Chapter Three
An Eye For An Eye
Again Qui-Gon woke up to the sound of the beeping of the comm unit. Fearfully Qui-Gon pressed the activation switch, he was worried about what he would see this time. An unfamiliar female face appeared on the screen. The young woman was a Schumson.
" Are you Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn? " She asked.
" Yes. "
" You are receiving a transmission from a Master Mace Windu. He says it is urgent. Should I put the transmission through? "
" Yes please, " Qui-Gon said, suddenly fearing that he was about to receive some bad news.
The woman nodded her head before her image disappeared and was replace with the image of Mace Windu.
"Qui-Gon, I'm sorry to wake you, but something has happened and I thought that you would want to know, " Mace said.
"It's Obi-Wan isn't it? " Qui-Gon asked.
Mace nodded, "there was a fire last night in the Healer's Wing. Someone had mistakenly dropped a bottle of cleaning solution near the medication storage area that was across the hall from the recovery room that Obi-Wan was in, " Mace explained.
"Why was Obi-Wan in the Healer's wing? " Qui-Gon asked although the felt that the already knew the answer to his own question. He, however, wanted to be certain whether or not he was correct.
"Yesterday afternoon while on his way to mid meal a lift tube that he was in, malfunctioned and he was banged up quite a bit, it was mainly bruises, a few cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and a badly bruised knee. Anyway, when the medication and cleaning solution mixed together, it caused an explosion."
"Is Obi-Wan, is he... " Qui-Gon could not get words out of his mouth to finish the question that he had been dreading the answer to most of all.
"No, Qui-Gon, " Mace said realizing what his friend was trying to ask. " He is still alive. We couldn't get the fire out to reach him quick enough. We thought that we would lose him, but your pada-Obi- Wan somehow managed to get to the ventilation shaft despite his injuries, and Padawan Siri Tachi found him. He was very lucky. "
"How serious was he injured? I know you would not contact me unless his injuries were serious. "
The image of Mace on the screen sighed, " Qui-Gon, he suffered first and second degree burns on his legs, and he had inhaled a lot of smoke before Siri found him. He was unconscious when she found him. As we speak the boy is still in the bacta tank and has not regained consciousness yet. "
"Will he be alright? " Qui-Gon asked.
"I'm afraid we won't know for certain until he is removed from the bacta tank. We don't know how badly damaged his lungs were. The Healer's expect that he will make a full recovery though. "
"I will come back immediately, " Qui-Gon told Mace.
"Qui-Gon, that really is not necessary. You should remain on Schumson to finish your mission. There is nothing you can do for the boy now. "
"Mace he is my padawan learner, and I should be there with him when he wakes up. I have a lot that I need to talk about with the boy. "
"And you will get that chance as soon as your mission is over. I will keep you updated on his condition as soon as there are any changes, " Mace assured him.
"Fine," Qui-Gon relented knowing the negotiations should be over in a day or two anyway. " Let me know if there are any problems. "
"I will be sure to do that, don't worry. Mace out. "
Qui-Gon sat on the guest sleep couch feeling relieved that Obi-Wan was ok and would recover. But something in the back of his mind was nagging him to return to the temple and keep his padawan safe. Qui- Gon did not like the feeling at all.
* * *
Bant, Reeft, and Garen sat in the new recovery room that Obi-Wan had been put in and watched as their friend laid still on the sleep- couch. His chest rose and fell evenly in time with the machines that were hooked up to him. The three friends remained silent as they watched their friend sleep.
A knock on the door broke the silence in the room. As the door slid open to reveal Siri Tachi slowly entering the room.
" How is the? " the young girl asked.
"He should make a full recovery," Reeft answered quietly as if he were afraid to disturb his sleeping friend.
"Siri," Bant began, "I know that you don't always get along with Obi-Wan, but I, um, I just wanted to thank you for saving his life."
"I couldn't just stand by and let him die. I may not agree with what he had done on Melida/Dann, but he does not deserve this," the girl waved her hand at Obi-Wan. She did not mention that for over a year she had had a crush on Obi-Wan, and really hated to see him laying in the recovery room looking so weak an helpless.
The four students kept a silent vigil over Obi-Wan; none of them were willing to leave his side until later in the evening when the healer's had to force them out of the room.
