Chapter One

His fingers gripped the hilt, sweating slightly. They felt each groove in the metal as if it were a canyon, each smooth and cold against his fingertips. They came to rest on the small rounded button; years of training and discipline kept them from pressing harder, lest the weapon ignite.

He drew a deep breath and felt his hand and how it connected to his arm, and how his mind extended to control them both. He pushed, feeling his awareness flood outward, encompassing the tiny room and its contents – mostly cleaning supplies, and of course his fellow Knight.

He felt his awareness flow through the gap beneath the door and into the hallway, brightly lit and bustling with movement; and he felt his companion's efforts clouding his vision, muddying the air in a way that none outside could feel or see or touch, but which dulled their senses, stifled their curiosity.

Anakin's eyes shot open, and his companion grinned. "Did you think they weren't looking in here by accident?" he asked, leaning casually on the opposite wall, barely lowering his voice.

Anakin glared at him. "You're awfully cavalier about meddling in people's thoughts," he said.

His companion flicked his hand dismissively. "It only works on the weak-minded," he said.

Anakin's frown deepened. "That seems like a dour way of looking at people," he said, "I'm fairly certain Soris would have something to say about that attitude."

The other Knight rolled his eyes. "Soris has something to say about everything. He should be called Soris the Long-Winded."

It was Anakin's first mission as a Knight, and he had tried and failed to get the measure of his partner on this mission. Rumor held that the man had been trained as a Sage and a Scout before becoming a Knight, one of very few who did so. He had a reputation for deception and pragmatism, known for playing rather unpleasant pranks on his fellow Jedi. He was an Infiltrator, an elite cadre composed traditionally of Scouts and, more recently, Scholars. As far as Anakin knew, his partner was the only Knight to ever join the group. Indeed, there were few stranger or more mysterious Knights than this man from a desert backwater, whose name had been Obi-Wan and who at his Naming had called himself "Kenobi", after the ancient word for "trickster".

Anakin had joined only seven years ago, a fifteen-year-old boy who had made his way to Coruscant in the hope of joining the famed order known as the Jedi, a word that had once meant "Seeker", and which now stood for justice, and law, and bravery and honor – and for the Republic which they had served for a thousand generations, since it had been only one world, and one people. Warriors, Scholars, Sages, and Knights, the Jedi were united by their ability to call upon something they called the Force, an all-encompassing energy that only a rare few could sense and manipulate.

He had been considered for the Scouts because his piloting skills were exceptional, but his boldness and forthrightness made him ill-suited to covert work, and with war looming on the horizon, a life of pure exploration was unlikely for any Scout with talent for combat. So he had been granted his first choice: Jedi Knight, protector of peace and justice, defender of the Republic.

He had not anticipated that his first mission, after seven years of intensive training and practice and simulation, would involve quite so much hiding in closets.

His hand came to rest on the hilt of his saber again. Obi-Wan must have noticed, because he laughed quietly. "Careful there, you'll cut a hole in your damn leg if you play with that thing too much. Despite what Master Damun might have told you, not every problem can be solved by swinging that thing around."

Anakin shifted his weight, trying to keep his blood flowing freely after standing still for so long. "I don't see why we don't just walk up to his office and arrest him. He's broken the law, and he'll face justice. No-one will stand in our way; we're Jedi. The Republic-"

"Isn't here," Obi-Wan interrupted. "This is the Tion Hegemony. If we storm in and drag him back to Coruscant, they'll have to face some fairly legitimate questions about their sovereignty. It would put strain on their relationship with the Republic, and what does that benefit anyone? They're happy being the Republic's puppet as long as they get to wave their guns around and proclaim their independence every so often. Why interfere with a good thing?"

Anakin drummed his fingers against his leg. "I hate these kind of politics," he said.

Obi-Wan's grin returned, harsher this time. "Well they're my specialty," he said. "That's why I was assigned to this mission. I got stuck dragging you along because I needed a pilot and Damun insisted I take his new star along so you could get your damn Naming over with. If it were up to me, you'd be sitting on our ship waiting for me to come back."

Anakin pulled his saber hilt from its loop on his belt and tossed it in the air, flipping it end-over-end. "Well if it were up to me, we'd carve a hole in this damn door and give this planet something to complain about. So I guess nobody gets what they want today. How much longer?" he asked.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes. "About twenty more minutes, and they'll start locking the doors," he said. "While they're checking the locks and securing the perimeter, we can move to the former Senator's office undetected."

