F A L L E N F U T U R E 2

[Probation]

I'm not going to make any excuses for this chapter, it's really not worthy of being posted it's so bad, but I figure that after 8 months of struggling with no success, I may as well post it, get your opinions and come back and fix it later. I also feel bad that it's caused this long a break, but on the positive side, I do have the next chapter finished and will post it next week.

By the way, I have found out since I began this story that Obiwan actually does have a listed Home Planet, which makes Sor'udeina rather superfluous, therefore, I ask everyone to mentally replace Sor'udeina with Stewjon until I get around to replacing it in the text.

Darth Keyara - You will now see, wha ha ha ha haaaaa!

Geri K - True. I like to think of her as the complete opposite end of the cycle to Obi-Wan at this point in time.

dudette - No he shouldn't, but at least it's a compromise.

kyjori - Thank you.

Estora - I wouldn't go as far as to say that, but thankyou... And why is there no more Chancellorcide? XD

C H A P T E R - T E N

Breach Ring

—'Director, I'm sorry that we did not get message of your impending arrival sooner, welcome to Sor'udeinaMine 13'— TeHar

⁂

Several days later, the situation had not really changed a great deal. Obi-Wan sat in the mess hall, with several flimsi charts scattered around him, trying to work out, as best he could, exactly where the source of the Nexus could be. The droids that they had deployed from the command floor had been next to useless, they had provided them with a few seconds of usable footage, but invariably, after a short amount of time they had violently and abruptly cut off. Obi-Wan was unsure whether they had short circuited, or whether they were being destroyed by something living down there, but is was beginning to make one thing clear.

It was looking more and more likely that the only solution would be to go down there himself, and he was doing his best to work out exactly what he would be up against.

He sighed irritably and put down his pen a little harder than he'd meant to, this was getting nowhere! The fact of the matter was that he was too frightened of descending to the lower level; afraid of what he might find. Afraid of what he might find about himself!

His internal brow beating was brought to an end by his comlink chirping at him, 'Kenobi.' He answered.

'Master Kenobi.' responded a male voice, 'This is Master Frazen from the Jedi Archives here.'

'Ah, about my request about the Force Nexus beneath the temple?'

'Indeed, it seems that this particular Nexus was purified by Elßüt Chan sacrificing himself to save his Padawans during a skirmish with the Sith, five and a half thousand years ago. Five hundred years after that, the land around it was gifted to the Jedi Order.'

'I see. Do you know how he sacrificed himself?'

'No, there's only a brief mention of it in the history file of the Temple.' Came the response. 'It lists the death and exact coördinates, and there is a diary entry by his Apprentice that says that he will be remembered.' Frazen added.

'Okay, thanks.' Sighed Obi-Wan, frustrated at yet another dead end. Barely had he set the comlink down than it rang again. 'Kenobi.'

'Master Kenobi, this is TeHar, something's come up, I need you and Marice in my office. Now.'

'Sure, be right there.' Frowned Obi-Wan, wondering what could have happened.

Pausing only to roll up the charts he was working on and tie them up with an elastic band, he hurried off towards the Mine Administrator's office.

⁂

'Look out, here he comes!' Whispered Darra as the "Jedi" rose from his table and came walking briskly towards the corridor that she and one of the other younglings were hiding in. Grabbing the boy by the scruff of the neck, Darra dragged him into the fire suppressant control room located two metres further down the corridor.

Darra held her ear to the door as Kenobi walked passed outside, longing to be able spring out and attack him—teach him a lesson for what he'd done to her—, no that wasn't quite right... she wanted to get evidence against him for the council. She shook her head slightly, more and more violence related thoughts had been springing to her mind recently, and she couldn't figure out why. Could it be a message from the Force?

Beside her, her companion, Glie, crossed his arms impatiently. 'Why are you so crazed about stalking him anyway?' He grumbled, 'It's like you've got a crush on him or something—!' He cut off with a hiss of pain as Darra's boot hit him in the shin. 'Oops, sorry.' She said dryly.