***
Qui-Gon returned to his guest apartment and sat on the edge of the sleep couch. He had a feeling that there was more to Obi-Wan's injuries than simple accidents, but he did not know what. Qui-Gon hated the idea of this padawan lying alone in the Healer's wing. He felt that he should be with the boy.
A knock on the door brought Qui-Gon out of his thoughts, he then walked the few feet to the door, and opened it.
A young Schumson man stood at the door, " are you Qui-Gon Jinn? "
" Yes. "
" This message came for you a few minutes ago. It is marked urgent and was sent from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, " the young Schumson man told him, as he held a data pad out to the Jedi master.
" Thank you, " Qui-Gon said as he accepted the data pad from the young man.
" No problem. Have a good evening sir. "
" You too, " Qui-Gon said as the young man turned and walked away. Qui-Gon closed the door behind him and turned the data pad on. He sat down on the sleep couch and began to read the message:
Master Qui-Gon,
It's been a long time since I've seen you. It's a pity that you couldn't he here at the temple while I am visiting. I have met your new apprentice; he seems to be having a bit of bad luck, riding in malfunctioning lift tubes, and getting trapped in fiery rooms do to explosions occurring right outside of his recovery room.
You see though Master; I actually think he is very lucky. He should have died in the lift malfunction and definitely in the fire. There is no need to worry, though; your precious padawan will die. And just like I had to watch you kill my father, I have arranged that you can watch your brat Obi-Wan die as well.
Xanatos
Qui-Gon's heart began to race, as the stared at the signature of is former apprentice. Realizing his padawan was in trouble Qui-Gon reached for the comm unit, but before he could press the activation switch the device began to beep. Qui-Gon hesitated momentarily before he finally pushed the switch and activated it.
Immediately after pushing the switch an image of another recovery room appeared on the screen. Qui-Gon felt helpless as he watched the image of Obi-Wan asleep on the sleep couch. A tube was hooked up to his mouth to give him oxygen while special medication was used intravenously to help to clean out his lungs from too much smoke inhalation. A heart monitor was hooked up to the boy as well, to monitor Obi-Wan's heart beats.
Suddenly from out of the shadows in the corner of the room something moved. To Qui-Gon's horror he realized that it was a person wearing a long black cloak with a hood pulled up to conceal his face. Qui- Gon had no doubts that the man was Xanatos.
Qui-Gon watched as Xanatos walked over to where Obi-Wan was lying, pulled a syringe out of his cloak, and injected the dark green colored contents into Obi-Wan's arm, while Obi-Wan laid on the sleep couch oblivious to what was going on. The man then took a small device out of his cloak and attached it to the back of the heart monitor. The monitor then quit working. And Qui-Gon knew that if the man was indeed Xanatos, then the device would not leave the healer's know that there was a problem. Looking back at Obi-Wan, the man stared at the boy for a few minutes before he ripped the breathing tube out of Obi-Wan's mouth, before he left the boy alone in the room once more.
Qui-Gon immediately cut the transmission and tried to contact the Jedi Temple, but the call would not go through. After trying again to contact the temple Qui-Gon quickly rushed out of the guest apartment and hurried down to the ground level where the communications center was located for the building.
" My comm unit is not working, I must make an urgent transmission, " Qui-Gon said to the first person he saw upon entering the communications center.
" I am sorry sir, but all communications throughout this city and the surrounding areas have all been disabled. There are teams working on the problem as we speak. If you leave your name and apartment number, we can notify you as soon as the problem is fixed."
" That will be too late, " Qui-Gon said, turned around, and quickly left the center.
Qui-Gon hurried back to his apartment, quickly packed his things, and rushed up to the main floor. He then went to the main desk and requested immediate transport to Coruscant.
***
Mace Windu read over the damage report of the Healer's wing fire for the third time. The most damage was sustained in the medication storage area and recovery room 14 a, which was the room that Obi-Wan Kenobi had been in. Everything in the report seemed to indicate that the fire was an accident, but Mace felt as if the force was telling him it was not. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone at his door. He wondered who could be visiting him so late in the evening.
