"He wouldn't like that," Qui-Gon said.
"No, indeed. He's a bully, and bullies can get nasty about such things. It would severely curtail the Alliance's power in a fairly large sector. Not to mention that it would send a message to other systems trying to resist Argente's strong-arm tactics that they can take action themselves. You see, the Senate has not been able to control these groups — like the Trade Association, and the Techno Union — we've been having a great deal of trouble with them lately —"
"Yes, I understand," Qui-Gon interrupted. He didn't have time for Madame Nu's summary of the bureaucratic problems of the Senate, no matter how insightful. "Where is the meeting to take place?"
"At a conference site on Rondai-Two. The Ulta Center —ultimate luxury, ultimate security. Do you need another Jedi team, Qui-Gon? I would be happy to pass along this information to Yoda, though it is not strictly within my purview to do so."
"I'll consult with Adi and be in touch. Thank you, Madame Nu."
Qui-Gon ended the conversation and turned to Adi. "Passel Argente. Even though he is a Senator, he is also a Koorivar and a leader of the Corporate Alliance, and his grudges against the Republic are plain to see. He's behind all this. He's not just a bully, he's cunning. He knows he has to stamp out resistance at the start. Has to hit it hard, to intimidate others who are thinking of crossing him. It's the way he operates."
"You don't know that for sure," Adi said.
"I feel it."
"Feelings are not proof and are inherently illogical," Adi said.
Qui-Gon turned to her. "Don't you feel it, too?"
After a slight pause, Adi inclined her head in her regal way. "I do."
While Qui-Gon was speaking, Adi had already located Rondai-2 on her datapad. Now she pushed the screen toward Qui-Gon.
"We're lucky. Two day's journey. We'll make it in time." Adi raised her troubled gaze to his. "But what about our Padawans?"
Qui-Gon looked out at the vastness of space, the clouds of stars. He felt the emptiness inside him, the yawning feeling he got when he knew Obi-Wan was in trouble and he could not get to him. For the shortest space of a moment, he thought of what it would be like to lose both Tahl and Obi-Wan, and the hugeness of that loss seemed to dwarf the vastness of what lay above him.
"There is nothing we can do. They'll have to take care of themselves."
CHAPTER 15
Taly suddenly burst into the cargo hold. "I remembered something."
Obi-Wan and Siri jumped up. "A way to fix the reversion?" Obi-Wan asked.
"No, no. I haven't figured that out. But I was just flipping through systems, and I saw this planet, Rondai-Two. You know when you feel a click in your head? I felt a click. I thought I heard the bounty hunter talking about a 'rendezvous' But he really said 'Rondai-Two."
"Are you sure?" Siri asked.
"I'm sure. He said 'on rendezvous,' which seemed weird, because nobody says 'on rendezvous.' He meant a planet."
"So that's where the mission is," Obi-Wan said. "But we can't get there." He started toward the cockpit. "We can do one thing. We can leave the information in the survivor box. If any part of the ship survives, the box might. And the information could get back to the Temple." He quickly accessed the box and entered the information into the datapad. "We need to put this in the escape pod."
Siri and Taly looked at him gravely. They might not survive, but they would have to hope that the information might.
"Now I just have to program the fact that the box has information," Obi-Wan said. "We just have to hope that whoever finds it will bring it to the Temple or the Senate. If it gets into the hands of pirates, it would be lost forever . . . and there's always space pirates lurking around the outskirts of Coruscant. . . ."
Obi-Wan's own words rang in his ears. "That's our answer," he said.
"What?" Taly asked.
"We can't reprogram in hyperspace. But we can send another distress signal. A general one this time, going out to all ships in the area of reversion. We would keep the signal open. That would allow whoever was tracking us to get a fix on us."
"Who is tracking us?"
"Nobody," Obi-Wan said. "Yet. But space pirates wait for distress signals. They like to prey on dying ships."
"I'm not getting this," Taly said.
