Sins of the Brother

MaulMaus

Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: Uncle George owns all characters… I merely toy with them in my little universe.
Summary: Alternative Universe.  Eeth Koth, the Jedi Council member, looks back at recent events as events from The Phantom Menace unfold.
Feedback to: Yes…Please feed the author at maulmaus@cox.net.
Initial Posting: DMEB-2
Acknowledgements:  Special thanks to my friend DarkLady, who continues to inspire me, and yes, even nag me into finishing my stories.  Special thanks also to Beatkay who took the time to beta this little story.  Your expertise and honesty have helped me more than you know…  Thank you!

An emergency meeting of the Jedi High Council?  Eeth Koth leaned back in his deep chair, too stunned to do anything else.  The message continued to flash across the small screen on his desk communicator.  He couldn't even remember the last time such an event had occurred.  He put down the latest security report about Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, slid it to the far corner of his wooden desk, careful not to scratch the delicate surface.  It wouldn't be easy to polish the sheen back into the rare goldenwood from the rainforests of Darin 5.  His hand smoothed over the wood just to be sure there were no surface imperfections.

He centered himself and felt the disturbance in the Force.  It was more volatile than usual, Light and Dark mixing in strange ways.  Something must have happened regarding the Naboo situation, something bad.  Strange that he could sense nothing more than a vague sense of unease, all details clouded in mystery.  Yet, he had a hint of something.  He felt the trace of someone familiar in the Force-someone, but he couldn't put a finger on whom.  The hint eluded his probes, taunting him.

He frowned as he stood up and made his way deliberately across his office, noticing with some irritation that the top shelf of his art-figurine display case had not been dusted.  He would have to remind Jancine once again, how to properly clean his office; the Padawan never seemed to apply himself properly.  He would have to do the job again.  He shook his head as he walked through the doorway and made his way quickly to the Jedi High Council chamber where the other council members gathered.

"He was trained in the Jedi arts.  My only conclusion can be - that he was a Sith Lord."  Qui-Gon Jinn said pulling himself up to his full impressive height as he quickly glanced around the Jedi High Council chamber, before fixing his gaze on Master Yoda.

 "Impossible!" snapped Ki-Adi-Mundi, not bothering to hide his dismay at the suggestion. "The Sith have been extinct for a millennium."

 "I do not believe that the Sith could have returned without us knowing."  Windu glanced at Yoda, his expression somewhere between concern and disbelief.

 "Ah! hard to see, the dark side is," Yoda said with a small snort.

"We will use all our resources to unravel this mystery.  We will discover the identity of your attacker," Mace Windu advised, giving a slight nod as he looked directly at Master Qui-Gon Jinn.

Master Eeth Koth shifted uncomfortably in his seat.  He didn't even hear the usual benediction of the Force given by Mace Windu to Qui-Gon Jinn.  He barely registered his surroundings at all as a growing fear and a gnawing pain centered itself in his stomach as he thought back to a meeting just a few short months ago ?  

"I wondered, my brother," a deep voice murmured from the shadowy corner of the dark booth.  "I wondered if you would really come."

Eeth Koth stood, frozen in the narrow, dimly lit aisle, one hand instinctively on the hilt of his lightsaber.  He had looked around and had neither seen nor sensed anyone familiar.  But, upon hearing that smooth and unmistakable voice, he looked again into that shadow of that corner, and suddenly sensed a familiar presence.  A small, polite, smile crossed Eeth's lips as he acknowledged the younger Zabrak with a slight nod and quickly took a seat opposite him in the booth.

"It has been too long my brother," the dark one said as he pulled the black hood of his cloak away from his face.  "And I see the Jedi have treated you well."

"Yes," Eeth remarked softly, noting the subtle sarcasm in the voice, the insinuation that Eeth had become soft with the Jedi.  He turned, seeing a swift movement out of the corner of his eye.  He sensed violent emotions from some of the other customers sitting in a booth on the far side of the bar.  He bit his lip as his hand moved back to his saber.  He quickly decided against getting involved with other people's squabbles in a place such as this.   The Corellian Charm was not anyplace he would normally go, not anyplace he ever wanted to go.  The Dark Side was strong in places like this, on the lower levels of Coruscant, and he sensed it so strongly here, it made him feel slightly nauseous. He shook his head slightly and noted the layer of dust and other things he didn't want to think about that lay on the top of the small light and along the edges of the booths.  Grasping his hands together, he placed his forearms on the very edge of the table, so as to touch as little as possible of the filth he saw. He looked forward to bathing himself free of the dirt once he got back to his own suites at the Jedi Temple.

Eeth paused, thinking of what to say next when he sensed his brother's attention waiver slightly as the waitress walked over to take their order.  He noted the slight dilation of his pupils as he took in the view of the rather scantily clad blue-skinned Twi-lek.  Eeth looked up at her as well, she was slender and rather pretty, he admitted.  But what kind of woman would work in a place like this?  He sneered a bit as he dropped a few credits on her tray as a small tip for her efforts, hoping the woman would use the money to buy some decent clothes.  "Nothing, thank you," he said with a soft smile as she took the money.  He watched her walk away, her hips swaying a little more than they should have naturally.  He turned to look at his companion who stared back at him with a slight smirk on his face.  Eeth shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "What is it you wish to speak with me about Khameir?"

