Darsant Avat
Telos IV
Qui-Gon openly scolded Obi-Wan for the first time because of Telos. It was actually a good thing, because scolding and disagreements had to come between the pair eventually, and the Order already found it extremely odd that the two had not uncovered their differences earlier. The good thing came at a bad time, however, as such good things always did, and it also was not anything Qui-Gon could rightfully criticize the boy over, other than his bad handling of the situation. He should have kept calm, kept his focus, instead of letting his emotions rule over him, but the boy was ten years old and scared.
"Why can't I come with you?" The child exclaimed in front of all the Jedi in the hangar, "You let me come with you on the last mission!"
"This mission is much more dangerous than the last one, Obi-Wan—"
"I can help."
It was laughable that the ten-year-old believed he could offer any significant assistance to a master like Qui-Gon.
"You will go with Tahl," Qui-Gon pointed sternly, "And you will meditate on your behavior today and consider how you make yourself look and how you make me look in front of the others. Go. I will not discuss this further with you." The ship was waiting, he was supposed to leave Coruscant in fifteen minutes and had thought he could spend more time in a civil setting with Obi-Wan, rather than deal with this sudden fit.
Obi-Wan burst into tears and looked frightened, which gave the master some pause. This was not the boy's pride, or disappointment at being left behind when he was "old enough" to go with his master. He was scared, almost like he had some kind of nightmare about this mission. At this point, Qui-Gon knew if one of them received a vision, the other one did not.
He knelt down to look up at Obi-Wan, who was clenching his fists in an effort to control himself.
"What happened?" He asked, "You know you're still a little weak from being sick. I'd spend most of my time worrying about you instead of the mission if I bring you with me."
Obi-Wan bit his lip.
"Stop doing that," Qui-Gon scolded, pulling on the boy's chin to tug the lip out. "Talk to me. I don't have much time."
"Do you have to go? What if—what if something happens to you?"
Obi-Wan never worried about something like that before. He always had full confidence in Qui-Gon's abilities as a master, that he possessed the sort of invincibility children believed their parents had. Qui-Gon wanted to reassure the boy, but knew, both as parent and teacher, that he could not make such promises lightly.
"If that is the Force's will," He told his padawan, "Then it will be so, and we will follow it." Eleven minutes was not enough time to start talking about life and death. "I will be careful, and I will do my best to return, I can promise you that."
"He doesn't like you," Obi-Wan insisted.
"The governor?"
The boy nodded miserably. There was more, but the child was unwilling to say.
"I'll be careful," Qui-Gon promised again. "Obi-Wan, everything dies eventually. If that is the will of the Force, I have to obey."
"It isn't the will of the Force. It's the will of the Dark Side."
Another hint. It seemed like Obi-Wan was trying to tell him that Xanatos Du Crion was a Sith Lord. He was wise to be discreet, because if Qui-Gon had not had the visions he did, he would not have believed the boy. The Sith were extinct, as far as the Order was concerned.
Nine minutes. He had to get on that ship before he lost the window scheduled to leave Coruscant's atmosphere. Qui-Gon held out his arm and pulled the boy into a tight hug.
"No matter what happens, I will always be with you." It was as much as he could say now, even if it was not enough. "Your master is not so easy to kill. Go now. Tahl! Take him. I have to get the ship started."
Tahl led the tearful Obi-Wan to the side of the hangar as the Jedi Master finally boarded the shuttle. There was an R2 unit, but beyond that he was alone.
Master…Obi-Wan's voice wailed through the link. Qui-Gon sent a reassuring wave even as he powered up the engines.
He sighed. This mission might turn out to be more interesting than he could ever want.
OoO
Because the boy was so distraught, Qui-Gon did not immediately enter hyperspace upon exiting Coruscant's stratosphere. He sent a transmission to Tahl's comm. for her to receive when she had the chance. He doubted the Force would fail him with this mission, but it was always good to be cautious, especially since this mission might turn out to be very bad.
