Synopsis: Obi-Wan and Vaessa fake their deaths and assume their `murderers'' identities in prison to befriend the inmates and gather intel on a plot to kidnap Chancellor.
A terrorist threat!
Moralo Eval, mastermind of a Separatist plot to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine,
has been captured by Republic forces!
But even with the criminal behind bars,
Rumours swirl in the underworld of Coruscant that Moralo's plot has already been set in motion...
With precious time running out,
The Jedi Council hatches their own plot to keep the Chancellor safe.
We ran out of a restaurant. "So what's the big rush?" Anakin asked.
"The Jedi Council has called an emergency meeting," I explained.
"I can see it now," Anakin said. "Another long, boring debate."
"Would you rather they call you in to train younglings?" Ahsoka asked.
"Are you crazy?" Anakin asked, chuckling.
All of a sudden - well, not so suddenly for me - a pair of bullets came in our direction. "Any idea where those shots came from?" Obi-Wan asked. He was a good actor.
"Snipers," Ahsoka said, pointing to the rooftops. "I see them up there!"
"All right, here's the plan," Obi-Wan said. "Anakin, you flank them on the right. Ahsoka, you cover the lower streets. Me and Vaessa are going after them."
We nodded, activating our lightsabers. We split up, me and Obi-Wan on the buildings with Anakin behind us. "I still don't like this," I said uneasily.
"It's the best plan we've got," Obi-Wan said grimly.
"I lost them!" Anakin voice said through Obi-Wan's comlink. "Obi-Wan, do you or Vaessa have anything?"
A bullet came in Obi-Wan's direction, hitting him. He intentionally fell back into me, sending us both off the rooftop.
The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was Anakin screaming Obi-Wan's name.
…
I sat up, stretching. "Nice for you to come around," Obi-Wan said.
I looked at him sadly. "I still think we should have told them," I said.
Before we could respond, Master Windu and Yoda came in. "So, how was our funerals?" Obi-Wan asked lightly.
"A better performance than you, your corpses gave," Yoda told us.
Me and Obi-Wan exchanged a glance. "What d'you mean?" I asked.
"We fell from the top of a building," Obi-Wan said. "We could have killed ourselves."
"Survived worse, you have," Yoda said. "Young Skywalker and Tano know this."
"We took the Vitals suppressors as you instructed," I said.
"We were dead to the world when Anakin moved our bodies," Obi-Wan continued. "There's no way either of them could know we were alive."
"Not know," Yoda said. "But sense, they will, that something is not right."
"Keeping Anakin and Ahsoka on the outside was critical," Obi-Wan said. "Everyone knows how close the four of us are. It was Anakin's reaction that sold the sniper, I'm sure of it."
"Right about that," I muttered.
"What's done is done," Master Windu said. "We need to get your transformations underway."
"Well, time for a shave," Obi-Wan said as a droid held a razor to his face. I was very glad my 'murderer' had hair. "Tell us about our target," Obi-Wan said.
"His name is Moralo Eval," Master Windu replied. "Works directly for Count Dooku. Rumor is their plot will be hatched in three revolutions at the festival on Naboo. We tried to make a deal with Moralo for more details, but he was uncooperative."
"Any details that might help us gain his trust while in prison?" I asked.
"Eval killed his mother when he was only a boy," Master Windu said grimly. "Told the authorities he did it because he was bored."
"Hmm, we'll try not to bore him," Obi-Wan said jokingly.
"Not a game is this, Obi-Wan," Yoda lectured. What Anakin wouldn't give to see this. "The risks, great they are."
"Yes, and so are the rewards," Obi-Wan reminded them. "Besides, preventing Eval from abducting the Chancellor, he could lead us to Grievous, and possibly Dooku himself."
"Facial transformations program loaded," the droid said.
"There's no way to have the Chancellor pull out of the festival?" I asked.
"No," Yoda replied. "See it as a sign of weakness, he would."
"Sign of weakness," I sighed. "Wouldn't want that."
