A/N: Sorry for the delay everyone. DRL has been being evil!


Chapter 21: A Thoughtful Plan

"Sidious!" Anakin repeated his eyes narrowing. "How can this be possible? He is dead. I know. I killed him!"

"I've never heard of anything like this before, Master Yoda do you know what is going on? Obi-Wan asked while thoughtfully rubbing his beard.

Master Yoda shook his head in the negative as he stated, "Dangerous and disturbing this is." The diminutive Master then pulled up a few ancient data files on the Force onto the data console he was sitting in front of. He fell silent as he carefully read through the material.

"He is going to kill her, and our child." Anakin stated with panic rising in his voice.

"I am not so sure of that." Obi-Wan stated.

Anakin rolled his eyes as he stated, "I was his apprentice once, and I do know how he operates. He tends to prefer people when they are dead or under his control."

"Yes, but he could have killed Padmé months ago when he first kidnapped her. He has deliberately been waiting. Since he has kept her hidden from us, I suspect he is after your child." Obi-Wan stated.

Anakin's eyes widened in shock when he took in Obi-Wan's words. He knew that the Jedi Master was correct. "He wants my child as his apprentice." Anakin stated as he realized what Sidious' plans were. "I… I… I must stop him! I must protect my family!" Anakin finished by yelling the last sentence, which caught the attention of a few padawans studying nearby.

"I know Anakin, we will find them." Obi-Wan said as he rested a calming hand on his friend's shoulder. He waved off the attention of the padawans to indicate they should continue their work before adding. "However, we need to come up with a plan for when we find him. His cloaking has slipped a lot lately and by my calculations, Padmé should be fairly far along in her pregnancy."

"She is due in a couple weeks!" Anakin replied desperately. "I do not understand how Sidious is alive. I killed him!"

"Not alive, dead he is." Master Yoda stated.

"But we felt him." Anakin countered.

"Become part of the Force, his spirit did." Master Yoda answered after reading through the ancient data files that confirmed his suspicions. "Unbalanced the Force was with his dark presence. Able to return because of the imbalance, he was." Master Yoda stated.

"How do we stop him, Master?" Obi-Wan asked before Anakin could speak.

"Bring the Force into balance, we must." Master Yoda replied before falling silent. He was not sure how to do this and began contemplating the problem.

"How?" Anakin snapped. His worry and fear about Padmé had returned in full now that he knew the Sith Lord was behind her kidnapping. His emotions were causing his temper to rise to the surface.

"Pulled his presence together he must have. A way to stop this we must find." Master Yoda stated his thoughts out loud in response to Anakin's question.

"Yes, but how?" Anakin snapped once more.

"Calm yourself, Anakin." Obi-Wan warned before drawing his attention back to Master Yoda. "Master Yoda, what do we need to do?"

"Not sure. Meditate on this, I will." Master Yoda answered. "Find Sidious you must." The diminutive Master added as he hopped down from the chair he was in and leaned on his gimmerstick to address the two Jedi before him. "Know Sidious well, you do." Yoda focused his attention on Anakin. "Use your feelings to find him."

"Yes, Master." Anakin replied as he closed his eyes and immediately searched the Force for his former Sith master.

"Help him, you should." Yoda said to Obi-Wan after Anakin had averted his attention. "Puzzle out the riddle of the Sith, I will."

"Yes, Master. We will contact you if we find something." Obi-Wan replied with a slight bow to the Jedi Master. As Master Yoda hobbled away to a nearby meditation room, Obi-Wan turned his attention to Anakin and their task at hand.


Several feet below the Senate building, Padmé had just been given her latest dose of ysalamiri serum. Organa, under the control of Sidious had just left her to perform duties elsewhere and Padmé was slowly making her way back to the cot in the room that had been her prison the last several months.

In an attempt at a show of defiance and strength, Padmé always tried to remain standing when Sidious was in her presence. Unfortunately, the Sith Lord had a tendency to stay in her presence for lengthy periods of time meaning that her feet and ankles swelled from the extra baby weight she was carrying. She was sure the Sith Lord was doing this on purpose, but Padmé always remained stoic before her enemy.

Slowly moving back to her cot to prop up her feet, Padmé flinched suddenly and sucked in a breath while placing a hand on her abdomen. The baby within her had just kicked sharply and Padmé willed her child to stop moving. "Not now little one." Padmé addressed her unborn child. "Your father must find us." She finished as she eased herself down onto her cot.

The cot was very uncomfortable, but it was all that she had at the moment. Padmé removed her hand from her abdomen when she felt her child still within her and gave a sigh of relief. However fear flooded her thirty minutes later when she felt movement again. Laying her hand back on her abdomen, Padmé called out. "Anakin, please."


"This is no use, I cannot find him! He is very effective at cloaking and apparently his death did not change this." Anakin stated in frustration in one of the Temple's meditation chambers. Both he and Obi-Wan had moved to one of the meditation chambers shortly after Master Yoda had left them in the Temple Archives. Obi-Wan had suggested they leave the archives so that they would not interrupt the work of the few studying padawans. Knowing that Anakin's patience was wearing thin, Obi-Wan had steered his friend into the closest meditation chamber so that they could set to their task of locating the Sith Lord.

They had not spotted Master Yoda along their way; so Obi-Wan assumed the Jedi Master was in another meditation chamber elsewhere in the Temple. Obi-Wan figured that Master Yoda was somewhere in one of the spires of the Temple. The diminutive Jedi always seemed to find answers to his questions when he was able to look at the vast cityscape of Coruscant.

"We must keep looking." Obi-Wan stated while trying to reassure Anakin.

"I know that!" Anakin barked, not hiding his anger. "He will kill Padmé if we don't! I just wish he would show himself!"

"Well, he has been rather reckless recently. We have spotted him several times."

"Yes, but we don't know where he is." Anakin stated with irritation as he closed his eyes once more to immerse himself in the Force.

"Perhaps we should try another tact." Obi-Wan stated leaning his chin in his hand and staring blankly out one of the windows.

"Like what?" Anakin asked with his eyes still closed.

"Well, when have we felt Sidious' presence? Perhaps we can find a connection that way?" Obi-Wan stated thoughtfully.

"It has been fairly random." Anakin responded.

"Has it?" Obi-Wan asked skeptically. "I believe we felt it a few times before Padmé's kidnapping, during her kidnapping, during the time you interviewed her colleagues, and the time your window broke."

"And various other times." Anakin replied as he shifted nervously at the mention of his previous fight with Obi-Wan.

"True, but the other events seemed to favor Sidious. He was either getting what he wanted, or you were in distress."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Sidious seems to lose control when he is causing trouble or when he has caused pain to others."

"He is a Sith, that is his specialty." Anakin shrugged as he tried to continue his search of the Force.

"Yes, but perhaps we can use that to our advantage." A gleam was shining in Obi-Wan's eyes.

"How?" Anakin asked as he opened his eyes to look at his friend.

"Come with me. I will describe this to you along the way." Obi-Wan said as he stood up and walked towards the door.

Perplexed, Anakin stood up and warily followed Obi-Wan. His concern was for Padmé, and he was unsure if his friend's plan would help him find her. However, with time running out he was willing to take a chance.