Disclaimer: All belongs to the great and powerful Mouse.
Summary: The Force moves in mysterious ways and all are bound to its ultimate will, especially the Jedi.
A/N: Sorry that this one too is short or at least shorter than I would like, but if I am to post with my intended regularity it seems I have to divide the action into shorter segments. Sorry! Hey, but at least I'm still posting on schedule!
A/N 2: Italics indicate emphasis, visions, personal thoughts and flashbacks. Context should illustrate which device is being used. / / indicates mindspeak.
Thanks:
Jewelie-chan: Yes, death by brussel sprouts would not be a manner in which I would choose to go! Please have mercy!
Guest: It seems that if Obi or Qui are not having a rough time of it, then I am not doing my job!
Francine: Who indeed? Mwaahaahaahaa!
Hope: Guess you will have to keep reading to find out!
Please R&R!
Chapter 14 – Neither Help nor Hindrance
Stone. Stone was everywhere. Stone and darkness. Darkness and stone. Hard, unforgiving, and impenetrable. Obi-Wan closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. The Codru-ji had led him deep within the mine, dragging him down tunnels and shafts with seemingly innumerable twists and turns. He had lost all sense of direction by the time the large caninoid threw him down on the ground at the dead end of a nondescript tunnel. From there Obi-Wan had been bound, hands and feet, with stun cuffs. The caninoid answered none of his questions and ignored his protestations. Instead the tall Codru-ji gave him one more glare and snarl before making his way out of the cave system leaving Obi-Wan alone and in the dark.
The Codru-ji had taken the light with him.
Obi-Wan returned his attention to his breathing. The air in the mine was hot, stuffy, and full of dust and other particulate matter. Individual beads of sweat rolled down his spine causing the thin tunic he was wearing to cling to his skin in some places. Obi-Wan clumsily rose to his feet, his movements hobbled by the cuffs around his ankles. He lifted his fettered wrists, his fingers lightly tracing a ridge of rock on the nearby wall. He could not see the stone walls around him. The darkness was too complete for that, but Obi-Wan knew it was there surrounding him, entombing him. His chest tightened under his tunic, his breath caught, and his head grew dizzy as memories and nightmare fragments assailed him. Obi-Wan's knees buckled and he sank to the ground with a whimper. All he could feel was panic. Panic and darkness and stone.
As a master of the Jedi Order it had been a very long time since Qui-Gon Jinn had difficulty entering into a meditative trance that was not the result of illness or injury. Even bouts of extreme exhaustion from the most grueling of missions had never proven any real hindrance. No, when the master was healthy and whole and rested meditation had never been a problem since he was a wee thing in the Temple crèche, never that was, until now.
Try as he might, Qui-Gon could not relax himself into even the most superficial of trances. The initial exhaustion he had felt upon waking in Obi-Wan's medical room had increased three-fold and, though he hated to admit it, his own general Force sense seemed... muted as if he were trying to draw breath through a thick cloth. Qui-Gon shuddered. Was this a presage to the full Force blindness afflicting Obi-Wan? Qui-Gon shook his head, his eyes still closed. No, he would not dwell on what might be, only on what was and as it was he was still connected to the Force. That would have to be enough.
Qui-Gon opened his eyes and slowly rose to his feet, stretching stiff muscles as he did so. He had just begun rotating his right shoulder when he was driven back down to his knees in an explosion of panic. The master grabbed instinctively for his chest, his hands seeking to somehow calm his racing heart. His head swam dizzily. His breath was shallow and sharp. His fingers and toes felt numb. Qui-Gon allowed himself to exist fully in the rampant fear tearing through his body and mind for a few short seconds before slowly wresting back control with his conscious mind. As his thoughts cleared he realized quickly that the terror had not been his own. It had been Obi-Wan's; he was sure of it. The problem was it shouldn't have been possible.
Qui-Gon took several moments as he focused his attention inward. He pushed away the panic as if he were moving through a dense fog, but this fog had a source. In his mind he kept moving, kept sweeping away cloudy barriers, but his own muffled Force sense was returning, impeding his progress until he lost his way. The fog had dissipated, the trail was gone and with it the sudden sense of connection with Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon concentrated and stretched out with his mind looking for any trace of the boy, any hint as to Obi-Wan's location, but once again the Force was quiet, empty, and unyielding of any answers. With a heavy sigh Qui-Gon opened his eyes and rose to his feet once more. He would have to find Obi-Wan the old fashion way, so he left his room and headed to field one to join the search.
