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The Price of Sacrifice



Obi-Wan was tired, so very, very tired. He couldn't even remember what it felt like to be anything but totally and completely drained. The Force, though a powerful ally, could not work miracles.

Obi-Wan knew that the long nights of not sleeping, and the endless days of secrecy and stealth and hardship were aging him prematurely, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had to get by as he always had, by living day to day, or in the "here and now" as his old Master used to say.

As he walked through the Jedi temple, the other Jedi seemed to avoid him, either giving sympathetic glances, or simply appearing not to notice him. He knew that he looked bad, and that anyone even slightly Force sensitive could feel the exhaustion radiating off of him, but no one even suspected why he was so tired. Well almost no one.

Mostly, the Jedi passing him in the halls attributed it to his new Padawan. To be knighted and given a Padawan at such a young age was both a privilege and a trial. And though that was not the excuse for his bedraggled state, he was willing to let the halls of the Jedi temple resound with such speculation and rumors.

Entering his quarters, he wanted only to fall into a deep and dreamless sleep, but first he needed to see to his Padawan. Anakin, though becoming more accustomed to having free time (and freedom, for that matter) still had a bad habit of getting into trouble if he spent too much time unsupervised. Obi-Wan would never begrudge having such a curious and active Padawan, but he sometimes wished that he could have one just a little more sedate.

"Good evening Master. How was the meeting on Malastare?" Anakin greeted him, coming from his room as he sensed Obi-Wan's presence in the common room.

"Exhausting as usual my Padawan. And how have your days been going since I've been away?" \\Should I be expecting any irate comms\\

At the brief mental message, Anakin blushed, deciding to answer the spoken message first. "I have been busy Master. Master Bant has been helping me to work on my healing abilities. She thinks that I may have great potential in it. She also says that I'll probably need it, seeing as how I am YOUR Padawan."

"Well, Bant did gain the majority of her healing experience by patching me up on return from missions with Qui-Gon," Obi-Wan answered with a small grin as he remembered some of his many visits to the healer's ward. "Now, should I check the comm. first, or are you going to tell me what to expect before I have to listen to all of my messages from your instructors?"

"Actually, Master, I don't think you will be getting any calls from my instructors, or from the Council members. After the debacle with the 'borrowed' transport last time you left, I decided it would be better if maybe I just spent some time meditating and working on my katas and lessons, rather than joy-riding in Master Windu's skimmer."

"Well, Anakin, I am glad to see that maybe you are beginning to settle down a little bit. It would be nice to return from a round of meetings, without having to prepare to face down the firing squad in place for my wayward apprentice," Obi-Wan smiled fondly at his apprentice, before moving on towards the 'fresher.

"Since it appears that I will have no immediate problems I need to deal with, I think that I am going to take a shower and head off to bed. Is there anything else I need to know about, or we need to talk about before I retire?"

"No, Master. There isn't anything that can't wait until morning. Have a good night's rest," Anakin called to the retreating form of his Master.

He was beginning to worry about his Master. When he had first met Obi-Wan aboard the Queen's transport on Tatooine, Obi-Wan had seemed so young and full of life. He practically radiated with his connection to the Force. Anakin had not had the chance to meet many Force-users in his existence as a slave, but he doubted that anyone could shine more brightly than Obi-Wan had.

It seemed only a few short days later, when that light had dimmed noticeably, and it had continued to fade out as the weeks, than months, and finally years had passed. Nowadays, Obi-Wan more often than not had a dull glow surrounding him that was even further suppressed by the ever-present weight that seemed to rest on his shoulders.

Anakin was pretty sure that the majority of that weight had to do with him, and he truly did try to make life for his Master easier. It was just that it was so hard to behave in the stuffy temple with all of the stuffy Masters, and stuffy Padawans, and stuffy initiates, and stuffy. well everything was just stuffy.

He knew that his Master tried to make things more interesting for him, by choosing instructors that had more hands-on lessons and scheduling training trips to the more exciting and exotic temples that the Jedi held around the galaxy, but his Master was gone so often and Anakin was forced to spend so much time alone that it was hard to remain the stoic Jedi Padawan that was expected of him.

In fact, it seemed that his Master was almost never around anymore. When Anakin had first returned to Coruscant with his new Master, he had expected to spend a lot of time with Obi-Wan. Instead he was sent straight to initiate training the instant he stepped off the transport.

He knew that it wasn't his Master's doing, the anguished look on Obi-Wan's face as he watched Anakin leaving was more than enough to tell him that. It seemed that Obi-Wan wanted Anakin with him, but there was always something that kept them from spending the time together he saw other Masters and Padawans enjoying.

He knew that Obi-Wan was a new knight, and was very young to have taken a Padawan, but he didn't understand why his Master was always off on some meeting or another. They hadn't even been on more than 2 missions together in the entire four years they had been together!

The first mission they had ever shared as Master-Padawan had been a simple escort mission for a Senator returning home during the spring government break on Coruscant. The second mission, which had followed almost a year after the first, had been to simply witness a coronation ceremony on another one of the many small worlds of the Galactic republic.

Other than those two brief missions, and the few trips to the Jedi training temples that Obi-Wan had managed to find the time for, Anakin had been confined to the main Jedi temple. For a boy who had spent his early existence with absolutely no freedom, he had hoped for a lot more of his new Jedi-existence. He had planned on visiting all of the stars in the sky at one point, now he hoped to simply visit something other than Coruscant or another Jedi temple.

With a frustrated sigh, and a quick check of the training bond to see if his Master was asleep, Anakin decided to head to the transport bay. He may have promised never to "borrow" another transport again, but it didn't stop him from helping to repair and service them. If touching a transport was the closest to freedom he got, than he would take it.

*********************************************



Feeling the tentative touch on the training link, Obi-Wan feigned a sleeping state. He knew that if Anakin was really interested, he would have been able to tell that his Master was still awake and working on a report, but he knew his apprentice would respect his privacy.

Obi-Wan felt bad for all the deception that had become a staple in his training of Anakin, but he didn't know how else to handle the situation. The boy carried enough guilt for leaving his mother behind on Tatooine and causing the rift between Obi-Wan and his former Master that had tainted their final days together, he didn't need to know the true cost of his apprenticeship.

Very few people knew what it cost Obi-Wan to take Anakin as his apprentice. The Council, of course, knew and Obi-Wan's best friend Bant, but the rest of the many Jedi Knights thought it a typical Master/Padawan relationship; albeit with the extra stress of taking on a barely trained apprentice at the young age of 25.

The healers of course, had probably come to suspect something, but since Obi-Wan confined his visits to Bant and her former Master, Healer Ravenna, the rumors were mostly contained.

Obi-Wan was actually thankful for Anakin's lack of knowledge about the true workings of the Jedi Order and the hierarchy of the system. It kept his Padawan from coming to any unpleasant realizations about the price his Master had paid to make him a Jedi. He sincerely hoped that Anakin would someday be able to make friends with other Padawans in his year group, but for now the situation worked in his favor. Without close comparisons of other Master/Padawan relationships and knowledge of assignment rotation, Anakin could not even begin to suspect.

And if he did, Obi-Wan had made sure that Bant was there with a ready excuse for his Master's many "meetings."

*********************************************

Anakin returned to the rooms he shared with his Master after several fulfilling hours in the Transport bay. He loved being able to work with the magnificent equipment the temple kept on hand for assignment transportation.

It was nothing like the run-down bits and pieces he had been left to scavenge from his former owner Watto. Instead he was allowed to work with state-of-the-art equipment on machines he had only dreamed of during his dusty existence as a slave. There was nothing quite like being able to recognize, diagnose, and repair a malfunction before it caused any damage. It was almost like the work Master Bant described doing as a Healer.

Of course, he wasn't really saving lives, but it was almost as fulfilling to take an engine choking on a dusty filter or a transport sagging from a weakened strut and turn them into the purr of a refurbished engine and the proud stance of a transport fit to carry Jedi. Anakin was proud of the work he did to reinforce the proud name of the Jedi Order.

As he palmed open the door to their quarters, he felt a strange waver in the Force. The Force swirled around him, almost as if confused. He did not have the ability his Master did when it came to prescience or even to the Living Force, but he was still more sensitive than most Jedi. He wasn't entirely sure what he was feeling now, but he could tell that it was coming from the quarters he shared with his Master.

As he entered the common room, he was surprised to see the lights turned on full. He knew that he had dimmed them as he left, and that his Master had been sleeping after his latest exhausting round of meetings.

Checking to make sure his lightsaber was secure at his waist, Anakin begin to move towards the darkened kitchen. He wasn't sure where the waver from the Force was emanating from exactly, but he wasn't comfortable entering farther into the quarters until he had checked both the common room and kitchen for intruders. He may not have been a Jedi for long, but slavery taught him to always be cautious.

After finding both the common area and kitchen empty and undisturbed, Anakin made his way towards his room. He would check there first, and then finally he would check on his Master. He did not want to disturb Obi-Wan unless absolutely necessary, and he knew he could not enter his sleeping Master's chambers without Obi-Wan sensing him and waking. As he reached to palm open his door, a low moan coming from Obi-Wan's room made Anakin turn and, abandoning all stealth, slam open his Master's door.

The light inside Obi-Wan's quarters was dimmed, but Anakin could tell that his Master was not resting on the sleep couch. With a flicker of the Force, Anakin raised the lights to full and stepped around the couch towards the side he couldn't see from the door.

His Master's personal comm. unit sat on this side of the couch and the chair had been pulled out from the small desk it sat on. Slumped on the floor between the chair and desk lay Obi-Wan, unconscious and not responding to his Padawan's frantic cries.

As the temple began to awaken and the lights returned to their simulated day setting, Anakin remained slumped in the chair outside the healer's ward. He had been there since late the night before after frantically rushing his Master to the ward.

He had called Master Bant from his Master's comm., after finding Obi-Wan unresponsive on the floor of their quarters. With his Master slumped right in front of the small comm. station, it was not difficult to give Master Bant all of the readings and information she required as she dispatched orderlies to bring Obi-Wan to the ward.

If Anakin had had more training in Force control, he would have attempted to levitate his Master to the Healer's, but he did not want to risk further hurting Obi-Wan in a panicked attempt to gain a few minutes time.

Once the orderlies had arrived, Master Bant had signed off with Anakin and had left her quarters to meet them at the Healer's. Master Bant had told Anakin to return to his quarters and get some rest, and that she would notify him as soon as they knew anything about what had caused his Master's collapse. Anakin was uncomfortable leaving Obi-Wan's side when he had no idea what had befallen his Master. He was feeling somewhat guilty that he had went to the transport bay instead of staying in his room when he knew his Master was so exhausted.

He knew that such guilt was ridiculous, and that he would probably have only kept his Master from rest if he had remained in their quarters, but he was extremely worried about Obi-Wan. He had never known his Master to even have a cold in the four years that they had been together. To find his Master unconscious and so vulnerable was a shock to the young apprentice.

*********************************************

Bant stood over the unconscious form of her best friend as he lay stretched out on the med-bed. He appeared so young when he was asleep. The past four years had added stress lines and a harder expression to his face when he was awake, but asleep he looked more like the young initiate Bant had swam and played with years before.

Beside the med-bed, Master Healer Ravenna was noting the readings from the many sensors covering Obi-Wan's body. Both Ravenna and Bant were sure that Obi-Wan was suffering from some form of psychic exhaustion, but they were not sure what had caused the malady.

Bant knew that Obi-Wan had just returned from one of his "meetings" but as usual she was unsure of what exactly said meeting had entitled this time. Sometimes Obi-Wan returned from the meetings with nary a mark or complaint. Other times, and sadly the more often times, Obi-Wan returned on a stretcher.

This time, Obi-Wan had not even stopped by the Healer's before reporting directly to his quarters. Bant had planned on seeing him in the morning, since usually he would have a wound of some kind or another that he would pretend hadn't happened.

Bant knew that Obi-Wan avoided the Healer's on principle alone, but that he also avoided it because he did not want the rumors of his time spent there to spread to his apprentice or to the council. The Jedi Council kept close tabs on the "Master of the Chosen One," and Obi-Wan could not afford to have too many visits to the Healer's on his record.

As Bant contemplated her friend, Ravenna adjusted the small sensor on Obi- Wan's temple. With a slight gasp, Obi-Wan regained consciousness and opened his eyes looking blankly around the room, before settling his gaze on Bant.

"So, you've decided to return once again to the land of the living, eh Obi? This time I thought you'd decide to spend a little more time in la la land before you decided to join us again," Bant gently teased as Obi-Wan tried to sit up on the med-bed.

"You need to remain lying down, Obi-Wan," Master Healer Ravenna chastised as she pushed him back down onto the bed. "You are not yet ready to be up and fighting draigons again. You're going to have to take some down-time to recover from the psychic shock you incurred this time."

Obi-Wan lay back down on the bed and raised an arm up to lie across his forehead. "I knew that I was pretty tired, but I didn't know that I was anything but exhausted. I guess it has been too long since I've gotten a decent night's sleep."

"Oh, its much more than lack of a 'decent night's sleep' Obi-Wan. Exactly how many days have you been relying on meditation and the Force to keep you going, instead of sleep and food?" Ravenna questioned.

"Apparently a few too many," Obi-Wan stated dryly. "This last mission was a bit more than I had anticipated going into it. I wanted to return to Anakin as soon as possible, and tried to get everything set up as quickly as I could, but I couldn't take the time to do anything other than grab a few hours of meditation here and there. I guess it took more out of me than I thought. But I will just go back to my quarters, and get some real sleep and some real food, and I'll see both of you beautiful ladies later," Obi- Wan sweet talked as he tried once again to sit up and prepare to go back to the rooms he and Anakin shared.

"Stay here you should, taking on too much you are, hmm." came a voice from the doorway. With a groan Obi-Wan lay back down on the med-bed and prepared for a lecture from none other than head council member Master Yoda.

"Too much time you spend here, have attachment to this ward do you?" Yoda asked as he perched himself on the chair next to Obi-Wan's bed.

"Master Yoda, I am more than capable of returning to my quarters. I have merely been working a little too hard, and need to get some sleep. It is my own fault for not managing my time better, and neglecting my body's needs. I will return to my rooms at once and remedy the situation," Obi-Wan sat up once again, and this time made it to his feet. He hoped that by stating his own faults and showing his acceptance immediately of the "error of his ways" Obi-Wan could escape a lecture by the diminutive Master.

"Perhaps a Padawan you should not have. If unable to care for yourself you are, than a Master you are not yet ready to be. Young Skywalker would better serve the Force in Agri-Corps than as a Padawan," Yoda began with the rehash of the argument that had been ongoing for the past four years.

The Jedi Council, and Master Yoda especially, felt that Anakin was too dangerous to be trained as a Jedi. The Council had tried everything to dissuade Obi-Wan from taking Anakin as his apprentice. Not even the Jedi Council could come between Obi-Wan and fulfilling his word to his dying Master however.

"Master Yoda, with all due respect, I believe Anakin has proven himself again and again as a worthy apprentice. He works hard at everything he does, and has managed to reach the training level of his year group in only four years. That is thirteen years of Jedi training in only four years. At this rate, he will soon surpass me, and prove to be one of the greatest Jedi this order has ever seen. Master Qui-Gon Jinn saw his great potential and his dying wish was that Anakin be trained. I will carry out my word to my Master, with or without the support of the Jedi Council."

"Proven that already you have. The consequences of such rash actions you already feel, so sure are you that you wish to continue this path?" Master Yoda asked as he watched Obi-Wan pull on his leggings under the med tunic he wore and pull his robe on over that.

