Darsant Avat

The First Mission

At ten years old, Obi-Wan had "leveled up", at least according to the little rascal and his friends. This meant he was now given responsibilities and a limited amount of freedom, though with Dooku in the temple, there turned out to be more of the former than the latter. As Tahl had predicted, Qui-Gon wasted no time introducing the boy to the culinary arts, something Obi-Wan seemed to have conflicting feelings about, and he also introduced an allowance, something the boy had more certain feelings about. The brat also wanted to learn how to fly, but Qui-Gon vehemently swore that there will be no lessons until the boy turned fifteen. His own padawans had spared him the headache in the past, but he had seen enough of what happened with other masters to know just how dangerous it could be for a ten-year-old to attempt to navigate the skies of Coruscant. Force or no, Obi-Wan was not touching any of the ships.

"You and your padawan are being dispatched to Nar Shaddaa," Adi Gallia informed Qui-Gon as she kept her eyes focused on the details on her datapad.

"Nar Shaddaa?" Qui-Gon exclaimed in disbelief, "Are you serious?"

"Ye—er, no, sorry," Adi Gallia scrolled up, "Wrong master-padawan pair."

"That's more like it." Nar Shaddaa was the Smuggler's Moon, or one of the most convoluted places in the galaxy. It was no place to delegate the efforts of a ten-year-old padawan. "Don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry," The other master murmured apologetically, "Er, you're actually routed to Corellia. I'm…It's the Diktat, some conflict about humane business practices—I'll leave you to read up the details. Maybe you should leave Padawan Kenobi on Coruscant again."

At ten years old, Obi-Wan was still very young for a padawan, but old enough to partake in some more peaceful missions, though given the nature of certain systems, this could be hard to gauge. Corellia was a rather high-profile planet, however, and if they invited Jedi aid for negotiations, it probably was actually for negotiations and would not descend to violence and chaos. At the moment, the only danger to the child seemed to be boredom.

On the other hand, Obi-Wan had better friends on Corellia than Qui-Gon.

"Aren't you supposed to know the mental processes of their selection?" Qui-Gon asked dryly, "You don't know why the Council assigned us this mission?"

"Well…I do," Adi said in the same tone, "But you're not going to like it."

Him not liking things tended to revolve around Obi-Wan. "You mean they want to use my padawan somehow? Cute his way into making the Diktat cooperate?"

"Yes, that is exactly it."

"I was joking."

"Oh. That's…unfortunate, because that's still exactly it."

Qui-Gon stared. She was serious.

"Do you have any idea how much this sounds like a holo-sit-com?"

"Try looking from my end."

"Well if Obi-Wan's intended role is to be charming," Qui-Gon shrugged, "There are worse ways to use a youngling, I suppose."

"They noticed that the core planets were very fond of the child," Said Adi, "Which might help soothe tempers. We'll see. The Council also is contemplating letting you go on 'vacation' in other sectors."

"His charm only works on good people, or at least sophisticated people," Qui-Gon murmured, distracted. "The boy closes up around those who don't like kids or who wouldn't be nice to him."

"Ah…"

"It's a helpful ability—I can judge people using the Kenobimeter if my connection to the Force ever wavers."

"Hm!" Adi thought this over. "You two are very strange. Nonetheless, we do want to utilize his 'charm' while he's still young. The other sectors of the galaxy aren't as safe, so it's possible that your 'vacations' may consist of other Jedi."

Most fussed over padawan ever. Not that Qui-Gon was complaining. Obi-Wan had to go on active duty at some point, even if he really would like to extend that period where the boy could be safely kept at the temple, and this was an acceptable way to transition the child to his role as a Jedi. Plus, this gave him reason to avoid Dooku.

