Masters Jinn and Starworth maneuvered the ship up and off the planet Geonosis in seconds flat. Bruck rushed to find a comfortable spot to make a bed. Obi-Wan headed for the sanctity and privacy of the fresher.
When her "urge " became unbearable, Master Dorrie finally went to the fresher door and pounded on it.
"Hey kid, there are others that need the fresher you know. It has been a long day with little or no breaks."
An ashen faced Obi-Wan walked out of the fresher, a bit slower than he had gone in.
"Hey kid, you O.K.?"
Dorrie stepped to the side of the doorway to allow Obi-Wan to leave the small fresher, which she at the moment very much needed. She noticed the opaque pallor of Obi-Wan's face. Jinn's attention immediately turned to his apprentice.
He'd had a nagging feeling about Kenobi all that evening, since the battle and with Dorrie's concerns he wanted to look for himself.
"Kenobi is there something wrong?"
Now the apprentice was put into the position of either telling his master about his injury or lying; something unthinkable for him or any Jedi.
If I could just have a few sessions of healing and possibly a healing trance tonight, I know I will be alright. The bleeding has already stopped.
He plunged in and did the unthinkable.
"There is nothing wrong. I am fine."
"Then perhaps it is your guilt over you inept ability to guard one little door that is causing you such obvious distress. We still need to discuss that, but I have no desire to retreat to the fresher to do it in privacy. Our talk will have to wait until we are on Neimoidia. Just remember though, I have not forgotten your dereliction of my order."
Obi-Wan stood there balancing his weight from one foot to the other. Beads of perspiration broke out over his face as much from the lie he'd just told as from the pain from the injury.
Qui-Gon cocked his head to the side and looked questioningly at his apprentice. He expected some kind of response.
"Well, did you hear me? I am not accustomed to my apprentices totally ignoring me when I address them."
Obi-Wan heard him even over the fuzzy ringing that was constant in his ears. He knew that was possibly from the massive blood loss. He reasoned he could heal that and the never ending queasiness as well with a Jedi healing trance if Jinn would just excuse him.
He really didn't know how he did it but he mumbled through a "Yes Sir, and I understand." before Jinn gave him leeway to go.
XOXOXOXOXThree days laterXOXOXOXO
Qui-Gon had hoped that with the files in hand with Syfo Dyas' name on them he have better luck than he'd had thus far.
"Gunray was not very hospitable to us today was he?"
Dorrie sat mending a rip in her robe as she spoke.
Qui-Gon directed his attention from the stolen files to his Jedi master companion.
"No, and that in itself is suspicious. Oh he sounded sincere in his sympathy for Tahl's death, but he couldn't explain who the battle droids belonged too. Seems odd that he rules Neimoidia but he had no knowledge of the hundred or so droids that roamed his main city's streets the night Tahl was killed. And if they are not his then who sent them? It is unlikely Jango Fett has financial ability to own them. Besides if they were under his direction then he was also under someone else's edit."
"I agree, there is someone or "someones" behind all this."
" I plan to find out who before I leave this planet."
Dorrie dumped her sewing in her lap and studied the serious Jedi master across the room.
"Making any headway with your apprentice?"
"Depends on how you mean that. I have spoken with him concerning his actions on Geonosis if that is what you mean."
Dorrie got up and walked over to Qui-Gon and sat down.
"No, that's not what I mean. Have you connected or tried to strengthen your training bond with him. The boy seems somehow lost, disorientated and I don't like the melancholy he has taken on. And have you noticed how pale he is.. Not good I tell ya Jinni old boy, not good at all."
Dorrie tried to moderate what she was saying because she knew she had overstepped her bounds as a Jedi. No other master would ever attempt to tell another master how to handle his apprentice.
"I don't think Obi-Wan's well being is your concern."
There was a quick uncompromising shortness in Jinn's words though he attempted to tame them.
