[Jedi Quest] - 06(27)

Obi-Wan saw the heavy durasteel containers suddenly move, floating up in the air, propelled by Yoda’s use of the Force. As they hung above, the hinged lids opened, and flamethrowers spilled out in a fiery arc. Spewing fire, they rained down on the rest of the weapons. The blast of discharged explosives filled the air, smoke rose, and the remaining cache of weapons fused from the intense heat.

The line of gang soldiers stumbled back from the fiery spectacle, coughing from the acrid smoke. They wavered.

“Forward!” Omega screamed.

“Gladly,” Obi-Wan said, and he charged forward, Anakin and Yoda at his side. Their lightsabers were hums of glowing energy. The Force moved, and droids went flying. The others were reduced to scrap. They mowed through the second line of droids, and then the next.

The soldiers stumbled backward. Some began to flee.

“Hold the line!” Omega shouted. Then he turned his back and leaped off the gravsled.

Obi-Wan saw Yoda lift his hand and send a trio of attack droids smashing against the wall. Even Anakin now was using a Force push to clear his path to attack the next line of droids. Obi-Wan had time to admire his Padawan’s form, balance, and concentration. Clearly, Yoda’s summoning of the Force had brought something out in Anakin. He was fighting more brilliantly than Obi-Wan had ever seen.

So Obi-Wan felt confident in leaving him with Yoda to finish off the droids. Omega was about to escape.

He gathered the Force and leaped, clearing the attack lines of droids and sailing over the retreating gang soldiers, who did not bother to try to stop him.

A hundred meters ahead, Feeana was facing what appeared to be a smooth tunnel wall made of a plastoid material. She pressed something at the side, and ‘a recessed door slid open. Omega and Feeana disappeared inside. The door slid shut behind them.

Obi-Wan raced toward it. He did not bother to search for the release, but plunged his lightsaber into the plastoid wall. He cut a hole in seconds and pushed his way through.

He found himself in what was obviously meant one day to be a transit tunnel. It had been blasted out of rock, but the job had not been completed. Razor-sharp shards of rock jutted out from the sides of the tunnel.

A small, sleek silver cruiser was parked in a flat area ahead. Obi-Wan did not recognize the make, but it was clear to him that Omega would be able to fly aboveground and then blast out of Mawan airspace into the galaxy. He would escape again. He was seconds away from doing it. Even now, he was accessing the cockpit shell to climb in, Feeana at his heels.

Not this time.

“Always have a second exit plan,” Omega said as he stood inside the craft, the cockpit dome still raised. “My father taught me that.”

Something about the expression on Omega’s face stopped Obi-Wan from moving forward. Omega would sacrifice Feeana in order to escape. Obi-Wan knew it, Omega knew it. The only one who didn’t know it was Feeana. She was still on the hull of the ship, impatiently waiting for Omega to move so she could slide into the passenger seat.

Obi-Wan was also puzzled. In his investigation of Omega’s background, he had learned that Omega never knew his father.

“Surprised?” Omega said. He was almost drawling now, as if he had all the time in the world. “I had reasons to keep my father’s identity a secret. But I think it’s time I had the pleasure of telling you. I am the son of Xanatos of Telos.”

Xanatos! Obi-Wan felt as though he had been struck. The former Padawan of Qui-Gon’s who had turned to the dark side. Qui-Gon’s greatest enemy. Obi-Wan had seen the evil that Xanatos had done. Xanatos had even invaded the Temple and tried to kill Yoda.

“You killed my father,” Omega said. “He was greater than his Master, and Qui-Gon couldn’t bear it, so he killed him - with your help.”

“He killed himself,” Obi-Wan said. “He jumped into a toxic pool on Telos rather than be captured by Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon tried to save him.”

“My father would never have killed himself!” Omega shouted.

“You have spent your life constructing your own brand of truth,” Obi-Wan said. “But it is not the real truth.”

“Granta, let me in,” Feeana said, an edge of pleading to her voice. “We have to get out of here!”

“My father protected me,” Omega said. “He told me tales of the Jedi and the Temple and how they misunderstood the Force.” A bitterness crept into his tone. “He had hoped that I would inherit his gift. But he knew when I was an infant that I would never be Force-sensitive.”

Obi-Wan saw the opening. He saw the pain in Omega. “And he was disappointed,” he said.

“He left me his company!” Omega burst out, as if he were bragging. As if his father had left him something better than love, better than approval. “He left me his fortune in Offworld.”