Just wanted to say thanks again, everyone, for your kind words. I
appreciate your taking the time to respond to my fic. I should say there's
a good chance there will be a sequel to this fic, so keep your eye out for
it! :)
Stars in the Darkness - Part Thirty-Seven
-----------
As Obi-Wan moved further into the dark apartment he saw the huge windows were unblinded, the lights from neighboring skycrapers glowing dimly through fog that had risen as evening had darkened into night.
"I knew you would come. I've only just arrived myself. After my release, I stopped to pay a visit to a dear friend."
Obi-Wan whirled around, his lightsaber raised before him, but still unlit.
"Ah, the weapon of a Jedi," the voice said from the darkness. "I've never seen one before. Is that what you intend to kill me with?"
Lursan moved out of the shadows of the room, Obi-Wan recognizing him from his photo in the Hall of Judgment files.
"That is why you've come, isn't it?" Lursan went on as he drew closer, then stopped just a couple of meters from Obi-Wan. "To avenge the death of your son and the assault on your woman?"
Obi-Wan swallowed, his fingers rubbing the knob that would activate the blade. All it would take was one swing, a mark of contact he'd done hundreds of time in practice, but rarely in battle.
_Sai cha_ it was called in the ancient tongue. The words meaning "separate" and "head." _Sai cha_ was only used by Jedi when battle was at its more serious or deadly, or an opponent was considered extremely dangerous even to a fully trained Jedi. Lursan was dangerous, but he was no match for Obi- Wan. Therefore, what he could do, what he wanted to do, was tantamount to a cold-blooded execution.
"How does it feel?" Lursan suddenly asked.
Obi-Wan started at the question, his eyes narrowing.
"How does what feel?" he rasped, his throat swelling with hatred the longer he looked upon the murderer of his son.
"Does it feel as if some vital part of you, as essential and as crucial to your existence as your heart and or lungs had suddenly been ripped out of you?"
Obi-Wan's grip around his lightsaber tightened. Lursan moved closer, his storm-gray eyes glittering in the darkness.
"Or is it more like you're bleeding inside? As if there were tiny shards of glass moving through your veins, the pain so consuming, so encompassing, only the oblivion of death will ease it?"
Obi-Wan drew in a deep, shuddering breath, because Lursan's words were an uncanny description of exactly of what he was feeling.
"You killed my son!" he cried.
"Yes, I did," Lursan said matter-of-factly. "Just as you killed mine."
Obi-Wan's eyes widened. "What? I never----"
"It wasn't you exactly. It was that apprentice of yours, Skywalker. But, I'm not one to quibble on formalities when it comes to revenge. You trained Skywalker, and, unlucky for you, he had no son I could take, therefore I took yours as remuneration for mine."
Pain slashed through Obi-Wan at the careless manner with which Lursan spoke of Ben's murder, as if it had been nothing more than some inconsequential detail he had needed to take care of and, with no more effort it took to make a notation on an account-pad, had done so.
Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber and the blade leapt forth, blue and bright in the darkness of the room. Lursan's eyes widened. Not with fear, Obi-Wan noted, but with an avid fascination as he stared at the blazing blade.
"Beautiful," he murmured. "Truly an elegant weapon. I commend you, Master Kenobi. Not as random or clumsy as a blaster, is it? Much like a sword. Precise, accurate, straightforward. It must take great skill and concentration to wield it."
Obi-Wan stared at Lursan, wondering if the man was not only a cold-blooded killer, but insane as well.
"What did you mean when you said Anakin killed your son?"
Lursan drew his gaze away from the lightsaber and smiled at Obi-Wan.
"Oh, but of course. You don't know who I am, do you? You know me only as the business associate of that poor, dead fool, Dynast Lenor. Pity what happened to him, isn't it?"
"Who are you?" Obi-Wan shouted. "Why did you kill my son? Why?"
Lursan executed a short, courtly bow. "My name is Lursan, but I was once leader of the Red Tide."
Shock thrummed through Obi-Wan. Red Tide. The professional assassins Lady Tsara had hired to kidnap Ben while Obi-Wan had been off on his search for Sinja-Bau. They had invaded the manor of Onara's father, killing him, along with Master Eo, Sinja-Bau's former padawan. But Anakin had thwarted their plan and rescued Ben. Obi-Wan now recalled that among the dead Red Tide there had been a youth. He was the one Anakin had killed.
"I see you remember. Yes, Rhad was my son. My only son."
"Your son was an assassin! A murderer. He killed Dynast K'lia, and the men with him killed a Jedi, tried to murder Onara and helped Lady Tsara kidnap my son. What happened to your son he brought upon himself. Anakin was only doing his duty."