The scene at the rear of field one was one of highly organized chaos. Agri Corps members manned various stations around the makeshift command center. Some stations issued scanners, comm. units, and glow rods, others gave ration bars and water. Some tracked those departing and returning, but it was the center station that interested Qui-Gon. That was the table that gave information. The young woman he had seen the day he arrived, Hal he recalled, stood behind the small table dispensing orders and culling information from the many slates and data pads dotting the table or placed in her hands by other Corps members. The woman was small, but athletically built, her lithe, lean musculature well defined even beneath her dark tunic and trousers. Her skin was the deep pink of a Nabooian sunset and her light brown fur somehow didn't wilt under the oppressive humidity of the fields. She displayed the typical angular features that gave Devorians the reputation of being overly smug and aggressive, but there was a certain softness around her almond eyes that made Qui-Gon suspect a more restrained sense of passion.
In contrast, Ilia's expression appeared downright murderous as she barked out instructions and dismissed her people with a glare. In addition to her brobdignagian dislike for Xanatos and Offworld, her affection for Obi-Wan was making his abduction a personal assault on both her and the Agri Corps family in general. The moment Qui-Gon approached the table the administrator's eyes locked on to his, her expression now baring a weak and rueful smile instead.
"I don't suppose you've come here to tell us we can call this whole thing off, that you've found him?" Ilia asked, her attempt at humor collapsing under the weight of the master's grim expression. The administrator sighed. "I had hoped that somehow some Jedi magic prayer would have found him."
Qui-Gon didn't want to admit the truth that he had hoped the same thing. That, under normal circumstances, a Jedi Master should have been able to find Obi-Wan and that it shamed and puzzled him that he, a self same master, could not. Still, he would not voice his concerns, would not share with others his guilt or feelings of complicity in Obi-Wan's continued disappearance. Instead, the master gave a stately shake of his head.
"No," he answered. Ilia gave him a curt, if resigned, nod. She gave Hal a short glance and the woman nodded and departed the table. Ilia then focused her attention back on the many pads around her. Qui-Gon glanced down at the map that dominated much of the table. It illustrated the vast acreage worked and maintained by the Agri Corps while a second, smaller map lay across the left edge of the first depicting the mining caves to the west and south.
"We have teams scouring every inch of the fields and a few smaller groups methodically checking each facility. Hal is also questioning anyone who might have seen him," Ilia said as she pointed to locations on the large map. "Once we've cleared the active zones the teams will be divided, one set to search our few inactive fields the others will use hoppers to search the barrens beyond."
"And the mines?" Qui-Gon inquired surprised at the evenness of his own voice. Ilia shook her heard.
"The cave systems are unbelievably vast. We haven't enough people to search them. Plus, current operations there have made the tunnels unstable making any search extremely dangerous. Besides, the Ghost," she halted with a slight frown. "Obi-Wan is not overly fond of caves."
Qui-Gon chose not to comment on the fact that wherever the boy had been taken was probably not a place of his choosing, cave or no.
"We could get the miners themselves to assist us," Qui-Gon offered. "Their knowledge of the tunnels would be useful and they have already demonstrated themselves to be accepting of the risk."
"They accepted the risk for pay, Master Jinn."
"But would not accept it to save a child?"
Ilia sighed heavily in frustration. She never believed herself a cynic, but could a Jedi be truly so naïve? She placed the pads she was studying down on the table, bracing her now empty hands on its large surface.
"Maybe a few would," she acceded, "but we would still be woefully short manned to conduct any meaningful searches and," she paused, "you would still have to convince the corporations, convince Offworld to allow it."
At the mention of Offworld, Qui-Gon immediately began to spy the surrounding area returning his gaze to the administrator only when his eyes had verified the absence his mind had already noted.
"Where is Xanatos?" he asked and Ilia shrugged.
