AN: Updating may be quite a bit slower now that I'm running on no pre-established canon. World crafting isn't easy. But this part is my faaaaaavorite...

Chapter 9: Investigating the Dark

Kenobi sat in the library with a huge bowl of stew and a datapad, pouring over the compiled information that the Jedi had collected. It wasn't much at all, unfortunately, but it was enough to have an idea of where to really start. He shoveled a spoonful of stew into his mouth, groaning appreciatively as three days worth of hunger slowly began to fade. He was going to need more stew, though.

He looked up from the bowl and the datapad as Quinlan Vos and his Padawan, Aayla Secura, entered the library and approached him. "I heard you needed me, Padawan!" Quinlan said loudly, laughter in his voice, and Aayla gently touched his arm. "Master, Obi-Wan is a Knight now. You know that."

Vos sighed. "You're taking all the fun out of teasing him, Padawan."

"Apologies, Master." The Twi'lek pushed past her Master to stand next to Kenobi. "Congratulations, Obi-Wan. If anyone deserved to be knighted, it's you."

"You are next, I'm sure of it."

"I hope so!" she said in her slight accent, laughter touching her voice. "Will you be celebrating?"

"No time, I'm afraid," Kenobi said as he held up the datapad and shoveled more stew into his mouth.

"You wouldn't go anyway, Padawan," Vos huffed, crossing his arms. "No doubt Kenobi wouldn't invite me, and if I can't go, you can't go."

"Mm, we'd see about that."

"Anyway!" he said swiftly, shoving his Padawan to the side. "What did you need, Obi?"

The blue eyes narrowed. "Don't call me Obi."

"Why? Don't like nicknames?"

"Only my lovers call me that."

Quinlan laughed loudly, drawing irritated looks from the other occupants of the library, and Aayla looked down at the ground, flushing furiously and her lekku twisting in obvious discomfort. "If only that were true! We could be such good friends!"

"Don't count on it," Kenobi said as he reached across the table and grabbed a large, wooden box, his long fingers tracing the bronze lock. "I heard you were called in on finding out about this Sith Lord."

Vos nodded. "Yeah. They had me look at the lightsabers that were used in the dual. I couldn't really see anything, though. The Dark Side was clouding my ability to see."

Well, that's a relief. "Can you try again?" He opened the latch on the box, revealing the recovered sabers, Obi-Wan's, Qui-Gon's, and the bisected Sith Lord's. Vos' eyes narrowed.

"There's a lot of bad energy around those. The last time wasn't pleasant for me."

"Then I'll thank you twice."

Quinlan groaned, rolled his eyes and laid his hand on the edge of the box. "Which one first, boss?"

Obi-Wan picked up the functioning half of the Sith Lord's blade and held it out to Vos. "We're not going to waste our time with the Jedi sabers. We need to know about the Sith, we won't learn anything from those." And Obi-Wan didn't want Vos touching his again. If his vision was clearer today, he might feel the rage that fueled him, his powerful tether to the Dark Side, and that couldn't be getting out.

"Oh, good. Last time, I could feel the pain of getting stabbed. Not exactly my favorite thing." He held his hand out, and Obi-Wan put the saber in the Master's hand, and Vos closed his eyes. Kenobi watched him closely, observing his face twitch and tense as visions and memories flooded from the weapon into his mind. With a gasp, the Master's eyes shot open, and he dropped the weapon back into the Knight's hand. "Better than the other day, but it's still so clouded. The Dark Side is obscuring everything."

"Did you get nothing?"

Vos shook his head. "I got his name. Maul, he was called. Darth Maul."

"Maul." Obi-Wan grinned. That was much better than he had been expecting. "Thank you, Quinlan. You have been a great help."

"Have I?" the Master purred. "I suppose you should invite me to your celebration, Obi..."

"I suppose I should, yes," Obi-Wan said smoothly, placing the lightsaber back in the box and closing it. "I'll have it tonight."

Quinlan grinned. "I'll be there."

"But I won't." The Knight patted the tattooed cheek. "Lots of work to do."

"You're a cruel son of a bitch, Kenobi!" the Master called, his Padawan laughing hysterically at his expense as Obi-Wan left the library, datapad in hand and the box tucked under his arm. The name did help, but it wasn't enough. He needed to talk to Agen Kolar, a Zabrak Jedi Knight who was just a few years older than Obi-Wan. He could have gone to the Council; one of the Masters there was a Zabrak as well, but Kenobi found it much easier to freely discuss things with his peers. Besides, the Council clearly didn't know anything in regards to the Sith, or there would have been more in the report.

He stopped by his new quarters and deposited the box on his desk, taking out his own lightsaber and clipping it on to his belt. Gripping his datapad, he headed out for the Room of a Thousand Fountains, a peaceful haven at the base of the Temple dedicated to quiet meditation and reflection, and a great deal of the Knights could be found there when they weren't away on missions. Obi-Wan found the Zabrak Jedi at the base of one of the numerous waterfalls in the garden, dark eyes scanning the pages of a book in his hands.

