Chapter 23

Lorn wished he had a weapon.

Ahead of him, I‑ Five was armed with his finger blasters, as well as a few other tricks, and behind him Darsha had her lightsaber.

It wasn't that he felt they were in any particular danger at the moment, but a weapon‑ any weapon‑ would have given him a better sense of control over his own safety. While it was true that being unarmed did make him very alert, that didn't count for much with a sensor‑ equipped droid and a Force‑ sensitive Jedi for companions. Lorn felt he might as well be blind compared to them.

The going was slow; there were no handrails on the bridge, and it didn't look like the planks, lids, and other objects they were walking on had been attached very firmly to the support ropes. Indeed, he got the opinion that they had been added after the trestle had been formed. By the Cthons, perhaps? It was impossible to say. The bridge, Lorn noted, was of a very strange construction. In addition to the thick support cables that ran along either side of the odd planks they walked on, there were vertical cables every few meters, some coming from the roof of the cavern, as might be expected, but others stretching from the bridge supports down into the darkness below.

What could all this be for?

He voiced the question.

" Based on the depth of the excavation, " I‑ Five said, " I postulate that this could have been used as an access point for the underground oceans. "

Possible, Lorn thought. Most of Coruscant, except for a few park areas, was built‑ over landmass. The water had to go somewhere.

" But why this bridge? I mean, it's a pretty primitive construction. Why not have a better way of getting around? "

The droid paused and looked over its shoulder, photoreceptors gleaming. " Perhaps the Cthons are responsible. Why can't you just be grateful that it's here where and when we need it? " I‑ Five resumed his progress forward.

Lorn raised an eyebrow. " Who pissed in your power supply? " he muttered.

He heard a chuckle from behind him. Great. Shot down by his own droid, and a Jedi got the laugh.

" I've got to ask, " Darsha said. " How did you two wind up working together? "

" I'm impressed. You managed to come up with a topic even less interesting than his, " I‑ Five said.

" Perhaps you aren't in need of a distraction, " Darsha said, " but I sure could use one after the last few hours. "

The woman had a point. Lorn, somewhat to his surprise, was the one who answered.: " I acquired I‑ Five a few years back when I first got started selling information. He was a protocol droid belonging to a rich family who left him with the children. The children were spoiled. They used to do things like make him jump off the roof to see how high he would bounce. "

The memory surprised him with its intensity. He recalled the smell of the junk dealer's shop, a mixture of hydraulic fluid and the ozone of cooking circuits. It had been a humid day, and he was tired. He'd been fired from the Jedi Temple only a few days previously‑ not that they had called it that, of course.

There is no emotion; there is peace.

He'd read the words a thousand times when he had studied his enemies, fought their power over his life and Jax's. The words had never made sense before, and they didn't now.

" I figured that he might have some interesting secrets tucked away that I could use, so I bought him and brought him back on‑ line. "

Lorn remembered the first words the droid had spoken. They had hit him with their utter hopelessness and helplessness, reminding him of his own.

" I am I‑ FiveYQ, programmed for protocol. " There had been a pause after the initial main sequence had activated, and then the droid had asked, " Are you going to hurt me? "

Fury had blossomed in Lorn when he heard those words. He, too, had been broken into pieces recently, hurt savagely by those he had always been told would protect him. The Jedi.

Darsha watched Lorn go quiet. Something seemed to have disturbed the man in the telling of his story, something that she felt reticent to press him on. She decided to ask the droid instead.

" So he fixed you up, and you talked him into being your partner? "

I‑ Five answered after a pause.

" Lorn had been treated badly recently by his… employers. He felt that I was a kindred spirit, at least in potential. He had a friend who was handy at reprogramming droids install a top‑ of‑ the‑ line AI cognitive module, and deactivated my creativity damper, as well. As a result, I am as close to full sentience as any droid can be. "

Intrigued, Darsha had to ask. " Who were his employers? "

I‑ Five glanced at Lorn before replying. " The Jedi. "

She had suspected as much. That explained Master Bondara's recognition of the name. But why and how had the order treated Lorn so terribly? As far as she knew, they always dealt fairly with all employees who were non‑ Jedi. It didn't make any sense.

" How long have you trained at the Temple, Padawan Assant? "

It was plain, at least, that I‑ Five was a better droid than the one assigned to watch over the Fondorian in

I the safe house. That one hadn't recognized her as a Padawan.

" I've lived at the temple practically all my life. My formal training started when I was four, " she said. And probably ended as of today, she added silently.

" I have been in business with Lorn Pavan for five standard years. "

Then the droid went silent and left Darsha to her own thoughts. She realized that he had given her a clue to the mystery of Lorn's past.

She cast her thoughts back five years earlier. A new student had come to the temple back then, a two‑ year‑ old. Darsha remembered it because of the boy's high midi‑ chlorian count. She hadn't heard all the details of course, but the temple was a small pond, and ripples of any discord traveled quickly across its surface. Apparently the boy had been the son of a temple employee, who had been fired after he agreed to let his son be trained – why, she wasn't sure.

She gave Lorn a measuring look. If he were that student's father, and if his son had been taken from him without his consent, to be raised by the order‑ well, then it was certainly no wonder that he hated the Jedi.

She tried to imagine how she would feel in his place, but could not.

She looked at Lorn again and knew her suspicion was right. It certainly explained the man's attitude toward her and Master Bondara. She felt a great upsurge of pity for him then, so much so that she had to look away from him lest he read it in her expression.

She turned her focus back to their surroundings. It still rankled her that she hadn't noticed the Cthons before they had attacked, and she had vowed to herself not to let something like that happen again. Seeking out life‑ forms around her with the Force was a task with varying degrees of difficulty. Intelligent, Force‑ sensitive beings were usually easy to spot, of course, while lower‑ level forms‑ insects and animals, for example‑ did not broadcast nearly much of a blip on her mental radar. It was true that her mastery of the Force was nowhere near perfect, but that was no excuse for not doing the best she could. Her Twi'lek Master had once explained to her that sensitivity and fine‑ tuning came with time. " As a Padawan, " he had said, " I could push boulders around with ease, but seeds were next to impossible. "

The thought reminded Darsha that it was time to check on possible pursuit again. Ever since they had entered the underground tunnels she had periodically scanned behind them for any signs of the Sith. She had not sensed his approach before the Cthon attack and was still hoping that he had been killed along with Master Bondara. But she couldn't take the chance of becoming complacent. She closed her eyes, keeping a slight cognizance of her immediate surroundings with the Force, and cast her awareness backwards, along the path they had traced across the old bridge, across the ledge, back into the tunnel.

A cold pillar of darkness formed in her mind as her awareness reached the tunnel. Power and energy seemed to radiate off of it like electricity from a thundercloud.

He was right behind them!

" Lorn, I‑ Five‑ the Sith is behind us, almost to the bridge! "

There was no response from either of them. Darsha opened her eyes and for a moment forgot about the imminent threat of the Sith.

They had found the reason why the Cthons had not pursued them.