Chapter 20: Surprise Meetings

32 BBY

"Siri dearest," came a murmur in her ear, "You're comlink is ringing."

Siri blinked awake and rolled over, glancing over at the naked Alexi Garyn half out of bed, "Hrm...?"

"Considering the caller is labeled 'Old Bastard', I assume it's the old bastard," said Alexi with a laugh, pulling his pants on.

Siri sighed and rolled out of bed herself, reaching over for her comlink, clicked it on, and raised it to her mouth. "Yes Master?"

"I am recalling you to Coruscant, I have a mission for you," came Sidious's voice, "I expect you here within the day. Do not dawdle or you will not like the punishment."

"As you will, Master," she said slowly before clicking off, her eyebrows furrowing, "Something important then if he's pressing in not to be late."

"Well, best be off then," said Alexi with a shooing motion.

"Oh yes, can't let Mighella catch me in your bed," mocked Siri slyly, "Honestly darling, we should try to get her in here with us."

Alexi snorted. "Mighella is immune to my charms unfortunately."

"Well, your charms and good looks are about the only good think you have going for you," mused Siri.

Alexi brought a hand to his chest. "You hurt me. Its like you completely look over all my other talents."

Siri reached for her clothes and began to put them on. "Mmm, maybe, I only really use you for a quick bit of fun these days."

"Well it's not my fault your Master is a stingy old bastard that hardly shares you anymore," huffed Alexi, "Honestly, the Black Sun would love to have you back for even a week."

"What can I say? I am a woman of many talents."

Alexi snuck a sucking kiss on her neck. "I'll say."

Siri purred for a moment before dropping her playfulness. "Is the Scimitar fueled?"

"Mhm," said Alexi, "Did so last night, I put it on your 'tab'."

Siri grinned. "I have a tab?"

"You worked a bit of it off last night," he said nonchalantly, "I'll say you've certainly improved in some regards."

Siri snorted and made for the door. "I'll see you later Lex, give Mighella a hi for me when she gets back from playing babysitter for your Vigos."

Her smile turned into a scowl the moment she was out of the room and stalking down the halls, annoyed that she had been recalled so soon, pulling her hood on and making for her ship. Sidious had gifted her his old ship, the Scimitar, about two years ago. It was... well... there was a reason she lovingly called it her baby. That ship was fast, among other things, and more than capable of putting on the speed she needed to get back to Coruscant in time. Of course, it also came with the responsibility of keeping it safe and secure, she couldn't just abandon it. It made her dance with Master Dooku over the last few years a bit more challenging since she couldn't just jump ship.

She smiled a little. It had been a few months since she had last played with the Jedi Master. It was like playing with fire, one wrong move and she'd be burned (dead). But it was a fun little challenge. Not to mention, she was rather good at learning from experience. He was an excellent teacher of Makashi without realizing it, she didn't bring out her own use of Form II against him, she was saving that for a surprise one day when she eventually won and dragged him before Sidious...

Siri followed the sensation of her master's irritation into the Coruscant compound, down into their meditation room, he had a holoprojector set up.

"...she has disappeared my lord," rang out Nute Gunray's voice, automatically filled Siri with annoyance and disgust, "One Naboo cruiser got past the blockade."

There was a slight growl from Sidious, and Siri could feel his rage. "I want that treaty signed."

"My lord, it's impossible to locate the ship, its out of our range," said Gunray.

Siri felt a prod through the Force, and stepped forward to stand behind him, smiling icily at Gunray as Sidious spoke, "Not for the Sith."

Gunray went rigged through the hologram, and Siri purred out, "Hello Gunray, have you been misbehaving again?"

"My apprentice will find your lost ship," said Sidious flatly, "And will take the time spent wasting fixing your mess out of your hide."

Siri grinned. Oh, now she didn't mind having been recalled. It was rare that Sidious actually let her harm his tools. Gunray had really pissed him off this time. The hologram faded with Gunrays terrified face the last thing she saw. "Aww Master, you spoil me."

