Gemina Yrrk stumbled to the front of her apartment, that pathetic hopefulness making her hurry as fast as she could. She thrust her hand onto the button to open the doors, not wanting to waste another second. A young- looking man in a white tunic and a smaller, very petite woman in a tight- fitting powder blue body suit stood just outside her door in the hallway. Gem was hit with a wave of sickening disappointment, as she was everytime she answered the door anymore. It wasn't Clem, it would never be Clem, and she desperately needed to accept this.

"Excuse us, ma'am," the man began, his polite voice lilting beautifully with a soft accent, "but we need to know if this is the residence of Gemina Yrrk. If, in fact, you are Mistress Yrrk."

Gem's eyebrows knitted together in suspicion. If they got Clem, maybe they could get her too. "That depends on who's asking and what they want," she retorted harshly.

The woman's eyes began to soften. She seemed to be trying to communicate with Gem that she understood. Gem wanted to laugh bitterly. Nobody understood! But she couldn't . . . that laugh could very easily turn into tears. In fact, most actions that she did now days could easily turn into tears. It became apparent with each slowly passing day that Clem wasn't coming back, that he never would.

"Were you Senator Clemens Lorcan's partner and assistant?" she asked, keeping her voice soft and caring.

Gem's heart just about stopped. SHe clutched at the wall, searching for any kind of support. Her legs had mysteriously turned to the substance of Bacta gel. People had come and gone, but not one of them had mentioned Clem. When Gem spoke, her voice was a hoarse whisper. "Is he all right? Do you know where he is? What's wrong with him? He's not--" Gem gulped and forced the word out "--dead?"

The two exchanged a look. Gem felt irrationally angry that they wouldn't share whatever it was that passed between them with her. "Tell me!" she shrieked forcefully.

The man looked taken aback, but the woman kept her cool, calming manner. "Those are the precise questions we came to ask you, Mistress Yrrk, at least, I'm assuming that that's who you are. We, also, are searching for Senator Lorcan. Naturally, we came to question you first."

Gem felt cold suddenly, cold and frightened. "Why are you searching for Clem?" she dared to ask, her voice barely that of a whisper. She wondered after asking it if she wanted to know the answer.

The woman looked up at the man for support. He put a hand on her arm comfortingly and smiled at Gem. "I'm a Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi," the man introduced, ignoring her question. Gem felt even worse when she recognized his name. Something bad was happening with Clem. Why else would they get this prestigious Jedi on the case? "And this is my Jedi-sort-of- Padawan, Sabé . . ." He trailed off, freezing, then turned his brilliant blue gaze to look at the woman in panic.

Sabé finished for him, a dry note in her voice as she rolled her eyes. "Yéré. Sabé Yéré." She looked up at the Jedi and smirked, then turned back to Gem. "I work under Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's security--"

"Palpatine," Gem snarled disdainfully.

Sabé went on as if she hadn't been interrupted. "Mistress Yrrk, about two days ago an attempt was made on the Chancellor's life. We regret to inform you that Senator Lorcan is our prime suspect in the matter."

Gem felt numb, and she wanted a moment to absorb the information, to turn it over in her mind, but the Jedi Knight kept on talking.

"We need to ask you a few questions about Senator Lorcan, Mistress Yrrk, if you don't mind," he said, his voice friendly and open.

Something in Gem snapped. She wanted to hit these people repeatedly, to make them pay for hurting her so much. "Clem would never do such a thing! He's not like that! He-he's sensitive and caring." Gem knew she was crying, but she kept on going. "All he wanted was to save our people . . ."

"We're familiar with your planet's case presented to the Senate about a month ago," Kenobi began.

Gem didn't let him finish. She stopped forward and pointed an accusing finger at him. He and Sabé recoiled at what she hoped was fury in her eyes. "No, you *aren't* familiar with our case. Nobody is. No one but Clem and me."

"Could you please explain?" Sabé asked gently.

"You won't believe me," Gem told Sabé matter-of-factly. "Nobody does. No . . . not our Chancellor Palpatine. He's such a *great* leader."

