could see the blaster bolts streaking toward her emanating from a phalanx
of spider droids. He withdrew his lightsaber and leaped to deflect them.
He twisted in midair and landed on the top of a pillar, where he
leaped again, this time next to Auben as he swept his lightsaber to deflect
more fire.
"Who are you?" she yelled, but there was no time for Anakin to answer.
Ferus dashed forward, covering their retreat. Anakin hustled Auben
into the shelter of the dark ruins. They paused a moment to catch their
breath.
Auben looked at the lightsaber. "Where can I get one of those?"
Ferus ran in, already sheathing his lightsaber. "They have tracking
droids. We've got to get out of here."
"We don't know which way," Anakin said to Auben.
She blew out a quick, exasperated breath, then nodded her head. "Okay,
okay, seeing that you saved my life, I'll save yours. Come on."
She led the way through the ruins, twisting through narrow passageways
and climbing through blasted-out holes. Anakin knew that the other Jedi
were following them. He could feel them close.
The noise of the blaster fire faded, but Anakin knew the army hadn't
given up. He could feel their presence, too. They were heading toward the
outskirts of the spaceport now.
Auben led Anakin and Ferus out of the ruins and into a series of
narrow, twisting streets. The street dwindled into a lane. The small hovels
and buildings were spaced farther and farther apart until they were alone
in a rocky landscape. The lane turned into a narrow dirt path that twisted
and turned sharply upward. Anakin guessed that they were climbing the lip
of the plateau that cradled the spaceport. Sure enough, they soon scrambled
over a last obstacle of huge boulders and reached it.
Anakin looked down. Below them an ancient structure rose out of the
steep mountainside and spilled out into a narrow valley. The mountain made
two-thirds of the structure impenetrable. The entrance was in ruins,
blocked by huge toppled columns and blocks of crumbling stone.
Anakin felt the peculiar stomach-turning wrench he experienced when
faced with the tremors of the dark side of the Force. He knew what this
wreck of a building was.
The ancient Sith monastery spread out below him, deserted for
centuries, and still a presence of evil. Here was where thousands of Sith
had once trained - and thousands of hopefuls had once disappeared forever.
"Is that where we're going?" Ferus asked.
"Creepy, huh? Don't let it bother you," Auben said. "Nobody lives
there. Everyone's afraid to go inside, except for me. We won't be followed,
that's for sure."
"What was it?" Ferus asked, even though Anakin knew he was perfectly
aware of its history. Ferus was too good a student. He had read the same
briefing material that Anakin had.
"Just an old monastery. They blasted out the side of the mountain to
build it. Will you two hurry up?" Auben started down the steep path toward
the monastery. It wound through the boulders and crags.
Something in Anakin suddenly revolted. He rarely felt fear, but he
felt it now. A deep voice within him was warning him not to enter.
And yet another voice, deeper than fear, told him to go inside.
CHAPTER-NINE
Obi-Wan lowered his electrobinoculars. "The Sith monastery," he said.
"Why is she going there?"
"She doesn't want to be found," Soara answered. "I'd guess very few go
in there if they don't have to."
They stood on the lip of the plateau, looking down. Thousands of
standard years ago, the original inhabitants of Korriban had all been
killed after toiling for years to build the monastery. Nothing living
thrived there now. Not a bush, not a blade of grass. If the ancient stones
could speak, they would talk of blood and terror.
"It could be a trap," Siri said.
"Every step we take on this planet could be leading us to a trap,"
Obi-Wan said.
Siri gave a half-smile. "So let's go."
They climbed down the steep, rocky path. Through the
electrobinoculars, Obi-Wan had seen Auben lead Anakin and Ferus into the
monastery through a crevice in the stones. He led the team there. The rocks
that made up the giant walls had shifted over the years. Some large slabs
leaned against each other, while others had toppled and crumbled into
boulders.
Darra and Tru slipped through the crevice easily. Siri, Soara, and
Obi-Wan followed - Obi-Wan with a bit more difficulty. Ry-Gaul had the
worst time. He was tall and solidly built, and even the Force couldn't get
him through the crack. "I'll find another way in," he said when it was
clear he couldn't make it.
"I'll come with you, Master," Tru said, starting to slither out again.
"No. I'll catch up." Ry-Gaul disappeared.
Obi-Wan went a few steps ahead into the darkness. He felt the dread of
the place. They were in a vast chamber, as big as the Great Hall of the
Temple. Massive blocks of stone formed the floor. The last of the light
came through the crevices in the walls like bony fingers.
