Chapter Seven
On the trip to Corellia, Moth and Yoda discussed who could be attacking the Jedi. They were there to bring peace to the galaxy and help heal the sick.
"Someone not like peace, Sith maybe?" Yoda asked offering his favorite villain as a possibility, only to be told again that the Sith didn't exist anymore.
"Besides Sith, other enemies do Jedi have?" Yoda asked. "Only take one to start again, it would." Yoda insisted.
"They would be able to create this drug and are the only logical choice to want to use it. I must warn the Council about our suspicions." Moth said.
oOo
"Master Poof, Yoda thinks and I agree, reluctantly, that the most logical enemy to be attacking the Jedi is the Sith. They would have the know how and the motive to do this to the Jedi and if they are back, they have had a hundred years to stew on this." Master Moth reported.
"The Sith back, this is grave news you bring. There is already much fear among the Padawans. Tanel and Manoin were two of the strongest Padawans. If they were harmed, who is safe?" Master Poof agreed. "I am sending Nyla to assist you, she saw the kidnappers and might recognize someone. I am going to inform the rest of the Council." Poof ended the transmission before Master Moth could protest and Master Poof had known he would. Nyla was the last person Moth wanted in the line of fire of the drug attacks.
oOo
Nyla arrived on Corellia shortly after Moth and Yoda. "Miss me? I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by and give you a hand." She said then assured Moth. "Yes, Master I will be careful." She said to the unnecessary warning.
"I don't like this! Stay close!" Moth warned. "If it is the Sith, they are going to be mad."
Master Gaetan met them at the space port entrance and told them of his efforts to find his Padawan. "I had sent him on a simple assignment, one I have sent him on many times on many worlds and he always came back safe, always until this time. None of the official channels have been helpful. Now the Council thinks it maybe the Sith. Who would have thought of that?" Gaetan lamented. Yoda raised his left eyebrow but said nothing.
"It's not your fault. We will find him don't worry." Moth knew how Gaetan felt from when Nyla was missing. "Show us where he disappeared from, we can start from there." Moth said trying to comfort the distraught Master.
Because Yoda knew the passwords from his days as a spice trader, they were able to get into parts of the town they wouldn't otherwise. The gatekeepers were surprised to hear them coming from four Jedi. Yoda managed to 'convince' the underground overlord to tell him where a new scoundrel was staying. He didn't like having this much attention from the Jedi community and was glad to be rid of the object of that attention. He figured that if he got rid of the newcomer the attention would go away.
The foursome carefully slipped up to the empty storefront. Moth went to Force the lock open but it was unlocked so they ran in lightsabers ignited. It was to quiet inside and there was a strange Dark chill in the air. It looked like no one had been in there in days. Nyla and Gaetan checked one of the side rooms as Moth and Yoda checked the other. "In here!" She called out and Moth and Yoda came running. On a cot in a dark corner was Tanel, the missing Padawans apparently fried on the Force blocking drug.
"Hold this!" Moth said handing Nyla a data-pad he had found in the other room. He hunched over and lifted Tanel onto his shoulders, fireman style, and they hurried back to Moth's ship. Moth started Tanel on the intravenous form of the antidote while Nyla checked the data-pad. There was a list of names of planets. Duro where Manoin had disappeared and Corellia where they were and two others Ruusan where Master Ivo was settling a minor trade dispute and another much farther away.
Nyla called the Council to tell them of Tanel being found, apparently he had received the second dose and his condition was grave. Then she told them about the list of places. They ordered Moth to bring Tanel back to Coruscant and her to accompany Gaetan to Ruusan. The Council canceled all unnecessary missions and ordered all Jedi back to Coruscant. 'They want us to hide like little children.' Nyla thought.
"How is he?" Nyla asked Moth.
"Better, what did the Council say?" Moth asked.
"They want you to bring Tanel back to Coruscant and Gaetan and I are to go to Ruusan to check on Master Ivo and Jolyon, they aren't answering the holo-link." She watched Moth's expression change, knowing he wasn't going to like that order.
"Well, I don't think so. You have been drugged once and I don't know what it would do to you if you were drugged again and I am not going to let you get in a position to find out. You and Yoda are going to take Tanel back and I will accompany Master Gaetan to check on Ivo." Moth said emphatically. 'He lost his Padawan. He's not going to lose Nyla.'
"Moth, the Council ordered…" Gaetan started then saw the expression on Moth's face and knew it was no use to argue with him. They had been Padawans at the same time and he had seen that expression before. "It's on your head. You know what happened the last time you went against the Councils orders."
"Yes, I saved your bum." Moth said. 'And almost got kicked out of the order.' "I am not going to Coruscant and leaving Nyla to go against a possible Sith Lord. I will deal with the Council when I get back but she will be safe."
"Yes, Daddy." Nyla teased her former Master.
