"We should have been prepared for this," Obi-Wan said.

"He won't get very far very fast," Anakin said. "I disabled half the power. I also cut the comm unit. I'd better get to the pilot seat."

Anakin whirled and charged back toward the cockpit. Obi-Wan followed.

Their best chance of escaping the Vanqor bombardment lay with his Padawan at the controls.

Their chances weren't good. At half-power, the ship could not possibly outrun the Vanqor ship, and it would also be hard to maneuver.

Obi-Wan hurried back to the cockpit, where the others stood nervously around Anakin as he took over the controls. The Vanqor ship was behind them, a monster assault ship clad in black and silver. A flash came from the side of the ship.

"Torpedo," Obi-Wan said.

Anakin made a hard right. The ship shuddered as it turned. The torpedo missed them.

Laser cannonfire began to boom. Anakin put the ship into a dive, but Obi-Wan could feel how the ship trembled. He exchanged a look with his apprentice. Anakin's lips thinned. Obi-Wan knew he was determined to get them through. But even Anakin couldn't work miracles. Obi-Wan began to study the map charts, looking for a place to set the ship down.

Unfortunately, the closest planet was Vanqor itself. "Hang on!" Anakin shouted.

The ship staggered from a direct hit. Blue lightning skittered along the console.

"Ion blast," Anakin said. "We've lost most of our computer systems."

He turned the ship again, trying to stay a moving target. He threw a glance at Obi-Wan. "We've got to get the ship down."

Obi-Wan looked at the others. "Our only choice is Vanqor."

The group exchanged glances. They had been through so much and accomplished so much. Landing on Vanqor and being captured could mean the end for all of them. But when they turned to Obi-Wan, not one of them looked afraid.

"If it is our only choice, let us take it," Thik said.

Anakin dipped the ship into the planet's atmosphere. "Can you give me a coordinate?" he asked Obi-Wan. "I don't have much time to maneuver, but I'll do what I can."

Obi-Wan didn't have time to consult the onboard references. He thought back on the holomaps he had studied. "Our best chance of evading capture is to land on the outskirts of the Tomo Craters," he said. "It's rugged terrain. We might be able to lose them there, if you can guide us to a safe landing." Obi-Wan quickly sat down at the computer and brought up the coordinates.

Anakin nodded briefly, too intent on keeping the ship on course to waste any movement. The ship rocked and shuddered under his hands. Suddenly it began to list to one side.

"The left stabilizer is failing," he muttered. "Everyone strap in.

We're going to have to crash-land."

Vanqor loomed below, a large, multicolored planet. Obi-Wan knew from his research that it was primarily made up of deserts and dry, high plateaus. Cities were midsize and strung out along the few fertile valleys.

The Tomo Craters area was a remote section that thousands of years ago had been hit by a meteor shower. Deep craters and fissures marked the dry land.

Suddenly an alarm began to sound. Red lights flashed in the cockpit.

Another bank of lights lit up. Anakin didn't say a word. He didn't have to.

Everyone knew what it meant: The ship was failing.

Instead of slowing, Anakin pushed his speed. Obi-Wan admired his cool.

He knew what Anakin was counting on. The faster they got down, the better.

He just wasn't sure what would happen when they got closer. Anakin would try to hug the surface, hiding from the ship above until he could land.

Normally, Anakin would relish this challenge and perform it flawlessly. But with a wounded ship, he was taking big chances.

Obi-Wan prepared himself. They passed over a green valley, and Anakin brought the ship closer to the surface. The entire frame was shaking.

Sirens blared and red lights flashed. The surface loomed closer. Red dirt was kicked up by their turbulence. It looked as though they were about to crash into boulders as big as buildings. The ship rolled to one side, nearly sending them into a massive rock formation. Anakin corrected it.

Sweat beaded his upper lip.

Obi-Wan saw a smooth plateau ahead. Anakin would try to land there. He slowed his speed, and the ship wobbled, rolling from side to side. If they hadn't strapped in, they would have been flung against the walls.

"I've lost the left stabilizer completely!" Anakin shouted. "Hang on!"

The ship slammed into the unforgiving ground. Obi-Wan felt his body rise up as though it weighed nothing. He came down, jarring teeth and bones. He tasted blood in his mouth. The ship careened down the plateau, tearing chunks of vegetation and knocking into small boulders. The noise was tremendous. The ship suddenly seemed a fragile thing, shaking so hard Obi-Wan wondered if it would simply fall to pieces.

The end of the plateau was less than fifty meters away. If the ship didn't stop moving, they would careen right off it, straight into the canyon bottom hundreds of meters below. Anakin frantically worked the controls. Obi-Wan saw the lip of the plateau approach. Slowly, slowly, the ship began to slide. A terrible groaning noise, worse than the harsh grating of the crash, rose in the air around them, battering their ears like a physical force. The ship suddenly tipped almost all the way to one side, slamming Obi-Wan against the console.

Then the ship crashed against a boulder and stopped.

Obi-Wan looked around. Thik looked pale. No doubt the bumpy landing had been hard on his injury. Shalini's forehead was bleeding. Olanz and Rajana looked shaken but all right.

"We've got to get out of here fast," Obi-Wan said.

He unbuckled himself and Anakin did the same. They helped the others to quickly extricate themselves from their seats. The landing ramp wouldn't engage, and the door had been mangled from the landing. Obi-Wan and Anakin set to work with their lightsabers to cut a hole through the hull.

Anakin suddenly stopped. He bent over to look through the viewport.

"They must have contacted Vanqor planetary security. Guard ships are approaching," he said. "They've located us."

"Do you have any smoke grenades and air masks aboard?" Obi-Wan asked Shalini.