Permanent Twilight

Part 1

Shevann had an interesting idea. He'd gone to get some sleep while his men tortured that Jedi they'd picked up and had woken up inspired. He wasn't sure why he hadn't thought of it before. It was so brilliant. He would use the Jedi's own lightsabre as an instrument of confession. Even if he had told the men what they wanted to know, it was so intriguing that he would do it anyway.

The plan may have been brilliant, but first he needed to figure out how to turn the lightsabre on. He'd tried a couple of times and it wasn't as obvious as it looked so Shevann had locked it up in one of his cabinets and gone to bed. He would have to get Obi-Wan to show him. In fact, Obi-Wan could help him with the whole thing. That would certainly be an interesting struggle to watch. Or maybe Obi-Wan would enjoy it. That would be even better. Suddenly wide awake Shevann got up and headed towards his office. He could hardly wait to get underway. He hurried across the sand towards the bunker.

Drew was skulking around outside of operations so Shevann sent him to find Obi-Wan.

Shevann grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen and went to his office. The lightsabre was locked in the cabinet where he kept his knives. Shevann liked knives. Blasters were effective of course, but they were too clean and impersonal. Nothing compared to the feel of a knife in one's hand, the splash of blood as it flowed from the wound, and knives allowed one to get close to the victim, to be there with them when they died. The clean cauterized wound of a blaster just didn't feel real to him.

He thought about the way the Jedi's weapon had felt in his hands. Even inert it had a certain power. There was a heaviness to it that was almost comforting. And it had been so intricately crafted and with such love. Shevann had thrown Obi-Wan's away years ago and it made him wish he hadn't. And when he couldn't turn it on, he'd placed it among his favorite knives with something akin to reverence.

He was about to open the cabinet when he heard Drew's heavy footsteps. "He's not in his bunk Boss." Drew said. He was breathing hard like he had been running.

Shevann glared at him. He wasn't going to do a repeat of the night before. In fact, if Obi-Wan kept this disappearing act up, he was going to take that damn boat away from him. "Did you check his boat?" he growled.

Drew suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Boss," he said slowly, "his boat is gone."

"Gone?" Shevann repeated. "Where would he go?" Shevann looked at the chronometer on the wall and frowned. "He should have been banging on my door hours ago."

Something was very wrong. Shevann pulled out his key and opened the cabinet. His knives were there, still lined up neatly and gleaming, but the lightsabre was missing. In its place was small bundle of wrapped cloth. Without bothering to see what it was, Shevann whirled away from the cabinet and stormed out door.

He threw open the door to the cell where he held the captured Jedi. It was empty. He looked at the open manacles hanging on the wall and the dried blood on the floor. His hands closed into fists. He heard Drew step into the room behind him.

"Find him." Shevann said, his voice a deadly whisper, "Find both of them."

Benz usually checked in with Shevann first thing. He strolled down the hall lazily; glad to be relaxed for a change. Things had been busy for the last couple of days with a lot of raids coming and going. There were nearly always injuries, usually small, but occasionally a raid turned dangerous and men came back more seriously wounded. The man with the burns on his arm was still in the clinic. Benz still couldn't be sure what caused them. He wondered if Obi-Wan's suspicions were correct.

He thought briefly of his last conversation with Obi-Wan outside the club the night before. Could he have really done it? Would there be another night where he would watch his friend walk away and consider shooting him? He didn't know. Either way Benz didn't think Obi-Wan had much time left. He looked so ragged. And even his words, "I get so tired" seemed to describe more than just a physical condition but a spiritual one as well.

Benz stepped into Shevann's office to see Shevann sitting at his desk, staring at the contents of a white cloth that sat unfolded in his hands.

"Have you seen Obi-Wan?" Shevann asked. Benz shook his head.

"I haven't seen him since the night before last. Why?"

Shevann said nothing, but held out the contents of the cloth for Benz to see. It was Obi-Wan's sub-dermal injector. Benz stared at it numbly for several minutes, uncomprehending. Then he noticed a note had been tucked in the cloth with it. He plucked it out and looked at it. It was Obi-Wan's handwriting.

"It says, 'trade you'." Shevann said.

Benz was silent. The injector was probably the only thing Obi-Wan had never lost or misplaced, it was either on his person or on its own shelf in Obi-Wan's locker. The fact that it was here and Obi-Wan was not meant that where ever he was, he was never coming back. It took Benz several minutes to find his voice.

"What does that mean? 'Trade you.'" he asked. Shevann told him about the Jedi they had captured, the weapon that had been locked in the cabinet, and the missing boat.

"Then he's dead." Benz said. "He couldn't survive this long."

Shevann looked at the injector in his hand and then held it out to Benz. "Here. You can use it in the clinic." He said. Benz took it and carefully wrapped it back up in the cloth. "And clean out his locker. You know which bunk is his?"

"I know the one." Benz said. He turned to go.

"You know he didn't have to die." Shevann said suddenly. Benz stopped and faced him again. "They figured out a cure. Some kind of blood replacement so the withdrawal wasn't fatal."

Benz furrowed his brow, frowning. "Where did you hear that?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. I just heard it once years ago in a Republic governed city. But we needed him. He wouldn't have stayed."

Benz shook his head and left the room. He didn't want to hear anymore.

A few hours later as Benz crossed the yard with a box of Obi-Wan's belongings, he wondered if what Shevann had said was true. Had he been able to read, he might have seen it in the medical journals. Or if he had more opportunity to get off planet to anywhere but Hutt controlled outer rim planets, he might have heard about it. As it was Benz lived in medical isolation, using only what he had learned in his prison sponsored medic-training program years ago. Most of the time it was enough, but maybe this time it wasn't.

He turned and looked down on the beach and at the empty spot where a small wooden sailboat had been tethered. Where had Obi-Wan gone? Had he escaped somehow? Benz realized he would never know. He considered that Shevann had been lying about the cure, just to mess with him. It was just the kind of thing Shevann would do to make him doubt his own abilities. Then again, if Shevann was telling the truth, there was the slimmest chance that Obi-Wan had survived and that he would return to Coruscant to live the life he was meant to. Perhaps that Jedi had come to rescue him.

Benz had always assumed that he would be there when Obi-Wan died. That it would be an overdose most likely and that when it happened, Obi-Wan's body would be there in front of him leaving no doubt in his mind. But all there was was a missing boat and a lightsabre traded for an injector along with news of a cure for his addiction.

Benz smiled. In his own way and without meaning to, Shevann had given him hope.

Part 2
*** 2 years earlier ***

It didn't seem right. As Shevann glumly surveyed the papers and data pads strewn over the surface of his desk, he wondered how things had gone so wrong. He was a pirate. Or he had been. Somehow, over the years, he spent an increasing amount of time on an island, behind a desk, staring at printouts and data pads while his men did the fun stuff. He tracked the shipments as they moved through the trade corridors; they went out there and actually stopped them. He made sure everybody had a place to stay and something to eat; his men put their necks on the line to make sure that the capital was coming in. Shevann had it easy, but that didn't mean he liked it.

Indeed, with an operation as large as his, someone needed to take charge. Someone had to keep everybody in line and there weren't many people on the island who could do that. Shevann wasn't stupid. The men he hired were tough but dumb. They liked women and alcohol and were content with three squares a day and a bed to sleep in. He kept the raiders happy, paid them in shares of the take minus living expenses, and made sure that no one of his men had ambitions towards an over throw. Things ran smoothly because of it. Shevann was used to being in charge and no one argued with it.

He shifted the data pads around with his finger and continued to sulk. Still, despite his success, he wasn't having any fun. He liked going out and mining the trade routes. He enjoyed the thrill of entering the disabled freighters, running through the halls, seeking out the cargo holds and removing their contents. It was exciting. And now he was like a lawyer or something, with an office and a desk and responsibilities. He would have never suspected he would end up like this. Not in a million years.

And in an instant, Shevann decided that had to end. He picked up one of the data pads. It held the dock manifest for one of Corellia's major shipping ports. Several freighters carrying precious metals and fighter parts had left for Naboo and would be at a perfect point of intercept in 2 days. Perfect. The Naboo were strange; a small planet with great wealth that imported nearly everything. Previous intercepts of Naboo bound shipments had always been lucrative. Shevann smiled. He would go on this one, have some of the fun for a change.

"Drew!"

Within seconds Drew was standing in the doorway. "Yeah, Boss." He said breathlessly.

"Tell Riley to get his team together, we've got cargo in the Corellian Run in 2 days. I'll be going with them."

"Anything the matter, Boss."

Shevann rolled his eyes. Drew was useful, but the dumbest of the lot and a terrible brown nose as well. He liked subservience, but Drew took it a step beyond what was necessary.

"No, I just want to go. You'll be in charge while I'm gone. Whatever you say goes."

"Right." Drew smiled wickedly and turned on his heel to go. Shevann had a sudden realization and stopped him.

"Wait a minute. If I leave you in charge, you and Obi-Wan will rip each other to pieces." Shevann pursed his lips. He would have to bring one of them. He weighed it in his mind, but the choice was obvious. "Drew," Shevann began and Drew straightened his shoulders, "Tell Obi-Wan to get his things together." He said.

"But, Boss!" Drew protested, visibly slumping.

"I made my decision. Riley should be ready to go in an hour. Obi-Wan's in the shop I think. Tell him he's got 20 minutes."

"Right, Boss." All the enthusiasm had left Drew's voice.

Shevann pulled several weapons out of the racks on his wall and put them in a bag. He was zipping it up when he heard shouting from the direction of the shop. He couldn't leave those two alone for a second. He left the office and marched down the hall.

Drew had gotten off on the wrong foot with Obi-Wan early on and now there was no turning back. The two of them were the most stubborn people Shevann had ever met and once they got started neither would back down until someone forced them too. The problem was that Obi-Wan was a lot smarter than Drew was and Drew didn't seem to realize it. There was also a conflict of motivations. Drew actually thought that they had a rivalry going. That they were equals and he was putting Obi-Wan in his place, whereas Obi-Wan recognizing the true nature of their relationship merely toyed with Drew for sheer sport.

Shevann actually found it humorous and though Drew was useful, he always secretly rooted for Obi-Wan and wondered if some day his prodigal Jedi would actually kill his right hand man. He usually let them go at it unless it really looked like one of them was going to kill the other. He figured if it happened, it happened, but he would look bad if he didn't at least appear to intervene. He had his image to consider after all. But right now he was eager to get going and didn't have time for them.

"Just put them down where you found them and get out of here." Obi-Wan shouted as Shevann entered the room. He could see the problem immediately; Drew had his hands full of Obi-Wan's tools. Obi-Wan's inability to keep track of his tools was the one weakness Drew had found and he exploited it at every opportunity.

"You're not putting them away fast enough." Drew said and dumped the tools in a large bin labeled "parts".

"No! Drew!" Obi-Wan ran to the bin and started picking amongst the parts, pulling out his tools from the random other bits and lining them up on the floor. Drew went to the workbench and grabbed a few of the couplers Obi-Wan had been depolarizing. Obi-Wan turned away from the bin and as he glared at Drew, his hand tightened around the wrench in his hand.

"Enough of this." Shevann said. Obi-Wan had that look in his eyes and Shevann figured if he didn't cut in, Obi-Wan was actually prepared to do some damage with the spanner he held. There was instant silence. "Drew, put those down where you found them. And don't ever touch Obi-Wan's tools again. Obi-Wan, put your tools away, pack your things, and then come to my office. You're coming on a raid. Oh, and stop by Benz's and have him get your stuff together. You'll need enough for about 5 days."

Shevann watched as Drew set the couplers down. Obi-Wan was still scribbling his instructions on a piece of paper. "Everybody set?" he asked. When he saw heads nodding in silent acquiescence, he turned around and left the room. He waited a moment and when the silence continued, he walked back to his quarters to get his own things together.

Obi-Wan carried his rucksack from the bunkhouse to the clinic. The place was empty so he poked his head into the small quarters at the back that Benz called home. It had been his home once too, back before Shevann had made him move into the barracks with the rest of the men. Benz was sitting in the room's single chair smoking a cigarette and glancing through a nudie-holo.

"Reading it for the articles?" Obi-Wan asked. It was an inside joke they had shared when they were roommates. Benz could read just enough to get by as a medic, but was otherwise illiterate.

Benz looked up. "Nope. I'm only looking at the girls without any articles on. Strictly research, of course." He said and put the holo down. He stood up smiling, "To what do I owe the visit?" he asked.

Obi-Wan took out his notepad and looked at it for a moment. "I've got to go on a raid so I need enough erebus for seven days."

"Seven days?"

Obi-Wan consulted his book again and looked up. "Yeah, seven." He said.

Benz cracked up. "What, are you walking back? Everybody else is going for five days."

Obi-Wan thumbed the pages of his notebook guiltily. He knew he'd get caught. In fact he hadn't even meant to say seven. It had slipped out unconsciously and then once he'd said it, he'd actually wondered if Benz wouldn't notice. And now that the idea of an extra two days supply was out in the open, Obi-Wan suddenly felt anything less would be a bitter disappointment. He wished silently for better control over his subconscious. "I must have misread my handwriting." Obi-Wan said lamely.

Benz looked over Obi-Wan's shoulder and pointed to where a "five" was clearly written. "Looks like a five to me. Maybe I should read your notes for you next time." He laughed and when he saw Obi-Wan's stricken expression, patted him on the back. "It's okay. It was worth a try though wasn't it?"

Obi-Wan said nothing.

"So, where are you going?" Benz asked. He went into the infirmary, leaving Obi-Wan in his quarters. Obi-Wan sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know." He said, raising his voice so it could be heard in the next room. "I don't even know why I'm going. I'd rather stay here." Benz was still rooting around in the clinic. "Can I come in yet?"

