The False Peace

  Star Wars

  Jedi Quest

  Book 9

  The False Peace

  by Jude Watson

  source: IRC

  uploaded: 09.I.2006

  CHAPTER ONE

  He had chased after one man for years. He had found him. He had fought

  him. He had lost him and found him again. Each time, he had vowed that this

  encounter would be their last.

  This time was no different. Obi-Wan Kenobi wanted a showdown with

  Granta Omega. Once and for all, he wanted to put a stop to a criminal he

  knew was dedicated to bringing down the Jedi Order. Deep in his heart, he

  knew the showdown was near.

  But he also suspected that, like the others, it would not come in a

  manner of his own choosing.

  Obi-Wan strode through the busy streets of the capital city of

  Falleen, Anakin Skywalker by his side. Siri Tachi and her apprentice, Ferus

  Olin, were only a step behind. They had landed on the planet only the day

  before. Obi-Wan was grateful to his friend Siri. She had pledged to help

  him bring Omega to justice, and so far she had traveled halfway around the

  galaxy, fought an army, and worn a dress in order to do it.

  Now he felt responsible for her impatience. Siri believed that

  problems were solved by vivid action. If there was one thing she avoided,

  it was uncertainty.

  Obi-Wan wasn't crazy about it, either. They couldn't pinpoint Omega's

  location. Instead, they had to randomly search for clues to his

  whereabouts. They knew he was on Falleen. But they did not know where, or

  why.

  He wished he did not have the feeling that Omega was always one step

  ahead. He wished that in his mind, the same scenario did not constantly

  revolve: He would burst into an empty room just in time to see a transport

  take off. Omega would have escaped again.

  Obi-Wan glanced at his apprentice. He knew Anakin had no such doubts.

  Anakin did not consider the possibility of failure. He was not haunted by

  his defeats.

  Other things haunted his Padawan. Things too deep for Anakin to share

  at one time.

  Yet they worked so perfectly together now. Thoughts and feelings were

  shared, sometimes without speaking. There were times when Obi-Wan thought

  that the shadow he sensed within Anakin was gone. That the struggle to

  accept his role as the Chosen One had been conquered. That Anakin was at

  ease with where he was, and the gifts that had been given him. Obi-Wan

  hoped that was the case. Anakin had shared his feelings with his Master -

  and the release had changed him.

  The Jedi moved carefully through the streets, staying in the middle of

  the crowds. They were dressed as space travelers, and they were careful not

  to attract attention. The walkways of the city were filled with beings from

  many worlds. The city was built on three levels, and every caf©, hostel,

  and multi-residence was packed.

  Factories on Falleen were booming, and more were being built every

  day. In a quick survey, the Jedi had learned that most of the factories

  manufactured weapons. Jobs and opportunities were plentiful. Visitors from

  star systems all over the galaxy flocked to the small planet to make their

  fortunes.

  But if the booming capital city made it easy for the Jedi to hide, it

  also made it easy for Granta Omega to conceal his activities. They had

  learned on the planet Romin that Omega was in league with the criminal

  scientist Jenna Zan Arbor. She had developed a secret drug, called the Zone

  of Self-Containment, which could make beings feel blissfully, if

  dangerously, content, leading them to forget their cares, or any need for

  taking action. They knew that she had not yet learned how to transmit the

  Zone to more than a few individuals at a time. Anakin himself had been

  under its influence for a short while.

  The two criminals, along with the former dictator of Romin, Roy Teda,

  had plans to pull off a major criminal operation. The Jedi suspected they

  planned to use the Zone to do it. Zan Arbor had enlisted the help of a

  criminal gang, the Slams, to help them.

  The Jedi knew that much. But that wasn't enough.

  They had followed Zan Arbor and Teda here, but Omega had managed to

  hide them well. So far they had kept a low profile and traveled through the

  streets and caf©s, attempting to pick up some word about the criminals'

  whereabouts. There was plenty of talk swirling about the best factories to

  work in, and who was hiring. Obi-Wan had contacted the Jedi Temple with the

  names of various corporations that owned factories on Falleen, but it would

  take some time before they could discover if any had ties to Omega. Weapons

  merchants often hid ownership of companies behind other companies, so that

  it was hard to trace who exactly owned what.

  Which is exactly what Omega counts on, Obi-Wan thought.

  "I've never seen this much security on a peaceful planet," Anakin

  remarked, adjusting his hood as he walked.

  It was true. Surveillance droids were everywhere. "They aren't all

  official security droids," Obi-Wan observed. He had studied the various

  droids over the past few hours, cataloging them in his mind. "As a matter

  of fact, most of them seem to be private droids. And they're armed."

