Chapter 1 - Trickster

From the very beginning my murder was a set up, a plan which could have easily led to my real death, if I had misjudged the Spider or if MacLeane had not been so efficient with his aide. So what happened that night the Jedi was destroyed? It was not as MacLeane described to Qui-Gon in many ways. The prison was in Bandomeer, that much was true, but I did not go there to free a prisoner, I went there to slay him.

The man who sat alone in a prison cell that night, waiting for justice, was a traitor to the League; upon his capture he had made a confession and was willing to part with names for his own life. Those who join the League know of the risks they must undertake and they know that if it is within my or the League's power to grant, they would not be taken to the executioner's block, they too would be swept away from Naboo and her blood thirsty king. The man in that cell was willing to betray us all and it was my unhappy task to ensure that he was never given the chance to put other League members in danger.

There were other reasons for my judgment. The League is about many things, not least of all is trust; trust that the man who stands at your shoulder will guard it and not betray you to our enemies. Not only had he betrayed us to the King, but also to the Spider; he had been my most dangerous opponent's mole. The Spider himself had not infiltrated the League, a theory that both Qui-Gon and I had considered for a time and of course he had his second accomplice, Travin, in Beli'ay to do his dirty work in my homeland. Neither of these men knew of the other's involvement in the Spider's web, but who was he? Who was the man who had sold his loyalty? It was Bruck Chun. I think some of you may be surprised to know this, as some within the League, and I admit myself for a time, suspected Bruck to be the Spider. However, with all things relating to the Jedi, it was not as simple as that.

Bruck had been loyal enough to begin with, his sense of justice overriding any misgivings he may have had, but one night the Spider came to him and whispered to him secrets I never would have let him know. Obi-Wan Kenobi is the Jedi, he was told and Lord Kenobi had been the man responsible for stealing away Bruck's lover. Bruck knew my name the moment the Spider had spoken, had remembered it from the letters he had received from his lover. But who was his lover that I had stolen? Travin, of course. Those three men plotted against me, had all they needed to destroy the Jedi: not for their king, nor their country, but for revenge.

I often wonder, now that the urgency of the moment has left me, what I would have done if Qui-Gon had betrayed me in the manner that Travin betrayed Bruck. Would I have been capable of forgiving, and indeed, helping the man I perceived as the one responsible for the loss of my beloved? I cannot say. Love can be treacherous and can make the best of us act in ways we never would have dreamed, make us carry out deeds that shame us into our deaths. I like to think though, that I would not have betrayed my own beliefs like Bruck did; after all, I gave up my love for Qui-Gon for my duty, I don't think I could have abandoned my cause for hate.

Bruck's betrayal became known to me fairly quickly. He was not a shrewd or devious man, not like the Spider, or indeed Travin. He was a man spurned on by hate and was used by those more cunning than he. Not too long after his turning an opportunity presented itself for me to silence him. In what I perceive as a fit of guilt, Bruck requested a transfer to Bandomeer and MacLeane granted it. He and I hoped that it was far enough away from the capital to prevent him from doing any real, long lasting harm. Even there he became a danger to us all: he was discovered and imprisoned. When MacLeane received word of Bruck's arrest I am sure he cursed in all seven languages he knows. Our hope of Bruck staying out of trouble was dashed. He left for Bandomeer while also sending word to the Jedi.

The League are everywhere and Bandomeer is no different. The prison warden of where Bruck was held was a member and he sent word to MacLeane as soon as Bruck was brought to him. More than that though, he allowed no other to question him, waiting instead for the arrival of the NIA. MacLeane went to Bandomeer and for an hour listened to Bruck's confession. Bruck spoke at length of the Jedi and the League, of how he was recruited and how the resistance operated. He told MacLeane all this, but never did he mentioned the Spider.

I arrived not long after MacLeane. In the early hours of the morning I met MacLeane and he told me all that had transpired. I listened and knew it was finally time to diverge my plan. It was risky, we both knew it, but our options were narrowing and while Bruck was a pawn, he was not an innocent. We grabbed our chance and took the opportunity.

That night I, too, went to Bruck's cell, but I did not offer him absolution or freedom, I offered him a sword. I told him I was not a man without honour and that I would not murder an unarmed man. He tried to beg me for his life as I spoke, but to no avail. Finally I said that I was not a man as the Spider was. His face paled and he ceased his begging, he realised I knew the full extent of his betrayal. He nodded and held up his sword. I am not the Spider nor am I the man he has painted me as and that night I was not even Lord Kenobi; I was the Jedi and I had a duty.

