"So what's this with the whole Sith-Jedi thing? I'm confused." Katie commented to Obi-wan. He was having her stay during the free time, in order to lecture her about a bit more.

"The Sith are those who break the Code, and the Jedi are the ones who maintain it." Was his reply. "Generally speaking, there are a few things that usually lead to the Dark side. Love which brings hate, fear and greed are the most common, though they can happen on their own."

"So you're saying that to love makes you evil?"

"Yes and no. The sort of romantic attachment you're thinking of does, but general compassion does not. You can't uphold justice without feeling something for those you are protecting." He hoped she'd take this all to heart. As Vader's apprentice, she'd be practically encouraged towards the Dark Side.

"Oh. Then I'd be worried about Mel. She has a bit of a rebel in her, and she doesn't like rules all that much…" Katie commented, in an ironic sort of way. That is, the comment itself was ironic, though she did not understand so at the time.

There was a short pause, as she thought up another question. "So who really rules this Empire thing? I know there's all sorts of officials, and a Senate that really doesn't count…"

"The Emperor does. You've never met him, and you won't for a long time. He's old and evil, and he'd eat you for breakfast if he thought you were a threat."

"Oh." She sounded disappointed.

"You thought it was Vader, now, didn't you?" He sounded amused. "No, believe me, he'd make a horrible emperor. He'd end up killing off half the population because they annoyed him, enslaving half of them, and then sleeping with the other half." Of course Obi-wan could count.

There was a huge lurch and a jarring thump as the ship set down. Unprepared, Katie went flying (she'd already been in the air) and crashed into Vader, knocking him over and landing sprawled over his lap.

"Sorry…" She mumbled, blushing as dark as a ripe tomato as she scrambled back to her feet.

He just laughed at her, though not unkindly. "One of the other reasons we're landing here is to pick up the spare parts for the stabilizers. So this shouldn't happen again." He really sort of wished that it would. Everyone had been very good lately, and it was irritating him not to have anyone to vent on. It had been days since he'd last thrown someone against a wall and simply ages since someone had been stupid enough that he had to eliminate them.

"So where are we again?" All the long and involved planet names confused her, as she had very little frame of reference.

"Corsucant. Home of the Senate, and the largest city in the entire galaxy. In fact, the whole planet is really just one huge city." He couldn't help sounding slightly possessive when talking about it. Being the right-hand man, it was his job to speak to the Senate (though never about anything important). The Senate itself had barely any power at all, having been neutered when the Emperor had taken control.

- - -

Mel had taken the jolt far more gracefully, just sort of skidding sideways while clutching her lightsaber and trying not to fall over.

Obi-wan had applauded her effort. "Lovely. But now that you've finally gotten used to it, it's going to be taken care of." Inwardly, he felt rather tense. They were right on schedule, but he had some dealings with the Rebellion that would need to be taken care of here. That meant sneaking off for long periods of time, coming up with a bunch of plausible excuses, while making his own mandatory audiences with the bureaucracy. And keeping this all out of the sight of his superior, and his rather observant padawan. Of course, he eventually was going to include her in his plans, but not until much later.

She gave him a look, puzzled by his silence. "Oh, go run off. You can look out the windows." He flapped a hand at her, shooing her away.

She complied, more enthusiastically than usual. Running up the stairs, she hung on to a walkway behind the cockpit.

The view was a weird mix of new and old, as the crowded skyline and shiny high-rises recalled every major city she had ever been in. But the buildings were off odd-colored metals, all pinks and browns and oranges in the sheen. There were small hover craft-type things zooming around in the sky, whizzing past their own ship in a sort of futuristic rush hour. Even the human scenery, from what she could see, was exotic. There were unnatural colors and shapes, those who looked almost human, like a mix between human and animal and the truly alien, who looked like nothing she'd ever dreamed of before.

"Wow." She breathed, utterly taken away. It was the most she could say, along with the thought of They had so better let me go walking around this, or I'll have to find a way myself.

"What do you mean we have to stay here?" Mel sounded thoroughly indignant, and more than a little pissed off.

"I mean you have to stay here," Obi-wan replied, stonily. "This is a political meeting, and is no place for padawans like you two."

"But I want to-" She protested. I want to explore, dammit!

