Title: The Quandary
Author: BaBaKaNuSh13
Category: Action (an adequate amount, anyway), Angst, AU (Age 13) (If only '13' started with 'A', too!)
Summary: AU to the ending of Jedi Apprentice: The Dark Rival. Qui-Gon didn't take Obi-Wan as his apprentice after the incident in the mine, and the young Jedi is faced with the task of trying to stay alive as another prospective master takes an interest in him.
Rating: PG/K+
Spoilers: Minor ones for the JA books
Archive: Yes, of course! That is, if anyone would want it. Just please email me first.
Disclaimer: The Star Wars universe belongs to George Lucas. I'm not making any money out of this, so please don't sue.

A/N: G'day! I've decided to say thank you to all the wonderful Aussies out there, so this chapter is dedicated to that beautiful country of ours. Anyway, enough of that – don't mind me, I didn't have one wink of sleep last night because it was so hot here.

Enjoy

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Chapter 5

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Qui-Gon Jinn sat up in his chair with a stifled gasp, the faint echo of pain pulsing in his side and at his temples. He reached up to rub his forehead confusedly. It wasn't his own pain … no, another Jedi's.

Qui-Gon's brow furrowed.

Whose?

"Master Jinn? Are you alright?"

Qui-Gon didn't hear the question, and reached out to the Force to felt the faint beginnings of a bond in the back of his mind. He'd refused to acknowledge it until now, but he couldn't ignore it anymore. It was positively rippling in distress. He reached out to gain a sense of it, and felt only a dark void at the other end.

The Jedi Master immediately grabbed for his commlink.

"Master Jinn?"

Qui-Gon snapped back to attention. Newly appointed King Sandrobar was watching him, large bulbous eyes lined with concern.

"I am sorry, your highness, but I must make an urgent call."

"Certainly, Master Jinn. Are you alright, though? It looked like you left us there for a minute."

Qui-Gon nodded and forced a slight smile, ignoring the second comment. "I assure you that I am quite well, your Highness. Thankyou," he said, bowing before leaving the room as quickly as was appropriate.

Without thinking, Qui-Gon adjusted the frequency of his comm to send a message to Obi-Wan as soon as he'd left the room. After several minutes, the boy had still not replied.

That was strange for Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon thought, he usually did so straight away.

Qui-Gon called his commlink. No answer.

Qui-Gon's brow furrowing in slight worry now. How could the boy attract trouble so easily? It had only been a little over a week ago since he'd been kidnapped and forced into slavery on a deep-sea mine, and now he'd gotten into some other dangerous situation, Qui-Gon was sure of it. He patched a call to the Temple.

"Jedi Temple, Coruscant. How may I help you?" A young female voice came through, all too cheerful for the extremely early hour that it would be on Coruscant.

"This is Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Please connect me to Master Yoda. It's urgent."

There was a pause. "Hold on a moment, please."

"Master Qui-Gon," Yoda answered. "How be you, hmmm?"

"Have you heard from Obi-Wan, Master?"

A moment of silence stretched out between them, and he could imagine Yoda closing his eyes and reaching out to the Force. "Heard from him, I have not, but sense he is in danger, I do."

"Yes, Master, as do I. I cannot contact him and …" Qui-Gon paused, hesitant to admit he had any sort of connection with the boy. "…and I can only feel pain from him."

There was another pause. "Go to him, you shall."

"But Master, surely there is someone closer … my mission here on Riskala–"

"Wait, it can. Jedi as close to Bandomeer and know Obi-Wan as you do, there are none."

Qui-Gon bristled at Yoda's acknowledgement of their bond. He didn't want it, but now knew that Yoda would make his life impossible trying to convince Qui-Gon that it was the will of the Force that Obi-Wan become his Padawan. He held back a sigh of frustration. Somehow life had become infinitely more complicated since he'd met the boy.

"Sense you must go to him, I do. In grave danger, he is," Yoda added in his gravelly voice.

Qui-Gon bowed his head in reluctant compliance.

"Yes, Master." He signed off the connection and stood up, walking out of his lavish guest quarters to request a fast transport to Bandomeer.

As much as he worried for the boy's safety, Qui-Gon dreaded having to face those poignant eyes again and feel his resentful guilt as the result of them.

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Obi-Wan opened his bleary eyes groggily, but was met only with the crisp, faint light of very early morning, so that he could just make out his surroundings. Not that there was much to see. He was tied up in the back of a land speeder, which was travelling fast enough to create billowing clouds of red dust in its wake.

