"It's pointless, Cecily." Ahsoka says plopping herself on the curb. Her legs grown tired from the endless travel. "We've been searching forever and haven't found him. I think me and you should take matters into our own hands." Cecily waiter for Ahsoka to come around to this idea for so long.
"At this point we'll have too." Cecily pretends to hold reluctance, sighing to effect. Ahsoka hates being in a position where she needed to ask for help. Her pride never allows her to be in a state of such vulnerability.
"So, how do you and Mykle know each other?" Ahsoka asks.
"We grew up together on Lianos. He was a kid needing protection on the way to school. I took him under my wing and taught him how to fight." Cecily recalls. "Shame I didn't teach him how to hit the books."
"Yes."
"We're the same age. He's so immature, I might as well be his older sibling. Sometimes he's exhausting to deal with." She laments.
"I can relate." Ahsoka chuckles. "You have to convince him to keep up, it seems."
"One dirty secret about him is he is mostly talk. Mykle is very pragmatic when push comes to shove. I can imagine you and him made for an... interesting pairing?"
"A match made in heaven." Ahsoka quips. Cecily didn't laugh, she did hum to communicate she understood what she meant.
"So why does Mykle hang out with these people if he knows no good will come out of it?" Ahsoka inquires.
"For a long time Mykle put his family aside for his own sake. Being away for so long made him regret his past. Since being expelled, he's tried to right his wrongs by sending money back home. He has a young sister, Tiana, he's saving money for to put through college."
"Why can't his mother and father handle it?"
"Mykle's mother died when he was a baby. His father works all day for little to nothing, it's a wonder how they scrape by." Cecily lost her parents at a young age thanks to the demands of Lianos' harsh working conditions.
"I had no idea." Ahsoka gasps, never knowing any of this. Mykle usually was tight lipped about his upbringing.
"What happened to your braid?" Cecily noticed Ahsoka was missing her signature Silka beads, customary wear for a Padawan.
"When the Jedi expelled me they ripped it off." She said.
"That fast, huh?" Cecily couldn't believe how swift events moved.
It was late, and Mykle had grown tired. With the Everett's in the middle of leaving Coruscant, and word of Zhestkiy's passing yet to reach them, this presented Mykle with the brief window to venture back to his home one more time to get what he needs. Opening his door, which hadn't been closed in days, predictably his room was ransacked. He worried if the contraband hidden under his bed had also been taken.
Luckily, for him, it hadn't been. Taking out a black lock box, rummaging through candy wrappers stuffed inside, Mykle pulls out his old lightsaber. The stainless steel felt so cold back in his hands. He checks to see if the door is closed before igniting the weapon to see it's seductive glow. The clean, light color shade of yellow made Mykle's eyes twinkle as if it was the first time he's ever seen it. Touching the hilt to his sword brought back vivid memories. Brilliant adventures, exotic sights nobody in his family's ever seen couldn't even imagine right before him. His young, innocent eye widened to the size of saucers at first glance.
Now he feels nothing. Only one thing drives the teenager now. Chasing after the big bad cost him the only home he really cared about. Losing friends isn't something Mykle is foreign to. He's experienced loss almost regularly. Able to connect himself to the losses of many friends, if only he never came into the Jedi Order would they still be alive. If he had the the guts he'd cut himself off from those still alive he genuinely cared for. But what is life without a single friend to care whether you're breathing tomorrow.
Anakin's goals were simpler than Mykle or Ahsoka's. Simply put, he was to find Ahsoka, take her back to the Jedi Temple to face the situation head on. After all, this rogue cop act surely made her look worse in the eyes of those already skeptical of her innocence.
Anakin rarely ventured far from the Jedi Temple, unless it was on patrol, he never found the time to simply take a leisurely stroll. He did take note the decaying of the streets, heightened by the rampant rise in homelessness all seemed immoral to him. Like his Padawan, he too did not realize the system's failure to protect its most vulnerable peoples. Men and women still dressed in their military garb, probably part of the "Credit Army" walked past Skywalker. One, however, recognized the Jedi and stopped him.
