Chapter 5
Kyran flew back and slammed hard into the wall behind him. Force lightening. He cursed violently, then narrowed his gaze as he stared at the clone, panting. "That's not very manly. Leaning on lightening is a crutch."
The clone laughed. "But it works so well. See, now you are against the wall and I have room to attack you." So saying, he spun a lightsaber that looked nothing like the original Qui-Gon's into his hands and lit it. It was pale yellow. "Shall we?" He asked sardonically.
Kyran panted for breath and his gaze narrowed at the clone. He began to circle with him. He opened the battle by attacking first with a feint.
The clone easily blocked the feint. "Oh, don't insult me," he taunted.
Kyran rolled his eyes, then launched a flurry of attacks, pushing the clone back towards the wall.
The clone began to lose a little ground as Kyran kept up his attack. Scowling, the clone spun, blocked, then shot out a stream of Force lightening, catching Kyran in the side.
Kyran cried out as the lightening burned into him and he panted for breath, trying very hard not to pass out. He had to give Obi-Wan time. He winced and put his hand to his side. He narrowed his eyes. "Using that crutch again."
"It's a nice crutch and seems to work on you very effectively. Now, are you going to spar or just play with me?" The clone sneered, suddenly seeming not at all like who he looked like.
Kyran looked startled at the look on the clone's face for it was a look of pure hate that he'd never ever seen Qui-Gon wear before. He pushed himself up from the wall and then tossed the lightsaber to the floor. "Let's get rid of all crutches, shall we?"
The clone grinned evilly. "I'd have it no other way," he said as he tossed his lightsaber to the ground as well. He danced around a little on the balls of his feet and then jabbed at Kyran.
Kyran smirked and grabbed his wrist to neatly flip him over. "Glad to hear it."
The clone looked completely taken by surprise as he found himself on the ground. "Wha-?" Scowling, he quickly jumped to his feet and spun a leg around to sweep Kyran's legs out from under him.
Kyran leapt up and over, and grabbed the clone in a headlock before he could turn around. "Getting a bit slow old friend."
"As you already know, I'm not your friend!" The clone grabbed him from behind his armpits and slung him, back first, against the wall.
Kyran groaned as he hit the wall hard, the breath knocked from his lungs. He fell to the floor and tried to regain the air that had been knocked out of him.
The clone gave an evil laugh. "Poor Kyran fell down!" He leaped in the air and landed hard on Kyran's chest. Something inside snapped.
Kyran cried out, feeling one of his ribs break. He had to destroy the clone before he was killed--but how to do that with a broken rib he had no idea. He put a hand to his side, wincing deeply at the pain.
The clone stood up and put his hands on his hips, clearly pleased with himself. He bent down to pick up his lightsaber. "Now to finish this slight problem of you and take care of my troublesome padawan." He ignited the yellow blade and stood over Kyran, gazing down into Kyran's eyes.
Kyran saw the blade coming towards his neck. He called his saber to him and had it ignited in an instant, thrusting it into the clone's stomach. "I don't think so." He smiled tightly.
The clone's eyes widened and he sucked in a deep breath. His lightsaber tumbled from his lifeless fingers and he crumpled to the ground...to reveal Mace Windu standing, horror-stricken, at the sight. "Kyran!" He gasped.
Kyran inhaled sharply, then wished he hadn't as his ribs hurt. He got up holding his ribs. "Mace, this isn't what it looks like. Qui-Gon was a clone. Please, trust me." He groaned at the pain in his side. "Sith. Ow."
Mace's face hardened and he marched up to Kyran, jerking him by the arm. "The only thing I saw was you murdering your best friend, Kyran Josel! We're going straight to the Jedi Council about this!" He pulled out his comlink. "I need guards right away to come to my location. We have a possible Dark Jedi in the Temple."
Kyran gasped in pain as Mace jerked him up. "Mace, please. He broke my ribs."
