Now accpeting anonymous reviews. And giving virtual cookies to whoever figures out where I got the title of the chapter from!
Chapter Six: A Brand New Mission! (What's It Gonna Be?)
Qui-Gon sat down on the bench, grateful for a chance to catch his breath. He had made the mistake of asking Jane to duel him. Not only was she good, but she never seemed to run out of energy. She had given Qui-Gon—who had planned on going easy on the girl—a decent beating before Qui-Gon called an end to the match.
"You were warned, Master," Obi-Wan told his master dryly as he handed the man a cup of water.
"I know, I know," Qui-Gon said between sips, trying hard to ignore the laughter coming from the trainers, whom Jane was recounting the battle to, despite the fact that they had been present the entire time.
Qui-Gon studied Obi-Wan, who was looking at Jane with pursed lips.
"You are questioning my decision," Qui-Gon stated, not accusingly.
"She is three years old, Master. I know she's smart, I know her training had begun before she arrived here and that you are her guardian. But do you know how many initiates older than her are still waiting to become apprentices? And when they aren't taken, they are shipped away, not even to return to their families? Why is she different?"
"It is a complicated matter of politics that I will explain to you when the time is right," Qui-Gon said. "I understand your feelings on this matter. And I also agree with you."
Obi-Wan turned to his Master.
"Just because an initiate is not chosen does not mean they are not capable. It's not fair that those that aren't chosen are sent to the AgriCorps. The Code and the Council say that it is voluntary, but we both know it's not."
"Obi-Wan, if I could change the Code, I would," Qui-Gon said. "And that was what Jane's mother wanted."
"She wanted us to live as the Corellians do," Obi-Wan stated bitterly.
"And it's just a coincidence that, throughout history, there have been no Corellian Sith Lords?" Qui-Gon asked, an eyebrow raised.
Obi-Wan had no retort.
"I thought so," Qui-Gon said as he rose to his feet. "Now, come, I have something to tell both you and Jane."
Upon seeing Obi-Wan approach, Jane ran over to him excitedly. Despite that Obi-Wan was bitter and slightly jealous of the girl and generally treated her indifferently, Jane adored him as if he were her brother. She always wanted to talk to him or show him something.
"Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan did'ja see that slash-and-parry move I pulled on Master Qui-Gon? Huh? Did'ja?" Jane asked, her big hazel eyes looking up at Obi-Wan expectantly.
Before Obi-Wan could respond, Qui-Gon spoke.
"Jane, Obi-Wan, this morning the Council informed me that tomorrow we shall be leaving for a mission to the Hapes Cluster."
"Yippee!" Jane exclaimed, jumping up and down, clapping her hands excitedly. "I've read all about the Hapes Cluster! There's 63 planets and they are all ruled by a Queen Mother. Qui-Gon, do we get to meet the Queen Mother? She's getting remarried soon, isn't she?"
"Yes, we will be meeting her and her suitor, who will soon become her consort," Qui-Gon said. "We will be trying to find out who is trying to kill him."
Jane was excited by the entire prospect while inwardly, Obi-Wan was groaning. Stuck for Force-only-knows-how-long in close proximity to the Galaxy's smartest, most hyperactive Force-sensitive three year old? Well, at least it was a mission…
The trio left the next morning without a hitch.
It took five days for the Jedi to get to Hapes. Jane was thrilled. This was the first time since her arrival on Coruscant that she could leave and see a planet other than Coruscant and Corellia. And it was also her first time being free to do what she wanted while traveling.
So, after asking what every single button in the cockpit did, she proceeded to get out paper and crayons and drew picture after picture. She also played music on a headset and danced for hours. The first "day", Qui-Gon let her stay up later than she should have because he couldn't bear to make her stop having fun.
The girl puzzled Obi-Wan. He had seen her in her classes, where she was calm, quiet and somber. You take her away from her fellow students and teachers and she's full of joy and laughter and you can't get her to slow down. She was friendly with everyone and just seemed to enjoy life. By some unspoken agreement between the them, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan decided to let her be.
But she was also impulsive, opinionated, rebellious and was often snarky or had a witty and sarcastic comeback ready. She rolled her eyes a great deal when she was being lectured on self-control and, while she didn't make it a habit to argue, she was good at standing by her argument and attempting to force her opponent to submit to her opinion.
Many of the older masters saw her as a challenge: to take the child and mold her into the perfect Jedi image. Obi-Wan had even heard one claim that it had to be his job because he did not trust Qui-Gon to do so, which led to Obi-Wan wondering what people thought of him and the results from his training with Qui-Gon.