Obi-Wan whirled around in his chair. "The ship will blow upon reversion. But what if we get pulled out of hyper-space against our will?"
"An interdiction field," Siri breathed. "If we go through one, we'll be pulled into realspace. But we'll also be sitting ducks," she pointed out. "The ship is almost out of power. If we're attacked, we won't be able to maneuver."
"At least we'll have a fighting chance," Obi-Wan said. "I'd rather meet space pirates than blow up."
Siri grinned. "Well, since you put it that way." Taly swallowed. "If they capture me. . . ."
"We won't let that happen. We will fight to the death for you." Obi-Wan said. He thought for a moment. Taly looked scared and uncertain. But Obi-Wan knew one thing that would give him courage. He would treat him as an equal partner.
"You get a vote, Taly," he said. "If any of us says no, we won't do it. We'll keep with your original plan."
Taly bit his lip. "No, we have a better chance with your plan. Let's do it," he said in a rush. As he said it, he straightened. The color came back into his cheeks. "I'm ready."
Obi-Wan sent the distress signal and kept it on. Now events were out of their control. Obi-Wan tried not to watch the power drain. He tried not to think about what might happen. Siri came over to stand next to his chair. He stood and took his place beside her. They gripped each other's hands.
Taly moved to stand close to the windscreen, as though he could see what was ahead.
"Obi-Wan, no matter what happens," Siri murmured, "I want you to know —"
He looked into her eyes. "I already know."
The ship gave a violent shudder. They did not know if it was the beginning of the breakdown, or if they were in the grip of the field.
"The interdiction field," Siri said as soon as she was sure. "It's sucking our power."
The ship groaned and shuddered. Stars seemed to wheel and crash as they entered realspace. The ship bumped and slammed against what felt like a wall. But it didn't explode.
The pirate ship was waiting.
Laser cannon boomed. Obi-Wan sprang forward to the controls. "I can't maneuver. We have no firepower. "
"They're going to board us," Siri said. "The escape pod?"
"They'll blast us right out of space," Obi-Wan said. He stood. He drew his lightsaber. Siri drew hers.
"Stand behind us, Taly," Obi-Wan said. "Just stay behind us. Don't try to fight."
They felt the shock of the landing craft hitting the loading bay. They heard the pounding of boots. Many, many boots. They heard the clack clack clack of droids. Obi-Wan glanced at Siri. He saw the same knowledge in her eyes. They didn't have to see them. They were too many.
They raced forward. Surprise was their only ally. They burst through the doors, into the thick of it — row after row of heavily armed pirates. They were a mangy group, all species, all sizes. What they had in common was weaponry and greed. Their faces were painted in bright colors, their belts hung with trophies from their many captures. He had never seen such a collection of fierce, ugly beings.
The corridor filled with smoke as small rocket fire ripped holes in the walls and thudded into the floors. Metal peeled back like durasheets.
Obi-Wan supposed that this was their warning shot, because the pirates didn't move.
A squat, powerful being walked forward. His thick black hair hung to his waist.
"What do we have here? Jedi? Ha! What luck! Do you know there's a bounty out for you?"
But he wasn't looking at Siri and Obi-Wan. He was looking at Taly.
Siri sprang forward. She was all energy, like a pulsating beam of light. The pirates fired, blasters and blaster rifles, rockets and darts. She flowed and struck and
moved and rolled and leaped. Fire singed her tunic and did not slow her down. Obi-Wan felt sweat dampen his back as he struck again and again, knocking droids down, evading the pirate fire, and always, always, keeping himself between the attacking troops and Taly.
He was not tiring, not yet, but he could feel the hopelessness of the situation. Still, he had promised Taly not to surrender, and he would not.
And then, suddenly, over the thud of rockets and ping of blaster fire, he heard a scream.
"No! Take me!" Taly ran through the fire. Amazingly, he was not hit. Coughing from the smoke, he yelled, "Take me, you cowards!"
