-Short term captivity! After the capture of escapee Ahsoka Tano, the Jedi Council is still undecided, what following action to take. Soon Admiral Tarkin adds another variable to the case, asks that the Council expel Tano from the Order so she could be charged by a Military Tribunal. What kind of integrity will the Order maintain on judgement day? -
Chapter 10. True identity
About 4:30 at night. The second part of the night is already in full throttle. Having obtained their target, Jedi Masters Anakin Skywalker and Plo Koon flew back to the Jedi Temple. There the two split up. Koon went back to the Council chamber, since he was a Council representative, while Anakin Skywalker took Ahsoka Tano with him and 4 Temple guards to a safe room. Koon repeated the same thing that Mace Windu and Yoda stated to Anakin on their flight back.
"Whatever you do, Skywalker, do not let her leave the Temple. The Council must decide on further actions without her escaping again."
Anakin Skywalker nodded to the Kel Dorian. He was not the wisest, but he understood the sleight that all 3 Masters took at his 'disobedience' record. Why the Grand Master of the Council decided to give a personally involved Chosen One this task? That was a mystery, which did not stop with one Jedi Master on the Council. Of course, disputing his wishes was seen as either an act of ignorance or irrationality, the green skinned being did outlive every member by quite a margin. Pretty much they attributed this resolution to a cryptic idea, which most likely had the best wishes of the Order in mind. Ahsoka Tano's escorting was noticed by Hector, who in a very short time sneaked towards the shadows of one of the halls and activated his communicator. Oswald Menson was enjoying a much needed rest in his quarters; the assumed arrival of new material form the Force was proven to be correct. However, the nature of the Force signals was strange. It almost seemed that it was pointing to something obvious and unobvious at the same time, this, quite understandably, frustrated Oswald. How can something be of two opposite natures?
"Ok, ok. Think, think. What is the most likely of answers?" – The Padawan asked himself in the dream world.
After a quarter of an hour he came to a conclusion. It stated – the Force's signs were pointing towards something very important that he missed in the recent past.
"This could be the true criminal."
Without going any further into it, his huge communicator intercepted an incoming signal. Suddenly the blue haired human woke up and swiftly answered the call.
"Yes."
"It's me."
He recognized the caller's identity.
"What did you want to tell me?"
"Movement, when it comes to Ahsoka Tano."
A spark appeared in the Padawan's eyes.
"Go on."
"She has been captured by the Jedi and is now being lead to safe room within the Temple. This is a great opportunity for you do something astonishing. Just be quick about it."
"I assume you sense the fragileness of the current state?"
"Indeed."
"Alright then. Until next time."
"Goodbye."
The signal goes dead. Oswald couldn't believe his luck with the current news. His close friend & peer is within the same building as him. Who knew this would be such a rare occasion just 24 hours ago? The Padawan started to prepare himself for a departure. Sleep now had to be tossed out of the window; the salvation of a fond person was the 'new guy'.
30 minutes later. By this time, the Council had finished their conversation with Admiral Tarkin. His suggestion, which really was an ultimatum at its core, sparkled a bit of a debate between the Council members. Only Obi Wan remained firmly in Ahsoka's camp, the rest were silently or openly in Tarkin's camp. Master Yoda relayed an order to Anakin Skywalker. Its content – arrive with Ahsoka at the Chamber of Judgement.
"Yes, Master Yoda. We're on our way."
The strong Force sensitive looked over to his left and saw his Padawan with a lowered head, in severe sadness.
"Come on, Ahsoka. The Council wants our presence at the Chamber of Judgement."
"Coming, Master."
They leave the safe room, the 4 previously mentioned guards set up a square around the alleged mastermind. The group starts their walk toward their goal. Due to it being night time, the halls are more or less void of Force sensitives, occasionally, one or two passes through them. The younger Force sensitives knew not to interrupt the situation under nearly every circumstance. 4 Temple guards didn't accompany a friendly, non-important being. If such a thing was seen, it meant the situation was serious. Oswald left his & Mundi's quarters with his dull, grey cloak. Firstly, a call made to Zane. His two friends were back at their favored meditation room, the conversation was short. Menson did manage to get the point across of Ahsoka's case. Now all three felt the time decrease to be of a colossal size. Secondly, a call made to Anakin.
"Skywalker here."
"Master Skywalker, this is Oswald Menson."
"The Padawan?"
"Yes."
"What is the reason for your call? Make it quick."
"Certainly. I must talk to you about something important face to face."
"I don't think this is the best time, Oswald. I'm kind of busy now."
"It pertains to Ahsoka."
This created a groundbreaking interest in the proposal.
"Alright. Come to the Chamber of Judgement. Be here fast, soon the Council will be arriving."
"Very well. I'm only five minutes out of your reach."
"That's good to hear. See you soon. Skywalker out."
