Jedi Apprentice_ The Ties That Bind Part 4

Burned into one side was a small insignia. He crouched down to show it to Qui-Gon.

"I recognize this. Irini wore a necklace with this same emblem."

"At last," Qui-Gon said. "We have somewhere to start."

CHAPTER 8.

Dusk had fallen and the air had chilled as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan waited outside the Museum of the Absolutes. They kept their hoods over their heads and stayed in the shadow of a monument directly across from the building.

Soon they were rewarded as various people began to exit the building. They spotted Irini's compact figure immediately. She, too, raised her hood as she hurried down the broad steps and turned down the avenue.

The Jedi melted into the stream of people on the avenue, always keeping Irini in sight. She boarded a repulsorlift-engined airbus and they just managed to jump aboard on the rear platform. Luckily the airbus was crowded. All the Workers were on their way home.

The airbus made no stops as it sped through the boulevards and avenues of the Civilized Sector. It crossed into the Worker Sector and began to make regular stops. Workers exited at various points. Irini stood, her hand lightly resting on a pole, near the middle of the airbus.

She stared absently out at the dark streets.

Qui-Gon leaned in to speak to Obi-Wan. "We will have to get off soon, even if Irini doesn't. We can't take the chance that she'll see us.

We'll have to follow the airbus on foot."

It would take some hard running through the crowded streets. Obi-Wan nodded. Better to take the chance that they could lose Irini than be spotted. They knew where she worked; they could always find her again.

Just then Irini began to move toward the exit. The airbus pulled over at the next stop. Qui-Gon made sure Irini had exited before signaling Obi- Wan to jump off the rear platform.

Irini moved quickly through the streets, occasionally exchanging a smile or quick greeting as she walked. The population was busy gathering food for the evening meal, or pa.s.sing time in small cafes along the route. Mothers and fathers herded children before them, and lights began to come on in Worker housing. They could see families in the middle of their evening routines, children bending over datapads, adults preparing a meal or simply sitting at the window, watching the rest of New Apsolon find their various ways home.

The streets began to narrow, and there were fewer Workers around.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan slowed down, giving Irini a longer lead. She was beginning to use the reflections in darkened windows to look around her.

"Checking for surveillance," Qui-Gon murmured.

Irini crossed the street. With a deft touch to his elbow, Qui-Gon directed Obi-Wan to melt back. They stood in the shadows as, under the pretense of looking for traffic, Irini swept the street with her keen glance. Satisfied that it was empty, she hurried into a plain stone building. It was slated for demolition along with its partner next door.

A sign read BUILDING A BETTER FUTURE FOR ALL SITE OF NEW LUXURY WORKER HOUSING.

Qui-Gon did his own careful surveillance before starting across the street, Obi-Wan at his heels. Obi-Wan started toward the door of the building Irini had entered, but Qui-Gon stopped him. He had been studying the building next door.

"Let's try this one first," he said.

The door was bolted with a strong durasteel lock, but Obi-Wan swiped through it easily with his lightsaber. They pushed the door open and stood for a moment in the dark vestibule.

"I don't want to take a chance with the glow rod," Qui-Gon said.

"Wait a moment until your eyes adjust."

Obi-Wan didn't understand how the light of a glow rod would be visible to the next building, but he followed Qui-Gon's lead. In only moments, his eyes had adjusted to the pitch-black interior. He saw that they were in a small foyer. There had once been a datapad station here, most likely for messages and mail for the inhabitants. It had been ripped out, the console parts thrown on the floor. There was a turbolift, but no doubt it was no longer working. A staircase cluttered with debris led above.

Qui-Gon began to climb. "I saw evidence from the outside that some floors here had been enlarged into the adjoining building, probably to expand apartments," he murmured to Obi-Wan. "We might be able to get close enough to Irini to hear what's going on."

Qui-Gon stopped on the first landing, listening intently. Obi-Wan did the same, but heard nothing. They continued upward, stopping at each floor. They climbed five flights before they heard something. It was a soft murmur, nothing more. They moved toward the sound.

