Jude Watson: Jedi Quest 8: The Changing of the Guard

You're Anakin Skywalker."

She gazed at him with a hungry expression. Anakin felt unnerved.

"I have studied the Force for so long," she murmured. "Never did I expect such a prize."

"I'm not your prize," he spat out.

"Well, you're my prisoner, and that's the same thing. Do you know how many guards are surrounding you right now?"

Obi-Wan shot Anakin a look. The Jedi could fight. They could escape.

But Obi-Wan was telling him to wait. They had more to discover. The stakes were too high.

"We can take them to the prison and have them executed on the spot,"

Teda said.

"Don't be so hasty," Zan Arbor said.

"Look, you don't have to kill them," Slam said, looking uneasy now.

"Just tell them to stop impersonating us."

Valadon, as tall as Siri and as blond, shot her an icy look. "And give us our clothes back."

Zan Arbor had not taken her eyes off Anakin. "Do you know what we have here, Teda?"

"Yes," he moaned. "A big headache."

"Leverage. Remember our discussion before? If we bring a great prize to our partner, he will look at us differently. We can negotiate a different split."

"What are you talking about, Jenna?" Teda asked impatiently. "Prizes?

Leverage? Please remember I am a ruling ruler who was just kicked out of his palace. I'm not in the best of moods!"

"The Chosen One," Zan Arbor said softly to Anakin, so that no one else could hear. "I was told about you. My interest in the Force is deep. Enough to know how your destiny is your burden. Do you remember the Zone of Self- Containment? I can bring that back to you."

He remembered feeling content, a contentment without a tether to sadness or guilt. There was just the sun and serenity, a serenity he had never achieved as a Jedi. The Jedi had promised him that, and it had not happened. Perhaps it never would.

"Ah," she said softly, "speaking of temptation…"

He pulled off the mask. There was no need for it now. "I'm not tempted by you," he responded.

"I saw how you enjoyed it," she said. "I can make all your burdens disappear."

"My only burden at the moment is having to talk to you," Anakin shot back.

She smiled. Anakin could see that once, before evil had twisted her, she had been seductive. Her smile was lush, appreciative, inviting.

"You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago," she said.

Obi-Wan overheard that. "Qui-Gon Jinn," he said. Zan Arbor whirled around. She walked closer to Obi-Wan. "Do I know you?" "Obi-Wan Kenobi."

She laughed in delight. "Obi-Wan! But you were just a boy! You've grown up well," she said, appraising him. "I heard Qui-Gon died on Naboo.

And Yaddle has recently 'joined the Force,' hasn't she — a Jedi Council member? It makes you think, doesn't it?" She shook her head. "What is happening to the Jedi? Their strength diminishing, their best leaders struck down. And yet they don't see that they are declining. Such a pity to watch. So intriguing to study."

Anakin saw Siri's eyes flash. She did not speak. He knew from experience that she did not spar with villains. She just waited her turn.

She was absolutely certain at all times that she would prevail in the end.

He liked that certainty. He held an image in his mind of Zan Arbor back on a prison world while he, Obi-Wan, Siri, and Ferus watched her being led away. He needed to hold on to that vision.

"Jenna, we need to plan a plan," Teda said irritably.

"Oh, Roy, relax," Zan Arbor said. She waved at the tea table, indicating the Slams. "Slam, Valadon, have some refreshment. We need to talk. You are going to transport us off the planet — don't worry, we know where your transport is — and we have a proposition for you that the Jedi have already accepted on your behalf."

Easygoing as always, Slam pulled a chair up to the table and poured himself some tea. "This is sounding more promising. How happy I am that your messengers found me."

"Meanwhile," Zan Arbor said, "Teda, call the rest of your guards — and I mean all of them. I want General Yubicon in charge."

"But he's my personal bodyguard now!"

"Oh, don't be such a baby. I am tired of your whining." She turned to the Jedi. "They have superior weaponry, I assure you. And if you don't want anyone else harmed, you'll do best to comply." She gave a pointed look at the Slams. It was clear she would sacrifice them if the Jedi did not cooperate.

The guards moved closer. Teda spoke into a comlink and they heard the humming of swoops as more guards took to the air. They hovered above the courtyard. Anakin saw blaster rifles pointed at them — and Slam, Valadon, and the other members of the gang.

"Your lightsabers," Zan Arbor said. "Give them to General Yubicon."

Obi-Wan slipped his and Siri's lightsabers out of his belt and handed them over. Ferus and Anakin followed. Anakin knew his Master would never hand over his lightsaber unless he was fully intending to get it back shortly.

"Put the lightsabers in the prison vault," Zan Arbor ordered the general. "I'll want to study them. Put the prisoners in the holding cell for now and have them guarded severely. We'll pick them up as soon as we finish here." She leveled her icy gaze on General Yubicon. "Don't let them out of your sight, don't listen to them, and don't make any mistakes. Go."

General Yubicon's eyes flickered as he stuffed the lightsabers into a satchel that he slung on his back. Anakin could see that he did not like taking orders from Zan Arbor. Teda didn't say a word. Anakin realized who was truly in charge. Zan Arbor had Teda under her thumb.

Slam cocked his head at them. "Sorry. I didn't mean for it to go quite this far. But all's fair."

"That's very true," Obi-Wan said. "If you join up with these two, you'll get what you deserve."

The Jedi were roughly herded out of the house and pushed along a rutted road that ran through woods with branches so thick with dark green leaves that they blotted out the sun completely.

They were marched farther down the path — playing along for now, waiting for the right moment to turn the tables. The area felt desolate and dank. Over the thump of footsteps and the buzzing of the swoops overhead, Anakin saw General Yubicon speaking to his assistant as they walked. He called on the Force to help him tune out the noises around him and focus on what the officer was saying.

"… thought we had a strong leader, but he is just as much a sham as they say he is. Am I supposed to pledge my loyalty now to Great Leader Zan Arbor?"

"What can you do?" the other officer asked in disgust. "One day we're living in a palace in Romin, the next in the middle of a swamp. It's enough to make me join the resistance."

"And what would the resistance do to you if they found you?" the first officer said. "Look what they're doing to poor Hansel. Listen, we're safer with Teda. Or at least I thought so. Now I suspect that Zan Arbor is planning to take off with him and without us. Teda said he would take his first officers, but will she let him? They're planning something big. Teda said they will have the Senate to do their bidding."

The Senate? Anakin gave a quick glance at Obi-Wan. He could tell his Master was listening, as well.

"Here we are," the other officer said. "Mind yourself. The prisoners know something is up, somehow. They're restless. Not to mention starving."

"Just be glad you're not in their place," General Yubicon said.

The prison rose ahead, long and low, built of dark green duracrete so that it would not be visible from above or from the road. The resistance had not gotten here yet. The Jedi passed through energy gates and into the compound. A door rose into the ceiling to admit them.

The inside of the prison stank of dirt and rot. There were no windows.

A security console ran along a blank wall. Droids that had not been affected by the revolt in the city sat monitoring the equipment. Their sensors flashed green as General Yubicon entered.