"Good. Use your aggressive feelings, boy!
Let the hate flow through you."
Chapter Two
"Ba'alin? Are you not well?"
I snapped out of a trance, and blinked twice. I had been staring out of one of the large temple windows for some time now it seemed, watching the sun set on the horizon, as it bathed the city in a warm orange glow, glittering upon shiny steel structures and skyscrapers, like light breaking on lakeshores. Now the sun was nearly fully down. Darkness had set upon the city.
I looked down to the source of the voice; at my side stood a young lad, peering up at me as though he were concerned. The boy's head came to the height of my chest, twelve years of age, if I was correct, and tall for it. My eyes fell upon the hilt hanging at his waist; that was no training saber. Not a youngling then, he must be assigned to a Master. "How do you know my name?" I said flatly, turning to face him, doing my best to tower over him, looking down curiously.
We were the only ones present in the long wide corridor. It was usually peaceful here, I did not expect to be disturbed. I found this place soothing, it was far from the centre of the Temple, and was rarely used. This lad must have wandered away from where he should be. Tall colonnades lined the length of the hall, supporting the high arching ceiling, made of polished marble like the floor. A long red carpet ran from end to end, plainly cut but grand. The tall, wide windows covered the south-facing wall of the corridor.
The boy grinned and took a step back casually, not appreciating being overshadowed. "You're Ba'alin Palpatine, aren't you? You killed Terag the Hutt at Mefarlin."
I was shocked, but I kept my face expressionless. "News truly does travel fast here." I said, sighing slightly, and looking out across the city again. "What is your name, youngling?"
"Qui-Gon," he said confidently, "Qui-Gon Jinn. Padawan." He grinned, "Same as you."
I frowned at him and said bluntly, "I am ten years your senior and I am to face the trials soon. You shall show respect to your seniors, youngling. A Jedi must have respect for all living things, particularly to the seniors of their art."
"But not to their inferiors?" He asked, putting emphasis, on 'in'.
"Inferiors receive their due respect, when it is necessary." I said coolly, turning away from him and walking away swiftly.
Qui-Gon followed, either not taking the hint that I wished to be alone, or simply not caring., "You are afraid that they will expel you from the Order, aren't you?" He raised his tone to try and hold my attention.
I stopped, and turned on my heel so suddenly that he nearly walked into me. I eyed him up and down. This lad was keener and more questioning than the usually calm mannered young students. He was a rebel, that was clear. The Council were going to have a hard time keeping him in line as his training progressed. "I am not afraid," I replied, "I fear nothing."
Qui-Gon smirked, and tried to conceal a laugh. He turned to leave, and I stopped him with an outstretched arm on his shoulder. "Does something amuse you, young Qui-Gon?"
He looked up at me. There was no fear in his eyes, but it appeared he was concerned that he may have overstepped his boundaries. "No, Ba'alin. I apologise."
"Where are you supposed to be now, anyway?" I snapped. "Who is your Master?"
As if on cue, a tall figure swept around the end of the corridor. The tall Jedi looked frustrated, and he practically marched down the corridor towards us, robe shifting behind him. But as soon as he laid eyes on the young padawan, he stopped and widened his eyes in disbelief. Then, upon seeing myself, he appeared to get even more annoyed. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, and took a deep breath to calm himself. He smiled falsely, and took on an accusing tone. "Qui-Gon," he started, "I would very much like to know the meaning of this. I send you on an errand, and you do not report back to me for two hours, and then I find you here conversing with him!" He said, pointing a finger at me.
"Greetings Kay-Sen." I said, smiling just as falsely. Kay-Sen Dooku stood just over an inch taller than myself, but from the way he looked down at me it seemed as if he believed there was at least a foot's difference. His hair was the short hair of somebody who had only recently lost his braid, combed neatly across his head. He wore the attire of a full Jedi Knight, but looked as though he had only just become accustomed to his new garb.
"Well, well," he said, "Ba'alin Palpatine. I suppose I should have expected to find you here, distracting young students from their training. Has the Council not expelled you yet? Or do you just linger here because you have no-where else to go?"