'Well, why do you follow him everywhere?'

'I already told you.' Said Darra impatiently as she gently eased the door open again, 'I'm waiting for him to reveal himself as the Dark Jedi he is so that I can report him to the council.'

'What makes you so sure he is a dark Jedi?' Persisted the boy, causing Darra to turn on him viciously.

'Do normal people go around killing Jedi?' she snapped, enjoying seeing him cower back slightly.

'No, of course not.' He squeaked quickly. Giving him one last glare, Darra trotted after Kenobi, keeping a discreet distance between them, leaving Glie to hurry after her.

He finally caught up with her as she waited at a corner, her head poked around it as she tried to stay out of Kenobi's sight. 'He went in there.' She muttered quietly as he padded up.

'That's TeHar's office.' Said Glie, looking at the indicated door.

'Hmm, if only we could see what was happening in there.' Darra mused.

'Well you could always try the old holo-movie way.' He suggested, pointing to a grid above her head. A grid that covered the ventilation cavity. The redhead glanced up at it, then back down at Glie and grinned thinly. 'You know, Glie, I think you may be beginning to earn your keep. Let's go.' She agreed.

⁂

'Ah, Obi-Wan, thanks for coming so quickly.' Said TeHar as Obi-Wan stepped into the room. Out of the corner of his eye he perceived that there were two other people standing next to the door to the right, one that he recognised as Marice from the flash of blonde hair he caught.

'What's happened?' Asked Obi-Wan, focusing his attention on TeHar.

'We've received an offer from HQ, they're prepared to lend up thirty XSC-65 Rescue droids to help us recover the miners.

'Well that's good news.' Said Obi-Wan, a light smile threatening to break out. The XSC mining droids were regarded as the best Rescue Droids in existence, and thirty of them could mean that they could recover the miners without anyone setting foot into the mine. Capable of drilling, excavation and cutting, the droids were shielded against harmful waste that they may find in a rescue situation. With any luck, that shielding would hold against whatever was upsetting the surveillance droids too.

'Mister Granta Omega is the Director of Breachring Mining Company.' Said Marice, stepping forward and indicating the third person in the room. A pale skinned man with dark-blue eyes and black hair. Embroidered on his black vest was a symbol, a symbol that Obi-Wan had associated with evil since before he was a Padawan.

Red planet encircled by a silver starship:

Offworld

'You!' Started Obi-Wan the second he laid eyes on the third person in the room, twenty-eight years of trained reflex meant that his hand was on his lightsaber before he could stop it. 'Breach Ring, Broken Circle, Offworld! I can't believe I didn't realise it sooner!' all at once the logo and name of the mining company, and the apprehension he'd felt at them made sense; take away the triangle representation of the drill, and you were left with a perfect image of a broken circle, the mark of Qui-Gon's failed student Xanatos.

The man who had just been introduced as Granta Omega smiled, 'Master Kenobi, it's a pleasure.'

'I wish I could say the same thing; you're wanted for attempted mass murder and terrorism by the Republic Senate!' Snarled Obi-Wan, 'I should put you into custody right here!'

'Ahh, but I don't think that would be wise.' Said Omega with a smile.

'Why not? I'm dying to hear.'

'A couple of reasons.' Said Omega. 'One, this facility has no holding facilities, so you'd have to take me away from here, which would waste a lot of time that you could be using trying to solve the problem here. Two, according to the treaty with Sor'u'denia, all persons arrested on the planet must face a magistrate before deportation to republic custody which could take weeks, or even years. And three, most pertinent of all, I have brought with me an entire ship full of brand new multipurpose mining/rescue droids which I was planning to help you with... However, they'll only work with my access codes.

'After all,' he added with a honey sweet voice, 'Our first priority should be those poor missing people who have so tragically disappeared, shouldn't it?

Obi-Wan grunted.

'Please, Obi-Wan.' Implored TeHar, 'We need those droids! It may be the only way that we'll be able to successfully rescue the missing.'