"No. Why don't you want to go?"

"I don't know. I just got a bad feeling about it. It doesn't matter. Shevann will make me go anyway. Can I come in?"

"No. Aren't the Jedi supposed to be patient?"

"I'm not a Jedi." Obi-Wan said. He leaned over and without actually touching them, carefully extracted two of Benz's cigarettes from the pack on the chair. He tucked them in his pocket.

"You can come in now." Benz said. Obi-Wan got up and went to the door. "Here you go," Benz said and tossed a package in his direction. Obi-Wan caught it frantically.

"Don't do that Benz. What if I'd dropped it?"

"You wouldn't have." Benz said.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "I could have." He said.

"But you didn't." Benz said, "Stay and have one of the smokes you just stole or are you in a hurry?"

Obi-Wan cringed. Caught a second time. "I guess I need some new tricks," he said. "Shevann made it sound like it was a rush so I should probably go. I only took two. Is that alright?"

"Sure. Without you depleting my supply for the next five days, I'll have tons. You can win 'em off me when you get back. Have a good trip." Benz said.

Obi-Wan slid the package into his rucksack and turned to go, but Benz stopped him. "Go right to Shevann with that okay." He said.

Obi-Wan nodded. "I will. I promise."

Benz watched him leave and hoped he'd done the right thing. The problem was the unlike most addicts Obi-Wan had never learned to manage his cravings. Shevann had basically tied him down and forced the stuff on him until he couldn't live without it and then made him work for it. The result was that Obi-Wan would use whatever he was given when he was given it. So where an addict living independently might save a stash for later, it was an ability that Obi-Wan just didn't have. Whenever he had to carry a large quantity of the drug around, there was always the possibility that the idea of so much erebus would get the better of him and he would get sidetracked before he could reach his destination. It had happened before and Benz worried about it. He'd spent too many frantic hours reviving Obi-Wan after various mishaps. It was also the reason he didn't allow Obi-Wan in the clinic while he was handling it. If Obi-Wan learned where the drug was kept, neither would last long.

Shevann often used drugs on his prisoners. It was an easy way to keep them in line and often broken them down quicker than torture alone. Erebus was his favorite because it was cheap and while it was a narcotic, it had very little of the euphoric properties normally associated with them. It was highly addictive and had many harmful side effects but that didn't matter to Shevann because most of the people he used it on wouldn't live long enough to become dependant on it.

When Shevann had first proposed to Benz his plan to addict Obi-Wan to the drug and then use it to control him, Benz had suggested other derivatives of erebus that were slightly more expensive, but didn't have some of the same effects. The main problem with erebus was that addicts used it for the rest of their short lives, withdrawal was always fatal. But Shevann was impatient, erebus was readily available, and the boy had already been taking it for several days. Obi-Wan had been fairly typical in the beginning. He had resisted it at first and then began showing up earlier and earlier for the next dose until everyone started referring to him as Benz's shadow. And after a while Benz hadn't minded the company. Obi-Wan was a bright kid and always willing to help around the clinic. He began to think of the boy's ravenous appetite for drugs as a character flaw he could live with.

For the first few months on the island Obi-Wan had lived in one of the cells outside of Shevann's office. Then he and Shevann had had some kind of disagreement and Obi-Wan had ended up in the clinic for several weeks recovering from the beating Shevann gave him. Benz had offered Obi-Wan a cot in the corner of his already cramped room and Obi-Wan accepted. It had taken Obi-Wan nearly five months of constant reminders to learn Benz's name, but they got along well enough. And when Shevann made Obi-Wan move into the barracks, Benz missed him.

Shevann threw the knife as Obi-Wan entered the room. Obi-Wan caught it by the handle with a gesture so casual it looked like he was he was taking an item off a shelf. He flipped it in his hand and threw it back. Shevann felt it rush by, close enough to let him know that Obi-Wan had missed on purpose. It slammed into the wall behind him with a satisfying thud.

"I'd give anything to have your reflexes for just one day." Shevann said.

Obi-Wan glared at him. "You wouldn't know what to do with them." He said. He pulled the package from out of his pack and put it on the desk. "This is from Benz."

Shevann walked over to one of the gun racks and handed Obi-Wan a holstered blaster pistol. "Trade you."

"If it's a trade, I'd rather have the drugs." Obi-Wan said.

"Don't worry." Shevann said. Obi-Wan took the pistol and shoved it in his rucksack with the rest of his belongings. "It's Riley's ship. Number 4."

Obi-Wan pulled out his notebook. "What bay did you say?" He asked.

Shevann rolled his eyes. "Four. Let's go, I'll take you there myself." He pushed Obi-Wan out the door and picked up his things. Obi-Wan turned around.

"Wait, you forgot the..." He started but Shevann quickly snatched the package off his desk.

"Let's go. Now." Shevann gave Obi-Wan another shove until the younger man was walking toward the hangar.

The Liberator was the largest and fastest ship in Shevann's fleet. It was so large that the roof of Bay 4 had been raised to accommodate it. Attached to the hull of the giant vessel were five smaller fighters affixed by docking clamps with airlocks so that the pilots could enter and exit while the ship was in space. Besides providing an important defense, the fighters were also used in the shipping lanes to deploy mines that would bring freighters out of hyperspace, allowing Riley to close in and take what he wanted.

Obi-Wan stopped and looked up at it, smiling. He knew this ship.

"Oh, the Liberator. You should have just said that." He told Shevann. "Everybody knows that the Liberator is always in bay 4."

Shevann glowered at him, but said nothing.

Riley stood with his men barking last minute orders as they scurried around the ship. Freshly fueled and charged, it blew exhaust like a sleeping dragon that was ready to awake and take flight. Obi-Wan reached out to touch the gleaming hull. He'd worked on the Liberator's engines and even helped with some of Riley's modifications. The Liberator was Obi-Wan's favorite. Shevann shoved him from behind.

"Keep moving." He said. Obi-Wan frowned. He didn't want to spend a week with Shevann pushing him around. He wondered if he just turned around and ran away as fast could, that they would try to catch him. He didn't want to risk it, especially not with Shevann carrying his entire drug supply for the week.

Riley stepped away from the loading platform. "Shevann, I don't know what this is about, but I don't like it." He said. Riley was independent. He didn't like having the boss looking over his shoulder. He ran his crew the way he liked and he was always successful. He didn't need Shevann scrutinizing the way he worked.

"I'm just tired of sitting on this rock that's all. Consider me part of your crew." Shevann said generously.

Riley smiled and nodded. "Part of my crew, eh? That's exactly right. When you're on my ship, I'm in command." He looked over at Obi-Wan. "Is Obi-Wan part of my crew as well?" Riley asked.

"Of course." Shevann said. "Terrific. Glad to have you back aboard, Obi-Wan." Riley shook his hand.

"Captain," Obi-Wan acknowledged with a nod.

"Well," Riley said, "Let's get your things aboard and we'll get moving." Riley put his arm around Obi-Wan's shoulder and gestured toward the ramp. "I'd put you in a fighter, but I've got a full crew. You'll direct deployment though right?" Obi-Wan nodded.

"I'd like that." He said.

Shevann trailed behind and rolled his eyes as he listened. One day he was going to wake up and find Obi-Wan running the place, he was sure of it. For a drug addict who didn't like to talk to anyone, he had an impressive network of allies. Shevann never knew who in his operation was going to turn out to be Kenobi's friend.

Riley sat back and listened to the warm hum of the Liberator's hyperdrive. He spent a moment looking over the dock manifest that Shevann had given him. Shevann was right. The cargo was worth going after. He couldn't tell from the registry, but it looked like the freighter was a pusher barge, which was always a good deal when you divided up the shares. He supposed it was worth having Shevann along for cargo like that. And having Obi-Wan to help was an unexpected bonus.

Riley had run an operation similar to Shevann's until a few years ago when he had gotten tired of it. He could have retired but he wasn't ready for that. So he purchased the Liberator for a good price on the black market, culled the best of all his men and worked as an independent smuggler for a year. He and Shevann went way back as rivals and when Shevann had offered the Liberator and its crew a place in his operation, Riley agreed to let bygones be bygones and let someone else worry about everything for a change. And for the most part, Riley was happy with his decision.

Obi-Wan had apparently been living on the island for a little over half a year when Riley arrived and for months he heard about him, but never actually saw him. The stories about him were pretty incredible and Riley began to wonder if "Obi-Wan Kenobi" wasn't some sort of local myth rather than a real person. When he finally saw the boy, he was initially unimpressed. It was in the dining commons and Obi-Wan was sitting at a table with Shevann's man Drew and some of Drew's friends, just a thin boy dressed in an adult's clothes with shaggy brown hair. They were laughing at him and every few minutes Obi-Wan would get up and get a new fork. It was a curious scene and after listening in for a bit Riley realized that they were teasing him. Someone would distract the boy, then Drew would steal his fork and when Obi-Wan turned back he would look for it and think he'd forgotten to get one. They did it over and over until Drew had a giant pile of silverware underneath his chair. Obi-Wan seemed oblivious until they ran out of forks. He returned to the table empty-handed and noticed all the forks underneath Drew's chair. Drew just started laughing harder.

Riley wasn't sure if what happened next really happened or if he imagined it. One of the forks under the chair seemed to leap into Obi-Wan's hand and he threw it at Drew. It stuck deep in his neck and blood started spraying everywhere. Chaos erupted as Drew screamed and the men ducked for cover. In the middle of it Obi-Wan sat impassively, a faint smile on his blood spattered his face. It was quite a scene and Riley couldn't take his eyes off the boy who had attacked so remorselessly. Obi-Wan seemed to sense the scrutiny and turned around to stare back at Riley. He didn't like it. Obi-Wan's eyes were like ice, dead and glassy like a dolls, but at the same time deeply penetrating. Riley felt like he was being targeted. Then Obi-Wan got up and walked out of the room without a word. After that, Riley decided to steer clear of him; that boy was clearly unstable.

So later, when Shevann assigned him to Riley's crew as a replacement pilot, Riley was livid. Shevann refused to budge on the matter and Riley was considering packing up his crew and taking the Liberator elsewhere. He was still fuming when Benz paid him a visit and while Riley wasn't happy to be flying with a drug addict who could move faster than anybody he'd ever seen and didn't seem to care who he killed or maimed, Benz made him feel a little better about it. Riley had served time with Benz so he trusted him and agreed to at least give Obi-Wan a chance.

Riley was glad he did. He followed Benz's advice to deal with his drug addiction by setting a schedule for him and sticking to it. The arrangement worked well for both of them and soon Obi-Wan's numerous gifts became apparent. Obi-Wan immediately proved himself a highly capable pilot. He was also a skilled mechanic whose repairs bordered on genius. And he was one of the best navigators Riley had ever flown with. He turned mine deployment into an art form, skillfully directing the fighters to place the mines in an intricate web that always caught something. None of his navigators could top it and after flying several missions with him, Riley had offered Obi-Wan a permanent spot on his crew.

Obi-Wan declined politely, but agreed to fill in whenever he was needed. Riley was disappointed, but for whatever reason, Obi-Wan liked to be on the ground.

They had almost a day of travel before they would reach the shipping lanes so the crew was relaxed. They sat in the lounge, gossiping about girls they'd met at various spaceports, playing with the onboard entertainment system, and gambling on card games. Obi-Wan had tried to join them but he always found the first few hours of an erebus high too intense to do much more than sit or lie back with his eyes closed. He preferred quiet as well so he tried to leave to go lie down on his bunk, but Shevann stopped him for some reason. Probably just to irritate him. Obi-Wan settled on the small mess hall that adjoined the lounge. At least it was quieter and the lights were off.

He slumped in one of the molded plasticene chairs with his head resting on the table cradled in his arms. He lost track of time, but when he lifted his head again, someone was in the galley cooking. He was a tall man with red hair and a ruddy, good natured face. He hummed as he worked in the little kitchen with its warm light spilling out the door and into the mess hall. Obi-Wan thought he recognized him but couldn't remember his name. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"I left the lights off for you." The cook said.

"Oh, thanks."

"I'm Cort. Benz's friend. Remember?"

Obi-Wan pulled out his notebook and wrote "Cort" down. He could look at it if he forgot, but when he thumbed through the pages, he saw Cort's name had been written several times already. Obi-Wan looked up again. He had seen Cort before. He used his best guess, one that was usually right. "I played parac with you." Obi-Wan said.

"Yeah, that's right. Smeared me all over the table. How'd you learn to play like that?"

"The captain showed me."

"Riley?"

"Yeah. Then I practiced."

"I'll say." Cort said He sat down across from Obi-Wan, lit a cigarette, and offered one from his pack. Obi-Wan took one and lit it.

"It's my night to make dinner." Cort said, "at least I can cook. Some of those old boys make some scary stuff. I'd rather starve on some nights. I'm making Calamarian Goulash."

"I had a friend who was Calamarian. She made it once. It's good."

"Yeah and it only takes one big pot. That's what I like, not a lot of dishes. Where'd you meet a Calamarian?"

"On Coruscant, at the temple. We were students there."

"You were really a Jedi? I thought that was just a story."

"It was a long time ago." Obi-Wan looked away and concentrated on the cigarette Cort had given him. It wasn't as good as the ones Benz usually had.

"Hey, do you want to taste my goulash? Tell me if it's as good as your friend's?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. There was no point and he wasn't hungry. "I'm sure it is." He said.

Cort got up and went back up to the galley to stir the goulash. "I think everybody here did something different before." Cort said. "I used to be a courier."

"A courier?"

