Disclaimer: Read the first chappy legal peeps. Too lazy to repeat :)
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Chapter Twelve: Of Missing Apprentices
Qui-Gon compared the files on the missing Jedi with trepidation: each gone missing within the last year with decreasing time difference in-between each abduction, all with absolutely nothing in common, the latest were a Master who specialised in trade disputes, a Knight on a Top Secret mission, another Knight returning from a mission in the Middle Rim, a senior Padawan right from under his Master's nose -he went in the refresher and never came out. He was just gone.
Might it be murder?
A systematic killing of as many Jedi as possible.
Genocide? A massacre?
Rumour was that it went back further than a year, to before even the Battle of Naboo, only in the last twelve or so months the disappearances increased to a disturbing number.
One that couldn't be dispelled as Jedi lost on missions, or to "have left the path" of the Force.
Did dying count as leaving the path?
Accept, technically, to the Jedi there was no death, only the Force.
Debating philosophy with yourself, Jinn? That's the first sign of thinking too much.
The second sign knew that it was indeed a sign of thinking too much.
So what sign was he at?
"Sparring. I need to spar."
Anakin was going to be in various classes for the next few hours, leaving Qui-Gon with a period to relax and think over the unsolved cases.
Hence his present state; he wasn't a thinker, he was a doer. He never sat in the sidelines to watch a situation unfold; however the Council was being cryptically firm about everything now.
Every Knight currently planet-side took a shift in patrolling key corridors, hallways and entrances at least twice a week and was required to attend every meeting. Every Master of a senior Padawan did also, those with Padawan's over the age of thirteen attended the meetings. Care and Crèche Masters and any with Padawan's under the age of thirteen didn't do the shifts or attend the meetings that were being called more and more often, instead they got messages and summaries.
Taking up a familiar stance, Qui-Gon went from beginning to end of each movement with practised precision. Thoughts came clearer as he progressed through each Kata; trepidation began to fade away, released into the Force with a slash of his lightsaber.
A familiar Master ran up to him, known through a classmate of Anakin's,
"Qui-Gon, have you seen Saul?"
Qui-Gon halted, switching off his 'saber, "Shouldn't he be in class?"
"He never turned up."
Rightful worry filled the other Master's eyes, an aspect that Qui-Gon's soon echoed. Padawan's skipped class, they slept in, they were ill -they never just 'didn't turn up'. A Master always knew where their Padawan was, even if the youngster didn't know that.
Four hours later search parties were organised, only they were not trying to find just Padawan Saul Yiiy any more; Padawan Yana, twenty, seventeen year old Padawan Larai Nal-Exan and Knight Cad-I-Lin were also declared missing.
All Jedi were on high alert, Initiates were being kept in groups of five, Padawans were kept in their rooms or with Initiates, Corusant Security was alerted, profiles of the missing sent out, ships prepping to leave were searched by a member of the Jedi and a Security Force and the search parties began to sweep first the Temple, and then outwards in a circle -every level, every building, every basement, every nook and every cranny. The Jedi took care of their own just as fiercely as they protected all others.
Maybe even more so.
"Ashden I want you to stay here, don't leave for anything unless I call you."
Obi-Wan didn't know how to impress the importance of that fact anymore without openly telling the child that something, or someone, was kidnapping Jedi for purposes unknown.
And he really didn't want to send her into a terrified state, their bond had grown considerably as the threats increased and through it he felt her trying to push away the fear that gnawed at her. It was gnawing slowly at everybody who was Force-Sensitive.
Whenever he searched for the familiar, ancient, anger, he got a little closer. He visualised the dense fog, a murky black, creeping over Corusant with fingers extending everywhere, vines spun off outwards into the far reaches of space and light was being forced away.
"Literally do not leave these rooms, understood?"
"Yes, Master."
"Master Erin will be here as soon as she can, and you can use the comm unit whenever you want until then."
"Yes, Master." Obi-Wan checked his lightsaber was clipped in its usual place and shrugged into his cloak, sinking into the comforting folds and pulled on her braid.
"You won't even notice I'm gone, and yes," he decided to answer the question he knew was coming, "when you're older you'll be able to come too."
"How much older?" She asked hopefully.
"Thirteen." He watched her face fall at the prospect of five more years ahead of her, "I'll be right back, Ashden."
The door closed behind him with a definitive click, leaving Ashden to sink onto the couch. She had a bad feeling about this.
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The four Jedi stood silently; orders clear in their turbulently calm minds as the hover car zoomed through the packed traffic lanes.
Obi-Wan couldn't believe his luck, or rather his lack of it. His search party comprised of Mace, himself and the two Jedi he least wanted to work with: Qui-Gon and Anakin.