"Master Mace," Cam said, after Mace opened the door. " I'm sorry to disturb you this late at night, but I finished my assessment of the lift tube accident, and it was not an accident. "
"Do you mean it was tampered with?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I mean," Cam said, as Mace motioned for Cam to enter his apartment. " Whoever did it was very smart too; they made it appear that it was faulty. But I thought that it seemed like too much of a coincidence that the boy happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time twice in one day, so I checked into everything I could think of. " Cam reached into his cloak and pulled out a small smoke colored device and held it out for Mace to see, " I found this. If I hadn't been looking for it, Master Mace, I would not have found it. The lifts erratic movements were controlled by a remote control linked with this device. Someone outside of the lift tube controlled its movements, and tried to kill the boy. When that failed, I would assume that person then set the fire after making sure the fire suppression systems would malfunction. I still haven't found any evidence that the fire was not an accident though."
" Thank you very much Cam. I will need you to make a full report to the council tomorrow about your findings. "
" I already began to prepare a report. Just let me know when you need me in the council room, " Cam said and left Mace alone in his apartment again.
Mace decided that he should pay Obi-Wan a visit incase anything else happened to the boy, and before he could make a full report to the council and recommend that Obi-Wan be placed under protective care, so the boy would not be left alone. Mace then left his apartment heading towards the Healer's Wing.
As Mace Windu stepped off of the operational lift tube, he noticed a man wearing a black hooded cloak turn into one of the burned rooms at the far end of the corridor. The person who he assumed was a man by their build, disappeared into one of the rooms.
Mace quickly ran towards Obi-Wan's recovery room. As he ran he contacted the temple security, and ordered the temple to be placed on immediate lock down, not allowing anyone to enter or exit the temple without a council members authorization.
Once Mace made it inside the room noticed the heart monitor was not operational. He looked at Obi-Wan and noticed that the breathing tube was removed from the boy's mouth. He knew something was wrong. He noticed that the boy's skin had a bluish tint to it, as he stepped closer to the boy, to check his condition. Obi-Wan also seemed to be having a lot of trouble breathing, and was sweating profusely. The councilman, then quickly activated the switch that would call the healer's to Obi- Wan's aid.
Mace watched as Obi-Wan suddenly stopped breathing, as the healer's rushed into the room. "He stopped breathing," Mace told them, and backed out of their way so they could help the boy. Mace suddenly felt guilty for accusing the boy of purposely boarding the malfunctioning lift, without having all the facts first.
To Be Continued . . .
An Eye For An Eye
Again Qui-Gon woke up to the sound of the beeping of the comm unit. Fearfully Qui-Gon pressed the activation switch, he was worried about what he would see this time. An unfamiliar female face appeared on the screen. The young woman was a Schumson.
" Are you Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn? " She asked.
" Yes. "
" You are receiving a transmission from a Master Mace Windu. He says it is urgent. Should I put the transmission through? "
" Yes please, " Qui-Gon said, suddenly fearing that he was about to receive some bad news.
The woman nodded her head before her image disappeared and was replace with the image of Mace Windu.
"Qui-Gon, I'm sorry to wake you, but something has happened and I thought that you would want to know, " Mace said.
"It's Obi-Wan isn't it? " Qui-Gon asked.
Mace nodded, "there was a fire last night in the Healer's Wing. Someone had mistakenly dropped a bottle of cleaning solution near the medication storage area that was across the hall from the recovery room that Obi-Wan was in, " Mace explained.
"Why was Obi-Wan in the Healer's wing? " Qui-Gon asked although the felt that the already knew the answer to his own question. He, however, wanted to be certain whether or not he was correct.
"Yesterday afternoon while on his way to mid meal a lift tube that he was in, malfunctioned and he was banged up quite a bit, it was mainly bruises, a few cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and a badly bruised knee. Anyway, when the medication and cleaning solution mixed together, it caused an explosion."
"Is Obi-Wan, is he... " Qui-Gon could not get words out of his mouth to finish the question that he had been dreading the answer to most of all.
"No, Qui-Gon, " Mace said realizing what his friend was trying to ask. " He is still alive. We couldn't get the fire out to reach him quick enough. We thought that we would lose him, but your pada-Obi- Wan somehow managed to get to the ventilation shaft despite his injuries, and Padawan Siri Tachi found him. He was very lucky. "
"How serious was he injured? I know you would not contact me unless his injuries were serious. "
The image of Mace on the screen sighed, " Qui-Gon, he suffered first and second degree burns on his legs, and he had inhaled a lot of smoke before Siri found him. He was unconscious when she found him. As we speak the boy is still in the bacta tank and has not regained consciousness yet. "
"Will he be alright? " Qui-Gon asked.
