Time and Again (Obi/Qui/Ani/Xani) [Post 84 April 11] (Completed!)

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Time was a strict control of the life-support and environmental scales of the ship in space, but in relative to Coruscant's standard, it was 1140 hours.

Xanatos sat in a chair, so weary and tired, he almost slipped into sleep more than once. However, as soon as the blissful thought that he was at last going into sleep emerged into the forefront of his mind, he awoke again, feeling more tired and wearier than ever. Xanatos didn't want to talk, he didn't want to think, he didn't want to move, he didn't want to do anything other than go to his warm bed and lose his conscious to the stuff of dreams.

Except that he wasn't likely to get dreams. Nightmares might have been a better word.

Almost against his will, his gaze slithered over to the sleeping form on the bed. Luminara was still unconscious from the stun-blast with which Sadin had struck her previously. In the pallor of the hyperspace tunnel spilling through the large, wall-sized viewport, Luminara's face looked innocent and blissfully ignorant.

That would, undoubtedly, change when she awoke and realize that she was exactly where she didn't want to be. After days of chasing her through the dank Underground streets, he had somehow lost sight of Luminara. If not for Sadin, she would be in the Council chamber ? or whatever room the remaining Council Masters were using as their office ? recanting all that had happened on Alderaan.

That in itself wouldn't have worried him any. Xanatos wanted the truth to come out. When the Jedi ? when Qui-Gon ? realized that he had punished his apprentice needlessly, when he realized that Obi-Wan had gone through ten years of hell even though he hadn't actually done anything ? then, Xanatos would have his revenge. This was the only thing that had kept Xanatos living with the Jedi, even after he had forsaken all the tenets and rules of the Code (in his mind, if not officially ? yet), for ten miserable years after Father's death.

But ? but ? what Xanatos was waiting for was for Qui-Gon to make a fatal, irreversible mistake with Obi-Wan. Shout at him, scream at him, maybe even slap him ? and then when Obi-Wan would run away from them all, then Xanatos would tell them that Obi-Wan was innocent.

And Qui-Gon wouldn't be able to do anything even if he wanted to ? he would live in one long guilt-stricken day the rest of his life. He would life like a corpse that knew only grief and regret, and that was exactly what Xanatos wanted him to live like ? this had been his promise to his dying father, Father who had been killed by Qui-Gon.

With a satisfied smile, Xanatos brought his mind back to the present. Yes, that's what he was going to do. He was going to enjoy every moment of Qui-Gon's torment. And then, maybe, just maybe, he was going to help Obi-Wan somehow. Obi-Wan ? had no fault of his own, other than that he had become Qui-Gon's apprentice.

He doubted Obi-Wan would ever want to see his face again, but Xanatos was going to help him, nevertheless.

(I'm going to apologize to Obi-Wan, as much as an apology can mean.)

Xanatos's smile faded when his gaze fell on Luminara, who wasn't smiling even in her sleep.

Moving almost out of impulse rather than thought, Xanatos stood up from his chair and strode over to the bed.

"You're loosing your focus, Xanatos. You should have killed her the first instant she started to get the courage to turn against you."

Sadin was right. Xanatos should just take a blaster and shoot Luminara, and be done with it forever. He couldn't afford any more mistakes. If Sadin hadn't found her in the Temple before anybody else ?

Xanatos ran the tip of his fore- and- middle finger down Luminara's face, tracing the curve of her jaw line.

Leaning forward, he kissed her lightly on her lips.

(I love her.)

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1st part of 1st post ? I just wanted to post this because my floppy disk is mysteriously missing and I can't save it onto the hard drive.

More to come for today. Stay tuned.

Aunecah

 

I am so incredibly tuned in at the moment, have no fear of that.

So Xan regrets having to put Obi through all the pain and torment, just for the sake of revenge. It's almost unbelieveable - almost. It just goes to prove all the unscrupulous things people do in the name of revenge. And the feeling of love. It can happen to worst of us. Love is both lifting and crippling depending on the situation. Xan apparently is finding this out.

Can't wait for the rest.

*sits back to refresh periodically*

 

Hmm... can't say I am terribly surprised. I had a feeling that this was, at least in part, Xanatos' motivation. Revenge can be an extraordinarily powerful motivator. Of course, Xan not only made Qui-Gon renounce his innocent apprentice (with truckloads of help from QGJ himself), but had started to corrupt his present apprentice too. yes, that would be a powerful blow to Qui-Gon, one that even I , by now, am waiting to see happen! But who knew that Xan himself still had love left in him?

