'Will do. Thank you, good friends,' Clee Rhara said warmly to Qui-Gon and Tahl. She had always had a sunny nature, eager to look at the bright side of things. 'We can continue the program now.'
'But you don't know who your enemy is,' Tahl told her.
'That worries me, it's true,' Clee said. 'But I'm glad to have my base back. All this suspicion was tiring.'
'Yes, mistrust takes energy better spent on other things,' Tahl remarked.
'Sir Tahl!' The singsong voice of Tahl's personal navigation droid, TooJay, echoed through the hangar. 'You left without me this morning! Look at all the obstacles in this hangar. There is a fusion cutter by your left foot.'
Tahl closed her eyes in exasperation. Usually, TooJay's fussing amused Qui-Gon. But he saw that Tahl was close to the edge now. She had had enough protection for one day.
'Tahl is fine, TooJay,' he said quickly.
'Qui-Gon Jinn, hello,' TooJay said. 'I haven't seen you since I was reprogrammed. Lucky for me they left my memory cells intact.'
Qui-Gon stopped. For a moment, he screened out his friends and the chattering droid. He was missing something. What was it that TooJay said to trigger it?
First Tahl and Clee talked of mistrust. Then TooJay had mentioned her reprogramming…
Xanatos had placed a surveillance device in TooJay. They had not known that the droid was busy transmitting their conversations to their enemy. They knew a spy was in the Temple, and Obi-Wan had suggested that Tahl could have been the one. But even though it made logical sense, Qui-Gon had never mistrusted her.
Xanatos had never been able to trust anyone. That was his downfall.
So why would he have trusted Bruck? He remembered the feel of Bruck's lightsaber hilt, the worn quality of the carving, the small nick he had felt in the handle. It had touched him at the time, remembering the boy who had spent long hours carving it.
Everything came together then, and he knew how he could turn the tide in Obi-Wan's favor.
He hated to leave Tahl with things unsettled between them. But his Padawan needed him now.
Chapter 9
Obi-Wan had thought he was prepared for this. He had gone over what had happened with Bruck so many times he felt certain he could give the account smoothly. He even hoped that Vox and Kad Chun would be swayed. They would realize that the painful truth was that Bruck had chosen a dark path.
But it had not turned out that way.
From the moment he sat facing the Senators and tried to tell his story, Sano Sauro had battered him with questions. He had twisted his words. He had made him repeat himself, and if Obi-Wan made the slightest change, he pounced.
Somewhere Sano Sauro had heard that Obi-Wan and Bruck were rivals. Or perhaps he just asked the question, hoping to get an affirmative answer.
'We do not think of rivals at theTemple,' Obi-Wan said. 'There are certain activities that a few are especially good at. We honor that. Everyone has a special skill. Cooperation is the basis of our order.'
'Isn't it true that once you fought a match that was not sanctioned by your teachers? That Bruck beat you badly and you had to hide your wounds?'
Obi-Wan looked at him, startled. How did Sano Sauro know that? The only thing he could think of was that Bruck had told Xanatos, and Xanatos had told Vox Chun. 'Bruck did not beat me,' he said, his eyes flashing. 'The fight was a draw.'
'So you say.' Sano Sauro gave a chilling smile. 'But you did fight.'
'Bruck wanted to be Qui-Gon Jinn's Padawan. He tried to prevent me from that honor,' Obi-Wan said.
Sano Sauro attacked. 'So you resented him for that.'
Obi-Wan had to tell the truth. 'Yes,' he said reluctantly. 'At the time, I did.'
'So Bruck Chun confessed to his Jedi leaders that he'd fought, and you tried to hide it.'
Obi-Wan struggled for a moment to come up with the right answer to that question. It was true that a wounded Bruck had gone straight to the med center, but it was only to get Obi-Wan in trouble. Obi-Wan had treated his own wounds himself.
'Is that true or not?' Sano Sauro pressed.
'It is true,' Obi-Wan said. 'But-'
Sano Sauro twirled around and walked back to his table. 'And this was the boy you say was not a rival.' He threw a glance at the Senators. Senator Bicon Ransa gave a small nod.
'I did not say that, exactly,' Obi-Wan said in a low tone.
'Yes, you tried very hard not to,' Sano Sauro replied lightly, with another eloquent glance at the Senators. 'But let us move on before we get further snared in Jedi logic. Is it true that you once left the Jedi order?'
Bant threw Obi-Wan a shocked look. Obi-Wanwas just as stunned. But why should he be? Obviously Xanatos had pumped Bruck for information, gathering all he could about Qui-Gon and his Padawan. And Xanatos had told Vox.
'Yes,' he said in a clear voice.
