Obi Wan strode alone down the silent halls of the Jedi Temple, headed for Master Windu's chambers to be informed of his new mission. He also assumed Mace would likely ask about the training of his Padawan, which was his usual custom.

Some had thought it odd indeed, that the possible Chosen One would be entrusted to Kenobi, least of all Obi-Wan himself. The death of his Master, his promotion to Knight, and his receiving a new Padawan had all taken place in only a few days. Obi-Wan was not a man to shy from his duty to the Jedi Order, but at the time he felt he was entirely unready.

A month later, he had approached Yoda with his concerns.

"Learn together, you will," the diminutive Master had said. "Move beyond your Master's death, you must. A great Jedi, you shall be."

Anakin had indeed proven a handful, but Obi-Wan was often astonished at how strongly the Force was with him. Despite his late introduction into the Jedi training, he progressed at an utterly astonishing rate.

It had not been a painless journey, however. Anakin at once aroused suspicion and envy among his peers- he was proclaimed to be not only "special," but had never had to struggle through the initiate phase, instead getting automatically apprenticed to a Master who had defeated a Sith, no less. Therefore, Anakin tended to keep to himself most of the time, obsessively tinkering with any mechanical device in sight. Otherwise, his sensitive and passionate nature would get him into fights with other Padawans.

As for Obi Wan, great things were predicted of him. Some speculated if he would eventually join the Council, and few could pose any serious objection as to his suitability.

Obi Wan's mind, however, did not dwell on rumor or speculation. His thoughts were entirely on the coming mission as he arrived at the entrance to Master Windu's chambers.

"Hello, Knight Kenobi," Windu greeted him, motioning Obi Wan inside the office.

"The Council has an assignment for Anakin and I? I suppose it would perhaps be related to Chancellor Palpatine's proclamation?"

"Your intuition serves you well. You and Anakin are to report to the Senate Building tomorrow morning. You will meet with General DeVries of the Guards, and he will assign you to your Senator. May the Force be with you."

Obi Wan bowed from the waist and exited the room.

Anakin was not hard to find, he knew, as he entered the large vehicle maintenance hangar on the Temple's ground floor. Anakin had recently managed to charm his way into the Temple's motor pool staff, and spent most of his idle time with a hydrospanner in hand. He consistently amazed his supervisor, Master Rendi, with the ability to fix anything, usually improving performance by a few percent in the process.

Kenobi spied him underneath a rather decrepid looking speeder, two long legs clad in mechanic's coveralls protruded from under the starboard wing. "Anakin?" he said, getting his attention over the sound of tools and machinery.

A hand came into view, setting a macrofuser down next to an array of tools lying at the speeder's side. Anakin Skywalker pushed himself out from underneath the speeder's body, rising to his full 2 meter height.

"Yes, Master?"

"We've been assigned to the Senate, Anakin. We leave tomorrow morning, so get your things in order."

***

Fett had taken his two guests to the fringes of a stretch of open grassland. They stopped along the edge of the treeline, and Fett passed each of the other men a pair of binoculars.

"It is time for a demonstration of what my men are capable of," he said.

A cluster of buildings, approximating a stretch of city block, stood incongruously in the middle of the field a few hundred meters away. The architecture was elaborate, classical in nature, with ornate columned and domed construction, adorned with statuary, and clearly did not belong to whatever primitive sentients may have once existed on the planet.

"Now," Fett pronounced, glancing at his chrono.

Behind them, the distant rumbling grew to a deafening roar as the assault shuttle thundered overhead, mere meters from the top of the forest canopy. It streaked toward the small group of structures and as it came closer, the nose pitched upward, the ship slowed to a hover, and the landing gear came down. It descended adjacent to the largest building in the middle of the street.

The observers raised their binoculars to watch the exercise.

The shuttle's landing ramp was already extending when it began the landing flare. Once the ship had touched down, a squad of soldiers dashed from the cabin, fanning out to cover a perimiter around the shuttle. Carbines at the ready, they began firing the instant they reached their assigned positions, designed to make anyone in the vicinity scramble for cover. The rest of the platoon followed, splitting further into two squads which rushed into the buildings adjacent to the larger structure, and the other squad headed for the building's entranceway.

A cutting torch ripped through the hinges of the durasteel blast door, and two men took position on either side of the doorway, pouring blaster fire inside the entrance. The rest of the squad rushed inside, heading up the stairway to the top floor, toward a replica of a control room with a power generator at its center. A soldier attatched thermal detonators to the generator's surface and armed them, while his comerades covered the doorways. When the last explosive was armed, the men rapidly reversed course, leaving the building and heading for the shuttle.

The rest of the platoon did the same, small groups of men providing covering fire for their escape. The perimiter guards were the last to pile back inside of the ship. The shuttle pilot increased power to the idling ion engines, as the ship leapt into the air and accelerated to full power. Seconds later, the thermal detonators went off, and the top half of the large building vanished in a gigantic fireball.

Fett looked at his chrono again. "2 minutes, 10 seconds. Well below the nominal."

"Your men are most impressive," observed Raptor. "You have trained them well."

"Yes indeed," Gunray added, slowly, "but these structures seem familiar. What sort of mission training is this?"

"A test of our men, and revenge against an old enemy. The building which was destroyed is an exact replica of the shield generator in the city of Theed. My Master has ordered the attack move forward with all due haste."

Gunray was shocked. "But Lord Sidious promised me revenge against the Naboo!"

Raptor turned to face him, his features sneering in contempt beneath the hood. Gunray could not look into the frightful red eyes. "You are an incompetent fool who was defeated by a 14 year old Queen fresh on the throne and a 9 year old slave boy ! You cost my Master an extremely well- trained apprentice. My Master expresses gratitude at your efforts, but says your service is at an end."

Gunray did not see the Sith Lord reach for his lightsaber until it was far too late.