Lament Page 4

  "I'm sure we have answered all those questions," Haly Dura said impatiently.

  "Then you will answer them a second time," Tahl said, a hard edge beneath her calm tone.

  Tarrence Chenati glanced at his coworker. "Of course we will cooperate. We do not want a cloud of suspicion over our heads. We are concerned as well. We have gone over every moment of our shifts with Clee Rhara but can't understand how it could have happened."

  "This is a restricted area," Haly Dura said. "We're the only ones allowed here. That means that someone must have broken in after hours."

  Qui-Gon studied both mechanics. He concentrated on looks and gestures for clues that one might be lying, knowing that Tahl would pick up vocal clues.

  "You do all the repair work on the starfighters, correct?" Tahl asked.

  The two workers nodded, then realized Tahl could not see them.

  "Yes," they said together.

  "What about the ionization chamber?" Tahl asked.

  The last accident had taken place because of a malfunction in the ionization chamber, Qui-Gon knew.

  "The ionization chamber did not need retrofitting," Haly Dura said.

  "We ran a check on it, of course."

  "How do you do that?" Tahl asked pleasantly.

  "On the control panel. Here." Haly Dura indicated a computer panel.

  "It showed no problems."

  "The starship was cleared for flying the next day," Tarrence Chenati said. "Until then the ship was here, in the hangar, under tight surveillance."

  "Do you mind if we look around?" Qui-Gon asked.

  "Help yourself."

  The two mechanics went on with their work, soldering laser power converters. Qui-Gon and Tahl strolled through the hangar.

  "Did you pick up anything from our two friends?" Qui-Gon murmured.

  "A smell," Tahl whispered back. "It was on Tarrence Chenati but not Haly Dura. Could be nothing. It's an industrial smell, though. I have an idea. Let's come back after they've gone."

  They did not have long to wait. The two workers soon quit for the day. Clee Rhara had given the Jedi all the security codes, so they quickly slipped back inside. Qui-Gon powered up the lights. Not too long ago, he would have been leery of relying on Tahl's sense of smell for a clue. He knew better now.

  Tahl seated herself on a lowbench."Qui -Gon, bring me the different compounds they use--grease, conductors, solvents--they should be all along the east wall. There's a storage unit--I know it from the schematic of the repair sector. Bring them one at a time."

  Qui-Gon was too curious to mind being ordered. He found the storage unit. Everything was neatly labeled. Qui-Gon knew a fair amount about starship engines, but even he was surprised to see how many different kinds of grease, conductors, and solvents were used to keep a starship running.

  He started with grease. Tahl inspected the various kinds, her eyes closed in concentration. After each deep sniff, she shook her head. Some of the chemical compounds caused her to cough violently, and her eyes streamed tears, but she kept going. They had run through eleven different chemical compounds when Qui-Gon brought her something simply labeledconductor X-112 .

  Tahl took a deep sniff and let out a racking cough. She leaned over and took deep breaths of air. When she could speak, she croaked, "That's it. No wonder I could still smell it."

  Qui-Gon entered the compound into the computer to find out its uses. "It only has one function--as a conductor in the ionization chamber."

  Tahl slapped her hand on the bench. "That's what I was hoping for.

  Chenati lied. He worked on the ionization chamber. Yet they said they didn't have to."

  "And that's where the malfunction was," Qui-Gon said. "Let's go back and check out Chenati's credentials again."

  After frustrated hours of searching, Tahl and Qui-Gon had come up with nothing.

  "Everything checks out," Tahl said, sighing. "Just because I pick up a smell from the guy's coveralls doesn't mean he's a saboteur. There's probably another explanation."

  "His security checks are flawless," Qui-Gon said, looking at the information they'd amassed. "His record is incredibly clean."

  "Yet he has no family. Never married or had children," Tahl mused.

  "And he sure moved around the galaxy."

  "You could say all those things about me," Qui-Gon said.

  Tahl's lips curved in a smile. "Well, you are a suspicious character."

  It was close to dawn. Soon the pilots and Clee Rhara would awaken and the day would begin. Today all the starfighter pilots would take to the air.

  "Maybe his clearances are too good," Tahl said. "I've got one more idea." Her fingers flew over the data pad keys.

  Qui-Gon leaned over her shoulder to look. "You're doing a search of the deceased register?"

  "Just wait."

  Qui-Gon suppressed a yawn as he stared at the screen. Finally a list of information popped up. As he scanned it, the voice recorder read it out to Tahl.

  It was the same background as Tarrence Chenati. The same security clearances. The same retinal scan.