"Transformation initiated," the medical droid said, injecting my neck.
…
I walked into the bounty hunter's room. She was a human girl, about twenty, with bright red hair and pale white skin. My new features.
"Well done, Miss. Cedrix," the protocol droid beside me said. "You and your bounty hunter friend did precisely the job we hired you for. We have your credits right here. But first we need one more thing... your clothes."
I walked out of the shadows into the woman's line of sight. "What the..." Cedrix's eyes widened in shock.
An hour later, I was dressed in her clothes and she was dressed in mine. "So I took off in my speeder, and then I got a ride here," she was saying to the droid. "That's it."
"Keep talking," I said. I had gotten a droid to do this job given Obi-Wan got Master Windu, and Yoda was a touch recognizable. I didn't care. I still didn't like this job. "Into this." I held up a small circular droid.
"This is stupid!" Cedrix said angrily. "Confessing to a murder I didn't even do!"
"But you did," I said flatly. "To the world, Vaessa Orin is dead. And that certainly was your intention. Now, keep talking."
…
"How do I look?" Obi-Wan asked as we met up.
"Like a criminal," I answered.
"You don't look much better," Obi-Wan retorted.
"Should buy you two all the credibility you need in prison," Master Windu said.
"Look, I don't know what you guys are up to, but..." Rako Hardeen was sitting in a corner, looking confused.
"Do you guys have enough recording?" I asked.
"I believe so," Obi-Wan said. "You?"
I held up the full vocal emulator. "Yep."
"Which means you can go to sleep now," Master Windu said, waving his hand at Hardeen. He fell asleep instantly.
"So how does this vocal emulator work?" I asked.
"Well, you swallow it," Master Windu said awkwardly.
"Of course," I muttered. I threw the thing down my throat, feeling it bash against my neck (is it supposed to do that?) as it went down.
"What an odd sensation," Obi-Wan commented, his voice deep and growling.
"Read my mind," I replied, my own voice high and scratchy. "This is gonna take some getting used to."
"That's a luxury you don't have," Master Windu told us.
"I hope this works," I sighed.
…
Ahsoka came into my room, her face dangerous. "A Jedi?" I asked, putting on my best impression of a drunk bounty hunter. And this is why I never drink. I could. I'm eighteen, the only reason Master Windu could justify putting me undercover, and jedi definitely can. In fact, Obi-Wan has a somewhat heretical tendency to drink whenever he has the chance. The council either doesn't know or doesn't care. "I already killed a Jedi today. Let me sleep."
"You're not dead," Ahsoka snarled. You're drunk. Get up, you filth!"
She pulled me out of bed. Force, when did she get so strong? "If it was up to me I would take you back to Anakin, and he would kill you where you stand," she said coldly. "But lucky for you, the jedi you helped murder would rather see you rot in jail. Now, let's go, coward, before I change my mind."
…
"You should be expecting this scum," Anakin snarled, thrusting me and Obi-Wan to a guard.
"Yes, sir," the clone said dutifully.
"Let me know if they're any trouble," Anakin said, eyeing us with disgust. "I'd be happy to straighten them out." I shivered. I knew Anakin had a temper. Anyone who was neither blind or deaf could tell that much. But this was too far. This reminded me of the missions me and Obi-Wan used to take with Krell.
The clone lead us down the platform. We arrived at our cells, me before Obi-Wan. I looked around, sighing. This could take some getting used to.
…
We walked the lunch hall. "That's them!" one inmate said. I recognized him from the day Ahsoka went missing. Trandoshian. "Kenobi's killers!"
"Rako Hardeen," the inmate next to him said. "And Saraia Cedrix with him."
"They don't look so tough," the trandoshian replied. I rolled my eyes. Brawn isn't everything. Brains are what makes the difference between a victorious battle and a lost one.
We sat down on the edge of the table. "Which one is him?" I hissed to my master. Force, Saraia Cedrix's voice was annoying.
"The one with the orange skin and dragon eyes," Obi-Wan whispered back. His voice wasn't great either.
