Chapter Five

He would have to wear a mask. A mask of friendship. Anakin had decided this before he'd left the Temple. Ferus could never know his true feelings.

He would defeat him without Ferus ever knowing they were in competition.

That had been his plan, but it was hard to follow through when faced with Ferus himself. Anakin could feel his resentment leaking out like a gas. It was only a question of time before he exploded.

No. I will prove I am a better Jedi. I will not explode in anger.

They flew over the planet, over mountain ranges and desert and deep canyons.

"Where is the Valley of the Dark Lords?" Ferus asked.

"Invisible from the air," Obi-Wan told him. "The valley is narrow, a slit hidden in the mountains some distance from Dreshdae. Plus it is constantly under heavy cloud cover."

"There's the spaceport," Siri said, as it loomed closer.

Dreshdae had been built on a plateau in the middle of the largest mountain range on the planet. From the air, the Jedi could see a huddle of buildings cramped together with no effort at orderly design.

The landing platform was deserted except for a small number of cruisers behind an energy fence. There was no one to check them in and no one to care. The landing area itself had been recently refurbished, but it had been a hasty job and already the platform was pitted and scarred.

Soara, Darra, Ry-Gaul, and Tru came over to Anakin's ship once they had landed. The Masters huddled in the cockpit, going over some last-minute details. The Padawans stood on the ramp, looking out over the spaceport and preparing their equipment. Dreshdae looked as grim at ground level as it had from the air.

"Not exactly Belazura," Darra said as she stuffed her thermal cape into her survival pack.

"I've seen worse," Ferus said. "I hope."

Ferus might have meant the remark as a joke, but Anakin took it as a challenge. Ferus was showing off again.

"We all have," Anakin pointed out.

"I don't think so," Tru said. "I'd say we've finally made it to the worst the galaxy has to offer." He said this cheerfully as he wound one flexible arm around his back to fasten the strap on his survival pack. As a Tee-van, Tru could bend his limbs backward and twist them in surprising angles. It was one of the things that made him such an excellent fighter.

"I don't think you'll be finding any Terratta strips here," Darra teased Tru. "I have a feeling we'll be living on food capsules. I wouldn't trust the food on this planet."

"I never get the good planets," Tru whined, making a comical face.

They were joking now, wanting to displace the odd tension they all felt.

"We've come a long way from the Galactic Games, that's for certain,"

Ferus said. "Remember how nervous we were on our early missions?"

"Sure," Tru said. "I still am." He looked out at Dreshdae, and the humor drained from his face. "Especially here."

"What about you, Ferus?" Anakin asked as he bent over to tighten a strap that didn't need tightening. "Nervous? Or is that not allowed for a Jedi Knight?"

"I'm not a Jedi Knight yet," Ferus answered.

"But you're closer than any of us," Anakin said, straightening. "Does that make you more nervous or less? I mean, let's face it, the Jedi Council's eyes are on you."

Ferus frowned as he picked up the taunt buried in Anakin's easy tone.

"I'm not thinking about that. I'm thinking about the mission."

"We're all thinking about the mission, Anakin," Darra said.

"Of course, we all want to capture Omega," Tru added. His eyes told Anakin to back off.

"But Ferus wants to be the one to do it, I'll bet," Anakin said. "Once you start impressing the Jedi Council, you have to keep on doing it."

"It doesn't matter who does it," Ferus said. "It matters that it's done."

"Spoken like a true Jedi Knight," Anakin said. Ferus's neck flushed red. "Just what are you trying to say?"

"Anakin — " Darra murmured warningly.

Anakin took a step closer to Ferus. He couldn't help himself. Despite his best intentions, the words spilled out in a torrent. "That you'll do whatever you can to succeed on this mission, but not because you want to catch Omega. You want to be a Knight."

"Anakin!" Tru exclaimed.

But Ferus and Anakin were past listening to their fellow Padawans.

They were careful to pitch their voices low, however, to avoid attracting the attention of their Masters.

Ferus's dark eyes flashed with anger. "That's a serious charge, and an untrue one."

"I've got news for you," Anakin said. "You won't be the one to find Omega. I will. I'd bet on it." The remark seemed to burst out of him without his directing it.

Darra sucked in a breath through her teeth. Tru shook his head.

Ferus turned away. "I'm not going to bet on a mission."

"Because you have too much riding on it? If you lose, you might lose the Council's favor," Anakin said. "No wonder you won't take me up on it."

Anakin had gotten to Ferus at last. He could see it. Suddenly Ferus spun around and came within centimeters of Anakin.

"Okay, sure, I'll take the bet," he said. "Whatever you say, Anakin. I wouldn't want to stand in the way of you and your ego."

"Ego? You're the one who spends all his time showing off!"

But if Anakin was heat, Ferus was ice. He buckled his utility belt.

"Someone has to teach you that you are not as powerful as you think you are."

Anakin saw the Masters looking over. He bent over and pretended to tighten the same tight strap so that Obi-Wan could not read his face. He had to control himself. He had gone farther than he'd meant to, but he didn't care. Now it was out in the open.

They followed their Masters out onto the main thoroughfare of Dreshdae, a narrow unpaved street. A light gray rain was falling, and it had an acid taste. Anakin felt foreboding settle on his shoulders.

Dreshdae was a hodgepodge, a drab spaceport that had grown and shrank without regard for utility or beauty. Until recently it had been a collection of temporary buildings made of plastoid blocks or cheaper metals that rusted with age. The Jedi could see these buildings in various states of disrepair. Sprung up around them was a collection of newer buildings, most of them clustered near the Commerce Guild's Dreshdae Headquarters. The Guild had spared no expense, building a multistoried edifice with durasteel facing in a multicolored iridescence that was supposed to sparkle in sunlight but instead looked cheerless in the drip of rain Although Dreshdae tried to present itself as a typical new, brash city struggling to grow, the strain showed. There was no disguising what the spaceport had been and would slide back into again — a dark, dangerous, lawless place. Undercurrents of its evil past bubbled up through the cracks in the stone facings and the hastily erected walkways. Beings hurried through the streets as if anxious to find shelter. No one lingered in the cafcs. Anakin didn't hear one snatch of conversation, or one burst of laughter.