Three

The Battle of Geonosis was one of the more exciting skirmishes of the early Clone Wars, in fact it was the first battle that took place between the Seperatist forces and the newly formed Army of the Republic. The clones, marching by the thousands in their shiney white battle armour, had been a sight one would ever forget. However, when Palpatine had been revealed as the master mind behind the three year war, the people of the Republic had been so repulsed by the mere sight of a clone, the only merciful thing the Senate could do was order their return and 'decomission' from the Kaminoans.

The plan for the Republic's conversion to an empire and the revenge of the Sith was a plot unflawed until the very ending. Sidious had been so confident that the Jedi could never place full confidence and trust in Anakin, he was sure that only for the Jedi Anakin's actions were unpredictable. However, as it had turned out, Anakin was unpredictable to everyone. He had been that way since he was little.

Padme smiled awkwardly to herself at the thought of it; she remembered thinking that Qui-Gon Jinn's faith had been irrationally misplaced in the small boy. She thought the fight for her planet would be over and she would be stranded for years on the strange desert planet that was Tatooine. Then Anakin prooved her wrong; he had won the Boonta Eve pod race and had it not been for him they would have ended up stranded for a very long time. She felt as if she could never escape being in his debt; she longed to ensure his happiness right until the moment they both passed on. However ensuring Anakin's happiness was not a task easily tackled. During her lunch break at the Senate Offices, she talked to her sister over a transmission about this.

Sola was growing quite old, thin grey hairs finally staring to appear and fine creases lining her beautiful face. Padme had hoped to grow old just as gracefully and it seemed her wish was granted. It was true that she was not as quick or active as she had been thirteen years ago but through the great care of her hand-maidens she was able to retain a rather youthful outward appearance. This did not mean she had no air of maturity to her, she would have hated to be viewed by older politicians as still a child when that very year saw her turn fourty. She would not go into why Anakin never seemed to change, to her the Jedi always seemed so immortal, including Yoda who was somewhere in his late 800s, Mace Windu frighteningly had not changed at all and the signs of age had only just begun to show on Obi-Wan.

Her sister laughed heartily when she brought this up, "Every woman out there fears growing old," Sola said, her voice kind and happy, "Yet it seems that the Jedi's women have it better then any of us..."

Padme laughed as well; this was true and from time to time it seemed quite unfair. Obi-Wan had told her the story of one very old near-human Jedi master, a woman whose name she could not recall, who had such a strong connection to the Force she was able to appear forever in her twenties. She wondered if this was Anakin's case; if she would slowly age more and more each day and he would remain young. Would aging even concern him? He was a Jedi and ever since the events of thirteen years old seemed more and more set on living up to the Code. It was his act of attonement.

She sighed wearily. Sola's brow creased with concern, "Padme? Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine" Padme managed sorting through a few holo files on her desk, "It's just Anakin...I don't think he'll ever let himself live down his mistakes..."

"You shouldn't let that get to you Padme," Sola told her firmly, "You are blaming yourself for his current state of self-hating. All you can do is try to help him..."

"It wasn't so bad," Padme reminded her, "It used to be just sometimes but now it's worse. I don't want this to affect the children's lives and I don't want him to blame himself. He was in a great sense, a victim of the plot 13-years ago...but he still blames himself for everything..."

Sola sighed and regarded her sister with a sad look on her face, "I wish I knew how to help you Padme but in truth I have no idea what to say...after all your family is one of the only exceptions ever made by the Jedi Order, is it not?"

"It is" Padme said nodding. She took this greatly into consideration, suddenly feeling quite lonely. She then checked the time; she would be meeting with a liberation committee from Malastare in a few moments. She apologised briefly to her sister and ended the transmission, rising from her seat as a large, well-dressed group was led into her office.

At the Jedi Temple, Leia sat waiting patiently on the steps leading up the Jedi Archives, it was only eight or ten steps, which made them an ideal resting area. Her master was in an important meeting and had asked her to study the way the Hyperspace Wars and the views of the Force during this era, he had been careful to remind her not to engage too deeply into the views of the Sith. However Leia did not like to sit around and study, she often grew restless and bored, especially if she were to study on her own.

