Hi everyone. I can't believe how popular this story has come already; thank you all for your reviews. I'm glad how many of you have noticed that there is something off on Pheebos. Anyway, on with the next chapter and Ahsoka guides Anakin on a tour of the base and his investigation starts all whilst Anakin tries to draw Ahsoka into conversation.

An Agri-Corp Mystery: Chapter 3 – Tour

Early mornings were never Anakin Skywalker's strong point and that was especially true on a planet that he knew next to nothing about and where the Force felt so…..well, actually, Anakin had no idea what the Force felt like on this planet. The Force was calm here yes; far calmer than Coruscant but there was something….something that Anakin couldn't quite make out but he could sense hints of mistakes, death and betrayal and it made him nervous; extremely nervous. Whatever it was he was sensing; Anakin was fairly certain that it was fairly recent but longer ago than just yesterday and it only added to his confusion.

Turning his head sleepily, he checked the chrono by the bed; seven o'clock was just too early to get up but neither could Anakin just go back sleep. He knew that Ahsoka would be here at some point to give him a tour of the Agri-Corps base. Anakin's thoughts brought him back to Ahsoka herself; after a night's sleep, he was still desperately concerned about her especially after the feelings in the Force that he'd sensed a moment before. Even though he didn't know her; something in his feelings told Anakin that the girl was innocent of any wrong doing and possibly a victim of what had happened here and he decided he would believe his feelings until they were proven wrong.

Rubbing his eyes to ward off tiredness, Anakin picked up his datapad and checked up on the status of the file transfer that the council had authorised the night before. Although Anakin could see that the personnel roster for Pheebos was still downloading, Ahsoka's bio file was already complete. Although he was sure of her innocence, Anakin still composed himself before he brought her file up and started to read.

After reading the usual stuff; name, species, home world, date of birth and so on, Anakin concentrated on Ahsoka's bio history and immediately read something which partly explained her depression. Ahsoka had been discovered on Shili at the age of three by Master Plo Koon and that the two of them had been close since then. Anakin closed his eyes and shook his head; Ahsoka must have cried the day that Plo Koon was pronounced dead. He read that no one took any interest in her as a Padawan and that she had been assigned to the Agri-Corps approximately eighteen months before and his eyes widened when he read that her attachment to Master Plo was often stated as the reason. "Typical council" Anakin muttered to himself.

Anakin was surprised to learn that Ahsoka was considered the most promising youngling of her clan at one point and had had flight training in fighters. He read that she was also due to attend the Gathering rite and construct a lightsaber but for some reason, it never happened. Anakin frowned when he noticed that the file gave no indication of why it never happened. 'I wonder if Ahsoka knows herself?' he asked himself. The final thing he read almost filled him with rage; there was a note attached to the end of Ahsoka's bio file that stated that Master Yoda had considered assigning Ahsoka as a padawan to an unmentioned Jedi Knight at one point but he changed his mind for an undisclosed reason.

Anakin almost exploded after reading that; Anakin hated to see anyone mistreated and he reasoned that if Master Yoda had have carried out his original plan then that poor girl wouldn't have been stuck alone for the last year and a half and almost certainly, she wouldn't have been depressed. Anakin sighed; there was nothing he could do about it but there was one good thing; there was nothing in the file to suggest that she could have had anything to do with poisoning this world's output. For some reason, Anakin was happy about that although he had no idea why.

Anakin shook his head; he wasn't happy about the way Ahsoka had been treated. He wasn't happy at all but he put it to one side and began to read the Pheebos personnel roster that had just completed its download. Anakin was surprised to read that there had been over twenty Agricultural Corps Jedi on this world at one point. He also read that for various reasons they had all been reassigned elsewhere. What really drew his attention however was the fact that other personnel were listed as being based on Pheebos including members of the Medical Corps and Educational Corps. The really suspicious listings however were the so called 'Extra' or 'Special Purpose' staff members; Anakin was really keen to know who they were.

Just as he was beginning to formulate a plan, Anakin's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. The Force signature of the person knocking was powerful but laced with depression which meant that it could only be Ahsoka. Anakin got up and opened the door. To his dismay, Ahsoka still seemed unwilling to look him in the eye. "Master Skywalker" Ahsoka uttered, "Do you want me to give you a tour now?"

Using the Force, Anakin pulled his lightsaber to his hand and hung it on his belt and responded, "Yes, thank you Ahsoka."