Sidious didn't spare her charm any attention, rarely did. "Are you aware of the Trade Federation Blockade of Naboo?"

"Vaguely," said Siri, "I assume its your work?"

Sidious nodded. "A seemingly insignificant, yet important move on the chessboard towards the Grand Plan, save that bumbling fool losing the Queen. I need her to sign the treaty, then die a martyrs death."

Siri didn't bother inquiring why, if he saw fit, he'd tell her. He usually left her to her own devices to figure out his motives and plans beyond what was told. "How could he lose a Queen? Surely he wasn't stupid enough to leave her unguarded?"

"Jedi," spat Sidious, "The Chancellor went around the senate to get them involved."

Siri tilted her head in thought, a slow smile spreading across her face. "If he's called out on that, it could put his position at risk."

"I have something... else in mind for removing Valorum," said Sidious, "Focus on your mission and be ready to leave."

"It will be done. How do we plan to track her?"

"I'll engineer a transmission to be sent to her ship after the registry is checked for its identification," said Sidious, "Be ready with a trace..."

Less then a day later, they had their answer, and were making their way towards the Scimitar. "I can't say I've ever had the displeasure of going to Tatooine."

Sidious turned his head towards her. "It is a desert planet, a worthless ball of sand the Hutts rule over. Scarcely populated with slaves, hostile natives, and farmers."

Siri nodded. "Only a few settlements I assume, it shouldn't take long to find the queen."

"Move against the Jedi first, you will then have no difficulty in taking the Queen to Naboo to sign the treaty," said Sidious.

Siri resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Obviously she killed the Jedi first. "As you will, Master."

There was... something in the cruel smile Sidious had on his face that sent a warning twinge off in her head. "These specific Jedi will be a true test for you, my young blue-eyed apprentice, perhaps you may even prove yourself worthy of earning your Sith name if you succeed."

Siri showed no reaction, but there were not-so-subtle implications in what he was saying. "As you say."

"Fail in this, my apprentice, and you will wish you had never been born," said Sidious in a warning tone, "I have been building for this opportunity, both with the Grand Plan, and with you, for some time. That both your test and this mission come up at once is... a boon. Do not fail me."

Sidious walked with her all the way to the Scimitar, and Siri felt his eyes on her long after she had closed the ramp and took the ship into the air. If this was a test to be worthy of her Sith name, then it was a Sacrifice. She made a brief, mental list of her former friends in the temple, wondering who it would be that she was to kill this time. Garen had been the last...

There was a slight twang of grief, but she smothered it almost instantly. She'd do her duty as a Sith Apprentice and kill whoever it was. Garen had hardly been the last Jedi she had killed since that failed Sacrifice...

"So, where are we off to this time?"

Siri didn't jump, she did not! She turned to see Zannah's gatekeeper leaning over her shoulder. "Who let you out of your hole?"

"Come now Siri darling," said Zannah with a pout, "Surely you're still not mad about me springing up during your play time with your boyfriend? I was cheering you on! You've come such a long way since you were a prudish young girl."

Siri scowled. "I'm going to seal your Holocron shut with sorcery if you keep it up."

Zannah grinned. "You'll try, but I'm still the better sorceress, even as a Holocron."

"For now," admitted Siri.

"For a loooooong while," drawled Zannah, "Honestly, you're what, twenty-three? Wait another decade or two before you even entertain the thought of being close to my equal."

"Yeah yeah yeah, you're a self-proclaimed Sorceress goddess, I know," mocked Siri, "We should all bow and grovel before you."

"Mmm, I like the sound of that," purred Zannah.

Siri shifted focus. "Ever been to Tatooine?"

"It's a slave infested rat hole," said Zannah before whining, "Double-suns makes it hot as hell. Got a wicked sunburn the first time I went there, had sand in my robes for weeks!"

"Lovely," muttered Siri.

"Why are we heading there?" questioned Zannah.

"Chasing some queen down," said Siri, shrugging, "Sidious wants her to sign a treaty and be a martyr."

"Queen of what planet?" asked Zannah.

"Naboo."

