Title: Decisions
Author: Tenel'Ka
Feed back: PLEASE! This is my first attempt at a fan fic. E-mail me at: jedi-apprentice@mailcity.com
Rating: G
Warning: If you don't like Star Wars, DON'T read this story!!!
Disclaimer: All these characters are owned and licensed by George Lucas. I am making no money for this.
*Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together.
Ephesians 4, 3-4
*******************
Komota peaked around the door of Tandra's office, only to find it empty. /Perfect./ She thought. /Now I can get to work undisturbed. /
She went to Tandra's desk and began snooping through the drawers, after several minuites of an unsuccessful search; she turned on the holo-file at the corner of the desk.
"Clumsy, clumsy. You shouldn't leave your files unlocked if you're not here." She said to herself as she flipped through the files.
/It's just files on the members of the Kriffs. I wonder what mine says. / She opened her folder up, and began reading.
As she read, her eyes opened wider, and her mouth hung open. It said: Komota Jowim, parents were the king and queen, who we killed. Only living relative is Desmona, now princess. Kidnapped while on a walk with a servant. Servant killed, they think Komota was murdered too. Chip implanted at age eleven.
/This isn't right. What chip? I'm ...a princess? Oh my gosh. That means I was trying to kill...my sister!/ Komota sat in shock, pondering over what this new information meant.
"I better get out of here before I'm caught." she said to herself.
Tandra had forgotten to lock her files, so she returned to her office to do so, when she heard Komota say that.
"She knows. Well, I can't let her tell anyone." Tandra decided, hiding around a corner of a hallway.
Komota closed the files, and left the office. Tandra stepped out of her hiding place, and nearly collided with Komota.
"What are you doing out of your room? I told you to stay there...oh, never mind, I'll take you there myself." Tandra told her. /Then I have some 'bruises' to take care of. /
"Sorry sir. I...was hungry, so I went to the kitchen and got a snack." Komota lied, as Tandra led her to her room.
Komota decided to wait a few minutes before going to Obi-Wan's room, so she wouldn't run into Tandra again. But before she had the chance to leave, a knock came at her door. "Yah?" she called out. One of the Kriffs who served as a messenger pocked their head in.
"You're supposed to fight. Follow me." He told her, in a rather grumpy tone.
"Yah sure. I'm comin'." She said as she got up from her bed. /I will have to talk to Anoml later. I just have to act like I don't know anything, for now. /
She was led to the fight room. Then the two Kriffs parted. Komota entered the room, and walked over to Griffner and Tandra. "What about Anoml? Shouldn't you be dealing with him instead of organising a match?"
"Don't question me Komota, go take your place." Tandra ordered, as Griffner handed Komota her weapon.
A kid about a year older than Komota came in and went to the Kriff leaders. "Samill, here is your weapon, go take your place." Tandra instructed, handing him an electro-jabber.
Once the two opponents were in place, Griffner ordered the match to begin.
Komota and Samill walked towards each other then did a circle around the middle of the room. Komota lunged towards the boy and jabbed his left leg. Samill let out a yelp, but quickly refocused.
Samill lunged next, but Komota used the move that Anoml had used on her, and rolled out of the way. The electro-jabber sparked as it hit the floor. Samill growled his frustration. Thinking he was still distracted, Komota lunged at him again, but the boy jumped out of the way and brought his jabber down between her shoulders. Komota gasped and fell to the floor.
Samill waited for her to start getting up, but she didn't. He looked over at Griffner and Tandra after several moments. Griffner went to the fallen girl, and checked her pulse.
"She's alive, but just barely."
"Take her to the medical centre." Tandra ordered. So Griffner picked Komota up, and hurried out of the room.
"I don't understand. I didn't hit her THAT hard." Samill said in a daze.
Tandra walked over to him. "Let me see your weapon." He handed it to her. "It was set on level four. Three levels above the practice mode. I guess the equipment supervisors never checked this one. It wasn't your fault Samill. Don't worry." Tandra reassured him, concealing a grin.
Obi-Wan was in his room for hours, and still nobody had come for him. /Why is it taking so long to figure out what to do with me? / He wondered.
A knock came on his door, bringing him back to reality. "Yah?" he asked.
A female Obi-Wan recognised that he had seen in the kitchen, stuck her head in. "I thought I should tell ya that Komota was in a accident."
"What? Is she okay?" Obi-Wan asked.
"She was hurt bad. She's unconscious, I don't know anythin' else, other than it happened during a match. I've seen you two talking, so I thought someone should tell ya." She explained.
"Thanks." Obi-Wan replied. The girl then left, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
/I gotta go see Komota. / He decided.