  Only this Tarrence Chenati had died twenty years before.

  CHAPTER 7

  Obi-Wan woke at dawn. He heard the soft footsteps of the Temple students heading to meditation. He knew he should go with them.

  Meditation would calm his mind for the day ahead. But he could not bear to move. He did not want this day to begin.

  The nighttime hours had seemed to stretch on endlessly. Obi-Wan had wanted to contact Qui-Gon, but he had nothing to say, just a longing for his Master's serene presence. He had looked for Bant, but she had told him she was going to sleep early and didn't want to talk. Just when he needed his friends, they disappeared.

  Obi-Wan swung his legs over his sleep-couch. Across the room, his comlink was blinking. He hurried toward it eagerly. Maybe Qui-Gon had returned and wanted to take the morning meal together. The hearing wasn't for hours yet. If he'd thought last night was endless, this morning would be even worse.

  He heard Qui-Gon's voice with joy, but disappointment flooded him within seconds.

  "Obi-Wan, I'm still on Centax 2. Something has come up and I need to stay. I should be back for the hearing."

  "Should be?" Obi-Wan couldn't keep the anxiety out of his voice.

  "You will do fine, Padawan. Speak the truth. That is all you need."

  It is not all I need! Obi-Wan wanted to cry. He needed his Master's presence.

  Qui-Gon sensed his dismay. "Tahl and I are very close to solving the problems here. The lives of Jedi pilots depend on us. I will try to make it, Obi-Wan. Now I must go."

  Qui-Gon sounded rushed. Obi-Wan said good-bye and ended the communication. He looked out at the spires of Coruscant, then above to the upper atmosphere where Centax 2 was shrouded in clouds. Tahl had gone there alone to solve the base's problems. She had made it clear that she did not welcome Qui-Gon's interference. Why had Qui-Gon made the decision to support Tahl instead of his Padawan?

  Tahl had always been more important, Obi-Wan thought bitterly. On Melida/Daan, she had been Qui-Gon's first priority. He had been anxious to get her off-planet and out of danger, even at the cost of leaving his Padawan behind. Tahl's evacuation had been more important than a civil war and a righteous cause.

  He rested his hot forehead against the cool pane. He knew his thoughts were petty. He knew that his guilt about Bruck was tearing him up inside.

  Bant. Bant would help him. She always had a way of seeing things clearly, yet never making him feel stupid for having the thoughts he did.

  He went to her quarters, but she had already left. Obi-Wan searched for her in the meditation rooms and the dining hall, where students were beginning to gather. There was no sign of her. No one had seen her that morning.

  Obi-Wan decided to go down to the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

  Maybe he could calm his fevered thoughts there and prepare for the ordeal ahead.

  The coolness of the air hit him as he exited the tu
rbolift. He paused to listen for the quiet rush of the hidden fountains, then moved down the overgrown paths toward the waterfall. He threw himself on the grassy bank. The waterfall streamed over the rocks and caressed his skin with its cool, gentle spray. He gazed at the clear green of the pool, trying to calm his mind. ...

  It was like a dream. Bant was at the bottom of the pool. Her eyes were closed. Her salmon skin was pale, paler than he'd ever seen it.

  This was no dream. Bant was in trouble. Obi-Wan bounded to his feet and dived into the pool in one fluid movement. Bant's eyes opened as she saw him stroking frantically toward her. She shook her head slowly, as if to tell him to go away. Obi-Wan ignored her. He simply scooped her up in his arms and kicked toward the surface, panic sending a burst of energy through his muscles.

  He came up gasping for air. Bant sucked air in through her lungs and shook her head violently.

  "No, no, let me go back--"

  He dragged her to the bank and pushed her up. Bant scrambled onto the grass and collapsed. He hauled himself out and sat next to her, breathing heavily.

  "What was that all about?"

  Bant's face was pressed against the grass. "I was ... testing ...

  my limit," she said breathlessly.

  Obi-Wan sat up. "You were what?"

  "He said I didn't ... know my limit," she said, sucking in deep lungfuls of air. "If I stayed under the same amount of time and passed out, then we would know I was as close to death as I thought."

  "Great plan," Obi-Wan said. "Do you mind telling me how you were going to get to the surface?"

  "I rigged a chronometer to a signal that would alert security that I was in trouble," Bant said, her breathing slightly more normal. "I wasn't in danger."

  "What if security didn't get here in time?" Obi-Wan demanded shakily. "What if you were already dead? You took a great risk, Bant. How could you do that to me?"