"Agen!" The Zabrak's eyes shot up, softened as they found the fellow Knight.

"Obi-Wan. Congratulations on your knighthood."

"Word certainly travels fast."

"You know how we talk. And many of us assumed that knighting you was the only course of action after what you've done." Obi-Wan sat next to him, datapad in hand and swiftly brought up the files he needed. "What do you need me for?" Agen asked, watching Kenobi's swift fingers bring up a still of the security footage that focused on the Sith Lord.

"The Council put me in charge of hunting down the Sith, and this is all I have to go on." Obi-Wan pointed at the image. "He's a Zabrak."

"I should say so, yes."

Kenobi nodded, cleared the image, and brought up the file on Iridonia, the Zabrak home world. "Can you look this over and make sure all my information is correct?"

Agen looked at the datapad, quickly reading the information on the screen, scrolling down to review the entirety of the document. He nodded when he reached the end of it. "All your information is correct, yes."

"Perfect."

"Your assumption is not."

"...excuse me?"

"You assume this Zabrak is Iridonian." Agen brought up the still of the Sith Lord, looking at it carefully. "That is barely a Zabrak. That is a Nightbrother."

Obi-Wan smiled slowly. "I am so glad I came to you." He cleared the datapad of the information on screen and brought up his notes. "What's a Nightbrother?"

"You were correct that my species hails from Iridonia. However, a very small tribe of Zabrak males live on the planet Dathomir."

Kenobi nodded, jotting down the information. "Is there a difference? How can you tell?"

"I can tell, trust me. These Zabraks are half-breeds, born from unions with the natives of Dathomir, the Nightsisters. They are all dangerous, and they are all Force sensitive."

"All of them?" Agen nodded, and Kenobi wrote that down as well.

"Dathomir is a nexus of Dark Side energy. It's made it's people very powerful."

"So if I'm going to seek out the Sith, I'll need to see these Dathomirians."

The Zabrak shook his head. "No, just the Nightbrothers. Fortunately, they live separate from each other, so you shouldn't have any trouble."

Obi-Wan scoffed. "They segregate their men and women? Why?"

"The males live subserviently to the females. They are really only kept around for breeding purposes. Occasionally, the Nightsisters will stop by the male encampments, take the fittest of the tribe, and leave."

Obi-Wan smirked. "Well, I'd say that would make the males docile, but I know that's not true."

"They are very dangerous, yes, but you'll have better luck talking to the Nightbrothers than the females. If you do end up on Dathomir, Kenobi, I'd advise you to be cautious, and whatever you do, avoid the Nightsisters. They are all Force sensitive, yes, but the females are trained in the Dark Side."

Kenobi nodded, finishing the last of his notes and tucking the datapad into his robe. "You've been invaluable, Agen. Thank you.

The Zabrak stood with the other Knight. "Is that what is next for you? Hunting down the Sith?" Obi-Wan nodded, and Agen smirked. "If you need further help, I would be happy to lend my assistance, Sith Slayer."

"Ha ha, you're very funny."

"What's your next step?"

Kenobi sighed. "I'll put in my proposal to the Council so I can get permission to go to Dathomir. In the meantime, though, I'll have to start researching the planet, and any other planet that the Sith may be hiding on."

"You won't find anything in the Archives," the Zabrak cautioned. "The Council has restricted the information relating to the Sith."

"I know, I've already checked," Kenobi drawled as he turned from his fellow Knight. "That's why I'm going to have a look at the data archives of the Galactic Senate."


The Senate was nearly empty when Obi-Wan arrived mid-afternoon. After a quick look, he confirmed that the Jedi Archives had no information on Dathomir, the Nightbrothers, or the nature of the Dark Side that ruled the planet. The Jedi desire to keep away from the Dark Side of the Force seemed hypocritical to the Knight. After all, the Jedi Code demanded knowledge over ignorance, and the Jedi's own fear of the Dark Side was standing in the way of the Code. Obi-Wan wasn't afraid, though. If he was to continue to control the Dark Side that had crept into him, then he needed knowledge of it. After all, now that he knew it was there, he couldn't simply pretend it wasn't. Dam a river and before long, the torrent would break through. That wouldn't happen to him. He would master his emotions and master the Dark Side that sprang from them.

He had come here once with Qui-Gon when he was a Padawan, but then, he was reporting to the Senate the state of the Mandalorian conflict. He didn't go to the archives then, but he headed there now, the few people present looking his way as he passed. When he arrived, he smiled warmly at the guards. "Good afternoon. The Jedi Council sent me for information that relates to my current mission."

The guard looked at a datapad he held, and waved the Knight in, Obi-Wan bowing slightly as he passed. The Archive was positively enormous. Combing through here was going to take forever. Obi-Wan frowned, went over to one of the central consoles and looked up all information that was stored on Dathomir, groaning loudly when he saw that there was far, far too much on the planet. Locating the relevant information within that mess would not be easy. He began downloading all the information to his datapad, and left to wander the Archive while the massive amount of data was copied.