More, more, I want more!

Aunecah Your plots/imagination are already wonderfully vivid! If you decide to take the actual craft of writing to a higher level, it will be [Vader voice]impressive.[/Vader voice]

 

Diabolically clever, you little devil, you.

CYN

 

he can't kill lumi!! i've started to like her!! it's not fair!! and he better apologize to obi!

 

Don't worry......

I'm sticking around!!!!!

*sitts down to wait, eating popcorn*

 

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"Tahl?"

Adi Gallia looked at her colleague in surprise. It was very late in the night ? 0300 standard hours ? and Tahl looked as if she had been awake all night. Not only awake, but doing something that was most likely dangerous, as well.

Tahl's face was reeked with murk and dust and her usually spotless attire was ragged, torn in several places, and dirty to the extreme. She looked tired, her eyes were red-rimmed, but she looked incredibly worried and weary.

"Come on in," Adi said, moving back so Tahl could enter her room, which Tahl did quickly and quietly.

"Would you like something, Tahl?"

"No, no."

Tahl looked a little uneasy. Her eyes were darting about the room, as if she was trying to find somebody lurking in the shadows, somebody who wasn't supposed to be here. She must know that there wasn't anybody here, but Tahl didn't seem to trust her Force-senses as she usually did.

This was surprising and more than a little disconcerting. A thrill of foreboding shot through Adi.

(Is this something about ? ?)

"Sit down, Tahl," Adi said with a sigh, motioning Tahl to one of the spare chairs in the living room.

Unlike when Adi had had Siri as her apprentice ? Adi closed her eyes at a sting of pain ? she now lived in smaller quarters, constructed for a single person. There was one bedroom and a modestly comfortable living room complete with a kitchen unit and a refresher, but that was pretty much it. Most Knights didn't even have the living room, but Adi, being a Council Master, had a little advantage.

"Adi," started Tahl slowly. "Did you see Lumi anywhere?"

"No," said Adi, frowning slightly.

Tahl had come in a couple of days ago, saying that she had seen Luminara. She had also told Adi about Luminara's odd behavior. The two Masters had gone in search for the girl that evening, but they hadn't been able to find her anywhere.

"Remember I told you about her odd behavior?"

"Yes."

"About how she wanted to find something important she missed?"

"Yes."

"In the Room of Thousand Fountains?"

"Yes."

Adi waited for Tahl to continue, but the Jedi healer simply stared at her hands, sweat glistening down the back of her neck. Something about Tahl's demeanor made Adi shiver.

"Tahl, where were you?" Adi asked, already knowing the answer.

"In the Underground."

"Doing ? ?"

Tahl didn't answer. Then she sighed. "Adi, I don't know how important this could be ? I mean, when I listened to Luminara talking about it, I had a strange feeling that ? " she trailed off.

"What?" asked Adi loudly.

"I went to the Underground to search for Lumi's 'important thing,'" said Tahl finally. "It wasn't until I was halfway through searching that I realized I was doing it ? it was almost as if ? ? "

"The Force pushed you along?" Adi prompted.

Tahl nodded.

"What did you find?" asked Adi when Tahl didn't say anything else.

Tahl reached a palsied hand into her pocket. She pulled out a datapad that was bent out of shape, but the datapad was broken neatly into two, the two parts connected by a thin wire whose coating was lost.

Adi stared at it, another thrill of foreboding slithering up her spine.

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I am really disappointed that Adi is still alive. Then again, I hope she has some suffering to catch up to. Please tell me that they will be able to piece the datapad back together - they are jedi masters, for cryin' out loud.

Hmmm....not that I want to sound greedy or anything, but are there more posts coming today?

 

Hey! I did mention that Mace, Adi, and other Jedi Masters have been discussing the death of "Palpatine" when it happened. How can she be dead?

But anyway, yes, you're getting more posts today - more posts than I was counting on, actually. When I was saying I wanted to finish it before Monday, I didn't take it into account that I wouldn't be able to post on Saturday and Sunday - Chess matches. And they're going to take up the entire day - five matches! I'm going to die. [face_shocked]

Speaking of Palpatine ... the next post's in part about him.

Aunecah

 

Darn it!

Tahl and Adi are still around!!

Well......

Maybe the message was saved?.........

 

Depending on whether or not I get it done, you might have another post today.

