The gentleness in his Master's tone undid Anakin's reserve. 'I liked him,' he burst out. 'How could I like such a being?'
'I would guess that is because he is likable,' Obi-Wan said dryly.
His Master's calmness made Anakin feel better. 'Shouldn't the Force have alerted me to the dark side in him?'
'Not necessarily,' Obi-Wan said. 'The Force is not a truth-detector.
We can rely on it, but we can't expect it to save us. We must save ourselves. We must use our own intuition, our own intelligence. Your feelings about Granta Omega don't have anything to do with the Force. They have everything to do with experience.'
'Meaning I don't have enough?'
'Maybe,' Obi-Wan said. 'Perhaps I wouldn't have picked up on Omega's true character, either. But I have seen enough to know that evil can wear a charming face, my young Padawan. Charisma is not a virtue. It's a trait. It is not good or bad. Evil people can possess it. They often do and it is what makes them dangerous.'
'He says he is a seeker, just as the Jedi are,' Anakin said. 'He says the Jedi fear the Sith, but they know nothing of them.'
'He is wrong,' Obi-Wan said. 'The Jedi have deep knowledge of the Sith. Have you forgotten that one of them killed Qui-Gon?'
'That knowledge is with me every day,' Anakin said quietly. 'But it is also part of the problem. When I think of evil, I see that Sith Lord's face. I do not see Granta Omega's.'
'Evil has many faces,' Obi-Wan responded. 'It can masquerade as vision. One must look beneath the words, beneath the mask.'
An indicator light flashed. Obi-Wan sprang to his feet. 'We've arrived.'
Obi-Wan slid into the pilot's seat. Anakin sat next to him. The starfighter shuddered slightly as they came out of hyperspace. The planet of Haariden lay ahead.
Obi-Wan entered the coordinates for landing. He shot Anakin a quick questioning look. 'Are you ready to face him again?'
He was not sure, but he knew he had to be. 'I am ready, Master.'
He felt the dark side of the Force gather as they entered the planet's atmosphere. As they drew closer they could see the large areas of land that had been laid to waste by war.
'I am not happy to see this place again,' Obi-Wan murmured.
The craft skimmed over the foothills. Obi-Wan landed in a valley near an outcropping of trees.
'We need to keep clear of the eruption site,' he said. 'We'll track Omega on swoop bikes. According to Jocasta Nu, we have about an hour before the volcano begins to erupt.'
'Not much time,' Anakin said as they hurried toward the stowed swoops.
'It will have to be enough.'
Anakin swung his leg over the swoop. He was feeling better, but heaviness still seemed to hang on him, clouding his mind. The med staff had assured him that the drug was completely out of his system. He was not sure why he wasn't feeling himself yet. He suspected it had something to do with the dark feeling of doom he received from this planet.
They took off on their swoops, gliding over the hills and heading for the rugged mountains ahead. One mountain pushed high above the rest, seeming to thrust itself out of the planet's core. It was topped with snow, its peak hidden in the clouds.
'That's it,' Obi-Wan said. 'That's Kaachtari.'
They pushed the swoops to maximum speed. The air turned colder as they rose to higher elevations. Suddenly, Anakin saw a column of steam spurt from the ground below. He swerved the swoop just in time to avoid being scalded.
'We're in the danger zone now,' Obi-Wan said. 'Be careful.'
As they rode on, Anakin saw that deep fissures had cracked the earth and split gigantic boulders in two. The steam rose hundreds of meters high in some places. He heard a muffled sound, like a faraway star-fighter engine roaring.
'Groundquakes,' Obi-Wan said. 'Small ones, so far.'
Anakin looked ahead. He saw a line of soldiers hiking down the mountain. He pointed them out to Obi- Wan.
His Master frowned. 'This area was supposed to have been evacuated.
Let's get a little closer.'
They descended. Hearing the noise, the soldiers looked up. Some of them raised blasters.
'Master?'
'Don't worry.' Obi-Wan suddenly zoomed down, landing directly in front of them. Anakin followed his Master to the head of the line to stand before a gaunt soldier with a grimy face and a beard gray with ash.
'I see we meet again, Captain Welflet,' Obi-Wan said.
The captain nodded a greeting. 'I thought you evacuated.' A groundquake shook the area, and the captain staggered. 'You should have.'
