I don't own Star Wars.
This is an AU fic. I'm not exactly sure how AU it's going to be (I don't have a very clear plotline yet) but I just thought I'd get that out there, in case you missed the summary. Well, enjoy!
Even Piell fought against the darkness that wished to claim his life. He looked up at the young Padawan who hovered over him, looking anxious. "Remember this" he told her, gasping for breath, "and see to it that the information I'm about to give you is revealed to no one but the Jedi Council."
Ahsoka Tano hesitated, then bent down to hear him better. Quickly, he recited the coordinates of his half of the Nexus route, then fell back in exhaustion and pain. "Remember," he said to the child. "Tell no one but the Jedi Council. The fate of the galaxy could rest on this information." He coughed. He wanted to tell her what he had figured out about the Nexus route, but he could feel his life force stealing away.
Even Piell became one with the Force.
Chancellor Palpatine looked up as Captain Tarkin entered his office. "Captain, it is good to see you. Not many leave the Citadel alive."
Tarkin bowed. "It was thanks to the efforts of Generals Kenobi and Skywalker that I am alive. The separatists don't have the Nexus route coordinates."
"You have done well, Captain," Palpatine said. "And Master Piell... is he well?"
"I'm sorry to report that he is dead," Tarkin said.
Palpatine fought hard to keep the look of shock off of his face. He needed the Nexus route coordinates for several reasons. They were vital to his plans for the Clone Wars. With Peill dead and half the coordinates missing, those plans might never be executed...
"However, the coordinates remain intact," Tarkin continued. Palpatine looked up in interest. "Skywalker's apprentice has memorized the other half."
Skywalker's Padawan... Palpatine couldn't remember her name. Tani? Tara? Tano. He nodded slowly. A Padawan. It wouldn't be any trouble to get the coordinates from her. He couldn't let the Jedi get a hold of that information. From his understanding, the coordinates translated to a special code that could be used against him if the Jedi figured it out. With a little luck, he could frighten her into keeping the information from the Council.
Darth Sidious, Lord of the Sith, smiled.
"What do you mean, you aren't going to tell the Chancellor?"
Anakin Skywalker raised an eyebrow at his Padawan, who stood stubbornly before him. "If the Council decides that the Chancellor will need to know of the Nexus route coordinates, then you will have to tell him."
"I don't trust him," Ahsoka replied. "And I know the Council doesn't either. Master Piell gave me strict orders not to tell anyone but the Jedi Council. I will honour his last wish."
Anakin sighed. He couldn't argue with that. "Alright. It's not like you'll listen to anything I have to say anyway."
Ahsoka lowered her gaze, but didn't say anything. Anakin didn't understand why Plo Koon had covered for his Padawan. Anakin had told her she couldn't come on the mission to the Citadel and she had turned around and asked another Jedi if she could go. That sounded like a sulking child, which Ahsoka was not. He shook his head. "You have a few days of studying to catch up on. I suggest you get working on it."
Ahsoka scowled at him and he turned away before she could argue. He wasn't in the mood to deal with a rebellious Padawan.
Master Yoda shuffled slowly into the Chancellor's office. The man looked up with a faint smile on his face.
"Master Yoda, how good to see you."
"Chancellor," Yoda nodded his head in a gesture of respect. "The Nexus route, we must discuss."
Palpatine nodded. "I think that only a select few should carry this information. I trust you with my life, Master Yoda, but some of the others in your Order have yet to earn my trust."
Yoda frowned at the Chancellor. "All of those on the Council, trustworthy, they are."
"I wasn't implying otherwise," Palpatine said quickly. "But I think it would be best if one person knew the information, one person alone."
Yoda considered this. The Chancellor wouldn't do anything to harm the republic. And it would be easier to protect one person from the separatists, even if all members of the Jedi Council were expert swordsmen.
Even the best of us, cut down they can be, he thought.
"Want the codes, the separatists do," Yoda reminded him. "Do anything to get them, they will. Place yourself in danger willingly, you would?"
"My security is among the best on Coruscant," Palpatine told him. "I will be fine."
The old Jedi Master wondered why Chancellor was so interested in the coordinates, but it wasn't his place to pry.