Aunecah

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"I wonder if your feelings on the matter are certain."

Batura bristled at Sidious's tone, but she willed herself to NOT retort as she might have if he had been an underling. He had blasted into the main complex a couple of days ago, surprising everybody. He must have met as much - or, possibly, even more - resistance than if he were to try the same action in the Galactic Senate.

He had demanded a meeting with Batura; nobody was quite certain how he knew her name.

Sidious was attired in complete black and wore a ridiculously large hood that shielded his face partially but efficiently. His mouth, the only real feature of his face that Batura could see, was thin and somewhat familiar. His skin was wrinkled, which made her think that he might be old, possibly older than Sadin.

"My feelings on the matter are certain, Lord Sidious."

As much as she was loyal to Sadin, she also knew how to keep herself from harm's way. She had kept him (with honors) in the Talishman complexes for the better part of the last two days, talking to him all the day but not really telling him anything. Oh, she definitely let him in that they were doing illegal experiments - not that anybody who lived on Tatooine would care - but she hadn't told him any details, exactly what these "little illegal experiments" entailed.

That is, until the government - or what was remaining of it, anyway - loosened up enough for her to be able to get a transmission through to Sadin. The fallen Jedi had been startled when she reported of Sidious's presence. As soon as Sadin regained his ability to speak, he had ordered Batura to kill Sidious.

When Sidious had barged in unannounced - and ordered Batura out of the room. Actually, Batura wasn't quite sure what had happened there. Sidious had told her that he would like to talk with Sadin, alone, if that was possible. Batura had been all prepared to retort and actually tell him to get his butt out of the room before she called up guards and blew him into stardust. The next instant, she was striding out of the room. It wasn't until she had gotten to one of the labs that she realized she had done exactly what Sidious had wanted.

And she had hurried back, but the door had been locked. It remained shut even when she tried the highest security code. In frustration, with a dozen guards, she had waited out the door, prowling like an angry beast waiting for its prey to become available.

Though Sidious stayed shut in the room, he and Sadin couldn't have talked for all five hours. When he came out, Sidious didn't look any different - but Sadin definitely seemed to have grown a new-found respect (or maybe it was fear) for the other. He had told Batura to co-operate with Sidious, tell him everything, and take his advice. Xanatos was coming here and he would be able to take care of it better.

"Just don't make any major changes without me knowing about it," he had added.

And don't even think about killing Sidious. You won't be able to do that.

Somehow Batura found herself believing in Sadin's words fully.

"How long have they been in the black hole?"

"Seventeen days," said Batura. "They should be coming to the center in a couple of hours."

"How long will it take for them to come back, assuming that they're going to come back?" asked Sidious.

"It's a calculated course. The ship is designed to accept user controls until it was in the black hole. After that it runs on the pre-programmed path. If everything goes as planned and they actually go into the parallel galaxy, it will take them eighteen days to come back."

"They'll stay for only one day in the said galaxy?"

"Yes. We haven't perfected the ship yet, Lord Sidious. It isn't going to be able to function for more than thirty-eight days without replenishing its systems."

"Seventeen plus eighteen is only thirty-five. That's three days you're wasting."

"We're playing it safe here."

Sid

 

I hope they figure out the binary soon---you had me on the edge of my seat! I have to say that I don't really care about the whole black hole thing anymore...I'm really fanatical about Obi and therefore the jedi that are about to realize their mistake....hopefully.

Your writing remains supberb, however, no matter what my personal feelings are!

GREAT CHAPTERS! I'm sorry I didn't reply to each as they came but my internet connection was down since 3:30.

PLEASE POST MORE SOON! You did do a ton today, though, so I totally respect you for that.

 

Last post for today.

Wow, this story is starting to speed up considerably - but that's probably because its sequel is just crying for me to write it.

Aunecah

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They were supposed to be prison complex. At least that was what the Talishmen had told the Hutts when they had established their base here. In reality, the complex actually was a collection of labs and offices - and some (very few) prisons/detention cells - that were guarded by dozens and dozens of guards.

So, when Obi-Wan found himself at the side door to the main prison cell, which was located in the very middle of the complex, he was quite surprised. They hadn't encountered too many guards on the way here, actually.

With Gordin's, Anakin's, and Qui-Gon's stealth and Force capabilities - and Obi-Wan's little datapad that was programmed to do break into other programs - they had come here almost unnoticed. Whatever few white-clad-and-masked people did see them were all dead, their bodies dragged into the first empty rooms that the Jedi could find.

