Obi-wan Kenobi stood up stiffly from the holographic chair he used to remotely attend Council Meetings. The thing was murder on his back. He supposed having a few bruised ribs from that mission on Balmora last week might have had something to do with it as well. What was originally meant to be a straight diplomatic mission to build ties with the Balmorans had devolved into a medium sized infantry and spacefight when an ISB agent had recognized his Padawan. He really didn't think Zett was that well known, but apparently the Empire kept photos of all known Jedi in the Galaxy and this particular agent had an eidetic memory. And apparently an unrealistic idea of what a Jedi could do. Instead of trying to take them out quietly, he'd alerted the entire planetary garrison.
While Obi-wan hadn't wanted the fight, he had thrown himself into it. In that, he'd been lucky to have nearly an entire division of infantry with him aboard the Enforcer and the two Venator class ships that he had under his command. Unfortunately, the entire fight could, at best, be called a draw. They'd managed to hurt the Empire, and hijack two nearly completed Imperial class Star Destroyers and a large number of AT-ST walkers. With the connivance of the Balmoran Authorities of course. But in the end, they'd been forced to flee the planet. An Imperial Navy fleet of five Imperial Star Destroyers had shown up and deployed all their troops into the battle on the planet. And then moved to engage his own fleet. Worse, the Imperial divisions were led by Sidious's new Sith Warriors. Obi-wan had been forced to order a retreat and to abandon the world. But not before that blasted explosion which had thrown him thirty meters into the side of a shuttle. He was lucky to only have a few bruised ribs.
But that was the last mission. His mission now was to scout out a suitable planet to build a base on.Somewhere remote that the Empire would be unlikely to track them to. Or that at least would take them awhile. But at the same time, not so remote that it began to impact their fight against Palpatine. They had a few possibilities. Dantoine was currently at the top of his list. The planet was uninhabited, isolated, but not so far off the main hyperspace lanes that their operations would suffer. It's downside was that the planet had an ancient connection to the Jedi Order. There had even been a Jedi Temple on the planet at one point. It had only been closed a few centuries before, actually. That meant that Sidious would almost certainly suspect the planet.
His next option, and the one that they were currently orbiting over, was Yavin 4. It had basically all the advantages of Dantoine. But the planet was extremely dense and wet jungle. That would play havoc with their equipment. Plus there was a decaying Dark Side nexus centered on what looked like an ancient temple of some kind. He'd sent a message to Anakin asking him to research the planet and if there had ever been any Sith or Jedi connection to it. Thinking of Anakin caused Obi-wan to smile. Anakin's new position on the Council of First Knowledge gave him essentially unlimited access to all Jedi and Sith Holocrons in the Temple and complete access to all computer records of the Order. And Obi-wan fully intended to take advantage of that.
Next on his list was Hoth. That was one planet that he was definitely not looking forward to checking out. Somehow, someone had made the grievous error of classifying Hoth as capable of sustaining life. Obi-wan really didn't see how. The daytime temperatures never climbed above freezing and at night they plummeted to more than forty degrees below zero. And that extreme cold would also play merry hell on their equipment. In a totally new and exciting way compared to Yavin 4.
There were several other planets the Council wanted him to check out as well. Boz Pity, Ach-To, Endor and a few others were all on his list. If all went well, they should be done and back on Tython in a few months. With a new base set up and ready for operations.
_
On Imperial Center, Bail Organa had just finished a vote in the Senate Rotunda. The vote was largely meaningless. The Senate had no real power anymore. Rather, Palpatine told them what he wanted done, and then the Senate figured out how to do. No discussion over whether it should be done or not. It sickened him. But if he didn't go through the motions and at least act like a loyal citizen of the Empire, he would quickly find himself in his family's burial vault back on Alderaan. Several Senators had suffered that exact fate after daring to question Palpatine. So Bail had to keep up appearances.
Even more so today for two very good reasons. One, his security staff had found a spy in his household. A valet. The man had been serving him for six years. And had been exemplary at his work. Now, he was being told that the man was a plant and reported directly to Palpatine. His security forces had already "taken care" of the problem. The man was currently on a shuttle to a rendezvous with the Jedi. And after that, to Prism, the Jedi's prison. Apparently, the only record of it's location had been in the Temple, so the Empire still had no idea where it was. And the Jedi were still maintaining it. Though it was, for the obvious reasons, kept low key.
That alone was more than enough to set Bail on edge. But his second, and to him, more important reason for playing his role was that this was the first time Winter had attended a Senate meeting with him. For his little girl, he would bear any burden. Winter wanted to join the Legislative Youth Program when she was old enough and had begged and pleaded with Bail to let her come with him to an actual Senate Session. She'd been begging for at least the last four months. So three days ago, he'd finally relented and brought her to Imperial Center. He hated to do it, but if Winter was going to rule Alderaan one day, she would have to learn politics. He wished she would learn a little later but, the damage was done now.
As they were walking back to his office, one of Bail's contacts walked in the other direction and gave Bail a signal that he had information for him. Bail made an almost negligent gesture to acknowledge the message and kept walking. As Winter held his hand and walked beside him, he felt her slow slightly. This was usually a sign that she was either deep in thought or had gotten distracted by something. Glancing down to see which it was, he saw that her tiny face was scrunched up and she was biting a corner of her lip. Sighing quietly to himself, Bail wondered what strange question she was about to ask him this time. The last time he had seen that look she had asked him how a hyperdrive worked. There were times when Bail swore he couldn't tell if she was five or fifty.
