The Captive Temple Page 6

  "Will we lose power completely?" Obi-Wan asked.

  "Yes. Miro will have to shut down water systems, communications, power stations, and last of all, security. The turnoff will last for twelve minutes. Then Miro will turn the system back on, beginning with security. It's a necessary risk. Now come. Let's head for the north wing." Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan walked off toward the lift tube. As soon as they turned the corner, Qui-Gon deactivated the voice track.

  He handed it to Ali-Alann and Garen. In a few moments, Tahl would summon TooJay. Ali-Alann and Garen would impersonate Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and transmit the conversation while TooJay was within earshot. This would give Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon time to position themselves to ambush Xanatos.

  Qui-Gon was counting on the fact that Xanatos would be monitoring closely, since he would want to know if his demand would be met. Thanks to the transmitted conversation, he would think he had a clear field.

  "You two must seem to follow through on the plan," Qui-Gon directed Ali-Alann and Garen. "Start searching the north wing. Try to stay in ill-lighted areas, just in case Xanatos or Bruck checks to make sure."

  Ali-Alann and Garen nodded.

  "And what am I to do, Qui-Gon?" Tahl asked softly.

  "Your work is done, my friend," Qui-Gon said. "Now it is up to me and Obi-Wan."

  "May the Force be with you," Tahl murmured.

  "May it be with us all," Qui-Gon quietly replied. He signaled to Obi-Wan, and they headed for the lift tube.

  "Where are we going?" Obi-Wan asked.

  "To Xanatos' ultimate destination," Qui-Gon answered. "Everything he's done has led to this. Capturing Bant was a bonus - he can now use her as leverage to get his transport back. He knew Miro would eventually have to shut down the entire power core, including the security system. In those precious minutes when security is down, Xanatos is planning to strike."

  Of course! "He's going after the vertex in the security chamber,” Obi-Wan said.

  "And we will be waiting," Qui-Gon replied grimly.

  The security chamber was built like a strongbox. It could not be reached by turbolift, only by a short stairway down from the Jedi Council room itself. Access was limited to Jedi Council members, who underwent a retinal scan to enter. Approval had to be received and coded into the central system.

  Ali-Alann and Garen's impersonation had given them time to arrange the ambush. Yoda arranged for Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to enter before security shut down. The hallway outside the chamber was narrow and dark, the lights at half-power.

  "Three minutes until Miro shuts down the power," Qui-Gon told Obi-Wan softly. "Xanatos and Bruck will come through one of the air ducts. Do not wait to engage them. Surprise is key. But don't activate your lightsaber too early or the glow will alert them that someone is here."

  Obi-Wan nodded. He gripped his lightsaber, keeping his eyes on the ceiling above. The minutes slid by slowly. The unventilated air caused him to perspire. His fingers slipped on the lightsaber hilt. Quickly, he wiped his palm on his tunic.

  He tried to summon up Qui-Gon's calm, but it slipped by him. He did not know why he was having such trouble with his composure. Every nerve was on fire. All he could think of was Bant. Was she alive or dead?

  The thought of Bant sent panic shooting through him again. Obi-Wan bit down against it. They would save Bant. They would defeat Xanatos. Their enemy was not invincible. He trusted Qui-Gon's strength and cleverness.

  Suddenly, the lights went out. Even though Obi-Wan knew this would happen when Miro shut down the central power core, it still made him start. He wrenched his mind to stillness.

  A slight noise overhead alerted him that someone was now traveling in the duct system. Qui-Gon kept his eyes trained on the duct closest to the treasury door.

  Moments later, the grate slid open. Xanatos and Bruck somersaulted through, both dressed in black, blending into the darkness. The only gleam of light was of Bruck's white ponytail and Xanatos' pale skin.

  Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon moved as one. They sprang forward, lightsabers activated. The surprise on Xanatos' face was gratifying. He gave a strangled cry of rage and sprang back, his hand reaching for his lightsaber.

  Bruck was not as quick. He stumbled back, fumbling. The hilt of his lightsaber was in his hand when Qui-Gon, with a delicate touch, knocked it away without touching Bruck's skin. He did not want to harm the boy, just capture him.

  Obi-Wan sprang toward Xanatos as Qui-Gon came at him on the other side. But this time Xanatos surprised them. Instead of trying to elude them, he leaped forward and grabbed Bruck. He held his glowing red lightsaber against the boy's neck.

