The Master of Disguise

  legs. On his backward swing, he struck out at Anakin.

  It was a surprising move, and Anakin hadn't expected it. His eyes

  gleamed as he leaped to avoid Tru. Tru swung around the pole twice while

  Anakin dodged, wedged between a half-built wall and a deep pit. He slashed

  at Tru, who suddenly leaped off the pole and landed behind Anakin.

  Perfect. Anakin whirled and drove Tru back onto the grass. Tru's foot

  hit the lunch bucket and he stumbled. His lightsaber was in his left hand

  from his twirl around the pole, and Anakin saw it wobble.

  It was time for Anakin to move in with the killing blow, the sting of

  the training lightsaber. All he had to do was step forward and lightly

  touch Tru's neck.

  But he hated to win the battle based on a moment of awkwardness on

  Tru's part, even if he himself had engineered it. He would embarrass his

  friend in front of Soara Antana. Instead, he hesitated a fraction of a

  second, long enough for Tru to regain some sense of balance. Then they

  fought on.

  The moon was rising and they were both drenched in sweat when Soara

  called a halt. "Let's call it a draw." Anakin slipped the lightsaber into

  his belt, satisfied. He knew he had fought well. Tru brought out the best

  in him.

  "You can go, Tru," Soara said. "Thank you."

  Tru grinned at Anakin. "Good fight. See you back at the Temple."

  Soara did not move. Anakin stood, breathing heavily, waiting for her

  critique. He knew a few places where he could have fought better. She would

  not say anything that would surprise him.

  "I called it a draw, but you lost," Soara said. "And you lost in the

  worst sort of way."

  Anakin looked at her with new attention, surprised. "What?"

  "If you want to become great, you must fight without emotion," Soara

  said. "You obviously have not learned this. You must fight without anger,

  without fear, without rage. Without ego."

  "Without ego? But - "

  "No buts. Listen. On Haariden, you made the same mistake. Because you

  know Darra, you rushed in to protect her. Today you protected Tru. You

  think you are doing this as a mark of friendship. But you're really doing

  it to boost your own ego."

  "My own ego?" Anakin was astonished.

  Soara crossed her arms. "You know, Anakin, things will go a lot faster

  if you don't repeat everything I say. Yes, your own ego. You think you're a

  better fighter than your friends. You think you're faster. You think you

  need to go easy on them. Let me tell you something. You're not better. As a

  matter of fact, you're a good deal worse."

  The words stung. Anakin felt his face grow hot. The evening wind was

  cool and drying his sweat.

  Soara whirled and kicked backward at his hand. He did not even feel

  the blow, but his lightsaber was suddenly shooting out of his hand and

  clattering to the stone pavement.

  "And another thing," she said. "Never let down your guard."

  Anakin picked up the hilt of the lightsaber and stuck it in his belt.

  He vowed to himself that Soara Antana would not take him by surprise again.

  He would use what she gave him. He would absorb her hard words and her

  lessons. By the end of this tutorial, he would change her opinion about

  him. He would be the best Padawan she'd ever taught.

  He slipped into the med clinic. The light tubes were powered down to a

  soft glow. He walked as quietly as he could to the side of Darra's med

  couch. She looked small and helpless, still hooked up to monitoring

  machines. Her eyes were closed.

  Her mouth curved into a smile. "Hello, Anakin," she said without

  opening her eyes.

  "I came to say good night. Are you feeling better?" "Yes. Much." She

  opened her eyes and glanced at him. "Better than you look, anyway. What

  have you been doing?"

  "A private tutorial with your Master."

  She gave a sympathetic groan. "Ooh. Sorry."

  He crouched down so that they were at eye level. "She's very tough."

  "The toughest."

  "But I can learn."

  "If you listen. She'll push you hard, and then she'll tell you

  something strange, something you don't want to understand. That's what she

  wants. The more tired you are, the emptier you are. That's when she really

  starts to work."

  "Lucky me," Anakin said with a grimace. "Look, I'm sorry about what

  happened on Haariden. She told me it was my ego. She was right."

  "It's okay," Darra said. "Now I have something to impress the younger

  kids with. I was wounded in battle."

  "I'm here to make you a promise," Anakin said.

  "Don't," Darra said, rising on her elbows. "I know what you're going

  to say, and you can't promise such a thing. Besides, I can get my

  lightsaber back myself."

  "But I'm the reason you lost it."

  "I'm the reason I lost it," Darra said firmly. "I'm the one who

  dropped it. Did you ever think it was your ego that wants to get it back?"

  Suddenly she slumped against the pillow. "Do me a favor. Don't argue with

  me. I'm too tired."