Anakin finally got a dose of positivity from an outside source, this time it being a Padawan, who had a significant interest in Ahsoka's situation. The Jedi Knight felt the Force 'speaking to him' about a grave danger, its presence suggesting a near future arrival. Yellow lights lit up the Chamber of Judgement, 6 Temple guards stood in a hexagon shape around an emersion in the middle of the room. While the ground was of dark brown color, the raised up ground had some kind of an inscription on it and wac colored in white base with blue used for the scripts. Ahsoka sat behind his back on a stone formed bench.
"I have a task to do before the Council's arrival."
The human turns around towards the younger togruta.
"Will you be ok?"
"Yes, Master. I … just wish to see you before my … trial."
"Don't worry. I'll be here."
For an extremely short period she smiles, then sadness returns its dominance over her emotional state.
Dependability – the quality of being trustworthy and reliable. Most conscious beings wish to have at least one person with such a quality. With Force sensitives the case doesn't change. Being awarded with an ability to sense things that are not mutually possible to everybody creates some loneliness, since communicating about the Force is restricted to a selected few, compared to the whole Galaxy. Then there is the whole split between those, who practice the light side, and those, who practice the dark side. One group is in constant opposition to the other. Consequently, the sum of beings a Force user can trust shrinks even more. Being reliable means not letting down the person, who trust you, 90% of the time. Ahsoka's and Oswald's relationship did seem to experience struggles with dependability. Quite a logical reality, the togruta and the human were young, in their adolescence, yet thought constantly in a Galactic War, had the idea 'this might be my last day' always in the sphere of the mind, meetings were scarce. Both put effort in to trying to progress that quality to another level in the relationship. Anakin Skywalker walked out through the Chamber and turned to his right side, fully confident in the Padawan's arrival from that side. The environment seemed to be depleted, lacked energy, the hall was lit up, beings still wanted to see each other, though night was not the preferred time for socializing. Oswald used the Force to increase his dashing speed. It paid off, the young, blue eyed human got to his desired location in two minutes.
"You came here fast."
"You said that we don't have a lot of time."
"Yes. The Council will soon be here. We have to make this quick."
The Padawan nods.
"First, I want to say that I'm your side in the sense that Ahsoka is not the criminal mastermind that most think she is."
"Good start, Oswald."
"Second, the true criminal must be a Force user."
"We're on the same page. I believe that too."
"Did she tell you anything weird? Like a fight?"
"There was one thing. Ahsoka said she got attacked by someone, who wore a mask and used two lightsabers."
"Then definitely a Force sensitive, Master Skywalker."
"A skilled one at that. I've trained Ahsoka, so I know, how powerful she is."
"Don't doubt that. We must find this 'enemy' before she is crippled or …"
"Dead?" – Anakin asks quickly.
Menson develops a stern face.
"Yeah."
"Our investigation must continue without the Council's knowledge."
"Fine by me."
"What do you sense, Oswald?"
"I sense that by the end of this day the case will be closed. By this moment, the outcome is not in our favor."
"You can say that again."
"You have any leads?"
"Yes. I'll follow up on mine, while you follow up on yours. We'll then compare notes. Sound good?"
"Great, actually. That is why…"
The Jedi Knight takes out a small communicator from his right pocket.
"This is my special communicator. I modified it so that no one can listen to its content. Since your giving me waves of trust from the Force, I entrust it to you."
Stretches his arm, the object is taken from his palm.
"Whenever you find anything … substantial, call me. I sense we won't be meeting each other any time soon. So this is the next best thing for comparing notes."
"Understood. Lastly, I just want you to tell Ahsoka that I still believe in her after all this chaos."
"Will do, Oswald."
Instantly, Anakin senses a great Force presence in the near vicinity.
"Darn. The Council is coming."
They look at each other in a troubled face, then in some bizarre way get the message across each other without talking. While you're doing something in the 'shady' area of any system, the most important thing you want to avoid – giving the least inhospitable ones ammunition against you. Mundi's Padawan was not a newcomer to risky, probably unauthorized actions. His mind swiftly found a solution. Without second guessing, Menson turned around and used the Force to jump a fairly big distance away from the Jedi Knight.
"That is one way to leave."
After landing safely enough on the ground, the being swirled around the corner and stood particularly still, like a stone. Anakin was also a quick thinker; this helped him to get back to the Ahsoka's side before the Council's arrival. The time difference between the Master Yoda's appearance in clear sight of the door and the door's shutting after Anakin's use of it was less than 3 seconds. Out of all of the highest ranking Jedi Order members Ki-Adi-Mundi expressed the biggest interest in a lingering presence in the Force.
"What is it?" – Obi Wan asked.
"I recognize a Force signature in these halls." – the Cerean Master answered.
"It's not Anakin's or Ahsoka's?"
