Chapter 10 - Digging In The Dirt

Alright, I'm gonna be honest with you: that was one of the craziest days I've ever been through. And I've been through a lot of crazy stuff since I was a crawling toddler. That's nearly 47 years of crazyness, a shitload of weird happenings. That day was one of the worst of all. And I'm counting the night too, because it all started with Ferus and Jane screwing each other brain out in the patio. Damn, it still gives me the creeps.

Anyway…

I let Luke go to his errands and I walked outside in the back courtyard, where Jax was already supervising the older kids in their morning routine of lightsaber sparring, along with his daughter acting as second-in-command. He was deeply lost in his thoughts, even though he kept a close eye on the ten teenagers practicing lightsaber combat in front of him. I knew that look in his eyes, we had been friends for too long not to know that he was deeply worried about what Lysveet and I had just discovered.

I walked to him and sat on a bench near him and looked at the kids for a moment. He looked particularly in distress and I thought I knew why.

"You knew him, didn't you? Galen, I mean."

He nodded, gravely. "Well, I can't say I knew him… I mean, he was a toddler when I saw him, the last time I saw Galen he was playing with his toys in the yard in front of his house, and that was some years before the rebellion of Kashyykk. That's the last time I heard of them. I thought they had died during the bombings."

"Makes sense. Carver Hawke are you holding a sword or a broom? Quit sweeping the ground and do some sword-fighting!" I said to one of the kids.

"Yes Master Skywalker!" he replied, finally holding the hilt of his sparring weapon correctly and actually fighting with it. Damn that boy could be a challenge sometimes when he was a Padawan, but now he's one of the best Knights in our ranks.

But then he was that kind of smartass that needed to be reminded to get his head on his neck each morning. Much to his twin sister Bethany's amusement.

We had a knack for twins, I have to say. We had Luke and Leia, Bethany and Carver, Wynne and Leah and last but not the least… Nathan and Stana, but they came in the future.

"Yeah, I know. But… It's hard to picture him as a Sith… he was such a cute boy!"

"Being cute has nothing to do with being evil or not."

He grunted something that resembled a fuck that shit. "What I mean is that he was a kind baby, not the kind of person you can picture becoming a Jedi killer in the future."

"How old is he, do you know?" I asked, picking up a small stone from the yard and levitating it, just to do something and keep my mind occupied.

"Not much older than your kids. Eighteen, nineteen or something like that."

I nodded and passed the stone to him. He kept it afloat in front of his face for a moment before gently swaying it back and forth, like a leaf on the wind, soaring on an invisible gust of air.

"You know Ferus pretty well, don't you?" I asked, still watching the kids.

Jax shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "He's one of my best friends and he helped me a lot when I was around the Galaxy running away from the Empire. I know you two often don't see eye to…"

"It's not about my rocky relationship with him. I mean it. You know him pretty well, don't you?"

Again, he nodded. "Yes, I do. Why do you ask?"

"Did you know he and Jane were together once?"

The stone he was levitating fell on the ground with a soft thud as he went rigid for the surprise. "They what?"

Told you that day was weird.

"They were together for a couple of years, if I understood it right."

He ran his hands through his hair. "So she was the girl that…"

"Then you know about them!"

He shook his head. "No, not about them. I knew he had met a girl and had tremendously serious intentions with her, like he was going to marry her and stuff but… I didn't know it was Jane! We had an agreement, we didn't know about each others personal life in case one of us got captured by the Empire. That way we couldn't betray each other. Damn now it makes sense… how… how could they be so close after what happened and not be at each others throat every day it's a mystery."

"What happened?"

"I suppose you already know the story about him being framed for a series of murders and… how could I not put two and two together and realize she was the lead investigator on the case is beyond me because… well, after she was shot when he arrived at the hospital her father told him to go away, that she didn't want to see him again."

And we're just getting started about weirdness. It didn't make any sense, and it didn't coincide with Lysveet's recap of earlier that morning. Nothing made sense, to say the least.

"And after that, he was moved to Coruscant and I tell you, it hurt him. Like… a lot. Enough to call me in the middle of the night to ask for my help because he was in the middle of a Force-induced fever with hallucinations and subsequent delirium. He was a wreck Anakin, really. He spent like… ten days locked in his apartment, seeing her in every corner when she was back on Corellia. And that's only when I was there, before I arrived, he had been having hallucinations for a good week. You know how it works, when you sever the connection through the Force of two beings. They were lucky it wasn't completely severed..."

