The Death of Hope

  fire, Qui-Gon used his lightsaber in a series of quick defensive moves.

  Obi-Wan knew he was biding his time until the droid came closer, so he

  could leap toward it with his lightsaber. It was a waiting game.

  "Get that other droid!" Qui-Gon shouted.

  Obi-Wan wanted to protect Qui-Gon. But Qui-Gon was right. Losing a

  probe droid would drastically lower the odds of finding Tahl quickly.

  He shot up to where the probe droids were battling and activated his

  lightsaber. It was hard, even from close range, to tell which droid was

  theirs.

  Qui-Gon saw Obi-Wan's hesitation. "The one on the left, Padawan!" he

  called out.

  Obi-Wan focused on the two droids, noting any nicks and scratches

  that would identify the one he needed to destroy. Balog's droid had a deep

  scratch on one side. Confident now, Obi-Wan moved closer, angling to take

  his first strike.

  Balog's droid suddenly veered and dived, blasting fire at the Jedi

  droid. The droid took evasive action, blaster fire missing it by

  centimeters. Obi-Wan gunned the motor and leaned to the right, angling the

  swoop closer. His balance had to be perfect or the swoop would tumble end

  over end in midair. He made a sudden dive on top of Balog's droid, swiping

  with his lightsaber. But the droid had already reversed course, and he

  missed.

  Obi-Wan righted the swoop and raced up toward the probe droid. He

  could not let the droid get another shot out. At the same time he had to

  stay out of his own droid's angle of fire.

  Balog's probe droid veered again. Obi-Wan followed. There was only so

  much strategy a droid could have. Obi-Wan dived, anticipating the droid's

  move. At the same time, the Jedi droid fired at Balog's.

  "To the left, Padawan!" Qui-Gon shouted.

  Without looking, without thinking, Obi-Wan pulled the swoop to the

  left, barely missing blaster fire from his own droid. Instead of righting

  the swoop, he used the move to circle, then zoom up, coming at Balog's

  droid head on. He saw the red sensor blink as it computed his position. He

  had only seconds.

  He rammed the engines into screaming full power and leaned off the

  swoop as far as he could, raising his lightsaber high. The lightsaber came

  down and cut the droid neatly in two. Sputtering and smoking, it fell to

  the ground below and crashed.

  Obi-Wan turned the swoop again, this time heading for Balog's second

  droid. It had altered its flight plan to fly lower since it could not get a

  good reading on Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan kept to the droid's left, leaving Qui-Gon

  room to maneuver.

  He glanced quickly at Qui-Gon, who nodded. They didn't need to

  compare notes; they had arrived at the same plan. Obi-Wan sent the swoop

  into a dive at the same time as Qui-Gon leaped. The two Jedi soared toward

  the droid, their lightsabers pulsating. Together, they timed their blows -

  Qui-Gon an upward sweep, Obi-Wan a downward thrust. The probe droid had no

  way to escape. It fell under both blows and disintegrated in a shower of

  metal and sparks.

  But what Obi-Wan hadn't taken into account was their own probe droid.

  It had reprogrammed itself to attack the second droid, and fired at the

  same time.

  Obi-Wan felt a warning surge in the Force and quickly accelerated. He

  was fast enough to avoid getting hit but not fast enough to bring the swoop

  completely out of danger. He heard blaster fire pepper the body of the

  swoop. Immediately it began to smoke and sputter. Obi-Wan carefully guided

  it toward the ground.

  Qui-Gon landed on his feet. Obi-Wan pulled up next to him.

  Qui-Gon's face was grimy and streaked with sweat as he looked

  impassively at the swoop.

  "I'm sorry, Master," Obi-Wan said disgustedly as he jumped off the

  damaged swoop. "Too much of my focus was on Balog's droid."

  "It's all right," Qui-Gon said in his quietest voice. Obi-Wan knew

  the setback had upset him. "You did well. We still have our probe droid."

  Qui-Gon bent to examine the swoop. Part of the control panel had

  fused together. After a moment he lifted his head. "It's worse than I

  thought. It will take some time to repair it. Or else we could leave it

  here. But then there will be no room to bring Tahl back..."

  "Unless we capture Balog and his transport."

  "Which we can't count on. Getting Tahl to safety is our first

  concern. We can't make another mistake."

  Qui-Gon was still keeping his voice pitched low, but Obi-Wan could

  see the boiling frustration in his eyes. He wished he could replay the

  fight. He wished he had remembered to watch out for their own droid.

  "Go on without me, Master," he said. "I'll stay and repair the swoop

  and catch up to you."