"Hey, you're Anakin Skywalker!" The man sounded amazed at his luck. Every now and then he'd be stopped on the street and have to sign an autograph or two. Skywalker nods his head, eager to get going. "I served with you on Florum, along with the 322nd division." Anakin couldn't possibly remember every single soul he's served with, especially not one in any particular holding any particular command.
"Yes, it was a wonderful victory." Anakin honestly can't remember if Florum did work out or not. The plug on the assault was pulled far too soon, in his eyes.
"Well I want you to know it cost me my hands fighting by your side." The man holds up His iron fists to prove his isn't kidding. "I was supposed to become a concert pianist. The war took away my life's ambitions." For once Anakin dropped his own interests and focused on someone else's.
"I am so sorry." He says truthfully. "You're truly brave. I too lost a part of me in this conflict." Anakin shows the man his mechno-arm. "It took sometime getting used too." Seeing as his observation didn't make the man laugh, Skywalker went into his pocket. "Can I-"
"I don't want YOUR money. I want your friend, the chancellor, to keep his promise he wouldn't let my family go hungry!" He said that and abruptly left, leaving Anakin with yet another concern on his already suffocated plate. All Anakin could do is placate the poor fellow, he did care for this man's plight, though powerless to actually assist.
Turning a corner, Anakin could have sworn have seen Ahsoka's silhouette gingerly dancing on the wall. Rushing to track it down, he found it just to be a stray Lothal cat. "Hey, little buddy." The sight did warm his heart, making him feel a little more at ease. Giving a couple of scratches under the cat's round chin. He found himself pressed up against the ground, his face slamming against the concrete. Surprisingly, he did not black out or have his skull cracked. When his hearing returned, he made out the voice and recognized the sound.
"Ventress?" He guessed groggily, in the middle of her diatribe. "It was you all-" she slams his head into a puddle, breaking his nose.
"Quiet!"
He felt the heat of her twin red lightsabers on either side of his neck.
"You made a mistake coming down here. The underworld pays generously for the head of a Jedi." Ventress gloats, locking his arms behind his back with stun cuffs. "Don't think about using the Force, these things will send a shock to your spine."
Spitting up little specks of blood and dirty water. "Oh, no!" He feigns distress. Ventress pulls her prisoner up to his two feet, Anakin needed to be held by the sleeve to be prevented from falling over. "I don't have time for this." He tells her.
"I know." Ventress points out she's heard of all the drama swirling around the Jedi and Skywalker's "pet." Anakin acts fast and digs the back of his boot on to Ventress' foot, stomping so hard he could hear the bone snap. It's the loudest he's ever heard her scream. Skywalker manages to get his hands back in front of him and wraps the durasteel strap around her neck.
"All this and I didn't even need to use the Force." Anakin grits his teeth, able to get his self-satisfying quip into her ear. He makes it very clear he has no issue choking the life out of her.
"I saved your life against Dooku." He reminds her of the time her master turned on her. "You owe me."
"You also tried to kill me hundreds of times." Ventress retorts, struggling against Anakin's vice-like grip.
"That's because you tried to kill me..." Anakin wanted desperately to escape this game of 'I said, she said' "Look, you help me and I'll come quietly so you can collect your reward."
After a brief time spent contemplating, Ventress accepted the terms laid out for her. "No games?" She checks. Anakin shakes his head. "So what do I do." She asks, after he releases her, unlocking the cuffs not soon after.
"Just let me handle my business."
"I'm not falling for that, Skywalker. I'm sticking by your side so right after you find your pet I'm taking you down."
Anakin sighs, before reluctantly agreeing. "Fine. Maybe you'll prove useful." He tried to show optimism.
"I'll make it my mission not to be." She quips.
Despite the light-hearted attempt at humor, Anakin saw Ventress looked even grayer than before. Almost as if all the blood had left her body. She wore armor and a retractable black and silver helmet helmet to cover her beady eyes.
"So you've become a bounty hunter?" Anakin couldn't resist asking. Seems like a step down, even for a Sith like herself.
"It's a living." Anakin noted how something so inoffensive could sound so menacing coming from her.
Mykle's never met this guy before. Mijo claims to have served by Mykle's side during The Clone War. Maybe he just forgot his face? "You doubt I'm a veteran?" Mijo asks.
