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"This will take some time to accomplish," Talus said to the Jedi.
"Thank you for your help. We are in your debt."
"Shalini and her crew were responsible for obtaining the invasion plans," Obi-Wan told them. "They risked their lives. They entrusted the disk to us while they were interred in a prisoner-of-war camp."
"Are they in danger?" General Bycha asked.
"Anakin was also a prisoner," Obi-Wan said. "There's a camp in the Tomo Crater region on Vanqor."
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 perso
"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 begi
"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. "Je
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- ca
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.