Just then she noticed a familiar looking female human padawan, with a small frame and curious brown eyes. She recognised this girl as Carena Eris, who had been in her youngling clan during the very first stage of their training. Carena was carrying with her a loads of HoloBooks and was headed straight for the stairs where Leia was seated. She was a strange, awkward girl but Leia knew she was smart and mild mannered. This would proove to her very useful.

"Carena!" she called out, careful to not to shout too loudly. The serenity of the Temple was held quite sacred.

Carena recognised her immeadately and approached her silently, "Leia Skywalker" the corner of the other girl's mouth curved into a half-smile, "Can I help you with something?"

"Do you know anything about The Hyperspace Wars?"

"Oh yes!" Carena said her eyes brightening considerably, looking a great deal more lively then she had a few moments ago, "Why? Have you been asked to study it?"

"I have" Leia replied.

"Well...There are two wars; the Great Hyperspace War and the Stark Hyperspace War, start with the former. I recommend checking out 'An Analysis of the Great Schism,' It's a book written by the Jedi Historians of that era and probably the best to start with. I'm sure you'll find it quite a prepossessing text, I myself thought it very charismatic, particularly when compared to the other more insensate and languid records of the early Jedi Civil Wars..."

Leia stared at Carena as if she had just been hit by a hoard of stampeding Banthas. Carena really was weird, it definately was odd for a girl of thirteen to be using such intracate speech. However, now that Leia really thought about it, previous to that moment she had never really heard Carena speak at all. She was always so quiet and now she had managed to put Leia off studying the Hyperspace Wars simply by opening her mouth, it all seemed far too complicated...

"Perhaps you could help me? It sounds kinda confusing..." Leia said, smiling awkwardly as she stood up.

Carena looked downcast, "Oh, I'm so sorry Leia, I can't stay. I'm just here to return these documents. I need to go and meet my master. He wants to begin working on my lightsaber form..." At the mention of this Carena looked even more upset. Leia couldn't possibly imagine how some practical study and training could be worse then the written work she had been assigned to tackle. This negative reaction piqued Leia's interest as to who Carena had been selected by.

"Who's your master?" she asked carefully.

Carena's expressioned lightened a little, "Your father," she said, excitement slipping into her voice, "Isn't that exciting? We'll practically be sisters!"

"Ohh..." was all Leia could manage as she watched Carena begin to bounce happily infront of her. She wasn't sure if her 'ohh...' was an 'ohh...' of happiness or and 'ohh...' of complete and utter anguish. Carena then checked the time and said a rushed farewell before speeding off to return the HoloBooks she was holding. Leia could only stare after her, completely dumb-struck.

It was at that exact moment that Carena and Leia had become aquainted that the Jedi Masters Yoda, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi Mundi and Kit Fisto greeted Captain Ryake and his team in the Public Center of the Jedi Temple.

Kit and Mace both were scarred from their past duel with Sidious and their brush with death. Whilst Kit's lightsaber wounds left great scars across his chest and adomin, they were concealed by his robes. Mace's wounds were more visible, in replacement of where his little finger and ring finger would be on his right hand he had prosthetic fingers of a shiney metallic appearance. He also had faint burns scars on his neck, leading down one side of his body where he had been hit by a powerful jolt of Force Lighting which nearly killed him. These scars made him look alot more frightening to the average civilian. However, as Captain Ryake set his gaze on Mace, he looked completely unshaken.

"Honorable Masters of the High Jedi Council" he greeted them formly with a small bow, although the tone of his voice lacked any honest courtesy. He was a short man, dark haired and grim-faced.

"I am Captain Ryake of the Coruscanti Republican Police Force. I am leading the investigation on the murder of the young Twi'lek girl named Bruna Koon. Forensics have been able to identify the most likely killer to be a Jedi or a Force Sensitive of similar talents. As you can probably guess this has not narrowed the search down by much. But a lead is a lead..."

"Tragic the loss of this young girl is," Yoda said nodding, "Work with you to the best of our ability the Jedi will..."

"Are you aware, Captain, that the council cannot directly oversee what takes place within our part of this investigation? We do have to look at all the other issues which effect our Order as well. But we will ensure that our Jedi specializing in this feild will be available..." Mace looked very serious as he stared down at the short man.