"Hmm," hummed Zannah, "I wonder..."

Siri rolled her eyes. "Don't tease me, out with it."

Zannah shook her head. "I'm not up-to-date with galactic politics. I can guess what his purpose is in doing this, but I'll wait and see."

"Politics," said Siri with distaste, "Is such a shit-show. I've got enough dirt to bury half the senate if I really wanted to."

Zannah snickered. "Only half?"

"Well, Sidious doesn't give me that much free time to go digging," said Siri slyly, "Its not hard to find if you go snooping. Honestly, I found a band of senators involved in setting up a new a slave ring a little while ago. I don't know why I'm surprised anymore. When I take over and make it an Empire, the senate is the first thing to go, and the Galaxy will cheer me on when I show them just who leads them. I'll be the far better choice..."

"The only choice," she said in a hushed, craving voice.

Zannah grinned. "Its so close Siri, the cumulation of the Grand Plan. I'll finally get to see the Jedi fall, and a Sith Empire rise. I'm jealous that you'll actually get to live that reality. Though... not to be a downer, but, it's probably going to be Sidious's empire for awhile, I doubt you'll be ready to challenge him before the time has come."

Siri groaned. "Major downer Zannah."

Zannah draped a holographic arm over her shoulder. "Ah don't worry, you'll get your chance."

Siri shrugged. "I'll manage. I suppose the chance to kill Jedi will make me feel better after you've so rudely ruined my mood."

Zannah hummed. "Killing Jedi does do wonders for one's mood. How many?"

"Sidious didn't say," said Siri.

"Eh, just more lightsabers to throw in that cell," said Zannah, "Don't know why you don't make a trophy case of your kills instead of dumping them in that room."

"The Jedi are the past," said Siri dismissively, "And that cell is where I leave mine..."

Siri took one step out into the heat of the desert world before turning right around. "Kriff that, where's the probe droids?"

She was not melting to death scouring aimlessly when she had perfectly good droids to do that for her. She didn't know which settlement to check, the droids would do that for her. She signaled them, and watched as the black sphere like machines flew out. They were programmed to recognize Jedi by their lightsabers, robes, actions with the Force, how they interacted with people, and even had a collection of their faces programmed in. She had also taken the time to apply facial recognition for one Queen Amidala into them, as well as her current guard captain. She watched them go before pulling up her datapad again.

"Padme Amidala huh?" murmured Siri, scrolling down the datapad, "Public name, actual last name Naberre. Has a tendency to go incognito as a handmaiden. Hmm... I'll have to refrain from killing them until I can identify which one is actually the queen, no doubt she has a decoy in her place at the moment."

She studied more of the young woman... girl's history. Honestly, queen at fourteen? She had to look up Naboo's politics sometime, because that was weird. She gave her a brief pass, decided she liked the girl's policies since taking the throne, and her public stance before doing so. Siri would give her a quick death then, when the time came, rather than slow and painful one. She turned her focus to Naboo itself, and to the Trade Federation, trying to figure why this was important to Sidious's plans. The blockade was in protest to some taxation law over trade routes. It was all straightforward at first glance, but nothing ever truly was with Sidious. She knew Sidious had a hand in the laws, as well as the Eriadu Trade Summit where he had most of Gunray's remaining rivals eliminated.

Sidious had set this up, so the question was: What benefit did it serve the Sith?

She pondered that for awhile, before deciding she'd have to wait and see. She switched her research to Tatooine, figuring her coordinates on the planet and then taking inventory of the surrounding settlements and news. Apparently Jabba the Hutt was in for an upcoming race, the Boonta Eve Classic. Podracing eh? She had seen a race on Malastare once. Fast, dangerous, and filled with death and explosions. Her kind of entertainment. If she couldn't watch it, she figured she'd record it. There was nothing quite like watching people die for a stupidly dangerous sport. Better than slave gladiator arenas to be sure, Sidious sent her to those a few times to check for Force Sensitives or Jedi that might have been caught. He enjoyed buying and toying with them when the chance rose, or threw her a bone and let her have them.

