'Is that what they say?' the man asked. 'Yet here I am. What else do they say?'
'That Qui-Gon's Padawan disgraced the Jedi,' Obi-Wan said. 'And betrayed Qui-Gon.'
The man's eyes burned blue fire. 'Is that Qui-Gon's story?' Then the hard lines of his face relaxed. 'I was his Padawan. So I know what you go through every day, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I know what you wait for. His approval. His trust. But he keeps both from you. He keeps a skin of Ice around himself. The more you try to please him, the farther away he goes.'
Obi-Wan said nothing. The words seemed to have come from his own heart. At his worst moments, it was exactly what he thought.
Xanatos looked compassionately at the boy. 'Yoda praises him. The Galactic Senate depends on him. Everyone vies to be his apprentice. But he is the worst kind of Master. He denies you his trust. Yet he demands everything of you.'
Obi-wan heard the words as if he were in a trance. How true it is, he thought. Deep anger stirred, anger that lay dormant inside him. He feared his anger more than any enemy.
'I am Xanatos,' the man said. 'Did he ever mention me to you?'
Obi-Wan shook his head.
Xanatos gave a sad, rueful smile. 'No,' he said softly. 'He would not. It's up to me to tell you what he did to me. How he built me up, kept me by his side, always with the promise that I would advance. Yet, in the end, he broke every promise. It will happen to you, too, Obi-Wan.'
Could it be true? Could Qui-Gon's coolness hide the seeds of betrayal? Obi-Wan had felt the chill of Qui- Gon's reserve, but he always assumed it was because Qui-Gon hadn't accepted him. Did Qui-Gon's secrecy hide evil, or good?'
'Why are you telling me this?' Obi-Wan asked warily.
'To warn you,' Xanatos sad. 'That's why I came. You — ' He stopped suddenly. He held up a hand. 'Someone is coming,' he whispered.
Suddenly, five security officers burst in. Obi-Wan saw the red planet patch on their uniforms. Offworld! What was their security force doing in the dome?
One of the men spoke into a comlink. 'We found the thieves.' He said.
'No,' Obi-Wan said. 'We're just — '
But Xanatos had drawn his lightsaber. Obi-wan watched in surprise as Xanatos charged. Only Jedi carried such weapons. The guards drew their blasters, and Obi-Wan had no choice. In the blink of an eye, he had powered up his own lightsaber and joined the battle.
He felt the reassuring weight in his hand as he wielded the weapon, knocking a blaster from the guard's grasp. He knew Qui-Gon would not want him to kill Offworld guards. It could make a bad situation worse back in Bandor.
So he fought defensively, while Xanatos became to aggressor, spinning through the air to deliver scorching hits. But he, too, seemed reluctant to land a killing blow.
Xanatos's Jedi skills must have been rusty. He allowed himself to be maneuvered into a corner. The guards advanced with blasters drawn. Obi-Wan leaped on top of a pile of crates and threw himself into the group, arms and legs scissoring in the air. Two guards went down firing, and he felt searing pain in his shoulder. Still, he was able to kick the third guard's blaster from his hand.
The guard suddenly produced an electro-jabber. He raised it against Xanatos as Obi-Wan raced to stop him.
Obi-Wan deflected the move with his lightsaber, but the electro-jabber dealt a glancing blow against his ribs. Blinding pain shot through his body. He reached out for the Force dizzily, but someone smashed him from behind. His vision turned gray and fuzzy, and he sank to his knees.
The last think he remembered was hitting the floor.
Chapter 9
Now Qui-Gon could see his mistakes. He had been blind to Xanatos' faults. He indulged the boy. He gave without seeing. He was a failure as a Master, because he trusted his apprentice too much. He let his fondness blind him to what he should have seen all along.
After some reflection, Qui-Gon decided to ask SonTag and VeerTa if they had seen a box like the one Obi- Wan described. They had both visited the Agri-Corps Enrichment Zones many times. Perhaps there was a simple explanation for what Obi-Wan had found.
Qui-Gon described the box, and VeerTa nodded. 'I've seen a box like that.'
'So have I,' SonTag agreed, thinking. 'In the Western Enrichment zone. I was there just recently.'
'I think I saw one in the Northern Zone,' VeerTa added. 'It was with the other equipment. I'm sure it contains Agri-Corps instrument.'
It was exactly the response Qui-Gon had been hoping for. The box must not be significant. In the other zones, it had been in plain view.
So why was he worried?
Maybe because it had been placed with Offworld mining equipment. Obi-Wan couldn't have been wrong about that.
Back in his quarters, he jacked into his data pad to investigate Offworld. He was curious about what position Xanatos held. His former apprentice had been uncharacteristically silent on that subject. If he was a high official, wouldn't he have boasted of his title?
