Part 2 (1/2)

Anakin shot him a questioning look. ”By droids?”

”A lot of them, apparently.”

Anakin glanced into the glowing sky, then back at the commando who had delivered Cody's message. ”General, forward command reports that your starfighter is on the way,” another commando updated. Again, Anakin glanced at the sky, only to turn back to the commando. ”Where did you say Obi-Wan and Cody are?”

”Level one, sir. In the s.h.i.+pping area.”

Anakin compressed his lips. ”All right. Let's go rescue them.”

7.

In the s.h.i.+pping room, the sliding doors were still cycling - - striking the punctured s.h.i.+pping container, retracting, attempting to close once more. Battle droids were still entering with each parting of the doors, and spores were still wafting through the air. Not much had changed, except within Obi-Wan, who felt as if he had downed three bottles of Whyren's Reserve. Bleary-eyed but lucid, tipsy but sure-footed, weary but attentive, Obi-Wan seemed to be the sum of all contrasts. More or less rooted in place, he swayed, wobbled, tottered, and reeled, evading or parrying an almost unremitting current of blaster bolts. His singed and burned cloak bore evidence of all the near hits, but the floor - - heaped with droids, whole and in parts, bodies sparking and limbs twitching - - spoke to the accuracy of his deflections.

He felt at times as if he were merely holding the lightsaber and letting it to do all the work. In one hand, in both, it made no difference. Other times he was able to antic.i.p.ate the bolts, twist himself aside at the last instant, and allow the walls and floor to handle the ricochets.

Sometimes he actually took a moment to congratulate himself on the skill of his returns. He was in the Force, to be sure, but deep in some other zone as well, giddy with astonishment, as the world unfolded in slow motion. Alerted by the commandos that the air was saturated with spores, Anakin had his rebreather in his mouth as he approached the room in which Obi-Wan had held his own against better than fifty droids, all of which lay scattered about the room. A weaving, shuffling, staggering Obi-Wan was dealing with the last of them when Anakin entered. When the final droid collapsed, Obi-Wan aimed the blade of his lightsaber casually toward the floor and stood swaying in place, breathing hard but almost grinning.

”Anakin,” he said happily. ”How are you?” When Anakin went to him, Obi-Wan promptly collapsed in his arms. Anakin deactivated Obi-Wan's blade and inserted a rebreather into his mouth - - the same one that had ended up on the floor of the grotto. Then he carried him from the room to where Cody and several commandos were waiting, some with their helmets removed.

”Exactly what lightsaber form were you using back there, Master?” Anakin asked when Obi-Wan had come around and the rebreathers were no longer necessary.

”Form?”

”More the absence of it.” Anakin laughed shortly. ”If only Mace, Kit, or Shaak Ti could have seen you.”

Obi-Wan blinked in confusion and glanced around at the carnage of droids in the s.h.i.+pping area. ”We did this?” he said to Cody.

”You did most of it, General.”

Obi-Wan regarded Anakin in confusion.

”I'll explain later,” Anakin said.

Obi-Wan ran his hand through his hair, then, as if just remembering, said: ”Gunray! Did you get him?”

Anakin's shoulders dropped. ”The entire entourage escaped the palace.”

Obi-Wan mulled it over for a moment. ”You could have gone after them.”

Anakin shrugged. ”And leave you?” He paused, then added: ”Of course, if I'd known you'd become master of a new lightsaber form...”

Obi-Wan's eyes brightened. ”They'll be taken in orbit.”

”Maybe.”

”If not, there'll be other times, Anakin. We'll see to it.”

Anakin nodded. ”I know that, Master.”

Obi-Wan was about to add something when a helmeted commando stepped from a nearby turbolift and hurried over to them. ”General Ken.o.bi, General Skywalker, we've found something of interest among the equipment the Neimoidians left behind.”

8.

The fact that the Sheathipede shuttle had managed to thread its way through a storm of turbolaser bolts and dock in the core s.h.i.+p's port-side command tower was no guarantee of safety. Indeed, while everyone was filing down the shuttle's tongue-like boarding ramp, the core s.h.i.+p was still being pummeled by fire from Republic wars.h.i.+ps. First to set foot on deck, Viceroy Nute Gunray, attired in blood-red robes and sporting a tall, helmet-like miter, asked for a situation report from one of the goggle-wearing technicians who was waiting in the docking bay.

