Qui-gon arrived at the training room out of breath, not because of the running he had done to get there, but because of the scream he had felt from Obi-wan, and the sudden silence that had followed it. Stepping inside the room, his eyes were immediately drawn to the far side, below the platforms. There, in a broken heap, laid his padawan. He rushed to his side and knelt down.
His padawan. Qui-gon realized that he still thought of the boy as his padawan. Now, looking down at the still form, seeing the blood that trickled from his mouth as he took small, shallow breaths, he couldn't believe that he'd ever left him on Melida/Daan. This was his apprentice. It had been his job to teach him- to guide him to knighthood. Instead he had abandoned the boy the first time he'd been confused by the despair he'd seen all around him. And instead of being there for him, and taking time to listen to his feelings, and let him voice his concerns, he'd left his young padawan virtually alone, without the necessary training or experience to be able to see past the horrors he'd witnessed. Sure, he'd been physically present with Obi-wan most of the time, but now he saw that it was the emotional distance that had done the most damage.
Putting aside his tumultuous thoughts, he concentrated on his padawan. Attempting to assess his injuries through the force, he closed his eyes, and gently placed one large hand on the boy's shoulder. He almost winced at the injuries he sensed, and was glad that the boy was unconscious and unable to feel the pain. But the boy needed medical attention immediately. He opened his comlink, summoning the healers, then closed his eyes again to begin healing Obi-wan himself.
It was when he opened his mind fully to the force to begin healing Obi-wan, that he felt the other presence in the room. He immediately knew that it was Obi-wan's attacker. He could feel the darkness emanating from the shadows where the intruder was hidden. Qui-gon was on his feet in an instant, whirling around and igniting his lightsaber. Suddenly, a shadow darted out of the dim room. Though Qui-gon wanted to stay with Obi-wan, he had no choice but to follow.
He ran out of the training room, letting the force lead him, since he couldn't see which way the man had gone. After he had been running for several minutes, twisting and turning through the temple halls, he found himself nearing the docking port.
He entered the port just in time to see the stranger climbing into a small transport ship. Qui-gon knew that he couldn't let him get away. So he focused himself, and used the force to keep the ship from taking off. At least, that is what he had planned, but when the intruder started the ship, the sudden force of the thrusters igniting caused him to slip a little, letting the ship a few meters off the ground.
Qui-gon hadn't been prepared to hold back the sheer power of the ship's engine. Closing his eyes, he centered himself in the force, and visualized the ship. He was able to keep it from lifting higher, but he could not bring it down. His eyes snapped open when he heard the man speak to him through the force.
//How is your padawan, Master Qui-gon? You should have at least trained him to fight before you abandoned him on another planet. Yes, I feel your surprise. Did you really think I would come here without having done my homework? I know all about you and your former apprentice. There is one thing I don't understand, though, why did you even take him as a padawan when it is painfully obvious that you never wanted him in the first place?//
Qui-gon felt the words cut straight to his heart. He had abandoned Obi-wan. He'd made him feel unwanted from the beginning. With Qui-gon's thoughts in turmoil, the ship started to slip higher off the ground. No. He couldn't let him win. He pushed back his guilt and concentrated on keeping the ship from rising.
Without warning the dark Jedi pumped the throttle on the small ship to rocket it skyward. Though the ship barely moved, Qui-gon felt himself quickly tiring. He couldn't fight the ship's thrusters much longer.
Trevin Hol was got angrier every second. His rage flowed through him, making him feel strong, - powerful. But he was also getting frustrated. The warning lights were already flashing across his display, telling him to power down his engine before it exploded from the strain. He grew tired of playing. He knew he hadn't much time to leave. He wanted to be far away before Yoda found his parting gift.
Qui-gon started sweating, desperately trying to hold the ship down. He knew that if he suddenly let go now, the ship would careen out of control, possibly crashing into a stray ship passing by. Yet, if he managed to keep the ship down, the engine would not hold much longer against the pressure. //Power down your engine, it's your only option.// he projected.
Then Qui-gon sensed that the engine was indeed powering down. The ship began to descend as the pilot slowly eased off the thrusters. He began to relax his force grip on the ship, waiting for it to come to a rest on the docking bay floor.
Just as the ship was about to touch down, Trevin slammed the thrusters to full power. He shot into the atmosphere, wanting to get clear of the planet quickly and make the jump to lightspeed. But before he could even get past the lower atmosphere, his overtaxed engine failed. He was weightless for a moment as he began to fall back towards the planet's surface.
