Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Read online

  The wild ride continued. The droid knocked against walls, trying to scrape Obi-Wan off; swooped low over a roof; pulled into the hot exhaust stream of a speeder. Obi-Wan hung on. If he didn’t capture the droid, they would have no clue to the assassin—and he didn’t want to think about what Padmé and Anakin might come up with next time, if using her as bait failed!

  The droid dropped toward an alcove in the side of a building, still high above the ground. Peering over its top, Obi-Wan saw a beat-up yellow airspeeder and a muffled figure in brown waiting in the alcove. The figure saw the approaching droid and pulled out a laser rifle. “I have a bad feeling about this,” Obi-Wan muttered. A moment later, explosions burst all around the him. If I could just use my lightsaber…But he couldn’t reach his weapon without letting go of the droid, and the minute he did that, the droid would find a way to throw him off. All he could do was hope that the assassin had very bad aim.

  The assassin didn’t. A shot hit the droid dead on. The explosion threw Obi-Wan up in the air—Oh, great, he thought hazily, now I have farther to fall—and away from the building, with nothing between him and the ground far below.

  Half stunned, Obi-Wan saw a speeder approaching as he fell. He grabbed for it and barely caught the back end. As he hauled himself up to relative safety, he realized that the pilot was his apprentice. “That was wacky!” Anakin said cheerfully as Obi-Wan reached the passenger seat and collapsed into it. “I almost lost you in the traffic.”

  Obi-Wan could sense the depth of the relief that Anakin wouldn’t speak aloud. “What took you so long?” he said, knowing that Anakin would understand his unspoken thank-you in the same way.

  “Oh, you know, Master, I couldn’t find a speeder I really liked,” Anakin said. “With an open cockpit, and the right speed capabilities…and then you know I had to get a really gonzo color…” As he spoke, he pulled the speeder into a steep climb, following the scruffy flyer who had been firing at Obi-Wan.

  “If you’d spend as much time working on your saber skills as you do on your wit, young Padawan, you would rival Master Yoda as a swordsman,” Obi-Wan told him.

  “I thought I already did,” Anakin said, grinning.

  “Only in your mind, my very young apprentice…Careful!” Obi-Wan clutched at the side of the speeder as Anakin dodged rapidly in and out of the traffic. Shots flew past; the assassin was firing at them. “Hey, easy!”

  “Sorry,” Anakin said, whipping past a large commuter vehicle with almost no room to spare. “I forgot you don’t like flying, Master.”

  “I don’t mind flying,” Obi-Wan said, “but what you’re doing is suicide.”

  “I’ve been flying since before I could walk,” Anakin said confidently, skimming by a commuter train almost close enough to scrape paint off the side of the speeder. “I’m very good at this.”

  It only takes one mistake. “Just slow down!”

  Anakin paid no attention. The assassin tried to lose them in a convoy of huge freight vehicles, then zipped through several sharp turns into impossibly narrow spaces between buildings. Anakin followed every move.

  “There he goes!” Obi-Wan said, pointing as the yellow speeder dove out of the traffic lane and around a corner. Then, as Anakin followed, Obi-Wan realized where the assassin was heading—straight into a tram tunnel. “Wait! Don’t go in there!”

  “Don’t worry, Master,” Anakin said soothingly…and sent the speeder into the tunnel right after the assassin.

  He sounds as if he’s humoring me, Obi-Wan thought. But this is—oh, no! The light just ahead wasn’t the end of the tunnel; it was one of the giant passenger trams heading straight for them.

  Barely in time, Anakin and the assassin whipped their speeders around and headed back the way they had come. They made it out of the tunnel just ahead of the high-speed tram. Obi-Wan let out a breath he had not realized he had been holding. “You know I don’t like it when you do that,” he commented.

  “Sorry, Master,” Anakin said unrepentantly. “Don’t worry. This guy’s going to kill himself any minute now.”

  Someone is going to get killed, Obi-Wan thought as the wild ride continued. I hope it isn’t us.…

  They rounded a corner, past a row of banners waving in the wind, and the near wing clipped one of the flags. The speeder lurched as the flag draped over its front end. “That was too close,” Obi-Wan said.

  “Clear that!” Anakin snapped.