  "Omega?" Siri asked. Her blue eyes were keen. "Looking for us,

  perhaps."

  "Just as we are looking for him," Ferus Olin said. "So we're even."

  "Any ideas, Master?" Anakin asked him in a low tone. They had been

  walking through the streets for some time.

  "That new factory we've heard of - Blackwater Systems," Obi-Wan said.

  "Let's head there. It was built quickly and already has a bad reputation

  among the Falleens. There are rumors that bribes were paid to the

  government to keep away inspectors."

  The factories were built just beyond the outskirts of the city. The

  Jedi hopped aboard a cloud bus to take them, blending in with the other

  passengers. They exited at the last stop.

  Here the three grand pedestrian levels were narrow and squashed

  together, one on top of the other, so that a tall species would have

  trouble on the lower ones. Large factory complexes were built on ground

  level and rose into the sky. They knew that at night the factories belched

  their toxins into the sky. The Falleens called this area the Yellow

  District because a constant haze of that color hung in the sky.

  The Jedi were now alone here on upper walkway, underneath the yellow

  sky. This was not an area anyone would stroll in, and it was in the middle

  of a factory shift, so the workers were inside. The Blackwater Factory was

  at the end of the long line, more than two kilometers from the last cloud-

  bus stop. It was colder here. The wind howled off the vast plains outside

  the city and carried a special bite, tasting of the vast ice sheets from

  the distant mountains.

  The Blackwater Factory rose in their vision as they approac
hed. It was

  windowless and completely fashioned from black durasteel and stone. One

  main building hulked on the site, with a wing flung out from one side like

  a useless arm.

  As he drew his cloak around him, Obi-Wan suddenly tensed. He saw one

  surveillance droid zoom into his line of vision. Another followed. These

  did not seem to be moving aimlessly. The Force surged to warn him.

  "We're being tracked," he said to the others. "Move normally. Could be

  routine."

  "Up ahead," Siri remarked, casually swinging her arms as she walked.

  Ahead, a narrow alley led diagonally off the main walkway, running

  along the side of the main building. As they passed they darted inside and

  began to run. The droids would have to double back, and those few seconds

  could make a difference. The Jedi turned a corner, then another. They could

  sense rather than see that the droids were still in pursuit, but hadn't

  been able to get a fix on them. The alley was narrow and twisted around,

  connecting the factory to various smaller outbuildings.

  "What now?" Ferus asked. His voice was steady, even though he was

  running hard. Siri's Padawan did not have Anakin's great Force connection,

  but he made up for it with excellent physical training and a keen mind.

  Anakin's head cocked. "I hear something. This way."

  Following Anakin now, they ran through the maze. They passed gravsleds

  and durasteel bins marked as waste. They didn't see any tiny creatures or

  birds here. No living thing would linger in this place if it didn't have

  to.

  Their race ended at a tall stone wall. Anakin stopped. Now the others

  could hear what he had detected so many twists and turns before. A crowd

  was on the other side of the wall.

  The Jedi activated their cable launchers. Quickly they scaled the

  wall. The crowd was just ahead, focusing on a female Falleen who was

  speaking. Her voice rolled over the crowd.

  They jumped down and quickly moved into the crowd for concealment. The

  two teams had doubled back during their run and were now standing outside

  the main gate of the factory. The Falleen female stood, hanging on to the

  gate with one hand to keep herself above the crowd while she spoke into a

  voice amplifier headset. She was tall for the species, with the distinctive

  gray-green color to her scales.

  "... and we ask them, what are the wastes you produce, and what is

  your disposal system? And they tell us - "

  "NOTHING," the crowd shouted.

  "And we ask them, what is the nature of the experiments you are

  conducting in your secret wing? And they tell us - "

  "NOTHING!"

  "And we ask them, what about the four workers over the past three

  months who have died without any reports being filed? And they tell us - "

  "NOTHING!"

  "And we ask them, when you have your products and your profits, what

  will you do for the citizens of Falleen? And we know the answer, don't we?"

  "NOTHING!" The crowd screamed the word.

  "And will we do nothing, or will we demand what is our right to demand

  - a full accounting of what is made here?" the female Falleen shouted. "If

  our leaders will not make them obey our laws, we must! Are you with me?"

  "YES!" the crowd shouted.

  "Are you willing?"

  "YES!"

  "Are you ready to go in and find what we need?" "YES!"

  "Then come on!"

