Thank you to the 10 people who reviewed the last chapter. Yay, it's summer vacation. This chapter is going to cover Chapters 24 through 28 (though skipping some chapters). I hope that you enjoy this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.
Chapter 52
"But I want to go with you," Luke's innocent, naïve voice caused Obi-Wan to turn around and look at the young man who was the son of the man who was his brother. He smiled a little because Luke reminded him so much of Anakin that it hurt.
"Your destiny lies along a different path from mine," he said gently. "Stay here, Luke."
Luke opened his mouth to protest but decided against it and Obi-Wan turned around before making his way out of the room. He headed straight toward the room where the tractor beam was located avoiding the stormtroopers easily. It wasn't long before he reached the room and, when he entered it, he immediately made his way toward the terminal. Walking around the terminal, he gingerly lowered the lever to turn off the tractor beam.
A stormtrooper walked into the open at that moment with another one at his side. "Do you know what's going on?" he asked.
"Maybe it's another drill," the second stormtrooper said.
Obi-Wan used the Force to distract the troopers before slipping out behind them while they were distracted.
Unfortunately, it wasn't long before he met up with Vader. Clad in a metal suit that was the only way he could survive, his breath coming out as rasps and the dark side coiling around him like a predator ready to attack, there was no semblance of the young man that Obi-Wan had grown to love as a brother.
"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan," Vader said coolly. "We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master."
"Only the master of evil, Darth," Obi-Wan replied igniting his lightsaber. At the moment in time when this duel actually occurred, Obi-Wan believed his own words having seen Vader's actions as proving Padmé's last words false.
They fought throughout the Death Star, their lightsabers clashing but the harsh life of Tatooine in which he had little to no lightsaber practice as well as the fact that Obi-Wan was only defending himself and not seeking to defeat Vader left him unable to best his former apprentice. He was only stalling for time, allowing Luke and his companions enough time to escape the Death Star before Vader discovered the boy.
Their duel took them to the hall near the hangar where the Millennium Falcon was and that was when Obi-Wan caught sight of Luke, Han Solo, Princess Leia and the two droids hurrying toward the Falcon.
"Your powers are weak, old man," Vader said coolly.
"You can't win, Darth," Obi-Wan said calmly turning to face the Dark Lord. "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Vader snarled and Obi-Wan closed his eyes as Vader's blood-red lightsaber slashed toward him…
Obi-Wan broke out of his sleep by a beeping on the console and someone gently shaking his shoulders. "Master," Anakin's voice said. "Master, time to wake up. We're here."
Obi-Wan blinked before looking over at his brother who was gazing at him. He examined his brother even though his most recent dream, no memory of what occurred in the future he came from, continued to cling to his consciousness. He would likely always remember what happened in the future he came from but that did not mean he wanted to remember.
"Are you all right?" Anakin asked looking concerned when Obi-Wan didn't respond.
"I'm fine Anakin," Obi-Wan said quietly straightening up before examining the asteroid they were flying toward that the Escarte Commerce Guild facility was orbiting. "I honestly was not picturing an actual asteroid when that Xi Charrian said it was an asteroid mining operation."
Anakin smiled a little before turning his gaze to the facility. "It was TeeCee-Sixteen who told us that," he said. "Maybe something was lost in translation."
The protocol droid had been sent to Coruscant for further debriefing by Republic Intelligence and R2-D2 was on Belderone, where technicians were seeing to damages he had sustained during the battle there. Obi-Wan and Anakin had the old white ship to themselves and had exchanged their Jedi robes for outfits more suitable to itinerant spacers.
Named for the asteroid belt in which it was prominent, the Escarte Commerce Guild facility orbited between massive multi-mooned gas giants in an otherwise unhabited star system two hyperspace jumps from Belderone, on the Rimward side of the Perlemian Trade route. Oblate when mining operation had commenced twenty years earlier, Escarte was now a concave hemisphere, heavily cratered by the forces of nature and the gargantuan labor droids of the Commerce guild. Satisfied that every bit of ore had been extracted from Escarte, the guild had converted the asteroid's consequent quarries, tunnels, and shafts into processing centers and field offices. State-of-the-art tractor beam technology allowed the guild to capture small asteroids and draw them directly into the facility, rather than have to use tugs or engage in on-site mining. In many ways, Escarte was the ore-mining equivalent of the Tibanna-gas-mining facilities that floated in the dense atmosphere of Bespin, far across the stars.
Unfriendly space, the belt was defended by Commerce Guild corvettes and fleet patrol craft modeled on the Geonosian starfighter. Regardless Republic Intelligence had managed to insert one of its agents on Escarte. Obi-Wan and Anakin hadn't been told when or even if they were going to make contact with the agent, but moments after leaving Belderone they had been informed that Thal K'sar—the Bith artisan who allegedly had designed the hyperwave transceiver and holoprojector for Gunray's mechno-chair—had been arrested, on charges yet to be learned.
An alert chime sounded from the cruisers instrument console.
"Escarte," Anakin said, "demanding that we identify ourselves and state our intent."
"We're freelance merchants in search of work," Obi-Wan reminded him.
Anakin activated the comm and said as much into the microphone.
"Corellian cruiser," a husky voice returned, "negative on your request to dock. Escarte has no job openings. Suggest you try Ansion or Ord Mantell."
Obi-Wan examined the corvette that was coming about off to starboard.
"Intercept vector," Anakin said. "Any last-minute instructions, Master?"
Obi-Wan turned his gaze to Anakin. "Stay with the original plan. Remember, in order to get close to Thal K'sar, we need to get arrested. Just try not to do too many suicidal moves."
