Sitting behind his desk, Hamner was working his way through the reports and general work on his datapad in his office when he was interrupted from his progress by the beeping of the commlink on his belt. He set the datapad down, took out the commlink, and activated it.
"Grand Master Hamner here."
"This is Jedi Master Tahiri Veila," the feminine voice on the other end responded, "reporting on the hunt for Darth Plagueis."
"What have you to report, Master Veila?" Hamner asked.
"Jedi Geffer, Jedi Saav'etu, and I are all currently on Myrkr," Tahiri answered. "We had heard rumors in our search so far that Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker was hiding out here. Considering that the alternate reality version of Jacen Solo told us that Plagueis was inhabiting Skywalker's body, we are currently looking for him here."
Hamner raised an eyebrow. Even on a formal channel like this, he doubted that Tahiri would refer to Ben by his last name since she had close familial ties with the Solos and the Skywalkers. But he set that thought aside as he said, "That's good news. Remember, I want Plagueis taken alive; while Solo may not be with us anymore, there's still a chance we can bring Jedi Skywalker back. How are you and the Knights holding up so far without using the Force, Master Veila?"
"It's difficult, but we're managing," Tahiri answered.
"That's also good to know," Hamner stated. "I hope hunting Jedi Skywalker isn't too great a burden for you, Master Veila." He had already given that statement to Tahiri before she and her accompanying two Knights left for Zonama Sekot. But because of that nagging detail at the back of his mind regarding how Tahiri referred to Ben by his last name, he had a feeling that something was off here. If Tahiri didn't respond in a subdued tone, even for a Master, then that thought may be on to something.
"It's no problem for me," Tahiri replied evenly. A little too evenly, as if she had no personal recognition with Ben at all. "Darth Plagueis must be stopped."
Hamner could agree with that, but again, considering Tahiri's almost apathetic reaction, he knew he was onto something after all. "Before I sign off," he said, "what did you learn from Zonama Sekot?" This would be the clincher; Tahiri informed him of her progress at Zonama before this report. If she didn't respond with confusion, then he knew he wasn't talking to the real Tahiri Veila.
"Oh, nothing, unfortunately," Tahiri answered. "We were sent off to pursue other avenues of questioning."
Gotcha, Hamner thought.
"Thank you for your report, Master Veila," he said as he quickly pressed a few buttons on his commlink to trace her call through a coded frequency that no imposter should be aware of; not unless they interrogated it from the real deal, of course. Seeing that the trace was successful - it was on Myrkr, indeed, so the imposter didn't lie there - he said, "Hamner out." He signed off, and immediately commed Master Lowbacca.
A moment later, the Wookiee Master's roar of response on the other end confirmed that he got the call.
"I have a mission for you..."
.
Ford dropped Tahiri Veila's commlink to the forest ground and stomped on it, leaving it a ruined mess alongside the remains of Bandy Geffer and Yaqeel Saav'etu's commlinks. The droid captain then turned back to his first mate, who had just disposed of the Jedi bodies off a cliff nearby.
"Let's get out of here," Ford said. "And you're washing the smuggling compartment of the burned Jedi residue and fabric on the way back to Coruscant."
"Yay," Five-U responded sarcastically.
The two of them turned and walked back to the Mindabaal. A few uneventful minutes later, they took off for the skies of Myrkr.
.
On Coruscant, former Galactic Alliance Chief of State Wynn Dorvan, seated in the flowform armchair in his apartment, sighed in disappointment as he read the news on his datapad of Senator Gerila Shesh's appointment as his successor.
Of course she would win, he thought, frustrated. What else could go wrong now?
As if to mirror his thoughts, there was a knock on his door.
Setting his datpad down on the living counter before him, he stood up and walked to the door. He looked through the peephole to see who it was.
On the other side of the door stood a well-suited dark-skinned male human with a briefcase in hand. Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Dorvan opened the door.
"Wynn Dorvan?' the man asked.
"Yes? How may I help you?"
The well-suited man then reached his free hand into his suit and instantly produced a blaster pistol, shooting Dorvan in the chest with a stunbolt. The victim of the shot then fell back unconscious before his attacker stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind him.
Meanwhile, the camera that would have been shooting the event had been turned off.
.
The next day, newly-appointed Alliance Chief of State Gerila Shesh sipped her tea contentedly as she read the news of her predecessor Wynn Dorvan's untimely death on her datapad behind her office desk. The report stated that Dorvan was found dead in his apartment's bedroom with a slew of empty prescription drug bottles around him. The over-the-counter pharmacist who gave Dorvan the drugs informed the news that the former Chief of State had been suffering depression since being outed from his prestigious position, a statement confirmed by a psychiatrist that Dorvan had been seeing ever since the vote of no confidence came in.
Of course, given that both the pharmacist and psychiatrist were really secret governmental actors sent to do Shesh's bidding was something that was never even suspected by the mainstream media.
Now, Shesh thought happily, with Dorvan dead, any political opposition against her would have no real gravitas as she would begin her strike against the Jedi Order.