A/N: Hi everyone! Here's chapter 7, in record time! I'm usually so slow about updating that I honestly didn't think I would have this done in any reasonable amount of time, but here it is, and I hope you enjoy it! There is a surprise character in this chapter that couldn't stay out no matter how hard I tried, and I hope you like him being there. Please read, review, and enjoy! See you next time!
P.S. I am not a doctor, and while I research medical procedures, I cannot and will not guarantee accuracy. Apologies in advance to all the doctors reading this out there! If you would like to help me make it more medically accurate, shoot me a PM, and I will make the necessary edits! :)
Battle droids on Naboo! As the Separatist rebellion rages through the galaxy, even peaceful planets are threatened. Following the discovery of Separatist droids wandering the grassy wasteland, Naboo is once again on high alert. Fearing their home is facing another invasion, Senator Amidala and Representative Binks race to Naboo to assess the situation. Meanwhile, near the Gungan swamplands, an even graver threat is about to be discovered….
With Padmé and Jar Jar uncovering the secret of the eastern swamps of Naboo, the woman was hard at work somewhere else. The distress signal she had received had led her to the planet of Iego, the planet of a thousand moons. She had landed safely on the outskirts of the city Cliffhold, and her droid was standing by in a borrowed ship. The starfighter was too obvious for this job and wouldn't be big enough for herself and her friend anyways, even though it was configured for two people.
Immediately after landing, she pulled her cloak and hood tighter around herself and disappeared into the city, moving quickly down the roads and avenues until she found what she was looking for. The distress signal had led her to the planet; the Force had led her here. It was a large house, several floors high, and was heavily fortified. The woman looked around for a few seconds before she realized this would be harder than she had thought. Her friend was in that building, she could sense him, but the building was armed to the teeth.
Multiple gun emplacements and guards told her the people that owned the building didn't like unplanned visitors. The guards were all manner of species, but they all wore the same symbol on their shoulder armor: the symbol of the Pyke Syndicate, the most powerful spice smugglers in the galaxy. Seeing those guards, the woman felt some unease, especially when she thought of her friend. Her friend was a powerful fighter and not one to be messed with, especially by the Pykes. For them to do this meant that they either didn't know who they had taken captive or just didn't care about what the repercussions could be.
And considering what she knew about the Syndicate, she had to believe it was the former. It would be better for their profit margins if they had let him go when they had had the chance since he had even more powerful friends that were less forgiving than her, and that was something they were about to learn. Even if they did know who he was, it would still be better to leave him alone instead of holding him captive like this. He was the kind of person that would destroy the whole city to make a point.
Looking up and around at the buildings surrounding the one she needed to get into, she saw that they were a few floors taller than the Syndicate's house. Seeing this caused a bit of a smile on her face; she had an idea. She just had to get to the roof of one of those other buildings.
Feeling a bit more confident about the beginnings of the plan she had, the woman quickly entered the building left of the house, sneaking through the bar on the first floor to the stairs that led to the upper levels, nothing more than a passing shadow to the patrons. She climbed the stairs quickly and silently, ignoring the sounds of people in the many apartments and what they were doing before finally reaching the top floor, or at least, running out of stairs. Seeing this left her with another problem, but the window at the end of the hall solved it. Quicker than the blink of an eye, she was at the window and had opened it, climbing out and up the few feet to the roof. In seconds she was on the roof, crouching low as she ran to the opposite side to look down at the Syndicate's house.
Sure enough, the roof wasn't as heavily guarded as the rest of the building, likely because they didn't think anyone would attack from above. Usually, they would be correct, it was too far a jump for anyone with any semblance of sanity, but she knew she could make it. Which left her with the problem of the Wookiee on the roof and the Weequay with him. She could see what they were armed with from this distance: a CC-420 pistol, a Pyke blaster pistol, for the Weequay and a bowcaster for the Wookiee. Seeing the bowcaster, the woman wondered if the Wookiee was an old friend of hers but couldn't tell from this distance.
