"What was that all about?"
Bant's face was pressed against the grass. "I was ... testing ... my limit," she said breathlessly.
Obi-Wan sat up. "You were what?"
"He said I didn't ... know my limit," she said, sucking in deep lungfuls of air. "If I stayed under the same amount of time and passed out, then we would know I was as close to death as I thought."
"Great plan," Obi-Wan said. "Do you mind telling me how you were going to get to the surface?"
"I rigged a chronometer to a signal that would alert security that I was in trouble," Bant said, her breathing slightly more normal. "I wasn't in danger."
"What if security didn't get here in time?" Obi-Wan demanded shakily. "What if you were already dead? You took a great risk, Bant. How could you do that to me?"
She looked up at him, astonished. "I was doing it for you!"
"But what if something had happened? How could you let me go through one more death?" Obi-Wan knew that the best way to convince Bant that her plan was foolish was to make her think that the greatest danger lay in hurting him.
"I didn't think of it that way," Bant said.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath to steady his voice. "Thank you for trying to help, Bant. But Qui-Gon is right. You can't. He can't. I must go through this myself. Promise me you won't do this again."
Slowly, Bant nodded. "All right. I promise," she said gravely.
"This is when we must be at our strongest," he said. "We must trust in the truth and the Force."
"And the Force will be with us," Bant said.
CHAPTER 8
"Qui-Gon was right," Tahl said to Qui-Gon and Clee Rhara. "Tarrence Chenati must have the backing of someone powerful in the Senate."
"In the Senate?" Clee asked, her eyes flashing. "A Senator is doing this?"
"Why not?" Qui-Gon asked mildly. "They are rarely no better and sometimes worse than most beings."
"The Senate uses its own spies," Tahl said. "They are called ‘no-names.’ A whole identity is created, with text docs and clearances. When the no-name dies, the identity is retired." She swept her hand toward the documents on Tarrence Chenati. "This kind of identity. What if someone had access to those retired identities and stole one for the saboteur?"
"That makes sense," Qui-Gon said. "Who would have access?"
Tahl frowned: "Hard to say. It could be almost any senior level Senator with the right contacts and the right bribes. Tracing it would be close to impossible."
"If Chenati is just a hired saboteur, he won't have much loyalty," Qui-Gon guessed. "If we capture him, he might tell us what we want to know."
"Chenati's shift starts in fifteen minutes," Clee Rhara said. "I don't want him near those ships."
"Let us handle this," Qui-Gon advised her. "Go to the students. Keep everyone away from the hangar. And try to head off Haly Dura, too."
Clee Rhara nodded. She strode off toward the student quarters. Tahl and Qui-Gon turned to go, but a signal went off on the control panel of the security system.
"It's Chenati. He's early," Qui-Gon said tersely. Without another word, Tahl and Qui-Gon hurried to the hangar. The huge durasteel doors were already open, the starfighters lined up inside. Qui-Gon saw Chenati working on a control panel on the side of one of the starfighters.
"He's fifteen meters to the left, working on the right side of the starfighter," he said to Tahl.
"Let's flank him," she suggested. "But not until the last second. We don't want to scare him off."
Qui-Gon and Tahl strolled toward Chenati, who had caught sight of them and waved cheerfully. He reached down into his tool kit. Something alerted Qui-Gon even before Chenati began to rise again. He was too friendly.
"He knows," Qui-Gon said.
Chenati came back up with a blaster. The fire pinged by them, since Tahl and Qui-Gon had already jumped apart. Qui-Gon's lightsaber was activated in a flash, and he sprang to deflect the blaster fire from Tahl.
"Stop protecting me!" she shouted.
But how could he? Tahl's perceptions were extraordinarily acute, but even she could not deflect rapid blaster fire she could not see. Tahl began to move in an erratic zigzag motion toward Chenati. Chenati backed away, keeping up a steady burst of fire. Qui-Gon moved forward, keeping himself between Tahl and the blaster fire. He knew she was listening for the rustle of clothing, the stir of air to tell her which way Chenati was aiming. But there was too much other noise surrounding her.
Suddenly Chenati raced into the cockpit of the starfighter. The windshield began to close.
Tahl heard the noise and began to run. The starfighter began to move, straight toward her.
