WARNING: There are some sexual comments and implications in this chapter.
Chapter 3Mysterious
That's what I call you
I'm curious about you
I'm scared and not sure that you are safe
But your eyes seem to say that you are good
This is not a dream that I'm living
This is just a world of your own
you took me from all that I knew
Showed me how it feels to hope
With you with me, facing tomorrow together
I can learn to fly
Feels like I'm living in a lion's mouth, but the lion is an angel…
-Rebecca St. James
Qui-Gon
"Grave news, this is," said Yoda solemnly.
"We know that you need to find Obi-Wan," Master Windu said in his normal, calm voice. "But I must ask that you take another Jedi team with you. Xanatos is very dangerous."
Qui-Gon was shaking his head before Windu even finished.
"No," he said firmly. "I know Xanatos, I know his ways and his thoughts. Another team would just slow me down, and put other Jedi in unnecessary danger."
Windu glanced at the other council members and then nodded. "It is your choice. You should take the note to Madame Jocasta Nu, perhaps she can find some clue that we cannot. May the force be with you."
A cordial bow was all the goodbye that Qui-Gon gave to the council before leaving to see Madame Nu at the Jedi Archives.
As usual, Madame Nu's hair was arranged in a tight bun, and she was wearing a yellow robe with traditional Ansata patterns. She nodded at Qui-Gon when he entered.
"I need your help," Qui-Gon said with a slight bow.
"Most who come here do," she said in her calm voice. "What is it that you need Master Jinn?"
"My apprentice has been kidnapped by a former Jedi name Xanatos. The only clue we have is this note," Qui-Gon proffered the note from his robe pocket.
She took the durasheet and immediately started shaking her head. "This Ex-Jedi is very careless."
Qui-Gon's eyes widened in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"This isn't a regular durasheet," she explained. "It's too thin, see?"
The durasheet was indeed too thin, Qui-Gon was surprised that he hadn't noticed before. The note also felt fragile, but not easily torn at the same time.
"The durasheet might have been common 50 years ago," continued Madame Nu. "But now it is an extreme rarity. There's a very primitive forest world called Tarria. The planet has no inhabitants and was not controlled by any neighboring world, so there was no one to buy or rent land from. A large company had hoped to make cheap durasheets there. They spent large sums of credits building elaborate bases and factories to produce the durasheets, and they were successful for quite some time. The factories very quickly paid for themselves. Because the durasheets were produced so cheaply they were sold cheaply, and people would buy only their products. Then something happened. The beasts of Tarria, which had roamed the planet unchecked for thousands of years, suddenly went mad with blood lust. Before the company had controlled them with long-term contract mercenaries, but they couldn't stop the beasts when they went on this rampage. No matter how many shots a beast took, it just kept coming. Thousands of workers were killed, and no one tried to manufacture there again. As far as I know, no one even goes there. How this 'Xanatos' got this durasheet I do not know, but I assume that it's some sort of clue. How very careless."
Qui-Gon doubted it. Xanatos was never careless, but the question was: Was this a real clue, or just Xanatos toying with him? Why would Xanatos take Obi-Wan to Tarria?
"One more thing Madame Nu," Qui-Gon said thoughtfully. "Why has no one simply used a bio bomb to eradicate the planet of the creatures? It sounds as if its rich in natural resources, there is much profit to be made."
Madame Nu looked at him coolly. "Cultural taboo. It's rumored that a Sith academy was once there."
The room started spinning around Qui-Gon as a chill ran to his fingertips. His morbid thoughts were, however, interrupted by the beeping of his comlink.
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Obi-Wan
Obi-Wan leaned against the shadows, his back pressed to the wall. He had to stop for two reasons: first, his ankle was screaming in protest with every step he took, and second, there were a large number of very brutish men passing through the hallway he was presently in. It seemed like they all had a common destination, though why Xanatos has so many mercenaries on his shop Obi-Wan didn't know.
His original intention was to find an escape pod and get off the ship, but every time another group of mercenaries passed he grew more and more nervous. What if he and Qui-Gon weren't the only benefits of this 'mission'? What else did he have planned? What if others were in danger? But what ifs can go either way…
Another group passed, then another. Biting back a groan, Obi-Wan crouched down and walked slowly in the direction opposite the mercenaries gathering point, and away from the hanger, the general vicinity that the escape pods would be in. He needed to find a computer terminal, and hope that he could slice into its files. Maybe then he could learn exactly what was going on…
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Xanatos
"Sir!" a voice came from the end of the hallway.
