Saga Fortune's Gate ... Brand new chapter posted 2/19/13!!

Chapter 14. (Untitled as yet) Part 1



It was silence that finally woke Obi-Wan ? a silence so profound that for a fleeting moment, he thought he had been buried alive. His eyelids felt glued shut. He smelled old, still air, minerals, a faint tinge of moisture. With effort he managed to raise a hand, then move his whole arm up and around to the side, where he encountered ... rock.

He must be underground. A cave of some kind. No wonder he had thought of graves.

His eyes cracked open to light, faint and warm. It wasn?t enough to penetrate the gloom high above, but it was light nonetheless. Turning toward it on the pillow (the linens smelled clean, that was something) he saw a small glow lamp on a low table. Beside it were a metal jug and cup, a few wrapped packets, and his lightsaber. Water, no doubt, and food... left by friends. He was thirsty, but far too weak to reach.

Returning his hand to his chest, he lay still and tried to remember how he had arrived there. He couldn?t, which was highly unusual. Even at rest, Jedi maintained a certain level of awareness of their surroundings, but he had nothing. No sense memories. No images from a twilight consciousness. He remembered being in the medicenter, and now he was here...

Dax.

She must have drugged him with something. That was unfortunate. The amount required to put an ordinary human to sleep would utterly incapacitate a Jedi if he didn?t know it was coming ... heightened functioning potentized any substance he ingested ...

... seems yer human after all....

Human, yes, Dax. But also Jedi.

There was no way she cold have known what a drug would do to him.

There was only one thing to do. Meditate. Heal. Time would take care of the rest. Hopefully, not too much time...

*

Ingrate, Dooku thought, pushing the shards of a training remote around the polished floor with the toe of his boot. The training room still resonated with faint traces of the activity that had gone on before. Anakin had been here, all right. He had worked hard. Whether he had completed all the levels before losing his temper with the device remained to be seen, but destroying the remote itself required a considerable level of skill. It had been designed to survive.

Talented ? very talented ? but still an ingrate.

Then, instead of poking around the Serena when left alone, instead of ferreting out her secrets (His secrets!) as anyone else would have done, the boy had unerringly focused on the most important matter: Dooku?s whereabouts and activities.

The important things are the ones we are engaged in, not what we leave behind.

Anakin had known this great truth instinctively. Even more remarkably, he had acted on his instinct.

Bold and talented. The ideal combination.

Dooku hadn?t seen his like since... well, since Qui-Gon. But even Qui-Gon hadn?t been as volatile, as difficult to manage. Qui-Gon had been raised a Jedi, and had known the boundaries even when he tested them. This one, though ? this wild young man from an uncultivated planet ? was a challenge of a kind Dooku had never before faced. A challenge ? and possibly the greatest opportunity of Dooku?s life.

He was desperately in need of both the challenge and the opportunity. The chance to train his own apprentice in his own way, and with that apprentice, to defeat Sidious at last ? that was something Dooku had longed for in the secret depths of his heart since very early in his association with the man before whom he was still made to kneel.

Sith Lord. Dooku turned the sibilant sound over in his mind. Sith Lord. The words still excited him. The Way of the Sith offered infinite possibilities for a man of talent. Without the cumbersome, arbitrary limits on knowledge and on action imposed by the Jedi, there was no end to the knowledge to be gained from the Force. Nothing stood in his way? nothing but the man who had brought him to the highest knowledge of all. The man who could not see the merit in the broadening - the expansion - of the

 

Oh loved Dooku's thinking on Anakin there hehehe yeah if only he could tame him LOL!

Good of them to think Obi is there for more than Padme's safety for indeed he is!

Great chapter once more!

 

Great post!

I was delighted to see the PM.... made my Monday better.

Dooku is well written. I like the tension he feels at wanting to overthrow Palpy, but not having enough.
The fact that Dooku knows that Anakin wants to bolt is good too. I bet Dooku looks in on the droid... he will find that Anakin has a thing for a senator.

 

OMG!!!!! This is SO GOOD!!!!

AAAAHHHHHH!

Will be back when I can be more coherent.

 

Ok, let's do this right.

Anakin's people have brought Obi-Wan to the water cave. (Methinks he will be a very different guest than Dorn Weider was!) I can't wait to see what Obi-Wan thinks and feels when he sees and realizes just what Anakin has been doing on Tatooine these past 10 years. I wonder if it will offer him some comfort?