" I guess that is settled. I have told you what I think and you have told me your opinion of me butting in. I am truly sorry but I do have yours and Obi's best interests in my questioning. I am not just being a nosy busybody old biddy. Until you grasp that, I suppose I will leave you alone."
"THANK YOU. I would appreciate that immensely."
Jinn went back to his work as if they hadn't spoken but his mind remained on Master Starworth's words and not the data pad he feigned to be examining.
It had been the sinister thoughts of seeking revenge from the boy that had clouded Master Jinn's reasoning. Now it seemed it was guilt over those dark thoughts of revenge that muddled his thoughts. There still resonated in his mind a foreboding.
He could not explain it since he'd never been gifted with prophecy, only warnings through the force. However, he could not think of what kind of warning the force would send that had lasted four days with nothing happening.
Unusual Indeed!
Dorrie walked back over to her bed where she had been sewing, picked it up, and flopped back down. She let go of her animosity that mounted for Jinn through the force. When she spoke to the other Jedi again she was her normal happy self with no hints of what had just happened between them.
"Jinni?"
Qui looked up. He was not his normal pleasant self. That was clearly evident from the scowl on his face.
"Yes?"
"Don't you think our apprentices should be back from the burger joint. I am getting a little hungry."
"Maybe the diner was busy or of course they are teens. Maybe they stopped at another shop."
"Nay… I don't know about your apprentice and from the looks of things neither do you, but Bruck does just as I tell him."
"Well there, now you have it. We know from past experience that mine does not follow orders. If they have stopped, it is probably due to my apprentice's coercion of yours to do so. The blame will not be Bruck's to shoulder."
"Now Qui is that fair?"
Dorrie dropped her sewing again and threw both hands in the air.
"No, no never mind. We aren't going there again. We have a mission to attend to. Nevertheless, I think maybe we should hold judgment until we see we actually need to use it."
"Fair enough. Now I need to get back to these."
Dorrie left a lot of things unsaid for the moment.
XOXOOXOXOOXO
Waiting for the take out order had been a nauseating job for Padawan Kenobi. Up until today he had felt pretty good and was sure his blaster wound was well on the way to healing. It looked that way when he'd sneak to the fresher to check it out. Now though he felt ill. Ill wasn't exactly the word for the excruciating misery he was in. His head throbbed, muscles throughout his body ached mercilessly and now his stomach had taken a sudden bout of flip-flops. The thought of food made him cringe.
"Hey Kenobi. Better grab that food. We have been gone too long already. You know who will take the blame for it don't you?"
Yes, Kenobi knew. Evidently Bruck did as well. Jinn was not the kindest master toward his newly acquired apprentice.
"We wouldn't have taken so long if you hadn't insisted on sitting down and eating yours with a double mocha shake before we left. Should I tell our masters that?"
Obi-Wan kept one hand on the food counter to balance himself as he paid for their mid-meal.
"Who's gonna believe you? Besides it only took me a few minutes to finish eating after your take out order arrived."
"Yeah sure, like fifteen minutes waiting for you. Look never mind I don't care. Let's just get back."
"What's the matter Kenobi? You look a little green around the gills? You know like your fish-gilled friend, Bant would look everyday."
"Listen Bruck, leave my friends out of this. You are just upset that you don't have anyone to claim as your friend. I am not in the mood to argue with you. Let's go!"
Obi-Wan's words were enough to silence Bruck at the moment, until he could think of a comeback. He didn't feel like arguing either. He was getting very bored with this mission which when he'd heard about it had held many possibilities of intrigue and adventure.
Boring that's what this place is. I can't even find anything to get into especially with the other apprentice being Obi-Wan Kenobi. He is absolutely no fun at all.
The teens were less than a block from the small cottage that was their home while on Neimoidia. As soon as they made a turn at the corner, only steps away, the cottage would be in view. Before that could happen though, they were confronted by three of the fiercest looking battle droids imaginable.
