Dooku's first sensation upon regaining consciousness was sheer astonishment at still being alive though that was a decidedly mixed
blessing. He had seldom in his long and eventful career felt worse. The battle in the Viceregal palace had drained him, he felt hollow
and frail, like a reed with the pith removed, and couldn't even scrape up sufficient focus to dull the agony of the raw, untended burns on his hands. It took him several moments just to gather enough strength to sit up and look around.

He was lying in a heap on the metal plates of a ship's deck beneath a bright mirror-like dome not quite high enough for him to stand
upright nor wide enough to allow him to lie at full length. He realized it was a containment field set to exclude even sound and light waves, even if he'd had the strength to try it would have been difficult if not impossible to probe beyond such a total isolation barrier. The slight vibration of the plates under him caused Dooku to deduce he was aboard a ship in flight, but to where?

Instead of killing the Jedi Master as he lay unconscious, which Dooku had fully expected, the Viceroy had taken him prisoner, packed him into the most secure confinement the Neimoidians could command and sent him somewhere - to some one. And the likely identity of that 'some one' set Dooku's heart pounding with something close to panic. He knew his own weakness far too well to believe he could win a battle against a Sith even at his best and in his present condition he'd have no chance at all.

Stop it!, he told himself sternly. You are too old and too experienced to let fear master you, Yan Dooku. You will be calm, you will be
patient and you will await events. He lay back down. Try to rest, to get back some of your strength. He tried to run through one of the standard calming regimens but the pain of his burns was too distracting. It was all he could do to make himself to lie still rather than toss and turn in a useless effort to escape the agony.

Exhaustion warred with pain and eventually he managed to fall into a troubled half doze only to be roused by the touch of a familiar presence; warm, affectionate, and deeply concerned. "Qui-Gon?"

...

"Master." Qui-Gon Jinn clenched the hand he had instinctively extended and lowered it to the balcony rail his eyes still fixed on the
golden late afternoon sky. Dooku was out there - somewhere - alone, in pain and very much afraid. It was the last that worried his former Padawan most. Dooku was not a man given to fear, For Qui-Gon to sense it so strongly meant his old Master must be in very grave danger indeed wherever he was, far beyond his student's reach or aid.

Qui-Gon wanted desperately to go to him, to get into a ship and let his feelings lead him to his threatened Master. But he wouldn't, he couldn't. He was needed here, just as desperately. Little Padme was also in grave danger, though she refused to believe it, right here on her own homeworld. And the danger was near, very near, it would stike soon. Anakin, distracted by other issues, had failed to sense it but Qui-Gon knew. For Padme's sake and Ani's he had to stay exactly where he was.

Dooku, Qui-Gon knew, would agree. He almost smiled imagining how his old master would scold him for even thinking otherwise. But it was hard - so hard... He is not alone, Qui-Gon reminded himself. The Force is with him, It will guard and comfort him - whatever
happens. He lowered his eyes from the golden sky to see his Padawan and their charge riding up to the palace on the back of a giant shaak.

Amidala slid off the shaak into Anakin's arms, then turned to face her bemused Major Domo. "Hello, Paddy, where is everybody?"

"Your family decided to go across the lake into town to dine with friends, your Highness." he answered, recovering himself. "Master Jinn
and the Handmaidens just finished their own dinner and have retired to their quarters."

"Nobody was worried then?"

"Not at all, your Highness."

Amidala sighed with relief. She wasn't going to hear the end of this anytime soon, not after going off to look at the falls with Anakin Skywalker and not returning till dinner time! but at least nobody'd scold her for frightening them. She looked up at Ani. "Hungry?"

He grinned. "Starved."

"Me too." She turned back to the Major Domo. "Lay a table for two in the small dining room please, Paddy."

He bowed. "At once your Highness."

Amidala went upstairs to her rooms to change. Of course the girls were there, brimming with carefully controlled curiousity.

"There you are at last," Eirtae said but without concern.

"Did Anakin enjoy the falls?" Rabe asked slyly.

"Very much." Amidala answered, with her most regally intimidating look. "We had a very pleasant afternoon."

"How nice for you, your Highness." Rabe answered, quite unimpressed. Amidala sighed. Royal airs never worked on her handmaidens, they knew her too well. She walked into her wardrobe room pulling off her headband and cauls as she went. "Let's see, what shall I wear for dinner?"

So many dresses! She remembered Anakin saying how much he liked her in 'simple things' but she didn't seem to have anything 'simple'. A fall of simple black caught her eye: "What about that one."

