[Jedi Apprentice] - 12(4)

Tahl’s sightless green-and-gold striped eyes were filled

with frustration. She shook her head, her lips tightening. “I’ve got every contact working, Obi-Wan,” she told him. “Giett has returned from his long mission and is back on the Council, so Ki-Adi-Mundi is helping with the galactic search. We could not ask for a better analyst.”

Obi-Wan nodded. Ki-Adi-Mundi had stood in for Giett on the Jedi Council for a time. With his binary brain, he was able to sift through an extraordinary amount of information and analyze it.

“We don’t have anything on the bounty hunter,” Tahl continued. “She has no known friends or comrades. Those who have hired her refuse to talk, even to us. They’re scared of retaliation. But we’re working on it.”

“What about Jenna Zan Arbor’s datapad?” Obi-Wan asked. “There must be something on it that somebody wants.”

“We can’t crack the code,” Tahl said. “Most scientists encode their data - it doesn’t mean that she is connected to the bounty hunter or Qui-Gon’s disappearance. But just in case, we don’t want to alert her that we’re on her trail. We have to explore all options until we find the right way to proceed. I won’t rest until we find him, Obi-Wan.”

“I know,” Obi-Wan told her. Tahl was just as close to Qui-Gon. They had gone through Temple training together.

“Teams we have all over the Duneeden system, Obi-Wan,” Yoda told him. “Find we will a trace of the bounty hunter’s ship.”

“We know the ship was equipped with a hyperdrive,” Tahl said worriedly. “There’s a good chance she didn’t remain in the Duneeden system at all. But we’re going to check out every lead.”

“News I have of one Jedi team,” Yoda told them. “Dispatched they were to Zan Arbor’s lab on her home planet of Ventrux. Find we did that the lab has been closed down. Dismissed the workers were, and paid off.”

A spark lit Tahl’s eyes. “Well, at least that’s something. Jenna Zan Arbor has to be involved. We’ve got to crack that code!”

Yoda nodded. “Think we do that she has another base of operations,” he said. “Searching for it, we are.” He turned to Obi-Wan. “A difficult time for calm it is. Yet calm you must find. When news comes, go with a steady heart you must. Direction you need. Direction we will find.”

Obi-Wan’s heart was far from steady. But Yoda was right. He must be resolute, and resolution only came with calm.

The door to the inner chamber slid open. Winna came forward quickly.

“Didi’s infection has been identified. The blaster fire must have been tainted with a solution to trigger infection.”

“Do you have a cure?” Obi-Wan asked.

Winna nodded. “The treatment has been discovered. It is an antitoxin. But I have bad news. The lab that sells it has been shut down. There are no stockpiles that we can find. This lab was the only source in the galaxy.”

Obi-Wan glanced at Tahl. By the look on her face, he knew she was thinking the same thing. Yoda nodded slowly.

“What’s the name of the lab?” Obi-Wan asked. “Arbor Industries,” Winna replied.

It was the answer Obi-Wan had expected to hear.





CHAPTER 3


He was getting weaker, not stronger. Qui-Gon felt his body float. He wanted to give himself up to the sensation, bob in the oddly pleasant vapor, let it lull him into long sleeps. Even in his worst illness, he had never felt so weak.

Was she doing something to keep him weak? Blood was extracted regularly, but that still did not account for his fatigue.

Isolated from the world, from other living creatures, he knew the Force still worked around him. He closed his eyes and reached out to it. He would gather it around him like a shield. Qui-Gon felt the Force move inside the chamber. He concentrated harder…

Through the veil of vapor, indicator lights outside his chamber glowed. Dimly, he heard a sensor ring shrilly and the sound of hurrying footsteps. Then Zan Arbor’s amplified voice again:

“You just accessed the Force. Good. Don’t be afraid to do so.”

“How did you know?” Qui-Gon asked. The question was out of his mouth before he had a chance to think. His surprise had triggered it.

“I am monitoring your body functions. When you access the Force, your body temperature drops. Your heartbeat slows. So strange. Once I thought the Force would have the opposite effect. But it works mysteriously. That’s why it is so interesting to study.”

So she was studying the Force. Qui-Gon turned this new fact over in his mind. The Force could not be measured or manufactured. But if a scientist of Jenna Zan Arbor’s brilliance was studying it, it was possible she could discover things she should not know. He must not underestimate her intelligence.