"Commendable your humility is, Padawan, " said Yoda, his fathomless eyes warm. "Asked to do more than you can do, you will not be. To the GAR barracks you should go now. A troop carrier to Indomitable soon will take you and Torrent Company. To Admiral Yularen you will listen, Padawan, until join you a Jedi Master does. "

Ahsoka nodded vigorously. "Yes, Master Yoda. Thank you, Master. I won't let you down. "

"Know that I do, Padawan. Dismissed, you are. "

So she was going to Lanteeb, to liberate the planet and thwart Lok Durd and rescue Skyguy and Master Ken.o.bi.

All in a day's work. Maybe a day-and-a-half.

She couldn't leave the Temple without bidding Taria a swift farewell. She found the Jedi Master in the arboretum, working through some meditation-in-movement exercises.

"Ahsoka, " said Taria, without opening her eyes. She was dressed in one of her customary dark bodysuits, and for once her long hair was unbraided, spreading in a bluish-green shimmer down her back. She stood poised on her left leg, the right pulled up behind her with both hands wrapped around her ankle, the flat of her foot resting softly against her head. Her breathing was deep and slow, no strain in her at all. "You're leaving. "

One of these days I'll he able to read the Force that easily. "Yes. For Lanteeb. "

Taria opened her eyes. A golden glow shone in their tawny depths. "Not alone, though. "

121.

"With a battle group. It's-it's not common knowledge, Taria. "

"In other words, " said Taria, grinning, "I should keep my mouth shut?" She released her right ankle, then bent herself in half, palms pressed flat to the gra.s.s. Her hair pooled and puddled before her like a summer lake. "Don't worry. I won't breathe a word. "

"I'm sorry to leave you with the team challenge unfinished. "

Taria wrapped her arms around her calves and pressed her hidden face to her knees. "No, you're not. You're going to rescue your Skyguy and Obi-Wan. You're thrilled, Ahsoka Tano. Don't try to deny it. "

Yes, she was thrilled. But she felt guilty too, because Taria cared as much as she did. "I wish you were coming, " she said. "They're sending a Master to join me. I don't know who. But I wish it was you. "

Supple as growing green tapi-wheat, Taria straightened. "So do I, Ahsoka. But my feet tread a different path. Co to Lanteeb. Pluck our friends from danger. And perhaps we'll continue our team challenges when you return. I want to give you the chance to draw even. "

When I return, Skyguy and I will be sent back to the war. And you'll still be stuck here.

But she didn't say that aloud. There wasn't any point.

"I'd like that very much, " she said. "Taria, I'm sorry, I have to go. Be well, won't you?"

"I'll do my best, " said Taria. "And you stay safe. "

"Always, " she said, and managed a small, trembling smile. "May the Force be with you, Master Damsin. "

"And with you, Padawan Tano. " Taria wiggled her fingers. "Now shoo. "

It hurt to leave her. In such a short time, Taria Damsin had become a good friend. But so was Anakin her friend, and right now he needed her.

"Little'un, " Rex greeted her, at the 501st's GAR complex barracks. "Word's come down. We're shipping out. Are you coming with us, or waving us good-bye?"

"I'm coming with, " she said, and gave the crowded mess hall a hard look. "What's the mood, Captain?"

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "You can't tell?"

"Ha-ha, " she muttered. "I'm comparing notes, all right?"

Side by side they took in the huge room, crowded with clones, the buzzing conversations, the undercurrent of excitement, trepidation, and endurance as they grabbed a quick meal. The 501st was ready. They were always ready.

Rex nodded, pleased with his men. "You got a destination for me?"

"Command didn't tell you?"

"No, " said Rex. "Word came down we're shipping out. That's all. Is it a secret mission?"

"Not exactly. But it's sensitive. Rex..." Ahsoka looked up at him. "This is for your ears only. We're going after Skyguy and Master Ken.o.bi. "

Rex's scarred face went very still, just one muscle leaping along his tightly held jaw. "Right. "

"They're in trouble. Rex. Trapped behind enemy lines. "

"Right, " he said again, that muscle still leaping. "This anything to do with what happened on Chandrila yesterday?"

He was a smart, smart man. "Everything, " she said, her voice nearly a whisper. "They were trying to stop that attack, but..."

"Best not say anything more, little'un, " Rex told her, his voice just as low. "But don't you worry. We won't be leaving them behind enemy lines. " He nodded at the crowded, noisy room. "The boys and me? We'll fight to the last man to get them home again. "

122.

