The Ties That Bind
Chapter 16
They found Master Yoda sitting with Obi-Wan in Yoda's chamber. "Terrible this is," the small Jedi said. He looked as if he'd aged immeasurably in the last hour.
Obi-Wan handed Yoda a small glass, which the Jedi Master took with a nod of thanks. "Do you think it might be a message of some sorts, Master?" Anakin asked as he knelt next to his Master. Padmé sat cross legged next to him and simply listened.
Obi-Wan considered the question carefully, glancing at Yoda, but knew it was his place to answer his padawan. "You may be right, Anakin. But what's the message?"
"Here, they wish us not."
They looked at Yoda. "You mean in the palace, Master Yoda?" asked Obi-Wan, trying to get his mind around that.
Yoda shook his head. "On Naboo."
Anakin sucked in a sharp breath. "But why wait until the Council arrived to-"
Obi-Wan raised a hand and cut him off. "Perhaps it's not the Jedi they object to. Anakin and I were fine until the council arrived, perhaps they simply wish the Masters gone. One way or another."
Anakin's anger flared and he yelled without thinking, "They could have sent a message without killing the Masters!"
"Calm yourself, young one."
The chastising tone in Obi-Wan's voice brought hot color to his cheeks. "I'm sorry, Master," he mumbled, dropping his eyes.
Obi-Wan looked at Yoda. "Anakin has a point for all his lack of tact in saying it. I don't think it's simply a message. I believe this is an attack on the Order. A declaration of War."
Yoda was silent for long moments, his eyes closed. Padmé shifted her seat, and opened her mouth to speak after a few minutes of silence. Had the oldest Master fallen asleep? Her jaw snapped shut as Yoda opened his eyes again, looking weary. "Fallen, another has. Right, I think you are, Obi-Wan. Powerful this enemy is."
"Master Yoda." Padmé drew everyone's gaze as she spoke. "For someone to be able to get close to a Jedi Master, what would it take? I know you can sense danger, but in the garden the other evening Anakin didn't sense anything when the assassin tried to kill him with a vibro-knife. It seems to be their weapon of choice, but what would it take to cloak yourself so completely from a Jedi?"
"Sith powers." Obi-Wan shook his head, "I thought we'd seen the last with Darth Maul."
"Always two there are, Obi-Wan."
He sighed. "I guess that means the last 9 years have been productive for the one we missed."
"Hiding a Force signature, a Jedi technique it is. The control to master it, the Sith lack." Master Yoda looked curiously at Padmé. "Tell us this, you did not."
She blushed. "I'm sorry, Master Yoda, but we were going to and then the assassin tried to kill Anakin and he went into that state..." she trailed off. "You had to heal him and it just slipped my mind. I didn't even think about it again until now."
"Master Yoda, are you saying that another Jedi, not a Sith, is making these kills?"
"Possible, it is Obi-Wan. Happens it does, corruption on the council. Infallible we are not."
Obi-Wan inclined his head to the small Master. "So if this is a Jedi trick, it's a very powerful Jedi."
Yoda nodded. "Perhaps more than one."
Anakin's head sharply came up as if pulled by a string. "More than one? You're saying there might be a bunch of assassins who have the same technique?"
Yoda's smile was faint. "I said not that."
"Then what do you mean, Master?"
Yoda held up his hand, "Know you of the Battle meld?"
Obi-Wan's eyebrows rose. "The Jedi meld? Isn't it a lost art?"
Yoda shook his head. "Lost, no. Difficult to learn, yes. Channeling the power of other Jedi, it allows. Dangerous a Jedi is with this power."
"So you're saying the Jedi may be using the Force, but not exsist in the Force?" Anakin was confused. "How is that possible, Master?"
"Requires fine control it does. Focus. Lack this, do you young padawan."
Anakin flushed, his gaze going back to the carpet. Control had never been his forte.
Obi-Wan hid a grin. Yoda could always put Anakin in his place with a comment. He really had to learn that trick. "Who in the order has the control, Master? And of the lost 20?"
Yoda thought back, pulling memories from his mind like flower petals. Slowly he shook his head. "This, I do not know. Have control all Jedi must."
"But control enough to muffle the deaths of 5, possibly 6, Jedi Masters?"
Yoda nodded. "Muffle or delay yes. In the future, a disturbance we will feel."
