Star Wars
The Last of the Jedi
Book 2
Dark Warning
by Jude Watson
source: IRC
uploaded: 09.I.2006
CHAPTER ONE
He was getting closer. Within minutes, he would spot them.
Obi-Wan Kenobi watched from the cockpit of a grounded, dilapidated
cruiser as Boba Fett methodically searched the crowded Red Twins spaceport,
looking for his prey. The Jedi saw Fett's compact body move down the rows
of space cruisers, his helmet turning as he and his surveillance devices
took everything in.
Obi-Wan could see that Fett was moving in a pattern that only seemed
random. The bounty hunter was cutting over after every third ship to the
next line, then skipping a row, moving backward, then moving forward on
alternate rows. It was a complex pattern to follow for an ordinary being,
but riot for an exceptional tracker like Boba Fett... or a Jedi like Obi-
Wan. To an observer, Fett would seem to be ambling in a casual fashion, but
within a few minutes he would have checked out every ship in the spaceport.
Including the Jedi's.
Obi-Wan saw his companion, Ferus Olin, watching Fett from the shadows
of the cockpit.
"I give us three minutes," Ferus said.
"Two and a half," Obi-Wan amended.
Ferus and Obi-Wan had landed at the Red Twin spaceport just a few
minutes before, along with their stowaway, thirteen-year-old Trever Flume.
They had tangled with Boba Fett on the planet Bellassa, and were acutely
aware of his skills. Plus, he had another bounty hunter with him -
D'harhan, a cyborg with an unattractive but lethal laser cannon for a head.
Imperial security forces, led by the Inquisitor Malorum, had hired the
bounty hunters to catch Ferus, a hero of the resistance movement on
Bellassa.
Even as Obi-Wan ticked off their possibilities for escape, he wanted
to kick himself down the spaceport for being here in the first place. He
had been on Tatooine when he had heard Ferus was in trouble - Tatooine,
where he was supposed to stay and watch over the young Luke Skywalker. Obi-
Wan had always liked the former Jedi apprentice, who had left the Order
right before he was scheduled to take the Trials - in fact, he had been
relieved that someone who had been so close to the Jedi was still alive.
But was saving Ferus enough of a reason to risk leaving Tatooine? Obi-Wan
had been racked with indecision... until he heard his former Master, Qui-
Gon Jinn, who had at last spoken to him, thanks to Qui-Gon's training with
the Whills.
What a shock it had been to hear Qui-Gon's voice, and how unsurprising
it should have been that Qui-Gon had been the one to tell him to leave.
Things much bigger than Ferus were at stake, and Qui-Gon told him he needed
to follow the Living Force... and his feelings.
So he had followed them to Bellassa, had become tangled up with the
resistance, and had barely escaped with Ferus. Now he was halfway across
the galaxy from Tatooine, with two bounty hunters on his tail. Meanwhile,
Inquisitor Malorum was getting closer to the truth of Luke and Leia's
existence, by investigating Polis Massa, the place where their mother,
Padme Amidala, had died. Obi-Wan knew he had to stop Malorum... but first
he had to dodge the bounty hunters on his trail. Obi-Wan couldn't return to
Tatooine until he had shaken them off. He couldn't lead anyone to the
hidden son of Anakin Skywalker.
"Hey, fellas?" Trever spoke up. His spiky blue hair seemed to quiver
with anxiety as he looked from Obi-Wan to Ferus. "Not to jump in here, but
shouldn't we be taking off in a hurry-up-and-blast-me-outta-here sort of
way?"
"He'll just follow us," Ferus said. "And there's no way we'll shake
him in this bucket. We need a different ship. This won't end until we get
one and get out of here."
"Right, excellent," Trever said. "Not a problem. Just give me a
minute."
"You can't steal one," Obi-Wan warned.
"Sure I can," the young teenager said. "All I have to do is bypass the
initial ignition security controls, then - "
Obi-Wan held up his hand. "Then we'll have security to contend with as
well as Boba Fett. We have to do this without causing any alarm."
"There's a new concept for you, kid," Ferus said to Trever.
"I'll try to keep up," Trever replied with a grin. Despite his young
age, he had been the most adept street thief in the capital city of Ussa on
Bellassa. At only thirteen, he had controlled a large portion of the black
market. When things got too hot for him, he had stowed away with Obi-Wan
and Ferus as they'd made their escape.
But if things had been one-sun hot then, they were three-sun hot now.
Quickly, Obi-Wan, Ferus, and Trever gathered their survival packs and
jumped off the ship. Obi-Wan made sure to cloak himself, his head
unrecognizable under a hood. He did not want to be recognized by Boba Fett.
