Exhausted and in pain, Josh stumbled away from Wells's hideout much more slowly than he would have liked. He knew his first priority was to find his way back to the Red Home, but he wasn't sure just then if he could find his way around his own living room. The predominance of sand and stone told him he was likely still in the Old City somewhere. Of course he was only here a day or two before being captured and had barely begun to learn his way around. He didn't even know how long it was since he'd chased after Wells in the middle of the night.
The sun being high overhead gave him only the slightest help with that. It was, at the very least, somewhere between eight and sixteen hours. Unfortunately you could possibly add an unknown number of twenty four hour periods on to that. It may only have been twelve hours, but it could as easily have been thirty-six or sixty or. . . He didn't think that was likely, really. It didn't feel as if it had been any more than a day or two at the most.
One thing the sun did do was remind him of his wounds. It baked the blood seeping from the wounds that weren't yet fully closed and dried the mud-blood mixture Wells's seawater had created. It stung the back of his head so fiercely he was afraid he might have to seek medical attention if he didn't find his way back to his teammates soon. He pulled his shirt back on, which managed to hide his most gruesome injuries from casual onlookers. He fervently hoped no one would take a greater interest.
Josh crested a small rise in the alley he was following and finally saw what seemed to be a fairly major street in front of him. It was the most wonderful thing he'd seen in days. With his comlink gone he was trying to think through his next move - call the Batcave on a regular telephone and ask for help? What were the passwords for that again? Or maybe ask someone for directions to the road where the ships were parked and hope he could find them when he got there? His head pounded and he was having trouble forming a coherent thought; he was beginning to suspect he had a concussion.
Before he made any decision he heard something drop lightly to the ground behind him. Then there was an unmistakable snap-hiss! and a bellowed cry, "JEDI!"
Wanting more than anything to wish the last three seconds away, Josh turned around. The sight he found did nothing to reassure him. A tall man, dressed all in black from his boots to his high-collared neck, held a brilliant ruby-red lightsaber in a ready position. The clothing fit fairly closely, showing a muscular form beneath. Looking more closely at the stranger's face, Josh realized he was also quite young - no older than Josh himself, and likely even younger.
Not now. PLEASE not now.
But the wish couldn't dissipate the sight before him. The stranger seemed content to wait for a reaction, and he was tempted to see if not reacting would make him go away. But no, time was a luxury he didn't have. Best to get this over with. Whatever it was.
"Who are you?" Josh asked as he took a cautious step forward. His hand gripped his lightsaber tightly but he didn't light it.
"The face of your destiny," the stranger replied.
"I doubt that." Josh sighed. "I don't suppose you would care to do this another day?" Josh asked.
The stranger smiled. "I've waited long enough."
"What do you want, then?" Josh held his lightsaber by his side, but didn't ignite it.
"You, Jedi," the stranger said as he took a step forward.
I was afraid you were going to say that. "Well, I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm not like that. . ."
"You flatter yourself. Sarcasm doesn't suit someone of your power."
"And what power would that be?"
"You know of what power I speak, Jedi, and I WILL have it."
"But as you said, it's my power," Josh said, "and I don't really feel like sharing it right now."
"It is not wise to toy with a Dark Lord of the Sith."
Oh hell. "The Sith are extinct. They're nothing but fiction now. I don't know what you are, but you're no Sith."
"I'm afraid you are very much mistaken. The old, weak Sith are gone. I am Darth Sahhar, the future of the Sith, the galaxy, and this planet."
Whatever his own doubts, Josh couldn't deny the overwhelming strength of the Dark Side radiating from Sahhar. He reached out to the Light, drawing it in to slow his racing heart. "And what do you want with me?"
Sahhar took another step forward, bringing him within arm's reach of Josh. "The Force is strong with you. You would make an excellent apprentice."
"Now you flatter yourself." Josh's thumb found his lightsaber's activation button and paused over it. He touched the Force, asking it to ease his pain and calm the pounding of his head.
"The Dark Side calls to you, Jedi, I can feel it. It has called to you since you started down the path of the Jedi. Long have you struggled to control the power you were born to, while others leapt ahead. Join me and the power can be yours now."
Josh laughed, but the humor didn't reach his face. "We'll both be very dead before that happens." He ignited his saber and set himself into a ready position, his eyes setting into a look of grim determination. This may be it. Lord forgive me for all I've done.
"That can be arranged."
Sahhar struck, a powerful overhead blow that would have cleaved Josh in half from head through groin if he hadn't raised his lightsaber to block. Josh continued his swing through a large arc that shoved Sahhar's blade well away from the action, and before the dark Jedi could bring it back in line, Josh swung hard at his neck. Sahhar dropped and reverse somersaulted below the blue blade and came back up to his feet. His lightsaber was instantly moving again, this time striking out toward Josh's flank. The Jedi flipped his lightsaber over his outside hand to intercept the blow, then brought it back up to deflect the follow up. He rained his hardest blows down on Sahhar in quick succession, driving him back almost to a wall.
He's good, but not experienced. He's never fought another Jedi before. Josh initially assumed Sahhar was a washout from Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy, but was now forced to change his opinion. So where did he come from?
The moment's inattention almost gave Sahhar the opening he needed. He swung hard while Josh was unprepared, forcing him to duck the blow rather than parry. Sahhar took the moment it gave him to leap two stories onto the rooftop above them. Josh followed, landing lightly beside his opponent.
Josh felt his blood racing in his veins, but rather than bringing pain as it had it seemed to cleanse him. The constant draw on the Force and his realization of Sahhar's inexperience began to make him feel invincible. "Hey, Darth Neo, are those leather pants?" he asked, indicating the other's all-black garments. "Hasn't anyone ever told you it's not smart to wear black in the desert, even in February?" Sahhar snarled inarticulately and lashed out again.
