TITLE: Dark Sacrifice  14/36

AUTHOR: Cara & Quintus

E-MAIL:  [email protected]

RATING: PG-13

CATEGORY: Pre-TPM, Jedi Apprentice, Original Characters

ARCHIVE: Yes. Please keep headers intact.

DISCLAIMER: Star Wars is the property of Lucasfilm Ltd. No copyright infringement intended, no profit is being made from this fiction. All original characters and story belong to the authors. 

FEEDBACK: Constructive feedback appreciated.

TIME FRAME:  Pre-TPM @ 1-2 years

SUMMARY:  When Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan join a diplomatic mission to the planet Sahmly II, they uncover a strange vergence in the Force, centered around a young padawan whose actions may determine far-reaching changes in the Jedi Order. Obi-Wan’s decisions about the padawan could save the boy's life, or drive him to the power of the Dark Side.

DARK SACRIFICE

By Cara & Quintus

Chapter 14

Qui-Gon felt a tremor run through him. Xanatos! Yeriamman unwittingly hit a raw nerve that Qui-Gon thought long healed: a painful memory of a former padawan who had not been as serious-minded as Obi-Wan, and who turned to the Dark Side out of unresolved hatred... and fear. Qui-Gon had done everything he could have done to dissuade Xanatos from the destructive path, but to no avail. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had been forced to destroy the wayward Jedi. Yeriamman strikes me as an informed man; perhaps he was not so unwitting in his choice of words.  Explorers are reputed to be seers of past and present. He studied the Explorer with grudging respect.

“What do you want to know from me, Master Jinn?”

"What I want, Knight Yeriamman, is not just an opinion, but a reasoned argument,” Qui-Gon replied, “A different perspective if you will, even if the opinion does not come from a Master. Explorers are known for their ability to 'see', and your opinion would carry some weight.” With me.

Adin nodded. “Very well. I have an opinion, and I warn you that you may not like it." Yeriamman paused to gather his thoughts. "Master Dushiko means well - he is an outstanding swordmaster and a credit to Jedi Guardians everywhere - but he is no healer and he obviously has no idea how to teach one. Then we have Remii, who has no interest in the things that drive his Master. Remii's untapped talent is extraordinary, but it's in an arcane area that challenges the understanding of even the most outstanding Jedi. Do you know exactly how a Healer heals? Do any of us really understand how a healer uses the Force to ply their trade?" Adin looked at Qui-Gon's expression and sighed. "The boy needs someone willing to develop his healing talent. He doesn't understand his own gift, and the fact that others regard it as esoteric mysticism doesn't help. Master Dushiko's attempts to mold his padawan in his image only make an unstable situation more fragile. The pairing is potentially explosive, Master Jinn. It should be dissolved.”

“It is a pairing made by the Jedi Council,” Obi-Wan blurted. “They can’t be wrong.”

“The Jedi Council are not infallible, Apprentice Kenobi. Are they not mortal?” Adin asked. “Perhaps it would be less inflammatory to say the bond between Dushiko and Remii is stretched to the breaking point. It will break, I have no doubts about that, and it will be broken when circumstances decide, not necessarily when they or the Council decide. Unfortunately, I believe this point is fast approaching.”

Qui-Gon blinked. “You do not believe in determinism of the Force, that the Force guides the pairings of Master and Student?” It was a question that plagued Jedi scholars since antiquity: what was the delineation between the will of the Force, and the free will of the average Jedi? The answer was, at best, nebulous: Jedi scientists had yet to devise a scientific solution, and in the absence of such an answer, the subject remained a matter of contentious debate within the Order.

Adin shook his head. “I do not necessarily believe in determinism of the Jedi Council, but that is something different, Master Jinn. I take orders from them after all, because they are the best thing going for at least the last seven thousand years of recorded history, and probably much longer. I am no more beyond the pale of the Jedi Code than you, and when I break the code – as you have done on occasion – I have to answer for it, just as you do." Adin looked Qui-Gon in the eye. "As for determinism of the Force, that is a more complex subject.”

“I don't understand," Obi-Wan said. “The Force guides us and binds us all.”