"What about cameras?" Anakin asked.

Obi-Wan tilted his head slightly, and then opened his eyes. "The guard watching the cameras just turned them off. He doesn't realize it now, and won't until he comes back from checking the doors."

Anakin was still uneasy about his partner's casual manipulation of the minds of others, but he remained silent on the topic. "So half an hour. I can wait that long. Let's just make it quick; I presume you brought a stunner?"

Obi-Wan snorted derisively. "Crude devices. No need. He'll walk out with us willingly, just you wait and see."

The half-hour crawled by, but eventually Obi-Wan straightened and nodded at Anakin, and it was time.

Obi-Wan led the way, opening the door. Anakin held his weapon's hilt at the ready, watching behind for any sign of the guards. But Obi-Wan had been correct, and they moved swiftly through the halls to the private offices recently purchased by Jennar Suun, disgraced Senator, branded a traitor for selling military technology to the Unity Coalition, the only other power in the galaxy with as much territory and strength as the Republic.

Obi-Wan opened the doors without a sound, but the former Senator saw them immediately. Before he could call out, Obi-Wan made a small gesture, and the man clutched his throat, gasping for air. "Now hear me, Jennar Suun," Obi-Wan said, circling around behind the man as he clawed at his collar, "We're taking you back where you belong. And unless you want to be sliced into pieces right now, you'll tell your guards to stand down and we'll-"

Anakin held up his hand and Obi-Wan stopped. "Something wrong?" he asked. Anakin nodded.

"There are more people here than just the guards," he said. "Someone's coming this way."

Obi-Wan released Suun, who collapsed on the floor, coughing. "Someone might be coming to see him," Obi-Wan ventured, looking around the room. "We'll take him out the window and get back to the ship."

Anakin looked at the window, dubious. "I'm not sure we can get him out there safely-"

"No," Obi-Wan snapped, "But he'll live."

Anakin was about to argue the point, but then it was too late. The doors exploded inward, and ten black-armored Unity Coalition soldiers stormed in, aiming their blasters at Anakin and Obi-Wan. Behind them, a brown-clad officer strode casually, appearing unconcerned. He smirked at Anakin as he entered the room.

"I must admit," the officer said, his accent betraying him as foreign to both the Republic and the Tion Hegemony, "We had expected you to come for him sooner. He was such an easy target-"

Anakin had had enough. In a single fluid motion, he drew his hilt and pressed the small round button. Blue light sprang from the small metal cylinder, a blade of pure energy. The hum of the sword cut through the air, silencing the officer and giving even the armed guards pause – a lightsaber, the symbol of the Republic, the oldest and strongest, the most respected and feared power the galaxy had ever known; and the weapon of its protectors, the legendary Jedi Knights, the cutting blade of the Republic's might. Obi-Wan, sensing Anakin's intent through the Force, did the same almost simultaneously, his own vibrant red blade crackling as it appeared.

The moment of shock was all Anakin needed. He pulled the officer in close, using him as a shield. The soldiers hesitated, unsure if they should fire on their commander.

Obi-Wan had no such dilemma. Guiding his own blade with the force, he hurled it across the room, scything through the guards in an instant. As their bodies dropped, Anakin kicked the officer's legs out from under him and deftly sliced the man's holstered blaster in two, leaving a small burn on his leg. He kicked the man in the face, spraying blood on the floor, and stomped his booted heel on his ankle, feeling the tendon give way. Trying to ignore the smell of the guards' burning flesh, he slung the cowering Suun over his shoulder and pointed his blade toward the door. "I'll carry him, we need to get to the ship," he shouted, trying to maintain his focus, extending his mind into the floor and up to the ceiling, allowing the Force to bear some of the burden he had hoisted upon his shoulders.

Obi-Wan's blade was back in his hand, and the older Jedi ran ahead, spinning his blade to deflect the blaster fire from the building's guards; the guards, seeing their volley have no effect, dropped their weapons in surrender, and Obi-Wan and Anakin ignored them as they ran toward the exit.

"What are Coalition soldiers doing here?" Anakin asked as they ran. "The Hegemony has cut all ties with them."

Obi-Wan had sheathed his saber, and the next guard to try to stop them received the Jedi's fist in his face, Obi-Wan using the Force to add power to the blow and protect his own fist, tossing the guard backward as he fell. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "Presumably their mission was to protect their friend Suun. Maybe the Hegemony doesn't know they're here?"