"Do you have a certificate that proves your point?" Mykle jokingly replies.
"My Master was friends with your master, Terra Tilden." Mijo knew his master was very popular and knew a lot of people inside the Jedi Order. He swears she could have spoken every language in the galaxy fluently. It meant a lot to him when she took a risk and assigned herself as his tutor.
"I'm not following." Mykle confesses. Mijo shrugged, eager to get off of this.
"Hey, we all have so much to do as Jedi we're bound to forget stuff. Point is: I'm not lying you." He followed Mijo to a warehouse in Follett finding a crate of nano-droids.
"Zhestkiy..." Mykle assumed. Mijo shook his head.
"No. One of his pawns." Mykle looks around the ceiling, spotting a camera perhaps recording them right now.
"There's a surveillance station at the end of that catwalk. I'm going to see if they have anything." Said Mykle. Mijo looks up to where Mykle was referring to, pleasantly surprised.
"Huh. Never saw that." He is somewhat staggered at the revelation.
Mykle walked across the creaky catwalk switching on the cameras, his eyes didn't blink once the recording went back to before the bombing of the hanger bay spotting a slender figure wheeling out a crate of nano-droids. Mijo stood right behind him, not knowing what to make of the tape.
"What do you think?" Mijo genuinely wanted to know.
"I think that's Ventress."
"Ventress?" Mijo was taken aback. "She isn't involved in this war anymore."
"I don't believe that slug Tyranus threw that harpy under the bus for a moment." Mykle was pretty defiant.
"Why?"
"Where is he going to find a rat more loyal than her?"
"I don't know." Mijo remained steadfast Mykle needed to take a breath, sensing his blood boiling. "How about I go out and see what I can find for you. Don't do anything rash."
"Last time I didn't do something rash I lost my Master." Mykle hisses, bolting out of his chair like a hungry animal escaping his cage, ready to pounce. "I'm going to find her and make her answer for her actions." Mykle walks off. Mijo chases after him.
"With what? You don't even have access to the Force anymore!" But his warning fell on the deafest of ears. Mykle was to find Asajj Ventress and clear Ahsoka's name. "You don't even know where she is."
"You know everything, don't you? Tell me." Mykle was in such a rush, the words fumbled out of his mouth Mijo barely understood.
"How would I know?" He tried to calm him down, instantly regretting dangling red meat in front of this impulsive figure.
"I just said you know everything."
"Alright, if it'll satisfy your bloodlust. Ventress usually hangs around the gambling den in Monrhet. You have to promise me you wouldn't do anything stupid!" Mijo pleads with him again, but Mykle wasn't having it.
The tides of the press have turned on the chancellor. His slow response to the still-unfolding drama surrounding the Jedi. He thought this would provide a distraction to the growing conflict between those in the senate and the "Credit Army" - who've grown increasingly rambunctious in his eyes. His intelligence told him it was the protesters, pushed to their breaking point, to have committed the atrocious act. Personally, Palpatine only cared for getting rid of one of his many headaches. A chance to clear the streets of one band of ruffians. And that's what Palpatine set out to do.
He addressed the Galactic Republic in his sleep-inducing monotone voice. Perfect for projecting an aura of calm. Presenting the findings discovered by his intelligence, weaving in anecdotal evidence the Jedi found in their separate investigation to construct a reality convenient to himself.
"Going off of the findings of the Jedi investigation it is suspected Jedi apprentice Ahsoka Tano is the perpetrator of the bombing of the hanger bay and is currently on the run from authorities..."
After his short address came to a close, a brilliant wash of relief came over him, a weight lifted off his shoulders. Calling for the arrest of those he called "Anarchists" and pledged to not let his republic succumb to fear. Hopefully he could focus on the war effort and away from domestic issues from now on.
Within moments arrests and tear gas was fired upon the protesters refusing to go quietly. A wide scale riot broke out on the steps of the senate building. Men armed with high tech rifles beat servicemen armed merely with their own two hands into bloody pulps. The mass-scale retreat happened soon after. Leaderless, the "Credit Army" ran like headless chickens into numerous directions.