"You each know what to do?" As the senior Master present, Mace Windu was in charge and subsequently handling the situation in the strictest sense. They all knew that nothing could go wrong; if something went wrong the cost was likely to be counted in lives.
"Yes." They answered in unison.
"Regroup in an two hours. Don't be late." The hover car halted at their building to let them off, pausing only long enough for Anakin to step off before carrying on to the next. Nearly every Jedi had been deployed on Yoda's urgent request -every craft the Jedi had was out and packed to and beyond normal maximum capacity.
"Obi-Wan take the bottom five levels, Qui-Gon and Anakin, you take the levels between six and thirteen, and I'll take fourteen to nineteen. Another team is taking the upper levels."
Obi-Wan watched the others walk away swiftly before turning to the area he had to search. Logic dictated he went to the lowest level first and worked back up… logic, however, was not going along with what teased at the edge of his awareness; a thin vine of darkness, prodding at his shielding, looking for a way in.
"You won't find it there," he said, watching it as if it were a real vine of plant life in his minds eye, "But I'll find you."
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When Master Erin didn't arrive after ten minutes Ashden ran to the comm. unit to open a link to Uli's room, where hopefully everyone would be.
"Uli you there?" A few seconds passed as she stared at the blank screen, kneeling on the chair and biting her lip. A habit her Master was trying to get her to break, consciously she stopped it. "Uli?"
"Ash! Where're you?" Uli's dark blonde haired head appeared on the screen, backed by the familiar faces of her friends. Ashden felt the fear she knew she shouldn't technically be feeling welling up and tears began to sting her eyes. She wanted to be with them, not alone.
"I'm in our rooms an' I'm not allowed to leave an' my Master left an' Master Erin hasn't come yet an' something bad is goin'ta happen an' I don' know what to do Uli!"
"Ash calm down, the Master's have got whatever is happening under control, and Master Erin probably just got held up at the Healers, she'll be there in no time."
Thew poked his head under Uli's shoulder, using the raised bumps down the middle of his forehead and his nose to encourage the older Initiate to move, "Yeah come on Ashden! Nothing bad will happen with so many Jedi out there. That's what we do, remember? We stop the bad stuff."
"But this is extra bad stuff! Really really really really bad!" Without realising it, she started to chew her lip again.
Amati, ever the voice of reason, spoke up this time, "How do you know that? You're over reacting, Ash."
"But it's really really bad!" Why didn't they understand? She couldn't explain it but it was really bad! Her eyes began to sting more and her centre was someplace where she couldn't find it.
Ashden watched Uli and Thew make Amati be quiet by wrestling her to the floor, so Sa-Bay sat at the screen instead and smiled. "Ash you're just upset because you're on your own, and Master Erin will be there soon, you don't need to worry. Focus on something else, okay?" She nodded, pulling on her sleeves. "Like our mission. Master Jinn was your Master's Master and before that he was someone called Xanatos' Master.
Plus I found out that Master Kenobi left the Order for a year when he was fourteen,"
Ashden nodded again, he'd told her about that, "On Melia/Dann, he stayed to help the Young fight the Old and when he came back he was put on probation because he took sides. Jedi aren't s'posed to do that."
"Right. But Uli and me did some digging and there's a rumour that Master Jinn wasn't sure whether he wanted to take your Master back, so maybe that's another piece for the puzzle."
Noting that in her growing list, Ashden felt the heavy pressure that had been on her chest lift a little.
"He never told me that so it's probably important -"
The door chime rang, cutting her off. Master Erin was here.
"Thanks Sa, I'll see you later? Master Erin's here so I got to go."
A chorus of 'byes' later she switched off the unit and sprang to the door.
Bowing as proper she greeted her Master's friend. "Good evening, Master Erin."
"Hello Ashden," the Healer smiled a smile that reached her large eyes, "has your dear old Master left you with nothing to do?"
"Sort of, he said I could use the comm. unit."
This apparently mortified Bant and she made them tea in no short order, quickly deciding on something for them to do.
"I don't know about you," she confided, "but I never enjoyed having nothing to do when I was your age."
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Obi-Wan crept through the shadows of the dank lower levels following the invisible darkness that only he seemed to be able to see. The vine he was tracing steadily grew thicker as did the apprehension he was finding harder to dispel.
If he called for aid then the rest of the building would take longer to search. He knew the lead he had might not be the one that was connected to the missing Jedi, even though on a level he was finding to be very reliable of late, he knew it was. It was the same way he knew how to defeat the Sith four years ago and the one he used to heal Qui-Gon afterwards.
"Now what's through there?"
The vine, which was now more like the trunk of a giant tree led through a heavyset fire door and screamed danger and darkness. But if the missing Jedi were behind that door he didn't have a choice.