Anakin's lips curved into a lopsided grin. "Spoilsport," he said. "But all right, hang on."
Obi-Wan was already hanging on as he recalled what happened the last time he went through this. He was able to remain more or less upright in the chair as Anakin firewalled the thrusters and threw the cruiser into a hard turn—not away from the corvette but aimed directly toward it.
The console chimed another alert.
"They're warning us away," Obi-Wan commented.
"Quick flyby. Our way of saying we're not happy about being turned away," Anakin said keeping the cruiser on course.
Obi-Wan nodded; Anakin's plan had worked last time so there was no sense in changing something that already worked. Besides, changing something would serve no real purpose.
The corvette grew larger in the viewport. The console continued to chime, in escalating alerts. An instant later, two turbolaser beams streaked across the cruiser's bow.
"It's working, they're not amused," Obi-Wan said clenching his hands on the chair armrests. He definitely did not like flying especially not when Anakin was in the pilot's seat whether it was for show or not.
"We'll just have to try harder," Anakin said.
Dropping the cruiser's nose, Anakin increased speed. He seemed bent on maneuvering directly under the corvette, but at the last moment he pulled back on the control yoke, taking the cruiser through a spiraling, high-boost climb. A fusillade from the corvette's forward batteries narrowly missed clipping the ship's tail.
Two patrol craft rushed in to join the pursuit. With flashes of scarlet light racing alongside, Anakin whipped the cruiser through a teeth-rattling bank and shot for the thick of the asteroid belt.
Obi-Wan gritted his teeth. "Blast, this is why I think it's worse being your passenger than it is being your wingmate," he muttered under his breath.
Anakin had the ship tipped to one side, intent on weaving it through a cluster of rocks, when a laser bolt struck the closest asteroid. Rubble from the explosion peppered the cruiser's shields, but the console displays confirmed that no damage had been done.
Anakin took a firm grip on the control yoke and yanked the cruiser into a turn. The patrol craft clung doggedly, angling to outflank the larger ship, but Anakin kept cheating the turn tighter and tighter, forcing the fighters to break off. The cruiser had no sooner realigned itself when it gave a sudden lurch, snapping Obi-Wan and Anakin back into their seats, then forward into the console. Anakin reached over his head to make adjustments and the cruiser raced forward once more, only to freeze then tremble.
Well, at least Anakin made them work for it again, Obi-Wan thought.
"Looks like we're caught in a tractor beam," Anakin said a long-suffering look in his eyes. "I thought that was impossible." He stretched out a hand but, before he could do anything, Obi-Wan placed a hand on his.
"Don't try to fight it. The ship won't hold together," he said just as a deep shudder from the bowels of the cruiser reinforced his words.
Anakin clenched his jaw, took a deep breath and let his hands fall to his sides.
Obi-Wan turned his gaze to the distant facility before smiling. "Look at it this way," he said. "At least you made them work for it."
Gentle with the cruiser, the tractor beam had deposited it in a guild-made crater that was now a docking by. Ordered out of the ship, Anakin and Obi-Wan stood at the foot of the boarding ramp with their hands clamped on top of their heads. Uniformed Neimoidians and Gossams surrounded the cruiser, and a security team comprising of humans, Geonosians and battle droids was marching toward them.
"Definitely not as warm a welcome as on Charros Four," Obi-Wan commented.
"Almost makes me nostalgic for the Xi Charrians," Anakin replied glancing briefly at his former master before turning his gaze back to the security team.
"Keep your hands where we can see them!" the human chief of the security detail shouted as he stepped onto the landing platform. "Make no sudden moves!
"Such drama," Anakin said.
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "No mind tricks," he cautioned.
"Spoilsport."
The light-complected, blond security officer was as tall as Anakin and wider in the shoulders. A Commerce Guild badge affixed to the collar of his gray uniform showed him to be a captain in the Escarte Guard. He brought the security detail to a halt when everyone was still three meters from the boarding ramp. At his signal, the Geonosians spread out to both sides, brandishing wide-muzzled sonic blasters.
The captain looked Anakin and Obi-Wan up and down, then circled them, hands clasped behind his back. Eyeing the ship, he said, "I haven't seen one of these in a while. But judging by the retrofitted cannons, it'd have to guess you're not ambassadors of goodwill."
"We've been forced to adapt to the times," Obi-Wan said calmly.
The captain scowled at him. "What's your business in this sector?"
"We were hoping to find freelance work," Anakin said.
"You were informed otherwise. Why create problems for yourselves by harassing one of our corvettes?"
"We felt that you'd been impolite—when all we wanted was to introduce ourselves."
"Then this has all been a misunderstanding?"
"Exactly," Obi-Wan said.
The captain shook his head in amusement. "In that case we'd be glad to show you around—starting with the detention level!" he swung to two other humans in the detail. "Stun-cuff these comedians and search them for concealed weapons."
"Surely we can just pay a fine and be on our way, yes?" Obi-Wan asked as the magnetic cuffs snapped into place around his wrists.
"Tell it to the judiciary."
Frisks completed, the two humans stepped away. "They're clean."
The captain nodded. "That's one thing in their favor. Search the ship and impound anything of value. And alert detention that I have two for containment." Drawing a blaster from his hip holster, he motioned Anakin and Obi-Wan toward the turbolifts.
The crater docking bay was accessed by several corridors, some unchanged since the days they had served as mining tunnels, others reinforced by plasteel girders and dressed up with ferrocrete panels. It was apparent also that some of the turbolifts were housed in former mine shafts.