"Murderers do not get to ask things of anyone, Kyran Josel," Mace said, his eyes hard. He kept a tight grip on Kyran. "Now, I want you to hand over your lightsaber nice and easy."
Kyran's gaze narrowed at his friend. "I'm not a murderer." He handed over his saber. "In time, you'll learn the truth as I have. Obi-Wan was right." He winced at the pain in his side.
Mace narrowed his eyes. "Obi-Wan has lost his mind, until the Jedi Council has time to investigate things fully to prove otherwise. I was just notified that he has gone missing. You wouldn't know anything about that, now would you, Josel?"
"Who, me? No one ever listens to me around here anyway. Mace, you're hurting me." He winced at the way he was being forced to walk with his arm twisted behind him.
Mace ignored him and sighed in visible relief as six Jedi came running up to them, lightsabers out and lit. "Take him to the Council quickly. We need to get to the bottom of all of this."
Kyran cried out as they twisted his arms roughly behind him and cuffed him in energy binders. He inhaled sharply as his Force-sense was cut off.
Mace kept them at a jog all the way to the Council chambers. He waved his hand and the doors opened upon their approach. He saw the assistant and ordered, "Absolutely no one is to come in until someone says that it is safe to do so!" The woman nodded.
Kyran gritted his teeth as he was hustled along, wincing deeply at the pain that flooded through him from his broken ribs as he was forced to jog. In all the possibilities of breaking Obi-Wan out, he hadn't considered this. He wondered what the Council would do to him if they didn't believe him. If his best friend was saved it would be worth it. He would sacrifice himself.
~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~
Obi-Wan panted as he surveyed the building across the busy street. It looked harmless enough to enter but he knew from past psychos that harmless meant absolutely nothing. He sighed and started to walk quietly around the street when he felt a blaster in his side and froze immediately.
"Well, well, well. Look what I have here. A little Jedi," Dora sneered in the padawan's ear. "You seem to be turning up in a lot of places."
Obi-Wan sensed that this...woman...could tell him information but when he tried to concentrate on the emotions of her mind all he got was a strange buzzing. She must be a clone! "Where is my master, Qui-Gon Jinn?" He demanded while keeping his hands visible. "I want to see him."
"Oh, don't worry. You'll be seeing him." She steered the young padawan forward and into the lab. "Keep your hands where I can see them and I'll show him to you." She led Obi-Wan through a series of corridors with several twists and turns and finally stopped at a door at the very end of a lonely looking corridor that had only one door. She keyed the code and pushed him in.
Obi-Wan stumbled into a slightly smaller room than the others they had passed and then looked up. His heart immediately broke at the sight of his master hanging limply with blood all over him. Several places all over his body had blackened smears that he knew was acid. His throat was burned and the top of his neck was as well. "Master!" Obi-Wan cried out.
"Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon coughed out and he craned his neck trying to see the boy.
Dora rolled her eyes at the exchange between the two. She deftly removed Obi-Wan's utility belt while he was occupied and slipped out the door. "Enjoy your last few moments Jedi," she said as she left.
Obi-Wan rushed up to his master. Tears ran unheeded down his cheeks as he gently laid his head against his master's burned and bleeding chest. "Master, I'm so sorry it took me so long!"
"Oh, Obi-Wan, please don't cry. I never should have gotten so angry and left. It's not your fault. Shh." Qui-Gon cursed Syfo Dias for restraining his arms so he couldn't hug the boy. The most he could do was use the Force to help soothe the upset young man.
Obi-Wan smiled up at him, still fighting the last dregs of the drugs he had been under to concentrate on his master properly. "I found the datacard, Master. It was under your bed. I didn't lose it after all." He grinned, hoping that his master would be pleased.
Qui-Gon frowned. "It was there all the time?" He shook his head and sighed. "I'm sorry I got so upset Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "You're under a lot of stress..."