"Let Obi-Wan know that I'll contact him as soon as I land, in case he forgets. Tell Master Yoda that he should probably send Mace instead of Kit," He paused, "In case the Telosian governor tries something Kit can't handle. I might need Mace's Vaapad form if the trap proves to be too big when sprung. Also I get the feeling that Sifo-Dyas might approach Obi-Wan in this state. Can you look after him for me? I know he's in the créche but I don't want Sifo-Dyas taking him out of the temple or something." It truly must be a nightmare for those using the Unifying Force to keep track of all their visions. " I think he's going to be really depressed this time around, I have a bunch of snacks from the different Core planets we've visited hidden in the cabinet in my bedroom—it's behind Authsola's large holocamera suitcase in a duffel bag. Should have thought of that before I left. Make sure he doesn't find the stack! He'll probably eat it all or give it all away, I'm not sure which one's better, really but neither is good because that stack is supposed to last him about two years…"
He gave the R2 droid the go-ahead to launch into hyperspace. It was easier to have a droid around; this way if he ever encountered Coruscanti traffic again he could just nap and let the R2 unit take care of it. Seriously, every ship should come with one of these things.
Obi-Wan's presence dimmed a little as they entered hyperspace, but their bond was strong enough that he could still feel Obi-Wan and sense some of his emotions. The boy was feeling resigned and helpless, a feeling Qui-Gon could understand, given the nature of their parting. "I will always be here" was not really much of a reassurance if Obi-Wan did not know what he meant.
What would happen to the boy if something happened to Qui-Gon? The child was unique, and at this point everyone already loved the boy enough that someone would take him as a padawan. And then see all his "flaws". Some of it they would no doubt blame on Qui-Gon, but some would probably blame it on the child himself. Would they protect the boy adequately? What if they chose to ignore the warnings from the Force?
Idiot. He could not worry about such things. It was out of his hands, and worrying about them was useless at best and harmful at worst. He had already allowed the future to guide his choices already, and Qui-Gon was not strong in the Unifying Force. For the matter on Telos IV, he had to be incredibly careful, especially if the governor turned out to be a Sith.
He would definitely need Mace's Vaapad.
OoO
As far as planets went, Telos IV was a fairly ordinary bit of rock. It had a long history that was obvious in the planet's Force presence, ancient, grounded, and solid compared to significantly younger planets. It did not really have abnormally rich resources, but it had a stable ecosystem that could be considered beautiful, sustaining a rich culture and businesses associated with tourism. Not bad, for a planet on the outskirts of the galaxy.
Governor Du Crion met Qui-Gon with several other envoys, and all of them exchanged pleasantries. Some of the other members of the Telosian Council had visited Coruscant before, and Qui-Gon remembered some of their faces, if not their names.
"Master Jinn!" The governor inclined his head in greeting, and was all courtesy and attention. "We are so glad you were able to come!"
"My pleasure," Said the Jedi Master, walking forward.
"Come, come," Said the governor, and began introducing him to all the envoys there. Qui-Gon acknowledged each as was polite, and directed the conversation to business as soon as presentations were done.
"The report indicated that the pirates are becoming a bit trying to deal with," Said Qui-Gon, "But did not articulate what precisely you want me to do, and under what conditions. Pirates are a scattered lot, and negotiating with them would be fruitless. What exactly have they been attacking, who are they targeting, and what do you want me to do about it?"
"Your order likes to get straight to the point," The governor observed with amusement, his admittedly handsome young face splitting into a grin that would appear equally handsome to those who did not know what to look for. "As for the pirates, Telos wants them gone. It doesn't quite matter how—that is up to you, as long as the space territories are cleared. Perhaps it would be best if we arrest a few to make as an example, discourage others from this criminal career. They do behave as a scattered lot, but perhaps there is some organization to be found, though if there is our forces have yet to uncover it. Their attacks also seem random—our calculations indicate that there is no predictable pattern to be found with the attacks, but I can show you where most of them are taking place."
Pirates were one of those things that the planets liked to take care of themselves as opposed to appealing to the Republic or the Jedi Order. It tended to be a local matter, and inviting Republic forces would endanger their self-rule. Everything about the situation was bizarre, to say the least, and the Jedi master filed away the possibility that Xanatos might have orchestrated the entire thing just to get him to come here for later analysis. The Jedi Order had been around long enough that this had actually happened quite a few times to its members before.
The governor and his envoys did not seem to share Qui-Gon's need for urgency in resolving the issue of pirates, so Qui-Gon relaxed his own stance. He had no doubt pirates were actually ransacking shipments and blowing up freighters, but if the Telosian government itself was in no hurry, he wanted the time to take in more of the situation before acting.
"You came alone?" Governor Du Crion noted, "I was told you had a padawan, and that padawans accompany their masters on missions."
"Not all of them," Qui-Gon replied, projecting a civil expression to hide the brusqueness of his answer.
"Ah," Said the envoy, "We met him, I believe. Quite an unusual youngster, rather memorable."
"Oh yes," The governor nodded, "What was his name again? Ke—Kenobi, I believe?"