His hand on her shoulder was warm and hard. Comforting. "Rex, the troop carrier's going to be here soon. Ten minutes- then they gear up. "

"Yes, ma'am, " he said, letting his hand drop away. "Ten minutes. Excuse me. "

She watched him cross to Sergeant Coric, who was sitting with Checkers and Dandy and Flash. Checkers turned, hearing Rex's approach, and nodded, seeing her. One finger touched his forehead in a small, genuine salute. She smiled at him and tried nor to dwell on his chin's fresh scar.

They're too easily hurt, all of them. And if this mission turns into a pitched battle, they won't all come home.

So she drank in their faces and their laughter, the jokes and the teasing and their wild, reckless courage. Because this could be the last time for some of them... and she never wanted to forget.

One by one, Yoda looked at the holoimages of his fellow Councilors. He'd never felt so alone in this place he loved, this Council Chamber that was a home within his larger home of the Jedi Temple. The war had swallowed his colleagues completely. At no other time in his memory had the Council been this scattered, its cohesiveness this endangered. It wasn't simply a question of companionship. In weighty matters the Council functioned best when its members shared the same s.p.a.ce, the same moment. When the Force could weave its way effortlessly among them and their separate strengths and talents combined to become something greater and more powerful than each of them alone. That was impossible when they were separated by light-years, represented only by a coalescence of shallow particles.

But even with those limitations, he knew that in this matter they felt with one heart.

"Then agreed we are, " he said. "Insist we must that leave Kothlis Mace Windu should to a.s.sist with freeing Lanteeb from Count Dooku. "

"Indeed, " said Ki-Adi-Mundi. "And I am at a loss to understand why Palpatine is so intransigent on the matter. Why will he not he guided by us in this? After Chandrila it is plain that Lanteeb has the higher priority. "

"So you would think, " he said. "But always a politician Palpatine is. "

"You're concerned he seeks to protect his own dignity and ent.i.tlements at the expense of innocent life?" said Adi Gallia from her ship in the depths of the Aostai region. "That doesn't seem like him, Yoda. "

"Concerned he is that Kothlis and Bothawui offended will be by our withdrawal of protection, " he said. "To Dooku he thinks they might turn if abandoned by us they consider themselves. "

"He's worrying for no reason, " Mace Windu said flatly. "Kothlis and Bothawui will never leave the Republic. Yoda, he's going to have to accept the Council's decision. I'll leave enough clones here to satisfy the Ruling Council's need for security. Tell Yularen that Dagger and I will rendezvous with him at the battle group's pre-approach coordinates. "

Soberly the other Councilors nodded their support, then disconnected from the holoconference. In the end only Mace remained, his image gently flickering.

"You're not happy about this, " he said. "Do you know something I don't?"

Yoda let his chin sink to his chest. "Usurped Palpatine will feel, when told of our decision he is. "

"That's too had, " said Mace, shrugging. "Palpatine's wrong. Durd's our greatest danger now. It's not enough for us to hope that Obi-Wan and young Skywalker can pull off a miracle on Lantech. They need our help-or Chandrila will only be the beginning. "

Yoda sighed. "This I know. But this also I know-a wedge between the Jedi and the Supreme Chancellor will this unfortunate business drive. "

"Politicians don't tell the Jedi what to do. Master Yoda. And smart politicians take our advice even if they don't always understand our reasons. That's how it's worked for a thousand years and for a thousand years it's worked just fine. " Mace snorted. "Palpatine should he more worried about offending us than Kothlis. We're the ones keeping the Republic together. "

And that was true, too, though he wouldn't phrase it quite that way to the Supreme Chancellor. "Go to see him now, I will. Contact me when approaching your rendezvous with the battle group you are. "

123.

"Shall do, " said Mace, and disconnected their link.

Filled with a weary unease, Yoda stared at the cityscape for a moment, then withdrew from the Council Chamber so he could make his preparations to meet with the Republic's Supreme Chancellor.

And may the Force be with me, for pleased by this news he will not he.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

The latest droid bombardment had started just after dawn, and nearly ten hours later it showed no sign of stopping.

Covered in hydraulic fluids and scattered singe marks, smeared with sweat and dirt and blood, Anakin stood before Torbel's laboring storm shield, raised his fists at Durd s relentless army and vented fear and fury in one long, soundless scream.

You stinking barves! You can keep on firing until Lanteeb's sun goes supernova! We are never going to let you in!

Panting, he turned away from the merciless machines and struggled to recover his precarious balance.

