Service bay after service bay ran down each side of the hangar, waiting to repair the ships that no longer arrived. Hulking wrecks of ships still littered the floor, bits of metal that had once been droids, decayed tanks.
Huge statues of terrifying creatures from many worlds marched on either side down the hangar. The statues had crumbled and cracked over the years.
Some were headless, and the huge heads had fallen and crumbled into blocks of stone.
There was a smell of rust and rot, and the air seemed full of something thick, something like memory. Here the Sith had sent off their attack ships. Here their blood lust had pooled into technology and aggression. Here they had thought themselves invincible. Here disaster had overtaken them, their vengeance ending in defeat as their greed tore their order apart.
"It's huge," Ferus said. He walked forward a few steps. "You could dispatch an army from here."
"Yeah, a lot of ships for a bunch of monks," Auben said.
"The Sith were more than monks," Anakin told her. "So I've heard. The original evil guys, right?" Auben looked around. "Well, they're all dead now."
All except for one, Anakin thought. Maybe two. If Auben knew as much as they did about the Sith, she wouldn't be so casual.
"So where's the exit?" Ferus asked.
Auben waved vaguely toward the darkness. "The landing platform is completely blocked off. From what I can tell, it's buried behind the mountain again, probably blasted with artillery a couple of thousand years ago or so. But you can get out through one of the hangar bays.
It's a tough climb down the mountain, but it's better than tangling with the army."
Anakin suddenly felt a surge, a feeling that seemed to rise up through the soles of his feet and blast out the ends of his hair. His stomach turned. His nerves screamed an alert. He could feel the dark side of the Force, lurking deeply in the vast hangar.
"Anakin," Ferus said softly.
"I know."
"Let's… go back. Quietly."
They backed up, stepping into the service bay again. The cool shadow calmed Anakin's tripping heart.
Auben looked at both of them. "What is it?"
"Something worse than the army," Anakin said. "And it's coming this way."
Chapter Eleven
Obi-Wan quickly assessed the attack. The first and second lines were made up of dwarf spider droids and homing spider droids, skittering toward the Jedi with laser tracking devices sending thin blue lines bisecting the space between them. Behind the droids were the army troops, locals dressed in full plastoid armor with battlefield helmets. The sophistication of the force was surprising. Obi-Wan wondered why the Commerce Guild needed such an awesome security operation.
The blaster fire from the spider droids was fast and accurate. They marched on spindly legs toward the Jedi. Obi-Wan and Siri moved forward, lightsabers moving like pinwheels of glowing light, cutting down the first droids who moved forward to engage them.
They had fought together so many times that they had learned how to merge their styles. Siri was the flash, Obi-Wan the strategist. He set her up, and she closed the deal. He maneuvered, she struck. They moved faster than the droids could track, and, with Soara entering from the other side, they mowed down the first two lines easily.
Soara was a renowned fighter, and Obi-Wan always appreciated a chance to watch her technique. She was a fluid force, moving like wind and water.
Each stroke of her lightsaber was calculated, yet there seemed to be no calculation in her style. There was only movement. She took out five droids with one steady arc, knocking off their heads and sending the metal clanging to the stone floor.
Smoke filled the air and drifted to the vast space above. Deflected blaster bolts shot back at the startled officers, who found it hard to hold their line. They soon realized that they were not dealing with straggly thieves with a few blasters in their belts. They grabbed blaster rifles off the holsters strapped to their backs and fired. Two dozen of them advanced, while the third wave of droids moved in. Obi-Wan began to break into a sweat. He did not see the possibility of defeat, but the last thing he needed was to get clipped by blaster fire and have to deal with a wound while chasing Omega.
Then, from behind the officers, Ry-Gaul appeared out of the shadows.
His silver-gray lightsaber hummed as he held it straight for a moment in front of him, gauging what he was up against. He moved quickly for his size, rather like Qui-Gon had, his grace surprising while his great strength never flagged.
The officers who turned to engage him couldn't get away fast enough.
The remaining squad took one look at three Jedi to the front and one to the rear and began to retreat, firing as they did so.
They let them go. The presence of Jedi on the planet couldn't stay a secret for very long. Jedi did not take a life if they didn't have to.
As soon as they were safe, Obi-Wan whipped out his comlink. He couldn't reach Anakin. Siri tried as well, then shook her head.
"Too much interference here," she said. "We'll have to find them."
Obi-Wan felt something then. A flicker that started on the edges of his consciousness and then grew, a dark shape inside him.
He spoke quietly despite the dread in his heart. "He's here."
The others turned to him. "Who?" Siri asked.
"The Sith. He's here, in the monastery. Somewhere."
Then he saw the knowledge flash in Siri's face, Soara's posture, Ry-Gaul's wintry eyes.
They looked at each other for a moment, deep worry now ticking inside them.
A Sith was here, and their Padawans were by themselves.
Chapter Twelve
Anakin heard the flurry. It was like a flock of birds. But instead of the whisper of feathers, he heard the mechanical clatter of metal on stone.
"Stay here," Ferus ordered Auben. "And hide!" he yelled over his shoulder.
Together Ferus and Anakin moved to the front of the service bay. They peered out into the vast hangar. At first they could see nothing. They could hear only the menacing clatter.
Then out of the gloom rose the battle droids. Line after line. Maybe thirty… forty?
"Wait," Ferus said. "Those aren't ordinary battle droids."
"They have reinforced armor," Anakin said, swallowing. "And the control center is lower… you can't cut off their heads."
"Too many," Ferus said. "We have to retreat." "We can take them,"
Anakin insisted.
"Anakin, this is no time to play hero. The two of us can't do it by ourselves."
"That's your trouble, Ferus," Anakin said coolly. "You always look at the odds."
He stepped out into the darkness of the hangar. He saw the infrared tracking devices on the droids move over the space. They would find him. He had seconds.
Ferus moved out next to him. Of course if Anakin went out to meet the droids, Ferus would have to as well. He wouldn't leave him. Anakin knew that.