"Master Skywalker, what should we do?" the youngling said.
The shadow of a man merely powered on his lightsaber, and it crashed down on the boy.
Joen woke up startled. It was a horrible dream, a dream of genocide. All of the Jedi, murdered, cut down by a dark force. "The dark side clouds many things today. A talk with Bail will do me good," he said to himself as he got out of bed.
He walked across the room to the private bathroom and turned on the shower. "Haven't had one of these in a while," he said. In all the months on the war front, it was hard to find a good shower.
After hearing of the death of General Grievous, and the end of his own battle on the planet of Cato Neimoidia, he left Master Plo Koon's command. Neimoidia was a mountainous planet with suspension bridges that cross every gap and fog covered valleys beneath them. He was glad to have been ordered to the Utapau system, a similar planet, except instead of high mountains and deep valleys, Utapau had large sinkholes throughout the planet, and, of course, no fog. He was supposed to help in the clean up of Separatist forces after the defeat of Grievous.
As he washed himself he thought about the transmission he got just after he left for Utapau. A message directly from the Jedi Temple telling all Jedi to meet there. He thought it was odd, but followed orders and made his way towards Coruscant, the planet home to the temple, as well as the capital city of the galaxy.
It was in the middle of his trip in which he got another message, this time to stay away from the Jedi Temple. It was because of this message that he was here, at Alderaan, hoping to make some sense of what was going on, and who better to talk to than a senator?
Joen got out of the shower and dried off. He went out to the bedroom and dressed himself in his usual Jedi robes. He grimaced a bit, realizing the smell that must have been coming from the robes which hadn't been cleaned in months. He took them off and looked through the closet, finding some clean clothes to wear, and threw his robes on the bed. Now, instead of the plain Jedi robes he usually wore, he donned dark pants and a sort of sweater tunic, tied at the waist. Over that he wore a long coat, inside of which held his lightsaber.
He stepped out of the room and walked down the hallway. He noticed the distinct Alderaanian architecture. Much like their star ships, they had gleaming white walls that were almost hard to look at in too bright a light.
When he reached the Senator's chamber, he noticed he was not there. Instead, organizing his desk, was Lohlin. "I assume that Bail hasn't returned yet," Joen said.
"It would seem that the emergency on Coruscant has kept him tied up," Lohlin replied in that slurred accent.
"What's happening on Coruscant anyway? I've gotten messages to stay away."
"According to the news bursts, the Jedi have rebelled against the senate, and tried to take over. Its causing much violence in the capital, and Emperor Palpatine has called for all Jedi to be hunted down and charged with treason," Lohlin explained.
He had said it so casually that Joen almost missed it. "Emperor?" he asked.
"Yes. The senate has agreed to create a Galactic Empire in order to maintain the Jedi rebellion and finish the Clone War," Lohlin said.
"So the senate agreed to destroy democracy? Lovely." He looked at Lohlin for a moment and raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to turn me in for treason?"
"Oh I would do no such thing Master Tryker. I know you well enough to realize that you wouldn't rebel against the republic, or try to take over the Senate. If you had wished to hurt or threaten either I or Master Organa, you would have done it by now. Besides, Master Organa sent me a message earlier explaining the whole thing."
"Explaining what thing?" Joen said, confused.
"Master Organa says that the Jedi aren't rebelling at all, but the Emperor has ordered the destruction of the Jedi because he fears they may interfere with his plans to take over the galaxy. It seems your order to stay away from the Jedi Temple was from Master Obi Wan, warning you against an ambush by clone troopers."
"So Obi Wan is alright?"
"Yes. Master Organa has both Master Obi Wan and Master Yoda under his protection. He is transporting them to separate worlds right now, as to lessen the chance they'll be found."
"And the rest of the Jedi?" Joen asked, worried.
"We don't know. Other than you of course," Lohlin replied.
"I suppose I should leave as soon as I talk to Bail. But where should I go? The Repub...the Empire will be hunting me down wherever I go."
"Allow me to ask something Master Tryker. If you were piloting your starfighter against an enemy star ship, say a Republic Attack Cruiser. How would you hide from their radar?"
"Well, I'd probably fly up under them and attach myself to their hull."
Lohlin raises his eyes a moment, and Joen thought. Then he realized what Lohlin meant.
"You think I should go to Coruscant?" Joen was surprised.
"Where better a place to hide than under their noses? They'll search planet after planet, in both the outer and inner parts of the galaxy, but will they look in the depths of Coruscant?"
Lohlin made sense. And if he didn't go for that reason, there may be some Jedi who disregarded, or didn't get the second transmission about staying away from the temple, and they would need help to escape the impending ambush.