Dark Disciple

by Christie Golden

  “It’s abandoned,” Vos said. “Not a single ship.”

  “It does look that way,” Kenobi said. “But we should be cautious nonetheless. Let’s try a strafing run and see if we can flush any hiding jakrabs.”

  The three Jedi brought their vessels into formation. Anakin actually cooperated by taking his place on Kenobi’s left and letting Obi-Wan have the lead. The clones fell in behind them in their ARC-170s. Obi-Wan, Vos, and Anakin all fired their laser cannons simultaneously. A fireball wrapped in black smoke plumed upward. The mammoth dish cracked and tumbled in pieces to the ground. The clones followed with a second attack. Blue laserfire screamed, and this time the tower itself crumbled beneath the assault. The group veered upward and came about for another pass.

  “Hold your fire, everyone,” Kenobi said. “Let’s see what reaction we get.” They flew over again, but there was no movement on the ground. No ships, no vehicles, no people, not even droids. Nothing.

  “Scans indicate no life-forms,” Anakin said, adding, “Well, none larger than a literal jakrab. Hey, no gundarks this time.”

  “Master Kenobi? I’d like to go down there and see what we can find” came Vos’s voice.

  “We…kind of just obliterated it with laser cannons, Vos,” said Anakin. “Not a whole lot left that would be of any use to us.”

  “Not to you,” Vos said, “but maybe I can get some answers.”

  A few moments later, they and the clones were on the ground. “Commander Cody,” Obi-Wan ordered, “have your squadron break down into teams and do some scouting. This place looks empty, but it may not be.”

  “Yes, sir,” Cody said. Over his shoulder he shouted, “Come on, you lot, you heard the general.” He began giving instructions.

  “Well,” said Kenobi, “as Anakin pointed out, the tower itself is demolished at this point. Let’s see if we can find some barracks that are still somewhat intact.”

  The three Jedi leapt easily over the major chunks of rubble blocking the path to the station’s operations center and living quarters. As they stepped carefully amid the debris, Anakin said, “While I’m always pleased to not see bodies, I kinda miss the droid parts.”

  Vos picked up a small chunk of blasted console and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he opened them, looking irritated.

  “This is useless,” he said. “It’s all been too damaged, and too many people have touched it. We need something more personal and mostly intact.”

  “I’m guessing the living quarters are located belowground,” Kenobi said. He tapped his bracer to activate his comlink. “Commander? Have any of your squad members located another entrance?”

  “Yes, sir, we did indeed.” Cody gave them the coordinates. The entrance was several meters from the tower, well hidden by the boulders that were a common feature in the area. A quick scan revealed that the structural integrity of the tunnels was still intact. The Jedi activated their lightsabers as a precaution against any possible remaining droids, illuminating the metal corridors with soft blue-green radiance. A series of doors lined the path. At each one, they cut their way in and peered about.

  “Storage,” said Kenobi. Most of the rooms were bare, save for the occasional small piece of equipment or an empty crate. “This place looks like it could have been abandoned for years.”

  “No.” Vos bent over and picked up a curved piece of metal. “This is a repair part for a B3. Whatever happened here, it’s recent.” After a time, the path sloped upward and they came to a sealed metal door. Kenobi cut through it, and the three Jedi emerged into an area that had six beds and very little else.

  “Well,” Anakin said, “I think this is the best we’re going to find. Can you get anything off a bedpost, Vos?”

  “I’ve got something better,” Vos replied. Grinning, he held up a comb. “Nothing too exciting, but it’ll do.” He wrapped his fingers around the item, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.

  “That’s it?” Anakin asked.

  “That’s it,” Vos said. He looked annoyed. “They bugged out about two weeks ago. Dooku wasn’t about to take chances that I’d lead you here, and sent orders to abandon the post.”

  “I don’t suppose someone happened to mention where the new post would be located?”

  Vos shook his head. “I think anything useful went up with the tower. Important orders wouldn’t be discussed in the barracks. I can try everything here, if you’d like.”

  Kenobi clapped his friend on the back. “Don’t worry, Vos. This was bound to happen.”

