Jedi Apprentice 3: The Hidden Past

As soon as they reached the dark street, Guerra led them down a narrow alley. There, they removed the coats and visors. Guerra put them in a satchel her carried.

"Why does Terra suspect that Duenna will contact you?" Obi-Wan asked the Derida brothers. "Does she know that Duenna is a rebel sympathizer? Isn't it dangerous to use her?"

"No so," Guerra said softly. "Terra knows nothing for sure. She is afraid Duenna will contact us because she knows Duenna is our mother."

Obi-Wan shot a surprised look at Qui-Gon. "But why is she working for the Syndicat?"

Qui-Gon wanted to hear what the Phindian brothers had to say.

Guerra and Paxxi exchanged a rueful look. Paxxi nodded at Guerra. "The Jedi should know," he said.

"Yes, so," Guerra said sadly. "Duenna works for Terra because Terra is her daughter.'

"So Terra is?"

"Our sister," Paxxi said.

"She is not the sister we had," Guerra explained. "Not the one we knew. She was renewed when she was only eleven years old. The Syndicat raised her. She had no memory of the girl she used to be. She grew up here, in this place, with cruelty and power."

"With no love," Paxxi said gently.

"So that is why our mother sacrificed her life," Guerra said. "She thought even as a servant, she could give Terra love. Maybe bring back part of the girl she knew." Guerra shrugged. "Yet is was never so. Terra did not change. Duenna still remains. She will stay and watch over her daughter? no matter what she is. No matter what she has become."

Chapter 11

That night, Guerra and Paxxi shared their cramped quarters with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. It was a tiny room in the small house that Kaadi shared with her family. She had insisted the brothers stay with her once she'd found them, and she'd welcomed the Jedi just as warmly.

They bedded down for the night on blankets spread on the floor. Paxxi fell asleep immediately, and Qui-Gon was in the state the Jedi called restful-sleep-in-danger, his eyes closed but a corner of his mind alert at all times.

Obi-Wan could not sleep. He could not stop thinking about what it must be like to lose you memory. He could not imagine anything more terrible. He had worked so hard at the Temple, made deep friendships, learned so much from the Masters. What if all that was taken from him?

"Are you awake, Obawan?" Guerra whispered from the blanket nest to him.

"Yes," Obi-Wan answered softly.

"Yes so, I thought so," Guerra said. "I heard you thinking. You are still angry with me?"

"I'm not angry with you Guerra," Obi-Wan said. "Maybe I was impatient with you. You never tell the whole truth."

"Not so," Guerra whispered. "Oh, I lie. You are right, Obawan, as you are always. I sense that you do not agree with the decision of Jedi-Gon to help us."

"Not so," Obi-Wan said. "… Or so. Maybe I lie."

"Ah, you tease me," Guerra said mournfully. "And this I deserve from you, I know."

"Why didn't you tell me about your sister?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Terra." Guerra murmured. He let out a gusty sigh. "She is my enemy, is she not, and yours? Yet it was not always so. You must believe this. If you could have known her as a child! Sunny and bright and eager! And funny! She was our tagalong, we called her, my good brother Paxxi and I. Baftu took all that was good and erased it, then filled in the spaces with hate. You see why we must crush them, Obawan? That is why Duenna risks so much? she and Paxxi think if the Syndicat is no more, they can reach Terra again."

"Do you think so?" Obi-Wan asked.

Guerra sighed again. "No, friend," he said. "I do not. But I hope so. Just as my family does. In some cases, some strong-minded beings can resist the effects of the memory wipe. They can hold on to flashes of memory. Just scraps of things? a face, a smell. A feeling. I fear it is not so for Terra. It has been so long for her. I have not the belief that my good brother does. I have only this tiny hope in my heart."

"It's something to hold on to," Obi-Wan said.

"Yes so," Guerra said quietly. "So if I tricked my friend, if I maybe did not tell him everything in the beginning, maybe my good friend Obawan will understand and grant me help again."

A pause stretched out between them. Obi-Wan's irritation at Guerra left in a rush. He saw the terror and pain that Guerra had lived with. Just as on the mining platform, when Guerra had covered his fear of certain death with smiles and jokes, here on Phindar he would do the same. Qui-Gon had been right to help them. Obi-wan knew that now.

"Of course, I will help you," he whispered, but Guerra was already asleep.

* * *

The following night, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Guerra and Paxxi slipped the armor coats over their clothes and donned visors. Under the shelter of the overhang, they watched the activity at the warehouse by the spaceport.

There didn't seem to be high security. Syndicat members entered and exited the buildings without showing passes. They would only have to pretend to be delivering a shipment for cover. Or at least the hoped so.

Paxxi and Guerra had worked all day to father authentic-looking supplies. Although their containers were marked "Bacta" and "Medpacs," they were actually filled with old circuit parts. But at least they would have something to carry inside.

"As soon as we're inside, we should split into two groups," Qui-Gon instructed. "Guerra, go with Obi-Wan, Paxxi with me. We'll start at opposite ends and meet in the middle, if we can. If you can locate your goods and find the anti-register device, leave. If we can't find it, we all exit the building in twenty minutes. We can't take any chances."