TITLE: Dark Sacrifice 20/36
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 20
Ro Scree District
Remii followed Ga-Ree-Jen and her guards back to the battered speeder they'd come in. He was unnerved by the Sahmlians who regarded him sternly from either side of the rear seat. Remii had grown accustomed to Sahmlians in the role of servants that at the Diplomatic Residence. These Sahmlians reminded Remii of soldiers.
The driver took sharp turns and doubled back so many times that Remii was hopelessly lost. They seemed to be heading for another corner of the city opposite from the one they'd just been. Remii worried a bit, but decided Ga-Ree-Jen would make sure he got back to the Residence, hopefully before his master returned.
Eventually they drove between two narrow buildings and were stopped by natives with blaster rifles. Remii raised his eyebrows. He finally could separate Sahmlian castes, subtle markings on their rills and hands were the telltale signs. This Sahmlian would not speak to anyone but Ga-Ree-Jen, although he peered at Remii with interest before waving their little group through.
Remii climbed out of the speeder and tried to get his bearings. The new Sahmlian caste men weren't at all shy about grabbing his arm and pulling him forward. Remii shrugged them off, glared, and pulled his robes tightly around himself. That bought him some breathing space.
Remii barely had time to notice the ornate furnishings in the wide entry hall before the Sahmlians tugged him up the stone stairs and down a long corridor. The room they brought him to was obviously someone's living quarters. He was ushered through a dining area and into a bedroom. The Sahmlian escort spoke to him in guttural tones. Remii shook his head, unable to understand anything but rudimentary words. The man poked him with the tip of the blaster rifle he carried. Remii's hand automatically dove beneath his robes and came up with the light saber. On the verge of igniting it, caution stayed his hand. Master Dushiko taught him not to ignite his saber unless he intended to use it. Remii let out his breath, and tucked it back on his utility belt. As it was, the Sahmlian's eyes grew wide, and he muttered what might have been an apology, bowed, and backed off to the doorway. He pointed at the bed, bowed again, and waited.
Remii approached the bed. The Sahmlian there was easily the oldest Remii had seen on the planet, skin stretched taunt over sharp bones. Perspiration dampened the hairless brow, and smears of green blood covered the side of the man's head. Remii put a hand out and touched his fingers to the side of the Sahmlian's face. Even before the input from the Force, Remii knew it was bad.
Ga-Ree-Jen entered the room. "You must fix him, Master Jedi."
"I don’t know if I can," Remii answered.
She came closer. "You have to. Much depends on this man. Without him, the City is lost." Her emerald eyes glittered in the light of the room. She folded her arms across her chest. "You must fix him."
"I will do my best…"
"You will fix him," Ga-Ree-Jen repeated again. "Or else…" She left the threat unfinished, but Remii got the implication.
He swallowed hard, nodded, and dug in his utility belt. There were precious few medical supplies remaining. A few strips of sealant bandage, and some contact anesthetic patches. Everything else had been used on the other injured Sahmlians. Remii returned his attention to the patient, and used his Force sense to examine the injuries.
The wrongness was centered inside the man, both in his chest, and in his head. Remii looked at the oozing scalp wound. The man's head bulged out slightly above the right rill. Remii placed his fingertips lightly around the area and concentrated. The wound pulsed with wrongness, and Remii got a glimpse of a break in the bone before he pulled away. Chewing his lower lip, Remii moved down to examine the man's chest.
A small object had pierced the skin on the right side. Again Remii placed his fingertips around the wound and concentrated. The object was a small piece of metal, and it was lodged just below the man's right heart. Remii sensed removing it would not be wise. In his mind, green blood dripped steadily.
He stepped back and took a steadying breath. Then another. The man's head held damage inside, under the bone, and his right heart was already weakening under the strain of dual injuries. I don’t know what to do… He closed his eyes and found himself trying to follow the bond back to his master, seeking reassurance. His master's presence in the Force was faint. Master? Remii waited. There was no answer.
Remii opened his eyes and stepped forward. He placed his fingers around the Sahmlian’s head wound, and drew on the Force to help bind the damage. The Light was elusive, and Remii felt himself begin to sweat. He couldn't keep a grasp on the luminous, healing strength of the Force. Each time he attempted to bind the Light into the wound, it slipped away from his weak hold. Remii took a deep breath, then reached again for Force energy, at the same time grasping for a sliver of Dark to help him bind it. More than a sliver was drawn, but Remii did not know how to release the excess. It flowed into him, along with the man's pain, and returned to the Sahmlian through the loop Remii held.
"No!" Frightened by the energy pulsing through him, Remii dropped the Force and backed away.