"This?" Sache took the gown from the wardrobe; the evening dress had a fitted bodice of soft black kaadu leather and a trailing black lace skirt.

"Yes," Amidala said pleased, "that one will do nicely."

All four handmaidens, even Milla's shy Dorme, looked at her with surprise - and something else. "Are you certain, your Highness?" asked Eirtae.

"Quite certain." she said firmly. Really, what was the matter with everybody? She felt her first, faint qualm after the dress was on, as she studied herself in the mirror. The bodice was very fitted, and showed a lot more skin than she'd expected. She bit her lip.

"There's a capelet that goes with it, your Highness." Sache offered. That helped, and so did a jet choker with a strategic cascade of
beads to hide her cleavage. *Don't be silly,* she told herself, you're not showing any more skin than you were this afternoon. It'll be fine.

And it was. Dinner went as easily and pleasantly as the afternoon. Anakin entertained her with stories of his Jedi adventures.

"- When I got to them we went into...'aggressive negotiations'."

"What's that?" Amidala interrupted.

"Uh...negotiations with a lightsabre," he admitted sheepishly.

Amidala laughed. "I bet you're a very good 'negotiator', Ani."

"Not that good." he answered ruefully. "I'm a much better pilot than swordsman. I'm working on it though, Master Dooku's been training Obi-Wan, Jacen and me in Form II."

"In what?"

"It's a very ancient technique for fighting sabre to sabre. Master Dooku's practically the only Jedi who knows it - the rest of us have
been trained in later forms meant to counter blasters and the like. Well, you saw Master and Obi-Wan."

"I certainly did!" Amidala would never forget the casual ease with which her two Jedi protectors had cut down scores of battle droids. "But nobody but Jedi use lightsabres these days."

"Sith do," Anakin said quietly looking at her steadily. "Obi-Wan killed the Apprentice, but the Master's still out there - and he's probably trained up a new Apprentice by now. Soon they're going to show their hand and we've got to be ready." He shivered. "I've got to be ready."

"The Sith are everybody's problem, not just yours, Anakin," Amidala said.

He shook his head, eyes on his plate. "I'm not a normal person, Padme. I didn't have a father, I was concieved directly by the Force to
right the Balance." His blue eyes lifted to hers, troubled, scared. "The Dark Side is growing, spreading across the Galaxy like a black cloud. It's got to be the work of the Sith, and I've got to stop them - but I don't know how!"

Amidala groped for something to say; "The Force will tell you how."

He grimaced. "That's what Master says, when the time is right I'll know what to do. I must be patient."

"I remember how he's always going on about being patient." Amidala said, and Anakin laughed.

"Sometimes I think if I hear those words one more time I'll go nuts," he agreed. "I know Qui-Gon's right, but patience is not my best thing."

"Mine either," Amidala grinned. She took a yellow pear from the platter of desert fruit put it on her plate and sawed at it with her fruit knife.

"Here, let me," Anakin beckoned and the pear slid from beneath her knife and floated across the table to settle on his plate. "If Obi-Wan could see this he'd get very grumpy." Ani continued as he sliced the pear then sent a piece floating back to Amidala.

She caught it on her fork and took a bite. "Really, why?"

Anakin sent the rest of the sliced fruit floating back to her plate and picked up a bunch of grapes from his own desert platter. "The tricks come easily to me, too easily. Obi-Wan's afraid I'll become overconfident and get myself into trouble." he popped a grape into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. "He's probably right. I don't have anything like the discipline and control he does."

Amidala smiled at him. "You admire Obi-Wan a great deal, don't you?"

"He's the best Jedi of his generation," Anakin answered simply. "Maybe one of the greatest of all time - even Master Yoda thinks so." He shook his head. "Chosen One or no in some ways, a lot of ways, I'll never be as good as he is."

"What about Master Qui-Gon?"

Love, respect and a touch of awe all shone in Anakin's sudden, radiant smile. "Master's - different. Obi-Wan may be the perfect Jedi but Master is something more. He's gone far beyond the rest of us to a place we can only imagine. Complete oneness with the Force, perfect faith, perfect trust...it's what we all aim for, but Master's the only Jedi I know who's actually achieved it." a glint of humor broke the serious mood. "It makes him very hard to live with sometimes."

"I remember!" Amidala said and they both laughed.

It was very warm in the cozy little hearth room they retreated to after dinner. Amidala shed her capelet but it didn't seem to help,
strange that so small a fire should put out so much heat.

