Chapter 19: Repercussions
This is worse than the Sith.
Obi-Wan laid there, face down in an absurdly fluffy pillow, eyes closed tightly, and head in an abysmal amount of pain. He could barely remember the night before at all, but he did know it was Quinlan's fault. It was always Quinlan's fault. When his ability to calm his mind and focus returned, he'd reach out to the Force and use it to ease the pain, but for now, he was just going to suffer. This was worse than after he had fought Maul on Naboo. This was worse than after he woke up from having his mind touched by a Lord of the Sith. He was starting to look back to the mess on Athiss fondly. Really, he would have loved to have that pain back if it meant getting rid of his current situation.
He took a few deep breaths, slowing his pulse, and his focus returned. He reached out and touched the Force, felt it's warm hands enter his mind and slowly ease the hangover away, sighing in satisfaction as the pain left him. He rolled over onto his side, reaching out to pull the pillow closer to him, but his hand touched bare skin, soft and smooth, and Obi-Wan's eyes shot open.
Right in front of him was a pale, bare back, a thin waist leading to rounded hips and long legs, blond hair cascading over the pillow. Obi-Wan looked down. She was naked. He was naked. His hand flew to his mouth, covering it so he didn't scream, eyes wide. How did she get there!? How did this happen?! He didn't know, but it was all Quinlan's fault somehow.
He scooted away from the woman, moving slowly to not wake her, and his back hit something else, and he froze. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder and saw the naked body of a light blue Twi'lek girl, and for a long while, Obi-Wan couldn't move. All he could do was look between the two naked women, and there he was, between the both of them.
When his brain clicked into gear, he got off the bed as fast as he could, hand clasped tightly over his mouth and the other grabbing a fistful of his hair. He remembered nothing from the night before. How could this have happened! He looked around the room, discarded clothing everywhere, and he quickly picked up the pieces that belonged to him and dressed as quickly as his shaking hands would allow. He didn't remember, so it didn't count. He totally didn't go to bed with two women, no matter what the evidence said.
His eyes lingered on the bed as he fastened the armor to his chest, blue eyes flitting between the two sleeping women. He had to know. He needed to know. Kenobi walked slowly over to the bed, footsteps light so he didn't wake them, and kneeled next to the blond. He closed his eyes and reached out to her, using the Force to delve into her mind. It was much easier, less invasive, when the subject wasn't conscious, and the memories of the night before came flooding back in flashes of warm bodies and naked skin. Kenobi grit his teeth as the memories played back in his mind, all passion and painful arousal and intense pleasure accompanied by moans and gasps and loud cries.
Moving to the other side of the bed, he dove into the Twi'lek's mind as well and was met with more of the same memories, Neither of these girls was nearly as drunk as Obi-Wan had been, and he was beginning to wish that he hadn't looked into their minds. He didn't want to remember, and now he did. Now it was real. He was better than this, he wasn't some base animal that mindlessly rutted with whatever he could find. He was above these base instincts, but he wasn't above murder. He was going to kill Quinlan. He grabbed his helmet from the ground and was about to head to the door when it swung open and he was face to face with Quinlan Vos.
A slow grin spread across his face. "Kenobi!"
"Shut up!" the Jedi hissed, grabbing the Kiffar and slamming him against the wall, using the Force to shut the door. "Can you ever, for once, just knock before you come barging in?!"
"Well..."
"And this is all your fault!"
Quinlan looked over to the bed, eyes slowly widening in shock as he finally saw what was in the bed. "Oh Force help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"Don't say it, don't say a word!"
"Is that little Miss Out-Of-My-League?! How did you do it?!"
The girls begun to stir, and Obi-Wan looked back at them, horrified. "Quinlan, shut up!"
"No, really, how did you do it. You don't even talk to girls, how are you doing this!"
"Stop being impressed, Quinlan! You are trying to lead me to ruin!" Obi-Wan began to pace. "This is so, so against the Code. Look what you're doing to me! You are making me break the Code! You're like the Dark Side, Quinlan, but worse because I can't ignore you!"
"Woah, hey, you don't need my help breaking the Code! You're doing that yourself, Mister I'm-Going-To-Visit-Every-Planet-In-Sith-Space! Against the wishes of the Council!"
"This is totally different!"
"Obi-Wan, in one night, you have tripled the number of women you have slept with, and probably tripled the number of times you've had sex as well. You should be thanking me for this!"
"Why! Why should I be thanking you!"
Quinlan smirked and crossed his arms. "Really, how can you be this uptight after sex?"
"I am not uptight!"
"Obi-Wan?" Kenobi spun quickly, staring wide-eyed at the two girls, both slowly waking up and groggy, the sheets pulled over them. He didn't want to say anything. He was shaking so hard he'd probably bite his tongue.
Quinlan was not so shy. He stepped forward, eyes half-lidded and purred, "Hello, ladies."
