A/N: See chapter 1for the standard disclaimers. Here is the next offering. Enjoy. If you are enjoying please let me know.

Chapter 6                           Surprises

Obi-Wan looked around the common room of the quarters he had shared with his Master Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn. He noted the disorder that the apartment was left in just before they had gone to Naboo.  Six weeks had passed since he had been here and the place had a stale musty smell. This was the one thing both Obi and Qui-Gon liked least about coming home after a long mission.

Data pads littered the tables, the couch, and the cushions were piled on the floor behind the couch. Obi picked up the mess in the living room taking care to put the personal things in the boxes he had brought with him. Finishing the cleaning and packing everything else, Obi-Wan walked hesitantly to the door of Qui-Gon's sleeping quarters. This was the last room he needed to pack and he almost expected to find his Master lounging on the bed reading a book.

Obi knew this was the end of what had been the worst time in his life. He opened the door and stepped into the room recollecting all the times he had come here for instructions, for help with his problems or to just talk to his Master. His eyes took in the messy state of the room. There were clothes and books as well as data pads laying everywhere. Shaking his head and chuckling, it seemed to Obi that he and his Master had traded habits. He became the neat one and Qui-Gon became …well a lot more complacent about cleaning.

 Obi could almost quote some lectures he had received on the state of his room. The small chuckle turned to sobs as memories of mission's they had gone on together and meditation times they had shared came flooding back. The leisure activities they both enjoyed played through his mind as though it was a reel of pictures being played just for him.

Obi-Wan could not live here again and yet he knew that all of his Master's personal items must be cleared out so that someone else could have the apartment. Sitting down on Qui-Gon's sleep couch, he felt something under his thigh, a data pad, and he recalled that his Master liked to read before going to sleep. The data pad being here was odd because printed page books were the only type of leisure reading that his Master made time for when they were at home.

Obi turned the data pad on and began reading it. By the third sentence he was in a state of shock. The text contained temple records concerning Knighting Ceremonies. His Master had been looking into the requirements for having him Knighted before he found Anakin.  Blinking back tears, Obi-Wan had assumed that he had been pushed aside for the, "Chosen One". He should have had more trust in his Master. By this time the tears were running freely down his face.

Leaving the dresser until the very last thing, he packed all the books and the small things that Qui-Gon had picked up on the many planets they visited. These were things he wanted to keep and so he labeled each box carefully knowing that he would want to go through it when he didn't hurt quite so much.

At last unable to avoid the dresser any longer and starting at the bottom; he opened the drawers one by one. Pulling out extra tunics and placing them in a box, Obi intended to give them to someone else who might need new ones.

The last drawer he thought and pulled it open. Reaching into the drawer to remove the under garments, Obi-wan discovered the one thing that he had never imagined he would see. He held his breath and removed the clothes from around a package wrapped in silver paper. A card had been placed on the top of the long thin box. The card had the simple words, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, written in his Master's hand.

Obi picked up the heavy package, his hands shaking and put it on top of the boxes that he would be taking to the new home he would be sharing with Anakin. Unable to take his eyes off the package, he finished cleaning out the drawer. This was the last gift he would receive from his Master and he just couldn't bring himself to open it, not yet.

Fourteen hours out of Sevac II

Moondrifter sailed through space on the way to her first stop; an agricultural planet in the Deral system to deliver a cargo of machine parts to the farmers. Dakota didn't know how long she had gone without sleep but this area of space was usually quiet, a good time for some shuteye. Dakota set her ship's coordinates and programmed the autopilot to perform the ship's functions for the next eight hours. Setting the computerized alarm system to wake her in the event of an emergency, she made a last minute check of all the panels and rolled into the bottom bunk for some much needed rest.

Unable to say what had awakened her or how long she had slept; she lay quiet for several minutes listening to the sounds of the ship. Dakota heard nothing out of ordinary, just the usual sounds of a loaded freighter. Something bothered her though, something was not quite right. She was alone on the ship and none of the alarms had awakened her.

The thought that she must be imaging things flashed through her mind and the idea of the vacation that everyone told she needed sounded so good. Maybe she would take time off, relax and have some fun after this contract was complete. She dismissed her thoughts assuming she was just over tired and maybe a little nervous at the long distance she still had to go and she rolled over drifting back sleep.