They heard footsteps echoing as Auben led Anakin and Ferus farther
into the ruins. The Jedi followed silently. The oppressiveness of the place
where Sith had lived and trained was a burden they had to fight against.
Obi-Wan heard voices, but he knew they were ancient ones. He thought he saw
shadows move. When he turned a corner quickly, he saw a vision - a Sith
student on his knees, begging..
He averted his eyes.
Siri's face was pale. Darra and Tru looked shaken. Soara moved closer
to her apprentice, to give her support.
In the distance, Auben climbed through a ruined doorway. The Jedi
moved to follow, keeping out of sight.
They stopped outside a small chamber. They could see through the half-
ruined wall that this had once been a small enclosure, perhaps a reception
room. Auben had turned it into a combination hideout and storage space.
Along the walls were bins filled with what Obi-Wan had no doubt were stolen
goods. There was a bedroll in the corner and a couple of durasteel boxes
stacked to form a table. On it rested a glow lamp. Auben leaned over and
switched it onto a low setting. Shadows sprang up, dark and ominous, as if
the Sith hopefuls who had trained here had returned.
Auben turned to face Anakin and Ferus, her hands on her hips. "So. Who
are you really?" Her voice echoed against the walls.
"We told you," Anakin said. "We're stranded."
"I think you are Jedi," Auben said. "I've never seen a Jedi, but I've
heard of them." She waited, but Ferus and Anakin did not speak. She
shrugged. "Fine. Jedi credits are as good as anyone else's, I guess. If you
wait a little while, the army will stop tracking and you can leave. They
won't come inside the monastery."
"Do you live here alone?" Ferus asked.
Auben leaned toward the light as though it would give heat as well as
illumination. "I live many places. But yes, I'm alone here. Sometimes I get
spooked. I hear things... but it's just this old place."
"Maybe we should look around for you," Ferus said. "Make sure you're
safe."
"I don't need any help," Auben said. "I have my friends to help me."
She patted her belt, where her two blaster pistols were. "So, tell me. Are
you really looking for a man and woman? And don't tell me they're your
parents."
"Yes, we're looking for a couple," Ferus admitted.
"Do you think you can help us?" Anakin asked.
Auben crossed her arms. "If you're Jedi, you can make it worth my
while, right? I hear the Jedi control a vast fortune."
"Who says that?" Ferus asked sharply.
She shrugged. "It's just what they say."
"Well, it's not true," Anakin said. "But we can make it worth your
while, anyway. Do you know something?"
Auben was in the middle of her usual evasive shrug when an explosive
blast rocked the walls. Sand spilled from the ceiling. Auben was almost
knocked to the floor. Anakin and Ferus rose.
Behind the wall, Obi-Wan and the Jedi team ducked with the explosion,
keeping their balance with difficulty.
Suddenly they heard the sound of pounding footsteps and the
unmistakable clack clack of spider droids snapping into attack position.
Auben had been wrong. The Commerce Guild army had followed them.
Inside the chamber, Auben jumped up, blasters already gripped in her
hands. "They're coming through the main chamber. There's only one other way
out. Follow me."
Obi-Wan waited until he saw Auben kick open a small opening in the
wall. He leaned over to Tru and Darra. "Stay with Anakin and Ferus,
whatever happens. We'll take care of the droids and come find you."
Darra and Tru nodded. Quickly, they slipped into the now empty chamber
and followed the others.
Obi-Wan, Siri, and Soara charged back to the main chamber, prepared to
meet an army.
CHAPTER TEN
Anakin wasn't about to let Auben out of his sight. He had a feeling
she was the key to finding Granta Omega. She knew so much about Dreshdae,
and there was something in her eyes when they told her they were looking
for a couple. His instincts told him she knew something.
Unfortunately, Ferus felt it, too.
Anakin could feel Ferus behind him every step of the way. They were
moving close together in the narrow passage, Ferus's breath on his neck.
As Auben pushed forward, he realized that they were now moving
parallel to the great hall. Despite the thick blocks of stone, he could
hear the clatter of droids and the steady, fast ping of blaster fire.
Auben moved more quickly as the noise of the blaster fire faded, no
longer afraid of being detected. The passageway led downward in a gradual
slope. The stones were damp and slippery.
"Where are we going?" Ferus asked.
"Just follow me," Auben snapped. "And hurry!"
The passageway made a sudden turn, and they came to a partially
demolished wall. Auben stepped over the stones and jumped into a chamber a
little larger than the one they left.