  Anakin saw the exhaustion in her face she had tried to hide. "Is there

  anything I can do for you? Would you like some juice, or some food, or some

  music?" Darra's eyelids fluttered closed. "Just one thing," she said. "Stay

  with me until I fall asleep. It's lonely here."

  "I will." Anakin shifted his weight so that he was sitting on the

  floor. He leaned against the sleep couch next to her head. He knew she

  could feel the pressure of his body, and that would make her feel safe. He

  sat there until her breathing slowed and he knew she was asleep.

  "I promise you, Darra," he whispered. "I will return your lightsaber

  to you. It is not my ego. It is my promise."

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Obi-Wan hurried into the library. It had been restored to its usual

  pristine state. Jocasta Nu was at a datascreen, working.

  "What is it?" she asked, looking up for a moment and then back down at

  her screen.

  "You sent for me," Obi-Wan said.

  "Right." Jocasta clicked off the screen. "I have good news and bad

  news. Good news - I found out Granta Omega's listed birthplace. It's

  Coruscant."

  "Coruscant?" Obi-Wan grew excited. That meant he could investigate a

  good deal of Omega's background without leaving the planet. A being's

  records were always stored on his or her home planet, and Coruscant was

  especially careful about storing every scrap of information. Thousands were

  employed in record-keeping.

  Then he remembered Jocasta had said there was bad news as well. "And?"

  "I can find no record of his birth. Nothing. And you know Coruscant is

  very organized about these things. So either he lied and was born somewhere

  else, or he lives under an assumed name."

  "In other words, we know nothing more," Obi-Wan said, sinking down in

  a chair. "Every time I think I have a lead, it disappears. I'm left with

  nothing."

  Suddenly holofiles began to zoom from Jocasta's fingers toward him.

  "What is this?" Obi-Wan said.

  "You say you have nothing on Omega," she said. "I'm showing you

  differentl
y."

  "But I've already seen these. They don't say anything!" "They say many

  things," Jocasta said, exasperated. "You just can't put the pieces

  together."

  Obi-Wan almost smiled. Jocasta reminded him of Qui-Gon. What would his

  Master say if he were here? Qui-Gon had always been better at research, at

  putting pieces together. He was always able to connect the dry facts with

  the living person. That would lead him to motives and reasons, and soon he

  would have a picture of what he was looking for.

  What is the emotion here? he would say. What does this being want more

  than anything? What does he need?

  How am 1 supposed to know that, Qui-Gon?

  "Start with what you know for sure," Obi-Wan suddenly blurted. "That's

  what Qui-Gon always said." Jocasta sniffed. "Exactly."

  "I know he has a vendetta against the Jedi," Obi-Wan said. "He hates

  us. I know he was on Haariden." Obi-Wan straightened. "I know he was on

  Haariden!" he repeated. "And it couldn't have been because the Jedi were

  there. It would have been impossible for him to plan the attack beforehand.

  "

  "Not impossible," Jocasta corrected. "There is little that is

  impossible."

  Now she sounded like Yoda. "But we received the summons and left

  within one hour," Obi-Wan said. "Improbable, then. No, I think he was on

  Haariden for another reason. When he discovered the Jedi were there, he saw

  a way to make trouble for us." He began to search randomly through the

  holofiles. "He made his fortune by buying up minerals on different worlds

  and creating shortages," he said. "We know that, too."

  "Let me get the file on Haariden," Jocasta said. Her eyes were alight

  with interest now. She quickly accessed a file and began to flip through

  it. "Interesting. Do you know why the two factions on Haariden have been

  fighting this time?"

  "Land disputes," Obi-Wan said." Yes, but this isn't about territory.

  It's about what is underneath the land. Traces of titanite have been found.

  " "Titanite? I don't think I know it."

  "That's because it's extremely rare," Jocasta said. "Not only that,

  it's very hard to mine. It's usually buried so deep near the core that it

  costs more to extract it than it is worth."

  "What is it used for?" Obi-Wan asked.

  "Until recently, not much," Jocasta said. "But in the last couple of

  years, it's been discovered that when titanite is synthesized, a substance

  is extracted that is one of the essential ingredients of bacta."

  Obi-Wan shook his head. "Bacta." He began to flip through the files in

  front of him. "Here it is. One of Omega's vast land holdings is on the

  planet Thyferra. That's the only place where the alazhi plant grows. Alazhi

  lotion is the main ingredient in bacta."

  "So if he had alazhi lotion and the titanite substance.....Jocasta

  said, her voice trailing off. Obi-Wan and Jocasta stared at each other as

  the conclusion struck them.

  "He could corner the galactic market on bacta," Obi-Wan said.