Qui-Gon awoke to a nagging pain in his neck, "Well," he sighed, "That's new; normally it's my shoulders that hurt." Reaching his hand up to massage his sore muscles, he touched a metal ring around his neck and touched it again to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Unable to see anything in the inky darkness he tried to access the Force but found it out of reach.

Something stirred in his mind. I reached my arm over my head. When did I get my arm loose? Slowly he reached out with his other hand. At this point Qui-Gon discovered that he could also move his legs and he stretched each limb as far as it would go without trying to stand. Unable to squelch the moan of relief that escaped, he carefully moved his hands and body and discovered that he was in a sitting position leaning against what felt like a wall.

Reaching up his arm as far as he could, the Jedi moved his hand down the wall until he met the floor. Qui-Gon didn't remember it being so dark the last time he was awake. The room was dry and it smelled dusty like it hadn't been used for sometime. He remembered being chained to the floor in a bright room and a woman giving him shots. He wondered if this was the same ship and if not, how did I get here? Why am I unchained? Not having the answers to those questions he added one more. How long was I unconscious this time?

Realizing the dizziness, nausea, and the ever-present headache were related to the drugs he had been given, Qui-Gon decided that patience and some meditation time would help to clear the drugs from his mind and body.

The best way to get out of here will be to go in one direction until a door or an exit point can be found. Taking care not to make any noise, he edged along the wall until he found a door. Qui-Gon listened for several minutes to the sounds of the ship but heard no sounds coming from other life forms.

There were no squeaks or scrapes as he slowly pulled the door open pausing to listen every few inches. At last the door was open enough to allow him to step out into the cargo area. Walking slowly and quietly, he moved through the crates and pallets careful not to bump into anything that might fall or make noise. Moments later he stopped and allowed his eyes to become accustomed to the small amount of lighting coming from panels in the flight control area.

Soft sounds of someone sleeping drew his attention and he looked carefully at the bunks just behind the pilot's chair. He could just make out the form of a small female in the lower bunk. Qui-Gon wondered if this was the same woman that had administered the drugs to him.  It was definitely not the same ship. The other one had felt smaller and more compact. This one had a darker interior and it was much noisier.

Questions raced through his mind. Who had given him the drugs? How long had he been a prisoner? How did he get free? The last and most important question, where in Sith was he?

The tall Jedi tried to access the Force for the second time but still could not reach it. He checked his bond with Obi-Wan and that too failed. He didn't understand why he couldn't reach his Padawan. Was Obi-Wan looking for him and what had happened with mission?

Quietly he walked past the sleeping female and sat down in the passenger seat where he could watch her. Focusing his thoughts, he decided to re-examine all the facts he could remember from the beginning of the mission on Coruscant. The landing on and the flight from Naboo through the Trade Federation Blockade and the damage to the ship; all these facts were clear in his mind.

The forced landing on Tatooine and the meeting with the boy Anakin Skywalker as well as the pod races were all things he remembered being involved with. Qui-Gon remembered leaving his Padawan with the Queen's transport and going into town to get the boy. Anakin's stop at the fruit stand to say goodbye to Jira. Seeing the man who looked like him on the street in Mos Espa on Tatooine. These were the last things he remembered except for small fragments of time when he was awake and before he was drugged again. Then he woke up here, wherever here was.

Qui-Gon continued to watch the sleeping woman still trying to decide if she was the woman that had administered the drugs. The need to be familiar with the operation of the ship impelled him to check the chronometer as well as the autopilot and the coordinates for the ship's destination. He quietly poked around the pilot's chair making a general search of the flight deck for anything that might be used as a weapon against him. Qui-Gon found a blaster and proceeded to remove it from the vicinity of the pilot's reach.

The tall man stretched his legs making a small noise at the same time the alarm beeped to wake the pilot. Dakota slowly turned over, sat up, and arched her back, stretching her arms over and behind her head. She swung her legs off the bunk, about to stand up when she saw a man sitting in the passenger seat of her ship calmly watching her.

tbc