The few Jedi gathered in the Council Chamber on Coruscant sat silently. Mace Windu's grave voice cut in on the solemn moment. "We need to know what's happening in the Yavin System. And find out what these slave traders are up to."
"Agree, I must," Yoda said. "Few days, since they arrived there." Yoda looked at the ten others in the eye before turning to lock his gaze with Mace Windu.
"I'll check it out," Mace stated, calmly. "I'll take my Padawan and we'll leave immediately."
"Find what you will, Master Windu." Mace gave a regal nod. "May the Force be with you," Yoda added, and the phrase was echoed around the chamber.
He pulled his cloak around his shoulders to fend off the rain. Barely able to see four metres away, Mace stood at the Jedi Landing Platform, waiting for his apprentice to show up. The Mon Calamari came scurrying through the pelting rain with the figure of Ki-Adi-Mundi following him.
"May the Force be with you," he said as the two came within earshot of Mace.
"May the Force be with you," Mace replied. He nodded slightly and climbed aboard the ship behind his apprentice.
Yoda lifted his beady eyes up to look at Even Piell walking into the Jedi Training room. "Do you know what the slavers are up to, Master?" Piell asked as he stopped walking to stand in front of the small Jedi Master.
"Unsure, I am."
Piell removed his outer cloak and sat, cross-legged, opposite Yoda. "What's happened?"
"Pain, I feel. Sadness. Anger."
"Situated around whom?"
"A woman," Yoda replied. "She is in pain."
"From?"
"A boy, I see. She has been taken and the boy has been left. Terrible danger, the boy is in."
Mace Windu looked over to his apprentice. "Johannes, we're here." The Mon Calamari looked up at the Jedi Master with eyes wide. Without saying a thing, he got up and followed Mace down the ramp of their ship.
Yavin IV was peaceful. Mace and Johannes lock gaze and made their way to the ruin. Johannes ran his hand along the cold stone of the first building as they entered.
"Master, what happened here?"
"It's the remains of a Jedi Temple. It was destroyed during the Sith Wars," Mace replied. "No one has stepped onto this moon's surface for a millennia."
"Until now."
"We must find the boy, before it's too late," Mace whispered.
"What boy?"
"Master Yoda told me that there is a boy here. That boy is in danger."
"In how much danger?"
"In enough danger that if we don't find him before they do, we'll pay for it with our lives. The slavers are hunting for him. And if they find out we're here, they'll hunt for us too." Mace looked at his apprentice. "We must be extra careful. We don't know how dangerous these slavers can be. They could be relentless."
"I know, Master," Johannes replied. "We need to thoroughly search this place." He started by beginning walking a perimeter around the ruins.
It was five hours later when Mace and Johannes came upon the third ruin. So far, they hadn't found a trace of the child. They had found hints of the slavers and tracks leading in all directions.
"I feel we are getting close," Mace whispered as they neared the ruin.
"There is a disturbance here, Master," Johannes whispered back. "There is a mixture of Light and Dark, more concentrated than in the other ruins."
"This was the main stronghold of the Sith. Many Sith died here, as well as Jedi. The main part of the Wars took place on this spot."
Johannes' sensitive ears picked up a small whimper in the eerie silence.
"He's here, Master," he said. "I can hear him." Johannes scanned the ruins carefully. He noted a small overhanging which could hide a child. Though he kept his eyes darting back to the overhanging, he continued his scan of the ruins. Johannes headed over to the overhanging. Bending down, he found the child tucked away underneath. "I found him, Master. He's here."
Mace had his lightsaber in his hand. Without thumbing it on, he mouthed the word 'go' to his apprentice. Johannes, sensing danger, gathered the child into his arms and ran into the forest. Mace watched the Mon Calamari disappear; he then turned with quick reflexes and blocked blaster fire directed at him.
Mace stood with his arms folded inside his cloak. He had distracted the attention of the slavers from the boy and Johannes. Being searched several times, Mace felt incomplete without his lightsaber. The dark eyes darted around the camp. His gaze fell on one young woman. She's Force sensitive.
Mace approached the woman. He placed his hand on her shoulder. She started. "I'm sorry," he said. The muddy face was fearful. Mace smile slightly and his eyes showed compassion.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Mace Windu."
"You're a Jedi?" Mace nodded. He sat down beside her. "Have you come to save me?"
"Not exactly. I'm a prisoner here, too."
The woman burst into tears. "I don't want them to find him."
"Whom?"
"My baby. I hid him."
"My apprentice found him and hopefully he has escaped with the child."
"Is he to be a Jedi?"
Mace nodded, again. "The Force is strong in him."
"I know. I knew what I was facing and didn't want him to be this. He deserves better than a slave's life."
Mace shifted his gaze around the camp. This is going to be a long confinement. There were guards everywhere!
Johannes sat in the cockpit of the small ship with the baby boy nestled in one of his arms. His Master had not returned yet and he felt he needed to go. He managed to turn the engines on with one hand, but flying would be a little more difficult. Quickly moving to place the babe on a cot, Johannes moved back to the cockpit.