"Kenobi, yes."
"What a nice young man. I told him he should visit Telos sometime. It's very different from Coruscant."
Every planet, admittedly, was different from Coruscant—such was the hazard of being a unique planet. Qui-Gon did not say this though. "It was kind of you to extend the invitation, Governor."
"No trouble at all," Xanatos smiled.
OoO
The lack of pattern was telling.
There was always some kind of pattern if something was truly random, even if it stretched over a limited range. Even pi had a brief pattern of 3, 1, 4, 1, 5 before veering away, and if the pirates were truly working on their own, there were places that were more convenient, ships that were easier to attack, more profitable to loot—there would be patterns. Qui-Gon had them run through the screens by date, the number of passengers of each ship that was attacked, types of ships that were attacked, but all yielded little to say. The markers littering the map did not resemble the random activity of multiple groups. The whole thing looked too careful, like the pirates were doing their best not to get in each other's way and cooperating to make everything appear random. Perhaps the governor was paying under the table?
"You are right," Qui-Gon said to the envoys, "This does look random. I will meditate on this and see if the Force has anything to say about it."
Most non-Force-sensitives view this sort of statement with skepticism, and the envoys were no different. Xanatos himself was carefully impassive, his face the perfect mask of fake amiability. It could be for purposes of civility less than because he himself was Force-sensitive, and this was not really too important, as long as Qui-Gon had some time alone.
"Of course," Said the governor, "You must be tired from your journey. I will have my men show you to your quarters; they are on the other side of the building, with a good view too. I was told this helps with meditation."
Qui-Gon inclined his head in gratitude. The R2 unit that came with him whirred softly.
"If you can bring a projector to my rooms with all of this data," Qui-Gon went on, "And a holocomputer, I would appreciate it. I may also contact the Council to discuss possible actions to take." It would not do to admit that he had not contacted them yet—Xanatos might try something and then claim that Qui-Gon never arrived on Telos.
He had to call his little one anyway.
OoO
Obi-Wan greeted him while eating Alderaanian crackers, looking in significantly better spirits upon realizing his master had arrived safely, though more likely it was because of the snacks. He was still a bit sullen. Qui-Gon wondered with a mild panic just how much the child had eaten between now and when he left Coruscant.
"Be careful, Master, I have a bad feeling," The child twisted his lips, frowning. "It's confusing."
"Have you been good for Tahl?" Qui-Gon asked.
The boy nodded. "She was telling me a lot of stories of you when you were younger. She said that the Telosians don't have a chance of bringing you down."
Well, the Telosians did not. A Sith might, if he or she had the proper training, but Qui-Gon was not going to point that out to his already edgy padawan.
"You have been doing all your homework? All your exercises?"
Obi-Wan nodded again. It was really a redundant question—the boy liked playing as much as any other child, but he was a good student. "Feemor is back! He said I can go stay with him. I dunno though, I think his padawan isn't too thrilled with me barging into their home all the time, and the créche is nice for now as long as Garen and Reeft are here."
The wonderful thing about Obi-Wan was that because of his innate compassion, he usually had a keen insight into the hearts of other people, and he would often share them with his master. Qui-Gon had not even considered how Feemor's padawan felt about Obi-Wan, or Qui-Gon's constant requests to look after the boy. "I see. So you will stay at the créche then?"
"Uh-huh. Feemor said I could visit whenever I like. Tahl thinks his padawan feels a bit ne-ne…neglected? When I'm around, so she suggested I don't visit too often. She's still trying to get Bant. I think Knight Fisto is fighting with her over Bant. It's funny. I hope that Garen and Reeft get chosen soon though. Most of the créche is still there but they're getting a bit nervous."
Garen and Reeft had no worries. Qui-Gon was sure of this. Still, a little bit of anxiety was not necessarily bad for the younglings, even if it might seem cruel—it would teach them some humility, and empathize with those who were not so fortunate to move out of a situation.
"How long are you going to be gone?" Obi-Wan's tone took on a plaintive quality, "Are you going to be back soon? I miss you."
"I miss you too, little one," Qui-Gon found the child heartwarming. "Believe me, I want to finish this as soon as possible. You go ahead and keep being the good padawan you are, alright? If the next mission is safe, I will bring you along."
Obi-Wan brightened at first, but then scowled a little. "You mean safe as in boring, don't you, Master?"
The brat was quick. "A Jedi does not seek adventure, my young padawan."
"A Jedi does not seek boring either!"
