7
The Jedi sat within the darkened main hall of the Constantium staring wearily at the flickering Image of Mace Windu and Yoda. The grey glow of the holoprojections glittered silently across their faces.
"A clone, you say?" Windu whispered over the length of thousands of light-years as if someone could hear him." He frowned, glancing over at Yoda who also bore the same expression. "You must realize that we will now have to scrutinize your every move, Anakin. Please take no offense."
"None taken, Master."
"Huge lengths the Sith will go to accomplish their goals," Yoda said, leaning heavily upon his gimer stick.
Obi-Wan clearly noticed the deep stress lines across the Whills face. Age had begun it's torrent on the wise Jedi Master, delvingtime-worn roots into the skin of the being from Grentarik.
"I want you to find a place to hide for the moment. If this Sith clone finds that you all have returned to Coruscant, we will have to prepare for a possible direct attack. With such a revelation, we must be ready for the worst possible outcome. Where is the nearest star system?" Windu asked.
"Considering we're not taking the trade route back to Coruscant," Obi-Wan stated, glancing at the universal holomap he had at his fingertips. "We're closest to the Balmorran System."
Yoda, through the holoprojection set his wrinkled green head upon his gimer stick. "Sufficient, it will be."
"You will wait there until we give further orders."
Without a single acknowledgment of goodbyes, the projection winked out, leaving the five Jedi sitting alone in the darkened room.
Anakin clenched his fists repeatedly, partially to warm them up in the cold vacuum of space, and partially to quell his rage. He hated nothing more than being told to wait when he wanted to take the offensive. As it stood, hiding was never an option in his bank of potential moves. With a large huff, he stood and made his way into the cockpit to redirect the ship to Balmorra.
Obi-Wan leaned against the padded chair and stroked his chin. To his right Afe took a deep breath and removed her air purifying mask to clean her face. As she did so, Obi-Wan was once again taken aback by her beauty. He never had such thoughts when looking at the metallic machine that clung to her face, but when it was removed, his breath grew shallow.
She didn't seem to outwardly notice Obi-Wan's nervous moves as she ran a damp cloth over he face. After a few moments, Obi-Wan took his leave of the situation. As Afe watched his burnt rear disappear through the ship's doorway, she smiled. It was written all over his mental and physical emotions.
How could such an astute member of the Jedi Council have such little control over his emotions, Afe thought.
Ollo ran his finger over the scar on his face after administering the final bacta treatment. It was perfect. There was nothing that separated him from Anakin now. If the Jedi were going to take his Spice trade away from him, He would most definitely retaliate. The time had come for him to fall into the unknown. His wanderings would be seen by the Jedi Council, so he had to use that to his advantage. He would have to do something that would turn everyone against the hero of the force. Ollo surmised that the Council most likely was aware of his existence, and they would be able to tell the difference. His task was not to permeate the Jedi Order, but to bring a sense of shame among them. They would support their "chosen one," but would the Republic? Why should the Republic take the Jedi's word over detailed accounts of a Jedi's attacks on innocent people?. His mission was now to use Anakin's infallible character and Spread accounts of murders and assassinations across the Galaxy. People would soon turn their back on the accused Jedi. But before Ollo would go about his mission, he had something to do. With a few switches of the coordinates, he set course for Coruscant.
The green-brown Planet of Balmorra lurched out at the Constantium as they emerged from hyperspace.
Balmorra, for the most part, was a damp world, filled with countless streams that permeated the towns and mountain ranges. Under most circumstances the population used gondolas to travel between villages and cities. The five Jedi quickly found an area within a canyon on the ship's map.
"There," Obi-Wan pointed, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "It seems to be a small settlement. The smallest on the planet, actually."
Afe took her seat in the rear of the cockpit. "Perhaps with a little luck, we'll be able to pass as commoners."
Obi-Wan looked back at her. "In my line of work, I have come to believe that there is no such thing as luck."
She smiled at his flirting attempts. "Let me rephrase. Perhaps with the will of the force..."
The Constantium fell through the atmosphere like a rock, speeding downward as fast as possible to keep under the radar.
"Anakin, pull up," Obi-Wan stated as calmly as possible, watching a huge rock formation speeding toward them through the viewport. "Pull up, Anakin!"
Anakin grinned, rolling the ship onto its side, missing the canyon's edge by mere meters. Suddenly they were met with fleeting glimpses of wildlife in the forests on upper edges of the canyon. At the center, running parallel through the canyon was a raging river, filled with whitecaps and abundant marine life.
"This is truly a beautiful place," Afe remarked. "The kind of place that makes you want toraise children."
Obi-Wan's eyebrows dropped into a frown. He didn't look back at her, but kept his eyes locked on the river below. A child?
Afe gauged his expression in the force. Though she couldn't see his face, there was a definite flux in his emotions. She smiled.
After a day or so, with appropriate dealings, they purchased a medium sized hovel within the town. As they took their place among Balmorra's population, they took it upon themselves to construct various aliases to conceal their location from any evil eyes.
Anakin took on the name Ansan Cleevon, a variation of his actual first name and complete middle name. Obi-Wan took Ben Cleevon, brother of Ansan. The two children kept their first names and replaced the last with, once again, Cleevon. After much dispute between the Afe and Obi-Wan, Afe took the name Fe'na Cleevon, Ben's loving wife. Obi-Wan acted as if he didn't much care for Afe becoming his wife under the alias, but Afe recognized something quite different from him via the force. His act was not holding up in her mind. In truth, Obi-Wan Kenobi had something of a crush on the Jedi.
(I apologize for the last paragraph. It's a bit crappy. I was tired when I did this, so you'll have to excuse my retarded ramblings. Anyway, please review)!