Jedi Quest 10: The Final Showdown

Chapter Twelve

Anakin heard the flurry. It was like a flock of birds. But instead of the whisper of feathers, he heard the mechanical clatter of metal on stone.

"Stay here," Ferus ordered Auben. "And hide!" he yelled over his shoulder.

Together Ferus and Anakin moved to the front of the service bay. They peered out into the vast hangar. At first they could see nothing. They could hear only the menacing clatter.

Then out of the gloom rose the battle droids. Line after line. Maybe thirty… forty?

"Wait," Ferus said. "Those aren't ordinary battle droids."

"They have reinforced armor," Anakin said, swallowing. "And the control center is lower… you can't cut off their heads."

"Too many," Ferus said. "We have to retreat." "We can take them,"

Anakin insisted.

"Anakin, this is no time to play hero. The two of us can't do it by ourselves."

"That's your trouble, Ferus," Anakin said coolly. "You always look at the odds."

He stepped out into the darkness of the hangar. He saw the infrared tracking devices on the droids move over the space. They would find him. He had seconds.

Ferus moved out next to him. Of course if Anakin went out to meet the droids, Ferus would have to as well. He wouldn't leave him. Anakin knew that.

"We should attack from above. They won't be expecting that," he said.

"How — "

"Follow me."

Anakin gathered in the Force. He leaped onto the gigantic statue to his left, landing on its knee. He began to climb rapidly up, looking for handholds in the crumbling stone. He heard Ferus behind him.

He balanced on one shoulder of the huge statue, Ferus on another. They were high above the floor now, but even so, the ceiling of the hangar was lost in the darkness above them.

"Wait for the first wave, then drop," Anakin said. "We can use our liquid cable launchers. The statues can be cover and — "

"I get it," Ferus said.

They waited for the precise instant their attack would be most effective. It was seconds away when two dark shapes ran out from the hangar.

Darra and Tru.

"They think we're down there," Ferus said in horror. Almost immediately, the droids locked onto Darra and Tru's positions.

Ferus and Anakin took off in midair, the liquid cables holding them secure. They bounced off the statue and then swung out over the first line of droids. Their lightsabers moved in slashing circles. Due to the unexpected angle of attack, the droids were unable to lock onto their position at first. Sweeping out over the line, they managed to take out a dozen droids between them. Racing forward, Darra and Tru engaged the rest.

The eerie space and the darkness, the glint of metal, the pull of battle. Anakin saw nothing, felt nothing, but what was before him. He wasn't a fool. He knew their chances of beating so many droids were slim to none. But he also knew that it was only in gestures like this that a true Jedi would be revealed. He Force-pushed a droid and it slammed into another. He slashed them both into one smoking pile.

Compared to him, Ferus's hold on the Force was puny. Anakin reached out for it in the way he knew, reached for the Force in the stones and the dust and very air he breathed. The Force was part of him and around him.

His vision was sharper now, his control perfect. He didn't count the droids he dismantled. He didn't hesitate or second-guess his choices. He just kept moving.

Even while he moved, he kept track of the Padawans behind him and next to him. In battle, his problems with Ferus went away. They were fellow Jedi, and they had to cover one another.

The droids split off in a different formation. Darra, who had swung wide to attack, was suddenly surrounded. She whirled in an arc, keeping most of them at bay. Tru, who was closest, Force-leaped to help her, his flexible arms reaching out to slash his way toward her. Darra buried her lightsaber in the lead droid's control panel and it wheeled crazily astray, spraying blaster fire in random, dizzying circles. The stray fire caught Tru in mid-leap. He was wounded and fell, his lightsaber clattering to the floor. A droid stepped on it and kept going.

Anakin started to rush to help, but out of the corner of his eye he saw a flicker of movement. Something sinuous, flowing. Not the movement of a droid.

A cape. A dark-robed figure was moving quickly, keeping in the shadows, heading into the shadowy end of the hangar.

Granta Omega.

Tru was down. Darra had leaped to protect him. Now Ferus was moving in that direction.

The situation was covered. And Omega was getting away, no doubt heading for the same exit that Auben had told them about. This was his chance, his only chance. With a last glance at his friend, Anakin ran off into the darkness.