  "Don't come any closer," he said, his eyes snapping a challenge. "You know I'll do it, Qui-Gon."

  "Xanatos?" Bruck's eyes wobbled in fear.

  "Be quiet," Xanatos snapped. "Now I have two hostages, Qui-Gon," he continued. "Do you want to sacrifice two young lives?"

  Qui-Gon made a subtle movement toward Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan felt the Force surge. Qui-Gon was reaching out to him, trying to tell him something. But what?

  If your plan is good, there is no reason to abandon it.

  Obi-Wan remembered that Qui-Gon had wanted him to seem impatient, close to the edge of control. Xanatos would not look at him as a threat.

  "You're not going to let him get away with this, are you?" Obi-Wan shouted, pumping desperation in his voice. "I don't care about Bruck! Let's charge him!"

  "The boy is ruthless, Qui-Gon," Xanatos purred. "Did he learn this from you?"

  With a cry, Obi-Wan started toward Xanatos. At the same time, Qui-Gon sprang forward. Xanatos gave Bruck a violent shove away from him, trying to use the boy to block Obi-Wan's advance. At the same time, he stepped forward to meet Qui-Gon's first strike.

  Bruck dropped to the floor and scrambled for his lightsaber. Obi-Wan leaped to prevent it, but Bruck grasped it, rolled away, and sprang to his feet.

  "Make sure she is dead!" Xanatos hissed at Bruck. "Now!"

  Bruck took off toward the end of the hallway.

  "After him!" Qui-Gon roared to Obi-Wan.

  Obi-Wan raced to catch up to Bruck, but Xanatos stepped to the side and made a diving sweep at him. Obi-Wan parried the violent blow, but it drove him backward. He slashed at Xanatos, but Xanatos blocked his every move while twisting to evade Qui-Gon's attack.

  Grimly, Qui-Gon stepped up his pace, going after Xanatos again and again, so relentlessly that Obi-Wan was free to maneuver.

  He didn't want to leave Qui-Gon alone with Xanatos. But he had to stop Bruck. It was an impossible choice, but he had to make it. Leaving Qui-Gon behind, Obi-Wan took off to save Bant.

  Qui-Gon felt the dark surge of Xanatos' anger charge the air. He did not meet it with his own. Once he had hated Xanatos, but he could not exist with hate and continue to be a Jedi. He did not hate his enemy. He wished to stop him. There was a difference. He knew Xanatos wanted him to use hate and anger. Xanatos wanted more than anything to prove that Qui-Gon Jinn could violate the Jedi Code. That would be his victory.

  Qui-Gon found his core of purpose and stillness even as he vaulted, somersaulted, came at Xanatos from one approach, then another. His will collided with that of his former apprentice.

  Xanatos flipped backward twice, then changed hands and came at Qui-Gon from a different angle. This was a new skill. Now Xanatos fought with two hands. Qui-Gon would have to be alert for a sudden change in attack. He parried Xanatos' blow with a backhanded sweep, then whirled to jab an uppercut toward the chin. Xanatos stepped back, anticipating the move. But Qui-Gon was already reversing. His next blow missed Xanatos by a hair. He saw the displeasure in his eyes.

  Xanatos turned and ran. Qui-Gon gave pursuit, running swiftly up the staircase and bursting into the Jedi Council room.

  The Force warned him to duck, and he rolled away to his left. A small table smashed into the wall behind him, propelled by the Force. Qui-Gon ducked as a viewscreen followed, smashing as it hit the wall behind his head. He sprang forward, descending on Xanato
s with a lightning-fast series of lunges.

  "Your age is slowing you down, Qui-Gon," Xanatos panted. "Five years ago you would have dispatched me inside the security chamber. Now I am faster than you."

  "No," Qui-Gon said as their lightsabers clashed. "You just talk more."

  He circled Xanatos, looking for an opening. Xanatos kept moving, keeping the Council chairs between them. Using the Force, Xanatos caused one to slide away and smash against the wall. Then he pounced.

  Their battle assumed a new ferocity. Again and again their lightsabers tangled as each tried to gain the advantage.

  "Give up, Qui-Gon," Xanatos growled. "I will outlast you. I will kill you here, then steal the vertex. Your precious Jedi will have to go on without you."

  Qui-Gon blocked a sweeping blow. "Your small mistakes have always been your downfall."

  "I... don't... make ... mistakes." Xanatos grunted out the words as he took an involuntary step backward under the fury of Qui-Gon's assault.