A knock came at Qui-Gon's door. "Yes?" he called out.
Obi-Wan stuck his head in. "Mr.Ji...I mean Master?"
"Yes Obi-Wan?" Obi-Wan entered, and shut the door behind him.
"Master, I was just told that Komota, a girl I am sort of friends with, had an accident during a match. She's unconscious, but I wanna go see her."
"I am sorry to hear that. May I go with you?" Qui-Gon asked, knowing his apprentice still didn't remember him.
"Sure, but I'm supposed to be in my room, so we can't be seen." "Alright, let's go."
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon made their way down to the medical centre. At the door, Qui-Gon stopped Obi-Wan, then reached out with his Jedi senses to see if anyone was in the main room, luckily it was currently vacant.
When they entered, only one of the two rooms had a closed door, and they could see the other was empty. Obi-Wan crept up to the closed door and leaned his ear against it. He couldn't hear any movement, so he slowly opened the door and peaked in. It was empty, except for the still figure on the cot.
The two Jedi went up to Komota. Obi-Wan stood beside the cot with an unhappy look upon his face. Qui-Gon saw this, and got an idea. Using the Force, he found that she was close to consciousness, so he gave her a mental nudge to wake her up.
Komota let out a groan as she opened her eyes. This startled Obi-Wan. Seeing her friend by her bed, the information she had read in Tandra's office returned to her memory.
"Who's that?" she asked, motioning to Qui-Gon.
"This is my...father." Obi-Wan explained, following Qui-Gon's instructions.
"Can I trust him?"
"Yes."
"Okay...Anoml, something weird is going on, I read Tandra's files in her office, and found out my past is different than what I remember. So whatever happened to you, happened to me too. And get this...I am the princess' sister! They thought her sister was killed, but they kidnapped me, and did something to me so I wouldn't remember. It said something about a chip." Komota said in practically one breath.
"Wait, slow down. So you're saying you are actually the princess' sister who was reported to be murdered?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Yes, and when I was coming out of the office, I started walking down the hallway, when Tandra walked around the corner. She then told me I was supposed to be in my room. She took me there, but I was called to fight in a match before I had to tell all this to Anoml. I was struck down, but it wasn't like usual, you usually get a small cut and a shock, but I was knocked out. I think Tandra must of seen me coming out of her office, and is trying to make sure I don't tell anyone what I saw."
"I want to see these files for myself. Could you tell me how to get to her office?" Qui-Gon asked.
"No, I'll take you there, and show you what I found." She saw Qui-Gon was about to protest, so she added, "I feel fine, and by staying here, I might be in danger." Qui-Gon reluctantly agreed.
"I have to go make sure she is still unconscious, and give her somethin' that will make her stay that way for a while." The medic told Tandra, and headed for the medical centre.
Just as they were about to leave, they heard footsteps coming towards the room they were in.
Komota dived back into bed, and pretended to still be unconscious. Qui-Gon stood behind the door, and Obi-Wan hid in a closet.
The door opened and the medic entered, holding a needle. "Time to reprogram your chip. We can't have ya tellin' others what ya saw now can we?" he said to the supposedly unconscious girl.
Komota started to panic when she heard this, so she opened her eyes slightly, and saw Qui-Gon step out from behind the door, grab the small blaster from his boot and hit the medic over the head, knocking him out.
"Nice work, but I would have just shot him." Komota said, getting to her feet.
Obi-Wan came out of the closet and had a surprised expression on his face, seeing the medic sprawled out on the floor.
"I don't like to kill if there is an alternative. Besides, this worked just as well." Qui-Gon explained, putting the blaster back in its place.
"Let's put him on the cot, so if anyone looks in, they will think it's you." Obi-Wan suggested to Komota. So they lifted the medic onto the cot, and covered hi up so you couldn't really see his face, but still see that someone was lying there.
Komota picked up the needle the medic had dropped, then walked over to the unconscious man and jammed it into his arm, hitting two buttons on it. "That should keep him here for a while."
"That wasn't really necessary, but let's get a move on before any 'visitors' show up." Qui-Gon commented before they headed off.
As they were walking, Qui-Gon's communications transmitter vibrated. "Yes?" he asked quietly.
"Master Jinn, what's going on?" Jallist asked.
"I can't talk now, but I will say either we're about to catch the Kriffs, or they're about to catch us." He ended the communication before Jallist could protest.
They stopped outside the office door and listened. They heard Tandra's voice.
"Tituck sir, we have to get rid of Anoml Min'Lu and his father. They know something is going on. Anoml knows two different conflicting stories of their past. We have to dispose of them before anyone else finds out. We already reprogrammed Komota's chip."
