The Evil Experiment

15

“Captain Yur T’aug is busy,” the sergeant said.

“He will see me,” Obi-Wan said firmly. “This is a Jedi matter.”

The sergeant paused. Coruscant security forces were expected to cooperate with the Jedi, even if they didn’t want to.

“I will ask him—”

Pushing past the sergeant, Obi-Wan strode through the door. Captain Yur T’aug sat at a long, polished desk. He was a tall, muscular Bothan, dressed in the security force navy uniform with tall boots polished to a high gleam. He was bent over, staring in a mirror while he clipped his beard. He looked up in surprise as Obi-Wan and Astri walked in.

“I am not to be disturbed!” he shouted.

“Why did you drop the investigation into Ren S’orn’s death?” Obi-Wan demanded. He had no time for preliminaries.

“How dare you question me!” Captain Yur T’aug sprang to his feet and stalked toward Obi-Wan and Astri. He came within centimeters of their faces. “Get out!” he bellowed.

“Not until I get answers,” Obi-Wan said, meeting the captain’s gaze resolutely. He had learned from Qui-Gon how to meet bullies with calm strength. He did not raise his voice. Still, he felt intimidated by the captain’s manner. He was only a boy. Would the captain listen to him?

“I have no answers to give you,” Captain Yur T’aug sneered. “I investigated a murder. The killer was not found. The case file was rotated to inactive. Do you know how full our caseload is here?”

“Ren’s friend told you that he might have been killed because he had information that someone did not want to get out,” Obi-Wan said. “You did not question anyone else. Why is that?” Obi-Wan paused. “The Jedi are making this investigation a priority, Captain Yur T’aug.”

“So they send a boy to question me?”

“I represent the Jedi Council. Know that if you oppose us, we will pursue this matter.”

Captain Yur T’aug backed up a step. “Always the Jedi stick their noses in my business and I am asked to accept it.”

“We are working for the same goal,” Obi-Wan pointed out. “Justice. Did Jenna Zan Arbor pay you to drop the investigation?”

A flicker of surprise flared in Captain Yur T’aug’s angry gaze. But was it because Obi-Wan had guessed the truth, or because he did not know Jenna Zan Arbor was involved?

“The Jedi Council wishes to know the answer,” Obi-Wan said. “We will go through official channels if we must. It would be easier if you would tell me the truth here and now.”

Captain Yur T’aug let out a breath, as if he’d made a decision. “It is true I was asked to drop the investigation. But it was the request of Ren S’orn’s mother. Uta S’orn is—was—a powerful Senator. And it was her son who had died. Naturally I followed her wishes.”

“Why wouldn’t Senator S’orn want her son’s killer to be found?” Astri asked, baffled.

“You will have to ask her,” Captain Yur T’aug said. “I do not know.”

The last time Obi-Wan had seen Senator S’orn, he had been ushered into a grand office in the Senate building. She had been dressed in rich ceremonial robes. Since that time, Senator S’orn had resigned.

She lived in a building near the Senate where other Senators from many worlds kept quarters. She opened the door, dressed in a plain linen smock that hung to the floor. She was not wearing the elaborate wrapped headdress of her home world of Belasco. Her dark hair hung loosely down her back.

She did not look happy to see Obi-Wan. “More questions,” she said.

“Where’s your big friend?”

“I don’t know,” Obi-Wan said. “That’s why I’m here.”

She shrugged, then turned and walked into her quarters.

Obi-Wan and Astri followed. Boxes and bins were piled around them, some of them sealed, others half open. She was packing.

“You are leaving?”

“I am returning to Belasco. To do what, I don’t know.” She gave Obi-Wan a direct look. “Please ask what you came to ask. I am busy.”

The Senator had always been direct. He would meet that directness with his own. “Why did you have Captain Yur T’aug drop the investigation into your son’s murder?”

“What good would it have done to continue?” Uta S’orn said with a sigh. “He was killed by some lowlife, some criminal on Simpla-12. He associated with them, gambled with them, probably got into an argument. He led a life of squalor. Why investigate it, why drag every sordid detail into the sun? Who knows what Captain Yur T’aug could have found about Ren?”

Uta S’orn’s expression was tight and strained. “I did not want to know. Don’t you understand? I want it all to go away, and you keep bringing it up again.”

“But your son might have left a clue behind to help find his killer,” Astri said. “He said he would leave a clue behind in case he was killed.”

“Can’t you understand that I don’t care?” she said impatiently. She picked up a blanket and began to fold it.