  Vos’s shook his head, still irritated. “Well, it means that pretty much any information I learned while I was…with Dooku is now moot.”

  “Hey—we’ve got you back,” Anakin said. “That’s more important.”

  Kenobi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I wonder,” he said, “if that’s all that’s going on here.”

  “What do you mean?” Vos asked.

  “Well, it does make sense that Dooku would change things up a bit. Anything you knew could indeed be used against him. But it does seem strange that this has happened twice in a row. I can’t help but wonder if we might have a leak.”

  Vos frowned. “A leak? You think there’s someone feeding the Separatists information?”

  “I wouldn’t say that’s too far out of the realm of possibility,” Anakin said. “It’s happened before, unfortunately. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it back at the Temple. Master Yoda will know what to do.”

  “It’s certainly an unsettling thought,” Kenobi said. “We have to hope that this is simple coincidence. Anything else you can get from the comb?” he asked Vos.

  “Well,” Vos replied, “its owner used to flex in the mirror when he thought no one was watching.”

  Kenobi requested a private audience with the two people he could absolutely trust—Yoda and Mace Windu. He outlined the circumstances of both missions and put forth his concerns. “There’s nothing that decisively points to a leak,” he finished. “It could be coincidence, or a simple and predictable result of Vos turning his back on Dooku.”

  “Examine everything, we must,” Yoda said. “Correct to bring this to us, you were, Obi-Wan.”

  “This doesn’t feel right to me,” Windu said. “I think there’s more going on here than coincidence.” He grimaced. “I think there’s a chance that Vos isn’t fully rehabilitated. I did express my concern that we might be putting him back in the field too quickly.”

  “Vos?” Kenobi exclaimed. “With respect, Master Windu, I think you may be jumping to some rather unfounded conclusions. I’ve seen or felt nothing that indicated that, and I’ve known him well for years.”

  “With respect, Master Kenobi,” Windu snapped, “it’s precisely because you’ve known him so long that I worry your judgment is clouded by your friendship.”

  “I saw firsthand what Dooku did to him,” Kenobi said, bridling slightly. “Don’t you think I was alert for any signs?”

  “Let’s look at the facts. Nothing like this has happened for quite some time until his very first mission directly against the Separatists, when suddenly a tremendous amount of valuable supplies blow up.”

  “It’s a logical thing for the Separatists to have done,” Kenobi pointed out.

  “Saved your lives, Vos did, with his warning,” Yoda added. “Escape in time, he himself almost did not.” Kenobi nodded his thanks to Yoda.

  “All that is true,” Windu agreed. “What is also true is that Vos was the one who, very conveniently, spotted the bombs. Today we attack a Separatist listening post to discover that it’s been abandoned. And the only one who can tell us exactly why those orders were issued happens to be…Quinlan Vos.”

  “Come now, Mace,” Kenobi protested. “This is all a bit far-fetched and overly dramatic, don’t you think? If Vos is indeed a traitor, why is he not leading us into ambushes? He could destroy thousands of the ‘enemy’ at one go.”

  “So obvious, a well-positioned traitor would not be,” Yoda said thoughtfu
lly. “Too much attention, it would draw.”

  Kenobi turned to Yoda, his heart sinking. “You, too, Master Yoda? We need proof! We can’t call a man a traitor just because we don’t like what we’re seeing!”

  “Speaks the truth, Master Kenobi does,” Yoda said. “Evidence, we must find.”

  “Now I wish we had looked harder at the listening post debris,” Kenobi said.

  “Why?” Windu asked. “If Vos is indeed a traitor, he will make sure that anything you find corroborates what he wants us to think.”

  “Return to that site, we could,” Yoda said. “But eyes we have on another one already.”

  “The asteroid,” said Kenobi. “I’ve been checking in with Desh, but thus far he’s reported nothing out of the ordinary.” With some trepidation, he activated his holocomm, and a small image of Desh appeared.

  “Master Kenobi.” Desh bowed slightly, adding hopefully, “I don’t suppose you’re reassigning me?”

  “We need you right where you are, Desh,” Kenobi said. “I’m with Master Yoda and Master Windu in the Council Chamber. What I’m about to tell you must remain confidential.”