The comment made Qui-Gon laugh uncontrollably. One day, boring would be something Obi-Wan preferred, but the comment was just so young and innocent and childlike, the master found himself unwilling to disillusion the boy from it. Children must have their philosophies, after all.
"Be good, Obi-Wan. I will be back soon."
"Alright." Then, probably because he had encountered so many normal families and had glimpsed into their daily lives, the child added unthinkingly, "Love you."
Answering had been no choice at all. "Love you too, Obi-Wan."
The Council will have his head, Qui-Gon mused when the connection closed. Or not—at ten years old, did children even know what love is? It had clearly been something that just fell from the boy's lips, because he had heard such exchanges between fathers and sons and mothers and daughters. One thing was for certain; the boy was solidly attached to Qui-Gon, as much, in many ways, as Qui-Gon was attached to him. All padawans and masters were attached to some level, though saying it gave more dimension to the sentiment.
Little rascal, The man shook his head fondly.
OoO
Instead of meditating after talking with Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon looked around for any recorders in his room. His Force senses told him that the room was clean; if Xanatos was really a Sith, he probably did not think Qui-Gon was on to him. Obi-Wan was unusually strong in the Unifying Force, even without taking his incredible young age, and as a practitioner of the Living Force, no one would ever expect Qui-Gon to be stealing his padawan's visions; certainly, no one would believe he would trust in them.
Qui-Gon was not called a maverick without reason. In fact, there were many, one of which was his often unpredictable approaches to problems, whether they be related to the Force or something else. In this case, armed with Obi-Wan's multiple warnings, the master set about to uncover if there was a plot in a rather un-Jedi-like fashion; the room was not bugged, so Qui-Gon whipped out the computer and set about slicing.
Remote slicing, or really, slicing of any kind, was rather illegal in the Republic. Most Jedi did not resort to it because it required too much effort to learn and the Force was usually more reliable when dealing with non-Force-sensitives who were suspected of corruption. Qui-Gon learned this as a padawan because there were enough instances with ysalamari or Force-inhibiting devices and drugs that knowing such things could be life-saving. As he hacked, he made notes that he should remember to teach Obi-Wan these things before knighthood; once a knight, it would be harder for the boy to devote time to learning how to hack. Among the many things Qui-Gon planned to teach him were underhanded skills of pickpocketing, lockpicking, and planting viruses into people's hardware.
The servers in the Telosian system made for a complicated network. After setting up the protocols, he called the R2 unit over and gave it some instructions, since the droid could read the data faster than he could. As the R2 unit hacked, Qui-Gon looked over the maps and diagrams and other forensic data. Military grade weapons had been used, and the pirates often ambushed ships exiting out of hyperspace, as if anticipating their arrival. Curious indeed. It was looking more and more like a setup, especially given, Oh, what do you know? The pirate attacks intensified about a year ago, soon after Du Crion visited Coruscant for business deals.
He needed more evidence than speculation, however. As the R2 unit continued to browse through the files, Qui-Gon did some more slicing of his own.
I did not forget the importance of bait and decoys, He thought to Mace, as he hacked into a company server and listed an additional shipment of goods. He better tell Mace to fly a ship for two people when the time came.
OoO
In confronting possible corrupt officials like Xanatos, it was always best to reveal just enough of the truth to mislead the other.
"I'm noticing there is a number of ambush cases," Qui-Gon said to the governor and several of the officials, "I have reason to suspect that the information regarding shipments are being leaked to the pirates somehow."
Xanatos' eyes became piercing. "Oh? You believe there is a mole?"
"Or many moles," Qui-Gon said flippantly, "It's hard to say. They don't follow any particular pattern, as you say. The shipments being attacked belong to both large and small businesses, but it's curious that they attack when the ships come out of hyperspace. I would like to go talk with the corporations, determine their shipping protocols and if any of their servers were breached."
Xanatos narrowed his dark eyes. "But it's a bit outrageous to claim that all of these businesses have moles—I see no advantage to be had in this case."
"Of course," Qui-Gon inclined his head, "But they could be using the same shipment protocols, yes? Or they may be using the same server security systems. We wouldn't know until we talked to them about this. As for what benefits, well, what benefits does any act of piracy garner?"
"Yes," The governor agreed easily enough. "That is a splendid idea. Best of luck to you, Master Jedi."
Good play, Qui-Gon thought. Sith did not believe in luck any more than Jedi did. The master almost felt sorry for the man. He did not know about the Kenobimeter.
"R2," He called his unit as he left the governor's office, "Come along. We're going to talk to people."