"Taly, no!" Siri yelled.
"I can't let you die for me!" Taly called to them as a pirate swept him up and threw him back. The pirates roared as they tossed him like a toy, farther and farther back, to the end of the line. The last pirate holding Taly ran, while the others kept up a steady barrage at Siri and Obi-Wan.
Retreating, the pirates kept up the intense fire. Siri and Obi-Wan could not get to Taly. The pirates leaped onto the ship and took off into space with Taly, leaving Obi-Wan and Siri aboard a smoking, dying ship.
CHAPTER 16
"We need a landing site, and fast," Siri said. Beads of sweat matted her hair. The expression in her eyes was ferocious as she gazed out at the galaxy, as if challenging it to dare to defy her. As if space itself was obliged to hold up the dying ship.
The power was draining so fast that soon it would hit all systems. Then they would be unable to choose a course or guide it to land. They could see smoke billowing out from the port side. The attacking ship had chosen their blast sites carefully, it was clear. The escape pod bay was a mass of molten metal. Another blast on the port side had taken out all the weapons, and the ship listed to the side, constantly in danger of spinning out of control.
"Refueling stop on a satellite," Obi-Wan called out. "There's a huge spaceport there, plenty of landing platforms. Ten minutes away. Can the ship hold on for ten minutes?"
Siri gritted her teeth. "This ship is going to do what I tell it to do."
Obi-Wan sat in the copilot seat, although there really wasn't anything else he could do but watch Siri battle with the controls. Keeping the ship on course took tiny adjustments and a constant eye on the readout systems.
"Adi crash-landed on purpose," Siri said. "But this is going to be different, Obi-Wan. I might not be able to control what happens once we land."
He knew what she was telling him. They might not survive the crash.
"I understand," he said. "I trust you."
She shot him a quick look that was so full of courage he could only marvel at how strong she was.
"Coming up on the spaceport," Obi-Wan said.
The spaceport was on the edge of a red nebulae. The color was deep and seemed to pulse. To Obi-Wan's eyes, it seemed an impossible sight, a blooming flower in space. They would have to fly into the heart of its beauty.
"Here we go," Siri muttered.
And then the spaceport loomed at them, coming impossibly fast.
"I can't slow it down," Siri said, panic in her voice.
At this speed, the craft would surely disintegrate on contact with the unforgiving ground. Obi-Wan no longer felt he was diving into a flower. All poetry left his soul, and he saw duracrete and metal, hard substances that would pulverize this ship like a plaything.
"Cut the power!" he shouted to Siri.
She looked at him wildly. "But I won't have control —"
"They'll be enough left in the hydraulics for a few seconds. It will be all over by then, anyway."
She reached over and cut the power. The ship stopped careening but it was now in free fall, and they could just make out beings below running to safety. Obi-Wan saw one tall figure shaking his fist at them before racing to get out of the way.
"Here we go!" Siri screamed, using the manual controls to steer the ship away from the other cruisers and one large freighter. She had just enough power left in the hydraulics to aim the ship toward the empty section of the platform and pull it up so that it wouldn't smash nose-first into the ground.
He had time for a flash of a look, that was all, and then the ship was down, starting to skid with a terrible jolt that sent metal screaming and smoke billowing. Obi-Wan felt his jaws snap together. His body lifted through the air. He grabbed at the edge of a console on the way down but his legs flew up again and his body slammed down, wrenching the console from his grasp. He hit the ceiling, then the floor. He had never felt so helpless. He didn't know his limbs could move in so many directions at once. Pain rocketed through him. He could feel the ship sliding on its belly, scraping against the duracrete platform. He smelled fire.
Siri. Siri. Her name was like a drumbeat inside him. Through the smoke, through his own flailing limbs, he searched for her.
Jedi could make time slow down. Did that mean his death and hers would take forever?
He saw the glint of her hair through the smoke. She was slumped on the floor.
No!