His eyes cracked open to light, faint and warm. ... Turning toward it on the pillow (the linens smelled clean, that was something) he saw a small glow lamp on a low table. Beside it were a metal jug and cup, a few wrapped packets, and his lightsaber. Water, no doubt, and food... left by friends.

Yes it would appear that he has been accepted. Alliance between Jedi and 'rebel scum' .. at this early point in the game .... ah the possibilities ....

Returning his hand to his chest, he lay still and tried to remember how he had arrived there. He couldn?t, which was highly unusual. Even at rest, Jedi maintained a certain level of awareness of their surroundings, but he had nothing. No sense memories. No images from a twilight consciousness. He remembered being in the medicenter, and now he was here...

Dax.

She must have drugged him with something. That was unfortunate. The amount required to put an ordinary human to sleep would utterly incapacitate a Jedi if he didn?t know it was coming ... heightened functioning potentized any substance he ingested ...

... seems yer human after all....

Human, yes, Dax. But also Jedi.

There was no way she cold have known what a drug would do to him.

There was only one thing to do. Meditate. Heal. Time would take care of the rest. Hopefully, not too much time...

Well I suppose it is a well known fact that I am completely in love with Obi-Wan as you have portrayed him. I especially love how you show that the Jedi are, in some ways, MORE vulnerable than ordinary beings, not less so.

*

Ingrate, Dooku thought, pushing the shards of a training remote around the polished floor with the toe of his boot. The training room still resonated with faint traces of the activity that had gone on before. Anakin had been here, all right. He had worked hard. Whether he had completed all the levels before losing his temper with the device remained to be seen, but destroying the remote itself required a considerable level of skill. It had been designed to survive.

You know, I just had to go back and read again the training session. It rocks.

Anakin through Dooku's eyes:

Talented ? very talented ? but still an ingrate.

Then, instead of poking around the Serena when left alone, instead of ferreting out her secrets (His secrets!) as anyone else would have done, the boy had unerringly focused on the most important matter: Dooku?s whereabouts and activities.

The important things are the ones we are engaged in, not what we leave behind.

Anakin had known this great truth instinctively. Even more remarkably, he had acted on his instinct.

Bold and talented. The ideal combination.

Dooku hadn?t seen his like since... well, since Qui-Gon. But even Qui-Gon hadn?t been as volatile, as difficult to manage. Qui-Gon had been raised a Jedi, and had known the boundaries even when he tested them. This one, though ? this wild young man from an uncultivated planet ? was a challenge of a kind Dooku had never before faced. A challenge ? and possibly the greatest opportunity of Dooku?s life.

They are so well matched in some ways, aren't they? The question is, how will Dooku keep Anakin by him long enough for Fortune to have her way with them ... ?

You've brought out beautifully Dooku's discontent, not only with his indenturement to Sidious, but also with the whole Sith way as embodied by Sidious (at least as far as he knows.)

But with help ? with the assistance of even one talented, bold and fearless apprentice ? Dooku had no doubt that he could finally return Sidious to the Force whence he came, releasing and dissipating h

 

And who but a King would rebuke the Protectors of Peace and Justice in the Galaxy for failing in their Mandate?



An accountant? Okay, we'll compromise; The King's bean counter, which in this case would be...Obi-Wan or Threepio? Eh, I'm more partial to the Golden Wringer of Da Hands.

Love the story, hope everything's going gangbusters with the wedding and the mending of your poor tootsies. More coherent, substantive stuff will be oncoming, but whence I'm obliged with one of the biggie questions, I'm thusly compelled into action.

 

So, I'm here again briefly...

First, I do join in the wondering as to what Obi-Wan will say when he realizes teh implications of all that Anakin has done. For myself, I wonder how much some of the ideas raised in Dunehas touched our much loved wedding planner/author. That could drastically effect how this all plays out.

On a non-meta plot point, I do agree with ratnathat Dooku and Anakin do seem made for each other on some levels...but, I do wonder when Dooku's seemingly built arrogance will push Anakin off. Though, it isn't that unlike Qui-Gon's, just a whole lot less subtle.

Oh, and for one more KOTOR reference...The New Order thoughts of Dooku...did work for Revan and Malak...for a little while.

See you around...must find time to write my own stuff...

 

I am presently swamped under University stuff (ah! the joys of academia...) so my reply must needs be short.

I will, however, tell you I very much enjoyed this post, and that most of my own reflections have already been covered by ratna and GL.

Please keep the good posts coming.

Cheers,

Lauré

PS: Also, my best wishes for the upcoming wedding (hope it's not too hectic!), and for the prompt healing of your toe.