"In the words of my Master, 'I will do as I must'" Obi-Wan stated with a quick bow to the council member. With a brief nod to an exasperated Master Ravenna and a bemused Bant, Obi-Wan left the examination room and began the trek back to his quarters, stopping only long enough to rouse a sleeping Anakin and sign his discharge papers.

Anakin hadn't even realized that he had fallen asleep when he was being roughly awakened and dragged out of the Healer's ward. Never being a morning person, it took Anakin a few seconds before he realized that it was his Master doing the pulling.

"Master?" When the pressure on his arm didn't even hesitate, and Obi-Wan did not noticeably slow, Anakin tried to reach his Master through the training bond.

\\ Master? Are you ok? Shouldn't you still be in the Healer's ward? \\

\\ I am fine Anakin, we just need to return to our quarters so we can both get some sleep.\\

Realizing the blatant dismissal for what it was, Anakin remained silent until they had entered the common room of their quarters. Determined to make sure that his Master really was ok, and what had been wrong with him, Anakin planted his feet and refused to be dragged any farther than the entrance to their rooms.

Obi-Wan was pulled off balance by the sudden halting of his apprentice, but to Anakin's surprise, he merely released him and continued on to his room. "We will discuss your lessons for the day in the morning Anakin, for now, I am going to get some sleep. I suggest you do as well."

"Master, it is morning. I need to get ready for a class, but I will be back over the lunch hour. If you're sure that you are ok, I am going to head off to my classes," Anakin called to his Master, just before Obi-Wan shut the door to his own room.

"That's fine Anakin. Have a good day, and please don't cause any trouble," came Obi-Wan's voice, the last part muffled as the door finished closing.

With a sigh, Anakin grabbed up his datapad pack and ran a brush through his short Padawan haircut. He really would prefer to remain with his Master, but it was morning, and he knew that if he missed class the instructors would be calling and waking Obi-Wan before he'd had a chance to catch much sleep. Anakin knew that if he hadn't been missing classes so much in the past, he would've been able to stay with his Master and not worry about irate instructors disturbing his rest. Just one more thing to add to the shoulders of an already overly guilty Padawan learner.

*********************************************

Upon entering his sleeping quarters, Obi-Wan paused only to remove his robe and boots, and then collapsed on the sleep couch. Vowing to sleep for at least five cycles, he closed his eyes and tried to rest.

Half an hour later he was cursing the fact that sleep suggestions could not be used on oneself. Determined to wear his mind out to the point he could sleep, he sat up and moved over to the chair in front of his comm. unit.

There were many messages from friends and fellow Knights who had heard of his late night trip to the Healers. Obi-Wan decided that sending a form comm. of "I'm fine" might not cut it this time. He knew that his friends were only worried, but he hated the attention and sympathy they gave. Even if they assumed it was only due to his overactive and overtalented Padawan, it was still frustrating to have so many people checking up on him.

Choosing to ignore the "get well soon" comms until a later time, Obi-Wan continued down the list of saved messages. Towards the bottom he saw a formal comm. from the Council requesting his presence just prior to the lunch hour.

With a groan, Obi-Wan realized that he would have to shower and ready himself immediately if he was to make the meeting on time. \So much for sleep\ he thought bitterly as he began to remove the med tunic and work his way towards the fresher.

A few minutes later, after a shower and change of clothing, Obi-Wan wrote a quick note to Anakin apologizing for not being there for lunch as he had promised and then headed out the door to meet with the council.

*********************************************

After making the updates to Obi-Wan's chart, Bant decided to stop by and check on her most frequent patient. She knew that Master Ravenna was upset that Obi-Wan had checked himself out against the Healer's wishes, but they both knew that Obi-Wan had not really had a choice. Had he remained at the Healer's, Master Yoda would have continued to lecture him until the temple was again at night cycle.

As she made her way through the temple halls, Bant could overhear the murmurings of her fellow Jedi as she passed. She knew that almost anything the "Master of the Chosen One" did was fodder for the rumor mill, and being sent to the Healer's in the middle of the night was perfect for the gossips among the ranks.

Knowing that Obi-Wan would be upset to hear that his late night escapades had so quickly made the rounds, Bant hurried on to his quarters. Maybe she could convince him to remain in his rooms for the rest of the day with the threat of a medical restriction.

Rounding the corner near the training rooms, Bant saw Anakin ahead of her carrying his datapad pack. "Padawan Skywalker, what are you doing going to classes? You should be at your quarters getting some rest," Bant said catching up to Anakin just before he entered one of the rooms.

"I know Master Bant, but I knew that if I missed classes, the instructors would be calling Master Kenobi and I didn't want them to wake him," Anakin began sorting through his datapads locating the correct one for the classroom he was about to enter. "I really need to get to class though, Master Ni'Kaven does not like it when his students are late."

Bending down until only Anakin would hear what she had to say, Bant whispered "Tell you what, how about if I go tell Master Ni'Kaven that you are under my orders to get some sleep, and that you won't be in class today?"

With a grateful smile Anakin answered her question more readily than words could ever supply. Anakin waited outside while Bant entered the room to notify Master Ni'Kaven of his student's absence, and asked him to spread the word to the other instructors.

Once that was settled, Bant rejoined Anakin in the hall and they went together to make sure a certain recalcitrant Master was actually getting the sleep he needed.

Obi-Wan hated the massive wooden doors. In a time of palm-activated sliding doors, the archaic Council entrance just seemed ridiculous. Of course, he had not always felt this way. When he had been a Padawan, he had always been enthralled with the carved wooden doors that were so unlike any others in the temple. The first time he had been called to the Council, he had been so awed by both the doors and the power of the Force emanating from within, that it took a strong mental nudge from Qui-Gon to remind him to actually enter the room.

Today it seemed it would take a lot more than a mental nudge from a Master to cause him to budge from his chair outside the chambers.

\They call me up here, order me to report at exactly this time, KNOWING that I am exhausted and haven't slept, and then they leave me out here to wait like some mischievous initiate called to the carpet\ The thoughts may not have been exactly becoming of a Jedi, but Obi-Wan was too tired to notice or care. Just when he thought he was going to lose his patience and do something really un-Jedi-like by pounding on the sith-begotten doors the summons rang and the massive doors began to open.

Suppressing a sigh, Obi-Wan stood and entered the chambers that almost overflowed with the power of the Force. As the doors began to swing shut, Obi-Wan sketched a bow to the Council members and when the doors resealed with a slight hiss, he was prepared to accept whatever came his way.

*********************************************

Anakin and Bant were unsurprised to find the Kenobi/Skywalker chambers empty when they arrived. It would have been truly surprising to actually find Obi-Wan doing something as logical and healthy as sleeping, or even getting something to eat. Anakin noticed the note on the table and after reading it, passed it off to Bant.

"Why is it that my Master seems to always be called before the Council, and yet we never go on any missions?" Anakin asked with just a touch of frustration in his tone. It seemed to him that the Council purposely tried to keep his Master away from him.

He knew that Obi-Wan was a great Knight of the Order, and he didn't understand why the Council not only kept him from completing important missions across the galaxy, but instead sent him to boring meetings that exhausted his Master to the point of apparent collapse. And for some reason, the Council forbade Anakin to attend to his Master at any of the meetings, leaving the Padawan alone more often than any other apprentice at the temple.

"I don't know Anakin," Bant said returning to the more familiar form of address now that they were away from the other Padawans who had been around the training rooms. "Maybe you two will get sent on a mission together this time. I am sure that the Council must realize that you need to spend more time with your Master than they have allowed for in the past."

"I hope so. I don't know what these 'meetings' are that the Council keeps sending my Master to, but he always returns looking even more bedraggled than when he left. None of the other Masters return from Senate meetings or any other kind of meeting looking so drawn. Don't you think the Council would notice that he is obviously bored to the point of collapse by these meetings and would at least send him on a solo mission, even if I couldn't go?" Anakin asked as he fetched two glasses of juice from the Kitchen and gestured for Bant to make her self comfortable on the couch.

Accepting the juice, Bant motioned for Anakin to sit beside her. With the almost constant absence of his Master, Anakin and Bant had formed a close bond. She not only acted as an instructor, but also as a sounding board for his frustrations and problems, and most importantly, she acted as his friend.

"I'm sure the Council realizes how tired Obi-Wan is. After last night's incident, I don't see how they could refuse to acknowledge that they are overworking him. Hopefully this summons was only to report on his last meeting and to offer him some downtime. I am sure that they will want him to spend some time here at the Temple so that he can work on training you, and helping out the 'saber instructors like he used to."

"I hope so, I don't think I am going to be able to handle it if I have to spend another three weeks alone in this suite. I know that I should appreciate the solitude, but it gets kinda lonely after awhile," Anakin sighed as he sat beside Bant on the couch and turned to stare out at the Coruscant traffic. With the entire planet being one big city, it was always rush hour, no matter the time of day.

"Well, I am afraid that you are going to have to spend a little more time alone Padawan," came a voice from behind just as Anakin and Bant acknowledged the sound of the door opening.

Swiveling on the couch almost in synch, they both turned to face Obi-Wan as he entered the room looking only slightly better than the night before. "The Council has decided to send me to another round of meetings on Malastare."

"But Master, you only returned last night! How can they possibly be sending you out again so soon? Don't they know you spent most of last night at the Healer's?" Anakin asked as he stood and came around the couch to stand beside his Master.

"The Council knows Anakin, that is why they have decided to only send me out to a short round of meetings this time. Hopefully I will return before the end of the week. In the meantime, I hope that you will spend some more time with Master Bant working on your healing exercises?" Obi-Wan asked as his gaze fell on his friend who still was seated on the couch.

Correctly reading the look in Obi-Wan's eyes, Bant was struck with the sudden notion to put a medical restriction on him, refusing to let him leave the planet again for at least a month or two. Before she could open her mouth to suggest it however, Obi-Wan gently shook his head at her and flicked his gaze quickly to Anakin who stood just off to his side. "I am sure that the two of you can find something to keep you occupied for a few more days until I return," Obi-Wan said as his gaze once more returned to Bant. "Of course I would hope that it isn't anything I will have to answer to any irate Jedi for. I believe the last time I took leave of you both at the same time, I returned to find my quarters in a shambles and the commissary questioning the standing order of six pints of ice cream that 'I' had requested."

With a quick smile and lowering of her gaze, Bant accepted the silent request Obi-Wan had asked of her. "I am sure that Anakin and I will find much to do, especially since I know you haven't been spending many of your credits lately."

"Just as long as I still have a few credits to my name when I return, I leave my apprentice and my credit chip in your more than capable hands Master Bant," Obi-Wan stated beginning to move towards his room to gather his travel pack.

"I guess that's one advantage of your always being gone Master," Anakin said with a small smile, "you never have to worry about packing."

"That is true my young apprentice, but of course, I would never have to worry about packing. that would be my Padawan's job. Come to think of it, maybe my pack should be exchanged for a newer one and some of the supplies switched out." With a smirk, Obi-Wan feigned a cuff to the side of his Padawan's head.

"No Master, I think that your travel pack looks great just the way that it is. I would hate to mess with such perfection in packing," Anakin accepted the continued attempt at levity as Obi-Wan prepared to leave his apprentice yet again.

"Well, in that case, I guess I should be leaving. I have a transport to catch. Hopefully one of these times the Council will either allow me some time at home, or will allow you to accompany me Anakin. In the meantime, please keep up with your studies, and take care of Bant. You know how much trouble she can be." With a quick wave and smile, Obi-Wan gathered his bag and once again left Anakin and Bant alone in the quarters.

On the transport to Navira, Obi-Wan reviewed the information the Council had given him for this mission. He hated having to lie to Anakin, but he did not want his apprentice to worry about him, or even worse, feel guilty. Although it was not as often stressed to the initiates, guilt led as easily to the darkside as did anger or hate. Anakin was too important for Obi-Wan to risk even the slightest chance that he would turn.

Telling Anakin that he was going to Malastare was a blatant lie, something Jedi were forbidden to do. He comforted himself somewhat with the thought that at least his transport was going to have to stop briefly at Malastare to refuel. He knew that to try to justify his lie to his Padawan by accepting such a skewed version of truth was ridiculous, but it offered him some relief, and as tired as he was he would accept any comfort he could get.

\This is ridiculous that the Council is sending me out on a mission again so soon. The last one to Ilion should have been more than enough to fulfill my end of our 'bargain'\ Obi-Wan thought to himself as he watched the star streaks of hyperspace out the window.

\Three weeks of hell, and it counts for nothing. Instead I get sent out again right away to another hotspot of the galaxy to carry the "flaming sword of Jedi Justice."\ Obi-Wan realized that now he was just being cynical, and that he really needed to get some rest before the rebellion of his thoughts escaped into spoken word.

Unstrapping from the bench he had secured himself to for the jump from Coruscant, he made his way back towards the crew cabins. \Maybe now I can catch some sleep\

*********************************************

Once Obi-Wan had left the chambers of the Council, the massive doors had once again swung shut, leaving the Council members alone in the sound dampened room.

"We should not have sent him out again so soon. He is obviously exhausted and he needs to be given some time to recuperate and train his Padawan. We have asked too much of him this time I fear," Mace Windu began, knowing that the entire Council was rearing up for yet another debate regarding Obi- Wan Kenobi.

"A short mission this is. For such a talented knight, it will not last long. Return to us soon, he will. Rest then he can," Yoda said leaning forward in preparation of leaving. Master Yoda, though having the patience only one over 800 could have, was tired of the endless debate regarding the young knight. Yoda felt that Obi-Wan had chosen this path when he had defied the Council and taken Skywalker as a Padawan. If Knight Kenobi no longer wished to carry out his end of the bargain with the Council, he had only to send Skywalker away, and all would be well.

"A short mission it may be, but dangerous it is as well. We are asking too much of him. Even if he is the only Knight to have killed a Sith in thousands of years, it is too much to expect him to keep going out on these dangerous missions and returning to us alive," Depa Bilaba stated, interrupting Yoda's plans to dismiss the Council.

"And asking him to lie to his Padawan so often is wearing him down as well," Mace added.

"Asking him to lie we are not. His decision that was. If he does not wish to carry out these missions, then he knows what he needs to do. His choice it is," Councilor Yaddle weighed in, in the distinctive syntax of her species.

"This debate has been ongoing for the past four years. Knight Kenobi's transport has already made the leap to hyperspace so the point is moot. I suggest we confine our discussion to more active topics, or adjourn for the day." Ki-Adi-Mundi had abstained from any votes the Council had made in the matter of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he was not interested in wasting any more time on the issue. "Perhaps we should discuss who to send on the mission to Kardon."

And with the opening of a new topic, the Council members were once again engaged in debate.

*********************************************

Obi-Wan barely had a chance to step off the ramp of the transport on Navira before it was rising once again into the air. The pilot was not stupid, and knew better than to leave his ship as a target on such a war-encrusted planet.

Hearing the transport beginning to lift off, three figures dressed in the traditional shrouds of the religious faction leading the western continent left a small grove of trees to greet the Jedi Knight.

"Jedi Kenobi?" At Obi-Wan's acknowledgement the middle figure of the three continued. "It is not safe here. They will have seen your ship land and have tagged this area. We must leave immediately."

Obi-Wan motioned for the three to lead on, while trying to get a sense of the planet and occupants thereof through the Force. The planet itself was strong in the Living Force. Unlike Coruscant, or any of the other heavily industrialized planets of the Republic, Navira was mostly made up of unsettled land.

Forests and plains, oceans and mountains, snow covered tundras and great rainforests made up the climate of the planet. Navira also had no system of climate control, so the weather tended to be somewhat unpredictable. The Living Force thrummed strongly on the planet, but the Unifying Force hinted of a shaded past and an even darker future. The planet had been settled in waves, the first group being a colony of humans from the nearby Bitham system.