With a pull on the handle, assisted by a strong Force manipulation when the door turned out to be extremely heavy. A silver ball was revealed beyond, glinting in pale light.
Obi-Wan spun on his heel to run but the device was much faster, its countdown begun when the doors handle moved. A flash of light spread out, an intense pressure pushing him and forcing him into the opposite wall, pain engulfed his mind before it registered in his body and he felt empty before he felt no more.
Obi-Wan Kenobi slid unconscious to the floor, isolated from the rest of his search party and cut off from the Force.
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Author's Notes: OMG! I am SO SORRY for the slow update! I had really bad writers block with this chapter despite the plan i had written down! And i have a job at Safeways now, and i said i didn't mind where i worked, so i'm now in "Processed Meats" and it's horrible! I hate it! At the end of the night i have to put away the raw meat and it makes me feel sick :( Plus i don't have the courage to ask if i can be moved :( What a wimp .
So yes. Big sorry! And HUUUUUUUUUUGE thank you! A MEGA thank you, if you will! :D :D I got 15 reviews!
Review Thank Yous...
Juicy Jedi: Heya! New reader /grins/ that was the way I wanted Anakin to be presented so I feel quite proud of myself now ;) I'm not revealing anything about the part he plays though.... muah ha haa
MistiWhitesun: Naw I find it funny! I love humour :D It rocks! Yeah poor Ani, but it's a thing a lot of kids do, especially if they find it hard to make friends i've found (never thought being at school would be helpful lol!) so the silly child will sadly have a hard smack down to earth at some point lol
Ooo I LOVED DS9! Well, that's a lie. I loved it until they got hung up on The War and all that, for me that ruined it because i was about 8 and not interested in War and Death heheee. Aww Voyager rocks! It had the good, the bad, the gorgeous, the aspect of being different to the rest, IMO anyway.... yeah. I'm a Voyager Fan lol. My fave character was probably Tom Paris because of the potential for angst lol. Did you have any faves?
LOL how were these indentations? I learnt to read with and without so i never know if they're okay or not...
Lena Breeze: How was that? }:)
CelticPhantom: Very happy you found it again! Aww Qui's not evil, he's just being rather parent-ish... he'll get over it soon. Not saying nadda about Anakin :P
Hebe: Well thank you :D Continued, it is :D
Audreidi: It was indeed! Aww I SHOULD have! You asked for longer chapters and I delivered so it was only fair you got the recognition :D
The focus won't be on their mission so much, especially since it wasn't in my original plan (ooops) so it's being worked into the other plots... blunder there might very well be. They're kids after all! Mistakes, they make lots of, almost as bad as the adults, they are!
Yeah poooor Ani... he'll come round or get smacked to the ground by reality lol. He's a kid too after all :D
Janna Hawkins: Well it wasn't very soon... but it's an update :D
Snow-Glory: Yes! Write a sequel! Even if it's short! lol i can only seem to write long stories if i have a plan....
Hmmm... should Ashden find out? Good question... maybe she will. Maybe she won't. Obi doesn't even know yet lol, but yeah, not only are girls supposed to be more intuitive, kids are supposed to notice more than adults... so who knows.
Aida: :D Contrast is what i wanted, so that you liked it is even better! :D :D
shadowjedi1: Another new reader! Hi! I made you think... i feel quite proud of that. If i can make my readers think then the grin on my face will stay quite awhile, maybe into my shift in the NEXT sale tomorrow lol!
Oooo i definately like the idea of the ancient 'saber form... can i use it? If i do i'll give you the credit for the idea obviously :D The shield thing is kinda sneaked in already but nobody noticed so sssssh ;)
Knight Kenobi of Eryn Lasgalen: Hay George Lucas himself missed it! Don't call youself dumb lol!
lurker1: How can I make Ashden more actual-person like? I always find it hard to do that with any characters, especially they're original ones :S Any tips/pointers? / looks hopeful /
Heeheee her friends are her friends, unfortunately for Ashden she's still one of the youngest so they'd probably sit on her or something
Kusco: Ooo thank you times two! What's an Obi-Wan Bizarro? :S Heeheee everybody wants to know about Anakin! Poor kiddo! I'm gonna lock away that answer in my secret place... ie i'm gonna stash my notepad under my sketchbook incase Walking Through Shadows comes over lol.
Walking Through Shadows: There you go! Obi! Hay did you ring me earlier on Thursday? I was at work :S
Authors Notes 2: It took me half an hour to answer all those :D Please review :D It'll make me happy! Pleeease? Come on... feel sorry for the girl who has to work with meat :S I wanna work on the tills like a normal kid!