by Jude Watson
on a bench, watching over a group of children. Instead of her usual jeweled
head-wrapping, she wore one of fine white linen. A small girl with dark
curls sat in her lap.
Uta S'orn was speaking to the girl with a smile on her face, but it
faded when she saw the Jedi.
"This is a surprise," she said to Qui-Gon. She gave a disdainful
glance to Astri, Cholly, Weez, and Tup. "Is this your new entourage?"
The little girl shrank shyly back against Uta S'orn's lap. Qui-Gon
crouched down and smiled gently at her.
"And who are you?"
"Joli K'atel," she said, and added confidingly, "I'm sick."
"I am very sorry to hear that. But I'm sure you will be well again."
She nodded. "My father says it is so."
"Then it is so," Qui-Gon said gravely.
Uta S'orn gently eased the girl off her lap and gave her a gentle
pat. "Go sit with the others, Joli. I need to speak to these people.
Unfortunately."
The little girl wandered off, the sash of her robe trailing in the
grass. Uta S'orn's face was creased with worry as she watched her.
"I have volunteered as a med aide," she said quietly. "I thought I
could help. I did not know it would break my heart."
"Is that the Leader's daughter?" Adi asked.
"Yes. But she is no more important than all of these children," Uta
S'orn said, waving her hand to take in the Ward Domes. "They are our
future. We must save them." She turned to them. "What is it that you want?
As you can see, I am busy. Why are you here? It seems I cannot get away
from the Jedi."
"We have reason to believe that Jenna Zan Arbor - " Qui-Gon began.
She stood up angrily. "Not this again. You have told me what you
believe about my former friend. I have not heard from her, nor do I wish
to. She has nothing to do with me."
"But we think that she does," Adi said. "We think that she is here,
on Belasco. We're not sure why. There could be some link that we are
overlooking, some reason she needs to contact you again."
"But she hasn't," Uta S'orn said impatiently. "And I will not see her
if she tries. All right?"
"She might insist," Qui-Gon said. "And she can. Ona Nobis is here as
well. She has kidnapped and killed for Jenna Zan Arbor before."
"If you're trying to frighten me, it isn't working," Uta S'orn said
dismissively. "I have no time to worry about phantom threats. My world is
dying. I see now there was a reason I returned here."
"We are merely trying to protect you - "
"No need. I am safe here. Although we have no king, the royal droid
guards still protect the Leader and everyone on the grounds. Thank you for
your concern, but Ona Nobis cannot get to me here. Now if you'll excuse me,
there are sick children to tend."
Uta S'orn walked away.
"I guess she has a point," Siri said, glancing around at the busy
grounds as medics walked by and guard droids, their shells polished to a
golden gleam, patrolled. "It would be hard for Ona Nobis to get to her
here."
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan exchanged a glance. "I'm afraid, Siri, that in
our experience," Qui-Gon said, "Ona Nobis can get anywhere."
CHAPTER 13
"Why didn't you tell Uta S'orn that we suspect Jenna Zan Arbor has
engineered the bacteria explosion?" Obi-Wan asked Qui-Gon as they left the
royal grounds.
"Because we have no proof, only our suspicions," Qui-Gon said. "She
would not believe us. She doesn't even believe that Zan Arbor is here."
"Nevertheless, she will take care, just in case," Adi said. "Despite
what she said, she is afraid of Ona Nobis."
"We have to get proof," Qui-Gon said.
"I'm confused," Siri admitted. "I don't understand why Zan Arbor
would come to Belasco at all."
"We know that Zan Arbor killed Uta S'orn's son. Uta S'orn knows it,
too. But Zan Arbor doesn't know that she knows - as far as she's concerned,
Uta S'orn is still an old friend," Adi explained. "Perhaps Zan Arbor came
here because S'orn is a powerful ally, and she needs her help."
"That could be," Qui-Gon said, nodding. "And Zan Arbor feels she
still needs the protection of Ona Nobis as well. She knows we will be
pursuing her. Yes, I think Zan Arbor will contact Uta S'orn. But we must
convince S'orn that Zan Arbor is here. Let's go back to the landing
platform. If we can prove that Zan Arbor landed on Belasco, Uta S'orn might
listen. In the meantime, even if Zan Arbor used an alias, we should be able
to track her."
"How can I help?" Astri asked.
"The royal grounds are open to all," Qui-Gon said. "And those guard
droids seem to have a mostly ceremonial function. Someone needs to stay
there and watch Uta S'orn. Ona Nobis could show up at anytime."
"We can do that," Astri said, with a glance at Cholly, Weez, and Tup.