Following shortly thereafter came another colony of humans from an even farther system. The two groups had settled on different continents of the planet, and had remained oblivious of each other for many years. Both colonies had settled into agrarian societies, and neither had felt any desire to return to space after having spent so much time there while searching for a new home planet. It was only when an outlying system attempted to contact Navira in hopes of establishing trade relations that the two colonies became aware of each other.

Initially the two groups had attempted to adapt one government to represent the planet, but the two colonies proved too different and too distrustful for negotiations to work. Suspicion and hatred became the prevalent emotions of the talks, and the plan for a united government collapsed before it ever really started.

Now that the two groups were aware of each other, and the only contact between the two had spawned discourse, the planet became a battleground. The humans on the western continent, led by their religious leaders, had been invaded by the armies of the east. The eastern colony had decided that Navira needed to be one united planet, and if the westerners didn't agree, than the westerners needed to be removed. The two colonies had battled back and forth for generations, with neither side really gaining an advantage.

The conflict became almost a rite of passage among the youth of both nations. The planet may have been engulfed in war, with bloodshed the norm, but the war had become a part of the planet, and the citizens seemed to accept and almost endorse the situation.

It was only with the rise of a new leader in the east that the centuries old battle had been taken to a new level. Suddenly the armies of the east were being equipped with weapons and trained in strategy that was causing the army of the west to falter.

Realizing that their culture was in danger of being eradicated and the people forced from their homes, the religious leader of the west had contacted the Republic to ask assistance. Even though Navira was not a member of the Republic, the Chancellor could not ignore genocide on such a massive scale.

The Senate was unable to intervene, but the Chancellor asked the Jedi to send an operative to assist the western armies by discovering who the new leader in the east was and shutting down his supply line. Once the eastern army was once again fighting only with internal weapons and strategy, the Jedi operative was to leave and allow the planet to continue on as it had for centuries. The Jedi Council had initially refused the request of the Chancellor, but upon receiving new information that the leader of the eastern armies was suspected to be a fallen Jedi, the Council had no choice but to intervene.

The Council had accepted the request of the Chancellor but had decided that the Jedi sent would be required to apprehend the leader of the eastern armies and bring him back to Coruscant to stand before the Council. The Jedi were not in the habit of letting their own reek havoc throughout the galaxy.

Obi-Wan had been given a photo of the fallen Jedi along with a brief history, and sent to recover him. The mission was expected to last only a few days, just long enough for Obi-Wan to infiltrate the main camp of the eastern armies, restrain the ex-Jedi and recall his transport.

\Oh, yes, it should be so simple\ Obi-Wan thought sarcastically. \Just like settling that little trade dispute on Naboo\

After following the three westerners for the better part of five hours, Obi- Wan was beginning to wonder just where it was they were leading him. He knew that with the invading forces of the east growing stronger and stronger daily, the western encampment was probably quite mobile and well hidden, but this was ridiculous. The three guides had changed directions twice already on this hike, once in a complete about face.

"You do know where we are going, correct?" Obi-Wan finally dared to ask as he ducked under a low-slung branch.

"Of course, Jedi Kenobi, we just cannot risk being followed. The easterners are using tracking droids in an attempt to find our camp. We have found that backtracking and leaving a meandering trail seems to throw them off," the middle westerner replied.

It appeared that she was the leader of the three that had come to meet him. The other two had not as much as made eye contact in the entire five hours since he had landed.

"If you fear tracking droids so much, might it not be better to arrive at your camp as expediently as possible, rather than risking stumbling across one of the trackers, or one of the scouts for the eastern army?"

"They will have seen your transport landing, and are undoubtedly attempting to track us now. But, if you are in such a hurry to arrive at the encampment, we will risk discovery so that you may begin on your mission right away sir Jedi," the westerner replied, while beginning to move at a more rapid pace.

"No, I am sure you know these conditions better than I. I am impatient to reach your camp and begin my mission, but I do not wish to put your leaders at risk. Continue as you had planned Sri Westerner," Obi-Wan said with a slight twinge of guilt. He wanted to return to Anakin as soon as possible, but he knew better than to put others at risk simply so he could return to Coruscant.

Slowing the pace once more, the woman turned briefly to make eye contact with the Jedi. "You may call me Narissa. I am not in the top echelon of our forces, so it is not necessary to refer to me as Sri Westerner. I am merely the most familiar with the area you were cleared to land in, and as such was chosen to receive you," she stated, turning once more to the land in front of them. As she turned, the hood that covered her face caught on a branch and pulled back somewhat. Obi-Wan was stunned to see that she appeared to be in her early twenties at the oldest.

"Thank you Narissa. Do you have an estimate as to when we may arrive at your camp?" Obi-Wan asked, hoping she would turn once again so he could get a better look at this young woman who was given such an apparently dangerous task.

Without turning, Narissa adjusted her hood once more and answered his query. "We should be arriving before nightfall. That should give you an opportunity to talk with our leader and perhaps prepare to 'visit' the eastern encampment at daybreak." As she finished speaking, the young woman once again faced forward and began again the silent trek to the western front.

*********************************************

Anakin and Bant were still sitting on the couch in the common room where Obi-Wan left them. Bant had made it a point to try to spend the first few hours after Obi-Wan's departures with Anakin, giving him the chance to express any questions or doubts he had. Obi-Wan had asked Bant to look after his Padawan, and to try to keep his secret as long as possible. Since Bant knew that Anakin had an insatiable curiosity, it was important that she be the one he asked his questions to.

Currently, Anakin was engaged in a holo-vid that Bant was only paying partial attention to. Anakin had seemed upset at Obi-Wan's departure, but instead of talking to Bant, he had decided to lose himself in the latest installment of the reality holo-vid that was all the rage on Coruscant. Bant, however, could not stop thinking about the look Obi-Wan had given her as he had gathered his travel pack. In that one look he had both asked her to keep his secret, and to take care of his Padawan in case he wouldn't be able to.

Bant knew of the arrangement Obi-Wan had made with the Council to allow him to train Anakin. When she had first heard of the "bargain" he had made, she had been unaccountably upset at Qui-Gon. How could he possibly have asked such a thing of his Padawan? Did Qui-Gon care so little for his apprentice that he would force such a heavy task on one so young? Obi-Wan should have been permitted to spend a few years growing into his knighthood before he even begun to look for a Padawan learner. It was unfair of his Master to ask so much of him.

The look on Obi-Wan's face when Bant had dared to ask such questions aloud, had more than quelled her anger. Obi-Wan had seemed so sad, and yet so angry that she could think so little of his Master. "Do you really think that Master Qui-Gon would have given me such a task if he didn't think I could handle it? Do you really think so little of my Master (or me)?" The hurt in his voice as the implication of his message had been heard had made Bant immediately retract her statement and ask his forgiveness for making such rash accusations.

Although Bant had accepted Qui-Gon's request of Obi-Wan, she would never forgive the Master for asking so much of her friend. Bant would not criticize Qui-Gon in front of Obi-Wan again, he had enough to deal with from the Council; but she would not ever condone the Master's decision.

Qui-Gon may have been a Master Jedi, and a great swordsman, but when it came to training and caring for apprentices, he had been sorely lacking.

*********************************************

It was only another two hours before Obi-Wan finally reached the western encampment. Narissa had not spoken to him after the brief exchange where she had offered her name. Along the entire trek he had neither seen nor heard nor sensed any pursuit, and so he was relatively certain that the eastern leader had not yet felt his presence on the planet.

Upon their initial approach to the encampment, they had passed many sentries and through no less than five checkpoints. Obi-Wan was impressed with the security of the base, especially considering it had been forced to relocate so many times since the emergence of the new eastern leader. After passing through a final checkpoint, Obi-Wan was finally cleared to meet with Sri Edinb, the current leader of the western forces. Obi-Wan had only been given the name of the leader once he had passed through the last checkpoint. The western forces were not willing to risk the identity of their leader until they were certain that the Jedi was who he claimed to be.

After passing his final security clearance, Obi-Wan expected to be led to the large durasteel enclosure in the center of the compound. Instead he was led to a smaller canvas tent more towards the edge of the spiraling encampment.

"We have found that it pays to act unexpectedly in our long conflict with the eastern armies," Narissa offered seeing the look of surprise on Obi- Wan's face. "If the eastern armies were to find our compound, the first building to go would be the one they expected our leader to be in. Instead of Sri Edinb staying in the most obvious place, he resides with the common soldiers. It is a most efficient manner of protection," she concluded.

"Yes, it appears so," Obi-Wan muttered, as he briefly scanned the base. The compound was laid out in a spiraling plan, so that no tent or building lay in a direct line with surrounding structures. It made the base more impervious to attack, unlike a block layout, where one plasma launcher could take out an entire row of structures. The western army was certainly not inept, which made their sudden losses to the eastern armies all the more disturbing.



"Jedi Kenobi, I take it? Welcome to Navira. We have been expecting you." With a brief bow that was returned by Sri Edinb, Obi-Wan entered the leader's tent to prepare for the infiltration of the eastern compound.

Morning came too quickly on the planet of Navira. Obi-Wan had spent the entire night reviewing the details the westerners had gathered on the eastern leader and his camp.

After going over all of the information they had gathered, Obi-Wan was still left with little information as to who the eastern leader was, and how he had managed to bring in weapons from such a vast assortment of planets.

The eastern leader had succeeded in gathering his supplies from planets far and wide throughout the galaxy. Each of the planets he had gathered from was renowned for one or more forms of weaponry, and somehow the leader had brought only the best. Plasma cannons from Iktira, ground transports from Correllia, N'arkan hounds from N'ark, and shields from the Gungan city on Naboo. It was the last item that had forced Obi-Wan to plan his assault for the daytime.

Normally, in such a mission, the Jedi would have preferred to enter the enemy encampment during the night rotation. It was much easier to maneuver unseen when the sun wasn't bright overhead. Unfortunately, the eastern army also realized this fact, and had created a grid of modified Gungan shields. These shields, unlike the ones used during the invasion of Naboo four years prior, did not allow entry or exit of any biological life. Even with the power of the Force, there was no way for Obi-Wan to enter the camp until the shields were down.

Of course, entering the camp during the day would not exactly be easy. Just because the shields were down, did not mean that the camp was left unguarded. Just the opposite, in fact, the camp was heavily guarded.

Surrounding the camp was a fence sixteen feet tall that was topped with poisoned razor wire. Just inside of the first fence, was a second fence, of the same height, also topped with the wire. The space between the two fences provided ample area for a "dog run" which was heavily guarded by the N'arkan hounds. Even if an intruder were to make it over the first fence, they would never clear the second before the hounds took them down.

The only entrances to and from the camp were equipped with sensors that tested the genetic imprint of all who entered or exited the camp. All of the easterners who had authorized access were entered into a main database that was sequestered in the middle of the camp. No other easterners, whether civilian or politician were permitted onto the base.

The eastern encampment may have been heavily fortified and impossible to infiltrate by the westerners, but for a Jedi, there was a massive weak point that could be utilized. From a young age, all Jedi were taught to use the Force to enhance their physical prowess. As such, even young initiates were capable of easily leaping to the roof of a four-story building. Clearing a distance of sixteen feet was nothing for an experienced Padawan, and for a knight, it was almost ridiculous.

Sri Edinb and Narissa were convinced that that was the best way for Obi-Wan to gain access to the camp. Obi-Wan however, was suspicious. \Why would an experienced Force user leave such an obvious opening? He would have to know how easily it could be exploited if he spent any time with the Jedi, let alone if he had actually BEEN a Jedi.\ Obi-Wan thought as soon as the weakness was pointed out to him.

Even if the fallen Jedi had no reason to suspect that a Jedi Knight would ever set foot on Navira, it bordered on insane to leave such an obvious defensive opening. With the amount of money that the leader had spent on defense, it would not have been that much more costly to simply add a laser grid extending another fifty feet above the chain fencing. The apparent chink in the eastern leader's army smelled suspiciously like a set-up to Obi-Wan.

Once Obi-Wan had ruled out the fenced border as an opening into the camp, that left only the actual entrances to the eastern encampment. This left the Jedi with the problem of how to gain access into the camp with the sensors that filtered all ingoing and outgoing personnel. If the sensors had instead been human sentries, Obi-Wan may have been able to use the Force to persuade them that he had the right to enter. Unfortunately, mind tricks were not known to work well on technologically driven intelligence. The only option left to the Jedi was to somehow access the main databank and enter his genetic code as an authorized visitor.

"Do you have any informants, or other sympathetic parties within the eastern encampment that you could persuade to modify the registry?" Obi-Wan asked Sri Edinb as he explained his suspicions to the western leader.

"We do have informants, yes; but none who would have access to the main computer. Is it possible to somehow tunnel under the fence instead? Or risk leaping the outer perimeter?" Sri Edinb asked after he had conferred briefly with Narissa and the other advisors standing about. Once again Obi- Wan was struck with curiosity as to how a girl so young had gained such standing with the western leader.

"It appears then, that we may have to hold off this raid until we can gather more information on the central computer. I cannot run the risk of tipping off the eastern leader to my identity as a Jedi until I can be sure that I will be able to apprehend him. I would rather not face a fallen Jedi in company with a battalion of soldiers if I can avoid it," Obi-Wan answered caustically. He may have wanted to return to Anakin as soon as possible, but he was not willing to turn this mission into a suicide run just to save some time.

"Actually, Sir Jedi, I think I may know of a way to access the central computer without having to enter the compound," Narissa spoke up as Sri Edinb and the other advisors digested Obi-Wan's statement.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Obi-Wan asked, hoping to gain some insight into this westerner that somehow reminded him of another young woman who had faced an invasion of her land only four years previously.

With a mischievous smile, Narissa pushed back her hood as she turned to face him. "We hack into it."

*********************************************



After staring mindlessly at the holo-vid for over two hours, Anakin was ready to throw his boot through the projector. He had tried to lose himself in the mind-numbing device, but he couldn't stop thinking about his Master. He didn't understand how the Council could possibly be considered so wise, when it was always acting with such ignorance.

"Arrgghh! I am so tired of the stupid Council and the stupid Jedi, and this stupid temple and this STUPID PLANET!" Anakin yelled suddenly, causing Bant to startle up from her slouched position beside him. "How is it that the Jedi are supposed to be so wise and the guardians of peace and justice, and yet we are led by a bunch of morons?"

"PADAWAN Skywalker! It is not your place to judge the decisions, or the intellect of our Council. They have a much better grasp and understanding of the Force, and are more than capable of leading us!" Bant may have silently agreed with Anakin's opinion of the Jedi Council, but she could not allow him to continue to hold such feelings against fellow Jedi.

Bant had spent the last two hours silently releasing her anger and frustration into the Force, knowing that it was only a matter of time until Anakin had an outburst. Bant had seen the energy swirling around him and growing darker and darker until she knew that he would have to release it or risk losing consciousness from the massive amount of stored energy.

"I know that you are worried about your Master, and that you are upset about his always being sent away from Coruscant, but this is no way to handle such feelings. You need to release your emotions into the Force. It is not healthy to try to contain such anger," Bant stated, switching immediately to lecturer mode. Bant may have been Anakin's friend, but she was also serving in lieu of his Master, and could not allow such a despicable show of temper to pass without reprimand.

"Master Bant, I know that I am not supposed to hold such feelings, but how can you possibly explain the behavior of the Jedi Council? They are not acting at all rationally, or in the work of the Force. They are only doing this to punish us. I think the Jedi Council hates me, and that they are hurting Obi-Wan because of it," Anakin confessed as he leaned over and placed his head on his friend's shoulder.

