Mace's piloting made all Jinn's concerns melt away, a good portion of them anyway. The only mishap and it really couldn't be described as a mishap was when Mace got a little too close to the ship, so much so he bumped it and slightly crazed the side.

Master Jinn and Yoda anticipated the bump because they stood on the outside catwalk and witnessed it very close up. They did grab the cat walk's collapsible hand railing, but no need for that either. Anyone inside the ship felt the same thing the Jedi masters on the outside did; a slight wave of interference like maybe a meteor had grazed the Sith ship's exterior.

With the cloaking device and a second device that covered their radio wave lengths being sent from their ship, the red guard would all be none the wiser, with no suspicion or the tiniest of inkling they were about to be boarded in mid-space and taken over by their most dogging enemy, the Jedi.

Jinn made mental note that though the slight grazing of the ship in no way impeded their mission, it would be something to "tease" his old friend and once crèche companion about, once they got home.

Qui-Gon also could not let it slip his mind that with the outfit he wore Mace would be able to make jokes at his expense as well.

He and Master Yoda were decked out in lightweight metallic skin tight space body suits. Their heads were incased in a matching metallic colored thin hood like breathing bubble and made for a comical appearance especially the look it produced for Yoda. While Qui-Gon could only be described as a walking frame of muscle each one accented more and more by the very tight one piece suit, Yoda's 's bedecked ensemble gave him a shaped appearance like a tiny little hour glass with the space suit's zipper practically bulging in his middle front from the tightness. It also gave the short diminutive master the appearance of carrying a spare tire around his mid-section.

Qui thought he'd heard his former master grumbled that a few ponds put on he had since last necessary to be beguiled in such a ridiculous suit. Jinn thought he also heard some mumbled curse over the exact that the designer and tailor of the suit, his suit in particular must have found it humorous to bedeck him in such monstrosity in the first place and that Qui-Gon's suit had the opposite alter appearance on him. Yoda hadn't considered that it was their body structure that caused Jinn to seem nothing less than a god-like warrior while his odd little built and height caused him to appear more like the frog the younglings some times called him behind his back when on occasion they were being particularly rambunctious.

No matter their appearance Mace preformed his job beautifully. He glided the Jedi ship easily right up next to the Sith sip, kept the exact identical pace and speed in order to keep the cat walk Jinn and Yoda stood on even with the air lock door to the other ship. Their worries seemed unfounded at least the possibility of being bucked off the cat walk and thrown into endless wanderings while floating in space. Now the easier part was about to begin.

Once On the Sith Ship, the hatch would be sealed behind Qui-Gon and Yoda. Mace knew it would be necessary to totally fasten the hatch door to keep the much needed oxygen on the ship and not allow it to escape or the poisonous weightless gases that floated in outer space in. Mace would not be immediately privy to what was happening inside the Sith ship.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Xanatos likened his down trodden feeling that had suddenly came upon him to a severe bout of the flu or a horrific fall down a twenty foot cliff. He imagined it similar to the torment suffered when a training bond between an adored master and his beloved apprentice tragically was irreparably broken, severed, ripped and torn violently never to exist again.

But no, he had experienced none of those cataclysmic events at least not recent times.

He experienced no fever so Xani reasoned he suffered not from a malady. He hadn't fallen down anything but felt numbly along his arms legs and upper torso to make sure everything was intact and nothing broken; O.K. there.

A bond……….. Well Xanatos was sure he'd never shared a bond that could have brought him so much excruciating pain as he now bore. Qui-Gon and he were never that close and while he admitted to himself what he felt for Obi-Wan was a fluttering of compassion of one who shared many things he had apprenticeship to the highest and most revered Jedi master in the order to date, it certainly did not mirror a strong bond of "ANY KIND".

The fallen Jedi actually grew weak as he watched Sidious descend the stair case of his home. He unashamedly held to the mahogany sheen rail at the base of the steps for support as the dark lord ever so slowly walked toward him. It was not Darth Sidious' presence that bothered him so sorely. It was "WHO" walkedbeside him; bound in cuffs, force inhibited so severely he staggered as he was led or dragged toward Xanatos.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was the one that caused all these tumultuous feelings to come out. The suppression of them had been impossible because Xanatos had truly tried to hide them from others around him but most of all from himself. It was an impossible task..

He was now reduced to physical illness because he knew when Sidious reached the bottom of those steps with Qui-Gon's apprentice he would say his goodbyes and walk out Xani's front door. Once out he would be gone and more importantly Obi-Wan would be gone; forever lost to the dark side.

XOXOXOX Yoda Mace Qui XOXOXOXO

Without Darth Sidious to direct, instruct, and command the battle droids and few red guard on how to overpower the Jedi that boarded the dark lords' ship, they might as well have been fifty instead of the two. It went that smoothly.

What did not go smoothly was the two startling revelations made one each by Jinn then Yoda just before they left the Sith ship. After having secured all their combatants on Lord Sidious' sleek transport liner, the two Jedi masters made one final sweeping search of the ship just to be sure no Red Guard hid to later notify their dark master.

Mace had attached a towing beam to the dark lord's ship. Their plan a simple one; to land on an obscure landing port beyond the city limits of Telos. Seldom used now but thanks to Xanatos, Qui-Gon had learned of its existence. He had never used it because he never felt the need to enter Telos in hiding but this time it would be necessary. Yes, all the Jedi plans were in order.

However, one little obstacle or discovery reared its ugly head to cause turmoil to their plans when everything was all but a sure thing, a finished chore.

It was during their final check of the Sith ship that Jinn and Yoda came upon a clone, a very shockingly exact likeness of none other Than Master Tahl, Jinn's now dead lover.

"Oh so Master Yoda you are right. Sidious does have in his control the clone of Tahl."

Neither master mentioned it, but in both their minds the previous discussion popped up. The one where Yoda said the clone Tahl if found would have to be destroyed. Qui-Gon did not even want to think about that now. He wanted to bask in the likeness of his beloved with no worries just for a few moments.

Jinn circled the Tahl before him slowly and curiously. He stopped momentarily, smoothed his beard, wiped the growing perspiration from his forehead, and studied every inch of the visible Tahl. He wished he could run his hand intimately over the more private parts, the parts he knew so well just by touch, sweet loving touches. He lingered a moment with those thoughts of intimacy with his beloved before he continued his scrutiny of this fake Tahl. He was so surprised how exact her features were, her size, everything down to the hair on her head and her blank sightless eyes.

"Perfect in every way except that she is not really Tahl, not really standing right here beside me in flesh and bone."

As much as Yoda would have liked to share in Jinn's shocking revelation he was too involved in his own stunning discovery. He glanced very briefly over to see the clone Tahl exactly as he expected to see her. Something drew his attention from the clone that Jinn thought was ever so important to his discovery he knew was of absolute importance.

Just before boarding their own ship Yoda managed to crack the Sith ship's most private computer where all Sidious' plans were or most of them. He hadn't had time to read all of them but with his ability to rapid read he gleaned enough information to know Xanatos De'Crion is the reason Sidious' hadn't used his ship to escape Gunray's home world, and did so undetected even by the Viceroy Gunray.

That only complicated the problem for his former apprentice. He knew Qui-Gon Jinn would literally blow up when he found out Xani had a hand in all this and Yoda believed De'Crion will get the blame for Tahl's death no matter whether he was involved or not…….

Sorry it has been so long. ewen