He needed to get out and he was leaving his Master behind. Think of the child first, he kept telling himself. Master Windu knows what he's doing. Johannes was thankful he was no followed or tracked as he blasted his way to Coruscant.
Blaster fire was shot as Johannes lifted off in his Jedi Ship. Several slavers burst into the small clearing, all armed and aimed at the ship. But there was nothing they could have done. The boy had escaped in the hands of the Jedi.
The leader cursed. Knowing that he had to take sole responsibility for this, he indicated to his men to go back to camp.
He was the last one back. Caption came over to him. "You had trouble with the other Jedi?"
"Yes, sir. He got away, sir."
"What about the boy?"
"With the boy, sir."
Caption cursed at him and spat into his face. "Do you know how important that child is?" Caption finally yelled at him.
"No, sir."
Mace turned his head and tried not to listen to any more. Tears came to his eyes as he looked at the peaceful face of the woman asleep a few feet from him. His apprentice had escaped with the child, and the child was still in danger.
He froze. Listening harder, he must have been mistaken. "—Darth Sidious. He will be—" Darth Sidious? Who in the galaxy is he?
Johannes landed the craft with grace on Coruscant. Picking up the crying child, he rocked him back and forth. He walked down the ramp of the ship and was greeted by Qui-Gon Jinn.
"Master Yoda has a class at the moment. Where is Master Windu?"
"He was taken, by the slavers." Johannes' sharp eyes darted to the teenaged boy behind Qui-Gon. "I need to speak with the Council immediately."
Yoda plodded along with his cane with Master Eeth Koth when Obi-Wan came looking for them.
"Master Yoda, Master Koth," Obi-Wan said, bowing.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi," Eeth acknowledged the fourteen-year-old. "What's troubling you?"
"Johannes has returned from his mission and has requested an audience of the Council. Master Qui-Gon and I met him at the landing bay. He appeared distraught."
Johannes stood in the middle of the Council Chamber with the babe he had rescued in his arms. One seat remained vacant. He winched. That seat belongs to Master Windu, he thought to himself. The Mon Calamari blinked and looked down at the child in his arms.
"We arrived on the surface of the fourth moon of the Yavin System. I knew something was troubling Master Windu, but wasn't sure what. As we entered the first ruin, I felt a disturbance in the Force. Master Windu told me we had to find the child at all costs.
"It took us five hours to search the first two ruins and reach the third. I heard him whimper softly. It was hard to distinguish individual Force presences, as there was a higher concentration of Light and Dark Forces in the ruin itself.
"I found the boy hidden underneath a small outcrop of stone. As I looked back over my shoulder, Master mouthed the word 'go' at me. I knew I had to get the child out of there. I picked him up and ran, leaving Master Windu to fight off our attackers. I don't know what happened to him. All I know is that I barely escaped with my life, and the life of the child." Johannes' dark eyes scanned the faces of the Jedi Masters, letting his news sink in. "Did I do the right thing?"
"The safety of the child, your mind was on," Yoda replied, his green head nodding. "Master Windu knew his job, and did it well."
"We are leaving him to the slavers then, Master?"
"If we have to, yes," Ki-Adi-Mundi answered. "Master Windu will find a way out."
Tears pooled in the back of Johannes' eyes. Master, he whispered in the Force.
"Not leave him, we will," Yoda said.
Johannes nodded slowly, a smile playing at his lips.
"Who, then, is this child?" another of the council members asked.
"That, my friend, is what we have to find out."
Mace sat alone in his cell. He pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders. Leaning back against the wall, he closed his eyes. Four walls and a door. Nothing spectacular. Running a hand over his dark scalp, Mace knew he'd been in worse situations.
He reached out to the Force and focused it finely. There was no better time than now to meditate.
Food was brought to him a few hours later. Mace was grateful for the decency of these slavers, even if they were ruthless to humanity.
It was the second meal of the day and Mace knew his body was telling him it was evening. Taking the dry bread, Mace dipped it into the cylinder of clear water, trying to soften it so it could be edible.
"Thank you," he said to the guard as he walked out the door. Mace got no reply. He placed the semi-soft bread in his mouth and swallowed. He quickly competed the rest of the meal. Lying back on the wooden slab, his mind wandered to the young woman. Where is she? Nobody deserves this.
She cowered in the corner of the room. Tears trickled down her cheeks as the figure loomed overhead. She moved with the blow as he struck her across the cheek. Her cheek stung painfully, and she glanced back up at her tormentor.
"Where is he?"
Sealing her lips, the woman looked away. Nobody will take her child from the Jedi. It is his destiny to be a Jedi. Blocking out her tormentor's face, she closed her eyes and thought of her family. Her father had been a Jedi—and had been expelled for being 'attached', to her mother.
He hit her again. "Tell me!!" he screamed at her. The muddy brown eyes looked up at him, daring him to hit her again. She knew they couldn't get anything useful from her. "Where is your son?" the interrogator spat into her face. If she answered now, she knew she'd reveal something, but any longer, she knew she would crack. "I am not going to ask again. I'm getting tired of waiting. Tell me where he is!"