Obi-Wan began to try to cut the durasteel away.
"Something's wrong," he muttered as Anakin joined him. "The ship's hull should be thin here. We should be able to cut through in minutes."
"It's going to take us longer than that," Anakin said.
The minutes ticked by as they worked at the metal. Obi-Wan looked out the windscreen to check the progress of the eruption. The noise was now like the roar of a fleet of engines. "We're not going to make it."
They looked at each other. They hadn't given up hope. There was a way out. There always was.
They just didn't have much time to figure it out.
Lava was now spewing out of the top of the mountain. Whole kilometers of dirt and rocks mixed with hot lava would soon be barreling down the steep slope.
Obi-Wan pushed his lightsaber through the door. He began to move it downward, straining with the effort. Anakin joined him, the sweat rolling down his face.
Suddenly and violently, molten lava poured out of the volcano at frightening speed. The avalanche of rock and lava smashed against the ship.
The jolt threw them across the cockpit and slammed them against the opposite wall. The craft tilted onto one side, sending them crashing onto the floor. The ship jolted downhill at incredible speed, carried by the force of the landslide.
Anakin hung on to the wall. Looking straight up, he could see through the cockpit windscreen. All he saw was rocks and lava obscuring his view of the sky. He knew where they were being carried. The rock slide would drop them into the sea. They would sink. Or else they would be caught in the giant tidal wave that was forming even now.
His head slammed against the side of the ship. He held on as his teeth rattled. Death was near. Anakin could feel it. Now he understood why he had felt so uneasy on this planet. Here death had waited for him.
Obi-Wan suddenly pounded against the ship's wall with his lightsaber hilt as they bounced down the mountain, swept along by the lava flow.
Anakin had never seen his Master give way to his anger before.
"That's it," Obi-Wan shouted over the awful roaring noise. "It's a ship within a ship. That's why the walls are so thick. Anakin, help me find it."
"Find what?" he shouted.
"The cockpit. The real cockpit!" Obi-Wan scrambled along the wall, knocking on it with the hilt of his light-saber. "Listen for something hollow."
The lurching of the ship made it hard to maneuver, but Anakin followed his Master. He knocked against the wall with his lightsaber hilt.
"Here!" Obi-Wan shouted suddenly. He activated his lightsaber and began to cut through the wall.
Anakin grabbed handholds and fought his way toward his Master. He worked alongside him. Obi-Wan was right. The metal was thinner here. It peeled back in strips. They were being pounded by the landslide and it was hard to cut, but they struggled to finish.
At last there was an opening large enough to crawl inside. To Anakin's surprise, he found a complete cockpit with engine controls.
"Can you fly it?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin nodded. He strapped himself into the seat. The ship was on its side. He pushed the left engine and the ship rose straight up.
He kept pushing the engine and the ship revolved. Then he accelerated, and they shot through the lava and the pummeling rocks into the clear air above.
Obi-Wan sank back into the seat next to him. "That was close," he panted.
"I wouldn't want it any closer," Anakin admitted. "Where to, Master?"
"They'll be watching from a safe distance," Obi-Wan said. "Along the coast, but out of range of the wave." He bent over the scanner, comparing its readings to the map on the shipboard computer. "Let's try these coordinates." He pointed them out to Anakin.
He nodded and piloted the ship back toward the eruption. He would skirt the worst of it, but they would have a bumpy flight. Rocks hammered down on the shell of the ship, and the air pockets were deep. The ship kept slamming into them.
"Master, look!" Anakin pointed ahead. The Haariden captain and the soldiers were trapped on the plain as the landslide headed toward them.
They had turned to face it. There was nowhere to run.
"See if we can make it!" Obi-Wan ordered. "Push the engines!"
Anakin accelerated till the engines screamed, piloting the ship straight into the spew of lava and rocks. The ship shook as a boulder struck it. Then another.
Captain Welflet saw them approaching and lifted a hand. Anakin did not know if it was in thanks or farewell. In the next instant the landslide had swept him and his soldiers to their deaths. They were buried under the land they had fought over so desperately.
Shaken, Anakin pushed the engines to rise above the eruption again. He felt a sickness in his stomach.
His Master said nothing, but closed his eyes for a moment.
"I wish I hadn't seen that," Anakin said.
Obi-Wan opened his eyes. "Such is the life of a Jedi." The cockpit indicators began to swing wildly. The ship lurched to one side.
"I think the power cells were hit," Anakin said. "We've got to land.
The power is draining fast."
"We're almost out of range of the eruption," Obi-Wan said, his eyes on the monitor. "Keep going…"
Anakin held onto the controls as the ship lurched again. He heard the whine of the power cells as they powered down. "Master, I'm losing the ship."
"All right. Land it where you can."
Anakin found a smooth area of sand. They were near the coast of the sea here. He set the ship down bumpily. He had just enough energy to land.
The ship settled into the sand and the engines cut out.
"Good thing we still have the swoops," Obi-Wan said.
They climbed out of the concealed cockpit. The swoop bikes were smashed from the rough journey, but still functioned. Anakin activated the landing ramp from the interior cockpit. It squealed as the metal rubbed against metal, but it opened far enough for them to slide out with the swoops.
The air was thick with ash. A strange smell was in the air. It was like burning, but it wasn't born of flame or smoke.
"It is the core," Obi-Wan said. "Metals and molten rock They piloted the swoops away from the ship and began to search for Omega and Mellora. At last they came upon them on a plateau that overlooked the sea. There they would be protected from the tidal wave.
Granta Omega saw them coming. There was no way to surprise them.
Anakin saw him bend down. He settled something against his shoulder. A missile launcher.
"Master — "
"I see it. Dive, Padawan."
They dived as the first missile headed their way. Its target was Obi- Wan. His Master leaned to one side and the missile missed him by a meter.
Another missile was launched. Anakin dived, but the missile was targeted at Obi-Wan again. His Master practiced evasive action, and this time, the missile missed him by mere centimeters.