The captain indicated an unoccupied lift and followed Obi-wan and Anakin indie. When two Gossams hurried for the same lift, he waved them away. As soon as the door closed, he lowered his weapon and spoke with a sudden urgency.
"We have to make this quick."
"You're Travale," Obi-Wan said calmly.
"Things have gotten more complicated with the Bith. He's slated for execution."
"What'd he do? Murder someone?" Anakin asked.
"Some sort of accounting error."
"Sounds like a harsh punishment," Obi-Wan said.
"Escarte Judiciary claims it wants to make an example of him. But it's clear the charges were trumped up." Travale paused. "Could have something to do with your being here to see him."
Obi-Wan nodded. "He may not be inclined to talk to us."
"My thought, too," said Travale. "But maybe if you could break him out…"
"You could arrange that?" Anakin said.
"I can try."
The turbolift car came to a rest and the door slide open.
"Welcome to the detention level," Travale said easily falling back into his role before he shoved Obi-wan out into the anteroom beyond. Behind a semicircle of consoles stood five surly nonhumans—tusked and bald-domed Quara Aqualish—wearing Commerce Guild uniforms and sporting heavy sidearms.
"Show our two guests to cell four-eight-one-six," Travale told the sergeant among them.
"Already occupied by the Bith—K'sar."
"Misery loves company."
Executing a crisp about-face, he returned to the turbolift. Emerging from the enclosure of display screens, a four-eyed Aqualish led Obi-Wan and Anakin into a narrow corridor lined with detention cells. Thirty meters along, he stopped to enter a code into a wall-mounted touch pad and the bloodstained door to 4816 slid open.
Square and squalid it contained neither cots nor refreshers.
The smell of waste was almost overpowering.
"Word of warning," the Aqualish said in Basic, "the quality of the cuisine is surpassed only by the cleanliness of the accommodations."
"We'll hope to be released before lunch then," Obi-Wan replied.
Thal K'sar was slumped in a corner, his long-fingered hands cuffed in front of him. Slender even for a Bith, he was well dressed and seemingly unharmed. Anakin remembered that he had only been arrested the day before.
K'sar glanced up but said nothing.
"Good fix," Anakin said loudly when the cell sealed glancing at his former master knowing Obi-Wan would play along. "Good job back there."
Obi-Wan smiled. "You didn't help matters by flooring that security guard."
"Ah, she had it coming." He then ambled over to where K'sar was huddled.
"So what landed you in here?" he asked.
Though surprised to hear his own language spoken by a human, K'sar kept silent. Anakin asked again but the Bith said, in Basic, "It's none of your concern. Please leave me alone."
Anakin shrugged and rejoined Obi-Wan.
"You have to be patient, Anakin," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin nodded before he and Obi-Wan sat down backs pressed against the wall of the cell.
Less than a standard hour had passed when they heard voices in the corridor. The door grated open, revealing Travale and two Aqualish security officers. Without a word, the aliens standing to either side of Travale grabbed him by the arms and hurled him headlong into the cell.
Obi-Wan caught him before he hit the floor.
"Another unexpected development?" Anakin asked.
Travale was cuffed and rattled. "My cover's blown," he said quietly. "Don't know how, or by whom."
"This isn't a coincidence," Obi-Wan said. "Someone is onto us."
"Now what?" Anakin asked.
"Were you able to arrange anything?" The Jedi Master turned his gaze to Travale.
He nodded. "Power failure. Brief, but more than enough time for you to get out of here."
"Us," Anakin amended. "You're coming along."
"I appreciate that." He frowned in uncertainty. "Hope I wasn't wrong in figuring that you two will be able to open the door…manually, I mean."
Obi-Wan smiled a little. "We can open it," he assured him.
"How long before the power fails?" Anakin asked.
"An hour from now." Travale glanced at K'sar. "What about him?"
Anakin stood up and crossed the room. "I know you're not interested in small talk, but we think we may have a way out of here. Does that interest you?"
The Bith's lidless black eyes grew considerably larger. "Yes. Yes! Thank you."
"Just be ready."
Obi-Wan turned his gaze to Travel as he said, "take the tunnel to the left of the guard station. Keep taking lefts until you reach a stairway, then follow that to the docking level."
"You're going a different way?" Anakin asked.
"Someone has to deactivate the tractor beam, or your ship's not leaving. Two levels below this one there's a power coupling station. I know just enough to disable it temporarily."
"I will go with you," Obi-Wan said thinking how coincidental it was that, just before he would have to deactivate a tractor beam here, he had a dream where he was reminded of doing the same thing onboard the Death Star in the future he came from.
"K'sar will be going with you," he added to his former apprentice. "Don't allow him out of your sight."
Anakin nodded.
Travale nodded toward the cell block corridor. "We'll still have the guards to deal with."
"Don't worry about them," Anakin said before he and Obi-Wan snapped the cuffs from their wrists before Obi-Wan did the same with Travale's.
"I love a good plan," Travale said smiling broadly.
An hour later, Obi-Wan and Anakin stood by the door when the cell's grime-encrusted illuminator faltered and died. Obi-Wan used the force to open the door and Travale shook his head in wonderment.
"It never ceases to amaze me," hes aid.
Anakin swung to K'sar. "Now! Hurry!"
The four of them moved into the unlit hall.
"Emergency power should come on shortly," Travale said.