  She looked up at him, astonished. "I was doing it for you!"

  "But what if something had happened? How could you let me go through one more death?" Obi-Wan knew that the best way to convince Bant that her plan was foolish was to make her think that the greatest danger lay in hurting him.

  "I didn't think of it that way," Bant said.

  Obi-Wan took a deep breath to steady his voice. "Thank you for trying to help, Bant. But Qui-Gon is right. You can't. He can't. I must go through this myself. Promise me you won't do this again."

  Slowly, Bant nodded."All right. I promise," she said gravely.

  "This is when we must be at our strongest," he said. "We must trust in the truth and the Force."

  "And the Force will be with us," Bant said.

  CHAPTER 8

  "Qui-Gon was right," Tahl said to Qui-Gon and Clee Rhara. "Tarrence Chenati must have the backing of someone powerful in the Senate."

  "In the Senate?"Clee asked, her eyes flashing. "A Senator is doing this?"

  "Why not?"Qui-Gon asked mildly. "They are rarely no better and sometimes worse than most beings."

  "The Senate uses its own spies," Tahl said. "They are called ‘no-names. ’ A whole identity is created, with text docs and clearances. When the no-name dies, the identity is retired." She swept her hand toward the documents on Tarrence Chenati."This kind of identity. What if someone had access to those retired identities and stole one for the saboteur?"

  "That makes sense," Qui-Gon said. "Who would have access?"

  Tahl frowned: "Hard to say. It could be almost any senior level Senator with the right contacts and the right bribes. Tracing it would be close to impossible."

  "If Chenati is just a hired saboteur, he won't have much loyalty,"

  Qui-Gon guessed. "If we capture him, he might tell us what we want to know."

  "Chenati's shift starts in fifteen minutes," Clee Rhara said. "I don't want him near those ships."

  "Let us handle this," Qui-Gon advised her. "Go to the students.

  Keep everyone away from the hangar. And try to head off Haly Dura, too."

  Clee Rhara nodded. She strode off toward the student quarters. Tahl and Qui-Gon turned to go, but a signal went off on the control panel of the security system.

  "It's Chenati. He's early," Qui-Gon said tersely. Without another word, Tahl and Qui-Gon hurried to the hangar. The huge durasteel doors were already open, the starfighters lined up inside. Qui-Gon saw Chenati working on a control panel on the side of one of the starfighters.

  "He's fifteen meters to the left, working on the right side of the starfighter," he said to Tahl.

  "Let's flank him," she suggested. "But not until the last second.

  We don't want to scare him off."

  Qui-Gon and Tahl strolled toward Chenati, who had caught sight of them and waved cheerfully. He reached down into his tool kit. Something alerted Qui-Gon even before Chenati began to rise again. He was too friendly.

  "He knows," Qui-Gon said.

  Chenati came back up with a blaster. The fire pinged by them, since Tahl and Qui-Gon had already jumped apart. Qui-Gon's lightsaber was activated in a flash, and he sprang to deflect the blaster fire from Tahl.

  "Stop protecting me!" she shouted.

  But how could he? Tahl's perceptions were extraordinarily acute, but even she could not deflect rapid blaster fire she could not see. Tahl began to move in an erratic zigzag motion toward Chenati. Chenati backed away, keeping up a steady burst of fire. Qui-Gon moved forward, keeping himself between Tahl and the blaster fire. He knew she was listening for the rustle of clothing, the stir of air to tell her which way Chenati was aiming. But there was too much other noise surrounding her.

  Suddenly Chenati raced into the cockpit of the starfighter. The windshield began to close.

  Tahl heard the noise and began to run. The starfighter began to move, straight toward her.

  "Tahl! Straight ahead!"Qui-Gon yelled. He started toward her, but Tahl had already accessed the Force and gave a great leap to her left, placing her safely out of the starfighter's way. The distraction had cost Qui-Gon. He could not reach Chenati. He could only watch as the starship took off.

  Tahl deactivated her lightsaber and tucked it into her belt in an angry motion. "Perhaps if you weren't so intent on protecting me, you could have captured him." Her voice was sharp and bitter. "Perhaps if I didn't need to be protected, things would be different."

  "Tahl-"

  "Qui-Gon! Tahl!"Clee came running up. "I saw Chenati take off."

  Clee stared at the sky, empty now.

  "It was either kill him or let him go," Qui-Gon said.

  "It's all right," Clee said. "At least we know the starfighters are safe now."

  "You'll have to check these out," Tahl said. "He was here for a few minutes."

  "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.