Inside the Jedi Temple, Qui-Gon wandered through the vast grounds of the Temple gardens and past a row of round chairs where several Jedi were meditating. 'Where in blazes is that boy?' To keep from disturbing the Jedi, he moved away from them, then reached into a utility pouch on his belt to pull out his comlink. "Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon said urgently. "This is Qui-Gon, are you there? Come in, Obi-Wan."

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Although Obi-Wan could hear his master's voice on the comlink, he didn't answer. 'I cannot risk that Qui-Gon will leave this matter to the police. Nahlia could die. And Volacca probably wouldn't have taken her in the first place if he hadn't seen her with me.'

"Come in, Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon repeated over the comlink.

Obi-Wan shut the communicator down completely and stuffed it back into a pouch on his belt. 'I'll co-operate with them until Nahlia is safe. Then I'll fight my way out.' He thought. 'Volacca is a coward and I doubt his partner is much better. They won't get away with this.' He looked around the abandoned warehouse where the holoprojector's coordinates had directed him. At the end of the building was a docking bay which held a sleek black ship. The hatch of the ship opened and lowered slowly. Obi-Wan could see the massive blue creature Volacca just inside the ship, holding Nahlia with one hand by her chin and neck. In his other hand, he held a blaster aimed at Obi-Wan. Volacca grinned - revealing a mouth full of sharp yellow teeth. "Welcome to the party, little Padawan."

Obi-Wan remained cool. "Most party guests are allowed to leave anytime they wish."

"Leave?" Volacca chuckled and picked Nahlia up by her face roughly to force her to look at him. "You don't want to leave me, do ya sweet cheeks?" As he squeezed her face, she cried out in pain and clawed at his hand.

Anger stirring within him, Obi-wan began to step forward. Suddenly, Diora Dega, the cyborg female with light blue hair, appeared behind him in the ship. Annoyed with her partner's behavior, she smacked Volacca hard in the back of the head. "OW!" He yelped. "Why'd you do that?!"

"I told you not to bruise her!" Diora snarled in a low tone to prevent Obi-Wan from hearing. "The boss is going to have a fit if she's all black and blue."

Volacca only snorted in response. Diora pulled out a pistol and turned quickly to Obi-Wan. "Don't come any closer, not yet." Her cybernetic eye focused on him and particularly the items help inside the pouches on his belt. Using an x-ray function in the eye, she was able to determine that the only weapon the Padawan had on him was his lightsaber - all a Jedi ever really needed.

"I didn't come here to play games." Obi-Wan informed her. "The message said that if I came here you'd let her go."

"Correction." Satisfied that she had control of the situation, she let a sly smile slip over her face as she made her way down the ramp towards Obi-Wan. "The message said if you come here and co-operate, we'd let her go."

"Very well," Obi-Wan kept his eyes focused on Nahlia as she struggled against Volacca's confining grip. "What do you want?"

"You handing over your lightsaber would be a good start." Diora's confidence grew. She could tell the young Jedi wasn't focusing on her thoughts or even her partner's, but on the girl they held captive - and than made her job a lot easier.

Obi-Wan tried to refocus his attention on Diora. "And how do I know that you will be true to your word and release Nahlia?"

"You don't." Diora shrugged. "Just a chance you'll have to take. But I can tell you that if you don't co-operate with us fully, my friend here will pop her head like a Vestuvian egg."

Obi-Wan begrudgingly removed his lightsaber and set it on the floor in front of him.

"Good boy. Now send it over to me." She instructed. "You know how."

Obi-Wan put his right hand out in front of him and concentrated a moment on his weapon on the floor. It slowly began to move smoothly across the floor until it was at Diora's feet and she picked it up. "Now let her go."

Diora flipped the lightsaber up into the air and caught it single handed a few times. She smiled coyly and looked back at her partner. "What do you think, should we?"

"I don't know..." Volacca pressed Nahlia to his hard chest. "The boss might not like that."

"What?" Obi-Wan began to step forward again. "You said you'd let her go if I-." Before Obi-Wan could say any more a shot from behind him knocked him out and sent him sprawling to the floor.

"Didn't they teach you anything at Jedi school?" Diora chuckled softly to herself as she approached the unconscious Padawan. "Like not to trust kidnappers." She looked up at the man who was now emerging from behind the stack of cartons. "Am I right, Zep?"

"You've got your Jedi." Zep Wilco kept his blaster at the ready - all the while keeping a concerned eye on Nahlia and Volacca. He could see she was angry at his involvement in her kidnapping, and now Obi-Wan's, but his desperation for credits had forced him to cross lines he normally wouldn't. Besides, he thought, better to be angry than dead any day. "Now let Nahlia leave with me."

"Hm." Diora shook her head. "I'm thinking no." She leaned down and hastily secured Obi-Wan's hands behind his back with a pair of manacles.

"Taking her wasn't part of the deal." Zep insisted weakly.

"My boss changed his mind. Just as he could easily change his mind about the credits you were going to be paid for helping us. Credits you so desperately need." Diora knew she had the gambler caught between an asteroid and a hard place. "From what I understand, Daemun Sevario doesn't take too kindly to those who neglect to pay back their gambling debts."

Nahlia snapped. "He doesn't take kindly to someone kidnapping his daughter either."

"Well, there you have it, really, we're doing you a favor taking her off your hands. This way she can't go back to daddy and tell him all about your terrible behavior and you can get him off your back about that pesky gambling debt." Diora reached into her pants pocket then tossed a credit chip over to Zep.

