Settling In and Heading Out
For a minute John didn't know what to say to Alfred. He just stood there wondering what was going through the man's head. Sure he could check it for himself but he didn't want to abuse his powers. John wanted Alfred to talk and treat him like a real person. Still he felt that he should say something.
"So is that what they told my parents. That I was dead or worse and that they shouldn't hold onto the past?" As he spoke Alfred started walking towards the counter that had a few glasses on it.
"The Jedi didn't know what had happened to you. A few of them searched for you, but it was in vain." He poured himself a glass of water and kept talking.
"Your father didn't believe them after they had reported that you couldn't be found. He spent the next three years looking for you." Alfred took a sip of water and looked at John.
John looked down at the ground and thought for a minute. Mom and Dad were probably devastated when they learned of my abduction. If the things they say about my dad are true, then he wouldn't have given up as easily as the Jedi would have. It must have hurt Mom worse when he was gone and a lot more when he returned without me.
John looked back up at Alfred. "Does my father blame himself for what happened to me?"
Alfred looked a little puzzled. "What do you mean sir?" John thought that Alfred knew what he meant, but maybe he was wanted to talk about it.
"Does my father blame himself for letting the Jedi take my sister and me when we were young and allow the Order to train us? If he hadn't then this might have never have happened."
Alfred knew what John was trying to get at. "Your father doesn't blame himself any more than your mother does. They were both honored to send their kids off to the Jedi Order for them to fulfill their destinies."
John shook his head and muttered "Destiny," under his breath.
"What?" Alfred asked not sure if he heard the word.
John looked back at him and said "I said destiny. In all of my travels and lessons that I've had this seems to be something that keeps coming back. I don't know why but to me it seems that those who focus on that particular ideology seems to forget or not bother remembering that it's the choices that we make that ultimately shape what happens around us and who we are."
Alfred was surprised by John's insight into this difficult concept. "Well be that as it may, I don't presume to tell you what to believe or think. Neither can I say the same for your father. I don't know how things would've turned out if your parents hadn't given you and Satele up to the Jedi. But I do know that they are proud of having a daughter in the Order."
John looked at Alfred and wondered if he was going to talk about something that was a very sensitive topic to him. "And my parents still believe me to be dead or worse?"
Alfred sighed not wanting to get too personal with this conversation, but he knew that it wouldn't rest until John had answers.
"Your parents have moved on sir. The best way to cure a pain like theirs is time. If they knew that you had been kidnapped and taken who knows where how do you think they'd react?"
John knew that this was all probably going to happen anyways once he revealed himself. "My dad would probably be a perpetual state of denial until he saw me with his own eyes. As for my mom I'd imagine she'd go into a state of shock and maybe even faint if she saw me alive again."
Alfred nodded and asked "And what of your sister?"
"Which one?" John countered.
That stopped Alfred short for a minute. "How do you know you have more sisters?" He asked.
"It doesn't really matter right now does it?" John said hoping Alfred wouldn't pursue the issue further.
"It does matter. If you've found out then I need to be made aware of it." Alfred said not wanting to push John too hard.
"Why so you can tell my parents that their first born child wasn't kidnapped?" John asked knowing that wasn't really a fair question for Alfred.
Alfred shook his head, "No I need to know because after you were taken your father put me in charge of looking out for your mother when he was gone. And when she had the other kids he made me promise to look after them when he couldn't or if his wife was too busy."
This new information made John stop walking and think. Well I already told Senator Organa about meeting William I may as well tell Alfred. John looked at Alfred and said "I met William today in the marketplace."
Alfred was speechless for a minute. He drank from his glass again and then asked "You met William and he didn't recognize you?"
That made John chuckle a little. "It's kind of hard for someone to recognize someone who they don't really know or aren't too familiar with."
Alfred knew John was right but still. "And he never saw the physical connection that you had with him?"
John shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of." This made Alfred more relieved than he'd felt in a while.
Then he asked "What are you doing here John?" John sat down in one of the chairs and started telling Alfred of what had brought him back to Coruscant. Alfred listened with each new revelation was amazed at how John had grown up and managed to survive the horrible conditions he had been through.
"So you think that these criminal organizations might try some sort of coup here on Coruscant?" Alfred asked.
John nodded, "All I have are my suspicions and connections and what they've told me. But it seems that if this does happen the Republic will be caught off guard and they don't need any more surprises."
Alfred nodded in agreement. First the bombing of the power grids which crippled Coruscant's powerfor a long time and kept prolonging the war. Then the attack on the Jedi Temple ended up in an investigation and the chasing down of a Jedi Padawan. Alfred knew that Satele had been hurt by that because she was good friends with Ahsoka.
"What do you intend to do while you're here?" Alfred asked.
"My team and I need a base of operations where we can be safe for a while. From there I'll go out and make certain contacts that might help us identify where this threat might come from. At the same time if you agree to this, you need to move about as usual without letting anyone know about my return. I don't want people knowing I'm here until the time is right."
