belt. He had no choice. Not yet. He had to figure out how to escape. Guerra said that no one had ever done it. But a Jedi had never been here before. He hoped.
Obi-Wan cleared his mind. He pushed away his fear and despair. He focused on the collar around his neck. Surely he could use the Force to override the device.
He concentrated hard, bringing the Force around him to bear on the collar. He used every ounce of his training and discipline.
But the collar still hummed with its electro-charge.
He was too weak perhaps. He would have to bide his time.
If he survived…
As he returned to the deck, he saw a guard viciously stun a miner who had stumbled. How could he survive this?
Play along for now, you will.
The word came to him clearly. Yoda's words. Just hearing the tones of the Jedi Master pushed the despair away and gave him courage.
Obi-Wan lifted his head. He was a Jedi. He would play along. And he would survive.
Chapter 12
'We have one last mission,' was all Yoda would allow Qui-Gon to say to Xanatos. 'And then you will become a Jedi Knight…'
Si Treemba knew nothing. Clat'Ha told Qui-Gon that one minute Si Treemba had been asleep and the next, he woke up to find Offworld guards hustling Obi-Wan away. Obi-wan had been unconscious. Qui-Gon's heart twisted at this news.
Si Treemba had not seen anyone resembling Xanatos. Still, Qui-Gon knew he had to be involved. He had been away from Bandor. Surely that was no coincidence. He'd heard from SonTag that Xanatos had since returned.
Yoda had told him not to confront Xanatos directly. But that was before he knew that Obi-Wan had been kidnapped. The rules of the game had changed.
Of course, he should contact Yoda with an update and await instructions from the Council. But he wouldn't. He was tired of being played with. This wasn't just a game. Xanatos was taunting him, daring him to risk open confrontation, and now he had involved the boy.
As an apprentice, Xanatos' chief failing had been overconfidence. Qui-Gon hoped it still was.
Qui-Gon knew that Xanatos was overseeing the operation of Offworld's largest azurite mine on the outskirts of Bandor. He waited until dusk.
He watched Xanatos leave the small cramped administration building that served the mine and the adjoining smelting plant. The shifts had just changed, and the area was clear of miners. All the administrative workers had left. Just as Qui-Gon had hoped.
Slag piles rose around the yard. Offworld never bothered to keep the mining area clean of debris. The sky was dark gray fading to black. Yet the lights had not been turned on in the yard, probably to save money. Anyone arriving late for a shift would have to feel their way to the mine.
Qui-Gon waited until Xanatos had crossed the yard. Then he moved from the shadows of the slag pile into Xanatos' path.
Xanatos stopped. There was no surprise on his face. He wouldn't allow himself to show it, not even in a deserted yard at near dark when his oldest enemy appeared out of nowhere.
Qui-Gon expected no less. 'If you have plans for Bandomeer, you should know I am here to stop you,' he said.
Xanatos flung one side of his cloak behind him. His hand rested casually on the hilt of a lightsaber. Xanatos had broken a solemn rule by leaving the Jedi and retaining it.
Xanatos patted the lightsaber. 'Yes, I still have it. After all, I trained for all those years. Why should I give it up like a thief, when I deserve to carry it?'
'Because you deserve it no longer,' Qui-Gon answered. 'You shame it.'
A flush spread over Xanatos' face. Qui-Gon's comment had hit its mark. Then he relaxed, smiling. 'I see you are still a hard man, Qui-Gon. Once that bothered me. Now it amuses me.'
Xanatos began to circle around him. 'We were friends at the end, more than Master and apprentice.'
'Yes,' Qui-Gon said, tracking him, moving with him. 'We were.'
'All the more reason for you to betray me. To you, friendship is nothing. You enjoyed my suffering.'
'The betrayal was yours. As was the enjoyment of suffering. That is what you discovered on Telos. Yoda had already seen it. And that is why he knew you would fail.'
'Yoda!' Xanatos spat the word. 'That knee-high troll! He thinks he has power. He hasn't dreamed of a tenth of the power I know!'
'You know?' Qui-Gon asked mildly. 'How do you know such power, Xanatos? A mid-level manger of a corporation, sent to do the board's bidding?'
'I do no one's bidding but my own.'
'Is that why you're here? Is Bandomeer a your of your abilities?'
