Disclaimer: Fair use and transformative work.
A/N: AU of Star Wars Prequels, starting with the Jedi Apprentice books – Book 1. Part two of the "Unclaimed" series.
Summary: His is the first face on the blue milk carton, but it makes no difference; they never find him.
MISSED CONNECTION
At the end of his report, Qui-Gon took a deep breath. "The Bandomeer mission concluded successfully, Masters."
"As did your detour to Phindar?" Mace, voice unaccountably solemn.
Qui-Gon frowned. Such melancholy did not comport with the tenor of his tidings, yet the entire Council, arrayed around him, were more subdued than was their wont. "Yes."
Shadows stretched across the room from the fading daylight, obscuring Yoda's visage. When he spoke, his tone was equally indecipherable. "And what of Xanatos?"
Qui-Gon swallowed, pain a hot flare in his heart. He opened himself to the Force in his next breath, cool energy flowing soothingly through him. "Nothing, beyond his control of OffWorld. There has been no recent activity."
"Sought him in the Force, have you?"
"No, Master."
"Hmmmph."
"And Initiate Kenobi?" Master Koon waved one clawed hand.
Qui-Gon blinked, the name only vaguely familiar. "It is better not to train a boy to become a Knight if he has so much anger. There is the risk he will turn to the dark side." A young face, despairing. Fierce in battle. Too fierce. "What of him?"
"Safely installed, is he, with the AgriCorps on Bandomeer?" Yoda thumped his gimer stick against the Council's mosaic floor.
Qui-Gon did not bother to hide his frown. How should I know? "The last time I saw Initiate Kenobi was in the Temple, Masters."
Alarm, ringing through the Force. Yoda had stiffened in his seat, large eyes meeting Qui-Gon's.
"Initiate Kenobi was sent to Bandomeer on the Monument," Mace said slowly. "He said goodbye to his crechemates, packed his belongings, and left the Temple. Did you not encounter him on the ship?"
Shock tightened his throat. On … the Monument? "I did not," Qui-Gon murmured blankly, thinking of that terrible voyage. Sickness surged in his belly; a breath released it to the Force and brought clarity. Calm was . . . more difficult. "Not before the pirates attacked, and not after. Dozens were killed or injured."
For all they were trained and taught, Jedi younglings were sheltered from the harsh reality of life beyond the Temple's walls. For that to have been the boy's first excursion into the wider galaxy –
I never felt him.
Jedi sometimes sensed when another Jedi, close to them, was in trouble. At times, they could even see a vague picture of what that trouble might be.
And at times, they did not sense anything at all.
He could have been killed, captured; the boy had certainly never made it to the crash landing site, had not been accounted for among the passengers and crew as they divided between Hutts and Arconans. Had not made it to Bandomeer. I did not want to be responsible for another child.
He was not my Padawan!
But Qui-Gon would never wish any Jedi youngling to be anything but safe. "Why was I not informed that he would be travelling on the same ship?"
"Irregular, Initiate Kenobi's departure was," Yoda admitted quietly.
"The boy was dismissed for attacking another child," Master Koon corrected.
"A deception, that was. Attacked, Initiate Chun was not."
Master Koon's face turned toward Yoda. Though his expression was hidden by his di-ox converter mask, the sudden coolness radiating outward from him in the Force was not.
"Initiate Chun instigated a fight, then attempted to feign his injuries and falsely claimed he was attacked," Mace murmured. "The crèche-masters have been looking into it, and several other younglings have come forward about Chun's bullying."
"Regardless, Initiate Kenobi is missing." Master Koth's tone clearly conveyed that Mace was missing the point.
"I suspect the worst, Masters," Qui-Gon sighed. "The Monument was attacked by pirates. Many were captured, killed or injured during the attack, and not long after, the vessel crash-landed. I do not have a clear idea of the number or names of the missing and dead."
"Who would?" Master Poof's hands were tight on the arms of his seat.
"Clat-ha," Qui-Gon guessed. His hands spread helplessly. It was so chaotic. So many were . . . lost. "But even she may not have an accurate count."
