The Dark Rival

16

Qui-Gon looked at the instruments. “We’re approaching Bandor harbor.”

“We have to get the transmitter,” Obi-Wan told Qui-Gon. “I promised Guerra.”

Qui-Gon nodded and headed toward the Offworld loading dock. They tied the hydrocraft and headed for the Offworld security office.

“Do you have a plan?” Obi-Wan asked.

“We don’t have time for a plan,” Qui-Gon said, kicking open the door. Three Imbat guards looked up in surprise. Before they could make a move toward their blasters, Qui-Gon’s lightsaber sang through the air. The three blasters clattered to the floor as the guards clutched their wrists and howled.

“Transmitters, please,” Qui-Gon remarked pleasantly. When they hesitated, he casually brought his lightsaber down on the power terminal. It sizzled and collapsed into a molten heap.

The three guards exchanged frightened glances. Then they threw down their transmitters and dashed out the door.

“It’s nice when it’s easy,” Qui-Gon remarked. He bent down and picked up the three transmitters. Striding back onto the dock, he threw two in the sea. Then he pressed the button on the third.

“Guerra is free,” he said. “Now let’s see if we can get that collar off.”

Qui-Gon placed his large hands around the collar, searching for a catch or seam. He could not break the collar, or twist it apart. He set his lightsaber to lower power and tried to cut it, but could not.

“I need a high power, and that would injure you,” he said.

“Or behead me,” Obi-Wan pointed out cheerfully.

Qui-Gon smiled briefly. “We’ll just have to find a way to get it off in Bandor.” He tossed the transmitter to Obi-Wan. “You’d better keep this until it’s off.”

Obi-Wan tucked the transmitter into an interior pocket of his tunic. “What now?”

Qui-Gon’s blue eyes gleamed. “Xanatos.” He said the name like a curse. “We need to get back to Bandor.”

Qui-Gon climbed into the driver’s seat of an Offworld security landspeeder.

He powered up the vehicle, and Obi-Wan jumped in. The landspeeder roared toward the city in the distance.

The gray sky was dark and low. The mining towers in the distance looked like spidery traces against it, growing larger as they sped toward Bandor. As they reached the outskirts, Obi-Wan saw a dot on the horizon.

“Someone heading this way,” he said.

Qui-Gon nodded. He had seen it. Obi-Wan felt something dark in the Force. He glanced at Qui-Gon.

“I feel it, too,” Qui-Gon murmured.

Within minutes, a speeder bike was upon them. They didn’t need to see the black cloak to know who was piloting it.

“Hang on,” Qui-Gon said. “I don’t think Xanatos is in the mood to chat.”

“He’s got laser cannons!” Obi-Wan shouted.

A blast from the cannon missed them by centimeters, sending up a shower of dirt and gravel.

“So I see,” Qui-Gon said.

He wheeled the landspeeder sharply, turning to the right as another blast whistled past them.

Lightsabers were useless. They had no blasters. They had to rely on Qui-Gon’s skill. Even as he drove, he gathered the Force around him, using it to anticipate the blasts.

Dirt and grit flew in their faces as Qui-Gon swerved, dived, reversed, and hung stationary, all to evade the deadly laser cannon. On a speeder bike, Xanatos had greater maneuverability, and he used it to dodge suddenly around them, firing from the left. The jolt nearly sent Obi-Wan flying out.

“Hang on!” Qui-Gon called. He sped ahead, as low to the ground as he dared. He kicked up the dust underneath him, which blew behind them in a thick cloud, blinding Xanatos.

It bought them precious seconds, no more. Qui-Gon recognized the mining towers ahead. It was the Home Planet Mine. There would be friends there, weapons. Clat’Ha was a fierce fighter. She had saved his life once before.

He roared into the yard, but no one was there. Everyone was in the mine, working to repair it. There was no time to call VeerTa or Clat’Ha. Behind them, they could hear Xanatos roaring into the yard.

Qui-Gon jumped out of the landspeeder, calling on Obi-Wan to do the same.

Xanatos headed for Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan at top speed. Qui-Gon unsheathed his lightsaber and dealt Xanatos a glancing blow as he sped past. But the impact sent Qui-Gon spinning backward, and he felt his shoulder wrench in pain. They could not fight Xanatos while he was on that vehicle.

Xanatos turned and roared back toward them. They had no choice but to dash into the mine entrance. As they did, Qui-Gon had a sudden flash of chilling knowledge.

They were doing exactly what Xanatos had planned for them to do. They were playing his game.

Qui-Gon drew Obi-Wan back into the tunnel. It branched off in several directions, and he tried to remember which way VeerTa had led him to the lift tube. He let the Force direct him, take him over. He ran down the left tunnel, Obi-Wan at his heels. The lift tube stood at the end of the tunnel. They jumped in and Qui-Gon pressed the number of the deepest level, Core 6.

The glow lights hummed as they stepped out into the tunnel. Qui-Gon turned to the left.

“Where are we going?” Obi-Wan asked in a whisper.

“There’s another lift tube,” Qui-Gon explained. “It should be fixed by now. Xanatos wouldn’t know that. We’ll be able to circle around him to come at him from another direction, or even escape the mine. It’s better not to fight here.”

Obi-Wan nodded. It was always best to fight in a place where your opponent couldn’t drive you into a corner.

But that wasn’t the only reason Qui-Gon wanted to escape the mine. Xanatos had driven them in here for a purpose. They needed to foil that plan. A nameless dread tugged at Qui-Gon, telling him there was something here he would not want to face.