The easy mood of the afternoon and early evening gradually ebbed away. It became harder and harder to keep the conversation going. The flames reflecting in those blue eyes were mesmerizing. She had no idea how long she'd been watching them before she jerked back to her senses almost in a panic.

"Anakin, no!" which was blatantly unfair, he hadn't done a thing.

But now he did. "From the moment I met you, all those years ago, a day hasn't gone by when I haven't thought of you." He broke out passionately. "And now that I'm with you again I'm in agony."

Amidala didn't want to hear this. She wanted to make him stop but she couldn't. He was saying exactly what she was feeling, every word echoed by her own heart.

"The closer I get to you the worse it gets. The thought of not being with you makes my stomach turn over - my mouth go dry. I feel dizzy, I can't breath."

Neither could she. She was panting for air as if she'd been running. The stupid gown she was wearing was squeezing her chest, she couldn't get enough air into her lungs.

"I am haunted by the kiss you never should have given me."

She closed her eyes against the pain in his face. He was right. This was all her fault. She was older, more sophisticated, a Queen accustomed to governing her emotions as well as her planet. How could she have let this situation drag on so? She should have taken a firm line from the very beginning! She felt his hand cup her cheek.

"You are in my very soul, tormenting me. What can I do, I will do anything you ask."

She jerked away, stumbling to her feet and putting some distance between them. His voice followed her, desperate.

"If you are suffering as much as I am , tell me!"

Oh no. That was the last thing she could tell him! She had to be firm, decisive, end this folly now. "...I can't...We can't...it's
impossible." Her voice was so weak, so faltering. She had to do better than this!

Hope sprang up in Anakin's eyes and eagerness in his voice. "Anything's possible! Padme, please listen -"

"No! You listen." He'd risen too but was now several paces away. Her head felt clearer, she could say what had to be said now with the proper conviction. "We live in a real universe, come back to it! You are studying to become a Jedi Knight. I am Queen of Naboo. If you follow your thoughts through to conclusion they will take us to a place we cannot go - regardless of the way we feel about each
other."

His face lit up. "Then you do feel something!"

Damn! Damn! Damn! she hadn't meant to admit that. She forged on determinedly; "Jedi are not allowed to marry. You'd be expelled from the Order. I will not let you give up your future for me!"

"Do you think I want to feel like this?" he shouted back at her. "Believe me I wish I could wish my feelings away - but I can't!"

She wasn't hot anymore but cold, cold right down to the marrow of her bones. She heard the chill in her voice as she said; "Queens aren't allowed to marry either. I'm not going to give up my throne on an emotional whim. I have more important things to do than fall in love!" She saw the hurt in his face and hated herself for causing it but she forced herself to go on. "You do too. You're the Chosen One, Anakin, our hope against the Sith. You can't turn your back on your destiny!"

A long, terrible silence fell. Slowly the calm, remote Jedi mask formed over Anakin's face. "You're right," he said, "I can't. I apologize your Highness, I should not have spoken as I did."

"No. No, it's better that you did. Now we known exactly where we stand." She fought to keep her lips from trembling. She mustn't break down, she mustn't cry. "I'm sorry, Ani."

"It's not your fault, your Highness." He bowed, "Good night, your Highness."

She listened to his footsteps die away down the long marble floored corridor. Finally she staggered over to the settee and collapsed next to the brown Jedi robe he'd left behind. She pulled it to her, wrapped it around herself. Cold, so cold. Oh, Anakin!

Blind with pain he somehow found his way outside, onto the terrace overlooking the gardens, not the one where they'd shared their first - and last - kiss. Gradually he became aware of his Master's presence, serene, undemanding, immensely comforting.

Anakin swallowed hard and managed to get the words out. "Master, I'm in love with Padme."

"That is not exactly news to me, Padawan," Qui-Gon said gently.

Anakin's face cracked in a painful grimace. "No, I've been pretty obvious haven't I?"

"Fairly." A faint hint of amusement colored the Master's voice, disappearing in his next words: "I'm sorry, Ani, I know how much it hurts."

Anakin shook his head. "You can't."

A silence. The Master moved to lean casually on the railing beside Anakin his deepset eyes on the moonlit garden below. "Can't I?" He mused. More silence. "You know Depa Billaba."

Anakin blinked. "Yes, Master." He'd always liked the gentle Chalactan Councillor. Her dark eyes and soft voice had always reminded him of his mother which had been a real comfort to a bereft, homesick little Padawan ten odd years ago.

