Location- Secret Jedi Refuge (Katarr)
All around him there was darkness. A childhood fear of darkness feared him as he felt himself pushing against the black walls of unconsciousness. Fog filled his aching head. He felt like he was travelling through a deep swamp. He felt his feet immeresed in water and foliage around him. What is this, he wondered, some strange dream?
A light beckoned him forward. Soon he was in a clearing. A fire was burning in the center giving off warmth and putting a damper on the cold. He then saw something that made his heart stop for a second. He could feel his blood thudding in the back of his skull. Qui-Gon was sitting on a fallen log, except he didn't seem real, or alive for that matter. He seemed to glow with an eerie blue light around him, like a ghost. Obi-Wan started to back up, but felt something hard and solid keeping him from leaving.
He looked Qui-Gon in the eyes and saw no anger there, no hatred, only compassion. The way it used to be. Obi-Wan found the log next his old master vacant and sat down beside him. It brought back memories from past missions and times. Times that were long gone, he inwardly sighed.
"Obi-Wan it is good to see again." His voice was warm and generous, completely free of any rage or sarcasm.
"Master what is this, am I dreaming?" Qui-Gon's image shook its head with obvious regret.
"No my Obi-Wan this is no dream. I have come to ask something important of you. Obi-Wan I need you to destroy me." Obi-Wan didn't answer immediantly, he scratched his head and looked away. Obviously not what he had wanted to here.
"Why must I do this. Is there no other way. I don't want to kill you. I know there is still some good in you."
"No my Obi-Wan you must. If you don't more will suffer," Qui-Gon had an almost pleading look in his eye "Please Obi-Wan you must. Whatever is left of me in that body died long ago. My soul remains trapped in that mockery of me. Please do it. I can tell you what to do, the rest is up to you." Qui-Gon extened his hand to him and the two shook on it. "To beat these Sith you will have to change your fighting style. These Sith are not the same ones from a millenia ago, they have changed and evolved to a different style. They feed upon the Force allowing it to stregnthen them. The stronger you are in the Force, the stronger they become. That is why the Sith have remained hidden from the Jedi for so long, they are like black holes in the Force, unreadable. That is also what makes them so dangerous, in battle you will be unable to read them r sense them coming till it is almost to late. You must heighten youe other senses. To fight them you must learn two new fighting styles, Djem So and Vaapad. To learn Djem So go to Master Yoda. Its an old technique, but its effective. For Vaapad seek Master Windu, its his key fighting style. It transfers your weaknesses and turns them into strength and channels the darkness within a person. By channeling any darkness within your self you can make a shield against the Sith." Obi-Wan silently repeated the information.
"Is there no way to save you master, if not, then I will do all you ask."
"There is no way. This may be the last time we ever speak like this Obi-Wan. Good-bye. You truly were a good friend. You really are a great Jedi. I know you can do it." With that everything around him vanished. Qui-Gon's last words ringing in his ears. He could here a voice beckoning him from above. Distant and faint, but distinctly femine was calling for him to come to.
-
"Obi, can you hear me, Obi. Wake up, Obi, wake up. Please." Trija gently shook him. His vital signs had returned to normal after he had dived into a coma like state. His lovely grey blue eyes flickered open. He looked tired, but determined.
"Where, where am I?" he asked, trying to rub his sore head, but found he couldn't move his right arm. He looked down to see what was wrong, but found that his arm was gone. He felt the stump of his right arm. It had been severed several inches above the elbow, a useless stub of a limb. Trija took his hand gently.
"Your arm had been crushed and was fixable and the wound had become infected. They were forced to amputate it at the last moment, otherwise the infection could have killed you." Obi-Wan couldn't look her in the eyes, he was still to much in shock.
"I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, others lost a lot more than a limb." Trija gave him a grim nod.
"We, the Jedi, lost many people that day. Five hundred are dead, another two hundred are critically wounded, and a hundred are missing. I don't think anyone escaped uninjured. My arm was broken and I sprained my wrist." Obi-Wan took her hand in his only remaining hand, massaging her wrist. He could feel the sore ligaments just beneath skin.
"Wheres Anakin, is he alright. Please take me to him." Trija patted his hea, rufflng his ginger hair.
"No need to worry, Anakin is fine. He 's in a bacta tank, by acting as a shield for him, he remained mostly unharmed, save a few fractures and scrapes. But you need your rest, and by straining yourself you won't get any better. Anakin will need you to be strong for him. Get some rest. Is there anything I can get for you. Water, food, latest holovid?" Obi-Wan chuckled at her joke.
"Trija, can you get Master Yoda and Master Windu, I need to speak with them. Its important, it may help end this war before it goes any farther." Trija hurried out the door. Obi-Wan lay in his white hospital bed staring at the ceiling, dark thoughts flowing through his mind. /Can I stand a chance against my old master with this maiming injury. What will happen to me? What will happen to Anakin? Will they believe me/ His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps reverberating against the walls. His dispostion changed when he saw Mace Windu and Yoda, he couldn't help but smile.
"It is good to see that you're up Obi-Wan. You had us all worried there. I thought you were in a coma." Yoda looked weary, his green skin seemed more brown than green that day.
"Had a vision, you did" Yoda said in a soft murmering voice, very unlike his usual tone. Obi-Wan knew why, Yoda had been humbled and defeated by the Sith, he'd been unable to stop them and many had died for this reason. His pride had been curbed and he had been almost silenced completely. Mace was humbled as well, but not by the hands of Qui-Gon himself, rather by legions and legions of droids and clones.
"Yes Master, I know why we are unable to hold against these Sith. its not the army, its the way the Sith fight. They're not the same Sith we fought a millenia ago. They're changed and adapted; we have not. We are weak against them for that reason. They know our every weakness and can defeat us for that reason. We must change and adapt as well. He told me what to do." Obi-Wan was interrupted by Mace Windu who gave him a confused look.
"What, who told you this?"
"Qui-Gon did." Yoda and Mace gave the other worried glances before looking to Obi-Wan.
"You're saying Qui-Gon talked to you in a vision telling you how to get rid him?" Obi-Wan nodded weakly.
"Yes, as silly as that sounds, he did. He told me we must kill him, that what ever was left of him was not worth saving. He told me what I must learn so that I could accomplih this task. I need to learn Djem So and Vaapad. He told me to ask you to teach me these styles." Mace Windu looked to Yoda, Yoda seemed pensive and uncertain.
"Need time to acess this we will. Rest you must, come to you with our decision later, we will."