  A small explosive charge went off. The Falleen female leaped to the

  ground. At first Obi-Wan thought she'd been hurt, but then it was obvious

  that she or one of her cohorts had set it off, for the gates swung open.

  With a cry, the crowd surged forward.

  "We shouldn't be in the middle of this," Ferus said. Anakin looked

  fascinated.

  It didn't matter if they should be there; they were caught. The crowd

  was ahead of them and behind them now. As it moved, they moved with it. And

  then ahead, Obi-Wan saw black objects fly out from the factory.

  "Attack droids," he shouted. "Take cover!"

  The crowd panicked and moved backward like one great breaking wave.

  Then they turned and ran, back toward the walkways. The Jedi fought their

  way through the crowd, moving against them, toward the droids.

  Obi-Wan watched the Falleen female. As soon as the droids had come,

  she had dropped from the gate. Instead of fleeing with the others, she ran

  along the outside of the gate. He knew she was heading toward the alleys.

  He saw her make a turn. In that direction, she would run straight into a

  wall.

  Two of the droids peeled off and followed her. "Anakin!" Obi-Wan

  called. "Let's go."

  CHAPTER TWO

  Anakin had seen the same thing as his Master, and he read Obi-Wan's

  intention before it was fully formed. They needed to talk to the Falleen.

  Anakin looked around quickly. There was no one in sight, and no danger of

  blowing their cover.

  He charged toward the droids, leaping and slashing, his lightsaber

  moving so fast that it was back in his belt before he hit the ground. The

  two droids lay in smoking ruin.

  Grinning, Obi-Wan kept pace with him. "Nice work." "Don't mention it."

  Siri and Ferus joined them. Racing now, the four Jedi turned a corner

  and saw the female Falleen futilely trying to scale the wall. She whirled

  and tensed when she heard their footsteps.

  "We're not with Blackwater," Obi-Wan said quickly. "We were in the

  crowd."

  She nodded. "I'm afraid we're trapped."

  "The droids tracking you crashed into each other," Siri told her.

  "They're destroyed."

  "There will be others," the Falleen said. "The factory owners have my

  vitals. They can track me. If I were you, I wouldn't stick with me. I'm

  afraid my back is literally to the wall."

  Anakin admired her bravery. She spoke coolly, but he could feel that

  inside she was terrified.

  "The wall," Obi-Wan said, "is not a problem."

  He strode forward and attached one end of his cable launcher to the

  Falleen's utility belt. "Always be prepared," he said. His tone was light,

  and Anakin knew he was trying to reassure her.

  The Jedi moved forward. In a few seconds, they had activated their

  launchers and swung up and over the wall, Obi-Wan keeping the Falleen

  steady as they climbed. They dropped down on the other side.

  The Falleen looked around. "I know a back way to the cloud-bus stop

  from here," she said. "I'm Mazara, by the way."

  She gazed at them curiously.

  "We arrived on Falleen recently," Siri said. "Looking for jobs."

  "We'd better hurry," Obi-Wan said. "It won't take them long to look

  further."

  Mazara took them on a different path through the maze of alleys that

  ran behind the factories. They had to scale the locked gates between the

  properties, but they saw no new evidence of tracking droids.

  Mazara waved at the surrounding plains as she walked. "This is why

  Falleen is so ideal for them," she told them. "There is plenty of land

  outside our city. Transports can land and take off without being logged in.

  Waste can be dumped or offloaded onto orbiting platforms." Her voice w
as

  full of disgust. "Not to mention that as Falleen, we don't like to raise

  our voices. The population is growing distressed with the situation, but no

  one says anything. It is not 'appropriate, - she said, giving a wry twist

  to the word. "Believe me, I'm not an activist. I was a journalist, before I

  got fired for writing an article on Blackwater. Both our land and our skies

  are becoming dumping grounds. I've seen it happen to other worlds. I can't

  watch it happen to my homeworld."

  "Why did you target Blackwater Systems?" Obi-Wan asked.

  "They are the worst offenders," Mazara answered. "The factory was

  built quickly, with little regard for basic safety practices. Enormous

  bribes were paid to inspectors to overlook violations that are part of the

  laws of Falleen. There have been several deaths at the facility and each

  time an investigation is done the result is the same - the worker was at

  fault."

  "Do you know who the owners are?"

  Mazara sighed. "It is the usual game of company behind company. But

  this muddle seems murkier than most. I've been investigating almost since

  they arrived, and I don't have any answers. What I do know is that their

  security is extraordinary. Those attack droids are programmed to shoot

  blaster fire. Not to stun, to kill."