Chapter 1

The Fall

A human male, somewhere in his early twenties, raced through the dark alleyways of the Crimson Corridor. The few occupants of the Corridor looked away as the man's pursuers gained on him. In the lead was a young human male of about seventeen years, followed by a teenaged Trandoshan and Rodian respectively: all three head members of the local 'law,' the Raptors. The man's 'crime' was stumbling into the Corridor after dark and refusing to pay the Raptor's the money they demanded for his safe, if it could be called that, passage out of the Corridor.

The man's head swam with unusable escape plans as his lungs began to burn in the thick, putrid air. All plans flew out the window as his right leg cramped up and his foot caught on an outcropping of broken permecrete. He turned his fall into a graceless shoulder roll, jumping back to his feet and continuing around a corner. The Raptors now roughly three meters away from him.

Trying to loose his pursuers, he took a complicated route of twists and turns that lead him in several circles. The man had no idea where he was going as he took a left around the side of the ruined foundation of a building, where as the Raptors knew this place even in the dark. All things considered, it was nearly always dark below the layer of fog ten stories up.

After a quick right turn the man found himself cornered with not place to hide and not even a stick to fight with. He skidded to a stop before the dead end and turned to face his three pursuers. The three stopped two meters in front of him and the human boy advanced at a walk.

'Yer on Raptor territ'ry, friend,' he said, informing the man, again, with an arrogant smile. 'Now you've got to pay.'

The man said nothing, but fixed his stance and clenched his hands into tight fists. He gave himself a mental pep talk as the grin on the boy's face broadened.

The boy gestured to the Trandoshan who had moved to flank his leader. 'I want you to meet Vressk. He doesn't say much, but he may be our best fighter.'

The Trandoshan stepped forward, his reptilian snout twisting into what may have been a smile on another life form. On the human's other flank, the Rodian cracked his knuckles and reached for an uncharged blaster in an attempt at intimidation.

The boy continued, Vressk now at his side. 'He 'asn't eaten in a while so it's safe to assume he's a bit hungry. It's your lucky day.' The boy took another step towards the man. 'He won't play with ya' much before he eats ya'.' The boy chuckled as the Trandoshan quickly closed the gap between himself and the human.

Knowing he was outmatched but refusing to go down without a fight, the man flew at the Trandoshan, landing a solid and well-placed punch on his snout. He moved quickly to follow up with an upper cut but was caught by surprise when a huge cold clawed hand gripped him firmly by the neck. His air being ruthlessly squeezed out of him, the man could only put up a few more seconds of fight before Vressk got a grip on his arm and ripped it off. The man let out a silent, breathless scream once and went into shock, not feeling another thing before his death.

The human boy turned to the Rodian, disgusted at the Trandoshan's play, though he would never admit it or show it. 'Well,' he said matter-of-factly as he gestured the Rodian to follow him. 'That was fun.'

The Rodian's small snout wiggled a little as he gave a nervous chuckle. The two walked out of the dead-end leaving the sounds of flesh tearing and ligaments popping behind them.

* * * * *

Chandra sat crossed legged, eyes closed on a round pallet in one of the many meditation chambers of the Jedi Temple. She had been sent there, again, by her mentor, Jedi Master Depa Billaba, to meditate, again, on the Jedi Code. Master Billaba sat on a cushion next to Chandra, also cross-legged and eyes closed.

Upon entering the mediation chamber, one would notice a stark contrast between Master and Padawan. The Jedi Master sat with her back straight, her expression serene and meditative. Her light brown robes matched her tan coloured skin. Two small jewels were set in her skin on the bridge of her nose. A Jedi would notice that she was completely submerged in the Force, monitoring her Padawan from within it.

The girl, on the other hand, sat stiffly, her brow creased with frustration. Her black hair was pulled off her face into a long ponytail. Her dark brown cloths looked stark against her too pale skin. She was no where near the Force.

In her mind she repeated the words of the Jedi Code, the first thing she had learned upon her arrival at the Jedi Temple.

There is no emotion; there is peace.

There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.

There is no passion; there is serenity.

There is no death; there is the Force.