"Yeah. It was pretty fun. I had my own little ship and I delivered stuff all over the galaxy. Met all kinds of people, saw a lot of different customs. I even took a package to Chancellor Vallorum once. I mean, before he was chancellor."

"Why'd you leave?"

"The pay stunk. The pay is much better here." Cort said. Satisfied that the goulash was cooking he returned to the dining room. "Why'd you leave?"

Obi-Wan thought about his thirteenth birthday, about spending his life with agricorps and devoting it to farming and the feeling of utter failure he had felt when he had not been picked as Qui-Gon Jinn's apprentice. "Same reason as you." He said.

Part 3

Lying in his bunk that night, Obi-Wan couldn't sleep. He tried to force his eyes to close, but they seemed to snap open against his will. He hadn't thought of Bant or the temple in a long time. He wondered what she was doing now. Had she been chosen or was she still living in the temple? He thought of Reeft and Garen. Even Bruck. Bruck would be a padawan now, or perhaps a farmer, either way no longer living in on Coruscant. Bant might still be there still. He wondered what she was doing. Combat practice perhaps, or maybe group meditation in the gardens with the other initiates. Or maybe it was night on Coruscant and she was asleep, surrounded by her fellow students. He missed the temple sometimes. He hadn't realized how safe he'd felt there or how lucky he'd been.

The day before he left for Bandomeer, Yoda had told him "A kinder destiny I sense for you." Was this it? Was this what Yoda had promised him? It didn't seem right. Why hadn't Yoda warned him? Or had he lied, just to make Obi-Wan feel better. Jedi weren't supposed to lie. He wondered what Qui-Gon Jinn was doing now. Had he chosen a padawan at last or did he continue on alone as he had for so many years. If he had chosen, what did that padawan have that Obi-Wan lacked? He'd tried so hard. He'd tried to be everything he thought Qui-Gon would want him to be and he'd failed anyway.

Qui-Gon had told him that he fought like he was dangerous, that he was the type who was likely to turn. Had he? Was this the dark side? Or had he ceased to be a Jedi at all and now inhabited a sort of permanent twilight, forever trapped between the two sides with no way out? Obi-Wan felt a tear slide down his cheek. Most of the time he didn't think about it. He had become so accustomed to Shevann, the drugs, and the violent and harsh world on the outpost. He had even come to like it at times, finding a strange comfort in the rhythms of his addiction. Erebus filled the void where the force had been and made him feel complete. But, there were times when Obi-Wan couldn't believe that this was really his life. He never intended to be like this. Never in a million years.

Obi-Wan wiped his eyes quickly and slid out of bed. Except for the night watch, everyone was asleep and the lights were low. The sound of soft snoring filled the room. If he was careful and quiet, he could find it, he was sure of it. Obi-Wan crept to Shevann's bunk and found his travel case below. He slid it out and saw that it was locked. He shut his eyes and concentrated, reaching out to the force that had been his ally once. There were still a few things he could do, reading thoughts, moving objects. The locks snapped open.

Obi-Wan lifted the lid and looked inside. Had Shevann not been sleeping nearby, he would have simply dumped out it to find what he was looking for, but given the circumstances he'd have to be quieter. One by one, he carefully pulled Shevann's things out and placed them gently on the floor. None of them looked like the package Benz had had him carry to Shevann's office. After a few more minutes of searching, Obi-Wan was getting a little frustrated. He unzipped smaller cases and compartments, looking inside each one for what he needed. Then he felt the cold muzzle of a blaster up against the back of his neck.

"Do you really think I'd put it where you could find it so easily?" Shevann asked him.

Obi-Wan didn't move, just stared straight ahead. He hadn't even heard Shevann get out of bed let alone sneak up behind him. "No." he finally admitted.

"Put it all back." Shevann said.

Slowly Obi-Wan replaced the contents of Shevann's case. He tried to blink back the tears that were again filling his eyes. He just wanted to sleep, that was all. He didn't want to think about the temple anymore or his friends, or Qui-Gon Jinn. He replaced the last items, closed the lid, and locked it. The whole time he hadn't turned around but could still feel the presence of Shevann's blaster following his every move. Obi-Wan pushed the case back under Shevann's bunk.

"Now, turn around."

Obi-Wan slowly turned around. Shevann was crouched behind him and as Obi-Wan turned to face him the blaster was aimed at his chest. Dressed only in his thin sleeping clothes, he suddenly felt small and vulnerable. "I can't sleep." Obi-Wan said. "I just wanted enough to help me sleep."

Still holding the pistol in one hand, Shevann held out a closed fist and opened it. "Is this enough to help you sleep?" He asked. The question was compassionate, but there was menace in Shevann's voice. Obi-Wan didn't trust it but he reached out and closed his hand around the vial of erebus anyway. Shevann grabbed him and pulled him closer, pressing the pistol hard under his chin.

"Don't forget this." He said. Obi-Wan nodded. "Don't forget that no matter how free you think you are, I own you."

"Yes, Shevann." Obi-Wan said, his voice sounded choked and small.

Shevann let go of him and Obi-Wan sagged down onto the floor. "Now go to sleep." Shevann said.

Obi-Wan rose obediently and slowly climbed back up into his bunk. He was shaking and angry, but it didn't matter, he had what he wanted. He injected the contents of the vial into his thigh and lay back wiping the last of the drying tears from his eyes before sliding into a dreamless sleep.

Obi-Wan sat in the mess hall listlessly pushing some kind of mush around his plate. He hadn't eaten any yet and he didn't want to. He never had much of an appetite and only ate when absolutely necessary. Benz was always pestering him to eat at least once a day and Obi-Wan tried to remember to, but foods like mush were intolerable to him. His sense of taste was so dull that he could only taste very spicy or strong foods and even then it was more like a feeling than actual taste. Texture was more important to him, but the texture of the tasteless mush was nauseating. He was waiting for the captain who could be as bad about these kinds of things as Benz sometimes. He spread everything around on his plate so it looked like he'd already eaten some, and then when Riley sat down, Obi-Wan would make a show of eating his "last bite" and tell Riley he was full. That way Riley wouldn't badger him about not eating.

As expected, Riley sat down across from him.

"Still going to do the mines today?" Riley asked.

Obi-Wan nodded. "I'll do it." He said.

"Great. Well, finish eating and we'll get to it. It will be a few hours of prep though."

Obi-Wan took a spoonful of mush and managed to swallow it. He set the spoon down and pushed his chair back. "I'm full. I'm going to get some coffee. Want some?"

Riley shook his head. "Not so fast. Do you think I was born yesterday?" he asked. Obi-Wan frowned. He was definitely going to have to figure out some new tricks. He wasn't fooling anyone anymore. "Look," said Riley, "Eat three more spoonfuls and you can have all the coffee you want. I'll even give you one of my cigarettes. Benz will have my head if you come back looking like a skeleton." Riley took care of his crew. Most of the time it meant making sure they stayed safe and not leaving any one behind. But with Obi-Wan it was always more mundane, so if it meant making sure he ate, then Riley would do it, no matter how ridiculous it seemed.

Obi-Wan considered. Everyone was always bribing him with chemicals. It seemed so superficial and yet he always gave in. Even now, he wanted coffee more than he wanted mush and the offer of a cigarette was enticing because Riley smoked the same circacians that Benz did. He minded it less with Riley than with Shevann. Riley was fair and Obi-Wan felt that Riley had his well being in mind whereas he was pretty sure Shevann never did. Obi-Wan knew that one day he would figure out a way to turn it around on them. One day there would be something they wanted and he would have it. But for now he would have to eat mush.

Obi-Wan managed two spoonfuls before Riley gave in. He returned with two cups of coffee and sat down. He pushed one towards Riley who handed him the promised circacian cigarette.

"If it's going to be a few hours, I'll be sick." Obi-Wan said, "I should use some erebus now." He didn't notice that Shevann was standing behind him. He sat down at the empty spot across from Obi-Wan.

"Forget it." Shevann said.

"What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asked.

Riley cut in. "Shevann, that doesn't make sense. We're talking about the cargo here. Do you want to screw this up?"

Shevann shrugged, "No, but I think Obi-Wan will be fine. He can have some after the deployment."

"How do you know?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Because I know."

"Shevann, don't you think Obi-Wan is really the best judge of this?" Riley asked.

Shevann gave a quick laugh. "Absolutely not." He said.

"That's not fair." Obi-Wan said.

"Fair? Who said anything about being fair? Maybe you should have considered this last night when you were rummaging through my stuff." Shevann said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Quite a bit. What were you looking for?"

Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes. "You know what I was looking for." He said softly.

"I couldn't hear that." Shevann said.

Riley cut in. "Stop this Shevann. It serves no purpose."

"Stay out of it. What were you looking for Obi-Wan?" Shevann said.

"Shevann." Riley warned.

"Drugs." Obi-Wan said softly, and then louder, "I was looking for my drugs."

"Whose?" Shevann asked gleefully. He couldn't believe Obi-Wan actually said "my". He hadn't backed Obi-Wan into such a corner in a long time.

Obi-Wan knew what was coming. He'd been stupid to try and argue with Shevann, especially since Shevann was right. If the deployment really was only an hour or two away, his hands would be shaking and that would be about it. It wasn't the best feeling, but he would survive. He couldn't back down now though. Instead he stared into Shevann's eyes, challenging him. "Mine." He said.

Shevann's response was sudden and violent. He stood up, slamming the table into Obi-Wan so hard it threw him to the floor. The table was upended and for an instant Obi-Wan was showered with a rain of coffee, cold mush, and cigarette butts. He tried to cover his face with his hands, but it didn't help as dishes and silverware clattered around him. Shevann didn't give him time to get to his feet. He came around the table casually and landed a hard kick in Obi-Wan's ribs. He doubled over gasping and coughing. He was trapped now. Obi-Wan shut his eyes and curling into a tight ball, waited for Shevann to finish.

But nothing happened. When Obi-Wan opened his eyes he saw Riley had Shevann's wrist bent behind his back in a tight hold. He'd seen Riley do it before, the rare times when disagreements amongst crewmembers that got out of hand. It was a way of bending the wrist up so that if the person moved, they broke it. It was unbreakable though it wasn't painful as long as the one in the hold stayed still. Riley didn't like fights and this was his preferred method of keeping the peace.

"Nobody on my crew touches anyone else on my crew." Riley said. "I don't care who they are."

Shevann stood perfectly still, his whole body quivering with rage, unable to break from Riley's hold. The whole mess hall was silent, every eye turned in their direction. Obi-Wan got up and walked stiffly from the room.

Once things were calm again in the mess hall, Riley wandered out in the corridor. Shevann was a pain in the ass, he thought. He didn't like confrontations and while he didn't mind either Shevann or Obi-Wan, their relationship was based on strife and Riley hated being in the middle. And from what he could tell, the two of them seemed to enjoy egging each other on. It was different from the way Obi-Wan responded to Drew's taunts. Riley had witnessed scenes similar to his first encounter with Obi-Wan over and over. Drew thinking he had the upper hand while Obi-Wan serenely accepted his ridicule, waiting for that moment when Drew would drop his guard. When he did, the retaliation was always fast, creative, and brutal. Had Riley not taken the time to get to know Obi-Wan, he would have spent the rest of his life thinking the kid was purely evil. It didn't take him long to realize that the real problem was that Drew was stupid.

But with Shevann it was different. While he never openly backed down, it was clear that Obi-Wan always let himself lose. It was too bad really. Obi-Wan was pretty talented on a star ship, but instead spent most of his time acting as Shevann's personal errand boy. Then again, Obi-Wan had been the one to turn down Riley's job offer, so he must have gotten something out of it. Riley couldn't imagine what it was.

He turned the corner and saw Obi-Wan was half crouched against the wall. He was still covered in breakfast, coffee and mush dripping from his hair and tunic onto the floor. As Riley approached he could see Obi-Wan was shaking, his fists curled into tight balls at his sides, the expression on his face nearly identical to the one Shevann wore while Riley had him in the hold. The two of them were a lot alike, Riley realized.

"Looks like Shevann's riding you pretty hard." Riley said.

Obi-Wan looked up at him, wiping some of the mush out of his eyes. "I hate him." Obi-Wan said. Years ago, he wouldn't have said such a thing; he'd have been lectured for weeks on the evils of hatred. Now it didn't matter. He was free to hate whomever he wanted.

"I don't blame you sometimes." Riley agreed. "You can always fly with us."

Obi-Wan was silent. Riley had made the offer before and it had always been tempting. He liked Riley's crew. They were the only ones on the island who didn't treat him like a leper. And Riley was fair. The best part about flying with Riley was that he never had to humiliate himself for drugs like with Shevann. Riley set times and told him "show up early and you'll just wait", and it was true. But, he could trust Riley to be on time every time. Obi-Wan always took it as a sign of respect. Flying on the Liberator, he almost felt like he was normal. It was really tempting.

But Riley liked to move. His crew was probably the most active on the island. They were only at the outpost a few days each month and unfortunately that didn't leave Obi-Wan much time for some of this other projects. He had his boat that he had finally fixed and learned to sail. And now the derelict fighter on the neighboring island, he'd finally finished cataloging the repairs it would need to work. He didn't know what he would do when he got it working, but he felt compelled to try. He'd been driven to visit it nearly everyday since he'd found it. Carefully checking every inch of it and meticulously listing every repair. It was so engrossing he would lose track of time and often returned to the outpost so sick that he could barely crawl from the boat up the beach. He always claimed he'd gotten lost. Benz had given him an alarm timer after that, and it helped, though he always hated to leave.

"I know." Obi-Wan said at last.