Siri settled into a light meditation as the night dragged on, preparing herself to face Jedi, drawing her emotions to her. The Force whispered dark murmurs into her ear. Of power and promise, of opportunity, to truly claim the Dark Side for her own if she but had the will to reach out and take it. Sever the past, and be free to claim the future. Brief flashes of green and blue lightsabers clashing with her own filled her view, but were blurry. Visions had never been her strong suite, they were either rare, blurry, or came in a flash torrent that she could hardly make sense of. Zannah said there were rituals to force visions, but she hadn't revealed that to her yet...

She paused, eyebrows furrowed, when a bright light disrupted her meditation. She passed her senses over the landscape and felt...

She flinched and broke out of her meditation, feeling an immense whiplash. What in the... it was like she had just stared into a sun through the Force. She hissed a bit under her breath, blinking a few times. What had that been? For a moment... she had felt something, someone, with immense power, immense potential. She frowned a little, was this the Jedi? No... the brief flash she had was... untrained, unfocused. There was a... stirring in the Force, a note of anticipation, a ripple in the waters, that set Siri on edge. There was more going on here then hunting down a missing queen and Jedi. That was for sure.

She made a mental note to come back to Tatooine after she was done with this mission if she couldn't figure it out during her time here now. That kind of power demanded investigation. She rose to her feet and made for her bunk, determined to get some sleep with what little of the night remained, and as she laid in bed, dozing, the Force whispered quietly to her one final warning:

That her life was about to change drastically, one way or another...

Siri waited impatiently as her probe droids fed her back information. No concrete sightings yet, though there were three potential matches in Mos Espa. Curious. Three was an odd number. Generally Jedi went out either alone, or in pairs. She flicked through the information. She didn't recognize the name Aayla Secura, but the next Jedi on the list made her eyebrows shoot up and a grin stretch across her face.

"Quinlan Vos," she purred with surprised delight, flipping past the notification of the third jedi without a glance or a care, "Well well well, the Kiffar himself is here, this should be entertaining. He was always a blast to spar with."

Not to mention she hadn't been as close to him as she had with Garen. She didn't see a problem killing him. This was hardly a test.

She did briefly note that the droids saw no interaction between the first two, and the third Jedi, perhaps there were two separate missions on Tatooine then? Or maybe they were splitting up to keep attention away. Taking a queen to this Hutt infested wasteland was a questionable move. She'd be a valuable hostage. Hmm... she'd stay her hand for now. She ordered her droids to keep watching and try to determine if the queen was with the Jedi, or on their ship wherever it was. Killing the Jedi but scaring the queen offworld would be unfortunate after all.

It also gave her a chance to watch the Boonta Eve she quietly admitted to herself...

...and a few hours later, she settled into her bunk lazily, levitating her datapad overhead with a live feed to the podrace. She hummed to herself as she watched the racers set themselves up. "Hey Zannah, wanna watch a podrace?"

When no response came, Siri pressed out with her senses. Ah, the Holocron was off, Zannah was sleeping. Spoil sport. Oh well, her loss. Siri waited patiently for it to start, and then snickered when one of the racers stalled at the start. "Poor poor... uh whose is that listed as... Skywalker..."

The Force rippled when the name slipped through her lips, and she frowned, squinting at the live feed. She couldn't get a good shot of the racer in his pod. She checked the races registry, and came across a nine year old boy, Anakin Skywalker, a slave owned to a Toydarian named Watto. The Force was... for a lack of a better term, excited about the boy. She wondered... was he what she had felt last night during her meditation? She focused the live feed on him and decided to trail him as he finally took off.

It only took her a minute to recognize that he had to be Force Sensitive. He was instinctively reacting and maneuvering around dangers that no normal human, especially a young boy. She was actually rather impressed, she wasn't sure most initiates his age, or even padawans not nearing their senior years, could handle what he was doing. Siri rubbed her chin in thought, toying with her options. If he was truly what she had felt last night... well... she was to young to consider him as her own potential apprentice. Perhaps if she left him here and came back in a decade or two it might be an option, but... that left a dangerous risk of Sidious finding him. And that potential... her Master would kill her and take the boy in a heartbeat.