Obi-Wan recognized them as being the same type of droid that had attacked Master Jinn and killed Tahl. That was all the time he had. The takeout food in his hands went flying as he made a feeble attempt to draw his saber.
A droid's extended mechanical arm pressed a hydro spray to Kenobi's neck. He immediately fell to the ground. Bruck didn't even have time to draw his saber. Jango Fett came up behind him and rendered him unconscious with the hydro spray in his hand.
"Come on, grab the Kenobi Jedi and let's be on our way……."
XOXOXOXOXO
"Tarnation Qui-Gon, I am going out and looking for those two. I just may rap both them on the sides of their heads for being so late."
"You do that. I am just about finished here."
Dorrie was concerned for their well-being. Jinn, on the other hand thought the two were into some younglings' antics.
When Master Starworth reached the door she whirled around and angrily confronted Qui-Gon.
"You can't be serious. You plan to sit there while I go in search of my apprentice and yours? Aren't you the least be concerned about them, either of them?"
Qui-Gon looked up sheepishly at the other Jedi master. The muscles in his jaw quivered from holding back what he wanted to say, but refrained.
Suddenly a dreaded thought came to him. He had been getting an almost supernatural warning through the force since the battle on Geonosis. He wrongly thought it might now have something to do with the missing apprentices.
Although he secretly wanted to manipulate Kenobi out of the Jedi, he in no way wanted actual bodily harm to come to him. A gush of quilt washed over him like a giant way drawing him under to the ocean's floor.
Dorrie made a huffing noise and stomped out the door.
"Wait up Dorrie."
The feisty diminutive five foot two master opened the door to see the most quilt ridden expression on anyone's face she could have imagined.
"You are right, Master Starworth. I will go along with you and see where they have gotten. Maybe I will stand by and watch as you thump them both into the ground."
Spoken apologies were not exchanged. They used their mutual warm apologetic smiles as an act of contrition.
No sooner had the Jedi masters walked out of their rented cottage, when they spied the a ring of beings gathered just up their street, where it intersected with the larger thoroughfare.
Dorrie broke out in a hard run. She knew the commotion just ahead had something to do with the boys.
Jinn swiftly followed, fighting the bile that threatened to rise in his throat.
There right at the curb of the intersection lay a boy in a Jedi robe.
Dorrie knelt down to assess the damage done to the apprentice that laid lifeless on the sidewalk. Jinn quickly scanned the crowd to make sure the other apprentice was not standing amongst the horde of Neimoidians gathered around the downed apprentice.
Satisfied the missing Jedi padawan was not there, he pushed his way through the crowd and hovered over Dorrie. He wanted to see for himself what the problem was with the still unknown apprentice. As he was picked up, the limp figure's hood fell back and away to reveal the identity of the young Jedi.
The terror stricken grimace on Master Starworth's face left the lifeless boy she held in her arms and looked up pleadingly at Master Jinn.
"Here is your apprentice. Where's mine…"
XOXOXOOXOXO
Put there by his master, Obi-Wan lay on the bed and groaned incoherently. It had been a battle for Qui-Gon, dodging kicking legs and flinging arms while he stripped the padawan of his tunic and robe.
Master Starworth busied herself getting a basin of water and a cloth to assist in the reviving of Jinn's apprentice. Jinn had already found the spot where the potent medicine had been injected in his padawan's neck. Also found was the nasty looking injury to his side, first thought to be suffered from the attack he'd just sustained. Upon closer look Qui-Gon realized it couldn't have been this attack that had put the wound on Obi-Wan's side.
It is already badly infected.
Even the slightest touch to the festered pus oozing blaster wound caused the apprentice to moan in agony, though still unconscious.
"Here Qui." Starworth handed him the bowl of water and bent over to see the wound.
"He didn't get this today. It had to have been during our battle… And you didn't know? How can that be? You are his master."
Jinn averted his own gaze to avoid the other master's accusing scrutiny.