"What you want to do is irrelevant. What you will do is stay here, in this room, until I get back. Then you can go exploring, but only with supervision. You get lost out there, and there's no telling who will find you." Its not like he wanted to go, in fact staying right here where he was sounded indefinitely more attractive. But he had orders, as much as he'd like to shove them up Vader's behind.

With that he strode out elegantly, cloak swirling behind him to great theatrical effect. The door swooshed closed behind him with a whisper of a hiss, and then all as silent.

Glaring at the door, Mel waited until he was a safe distance away. Striding just as purposely, she tried to get the door to open back up again. But it did not, as neither of them could have heard Obi-wan using his overriding code to keep it locked, and them inside.

In a paroxysm of rage she kicked the obstinate metal, but all she got was a very sore foot, and even sorer pride. "Damn him! How dare he lock us in here?"

"Just relax. There's nothing you can do about it." Katie was a tad annoyed at being left out so, but she really didn't care that much. In fact she was just as ready to fall asleep, lying sprawled across her bed comfortably.

"But I want to do something about it!" She did not know why this was such a big deal, except that it was.

Katie shrugged. "Then pop out the window. We're not high off the ground at all." They'd gotten rooms on a bottom level, and so their windows were all of four feet off of the pavement.

"Brilliant!" Mel snapped her fingers. "But won't they notice when they get back?"

"They'll notice you gone anyway, so why does it really matter?" Katie shrugged again. She wasn't feeling very motivated to go running about and breaking rules. Besides, she really did want that nap… she'd barely gotten any sleep at all the night before.

Dashing into their bathroom, Mel started feeling around the edges of the window. There! The rubber that sealed it had a seam, and after a few moments of struggling she managed to pry it free. The actual pane of glass came out pretty easily, and soon she was wiggling through (it being the convenient size to accommodate her). Sliding down the side she hit the pavement. The bright, violently so sunshine hurt her eyes for a moment, but the heady rush of freedom and rebellion had already taken hold. She could do anything, be anyone, and go anywhere she wanted.

Of course, that she would need to have a way to get back in time so as not to rouse suspicion did not occur to her. Neither did the idea that she might not speak the language, nor know how to get around.

Mel's schemes were all like that, one third planning, one-third improv and one third throwing caution to the wind.

- - -

The sidewalks, as the streets really were, were quite crowded with all manner of life. No one gave her a second glance and most of them not even a first. Despite feeling glaringly human and oddly dressed, she still managed to blend in.

The biggest thing she noticed was the absence of laughter. Everyone (or everything) she passed seemed somewhat serious like they had somewhere very important to go. Weird… why isn't anyone happy?

Taking a random left, (it had smelled better than the right) she found a smaller street. It was even more crowded with some sort of otherworldly bazaar and rich with the smells of new foods cooking. The colors were another shock, after the muted whites and blacks of the ship. Reds and violets especially seemed popular, and there were crowds of saffron yellow as well.

Blinking hard against the violent light, she continued down the street. At least one or two shady looking merchants gestured her over, but they were doing that to everyone whom passed.

Taking a right this time, she wandered into a slightly shadier area. There were odd-looking beggars by the sides, and at least four or five shifty pairs of eyes leering from the dark shadows lining the way. She turned back, and was shocked when she realized that the fork she had just walked down was gone. Instead there was a multitude of random branching roads, and all of them even worse than the one she was on. Then she blinked, and the illusion was gone. The fork was back, so dusty and ordinary when compared to the darkly intense ones of before. Shaking her head, she left the road.

Walking a bit faster than before, she wandered into the one establishment in which everyone was happy. No this wasn't the Red Light District, it was a bar.

It was set up much like any ordinary bar, but the drinks listed on the wall were in several languages and characters. Seating herself at one of the swively leather chairs, she spun around once before looking to the people on either side.

One of them, a fairly normal youth except for the horns poking from his thick curly hair, grinned enticingly at her. "Wanna buy some Death Sticks?"

- - -

Katie had dropped off by the time Obi-wan returned to their room, at least an hour and a half later. He stopped dead in the doorway, looking over the empty bed and her own occupied one twice. Dashing over, he began shaking her awake roughly.

"What the hell was that for?" She mumbled groggily, glaring at him through vaguely unfocused eyes.

"Where is she?" He demanded. There was no point in using a name, it was obvious anyway.