“Yes, it does,” Adin agreed, raising his chin and turning his attention to the padawan. “But to what extent? Does this mean that we are entirely dependent on mitochondrians, or can we alter our own fate? How would we know the difference? In the absence of empirical evidence, you elect to believe you have free will, or you don’t, or that there is a vast grey-area." His gaze went from the younger Jedi to the older. "Are mitochondrians really involved in selecting what color tunic I wore today, or if I eat lunch for breakfast, or which boot I put on first in the morning? Do these trivialities of life seriously affirm my oneness with one side of the Force or the other?  Not so the larger decisions that directly impact our lives as Jedi, particularly those outside of our immediate control such as the assignment of a given padawan to a given Master. If the Force is malleable – "

"Malleable?" Obi-Wan interrupted. The intent look on his face attested to his struggle to grasp the concepts the Explorer tossed out.

Qui-Gon sat quietly, listening, both with his ears and through the Force.

"Malleable - suggesting that we have free-choice over fundamental elements of our lives, with the Force an extension providing additional knowledge and skill through the existence of mitochondrians inside us - then it is difficult to see how the Force can be overwhelmingly deterministic.” Adin directed his gaze at the apprentice.

“So you are saying that the Force can be both malleable and deterministic?” Obi-Wan-Wan asked.

“Deterministic to the extent that when you follow a certain path, a narrow range of outcomes can generally be predicted." Adin sighed. His eyes darted about the kitchen as he thought. "For simplicity sake, think of the outcome as a goal – something you want to achieve. Assuming you are highly motivated to achieve your goal, you tacitly agree to commit yourself to a series of actions for good or ill. When it is for ill, destruction ensues, certainly others and probably your own. When you agree to step off that path, onto another path, you commit yourself to another outcome, and another subset of events and circumstances,” Adin said, eyes coming to rest on Qui-Gon. “Malleability and determinism exist in a kind of uneasy, uncertain duality: we must remain aware about the path that we are on in order to foresee the consequences of our actions. The outcome is what is deterministic; the path to an outcome is what is malleable.”

“How do we know the difference?” Qui-Gon asked. “You yourself said there is no way of knowing if we act on behalf of the mitochondrians inside us, or of our own free will.”

“Figure out how to prove that one conclusively, Master Jinn,” Adin said with a sudden grin, “and you get yourself a nice prize: a seat on the Jedi Council and the undying adoration of Jedi Scholars past and present.”

Obi-Wan sputtered a laugh and shook his head.

Qui-Gon smiled also. Yeriamman’s humor was unremitting, even refreshing given the weight of negotiations. Masters often forgot the fact that they were mortal. Lost in our own importance we are…Yeriamman clings to his sense of mortality without drowning in it. It keeps him grounded, something important when you are crawling around ruins and not knowing what lies around the next corner. I can see why the padawani take to him.

“Seriously, Master Jinn,” Adin said, touching Qui-Gon’s elbow, “you learn to discern the duality, or you don’t. The Force is not created equal, which is why the Force can be a dangerous thing when its use is tinged with emotion. As we grow wiser in the Force, we temper ourselves with experience."

 “If what you say is true Adin, then Dushiko and Remii are a disaster waiting to happen," Obi-Wan said. "I don't want to believe that.”

"Relationships also exist in an uneasy duality between love and respect, exasperation and disdain, Obi-Wan," Adin said. "Unfortunately, as the old saying has it, familiarity can breed contempt. And sometimes we see only that which we wish to see, or that which is recognizable.”

“Why would Council have made such a pairing, then?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Because there are so few Jedi specialists now, my padawan,” Qui-Gon replied. "There are a disproportionate amount of Healers in the Temple, which is why you do not think them rare. But every generation their numbers decrease."

Obi-Wan frowned. “Why?”

“No one really knows,” Adin answered. “Just as no one knows how so many lose their abilities or die in combat before they attain Knighthood. Healers are vulnerable, and we are not sure why, given their extreme sensitivity to the Force." Adin rubbed a hand over his face. "We do know the Dark Side has grown more powerful in recent years, but we are at a loss to explain that also.”

“What he is trying to say, Padawan, is that the Council wants to safeguard our rare resources. We must attempt to cross-train young Jedi in specialist disciplines to keep them from dying out,” Qui-Gon said. "Healers and Explorers are very rare. But Explorers have the background and talent to survive many circumstances that Healers do not. I fear that in encouraging our Jedi Healers to concentrate solely on healing, we've only hastened their downfall." Qui-Gon looked from Obi-Wan to Adin Yeriamman. "Cloistering Healers on Coruscant was a convenience that worked in the past, but not now. Now we can no longer afford to lose a single Healer. Not even a potential one. Which brings us back to the problem of Remii. He needs to learn what Master Dushiko has to offer."

"I agree," Yeriamman said, "but the boy also needs to get a handle on his own abilities- before he loses them."

