Clem's apprehension began to drain away as he looked out the window of the
space shuttle he was riding in. Coming closer and closer was the beautiful
landscape of Lark -- his home planet. It still looked as beautiful as ever,
but Clem knew that beneath the beauty, the planet's sentients were dying.
It was almost impossible to believe, but he'd had the mispleasure of seeing
it first hand.
With Gem.
Clem felt a stinging sensation in the back of his eyes. He thought he'd trained himself not to think about the mess he was in, but little phrases were created in his mind before he could stop it.
Truth be told, he missed Gem. Terribly. But he knew he couldn't go back to her. After he'd done that stupid thing, after he joined the Seperatists, he knew that he was a dead man walking. He wouldn't make Gem a dead woman walking by trying to speak to her, by asking her for help. She was already mad at him, furious, and he didn't think he could take her knowing what he'd done.
After that fateful night, he'd been beaten pretty badly by the Seperatists. They didn't take failures, and Clem had, plainly put, screwed up. Chancellor Palpatine was still alive.
When you really thought about it, which Clem had done, it wasn't his fault. Afterall, how was he supposed to know that that girl would shove Palpatine aside? She must have had some kind of sixth sense. He had been virtually undetected. They didn't suspect him, did they?
He got a private med-droid to treat him, not wanting to risk being stuck in a hospital if they traced everything back to him. The med-droid wasn't a very modern model, and he didn't have enough money to buy a bacta tank, but after a day or so under its care, he was as good as new. Well . . . good enough to be able to manage a flight to Lark. He would heal completely in the prestigious palace.
The first thing Clem did after he sent the med droid away was get a ride back to Lark. He had had a lot of time to think while he was waiting for his body to heal. The facts didn't add up -- none of them. But that didn't mean that they never would. That just mean that Clem didn't have enough facts. There was something about Lark that Palpatine wanted to keep a secret, something so important that he felt that he needed to completely obliterate the already unknown planet.
That was why Clem was going home. Well . . . besides his needing to hide out and his homesickness. He was going to scour through every file on hand at the palace, because he knew that the King and Queen would allow him to. He had been best friends with Andy Fluharty since childhood -- they had grown up together. Clem's dad had been senator at the time, and Andy's was the king. Besides that, Andy wouldn't trust the Senate as far as he could throw the whole damn building. Clem knew that Gem had to have explained everything. She was very thorough. Clem felt that stinging sensation again, and he shoved away all thoughts of Gem, the picture of her smiling face. His heart began to ache. He missed her terribly so.
Clem felt the bump in his seat that indicated the ship was shifting into atmosphere. Either the ship was faster than he thought, or he'd been lost in his own thoughts for longer than he'd meant to. Either way, the city of Gikaeo was fastly approaching.
Not more than ten standard minutes later, the flight attendent was informing the passengers that they had landed. Clem got up from his grungy seat and followed the crowd of people hurrying to get out of the ship. He was closer to vomiting than he'd ever been before. He hadn't thought of himself as snotty, but he had grown up well-off. Taking a poor ship full of the lower class was almost more than he could take. It was over though, and he was safe. He knew this wasn't completely true, but somehow being back home made everything seem perfect again. Things would be okay; he was sure of it.
* * * * *
Phira had only eaten a third of her plate, but that was more than Sabé had expected. Phira lived in a world where she thought that she was overweight and ugly. Palpatine's repeated rejection of her didn't help the twisted image she had of herself either. Phira got even worse whenever something important was happening with Palptine. She didn't have much of a life, so she spent hers worrying over Palpatine's.
"Thank you," Phira said warmly as they stepped out of the elevator and began down the hallway to Palpatine's office. "I didn't realize I was so hungry."
"It was my pleasure, Phira. I always enjoy talking with you," Sabé said sincerely, hoping the compliment might boost Phira's self-esteem a little bit.
"As do I," Obi-Wan added in. Sabé sent him a grateful look. "I don't get out much, so it's nice to know that there are people besides the Jedi."
Phira laughed politely. "I know what you mean. Until Sabé came to work for Dantius, I only had Bridget to talk to. She's a sweet girl, but having two best friends is much better than one."
"I can understand that," Obi-Wan said.
Sabé typed in the security code on the number pad, and the doors opened automatically. Inside of the waiting room, Roth and Beula were sitting down, looking nervous.
"You're back!" Beula exclaimed. "What 'till we tell you about our night."
"What happened?" Phira demanded.
Beula looked at the unfamiliar petite woman and smiled. "Hello. I'm Beula Guiseppa."
"This is Phira Quintessa," Sabé introduced. "Did anything violent happen, Beula?"