All she could do was get down there and see for herself.
Nodding to herself, she leaped down to the roof of the house and immediately took out the Weequay, dropping him to the ground and out cold before he knew what hit him and possibly killing him from the force of the blow but finding herself not truly caring a moment later. She turned then, ready for the Wookiee, who was aiming his bowcaster at her. For a second, it looked like he would fire, but he looked more carefully at her before lowering his weapon, recognizing her. She, in turn, rose out of the crouch she was in and straightened, smiling slightly and pulling back her hood to get a better look at the Wookiee, who roared slightly in happiness.
Her smile widened; it was her old friend Chewbacca, as trapped on this planet as everyone else, and deciding to work for the Syndicate to make some money to buy transport back home to Kashyyyk as soon as someone figured out how to get past the curse of Drol. Chewbacca grunted again, asking what she was doing there, and she returned his question with an answer. Like with the Talz, she could speak to Chewie in his own language by approximating the sounds deep in her throat, which was what she was doing now. Chewie listened carefully and, upon hearing that a friend of hers was in trouble and needed help getting away from the Pykes, immediately offered to help.
The woman smiled; Chewie's friends were worth more than money to him, and he would help her even if it cost him some credits. Besides, the Pykes enslaved his people to work the spice mines of Kessel as well, and there was only so much a Wookiee would take before he decided enough was enough and it was time to strike back. And likely considering how the Syndicate had treated him ever since he took the job, it was a safe bet that he had had enough and was ready to break some heads.
They stayed on the roof a few minutes longer, formulating a plan based on what Chewie knew of the layout of the building before moving down into the building itself. The roof access wasn't guarded; the Syndicate clearly thinking a Wookiee on the roof was enough of a deterrent, and they sprinted down the stairs and into the central part of the house. The house was mostly deserted; the Pykes and their soldiers were trying to figure out how to get off the planet just like everybody else and counting on the guards and guns to keep them safe.
The woman and Chewie, having decided that stealth was their best option, for now, ran silently down into the basement, navigating and hiding from the few guards wandering about. Once in the basement, they headed for the level below where the Pykes kept their prisoners. This level was guarded, but it was the work of a few punches from Chewie to disable the guards and overpower them. Without worrying about the guards, the woman ran down the hall, turning her head at every door, sensing who was inside them. Most were empty, but the few that were full weren't the ones she was looking for, and she kept going. Eventually, she came to the end of the hallway, but her friend was still unaccounted for, even though she knew he was in the basement.
Feeling the panic come over her for a moment, she slowed and stopped, drawing in a deep breath as she did so. She needed to calm down and focus; only then would she find what she was looking for. Slowly, on the outflow of that breath, she focused on the Force and reached out with it. She felt her way down the hallway again, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Finally, she reached the end of the hallway where she was standing but kept going, sensing something she hadn't noticed before. She concentrated on that for a few minutes before opening her eyes and reaching a hand out to rest it against the wall in front of her, sensing her friend on the other side.
Not a wall, just a door concealed to look like a wall.
And if there was a door, there had to be a way to open it.
Feeling around the door's outline she could barely see in the dim light she found the pad for the door. It lit up, revealing it needed not only a code but also an ocular scan and handprint verification to open. She shook her head; could this be any easier? She looked behind her and down the hallway to where Chewie was still standing guard, and he gave the all-clear signal. No one was coming, and she would have more than enough time to do this. She turned back to the pad and raised her comlink to the pad, typing in codes as she did so. Part of the comlink was for communication, but the rest was for this work; slicing into computer networks and bypassing security systems. She had built the device herself, and it hadn't let her down yet. She continued typing into the interface on her arm, and seconds later, the red light on the door pad turned green, and the door opened slowly.
She stepped away from the pad and walked towards the center of the door, mentally preparing herself for what she might see. The fact the Syndicate had gone to such trouble to hide her friend meant that they probably knew who he was and were hoping for a suitable ransom for his return, even though she was there to make sure that didn't happen today.
