Ben Skywalker walked into the building that contained the Chief of State's office. It had been a hard trip. With nothing else to distract him, he had spent the travel time mainly thinking about Vestara. He walked into a turbolift and pushed the floor number he wanted. He was so distracted he didn't even notice he wasn't alone until the Twi'lek next to him asked,

"Are you the Jedi Chief of State Dorvan asked for?"

"Yes. I'm Ben Skywalker. And you are...?"

"Desha Lor. I'm the Chief of State's aide."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

The twi'lek suddenly looked worried. "I think it'd be best if the Chief of State told you."

The turbolift stopped and the door slid open. Ben followed Desha down the long hall the the waiting room.

"I'm sure he'll want to see you immediately. I'll tell him you're here." With that she walked briskly into the office. Ben looked around while he waited. It was a nice enough room. The receptionist sat behind a curved desk. A few beings sat waiting on the couches that encircled the room. A fountain provided a soothing background. There were few windows, and none looked like they opened. Ben was just walking over to inspect them, when Desha poked her head out of the office and said,

"Come in Jedi Skywalker."

Ignoring the scowls and glares from the beings who had been waiting for an appointment, he strode into the office. When he entered Dorvan looked up from his desk with a tight smile, "Jedi Skywalker, welcome! So glad you could come."

"Glad I could be of assistance, Chief of State Dorvan. Could you tell me what happened?"

"Of course. I had just come back from a Senate meeting, when I noticed that the datapads on my desk had been moved. I looked through them, and I found a most important one missing. I called intelligence and, as I'm sure you know, they couldn't find anything suggesting an intruder. The video cams were not working well at the time and all we have on those is static. When we went to investigate those, they hadn't even been cut. So, we are at a loss as to where my datapad has gone."

Must've been a Force-user if they disrupted the cams without cutting them. Ben thought. But who? A sith that we didn't kill during the battle? A rogue Jedi we don't know about? I don't know.

"Chief of State Dorvan? Could I inspect the office?"

"Of course, Jedi skywalker. Call us when you're done."

And with that they left the office, and Ben was alone again. He looked around, taking in the desk, where the datapads still lay. He inspected the windows, again, they were not able to be opened.

What if he needs to leave a different way? He couldn't exit through the windows, so how? Unless there's a secret passageway.

He felt the walls, knocking on them until he came to a spot that sounded slightly different. He inspected the wall closely and found hairline seams in the shape of a door. He looked around for ways to open it, and seeing nothing, decided he would ask the Dorvan about it when he came back. Continuing his scrutiny of the room, he walked over to the desk, and started looking around for traces. He wasn't expecting to find anything, but he checked just in case. After sorting through the datapads, and finding nothing of use, he opened the door and said, "I'm done."

The Chief of State and his aide walked back in. "Well?" asked Wynn.

"How do you get into the passageway over there?"

"Very impressive Jedi Skywalker! Intelligence didn't find it until I told them. Let me open it."

He walked over to the desk, pulled open a drawer and pushed a couple of buttons.

*Voice activation required*

"Wynn Dorvan, Chief of State of the GA."

*Voice analysis confirmed*

The door slid open to reveal a long low tunnel that stretched on into the darkness.

"Where does it lead?" Asked Ben.

"Lower levels of the Imperial Palace."

"Can I check it out?"

"By all means, but intel didn't find anything."

"They didn't find the passage either."

"Good point. When you're done, Desha will show you to your room so you can sleep. You must be very tired."

"I slept a bit on the trip, but I could use a sanisteam. "

"Of course."

Ben ducked down into the tunnel, followed by Desha. After walking for ten minutes they came to a turbolift. He stopped as he realized his danger sense was prickling. It didn't feel urgent, but he proceeded in caution anyway.

"Does this stop on more than one floor?" He asked

"No, it was installed solely for the purpose of escape."

Ben snorted, "Well what if your enemies knew where it ended? They could be waiting for you."

"I hadn't considered that. I'll bring it up with the Chief of State."

Ben grunted as he inspected the turbolift. It seemed fairly standard, but something still felt wrong.

"Are we going to continue?" Desha queried.

"Something doesn't feel right."

He ran his hands around the inside of the turbolift. Just as he was about to admit he was wrong, his danger sense tickled his spine.

"Get Down!" He shouted, hurling himself out of the turbolift on top of Desha. Behind him, the turbolift exploded in a flash of light.