The Final Showdown Page 9

  The zombies were used to eating the flesh from the tombs; now they had

  living targets in mind. And they had blasters and detonators to make the

  kill. They came careening out of the darkness now, different species but

  all moving with the same odd, lurching gait... the air came alive with

  smoke and fire.

  Recovering from a moment of shock, Anakin moved to flank Obi-Wan. The

  zombies had strength beyond the living. They were half-rotted, a horrifying

  sight. Anakin did not look at their dead gazes. He went after them

  ruthlessly, his lightsaber deflecting their fire while he cut them to

  ribbons.

  They were an obstacle, nothing more. A sorcerer's trick from long ago.

  He would not let their gruesome appearance or their grasping bloodied hands

  deter him.

  He had to be in on the capture of Omega. Working together, he and Obi-

  Wan deflected fire while they moved toward a steadily retreating Omega. Zan

  Arbor had disappeared. For Anakin, she had ceased to matter.

  Then the darkness came alive with visions. The Sith Lords, mighty in

  their armor, terrifying in their decaying, bloodied faces. They rushed at

  the Jedi, only to disappear in a shower of splintered shadow. Anakin tried

  not to flinch, to keep his eyes on the blaster fire, but the confusion was

  everywhere.

  The dark side of the Force was like a presence, interfering with

  concentration and sapping energy. The Jedi reached out to one another,

  calling on the Force to battle the dark side, the undead who kept on

  coming.

  Anakin saw Shmi rise and fall, rise and fall. He felt the familiar

  need, the familiar guilt. The feelings overwhelmed him and Obi-Wan had to

  leap in front of him to protect him from a detonator heading his way. Obi-

  Wan swiped it out of the air.

  They didn't choose me, and yet I fight for them, Anakin thought in

  anger. They chose Ferus, and yet I must fight to protect him, protect them.

  My Master didn't protect me, why am I doing this?

  A phantom Sith Lord smiled at him. Reached out a hand.

  "Anakin." Obi-Wan's voice was close. "Keep your focus."

  His focus. Yes. Of course the dark side would go after him, not just

  with phantom Sith, but phantoms in his brain. Thoughts that weren't his.

  Anakin reached out to the Force to help him battle the voices. He felt his

  head clear.

  Tru had leaped up on a tomb to fight two zombies. With his flexible

  arms and legs, he moved like a rolling wave. He took down three thermal

  detonators that were flying through the air. He swung his lightsaber in an

  arc. It flickered. Anakin watched in horror as it buzzed, the shaft

  flickering again and again. It was losing power!

  Tru was in the middle of them. Obi-Wan hadn't seen it. He had charged

  forward, the way to Omega now clear.

  Everything in Anakin screamed to follow Obi-Wan, to be in on the

  capture of Omega. Except one thing. Friendship.

  But he had hesitated too long. As he watched, Ferus and Tru exchanged

  a glance. Simultaneously, Ferus and Tru flipped their lightsabers through

  the air. Tru caught Ferus's, and Ferus caught Tru's.

  Re-energized, Tru went after the undead, hacking off limbs and

  disabling the living corpses. Ferus dropped to a backup position with the

  half-powered lightsaber.

  But suddenly Omega appeared again. He had sneaked around the back of

  the tombs. Zan Arbor reappeared at his side. Anakin realized that they were

  trying to trick the Jedi. They had set up most of the firepower in the

  middle of the tomb. While the Jedi expected them to retreat to the rear,

  they were actually about to escape through the front door.

  He saw it again, the flicker at the end of his vision, a cape furling

  as fast as a serpent's strike. The Sith stood at the entrance to the tomb.

  Waiting. His face was hidden in the shadow of his hood.

  Zan Arbor hurried toward him.

  Anakin wrenched his attention back to Tru. Because Ferus was watching

  Tru's back, he was the only one in Omega's path. The Jedi Masters had all

  been at the fore of the fight. Ferus's lightsaber flickered in the dark.

  Seeing that he was in trouble, Darra Force-leaped toward Ferus, her

  lightsaber held high, determined to save him.

  Anakin saw the smile on Omega's face when he fired.

  The bolts hit Darra straight in the chest. She fell, still keeping her

  body between Omega and Ferus.

  Soara cried out. Anakin felt the moment spin out into impossible time,

  time that froze everything, even his heart.

  He saw the blue shimmersilk move like a breeze as Zan Arbor took

  advantage of the distraction to dash for the entrance. Blue Force-lightning

  erupted in the darkness, a barrier shielding her from the others, giving

  her space to run.