As the door slid open, the expression on her face turned from prepared to horror. Her friend was there, and he looked terrible. He was hanging from his wrists in a force field, suspended off the ground. His wrists were bloody and raw from where he had struggled to get away from the pain being inflicted on him, as well as pale from being suspended over his head for so long. His breathing was labored from the pain and he was unconscious, which was a good thing now that she thought about it. Anything to spare him….this, as she continued to look him over. A chunk of flesh and muscle hung off his body, a large slice that started a few inches under his arm all the way down to his waist. It was dripping blood and fluid onto the ground and looked terrible. Looking the rest of him over, she could only guess that there weren't any broken bones, thankfully, but she also had to guess he was strung out on spice since it usually caused this reaction in his species. And if she had to guess, she would guess it was ryll. Thankfully it was unbelievably hard for his people to get addicted to the stuff, but the withdrawal would be bad if past experience was anything to go by.
She shook her head; she needed to get him out of here and worry about most of that later. She turned back for a second and whistled softly for Chewie. He came quickly and held her friend still while she disabled the force field. The Wookiee caught her friend easily and lowered him to the ground, wincing slightly at the groans he couldn't hold back. She came then, reaching into her medpac and quickly pulling out a bandage and some gauze. While Chewie watched the hallway again, she wrapped the bandage around her friend's stomach, putting the hanging piece of flesh back where it belonged before wrapping his wrists as well. His stomach needed better care than that, but she needed better light to do something about that and somewhere safe to do it. If it was a medcenter or hospital, all the better. She also gave him two drugs: a sedative because she knew the next few minutes would be torture for him if he was even slightly awake and something to purge the spice from his system much more quickly.
The less withdrawal he had to deal with, the better.
Finally, she decided that was all she could do at the moment and looked over at Chewie. He came immediately and carefully picked her friend up, knowing she couldn't carry him and that she was the better fighter of the two of them. Seconds later, they were moving down the hallway and back up into the main complex, even though they took a slight detour to pick up her friend's weapons and equipment that had been taken from him when he had been captured by the Pykes. They were almost out of the building, having decided a side door was their best bet and wouldn't be as heavily guarded as the rest of the building when they turned a corner and came face-to-face with a guard. He was surprised but recovered more quickly than they did, sounding the alarm before he was cut down by the woman's knives.
She looked behind her then, seeing that Chewie had lowered her friend to the ground between two crates and was standing guard over him, not letting anyone get close to him until the coast was clear. Seeing that, she turned back to the guards that were coming, seeing there were actually quite a few. She raised her knives and attacked, running straight for the guards and systematically cutting them down one by one as Chewie fired shots with his bowcaster. The guards kept coming, though, and so the woman stepped up her efforts, fighting within the confines of the hallway as best she could, even though the style of fighting she was using wasn't really designed for such close quarters.
Suddenly the guards stopped attacking and turned and ran back the way they came, leaving the way clear for the woman and Wookiee. Seeing this, the woman turned to Chewie, who looked as confused as she did, knowing something was up. After a few seconds, the woman decided there was nothing else they could do but risk it and so made some grunts and growls low in her throat, telling Chewie to pick up their companion and keep going. He did so, moving carefully and slowly when the wounded man groaned, and they continued on carefully, watching for any signs of a trap. They quickly came to the side door, which was unguarded, and the woman suddenly realized what was going on.
The curse of Drol, the laser field that made it impossible for anyone to leave the planet, the sudden retreat of the guards, it all made sense. If they couldn't leave, the Syndicate could take its time tracking them down in the village when they had more manpower and weapons. The people were desperate for money and supplies; they would help the Syndicate if it meant food and supplies to help them survive another day.
If she had had the time, the woman would have applauded their intelligence. Instead, she could only curse them in only an eighth of the languages she knew, which was still quite a lot, before she decided there was nothing else they could do but leave and get her friend some help. He needed medical aid, and he needed it soon, turning to look at him in the Wookiee's arms. She nodded to herself before opening the door carefully and looking out. Seeing no guards, as she expected, she opened the door all the way, and they quickly left the house, disappearing into the crowd and down the street. Behind them, the Pykes watched as they disappeared, with one of them saying, "How far do you think they'll get?"
