Jedi Quest 2: The Trail of the Jedi

Chapter Fifteen

Anakin hurried over to the thermal pool. His Master had hauled himself out and stood at the edge. The steaming water pooled at his feet, melting the snow.

Through the smoke and the steam, he could see the sadness on his Master's face. The Force was strong here. His Master was reaching out to it and gathering it around, as though warming himself. Obi-Wan's gaze was far away.

"Master? Are you all right?"

"I am saying good-bye to a being I did not know," Obi-Wan said softly.

The reverence in his tone surprised Anakin. "He could have killed you."

"Yet he did not. There is always a need for grief when a being dies, Padawan. Qui-Gon taught me that." Obi-Wan looked down into the steaming pool. "I saw someone take his own life in a pool like this one. It was Xanatos, Qui-Gon's greatest enemy. A being who hated Qui-Gon and who would stop at nothing to destroy him. Still, when he took his own life, Qui-Gon stopped to mourn his life's passing. I will never forget it."

Anakin nodded, though he did not understand. His greatest enemy so far in his life had been a slave trafficker named Krayn. When he had died, Anakin had not paused to mourn. Far from it. He had rejoiced in his death. It could only be good for the galaxy that such a terrible being had ceased to exist.

Something to meditate on in my next session, he thought. I'll add it to the list. The difference between Anakin's thoughts and Obi-Wan's lessons was sometimes more than he wanted to examine. It was a struggle to reconcile them.

"Why do you think the bounty hunter did that?" he asked.

"That is the crucial question," Obi-wan said. "He preferred to end his life rather than meet his fate with Granta Omega. That should tell us something."

"It tells us that Omega is very powerful," Anakin said. "And very cruel."

"Yes, but there is more," Obi-Wan said, as though to himself.

Anakin wanted to stamp his foot in frustration. What? What are you thinking? But Obi-Wan did not add to his statement. He just looked wise and thoughtful, as usual.

"There must have been six bounty hunters, then," Anakin said. He counted them off on his fingers. "the bounty hunter with the Stokhli stick. Floria and Dane together. Mol Arcasite. Teleq. Hunti Pereg. And now this one. That makes six. Floria and Dane were wrong."

"Perhaps," Obi-Wan said in the same thoughtful tone.

Annoyed, Anakin spun on his heel and trudged off to find Floria and Dane. They had gone off the trail and had hiked up a small rise, where a space cruiser was nestled in a small hollow.

"We have to get off-planet," Floria said excitedly. "This must be his ship."

Anakin nodded. "Who was he? Do you know?"

Dane shook his head. "We were positive there were only four other bounty hunters. It was important for all of us to know exactly how many bounty hunters were involved. We all insisted on that. If Granta Omega had lied to us, we wouldn't have been happy. Even Omega wouldn't want beings like Hunti Pereg and Mol Arcasite as enemies."

Obi-Wan walked up. "It's time to leave Ragoon-6."

"The best word I ever heard," Floria said with a shiver. Night was falling. Blue shadows smudged the snow.

Anakin swung himself aboard the cruiser. He searched the cockpit, then motioned to Obi-Wan.

"Master, I found something strange. This cruise belongs to — "

"Hunti Pereg," Obi-Wan finished.

"Yes," Anakin said. "But why is it up here, at the peak? Why isn't it the last bounty hunter's ship?"

"It is the last bounty hunter's ship," Obi-Wan said. "That bounty hunter was Hunti Pereg. I am sure of it."

Anakin looked at him, puzzled. "Then who was the bounty hunter with the paralyzed legs?"

"It was not a bounty hunter. It was Granta Omega," Obi-Wan said softly.

Anakin was stunned. "How do you know?"

"Floria and Dane never met him, so they would not recognize him," Obi-Wan said. "Even so, he was in disguise. That synth-flesh I took for repair of an injury was designed to conceal his face. I realize that now. He does not want us to know what he looks like because he plans to meet us again."

"So he wasn't really paralyzed," Anakin said.

"No," Obi-Wan said. "that was also a ruse. He somehow knew that Floria and Dane had lied to him. He knew they were trying to trap him. So he came down to see for himself. He needed to be sure. When he saw us, he was."

"But how would he know> We were wearing laser cuffs."

"Young Padawan, if I can teach you only one thing, it is this: Never underestimate an enemy. Or a friend. Now tell me. What did you think of the man you saw?"

Anakin thought back to the amiable bounty hunter with the paralyzed legs. "Not much," he said. "I mean, I didn't get much of a feeling from him one way or the other. I got no sense of the dark side. Or the living Force, either, for that matter."

"Exactly," Obi-Wan said. "I have been thinking the same. There are beings that Jedi call voids. At first sight they seem to give off no real energy, rather like a hologram. But only beings with great power can project a simple blank to a Jedi. Sometime a void can be much more dangerous than a person who pulses with the dark side of the Force. They are clever and Focused enough to hide their dark side, and hide it so well they can even hide it from a Jedi for a time."

"I didn't think Jedi could be tricked that way," Anakin said.

"Jedi can be tricked, my young Padawan," Obi-Wan said. "they can be wrong. They can make mistakes. Do not forget that. We try to minimize those things by following our feelings and connecting to the Force. Yet we are not infallible. Now we must return to pick up Wren. Night is coming."

Obi-Wan beckoned to Floria and Dane, and the two started up the landing ramp. "Do you remember any details of Hunti Pereg?" Obi-Wan asked them. "What he looked like, or what he was wearing?"

"He was wearing white," Floria said. "I remember that. And he was tall."

"He wasn't very tall," Dane said. "But his face was very strange."

"Strange in what way?" Obi-Wan asked.

Dane frowned. "I can't remember."

"He had dark hair," Floria said.

"No, he had no hair at all," Dane said impatiently.

Brother and sister moved to sit down, still arguing. Anakin fired the engines, and the cruiser rose from the spot. He used the repulsorlift engines for planetary travel and cruised down the mountain.

He knew his Master was troubled. He could sense it. He was tired of comparing his Master-Padawan relationship with Obi- Wan and Qui-Gon's. He would always come up short. But was it fair for him to be angry at Obi-Wan because of that?

Ahead lay the snowy plain where they had first seen Granta Omega. No one was there.

"How could he have gone?" Dane asked, peering out the viewscreen. "The paralyzing dart couldn't have worn off so quickly."

Obi-Wan and Anakin did not answer. It was better that Dane and Floria still think the man had been Hunti Pereg. Anakin slowed his speed and cruised over the plain. Within moments he had found what he was looking for. Below they could see evidence that a small cruiser had landed. Melted snow and scorch marks showed where the craft had taken off.

"Please land here for a moment Padawan," Obi-wan said. "I would like to examine the area."

Anakin set the craft down on the snow. He activated the landing ramp and Obi-Wan hurried down it.

Anakin stayed in the pilot's seat, watching Obi-Wan explore the landing site. Once again, he had been left behind.