"Huh? No. We just got to know that Zoilo fellow a little better. Not the brightest star in the sky. Nor the friendliest either."
Phira sighed in relief. "Why don't you go into his office?" Sabé suggested. Phira nodded, and Sabé opened the door for her. Once Phira was out of the way, Sabé leaned over the counter to look at Bridget. "Did you copy those files for me?"
Bridget handed Sabé a disk, throwing in a bright smile. "Everything I could possibly find. I even found some more information on these Seperatists. You might want to try going to security head quarters and seeing if they have any information."
"Good idea. Thanks," Sabé said. "We're going to head back to the Jedi's apartment to do a little reasearching. Do you need anything?"
"Did you get me something to eat?"
"Oh, right." Sabé turned around and took a container from Obi-Wan's hands. She held it over the counter, and Bridget took it thankfully. "Will Palptine be all right, or does he need one of us to stay back and escort him back to his apartment?"
"I think he's okay. He was in a good mood when he came in."
"Good. I was worried about Phira."
"In the mood he was in, they might not be out for awhile."
"Where's Zoilo?"
"He's parking their speeder. They only just got back."
"Can you take care of him until Zoilo comes up here?"
"You know I can. See you tomorrow, Sabé."
"Bye," Sabé said. She turned and strode out of the room, pausing only to type in the security code. She heard shuffling that indicated the Jedi were following her.
"Did you guys find anything interesting?" Roth asked as they waited for an elevator to come.
"Nope. Just a prime suspect," Sabé said casually.
"Don't forget a theory on how this suspect came to the assassination attempt," Obi-Wan added.
"Are you serious?" Roth demanded, his jaw literally dropping.
Sabé couldn't resist smiling as a ding indicated that the elevator had arrived. The doors swished open, and all four of them stepped inside. Sabé hit the ground floor button. "We went to visit Gemina Yrrk, as you know."
"What happened?" Roth asked eagerly.
"From various information she told us, we have a theory as to what happened. After Lorcan came back from his defeat at the Senate, he was approached by a group known in the Senate as the 'Seperatists'. They want to overthrow the Republic, say that it's contaminated. They figured that Lorcan would be a good person to brainwash since he was already miserable. They got him to do their dirty work, it didn't work out, and Lorcan disappeared."
"What makes you think it was the Seperatists? Couldn't he have planned this on his own?" Beula asked, the voice of reasoning.
"You would think so, but Yrrk said that she didn't see him for a few days after the day they presented their case to the Senate. Then he showed up at her apartment, and it was as if he'd undergone a complete personality change. He started ranting to her about a revolution. It sounds like Seperatist talk to me."
The elevator stopped, and the four left the small, carpeted room, heading towards the front where Sabé had parked the speeder.
"Where do we go from here?" Roth asked.
Sabé shrugged. "To be honest -- I don't really know. I asked Bridget to get information for us on Lorcan, Lark, and Seperatists, but I don't know if it's going to help any. I want to contact Gemina Yrrk again and ask if she knows where Lorcan might go if he's in trouble."
"What if he's dead? What if the Seperatists got mad that he failed and decided to make him pay?" Beula asked logically.
"Sabé insists that Yrrk wouldn't be so insistant that he's alive if he was dead. She says that Yrrk would be able to detect it," Obi-Wan explained, a slight doubt lingering in his voice. "Something about being in love."
"And we can go on a woman's instincts?" Roth asked, the same doubt in his voice but more scornful.
Sabé pushed him, hard, and he went flying out the doors of the Senate building, landing on the pavement outside.
"What the hell was that for?" Roth demanded, jumping up and brushing his tunic off as though he was mortally wounded.
"For being sexist," Sabé said simply. "When I'm right, I'm right."
"She's right," Obi-Wan put in. "This girl has got instincts you can't imagine."
"That reminds me," Roth said as they climbed into the speeder. "I was meaning to ask you about this 'special way with people' Palpatine mentioned. Are you a physcic?"
Sabé snorted. "Not nearly as exotic as that."
"Just drop it, Roth," Obi-Wan said sharply, not even turning around to look at his friend as he started the speeder.
"Now you're making me think it's something important, and I just want to find out even more," Roth said.
"Don't go asking around, and don't mention it to anyone," Obi-Wan warned in a low voice, turning around briefly to show Roth that he meant business.
Roth raised his arms in defeat. "Okay, okay. Don't go all Sith Lord on me, Kenobi."
"Where's Anakin?" Beula asked as an attempt to change the subject.
"He's still at the apartment," Obi-Wan answered. "I told him he could hack through the holonet in search of information. Jedi senses and all."
"Desperate, are you?" Roth teased.