They transferred Tanel to Nyla's ship and Moth and Gaetan took Moth's, he wasn't loosing it again and he wasn't leaving until Nyla was safely on her way. "Yoda, you go with Nyla." Moth ordered. Then watched until they were in space, then accompanied them until they jumped into hyperspace.
Gaetan wasn't happy that Moth had gone against Council orders to protect his former Padawan while he was obeying orders to leave his infirmed Padawan and go on a mission. This was the first time he and Moth had been on a mission together since Moth nearly got expelled from the order, partly because Moth became a Healer and partly because Gaetan had requested not to be assigned with Moth, if possible. Moth knew Gaetan did not trust him even after he had been cleared. It was a quiet flight until the crash.
Yoda had rearranged the ships storage closets to his liking and while Nyla had been on board she had placed something in its former location so when the door opened there was an avalanche of metal basins used to clean patients. The problem was Moth and Gaetan were both in the cockpit at the time. They both came out of the cockpit lightsabers ignited, looked at each other, then Gaetan asked. " Got mice?"
"Maybe, one 'big' green one. Yoda!"
"Yes, Master!" Answered an eager Padawan.
"You were suppose to accompany Nyla back to Coruscant." Moth scolded.
"Suppose to accompany you to Coruscant, I was. Disobed, you did. Always stay with Master, a Padawan must. Obedient, Yoda is." Yoda defended his decision expertly.
Gaetan laughed. "You finally got the Padawan you deserve."
Yoda straightened to his fullest height two feet two inches and said proudly. "Tries Yoda does to be a good Padawan." Only Moth knew it hadn't been a compliment to him or Yoda.
oOo
On arriving at Ruusan, Moth, Gaetan and Yoda went to Ivo's ship, it was evident no one had been there in a couple days. Gaetan accessed their holo-link records, the last message was from an informant, a shady looking man wearing the ragged uniform of a dock workman.
"The person you was lookin' for went into a ole warehouse on the River Road. It's mostly used by smugglers, a big green buildin' Farm Fresh Produce on the sign. Remember you didn't hear this from me."
"That's the entire message." Gaetan said as he pulled up a grip of the city. "You know this could be a trap. It apparently was for Ivo and Jolyon."
Moth replied. "The only difference between a clue and a trap is the outcome."
"That is the kind of reasoning that got you in trouble the last time." Gaetan warned.
"Thank you, if it comes out as good this time, we will both survive this." Moth turned the insult around.
"Yoda, when we get to the warehouse stay behind me." Moth instructed as they set out towards the warehouse.
The trip wasn't far but seemed long since all three had felt it was a trap. Gaetan insisted on taking the lead so Moth backed off. He knew it would make Gaetan feel safer and he would take care of himself and Yoda. Gaetan tried the door and they were surprised the door was unlocked but the door where Tanel had been found was also unlocked. 'It's as if he knows he has nothing to worry about.' Moth thought. The hair on Moth's arms stood up as they went in lightsabers ignited.
The warehouse was dark the only light coming in was from the dirty windows around the top of the walls. Piles of boxes and debris from former occupants filled the side towards the door so they wouldn't be able to see around the main room. Gaetan motioned he would go to the right and Moth would go to the left. Both followed the wall around the outside of the pile knowing they were being herded like cattle, but there was a faint noise coming from a large clearing on the other side of the warehouse. Gaetan got there first and saw it was Ivo banging his foot on the empty crates pushed together to be used as a bed, Jolyon was on two empty crates nearby. Gaetan disengaged his lightsaber and ran over to Ivo, just then a dart hit his chest, he pulled it out and said. "Moth wat…" Then slumped over Ivo's legs.
Moth had held back watching the dark corners and rafters for someone, an almost familiar presence… Then he saw a movement as a black robed form Force floated down from the rafters and landed softly almost quietly on the floor. Moth knew that float, that form, a Jedi gone dark long ago but he was dead. Killed when a shield generator overloaded. Moth knew, because he had overloaded it himself and watched to make sure the Dark Jedi hadn't gotten off the ship. Yet, here he was his own Master, Fane.
"So this is why you are going after Padawans. Frying my brain and killing me in effigy." Moth said in disbelief.
"Not many Padawans get knighted for killing their Master. I hear you rescued Nyla." He vented his pent up anger.
"You thought I would be the one to stay on Lidio. You should have known I would go rescue my Padawan." Moth reasoned out his scheme.
"I was told that green 'thing' was your Padawan, no one knows what 'it' is." He sneered.
"Yes." Moth said turning to see Yoda was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Fane circled around as they talked, toward where Moth had come in, closing off Moth's route of escape at least symbolically if not literally. Moth kept his lightsaber lit and his eyes on Fane. "How did you escape?" Moth asked.