"Just as my son was doing his," Lursan countered, his gray eyes burning. Then he visibly collected himself, his self-complacent smile back on his face.
Rage surged through Obi-Wan. He moved closer, his arms swinging back as he prepared to strike. "Your son was a killer, Lursan! Mine was innocent!"
"Innocent?" Lursan cried. "There are no innocents! I have killed hundreds, Jedi. Hundreds! Men, women and children." Lursan moved closer, the blue glow of Obi-Wan's blade causing his face to look like demon out of the pits of hell.
"There is no good or evil, no right or wrong. The only dichotomy that matters in this universe, Master Jedi, is life and death. Meat that is alive and meat that is dead. Now come, admit it. You came here not just to kill me, but to look into the eyes of the man who murdered your son. You wanted to see what kind of unholy creature would kill a child. Tell me? What do you see?"
Obi-Wan stopped his swing, his muscles straining with the need to follow through. And then he saw himself refusing to turn to the dark side and letting Ben's spirit disappear into the Abyss. Letting his son die.
With a strangled cry, Obi-Wan lowered his arms and deactivated his lightsaber. He stood, trembling, his heart beating wildly. He couldn't take a life in cold-blood, even a life as vile and loathsome as Lursan's. Not when he was still too much of a Jedi. Not when he was as guilty of Ben's death as Lursan was.
"Ah," he heard Lursan say softly. "I see. We are not so different after all, are we?"
Obi-Wan clenched his hands around his lightsaber's hilt. "I'm nothing like you!"
"Oh, but you are, Master Kenobi. You are. We're both men who must follow our true natures and do what we were born to do. I was born to kill and not concern myself with such things as what is right or what is wrong. You, however, were born to care about such things. However, in my nature lies strength, while in yours, I fear, lies weakness."
Lursan stared at him for a moment, his gray eyes unreadable, then he suddenly smiled, and Obi-Wan knew what that smile meant.
Clipping his lightsaber to his belt, he moved, quicksilver fast, and threw himself at Lursan. The two men fell to the floor, struggling. Lursan jerked a knife from underneath his tunic, but Obi-Wan grabbed his hand, twisted his wrist and slammed it against the floor, the knife skittering away.
They rolled across the floor and crashed into a table. They continued to struggle, Lursan succeeding in hitting Obi-Wan hard across the face, but the Jedi soon had Lursan by the neck. Squeezing his hand, Obi-Wan crushed his throat, his fingers like iron.
"Touch her again," he whispered fiercely. "Harm anyone she loves, do anything, no matter how insignificant or trivial, to bring grief to her heart, and I will kill you, Lursan. Understand? Without hesitation and without any further consideration as to what's right or what's wrong. Tonight I spare your life, but come within a parsec of Onara and I will not spare it again."
Obi-Wan kept his grip around Lursan's throat, felt the frantic pulse of the man's heart beneath his fingers, saw the life dimming in his wild, bulging eyes. And, for a moment, as he saw in his mind Ben's smiling, wide-eyed face, and the emptiness in Onara's as she floated within her _yanol_, he was once again tempted to take Lursan's life, not cleanly with a lightsaber but savagely, brutally, watching with thick satisfaction as Lursan slowly died, gasping, choking, strangling for breath.
But he did not. He released Lursan and rose from the floor, staring down at him as he drew in harsh, wheezing gasps for air. Then, turning quickly, Obi- Wan left the penthouse. He entered the lift, gingerly touching the bruise on his face and, as it took him down to the ground floor, wondered would he come to regret having left Lursan alive.
He did not know, but he could not yet give up what he had spent his entire life becoming. A Jedi. However, if anything were to happen to Onara because of his decision this night, he did not think he could live with himself.
-----------
Lursan slowly stood, his legs unsteady. His throat burned as he struggled to draw in another tortured breath. Fool! If the Jedi truly believed he was not going to complete his revenge against him and his apprentice, he was delusional. Onara was still alive, therefore, Lursan's business on Coruscant was not yet complete.
He made his way towards the 'fresher to find something for the bruises about his throat. Then he stopped, having heard something in the darkness behind him; a sharp snap, a hiss, followed by a low thrumming.
He whirled around and, before his head flew from his shoulders and landed on the floor, the last thing he saw was a shadowed figure and a swath of light in the darkness.
-----------
Obi-Wan wearily made his way back to the hospital. But, as he walked down the hall towards Onara's room, he saw, instead of Anakin, Aayla standing in front of her door.
"Aayla, what are you doing here? Where's Anakin?"
