footsteps echoed softly. The vision raised its head.
"Who are you?" it asked.
It was real. It was a man.
Ferus slowly lowered himself to a crouch. "Garen?"
Through cracked lips, the man asked, "Who wants to know?"
"I'm Ferus Olin."
"I know... that name. Siri's apprentice."
"Yes. We met once... long ago. I'm a friend of Obi-Wan Kenobi's."
"Obi-Wan. He's alive?"
"Yes, very much so. He's too stubborn not to be."
Garen leaned back against the rock wall of the cave and smiled. "Yes,
now I know it's really you, Ferus."
"He sent me here to find you. He's coming back with a ship."
"Oh, great," Garen said. "Obi-Wan is going to rescue me. I'll never
hear the end of it."
"Everybody has a price to pay for survival." Ferus grinned.
"We didn't think any other Jedi had survived."
"We?"
"Fy-Tor-Ana. She came here, too... but she was going to make it back
to Coruscant, see what had happened to the Temple, and come back for me.
She never... made it back."
Suddenly, they heard a terrible noise, a howl of agony. And then the
air was filled with horrible cries.
"Visions?" Ferus wondered.
Garen struggled to sit. "No."
"The gorgodons," Ferus said. "But why would they be - I'll be right
back."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Ferus dashed back through the cave to the opening. He put his eye to
the slit.
Stormtroopers with flechette launchers and flame projectors were
systematically destroying the gorgodon nest. The creatures fought back
ferociously, but Ferus could see that they were only minutes away from
defeat. They fought to protect their shelters, but Ferus saw how the
stormtroopers were aiming fragmentation grenades at the boulders and
outlying walls to create a shower of debris outside the cave entrance. Even
as he watched, a large boulder fell directly in front of him, wiping out
his view and sending a cloud of pulverized stone into the cave. Coughing,
he backed up.
They knew he was here. They were cutting off his exit. He would have
to go out the front of the cave now.
He hurried back to Garen. "We have to leave through the front. They'll
be waiting there for us, I'm sure." Ferus fumbled at his utility belt. He
took out a flask of water and a protein pellet. "Can you swallow this'?"
But Garen merely looked at it. He turned his gaze to Ferus, and Ferus
saw resignation there.
"You must go. I came here to be with the Force, to rest with the
visions of my ancestors. The Living Force is too weak in me now." He
struggled to extract his lightsaber from his belt. He handed it to Ferus.
"It needs new crystals. I saw you find yours - the blue ones. Put them in.
It's yours now."
"I can't take this," Ferus said.
"You must," Garen said. "I will never use it again. It would make me
proud to hand it to a fellow Jedi."
"But I'm not even a Jedi. Not anymore."
"I feel the Force in you," Garen said. "That's enough."
Ferus handled the lightsaber reverently. Oddly, the handgrip felt
perfectly balanced in his hand. Even though it was nicked and battered, and
a large dent was in one side, it nestled in his palm as though he'd
fashioned it himself. He touched the latch on the handle and placed the
crystals inside. He activated it and the shaft hummed to life, glowing a
pale ice-blue.
"Use it well," Garen said.
"I will. I'm going to get us out of here." Ferus leaned down and
looked Garen in the eye. "The Living Force may be weak, but it's still in
you. It wouldn't be right to leave you without trying. It would be against
the Jedi code." He held out the water and the pellet. It took a long
moment, but Garen nodded.
Ferus helped Garen sip the water and swallow the pellet. Then he
helped him to his feet. Together, they moved toward the front of the cave.
Ferus didn't know how he could fight and protect Garen, but he knew it must
be done.
He wondered where Trevor was. He wondered where Obi-Wan was. He
wondered how he had gotten himself into this predicament. He wondered why
he couldn't just find a nice planet for a comfortable exile and try to
ignore the Empire. He wondered if the visions were right, if he was taking
on this task just to prove he was a Jedi after all.
As they approached the opening to the cave, Ferus moved Garen to the
far side, near a large rock. "Stay here while I check this out."
He crept forward. Just as he feared, there was a full squad of
stormtroopers lined up outside in battle formation. He counted fifteen. Not
an impossible number for one Jedi, but one Jedi who hadn't used a
lightsaber in a long time might have a problem.
He watched them for a moment, trying to figure out their plan.
And then he knew what it was.
