A/N: It's finally here! Yay! I would throw confetti if I wasn't so sure that all of you hate me for making you wait so long. It's just school, college applications, you know… but I got into all the colleges I applied for (all two), so that's cool. I've decided to go to IU rather then Northwestern, for anyone who cares. It's way cheaper, and my dad's Vietnam PoW benefits will pay full tuition on a public school. Anyway, on to the stuff you really care about…
Shattered Love
Chapter 1
Wait dear, a white horse is walking down my street here,
Your words are creeping at my feet
I fear, sunrise will come to soon and you'll disappear
Into the haze of this city and go south...
Look out, they're coming after us with big guns,
They're only gonna tell you all the bad things I've done
Even if they words they say aren't true they've won,
And I'm left here dyin' in the sun…
-Augustana
Obi-Wan
The nightmares didn't even bother him anymore; they'd been coming for so long.
If 13-year-old Obi-Wan had been asked what he'd been doing at 19, it wouldn't have been jerking awake from horrific nightmares or crying in his sleep.
And it certainly wouldn't be pining over a dead lover.
He washed his face off and dressed quickly. He had awoken to the beeping of his comlink; Qui-Gon wanted to see him in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. Something about a meeting with Mace Windu and Yoda.
A secret mission, Obi-Wan thought solemnly. So many missions these days are secret, or at least enough that I can't keep track. Something's happening in the galaxy, something dark and catastrophic.
Obi-Wan couldn't express his concerns to his master; Qui-Gon would tell him to keep his concerns in the present, where they belonged.
But the present was just so painful.
He straightened his tunic and stepped out of his room, ready to fake another day.
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Qui-Gon
The sunrise painted calming colors across the sky. They used to help.
There were moments, precious moments were Obi-Wan would seem normal, seem happy, and enough of these moments would occur for Qui-Gon to convince himself that the boy had recovered. However, when Qui-Gon was alone he couldn't lie to himself.
He carries Xanatos's death like a bomb; the closer he holds it the sicker with radiation he becomes, but if he drops it the world around him will collapse.
It's only been 19 months, Qui-Gon reminded himself. I'm still not over Tahl's death, maybe he just needs more time.
This was hard for Qui-Gon to accept though, because if he accepted that then he'd have to accept that Obi-Wan loved Xanatos.
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Obi-Wan
"Are you familiar with the Cad'ara?" Mace Windu asked, his hands steepled and his elbows resting on his thighs.
Water trickled and flowed around the group, the calm atmosphere not matching Windu's solemn attitude. The gathering consisted of five Jedi Knights and three Padawan learners: Mace Windu, Yoda, Adi Gallia, Qui-Gon Jinn, Kit Fisto, Bant Eerin, Siri Tachi, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"They're an employment agency," Siri, the smart, fair-haired apprentice of Adi Gallia responded automatically. "They assist the wealthy in finding hired help."
"Assist the wealthy, they do," Yoda nodded slowly. "But hired, the help is not. Stolen, they are."
Obi-Wan started, questions tingling on the tip of his tongue. Stolen? Slaves? In the Republic?
Astonished faces stared at Yoda.
"A slave ring?" Qui-Gon asked incredulously. "How are they getting away with it?"
"Connections, friends, and money. It is believed that someone in the Senate, someone powerful and smart, is aiding them," Windu shook his head. "The security forces can't find any really incriminating evidence, just insubstantial suspicions, and not even enough of those to search their traveling headquarters."
"Traveling headquarters?" Bant questioned.
"A very large ship named Abductor," Adi informed in her smooth, calm voice.
"How fitting," Qui-Gon remarked drily. "Why haven't the families of the kidnapped persons lodged any complaints?"
"They have," Windu continued. "But it can never be pinned on Cad'ara. They've handed over lists of buyers, all of whom, of course, vouched for the company's ethics. The Security Forces thought that they had them when a large group of employees quit, but somehow that group wound up dead."
"How convenient," Kit said sarcastically. Kit was a Nautolan from Glee Anselm, giving him head tails even more sensitive than a twi'leks.
"Or inconvenient, from our standpoint," Qui-Gon agreed.
Windu nodded. "What makes these kidnappings seem even more illogical is that they're not picking up random thugs and prostitutes out of the Crimson Corridor. No, they're taking planetary leaders, famous entertainers, rich businessmen, and the like."
