The slim figure melted into the shadows as Luke lunged himself at it. With a single step it dodged Luke and

attacked Obi. Obi-Wan took one step back and held his position. His lightsaber a blue blur in the dark as it crashed and parried against the red lightsaber.

Luke recovered his footing and saw the shadow forcing Obi-Wan to retreat mercilessly. Luke called his lightsaber to his grip. He surged forward, but the shadow twisted his arm around, parrying his attack while he blasted Obi-Wan through the opposite door with a powerful kick.

Without missing a beat, the enemy now turned and attacked Luke again. Luke almost had to hold his breath to keep the savage strikes at bay. He had never fought someone so ferocious before! The relatively light training lightsaber he had been given made it even more difficult to strike with power at his opponent, and the shadow was pressing this advantage.

Luke was forced to retreat until he felt the wall behind him. With nowhere left to run, he summoned the Force into his fist and brought it against his opponent's stomach, hard. The shadow was caught by the blast and was sent flying past the door and crashing next to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan was on his feet by now and delivered a crippling blow to the shadow as it flew past him. The shadow twisted in midair and landed in two pieces with a metallic thud, the lightsaber flying from its grip and disappearing in the darkness.

"What in the blazes?" Luke heard Obi-Wan say. Obi-Wan took a step closer to examine the wrecked metallic figure in the floor when five pairs of red lights ignited from the darkness.

"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this," Obi-Wan groaned as five red lightsaber blades lit up the room.

Luke leaped to Obi-Wan's side as the droids attacked.

The first droid swung its red blade around, but Obi-Wan was prepared for it. The blue blade crackled against the crimson ones as the fast paced duel continued into the bowels of the abandoned building. Luke did his best to keep up against two as Obi-Wan defended against three. With a flick of his wrist, Obi-Wan counter-attacked, severing one of the droids at the chest while throwing himself between the other two.

Luke followed suit, actually able to slice one of the droids in half. Now, he and Obi-Wan were on the offensive, pushing the droids back further and further into the warehouse. Stacks of metal littered the ground around them and Luke almost tripped in the darkness. From the corner of his eye, he saw Obi-Wan expertly slice another droid down the middle. Luke closed his eyes and let the Force flow through his arms.

Through the Force, he could see the droid's mechanical movements beginning to slow and he easily deflected the lightsaber blade. He could feel Obi-Wan doing the same next to him. The Force surged around the two as they cut down another of the mechanical fiends.

Luke slashed at the remaining droid but it disappeared. In that same instant, Luke blinked and realized the droid was underneath him. The momentary distraction was all it took. The red blade hummed through the air and sizzled as it cut through Luke's training lightsaber. The hilt exploded in Luke's hand, blinding him. The cold metal of the droids foot tore into his face and he was sent flying towards the wall, where he crumpled to the floor.

Luke's vision was hazy and his head ached.

In the distance he could feel Obi-Wan's resolve meet the droid's untiring program and he could barely make out the blue and red flashes tangling and clashing against one another.

His vision began to grow dark when he felt a familiar energy nearby.

It felt calm and reassuring, an energy he had bonded with long ago..

He reached out to it and felt the strong connection in the Force.

It's here, he realized. I've found it.

Obi-Wan's arms were beginning to feel tired. All of his blows had been expertly dodged, parried or simply flicked away. The droid missed no window of opportunity and continued delivering powerful, calculated blows.

In a moment that the lightsabers locked on, the droid twisted Obi-Wan's lightsaber and flinged it from his grasp. The lightsaber tumbled away and the droid brought its knee against Obi-Wan's stomach. Obi-Wan fell to the floor defenseless. The red blade loomed over him like a hungry vulture.

The droid brought the blade down, only to be met by the piercing green glow of Luke's lightsaber. It took the droid two seconds to process the new development, but that was all Luke needed.

With the heavy reassuring weight of his lightsaber, Luke slashed out at the droid. The droid brought his blade up again in an elegant arc to parry the blow, but the power of the swing was much more than it had calculated. The red lightsaber was swept away like a gnat as Luke lunged forward again. Three times he struck at the red blade, and once again the droid was forced to retreat, its servomotors whining in protest.

Luke jumped high in the air to deliver a powerful blow that brought the red blade against the droid itself, the red and green blades severing the droid straight through the middle. With that, the droids had been defeated and Luke exhaled, tired by the fight.

A small red light began to beep from the mechanical cadavers and Luke felt the Force surge out in warning. Obi-Wan called out to the Force and pulled Luke back as the thermal detonators implanted in the droids began to explode.

The room rocked with the loud explosion and the roof of the building began to fall apart.

"Oh, not good," Obi-Wan said as he and Luke bolted towards the entrance. They made it to the room with the broken bacta tank and leaped out the door as fires erupted behind them.

They turned to look back as the building collapsed completely.

"Well, there goes the evidence," Obi-Wan said, dryly. Luke rolled over with a grin.

"Not quite," he said, holding up the severed head of one of the droids.


"I thank you for your cooperation in this matter," Obi-Wan said, ending the transmission through his comm unit. Luke listened in as he piloted the speeder back towards the Senate District.

"Coruscant Security Forces will sweep the surrounding area of the explosion," Obi-Wan said. "If they find anything they'll let us know."

Luke nodded.

"I've never fought anyone so ferocious before," Luke said.

