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That was all he felt, standing there. His clothes were drenched with sweat and his muscles ached with tension and fatigue. He panted, gasping in the hot air and expelling it with twice as much effort. The roaring of the energy reactor below was loud in his ears, mingled with the buzzing hum of the pinkish force field that held him trapped, unable to reach his master.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was afraid.

Not just afraid for his own life, though that was a factor. Whatever the identity of the mysterious warrior who had found them here, he was obviously dangerous. Simply looking into the yellow eyes, seeing the double-blade of the lightsaber shoot out from the hilt, was enough to make even the bravest Jedi quail. And in the Force, when Obi-Wan at first reached out to gauge him, all he found was a dark, black hole, as if the light side had ceased to exist. But that was the least of it. Obi-Wan was young and quick, could parry the blows of his attacker with relative ease. But Qui-Gon Jinn could not. Even with the Force and the skill of years of lightsaber training, Qui-Gon was growing old. And Obi-Wan feared the day when his master would not be quick enough to defend himself from that killing blow.

And then it would be all over.

Looking through the layers of pulsing energy that separated him from the two combatants, Obi-Wan felt a surge of resentment seeing his master kneeling there so peacefully in meditation. How could he be so calm with his enemy just inches away, deadly saber held at the ready, separated from that killing blade by just a thin layer of electrons? Obi-Wan would have been terrified. As of now he was terrified, both for himself and for his master, feeling the fear that Qui-Gon obviously did not feel. How did Qui-Gon find the strength to empty his throughs of all fear, all emotion?

He clenched the handle of his saber, willing the force fields to vanish as if he could make them respond to his call. The fear grew, and along with it, shame and jealousy. A Jedi Knight knew no fear. How then could he face the trials as Qui-Gon had said, as he himself had told the council? He had lied. Qui-Gon knew how much the young Jedi idolized him, how close Obi-Wan and he had grown through the years. He had been a father to a frightened boy away from his family, away from everything he had ever known. How could he cast away years of friendship and care for another, a boy he had only met days before?

With effort he wrenched his thoughts back to the present. The black-cloaked warrior stalked back and forth through the narrow confines of the field, watching Qui-Gon with slitted yellow eyes. The eyes shifted, looked up, focusing on him. Obi-Wan shivered. His hands slipped on the sweaty handle of his saber and he swallowed. The eyes turned away, back to the meditating Jedi before him.

Without warning the force field died and Obi-Wan sprinted forward towards the battle still too far away. The horned alien lunged, but Qui-Gon was quicker, blocking the red blade with his own yellow-green. The Jedi Master thrust, parried, almost stumbled. Obi-Wan willed his legs to pump faster, his lightsaber ignited, his breath short and fast in his own ears.

Master! I'm coming!

He was close enough now to see the strain in the set of Qui-Gon's shoulders, the tension in the lined face as he barely turned a sweep from the horned warrior. Obi-Wan's feet pounded on the metal deck, loud above the hum of lightsabers.

He hurtled forward, then bounced against something hard, stopped short. The force field had reactivated, separating him from Qui-Gon by only a thin wall of transparant energy. His hands worked in frustration and he almost dropped his lightsaber, pounding it against the field in growing desperation.

Damn!

The lightsaber hum whistled through the field, weirdly distored and filtered as if echoing from a thousand walls. Qui-Gon stpped back, parried. The horned alien drove relentlessly back, pushing Qui-Gon. Pushing, pushing. Obi-Wan shivered, watched helplessly, trapped.

And then, almost too quick for the eye to see, the horned alien lunged, feinted, thrust. Qui-Gon's eyes widened in surprise and then pain. From his back protruded a pulsing scarlet beam of energy. He stumbled, fell to his knees jerkily.

Master! Master!

"Noooooooooooo!"

Obi-Wan beat at the field with his hands, his saber, the tears coming too fast and hard and the great tide of fury welling up within him. He panted, the harsh sound mixing with the echoing of the field and the hum of the main reactor. Through the tears he saw the horned alien turn, glare at him with hot yellow eyes full of hatred and disdain, then jerk the saber blade from Qui-Gon's body. Qui-Gon fell to the deck, limp, lifeless.