  “What?” For a moment, Obi-Wan did not understand; then he realized that the flag was blocking one of the air scoops. Without air, their engine was strangling. He leaned out of the speeder, but the flag was too far away to reach.

  “Clear the flag!” Anakin struggled with the controls, scowling fiercely. “We’re losing power! Hurry!”

  There was only one thing to do. Obi-Wan crawled out onto the engine until he could reach the flag. He pulled it free—and the speeder lurched forward, regaining all the speed it had lost. The jerk almost made Obi-Wan lose his grip; he slid backward more than a meter before he caught himself.

  “I don’t like it when you do that,” he complained as he crawled back into his seat.

  “So sorry, Master,” Anakin said, and this time Obi-Wan thought he really did mean it, at least a little. But only a little.

  The incident with the flag had cost them time—the assassin’s speeder was well ahead of them now. Anakin played his controls like a musician, narrowing the gap once more. He was flying Podracers when he was barely a boy, Obi-Wan thought, and shook his head. He reminded himself of that every time they got into one of these chases, and it never made him feel any better…because it also reminded him that Anakin had crashed every Podracer he had flown, except the last. It’s a wonder he survived.…What? Wait a minute!

  The assassin was heading straight for a power refinery. “It’s dangerous near those power couplings!” Obi-Wan warned. “Don’t go through there!”

  But Anakin dove after the other speeder. The presence of the two vehicles triggered giant electric arcs; Obi-Wan’s skin tingled with the nearness of their passage. “What are you doing?”

  “Sorry, Master!”

  Anakin sounded a little harried. Obi-Wan clamped his mouth shut over any further comments until they were out of the refinery. Then he said sarcastically, “Oh, that was good!”

  “That was crazy,” Anakin said flatly. His eyes were still fixed on the speeder ahead of them.

  “I’m glad you agree” was on the tip of Obi-Wan’s tongue. Then the other speeder twisted sideways and stopped in the mouth of an alley, firing at them point-blank.

  “Stop!” Obi-Wan yelled. If they kept on this course, they would crash right into the other speeder—no, maybe not. There was an impossibly small gap just under the assassin’s vehicle, and Anakin was aiming for it.

  “We can make it,” Anakin said, and the next minute they were under the assassin’s ship. They made it through the gap, but hit a pipe on the other side and spun wildly. Anakin struggled to regain control. Obi-Wan saw a construction crane swing by, and a pair of supporting struts. He felt a jolt as the speeder brushed against something, and a giant gas ball enveloped them. The speeder spun, bumped against a building, and stalled.

  Why do I always let him drive? “I’m crazy,” Obi-Wan muttered, dropping his head onto his hands. “I’m crazy.”

  “I got us through that one all right,” Anakin said in a satisfied tone.

  Obi-Wan raised his head angrily. “No, you didn’t! We’ve stalled. And you almost got us killed!”

  “Oh, I think we’re still alive,” Anakin said absently as he fiddled with the controls. The engine coughed, then roared back to life, and he smiled.

  The smile made Obi-Wan furious. Anakin wasn’t even listening. “It was stupid!” he said.

  His tone finally seemed to get through to his apprentice. Anakin blinked, then hung his head. “I could have caught him.…”

  “But you didn’t!” Obi-Wan glared at An
akin. “And now we’ve lost him for good!”

  Suddenly an explosion rocked the speeder. Obi-Wan ducked, hearing the unmistakable pzing of laser bolts striking nearby.

  “No, we haven’t,” Anakin said, and Obi-Wan felt the speeder lean sideways as Anakin tried to get them out of the ambush.

  Through the smoke and flames, Anakin saw their quarry take off into the night traffic. He sent the speeder roaring after it, but with less enthusiasm than before. This chase was getting them nowhere. The yellow speeder pulled down and left, and disappeared between two buildings. Anakin smiled and pulled away to the right. He had an idea. Now, if he just goes where I think…

  “Where are you going?” Obi-Wan demanded. “He went down there, the other way.”

  His Master was still angry about the stall. Anakin sighed. “Master, if we keep this chase going, that creep is going to end up deep-fried. Personally, I’d very much like to find out who he is and who he’s working for. This is a shortcut.” He paused, then added honestly, “I think.”

