[Last Of The Jedi] - 02 - Dark Warning (Jude Watson), Star Wars - Books And Short Stories
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Star WarsThe Last of the JediBook 2Dark Warningby Jude WatsonCHAPTER ONEHe 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-Wan 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.The diversion gave Obi-Wan two seconds - two seconds that spun out 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...
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