Obi-Wan felt the anger coming and for once did not push it away.

The force field hummed and then disappeared and he lunged forward, saber slashing even before he felt it make contact with the other's blade. Skill was forgotten. He raised, hacked downward, meeting something soid. The tears blinded him and he welcomed the anger, fueled it, adrift in a sea of scarlet tides and the fire of vengeance.

Again and again. Down. Something gave under his saber and he vaguely saw the alien stumble, a look of pure surprise on his face, as the two bladed saber suddenly was only one. He slashed, slashed again-

And suddenly he was falling as the ground gave out from under him. He panicked, grabbed at something. Anything. His hand caught hold of something solid and he scrabbled at his with nerveless fingers, frantically clinging as he fought his panic back under control.

Don't look down.

And then he was there, the horned warrior, disdain written plainly on the red-and-black tatooed face. With a smirk he raised the now single-bladed saber, slashed at the mouth of the pit where Obi-Wan hung. A faint clatter behind him. With sinking heart he realized his saber was gone, fallen down into the darkness of the shaft where he was barely hanging alive. The alien slashed at the shaft again, glancing down with a sneer that clearly indicated what he thought of the whole duel.

Master!

He choked back a sob, fought to remain calm. He thought of Qui-Gon lying there, face peaceful, arm outstretched to where his lightsaber had fallen a short distance away.

His lightsaber...

Without thought Obi-Wan called the Force to him, straining. He felt the saber move slightly. He emptied himself of all pain, all anger, all fear, felt the Force flow through him.

And then he was free of the shaft, Qui-Gon's saber landing firmly in his hand even as he came down hard at the mouth of the energy shaft and he swung-

The horned warrior's mouth opened but there was no sound. Then a slight gurgle as the yellow eyes met his.

I underestimated you, Jedi.

And then the dark warrior fell backward, tumbling head first into the pit, body separating into two halves where Qui-Gon's saber had connected with living flesh.

For a moment Obi-Wan stood, panting, feeling the exultation wash over him, and then he remembered. The euphoria vanished, leaving a deep well of pain and loss. He stumbled to his master's side, cradled the graying head in his lap, weeping freely now.

"Master. Master."

Qui-Gon moved feebly, the lips parting, the voice almost too faint to be heard over the shriek of the energy reactor in the background. "It is...too late for me, Obi-Wan."

The tears came faster and he shook his head frantically, hands moving over the still body, trying, somehow, someway. "No! No!"

"The boy..." It was a whisper, the last breath of a dying man. "Promise me you will train him."

He nodded blindly. Anything. Anything for Qui-Gon, the master who had been the only father he had ever known. He clutched the head tighter in his lap, his shoulders heaving.

With a shadow of a smile, the elder Jedi reached up with trembling fingers, touched the cheek of his apprentice, stroked the smooth flesh. Spoke to him through the Force.

You have been my son.

Obi-Wan cried out in the terrible emptiness looming over him. Master...Master...you can't die. Not now. Not like this. Not before I-

Before you what?

I need you. I can't finish the training. Not on my own.

Qui-Gon smiled. The fingers lingered for a moment, warm and comforting, then slipped away.

We must all let go sometime, my son. I told the truth to the council. You are ready. You proved yourself today. Look to the future, as Yoda told you. Look to Anakin. Be a father to him as I was to you.

Yes. Yes, Master.

Qui-Gon's eyes flickered and Obi-Wan felt him receding, drawing away, the warm presence fading until only a spark remained of the fire that had been Qui-Gon Jinn.

The lips parted once more and the voice hoarse, almost unintelligible. "He...is...the chosen one..."

The spark flickered, wavered, vanished. Obi-Wan wept, the tears trickling down his cheeks and onto the face now gray in death. He hugged the body close to him, rocking back and forth on the cold metal floor, cradling the flesh of a spirit that was no longer there.

Father...Father...

Behind him, the reactor rumbled and the force field released with a sigh.