The Twi'lek's face dropped. "Oh. It's you," she said divisively. "Obi-Wan, get rid of your friend and come back to bed."
"Or just come back to bed," the other girl echoed, looking at him with heavy-lidded eyes and slowly licking her lips. Obi-Wan turned a furious shade of red, but Quinlan just laughed.
"Oh, no, no, I won't keep you, Obi-Wan, I apologize. I didn't know they haven't had enough."
"No, no!" Kenobi cried, voice two octaves higher in his panic. "Don't go."
"Yes, don't go..." the blond purred, and Quinlan grinned broadly.
"Oh, come here, baby..."
The girl started to rise, but Kenobi held out his hand and quickly ordered, "No! Go get dressed!" Both women sucked in a sharp breath of air before they slipped out of bed, mindlessly doing as they were commanded.
""Aw, come on! Obi-Wan, you can't cheat!"
"I wasn't cheating, I didn't mean to!"
"Oh, please! Of course you did! It's not my fault you left the girls unsatisfied!"
The Twi'lek began laughing as she slid into her pants. "Are you kidding me? We went all night, your friend has the stamina of one of the Sith Lords of Old."
"Please stop talking!"
"No, no, please, continue!"
Kenobi reached his hand out. The embarrassment would kill him. "Get dressed!" Both girls returned to silently doing as they were told.
"I need to learn how to do this trick because you are cheating."
"It isn't cheating, it's a negotiation tactic!"
Quinlan held up his hand, waving it before him. "Girls, take your clothes off." The blond stopped what she was doing, hesitating as her mind wrestled with the conflicting commands, but the Twi'lek just looked up and glared.
"What do you think you are, some kind of Jedi?"
"Get dressed!" Kenobi hissed, and there was no room for argument, both girls silently going back to sliding into their clothing.
"How can you have had wild, hot sex all night long and be this uptight!"
"Quinlan Vos, I-"
"You are an uptight, obsessive-compulsive, neurotic head case! When are you going to let go and enjoy yourself!"
"I stupidly let go last night, believe me, it will not happen again!"
"Why don't we ask the girls what they think of you, hmm?" Quinlan smiled, draped his arm around the smaller man's shoulders "Girls, what did you think of my friend here?"
"Quinlan, don't..." The girls smiled, slowly sauntered toward him, and Kenobi quickly ordered them to leave. The two women stopped, and without saying a word, they both left the room, leaving the two Jedi alone. Kenobi sighed, leaning against the wall.
"I am never going to drink again."
"Really, I'm impressed you handled that much."
"You should have stopped me."
Quinlan shrugged. "Yeah, maybe I should have. But when you lighten up, you'll understand that it was good for you. Release is important. Not just for regular people, for Jedi as well."
Obi-Wan crossed his arms and looked at the floor. Quinlan was right, he knew it, but he didn't want to admit it. Two months he had spent keeping the Dark Side at bay, redoubling his efforts at studying the Way of the Jedi, and it had left him feeling strong, focused, in perfect control. But he was getting tense, irritated, and deep inside him, he knew Quinlan was right about release. The kind he had in mind, though, was very, very different from what the Kiffar thought of as release.
Quinlan sighed. "You can't be mad, Obi, come on..."
"What do you suppose they meant by Sith Lords of Old?"
"What? Who?"
"The Twi'lek. She was attributing a positive quality to the Sith of the Old Republic. For a race that was enslaved by the Sith, you'd think a Twi'lek would use a different comparison."
"...oh yeah, that is weird."
Obi-Wan smiled slyly, his eyes lighting up with excitement. "Do you think the people of Dromund Kaas worship the Sith? Even thousands of years after they've been gone?"
"It was a Sith world. And it was said to be the capital city, so there must be Sith Temples here."
"And this planet was missing from the Jedi Archive when there was no business for it to be missing. Makes it seem like the Sith might not be a thing of the past around here."
Quinlan grinned. "Hey, I know we're supposed to head back to Coruscant today, but...wanna go sightseeing?"
"Quinlan Vos, you are a man after my own heart. Let's go."
There wasn't a Sith Temple on Dromund Kaas. There were three.
The Jedi stood in front of one of them now, a towering structure that one of the city residents identified as a Sith Academy, the Dark Side equivalent of the Jedi Academy. The doors had been sealed closed, but the Dark Side around it was strong, too strong to be a simple piece of history. Something had been there, and it wasn't long ago.
"We need to get in there," Kenobi said softly, and Quinlan stood back, took a good look at the immense structure.
"There are really, really high windows up there."
Obi-Wan looked at him, eyebrow raised and dismissive. "Yeah. That's great help. There is no way to climb up there."
Quinlan laughed. "Kenobi, you are an idiot." The Master tapped the man on the back. "We're Mandalorian. We have jetpacks."