There was nothing inherently wrong with the Jedi Master that he could sense, other than that obscure feeling of dread whenever the thought of the him and Obi-Wan together inspired. The most telling part was that Obi-Wan was not too thrilled with meeting Dooku either, even when the boy learned that the man was Qui-Gon's own master. The boy did not understand it, but Qui-Gon encouraged him to trust his feelings, and made sure never to allow Dooku to be alone with his padawan. He was not sure how well he succeeded—it could be that the events of the dream had already taken place and Dooku had already touched the boy, but Qui-Gon knew that the encounter was really the least of his worries. Better take Obi-Wan off Coruscant and try to convince the Council to send Dooku on another mission before returning.

On that point…"You're not sending Master Dooku with us, are you?"

Adi gave him a guarded look. "We haven't decided yet. Why?"

"He makes my padawan nervous," Qui-Gon said, which was true and an elegant way to avoid saying that Dooku made him nervous, but given that he had just talked about the Kenobimeter not seconds before, the line lost much of its subtlety.

"Do you have anyone in mind?"

Tahl would be good. So would Kit. Neither of them were particularly vocal about how close he was to his padawan. Mace would be no real threat, but he would have a lot to say about many things, and already demonstrated the complete lack of decorum when it came to criticizing his padawan like the boy was not there to hear every word being said. His former apprentices would be fine too, but Qui-Gon harbored no illusions about the likelihood of that.

"I know Padawan Kenobi is fond of Kit," The other master mused, "And Kit is fond of him. I'll see if he can be assigned."

OoO

"I don't understand what we're supposed to do," Kit said as he read over the files, "The situation seems a bit ludicrous. They need Corellian imports but they refuse to accept them until Corellia modifies its policies. The Diktat won't modify their laws just because they were told."

Qui-Gon was busy explaining the more convoluted aspects of the mission to his young padawan. The boy was bright, but the mission was proving to be too much information at once. He could sense the child growing frustrating with his inability to comprehend and soothingly rubbed his back. "Don't worry," He insisted, "I'm also not explaining things very well. It's a bit confusing for me too."

"You're not the only one," Kit grumbled. He pushed the basket on the table toward the boy. "Have a cookie." For a good measure, he took one himself.

Qui-Gon was thinking that despite the peaceful nature of the mission, it might be too complicated for a ten-year-old to grasp, especially if he was busy trying to figure out what the problem was himself. At first glance it looked like a case of a large planet employing cheap labor to produce goods, which was putting other companies out of business, but the planet was allowing cheap labor because they had a large supply of workers and increasing wages would lower their marginal revenue dangerously. Employing minimum wage laws would raise unemployment, but the other planets in the sector were demanding such an implementation.

"This frankly doesn't look like anything the Jedi should stick our noses into. I'm no economist."

"I don't think that's the issue," Qui-Gon said wryly. "There's something they're not telling us. They obviously want a solution but neither side is budging. This is odd behavior for diplomats unless there is something they're not saying."

"Well, we'll have to figure out what it is then." Kit looked at Obi-Wan, who was chewing noisily. Ten years old and the child could still forget everything else while he eats. Qui-Gon wondered if he had been one of those infants who would throw everything aside and kick back when given a bottle. The youngster was so engrossed, he did not notice the two older Jedi staring at him.

"Well free market trades…low government involvement, for Corellia it looks like their motives are straight-forward."

Munch munch munch.

Qui-Gon lost it; he snickered, covering his mouth with his hand. Kit also grinned. It made him regret putting an end to this, but it was pretty distracting. "I think Obi-Wan's had enough cookies for the moment, Kit."

"Aw," The Nautolan slid the basket away. There was a pang of disappointment from Obi-Wan, but the boy did not complain.

They read over the rest of the files, but it was all along a similar vein. Soon enough, Obi-Wan's admittedly considerable attention-span ran out, so Qui-Gon released him to go play with his friends.

"Must be different," Kit mused, "Having a padawan so young. They grow out of this phase by the time they're twelve, right? Start becoming annoying and unstable."

"It's different for different initiates. My first two padawans were both very quiet. Feemor had a passive attitude towards things, very intelligent but not particularly curious, come to think of it. He'd learn what you teach him but he wouldn't go out of his way to ask questions."