"Tahl! Straight ahead!" Qui-Gon yelled. He started toward her, but Tahl had already accessed the Force and gave a great leap to her left, placing her safely out of the starfighter's way. The distraction had cost Qui-Gon. He could not reach Chenati. He could only watch as the starship took off.
Tahl deactivated her lightsaber and tucked it into her belt in an angry motion. "Perhaps if you weren't so intent on protecting me, you could have captured him." Her voice was sharp and bitter. "Perhaps if I didn't need to be protected, things would be different."
"Tahl—“
"Qui-Gon! Tahl!" Clee came running up. "I saw Chenati take off." Clee stared at the sky, empty now.
"It was either kill him or let him go," Qui-Gon said.
"It's all right," Clee said. "At least we know the starfighters are safe now."
"You'll have to check these out," Tahl said. "He was here for a few minutes."
"Will do. Thank you, good friends," Clee Rhara said warmly to Qui-Gon and Tahl. She had always had a sunny nature, eager to look at the bright side of things. "We can continue the program now."
"But you don't know who your enemy is," Tahl told her.
"That worries me, it's true," Clee said. "But I'm glad to have my base back. All this suspicion was tiring."
"Yes, mistrust takes energy better spent on other things," Tahl remarked.
"Sir Tahl!" The singsong voice of Tahl's personal navigation droid, TooJay, echoed through the hangar. "You left without me this morning! Look at all the obstacles in this hangar. There is a fusion cutter by your left foot."
Tahl closed her eyes in exasperation. Usually, TooJay's fussing amused Qui-Gon. But he saw that Tahl was close to the edge now. She had had enough protection for one day.
"Tahl is fine, TooJay," he said quickly.
"Qui-Gon Jinn, hello," TooJay said. "I haven't seen you since I was reprogrammed. Lucky for me they left my memory cells intact."
Qui-Gon stopped. For a moment, he screened out his friends and the chattering droid. He was missing something. What was it that TooJay said to trigger it?
First Tahl and Clee talked of mistrust. Then TooJay had mentioned her reprogramming...
Xanatos had placed a surveillance device in TooJay. They had not known that the droid was busy transmitting their conversations to their enemy. They knew a spy was in the Temple, and Obi-Wan had suggested that Tahl could have been the one. But even though it made logical sense, Qui-Gon had never mistrusted her.
Xanatos had never been able to trust anyone. That was his downfall.
So why would he have trusted Bruck? He remembered the feel of Bruck's lightsaber hilt, the worn quality of the carving, the small nick he had felt in the handle. It had touched him at the time, remembering the boy who had spent long hours carving it.
Everything came together then, and he knew how he could turn the tide in Obi-Wan's favor.
He hated to leave Tahl with things unsettled between them. But his Padawan needed him now.
CHAPTER 9
Obi-Wan had thought he was prepared for this. He had gone over what had happened with Bruck so many times he felt certain he could give the account smoothly. He even hoped that Vox and Kad Chun would be swayed. They would realize that the painful truth was that Bruck had chosen a dark path.
But it had not turned out that way.
From the moment he sat facing the Senators and tried to tell his story, Sano Sauro had battered him with questions. He had twisted his words. He had made him repeat himself, and if Obi-Wan made the slightest change, he pounced.
Somewhere Sano Sauro had heard that Obi-Wan and Bruck were rivals. Or perhaps he just asked the question, hoping to get an affirmative answer.
"We do not think of rivals at the Temple," Obi-Wan said. "There are certain activities that a few are especially good at. We honor that. Everyone has a special skill. Cooperation is the basis of our order."
"Isn't it true that once you fought a match that was not sanctioned by your teachers? That Bruck beat you badly and you had to hide your wounds?"
Obi-Wan looked at him, startled. How did Sano Sauro know that? The only thing he could think of was that Bruck had told Xanatos, and Xanatos had told Vox Chun. "Bruck did not beat me," he said, his eyes flashing. "The fight was a draw."
"So you say." Sano Sauro gave a chilling smile. "But you did fight."
"Bruck wanted to be Qui-Gon Jinn's Padawan. He tried to prevent me from that honor," Obi-Wan said.
Sano Sauro attacked. "So you resented him for that."