Ahead of them, they could hear the five guards toggling switches on the console and speaking in excited voices. Obi-Wan and Anakin weren't halfway to the anteroom when one of the guards appeared at the end of the narrow corridor. The Aqualish's huge eyes allowed him to see in the dark, but not as well as the Bith, nor as well as the Jedi. Before the guard could realize what was happening, his raised blaster was soaring down the corridor into Anakin's hand while Obi-Wan Force pushed the guard into the anteroom where he slammed into the turbolift wall.
The rest of the guards hurried out from behind the darkened console to counterattack. By then, Obi-Wan and Anakin were on them, dropping them with punches, side kicks, Force pushes; bodies sailed across the anteroom, tumbled over one another, smashed into display screens. One Aqualish managed to get off a shot, but the blaster bolt missed everyone during its mad carom around the room.
The fracas was over almost before it began.
In the red glow of emergency lights, K'sar cast a dumbfounded look around.
"You're Jedi!"
"Two out of three," Travale said.
"But…what are you doing here—on Escarte?"
Anakin pressed his forefinger to his lips with elaborate seriousness. "Republic business." Then into K'sar's hands, he pressed the blaster he had taken from the guard.
K'sar stared at the weapon. "But—"
"I won't need it."
"Here's where we part company," Travale said to Anakin. "Remember: stay left until you reach the stairway."
"Where are you sending him?" K'sar asked.
"Docking Bay Thirty-Six."
The Bith nodded. "I know the way."
Travale chuckled. "This just keeps getting better and better." He swung back to Anakin. "K'sar will also know the way to Docking Bay Forty. That's where we'll be waiting for you. Escarte Control won't be able to bring the tractor beam back online immediately, and judging by the way you fly, you shouldn't have much trouble dodging the patrol craft. But good luck, anyway."
"Thanks but there's no such thing."
Obi-Wan and Travale took off heading toward the power coupling station two floors below the floor they were on. They managed to reach the power coupling station they needed to reach without any incident and were now standing on a narrow gantry that accessed the control panel for the tractor beam.
"Someone's coming," Obi-Wan warned. He hadn't even heard the voices of the security guards before he issued the warning but it wasn't long before the three Geonosian security guards approached the coupling station from a corridor on the far side of the shaft.
"Never a lightsaber when you need one," Travale whispered. "Can you divert them somehow?"
Obi-Wan simply waved his hand and an unidentifiable sound came from the corridor the guards had taken. Whirling around, the three Geonosians hurried off to investigate.
Travale shook his head back and forth in appreciation. "It's a wonder the war isn't over yet."
Obi-Wan shrugged. "No time to waste, let's go," he said nodding toward the tower. Travale walked over to the control panel and Obi-Wan kept an eye out for any guards coming by though he doubted anyone would show up.
"These things are from the future," Travale said as he dialed the coupling power feed to zero. "Fill a ship with enough tractor beam arrays and you could prevent an enemy from jumping to hyperspace."
"Perhaps," Obi-Wan said, "even though there aren't ships large enough for that."
"There will be," Travale said." To ensure that another war doesn't happen."
Anakin swore under his breath. He should have listened to Travale's instructions despite K'sar insisting he knew of where he was going. That was the only reason he had listened to K'sar was because the Bith had seemed so sure of where he was going.
Facing the dwarf spider droid that was rushing in to make the kill, Anakin firmly told himself to focus on the matters at hand. Throwing K'sar to one side, he rolled as the dwarf spider fired. Two glaring bolts gouged a trench in the hewn floor of the tunnel, and the report of the cannon resounded deafeningly from the walls. The head pivoted, photoreceptors finding Anakin and the weapon discharged again.
Anakin slipped himself away. Calling on the Force, he swirled his hands in front of him to prevent the intense heat from engulfing him. Rolling once more, he tried to get underneath the droid's striding legs, but the spider anticipated him, skittered backward, and loosed another burst.
Anakin leapt.
Propelled by the Force, as well as the force of the explosion, he struck the arched ceiling and fell hard to the floor. Blacking out for a moment, he awoke to find the droid charging toward him, reorienting the smaller of its cannons to place him in the crosshairs. Catapulting to his feet, he flew forward intent on ripping the power cells from beneath the droid's dome but, again, the droid countered by retreating and rearing up. Falling short of the mark, Anakin curled his body, counting on momentum to carry him forward.
The spider continued to retreat, then dropped back on all fours, traversing its cannon.
Anakin feigned a sidestep before hurling himself completely under the droid, but still couldn't find cover. He heard the sound of the spider's dome rotating, then the sound of the muzzle of the long cannon hitting the scabrous wall. Realizing that it had entered a section of the tunnel too narrow to allow for a half turn, the droid stamped its legs in frustration, then began to back itself into the wider stretch.
Without a clear plan in mind, Anakin chased it, heard the dome begin to pivot once more, then the sound of a hand blaster set on full automatic.
Ten meters down the corridor, K'sar was on his feet, the heavy weapon held in front of him in a two-handed grip, firing directly into the spider's bulging red photoreceptors and power cells. Confused, the droid tried desperately to spin around, but there wasn't room. Loose rock calved from the walls as the barrel of the cannon struck gain and gain. All the while, the Bith continued to advance, emptying the blaster's power cell. An electronic shriek tore from somewhere inside the spider, and sparks began to geyser from its perforated dome. The four legs danced in nager for a moment longer, then stopped, and the tunnel began to fill with smoke. Finally the droid collapsed, the tip of its cannon slamming into the floor at K'sar's feet.
Anakin eased around the smoking machine and gently removed the blaster from the Bith's shaking grip. The droid's dome pinged as it cooled; a steady susurration escaped the blaster's gas chamber.
"How much farther?" Anakin asked after a moment.
