A light, early morning rain fell onto
the shoulders of Anakin and Tahiri as they explored some of the less savory
areas in Dienya. Not that the rest of
the city was any better. Rundown buildings
that looked like they had needed maintenance decades ago and were now beyond
repair, stretched as far as the eye could see.
Anakin pushed his soaked dark hair out
of his face, wanting to keep his vision completely un-obscured. He had an uneasy feeling inside of him that
had remained with him since they had first landed on Dundas. It was not like he and Tahiri hadn't been in
some rough spots before, in fact, places much worse then this. The most trouble they were likely to find
here would be some rowdy locals looking for a fight, and that would be no
problem for the two of them to handle.
Despite the weather, the streets and
shops in the area were bustling with the usual activity – legal and
illegal. Mostly the latter.
With no specific destination in mind,
just trying to find somewhere where they could get information, Tahiri and
Anakin walked at a leisurely pace, trying their best to blend in with the crowd
of thieves, con artists and other low life's. It wasn't too hard, considering the both of them had forgone their usual
Jedi robes, and were instead clad in the less conspicuous clothes of street
kids. Both wore scuff-marked boots,
stained pilot pants and dirty shirts. The only variation between them was Anakin had thrown on an old utility
vest over his shirt that had belonged to his father back in his scoundrel days,
and Tahiri had donned a beaten up gray cap, which covered part of her golden
hair, while the rest hung wildly around her shoulders.
As they approached a darkened alleyway
Tahiri narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"Something doesn't feel right," she
murmured to Anakin.
He felt it too. Something that stood out from the ordinary,
everyday chaos going on around them. The tingling feeling at the back of his neck got stronger the closer
they approached the alley. Reaching
inside his vest, Anakin found his lightsaber that he had hidden there. He barely had the weapon out from its hiding
spot and turned on, when five scruffy-looking teens appeared out of the shadows
of the alleyway. None of them looked
like they had seen a shower in weeks, and the weapons they carried looked like
they had been outdated even when the Emperor was in power. Of course, that did not mean they still
could not cause a lot of damage.
Beside him, he heard Tahiri power up
her own lightsaber.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Mocked the teen with greasy black hair. "Two Jedi, eh? Karsay said you would come. Too bad you're not the right one," he said with a sneer and leveled his
ancient blaster at them.
Karsay. Anakin let the name seep into his
memory. Now at least they knew the name
of the person who was after Zekk. His
probing with the force into the other man's mind confirmed that.
"What does Karsay want with this other
Jedi?" Tahiri asked, keeping her
sapphire coloured blade steady in front of her, ready for an attack from any
angle.
The greasy haired youth crossed his
arms over his chest and said smugly, "I'm not at liberty to say,"
They could have easily taken the
information they needed from their minds and been on their way, and there would
have been nothing the rag-tag group of bully's could do. Anakin, though,
preferred to avoid following that path unless it was absolutely necessary.
"We're willing to pay for what you
know," Anakin told him.
"I'm sure we can work something out,"
the teen leered, letting his gaze fall on Tahiri.
Something inside Anakin snapped when
he saw the way the dirty teen was eyeing his best friend up and down. Unable to control what he did next, and
forgetting everything he had learned in his years of training to be a Jedi,
Anakin grabbed the arrogant teen by the throat and slammed him up against the
concrete building faster than any of his companions could draw their weapons. Fire blazed in Anakin's eyes as he let his
gaze tear into the suffocating person in front of him. All he had to do was increase his pressure
just by the smallest fraction and he would crush the other's esophagus.
"Anakin, stop it," Tahiri cried.
He ignored her, completely engrossed with
the pathetic excuse for a human being that was at his mercy. He felt the rest of the street kids behind
him raise their weapons at him, but before they could fire, he used his free
hand to command the force to knock the blasters out of their hands, sending
them clanging to the ground.
"Call them off," Anakin snarled, "now,"
The
youth did nothing, continuing to flail uselessly against Anakin's hold on
him. "If you value your life, I suggest
you tell them to leave their weapons where they are and tell them to back off,"
"Do as he says," the greasy haired
youth croaked. When they hesitated, he
gasped, "just do it!"