Siri continued to watch the race, growing steadily impressed with how the boy reacted under pressure. When his pod disconnected from one of its engines and the cockpit started spinning wildly, he merely reached out with a magnet and drew the cord back to him, reconnecting it. Not hesitating to challenge the lead racer. When he was forced off the racecourse and used it to take the lead. When his pod started smoking and he lost the lead, but quickly fixed it and took off again. And finally, when he tangoed with a pod much bigger than his own, locking them together, and then pulling away in such a manner his opponents pod fell apart, giving him the win.

Siri grinned to herself. "Nice moves little Skywalker."

He'd make a fine apprentice in a few decades; she severely doubted she'd find anyone else with the kind of potential she felt from him. She licked her lips slowly in anticipation; she couldn't wait to mold that power and make it her own. Still, that was in the future, she had a mission to do now. She got up from her bunk and flicked the race off, getting her speeder off the ship and ready. She leaned on it, waiting for any further communication from her probe droids. Her droid pinged some time later, following the third Jedi, who apparently had the queen, locating her ship, they were bringing parts to it. Siri tensed, she was on a timetable then. She had to get to the ship before it took off and...

The third Jedi was apparently heading back, away from the ship?

Siri frowned and resettled. They wouldn't abandon their Jedi here. She was relatively curious who it was, since it appeared Vos wasn't her target's guardian. She didn't waste time however scrolling back through her probe droids feed. Some time later, the droid pinged, the Jedi was returning to the queen's ship, with a boy in tow.

And Siri's eyes went wide. "Kriff!"

She leaped on her speeder and took off. Stupid, the Jedi would have had to have been blind not to detect Skywalker's presence. They were going to take him to the Temple! Forget Sidious, if the Jedi got the boy...

Well, she had to nip that in the bud. He was no longer a potential apprentice, just a future threat. Kill the boy first, then the Jedi, then capture the Queen.

She took off across the desert, homing in on the location her probe droid fed to her, and squinted, spotting two figures making for a silvery shape in the distance. She pitied the boy briefly, but she had to kill him. If the Jedi got him, he'd be a threat. If Sidious got him... well... she wouldn't wish his training on anyone. Siri would be tossed aside, and Skywalker would know hell unlike anything he had ever experienced, even as a slave.

It was better for him, to die now; if he knew what awaited him, he'd thank her for the mercy killing.

She aimed her speeder directly at him as she closed the distance, gunning the engine. Both the boy and the Jedi turned. Siri leaped off her speeder...

And cursed when Anakin dodged to the side. She rushed him, igniting one end of her lightsaber, and brought it down, only for a green one to intercept hers, a somewhat familiar voice yelling, "Go! Tell them to take off."

Siri growled under her breath as the boy broke away, and shifted her focus to the Jedi, pulling her lightsaber back and readying herself to...

Her eyes went wide, she knew this Jedi, and it was like a jolt through her system. "Qui-Gon Jinn?"

The man in question had readied himself, entering an Ataru opening stance, but paused, eyebrows furrowed. "That voice..."

He threw a hand forward suddenly, and in that moment of Siri's guard being down, did what Dooku had never managed to do in all their meetings thus far. Rather than using the Force to throw her back, he sent the energy at her hood, blowing it backwards and off her face... and then stared at her silently. It took only a moment for recognition to flare through his face, and something flashed through his eyes, shock and surprise, turning into regret and grief.

"Siri Tachi."

She lunged at him, furious that she had been revealed, Jinn had to die. He backpedaled and spun, catching her blow and redirecting it to the ground before countering. She pivoted, letting his saber crash down and eat sand. She swung at his shoulder, but he ducked down and threw an elbow forward, slamming into her and throwing her back. She ungracefully flopped to the ground, eyeing the Queen's ship briefly as it took off and started flying low towards them, ramp still down. Yeah no, she wasn't letting him jump on.