Chandra knew the code, that was not the problem, but no matter how many times she was sent to meditate on it, no matter how many times Depa explained it, she simply could not understand it all. She knew that lack of understanding was the key to what was holding her back.

The second line made sense. On old maxim ran through her thoughts, With knowledge comes power. Yes, she understood that, and had plenty of it. Since the time she had learned how to read, Chandra had spent every spare moment in the Archives of the Jedi Temple. She stored every bit of information she'd read in her mind, like a well-organized computer file, ready to access at any moment. Yes, she had knowledge of facts, knowledge of the Force, but not access. And it was this reason, among others, that she could not comprehend how she had become a Padawan in the first place, much less chosen by a Jedi Master like Depa Billaba.

The fourth line made sense. Upon death all living creatures became one with the Force. She had seen death, plenty of it, and understood what happened. From the time of conception, the life form becomes an extension of the Force, not necessarily aware of it, but feeding it, and living off of it. At the moment of death the life form returns it's energy, it's substance, back to the Force. Therefore, in life and in death, all creatures are part of the Force.

The first and third lines, those two were another story all together. They seemed redundant. Chandra vaguely saw the difference between emotion and passion. She understood why emotions needed to be reigned in, kept from exploding into passion and taking over. But it seemed to Chandra that it took a form of passion to seek the Force day after day and not give up, maybe not for those who were able to dwell in it, to meld with it, but for those still learning. The second part of both lines, this was where she was stumped. Peace and serenity, they seemed like two words for the same thing, two words that described the feeling one had when completely immersed in the Force. But why, Chandra wondered, were they both used?

Chandra tried to seek her answers within the Force. Like so many other times, Chandra reached out, trying to find her connection to the Force. She knew it was out there, somewhere. She could sense it, could use it in a limited way. Many times during lightsabre duels she had found the Force there with her like an omnipresent friend. It had filled her with it's calm, guided her, moved her to victory. It was there when she needed it, but not when she looked for it. It seemed like the more she reached out for it, the further away it became.

Depa sensed her Padawan's struggle, but could do nothing to help her. She understood how Chandra felt. She had been in the same place all those years ago when Mace Windu took her under his wing to train her. He guided her patiently as she grew slowly in the Force. Now she was a Jedi Master and a member of the Jedi High Council, an honour only twelve at a time receive. Her Master, Mace Windu, was a senior member of the Council.

Depa sense a wide range of conflicting emotions radiating from the girl beside her. She sensed doubt, fear, determination, and a sudden, powerful surge of anger. Her brow creased in concern as the anger grew.

Chandra gritted her teeth in anger. She was more determined than ever to find the Force. She was tired of failure, tired of the disappointed looks on her mentor's face, tired of the disapproval she saw in the eyes of the other Jedi Knights and Masters, tired of the scorn she received from the other students. She was tired of it all. She...felt the Force enfolding her, sending energy and strength into her, filling her with its power.

Depa's eyes popped open as she looked in shock at her Padawan. She felt strange ripples in the Force. The ripples turned into waves, then washed over the girl in a strong tide, filling her completely with its energy. But the energies were wrong. The Force conflicted with itself in the peaceful meditation chamber, pushing at itself like two lightsabres locked together. Depa frowned. She had seen this happen before. She remembered clearly the day Master Jinn returned to the temple without his Padawan and reported what had happened to the High Council. Two others had fallen prey to it only a few years ago. Depa hesitated, knowing she must put a stop to this, must warn her student about the danger; her student who now was sitting, relaxed, comfortable, deep within the folds of the power that came from the Dark Side.

* * * * *

Chandra stood silently, listening to her mentor's speech on the Dark Side. Depa stood a full head shorter than her Padawan, but her presence was a powerful one. Her blue eyes were patient and concerned. Chandra was once again frustrated and angry. She held herself like someone who was uncomfortable with her body. Her long arms dangled at her side and her shoulders were a little stooped.

'Once you start down the path of the Dark Side it will forever control your destiny. Do you understand this, Chandra? You must never again allow yourself to fall into its evil.' Depa finished, looking deep into her Padawan's eyes.