Obi-Wan could handle the girl's crazy antics and quirks, but one thing he could not tolerate was the whispers about her. Everyone seemed obsessed with her, possibly even more so now that Qui-Gon had claimed her as his apprentice. Obi-Wan knew many people wondered if Jane was Qui-Gon's daughter. But Jane was practically a clone of her mother, so no one could determine any physical characteristics to link them.
But still… even Obi-Wan was wondering.
Doing the math, he knew that Jane was conceived before Tahl's death, and he knew Qui-Gon would never even want to sleep with a woman who was not Tahl, nor could he remember even seeing Qui-Gon and Jocelyn together more than once, which was shortly after the former took Obi-Wan on as his apprentice, and even then they seemed uncomfortable around each other and only talked for five minutes filled with idle chit-chat. But that led to more questions, as to what reason would Jocelyn choose Qui-Gon to train her only child.
Though Obi-Wan knew the chances of Qui-Gon being Jane's father were near to none, but Obi-Wan kept searching for similarities between the two. Obi-Wan knew it was jealousy of the little girl that was conducting the search, and he wondered how he would feel if he did find something that could link his master to the child…
He shook himself out of that thought. It didn't matter anyways who Jane's father was, right? Obi-Wan kept telling himself that.
On the "day" of their arrival to Hapes, Qui-Gon called the two Padawans to the cockpit and gave them more information on their assignment.
They discussed the lengths that had been taken to protect the children from the Queen Mother's first marriage, in particular Ta'a Chume—a girl several years older than Jane who was to inherit the throne—and her two younger sisters. Surprisingly, the princesses were not the target of the assassination attempts, but their mother, Queen Mother Ni'Korish, had sent the girls, their nannies and bodyguards to be sequestered in a fortress on Hapes that only the reigning Queen Mother knew the exact coordinates of the location.
Because the Jedi had been recruited by a Hapan diplomat, they were not allowed to be found to be Jedi, as the Queen Mother hated the Jedi. Apparently, the Queen Mother's younger brother had been killed by a rogue Jedi and she blamed the Jedi Order for not stopping the wayward Jedi. The diplomat, however, had trusted the Jedi ever since she had been rescued by one as a child; she knew that the Jedi were the only ones who could stop the assassins from killing the Queen's consort.
"We shall be pretending to be new palace slaves," Qui-Gon explained. "Or, at least, Obi-Wan and I shall be. Hapes is a female-dominated society and girls are never slaves or servants. That's why Jane will be given the position of bodyguard's apprentice. Like the Corellians, their training begins early."
Jane nodded while Obi-Wan hid a scowl.
Of course Jane got a good job for the mission. Obi-Wan thought. He wished he could stop being so jealous of the little girl.
"Master, are we going by our real names or do we need aliases?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Pseudonyms would be a good idea for this assignment." Qui-Gon said.
"I've got one!" Jane said with a broad grin as she thrust her hand in the air.
"That was quick," Obi-Wan said, surprised. It usually took him and Qui-Gon three hours of browsing baby name websites on their datapads before even coming up with a short list with suitable names.
"What is your new name, then, Jane?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Jasmine," Jane said proudly. "Like the flower."
"That's a very nice name," Qui-Gon complimented.
"And I got names for you and Obi-Wan, too!" Jane said.
"You do?" Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan asked at the same time.
"Yep. Han for Master Qui-Gon and Ben for Obi-Wan," Jane said, looking back and forth between the two, searching for their reactions.
Both Jedi contemplated the names.
"I like it," Obi-Wan said grudgingly after a moment of thought. "'Ben'. Short and quick. It's a perfect name, especially for a position where someone could need assistance quickly."
"I agree," Qui-Gon said. "What do the names mean, Jane?"
"Ben means 'son'," Jane explained. "I think it really fits Obi-Wan. Besides, Ben is a name you can be anyone with. You could be an inventor, or a superhero, or a doctor, or politician or a crazy old hermit and it would just sort of fit."
"And what does 'Han' mean?" Qui-Gon asked.
"It means 'God is gracious'," Jane said.
"Which god?" Obi-Wan asked.
Jane simply raised an eyebrow and responded,
"The only God."
"I didn't think the Corellians were monotheistic," Qui-Gon said.
"Most aren't," Jane said. "But my mom and I didn't follow standard Corellian religion. The woman who trained my mother in the Corellian traditions was an outcast because she preached about a single, powerful, loving God and-" Jane was interrupted by a beeping noise.
"Sounds like we're coming out of hyperspace," Jane said. "I'll tell you more later."
As Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan prepared for departing hyperspace, they were silently amazed by Jane's ability to leave them in stunned silence.