Qui-Gon laughed slightly. He glanced up at his chains. "I guess you could say that. Where's Kyran? Why isn't he with you?"
Obi-Wan paled and turned away for a moment. "He...got caught up with the clone. I don't know what happened to him. He..." A sudden flash of pain slit across Obi-Wan's mind. He screamed and dropped to the floor, holding his head. Mercifully, the pain was short lived, but he was left sobbing on the ground.
Qui-Gon stared at the boy in stunned shock. "Obi-Wan!? What's the matter?"
Obi-Wan had to breathe for a few minutes before he could answer. "The...clone is dead..." Was all he could force out.
Qui-Gon inhaled at that. "Oh, no. Kyran had to kill him. Sith. I hope nobody saw him."
Obi-Wan finally recovered enough to stand again, though shakily. "That was...not an experience I want again. Please don't let anyone else clone you, Master," he tried to joke.
Qui-Gon rolled his eyes. "Like I let him do it this time, Padawan." His gaze hardened as the door opened and Syfo Dias walked into the room. "So. Decided what you're going to do with me yet?"
Syfo nodded. "As a matter of fact, I believe I have. Grab the padawan," he ordered Dora and Lora.
Qui-Gon's muscles tensed as Obi-Wan was grabbed and dragged across the floor to a wall.
Obi-Wan twisted in the twins' grip. He was taken to the opposite wall and then chained in a similar fashion as Qui-Gon. His eyes wide, he reached inside the Force and called out, as planned, to the one person that he and Kyran had planned to try to keep out of this. //Jayla! Help!//
~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~
Kyran stood before the circle of twelve Masters, feeling vaguely like he would be sick from the pain in his ribs as well as from the effects of this meeting. It would be well within the Council's right to dismiss him from the Order if they did not believe him. Sharp nausea ran through his stomach, almost doubling him over.
Yoda sighed. "Disturbing this account is. Friend to you Qui-Gon was. What say you to the accusation?"
"Master Yoda, please listen. Obi-Wan was right. Qui-Gon is a clone. I felt it from our bond, just as Obi-Wan did," he pleaded earnestly, paling from the pain in his ribs.
Yoda frowned. "Cloning of humans allowed is not. Technology advanced enough is not. Still not through our investigation is."
"Just because technology is banned doesn't mean it doesn't exist somewhere on the black market, Masters. I know where the real Qui-Gon is. He told me that Syfo Dias is holding him and if he can perfect the cloning technology so that the clone doesn't do any rash behavior, then he will get a contract from the Kaminoians worth millions of credits."
Yoda glanced over to the other Jedi Masters.
Mace Windu leaned forward and clasped his hands together. "If this is true, then this is very troubling. However, we must wait for a few days for the rest of our results to come through before we can make a decision. Until then, until this clone theory of yours can be proved, you will have to be detained for the murder of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and the kidnapping of Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Kyran swallowed hard at that and he bowed, wincing as the motion aggravated his ribs and a stray tear slipped down his cheeks. "Yes, Masters."
Yoda smiled kindly at him. "While kept in containment you are, medical treatment you will receive. In pain I can sense of you. Precious is truth, Kyran Josel. If truth you have on your side, fear not you should."
Kyran looked at the floor. "But what about Qui-Gon? How much pain will he suffer, untreated, while you wait and decide if I'm telling the truth?"
Mace glared at Kyran. "You should be grateful that some of us believe your crazy story, Kyran. Don't get yourself deeper into your mess while your allies are thin. Like Qui-Gon you need to learn when to keep yourself quiet...this is one of those times." He gestured at the six Jedi guards. "Take him to the Healers and then to the prison basement, though allow him to be detained in a cell that does not have the Force blocked from it." He gave Kyran a look and suddenly Kyran understood that Mace actually was on his side.
Suddenly, his blood ran cold and he gritted his teeth as he remembered who was also down there in the prison. He cursed mentally as they led him out. This was not going to be fun, not at all.
