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.
'Ewane ruled for five years as Supreme Governor and was reelected,'
Tahl went on. 'Shortly after this, he was murdered.'
Qui-Gon closed his eyes in a moment of remembrance. Tall, elegant Ewane had been frail from his years of captivity, but his inner strength had given him an aura of nobility. His sense of loyalty and purpose had made him an ideal leader. He had been committed to bringing justice, not punishment, to his former enemies. How sad that he hadn't been given a chance to fulfill his great promise.
'His successor is his close associate, Roan, who was one of the few Civilized who called early on for social change. Roan was admired by most of the population at one time, but now many among the Workers believe he backed Ewane's killers and took the office in a coup. The planet has plunged into instability once again. Ewane's daughters, Alani and Eritha, are now sixteen. They are in hiding and fear for their lives. They have appealed to me for help. They want safe passage to Coruscant. I must go to New Apsolon and escort them.'
'A worthy mission,' Mace Windu said. 'Of course the girls must be rescued.'
'Sad it is that the planet is plunged into chaos once more,' Yoda said. 'Ask for our help the government itself does not, however. Therefore unofficial, your mission is.'
'I owe the girls my loyalty,' Tahl said. 'I must go.'
Qui-Gon was not surprised at Tahl's determination. She had formed a close bond with the young twins. They had been the cause of a serious disagreement between the two Jedi. Once the elections were held and Ewane had been elected, Qui-Gon had been ready to leave the planet. Tahl had been concerned about Ewane and