The leader only shrugged, "I don't care. It's not like they can leave the planet; we'll catch up to them soon enough. Especially with that tracking device we planted on the prisoner. By the time they find it, it'll be too late."
The others with him all chuckled at that before they disappeared back inside and shut the door, getting ready for the next part of the plan.
Their prisoner would be theirs again before too long.
Half an hour later, the woman and Wookiee had finally stopped and settled into an abandoned house. They had tried a medcenter, but it was almost out of supplies, and they had been turned away, especially when the doctors saw their wounded companion. They knew who he was, and even though they were afraid of retaliation from him, they were even more fearful of it from the Pykes. The woman even found she couldn't fault them that logic. So they left, even though she promised herself she would make sure her friend didn't hurt anyone in retaliation for this.
Except maybe the Pykes, but there was nothing she could do to stop that from happening. Her friend didn't fear the Pykes or their power and had more than enough of his own to retaliate.
But that wouldn't matter if they couldn't get the bleeding under control. The wound in his side had started bleeding again and wasn't letting up no matter how many pressure bandages they put on it, and so they had needed to stop and deal with it. Thankfully, even though the doctors at the center hadn't let them stay, they had given them some supplies that fit into their packs, unable to just turn someone that badly wounded away, mostly bandages and gauze. The woman was thankful for that, knowing what that cost them since the supply ships were no longer running, and so when they arrived at the abandoned house, she had immediately gotten to work.
While Chewie got the fire going to keep them all warm before going to stand lookout, the woman got her supplies organized before turning to her friend. He was shivering slightly from the cold and shock but was starting to show some improvement and beginning to wake up a bit as the sedatives wore off. Seeing this, the woman shook her head and quickly gave him the strongest dose she dared. He settled after that and was soon asleep, and then the woman rested a hand on his forehead and sent him under even deeper with the Force, not wanting him to wake at all for the next few hours.
What she had to do would not be pleasant.
For anyone.
Finally, she was ready and cut the bandages off his side before stripping off what remained of his undershirt, tunic, over tunic, and overcoat, using his cloak as a pillow, keeping her friend on his side to give her better access to the wound. Once that was done, she could get a better look at the injury in all its dubious glory. It looked like someone had taken a knife or something equally sharp and just slowly sliced his side open, creating a massive wound down his side that got wider and deeper the farther it went; becoming as wide as his waist towards the bottom. Nothing vital had been hit, and the ribs hadn't been damaged, but the muscle had been torn open in the process, and soft tissue was clearly visible. No arteries or veins had been damaged either, but this wound would still kill him if she didn't clean it up and set everything on the path to healing, as well as get some antibiotics on board to combat any infections that would have taken up residence by now.
Nodding to herself, she quickly reached for her equipment and disinfectant. Using the gauze and disinfectant, she quickly cleaned both sides of the wound before using her gloved hands and eyes to look for any diseased, dying, or infected flesh. She found it soon enough and took up her scalpel, cutting the dying flesh off with wide margins to make sure she didn't miss anything. After that, it was only a matter of checking the rest of the wound before giving it another thorough cleaning with disinfectant and an antiseptic wash before taking up her suture material and stitching the entire wound closed, which took over an hour. By the time she was done, the shadows were long against the walls of the building, and Chewie had decided that sitting while on guard was better than standing.
Once finished with the stitching, she cleaned the outside of the stitches before putting an antibiotic ointment on them and putting gauze over them before bandaging her friend's entire abdomen. She also drew on what healing power she had from the Force to coax the flesh to start healing on its own. From there, she moved on to his wrists, dressing and binding them before wrapping him in her cloak and his own before leaving him near the fire to rest and warm up after giving him an injection of antibiotics in the arm. She went to Chewie then, nodding and saying in his language it would be safe to move their companion in a few days, hopefully before the Pykes found them.