Chandra said nothing, keeping her thoughts respectfully to herself. She knew she was breaking another one of the rules by not responding to a Master, but at the moment she really did not care.

Depa sighed. Trying to break through this girl was like trying to push one lightsabre blade through another. The blades would lock until they over heated and exploded. 'Chandra, my job here is to train you to become a Jedi Knight. If that was not possible you would never have come to the Temple,' Depa said softly.

'No, your right,' Chandra interrupted her, not caring how she spoke. 'I would have died back on Corellia when I was three after a Jedi Knight murdered both of my parents!'

'You know that's not how it happened, Chandra,' Depa said, barely a hint of frustration peeking through her voice. It was quickly covered up. 'We've been over this before. Your parents were members of the Black Sun. They ambushed a peacekeeping...'

'If it was an ambush then why was I there? Why did I watch them die?'

'Chandra,' Depa scolded firmly, immediately silencing the girl. 'Qui-Gon Jinn is a Jedi Master. It is not your place to question him or myself. Do I make myself clear?'

Chandra gritted her teeth as she humbled herself, knowing she was getting no where except into trouble. 'Yes, Master,' she said quietly.

Depa took a step toward the girl, no longer as a disciplining mentor, but as a mother, and laid a comforting hand on Chandra's shoulder. She placed another on the girl's cheek and raised Chandra's eyes from the floor to look into her own.

'Let go of your anger, Chandra,' she said lovingly, but firmly. 'If you hold onto it and feed it, it will only grow, and it will destroy you.'

Chandra clenched her jaw shut, biting back her response. In a bold, disrespectful move, she twisted away from Depa and stormed out of the room, leaving the Jedi Master stunned and saddened.

* * * * *

A purple energy beam ignited as nine tiny remote controlled droids flew in random circles around the tall Jedi and began shooting thin blue energy darts at him. The first was aimed at his legs and a split second later at his chest. Letting the Force guide his movements, the Jedi's lightsabre spun at an impossible speed, deflecting both bolts almost simultaneously. Four more bolts came at him; head level, chest, arm, and another at his legs. Three of the four were dodged by a lightning fast twist, the fourth was dodged with a quick jump at the last second. Deep within the energy tides of the Force, the Jedi sensed and deflected nine energy bolts hurled at him at once. All nine bolts were returned to their droids after striking the blade of the lightsabre. All nine droids fell to the ground, flawlessly deactivated. The Jedi hadn't even broken a sweat.

The Jedi thumbed the power on the lightsabre off and turned to the entrance as Depa Billaba walked in. She glanced quickly at the nine spherical droids scattered on the floor and nodded her approval.

'Congratulations, Master Windu,' she said quietly.

'Master Billaba, what brings you here?' The dark skinned Jedi Master asked, clipping his lightsabre onto his utility belt.

'It's my Padawan, Master,' Depa started, Mace Windu gesturing for her to follow him. 'I'm, well, frankly I'm very concerned about her. She seems to have given up on everything we've tried to teach her. She's...' Depa hesitated, unwilling to continue her sentence.

'Begun to look to the Dark Side,' Windu finished for her.

Depa looked up at her mentor. 'Yes,' she affirmed.

'We've all felt it. I was actually wondering if you'd been able to resolve yet without the intervention of the Council.'

'She's become increasingly more defiant and disrespectful, Master. Disrespectful of both myself and other Jedi. Today she went as far as to accuse Master Jinn of murdering her parents. Then she turned her back on me and left.'

Mace Windu sighed as Depa finished. 'I will call a meeting of the High Council tomorrow and we will discuss this matter further.' He rested a fatherly hand on Depa's shoulder. 'For now, be confident that Chandra will choose the correct path.'

Depa forced a smile as she and her mentor went their separate ways. She tried to follow his advice, but a nagging fear tugged at the back of her consciousness.

* * * * *

In her dark chambers, Chandra slept the light, fitful sleep of one whose mind was troubled. She slept and she dreamed. She dreamed of her past. The past she hardly remembered. The past before the Jedi came into her life.