"As long as you are not completely disregarding our investigation, I can understand and respect that you have limits..." Captain Ryake smiled icily, "We will ask for one specific thing though; we require a written report containing detailed alabis of every single member of the Jedi Order..."

There was an uncomfortable stir in the room, Yoda furrowed his brow, creasing his aged green features. "Consider us suspects, do you, captain?"

"I can not allow myself to be so narrow minded as to rule any of you out as potential criminals in this case," the captain explained smoothly, "I run all of my investigations like this; thorough and with out mercy. If you are all innocent you have nothing to hide and these alabis will simply solidifiy your innocence. However, if we pick up on something suspcious then we will look in to it..."

"To interrogate a Jedi, you plan, hm?" Yoda tapped his gimer stick on the floor lightly.

"If it comes down to it. If they hold any information I will find it...without your consent if I must, Master Yoda..."

"Every single Jedi is under the protection of the Jedi Council," Mace cut in firmly, "We would consider it a direct insult and a criminal offense to interrogate, question or personally investigate the private lives of any Jedi within the Jedi Order. I recommend you do not act without our consent..."

There seemed to be a staring match between Ryake and Mace for a moment. Obi-Wan cleared his throat loudly, drawing all attention to himself. "I'm sure if anything comes up we would look into it first," Obi-Wan said, "And you must take note that if the true killer does turn out to be a Jedi, whilst you may obtain information our Jedi may uncover you may not seek to take them to court..."

"Discipline our own we will, respected this way of life the Republic always has..." Yoda was nodding his gaze shifting instantaneously from Obi-Wan to Ryake. The captain stood processing this information seemingly quite down-trodden. Then he offered the Jedi another cold, emotionless smile. "I understand completely. Now, shall we discuss what should be done if enemies such as the Sith are to be involved...?"

Luke frowned at the news report infront of him. Nothing new had happened in the case of the murdered twi'lek girl, instead they were simply re-running old information alongside other news which were of no interest to him. However, there was one unrelated report which had caught his attention and had caused a scowl to be brough to his face.

The same blue, near-human female from last night had replaced the other reporter who had accompanied him in his HoloVision viewing all morning. She was wearing similar clothes, all of a dark plum colour and her dry, emotionless voice read out the report which had caught his attention. "The annual banaquet marking in celebration the end of the Clone Wars shall be taking place at the end of this week. To attend are the leaders and representitives of all loyalist planetary systems including icons such as Senator Bail Organa and Senator Mon Mothma. The Supreme Chancellor herself shall also be attending this, although no information has been released onto whether or not her family will be there."

On the screen beside the news-reader was a paparazzi-taken shot of Luke's mother exiting the Senate Offices. Soon beside that picture appeared another, this one of his father standing on the steps of the Jedi Temple with Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Aayla Secura. "Padme Amidala-Skywalker is the wife to Clone Wars hero and legendary Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. They have two children, the twins Luke and Leia Skywalker who were both born the same exact day the Clone Wars was brought to an end. They celebrate their birthday on this day and it was for this reason that the annual banaquet wa--"

At this point Luke had heard enough. It was clear there would not be much news on the case of the murdered twi'lek and he had no interest in listening to the media's opinion of his family. Luke had often heard how the press had had a feild day when the unity of his mother and father had been publically announced. It seemed they had grown bored of singers, actors and other celebrities and instead decided to pick on his family. However, they had calmed over the years, his parents, his mother in particular, had put in a tremendous amount of effort to make sure Luke and Leia were as sheltered as possible from media attention.

Luke rose from the sofa, picking up his holopad at the same time. He had not done any of his assignment, which had been his excuse for staying home when he should have been at the Temple. In truth he did not want to go because he was afraid that as soon as he got there, he would be told he was not to go on and recieve individual training. The thought of being a complete failure, when everyone else in his family seemed to do nothing but suceed, made Luke sick to the stomach. It was then the holoprojecter for the apartment began to beep loudly, demanding that it should be answered.

"I've called Luke to the Temple" Obi-Wan said, loud enough for Anakin to hear over the distant crashing of lightsaber blades. His former padawan's eyes were fixed on the sparring match infront of him but there was no doubting Anakin had heard every word. Obi-Wan joined Anakin, staring into the sparring arena was apparent keen interest.