Riley laughed suddenly. "You're a mess." He said. "Why don't you get cleaned up? We'll be just about ready to go on the mines then."

Obi-Wan nodded and stood obediently. "Can't I do it like this?" he asked, forcing a smile onto his lips.

"Sorry. No mush on the scopes. I don't mind coffee though." Riley said.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "I guess I'll change then." He said. He left in the direction of the sonic showers.

Showered and in his clean black tunic and trousers, Obi-Wan returned to the cockpit. He always wore black. There weren't a lot of thirteen year olds on Shevann's island and Obi-Wan spent nearly six months dressed in ludicrously oversized hand-me-downs from the pirates. It would have been humiliating if he'd actually cared. The first time Benz took him to a spaceport to find clothes his size, Obi-Wan instinctively picked out brown and sand colored garments. "Like your Jedi clothes", Benz had said and Obi-Wan quickly returned everything to their shelves and picked out the furthest thing he could find from his old temple clothes. Black tunic, black trousers, and black boots. After that, he refused to wear anything else.

"Ready to go?" Riley asked.

Obi-Wan nodded and slid into the navigator's position. He put on the headset and took a deep breath. His hands were shaking, but otherwise he was okay. He just had to concentrate long enough to deploy the mines. Shevann had promised. Afterward.

He cleared his throat and opened the intercom. "All wings report in please."

Shevann and Riley watched over his shoulder as Obi-Wan listened intently. The mines used by the pirates emitted a frequency that depolarized the hyperdrive seals causing the ship to drop out of light speed with a bang and a flash of light. Depending on the care taken, deploying mines could be easy or difficult. Poorly deployed mines might catch something, but if they were spaced correctly, nothing could get past them. The key was even distribution so that not only were there no gaps in the net, but their emissions actually resonated creating an even stronger field.

It was dangerous work for the pilots because the mines were active the moment they were placed. This meant that a sloppy director might require the ships to move mines, which could actually damage the fighter engines. The best directors flew the fighters in a pattern that would create the desired mine placement with minimal passes. The job required the director to think in three dimensions as well as adjust to the changing speeds and courses of the fighters. Obi-Wan's prior training made him uniquely skilled at it.

"Approach in a diamond slot formation, keep your speed under control." Obi-Wan said. Shevann watched the scope and saw the five blips draw together into a tight formation. "Good. You're .2 from the zone. Leader, get ready to drop your first mine."

Obi-Wan shut his eyes. It was always a mistake to look at the scope at this point. He couldn't concentrate on it. If he looked at the blips on the screen he invariably forgot which was which and lost track of where the mines were. However, if he closed his eyes, he could visualize the whole thing in his head as though he was there. It was like keeping his eyes shut made him a different person, one who could remember things, more like the person he had been. Then it was fun. Moving the fighters around was like a game; it was just a question where they needed to be and when.

Shevann continued to look over the boy's shoulder. The deployment was underway now and Obi-Wan rattled off headings and speeds like a controller for Coruscant air traffic.

"Leader, change heading 3 degrees, drop speed to 12... wing 3, change heading .6 degrees with an inclination of .8 and raise speed to 15... wing 4, deploy and change heading 4 degrees and a left turn... wing2, hard about and an inclination of .2..."

The first time Obi-Wan ran a mine deployment, the pilots resisted. Most navigators gave vague directions and the pilots had to think for themselves. It was a harrowing process with a lot of arguing back and forth and plenty of misplaced mines that sometimes took hours to straighten out. But it was what they were used to and so Obi-Wan's heading and speed commands made them nervous in the beginning. For one, they weren't sure how he could possibly tell them their headings. That was for the computer to do, not the navigator. And requesting them to travel at particular speeds seemed superfluous. Plus, with such directed commands, there was no way they could know what Obi-Wan was thinking as he directed them. It required them to give up too much control to someone they inherently didn't trust.

They argued with him at first until finally the wing leader decided he would let Obi-Wan run it how he wanted and see what came of it He respected him as a pilot; maybe Obi-Wan did know what he was doing. And so, the pilots stopped arguing and followed directions. Obi-Wan flew with Riley as a substitute navigator for several months. The pilots adjusted to his style and came to expect it. When Riley finally found a new navigator, he reluctantly replaced Obi-Wan and they went back to the old system. His pilots had not been pleased.

After watching Obi-Wan placing mines the first few times, Riley thought he might be good at a game called parac. It required the same mathematical thinking that he apparently did while directing the fighters and figuring out mine placements. He taught him to play and it wasn't long before he had begun depleting the supplies of cigarettes of everyone who played him.

On the scope the web was starting to take shape, the fighters weaving their way through space leaving behind the resonating mines. Shevann stared in disbelief. In all his years of pirating, he had never seen anyone deploy mines like this. It was even harder to believe that it was Obi-Wan doing it. Obi-Wan who misplaced things the moment they came into his possession, who forgot names, who couldn't even remember to eat, was somehow keeping track of the whole operation in his head. It was times like this when Shevann doubted his judgment years ago.

What would Obi-Wan have been like if he weren't so addicted? It was hard to imagine the possibilities. He could have been so much more useful. And yet, how would they have controlled him? Shevann wondered, could he have found another way to make Obi-Wan join them willingly? Then again, even the way he was he had a certain pull over his men. Obi-Wan didn't make it easy, but anyone patient enough to look past his obvious limitations ended up liking him. Riley's men treated him like a mascot and Benz protected him with near parental ferocity. But that was a select few; most of the men avoided him and were oblivious to his gifts. It was as though the erebus diluted him somehow. Without it, Shevann worried that Obi-Wan was exactly the sort who would take his place. Did he really want that risk?

No, Shevann though, things were right the way they were. He smiled and put his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder, ignoring the fact that Obi-Wan quickly ducked out of the way.

"Wing 5, ready for the last one? ... Okay, 3 degrees and accelerate. All wings except 5 leave the field." Four blips spread out and away from the network of mines. "Okay, deploy." Obi-Wan said. The mine was dropped into place and the scope registered the amplification as the mines began to resonate off each other.

"Perfect. That's it. Good job." Obi-Wan smiled, "Come back when you're ready." Obi-Wan stood up and took off his headset. He turned to Shevann and Riley and smiled. "The mines are set." He said.

"That was smooth." Riley said. Obi-Wan looked expectantly at Shevann.

"What?" Shevann asked at last.

"You promised." Obi-Wan said.

"Oh. Right. Here you go." Shevann handed Obi-Wan what he wanted. Obi-Wan dashed from the cockpit without another word. "Certainly is dedicated." Shevann commented.

Riley shook his head and frowned. He didn't like to get involved, but on the subject of Obi-Wan, he sided with Benz.

Obi-Wan didn't know much about erebus. He didn't know where it came from. He didn't know where Benz kept it. He wasn't sure why sometimes Shevann had it to give and why other times he had to go over to the infirmary to get it. He didn't know how they got the erebus to the island. He didn't know how much it cost. He knew it was available elsewhere in the galaxy because on his few trips to the spaceports, he'd seen other erebus addicts, some how they were able to read the shared hunger on each other's faces as they passed wordlessly. But he had never spoken to any of them.

His understanding of the process started when the drug was handed to him. He knew how to work the sub-dermal injector that Shevann had given him as a thirteenth birthday gift. The irony was not lost on Obi-Wan, but it was too late for him to do anything about it now. He knew roughly how long it would be before he needed more of the drug once he'd used some. He was familiar with the effects of course. The warm rush as it first entered his bloodstream, followed by several hours of a peaceful heaviness that seemed to settle over him and embrace him. And after that, the slow clearing of his mind to where he almost felt like his old self. He also knew that the drug varied in potency. Occasionally Shevann had given him stuff that he hardly felt. hose difficult days where his hands shook nearly all the time and he could barely get the energy to walk to Operations let alone sail his boat or work on his fighter. Most of the time the erebus Shevann gave him was of reasonable quality. And there were times that Shevann picked up a batch that was extraordinarily good.

This was one of those times.

Obi-Wan knew it was good because Shevann had been giving him so little and he was still more than satisfied. There were times when Obi-Wan found Shevann to be a complete mystery. After the argument this morning, he hadn't expected Shevann to be so generous, but with the mines in place and nothing to do but wait for the freighter to stall in, Shevann had given him nearly a whole vial. Obi-Wan had used it all at once and it was so good he could hardly move.

He should have gone back to the bunkroom, but he'd been so eager that he'd stopped in the crew lounge on the way. It was empty and so he'd ducked in figuring he'd hang out there for a little while until he wasn't so jittery and then go to the bunks. He'd had to scrap that plan. But now, slumped in the furthest chair in the corner, unable to even open his eyes, Obi-Wan was perfectly happy. Normally Obi-Wan preferred solitude, but when he heard the voices of men in the lounge, this time he didn't care.

Once the freighter was "in the bag" as they called it, the Liberator would be a bustle of activity, but until then, it was a waiting game. Riley was always restless when the mines where out. He paced the corridors, checking gauges, and looking in on the men's preparation. He tried not to be too nosy, his men were the best in the business and he trusted them to do their jobs. He could hear the flight crew in the lounge playing cards. The five of them were a tight group. They spent a lot of time together training and it seemed natural to them to spend most of their free time together as well. They looked relaxed, smoking and gossiping but any minute the alarm would sound and the five of them would be up and running to their fighters. Riley stopped in on them.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Sure Cap. We're just waiting for the cargo to come in." His wing leader answered.

"The deployment was smooth." Riley commented.

"Like clockwork." The leader answered. "You should offer Kenobi a job. Best damn navigator I ever had to listen to."

"I have." Riley said. And then he noticed that Obi-Wan was actually in the room with them, lying sprawled on the floor in the corner. "Is he all right?" Riley asked.

"He was like that when we came in. I checked on him. He's okay, just really out of it."

There were times when Riley just couldn't figure out how Shevann's mind worked. For the most part, he respected him. Shevann was first and foremost a businessman, shrewd and tough, Riley's kind of person. He was also ruthless when it came to getting his way. Riley could respect that as well. He ran a tight operation that Riley wouldn't have bothered to be a part of, had he not trusted Shevann's abilities as a leader. And Riley nearly always considered Shevann to be a friend, even though they both knew they would gladly rip the other off were the opportunity to present itself. But there were times when Riley wondered if Shevann hadn't gone insane.

Obi-Wan was a perfect example. Shevann allowed alcohol on the island, but had the strictest policy against drug use of any boss Riley knew. Shevann had even dismissed one of Riley's own pilots for using spice, considered by nearly all to be a harmless recreational relaxant. And yet, Shevann employed a known drug addict and even appeared to pay him in drugs. (The irony was that Shevann assigned Obi-Wan to fly in the dismissed pilot's place until a replacement was found.) This morning Shevann had been adamant about not allowing Obi-Wan to have any erebus until after the mines were set despite the potential risk to the mission and now, with the ship coming in at any minute, Shevann had Obi-Wan so drugged that he was falling out of his chair. It didn't make sense.

There wasn't much he could do about it though, so Riley picked Obi-Wan off the floor and put him back in the chair. He probably would have been better off lying on his bunk, but he wasn't in any shape to walk so the lounge would have to do.

"I'm okay." Obi-Wan said without opening his eyes.

"Looks like you're more than okay." Riley said. He laughed. Obi-Wan seemed to have a three phrase vocabulary when he was on erebus. "I'm okay" was his usual statement, which appeared to be a universal assurance that he was still alive. The second, "I just need a minute" usually followed "I'm okay" and really meant that he would be more conscious in an hour or two. The final phrase, "Leave me alone" seemed reserved for Shevann.

"Are you going to be able to board with us?" Riley asked.

He had to wait a little while for his answer. "Uh-huh. I just need a minute."

Riley shrugged. He didn't know when the ship was coming in so if Obi-Wan was awake, he'd come, if he wasn't, he'd stay behind. He gave a wave to the pilots and walked out to continue his corridor pacing.

part 4

The freighter came in about an hour later and the Liberator was a bustle of activity. It was a pusher barge as Riley had predicted - its cargo containers secured to the front of it. Inside the containers were millions of credits worth of parts for the revolutionary new N-1 star fighter as well as a considerable wealth in precious metals. It was a good haul indeed.

Once the fighters had disabled the freighter's shields and anti-spacecraft weapons, the Liberator moved in and clamped its airlock to the hull. Inside the lock the entire crew waited expectantly, armed and alert. Riley and Shevann stood in front, ready to open the locks and storm the halls. They would need to fly the pusher to the buyer on Tatooine so the crew was going to have to go. Shevann was almost giddy. This was what he had lived for for so many years. It was good to be back.

At the back of the line Obi-Wan waited with Cort. They wore heavy gray coveralls and each carried a toolbox in one hand and a blaster in the other. They would go directly to the maintenance room to repair the damage the mines did to the hyperdrive while the rest of the crew swept the ship. Cort didn't really need the help, but it was nice to have someone to carry his other toolbox. He'd worked with Obi-Wan before and while he was a good mechanic; he was the worst tool thief Cort had ever seen. He was like a magnet or something. Work with Obi-Wan for ten minutes and half your tools would disappear into his box. And then he never knew where they were and would adamantly deny ever seeing them.

Riley and Shevann finished lasercutting the door to the freighter and the pirates burst through. Cort and Obi-Wan held back a few seconds to let them clear the way, but there was nobody there. The group split up and jogged down the corridors. Cort picked up his toolbox and motioned Obi-Wan to follow him. When he turned around he saw Obi-Wan was right behind him carrying only his blaster.

"Obi-Wan!"

"What?" he asked, perplexed.

"Your toolbox." Cort answered impatiently. He really didn't mind Obi-Wan, but this was so typical.