"Oh, Anakin, the Council doesn't hate you. And they most certainly are not punishing Obi-Wan for anything you did. The Council is following the will of the Force in this just as they do in all of the decisions they make. We must simply trust that they know more of the workings of the Force than we do," Bant consoled, even as her thoughts were agreeing with Anakin. "Now I believe that you and I both need to spend some time in meditation to purge any unwanted feelings. After that, maybe we can go to the commissary for something to eat," Bant said as she nudged Anakin up and toward the meditation mats.

"Maybe we should wait to release our negative feelings until after we eat," Anakin suggested with a slight smile. "We may have even more to release after attempting to eat whatever they are calling dinner tonight."

"You know Anakin, you are becoming more and more like your Master everyday," Bant remarked. "Obi-Wan is also famous for his odd sense of humor in the most inappropriate of times."

"Though," Bant added as an afterthought, "I don't think even your Master would have attempted that line on Master Jinn. Qui-Gon was a stickler for mediating as soon as any negative emotions were present. And since Obi-Wan isn't here to guide you, I guess we will just have to follow the practices of Master Jinn." Bant led Anakin over to the meditation mats, and they both knelt to spend some much needed time in meditation.

"Hack into the computer?" Obi-Wan asked, oblivious to the horrified expressions on the faces of the advisors, and the slightly exasperated look on Sri Edinb's. "If the westerners have the technology to hack into the eastern mainframe, than why have you not done so in the past?"

"Because a certain young Dan'erian was supposed to keep her identity a secret," came the disgusted reply from the western leader. It was only then that Obi-Wan took a close look at the young woman who stood in front of him. He had previously been surprised by her relative youth, but had not seen enough of her face to form an exact estimate of her age.

Up until this point, Narissa had been wearing the hood of the religious faction that was customary to her people. \Well, maybe not quite, HER people\ Obi-Wan amended his thought as he got a good look at her.

Like most humanoid races, Dan'erian's closely resembled the archetypal human being. The only differences came in the small spots that traced down their throats from their pointed ears. With her hood up, it would have been impossible to distinguish Narissa as anything but human, and a western born human at that.

"Sri Edinb, you could not possibly expect me to allow this opportunity to cause the fall of the eastern forces to pass simply because we had reached a minor roadblock?" Narissa asked. "I am willing to risk expatriation to assist Jedi Kenobi in removing the eastern leader and returning Navira to its previous existence."

"And expatriated you will be, immediately," interjected one of the advisors who had recovered from the shock of having one of their own revealed as an outsider.

"Now wait a minute," Obi-Wan interrupted before the conversation could get out of hand. "If Narissa has technology that can allow us to break into the mainframe computer, I suggest we make use of it. It is almost assured that the eastern leader will become aware of my presence on your planet if we wait too much longer, and then it will be too late to capture him. If I cannot capture the eastern leader, it is a fact that the western culture will fall within a ten-month and your people will be the one's being expatriated."

The advisors who had been preparing to demand the removal of Narissa from the encampment were struck dumb by Obi-Wan's words. It was not often that the western civilization had found itself in need of outside assistance, and to ask for it twice in such a short period of time was both insulting and unheard of.

"We will take your assistance Narissa, and you need not fear being forced from your home," Sri Edinb stated having finally regained his voice. "It is time that the western civilization learned to accept help in whatever form it comes in, regardless of whether or not it comes from our own culture, or from those beyond. If we had accepted help in the beginning, we would have had the weapons and skills to fight the easterners without having to leave our civilization resting on such a razor edge of hope. I have accepted your advice for many months now Narissa, and my advisors have accepted you into their ranks. That has not changed with the revelation of your extraNaviran origins. We accept your help Narissa, and yours Jedi Kenobi, and together we will defeat the invaders."

*********************************************

Narissa and Obi-Wan, after again pledging their support to the western cause, set out to infiltrate the eastern computer. Narissa had a ship that was well hidden within the mountainous regions of the western continent. It would take the two a few hours to reach the ship, and a few more to hack into the mainframe, but barring outside influence, Obi-Wan would be able to enter the eastern encampment before the Gungan shield was once again in place.

The two set out at a swift pace, hoping to gain as much time as possible in transit, to leave extra time for any problems that might occur while attempting to enter the foreign system. The fast pace left little air for conversation, but Obi-Wan hoped that once they reached the ship, there would be opportunity for him to ask how exactly it was that a Dan'erian had ended up on Navira.

The cave where Narissa's ship was stashed had suffered from a few minor cave-ins, but all in all the cavern was well intact. With the unpredictable weather of Navira, it was almost a miracle to find the cave still accessible. After clearing the small piles of debris, Obi-Wan and Narissa entered the darkened cavern. Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber to provide some illumination into the abyss before them. What he saw stunned him.

A single pilot transport, at least fifty years old, stood in the center of the natural cave. The right wing had been almost completely sheared off and the cockpit had also suffered major structural damage.

As if sensing Obi-Wan's incredulity, Narissa said, "The communications equipment and main computer are still well intact. I was able to completely repair both, even if I could do nothing for the structural damage."

"Well as long as the computer works, and the comm. is up, I guess it doesn't really matter what it looks like, now does it?" Obi-Wan quipped as he followed Narissa to the hatchway. "But I must say, I compliment the pilot on her skill. It must have been difficult to bring down such a damaged ship."

"It was not easy, I admit. I was lucky more than anything else, lucky not only in the safe landing, but also in landing in an area where I had the time to study the local culture before I was forced to attempt contact. I have been able to hide my true origins from the westerners for many months now. Only Sri Edinb knew of my descent, and that is only because I informed him of it myself," Narissa responded almost off-handedly as she had to force the hatchway open.

"How exactly is it that you came in contact with Sri Edinb?" Obi-Wan asked, lending assistance to her struggle with the sticky hatch.

"After my initial recognizance of the camps, I had decided it was safe to approach the local people. I appropriated one of the shrouds from a laundry line, and infiltrated the camp. I approached the first westerner I saw, carrying a story of having just come from one of the other camps. Little did I know, the man I approached was none other than the leader of the entire western forces. How was I to know that the leader would be on the outskirts of the camp and not in the central tent?" Narissa asked wryly, reminding Obi-Wan of his initial confusion over the location of the commander's tent.

"Well, I guess it all worked out for the best in the end," Obi-Wan commented as the hatchway finally gave way. "Now how exactly did you say we were going to be able to hack into the eastern computer?"

*********************************************



After several hours of work, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi was officially listed as Ikenic Norr, assistant cook to the eastern forces. With that addition to the main computer's roster, Obi-Wan was then ready to infiltrate the eastern camp and capture the leader.

Narissa and he had decided that instead of returning to the western encampment, their time was better spent in making the trip to the eastern base immediately. The sun was beginning to set low in the sky and Obi-Wan feared there would not be enough time before the Gungan shield reactivated if they returned to Sri Edinb first.

"After leading me to the base camp, you will have to remain at least half of a mile from the perimeter," Obi-Wan instructed Narissa. He would have preferred to head to the eastern camp alone, allowing her to return to Sri Edinb, but he needed her knowledge of the land to reach the camp in the shortest time possible. Narissa had done a thorough job of scouting the area, even after she had become a part of the western civilization.

"Once I have secured the leader, I will have to appropriate some form of ground transportation to remove him. Hopefully I will be able to sneak him out as some sort of kitchen waste, but I will probably need some form of diversion to distract the sensors. I will be able to fool the guards, but the sensors will prove impossible to confuse. If you can distract the sensors enough that they do not alert the guards immediately to the fact that their leader is hidden somewhere in the transport, than we will have the time to make a get away. I will then wait for you at the half-mile position again, and together we will return to the western encampment," Obi- Wan continued with Narissa nodding her agreement to the plan along the way.

"How long and how drastic of a diversion will you need?" Narissa asked, mentally plotting a tactic.

"Not too long, and nothing that would put you in any danger. I will just need the sensors distracted long enough that I can clear the gates. Once I am past, the sensors will relegate the data to their long-term storage, and it won't be passed on to the sentries until the next shift change. That should allow you plenty of time to reach the rendezvous point, and time for us to get far enough away from the base that we won't attract their attention," Obi-Wan responded, wondering if he was maybe putting too much on the shoulders of one so young.

"Well then, let's get cracking shall we?" Narissa said with a grin. "I wouldn't want to have to stand in the woods forever waiting for some Jedi to play kitchen assistant, now would I?"

\I have a bad feeling about this.\ Obi-Wan thought as he approached the entrance to the eastern camp. As trite as the phrase may have become, he could think of only two other situations where it had been so applicable; on a transport some 16 or so years ago as he and his Master approached Melida\Daan and four years ago upon boarding the Trade Federation ship to commence negotiations. Both experiences had changed him immensely, and had also nearly cost him his life. \Hopefully this time I will not be facing down any Sith\ the Jedi consoled himself, as he stepped into the line of personnel waiting to enter the gates.

Obi-Wan and Narissa had made good time getting to the camp. The day was only settling into late afternoon when he found a suitable waiting place for Narissa. From the chosen vantage point, she was able to see down into the camp, and would be able to see his signal to launch her distraction. After leaving her ensconced on the tree-shrouded hill, he had circled around to approach the gate from the opposite direction.

Obi-Wan had removed his robe, outer tunic and utility belt, leaving his inner tunic untucked and hanging loose over his leggings. Although the loose tunic left him at a disadvantage if he were forced to actually combat the eastern leader, it allowed him to blend well with the other easterners surrounding him. The hanging fabric also worked well to conceal the lightsaber tucked into the back of his leggings.

As the line of waiting easterners drew closer and closer to the gate, Obi- Wan pulled the Force closer and closer to him. He would need to conceal his Force signature as much as possible if he were to have any hope of taking the eastern leader unaware.

\Of course, this would be much easier if I had any idea of who this eastern leader is\ Obi-Wan thought to himself. \I am not sure exactly what to expect, but if Xanatos is any example of the stealth and aggression of a fallen Jedi, I am certainly not taking any chances.\ With thoughts of his Master's former apprentice and his evil deeds foremost on his mind, Obi-Wan stepped forward and became Ikenic Norr.

*********************************************

From her vantage point on the hill, Narissa watched as Obi-Wan entered the camp with no problem. \At least they didn't detect the hacking then.\ Narissa breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't really expected the easterners to detect her presence in their system, but she was relieved none-the-less to see the Jedi waved through the entrance as if he really was Norr.

Narissa continued to watch as Obi-Wan passed through the set of gates and headed off in the direction of the kitchen. To head in any other direction may have proven suspicious to any astute guards or sentries. Once he was sure he was out of the view of the gatekeepers, Narissa knew Obi-Wan would begin his search for the eastern leader.

She still was unsure how Obi-Wan planned on discovering the identity of the leader, or how he was so certain he would not make a mistake and grab the wrong person. If the eastern encampment was anything like the westerners, there were certain to be decoys and other stumbling blocks to anyone intent on a kidnapping.

\Perhaps he intends to use that "Force thinga majigy" that the Jedi are supposed to have\ Narissa wondered. She had been nervous when it became apparent that she would be the one to meet the Jedi upon his arrival to Navira. Throughout her travel of the galaxy, she had never actually come across a Jedi, but had heard rumors of their powers. She was afraid that he would be able to read her mind and determine that she was an outsider the instant he saw her. His interested expression when her hood had snagged on a tree during the hike to the western base had done nothing to assure her.

She had been mildly surprised when he had not said anything more to her when she made it apparent she did not wish to speak with him unless necessary. Then, when he had come to her defense in front of Sri Edinb and his ministers, she had truly been dumbfounded. This Jedi was not behaving at all in the manner she had expected of him. The rumors regarding the Jedi appeared to be misguided at best. \Hopefully, though, the rumors of their skill in combat are not overrated, or this could get messy\ she thought as she settled down to wait for Obi-Wan's signal.

*********************************************



After making sure the entrance sentries could no longer see him, Obi-Wan changed directions. He could feel a dark presence in the Force, and he centered on that, allowing it to lead him towards the center of the camp.

\Apparently the easterners do not have the elaborate staging system the westerners employ\ he noted, as he remained focused on the dark beacon in his mind.

Obi-Wan was able to maneuver throughout the camp with nary a suspicious glance. His clothing may have been somewhat cleaner than those of the majority of the easterners, but other than that small differentiation, he blended in well.

As the dark presence in his mind grew clearer and clearer, Obi-Wan knew that he had reached the tent where the eastern leader was residing. A surreptitious use of the Force, and he determined that there were no other life forms within the tent.

Slipping through the fabric of the front entrance, Obi-Wan immediately focused on the figure in the black cloak that was bent over a table in the middle of the room. He could not determine just what the figure was doing, but the Jedi could see he was deeply engrossed in something.

Keeping his presence shielded, Obi-Wan snuck up behind the figure, and prepared to use a Force sleep suggestion to knock out the leader. \Somehow this seems a little too easy.\ he thought as his hands reached up to grasp the temples of the leader. Just as he would have made contact, the leader spun around and faced him.

Obi-Wan was so shocked at the appearance of the figure in front of him, that he never noticed the heavily- shielded figure enter behind him, pressing a hypospray to his neck.

\That's funny\ he thought as his thoughts suddenly turned muggy, \I could've sworn we were positive that the eastern leader was male.\ As the face of the woman with the long ebony hair swam in his vision, Obi-Wan collapsed back into the arms of the figure behind him.

Narissa had been sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree and watching the activity of the eastern camp when the Gungan shields suddenly sprang into action.

She watched astounded as the shields slammed into place, leaving many of the easterners stranded outside of the base. The guards had apparently received some kind of warning and had managed to be standing within the shielded area when the grid activated. As for the rest of the easterners, they were obviously upset at being left out for the night.

\Its not even close to nightfall yet\ Narissa thought. \And I have never known the easterners to leave people outside of their camp overnight. Something must have happened to Obi-Wan\

As if to confirm her thoughts, she saw a figure stealth into the tent she had just witnessed Obi-Wan enter. \I've got to warn him somehow!\ She thought, catching herself just before she would have risen to her feet.

To stand up now, with so much activity outside the camp, would surely catch the attention of the angered easterners milling about the entrance. Her position had been a great one to hide in when everyone was busy with the entrance and exit procedures of the camp, but with the frenzied mob below her now spinning out in all directions, she did not want to risk being identified as a westerner.

The only thing for Narissa to do was to hold her position and try to make herself as invisible as possible. Pulling some of the branches and leaves around to cover her as much as possible, Narissa would not even consider abandoning Obi-Wan and returning to the western encampment.

\I may not be able to move closer to warn him now, but I am most certainly not going to leave him, Jedi or no Jedi!\

*********************************************

Watching the Jedi collapse into the arms of Valone, Ellana was filled with a sense of disgust. The eastern faction may have been fighting with the westerners for centuries, and this Jedi may have been aiding the enemy, but to lure him into the camp in such a manner and to drug him just seemed dishonorable. Ellana may have been a warrior, but she still had a strong moral code. She preferred to fight face to face, and not in this cloak and dagger manner that her Master insisted upon.

"Having second thoughts Ellana?" Asked Valone with a definitive hint of malice.

"Of course not. Jedi deserve nothing but the hatred and scorn their dishonorable activities throughout the galaxy have garnered them," Ellana answered in a practiced statement.

She may have had misgivings about their treatment of the Knight, but she was not stupid enough to reveal them. She had spent the majority of her young life under the guidance of her Master and knew better than to show any sympathy for the Jedi.

"That is good Ellana, I would hate for you to have to share in his treatment," Valone answered, reaching across the unconscious Jedi to reclaim his cloak from his servant. "Go prepare my personal transport. We will need to move the Jedi as soon as possible. The shields have been raised against any possible attack, but I won't risk losing my prize so soon. He must be moved before nightfall."