Qui-gon witnessed the engines fail from the docking bay. He watched helplessly
as the small ship plummeted towards the planets surface, exploding as it struck
the ground below.
Part 7
Qui-gon ran towards the healers. He had been resting in his room, when he felt Obi-wan's life force fading. Jedi weren't supposed to center on their fears, but right now it was his fear that made the bile rise in his throat, and it was his fear that sent him flying to Obi-wan's side at top speed. He couldn't lose the boy now. He hadn't even had the chance to tell him how sorry he was. He hadn't had the chance to let Obi-wan know that he was proud of him.
Bursting through the doors of the medcenter, Qui-gon went straight to Obi-wan's room, not even bothering to check with the healer on duty. He arrived at the door, almost colliding with the healer who was exiting the room. Skidding to a halt, he saw the look on the man's face, and knew without asking what had happened. "I'm sorry, Qui-gon. We did all we could. He's one with the force now."
With a strangled cry, Qui-gon dropped to his knees on the cold floor. He couldn't even see the hallway anymore as his vision became overrun with tears.
"NOOOO!!" The scream was torn from his throat as he sat straight up in his sweat soaked bed. His eyes took a moment to focus as he tried to calm the wild beating of his heart. It had been a dream. A horribly vivid one, but still just a dream. It had been two days now since the intruder had died trying to escape the temple. He had left a bomb hidden in the temple, in his last effort to kill Yoda, and the rest of the Jedi. Surprisingly enough, it had been Bruck who had saved them. In his remorse, he had returned to the temple and told them the location of the bomb. He told them how he had been deceived into helping Trevin Hol steal items from the temple. He had let his anger and fear get the best of him, but he had never wanted to see the temple destroyed.
So young Bruck had returned all the rest of the missing items, and gone before the council to make an official apology. He would not be trained as a Jedi. The council had decided to send him to a world on the Outer Rim where he would assist Jedi Knight Coztu Panthmir in caring for refugees from a nearby war-torn planet. Not a pretty assignment, but one that the young man had readily accepted, knowing that he deserved to be banished for what he had done.
Though it was still dark, Qui-gon knew that he would get no more sleep this night. He climbed out of bed, and showered quickly, washing away the sweat from his nightmare, and changing into a clean tunic. He headed down to the medcenter to see Obi-wan. The boy had spent all of his first day in a bacta tank, and all of the next day asleep. Qui-gon had been in the medcenter the whole time, but the boy hadn't woken up yet. The healers had eventually forced him to return to his quarters for some much needed rest, assuring him that Obi-wan was well on the way to recovery.
Entering the medcenter, Qui-gon felt a momentary chill as his dream came back to him. The healer was not in the boy's room, however, so Qui-gon settled down in the chair next to the bed to watch Obi-wan sleep.
"Qui-gon." Qui-gon's eyes snapped open as someone gently shook his shoulder. He was still in the chair next to Obi-wan's bed, but he didn't even remember falling asleep. "I thought the healers had ordered you to your quarters."
Qui-gon looked up to see Mace Windu's friendly stare. "I did go to my quarters, I just didn't stay there."
"Well, your presence is requested in the council chambers. We sent a message to your room, but I figured you wouldn't be there, so I told Yoda I'd come get you."
Qui-gon rose somewhat stiffly from his chair. "You know me too well, old friend."
"You always were the rebellious one." Mace noted with a twinkle in his eye.
"Only because you never got caught." Qui-gon retorted.
Chuckling softly, Mace led Qui-gon out of the room.
~*~
He knew he wasn't dead, because being one with the force wouldn't hurt so much. "Ah, you're awake."
Obi-wan cracked open his eyes and saw that he was in the medcenter, with one of the healers leaning over him. "Wha…" He tried to speak, but he found that it was all he could do at the moment just to steady his breathing.
"Don't try to speak just yet, Obi-wan. You've been seriously injured, and you need to rest."
Obi-wan closed his eyes again and sensed the healer move about the room, check various read-outs, then leave, closing the door behind him. The last thing he remembered was fighting with Trevin. Judging by the way he felt, he guessed that he'd lost. But what had happened to Trevin? Had he gotten away, or was he still somewhere in the temple?
