The proud figure remained in the doorway as the clones approached the Archives, led by an all-too-familiar man with an ignited lightsaber clutched in his fist. The severe chin of Jedi Master Jocasta Nu lifted when the man halted in front of her.
"Why do you fight?" the newly-turned Darth Vader growled, "You must know resistance is futile."
Madam Nu's eyes flashed. "I am Jedi," she proclaimed, "I face death without flinching. These Archives contain the sum of the knowledge of the wisest members of the Jedi Order. I preserve that knowledge with my life, or my death if that is what the Force requires of me."
Vader studied her, his anger growing with every word she spoke. "Then die you shall," he snarled, striking out with his lightsaber.
Jocasta Nu melted away from his blade, leaving only empty robes. As she vanished, Darth Vader peered into the Archives she had concealed with her body.
Empty.
No data terminals remained on tables, no holograms in niches lined the walls, no datapads rested on their usual shelves. Even the busts of the Lost Twenty were missing.
The Jedi Archives were gone.
In that instant, when the Dark warrior who once was Anakin Skywalker realized that Madam Jocasta Nu had indeed preserved the Jedi knowledge with her death, Darth Vader let loose an echoing scream of rage that spurred the younglings slipping out of the Temple on to greater speed…
…and Obi-Wan Kenobi woke suddenly to the cool night air of the Jedi Temple, a night fifteen years before the scene in his dream. The sound of his master's snores continued unchanged in the room next to his.
Taking a moment to slow his breathing, Obi-Wan slipped out of bed, padding over to the orderly desk with its carefully arranged datapads and repair kits. He stooped slightly to open the main drawer, but took no notice of the various tools arranged in ordered rows within the drawer, instead running his finger along the underside of the desktop. Obi-Wan let out a soft breath as he found the raised circle and pressed.
A soft click echoed in the silent room. Obi-Wan paused as Qui-Gon's snores caught for a moment, hardly daring to breathe until the rhythmic snorts resumed. He reached into the small compartment that had dropped down from beneath the desktop and pulled out a comlink. Obi-Wan carefully closed both the compartment and the drawer and crept quietly out of his room and onto the balcony attached to the rooms he shared with his master.
Still in his sleeping clothes, Obi-Wan settled himself upon the duracrete floor and pressed the button that would connect him directly to the only person this particular comlink would call.
A moment later, a voice picked up. "Know, do you, what hour it is, Padawan Kenobi?"
"I apologize, Master Yoda, but the last time we spoke, you requested that I inform you immediately if there were any changes."
"Another vision, you have had so soon? Hmm. Troubling, this is. Speak in person, we must. Report, you will, to the Council Chambers at 0700 hours. Speak privately, we will, before arrive the Council does. Another mission will you be assigned, when arrive your master does at 0800 hours."
"Yes, Master."
"Be with you, the Force will, Obi-Wan."
"And with you, Master Yoda."
Obi-Wan Kenobi shut off the comlink, placed his hands in his lap, and sat in meditative silence until the sun's weakest rays began to chase away the Coruscanti nightlife.