"Yes, dispose of them immediately. We can't have them interfering with our plans." A deep voice replied.
/It sounds like a holo-communication./ Qui-Gon thought. /Now if only we could see who this man is. He has to be a superior to Tandra because she called him 'sir', but I was told Tandra is the leader...so there is a secret leader. Interesting. The princess will find this interesting. /
Tandra shut off the holo, and went to see Griffner about how to dispose of the two Min'Lu's.
Komota, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan ducked down a side hallway, out of view as Tandra went past.
Once Tandra was no longer around, the three ducked into her office, and shut the door.
Komota went to the desk and rummaged around. After checking several drawers, she announced, "I found it!" she pulled the file out and placed it on the desk. "It's locked." She said gloomily.
"Hmm...is it the type with a word or numbers as the password?" Qui-Gon asked.
"A word, why?"
"Well, Tandra wouldn't want anyone to be able to guess the word, so..this is a long shot, but if nobody knows she has a leader, maybe it's his name." He suggested.
"Good idea. Lemme try it." Komota typed in the name 'Tituck' and waited for a reply. After a few seconds, her eyes went wide. "It worked!"
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan stood behind Komota and read over her shoulders. She opened the file on her, and let them read it, then she opened the file on Obi-Wan, under the name 'Anoml'.
After Qui-Gon read this, he started thinking about what all this could mean. "When talking about your past, they mention a 'chip' was installed, then they say something about your 'new' history. So in other words, the chip must change your memories...I assume they did the same thing to Anoml." He said, considering this. "That means, if you both have a chip...most of the Kriffs would have them too."
"I guess so." Komota said, frowning.
"Check if there are any files about Tituck. Maybe it could tell us who he is, and why he started the Kriffs, and more about them." Obi-Wan suggested.
Komota searched the files, and found one called 'the main layout of the Kriffs'.
"Not very smart to give it a name like that. What if someone was to break into the file." Komota pointed out.
"Like we're doing." Obi-Wan said with a slight grin.
Qui-Gon was surprised to hear him say that. It sounded like the 'old' Obi-Wan, the one that was blocked, and hidden away by a chip.
They read the file, and found out Tituck had founded the Kriffs after being kicked out of the royal family. Apparently, he had been the second oldest child, therefore, not entailed to the throne. He didn't like this, so he hired some men to kill his older sister, so he would be the next king. But something went wrong with his plan, and he was caught. His parents banished him from their family, and the palace, so he started a group so he could get rid of his family and resume the throne. He put a former palace worker that had been kicked out for not following orders, in charge. Over time, they kidnapped palace workers, guards, and even the princess' sister to join. But to be sure they did as told, a chip was installed in everyone to change their memories, and instil hatred of the royal family into them, and making them forget they had worked at the palace. Thus forming 'The Kriffs'. Tandra was the only one without a chip, because she had enough hatred.
After reading all this, Komota broke the silence. "So the leader of the Kriffs is my great uncle."
"How do you know that?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Well, I was told about my great uncle who was kicked out of the family, but nobody ever found out what happened to him." Komota said, then added with determination, "we have to put a stop to this."
"Agreed, but first, I think we should tell you something."
"What?" Komota asked.
"First off, I am not Anoml's father. In fact, his name isn't even Anoml. It's Obi-Wan Kenobi, and I am Qui-Gon Jinn. Obi-Wan was originally sent here to find out more about the Kriffs. Something happened to him, which we now know it was a chip that was put in him, so I came to find him. We are Jedi, sent to Noga to protect the princess." Qui-Gon explained quietly, incase someone happened to pass by the door to Tandra's office.
Komota stood staring at the tall Jedi for a few moments with wide eyes, before collecting herself. "Wow. If I had known Anoml...I mean Obi-Wan, was a Jedi earlier, I would have alerted the Kriffs, and he would have been killed immediately." Komota thought for a moment, then added, "We should destroy the Sovero particles...the ones made to kill Jedi."
"I think we should take a sample back to Coruscant so they can try to find a antidote for it, but we could destroy the rest." Qui-Gon suggested.
"All right, come on, I'll show you to the lab." Komota offered.
After sneaking around so they wouldn't be seen, they entered the lab, which looked more like a storage room with chemicals, test tubes, and beakers.
"It should be in cabinet number two. Let's just hope everything's labelled." To their advantage, Komota was right. The three checked the labels on all the containers.
"Here they are." Obi-Wan announced, handing the half a dozen test tubes to Komota and Qui-Gon.