Qui-Gon said in his deep, gentle voice; "Many years ago, when she was a young knight and I not much older we seriously considered leaving the Jedi - together."

Anakin stared, well and truly jarred out of his slough of self-pity. "You and Councillor Billaba were in love?"

The Master nodded, face unreadable, masked by a sharp chiascuro of shadow and moonlight. "Very much so."

Anakin swallowed again and asked hesitantly: "But..but you stayed?"

Qui-Gon nodded. "We agreed it was the will of the Force we remain in the Order." he said with his usual simplicity. "It was a hard decision, and a painful one but it was the right choice. We have no regrets." The Master's eyes caught the moonlight, gleaming as he turned his head to study his Apprentice. "Do you feel you have made the right decision, Anakin?"

"No - yes - I don't know!"

Qui-Gon straightened to give his apprentice a stern look. "Still your mind and listen for the Force. What is Its will?"

Anakin closed his eyes, disciplining himself to calm he focused and the answer came, clear and completely impossible. "The Force brought you to me on Tatooine," he said slowly. "It is Its will that I learn the Jedi Way from you." He opened his eyes to look at his Master with something like despair. "But it brought Padme and me together too. It wants me to be with her - I feel it. But I can't do both - it's impossible!"

"Not at all," Qui-Gon said calmly. "If it is the Force's will that I train you, I will. Inside the Jedi Order - or outside of it."

It took Anakin a moment or two to comprehend that and when he did it all but took his breath away. "No! No, Master, I can't ask that of you!"

Heavy eyebrows lifted slightly. "You have asked nothing of me, Anakin. The Force commands and we both obey."

But it wasn't that simple for Anakin. He couldn't let his Master throw away a lifetime's commitment and give up the only family, the only home he'd ever known. It was unthinkable. Suddenly Anakin understood very well why Padme had refused him. "It's not just my decision, Master. Padme doesn't want to. She says she has more important things to do than fall in love."

Qui-Gon folded his lips into a grim line. "Queen Amidala has much to learn."

Jobal looked into the Queen's chamber to say good night to her daughter only to find she had not yet come up to bed. Slightly concerned she searched the palace until she found Padme huddled on a settee in a small hearth room, a brown Jedi robe clutched around her despite the warmth.

"Sweetheart?" Black eyes dilated in an ashen face turned blindly towards her and Jobal gasped, sweeping in to gather her child into her arms. "Oh my baby, what is it, what is it?"

"Anakin...we can't...we can't...oh Mom, it hurts so much!" and she began to cry, wrackingly, despairingly, face buried in her mother's
shoulder.

Jobal rocked her, crooning foolish words of comfort, trying to hide her own despair. Oh, Padme, Padme, why must you torture yourself so? Why - why, can't you put yourself first - just once? For that poor boy's sake as well as your own.

A very concerned Eirtae insisted Amidala take a sleeping draught when she finally came up to bed. For once she had acceeded gladly -
anything to avoid lying awake all night with that scene in the hearth room going round and round in her head! But as a consequence she slept much later than usual, waking the next morning feeling groggy and somehow unreal. Breakfast in bed, served by
worried but decently restrained handmaidens, cleared her head a little but the feeling of unreality persisted.

She pulled on a robe and wandered the halls of her palace retreat like a ghost, and feeling every bit as insubstantial and detached. She drifted finally out onto the terrace overlooking the lake to find Anakin there, standing with his eyes closed in meditation. She hesitated and started to turn back.

"Don't go."

"I don't want to disturb you."

"Your presence is soothing."

So she stayed and moved closer, hoping to pick up some of the centered calm and certainty radiating from him. After a long moment he opened his eyes and looked down at her in concern. "Are you all right?"

"I don't know." she put an unsteady hand to her forehead. "I feel so strange, Ani. My kingdom, the Republic, the crisis - they all seem so far away... unreal, like a dream."

Anakin frowned worriedly He put a big, warm square hand over hers on her forehead and the frown deepened.

"It's like when I was a little girl, studying at the Royal Academy," she realized suddenly. "I used to read the biographies of previous Kings and Queens seeping myself in their times and their troubles until it was like I was living them too. And when I had to stop reading for a meal or a deportment class I felt just the way I do now - unreal. As if my life as Lady Amidala, student at the Royal Academy, was something out of a book and the life I'd been reading about was the real one." Suddenly she was terribly frightened. "What's wrong with me, Ani?"