He wriggled in his bonds, the cuffs around his wrists and ankles rubbing irritatingly against his skin. Using the Force, Obi-Wan tried to find a catch or seam which would unlock them, but, as he'd expected, could find no trace of any. Frustration welled up inside of him, but he closed his eyes and worked to release the feeling. It would not help him.

Giving up on the cuffs for the moment, Obi-Wan twisted to look to the front of a speeder, but had to stop, wincing in pain as the blaster wound in his side pulled against the movement. He calmed his erratic breathing and glanced down to see a large expanse of clean, white bandage covering a bacta strip over the wound. He stared at it in surprise for a moment. Someone had tended to him.

Shaking his head slowly, carefully aware of the large, painful lump on the side of his head from Xanatos' cruel kick, Obi-Wan glanced warily toward the front of the speeder. There were two whipids piloting it, but no sign of Xanatos. That could only be a good sign.

One of the whipids glanced back to check on Obi-Wan, but the young Jedi wasn't quick enough to feign unconsciousness, and the creature gave a growl of surprise to find him awake. He reached for his electro-jabber.

Getting ready to jump out of the speeder, Obi-Wan noticed a flash of metal with the whipid's movement and, acting quickly, Obi-Wan grabbed his lightsabre off the whipid's belt with his bound hands. He pushed off from the seat, to tumble over the side of the moving craft, rolling several times to lessen his impact with the hard ground. Nevertheless, it still stole the breath out of Obi-Wan, and he was sure he'd have a few impressive bruises to show for it.

The speeder continued on its path for several moments, before turning sharply about and heading back toward him at top speed. The whipid in the passenger seat hung over the side, gripping the electro-jabber in his furry paws. Quickly flipping his lightsabre around in his hands so that he could hold it properly, Obi-Wan ignited the blade and swiped at his bound ankles in one swift movement. He jumped to his feet and stood, waiting for the speeder to reach him, taking deep breaths as he did so.

As he had done with Xanatos, Obi-Wan fell and rolled onto his back fluidly just before the speeder hit him, sliding under the belly of the machine, though he knew better than to try and gut this much larger land speeder. It passed over the top of him, and Obi-Wan rolled to his knees. It continued on, as before, and swerved around once the whipids realised that he was behind them.

Unable to get enough leverage to cut through the binders on his wrists, Obi-Wan quickly placed the lightsabre between his knees and activated the red power button with a controlled burst of the Force. He effectively cut through the wrist cuffs and leapt to his feet, ready to face the speeder once again.

Obi-Wan counted down the seconds in his mind. He had to get the timing right for this, or else it could only be disaster for him. Just as the speeder reached Obi-Wan, and he could see the enraged scowls on the whipids' faces, he flipped forward, as high as he could go, with an added push of the Force as he left the ground. He slowed his jump, seeming almost to pause in mid-air, so that by the time he landed the speeder had passed beneath him.

In the moment he had before the whipids would be on top of him again, Obi-Wan glanced around and noticed a hill nearby, and raced up it before the speeder had time to turn around.

In a few seconds, it was after him, chasing him up the steep slope. He glanced over his shoulder to see the dark, hunt-mongering eyes of the whipids, intently following his every move. Obi-Wan would have trouble losing them in this open space, and hoped for some sort of respite on the other side of the hill.

A moment's warning was all Obi-Wan had, before he quickly skidded to a halt and watched in horrified fascination as a few pieces of the cliff's edge broke off from under his feet, and tumbled all the way down to the sea far below. He couldn't even hear them hit the water's surface.

Obi-Wan scrabbled backwards, lest he follow suit.

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Oh, a cliffie!

Literally.

Oh, aren't I so funny? I just crack myself up. (if you couldn't tell by the curves of the letters there, and Force forbid you shouldn't, I was being sarcastic.)

I am so lame.

Anyway, please review and tell me how lame I am, if nothing else ;D.

Catcha later, I'm going to go chuck a snag on the barbie. No, really, I am. I was going to say 'shrimp,' but that would just be lying. BTW, if anyone knows how Aussies got coined with the phrase 'go chuck a shrimp on the barbie,' please tell me! I've never ever heard of anyone cooking a shrimp on the barbeque. That's just plain crazy, and not even the typical AFL footy-playing, meat pie eating, beer drinking, average Australian's typical diet, is it? Sorry, I've just been wondering about that for years – it's driving me crazy! (Just in case you couldn't tell.)

BaBaKaNuSh13