"We're close," K'sar said in a daze. "Half a kilometer or so past the bend."
Can you make it?"
K'sar nodded and they hurried through the final stretch, emerging from a tunnel opening at the rear of the docking bay .A hundred meters away, the cruiser was sitting just where the tractor beam had left it. Few guards were about and most of them were battle droids.
Anakin took a moment to study the disposition of the droids, then turned to K'sar, who seemed to have recovered from the ordeal in the tunnel.
"No matter what I do, I want you to head straight for the boarding ramp. Don't stop running until you're inside the ship, understand?"
K'sar nodded.
Anakin leapt out of the corridor, deliberately calling attention to himself to distract the droids from firing at K'sar. Evading blaster bolts with perfectly timed jumps and rolls, he got close enough to the droids to wave some of them into others, toppling them as if they had been picked p by a strong wind. From one, he called a blaster rifle into his own hands, and mowed down those that were still on their feet.
Following K'sar up the boarding ramp, he rushed into the cockpit and began to power up the cruiser's defensive systems. Bolts from the droids blasters ricocheted from the fuselage and transparisteel panels. Traversing the cruiser's fore and aft cannons, Anakin fired, burying the droids under huge chunks of ferrocrete blown from the walls and ceiling.
When the light systems were online, he left the cockpit to search for K'sar, who was sitting on the floor of the main hold, panting.
"Why aren't you raising the ship?" the Bith asked. "Guild corvettes are probably already on the way."
"I'll raise the ship soon," Anakin said. "We need to talk first."
"Talk? About what?"
"A hyperwave transceiver you designed fourteen years ago."
"Fourteen years ago? I can barely remember last week."
"Think harder." Anakin barely managed to gain control of his anger but it apparently still showed on his face for the Bith looked a little afraid.
"Why are you doing this to me? I just saved your life."
"I know you did and I thank you for that, K'sar," Anakin said finally managing to control his anger. Although it has always been a chore for him, Anakin liked to think he was getting better. "However, I need to know everything you know about the transceiver. It would have been a special order. More than the usual secrecy. You would have been well paid. You installed it in a mechno-chair."
K'sar started. His wrinkled mouth puckered and he stared at Anakin in terror. "Now it all comes together—my arrest and imprisonment, the death sentence! The transceiver…that's what brought you here."
"Who placed the order?"
"I suspect you already know the answer."
"How did he contact you?"
"Through my personal comlink. He needed someone of great skill. Someone willing to flow his every instruction without question. The designs he sent were like nothing I had ever seen. The end result was almost…artistic."
"Why did he allow you to live—afterward?"
"I was never sure. I knew I'd been useful. I thought he might require additional devices but I never heard from him again."
Anakin thought about. "If you're right about your arrest, that means he has been keeping an eye on you. Tell me the rest and we might be able to keep you from his long reach."
"That's everything!"
Anakin frowned because he could sense that it wasn't. K'sar was holding something back. He needed to figure out what the Bith was keeping from him but how could he convince the Bith to tell him the rest.
"I can feel you're not telling me everything, K'sar," Anakin said. "You can tell me and we will do what we can to protect you."
"I've told you everything," K'sar insisted.
"No you haven't. Don't try to lie to a Jedi, K'sar."
The Bith hesitated and eyed Anakin warily.
"I can't help you if you don't help me, K'sar," Anakin said getting a little impatient with the Bith but trying not to let it show. The last thing he wanted was to scare the Bith.
The Bith lowered his head. "I built two of them," he said finally.
"Who received the second one? One of the Separatist leaders?"
"No, it went to Sienar."
"Raith Sienar?" Anakin echoed surprised.
"To Sienar Advanced Projects. It was designed for some sort of experimental spacecraft they were building."
"Who was the craft meant for?"
"I don't know. I knew the pilot Sienar hired to deliver the ship though."
"Knew?"
I don't know if she's still alive. But I know where you could begin to look."
Anakin nodded. "Thank you, K'sar," he said.
A while later, Anakin was sitting in the pilot's seat waiting for Obi-Wan and Travale when he heard Travale shout, "Good to be alive," in the main hold of the ship.
Obi-Wan stepped into the cockpit before sitting down and strapping into the copilot's seat. "Any problems?" he asked.
"The usual close calls," Anakin said evasively. "Obviously, you were successful at disabling the tractor beam."
"Not a skill I expect to draw on again, but yes, thanks to Travale."
Anakin glanced at the console, waiting for the cofferdam telltale to go off, then called on the thrusters to move the cruiser away from Escarte. Off to port, there were two Guild corvettes dead in space.
"And I thought for sure we weren't out of this yet," the Jedi Master added.
Anakin shrugged. "Anticlimactic."
Obi-wan looked at him. "Were you able to question K'sar?"
Anakin nodded. "We have a new lead," he said. "Hyperspace coordinates coming in."
Banking widely, the cruiser left Escarte and sluggish light behind.
Darth Sidious walked over to where his current apprentice was standing thinking over everything that had occurred since the war began. More importantly, he was thinking about the disruption to his carefully laid plans. He knew that someone was disrupting them; Gunray's capture on Cato Neimoidia was not supposed to happen.
Sidious thought it was Kenobi and thought it was only luck but it might be a good idea to take out Kenobi. He was already planning on it because he needed to get Skywalker to shift to the dark side. Though he wasn't as close to the dark side as Sidious would have liked, he and Kenobi were close, closer than Sidious would have liked, and he knew he could use that to his advantage. Kill Kenobi, sever the ties between them, and the resulting shock and anger would drive Skywalker to the edge of the darkness. Then Sidious would simply need a way to push Skywalker over the edge and he would win.
