Carried through the darkened corridors on the shoulder of an Imbat, head dangling, mind and body trembling and growing steadily more disoriented with the effects of the drug Xanatos had given him, Obi-Wan hoped his situation could not possibly get much worse than this. He hoped. What he feared, every other jarring step, was that the worst had only just begun. Something about the drug was different this time; or perhaps it was he that was different. He could feel a mighty battle beginning, deep within his cells.
He told himself it was good that his body was rejecting the drug. Told himself that Qui-Gon was close behind, and soon to follow. Told himself these things, but somehow he knew this trial was just beginning.
They stopped at yet another blast door. Halfway through their trek to the shuttle bay, all blast doors in their path had slid closed and sealed. Xanatos cursed with every delay. It took him several minutes to cut each door with his lightsaber. Obi-Wan, on the other hand, blessed the foresight of whomever had thought of this tactic. Geordi, probably.
"Obi-Wan, are you okay?" Wesley whispered to him. For once the two boys were held close together, their guards standing side by side. Then they were off again, through another door and down a ladderway. Obi-Wan's head pounded with every jarring movement.
They reached the top, and Obi-Wan's heart sank. They were surrounded by Offworld flunkies, who had been trapped behind the closed shuttle bay doors on their way to their ships. Xanatos already had them gathered in a circle and was giving orders.
"Set the charges to go off in four minutes exactly," the dark Jedi told them. "I will rejoin you when the doors are open." Then he led the two Imbats with their captives around the corner. Stopping them, he cut a large hole into the shuttle bay. "You will be hidden from sight when you step through. Find a place of cover toward my personal ship where you can stow the prisoners and guard them, yet still have a good view of the hangar floor. One of the alcoves to the left should do well. Cut down any opposition from behind. Do this and you will be handsomely rewarded."
The two Imbats grunted and ducked through the newly carved hole. Aggression was the principle they understood best. Obi-Wan felt a small measure of hope. If Xanatos was leaving them, the situation was become desperate indeed. But he also had a plan, of that Obi-Wan was certain.
From behind a stack of storage canisters, the Imbats broke into a run across open deck. Obi-Wan reached out as best he could, his Force-sensitivity scrambled by the drug. He sensed Qui-Gon's presence, engaged with Xanatos, and another that must be Tomas. But the one with whom he connected was Ki-Erin. He felt her questing mind catch on to his thoughts. Then she and her master were running toward them.
Obi-Wan was thrown to the floor in a small alcove, almost on top of Wesley. He cried out when his scorched flesh scraped the deck. Then Wesley pulled him up from the floor, bound hands encircling him, careful of his wounds.
"Damn. This isn't good, Obi-Wan. I feel like a pig trussed for slaughter."
"Not over... yet."
"What's wrong? You're so cold!"
"Oh, no," Obi-Wan groaned. He recognized the sensation building inside him. He had felt it once before. Xanatos was using him, using the drug to draw on vast quantities of the Force through Obi-Wan's body. Obi-Wan felt the dark Force moving through him. But something was different this time. Last time, Qui-Gon had helped Obi-Wan to foil Xanatos by changing the preference of the drug from the Dark Side to the Light.
Now he had both within him. The two substances repelled each other, warring within his very cells. He felt he must literally explode with the conflict between them.
Obi-Wan gasped and leaned into Wesley. He focused on letting go the pain, on controlling his body's reactions. But the battle within him escalated by the second. He could not control it. The dark Force ripped through him. He screamed.
-
"Take cover behind the shuttles and debris," Picard ordered. "Riker and Troi to the right. Work your way toward the doors. We need to cut them off from the exit."
They split up. Just as they were hidden, the doors burst open with the force of explosives. Seven or eight invaders leaped out, weapons firing. Xanatos must have picked up some followers outside the shuttle bay. Not seeing the boys in the small crowd, Will and Deanna fired at the pirates, taking several down.
Then Xanatos appeared. He ran to one side, his ruby blade ignited, deflecting all the phaser blasts they sent his way. The Jedi dropped from the catwalks above, surrounding him. Qui-Gon's blade flashed green; he engaged the pirate leader in a cascade of sparks. Tomas and Ki-Erin disarmed the last three guards, then looked around. Will, too, wondered: where were the two boys?
Ki-Erin glimpsed them first. Somehow a hole had been cut in the wall behind them, to admit the two huge guards carrying Obi-Wan and Wes. In frustration Will watched them dump the boys in an alcove. Taking cover behind a stack of storage tanks, they hunkered down to add to the fray.