Anakin shivered. He hated those. They ran up your spine like crawlers and turned your insides upside down. It was like getting a disturbing vision. They were never good. "Masters?"
The two older Jedi turned to look at the young man.
"Anakin licked his lips, not daring a glance at Padmé. He could feel her surprise as she understood what he was going to ask. "I was told by the end of this week I was to be taking my trials. Could this be a way of forcing me to take them? Of pushing me quickly towards the goal of an unknown adversary?"
Both Jedi looked surprised by his conclusion. "So sure, you are. About you this is?"
"I was the first target, Master Yoda. I survived both attempts on my life thanks to Padmé. Without her I would never have known I was in danger until it was too late. Whoever is set on killing Jedi knows what they're doing. I can't see a mere apprentice having the kind of control, even though a meld, that this would take. I would say a Master had to be involved directly. My only question is why."
They were silent for long moments. "Meditate I will. Obi-Wan, a scout you will be. Find clues. Bring the assassin to us, you must."
Obi-Wan rose to his feet and bowed to the Jedi Master, Anakin and Padmé close on his heels, and then left the room.
Behind them, Yoda closed his eyes and sat back in his chair wearily. Whatever was happening, they had to get to the bottom of it quickly. There were not enough Jedi Masters left to withstand another silent attack like this.
In the bowels of the Palace the silent shadow stepped into the light. A black mask covered her face again, her green eyes darting left and right. She was alone once again. Beneath the mask, her cold smile curved her lips. The night had been profitable. Six Jedi lay dead; six council members who could no longer threaten her Master's plans. Her strides sure and strong, purposeful, she crossed the room to the main power generators. Reserve generators, she corrected herself silently. With the hydro-power being stored in these generators, and powering the city and palace, there was an excess of energy. One she could end with a thrust of a lighsaber if she chose. However, a lightsaber wasn't something that could be easily concealed. She hadn't brought hers along anyway.
She knelt next to the generator and ran her hands over the protective shielding, feeling pins and needles run up her arms as she searched for the switches. She found them half way down and checked around her. Nothing. She was still alone. Sliding onto her back, she lay against the side of the generator, allowing her body to slowly absorb the energy from the field. The energy coiled inside her, ready to break free, but she held it in check. She pulled a lock picking set from her belt and carefully opened the access hatch to the field controls. The field was quickly extinguished and she paused to take a breath. Dropping the tools, she placed both of her hands, palms down, against the backup generators and closed her eyes. The energy she'd taken into her body poured out into the durasteel, weakening the metal and contaminating the energy inside. The molecular structure of the steel began to shift. Slowly the process, she encouraged it to hold, to keep its integrity for a few days.
Carefully reengaging the field, she slipped back. Her Master would be expecting a report any minute. It was time to speak with him again. Pushing herself to her feet, she carefully dusted off her clothing and then pulled a dust pouch from her pocket. Emptying the contents over where she'd been, she carefully spread them to cover any trace that she'd been there. She was shaking by the time she'd completed her task. Maintaining a complete mental, physical and emotional block from the Jedi, especially the more powerful Jedi, was a trick that took its toll after hours of use. She'd have to channel her Master's energy to maintain her carefully cultivated mental shields while she slept.
Stepping away from the generator, she moved back into the shadows and crossed quickly through a couple of room, finally coming to a storage bunker. She slipped to the left, counted off a dozen paces and then double-checked that she was not only alone, but that no security cameras could catch her progress. No, she'd done her job well. No one would catch her. Turning to the wall, she pressed a series of bricks in a quick pattern. She had ten seconds to depress twenty different bricks in sequence. If she failed to enter the correct code, the system would destroy itself. There was no noise as a panel slid open, her activation code accepted, revealing a plexi-glass surface. Pulling off her glove, she placed her palm against it. A half second later she removed it and the panel slid shut. That too, had been accepted. Placing her face against the wall, two tiny laser beams appeared, reading her retina. They disappeared after two seconds of gathering data.
She waited patiently, tapping her fingers against her thigh. For a couple of moments nothing happened and then the panel opened again, revealing a comm. unit, its screen blank as it waited for her voice print. She leaned forward, tugging the mask upwards to just under her nose. Her lips were full, a glossy pink one would never associate with a cold-blooded killer. When she played on men's passions it worked best to her advantage. She licked her lips before saying softly. "Mission Accomplished." Her voice was low, husky with a clipped speech pattern that indicated an upper class Coruscant education.