"He asked me to come and watch over Onara. He said he had something important to do."
Obi-Wan frowned. Anakin was often rash and had disobeyed Obi-Wan on more than one occasion, but he knew he would never have abandoned Onara unless... He stopped and looked over at Aayla who was watching him closely. Obi-Wan quickly composed his face.
"Thank you, Aayla, for taking time from your duties to watch over Onara."
"It's the least I can do, Master Kenobi. You and I don't know each other that well, but Anakin always speaks highly of you. And, also," she shrugged and suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I know what it's like to care deeply for someone and, yet, not be able to be with them. Or tell them," she finished softly.
Obi-Wan tilted his head, wondering what secrets Aayla carried in her heart. But, before he could dwell on it further, the door to Onara's room opened. Sinja-Bau looked out.
"Obi-Wan, I thought I heard your voice."
"Onara? How is she?"
"Her condition hasn't changed, I'm afraid. Dr. Manu was in to see her. He says she might be able to go home sooner. With Dalan's death, however---" Then she stopped and, reaching up, touched his face.
Obi-Wan let her examine the bruise, but hoped she wouldn't question him about it. "I'll take care of the arrangements to transport her home."
Sinja-Bau lowered her hand from his face, her blue-green eyes full of concern. "And I'll give you whatever assistance you need."
Obi-Wan nodded. "Did Anakin say anything to you when he left?"
Sinja-Bau shook her head. "He just let me know that Aayla was here and he'd return as soon as he could."
Obi-Wan sighed. "I do hope he hasn't gone off and done something rash."
Sinja-Bau moved closer and put her hand on Obi-Wan's arm. "What about you, Obi-Wan? Are you all right?"
Obi-Wan was about to answer her, but was interrupted by the sound of boots marching down the hall. He turned and saw a squad of Judicial Department officers, heavily armed, walking towards them.
"Jedi Master Kenobi?"
Obi-Wan moved away from Sinja-Bau. "Yes?"
The man in front, who wore the rank of lieutenant, looked uneasy as he stopped in front of Obi-Wan, his men arrayed behind him, their heavy-duty blasters now drawn. His brown eyes moved nervously from Obi-Wan to Aayla to Sinja-Bau.
"I'm sorry, Master Kenobi, but you have to come with us."
"Why? What for?"
The lieutenant cleared his throat, looking even more uncomfortable.
"You're under arrest. For the murder of Lursan, citizen of Ahjane."
To be continued....
Stars in the Darkness - Part Thirty-Seven
-----------
As Obi-Wan moved further into the dark apartment he saw the huge windows were unblinded, the lights from neighboring skycrapers glowing dimly through fog that had risen as evening had darkened into night.
"I knew you would come. I've only just arrived myself. After my release, I stopped to pay a visit to a dear friend."
Obi-Wan whirled around, his lightsaber raised before him, but still unlit.
"Ah, the weapon of a Jedi," the voice said from the darkness. "I've never seen one before. Is that what you intend to kill me with?"
Lursan moved out of the shadows of the room, Obi-Wan recognizing him from his photo in the Hall of Judgment files.
"That is why you've come, isn't it?" Lursan went on as he drew closer, then stopped just a couple of meters from Obi-Wan. "To avenge the death of your son and the assault on your woman?"
Obi-Wan swallowed, his fingers rubbing the knob that would activate the blade. All it would take was one swing, a mark of contact he'd done hundreds of time in practice, but rarely in battle.
_Sai cha_ it was called in the ancient tongue. The words meaning "separate" and "head." _Sai cha_ was only used by Jedi when battle was at its more serious or deadly, or an opponent was considered extremely dangerous even to a fully trained Jedi. Lursan was dangerous, but he was no match for Obi- Wan. Therefore, what he could do, what he wanted to do, was tantamount to a cold-blooded execution.
"How does it feel?" Lursan suddenly asked.
Obi-Wan started at the question, his eyes narrowing.
"How does what feel?" he rasped, his throat swelling with hatred the longer he looked upon the murderer of his son.
"Does it feel as if some vital part of you, as essential and as crucial to your existence as your heart and or lungs had suddenly been ripped out of you?"
Obi-Wan's grip around his lightsaber tightened. Lursan moved closer, his storm-gray eyes glittering in the darkness.
"Or is it more like you're bleeding inside? As if there were tiny shards of glass moving through your veins, the pain so consuming, so encompassing, only the oblivion of death will ease it?"
Obi-Wan drew in a deep, shuddering breath, because Lursan's words were an uncanny description of exactly of what he was feeling.
"You killed my son!" he cried.
"Yes, I did," Lursan said matter-of-factly. "Just as you killed mine."