She rose to her feet as Jinn turned to go, he leaped... and she yanked him back down with the Force. She rushed at him as he landed on his back, raising her lightsaber high and bringing it down. He rolled away and jumped up, lightsaber brandished and ready. She rushed forward in a flurry, lightsaber swinging down at an angle. He deflected and countered, aiming for a shoulder, she backstepped and caught the blade, shoving it off and riposting, stabbing for his chest. He jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the stab...

"Master!" came a loud cry.

And Siri completely froze up for a moment, her eyes going wide, a shock ripped through her. T-hat voice...

She took a step back and glanced upward, at a young man in a Jedi tunic grabbing part of the ramp and leaning downward, hand extended. That red hair... those stormcloud gray-blue eyes... that... that was...

Then her sight was blocked as Qui-Gon leaped up and the young man caught him, pulling him up and into the ship. He took inventory of his master, and then his eyes flashed downward to Siri... and went wide with shock and surprise. He instantly recognized her, not even a moment of hesitation.

For the first time in close to a decade, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Siri Tachi locked eyes.

And then the ship's ramp closed and took off.

Siri stood there silently, watching it go, tasting the Force, the shock, the surprise...

The happiness...

Obi-Wan had felt happy to see her, then the confusion had been building, then they were to far away to get a read on.

Siri struggled with herself for a very long moment before she whispered his name softly, "Obi-Wan..."

Slowly, she pulled her hood back up and made her way for her crashed speeder, inspecting it for damage. She righted it, climbed aboard, and took off back to her own ship in complete silence, her mind a whirlwind of emotions she had thought she put behind her years ago...

Obi-Wan Kenobi stood on the closed ramp to the Queen's starship silently, his head still tilted downward at an angle towards where he had seen...

"Siri," he whispered softly.

Siri Tachi...

She was alive, Siri was alive! And how she had grown. Taller, more developed, her skin had paled a bit from what he had seen at that height. Her hair longer, and her blue eyes...

They had been cold, deathly cold, at least until their eyes met and then... there was something in them. Warring within. He'd have to have been Force deaf to not have felt that sudden burst of conflicting emotions rip from her. He registered, slowly, that she had been dressed in dark robes, that she had been trying to kill his master, and that he had felt the Dark Side so deeply from her...

Then his legs buckled.

Qui-Gon caught him. "Shh Obi-Wan, shh."

"That was Siri," he rasped out.

"I know padawan mine," said Qui-Gon softly, "I know."

"She's alive."

"I know," said Qui-Gon, sighing, "I think... that we've discovered who the 'Iris' Dooku has been hunting is."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes tightly, pained. If that was true... if Siri was Iris...

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Very creative Siri, spelling your name backwards, Force, I should have recognized that."

Qui-Gon didn't comment.

Obi-Wan struggled to control his emotions. Siri was Iris, the young Jedi Padawan whose memory he had cherished and held onto had been turned into a cold blooded killer. Had killed civilians, killed Jedi... killed Garen. Oh Siri...

Grief threatened to overwhelm him. That's why Siri had sobbed over killing him, she had been forced to kill a friend...

"We left her to this," rasped Obi-Wan, opening his eyes, "We didn't investigate her supposed death, just assumed what we had felt was what happened, we left her to be turned... turned into this."

A new voice, young, timid, and afraid spoke up, "Y-you know who that was? W-why she tried to kill me?"

Obi-Wan turned, spotting the young sand-dusted boy he had briefly ran past earlier, and was horrified. "She tried to kill you?"

"She went for him first," said Qui-Gon softly, "Though I suspect she was here for the Queen.

Obi-Wan parted from Qui-Gon and leaned against the bulkhead, eyes closing again, struggling with himself. Siri was a childkiller now too?

"Who was she?" asked the boy.

"Anakin...," said Qui-Gon slowly, "That was... an old friend we thought had died years ago."

"Friend?" asked Anakin, incredulous.

Obi-Wan had a brief moment of being angry at the boy, but forced it under control. Anakin didn't know better.

"She was a former Jedi we thought had been killed on a mission years ago," said Qui-Gon.