  “What do you mean, you think?” Obi-Wan paused, waiting. When Anakin didn’t react to his sarcasm, he repeated, “Well, you lost him.”

  Anakin brought the speeder to a halt, hovering halfway up between two giant buildings. “I’m deeply sorry, Master,” he said absently. Trying to explain now would just mean more argument; there wasn’t time. Obi-Wan would understand when…He saw the movement he had been waiting for, and began counting to himself.

  “Some shortcut,” Obi-Wan muttered. “He went completely the other way. Anakin—”

  “Excuse me for a moment,” Anakin interrupted, and jumped out of the speeder and into the air.

  He had timed it perfectly; their scruffy quarry was several stories below, and Anakin landed on the roof of the yellow speeder. Before he could find a handhold, the pilot gunned the engines and Anakin nearly slid off. Then, as he clawed his way forward, the assassin brought the vehicle to an abrupt stop. Anakin flew forward. He grabbed one of the front forks of the speeder just in time. The assassin started firing at him.

  Anakin dodged the first few bolts, then found a position that shielded him from the attack. The assassin took off again. A quick glance upward told Anakin that Obi-Wan had taken over the controls of the other speeder and was gaining on them. Good; this guy has two things to worry about now.

  Slowly, Anakin worked his way back to the roof of the speeder. Pulling out his lightsaber, he began melting his way inside. A shot from inside the speeder knocked the lightsaber out of his hand. I bet I hear about that from Master Obi-Wan, Anakin thought gloomily, ducking another shot as the lightsaber fell away below them. But first I have to get that blaster away from this guy. The hole he’d started melting in the roof wasn’t large enough to climb through, but there was plenty of room for his arm. He shoved his hand into the cockpit and snatched at the pistol, using the Force to help.

  The assassin jerked, startled, and looked up. For just an instant, a woman’s eyes stared at Anakin. Hey, that guy isn’t a guy! They sent a woman to assassinate Padmé! Anakin reached out with the Force to confirm his observation, and felt an unusual quiver. She’s female, but she’s not as human as she looks. A shape-changer? Sure enough, the assassin changed again into Clawdite. Distracted, Anakin’s grip on the blaster slipped. The pistol went off, blowing a hole in the floor of the speeder.

  The speeder dove toward the street, out of control. All Anakin could do was hang on. At the last minute, the assassin pulled the nose up just enough to slide the speeder to a hard landing. Sparks showered everywhere, and people dodged out of the way. Anakin flew over the front of the speeder and landed in the street.

  That woman is nearly as good a pilot as I am, Anakin thought. He picked himself up in time to see the assassin jump out of the wrecked speeder and run up the street. He followed, shoving through a rapidly growing crowd of seedy-looking aliens and scruffy droids. Reminds me of Tatooine…

  Anakin was gaining steadily on the assassin now, but suddenly she ducked through the door of a nightclub, the Outlander. Panting slightly, Anakin reached the nightclub door just as another speeder came in for a much less spectacular landing. Obi-Wan climbed out, holding Anakin’s lightsaber. Uh-oh. I knew I was going to hear about that.

  “Anakin!” said Obi-Wan.

  “She went into that club, Master,” Anakin said, trying to distract him.

  “Patience,” Obi-Wan told him. “Use the Force, Anakin. Think.”

  “Sorry, Master,” Anakin said automatically. Think? He thought the assassin was getting away. Surely Obi-Wan could see—

  Obi-Wan sighed. “He went in there to hide, not run.”

  Oh. “Yes, Master,” Anakin said.

  Obi-Wan held out the lightsaber. “Here. Next time, try not to lose it.”

  That wasn’t so bad. Anakin nodded and reached for the weapon.

  Obi-Wan pulled it back. “A Jedi’s saber is his most precious possession.”

  “Yes, Master.” He wasn’t going to escape the lecture after all. He reached for the sword again, and Obi-Wan pulled it away once more.

  “He must keep it with him at all times,” Obi-Wan said.

  “I know, Master,” Anakin said.

  “This weapon is your life.”

  Anakin barely kept from rolling his eyes. “I’ve heard this lesson before.”

  “But you haven’t learned anything, Anakin.” Obi-Wan held the lightsaber out at last, and Anakin grabbed it before he could change his mind.

