Chapter 9
The three boys met at the fountain
under the full Coruscant moon. The crept into the main building. The halls were deathly
silent. The three young Jedi crept through the halls to the library. The stars were
brighter than usual, illuminating their path. The door creaked as it opened to reveal the
dusty old library. The moonlight filtered in through a single window. The rows of books
and records were bare shadows in the dim light.
“Come on. The personal records are in the back.” Obi-Wan said.
“Are you sure no one comes here? I mean, they are the personal records.” Fian said as his
gills quivered nervously.
“No one ever comes here. You have nothing
to worry about.” Obi-Wan reassured Fian.
“What’s the worst that they can do to us if we’re caught?”
Makatosia said as he giggled nervously.
“They can throw us out, like Dawit.” Fian replied.
“Dawit hasn’t been thrown out.” Defended Obi-Wan.
“Wasn’t she on review?” Fian asked.
“Yes, but she hasn’t been throw out, yet.”
“What did you hear?” Makatosia asked.
“Not enough to tell if she’s going to stay or leave.” Obi-Wan
admitted.
“Where exactly are the records?” Fian asked.
“Somewhere near the back. Did anyone bring a light?”
“I did. Here.” Makatosia answered. Obi-Wan took the light and turned it
on. He used his Jedi instincts to search for the records. It was a big file cabinet in the
very back of a storage room. It was once used as an office when the students came to the
Jedi teachers. Now the teachers came to the students with their yearly screening process.
The files were by species, then planet, then first name.
“Let’s see, Dawit is a human. Fian where’s the ‘human’
file?”
“Obi-Wan, it has to be here somewhere.” Fian replied.
“It’s over here!” Makatosia called pointing to the far corner.
“Great job! Now, what’s Dawit’s home planet?” Obi-Wan asked.
“I think it’s An something.” Makatosia said.
“It’s Anyota.” Obi-Wan told them. He rummaged through the front of
the file cabinet under ‘A’. He found the file for Anyota. He saw three names.
They were in Basic alphabetical order. There was Dawit, Mara, and Onxyi. Fian looked over
Obi-Wan’s shoulder.
“Who is Mara? I don’t recognize that name. Look in that file quickly. It
can’t hurt anything.” Fian said.
“I don’t know. . .”
“Come on, just a quick peek.” Fian pleaded.
“It can’t hurt anything.” Obi-Wan agreed. The file was thick. There
was a discharge file.
“Mara was discharged?
That’s coincidental. She and Onxyi are both from the same planet.” Fian noted.
“What does it say?” asked
Makatosia. They opened the file to read,
“Mara must be discharged due to her
tendencies towards darker exercises. She failed her test.
Our only consolation is her son shows great promise in the Force. He will
officially tested in two years. A close watch must be placed upon the family. The father
shows no Force ability, so he is of no concern.”
“I can’t read anymore.” Obi-Wan said as he slammed the file back
into the cabinet.
“Did you get a last name?” Fian asked.
“No. Did you?” Obi-Wan asked.
“We don’t need it do we? Why aren’t they listed by last name?”
Makatosia replied.
“No. I’ll ask her tomorrow. I don’t know why they aren’t listed
by last name.” Obi-Wan said. Makatosia grabbed Dawit’s file.
“Let’s look at her test results and history before we’re
caught.” Fian said.
“Open the file already!” Makatosia said looking over his shoulder.
Obi-Wan took the file from cabinet. He flipped it open and thumbed through her file. He
found her test results. Fian looked over his shoulder.
“Read the results aloud Obi-Wan.” He asked. Obi-Wan complied and turned
the page to read aloud.
“Dawit shows great promise in Illusion,
Mimicry, Healing, and Vision. It is uncertain if she carries the tendency towards darker
exercises. Her brother has shown no repercussions after last year’s incident.”
“What ‘incident’ are they referring to?” Makatosia asked.
“I don’t know.” Obi-Wan said.
“Let’s check out his file.” Fian suggested.
“We’re going to finish looking in Dawit’s file first. If we’re
not caught, we’ll look at Onxyi’s file.” Obi-Wan said.
“What do you mean if we’re not caught? You said we wouldn’t be
caught!” Makatosia said nervously.
“Calm down. The Council will feel the tremors. Let’s just look at her
history for the past year.” Obi-Wan looked at the medical records, journey logs,
tests and family history. They were all blank. There was nothing in the folders. There
were no logs for the entire four years that she was there. It was as if she never existed,
except for her testing. There was something bigger going on. Something Obi-Wan
couldn’t see. The only conclusion that he could draw was that Mara was Dawit’s
mother. It made perfect sense. The son on Mara’s record had to be Dawit’s
brother, Onxyi. There was no doubt in his mind. His companions sensed his resolution in an
instant. They too had drawn the same conclusion. The
question was why the records were scarce. Obi-Wan asked aloud,
“Why were his records so scarce?”
“They could have been upgraded to the new system.” Fian suggested.
“They wouldn’t do that for students accepted before last year.”
Makatosia replied.
“Then why are they incomplete?” Obi-Wan asked aloud.
“You shouldn’t know that. It’s rude to poke around in other
people’s files.” A voice said from behind them. They all jumped and turned to
face a very angry Dawit. Her hands were on her hips and her lips were pursed.
“Dawit! We were just. . .” Obi-Wan began to explain.
“Just what? Poking around my personal file? Looking into things you’re
not supposed to? What?”
“It was Obi-Wan’s idea.” Fian explained.
“We just went along with it as a favor.” Makatosia added.
“You brought them into it?”
“Well, I just wanted to see. . .”
“See what my past was? Well too late. My records are gone.”
“What do you mean gone?” Obi-Wan asked.
“I mean gone as in I already looked and my history has been pulled.
That’s due to the mind wipe. They remove all physical evidence so you can never take
a look to remember. That’s just what you were doing, wasn’t it?”
“I didn’t know you knew, had already looked. I was trying to help you,
honest.”
“I didn’t know, at first.” Dawit said.
“I did.” Qui-Gon said, stepping out of the shadows.