Джуд Уотсон - Jedi Apprentice 13 - The Dangerous Rescue

"Why don't I fill out the papers while Obi-Wan visits Astri?" Siri suggested. "Would that be all right?"

Rai Unlu looked uncertain. "It is not procedure — "

"I've come so far to see her," Obi-Wan said persuasively. "And she's been badly hurt."

"All right," Rai Unlu said, looking around furtively. "But don't tell anyone. I will take you to Astri. Your companion can follow signs to Wing A. There will be signs to the Registry Office from there."

Siri nodded. "Good luck, Obi-Wan. I will come to Astri's room as soon as I am finished."

Siri strode off, and Rai Unlu beckoned to Obi-Wan. "This way."

Obi-Wan followed him from the soaring atrium through a series of gleaming corridors. They stepped onto a moving ramp and were swept through wing after wing.

At last, Rai Unlu stepped off the ramp at Wing L. "We must walk from here."

They walked quickly through the wing, past the closed doors of the ward. Then they came to a sign that read NO ADMITTANCE.

"Restricted ward for foreigners," Rai Unlu explained, hurrying through.

To Obi-Wan's surprise, they stepped through a doorway into a partially completed hallway. Small graysleds with construction materials littered the corridor, and through the open grid-work of the ceiling Obi- Wan saw ducts and wires.

"The Med Center is very crowded. We had to put her in the new wing,"

Rai Unlu said.

"But it's not finished," Obi-Wan said, stepping over a pail full of rivets.

"She is still getting the best care," Rai Unlu assured him. "Sorrus has the best med facilities in the galaxy."

It was a claim Obi-Wan had heard on other worlds. Had Astri been shuttled to this far wing because she was a stranger? Sorrusians weren't noted for their hospitality, but he expected a more sterile environment.

"She is just through here, third door on your left," Rai Unlu said.

"I must return. I have an emergency."

"Wait," Obi-Wan said.

"Sorry, must go," Rai Unlu said. "I'm being signaled. Emergency!"

He turned and almost ran down the hall. Obi-Wan's growing wariness turned to concern. He felt a disturbance in the Force that alarmed him.

Prepared for anything now, his hand went to his lightsaber hilt.

Cautiously, he opened the third door on the left. Instead of a private room, he found himself in a partially built hospital ward. There were beams overhead and a durasteel frame. Only two walls had been constructed.

He just had time to see a shadow flicker, nothing more. Obi-Wan stepped back, lightsaber activated, as the bounty hunter Ona Nobis suddenly flew from a beam overhead straight toward him.

Obi-Wan had captured her laser whip back on Simpla-12. He was not happy to see that she had replaced it. It danced toward him, an arc of supple, lethal light. He struck out at the whip before it reached him. The two lasers tangled and smoked.

He could not move as fast as Ona Nobis. That, he remembered. He could not defeat her with quickness. She was an astoundingly agile fighter with lightning-fast moves. Her mind was quick as well. She always had surprises up her sleeve.

Cleverness. Acrobatics. Cunning. Flexibility. She had everything he had been taught was important in battle. His adversary did not have the Force, but she might have the advantage.

In this partially enclosed space, he was too vulnerable. He must get out in the open. Obi-Wan drove Ona Nobis back with a furious flurry of moves, forcing her to concentrate on defending herself. When she was slightly off balance he vaulted to the top of the unfinished wall.

Balancing for a moment, he leaped down into the construction site.

Here there were obstacles — graysleds, drills, large piles of metal poles, blocks of stone, a durasteel skeleton of the exterior walls of the wing, a deep, muddy pit. Yet he could use them for defense and attack. Here the Force could help him.

The whip snaked to the top of the wall behind him, curling around an exposed rod. A moment later Ona Nobis used it to haul herself up. Her head swiveled toward him in the black visor she wore to conceal her eyes. Then she leaped down, landing lightly, already furling the whip for another attack.

Her lips curled back from her teeth. "I've been waiting for this,"

she said.

He was ready. Every sense was alert, every particle of his being focused on the battle ahead. He had to be. The trick was to get her close.

From a distance, she used the whip to devastating effect. If he were closer, she would have no room to maneuver.

The perfect attack begins with your attention. Every pebble can be an obstacle or an opportunity. Hone your focus. Add speed, timing, strategy, surprise. Do not forget the Force is with you.

Obi-Wan leaped to his opponent's left side. He used a technique Qui- Gon called "false attack." He knew he would not win with this strategy, but he did not mean to. He wanted to draw her forward toward him.

His lightsaber whirled and blurred as he moved, deflecting her curling whip with its spiked edge. He saw her hand move toward the blaster strapped to her hip and he blocked it with a flurry of moves so fast she had to concentrate to keep up.

The ground was treacherous with mud and debris, but he used the Force to aid every step. He leaped on a pyramid of stone blocks and used the momentum to flip in midair and come at her left. Instead of stepping backward, she stepped forward, an unexpected move for anyone but Ona Nobis.

Good. He had expected it, planned for it.

He twisted in midair, adding momentum to his leap. He landed behind her. Now her back was to a sinkhole filled with mud and water. There was no telling if it was shallow or meters deep.

He drove her relentlessly backward. He saw her lip curl with anger as she flicked the whip, sending it within millimeters of his flesh. He slashed downward. The lasers tangled with a buzzing noise.

Suddenly the blaster was in her hand. He had only caught a blur of movement as she reached for ft. But he was ready, his lightsaber spinning in a continuous arc to deflect the fire. The Force surged in him, making every movement sure.

But he could not concentrate on everything at once. He lost his connection to the ground. Chips of stone lay around the muddy surface, and they were slippery. His foot slid and he lost his balance. He caught himself before he fell but his loss of concentration cost him.

She moved to his right and charged, firing as she went. Obi-Wan slid on the slippery stones, struggling to regain his footing as he deflected the furious round of fire, twisting his body. He felt the rush of air as the whip snaked around him.

For the first time, he was seriously worried. He was outmatched and he knew it. He did not have Qui-Gon's perfect mastery of the Force. And he could not meet the dual challenge of the whip and the blaster. He could not get close enough to disarm her, and he doubted he would be lucky enough to capture the whip a second time. He had only managed to do so back on Simpla-12 because Astri had barreled down on Ona Nobis in a gravsled.

Doubt is your first enemy. How many times had he heard that in class?

Yet he knew deep within that this doubt was justified. With a whip as well as a blaster, she could keep him running while she remained still. Sooner or later he would tire. He saw how much he depended on Qui-Gon during a battle. He could pick up on Qui-Gon's strategy, but he could not formulate it himself. He would put up a good fight, maybe even wound her, if he were lucky to get close enough. But she would win. She knew this territory well and she had set the trap. He had walked right into it.

All of these calculations roared through Obi-Wan's mind even as he regained his footing and faked a pass at Ona Nobis, forcing her to retreat a few steps. He knew it was a temporary victory.