"Master, I must speak with you. Now." Anakin's voice was low and urgent as he herded Obi-Wan into a corner without realizing it.
With a chuckle, Obi-Wan Kenobi gently pushed Anakin back a pace with one hand and smiled at him through his graying moustache. "What is it now, Anakin? We're about to convene—" he pointed at the large doors of the Council Chambers, "—and your sudden 'urgent' message, whatever it is, will have to wait."
"No. This is important. It is extremely urgent!" stressed Anakin, his whispers accompanied by jerky hand movements as he tried to keep himself inconspicuously still.
"By the Force, Anakin," sighed Obi-Wan.
"The Sith I told you about is here," Anakin hissed, bending toward Obi-Wan as he said it.
Master Kenobi froze. His blue eyes darkened. "What did you say?" he asked haltingly.
Anakin hid the smirk he felt rising up inside him. "The Sith, the one I dreamed about, he ishere. On Coruscant."
Obi-Wan almost fell over from relief. "I thought you meant he was here in the Temple! By the Force, Anakin! You can't do this kind of thing to me! I'm getting old! I nearly died of a heart attack just then!" He chuckled, and then grabbed Anakin by the shoulder. "Don't do that. Ever. Again."
The Council doors opened, the hydraulics smooth and clean sounding.
"On a different note, I finally ran into Jedi Quin," Anakin said as an afterthought as the Masters on the Council started to file into the large room.
"And what was your impression?" asked Obi-Wan hopefully.
"That something is going on. He's hiding something from us. I don't know what it is just yet, but I'm going to find out," said Anakin, a little more intensely than usual.
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "How did I sense that one coming?"
"I guess you know me a little too well, Master," smiled Anakin, following Obi-Wan to their seats around the Council circle. They sat down. Across the circle Master Shaak Ti nodded respectfully to them, a small smile on her beautiful rusty features.
Anakin leaned toward Obi-Wan as subtly as he could, using the Force to send his whisper directly into his former Master's ear. "Why are we here?"
Obi-Wan rubbed his ear ruefully, turning his head to look at his former Padawan. "We're listening to Kiran Quin's report. I thought you knew that."
Anakin shrugged. "I guess I was thinking about other things."
Obi-Wan shook his head with a smile. "Distraction can cost you much, my young friend. You need to learn to concentrate."
"Where have I heard that before?" Anakin asked with a small laugh.
The Council quieted as Master Windu walked in with Master Yoda. A smaller figure followed behind with dark black hair, his tunic parted so that half his chest was visible. His dark leather leggings shone in the lights of the Council Chambers, and his lightsaber swung gently at his hip, tapping against his thigh as he walked.
Anakin's playful manner with his old friend stopped as the young Jedi Knight walked into the room. He watched young Kiran, probed at him with the Force, and felt a surprisingly strong resistance to his probes. He also saw the intense blue eyes of the young Jedi sweep the room, looking for the one who had just touched his Force consciousness.
"Tell us your story, young Quin," said Master Windu. "There are important things happening in the wake of Chancellor Palpatine's death, and maybe the events that have happened to you will reveal more to us than we know."
The dark-haired young man nodded. "Yes, Master."
As he unfolded his tale of landing on Ossus to apprehend the rumor of a Sith threat, his voice seemed to grow husky as he recounted his Master's death at the hand of the enemy they encountered. He told of the feelings he felt, how he tried to go against the Sith, but . . .
". . . there my memory fails me. I woke up in the cockpit of a starfighter, and crash landed outside on the platform. That is all I can tell you," he ended humbly, bowing his head.
"Curious, this is, that a second Sith was there," mused Yoda. "A question it raises about how many Sith there are, that we know not."
"I think there's more to that story than you're telling us," said Anakin, leaning forward in his chair, his elbows on his knees.
All of the Masters turned to look at Anakin. Master Poof looked nervous.
"Excuse me, Master?" asked Kiran, looking shocked.
"You heard me," said Anakin, his voice even. "Why would a Sith let you go? Even less likely is the fact that you were somehow put into a starfighter to escape this Sith and to deliver a message of warning. The Sith don't like to let the Jedi know where they exist."
Kiran looked frightened, caught. "I—I don't know what you're implying, Master Skywalker."
"You don't?" asked Anakin sincerely, sounding a little confused.
"That is enough, Anakin," warned Master Windu.
"I agree with Master Skywalker," said Shaak Ti gently. "There is something missing from Jedi Quin's tale, something important. Whether he remembers it or not is the real question."
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to agree with Shaak Ti and Anakin," said Obi-Wan, sounding resigned.
"I'm not taking sides!" said Master Poof quickly.
"Silence!" shouted Master Windu. The room grew quiet at once. Mace stood up, looking around the room at the Council members.
"This boy—" he said, pointing at Kiran, "—has faced a Sith and miraculously escaped. Who are we to say that his story isn't true? He is a Jedi, we must trust him. His master's death, the appearance of a new Sith Lord, all of this must be taken into consideration and we must council together on what steps to take next." The bright lights shone down from the high ceiling of the Council chambers and reflected off of his dark forehead.
"Geez. Touchy," Force-whispered Anakin into Obi-Wan's ear.
Obi-Wan shook his head.
. . .
"The Jedi suspect that we are here, my Master," came the low voice of Darth Jadus from the new Sith Lord's desk. The Zabrak Sith paced behind the desk, sneering at the hologram, his black lip curled at his apprentice.