Now, he first needed to take care of Kenobi.
"Lord Sidious," Darth Tyranus said, bowing slightly at the waist. "I spared no haste in leaving Kaon."
"And took a great risk you did, my apprentice."
"A calculated risk, my lord."
"Do you fear that the Republic has become so adept at eavesdropping that they can now listen in on our private transmissions?"
"No, my lord. As I told you, the Republic has probably deciphered the code we have been using to communicate with our…partners, shall we say. Though I was not expecting Gunray's capture."
"Neither was I. That was a surprise, like other events that have occurred since the war began, and I do not like surprises."
Tyranus nodded. "But I am confident that the Intelligence division knew nothing of our plans for dealing with the Bith at Escarte."
"Then my instructions were carried out?"
"They were."
"And still you have come here."
"Some matters are best discussed in real time."
Sidious nodded. "Then let us speak of these things in real time."
They walked in silence to a balcony that overlooked the desolate sprawl of The Works. In the far distance, the glassy towers of the Senate District disappeared into clouds.
"I suspect that the planned disappearance of Thal K'sar did not go according to plan," Sidious said finally.
"Regretfully, my lord. He was taken into custody, but our guild confederates at Escarte failed to act quickly enough. Hours from execution, K'sar was rescued and spirited from the facility by a Republic Intelligence agent, who had the help of two Jedi.
Sidious gritted his teeth as a surge of anger shot through him. "I would hear more of this, Lord Tyranus," he said.
"I have sicne learned that these same two Jedi recently visited the Xi Char world of Charros Four."
"The engraver of the mechno-chair…"
"The same."
Sidious pondered what Tyranus said for a moment. "From Viceroy Gunray to the Xi Char engraver to the Bith who implemented my designs for the hyperwave transceiver and holoprojector…"
"The Jedi mean to expose you, my lord. It is a good thing Gunray fears you too much to reveal to the Jedi who you are or else they might have already succeeded."
"And even if they should expose me?" Sidious snapped. "Do you think that would bring an end to what I have set in motion?" Though he couldn't be sure, not with some meddlesome fool disrupting so many of the plans he set in motion.
"No, my lord. But this is unexpected."
Sidious eyed his apprentice from beneath the hood of his cloak. "Yes. Yes, it is, as you say, unexpected." He returned his gaze to the far-off towers. "Someday, I may choose to reveal myself to the galaxy, but not now. This war must be made to continue a while longer. There are worlds and person we still need to convert to our side."
"I understand."
"Tell me, who is conducting this…search?" Sidious already had an idea but he wished to be sure.
Tyranus exhaled. "Skywalker and Kenobi."
Sidious was silent as his suspicions were confirmed. "The so-called Chosen One and the Jedi with enough good fortune to almost make one believe in luck." Though Tyranus likely thought Sidious was talking about Skywalker, Sidious wasn't entirely. Yes, he was referring to Skywalker when he spoke of the Chosen One but when referring to the Jedi with enough good fortune to make one believe in luck, he was also talking about Kenobi. That was only because of his suspicions about who was meddling with his plans.
"I am displeased by this turn of events, Lord Tyranus. Greatly displeased," he added.
"My lord, the Jedi may search for others who contributed to fashioning the communications devices you distributed to Gunray, myself, and others and they may get more information out of Gunray however unlikely that is. Also, there is the matter of Grievous's defeat at Belderone.
Sidious waved the mention of the defeat away. "Do not trouble yourself about Belderone. It may suit our ultimate purpose to have the Republic believe that they have chased us from their precious core. As regards your concern for keeping secret my whereabouts, I am moved. But here, too, I begin to see a way to engineer events in our favor."
He paused as he stretched out with the Force and, though still uncertain, he could see the trail the two Jedi will follow. Then he said, "Yes, I begin to see the blazes along the trail Skywalker and Kenobi will follow."
He turned to Tyranus, grinning malevolently. "Their single-mindedness will deliver them into our hands, Lord Tyranus. We will set our trap for them on Naos Three."
Tyranus looked skeptical. "As remote a world as can be found in known space, my lord."
"Nevertheless, Kenobi ad young Skywalker will find their way to it."
"What would you have me do?"
"Nothing more than make arrangements—for you are needed elsewhere. Employ outsiders."
"Tyranus nodded. "It is done."
Sidious decided that this would be his chance to deal with Kenobi and bring Skywalker to the edge of the dark side. Also, if his suspicions about Kenobi really were true then this would be his chance to stop the disruption of his plans.
"One small addendum. See to it that Obi-wan Kenobi ceases to be an irritant," Sidious said sneering out the name.
"He represents so forceful a threat to our plans?
I suspect he does but I have no proof, Sidious thought and decided against pointing that out. "No," he said instead, "but Skywalker does. And Kenobi…Kenobi has been as a father to him. Orphan Skywalker once and for all, and he will shift."
"Shift?"
"Closer to the dark side."
"An apprentice?"
Sidious gazed at him. "In good time, lord Tyranus. All in good time."
Obi-Wan grimaced as he and Anakin traveled through the muck that passed for Naos III's street. Behind him, he heard Anakin's legs sinking into the murk and he glanced over his shoulder at his tall former apprentice. Naos III; the first time Obi-Wan had come to that planet, they had been attacked, chased, shot at and Obi-Wan caught trapped in a metal claw. It was definitely not a pleasant experience.
"What is that?" Anakin asked suddenly and Obi-Wan glanced at him before looking at the pinkish strand that refused to let go of Anakin's boot.