We fought, not long and not hard. We fought and I won. He died in that cold cell, alone in death, but able to still grasp the last of his honour. Blood seeped from his wound and puddled on the stone floor, running along the mortar channels. MacLeane entered the cell and picked up the body, careful not to smear the blood. He returned moments later a look of dread on his face.

"You must do it," I told him.

"I know," he said. "I never dreamed I'd be the one to do this to you."

"I trust you."

He drew his sword and as quickly and as painlessly as he could he sank the tip into my side, a non-fatal wound, but a severe one nonetheless, one that would deceive the Spider. I held my side as the blood seeped though my fingers. I nodded to MacLeane who left the cell, but remained close by.

I sat in the blood that Bruck had left, now mixed with my own, and scooted back until my back was to the cell wall. I held my sword loosely in my hand and slumped a little, creating the image of a wounded, dying man. I sat like that in the cell and waited for the Spider to come. I did not have to wait long. He stood boldly in the open doorway and finally we were face to face.

"You look surprised to see me," I said, still holding my bleeding side.

"I did not come here for you."

"Yet, here I am," I said, unable to resist my usual bravado.

"Where is Bruck?"

"I came to give him an honourable death," I explained to him, shifting slightly to try and ease the ache in my side. "It seems I underestimated him."

"He beat you?"

I am arrogant enough to be a little irritated at his tone; he did not even sound the slightest bit incredulous, he simply sounded bored.

"He wounded me," I corrected. "Then he fled, I doubt you will find him."

"It does not matter, he was merely a mean to an end." He stepped further into the cell, and as he advanced upon me I made a show of struggling to my feet. "You looked surprised now, Jedi, did you really think I cared for him?"

"You're here aren't you?" I reasoned, gripping my sword tightly, letting him see the challenge in my eyes.

"I did not come to save him Jedi, I came to slay him. Just another victim of the Spider."

"You are without compassion."

"You are hardly in a position to speak of such things to me, but this time I shall prove you right." He drew his sword. "Stand and fight me Jedi, I had not planned our end to be this way. I wanted to destroy you utterly, but I will take what the fates give to me."

"So be it then."

I pushed off from the wall and we stood silently for a moment before he lunged. We fought for barely a few moments, my defence was clumsy and ineffective; his sword nicked me a dozen time before I allowed myself to collapse, in truth I am not sure that by that point I could have defeated him; I was weak and weary.

He approached me slowly.

"You are right, I am without compassion." He sunk his blade into my shoulder and I could not help but cry out. Using my blood he pained his mark upon the wall.

"Dawn is hours away yet, Jedi, I will leave you here to die, slowly bleeding to death and should you survive till morning you will be at the mercy of your enemies." As he left it occurred to me I had not asked him why he hated me so. I think now I realise I did not ask because it did not matter.

As his shadow disappeared into the gloom of the corridor I heard him say one last thing. Out of darkness came the voice of judgment;

"Perhaps you have lost everything, Obi-Wan," he began, and the use of my name was as though death himself looked upon me. "Perhaps my victory is complete after all; you are without Qui-Gon, you are without love, you die alone in the cell of a traitor."

He left me to die and if my most loyal of friends had not been waiting for the Spider to depart, my wounds would have been mortal. You ask me, as does Qui-Gon in his anger, what if the Spider had simply killed me out right? Why did I not destroy him there and then? Because I knew the Spider, I knew he wished to wound me in the worst way, namely the defeat of my pride, and because I needed more time; Amidala needed more time.

MacLeane helped me from the cell and returned with Bruck's body, face disfigured by the blade of a sword and now suitably dressed as the Jedi. The sign of the Spider was written in blood upon the wall, ready to testify the truth of the night's events. MacLeane discovered the Jedi's body the following morning and two stories were told: one to Qui-Gon and one to the King.

In his report, MacLeane concluded that the Spider had interrupted the Jedi in his task of freeing his League member. There was no sign of Bruck and so it was guessed he had fled in the following battle between the two titans. After killing the Jedi, the Spider left his mark in blood, signing the words of the rebellion in the blood of their hero. And so it was that I was dead, and for a time Amidala and Qui-Gon were safe.

I could not have stopped all three men, Travin, Bruck and the Spider, at once and help Amidala too; the web of betrayal was too tightly spun. And with Maul's arrival in Beli'ay, the situation had become increasingly complicated. I am, after all, only one man, not some mythical hero, as some would have you believe. I have no powers and I know no magic. I did what I could to buy the rebellion more time. It worked and now we must all live with the consequences.