She pulled the mask back down as the screen winked to life. A tiny image of a wizened old man appeared, his cowl pulled low over his face and hiding all but his lips. She inclined her head. "Master."
"Your report."
She allowed herself a smile behind the mask. "I successfully managed to eliminate six of the nine Jedi Council members. As per your orders they were killed through conventional methods. Their deaths will cause a disturbance in the force sometime tomorrow. They were the lower ranking masters, as you wished."
He chuckled softly, the sound like cracking ice. "Good, good. You have done well, my young apprentice. And the boy?"
She grimaced behind the mask. "He lives."
"He may become useful to me, cease your attempts on his life."
She inclined her head. "Yes, Master. What would you have me do about Jedi Kenobi and the other Masters?"
He paused, and she felt a sliver of fear run down her spine. Even now she was channeling his energy and could feel his surge of annoyance at being questioned. But she had to know if she'd be called upon to do more killing. She had to prepare herself mentally for the task if she was to go after Yoda. "Leave them. The Jedi will soon depart to lick their wounds and replace their dead masters on the council. I want Skywalker to have taken his trials by then."
She blinked. "I don't understand."
He cackled. "He must fail his trials, my pet. He must give in to his darker feelings, be willing to strike out at the person closest to him."
"The former Queen," the words were a hiss on her tongue. "She has been the deciding factor in each of my attempts on his life."
"As she will be when he takes his trials. Capture her, kill her, I don't care which, but do not fail me again."
She inclined her head. "Yes Master. Do you have a preference?"
He paused. "Alive, she will be leverage, dead she is enough to send Skywalker to me in the proper mental shape."
"Dead. Yes Master."
An evil smile formed on his lips. "Report to me when you have accomplished your task."
She inclined her head as the image winked out and stared silently at the spot for a long moment. Turning on her heel, she made her way through the corridors and stealthily climbed back to her chambers. Tomorrow she had to find a way to divert Skywalker and kill the woman. Tomorrow would be fast in coming and hold her greatest challenge. Silently, she crawled into bed, reinforced her mental shields and closed her eyes. Softly, in the darkness before she drifted off to sleep, her lips moved and the whispered words came back to her. "I will not fail you again... Father."
Chapter 16
They found Master Yoda sitting with Obi-Wan in Yoda's chamber. "Terrible this is," the small Jedi said. He looked as if he'd aged immeasurably in the last hour.
Obi-Wan handed Yoda a small glass, which the Jedi Master took with a nod of thanks. "Do you think it might be a message of some sorts, Master?" Anakin asked as he knelt next to his Master. Padmé sat cross legged next to him and simply listened.
Obi-Wan considered the question carefully, glancing at Yoda, but knew it was his place to answer his padawan. "You may be right, Anakin. But what's the message?"
"Here, they wish us not."
They looked at Yoda. "You mean in the palace, Master Yoda?" asked Obi-Wan, trying to get his mind around that.
Yoda shook his head. "On Naboo."
Anakin sucked in a sharp breath. "But why wait until the Council arrived to-"
Obi-Wan raised a hand and cut him off. "Perhaps it's not the Jedi they object to. Anakin and I were fine until the council arrived, perhaps they simply wish the Masters gone. One way or another."
Anakin's anger flared and he yelled without thinking, "They could have sent a message without killing the Masters!"
"Calm yourself, young one."
The chastising tone in Obi-Wan's voice brought hot color to his cheeks. "I'm sorry, Master," he mumbled, dropping his eyes.
Obi-Wan looked at Yoda. "Anakin has a point for all his lack of tact in saying it. I don't think it's simply a message. I believe this is an attack on the Order. A declaration of War."
Yoda was silent for long moments, his eyes closed. Padmé shifted her seat, and opened her mouth to speak after a few minutes of silence. Had the oldest Master fallen asleep? Her jaw snapped shut as Yoda opened his eyes again, looking weary. "Fallen, another has. Right, I think you are, Obi-Wan. Powerful this enemy is."
"Master Yoda." Padmé drew everyone's gaze as she spoke. "For someone to be able to get close to a Jedi Master, what would it take? I know you can sense danger, but in the garden the other evening Anakin didn't sense anything when the assassin tried to kill him with a vibro-knife. It seems to be their weapon of choice, but what would it take to cloak yourself so completely from a Jedi?"
