NINE

The rows of blue code seemed to mock him, blurring before his eyes as he scanned and scrolled through the document. Several hours of diligence had passed since he began working through the algorithms and the only thing he had to show for his effort were eyelids that were steadily getting heavier. He sleepily looked over at Obi-wan who was auditing the freight company's records. Taking a deep breath, Anakin blinked and widened his eyes in an attempt to fight off what was going to be a losing battle with fatigue. Frustration began to set in as no anomalies could yet be found. He began to doubt if he was on the right track. Anakin's head bobbed a few times before he rested his cheek in the palm of his hand and before he realized it, he was out…

He opened his eyes again to a sight that had no logic, rhyme or reason. Anakin found himself standing in the midst of a dense fog. He shut his eyes tight and opened them again, but to no avail. It was clear that he had strayed into slumber. However this was not like the nightly dreams he typically had of Padme. Something was different and unsettling. In another time, instinct would have him on his guard with lightsaber in hand. Though the new-found locale seemed foreign, he sensed a familiar presence approach seemingly from all sides. He furled his brow unable to decipher where he was or why he was there…or who was drawing near. Anakin felt a something gently graze his cheek. He turned toward it and saw nothing.

He suddenly heard a sound, like a whisper, echoing through the fog.

'Anakin'

His heart stopped immediately. He'd know her voice anywhere. It was Padme. She had come to him again. He tried to move through the fog, desperate to find his departed wife.

"Padme?"

Though he could sense her presence, it was too indistinct and inconsistent to pin her to an exact spot. This was nothing like the dreams he'd had of her and the more he thought about it, the quicker he realized that this wasn't a dream at all. It was a vision.

Frustrated, he looked around again, "Where are you?"

Padme's voice sounded again. "Ani…"

At that moment the fog began to thin and recede toward the floor, revealing before him a window with a view of Coruscant's financial district. The lights of each office in the sky scraping structures mimicked the stars above, shining ever brighter as the sun had long retreated beyond the horizon. He had seen this view before, but could not remember where.

As Anakin tapped his memory for the answer, he started to hear muffled words behind him. It was a conversation between two men…and a woman. He turned around and saw he was standing in the sitting area of a large office. The fog had lowered enough to make out the silhouette of someone sitting on a couch. As the fog continued to thin, he realized it was Padme. She was listening intently to an unfamiliar voice that droned on at length about something Anakin was too distracted to care about.

With two long strides, he closed the space between them and knelt at her side. Her eyes were cast downward where the carpeted floor met the hem of her gown. She slowly shook her head.

"Padme, what's going on?"

She didn't respond. Not a word. Not a glance. Not a single indication that she knew he was beside her. Wearing shades of green and brown, her sadness was contrasted by her beauty. Her brown tendrils was pulled away from her face and layered atop her head, pinned in place by shimmering stones that dotted her hair.

With a furled brow, Anakin tried again, "Padme?"

He moved to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand, but paused when she finally raised her head to speak.

"I can't believe what I am hearing." She didn't bother to disguise the disillusionment in her voice. Padme stood up and walked around her chair. Her voluminous gown hid her movement, making it appear as if she was floating. She continued, "He was senator when I was queen. I elected him. I supported him. I believed him. During the occupation, I listened while he talked about how corrupt the bureaucracy was..." She looked over to her right, seemingly at another person. "He used me to remove Valorum, clearing the way for him to become chancellor."

In that moment Anakin realized this must have been the beginning of the animosity she held for Palpatine. He never knew when or why her distaste for Palpatine began, but somehow from beyond the wall separating the dead from the living, Padme was sharing a memory with him solving that mystery.

He stood and followed her gaze to see Bail Organa seated in a nearby chair and instantly remembered this was his office. The Alderaanian senator steepled his fingers as he listened to Padme's lament. Something twinkled on his finger, catching Anakin's eye. He moved closer and saw a dark square shaped jewel, surrounded by small white stones. It matched the description of the ring that Bregor saw.

So it wasn't Palpatine who saved the ships from being destroyed. Obi-wan was right… How did Organa know that the case was going to be re-opened? Why didn't come to me when he did this?