"Do not approach her," Qui-Gon warned. "And remember - your best
revenge is to bring Ona Nobis to justice. We can do this for you. Then you
can collect your reward."
"That sounds like an excellent plan!" Tup beamed.
"I don't care about the reward," Astri said. "Only about her capture.
"
"Don't be so hasty," Cholly said.
Astri, Cholly, Weez, and Tup turned away from the group to start back
toward the royal grounds.
"You're placing quite a bit of faith in them," Adi observed.
"Not really," Qui-Gon said. "I'm counting on Cholly, Weez, and Tup to
be obvious. Ona Nobis might steer clear of Uta S'orn for a time if she
knows they are watching. That will give us time to gather evidence that Zan
Arbor is behind the poisoning of the water supply."
Obi-Wan's senses suddenly went on alert. Even while he was walking,
he had been watching every shadow. After his last encounter with Ona Nobis,
he was taking no chances. He had sensed a sudden movement nearby and
realized that someone was following Astri.
He signaled Qui-Gon with a quick glance and melted away from the
others. He ducked back into an alley and scanned the street behind. Whoever
was following the group was moving quickly from one shadow to another.
Using his cable launcher, Obi-Wan swung himself up to the flat roof
overhead. He ran lightly across the roof. When he reached the corner he
stopped and waited for his target below to catch up. Then he leaped down,
aiming to land directly in front.
To his surprise, he found himself face-to-face with Fligh. He was the
thief back on Coruscant who had stolen Zan Arbor's datapad and given it to
Astri, inadvertently plunging Astri and Didi into danger. Fligh was wearing
an eye patch and a stunned expression.
Obi-Wan was just as stunned as Fligh. Qui-Gon, Adi, and Siri ran up
to them quickly.
"Fligh?" Obi-Wan said. "I thought you were dead. I saw your body on
Coruscant."
"No, you didn't, Padawan," Qui-Gon said. "But you did," Obi-Wan said,
confused. "No," Qui-Gon said. "I saw a body that resembled Fligh. I had my
doubts."
"Ah," Fligh said. His face was naturally mournful, with a downturned
mouth and sad eyes. "I've never been clever enough to
fool a Jedi. Never
will."
"What are you doing here now?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Following Astri, of course," Fligh answered. "I thought I owed Didi.
Even though I keep losing her, I am doing my best, which isn't much. But
there you go."
Siri sidled closer to Obi-Wan. "What's going on?" she whispered. "Who
is this character?"
"Fligh is a friend of Didi's back on Coruscant," Obi-Wan explained
quickly. "He's the one who stole the datapads of Jenna Zan Arbor and Uta
S'orn in the Senate building. Then he was murdered. Or so I thought."
"He looks pretty healthy to me," Siri observed.
"Hey, I lost my eye!" Fligh protested.
"I can see that. I'm sorry," Siri said.
"I mean my false eye," Fligh explained. "It was a beauty, wasn't it?"
he asked Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. "But I decided I had to leave it at the scene
of my murder. It's those kinds of touches that convince people you're
really dead."
"How did you do it?" Obi-Wan asked curiously.
"I have a friend who works at the morgue on Coruscant," Fligh
explained. "And I think my job is tough."
"You don't have a job," Obi-Wan pointed out.
"Being a thief is a job," Fligh answered huffily. "I get up every
morning and go to work, just like everybody else. But this particular
morning, I realized that someone was trying to kill me. When you get a whip
wrapped around your neck, it wakes you up to the possibility. Luckily my
landlord is handy with an electrojabber. But I thought I should disappear
for a while. So I spoke to my friend at the morgue, and he found someone
with my general characteristics. Who was dead, I mean."
"We assumed that," Qui-Gon said.
"My friend did the rest. We drove the body to the alley and left it
there. Along with my eye, alas. I knew the security police would not bother
to run ID scans on the body - there are some advantages to being someone
nobody cares about. Just another piece of riffraff meeting a sad end.
They'd accept the text doc identification and just cart the body to the
morgue. Nobody would shed a tear."
"Didi did," Qui-Gon said sternly.
Fligh brightened. "He did? He is such a good friend!"
"But why would Ona Nobis be after you?" Obi-Wan wondered aloud. "You
didn't have Zan Arbor's datapad any longer. You gave it to Astri."
Fligh shrugged. "I was just a loose end, I guess."
"Oh, I think you were more than that," Qui-Gon said, crossing his
arms. "You're leaving something out, Fligh. The body was found drained of
blood. Why did you do that?"
"Because that was how Ona Nobis left her victims," Fligh responded.