Gordin quickly found the computer terminal.

"Obi-Wan," he whispered, motioning at the hidden terminal, while Qui-Gon and Anakin stayed alert, their lightsabers in their hands but not quite activated yet. Obi-Wan could sense presences coming their way. They would be here in a couple of minutes, and the Jedi needed to get in before they got here.

Obi-Wan attached his datapad to the terminal, sweat glistening down his face while the rest of the Jedi stared around in all directions.

Two minutes later, Qui-Gon was starting to get impatient. "Is it done yet?"

"No - it's, it's not working," Obi-Wan whispered as the light came up negative in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. He turned away from Qui-Gon's hard, accusing stare to look at Gordin. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be ridiculous, Obi-Wan, you made our life a lot more easier by bringing us until here," said Gordin sharply. He glared at Qui-Gon. "There's no need for you to feel guilty."

"He most definitely tripped the alarms," said Qui-Gon testily.

"No, no," said Obi-Wan before Gordin could answer. "My program has a fail-proof - "

"Says you."

"There's no point in arguing here," Gordin hissed in Qui-Gon's ear. "Obi-Wan did a lot more help than you did, Qui-Gon. So unless you want me to recriminate you in front of your apprentice for your serious lack of judgment, you keep your mouth shut."

Anakin was too far away to pick up on Gordin's voice, but Obi-Wan ... he looked away uneasily. He knew what Gordin was doing, and he also knew why he was doing it. He swallowed a lump in his throat.

Anakin sprinted back to them. "They're coming."

"I can't sense Bant or Garen anywhere!" Obi-Wan said in frustration. "They either have a Force-collar on them or they're not here."

"And both of them are your fault."

"Jinn," Gordin said warningly.

"What're we going to do?" Anakin said hastily, not giving Qui-Gon the time to respond or to do anything else for that matter. "They're coming!"

Gordin looked at the door. He pulled out his lightsaber, turned it on and sliced a big, large hole into the door. As soon as his lightsaber had touched the door, alarms had started to ring like jarring cacophony of notes. Anakin's hand immediately flew up to his ear.

"Go find his mother," Gordin said to Obi-Wan, jerking both Obi-Wan and Anakin in. "We'll hold off here."

"But - "

"GO!"

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The computers of the ship said that they were less than ten minutes away from reaching the dead center of the galaxy.

That was when things started going wrong.

It started near the observation decks in the back, which were filled with at least two or three people around the clock, most of who went about their business as usual. Occasionally, they went in there to stare into the solid matter all around them, a particularly finite part of it being burned away via collision with anti-matter particles. It was a disgustingly beautiful sight, glowing with deathly pallor,

 

A little confused about post number three. If Obi-Wan and the others are still on Tatooine, and Shmi is nearing the black hole, why did Gordin ask Anakin to find his mother? Wouldn't they have sensed that she wasn't on the planet any more?

So, Sadin is the leader of the Talishmen. Sidious must be scary indeed if Sadin loses all his bravado in a matter of minutes with Sidious. I am still waiting to find out what happens on the other side of the galaxy. Something tells me that Bant and Garen may stay there and not return - would that involve the sequel?

Adi and Tahl, you are Jedi masters; can you increase your level of efficiency a tad??

 

fj: It's because Gordin never met Shmi and hence doesn't know her presence. Qui-Gon does, but in TPM he hasn't been able to sense Shmi's presence when she was standing right next to him - I assumed it was because Qui-Gon was distracted by Anakin's midichlorine count - and he's distracted here by Obi-Wan. Anakin - well, he's twelve. So the point is that nobody really knows for sure if Shmi's here or not. Since they sense prisoners in the complex, they are hoping that Shmi's one of them.

I updated my vampire story. Or I'm going to, after I'm done here.

Aunecah

 

keep it up. you have me at the edge of my seat. please update soon

 

I can't wait for them to read what's on that datapad.

And I will just FREAK OUT if the stupid thing got dented in the wrong place and says something like "Obi-Wan * raped Siri" instead of "Obi-Wan didn't rape Siri"

Story is going great - looking forward to more!!!!

-kristi-wan

 

*reads*




*faints*

 

Thanks guys! I've been hoping to get something up before eight o' clock, but I don't kow if I will. Let's cross our fingers and wait.

