The Approaching Storm

Asked for his opinion, the tall Padawan didn't hesitate. "I couldn't do it, that's for sure. It sounds crazy."

Luminara smiled. "But you know that I'm not crazy, don't you, Anakin?"

He nodded. "When I was a child, I did plenty of things that were called crazy. Everybody thought I was crazy to take part in professional Podracing. But I did, and I'm still alive." He stood a little taller. "The Force was with me."

"Luck was with you," Barriss murmured tartly, but so low that no one else could hear.

"So you think I should go ahead with this?" Luminara asked him.

Anakin hesitated. "It's not for me to say. If Obi-Wan agrees…" His voice trailed off without finishing.

She turned her attention back to the other Jedi. "Obi-Wan has already said he doesn't think it's a very good idea. Does Obi-Wan have a better idea?"

The Jedi hesitated for the briefest of instants, then gave a slight shrug. "I tend to side with Barriss in this-but no, I don't have a better idea."

"We need that piece of wool if we're going to get the Borokii to listen to us."

"I know, I know." Obi-Wan looked unhappy. "Are you sure you can do this, Luminara?"

"Of course I'm not sure I can." As she spoke, she was making certain the sharp, ceremonial Borokii knife Bayaar had loaned her was securely fastened to her narrow waistband. "But like you, I can't think of anything else to try. This is the best I could come up with." She smiled reassuringly. "We can't convince the Council of Elders to persuade the rest of the Alwari to agree to our position if we never get to speak to them."

"While your death might convince them of our sincerity, and of the importance the Republic attaches to our mission here, that's still no guarantee they'll agree to listen to the rest of us."

"Then you'll find other ways of convincing them of our sin cerity," she told him. Reaching out, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Whatever happens here, now, may the Force be with you always, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Stepping closer, he gave her a firm hug. "Not only will the Force be with me, Luminara Unduli, I expect you to be with me for a while longer yet as well." He indicated their Padawans. "You wouldn't go and leave me with not one but two Padawans to look after, would you?"

Her smile broadened. "I think you would manage to cope with the challenge, Obi-Wan."

"Master. .," Barriss began. Turning, the Jedi put a reassuring hand on her Padawan's shoulder.

"Not everything is assured in advance, my dear." Her hand slid off the strong shoulder. "I know what I'm doing. I just don't know what the surepp are going to do." Taking a couple of steps back, she took a deep breath and nodded at Bayaar.

It was not for him to try to dissuade the offworlder. He had already done all he properly could to apprise her of the danger she had chosen to face. Raising a hand high, he signaled to his right. Down the fence line, the operator in charge of this section of the corral responded with a gesture of acknowledgment. Something went softly ssizzt.

"The barrier here has been shut down," he told the visitors. "If you really mean to do this thing, you have to do it now."

"I know," Luminara replied. Whereupon she stepped carefully through the unelectrified fence line, gathered herself, and leapt onto the back of the nearest surepp.

Chapter 16

Rising above the twilight clamor from the town and the communal mewling and burbling of the tightly packed beasts, the collective intake of breath from the audience of watching Borokii was plainly audible. Their astonishment was paralleled by that of the two Padawans, even though they had been given some idea of what to expect.

Exhibiting the strength of a weight lifter, the agility of a gymnast, and the training of a Jedi adept, Luminara sped not through the herd but over it. Across it, rather, Anakin thought as he looked on in amazement and admiration. Touching down only long enough to kick off and launch herself to another expansive, woolly spine, Luminara raced across the backs of the Borokii herd, heading for its ap proximate heart. Occasionally, disturbed by the contact, a sleepy surepp would look up in surprise. Unable to discern any threat or danger, it would then lower its head and return to its quiet dozing.

While her friends were able to monitor her progress via their macrobinoculars, Kyakhta, Bulgan, Tooqui, Bayaar, and the other observing Borokii could only strain to see with their eyes. Unable to stand the suspense, the sentinel finally sidled over next to the offworlder called Obi-Wan.

"How is your friend doing?" he found himself asking. "She is still alive, or you would have reacted."

"Moving fast." Obi-Wan spoke without lowering the device. "Back and forth. Fast enough that I couldn't keep her in focus, but this viewing device does it for me."

What seemed like hours but were in reality only minutes passed in tense silence before the Jedi murmured softly but excitedly, "There!" His voice rose despite his efforts to keep it under control. "She's got it!"

"So soon?" Bayaar was all but struck dumb with astonishment. "She moves very swiftly indeed, your female."

"Not my female," Obi-Wan hurriedly corrected him. "We are colleagues, equals. Like you and your fellow warriors."

"Ah," murmured Bayaar without quite understanding the offworlder.

"Yes, she's quick," Obi-Wan added. "On her way back now." Suddenly he jerked visibly, lowered the macrobinoculars from his eyes, then raised them again.

"What? What's happening?" Turning toward the herd, Bayaar strained to see. His night vision was excellent, but no match for the advanced viewer. "I think I see some disturbance."

"She slipped." The offworlder's voice was not quite as neu tral as before. "Slipped and fell. I–I can't see her anymore." A rising mewling reached them from the place within the massed herd where Luminara had gone down. Even without aid, he could see that several animals were stirring uneasily. Beside them, others were waking from their evening torpor.

There was no time to discuss alternatives. They had to act before the disturbance spread.

"We're going after her," he told the two attentive Padawans. Though he could see the anxiety writ large in their expressions, there was no time to reassure them, no time for coddling.

"Concentrate," he ordered them. "Concentrate as hard as you ever have concentrated. Focus. And stay together." Taking Barriss's hand in his right and Anakin's in his left, Obi- Wan led them through the barrier.

Pushed, pressed by the focusing of the Force from not one but three trained individuals, the surepp gave way. Mewling and hissing, they parted to make a path for the striding offworlders. Triple eyes glared angrily at the bipeds, furious at the intrusion. But something kept them at bay, prevented them from trampling the trio beneath massed, sharp- toed feet.