*********************************************

Obi-Wan may have been surprised by the sudden influx of the sedative into his system, but his Jedi reflexes enabled him to set the Force to work neutralizing the chemicals before he lost consciousness.

His attacker may have given him enough sedative to knock out a Rancor for a week, but the Force would still be able to neutralize it allowing him to wake much sooner than his attacker anticipated.

As his captors loaded his unconscious body unto a transport, he was already coming around.

********************************************

From her place among the trees, Narissa watched as the figure in black and the woman with the long dark hair loaded Obi-Wan into a small personal transport. At such a great distance, Narissa could not tell if Obi-Wan was merely unconscious, or if a worse fate had befallen the Jedi. She hoped it wasn't the latter, but she would make a rescue attempt regardless.

\Now hopefully they will lower that shield and leave the camp, passing this way giving me an opportunity to do something courageous and spectacular\ Narissa thought \. and then, of course, Banthas will fly.\

Narissa may have been a pilot and somewhat of an explorer, but she had never attempted a rescue before, and certainly not of a Jedi Knight. \If Obi-Wan couldn't defeat this guy, how am I going to?\

Apparently luck was on Narissa's side (or the Force on Obi-Wan's) and the skimmer made it to the side entrance just as the Gungan shield was lowered once more.

As soon as the skimmer passed through the gates, the shields went up again. \Apparently they don't want anyone to know that Obi-Wan is no longer in the camp. That probably means that that skimmer isn't going to have any kind of an escort\

Thanking every deity she could think of for small favors, Narissa watched as the skimmer not only didn't pick up an escort, but also circled to travel in her direction.

Now all Narissa had to do was come up with a plan to rescue the fallen Knight. As she moved into position to intercept the skimmer, Narissa couldn't help but think of the irony of her situation. \This time the 'damsel in distress' is going to rescue the white knight.\

Obi-Wan had regained consciousness, but had not yet opened his eyes. He stretched out with the Force first, trying to get a feel for his surroundings before alerting his captors to his newly alert state. Through the Force he could feel the pounding hatred of the figure in the right hand seat of the transport. The driver, though, radiated an aura of discomfort and concern.

Behind him he could feel the anger and confusion of the easterners who were still being kept from entering the camp. Farther ahead he could feel the faint aura of Narissa, and could feel her preparing for something. Her emotions were shut away and he could only read a sense of tension from her. Realizing that if he didn't make a move soon, Narissa could be hurt, Obi- Wan decided to go with his initial plan.

This time though, instead of attacking the dark figure that obviously had a great deal of mental power; he would force the servant to sleep.

It was apparent that the dark Force signature he held felt radiating off of her previously had been a projection of the real leader, rather than an actual reading of any Force sensitivity in the woman. Putting his plan to action, Obi-Wan sat up with Force speed from the back seat, placing a hand on the temple of the driver.

Immediately she slumped over the steering column and was out. The skimmer swerved a bit, but then slowed and came to a stop. In the meantime, Obi-Wan had reached for his lightsaber with his other hand, intending to bring it up to the throat of the leader to subdue him. Before he could ignite his 'saber, the dark figure had jumped from the side of the slowing transport and had rolled to his feet, igniting a blood red lightsaber as he stood up.

"Now, now such an experienced Jedi as the sith-slayer Obi-Wan Kenobi should know better than to draw his lightsaber on an unarmed man. Doesn't your Jedi code have something to say about only drawing your 'saber to an armed offense? I believe you may be turning to the darkside, young one," the cloaked figure stated as he watched Obi-Wan exit the transport to face him.

"You should know Valone, you are the one that instructed my year-group in the Jedi Code," Obi-Wan countered as he took a position facing the dark Jedi, but without the hazard of the transport at his back.

If Valone were truly as skilled as the young Knight remembered, he would need as much room to maneuver as possible.

"Ahh, so the darling of the temple remembers me after all," Valone hissed as he circled to a better position. He had hoped to trap the Jedi between the transport and himself, but apparently Kenobi had learned something of strategy in Valone's 20-year absence from Coruscant.

"Of course I remember you, it is difficult to forget the only man Qui-Gon Jinn ever truly contemplated killing," Obi-Wan responded as he watched Valone circling around slowly to his left side.

\Ahh, so he remembers I used to have a weak left-side defense. Unfortunately for him, Master Jinn noticed it to.\ Learning to fight with his right hand tied behind his back had more than made up for any deficiencies Obi-Wan had once had.

"Well if nothing else, I always said Jinn had a knack for knowing who to watch out for. I guess that little 'situation' on Naboo proved me wrong," Valone said as he suddenly struck out at Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan easily countered the strike, but decided to remain on the defensive. He was hoping for an opportunity to disarm Valone so he could capture him and return him to Coruscant, but he knew that he would have a tough time finding a hole in Valone's defense.

Of all the Jedi ever trained in the past fifty years, only Valone had ever come close to besting Qui-Gon Jinn. Obi-Wan's Master had been acknowledged by one and all as the greatest swordsman of the order. It was only upon Qui- Gon's death that the mantle was passed to another: Obi-Wan Kenobi.

*********************************************

Narissa was crouched behind a tree, preparing to swing the club-like branch she had collected at the driver of the open transport. She knew that such a plan held much risk, but with no other weapon at her disposal, she couldn't think of a better tactic.

Just as she heard the transport approaching her tree, Narissa was surprised to hear the skimmer begin to slow. \Did they see me?\ She wondered frantically as she suppressed the urge to run. She could not see the transport from her position and had no way of knowing what was happening. It was like one of those awful nightmares where the dreamer knew the monster was stalking her, but there was nowhere to run or hide.

After a few seconds of calming her nerves and listening, Narissa was prepared to step out from behind her tree and take a swing at whatever "monster" might be approaching. Just as she began to turn she heard voices.

Straining to hear, she also detected the sound of a lightsaber activating. She had only heard the noise once before in her life, when Obi-Wan had used it to illuminate the cavern her ship rested in, but she was certain that was the sound she had heard.

Less than a second passed before she heard the sound of another lightsaber activating. \Well, at least Obi-Wan is awake now\ she thought. She was worried about the other lightsaber user, but she figured Obi-Wan would have a handle on things. Even if Obi-Wan wasn't capable of defending himself, she certainly wasn't going to be able to block a lightsaber with her wooden club.

As she listened to the sounds of the lightsabers connecting and hissing, Narissa began to edge around the tree. She may not have been able to defend from a 'saber with her branch, but she could certainly use it to knock the eastern leader out.

*********************************************

After taking a few hesitant strikes to judge his opponent's skill, Valone launched into a full attack. Obi-Wan had expected Valone to be skilled, but he was not prepared for the force behind Valone's attacks. The dark Jedi was using a judicious amount of dark energy to power his blade, and every time Obi-Wan's blue blade came in contact with the red one, Obi-Wan could feel the impact radiating up his arms.

\I need to end this fight\ Obi-Wan thought as he belatedly remembered the exhaustion that had been plaguing him since he had returned from his last mission. \At this rate, I'm not going to be able to disarm him unless he makes a major mistake.\

As if realizing the direction of the knight's thoughts, Valone began to attack even more ferociously. The dark Jedi was beginning to score small hits through Obi-Wan's defense. His left side may not have had the weak spot of the past, but that didn't hinder Valone's assault. Obi-Wan's fatigue was leaving small openings in his guard, and with the power of the darkside at his command, Valone found them all.

After one particularly brutal hit to his right knee, Obi-Wan faltered, leaving a large opening for Valone to exploit. With a cry of victory, the fallen Jedi slashed the knight across the back of the shoulders, tearing through muscles and tendons, leaving Obi-Wan's arms numb.

The lightsaber slipped from Obi-Wan's grasp just as Valone went for the kill. The dark Jedi may have had plans for his prisoner, but the battlelust of the darkside had assumed control. Valone was totally committed to the destruction of the apprentice of his greatest rival.

*********************************************

Narissa watched, horrified, as bloody slashes began to appear on Obi-Wan's tunic and leggings. The Force enhanced fight did not allow her to see the actual strikes that caused the bloody-looking burns, but the evidence of Valone's attacks was overly apparent on the knight's cream tunic and leggings. She couldn't make out the individual attacks of Valone, but Obi- Wan's blocks became more and more apparent as fatigue was slowing him down. Narissa needed to act, and she needed to act quickly.

Sneaking up behind the dark figure, Narissa raised the makeshift club up over her head. She would have only one opportunity to strike, before the dark Jedi would become aware of her. Until she became an obvious threat, his focus would remain on the Knight who was slowly but surely failing in front of him.

Just as she began to bring the club down, Narissa was caught off guard by the anguished scream of the young Knight. She watched, dazedly, as his lightsaber fell from his numb grip and the fallen Jedi prepared for the death strike.

Realizing that Obi-Wan's life depended solely on her, Narissa brought the club down with all the force she could muster.

After finishing his classes for the day, Anakin decided to visit the transport bay again. Master Bant had a duty shift in the Healer's ward, and Anakin was bored. He knew that if Obi-Wan had been home, he would have been told to meditate or at least work on katas, but what Obi-Wan didn't know, Obi-Wan couldn't complain about.

Anakin had been working on restoring the sub light engines on one of the temple's many transports. Usually he worked on one vehicle at a time, restoring it as much as possible before moving on to the next one.

The Temple mechanics had initially been surprised that a future Jedi would deign to spend time with them, but once seeing Anakin's aptitude and dedication to anything mechanical, they welcomed him into their ranks.

As he entered the transport bay, Anakin said a quick hello to the mechanics on duty, and then went to the closet where he kept his coveralls and tool kit. The tool kit had been a gift from his Master on his first anniversary of being a Padawan. Traditionally a Master gave their Padawan something that would assist the apprentice in becoming a better Jedi.

Obi-Wan had defended his rather odd choice of gift by saying that anything that got Anakin out of their quarters once in awhile was an asset not only to the training of the Padawan, but also to the temperament of the Master.

Once he had donned the coveralls, Anakin was ready to get to work. Since the majority of the repair work took place under the transport, he could remain in the transport bay for hours with hardly any notice.

He had been working for a little over two hours, when he heard a call come in. It wasn't unusual for the transport bay to get calls from the Council to prepare a ship for departure, but it was unusual to receive calls from Knights in the field. Normally, the Knights would report first to the Council, and the Council would make the call. For a Knight to request transport, meant that he or she must be seriously injured or in need of immediate assistance.

Using the Force to augment his hearing as unobtrusively as possible, Anakin listened in on the call. Maybe it was the Council calling for a ship to pick his Master up on Malastare. Instead of the usual voice of Master Windu however, Anakin heard the voice of a woman calling for a transport with a medical bay to report to Navira.

\That's odd,\ Anakin thought \I had no idea Navira had joined the Republic.\ Jedi were the peacekeepers and negotiators of the Galactic Republic, and as such their activities were usually confined to member systems. \Last I knew Navira was in the middle of a massive civil war.\

Extending his Force sense again, Anakin tuned into the conversation once more. He was able to hear the request that the transport also have a confinement field for a Force sensitive installed, but the caller signed off before he was able to catch any more information. As he prepared to begin working once more on his transport, Anakin heard Lo'kai being dispatched for the flight. Lo'kai was one of the best pilots the Temple had. He had served for many years, and had survived more dangerous flights than most pilots saw in a lifetime.

\Whatever is happening on Navira, it must be serious\ Anakin thought, as he once again began the task of realigning the spanner coils.

*********************************************



Narissa ended her comm. call to the Jedi Temple just as Obi-Wan finished pulling his belt and robe back on. Narissa had used all the remaining Bacta on her ship to help patch up the wound across his shoulders, but she knew that he would need more medical attention than she had to offer.

Obi-Wan was already using too much energy keeping Valone unconscious to spare any to assist in the healing. He had attempted to raise his body temperature enough for the Bacta to work at maximum efficiency, but he was too drained. With no other options, he had struggled back into his outer tunic and robes despite the pain the movement caused.

After Narissa had knocked Valone unconscious, Obi-Wan had reinforced the unnatural sleep with both a Force suggestion and the remains of the hypospray that was still in the transport. The servant woman was still deeply asleep, and would remain so until Obi-Wan, or another Jedi woke her.

Narissa had at first insisted that Obi-Wan accompany her back to the western encampment so that he could receive treatment, however basic it may have been. Obi-Wan refused, not willing to risk leading the easterners to the camp. He was unsure of whether or not the easterners knew where their leader had gone, or if there might not be a tracking unit in the skimmer. Obi-Wan suggested that they instead head for Narissa's ship where she could contact the Temple for him and arrange a transport while he kept an eye on the two sleeping figures that remained in the transport.

"They said they would send a transport out right away, and that it should be here in a few hours," Narissa said exiting the ship. "I gave them these coordinates as a pickup zone, so I thought you could use the few hours break to get some rest," she continued as she approached the skimmer.

"Thank you Narissa, but I am not comfortable resting until I know that Valone is Force suppressed and on his way safely to stand before the Jedi Council. He escaped justice once before, and I am not willing to allow him the chance again."

"How did you know him? I overheard some of your conversation as I was hiding behind the tree, but I didn't hear enough to understand why he hated you so much," Narissa asked, hoping she was not overstepping her bounds.

"Master Valone was once an instructor at the Jedi Temple. He was in the same year group as my former Master, and they had been rivals almost from the time of their first meeting in the crèche. Valone and Master Jinn competed in everything. When Valone learned that the head council member, Master Yoda, was trying to convince Master Jinn to take me as an apprentice, Valone decided to interrupt their plans," Obi-Wan was reluctant to tell the story, but he figured that Narissa deserved at least that much from him.

"Valone arranged to have me killed. Master Jinn may not have wanted me as an apprentice, but he would not allow me to be murdered either. Qui-Gon managed to foil the plot and reveal Valone as a darkened Jedi. Valone was able to escape the temple before he was captured, but he left a message for Qui-Gon before he left. He told my Master that although his plan may not have succeeded this time, he would not give up until I was dead. It was for this reason that Master Jinn was so unwilling to take me as a Padawan learner. I never knew of the incident until many years later, after Qui-Gon had finally caved to my insistence that the Force wanted us paired as Master/Padawan."

"How old were you?" Narissa asked, casting a horrified glance at the man unconscious before her. It was one thing to lead an army and attack another man, it was quite another to attack a child.

"I was nine," Obi-Wan said as he sat down on a small stone ledge protruding from the cavern wall. "Valone is a dangerous man, and I need to make sure that he is locked away and incapable of hurting anyone ever again."

"You could just kill him." Narissa said, as she raised her eyes to make contact with Obi-Wan.

A look of shock, and then something close to disgust crossed the Jedi's face before it returned once more to a mask of fatigue. "I could, but then I would be no better than him."

Not knowing what else to say, Narissa merely sat on a ledge on the opposite side of the cavern, keeping the skimmer between them. The two figures waited in silence for the temple transport to arrive.



Lo'kai was never one to refuse a mission. It wasn't because he thought he was too great of a pilot to die (as his wife always accused him) but rather it was his sense of duty. Lo'kai knew that if the Temple was asking him to fly into a dangerous area, it was because someone needed help. Whether it was to drop off a Jedi peacekeeper, supply an outpost, or retrieve an injured Knight, Lo'kai could always be counted on to do his job. In his many years as a Temple pilot, he had never hesitated to carry out his duty.

\Well I guess we can count this for the record books\ Lo'kai thought as he was informed of his newest mission.

He had been away from the Temple when the Council requested a pilot to drop a Jedi off on Navira, otherwise he would have taken that run without a second thought. This however, was an entirely different situation.