"I dunno." She shrugged. It wasn't a complete lie; after all she had no idea exactly where Mel was.

"How can you not know? She was in the same room as you!" he let go and took a quick peek into the only other room possible. The gaping window grinned at him, glass leaning crazily against the sink. There was a breeze coming through, pulling at his clothes and mocking him with its emptiness.

"Damn her." Without another word he strode from the room, looking for all the world like he was on the edge of homicide.

- - -

Obi-wan stormed into Vader's room, slamming the door, still looking homicidal.

Vader whirled around, caught uncharacteristically off-guard. "What do you want?" he demanded, pissed off at having been found at a disadvantage.

Normally, Obi-wan would have been just as annoyed at having to ask for help, but he was angry enough right now not to care. "I want you to send out word, and bring her back."

"Who?" This apparently wasn't his day. Now he looked confused as well.

Obi-wan's death glare grew, if possible, deeper. "My padawan. She'd gone running off, and I need her back. Now."

"Find her yourself, she's your padawan." As much as he'd like punishing a disobedient Melissa, he had more important things to do.

"I don't have time either. Now let me use whoever you've got policing this godforsaken city of yours." For once their roles were reversed, and it was Obi-wan who got to yell the orders. This would have given him a sense of power had he not been more worried about finding his errant student.

"Go ahead. I don't care." He shrugged. "They're just not good at being very gentle with prisoners."

"That's half the point." Obi-wan started to leave. "Oh, and I'll be disciplining her myself." Without another word, he stormed from the room.

"How much are they?" Its not like Mel had any money, or whatever they used for currency on her, but she wanted to at least pretend that she fit in.

He grinned at her, playing his own game. "For you, sweetheart, what ever you feel like paying." Its not like he needed the money right now and if he managed to get her hooked… Death sticks were one of the most potent drugs this side of Mustafar, and were the pinnacle of pick your own poison. They could be eaten, smoked, or melted and injected, and taken in basically anyway that you wanted.

Their lovely drug-deal was interrupted by a warning yell of "Levo!" from the front of the establishment. With that, the more shady characters began filtering towards the secret back entrances, to avoid being picked up.

This included the Death Stick man, who disappeared into a crowd without another word. Mel was left sitting, looking vaguely confused. But she was not in limbo long before a squad of five storm troopers surrounded her noisily.

"Resistance is futile." One of them growled at her before she was grabbed and bodily dragged away.

Kicking and screaming, of course. "I didn't do it! I didn't do it! I don't know what you're talking about! I WANT MY PHONE CALL!"

They declined to comment where she could hear it, though this could have meant they were just making fun of her on their radios. Which is exactly what they were doing, and rather enthusiastically. After all, every job needs to have its perks…

- - -

Some time later, a rather more disheveled Mel was dropped to the floor in the main bay. Obi-wan gently prodded her with his boot, face unreadable.

"I didn't do it!" She protested, still confused as to what she had done.

"Really? Then I was wrong to think that diving out a window and running off was a deliberate action. I beg your pardon for the misunderstanding." His voice absolutely dripped sarcasm, as he waved the 'Gestapo'-esque storm troopers off.

"Oh. That." Whoops…

"Yes, that. I suppose it's my fault for encouraging your sense of free will. Turns out, you aren't allowed to leave unless I say you can. Which you won't be for a very long time, as its obvious you aren't up to it." He started walking off stonily, gesturing for her to come along as well.

Getting gingerly to her feet, she trod along behind him, feeling the sore spots speckling her body, which would be turning to bruises soon.

"You're actually rather lucky. I could have turned your over to Vader for yelling at, but I felt that after your bumpy ride you didn't need to be flung against a wall. Of course, if you ever feel the need to run off again…" He commented, hoping to scare her without actually having to do anything to. If she was to eventually help him lead his coup, then she needed to be able to trust him. But he also needed her to obey him… Such reckless disregard to lead to the Dark Side…

Suddenly, he realized how ridiculous he was sounding. He'd broken more than his fair share of rules while at the temple, and it hadn't hurt him. Besides, she'd been upset enough earlier… he should have expected something like this. Sighing, he halted and turned to her. "But then again, I suppose it could have been worse." Waving towards her door, he shooed her off. Change of heart or no change of heart, he still had the window replaced. This time, blastproof.