The two exchanged another look. Gem was satisfied to see that this one was full of confusion and slight fear. "From what you can see, Clem and I thought we would play a stupid, immature joke on the Senate? To bring in false data just to get a few kicks?" They nodded reluctantly. "Well that's not what happened."

"What happened?" Kenobi asked, looking intrigued.

Gem shook her head and looked down at the floor. All of her anger had run out, and now she felt weak. "Clem went to see Chancellor Palpatine before we presented our case to the Senate. The Chancellor requested this himself, and we were too nervous to question why. He asked to borrow Clem's data, to look it over himself. Then he returned it at the last minute. It was a huge man, scary as hell. Even Clem was intimidated by him, and Clem doesn't get intimidated. We didn't have time to look over the disks before we went out on the floor. Do you know what happened?"

"I can guess," Kenobi said softly, doubtfully.

Gem glared in his direction. "Somebody switched the data. Somewhere in your precious Chancellor's office lies the *real* data." Gem paused, took a deep breath. "Maybe it wasn't Palpatine. It could have been anyone, I'm open to the idea. But something about that man is cold. Something is . . . *wrong* about him."

There was a stunned pause. Then Sabé intervened. "You must understand that we are trying to rationalize this, so don't get offended at my next question. Why would anyone want to switch the data? From what I've seen, Lark is a peaceful planet. Who would want to make a laughing stock of it?"

"The same person who set off a biological weapon to mass murder the population of my planet," Gem said, tilting her chin upwards with conviction.

Kenobi's eyes widened. "You're not saying . . ."

"I think that Chancellor Palpatine wanted to kill off Lark?" Gem finished bitterly. "It sounds ludicrous, doesn't it? What motive does he have? That's why I'm not blaming it on him. I'm blaming it on*somebody*. Somebody on the inside. Someone who could have gotten to those tapes between the time when Clem met with Palpatine and when they were returned to us. Maybe it was that creature that gave them back--"

"Zoilo?" Sabé snorted. "He works with me in security. He hasn't the brains to pull something like this off, but I do admit he does seem creepy enough."

"You know him?" Gem asked.

"Unfortunately," Kenobi muttered. Sabé elbowed him.

Gem felt nostalgia rise up inside of her, watching these two and their silent body language. She wondered if she and Clem had appeared that way. Before he disappeared, of course. "Do you know where Clem is?"

"I'm afraid not," Sabé said, and she sounded sincere. Gem decided that she liked this woman. "When was the last time you spoke to him?"

Gem bit her lip nervously, replaying the images. "The last time I saw him when he was Clem was that day that we presented our case to the Senate. When all turned to hell, we went out and got plastered. I didn't see him for a few days after that. Then he showed up on my doorstep. He was . . . different, scary. He told me something about a-a revolution. He scared me. I told him to come back when he wasn't drunk. I-I wasn't quite sure if he was drunk though. He didn't slur his words . . . but he was rambling like a lunatic." Gem felt her heart squeeze painfully, and she bit out the last few words. "I never saw him again."

Sabé let out a deep breath. "Do you remember what he said exactly? About the revolution?"

Gem shook her head, tears stinging at her eyes. "No. I was so upset . . . I didn't pay attention to him. I was terrified."

"Would you say he went under a complete personalitiy change?" Sabé continued.

Gem thought about it, and before she knew it she was nodding. "Clem was the sweetest man I've ever met. He didn't have a violent bone in his body."

"Was he violent to you then?"

Gem was reluctant. "N-No, not really. He was . . . forceful. Animated about what he had to say. He got a little upset when I didn't want to join him."

"Would you mind if we came again, Mistress Yrrk? I'm not sure that we're finished with you yet, but you've given us enough information for the moment," Sabé said.

Gem nodded. "Please. I'll do anything to help you find him. Even if he gets sent to jail. I just want to know that he's alive."

Sabé reached out with a warm hand, and Gem shook it. Sabé squeezed gently and smiled encouragingly. "We'll find him, Gemina. The team we've got going on this case is the best the Republic has to offer, in my opinion."

"That's only because you're on it."

