Dark Warning

  at the Temple, the access to design archives, special tools, and power

  cells. The crystals were the most important, however. He could figure out a

  way to do the rest.

  But the visions weren't done with him yet. Another vision appeared, an

  ancient Jedi slumped against the cave wall, his tunic tattered, his eyes

  closed. It was as though he held the defeat of all the Jedi in his shrunken

  frame.

  Ferus walked toward the vision. He would confront this, too. The sound

  of his footsteps echoed softly. The vision raised its head.

  "Who are you?" it asked.

  It was real. It was a man.

  Ferus slowly lowered himself to a crouch. "Garen?"

  Through cracked lips, the man asked, "Who wants to know?"

  "I'm Ferus Olin."

  "I know... that name. Siri's apprentice."

  "Yes. We met once... long ago. I'm a friend of Obi-Wan Kenobi's."

  "Obi-Wan. He's alive?"

  "Yes, very much so. He's too stubborn not to be."

  Garen leaned back against the rock wall of the cave and smiled. "Yes,

  now I know it's really you, Ferus."

  "He sent me here to find you. He's coming back with a ship."

  "Oh, great," Garen said. "Obi-Wan is going to rescue me. I'll never

  hear the end of it."

  "Everybody has a price to pay for survival." Ferus grinned.

  "We didn't think any other Jedi had survived."

  "We?"

  "Fy-Tor-Ana. She came here, too... but she was going to make it back

  to Coruscant, see what had happened to the Temple, and come back for me.

  She never... made it back."

  Suddenly, they heard a terrible noise, a howl of agony. And then the

  air was filled with horrible cries.

  "Visions?" Ferus wondered.

  Garen struggled to sit. "No."

  "The gorgodons," Ferus said. "But why would they be - I'll be right

  back."

  "I'm not going anywhere."

  Ferus dashed back through the cave to the opening. He put his eye to

  the slit.

  Stormtroopers with flechette launchers and flame projectors were

  systematically destroying the gorgodon nest. The creatures fought back

  ferociously, but Ferus could see that they were only minutes away from

  defeat. They fought to protect their shelters, but Ferus saw how the

  stormtroopers were aiming fragmentation grenades at the boulders and

  outlying walls to create a shower of debris outside the cave entrance. Even

  as he watched, a large boulder fell directly in front of him, wiping out

  his view and sending a cloud of pulverized stone into the cave. Coughing,

  he backed up.

  They knew he was here. They were cutting off his exit. He would have

  to go out the front of the cave now.

  He hurried back to Garen. "We have to leave through the front. They'll

  be waiting there for us, I'm sure." Ferus fumbled at his utility belt. He

  took out a flask of water and a protein pellet. "Can you swallow this'?"

  But Garen merely looked at it. He turned his gaze to Ferus, and Ferus

  saw resignation there.

  "You must go. I came here to be with the Force, to rest with the

  visions of my ancestors. The Living Force is too weak in me now." He

  struggled to extract his lightsaber from his belt. He handed it to Ferus.

  "It needs new crystals. I saw you find yours - the blue ones. Put them in.

  It's yours now."

  "I can't take this," Ferus said.

  "You must," Garen said. "I will never use it again. It would make me

  proud to hand it to a fellow Jedi."

  "But I'm not even a Jedi. Not anymore."

  "I feel the Force in you," Garen said. "That's enough."

  Ferus handled the lightsaber reverently. Oddly, the handgrip felt

  perfectly balanced in his hand. Even though it was nicked and battered, and

  a large dent was in one side, it nestled in his palm as though he'd

  fashioned it himself. He touched the latch on the handle and placed the

  crystals inside. He activated it and the shaft hummed to life, glowing a

  pale ice-blue.

  "Use it well," Garen said.

  "I will. I'm going to get us out of here." Ferus leaned down and

  looked Garen in the eye. "The Living Force may be weak, but it's still in

  you. It wouldn't be right to leave you without trying. It would be against

  the Jedi code." He held out the water and the pellet. It took a long

  moment, but Garen nodded.

  Ferus helped Garen sip the water and swallow the pellet. Then he

  helped him to his feet. Together, they moved toward the front of the cave.

  Ferus didn't know how he could fight and protect Garen, but he knew it must

  be done.

  He wondered where Trevor was. He wondered where Obi-Wan was. He

  wondered how he had gotten himself into this predicament. He wondered why

  he couldn't just find a nice planet for a comfortable exile and try to

  ignore the Empire. He wondered if the visions were right, if he was taking

  on this task just to prove he was a Jedi after all.

  As they approached the opening to the cave, Ferus moved Garen to the

  far side, near a large rock. "Stay here while I check this out."

