General Bycha focused her intense gaze on Anakin. "We've heard of this camp. Rumors have reached us of medical experiments being performed on prisoners. This is against Republic law. If we knew this for certain, it would help us in negotiations with the Vanqors. Did you see anything like that?"
Obi-Wan saw Anakin hesitate. Why? What had happened to him? Why hadn't he told Obi-Wan? He'd had plenty of opportunity aboard Garen's ship.
"I underwent the procedure," Anakin said. "It is called the Zone of Self-Containment."
He saw the Jedi turn and look at him. Ferus's gaze was sharp. He had seen that Obi-Wan hadn't known this.
"What happens to you?" General Bycha asked. "You become… content,"
Anakin said. "You have complete mobility and your thought processes are sharp. It doesn't feel as though you're drugged. But the things that normally torment you don't bother you at all."
"Crowd control," General Bycha said. "It's a way to subdue populations. I can't believe we must form a partnership with those who would do this."
"The partnership will ensure that they won't," Clee Rhara said.
"How was the substance administered?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I don't know," Anakin said. "That was the strange thing. We weren't injected. And we ate with the med care workers and personnel, fed from a communal pot. Our water source was the same as theirs, too."
"It is possible they were all drugged," General Bycha said.
"I don't think so," Anakin said. "I felt that they were… envious of the prisoners."
"When did you first feel the effects?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin thought back. "They gave us a paralyzing drug, but that didn't make a difference to my mind. It was after a bath."
"It was transmitted through water," Obi-Wan said. "That is a very difficult way to transmit a drug," General Bycha said. "Water transmission hasn't been perfected." He frowned. "These are dark days. There are too many scientists with no scruples, willing to poison bodies and minds."
Obi-Wan suddenly leaned forward toward Anakin. "Did you ever see the doctor in charge?"
"Yes," Anakin said. "I was brought to her because in the beginning I was able to resist the paralyzing drug somewhat, with the help of the Force."
"Do you know her name?"
Anakin thought back. "She never told me." Odd. He hadn't noticed that at the time.
"Do you remember what she looked like?"
"A woman in late mid-life," Anakin said. "Light-colored hair.
Distinctive green eyes. She had a strong face." He thought back. "The strange thing was that she guessed that I was Force-sensitive. She seemed to know a great deal about the Force."
Obi-Wan closed his eyes. "Jenny Zan Arbor," he said.
Clee Rhara, Ry-Gaul, and Garen looked at him in surprise.
"She is on a prison planet," Clee Rhara said. "So we thought," Obi-Wan said.
"Who is she, Master?" Anakin asked.
"Someone who has hurt the Jedi and the Republic in the past," Obi-Wan said. "She kept Qui-Gon prisoner in order to study the Force. She was a brilliant scientist who began her career after she found cures to several plagues and saved whole planets. But then she grew corrupt. She began to introduce plagues or viruses so that she would be hired to cure the populations. She was adept at using water systems or air systems. She made a great fortune. But the Jedi caught her in the end." Obi-Wan turned to General Bycha. "May I use your database?"
General Bycha showed him to the console. Obi-Wan did a quick check of the prison world he knew Zan Arbor had been exiled to.
He whirled around in his chair. "Escaped. She is now a wanted criminal." He stood. "We must get to the Tomo Crater Camp right away."
"You will meet resistance," General Bycha warned him. "The surrender is not complete."
Obi-Wan looked at Clee Rhara, Garen, Siri, and Ry-Gaul, a question in his eyes.
Ry-Gaul nodded. "We are at your service, Obi-Wan."
Chapter Seventeen
After receiving clearance from the Senate for their operation, they flew to Vanqor. They met no resistance from the Vanqor ships. The Jedi cruiser flew over the rugged landscape of the Tomo Craters, and then the camp appeared ahead. Then resistance exploded in the form of laser- cannonfire. Apparently General Bycha had not underestimated the resistance they would meet on the ground.
Garen dived and twisted, piloting the ship expertly through the fire, never wavering from his destination.
They landed amid heavy fire and charged out, lightsabers at the ready.
The security droids were taken care of with quick thrusts and backhanded swipes. The Vanqor guards were armed with blaster rifles, wrist rockets, and stun batons. The Jedi advanced as a solid flank that broke and re- formed as they leaped and twisted, using their lightsabers and occasionally Force-pushing a Vanqor guard who decided today was his day to seek glory.
Instead he ended up with a throbbing skull as he was thrown against a wall.
It was at times such as these that Anakin felt something close to what he'd felt in the Zone of Self-Containment. It was not that he enjoyed battle. Battle was a necessity to an end. It was that battle filled his mind in a way that other things could not. Focus was absolute. He felt in the midst of the Force. With the other Jedi around him, the Force was especially powerful. It made every decision easy, every move fluid.
He even felt a kinship with Ferus. He did not want to be Ferus's friend, but he was glad to have him at his side during a battle. Ferus was known for his strength and agility. His moves were flawless. Yet he did not fight only for himself, but cast his battle mind like a net, ready to respond to the others if they needed him. When four sentry droids bore down on Anakin, it was Ferus who leaped, smashing two of them to the ground with one stroke.
Soon the droids had been reduced to scrap and the Vanqor guards decided that facing a squad of Jedi had not been in their job descriptions.
They threw down their weapons and surrendered.
"Zan Arbor," Obi-Wan said to Anakin.
"We'll free the prisoners," Siri said. "You might meet more resistance there. Ferus, go with them."
The three Jedi raced to the medical building where Anakin had been held. No ships had taken off since they arrived. No doubt Zan Arbor had heard the battle. She could be hiding. Or she could decide to make a last stand. Anakin was prepared for anything.
The halls were empty. Doors were flung open, and there were signs of disarray in the trailing linens on the sleep couches and the discarded food on trays. The warming lights in the courtyard had been turned off, and the leaves looked shrunken and yellowed. It appeared that the entire operation had been hastily abandoned.
Anakin led the way to Zan Arbor's office. They did not need to break in. The door was wide open. Drawers hung open, empty. Her desk had been cleared. Even her septsilk curtains had been taken down.
Anakin felt relief move through him. But why? He wasn't sure. He only knew that he did not want to face Zan Arbor again. Especially not in front of his Master. It was as though she held a secret to a part of him he did not want to share.