Jude Watson - Jedi Quest 1 - The Way of the Apprentice

"That way," Anakin agreed.

Once they left the engine room, they had to turn sideways to navigate the corridor. Every centimeter of space was used on the vessel to pack in droids. They squeezed past the empty troop deployment racks and climbed a narrow metal staircase to the bridge. Outside the bridge door they activated their lightsabers. Taking a breath for concentration, they accessed the door and burst inside.

The droids swiveled, instantly taking in the danger. Their arms moved forward in blast mode.

Anakin and Tru were faster. They somersaulted in the air and came down with their lightsabers, each neatly slicing a droid in half.

Anakin kicked aside the droid and immediately moved to the controls. He studied them.

"Can't help you out here," Tru said. "I never got this far in the manual. Got too bored."

"It's okay. These controls are basic. You'd better strap into the copilot's seat. It might be rough going."

Experimentally, Anakin eased the controls forward. The ship gave a great lurch. Tru hadn't had a chance to sit, and he went flying. He landed on the floor.

"Might be rough?" Tru picked himself up, kicked the droid out of the way, and sat in the copilot's seat.

The next time Anakin eased the controls, the ship moved more smoothly. He took it slow for several meters, getting used to the way the ship handled. This was no nimble starfighter. This was a lumbering beast.

He would have to navigate around this canyon, through a narrower passage, and then get the beast down a smaller passage into the large clearing. Everything depended on him and Tru getting there. No one had said it, but everyone was aware that if Anakin could not maneuver the ship there, the Jedi would be trapped in the canyon with a platoon of droids — and no way out.

Anakin turned the ship into the narrower passage. He accelerated, searching for the passage Darra had marked.

After a few minutes Tru spoke. "We should have passed the turning by now."

"I know. Let's just. ." Anakin's words died. Ahead, he saw only solid rock. They had come to the end of the passage. There was no way into the clearing.

"This can't be," Anakin said. He pounded the controls with his fists. "It can't be!" There was no passage. Darra had read the map wrong. They had failed, and his Master was trapped. He shouldn't have listened to Ferus. He should have -

"Can you back this thing up?" Tru asked.

Anakin tried to quiet the ranting voices in his head.

"What?"

"The passage to the clearing must be blocked. It was probably a rockslide. Remember we passed that area of the wall that had all that sheared rock in the road?"

With a swift motion, Anakin reversed the engines and zoomed backward. He stopped the MTT where Tru had indicated.

A passage had been here once, but it was hard to tell. Huge boulders now blocked it.

"Is there any other way to the clearing?" Tru asked.

Anakin shook his head. "They could be in there by now.

We've got to get through that rock."

"Can the MTT handle it?"

Anakin gripped the controls. They could get stuck halfway through. The rocks could collapse and bury them alive. "I don't know. But if we don't try, our Masters are doomed."

The Jedi crouched behind a screen of boulders and splintered rock. They had been pinned down for two hours.

They had fought off three assaults from the droids. The droids held a position across the canyon where they could fire at any flicker of movement from the Jedi. Ry-Gaul had a blaster wound to the shoulder. Soara's ankle had swelled, but she'd fashioned a makeshift crutch from a felled droid's leg. A splintering rock had cut Siri over the eye. And they were all exhausted.

Over the course of the day they had kept moving from one small canyon to the next, but the smaller canyons were a maze that always led back to the large clearing and the MTT.

That was what the Avoni had known. They had known they would be able to run the Jedi down until they were exhausted.

The droids were relentless, and there were so many of them. They estimated seventy to eighty. They had taken out at least twenty, maybe more. But there were at least fifty still out there, and no doubt fresh reserves would arrive.

While the Jedi were pinned down, the Avoni would conduct their invasion. The Jedi Masters had not spoken of it, but they knew they were each thinking of their Padawans.

"Our only chance is to get back to the MTT," Obi-Wan said to the others. "We have to capture the ship. It's the only way out."

"Capture an MTT?" Soara asked. "It's an armored tank."

"There's got to be a way." If Anakin were here, he would know how, Obi-Wan thought. Anakin knew his way around every ship that was ever built. He made it his business to know.

"Hold it," Siri said. "Look!"

Obi-Wan followed her pointing finger. To his surprise, he saw Ferus and Darra heading for them, moving from rock to rock for cover. The droids turned to fire at them, keeping up a steady barrage.

A pang shot through Obi-Wan. Where was Anakin?

If something had happened to him, I would know it. / would feel it.

Ferus and Darra ran the last hundred meters, dodging blaster fire and blocking it with their lightsabers. They dived behind the rocks with the Jedi.

"So glad you could join us," Soara said.

"Thought you might have missed us," Darra said with a grin. Then she noted Soara's injury. "Master, you're hurt!"

"Just a minor inconvenience," Soara answered.

"Anakin and Tru are capturing the MTT," Ferus told them.

"We hope. Our plan is to lure the droids to a clearing and then use the MTT to destroy them."

"How are they getting aboard the MTT?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Apparently it has large venting tunnels on its underside," Ferus said. "They said they could navigate them."

Obi-Wan nodded. It sounded dangerous, but he trusted Anakin's abilities. "How far is the rendezvous?"

"Not far. We studied the map. If we can return the way we came and get the droids to follow us down a passage, it will empty into the clearing."

"We'll have no problem with the droids following us," Obi- Wan said grimly.

"No time like the present," Ry-Gaul said.

"I was getting tired of this spot anyway," Siri said, wiping the blood off her forehead with her sleeve.

The Jedi gathered themselves for the next phase of the battle. They were exhausted, but they had reserves of strength they had not tapped. Ferus and Darra had given them a way out, and they were ready.

They rushed out together, lightsabers drawn. The Prototype Droids moved toward them, the front line blasting heavy firepower at them. The Jedi kept on the move. The two Masters were careful to ensure that Soara and Ry-Gaul were protected at all times. With his shoulder injury, Ry-Gaul could only swing the lightsaber to one side, and that was painful. Soara's limping progress was remarkably fast with the help of her makeshift crutch.

They reached the shelter of the passageway. They had just a moment to catch their breath. The droids wheeled in formation and followed.

They ran, letting the droids keep them in sight, but staying out of blaster range. Ferus and Darra led the way.

They snaked through the passageway and came out into the clearing.

The droid platoon was behind them. Sheer rock was ahead of them.

"How is the MTT going to get in here?" Obi-Wan asked.

Ferus turned pale. "There was a route. ."

Darra looked around wildly. "Where is the passage? It should be there!" She pointed to an area that appeared to be a wall of boulders.

"Rock slide," Ry-Gaul said. "See the markings there?"

"We're trapped," Soara said, glancing around quickly.

"We'll have to fight them in the open." She gripped her crutch with one hand and her lightsaber with the other.