"Sith powers." Obi-Wan shook his head, "I thought we'd seen the last with Darth Maul."
"Always two there are, Obi-Wan."
He sighed. "I guess that means the last 9 years have been productive for the one we missed."
"Hiding a Force signature, a Jedi technique it is. The control to master it, the Sith lack." Master Yoda looked curiously at Padmé. "Tell us this, you did not."
She blushed. "I'm sorry, Master Yoda, but we were going to and then the assassin tried to kill Anakin and he went into that state..." she trailed off. "You had to heal him and it just slipped my mind. I didn't even think about it again until now."
"Master Yoda, are you saying that another Jedi, not a Sith, is making these kills?"
"Possible, it is Obi-Wan. Happens it does, corruption on the council. Infallible we are not."
Obi-Wan inclined his head to the small Master. "So if this is a Jedi trick, it's a very powerful Jedi."
Yoda nodded. "Perhaps more than one."
Anakin's head sharply came up as if pulled by a string. "More than one? You're saying there might be a bunch of assassins who have the same technique?"
Yoda's smile was faint. "I said not that."
"Then what do you mean, Master?"
Yoda held up his hand, "Know you of the Battle meld?"
Obi-Wan's eyebrows rose. "The Jedi meld? Isn't it a lost art?"
Yoda shook his head. "Lost, no. Difficult to learn, yes. Channeling the power of other Jedi, it allows. Dangerous a Jedi is with this power."
"So you're saying the Jedi may be using the Force, but not exsist in the Force?" Anakin was confused. "How is that possible, Master?"
"Requires fine control it does. Focus. Lack this, do you young padawan."
Anakin flushed, his gaze going back to the carpet. Control had never been his forte.
Obi-Wan hid a grin. Yoda could always put Anakin in his place with a comment. He really had to learn that trick. "Who in the order has the control, Master? And of the lost 20?"
Yoda thought back, pulling memories from his mind like flower petals. Slowly he shook his head. "This, I do not know. Have control all Jedi must."
"But control enough to muffle the deaths of 5, possibly 6, Jedi Masters?"
Yoda nodded. "Muffle or delay yes. In the future, a disturbance we will feel."
Anakin shivered. He hated those. They ran up your spine like crawlers and turned your insides upside down. It was like getting a disturbing vision. They were never good. "Masters?"
The two older Jedi turned to look at the young man.
"Anakin licked his lips, not daring a glance at Padmé. He could feel her surprise as she understood what he was going to ask. "I was told by the end of this week I was to be taking my trials. Could this be a way of forcing me to take them? Of pushing me quickly towards the goal of an unknown adversary?"
Both Jedi looked surprised by his conclusion. "So sure, you are. About you this is?"
"I was the first target, Master Yoda. I survived both attempts on my life thanks to Padmé. Without her I would never have known I was in danger until it was too late. Whoever is set on killing Jedi knows what they're doing. I can't see a mere apprentice having the kind of control, even though a meld, that this would take. I would say a Master had to be involved directly. My only question is why."
They were silent for long moments. "Meditate I will. Obi-Wan, a scout you will be. Find clues. Bring the assassin to us, you must."
Obi-Wan rose to his feet and bowed to the Jedi Master, Anakin and Padmé close on his heels, and then left the room.
Behind them, Yoda closed his eyes and sat back in his chair wearily. Whatever was happening, they had to get to the bottom of it quickly. There were not enough Jedi Masters left to withstand another silent attack like this.
In the bowels of the Palace the silent shadow stepped into the light. A black mask covered her face again, her green eyes darting left and right. She was alone once again. Beneath the mask, her cold smile curved her lips. The night had been profitable. Six Jedi lay dead; six council members who could no longer threaten her Master's plans. Her strides sure and strong, purposeful, she crossed the room to the main power generators. Reserve generators, she corrected herself silently. With the hydro-power being stored in these generators, and powering the city and palace, there was an excess of energy. One she could end with a thrust of a lighsaber if she chose. However, a lightsaber wasn't something that could be easily concealed. She hadn't brought hers along anyway.