Once, before the war, me and Obi-Wan had pretended to be a pair of convicts to root out a murderer on Dantooine. The criminals had stared at us with scorn, as if we didn't belong. The scariest thing was that they hadn't suspected us as spies. To them, we were just prey. Victims until we could prove ourselves otherwise. This was the reality for many men, women and children in the outer rim. It frightened me out of my mind.
I felt the same now.
I was four years older, and a lot more experienced, but it made me realize that in my heart I was still a naive little fourteen year old. I'd never really changed. Not for four years. And not just for four years, either.
Ten.
"That's them?" a sentient asked, approaching us. "Those are the Jedi killers? They don't look so tough." I could feel my wrists shaking as he glared at us. "You don't look so tough to me," he continued, sipping Obi-Wan's drink.
"This food tastes terrible," Obi-Wan said. How he could stay calm in this sort of situation, I would never know.
The sentient suddenly began roaring... in pain. I looked up, shocked, and saw a fork sticking out of the sentient's hand. Obi-Wan? "Maybe you'd taste better," he said, his growling voice sounding somehow sly.
"Hey, what's going on down there?" a clone said, coming over.
"Sorry," I yelped, trying my best to mimic the Coruscantian accent. Or any accent, really. My Concord Dawn one is a tad recognizable. Even after ten years, I still haven't shook it off.
He frowned at me. "I was watching, and it wasn't your fault," he said uncertainly.
I gulped. "No, it wasn't," Obi-Wan hissed, and for a second I forgot he was my master. All I wanted was to get way from him. "Just playing with my food," he said, a laugh in his voice.
"You're crazy!" the sentient roared, running off.
"Rako Hardeen," Moralo Eval said, coming over. I could hear my heart beat as he came closer. "Your reputation precedes you. I'm curious, when you and your sidekick here killed that Jedi, was it for money or revenge?"
"I don't know," I said, trying to stop my voice from shaking. I think it worked. "Guess we were bored."
"Try the sauce," Eval chuckled. "It makes that slop almost tolerable. I'll be seeing you, Mr. Hardeen, Miss Cedrix."
…
"Here you go, Hardeen, Cedrix," the clone said, putting us in our new cell. "Home, sweet home."
"What a coincidence," I said as we came into the cell.
"No coincidence," Eval said. "I am Moralo Eval, and I have great influence here."
"What do you want from us?" Obi-Wan asked.
"A pair like you... there's bigger game than Jedi, if you've got the guts," he said.
"We're listening," I told him. My fear was suddenly gone. Time to bring down some criminals, I thought, a slight smile on my face.
"It's a brilliant plan if I do say so," Eval told us. "And it involves the Chancellor." I straightened up.
Someone with a scratchy voice cleared their throat. I looked up to see a bounty hunter looking down at us. He didn't look the same without the hat - it took up a good three quarters of his personality, after all - but it was still definitely him.
Cad Bane.
"If I'm breaking out these goons along with us, it'll cost you," he said, sitting up. "Double my rate."
"Rako Hardeen, Saraia Cedrix, meet Cad Bane," Eval said with a smirk.
"Who you calling goons?" I asked. "We brought down two jedi."
"Any imbecile can kill a Jedi with a lousy sniper blast, especially if they're stupid enough to take someone else with them," Bane told me. "You want my respect?" he jumped down. "You do it face-to-face."
"Who said we want your respect?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Make that triple my rate," Bane snarled.
"Oh, what a shame," Eval chuckled. "Seems this cell isn't big enough for the four of us. Guard!" A clone came up to the cell. "It's been a pleasure chatting with you, Hardeen, Cedrix. But you will forget everything you heard in here, or Moralo Eval will have you slaughtered."
We walked up to the clone and left. "Well, that's wonderful," I muttered.
"We still have a chance," Obi-Wan told me. "Do not lose faith yet, my young padawan."
"What's that?" a clone asked.