"Pretty much. We've all the information that we need, but we have to get proof. We need to find this Lorcan guy."
"What about his girlfriend -- would she know where he is?"
Sabé bit her lip. "I don't think so. She seemed pretty desperate to find out where he was."
"Could it have been an act?" Beula asked.
Sabé considered it a moment, then shook her head. "No. That just doesn't feel right."
Sabé turned her eyes back to traffic as Obi-Wan landed in front of the building where their apartments were. "Let's go inside and see what Anakin has found out. Then we'll consider seeing Gemina Yrrk again. She might not know exactly where he is, but maybe she knows where he would go if he were hiding out."
* * * * *
Getting off of the ship had been relatively easy, and Clem had been met by an unobtrusive man who's body language told that he was working for the King and Queen, there to take him to the palace. Clem had been wary of telling Andy and Laura that he was arriving at first, but then he decided that it would be easier to get into the palace that way.
The man who had met him brought him to a land speeder, and they took off towards the palace. They got through security easily, the man just flashed his badge, and it didn't take long for them to stop at the fountain in front of the palace. Laura and Andy were waiting there.
"Are you okay?" Laura asked immediately after Clem stepped out of the speeder. "Where's Gem?"
Clem felt that squeezing sensation, but he pushed it away faster than before. "She's back on Coruscant. She doesn't know I'm here." Clem looked around pointedly. "Could we talk somewhere more private?"
Andy and Laura agreed and, surrounded heavily by security guards, led Clem into the palace and up a few floors until they reached Andy's office.
Clem sat down in a couch in the center of the room, and the King and Queen sat across from him. He went into detail the accounts of what had happened on Coruscant, not holding anything back.
"Did Gem fill you in on the switched data disks?"
Andy nodded. "She told us that she thought the Chancellor did this. Do you think it's true?"
"I know it's true. I just have to get the proof to back up my theory. That's why I'm here. I need to use the Royal library. Something about Lark needed to be quieted, and I want to know what that was," Clem said with conviction.
Laura scoffed. "That's perfectly acceptable, but Clem! Gem told us that you disappeared after the Senate meeting. Now you show up a month later without an explanation?"
Clem looked down at his hands, twiddling them, looking for a distraction from his shame. "You heard about the attempted assassination on Palpatine's life, of course."
"Yes," Andy and Laura said in unison.
Clem looked up guiltily. Laura gasped and clutched a hand to her heart. Andy looked disbelieving. "That was you? That couldn't have been you."
"It was," Clem said bitterly. "It was a stupid, horrible mistake."
"Well, duh!" Laura put in.
Clem gave her a look, then continued. "After the Senate disaster, Gem and I went out drinking. When we got back to our apartments, I found that mine was occupied. There's a group of people -- a cult -- who call themselves the 'Seperatists'. They told me that Palpatine had done this before, that I had a chance to keep it from happening again."
"You were brainwashed?" Laura asked bluntly.
"Misguided," Clem corrected. He sighed. "Look, I got away, didn't I? They don't know that it's me. I came here to get answers. Will you help me?"
Andy nodded. "Of course, Clem. You know you're always welcome here. Wanted criminal or not."
Clem managed to crack a smile, but he didn't feel it on the inside. All he felt was sad and bitter. But he wouldn't let that keep him from revenge. He would find out what Palpatine was hiding, and he would throw it in the Chancellor's face. He would expose Palpatine for what he really was.
* * * * *
After Clem had had a proper meal and been sent to a comfortable room, Laura returned to her husband's office where he was working. He was working through the planet's budget, trying to find a way to be able to either afford medical help or to send all of the healthy off planet to reside somwhere else. Laura knew that it was important -- it hurt her just as much as her husband to watch her people deteriorate so painfully -- but she felt that she was needed to help in Clem's problems.
"What do we do if Clem becomes a prime suspect in the investigation the Senate is sure to be holding?" Laura asked abrubtly as she stepped into the room, motioning for her personal body guard to stay just outside.
Andy looked up, startled, and took off his reading glasses. He set down a holoviewer he'd been looking at and began to rub furiously at his temples. "Clem is our friend. I won't sell him out."
"I know that," Laura said, rolling her eyes. "I feel the same exact way. What I'm talking about is, what if they come here?"
"Then they'll see the mess our planet is in. They won't be able to write it off so easily anymore. If what Clem says about Palpatine is true, I don't think that he would agree to sending an investigation team after Clem here."
Laura nodded, surprised as she always was at her husband's logic. She always wondered why she hadn't been the one to think of the things he said. With that topic cleared, she moved on to the next one. "I want to tell Gem that he's here."