Obi-Wan had to tell the truth. "Yes," he said reluctantly. "At the time, I did."
"So Bruck Chun confessed to his Jedi leaders that he'd fought, and you tried to hide it."
Obi-Wan struggled for a moment to come up with the right answer to that question. It was true that a wounded Bruck had gone straight to the med center, but it was only to get Obi-Wan in trouble. Obi-Wan had treated his own wounds himself.
"Is that true or not?" Sano Sauro pressed.
"It is true," Obi-Wan said. "But--“
Sano Sauro twirled around and walked back to his table. "And this was the boy you say was not a rival." He threw a glance at the Senators. Senator Bicon Ransa gave a small nod.
"I did not say that, exactly," Obi-Wan said in a low tone.
"Yes, you tried very hard not to," Sano Sauro replied lightly, with another eloquent glance at the Senators. "But let us move on before we get further snared in Jedi logic. Is it true that you once left the Jedi order?"
Bant threw Obi-Wan a shocked look. Obi-Wan was just as stunned. But why should he be? Obviously Xanatos had pumped Bruck for information, gathering all he could about Qui-Gon and his Padawan. And Xanatos had told Vox.
"Yes," he said in a clear voice.
"And you were not reinstated into the Jedi order at the time of Bruck's death?"
"That is correct," Obi-Wan said.
Obi-Wan expected more questioning about his leaving the order, but Pi T'Egal interrupted. "Is this relevant to Bruck Chun's death, Sano Sauro?" he asked sternly. "Let us proceed."
"As your honor wishes," Sano Sauro said with a slight bow.
Pi T'Egal turned to Obi-Wan. "Please tell us what happened on that day."
Obi-Wan began. Once again, he described Qui-Gon's plan to foil Xanatos. His pursuit of Bruck to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. Bruck's threat to kill Bant--
Sano Sauro interrupted. "How exactly did he threaten her life?"
"He said that Bant would die, and he didn't have to do anything. And I would have to watch it." Remembering those words, Obi-Wan felt a chill go through him almost as vivid as the one he had felt then. Bant looked down at her clasped hands.
"I see," Sano Sauro said in a tone that indicated he thought Obi-Wan was lying. "And how did you know that this was true? Did you know Bant was dying? Did you know that Bruck would let her die?"
"The Force was very dark in Bruck," Obi-Wan began to explain.
"Ah, the Force! I have been waiting for it to appear in testimony!" Sano Sauro declared, raising his arms. "The famous Force, which tells the Jedi what to do!"
"It does not tell us what to do," Obi-Wan said. "It binds us and connects us--“
“This - command tells you that a young boy is willing to kill," Sano Sauro answered witheringly. "So therefore you kill him. Because of your mighty Force."
"The Force guided me, yes," Obi-Wan said. "But the Force never guides to kill." He threw a glance at the Senators. Jedi believed in feelings. Here at the hearing they wanted logic and facts. How could he explain that his feelings told him that Bruck had fallen so deeply into Xanatos's web of evil that he would even allow a Jedi student to die in front of his eyes?
Pi T'Egal and most of the Senators seemed to be listening intently to him without any hint that they were moved by Sano Sauro's sarcasm. But one of the Senators looked uncertain, and Bicon Ransa leaned over to whisper in her ear.
Bant looked at him, alarm in her eyes. She knew he was losing. Obi-Wan felt a sudden sweat drench his tunic. He had lost control of his testimony. Sano Sauro had twisted his words and made him look like a hotheaded fool, or worse, a dangerous liar.
"Sano Sauro, I must caution you," Pi T'Egal said. "The Jedi connection to the Force is well respected in the Senate."
Sano Sauro nodded. "I know this, Senator. Yet this Force is something that no one else can see or feel. It is something we take the Jedi's word for."
"The Jedi word is also something we respect," Senator Vi Callen said severely.
"And is this Force something that we feel confident we can judge a killing on?" Sano Sauro asked, turning to the Senators. His voice rose in intensity as he spoke. "Something only the Jedi can feel, that is used in the defense of this dangerous boy? He says he felt it. We must trust that, and exonerate him? If so, then what have our laws come to, that we mete out justice according to something that we cannot see, hear, feel, or understand? This ‘Force’--what is it? What have we seen it do?"
