Master of Disguise (9781484719763)

by Watson, Jude

  “We’ll come back,” Obi-Wan said.

  “If you’ll come back, why did you tell us what to do if you don’t?” Joveh D’a Alin pointed out.

  “Scientists. You’re so logical,” Obi-Wan said. “I said that for your own reassurance. We will be back. Come, Anakin.”

  The four Jedi slipped off into the velvet night that was so suddenly and spectacularly lit by flashes of deadly light. Anakin could feel the Force gather around them. He did not often have the experience of feeling the combined Force of two powerful Jedi Knights as well as their Padawans. It made his vision sharper, his senses clearer. He knew where the explosions would come. He heard the faintest of sss-sooop noises when the grenade launcher fired. He could tell the direction without even thinking about it.

  The Jedi headed straight into the advancing troops. Soara and Obi-Wan explained the plan. In the survival packs were luma grenades, projectiles that released particles of intense light. They would fan out along the advancing line and toss the grenades straight at the troops. Since the troops would be wearing night-vision goggles, the effect of the grenade would be doubled. A majority would be blinded for at least an hour. Plenty of time for the Jedi to lead the scientists to safety.

  The difficulty would be to launch enough grenades amid what would no doubt be heavy firepower. The Jedi would have to work fast and keep continually on the move. They would also have to coordinate their efforts so that a wide area was covered.

  Obi-Wan and Soara gave their directions in low voices. The Jedi fanned out. Anakin counted off the seconds, then lobbed his first grenade.

  The night lit up like a flash from a nova. Anakin kept his eyes away from the light. He hadn’t expected so much illumination. Even with his Jedi training, it was hard to see. His eyes adjusted, but he stumbled as he ran. He threw another grenade. Then, taking another leap, he threw a third.

  He could see the troops clearly now. The front lines were kneeling, their hands over their eyes. The others were shooting blindly.

  He dodged the fire and threw another grenade. He dashed to the rendezvous point, where Obi-Wan and Soara were waiting. Obi-Wan and Soara scanned the field as Darra ran up.

  “The right flank,” Soara said.

  The right flank was the area Anakin had been assigned.

  “The lumas hit behind a wall. We need more cover there.”

  “I have grenades left,” Darra said.

  “Go.”

  Darra didn’t pause. She ran off, already pulling the timer release on her luma grenades. The sky lit up in a series of flashes.

  Anakin watched as Darra twisted, leaped, and rolled as she lobbed several grenades in a precise pattern designed to box in the troops. He saw where his grenades had missed. He had never seen the wall. He had become disoriented.

  “Darra has the benefit of seeing the wall from this angle,” Obi-Wan said. “It would have been impossible to spot it from your position.”

  Anakin’s face burned. It was kind of his Master to point that out. Still, he felt badly that another Padawan had to return to do his job.

  “We’re done here. Let’s go.” Soara spoke and motioned to Darra at the same time. Darra leaped the final few meters and caught up to them as they ran back toward the scientists. The night was dark again, and there were only a few random explosions, hitting the ground far from them.

  The scientists were standing, waiting for them. Without a word they joined the group and they hurried through the rest of the blackened forest.

  They jogged the first kilometer, then slowed to a fast walk. They had left the site of the battle behind, and the trees rose around them again.

  “There’s a village ahead,” Soara said. “We should skirt it.”

  Obi-Wan nodded. “We need the cover of the forest for as long as…” He stopped.

  The two Jedi Masters exchanged a glance. Anakin felt the disturbance in the Force. It seemed to be coming from all around them.

  “Down,” Obi-Wan said crisply to the scientists.

  The Jedi all activated their lightsabers at the same time. They made a circle around the scientists and were ready as the patrol burst out of the trees.

  The rebel Haaridens were armed with repeating blaster rifles. Some had wrist rockets. Anakin could see at a glance that the Jedi were outnumbered. And with the scientists to protect, it could get tricky.

  The blaster fire was fast and it seemed to be everywhere at once. Anakin did not give another second of thought to the numbers against them. He focused so completely on the battle that everything else fell away but the movement of his lightsaber and his attention to where the blaster fire would strike next.