"I'm afraid we won't know for certain until he is removed from the bacta tank. We don't know how badly damaged his lungs were. The Healer's expect that he will make a full recovery though. "
"I will come back immediately, " Qui-Gon told Mace.
"Qui-Gon, that really is not necessary. You should remain on Schumson to finish your mission. There is nothing you can do for the boy now. "
"Mace he is my padawan learner, and I should be there with him when he wakes up. I have a lot that I need to talk about with the boy. "
"And you will get that chance as soon as your mission is over. I will keep you updated on his condition as soon as there are any changes, " Mace assured him.
"Fine," Qui-Gon relented knowing the negotiations should be over in a day or two anyway. " Let me know if there are any problems. "
"I will be sure to do that, don't worry. Mace out. "
Qui-Gon sat on the guest sleep couch feeling relieved that Obi-Wan was ok and would recover. But something in the back of his mind was nagging him to return to the temple and keep his padawan safe. Qui- Gon did not like the feeling at all.
* * *
Bant, Reeft, and Garen sat in the new recovery room that Obi-Wan had been put in and watched as their friend laid still on the sleep- couch. His chest rose and fell evenly in time with the machines that were hooked up to him. The three friends remained silent as they watched their friend sleep.
A knock on the door broke the silence in the room. As the door slid open to reveal Siri Tachi slowly entering the room.
" How is the? " the young girl asked.
"He should make a full recovery," Reeft answered quietly as if he were afraid to disturb his sleeping friend.
"Siri," Bant began, "I know that you don't always get along with Obi-Wan, but I, um, I just wanted to thank you for saving his life."
"I couldn't just stand by and let him die. I may not agree with what he had done on Melida/Dann, but he does not deserve this," the girl waved her hand at Obi-Wan. She did not mention that for over a year she had had a crush on Obi-Wan, and really hated to see him laying in the recovery room looking so weak an helpless.
The four students kept a silent vigil over Obi-Wan; none of them were willing to leave his side until later in the evening when the healer's had to force them out of the room.
***
Qui-Gon returned to his guest apartment and sat on the edge of the sleep couch. He had a feeling that there was more to Obi-Wan's injuries than simple accidents, but he did not know what. Qui-Gon hated the idea of this padawan lying alone in the Healer's wing. He felt that he should be with the boy.
A knock on the door brought Qui-Gon out of his thoughts, he then walked the few feet to the door, and opened it.
A young Schumson man stood at the door, " are you Qui-Gon Jinn? "
" Yes. "
" This message came for you a few minutes ago. It is marked urgent and was sent from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, " the young Schumson man told him, as he held a data pad out to the Jedi master.
" Thank you, " Qui-Gon said as he accepted the data pad from the young man.
" No problem. Have a good evening sir. "
" You too, " Qui-Gon said as the young man turned and walked away. Qui-Gon closed the door behind him and turned the data pad on. He sat down on the sleep couch and began to read the message:
Master Qui-Gon,
It's been a long time since I've seen you. It's a pity that you couldn't he here at the temple while I am visiting. I have met your new apprentice; he seems to be having a bit of bad luck, riding in malfunctioning lift tubes, and getting trapped in fiery rooms do to explosions occurring right outside of his recovery room.
You see though Master; I actually think he is very lucky. He should have died in the lift malfunction and definitely in the fire. There is no need to worry, though; your precious padawan will die. And just like I had to watch you kill my father, I have arranged that you can watch your brat Obi-Wan die as well.
Xanatos
Qui-Gon's heart began to race, as the stared at the signature of is former apprentice. Realizing his padawan was in trouble Qui-Gon reached for the comm unit, but before he could press the activation switch the device began to beep. Qui-Gon hesitated momentarily before he finally pushed the switch and activated it.
Immediately after pushing the switch an image of another recovery room appeared on the screen. Qui-Gon felt helpless as he watched the image of Obi-Wan asleep on the sleep couch. A tube was hooked up to his mouth to give him oxygen while special medication was used intravenously to help to clean out his lungs from too much smoke inhalation. A heart monitor was hooked up to the boy as well, to monitor Obi-Wan's heart beats.
Suddenly from out of the shadows in the corner of the room something moved. To Qui-Gon's horror he realized that it was a person wearing a long black cloak with a hood pulled up to conceal his face. Qui- Gon had no doubts that the man was Xanatos.