Obi-Wan knew he was trapped, the idea of helping a criminal—especially one related to Xanatos—made him sick in the stomach. But there was no way that he could refuse the aid of Omega, even with his legal status. The mining baron had brought a ship full of some of the most advanced droids in the world, it would be arrogant and foolish to refuse them, and it may also be his only chance of completing the mission without having to face the oppressive power of a dark Force Nexus.

'Alright, fine.' He relented at last, looking at Omega wearily, 'But don't think that the Jedi won't come after you after this event.' he added.

'Of course, I look forward to it.' Said Omega sweetly.

⁂

Up inside the wall, Glie crouched uncomfortably behind Darra, trying to ignore how close he was to her in the confined space. Apparently, the almost thirteen year-old girl didn't seem to notice anything awkward about the situation, but being young and of the opposite sex, Glie couldn't help but feel decidedly uncomfortable.

'Well, that's rather odd.' He said aloud, trying to take his mind off it, 'They seem rather at odds with each other.'

'Yeah.' Muttered Darra irritably as she peered through the grill to where the four occupants were discussing the finer points about what they were going to do. 'There must be some explanation for it...'

'It seems obvious to me.' Glie whispered, 'That Omega guy is in trouble with the law somewhere, and Master Kenobi wanted to arrest him but can't.'

'Why would Kenobi want to arrest someone who tried to commit mass-murder? He revels in that sort of thing.' Hissed Darra, 'Haven't I already told you?'

Glie sighed, he really liked Darra, but she was stubborn to the point of being ridiculous about this Kenobi creep, and it was made worse by the fact that he couldn't see anything wrong with the man, sure he'd hardly said anything since he'd arrived—spending the whole time pouring over maps, but that was supposed to be his job.

'The only thing I can think of is that he's trumping up charges against him,' Mused Darra eventually, 'Trying to discredit a major mining leader in the galaxy to destabilize the Republic.'

'Do you really think so?' Asked Glie doubtfully.

'Yes.' Snapped Darra without raising her voice. In her effort to swing around and glare at him, she brought her behind dangerously close to Glie's face. His sweating increased. 'They're leaving.' She added, turning back towards the grill.

'Great. Let's get out of here then.' Said Glie with relief.

'Hmm.' Darra mumbled under her breath, 'I suppose so...'

The two of them awkwardly crawled along the duct, Glie hoping that it would end before he had a breakdown. 'Finally!' He whispered in relief as they came across another grill that opened into a corridor.

'Wait!' Snapped Darra, cutting him off with her hand. She was vindicated as a wookie miner from Breachring passed underneath the opening a second or two later. Seemingly now satisfied that they were alone, Darra unlatched the grill and swung it out into the corridor, sliding out head first and landing into a forward roll. Glie followed her, although far less elegantly, landing in a heap on the floor.

'Now that we're out, can we go and get something to eat?' Asked Glie, taking the opportunity of the larger space to wipe the perspiration off his brow.

'No!' Snapped Darra, as she climbed to her feet and brushed herself off, 'Honestly! Food! Is that all you ever think about? I've got to find out more about this Omega so I can work out exactly what Kenobi's trying to do.'

'But, surely—'

'No "buts", Glie. Come on!' Bullied Darra, striding off purposefully.

Glie just sighed before traipsing after her.

⁂

Obi-Wan stood wrapped in his cloak as Omega and his men unloaded the droids. He didn't like this situation on little bit, and from the smirks that the dark haired man kept shooting him, he knew that he didn't.

He frowned as Omega shouted at a couple of his men that were unloading the large humanoid mining droids, telling them off for dropping one as they lowered it off a rack. The XSC-65 Rescue droids where about 2 metres tall, and had thin limbs but large hands and feet which were armed with lasers and claws; a large drill about eighty centimetres in diameter finished off their look, but despite their fearsome appearance, they were actually very efficient rescue droids; being able to shift large rocks with their hands, or dig through the earth with either their feet or head drill, depending on what kind of earth it was. They also had a quite advanced sensor package to detect trapped people or hazards.