  Smoke rose around them. The leaves began to scorch. Obi-Wan leaped to destroy a rocket headed straight for them. The midair explosion sent air thudding against Anakin’s eardrums.

  The squad suddenly concentrated a third of their troops to the left and made a surprise strike close to Darra. Anakin saw it coming before she did. She was only a split second behind him, already turning to deflect the blast of fire. She had to pivot on her left leg, leaving her right side slightly exposed.

  “I’ve got it!” Anakin shouted to her. He leaped forward, his lightsaber moving in a constant arc.

  But Darra had already compensated for her move. She had shifted and turned, and the two Padawans collided. Darra was thrown to the side.

  Blaster fire ripped into her leg. She gave a cry and fell, and her lightsaber went flying, lost in the confusion of bodies.

  “Anakin, cover me!” Obi-Wan roared.

  He leaped and scooped up Darra with one arm, keeping his lightsaber moving, deflecting the fire. Anakin jumped in front of them, desperate to help his Master. Soara herded the scientists closer together and, with a heroic effort, charged straight at the troops. Anakin leaped over the scientists to join her.

  The fury of their attack caught the troops off guard as blaster fire ricocheted back into their ranks. Their line began to waver. Anakin and Soara pressed the advantage while Obi-Wan and Darra retreated with the scientists.

  “They’re going to regroup,” Soara told Anakin. “Let’s go.”

  They turned and ran after Obi-Wan and the scientists, who were dashing through the trees.

  “The village,” Obi-Wan said to Soara. “We need cover now.”

  Darra said nothing. She slumped against Obi-Wan, and he lifted her into his arms. Her eyes closed and her lips parted. Anakin felt a deep shudder go through him. She looked as though her life energy was draining away. And it was his fault.

  Chapter Three

  Get in and get out. That was the goal of a rescue mission.

  It never, in Obi-Wan’s experience, worked out that way.

  They had angered the Haariden patrol. Obviously the troops knew they were Jedi, but the Haaridens did not care. They were after revenge now.

  Obi-Wan carried Darra along the twisting trail. They were close to the village and temporary safety. Every once in a while the patrol pursuing them would set off a rocket. It always fell short of their small band. But it was not a comfortable distance.

  Obi-Wan remembered another world, another day. Qui-Gon carrying a desperately weakened Jedi Knight—his close friend Tahl. He remembered how Tahl’s hand kept slipping off from around Qui-Gon’s neck. It is too late for me, my friend, she had told him.

  He had seen the refusal to accept the fact in Qui-Gon’s eyes. At the time, as a Padawan, Obi-Wan had thought it impossible that a Jedi Knight could die.

  Perhaps the first moment of his adulthood was the moment he had seen Qui-Gon’s face when he realized that Tahl was dead.

  Why am I thinking about death? Obi-Wan wondered.

  It was this planet. Ever since he had landed on it he’d felt uneasy. The darkness here was more than a result of cloud cover. It hung in the air. The Force dimmed with it. He knew it had affected his Padawan. Anakin was sensitive to the dark side of the Force. He felt it sooner and deeper than Obi-Wan had at his age.

  Darra wo
uld be all right. A blaster wound to the leg was serious, but not life-threatening. Yet her limp body and her slip into unconsciousness worried him. There was a disturbance in her Living Force. He could feel it.

  “The village is ahead,” Soara said. He could see in her face that she, too, was worried about Darra. “They are not giving up.”

  “We must stop. Darra—”

  “Yes. I must treat her.”

  The village had been large and prosperous. That was easy to see, even in the close darkness. Clouds covered the pale moon as they filed swiftly through the streets, looking for the best shelter they could find.

  Soara and Obi-Wan chose a building packed in the middle of a crowded street. Thanks to a half-destroyed wall, they would have lookouts on all four sides. Yet there was enough shelter for Darra to stay warm.

  They wrapped her in a thermal cape. Soara administered bacta to her wound.

  “It doesn’t look bad,” Obi-Wan said.