Pi T'Egal looked to the back of the room. "Perhaps Qui-Gon Jinn can help us."
Obi-Wan looked over. Relief coursed through him at the sight of Qui-Gon standing at the back of the room, near the door. Qui-Gon lifted a hand. Bruck's lightsaber hilt suddenly shot from the table and sailed directly into his waiting fingers.
"That is one thing the Force can do," Qui-Gon said, striding forward.
Sano Sauro paled but quickly recovered. "Tricks," he sneered.
Qui-Gon ignored him. He turned Bruck's hollow lightsaber hilt over in his hands, a look of concentration on his face. Everyone paused, watching him.
"This delay is also a stunt," Sano Sauro said, his voice turning shrill. "Let us continue ..."
"I believe I can help put some questions to rest," Qui-Gon said quietly.
"Ah, now will we hear what the Force told you, Qui-Gon?" Sano Sauro asked.
"No, you will hear Bruck Chun's own words,"
Qui-Gon replied calmly. He turned to the Senators. "As I told you, I knew Xanatos well. He did not trust anyone, even those under his power. He would not have trusted Bruck. He would have made sure that the boy was under his complete control when he sent him back into the Temple to do his work." Qui-Gon lifted the lightsaber hilt. "He would have access to all of Bruck Chun's conversations because he would plant a listening device in the one thing that a Jedi is never without."
Obi-Wan's mouth fell open. How did Qui-Gon figure this out? He stared at the lightsaber hilt, hoping his Master was right.
Vox and Kad Chun looked at each other, startled. Sano Sauro sprang forward. "This is highly irregular! This lightsaber hilt is the property of Vox Chun!"
"This lightsaber hilt is evidence," Pi T'Egal said sternly. "You did not hesitate to employ it in your own service to gain sympathy for your client."
Qui-Gon pressed the nick in the handle and extracted a small disc. "I'll need a recorder."
The court technician took the disc and inserted it into one of the recorders on his desk.
"Let us proceed to the date and time of Bruck's death," Pi T'Egal said.
The court recorder entered the information. A moment later, Obi-Wan heard Bruck's taunting voice.
I was always better than you. Now I am even stronger.
It all came back in a rush. How he had to struggle to release his anger, how Bruck's words had seared him,
how he knew Bruck was trying to anger him. ...Had he truly pushed his anger aside and fought with justice and calm? Sano Sauro had been right about one thing: Bruck had been his rival. There had been a deep animosity between them. He had not been able to conquer it. Even on that rocky slope.
It had been a time when he had been anxious to return to the Jedi. That longing had been a kind of fever in him. Had he told himself that he had fought without anger that day only to convince himself and Qui-Gon that he truly was a Jedi?
There was only the sound of the battle now, the ragged breath of the two of them, the slipping, sliding footwork, the buzz of the lightsabers meeting. Then Bruck's voice again, snaking out, full of venom.
She doesn't look too good, does she?
Kad Chun's shoulders jerked.
Obi-Wan heard his voice on the recorder scream Bant's name. It sounded like him but unlike him, too, the sound of someone on the edge of control, full of desperation.
Bant put her face in her hands.
And then Bruck's voice sang out, triumphant and cruel.
That's right, Obi-Wan. Bant is dying.
I won't have to do a thing. I'll just make you watch it. We would have freed her if we got the treasure. But another person will die because of you.
Right in front of your eyes.
Pi T'Egal made a slashing gesture at the court recorder. He switched off the machine. "I do not think we need to subject the family to more of this," Pi T'Egal said. "The Senators will listen to the rest in private, confer, and deliver a ruling."
A screen descended from the ceiling, obscuring the Senators. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon could hear nothing. Vox and Kad Chun kept their backs to them as they conferred with Sano Sauro.
"It will be over soon," Qui-Gon said quietly.
"But how will it end?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Patience," Qui-Gon replied.
The minutes dragged by, but at last the Senators reappeared. Pi T'Egal looked at Obi-Wan, then at Vox and Kad Chun.
"The death of a young being is always tragic," he said. "The need to blame is understandable. Sometimes it is justified. But we do not think so here. We rule that Obi-Wan Kenobi is free of any responsibility in the death of Bruck Chun."