Obi-Wan was startled at how disappointed and angry he still felt about Qui-Gon's decision. The wind was cooling his hot cheeks, but not his disquiet.
Would this disagreement shake their union? He didn't know. He had felt distance between them since they arrived on New Apsolon. Perhaps this would deepen it.
He couldn't worry about it. He had spoken the truth. But the distance he felt from his Master saddened him.
Obi-Wan turned his mind away from the disagreement and used the time to focus. He would need a sure connection to the Force. His wound would slow him down somewhat, and Qui-Gon would not be there to cover him. He would have to rely on strategy more than speed.
They were approaching the Rock Worker settlement when Yanci signaled them. She turned the swoop away and led them toward a split in a sheer wall. Eritha's landspeeder cleared the opening with just centimeters to spare.
"They won't find her here," Yanci said. "I doubt they'd be looking for strays. We think their object was to steal our most advanced explosives."
"I will contact you when the situation is safe," Obi-Wan told Eritha.
She looked reluctant, but she nodded.
Suddenly, he felt a surge in the Force. He whipped his head around and saw nothing.
Yanci zoomed out of the crack in the canyon wall, and he followed. He quickly scanned the horizon and saw Qui-Gon's landspeeder in the distance, gaining fast.
Obi-Wan signaled to Yanci, then headed out to meet Qui-Gon. When he caught up to the landspeeder, he hovered by Qui-Gon's side.
Qui-Gon looked at him directly. His face showed the signs of a great internal struggle. "I was wrong, Padawan. Thank you for pointing it out to me. My duty lies here. No matter," he said with difficulty, "what it may cost."
Obi-Wan nodded. "I'm glad you came back."
Gunning their motors, they caught up to Yanci.
"I'm taking you around a back way," she told them. "When I left, we had managed to hold our position surrounding the unit where we keep the supplies and explosives."
They didn't need the caution. They took a roundabout way, skirting the settlement. Yanci slowed her speeder as they approached a road cut through a narrow canyon.
Obi-Wan listened for the sounds of battle, but heard nothing except the wind. The quiet was eerie. He glanced over at Qui-Gon and saw his Master frown.
Something lay in the road ahead. Obi-Wan didn't need to come closer to know what it was. The deep disturbance in the Force told him everything.
Yanci slowed to a crawl, almost stalling her swoop. "It's a body,"
she said shakily.
Suddenly, she gunned the engine and zoomed ahead. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon speeded up to catch her.
Yanci was off her swoop before it had stopped. It kept going and crashed, but she didn't react. She raced toward the body in the road. Her cry was terrible.
"Kevta!" She bent over the body. With tears streaming down her face, she checked for his vital signs. She placed her hands on his chest. "Kevta!
" Her cry turned to a moan, and she collapsed, cradling his head.
Qui-Gon's face went pale. Obi-Wan saw that his Master could not tear his gaze away from the sight.
"Master," he said. "We need to go on, find out what happened…"
Qui-Gon's nod seemed to take forever. "One moment." His voice was hoarse.
He got off the landspeeder and walked to Yanci's side. He crouched by her and put a hand on her shoulder. He did not speak a word. He let his presence balance her grief until she was able to lift her head.
"I left him," she said, her voice broken. "He made me go. I am the best on a swoop, he said. I am the one who knows the quarries best. I was the one who could catch the Jedi. I left him!"
"You left in order to save your people," Qui-Gon said.
"And I failed them. If Kevta is dead, I don't want to see the rest of the camp." Yanci gently laid her head on Kevta's chest. "I will stay here.
I can't leave him."
Qui-Gon squeezed her shoulder. Then he stood. Wordlessly, he nodded at Obi-Wan. The two Jedi knew what they were about to find. Death lay ahead of them.
They walked farther into the camp. Some of the dwellings were still smoking from fires the Absolutes had set. Bodies lay alongside the road.
The Rock Workers still clutched the tools they had used as weapons.
Obi-Wan saw Bini on the ground. Her sightless eyes stared up at the sky. He knelt beside her and gently closed her eyelids. "Sleep well," he murmured.
Qui-Gon entered the school. Several long moments passed before he exited. "It is better for you not to go in," he told Obi-Wan. "The Rock Workers tried to hide the children there. The Absolutes left no one alive."
Obi-Wan turned away. Qui-Gon was right. He did not need to see it.
The sound of a speeder rose above the eerie quiet. Eritha rode slowly toward them, her head turning to take in the devastation. She stopped the speeder and got out shakily.
"This is what they are capable of," she said, her face ashen. "I didn't know. Alani can't be part of this. She must not know the things that they are willing to do."
They continued their grim tour, looking for survivors. The death toll was complete. There was not a living being in the camp.
As they started back, they saw Yanci walking toward them. Her legs moved, but she did not seem to be powering them herself. She moved like a droid, with jerky, articulated motion.
"Everyone is gone," she said. "It was a massacre. There is nothing I can do. I can't find Bini — "
"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan said gently. "I found her."
Yanci bowed her head. "I was jealous of Bini. She was close to Kevta.
It was stupid of me. I can never tell her that." She wandered away and sat on the ground, her head in her hands.