[Jedi Quest] - 10(26)

“Don’t want to talk to me, Obi-Wan? Giving me the silent treatment? You’re spoiling my pleasure.” Omega gave a theatrical sigh and raised his hand, revealing a KYD-21 blaster. Anakin recognized it. Fast, precise, compact.

“I must admit, it’s inconvenient that the Jedi found me here. But in a way, it’s such a delicious end. I’m invincible now, you see. I fight with the power of the Sith behind me. And that means I can watch you die, Obi-Wan. You and your apprentice. I can’t wait. Do you want to follow me back there, or are you too afraid to finally meet your defeat?”

He had gotten no further than a flex of one finger muscle to fire before Obi-Wan exploded in movement. He raced toward Omega, his lightsaber held in a classic offensive maneuver.

The blaster bolts came fast and furious. Obi-Wan deflected each one, swinging his lightsaber in a wide arc.

A horrid stench suddenly rolled out from behind Omega. He smiled, as if he knew what was coming. No doubt he did.

Then the undead came. Korriban zombies, revived by the Sith to guard the tombs. Anakin had read about them, but never thought he’d see them; the Sith must have activated them to defend Omega and the sacred Sith ground. The zombies were used to eating the flesh from the tombs; now they had living targets in mind. And they had blasters and detonators to make the kill. They came careening out of the darkness now, different species but all moving with the same odd, lurching gait… the air came alive with smoke and fire.

Recovering from a moment of shock, Anakin moved to flank Obi-Wan. The zombies had strength beyond the living. They were half-rotted, a horrifying sight. Anakin did not look at their dead gazes. He went after them ruthlessly, his lightsaber deflecting their fire while he cut them to ribbons.

They were an obstacle, nothing more. A sorcerer’s trick from long ago. He would not let their gruesome appearance or their grasping bloodied hands deter him.

He had to be in on the capture of Omega. Working together, he and Obi-Wan deflected fire while they moved toward a steadily retreating Omega. Zan Arbor had disappeared. For Anakin, she had ceased to matter.

Then the darkness came alive with visions. The Sith Lords, mighty in their armor, terrifying in their decaying, bloodied faces. They rushed at the Jedi, only to disappear in a shower of splintered shadow. Anakin tried not to flinch, to keep his eyes on the blaster fire, but the confusion was everywhere.

The dark side of the Force was like a presence, interfering with concentration and sapping energy. The Jedi reached out to one another, calling on the Force to battle the dark side, the undead who kept on coming.

Anakin saw Shmi rise and fall, rise and fall. He felt the familiar need, the familiar guilt. The feelings overwhelmed him and Obi-Wan had to leap in front of him to protect him from a detonator heading his way. Obi-Wan swiped it out of the air.

They didn’t choose me, and yet I fight for them, Anakin thought in anger. They chose Ferus, and yet I must fight to protect him, protect them. My Master didn’t protect me, why am I doing this?

A phantom Sith Lord smiled at him. Reached out a hand.

“Anakin.” Obi-Wan’s voice was close. “Keep your focus.”

His focus. Yes. Of course the dark side would go after him, not just with phantom Sith, but phantoms in his brain. Thoughts that weren’t his. Anakin reached out to the Force to help him battle the voices. He felt his head clear.

Tru had leaped up on a tomb to fight two zombies. With his flexible arms and legs, he moved like a rolling wave. He took down three thermal detonators that were flying through the air. He swung his lightsaber in an arc. It flickered. Anakin watched in horror as it buzzed, the shaft flickering again and again. It was losing power!

Tru was in the middle of them. Obi-Wan hadn’t seen it. He had charged forward, the way to Omega now clear.

Everything in Anakin screamed to follow Obi-Wan, to be in on the capture of Omega. Except one thing. Friendship.

But he had hesitated too long. As he watched, Ferus and Tru exchanged a glance. Simultaneously, Ferus and Tru flipped their lightsabers through the air. Tru caught Ferus’s, and Ferus caught Tru’s.

Re-energized, Tru went after the undead, hacking off limbs and disabling the living corpses. Ferus dropped to a backup position with the half-powered lightsaber.

But suddenly Omega appeared again. He had sneaked around the back of the tombs. Zan Arbor reappeared at his side. Anakin realized that they were trying to trick the Jedi. They had set up most of the firepower in the middle of the tomb. While the Jedi expected them to retreat to the rear, they were actually about to escape through the front door.

He saw it again, the flicker at the end of his vision, a cape furling as fast as a serpent’s strike. The Sith stood at the entrance to the tomb. Waiting. His face was hidden in the shadow of his hood.