She could see her mother's face, like hers in complexion, only serious and worry worn. Her father's image was vague. She remembered him only as a strong presence that never seemed to go away. Then the Jedi came. She remembered a battle that did not last long. There were not many beings there. Her mother and father, a Trandoshan, three Rodians, a Faleen, and Jedi Knight and his Padawan. She didn't remember the events leading up to the fight, even in her dreams. She only saw her mother and father firing blaster bolts at the attacking Jedi. Their blaster bolts were deflected back at them and their fight was over almost as soon as it began. The face of the Jedi haunted her even during her waking hours; the face of the man who had killed her parents, found her hiding spot, and stole her away to the Jedi Temple, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.

Suddenly, in the way of dreams, the images shifted. She was fourteen now, in the present, or at least near the present, perhaps in the nearby future. She was running through dark alleyways somewhere in the underworld of Coruscant. Behind her were four beings in hot pursuit. Chandra easily kept ahead of them, but then she stopped just short of the base of the skyscrapers, its walls forming a T-shaped intersection. She started to run down the right lane when something stopped her. She sensed something, a strange presence, powerful and dark, something she had never felt before. She did an about-face and out of the shadows, now directly in front of her, emerged a cloaked figure. The figure was humanoid, tall, but unrecognizable under the black cloak and cowl-like hood. The presence pulled at her, enticing her to draw nearer but at the same time sending a bolt of fear down her spine. She felt that if she took even one step that way she would never be able to alter her course.

Behind her now she felt a familiar presence. She did not even have to look, though she did, to recognize her mentor, Depa Billaba. Now she stood between the two beings, torn, with no where to go but back. From somewhere in the distance she heard the footfalls of her four pursuers, whom she had forgotten about, cutting off her only escape. Now she had to choose. Chandra covered her head in a futile attempt at blocking out her surroundings. She fell to her knees as the six beings around her all began to call out to her at once.

Then it was over. Chandra woke abruptly, her eyes popping open and her ears ringing with the echoes of her dream. She glanced at the chrono across the room. It was still early morning. Dawn had not yet broke on the horizon of the thermasteel covered planet.

Chandra settled back into her sleeping couch and closed her eyes. She wanted to fall back to sleep but her subconsciousness feared what may wait her there. After two hours of silence she finally slipped out of consciousness and did not dream for the rest of the night.

* * * * *

The judgement was passed. Without her having any say in the matter, it was decided that Chandra would go to Sullust as a part of a relief team for a year. As she stood before the Council they told her that it was to help her focus, but Chandra could see past their thin words. The news was out. All over the Temple Padawans and Jedi alike whispered about it. Jedi Padawan Chandra was falling toward the Dark Side. The Council wanted to keep it quiet so naturally everyone knew. Chandra could not walk past anyone, student or teacher, without receiving curious, fearful, or scolding glances.

Deep within her an uncontrollable rage ignited. Somehow she knew her destiny was not on some strange world helping beings she could not care less about. She knew that somewhere, deep under the planet-wide city her destiny was waiting for her. All she had to do was meet it. She began to quickly formulate a plan to leave the Jedi Temple behind her, forever.

Chandra spent the next several hours in the Archives pouring over maps of Coruscant. She tried vainly to ignore Madame Jocasta Nu's presence breathing down her back for the first half hour. Fortunately the old Jedi was called away by a man she recognized as Lorn Pavan. She glanced up quickly in their direction and saw Jedi Master Dooku fiddling with a small, pyramid shaped holocron in the back of one of the aisles. The holocron was quickly hidden when he sensed her gaze on him.

Chandra shrugged and thought nothing more of it. She was finally alone. She quickly switched to the maps of the lower levels of Coruscant, the levels which most beings who loved on the planet denied existed at all. She was busy memorizing the map of the third quadrant of the Zi-Kree sector, known by the locals as the Crimson Corridor, when two nine-year-olds decided it would be fun to make sport of her while Madam Jocasta was busy. One of the boys leaned in close, but not too close, while the other boy kept a fearful distance.

'Shouldn't you be studying the maps for Sullust right now?' the boy asked, mockery thick in his unchanged voice.

Chandra did nothing but turn her head and envelop the two boys in a hard glare. The boys lost no time in making themselves scarce.