Chewie nodded at that, looking down at the tracking device the woman had found as they had left the Syndicate house. She had interfaced it with her comlink to make it look like the signal was coming from the other side of town, but it wouldn't fool the Pykes for long. They would figure it out eventually and come looking for them, and they needed a way back to her ship and off this planet as soon as possible.
Turning to look at her unconscious friend, the woman sighed and shook her head as she watched him. The people in her life led extremely hazardous lives, so she should be used to this, seeing one of them hurt. And yet, every time, it hurt to watch them in pain and suffering. It made her want to take all the pain away, but she knew she couldn't.
Some of that pain had been there for so long her friends hadn't known a day of their lives without it, which made it all the harder to watch them keep going every day.
How they did it, she didn't know.
Shaking her head, she turned back to watching the sunset and the moons of Iego come out, watching as people settled down for the night to get ready for another day of being trapped on this planet. Eventually, the woman settled down too, Chewie saying he would take the first watch, leaving her to wonder how they would get off the planet with the Pykes after them and the laser field keeping them from flying away.
Finally, she shrugged and fell asleep, a hand over her friend's heart to monitor him the rest of the night. Maybe a solution would present itself in the morning since she had no intention of spending the rest of her life trapped on this planet if she could help it.
Hard-pressed Jedi and their valiant clone troopers have thwarted an insidious Separatist plot to plant bombs loaded with the deadly Blue Shadow Virus in key Republic systems. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker have captured the vile scientist behind the nefarious scheme: Doctor Nuvo Vindi. Now the Jedi plan to transport Vindi to the Republic capital for trial….
The Jedi had come to Iego looking for the cure to the Blue Shadow Virus and had actually found it from what the woman could see. Watching them from under her cloak in a darkened corner of the room, she listened as they explained that Drol was just the Separatists creating a laser field to keep people from leaving the planet. She listened as they presented their plan for getting away, and honestly, she thought it might work.
She had already been here a few days and was stir crazy. She wasn't used to staying in one place for this long, and it was time to get moving, but she hadn't wanted to reveal how good of a pilot she was, especially not with the Jedi here. And besides, her friend had needed the last few days to rest and recover. He had regained consciousness two days after he had been rescued, and after a few meals and a bit more rest, he was up and walking, even if it was painful for him. Withdrawing from the spice hadn't been as bad as she had thought it would be, and his wits and reflexes were as sharp as ever. He was actually sitting next to her right at the moment, cloak on and cowl up to hide in the shadows, listening closely to the Jedi and their plan. The woman had been able to barter some new clothes for him in the market, and even though somehow they weren't him, they would do until he was back home.
She glanced at him and he at her, both of them agreeing it would be best to let the Jedi have their try. If they failed, then the two of them, and Chewie, of course, would use her ship to get away and leave the Jedi trapped there. But the woman was hoping they would make it, especially when she heard that Padmé was in trouble. Knowing that time was running out for the senator, the woman had actually gone down into the canyons and gotten some of the Reeksa root herself, just in case. If the Jedi didn't make it, she would and would go straight to Naboo to help her friend.
Hearing a bit of a shuffle as people got up and left, the woman looked up and went with her friend, the two of them disappearing into the shadows of a building where Chewie waited. He had decided to stay outside and keep an out for the Pykes, who seemed to have vanished off the face of the planet when the Jedi arrived. Seeing this, the woman realized that maybe escaping would be a bit easier now than waiting for the Jedi to clear the laser field. If they could get away before the Pykes realized it, they could avoid a firefight that could leave a lot of innocent people hurt. Looking at her friends, she saw they had come to the same conclusion, and so they all went quickly to the ship R1 had been guarding for the last few days. As they did so, Kenobi turned around for a brief moment, sensing that presence that had been gnawing at the back of his mind for the last few months. He had started feeling it more and more over the past year, usually when in the Outer Rim, but couldn't place where it was coming from, especially since it had a habit of fading away or fading in depending on where he was. He shook his head then; now wasn't the time to focus on that, now was the time to focus on getting off Iego in one piece and getting rid of those lasers.
