"And those who kill but have no reason?"
"They are the ones to worry about. Now, Padawan, we should — "
Suddenly, Qui-Gon stopped short. He closed his eyes.
Obi-Wan waited. Something had disturbed his Master. He could see it as well as feel it. Qui-Gon seemed to weave for a moment, as if rocked by something deep inside.
When he opened his eyes, Obi-Wan could not read his clouded expression, but he could sense Qui-Gon was troubled.
"What did you see?" he asked.
Qui-Gon's lips pressed together. "It is dangerous to interpret visions," he said curtly. "We must return to Coruscant immediately."
Chapter 2
Immediately took too long to suit Qui-Gon. It had taken them another three days to get to the transport. Time and again Qui-Gon had meditated for patience, but he could not find it. He knew he was pushing Obi-Wan, but it was not to teach his Padawan endurance. It was because of his own anxiety.
The vision had come without warning. One moment he was hiking down the trail, and the next Tahl had appeared before him. She had been in great distress.
On this trip Tahl had been so often in his thoughts. Was this the reason? Did Tahl need him? Or did his own thoughts summon the vision?
The pilot pushed the transport to its fastest speed. It was another seven-hour journey to Coruscant. Each minute seemed to tick by in crisp eternities.
Obi-Wan was silent during the journey. They had come to understand each other over the years. Obi-Wan knew when Qui-Gon needed silence.
Qui-Gon didn't know why the disturbing vision of Tahl had appeared.
He only knew that he had to get back to the Temple and make sure she was safe.
At last they entered the atmosphere of Coruscant. The tall spires of the multilevel city came into view. Qui-Gon swung the craft into the fastest lane, cutting off a larger transport. Obi-Wan looked at him, startled, but Qui-Gon merely pushed the engines to go faster.
He landed the craft and activated the ramp.
He stood, but for the first time in four days he hesitated before moving.
"I'm sorry for my haste, Obi-Wan. I'll explain one day." When I understand this myself.
He didn't give his Padawan a chance to reply, but turned and hurried down the ramp. He would leave Obi-Wan the chore of arrival procedures.
He strode through the door and stopped at the security checkpoint, where Jedi Knight Cal-i-Vaun was stationed.
"I need to find Jedi Knight Tahl," Qui-Gon said.
Cal-i-Vaun quickly touched the screen in front of him. "She is not in her quarters. One moment." He touched another point on the screen. "She is not answering her comlink."
"Thank you." Even the simple courtesy cost him an effort to remember.
"Is she here at the Temple?" he barked.
"Yes, I show no record of departure."
Qui-Gon's fingers drummed on the desk. He did not have the patience to search the Temple. There were only a few places Tahl could be where she would turn off her comlink. She was either meditating or swimming in the lake or…
Or in the Jedi Council Room.
Qui-Gon hurried to the turbolift and took it straight to the Council Room. The doors were closed. The Council was in session. Qui-Gon broke a revered Temple rule and accessed the doors without requesting entrance. He strode in.
Tahl stood in the middle of the circle. She turned at the sound of the opening door. Even without her sight she knew his presence immediately.
Qui-Gon was so glad to see her he did not mind her frown.
Yoda blinked at him impassively, but Mace Windu's eyebrows lowered.
"To what do we owe this… intrusion, Qui-Gon?" Mace Windu asked.
"I apologize to all the Jedi Masters," Qui-Gon said, bowing. "I knew Tahl was here, and I felt I had to be present."
To his surprise, Mace Windu nodded, as though Qui-Gon's reason was logical.
"We will allow you to remain, seeing that you have a connection to this mission," he said. "We would have requested your presence had we known you had returned."
Qui-Gon hid his surprise. Tahl clasped her hands in front of her for a moment. Beneath the folds of her long robe, he saw her long fingers clench and unclench. She was not happy he had interfered, that was clear.
Her voice was calm when she spoke, however. "I will resume the briefing," she said, angling her body slightly so that Qui-Gon was now slightly behind her. It effectively demonstrated to the Masters her desire to remain the focus of the meeting. "I received a distress call this morning from the twin sisters Alani and Eritha from the planet New Apsolon.
" Now Qui-Gon understood Mace Windu's reaction to his presence. Years ago, Tahl and Qui-Gon had been sent on a mission to Apsolon. They had been sent as Jedi observers to ensure a peaceful transition of government.
"Let me review my last mission there," Tahl said. "Apsolon used to have a totalitarian government ruling over a civilization split between a prosperous minority called the Civilized and a majority called the Workers.
The Workers lived in a separate sector of the city in poor housing and had to pass through checkpoints at an energy wall to travel to work. The Civilized kept control through a feared and hated secret police, called the Absolutes. As no doubt members of the Council are aware, Apsolon is a center of the high-tech industry. The Workers tried to achieve what they called a 'bloodless revolution' through a campaign of industrial sabotage.
The civil war was conducted with some violence, but nowhere near as bad as we have seen on other worlds. Mostly the violence came from the Absolutes as they tried to stop the sabotage and demonstrations. But the Workers were not stopped. The economic pressures forced the government to call for free elections and give each Worker a vote. As a result, a Worker leader who had been a hero to the people, Ewane, was elected. Apsolon was renamed New Apsolon to symbolize this new direction."
Qui-Gon remembered Ewane well, as well as his two daughters. Ewane had been imprisoned for many years. The girls' mother had died when they were young, so they had been raised by his supporters. They had been pretty, quiet girls who had looked at Tahl with awe and brought out a tenderness in Tahl he had rarely seen.