Semreh let the current take him swiftly down the pipe. For whatever reason, the sewage systems of the temple were still operating, taking them towards the water purification plants. The pull of the water was incredible. His rebreather was still pumping oxygen into his lungs, and he'd managed to get one on the Tallisbeth girl. While being carried by the swirling water, he let his limbs hang loose, feeling energy returning to his body. He didn't know what lay at the end of this tunnel, but he knew he would need all his strength to get them off planet. Suddenly, the pipe dipped down, dropping them into a much larger tunnel. They both fell with a crash into what felt like water. The smell said otherwise. Semreh struggled towards the side of the tunnel, still dragging Tallisbeth. He hoisted her limp body onto a small ledge used by maintenance to avoid the filthy water. Hauling himself up, he Semreh fell onto his back, breathing hard. He lay there for several minutes, not thinking at all, mind clear of all thought. He couldn't think. If he thought about that day, he'd think about the Jedi he saw cut down in the temple. He'd think about the Room of a Thousand Fountains in flames, and his master's charred broken body. No, he needed action, something to take his mind off of their situation. A small groan came from the girl's body.
"Seems like she's coming to," he thought. Semreh readied himself, remembering her nice right hook that nearly broke his nose.
Scout woke slowly, her head throbbing with pain. As she became more aware, two thoughts crossed her mind.
"Why are my robes soaked, and what the heck smells like the inside of a Gamorrean." She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a tunnel lit by what appeared to be dim glow rods. It gave the walls and waters an eerie green glow. Sitting cross legged nearby was a young man. He was short, only about 5 ft, and heavily built. His face was round, with short hair and a crooked, bloody nose. The robes he wore were splattered with an impressive variety of waste and sewage.
"Hey, what happened to your nose," she asked in a slightly dazed. He grinned ruefully. Reaching up, he grasped it firmly and cracked it back into place with a small grunt.
"I'm afraid you happened". The memory came flooding back to Scout, along with all the memories of the day. The invasion of the temple, her vision of Whie's death, the moments of mindless insane grief. It hit her, but this time, she couldn't say anything. She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, unable to cry or feel much except a dull throbbing pain in her head.
"Sorry about that." The boy laughed grimly, no smile in his voice.
"Don't worry about it. I probably deserved it." He stood up and looked around, clearly trying to find a way out. Finding no ladders or passageways in the immediate area, he turned to face her.
"Soooo, I know your name Tallisbeth, but I don't believe you know mine." He held out his hand, clearly trying to keep a conversational tone. "I'm Semreh Kaasen." She stared at him for a moment, wondering if what he was thinking, then reached out and shook. She pushed herself to her feet, using the nearby wall to steady herself. A thin layer of slime rubbed off onto her fingers. Grunting with discuss, she shook the slime off of her hand.
They rested a few minutes, sitting in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Finally Tallisbeth spoke.
"As much as I love the decorum, I think we should probably get out of these tunnels." Tallisbeth said sarcastically. Her voice softened a little.
"Oh, and my name's Scout. I hate my other name." Semreh nodded, glad to see she wasn't grieving too much to move. Reaching into his robes, he grabbed a glow rod and activated it.
"We need to find some ladders, or stairs maintenance people would use. That should lead us out of here." He started moving along the wall, Scout following closely.
"Do you have any idea what happened in the temple. Why did the clones attack?" Semreh didn't answer for several moments. Then…
"I really don't know. At first, I thought it might be a trap the seps laid for us. You know, feign a defeat during the battle of Coruscant, and then launch a surprise attack." Semreh sighed. "However, my master thought I was over complicating things. I'm not sure what he meant, but… we should probably lose our robes and anything else that might make us look like Jedi."
"Including our lightsabers?" Semreh hesitated, his whole being rebelling against the idea. His lightsaber was as much a part of him as his arm or leg. He'd built it himself, forging it on Ilum alongside his master. On the other hand, if the Jedi were being hunted, the lightsabers would immediately identify them.
"No…not yet. We shouldn't be unarmed, and lightsabers are easy enough to hide." They turned a corner, which led to yet another corridor of filth and water. "Either way, we need to get out of here first." They kept wandering, feeling along the wall in the dim light. Semreh knew they didn't have long before his glow rod ran out of energy, and so had shut it off. The walls were made of durasteel, but the thin film of slime deadened any reflecting light. They continued like this for several hours, making little conversation, focused on finding a way out. A few hours in, Scout spoke up.
"You know, we do still have our lightsabers. Why are we just feeling along the wall blindly?" Semreh stopped in his tracks. He remembered a saying his master had told him.
"Never focus too much on your goal padawan, or you'll miss shortcuts to it." Semreh drew his lightsaber, igniting it. The blazing green light illuminated the tunnel for maybe thirty yards. There, rising from the water of the tunnel, was a ladder.
"Woooooow!" Semreh said smacking himself in the head. "That could have been a major drag." He jumped to the ladder, determined to avoid as much of the sewage as possible. He climbed and reaching the top, saw that the security lockdown had been activated. It was a security measure meant to keep the water system safe from sabotage by separatists, yet another one of the security measures implemented by Palpatine to control Coruscant.
"Is it locked," Scout called from below. Semreh raised his lightsaber, ramming it into the hatch and began cutting a circle through it.
"Not for long."