Behind the troops, a Merr-Sonn Mobile Grenade Mortar was angling into
position. It was capable of firing a total of one hundred grenades every
second or so, with storage of more hundreds of grenades that could be
reloaded through a tube. Operated by two stormtroopers on a repulsorlift
sled, it could accelerate fast and rise up in the air to thirty meters. In
short, it was highly maneuverable, a deadly killing machine.
Garen had somehow found the strength to creep up beside Ferus. He let
out a low whistle. "This is not good news."
"They mean business," Ferus agreed.
"So, how good are you with that lightsaber?"
"Actually, I'm a little rusty."
"I wish I hadn't heard that."
"Do you have any other weapons?"
"No."
"Take my blaster pistol."
"What's your plan?" Garen asked.
"I'm supposed to have a plan?"
"Well," Garen said, "I'd suggest one. Let's refer to our Temple
training."
"A quiz? Now'?" Maybe he hadn't missed the Jedi so much after all.
"When you meet overwhelming force and you're outnumbered, what are the
strategies available to you'?"
"Retreat, for one," Ferus said, his eyes on the stormtroopers. "That's
always a favorite."
"Impossible in this situation, I'm afraid. Let's try number two."
"Turn the enemy's advantage into yours." Ferus found the words coming
easily to him. He remembered sitting in classes at the Temple, studying
scenarios. It was thought that even though the Jedi were peacemakers, they
should have a knowledge of military strategy. It had served him well as an
officer in the Clone Wars. "Capture the grenade mortar," he said slowly.
"But how?"
"I came to this cave many years ago to find my crystals," Garen said.
"I decided to wait outside until I was ready, until I felt the Force grow
around me. Well, that's what, I told myself. Actually, I was stalling. I
sat for a long time, just studying the cave opening. And I noticed
something - a bird. It, was one of those tiny white snowfeather birds, and
it had built a nest over the cave opening. And I saw that I'd been looking
at the cave wrong - it looks as though it's carved out of the face of the
mountain, but actually, there's a little overhang above it."
"I'm not getting this," Ferus said. "And I don't like to remind you,
but there's a troop of stormtroopers and about a hundred grenades sitting
out there."
"The overhang is big enough for a snowfeather nest, but it's also big
enough for a man to perch," Garen said.
"Perch?! I don't want to perch! I'd be one big target."
"You can get up there by concealing yourself behind the boulders just
inside the entrance," Garen went on. "Climb up the side of the cave, then
swing yourself out and into the ledge outside. If you do it quickly, you
might not be spotted."
"Might not?"
"They won't be looking above the cave, they'll be looking into it,
trying to spot movement. Then you can Force-leap over the first columns and
land close to the mobile mortar. When they spot you, I'll try to divert
their attention."
Ferus looked at Garen dubiously. He looked as fragile as the
snowfeather lie spoke of. This was the craziest plan he'd ever heard.
But he didn't have a better one.
And time was running out.
"They're going to advance," Garen said, watching. "Let them. You go
after that grenade mortar. I'll stay here to meet them."
Ferus looked at him incredulously. "Alone?"
"I won't be alone," Garen said. "The visions will help me. Now go! And
may the Force be with you."
Was this the right plan, or was he just used to listening to Jedi
Masters? Ferus kept to the side of the cave as he approached the entrance,
pressing himself into the shadows until he merged with the cave wall. He
climbed up on the boulders, moving stealthily. He balanced on the top
boulder, hooking his fingers around the top of the cave, searched for a
secure handhold. He would have to do this blindly; he couldn't see out of
the cave. He'd have to trust that once he swung himself up and out that
he'd be able to slide onto the overhang.
He scanned the stormtroopers, now below him. They were facing forward,
blaster rifles held at the ready. No doubt they were waiting for orders on
their headsets. Behind the lines the mobile grenade launcher hovered. He
saw the stormtrooper on the front platform with his hands on the controls.
Now or never.
He swung out into midair, flipped his body over, missed ramming the
cave wall by a hair, and landed on the narrow ledge. He rolled as far back
as he could, concealing himself in the shadows. His heart hammered as he
waited, wondering whether a grenade would blast him into the sky.
Nothing happened. They hadn't seen him. So far, so good.
Ferus felt the Force gather. Garen. Garen had accessed it and it was
growing.