  "This is getting very interesting," Jocasta murmured. "When was the

  titanite found on Haariden?" Obi-Wan asked.

  "Only a few months ago," Jocasta said. "That's why the fighting began

  again. It's also one of the reasons the scientists were sent there.

  Haariden was included on the mapping expedition for precisely that reason.

  The Senate felt that if it had a complete picture of where the titanite

  deposits were, it could persuade the two sides to come to an agreement."

  "Did the scientists make a final report?"

  "Yes, but it was inconclusive. They couldn't conduct the tests they

  needed to because the fighting moved too close."

  "Maybe Omega wanted that to happen," Obi-Wan said. "Maybe he didn't

  want the report to get back to the Senate."

  "He would need to make his own tests, then," Jocasta said. "He'd need

  to have his own scientific team. That would be a hard thing to keep secret

  on Haariden."

  "Maybe he didn't need a team," Obi-Wan said. "Maybe he could do it

  himself." He waved at the holofiles surrounding them. "Think about it. Look

  at what he's done over the years. Look at the fact that he doesn't employ

  many people at all. It would have been impossible for Omega to have done

  what he did in his career without some serious scientific knowledge. Which

  means," he said, turning to Jocasta excitedly, "he would have to have had

  some serious study. Can you search the records of the finest scientific

  institutes in the galaxy?"

  Jocasta raised an eyebrow. "All of them?"

  Obi-Wan nodded.

  "I'll start with the Core Worlds," she said with a sigh. "Maybe we'll

  get lucky."

  Obi-Wan was sipping a cup of tea in the Room of a Thousand Fountains

  and trying to calm his mind when his comlink signaled. It was Jocasta.

  "He attended the All Science Research Academy on Yerphonia," she said.

  "Can we contact them?" Obi-Wan asked eagerly.

  "I already have. He was granted his degree only seven years ago. He

  was a star student. His home world is a small moon called Nierport Seven."

  Obi-Wan knew the place. It was less than a day's travel from

  Coruscant.

  Within an hour, he was on his way.

  CHAPTER NINE

  "Again," Soara said.

  Anakin ran at the wall again. He no longer knew how many times he had

  done so. Fifty? Seventy? Two hundred, five hundred? His brain didn't

  register numbers. There was just him and the wall.

  He ran up the wall, flipped over into a backward somersault, and

  landed on his feet again. It was a basic Temple exercise. He'd learned it

  when he was nine. But with Soara he was discovering that it was a much more

  complex maneuver than he'd imagined. Apparently his shoulders were wrong.

  His landing was too hard. And the whole thing took too long for him to

  accomplish.

  "Stop." Soara's voice cut through him like the cold wind that howled

  down the deserted alley straight to the secluded lot where they were

  training. The building in front of him was sheer durasteel, slippery now

  with morning dew. The sun was just rising.

  "Close your eyes," Soara said.

  Anakin closed his eyes.

  "Get rid of that impatience," Soara said. "Now." Anakin tried to obey.

  "Nothing is solid," Soara said. "The hardest wall is just a connection

  of particles. Find the spaces between the particles, and the wall will

  yield. It will push you off. Listen to the wall and hear the wind through

  the gaps."

  Listen to the wall? Anakin felt his impatience rise again.

  He remembered Darra's words. She'll push you hard, and then she'll

  tell you something strange, something you don't want to understand. That's

  what she wants. The more tired you are, the emptier you are. That's when

  she really starts to work.

  He listened to the wall. And then the sound of the wind changed. He

  heard the howl of it, but he also heard the whisper. He heard it stir a

  piece of trash on the street, disturb a pebble. And then he heard it

  whistle softly through the gaps. Nothing felt solid. Not the ground under

  his feet, not the buildings ar
ound him.

  He felt the Force move, even though he hadn't summoned it. He saw the

  wall in his mind, and this time, it shimmered. It wasn't a solid thing. It

  would yield to him

  He ran at the wall. He ran easily, as if it were the first time. He

  felt the wall give against his boots. He pushed off and the wall sprang

  against him, helping him propel. He somersaulted and flew backward, landing

  lightly, gracefully, his lightsaber held at the ready.

  He blinked. He had fought with the help of the Force before. But never

  like that.

  He looked at Soara, amazed.

  She didn't smile or nod or show by even a flicker of an eyelash that

  she was pleased. But she didn't correct him, and that meant something.

  Anakin made sure his own pleasure didn't show on his face.

  "That's enough for today," she said crisply.

  Anakin deactivated his lightsaber. For the first time, he felt that he

  had glimpsed a future in which his connection to the Force and his

  lightsaber skills would be so meshed that he would truly be the best he

  could be. He could also see how far he was from that goal, but it didn't