"Is it not enough that I wish to spend some time with my own brother?"

"Cousin," reminded the Jedi coolly.  He leaned back and pulled his hands back into the deep folds of his simple brown cloak.  He was suddenly very unsure of Khameir's intentions, uncomfortable in this place and with the darkness he sensed about him. Perhaps, it was the fact that Khameir seemed so at ease here that bothered him the most, it was almost as if Khameir enjoyed the atmosphere, enjoyed the energy he felt and sensed from the multitude of pitiful beings in this room.  Eeth shuddered again slightly, unconsciously wiping his fingers inside the arms of his cloak.

"So you too finally deny me?" the red and black skinned Zabrak asked with a laugh.

"No," Eeth shook his head.  He would never deny Khameir, no more than he would any of the rest of his family. He was one of the few Jedi that could make such a statement, having been found by the Jedi at a rather late age.  He remembered his parents, his family and his cousin.  "It is simply..." he sighed as he tried to put into words what he felt.  "It is simply that I sense so much from you my brother," he looked deep into the golden eyes across from him, "I sense so much darkness."

Khameir smiled a little, baring his multi-colored teeth.  "Yes, of course you do.  And I sense so much lightness in you." 

Eeth ignored the slight insult he felt.  "So what have you been doing with yourself, since we last met, brother?" Eeth asked, trying to shake the dark feelings, hoping to find out what was really behind this meeting.  He noted that Khameir almost disappeared in the booth, his black cloak hiding him in the continuing and overwhelming darkness of the place in which he sat.  Only Khameir's red facial markings and yellow eyes stood out at all.  His black-gloved hands, resting gracefully, quietly on the table, one on top of the other, almost disappeared.  Only the dim light from the small wall lantern softly reflecting the fine grain leather of the gloves gave any indication his hands were there at all.

"Preparing," Khameir remarked with a casual movement of his hand.  "Soon, I will leave Coruscant on a journey..." he smiled coolly as he looked at his brother, "on an important mission.  Perhaps you would wish to join me?"

Eeth knew he looked as stunned as he felt with Khameir's words.  It was all he could do to keep his mouth from dropping open in shock and surprise.  His hands gripped his arms tightly under the folds of his robes.  He pulled them out, forcing himself to fold them gently on the top of the gritty table, forcing himself to relax.

"We could work together Eeth, side-by-side, as we used to dream of when we were children." 

"Side-by-side?" Eeth asked with a tinge of disbelief.  Then he leaned back and smiled.  "Yes, we did dream of such things when we were young, didn't we?  Fighting the Hutt with our wooden blasters and battling monsters with lightsabers made of paper.  You wanted to be a Jedi Knight then, Khameir."  He sighed, looking into Khameir's eyes.  "You always wanted to be a Jedi!"

"Like my brother," remarked Khameir with a single gentle bow to Eeth.  "But we know what Master Yoda said to that," he said, "do we not?"  Khameir raised his chin and smirked back at Eeth, an arrogant look on his face.

Eeth nodded.  He remembered all too well.  About a year after arriving at the temple, the young Padawan Eeth heard that the Jedi had made a trip to far off world of Iridonia in search of potential Padawans. When the Jedi returned without his cousin, Eeth asked his Master why Khameir was not with those returning.  He was told that Master Yoda had decided that the young Zabrak was already too old for training.  Eeth knew in his heart there was more to it than that, but had to accept what his Master told him. Years later, in one of Eeth's training classes, one of the other Padawans asked Master Windu why some, who were obviously strong in the Force, were passed over by the Jedi. The answer the Jedi Master gave, was that when the Dark Side was sensed in one so young, it was better for that child to grow in ignorance of the Force rather than learn how to use it against others.  Someone trained in the Dark Side was not only dangerous to himself, but to everyone, including the Jedi.  It was only then that it truly made sense to Eeth as to why Khameir had not been chosen.  He had remembered young Khameir's temper and had wondered about the rage that seemed to come from nowhere in his young cousin.  Then, it made sense.  Now, perhaps, it made even more sense.

"You have grown even stronger in the Force since the last time we met," remarked Eeth.  He studied the Zabrak across from him, unsuccessfully attempting to probe him.  Eeth sensed nothing but a reflection from his brother, a dark reflection and a laugh.  He reminded himself that each time that they had met, Khameir was always a little stronger, a little more sure of himself and a little more secretive.  Never more so than now.

"Yes, brother.  I am powerful and unlike the Jedi, I intend to use that power."  Khameir crossed his arms in front of him and leaned on the table, his expression determined and serious, his eyes fixed on those of Eeth.  "You will understand when the time comes."