Zep checked the amount in the chip. It was all there, enough to get Sevario's goons to leave him alone and then some. 'But at what cost?' he wondered. He looked at Obi-Wan, still unconscious, and then Nahlia. Her face had changed from angry to desperate. He didn't know what was in store for her and neither did she, but Zep felt he couldn't control that. The only thing he knew he could control was his own life and 16,000 credits would help him make that path as long and winding as he liked. Moments later, Nahlia watched helplessly and in shock as the man who she once believed cared for her, and maybe even loved her, lowered his blaster and walked away.

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Obi-Wan let out a low moan as he slowly regained consciousness. He could hear Nahlia calling his name worriedly but when he opened his eyes he couldn't see her. Instead he realized he'd been strapped down to a chair, and his hands were now in manacles behind his back. 'Not good,' he thought. 'not good at all.'

"Obi-Wan?" Nahlia said distraught. She had been strapped similarly in a chair just behind him. "It's me, Nahlia." She reached out with her fingers to touch his. "I'm here. Are you all right?"

A dull throbbing ran through his head - effects of the blaster stunning him. "As well as can be expected.". He was able to turn his head to the side just enough to see her behind him. "Are you all right?"

Nahlia sighed hopelessly. "As well as can be expected."

"What happened?"

"It was Zep. He needed credits to pay off a gambling debt so he helped them kidnap me." She explained. "And then he shot you from behind."

'Zep?' Obi-Wan puzzled. 'I knew he was up to something but... how could I not sense this?' He soon realized the answer. He had allowed himself to be distracted by his emotions because of his concern for Nahlia. This distraction kept him from truly focusing on what he should have - the kidnappers and their plans.

Nahlia remained quiet as she pondered her own misjudgments. She had been charmed by Zep in the past enough to date him, and develop strong feelings for him, only to be betrayed and cheated on. Then when he came to her door that morning, asking for her help with his gambling debts, she was naturally skeptical, but some part of her old feelings were still there, and still cared, so she let him in to talk. Along with him came the kidnappers and it became clear that Zep no longer needed credits or her help.

Obi-Wan, troubled by her silence, reached out with his fingers to touch hers in an attempt to comfort her. "You're sure you're all right?"

"Yes." She answered softly - intertwining her fingers with his.

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It was evening on one of the three moons of Bemhonia when The Artifice flew into the atmosphere and over forest, to finally land in the docking bay of a large excluded complex.

Inside the building, Diora exited her ship - the success of the mission written all over her face. She approached a strange man with spiked platinum blonde hair and wearing a regal looking blue and red suit - her boss Narcime Venu.

"Diora," Venu greeted her, "I trust our guests arrived in one piece."

"Of course." The cyborg female smiled confidently. She turned back towards the ramp just as Volacca was coming down, followed by a floating platform that held Nahlia and Obi-Wan in their chairs. "As you can see for yourself."

"Oh, look at him!" Venu leered as he looked over Obi-Wan. "What a fantastic specimen of the Jedi Order!" His voice had a bizarre hint of giddiness that perplexed Obi-Wan. "I knew, I just knew when I saw him through the camera in your cybernetic eye that he was the one but I must say he is even more magnificent in person!"

"He's only a Padawan." Volacca muttered. Hearing this Diora elbowed him hard in the ribs to shut him up. She knew Venu could be very fickle and if he knew that his magnificent Jedi specimen was only a Padawan Learner then he could easily scrap these subjects and send her and Volacca back to Coruscant for a Knight or even a Master.

Venu leaned down and held Obi-Wan's face in his hand as he examined him more closely. "Yes...yes..." He carefully checked each angle of Obi-Wan's face, "a most handsome specimen indeed..." Venu stood up straight suddenly and exclaimed. "He's even got a dimple in his chin!" His employees didn't get the significance and only exchanged a strange look, as did Obi-Wan and Nahlia. Venu was too caught up in his own little world to care and went on, "You know, when I was a child, anytime I created a hero, he had a dimple in his chin just like that... always seemed more heroic that way, you know?"

"Sure." Diora just nodded to keep him pacified. Something she had become very accustomed to doing.

Venu squinted at the long thin braid hanging from behind Obi-Wan's right ear. "I"ll have to do something about that hair, though." He clicked his tongue in disapproval. He turned to Diora. "Your knife, please?"

She reached down and under her pant leg to unsheathe a dagger strapped to her leg and handed it to her boss.

Volacca watched this with interest - muttering to her. "Full of surprises, aren't cha?"

"What do you think you're doing?" Obi-Wan protested.

"Sorry but the braid simply must go. Definitely a fashion don't." Venu was about to chop off the offending lock when an enraged look came across Obi-Wan's face that frightened him. "Uh... but on you, it works." He hastily stepped backwards. "Yes, good look for you... wouldn't change a thing." He returned the dagger to Diora and whispered as he kept a close eye on the captive Jedi. "You're... uh... absolutely positive he can't, you know, get out of those restraints or anything?"

"Positive." Diora said smugly. "Even if he could, we still have his little girlfriend here for insurance. He knows if he tries anything we'll kill her."

"Ahh..." Venu shifted his attention to the far less threatening Nahlia. "The girl he was chatting up in the bar." He looked her over the same way he did Obi-Wan. "Mm. Not bad. A bit plain looking but the droids can fix that easily enough."

'Plain looking?' Nahlia's inner dialogue huffed. Still she tried to keep her temper in check. "What are you going to do to us?"

"Ooooo." Venu chuckled. "I was wondering which one of you would be the first to ask the question." He knelt down on his knees in front of her as he explained. "Dear lady, what I'm going to do is make you a part of my vision, my inspiration, and in the process you both will become..." He finished dramatically, "immortal."

TO BE CONTINUED...