It was so faint that they lost its direction a few times. They stood, blocking out the slight noises of the building - the rush of night air through an opening, the skitter of dust along the floor. Then they would pick up the murmur again, and move on.

They walked through abandoned rooms and found evidence of the lives that had been lived there. Narrow sleep-couches, torn and stained. A battered pan on the floor. One boot. A palm-sized datapad that appeared to have melted into the floor. Room after room opened up into the next like a maze. Once, Obi-Wan realized, there had been too many people crowded into these too-small rooms.

Qui-Gon stopped. "We are now in the other building," he murmured to Obi-Wan. "They are very close."

Obi-Wan could feel the presence of others as well as hear them. But the sound quality was m.u.f.fled and disorienting. He paused to focus. When they moved, they moved as one. They had both discovered the source of the sound. It was behind a closet. Qui-Gon eased open the door. They saw a crack of light running from the floor to the ceiling. Squeezing inside the closet, they both put their eyes to the crack.

The room next door was lit only by a glow rod set at low power. Yet they could clearly pick out Irini, who sat in a semicircle of other men and women. They were dressed similarly in dark coveralls or tunics.

Now Irini's words came to them clearly.

"I have seen them myself, and I am telling you, they were brought by Roan," she said.

"They admitted to this?" one of the group asked.

"Why should they? They are his tool. The Jedi are sent here to ensure that the government stands. If the government stands as it is, none of the remaining Absolutes will be brought to justice. Therefore they are our enemy."

"With all respect to my fellow Worker lrini, the Jedi were neutral parties six years ago," a quiet-voiced woman said. "They supported the will of the people, whatever that might turn out to be."

"Their role was as peacekeepers only," a man chimed in. "Why are they now our enemy?"

"Because peace is not what we seek," lrini said fiercely. "Justice is. We must overthrow the murderer of Ewane."

Another woman spoke up. "We have agreed that before we plot the overthrowing of Roan we must have evidence of his guilt. We do not have this yet."

"We will," someone else said. "I think lrini is right. The Absolutes have re-formed. We know this. Every day they gain power. Roan must be behind it. And if he has sent for the Jedi, they must know it."

"What do you think, Lenz?" the quiet-voiced woman asked.

The man she addressed had not spoken, but Obi-Wan had noticed him.

He watched the others with grave, intent eyes. There was a kind of power to him, even though he was hunched over, his hands dangling in his lap.

His face was thin, thinner than lrini's. Obi-Wan did not know how he knew this, but he sensed that Lenz had suffered greatly at one time in his life, no doubt at the hands of the Absolutes.

"I have new information," Lenz said. "A new group of leaders have risen in the new Absolute order. No one knows their ident.i.ty. They are taking pains to conceal them. All we know is that these leaders are clever. Hara.s.sment of our movement has begun. Some report an increase in surveillance. We must be careful."

"What does this have to do with Jedi?" someone asked.

"Maybe nothing. Yet both might point to Roan's desperation. First, he backs new leadership within the Absolutes to keep a lid on any opposition. Then, in a show of good faith to the galaxy, he asks for Jedi help. His best interest is to keep things as they are while he consolidates his power."

Even lrini listened to Lenz with respect. "So what should we do?"

"First we should change our meeting place. Every week a new site.

Winati, you are in charge of finding a place. Mohn, you are in charge of notifying the others."

Lenz stopped abruptly and picked up his com-link. It must have vibrated, signaling an incoming communication. He listened for a moment, then clicked off.

"The Absolutes. It's a raid."

Lenz's voice held no urgency, but the group rose immediately and moved like a shadow. No one reacted, no one gasped or showed confusion.

Obviously, they had trained for this.

Winati quickly accessed a recessed door in the wall. A staircase led upward. She waited while the others hurried across the floor and disappeared inside, then slipped inside herself. The door slid shut.

