Star Wars

The Last of the Jedi

Book 2

Dark Warning

by Jude Watson

source: IRC

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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.