Betrayal Part III
That night I dreamed. Actually, it was a flashback that would haunt my
thoughts forever.
Qui-Gon Jinn rushed down a catwalk towards a door several levels below the
platform on which I stood.
" Qui-Gon!" I called, but he was slashing at the Sith Lord with such fury
that he didn't seem to take any notice of me. I jumped down to the catwalk
and raced as fast as I could down it to catch up with them. Qui-Gon and Darth
Maul rushed through the door and into a long corridor. All the sudden red
lasers shot off the buffer struts and created 5 energy walls crisscrossing
the corridor. Qui-Gon and his pursuer were caught one wall apart at the end
of the corridor. And me, well I didn't get past even the first wall.
I was trapped. My eyes searched franticly about for a control panel, or
anything that could deactivate the shield. Unfortunately for me, my effort
was unsuccessful. I looked down the corridor to where Qui-Gon was. Darth Maul
was looking back and forth from me to Qui-Gon, smiling a wicked grin that
showed off his disgusting teeth. Qui-Gon turned around to look at me for a
moment, then deactivated his lightsaber and settled into a meditating crouch
on the ground.
I paced endlessly at my end of the corridor, my anger boiling and raging
inside me. How-How could I be so slow?!! Why couldn't I catch up?!! How come
Qui-Gon left me behind?!! I thought furiously. But I was also getting
worried. Would I make it to the end before the lasers kicked in again? I
judged the distance carefully, scanning the service corridor slowly. I would
have to be very fast. I gazed a Qui-Gon and realized how old and weary he
looked. The Sith Lord saw me staring and smiled with evil satisfaction. And
at that moment the energy shields were gone - I lunged forward with all my
might, my blue lightsaber raised above my head as I sprinted towards them. In
the meantime, Qui-Gon had jumped to his feet forced his rival through the end
of the corridor into the melting pit area, lightsaber flashing madly. I
forced myself to go faster, and faster still, until I thought I would burst.
Then I heard the capacitators start up and the red shields were there once
more, and I was cut off by the very last wall. I watched, my eyes wide in
horror as Qui-Gon hammered away at the Sith Lord with his lightsaber, his
face drenched with sweat. Although Qui-Gon was the best swordsman I'd ever
seen, I could almost see his strength diminishing. Then Darth Maul whirled
away, his back facing the Jedi Master. Go! I urged silently, but it was
already to late. The Sith Lord lunged his red double bladed saber backwards
and found his target, stabbing Qui-Gon right through the middle.
"Nooooooooooo!!!" A cry of horror and disbelief shattered the air and it
took me a moment to realize it was my own. Then the energy walls were gone,
and almost instinctively, I shot out of the corridor and was upon my rival in
an instant. We battled endlessly, and even though my anger fueled me, after a
while I could feel myself weakening. I was beginning to be afraid of this
man, but then I thought of what Qui-Gon had said to me once before.
"Don't center on your fears. Concentrate on the here and now," he had told
me. "Be mindful of the living Force, my young Padawan. Be strong."
On one final assault I struck the Sith Lord on the side, and while his
lightsaber was horizontal I sliced it cleanly in half. Sensing the
opportunity to finnish the battle, I chopped at Darth Maul's horned head. To
my suprise, I missed by about a mile. Then, discarding half of his
lightsaber, Darth Maul struck away at me with such force that I tumbled over
the edge of the melting pit, my lightsaber flying out of my hands. I reached
out and tried to cling to something. After what seemed like forever, my hands
grasped a metal rung below the edge of the pit. I watched my lightsaber
clatter away, to far to reach with my retrieving powers, and I looked up to
see Darth Maul staring into my eyes, his own eyes glowing yellow with triumph
as an evil grin spread across his red and black tattooed face.
Then, as I was hanging on the edge of that rung, my body trembling with
exhaustion and fear, I connected with the force and concentrated harder than
I ever had before in my whole life, and harder than I probably ever would.
After I calmed myself, I launched myself up and flipped over Darth Maul's
head, drawing Qui-Gon's fallen lightsaber into my hand. As I landed behind
the Sith Lord, I thumbed the lightsaber on. Darth Maul whirled around to face
me, but before he could do anything, I had sliced him right through. He
howled in pain as I watched tumble down the melting pit. Then I raced to
Qui-Gon, and laid him on his back. But I was to late.
"No!" I cried out, shaking my head violently from side to side. It couldn't
happen! I thought. But Qui-Gon knew he was done for, and made me promise to
train the boy, Anakin. Willingly, I agreed. He said more, which I can't
really recall now, and then he was gone.
"No..... Master......please." I whispered. But he was dead. I hugged him
tightly to my chest, and the tears came uncontrollably. But I didn't care. My
Master, my one true friend, ..... he was gone, forever......
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