"Now, Obi-Wan, we should go to the palace, and try to deactivate your chip." Qui-Gon told him.
"Hey, you can't just leave me here. Don't forget, they were trying to do something to me, so I wouldn't tell anyone what I read in Tandra's files." Komota reminded them.
"I suppose it would be best for the three of us to stick together for the time being. You'll have to come with us."
"Weird, the one place I've hated for so long, and now I'm going there of my own free will." Komota said, pointing out the irony in the situation.
As they were heading for an outside door, a guard ran through the hallway in front of them.
"That was the guard to door three. That means the door isn't being guarded." Komota said as the realisation struck her.
They made a dash for the door at the far end of the hallway the guard had ran through. Luckily the guards had been called for something, which the small group assumed was because someone had found the medic in Komota's cot, instead of her.
As soon as they emerged from Kriff headquarters, they looked around for a moment to see which direction the palace was in, then took off again.
While running, Qui-Gon pulled out his communications transmitter, and pushed a button.
"Yes?" Jallist answered.
"Jallist, we're on our way to the West Side door of the palace, could you meet us there? We can't stay long, but we have something that needs to be taken care of." Qui-Gon explained in a steady voice, despite the fact that he was running at the same time.
"Sure, I'm on my way now." She told the Jedi Master, then ended the communication.
It took fifteen standard minutes for them to reach the palace. Jallist saw them coming, and held the door open.
"Master Jinn, Obi-Wan, I'm glad to see you in one piece." She said in greeting.
The three entered the palace. "Obi-Wan, Komota, this is Jallist, she was of help to us while staying here." Qui-Gon introduced, then turned to Jallist. "Jallist, this is Komota, she was a Kriff, but is now helping us. If you will show us to a lab, or to someone who is experienced in electronics, I will explain more."
Jallist did as asked. As they walked, Qui-Gon began telling her of what happened to Obi-Wan, about the chips put in the Kriff members, and how they are all in danger of being caught.
Once they reached the palace lab, Qui-Gon told the scientist about the chip, and what it does. The scientist summoned some assistants, and got to work. It only took a minute to locate the chip in both Obi-Wan and Komota's left arms. Now they had to find a way to deactivate it.
Qui-Gon, Komota and Obi-Wan pulled the half dozen test tubes of Sovero particles from their utility belts, and gave them to the scientists to dispose of. All except one.
"Jallist, could you take this to my quarters, and put it in a safe place? Be careful not to break it though." Qui-Gon asked, handing the last tube to her.
"Of course Master Jinn." She answered, and headed off.
"I am going to talk with the princess. Obi-Wan, use your communications transmitter to call me if they figure out a way to deactivate the chip." Qui-Gon instructed. Both the dirty blond haired boy and the brunette haired girl nodded.
On his way to the princesses quarters, Qui-Gon was deep in thought. /How am I to tell the princess her sister who she thought to be dead, is alive and has been one of her greatest enemies for years now?"
Qui-Gon rang the buzzer, and it was immediately answered by one of the princesses chamber workers. "Yes?" she asked.
"I must speak with the princess. It is urgent."
"Please come in. Have a seat, I'll summon her from her study." Qui-Gon did so.
"Master Jinn, is anything the matter?" a voice asked from a door behind his chair.
"Princess Desmona." Qui-Gon stood, and gave a slight bow. "I have some urgent business to discuss with you."
"Please come in my office." She offered. After they were both seated, Qui-Gon explained that all the members of the Kriffs had a chip installed to change their memories, and how with the help of one of the Kriffs whom Obi-Wan befriended, broke into the files. Also how Obi-Wan's friend had been severely hurt in a fighting match, and was about to have her chip reprogrammed, but they knocked the healer unconscious. As well as how Tandra ordered Obi-Wan and himself to be disposed of. Then how they escaped and came to the palace in hopes of finding a way to disable the chip.
"My goodness, that must have been quite an adventure. But am I to understand that it was just you and your apprentice who came here?"
"No your highness, we brought Obi-Wan's friend with us."
"A Kriff, here?" she asked, rather alarmed.
"I wanted to discuss her with you, your highness. You see, we read her file, and found out she had been kidnapped several years ago, and brought to the Kriffs."
"And?" Princess Desmona urged.
"And, we found out she had been on a walk at the time."
"Why does this concern me Master Jinn?" she asked curiously, knowing the Jedi Master must have a reason for telling her this.
"Your highness, she is your sister. Her name is Komota, the same as your sister's." Qui-Gon explained.
"The name is not rare, it could be someone else." The princess suggested, not wanting to believe it.
"It said she was your sister in her file."