  "Your footwork betrays you," Qui-Gon answered, pressing his advantage with a slashing blow. "You don't realize how you let me know your next move. Notice how your body is leaning just slightly. You're placing more weight on the ball of your left foot. You're going to move left."

  Xanatos shifted his balance, and Qui-Gon, already anticipating his reaction, drove forward. Xanatos nearly dropped his lightsaber as he slammed against the wall.

  Ready to push his advantage, Qui-Gon leaped after him. But Xanatos switched hands again, parrying Qui-Gon's blow as he leaped across the room. He landed on a table close to the window. Gripping his lightsaber, he cut a hole in the window that overlooked the tall towers of Coruscant.

  The window peeled back. Keeping his eyes on Qui-Gon, Xanatos smiled.

  "You will never defeat me, Qui-Gon Jinn. That is your curse." Then he leaped out into thin air.

  Since the turbolifts weren't operational, Obi-Wan had to race behind Bruck down hallways and stairs. The sound of Bruck's heavy footsteps alerted him to the boy's direction. Bruck had never been light on his feet.

  Soon, Obi-Wan guessed where Bruck was heading - the Room of a Thousand Fountains. Where better to hide Bant than underwater?

  He ducked into the room. Immediately, he spotted Bruck running along one of the trails that twisted through the greenery. Obi-Wan ran as silently as he could, hoping to surprise Bruck from behind. But an instant before Obi-Wan reached him, Bruck stepped off the path and reversed direction. He had learned cunning from Xanatos.

  The Force warned Obi-Wan of the attack a split second before, or he would have run into the end of Bruck's lightsaber. Bruck came at him with a two-handed sweep.

  Obi-Wan had time for a flashpoint of unreality, as though he were in a dream. His old adversary advanced, a light of anger and rivalry in his eyes. Everything was so familiar - Bruck's aggressive stance, his small, angry eyes, the way his fingers gripped the hilt of the lightsaber.

  But this isn't training. It's real. He wants to kill me.

  Obi-Wan deflected the blow and whirled to take the offensive. But Bruck had gained in strength as well as strategy. He blocked Obi-Wan's blow and struck again.

  "I've learned well, haven't I?" he asked, his pale blue eyes fierce. "Xanatos showed me what true power is. The Jedi will regret that they held me back!"

  "They never held you back," Obi-Wan said, parrying Bruck's strike. He stayed on the defensive, waiting to turn into the aggressor. If he kept Bruck talking, perhaps he could spot Bant. While he parried and struck, his eyes darted around, searching for a glimpse of her under the still surfaces of the pools that surrounded him. "No one chose me as Padawan!" Bruck cried, grunting as he swung a brutal blow toward Obi-Wan's legs.

  Obi-Wan danced backward. "Then you were not ready."

  "I was ready!" Bruck screamed. Then his expression grew crafty. "More ready than you, Obi-Wan. You're the one who disgraced the order."

  Obi-Wan knew that Bruck was trying to get him to lose his temper. But the words still hit their mark. His next blow had anger behind it. He saw Bruck's satisfied smile.

  Yes, Bruck had learned well from Xanatos.

  "I was always better than you," Bruck taunted him. "Now I am even stronger."

  But Obi-Wan knew that he, too, was stronger. Thanks to Qui-Gon he was a smarter fighter, cooler, with better strategy.

  As long as I don't give in to my anger.

  Obi-Wan remembered how Qui-Gon had pointed out that in the battle on the platform, Xanatos had subtly kept them away from what he was trying to conceal: the airspeeder. Now Obi-Wan wondered if the apprentice had learned from the Master: was Bruck pushing him back slowly in order to keep him away from seeing Bant?

  With a great leap, Obi-Wan suddenly launched an offensive. His furious blows sent Bruck backward, and he kept up the assault, driving him down the path. Sweat poured from his body as he swung the lightsaber in a ceaseless motion, attacking Bruck from all sides.

  The highest waterfall loomed ahead. Normally the cascading water flowed into a deep pool, but since Miro had turned off all systems, the waterfall was dry.

  But the pool was not. Obi-Wan felt his heart stop as he glimpsed a flash of a lighter blue underneath the deep sapphire of the water. Bant's tunic! His fear threatened to choke him, but he willed it to calm. He drove Bruck before him relentlessly until they reached the edge of the pool.