"I'm disappointed that you couldn't cover our trail while I laid plans for our next actions against the Jedi, Darth Jadus," he said silkily. "But no matter. Lay a false trail for the Jedi while I put the next step of the plan into place."
"What step is that, my Master?"
Darth Scion laughed mirthlessly. "Don't worry about it, my apprentice. Just draw the Jedi away, make them suspect in the opposite direction than the one we are moving in. Do you understand?"
"Yes, my Master. I understand what I must do."
"Good," said the Sith, scowling in a most terrifying way. "Now go do it!" The holoprojector went dark as he switched it off. He paced around the room, thinking about his plans to bring the Jedi to ruin, savoring every evil thought. His dark clothing swathed him in the shadows as he paced, and he looked like a ghoul haunting the room.
There was a buzz at the comm link on his desk. "Sir, a Nightsister to see you?"
"Very good. Let her in!" he commanded.
The hydraulics in the door hissed open to reveal a tall woman with pale skin. Her dark eyes were cold and hard and black triangular tattoos lined her forehead and cheeks. She stepped lithely into the room, her black leather dress and dark black hair shining under the artificial lights, and bowed to the Sith.
"My Lord, you sent for me. I followed your shuttle as quickly as I could," she said, still bowing, not looking up at Darth Scion's face. His scowl turned into a menacing grimace of satisfaction at her obeisance.
"So you came swiftly. Excellent," breathed the Sith Lord, walking up to the Nightsister. He circled around her, looking her up and down with lust, and traced a black finger up and down her arm as he circled. She shivered, but remained still.
"You may rise," he said, withdrawing from her a meter or so. "You know that my disappointment with Nalah was taken care of by my new apprentice. He is still a little clumsy, but has taken to the Dark Side with some difficulty and has been of little help to me thus far. That is why I need your help."
"My help?" she asked quietly, her eyes half-closed. "That is a great honor, My Lord."
"Yes, it is," he said silkily, with a malicious grin at her. "With the death of Lord Sidious, I must ascend the throne and take the power that he built. He had nearly completed his plans to turn the Senate and their democracy—" he spat the word out with derision, "—into an Empire, and I plan to finish what he started."
"What would you have me do?" asked the Nightsister, bowing her head slightly and lowering her eyes.
Darth Scion's black, red-striped face was covered in lustful glee. "My dear Valah, you don't have to meet your sister's fate if you succeed on the mission on which I am going to send you. I know I can trust you to fulfill what I'm about to ask, unlike her."
Valah sighed hungrily. "I will do anything you wish, My Lord. I am yours to control."
Darth Scion's black lips pulled back in a terrifying smile to reveal sharp yellow teeth.
. . .
Kiran Quin walked down the marbled hallway, his boots clack-clacking against the floor as he marched toward his alcove. His face was unreadable, but his body language showed how frustrated he felt at how there were some on the Jedi Council that didn't trust him.
He jammed the buttons at his alcove door, and the door hissed open. He stepped inside and the door hissed closed after him. Safely in private, he picked up a holoprojector off of a shelf near the door and threw it against the far wall with a cry.
"Gah!" he cried out, beginning to sob. He threw himself onto the small cot that projected from the left wall, there was nothing else in his room.
Someone comm'd in at his door.
"Come in!" he said, trying to sound like he hadn't been crying. He wiped his face with the sleeves of his tunic.
The door hissed open and Master Skywalker was standing there with Master Kenobi. They stepped inside, the door hissing closed behind them.
"I know that there's something you're hiding," started Anakin without preamble. Behind him Obi-Wan shook his head.
"You really need to work on your people skills, my friend," said Obi-Wan, placing his hand on Anakin's shoulder. He looked at Kiran kindly.
"I'm sorry about Anakin's way of handling things. Sometimes he has no tact," he explained with a smile. "We've gotten into worse communications on his account, but that's not why we're here. Despite his lack of good people skills, Anakin is very adept at using the Force and sensing things. And, I trust him. He is a good friend, and he was a good apprentice. So I'm afraid we must ask you to tell us what you did not tell the Council."
Kiran grew quiet. "I already told the Council all that I know."
"When you ran into me in the hallway this morning, I felt something weird from you in the Force. And then you just ran away. Now sit there and tell me that isn't suspicious," said Anakin, folding his arms as he looked directly at Kiran.
"Look, what I said was the truth!" protested Kiran. "After the Sith Lord and his accomplice killed Master Lorus, I ran at the Sith—"
"What was he like?" asked Obi-Wan kindly.
Kiran shuddered. "He was terrifying. His eyes spoke death and his face was black with red stripes, and there were red horns all over his head, small ones—"
"A Zabrak?" asked Anakin to Obi-Wan, who nodded, signaling for Kiran to continue.
"The irises of his eyes were blood red, with a ring of orange around the pupil. I can't forget those eyes. They haunt me in my sleep . . ." said Kiran, sounding close to tears again.
Anakin rolled his eyes, but Obi-Wan kneeled next to Kiran's cot.
"Kiran, I know you've been through a nightmare. But please, please try and remember everything you can. Especially how you made it away from the Sith and into that starfighter, all right?" Obi-Wan gently chucked Kiran under the chin and patted his shoulder. "Try and get some rest, too." He stood up and started herding Anakin out the door.
From out in the hallway Anakin called, "We're just trying to help you!"
Kiran nodded numbly, staring at the floor, pulling his legs up and wrapping his arms around them. So, it was time to try and remember the nightmare? He could do it. He would. For the Jedi.