"Probably goes to the roof," Qui-Gon murmured. "Let's wait and see who is raiding them."

Moments later, the door burst open. A squad of black-clothed men stood in the doorway, blasters held at their hips. The leader strode forward.

"Too late." He accessed a device on his utility belt.

"Trouble," Qui-Gon murmured, backing up.

The device was a heat sensor. It beamed on the wall they were hiding behind. The wall began to glow.

Obi-Wan scrambled backward, but the close quarters made it difficult for them to move quickly. A moment later a cutting tool swiftly sawed an opening in the wall and a boot followed. The wall splintered, and the leader stepped through.

Obi-Wan had his hand on his lightsaber hilt, but he looked quickly at his Master.

"Submit," Qui-Gon said quietly, and in moments, they were surrounded.

CHAPTER 9.

Qui-Gon allowed himself to be hustled down the stairs. Their captors said nothing, and he saw no need to volunteer any questions or comments. He was not sure if they knew that he and Obi-Wan were Jedi. He a.s.sumed that they were thought to be Workers.

In the cramped vestibule, thick strips of fabric were wound around their eyes to blindfold them. They were bound in energy manacles. Then they were pushed out the door. Qui-Gon felt himself being guided into a landspeeder. Obi-Wan was shoved next to him.

He concentrated, trying to gauge distance by calculating speed and time. He knew Obi-Wan was doing the same. The journey was short, and at the end they were roughly hauled out of the speeder and marched down a corridor. The speeder had been parked in an interior landing area.

Listening for echoes, Qui-Gon estimated its size. For a landing area of this proportion, the building would have to be fairly large.

He heard a door accessed, and he was pushed inside a smaller area.

He heard Obi-Wan stumble as he followed.

"This is where you belong, Jedi," a voice hissed.

So they knew their prisoners were Jedi. "Where are we and why are we being held? Who are you?" Qui-Gon asked.

"'None of your business' is the answer to your first question, and 'because you are enemies of the state' should answer your second. As for who we are, we are the saviors of Apsolon."

"You don't say," Qui-Gon remarked dryly. "Tell me, why are we your enemy?"

"We remember what the Jedi did six years before. Because of your interference, our true government was lost. It is up to us to recapture the glory we surrendered."

"New Apsolon did hold elections open to all - "

"We do not recognize New Apsolon, only Apsolon. And not every citizen deserves to vote."

"You are ent.i.tled to your opinion," Qui-Gon said. "Yet a government was legally elected by the laws of your world, so therefore - "

"Do you think I have time to argue with you?" The voice rose angrily.

The door slid shut.

"Well, that was an interesting conversation," Qui-Gon said. "We can see that the Absolutes are just as they appear. They are fanatics."

"Not good news for us," Obi-Wan said.

"I'm sure we'll have an interesting dialogue."

"Do you think they'll torture us?" Obi-Wan asked the question in a firm voice. He did not want Qui-Gon to think he was afraid. But when he remembered back to the different methods they had seen earlier that day, he couldn't say he felt comfortable with the notion.

"I have no idea what they are planning," Qui-Gon said.

They did not say any more. There was a good chance they were under surveillance. Qui-Gon moved closer to Obi-Wan and gently indicated his lightsaber with his fingers. It was to let his Padawan know that if torture lay ahead, they would not submit. Obi-Wan nodded.

They did not have long to wait. Less than an hour pa.s.sed before they heard the door hiss open. They were pulled outside and then pushed along for a short distance. Another door was activated. Qui-Gon felt himself shoved inside.

He did not know what lay ahead, but he had his lightsaber. His hands were still bound, but he would find a way to resist.

He was forced into a chair. A bright light was in his face. He knew his Padawan was beside him.

"Here are the Jedi."

"We can see that, brother." The voice was low and powerful, with a wry twist to the cadence that he knew well. "You may leave us."

Yes, his hands were bound. Yes, he was blindfolded. He was a prisoner with no way out that he could tell. But Qui-Gon's heart sang. He had found Tahl.