"We'll have to try a trade. The trick is," Obi-Wan said under his
breath as he kept his eyes on the roving figure of Boba Fett, "to pick the
right ship. And the right pilot. He's got to think he's getting a deal, but
the deal can't be too good or he'll get suspicious."
"I wonder where D'harhan is," Ferus said.
"Probably stayed on the ship," Obi-Wan guessed. "He'd attract the
attention of security."
They disembarked from their ship and threaded through the grumbling
crowd. The new Empire regulations had made check-in slow, and departures
were often held up while lengthy security checks were gone through. Pilots
and passengers milled around, killing time until their numbers flashed on a
huge screen overhead. At that point they joined the line to the security
checkpoint inside the main building. Some of them had turned the area in
front of the hangar into an informal picnic area, and the bartering of food
and drink was going on in a lively exchange typical of pilots, as they
variously insulted and flattered each other into trades.
Obi-Wan perused the ships. They needed something with a hyperdrive,
something spaceworthy but not too flashy. They needed speed and some kind
of weaponry. Knowing Boba Fett's heavily armed Firespray attack ship, laser
cannons would certainly come in handy.
In his head, Obi-Wan counted off the rows of ships and the complex
pattern Fett was following. If they kept weaving in a counter-pattern, they
wouldn't run into him. Of course, he would find their ship very soon, and
his surveillance would intensify. But if they were lucky, they'd blast off
the spaceport by then.
If they were lucky.
Which they weren't.
Boba Fett changed his pattern and spotted them from afar, attacking
immediately from behind. The Force surged, warning Obi-Wan only a split
second before the bounty hunter was on them.
Blaster bolts streaked toward them. Obi-W
an leaped and dodged. He
didn't want to use his lightsaber - not here, with a crowd looking on. News
that a Jedi had been seen would spread, and the hunt would intensify. As
far as the galaxy was concerned, all the Jedi had been wiped out. Any Jedi
who was found would quickly share the same fate.
Ferus's Jedi training made him move quicker than an ordinary
bystander, dodging almost in time with Obi-Wan. Trever's street smarts sent
him diving under the belly of a ship. A surprised pilot poked his head out
of his cockpit dome a second after blaster bolts ripped into his hull. He
started to swear at Boba Fett, but backed down when Fett swiveled and aimed
his Westar-34 blaster in his direction.
into a long moment of contemplation, as he pinpointed the exact location of
the ships surrounding him, the crowd, the buildings. He saw opportunity for
temporary shelter but he did not see what he was looking for - an avenue of
escape.
When in doubt, he thought, do the unexpected.
Obi-Wan charged, his hood still concealing his identity. He lunged
into the teeth of the blaster fire, weaponless. A surprised Boba Fett took
a step back. He was too good to stumble, but for the smallest whisper of a
second he was slightly off balance. Obi-Wan saw it. Fett's left side was
the vulnerable point.
He leaped. In midair, he twisted, coming down with one boot planted
squarely on Boba Fett's left knee. But to his surprise, Fett didn't go
over. Obi-Wan felt the bounty hunter's body give, but suddenly Fett
reversed direction, planting himself more firmly. Obi-Wan was stopped cold
and had the unpleasant sensation of feeling an armored elbow smash into the
back of his head, sending him to the ground.
He'd seen that move before. The memory of a desperate fight on Kamino
came back to him. Jango Fett had taught his son well. If only Obi-Wan had
remembered it in time.
Ferus came charging as Obi-Wan rolled to his feet, ducking blaster
bolts with his Jedi reflexes.
Suddenly, the ship next to them exploded. Obi-Wan and Ferus were sent
flying by the power of the blast, riding a cushion of air that slammed them
into the permacrete. Molten durasteel rained around them. Ferus ducked as a
cockpit seat landed only millimeters from his head.
"Well, hello, D'harhan," Ferus said through gritted teeth.
There was a moment of shocked silence after the blast, and then sirens
began to sound. Pilots and passengers searched for a safe vantage point
from which to watch the battle. It had been a boring afternoon, and no one
minded a little diversion. It promised to be a good fight.
Ferus popped to his feet. His face was black with smoke and dust from
the explosion. "Love the way those guys introduce themselves," he said to
Obi-Wan.
Boba Fett was taking advantage of the explosion to move in, his
blaster bolts streaking through the air. Obi-Wan knew he had to get under
cover, away from the spectators. Somewhere he could use his lightsaber
without attracting attention.
"Go left," he said tersely to Ferus. "Keep D'harhan occupied."
"Why do I always get the mean guy?" Ferus replied, with more humor
than Obi-Wan remembered him having as an apprentice.