 

Just a quick Halloween Up for my favorite author on the board...

Happy Halloween, and remeber:

"Name's Ash, Housewares."

 

Oh, Boy, it's been nearly two months since I've posted -- a crazy time, but I'm happy to report that we've come through the insanity, the wedding was great, and I have my life back. I'm even happier to report that, as I promised, it's mid-November and have another post for you! If anybody's out there to read it. I wouldn't blame you for giving up and disappearing. But in case anyone is still lingering... this post is for you.

I'll catch up on replies soon. I just thought it would be fun to get straight back to the story.

Oh, yes, this chapter is now titled "Awakenings."


Chapter 14. Awakenings (Part 2)

The night was long, and Dooku was more tired than he cared to admit. Data and images taken from the memory banks of the protocol droid with the designation C-3PO flashed by his trained eyes at dizzying speed, but he couldn?t narrow his search parameters until he knew what he was looking for, so was forced to endure the flood information. He had skimmed portions of the material when he first had received it, speeding through the early images of young Anakin in the slave?s hovel (lingering a little, perhaps, when Qui-Gon?s face appeared). The droid hadn?t been switched on much during those early times. Except for the glimpses of Qui-Gon?s secret visit to the desert planet, there wasn?t anything of interest. Dooku quickly had moved on to study the later and better-documented periods of Anakin?s life, observing the slave boy?s growth to leadership, studying the way he thought, and documenting his associates.

Qui-Gon had taken the boy with him when he left Tatooine ? to Coruscant, and to the Jedi. Unfortunately, the droid C-3PO had been left behind, so the only data from that time period revealed more than anyone would want to know about the excruciatingly dull life on a moisture farm. Later, when Anakin returned to his home planet, the data from the droid increased exponentially, but nothing seemed to provide an answer to Dooku?s pressing question: what had Anakin seen or heard on Geonosis that made him want to leave? Dooku didn?t believe for a moment that the short session of misery in the Geonosian prison cell was the cause. According to the information stored in the droid, he had endured much, much worse during the gangster wars.

He paused the datastream for a moment to rub his eyes. As much as he hated to, he would have to go back to the beginning. (He chose not to dwell on the possibility that his reluctance had as much to do with re-visiting Qui-Gon?s face and voice as with fatigue.)

The holotransmitter flashed, saving him from one kind of misery by plunging him into another. It seemed that Darth Sidious was ready to receive his report from Geonosis.

Blast Anakin and his clumsy meddling! What if Sidious had spoken to the Geonosians first, and they mentioned something about Dooku?s apprentice? Composing himself, preparing for the worst, Dooku enabled the receiver. His Master?s holographic form filled the desk before him.

?Greetings, Darth Tyrannus. How do our projects fare??

?My Lord, the talks were successful, and the Death Star plans have been completed. They plans remain securely hidden on Geonosis.? Dooku continued smoothly with a concise, positive report, bringing up all the important points but wasting time on nothing.

?What about Gunray?s conditions for signing the treaty? What about the Senator from Naboo??

?I have persuaded Gunray to sign the treaty on the strength of my word. The coalition is complete.?

?You have done well, my apprentice,? the Dark Lord intoned when he had finished. It might have been Dooku?s imagination, but he seemed to drag out the word ?apprentice? even more than usual. Dooku reacted to neither the praise nor the intonation.

?In the meantime,? Darth Sidious continued, ?I have decided that the plans will be safer here on Coruscant. I want you to bring them to me.?

?Of course, My Lord.? Dooku fought down a spike of anxiety. Now what? ?I will retrieve them immediately, and bring them to you when I have finished organizing the Outer Rim campaign.?

?L

 

Welcome back!!! And she comes with a post that is too cool for words in some ways. Of course, this being a message board, I will sully the post with...well...words.

First, Dooku, the man betrayed, twice, has made a decision, and one with far reaching impact. Halfway through this post, I saw him as Hasimir Fenring (just to continue my Dune meme). By the end, he is quite different. In fact, he reminds me of one Anakin Skywalker, when crying on Mustafar. He has been struck by the enormity of everything that he has done, even if he thinks that it was for a good cause. Dooku doesn't regret it, but he does regret/resent that he has been played like a fine fiddle by Palpatine. So very interesting, and very, very good.

BRAVO!

 

Sorry I have been remiss in posting comments. I know, bad beta! I do though want to chime in and express what others have even more eloquently stated that this is an absolutely wonderful story. I have to say though that this update is, by far, my favorite. The interplay between Dooku and Anakin was much like watching two chessmasters moving and countermoving against their opponent.

