The Master of Disguise Page 11

  climbed through the hole.

  Obi-Wan began to access the files. One after another he called up the

  holofiles. They were coded, but he was confident that the Jedi could crack

  them. He would take them back to the Temple.

  "These must be his companies," he said. "His aliases are here, text

  docs, his other homes, bases of operations... it's all here. We've got him.

  All his secrets are now ours."

  "It looks like he has an entire fleet of starships on some planet in

  the Outer Rim," Anakin said. "The planet's name is coded."

  As he read the file, the letters began to fade. "Master - "

  "The files are disappearing," Obi-Wan said. He quickly hit the keys,

  tapping furiously. "I can't stop it."

  They watched as the information disappeared into fragments of light.

  The light dissolved into particles.

  "He instituted a wipe from wherever he is," Obi-Wan said. "Now it is

  as though he never existed. He truly is a void."

  They stared at the empty air. It was as if Granta Omega were mocking

  them from wherever he was. "Now he has no past," Anakin said.

  "And he's just become more dangerous than ever," Obi-Wan said. "He has

  nothing to lose."

  Obi-Wan watched the emotion flit over his Padawan's face. Confusion

  was there, and wonderment. Granta Omega had touched something in Anakin

  that Obi-Wan could only guess at. Perhaps it was their similar origins, the

  desolation of the places they'd known as children. Perhaps it was the way

  they had left their pasts behind. Perhaps it was simply that for the first

  time, Anakin had seen evil coupled with charisma, and was struggling to

  understand it.

  He wasn't sure what it was. But it worried him.

  Yes, the Jedi had a dangerous enemy. It wasn't Omega's cleverness that

  concerned Obi-Wan. It wasn't his desire to impress a Sith Lord he had never

  met. It was the strange pull he had for his Padawan. Granta Omega might

  turn out to be the most dangerous enemy they would ever have to face.