I held a calm composure; I could not let him believe that he was getting to me. But it was a battle within myself to steady my hand, hovering so close to my blade hilt. "So they let younglings train other younglings now, do they?" I said, coldly, taking a step towards him.
Kay-Sen, or Dooku as he preferred to be called among his fellow young Jedi, was a month younger than myself, but I had always treated him as though he were much younger. The reason being that he had been very much my inferior during our years together in the academy. But as we went our separate ways with our own Masters to guide us, he quickly surpassed me. His success was hardly a surprise, considering that Master Yoda himself had taken on as his Padawan learner.
He had passed the trials a few months ago. I had heard of his promotion to full Knighthood, but until now I had not seen him. I was rarely in the Temple for extended periods of time any more.
Qui-Gon had moved away from the two of us, feeling the conflict gathering. I could sense his anxiety. Not fear, though, he never felt fear. Dooku moved in a circle around me, moving towards the young lad. "Still wearing the braid are you, Palpatine? Still trailing after Master Jhar?"
I glared at him with eyes like ice, but he paid me no mind. "Careful, Kay-Sen," I said, "don't push me." I brushed my robe aside slightly to show my saber hilt, but I did not make it deliberate.
"Are you getting angry Palpatine?" Dooku asked, stepping behind his young apprentice, and laying his hands on his shoulders, "Save your anger for later. There are no innocent Mefarlini here. There is no reason to have your judgement clouded right now." His cool arrogance seared through my bones, I realised I was growing hot.
"I said watch it, Kay-Sen." I said angrily. I took a step towards to him and laid my hand on my hilt, openly for him to see.
Dooku shuffled Qui-Gon aside, and laid his hand on his own hilt. I eyed his curved blade hilt, and wondered if he would have the nerve to ignite it. Did I? Did I have the nerve to raise my blade against a fellow Jedi?
"Why, what will you do if I persist? Will you murder me too?" He laughed out loud, in open mockery of me. The word 'murder' set my verves ablaze. In an explosion of action, they fired my muscles. A blue blade burst into life as I ignited my lightsaber, and it was met with a brilliant white flash of light as it came almost instantaneously into contact with an equally radiant green blade.
"Take that back!" I snarled, "Take it back, Dooku!"
"Stand down," he said coolly. "I am your senior, and I command you to deactivate your blade."
I pushed harder against him, and he responded in kind, his arrogant smiling face twisting into a fiery glare. Young Qui-Gon had darted away, force-running, and by the Force he was fast too.
"You think you are so high and mighty. Is it your Count father's estates that made you this way as a child, or has it rubbed off from Master Yoda?"
Dooku said nothing, but almost growled back at me, as he attempted to force me back. He ran my blade around in a circle and lunged, but I merely shrugged him off and once again engaged him head on in a battle of arm strength, saber against saber. "So much anger, so much hate," he said through his teeth, "why, Ba'alin, why the rage?"
"I will make you kneel," I said through clenched teeth, "I will make you kneel, and you will call me master! I will have your head, I swear it to you." I reached out to the Force, gathering its power to myself. I prepared to strike out against him, but I was suddenly caught off guard by a loud shout from the end of the hall, and I and Dooku both backed down.
"Stop this madness!" Cried Jedi Master Iorer, running as fast as she could along the hall towards us. Behind her followed a young girl, her apprentice presumably, and behind her came Qui-Gon. The damned Padawan had gone for help.
I released my hold on the Force, and deactivated my lightsaber. Without waiting for Iorer to catch up, I clipped my hilt to my belt and stalked away. Ignoring her command to return, and disappearing down a service corridor, I hurried away, pursued by angry shouts and footsteps.
There would be no excusing this now. Dooku would claim that he had acted in self-defence, but I would be given no such pardon. Now I would be expelled from the Jedi Order for sure.
……
From his position high up in the ceiling, perched on a narrow ledge, and barely visible from the floor below, Master Lergil grinned, pleased with what he had seen. He had watched the whole thing unfold with keen interest, and had finalised his decision about young Ba'alin Palpatine. Before sunset tomorrow, Ba'alin would not care in the least bit about being expelled from the order. By sundown tomorrow, young Palpatine would see that his destiny lay not with the Jedi…but elsewhere…