He would worry about that presence when he had a moment to think about it, not before.
R1 beeped in relief when he saw the woman and her companions, especially Chewie. He had had difficulty keeping some Jawas from scrapping the ship and was glad there was some more muscle to keep the ship safe. They all boarded, their wounded companion moving a bit more slowly than usual as the pain flared for a moment. Even with his stronger healing abilities, the wound was deep and extensive, taking longer than usual to mend. Once they were all settled, Chewie in the copilot's seat, they warmed up the engines. They took off slowly, keeping plenty of distance between themselves and the Jedi.
Below them, the Pykes growled in frustration at the sight of them leaving before deciding to swallow it. Even though their captive would have fetched them a high price, if the Jedi could get rid of Drol, they would make an even bigger profit when the spice started running again. In the end, they would have to make do with that since they knew they didn't have any pilots with them that could match the rumored skill of the three onboard that ship.
On the ship, the woman and her companions followed along slowly, staying out of range of the Jedi's scanners and giving them a wide enough margin to do the work they needed to. All three watched as the Jedi guided the vulture droids straight into the lasers. Eventually, Kenobi was able to fire directly at the laser generator, disabling the lasers and putting on quite a show for those down on the planet's surface. The woman smiled as she watched this, turning back to her friend, who only shrugged underneath his cowl, not as impressed as her.
The woman chuckled slightly while Chewie snorted a bit as well; it was hard to impress her friend, and the flying skills of the Jedi weren't something he would find even remotely impressive or worth the time or effort to think about.
Seconds later, the Jedi left the system, heading for Naboo, while the woman had R1 enter different coordinates. He beeped, announcing the navicomputer was ready, and she engaged the hyperdrive, heading for Kashyyyk. They would drop Chewie off at home before dropping her friend off on Naboo. It would give the Jedi some time to clear out and leave the planet and give her a chance to pick up the starfighter. She had left it on Naboo, hidden, and wanted to return her borrowed ship and retrieve her own.
Especially since a Conspiracy member said he had a ship he was willing to lend her as long as she needed it and let her make whatever modifications she wanted to it.
A few days later, the woman and her companion had arrived safely on Naboo and returned the borrowed ship. Chewie had been more than happy to be back home and promised his help if they ever needed it again. She had agreed to it, even though she was hoping it wouldn't be anytime soon. But they were finally back on Naboo, and after a few quiet words, she and her friend had gone their separate ways, the woman for her ship, her companion for the city of Theed. His guild needed his leadership before things got more chaotic, and he had been gone too long. Bounty hunters usually needed a strong guild leader, otherwise things fell into chaos and they were more likely to miss out on good jobs and even better rewards.
He reached the city center just as he sensed her leave the planet, turning to watch her invisible ship leave with his large eyes. Once she was gone, he pulled his cloak and cowl up around himself tighter before disappearing into the crowd on Theed, a green head tentacle covered in bands escaping from his cloak before it slipped under his cloak again, and he left. Minutes later, another ship left the planet of Naboo, heading deeper into the Outer Rim for a volcanic world far away from anywhere respectable, although the pilot planned on making a quick stop to make sure the Pykes never tried a stunt like that again.
Once was enough, in his opinion, and they needed to know he wouldn't tolerate something like that again, hand resting briefly on the Amban sniper rifle strung over the back of his seat.
Kit smiled to himself on his ship as he sensed the woman pass in hyperspace close to his fleet, knowing her most recent mission was done. This mission hadn't been related to the Conspiracy at all, but he was glad she had done it since it meant a lot to him, more than anyone could ever know. Her doing it meant he didn't have to think of an excuse to get away from Tarkin, who was becoming more and more of a nuisance now. It also meant he could prepare for his next mission with the Conspiracy, which was coming up soon if the woman was to be believed. She was getting ready for something big, and he would need to think of a way to get away from Tarkin and his constant watching for a few days when the woman called.