C-41 knew that briefing the Chancellor was important, but he hardly expected to have to report personally. He was dressed in a fresh kaki barracks uniform, with rank bars on his left breast and medals decorating his right. His hip felt light without a blaster at his side, but security around Palpatine was tight these days. He watched the city grow more distant as the turbolift rose swiftly towards the Chancellor's office. He'd had several hours to reflect on the raid on the temple, on the massacre of his troops and the Jedi. C-41 knew that generals couldn't afford to be sentimental, that when the time came, they needed to fight wars like they play a game of chess, or risk losing the game, along with all their pieces. Still, that didn't make C-41 any less angry over his men being spent as pawns.
"Someone in High Command is definitely getting a kick in the shebs." He thought angrily. Of course, there would be no complaining to the Chancellor. Oh no, he'd sit like a good little clone and listen to the politician criticize his failure. He straightened as the turbolift doors opened, revealing the waiting room to the Chancellors office. He stepped in and observed his surroundings. The carpet was deep a maroon color, the furniture well made, yet a simple grey. Inside were two other men having a conversation. One was a clone like him. His face was young and unscarred, probably a second generation trooper. Then he turned and C-41 recognized him immediately. That small movement was so smooth, so deadly graceful, that even without the armor; C-41 knew it was the assassin he and his troops had escorted into the temple. The other was an elderly man with a balding head of brown hair. He wore an officer's uniform, and had a governor's strip on his left breast.
"Ah, Commander C-41, a pleasure to meet such a distinguished leader of our brave clones." He extended his hand, offering a handshake. C-41 took it nervously. Most of the mongrel, non clone, officers in GAR never bothered to show respect for their pawns.
"Governor Sir, with all due respect, when may we meet with Chancellor Palpatine? I'm eager to get my next assignment." C-41 maintained a respectful stance, hands clasped behind his back. The assassin stared angrily at him, angered by his abruptness. Tarkin merely smiled though.
"Yes, I see we are two men of a kind. Men of action." Tarkin walked around the desk and sat, going through papers and holodisks. Finally, he pulled from a pile a single hologram projector, which he handed to C-41. "Unfortunately, the Chancellor is busy today, so I shall debrief you." C-41 waited until Tarkin motioned for him to begin. He told the Chancellor everything. The attack on the service station, the swimming through the pipes, the destruction of his troop by the single Jedi. The assassin remained quiet until Tarkin addressed him, then he told about how his to compatriots were dispatched by the red headed padawan and how she and the other one fled using the water pipes. Tarkin nodded when he came to this part, and rose, clearly deep in thought. Finally he turned.
"C-41, you say you want your next assignment." C-41 snapped to attention.
"Yes sir, I am ready whenever you are."
"Good," Tarkin said, "Then, seeing as you currently find yourself without a command, I have a special mission for you. As you know, not all Jedi have been accounted for among the dead. We already have reports of them in the streets of Coruscant, massacring citizens and ambushing our troops whenever they get the chance. We must stop as many of them as we can, especially those who mean to get off planet. Otherwise, this anarchy will spread to other worlds, and we will never achieve peace. To do this, we've begun assigning Imperial Security Bureau personal to hunt down the traitors. These ISB agents have been dispatched after every Jedi we could find." Tarkin now shifted in his chair, leaning forward and studying them carefully. C-41 felt like he was a mouse watched by an eagle.
"As you can imagine, this has created a shortage of personal, so we've had to draw from other…resources. C-41 and CTA-132, your orders are to pursue these two padawans and bring them to justice. They cannot be allowed off planet. If they do escape, pursue them as far as it takes. Hunt them down!" He punctuated his last sentence with a loud bang, his fist striking his desk. The two clones nodded. C-41 relished the idea of bring down his men's killers, and CTA-132 wanted to match himself against the girl again. There was just one thing…
"Sir, may I ask how we're supposed to begin." C-41 asked. "Theoretically, those two could be anywhere in the pipe system by now, and therefore, anywhere in Coruscant." Tarkin pointed at the data pad C-41 held in his hand.
"The details are in there; however, reports indicate a security breach in part of the piping system of Column Commons sector. Sensors picked up a breach in the tunnel security and when soldiers arrived on the scene, they found a hole had been burned through the wall. The hole reportedly smelled of ozone." Tarkin leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. "I'm relying on you two to stop them before they get off planet. It could take months, but I want it done. Do you understand?"
"Sir, yes sir." They both said. Turning on their heels, they turned and walked from the office, minds focused on their mission.
Tarkin keyed a few numbers into his comlink, and a small holographic Palpatine appeared.
"Chancellor," he said respectfully, "I've dealt with the issue we spoke of before."
"Excellent," the small figure said in a raspy voice, "In this time, dissent amongst our clone army cannot be allowed. You handled that rather eloquently Governor." Tarkin bowed his head slightly.
"I live to serve your Excellency. The one clone should keep the other one in line, in case any ideas of rebellion cross his mind." The Chancellor nodded gravely.
"I am calling a special assembly of Congress soon, Governor Tarkin. Be sure you are there. It is of upmost importance." Tarkin bowed his head again.
"Of course your Excellency." The hologram flickered and with a burst of static, shut down. Tarkin rose from his desk and stood before a large window in the room. The blood red sun of Coruscant was rising; bring life to a death filled night on a steel planet. Tarkin turned and walked from the room.
"Yes," he thought, "A new dawn is coming."
Hello again. I wasn't really sure how I felt about this chapter and I'm terrified of messing up Scout, but I think it turned out alright. At least, it sets up the rest of the chapters. Once again, all credit goes to George Lucas, Karen Traviss (Author of Republic Commando Series) and Sean Stewart. Also thanks to all of you for reviewing. Your thoughts on plot, content, grammer, and other stuff are greatly appreciated.