Ahsoka kept her head down slightly as she responded, "Ok, please follow me, I'll show you the rest of this building first then I'll show you outside."

"Sound's fine Ahsoka" Anakin replied as they began to walk. Anakin knew that Ahsoka was the only help that he was going to get on this mission. One thing he did know for definite was that he had to snap Ahsoka out of herself if they were going to get anywhere; besides, he hated seeing her suffer like she was. Anakin looked around; Ahsoka seemed to be leading him to a control room but before they got there, Anakin tried to draw Ahsoka out, "So Ahsoka, how long have you been here?" He knew the answer already of course, but it seemed like a good starting point.

Ahsoka was full of surprise; Master Skywalker was talking to her again and he wasn't talking about his investigation either. Ahsoka could sense that he deliberately had his mental shields down and she could sense he was asking her simply because he was interested. Ahsoka had never experienced anyone simply being friendly before and if she was honest, she had no clue how to act in such situations, "Er…..um…..a….a year and a half."

Anakin nodded as he noticed Ahsoka was still stuttering and uncertain. Something from the Force told him that he must find out more and for some reason, he knew it was nothing to do with the investigation. "Ahsoka, tell me; have you been alone here ever since you came?"

Ahsoka finally lifted her head up; her pain was evident by the expression on her face. Anakin recoiled when he noticed a single tear in her right eye. The truth was that Anakin didn't need an answer; he had already worked it out for himself of course and it was confirmed by her face. Nevertheless, Anakin was pleasantly surprised when Ahsoka managed to utter, "Yes….mostly….well, Kliph is here to provide me tasks but…he never…..he never speaks to me otherwise."

Anakin shook his head and mumbled various Huttese curse words under his breath; in his view this was the equivalent of child negligence. Seeing the pain that this was causing Ahsoka, he decided to drop the subject for now. As they were nearing the control room, the investigation must again take priority.

As Ahsoka led him into the room, Anakin looked around; the control room was small and everything was centred around a holoNet projector in the middle of the room. "Here is our control room Master Skywalker" Ahsoka stated, "To be honest, we don't do much here."

Anakin had to smile at Ahsoka stating the obvious but it left an immediate question in his mind. Why would a farm, which this base basically was, need a control room at all? Anakin took a closer look around and to his shock; among the usual power controls and communication equipment Anakin found controls for containment fields, independent air conditioning systems and isolated power supplies. What the hell would they need those for? "Ahsoka, what are all these controls used for?"

Ahsoka walked to where Anakin was and looked at the controls with some puzzlement, "I…I don't know. Kliph and I only come in here if we need to clear a ship to land or if there's a problem with the reactor that powers the base."

Anakin frowned; one more mystery about this place. There was definitely more than met the eye with this base; of that Anakin was certain. In fact, Anakin was beginning to think that the poisoning of output was on just the tip of what was or had been going on. "Do you have any idea why these would be here Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka shook her head; she was starting to feel uncomfortable as she just wasn't used to this situation but she answered, "No master, I don't. Maybe Kliph does but you'll have to ask him."

"Ok Ahsoka. Where are we going next?" Anakin asked. He had seen everything of importance here and he needed to see more.

Ahsoka curled her mouth and stood there thinking, "Er…..I think I'll show you the store warehouse next; it's the nearest important place to here." Still slumped, Ahsoka trudged out of the door and headed off down the corridor.

Anakin hurried after her. Although Ahsoka's answer and action could have been considered rude and disrespectful, Anakin didn't mind. With how low Ahsoka seemed to be, he was amazed she was functioning at all. An uncomfortable silence again broke out between them as Anakin followed Ahsoka down a side corridor and through a set of doors.

"This is our store warehouse Master Skywalker" Ahsoka stated as she gestured in front of her. "This is where I bring the harvested crops to store before they're loaded on to transport ships and sent to the rest of the Republic. Must of the stuff here are Corellian Potatoes. The climate here on Pheebos is perfect for growing them. We also grow pink lettuce and bilaberries as well."

Anakin took a look around. The warehouse was large with stacks of produce in sacks that reached almost to the ceiling. Anakin reasoned that the sacks were the potatoes whilst the few boxes he could see at the far end were either the lettuce or the berries. Directly in front of him was a large electrically opened door with led to the landing pad; for the loading of ships Anakin reasoned. He paid close attention to the security cameras and sensors that he could see everywhere. He had been told before he left that nothing had come up on any of the security holos which puzzled him; this warehouse was the perfect place to poison the output in his opinion. He decided that he would have to check this warehouse in greater detail later. However, there was one question he wanted to ask first, "Ahsoka, where does this stuff go when it's shipped?"

