Hero of Naboo Chapter 20 Preview

It wasn't hard to find Vader after he had left the meeting with the council. Even without it trying to overtake the temple, the pressence of the Dark Side was left in his wake. Which was how Qui-Gon came to be standing on one of the balconies of the Jedi Temple with the Sith Lord.

"Well, that was rather eventful," Qui-Gon stated, leaning his back against the railing, the night sky lit by the innumerable lights of Coruscant.

"It must be interesting for you, Jedi," Vader stated idly, his right arm resting on the ledge while running his left hand up and down the bottom half of the arm. "This world is your home twice over; you were born here, and you were trained as a Jedi here. Most cannot make suck a claim."

"Its a world with a trillion souls upon it, Vader," Qui-Gon reminded, eyes the Sith Lord's actions curiously as he felt tiny movements in the force. "Please tell me you're not constructing a bomb in your arm."

Vader paused abruptly before glancing in Qui-Gon's direction. "I was about to scold you for taking after your padawan, but I should congradulate you on giving me an idea."

"Oh, wonderful! Now I'm thinking too much like a Sith in trying to understnad you," Qui-Gon stated with a mirth, which quickly dried up. "In all seriousness, what are you doing?"

"I am using the force to fix some of the damage to my limbs," Vader answered bluntly.

"That.....would sound impressive if I wasn't sure it was just a patch job," Qui-Gon stated, giving the Sith an odd look. "I'm going to assume the contents of that sack were for your invetiable repairs?"

"Among other things," Vader admitted shortly. "Now, how long are you going to dance around what you wish to say, Jinn?"

Qui-Gon  nodded, both to himself and Vader, as he took on a contemplative scowl. "You're actually serious?"

"Do I come across as one for jokes, Jedi?" Vader questioned rethorically.

"Well, for wanting to end this "neverendless war," you certainly have an interesting way of showing it. You knew coming here with the Dark Woman like that would provoke something," Qui-Gon accused neutrally.

"Yes, I did. It seemed the best way to make you all confront the fact that your order has a serious problem," Vader answered calmly. 

"I thought you said we both needed to clean house?" Qui-Gon asked with a small smirk.

"My order's problems are well known and obvious, your order feels justified in your own," Vader pointed out. "All of which does not negate the simple fact that myself acurately predicting that the Jedi would make the wrong choice does not change that it was, indeed, the wrong choice."

"I want to argue that, but it is rather difficult to argue against a small army of Jedi attacking a man for the aftermath of a wrong assumption. Especially when I scolded Obi-wan for essentially the same thing after that display back on Tattoine," Qui-Gon recalled with a headshake.

"It is rather telling when so many of your order make the same mistake as your padawan," Vader commented, and Qui-Gon almost thought the Dark Lord was amused.

"So, is this peace than?" Qui-Gon asked with interest.

"By certain definitions. Most sapients take the notion of peace to equate to being allies. My intent is that Sith and Jedi should be able to co-exist in a large galaxy without attempting genocide on one another simply because we are Jedi and Sith," Vader explained, raising his arm and flexing the fingers. "That should be sufficent."

"And what of the others in your Order? Will they be so eager for this peace, to co-exist?" Qui-Gon asked with a skeptical look.

"As I said, Jinn, we both need to clean house," Vader stated coldly.

Qui-Gon made the conscious decision to NOT lean away as the air grew cold around Vader again. "And how long do you expect this will last?"

"How long do you imagine your comrades can abstain from trying to kill me, Jinn?" Vader countered, growing impatient.