He was looking through a map of Republic space when a reserved, cautious voice called, "Oh, you're him!" Obi-Wan ignored him, hoping he was talking to someone else, but when the too quiet footsteps approached him, the Jedi turned to look at the man. He was middle aged, not terribly tall, and carried himself with great importance. "I saw you, Jedi. In the security footage from Naboo."

Obi-Wan groaned. "Don't tell me the entire Republic has that now."

"Not at all, but I had it all sent to my office. The events that happened there were vital to the peace of the Republic." When the Jedi arched his eyebrow, looking at the man like he was crazy, the Senator extended his hand. "I apologize, I thought you would know me, Master Jedi. I'm Chancellor Palpatine."

"...oh, yes, the new one." When the former Chancellor Vallorum was voted out of office suddenly, Obi-Wan had been in a poor state. In hindsight, he knew that he was in the grip of the Dark Side, but at the time, the feelings of betrayal overwhelmed him to the point of being able to focus on nothing else. He took the Chancellor's hand. "I'm-"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi, I know. You're all the Jedi are talking about." He grasped the Knight's hand tightly with both of his. "Let me say, it was valiant how you slew that savage beast, and you sent a very strong message to the Trade Federation about their aggressions."

"Believe me, I didn't do it to make the Trade Federation cower..."

"No matter the reason, that is the result." He let go of the Jedi's hand. "What are you looking for, Master Jedi? Perhaps I can help."

Obi-Wan carefully observed this man, reaching out with the Force to sense his intentions, but he felt nothing but a desire to help a Jedi. "I am looking for information on Dathomir," he said slowly, watching surprise cross the Chancellor's face.

"Dathomir? Why?"

"I'm on a mission."

The older man nodded. "Say no more, Master Jedi." He took out a datapad, his fingers running over it before he brought up a file on the planet. "Well...it's in the Mid-Rim, fairly close to Naboo, actually. It seems that it has not been a part of the Republic for a very long time. The notes say witches moved in and are ruling there."

"May I see that?" Palpatine nodded and handed the datapad to the Jedi, watching those intelligent blue eyes swiftly run over the information. "Where did you get this? All the information I found was spread out and random. You have everything compiled."

"Yes, the Archives' filing system doesn't agree with mine."

"Do you have everything organized like this?"

Plapatine nodded. "Yes, though my collection is not as extensive as the Archive. Now that I am in charge, the Archive is due for...an overhaul."

Obi-Wan's voice dropped, like he was telling a secret. "Do you have files on Malachor or Moraband?" Palpatine frowned, took his datapad back and quickly searched for the two planets.

"I've never heard of those," he said, shaking his head. "I could get my aides on it, though. I'm certain we could find something."

"No, no, that's alright." Obi-Wan sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It was just a stray thought of mine, think nothing of it." He knew, though, that one day, he'd have to come back here and look them up. Both planets were Sith worlds long ago, and if he were a Sith Lord, he'd make certain to visit the places most sacred to their order. After all, the Jedi did similar with Ilum, Lothal and Coruscant. If he was going to find the Sith Master, he'd have to go there.

He smiled at the Chancellor. "Thank you. You have been a great help."

"It was no trouble. I can come with you and transfer the information to your datapad, if you like." The Jedi nodded, and the two men walked slowly toward the center of the Archive. "I have to ask," Palpatine said softly. "How did you manage to overcome that beast?"

"You saw the footage."

"Yes, but the fight seemed lost to me. You and the other Jedi were outmatched completely."

"Yes..."

"And when he struck your friend down..."

Obi-Wan could feel his temper rising, not at the man at his side, he was simply curious, but at the memory of what had happened on Naboo. The Sith was dead, but the memory of standing there, helpless, as Qui-Gon fought and lost was too much. His hand balled into a fist at his side, his eyes closed and his jaw clenched as he fought the building rage. I just...focused."

"Oh?" The Chancellor observed the Jedi carefully, eyes narrowing as emotion flitted across the young man's face that he was struggling to control.

"Yes, that was all. I got in tune with the Force." He sighed, sliding his defenses into place. The fight with the Sith effected him more than he thought. "I can't explain it beyond that."

"Well," the Chancellor said softly as they approached the central console, and he picked up the Jedi's datapad. "The Jedi are right to be proud of you. The Force must be very strong with you for you to overcome such a foe." Obi-Wan shifted uncomfortably. He needed to meditate on what happened against the Sith. He understood, yes, but he needed to really know. The Chancellor handed him the datapad. "All the information on Dathomir has been transferred to you, Master Jedi."

Obi-Wan smiled, putting his anger aside. It would need to be put in it's place before he went to Dathomir, if he was actually permitted to go. "Thank you for your help, Chancellor."

"Please, let me know if there is anything else I can do to assist the Jedi Order."

"I will."

Kenobi bowed and his long strides carried him swiftly out of the Archive, leaving Palpatine to watch the retreating Jedi, a cruel smirk on his face.