No, Chandra answered them in her thoughts. Because I'm not going to Sullust. She returned to the maps as if the boys had never interrupted her.

* * * * *

She was not sure how she did it or if she even had. Chandra had simply walked out of the Temple, going out for some air, passing by numerous Jedi, including her mentor, without receiving so much as a glance from anyone. Normally Chandra would have wondered what had happened, would have worried that she had no supplies. But not today. Today she was free and wasted not time in loosing herself in the crowd. She found that, however, she stood quite apart from the other beings there, cloaked as she was in the garb well known for being used by the Jedi. She could only hope that the robe she wore over it was enough to conceal her from the more probing eyes.

It was not.

From behind her she could sense the presence of the being she hated above all others in the galaxy. Her first thought was, What is he doing back here? Her second was quite different. Girl, you'd better make yourself scarce or he's gonna find you. Chandra's eyes narrowed in response to a profound hate welling up inside of her, instantly connecting her with the Force. Suddenly she sensed that Qui-Gon had found her and that there were others about to find her. Someone grabbed her arm from behind. Using the Force to give her power she broke loose of the hold and bolted through a crowd of tall aliens, disturbing several drinks and causing an eruption of curses. There were two Jedi on her tail as she dashed into a building and threw herself inside the turbolift just as the door began to close. She rode the elevator up for a while until a few of the other passengers disembarked. She followed them discretely into another building and took that turbolift down thirty levels. Here Chandra switched again and took a new turbolift down to its lowest level. She let go of the Force, not knowing if the Jedi were still following her but figuring it would take them longer if the could not sense her use of the Force. She exited the building and walked slowly to the edge of the permecrete outcropping. She looked over the side and judged she was still around twenty stories above the fog layer.

She looked around her, trying to place where exactly she was. She knew she had not come far from the temple in a horizontal path, though she had come quite a way vertically. The buildings around her were noticeably more run down than those she was used to. A pick pocket brushed by her, quickly reaching into the pocked of her robe and pulling his hand out quite disappointed. Chandra ignored the small boy, feeling almost a sense of pity for him. But the boy had given her an idea. She reached into the inside fold of her obi and pulled out a few credits she always had stashed away there. It was not much, but it would get her out of the area. She managed to hail a taxi and climbed into the back of the cloud car. She gave the driver all of the credits and told him to drive her as far east as the credits would last. She could have gotten the ride for free an for farther, but she was never any good at voice manipulation, so at this point she did not even try.

The taxi dropped her off a level down and about ninety miles east. She knew she had paid for more but did not want to push the issue. This was far enough. Chandra exited the cloud car and found her way into an apartment building. She took the turbolift as far down as it would go, fourteen stories. There was another turbolift inside the building that went down further but it had been offline for years and was, by this point in time, completely unusable. She left the apartment building and was quickly hit by a myriad of lights and sound. The sunlight did not penetrate the smog very well down here but the owners of the nearby bars, taverns, and clubs seemed to be doing a good job of making up for lack of sunlight by using bright coloured fluorescent lights advertising things Chandra had only heard rumors of.

Some of the citizens of this area did not take too kindly to her presence there. Drug and spice dealers glared at her from corners and protectively hid their illegal substances. Local prostitutes moved away from their posts, trying to act like normal citizens. Their male or female companions did not seem too happy with the change.

Some beings, on the other hand, gave off a sense of relief at the presence of a Jedi in the vicinity. They gave way before her, creating a clear path to wherever she wanted to go.

Chandra despised this place. She wanted out. She wanted down. The one place she wanted to go she could not find a path to. She lingered in the streets for hours, listening, following beings around, looking for any way to get past the layer of fog five levels below her.

The edge of the permecrete outcropping was blocked off by a cast iron fence, mostly to prevent the inebriated citizens from falling off the edge. Chandra moved over to the edge, seriously considering jumping down. It was five stories to the fog layer, and thirty more past that. She'd heard of Jedi surviving falls farther than that, but the occurrences were rare, and she did not trust the Force enough to try that.

Out of the corner of her eye, Chandra saw the crowd of people break. Two Rodians burst through the opening and charged straight at her. They stopped several meters in front of her and paused just long enough to get their bearings. From within the crowd she heard someone yell, 'STOP THEM!!!'