Ga-Ree-Jen moved forward, attracted by his outburst. "Have you fixed him?"
"Not yet," Remii said. It wasn't a lie. Not quite. Remii wasn't about to tell her and the guard with the blaster that fixing the injured man was far, far beyond his abilities.
"Fix him. We do not have much time."
"I'm doing what I can," Remii snapped. "I cannot work with everyone bothering me. Please leave."
After giving him an appraising glance, Ga-Ree-Jen went to the door and stepped out with the guard. They closed the door.
Remii fought the urge to sit down and cry. He wished Adin were with him. The Jedi Knight would know what to do. He traced the newly developed thread in his mind that was the Explorer. Adin was as distant as Master Dushiko, the thread was too new, and fragile to be of much use, and besides, Remii didn't want to bother him. Adin trusted him, and Remii didn't want to see the disappointment on his face when the Explorer realized Remii had been so stupid to get himself into this predicament. The Knight might know what to do in this situation, but Remii bet Master Dushiko would never have let him get into this situation in the first place.
The man on the bed moaned, and Remii jumped. He wiped the sweat off his face with a corner of his robe, and returned to the bedside. An attempt to heal the chest wound was quickly abandoned. The wound required surgery to remove the object. Nothing Remii could do would make a difference. Remii drew on the Force to check the wounds, and could barely raise a whisper. He was exhausted, and the Force energy shimmered and evaporated before he could use it.
He stood by the man and looked down helplessly. The tiny sense he'd gotten before his mind went blank told him the drip of green blood in the man's head had become a trickle. Soon it would be a fountain, and there was nothing Remii could do. The man would die, vessels in his head ruptured.
Remii slowly dug in his utility belt and pulled out the contact anesthetic patches. He placed two around the head wound, and the remaining one over the hole in the man's chest. Without the Force to help him, Remii was at a loss. At least the anesthetic patches would ease the Sahmlian's pain.
Sahmly City
"That is ridiculous," Ak'ra Dushiko said, "Why would you conclude Remii ran away?" The man looked genuinely puzzled.
"You tell me, Master Dushiko," Adin replied. "You're the one who locked him in the room."
"That was for his own good!"
"His own good or your own good?" Adin replied. "Better to lock him up like a piece of equipment than treat him like a proper padawan?"
"What would you know of padawans, Knight? Other than you are not far removed from being one."
"At least my master never treated me like a criminal."
"Perhaps we would be better off if she had." The Explorer and the Weapons Master continued to glare at each other.
"Gentlemen, please," Qui-Gon said. "Calm yourselves. Accusations will get us nowhere." He placed his hands on his hips and gave each an intent look. "I would remind you of the influence this planet seems to have over our emotions. Be aware."
The other two Masters assigned to the negotiating team entered the dining area and studied the tense gathering a moment before they approached.
"What is going on?" Master Bondura asked. "I can practically feel your animosity through the Force. It is not a pleasant sensation." A male Twi'lek, Bondura projected bluntness as a matter of course.
"We have a disagreement, Master Bondura," Qui-Gon replied. "I am glad you are here. I think this is a matter for all of us to discuss, not just Master Dushiko and Knight Yeriamman."
"What is so important that it overshadows negotiations?" asked Waruk Kai. The Torgruta female looked displeased at the prospect of a division in the group. The red tinted portions of her face turned crimson as she examined each Jedi.
"Master Dushiko's padawan ran away," Adin said.
"You have no proof of this, Knight. It is only supposition on your part." Dushiko glared at the Explorer.
"How else would you explain it then?" Adin countered.
"The boy is disobedient. He wandered off."
"He ran away."
"Knight Yeriamman. Master Dushiko," Qui-Gon said sharply. "Please, sit down and let us talk about this."
"Yes, someone fill us in," Master Bondura said. He looked at Yeriamman. "But not you, Knight." He pulled out a chair and dropped into it, then waved a hand for the Sahmlian server to bring him food.
Waruk Kai nodded in agreement, and settled into a chair also, back to the wall where her sharp eyes could keep watch. "So where is your padawan, Master Dushiko?"
"I do not know," Dushiko admitted. He sank into a chair opposite Bondura and sighed. "I came back from the negotiations with Master Jinn, went to our rooms to get Remii for mid meal, and he was not there."
"Then he'll show up when he gets hungry," Bondura said. "This is a trivial matter." The Twi'lek took the plate the server offered him and examined it minutely before he nodded and dismissed the man with the wave of a hand. "Your padawan is not our concern."