Slapping his communicator, Will called, "Captain, behind you!" He saw Picard and the doctor turn and dive for cover. Phasers set to stun, they tried to take down the guards. It was no use: the huge aliens' constitution was too tough for a stun setting to do more than irritate them. And Dr. Crusher and Picard could not safely return fire at a higher setting for fear of hitting one of the boys.
Tomas and Ki-Erin, however, were already on their way. Tomas extended one hand: a guard's weapon was wrenched from his grip, and flew towards the two Jedi. Disarmed and panicked, he ran for one of the pirate ships. The other guard fired frantically, but swinging her blade in a wide arc, Ki-Erin deflected the blasts; the second ricocheted directly and caught the guard full in the chest. He crumpled to the ground. Someone screamed.
Sudden blue fire erupted from behind the two Jedi. It caught them each through the chest and flung them to the wall. Following the stream of blue lightning back to its source, Will saw Xanatos, standing in the midst of the cargo bay, laughing wildly. Lightning cascaded from his fingers. It held Qui-Gon pinned to the floor, writhing, the others pinned to the wall.
"The source!" Deanna yelled. "It's coming from Obi-Wan! I can feel him now - he's in terrible pain!"
Looking where Deanna pointed, Will saw, indeed, a fuzzy line of blue flowing to Xanatos from Obi-Wan. Wesley held his young friend clasped in his arms, but Obi-Wan was convulsing madly, and Wes could hardly hold him. Will felt helpless, watching. Not knowing what else to do, he leveled his phaser at Xanatos, pushed it to the highest setting, and fired.
The blast dissipated around Xanatos, gathered, and rebounded. Will ducked behind the shuttle shielding them, pulling Deanna with him. The shuttle rocked with the force of the returned fire.
"Don't do that again," she told him.
"We've got to do something," Will protested. He ducked back around the shuttle once more, and ran for the alcove.
That's when he saw something speed from the catwalks above straight into Xanatos with the force of an incoming torpedo. Energy exploded around him. The attacker was revealed: another Jedi: the woman from the Council meeting on Lansar.
Qui-Gon pushed shakily to his feet. "Tahl!" he called, panicked. The energy Xanatos was emitting had enveloped him and his attacker both.
-
"Obi-Wan! Obi-Wan!" Slowly, through the agony, the cold fire that consumed him, Obi-Wan became aware that Wesley was shaking him and calling his name, in a panic.
Then something else changed. Xanatos was losing hold of him.
Struggling for focus, Obi-Wan sat up with Wesley's help, leaning on his friend for support. He looked around. Xanatos was locked in struggle with a fiery spirit that could only be Tahl. She held his arms and neck and clung to him from behind, while a remnant of the power that Xanatos had stolen played through them both, painfully. Still Tahl held fast, grimly tightening her grip on his throat, and Xanatos struggled, too distracted to draw on the Dark Force through Obi-Wan.
Drawing on the Force for himself, Obi-Wan unlocked the binders holding Wesley's wrists. He heard them clatter to the floor. Determined to end Xanatos, now and forever, Obi-Wan raised his hand and drew on the vast power unlocked within him. Drew on it, and channeled it streaming into Xanatos. Obi-Wan felt Xanatos dying. He wanted him dead.
-
The flow from Obi-Wan slowed. It changed, becoming thicker, somehow harder, more substantial. Running toward the boy, Will saw him lean against Wesley, the older boy supporting him. Obi-Wan's arm was raised, pointing at Xanatos. He looked exhausted, but determined.
The flowing lightning around Xanatos slowed and stopped. Instead, now, Xanatos looked to be lit from within. His skin crackled. His limbs convulsed. He floated a half meter into the air.
"No, Obi-Wan!" Qui-Gon cried. He staggered forward.
-
Qui-Gon's voice pierced the young Padawan's single-minded determination. He remembered his master. He remembered the code. He must not kill in anger, especially not with the Force. Drawing a single, shuddering breath, he let go the Force. Dark and Light, it churned within him and around him. On which side had he drawn? He had thought the Light, but now he was not so certain. His short-lived control vanished.
Xanatos dropped to the deck. He rolled to his feet, laser sword once more in hand, looking shaken but deadly. He raised one arm toward Obi-Wan. And Xanatos touched him once more.
No! Never again!
