CHAPTER 1 Laser beams flashed around Obi-Wan's Jedi Interceptor Interceptor as his fingers danced across the controls The small starfighter danced in response avoiding the beams Space is supposed to be empty Obi Wan thought as he wove through the swarm of droid tri fighters Not that the space around Coruscant had ever been empty The capital planet of the Galactic Republic attracted thousands of ships every day carrying diplomats diplomats and Senators tourists and refugees food and goods from strange and distant star systems The ships that filled the sky now however were fighters and cruisers and battleships not freighters and transports transports At least a lot of them are ours Obi Wan thought His ship rocked as a droid fighter exploded a little too close by Anakin had scored a hit Obi Wan grimaced He didn't enjoy this sort of flying not the
way his former apprentice did Flying is for droids he muttered As the fireball cleared Obi Wan saw movement against the stars Look out he said into his comm Four droids inbound He swerved as he spoke to avoid the oncoming tri fighters Off to one side Anakin's Interceptor made the same move in perfect unison They swept around one side of the droid formation then swooped unexpectedly unexpectedly close to the two nearest ships One droid saw them and followed but the ship behind it kept to its original course and the two fighters collided Two down two to go But the remaining droids wouldn't fall for the same trick We've got to split them up he said into the comm Break left Anakin's voice said in his ear Fly through the guns on that tower Easy for you to say Obi Wan grumbled as he sent his fighter hurtling toward the gun towers of the nearest cruiser Why am I always the bait Don't worry Anakin said soothingly I'm coming coming around behind you Obi Wan would have snorted but he was too busy with the controls Flying this close to a large starship was tricky even with the Force to help The droids weren't having much trouble though Both of them had stuck with him and they were gaining 6
Laser fire flashed barely missing the Jedi fighter Anakin they're all over me Obi Wan complained Dead ahead Anakin's voice said happily Move to the right so I can get a clear shot at them Closing Lock onto him Artoo Obi Wan heard a faint beep in the background from Anakin's astrodroid R2 D2 A moment later one of the tri fighters behind him exploded Obi-Wan Obi-Wan would have been better pleased if the second fighter hadn't kept on firing Its aim was improving too That was the trouble with droids you couldn't distract them I'm running out of tricks here Obi-Wan Obi-Wan said to Anakin The cruiser dropped away behind them Out in open space he was a sitting duck He needed something something else to dodge behind A Separatist battleship loomed not the best idea perhaps but the only one available at the moment I'm going down on the deck he told Anakin He swung his fighter narrowly narrowly avoiding another barrage of laser fire Good idea Anakin sounded cheerful I need some room to maneuver What space isn't big enough But once again Obi Wan was too busy skimming the surface of a battleship to speak And this one was firing at him right along with the droid fighter on his tail This may not have been such a good idea he thought as he dodged blasts coming from all directions 7