The battle raged across the rooftops of Jerusalem's Old City in a relentless mutual pursuit. Each retreat was met by an advance, and each advance by either combatant was met head on. The two Jedi, Dark and Light, fought for supremacy but neither could gain a clear advantage. After a long while the two stood face to face, lightsabers at the ready before them, both breathing hard.
For the first time Josh remembered that there were thousands upon thousands of people in this city. It was impossible that the duel hadn't been seen by some of them. But when he reached outside himself though the Force he found no alarm, no surprise, no one rushing to contact the police or praying to their God for deliverance from the men with flaming swords. He wondered about this for an instant until he felt Sahhar suppressing their sight of the battle through the Force. He looked at the Sith in confusion.
Sahhar merely smiled. "They are not yet ready," he said in a tone that sent a shiver down Josh's spine. "Soon."
"What will you do with them?"
"All that you see will soon be mine. Join me and it will be yours as well. All this and much more."
"I wouldn't count on it. Not while I'm here to stop you."
Sahhar attacked again and Josh's parry was more instinct than decision. Going to have to end this soon. He desperately needed a way to disengage from the fight, but he couldn't simply walk away from the danger Sahhar presented. I have to stop him somehow. Josh lunged at the Sith, driving him back, but not inflicting any actual damage.
"I feel your frustration, Jedi. Let go of your anger."
Josh's only response was to smash the fist that held his lightsaber into Sahhar's jaw. The Sith staggered backward, and Josh snapped a side kick into his stomach. Sahhar folded around it and lashed out blindly with his lightsaber, almost managing to reach Josh's thigh before the Jedi danced out of the way of the red blade. Josh met the swing with an attack of his own, and the battle was rejoined.
In all of Jerusalem there was one man who was not affected by Sahhar's selective Force blinding.
Scifantasy, leader of Terra Group, was himself becoming a bit frustrated. He and Brad had been searching for Josh Cochran for some time now and had yet to find any trace of him. Backtracking the chase between their comrade and Wells proved fruitless. The trail simply ended. There was no signal from Josh's comlink, no technological way of tracing one person in an entire city.
So it happened that he was standing on the side of a dusty street, hoping for some inspiration, when a flash of light caught his eye. He turned to it and saw there on a rooftop very near a famous golden dome two fast-moving figures separated by flashes of electric blue and scarlet red.
"Oh hell," he muttered.
Josh recognized the Dome of the Rock well before they reached it, knew Sahhar was driving the fight toward it, but was helpless to do anything about it. Before he knew what was happening they found themselves in a courtyard before the ancient monument with its trademark dome reaching into the sky above them.
"Give it up, Sahhar!" he called. "You know you can't win."
Sahhar sneered at him and leapt up to the roof of the monument. "Not much for conversation, are you?" Josh muttered before following him. When he landed Sahhar was several meters away looking at him patiently, his lightsaber held loosely by his side, unlit. "It's time to end this," Josh said calmly.
"Past time. This has been an interesting diversion, Jedi, but there is other work to be done. It's time to accept your destiny. Join me."
"I told you once, Darthling, that'll never happen."
"Then the time has come for you to meet your fate." Sahhar leapt high into the air, lighting his saber as he went. He aimed the tip of the blade down and he reached the top of his arc and began to fall. At the last moment Josh leapt backwards out of the path of the strike, then counterattacked viciously. Sahhar was apparently tiring, too. He was barely able to parry Josh's blows as they came in, and he was completely unable to hold his ground in the face of the Jedi's energy. He took a step back, then another and another. Looking to break the stalemate he once more leapt into the air, this time trying a backwards flip to open the distance between them.
As Sahhar spun through the air Josh lashed out with his free hand, throwing all his remaining energy into one large Force push. Sahhar's tumble was interrupted and the Sith was thrown to the ground face down several meters back of where he'd intended. He rolled over onto his back and found himself resting against the base of the dome. Before he could regain his feet, a blue blade was across his throat mere inches from his skin.
"I said it ends now," said Josh as he towered over Sahhar.
Sahhar stared at Josh petulantly before igniting his lightsaber again. Instead of lunging at his opponent, though, he held it against the dome. "To some of my followers this is a holy place," he said, a victorious smile spreading across his face. "I wonder what would happen if they found you here when it collapsed?"
They stared at each other for a long moment, but in the end there was no choice. Josh stepped back and allowed Sahhar to climb to his feet. "Excellent. I was right, Jedi, you are powerful. You will be a great ally. . . someday. When that day comes you will know where to find me."
An image appeared in Josh's mind. A city in the desert with plain buildings and soaring prayers towers and onion-domed buildings rising into the sky alongside a wide river. Although it was daytime in the vision, it triggered in Josh's memory an echoing image: a green-tinted image of the light-flashes of tracers rising above a city as explosions rocked the towers. He knew it immediately; it was one of the strongest memories of his youth. It and hundreds like it.
He came out of his reverie just in time to see Sahhar drop from view on the other side of the roof.
When Josh dropped back into the courtyard he found himself face to face with Sci. "Chief. You have no idea how good it is to see you."
Sci nodded an acknowledgement but his expression was clouded. "I wish I hadn't seen some of what I have of you in the last few minutes. Come on, let's get out of here. This is probably not the best place in Jerusalem for me to be."
"You're probably not going to like what I have to tell you, then," Josh said as they headed for the gate.
"What's that?"
"We're going to Baghdad."