The silence that followed was deeper than the darkest depths of Wild Space.
"I will contact -" Qui-Gon offered.
Mace's words cut off the end of his sentence. "How could this happen?"
Something within Qui-Gon bristled, though the Head of the Order had not even directed eyes his way. Words burst free; only after he said them did he realize his famed diplomacy had failed in the face of defensive outrage. "I was not responsible for his welfare."
You were.
"A youngling, he is," Yoda snapped. His gimer stick clacked sharply against the polished stone floor. "A child of the Temple. Responsible, we all are."
"Nor," Qui-Gon continued relentlessly, "was I even informed he would be on the ship. Is it common practice, then, to send our younglings out into the galaxy on their own after lives spent sheltered in the Temple?"
"As I said," Yoda's ears drooped. "Responsible, we all are."
"I do not accept that," Qui-Gon set his feet and could not stop the narrowing of his eyes. "You had some plan, which you decided to keep to yourself."
"Watch yourself, Qui-Gon," Mace warned lowly. "You go to far."
"I do not go far enough," Qui-Gon said hotly. "I certainly will not go so far as to accept blame for whatever has befallen this child. Why was he on public transport with no supervision at thirteen?"
"The boy is twelve standard," Ki-Adi-Mundi corrected softly.
Master Rancisis shook his head. "Human males do not mature until twice that age, sometimes later."
"Mature?" Micah snorted. "He's a child. We're wandering from the point. What is to be done to recover him?"
"So you intend to do so?" Qui-Gon asked.
Even Micah stared at him for that.
"Of course we do," Saeese Tiin glared stridently around the room, before fixing his gaze on Qui-Gon.
"Given the way he was ejected, I'm sure you can understand my surprise." Qui-Gon refused to quail at the glares he was receiving from all sides. Up in their vaunted high tower, when was the last time they saw the lives they affected?
"Think, you do, that care, we do not," Yoda was defeated in a way that made something within Qui-Gon soften with sadness.
"We can discuss why you might think otherwise at another time," Mace cut in. His eyes locked with Qui-Gon's. "Contact Clat-ha. Coordinate with her for a list of the confirmed dead and unknown. I want to know when Obi-Wan disappeared."
"We will have to register his status with Temple Census," Micah pointed out.
"Then do so, Master Giett."
Micah shot Mace a glare. "Temple Census is connected with the Coruscanti and Galactic Census Bureau," he sat forward in his chair. "Obi-Wan will be listed as a Missing Child in the Galactic Registry."
Every Jedi knew of this sad list of young faces. Qui-Gon had been forced to search it, once. In a galaxy with quadrillions of beings, that list was billions long. Finding anyone, even in the list, was a monumental challenge – never mind in the galaxy itself.
"His family will be notified."
"They should find out from us before they receive an auto-generated notice from the Registry."
"I agree," said Master Mundi heavily. "Especially if this receives the attention I foresee."
That caught Qui-Gon by surprise. "What do you mean?" It was a curse of their calling that Jedi disappeared into the wide swaths of the Galaxy. Masters, Knights, Padawans – none were safe. Corp members, too had a higher than average rate of disappearance, though ExplorCorp's members were at highest risk given the nature of their calling.
Mace stared at him. "Whatever you appear to think, Qui-Gon Jinn, we care for our own. Since the Ruusan Reformation, less than a dozen Padawans have gone missing and never been recovered. We find our children, even in death."
As it may be for this child, Qui-Gon thought grimly. Memory recalled the sound of draigon teeth slicing through flesh.
"Never has an Initiate been listed on the Galactic Registry," murmured Ki-Adi.
Before Qui-Gon could fully absorb the implications of that, Yoda cleared his throat. "Contact Clat-ha, you will. Determine, you will, when the boy disappeared."
"Masters." Taking the dismissal for what it was, Qui-Gon offered a half-bow before turning on his heel and striding toward the doors. The light of Coruscant's setting sun stretched his shadow along the floor in the moments before the Council doors slid closed.
"Find him, we will," he heard Yoda murmur against the stillness of the evening.
But they didn't.
Fin