Xanatos slowed his steps and glanced over his shoulder. Scurrying behind him was one of the mercenaries assigned to guard Obi-Wan. He stopped walking and turned to face the man – was his name Gerrith? – coolly and blankly.
"Yes?" He asked, his voice smooth, but Gerrith shivered under his intense gaze.
"The J-Jedi boy…" stuttered the idiot. "He's… he's gone."
Eyes cast down, Gerrith tried not to shiver under the dark Jedi's gaze. Xanatos had yet to speak, and several moments had passed. Gerrith began to wonder how he would be punished. Would Xanatos have him jettisoned into space with no suit? Or perhaps he would feed him to his kath hounds? That's what happened to poor Kateri…
"I know," Xanatos relaxed voice broke into Gerrith's morbid thoughts.
"You… know?" Gerrith's eyes widened in shock.
Xanatos smiled, and for some reason this scared Gerrith more then his gaze from before. "Of course I know. Every step that boy takes is another step that I want him to take. Besides, this is my ship. Not a single one of you imbecilic excuses for mercenaries can so much as examine your nails without my knowledge."
Gerrith moved his mouth like he was going to speak, but no sound came out. He ended up just nodding, "yes sir. What would you like us to do about the boy?"
"Nothing," said Xanatos with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'll deal with him."
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Obi-Wan
Ducking into a utility closet, Obi-Wan once again tried to remove some of the weight from his ankle.
"This isn't working," he mumbled.
I can't keep walking on it, it will only make it worse… thought Obi-Wan. I need to move through the ship and keep off my ankle.
Obi-Wan glanced around the closet, looking for anything useful. To his right he saw a glistening meter high square was against the corner of one wall. Sighing in relief Obi-Wan bent down and tugged on the square. It resisted for a moment, but soon pulled off. Obi-Wan bent down to his knees and crawled into the vent. He was getting two advantages with this: he was keeping his weight off his ankle, and he would be able to move through the ship inconspicuously.
The dust kicked up around him as he crawled, forcing him to stifle coughs. While the rest of the ship was expensive and sleek, the ventilation was dusty and filled with insects. Obviously Xanatos didn't care about the health of his mercenaries and crew. Obi-Wan scooted to the side of the vent to let a furry majerik spider the size of his fist crawl by. Benign as they were, he still didn't want to touch it.
As soon as the hairy thing was out of sight Obi-Wan started moving forward again. He stopped when he heard voices from another vent opening.
"…So he wasn't mad?"
"Not at all, of course he probably didn't want to annoy me too much, he knows my reputation," Obi-Wan could hear the false bravado from one of the mercenaries.
"Are you really implying that he was scared of you?"
"Of course I am! Like I said before, Xanatos must know of my reputation. He wouldn't want to anger me."
Obi-Wan resisted the urge to scoff. There was no way Xanatos was afraid of some secondhand soldier-for-hire. But of course the mercenary didn't want his friends to know that.
"Who cares if Gerrith thinks that Xanatos is scared of him," came a third voice. "The point is we're not going to get punished for the Jedi kid escaping, and best of all we don't even have to hunt him down in this labyrinth of a ship. Xanatos will do that work."
Obi-Wan didn't wait to hear the rest of their story. Xanatos had learned of his escape sooner then he had hoped and was looking for him. Obi-Wan had to hurry.
He had only moved a few more meters when he heard the unmistakable sound of beeping monitors. He scooted forward a little and found another silver square. Pressing his ear against the vent, he pulled the force around him. When he could feel every bug and rat in the ventilation shaft, he pushed the force into the room beyond. He didn't feel any life forms.
The vent door gave way beneath his hands easily. He wiggled out of the passage and into the room. It was small and rectangular, and glowed with the bright blue light of the computer terminals. Trying to hurry, he limped over to the nearest one. A file titled "Jedi Captive" glowed on the screen. With one click the file opened and it's contents spilled over.
That's odd, Obi-Wan thought. It should be coded to require at least one password. But maybe Xanatos didn't expect any of the mercenaries to betray him, or for his "Jedi Captive" to get this far.
But then again, when has Xanatos ever left anything to chance?
Obi-Wan stared at the file's contents nervously. Was there any risk in simply reading them?
Deciding that it was a necessary risk, Obi-Wan read through the files. He grew more pale with every page.
I have to contact Qui-Gon.
It took him only a few moments to find a com terminal and to signal for Qui-Gon.
"Jinn here," came Qui-Gon's crisp voice. Obi-Wan had never felt so relieved.