  A line appeared between Soara’s eyebrows. “That is what worries me,” she said in a low tone. “She should not be unconscious.”

  “Will you allow me?” Joveh D’a Alin spoke up gently. “I trained to be a medic before my scientific degree.”

  She came closer and bent to examine Darra. She touched her with gentle, expert hands.

  “Without instruments it is hard to tell,” she said. “It appears that she is in shock. Is it possible that the blaster bolts carried a chemical charge?”

  “It is possible,” Soara said. “It is what I feared.”

  Obi-Wan saw his Padawan swallow. Anakin’s eyes looked dark in his pale face. Obi-Wan knew that his Padawan felt responsible. Anakin had leaped impulsively, not trusting Darra to evade the fire. As usual, his Padawan had thought that he was faster, stronger, than anyone else.

  The problem was that it was often true. But not always.

  “She needs care that we cannot give,” Joveh D’a Alin said. Her gray eyes were compassionate. “But her vitals are still good. The bacta should help.”

  “We need to get her to the Temple,” Soara said. She reached out and, with one finger, touched the dusty fabric in Darra’s braid.

  “Master, I will go,” Anakin said.

  Obi-Wan turned, distracted. “Go where?”

  “To the Haaridens. I will negotiate a truce so that we can continue to the transport.”

  “What makes you think you will get within a hundred meters of a Haariden without being attacked?” Obi-Wan asked.

  Anakin kept his gaze steady. “I am prepared to risk it.”

  Obi-Wan shook his head. “No. That is not the solution.”

  Soara joined them, closing her comlink. “I’ve contacted the Temple. They will pressure the Haaridens for a cease-fire. But it will take time. No one is sure who is in charge on either side. They are sending a medic to us, but it will take two days.” She glanced at Darra. “What if it’s too late? Can we risk moving her? Can we carry her to the transport? It’s still kilometers away.”

  Obi-Wan had never seen Soara look so uncertain. If his Padawan had been lying so still and pale, he would have felt the same way.

  Tic Verdun spoke up. “We can all take turns. We aren’t as strong as the Jedi, but we won’t let you down.”

  “Thank you,” Soara said quietly.

  “We have other options,” Obi-Wan said. “I’ll be back.”

  Anakin took a step toward him. “Do you need me, Master?”

  “No.” Obi-Wan hurried away. He regretted the brusqueness of his answer immediately, but he would work quicker alone. He needed his own perceptions. And, although he didn’t like to admit it, he needed time alone to think of a way out of this. When he’d told Soara they had options, he’d meant it. He was sure they existed—he just didn’t know what they were. He did not think that carrying Darra over kilometers of rough terrain while being pursued by an attacking force was the best idea.

  Obi-Wan shifted from shadow to shadow. He explored the village thoroughly. When he’d finished, he knew that the village had once had three bakeries. He knew who the mayor had been and that she’d had three children. He knew that the schoolteacher had driven a yellow speeder.

  He just didn’t know what to do next.

  He saw a faint light through the forest. He climbed to a higher vantage point and trained his electrobinoculars toward it.

  The patrol was camping outside the village. No doubt they did not relish a night battle. They would attack at daybreak, he was sure. They knew that the small band was trapped.

  Obi-Wan shook his head. He could hardly believe his eyes. It seemed such a short time ago that a world such as Haariden would respect the Jedi, or at least fear the Senate enough not to attack a rescue mission. Had the Senate’s power eroded this far? Had the galaxy ceased to respect the Jedi as well?

  You don’t need speculations. Just answers.

  He walked slowly back to the hiding place, hoping an answer would come to him on the way. He had hoped to find a small, forgotten cache of weapons. Some usable transport. But anything that had not been destroyed had been looted.

  Obi-Wan stopped. Not looted, he suddenly realized. The village had not been looted. It did not bear the scars. It had undergone a siege. That he could tell. But the valuables hadn’t been stolen. They had been removed.

  He retraced his steps. He combed through the buildings, now knowing exactly what he was looking for.