  "No," Qui-Gon said. "I won't leave you alone in this area. Lenz told

  me that it is dangerous. There are Worker supporters and Absolute loyalists

  who often meet in violent clashes. Besides, Tahl is too vulnerable. She is

  trapped, and if Balog gets one second free, he could inject her again and

  possibly kill her. We need to do this together."

  "I'm sorry," Obi-Wan said again.

  Qui-Gon put a hand on his shoulder. "Enough. It is a delay. Nothing

  more. Get the repair kit from the speeder. We are wasting time."

  Obi-Wan ran back to the landspeeder, his heart pounding. Qui-Gon had

  said all the right things to reassure him, but he didn't feel any better.

  Repairing the swoop could take several hours. If this delay meant that Tahl

  was moved beyond their reach, he would feel responsible.

  When he returned, he found Qui-Gon bent over the figure by the

  smoking fire. It was just a bundle of clothes wrapped in a thermal blanket.

  Qui-Gon extracted a sensor.

  "This is what confused the droid," he said. "It's an infrared sensor.

  It thought Balog was still here. I had a feeling we would find this. It

  should have occurred to me earlier." Qui-Gon squinted at the empty

  landscape. "He knows we're following. When his probe droids fail to return,

  he'll know we won this battle. He will do something else to delay us. We

  must be on our guard."

  CHAPTER 7

  Qui-Gon sat in the star map room at the Temple. The soft blue light

  surrounded him. The planet holograms swirled around him in the fantastic

  array of colors the galaxy provided. This was his favorite room at the

  Temple, yet recently he had not been drawn here. It was such a quiet place,

  and Qui-Gon had sought to cure his restlessness with activity rather than

  calm.

  The door opened and Tahl entered, then stopped abruptly. Although she

  could not see him, she knew he was there. Once, he had asked her how she

  knew him immediately - was it his breathing pattern, his scent, some

  betrayal of movement? She had only smiled. "It is just you," she'd said.

  But there was no smile today. He and Tahl had been arguing or

  avoiding each other for months. Whenever he returned from a mission, he

  would go to see her, as he always had. But their conversations did not go

  well. Lately, their arguments had circled around Tahl's treatment of Bant,

  her new Padawan. She was a kin
d teacher and respected Bant's unique

  abilities, but she often left her behind and went on short missions on her

  own.

  "I'm sorry," she said stiffly. "You came here to be alone."

  So she could tell that, too. "Stay, please," he said.

  She sat close to him, tucking her knees up to her chin in a pose he

  hadn't seen since she was a young girl. "I'm disturbing your refuge. Well,

  sometimes you need disturbing, Qui-Gon."

  "No doubt."

  "You know, your calmness can be infuriating," Tahl said. "But this

  moodiness is worse. I'm trying not to take it personally, but either you

  avoid me or you smother me with concern because of my blindness or you

  attack me about how I am with my Padawan. If you're trying to test our

  friendship, you're doing a very good job."

  She spoke lightly, but he knew she meant it.

  What could he say? She presented a good front to others. Her

  extraordinary compensations for her blindness had convinced everyone that

  she had come to terms with it. He knew the truth. He'd known her since she

  was a girl. Tahl was such an independent spirit. Now she disliked having to

  ask for help or guidance. Yet there were times she needed it.

  "I'm only trying to look out for you," he said carefully. "Then when

  I do, you push me away."

  "Why shouldn't I push you away when you crowd me? You should be used

  to me by now You know I have to find my way. We all do. You've had more

  experience as a Master, it's true. But you also know that each Master finds

  a separate path with his or her Padawan."

  "I do know that."

  "Then why can't you let me find my own?"

  The question hung between them. Qui-Gon realized he didn't know the

  answer. He was not one to interfere in other lives. A solitary man, he

  respected privacy. But with Tahl, it was different. He had a deep feeling

  that she needed protection, and he had been relieved when she had chosen

  Bant as her Padawan. But Tahl would not depend on Bant to help her, either.

  Her friendship was the most important thing. He needed to back off.

  "You're right," he said. "I was wrong."

  "Stars and galaxies," she murmured. "I wasn't expecting an apology. I

  was expecting another argument."

  "Well, there are things I could say - "

  She smacked his knee. "I know that. How about we just be quiet, for

  once? We can't get into trouble that way."

  So Qui-Gon sat with her, watching the hologram planets whirl. For the

  first time in weeks, he felt at peace. Strange how her quiet presence could

  soothe as well as irritate him.

  It had been their last quiet time together. The next morning, he

  found out she was going on a quick mission to the rough satellite planet

  Vandor 3. She was leaving Bant behind. By the morning meal, they were

  arguing again.

