if any other Jedi have survived?"
Obi-Wan hesitated. The fact that Yoda was still alive was another
secret. "I know of only one for sure, who I cannot mention," he said.
"There might be some who have gone underground. There's no way to tell.
There was a beacon calling Jedi back to the Temple, to be slaughtered. We
managed to replace it with a signal saying to stay away - but at that
point, it may have been too late. There may not be any others left."
Ferus leaned forward, forearms on his knees, hands clasped. "I find
that hard to believe. There's got to be a way to find them. The Jedi were
too powerful to be completely wiped out. There must be others who survived,
just as you did. I think of that question. It haunts me."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ferus. It is impossible to
believe, but you must believe it. The Jedi are gone."
The firelight glinted in Ferus's dark gaze, licking it with orange. "I
will never believe it," he said. "And now that you're here, we can do
something about it."
Obi-Wan was already shaking his head. "I have my own task to fulfill.
I will help you now, but then I must leave and never return."
"You can't mean that."
"I do."
"But there is so much to fight for."
"My days of fighting are over, for now."
"What can be more important'?"
Obi-Wan didn't answer.
"I don't like having to question a Jedi Master," Ferus said. "Old
habits die hard. But are you kidding me? You'd rather hide than fight?"
The words and the manner shocked Obi-Wan. He kept silent in
disapproval.
"Now don't get all Jedi-proper on me," Ferus said. "I can see it on
your face. I'm not your apprentice, Obi-Wan. You deserve my respect, of
course. But I've learned to speak frankly. This is a new reality, a new
galaxy."
"We fought and died in the new galaxy," Obi-Wan said, feeling a prick
of irritation.
"I know that," Ferns said. "What I meant is that the galaxy has
changed. To choose exile over engagement dooms us all to domination and
despair."
"Ferus, I'm not one of the Eleven," Obi-Wan said. "I'm an old friend.
I didn't come here to be recruited."
"So what is your answer to the Empire?"
Obi-Wan looked into the fire. He could feel the word on his lips, but
he didn't want to say it. He knew it would infuriate Ferus. "Wait."
"Wait?"
Ferus looked as though he wanted to leap out of the chair and throttle
Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan held his gaze steadily. The galaxy may have been
different, but he still knew how to subdue a turbulent apprentice.
Ferus suddenly smiled and leaned back against the cushion Dona had
placed behind him. "I remember when that look used to scare me. It almost
scares me now. Almost, Obi-Wan."
Ferus spoke so amiably that Obi-Wan felt his irritation drain away. Of
course Ferus wouldn't understand his decision.
Obi-Wan sipped his soup. "There is something else I must tell you," he
said. "There is an Imperial security officer, an Inquisitor named Malorum -
"
"Yes, I've met him," Ferus said. "He was there for the interrogations,
though he didn't speak."
"He has a Force connection."
Ferus nodded slowly. "I suspected that... I wasn't sure. It's been so
long since I've used the Force. It's still part of me, but I don't access
it."
"Do you know anything about him?"
"I know he's distinguished himself at the highest level," Ferus said.
"He's said to be Lord Vader's special pet. He can choose his own
assignments."
"He is very interested in capturing you, that much I know," Obi-Wan
said.
"Well, he'll just have to be disappointed," Ferns said. "I don't
intend to revisit an Imperial jail cell again." He picked up his spoon.
"Now, I suggest we do as the Jedi do..."
Obi-Wan smiled. "When food arrives, eat."
Obi-Wan thought he would have trouble sleeping, but the rest his body
craved overtook him. Wrapped in Dona's hand-loomed blankets, he fell asleep
by the warmth of the fire.
In the morning, Obi-Wan had a glimpse through the window of an
impossibly wide blue sky, white-capped mountains in the distance.
"Dona doesn't like me to open the armorweave curtains, but over here
we can't be seen on the mountainside," Ferus said, once Obi-Wan was up.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, thank you," Obi-Wan said. He thought it strange to be having
such an ordinary conversation, guest to host, under these circumstances. It
felt so normal, when the situation was anything but normal. Obi-Wan still
wasn't used to the new position he found himself in. Ferus was no longer a
Padawan. Every rule that had bound them together was gone.
Dona hurried into the kitchen, clutching her morning robe to her
throat. "There is news," she said. "I was able to access the HoloNet."
Ferus snorted. "We can't believe anything we hear on that. It's
controlled by the Empire."