Andy looked up sharply. "Laura . . ."
"No, Andy, let me do this," Laura said, pleading with her eyes. "Gem is my friend, and I feel as if I'm betraying her by not telling her that Clem is safe. She needs to know. She's a mess right now, Andy, you know, and maybe this will help her to get back together."
Andy looked reluctant as he considered the situation. Finally, he nodded, and gestured for her to use his comm unit. Laura practically leaped at her husband and gave him a hard kiss on the mouth. "Thank you," she said breathlessly, catching his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. "I knew I loved you for a reason."
" *A* reason?"
"Okay, maybe there are many reasons," Laura admitted. She kissed him again, and he released her. She sat down on the comfortable chair in front of his desk and began working on the comm unit, dialing up Gem's frequency.
It took a while for it to work, and Laura began to think it was broken, but suddenly the screen faded away to Gem's face, looking worried and hopeful at the same time. Her face fell when she recognized Laura, but she offered a murmur of hello.
"Gem, I have to tell you something," Laura said. The gravity of her voice must have gotten to Gem, because the woman suddenly looked attentive.
"What is it?" she asked breathlessly.
"It's about Clem--"
"Tell me," Gem commanded, her voice more level and harsher than before. Her chin wavered slightly. "Is he . . .?"
"Dead? Well, if so, I don't know why I gave him the Royal guest bedroom to sleep in," Laura said, attempting to keep the conversation light-toned.
Gem's stature changed so drastically that Laura thought it might be magic. Gem had been stiff with pain before, her face in a worried scowl. Suddenly, Laura saw the girl that she had grown up with. Gem's brown eyes literally lit up with happiness, and as she sighed with relief, the stiffness left her shoulders, and she sagged, obviously leaning forward on whatever she had her comm unit on. A hint of a smile was on her face, but there was a little disbelief too.
"He's there?" she asked, her voice sounding choked. "Please, let me talk to him. I need to see him."
"He's asleep," Laura said softly, feeling horrible for saying so. "I'll tell him to comm you tomorrow though if you want me to."
"I have to get back," Gem said suddenly. "I don't care about the box at the Senate. The Senate has gone to hell anyway, and our planet won't last much longer. I want to be with him. Oh, Laura, is he all right? Did he look sick? Did he say what happened?"
Laura glanced at Andy out of the corner of her eye. He shrugged slightly as if to say he didn't care if she told Gem. Laura studied the picture of her friend on the comm screen, then began to fill in Gem on the details, telling her about Clem calling the day before, informing them that he would be arriving via immigrants shuttle the next day. She told her everything Clem told her, about the 'Seperatists' and what Clem was planning on doing at the Royal library.
Gem looked relieved with each passing word, and she let out a deep breath when Laura was finished. "He's not . . . different, is he?" she asked suspiciously.
"The same Clem we grew up with," Laura answered, wondering what Gem meant by the question but deciding it didn't seem like a good idea to ask about it.
"Oh, thank the maker," Gem said. "Please, let me come. I'll leave tomorrow if you let me. No, screw that. I'm coming with or without your permission. I've been worried sick. Did he say why he didn't come back to me?"
"He didn't, but I'm sure that it was to keep you safe. Which reminds me, have they started an investigation yet? Are they suspicious of Clem?"
Gem's eyes grew wide. "A Jedi Knight and a security guard came over earlier. They were asking about Clem."
"What did you tell them?" Laura demanded.
"I told them everything that I knew, which was nothing at the time. They told me Clem was a suspect for the assassination; that's why I wasn't so shocked when you told me what he'd done."
Laura nodded. "That would explain it. Do you think they'll come by again?"
"Who cares? I'm getting a ticket out of here asap. I'm dying being seperated from my people. I feel like I'm cheating death, somehow."
Laura felt sympathetic. "I know what you mean," she said quietly.
"Don't tell Clem I'm coming. I want to surprise him. Give him a piece of my mind," Gem said.
"We won't," Laura promised. "Good bye, Gem. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow," Gem agreed just before the comm flickered out.
"You shouldn't have done that," Andy said quietly after a moment where Laura stared at the blank screen, thinking back over the conversation.
"Done what?" Laura asked absently.
"Told her that she could come here. We have a box at the Senate that we have to fill. I'm not sure what will happen if our Senators just don't show up. It might even lead the investigation closer to Clem," Andy explained.
Laura turned to look at Andy, a hard expression on her face. "Like Gem said, screw the Senate. And they already suspect Clem. They're good, especially if they've got a Jedi on the team. Let Gem come and get a chance to be with Clem a little while." Laura smiled softly. "Besides, do you think I could have stopped her?"