The doors were locked, but Obi-Wan's saber flashed again and they swung open – the ship was hidden in the woods less than a mile away. Anakin forced a grin, and said through his gritted teeth, "Despite what Master Yoda might have taught you, swinging that thing around can solve a surprising number of problems."

Obi-Wan laughed as they ran into the woods, extinguishing his saber to hide their whereabouts. Alarms blared from the building behind them, and from the city nearby. "Well I hope Master Klyver wasn't exaggerating about your skills as a pilot," he said as they jogged through the forest.

Anakin finally set their captive down. Obi-Wan rounded on the portly man, stopping inches from his face. "And you," he said, angrily, but Anakin stood and held out his hand. Obi-Wan stopped, regaining his composure. "You," he said again, "Will use that comlink you have hidden in your pocket to call the local police, and tell them you're headed into the city, with two Jedi in pursuit." The politician's hand quivered as he reached for the comlink, but he did as he had been told. The rest of the journey to the ship was slow, quiet, and cautious; but soon they had reached their means of escape.

Tossing the former Senator into the small cargo hold, Anakin climbed into the pilot's seat of the thin, Y-shaped vessel. He shook his head as he pulled on his flight helmet. "I said we were going to want a faster ship to get out of here," he said.

Obi-Wan strapped himself into the gunner's seat. "It was a good disguise," he replied, "They'll never think we're worth checking on. An old Y-Wing cargo hauler? Not a chance. They'd be expecting something fast."

Suddenly the ship was blasted by a blinding spotlight; overhead, a police hovercraft circled, its loudspeaker blaring unintelligible ultimatums at them as their engines warmed up.

Obi-Wan pulled the cockpit closed. "Although," he admitted, "It's possible that you might have been right in this particular instance..."

Anakin smiled grimly as he pulled the throttle back, his landing gear snapping off as they dragged on the ground, trees splintering against the cockpit and the ship's chassis. Looking back, Anakin saw Obi-Wan's knuckles whiten as he clutched the sides of the cockpit. Laughing, Anakin faced forward and pulled up, rolling to dislodge any debris from the forest. "I need you to man the rear gun," he told Obi-Wan, and he saw the gunner's station turn green on his display.

His sensors had booted up, and he could watch the colored markers of the pursuing ships. He felt the low thud of the rear turbolaser turret firing, watched one of the enemy vessels' markers vanish. "Good shooting, old man," he said over his shoulder.

Obi-Wan didn't respond except to take aim and destroy another Hegemony police ship.

Anakin focused on the space ahead of them – a dozen warships were closing in on their exit vector, and Anakin again cursed the heavy, sluggish Y-Wing. Suddenly something disturbed him – he could feel the minds aboard the incoming ships, and they seemed strange; not the confusion of local authorities responding to a sudden explosion of activity, but the purposeful, driven minds of a military pursuing an objective. He risked an active scan, and it confirmed his suspicions. "Damn," he muttered, then turned again to Obi-Wan. "Those aren't Hegemony ships, those are Unity warships," he said.

Obi-Wan swore under his breath. "Can you get us out of here? Because we'll have a better chance returning to the planet and surrendering directly to the Hegemony if you can't. We might be able to negotiate some kind of-"

"I can make it!" Anakin snapped. "Sorry," he said, shaking his head, "Don't worry about it old man. We'll be out of here in no time."

Obi-Wan fired a few times at their pursuers, to no effect. "Forgive me for thinking we aren't going to just breeze past a Coalition fleet. I'll give you this, you were damn right about this ship. We'd be better off if we walked past these bastards."

Anakin's console blared a missile lock alarm, a red light and a piercing sound. He reached out with his mind and felt the position of each missile, their cold mechanical nature against the lifeless void of space, each a chunk of metal and explosive carrying the shadows of a dozen people – the toil of the laborers who created them, the intent of the pilots who fired them, and the faintest hint of those who had handled and loaded them. Through the Force, Anakin could feel their position and trajectory with greater precision than any computer. He rolled and spun, looping around back toward the planet.

"Wrong way!" Obi-Wan shouted, firing wildly at nothing in his frustration.

