Hey everyone~
Wow, you know, the previous chapter's ending was so far down on my list of cliffy ways I'm ending my chapters to even register, but this one registers=)...Interesting that the question of what happens to Qui-Gon came up, yes, interesting...you will find out, I'm guessing in like 2-3 chapters hehehe, still have to write it, but the scene has been in my head since before I even sat down at my computer to write...And there is no longer any holding out on u guyz...I'm writing chapter seven 2night, then sending it to my betas (Thank you!!! MaraJade, wonderful comments/helpful/encouraging comments, as always=) Soda Baron, luved your nitpicking=) so it will be a couple of days...but that's not new=)
Here's the thanx part=): Enigma Jade, silverrain, KenobisGirl, ~Becky~, Jevvica, BlueElli, princessj_15, shen panda, Freakizimi, BlazerAkila (I'm sooo sorry about my inablility to us a key board properly, it's fixed now=)
*****
"Force! What did you do to yourself *this* time, Jinn?"
The voice of another was enough to pull Qui-Gon out from the murky waters of the unconscious by which he had willingly allowed himself to be engulfed. In the unconscious, he could forget. The fact that he could do nothing but sit, lie rather, and wait to be rescued was not something he wanted to dwell on. The fact that he could do nothing for his padawan was not something he wanted to dwell on...
Stifling a groan, Qui-Gon pulled open his eyes, wincing at the effect the light from three suns had on his already throbbing head. Biting back the pain, he raised his head, eyes slowly coming to focus on his savior. Seeing the familiar face, Qui-Gon suppressed another groan, but this one wasn't caused by the physical agony he was in.
"Mace...you were the closest Jedi?" Qui-Gon said as he made an attempt to sit up, but was rewarded by a wonderful display of colored splotches which danced across his pain distorted vision. Though he was infinitely relieved to see his friend, he did not need Mace's dry comments or his oh so tactful way of stating his opinions regarding Qui-Gon's methods. He was definitely not up to enduring Mace's bantering in his present condition.
"The next is over five standard days away, but if you would like me to allow him the pleasure of continuing this rescue, I won't argue," turning slowly away from the fallen Jedi, Mace smiled as he was stopped by the grunt he knew would come.
"Oh, so you *want* my help now? Then let's get on with this," Mace ran a quick Force check of Qui-Gon's wounds and, deeming none life threatening at the moment, he quickly scanned the surrounding area, "Where's that wayward apprentice of yours? I have no doubt that, given his habit of spending the first week after every mission submersed in bacta, he will be needing some attention as well."
Mace's inquiry was rewarded with a sharp breath intake from the fallen Jedi master. Concerned, Mace turned his full attention to his comrade, "What is it?"
Qui-Gon swallowed hard against the lump in his throat and the panic attack which threatened to over come him. How could he have not thought about his padawan until Mace brought him up?! Closing his eyes and releasing his distress into the Force, he quickly checked the bond with his apprentice, relieved to find it active. Weakened horribly due to distance and the condition of the bonded, but there. Obi-Wan was not dead.
Eyes still closed, he responded in an even tone, "He was taken." Qui-Gon opened his eyes to meet the compassionate gaze of the other man and added, emotion and pain choking his voice, "We *must* find him."
"We will, my friend" Mace said as he prepared Qui-Gon to be transported back to his shuttle, his voice hardened as his eyes strayed, coming to rest on the twisted pile of metal now partially buried in the pearly sand, "We will."
*****
Obi-Wan had long ceased struggling against the chains which bound him in a submissive kneeling position. His wrists suspended above his head by shackles which hung down from the low ceiling and legs fastened to the cold, stone floor by thick, metal bands encircling his ankles. Any movement only served to grind the rusted restraints against the already torn skin. And without the Force to dampen the pain, thanks to the choking inhibitor that he had been collared with, he gladly resorted to anything that might lessen his agony.
Though still not fully healed when he was dragged from the medical wing, Obi-Wan had ignored the pain that the two soldiers who came to retrieve him had inflicted through their use of and electro-shocker. They had only laughed mockingly at his attempt to retain his stoic composure.