They traveled deeper into the tunnel. Qui-Gon frowned as he peered ahead. “VeerTa said this tunnel was completely blocked. Why—”

Suddenly, a shadow detached from the wall of the tunnel. Xanatos stood before him.

“You make so many mistakes, Qui-Gon,” he said. “It’s a wonder you’re still standing. First, you deactivate the transmitter so that I know exactly where you are. Then you enter the mine, which is exactly what I wanted you to do. And then you assume that I don’t know about the north lift tube.”

Behind him, Qui-Gon heard the hum of Obi-Wan’s lightsaber.

“Which one of you shall I kill first?” Xanatos murmured. “You, or your clumsy boy?”

Obi-Wan lunged forward fiercely. He leaped onto a mining cart, which rolled toward Xanatos. At the last moment, Obi-Wan sprang off. He flew over Xanatos’ head, striking down with his lightsaber as he did so.

Qui-Gon heard the flesh on Xanatos’ hand sizzle. Howling, Xanatos almost dropped his lightsaber, but caught it with his other hand.

Obi-Wan landed safely behind Xanatos. “Don’t call me clumsy,” he said.

Whirling so quickly Qui-Gon had barely caught the movement, Xanatos sprang at Obi-Wan. The boy leaped back, slashing with his lightsaber at the same time. Xanatos’ attack missed him by a whisper. Qui-Gon was already charging forward, and Xanatos turned to parry the thrust. Their lightsabers tangled and locked, sputtering. Smoke rose in the tunnel.

Xanatos withdrew, leaping past Obi-Wan, and the two Jedi pursued him down the tunnel. As they ran, the floor beneath them sloped sharply. Qui-Gon realized that they were descending to a lower level.

Turning a corner, they just had time to see Xanatos disappear into a smaller corridor that led off the shaft. They hurried forward. The crosscut tunnel was narrow and dark. The glow lights here were set at a fainter setting. The ground dropped sharply downward. Xanatos was gone.

“Wait, Qui-Gon,” Obi-Wan panted. “Are you certain we should follow?”

“Why not?” Qui-Gon asked impatiently. His lightsaber pulsed hot in his hand.

“Because he wants us to,” Obi-Wan said simply.

“It’s too late now,” Qui-Gon said. “He has chosen the field of battle, true. But we can defeat him.”

Qui-Gon turned and ran down the tunnel after Xanatos. Obi-Wan followed. He would stand by Qui-Gon’s side until his very last breath.

They were deep in the planet’s crust now, close to the core. The heat was intense. Qui-Gon saw a faint sign glowing ahead. Core 5.

VeerTa had lied to him. Or else she had not known this tunnel existed.

The tunnel opened out into a slightly wider one. The glow lights were brighter here. Immediately after they left the smaller tunnel, a hidden panel slid shut behind them.

They were trapped.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan slowly circled, their lightsabers held at the ready. There was no sign of Xanatos.

Then the lights went out.

The mocking voice came from out of the void. “I hope the two of you have time for a Temple exercise.” Suddenly, in the darkness, the red glow of lightsaber extended.

Qui-Gon didn’t wait for Xanatos to strike. He moved through the blackness toward the glow. He could not see, he let the Force guide him. He could feel his opponent, feel the dark tremors of his evil. He struck.

“Missed me,” Xanatos said. “I was always best at the blindfold test. Remember?”

Obi-Wan moved off to the right, hoping that between them, he and Qui-Gon could catch Xanatos in a classic pincer movement. But suddenly the lightsaber was moving through the air, slashing toward him. He jumped back just in time. He smelled lightning in the air from the close call.

It was hard fighting now, driven by instinct and with only the Force to help them. Xanatos was a cunning, powerful adversary. He attacked and retreated in a furious rhythm, faster than any fighter Obi-Wan had met. Qui-Gon’s grace and power were astounding as time and time again he met Xanatos with his thrusting lightsaber, protecting himself and Obi-Wan from blows.

Obi-Wan dived to the floor, hoping to slash at Xanatos’ legs and get him down. But Xanatos sidestepped and somersaulted over him. He felt the brush of air as he went by.

Obi-Wan tried to push away his own anger and use the white light of the Force. His mind had been too clouded by anger. He needed to get clear. It was their only hope. He drew on the living Force to guide him.

Suddenly, he saw Qui-Gon take a step back. His lightsaber flickered for a moment. Had he felt Obi-Wan’s shift?

Obi-Wan felt Qui-Gon’s Force energy suddenly flow into his, melding and pulsing in a white heat. Qui-Gon’s lightsaber glowed green again, so bright it illuminated the shaft. Together, they sliced through the air, never stopping, moving, sliding, swerving. Xanatos was driven back, back, until they had him cornered against a tunnel wall. But suddenly, the wall turned transparent, and a door opened. Xanatos sprang inside.

“It’s a lift tube!” Qui-Gon cried, rushing forward. But the transparent door closed. Qui-Gon struck at it with his lightsaber, but the light only sputtered.

Xanatos’ voice echoed through the cavern through some sort of amplification device. “It doesn’t matter what you do now. The mine is about to blow. I’ve created the same conditions for explosion as I did last time. Except more so. Gases are mixing and will combust. I have enough time to get to the surface. You do not.”

They heard the lift shoot up out of the mine.

The voice of Xanatos echoed in the darkness.

“Good-bye, my old Master. May your death be as painful as my father’s.”