Obi-Wan glanced down at his empty hand and then at the toolbox he'd left behind. "Oh." He said and went to grab it. He trotted back with it and caught up to Cort who was already on his way to the engine room. "Sorry." He said as he slowed to match Cort's pace. Cort shrugged. He expected this sort of thing.

The door to the engine room was locked and sealed. Cort banged on it with his pistol, but no one opened it. Obi-Wan went to the wall panel and fiddled with it for a few minutes. Finally the door opened, sliding up into the ceiling with a rusty squeal.

Inside, an engineer worked frantically at the decaying hyperdrive. It looked so old as it was that Cort wondered if the seals weren't blown before it hit the mines. Obi-Wan stepped into the room with Cort behind him. The engineer looked up in surprise.

Cort aimed his blaster, but Obi-Wan put his hand over it and lowered it.

"There's a better way." He said quietly. He looked over at the engineer, still standing at his post, a spanner still held in one hand.

"Out." Obi-Wan said. The engineer didn't move. Instead he brought up a pistol and pointed it at Obi-Wan with a shaking hand.

"I said get out." Obi-Wan said. Cort saw the engineer's finger tighten on the trigger, but before he could do anything Obi-Wan was standing next to him, the muzzle of his gun pressed to the engineer's temple. He dropped his toolbox gently removed the pistol from the engineer's hand. "Now go." He said. The engineer turned away from him stiffly and slowly walked out the door. Obi-Wan locked it behind him.

"You could have just shot him." Cort said. "They will when they find him."

"Let them shoot him then. I'm just here to fix the hyperdrive." Obi-Wan answered and kneeled on the floor beside his toolbox. He flipped open the latch and raised the lid.

Cort inspected to hyperdrive. Despite its age it wouldn't be hard to get it running again. He nodded. "We can do this one. Start pulling seals." He said.

Obi-Wan liked this kind of work. He was glad that the captain had assigned him to help with the repairs rather than running all over the ship shooting people. He liked working on engines. Plus, there was something about good erebus that made even the most menial tasks such as pulling seals on a blown out hyperdrive endlessly fascinating. Each step in the process held it's own meaning and interest.

He sat with the seals lined up in front of them. Hitting the mine had caused them to blow apart leaving scoring and carbon behind. His first step would be to remove the carbon and smooth out the rough edges and score marks. He pulled a small sander from his toolbox and set to work, carefully removing all the carbon from the first seal. He worked silently, putting every ounce of effort and focus into cleaning the damaged seal. It was completely engrossing and he wondered if this feeling was what the masters at the temple were talking about when they told him to "be one with the moment." Could this be what they meant? Even if it was something as simple as repairing an engine?

Cort had a different style of working. He hummed and clattered about, trying to make small talk with Obi-Wan and occasionally checking his work. He didn't particularly like Obi-Wan's silent partner routine, but then again it was better than working with a jabberjaw who never shut up.

"They don't have to look like you just pulled them out of the box," Cort said inspecting the newly gleaming seal the Obi-Wan had just finished. "Just clean them up enough so they'll work again." Obi-Wan didn't seem to hear. Cort watched him for a few minutes, hunched over with a look on his face that was some where between intense concentration and bliss and shrugged. Working with Obi-Wan was like that. He took forever, but he did good work.

When the first seal was clean Obi-Wan lubricated it and clamped it back into place. Then he tested it to make sure that the fit was perfect. He smiled. There were still 8 more to go.

With the crew cleaned out and the men back in the Liberator, Shevann and Riley stood in the cockpit of the freighter. They were waiting for Cort and Obi-Wan to finish putting the hyperdrive back together so they could fly the ship and its cargo to Tatooine to sell.

"Sure is a hunk of junk." Riley said.

Shevann looked around at the grimy cockpit shaking his head. "I would never want to be a freighter pilot." He said, "Look at this cockpit. It's a sty. Who's going to fly it?"

Riley considered, and then a wicked smiled crossed his face. "You." He said.

"Oh, forget it Riley. I'm not flying this thing. No way."

"Oh yes you are. You told me yourself you were a part of my crew. Now go back to the Liberator and get your things. We'll see you on Tatooine."

Shevann gritted his teeth. "This is a dirty trick Riley. A dirty trick. Can I at least have a co-pilot?"

"Sure, anyone you like." Riley paused. "Except for me that is."

"Okay, him then." Shevann pointed at the entrance to the cockpit where Obi-Wan and Cort stood, their faces and clothes smudged with oil and grit. They were finished with the hyperdrive repairs and the last to report in. The two of them exchanged confused glances and then looked back at Shevann. "Obi-Wan will be my co-pilot." Shevann said.

"Where?" Obi-Wan asked.

"On this." Shevann gestured to the cockpit.

Obi-Wan looked around in annoyance and disgust. "No." he said.

"Sorry kid. That's the way it goes." Shevann said. "Go get our things off the Liberator."

Obi-Wan stood there for a second, biting his lower lip as he considered. "I can't." he said at last.

"Why?" Shevann asked.

"Because I don't know where ALL of our things are." Obi-Wan said. Riley stifled a chuckle.

Shevann heaved a sigh and shook his head in irritation. "Let's go." He said and grabbed Obi-Wan by the collar of his coveralls and pulled him down the corridor. Cort and Riley stood there watching.

"Almost makes you want to stay on doesn't it. Just to watch." Cort said.

"Almost." Riley said. "Poor Obi-Wan."

Cort laughed. "Are you kidding? I feel sorry for Shevann."

"You could be right. I'd go after them." Riley said.

Cort looked confused for a moment. "Why?"

"Do you really want to let Obi-Wan walk off with your entire toolbox like that?" Riley asked.

Cort watched them round the corner. "Blast! I'll never see it again. Thanks." He dashed after them.

The old freighter didn't jump into hyperspace; it crawled. Obi-Wan had never seen anything like it.

After several minutes of seemingly fruitless gear grinding Shevann said, "It's not going to go. You guys didn't repair the seals right."

"It'll go. Trust me." Obi-Wan said. Shevann looked doubtful. He eyed the gauges critically.

"We're not going to make it. No matter what you say." Shevann said.

"It's jumping now. I can feel it." Obi-Wan said.

"You're crazy. This thing's not going anywhere."

Instead of seeing the stars into front of him stretch as the ship accelerated, it shuttered and wheezed its way forward gaining speed incrementally. Finally, Obi-Wan looked at the gauges and saw that the ship had achieved light speed, though just barely.

"See," he said, "You must trust Obi-Wan."

Shevann grumbled something Obi-Wan couldn't quite hear and then left. Obi-Wan leaned back and put his feet up on the dash. He sighed deeply.

This was going to be a long trip.

"Let's see what they have to eat." Shevann said. It was a few hours later and he stood in the galley looking at the small selection of supplies. He opened a cabinet and saw stacks of uniform brown boxes. "Ugh. Ration boxes." He said.

Obi-Wan looked over Shevann's shoulder. "What kind?" he asked.

Shevann pulled a box out. 'Protein'." He said and made a face. He tossed it aside and pulled out a few more. "Protein, Protein, Protein." He read as he tossed the boxes behind him. "Protein isn't a flavor." Shevann concluded in disgust.

Obi-Wan knelt down and opened another cabinet to reveal more brown ration boxes. He pulled a few out. "These are 'protein' as well."

Shevann frowned. "Well. Gimme two of them." Obi-Wan handed him two of the boxes from the pile on the floor. Shevann slammed them into the heating unit and activated it. When the timer dinged a few seconds later he pulled the boxes out and tossed one to Obi-Wan.

"I ate already." Obi-Wan said.

"When?"

"This morning. Remember?"

"Obi-Wan having your breakfast spilled all over you hardly counts. Now take that in there and eat it. If I've got to eat this crap then so do you."

Obi-Wan sighed and took a spoon from the bin. He carried the box out to the small table that served as a dining area. Shevann joined him and tore the top off his box. He dipped his spoon in and tasted it.

"This is disgusting." Shevann said. "We should have stayed on the Liberator. Made someone else fly this bucket."

Obi-Wan took a cautious bite and then got up and left the room without a word. It was a surprising display of disobedience and Shevann started to get up, but Obi-Wan was already returning with a bottle of bright red sauce. He shook the sauce all over the brown mush and mixed it in. Then he continued eating.

"Does that help?" Shevann asked.

"I can taste it." Obi-Wan said.

Shevann grabbed the bottle and shook it onto his meal as well. Not to be out done, he put just a little more on his food than Obi-Wan had used. He stirred it in and took a bite. He chewed critically for a second and then yelped as the heat began to spread, burning his tongue and throat. He kicked his chair back and ran into the galley for water. After drinking several glasses, the fire was hardly dulled, but he returned to his seat.

"What are you trying to do to me, Obi-Wan?" Shevann asked hoarsely.

"I didn't tell you to put that much hot sauce on your food. In fact, I don't recall saying you could have any at all." Obi-Wan said, still chewing.

"You said it tasted better."

"I didn't. I said I could taste it."

"What do you mean you can taste it?"

"I can't taste anything unless it's really strong. Like this sauce. Benz found it for me on one of his supply trips. If I put a lot on it kind of tingles."

"Tingles? Yeah, I'll say."

Shevann attempted a few more bites of his dinner, but it was impossible. He was sweating and his eyes were watering and he could tell his face was bright red. He wondered if there were blisters on the insides of his mouth.

"You really can't taste anything?" Shevann asked.

Obi-Wan stared at him for a moment. "No." he said.

'"Is it because of the erebus?"

"Yes."

"I didn't know that."

"You should pay better attention."

Shevann put his spoon down and watched Obi-Wan finish what he wanted of his meal without an ounce of discomfort. Obi-Wan tossed the box aside and sat staring at Shevann; his feet propped against the table edge so he could push the chair back and balance it on 2 legs. Shevann hated Obi-Wan's icy gaze. It made him uncomfortable, like Obi-Wan was staring into him and could see all his secrets. But, he would never let on that he was uncomfortable. Instead he stared back with what he hoped appeared to be equal intensity.

"They say people can become addicted to chili peppers." Obi-Wan said after a long pause, his eyes still not leaving Shevann's. "That the heat of the peppers causes a chemical reaction in the brain similar to the effects of a narcotic. People start to crave hotter and hotter foods."

"So you can add that to your list." Shevann said.

"No, I can't. But you can add it to yours."

Shevann narrowed his eyes. "Shut up Obi-Wan." He said.

"Why? Would it be so bad? You certainly didn't care when you did it to me. You like hot sauce on protein." Obi-Wan pointed at him and Shevann suddenly had an overwhelming desire to eat more of his food despite the fact that it felt like his mouth was still on fire. He had already eaten a bite and was lifting his second spoonful to his mouth when he realized that Obi-Wan was making him do it.

"Stop that." Shevann said, gripping the spoon in a trembling hand. Obi-Wan continued balancing on his chair and grinned at him. Shevann flung the contents of the spoon at him but Obi-Wan ducked out of the way and it hit the floor with a plop. Not that it made a difference. He was still craving his totally inedible meal. "I said stop it." He repeated, his voice more menacing.

"You hate spoons." Obi-Wan said to him. Shevann dropped the spoon from his hand like it was hot. "But you're still hungry." Resisting the urge to simply dip his face into the carton of protein with every ounce of resolve he had, Shevann flung the box at Obi-Wan who deflected it with his hand and it splattered on the floor.

"That's okay. It tastes even better on the floor. You'll have to crawl over and eat some."

"You'll pay for this." Shevann growled. He was on his hands and knees on the grimy floor, crawling slowly toward the spilled carton. Moving like a robot, unable to stop, Shevann gave in. There was nothing he could do about it now, he'd forgotten how powerful Obi-Wan could be when he wasn't drugged. Shevann lowered his head and stuck out his tongue. To his horror he thought that he was going to actually lick the floor. He'd just barely touched his tongue to it when Obi-Wan released him and the raging desire that he had felt moments before evaporated. Shevann exhaled with relief.

"I just thought you should know what it's like." Obi-Wan said cheerfully.

Shevann stood up. He was shaking with anger and humiliation. Part of him wanted to strangle Obi-Wan with his bare hands, but he knew he couldn't. Obi-Wan had become too valuable to the operation. Instead Shevann went to work, gathering the boxes and utensils and taking them into the galley for disposal. "Sometimes you really give me the creeps Obi-Wan." He said.

"I try, Shevann." Obi-Wan said. "Oh, now that you have an insight into the nature of your own addiction, perhaps you could have some understanding when it comes to mine?"

Shevann was tempted to say "no", to tell Obi-Wan that he could never have any again. But of course, erebus was the key to control and so of course Shevann would give him some. It was both the punishment and the reward which Obi-Wan would gratefully accept thinking that somehow he had won when he had really lost. Feeling better, Shevann straightened up and brushed the dust of his knees. "Go check to see that everything is running smoothly and that we're still on course then meet me in the crew lounge." Shevann said. As sort of an after thought, he gave the table a quick shove and to his surprise threw Obi-Wan off balance. He heard the chair hit the floor with a crash as he dashed from the room. He wasn't going to wait around for Obi-Wan to retaliate.

Apparently, the crew of the freighter slept all the time. Or maybe they worked all the time. Shevann wasn't sure what they spent their free time doing, but what he did know was that he was bored. Besides having the worst food in the universe, the freighter lacked an onboard entertainment system. He couldn't find any games either. It had a crew lounge, but there was nothing for the crew to do in it but lounge.