"It could be something alive, something that was once alive or something that came from something alive," he commented.
"Well, whatever it is, it's going to have to catch a ride on someone else."
Obi-Wan shoved his hand deeper into the sleeves of his robe. "I did say there were worse places than Tatooine."
Lining both sides of the puddle street were low-slung prefab buildings, their alloy roofs capped with crystalline snow and bearded with thick icicles. Pieces of a collapsed skyway had been moved to one side of the street, left to marinate in a puddle much like the one Anakin had inadvertently waded into, and fashioned by areas of radiant heating that still functioned beneath the mostly ruined ceramacrete paving.
Anakin began stomping his boot on the solid ice. Ultimately the clingy, unidentifiable pink thing decided that it had enough and flew off into a snowdrift.
"Worse places than Tatooine," he mumbled. "And, what, you feel we need to visit every last one of them?" He said it jokingly before adding more seriously, "When are we going to be allowed to return to Coruscant?"
Obi-Wan knew that he and Anakin were both feeling homesick; both of them wanted to return to Coruscant, return to their wives and, in Obi-Wan's case, return to his children. Anakin's children weren't yet born but Obi-Wan knew that it wouldn't be long. He was ready to see Anakin's reaction, he was determined to see his brother's reaction; Sidious was not going to win.
Pulling his thoughts back to the situation at hand, he added, "Blame Thal K'sar. He was the one who suggested we should start here."
Anakin gazed around. "I just can't help thinking the next place will be worse."
They both fell silent for a moment, then said in unison: "Almost makes me nostalgic for Escarte."
Anakin winced. "You know it's time to end the partnership when that happens," he said with a smile that suggested he didn't mean his words before he added, "In fact, I could see you and Yoda teaming up. You share the same fondness for caution and lectures."
Obi-Wan smiled as well. "Yes, old Yoda and I are two of a kind."
They continued their slog toward what seemed to be the heart of the place.
For most of its short year, the moon known as Naos III was a frigid little orb with days that never seemed to end. Indigenous herbivores and carnivores had been hunted to extinction early on by colonists from Rodia and Ryloth, lured by the hope of discovering rich veins of ryll spice in Naos III's volcanically heated cave systems. The creatures that one saw most often now were bovine rycrits and woollier-than-normal banthas.
With snow falling harder in Naos III, which was the unoriginal name of the main city of the moon, Obi-Wan and Anakin stopped to get their bearings. Obi-Wan examined the cantina they were standing beside. "We've passed by at least fifteen of those on this street alone," he commented nonchalantly.
Anakin nodded. "If we stop for a drink in each one, we'll be drunk before we reach the bridge."
"They are likely to be our best source of information though."
"As opposed to just looking up her name in the local comm directory/
Obi-Wan smiled. "And a lot more fun."
Anakin grinned. "Fine with me. Where do you want to start?"
Obi-Wan was tempted on just skipping straight to the cantina near the bridge but he decided not to. Though it wasn't likely, something as simple as above which cantina Fa'ale was staying could have changed. For Obi-Wan, it was better to be sure than to jump to a conclusion just because that was how it went the first time around.
He pointed to a random cantina, incidentally the same one they started with last time; The Desperate Pilot.
Four hours later, half drunk and near frozen, the two Jedi entered the final cantina before the bridge. Obi-Wan did say it was unlikely that would have changed but, as he thought earlier, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Brushing snow from the shoulders of their cloaks and lowering the hoods, they scanned the patrons crowding the bar and occupying nearly every table.
"Not a lot to do in Naos Three when you're not fishing," Anakin said.
"I am sure some drinking goes on even during work hours." Replacing two Rodians who stumbled away from the curved bar, they ordered drinks.
Anakin sipped from his glass. "Ten cantinas, as many Lethan females, and every one of them claims to have been born onworld. I'd say we're in for a long stay."
"Possibly," Obi-Wan said calling the bartender over.
Anakin glanced at him. "If you order one more Twi'lek appetizer, I promise I'm going to cut your arm off."
Obi-Wan glanced at his former apprentice and had to chuckle. "I find it flavorful."
Anakin smiled as well before taking another sip. "And speaking of arms."
"We were speaking of arms?"
"We were. At least, I think we were. Anyway, remember in the Outlander Club when you went off to get a drink? Did you have an inkling that Zam Wessel would follow you?"
"I knew she would follow you."
"Implying that shapeshifters have a special fondness for me?"
There's that too, Obi-Wan thought as he said, "With the way you were strutting around, what female could help herself?" Mimicking Anakin's voice, Obi-Wan added, "'Jedi business.'" Though he had been paying attention to Wessel, he had heard Anakin say that even if he didn't already know Anakin would say that.
"Then you admit it—you were using me as bait."
"Of course," Obi-Wan said. "A privilege that comes with being a Master. Besides, you've more than repaid me in kind, in any case."
Anakin raised his glass. "A toast to that."
Seeing the bartender approach, Obi-wan placed a sizable credit ship under his empty glass and slid it forward. "Another drink. And the rest is for you."
An athletic man with red hair that fell almost to his waist, the bartender eyed the credit chip. "Rather large remuneration for such a rudimentary libation. Perhaps you'd permit me to concoct something a trifle more flavorsome."
"What I'd actually prefer is a bit of information."
"Now, how did I guess?"
"We're looking for a Lethan female," Anakin said.
"Who isn't?"
Obi-Wan shook his head. "Strictly business. She would not be a masseuse or a dancer. She used to be a pilot—with a taste for spice. She would also have arrived on Naos Three within the past ten or so years."