  He crept forward. Just as he feared, there was a full squad of

  stormtroopers lined up outside in battle formation. He counted fifteen. Not

  an impossible number for one Jedi, but one Jedi who hadn't used a

  lightsaber in a long time might have a problem.

  He watched them for a moment, trying to figure out their plan.

  And then he knew what it was.

  Behind the troops, a Merr-Sonn Mobile Grenade Mortar was angling into

  position. It was capable of firing a total of one hundred grenades every

  second or so, with storage of more hundreds of grenades that could be

  reloaded through a tube. Operated by two stormtroopers on a repulsorlift

  sled, it could accelerate fast and rise up in the air to thirty meters. In

  short, it was highly maneuverable, a deadly killing machine.

  Garen had somehow found the strength to creep up beside Ferus. He let

  out a low whistle. "This is not good news."

  "They mean business," Ferus agreed.

  "So, how good are you with that lightsaber?"

  "Actually, I'm a little rusty."

  "I wish I hadn't heard that."

  "Do you have any other weapons?"

  "No."

  "Take my blaster pistol."

  "What's your plan?" Garen asked.

  "I'm supposed to have a plan?"

  "Well," Garen said, "I'd suggest one. Let's refer to our Temple

  training."

  "A quiz? Now'?" Maybe he hadn't missed the Jedi so much after all.

  "When you meet overwhelming force and you're outnumbered, what are the

  strategies available to you'?"

  "Retreat, for one," Ferus said, his eyes on the stormtroopers. "That's

  always a favorite."

  "Impossible in this situation, I'm afraid. Let's try number two."

  "Turn the enemy's advantage into yours." Ferus found the words coming

  easily to him. He remembered sitting in classes at the Temple, studying

  scenarios. It was thought that even though the Jedi were peacemakers, they

  should have a knowledge of military strategy. It had served him well as an

  officer in the Clone Wars. "Capture the grenade mortar," he said slowly.

  "But how?"


  "I came to this cave many years ago to find my crystals," Garen said.

  "I decided to wait outside until I was ready, until I felt the Force grow

  around me. Well, that's what, I told myself. Actually, I was stalling. I

  sat for a long time, just studying the cave opening. And I noticed

  something - a bird. It, was one of those tiny white snowfeather birds, and

  it had built a nest over the cave opening. And I saw that I'd been looking

  at the cave wrong - it looks as though it's carved out of the face of the

  mountain, but actually, there's a little overhang above it."

  "I'm not getting this," Ferus said. "And I don't like to remind you,

  but there's a troop of stormtroopers and about a hundred grenades sitting

  out there."

  "The overhang is big enough for a snowfeather nest, but it's also big

  enough for a man to perch," Garen said.

  "Perch?! I don't want to perch! I'd be one big target."

  "You can get up there by concealing yourself behind the boulders just

  inside the entrance," Garen went on. "Climb up the side of the cave, then

  swing yourself out and into the ledge outside. If you do it quickly, you

  might not be spotted."

  "Might not?"

  "They won't be looking above the cave, they'll be looking into it,

  trying to spot movement. Then you can Force-leap over the first columns and

  land close to the mobile mortar. When they spot you, I'll try to divert

  their attention."

  Ferus looked at Garen dubiously. He looked as fragile as the

  snowfeather lie spoke of. This was the craziest plan he'd ever heard.

  But he didn't have a better one.

  And time was running out.

  "They're going to advance," Garen said, watching. "Let them. You go

  after that grenade mortar. I'll stay here to meet them."

  Ferus looked at him incredulously. "Alone?"

  "I won't be alone," Garen said. "The visions will help me. Now go! And

  may the Force be with you."

  Was this the right plan, or was he just used to listening to Jedi

  Masters? Ferus kept to the side of the cave as he approached the entrance,

  pressing himself into the shadows until he merged with the cave wall. He

  climbed up on the boulders, moving stealthily. He balanced on the top

  boulder, hooking his fingers around the top of the cave, searched for a

  secure handhold. He would have to do this blindly; he couldn't see out of

  the cave. He'd have to trust that once he swung himself up and out that

  he'd be able to slide onto the overhang.

  He scanned the stormtroopers, now below him. They were facing forward,

  blaster rifles held at the ready. No doubt they were waiting for orders on

  their headsets. Behind the lines the mobile grenade launcher hovered. He

  saw the stormtrooper on the front platform with his hands on the controls.

  Now or never.

  He swung out into midair, flipped his body over, missed ramming the

  cave wall by a hair, and landed on the narrow ledge. He rolled as far back

  as he could, concealing himself in the shadows. His heart hammered as he

  waited, wondering whether a grenade would blast him into the sky.