"Nothing!" me and Obi-Wan said in unison. "I'm not that young," I continued in a whisper. "I'm eighteen. A legal adult."
He smiled. "Quite right."
..
We walked up to a weight lifting station. Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "We were just leaving," the occupant said hastily.
Obi-Wan switched on his comlink. "This is Ben and Phoenix," he said. Phoenix was my code name, and Ben was his. "Phoenix found the transmitter, but we shall have to make this short. We have a problem. We made contact with Eval. He nearly divulged his kidnap plot, but Cad Bane stopped him."
"Cad Bane?" Master Windu's voice asked. "We had no intel they were in league together."
"It seems like Eval's hired Bane to break him out of prison, and the way they were talking, it's gonna happen soon," I told them.
"Foolish we were, to believe Bane's capture was without purpose," another voice said. This one's voice was harder to make out, but it was obviously Yoda.
"Yes," Obi-Wan said. "Yes, but we can make this work for us."
"If they do try to escape, we won't let them out of our sight," I said.
"No doubt he shall lead us to some answers about the plot and possibly to his superiors," Obi-Wan whispered.
"Good idea, Obi-Wan," Master Windu said. "Just don't blow your cover. It could take a while to extract you from prison."
"Not to worry," Obi-Wan said. "I'm starting to enjoy playing the villain. Gotta go!"
…
"Hey, Hardeen!" a sentient said, coming over. I turned around. I would normally keep my head down, but this person had my accent. And he sounded familiar.
I realized he was just a boy, only twelve or so, and even more disturbingly, he looked like a clone cadet. "Cedrix!" he continued. "You two owe me something."
"Do we?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You don't even remember me?" the cadet scoffed. "That's very insulting."
"Look, kid, we don't want any trouble," Obi-Wan told him.
He knocked the trays out of our hands. "You stole a bounty from me, and I want an apology!" he yelled.
"Kill him, Hardeen, like the Jedi!" an inmate cried.
"What's wrong, Hardeen?" another prisoner asked. "You and your sidekick loose your spines?"
"You don't want to do this," Obi-Wan warned.
"Kill him!" another prisoner yelled.
"Oh, yes, I do," the clone snarled, and he shoved Obi-Wan into a table. I pulled him off my master.
"Stop it, kid," I said.
Obi-Wan got up, and the cadet broke free of me and threw himself at him. Obi-Wan bested him easily. "I warned you," he snarled, the cadet's arm pulled away from him dangerously.
"All right, all right, that's it!" a guard said, coming up to Obi-Wan with those electric spears. "Fight's over!"
"No, it ain't!" a trandoshian hissed, smashing the two guards' heads together. "You got a problem with Boba, you got a problem with me!" He picked Obi-Wan up and threw him across the table.
"All right, that's enough, big fella!" another guard said, gathering around him.
He punched them away. "Fight!" a prisoner said, and all hell broke loose.
I ran over to my master. "You okay?" I asked.
Obi-Wan sat up. "Who is that kid?" he asked.
"He's a clone cadet," I said.
"I know that," Obi-Wan told me. "But what clone could end up in prison? Most are just taken back to Kamino for termination."
I shivered at the mention of Kamino's vile methods. "Maybe he's... oh."
"What?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Boba Fett," I said.
His face darkened. "See he's followed in his father's footsteps."
I nodded. "We can't worry about that now," Obi-Wan said. "We have to find Eval."
The two of us ran through the din, ducking plates and prisoners alike. "There!" I said, pointing at a pair of figures - one orange, one blue.
"They're going for the exit!" Obi-Wan realized, and we ran after them.
"Facility on lockdown," a droid's voice informed us. Oh, great. "Facility on lockdown. Facility on lockdown."
"Wait for us," I said as we caught up with Eval and Bane.
Bane whipped around. "No one invited you," he sneered.
"They killed a Jedi," Eval reminded him. "They could be helpful."
"Fine," Bane snarled. "We're wasting time."
…
"This is our way out of here," Bane said, gesturing along the corridor.