Andy smiled right back then leaned on the two arms of the chair Laura had swung around to face him. He leaned down and kissed her softly. "No, dear. That's something not even you can accomplish."
With Gem.
Clem felt a stinging sensation in the back of his eyes. He thought he'd trained himself not to think about the mess he was in, but little phrases were created in his mind before he could stop it.
Truth be told, he missed Gem. Terribly. But he knew he couldn't go back to her. After he'd done that stupid thing, after he joined the Seperatists, he knew that he was a dead man walking. He wouldn't make Gem a dead woman walking by trying to speak to her, by asking her for help. She was already mad at him, furious, and he didn't think he could take her knowing what he'd done.
After that fateful night, he'd been beaten pretty badly by the Seperatists. They didn't take failures, and Clem had, plainly put, screwed up. Chancellor Palpatine was still alive.
When you really thought about it, which Clem had done, it wasn't his fault. Afterall, how was he supposed to know that that girl would shove Palpatine aside? She must have had some kind of sixth sense. He had been virtually undetected. They didn't suspect him, did they?
He got a private med-droid to treat him, not wanting to risk being stuck in a hospital if they traced everything back to him. The med-droid wasn't a very modern model, and he didn't have enough money to buy a bacta tank, but after a day or so under its care, he was as good as new. Well . . . good enough to be able to manage a flight to Lark. He would heal completely in the prestigious palace.
The first thing Clem did after he sent the med droid away was get a ride back to Lark. He had had a lot of time to think while he was waiting for his body to heal. The facts didn't add up -- none of them. But that didn't mean that they never would. That just mean that Clem didn't have enough facts. There was something about Lark that Palpatine wanted to keep a secret, something so important that he felt that he needed to completely obliterate the already unknown planet.
That was why Clem was going home. Well . . . besides his needing to hide out and his homesickness. He was going to scour through every file on hand at the palace, because he knew that the King and Queen would allow him to. He had been best friends with Andy Fluharty since childhood -- they had grown up together. Clem's dad had been senator at the time, and Andy's was the king. Besides that, Andy wouldn't trust the Senate as far as he could throw the whole damn building. Clem knew that Gem had to have explained everything. She was very thorough. Clem felt that stinging sensation again, and he shoved away all thoughts of Gem, the picture of her smiling face. His heart began to ache. He missed her terribly so.
Clem felt the bump in his seat that indicated the ship was shifting into atmosphere. Either the ship was faster than he thought, or he'd been lost in his own thoughts for longer than he'd meant to. Either way, the city of Gikaeo was fastly approaching.
Not more than ten standard minutes later, the flight attendent was informing the passengers that they had landed. Clem got up from his grungy seat and followed the crowd of people hurrying to get out of the ship. He was closer to vomiting than he'd ever been before. He hadn't thought of himself as snotty, but he had grown up well-off. Taking a poor ship full of the lower class was almost more than he could take. It was over though, and he was safe. He knew this wasn't completely true, but somehow being back home made everything seem perfect again. Things would be okay; he was sure of it.
* * * * *
Phira had only eaten a third of her plate, but that was more than Sabé had expected. Phira lived in a world where she thought that she was overweight and ugly. Palpatine's repeated rejection of her didn't help the twisted image she had of herself either. Phira got even worse whenever something important was happening with Palptine. She didn't have much of a life, so she spent hers worrying over Palpatine's.
"Thank you," Phira said warmly as they stepped out of the elevator and began down the hallway to Palpatine's office. "I didn't realize I was so hungry."
"It was my pleasure, Phira. I always enjoy talking with you," Sabé said sincerely, hoping the compliment might boost Phira's self-esteem a little bit.
"As do I," Obi-Wan added in. Sabé sent him a grateful look. "I don't get out much, so it's nice to know that there are people besides the Jedi."
Phira laughed politely. "I know what you mean. Until Sabé came to work for Dantius, I only had Bridget to talk to. She's a sweet girl, but having two best friends is much better than one."
"I can understand that," Obi-Wan said.
Sabé typed in the security code on the number pad, and the doors opened automatically. Inside of the waiting room, Roth and Beula were sitting down, looking nervous.
"You're back!" Beula exclaimed. "What 'till we tell you about our night."
"What happened?" Phira demanded.
Beula looked at the unfamiliar petite woman and smiled. "Hello. I'm Beula Guiseppa."
"This is Phira Quintessa," Sabé introduced. "Did anything violent happen, Beula?"
"Huh? No. We just got to know that Zoilo fellow a little better. Not the brightest star in the sky. Nor the friendliest either."
