The Chosen Apprentice/Chapter 16

A parsec out from Commenor, Obi-Wan’s hyperdrive gave out. He was dead in deep space, and with a grimace he noticed that his hyperwave transmitter had been fried as well.

“So what now?” Obi-Wan asked no one in particular. Commenor was a major stop on the way to Coruscant, yet no one was likely to pass through exactly where he was, not in realspace anyway.

With a groan he drew himself out of the cockpit and went to the back of the ship to inspect his hyperdrive. A quick glance showed it was beyond repair, as far as what he could do right now. The pounding from the second pirate ship had riddled it with cracks.

With a sigh, Obi-Wan leaned against it closing his eyes. The question came again, what could he do now? He couldn’t go anywhere, he couldn’t call for help and he was unlikely to be found. To top it off, if the pirate ship had tracked his hyperspace vector he would soon be followed.

If Qui-Gon was here, Obi-Wan thought suddenly, he would say to trust the living Force. He was silent for a few more moments, wondering if the living Force could get him out of this situation.

His answer came quicker than anticipated.

“Unidentified ship,” crackled a voice on the ship’s comm. “This is the Lernian Star, are you in need of assistance?”

Obi-Wan ran into the cockpit so fast he almost collided with the console. Quickly he spoke into it.

“Yes, as a matter of fact I am,” he said, sitting down in the pilot’s chair, his heart racing. “My hyperdrive’s shot along with my hyperwave transmitter.” He quickly looked at his scanners, he could see the ship coming behind him, a small bulk freighter. At that moment Obi-Wan didn’t really care who they were, they were offering him help and that was good enough.

“We’re headed for the Core, we can offer you passage to our destination,” came the answer. “Are you capable of docking manually or would you prefer if we sent out a tractor beam?”

Obi-Wan scrutinised his controls for a moment. “The tractor beam’s probably better,” he replied.

“Engaging now,” answered the ship.

Within a moment Obi-Wan could feel the pull of the tractor beam on his ship. An idea crossed his mind, supposing they were working with the pirates? It was unlikely but possible. Yet somehow that didn’t feel right, he knew that he was being offered assistance though he may be expected to pay dearly for it.

And I may be back later then I realised, he thought with a wry smile, Oh well, Anakin will live.



With his ship attached to the freighter, Obi-Wan crossed to the airlock in a vac suit. From the outside he could see the amount of carbon scoring on his ship’s hull. No wonder they asked if I needed help, he thought as he neared the freighter, it’s a wonder I got it into hyperspace at all.

The outer door of the airlock opened and then closed after him, when the chamber was depressurised the inner door opened. And standing there was the last person that Obi-Wan had expected to see.

“Han Solo, isn’t it?” Obi-Wan asked, removing the hood of his vac suit and unzipping it.

Han stood there silent for a moment, blaster in hand. “How did you get out here?” he asked finally, examining Obi-Wan up and down. “Wait till Stowe hears we’ve got a Jedi on board.” He gestured behind him. “Come on, you’re wanted on the bridge.”



Within a few minutes Obi-Wan learned that Stowe, or Ridel Stowe, was the captain of the Lernian Star and they were in bound for Coruscant from Thyferra. Han was the freighter’s most recent addition, having been hired within a day of his arrival with Anakin on Coruscant.

And the reason they were out there? Han said they had to transmit some of the new details of their cargo as some of the bacta they carried was unsaleable. As for the odds of finding Obi-Wan there, Han didn’t like to speculate.

The bridge of the Lernian Star was large and well-worn from the many space travels and conflicts involved therewith. Captain Stowe was leaning back in his chair finalising the details for their return to hyperspace. He was roughly humanoid in form with translucent blue skin that seemed to sparkle and blue-black hair that fell to his shoulders. He wore a long well-worn coat, tall boots and a sidearm blaster in a holster on his belt. Obi-Wan detected no hostility from him at all.

“Ah yes,” Stowe turned to view Obi-Wan and did a classic double take. “You’re a Jedi?” he asked incredulously, shaking his head. “I had no idea.”

“Well I didn’t exactly have a banner at the back of my ship saying ‘Jedi on board’,” Obi-Wan replied dryly, he inclined his head slightly. “Obi-Wan Kenobi, I have to thank you for taking me on board. I don’t know what else I could have done.”

“It was lucky we found you alright,” Stowe murmured.

“Personally I don’t believe in luck,” Obi-Wan remarked. “But enough said, you got me out of there.”

“So what actually happened?” Stowe asked, looking at their plotted coordinates with half an eye.

“Pirates,” the Jedi replied, sitting on top of one of the boxes lying about the bridge. “I’d say they were lying in wait for me, they pulled me out of hyperspace.”

Stowe let out a low whistle. “Any idea why?”

“I’m afraid I can’t say,” Obi-Wan replied, hoping Stowe would not take offence to this.

“Don’t worry, we’ve all got our fair share of secrets,” Stowe said, snapping his fingers suddenly. “Solo, give me a readout of his ship. Let’s see if we can save it right here.”

Han compiled and in a moment the data was in front of Stowe, it didn’t look promising.

“What did you do?” Stowe asked Obi-Wan. “Fly straight at him?”

Obi-Wan chuckled. “Something like that.”

Stowe shook his head in disbelief. “Looks like we’re going to have to give you a ride the rest of the way.”

Obi-Wan groped for his credit pouch. “I am willing to pay for the shipping—”

Stowe dismissed this with a wave of his hand. “Your lot helped me out more than once during the war,” he said. “Consider this a paying off of my debts to the Jedi.”

Just as they were about to jump a proximity alarm went off.

“Captain, we’ve got company,” said one of the crew. “Two Corellian Corvettes.”

Stowe flashed a glance at Obi-Wan. “Friends of yours?”