Once they had reached their destination, presumably the chambers Demar had spoken of, he was roughly chained in the small, dark room. The circular, stone cell reeked with something Obi-Wan could not quite place. Though it was not surprising that the enclosure stank, for two narrow, horizontal slits at the point at which the ceiling and wall met served as the only ventilation for the stale air. Void of all furniture, except a cabinet which was fit against the wall a few feet from the door and, of course, the restraints, the room looked even more foreboding in what little light the windows provided.
Obi-Wan remembered the question he spat at the guards as he realized that he was to be bound in the middle of the suffocating room. Why had he been remedied, if he was only to be bound moments after he was removed from the healer's care? The sheer joy the guard who answered him projected as he answered the question sent a chill down Obi-Wan's spine.
"My Lord prefers his guests to be in the best of health before they are broken."
Broken...The knowledge of what was to happen was almost as bad as the actual deeds. The anticipation was tearing the apprentice apart. Maybe this was part of his torture.
It could have been minutes or it could have been hours, Obi-Wan had lost all sense of time between the point at which he was locked into the manacles, head bowed against the guards' cruel laughter as they left him to await his fate, and the time when the door swished open again, alerting him that fate had come for him.
Squinting against the sudden glare of light which came unbidden into the dismal prison, Obi-Wan recognized Demar's silhouette as the man strolled down the few steps, his shoes creating echoing clicks as they contacted with the worn stone floor, the door closing in his wake.
"Ah, my friend, I trust you are comfortable with the accommodations you have been provided with," Demar smiled as he tugged on one of the chains binding Obi-Wan's wrists, bouncing one arm, painfully rubbing the rough metal against the boy's already raw skin.
Stopping, Demar dropped the chain, his attention caught by the blood trickling down the padawan's arm. Catching a drop on his thumb, the man brought his hand closer to his face, examining the droplet before rubbing it between his thumb and index finger, a grin slowly spreading on his face.
Ignoring the man's actions and the pain which resulted, Obi-Wan looked up to the man's face, eye's hard, "Why are you doing this?" he asked, voice never wavering.
A flash of humor ran through the man's eyes, "You mean that you, a *Jedi*, do not know why I have gone through the trouble of brining you here?" Receiving an emotionless stare from Obi-Wan, the man continued, "Oh, this is priceless! You, a *Jedi*, one of the *elite*, cannot deduce my simple plan." Obi-Wan noticed that each time the man spoke the word 'Jedi,' he spat it out like one would the filthiest of curse words.
After Demar's rant, he lapsed into a fit of laughter with Obi-Wan looking silently on...what more could he do?
Regaining his composure, Demar addressed the boy's question again, still wiping tears from his eyes, "Well, my dear *Jedi*, you have something I want. It's as simple as that."
Taking Obi-Wan's silent stare as a lack of understanding, he continued, his tone an exasperated one brought on by what he perceived as his captive's ignorance, "Information, little *Jedi*, I need information. Surely you know the details of the mission you were on. That is what I need, the location of the Minithycirate."
Obi-Wan's ears perked at the information...were these the pirates Qui-Gon spoke of? If so, didn't they already know the location of the power source? Choosing his words carefully, Obi-Wan replied, "Are you not the Amorganian pirates?"
Demar smiled at Obi-Wan's knowledge, and began to slowly walk in a circle around the chained padawan, "Yes, this is a pirate vessel and yes, I am a pirate. Now, if you knew that, then you must have been told where those fools hid the energy source." Now directly behind Obi-Wan, Demar reached over Obi-Wan's shoulder, grabbed the front of his tunic, and wrenched the boy up with such strength that Obi-Wan barely succeeded in fighting back a whimper of pain as the jagged metal bindings dug deeper into his ankles. Demar whispered in Obi-Wan's ear, "Tell me what I want to know, boy."
Obi-Wan opened his mouth to speak and was promptly released. Demar quickly strode to his previous space in front of the boy. Obi-Wan had dropped his head and closed his mouth, but Demar bent down latched his hand under the padawan's chin and roughly brought his head up, their gazes meeting.
"Where is it?" Demar growled as he straightened.
Obi-Wan took a moment to calm his pain, then responded with his own question, "I was told you knew where the Minithycirate is, why do you need me to tell you?"
"You were told what I wanted you to be told, boy," Demar spat, "The Lithions, pesky creatures, though not incredibly bright, are nearly immune to Force manipulations. I captured one of their senators, knowing he knew the item's whereabouts, but was unable to force him to tell its location." Demar paused, smiling the amount of cleverness he believed he had incorporated into his next action, "But, I found a way around that. The senator was immune a Force suggestion of the caliber that I wanted, but he was not to lesser ones."