"You've had a bad shock, Padme, an emotional crisis," He answered grimly, "which is partly my fault." she started to protest but he went on over her: "And the drug you took last night didn't help."

"I couldn't have slept without it."

"Probably not." he conceded. He perched himself on the stone railing, bringing himself down to her eye level, and continued clinically;
"Your real trouble is you're not one person but two; Queen Amidala of the Naboo and Padme Naberrie. For most of your life this hasn't been a problem, Padme was content to live Amidala's life. But that's changed, now she wants her turn. The disassociation you're experiencing is the result of the cleavage between your two selves; each pulling in a different direction." He made a quick grimace. "I didn't help but I didn't cause the problem either, this has been building for a long time - you just haven't let yourself notice."

She tried to smile. "Padme's right, it is her turn." Despairing tears filled her eyes. "But Amidala can't just walk away, not now of all
times. Oh, Ani, what am I going to do?"

He started to shake his head helplessly then his eyes went over her shoulder - and he was pushing her aside, putting himself between her and a Red Guard whose force pike was lowered to attack.

The guardsman lunged and Amidala screamed in horror but Anakin had dodged aside in time and suddenly his sabre was blazing in his
hand though he certainly hadn't been wearing it. He circled, trying to draw the guardsman away from Amidala but it didn't work. The man turned on her and somehow Anakin was between them again catching the pike on his blade. The brief fight was far too fast for her untrained eye to follow but suddenly the Red Guard was down, disarmed, and Anakin bending over him.

She lowered the hands she'd had pressed to her mouth and tried to find her voice but then Anakin was spinning away from the man and sprinting towards her. He caught her up in his arms, sprang onto the railing and off it before a blast of wind and heat hit them, blowing them, tumbling, far out over the lake before they finally hit the water.

Amidala must have blacked out for a few seconds. When she came to she was secure in the curve of Anakin's arm and being towed with strong firm strokes towards the palace pier. "Ani -"

"Easy, Padme, I've got you, everything's going to be all right."

The odd thing was she believed him. Anakin hoisted her onto the pier then pulled himself up beside her. She shakily pushed wet hair out of her face and saw black smoke rising from the ruins of the terrace above them, and her parents and handmaidens and what looked like the entire staff running towards them.

Ruwee and Jobal reached her first. "I'm all right." she gasped, half smothered by her parents' frantic embrace, "I'm fine." then abruptly
panic smote her. "The children! Where are the children?"

...

"Fortunately the children had been taken for a picnic on the island. The attempted assassin was the only casualty. Her Royal Highness and my Padawan were shaken but unhurt." Qui-Gon said soothingly.

The holograph of Chancellor Palpatine looked sick. "One of my own men, I can't believe it. I picked every one of those boys personally.
I've known some of them all their lives -"

"The man was not acting on his own volition, your Excellency," Qui-Gon assured him, "but on an implanted compulsion. It was the conflict in his mind as he tried to fight it that alerted Anakin." He continued crisply; "Lieutenant Farang has confined himself and his men to quarters as we have no way of knowing how many of them might be effected." He paused again to select his words with care. "Your Excellency, we don't know who did this or when. The entire Red Guard may have been suborned - you could be in
considerable danger."

Palpatine buried his head in his hands. "This is a nightmare!" He took a deep breath and straightened up. "What do you recomend, Master Jedi?"

"That you disband the Red Guard at once and send its members off Coruscant." Qui-Gon said at once, adding quickly, seeing the protest in the Chancellor's face. "It's for their own good as well as your safety, Excellency. Isolated from possible triggers the compulsion will dissipate in time."

Palpatine massaged his temples. "I see your point, Master Jedi, but what possible reason can I give for such a drastic move? Certainly not the truth! From what you say my boys are morally blameless and I won't have their careers ruined by this."

"I understand, sir." Qui-Gon considered then said carefully. "The Red Guard has always been - controversial. You could say you've decided to disband it as a gesture of conciliation."

Palpatine gave a tired semblance of a smile. "Yes, that would work. Certainly there will be no problem finding good posts for my poor boys with the Republic in the state it's in." He frowned at Qui-Gon. "And what of her Majesty? If my own guard has been compromised then who can we trust?"

"No one." the Master agreed, equally grimly. "I intend to isolate her Highness, along with her handmaidens and her parents, in the Keep of Forst - your Excellency knows the place?"

"Of course - I am a Naboo! Nothing and no one could reach her there. Especially with two Jedi on guard."

Qui-Gon bowed. "Exactly, your Excellency." a pause. "If I may ask - has there been any word from Master Kenobi?"