"Speak to Padawan Tano about this, I will," he said at last. He had been surprised at her determination to relay the information to the Council only. Like this, she will not.
Ahsoka sat at the computer terminal, bored out of her mind. Who cared about an assassination that had taken place thousands of years ago when there was a war going on now?
There was only one thing she hated more than studying and that was meditating.
I suppose I should be glad that Master Skywalker didn't assign me double of that as well.
She owed Master Plo big time for saving her. She felt guilty for lying to Anakin and even more so for dragging Master Plo into that.
She heard footsteps behind her and twisted around to see Jocasta Nu. "Master Yoda would like to speak with you," she told Ahsoka with a kind smile. "When I last spoke with him, he was in his quarters."
"Thank you," Ahsoka said to the elderly librarian, then left the library at a very fast walk.
Yoda was waiting when she reached his quarters. "Come in, Padawan. Much to discuss, we have."
Her curiosity raised, Ahsoka sat down across from the small Master.
"Wants the coordinates, the Chancellor does," Yoda began.
Ahsoka's eye marks shot up, but she held in the words she wanted to say just in time.
"Reasons, do you have, for not giving the codes to the Chancellor?" Yoda asked.
The Padawan sighed. She couldn't get anything past Yoda. "Master Piell told me I was to give my half of the information to no one but the Jedi Council. I want to honour his last wish."
She also didn't like, nor trust the Chancellor, but she wasn't sure if those feelings were Force based or not, so she wasn't about to tell Yoda.
"Hmm..." Yoda appeared to be deep in thought. "A wise Jedi, Master Piell was. A reason he must have had, for his actions."
"Yes, Master," Ahsoka said. "He told me that the galaxy could very well depend on that code. I don't think Captain Tarkin will agree, but I think the code should be known only to those inside of the Order."
"Disagrees, the Chancellor does," Yoda told her. "Thinks that the code should be in the possession of one person only, he does."
And that person would have to be him, Ahsoka thought. She wasn't even sure why she didn't like the man, he practically ignored her anyway, but he made her uneasy.
"Master, if I may say so, that would be a bad idea. If the Chancellor is captured and the separatists get the information out of him, we won't be able to strike before they do."
"True, this is," Yoda said. "But well protected, the Chancellor would be."
Ahsoka sighed. She knew a losing battle when she saw one. "If you decide that the Chancellor will be the one to carry this information, then I will give him my half of the coordinates." But she hoped she had given Yoda something to think about and he would change his mind.
Ahsoka left Yoda's quarters and headed for the Room of a Thousand Fountains. It had been her favourite place in the Temple from a very young age. She went there often after a harsh sparring practice, or to clear her mind. Now, as she sat on the bank of the lake, letting the cool spray from the waterfall drift over her, she allowed herself to relax, something she hadn't truly done since she had entered the Citadel. She pushed thoughts of Palpatine, the Nexus route and her studies from her mind and simply enjoyed the quiet.
Quiet moments were rare these days, and Ahsoka found them somewhat unnerving. She was so used to noise around her. Blasterfire, explosions, cries of the wounded...
Yes, it was no wonder she had a hard time sleeping now.
Ahsoka trailed a hand through the water, lost in thought. She had let her guard down so completely that she almost fell in the lake from surprise when the water suddenly erupted in a splash. She regained her balance and scrambled to her feet, lightsabers in hand as another flash of red light whizzed past her. Ahsoka quickly scanned the trees and plantlife around her for any signs of the assassin. Another blaster bolt melted into her blade and Ahsoka saw a bizarre looking assassin droid hovering over her. It was black, circular, and had several weapons. As it dove lower, Ahsoka noticed a number of symbols engraved into the metal. She looked wildly around for any other Jedi, but there was none. She leaped into the air and made a swipe at the droid. It quickly dodged her, but it was too slow to avoid the other blade she brought up. Two smoking pieces of metal fell to the ground.
Ahsoka deactivated her lightsabers and looked more closely at the droid. Despite the fact that it had been sliced in half, words were crawling across the tiny screen on it's side.
Make no mistake, Padawan, you are alive for a reason. Tell the Jedi Council about the Nexus route and you will not be so fortunate next time.
Yes, I like cliffhangers. ;) The good news is that the next chapter will be up soon.
Please review!