"Interesting," she murmured. "It seems that the sea has shown no signs of raging in the last hundred years. In fact, the opposite seems to occur. Every ten years, when the planet's two moons sync up, the sea experiences a spectacularly low tide."
"I see," said Qui-Gon, filing away this information.
"That's not all," Jocasta said. "What's particularly fascinating is that the planet's moons will be syncing up the day after tomorrow."
"Interesting timing," Qui-Gon agreed. It seemed obvious enough that Lundi's trip to Kodai at this particular moment and his search for mining equipment were not coincidences. But he was still not clear about why it had been so difficult to find a pilot to take them to Kodai.
Jocasta was quiet for several long moments while Qui-Gon digested this information. When she did not end the transmission, Qui-Gon guessed that she had more to tell him.
"Is there something else?" he finally asked.
"Yes," Jocasta replied slowly. "Another collection of Sith materials was found — this time on the planet Tynna in the Expansion Region. And a strange explosion has occurred on the peaceful planet Nubia. Nobody has come forward to take credit for the blast, but a drawing of a crude Sith Holocron had been scraped onto a duracrete wall outside the ruined building."
Qui-Gon closed his eyes for a moment. The discovery of the additional stash was not surprising. But an explosion was something new — something deadly. The situation was heating up, and he felt a great deal of pressure to defuse it.
"Thank you for the information," Qui-Gon told Jocasta. "We will be in touch if we need anything further."
"Of course, Qui-Gon. I will be here if you need me."
As Jocasta switched off her comlink, Qui-Gon felt a pang of sorrow.
He wished that those parting words had been spoken by the woman at the Temple who had helped him with research in the past — Tahl. Qui-Gon had been deeply in love with Tahl, and though she had been killed several months ago, her absence still felt like a blade in his chest.
Qui-Gon put away his comlink and sat down on the floor to meditate until the path was clear. He was just beginning to feel his body relax when Obi-Wan rushed into the hold.
"Master!" he shouted, alarmed. "There's a bomb on board!"
Chapter 9
Qui-Gon was on his feet in an instant. He followed his apprentice to the bridge, where the bomb had been planted underneath a low shelf. Bending down carefully, Qui-Gon examined the device. It was black and square with a simple timer on top — and a crude drawing of a Sith Holocron etched into the side.
"I suppose I should have expected something like this," Elda griped from her seat at the controls. "I just hope your famous Jedi powers can defuse that thing before it blows up my ship — and us along with it."
"I'll do my best," Qui-Gon said wryly. "Do you have a set of tools we could use?"
The pilot pointed to a small box in the corner. "You should find everything you need in there," she said.
Obi-Wan brought the tools over to his Master and crouched down beside him. "This symbol is becoming familiar," he noted. "But the device itself does not look too sophisticated."
"It should not be a problem to defuse," Qui-Gon said, casting a glance toward the captain. "But I'm not so sure about our pilot's temper."
Obi-Wan cracked a smile. Leave it to Qui-Gon to find humor in a moment like this.
Qui-Gon opened the tool kit and pulled out a long, slender pick.
After carefully inserting it into the side of the bomb casing, he slid it back and forth until he heard an audible beep. The box opened and several strands of colorful wire popped out. A timer behind the wires indicated that the bomb would go off in less than a minute.
"Not much time," Obi-Wan murmured quietly.
Qui-Gon knew his Padawan was right, and he had not expected to see so many different colored wires inside the bomb. It was a more complicated design than he'd originally thought.
Focusing his energy on the bomb, he snipped all of the red wires. But the timer did not switch off. It now read forty seconds, and was counting down.
"Perhaps it is this black wire," Obi-Wan suggested quietly.
Qui-Gon did not think this was likely. It was the only black wire, and too obvious a solution. But as he studied the wire, he sensed that there was indeed something significant about it. Still, he wasn't sure that cutting it was the right thing to do.
"Twenty seconds," Obi-Wan said.
Qui-Gon looked at the bomb more closely. One end of the black wire ran directly into the metal inside the casing. At the other end the black plasticoating ended a few millimeters before the wire touched the metal.
Underneath the missing black coating was a series of bright yellow wires.
They fanned out to form a row and slid neatly into a metal jack.
"Ten seconds."
Qui-Gon reached down and placed his thumb and forefinger on either side of the yellow wires. Closing his eyes, he twisted them away from the jack. There was a small popping sound as the wires pulled free.
The timer on the bomb continued to count down. But when it reached one second, it suddenly stopped.
"You did it, Master," Obi-Wan said, sounding relieved.
Qui-Gon opened his eyes and saw the number frozen on the timer. "With time to spare," he said wryly.
"I guess you Jedi are good for something," Elda grumped. But there was humor in her voice, and she was smiling broadly. "Thank you," she added quietly.
Qui-Gon put the tools back into the case and got to his feet. "You're welcome," he said.
Back in the hold, Qui-Gon closed his eyes and started to meditate for the second time that day. The planted bomb was something else to consider.
Was it meant to kill them, or simply throw them off guard? And who had planted it? It must have been someone who was following them closely, someone who was highly prepared. Not much time had elapsed between the Jedi arranging their travel and their subsequent takeoff.
Qui-Gon began to breathe deeply, letting his mind clear and then focus. But something was interfering with his concentration. His Padawan was pacing.