Phira sighed in relief. "Why don't you go into his office?" Sabé suggested. Phira nodded, and Sabé opened the door for her. Once Phira was out of the way, Sabé leaned over the counter to look at Bridget. "Did you copy those files for me?"
Bridget handed Sabé a disk, throwing in a bright smile. "Everything I could possibly find. I even found some more information on these Seperatists. You might want to try going to security head quarters and seeing if they have any information."
"Good idea. Thanks," Sabé said. "We're going to head back to the Jedi's apartment to do a little reasearching. Do you need anything?"
"Did you get me something to eat?"
"Oh, right." Sabé turned around and took a container from Obi-Wan's hands. She held it over the counter, and Bridget took it thankfully. "Will Palptine be all right, or does he need one of us to stay back and escort him back to his apartment?"
"I think he's okay. He was in a good mood when he came in."
"Good. I was worried about Phira."
"In the mood he was in, they might not be out for awhile."
"Where's Zoilo?"
"He's parking their speeder. They only just got back."
"Can you take care of him until Zoilo comes up here?"
"You know I can. See you tomorrow, Sabé."
"Bye," Sabé said. She turned and strode out of the room, pausing only to type in the security code. She heard shuffling that indicated the Jedi were following her.
"Did you guys find anything interesting?" Roth asked as they waited for an elevator to come.
"Nope. Just a prime suspect," Sabé said casually.
"Don't forget a theory on how this suspect came to the assassination attempt," Obi-Wan added.
"Are you serious?" Roth demanded, his jaw literally dropping.
Sabé couldn't resist smiling as a ding indicated that the elevator had arrived. The doors swished open, and all four of them stepped inside. Sabé hit the ground floor button. "We went to visit Gemina Yrrk, as you know."
"What happened?" Roth asked eagerly.
"From various information she told us, we have a theory as to what happened. After Lorcan came back from his defeat at the Senate, he was approached by a group known in the Senate as the 'Seperatists'. They want to overthrow the Republic, say that it's contaminated. They figured that Lorcan would be a good person to brainwash since he was already miserable. They got him to do their dirty work, it didn't work out, and Lorcan disappeared."
"What makes you think it was the Seperatists? Couldn't he have planned this on his own?" Beula asked, the voice of reasoning.
"You would think so, but Yrrk said that she didn't see him for a few days after the day they presented their case to the Senate. Then he showed up at her apartment, and it was as if he'd undergone a complete personality change. He started ranting to her about a revolution. It sounds like Seperatist talk to me."
The elevator stopped, and the four left the small, carpeted room, heading towards the front where Sabé had parked the speeder.
"Where do we go from here?" Roth asked.
Sabé shrugged. "To be honest -- I don't really know. I asked Bridget to get information for us on Lorcan, Lark, and Seperatists, but I don't know if it's going to help any. I want to contact Gemina Yrrk again and ask if she knows where Lorcan might go if he's in trouble."
"What if he's dead? What if the Seperatists got mad that he failed and decided to make him pay?" Beula asked logically.
"Sabé insists that Yrrk wouldn't be so insistant that he's alive if he was dead. She says that Yrrk would be able to detect it," Obi-Wan explained, a slight doubt lingering in his voice. "Something about being in love."
"And we can go on a woman's instincts?" Roth asked, the same doubt in his voice but more scornful.
Sabé pushed him, hard, and he went flying out the doors of the Senate building, landing on the pavement outside.
"What the hell was that for?" Roth demanded, jumping up and brushing his tunic off as though he was mortally wounded.
"For being sexist," Sabé said simply. "When I'm right, I'm right."
"She's right," Obi-Wan put in. "This girl has got instincts you can't imagine."
"That reminds me," Roth said as they climbed into the speeder. "I was meaning to ask you about this 'special way with people' Palpatine mentioned. Are you a physcic?"
Sabé snorted. "Not nearly as exotic as that."
"Just drop it, Roth," Obi-Wan said sharply, not even turning around to look at his friend as he started the speeder.
"Now you're making me think it's something important, and I just want to find out even more," Roth said.
"Don't go asking around, and don't mention it to anyone," Obi-Wan warned in a low voice, turning around briefly to show Roth that he meant business.
Roth raised his arms in defeat. "Okay, okay. Don't go all Sith Lord on me, Kenobi."
"Where's Anakin?" Beula asked as an attempt to change the subject.
"He's still at the apartment," Obi-Wan answered. "I told him he could hack through the holonet in search of information. Jedi senses and all."
"Desperate, are you?" Roth teased.
"Pretty much. We've all the information that we need, but we have to get proof. We need to find this Lorcan guy."
"What about his girlfriend -- would she know where he is?"