"Shut up, Obi-Wan," Sabé said good-naturedly. She smiled once more at Gem. "I hope we get to talk again."

"I hope so too," Gem said as she shut the door. She was surprised to realize that she meant it. She hadn't hoped to talk to anyone since Clem had disappeared. But Sabé was sincere. That was something Gem respected, what with the Republic's evolution into something sick and twisted; its leader a mass murder. Because Gem was certain that Palpatine was the cause of all her troubles. Maybe she *should* have joined that "revolution". Clem had talked about revenge. Revenge sounded really sweet at the moment. Especially since Gem was beginning to think that Clem was gone for good. If not dead, hiding out. And with a Jedi Knight and Palpatine's security on his tail, he might not be able to hide much longer.

* * * * *

Sabé was positively giddy as she and Obi-Wan climbed into the speeder they'd driven to the building Gemina Yrrk's apartment was in.

"What is it?" Obi-Wan asked as he started the speeder and began to tie into traffic. "I can tell you're excited about something."

"I think I know what happened," Sabé said, running it over in her mind again, looking for any holes. "There's a group that are known as the "Seperatists". They have wild theories about the Senate, and they want to start a new Republic. Not many know about them of course -- mostly only the Senate security."

"If you think that the Seperatists are behind this, then what about Clemens Lorcan?" Obi-Wan asked.

"That's just it. Did you hear what Gemina was saying? He went under a complete personality change in a matter of days. What if the Seperatists learned of what happened to Lorcan and decided to pounce on him -- recognizing that with his defeat in the Senate he'd be an easy target for them to brainwash into joining them. That would explain his rambling about a revolution."

"It does make sense," Obi-Wan said, deep in thought. "Do you have any information on these Seperatists?"

"It's miniscule. We're aware of them though. We're not sure of any particular person that's in this group; we don't know that much about them. They've never done anything as serious as an assassination attempt before, though there were rumors that they might try. We thought that they were just a cult trying to convince others to break away from the Republic."

"They're more of a threat though." There was a small silence while both in the speeder were kept to their own thoughts. Finally, Obi-Wan broke that silence. "What do you think about what Gemina Yrrk said?"

"About somebody destroying their information?"

Obi-Wan nodded.

Sabé sighed and leaned back in the seat. "I honestly don't know. It seems completely irrational, but I don't think she was lying."

"Maybe it's something she created in her mind."

"Or maybe the Seperatists were behind this too. I wouldn't put warping people's minds past them. It's a favorite pastime of theirs."

"Do you think Lorcan is still alive?" Obi-Wan asked.

Sabé shook her head. "No. He couldn't be dead. If you noticed, Gemina was disappointed when she opened the door and saw us. That makes me think she was hoping that it was Clemens. Then from various bits of conversation, the look in her eyes . . . she still thinks he's alive, Obi-Wan, and if she does then he has to be."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because if you had any ounce of sense at all, you'd realize that Gemina Yrrk was in love with her partner. If he was dead, she would know and give up hope."

"She would know if he was dead?" Obi-Wan asked doubtfully.

Sabé blushed a little bit. She knew for a fact how it worked. If anything had happened to Obi-Wan, she would have known about it. Somehow or other. "Maybe it's not like the Force bond between us, but that doesn't mean that it's not similar."

Obi-Wan snapped his head around to look at her, then he turned back to traffic quickly. "Oh?"

"She would know, Obi-Wan. Trust me."

"I do," Obi-Wan said softly. He made a sudden turn, and Sabé realized that they were in front of the Senate building. "What time is the Senate meeting over?"

Sabé looked at the chrono in the speeder. "In an hour."

"Then we'll get as much information as we can on these Seperatists and settle down in Palpatine's office to look them over until he gets back."

"Isn't Anakin back at your apartment?"

"Sithspawn. I forgot about him. We'll contact him via comm unit."

Sabé reached forward and flipped a switch. She typed in a few things on a number pad that had risen out of the side of the car.

"My God. I've never seen a speeder this . . . prestigious," Obi-Wan said in amazement as a second passed, then the screen that was by the wheel began to turn fuzzy, then into the shape of Anakin's face.