But the fact that the Omega was offering these highly advanced, highly expensive, droids to look for survivors didn't sit right with Obi-Wan; it was what a conscientious CEO would have done, but Xanatos had never been a conscientious leader, and he had no reason to suppose that his son would be. Not to mention he had played with peoples' lives on Carreg just to make a point.

'You know,' The man swaggered as he passed by Obi-Wan at one point, 'It must be real upsetting to have the son of a dead enemy come along and do something that you're supposed to be doing.

Obi-Wan met his eyes stonily.

'Careful.' The other man smirked, getting right in Obi-Wan's face. 'You wouldn't want to crack a smile or something.'

'What exactly are you going to do, Omega?' Asked Obi-Wan, ignoring the jabbing.

'Oh easy.' Said the man, 'I'm going to go to take these droids down to the bottom level and just let 'em loose down there, if they find anyone, they'll bring them back up.'

'What about a video feed?" Asked Obi-Wan, 'Will they be able to supply that?'

'Perhaps, but that's for my eyes only.' Grinned Omega lopsidedly.

'And then what are you going to do?'

'Oh well, when I've gotten the low down, I may just go and take a stroll around the tomb, see if there's anything of note.'

'Omega, do you have any idea exactly what could be down there? It's not something you can be so blastedly flippant about.' Exclaimed Obi-Wan in outrage.

'I'm touched that you have such thoughts for my safety, Kenobi.'

'There is great power down in that mine—something that shouldn't be trifled with.' Snapped Obi-Wan, breathing through clenched teeth as he tried to get a hold of his anger.

'Of course, why else do you think I'm here?' asked Omega leaning close to his ear, 'You didn't really think I came for the miners did you?' he whispered.

'Sadly, I had no such illusions.' Ground out Obi-Wan. 'I s'pose I should have figured that you'd just be after Dark Force artefacts.'

'That and to see you, my dear friend.' Omega replied with a sneer, 'I always wondered about just who the Obi-Wan Kenobi my father wrote about was.'

'Xanatos wrote of me?' Enquired Obi-Wan, unsure whether to be flattered or repulsed.

'In length—he thought highly of your talent, thought it quite a shame that you'd been spoiled by his old master. I must admit, I was slightly curious about this "potential Dark Side adept", as he labelled you in his earlier entries, and we really didn't get much of a chance to catch up before.'

'No, that's usually the case when you're trying to kill someone.'

'Yes, rather unfortunate, but there are times. But you sell me short,' Said Omega, changing the subject completely, 'What I want is far more than just any dark force artefact.' He left it at that and walked briskly back to his ship to help unload more of the droids, leaving Obi-Wan to stew over what he meant.

⁂

'I don't like this; I've got a bad feeling.' Obi-Wan muttered to Marice as he paced up and down the wall in her office, 'I knew his father, entirely too well; there was never an action without an ulterior, unseen motive, never a plan without a plan inside it, always a back door, and I can't believe that his son would be any different. He expects to get something out of all this, and I just can't see what it is.'

'You could ask the council for help if it really bothers you.' Suggested Marice.

'I could.' Agreed Obi-Wan flatly.

'But what makes you so sure that he has less than honourable intensions, anyway? As that ancient saying goes, "the son should not pay for the sins of the father".' Commented Marice as she flicked her finger across her data pad to turn to the next page.

'And I agree with you, except that Omega is a criminal in his own right. Qui-Gon was convinced that Offworld was corrupt right until it fell off the radar about four– rather seven years ago, he could just never prove it, and just a couple of weeks ago, Omega tried to crash a Trade Federation Starship into the Carreg Palace. He's not innocent.'

'Fine, why don't you speak to the council, then?' Asked Marice, looking up from her datapad.

'It's complicated...' Muttered Obi-Wan, turning away slightly.

'Complicated? I don't understand, the Council is there to assist all Jedi. Why would you not be able to call on them?'

'I...' began Obi-Wan several times, 'I can't talk about it right now.' He finished again, not looking at her.

