by Jude Watson
"Right. But what I really meant was, the food is terrible," Tulah said. "Bleh."
"What's the weapon capability of the interceptors?" Rolai asked Hurana.
"Turbolaser cannons, very sweet," Hurana said. "Both ships are in good shape. The only problem is that one of them has a tendency to cut out during dives."
"That could be a minor inconvenience," Tulah said. "Remind me to fly in the other one."
Everyone laughed, but Anakin noted how their intent looks never changed. He was impressed with their focus.
"I've gone on a couple of test flights and it's a pretty consistent problem," Hurana admitted. "Last time I came within twenty meters of complete annihilation on the planet surface before I was able to pull out."
"That sounds dangerous," Anakin said. The flow of conversation was fast and decisive. It told him better than words what a tightly knit team this was.
She flashed him a grin. "That's what made it fun." "What about a hyperdrive?" Marit asked.
Hurana shook her head. "We might be able to add it. But that means major investment capital."
"Don't worry about that," Rolai said.
"Why not?" Marit said. "The treasury is completely zilched."
"I'm working on it," Rolai said. "Just draw up your wish lists, and I'll let you know what we can handle."
"Sounds like my speed," Tulah said. "Numbers are not my thing."
"I've got a wish list, too," Rolai said. "Speaking of upgrades, our weapons are sad. A couple of blasters aren't going to get us very far. We need some secondary weaponry. Some thermal detonators, a flechette launcher, maybe some missile tubes — "
"Hang on," Marit said. "We're not an army."
"Sure we are," Rolai said. "If we act like it, we'd better have the stuff to back it up. Things would have gone a lot better on Tierell if we'd had the firepower — "
"Or a lot worse," Marit shot back.
"Not this again," Rolai said, rolling his eyes. "Six blasters for six members is the bare minimum. If we'd had a flechette launcher — "
"You're right, Rolai," Marit said. "We've gone over this too many times. Let's just be glad the mission was a success. Now we'd better get back to our rooms."
Anakin hung back as the others slipped out the door. He closed it behind them and turned to face Marit.
"We'd better get going," she said. "Lights out will be soon — "
"What was that about?" Anakin asked.
"What?" Marit said evasively.
"He said six blasters," Anakin said.
"What?"
"He said you had six blasters for six members. But there are only five."
"Six, counting you."
"But I wasn't on the mission to Tierell."
Marit shrugged. "Rolai meant now, not then. Six blasters for six members."
Anakin let it pass. "Tell me about Tierell."
Marit turned away. "I don't want to tell you about Tierell."
"Something's bothering you about it," Anakin said. "Maybe if you tell me, I can help."
"I don't need help," Marit snapped.
"Okay," Anakin said. "Then let's say I deserve to know. I'm putting my life on the line, too, you know."
Marit's brown eyes studied him. He knew the moment she decided to trust him. It only took a few seconds. He was beginning to see that Marit didn't like to waste time. "We had trouble. We'd been hired to slip into the Leader's Advisors' Chambers and dismantle security. The room was supposed to be empty, but the advisors were having a meeting. We had a battle with some security droids. The blaster fire was incredible.
We could barely handle it. And… in the confusion, the leader of Tierell was killed."
"Who did it?" Anakin asked.
Marit hesitated. Then she took a deep breath. "I did."
Slowly, she sank back down to a crouching position on the floor. Her hands dangled between her knees. "I've gone over it and over it, and I still don't know why or how it happened. The success of the mission depended on it. The freedom of the beings of Tierell depended on it. Maybe my friends' lives depended on it. Maybe mine. In other words…" Marit shrugged. "Everything depended on it. But I can't stop thinking…"
"That it could have gone another way." Anakin knew that feeling. He, too, had taken a life. More than one. He didn't like to think about it.
Those experiences were locked in a place in his mind where he did not go.
He crouched down in front of her. "If everything depended on it, you did the right thing. If you can't make yourself believe that, you'll drive yourself crazy."
She looked into his face searchingly. "You seem to know how I feel."
"I do," Anakin said. He stood and held out his hand. She took it and he helped bring her to her feet.
"You see?" he said. "Everybody needs help sometime."
* * *
"I think she lied about the blasters, but I don't know why," Anakin told Obi-Wan in their next communication.
"Do you think Gillam was once part of the squad?"
"That doesn't make sense. He's not a scholarship student. But something is up, I can feel it. Something with Rolai isn't right. Maybe he knows something. He's in charge of security, and also the treasury. None of the others seem to care about how he handles it. Maybe… I don't know, maybe he decided to raise money by kidnapping Gillam and holding him for ransom, but he didn't tell the others."
"Maybe," Obi-Wan said doubtfully. He sounded distracted, as though he weren't really listening to Anakin. "But Tarturi hasn't received a ransom demand."
"Yet. I'm not sure what to think," Anakin confessed. "I can't imagine the group kidnapping Gillam. They're all pretty dedicated. Marit has an incredible grasp of galactic politics. She knows what's being debated in the Senate right down to the subcommittee hearings. And she always comes in on the right side."
"And how do you know it's the right side?" Obi-Wan asked, his voice dry. "Because you agree with it?"
"Because they are against violence and oppression," Anakin said.
"They're like the Jedi."
"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 leria. 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 Jocasta 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, fighting 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 d
etriment 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."