Yoda had not been appreciative of Obi-Wan's rather loud inquiry about the paintings in the temple; the little rascal had asked this in front of the Chancellor and several key members of the Senate, having momentarily forgotten that such subjects were not discussed in front of polite company because they had been so blatantly displayed at the museum in Alderaan. After something of a tongue-lashing from the Grand Master, Qui-Gon gently told the child that just because museums displayed such things did not mean they fit in all conversations.

As bashful as his youngling had been at the time, he was nowhere as embarrassed as Yoda. Set him up, you did! Set me up, you did! Mischievous young ones…

Mace and Tahl had nearly died laughing.

"Authsola is female," Qui-Gon went on, "She had an even gentler temper, though she was a bit more aggressive with her curiosity. They both had very calm dispositions. Depa Billaba had fits of temper now and then when she was a padawan, I think. They were rare, and Mace usually saw to it that they end very very quickly."

"I was the epitome of a padawan," Kit stated.

"No you weren't," Qui-Gon returned dryly, "I remember when Yoda was training you."

"…You do?"

"What, do I look like I've got long-term memory loss? I remember you detected all sorts of stuff like who was getting excited and who had a hormone spike…and then said it out loud. Except you weren't cute like Obi-Wan, you were trying to cause trouble for Yoda on purpose."

"Blasphemy! I never did that, you weren't there, you couldn't have known."

"I was there once." Sometimes Qui-Gon was quite happy that he was no longer considered young.

"You were."

"Yes."

"When were you 'there', exactly?"

"That Hatawa representative, a Marais male, I believe. You announced to everyone at large that he was in heat."

Kit uttered a curse. "Why would you remember that?"

"Why would I forget? What did Yoda do to you, by the way? I was very curious about that."

"He took me to an orphanage," Kit replied morosely.

Qui-Gon was not sure what he was expecting, but it certainly was not that, and the knight looked disturbed enough that he decided not to press after all. It might be more unpleasant than entertaining.

"He was actually pretty lenient with me. I've heard stories of masters who were far more strict. Yoda probably knew I would grow out of it. He said once that Nautolans need to get use to all the readings we get and sometimes it messes with our feelings when we go through our own maturation stage."

"Yoda is a wise master," Qui-Gon nodded. It had been fitting for the Grand Master to train the Nautolan, whose species were rare among Jedi. "He knows when to let things be."

"That he does," Kit agreed.

OoO

Despite the civil nature of the mission, it really was too complicated to bring a ten-year-old. Qui-Gon resigned himself to turning it into a test of patience for his little one, which admittedly Obi-Wan was a bit bad at. Bringing the youngster along also proved distracting for the diplomats and business representatives, so after five hours of rising tempers, nothing got done that first day.

"Well that was decidedly unpleasant," Kit observed, "Let's try not to do that again."

"I think I just unlearned game theory," Qui-Gon told him seriously.

"That was really boring," Obi-Wan remarked a little grouchily, "I didn't understand what any of them were saying, and they were all speaking Basic, but they were using all these long words I've never even heard of!"

He probably had read them though, Qui-Gon thought. "Chaperone" was not the only word Obi-Wan had seen and did not know how to pronounce.

"And they were all really mean to each other!"

That much was true.

The next morning Obi-Wan started sniffling and coughing, which turned into a full-on fever. Since Qui-Gon was the master of the trio, Kit was delegated tasks of caretaker while Qui-Gon oversaw day two of negotiations. He checked on Obi-Wan after the beginnings of some contracts were beginning to be laid out.

"I hate influenza viruses," Kit was sipping hot tea while Obi-Wan was watching a holovid, coughing dry coughs. "Little buggers totally down you despite being wimpy illnesses. It makes me feel wimpy."

"Are you coming down with it too?" Qui-Gon asked in disbelief.

"Of course not. It's a human virus. You should be careful though. Hot cha?"

"Not now. Padawan, how are you feeling?"

"My head hurts but I can't sleep. And the headache medicines don't help."

"Have you tried siphoning off the pain with the Force?"

Obi-Wan scowled at him.

