Hi people! Here's...

Chapter 21

Anakin landed the plane, pushed thoughts of his sister from his mind, and began to search. Forty-five minutes later, he'd come up with absolutely nothing. Force. He'd known it would probably be wiped clean by now, but he'd held hope that something might have been missed.

So much for hope.

The Jedi sighed and went into the star cruiser to pick up the few things they'd left there - a bag of Padme's, one of Sabe's and his lightsaber among them. Anakin lifted the weapon from it's perch on the shelf, feeling it's comforting shape in his gloved hands. Finally. It was true what Obi-Wan said, about the lightsaber being his life. He'd felt like less of a man these last few days without it's familiar weight on his belt.

Of course, he still wouldn't be able to wear it there most of the time, but he'd figure out a way to conceal it. He wasn't going anywhere without this baby again.

Anakin loaded the other bags into his ship and was going back to close the door to the cruiser when something caught his eye. The sun was just setting and as the rays of light bounced around the platform, something glinted, sparkling in the harsh brightness. Anakin took a closer look and grinned when he saw the small object tucked away by the ship. He'd never have noticed it had not the sun been at that exact angle, and had he not been standing in that exact spot at that exact time. It could not have turned out more perfect.

He closed the door, rushed over, and picked up the metal object. A flash drive.

Anakin shook his head as he pocketed the small piece. Padme's enemies should really try harder not to pick such idiot assassins. Dropping a flash drive? For real? It was the most amateur mistake in the book.

Of course, it could be a fake. Meant to distract him and send him on a wild goose chase. But Anakin was willing to deal with that later. For now, he would go home happily, whistling in the deliciousness of his success.

When he returned to the house, Anakin found Acacia asleep on the couch. For a second, he felt a flash of anger. What if someone had come in and found Padme while his sister was taking a snooze?

But then, he looked at her peaceful little face and the anger washed away, replaced immediately by love - and guilt. He shouldn't expect so much from her. She was only a child after all. And she'd been through a lot.

Besides, if someone had come in, they likely would have killed Acacia too. One of the few people in the Galaxy he knew he couldn't live without.

Acacia shivered in the draft Anakin had let in, and he slipped off his cloak, laying it over the girl. "Night, sis," he whispered, brushing away her curls and kissing her forehead.

Even in her sleep, his baby sister smiled, and he had to smile back.

Four hours. That was how long he'd been sitting there staring at the dang computer screen trying to sort through all of the code and encryption. The flash drive was the real thing, that was for sure, but the problem was, the assassins must have also received a special decoder in order to read the message. The decoder was a chip made to go through all of the programming and encryption, carefully picking out the parts of the message and unscrambling the code. It could do the job in all of four seconds.

But, because Anakin was stuck doing it manually, the job had taken all of four hours. And he wasn't even halfway done yet.

Anakin rubbed his eyes and leaned back from the computer. It was late. He really ought to go to sleep if he was going to be on his best game to protect Padme tomorrow. But wasn't this just as important? Of course, he was fairly certain that the culprit was the Emperor or Vader, but what if it wasn't? This information could be invaluable.

He had to keep on.

He read over what little of the message he had so far. The words he'd uncoded read: Platform 1675. The landing platform they'd been on. Eight o'clock. The time the Senate meeting had been over.

But how had the sender known that? It was true that the meetings often lasted late into the day and even night, but they didn't always. That own day's meeting - or perhaps now it was technically yesterday's meeting? - had only lasted till four, and, in Padme's opinion, they'd gotten more done in that time than in all the other days put together.

The only way the person could have known was if the sender had sent the flash drive when they got out. But why send a time? Why not just say "now?" Unless they had some way of ensuring that the meeting would go on into the night.

Anakin banged his head against the table. He was a Jedi, not a detective. Not to say that he wasn't smart, but all of this motive and reasoning confused him. He much preferred being told who to point his lightsaber at and then doing the pointing while the victim squirmed. That was what he was good at.

But he had to figure this out. For his wife, for his children, for himself. And yes, even for Acacia.

And so, he pressed on.

Anakin only got a few hours of sleep that night, and so the next morning, he was exhausted. Though he tried to hide it from Padme, his perceptive wife noticed the circles under his eyes and asked if he was feeling all right.

The young Jedi forced a smile and nodded. "Just had a little trouble sleeping is all."

"Yeah?" Padme raised her eyebrows, not buying it.

Anakin sighed, relenting, too tired to come up with an excuse. "Yes, but we have to go now. I'll explain more later."

Padme kissed his cheek as she passed, headed for the ship. "You'd better."

So what's up? Acacia asked through telepathy as they climbed aboard the small ship and she wedged herself between the two handmaidens.

I found something last night. Over at the platform where we were attacked. Because he was too tired to hold a coherent mental conversation with his sister and pilot the ship at the same time, Anakin sent her pictures, blurry snapshots of his night, just enough so that she would understand what had happened.

Wow. No wonder you're so tired.

Yup, he thought back, and suppressed an outward yawn. I'll explain more later. I don't think I can think and pilot at the same time.

Acacia's giggle sounded off in his head and he smiled. It had been far too long since he'd heard it. You want me to drive?

No thanks, that's all right. I'll probably be able to get some sleep at the meeting today, anyway.

Acacia laughed again, and he knew without turning around that she'd barely been able to keep herself from letting the sound out loud. Maybe we both will.

Acacia had thought that Anakin had been exaggerating about the length and boredom of the meetings. But he hadn't been. If she hadn't felt so wide awake, she'd probably have been snoring away before the meeting was halfway started.

She'd gotten a good sleep the night before though, after falling asleep on watch and leaping up in the middle of the night to discover that she had. At least Ani hadn't roasted her about that. And when she'd noticed the blanket over her, she'd figured it could've been none other than he who put it on her. Which meant that maybe he did care about more than just Padme.

Even if sometimes he acted a little differently.

But back to the meeting. Padme had decided that she could pose as her newest handmaiden, and so Acacia had to wear the same ridiculous robes and walk as slowly and stately as Dorme and Sabe. They'd gotten up early to teach her how to walk (no, she hadn't thought that was dumb at all). Acacia had caught on quickly, but the slow, deliberate movement grated against her instinct as much as the itchy fabric grated against her skin. How in the world did the others keep from fidgeting like lunatics?

Years of experience, I guess, she thought, but it hardly made her feel any better.

At least the meetings would be over soon. Then they could return to Naboo, she could wear her normal clothes, and not have to worry about this craziness anymore. At least for a while.

She looked over at her brother out of the corner of her eye. Anakin had managed to doze off, but the long cowl over his face kept anyone from seeing his closed eyes and he wasn't snoring, so, hopefully, no one would ever be the wiser.

She turned back around to face forward, mentally tuning out all the political jargon the representatives were discussing. She had no intention of paying attention to the meeting; instead, she went over the snapshots Anakin had sent her in her head, searching through for bits of information that Anakin might have missed in his exhaustion.

It took her several hours - most of the morning and into the afternoon meeting - to figure it out. She went over the blurry pictures again and again in her head, zooming in for clarity then running through the symbols with her own computer programming knowledge.

But finally, she had it. A single word. The single word that could change everything.

Naboo.

Thanks for reading! Please review! Seriously though, even if I'm doing something wrong, please let me know. Constructive criticism is what helps me to grow as a writer.

If you like it, even better! Just two words like "good chapter" would make my day! :D