A. NuEvil- Cool name! KEEP reading and feedback when you can! Don't feel bad about not having a training bond with you daughter. Evidently it's not working too well for Obi-Wan and he has one..no make that two!
PadawanKitara -Spare me your complaints. You live to vacation. Thanx for coming here and reading my stories.
Amaroqwolf- Hi! Thank You for the compliment! Please continue to read and feedback when you have time!
Tonja Lehr- Twisted? You may think this part of the story is straight starting with the new character at the end of this one! Now read on and see who it is.
Jkay- Yes, I do think you are right, Qui-Gon is beginning to figure things out but when will Obi-Wan, when it is to late? If I know how I write these stories and I do! The answer is a resounding YES! lol
-CYNICAL21- you are going to see Ewan in London in "Guys and Dolls" with him as Guy Masterson? LUCKY DOG YOU! Too rich for my purse. Closest I ever got to him was a signed signature from eBay.. It hangs by my computer at home. Will expect details upon your return! Have a safe and fun trip !
Geri K- Hi old friend from Jedi council. Glad you are still with me on this one.
wishitwould- Another friend from Jedi council like P.K. and Geri K. You know me well enough to know how I love cliffies! Refresh my memory in an email. Just how did you come with the name you use here!
JO-Yes, I thought it would be good to use Jinn's mind as a battle ground. After all, he never uses it for anything productive very often anyway! LOL
Hakkai - Gojyo - Goku - Sanzo- Too weird for ya! Don't blame me! Lucas came up with mind speech even with ghosts. I just elaborated on it that's all. Please keep reading!
Jedi Keliam Kenobi- Don't be so sure I was lucky to go to Celebration III. Yes, I did see Lucas after an all night wait in line. However, most of my time was spent in line to see something or other or to get an autograph.
If I have missed anyone, forgive me. NOW FINALLY, on to the new chapter. As I alluded too earlier new character at the end of this chapter and the plot thickens or to borrow from a reader, Tonja Lehr, it becomes even more twisted.- ewen.
XOXOXO
Master Windu gathered all the self control he could. His several endeavors to revive Master Yoda failed. Mace was mulish enough of a Jedi to want to release his fear and tension not into the force but with something more definitive. For instance, an uncontrolled primal shout right about now to relieve the tension the little master created on him would have worked better right about now. His body was a bundle of tensed muscles and frazzled nerve endings. He couldn't fathom what was wrong with one of his most favored friends in the Jedi order.
Finally the droopy little eye-lids that were attached to the green and wrinkled face of the most revered master, head master to the council, Yoda lifted. And with them some of Mace's concern for him fell by the wayside. However, he still had his reservations about what had just transpired on the council chamber floor with Master Yoda splayed there in the most undignified position.
"Jeez, Master Yoda you gave me such a scare. What is wrong? I used my healing powers to revive you from your unconscious state. Nevertheless, should I get someone with more authority and understanding of the infirmed? Do you need a healer perhaps? "
"Trust in the force you should haveToo young to be one with it I am Terrible experience I had, my subconscious had its own battle in my former padawan's mind. Recover I begin to do. Rest a moment on this comfortable hard tiled floor I also will."
Sarcasm had not been in Yoda's repertoire of phrases and it shocked Mace to hear him use sarcasm to offset Mace's concern for him.
Now Mace thought at first the other master was delirious. Engaged in mental battle in Jinn's mind while he was on another planet, didn't sound like a plausible scenario for Yoda to be doing and thus Mace did not at first believe what Yoda said to be truth. Not that he lied, that he hallucinated it; conjured up in a mind filled with delirious thoughts because of the unusual scary seizure Yoda had just gone through. And with just who was he doing battle with, certainly not his former apprentice. Those two have a bond as tight as a virgin's "hoo-ha".
"NO, Yoda could not have been in an argument with Qui-Gon. What am I doing? I am actually thinking of who he is fighting with instead of realizing this absurd tale he is spewing happened Master Yoda's mind and nothing more!
"Yes, yes I understand. Now just calm down Master and all will be well."
Yoda saw through Mace's words, knew them instantly as a placating ruse to in Master Windu's mindset keep Yoda calm.
"Humor me you must not. Know of what I speak I do. Tahl it was, but of Tahl's personality and kind soul this Tahl in Jinn's head possessed none of. Different, quite different she was. Tainted by the dark side if quick snap judgment of her I must make."