"Nothing specific, but according to your Council he is making progress. They expect to have a report for me very shortly."

"That is good to hear. Hopefully this will all be over soon."

"I certainly hope so, I can't take much more of this!" Palpatine produced another weak semblance of a smile. "Please tell her Majesty how relieved I am she is safe, and that I am very sorry."

...

"It's not the Chancellor's fault. Or even that poor guard's." Amidala shivered. "Who could do such a thing?"

"A Sith." Anakin answered grimly and shivered in turn. "The stench of the Dark Side was all over him - but he's free of it now. The corruption came from outside, not from within, the Force recieved him."

Amidala wasn't altogether sure what that meant but for some reason it comforted her. She turned back to the Master. "So you want to set Sache up as the target again."

"That is my job, your Highness." Sache said, before Qui-Gon could answer. She grinned. "Besides, it's fun to order Eirtae and Rabe around." the other two handmaidens mock glared at her.

They were in Amidala's huge bedroom, the Queen lying on the bed with her handmaidens grouped on one side, the Jedi facing her on the other, and her parents sitting on the bed itself, Jobal holding her hand.

"But what about Padme?" Ruwee demanded. "If she's not to go with us to Forst where is she going?"

"To Anakin's family on Tatooine." the Master answered.

"But won't that be dangerous for them?" Amidala asked Anakin.

He shrugged. "How? Nobody will know you're there." He turned reassuringly to Ruwee and Jobal. "My stepfather's moisture farm is way out in the backlands, far from the Hutts, and I'll be with her - just in case."

...

They broke through into normal space near a red planet surrounded by a cloud of asteroids. "Well here we are." said Obi-Wan. "Wherever here may be."

Jacen glanced at his computer readout. "Geonosis, Master."

"A Separatist world." Obi-Wan mused. "So Queen Amidala's 'feeling' was correct."

The Jedi fighter disengaged from its booster ring and orbited towards the planet still tracking Fett, a bright green dot on the fighter's
scanner. Abruptly it changed direction. "Uh-oh. I think Fett's spotted us, Master, he's veering into the asteroid field."

"A daring tactic," Obi-Wan observed. "Keep on him, Padawan."

Jacen did, pulling closer as concealment was no longer necessary. Fett was good but - "He won't be able to keep this up long."

"No." his Master agreed. "Keep an eye out for - sonic charge!"

The fighter spiralled away from the glittering, oncoming device. It detonated with a flash and Jacen opened her up full throttle, dodging
the debris of smashed asteroids as well as the wavefront of the sonic pulse. But he didn't lose Fett.

"Here we go again." said Jacen as the Bounty Hunter released a second charge. He looped around the expanding blast field, eluding whizzing meteors, and was right back on Fett's tail. "Shall I fire, Master?"

Before Obi-Wan could answer the Bounty Hunter's ship ducked into a crater in on of the larger asteroids. "Follow him."

"It's a trap, Master," Jacen said, obeying.

"Of course. But we can't risk losing him now."

The fighter twisted through the labyrinthine interior of the asteroid, emerged on the far side - and were surrounded by a sleet of hot gold blaster fire as Fett swooped down on them from behind. Jacen evaded, barely.

"Blast! This is why I hate flying."

"Sorry, Master."

He could feel Obi-Wan's smile though he couldn't see it. "That was a general observation, not a criticism, Padawan. We knew we were flying into an ambush."

Arfour shrieked in electronic alarm as a glancing strike on the starboard wing just missed him.

"Steady Arfour." said Jacen.

"Ah, he's releasing a homing torpedo. Excellent." said the Master calmly.

Jacen hit the emergency boosters, weaving among the rolling asteroids, the torpedo hot on their tail.

"And he's not pursuing - even better. A little more distance please, Padawan."

Jacen didn't bother to acknowledge the command, his attention fully occupied.

A pair of huge, cratered rocks rolled into their path, little more than a hairspace between them - but enough.

"Arfour, prepare to jettison the spare parts cannisters." Obi-Wan ordered, a beat. "Release them now!" And the flat silhouetted Jedi fighter streaked between the two asteroids as space exploded behind it.

Jacen knew what to do. He grappled onto the nearest large rock and killed everything but basic life support. Breathing and pulse had just enough time to return to normal before Obi-Wan spoke.

"I think we've waited long enough. Follow him in, Padawan."

"Yes, Master."

"Very well done, Jacen."

"Thank you, Master."