Note: Thanks for the review! PhoenixQueen ( lol! I don't think any One Jedi could be that good. Perhaps a half dozen focusing just on one particular thing, but not just one. During the conversation between Qui-Gon and Mace, Mace mentioned that Trace couldn't do it alone and neither knew that Xanatos was in on this but they would have said the same. So now you have to remember that Grifth was working for someone who just wanted Jesi and the children dead in Hunted, not taken like he wanted to, but now Grifth is greedy with Xanatos's input, but has he told his head honcho or his plans yet? *Shrugs* Or is he just using the head guy's resources? And just who is the Head dude? In the last chapter I meant to mention the name of the big guy in Xanatos's and Grifth's conversation but I must have erased it. So in end I guess what I meant was that though Xanatos and Grifth aren't powerful enough to block out the temple, who are they working for that is? Or what could possibly do that? Ehehehehhehe. Sorry for confusion. Welcome on the saber action lol)
Ch. 9 Treading Dark Waters
Billy stepped up behind Jesi. She was silent as the group was recovering the information they had to know. Vent systems, water tunnels, locked down turbo lifts, and such. She had turned away from them when they decided to go over it again and this bothered him.
He gently set a hand on her shoulder so as not to startle her.
"Are you sure you're ok with this sneaking behind people's backs?" He asked quietly, so the group couldn't hear them.
"I have no choice." She whispered back, her eyes still cast out over nothing.
"We could deal with them, nothing will change." Billy replied.
"No." Jesi said. "I don't trust them."
Billy blinked in surprise.
"What?"
"I don't trust them." She repeated.
"What about Obi-wan? Or Qui-Gon? I thought you trusted them like you would me." He said shocked.
"I trust Obi-Wan Kenobi with all I am." Jesi replied looking directly into Billy's eyes and saying no more.
"We could use his help." Billy suggested.
"I'm not about to get him into any trouble with the Council because of my distrust for the others." She said firmly.
"As you see it." Billy said.
They turned to look at the group again who were finishing up. Jesi closed her eyes as another wave of dizziness and nausea caught up to her. She hid her hands by crossing her arms, they were shaking horribly. She was freezing as well. After effects of everything that had happened. She just prayed that the numbzations didn't wear off any time soon.
"We're ready Cpt. Stafferi, Lt. Cpt. Lackarin." One said quietly.
Jesi and Billy both moved towards them again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obi-Wan glanced inside the rooms he passed. He'd been walking throughout the open parts of the Temple for the past hour looking for Jesi. He couldn't find her through his senses for some reason and he certainly couldn't find her now. Where would she possibly go in a time like this? People were restricted to the central building and the healer's wing and the corridors contecting them, that was it. Course, there were no Knights or guards at the entrances of some of the corridors, she could have easily gone outside of the central building. Not outside the Temple but…somewhere.
Suddenly something clamped onto his leg. Startled he toppled over at the sudden impact. As he landed a little person came flying onto his chest as his legs flew out from under him.
"Obbiiii!!!!!!" The little boy screamed happily tightening his hold around the Padawan's neck.
Obi-Wan blinked trying to clear his vision from the fall. Finally his senses began to return and he realized who it was nearly strangling him.
"Jayce?" He asked surprised.
"Helwo Obi." The boy said sitting up. He was all of 2 and had just begun talking…and never stopped since. He was a boy that Obi-Wan had tended to during his assigned time in the creche.
"What are you doing so far from the others?" Obi-Wan asked gently moving the boy aside so he could sit up.
"I've been fodowing you since you weft da East stairs."
"Why did you follow me?"
"Bacause, Mrs. Jesi asked me to give dise to you." The little boy held out a velvet pocket.
"When did you see her Jayce?" Obi-Wan asked gingerly taking the pocket.
"Long time ago…" The boy thought back. "She was sad, I could feel it."
Obi-Wan eyed him. A second year child feeling emotion through the Force so soon? Perhaps he could tell through Jesi's expression and the way she spoke or something.