"Hello?" Anakin asked, his voice cautious.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan greeted.

"Master! Did you find anything?"

"We found out a lot. Listen, get on the holonet and look up the term "Seperatists". I don't care how many things you have to hack into, use your Jedi senses if you want to."

"Really?" Anakin looked extremely eager.

"Really. Sabé and I are going to use our own resources to look up information on this cult. We think that Lorcan was brainwashed by them."

"Okay. When are you coming back?"

"When Roth and Beula get back. We're going to try and sneak out of escorting Palpatine back so that we can get a head start on this. It should be in a standard hour or two. Maybe three."

"All right then. Take care of yourself."

"You know I will, Ani. May the Force be with you."

"Ditto."

Obi-Wan flipped the switch that Sabé had played with before, and the number pad disappeared into a secret compartment. He looked over at Sabé to see that she was smiling at him. "What?"

"You're just so adorable when you talk to Anakin," Sabé said simply as she climbed out of the speeder and onto the walkway in front of the Senate building.

"I thought I was always adorable," Obi-Wan said, following her and locking the speeder up behind him. They stepped into the building, and a blast of cool air hit them.

"Then you're *particularly* adorable when you talk to Anakin," Sabé said, correcting herself. They walked to an elevator, and Sabé pressed the up key. "Do you want to stop by the library first or leave that for Roth?"

"We'll let them do the easy work. What other options have we?"

"I can get Bridget -- Palpatine's secretary -- to pull up information on her computer. She has access to anything and everything. Then we can go through Palpatine's personal files."

"Personal files? I'm intrigued."

"You should be. He never lets anyone look at them. I figure this is a special occasion though," Sabé said.

"Going against your boss' orders?" Obi-Wan tsked as they stepped into an empty elevator. "I never thought you'd have it in you, Ms. Yéré."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Mr. Kenobi," Sabé said as she pressed the number of the floor they were going to. Her heart was doing a silly fluttery number. She'd never really flirted before, but it always came naturally with Obi-Wan.

"I intend to find each and every one of those things out," Obi-Wan told her, his voice low and his eyes intense.

Sabé's breath caught in her throat. "I've missed you."

"I missed you too," Obi-Wan whispered.

"Obi-Wan . . . do you remember what you said to me before you left Naboo?" Sabé asked daringly.

"I might recall saying something about lo--"

There was a ding, and the doors to the elevator slung open. Sabé and Obi- Wan were distracted, and when Sabé tried to catch Obi-Wan's eyes again, the moment was gone. She sighed wearily and left the elevator, Obi-Wan by her side. There was an awkward silence that seemed to become more pressing with each second. Sabé wanted him to finish his sentence, but she was too shy and afraid of his answer to ask again. It had taken all of her guts to ask it the first time. Eventually, the hallway gave way to a doorway, and Sabé automatically typed in the security code to get in. Obi-Wan stepped in behind her, and she shut the doors.

"Sabé!"

Sabé recognized the voice, and she saw that Phira Quintessa was sitting down behind the desk, talking to Bridget. "Hi, Phira. How have you been?"

"Horrible. I can't stop worrying . . ."

"I can understand," Sabé said sympathetically. "We're on it though, and we're very close to finding the man who tried to kill the Chancellor."

"You know who it is then?"

"We're about ninety nine percent sure," Sabé said. She looked to Bridget. "Actually, we came to get some information. Can you look up 'Seperatists'?"

Bridget nodded and spun her chair around to begin working at her computer.

"Who's this?" Phira asked, eyeing Obi-Wan.

"Him? He's just part of the scenery. Think we should get a new interior decorater?" Obi-Wan nudged her playfully in the back, and she laughed, turning around to look at him. She turned back to Phira. "This is Obi-Wan Kenobi. You might have heard of him. He's one of the Jedi who are helping me with this case."

Phira's eyes widened and her eyebrows went halfway up her forehead. "Is it so serious that you need Obi-Wan Kenobi on the case?" she asked breathlessy, worry lacing her words.