Ferus leaped over the heads of the attacking stormtroopers. But if
those stormtroopers didn't see him, the ones on the mobile mortar did,
clattering it to life. Grenades flew through the air, heading toward him in
midair. Garen's lightsaber felt balanced in his hand, and the blue shaft
glowed. He deflected the grenades as they whizzed toward him, batting them
down to the stormtroopers below.
It felt extraordinary to have a lightsaber back in his hand. His
training came back to him, and he didn't have to push for it. It was there
in the way he moved, there in the precise angle of his attack.
He landed on the mobile platform, his boots connecting with the
stormtrooper and sending him flying off the platform. He slid into the
seat, reversed the repulsorlift engine with a jerk, gunning the motor to
capacity. The stormtrooper behind fell off.
The battalion scattered before him as he hit them with a barrage of
grenades. He could use the mortar to enter the cave and swoop up Garen.
But suddenly the mortar pitched to the side. The stormtrooper had
suddenly leaped back aboard. Ferus felt the heat of a blaster bolt by his
ear. He ducked, trying to wield his lightsaber at the same time. It was a
difficult move, but one he could have easily managed in his youth. Now his
lightsaber skills were rusty and he was just a bit off balance. To Ferus's
horror, he began to fall off the mortar as the stormtrooper aimed his
blaster and fired.
So. Maybe I'm not as up to speed as I thought I was.
He felt the searing heat in his shoulder. He was blown back off the
mortar and hit the ground hard.
Okay. A gorgodon uses me as a punching bag and an evil vision throws
me around like a laserball. Now I've been shot with a blaster. Not a good
day.
He saw the mortar stop in midair and spin. It was coming back for him.
Fury pounded through him. Fury at himself. He'd blown it. It was going
to end here for him, outside the caves of Ilum. The most sacred place to
the Jedi, and here his bones would lie. The Force slowed down time, and he
reactivated his lightsaber. He couldn't move out of the way of the coming
barrage in time, he knew that, but he would join the Force still fighting.
He saw a shimmer out of the corner of his eye, a flicker of light.
Something was falling from the sky.
Suddenly, an explosion of light sent him crashing back to the ground.
An alpha charge. A small blast thrown right on the mobile mortar. Then
another, and another.
The grenades went up in a huge blast. Ferus rolled down the slope,
tumbling, anything to get away from that terrible heat. He came to rest by
knocking his head against a boulder.
He saw Trever in a fighter, releasing explosives onto the squad below,
with a bulkier transport ship in pursuit. The stormtroopers went scurrying
for cover.
Ferus didn't stop to experience the pain he was feeling. He accepted
it and set his mind to the next thing. Under the cover of Trever's attack,
he took off for the cave. His eyes streamed tears from the smoke, and his
shoulder felt as though it was on fire.
He found Garen near the mouth of the cave, slumped on the floor, a
blaster held in his fist.
The ship touched down right outside the cave entrance. Ferus picked up
Garen. He felt as light as a bird. He ran toward the ramp. The
stormtroopers peppered him with blaster bolts, but Trever managed to
release a few more explosives behind the boulders, and the blasterfire
abated.
Ferus ran up the ramp with Garen. He collapsed on his knees on the
floor.
As the transport that had been chasing him made its way down, Trever
januned the controls up. Pushing the engines, they streaked off. They
couldn't boost off-planet, but they could outrun the transport.
"I know a place we can hide," Garen said. "Obi-Wa
n can find us there."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The distress call reached Obi-Wan as he was leaving Polis Massa. He
knew exactly which cave they would be hiding in, waiting for him - a
crystal-less cave on Ilum that the Jedi often used as a safe hangar.
For the rest of the ride, Obi-Wan could only think two things: Garen
is alive and Malorum must be stopped. When he reached the cave, Ferus and
Trever carried Garen on board. Obi-Wan wanted to go back and see his old
friend immediately, but he knew a quick escape was essential. It was only
after they reached deep space and a recovered Ferus took over the controls
that Obi-Wan went back to the cabin to see his friend.
If before he had merely been grateful to know that his friend was
alive, now his heart broke to see him.
He would not have recognized him. With his eyes closed, Garen lay
back, his skin as pale and fragile as snow. Obi-Wan felt as though if he
breathed on him he could dissolve into vapor. Garen had always been robust
and vibrant. His body had crackled with electricity, his eyes brimming with