“What if you knew his killer?” Obi-Wan asked. “Why would I know the dregs of Simpla-12?” she scoffed.

“We believe that Jenna Zan Arbor was involved in your son’s death,” Obi-Wan told her.

She whipped around to face him. “That is impossible.”

“It is true,” Obi-Wan said. “We know that Jenna Zan Arbor is conducting experiments on the Force. We know she contacted your son—”

Uta S’orn laughed in disbelief. “You are on the wrong track. Jenna is my friend. I have helped her with her funding, introduced legislation for her, gotten her onto committees, sometimes at personal risk to my career… She would never hurt my son. She didn’t even know him.”

“Did she tell you that she contacted him on Simpla-12?”

Uta S’orn went pale. She knew the Jedi did not lie. “You know this is true?”

Obi-Wan nodded. “Tell me. She knew Ren was Force-sensitive, didn’t she?”

“I told her in confidence…”

“This was at the beginning of her experiments,” Obi-Wan said, thinking. “She probably couldn’t get to any Jedi. She was looking for anyone who was Force-sensitive, most likely. Beings no one would miss—”

Obi-Wan saw pain constrict Uta S’orn’s features. “I am sorry. I know you miss your son. Perhaps she thought you would not.”

“I was not in touch with Ren at the time,” Uta S’orn said reluctantly. “I told Jenna I had disowned him. I was trying to be strong.”

“She offered him money if he would be a subject in an experiment,” Obi-Wan said quietly. “He went. When he returned, his friends say he was changed. He was afraid.”

Uta S’orn’s legs seemed to collapse underneath her. She sat on a chair. Her hands went to her mouth. “Did she… hurt him?”

“We are not sure what happened,” Obi-Wan said. “Or why he was killed. Do you know where Jenna Zan Arbor’s lab is? Not her official lab. But another lab, a secret lab.”

Uta S’orn shook her head. “I didn’t know she had one.”

“We think Ren left a clue behind,” Obi-Wan said. “Do you have anything of his?”

She stood and went to the pile of boxes in a corner. She withdrew a small durasteel bin. “This is all he owned. If there’s a message here, I haven’t found it.” She handed it to Obi-Wan. “Take it. And if you find out your suspicions are true, find her.”

“I will,” Obi-Wan promised.

Quickly, he and Astri hurried outside. The walkways teemed with beings. The area surrounding the Senate was always crowded.

“We need to go through this bin, but we don’t have time to get to the Temple,” Obi-Wan said. “I don’t want to do it in public. Ona Nobis could be anywhere.”

“Didi’s Café is close, and I still have the key,” Astri said. “Follow me.”

She led him down an alley and across the square. Now Obi-Wan recognized where he was. They would approach Didi’s Café from the back.

Astri snaked through several alleys and they came to the back door.

“Good, the landlord hasn’t rented it yet,” she said, swiping her key card through the lock. The door hissed open.

There was no power to the building, so Astri opened a shutter a crack to let in enough light to see. They sat at the long kitchen table. Obi-Wan carefully removed the contents of Ren’s bin and spread them out on the table.

A utility pouch with one protein food capsule and a small servodriver. A few credits. A vibroshiv. A few crystals. A deck of cards for sabacc. A tunic with empty pockets. A thermal cape, folded neatly.

They were all items carried by the kind of being who owned little and ranged throughout the galaxy. Nothing special. And if there was a message here, he couldn’t read it either. Disappointment thudded through him.

Astri slumped in the chair. “It’s a dead end.”

Obi-Wan felt a presence nearby. Out of the corner of his eye a fleeting shadow flickered. There was someone hovering outside the half-shuttered window. He did not turn and look. Instead, he signaled to Astri with a glance that something was amiss.

“Maybe there is something hidden in the lining of the tunic,” he said in a normal voice. “I’ll fetch something to slice it open.”

“Try the office,” Astri said. Under the cover of the table, she withdrew her vibroblade from its holster.

Obi-Wan left the kitchen at a normal pace but raced up the stairs to the private quarters above. He slid open a shutter noiselessly and looked down at the alley. Someone in a long, dusty tunic was peering in the kitchen window. The hood to the tunic was raised. He could not identify the person as Ona Nobis, but he knew such a disguise would be easy for her.

He eased out onto the ledge and paused for a moment, gathering the Force. He would need help if he was to meet this opponent again. Drawing his lightsaber in one smooth movement, he leaped toward the intruder below.