”Even now coordinates for the jump to lightspeed are being calculated, Viceroy,” the nearest one said. ”A matter of moments and we will be well away from Cato Neimoidia. Your peers on the Council of Separatists await us in the Outer Rim.”

”Let us hope so,” Gunray said, as the vessel was rocked by a ma.s.sive explosion. Behind Gunray walked settlement officer Rune Haako, wearing a crested skullcap; and behind Haako, various financial, legal, and diplomatic officers, each wearing a distinctive headpiece. Droids were already beginning to unload the possessions - - the treasures - - for which Gunray had risked so much. He called Haako aside while the others were exiting the sterile docking bay.

”Do you think there will be a chance to return and reclaim what we had to leave behind?”

”Not a chance,” puckered Haako said flatly. ”Our purse worlds now belong to the Republic. Our only hope is to find sanctuary in the Outer Rim.

Otherwise, this s.h.i.+p will have to serve as our home - - and perhaps our final resting place!”

Sadness crept into Gunray's red orbs. ”But my collections, my keepsakes..

”Your most cherished items accompany you,” Haako said, gesturing to the containers already piled at the foot of the boarding ramp. ”More important, we escaped with our lives. Another instant and the Jedi would have had us.”

Gunray allowed a nod of agreement. ”You warned me.”

”I did.”

”Count Dooku will help us find new worlds to settle when the war is won.”

”If the war is won, you mean. The Republic seems keen on driving us from the galaxy.”

Gunray made a dismissive gesture with his fat fingers. ”Temporary setbacks. The Republic has yet to see the face of its real enemy.”

Haako hunched slightly at the reference. ”But is even he enough, Viceroy?

” he asked quietly. Gunray said nothing, although he had been asking himself the same question for the past several weeks. One thing was clear: the glory days of the Trade Federation had come to an untimely end. Ironically, the individual most responsible for that bright burning - - for the rise of Nute Gunray himself - - was the same individual who had repeatedly betrayed him, and to whom Gunray and the other Separatists were now forced to look for salvation.

The Sith Lord, Darth Sidious. There at Dorvalla and Eriadu, manipulating events to shunt power and influence to the Neimoidians; there at Naboo, ordering a blockade of the planet, the murder of Jedi, a.s.sa.s.sination of the Queen... a debacle for the Trade Federation. Years of attempts by the Republic to try to convict Gunray and his chief officers, to break the hold the Trade Federation enjoyed on galactic s.h.i.+pping. But not once during that time of public disgrace did Gunray mention the role Sidious had played.

Out of fear? Certainly. But also because he had sensed that Sidious had not abandoned him completely. Rather, the Dark Lord was somehow seeing to it that the trials never came to fruition, that no lasting verdicts were rendered or punishments handed down. As the Separatist movement gained strength, threatening the security of s.h.i.+ps and s.h.i.+pments in the far sectors, the Trade Federation had actually been able to increase the size of its standing army of battle droids by dealing directly with foundry worlds, such as Geonosis and Hypori. Making the most of the Republic's sudden instability, lucrative deals had been arranged between the Trade Federation and the Corporate Alliance, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, the Techno Union, the Commerce Guild, and other corporate ent.i.ties.

It was during the final trial that Gunray had been approached by Count Dooku, who had promised that all would ultimately turn out well for the Trade Federation. In a moment of weakness, Gunray had revealed the truth about his dealings with Darth Sidious. Dooku has listened attentively; had promised to bring the matter to the attention of the Jedi Council, though he himself had left the Order some years earlier.

Gunray had mixed feelings about Dooku's purpose in creating a Separatist movement, chiefly because corruption in the Republic Senate had so often worked to the Trade Federation's advantage. But if Dooku's Confederacy of Independent Systems could eliminate even some of the bribes and kickbacks commonplace in galactic trade, then so much the better. By and by Dooku's real aims had been made clear: he was less interested in providing an alternative to the Republic than he was in bringing the Republic to its knees - - through the use of force if necessary. In much the same way that the Trade Federation had ama.s.sed an army right under the nose of Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, Dooku - - in plain sight - - was seeing to it that Baktoid Armor Workshops was supplying weapons to any corporations that agreed to ally with him.