Adin opened his mouth, and was stopped by Qui-Gon's hand on his arm. Qui-Gon's tightly channeled his thoughts. Tread lightly, Knight. Now is not the time for harsh words. "There is another piece to the puzzle, Master Bondura," Qui-Gon said out loud. "Apparently, Remii was locked in the room. He could not have left on his own. Someone had to remove him."
"Why was the padawan locked in the room?" Waruk Kai asked. She looked with distaste at the cooked meat the Sahmlian placed in front of her, but picked it up and nibbled on it with her sharp incisors.
"Remii has been disobedient. I wished him to stay in the room and do his lessons while I was gone," Dushiko said. "If I could not watch him, I wanted him somewhere safe. The only way to make certain of this was to lock him in the room. With no prospect of going out and getting into trouble, he would have to do as he was told."
"And we all see how well that worked," Adin said. He winced, gave Qui-Gon an apologetic look, and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Knight Yeriamman, I do not see where this is any of your concern," Master Bondura said. "Please refrain from further commentary."
"I will not," Adin said. "This is my concern, and your concern, and yours, and yours," he pointed at Master Bondura, Master Kai, and Qui-Gon in turn, " It is all of our concern. To believe otherwise is naive, and a dereliction of your duties as a Jedi."
"Enough! You forget your place, Knight," Bondura rumbled.
"No, I haven't forgotten my place, but it appears you masters have forgotten yours." Adin held a hand out to still their retorts. "Like it or not, the actions of one small padawan may determine the course of this planet's future."
"Nonsense," Bondura said. "Padawans have no bearing on anything."
"They are Jedi of the future. One will determine the fate of us all."
"You are being melodramatic, Knight. I think you have been alone too long," Master Kai said. "As it has been said, what concern is this of yours? It is not your padawan."
Adin took a breath and stared down at the table a moment before he looked up and met the eyes of each master in turn. "Remii is my… friend."
"And he is Dushiko's padawan. Enough said," Bondura replied. He waved a hand in dismissal.
"You imply ownership, Master. Remii is not a piece of property, or a droid dog, or an assignment," Adin said, looking to Dushiko. "He is a child. Surely even Jedi children deserve to be treated with respect."
Waruk Kai snorted. "If the padawan was stupid enough to leave the safety of the pack, then he deserves what he gets."
"It is our job to protect him!" Adin's voice rose. Again Qui-Gon placed his hand on the Knight's arm and sent a wave of calm. Adin took a deep breath. "I concede at this point it is irrelevant whether or not Remii ran away. What should be our concern is that the padawan is out alone, most likely in Sahmly City. The city is dangerous enough without the unrest that currently plagues it. But I have been tracing the origins of the Dark presence on this planet- and I've found Dark resonance in Sahmly City."
Dushiko frowned at Adin. "What kind of Dark resonance?"
Bondura and Waruk Kai abandoned their meals to place their attention on the knight. "Yes, tell us," Kai said.
"I have been researching the history of the planet," Adin said, "I have found some legends that may bring light to the reason we feel Dark resonance on this planet. About a thousand years ago, there was a massacre of Sahmlian natives. It was done with malice, through devious planning on the part of the murderers. It's been difficult to get any concrete descriptions, but from examining ancient texts and artwork, I believe it to have been the work of Dark Jedi. Nothing else would explain why at times the very air of Sahmly Two seems soaked in shadows." Adin paused, hand reaching down to rest on the head of the attentive droid dog. The dog's metallic eyes roved over each Jedi.
"Why would the resonance still be this prevalent after a thousand years? Who was killed? I know of no Jedi in history that died on this planet." Bondura asked. "Surely if it was a Dark site the Jedi archives would have note of it."
"Dark sites do not always have to have been the scene of a battle between Dark and Light. The magnitude of evil is the deciding factor," Adin said. He paced back and forth behind his chair. "I do not think the massacre was large enough to draw the attention of the Jedi at the time. Sahmly Two is not exactly a big player in the universe back then.
It's only been the last two hundred years or so that the planet developed tourism and mineral extraction to the point where outsiders began to visit."
"It has to give off something, when I went to the Scree leader by myself, I could not shake the feeling I was being watched. And followed," Obi-Wan said. "It felt like the Dark Side."
Qui Gon gave him a minute frown. "You did not tell me this."
"It did not seem important at the time, Master. The feeling faded once I set foot inside the Diplomatic Residence. Maybe I was closer to it in my travels." Obi-Wan looked at Adin. "So why can't we feel where the Dark site is now that we are on the planet?"
Adin rubbed his short beard with a hand. "Because it is so localized. It must be in a distant part of the planet that we have not been near." The droid dog said something very softly to the Knight, and Yeriamman bent down to hear, then straightened up with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"It still does not explain why we feel the dark vergence so readily," Qui-Gon added. "And I recall you said you feel Dark resonance in Sahmly City. If the reason we do not know of any Dark site is because it is outside the city and localized, why do we feel the resonance inside the city?"