"I was right all along. You haven't formed even the slightest beginning of a bond with Kenobi, or you would have known about this. Well that can be quickly rectified. Bond with him Jinn and hurry. We can't leave him alone in the state he is in and I will need you to help me search for Bruck. He needs his master, one bonded to him to aid him in his healing not some standoff stranger that you still evidently are."
Panic gripped Jinn along with the most incredible case of quilt he'd ever experienced. He didn't want Dorrie to go alone to find her apprentice, for fear she would meet the same end Tahl had. However, he wasn't sure he wanted to bond with Obi-Wan.
In the past two days Master Jinn had done a lot of thinking about his reasons for taking Obi-Wan as an apprentice. He had come to realize they were reasons unworthy of a Jedi and reasons that desecrated Tahl's memory. He wasn't proud of himself and was just about past the revenge stage. He had chosen instead to think about giving the boy back to the council for them to find him a master that would take Obi-Wan's best interest to heart. He'd hadn't forgiven Obi-Wan for what he believed was his part in Tahl's death but he didn't want to have to see him everyday as a constant reminder of either or both he and Obi-Wan's blame in the blind master's death.
"Look Dorrie, I don't want you to go out there alone. I will try to aid Kenobi in his healing but…. But…"
"But what? Look Qui-Gon, I can't just stand here while Bruck is out there, kidnapped by someone, for some purpose. I have to find him before he ends up like Tahl."
"I know. Sith Master Starworth don't you think I know that.."
Jinn carded his fingers through his hair. You could see his evident upset state.
"I am not sure I can form a bond with Tahl's apprentice."
Jinn's voice had been reduced to an almost apologetic moan.
"And why is that? Just make a mental connection. You are familiar how's it done. I grant you the bond will be deeper at first because of interjecting so quickly your mental connection with his but this is an emergency. You have to see that. My apprentice's life is at stake here as well as yours."
"I know we need to find Bruck. Let me see if my healing abilities will aid Padawan Kenobi."
"Oh crap Jinn. That won't work. The boy is too ill and on top of that he's been injected with who-knows-what. No, the only way it will work is if you form a bond with your apprentice. How can you object to that? It could very well be the difference of life and death for him."
"Look Dorrie, I can't go into to all of the why nots, but I don't want to bond with Obi-Wan Kenobi as a regular master and apprentice let alone just jump inside his mind and insert myself without even discussing it with him.. I can honestly say I have never formed a bond like that so quickly and intrusively. Besides there is a chance that even though he is a semi conscious state he could reject the bond. You know it has to work both ways and I haven't given him any reason to want to bond with me. I know that as well as he does."
"Then suggest something else. Your first idea is not going to work. He needs more than a little extra force sent through his body by you; a virtual stranger at this point. He needs a master; A master who is willing to give him a life line; the sharing and transference of force power from master to apprentice. You may lose your apprentice to the force if you don't."
"I am not sure what you are suggesting is even ethical for me to do. All padawans are given the final say before the training bond is truly established. What if Kenobi possesses the same reserve I do about a training bond between us?"
"There is a first time for everything. Now get on with it, or I will leave this cottage without you. Deal with his resistance if he has any later. Surely he won't have any objections to life over death will he? That is what you will be doing, saving his life and possibly the life of my apprentice? Here, listen, ask yourself this. What would Tahl do as his master? Would she allow him to pass through to the force or would she do her best to heal him. You should do no less if not for that boy over there then for her."
Dorrie elaborately stepped out of Jinn's ways and pointed to the teen apprentice withering in pain. She was by now screaming at Jinn.
Jinn paced the floor like a trapped animal seeking freedom. He truthfully didn't know what to do. He was torn between his wants and what he needed to do to assist Dorrie and her apprentice.
"Please Master Starworth. Just give me a half hour to see how I might possibly help Kenobi without forming what could only be called an illegitimate bond."