A look of pride settled in his features as he continued, "I then, realizing I was getting nowhere trying to get him to tell me where the Minithycirate was, told him that *I* knew where it was. I implanted a memory in the senator of his receiving of the information, from a trusted source of course, that pirates knew the location of the sacred object. Then, all that needed to be done was place the man back on his planet with the memory of his mind alteration replaced with that of a lush sabbatical, retaining only the memory of the 'warning.' I knew that it would only be a matter of time before the Jedi were called in, so I waited." Looking down at Obi-Wan, Demar smiled when he saw the glimmer of confusion flash in the Jedi's eyes.
"But, how did you know which Jedi would be summoned, and when they would?" Obi-Wan asked, almost fearing the answer.
"It's easy when you have friends at the temple..."
There were spies at the temple? Did that mean that there were also saboteurs?
"And, the ship..."
"Landing on Cascalar was not an accident...and neither, as I'm sure you have gathered, was the crash..." Demar's eyes glistened with excitement as he saw the realization come down upon Obi-Wan, and he relished at the effect his tale had on the boy.
"Now, back to the matter at hand. Do you want to tell me where I should be looking, hmmm?" Obi-Wan's features became stoic once again as the pirate continued his previous questioning, "No? Good. We get to do this the hard way."
Turning away from Obi-Wan and walking towards the cabinet, Demar languidly made a fist with his right hand and slowly raised it. Corresponding to the man's actions, the chain attached to Obi-Wan's right wrist slowly pulled him upward, stretching his body, digging the metal bindings deeper yet again. Obi-Wan took in a sharp breath as the pain came suddenly, assaulting his wounded body.
Demar's hand dropped and so did Obi-Wan as the man reached the small cabinet. Undoing the latch, he pulled the double doors open to reveal an impressive collection of torture devices.
Smiling back at Obi-Wan, he asked, "Any preferences?"
Answer any questions about Demar? Hopefully...he'll get more into the repressed childhood memory stuff later lol=) as always, good lil Jedi review, and everyone here is a good lil Jedi, right???=)
Wow, you know, the previous chapter's ending was so far down on my list of cliffy ways I'm ending my chapters to even register, but this one registers=)...Interesting that the question of what happens to Qui-Gon came up, yes, interesting...you will find out, I'm guessing in like 2-3 chapters hehehe, still have to write it, but the scene has been in my head since before I even sat down at my computer to write...And there is no longer any holding out on u guyz...I'm writing chapter seven 2night, then sending it to my betas (Thank you!!! MaraJade, wonderful comments/helpful/encouraging comments, as always=) Soda Baron, luved your nitpicking=) so it will be a couple of days...but that's not new=)
Here's the thanx part=): Enigma Jade, silverrain, KenobisGirl, ~Becky~, Jevvica, BlueElli, princessj_15, shen panda, Freakizimi, BlazerAkila (I'm sooo sorry about my inablility to us a key board properly, it's fixed now=)
*****
"Force! What did you do to yourself *this* time, Jinn?"
The voice of another was enough to pull Qui-Gon out from the murky waters of the unconscious by which he had willingly allowed himself to be engulfed. In the unconscious, he could forget. The fact that he could do nothing but sit, lie rather, and wait to be rescued was not something he wanted to dwell on. The fact that he could do nothing for his padawan was not something he wanted to dwell on...
Stifling a groan, Qui-Gon pulled open his eyes, wincing at the effect the light from three suns had on his already throbbing head. Biting back the pain, he raised his head, eyes slowly coming to focus on his savior. Seeing the familiar face, Qui-Gon suppressed another groan, but this one wasn't caused by the physical agony he was in.
"Mace...you were the closest Jedi?" Qui-Gon said as he made an attempt to sit up, but was rewarded by a wonderful display of colored splotches which danced across his pain distorted vision. Though he was infinitely relieved to see his friend, he did not need Mace's dry comments or his oh so tactful way of stating his opinions regarding Qui-Gon's methods. He was definitely not up to enduring Mace's bantering in his present condition.
"The next is over five standard days away, but if you would like me to allow him the pleasure of continuing this rescue, I won't argue," turning slowly away from the fallen Jedi, Mace smiled as he was stopped by the grunt he knew would come.