"I was in an air-tight compartment and managed to hold on until the scavengers arrived to salvage what little was left of the ship. They were surprised to see me alive; it was the last thing they ever saw. Where is your little friend?" He asked hoping to worry Moth.
"He has a mind of his own. He hasn't learned to obey orders, yet." Moth replied.
"Like his Master." Fane sneered.
"I don't obey orders to kill innocent people especially other Padawans." Moth said proudly. "That is why I became a Healer, to be as different as possible from you. Fane."
"Don't call me that, I am now Darth Menace. I heard you go around fixing the weak and infirmed. Not using your lightsaber as it was intended 'to kill'." Darth Menace savored the last words.
"The lightsaber is a tool like any other, it can be used for good or bad, you chose bad.
I choose to do good, why would anyone choose any other." Moth said knowing he would get a reaction out of that.
"Power, Pure unadulterated, power, surging through you like getting hold of the hyperdrive energy coil, invigorating every cell in your body, assisting every thing you do." Darth Menace gloated.
"Everything evil. I prefer the calm harmony of the Jedi, the good that can help people." Moth said calming himself.
"The needy always need more, never having sense enough to help themselves. They go from one disaster to another, never learning, never growing." He said maliciously.
"Only because people like you are always plotting against them." Moth answered back.
"And you are always trying to save them. When I get through with the Jedi there won't be anyone to save them ever again and I will be all-powerful. Come out little one and see your Master, one last time before he becomes an adult infant drooling on his tunic." Darth Menace called sarcastically as if talking to a young child.
Just then there was a loud crash that seemed to go on forever. Moth and Darth Menace both turned in unison neither could believe someone so small could create so much noise. As Darth Menace turned Yoda used the Force to keep the dart-gun from turning and when Menace's arm came in its path he Force fired it, much to Menace and Moth's surprise.
"Smart little fel…low…"He said as he slumped to the floor.
Moth walked cautiously over and took the dart-gun from Menace's hand, reloaded it with darts kept in the handle and fired it into Menace's chest, reloaded and fired again. "If two will fry your brain let's see what three will do for you." Moth said determined to end this here and now. He placed the dart-gun in the pocket of his robe, walked over to Ivo and gave him an injection of the antidote then to Jolyon and gave him one. 'I don't have another with me but Gaetan will be all right until I get him back to the ship.' Moth thought. "Yoda, where are you?" He called out.
"Right behind you, I am." Yoda said.
Moth almost cleared the floor. "Don't do that!" Moth gasped.
"Obey, I did. Stayed behind you, as ordered. Thought I was a sprout, he did. Showed him." Yoda said smugly.
"I need you to stay here and watch Jolyon and Gaetan while I take Ivo back to the ship. Then I will come back for the others. Here is a blaster if he moves or even groans shoot him, don't take any chances. He has been declared dead before." Moth instructed Yoda as he tied Menace up with a piece of rope he found in a nearby crate. He didn't want to leave his Padawan alone but couldn't carry all three of the patients at once. "Be careful, my friend."
Yoda smiled at the last words and that Moth was entrusting him with such an important job. He sat on the box beside Jolyon with the blaster in hand, unblinking, watching the Darth drooling on his tunic. 'Thought my Master would be the one to drool, you did.'
Moth took Ivo back to the ship as quickly as possible, placed him in the mini infirmary and gave him an intravenous dose of the antidote, then hurried back for Jolyon. He was glad to see Yoda safely sitting on the boxes next to Jolyon holding Jolyon's lightsaber and the blaster. "Don't cut your head off." Moth said, it was a running joke between them. When Jolyon was safely back at the ship, with the intravenous antidote started; he went back for Gaetan and Yoda, he was not risking Yoda's safety just to guard the Darth. After Moth medicated Gaetan with the antidote he went back to get his prisoner.
He hated going back this time there was a feeling of danger that he hadn't felt before. 'Maybe I was just worried about Yoda and didn't think about it before.' When he got back around the debris he saw the ropes laying on the floor and no Darth Menace. 'This isn't good. It's impossible. He had three doses of the drug, there should be no way for him to get loose much less get out of here.' Moth ignited his lightsaber and checked around the warehouse in case he hadn't gone far but there was no Fan… Menace to be found.
Moth hurried back to the ship, he had been lured away once recently and was now concerned for his friends. Yoda met him at the ramp, relieved to see his Master back. "Concerned, I was. Danger, I felt." Yoda said.
"I felt it also. Darth Menace was gone when I got there." Moth explained.
"Three doses he got, two fry brain, three kill, How escape?" Yoda asked.
"I don't see how he could have survived three doses of that drug and walked away, but he must have. Unless…. I don't even want to go there." Moth shuttered.
"Back to Coruscant, we need to get our patients." Yoda said what Moth was dreading to say.