\Not only are they expecting me to fly into a war zone to collect some injured Jedi with his dangerous prisoner, but then they tell me the landing zone ain't gonna be no picnic park!\

The Council, upon realizing they had not been consulted prior to the flight request, had ordered a review of the transmission. It was during the review, that Master Koth noticed the repeating band of static across the bottom of the holoimage. Upon further study, it was determined that the band was not static, but rather was indicative of a hijacked transmission. The call may have originated with the Knight, but the Temple had not received it directly. Instead, a third party had intercepted the transmission, downloading it before sending it on its way once more.

Who the third party was comprised of was uncertain. But the fact remained that the classified pickup zone had been compromised. \I wouldn't wanta trade places with that Jedi on Navira for all the credits on Coruscant\ Lo'kai thought as he finished prepping his transport \'Cause sure as shooting, he's gonna have company 'fore I can get there.\

*********************************************

As they sat silently in the cavern, Obi-Wan reviewed the mission in his head. He felt as if he was missing something key to the whole plot, but his exhaustion and injury were preventing him from discovering what it was. If so much of his energy hadn't been expended to keep Valone unconscious, he would have attempted a light meditation to help him discover what he was missing.

Almost as if she had read his mind, Narissa spoke for the first time in several hours. "We're missing something here," she said as she rose from her platform on the other side of the cave to approach the Jedi.

"Why would Valone waste his time and resources on such a backwater planet as Navira? It's obvious that he wanted revenge, but how could he possibly have known that you were going to be the Jedi sent here? His plan has been in play for months, he must've somehow known you would be the one your Council would send."

"Not only that, but he knew what I would have to do to enter the eastern encampment. He knew we hacked into the system!" Obi-Wan exclaimed as his mind began reeling with the questions Narissa was introducing.

"And if he knew we were going to hack into the system, than he knew about my ship. And if he knew about my ship, than chances are, the easterners know about it. And that means they would have been alert to any transmissions coming to or from this location," Narissa continued.

As the impact of her words suddenly hit him, Obi-Wan jumped up from where he had still been sitting on the wall.

"Which means, we're about to have company." As if his words had acted as a summons, the sound of speeder engines began to echo into the cavern.

*********************************************

Of all the locations in the Jedi Temple, only the meditative gardens came close to the serenity that usually exuded from the Council chambers. Even when the Council was debriefing a Knight from a tragically failed mission, the members never revealed their emotions. Jedi were trained almost from birth to control emotion, and the Councilors were the best at it.

Today was a day of exceptions, from the transport bay all the way to the Temple spire where the twelve Masters were engaged in a fiery debate. The discovery of the hijacked transmission had created some questions about the current mission Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi was engaged in. Although the report had come to the Temple via the transport bay, and was therefore not a complete mission summary, the woman who identified herself as Narissa had included enough information to raise some serious issues about Temple security.

With the identity of the eastern leader being revealed as former Master Valone, some of the Council members began to suspect that someone had been feeding information to the ex-Jedi during his 20-year absence from the Temple.

"Somehow Valone knew in advance that we would send Obi-Wan Kenobi to Navira. The question is, how did he know? Is it possible that we have a traitor among us?" Adi Gallia asked, raising her voice above those of her fellow Council members.

"The real question is, how did Valone know we would even be sending a Jedi to Navira so many months ago? The only person who could've known that there was any possibility of Jedi intervention is Chancellor Palpatine, and he would have no reason to notify Valone," Mace Windu added.

"Somehow, know Valone did, before even the Council. A leak we need not worry about here. Instead watch the Senate we must. Have contacts Valone does, and good information he was given. Predict the actions of the Jedi Council this informant did, guessing our choice of Knight before word of the situation we had. Disturbing news this is," Master Yoda concluded resting his chin on his ever-present cane.

"We will simply have to wait for Knight Kenobi to return with our fallen Jedi. Then we will have a source for all the information we seek," Depa Bilaba stated, drawing the entire Council to a hushed silence

Obi-Wan really couldn't afford to spare the Force energy, but he was given no other choice. With the damage to his shoulders, he would not be able to do more than assist Narissa in moving Valone. As for the young servant woman, she would be left behind to meet up again with her fellow easterners. Obi-Wan had used such a strong Force compulsion on her previously that only another Jedi would have been able to wake her. Unwilling to leave the woman in a coma, even if she had been working for his nemesis, Obi-Wan used some of his quickly diminishing reserves to lighten the suggestion.

When they had heard the approaching speeders, Narissa and Obi-Wan had immediately sprung into action. They would not have time to make it outside of the cavern and to a hiding place, but Narissa was nothing if not an efficient explorer. Upon first discovering the cave, she had investigated it thoroughly before moving her ship into it. This particular cavern had connections to at least two other caves leading to the surface. They would have to move quickly, but at least they weren't trapped.

Leading the way, with the figure of Valone stretched between the two, Narissa headed first towards the left exit. She insisted that it was the shortest exit to the surface, and would also be the easiest for their unusual portage. Given little option, Obi-Wan trailed behind, supporting as much of the dark Jedi's weight as possible with his damaged shoulders.

As the floor beneath them became more and more vertical, Obi-Wan was left with more and more of the weight of Valone. Withstanding the pain as long as possible, Obi-Wan was soon calling even more on the Force to assist him with his burden. \When I get back to Coruscant, I am not leaving again. If the Council doesn't like it, than they can just FIRE me\

Focusing his attention on any possible pursuit, it took a moment before Obi- Wan noticed they had stopped. "Is there a problem?" He asked, hoping beyond hope that Narissa was merely taking the time to make sure their exit hadn't been discovered.

"Umm, not really, unless you count the fact that there is some kind of large ship waiting just outside for us," Narissa said with more than a hint of apprehension in her tone.

*********************************************



Anakin spent several more hours in the transport bay before realizing it was time to meet Master Bant for dinner. "Sith! I'm not even going to have time to shower!" Anakin grumbled as he ran his oily hands through his short hair. \Maybe Master Bant won't notice\ he thought, knowing how unlikely the possibility of that happening was.

Quickly removing his coveralls and returning his tool kit to the closet, Anakin dashed out of the transport bay. \If my Master finds out I spent so much time in the transport bay he is going to ban me from it for several weeks!\ Anakin thought morosely as he walked as quickly as possible to his quarters.

\Even if Master Bant can be persuaded not to tell him, SHE is going to ban me at least until he gets back!\ With a sigh, Anakin palmed open the door to the rooms he shared with his Master, knowing Master Bant waited less than patiently inside. \Time to face the music.\

*********************************************



As Lo'kai pulled out of hyperspace above the planet of Navira, he began to run topographical scans of the area he had received coordinates for. He had taken a more direct route to Navira than the Council probably would have appreciated (especially when they got the calls from the Coruscant airspace officials), but Lo'kai figured that even the Jedi Council would understand the need for haste in this case.

\Now, if I was a Jedi Knight and was being boxed in like a womprat in a trap, where would I go?\ Lo'kai studied the topographical maps briefly, before switching to the geological layout. Lo'kai could easily pick out the network of caverns surrounding the coordinates he had been given. The nearest exit was almost exactly on the dot where the landing zone had been scheduled.

\Alright, so I know where he was, now where'd he go?\ Studying the map intently for a few more minutes, Lo'kai made a decision and took the Temple transport in for a landing.

*********************************************

Turning his attention from the passageway behind him, Obi-Wan extended his Force sense out into the twilight world beyond. \Not only am I staying on Coruscant for at least 3 months, but I am also REFUSING to use the Force to even lift a pebble for at least a week!\

Focusing on the ship resting directly outside of the cave exit, Obi-Wan tested the intent of the pilot. After a few more seconds to make sure no deception was involved, the Knight breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, we've suffered the 'knight in distress' and the 'damsel to the rescue' I guess its more than time for the magical 'white horse' to appear," Obi-Wan smirked.

"Huh?" Narissa asked, convinced that the Jedi had finally reached his limit and was going to collapse behind her any second now.

"Oh you know, the white horse the knight uses to escape? Well here's ours." And with that the grateful Narissa, unconscious Valone, and exhausted Obi- Wan entered the fading light of day to greet the disembarking Temple pilot.

Lo'kai had planned on landing just long enough to pick up the Jedi Knight and prisoner, before immediately taking off again. He was not willing to risk having his ship on the ground for any length of time.

Unfortunately, the Jedi Knight in question had other ideas. The Jedi wished to use the ship's shuttle to transport the woman back to some camp, leaving Lo'kai to watch the unconscious man currently sequestered in the Force shielded hold.

"Ain't no way I'm just gonna stay here like some sitting duck!" The pilot protested upon hearing the Knight's plan. "Why don't I just fly you over to that camp, and then we can take right off for Coruscant?"

"The shuttle is small enough and maneuverable enough to make it to the encampment without having to rise above the tree level. If we took your ship, the eastern encampment would be able to lock onto our position and get an exact location of the western base. I will not risk innocent lives just to spare your transport a scratch or two!" The Knight had replied irritably before staving off any further argument by simply taking the shuttle and leaving.

\Dang Jedi, think they're invincible or something\ the pilot grumbled, as he settled in his chair to keep a close eye on his sensors.

*********************************************



Narissa insisted on piloting the shuttle once she saw the pain it caused Obi-Wan to try to move his arms. She knew the Knight had to be suffering immensely, but other than a slight tightness around his eyes, and his reluctance to move his arms or hands more than absolutely necessary, she saw no signs of his difficulty.

As Narissa deftly piloted the shuttle in and around the obstacles lining their path, Obi-Wan sat silently in the co-pilot's seat. He knew his pain and fatigue had completely exhausted him when he had almost agreed to Lo'kai's request to fly them to the western base. It would have been so much easier to just lie back in the med bay and allow the pilot to make the short flight to the base, and then he could have been on his way back to Coruscant.

But like the true Jedi he was, Obi-Wan Kenobi could no more put his comfort before another than he could grow a tail and learn to live in the trees. \Well at least my sense of humor is still intact. well, actually, I guess that was pretty lame\ Obi-Wan knew he was really in trouble when his sense of sarcasm deserted him.

Even amidst a raging war, Obi-Wan always had a ready quip. \When I get back to the Temple, it will take the entire Council and at least a Sith Lord or two to drag me out of my quarters\

Obi-Wan stopped himself before he could become too lost in thoughts of the comforts awaiting him on Coruscant. He still had work to do, and until the transport was safely back at the Temple, and Valone in the hands of the Council he couldn't afford to let his attention slip.

If he had learned anything from his years as Qui-Gon's apprentice, it was that a mission that appeared to be at an end could quickly escalate once more into a dangerous operation. The thirteen years with Master Jinn had taught him most painfully to keep his attention on the "here and now."

*********************************************

It was full night by the time Obi-Wan and Narissa arrived at the western base. Sri Edinb was delighted to hear of the success of their mission, and immediately appointed Narissa as his top advisor. If there had remained any doubt of her welcome to the western society with her extraNaviran roots, the promotion had completely quelled them. Narissa had more than earned such an important position, and Obi-Wan was glad to see her bravery rewarded.

After giving the westerners a detailed description of all he had observed while in the eastern base, Obi-Wan gave his farewells to the western leader and his staff of advisors. Taking his leave of the base, Obi-Wan was not surprised to see Narissa following him to the shuttle.

"I wish you well Jedi Kenobi, and hope that you recover sufficiently from all of your wounds," Narissa said, once again reverting to her previous formality.

"Thank you Advisor Narissa," Obi-Wan said with a smile. "I truly owe you my life. If you ever happen to visit Coruscant, look me up."

"Be assured that I will," Narissa stated, bowing then impetuously reaching out to give the Knight a quick embrace. "Take care, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I will miss you."

"And I you," flashing a quick smile, Obi-Wan climbed back aboard the shuttle. With a brief glance back at the young woman dressed in the robes of a western leader, Obi-Wan set off on his return trip to the transport.

*********************************************

As the first hour passed, followed all too quickly by a second, Lo'kai began to worry about the Knight. He wasn't sure where the base was located, but surely it couldn't have been that far?

Wondering if he should lift off and go in search of the errant Jedi, Lo'kai began to scan the planet for signs of the transport's shuttle. Lo'kai was so engrossed in the readouts that he failed to hear the groan and shuffling sound that arose from the cargo hold at the back of the transport.

As Obi-Wan approached the transport, he used what was left of his Force reserves to scan the ship. Even though he was certain Valone would still be unconscious, he wasn't willing to risk being mistaken. Obi-Wan's Force sense first detected the null area towards the back of the ship where the shielded cargo hold lay. Further to the front of the ship was the beacon of Living Force that he had come to recognize as Lo'kai.

Other than the pilot, he could feel no other life aboard the ship. With Valone locked in the Force deadened area, he would not be able to determine if the man was still unconscious until he boarded the ship and checked with his other senses. After determining that the ship was as secure as when he had left it, and that the eastern forces were still swarming only in the area of the original landing zone, Obi-Wan flew the shuttle into the docking bay.

After latching the shuttle to the deck with gravclaws, Obi-Wan began his trek to the front of the transport. He planned on stopping first at the cargo hold to make sure that Valone was still out, before making his way forward to notify Lo'kai to take off. As he approached the hold, Obi-Wan again stretched out with the Force. His reserves were rapidly dwindling, but enough remained to tell him that there was no danger awaiting him. Pressing the palm lock on the door, Obi-Wan entered expecting to see Valone stretched out on the cot where he and Narissa had left him. Instead, the young Knight found the cot empty.

*********************************************

Lo'kai had finally decided it was time to retrieve the Jedi when the shuttle appeared on his sensors. Opening the docking bay ramp so that the Knight could load the shuttle, Lo'kai then left the cockpit to assist Obi- Wan and to hopefully get the order to take off.

As he approached the back of the ship, Lo'kai was distracted by a noise from the cargo hold. Assuming the Jedi must have already completed docking procedures and gone to check on the prisoner, Lo'kai changed direction. Arriving at the hold, the pilot was surprised to see the door to the cargo hold open. Slowing his pace, and checking to make sure his ever-present blaster was in place, Lo'kai snuck up to the open doorway.

Deciding to risk a brief look inside, Lo'kai pulled his blaster from the holster and swung around, quickly ducking into the open hold. The pilot scanned the room before his attention was drawn to the far corner. Approaching cautiously, with his blaster at the ready, Lo'kai was surprised to find the form of Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi locked into combat with the now conscious Valone.

Preparing to use his blaster as a weight, the pilot drew back his arm to strike a blow to the head of the dark Jedi. Before he could complete his swing, Lo'kai was interrupted by the sudden cry from Obi-Wan. "Lo'kai, DON'T!"

Lo'kai tried to stop his motion before the blaster made contact with Valone's temple, but the call had come too late. Without a sound, the dark Jedi crumpled once more to the cargo hold floor.

*********************************************

Once Narissa had seen Obi-Wan off, she returned to the tent of Sri Edinb. The eastern leader was out of commission, and now was the time for the western forces to muster an attack. The eastern forces would be confused with the loss of their leader, and would keep the Gungan shields down until they had rescued their kidnapped commander.

Offering a quick prayer for the safety of the Jedi Knight who had abruptly entered her life, only to leave just as suddenly, Narissa began the task of planning the first major offensive the western forces had undertaken in many months.

*********************************************

From his position beside the laden cot, Lo'Kai assisted Obi-Wan in repairing the damage to the dark Jedi's temple where the pilot's blaster had struck. Lo'kai had almost refused to help treat the prisoner, but one look from the Jedi was enough to insure his assistance. Lo'kai had never seen a Jedi angry before, and one look at the Knight beside him told him that he would never want to. Obi-Wan was barely controlling his anger at the impetuous actions of the pilot.