It was genuinely starting to irritate Kit, how the captain always seemed to be watching him, and he knew he would need a distraction soon to keep from doing something he would regret. The woman had asked him to keep an eye on Tarkin as much as Tarkin was keeping an eye on him, and so he would, even if the captain never ceased finding new ways of being annoying.
The pain Kit was feeling certainly wasn't helping either, even if it wasn't as bad as it usually was.
Now all he had to do was be ready for whatever came next and make sure everyone in his fleet was prepared to keep Tarkin in the dark for as long as it took to complete the next Conspiracy mission.
Deep in the Outer Rim, hidden on a lone Separatist frigate, Dooku bowed on one knee as his master appeared over hologram, ready for his next instruction. It came soon enough, and it was a bit of a surprise for the Count: "I want you to capture a Jedi, my apprentice."
"A Jedi, my lord?" Dooku asked, surprised, "Why? And which one?"
"The why is none of your concern, not right now," Sidious snapped in warning, and Dooku immediately bowed his head, knowing he had overstepped, and Sidious continued, "The Jedi is Kit Fisto. I want you to capture him. He knows things, and I want to know these things. I am tired of waiting for him to make a mistake and am running out of time to find out what he knows."
"Yes, my lord," Dooku said without hesitation, "I will do so as soon as an opportunity presents itself."
"Good," Sidious said, "I will supply information to do so as soon as I get it. What Kit Fisto knows could spell the doom of this war, and I won't let that happen."
"Yes, my lord, I understand," Dooku replied, "I will see to it that Kit Fisto is soon in our possession. He will tell you everything you want to know, I'm sure of it. We will just need to find the right means of convincing him."
Sidious smiled under his cowl before ending the transmission, and Dooku stood up and stared out the windows of the bridge, still somewhat confused. Why his Master wanted to capture a single Jedi, a Jedi that, although on the Council wasn't involved in anything sensitive if their spies were to be believed, didn't make any sense to the Count, but he wouldn't question it.
If his master wanted this Jedi, he would get this Jedi; Dooku would make sure of it. He just needed the right opportunity, and perhaps someone who likely could defeat this Jedi if it came down to it and had the advantage of being in familiar territory.
Grievous prided himself on killing Jedi; surely he could capture one without too much trouble?
Obi-Wan Kenobi was safely back on Coruscant, having just finished his report to the Council about what had happened on Naboo and Iego after delivering Vindi to the authorities. Now he was in his quarters, deep in thought, trying to understand the presence he had sensed on Iego. It was one he had sensed before, but he couldn't place who it belonged to or what they even were.
It was frustrating, especially when he considered the fact that he didn't think that the presence he was sensing was a person. Whoever it was was strong in the Force, very strong, but he felt their skill was somewhat lacking. They weren't controlling it as much as they ought to, making him believe that it wasn't a Jedi.
Perhaps a Sith, playing a game of hide and seek? But why, when if the stories were to believed, they always made a grand entrance and caused quite a bit of destruction. From what he could sense, this….thing….was doing nothing of the kind and just disappearing into the depths of the galaxy at random times, never giving him a chance to see them.
Obi-Wan sighed as he looked out the window at the Coruscant skyline, watching the air taxis and transports moving about. He doubted he would find any more answers to these questions tonight, especially since one question just led to another and then back to another and around and around it went in his head. No matter what he tried he couldn't understand what he was sensing, and was tempted to go to Master Yoda and ask for his advice. But Master Yoda was busy instructing younglings and supervising the Jedi's part in the war; he was too busy for something like this, especially when Obi-Wan didn't know how to describe it at all.
If he sensed that presence again, then he would speak with Master Yoda about it. For now….he would get some rest and recover from his most recent adventures with his still-reckless former Padawan.
Anakin was going to give him gray hair faster than the war, he was sure of it.