  He saw Tru's mouth open in a howl. He saw Ferus drop to his knees and

  crawl toward Darra, saw him take a blaster bolt in the shoulder and keep on

  going. He saw Siri leap forward to defend all of them, saw Soara fly

  through the air in a great Force-leap to be near her Padawan. Saw Darra's

  head turn toward him, her cheek against the dirt. Saw the cloudy film in

  Darra's eyes, the shock of catching the blow. He saw, as if it were a

  physical struggle, her gathering her courage to accept the blow.

  He saw all this, and still he didn't move.

  And then Omega moved, reversing course once again, quickly retreating

  away from the tomb.

  Anguish on his face, Obi-Wan turned away from the Jedi and followed

  him.

  Real time came rushing back, and there was not enough of it.

  Anakin turned away from Darra and raced after his Master.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  The tomb narrowed at the rear. The stench almost made Anakin gag. It

  was as though everything foul was concentrated back here. He could barely

  make out Obi-Wan ahead, running, attacking the undead that guarded Omega,

  circling him constantly like a cloud of rotting flesh.

  Anakin put on a burst of speed. His Master was battling with

  incredible speed and accuracy. Anakin could feel the Force like a great

  pulsing, speeding, enveloping wave that barreled Obi-Wan toward his

  opponent. Toward his destiny.

  My destiny, Anakin thought. Mine!

  He focused so much on his Master, on his need to catch him, that he

  blundered into an energy trap.

  Anakin was caught. He couldn't move. Frustrated, enraged, he slashed

  at the invisible cage with his lightsaber. He could not free himself. He

  kicked. He hammered. Caught.

  He had met a power greater than his. Impossible!

  "Master!" he called, but Obi-Wan didn't hear him. The energy trap

  sucked his voice out of the air and imprisoned it.

  I just need the Force. Obi-Wan said a Master can summon the Force and

  fight this. I am as good as a Master. I can do this.

  Strange, though. He could reach out for the Force, but visions got in

  the way. And not visions from the dark side. Visions of what had just

  happened. Tru's mouth, open in a howl of anguish and disbelief. Darra,

  falling, eyes wide with the shock.

  Darra, her head turned toward him, her cheek in the
dust of the tomb.

  He had seen her like this before, when she'd been wounded on Haariden.

  He had felt her wounding then was his fault. Unsure of her abilities, sure

  of his own, he had leaped to protect her and crashed into her instead. He

  had thought himself the better fighter, and because of that, he had pushed

  her into blaster fire.

  She had never held it against him.

  He saw her face again, so pale. The bright ribbon she always wove

  through her braid, trailing in the dust of the tomb.

  He knew she was badly wounded. He felt it choke him. He had not gone

  to help Ferus. Darra had. She was lying on the ground. He tried to put

  those facts together to have them make sense.

  Tru's lightsaber had slipped to half-power.

  Anakin had never offered to check the flux aperture, just in case. He

  had meant to.

  What is happening to me? Anakin wondered. His mind felt suddenly

  clear, sharp. Why didn't I help my friends? Have I changed? Am I changing?

  What am I becoming?

  When he had first become a Padawan, he would not have hesitated. His

  first loyalty had been to them.

  Things were more complicated now. There was more at stake.

  Maybe he was changing for the better.

  Control rule supremacy greatness...

  Was he more mature now? A better fighter? Better able to assess a

  situation, move toward the goal? Was that why he had raced to confront

  Omega? Or had his own jealousy propelled him? How could he separate those

  things? Why did he have to?

  Power rules by results...

  Anakin shook his head. The voices would not leave him.

  He thought of Darra. Tenderness filled him, and the voices went away.

  Years ago, he had gone to see Darra in the med clinic, filled with

  remorse. She had shaken him out of his guilt with a grin. Now I have

  something to impress the younglings with. I've been wounded in battle.

  And then he remembered something he hadn't thought of in years. He had

  always thought of her strength during that time. Now he remembered her

  fragility. He remembered her hand on the coverlet. Her fingers had so

  briefly touched his sleeve.

  Stay with me until I fall asleep. It's lonely here.

  Anakin beat at the trap again. He felt the rage rise inside him. He

  knew the rage was interfering with the Force, but he couldn't control it.

  If only... if only he could use the rage. But that was something a Jedi

  should not do.

  The frustration boiled in him. He could not move. His Master was gone

  now, into the darkness.

  Obi-Wan shouldn't have been surprised when the visions of the Sith

  Lords faded and he saw Qui-Gon. But he was. He should have known the Sith

  were capable of drawing his most painful memory from within him.

  Qui-Gon, with a gaping wound in his chest where Darth Maul had struck.

  "You were always so afraid of disappointing me," Qui-Gon said. "And

  you have."

  Obi-Wan stopped. His lightsaber dangled in his hand.

  It's not real. It's not real.

  "You've failed me, Obi-Wan."

  Not.. real.

  "And you don't even know why."

