STARWARS: Fallen Future
Part I: Path of Shadows
Chapter II: Goodbye to a friend
"Why'd he have to die? I'd give almost anything to have a chance to tell him I still love him… that I always will"
—Siri Tachi
-|-
"Now Viceroy, you're going to have to go back to Senate and explain all this." Said Queen Amidala coldly to Nute Gunray as some guards stepped up to escort him onto the Republic Shuttle.
"I think you can kiss your trade franchise goodbye." Said Captain Panaka; Qui-Gon frowned. He seriously doubted that much would happen to the Trade Viceroy as Amidala and Panaka seemed to think; the courts where corrupt at best, and someone like the Viceroy with vast amounts of wealth behind him, would hire the best barristers in the Galaxy. He would be very surprised if Nute Gunray got anything more that a slap on the wrist.
Qui-Gon straitened up as the newly elected Supreme Chancellor Palpatine started down the ramp, followed by the Jedi Council, as well as Obi-Wan's friends. He supposed that meant that the Council had decided to hold Obi-Wan's funeral here on Naboo. As the Chancellor approached, he bowed and was closely imitated by Anakin who stood at his side.
"We are indebted to you for your bravery Master Jinn." Said Palpatine with a small nod of his head, "And you young Skywalker, we will watch your career with great interest." He continued giving Anakin a brief pat on the shoulder before walking toward the Queen.
Qui-Gon bowed again as the Council approached him. "Sorry we are, for your loss Qui-Gon." Said Yoda "Retrieved young Obi-Wan's body have you?"
"No." responded Qui-Gon flatly "They can't get anyone down there until they retrieve the maintenance people from the camps. They say that they'll have them in by tomorrow."
"Then until tomorrow we'll wait." Said Mace "In the mean time we'll try to track down the Sith's ship."
"And what of Anakin?" asked Qui-Gon "His fate still needs to be decided."
"Decide that we will, when meet for our council tonight we do." Said Yoda, the Council moved away, heading after the Queen's entourage. This left Qui-Gon and Anakin alone with Bant, Garen, Reeft and Siri. "I'm sorry." Said Qui-Gon sadly.
Siri stared at him for a couple of seconds then stomped off after the masters, Qui-Gon looked at the others helplessly. "Don't worry about Siri," Said Bant sadly "She's just not taking this very well."
"We all miss him too." Added Garen before the rest of them moved off after Siri.
"They blame me for it." Qui-Gon sighed staring after Obi-Wan's friends.
"No they don't, my old Padawan," Said a deep from within the Republic transport, "They're just a bit upset."
"You're probably right, old Master." Said Qui-Gon, with the tiniest hint of a smile tugging at his lips. He turned to Anakin, "Anakin Skywalker, meet Master Dooku. I was one his Padawan, just as Obi-Wan is… was mine." Finished Qui-Gon lamely
"Glad to meet you, Master Dooku." Said Anakin, bowing politely as the ageing Master descended the ramp.
"I was surprised when you didn't get of the transport, with the others." Stated Qui-Gon.
"You shouldn't have been." Said Dooku, "If I go around with the others, I'll miss something; thirteen Jedi masters all together is a somewhat ambitious target even for a Sith. Remember there are always two, Qui-Gon, and I'm hoping to find the other one."
"Unfortunately, I think that Sith—skilled as he was—didn't have the skills to have planed this whole invasion." Said Qui-Gon glumly "There's a bigger fish than him."
"Which is exactly why I'm hoping to avoid attention and try to find someone acting suspiciously," said Dooku; "The master will be looking to destroy any evidence that the Apprentice left behind." He looked at Qui-Gon pointedly "Much like you, Qui-Gon. You haven't found Kenobi's Body yet and you've already got a replacement."
"It… It's not like that Master…" Spluttered Qui-Gon…
"Oh no, on the contrary, I'm proud of you; People should be chosen to be trained because they need to be trained, not because of pre-conceived attachments; that can come later if it comes at all."
"I don't see what you're trying to get at master." Said Qui-Gon
"Let go of Kenobi, Padawan." Said Dooku simply before walking away
"May the Force be with you Master." called Qui-Gon after him, he turned to Anakin "Let's go Anakin. I've go to talk to the Queen about a funeral." He placed a hand on Anakin's shoulder and steered him away.