"But you did not let that cloud your judgment," Obi-Wan said. "You did well, Luke. Especially after you recovered your lightsaber."

"The training lightsaber was too light," Luke confessed. "Mine is a lot heavier."

"This thing weighs a ton," Obi-Wan said, lifting Luke's lightsaber. "How can you fight with this?"

"The Force guides me," Luke said. "I just tap into it and just... let go. i feel a strong connection to the kyburr crystal inside. It's special."

"Yes," Obi-Wan said knowingly. "Its faint but I can feel it also. Qui-Gon was the best master a Jedi could ask for. If it hadn't been for him, I would never have met Anakin. Perhaps another time I can tell you more about him.

Luke nodded.

"So, are we heading back to the Temple?"

"No, no," Obi-Wan said. "There's still one more thing we have to look into."

Obi-Wan instructed Luke to land at the very edge of the Senate Sector. The speeder lightly touched down, blowing dust unto the already dusty ground. Luke jumped out of the speeder and followed closely behind Obi-Wan.

"Where are we?" Luke asked as they headed down street towards a very dilapidated building.

"CoCo Town," Obi-Wan said. "There's a little diner around the corner that makes the best Jawa Juice you'll ever taste."

Luke raised an eyebrow in confusion as he hurried alongside Kenobi.

"Shouldn't we be reporting to the Council what we've found?"

"Oh, don't worry, we will, but first, let's have a little drink, shall we?"

Luke sighed and followed Obi-Wan into the restaurant. The building's ugly exterior really betrayed the cleanliness of its interior. Red and white booths lined the cozy diner and a server droid rolled around, taking orders. The smell of food made Luke's stomach growl, reminding him that he hadn't eaten in a day.

"Welcome to Dex's Diner," it said in a very high pitched voice. The droid suddenly stopped and stared at Luke.

"What?" Luke asked innocently.

Obi-Wan quickly snatched the decapitated droid head from Luke's arm and covered it with his cloak.

"What?" Luke asked again.

Hello, FLO," Obi-Wan said. "Is Dex in? I would like a word with him."

"He's cooking out back," the droid said. "But I'll get him for you. You want a couple of Jawa Juices?"

"Yes!" Luke beat Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan chuckled.

"And two Shawda clubs, please," Obi-Wan said.

FLO led them to a booth where Obi-Wan and Luke sat down.

"You might, uh, want to sit with me, Luke," Obi-Wan said, quietly.

"Why?" Luke asked as the food was brought to them.

"Dex is... kind of a larger fellow."

"Hey old buddy!" A loud booming voice came from across the room.

A large, four armed Besalisk wearing a cook apron and covered in grease came walking down the diner and met Obi-Wan with a strangulating hug.

"Good to see you, Dex," Obi-Wan said with a wide smile that indicated years of friendship. "This is Luke Skywalker, an old friend."

"I hope you like our Shawda clubs, Luke! Best sandwiches this side of Coruscant!"

Luke smiled with half a sandwich stuffed into his mouth, with crumbs of the other left on the plate.

Obi-wan and Dex laughed as they sat down. The booth jumped as the giant alien plopped down on it.

"So, my friend, what can I do for you?"

"You can tell me what this is," Obi-Wan said, pulling out the tiny silver dart from his belt and placing it in front of Dex. The Besalisk registered it for a moment and his eyes lit up.

"Wow! Whaddaya know!" He exclaimed. "I ain't seen one of these since I was prospectin' on Subterrel, beyond the Outer Rim."

"Do you know where it came from?" Obi-Wan asked, leaning forward.

Dexter grinned. "This baby belongs to them cloners. What you got here is a Kamino saberdart."

Cloners?! Luke almost choked on his food, suddenly very aware of what time period he was in. He had grown up hearing stories of the infamous Clone Wars that ravaged the galaxy and paved the way for the rise of the Galactic Empire. So this is why Palpatine chose this time period to come back, right at the start of the Clone Wars!

"These Kaminoans keep to themselves," Dex was saying when Luke came back from his thoughts. "They're cloners. Damn good ones, too."

"Cloners?" Obi-Wan said thoughtfully, oblivious to the growing anxiety in Luke. "Are they friendly?"

"Well that depends."

"Depends on what, Dex?"

"On how good your manners are and how big your uh... pocketbook is," Dex said with a grin that would terrify a baby hutt."

"One more thing, before we leave," Obi-Wan said, making sure FLO wasn't around. He quickly pulled the droid head from his cloak.

"These things attacked us while we were on a mission. Can you tell us what it is?"

Dex examined the droid head discreetly.

"I've never seen such a model before, but the insignia is unmistakable. This baby belongs to the Techno Union Army. If you want to leave it here, I know a young fella who works on droids. Who knows, maybe he can decript the droids memory banks for ya."

Luke stared at Obi-Wan, whose expression had gone from relaxed to a concentrated frown.

"How can you train a droid to fight in the Jedi arts? That's impossible, isn't it?"

"Separatist assasin droids programmed to fight Jedi," Dex said, but didn't dare to wonder any further.

"Luke, I think it's time to report what we found to the Jedi Council. Things have just gotten a lot mor re complicated."


AN:

So so so sorry everyone for th late update. My laptop is dead so im updating from my tablet. plz forgive my tardiness, i will do my best to pick up the pace and update more regularly. Enjoy!

PS its my thumbs are dead. Typing this chapter on tablet sucks!