  “Of course,” Desh replied, though his ears twitched in concern.

  “It’s possible—even likely—that we have a leak.”

  “A leak? Not a Jedi?” Desh’s ears flattened.

  “A Jedi,” Kenobi confirmed, adding, “or another party who is privy to sensitive information. We’re gathering evidence at the moment. Have you run across anything unusual in your sorting through the debris?”

  Kenobi’s heart sank at Desh’s hesitation. “Well, sir, now that you mention it, there was something,” Desh said. “We didn’t think much of it at the time.”

  Kenobi looked at his fellow Masters bleakly as he asked, “What is it?”

  “There were some Republic-made items among the debris. It’s not unknown for Separatists to use whatever they can find. But…we’re pretty sure that the bombs were not Confederacy-issue, which means they got their hands on some of ours.”

  Kenobi felt the blood draining from his face.

  “And you didn’t see fit to report this?” snapped Windu. Yoda lifted a calming hand.

  “My apologies, Master Windu,” said Desh. “As I say—this happens in war. We do it, too. A blaster’s a blaster and a bomb’s a bomb, after all. One is the same as another.”

  Except when it isn’t, Kenobi thought, sickened. “Thank you, Desh. We’ll be in touch.”

  “So,” Windu said. “Now we know. Vos planted those bombs!”

  “We don’t know anything yet,” Kenobi retorted. “If we’re going to brand a man a traitor and destroy his life, it must hinge on what we can prove!”

  “Correct, Master Kenobi is,” Yoda said solemnly. “Another line of inquiry, I alone will pursue. But if proof we find…a painful task, we will have before us.”

  —

  When, two days later, Obi-Wan received a summons to Yoda’s private quarters, he steeled himself to not give in to either hope or despair. He mentally repeated the Jedi Code to calm himself:

  There is no emotion, there is peace.

  There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

  There is no passion, there is serenity.

  There is no chaos, there is harmony.

  There is no death, there is the Force.

  It helped. He was in control of his emotions by the time he reached Yoda’s door and entered. Yoda was, as usual, seated by the fountain crafted of singing stones. The familiar scents of the heated oils teased Kenobi’s nostrils as he sank down beside his old Master.

  “You summoned me, Master Yoda?” he asked quietly. “Is this regarding Quinlan? Is…is there news?”

  Yoda had not been meditating, but he had been regarding the fountain’s flow. Now he turned to Kenobi. He did not need to say anything further. The answer was in his wonderful, warm eyes, now filled with sorrow and a deep compassion.

  “Oh, no,” Kenobi breathed.

  Gently, Yoda reached and placed a small hand on Kenobi’s. “Vos, saw I today. Acknowledged his aid through his unique skill, I did. Touched I his hand, through which flows the Force. Able at times, I am, to see that which is hidden. The Force was with me this day. The truth to me has been granted. Taken by the dark side, Quinlan Vos has been, though conceal it well, he does.” Yoda hesitated. “Lost to us, I fear he is.”

  Kenobi sagged. “She was right,” he whispered, thinking of Ventress; of her grief and pain, of her determination to “free” Vos. How blind they had been, all of them—except for her. Asajj Ventress, she who had danced so long with the dark side, had been the only one to recognize it when it contaminated one Kenobi now believed she had truly loved. “She was right all along.”

  “Dull the senses, attachment does, but open the eyes, betrayal can,” Yoda continued, his voice still so very kind, so understanding. “Open now, they are, and act, we must.”

  A few moments later an emergency meeting was quietly convened. Yoda, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Plo Koon, and Ki-Adi-Mundi—all the Council members who were on site—assembled in the Council Chamber. Kenobi found himself too restless to sit; he chose to stand, looking out the vast windows as the business of Coruscant swirled past. Although he knew he must appear distracted, he listened intently to the conversation.

  Yoda went over everything they knew: How long Vos had been in Dooku’s power. That Ventress had claimed he had fallen to the dark side. That Republic-crafted bombs, small enough to be hidden in the voluminous robes of a Jedi and “discovered” by Vos, had destroyed the supply base on the asteroid. That a key listening outpost had been abandoned, and that the only information as to why was, again, discovered by Vos in a way that only he could verify.