Obi-Wan sat across from him. He had taken a dose of erebus a few minutes earlier and was now slumped in a chair with his chin sitting on his chest. Shevann stared at the top of his head, irritated that the one person he had to talk to was being completely non-communicative. Obi-wan had his eyes closed and a sort of curious half smile on his face. He seemed perfectly happy with the ship's facilities, both the food and the crew lounge. Perhaps the freighter had been manned entirely by drug addicts. Shevann imagined being on a ship full of people who needed to write everything down to keep from forgetting it seconds later. He certainly didn't want to be in command of that crew.

There was a jar of ancient looking hard candies sitting next to one of the couches. Shevann picked it up and shook the candies into his hand. He spent the next few minutes throwing them at Obi-Wan until Obi-Wan finally looked up, glaring at him through heavy lidded eyes.

"Leave me alone." He said and let his head drop back down.

Shevann shrugged and returned to searching the ship for something to do. He left Obi-Wan in the lounge and went to rummage around in the crew quarters. He didn't find much there. Six people on this ship for months at a time and there was nothing for them to do. It was a little hard to believe. Out of curiosity he searched through Obi-Wan's rucksack as well. Obi-Wan's things were all carefully packed and meticulously labeled. That might have been a source of entertainment in itself, but Shevann had seen it before. Hell, he practically lived it, though he had to admit it was better than the alternative.

Before Benz had taken it upon himself to "teach Obi-Wan to be a better drug addict" as he put it, Obi-Wan had been impossible. He lost everything that came into his possession, forgot to eat for days at a time until he fainted from hunger, and was generally such a pain in the ass that Shevann had considered shooting him more times than he could count. Shevann thought Benz was insane when he suggested that Obi-Wan live with him, but even he had to admit that Obi-Wan was much easier to deal with since then.

Finding nothing of interest belonging to Obi-Wan, Shevann switched back to the crew's lockers. They contained spare clothes, toothbrushes, and all sorts of sundry items. Finally in one, Shevann found a stack of nudie-holos. His men back on the island loved these things. Shevann had never found them to be of much use, the real thing was so much better. But, given that the options were spending the next few hours staring at the top of Obi-Wan's head or looking at naked women, he picked the women. Shevann carried the stack back to the lounge with him and set them down on the table.

After glancing through a few of them he was bored again. There was only so much entertainment one could get from pornography. He tossed one at Obi-Wan and watched as he lifted his hand to catch it several seconds after it landed in his lap.

"That's right. Use those Jedi reflexes Obi-Wan." He said and laughed. Shevann threw a few more of the holos at him.

Obi-Wan sat up abruptly and gave him another dull glare. "Why can't you just leave me alone?" he said and heaved himself out of his chair and stalked out of the room. Shevann put out his foot to trip him, but Obi-Wan sidestepped it with surprising grace. He stopped at the door and turned around.

"Don't follow me." He said.

"Why would I want to follow you?" Shevann asked.

Obi-Wan looked like he was about to answer when the ship suddenly shuddered and threw them both onto the floor. Obi-Wan was just rising to his feet when another tremor more intense than the first, sent him sprawling onto his stomach.

He looked up at Shevann, already on his feet and running out the door towards the cockpit. Obi-Wan got up and slowly followed, using the wall to keep his balance. He could feel that the ship was slowing, its hyperdrive no longer operational. They were adrift.

Shevann was already in the pilot's seat when Obi-Wan sat down in the navigator's position next to him.

"Tell me what's happening." Shevann said.

Obi-Wan tried to concentrate on the panel in front of him. The ship was under fire now and each time it bucked from the impact, he lost track of where he was looking on the console. The controls were in an unfamiliar configuration and it took all of his focus to understand it only to have it ripped from his memory each time the ship moved. He'd already forgotten what Shevann wanted to know and to make it worse Shevann had shouted half a dozen other questions at him, which he had forgotten as well. This was beyond him. He found it difficult just to speak when he was on erebus, let alone try to fly a ship. Obi-Wan turned to Shevann.

"I can't do it. I'm sorry." He said. Shevann glared at him and for a second Obi-Wan thought he was going to punch him. There was another direct hit to the front quarter and they were both thrown from their seats. Shevann shook his head and hopped back into his seat. As much as he hated to admit it, if they were going to get out of this, he needed Obi-Wan's help. He couldn't change the way Obi-Wan was so he'd have to adapt.

"You have to. I can't do this by myself. We'll go slower." He said. Obi-Wan pulled himself back into his chair and sat down. "Now, what happened to the engines?" Shevann asked and tried to hold the ship steady. Moving like he was in dream, Obi-Wan traced his finger along the controls. He stopped on the engine diagnostic monitor. It flashed lines of alphanumeric codes normally interpreted by astromech droids, but Obi-Wan knew enough of the codes to get by.

It took a moment to put the data together, but he got it. "The hyperdrive blew its seals again. It looks like we hit another mine."

"A mine? One of ours?"

Obi-Wan traced along the controls again until he found the right screen. "I don't know. Wait, yes. Maybe. No. I don't know."

"Which one is it?" Shevann said, growing impatient again.

Obi-Wan seemed to grow smaller in his seat. "I don't know."

Shevann took a deep breath. Slowly, they were doing this slowly. It didn't matter about the mines. "Okay, Obi-Wan. And the status of the shields?" He asked.

The shield status indicator was easy to find. "They're still up." Obi-Wan said, smiling now.

"Are the drive engines out too or just the hyperdrive?"

Obi-Wan went back to the engine diagnostic monitor. "Just the hyperdrive. Drive engines just need to restart."

"Okay, that's not bad. We've got four fighters buzzing us. You fire up the drive engines and lose the cargo. I saw an anti-spacecraft gun turret on the top of this thing. I'll get rid of some of those fighters."

"Shevann, I can't steer." Obi-Wan said.

Shevann winked. "I'm not asking you to dock it or anything. Drop the cargo and just keep us from hitting anything big." He handed Obi-Wan a headset and left the cockpit.

Obi-Wan moved to the pilot's chair and took the controls. He started the drive engine, which hesitated for a few moments before roaring to life. Then he pulled the cargo release and watched several dozen containers of fighter parts drift away. He pulled up and away from the cargo containers. He could feel the entire ship shudder each time Shevann fired the aging anti-spacecraft gun. He watched the scope and saw that the number of fighters dogging them was diminishing.

Without the hyperdrive there wasn't much they could do, however. Obi-Wan tried to read the new codes the monitor was flashing but it took too much attention away from steering so he stopped. Then the engines started to labor and a lock alert began flashing. They were caught in a tractor beam and Obi-Wan noticed on the scope for the first time that there was an additional ship besides the fighters. It had been waiting behind them and now it had them. Even as he shifted into reverse he couldn't break the freighter free. The engines whined in protest.

He heard Shevann over the headset. He sounded irritated. "Obi-Wan, what are you doing down there."

"Shevann." He called into the headset. "You better come down."

Part 5

They had been boarded. Never in his life had Shevann been boarded while flying a hijacked ship. There's a first for everything, he thought grimly. He and Obi-Wan sat on their knees side by side in the corridor outside the cockpit. Their hands were cuffed behind their backs and their captors regarded them with suspicion.

At first Shevann had thought another group of pirates had stalled the ship, which wouldn't have posed much of a problem. However, they had instead been boarded by some kind of security force that had been chasing them since they'd left for Tatooine. Since when did they have security for the shipping lanes? What was the universe coming to?

Beside him, Obi-Wan was having trouble holding his balance and struggled to keep from pitching forward. Shevann watched his eyes begin to close and kicked him.

"Stay awake." He whispered through clenched teeth.

"Trying." Obi-Wan whispered back.

Their brief conversation drew the attention of one of the guards. "I said I wanted silence." He shouted. He stared at Obi-Wan whose eyes had started to shut again. The guard pointed his short handled electro-prod at him.

"What's wrong with you? Are you drunk?" he asked.

"No." Obi-Wan said, still fighting to keep his eyes open. Flying the ship while resisting the effects of the drug had been exhausting and now it was everything he could do to keep from passing out.

The guard switched off the prod and nudged Obi-Wan hard between the shoulder blades. He lost his balance and fell forward on to his face. He struggled to pull himself upright but his was difficult with his hands tethered and after a minute or two of effort, he lay still.

"Leave me alone." Obi-Wan mumbled into the floor.

Instead the guards gathered around him, jabbing at him with their inactive electro-prods and asking him what was wrong with him. Which his hands tied he couldn't do anything but lie there and take it. Shevann had seen his men treat Obi-Wan in the same manner hundreds of times and never thought anything of it. Usually he instigated it. But it troubled him to see strangers doing it.

"He's a drug addict." Shevann said finally, "It doesn't bother me so it shouldn't bother you."

The guards stopped and turned their attention towards Shevann. He watched as Obi-Wan at last pulled himself upright again. "What is that supposed to mean?" One of the guards asked.

"It means leave him alone." Shevann said.

"You mean like this?" The guard asked. He slammed his activated prod between Obi-Wan's shoulders. He convulsed for a second and then slid to the floor unconscious. The guard took a step toward Shevann. He heard the prod before he felt it. And then everything was black.

Shevann had been tortured before. It had been a long time since he'd been on the receiving end, but it wasn't new to him.

They'd been at him since he opened his eyes. He was in a room and he could tell by the feel of it that they were no longer in space; they were on the ground, who only knew where. The room was so dim he could hardly make anything out. Two men seemed to drift in and out of the shadows, each time brandishing some new object with which to inflict pain. They were deliberately inconsistent. Sometimes their tortures were slow and agonizing such as hot metal dripped on his skin, searing his flesh. Other times they would appear and attack suddenly with such force that Shevann didn't even have time to cry out. They were skilled. Given different circumstances, Shevann would have offered them jobs.

They were asking him questions that didn't make sense. Was he working for the Trade Federation? Who was behind the hijacking of the freighter? Was he taking the cargo back to Corellia? Who did he work for? Some of the questions he knew the answers to, but they were never satisfied and asked them again and again.

He didn't know how long they worked on him, but Shevann could feel himself breaking down. He knew the stages of torture well and he was close to that point where he would tell them anything, anything at all to make them stop. Pain burned through every molecule in his body whether they were touching him or not. It didn't matter any more. His voice was hoarse from screaming and still straining against the bonds that held him, he was starting to drift in and out of consciousness despite the best efforts of the torturers to keep him awake.

And yet they continued hammering him with questions. Most of them were about the Trade Federation and political matters in the galactic senate. He was beginning to doubt that this was a security force as they claimed. Their questions were too directed towards their own interests, whatever they were. And torture was illegal in the republic, so they certainly weren't acting on behalf of the senate. By stealing that freighter they'd gotten themselves mixed up in the politics of another planet. Shevann had never cared much for politics and had never heard of the Trade Federation. From the sounds of things, it was a newly formed body to govern and tax trade routes throughout the galaxy. It didn't sound like they were particularly honest either. Shevann made a mental note that if he ever got out of whatever prison he was in, he'd have to find this trade federation and speak to them. It sounded like a good group to make an alliance with.

The blackness finally closed in on him. Shevann was glad.

When Shevann opened his eyes again, he was lying on the floor, no longer shackled to the wall. It was damp and cold and there still wasn't enough light to make out anything but vague outlines of walls and bars. He was in a cell on a planet somewhere. His interrogators hadn't let on much about where he was or why they had taken him there.

Shevann sat up with a groan. He'd forgotten what this was like, his whole body ached and even breathing hurt. He felt his face with his hands and they came away bloody. He stood up shakily and felt for the nearest wall, it was hard stone like the floor. He followed the perimeter of the room with his hand until he came to one made of bars. He reached out through them into the blackness and felt nothing. The impact of the pain was diminishing as his anger grew. How dare these people, whoever they were, take the freighter that he'd rightfully stolen? And then torture him? Did they have any idea who he was? Shevann gripped the bars in his hands and screamed.

It didn't help and it made his already sore throat burn more. He stopped, breathing hard. Then he thought he heard a sound.

"Who's that?" Shevann asked the darkness.

"Why do you care?"

"Obi-Wan?"

"What?"

Shevann was silent. Had Obi-Wan been there the whole time? Had heard him screaming and pleading with his captors? Had he watched the whole scene in complete silence? He hadn't imagined Obi-Wan could be so cold. "I guess you enjoyed that." Shevann said after a long pause.

"Why should I enjoy the pain of another?"

"I don't know. Maybe because you've been on the other side so many times."

"Do you think that matters to me?"

"Maybe." Shevann said. Obi-Wan shifted and Shevann was able to see his silhouette in the dim light. He was in the cell across from him, leaning against the wall.

"It doesn't." Obi-Wan said. "I don't care what happens to you."

He was silent after that and so was Shevann. They kept the silence up for several minutes that seemed to stretch on like hours. Finally Shevann spoke, "What time is it Obi-Wan?" he said.

There was a long pause and Shevann wondered if Obi-Wan was ignoring him. Then, "I don't know."

"You should be concerned. How many hours has it been?"

"I don't know."

"We need to get out of here." Shevann said.

"What do you mean 'we'?"

"I'm going to escape. You want to come with me?"

"No. I'm not going anywhere with you."

The two of them gazed across the corridor at each other wordlessly. Again the minutes ticked by. Shevann knew that they would need to escape no matter what Obi-Wan had said. Neither would make it alone, it was just a matter of how. With the place so dark it was hard to know even where the exit was.

There was a sharp sound and a door opened. For a moment a blinding light filled the room before the door was closed again. Shevann rubbed his eyes, unable to see anything. He heard his cell door slide open and then footsteps. As his eyes readjusted to the light, he saw someone kneel down in front of him.

"I'm going to bandage your wounds." She said and switched on a headlamp. Shevann couldn't see her face past the blinding light on her forehead.