Qui-Gon watched as Xanatos walked over to where Obi-Wan was lying, pulled a syringe out of his cloak, and injected the dark green colored contents into Obi-Wan's arm, while Obi-Wan laid on the sleep couch oblivious to what was going on. The man then took a small device out of his cloak and attached it to the back of the heart monitor. The monitor then quit working. And Qui-Gon knew that if the man was indeed Xanatos, then the device would not leave the healer's know that there was a problem. Looking back at Obi-Wan, the man stared at the boy for a few minutes before he ripped the breathing tube out of Obi-Wan's mouth, before he left the boy alone in the room once more.
Qui-Gon immediately cut the transmission and tried to contact the Jedi Temple, but the call would not go through. After trying again to contact the temple Qui-Gon quickly rushed out of the guest apartment and hurried down to the ground level where the communications center was located for the building.
" My comm unit is not working, I must make an urgent transmission, " Qui-Gon said to the first person he saw upon entering the communications center.
" I am sorry sir, but all communications throughout this city and the surrounding areas have all been disabled. There are teams working on the problem as we speak. If you leave your name and apartment number, we can notify you as soon as the problem is fixed."
" That will be too late, " Qui-Gon said, turned around, and quickly left the center.
Qui-Gon hurried back to his apartment, quickly packed his things, and rushed up to the main floor. He then went to the main desk and requested immediate transport to Coruscant.
***
Mace Windu read over the damage report of the Healer's wing fire for the third time. The most damage was sustained in the medication storage area and recovery room 14 a, which was the room that Obi-Wan Kenobi had been in. Everything in the report seemed to indicate that the fire was an accident, but Mace felt as if the force was telling him it was not. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone at his door. He wondered who could be visiting him so late in the evening.
"Master Mace," Cam said, after Mace opened the door. " I'm sorry to disturb you this late at night, but I finished my assessment of the lift tube accident, and it was not an accident. "
"Do you mean it was tampered with?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I mean," Cam said, as Mace motioned for Cam to enter his apartment. " Whoever did it was very smart too; they made it appear that it was faulty. But I thought that it seemed like too much of a coincidence that the boy happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time twice in one day, so I checked into everything I could think of. " Cam reached into his cloak and pulled out a small smoke colored device and held it out for Mace to see, " I found this. If I hadn't been looking for it, Master Mace, I would not have found it. The lifts erratic movements were controlled by a remote control linked with this device. Someone outside of the lift tube controlled its movements, and tried to kill the boy. When that failed, I would assume that person then set the fire after making sure the fire suppression systems would malfunction. I still haven't found any evidence that the fire was not an accident though."
" Thank you very much Cam. I will need you to make a full report to the council tomorrow about your findings. "
" I already began to prepare a report. Just let me know when you need me in the council room, " Cam said and left Mace alone in his apartment again.
Mace decided that he should pay Obi-Wan a visit incase anything else happened to the boy, and before he could make a full report to the council and recommend that Obi-Wan be placed under protective care, so the boy would not be left alone. Mace then left his apartment heading towards the Healer's Wing.
As Mace Windu stepped off of the operational lift tube, he noticed a man wearing a black hooded cloak turn into one of the burned rooms at the far end of the corridor. The person who he assumed was a man by their build, disappeared into one of the rooms.
Mace quickly ran towards Obi-Wan's recovery room. As he ran he contacted the temple security, and ordered the temple to be placed on immediate lock down, not allowing anyone to enter or exit the temple without a council members authorization.
Once Mace made it inside the room noticed the heart monitor was not operational. He looked at Obi-Wan and noticed that the breathing tube was removed from the boy's mouth. He knew something was wrong. He noticed that the boy's skin had a bluish tint to it, as he stepped closer to the boy, to check his condition. Obi-Wan also seemed to be having a lot of trouble breathing, and was sweating profusely. The councilman, then quickly activated the switch that would call the healer's to Obi- Wan's aid.
Mace watched as Obi-Wan suddenly stopped breathing, as the healer's rushed into the room. "He stopped breathing," Mace told them, and backed out of their way so they could help the boy. Mace suddenly felt guilty for accusing the boy of purposely boarding the malfunctioning lift, without having all the facts first.
To Be Continued . . .