Anakin smirked to himself and felt ahead with the Force. He flew straight through the enemy formation, the wingtips of his Y-Wing nearly touching the pursuing ships. The missiles that were following shut down as their friend-or-foe systems detected their proximity to the very ships which fired them, but enough still impacted; even disarmed, their momentum tore through the Hegemony ships. Flipping end-over-end, Anakin resumed his burn toward the edge of the planet's gravity well, where the hyperdrive could safely engage, leaving the expanding debris cloud of his former pursuers behind him.

The Coalition warships had arrayed themselves in a standard interdiction pattern – Anakin's ship was too slow to maneuver around the small flotilla. Anakin surveyed his options, extending his awareness through the Force.

Obi-Wan had turned around in his seat to peer out the cockpit toward the distant blockade. Anakin could sense his feelings of helplessness. He began blocking out the presence of the older Jedi, but then slowed the ship, thoughtful.

Obi-Wan's alarm was palpable. "Why are we slowing down?" he demanded. "If we're going to accelerate past them, we'll need to stay at full speed."

Anakin shook his head. "We can't accelerate past them," he said, "There's no time. We're trying to solve this problem separately, when instead we should be working together. I can't fly us past this, and you can't trick us past it, but maybe we can do both?"

Obi-Wan seemed to consider this for a moment. "Alright, " he said, "You're probably right. Let me think..." He paused, and Anakin slowed the ship further. "Well," Obi-Wan ventured after a moment, "We're far enough from the planet that the Hegemony's next wave of ships will take a while to reach us. That blockade is waiting for us to come into range. What if we don't?"

"They'll get impatient and launch fighters," Anakin said. "Does that help us? They'll overwhelm me with numbers eventually. I'm good, but I'm not that good."

Obi-Wan tapped his fingers on the cockpit. "But they won't send large numbers," he said, frowning in thought. "Any alliance or agreement they have with the Hegemony is very new, and there's a long history of distrust there. If the Coalition wants to maintain it, they can't look like they're attacking – the orbital patrol will be on a hair-trigger, waiting for betrayal."

Anakin shrugged. "But even then, it doesn't let us get out of here. I can blow up a squadron at a time, but I still can't move fast enough to get around those damn ships. It's a pair of frigates and four corvettes, nothing slow enough to maneuver past in this bucket."

Obi-Wan stopped tapping. "But we can go through them. Unity ships won't fire on their own fighters, will they?"

Anakin laughed bitterly. "Probably not at first, but if they get too annoyed, they might risk it. Two Jedi are quite the prize."

Obi-Wan's voice grew more excited. "But I can fool them. Not completely, but probably enough. I can make them think we are one of their fighters, and the confusion might just keep us alive."

"So probably enough is the best we're gonna get out of this, I take it?" he asked, throttling up to full power again, but moving laterally, to force the flotilla to follow.

Obi-Wan tapped his shoulder in excitement and encouragement. "Well, no-one will be around to blame us if we fail," he said, strapping himself back into the gunner's seat.

The first wing of fighters had been deployed and was heading in their direction. "Their lack of patience, will be their downfall," he said, mimicking Master Yoda's cadence and high-pitched, gravelly voice.

Obi-Wan laughed. "And absolute dumb luck will be our salvation," he said.

Anakin grinned and pulled up, heading toward the incoming fighters. He could feel Obi-Wan's trickery clouding their minds – not enough to eliminate the danger, but enough to cause hesitation. As the enemy pilots sighted in on Anakin's ship, they were suddenly unsure. They wondered if they had chosen the correct target. When that wasn't enough, Obi-Wan resorted to simpler tricks – bouts of self-doubt, memories of old lovers or past traumas. All these things plagued their enemies' minds as Anakin dragged the aging bomber-turned-cargo-hauler through maneuvers that threatened to tear it to pieces. He fired his forward weapons sparingly; they were never going to win through combat.

The Coalition fighters were brand new, state-of-the-art X-Wings, the latest word in configurable, multi-role one-person spacecraft. But this, too Obi-Wan turned to their advantage – many of the more experienced pilots, those who easily shook off his attempts to instill doubts as to their target, were nevertheless unsure of these new, untested fighters. They hesitated for fractions of seconds as they reached for their targeting controls, wondering if it was the right control, or if they had seen an unfamiliar warning light.

Anakin had put the Y-Wing into a barely-controlled spin, firing occasionally to add to the chaos. A second wing of fighters had joined, further compounding the opportunities for confusion. Carefully maintaining the appearance of a harmless, undirected tumble, he had managed to bring the entire affair onto the doorstep of the nearest warship, one of the limber corvettes which had struck out farthest in order to block his escape.