Aunecah

 

You know, if I work really, really hard, I might just finish the 'fic by today. We're at the end - as you can probably feel - but we aren't anywhere close to getting done. So, I won't make any promises ... but I hope this 'fic will be done by today.

Aunecah

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That night, Mace was too tired and weary to feel very surprise when somebody knocked on his door and pulled him out of a light, uneasy sleep at 0200 standard hours. He had spent most of the day, like he had the past days, trying to make some order out of chaos.

The reconstruction of the Jedi Temple was going fairly well, and in a bout of hope, Master Yoda's brain had begun to map more activity. While that didn't necessarily mean that he would be coming out of his coma any time soon, it was a beginning, and Mace desperately needed something to cling onto.

Every day that passed by gave Mace some amount of relief in knowing that he wasn't Coruscant's ruler and hence didn't have to continue leading them all with an iron fist the rest of his life. It was hard work.

Mace crossed the room over to the door, rubbing his eyes wearily, and palmed open the door.

It took him almost an entire minute to recognize the person standing in front of him, though that might not entirely be because of his tiredness. Adi looked the worse for the wear. Her eyes were swollen and red, and the amount of ? unreadable emotions that Mace sensed off her made something heavy drop into his stomach.

"What is it?" Mace asked, almost fearing he would hear that Master Yoda was dead or something along those lines.

What else could get Adi like this?

Wordlessly, Adi handed him a datapad. She folded arms that were shaking slightly. A thrill of foreboding firmly engraved in his mind, Mace turned the datapad on and read it.

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"Anakin, can you sense your mother?"

"No."

"Can you tell if she's even in here?"

Obi-Wan had a horrible feeling that the entire "rescue mission" was a waste anyway because Anakin's mother, Shmi, wasn't even here. It wasn't because he couldn't sense Shmi's presence ? no, Obi-Wan didn't even know how Shmi's presence would feel like to know if she were here or not ? it was more subtle than that, an elusive warning from the Force, it seemed.

"I don't know," Anakin said uneasily. "There's too much ? " He trailed off.

"I know," Obi-Wan sighed. Anakin was talking about the emotions running rampant in the air, and for once, Obi-Wan had to agree with him. The emotions were mainly coming from the prisoners, but there was a lingering darkness here that made Obi-Wan feel as if he had no innards.

So much darkness ? Obi-Wan hadn't encountered this much darkness even in Master Sadin ? Or Xanatos ?

"Obi-Wan?"

Forcefully pulling himself out of introspection, Obi-Wan looked down at the young apprentice beside him.

"Let's go to the prisoner cells," Obi-Wan said slowly. "If she's here, she'll be there."

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I'm waiting with bated breath.

These were fantastic additions. I can't wait to really see the Councilors' reactions to the simple line Lumi wrote. It's obvious that Adi is torn over it.


But what could Obi be sensing, who or what is so full of darkness that it makes you feel hollow? Oh I must find out. I'll be sorry to see this end, but the anticipation is pure and lovely torture.

 

YAY! Mace knows now! Or at least, he knows whatever they managed to translate from binary. I can't wait to see what happens!

Great post! I feel bad for Gordin, Qui, Anakin and Obi--- they are spending all this time looking in the wrong place, for Shmi and Bant/Garen. I liked the tension between Gordin and Qui and Obi in the last chapter---Qui needs to stop being such a bstard.

GREAT CHAPTER! PLEASE UPDATE AGAIN SOON!

 

I AM SOOO BEHIND!!!!

 

I am so glad Adi looks and feels miserable. She deserves MUCH more.

What is the lingering darkness? Soemthing that has frightened even Obi-Wan, who by now, has seen it all? Can it be old Palps?

It's interesting how well Obi and Ani seem to be getting along. Perhaps the Force had really meant for them to be Master/Padawan? In the normal course of things, Obi-Wan would have been a Knight by now and could have taken Ani as apprentice, not QGJ.

 

you know, i rather hope that xan is able to rub qui-gon's face in his mistakes and hatefullness and make buckethead suffer remorse the rest of his miserable life for what he has done to obiwan. it sounds like the perfect ending for me. maybe bucket and his sithling could spend the next ten years alone on dagobah with lumi and xan. of course, hacking sadin and sidious into little tiny wiggly red gooey chunks of nasty wormridden sith would be a good thing also.

and gordin could be obi's master and make him a real knight.

time for the council to retire, too many are getting really senile. but mace redeemed himself, so he can stay