I absolutely cannot wait for the next update. And thankfully, I will be able to get to see it much sooner than everyone else

Excellent, excellent work!

 

Wahhhh! I have to go to work I can't even finish reading!

But I'll be back!

 

Let me first say that I'm glad the wedding went well! Second, glad you're back with us!

Oh heavy chapter indeed! Poor Dooku I'm glad he found out that Palps left out some important info there about Qui's funeral. And I'm glad it's out there that he now knows that Palps is aware of (well he thinks it) of Anakin's possible potential.

Guess we're gonna see if Anakin is gonna be able to gets to leave I have faith in him as well as Dooku. Glad he promised to not harm Padme. We'll see if that holds up

Great chapter!!

 

I'm with Threepio ... Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!

 

Well done! I like that Dooku has some brains and apparently is using them; for the Sith unfortunately, but using his head. I am enjoying where this is headed.

 

It is just the thing that Palpatine would in fact do.

The Jedi abandon Anakin so they leave him on Tattooine to build enough of a delightful amount of resentment and anger towards the Jedi Order that supposedly rejected him. He also knows that Anakin will not just sit around and do nothing while slavery still exists on that world, so he takes charge ... as I imagine Palpatine already suspected he would. I also wouldn't be surprised if Palpatine even arranged matters with underworld contacts to allow Anakin to build the fresh water reserves and maintain his influence over Tattooine, subtly helping him behind the scenes for ... future use. And then along comes Dooku, whom Palpatine knows can never resist a challenge and is ambitious in his own right, making sure he is the Outer Rim and then letting the pieces fall into place as he has foreseen them.

If the Jedi won't finish training Anakin for him, Dooku can do that instead -- let him think what he will -- and he gets a shiny new, powerful brutal and ingenious warlord of an apprentice once Dooku has served his purpose. And Dooku has trained Anakin very well indeed. It is almost as though he is at the level of skill that he would have been by Attack of the Clones and it took much less than ten years to get him there.

And ... Dooku now seems to have caught on to Sidious' schemes. Whether he believes Sidious will punish him for training an apprentice or will simply let him continue to train the person to succeed him is irrelevant now. I suspect Dooku will not be killed. If anything, if it did come down to it he could always tell his Master that he was training Anakin as a Dark Acolyte and only found out who he was later. Besides, Sidious still does need Dooku ... for the moment, or at least three more years of war. The fact of the matter is that Dooku still has some room to maneuver and, like the fencer he is, find the proper ground and leverage to continue with his own plans. But how much of that ground has already been mapped out by Sidious, I wonder.

This is very fascinating. And now Anakin shall prove whether or not he is as powerful a Padawan as he should be. And then there is another matter: just as Palpatine seems content to let Anakin develop by himself according to the galaxy he is shaping, the Jedi Council also seems to be content to wait for ... something, subtly moving things along by sending Obi-Wan to Tattooine ... This is, as I have said in another fanfic, an interesting game that you are playing here. Pray continue it.

 

And I'm with the both of you - there is SO much to this chapter that my little brain is quite over whelmed but rest assured I am waiting with baited breath fro the next one!

 

Wow, I missed a lot But I'm all caught up now, and yikes!! a lot has happened.

First, Dooku is a big fat liar, though I'm still kinda touched that he misses Qui-Gon. And I'm VERY interested to know what's going to happen with Anakin. Hopefully he and Obi-Wan will meet up on Tatooine soon.

Great chapters!!

 

Just can't leave it alone ....

First of all I love how, at first, you led me to believe that, even with all of Threepio's memories laid out before him, Dooku STILL will NOT find out why Anakin suddenly wants to leave. You had me thinking, 'yep, when you frame the question in a way that excludes the answer ... heh heh.' but then, BAM!

Perhaps ... Sidious? mention of Gunray?s feud with the former Queen of the Naboo was fresh in his mind, but for the first time, Dooku noticed the face of the young girl who accompanied the Jedi. On first viewing, he had dismissed her as a local. But that face...

BAM! Not to mention the IRONY, that it is the Nemesis that washes Dooku's eyes so that he can now SEE the answer he was looking for. In the words of the punchline to an old Russian folktale, "Not everyone who gets you into poodu is your enemy. Not every one who gets you out of poodu is your friend."

And then ...

Behind the Queen of the Naboo, dressed in resplendent green robes that reflected his new role as Supreme Chancellor, stood Palpatine. He also was looking at Anakin.