Deep in the bowels of the Theed generator room, a Sith Lord known as Sidious stalked along a walkway just a single meter above the acidic sludge which was expelled from the generators. He and a couple of trusted servants where trying to find the body of the Sith apprentice – Darth Maul – before the Jedi could get their filthy hands on him.
"My lord, over here!" called one of the servants. Sidious made his way through the gloom along the walkways to where a figure dressed in dark robes lay, or rather, where the top half lay.
"His legs must have fallen into the acid, push the rest in after them." He said. He spat in distaste as the servant pushed the torso of his failure apprentice off the walkway and into the acid. "Let's go." He snarled as the torso of Maul sizzled and sunk.
"Wait my lord, there's something else over here!" Called another of the servants. Sidious made his way over toward the voice. "This had better be good Gret, or you had better like very hot baths." He gestured at the acid below.
Gret gulped "Yes milord." He answered, "There's another man down here; he's still alive." Sidious looked down at a young man dressed in cream robes, a thin braid of dark ginger hair ran from behind the man's left ear. The disgusting light filled presence of a Jedi hung around him; he was still alive.
"It's the Jedi." Hissed Sidious, "Shoot him." As Gret raised his blaster, the Jedi's eyes flickered and opened. "What's going on?" He asked "where am I? Uh… this is embarrassing, but, who am I?"
Gret hesitated and looked at Sidious; who looked around impatiently "Hold your fire." He knelt down next the Jedi, "What do you remember?" he asked
"Uh… landing and everything hurting… then darkness." Replied the young man. A cruel smile reached Sidious' lips, 'This will work to my advantage.' He thought. But he said; "I'm glad I found you, The Jedi must have betrayed you, they're probably looking for you to finish you off."
The Jedi gulped. "Please, can you protect me?" he whimpered, "I can't remember anything. What my name is, where I come from…"
"Stand up there son." Said Sidious, helping Obi-Wan to his feet. "I'll make sure you can remember everything." Outside, Sidious' face was a picture of concern. Inside he was smiling. 'Oh yes, everything.'
Siri stood at the edge of a small pergola overlooking Theed gorge. In the middle of the pergola in a sunken pit lay a pyre, large enough for a man to lie on. On the pyre sat a brown cloak, on which was placed a collection of holo-pics and a small model starfighter—the only personal affects of the late Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Siri had doubted at first—or rather refused to believe—that Obi-Wan was dead. Now there was no doubt. That morning they had finally gained access to the bottom of the generator room where the Jedi had found little ground besides a few catwalks. Below that was a vicious pool of acidic waste, after they had searched every square centimetre of the walkways. It was determined that Obi-Wan had landed in the acid where his body would have quickly dissolved.
A quick series of smart taps brought Siri out of her revere; she looked up to see Yoda standing next to the pyre, tapping his gimmer stick on the duracrete. "Gathered here tonight we are, to mark the day of young Obi-Wan Kenobi rejoining the force." Said Yoda in a clear voice, "Sad it is that he is gone, for those left behind. The Force, brighter it is for the adding of his presence, darker it is for the hearts of friends." He continued. "Master Qui-Gon." He called.
Qui-Gon slowly walked up to the pyre—a lightsaber that Siri recognized as Obi-Wan's in his hand. He ignited the bright blue blade and gently held it against the wood. The wood smoked for a few seconds before bursting into flames. The funeral party watched silently as the flames overtook the pyre, and the objects on top. In the flickering light of the fire, no-one saw a single tear drop slowly trail down Siri's cheek.
AN: Well there it is. Thankyou to everyone who's reviewed the first two chapters, your feedback has been really encouraging (don't bother telling me about fragmented sentences though; I've never really got that particular rule of grammar). I originally had more in this chapter, but upon editing I found that this was a natural place to end the chapter before starting on a really heavy dialog scene. After the next chapter there is a gap of three years in the timeline. And most likely I won't be updating the story from then, on until I've written myself a bit further ahead (I've currently got to chapter 6 written down and plan to be at chapter 9 before I update any more, give me a couple of weeks…). To all those people who said in their reviews that they thought that Qui-Gon was going to sink into despair, thankyou – It's something that I actually hadn't gone to much into it in my first draft, and after the reviews I rewrote a section of the story giving that sub-plot more depth (which accounts for a large chunk of the next chapter).
Edit: 21/11/08 corrections of spelling etc