"...oh." Kenobi grinned as he slid his helmet on, and the two Jedi activated the jetpacks, flames burning behind them as they kicked off the ground and shot up into the air. Once outside the window, Quinlan drew his green lightsaber and stabbed it at the side of the small opening, cutting around it until it was big enough to fit through. The Kiffar entered first, Kenobi following the Jedi and flying into the spacious building, setting down on the ground far below, the window high above them. He could see Quinlan's breath through the slit in the helmet, and Obi-Wan realized how cold it was in there.
"Kenobi. This is how cold it was when you collapsed on Athiss."
"Keep alert, follow me. Don't touch anything." The other Jedi nodded, and Obi-Wan led the way, slowly, cautiously walking through the dark imitation of their own Jedi Academy. It radiated the Dark Side in there, and for the first time in a very long time, Kenobi felt the Dark Side lurch within him, snarling and hissing and bucking against the strong chains the Jedi had forged after the mess on Athiss. He felt the power of it, and he was in absolute control, felt the dark beast whimper in submission. Obi-Wan smiled; his renewed studies had greatly helped him. Quinlan may have been right. All things needed release.
With a deep breath, Obi-Wan fell into the Dark Side's embrace, felt the power rage in him, but it was different this time; the darkness was wild, dangerous, uncontrolled, but clearly leashed, and Kenobi held the chain with confidence, the beast submitting to his will. He felt the familiar burning behind his eyes, and when he opened them, he saw the Academy in a different light. This was a place of learning, and Obi-Wan wanted to learn.
"Isn't it a little weird to think of younglings training here, learning to use the Dark Side?" Quinlan asked softly, rubbing his arms to warm up.
"I imagine they had to manage a lot of tantrums, yes."
"No wonder the Sith were so angry."
Obi-Wan laughed. "They should have just hired a babysitter and saved the galaxy a lot of trouble." The large hallway they were in branched off into several, smaller rooms, much like the classrooms back on Coruscant, and the two Jedi slowly went picking through each room, looking for something, anything, but finding nothing. Eventually Obi-Wan kneeled, sitting back on his heels and bowing his head in concentration.
"Obi-Wan? You alright?"
"Yeah. Give me a second, I'm trying to sense things in here."
Quinlan scoffed. "You aren't going to be able to, Kenobi, the Dark Side is clouding everything."
"That's why I'm going to use the Dark Side."
He couldn't see his face, but Obi-Wan knew Quinlan was looking at him like he was crazy, that tattooed face scrunched up in disbelief. "Obi, I don't think that's a good idea..."
"You're the one that said I should let go, Quin. And if we can use the Dark Side to hunt the Sith, why shouldn't we?"
"That isn't what I meant by letting go, Kenobi."
Obi-Wan sighed, voice muffled by the helmet. "If you don't use it with anger, or passion, it's not really using it, is it?"
"W-well..."
"Let me at least try."
Quinlan looked at him for a long time, the white mask unmoving and cold. "Fine. Just be careful."
With a nod, Obi-Wan closed his eyes, reached out with the Dark Side. He felt it rushing through the entire temple, hanging like a fog over everything within, but even through the darkness, he could feel it drawn to certain places, certain things, and all of that was gathering below them. Far below them.
"There's a way down," Kenobi finally said, rising to his feet and walking out of the room, Quinlan close on his heels. "I don't know what it is, but I know we need to be there."
"You sure you're alright?" Kenobi nodded.
"You and I are both exposed to the Dark Side. Nobody's going to fall, don't worry."
That was enough for Quinlan. He reached out and laid a hand on one of the large statues in the hall, the Force surging around him for a moment before he pulled his hand away. "You're right, there's a way down. There should be a stairway over there, past those doors."
"Did you feel anything else?"
Quinlan shook his head. "I'm sorry, Obi-Wan. Nothing recent."
The didn't say anything else as they took large strides to the end of the hall, using the Force to push the doors open and they found the staircase, a large, spiral thing that went down further than they could see. There was no hesitation. Both men descended together.
They came out into a large rotunda, pale blue torches lining the walls and lighting the room, a huge circular databank that greatly resembled the one in the Jedi Archives in the center. They walked over to it, looking over it carefully and Obi-Wan stopped dead in his tracks, looking carefully at one of the terminals and he nudged Quinlan.
"Know what I find really curious?"
"That these blue torches seem to burn for thousands of years?"
"No. That in a place that has been inactive for a very long time, so long that everything is covered in dust, this station is completely clean."
Quinlan was silent for a moment, leaning in and looking close, and Obi-Wan knew he was grinning under that helmet. "Kenobi, you're a better tracker than me." He laid his hand on the console, the Force swelled around him and he gasped, the Master throwing his head back as his mind was flooded with visions, recent visions. He pulled his hand away swiftly, holding it close and rubbing it with his other hand.
