DRESSING ROOM - 30 MINUTES LATER

Rummaging through the piles of fabric, Anakin finally found what he was looking for - a dark green woman's dance costume. Taking care not to touch it, he backed away.

"Artoo," he called. The compact droid obediently wheeled over. "Take this to a medical technician droid. Ask him to analyze it for traces of Hirtii. When you are finished, have your coverings washed thoroughly." Whistling his understanding, Artoo extended his mechanical arm, taking the sequined fabric from the pile and zipped away.

Taking a deep breath, Anakin took another look around the room, but nothing seemed to be out of place. Suddenly, his senses went on full alert, just as a laser blast came out of nowhere, nearly striking him in the arm. Activating his lightsaber, he turned and blocked the next shot, which had been aimed at his head. The next blast came straight at him but he was able to deflect it and sent it shooting back at his attacker. There was a cascade of sparks and a sound of tearing metal before everything was quiet.

Holding his weapon in front of him, Anakin approached the ruined droid cautiously. It was nearly unrecognizable - a pile of charred metal and singed wires. However, upon close inspection he could see the symbol of the Courscant School of Arts and Entertainment emblazened on a blackened cover. He sighed. He had been hoping he'd just killed the last of the assassination droids. He turned off his lightsaber and returned it to its hiding place in his boot. Looking up, he saw someone rushing towards him. He recognized her as the woman who had been sitting at the registration desk that first day.

"Master Kaide!" she called, frantic. "We have a malfunctioning security droid! Please be careful!"

"You mean this one?" he replied, nudging it with his boot.

"Oh my heavens!" she cried, her hands flying to her mouth. "It tried to attack you? Thank the stars you are all right!"

Anakin moved aside as she crouched next to the smoldering heap.

"I don't know what happened," she sputtered. "We've never had this problem before. What a disaster! Please, let me call the medical center. We should get you looked over."

"I'm fine," Anakin assured her. "But I should return to the medical center to see my partner."

"Oh yes," the woman fretted. "We are so glad to hear that Miss Liri is going to be okay. We were dreadfully worried."

Catching sight of the other program directors as they sprinted around the corner, Anakin made a hasty escape. He wanted to get back to Padme and see if the medical droid had found any Hirtii on that costume.

Please, he begged silently. Let the pieces of this puzzle start to fall into place.

MEDICAL CENTER

As he hurried down the hallway, Anakin could hear Padme's voice as she spoke animatedly to C-3PO.

"We really got first place?" the smile in her words was evident. "That's amazing!"

"Oh yes," the droid responded. "You were the clear cut winners."

"So," Padme continued. "What dance do we have to learn this week?"

"It's a dance called the Shahyo-" The rest of Threepio's sentence was cut off as Anakin entered the room.

"We're not participating," his words hung in the air.

"What?" Padme cried. "I'm fine - the doctor said I could start practing tomorrow."

"Look," Anakin tried to reason. "Someone put Hirtii - a substance you are deathly allergic to - on a costume in your dressing room. Clearly, we aren't as safe here as we thought. We have to take more precautions."

He could see the frustration building on Padme's face. Before she could open her mouth to argue, a brown droid technician zipped into the room, followed closely by a squeaky clean Artoo.

"I have completed the test of the costume found in Mistress Liri's dressing room," its voice intoned. "There were no traces of Hirtii."

With a grim look on his face, Anakin asked, "What about the costume she wore last night?"

The droid responded, "Also negative. It appears Mistress Liri came into contact with it from an unknown source - most likely from another contestant. I will issue an alert banning Hirtii from the building."

With that, the droid left the room.

Clenching his fists, Anakin muttered, "Something doesn't feel right. I was sure that green costume was the key."

Reaching for his hand, Padme pulled him close. "You're just doing your job, my handsome protector. Now, relax. You heard what he said - it was just an unfortunate accident. Let's see about getting me out of this place. We've got a dance to learn."

Kissing the top of her head, Anakin tried to relax, but the questions continued to swirl in his mind.

CONTROL CENTER

Scanning the main computer, the mysterious droid checked on the status of the patient in Room 238A. Stable. Rechecking the computer's calculations, he was startled when they came up the same. Stable. Commencing an internal scan, his programming once again told him that the Hirtii should have caused the woman's death.

Resetting his system, he started to input his latest actions into his internal log. Recording quickly, he noted how he had reprogrammed the security droid to attack the dressing room, thereby distracting the Jedi and other personnel while he accessed the School's main control system. From there he had been able to override the technical droid's system and commanded it to ignore all traces of Hirtii. He couldn't afford the Jedi to know he was here until his mission was complete. He needed more time.

A message flashed through the droid's memory system as the restart was completed... Implementing secondary protocol...