Ferus seemed to float away, he moved so gracefully, sliding between
two starships and disappearing. Obi-Wan used the Force to propel his jump,
clearing the ship on his right and landing on the peaked durasteel roof of
the hangar. There was a dormer midway down the roof, a window that was
built into the roof itself. Obi-Wan dived for cover behind the overhang.
Fett was wearing a jetpack, and he soared above to land on the roof
only seconds after Obi-Wan. He advanced cautiously, unable to see the Jedi.
Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber. He did it so rarely now that he felt a
surge of feelings flood him when he did, something close to pain and joy, a
remembrance of what it had once meant to be a Jedi. Once he had traveled
freely through the galaxy. Now he had to hide what he was. Now all he knew
was secrecy and caution.
Blaster bolts suddenly ripped through the dormer, only centimeters
from where he waited. Boba Fett was taking no chances.
Obi-Wan didn't move, even though he felt the sear of heat on his
cheek.
He heard the footsteps approaching. Just as they reached the corner of
the dormer, just when there was only a split second before Fett would see
him, Obi-Wan leaped out.
But Fett must have been expecting this. Taking barely a second to aim,
he fired the concussion missile in his jetpack.
his body lifting into the air like a scrap of cloth. He slowed down the
moment, looking for a way to land that wouldn't involve smashing into the
permacrete rising toward him.
He reached for the grapnel line on his utility belt. He sent it flying
as he fell, the hook catching on the edge of the roof. He bounced in the
air, hard, wrenching his shoulder as he quickly swung himself back up. He
hit the roof and kept going, charging at Fett, his lightsaber glowing. He
severed Fett's blaster rifle in one clean stroke.
Obi-Wan had nowhere to go as Fett suddenly slammed into him, wrapping
his arms around the Jedi's body, knocking away his lightsaber, and
propelling him backward, trying to push him off the roof. Instead of trying
to break Fett's grip, Obi-Wan seized his arms, and the two men shot off the
edge, spinning in midair. The crowd below saw them now and gasped.
The two bodies fell through the air for several long seconds before
Fett activated his jetpack. As he fired his thrusters, he maneuvered the
jetpack so he could slam Obi-Wan against the side of the building
repeatedly. Obi-Wan felt the blows shudder through his bones.
Fett reversed and came at the building again. Obi-Wan saw the solid
duracrete zooming toward his face. He called on the Force to help. He would
need it. At the last moment, he drew his legs up and kicked out. The jolt
radiated up through his skull. They spun out, and Obi-Wan used the
opportunity to loosen Fett's hold. He dropped, gathering the Force to ease
his landing and recapture his fallen lightsaber.
He didn't injure himself, but the pain that traveled up his legs told
him that his push off the wall had cost him. Spectators scattered as he
rose to his feet. Boba Fett was coming after him, relentless.
Ferus ran through the crowd. Obi-Wan felt the Force surge in warning
as another cannon blast from D'harhan leveled part of the hangar.
Ferus was blown back by the blast. D'harhan kept coming. Boba Fett was
gathering himself for another assault. Obi-Wan charged forward, grabbed
Ferus, and pulled him to his feet.
"Come on," Obi-Wan urged. He hadn't come this far to lose Ferus now.
He helped Ferus stumble past the rubble and leap into the half-
demolished hangar. Massive doors were on the other end, firmly shut tight.
D'harhan and Boba Fett followed through the opening, blocking any way out.
Obi-Wan and Ferus were trapped.
CHAPTER TWO
Fett and D'harhan didn't give them a chance to form a strategy. The
bounty hunters were all movement, D'harhan passing Fett a blaster so they
could both fire at will. The air filled with debris and smoke.
"I wish I had a lightsaber," Ferus muttered as he and Obi-Wan dived
for cover behind a large ship awaiting repair. He had turned in his
lightsaber when he'd left the Order. "Now would be an excellent time to
draw yours, Obi-Wan."
Still, Obi-Wan waited. He and Ferus settled back against a large
repair console filled with tools. He saw the smoke curl from D'harhan's
head, and he knew the laser cannons had overheated. Boba Fett's blaster
fire couldn't penetrate the ship. They were safe for the moment.
But only for the moment. Obi-Wan scanned the hangar. Despite
D'harhan's incredible firepower, he knew Fett was the greater threat. Of
the two of them, Fett had the cunning.
Above, struts held the roof in place. A series of arcing flexible
durasteel supports crisscrossed the high space. Half of the roof had been
blasted off when Fett had fired the concussion missile.
The support arches would be an excellent place to stage a battle. Fett
had his jetpack, but D'harhan would be at a disadvantage. He would have to
remain on the ground.
Obi-Wan pointed with his chin. "Can you make it?" he asked Ferus,