  Obi-Wan took a breath. He walked forward, straight at Qui-Gon. The

  image disappeared.

  Shaken, he continued into the darkness. Now it was easier to walk past

  the Sith Lords, the visions who snarled and hissed and sent out grasping

  fingers as he walked past. He had seen the worst.

  He heard a hiss, felt the dark side surge, and barely had time to

  prepare when the flash lit up the darkness. A luma blast, sent by a rocket,

  designed to blind him.

  Obi-Wan threw himself on the floor and rolled. Behind his closed eyes,

  he saw explosions of orange and yellow, bright as a double sun. Using the

  Force, he guided himself alongside a tomb and crouched behind it. When he

  opened his eyes, he could see nothing.

  Then more blaster fire, so rapid he realized that Omega must have set

  up a repeating blaster. From the sound of it, an E-Web, one of the most

  powerful repeating blasters ever manufactured. It sat on a tripod. It took

  two gunners, but one could handle it, if very skilled.

  Omega didn't know where he was... yet. Obi-Wan was painfully aware

  that the E-Web had enough power to punch through armor plating on a

  cruiser. He heard the stone tombs shatter across the space as they were

  hit. He couldn't remain here. He had to keep moving.

  He kept himself low to the ground and felt his way around the tomb. He

  could track the blaster fire through the Force, could defend himself if he

  had to. It was part of Jedi training to be able to fight without sight.

  Younglings learned with novice helmets that blocked their vision. Obi-Wan

  was suddenly, fiercely glad for that training.

  Omega would expect him to hide. Therefore, he had to expose himself.

  He had to trust in the Force.

  Blinded, Obi-Wan rushed forward. He felt the air against him as a

  guide. Objects displaced air, and with the help of the Force, a Jedi could

  feel the displacement and adjust. Obi-Wan raced forward confidently. His

  vision would return. In the meantime, Omega was close. So close he could

  hear the creak of his armor-weave tunic as he moved his arm....

  A wrist rocket. Obi-Wan dodged and weaved, knowing the targeting laser

  system was working to get a fix on him. He moved like quicksilver, flowing

  from one position to the next. He heard the rocket release and he put on a

  burst of speed, running blind, running straight at Omega now. He felt the

  whistle as the rocket whizzed by his ear.

  "I love watching you run," Omega said. "Ready, set, go!"

  Another wrist rocket. Obi-Wan Force-leaped. He felt the rocket behind

  him and he swerved at the last minute. The rocket crashed into a tomb.

  Splinters of rock showered over Obi-Wan.

  "I could do this all day," Omega said.

  Blinded, breathing hard, Obi-Wan allowed himself a fraction of a

  moment to rest. Inside him blazed the memory of every battle with Omega.

  From the beginning Omega had set out to confound him, humiliate him,

  destroy him. He had set out to impress the Sith by attacking the Jedi, and

  he had managed to do it again and again, always escaping at the last

  possible moment. He had even managed to kill a Jedi Master. Yaddle had

  sacrificed her life for this man's greed and revenge.

  It had to end here. It had to end now.

  He saw streaks in his vision now, a sign that his sight was returning.

  He just needed a few precious minutes.

  "You mentioned having the help of the Sith, Omega," Obi-Wan said,

  raising his voice to carry without shouting. "How is that you've ended up

  alone back here?"

  "I'm not alone," Omega said. "I have his help."

  "Really? Can you feel him? I can't. And remember, I'm the one who can

  feel the Force. Not you."

  "You arrogant fool," Omega snarled. "I am to be a Sith! He told me so.

  "

  "And you believed him." Obi-Wan was beginning to make out the shape of

  the tomb opposite him, fragments of shape fracturing the orange streaks in

  his vision. "Flattery will get him everywhere, it seems."


  "He wasn't flattering me! Right now I am a Sith without the Force. I

  can use his power." There was a note of defensiveness in Omega's voice.

  "It seems to me that he gets to use you."

  "He would not abandon me!"

  The shapes took sharper form. His vision wasn't perfect, but it would

  have to do.

  Obi-Wan stood. "You'd better hope so."

  He could just barely make out Omega standing behind the E-Web. "Your

  arrogance will bring you down, Obi-Wan!"

  "Funny. I was just about to say the same." Obi-Wan activated his

  lightsaber again. The blaster bolts were so powerful they sent shock waves

  down his arm as he deflected them. The fire was fast and furious. Where was

  Anakin? He could use his help. Or someone's...

  He had to concentrate on the moment. Not on what he didn't have.

  You have everything you need, my Padawan.

  This time, Qui-Gon's voice was kind. The voice was inside him. It was

  true, it was real, and it gave him strength.

  His lightsaber whirled, spinning in an arc to gather momentum with