Sabé bit her lip. "I don't think so. She seemed pretty desperate to find out where he was."
"Could it have been an act?" Beula asked.
Sabé considered it a moment, then shook her head. "No. That just doesn't feel right."
Sabé turned her eyes back to traffic as Obi-Wan landed in front of the building where their apartments were. "Let's go inside and see what Anakin has found out. Then we'll consider seeing Gemina Yrrk again. She might not know exactly where he is, but maybe she knows where he would go if he were hiding out."
* * * * *
Getting off of the ship had been relatively easy, and Clem had been met by an unobtrusive man who's body language told that he was working for the King and Queen, there to take him to the palace. Clem had been wary of telling Andy and Laura that he was arriving at first, but then he decided that it would be easier to get into the palace that way.
The man who had met him brought him to a land speeder, and they took off towards the palace. They got through security easily, the man just flashed his badge, and it didn't take long for them to stop at the fountain in front of the palace. Laura and Andy were waiting there.
"Are you okay?" Laura asked immediately after Clem stepped out of the speeder. "Where's Gem?"
Clem felt that squeezing sensation, but he pushed it away faster than before. "She's back on Coruscant. She doesn't know I'm here." Clem looked around pointedly. "Could we talk somewhere more private?"
Andy and Laura agreed and, surrounded heavily by security guards, led Clem into the palace and up a few floors until they reached Andy's office.
Clem sat down in a couch in the center of the room, and the King and Queen sat across from him. He went into detail the accounts of what had happened on Coruscant, not holding anything back.
"Did Gem fill you in on the switched data disks?"
Andy nodded. "She told us that she thought the Chancellor did this. Do you think it's true?"
"I know it's true. I just have to get the proof to back up my theory. That's why I'm here. I need to use the Royal library. Something about Lark needed to be quieted, and I want to know what that was," Clem said with conviction.
Laura scoffed. "That's perfectly acceptable, but Clem! Gem told us that you disappeared after the Senate meeting. Now you show up a month later without an explanation?"
Clem looked down at his hands, twiddling them, looking for a distraction from his shame. "You heard about the attempted assassination on Palpatine's life, of course."
"Yes," Andy and Laura said in unison.
Clem looked up guiltily. Laura gasped and clutched a hand to her heart. Andy looked disbelieving. "That was you? That couldn't have been you."
"It was," Clem said bitterly. "It was a stupid, horrible mistake."
"Well, duh!" Laura put in.
Clem gave her a look, then continued. "After the Senate disaster, Gem and I went out drinking. When we got back to our apartments, I found that mine was occupied. There's a group of people -- a cult -- who call themselves the 'Seperatists'. They told me that Palpatine had done this before, that I had a chance to keep it from happening again."
"You were brainwashed?" Laura asked bluntly.
"Misguided," Clem corrected. He sighed. "Look, I got away, didn't I? They don't know that it's me. I came here to get answers. Will you help me?"
Andy nodded. "Of course, Clem. You know you're always welcome here. Wanted criminal or not."
Clem managed to crack a smile, but he didn't feel it on the inside. All he felt was sad and bitter. But he wouldn't let that keep him from revenge. He would find out what Palpatine was hiding, and he would throw it in the Chancellor's face. He would expose Palpatine for what he really was.
* * * * *
After Clem had had a proper meal and been sent to a comfortable room, Laura returned to her husband's office where he was working. He was working through the planet's budget, trying to find a way to be able to either afford medical help or to send all of the healthy off planet to reside somwhere else. Laura knew that it was important -- it hurt her just as much as her husband to watch her people deteriorate so painfully -- but she felt that she was needed to help in Clem's problems.
"What do we do if Clem becomes a prime suspect in the investigation the Senate is sure to be holding?" Laura asked abrubtly as she stepped into the room, motioning for her personal body guard to stay just outside.
Andy looked up, startled, and took off his reading glasses. He set down a holoviewer he'd been looking at and began to rub furiously at his temples. "Clem is our friend. I won't sell him out."
"I know that," Laura said, rolling her eyes. "I feel the same exact way. What I'm talking about is, what if they come here?"
"Then they'll see the mess our planet is in. They won't be able to write it off so easily anymore. If what Clem says about Palpatine is true, I don't think that he would agree to sending an investigation team after Clem here."
Laura nodded, surprised as she always was at her husband's logic. She always wondered why she hadn't been the one to think of the things he said. With that topic cleared, she moved on to the next one. "I want to tell Gem that he's here."
Andy looked up sharply. "Laura . . ."