"Yes, time to face the Council." Moth said this doesn't get easier with time, he always felt like he was a Padawan who had just killed his Master when he went before the Council and now he had again, at least tried to kill his former Master.
Moth set coarse for Coruscant while Yoda bathed the patients and dressed them in clean nightshirts. Then Moth came back to check on Yoda's progress. He said. "I made a preliminary report about Fane being alive and now being Darth Menace and that he escaped. I don't know what would have been harder to tell them that I killed him again or that I let him escape."
"Hard it must have been on you, to have to kill your Master. Brave thing, you did." Yoda comforted his Master. "Explains why you do not want to injure others. Bad example you had. Very bad."
"Think I can convince the Council that the Force made me come to Ruusan to face down Fan…Darth Menace and that's why I disobeyed their orders?" Moth asked. "Probably not."
"Rest you should get. Yoda can handle patients." Yoda said confidently. Moth smiled and nodded then went to his room to rest.
oOo
Moth stood in the Med-center watching as his patients were being cared for by the med-techs and dreaded his next move, to have to report to the Council. It sounded so easy at the time just make sure Nyla was safe and take the consequences later but later always came to soon. He didn't regret his decision just having to explain and hope the Council agreed.
"I'll watch them for you." Nyla said stepping up beside Moth.
"Hi! It's good to see you. Did you have any trouble with the Council when you got here?" Moth asked concerned he had gotten Nyla in trouble.
"No. They said they knew you well enough to know, I didn't have a choice in the matter." She said smiling at Moth's relief that she wasn't in trouble. "Where is Yoda?"
"I have no idea, he disappeared as soon as we got here. I hope he isn't in the potting shed again. That would get me hung for sure."
"Speaking of getting hung, Master Poof called down and asked for you, the Council is waiting on you to make your report." Nyla tried to be as positive as possible.
"See you later for super in my apartment, Yoda's cooking?" Moth asked.
"Yum, yum, can't wait." Nyla said sarcastically. "I have a surprise for you. Tell you then."
oOo
Moth waited outside the Council chambers for what seemed like hours but was only minutes. He wondered what the Council would say about him sending Nyla back instead of coming himself. Then there was the matter of allowing a Sith Lord to escape…
"Master Moth, the Council will see you now." A booming voice interrupted Moth's thoughts.
Moth stood as straight as possible preparing to enter the chamber. 'And where is Yoda?' Moth thought, then he got his answer. As he entered the Council Chambers Moth saw standing beside Master Poof's chair was his Padawan looking proud and tall for his height.
"Master Moth, Yoda has been filling us in on what happened on Corellia and Ruusan. He has informed us how the Force warned you that you were the one to have to deal with the attack on Ruusan. That you were the object of the attacks on Lidio and that others would have continues to be injured if you hadn't faced your former Master. He also informed us that you shot him with his own drug a second and then third time."
"Yoda has been on the holo-link to the officials on Ruusan and has found out that this morning a strange man dressed in black robes was found running around the city park yelling "I am a Sith Lord, I am going to take over the galaxy." He was arrested and died in custody of a seizure soon after being processed. Yoda has arranged for the body to be shipped back here for positive identification but he fits the description of your former Master."
"We usually frown on Masters going against the Councils orders and following their own path but it appears that the Force was guiding you and the Council doesn't argue with the Force. Yoda has informed us that you have taught him that going against the Council's orders is a serious matter and you don't take it lightly. This was encouraging to us since we were concerned about the effect this habit of yours could have on your Padawan."
"Nyla has also informed us that she probably would not have been able to withstand another attack by the drug. So unless you have some other business to discuss with the Council you may go on another assignment or stay here and take care of the latest patients of the Force desensitizing drug." Master Poof announced.
"I would like to remain on Coruscant for a while to assist in the recovery and retraining of the patients. It would also give Yoda time to work on his acrobatic skills. Master Loren is the best at the Ataru Style and he is going to need training from the best in that field. Would you be willing to assist him, Master Loren?" Moth took this opportunity to ask.
"Yes, I would love to assist Yoda. Maybe tomorrow, mid morning in the first sparing room." Master Loren was flattered to be asked to assist in the training of another Master's Padawan, it was unusual to be asked. "I know that the Ataru was not your favorite style. Yoda, see you tomorrow."
"Be there, I will." Yoda said gleefully.
Moth and his Padawan left together. "Well I guess I owe you one for that." Moth said to his beaming Padawan.
"To assist his Master, is a Padawan's job." Yoda said confidently.
"Lets go by the gardening shop and see if they have any new bulbs you might like. Oh! Nyla is coming to dinner and she said she has a surprise." Moth told his friend.
"Good surprise or bad surprise." Yoda asked.
"If it's from Nyla, it's good." Moth assured him.
oOo
A/N: New Reviewer:: Happy Dance :