  Nothing happened. They hadn't seen him. So far, so good.

  Ferus felt the Force gather. Garen. Garen had accessed it and it was

  growing.

  Ferus leaped over the heads of the attacking stormtroopers. But if

  those stormtroopers didn't see him, the ones on the mobile mortar did,

  clattering it to life. Grenades flew through the air, heading toward him in

  midair. Garen's lightsaber felt balanced in his hand, and the blue shaft

  glowed. He deflected the grenades as they whizzed toward him, batting them

  down to the stormtroopers below.

  It felt extraordinary to have a lightsaber back in his hand. His

  training came back to him, and he didn't have to push for it. It was there

  in the way he moved, there in the precise angle of his attack.

  He landed on the mobile platform, his boots connecting with the

  stormtrooper and sending him flying off the platform. He slid into the

  seat, reversed the repulsorlift engine with a jerk, gunning the motor to

  capacity. The stormtrooper behind fell off.

  The battalion scattered before him as he hit them with a barrage of

  grenades. He could use the mortar to enter the cave and swoop up Garen.

  But suddenly the mortar pitched to the side. The stormtrooper had

  suddenly leaped back aboard. Ferus felt the heat of a blaster bolt by his

  ear. He ducked, trying to wield his lightsaber at the same time. It was a

  difficult move, but one he could have easily managed in his youth. Now his

  lightsaber skills were rusty and he was just a bit off balance. To Ferus's

  horror, he began to fall off the mortar as the stormtrooper aimed his

  blaster and fired.

  So. Maybe I'm not as up to speed as I thought I was.

  He felt the searing heat in his shoulder. He was blown back off the

  mortar and hit the ground hard.

  Okay. A gorgodon uses me as a punching bag and an evil vision throws

  me around like a laserball. Now I've been shot with a blaster. Not a good

  day.

  He saw the mortar stop in midair and spin. It was coming back for him.

  Fury pounded through him. Fury at himself. He'd blown it. It was going

  to end here for him, outside the caves of Ilum. The most sacred place to

  the Jedi, and here his bones would lie. The Force slowed down time, and he

  reactivated his lightsaber. He couldn't move out of the way of the coming

  barrage in time, he knew that, but he would join the Force still fighting.

  He saw a shimmer out of the corner of his eye, a flicker of light.

  Something was falling from the sky.

  Suddenly, an explosion of light sent him crashing back to the ground.

  An alpha charge. A small blast thrown right on the mobile mortar. Then

  another, and another.

  The grenades went up in a huge blast. Ferus rolled down the slope,

  tumbling, anything to get away from that terrible heat. He came to rest by

  knocking his head against a boulder.

  He saw Trever in a fighter, releasing explosives onto the squad below,

  with a bulkier transport ship in pursuit. The stormtroopers went scurrying

  for cover.

  Ferus didn't stop to experience the pain he was feeling. He accepted

  it and set his mind to the next thing. Under the cover of Trever's attack,

  he took off for the cave. His eyes streamed tears from the smoke, and his

  shoulder felt as though it was on fire.

  He found Garen near the mouth of the cave, slumped on the floor, a

  blaster held in his fist.

  The ship touched down right outside the cave entrance. Ferus picked up

  Garen. He felt as light as a bird. He ran toward the ramp. The

  stormtroopers peppered him with blaster bolts, but Trever managed to

  release a few more explosives behind the boulders, and the blasterfire

  abated.

  Ferus ran up the ramp with Garen. He collapsed on his knees on the

  floor.

  As the transport that had been chasing him made its way down, Trever

  januned the controls up. Pushing the engines, they streaked off. They

  couldn't boost off-planet, but they could outrun the transport.

  "I know a place we can hide," Garen said. "Obi-Wa
n can find us there."

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The distress call reached Obi-Wan as he was leaving Polis Massa. He

  knew exactly which cave they would be hiding in, waiting for him - a

  crystal-less cave on Ilum that the Jedi often used as a safe hangar.

  For the rest of the ride, Obi-Wan could only think two things: Garen

  is alive and Malorum must be stopped. When he reached the cave, Ferus and

  Trever carried Garen on board. Obi-Wan wanted to go back and see his old

  friend immediately, but he knew a quick escape was essential. It was only

  after they reached deep space and a recovered Ferus took over the controls

  that Obi-Wan went back to the cabin to see his friend.

  If before he had merely been grateful to know that his friend was

  alive, now his heart broke to see him.

  He would not have recognized him. With his eyes closed, Garen lay

  back, his skin as pale and fragile as snow. Obi-Wan felt as though if he

  breathed on him he could dissolve into vapor. Garen had always been robust

  and vibrant. His body had crackled with electricity, his eyes brimming with