"No, Andy, let me do this," Laura said, pleading with her eyes. "Gem is my friend, and I feel as if I'm betraying her by not telling her that Clem is safe. She needs to know. She's a mess right now, Andy, you know, and maybe this will help her to get back together."
Andy looked reluctant as he considered the situation. Finally, he nodded, and gestured for her to use his comm unit. Laura practically leaped at her husband and gave him a hard kiss on the mouth. "Thank you," she said breathlessly, catching his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. "I knew I loved you for a reason."
" *A* reason?"
"Okay, maybe there are many reasons," Laura admitted. She kissed him again, and he released her. She sat down on the comfortable chair in front of his desk and began working on the comm unit, dialing up Gem's frequency.
It took a while for it to work, and Laura began to think it was broken, but suddenly the screen faded away to Gem's face, looking worried and hopeful at the same time. Her face fell when she recognized Laura, but she offered a murmur of hello.
"Gem, I have to tell you something," Laura said. The gravity of her voice must have gotten to Gem, because the woman suddenly looked attentive.
"What is it?" she asked breathlessly.
"It's about Clem--"
"Tell me," Gem commanded, her voice more level and harsher than before. Her chin wavered slightly. "Is he . . .?"
"Dead? Well, if so, I don't know why I gave him the Royal guest bedroom to sleep in," Laura said, attempting to keep the conversation light-toned.
Gem's stature changed so drastically that Laura thought it might be magic. Gem had been stiff with pain before, her face in a worried scowl. Suddenly, Laura saw the girl that she had grown up with. Gem's brown eyes literally lit up with happiness, and as she sighed with relief, the stiffness left her shoulders, and she sagged, obviously leaning forward on whatever she had her comm unit on. A hint of a smile was on her face, but there was a little disbelief too.
"He's there?" she asked, her voice sounding choked. "Please, let me talk to him. I need to see him."
"He's asleep," Laura said softly, feeling horrible for saying so. "I'll tell him to comm you tomorrow though if you want me to."
"I have to get back," Gem said suddenly. "I don't care about the box at the Senate. The Senate has gone to hell anyway, and our planet won't last much longer. I want to be with him. Oh, Laura, is he all right? Did he look sick? Did he say what happened?"
Laura glanced at Andy out of the corner of her eye. He shrugged slightly as if to say he didn't care if she told Gem. Laura studied the picture of her friend on the comm screen, then began to fill in Gem on the details, telling her about Clem calling the day before, informing them that he would be arriving via immigrants shuttle the next day. She told her everything Clem told her, about the 'Seperatists' and what Clem was planning on doing at the Royal library.
Gem looked relieved with each passing word, and she let out a deep breath when Laura was finished. "He's not . . . different, is he?" she asked suspiciously.
"The same Clem we grew up with," Laura answered, wondering what Gem meant by the question but deciding it didn't seem like a good idea to ask about it.
"Oh, thank the maker," Gem said. "Please, let me come. I'll leave tomorrow if you let me. No, screw that. I'm coming with or without your permission. I've been worried sick. Did he say why he didn't come back to me?"
"He didn't, but I'm sure that it was to keep you safe. Which reminds me, have they started an investigation yet? Are they suspicious of Clem?"
Gem's eyes grew wide. "A Jedi Knight and a security guard came over earlier. They were asking about Clem."
"What did you tell them?" Laura demanded.
"I told them everything that I knew, which was nothing at the time. They told me Clem was a suspect for the assassination; that's why I wasn't so shocked when you told me what he'd done."
Laura nodded. "That would explain it. Do you think they'll come by again?"
"Who cares? I'm getting a ticket out of here asap. I'm dying being seperated from my people. I feel like I'm cheating death, somehow."
Laura felt sympathetic. "I know what you mean," she said quietly.
"Don't tell Clem I'm coming. I want to surprise him. Give him a piece of my mind," Gem said.
"We won't," Laura promised. "Good bye, Gem. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow," Gem agreed just before the comm flickered out.
"You shouldn't have done that," Andy said quietly after a moment where Laura stared at the blank screen, thinking back over the conversation.
"Done what?" Laura asked absently.
"Told her that she could come here. We have a box at the Senate that we have to fill. I'm not sure what will happen if our Senators just don't show up. It might even lead the investigation closer to Clem," Andy explained.
Laura turned to look at Andy, a hard expression on her face. "Like Gem said, screw the Senate. And they already suspect Clem. They're good, especially if they've got a Jedi on the team. Let Gem come and get a chance to be with Clem a little while." Laura smiled softly. "Besides, do you think I could have stopped her?"
Andy smiled right back then leaned on the two arms of the chair Laura had swung around to face him. He leaned down and kissed her softly. "No, dear. That's something not even you can accomplish."