The bartender's eyes narrowed. "You mean Genne."
"We know her as Fa'ale Leh. Do you know her?"
"I do."
"Then you know where she can be found." Unlike last time, when he didn't even notice he was performing the Jedi Mind trick, this time he was actually aware of performing it even though he was half-drunk.
The bartender jerked a thump. "Upstairs. Room seven. She said you should go right up."
"She's expecting us?" Anakin said looking confused.
The bartender heaved his massive shoulders in a shrug. "She didn't say who she was expecting. Just that if anyone came looking for her, I should send them up."
After canceling the drink order, Obi-Wan and Anakin walked to the foot of a long flight of stairs. Anakin glanced at his former master. "Jedi mind trick?" he asked.
Obi-Wan shrugged. "I suppose so," he said before adding, "We are likely about to walk into a trap too."
Anakin nodded. "So we should be on guard," he said.
"Yes, we should be on our guard."
Anakin followed Obi-wan as he led the way up the steps and rapped his hand on room seven's green plastoid door.
"Door's unlocked," a voice said in Basic from within.
The two Jedi, once they made sure their lightsabers were in easy reach but out of sight, walked into the chill room.
Wearing trousers, boots and an insulated jacket, Genne—perhaps Fa'ale Leh—was lounging on a narrow bed, her back and lekku against the headboard, long legs extended and crossed at the ankle. Beside her on a small table stood a half-full bottle of what Anakin guessed was the local rocket-fuel homebrew.
Reaching for two clearly unwashed glasses, she said, "Fix you a drink?"
"We're already at the legal limit," Anakin said, vigilant.
She smiled. "Naos Three doesn't have a legal limit, kid. She took a healthy swallow from her own glass, eyeing them over the rim. "I have to say, you're not what I expected."
"Was that surprise or disappointment?" Anakin asked Obi-Wan.
"Who were you expecting?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Your classic rough-and-tumble types. Black Sun lackeys, bounty hunters. You two…You look more like lost Jedi." She paused then said, "Maybe that's exactly what you are. Jedi have been known to outpunish even the punishers."
"Only when necessary," Anakin said.
She shrugged absently. "You want to do it here, or are you going to buy me a last meal?"
"Do what here?" Obi-Wan said.
"Kill me, of course."
"We want to talk to you about a star courier you piloted for Sienar Advanced Projects," Obi-Wan said.
"Of course you do," she said nodding at Obi-Wan. "A round of questions and answers, then a blaster—no, a lightsaber to the side of the head."
"Then you are Fa'ale Leh," said Anakin.
"Who told you where to find me? Hjad to be Thal Ksar, am I right? He's the only one still alive. That betraying little Bith—"
"Will you tell us about the courier?" Anakin asked cutting her off. Obi-Wan flicked a glance toward his former apprentice; last time he had demanded an answer, this time he had asked. It was a small change but it showed Obi-Wan that Anakin wasn't the same man he was the first time around at this particular point in time. At least, not entirely.
She smiled in apparent recollection. "An extraordinary ship—a work of genius. But I knew going in, it was a job that would come back to haunt me. And so it has."
"You have been hiding here for more than ten years," Obi-Wan said matter-of-factly.
"No, I came for the beaches." She motioned in dismissal. "You know, they killed the engineers, the mechanics, just about everyone who worked on that craft. But I knew. I made the delivery, grabbed what was due me, and I was way. Not far enough, though. They tracked me to Ryloth, Nar Shaddaa, half the starforsaken worlds in the Tingel Arm; I had my share of close calls. I could show you the scars."
"No need," Obi-Wan said as Fa'ale was bring her left head-tail over her shoulder.
She threw back another drink. "So who sent you—Sienar? Or was it the one the courier was built for?"
"Who was it built for?" Anakin asked.
She regarded him for a moment. "That's the funny thing. Sienar—Raith Sienar himself—told me it was for a Jedi. But the guy I handed the yoke over to—he was no Jedi. Oh, he had a lightsaber and all, but…I don't know, there was something off about him."
"We've had dealings with him."
A bad feeling went through Obi-Wan as he remembered what would occur next.
"Where did you deliver it?" Anakin asked.
"Well, to Coruscant, of course."
Just like last time, almost as soon as Fa'ale finished speaking, the ceiling blew inward raining plastoid rafters, ice-covered roof panels, ceiling tiles, and two heavily armed Trandoshans into the room.
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: HA!
Darth: you…you actually cut it off in the middle of a chapter in the book you're using?
Blaze: middle of a page actually but can you blame me? It was already over 16 pages (over 8,000 words) long. If I actually went as far as I wanted to go then it would be well over 20 pages long
Darth: wow
Harry: (Slams sledgehammer into Voldy's head) WHY DID YOU CUT IT OFF THERE?!
Voldy: ow! Severus, that brat hit me with a sledgehammer, do something!
Severus: (takes sledgehammer from Harry and hits Voldy with it)
Voldy: that's not what I meant!
Anakin: (pops up and proceeds to push Voldy into a Sarlacc Pit)
Palpypie: why'd you do that?
Anakin: I could
Obi-Wan: (pushes Palpypie into a Sarlacc Pit)
Palpypie: now I know what Boba Fett felt
Boba Fett: (shoots Palpypie with blaster as he tries to escape and flies off)
Palpypie: (falls back into Sarlacc Pit) Why'd you do that?
Boba Fett: you never paid me!
Blaze: (laughs) please review and I will post chapter 53 as soon as I possibly can. Now that it's summer, it might not take two weeks like this chapter did but I make no promises.