Now Mace was sure Master Yoda had suffered some affliction of the aged. Beginning stages of Alzheimer maybe but did that come on with some fit and unconsciousness? No, the ebony creamed skinned Jedi didn't think so. Maybe just maybe a stroke, some vascular mishap caused by pressure in Yoda's head.
"Yes that is it. This is the first warning to the rest of us that the little troll has finally come to the time in his life when he must slow down, ease his work load, and allow the rest of us more responsibility. Though I don't think he suffered any affliction such as high blood pressure before. The strain of this meeting and those like it; the futility of not getting the masters to see things his way. Combined with what is surely undulated anxiousness for his former and most loved apprentice Qui-Gon has taken a toll on his overall heath and stamina; possibly an irreversible one. Yes must have just blown an artery in his head with the fettered trepidation he must have been controlling."
Mace broke his thoughts when he felt the red hot glare of Yoda's fixated on his face, a none too pleasant glare, no thankfulness in those eyes, only hard core unabashed discord because he was sorely misunderstood by the other master, Mace who administrated over him, a healing balm of the force.
"Crazy I am not, ill I am also not. Wrong with you something there is if believe you do of what I speak is the not the truth."
Yoda's glare followed from Mace's eyes to his own shoulder. Mace's long elegant fingeredhand still rested there on the downed master, but had stopped the healing force being sent through that hand to the little green head master.
Yoda shook his upper body violently to break their physical connection; so much so Mace at first feared Yoda was going into another attack, possibly a seizure or toxic force shock which sometimes happened, in the elderly unable to control their force abilities any longer.
"Question my reasoning or humor me one more time you do, use the force on you I will and pleasant itwillnotbe. Ready a ship I did say and know perfectly you do of what I said. Now follow orders you will. Still master over you I am."
"Then if you are going somewhere I am going with you."
"Babysitter I don't need. Your help, if offered up, yes I could use. Come with me you will. Back up on my mission you can be."
The grumpiness hadn't totally left Yoda's voice but some of his mirth had slowly returned and Mace couldn't help but notice the old familiar twinkle in Yoda's eyes.
Mace did not give Yoda a chance to object. He didn't even glance back as he raised himself from his bended position and rushed to carry out the ridiculous order; that no matter how odd it sounded, would be followed. Why… because Yoda directed it and Mace was not about to countermand anything Yoda directed him to do. Not yet at least because the little green troll was still in the helm of the Jedi order with Mace loyally doing his bidding.
XOXO
Obi ran blindly not knowing where he should go. His former master Tahl had not said where to go, but to just go. He felt so threatened by his new master Obi heeded the command without thought of direction. Now though the further he got away and with the realization Qui-Gon did not follow, fear filled his head.
"Master Tahl were should I go? How far do I have to be from that mad man who doubled as my teacher and master, to find sanction and safety?"
No answer. That had been the most flustering part of finding out his former master had become a blue ghost. She'd told Obi she would know where he was and was always with him, but when he needed her and called to her, she never answered.
"Just like while I was in battle for my very life against my own master. I called, she did not come. Shouldn't she have wanted to help me then? It was by the grace of the force that I lived. Didn't Tahl see how abusive Master Jinn was to me then? Why, why didn't she direct me then and not after I had been freed."
XOXO
Sidious could not believe the immense pleasure being derived from the battle between Jinn and Kenobi. He also could not accept as true how easy it was to manipulate one of the most astute and powerful masters in the Jedi order, Qui-Gon Jinn. Now though he suspected Jinn had come to his senses due in part to his former master Yoda interference through their bond.
"Yes, now I have only the apprentice to play with. Though his first meeting with MY Tahl should bring me much pleasure I won't be totally satisfied until Syfo Dyas delivers the boy to me. Now I think I should continue with my little mind manipulation and have Tahl finally meet with her apprentice. I am sure she will be able to keep him in one place long enough for me to summon Dyas and Fett to retrieve him."
XOXO
Obi-Wan thought he had found himself a safe place tucked back between two large factories. He made a makeshift home by placing large pieces torn from the corrugated boxes extracted from two large dumpsters that now doubled as walls to his new abode.Obi-Wan used thetwo large cardboard pieces as the other two walls forhis makeshift home.
He hunkered down to keep the cold air from biting through his Jedi robe and causing him to shake more than his last confrontation with his master had. Darkness was quickly descending on the planet and he hoped his former master would have come before the setting sun disappeared.
If he were to admit it to himself he would have admitted a slight uneasiness at thethought of a rendevous with the ghost of his master, though he did not fear her as a person He reasoned itwould somehow be a horrifying occurrence best experienced in the daylight if possible. In spite of who the blue hued essence was, weren't ghostly meetings, any ghostly meetings scarier in the dark?