Obi-Wan had entered the cargo bay and had become immediately aware of the pocket of Force-sensitivity that existed in one corner. Apparently Valone had gained consciousness and had immediately gone to work in lowering the Force suppression shield. Knowing that to completely eliminate the field would attract the notice of the pilot and/or the Jedi Knight, Valone had elected to only neutralize a small corner of the hold. With his Force sense intact, the dark Jedi would have been able to easily escape the transport.

Fortunately, someone had not wanted the dark Jedi to escape. When Obi-Wan had entered the neutralized area of the cargo hold, he had been almost overwhelmed by the power of the dark side. Valone lay partially slumped on the floor, clawing desperately at his throat in an attempt to reopen the air passages that were being ruthlessly squeezed shut.

Obi-Wan had attempted to add his meager Force strength to stave off the attack and maybe identify its source, but just as he reached to make the necessary contact, Lo'kai had entered the hold and knocked Valone unconscious. Obi-Wan had quickly enlisted the pilot's help in pulling the dark Jedi back into the Force suppressed region, and as soon as Valone crossed the barrier into the null zone, the attack stopped. Obi-Wan had then ordered Lo'kai to help him move Valone to the cot and treat the head wound.

Considering the dark power Obi-Wan had just felt, it was now more important than ever to get Valone safely to the Jedi temple where the Council could examine him. It was apparent that there was a much darker foe at work, and the fallen Jedi was the only connection.

On a dark balcony overlooking most of the Jedi Temple, a figure cloaked entirely in black cursed loudly. \A few minutes more and I would've had him\

A Sith Lord was nothing if not patient however. He knew there would be another opportunity, he need only contact his apprentice and the deed would be done.

*********************************************

As the transport exited the atmosphere of Navira, Obi-Wan breathed a sigh of relief. His mission was not entirely complete, he still had to deliver Valone to the Jedi Council, but at least he was in route back to Coruscant.

Watching the planet as it grew smaller and smaller in the view port, Obi- Wan was almost tempted to seek a vision of the future of Navira from the Force. Unfortunately, he had asked too much of his over-fatigued mind and body, and all of his remaining energy would be needed to keep him awake until he reached the capital planet of the Republic.

Even without the Force to guide his vision, Obi-Wan was certain that Navira would soon be entering a time of peace. The two civilizations of the planet may have been accustomed to war, but now that they realized the hazards the larger galaxy held in store for them, the factions would have no choice but to reconcile. And with such a wise young woman as Narissa to help guide them, Obi-Wan was sure that Navira would soon be experiencing peace.

*********************************************

Taking the same path back to Coruscant that he had taken away from it, Lo'kai knew that the transport would arrive at the Temple within only a few hours. The pilot had justified the shortened trip with the need to get the young Jedi Knight some medical attention, but in reality he just wanted to get the darkened Jedi off his transport.

He would never admit it, but upon realizing how close Valone had come to escaping without even attracting the notice of the usually vigilant pilot had scared Lo'kai. He was definitely looking forward to some downtime on Coruscant with his wife.

Maybe his wife was right, and it was time for him to start refusing some of the more hazardous missions that the Jedi Temple requested of its pilots.

*********************************************

Once the transport had exited hyperspace, Obi-Wan contacted the Temple to notify them of his imminent arrival. He requested that several Knights meet him at the docking platform, and that they bring a Force suppression hypospray. Normally, such a hypospray would only have been used when a Jedi suffered from a severe blow to the head and was unable to control his use of the Force. It was a rare occurrence, but when a Jedi lost control, it could be a dangerous situation. As such, the Healer's always kept several of the hyposprays in stock in case they were needed.

When the transport had finally docked at the Temple, Obi-Wan was relieved to see that his request had been carried out, and several Knights awaited him. He was also surprised to see Healer Ravenna among the waiting Jedi.

"Master Ravenna, it is a pleasure to see you again," Obi-Wan said as he exited the transport. He motioned for the Knights to enter the ship to secure the prisoner as he stepped off of the boarding ramp. "Will you be administering the hypospray to our illustrious guest?" Obi-Wan asked with a smile.

"Actually, I am here to insure that a certain Knight receives medical treatment. But as long as I am here, I guess I can administer a hypospray," Healer Ravenna stated. "I'd better make that two." she continued as she got a better look at the exhausted Jedi that stood facing her.

"At this point," Obi-Wan responded "I don't think I would even argue with you if you tried."

"Well then, let me just administer this to your 'guest' and then perhaps I could escort you as you pay a visit to a bacta tank," Ravenna admonished, stepping around Obi-Wan to board the transport.

Following the Healer back aboard the ship, Obi-Wan didn't even bother to oppose Master Ravenna's orders. In all actuality he would prefer to visit the Healer's first, before appearing before the Council or seeing his apprentice. Obi-Wan may have been able to mostly hide his injuries from a non-Force sensitive such as Narissa, but to a Jedi, his serious wounds were most apparent. Obi-Wan wanted to see Anakin, but he knew it would be better to wait until he didn't look like death warmed over.

*********************************************

"It is done my Master," the small holoimage stated, as it continued its bow.

"Very good. You are certain the hypospray will be administered before Valone has a chance to speak to anyone?" the dark Lord questioned his apprentice.

"Yes my Master. The hypospray has already been given, and Valone had not yet regained consciousness. With the drug now in his system, he will never awaken again."

"You have done well my apprentice," the Sith Lord stated before ending the transmission.

When his previous apprentice had been killed four years prior, Lord Sidious had feared he would have to train a new apprentice from scratch. Just as he had begun his search, he had intercepted a most intriguing outgoing message from the Jedi Temple. The Sith had made a habit of monitoring Temple communications, as it always paid to keep a close eye on the enemy.

This message however had proven much more interesting than a simple mission report, or summons from the Council. It was a scrambled message sent from a public link in the Temple to a small planet only a few hours travel from Coruscant. Curious as to what the Jedi had to hide, Sidious had set to work decoding the message.

His time could not have ever been better spent. The message in itself was unimportant, just a listing of the activities of a certain Knight of the order. What had made the message so special however, was the sender.

Sidious had immediately went to work tracking the sender, and upon discovering his identity, had sent for him immediately. Under the guise of Chancellor Palpatine, he had arranged a meeting with the informant, and in doing so had discovered his latest apprentice.

\Who would've thought I would find such a strong apprentice deep within the ranks of my enemy?\ With a swirl of black cloak, Lord Sidious retreated from the holostation to turn once more into Chancellor Palpatine.

As he had anticipated, Master Bant had forbidden Anakin to return to the transport bay at least until his Master returned. Bant had also given Anakin extra work to do in his healing exercises. \Well at least she agreed not to tell Obi-Wan\ Anakin thought as he once again practiced Forcebinding a wound.

Anakin was skilled at many aspects of the Force, but his healing ability was one of his top performances. He had even briefly considered training to become a Healer instead of a Knight, but to do so would have meant leaving Obi-Wan. Though he may not have seen much of his Master in the past four years, Anakin was still dedicated to Obi-Wan.

"If you finish up with your practicing here, you can work on memorizing the formulas for some of the more common field medications," Bant called out, as she passed by the exam room where Anakin was working.

Bant was technically off duty in the Healer's ward, but Master Ravenna had been called away, and so she was helping out while teaching Anakin.

"I should be done soon Master Bant," Anakin answered. "Do you want me to go to the medical supply room to learn the formulas, or should I go to the bacta room?"

The med supply room would have closer access to all of the materials he would need, but the bacta room was much more conducive to studying. Although the Healer's ward was not as busy as it could have been, there were still many Jedi in residence, and medications were constantly being dispensed from the small med room.

"Why don't you grab the datapads from med supply, and then find a quiet corner of the bacta room. I'll be in later to check on you," Bant stated once again passing by his room.

Anakin was unsure of what was keeping her so busy, but it obviously wasn't too important, or she would've sent him back to his quarters.

"Yes Master Bant," Anakin called as he went to retrieve the books and then find a nice quiet place to read.

*********************************************

The seizures started almost the instant the hypospray was pressed to Valone's neck. Healer Ravenna, with the aid of the surrounding Knights, immediately began resuscitation techniques, but it was too late. The fast acting drug that had been mixed with the Force suppressant had caused lesions to develop immediately on the fallen Jedi's brain, and within minutes all brain activity had failed.

Obi-Wan stood off to the side, watching while the Healer and Knights worked, in as close to a state of shock as a Jedi could reach. \I have been through HELL to get that man here, and just when he is to appear in front of the Council he dies. The Force definitely has it in for me\ Obi-Wan's thoughts were interrupted as Master Ravenna turned once more to face him.

"There is nothing I can do here," she stated. "I will call for Master Jareo to perform an autopsy, but I believe it is apparent that this hypospray was tampered with. Until we can be sure that all of the other medication within the Temple is safe, we will have to close off the Healer's ward. I cannot risk losing another patient if any other medications were tampered with." Putting words to action, Ravenna used her commlink to alert the medical staff to the immediate danger, and then called the Council to report the same information to them.

*********************************************

Anakin had just entered the med supply room, when Master Bant came running into the room. "Padawan Skywalker, you need to return immediately to your quarters. I'll contact you later to continue your lesson."

Pausing only long enough to insure Anakin carried out her orders, Bant began immediately securing the room. A team of Knights would soon be there to begin testing supplies, but for the time being it was Bant's job to make sure no more medication was dispensed. As she worked on sealing off the room, Bant's thoughts turned to her childhood friend. She had received word from Ravenna that he was back at the temple, and that the Master Healer would be attending to him for at least the next few hours.

Ravenna had asked Bant to fill in for her at the Healer's ward until she could return. \I hope Obi-Wan isn't seriously injured\ she thought as she finally finished sealing the room and made her way to the bacta room to seal off the tanks. \'Cause if he is, he's going to have to wait at least another day or two for treatment.\

*********************************************

Anakin had to use the Force to open the door to the quarters he shared with his Master, as his arms were still full of the datapads he had grabbed as he left the medical supply room. He wasn't looking forward to spending the next few hours reviewing the dull texts, but he knew that Master Bant would quiz him at her next available opportunity. \At least I won't have the time to think about what I could be doing in the transport bay\ he thought, dumping the datapads unceremoniously on the small couch.

As he entered the kitchen to start making tea, a sudden warning from the Force stopped Anakin. The Force did not hint of danger, but it told him that there was someone else in the quarters.

"Master?" Anakin called out as the familiar Force signature washed over him. He was uncertain as to why he had not detected his Master's presence immediately, the only reason he would not have is if his Master had been shielding heavily. When no answer was forthcoming, Anakin approached the door to his Master's room. Hesitating only long enough to try reaching his Master once again through their link, Anakin opened the door.

Obi-Wan lay stretched across the bed, still fully dressed from his robe to his boots. \Well that explains why he didn't answer\ the Padawan thought with a small smile as he worked to make his Master more comfortable. Removing his boots, and turning Obi-Wan unto his back so he could remove the utility belt, Anakin then used a spare blanket from his own room to cover the sleeping Master.

"I'm glad your home," the apprentice whispered, before returning to the common room to quietly study his datapads.

*********************************************

Listening until his apprentice was once more settled in the common room, Obi-Wan kept quiet despite the pain he was in. He had returned to his quarters with the intention of getting some rest until he could receive treatment. He had not expected Anakin to return so quickly, he had assumed his Padawan would be firmly ensconced in the intricate workings of a plasma manifold down in the transport bay.

Instead, he had only managed a few minutes rest before Anakin had entered the quarters. Trying to shield his presence, Obi-Wan was too tired to maintain the façade for long. He was able to keep his pain shielded, but even that had almost slipped when his apprentice had turned him over onto his damaged shoulders.

Once he was sure Anakin was back in the common room, Obi-Wan allowed a small whimper to escape his lips. Turning over once more unto his front, the Master whispered silently into the darkened room "I missed you too Anakin."

After sleeping for over eighteen hours, Obi-Wan Kenobi was finally ready to face the Jedi Council. He would have preferred to spend a few days in a bacta tank before meeting with the twelve Masters, but the tanks were still being tested for tampering. With no other excuse for hesitation, the young Knight took a lift to the top of the central spire and entered the Council Chambers. After giving a slightly shallower bow than customary, due to his injuries, Obi-Wan launched into the narrative of his latest mission.

He recounted almost every detail of the ill-fated mission, but was still subject to an hour's worth of questions from the surrounding Masters. As the excruciating briefing finally wound down, Obi-Wan gave a final bow to the Council members before exiting the chambers in search of Master Bant. Obi-Wan hoped to impose on the other Master just a little bit longer, by asking her to keep Anakin out of trouble for the next few days.

Obi-Wan knew that he was asking a lot of his friend, but there was no one else for him to turn to. He had once considered a few of the Council Members among his close friends, but within the last four years the relationships he had once maintained had ended. Master Yoda may have been a close confidant in his younger years, but as of late, the Master was more of an adversary than a friend. The same was true for Master Windu, who he had once been very close to due to the long-standing friendship the Councilor had shared with Qui-Gon Jinn.

\At this rate, I'll soon have more enemies than friends\ the Knight thought as he exited the lift and began the walk to the Healer's ward. \Between the Council sending me away all of the time, and the time I've needed to dedicate to training my Padawan, Bant seems to be about the only friend I've got left. If I didn't know better, I'd swear the Council is trying to get me to quit!\

Snorting quietly at his absurd thoughts, Obi-Wan entered the Healer's ward, hoping to finally keep his date with the bacta tanks.

*********************************************

When Anakin returned to his quarters after class, he was surprised to see that his Master had woken and left already. After seeing how deeply Obi-Wan was sleeping, the Padawan had expected his Master to sleep for at least a day or two. Setting his datapad case on the couch, Anakin noticed a note on the table. \If the Council has sent him to a meeting again, I am going to go up there and tell them all what a bunch of morons they really are\

Reading the note, Anakin found that although his Master did not expect to see much of him for at least a day or two, he would be remaining at the Temple indefinitely. Obi-Wan informed his apprentice that he expected to spend the next few days briefing other Knights and Masters about the information he had received at the meeting on Malastare, but once that was completed the Master and Padawan would finally have some time to spend together.

Barely suppressing the urge to release the "yippee!" he had become well known for, Anakin instead settled on a huge smile. Finally he would get to spend some time with his Master, and the two could once again resume the mock lightsaber duels they both enjoyed.

\Well, it appears the Council has finally realized their mistake. Maybe next time they won't have to completely run my Master into the ground before they realize they are pushing too hard\

*********************************************

Bant had just finished the final tests on the bacta tanks, when she felt a familiar Force presence enter the room behind her. "So, you finally decided to visit your old friend eh? It's only taken you a day or so to finally deign to let me know you are alive and ok," Bant said with only partially feigned anger.

"I'm sorry Bant. When I heard that the bacta tanks were going to be out of commission for a few hours, all I wanted to do was get some sleep. And then I had to report to the Council, and they've kept me busy for the past several hours. I didn't mean to ignore you," Obi-Wan said as he stepped up behind her and gave her a quick hug.

Apparently forgiving him, Bant turned around to return the embrace, but stopped when she saw how gingerly he was holding his arms up. "I am glad you're back old friend, and I understand that you have been very busy. I want you to tell me all about your mission, but now is not the time. I think your time would be better spent elsewhere," Bant said stepping back and tapping a hand against the glass tank behind her.

"Thanks Bant," Obi-Wan said with a sheepish grin as he began to remove his robe and tunics. Seeing that her friend needed assistance, Bant stepped around behind him and helped him to remove the layers of clothing. Bant then exited the room long enough for Obi-Wan to switch to the shorts he customarily wore into the tank.

As she stood in the hallway waiting for her friend to signal that he was ready to enter the bacta, Bant took the time to reflect on just how terrible it was that Obi-Wan spent so much time in the tanks that he had clothing specifically for the task.

