Master Apprentice Archive Painted Mynock Quick search:

Rating: PG

Archive: Sure

Warnings: None

Spoilers: None

Note: This is a snip of a story that I chucked a long time ago. With the recent talk of phobias, I thought that I'd dig it out of my hard drive. It hasn't been betaedl, nor is it likely that I'll finish it.

Bits of broken glass crunched under Qui-Gon Jinn's boots as he walked. Broken computer screens lay everywhere, and melted metal pooled on the floor. What the Painted Mynocks couldn't smash with physical force, they blasted.

He and his Padawan were sent by the council to investigate a group of pirates. The Mynocks weren't the largest group in the galaxy, but one of the most brutish.

The letters: PANETED MYNOX RULE decorated the hull. Under the words was a drawing of a mynock, a skull clutched within its talons. Crude and misspelled, typical.

The Jedi tore his attention from the graffiti to a hole in the wall. Circular in shape and a meter in diameter, it was carved through one of the landing bay's hulls. It looked as if a laser-torch was used. Qui-Gon knew this wasn't the case.

"Padawan, what do you make of the hole?" Qui-Gon asked his apprentice, Obi-Wan. The master wanted to see if the youth could discern the clues. Clues missed by previous investigators. Clues a Jedi would spot.

At sixteen, the boy was stronger in the Force than most Knights, but lacked the skill to properly use his talents. Tending look at the universe as a whole, he missed how individual life forms--or clues--that fitted into an entirety. It was a weakness the boy had to overcome before he became a Knight.

Obi-Wan gave the hole dismissive glance before asking, "what about it?"

"Do you see anything unusual about it?" Qui-Gon patently asked. "Look at the edges. See how there is little oxidation? Look how square the edges are. Little of the metal shows evidence of excessive heat, which would have been produced by a laser."

Obi-Wan's eyes widened. "A lightsaber, master? Where would pirates get one?"

Qui-Gon answered the question. "Lightsabers were once widely used." Obi-Wan nodded, remembering this from history lessons. "They are still used in some cultures, in the inner and outer rim worlds. It's possible that this pirate is from one of those worlds. Most likely, they bought or stole it from the black market."

Obi-Wan found the idea of a pirate using a lightsaber offensive. The saber was a symbol of justice, of the Jedi order.

"What more can you tell me about this hole?"

When the boy didn't answer, the master pointed to a spot where the rim's edges weren't as neat. "This is the entry point of the blade." He then pointed to the rim of the hole. "Look at the angle which it was cut compared to the bottom, left and right sides."

"Whoever cut this was about your height, a little shorter maybe. He or she wasn't tall enough to paint that graffiti; not the same person," the master said. "See the angles on the left and right sides? This person held the saber in their left hand."

Qui-Gon squeezed through the hole, curious about this short, left-handed, lightsaber-wielding pirate. Obi-Wan, not so eager, followed.

The room was a storage closet. To reach it through doors, one had to take a circular rout through the ship's corridors. The hole seemed to be a shortcut. It made sense, and yet didn't.

A vent was high on one wall, and another wall held a door. The remanding walls were bare; boxes and crates were stacked next to them. A panel was torn from the door, and several wires spilled out. It looked as if the door was locked and the pirate hot-wired it open. But that didn't make sense; why go through the trouble of hot-wiring a lock when you had a lightsaber?

The room appeared to be otherwise untouched. What kind of pirate doesn't loot? Especially when the loot was close to the mother ship and pre-packed in easy-to-carry totes? He looked into one of the crates, answering his question. Cleaning supplies. What would a pirate want with soap and scrub-pads?

Qui-Gon's eyes rested on the vent shaft. He then saw how the crates were stacked.

"Whoever did this knew the layout of the ship well." Qui-Gon mused as he stepped up onto a crate. "They would have done some research to know this closet was here." The master stepped up on the next crate. "Usually, when pirates set op a gravity well, they have no way of knowing what kind of ship they'll catch-unless they know when and where a particular ship will be." He was now on top the pile of boxes, within easy reach of the vent.

"What have you concluded?" The master asked as he took a small hydrospanner form his utility belt and started removing screws from the grate. If the boy was wondering what his teacher was doing, he didn't ask.

"They used the hole as a shortcut to the aft sections of the ship," Obi-Wan concluded. "Why else come through here?"

"The door is a decoy, Padawan." Qui-Gon looked into the shaft. The hole was too small to allow him entry. But judging from previous clues, the pirate should have been able to fit. Then he saw something, causing a chill to move down his spine. Shields.

They protected the vent from unauthorized entry and filtered the air, and could only be deactivated three ways: By turning them off through the main computer, destroying the control panel or by temporarily neutralizing the emitters with the Force.