"I'm afraid this is all too true," Dona said. "The mass arrests in
Ussa... the Empire has issued an ultimatum. If the city does not give up
Ferus Olin within twenty-four hours, everyone held in the mass arrest will
be executed. The order came down six hours ago."
The color faded from Ferus's face. His body went rigid.
"So that was why they did it," Obi-Wan said. "They arrested so many in
order to catch only one."
"I have to go back," Ferus said. "I have to give myself up."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
He didn't have a choice. If he didn't do it, innocent people would
die. Even as he got up from the table, Ferus frantically began to calculate
how long it would take him to get to Ussa. Dona didn't have a cruiser
capable of going that far, but she had a friend in the village...
"Wait," Obi-Wan said, putting a hand on his arm.
All of Ferus's fury at the Empire funneled down into the man standing
before him, blocking his way.
"Is that all you can do - wait? I have to leave now!" Ferus couldn't
believe that Obi-Wan was the same Jedi he once knew. He remembered Obi-Wan
as cautious, but this was ridiculous.
"I just mean you should consider how you return," Obi-Wan began.
"There might be a way to - "
A soft alarm suddenly rang on the databoard in Dona's kitchen.
"Penetration," she said. "Someone is in the airspace. Let me survey - "
An explosion sent debris raining down on them while a wall of air sent
them flying. Ferus sailed backward in what seemed like slow motion, riding
a cushion of air. He landed hard on the kitchen floor, his head banging on
the counter behind him. He saw the table flying toward him, and he knew
with a cold certainty he was able to grasp in less than a second that it
would fall on his injured leg. He reached out for the Force, but it was a
blind, instinctive gesture without any power behind it. He could feel the
Force, but not access it.
To his surprise, the table flew across the room. He saw Obi-Wan had
Force-pushed it even as he himself hit the floor. It fell inside the small
/>
crater where once there had been a hand-hooked rug.
Above his head he could see blue sky. The assault had punched a hole
in the reinforced roof.
Obi-Wan was already moving, glancing through the window as Dona waved
a frantic hand over the sensor for the armorweave curtains.
"It's the Firespray that tailed me from Ussa."
Ferus gently grabbed Dona's hand. "It's too late," he said. "I don't
think the curtains are going to stop this."
She looked up at the space where most of the roof had been. "Of
course."
"Do you have a transport?" Obi-Wan asked her. "Nothing that can outrun
that," Dona said.
"And we have no cover if we run," Obi-Wan said.
"We don't have to run," Dona said. "The house can withstand attack for
a time, but we'd better not stay. This way."
It was then that the door blew open in a blast that sent them all
diving for cover.
Behind an overturned chair, Ferus peered toward the door. A creature
blocked out the light from outside. It was a cyborg, its body covered in
armor. But there was a laser cannon where the head should have been. It
aimed directly at him. He saw the red targeting light pulse.
So there were two of them. One in the air, one on the ground. This was
definitely not good news.
Obi-Wan was a blur of movement, his lightsaber a slashing glow. He
barreled forward, aiming for the being's head. The being had to step away,
ruining his aim. The laser cannon boomed, but it missed Ferus and thudded
into the kitchen sink. Water shot into the air, and flames erupted.
"Go!" Obi-Wan shouted.
Ferus helped Dona to rise. Together they rushed from the kitchen. Even
as he moved to bring Dona to safety, Ferus's mind worked furiously. He
couldn't leave Obi-Wan.
Ferus raced to a hidden compartment in the hallway wall. He knew where
all the weaponry was concealed in the house. He slung a blaster rifle over
his arm and loaded his pockets with C16 grenades. He tossed Dona a few, and
she tucked them in her belt. He knew she always had a blaster strapped to
her ribs. He slid out an electrojabber and held it by his side as he
hurried her along down the hall, blasterfire ripping through the roof over
their heads and blasting through the floorboards.
Dona reached the trapdoor hidden in the floor and pressed the release.
Ferus helped her inside the opening. "Go," he said. "Get to the village.
They don't want you. Only me."
"I can't leave you."
He took both of her hands in his as the house shuddered with the
impact of another laser cannon blast. "You have done enough. More than
enough. I'll never forget it. Plus, this house is about to be destroyed.
Now get out of here."
She let go of his hands and slid down the ramp.
Ferus raced back to the kitchen. In a glance, he saw that Obi-Wan had
succeeded in keeping the intruder trapped in the doorway. The intruder,
meanwhile, had succeeded in destroying the kitchen. Fire blazed along one
wall, and the other was partially demolished. Obi-Wan was busy avoiding the
strafing fire from the attacking ship above and the pounding of the laser
cannon on the creature's head.