"No."
"Is it familiar?"
Mundi closed his eyes, concentrated on the signature. In a very short amount of time, he had determined the being's identity.
"Very."
Obi Wan felt puzzled by this. What was a familiar Force presence creating being doing near the Chamber of Judgement? He rapidly came to the diagnosis that it had to be connected to either Ahsoka or Anakin. Someone was here with cryptic intents towards two members of the Jedi Order. This was not a negligible development, it seemed purposeful and overseeing.
5:30 at night. The Jedi Council's Grand Master made an ultra-strong statement on behalf of Ahsoka Tano's status in the Order. It being – Ahsoka Tano was expelled from the Jedi Order. Logically, this deeply saddened the former and strongly angered Anakin. His trust in the Order's intentions seemed to disappear as a major fire destroys a wooden house. The decision made some things clearer. Firstly, Admiral Tarkin's ultimatum was met, which meant now Ahsoka Tano could be charged by the Military Tribunal as a War criminal. No surprise, this pleased Tarkin behind his serious, understanding facial expression. The high ranking military officer notified the Jedi Council of an incoming transport ship in 30 minutes time to deliver the discarded Padwan from the Temple to the Tribunal's building. Master Yoda wanted a peaceful transit, so offered up Anakin Skywalker as an escort. Though not pleased, Tarkin now had the authority and the public opinion on his side; therefore, he decided not to show any displeasure towards the offer. Maybe, Yoda thought this can help Skywalker manage his emotions, if that was true, it is monumentally naïve form the oldest living Jedi. Secondly, it demolished any trust that Ahsoka had in the Council and its members. Obi Wan, Plo Koon, who both were the closest Masters after Anakin, were now no more in terms of being colleagues, friends or companions. The young togruta pretty much didn't care about anything the Council could do in the future; in essence, they allowed a power hungry being with a fairly murderous majority backing trial a teenager. Let that sink in. Thirdly, the unsatisfied crowd of the Jedi Order treated this action as 'Council groveling at the hands of the Senate'. In addition, their view of it did not swing back to the positive side, not one bit. Back at the Republic Senate building, some senators were still inside. When you have over 2000 representatives, the expectation of a full clear-out was at the bottom of the 'Possibility' column. In one of the respite rooms about a dozen people interacted with each other, the space was colored in parts with rosewood red, ruby red and burgundy, yellow lights created two circles on the ceiling, one – smaller, the other – larger, all of them were active.
"How about you ally? Is he still fully committed to our cause?"
"Relax, Senator Vescell. Our ally has not shown any sign of wavering." – Senator Hefyra answered.
"I can vouch for that." – Marshall Sezk added.
The worried senator takes notice of the Marshall's stance.
"How can you be sure, Marshall?"
"Well, I do spend time with him on the way to Hefyra's positon."
"Expected. He is our joker in this case."
"That is why we must stay calm for now. Everything is in on the edge right now."
"I agree. Everything that is important to us is in a fragile state."
"All the more reason to maintain the image of cohesiveness between us. He does have spies within this building."
"I assume not one."
"You assume right, Marshall Sezk."
Sometime later.
"You've arrived?"
"Well…"
Oswald walks out from around the wall in to one of the Temple's refectories. The room was quite sparse on beings, yet had the two beings that he wanted to see. Looking from the entrance, both of his friends were sitting near the right most table. Kelan was eating a bowl of salad with small tomatoes being noticed in different places, while Zane was savoring a taco with cooked chicken, beans and a spicy red sauce on top.
"… you probably took offense to my … long recharge."
Zane finishes chewing his bite, places the taco back on the plate.
"Don't be so sure, Oswald. We didn't take that much time to think about your decision. There was other work to be done."
Oswald smiled.
"Glad to hear."
Soon the trio reunited at the mentioned table. The twi'lek female felt a rise in her mood, due to Menson's appearance. She had no doubt that this day would be the last of the case, regardless, of what decision was made. The other two felt the same.
"Are you ready to continue on with our investigation?"
"Oh yes. I would also appreciate less attention from the Jedi Council."
"You met them?" – asked Kelan.
"Not exactly. More like they wanted auditions from me quite frequently."
"They're probably becoming impatient or wiser to your motives."
"Might be, friend."
Zane finishes eating his taco, drinks the remaining water from the glass.
"Anyway, business time. We questioned 4 Padawans about their opinion on Ahsoka, the case, its overarching meaning."
"You came to the list through extensive meditation?"
"Correct."
"What did you find out?"
"It didn't seem to be any of them."
Oswald's emotional state went down a bit.
"Alright. We have to move on."
"We were surprised as you, Oswald. Not one of them seemed troubled, confused, distraught or indifferent while talking. We did use the Force to determine their state in the Force." – Kelan interjected.
"No dark side was felt?"
"Not to any actable amount."