"Very well, thirty minutes, got it? That is all time you have and I am out of here. I won't expect you to come if Obi-Wan is not in any condition to be left alone or to come with us.. "
Jinn hurried to his padawan's bed, and knelt down beside him.
"Qui did you hear me, One half of hour?"
"Yes I heard you. Now could I have some privacy."
"Yes have all you want. I am going right outside to that little store at the corner where the boys were jumped. I want to find out if they saw anything."
"Very well keep your comm on and be careful."
"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. I will be careful. Go on with ya. We have already wasted too much time gabbing. Get back to your apprentice."
Qui-Gon picked up the cloth from the water-filled basin and began wiping Obi-Wan's face. He hoped to startle and awaken the boy with the icy cold water. It did not wake Obi-Wan, the iciness of it only elicited a low keening moan of pain from Obi-Wan. He seemed to pull away from the frosty touch of the cloth to his face.
Jinn continued to wipe the teen's face, up, and through his spiky rustic colored hair but suddenly stopped. His finger tips had very lightly brushed across the boy's head and that was when he felt IT.
Qui-Gon instantly recoiled from the touch as if he had been brunt. Stunned by what he had stumbled onto.
The hydro spray had to have some kind of force inhibitor medication in it and a very potent one at that.
Just with the light brush across the boy's forehead revealed to the Jedi master that the boy's shields, inner and outer ones had crashed, shattered like a delicate hand blown glass dropped to the floor. At the moment he had no working shields available to him. Had Obi-Wan been awake with conscious thoughts running through his mind, in this condition every force sensitive within fifty feet would have known his thoughts.
Qui-Gon had not lingered long enough to actually conjure up any of Obi-Wan's unconscious thoughts but he felt enough to know Obi-Wan's shields were in a virtual irreparable state.
Even if he were awake I am not sure he could not successfully erect his shields without a certain amount of time to heal them. This is bad. I could easily exert my will on him to form a bond but is that fair? He is not awake to accept it. I don't know if it is even Jedi ethical to do what I am thinking; to usurp a training bond with Kenobi without his express wishes being reciprocated.
Qui-Gon picked up the boy's cold clammy hands. He had chosen them over a brushing touch to Obi-Wan's head to continue administrating healing powers to him. He didn't want Obi-Wan's thoughts to bleed through to his which could not be avoided if they made another mental connection without shields.
If he does wake up, his thoughts will be nakedly availed and broadcast everywhere for any force sensitive to intercept. It could jeopardize the mission if that happens. Sidious could be more attune than a Jedi and might pick up Kenobi's thoughts from a far reaching distance. He could easily track us through Obi-Wan's mental openness.
Jinn was in a quagmire and he didn't have time to rationalize it, as he would have liked to. He could feel Obi-Wan's life force waning. Between the hydro spray and the severe infection Obi-Wan was losing his battle for life.
All Qui-Gon's problems could be easily rectified if only he would bond with Kenobi. He could even protect the boy's mind from other sensitives. He would be privy to what was in Obi-Wan's thoughts but he could use his force power to shield the boy's mind from others' intrusive mind searching.
What stopped Qui-Gon was the idea that he would be forcing his desires, ever how undesirable they really were on the boy that could not refute them. Without shields, without the force, without conscious thought, and without the verbal ability to refuse, Obi-Wan would have no choice. His mind would basically be hijacked by Jinn's overpowering force signature. That force signature would be indelibly, irreversibly, and forcibly interwoven with Obi-Wan's force aura.
I will instantly become aware of every thought he has if I bond with him in this state. I will have to support his shields until he is able… Do I want to know all that is in his mind? Especially with those most intimate details of his life with his former master? This is unfair Force… But if I don't act he will die. By the way his force signature is wavering, blanking in and out; I must make my decision quickly.
XOXOXOXO
Thanx to all of you that have given feedback. If I get several more replies even simple ones, I can have another post to you and very quickly. It is ready and waiting. It is up to my readers and if they are still reading!
ewen