"It's Obi-Wan, I've escaped Xanatos's cell. I'm loose on his ship."
He heard Qui-Gon take a sharp intake of breath. "Are you alright?"
"For the most part, my ankle's hurt and I have some bruises, but I'll live. That's not what's important right now. Xanatos is taking me to a planet called Tarria, and he has a small army with him. They're going to set up base on Tarria, and from there rain attacks on two neighboring planets. The planets are Blusca and Sada, and they've been rivals for a hundred years. They'll both think that the other planet is attacking them, because Tarria is uninhabited. This will start a war that Offworld, and in turn Xanatos, will benefit from because of their advanced weapons department. Xanatos also intends to lure you to the planet and capture us both, Jedi hostages sold to the highest bidder between Blusca and Sada in order to force the Republic to support them."
"And you know this for sure?"
Obi-Wan paused. "I read it from their computer terminal."
"But there's something wrong. Xanatos wants us both dead, and I don't believe that any amount of credits could sway him from revenge."
Obi-Wan gripped the console tightly. That hadn't crossed his mind.
"Maybe…" he started, but didn't get to finish. A sharp pain ran from the back of his neck up to his head and he fell to the floor unconscious.
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Qui-Gon
"Obi-Wan?" He called in fear. "Obi-Wan are you still there?"
The sound of a body hitting the floor rang through his comlink. Then a cool voice came on the line. "Obi-Wan is a little busy at the moment, can I take a message?"
"Xanatos," Qui-Gon breathed. "If you hurt him…"
"What will you do master? Jedi can't threaten."
"No," said Qui-Gon, matching Xanatos's coolness. "But they can promise, and inform."
He could almost feel the heat of Xanatos's anger over the comlink. "I would think that you wouldn't be so quick to irritate me Qui-Gon, after all, your apprentice is at my mercy. And who knows how long I'll decide to be merciful?"
With those words the line went dead.
Qui-Gon squeezed the comlink tightly. I will save you Obi-Wan. I promise.
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Obi-Wan
He was able to contact Qui-Gon, that was something. At least Qui-Gon knew he was alive.
Small accomplishments, however, are hard to appreciate when you're bleeding from the back of your head and your ankle feels like someone took a vibro-axe to it. Obi-Wan gingerly touched his gnarled ankle. It was only twisted before, but it seemed a lot worse now. The area under the anklebone was purple and black, the darkness fading into a sickly yellow around the edges. The blue shade spread across the top of his foot to his toes.
Obi-Wan sighed and tugged his boot back on, hoping that the thick leather would help to give his ankle support.
"It's your own fault you know."
Nearly jumping out of his skin, Obi-Wan glanced to the door, where a nonchalant Xanatos stood as if he was paying an old school buddy a visit.
Obi-Wan pulled himself to his feet, leaning slightly against the wall for support. No matter how injured his ankle was, he wouldn't kneel before Xanatos. He knew that those weren't the thoughts of a Jedi because they stemmed from pride, but they were his thoughts nonetheless.
"Even you have to admit, trying to escape was rather foolish. Especially when I have little short of an army onboard," Xanatos entered the cell and the door slid shut ominously behind him.
"I wasn't aware of the guard situation at the time," said Obi-Wan dryly. "It wasn't very courteous of you to not inform me."
Xanatos smirked. "You act like the guards had anything to do with catching you. Think Jedi, would I really be stupid enough to have you in a prison cell that can be escaped from so easily? That I would install a camera that couldn't even spy on you, but life forms in general? And here I had thought that I'd proven myself a brilliant strategist time and time again."
"So what are you saying? That you wanted me to escape? You wanted me to contact Qui-Gon? To hack into your plans?" Obi-Wan kept his eyes level with Xanatos's.
An eerie smile flitted across Xanatos's pale features. "Yes."
That one simple word sent a buzzing sound loose in Obi-Wan's ears and caused his blood to chill. "That's why the files were so easy to get to. It was part of your plan."
"I assumed that you would know by now; it's all part of my plan. Qui-Gon can't very well chase after you if he doesn't know where you are now can he? I wasn't, of course, relying on your cleverness alone. I left him another clue at the temple, but whether or not he'll figure it out is questionable."
Obi-Wan didn't know what to say. I've led Qui-Gon into danger.
"Don't look so remorseful Kenobi," Xanatos said. "Don't try to pretend like you're completely distraught over the idea of Qui-Gon's death. Even a sinless saint like yourself must have formed some resentment for your old teacher after all these years."
