Boundless as the Sea

Chapter Eighteen

Obi-Wan sat meditating, completely lost in the Force. He felt the power pulsing through his veins, and the knowledge flowing through his mind. The Jedi Master searched the Force for anything that could help with the situation with Cad Bane.

It was then that he suddenly felt a greatly disturbing amount of the Dark Side of the Force. Yes, Bane's so-called "client" was most certainly a Sith. But whom? Obi-Wan did not believe that Count Dooku could be behind this. The leader of the Separatists was not one to hire bounty hunters to kill Jedi. Could it be the mysterious Sith Lord that the Jedi have been searching for? Mace Windu had not been certain whether or not Dooku was the Sith Lord, or just the apprentice. Back on Geonosis, when the war had first begun, the Count had told Obi-Wan that the Sith Lord had control over the Galactic Senate. Was this a lie, or was the entire Republic being deceived?

Obi-Wan returned his focus back to meditating. If he couldn't sense the person who paid for the future murder, maybe he could sense the victim. In his mind, he saw many familiar faces; it must be someone he knew personally. He elimated all of the faces belonging to those who were not Jedi, but after that he could not pinpoint who Bane's target was.

Just as he was about to open his eyes in defeat, Obi-Wan was struck head-on with a vision from the force. It was hazy, but he could make out two figures. One of them was tall, and covered head-to-toe in some sort of black armor, with a strange helmet covering its face, giving the figure the appearance of a machine. The dark figure wielded a lightsaber, ruby-colored light energy humming with the rhythm of the menacing figure's loud and machine-like breathing. The other figure looked oddly familiar, yet Obi-Wan was sure that he had never met him. It was an old man, wearing Jedi robes and carrying a blue lightsaber. His white-bearded face was hard for Obi-Wan to make out, and his voice could not be heard. The Jedi and the black-cloaked figure battled, until the blue lightsaber sheathed itself, and the old man was struck down. What surprised Obi-Wan the most was that when he was killed, the Jedi's body was no longer there.

The vision ended, and Obi-Wan's eyes snapped open. It was a rare thing for a Jedi to see the future, especially in this day and age. Was the vision of the lightsaber duel between good and evil a premonition? If so, was it soon, or did it take place in the distant future? The Jedi Master stood up and walked out of the room. He could not afford to think about the vision right now. His priority was making sure that Bane's assassination plan was thwarted. Maybe it would be best if every Jedi who was a possible target went off-planet for awhile.

No, they had to stick together. In this time of war, trust was one of the only things the Jedi had left.

As Obi-Wan walked down the sunlit halls of the temple, his mind wandered to his former Padawan. The war had greatly changed Anakin. He was no longer the carefree, spirited nineteen-year-old that he had been when the Clone Wars began. Obi-Wan figured it really began with the loss of his mother. Anakin was becoming more and more powerful, but he was unstable. That is the very reason why the Council has not granted him the rank of Master. The more Obi-Wan thought about it, the more he realized how much of an influence Ahsoka had on her master. If Anakin did not have her to keep him in balance during the war, his anger and his recklessness might have gotten the better of him a long time ago. And yet, it was Anakin's influence on Ahsoka that Obi-Wan was concerned about, along with his attachment, not only to her, but to Senator Amidala as well.

Anakin was far too close with the senator from Naboo. Obi-Wan knew of his former Padawan's childhood crush on the lovely senator, and regretted not putting it to an end when he was still a youngling. Surely Anakin knew that it was a hopeless cause, seeing as it would be breaking the Jedi Code to have any kind of relationship with her, and it was plain to see that Padmé did not return his feelings. She was too smart for that, if not too busy.

Obi-Wan contemplated all of this as he walked through the temple. He sighed as he silently wished that Qui-Gon were here to help him.