  It didn’t take him long. He found the first tunnel opening in the closet of a prosperous house that was almost empty of furnishings. The opening was set into the floor of patterned wood panels. If he hadn’t been looking for the seam, he would have stepped right over it. It was cleverly concealed in the design on the wood.

  He lowered himself down into the tunnel. It had been clumsily dug, but it was reinforced well with plastoid tubing. He kept his bearings as he wandered through the underground walkways. There were several exits. One was in the back of the school. One in the clinic. And one opened out deep in the forest, on the other side of the Haariden camp. They were so close that Obi-Wan could clearly see the weariness in one soldier’s face as he leaned over to unroll his bedding on the forest floor.

  Obi-Wan returned to the others and beckoned to Soara. He explained what he had found.

  “Should we evacuate now?” Soara asked, glancing at Darra. “We’ll be taking a great risk if we try to sneak by the Haariden camp.”

  “Too great a risk, I fear,” Obi-Wan said. “If it were just the four of us, it would be one thing. But we can’t count on the scientists. They’ve been on the run for weeks. They’re worn out. I think we need to strike an offense first. Now. They are settling down to sleep. It’s the best time. If we can knock out their tracking devices and some weaponry, we’ll be ahead.”

  Soara nodded. “You and I must go. We should leave Anakin here in case.”

  Obi-Wan nodded. He was glad Soara didn’t hold Anakin’s rash action during the battle against him.

  But when he told his Padawan their plan, Anakin seemed crestfallen at not being included in the attack.

  Obi-Wan felt exasperated. Anakin’s reaction seemed that of a boy, anxious to be in on the action. It wasn’t worthy of his Padawan. “This is important,” he told him. “You need to protect the scientists and Darra. Soara and I won’t be long.”

  “But you might need me,” Anakin said. “It’s a large patrol.”

  “We have surprise on our side. No, Padawan. You must remain here.”

  “I would not fail you this time,” Anakin promised.

  Obi-Wan saw it then, the hunger on Anakin’s face. It was not a hunger for action. It was the need to redeem himself.

  Obi-Wan spoke gently. “The best thing you can do for Darra is remain here to protect her.”

  Anakin looked down, struggling to accept the order. “As you wish, Master.”

  “You must keep your focus, young Padawan,” Obi-Wan murmured, so that the others wouldn’t overhear. “This is not a judgment on you. This is t
he best way to proceed.”

  Anakin nodded, keeping his eyes down. “All right,” he muttered.

  Obi-Wan hesitated. Now he could feel the shame behind Anakin’s questions. His Padawan’s feelings ran deep. His shame was filling him now, and he thought that only action could relieve it. He was wrong, but Obi-Wan would need time to explain why this was so.

  He knew that his Padawan needed him. Yet he had to go. He struggled for words to leave behind, but he had none. The only thing left to do was walk away.

  Chapter Four

  Anakin watched his Master walk away from him. There was no doubt or hesitation in how Obi-Wan moved. Ever. Anakin wanted to move through his own life with the same assurance. Yet time and again he found himself confronting miscalculation and error. Time and again he moved when he shouldn’t have moved, said what he shouldn’t have said, or turned when he should have stayed still.

  It was times like this when his connection to the Force felt like a burden more than a gift. It pulsed around him so strongly and he could feel it so easily that he used it to act instead of to strategize. Obi-Wan had told him the Force must be used for caution and control as well as action. So far he had not learned that lesson. It was because he did not understand it. During the battle he had seen which way the blaster fire would come. He had exactly determined its movement and speed. But he had not factored in the notion that Darra would be moving, too.

  If it had been a Temple exercise, it wouldn’t have mattered. Darra would have perhaps received a bruise at most. She would have landed lightly on her feet, the way she always did, and turned to him with a quick retort and a smile. Instead, she was wounded and in shock.

  Nothing had gone right on this planet, Anakin thought, almost angry now. He felt lost in a dark world, spinning in a system he did not know.

  The scientists had rolled themselves into thermal blankets and were trying to catch a few hours of sleep in the corner. Through the half-demolished roof above, Anakin could see the cold night sky. The constellations were not familiar to him and made him feel even farther away from home.