'Is this to do with the death of Darra's Master?' asked Marice suspiciously.

'In a way.' Mumbled Obi-Wan. Jerking to face the door he called over his shoulder, 'I'm going to go and keep an eye on Omega. The droids should all be down at the Section F9 by now.' Without waiting for a response, he walked out the door, leaving Marice to herself. Or so she at first thought. She had just started working on translating the runes found on the tomb again, when her seldom used Jedi senses picked up a flicker at the edge of her mind. She looked up just in time to see Darra open the air vent into her room and swing down to the floor, followed soon after by Glie.

'Eves dropping, Thel-Tanis, Hahns?' Asked Marice, already knowing the answer—there where little to no other explanations for them to be hiding in an air vent right above her office. 'It doesn't become you.'

'He's lying!' Began Darra without preamble.

Marice sighed, 'About what, Darra?' She asked.

'Omega is innocent! Surely you must see it?'

'Innocent? He tried to ram a palace, a governmental site, with a battleship—that doesn't sound very innocent to me.' Replied Marice

'And who's word do we have for that? Obi-Wan, very convenient isn't it?' Retorted Darra angrily.

Marice sighed again and stood up, pacing around the room. 'What is it that you hold against Obi-Wan so badly, Darra?' She said at last, 'I understand that he was somewhat responsible for the death of your master, but everyone makes mistakes at some point—'

'Mistake?' Roared Darra, 'My master was murdered by that... thing. Why? He's a kriffing Dark Jedi.'

Marice blinked as if struck, 'A dark Jedi?' she repeated.

'Yeah! Don't you wonder why he won't call the Jedi Temple? He can't, they would see his darkness. A Jedi would have gone to rescue those miners ages ago, so why doesn't he? Because he's causing it! He's just stringing you along.'

'Darra, I find your supposition highly doubtful, everything that you have talked about is only your interpretation of events. I knew Obi-Wan as an initiate, he was a few years behind me, but he would have fitted into any of our classes. I'm sure you're—'

'You want hard proof? Here's proof!' Darra ripped a strip of brown cloth from her Padawan braid. 'This was Master Antara's tunic; see how it's burned on one side? This was left sliced off from when he ambushed and decapitated her!'

As if the dam had broken, she continued, 'He attacked the Jedi Temple, he killed five Jedi! And now he's using his power to control the Jedi Council.'

Marice was white with shock, 'And what do you think about this, Hahns?' She asked, trying not to rush to conclusions.

'Well, I haven't seen anything that shows that...' he began slowly, then seeing Darra's face he quickly added, 'But then I haven't seen a lot of him.'

'If he was what you say, Darra, why didn't you seek me out sooner?' She demanded, 'The reality is that Obi-Wan has done everything to help us so far, and I haven't gotten any evidence—'

'Because you adults are hopeless!' Screamed Darra in frustration, 'You can't see beyond the ends' of your noses!' She stormed towards the door, literally dragging Glie by the arm, he shot a pleading look as he was yanked outside and then the door was shut again and the office returned to the dull hum of the datapad's little cooling fan... Marice groaned again as she collapsed back in to her chair. 'What a mess.' She mumbled, combing the fingers of both her hands across her head.

⁂

Obi-Wan was halfway along a corridor when he felt it, and it nearly drove him to his knees. A titanic wash of Dark Side energy washed through him as he felt a dark presence touch at his mental shields, the utter malice in the touch was astounding. Obi-Wan regained his wits in a moment, sprinting towards where he thought the touch had come from. He turned left at the end of the hall, past TeHar's office, through the crowded cafeteria, pushing people out of his way as he felt the presence receding down the corridors on the other side. He leapt over some mining equipment in the next hall, and turned into another corridor...

Nothing.

A dead end was all that he met, as the presence faded beyond his reach. A quick glance showed nowhere that it could have gone, there were no other corridors, no air vents. The turn seamed completely closed off.