“Are the job qualifications really that substantially different between Explorers and Healers, or Healers and regular Jedi?” Obi-Wan asked, scratching his head. “I mean apart from the obvious job differences?”

 “I do not follow, Obi-Wan,” Qui-Gon said.

“Obi-Wan observed something which bothers him,” Adin stated.

The certainty in the Explorer’s voice gave Qui-Gon pause. He suddenly realized that Obi-Wan had been holding back. “Adin is right,” Qui-Gon said, turning toward his apprentice. “You have seen something that bothers you about young Remii.”

Obi-Wan looked as if he’d like to melt into the floor, caught in the crossfire between two regrettably astute senior Jedi. “Well, I’ve seen a number of things in recent days that bothered me – but the one that most pertains to the question you ask is the way Remii does his healing.”

“You’ve seen him heal?” Qui-Gon asked. "I thought you just heard about it from the boy." Qui-Gon gazed at his apprentice a long moment. Obi-Wan didn't flinch from his scrutiny.

“Yes, I saw him heal the kitchen servant who burned her arm. He didn't want me to tell anyone." Obi-Wan met Qui-Gon's raised eyebrow with studied calm. "I witnessed that, but I also witnessed what I believe to be a similar occurrence when Remii played his flutepipe in the garden. That was the day before we met Adin.”

“What precisely did you observe?” Adin asked. “We need to know as much detail as possible.”

“Well, not being a Healer myself I’m not entirely sure what it means," Obi-Wan said, "but when Remii healed I could sense Dark energy in the weave of what he did. At first, I thought he flirted with it as all curious youngsters do, but the more I’ve gotten to know him, the more I doubt that. Remii does not see the Dark Side in the same way as you or I. I don't think he believes Dark and Light to be opposites. Your argument about the duality of the Force explains many things.”

Qui-Gon frowned, and looked at the Explorer, who also frowned. “You have spent time with Remii, Knight. Have you sensed this darkness also?”

Adin rubbed his beard. “Yes." He held up a hand to stall Qui-Gon's questions. "Do I believe he is in danger of turning? No. What Remii does to heal people is not that terribly different from how Explorers use the Force to gain knowledge from an artifact or to see the past or future. Explorers and Healers are the least likely of all Jedi to succumb to the Potentium Heresy. Their selection for specialized training is predicated on demonstrable ability to maintain strict context on their relationship to both sides of the Force.”

“One cannot remain a Healer and be a Dark Jedi,” Qui-Gon said, explaining for Obi-Wan's benefit, “because the nature of healing is inherently antithetical to the Dark Side. The ‘healer’ in such a situation would likely seek to pervert medical knowledge, which is not substantially different from what the Sith Masters did according to legend, and none of them were healers.”

Adin nodded, then shrugged his shoulders. His mug ground on the wooden table as he spun it around slowly in place. “The Sith Lords engaged in cloning and deformative medical procedures. For whatever it is worth, to date there is not one case of an Explorer ever having turned to the Dark Side so far as is known, and I don’t intend to do anything untoward that might change that statistic. Trouble comes from Consulars or Guardians playing the role of an Explorer – something which they are completely unsuited for. Begging the pardon of present company, mine is a statement of fact, not opinion.” His gaze turned inward, as if listening to things the other two could not hear.

Qui-Gon soaked in the silence, and rested his hands on the tops of his thighs as he studied his apprentice. Obi-Wan’s eyes were full of respect for the Explorer, something which Qui-Gon seldom observed from the young man. Obi-Wan was dutiful and entirely competent – easily the finest apprentice Qui-Gon ever had, but it was immensely gratifying to see Obi-Wan want to more fully understand the nuances of the Living Force.

As for the Explorer, Qui-Gon sensed that Adin’s powers of concentration were entirely focused on the discussion, beginning to end, standing on a plane of understanding that Qui-Gon rarely observed from other Jedi-- Masters included. He has much to give. It is unfortunate for the Order that this man does not have his own padawan. This is an oversight I must bring to the attention of the Council.

“Our discussion has been most illuminating, Adin-Duanath,” Qui-Gon said. “I do not believe I have ever heard a Jedi define more coherently what constitutes the Living Force. I can see why Master Toock places her trust in you. I can also see why Masters Billaba and Windu speak so highly of you,” he said, allowing a wry smile “despite whatever discomfort you may cause the Council.”

Adin blinked, eyes returning to focus, then he grinned. “Well, I have my moments,” he replied as he hunched broad shoulders over his empty mug and looked tired, “not many, but I do have them.”

--Continued in Chapter 15--