Was this a threat?  Eeth felt a sinking darkness course through him and wondered briefly as to the extent of that power, yet he sensed nothing dangerous enough from Khameir to especially worry him.  He was strong, that much he knew for certain, but he did not believe it to be so much that the Jedi couldn't handle it.  He sighed to himself.  If anyone knew Khameir, he did, and he did not believe his brother capable of much harm.  Eeth shook his head, not liking what he sensed, preferring to remember the young Khameir as a child.  When he had a quick temper, but also a warm heart.

"Do not pity me, brother." Khameir warned.  "I do not want your pity or your sympathy.  I chose my own path and I have made my own decisions.  I will not waste my power as the Jedi do!"

"I cannot help but, pity you, Khameir" Eeth said, wondering if his cousin could sense his thoughts.  "You have fallen from the Light Side?"

"I was never on the Light Side, Eeth!"

"No, I guess not."  He swallowed hard at the sudden and full realization of this, though in truth this did not surprise him.  His mind flooded with memories of Khameir as a young child, before Eeth had left to become a Jedi Padawan.  So full of promise, that young child Khameir was, and with so many more opportunities growing up on Iridonia in relative wealth, instead of the squalor he himself had lived in those first years on Nar Shaddaa.

Eeth had always believed that the darkness he sensed from Khameir had come from his father; a most disagreeable man, known for his violent outbursts.  Khameir the Father, head of the Sarin clan, had rejected his own sister Solara and Khantorn Koth, Eeth's own father. Khameir the father watched with disgust, as the Jedi Masters came looking for young Force sensitive's on Iridonia.  Eeth's family had been relegated to poverty on Nar Shaddaa once Eeth's father had allowed his eldest son to be taken by the Jedi.

But those incidents were long past and Eeth had managed to contact his favorite cousin again, eight years ago.  Upon re-uniting with Khameir, he had learned that life had not been easy for Khameir.  At the age of 10, his parents, his two brothers and two sisters were all killed in a tragic accident, one that was never fully explained.  Having no family to go to, as Khameir the father had finally alienated all the extended family due to his violent temper, the young Khameir was truly made an orphan, and forced to attend a military academy.  He seemed to have enjoyed it however, and was something he truly excelled in.  Eeth also learned that Khameir had found a generous patron who had paid for his remaining schooling and for additional military training.  But Khameir never elaborated on this patron, despite Eeth's questions over the following years.

Now Eeth looked closely at his brother with the strange tattoos on his face, the golden glowing eyes and the sharpened horns on his head.  That young child of promise had become the vision of a demon, taken from the annals of Zabrak history and one that sent chills down Eeth's spine.  All Zabrak warriors had facial tattoos as part of their initiation ritual, but Eeth had never seen any as dramatic or stark as these.  And only the most dedicated warriors sharpened the vestigial horns on their head, warriors such as Khameir's father, and now Khameir himself.

"Are you sure you do not wish to join with me, my brother?" Khameir offered again, opening his gloved hand toward Eeth.  "We would make a powerful team, you and I."

Eeth, lost in his thoughts and memories, was surprised with the earnestness he sensed from Khameir.  He simply shook his head.  "No, Khameir, you know I cannot.  You know I will not leave the Jedi."

"Yes, of course.  But I wished to ask you nonetheless."  He smiled, leaned back into the booth and reached back to draw up his hood.  "I knew you must refuse, and my woman said as much herself."

"Your woman?" Eeth asked peering into the depths of the cloak.  His cousin had a woman?  He realized that this was bait to tantalize his curiosity, but it got the better of him nonetheless.

"Yes, Eeth, I have a woman.  A female human, and she is beautiful, very beautiful."  His voice trailed off and a smug look came across his face as he gave a knowing smile to his cousin.  Then he folded his arms back into the voluminous sleeves of his course cloak and leaned back.  "I believe you would even approve of her brother.  She is intelligent and could match you in any argument, even on the subtleties of the Force.  It is a shame you will not meet her now." 

A human woman?  Why would Khameir break with Zabrak tradition on this, not to mention the bounds of proper behavior or good taste?  Eeth wondered indeed what kind of woman would want to be involved with someone like Khameir, especially if she was as aware of the Force as he had indicated.  A sudden misty vision entered his mind ; a flash of long reddish hair, a quiet laugh, the sensation of an erotic touch, bright blue eyes laughing at him - no - laughing with Khameir - then she was gone.  A hint of her given to him by Khameir, enough to tantalize Eeth, but not enough to reveal.  "Surely she has a name?"

"Of course.  However, it is not for you to know.  Not now."  He pulled his cloak closed about him, and moved across the seat to stand at the end of the table.  "Farewell my brother."  He bowed to the Jedi at the table.  "I wish you health and happiness Eeth, and may the Force be with you.  Always."

"And with you my brother," he replied, softly, sadly.  Eeth watched his cousin pull the hood of his cloak up over his head, turn and disappear in a swirl of pleated fabric around the corner of the entrance to the bar.  He sat at the table for several more minutes, lost in thought, pondering what had really just happened.  He wasn't even sure what he felt or what he should feel.  More had been said between them than the simple words they had spoken.  Would he see his brother again?  He didn't know.  Something in the way Khameir had bid him farewell told him no. 

*****

Finis ??