I was taken a little aback by the revelation. I was sure Jax wasn't exaggerating it a bit, he was too down to earth to exaggerate something like that. "That's tough… I mean… wow! And yeah, I'm kind of shocked they're still alive, from what I heard."

He made a face. "I know. He was about to die, I tell you. I had to tie him to the bed and go out to purchase some Death Sticks, I had to do something and give his brain a pause, the Force was literally killing him those days."

I nodded. I knew all too well what that meant: cutting off completely the Force link between two beings is usually fatal for both individuals. That's one of the reasons Jedi were forbidden to love and marry, to save them the agony of a slow, extremely painful, hallucinating death. And it was one of my greatest fears. "I can imagine. It happened something similar to me on the anniversary of Order 66. I still get some nasty migraines around those days. I wonder if the Force will be ever be able to rest on the future Anniversaries. It sucks."

"Well, Ferus picked up the Death Sticks habit then, on the first anniversary. He wasn't completely trained in keeping the Force at bay when he left the Order and the first few years were really bad for him. Before Jane he had another girl, didn't last long but it was enough that she got him into drugs and binge drinking."

Weirder and weirder. "Binge drinking? That's not like Ferus at all!"

"Don't tell me. It took him sensing something was wrong with Jane about him drinking so much to stop. Both with alcohol and the drugs. He still has a drink or two from time to time, but it's not out of necessity, to forget his shitty life. And never to the point of willingly getting drunk."

That added a lot of depth to their story. But it was just a sketch, an outline of something bigger, I knew that. There was more, hidden beneath years of lies, pain and regret.

There was a whole world, actually, that just waited to be uncovered.

"Damn, this complicate things…" I muttered to myself.

"What things?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. It's just… Nothing. Sometimes I think aloud and I should kick that habit. It's not useful. But let's change the subject, we have enough problems with our whole there's a guy hunting us down thing. If they haven't settled their score in nine years there's nothing we can do." and there's a reminder of how bad of a liar I am. "Do you need help with the kids here?"

"No I'm fine. Maybe ask Aleha, but we've got everything covered in case you wanted to work on this whole Galen's mess."

"How thoughtful of you. By the way, I think I'm going to find my wife. We need to do something about this guy and to do anything we need money. We're lucky we've got here on our side."

"And Obi-Wan. The two of them could get us anywhere."

I stood up. "I only wish they could get us to Coruscant so we can deal with this shit once and for all instead of waltzing around the matter while they get more money so we can do more things."

"Same here Anakin. Come on, let's see if your amazing wife can do something about our immediate problems."

Wishful thinking, to say the least.

Anyway, with one last admonishment to Carver, I left for the house and headed straight upstairs to the small office Padmè had claimed for herself when she was younger and that she had taken back for the same purpose when we had moved back there. It was on the top floor, in a small, tower-like part of the house. It was rarely visited, except when she was up there and anyone needed her help. It was her safe have, her place to be alone and work things out like making our budget get us to the end of the month with more than thirty people to feed every single day, and the bribery we had to do from time to time to get going without authorities on our back, and we all respected her wishes to be left alone, when she was there.

In fact, in case she didn't want me there, I would have left and waited for a better time. It had happened in the past, mostly when she was doing accounting job, and the way she glared at me for interrupting her in the middle of those calculations scared the shit out of me.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I knocked on the door. I didn't have to wait long for the answer. "Come in."

I entered and I found her staring at her computer screen, probably reading the umpteenth report on the situation of the Alliance, her eyes squinting to focus on the tiny letters. "Can I borrow you for a minute?"

"Even more than one. Your dear friend Antilles sent me a full report about the army and the starfleet while I had asked only for a brief statement on the situation. I think he sent it on purpose."

I sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk. "And you forgot your glasses downstairs again, didn't you?"

She nodded, rubbing her eyes with her fingers. "I know I know… I should have gone down and get them but I was already here…"

"Padmè… you know what the optometrist said, your headaches will only get worse if you don't use the glasses."

"Says the one with perfect sight. I know Anakin… it's just… it's the first time I ever need them and if circumstances were different I'd be able to get eye surgery as soon as I wanted but now… would it sound stupid if I said that having to use glasses makes me feel old?"

