Qui-Gon felt his apprentice approaching long before he could hear a noise. He climbed the steps to the surface with Owen and Cliegg not far behind. He could see dust rising in the distance. Anakin approached on a swoop bike, and came to a stop in front of them. Qui-Gon took in the boy's hardened face and rigid posture; he could tell the boy was barely keeping in control of himself. He climbed off the bike, and picked up a wrapped form, which Qui-Gon immediately knew was the body of his mother. Anakin walked over to Cliegg and sat the body in the crippled farmer's lap before walking off to the repair garage.

Qui-Gon followed the boy into the garage, he found Anakin facing the far wall. Qui-Gon approached him slowly, "Anakin?"

The boy turned and Qui-Gon could see the tears sliding down the boy's cheeks. "Master…"

As the father he'd always tried to be to the boy, Qui-Gon gathered Anakin into his arms and held him tightly. He spoke gently, "I'm so sorry, my boy." He allowed his Padawan to cry for as long as he needed.

With a sniffle, Anakin pulled himself together and stepped back. He took a deep breath and looked up at the older man, "We should go Master. We still have a job to do." Qui-Gon said nothing, but turned and led his apprentice out of the garage.

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Meditation was a matter of finding one's center and focusing on it. The Force often spoke in the faintest of whispers, and one needed to be centered to hear such a small yet powerful voice. The Force was something of a paradox, the power that created and perpetuates all life, but guided no one's hand; that is unless you allowed it to.

Obi-Wan didn't need his hand guided, he needed his spirit calmed, in a way only a Jedi could calm his soul, by the Force. There had been a disturbance in the Force early this morning. He'd been sitting at breakfast, when he heard a far off cry of anger, mourning and anguish. The cry was carried through the Force with such power that Obi-Wan's ears seemed to ring and he felt a wave of dizziness and nausea pass over him. Just as the wave passed over him, he heard an even more distant laughter; someone had taken a perverse pleasure in the pain that tore through the Universe at that moment.

He'd been in meditation ever since, trying to find the origin of the dark call, but could not find it. He thought the matter over, and wagered that it was someone getting a taste of darkness; he could only hope whoever it was who had tasted that darkness found they didn't care for it.

Even then, he couldn't stop the shiver that ran down his spine. Something was very, very wrong. He shook off the dark mood, and reached deeper down into himself to ponder his other problem, the young woman he shared this suite with. His emotions were a hurricane whenever he so much as took in her scent. An unsettling condition for a Jedi, they were trained to do everything but abandon emotion, yet Padmé stirred forbidden thoughts of the highest order in him.

He took a deep breath, and distantly caught her scent. He stretched out his senses for the first time since he'd begun his meditation, he could feel Padmé's eyes on him, and her worry was marring her spirit. What was troubling her, he needed to know so he could put an end to it… he sighed at his conflicted nature. He was approaching a conclusion he didn't want to draw from the situation, however, it was the only conclusion he could draw…

He let his eyes open, "What is worrying you, Milady?"

"You've been sitting there all day. What has troubled you so?" He took in the sky before him; the colors of the sunset were beginning to lick at the horizon. He had been in meditation through the morning and afternoon, he moved to stand, and his protesting muscles confirmed the fact. He turned to face her and she stepped forward and took one of his hands into hers, "Has something happened?"

He looked down at their joined hands for a moment; the gesture gave him a sense of peace his meditation had failed to provide. "I don't know, there was a disturbance in the Force, as if someone had cried out in pain and hatred." His brow furrowed, whatever had happened, it had happened to someone within the order… they were vaguely familiar too. He shook that thought away, "It is nothing to trouble yourself with Milady." He smiled, "Why don't we go out for dinner? I was told there is a rather excellent Nubian restaurant not far from here."

He could tell she didn't want to let the matter go, but she respected his wishes and smiled, "Only so long as you pay."

He extended his arm and ushered her off the terrace, "Very well, but I wish to point out that the Jedi order has never paid nearly as well as the Senate."

Padmé's only response was to laugh.

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The first rays of sun covered the suite as Ben and Padmé entered, laughing. They had had dinner, and then spent the rest of the night exploring Cloud City as tourists would. Mostly they spent the night talking about things other than the Senate, the Council, or the current crisis. They had each decided that the other needed a break from their troubles.

However, Artoo could not allow that break to continue, as his frantic bleeping and twittering the moment they walked in the door attested to. Padmé tried to calm the droid, "Artoo, please, what's wrong?" Artoo only twittered while bumping into Ben's hip, bumping the Jedi towards the com unit.

With a shrug, Ben walked over to the com unit. The droid then rolled over to the computer interface and plugged in. Suddenly, the holo-projector sprang to life and Mace Windu's image came into focus. :Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is Mace Windu, we have an emergency. We have reason to believe that Qui-Gon and his apprentice have been captured by the Confederacy. We are sending assistance to Geonosis; however, we will be delayed. From Bespin, Geonosis is a six hour jump. If you can acquire transport, make way to Geonosis immediately. However, the Senator is to remain on Bespin. Mace Windu out.: the projector flickered and the Jedi Master's image faded from view.

Ben turned to Artoo, "Quickly Artoo, search the city computer, find out where I can acquire a ship." He crossed the room and pulled his dark robe off of the chair it was laying over. "I'll have to leave quickly."

"I'll get ready."

Ben turned back to Padmé, who was walking towards her room, "You cannot go. You heard Master Windu. You are to remain here."

She turned towards him with as serious a look as Ben had ever seen, "If you expect me to stay here while our friends are in danger, and you place yourself in danger, then you may be the most ignorant person I've ever met." Her eyes glared into his threateningly, and when he stepped forward to answer her challenging tone, she continued. "I refuse to sit by when you're in danger Ben. I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself."

Ben sighed, conceding defeat, "Alright."

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Padmé looked at the ship before them, "What a piece of junk!"

Ben sighed, "It's an YT-1300 Corellian. It'll get us where we need to go on the credit we have available." He looked at the ship and the title the man had just given him, "The 'Millennium Falcon' here's hoping it runs as well as her former Captain boasted." He crossed the bay and triggered the entry ramp, turning to Padmé he smirked and bowed in a dramatic fashion, "Lady's first." She walked up the ramp cautiously, leaving Ben and the droid, "Women and droids first, Artoo." Artoo climbed the ramp with little protest.

Following up the ramp, he closed the hatch and retracted the ramp. He found Padmé in the cockpit, going through pre-flight checks. "Well, despite how beat up this garbage pile is, it appears it's running well."

"I'd imagine it would, a smuggler would want a rather non-descript looking vessel, and he'd make sure it ran better than any law enforcement they'd come across."

The Senator turned to Ben with wide eyes, "You bought a ship from a smuggler?"

Ben smiled as he began the power up the systems, "Well, he didn't have much use for it; he needed a lot of money for his legal defense."

Padmé sighed, "A smuggler who got caught? That doesn't instill too much confidence in his vessel, at least to me."

Ben smirked as he ignited the engines, "It's alright, Milady, look at it this way…" Ben pulled a lever, the vessel lurched forward and they were air born. Ben turned towards her, his smirk becoming a grin "We didn't have much choice."

The Senator sighed as they passed through the upper atmosphere and she began enter co-ordinates into the nav-computer, running Hyperspace computations, "That makes me feel so much better."

The computations were completed, and Ben activated the Hyperdrive, as they saw the stars stretching into line, he said. "Good, I had hoped it would."