"Thank you Jayce, but I think it's about time to go back to your agemates." Obi-Wan said keeping the pocket in his hand while swooping the boy into his arms with the other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Qui-Gon looked inside the room in which Bant lie with Healer Kik'Rin sitting near her.
"Master Qui-Gon." Kik'Rin greeted tiredly.
"Kik'Rin." Qui-Gon replied. "Do you happen to know where my apprentice is?"
Kik'Rin shook her head slightly. Qui-Gon surpressed a sigh.
"How's she doing?" He asked.
"She's well. She'll be ok when she finally wakes up." The Twi'lek said quietly looking back at Bant.
"Is something bothering you Kik'Rin?" Qui-Gon asked seeing her out of her usual manner of cheerfulness. Of course no one was cheerful right now except for some of the creche children able to play games as they waited for the 'power outage' to be taken care of. Though the rest of the Temple knew why the power was out and they weren't as cheerful, and care free as the children.
"No. It's just Bant brought something to my attention earlier about the triplets." She said looking at Jinn.
"What was that?" Qui-Gon asked moving further into the room.
Kik'Rin explained what they had discovered about the blackness in the DNA strands. The differences and the alikeness. Then she explained how she decided to see if it was hereditary.
"When I tracked down Jesiana's DNA from the Temple's archive I realized that when that when it was taken, it was many years ago so I accessed inside the Inter-Galactical Peace Group's medical filing…" She trailed off.
Qui-Gon waited for her to continue and when she didn't, and he frowned.
"What did you find?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Jesiana's files have been erased from the system." Kik'Rin said frustrated.
"I was going to com into the building and ask about it but that's when everything happened." She looked at Bant.
"What are on the files?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Medical history, injuries, current and past, current state, and hospital stays. With those files are the work arrangment files. It says exactly where she's been, who she's worked with and for, and who she's in command of. None of it's there. It was as if she had never worked there." Kik'Rin explained.
Qui-Gon's frowned deepened. Who would erase her files? And why?
~~~~~~~~~
Billy dropped down into the circular room. He looked around quickly then motioned for Jesi to follow.
The group had broken into teams, 3 to one going through the upper levels of the building, 4 to another that went through the water tunnels, then Jesi and Billy who were to go through the smaller areas. Vent systems and turbo lift shafts, they were all looking for anything to show that someone had been there who wasn't supposed to be.
Jesi dropped down beside him and they both surveyed the area around them. They were inside the controll computer system of the vent and airing analyzation computer.
"Hmm…" Billy breathed in deeply.
"Jedi air doesn't smell much different." He said jokingly. Jesi smacked his arm and moved forward looking as the lights flashed on the panels.
"The venting doesn't shut down the with rest of the systems during a lock down, apparently." She told him.
"I thought all the power was out." Billy said joining her at the panels.
"I thought so too." She said stepping back to look at the entire thing. At the top there was a large vent branching out many different ways.
"This must be the air cleanser." She murmured.
Billy nodded looking over the system as well.
"What's that?" He asked frowning.
"What?"
"That." He pointed at a small metal satellite propped off of the huge vent. Jesi frowned looking at it.
"I don't know." She circled the system and found that the satellite had a cord running from it down the side of the panels. It led her to a protable computer system.
"What the hell?" She murmured.
"What is it?" Billy asked moving around the computer to her.
"It's a total satellite tracing system. We've used them before when we transfer or test gas equations and elements from far off planets." Jesi said tapping into the computer. "It's the exact same system we use."
"What is it feeding off of?" Billy asked crouching next to her.
It took her a moment but then a small digital planet rotated on the screen.
"A planet called Rickiri." She told him. "It's in the Deion system."
"How could a small satellite like that transfer those waves of atmospheric equation here?" Billy asked.
"It can't. Not without an aide along the way. A more powerful absorbent taking the radioactive waves from the atmosphere has to be there, sending them to somewhere very close to here and then it in turn recieves them and distributes it all."