It was nearly five days since he'd had a decent stretch of sleep, or a full meal, or anything approaching enough water to drink. The village was on strict rationing, every single mouthful accounted for. Rikkard and Jaklin had even discussed the slaughter of their poultry and milk cows. It hadn't come to that yet, but it would if help didn't reach them soon. And there'd been no word from the Jedi Temple. No hint of any kind that this wasn't a battle they were fighting on their own.

Every time he looked up, it seemed, another shipment of ammunition was arriving for the droids to pour against Torbel's flimsy shield.

Since the start of the siege, their number had swelled from three hundred units to more than four hundred. There were no sentient soldiers in this army. Durd wasn't risking a single man. The barve didn't have to. He could sit in his compound and watch his a.s.sault via holoremote, surrounded by luxury, convinced the victory was already his.

Light-headed with weariness, Anakin shoved his microspanner back into his tool belt.

And maybe it is. Was I wrong to push us into this? Have I condemned every last one of us to a swift and brutal slaughter? Or will we die of starvation and sickness first?

He'd never felt so afraid in his life.

Every waking moment was spent slaving over the power plant and the storm-shield generators, checking and rechecking the shield's perimeter, patching and tinkering and pulling miracles out of thin air to keep the old and overworked equipment from disintegrating into smoking slag. His modifications had worked, but the price was ferocious. They were burning through the stockpiled liquid damot.i.te so quickly, burning through circuitry and wiring and stripped-out spare parts just as fast. And everyone was looking to him for the answers, expecting him to keep the miracle going.

I don't know how much longer I can keep on doing this.

The day was dying, the last of the light draining out of the sky. But that didn't matter. The constant barrage of plasma and blasterfire hitting the shield turned night to day. It was as bright here after sundown as it was on Coruscant.

The thought of home pierced his guts, a sharp shiv of memory. By now Padme had to know that he and Obi-Wan were trapped on this mess of a planet. Yoda would've told Bail Organa and Organa would certainly tell her-or she'd rip the news out of him. She had to be sick with terror for him. A couple of times he'd risked trying to feel her in the Force, tried to see where she was, how she was, but he was simply too tired. All his strength was being poured into keeping Torbel and its people alive. He had nothing left. Nothing to give her.

Oh, my dearest love. Can you forgive me for putting you through this? I'll make it up to you, I promise. When I come home.

Blat... blat.. boom... blat... boom... boom... boom...

The storm shield couldn't m.u.f.fle all the bombardment's noise. The constant dull impacts hammered at everyone trapped in the village, keeping headaches simmering just below the surface. Tempers were short, fights erupting at the least provocation. Rikkard and Jaklin 124 had confiscated every last weapon and anything that could be used as a weapon if it wasn't needed to keep them alive. Teeba Sufi didn't need any more casualties. She had enough on her plate, with the sick house full and the charter house turned into a second ward.

His jaw clenched tight, Anakin watched the blooms and blossoms of superheated blaster plasma drip down the storm shield. Surely the Seps had to run out of ammunition soon.

A crackle in his pocket, then Devi's faint voice sounded over his comlink. "Anakin? Do you copy?"

He pulled out the comlink and thumbed the transmit switch. "What's up?"

" Where are you? "

He was so tired he had to think about it. "I've just checked Generator Ten. Why?"

"I need help here. "

"Can't you ask Rikkard? I've still got..."

"Rikkard's dropped. He's greensick. I'm on my own and I've got a blocked fuel valve. I'II have a red needle in minutes. "

Stang. She sounded desperate. And if he lost Devi... "Fine, " he said, eyes closed, head pounding. "I'll be right there. " With a final look at the droids, he started back toward the plant. "Devi, can you comm Tarnik? Get him to check the other generators? They should be holding but..."

"I've tried. I can't raise him. "

"Then try again! Devi, the generators have to be kept under constant surveillance. If even one fails..."

"I know!" Devi shouted back. "I'll try. You just get here. Hurry!"

Shoving the comlink into his pocket he broke into a shuffling jog, which was the closest he could come to running right now. The light was fading faster, Lanteeb's sun lost behind the hills that stood between the village and the open country. If the droids would only stop firing, he'd he able to see the night sky's first, faint stars.

I don't care if I never see stars again as long as I live. Please, please, let that shield hold.

He jogged past the silenced mine and the burned-out hulk of the refinery, still stinking, past the groundcar graveyard and on to the plant. There he unstuck the blocked fuel valve, coaxed another eight valves into running a little more smoothly, answered a spate of questions from Tarnik, who'd been grumpily roused from sleep, helped Devi recalibrate the four main shield monitors, and then, last of all, double-checked the plant's fuel gauge for accuracy.

"So I'm not imagining things, " said Devi, seeing his dismay. "Our usage has gone up another two percent. "