The group reluctantly left their
weapons on the ground and backed up to the edge of the alleyway.
"Have you lost your mind? You're going to kill him," Tahiri exclaimed,
tugging at Anakin's arm trying to get his attention.
"Tahiri, let me handle this," he
snapped.
She let go of him then and took an
involuntary step back. His voice was as
cold as Hoth. He sounded like a complete
stranger to her, and that's what scared her the most. At that moment she wasn't sure what he was capable of. She felt the rage bubbling inside of him and
in each word he spoke. In all the years
they had been friends, she had never seen him act like this. He had always worked so hard to keep his
emotions under control, not wanting to suffer the same fate as his
grandfather. The same fate that many
expected him to succumb to with a name like Anakin.
"Now you're going to tell me
everything you know about what Karsay wants with that other Jedi," Anakin
growled at him. He loosened his grip
just enough so the youth could speak without gasping for air. The thug looked at Anakin with frightened
eyes, but said nothing.
"I could take it from your mind by
force if I have to," Anakin warned him.
That was more than enough to convince
the youth to spill everything he knew.
"He's after someone named Zekk. He wants revenge for something Zekk did to
him years ago. Karsay staged the whole
attack on Yavin Four knowing it would lead Zekk straight to him. Karsay's had his men watching you since you
landed, so wherever Zekk goes, his men will be there waiting for him."
Anakin's grip slackened some
more. If Zekk was walking into a trap,
then so was his sister. He had to
contact them and warn them.
"That's all I know. I swear," the young man said in a terrified
voice, unsure of what Anakin intended to with him.
"He's telling the truth, Anakin,"
Tahiri confirmed, " now let him go. Or
have you completely lost it and forgotten everything Master Skywalker has
taught you?"
Those last words penetrated through
his seething anger, just as she had intended them to. He had given into his anger so easily, and without a second
thought had been ready – and willing – to kill.
He relaxed his grip completely on the
young man in front of him. Not wanting
to press his luck, the teen moved away from Anakin as quickly as his feet would
take him. Needing no further
encouragement, the rest of his gang gathered their fallen weapons and took off
after their friend down the alley, fleeing the two Jedi Knights.
Trembling after what he had just done,
Anakin dropped his hands to his sides so Tahiri couldn't see them shaking. He looked down at his feet, afraid to meet
her gaze. "I'm sorry," he said softly,
"I don't know what came over me,"
For the first time in her life Tahiri
found herself at a loss for words. What
did one say to someone who had brushed so closely to the dark side? Especially when that someone was your best friend.
He looked up at her then, his
expression full of shame, but he did not know what else to say.
She made a move to place a comforting
hand on his arm but stopped herself just short of doing so. This is ridiculous, she scolded
herself, Anakin would never hurt you. But her reluctance to touch him was more out of the fact that she was
mad at him for what he had done because he thought he had been protecting her
then anything else. She saw him flinch
at the anger she was directing at him.
He moved towards her. "Tahiri, I'm – "
"We need to warn Jaina and Zekk," she
interrupted him.
Anakin nodded. He knew they had to put behind them what had
just happened for the time being. Zekk
and his sister's safety was their first priority.
He used his wrist comm to contact
Jaina, frowning when he failed to get an answer. He tried Zekk's comm and got the same result. He swallowed hard. A bad feeling beginning to settle in the pit of his stomach.
"She's not answering," he said at
last.
"Did you try Zekk's comm?"
"He's not answering his either,"
A
look of fear passed between them, as they realized it might already be too
late. Both feeling the same sense of
urgency, they raced out of the alley and in the general direction Zekk and
Jaina had been heading. Tahiri
contacted Jacen and Tenal Ka on her own wrist comm, telling them to meet her
and Anakin at the Raging Rancor, a cantina on the other side of town, which was
where Jaina and Zekk had intended to begin their search. Jacen and Tenal Ka didn't ask any questions. They must have felt the same impending doom
that if they did not reach the Raging Rancor soon, they might never see their
friends alive again.