  Bant lay on the bottom. Her ankle was securely chained to a heavy anchor. Obi-Wan felt relief course through him as tiny bubbles rose to the surface of the water. She was still alive.

  Bant could last underwater for long periods of time, but she needed oxygen to breathe. How long had she been under?

  "She doesn't look too good, does she?" Bruck remarked as he took advantage of Obi-Wan's distraction to administer a two-handed blow toward his midsection.

  Obi-Wan raised his lightsaber and deflected the blow. As he staggered from the impact, he screamed Bant's name, calling on the Force to help him reach her.

  Her eyelids opened slowly. She blinked. But she seemed to barely register his presence. Her eyes closed again.

  Hold on, Bant!

  But Obi-Wan did not feel an answer. Her living Force was ebbing. He could feel it. Bant would die.

  "That's right, Obi-Wan," Bruck taunted him. "Bant is dying. I won't have to do a thing. I'll just make you watch it. We would have freed her if we got the treasure. But another person will die because of you. Right in front of your eyes. Just like your friend Cerasi. I overheard the other Jedi talk about how you failed her."

  At the sound of Cerasi's name, something shattered inside Obi-Wan. The composure he'd fought for was gone now. He attacked Bruck in a fury, not caring about strategy or finesse.

  Startled, Bruck backed up the hill that formed the waterfall. It was a rocky slope, the footing treacherous. Ruthlessly, Obi-Wan pressed Bruck, driving him up, keeping him off-balance. Their lightsabers tangled.

  Obi-Wan's arm muscles ached as he swung with all his might with each stroke.

  He felt clumsy in Garen's too-small boots.

  Bruck reached the top of the hill. He took the opportunity to plant his feet and swing down at Obi-Wan, aiming for his chest. Obi-Wan twisted as he parried the blow. His foot slipped on the mossy rocks and he landed on one knee. Pain sliced through him, followed by fear. If he lost this battle, Bant would die.

  Still on one knee, Obi-Wan managed to deflect Bruck's thrusts. But he had allowed anger to pierce his heart - deadly for such an intense battle.

  The muscle weakness he had felt outside Tahl's quarters returned. He could barely keep the lightsaber moving in order to counteract Bruck's blows. He tried to use the Force again, but it proved as slippery as the moss-covered rocks.

  "Good move, Oafy-Wan," Bruck sneered.

  Bruck had given him that nickname when they were students in the Temple , making fun of his growing legs and his occasional misstep during training.

  At the memory of Bruck's cruelty, a sudden passion for vengeance rose
in Obi-Wan. Bruck's cruelty had once been petty. Now it was dangerous. Xanatos had made Bruck a killer.

  Boiling anger blurred his vision. He hated Bruck as he had hated no living creature. Anger drove out the Force completely, leaving him in a vacuum that he filled with his rage. The rage united with his fear and panic and created a dark cloud that threatened to overtake him completely.

  Bruck saw the change in his eyes. His own pale blue eyes flashed with cruel satisfaction. He planted both hands on the hilt of the lightsaber and raised it high.

  In that split second, Obi-Wan saw the seeds of his own defeat.

  This is the moment. The very worst time is the time you must follow the Code. Cast away your doubt, Padawan. Let the Force enter you.

  Obi-Wan raised his saber. He let his anger and fear move through him, exhaling them in a breath. He reached inside and found his center of calm.

  Bruck's lightsaber came down, and he blocked it. But his diversion had cost him. He struggled to the lip of the hill and gained it just as Bruck's next blow fell. Obi-Wan parried the strike, but did not have the balance to counterattack. It didn't matter. He had regained his calm. He could regain his footing. He knew now that he could defeat Bruck.

  But Bruck was equally certain of victory. Obi-Wan's fall and his unsteady footwork had convinced him that the battle was his. Bruck's flaw had always been overconfidence when he thought he was on the verge of winning....

  Obi-Wan circled around Bruck, forming a new strategy. He bounded from a rock and flipped over Bruck so that he was behind him. He just needed a moment to check his chrono so that Bruck would not notice.

  Miro was shutting down the system for twelve minutes. He had about eleven seconds until Miro began powering up the different systems, one by one. First, security. Then the water systems would resume.

  Obi-Wan moved forward, pushing Bruck back toward the dry bed of the waterfall. He made sure to continue to block Bruck's blows and retaliate, but weakened his stroke slightly. He still wanted Bruck overconfident.

  "Getting tired, Oafy-Wan? Don't worry. It won't be long before I finish you off."