A medic? Why, Shevann wondered, why send a medic. He asked, but she was silent. Shevann shut his eyes, happy to be free of the manacles. Working by the light of her headlamp, the medic cleaned and bandaged his wounds with practiced ease. Shevann tried to ask her questions; who was she? Why was she doing this? Where were they? But he was met with silence. He thought about Obi-Wan in the cell across. Had Obi-Wan been tortured like he had been.

"Are you going to help the boy in the other cell?" Shevann asked. Silence again. "He's a drug addict. He needs erebus or he'll die."

The woman finished her work and stood up. She stepped out into the corridor and shut the cell door behind her. Then, without a word, she left. In the light from the open door, Shevann saw his tunic and jacket lying in the corner and pulled them on.

"That was strange." Shevann commented.

"What are you trying to do?" Obi-Wan asked. "Why did you tell them that?"

"I'm just trying to help."

"Well, now they have a new way to get information from me thanks to you."

"They would have figured it out eventually."

"Maybe."

The door opened again. This time in the blinding light, they could see the shadow of a man as he stepped through the door and shut it. In the dim light, Shevann could see him stop in front of Obi-Wan's cell.

"Is this true?" The guard asked.

"Is what true?"

"Are you an erebus addict?"

Obi-Wan paused before saying. "No."

"What are you doing?" Shevann hissed. Obi-Wan didn't reply.

The guard turned away and they could hear his footsteps as he retreated towards the door. Then Shevann heard Obi-Wan speak again.

"I'm going to turn around." He said, "And let you out."

The guard stopped and turned. "What did you say?" he asked.

Obi-Wan took a deep breath. He couldn't mess this up. "I'm going to let you out of your cell." He said, his voice cracking with desperation.

"Obi-Wan!" Shevann whispered sharply.

The guard returned to Obi-Wan's cell. He laughed. "In case nobody told you. You're in the cell and I'm on the outside." Still laughing he turned around and walked toward the entrance. He was almost at the door when Obi-Wan tried one last time. Concentrating with everything he had, he spoke this time slowly and with purpose.

"I will let you out of your cell." He said.

The guard turned on one heel and stood before Obi-Wan's cell. "I will let you out of your cell." The guard repeated and Shevann could hear the lock of Obi-Wan's cell door open with a slide and a click. Obi-Wan stepped out and faced the guard who stood as if in a daze. In one swift motion, he grabbed the guard's side arm from its holster and used it to slam him hard across the face. Shevann saw the guard fall into the shadows and Obi-Wan leaned over him.

"Let me out." Shevann said, trying not to sound like he was pleading. "I'll help you."

"Help me what?"

"Help you escape."

In the dim light Shevann could see Obi-Wan shaking his head. "I don't need any more of your help." He said. He stood up and walked to the door. "Good luck Shevann." He called back. Shevann saw the door open and Obi-Wan stepped through and into the light. He shut the door behind him.

Shevann sank to the ground. And that was the last he would see of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He sighed. It was to be expected, he supposed. He knew that the key to Obi-Wan's loyalty was erebus, but he was still surprised. There were times when he thought that maybe he and Obi-Wan were friends. He wondered if Obi-Wan would make it.

Minutes passed and Shevann sat back wondering about his own escape plans. He certainly couldn't make the guard let him out like Obi-Wan had done. Shevann was going to have to think of another way out. At least his wounds had been tended to and he noticed that while they were painful, none of them were too serious. Enough to slow him down were he to try to run, but not life threatening. Maybe this was part of their torture, break him down and then build him up again so the next time it was that much worse. He couldn't allow a next time. Shevann made up his mind; he would escape.

He was trying to reach outside his cell to tinker with the locking mechanism when the door opened. Shevann drew his hand back through the bars quickly. The door didn't shut this time; it stayed ajar lighting the dingy cells. Shevann could see the rough stone glistening with moisture. He could also see that standing before his cell was Obi-Wan.

"I have to let you out." Obi-Wan said.

Shevann was shocked. He hadn't expected to ever see Obi-Wan again and now he had returned to free him. He looked at Obi-Wan's face and saw that the boy appeared equally shocked by his own actions. He used the electronic key he'd taken from the guard and opened the door to Shevann's cell.

Shevann stepped out and the two of them stared at each other as though trying to read the other's thoughts.

"It will be easier with two of us." Shevann said at last.

Obi-Wan seemed eager to have a reason for his actions. "Yes," he agreed. "It will."

Together they ran from the prison and into the hallway.

Part 6

They had had no time to plan an escape and so they wandered the halls blindly, not even sure of what planet they were on. Still, it was better than being locked back in the cells.

"We're below ground." Obi-Wan said, "We need to find a stairway or a lift."

Keeping close to the walls, Shevann and Obi-Wan sneaked through the hallways. Though the hall outside their cells had been brightly lit, the rest of them were more dimly lit, not as dim as their cells, but enough that they could duck into the shadows if needed. They never did. The place was deserted.

Obi-Wan led, holding the guard's blaster in his hand. He rounded a corner and saw a stone staircase that spiraled up several floors. He motioned to Shevann.

"Where is everybody?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I don't know. It doesn't seem right does it?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "Let's go." He said. They crept up the stairs until they reached a heavy wooden door. Obi-Wan closed his eyes and tried to feel if their was anyone on the other side. He couldn't tell. He took a deep breath and pushed it open. Leading with the blaster, he stepped through and gasped.

Where the lower levels had been damp and rank, Obi-Wan now stood on marble so polished he could see his reflection. The walls were marble as well with giant columns of carved stone lining them. Hallways branched off in several directions.

Shevann stepped through and stood behind him. "Wow." He said. They should have been running, but instead they could only stare.

"What is this place?" Obi-Wan asked, gazing up at the ornate carved ceiling. He'd never seen anything like it.

Shevann couldn't even begin to guess. It could have been a palace or perhaps some rich gangster's home. He was about to answer when he heard the zing of blaster fire. He turned and saw several guards dressed similarly to the ones who'd boarded the freighter running towards them, their guns drawn. Obi-Wan returned fire and two of them dropped to the ground.

"Let's go." Shevann said. He started down on of the hallways.

"Not that way." Obi-Wan said, "This way." He took off in a different direction. Shevann had to sprint to catch up with him. They ran, still pursued by the guards.

"How do you know?" Shevann asked.

"I just know. This is the right way out." They turned the corner and came to a skidding stop in front of a giant leaded glass window. It over looked a city so colorful and opulent that it resembled a painting. A narrow bench sat along the window's length. Presumably this was an alcove meant to provide one with a private place to consider the riches below. Obi-Wan and Shevann didn't have time to contemplate the view.

"The way out huh?" Shevann said. They were several stories off the ground and the window was a dead end. "You got us trapped."

Obi-Wan covered his eyes with one hand and fired on the giant window until it shattered, spraying broken glass around them like thousands of tiny crystals. Shevann peaked his head around the corner.

"They're coming." He said.

Obi-Wan looked out over the window. It was too far even for him to jump down. They would have to climb down the ornate carvings on the outside. "Hurry Shevann. Start climbing." He said. Shevann looked over the edge. It was only a few stories, but the drop was treacherous. Vertigo forced him back inside.

"You're insane. We can't climb down from up here."

"We have to."

Realizing that Obi-Wan was right, Shevann climbed gingerly out the window and held on to the outside of the building. He didn't have a problem with heights, but this was beyond reasonable. The carvings provided holds, but they were slippery and oddly shaped. He stopped a moment to catch his breath. Then slowly, he lowered himself down, his feet searching for footholds. Obi-Wan remained behind and Shevann could hear firing above him as the guards rounded the corner. He kept up his descent, trying to find places where he could take cover. The wounds on his back and arms screamed in protest, but he held on. Shevann wondered how Obi-Wan was fairing. The question was answered when a few seconds later, Obi-Wan dove from the window, catching the edge of the stone ornamentation in his hands as he fell. He hung on for a moment swinging crazily, and then clung tightly to the wall as the guards fired down at him. Then stopping only to fire back, he began to climb downwards.

It wasn't easy. The carved stone was difficult to find hand and foot holds in. Shevann wasn't quite sure how Obi-Wan had managed to catch and hold on to it as he fell, but he didn't have time to dwell. A lot of the things Obi-Wan did were a complete mystery to him. He continued downward, Obi-Wan quickly catching up. They reached a platform wide enough to walk on about halfway down. Obi-Wan led the way around the side of the building. From there it was an easier climb down, but already Shevann could see guards swarming around the outside of the building.

"Through there." Shevann pointed to a low stone arch that would give them cover as they made their way down. Obi-Wan followed Shevann underneath the arch. There were stairs there and so they ran down them, taking two and three at a time. The guards were on them almost instantly when they reached the bottom. There was nothing to do but keep running.

Shevann's lungs were starting to burn and a cramp had started in his side as he followed Obi-Wan through the winding streets. They were running full speed, arms swinging, feet pounding the stone streets. It was liberating after even their short incarceration, but he wasn't sure where they were going and there was no way to discuss it. They certainly couldn't run like this forever. Finally Obi-Wan ducked into an open doorway and they stood doubled over panting and coughing in the darkness.

"What do you think we should do?" Obi-Wan asked between gasps.

"I don't even know where we are." Shevann said. "We need to find a ship, a way off this planet."

"We need to find some erebus first." Obi-Wan said.

Shevann peered back out into the street. They were in what appeared to be a very wealthy city or at least the ritzy part of town. They needed to find some place seedier. The chances of them finding drugs or an off planet transport here were slim to none. "We're not going to have any luck with that here. We need to keep moving."

Obi-Wan nodded and tucked the blaster into his belt. He was about to peek around the door when the calm was broken by blaster fire. They had been discovered. Without a word they ran into the depths. They had been standing in some kind of covered alleyway and now as they ran through the darkness they had to step over and dodge piles of garbage and other refuse. Shevann tripped and fell in a puddle of nameless muck. Despite the poor light, Obi-Wan never tripped, moving easily through the clutter as though it wasn't there at all. Shevann hated him for that.

Finally, they burst through the door out to another row of buildings. Obi-Wan ran to a grill cover in the street and with difficulty began prying it open. "We have to go back underground." He said.

"No way. We don't know where that leads." Shevann looked around anxiously. The guards could be there at any moment. They should have been running. They had a good head start and now they were squandering it.

"There's water under the city." Obi-Wan said. "Canals and tunnels. They'll take us where we need to go."

Shevann turned and watched Obi-Wan struggling with the cover. "How do you know?"

"I just know. I can feel it moving."

Shevann grabbed one end of the metal grate and the two of them hauled it aside. The guards were through the alleyway now and the fugitives barely had time to jump down through the hole.

They landed on a platform besides a swiftly flowing underground river.

"You were right." Shevann said.

"C'mon." Obi-Wan was already running alongside the river, which was lit from above by open grills like the one they had come through. Unfortunately the platform was a dead end on both sides, the river disappearing into a tight tunnel of rushing water.

"You've trapped us again. What's the matter with you?" Shevann said.

Obi-Wan looked around. He was growing frantic; he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up. It had been hours since they had been taken from their ship. There had to be an exit. Then he felt it, beneath this river; there were other canals that connected via underwater passages. That was their way out. The guards wouldn't be able to follow them. Even now he could sense one of the passages. Shevann wouldn't be able to swim it, but Obi-Wan knew he could and pull Shevann through as well. The guards were coming through the grate and he and Shevann ducked behind a wall support for cover.

"We have to swim." Obi-Wan said, pausing to return fire from behind their cover. "There are tunnels under the water that will get us out."

Shevann shook his head emphatically. "No way. I can't swim. We'll have to think of something else."

"I can. I can do it, you just have to hold on."

Shevann pointed at the fast water. "In that?" he asked.

"Yes, I can do it. I can take us to safety." Obi-Wan yelled over the sound of the blasters and rushing water. They didn't have time for this. They were going to have to move soon or risk capture a second time.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Shevann asked, edging towards the water.

"Just get in and hold on. Don't let the current take you." Obi-Wan said.

Shevann crawled to the water and slowly lowered himself in. It was freezing and he found it hard to hold onto the pipes that ran along side it. He watched Obi-Wan tuck the blaster into his pocket and slither into the river after him. Both of them clutched at the slippery pipes, fighting the water that threatened to carry them away.

"Take a deep breath," Obi-Wan instructed, "Then grab onto me, something you can hold tight. After a while you'll want to inhale, don't."

"You could be trying to drown me." Shevann protested.

"I rescued you. What would be the point?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"I'm your padawan, remember?"

Shevann was momentarily stunned. He had called Obi-Wan that just to gall him and from Obi-Wan's reaction he was successful. But that had been years ago on his thirteenth birthday. Had the boy taken him seriously?

"Hold on." Obi-Wan said. Shevann wrapped one hand tightly around Obi-Wan's belt. Obi-Wan nodded and they both took deep breaths. Then Obi-Wan plunged into the water.

Shevann gripped tightly and even tried to kick to help Obi-Wan fight the current. He opened his eyes, but it was so dim he could hardly see. Obi-Wan made slow but steady progress towards a small grotto, a black recess on the wall of the canal. As Obi-Wan swam through, what light there was, faded and they were left in darkness. The only relief was that they were free of the pull of the rushing water.

Shevann reached out with his free hand and felt the slippery walls of the passageway, covered with algae and slime. Obi-Wan kept swimming, pulling the two of them through the water with powerful strokes. He tightened his grip around the boy's belt, but he was beginning to panic. It was taking too long. Bright spots danced in front of his eyes in the darkness.