I shook my head. "No, it makes you look more human, not the usual tough girl people see all the time."

"Now, that girl sounds a little pushed, but thank you all the same. Now, need anything or you just missed me?"

"A little bit of both actually." I replied, stretching a little on the chair. "I spoke to Lysveet…" that caught her interest, I saw a light glint in her eyes and I knew she understood straight away what was I talking about. "And Jax."

"Jax?" she inquired.

I nodded. "Jax. It appears he knew about Jane but he didn't know it was Jane. Let me explain: he knew Ferus had someone special in his life, but not who this special one was. It was for the safety of both of them. They didn't know anything about each other's life, that kept them safe. Anyway… Jax knew Ferus had someone and turns out he wanted to marry her until something big happened and by the way the two versions don't coincide, at least up to a certain point they do. But when they come to the point when Jane get's shot during a roundup and Ferus gets to the hospital, his version says that her father sent him away because she didn't want to see him anymore, to get away from her life and never come back, but Jane's version of the story, as told by Lysveet, says that he left with no words and that she saw him again the night Lena was born."

She squinted her eyes again, this time not because of her straining eyes but because her brain was working full time. "I find the lack of sense in this matter disturbing."

I nodded. "I know. It makes no sense, most of all because I know Ferus enough to be sure he wouldn't leave anyone on his or her deathbed like that. And because I know Lysveet and Jax wouldn't lie. Here's the thing: Lysveet is convinced they've been set up for some reasons. She doesn't know why, but I smell a set up too."

"It's definitely a set up, by the way you told me. I bet you're telling me this because you want to play your good old tricks again and do something about it."

"Hey, I just follow the Force. If I was down there tonight there was a reason. I'm done denying the will of the Force, it only caused me troubles in the past."

"Wise decision. You have a plan?"

"Lysveet came up with it. She's going to delve deep in the Imperial databases and scour them for any piece of information she can get about them. She said it's going to take a while, but she's convinced it will be worth it. If she can find the proof they actually tampered with the evidences against Ferus, I'm pretty sure things will settle."

"What if they don't?"

I took my time to answer that question. "Then things will go on as usual. Until they realize they're wasting their time and do something about it. Either they kill each other in the fight of the century and Ferus ends up with a blaster hole in his forehead, or they make up."

"He looks pretty capable to defend himself from a gun." she joked, fiddling with a random pen on the desk.

"Have you seen how she shoots? She's the best gunman we have, I tell you."

"Good point. Go on then, I trust you can do a good job together, without wrecking it up."

"I doubt the situation could be worse than it already is. By the way, thanks for your trust. What are you up to?"

"I'm booking a couple of ships for your trip." she replied, candidly.

"What trip?"

She glared at me, again. A chill ran down my spine, and not the good kind. "You're going to look for Galen, right? You'll need at least a ship, maybe two, if you're smart enough to exploit Jane's abilities at the wheel. That way you'd be much faster and you'd do a better job."

I couldn't refrain from smiling. "Damn, you know me too well. And yes, that was my plan. How did you know?"

"Please Anakin, I've been your wife for nearly twenty years, I know you. Now I need to finish this up and write back to Antilles, don't take it bad but would you mind leaving?"

I shook my head. "Absolutely not. I'll get your glasses and I'll be out of your way."

Once I had given her glasses, I went downstairs and dared to take a peak through the ajar door in Lysveet office. The work in there was feverish to say the least, so I let them to work and went to do other stuff, until my comlink beeped, hours later, and a text message showed on screen. From Lysveet.

Come up. We've found something.

And here came the really, really weird part of the day. Right after lunch. It took me all my willpower not to throw up. You'll understand later.

"Here I am. What do you have?" I asked, bursting in the room.

Jane was standing on the opposite side of the desk where Lysveet was still frantically typing. I noticed that the wall behind the former detective was covered with printed paper sheets - a rarity, to say the least, in a world of datapads, computers and portable tablets - with colored pins marking stuff, circles around paragraphs of writings and photos of people I didn't recognize. And Hilean, sitting in a corner, flipping through pages with a marker pen in her hand. And I had been wondering where the hell that girl had gone.

"We think we found a pattern." stated the hacker.

"A pattern to what?" I closed the door behind me and walked up to the desk.

"We've crossed our data with the stuff Lysveet's been finding through the Imperial databases and the Jedi Archives. We're just at the tip of it but we think we may have found something interesting. It looks like it's a personal vendetta."