Feeling thwarted once again, Obi-Wan turned to backtrack towards the lift that would take him down to Section F9. He was certain of two things though; the presence was the same one that he had sensed when he first arrived on world, and the majority of the hate in the touch he had felt had been directed at him.

Still slightly shaken by the encounter, Obi-Wan emerged from the turbolift at Section F9 a few minutes later. He had been down here on the first afternoon with TeHar, but the incredible power of the Dark Side at this lower level had quickly driven him back to higher ground. The level was fairly basic, consisting of a small, roughly hewn foyer, with stacks of crates and equipment laying in it. In front, an entrance into a reasonably large gathering room with a line of lockers on one side, and rows of generic glow sticks, harnesses, and other such related equipment lining the other. There was a corridor that ran off the left wall of the foyer, which led to a bathroom, local control room and galley, the last of which also doubled as the level's safety area.

Currently, nearly the entire area of the gathering room was crammed with rescue droids, who were shifting slightly in an oddly human manner that one would equate with anticipation. Omega stood close to the lockers, just out of the crowd of droids, his two assistants flanking him as he surveyed the mass.

'Ah, Master Kenobi again.' He said as Obi-Wan walked into the larger room, 'Come to see us off have you?'

'I've come to give you a warning, Omega.' Said Obi-Wan tersely, returning the favour from earlier, he stepped close to Omega, 'I know what you're planning to do.'

'Is that a fact?' Responded Omega.

'You don't understand just what you're dealing with.' Warned Obi-Wan.

'You assume far too much, I have taken precautions.'

'Don't do it or you'll regret it.'

Omega chuckled, 'You don't frighten me, Kenobi. It is after all my mine, after I have retrieved the reports from my droids and any survivors, I will have plenty of opportunity without you here.'

'Not if you in prison somewhere.'

'If.'

'Trust me, you don't have the Force, you have no idea what you would unleash.' Tried Obi-Wan.

'The first group can enter the mine!' Called Omega to his droids, then to Obi-Wan, he whispered, 'But soon I will!'

Obi-Wan turned and swept away in disgust as the first group of droids approached the old cable operated "cage" lift, the old rattletrap device that was used for up to four people at a time to descend to the lower levels.

'See you later, Obi-Wan Kenobi.'

Obi-Wan ignored him and stepped into the lift that would take him back to the upper levels; he missed the blaze of red hair that was hiding in the shadows of the crates in the foyer.

'I knew it.' Muttered Darra to Glie who was sitting with his back against the wall, picking disinterestedly at his sleeve stitching. The two of them had snuck down here in Darra's effort to learn more about Omega, but their time had been thoroughly wasted, until Kenobi had turned up, 'If that wasn't stand-over tactics, I don't know what was. Well?' She added after a moment when Glie hadn't responded.

'I wasn't going to argue.' He said defensively.

'Good.' Darra's face took on a strangely distant look. 'Now how do we lure him into our Jedi Trap?'

'Trap?' Hissed Glie in alarm, 'Are you nuts? You can't ambush a Jedi! Do you have a death wish or something?'

Darra shook her head slightly as if ridding her mind of a thought, 'I meant trap figuratively, of course. How are we going to get him to reveal himself?' She smiled reassuringly.

Glie found he was anything but. Darra had been behaving more and more oddly over the last few hours, and there was something distinctly wrong about that smile, as if she was trying to convince herself as well as him. Even as she turned back away, her eyes gleamed ferally. 'C'mon, curfew started ten minutes ago.' Glie muttered, pushing past her and hailing the lift.

⁂

Obi-Wan opened the door into the main corridor, and found himself face to face with Marice Pryat, her hands on hips and a glare across her features. 'Marice.' He started, walking past her and gesturing invitingly, 'What is it?'

'I think it's time you told me about Darra's master.' Responded the woman, falling into step with him. She wore an expression that booked no argument.

Obi-Wan glanced at her sideways. 'Who told you?' He asked.

'Darra.'