Chandra bolted after the two creatures. People gave way before her, assuming, since she wore Jedi cloths, that she meant to stop the two creatures. She hung back just far enough to let them think they would get away. Her strategy proved true enough for a while. The Rodians lead her in several circles, through cramped alleyways, inside of worn down buildings. Unable to shake her though, the Rodians thought of something Chandra hadn't expected. They ran straight into the thick of the crowd. As the press of bodies became increasingly difficult to push through, Chandra fought her own despair.

When she finally broke through the crowd, the Rodians were no where in site. With the noise of the cloud cars mixed with the raucous population Chandra could trust none of her senses. In a last, desperate action, Chandra tried to connect with the Force. She found it much easier than ever but she did not bother thinking about it. As she caught her breath she let the Force envelop her, guide her. Her senses were suddenly heightened. She could distinctly hear the footfalls of the creatures and could almost 'see' where they were. She darted after them, quickly catching up to them and staying on their heels. Suddenly she stopped. She had arrived at the place where she had last 'seen' the creatures. It was a dead end.

Chandra's anger at her current situation quickly melded with the tides of the Force, turning them dark. She felt a stronger power enfold her, welcoming her like a friend. Through the Force Chandra could feel the traces of the Rodians' life force. She followed to where their path distinctly dropped below her. She found herself standing above them somehow. She looked down at her feet and to her pleasure saw what appeared to be the half covered outline of an old service tunnel from the time when this had been part of the upper levels of the planet-city. Despite its aged appearance it opened quite easily. She smiled, overjoyed that she had found a passage down lower into the planet. Her joy promptly disconnected her from the Dark Side.

Chandra spun as she heard soft footsteps approaching her from the cramped ally leading to the dead end. She quickly realized her mistake. Her used of the Dark Side had acted like a homing beacon for the Jedi looking for her. Qui Gon Jinn's Padawan had followed that beacon quite easily and was now only three meters away. She took a step backwards, standing on the edge of the service tunnel. Another set of footsteps approached.

He must have already called for help, Chandra thought, her eyes narrowing at the young man. Qui-Gon.

'Tell your master I'll come back for him,' she said. Not letting the young man respond she leapt into the tunnel. She did not know or care if there would be anything to break her fall at the bottom.

* * * * *

A young man, cloaked in black watched the silent confrontation between the two Jedi Padawans with mild amusement. He saw the girl defiantly leap into the black service tunnel and felt her reaching out to the Force.

He saw a tall Jedi Knight rush into the ally as the male Padawan raced to the edge of the tunnel, ready to jump in after the stubborn female. The Jedi Knight stopped him and calmly gauged the situation. To the man's mild surprise, the Jedi began to follow the girl after finding a ladder that started about four meters down. At his silent bidding an entire flock of hawk bats flew into the service tunnel from a lower level then up and out, dozens of the creatures ramming into the surprised Jedi. The cloaked man bared his pointed teeth as he watched the Jedi struggle to shield their faces with their arms as they drew their lightsabres and fought to fend off the crazed creatures. The lightsabres, unfortunately for the Jedi, proved to be of little help against the hawk bats who were perching on their heads and shoulders and pecking at them. As if on a silent command the two Jedi fled the alley ragged and bleeding from the ferocity of the creatures' attack.

The cloaked man resisted the urge to follow them or to send the hawk bats after them. Instead he remained hidden in his perch to wait out the situation.

* * * * *

Chandra hung desperately to a half broken ladder in the cramped service tunnel as a flock of hawk bats flew past her from no where. She had caught the ladder just in time to get a good grip before the crazed creatures flew past her. She had no clue what had come over the creatures, but, whatever it was, she was grateful for it.

Chandra reached out and felt the Dark Side waiting for her, within her grasp. She quickly grabbed hold of it and used it to guide her footsteps over the rusted out and missing rungs. She searched for traces of the two Rodians and sensed that they had somehow already reached the bottom. For their sake she hoped that they had reached it before the hawk bats had entered the tunnel.