Alfred thought about this for a bit. He knew that Satele had been given an assignment from the Jedi Council. He wondered if their paths would cross during this investigation.
"Well I don't have a problem letting you use the apartment. Your parents rarely use it anyways. Just make sure you let your team know to put everything back to where they found it."
John nodded in agreement then asked "Is my father's old complex still working downstairs?"
"Yes it is," replied Alfred wondering what John would want with all that equipment.
"Good I'm going to let my team know that we're going to be staying here for a while. It'll be nice to be back in my parent's apartment."
John keyed his comlink and said "Soniee you there?"
He waited a little bit for her reply. "I'm here what is it?"
"We have a place to stay for however long this operation is going to take." John said.
"Good glad you finally settled things down up there. You want me to contact the others and let them know about the apartment?" Soniee asked.
"No I'll let Cracken know. He'll get the others here no problem. Come on up to the apartment and meet me in the lower levels."
"Wait your apartment has more levels underground?" Soniee queried.
"Yeah just come into the building and Alfred will let you know where I am. I'll let contact the others that way we'll all be here for the night."
"Copy that I'm on my way," Soniee said. "See you shortly Alderaan out."
John turned off the comlink then put in the frequency he used for contacting Cracken. "Cracken you copy?"
"Loud and clear kid what's up?"
"We have our base of operations get the cadets together and find an air speeder that'll get you to the apartment. Leave C-4 with the ship. He'll look after it."
"Okay we'll be over shortly. Do you want me to turn on the intruder countermeasures on the ship?"
John thought about this for a minute. "Yeah may as well. C-4's a good droid but you never know what could happen in a spaceport."
"Alright I'll do that then we'll be on our way."
"I'll see you guys shortly then, Alderaan out." John turned the comlink off and then headed for the turbo lift that headed down to the lower levels of the apartment.
Satele gunned the air speeder towards the spaceport where the ship that she and Blake would be taking to the place where the downed Republic Cruiser was, just outside of Alderaanian space. The ship they would be taking was a GS-100 salvage ship which was procured by her parents company before the Clone Wars. It had arms that could be used to move floating debris from their path. It had a weapons system but that wouldn't help them if they were attacked by Separatist droid ship. Satele hoped no one else knew about the plan. She was determined to prove herself worthy of being trusted with solo assignments without her Master's help.
They got to the spaceport where their ship was parked and landed on a pad not too far away from it. Satele landed the speeder and as they got out Blake got E-3 off of the back of the speeder. The droid whistled in thanks and put its gears down. Satele got the two packs that held most of the equipment that they would need. She handed one to Blake and they walked towards the ship.
Blake was in awe of the spaceport. Sure he had lived most of his life on a city planet where you could see ships come and go, but he had never been to a spaceport before, except on a few training missions with the Coruscant Security Force. One ship in particular caught his eye. It was a freighter of some kind that he hadn't seen before.
Clustered around the ramp of the ship were four people. One was a man who was about five foot five with red hair. Even though he wasn't that tall, he seemed to command an air of respect of the three younger people around him.
As he and Satele walked by them they heard him say "Okay here's the deal. Agent Alderaan has contacted me about the situation. We have a place to stay until we're done here after that who knows what's going to happen. My instructions are to leave the ship and C-4 until we get things situated at the apartment."
Blake and Satele kept walking. He shouldered his pack and asked her "What do you think that was all about?"
Satele shook her head just as confused as he was.
"I'm not sure. But it's something secretive if an agent is involved."
Blake looked at her "Do you know who that Agent Alderaan person is the one the red head mentioned?"
Satele looked at Blake and said "No. But I have heard rumors of someone who had been able to get into Separatist places that were either heavily guarded, or the Republic never tried to get into. Maybe that's the person they're referring to."
Blake nodded "Yeah I had heard similar rumors while I was with the police force."
"Aren't you still with the police force?" Satele asked not sure if he was misspeaking.
"I'm still with the police force, but this is a sensitive mission and I don't want to leave a trail for anyone to follow if things get heavier than we anticipated." And Blake motioned to the civilian clothes that he was wearing instead of his Police Uniform.
Blake stopped talking as they neared the ship. A manifest droid came up and said, "Your ship is ready to go."
"Thank you. Are there any documents or cargo records that need my attention?" Satele asked the droid.
"No mam everything is in order." Satele looked over the data file that the droid was holding out for her to read.
"Good don't want any surprises now do we?" But Satele took the file just in case she needed something to read on the way to the site.
Satele and Blake got into the ship and headed towards the cockpit. Satele sniffed the air and tried not to gag.
"Oh come on it isn't that bad." Blake said as they settled into the chairs.
"I know I've been in worse smelling places, but sometimes you need to get a reality check," Blake nodded.
Growing up in the slums of Coruscant he knew exactly what she meant. Satele sat in the pilot's seat and Blake sat next to her. He had flown a few times before, but never something like this. Satele fired up the engines and they were off the ground and heading towards the unknown.