Once they were back in his office Bail turned to his daughter and asked with a smile, "Ok, Winter. Out with it. What is it this time?"
"Nothing Father. Well, maybe," she said with her head tilted down and her eyes up, looking at her father. "I was just wondering why that man in the corridor made that funny gesture to you. And why you just kind of waved it off."
Bail felt the blood drain from his face. "How in the name of the Force had Winter picked up on something that even trained ISB agents missed?" For about the millionth time, Bail thanked every deity he had ever heard of that he had installed the best antibugging software credits could buy in his office. "Maybe she's referring to something else," Bail desperately thought. "A lot of people had stopped him and said hello on their way back to their respective offices."
"Winter, baby, what gesture are you talking about?" Bail was shocked that he was able to get that out without his voice shaking. While he'd gotten a lot better at covert operations the last few years, he knew he wasn't a natural in them.
"This one," she said as she demonstrated. "Where the man tapped his finger against the pocket of his pants, like he would if he was checking to see if his communicator was still there. But his communicator was in his jacket, I could see it's outline."
Bail just slumped into the sofa in his office and ran his hands over his face. His daughter was entirely to perceptive for her own good. Not one being in a thousand would have noticed that. Maybe the top one percent of ISB agents. But his daughter had noticed. This was not something he could explain to her while they were on Imperial Center. Not when the Emperor was on the planet, not when he always had a contingent of Sith Warriors patrolling the Senate Rotunda. The problem was, Winter was persistent and didn't take well to stalling tactics. She'd keep worrying at something until she figured it out. He felt the couch shift a little as she climbed up next to him and looked at him, waiting patiently for the answer.
Letting out a sigh, Bail looked at his daughter and told her, "Winter, I promise I will tell you. But I can't do it here. And I can't do it now. It's something I need to discuss with your mother before we tell you. Ok?"
Judging by the look on her face, Bail figured that answer wasn't going over too well with her. He both loved and hated how inquisitive and perceptive she was. "Baby, that's the best I can do right now. If I tell you now, it could be very dangerous for you, for your mother and for me. This is a secret. A big secret. So you can't tell anyone. But if you promise never to tell, I promise to tell you when we get home. Deal?"
Giving her father a five year old's impression of a glare, Winter said, "Deal. But as soon as we get home."
"Of course, Princess Organa." Bail was not looking forward to this.
_
On Tython, Padme sat meditating. Her pregnancy had been making her emotional. Alright, she admitted to herself, it was making her downright nasty to people. Luke and Leia had never done this to her, so she was surprised that this one was. Fortunately, the meditation techniques that Master Yoda had taught her were a tremendous help. So was being out of the ceremonial robes that she had to wear as Supreme Chancellor. At home, she had taken to dressing similarly to the Jedi. At first it was a simple expedient. She had needed new clothes after they had evacuated from Coruscant and the only thing available had been spare Jedi Robes. Now, she found that she simply preferred them. They were surprisingly comfortable and allowed her nearly unrestricted freedom of movement.
Meditating with the Force had also helped her release her emotions into the Force and had managed to let her remain calm, usually, despite all the problems that had been piling up on her plate. Every time she cleared one, it seemed five more appeared. And of course, they all required her urgent attention. After two weeks of pushing herself too hard and practically collapsing from the strain, Anakin had forced her to take a week off and spend it on bed rest. Anytime she had even so much as thought about getting up, Anakin had commed her and told her to drop the thought right then and there. Apparently she still needed to work on her mental shields as well as rest.
It was after that episode that Anakin had begun giving her some covert training in the Force. He had showed her how the Jedi would use the Force to refresh themselves and keep themselves going for far longer than would normally be possible. He'd also taught her the basics of telekinesis. She wasn't very good at it, but if she concentrated hard enough she could usually call small simple things to her hand. It helped when Luke or Leia needed or wanted something she couldn't normally reach or when her growing stomach had made bending over a flat impossibility.
Just then her communicator went off. Drawing herself out of her meditation she glanced at it and saw it was it was from Bail. Whatever it was, it must be urgent for him to contact her directly like this. It was. Ten minutes after his call, Padme was hurrying to her small office in the Jedi Temple. Master Yoda would meet her there. She needed some advice from the wise old Jedi. Within fifteen minutes of that, two Jedi had been dispatched to Alderaan.
On Mandalore, Kal Skirata was beaming. Ordo had sent him a message two hours ago, they had finally found the aiwha bait, Ko Sai. His boys would finally have the life they should have. Over the last few years they'd managed to slow the process a bit by going to every geneticist they could find. But it involved his boys, and all the other Clones, taking a pill three times a week. And missing a dose would cause some serious pain. Once they had a permanent cure ready, they would all have to be slowly weaned off the medication over a period of two months. But then his boys would get their lives back. Their full lives. He had to hand it to the Jedi. They had help up their end of the bargain. And even made sure to involve Ordo and his team in the take down.
He'd be leaving for Tython in a few hours himself just so he could look her in the eye and ask why. Not that he expected an answer, but he had to ask. Darman and Etain were just packing up their last few things and getting Venku ready to go. They had only been back on Mandalore for a couple of weeks for some down time and now they were already heading back. He had to chuckle at his grandson though. Venku was a sight to behold. He was dressed partly in Jedi Robes, and partly in Mandalorian Armor. Apparently, he wanted to honor both his warrior bloodlines. Kal was personally looking forward to this trip. He had never actually been to the Jedi home world before. Somehow he doubted that it would hold a candle to Mandalore.