  “I try, Master.”

  Obi-Wan sighed and turned toward the nightclub. “Why do I think you are going to be the death of me?” he said almost absently.

  A chill ran down Anakin’s spine. “Don’t say that, Master!” he burst out, careless of the crowd who might overhear. Obi-Wan looked at him and lifted his eyebrows in a combination of question and reproof. Anakin swallowed and continued in a lower tone, “You’re the closest thing I have to a father. I love you. I don’t want to cause you pain.” I don’t want to lose you, the way I’ve lost my mother. Remembering his dreams, Anakin shivered. Would he start having nightmares about Obi-Wan, too?

  But Obi-Wan only looked at him and said mildly, “Then why don’t you listen to me?”

  “I am trying.”

  Obi-Wan nodded. He glanced out over the crowded room and said in the same, almost-lecturing tone, “Do you see him?”

  “I think he’s a she,” Anakin said. Rapidly, he scanned the crowd, but he did not see anyone who looked like their quarry. Remembering the strangeness he had sensed, he added, “And I think she’s a changeling.”

  “Then be extra careful,” Obi-Wan said. Anakin blinked in surprise, and his Master nodded gently toward the room. “Go and find her.”

  “But—but where are you going, Master?” Anakin said as Obi-Wan moved off into the crowd.

  “To get a drink,” Obi-Wan said over his shoulder.

  Anakin blinked again, then began working his way around the edge of the room. Beings of all sorts stared at him, then looked away; most were too large or too small, or had too many appendages, to be the assassin. Obi-Wan must be really worried, he thought with the corner of his mind that wasn’t hunting for the assassin. It wasn’t like his Master to leave Anakin to do the work, but perhaps…Anakin glanced back toward the bar and saw the assassin at last—standing right behind Obi-Wan with a blaster in one hand.

  Before Anakin could shout a warning, Obi-Wan whirled. His lightsaber hummed across the sudden silence, slicing through the assassin’s arm. Anakin headed toward the bar. He could sense the assassin’s pain and the growing anger of the beings around him, but his Master felt calm and centered, as always. He expected this to happen, Anakin thought indignantly. He set himself up as bait! Then he was at Obi-Wan’s side. The assassin lay in a heap at Obi-Wan’s feet. The assassin’s arm—and blaster—lay in a pool of blood a little to one side.

  “Easy,” Anakin told the crowd. “Official business. Go back to
your drinks.”

  Slowly, the bar patrons complied; apparently two lightsabers were more than any of them cared to face, especially with one person already in pieces. Obi-Wan snapped off his lightsaber; a moment later, Anakin did the same. Together, they carried the injured assassin outside.

  “Do you know who it was you were trying to kill?” Obi-Wan asked as he tended her shoulder.

  “The Senator from Naboo,” the assassin replied readily.

  “Who hired you?”

  The woman glared at Obi-Wan, and Anakin thought that she was not going to tell them anything more. Then she said, “It was just a job. And the next one won’t make the same mistake I did.”

  “Tell us!” Anakin demanded, pushing at her with the Force. “Tell us now!”

  “It was a bounty hunter called—” The woman twitched, gave one surprised blink, and died. Anakin heard a whoosh and looked up in time to see an armored figure wearing a jetpack fly up and around a building. A bounty hunter! Probably the one who had hired her. And there’s no way we can catch him; the speeder is out front, and he’ll be gone long before we could get to it.

  Obi-Wan leaned forward. His fingers brushed the assassin’s neck; then he held out a small, fat dart about as long as his finger for Anakin’s inspection.

  “Toxic dart,” he said unnecessarily.

  And we still don’t know who’s trying to kill Padmé, Anakin thought. This is not good.

  Obi-Wan hated making incomplete reports to the Jedi Council, but it was plainly necessary now. First thing next morning, they returned to the Jedi Temple to tell their story to the assembled Council members.

  The Jedi Council sat in a circle, to emphasize the equality of the members; nevertheless, everyone knew that Master Yoda and Master Windu were the first among them. When Obi-Wan finished speaking, there was a moment of silence; then everyone looked at Yoda. Yoda studied his fellow Council members briefly, as if he were collecting their votes without speaking. Then he said, “Track down this bounty hunter, you must, Obi-Wan.”