With all his strength Obi-Wan pushed the dark Jedi back, denying him. It was not enough.
Yet again Xanatos drew on the Dark Force through him. This time Obi-Wan felt the war within him rage still fiercer, stronger. He felt Xanatos will the Dark Force to consume Obi-Wan, to take his life.
-
With a cry Qui-Gon threw himself upon the enemy. His green blade cut once, slashing the ruby blade at the hilt. Twice, through the man's center.
Xanatos collapsed to the deck, laughing strangely. Qui-Gon stood over him, his posture one of grief.
"You've killed me, Master," he mocked. "Carry the knowledge of your failure to the end of your days. Two of your Padawans die today." His head lolled back, eyes lifeless.
Obi-Wan curled upon himself and screamed.
Will sank to the alcove deck beside Wesley. Wes looked up at him, eyes frightened, pleading. With his good arm, Will pulled Obi-Wan into his lap, leaning him back against his chest. The boy shivered violently. His eyes were half-closed, his hair and clothing sticky with sweat. Will put his hand on Obi-Wan's forehead: the boy's skin was cold, but beneath the surface was a tense heat, steadily growing. "Wake up, Obi-Wan," Will told the boy. He felt a frightened urgency, seeing him so limp and weak. "Your teacher is here, alive."
Suddenly the world went mad. Streamers of pale energy flung tendrils outward from Obi-Wan's body. Everything they touched was singed, or exploded, or flew three meters through the air.
"Merciful goddess," Will heard Deanna exclaim beside him. They ducked as a storage canister soared towards their heads.
-
Again it was a voice that called him back. This time it was Qui-Gon's voice, calling his name. Obi-Wan opened his eyes. Will held him tight against his chest.
Qui-Gon dropped to his knees and seized his Padawan by his upper arms. "Obi-Wan! You must take control."
"I can't," whispered Obi-Wan. He felt he was burning in the heart of a forge. How could he control such power?
"You must. You must, Padawan."
Obi-Wan stared at his master's determined, anxious face. His body shook with the effort of keeping his mind whole and sane. Around him wild energy raged, with his body as its focus. "Help me, Master," he croaked.
"I'm here Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon's voice and presence touched Obi-Wan's fevered consciousness like gentle rain, or a warm sea breeze. "I will help you. The first steps: join with me. As the sun sinks low, the swallow finds her rest..."
The words of the simple nursery meditation came instantly to Obi-Wan's mind: a thousand times he'd heard it, and practiced it, with his Jedi caretakers when he was a toddling infant. "She tucks her h-head... be- beneath.. her wing... the w- west wind... sings h-her lullaby," he recited as carefully as he could, focusing on the words. He shut tight his eyes. Every moment of focus was a strain, an eternity of struggle. Even so, the ancient words comforted him; brought him memories of simple days and nights filled with the warmth and care of friends, of gentle arms holding him, of love given unconditionally.
Perhaps to bring those memories closer, Qui-Gon gathered him to his chest like a child, one wide hand cupping his head, the other upon his back. Like a frightened infant Obi-Wan clutched his master's arm.
"In the gathering night the rose folds tight his buds," Qui-Gon continued, slow and patient, a mountain for an anchor.
Deep within his cells a million glowing embers burned ever brighter. Obi-Wan pressed on, regardless: the next response. What was it? He clung to memory... "He.. he c-closes.. all his eyes.. and.. and stretches d- deep his t-toes... for he knows -" A sudden shaft, twined light and dark, pierced his mind. He cried out. Then he collapsed against Qui-Gon, shaking, crying: "I'm sorry, I-"
"Hush, lad. Hush, my brave one. Focus, now. You can do this. Hold fast to me." Again Obi-Wan felt the brush of Qui-Gon's presence, solid and patient and real as a stone. With all his strength he reached out his mind and clung fast. Qui-Gon's strength twined around him, shielding him and calming the sea of flame that raged through him. "For he knows -" Qui-Gon prompted, gently massaging the clenched muscles of his back.
"He knows... he knows that sleep must come." Obi-Wan gasped, as though new-come to fresh and wholesome air beyond a realm of ash and cinders.
"The grasses bend their weary backs..."
"Letting d-down... their burdens... for the night."
"And children turn their weary minds..."
"To find the dreamland... waiting near." With every recitation Obi-Wan felt calm seeping into his mind and body. He let it grow, let it pool, drawing down the raging flame to stillness.