"There's a whole system of passageways that were once hidden," she
explained. "I guess the big monks used to spy on the rest."
That sounded like standard Sith procedure to Anakin. Trust was not
part of Sith doctrine. It seemed to Anakin to be a bleak way to live.
Auben led them down a bigger hallway. They went steadily downward,
deeper and deeper into the complex. The walls began to weep with moisture.
Anakin guessed they were now in the part of the monastery buried in the
mountain.
They went through so many twists and turns that Anakin wondered if
they'd have to use tracking devices to get out again. Even with his Jedi
memory skills, he was beginning to feel disoriented.
At last, Auben paused. "What I'm about to show you isn't visible from
above." She pushed open a rotted door.
Anakin followed. An ancient ship stood in the middle of a large space.
He had never seen anything like it. Crude and clunky, it must have been
state-of-the-art at one time. The afterburner tanks were huge.
"This was probably from before the sublight engine was perfected,"
Anakin said, half to himself. Under normal circumstances, he would love to
investigate the ancient technology of the ship.
Around it, various decaying parts of what looked like droids were
littered, models so old he couldn't identify them. He saw sheets and shards
of durasteel and other metals on the floor and realized they had once been
servodrivers, valves, and pumps, the hoses long decayed.
"It's a service bay," he said. "We must be near a landing hangar."
"You got it," Auben said. "Look."
She led them through the open arch, into the darkness. Anakin stepped
out and released a breath. The hangar was so vast, it ended in darkness.
Service bay after service bay ran down each side of the hangar, waiting to
repair the ships that no longer arrived. Hulking wrecks of ships still
littered the floor, bits of metal that had once been droids, decayed tanks.
Huge statues of terrifying creatures from many worlds marched on either
side down the hangar. The statues had crumbled and cracked over the years.
Some were headless, and the huge heads had fallen and crumbled into blocks
of stone.
There was a smell of rust and rot, and the air seemed full of
something thick, something like memory. Here the Sith had sent off their
attack ships. Here their blood lust had pooled into technology and
aggression. Here they had thought themselves invincible. Here disaster had
overtaken them, their vengeance ending in defeat as their greed tore their
order apart.
"It's huge," Ferus said. He walked forward a few steps. "You could
dispatch an army from here."
"Yeah, a lot of ships for a bunch of monks," Auben said.
"The Sith were more than monks," Anakin told her. "So I've heard. The
original evil guys, right?" Auben looked around. "Well, they're all dead
now."
All except for one, Anakin thought. Maybe two. If Auben knew as much
as they did about the Sith, she wouldn't be so casual.
"So where's the exit?" Ferus asked.
Auben waved vaguely toward the darkness. "The landing platform is
completely blocked off. From what I can tell, it's buried behind the
mountain again, probably blasted with artillery a couple of thousand years
ago or so. But you can get out through one of the hangar bays.
It's a tough climb down the mountain, but it's better than tangling
with the army."
Anakin suddenly felt a surge, a feeling that seemed to rise up through
the soles of his feet and blast out the ends of his hair. His stomach
turned. His nerves screamed an alert. He could feel the dark side of the
Force, lurking deeply in the vast hangar.
"Anakin," Ferus said softly.
"I know."
"Let's... go back. Quietly."
They backed up, stepping into the service bay again. The cool shadow
calmed Anakin's tripping heart.
Auben looked at both of them. "What is it?"
"Something worse than the army," Anakin said. "And it's coming this
way."
CHAPTER ELEVEN br />
Obi-Wan quickly assessed the attack. The first and second lines were
made up of dwarf spider droids and homing spider droids, skittering toward
the Jedi with laser tracking devices sending thin blue lines bisecting the
space between them. Behind the droids were the army troops, locals dressed
in full plastoid armor with battlefield helmets. The sophistication of the
force was surprising. Obi-Wan wondered why the Commerce Guild needed such
an awesome security operation.
The blaster fire from the spider droids was fast and accurate. They
marched on spindly legs toward the Jedi. Obi-Wan and Siri moved forward,
lightsabers moving like pinwheels of glowing light, cutting down the first
droids who moved forward to engage them.
They had fought together so many times that they had learned how to
merge their styles. Siri was the flash, Obi-Wan the strategist. He set her
up, and she closed the deal. He maneuvered, she struck. They moved faster
than the droids could track, and, with Soara entering from the other side,
they mowed down the first two lines easily.
Soara was a renowned fighter, and Obi-Wan always appreciated a chance