He had plenty of questions, but no answers. He remembered that the last time,
when he'd been hurt on the way to Bandomeer, Qui-gon had been there when he'd
woken up. He hadn't even been his apprentice then…. But things were different
now. He had failed his master at Melida/Daan, and now again with Trevin Hol.
Obi-wan held back the tears that pushed against his closed eyelids. He had
failed, and he would live with the consequences, he would have to. Pushing
thoughts of the past aside, he worked on releasing his feelings into the force
and settling his body into a healing trance.
Part 8
"Called you here, we did to hear your decision." Yoda stated after Qui-gon had entered the council chambers.
"Yes, Masters. I would like to continue with the boy as my padawan learner." Qui-gon knew it wasn't any surprise to the council, but he also knew that it was a necessary formality for him to announce his intentions.
"Good, this is. Needs you he does, and you him. Much guilt you both feel, deal with this we must."
As Yoda finished, another council member nodded and continued "You will go to your quarters and meditate. When Obi-wan is released tomorrow, we will send him to you after we see him."
It took Qui-gon a split second to realize what he was being told. "You won't allow me to see him when he wakes up?"
"Necessary, this is." Yoda replied.
"How can it be necessary to keep a padawan from his master? He will think I've abandoned him if I'm not there when he wakes up. He already feels some insecurity at the fact that I hesitated to take him as my padawan. Keeping us apart now will only hurt him more."
"His choice it was to remain behind. Abandoned you, he did."
Qui-gon felt a knot forming in his stomach. "But he is only a boy. He was caught up in something he didn't fully understand. Please, Masters. If you must punish someone, then punish me for not preparing him properly. I should have talked to him about it. I should have been more open with him."
"Punishment, this is not. Talk to him we will, before you do. Face what he did, he must. Judge for ourselves we will, on how he feels."
Qui-gon heard the words, but found it hard to accept. He knew that the council wasn't trying to punish anyone, but this would be hard on Obi-wan.
~*~
"How feel you, Obi-wan?" Yoda asked the boy who stood before the council.
Wasn't that a loaded question…How did he feel? He didn't want to get into all the emotional things that had been bouncing around inside of him since he had woken up in the medcenter yesterday, so he played it safe. "I'm feeling much better, Master." "Yes, healing you are. Ready are you, then, to face this council?"
Even though Obi-wan had already determined he would be serene and Jedi-like regardless of what the council said, he could already feel his defenses starting to crumble, and they hadn't even started to question him yet! "I am ready, Masters."
"Very well, then." Master Mace Windu said leaning forward. "The council is aware of the events that occurred on Melida/Daan. What we want from you, is your reasoning. Why did you decide to stay when your master had made it clear that your mission required your immediate departure?"
This was worse than he thought. He had hoped that they would simply read him a list of his crimes, and tell him what they were going to do…but this was far worse. They wanted him to go back over the events and recount how foolish he had been! He didn't think he would be able to relive the whole experience. "I'm sorry, Masters. I…don't recall my specific reasoning at the time of the decision. I only know that I let myself be led by my emotions into a situation of which I had no understanding. I turned my back on everything I had learned, and I shamed my training, and my master."
"You admit that in staying, you turned your back on your training. Yet, you have made it known that you wish to return as a padawan." Another master stated.
"I was terribly wrong… I realized how unprepared I was after my master left. I had hoped to help them save their planet, but I saw how incapable I was…I had to call Master Qui-gon for help." He swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat. "I know now that I need to continue my training if I am to help anyone."
"How can you be sure that you won't be swept up in another cause before your training is complete?"
This was one of the questions he had been dreading. How could he answer it? He felt certain with every fiber of his being that he would never forsake his training again… but hadn't he felt that way before? "I…I can't be sure of the future. I learned a hard lesson at Melida/Daan…one I don't think I will ever forget."
"Wish you, to be Qui-gon's apprentice again?" Yoda asked.
Silence filled the room as the council waited for his response. He opened his mouth, only to quickly shut it again when he was unable to speak past the tears that were clogging his throat. He tried to calm his racing heart with the force, but he couldn't seem to focus on it as his emotions swirled around him. "I…he…he doesn't …want me, Master."
"Know this, you do?" Yoda asked him gently.
Before he could answer, Mace Windu spoke. "Qui-gon has agreed to accept you
again as his padawan. You are to report directly to your new joint quarters in
the Padawan wing on the fifth level."
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