Ahsoka shook her head, "I don't fully know to be honest. I…..I do know that the potatoes grown here are used to make the carb sticks that the Republic supplies to its troops but where the lettuce or berries go I have no idea. Again, Kliph handles that."

A thought occurred to Anakin that someone could be poisoning the output here in an effect to poison Republic clone troopers or maybe Jedi. If so, the Separatists would be the number one suspect and it's something he definitely wouldn't put past Count Dooku. Somehow however, that thought didn't sit right with Anakin's feelings; something didn't add up and he wasn't totally sure what it was. Although he didn't know why, he decided not to count the Separatists as a suspect for the moment even though it left him with a problem; if they didn't do it, who did?

There was something else that piqued Anakin's interest in what Ahsoka said. That was the second time that she said that Kliph handled something. Add that to the fact that it was Kliph that gave Anakin permission to land. Anakin began to wonder what it was that Ahsoka actually did here; it seemed that Kliph did anything of any importance. He wondered if that had anything to do with her depression, "Ahsoka can I ask, what you do here?"

Ahsoka sighed and her head drooped. Anakin could sense pain emanating from Ahsoka; he had obviously asked something she didn't want to touch upon. Eventually Ahsoka responded, "I tend the fields Master Skywalker and I'm left to encourage the plants to grow with the Force using Consitor Sato."

"You're good at that?" Anakin asked curiously.

Ahsoka closed her eyes, "I can do it let's put it that way. Like everything else, I'm not very good at it."

Anakin frowned; he didn't like her answer one bit. Anakin knew that Ahsoka was a good Jedi; her bio file had confirmed that she was the best in her clan at one point and he decided to tell her, "That's not true Ahsoka. I know you were considered the most promising student in your clan."

Ahsoka looked at Anakin with an annoyed expression on her face, "How do you know that? It's wrong anyway; I was never that good. In fact, I'm useless; this is the only way I can do anything for the Republic."

Anakin sighed, "I've read your file Ahsoka as I am doing an investigation here. Ahsoka, no-one is useless; especially you. I understand you were due to make your lightsaber; why didn't that happen Ahsoka?"

Anakin's heart clenched as he witnessed tears starting to drip down Ahsoka's face. As she continued to silently cry she answered, "Master Yoda said I was too attached and that he believed I wouldn't be able to succeed in obtaining a crystal so it was cancelled. Somebody else in my clan went instead."

Anakin silently cursed again; everything this girl told him made him feel sorry for her more and more. In his opinion, she didn't deserve being dumped here, "Was it Master Plo Koon who you were attached to?" Silently Ahsoka nodded slowly in response as she started to sob more. Anakin placed a hand on Ahsoka's shoulder, "I'm sorry about Master Plo. I did try a rescue mission but I just couldn't find him."

"Thank you I appreciate that. Master Yoda said that I was too attached even before he died. He told me that he was thinking of assigning me as a Padawan but my attachment was too dangerous. Since no-one else wanted me, I ended up here. I'm a failure Master Skywalker; a failure."

Anakin wanted to make Master Yoda eat his words at that point. He had had problems with attachment himself that ended with the death of his wife so he knew all too well what Ahsoka had gone through and in his view the council had been insensitive yet again. He knew from her file that Ahsoka was just sixteen; sixteen, which meant she would have been just thirteen possibly fourteen at the time. What did the council expect? A female version of Mace Windu perhaps? Anakin did his best to release his anger into the Force as he just waited for the girl to stop crying. "I'm sorry Ahsoka; I didn't mean to upset you."

Ahsoka blinked her eyes and breathed deeply to force herself to stop crying; she really didn't want to be seen as a whiney little girl. She knew that she would have to bear the pain alone and she was prepared to do just that, "Its ok master. Er…..I think we should go outside and I'll show you the harvesters and the fields."

Anakin nodded, "After you."

Ahsoka opened the large door at the end of the warehouse with a control panel next to her on the wall and led Anakin outside. She headed towards a large shed about fifty metres outside the door and opened the shed's door, "Master, these are our harvesters; we have three types for harvesting the three crops we have here."