... ...

Palpatine had been on Naboo for Qui-Gon?s funeral just as Anakin had, and there wasn?t the slightest possibility that the Sith Master was not fully aware of the boy and of his great potential.

Far into that endless night, Count Dooku of Serenno, former Jedi Master, Lord of the Sith and one of the most powerful beings in the Galaxy, sat huddled in his chair with his face buried in his hands.

Yes, dear Dooku, the Sith hit the fan ten years ago, and only now do you realize ...

And he rises to the challenge in a quintessentially Sith way: He sets a deathtrap for Anakin very much as Palpatine has set the death trap for him.

There are a great many dangerous weapons aboard the Serena. In a quarter of a standard hour, many of them ?- not all, but a good number --will have been programmed to kill you.?

?What????

?You have your wits, your training, your lightsaber and your motivation to live and to return home as your weapons. Use them wisely.?

Just as Anakin must use his gifts wisely to escape, Dooku is gambling everything on the untried talents of his apprentice. Thus the karma of manipulation and deadly challenge is passed on to the next generation.

You show the Sith way as hard and pitiless and, at least on Palpatine's part, we feel actively cruel ... or is it so? For if Dooku is able to fight his way out of the corner that Palpatine has painted him into, if he is actually able to overthrow and kill Palpatine, isn't that the goal of assuring the line's survival to the next age? Strange to groom one's destroyer as a way of preserving one's legacy. Pitiless indeed. Perhaps not cruelty so much as uncompromising existential response to the universal fact of death ... Eschewing attachment even more thoroughly than the Jedi, methinks. Dear me, down the rabbit hole I go!

*

I love this:

Obi-Wan sank down on one knee by the pool, staring into its depths. The water?s surface was still as glass, but he could barely make out his reflection in it ? only a shadow where the light came from behind. The pool was a marvel. Whatever technology had created it represented an evolutionary leap forward for the desert planet, and indeed, for any place in the Galaxy that struggled to sustain life.

This was not the work of mere pirates and black marketers. This was a visionary step into a new future ? the engine of a massive change in the planet?s history and destiny. And who on Tatooine had the genius to create something like this? Who, in his young life, already had a history of doing what others said could not be done?

In the still waters, he begins to glimpse the true measure of his Padawan. And what a stunning contrast to the relationship you limned for the Sith. Just wow.

So there's more, right? Hee hee! Just can't wait!!

 

An update would be such an awesome Christmas present ... or new year's present ... or 'just because' ....

 

Wonderful. I can hear the actors saying these lines in my head.

 

I am most embarrassed (and a bit shocked, actually) to realize just how much time has passed since I last posted. Admittedly some major real-life stuff took up all my time and attention for a while there, but the really surprising part (to me) was how long it took to disentangle my attention from those pathways and to return to the world of story. It?s a lesson for sure. From now on, I must be more vigilant in preserving those parts of my life that contain the magic. Otherwise, no matter how busy I am, everything feels hollow, as if something is missing.

I?ve been re-reading Mary Stewart?s ?Merlin? trilogy, and came across a passage that perfectly describes how the last week or two have felt as I struggled to pick up the threads of a story that I care about very much. The passage describes Merlin feeling his way back into music after having neither sung nor played his harp for a very long time:

?To remember love after a long sleep; to turn again to poetry after a year in the market place, or to youth after resignation to drowsy and stiffening age; to remember what once you thought life could hold, after telling over with muddled and calculating fingers what it has offered; this is music, made after long silence. The soul flexes its wings, and, clumsy as any fledgling, tries the air again. I felt my way, gripping back through the chords, for the passion that slept there in the harp, exploring, testing as a man tests in the dark ground which he once knew in daylight. Whispers, small jags of sound, bunches of notes dragged sharply. The wires thrilled, catching the firelight, and the long running chords lapsed into the song...?

And so have I groped my way back to Fortune?s Gate with a whole new chapter that is already with my betareader (the estimable and patient JediMasterRev) and with more to come. I intend to post the next all-action chapter on Friday, January 15, and hope very much that anyone still interested in continuing this journey will join me here then.

In the meantime I owe many thanks and replies to those who left kind comments on the last, hastily posted chapters just before I disappeared into that alternate reality called, well, ?reality? Here?s the super-distilled version, even though I owe all of you essays and more.