Ferus used the electrojabber like a javelin, and threw it. It smashed
into the creature's chest and stayed there. Although the cyborg was
armored, the force of the blow sent it staggering backward and paralyzed it
momentarily. It crashed to its knees.
"This way!" Ferus shouted to Obi-Wan.
He had left the trapdoor open. Obi-Wan sailed in and slid down the
ramp. Ferus followed, hitting the control as he went. The trapdoor slid
smoothly shut after them.
Sound became muffled as they slid down to the floor and got to their
feet.
"There's an entrance to the old mining tunnels we can access down
here."
"Where's Dona?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I sent her ahead to the village. We'd better not go that way. If they
do manage to find the tunnels, we should lead them away from her."
Obi-Wan nodded. "Let's get moving."
Ferus put his hand on what appeared to be sheer rock. The sensor was
exactly where Dona had showed him. The hidden door opened smoothly, and
they stepped inside.
"These used to be mutonium mines, before the mineral ran out. There's
a maze of tunnels all through the mountains. Dona explored them when she
first arrived here - she knows them like the back of her hand. She gave me
a lesson on direction a couple of days after I arrived, in case I had to
escape alone. I have a general idea of how to get to the other side of the
mountain. Maybe they won't figure out how to get down here."
"Somehow I doubt that," Obi-Wan said. "Lead on."
Ferus started down the tunnel. The miners had blasted through rock to
form the tunnels, and they were reinforced with large durasteel beams that
served as supports. The glow lamps no longer worked, but Ferus's eyes
adjusted quickly, and they were able to move faster.
"Do you think they followed you here?"
"No," Obi-Wan said. "No one tailed me from the landing spot. They
found you another way. The cyborg with the laser cannon for a head - "
"Handsome creature. Charming way to introduce oneself. Why knock when
you can blast a door down?"
" - any ideas on who sent him?"
"I heard a rumor in prison, that Malorum had a team of bounty hunters
working for him. One was called D'harhan, a cyborg that was more like a
walking assault weapon. Must be him. I never heard about a Firespray."
But Obi-Wan had an idea about the second one....
"I wish I knew what was happening up there," Obi-Wan said, with a
glance up at the tunnel ceiling.
"Once you closed the door to the mines behind you, it activated a
warning. The next one who tries to open it will detonate a small explosive
charge," Ferus explained as he hurried down the tunnel. "We should be able
to hear it down here. Then we'll know they found the tunnel."
Ferus's heart was pounding, but it wasn't the aftermath of the
assault. All he could think of was the citizens of Ussa slated for
execution. "Every minute I spend down here is a minute I'm not traveling to
Ussa. The executions are scheduled to start in less than a day."
"You must focus on the present moment," Obi-Wan said. "Not on what
might happen."
"Obi-Wan, I'm warning you," Ferus said. "If you keep sounding like a
Jedi Code doc, we are really not going to get along."
"So, what are we looking for?" Obi-Wan asked. "Water. I know there's
an exit by an underground lake."
They kept on going, pressing on. Suddenly, they heard a muffled thump.
"I guess they found the door," Ferus muttered.
They quickened their pace, almost running now.
Ferus doubted the explosion had stopped them. Although it would be a
nice bonus if it had blown that laser cannon into a few choice pieces of
scrap.
"Even if they survived that blast, there's no way they can find us,"
Ferus finally said. "The tunnels are a maze, and they'll get lost. I'm
lost. There's no
way they - "
They heard the whistle of the rocket behind them. They dived to the
floor as it zoomed overhead and thudded into the rock. The ceiling tilted,
and rocks rained down, but the tunnel did not collapse.
"You were saying?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Who are those guys?" Ferus asked, coughing out the grit from his
lungs, and they started to run.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The smaller one wore armor, a helmet, and wrist and knee rockets. Obi-
Wan could deflect the blaster fire with his lightsaber, but that meant he
had to keep turning, and the only thing that could protect them from the
laser cannon was running. Luckily, their pursuers had to be somewhat
careful. Too much cannonfire could bring down the tunnel on all of them.
He hadn't used his lightsaber in so many long months. Yet it felt
perfectly balanced in his hand, and his movements were quick and graceful.
He was able to run and twist to deflect fire, able to leap and whirl, his
lightsaber in a controlled arc of movement, and not have to think about how