"I am being stupid. I have nothing to fear from my master, ghost or otherwise. She would never intentionally harm me, not like that ogre Jinn."
Obi-Wan fleet safer in the four walls he had put together to protect himself form night and chilled winds. He was exceedingly glad he was hidden crouched down and hidden when he heard a rustling noise just on the other side of one Dumpster wall of his hiding place.
His mind eased with a gentle touch he knew as his former master's evoking their training bond for some sort of communication. One corrugated wall fell away as if dislodged or whipped away from its position by the wind, but yet it was not the wind. There before him stood Tahl. No not a blue encased spectral as he imagined she would come as but as Tahl his former master; her beauty ever present as the day she'd left him at the temple.
Their communication no longer needed the bond. They could speak face to face.
"Master you are here. You really did come as you said."
Did you doubt me my Apprentice? Did I not say I would find you and..Yes Obi-Wan I am here and with me you will remain forever………."
XOXO
His comm buzzed loudly and jerked the dark master's attention to what was going on with His Tahl and Kenobi on the screen in front of him.
"Yes what is it?"
Sidious was angry at being drawn away from his amusement. Now he had to split his concentration between the comm and the view screen. His voice showed that anger. The caller on the other end of the comm was not intimated by the barking question.
"Sir Sidious, I have an offer for you, a business proposition of sorts."
"How did you know how to contact me? And another thing to whom am I speaking with? How can I even consider doing business with you if I don't know who I am doing it with and what business it is?"
It doesn't matter how I came about being able to contact you. The most important thing is that I can help you rid yourself of that parasite Gunray…Interested or not?"
Something told the dark master this voice on the other end might have some very helpful insight on his problem, Gunray. After all the unknown caller had managed to locate and contact him, the dark lord, which in itself ws no small feat accomplished; done only by the most experienced and knowledgeable being of the dark sider Sidious, or just plain brilliance of the mysterious caller, who must in some way be gifted with the force to know so much.
While the voice carried no familiarity to it, a certain awareness, a conjured up recollection of a failed dark Jedi instantly and unexplainably came to Sidious' mind. Then he zeroed in on what happened at the temple Coruscant some three or four years ago. A betrayal of a master by his apprentice, Jinn's former apprentice, the one tainted by wickedness but not by the dark side Sidious powered; by just plain malicious malevolence itself. He held a certain respect for this dark Jedi he'd never met, if indeed it was who spoke from the other end of the comm as he was beginning to suspect.
Sidious also had to keep constant eye on what was going on between "his" Tahl and the very distressed Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, the conversation with the one on the other end of the comm also held a certain interest for him. He refused to permit himself to lose visual contact with "his" Tahl and Obi-Wan but he also would not let the verbal contact with the stranger be broken.
"Now why can't I remember this one's name? Maybe because I am trying to juggle this damn comm and the viewer screen at the same time; listen to two conversations while attempting to bring this failed Jedi's name to mind. "
"Well now, I might be interested in what you have to say. Maybe I could use you."
Silence between the two was interrupted by indignant offended voice that thundered from the other end of the comm.
"I. Did. Not. Offer. Myself. Up. To. Be. Used. Others have tried to use me but failed. I never allow myself to be maneuvered, to be "used" for anyone's purposes. I make a proposition to you to except or turn down, your decision to make."
Ah………. Sidious liked this dark Jedi already, if he be him and he hadn't even met him. Stood up the dark lord with such regality and stealth it impressed Sidious; a feat to be admired.
"Before I hear just how you plan to help me, I would like to know with whom I am speaking? Just who makes a proposal for me to consider? And why if I may ask another question do you render so much concern for my plight….. Oh and where are you?"
"Telos, I am located on Telos, my home world, to answer your last question first. I am the owner of most the quartz mines there, give or take a couple of the smaller ones. The answers to the rest of your "quiz", I think can wait.. Wait until you decide you wish my help, and then all will be answered. I myself am not without a few questions of my own for you, Darth Sidious."
"And you say no other answers for my questions. Will you not tell me your name at least?"
Darth Sidious very much wanted his suspicions of the caller's identity to be verified before he went any further with the conversation.
"Oh excuse me allow me to formally introduce myself. De'Crion………..Xanatos De'Crion……. expatriate of the "Guardians of Peace", yes a former Jedi , but not so dumb as the rest of them, at your service should you wish and need it……………………..."
T.B.C.
ewen