Anabeth: Spark Of Change

Chapter 1 - Encounter

Obi-Wan sighed as he let himself fall into the pilot's chair on his ship. He lazily laid in a course back to Coruscant, jumping into hyperspace the second he was cleared to by the plantes docking control.

During the past three days he had spend his time helping to settle a border dispute that had arisen on Turia, a planet on the border to the Outer Rim. While the Jedi Master had at first been happy to get a break from fighting at the front line to help with the negotiations, he quickly had to realize that the situation wasn't quiet as refreshing as he had hoped. The atmosphere had been more than just a little tense and there had been numerous occasions where Obi-Wan had almost been sure that one delegation was about to jump at the other's throat.

Luckily, Obi-Wan proved to be an excellent negotiator and was able to keep both parties at heir respective sides of the table during the meetings. Once the matter had been settled both sides were thankful to him for having moderated the discussion and had offered him to stay for a little longer, but Obi-Wan had politely refused. He wanted nothing more, than to get back to the Jedi Temple and get some well deserved sleep at the moment.

Looking at the ships chronometer, Obi-Wan unfortunately had to realize that it would be another five hours until he would actually reach Coruscant. He put the ship on auto pilot as he made his way to the quaters that were on the ship in order to meditate. He barely had time to do so in the past days, perhaps another factor that was playing into the tiredness and fatigue he was experiencing at the moment. Hoping that meditation would help him stay awake until he actually reached the Temple, he sat down on the floor, crossing his legs and closing his eyes.

As time passed, Obi-Wan started to relax, focusing on the images he was seeing in his mind and the feel of the force instead of listening to the ship's engines. Pictures of moments long in the past were flooding his mind and a feeling of warmth and comfort filled his heart. He would later realize that this was the calm before the storm that was about to come. The calm that helped him mentally collect himself for what was to follow.

Obi-Wan suddenly opened his eyes, a wave of both shock and surprise hitting him. He felt something, and this something was not right. He jumped to his feed and raced back to the cockpit in order to stop the ship. His breathing was heavy and irregular as all of his senses were on high alert. Running a full scan of the area of space he was, Obi-Wan slowly collected himself again. 'There it is again' he thought as his heart started to race once more.

The Jedi Master looked at the ships console, curious to what the result of the scan would be showing, as he tried to push aside the strange feelings he was getting for a moment. There was nothing on the scopes within three parsecs, except a single planet that was orbiting the nearby sun. Pulling up the planets file, Obi-Wan also started setting a new course there.

From what the file was telling him the planet's name was Gandri and there was nothing on the planet's surface that would be worth his attention in the slightest. The whole planet was a fule mine, populated only by fuel miners, black market dealers, fugitives and other galactic scum. It was the type of place that anyone who wasn't out of their mind would tell you to keep away from, but Obi-Wan still felt like the force wanted him to visit the planet. Luckily there were only two big cities on the surface which meant that his search would at least be quick.

As the ship slowly made its way towards Gandri, Obi-Wan decided  to sit down to meditate again. He concentrated on that weird feeling he had, a feeling he could only describe as a pull of the force that was leading him somewhere. The closer he got to the planet, the clearer the feeling got, proving that there was somethign down on the surface that he needed to find. However, he was still oblivious as to what that was.

When he finally set foot on the surface the feeling had intensified yet again, assuring him that he was on the right track. Soon, Obi-Wan was making his way through the barely lit up city, navigating his way through the streets as if he had been there before. He was relying purely on the force to guide him to where he needed to go, a strategy he hadn't used in quiet a while.

Obi-Wan soon tried to focus on the force again, in order to get a clearer picture of what he was looking for here. The planet didn't seem hospitable one bit and he had no intention of staying a second longer than he needed to. The fact that he was also now entering the city's slum district did not help lighten his mood any more either, making him hope he'd find the source of the disturbance sooner rather than later.

The Jedi Master was almost about to go back to his ship and use its scaners to look for something that might be out of place when he finally experienced another call of the force. This time, it felt like he was getting considerably closer, the strange feeling he was getting now clearing up slightly. It almost felt like a presence of another force sensitive beeing that was walking the streets. Yet, no matter how hard Obi-Wan tried, he could not find out from whom and where it was coming.

It took walking another three streets before the Jedi finally stopped in his tracks, the feeling in the force spiking yet again. He looked around, curious to what was going on, when he just about managed to catch a glimpse of a figure disappearing behind a corner. He didn't waste a second to race after whomever it was, positive that it was what he was looking for. This was only proven when he turned the corner himself, only to see the figure now starting to run aswell.

Obi-Wan picked up the chase while trying to use the force to identify the fugitive. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find out anything. The person's presence was clouded by something, and while Obi-Wan could not put his finger on what it was, he couldn't help but feel that it wasn't anything good.

The  fugitive was now picking up speed, a clear sign to Obi-Wan that the figure had taken notice of his attempt to find out something about them. He decided that the best course of action would be to try to mask his own presence and to stop trying to read the person in order to give them the feeling that they had lost him.

His plan seemed to have worked as he soon felt the figure slow down again, however, it didn't stop running. The mysterious fugitive lead Obi-Wan through the maze of houses to the outskirts of the slum district where it finally slowed down. The Jedi only just managed to catch a glimpse of the person entering a building, before he reached out with the force again. Realizing that the door the figure went through was the only way in and out of the building he slowly stepped closer, catching his breath and making his presence known through the force.

When Obi-Wan finally reached the door he slowly opened it, bracing himself for whatever might be behind it. He was surprised when he found a young girl that could not have been older than sixteen backed up against the wall. Fear, anger and confusion were now radiating within her force signature as he took another step towards her. "Stay away from me!" she demanded in a distressed voice, her breathing now irratic as her heartrate went up way above what was healthy. Obi-Wan was about to tell her to calm down and that he wasn't going to hurt her when she started to stumble to the side, her eyes dazing off before closing completely.

Her unconscious body dropped to the floor as the Jedi Master ran towards her to catch her. She clearly had a high fever judging by the temperature of her forehead, however, he was uncertain of the cause of this. Deciding that neither he, nor the girl would be gaining anything from staying here he picked her up and carried her back to his ship.

By the time they reached it the girl's breathing and heartrate had steadied again, but she was still in no condition to be waking up any time soon. The pull in the force Obi-Wan had previously experienced was now gone, proving to him that it was this girl the force had sent him for. She was clearly force sensitive, but she didn't look familiar to him. Somehow, the Order must have missed her as a child, although how was beyond him. The fact that she also appeared to have had at least some form of training and that something about her felt familiar didn't help put the Jedi Master's mind at ease either.

He eventually decided that it would be best to take her back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where the obviously sick girl could recieve some help and they would be able to investigate the mysteries surrounding her. Checking one last time to make sure that her condition hadn't gotten worse, Obi-Wan looked over at the girl who was still asleep in the co pilot's chair. He then proceeded to leave the planets atmosphere, before continuing on his course to Coruscant. Sighing at the fact that he'd now have some important meetings ahead of him instead of rest, Obi-Wan leant back in his chair and shifted his gaze towards the girl again. There was just something about her that felt familiar, like there was a connection between the two of them that was beyond both of their knowledge at the moment. Only time would tell if this suspicion of his would turn out to be true. For now, the girl was his responsibility, and he was going to make sure to get her to the Temple alive.