"To where?"
"Here of course." A deep voice answered Billy's question.
The two turned looking at Grifth alone.
Jesi pushed herself against the wall behind her, avoiding being struck with a metal pipe, but instead it landed on the side of Billy's face throwing him to the side. Jesi jumped to his side on her knees but he made no reaction as the blood seeped down his face. She looked back up at Grifth with only hatred.
"He's too slow." Grifth mentioned, then suddenly swung at her again but she jerked back and jumped to her feet grabbing for the pole as it passed her. Grasping it tightly she hung on as he pulled it back to him, as she came with it. Jesi used the momentum and pushed into him slamming him into the computer panel behind rattling it. She pressed the pole as hard as she could into his chest. Grifth easily grasped the strands of the Force around them and shoved her off throwing her into the tangles of wires behind.
"You're no match for me now Jesi. Just give it up. We could work together in this."
"Fuck you." Jesi snapped dodging another sudden attempt to hit her.
"Watch your language, children may be near." Grifth taunted.
Jesi jumped up again grabbing hold of the pole, pulling it towards her and trusting her knee into his stomach. When he gasped, his grip losened. Jesi did it again, and again, then she was able to jerk it out of his grasp and moved to smack him on the bridge of the nose with it but he grabbed it with only one hand sending a vibe ringing down Jesi's arms as if she had hit metal.
"Don't you learn? You're not as powerful as me." He growled. "You can hit me with all your might and I'll still come back at you."
With this he gathered his strength from the Force and shoved her back again…but this time she went straight through the pipes and wires behind her. She disappeared behind them only leaving a small hint that she had even hit the seemingly wall.
"Ah, shit." Grifth muttered and spread the wires and all with the Force. Moving through the new gap, he jumped down as the air whipped past him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obi-Wan had made sure that Jayce was with his Master in charge and would not follow him before he came here. He had come to the empty West stairs and sat on the third step to the bottom.
He fingered the pouch, wary on what he'd find inside. Finally he opened it and emptied what it had. The metal hilt of something landed in his hand and he pulled off the velvet pocket over it. He rotated the shining gold hilted dagger in his hand. It's sharp tip made the light bounce off it at an awkward angle.
He lifted up the pouch again and shook it out. A small piece of paper fell out. Unfolding it Jesi's hand writing was evident.
Hey Kid,
I know your birthday isn't for another 3 days but just in case I'm not there I thought I'd give this to you a little early.
It's probably not the best thing in the universe but I hope you like it. I thought it very fitting for it was to be my son's on his 16th birthday. His father had gone out the day he was born and bought this for him. Though you're past your 16th year I still felt I should still give it to you. It's saved my life many times and in more ways than one; just as you have. I hope it will help you as well.
All my love,
Jesi
Obi-Wan reread the paper once over, then twice. Sighing he looked at the dagger again studying it closer. Small details had be etched into the blade itself. The hilt was covered in a type of pattern. Symbols he didn't know the meaning of went down in a column then blank gold, then the symbols again. It did this all the way around. He tilted it up and looked at the bottom. A S was carved into it…but over it was a K.
Kenobi.
Obi-Wan folded the paper quickly and put in on the inside of his belt. He got off the stairs and knelt down holding the dagger tightly in his grasp. He called the Force around him, which seemed such a hard thing to do for some reason, and allowed it to wash over his mind and body for a moment. He then willed it into the dagger itself. He probed it for emotion--meaning; and found plenty of it. Jesi was written all over it. Her signature shown brightly in the object itself from so much use and it always being close to her. Obi-Wan focused on that signature and spread out his mind reaching for it. After a long while his mental eyes opened to stare through Jesi's.
The control room for the vent systems.
Tbc….
Aww… I think I'm gonna cry. *tear* lol. Ended on a bit of a sappy note but still left a lot of possiblities hanging out now. If anyone has any more questions or anything don't be afraid to ask. I know I make things complicated. ;) Review! Update ASAP.
Till then,
Elli