"Hey, hey, Quin, you alright?"
The Kiffar shook his head. "They were here, Kenobi. Recently. Just a few days ago, the Sith were here."
Kenobi was silent, the burning behind his eyes intensifying. "What did you see?" Quinlan shook his head.
"I don't know. It was too fast, the Dark Side was too strong, I-"
"You need to touch it again."
The white helmeted head snapped to him. "Kenobi, I can't."
"Quinlan, listen to me. If we are this close, you need to do this. I told you, neither of us is going to fall. I've got you, I promise."
He didn't move for a moment, and then Quinlan laid his hand on the terminal, his body going ridged in pain, but he held on, dropping to his knees and shaking as visions flooded his mind. Kenobi watched him carefully, his hand on the Kiffar's shoulder and channeling the Force through him, augmenting his defenses until Quinlan could no longer hang on. With a shuddering gasp, he let go, falling against Obi-Wan, breathing ragged and shaking with the cold.
He took a deep breath and collapsed into a fit of coughing, Kenobi holding him tight as his friend recovered. "The console was on," Quinlan rasped, and Kenobi recoiled.
"What? How?"
"I don't know, but it's working."
Obi-Wan helped the Master to his feet and swiftly ran his hand over the console, feeling the Dark Side flow through him, pulling at his mind, as the central database hummed to life, the large hologram in the center flicking to life and displaying the ancient symbol of the Sith. Kenobi shook his head. "I can't get in, it's password protected."
"...I think I can get that." Gripping Obi-Wan's shoulder, Quinlan laid his hand on the terminal again, his hand tightening around the other Jedi's shoulder painfully. "I-I...I see it, but it's in Sith."
"Can you recognize the symbols on the keyboard?"
He nodded, letting go of Obi-Wan, and with a trembling hand, tapped in the hieroglyphs he recognized as the password and removed his hand from the console as quickly as he could. With a flicker, the Sith symbol disappeared, and they had access.
"Jen'ari?" Obi-Wan mumbled, looking at the terminal and acquainting himself with the navigation of the ancient system. "Quinlan, Jen'ari is the Dark Lord of the Sith in the Old Tongue. Whoever used this fancied himself the Dark Lord." Quinlan nodded, but said nothing. Obi-Wan reached over and took off Quinlan's helmet, and the Master was pale, his golden tattoo standing out in stark contrast against the white of his face. "Force, Quinlan..."
"I don't feel great, Kenobi..."
"No kidding." He felt the Kiffar's forehead, and he was cold as ice. Focusing, he channeled the Force into the other man and Quinlan shivered, looking slightly better, but still not good. "Focus, buddy, tell me what you saw while I find out what they were researching last."
"There were two of them...one sitting here, the other standing right...over there, on your right." Kenobi nodded, urging him to continue. "They were both hooded, I couldn't see their faces, I couldn't hear their voices..."
"So the Sith Lord has a new apprentice..." he mused, looking over the search results, reading the data carefully. "They spent a lot of time here..."
"Doing what..."
"I don't know. They've been researching hundreds of planets. Dantooine, Endor, Florrum, Geonosis, Mustafar, Muunilinst, Neimodia, Raxus, Ryloth, Serreno, Tatooine, Utapau...hundreds, Quin."
"Why?"
"...I don't know." He looked carefully, eyes darting between the names on the list, and he began to find common elements between some of the planets. "Everything is going back to the mission I first encountered the Sith. Everything." He took a deep breath and leaned back. "The Trade Federation. Several of these planets are part of the Trade Federation. What would the Sith want with them?"
"Obi..."
"Maul showed up for the siege of Naboo, that can't have been a coincidence, not with this list." He huffed, crossing his arms. "What if the Sith are behind that attack? What if the Trade Federation was prompted to attack by the Sith? They may be under the sway of a Sith Lord. That attack on Naboo was uncharacteristically aggressive for the Trade Federation."
"Obi..."
Kenobi looked to Quinlan just as the man began to fall, and Obi-Wan reached out, holding him up with the Force and gently setting him down on the ground. "...damn it..." With a growl, he held his hand out and focused through the Force, pulling the central console cover off the databank and reached his hand inside, pulling wires and attachments out as the hologram flickered and died. He reached in deep under the console, teeth clenched in concentration, and grabbed hold of a thin, cased datablock. He sent the Force through him, tearing apart everything around the fragile electronic, and after the screech and groan of metal stopped, he withdrew the smooth rectangle. The database was ruined, but he held all the data in his hands. He could plug this in anywhere and regain access to all the information from anywhere he liked.
Holding the datablock in the air with the Force, he picked up Quinlan and held him close, placing the datablock on the man's stomach, holding both the man and the electronic with the Force. It was a long way back to the ship, and he needed to hurry. There were still two temples to explore.