"No, no," Sabé assured her. "Palpatine asked for him specifically because he knows that Obi-Wan is a good Jedi Knight. He wants this case closed as soon as possible. Don't worry, Phira, Palpatine's security is tightened. Nothing will be able to get to him now."

Phira nodded acceptingly, but her eyes still looked worried. "If you say so."

"I do, Phira. Would I ever lie to you?" Sabé asked gently.

Phira shook her head. "Of course not. I'm sorry for acting so worried. It's just . . ."

"I know exactly how you feel," Sabé said. An image of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon facing the Sith demon flashed through her mind. She turned her head to look at Obi-Wan, just to reassure herself that he was okay. "Exactly how you feel," she repeated. Obi-Wan caught her gaze, but she was too shy to keep it. She looked away quickly.

Phira was looking at Obi-Wan with more interest now, and Sabé knew that she had been stupid and let Phira know there was something going on there. Or, at least, there had been. She and Obi-Wan had almost had a moment in the elevator, but the Fates obviously wanted them to wait before discussing their relationship.

"All right. I have all of the information I could obtain," Bridget said. She pulled out a data disk from a small box on her right and put in the computer to download the information. "There's not very much, mind you. Just word of mouth."

"I've heard the word of mouth. Is there anything else?"

"No." Bridget shook her head.

Sabé clicked her tongue in annoyance. She sighed reluctantly. "Well, it's better than nothing. Isn't there any factual information on them?"

"There would be in Dantius's files," Phira put in. "He's talked about the Seperatists before. He takes them very seriously."

Sabé felt something nudging on the edge of her mind, and something akin to fear began to build. If Palpatine took them seriously, then that meant that they were a threat. A real threat. Of course, attempting to assassinate the Supreme Chancellor had made this obvious already, but it seemed more real to Sabé now. "Where can we find these files?"

"No one is allowed to see them but him," Phira said. "You'll have to ask him when he gets back."

Sabé looked at the chronometer on the wall and clicked her tongue. She looked to Obi-Wan. "We have too much time on our hands."

Obi-Wan smiled at her. "I'm open to dinner."

Sabé rolled her eyes. "I'm not hungry."

"Really?" Obi-Wan licked his lips slightly, keeping her gaze locked to his own. "I'm actually very hungry."

Sabé felt adrenaline rush through her veins at the possessive sound in his voice. She was going to keep her cool though. "Why don't you go out to eat by yourself?"

"Nope." Obi-Wan shook his head, smiling. "I'd prefer it if you were there."

Sabé decided that it was the time to start ignoring Obi-Wan, so she turned around to ask Bridget one last question. "Do you have any insider's information on Senator Clemens Lorcan, the Lark system, or both?"

Bridget began searching again. "Hold on a sec, I'll put it on another disk for you."

"Thanks. Phira, have you eaten dinner yet?"

"No. I can't eat anymore. I can't eat, and I can't sleep. I'm just so worried that something will happen to Dantius."

"You need to eat, honey. You need your strength."

"I'm too frail already, I know it. Besides, I could use dropping a pound or two."

"Phira . . ." Sabé said in a warning tone.

"What?" Phira asked.

"Let's go out to dinner, and when we come back the Chancellor will be here. Then you can go home and get some sleep. Does that sound okay?"

Phira considered it heavily. Finally, reluctantly, she nodded. "I guess so."

"Okay. Bridget, do you want me to bring you back something?"

"I could do with anything right now. I'm famished."

"We'll be sure to hurry then. If you don't mind, get as much information on the three keywords I gave you as you can."

"Don't worry, I can handle it."

"I know you can. Come on, Phira. We're going to go to someplace you've never been before. Someplace greasy."

Phira wrinkled her eyebrows but walked around the desk. "Are you sure that's healthy?"

"Of course not, but it's good," Sabé said, pushing Phira ahead of her. She looked up at Obi-Wan and whispered so that Phira couldn't hear, "You don't mind do you?"

"No. I like greasy food," Obi-Wan said, smiling.

"Don't say anything to worry Phira either. She's . . . sensitive."

"I noticed."

"Okay, let's go then. See you, Bridget."

"Bye."