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The underground tunnels, some of the oldest passages on Sioboron. Darkness wreathed the stone passages, silent except for a relentless drip-drip somewhere. The hair on the back of Qui-Gon Jinn's neck began to bristle, with the horrific feelings vibrating through the Force.
The man was down there. He and Zabe had tracked the dark Jedi across three planets, following the hideous path of murders he had left behind. He was deadly, ruthless, angry with the seductive fury of the dark side.
Zabe's cropped red hair shone in the light of her glimmering blue lightsaber, as she slipped down the passage. "Master?" she whispered.
"Keep moving forward," he whispered in reply.
The wide, crooked grin flashed over her pert face, as she extinguished the lightsaber and started down into the passage. Her footsteps were silent as she melted down into the tunnels.
Qui-Gon felt a quick flash of pride at Zabe. His first padawan, and considered to be the most promising young apprentice in years. She was intelligent, agile, witty, and strong with the Force. Yoda had recently informed him that Zabe would be knighted after this mission—she didn't know it yet, and he could hardly wait to tell her.
He followed her into the tunnel, reaching out with the Force—and hitting a hundred dark pillars on the way. Zabe's bright presence weaved between them like a bobbing candle, reaching back to her Master.
Suddenly there was a shrieking cry from somewhere in the tunnels. Zabe shouted something unintelligible, and there was the sound of two lightsabers igniting, clashing.
Qui-Gon sprang forward and raced through the tunnels, shouting his padawan's name. The darkness was so complete that he almost slammed into a high metal door. He yanked the lightsaber from his belt and ignited it, slashed through the metal. As the steel bubbled under his saber, he grimaced at the horrible length of time...
It's taking too long, he thought frantically.
As the door caved inward, he saw Zabe stumble and fall to her knees, twist and parry a blow from the dark Jedi. His yellow eyes blazed on a face painted black, so that a pair of catlike gems seemed to be hovering in the air.
Qui-Gon rushed forward and struck at the dark Jedi, slicing at his wrist. The man parried the blow as Zabe rose to her feet and struck at his neck. Qui-Gon motioned at Zabe to get back. The man grinned and slashed sideways at the padawan...
Qui-Gon only got a brief glance of his padawan's elfin face, a look of surprise crossing her face as the lightsaber sank into her torso. She was slammed backwards against a stone wall, staring down at the burned hole between her shoulder blades. Her knees buckled with painful slowness.
Killing the girl had sent the dark Jedi off-balance for a moment. It only took one blow to kill him, another lifeless body clattering to the ground.
Qui-Gon scooped Zabe's body into his arms, eliciting a wince of pain from her. "Master?" she whispered.
Qui-Gon nodded and stroked her cropped head, held her close. "It's all right," he whispered. "I'm getting you out of here..."
She coughed and curled her arms around his neck as he lifted her, as easily as a child. "Master," she said softly. "I'm sorry I didn't stop him-"
"Don't think about it," Qui-Gon replied, slipping through the wrecked doorway. "Just hang on... a little longer..."
There was no reply. Qui-Gon stopped and dropped to his knees, Zabe's bright head lolling over his arm. Her bright green eyes were open, clouded and empty, and no breath came from her parted lips. For a moment, he just stared at her. Then he began to weep softly, holding her close.
The funeral pyre on the balcony glowed brighter than any lights on Coruscant. Qui-Gon felt the sorrowing presences of the Jedi around him. Zabe had had many friends among her fellow padawans.
Zabe. A little sister, bright and funny, always seeking new answers and new questions. The brightest part of Qui-Gon's life. He had so looked forward to seeing her rise as a knight, someday a Master.
She had only been hours away from her knighting. Struck down.
Qui-Gon almost fell beside the pyre, his heart churning with pain and self-recrimination. Could he have stopped it somehow? Saved Zabe, if he had so much as twitched in a different direction?
A small, cold hand slipped onto his, then pulled back. Qui-Gon could feel the moonlike green eyes boring into his back. "Sorry I am," Yoda said soberly.
Qui-Gon said nothing.
"Though gone Padawan Zabe is," Yoda continued, leaning on his cane, "one thing for her we may do. Remembered as a knight, she will be. A knight she was, in her heart."
Qui-Gon broke his steady gaze at the burning body on the pyre. He had never heard of an apprentice being declared a knight posthumously... but if there were some way to honor Zabe, he would go along with it.
Qui-Gon nodded down at Yoda, then pulled something from his robe. The silvery cylinder of Zabe's lightsaber. He stared at it for a moment, rubbing his fingers over the cool metal, then placed it in the flames.
A silvery laugh echoed through the skies of Coruscant. He looked up and smiled.