Part 23 (2/2)

Swaying like a drunk in Coruscant's seediest nightclub, he watched Anakin obliterate the remaining battle droids. If he hadn't felt so ill he'd have laughed or cheered.

Good boy. Oh, good boy. You show the barves.

With effortless, arrogant ease, Anakin summoned his lightsaber back to his hand, nodded once at the destroyed droids, grimly satisfied, then turned. ”You all right?”

He couldn't answer. Not only because he was still shaking from the stun charge's nimbus, but because- ”Hey!” Anakin said sharply. ”Obi-Wan. This isn't your fault. They didn't teleport here from Lantibba. They must've been traveling for hours. They left the city sometime after we were trapped here by the theta storm. We were never going to get away. You know that, right?”

Slowly, the worst of the nausea subsided. Standing a little straighter, he deactivated his lightsaber. ”Perhaps. But that's hardly consolation for these people. They took us in-and look what their act of mercy has brought them. ”

Anakin was staring down the road that led out of the village. On the other side of the storm s.h.i.+eld, gently distorted by the s.h.i.+mmering plasma, more battle droids and mosquitoes gathered. Frowning, Anakin summoned one of the dismembered droid's blasters to his hand, switched it back to lethal mode, then aimed it at the storm s.h.i.+eld and fired. The blaster bolt splashed against it, energy dissipated. The s.h.i.+eld s.h.i.+vered but held.

”Well, ” said Anakin, and tossed the blaster aside. ”That's one question answered. ”

Obi-Wan rubbed his temple, fighting to control the vicious pain. ”That's a single blaster bolt, ” he said. ”What if they fire a hundred?

What if they fire worse? This is a storm s.h.i.+eld, not a siege barrier. ”

Anakin shrugged. ”It isn't right now. But if you give me a few hours... ”

”Are you serious? Anakin, are you saying you can convert a theta s.h.i.+eld to a siege barrier?”

Another shrug. ”I can try. ”

Heart thudding, Obi-Wan stared at the scattered bodies of the men and women who'd died. I'm sorry. So sorry. Then he turned back and stared again at Durd's army.

”Yes, I'm sure you can, Anakin, ” he murmured. ”Just as I'm sure that you would succeed. So the question becomes not can you... but should you?”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

”surrender?” exhausted and filthy, Rikkard stared at them. ”Are you saying you want to hand yourselves over to those droids?”

99.”Want to?” Obi-Wan shook his head. ”Of course not. But your village cannot withstand a protracted siege, Teeb. Your supplies are inadequate and there's no guarantee the storm s.h.i.+eld will hold until sunset, let alone for days. Or weeks. Besides, you have nine dead and seventeen wounded already. Anakin and I cannot ask you to add to that tally by protecting us. ”

”You think it will take weeks for the Republic to come?” said Teeba Jaklin, frowning.

”Not weeks, no, ” said Anakin. ”They should be...”

”The problem is, ” said Obi-Wan, with a quelling look, ”we can't promise you that help is on its way. In fact, I think we must a.s.sume we're on our own. ”

”Oh, ” Teeba Jaklin said, her voice faint. She pressed her fingers to her lips, swamped by grief and bewilderment. Rikkard, just as shaken, rested a hand on her shoulder.

The four of them stood on the charter house step. Feeling the village leaders' fear echo through the Force, and sharply aware of Obi-Wan's mood, Anakin looked across the square. Nearly half an hour had pa.s.sed since the droid attack. Torbel's people were still in shock, mourning their dead and trying to comfort the wounded.

A handful of villagers had defied Jaklin and Rikkard and drifted to the end of the main street to stare through the storm s.h.i.+eld at the ma.s.sed battle droids on its other side. Not including the buzzing flock of mosquitoes, at a rough head count there were three hundred of them, heavily armed. By some miracle they hadn't fired a shot for nearly ten minutes. Since most droids lacked initiative, probably they were waiting for further instructions. At least the storm s.h.i.+eld had been down long enough for the air to clear, which meant no more breathing toxic smoke. But aside from that...

Every time I think we can't get ourselves into worse trouble, we do. Obi-Wan can't believe our best bet is to surrender. He just can't.

Except, glancing at Obi-Wan's severely self-contained face, he was pretty sure his former Master was deadly serious.

Which means we have another problem.

”You're sure there's no chance you can fix our communications hub?” Teeba Jaklin said at last. ”If we could find out when the help you asked for is coming...”

”I'm sorry, ” Anakin said. ”The entire central processing relay is burned out. You don't have the right replacement parts, and what parts you do have I can't get to work. ”

Her accusing glare scorched him. ”But you've fixed everything else! Devi says you're some kind of genius. You have to fix the hub.

It's our only link to the rest of Lanteeb. ”

”I'm sorry, ” he said again, feeling helpless. He didn't know what else to say.

Rikkard lightly shook the woman's shoulder. ”Jaklin, don't hunt the boy. He's done his best for us. They both have. ”

”Done their best?” said Jaklin, incredulous, and knocked his hand away. ”Rikkard, they've brought this on us! If not for them we'd have no children weeping over their lost mothers and fathers, would we? Sufi wouldn't be bloodied to the elbows with wounded and Brandeh-dear Brandeh...” Her voice broke. ”She wouldn't be dead. ”

”I know we're in a bad way, Jaklin, but be fair!” Rikkard snapped. ”We're alive thanks to these men. I'm still a father because of them.

And you want us to throw them to those droids like raw meat to spika-wolves? For shame, woman. I thought much better of you. ”

Teeba Jaklin paled beneath the dirt and sweat smearing her face. ”Yes, they did us a good turn, Rikkard-but they were saving themselves, too. That's not n.o.ble. It's pragmatics, that is. And you heard the Jedi clear as I did. The storm s.h.i.+eld won't hold. Not against an army of droids. ”

Anakin opened his mouth to argue that, but Obi-Wan elbowed him silent. He shot his former Master a quick, frustrated look.

Obi-Wan, listen to me. You're making a mistake.

But Obi-Wan, feeling guilty, his mind made up, refused to yield... or even acknowledge that he'd heard the plea.

”What will happen if we give you to the droids?” said Rikkard to Obi-Wan. ”Will they kill you?”

100.”No, ” Obi-Wan replied. ”They want us alive. They'll take us back to Lantibba and hand us over either to the Separatist- controlled government or to Lok Durd, who's already tried to capture us once. ”

”And then you'll be killed?”

”It's possible, ” Obi-Wan admitted, after a moment. ”Or they could attempt to use us to extort concessions from the Republic. ”

Rikkard thought about that. ”Would they torture information out of you?”

”They might try, ” said Anakin. ”But they'd fail. ”

”Still... ” Rikkard hunched his shoulders. ”If you went with them-could you escape between here and Lantibba? I mean, you're Jedi.

You can do things the rest of us can't imagine. ”

”Of course that would be our aim, ” Obi-Wan said carefully. ”But given that we've escaped them once, I doubt they'll be taking any chances. ”

<script>