"Six of my fellow riffraff were found that way."
"But we didn't know that yet. No one had yet traced Zan Arbor to Ren
S'orn, or any other victim. We didn't even know Zan Arbor had anything to
do with the attack on Didi."
"Ah, Jedi logic, so impressive," Fligh said nervously. "Are you sure?
"
Qui-Gon nodded. "Very sure. Which means that you knew Zan Arbor was
behind the attack. And you knew she was conducting experiments that
involved extracting blood from her victims."
"Hmm, interesting point," Fligh said. "I find I must agree. Maybe I
did know that. Maybe I traced a few of the murdered riffraff to Zan Arbor's
lab. Maybe that's why I stole her data-pad in the first place. But I didn't
see why it would help Didi to know that. At the time. I felt badly after he
was hurt, of course. Maybe I should have warned him after all. Maybe I
should be a better person in general. But at least I am watching over Astri
while Didi is in your excellent Jedi hands. I'll protect her if anything
happens. Of course," Fligh added quickly, edging away with an uneasy smile,
"I am hopeless at protection and therefore delighted to see that the Jedi
are by her side. Obviously, I am not needed, so I guess I'll just head off.
..."
"Not so fast," Qui-Gon said, catching Fligh by the elbow. "I have
more questions. What about Senator S'orn's datapad?"
"What about it?" Fligh asked.
"What happened to it?"
Obi-Wan looked at Fligh curiously. He hadn't thought of the question,
but he was interested in the answer. Once they had identified Jenna Zan
Arbor as the one who had hired Ona Nobis, they had stopped investigating
what was on Senator S'orn's datapad, or what had happened to it. It seemed
a minor detail. But Uta S'orn kept connecting to the mission, whether she
wanted to or not. Maybe there was a detail they had overlooked.
"I still have it," Fligh said. "I haven't had a chance to sell it
yet." He slipped a small data-pad out of his tunic. "See?"
Qui-Gon took it from him.
"There you go," Fligh said, waving a hand. "I won't even ask for
credits. See how generous I can be with stolen property? You will have to
erase all those files on it. Just Senate holo transcripts of speeches. Or
leave them, and you can use them as a sleeping potion." Fligh made a loud
snoring noise. "Take it from me. Very dull. Now, if you don't need me, I'll
be going. This world is too depressing, even for me. I think I'll head back
to the fun-filled world of Coruscant."
Waving, Fligh took off. Qui-Gon turned his attention to the datapad.
He quickly accessed the files and searched through them. Obi-Wan watched
over his shoulder. Hovercams recorded all Senate proceedings. Each Senator
could download transcripts into their own datapads for official records.
Senator S'orn had recordings of several speeches she had made.
Qui-Gon shut down the datapad. He glanced at Adi.
"What are you thinking?" he asked her quietly.
"I do not like how Uta S'orn keeps coming into this mission," Adi
said. "Let's get to the landing platform."
CHAPTER 14
On the way to the platform, Qui-Gon contacted Tahl and asked her to
investigate the odd bacteria formation on Belasco.
He was about to sign off when he had a thought. "Tahl, can you
forward the official Senate hovercam transcripts from... hold on." Qui-Gon
accessed the file listing and read out the dates and times.
"Sure," Tahl said dryly. "I just love dealing with the Senate
bureaucracy. Nothing I like better."
"That's what I thought." Smiling, Qui-Gon cut the communication.
"Why did you ask Tahl to do that?" Siri asked.
"Just a hunch. I want to make sure the transcript on Senator S'orn's
datapad matches the official filed version," Qui-Gon explained. "I've heard
of senators bribing the operators to alter official transcripts for one
reason or another. There must be a reason Senator S'orn has kept those
transcripts on her datapad. Maybe we'll find out why."
At the docking platform, the Jedi headed for the official in charge
of off-planet vessel registration. Transports to Belasco had slowed to a
trickle as word had reached the galaxy of the water shortage. It was easy
for the dockmaster to check the records over the past two days.
"That V-wing cruiser is unusual," the official said. "You don't see
many of them in private use. I think I can find it... here it is.
R
egistered to a Belascan native who was arriving home. Cir L'ani and one
passenger."
"Do you have a record of the passenger?" Adi asked. "Can you give us
a description?"
"Do you think I remember every ship that docks here?" the official
asked, shaking his head. "Just the pilot of the vessel registered. That's
all we require. Sorry."
They thanked the official and walked out onto the busy platform.
"It could be them," Adi said. "But we need proof."
"Let's ask a worker," Qui-Gon suggested. He gazed around the