Obi-Wan nodded. “Unfortunately.”

Stowe turned his seat back to the front view port and fumbled for his restraints. “Better strap in,” he advised the Jedi. “If they see your ship I don’t think they’ll be as nice to us as they were to you.”



They had managed to repair the stabilising fin of the Aeolian to get them into hyperspace, but that was only through slaving the ships’ navcomputer to the Stiletto. Yet it wasn’t hard to find the Jedi’s ship again, given his last known trajectory and the fact that his ship would be crippled.

What they were surprised to see was that now he had help, someone had managed to find him and get him aboard and once again they would have a fight on their hands.

Yet Ardesh thought otherwise, he didn’t want to make the mistake last time of another firefight.

“Disable their weapons,” Ardesh said, “no wait a moment, I’ll see if they’ll just hand him over quietly. Let me talk to them.”



“Captain, we have a transmission coming in,” said the co-pilot of the Lernian Star. “The ship identifies as the Aeolian.”

“Patch it through,” Stowe replied, “but stand-by for an attack run.”

There was the crackle of static and then a low, growling voice could be heard on the bridge. “This is Penak Ardesh of the Aeolian,” said the voice. “I am willing to leave your ship unharmed if you hand over the passenger you picked up.”

Obi-Wan paled for a moment, asking Stowe to help him was one thing, asking him to risk his own life and the lives of his crew was another.

“Who says we have a passenger?” Stowe challenged.

“The ship you have in tow, does,” Ardesh shot back. “hand him over without any further questions and you can go.”

Yet Stowe didn’t hesitate. “Negative, Aeolian,” he told Ardesh. “Just how would we know you just wouldn’t blast us into slag if we did cooperate?”

Ardesh either didn’t hear or ignored the last question. “Acknowledged,” he said in a tight voice and the transmission terminated.

“Somehow I don’t think they’re going to put up much of a fight than last time,” Obi-Wan murmured.

Stowe stared at him. “What makes you say that?”

“Simple,” Obi-Wan replied, “they’re going to try and board.”



“Stiletto, get to these coordinates I’m sending you,” Ardesh ordered, “engage fire but we’re trying to take the ship intact, you copy?”

“Copy, Aeolian,” acknowledged the pilot.

“I want a full scan of this ship,” Ardesh told Xian, “weapons, sensors, shields everything and then we’ll hit each part one by one.”



“Start our attack run,” Stowe ordered, “power up our weapons and fire on my signal.” He nodded to Han. “Get to the gun turrets and see who else you can find not doing anything.”

Obi-Wan got to his feet. “Want some help?”

Han blinked. “Come on, they’re this way,” he said, running off the bridge and down a tunnel.



Secure in the gun turret of in the belly of the Lernian Star, Obi-Wan checked his headset then rotated his seat to face the starscape beyond.

“Gunner’s ready?” called Stowe over the comlink.

“Ready,” Han answered.

“Ready,” Obi-Wan said with him.

If Stowe was surprised at hearing Obi-Wan’s voice he chose not to say so.

“Batteries fully loaded,” said the voice of the co-pilot.

“Stand-by,” said Stowe.



On the bridge of the Aeolian, Ardesh watched the tactical screen as they moved into position.

“We are in position,” said Xian to Ardesh.

“Good,” noted Ardesh, “fire at will.”



Obi-Wan could see the Aeolian approaching them, it had yet to properly engage. He let himself go into the Force, waiting for the moment…

“Fire!” Stowe ordered.

As Obi-Wan fired he could see several laser blasts coming from the corvette, landing just above the gun turret where he was. For a moment he was thrown against the transparasteel, straining his crash webbing.

“Blast!” Obi-Wan swore, that was too close.

“You okay back there?” asked Stowe.

“No damage,” Obi-Wan said, quickly checking the weapon’s systems.



“You missed! How could you miss?” Ardesh roared to Xian.

“Captain, it was still a hit,” Xian pointed out.

“I don’t care!” Angrily he pushed Xian aside and got behind the console. “Let me show you how this is really done,” he said. “At least I don’t intend to see how much mud I can throw and hope some will stick.”



“They’re making another pass,” said Stowe’s pilot.

“Stand by,” ordered Stowe. “We hit ‘em last time, we need to let them know we aren’t bluffing.”

The Aeolian came into view again. Steady, Obi-Wan told himself, steady, any moment…

“Fire!”

Obi-Wan squeezed and the bolt fled from the mouth of his cannon, flying towards the hull of the corvette…and detonated on the surface without making much damage at all.

The Jedi blinked, what had happened there? His aim had been fine, but before the initial hit…

But he didn’t have time to think this further, a succession of laser blasts exploded against his gun turret, frying it completely.



“Now that,” said Ardesh, glancing pointedly at Xian whose position he had deposed, “is how you catch a ship intact!” He spoke into his head set. “Stiletto, what’s your status?”

“We’re in those coordinates like you said,” said the Stiletto’s pilot. “Your orders?”

“Take out their remaining weapons,” said Ardesh, readying himself as they began another attack run, this time to the front of the freighter. “And we’ll see how they can manage flying blind.”



His laser cannon useless, Obi-Wan made his way back to the bridge. The situation looked critical, the second corvette was taking out their remaining weapons while the first was preparing to attack them at the front.

I can’t let this happen, Obi-Wan decided, he should have said something sooner. He approached Stowe.

“Captain Stowe, what if I told you there was a way we could get them to stand down?” he asked.

Stowe paused and then stared at the Jedi for a moment. “What are you talking about?”

“If you convinced them that you could give them what they want they would leave you alone,” Obi-Wan continued. “And then while they extend a docking arm you could…” He ended with a shrug.

Stowe smiled. “I like the way you think.”