Nothing like harsh words to snap someone out of a daze. Obi-Wan looked up Xanatos with a fierce gaze. "Never," he said sharply.
Xanatos smiled bitterly. "No, you haven't been given a reason to."
"Neither have you."
"Haven't I?" Demanded Xanatos, anger blazing in his eyes. "My father's murder right in front of me wasn't an incentive? The Jedi turned their backs on me!"
"The Jedi didn't turn their backs on you; you turned your back on us."
"You gave me a reason to."
"I didn't," Obi-Wan replied sharply before he could stop himself. "I wouldn't."
This time when Xanatos looked over at Obi-Wan their wasn't mockery or hate. Just a sliver of confusion behind his blue eyes.
"You shouldn't look at me like that."
Obi-Wan wasn't entirely sure what Xanatos meant, but he didn't look angry, so Obi-Wan decided to press his luck. "Why not?"
Xanatos swiftly turned and walked towards Obi-Wan, backing the Jedi against the wall. When Obi-Wan felt the cool stone against his back Xanatos placed both arms on either side of Obi-Wan's head. He leaned forward so that his cheek brushed against Obi-Wan's, and his mouth was close to his ear.
"Because I said so."
The light from the lamp blurred Obi-Wan's vision as he started at it intently. He didn't care that his eyes were burning and watering, as long as he had something to focus on, anything to focus on except for the feel of Xanatos's black hair against his cheek and the heat of Xanatos's breath on his ear.
However, just as quickly as Xanatos was there he was gone. Obi-Wan's legs shook beneath him as he watched Xanatos head for the doorway.
"How did you do it?" Obi-Wan suddenly demanded.
Xanatos stopped, one hand already pressed against the door.
"How did you live?"
Another knowing smile painted Xanatos's features. "Maybe next time little Jedi."
And just like that he was gone.
Obi-Wan slid into a sitting position on the floor, suddenly feeling very lonely and cold.
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Xanatos
The doors to Xanatos's private office whooshed closed silently behind him. He cleaned against them, rubbing his index fingers against his temple.
"What the sith did I just do?" He asked himself aloud. He walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Elomin ale and a cup. He poured himself a glass and drank it like he was in a drought.
I only did it to unnerve the boy, he told himself. I was just trying to confuse him.
He pressed the now empty glass to his forehead, trying to rid himself of the heat on his skin.
The Jedi didn't turn their backs on you; you turned your back on us.
You gave me a reason to.
I didn't. I wouldn't.
Xanatos squeezed the cup in his hand until the squeak of splintering glass could be heard. The cup shattered against his palm; cutting open his hand in more places then Xanatos cared to count. He hardly noticed.
Why had he said that? Was it just another Jedi attempt to pacify him?
Why had he looked at me that way? Like he actually… hurt for me? And why did that look affect me like this?
The glass and blood on his palm glittered as Xanatos examined it. He gently pulled the largest pieces out from under his skin and dropped them into the waste can.
It didn't affect me, he silently told himself. "I don't care, I just want to break him down so that the plan doesn't fail. I just want to have my revenge on Qui-Gon."
But the memory of Obi-Wan's body heat when they were standing so close returned, and Xanatos shivered, trying to ignore his growing erection.
"You traitor," he said, as if his dick was planning a mutiny.
Obi-Wan is just some Jedi kid, Xanatos promised himself. I'm just toying with him.
…Then why am I still shaking?
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Rian Sage: Thanks for coming back! Also, thank you so so so much for telling me about the passage breaks, I didn't realize that they didn't transmit when chapters are uploaded to ff. I should have checked. I really appreciate you letting me know! I hope this chapter had some good Xanatos stuff for you, and there's going to be a lot of his PoV in later chapters.
Chels: Xanatos is totally uber cool! Now that we're almost done with the Fake series (tear) you can read some of the Star Wars books with him in it. If you have any questions just let me know. I hope you weren't too traumatized by the vibro-axe/ankle comment.
Darkvampiricgoddess: Thanks for the support, and the compliment! I try my best.
Holiday From Real: Yay for being nice about updating. Not that I haven't threatened many people in my day. Thanks for the review!
A/N: Yes, the part of the chapter that everyone has been waiting for, my comments. Well, probably not, but we'll pretend. I'm pretty happy with the way this chapter turned out. Let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, or just plain comments, I appreciate them. Unless of course you're going to complain about my many fragments, in that case don't bother. I try to change them to nice, complete sentences, but they never sound right, and I'm not going to ruin the flow of my story for grammar. Sorry. Thanks for reading, please review!