The progress she made was quick, but not quick enough. She was still at least ten stories from the bottom when she sensed the hawk bats starting to disperse above her. She reconsidered jumping the rest of the way.

* * * * *

The hawk bats loosed themselves on the city as Qui-Gon and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, quickly returned to the dead end where Chandra had leapt into the service tunnel. The lid was still open. Neither Qui-Gon nor Obi-Wan sensed any trace of Chandra.

Qui-Gon pulled a small com-link from his utility belt and turned the power on, opening a channel to the Jedi Temple. It was quickly answered by Jedi Master Windu.

'What is your report?' The Jedi Master asked, dispensing, as was his way, with all pleasantries and small talk.

'We know which direction Chandra went but we can't find her.'

'Can you sense nothing, Qui-Gon?'

'No, Master Windu. Her life force stops here. She jumped into an old service tunnel. It's highly possible she was killed upon striking bottom,' Qui-Gon answered solemnly.

'Possible, but not certain,' came the determined reply.

Qui-Gon's voice had a tinge of regret as he spoke. 'I sense nothing, Master Windu. No life force, no feelings. Its as if she never got any further than where I am standing.'

Though he could not hear it, the Jedi Master could almost feel the leader of the High Council sigh, could almost see his shoulders sag under the weight of yet another lost Padawan. It was happening more and more frequently. First Xanatos, then Bruck Chun, most recently the twins, Taúna and Florex, now Chandra. All four had turned to the Dark Side. Three were lost to the world of the living, one had disappeared. A pang hit Qui-Gon's heart. The lost were not the only ones gone.

'Understood,' Master Windu's voice was solemn. 'Return to the Temple when you can.'

The com-link connection was broken and Qui-Gon stowed the small device away in his utility belt.

Obi-Wan looked with concern at his master. Qui-Gon was silent, reflective. He's thinking of Xanatos again, Obi-Wan rightly guessed. In his years as Qui-Gon's Padawan, Obi-Wan had learned to read his master quite well. There were still times when the Jedi Master surprised him, mostly by straying from the code; but over all, Obi-Wan could tell when to stay silent around him.

Conscious of his master's reflective mood, Obi-Wan slipped into the Force like a hand into a well-fitted glove. Or was it the other way around? It did not really matter. He let the Force envelop him in its cleansing energies and reached out to search again for the lost Padawan. Nothing. It was as Qui-Gon had said, as if Chandra had never gone past the lip of the service tunnel. Perhaps this was all a dream. Perhaps Obi-Wan would wake up on his sleeping couch at the Temple and things would be as they should be. But Obi-Wan knew better than to dwell on wishful thinking. Chandra was gone. Another Padawan had been lost to the evil energies of the Dark Side.

Obi-Wan's eyes traveled up as he sensed another presence nearby. On a high ledge, half hidden by garbage and refuse stood a tall, black cloaked figure. Obi-Wan blinked and the image was gone. So was the presence he had felt. As if no one had ever been there. Obi-Wan sighed quietly and dismissed the phantom as a product of his over-active imagination.

Qui-Gon was pulling himself out of the past and, one last time, searching for Chandra's life-force as Obi-Wan turned to his master. Sensing a slight change in the Jedi Master's mood, the Jedi Padawan dared to speak and ask a question.

'Chandra said, "Tell your master I'll come back for him",' Obi-Wan reported. 'What did she mean, Master?'

Qui-Gon turned to his young Padawan and smiled ever so slightly. His eyes reflected sorrow but strength as well. 'It is in the past, Obi-Wan. You'd best not dwell on it.'

Qui-Gon was silent as he replaced the lid to the service tunnel. During the entire journey back to the Temple, he and Obi-Wan walked side by side, like father and son, and said not a word. Only one thought lingered in Obi-Wan's mind. Why do all the Padawans that turn hate him so much?

* * * * *

The cloaked man stood silently, watching the Jedi Master confer with someone at the Temple. During the silence he dared to move out a little more to get a better view. A better view of the Jedi he would one day kill. He could almost taste the blood as he imagined the final, killing blow. Someday.

The Padawan turned and looked up at the cloaked man. In the blink of an eye the man hid himself behind a crate and concealed his life-force in the dark currents around him.