*********************************************

Once Obi-Wan was sedated and well on his way to healing, Bant left the Healer's ward to pay a visit to Anakin. She had laughed when Obi-Wan had asked her to please watch over his apprentice again, and had told her how sorry he was that he had to impose on her again.

"Oh, Obi-Wan, it's the very least I could do after all you've done for me. If it wasn't for you, I would never have gotten all of the healing practice I needed to excel so quickly," she had replied back. Just before the sedative had knocked him out, Obi-Wan had given her a grateful smile.

To Bant's way of thinking, seeing such an expression on her friend's prematurely aged face was more than worth any assistance she could give.

Although the Council may have exhausted all of its questions for Obi-Wan Kenobi, there was still much to be discussed after the Knight left the chamber.

"Disturbing this is," Master Yoda began, in a repeat of his earlier comments to the Council. "Questions we have, answers we do not. These answers we must find, a darker force is at work here than we knew."

"Without Valone, how are we going to find the answers?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked.

"I suggest we return to Adi's previous idea. I believe we dismissed the idea that there might be an informant in the Jedi temple a bit too quickly. Especially, now that we know someone tampered with Jedi medical supplies," Mace offered.

"Perhaps we should dispatch several teams to investigate this from many different angles. I know that we need to keep this incident from becoming common knowledge around the temple, but I believe that the need to uncover information is worth the risk of bringing in at least a few Knights," Depa interjected. "We could have one team track the source of the drug that was mixed in with the Force suppressant, and another team review outgoing Temple communications for the past few years."

"Investigate the source of the drug, yes. But why would we need to review the outgoing transmissions from the Temple from so many years back? It is only necessary to check information from the past few months or so," Plo Koon argued.

"No, we need to check the logs from at least the past five years. It would have taken Valone at least that long to plan his infiltration of Navira. There is no way he could have gathered that kind of weaponry in the few months he spent as the eastern leader," Mace answered, giving support to Depa's plan.

"A team of Knights to check Valone's activity in the years he has been gone from the temple too, hmm?" Yoda asked.

"Rest we should allow Knight Kenobi in the meantime," Yaddle said, speaking up for the first time. "Keep him close to the Temple we should, question him again we may need to."

"Perhaps we should allow him to assume a teaching position here at the Temple for the next semester. That would allow him time to train his Padawan, and also give time for the two to take a few more missions. Padawan Skywalker has spent too much of his apprenticeship on Coruscant so far, it is time we allowed the team a few missions," Ki-Adi-Mundi suggested.

Mundi normally did not become involved in Council discussions regarding the Knight, but after seeing the bedraggled state of the young man who had just stood before the Council, he had decided it was time to speak up. "I believe Knight Kenobi has worked hard to uphold his end of the bargain, now it is time for us to uphold ours."

*********************************************

As he ran the analysis yet again, Master Jareo pleaded to the Force that the results of the blood analysis be incorrect. He had already run the scan four times, but he kept hoping that the scanner was making the identification of the substance in error.

If what the scanner said was true, than the mortician would need to contact the Council immediately. If this substance was truly what the scans said, than it could mean only one thing: the Sith were active once again.

*********************************************

After two days in bacta, Obi-Wan was finally healed enough to return to his regular duties. The damage to his shoulders and back had been severe, but bacta was nothing if not miraculous. \Not only did it heal the wound, but the time in the tank offered me the most time to sleep I have had in years!\ Obi-Wan thought as he entered his room.

He was surprised to see that his bedding looked as if it had been slept in. \Note to self: I owe Bant big time\ Not only had his friend managed to keep Anakin out of trouble for the entire two days, but she had also taken the time to make it appear that Obi-Wan was returning to his quarters each night after Anakin had gone to bed.

The Master felt bad about the deception, but it would not be necessary again for a good long while. Upon his removal from the bacta tank, Obi-Wan had been surprised to see a Council page waiting for him. The young Padawan had been sent to notify Obi-Wan to appear before the Council as soon as possible. Once her message was delivered, the young girl had swiftly left the Healer's ward to carry more summonses.

Expecting to be handed yet another mission, Obi-Wan had been hard pressed to hide his joy when the Council notified him that he would be spending the next semester teaching the initiates and younger Padawans lightsaber techniques. The teaching position not only meant he would be able to spend the next few months on Coruscant, but also that he would be doing something he truly loved. Even as a young initiate, Obi-Wan Kenobi had always loved the time he spent in the training rooms.

\Maybe there will even be time for Anakin and I to take a few missions\ he thought gleefully as he prepared to wash the remaining bacta off in the small 'fresher. Stepping under the hot spray of water, Obi-Wan realized that this apparent generosity of the Council would probably carry a heavy price.

He knew that when the semester ended, he would immediately be sent out again on the missions Bant had begun to refer to as "Kenobi Specials." Deciding to once again take his former Master's advice, the young Knight pushed aside his dismal thoughts of the future and instead focused on the joy of the 'here and now.'

Obi-Wan had thoroughly enjoyed his first two weeks of downtime at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The reprieve from the seemingly endless missions of the last four years was spent training and just talking with his Padawan. Obi-Wan had also agreed to teach a few lightsaber classes to some of the initiates and younger Padawans, but had wanted to spend the majority of the time with Anakin.

When a few of the older Padawans and their Masters had approached the young Knight, asking him to add another class or two to his schedule, he had almost refused. An incident in the training rooms had quickly changed his mind however. Obi-Wan and Anakin had just begun to cool-down from a rather fierce mock 'saber battle. Anakin was teasing his Master about getting old, as the young apprentice had finally managed to score a strike on his agile Master.

As he looked up from his bent-down stretch, preparing to make some snide comment about the many, many strikes he had landed on Anakin, Obi-Wan's attention was drawn to a group of older Padawans standing on the farthest most mat. The group of five senior Padawans was engaged in a drill, where three Padawans took on the other two. The goal was to teach the future Knights how to handle a situation where they were outnumbered.

The disadvantaged team consisted of a tall female human and a slightly shorter male Bothan. The other three males were all of humanoid races, and the Knight was unsure as to their exact heritages. As he watched, the team of three quickly worked to subdue the other two Padawans. Just as it appeared that the contest was over, the tall female with the flaming hair executed a chillingly familiar move.

Kicking one of her opponents forcefully enough to send him slamming into a wall and immediately out of battle range, she then used the hilt of her lightsaber to strike her other aggressor in the chin before quickly turning her lightsaber around and imitating a kill strike to the chest. Just as the female dispatched the second Padawan, her Bothan teammate struck a kill point on his opponent. After the three losing Padawans conceded the match, the five gathered in the middle of the mat to discuss the outcome of the battle.

As Anakin finished his stretching, Obi-Wan continued to watch the group across the gym. He knew that the details of his and his former Master's fight with the Sith had been classified by the Jedi High Council. It was impossible for the young female to have known about the move that had killed the great swordsman Qui-Gon Jinn, and yet she had just successfully used it to "kill" a fellow Padawan.

The young Knight was impressed with the ingenuity of the Padawan, but he was more disturbed at the response of her opponent. The young male had not expected the move, and as such had made no attempt to counteract the effect of the blow to his head by stepping back out of the range of the female's lightsaber. The mistake of the young man had then allowed the girl to kill both him and his partner.

\If the Sith really are back, than the Jedi are going to be woefully unprepared to meet them\ Obi-Wan thought as his gaze skimmed over the many other training Jedi in the room. \I'm not sure even I could win a drawn out battle one on one with another staff-wielding darksider\

Realizing the lack of preparation exhibited not only by the Padawans, but also by several of the Knights and Masters throughout the room, Obi-Wan decided to approach the Council about creating an open class to help fill some of the training deficiencies. If he could manage to train only a few Knights and Padawans, than hopefully his students would then pass on the lessons.

\If there truly is darkness ahead for the Galactic Republic, then it's up to me to prepare the Jedi Order as much as I possibly can\ the young Knight thought, for the first time fully feeling the weight of being the only Jedi to face and kill a Sith in a thousand years

*********************************************

"You know what Obi? I am beginning to think there is something seriously wrong with you," Bant stated as she slapped a bacta pad none-too-gently over the latest 'saber burn the young Knight toted.

"Oh, and why's that?" Obi-Wan asked, trying in vain not to wince at the Healer's cavalier treatment of his wound.

"Well, let's see, you are on Coruscant, in the Jedi Temple, and your only duties include training a Padawan and teaching a few classes; yet SOMEHOW you manage to have to visit the Healer's at least once a week. Is it some kind of illness, or do you just miss me that much?"

"As much as it is always a joy to receive such caring treatment from you, I don't actually choose to visit the Healer's. I'm afraid some of my students have become a bit overzealous in my afternoon class, and since I am always the lucky one playing the part of the attacker, I'm the one that always ends up getting burned," Obi-Wan said standing up and pulling his tunic back down over the new patch on his back.

"You know Obi-Wan, the fate of the Jedi order doesn't rest entirely on your shoulders," Bant stated, suddenly becoming serious once more. "You should really just take some time and relax, its not often that the Council allows you a break."

"I know that Bant. Contrary to common belief, I do not suffer from delusions of grandeur. I just feel that since I have this knowledge it is my duty to pass it on," Obi-Wan replied, turning to face the Mon Calmarian Healer. "And besides, if I actually decided to take a vacation, what would you do with all of your spare time?" With a flippant grin, the young Knight grabbed his robe from the med table and left the exam room.

Returning from yet another session of teaching his popular lightsaber technique class, Obi-Wan entered his quarters intent on taking a long hot shower. His class had quickly grown in numbers when word of the unusual techniques he was teaching spread. He had been surprised, upon entering the training gym on his second day, to find many Masters mixed in among the Padawans that had previously made up the class.

At first, he found it difficult teaching technique to Masters that had helped to teach him, but after only a few days he found the awkwardness fading. Smiling as he remembered the dumbfounded look on his own Padawan's face as he had suddenly whipped out another lightsaber and started using both, Obi-Wan almost missed seeing the light blinking on his comm. unit.

Briefly debating whether or not he should just continue on to his shower and pretend he hadn't seen the light, or answer it and risk being called away, Obi-Wan was once again struck with his sense of duty. \Sometimes I wish I had become a farmer\ he thought as he grudgingly reached down to activate the unit.

Immediately the logo of the Jedi High Council appeared on the screen. Biting back a groan, Obi-Wan pressed the button to play the stored image. The face of Master Mace Windu flickered and than solidified.

"Knight Kenobi, your presence is requested before the Council immediately. Prepare a travel kit and report immediately to Council Chambers." Just as the image began to fade, Master Windu added, almost as an afterthought "Padawan Skywalker should prepare as well."

Reaching out through the training bond to notify his apprentice to report to their quarters, Obi-Wan began the task of repacking his travel case. Since his case was almost always in a state of near readiness, the young Master knew he would have just enough time to grab a quick sonic shower and redress as Anakin packed his case. \So much for a nice hot shower.\

*********************************************

Anakin entered the quarters at almost a dead run. He was unsure as to why his Master had contacted him while he was in the middle of class, but he was afraid it was because his Master was leaving again. Seeing the travel case sitting on his Master's sleep couch, the apprentice's fears were confirmed. A wave of anger washed over the young man, before it was quickly squelched. Anger would gain him nothing but an extra meditation session or two.

Anakin stood stock still in his Master's room as his mind worked frantically to find a way to keep his Master from leaving. He knew he was being a bit possessive, but he had missed his Master so much and it was unfair for the Council to keep taking away his closest friend.

\Maybe I could just march up to the Council Chambers and tell them all off\ Anakin thought desperately. \Then, the Council will realize that my Master needs to spend more time with me. either that or they would just ship me off to Agri-Corps.\

Realizing the Council was more likely to do the later action, Anakin decided that he needed help. He quickly activated his comm. link and asked to be patched through to Master Bant. As he waited for the Healer to answer his call, Anakin listened to the sonics running in the 'fresher. Realizing he was running out of time, the Padawan didn't waste time telling Bant anything more than to report to his quarters immediately.

Feeling vaguely guilty for making the Master think that there was something medically wrong with him or his Master, Anakin consoled himself with the thought that Bant would understand once she realized the Council was shipping Obi-Wan off yet again.

Although his Master no longer suffered from the fatigue that had radiated off of him earlier, Anakin and Bant both knew that Obi-Wan needed more time before he was sent to another round of meetings.

As he heard the outer door open, Anakin rushed out to meet Master Bant and come up with a plan to thwart the Jedi High Council.

*********************************************

As he exited the 'fresher wearing only a towel, Obi-Wan was surprised to see both his Apprentice and Healer Bant awaiting him.

His apprentice wore an expression that could only be described as furious and Master Bant looked rather upset as well. Wondering what could possibly have upset the usually unflappable healer, Obi-Wan walked out to the common room despite the fact he wore only a towel.

"We are not going to let you leave," Anakin stated without preamble as his Master entered the room.

"I will tell the Council that you have the Dan'erian flu if I have to, but neither Anakin nor I are going to allow you to return to the field after so short a time of rest," Bant added.

Chuckling softly, Obi-Wan leaned back against the hallway wall and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And you really think that a 13 year old Padawan and a recently promoted Healer are going to be able to thwart the Jedi Council?" Obi-Wan asked, curious to see how this little intrigue would play out. He would eventually notify Anakin that he would be attending as well, but first he wanted to have some fun.

"Yes," Anakin stated flatly, with a determined expression on his face. The fury had not completely faded from his apprentice's eyes, but the Master was pleased to see how hard the Padawan was working to suppress it.

"Well, I am glad to see how devoted both of you are to keeping me here, but I think the Council may have other ideas." Stepping forward from the wall, Obi-Wan reached out a hand to ruffle Anakin's hair. "Besides, I thought you wanted a mission my young Padawan."

Obi-Wan laughed loudly at the changing expressions on his two friend's faces. His apprentice went from determined, to dumbfounded, to excited in a very short time span. Master Bant, for her part, went from being visibly upset to sharing a huge grin with the suddenly joyful apprentice.

"Now that we have all of that worked out, how about you go pack your bag Anakin, while I finish dressing?" Obi-Wan said once he had his laughter back under control.

"Y.. Yes Master," Anakin answered, still too surprised to say much more than the programmed response. Bant, on the other hand, had much to say.

"Obi-Wan that's great! The Council is finally going to allow you and Anakin on another mission? Where to? How long? What are you going to be doing? You will write, right?" Bant rattled off the quick list of questions as she followed the young Master into his sleeping quarters.

"Yes, it is great, and yes, I will write. As for the rest of your questions, I will have to wait until after Anakin and I have met with the Council to answer them. Now if you would excuse me, I prefer to dress without an audience," Obi-Wan smiled as his friend had the grace to blush.

"Well then, I guess I am going to say goodbye to Anakin and then get back to the Healer's Ward. They must've wondered when I took off like I had a Sith or two on my tail," Bant smiled back. "Good luck Obi, and be safe."

Giving her friend a quick hug, Bant retreated out of Obi-Wan's room and crossed the hall to Anakin's. Entering the Padawan's room, Bant expected to see Anakin excitedly packing. The sight of him sitting dejectedly on the bed staring out the window, led her to worry.

"Anakin? Is everything alright?" Bant asked as she sat beside him wrapping her arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry about the mission, I am sure you will do a great job. If not, your Master's pretty quick with a cover-up," she said softly trying to console the young man.

"I'm not worried about the mission," Anakin said, still facing away from her. "I know that it will go fine and that my Master will handle it with ease."

"Then what's wrong?" The Healer asked gently.

Bant was surprised when Anakin suddenly turned to face her with a furious expression on his face once more. "Maybe you could explain to me just how and why my Master received that horrible scar across his back?"