"The morgue?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "This is your brilliant plan?"
"Not the first time I've broken out of this stink hole," Bane told me.
He ran over to the lock, us close behind. "The lock has changed," he said.
"Your plan has failed," Eval snarled.
"Shut up!" Bane snapped. "Let me think."
"Me and Saraia can get us inside," Obi-Wan informed them. "We can re-wire the access port on this door. It'll take some time, so warn us if anyone comes."
"Make it quick," Bane said. "And we're taking the girl."
"Why?" Obi-Wan asked.
"As a ransom if you do something foolish," Bane smirked. I gulped.
"Fine," Obi-Wan said.
We ran off, me and Bane in one direction and Eval in another. "Bounty hunters never travel in pairs," Bane said. "You either go in a pack or you go alone. Pairs are out of the question."
"These ones do," I answered, my accent slipping into my voice. Probably has something to do with my nerve levels.
"You talk like a clone," Bane said, pressing his face against my own.
"It's called a Concordian accent," I told him, Saraia's voice even higher than usual. I could feel his vile breath on my cheek.
"You don't look like a Concordian," Bane said. "And, judging by the way you normally talk, you're trying to hide it."
"We're in!" Obi-Wan called. I breathed out as Bane went after him.
"All the riot casualties are sent to the crematorium," Bane said as we ran into the morgue. "From there it's an easy escape." I gulped. I did not like this plan.
I heard voices. "The guards are coming back," Obi-Wan told us. We climbed into the coffins, me shutting my eyes to make this seem less terrible.
"After what just happened up there, we'll need more room in here," a guard said.
"You can say that again," a second one said.
Here, I'll send these to the cremation centre," a third told the others. I felt the coffin go into the wall, sending me to the floor of the coffin.
"Hey, wait, it looks like a couple of them are showing vital signs," the first clone said.
"All right, I'll check it out," the third said.
I lay still. I could have sworn I'd stopped breathing.
A clone opened the coffin lid. I got up, punching the guard and stealing his blaster. I held it to his heart, but I hesitated. I'd never killed anyone before, and when I did, I did not want it to be a clone.
He sounded the alarm. Bane turned around and shot him. "What's the matter with you?" he snarled.
"My blaster must be jammed," I said.
"Let's go!" Obi-Wan yelled. He'd been the lucky one to not have his coffin checked. We ran out the morgue, running into a hangar and stealing a speeder.
"Soon as we're off Coruscant, we're safe," Bane told us as we climbed onto a spaceship. Eval and Obi-Wan climbed into the pilot seats, but Bane turned around and punched me.
"That's for hesitating during the escape," he snarled.
"If it wasn't for us we'd still be stuck in there," Obi-Wan reminded him.
"That was you, not your sidekick," Bane told him. "And ain't it funny how that worked out?"
"You did well in there, Hardeen," Eval told my master. "Maybe there's a place for you and your sidekick in my plans after all."
"We're listening," Obi-Wan smirked. If only I could say he was lying.
Me: Sorry I've shut down this program for so long. I had to get Daniyelle off my tail and this was the best way to do it. Anyway, I'm back and so is Vaessa.
Vaessa: Hey guys.
Me: Any comments on the chapter?
Vaessa: Yeah, actually. I don't really understand why Obi-Wan wants to keep Anakin and Ahsoka on the outside. They're practically family.
Me: What about your real family?
Vaessa: Haven't seen them in since the day I was born. I was brought to the temple immediately.
Me: I thought you said you went to the temple went you were eight?
Vaessa: Both. Seriously. I went there and I came back later. Really.
Me: Uh-huh. And what were you doing in between?
Vaessa: *goes red* I... I...
Me: It's okay, you don't have to tell them. Though I dare say you've dropped enough hints for the audience to be able to piece things together by now.
Vaessa: R-really?
Me: Kidding.
Vaessa: Phew. See you guys next chapter!
Me: *touches Vaessa's forehead*
Vaessa: *goes to sleep*
Me: Maybe. ;)