Kynstar, Ocelotl_Nesto, and NYCityGurl, thank you so much for your regular and enthusiastic support for this story! I light up whenever I see that you?ve visited the thread, and hope you will continue to do so.

ratna, I would need to write a whole new book to respond to your rambling, insightful, multi-colored comments as they deserve! You always mange to make me see my own story with new eyes.

Mr_Black, and GunraysLawyer, it is always great to see you back on the thread. I hope you?ll continue to brighten my days with your visits!

laurelthiel1138, I hope your busy life will allow you to come back and play now and then! You are missed.

JediMasterRev, thanks for your stalwart betareading and friendship. It?s great to see you here on the thread!

darth_treyvah, I?m so happy to know that you?re still reading and that I still manage to pique your curiosity! Don't be a stranger.

Darth_Breezy, big, sloppy hugs!

Falls_the_Shadow, I?m delighted to see you here, and I hope you?ll stay and play!


Until Friday!

 

I'll be there! Or here...or where ever there is. Glad to hear you're ok!

 

Chapter 15. Breakout

A quarter of a standard hour is actually a quite long time if you?re running for your life. On his own, Anakin could easily have made it to the landing bay with time to spare, but protocol droids weren?t designed for speed. Threepio tried to hurry, he really did, but they hadn?t gotten very far before Anakin realized that there was no hope of escaping without a fight. It was time for Plan B. He just didn?t know what Plan B was.

(Leave the Droid, Dooku whispered to himself, watching.)

There weren?t a lot of hiding places on the Serena; that was for sure. Every corridor and probably every cabin were under surveillance by security monitors. Unfortunately, while he could be seen everywhere, there were a million nooks and crannies that he couldn?t anticipate. He didn?t even know what kind of weaponry Dooku had on board. The more Anakin?s mind raced through the possibilities, the more the whole thing seemed like a death trap.

But that didn?t make sense. If Dooku wanted him dead, why do it this way? Why give him a head start? Why call it ?training??

(Move, Anakin! Run!)

?C?mon, Threepio. Hurry!?

?I am trying, Master Ani. Curse my useless legs!?

?They?re not useless, buddy. They?re just not designed for running. Keep going as fast as you can.?

(That is a mistake.)

A sense of ... something.... up ahead brought Anakin to a sudden stop. The back of his neck prickled. Threepio trundled up behind him.

?Wha...?

?Shhh! There?s a corridor up ahead that crosses this one,? Anakin whispered. ?I?ll check it out. You keep moving toward the landing bay no matter what happens, got it??

Before the droid could stammer out a reply, Anakin dashed toward the intersection of the corridors. The Serena was as eerily silent as always. He couldn?t even be sure he had sensed anything. Hugging a wall, Anakin searched for something to toss into the corridor as a lure, but on the shiny, buttoned-down ship there wasn?t so much as a loose bolt. Finally he activated his lightsaber. Its hum was startlingly loud in the silence, but here was no answering noise from any quarter.

Cautiously he waved the tip of the weapon into the space ahead.

The intersection exploded with blaster fire.

Sh?spit! He knew it! The quarter-hour had not yet passed. Dooku was cheating. He felt a momentary surge of panic. The odds against him were so enormous it hurt to think about it. He?d faced colossal challenges before, but never alone like this. Whatever he?d done in the past, he?d always been backed up by friends...

Threepio shuffled past him, heading straight into the blast zone, ending Anakin?s brief moment of rumination. With one leap he was beside the droid in the middle of the blast zone, his weapon whirling almost of its own accord. ?Hey! I know I said ?no matter what,? but you?ve got to watch where you?re going... ?

Shielding the droid while it hurried across, Anakin learned very quickly how to deflect multiple blaster fire with his lightsaber. If he hadn?t been completely consumed by the challenge, he would have been impressed by his weapon?s capabilities. The source of the enemy fire was a row of four slender battle droids, firing in unison. As soon as Anakin trusted the power of his weapon, he charged straight toward them, deflecting the oncoming blaster fire with ease, and decapitated them like a string of dolls. By the time they had clattered to the floor and silence fell once again, he had checked all four corridors and caught up to Threepio on the other side of the crossing.

That was easy; too easy. Four droids, firing in unison from only one direction... Anakin remembered the ten levels of the training remote exercise and got a very bad sinking feeling in his stomach. If that was Level One, he didn?t want to think about, say, Level 9, especially with Threepio slowing him down. He didn?t have time for this.

(Leave the Droid, Dooku whispered again. Leave the droid!)

?I wish I knew what kinds of weapons the Serena is carrying,? Anakin muttered,