"Why?" Siri asked. "Those people are use to luxuries, they can't make very good slaves."
"That I do not know," Windu admitted.
"How are they getting these people away from their security?" This question came from Adi.
Windu's reply was blunt and simple. "Bounty hunters."
Irritation washed through Obi-Wan at the uttering of those two words. Bounty hunters were one group that he did not understand; how could you stand yourself if your life was built on the suffering of others?
"Brought into this problem by one such important person, the Jedi were," Yoda explained, unaware of Obi-Wan's inner rant. "Asked us to discover the truth and expose it, Senator Palpaltine has."
"Senator Palpaltine?" Siri asked.
"Of Naboo," Windu picked up the explanation. "He suspects that the daughter of the Naboo King has been kidnapped by Cad'ara."
"What is it that the senator would like us to do?" Qui-Gon asked. Obi-Wan could see that what he really wanted to know was why it called for three teams.
Windu's face grew grave. "Infiltrate the Abductor."
"How? If they won't let security on, then why would they let us?" Kit asked, his unblinking alien eyes watching Windu carefully.
"And it'd be impossible to break into a ship like the Abductor," Qui-Gon expanded upon the question.
"Break in, you will not. Walk in, you will."
The Jedi turned to look at Yoda.
"Trust Jedi, Cad'ara will not. Trust Ex-Jedi, it will."
"So we pretend to have abandoned the Jedi order?" Adi asked. "Why would they believe us?"
"You don't," Windu said evenly. "Obi-Wan, Siri, and Bant do."
"What?" The three masters stared in amazement at Windu.
"Cad'ara would never believe that three esteemed Jedi would leave the order," Windu turned to glance at Obi-Wan. "But they might believe that a young man who has already left the order before has gone down the bounty hunter route, and taken two of his friends with him."
"I'm sure there's another way," Qui-Gon said quickly, surprising Obi-Wan. "They don't need to know that we we're even Jedi-"
"They have force sensitives on their side," Windu interrupted. "We don't know who the sensitives are, but they'd know a Jedi when they felt one."
"Unofficial, this mission is. Refuse, you may," Yoda watched Qui-Gon. "Understand, we will."
Qui-Gon doesn't trust me anymore, Obi-Wan thought sadly. Not by myself, at least.
The other two masters were whispering quietly with their Padawans.
"Siri and I accept," Adi said after a moment.
"So do Bant and I," Kit spoke.
Qui-Gon glanced at Obi-Wan. The boy knew that it wasn't to see what he wanted, but to get some kind of a reading on what he was thinking.
"We accept as well," Qui-Gon said hesitantly after studying Obi-Wan.
Windu nodded. "Good, then we send them tomorrow night."
Knowing the meeting was over Obi-Wan rose, ready to leave the large group and be alone.
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Sidious
If Lord Sidious had been capable of amused laughter there would be tears streaming down his face.
"They're such fools," he said acidly. "They're pawns that aren't even aware of being on the gameboard. But Obi-Wan Kenobi… perhaps he is not as much a fool as the rest."
The dark lord of the Sith spoke to his apprentice. The Iridonian was fearsome even in his youth, and it gave Sidious a great deal of pleasure to think how the Jedi and imbecilic Security Forces would squirm when they saw him fully matured into a man.
"And Xanatos?" His apprentice asked, clearly jealous of the idea that someone might be of more use to his master then himself.
The side of Sidious's mouth twisted into the semblance of a smile. "Now that Telosian is very interesting indeed, but he may be too talented and too clever for his own good. Someday he may fall out of favor with me, but his brilliance is useful now."
The sunset glittered across the shimmering buildings of Coruscant. Many people claim that Coruscant's sunsets are the most beautiful in the galaxy, but Sidious could not see it.
"Besides," he continued, blackening the screen and turning to face his prized student. "Who else can seduce the good-hearted Obi-Wan away from his precious temple and his dear, doomed friends?" Sidious turned to face the dark window once again. "The war is coming fast upon the horizon, Maul. I'm moving my pieces into place, and I want the best tools to move against the Order. And who better to bring them down but their own fallen Jedi?"
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A/N: For any of you confused about the timeline, I'll try to elaborate. Obi-Wan is 19 in this story, which means that it's taking place six years before the events of Episode 1. So I guess that wasn't much of an elaboration, but still. Anyway, let me know what you think.