Leila backed away, staring.
The guards that had moments ago been attacking Xanatos, stopped. Suddenly hands grabbed Leila and the jabber hit her arm. The lightsaber fell from her hand but she didn't cry out. She didn't even flinched. Something slipped around her neck and locked in place.
Xanatos lowered his lightsaber.
Feeling began to return to Leila's arm. She stood calmly, not moving, using the Force to draw the feeling back to her arm. She realized what had happened. It had been a trap. The guards where Xanatos'.
Two guards grabbed Obi Wan and slid a heavy metal collar around his neck.
One of the guards that had been holding onto Leila, let go and went over to Xanatos. He handed him something.
It was a transmitter, Leila saw. To her collar. The collar around her neck was buzzing. Her heart sank. It was a bomb. And Xanatos held the key.
The holographic picture of Yoda was clear before Qui Gon.
Yoda's heavy lidded eyes blinked slowly, making his appear bored. But his long ears twitched. Qui Gon had come to recognize the sign of the Master registering surprise.
"So Xanatos could be planning a great evil, you say," Yoda said. "That you have discovered this is good, Qui Gon. My Padawan, in the way she maybe of this evil. Time for you to react though, it is not."
"But…" began Qui Gon.
"The safety of Bandomeer, you concern it is. The files, you did not read," Yoda pointed out calmly. Far more calmly than he felt.
"I can read Xanatos," said Qui Gon.
"Ah, so certain, are you? Certain you always were about him."
Qui Gon instantly fell silent. In his quiet way, the Master had rebuked him.
"Carefully, you must tred," said Yoda quietly.
"Yes," said Qui Gon, calmer now. "Should I contact Leila?"
"No," said Yoda. "Contact you, she will, when she can."
"Very well," said Qui Gon. He began to sign off, but Yoda held up his hand.
"One last thing I have," he said. "A question it is. Why do you leave Obi Wan in the dark, Qui Gon? He knows not of this, I think. Yet on the same trail he is, only in a different place."
"That's true," Qui Gon admitted. "But there is no need for him to know yet. It places him at risk. I'm keeping him out of danger."
"The apprentice accepts the danger when the Master accepts the apprentice," said Yoda.
"You forget," Qui Gon said coolly. "I did not accept Obi Wan. He is not my apprentice. We are on a planet together. There is a difference."
Yoda nodded. "Trust is the difference. Easier you think, to chance the past than the future."
Qui Gon felt irritated. "That's illogical," he said. "You can't change the past."
"Not logical, yes," said Yoda. "Then why do you think it?" He ended the communication.
"You're a fool to have come, Leila Jinn," said Xanatos.
Leila said nothing.
"I had thought to only take Obi Wan. I saw you…and I didn't want to hurt you. Even though for me to have taken you would have hurt Qui Gon far more than the loss of Obi Wan." Xanatos sighed and shook his head. "I am sorry."
Leila's eyes glittered dangerously. "I'll bet you are." Suddenly, she called her lightsaber to her hand and ignited it all in the same motion. She whirled, killing the two guards behind. She turned and held out her hand.
The transmitter flew out of Xanatos' hand.
"Get him out of here!" snapped Xanatos.
The guards holding Obi Wan, turned and disappeared into the darkness, dragging Obi Wan along with them.
Leila tucked the transmitter into her robes.
Xanatos drew his lightsaber and ignited it. He flipped at Leila.
She met him hard. The violet light from her met sharply with Xanatos's red blade. She had already grasped Vaapad tightly and used it hard against Xanatos. She did not have time to play. Moments later, Xanatos's lightsaber went spinning out of his hand. Leila brought the handle of her lightsaber smashing right to Xanatos' right temple. He sank to the ground in an unconscious heap.
Qui Gon stood and went to the window and looked out unseeingly. As usual, Yoda had made him question himself. Why had he rebuffed Obi Wan's efforts to help? And what if he'd placed the boy in more danger by not warning him about Xanatos?
Leila had made her decision in a spilt second. She could not go after Obi Wan because she did not know where they where taking him. She ran a few steps in the way Xanatos had first appeared. There was a speeder there. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Obi Wan was awake. And knew he was in a bad position. He had been taking into the mines. According to the joke cracking creature named Guerra that was with him, the collar around his neck was a bomb, activated on the mainland. He was in the mines. He took a deep breath. Leila was not with him, that meant she was hopefully going for help. He was a Jedi. He would play along with whatever was happening to him. And he would survive.