"Oh, so you *want* my help now? Then let's get on with this," Mace ran a quick Force check of Qui-Gon's wounds and, deeming none life threatening at the moment, he quickly scanned the surrounding area, "Where's that wayward apprentice of yours? I have no doubt that, given his habit of spending the first week after every mission submersed in bacta, he will be needing some attention as well."
Mace's inquiry was rewarded with a sharp breath intake from the fallen Jedi master. Concerned, Mace turned his full attention to his comrade, "What is it?"
Qui-Gon swallowed hard against the lump in his throat and the panic attack which threatened to over come him. How could he have not thought about his padawan until Mace brought him up?! Closing his eyes and releasing his distress into the Force, he quickly checked the bond with his apprentice, relieved to find it active. Weakened horribly due to distance and the condition of the bonded, but there. Obi-Wan was not dead.
Eyes still closed, he responded in an even tone, "He was taken." Qui-Gon opened his eyes to meet the compassionate gaze of the other man and added, emotion and pain choking his voice, "We *must* find him."
"We will, my friend" Mace said as he prepared Qui-Gon to be transported back to his shuttle, his voice hardened as his eyes strayed, coming to rest on the twisted pile of metal now partially buried in the pearly sand, "We will."
*****
Obi-Wan had long ceased struggling against the chains which bound him in a submissive kneeling position. His wrists suspended above his head by shackles which hung down from the low ceiling and legs fastened to the cold, stone floor by thick, metal bands encircling his ankles. Any movement only served to grind the rusted restraints against the already torn skin. And without the Force to dampen the pain, thanks to the choking inhibitor that he had been collared with, he gladly resorted to anything that might lessen his agony.
Though still not fully healed when he was dragged from the medical wing, Obi-Wan had ignored the pain that the two soldiers who came to retrieve him had inflicted through their use of and electro-shocker. They had only laughed mockingly at his attempt to retain his stoic composure.
Once they had reached their destination, presumably the chambers Demar had spoken of, he was roughly chained in the small, dark room. The circular, stone cell reeked with something Obi-Wan could not quite place. Though it was not surprising that the enclosure stank, for two narrow, horizontal slits at the point at which the ceiling and wall met served as the only ventilation for the stale air. Void of all furniture, except a cabinet which was fit against the wall a few feet from the door and, of course, the restraints, the room looked even more foreboding in what little light the windows provided.
Obi-Wan remembered the question he spat at the guards as he realized that he was to be bound in the middle of the suffocating room. Why had he been remedied, if he was only to be bound moments after he was removed from the healer's care? The sheer joy the guard who answered him projected as he answered the question sent a chill down Obi-Wan's spine.
"My Lord prefers his guests to be in the best of health before they are broken."
Broken...The knowledge of what was to happen was almost as bad as the actual deeds. The anticipation was tearing the apprentice apart. Maybe this was part of his torture.
It could have been minutes or it could have been hours, Obi-Wan had lost all sense of time between the point at which he was locked into the manacles, head bowed against the guards' cruel laughter as they left him to await his fate, and the time when the door swished open again, alerting him that fate had come for him.
Squinting against the sudden glare of light which came unbidden into the dismal prison, Obi-Wan recognized Demar's silhouette as the man strolled down the few steps, his shoes creating echoing clicks as they contacted with the worn stone floor, the door closing in his wake.
"Ah, my friend, I trust you are comfortable with the accommodations you have been provided with," Demar smiled as he tugged on one of the chains binding Obi-Wan's wrists, bouncing one arm, painfully rubbing the rough metal against the boy's already raw skin.
Stopping, Demar dropped the chain, his attention caught by the blood trickling down the padawan's arm. Catching a drop on his thumb, the man brought his hand closer to his face, examining the droplet before rubbing it between his thumb and index finger, a grin slowly spreading on his face.
Ignoring the man's actions and the pain which resulted, Obi-Wan looked up to the man's face, eye's hard, "Why are you doing this?" he asked, voice never wavering.
A flash of humor ran through the man's eyes, "You mean that you, a *Jedi*, do not know why I have gone through the trouble of brining you here?" Receiving an emotionless stare from Obi-Wan, the man continued, "Oh, this is priceless! You, a *Jedi*, one of the *elite*, cannot deduce my simple plan." Obi-Wan noticed that each time the man spoke the word 'Jedi,' he spat it out like one would the filthiest of curse words.