"She's improving her reaction timing" Anakin said.

Obi-Wan smiled, "Under your guidance she should be able to master at least one lightsaber form" he said.

Anakin titled his head to regard Obi-Wan momentarily, "It'll take some work. Her skill is in the knowledge and understand of the Force but not in art of moudling it's power in practice..."

"With time she will learn" Obi-Wan assured Anakin. In the arena Carena and another young padawan of her age, the near-human male Breagg Varik, were sparring. Carena managed to hold her ground for quite a while before she was dealing a mock killing blow from her friend. The chief lightsaber instructer at the side called the match end.

Anakin nodded to his padawan to acknowledge the fact that she had not disappointed him. Then focused his attention of Obi-Wan.

"You're making a fine Jedi Master" Obi-Wan praised Anakin, patting him on the shoulder, "Perhaps a greater Jedi then myself..."

"I do not think that is possible..."

"Anything is possible" Obi-Wan smiled.

"I do not possess your wisdom or your patience," Anakin said looking down briefly, "As much as I long for them..."

"Don't be so hard on yourself Anakin" Obi-Wan then sighed, "Self-discipline may be key to the Jedi way of life but last time I checked self-hating was not..."

Anakin nodded absently. He did not feel like going through another round of being convinced that he was not a bad person. Instead he nimbly changed the subject. "The desicion has been made about Luke then?"

"Yes," Obi-Wan said, "It was decided shortly after our meeting with Ryake and his squad. Luke shall become a Jedi..."

"I hope he is more enthusiastic then Leia about the training..."

"Is she unhappy?"

"She arrived here in a bad mood this morning, which was worsened by the news of her written assignment. I know it was given to pass the time whilst Master Windu was in the meeting and I tried to explain that to her. All that happened was that she stormed off to go to do it..."

"She has quite a bit of you in her..."

"I think it's Luke's influence. Leia always possessed more of her mother's traits...I know the Council realised that early on..."

"We did," Obi-Wan agreed, "She wasn't such a headstrong youngling compared to her brother...however now it seems that it's rubbing off on her...they're switching roles"

"That's not what I meant by influence..."

"No?"

"I've speculated it to be more of a psychic bond..."

Obi-Wan's eyebrows rose with interest. "Pyschic bond?"

"Yes," Anakin cleared his throat, "I noticed it early on but decided not to comment on it. It's the sort of thing that wouldn't be obvious unless you were spending a lot of time with them. If Luke fell ill, Leia would become so too, despite the fact that she could be on Naboo and he on Coruscant. If Leia got hurt and upset, Luke would become that same way, despite being in a good mood previously. I couldn't continue to peg it for coincidence so I realised it as some kind of connection between siblings..."

Obi-Wan gave this a fair amount of thought. "It doesn't surpise me," he said, "After all they are twins who possess almost the same amount of potential you had as a child...I shouldn't worry about it, it'll do more good then harm..."

Anakin smiled, "Who said I was worried?"

"Were you?"

"Maybe a little..."

Captain Ryake entered his home quite late at night. He removed his gloves and seated himself in his favourite chair, massaging the thick scars present on the back of his hands. A figure shifted in the shadows of his dimly lit home and then slowly emerged, heavy boots falling quitely onto the clean floor. Ryake did not turn to acknowledge the figure's presence but instead watched its shadow on the floor slowly shrink as it grew nearer.

"Oldus," a deep voice broke the silence, "Everything is set in place. You will have the evidence needed very soon. Do not act if Skywalker does not leave for Dantooine. He is needed there when the plan goes into action...my master wishes it..."

Ryake nodded slowly, studying the tip of his boot with great interest. "Does your master require anything else Darth?"

"Not yet, you will wait for me to contact you again..."

"Very well..."

A/N:

1) Before you start screaming "Mary-Sue!" let me tell you that the woman who I've mentioned before, the one who retained a youthful appearance through her strong connection to the Force, is a canon character. She is not mine. Look her up if you're not convinced. Her name was Fay and she was a near-human Jedi Master who died during the Clone Wars.