“He’s after you,” Obi-Wan said.
“No kidding,” Taly answered.
Siri flew closer and made a gesture, her hand at her throat. Obi-Wan did the same.
“What does that mean?”
“Our comm units are out,” Obi-Wan said. “They were damaged. We’re on our own.”
“More good news.”
Siri signaled. Obi-Wan nodded.
“You two speak the same language without even talking,” Taly said. “Not much has changed. What’s the plan?”
“We’re going to try to get the two of you out of harm’s way, then return for the end of the battle,” Obi-Wan said.
“The end of the battle? Considering that you’re going to lose, that doesn’t sound like such a wise idea.”
“I can’t leave my Padawan. Hang on.”
They zoomed upward. But Magus was on their tail with his five fighters, keeping up a steady barrage of firepower. The starship shook. Siri dived under Magus and shot, clipping him just a fraction. He zoomed off.
They played cat-and-mouse games. Every time they got ahead, he found them. Siri destroyed one of the trifighters, and Obi-Wan scored a direct hit on another. Then, working in tandem, they squeezed two between them and blasted them into space debris.
Magus must have contacted the Separatist fleet for help, for two large attack missiles suddenly peeled off from the battle above and began to descend.
“This doesn’t look good,” Taly said.
No. It wasn’t good.
Obi-Wan raced his craft toward Siri. When he was in her sightline, he indicated with his chin what he thought they should do. She nodded. He felt the connection surge between them. This was more than the Force. It was part of the Force, but it was part of them, part of the understanding that flashed between them so freely now. All barriers down, they had locked onto each other’s every thought now.
They were over the deep trenches of the electrical conduits, where power flowed from the two gigantic fusion furnaces that supplied the energy to the spaceport. Siri dipped into the trench, and Obi-Wan followed. At least they were in a place where the large attack missiles could not follow. And if they were lucky, they could escape Magus in the maze.
The battle was lost. Anakin could see that. As much as he believed in his abilities, as much as he believed in the pilots around him, he could see that they were meeting an overwhelming force, and according to General Solomahal, Republic reinforcements were still an hour away.
At first he’d felt hopeful. The information the general was able to give the pilots gave them an edge they were able to exploit. They had taken down one starfighter after another and had managed to cripple a landing ship. But they could not fight this huge fleet.
He had lost track of Obi-Wan and Siri. But at least Padme was safe.
“… status report,” came over the comm. “Report in, Leader One.”
His comm unit sounded fuzzy. Another thing going wrong. “Five more starfighters down, “Anakin said. “I’m trying to slow down the second landing ship. None of our ships lost on this end.”
“Two of our defense starfighters down, plus the three civilian ships and the Republic cruiser…”
The interference made the words come in and out.
“What?” Anakin barked. “What Republic cruiser?”
“Senator Amidala… Under fire… Distress…”
“Repeat,” Anakin said desperately. “Repeat. Survivors?”
“No survivors…”
Anakin felt the galaxy collapse. He could not see or think or feel.
“Jedi went in search… Possible… escape pod sighting…”
Anakin went into a dive that nearly plastered him to the ceiling. He would find her. She would be alive. She had to be.
Obi-Wan wished that Anakin were flying this ship. He needed Anakin’s nerves, his split-second timing, his instinctive knowledge of exactly how far to push a craft.
The attack ships hovered overhead. The last of the droid trifighters had crashed into a wall and flamed out.
But Magus was on their tails, keeping up steady fire. The trench was narrow, and opened wider and narrowed again.
Huge pipes and conduits presented barriers that had to be snaked around or dived under.
Up ahead, Siri suddenly slowed her speed. He shot ahead but she didn’t follow. She flew up, almost to the edge of the trench.
Siri, what are you doing? Whatever it is, Obi-Wan thought with a sudden, sharp pain, don’t do it!
“Siri, don’t do it,” PadmŞ said. “There’s still a chance - “
“This is our chance. Can you hold it steady?” Padme nodded.
“When I tell you to cut back, cut back.”
“You’ll fall - “