After Demar's rant, he lapsed into a fit of laughter with Obi-Wan looking silently on...what more could he do?
Regaining his composure, Demar addressed the boy's question again, still wiping tears from his eyes, "Well, my dear *Jedi*, you have something I want. It's as simple as that."
Taking Obi-Wan's silent stare as a lack of understanding, he continued, his tone an exasperated one brought on by what he perceived as his captive's ignorance, "Information, little *Jedi*, I need information. Surely you know the details of the mission you were on. That is what I need, the location of the Minithycirate."
Obi-Wan's ears perked at the information...were these the pirates Qui-Gon spoke of? If so, didn't they already know the location of the power source? Choosing his words carefully, Obi-Wan replied, "Are you not the Amorganian pirates?"
Demar smiled at Obi-Wan's knowledge, and began to slowly walk in a circle around the chained padawan, "Yes, this is a pirate vessel and yes, I am a pirate. Now, if you knew that, then you must have been told where those fools hid the energy source." Now directly behind Obi-Wan, Demar reached over Obi-Wan's shoulder, grabbed the front of his tunic, and wrenched the boy up with such strength that Obi-Wan barely succeeded in fighting back a whimper of pain as the jagged metal bindings dug deeper into his ankles. Demar whispered in Obi-Wan's ear, "Tell me what I want to know, boy."
Obi-Wan opened his mouth to speak and was promptly released. Demar quickly strode to his previous space in front of the boy. Obi-Wan had dropped his head and closed his mouth, but Demar bent down latched his hand under the padawan's chin and roughly brought his head up, their gazes meeting.
"Where is it?" Demar growled as he straightened.
Obi-Wan took a moment to calm his pain, then responded with his own question, "I was told you knew where the Minithycirate is, why do you need me to tell you?"
"You were told what I wanted you to be told, boy," Demar spat, "The Lithions, pesky creatures, though not incredibly bright, are nearly immune to Force manipulations. I captured one of their senators, knowing he knew the item's whereabouts, but was unable to force him to tell its location." Demar paused, smiling the amount of cleverness he believed he had incorporated into his next action, "But, I found a way around that. The senator was immune a Force suggestion of the caliber that I wanted, but he was not to lesser ones."
A look of pride settled in his features as he continued, "I then, realizing I was getting nowhere trying to get him to tell me where the Minithycirate was, told him that *I* knew where it was. I implanted a memory in the senator of his receiving of the information, from a trusted source of course, that pirates knew the location of the sacred object. Then, all that needed to be done was place the man back on his planet with the memory of his mind alteration replaced with that of a lush sabbatical, retaining only the memory of the 'warning.' I knew that it would only be a matter of time before the Jedi were called in, so I waited." Looking down at Obi-Wan, Demar smiled when he saw the glimmer of confusion flash in the Jedi's eyes.
"But, how did you know which Jedi would be summoned, and when they would?" Obi-Wan asked, almost fearing the answer.
"It's easy when you have friends at the temple..."
There were spies at the temple? Did that mean that there were also saboteurs?
"And, the ship..."
"Landing on Cascalar was not an accident...and neither, as I'm sure you have gathered, was the crash..." Demar's eyes glistened with excitement as he saw the realization come down upon Obi-Wan, and he relished at the effect his tale had on the boy.
"Now, back to the matter at hand. Do you want to tell me where I should be looking, hmmm?" Obi-Wan's features became stoic once again as the pirate continued his previous questioning, "No? Good. We get to do this the hard way."
Turning away from Obi-Wan and walking towards the cabinet, Demar languidly made a fist with his right hand and slowly raised it. Corresponding to the man's actions, the chain attached to Obi-Wan's right wrist slowly pulled him upward, stretching his body, digging the metal bindings deeper yet again. Obi-Wan took in a sharp breath as the pain came suddenly, assaulting his wounded body.
Demar's hand dropped and so did Obi-Wan as the man reached the small cabinet. Undoing the latch, he pulled the double doors open to reveal an impressive collection of torture devices.
Smiling back at Obi-Wan, he asked, "Any preferences?"
Answer any questions about Demar? Hopefully...he'll get more into the repressed childhood memory stuff later lol=) as always, good lil Jedi review, and everyone here is a good lil Jedi, right???=)