"I have a theory," Adin said. He looked at the other Jedi. "You may not like what I am about to tell you..."
Qui-Gon gave a shadow of a smile. "That is Adin-Duanath's way of saying he has most unpleasant news."
Adin returned the small smile, then grew serious. "In my travels around the city I have felt the Dark resonance strongly in the poorer sections of the city, especially around the areas of the Ga and Ro Screes, the lower and lowest caste sections." He looked at each of them carefully. "The Dark resonance I felt was not ancient. It is new, and has been made in the past few eightdays."
"Are you implying there are Dark Ones on the planet, Knight?" Waruk Kai asked.
"Yes."
"If there were Dark ones on planet, we would know about it," Master Bondura said.
"Not necessarily," Adin replied. "Our attention is overshadowed by the negotiations, and now the bomb blast has added complications. If Master Toock had not sent me out to gather information, would any of you have been aware of anything other than a nagging feel of unease?"
"I believe our Explorer has made a good point," Qui-Gon said. "I mentioned my unease and Force feelings to Obi-Wan the first day, but I did not follow up on them. Did the rest of you do the same?" The Jedi all gave nods of agreement.
"I feel the resonance most keenly, which is why I think my temper has been shorter than usual," Dushiko admitted.
"Do you now understand my concern about Remii?" Adin asked them. "It is not safe for a Jedi padawan of Remii's immaturity to be out in the city alone. We must look for him."
Bondura picked up a mug, drank from it, then set it back on the table. "Master Dushiko does not seem to share your rabid concern, Knight. We have no proof of any Dark Jedi, and until we do it would be undignified for us to go chasing wayward apprentices."
"Master Took ordered us to wait here for her," Dushiko said. "I cannot in good conscience leave my duties to go chase Remii." He did not look convinced by his words, however, and played with the napkin at his place.
"Is Remii not your primary duty? I would think you would want to find your padawan before that presence does," Adin said. "What if it is Dark Ones?"
"Everything you have presented us has been pure speculation, Knight," Bondura said. "You said so yourself. Bring us proof, so that we may take you more seriously."
"What would be proof enough for you, Master? Remii's body? Or worse yet, a padawan turned to the Dark Side through our benign neglect?"
"You exaggerate the issue, Knight," Waruk Kai said. "The padawan will return when he has had his adventure outside these walls. I am sure Master Dushiko will deal severely with his irresponsibility then. After all, there is nothing about the padawan to attract the Dark Ones to him. May we talk about the negotiations now?"
"There is something," Obi-Wan said.
Adin stepped forward and spread his hands. "Do not dismiss things so lightly, Master. This is important. Remii is a child yet. He can still be tempted."
"You waste our time, Knight."
"There is something," Obi-Wan said in a louder voice when it became apparent he was ignored. The Masters stopped and looked at him, with expressions ranging from annoyed to hostile. "I know something..."
"What do you know, Obi-Wan?" Adin asked.
With the eyes of all Jedi on him, Obi-Wan faltered a moment before he took a deep breath and said, "Remii used Dark energy in his healing. I was there, I saw it. I felt it. That would that attract the Dark Ones to him, wouldn't it?"
Dushiko stared at the apprentice. "He did what!"
"He used... Dark energy... when he healed the cook in the kitchen. But just a little."
"And you did not see fit to tell me of this!" Dushiko shook his finger at Obi-Wan. "If I had known..."
"You would have what, beat him for it?" Adin asked. "That would not have solved the problem. I think you were aware, Master Dushiko, on some level. Why else would you assign Remii so many hours of meditation if not in an unconscious attempt to help him atone?"
"I did not know my padawan was tainted! How could I have missed it? I thought it was this planet that made everything seem touched by darkness." Dushiko glared at Adin. "And you... You encouraged this rebellion in him!"
"I encouraged him to talk. You would not listen, so he came to me. He is afraid of you, Dushiko. No padawan should fear his master!""
"You undermined my authority with him. This is your fault!"
"That is enough! Nobody is to blame for this, set the past aside. We must concentrate on the here and now." Qui-Gon attempted to rein in the agitated Explorer, but Dushiko had leapt to his feet and begun to argue with Yeriamman. Waruk Kai and Bondura were quick to follow. Obi-Wan sat in his place at the table, eyes wide as he listened to the raging argument his words caused. The Masters surrounded the Explorer, gesturing wildly and voices raised in near shouts.
--Continued in Chapter 21--