Anakin looked at the three harvesters. All three of them were built on tracks which made them look outdated compared to the repulsorlift speeders that were more commonly seen. One of the harvesters had blades on the front that dug into the earth, obviously for potatoes. Another had horizontal blades in front of a scoop; Anakin assumed that one was for lettuce and the final one had a rotating drum its side with fingers all down it to strip berries off bushes.

Apart from the fact that they interested Anakin mechanically, there was nothing remarkable about the three machines. There was one question he could ask however, "Are any of these ever brought out between harvests?"

"No Master Skywalker, they're not. We have a hard time getting spare parts for them so it's important that we avoid as much wear on them as possible."

"I see" Anakin stated. He looked up and noticed to his relief that there were security cameras in the shed which avoided him having to ask another question. "We'll check these out at some point Ahsoka."

As Ahsoka was nodding and closing the shed door, Anakin noticed that Ahsoka's three lekku were starting to look fractionally brighter than when he first met her. He didn't know exactly what it meant but he was pleased nevertheless. As the door fully closed Ahsoka said, "Ok, there…..there's just one thing left to really show you now; the fields."

"Then lead the way Ahsoka."

Ahsoka turned around and started to walk to the field that Anakin could see directly in front of him. From where he was, he could also see his ship still sitting on the landing pad. Ahsoka stopped by the gate leading into the field, "This is our main field Master Skywalker. This is where we grow the Corellian potatoes. The field on the opposite side of the landing pad is the same as this one just with pink lettuce in. The bilaberries are grown on bushes behind the quarters and control building."

Anakin cast his eyes at the field; as he noted the day before, the plants, which he now knew were potatoes, were arranged in rows with a walkway between. The field went on for almost as far as his eyes could see; there must have been tens if not hundreds of thousands of plants in the field. As he skimmed his eyes around, Anakin noticed several droids tending to the crops or with hoses watering. It was definitely a far more peaceful scene than the war that he was used to and for a second, he forgot that there was a big problem here. At the last minute, a question escaped his lips, "Are these two the only fields you have?"

"Yes" Ahsoka replied, "Although I did overhear Kliph and another Jedi who used to be here called Joa, discuss with each other about the possibility of a third field. That was before the crisis of the poison of course."

"Ok, if that is the end of the tour Ahsoka, then I guess it's time for us to start trying to work out what is happening here."

Ahsoka's eyes widened and her shock radiated through the Force, "You want me to h…help you? What good would I be to you?"

"Yes I want you to help me Ahsoka" Anakin replied smiling, "I know that I can trust you for one and two, I sense that you need a challenge. This place is killing you."

Ahsoka nodded slowly as her brain tried desperately to process what Master Skywalker had just said. Ahsoka quickly realised that it would be a good break from staring at crops which, as a Togruta and therefore a carnivore, she didn't eat anyway. She couldn't understand why Anakin was valuing her; everyone else clearly thought that she was a waste of space and she had to agree. She had to admit, it was nice to meet someone who thought something of her. Sighing with confusion Ahsoka asked, "So what do we do first?"

"First Ahsoka, we are going to have a talk to Kliph and then we are going to start pulling things apart. The poison must be coming from somewhere." Anakin turned back towards the quarters building, "Come on." Ahsoka nodded and followed.

Ahsoka's tour had given Anakin a good idea where to start and it had also proven to Anakin that although the girl was seriously, maybe even dangerously, depressed, he could trust Ahsoka. There was no way that she had anything to do with this but if he was honest, he was getting a little suspicious of Kliph Freeah due to his treatment of Ahsoka and the fact that he seemed to do all the important jobs. He had a feeling however, that no-one knew all the facts about this place and he quickly realised that it was his job to find out about all that as well. It did leave another question; should he do something about Ahsoka? Her depression was extremely bad after all.

Well that's chapter 3. This has been quite a dark chapter in many ways and I wrote it that way on purpose. I also wanted to highlight the fact that, as always, Anakin is easily distracted from his goal but that it is not always a bad thing. In this instance, he is distracted by Ahsoka who clearly needs help. One note in case anyone asks; Ahsoka stutters all the time in this story because she is lacking any real confidence in what she is doing or saying.

Anyway, next chapter; Anakin has a talk to Kliph Freeah whilst Ahsoka looks on and a strange event happens that may completely change the nature of Anakin's investigation.