Obi-Wan's eyes widened. "What? I never----"
"It wasn't you exactly. It was that apprentice of yours, Skywalker. But, I'm not one to quibble on formalities when it comes to revenge. You trained Skywalker, and, unlucky for you, he had no son I could take, therefore I took yours as remuneration for mine."
Pain slashed through Obi-Wan at the careless manner with which Lursan spoke of Ben's murder, as if it had been nothing more than some inconsequential detail he had needed to take care of and, with no more effort it took to make a notation on an account-pad, had done so.
Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber and the blade leapt forth, blue and bright in the darkness of the room. Lursan's eyes widened. Not with fear, Obi-Wan noted, but with an avid fascination as he stared at the blazing blade.
"Beautiful," he murmured. "Truly an elegant weapon. I commend you, Master Kenobi. Not as random or clumsy as a blaster, is it? Much like a sword. Precise, accurate, straightforward. It must take great skill and concentration to wield it."
Obi-Wan stared at Lursan, wondering if the man was not only a cold-blooded killer, but insane as well.
"What did you mean when you said Anakin killed your son?"
Lursan drew his gaze away from the lightsaber and smiled at Obi-Wan.
"Oh, but of course. You don't know who I am, do you? You know me only as the business associate of that poor, dead fool, Dynast Lenor. Pity what happened to him, isn't it?"
"Who are you?" Obi-Wan shouted. "Why did you kill my son? Why?"
Lursan executed a short, courtly bow. "My name is Lursan, but I was once leader of the Red Tide."
Shock thrummed through Obi-Wan. Red Tide. The professional assassins Lady Tsara had hired to kidnap Ben while Obi-Wan had been off on his search for Sinja-Bau. They had invaded the manor of Onara's father, killing him, along with Master Eo, Sinja-Bau's former padawan. But Anakin had thwarted their plan and rescued Ben. Obi-Wan now recalled that among the dead Red Tide there had been a youth. He was the one Anakin had killed.
"I see you remember. Yes, Rhad was my son. My only son."
"Your son was an assassin! A murderer. He killed Dynast K'lia, and the men with him killed a Jedi, tried to murder Onara and helped Lady Tsara kidnap my son. What happened to your son he brought upon himself. Anakin was only doing his duty."
"Just as my son was doing his," Lursan countered, his gray eyes burning. Then he visibly collected himself, his self-complacent smile back on his face.
Rage surged through Obi-Wan. He moved closer, his arms swinging back as he prepared to strike. "Your son was a killer, Lursan! Mine was innocent!"
"Innocent?" Lursan cried. "There are no innocents! I have killed hundreds, Jedi. Hundreds! Men, women and children." Lursan moved closer, the blue glow of Obi-Wan's blade causing his face to look like demon out of the pits of hell.
"There is no good or evil, no right or wrong. The only dichotomy that matters in this universe, Master Jedi, is life and death. Meat that is alive and meat that is dead. Now come, admit it. You came here not just to kill me, but to look into the eyes of the man who murdered your son. You wanted to see what kind of unholy creature would kill a child. Tell me? What do you see?"
Obi-Wan stopped his swing, his muscles straining with the need to follow through. And then he saw himself refusing to turn to the dark side and letting Ben's spirit disappear into the Abyss. Letting his son die.
With a strangled cry, Obi-Wan lowered his arms and deactivated his lightsaber. He stood, trembling, his heart beating wildly. He couldn't take a life in cold-blood, even a life as vile and loathsome as Lursan's. Not when he was still too much of a Jedi. Not when he was as guilty of Ben's death as Lursan was.
"Ah," he heard Lursan say softly. "I see. We are not so different after all, are we?"
Obi-Wan clenched his hands around his lightsaber's hilt. "I'm nothing like you!"
"Oh, but you are, Master Kenobi. You are. We're both men who must follow our true natures and do what we were born to do. I was born to kill and not concern myself with such things as what is right or what is wrong. You, however, were born to care about such things. However, in my nature lies strength, while in yours, I fear, lies weakness."
Lursan stared at him for a moment, his gray eyes unreadable, then he suddenly smiled, and Obi-Wan knew what that smile meant.
Clipping his lightsaber to his belt, he moved, quicksilver fast, and threw himself at Lursan. The two men fell to the floor, struggling. Lursan jerked a knife from underneath his tunic, but Obi-Wan grabbed his hand, twisted his wrist and slammed it against the floor, the knife skittering away.
They rolled across the floor and crashed into a table. They continued to struggle, Lursan succeeding in hitting Obi-Wan hard across the face, but the Jedi soon had Lursan by the neck. Squeezing his hand, Obi-Wan crushed his throat, his fingers like iron.