"He disappeared not long after I joined the setup here," she replied the look in her bright eyes offering something of an apology. Qui-Gon nodded, the small movement communicating both his forgiveness and the lack of need for it. Seemingly satisfied, Ilia remained silent, her eyes locked on the map below her. Qui-Gon, too, stared at the map, but his gaze was unfocused, unseeing, his diminished Force sense was struggling to tell him something, to show him something. He strained to hear it reaching, but not reaching, grasped at it, but with no attempt to contain it lest it slip away from his fingers. His eyes settled on the southern mines, narrowing to one specific mine, the mine he had visited the day before. His eyes refocused and as he looked up he found the administrator staring at him with a knowing expression.
"What?" she asked. "What is it?"
"I don't know," Qui-Gon answered as he turned away striding swiftly from the table. "But I am going to find out."
The pull to the largest of the southern mines was strong, almost magnetic, but he was unable to determine what he was being pulled to. He hoped it was Obi-Wan, but as he pulled the borrowed hopper to a stop and spotted the black clad, familiar figure of Xanatos, Qui-Gon wasn't so sure.
"What are you doing here?" Qui-Gon asked brusquely as he hopped out of the small transport and walked towards the younger man. To his credit, Xanatos was not intimidated by the master's penetrating glare. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned casually against a piece of empty hauling equipment.
"An odd question to ask a man standing on his own property. The better question, once again, is what you are doing here, Master Jinn."
"I have no time for games, Xanatos. Is Obi-Wan here? Is this where you've hidden him?" the master barked. Xanatos sighed in thinly veiled exasperation.
"What do you want from me, Qui-Gon?"
"Only the truth, something you have always seemed incapable of giving."
Xanatos's eyes flared suddenly in anger.
"Is your ego so damn fragile that you must paint me as the villain always?" the younger man hissed, his causal stance abandoned for an en guard position though he had yet to draw his weapon. "I am a business man, Qui-Gon. Let me conduct my business and be done with it!"
"What is it you fear, Xani," Qui-Gon said using the man's old nickname as a deliberate taunt. "That I will finally expose you? That the galaxy will at last see you for what you truly are?"
"If I am anything I am what you made me," Xanatos snapped. "Leave this place, Qui-Gon. Leave this place or Force help me,"
Qui-Gon didn't hear the last of Xanatos's threat as a noiseless wail rang through his mind echoing off the walls of his skull. It was Obi-Wan! He was here, close, and terrified.
"Obi-Wan!" he shouted aloud uncaring that the boy was likely beyond hearing. Qui-Gon surged toward the mine's entrance passing Xanatos in a Force enhanced blur even as he dimly acknowledged the man's shout of protest as he passed. Further and further the master dove into the mine oblivious to the path he was taking, centering only on the spindle thin thread of connection he somehow held with Obi-Wan. Heedless of his own fatigue, Qui-Gon forced his increasingly heavy limbs onward, his actions and mind driven by a laser like and singular focus until, after a time of interminable minutes, his body came to an abrupt halt.
He did not see Obi-Wan. He could not. The darkness was too complete for that, but the sound that reached him confirmed what his eyes and Force sense could not.
"Who... who's there?" the small, yet cultured voice asked. Without answering, Qui-Gon reached for his lightsaber and ignited it, its blue beam casting the small alcove in a strange and surreal glow.
"Obi-Wan."
"Master Jinn!" the boy exclaimed uncurling from a tight ball and springing to his feet in a flash. His face drew into a brilliant smile, but then faded just as quickly when he realized the inappropriateness of his response. Qui-Gon watched as the child composed himself, his joy quickly tamped down until he held a calm appearance more associated with a proper Jedi in training rather than the spontaneous spirit of the child he still was. For a moment, the master regretted the change though he understood and believed in the necessity of it.
"Are you injured?" he asked. Obi-Wan shook his head, his face ghostly pale under the saber's glow.
"No, Master Jinn," Obi-Wan answered. Qui-Gon's eyes drifted down to the stun cuffs at the boy's wrists and ankles.
"We'll get those off of you and then we will leave this place," Qui-Gon said as he took a step closer to the boy, but before he could get any closer a sound made him turn back toward the tunnel.
"I'm sorry, Qui-Gon, but I can't let you do that," Xanatos replied from a position further down the passageway. Before master or child could respond there was a great rumble of earth, thunderously loud against the hard walls of the cave as stone shifted and collapsed in on itself. When the dust settled and only silence reigned in the small space, Qui-Gon could see for himself what his heart already knew.
Xanatos had sealed them in.