'Ah.' Obi-Wan stopped and rubbed his forehead with his palm wearily. 'I was captured.' He began, 'I'm not sure exactly who they were, some sort of Dark Jedi at any rate. When I woke up, I had no memories whatsoever, and the captor used it to their advantage, they fed me false information about how the Jedi had tried to kill me, and goaded me into stealing information from the Temple. While I was there I was disturbed, I-I killed anyone who crossed my path. Darra's Master was one of those.' He finished; his face full of pain.

'So you don't remember your time as an initiate at all.' Stated Marice.

'I do, after I escaped the Temple, Master Qui-Gon—he had been my master—along with his apprentice and Siri Tachi—you remember her? Anyway, they tracked me down and captured me, at the end of the fight I was injured badly, but I could suddenly remember who I was...' He trailed off.

'And the Jedi Council accepted you back.' Finished Marice.

'Yes.'

'I'll never be able to look at you the same way again, Obi-Wan.'

'That is probably for the best, I'm not the same.' Responded Obi-Wan, turning away towards the wall.

'So Darra's never forgiven you then?' supposed Marice.

'No.' Groaned Obi-Wan in frustration.

'She was listening in to our conversation you know—in one of the air ducts.'

'What?' Exclaimed Obi-Wan, he frowned and began pacing agitatedly, 'She could well be right about me, of course, but at the moment is hardly the time for all of this. At the Jedi Temple, her going on about it is fair enough, but here when peoples' lives are at stake? I thought better of her.'

'If you want to talk to her, she should be in her room now, it's past their curfew.'

'I think I just might.' Obi-Wan grumbled, stalking off down the corridor.

⁂

The door to Darra's room flew open, and Obi-Wan stepped through it with his cloak swirling behind him. A quick scan with his senses revealed that Darra was not in the room, but another terrified presence was; he yanked a cupboard open to reveal the young boy Glie, tied up with bits of spare clothing.

Behind him, Marice gasped as she took in the sight, 'Hahns, who did this?'

'Where's Darra?' Demanded Obi-Wan, knowing that the answer would more than likely answer both questions. He undid Glie's hands and feet from their confines.

'Sh-she went to warn Mister Omega that Master Kenobi is after him. She's c-convinced that you're trying to lure him into a trap w-where you can kill him, she thinks that he'll reveal you to the council otherwise.'

'Not likely.' Murmured Obi-Wan to himself.

Glie continued, 'I tried to stop her, and she... well she kinda lost it; said that I was with you, that she was the only one who could see it... She was out of control.'

Marice and Obi-Wan exchanged glances, 'Then what happened?' Prodded Marice gently.

Glie shivered, 'Then she seemed to calm down, but she said that she couldn't let me stop her, and she was sorry... and then the next thing I remember is waking up in here.' He gestured at the cupboard.

'Go and get changed.' Marice advised, helping him to his feet, 'Then come to my office, we'll talk more there.'

'Yes, Miss Prayt.' Bowed Glie before running towards the floor's change rooms.

'Has she turned?' Asked Marice as soon as he was out of earshot.

'I don't think so.' Answered Obi-Wan at length, 'I think that her frustration is turning to paranoia, and that this dark side climate is feeding it... having said that, if we don't remove her from this mine quickly...'

He did not need to finish.

'I know the leader of the ex. Corp. on Melida/Daan,' Said Marice, 'She can go there.'

'First we must find her, I'll comm. Omega; see if she's there.'

'Is that a good idea?' Asked Marice.

'Point taken.' Said Obi-Wan, 'Probably be best then if you went, considering the circumstances...'

They made for the door, but had hardly taken two steps before both comlinks went off simultaneously. 'Kenobi.' Answered Obi-Wan, reaching his first.

'Obi-Wan, is Marice with you?' It was TeHar.

'She is.' Confirmed Obi-Wan.

'Good. Look, no easy way of putting this, I'm afraid.' TeHar's voice was under clear strain, and Obi-Wan's hair stood up on the back of his neck in anticipation of what he would say. 'Omega's missing, we haven't had any contact from him for more than an hour. They've just completely disappeared from down there.'

More soon...