The fighters had lost only a few, mostly to friendly fire, but their confusion had turned into panic. They were now realizing that they could no longer trust their own senses, and the legendary status of the Jedi was having its desired effect, turning panic into near-terror.

Anakin reached out into the corvette's bridge and tried to find the communications officer. He felt his own ship take a hit, felt Obi-Wan's sudden distraction. But he remained focused, and found the officer in question, a young Duros. With all the subtlety he could muster, Anakin tried to emulate Obi-Wan's technique, and after an excruciating heartbeat, realized that he had succeeded – the comm officer had, without thinking, reached for his mic and unknowingly moved the frequency setting for the ship-to-ship comms.

Returning to the situation at hand, he righted the Y-Wing and headed toward the corvette at full thrust. "What just happened?" Obi-Wan asked. "Things just got much easier."

Anakin could sense it, too. The sudden failure of communications with their parent vessel had pushed the squadron leaders to their wits' end. One had the good sense to withdraw, arguing – quite correctly – that the corvette's guns would make short work of the Y-Wing.

But Obi-Wan was there, in the mind of the second squadron leader, a gentle whisper of pride and resentment. This was his mission, the commander thought, and no coward was going to convince him to give it up.

The corvette was unable to issue the order to withdraw, but its gunners were waiting for that order before they would fire – again, confusion and chaos were their allies.

But another hit landed on the Y-Wing, and Anakin knew they could only take so much before a lucky shot pierced the cockpit or took out an engine – or worse, destroyed the hyperdrive. "We need to wrap this up, old man," he said, his voice growing frantic.

Obi-Wan had already devised a plan. "Anakin I need you to fly into the Corvette's hangar bay."

Anakin laughed sarcastically. "Through the shielded door?" he asked, but changed course anyway.

Obi-Wan had abandoned the gun to once again peer over Anakin's shoulder. "The shield is down so they can fire their turrets," he said. "The hangar on a Unity corvette usually goes through the whole ship. We can go in one side and then out the other. All I need to do..."

Anakin felt Obi-Wan's concentration drift outward, and realized what his intent was. "You're going to flip the damn switch from out here? It's probably about the size of a damn 10-credit coin!"

But he could feel Obi-Wan's presence, feel that rather than moving as a pinpoint, the Trickster had instead become a cloud, encompassing the entire bay. "If you'd ever studied under Master Yoda, you'd know that size..." Obi-Wan paused as he found the switch and focused his widespread awareness into a single point, pressing against the tiny switch. "...doesn't matter," he finished, snapping his fingers in success as the door began to open.

The technicians in the hangar threw themselves to the deck as the Y-Wing hurtled into the bay, rotated ninety degrees to fit through the narrow door gap. Someone had the presence of mind to close the door almost immediately – preventing the Coalition fighters from following. The door on the opposite side was nearly impregnable – from the outside. A single proton torpedo blew it outward, but instead of flying through, Anakin fired full reverse thrusters, bringing the old bomber nearly to a stop.

Obi-Wan's hands tightened on the back of Anakin's seat. "What are you doing?" he asked, forcing his voice to be steady and casual despite his rising panic.

Anakin grinned. "If we fly out that side, the guns will kill us in a microsecond. Let's give them a little surprise, instead..."

Obi-Wan looked down at the controls and saw what Anakin had done. "Anakin," he said, hurriedly turning back around and strapping himself in, "If we live through this, I'm going to-"

Anakin drowned him out with a loud whoop as he opened the throttle back up, rocketing through the hole and back out into space. The gunners on the other side had been waiting, and were not quite ready the instant their quarry finally came into their crosshairs. Trained professionals, they sighted in quickly, but they were already too late.

The hyperdrive on the Y-Wing had been charging since Anakin had entered the hangar bay. The charging sequence was irreversible; as soon as it had begun, the ship had been locked into its jump cycle, an instantly fatal proposition from within the hangar itself. With perfect timing, Anakin exited just as the jump completed. Wreathed in blue discharge, barely clear of the corvette, the battered Y-Wing vanished in a flash, as the space where it had been filled with futile turbolaser fire.

Anakin and Obi-Wan roared in laughter as they tunneled through the swirling maelstrom of hyperspace, finally safe. Obi-Wan made a token obscene gesture backward toward the now light-years distant corvette, then turned again to Anakin and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Anakin," he said, "I think I've come up with the perfect name for you when we get back..."