"Touch her again," he whispered fiercely. "Harm anyone she loves, do anything, no matter how insignificant or trivial, to bring grief to her heart, and I will kill you, Lursan. Understand? Without hesitation and without any further consideration as to what's right or what's wrong. Tonight I spare your life, but come within a parsec of Onara and I will not spare it again."
Obi-Wan kept his grip around Lursan's throat, felt the frantic pulse of the man's heart beneath his fingers, saw the life dimming in his wild, bulging eyes. And, for a moment, as he saw in his mind Ben's smiling, wide-eyed face, and the emptiness in Onara's as she floated within her _yanol_, he was once again tempted to take Lursan's life, not cleanly with a lightsaber but savagely, brutally, watching with thick satisfaction as Lursan slowly died, gasping, choking, strangling for breath.
But he did not. He released Lursan and rose from the floor, staring down at him as he drew in harsh, wheezing gasps for air. Then, turning quickly, Obi- Wan left the penthouse. He entered the lift, gingerly touching the bruise on his face and, as it took him down to the ground floor, wondered would he come to regret having left Lursan alive.
He did not know, but he could not yet give up what he had spent his entire life becoming. A Jedi. However, if anything were to happen to Onara because of his decision this night, he did not think he could live with himself.
-----------
Lursan slowly stood, his legs unsteady. His throat burned as he struggled to draw in another tortured breath. Fool! If the Jedi truly believed he was not going to complete his revenge against him and his apprentice, he was delusional. Onara was still alive, therefore, Lursan's business on Coruscant was not yet complete.
He made his way towards the 'fresher to find something for the bruises about his throat. Then he stopped, having heard something in the darkness behind him; a sharp snap, a hiss, followed by a low thrumming.
He whirled around and, before his head flew from his shoulders and landed on the floor, the last thing he saw was a shadowed figure and a swath of light in the darkness.
-----------
Obi-Wan wearily made his way back to the hospital. But, as he walked down the hall towards Onara's room, he saw, instead of Anakin, Aayla standing in front of her door.
"Aayla, what are you doing here? Where's Anakin?"
"He asked me to come and watch over Onara. He said he had something important to do."
Obi-Wan frowned. Anakin was often rash and had disobeyed Obi-Wan on more than one occasion, but he knew he would never have abandoned Onara unless... He stopped and looked over at Aayla who was watching him closely. Obi-Wan quickly composed his face.
"Thank you, Aayla, for taking time from your duties to watch over Onara."
"It's the least I can do, Master Kenobi. You and I don't know each other that well, but Anakin always speaks highly of you. And, also," she shrugged and suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I know what it's like to care deeply for someone and, yet, not be able to be with them. Or tell them," she finished softly.
Obi-Wan tilted his head, wondering what secrets Aayla carried in her heart. But, before he could dwell on it further, the door to Onara's room opened. Sinja-Bau looked out.
"Obi-Wan, I thought I heard your voice."
"Onara? How is she?"
"Her condition hasn't changed, I'm afraid. Dr. Manu was in to see her. He says she might be able to go home sooner. With Dalan's death, however---" Then she stopped and, reaching up, touched his face.
Obi-Wan let her examine the bruise, but hoped she wouldn't question him about it. "I'll take care of the arrangements to transport her home."
Sinja-Bau lowered her hand from his face, her blue-green eyes full of concern. "And I'll give you whatever assistance you need."
Obi-Wan nodded. "Did Anakin say anything to you when he left?"
Sinja-Bau shook her head. "He just let me know that Aayla was here and he'd return as soon as he could."
Obi-Wan sighed. "I do hope he hasn't gone off and done something rash."
Sinja-Bau moved closer and put her hand on Obi-Wan's arm. "What about you, Obi-Wan? Are you all right?"
Obi-Wan was about to answer her, but was interrupted by the sound of boots marching down the hall. He turned and saw a squad of Judicial Department officers, heavily armed, walking towards them.
"Jedi Master Kenobi?"
Obi-Wan moved away from Sinja-Bau. "Yes?"
The man in front, who wore the rank of lieutenant, looked uneasy as he stopped in front of Obi-Wan, his men arrayed behind him, their heavy-duty blasters now drawn. His brown eyes moved nervously from Obi-Wan to Aayla to Sinja-Bau.
"I'm sorry, Master Kenobi, but you have to come with us."
"Why? What for?"
The lieutenant cleared his throat, looking even more uncomfortable.
"You're under arrest. For the murder of Lursan, citizen of Ahjane."
To be continued....