"What...? She was a Jedi? But Jedi don't...," began Anakin.

Obi-Wan turned his head and opened his eyes, watching Qui-Gon move to kneel down in front of Anakin. "She fell to the Dark Side, Anakin."

"What does that mean?"

"It means she... went bad I suppose is how I'd say it," explained Qui-Gon, "She became fallen, a Dark Jedi, and when a Jedi goes dark, they are capable of truly terrible things."

"I didn't think Jedi could go bad," murmured Anakin before squinting, "You're upset about it, and he's really upset about it."

Qui-Gon smiled sadly. "This is my padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. He and Siri... knew eachother well. Her supposed death had grieved him, badly. In some ways, I imagine this is worse than her being dead."

Obi-Wan's lips thinned, but he didn't respond.

Anakin frowned, turning to Obi-Wan. "If you knew her, do you know why she would have went bad?"

Obi-Wan sighed softly, thinking back to that fateful mission. "We... knew she had fallen, before she supossedly died. I believe it was because her Jedi Master, Adi Gallia, had been murdered... oh Force Qui-Gon, we're going to have to tell the Council we lied."

Qui-Gon nodded, an air of resignation about him. "Yes, we will."

"You lied?" asked Anakin, confused.

"When a Jedi falls to the Dark Side," said Obi-Wan, "Their reputation is... destroyed really, dragged through the mud. I thought she was dead, I wanted her remembered fondly, not with disdain. So we lied, and only said she had died."

Anakin, surprisingly seemed to accept that. "Okay, that makes sense. I've lied to protect my friends before."

Obi-Wan let a wry smile cross his lips. "Don't let the Council hear you say that young one."

Anakin grinned sheepishly before it went away. "So she went bad because someone she cared about died... but how'd she end up like this then? It can't happen just like that, can it?"

Obi-Wan looked away, and Qui-Gon took pity on him. "One of our more esteemed Jedi Masters has been chasing a Dark Jedi for some time now, who went by the name of Iris. She had... tried to turn away from this life once, but the one helping her, a retired Jedi named Siolo Ur Manka, died, and she was dragged back into the dark. She had revealed to Ur Manka, and he to the Jedi, that she had been abducted, tortured, and bent to the will of a Dark Master."

Something flickered across Anakin's face. "She's a slave?"

Qui-Gon paused to consider it. "In a manner of speaking, I suppose that would be true. A slave to her Master, and a slave to the Dark Side."

Obi-Wan was... slightly perplexed, to see Anakin's remaining fear, confusion, and anxiety bleed away into an air of perfect understanding about him. "Masters make their slaves do awful things."

Qui-Gon studied him for a moment. "The Dark Side is still a choice Anakin, and choices have consequences. Come, I think we should get you situated, and my Padawan should meditate and get himself under control before we reach Coruscant."

Obi-Wan smiled a little at the reprimand, his emotions were bleeding all over the place after all. "Of course Master."

Anakin's eyes flickered uneasily. "Master?"

"For the Jedi, A master is a rank, a teacher..." explained Qui-Gon as he led the boy out of the room.

Obi-Wan slowly made his way towards his assigned quarters, and settled into a meditative position on the floor. He let out a shaky breath, and replayed that brief moment in his mind again. Seeing Siri for the first time in close to a decade, feeling all those emotions from her...

The conflict.

He wondered, if he could finish what Master Ur Manka had began. If she was truly lost, she wouldn't have felt anything towards him, and wasn't that surprising to feel that she still did. Positively giddy that it had survived through the darkness she had lived through. But... she was more lost now than she had been back then, far more lost. He didn't know if he could pull her from the Dark Side, and even if he could, Qui-Gon was right...

Choices had consequences, even if her mysterious Dark Master had forced it upon her; There would be a reckoning for Siri, one way or another...

That was a problem for later though. They had a few days till Coruscant, then they had to meet with the Council. Then there was still the mission, they had to protect the Queen, and chances were that Siri would still be after her. Before Siri could be helped, if she could at all, they had to capture her first...