"You can't keep waiting for me to do it for you, little one. You've…what's it? 'Leveled up'? That means you have to do some of these things on your own."

"But my head hurts and I can't concentrate…"

Yoda was going to whack his shins for saying this. "Try." He felt the boy's forehead as Obi-Wan obeyed. "Still a little warm. Grab me the thermometer, will you?"

"Careful, don't drop it; that's mercury in there. Beats me why they gave me a mercury thermometer." Kit handed it to him.

"Mercury? For medicine? Thought they banned these ages ago. And it's an underarm one too. Interesting. What, did they run out of alcohol thermometers?"

Kit shrugged.

"You're a wily little rascal aren't you?" Qui-Gon said to Obi-Wan, "Getting sick so you can ditch negotiations, hm?"

"I didn't do it on purpose," Obi-Wan wrinkled his nose, "And it's no fun when you're actually sick."

"I bet it isn't." Qui-Gon glanced at the chrono. "Five minutes?" He asked Kit.

"Right."

"And don't get any ideas about faking illness just to cut classes or such," Qui-Gon went on, "I know when you're lying."

"I've never done that!"

"I know. Just saying."

"Did you get anything done, Master?"

"There's progress." Qui-Gon explained things to Kit. "You're a wily one too. I should have asked for Tahl. She could have sat there while I tended to my padawan because we've both got equal seniority."

"Oh I see why you brought your padawan here, Master Jinn. You were hoping that he would come up with some ludicrous scheme or other so you can sit out on your own mission! Crafty, Qui-Gon, real crafty. Not happening."

Qui-Gon shrugged with feigned helplessness while Obi-Wan giggled between his coughs. Apparently the boy's headache was gone.

"I hope tomorrow we can wrap things up, finalize the contract, and then sign the thing before I forget how to do math." Qui-Gon rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Seriously, you'd think businesspeople would know how to add and subtract…"

OoO

Obi-Wan "completed" his first mission without knowing what was going on or what happened, something that left the boy a little dissatisfied. Qui-Gon was just glad things did not descend to violence and he never had to activate his lightsaber. When they returned to the temple, Obi-Wan was still sick, so he spent the rest of the evening sleeping while Qui-Gon was debriefed by the Council.

Yoda chortled when he heard what the youngling had accomplished. "Little rascal, he is! Very well, very well."

"He wouldn't have understood what was happening even if he sat through all the negotiations," Qui-Gon told an amused Tahl. "The poor child was bored out of his mind. It really was just as well."

"At least he sat through one," She replied, "And you know how it is; most padawans get sick on their first mission. New environment, stress and a young body, all of that is enough to weaken one's immune system. Though I expected better of Obi-Wan, considering he's been going around unlike other padawans."

"There was a flu going around," Qui-Gon replied, "The representatives were all coughing and sneezing their way through the negotiations." In fact, Qui-Gon really did not appreciate being in their company, and he suspected this made their tempers more irritable too. "Obi-Wan's lived in a more sterile environment than the representatives there. He was a little more susceptible to it, I think."

Obi-Wan's illness did not ease the next day, nor the next, but Qui-Gon only became alarmed when one night he sensed their mental bond falter.

"It's been more than a week," Qui-Gon said to the healers as Obi-Wan miserably informed them that his diaphragm was hurting from all that coughing, "The flu shouldn't last that long."

"This isn't a flu," Said the healer, "It's pneumonia. Nasty one too, fungal."

"Fungal?" Qui-Gon stared. "What in the Force?"

"Nasty things, fungi," The healer went on, as Tahl held his arm, "His immune system must be severely compromised for him to get infected by one of those, probably he was attacked first by the flu, and then the fungus took the opportunity."

Qui-Gon scratched his temple, wondering what could have happened. Obi-Wan seemed to be in prime health. His genetic tests showed no hereditary illness, not even dormant ones, and he certainly had not been doing anything that would cause his immune system to be so weakened.

"Well what can you do?"

"We can give him some antifungal, but we need to do some tests, fungal infections are rather hard to deal with, with the Force we ought to be able to avoid surgery—"

"Surgery!"