Obviously, Mundi's Padawan was not happy with this result. However, this didn't mean he was going to even consider criticizing his friends. To the quality of him being the most psychically farsighted of all Padawans, self-knowledge was present too. A person took a break, two others worked, the former lost all criticism due to inactivity. That's just the way it is.
"How about any … obscure clues?"
Zane cleaned his lips, folded the dirty napkin into a sphere, left it on the plate.
"Just the question I wanted to hear. There was one."
"Good. What was it?"
"On my way back to our meditation room, I decided to have a chat with Barriss. It wasn't that late, I thought, few minutes passed 11. So I walked up to her and Luminara's door and used the Force to sense any beings inside. To my surprise, the space was completely vacant."
"She wasn't in her room?"
"Not her, nor Luminara."
"Thank for the news, Zane."
"Always a pleasure to give you substance, Oswald."
"I trust you won't be disappointed with my immediate wish to go and work."
"Go right ahead. We'll finish our meals and go back to the meditation room in no time." – Kelan stated.
"We want to relax a bit."
"Don't rush it. Till next time."
They nod to him; it inclines an end to the conversation. Mundi's Padawan stands up from the bench and in a normal pace leaves the refectory.
"She has been transported back here? Back to the Base?"
"Aha. That's what bewilders me. I strongly thought that the Jedi were going to handle this on their own terms."
"I believe that was the initial plan."
"Someone altered it?"
"Only that could be the truth." – Captain Trend answered.
The commander runs through faces of possibly responsible people in his mind.
"It had to be, Tarkin."
"Agreed."
2 hours after Ahsoka's discharge. Oswald's desire to find the true criminal was given an adrenalin shot by Zane. When he asked his friend for an obscure clue, the gotten response was not near the Top 10 expected ones. It did strengthen his will to keep going and raised his well-being level a fair amount. In the course of walking through the halls, he came up with a pleasant chain of events. First, Menson went back to his room. There he drank some water, stretched his arms, legs, took care of his hygiene. Second, he changed his outfit back into the cacao one with the yellow stripes going from his neck to his shoulders.
"This is the last push towards the truth. Every small detail that can increase my chances is a necessity."
What place did he choose to conduct his serious thinking? The place, where he felt that harmony can be achieved and sustained for a long period of time, that being – the Room of a Thousand Fountains. From a side, Oswald was quite predictable in choosing his spot. It was the same one that Katooni found him, in what seemed like a week ago.
"Now to piece it all together."
With Zane's detail, the thought of Barriss being the criminal mastermind behind the bombing was far more realistic than ever before.
"Well, there are some coincidences. The most recent one is her vacancy. She was not present in her room at night, when one of her closest friends within the Order is on the run from Jedi Masters and Clone troopers. Then we have Anakin's retelling of Ahsoka's encounter with most likely the mastermind of all this. A masked face? You don't hide your face if you fear being identified by it. To beat Ahsoka, you have to be quite a skilled Force user. As a Padawan, no one other than Barriss knows her tricks, character, fighting preferences so accurately. Third detail – she was at the mourning of the bombing's casualties, which makes her a candidate for Katooni's sensed dark side fingerprint. The forth thing was … less straightforward."
Oswald remembered the well-being of Barriss Offee just after the event. He had an exchange with Tarkin, later – Ahsoka. The human male took notice of the fact that the Force was poking him right to the moment after their talk. The mind enhanced their voices, the time of the Past slowed down by half. A task of high concentration requires lots of energy. The mere act of bridging the Present to the Past in such a way was a strenuous one for Mundi's Padwan. A few minutes passed before he heard Barriss' want to leave their group. Suddenly, a revelation sparked in his head.
"Maybe she wasn't leaving us because of sorrow for the fallen. Maybe she was leaving us to reassure herself that the bombing was a 'just' action."
Then with a pace that resembled a person, whose blood was boiling, he went to the conversation he & Zane had with her the last time they saw each other. The Force started to send stronger shockwaves to him. The gold was near. Menson didn't want to lose, rather, wanted to improve his chances. Subconsciously, the right arm was stretched out, fingers spread apart.
"I'm not stopping now."
The Force pulsated more and more, and more; Oswald's energy drained more and more, and more. Less than a minute passes before the conversation is rewound.
-|Flashback|-
"A bit. Yet I don't understand where you are going with this."
"I think you do, Barriss."
This time Oswald notes the cunning half-smile. Just because something doesn't make a lasting imprint at first, doesn't mean it can't be found by revisiting it. After the resolve, the Padawan swiftly opens his eyes and shouts:
"That's it!"
Unexpectedly, the Force sends him a warning of extreme proportion. He barely manages to see an incoming red lightsaber towards his head, not to mention, blocks the attack with his green lightsaber, which is now firmly in his right hand and not his belt.