What the hell? "What is he taking revenge on?" To say that I was puzzled was an understatement.

"No one. It's not him. It's Vader. Galen's just the hand. The head is Vader." replied Jane. "Here, look at this." she wavered at a long list of printed names and hand-scribbled notes behind them. "We've taken the list of Jedi that Jax confirmed alive during the years and when Lysveet managed to get into the Archives, ran a crossed search between them and Kento Marek. Nothing came out of it. We then looked into the Imperial archives to see if any of them was alive." she pointed at another list, complete with pictures. I could recognize some of them, but many were unknown faces, maybe other Padawans or Jedi Knight I never worked with. "Those circled are dead, and they all died in the last eighteen months."

I nodded. "And you discovered all of this in how long? One morning?"

"Please Anakin, digging in the dirt of other people was my job, and I was kind of good at it. Also, I've got the best tech helper in the field and great apprentice here." she pointed at Hilean, who simply recognized the compliment by raising the marker in her hand and continuing her work. "And we've been working for seven hours. Usual field day for me back in the days was at least ten, sometimes eighteen. And don't worry, I'm taking care of Lysveet too."

I looked back at the hacker in time to see her roll her eyes. "Jane, I'm pregnant, not ill. And as long as I take regular breaks, drink plenty of water and walk around from time to time, I'll be just fine. I had lunch too!"

"Good, because Darrick would have my head if you'd feel bad doing work for me!" I said. "Go on. What did you find?"

"Well, from now on, it was all Jedi Archives stuff. Practically all of these Knights, Padawans or Masters were somehow involved in Vader's life before he disappeared. Not in a good way. There were reports of bad behavior, brawls, various accusations… everything had been dealt with internally, nothing ever figured in the official records but thanks to the codes Master Kenobi provided, we could reach the Council-restricted documents and find the unofficial docs. All of this happened before Obi-Wan was elected Master so he didn't know it."

"What did Master Kota do?"

"Apparently, he caught a fifteen year old Vader trying to steal a very valuable and ancient tome from the Jedi Library." said Hilean from her corner, eyes still fixated on the papers.

"Did it say about what?"

"About something related to the history of the Sith Order, but it wasn't a normal history book, it was more like an artifact from the Old Republic time and the Great Jedi War. Mentioned something about the Exiled."

I chuckled. "Oh I know that book. It's the account of the Sith side of the Great Jedi War and the centuries after that, the fall and subsequent rise of the Jedi Order by the hand of the Exiled. But it's not only history, it's part biography, part strategy didactic and has a few sections about some Sith techniques on how to channel the Force through the Dark Side. It's basically the only manual on how to make Force Lightening."

She looked at the list in front of her, as if I had nothing. "Right. We picked up a couple of things more. There are two more Jedi that crossed Vader's way, excluding you, of course Anakin."

"And here they hare." said Lysveet, turning the screen of her computer. "Master Paratus and Master Ti. Both were last seen on Raxxus Prime and Felucia respectively. Master Ti keeps us posted from time to time, usually every couple of months. Master Paratus though…"

I nodded. "I know, he's gone nuts some years ago. Ferus reported it a couple of years ago after we tried to contact some Jedi."

"Yep. And he wasn't exactly friendly when he tried to set foot on the planet. Besides, that planet's a junkyard, how can he live there?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I shook my head. "No freaking idea. Never been there and I didn't plan on going, but apparently, I have to. Master Ti is more than capable to defend herself. Master Paratus is… unstable, to say the least. I have to check on him, and fast."

Lysveet let out a small, humorless laugh. "You're bringing my husband with you? Because I'd be really pissed off if you did."

I remained silent for a moment, thinking about what kind of Jedi I would need for a trip like that. No, Darrick wasn't the one I needed, and seriously, Lysveet needed him more than I did anyway. I needed someone who could be focused and not with his or her mind elsewhere, so a soon-to-be father was out of the picture.

"No. He stays home and coordinates us from here. I need Ferus and Jax though, that's for sure. And I think I'll bring Luke, Leia and Obi-Wan too. And you, Jane."

And sorry again for the wait, I know, but exams, tests, ju jitsu, personal life… all piled up and I didn't have much time to write. And sorry for the tiny tiny cliffhanger too, but I have to admit it, I didn't really know where to close it. But here it is. See ya next time!