  The delay caused by the damage to the swoop made them push themselves

  even harder. The new coordinates the probe droid brought back spurred them

  on. By the next morning they had reached the vast rock quarries of New

  Apsolon, where the gray stone that had been used to build the majority of

  the buildings in the capital city was harvested.

  It was rough country, with vast boulders, cliffs, and deep pits, some

  filled with water. A good place to hide, Qui-Gon thought. Perhaps they were

  approaching Balog's destination.

  Obi-Wan had been silent for hours, his face drawn. Qui-Gon knew his

  Padawan still felt badly about the delay. He had no more words of

  reassurance for him. Obi-Wan would have to look forward, like a Jedi. His

  Padawan knew that Qui-Gon was frantic to find Tahl, but most likely thought

  his zeal to find her had to do with their long friendship. He did not know

  how much of Qui-Gon's spirit was bound up in Tahl's safety. He could not

  know how full Qui-Gon's heart was, and how difficult that made it for him

  to speak.

  All will be well, Qui-Gon told himself, when I find her. When I see

  her. When I know she is safe...

  Qui-Gon wrenched his mind away from the future. It had been worrying

  him, how often his thoughts went to his reunion with Tahl. It sprang from

  his need to see her safe. Yet it was dangerous for him to dwell on the

  future, he knew. Balog was still ahead of them. That was all he needed to

  know. His attention must be on each present moment. His focus was

  distracted, and he could be missing things as he traveled. He was not

  thinking like a Jedi. How could he teach his Padawan when he himself had

  trouble reaching his calm center?

  Qui-Gon drew his focus around him. His hands remained steady on the

  controls of the land-speeder. His progress continued. Yet he directed his

  concentration away from his piloting to take in the landscape around him,

  the Force vibrating, present as it was always present, teaching him as it

  always taught him.

  Then he felt it. A flicker of something... danger, perhaps. He might

  have noticed it before. It might have been lurking underneath the surface

  of his worry for some time. It was a separate worry from his distress over

  Tahl. Now he examined it fully, turning it over in his mind. A ripple in

  the Force, an undercurrent, a warning. A different energy was behind them.

  Someone was tailing them.

  He did not say anything to Obi-Wan. He cast his focus back, alert for

  any clue. They drove on.

  By dusk, he was certain. They were gaining on Balog now. The last

  report from the droid told them that their ability to go long periods

  without sleep had helped them. Balog had stopped, and stopped again. The

  distance was closing. This time, Qui-Gon believed it because he could feel

  it.

  Yet the fact that someone was behind them could impede their

  progress. He sensed that this being was gaining on them. He or she was

  close now. If they were overtaken and attacked, they could lose precious

  time.

  It was time to tell Obi-Wan.

  "There is someone behind us, following us," Qui-Gon said the next

  time they stopped to check their position. "I think it might be better to

  circle back and surprise them before they surprise us. I don't like the

  delay, but it would be better in the long run to deal with this."

  "I didn't sense anything," Obi-Wan said unhappily.

  "It was a suggestion, nothing more. Very faint, but it grew. Don't

  dwell on your lapse, Obi-Wan. Look forward. This is a good lesson. Even in

  pursuit, your focus should be a wide circle, taking in everything around

  you."

  Obi-Wan nodded. "Do you have any ideas about who it could be?"

  Qui-Gon shook his head. "I wouldn't guess." "It could be Irini," Obi-

  Wan said. "She seemed very anxious about that list."

  "It could also be a comrade of Balog's," Qui-Gon said. "If Balog

  knows we're gaining on him, he might call for help. I don't want to use the

  probe droid to track our pursuer. We're going to have to do it ourselves."

  "I'm ready," Obi-Wan agreed.

  They turned back, making a wide circle to avoid being seen. Qui-Gon

  pointed ahead to a cluster of hill formations formed from solid rock. He

  gestured that they should go around them
. He remembered that they had gone

  through the formation in the center, where a rough passage was cut through

  the rock. He had a feeling their pursuer was inside that narrow passage. It

  was a good place for them to ambush whoever it was.

  They zoomed around the formation, then headed into the passage,

  moving at top speed now. Ahead, Qui-Gon saw the reverberations of a fast-

  moving landspeeder. He motioned to Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan guided his repaired

  swoop high in the air. Qui-Gon pushed the engines faster as Obi-Wan zoomed

  above. Within seconds, they were on top of the other transport.

  Their pursuer looked back in surprise. A gold braid whipped around in

  the wind, slapping her in the cheek.