The Republic had been chasing the Mynocks for decades. This group had always been dangerous, but recently more so. They moved with a cold efficiency unusual for a group of uneducated thugs. They picked their targets with great care, avoiding the Republic's carefully laid traps. They would target a ship, start the raid, and then pull back suddenly. It was as if they sensed what lay ahead of them. It was becoming clear to as how they were doing this.

Obi-Wan felt his master's mood shift, but said nothing. He had the feeling that their investigation just made a sharp, left turn. Once again, his master veered off the path the council had laid out for him.

Obi-Wan hoped the new course would lead to the same destination as the first.

The boy sighed as another realization came to him: Qui-Gon was too big to fit into the vent. He wasn't.

Qui-Gon's voice confirmed his thoughts. "It'll be a tight fit, but I think you can make it." A rueful smile cracked his master's face. "Don't get stuck."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. His master had a sick sense of humor. "Why don't we find out where the vent leads? That would be simpler-"

His master cut him off with a sharp look and his cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. A Padawan was to never question their master's decision. Silently, he clipped his com-link to his shirt and climbed to the vent.

The air was dry and warm. Dust coated the walls, and Obi-Wan barley fit. He had to pull himself forward with his arms, then push with his toes. His lightsaber scraped the metal walls and then echoed. The sound was both eerie and grating.

And there were bugs too--attracted to the dry, warm air.

While shielding kept vermin from entering at the grates, the openings along the shaft's joints did nothing to deter them-or the dust. Once again, Obi-Wan sneezed.

"Dusty in there, Padawan?" His master's voice sounded through the com-link.

"Slightly." Obi-Wan's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"See any spiders?" His Master's voice sounded from the com. It held a sadistic humor, Obi-Wan decided.

"No." Obi-Wan didn't bother to hide the irritation in his voice. He couldn't understand his master's adoration of the eight-legged vermin. It seemed as if the more repulsive or pathetic a creature was, the more his master was drawn to it.

*He probably sent me inhere because he knows I hate bugs. No. That's impossible. He wouldn't do that to me, would he?* Obi-Wan came to the conclusion that he would indeed do that, and hide his sinister intentions of torment under a lesson in 'the Living-Force.'

"I've come to a junction, Master," Obi-Wan said as he encounter the three-way split. "Which way?"

"Let the Force guide you."

*In other words* Obi-Wan thought, *he doesn't know.* Closing his eyes and concentrating, the apprentice felt a slight pull in one direction. He turned right, and nearly ran into a half-constructed spider web. A big, fat, harry spider sat in the middle.

The boy poked at it with his glow-rod, trying to get to move out of the way. It twitched, but wouldn't leave the web.

Finally, giving up, he tore down the web. Faster than he thought possible, the bug scurried along the wall, strait for him. Making good use of his Jedi reflexes, he squashed it flat with the glow-rod.

"Ha! Got ya!" Obi-Wan's pleasure at the arachnid's untimely death faded as he realized he'd have to crawl over its remains. Ugh. He'd get spider guts on his shirt.

A muffled 'thwamp' sound followed by the words: "Ha! Got ya!" sounded through the still active com-link, causing the Jedi to roll his eyes.

Qui-Gon tried to understand the boy's disdain of insects. The boy tried to hide his phobia, but agitation moved through their bond. He almost felt sorry for the kid. Almost.

*This'll be good for him,* he told himself. *He needs to be more in touch with the Living-Force.*

Suddenly, a tingle of panic drifted through their bond and then was followed by a wave of disgust. Apparently, his Padawan encountered another creature.

"Master?" Obi-Wan's shaky voice sounded from the com-link after several moments. "I think I'm here, at the central computer room."

A few moments later, Qui-Gon was helping his apprentice out of the vent. He stepped back to study him and the room.

It was small--about three square meters, and plain. The central computer took up most of the space.

The boy looked relived to be out of the vent. He was covered from head to toe in grime and he a new stain on his shirt. A small torian house roach clung to the boy's shoulder, and he seemed unaware of it.

"What have you learned about our pirate?" Qui-Gon asked as the roach slowly made its way towards Obi-Wan's neck.

"He or she has a tolerance of insects. It would have been easier to just walk here."

"And that means what?" Qui-Gon prompted, still eyeing the bug.

"They went through a lot of effort going through the vents. And yet they didn't want us to know that they were in this room."

Qui-Gon nodded his approval. "The rout to this room through the ship's corridors is somewhat circular, and has several security check-points. Going through the vents eliminates the risk of eyewitnesses and evidence in the form of tampered locks and surveillance cameras."

"But why go through the trouble?"

"Good question, Padawan." The roach made it to the boy's neck.

Obi-Wan, feeling the bug's presence, looked down in time to see it drop into his shirt. He panicked. "Get it out! GET IT OUT!"