"After all," Ferus continued, "you don't want to meet a Sith without a lightsaber."
"No kidding," Tru said. "This mission is crucial. That's why I can't be sent back. I just thought if I could fix it without having to tell Ry- Gaul…" Tru wound one flexible arm around his back to hug his opposite elbow, a gesture Anakin knew well. It was something Tru did when he was especially nervous. "Look, I know I wouldn't be the first or second candidate to enter the acceleration program — you and Anakin will be the first. Maybe Darra would be third. But I don't want to be left behind."
Ferus frowned. "Tru, your advancement is not the reason we're here."
"That's not what I mean!" Tru said, upset. "I want to stand with my fellow Jedi because we all know that the darkness is growing. We need every Jedi. I want to be there."
"We all do," Ferus said. He bent over the lightsaber, fine-tuning it.
Anakin couldn't see what he was doing, but he was itching to get his own hands on the lightsaber. He was sure he was a better technician than Ferus.
"All right, I fixed it." Ferus put the handle back together and handed the lightsaber back to Tru. "You shouldn't have any more problems. Your power cell is boosted."
Anakin started to step forward. If Ferus had worked on the power cell, that meant that Tru needed to check the flux aperture again. Anakin had tweaked it before, but it might need an adjustment to compensate for the power boost. Anyway, it would be wise to double-check. Anakin had better tell him. But he stopped when he heard his name.
"Why didn't you ask Anakin to fix it?" Ferus asked. "He's better at this than I am."
"He was busy with Obi-Wan," Tru murmured.
Anakin realized that Tru had evaded the question. He could have asked him to help. He frowned as he watched the two Padawans, their heads close together.
Tru was drifting away from him. He could feel it.
Ferus stood. "I don't see any reason to tell Ry-Gaul, now that it's fixed. We'd better get back."
Angrily, Anakin retreated back into the shadows, then turned and headed for the others. He felt betrayed. Tru had chosen Ferus to confide in. He was Tru's best friend — he should have been the one to help him!
Obviously, Tru was holding a grudge against him for not coming to his aid.
Well, if Tru didn't want his help, he certainly wasn't going to offer it. Most likely Ferus had done a perfect job. After all, he was almost a Jedi Knight.
What was strange, Anakin reflected, was that Ferus had agreed to keep Tru's secret. He would have expected Ferus to tell Ry-Gaul about the damaged lightsaber, or at least encourage Tru to do so. Instead, he had fixed it himself. Technically, it was a breach of the rules, and Ferus never broke the rules.
Anakin smiled. So the perfect Padawan wasn't so perfect after all.
He paused by the wreckage of the vehicles that the mysterious Sith had moved so easily. There was a disturbance in the air, as though the dark energy of the Force still pulsed around the wall of debris. As if the Sith had vanished, but left a pool of his darkness behind.
He felt something new inside him, but he couldn't put a name to it. He looked out into the grayness of the valley, just visible past the dark outlines of his Master and the other Jedi as they conferred on the landing platform. He concentrated hard. What was he feeling?
A beating heart. A being out there — somewhere — reaching out to him?
It wasn't a connection… it was a call. It was something he didn't want, but something that drew him, pulled him….
Granta Omega? Did he have the same connection as his Master did? He didn't think so. Not this time. It didn't feel right. It felt… bigger.
Hidden.
The Sith.
Anakin faced out to the valley. He felt the cold wind blow against his face. The Sith was calling him.
Chapter Seventeen
Obi-Wan turned to the others. "We need to get to the cruisers. It's too far to hike to the valley. We only have about an hour of dusk left. We don't want to go in at night. Madame Nu gave me coordinates for the best approach."
Obi-Wan saw both relief and trepidation on the faces of the other Padawans. They all wanted to go. They wanted it and feared it.
He saw no fear on his Padawan's face, however. He wasn't sure how Anakin was feeling. There was something going on… underneath. Korriban had unsettled them all, Obi-Wan knew.
Even the Masters were not eager to enter the valley. They knew they were heading into great trouble. They knew there would be difficulty.
Traps. Attacks. Surprises. The dark side of the Force could snare them, confuse them. But they each felt strongly that this was their only chance.
The hidden darkness every Jedi felt was here. They could find it and expose it. End it. Here. Now.
Back at the Dreshdae landing platform, they hurried to their cruisers.
Anakin sprang into the cockpit. He entered the coordinates Obi-Wan had given him for the Valley of the Dark Lords. They would have to find it through instruments, since it would not be visible. Then they would survey the area before deciding on a landing point.
Anakin did a preflight check, working quickly but carefully. All the indicator lights turned green. It was a go.
Except…
He tapped on an indicator. The light had shone green immediately. It should have cycled from orange to yellow first. Just a small thing, an indicator for the portside fuel baffles. If the light was red it would indicate a clogged baffle. Even that wouldn't prevent takeoff. He could fly with a clogged fuel baffle.
But why hadn't the indicator cycled through the colors?
"Problem?" Obi-Wan looked at him.
Anakin turned in the seat. The toolkit was clamped to the bottom of the counter. One of the clamps hadn't engaged all the way. It would rattle during turbulence. He would have noticed it on the flight here.
Someone had been aboard.
Through the windscreen, in the ship next to him, Ry-Gaul gave him a thumbs up.
"No!" Anakin shouted. He jumped forward and hit the comm. "Don't start the engines!"
Ry-Gaul looked at him, puzzled, and nodded. "Anakin, what?" Obi-Wan asked, frowning at the urgent tone in Anakin's voice.
"Not sure yet." Anakin quickly disengaged the hatch and climbed down into the engine. He only a needed a few seconds before he saw it.
He vaulted out of the engine bloc. "We've got to get out. The other ship, too!"
Obi-Wan hit the comm. "Evacuate! Now!"
Anakin hit the ramp control at the same time. He, Ferus, Siri, and Obi-Wan charged down. They met Ry-Gaul, Tru, Darra, and Soara.
"Take cover!" Anakin shouted.
The Jedi raced to the opposite side of the landing platform and dived behind a cruiser as the two star-ships exploded in a fiery blast. They felt the heat on their faces. A wall of air hit them.
Slowly, Anakin rose. He regarded the skeletal frame of the starship with regret.