Qui-Gon's panic was scaring Obi-Wan, so he quickly released his fear into the Force. Yoda came to visit shortly afterwards as the Jedi Master questioned the child. Dooku was with him.

"How is our little star doing?" Dooku asked amiably, and Obi-Wan blinked warily at him. The exchange reminded Qui-Gon sharply of his vision, and suddenly something slid in place.

"He attacked my padawan," He said to Yoda, once Dooku left.

"Hm?"

"I know he did."

"Calm down, you should."

"Oh I'm calm alright." He pressed his hand to his mouth as he listened to Obi-Wan cough in the next room and Tahl's subsequent murmurs of comfort.

"Know this, how?" Yoda raised his eyebrows. "Vision, saw, did you?"

Qui-Gon felt like punching something, which was not very Jedi. "I know this doesn't make sense, but I know he had something to do with my padawan's illness."

"Your master, he was. Trained you, he did."

"And that makes him above suspicion, does it?"

Yoda whacked him in the shins. "Your tone, you should watch. Mean that, I did not."

"I don't care if he's Grand Master Zym," Qui-Gon went on, "I'll cross blades with him if he dares to attack my padawan, see if I don't!"

Yoda whacked him in the shins again. "Calm down, you should!"

Qui-Gon was not calming down. "Surgery!" He exclaimed to the Grand Master, "Any later and we would have had to resort to surgery! They would have had to cut out parts of his lungs!"

Yoda hit him again. "Repeat myself again, I will not!"

Qui-Gon released a breath, though it did not cool his ire.

"Certain, are you, that your former master was to blame?"

"I feel it in the Force," He replied with conviction.

"Saw too, that dangerous, Sifo-Dyas will be, as well," Yoda pointed out.

"I don't exactly let Obi-Wan near Sifo-Dyas either," Qui-Gon pointed out.

"Hm. Sense darkness in Dooku, I do not, but clouded, his mind is to me. See him harm a youngling, I cannot, but how, there are ways."

Qui-Gon turned to him. "Like what? How does one do that? Cause someone to fall sick like that?"

"Dark Side skill, it is," Said Yoda, "Drain Force, drain life, weaken vitality of another, replace one's own. Possible, it is, to use youth of children, extend one's own life at cost of others."

You should request some time, my friend. Men like us have to slow down a little, allow the young ones to do the legwork…

"Either send him away, or I will take Obi-Wan away," Qui-Gon looked at Yoda. "It's him. I know it's him. Master, Obi-Wan and I bonded in the Force. You can ask Sifo-Dyas—Master Billaba, you can meditate on this and I'm sure you would see it too, but Obi-Wan is important, somehow, more important than…more important than the Sith, even. He's a target. You remember that twi'lek serial killer."

"Always run from danger, one cannot," Yoda replied solemnly.

"He's young," Qui-Gon pleaded, "He's not old enough to face the dangers that are hunting him. Certainly not when they wear the face of one of our own. I'm not asking you to kick Dooku out. I'm asking you to keep him occupied. Surely that would not inconvenience anyone."

"Except Dooku!" The Grand Master pointed out, "But hear you, I do. Willing to leave the Order, are you?" He gently poked Qui-Gon in the back of the knee with his stick, "Everywhere, danger is, both in temple and outside. So eager, are you, to leave the defenses we have?"

Chastised, Qui-Gon murmured, "I wanted you to know I was serious." Obi-Wan's coughing hacked in the air and the child moaned wearily.

"Overlook the individual, sometimes, we do," Yoda nodded grimly, "But not all the time." He hobbled back to Obi-Wan where the two talked briefly, before telling Qui-Gon, "Done, it will be."

"I hope Obi-Wan learns exactly how much you're giving up for him," Tahl told Qui-Gon once Yoda left, "Friends, master, what next?"

"Sanity?" Qui-Gon returned grimly.

"Force willing," She replied, "It better be worth it."

Qui-Gon considered his sick child.

"I won't let the dark take him," He vowed.