He fought his way to her as the ship burned and slid. "Siri!"
He felt the pulse on her neck. It fluttered against his fingers.
He felt a surge of purpose. She was alive. He was alive. He would save them.
Somehow he managed to get out his lightsaber. With one arm around her, he dragged her across the floor of the cockpit. The ship was still skidding out of control across the ground, the friction heating the shell. The metal floor was already hot. Soon it would start to melt, to peel away. He willed his body. He reached out for the Force. This would take everything he had.
He half-crawled, half-slid across the floor. Siri began to stir. As soon as her eyes opened, she let him know by pushing him away. She never accepted help if she could do something herself. And she would will her body to obey.
He saw her wince as she reached for her lightsaber, but she joined him on the floor, crawling toward the wall of the spaceship. The ship was still out of control, but the crash had probably only been going on for three or four seconds.
He had time to do this. The ship would hold out. Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber and began to cut through the ship's wall. Siri joined him, sweat streaking through the grime on her face. It was so unbearably hot.
Coughing, they buried their lightsabers in the hot metal and it peeled back. Obi-Wan caught a glimpse of rushing sky and then he pushed Siri out, balancing on the toes of his boots. She reached a hand down for him and hauled him out with her amazing strength.
They balanced for a moment on the side of the sliding ship. They looked into each other's eyes. They gauged the speed and knew the jump would be hard. They called on the Force and leaped.
The Force helped them. They timed the leap high and wide so that they would be able to slow their descent. Still, the shock of the ground radiated up through their knees, and they rolled across the duracrete, putting as much distance between themselves and the ship as they could.
Ahead of them, the ship exploded.
They turned away from the blast, covering their heads. Molten metal rained down. Obi-Wan felt a piece sear his shoulder.
They slumped together, hardly daring to believe that they were still alive.
A tall being with arms almost to the ground came running. Obi-Wan recognized the being he'd seen shaking his fist at them. "What do you think you're doing?" the being yelled.
Siri and Obi-Wan stared at him.
"Surviving?" Siri said.
She giggled. Obi-Wan had never heard her giggle before. The relief flooded him. They were alive. They were alive. He began to laugh. They laughed and laughed, holding each other as they lay on the duracrete platform.
"Somebody's going to pay for this," the spaceport manager said, and they only laughed harder.
Obi-Wan waited for Siri in the hangar. They had separated in order to clean up. He had given the furious spaceport manager the registry number of the crashed ship, as well as Magus's name. Obi-Wan had no doubt that the spaceport manager
would track him down somehow and demand payment for the damage.
Siri strode toward him, her hair wet and tucked behind her ears. "What now?" she asked as she came up.
"I found a pilot who will take us to Rondai-Two," Obi-Wan said. "She said that anybody who survived that crash deserves some help. It's a sublight cruiser. We leave in a few minutes. We could be landing by midday."
Siri nodded. "Nice to have some good news at last."
"We've got to get to Taly."
Siri's gaze clouded. "If he's still alive. Those pirates are going to turn him over to the bounty hunters for the reward."
"I feel that he's alive. We almost didn't make it ourselves."
"I know."
"But now that we have . . ."
Neither of them spoke for a moment. All around them, workers pushed through the hangar. But to Siri and Obi-Wan, it was as if no one else was there. They just looked at each other, remembering what they'd confessed on the ship. They tested it. Was it a result of circumstance, of being so close to death?
No. It was real. It was still between them.
"What do we do?" Siri asked. "What we feel . . . it's forbidden."
"But we can't just stop," Obi-Wan said. "We almost died. That could happen at any time, on any mission. I understand that. I accept it. But I won't accept going on without being together."
Siri swallowed. "What are you saying, Obi-Wan? We're Jedi. We can't be together. Attachment is not our way."
"Why?" Obi-Wan burst out. "It doesn't have to be that way. Rules can change. The Council can change the rules, they can find a way for us. We can still be Jedi and still . . ."