  “In his heart, darkness I found,” Yoda said sadly. “Deep, secret, powerful. The history of items, does the Force permit Vos to understand. The history of a soul, does the Force permit me to understand. Unacceptable in a court of law, it is, but of lying, no Jedi will accuse me.” The comment was so inarguably true that no one felt the need to voice agreement. Taken with everything else, Yoda’s statement painted a damning picture. “Meet now, we do, to discuss his punishment.”

  “If he has been in communication with Dooku this entire time,” Ki-Adi-Mundi said, “then we must assume that Dooku knows everything Vos does. And that is, unfortunately, a very great deal.”

  Kenobi closed his eyes briefly. There is no emotion…

  “This is by far the greatest breach of trust the Jedi have seen since Count Dooku himself betrayed us,” Mace sad. “Even General Krell’s deception did less damage. Vos isn’t just a Jedi, he’s a Jedi Master with unique skills. And he is a Jedi Master in wartime who has worked side by side with Dooku. This is going to have massive repercussions.”

  “We all appreciate how serious this is, Master Windu,” Kenobi said, a touch sharply.

  “Do you, Master Kenobi? For my part, I think we need to seriously entertain the possibility of execution.”

  “What?” Kenobi turned to stare at him, aghast.

  Ki-Adi-Mundi nodded. “I agree,” he said, his voice solemn. “Many lives will be lost because of what Quinlan Vos has done. Yet again, the Order has been shaken to its core at a time when we can ill afford anything but solidarity and faith in one another. We weathered a storm such as this poorly with the treachery of Barriss Offee. None of us could have imagined such a seemingly ideal Padawan turning into a Separatist terrorist. Now that it has happened again, it must be dealt with in the firmest manner possible.”

  “Execution?” Utterly disbelieving, Kenobi looked from one face to the next, finding only cold resolution. “You can’t be serious!”

  “Can’t we?” Mace said flatly.

  Kenobi turned to Yoda. In the Jedi Master’s wrinkled face, Obi-Wan did not see the same merciless expression the others shared. Even so, Yoda was not dismissing the idea. He looked at Kenobi for a long moment before saying, with reluctance, “Everything, we must consider.”
/>
  “But…but this is madness!” Kenobi protested. “We are not Sith—we do not deal in absolutes. And few things are more absolute than death. An eye for an eye isn’t our way. Nothing that Vos has done has cost lives!”

  “That we know of. We still don’t know what he was responsible for as Dooku’s ‘Admiral Enigma.’ But going forward, it will cost lives.” Windu was relentless. “Once Dooku realizes that we’re on to Vos, he’ll stop holding back. He’ll exploit every bit of knowledge that traitor has given him. We’ll be seeing more than our share of ambushes and destruction, Kenobi, and all of it can be placed at the feet of Quinlan Vos!”

  “But don’t you see?” Kenobi pleaded. “He’s as much a victim as anyone! You know what Dooku did to him. The man was tortured, forced to the dark side! He can’t be held completely responsible for what he’s done.”

  “Others have fought the sway of the count—and won,” Mace said. “Even your friend Ventress.”

  “What else would you suggest?” Plo Koon said.

  Kenobi didn’t know. He was so shocked by the turn of the discussion it was hard to gather his thoughts. He took a deep breath. “We could banish him. Send him to the Outer Rim. Maybe even beyond.” Even as he spoke the words, he realized how impossible such a solution was.

  “With all due respect, Master Kenobi,” Ki-Adi-Mundi said, not unkindly, “we are dealing with a highly trained Jedi Master who has turned to the dark side. Because of his actions, albeit indirectly, thousands will die to appease his Sith Master’s thirst for bloodshed. Coming back from such a dark place is difficult, even for the strongest of Jedi. He is too dangerous to be unleashed upon the galaxy.”

  “Imprisoned, then,” Kenobi tried desperately.

  “He has fallen to the dark side,” Mace said, as if trying to explain something to a youngling. “He will be looking to escape—and Dooku will be looking to get him back. How long do you think we could hold him?”

  Come on, Kenobi, think… “What if he’s given the chance to turn on Dooku?”