She knelt next to the generator and ran her hands over the protective shielding, feeling pins and needles run up her arms as she searched for the switches. She found them half way down and checked around her. Nothing. She was still alone. Sliding onto her back, she lay against the side of the generator, allowing her body to slowly absorb the energy from the field. The energy coiled inside her, ready to break free, but she held it in check. She pulled a lock picking set from her belt and carefully opened the access hatch to the field controls. The field was quickly extinguished and she paused to take a breath. Dropping the tools, she placed both of her hands, palms down, against the backup generators and closed her eyes. The energy she'd taken into her body poured out into the durasteel, weakening the metal and contaminating the energy inside. The molecular structure of the steel began to shift. Slowly the process, she encouraged it to hold, to keep its integrity for a few days.
Carefully reengaging the field, she slipped back. Her Master would be expecting a report any minute. It was time to speak with him again. Pushing herself to her feet, she carefully dusted off her clothing and then pulled a dust pouch from her pocket. Emptying the contents over where she'd been, she carefully spread them to cover any trace that she'd been there. She was shaking by the time she'd completed her task. Maintaining a complete mental, physical and emotional block from the Jedi, especially the more powerful Jedi, was a trick that took its toll after hours of use. She'd have to channel her Master's energy to maintain her carefully cultivated mental shields while she slept.
Stepping away from the generator, she moved back into the shadows and crossed quickly through a couple of room, finally coming to a storage bunker. She slipped to the left, counted off a dozen paces and then double-checked that she was not only alone, but that no security cameras could catch her progress. No, she'd done her job well. No one would catch her. Turning to the wall, she pressed a series of bricks in a quick pattern. She had ten seconds to depress twenty different bricks in sequence. If she failed to enter the correct code, the system would destroy itself. There was no noise as a panel slid open, her activation code accepted, revealing a plexi-glass surface. Pulling off her glove, she placed her palm against it. A half second later she removed it and the panel slid shut. That too, had been accepted. Placing her face against the wall, two tiny laser beams appeared, reading her retina. They disappeared after two seconds of gathering data.
She waited patiently, tapping her fingers against her thigh. For a couple of moments nothing happened and then the panel opened again, revealing a comm. unit, its screen blank as it waited for her voice print. She leaned forward, tugging the mask upwards to just under her nose. Her lips were full, a glossy pink one would never associate with a cold-blooded killer. When she played on men's passions it worked best to her advantage. She licked her lips before saying softly. "Mission Accomplished." Her voice was low, husky with a clipped speech pattern that indicated an upper class Coruscant education.
She pulled the mask back down as the screen winked to life. A tiny image of a wizened old man appeared, his cowl pulled low over his face and hiding all but his lips. She inclined her head. "Master."
"Your report."
She allowed herself a smile behind the mask. "I successfully managed to eliminate six of the nine Jedi Council members. As per your orders they were killed through conventional methods. Their deaths will cause a disturbance in the force sometime tomorrow. They were the lower ranking masters, as you wished."
He chuckled softly, the sound like cracking ice. "Good, good. You have done well, my young apprentice. And the boy?"
She grimaced behind the mask. "He lives."
"He may become useful to me, cease your attempts on his life."
She inclined her head. "Yes, Master. What would you have me do about Jedi Kenobi and the other Masters?"
He paused, and she felt a sliver of fear run down her spine. Even now she was channeling his energy and could feel his surge of annoyance at being questioned. But she had to know if she'd be called upon to do more killing. She had to prepare herself mentally for the task if she was to go after Yoda. "Leave them. The Jedi will soon depart to lick their wounds and replace their dead masters on the council. I want Skywalker to have taken his trials by then."
She blinked. "I don't understand."
He cackled. "He must fail his trials, my pet. He must give in to his darker feelings, be willing to strike out at the person closest to him."
"The former Queen," the words were a hiss on her tongue. "She has been the deciding factor in each of my attempts on his life."
"As she will be when he takes his trials. Capture her, kill her, I don't care which, but do not fail me again."
She inclined her head. "Yes Master. Do you have a preference?"
He paused. "Alive, she will be leverage, dead she is enough to send Skywalker to me in the proper mental shape."
"Dead. Yes Master."
An evil smile formed on his lips. "Report to me when you have accomplished your task."
She inclined her head as the image winked out and stared silently at the spot for a long moment. Turning on her heel, she made her way through the corridors and stealthily climbed back to her chambers. Tomorrow she had to find a way to divert Skywalker and kill the woman. Tomorrow would be fast in coming and hold her greatest challenge. Silently, she crawled into bed, reinforced her mental shields and closed her eyes. Softly, in the darkness before she drifted off to sleep, her lips moved and the whispered words came back to her. "I will not fail you again... Father."