"Well...when my sister was murdered, it was a servant who found the body, and said it was to mangled to see, so we had a closed casket funeral. I never did see her body." The princess explained, considering this. "Around a year later, we let the servant go for trying to break into my private data files."
"I assume it was a Kriff undercover then." Qui-Gon interjected.
Just as the princess was about to speak, Qui-Gon's communications transmitter vibrated. He pulled it off his belt and answered it.
"Master, they found a way to deactivate the chips, Komota's is already deactivated." Obi-Wan told the older Jedi.
"I'll be right there." Qui-Gon replied. "Your highness, my plan is to deactivate as many of the Kriffs chips as possible, and then capture the leaders." He handed her the transmitter. "When this goes off, could you send reinforcement's to the Kriff headquarters? They can hold the leaders until you have decided what to do with them."
"Yes, of course."
Qui-Gon bowed, and went to his quarters to pick up his and his padawan's lightsabers, then headed back to the lab.
As Qui-Gon opened the door, he was met with Obi-Wan practically flying at him.
"Master!" Obi-Wan exclaimed happily, hugging Qui-Gon tightly.
"I take it you had your chip deactivated." Qui-Gon said with a slight grin as he returned the embrace.
"Wow. It's really strange. I remember my memories the chip gave me, but they are blurry, kind of like a dream. But then I remember my real past, and it's so clear!" Obi-Wan explained, taking a step away from his Master.
Qui-Gon was very relieved, more than he showed. 'His' Obi-Wan was back.
Qui-Gon turned to Komota who sat on a stool against one wall. "I suppose you will want to see your sister?"
"Are you kidding'? Of course, but we have work to do. There are a LOT of Kriffs, so we better get started, we have chips to deactivate." She answered with determination.
"Alright."
The scientist went up to the small group, and handed out several small round objects. "All you have to do is wipe it over their left arm, and it will send negative charges into the chip, which will permanently disable it." She explained.
"Great, lets go." Qui-Gon said.
Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Komota went to the same door they had left Kriff headquarters from. Komota looked inside, and saw that the hallway was empty, so she signalled for her friends to follow.
All three kept the chip deactivators at ready. As they turned the first corner they spotted a guard. Obi-Wan sprinted towards the man before the other two had a chance to react. Using the Force, he leapt over the man's head. The guard turned to face Obi-Wan, but as he did so, the padawan wiped the chip deactivator over the guards left arm. The guard fell to the floor, overcome with the sudden rush of memories.
Qui-Gon and Komota came and helped the man up. They explained that the Kriffs were using chips to brainwash the members, and that they were trying to stop the Kriffs. The guard followed them down the hallway, willing to help if needed.
They searched a few hallways and many rooms before they came across a group of people in one of the rooms, standing in a circle. Obi-Wan heard them mention Komota, and that they had to find them.
Qui-Gon motioned for Komota and Obi-Wan to get the people on the right side of the room as he took the left. Komota stayed near the door to keep the group from escaping.
"What do you think ya' doin' in here?" one Kriff asked, noticing them. "It's them!" another shouted, causing the whole room to be in an uproar. There were around thirty Kriffs assembled there, against one ex-Kriff, and two Jedi, but the Jedi knew they could take the group on.
Seeing the Jedi had no hesitation of taking such a large group on, Komota regained her confidence.
Only some of the Kriffs had weapons, but the others put up a good fight. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan took on the members with weapons first, as Komota took on the others.
Komota had little trouble knocking down her allies due to her being one of the best fighters among the Kriffs.
Obi-Wan was trying to knock the weapon out of the hand of one woman. He didn't want to hurt her unless necessary. The women shot at him, but he rolled out of the way. As he stood back up, he sensed danger from two directions. He jumped out of the way of one shot, but a man shot from another direction. He never had time to get out of the way.
Obi-Wan felt the shot hit his right leg. He crumbled to the floor.
The man was just about to shoot Obi-Wan in the chest, when Komota kicked the man's hand. The weapon went sliding across the floor. Komota wiped the chip over the man's arm, causing him to fall to the floor putting his hands to his head as the rush of memories came.
Komota went to Obi-Wan's side. "Are ya' alright?" she asked.
"Yes, it just hit my leg."
Komota ripped a strip of cloth from her shirt and tied it around Obi-Wan's wound.
"Thanks." He said.
"I can only fight so many of these Kriffs at a time." Qui-Gon reminded them.
Komota grabbed Obi-Wan's hand and hauled him to his feet, and they resumed the fight.
After they knocked out all but the two Kriffs who were killed from being in the way of a blaster the Jedi and Komota had dogged, they set to work on deactivating all the chips.
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