"Do not waste your energy berating yourself for what happened. You were manipulated just like the rest of us. None of us would have believed him capable of such things back then. Guilt will not serve you." Bail looked across the coffee table at the third person in the room and said, "The timing of the trade occupation couldn't have been better. It seems it aided him in getting the chancellorship."

"You might be closer to the truth than you realize." The unfamiliar voice spoke. Though the fog had completely recessed to the floor, Anakin could not make out the person seating in a chair. Anakin narrowed his eyes and moved closer but couldn't gain clarity. He glanced over his shoulder at Bail and Padme who were both looking at this person. It was clear that they could see him though he could not.

"Keets…" Padme moved closer to the blurry image. "Are you saying you think he orchestrated the trade occupation?" Padme asked with a furled brow.

"No." The man named Keets continued with a mirthless chuckle. "But I wouldn't put that past him. I'm simply acknowledging how deceptive he is. The man specializes in making himself seem benevolent and sincere…when he is a manipulative and calculating opportunist…" He stood and slowly started to pace, "Valorum's death was intentional. The moment he started watching Palpatine, he was marked. He knew it and so did I. We both understood that it was just a matter of time before an attempt on our lives was made. I promise you, Padme, and I am sure Bail will agree Palpatine had a hand in Valorum's death somehow." He turned suddenly to face them both. "But a word of caution…However you choose to proceed from this moment on, extreme care must be taken. If you decide to pursue this, it can and will become dangerous. After Valorum was killed I had to severe all connections with him and lay low for a while. You both have families and if you choose to proceed, you must do whatever necessary to keep them safe. They must not know about this. As for the chancellor, keep a professional distance at all times."

"The petition had no effect on his position or this war." Padme stated. "The only thing this war has accomplished is gathering more power for Palpatine."

"That's what it's always been about and he will not lay down these powers. Emergency powers are never released." Keets added. "If things keep going the way they are now, he will have mustered enough power to declare himself an absolute ruler."

Bail sighed standing. "Then I say we do what must be done."

"I agree." Padme nodded.

"Very well then." Keets moved closer. "In the hopes of keeping our actions discreet and identities secure, communication with me must be one way. I will initiate contact and we must always meet in person to avoid security breaches. We can never meet in the same place twice. Meeting off-world will likely be better."

"Off-world…why?" Padme asked with concern in her voice.

"It's harder to be followed. Besides you guys belong to many of the same committees and go on diplomatic missions all the time. Coming up with a guise to meet with me should be a piece of Mandalorian pie."

"That would be fine." Bail agreed with the terms.

Padme nodded hesitantly. Fog instantly rose, filling the room, and Anakin suddenly felt the sensation that he was being pulled away.

Anakin jumped out his sleep with a start, lifting his head off the surface of the workbench. The blue lines of code were blaring at him, a sign that he had returned to reality. However he could not deny the overwhelming guilt that the vision left him with. The sudden movement prompted Obi-wan to look at him over his shoulder.

"Bad dream?"

"I just—" Anakin blinked several times and looked around. The guilt and the grief hit him as if he was doused with cold water. He remembered all those nights she was off-world, and all the arguments when he knew she was keeping something from him. Anakin realized that she was caught in a position that compromised her integrity as a wife and as a mother.

She had no choice. He thought to himself, answering a year old question about why she wouldn't or couldn't come to him. Glancing up at Obi-wan, he realized now wasn't the time to spend thinking about the vision. More time would be needed to process the vision and fully grasp Padme's intention. For now, he pushed it to the back of his mind and focused on the prime directive. "It's nothing. I-I must have dozed off."

"I'm not surprised. You barely stop for more than 15 minutes."

"Threepio!" Anakin called out.

The droid's whirring gears could be heard before he appeared in the workshop doorway. "Yes, Master Anakin."

"Could you get me a drink of water?"

"Of course, sir." The droid disappeared down the hall.

Anakin went back to scanning through the code. Avoiding Obi-wan's possible next question about his dream, he immediately changed the subject. "Did you find anything on the freight company?"

"Yes, more than I expected" he turned around to face Anakin. "The owners are brothers, Drego, Fredro and Maeto Spek. Fredro handles operations, Maeto – ships and droids, and Drego oversees personnel. The company has been in existence for the last 40 years without a blemish. In fact, they are second generation owners. They took over management from their father 15 years ago, and developed it."