Obi-Wan was still swimming forward. Shevann knew this was a bad idea, he kept his hold on Obi-Wan's belt and tried to pull him back out of the passage, digging his heels into the muck. They had to get back to the surface. He would drown if they stayed here. Obi-Wan fought against Shevann's pull and finally grabbed him tightly by the wrist. Shevann couldn't fight his grip and concentrated on not inhaling water as Obi-Wan towed him. They were moving upwards now, still in complete darkness. He'd had nightmares like this, night closing in, slowly suffocating and powerless to stop it. It was getting difficult to concentrate. Shevann hoped Obi-Wan knew what he was doing.

They surfaced in a small cistern in a domed room. High above them metal grates let in sunlight from above. Shevann felt himself being pushed out of the water onto the cold stone, as he took grateful shuddering breaths. He opened his eyes and saw Obi-Wan was still in the water, gripping the side tightly and doing much the same.

"It was further than I thought." He coughed and slowly hauled himself out of the cistern.

The two of them lay recovering on the cold ground for a few minutes, finally safe. The guards couldn't have followed them through there. Shevann wasn't sure what to do next. He lay back on the stone floor, catching his breath. It had been a whirlwind escape. He hadn't run like that in years and he was still weak from the guards' torture. He couldn't go on without a break. Shevann looked over at Obi-Wan, sitting up and shivering as he tried to wring the water out of his clothes and hair.

"We have to rest." Shevann said.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I don't have time to rest." He answered sadly.

That's when Shevann realized that Obi-Wan wasn't shivering because he was cold.

He thought for a few moments. It wasn't a big deal, not yet at least. If Obi-Wan was starting to shake now, he still had several useful hours left. Enough time to get out of the tunnels and find the drug he needed more than likely. Then again, he didn't know how far they had to go.

"Well, don't panic." Shevann said.

Obi-Wan pulled the blaster from his pocket and looked at it. "I'm not." He said turning it over in his hands.

"Why don't I take that?" Shevann offered.

Obi-Wan pointed the blaster at Shevann and pulled the trigger. Shevann's breath caught and he felt his heart stop. He was so surprised that for a moment, that he thought Obi-Wan had actually shot him. Then he realized that Obi-Wan was testing the weapon and it had failed to fire. Shevann leaned over snatched it from his hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" he admonished.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "The power cell flooded. It's dead." He said.

"Yeah, well don't test it by pointing it at me!" Shevann said, not bothering to mask the irritation in his voice. "Point it at the wall or something. What if it had fired?"

"It didn't."

"And what if it had?"

"Then you'd be dead." Obi-Wan said neutrally. He stood up. "We should go." He said. He looked around at the half a dozen tunnels branching off from the room. "This way." He said and started down one of them. Shevann threw the useless blaster aside and followed.

Obi-Wan wasn't panicking yet, but he was on the edge of it. He had never been in this situation before. He was familiar with withdrawal as it was one of Shevann's favorite past times to deprive him of the drug and see what he would do to get it. And much to Obi-Wan's own dismay, Shevann had yet to come up with anything he wouldn't do, it was always just a matter of time. Still, the deprivation was artificial. The drug was there; Shevann just wouldn't give it to him. This was a different situation entirely and as much as he tried to hide it from himself, it made him afraid. Obi-Wan thought about the addicts that he had seen at the spaceports, they lived like this all the time so it had to be possible. He could do this.

It made him think of the first time he felt the pain of withdrawal. Up until that moment, Obi-Wan hadn't fully understood what was going on, even though he thought he had. After the Monument had been boarded, Obi-Wan had woken up drugged and bound and when he tried to escape he'd killed the man who stood in his way: Jedi Knight Vayrann. It was an unforgivable mistake and so when the pirates recaptured him and once again injected him with their drugs, he accepted it and was even pleased to have an escape. And that was how it was for several months.

Then, one afternoon instead of giving him the drug as he always did, Shevann locked him in a cell. It had been terrifying, first the shaking and then the pain that seemed to be tearing him apart from the inside. Shevann left him there for hours before allowing Benz to enter. When it was over, and Obi-Wan felt better, he and Benz had sat in the cell and talked. Until then, Obi-Wan had thought that he was doing this of his own freewill, that he was allowing the pirates to give him the drug because he liked it and it seemed a fair trade for putting up with them; but after that day everything was different. The trade wasn't fair, Shevann held the key to his life and he was forever changed, no longer able to be the person he had been.

Shevann let him out of the cell and Obi-Wan ran up to the rocks that over looked the ocean. He sat up there for hours, thinking about who he had been and what he had trained for. And as he looked out at the waves with his dulled senses, ones that would remain that way for the rest of his life, Obi-Wan tried to cry but found he couldn't. That day he ceased to think of himself as a Jedi pupil; that part of him was gone. He was a failure and a drug addict and that was all.

Obi-Wan jogged through the semi-darkness until he reached a dead end. He turned around as Shevann jogged up behind him.

"Looks like we've reached the end." Obi-Wan said.

Shevann slapped his palm on his forehead in irritation. "I should leave all the Jedi crap to someone who actually completed their training. Perhaps if you looked for dead ends, maybe then you'd find us a way out." He said.

Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes. "Well then you're the fool who's following me. And I did complete my training." He said, "I just didn't go on to be a knight."

"Oh right. You were going to be a farmer or something."

"I would have fed whole worlds." Obi-Wan said, trying to sound convinced himself. "There's honor in that too." He felt the walls and listened. Even though this looked like a dead end, it didn't feel like one. He was still on track, he could still feel water moving and somehow, though he didn't know how yet, that was the key to their escape.

"Yeah, whatever. It would have been a total waste of your talents."

Obi-Wan frowned. "What would you know about it?"

"A lot more then your pals at the temple. You would have been a terrible farmer."

Obi-Wan said nothing. Shevann was right of course. He looked down at his feet and saw he was standing on a wooden doorway. It was locked. Obi-Wan moved aside and pulled on it, testing its strength.

"I would have picked you." Shevann said.

Obi-Wan stopped working and turned to face him. "So you keep telling me. You're hardly a Jedi master though." He inspected the lock again. It was an old fashioned type of lock and very rusty. It was the kind that could be picked if he'd had the right tools and his hands weren't shaking so badly. He showed the lock to Shevann who nodded his head and started working on it.

"You know what I don't get about this city? The direction of the water." Obi-Wan said. "If you were going to build a city with canals to carry waste and refuse, where would you put the nice part of town?"

Shevann stopped playing with the lock and furrowed his brow. "Upriver," he said, "so that all the crap flows down stream."

"Exactly, but the water flowed in the direction of that palace. And it was clean." Obi-Wan said.

With a quick turn of his wrist, Shevann snapped the lock open. He held the results of his work up for Obi-Wan to see.

"The water we swam in was just for show. There must be other canals where the water flows the opposite direction. If we can find that water and follow it, it will lead us to where we need to go." Obi-Wan continued. He and Shevann lifted the heavy door, revealing a metal ladder extending down into darkness. Obi-Wan looked down into the hole and then smiled.

"We've found it." He said.

The lower level tunnels weren't pleasant. Lit by dim lights along the ceiling, they were easy to walk through because the water only came up knee high at the most and some times slowed to a trickle along the stones. But these were also the tunnels used to carry waste away from the city so the stench was intolerable. Watching Shevann gag when they first entered, Obi-Wan was glad he'd lost his sense of smell. Now the two of them slogged through the muck, following the water to what they hoped was the bad part of town.

Behind him, Shevann could tell that Obi-Wan was tiring, stumbling on the rough stones and occasionally stopping to lean against the wall to catch his breath. Shevann was exhausted as well. Blood seeped through the now stained bandages and he hadn't eaten in hours, a whole day unless you counted the spoonfuls of protein that Obi-Wan had forced him to eat. Each step was a burden. Shevann stopped and turned around.

"We have to rest." He said.

This time Obi-Wan didn't protest. He was leaning against the wall and slowly slid down to a sitting position. He sat hugging himself and shivering violently. Shevann sat down as well; he was cold and damp all over anyway so sitting for a moment on the wet ground didn't matter. He leaned against the wall with his eyes shut and thought about what an idiot he was. He'd wanted excitement and now he'd had more than enough. All this adventure stuff was poo-doo; he was ready to go back to his desk and boss people around again. Sitting in a stinking sewer on a nameless planet, he hadn't felt this low since he was Obi-Wan's age, living like a scavenger on the streets, knowing that someday he would have something better if he only kept his focus.

And it had worked. Despite being an orphan, left to fend for himself at a young age, he had learned to read and write. Later he had gone to school, under the pretense of studying law. But, he knew he would never be a straight citizen in the civilized universe. When he was old enough, he took what he had learned about politics, business, and psychology and turned it against the straight world. Turned it around to make a profit for himself without having to fit in to the mold of polite society. He was better than them.

He opened his eyes and looked at Obi-Wan, still sitting against the wall in silent agony. Shevann had seen it before of course. He knew the stages of erebus withdrawal almost as well as Obi-Wan did. Were they back at the outpost, Shevann would be very very close to getting his way at this point. Obi-Wan rarely held out much longer than this.

But they were not at the outpost and the tunnel seemed to stretch before them endlessly.

"You'll be okay Obi-Wan." Shevann said. Obi-Wan stared at him with hollow eyes, but said nothing. He seemed to summon all his strength and stood up, still holding onto the wall for support.

"Far to come, far to go it is. Cold and warm, it is. Seek what you are looking for, you will. Find it here, you shall. Listen." Obi-Wan said.

Shevann looked at him in confusion and disbelief. "What are you talking about?" he asked at last.

Obi-Wan tried to use his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his forehead and only succeeded in smearing his face with mud. He started walking again, his hand trailing along the slime-covered wall. Shevann stood and followed. "Yoda said that to me." Obi-Wan said.

"Who's Yoda?"

"One of my teachers. That's what he told me my first day at the temple."

"When was that?"

"I was a year old."

Shevann stopped walking and Obi-Wan turned around. "I don't believe you." Shevann said.

Obi-Wan looked almost hurt. "Why not?"

"Be serious Obi-Wan. Sometimes I think the only reason you even know your own name is because I shout it at you all day. Now you're telling me you remember stuff from when you were a baby?"

Obi-Wan turned back and resumed their trek through the tunnel. "I remember a lot more than you think I do. That's what Yoda said to me."

They trudged in silence, slowing when the water rose to knee deep, speeding up slightly when its level lowered.

Part 7

They'd been walking for what seemed like hours and there seemed to be no signs of a way out or even an end to the underground tunnel. Shevann was beginning to wonder how smart it had been to come down here when he heard a splash behind him. He turned to see that Obi-Wan had fallen to his knees and was now sitting chest deep in the murky water. He wasn't even trying to get up.

"Come on. Let's go." Shevann said. Obi-Wan was shivering violently, hugging himself with his arms in a vain effort to conserve body heat.

Without looking up, Obi-Wan shook his head.

Shevann grabbed him by one arm and tried to haul him to his feet. Obi-Wan resisted, pulling sharply from Shevann's grasp. "Don't touch me." He shouted.

"Then get up." Shevann said.

Obi-Wan was still huddled miserably in the water. "I can't." he said, "It hurts too much."

Reluctantly, Shevann knelt beside him in the chilly water. "Look, you want to get out of here right?" he said. Obi-Wan nodded slowly. "Now, I promise I will find you what you need, but you have to cooperate."

"Why are you even doing this?" Obi-Wan asked.

Shevann knitted his brow in thought. Why was he doing this? "Did you ever have a pet Obi-Wan?" Shevann asked.

Obi-Wan shook his head.

"Well, I did. I had a Cervarian sewer rat when I was eight. I kept it in a box and fed it scraps every day. I..."

Obi-Wan looked up frowning. "Shut up. I don't want to hear your dumb story."

Shevann pushed him back into the water. "I don't care what you want. Listen. I took care of that rat because I caught it and I put it in a box. It was my responsibility. Do you understand?"

"Are you comparing me to a pet rat?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously.

"No. I'm just saying, I understand my responsibilities. You didn't ask for this, so it's my job to keep you alive."

Obi-Wan looked away. "No." he agreed, "I didn't ask for this."

Shevann stood up, letting the water drip from his clothes. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asked again.

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes." He said.

"Then let me help you." When Shevann held out his hand Obi-Wan took it.

At first Shevann thought the ladder wasn't real, that he was imagining it. His second thought was that it was the same ladder they had climbed down and they had been walking in circles. But it wasn't. Looking at it as it extended up into darkness, Shevann knew this was a new ladder and a way out. He let go of Obi-Wan who sagged to the ground without a word.

"Get up. We have to climb." Shevann said. For a moment, Shevann thought they were going to do a repeat of the last time Obi-Wan had fallen; he lay coughing weakly in the mud with his eyes shut, but he slowly got to his hands and knees and started crawling towards the ladder. He put one hand on the lowest rung and stopped.

Shevann grabbed Obi-Wan under the armpits and hauled him to his feet. "All you have to do is hold on." He said and wrapped both Obi-Wan's hands around the ladder. Then he lifted his feet onto the lowest rung. Swaying slightly Obi-Wan held on, his eyes shut in concentration. "This is going to take forever." Shevann muttered to himself and he took Obi-Wan's hands and placed them a rung higher, then he matched his feet one rung higher. At least they were climbing.

It was slow going and as they got higher, a little frightening. Shevann wasn't sure how long Obi-Wan was going to be able to hold on and his own grip on the slippery metal was tenuous. The extra climbing up and down Shevann had to do to move Obi-Wan's feet up each time was wearing him out as well. He would have asked Obi-Wan to do that part himself, but it appeared to take all of his energy just to hold on. A few times Shevann's foot slipped and he imagined the two of them plunging back down to the hard stone floor below. After a while, he alm