Anakin scratched his chin. "Strange…Why would a well-established freight company with such a clean record and reputation suddenly look so shady?"

"I think Mato might shed light on the answer to that." Obi-wan looked up from his datapad. "We should start with him."

"Why him?"

"Even though the Drego and Fredro brothers have clean records, Mato however seems to have developed a gambling problem and has caused the company some financial issues. I'll see what else I can dig up."

As Obi-wan turned around to continue researching, Anakin asked, "Isn't there a regulation barring droids from piloting cargo freighters?"

"Yes. They are only supposed to be piloting the delivery freighters." Obi-wan answered without turning. "Did you find the primary directive?"

"I'm getting very close." Anakin spoke slowly. "Judging from what I'm reading, this navigator droid was given piloting algorithms."

There was a moment of silence before Anakin spoke again. "Looks like The Spek freight company has a lot of explaining to do."

Obi-wan turned to face him, "You found the code?"

"More like a smoking gun." Anakin straightened in his chair as he slowly scrolled up the screen. "A subroutine, hidden among the primary directives. I haven't seen anything like this since the outer rim sieges."

Obi-wan stood up and moved closer to the holoscreen.

"Do you remember the biserker droids?" He continued after Obi-wan nodded, "Those droids had hidden subroutines in their programming, which was implemented via virus. It's sort of like a Jedi mind trick except for droids. It made them deviate from the primary directive and execute the subroutine when a trigger was detected."

"A trigger?"

"A trigger could be a spoken word, a sound, a date and time to initiate, an object, a place…a person. It could be any one thing or a combination of things." Anakin could feel that he was close a very big break in the case. His heart seemed to tremble as he went on. "However this is a little more sophisticated. Whoever wrote this code, had to personally install this on site, it's too big to do this virtually while ensuring that no new programming could override it or remove it. And from what I can see, this droid was programmed to self destruct once the subroutine was executed." He spoke as he continued closely reading the subroutine. "Now why would a freighter droid need a subroutine like-" Anakin stopped and began reading frantically as if captivated. He is cerulean eyes dodged back and forth as he quickly read through the lines.

Obi-wan watched as Anakin's demeanor suddenly morphed into devastation. The air in the room seemed to thicken. "I knew it." He whispered softly.

A string of huttese curses flew from Anakin's lips as they thinned into straight line. He stood up suddenly, knocking his chair back.

"I KNEW IT!" He began angrily pacing back and forth. With flaring nostrils, his eyes never left the incriminating code on the holoscreen.

"What is it? What did you find?"

Anakin stopped pacing, put a hand on his waist and ran another through his tawny locks. Anakin shut his eyes tight and took several deep breaths to calm himself down. He turned away from the code and Obi-wan and faced the window to see the lateral view of the verandah. He could almost see Padme running out to climbing into her speeder on the way to the ship. It was difficult, but he managed to force out an explanation to his old master.

His voice cracked with anger. "The subroutine contains an assassin's algorithm. It includes detailed criteria of a ship matching Padme's. It has the date and time of impact." Anakin rested his hands against either side of the window frame and lowered his head. "Her ship was the trigger."

"Her ship…was the trigger." He repeated more to himself than aloud. Anakin paused and continued explaining, "The droid was programmed to pilot the ship to the designated exchange port and wait briefly…"

"To support Spek's claim that it missed its exchange with the delivery freighter, prompting the pilot to make the delivery himself." Obi-wan correctly surmised.

Anakin continued reciting the subroutine, "After a few minutes it was to leave and head for her docking port, take the westbound lanes, exit, initiate navigational and brake power failure simulation." His voice cracked again. "On sight of the trigger, accelerate, impact, destroy and self –destruct if processes are still functioning."

Anakin turned around to face him. There were no tears or sorrow present. His eyes were hard and burning with an intensity he hadn't felt since the day she was taken from him. "I don't care what you say Obi-wan…I'm going to that freight company now."

Obi-wan knew better than to object or stop Anakin. It was a blatantly logical next step, but it had to be done right. If Anakin had to do this, he was going to need someone who could help him stop himself. "I'll go with you."

TBC...

Thank you guys for hanging in there with me.

RRR!