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Chapter 57
Location: Naberrie's Apartment
Month 2 Day 27 Year 27
1400
Obi-wan's eyes peer between his two friends, and he can sense within the force an altercation. Their own force auras seem to be more aligned than the previous time he had seen them together. That could mean only one single thing; Anakin had told her the truth.
The only words to grace his lips are, " Anakin, what have you done?"
His voice sounds disappointed in his best friend and Anakin notices it. His eyes droop towards the ground almost ashamed of what he's done, but he mutters, " She figured it out on her own. I told her of Qui-gon's arrest and she sensed his guilt and directly asked me if I was involved or if you were involved.
The door to the apartment hisses closed and for once more in his life, Obi-wan finds himself scolding his brethren. " Do you have any idea of the implications that the council will have to say about this?"
Anakin keeps his eyes on the floorboards he has become fascinated with. Padme' doesn't stay silent and turns to Obi-wan. " I'm already involved in this mess, Ben. Anakin heard Ashoka and I speaking this morning about stealing the recording device from Rush's office."
Obi-wan turns his eyes onto her this time and retorts, " You involved Ashoka in your revenge scheme? Padme', she is a child."
He shakes his head in disbelief of both of his friends. The anger simmering in his body. It takes a lot for Obi-wan to feel this sort of anger, however some of this anger is displaced as he is livid that his mentor has been arrested for treason. Qui-gon is as much his father as he is Anakin's biological father. Obi-wan didn't have too many family members and he and Anakin are part of those very few.
He sighs and places himself in a chair near the corner of the room. He digs his own nails into the golden cloth and attempts to dip into the force and release his anxiety and anger. His anger cools as he wraps the force around himself, much like a cocoon. His eyes open and the dull gray shines with regret and sorrow, much mirrored in Anakin's own gaze.
" We have to inform the Council of his arrest," He assures.
Yes, that is the protocol that Qui-gon had in place. If any of his fellow Jedi or rebels ever were caught or found out, the person in charge would report the incident and follow the Council's instructions.
Anakin opined, " I don't understand why we cannot form a plan to break him out of the prisons ourselves."
Padme crosses her arms against her chest and assures him. " If you want to be found out and thrown in the cell next to Admiral Jinn."
Anakin's eyes land on Obi-wan's and questions, " How do we contact the Council? I don't have access to the warehouse as the code alters every few hours."
Obi-wan rubs the slight scruff forming on his chin and sighs, " I only know of one person who would be able to deactivate the security measures."
Anakin's eyes meet his- blue on gray and he shakes his head. " There is no way I'm going to ask her to take more risks than she has already agreed too."
Padme' nods in agreement with their assessment. She dials the number of her friend's comm. Link and it begins to ring. Ashoka's voice answers immediately, " Padme, what is wrong? Did Anakin come back after speaking to-"
Obi-wan cuts her off and orders, " Ashoka we need you to come to Padme's apartment. There's something we need to discuss."
Ashoka's voice is silent and then she mutters, " Padme', what did you do?"
" Just come to my apartment and we'll discuss this in person and I did nothing."
The comm. Link disconnects and they wait.
Location: Detention Center
Month 2 Day 27 Year 27
1800
The evening shift has begun as the Winter sun drifts into the darkness of the night. Inquisitor Maul shifts his position over the prisoner in question. Blood trickles down the Admiral's mouth as he has been punched several times in that area. The Admiral hasn't answered any of his questions except for that he had been involved in training Carth within the past year. He mentions that this can be found in all his logs within his office. Maul already knows this fact as he has several underlings going through those in the past few hours. He is frustrated as he cannot penetrate the Admiral's mind. He didn't think this would be such a hard task. He knows the old man was trained by Dooku himself and is force sensitive, but he didn't expect the sort of mind shields he has within his mind.
He slams a force push onto the older man and the Admiral takes it like he is some young man, not a man in his middle age fifties. His blue eyes stare back up into Maul's yellow ones and he says idly, " Do you really think you have the strength to penetrate my mind? You are still young and brand new to the force. I'd had decades to perfect my barriers."
Maul clenches his teeth and slams another force push onto the chained man. Qui-gon never showed much arrogance but now it reminds him of a certain Commander-in-training that is always ready to show his arrogance to his peers.
Qui-gon closes his eyes as he feels the second force wave on his aging body. Maul cannot know how it is affecting him. His body takes the push again, though he edges the pain he feels into the force. Qui-gon had been taught long ago after being interrogated and tortured by the Separtists how to endure torment and interrgations such as these. Very few people could penetrate his mind- namely Dooku himself and probably the Emperor, but Qui-gon hasn't had face to face time with the Emperor in many years, probably since his transfer to the Imperial Navy Academy.
The force push ends and Maul lets out a frustrating grunt. He opined, " I will discover what you are hiding Admiral Jinn, even if it means destroying your mind in the process."
Qu-gion snorts and suggests, " I doubt you will find the evidence you are looking for. I am a loyal Imperial Naval Officer with over Thirty years of proven loyalty. How old are you? Perhaps 25 standard years? Unless you have some proof from my office or my home, then you will have to release me."
Maul grunts and shoots out another force wave upon the Admiral. Qui-gon closes his eyes and breathes out his pain into the force. I am one with the force.
Maul turns on his heels and storms out of the detention cell. Several of his underlings stop as he continues his assault on his path to his office. He needs someone who is powerful enough to penetrate the Admiral's mind- someone who can help him in his aid to crack this case and be done with it. The Emperor had been more than a tad bit alarmed upon hearing of his loyal officers being accused of treason. Maul had already released two of them because their minds had become so easy and he had found no trace of their treason, only their connections with Carth as short as Admiral Jinn's.
He stops short of his office when he senses Dooku's presence within his office. His hand waves at the doorway and they hiss open and hiss close behind him. Dooku sits in his chair behind his desk. He is casually using the force floating a holocron's empty shell in the air. Mauls' golden gaze narrows and he suggests, " Why are you here?"
There is no politeness in his tone, nor any hint of remorse at arresting the older man's mentee. Dooku's caramel gaze fixates on the Zarabk and he replies, " I wanted to see what progress has been made within your investigation."
Inquisitor Maul's golden gaze blinks at him and he retorts, " Two out of the four Admirals arrested have had their minds penetrated and no evidence has been found of any connections to the Rebellion. Admiral Velica has shown some promise, but Admiral Jinn as you know has mental shields due to his force sensitiveness and your training."
Count Dooku cannot hide his smirking mouth at his former padawan's strength within the force. He had trained Qui-gon well, but how long will his strength last?
Dooku leans casually in the comfortable chair and mentions, " Have you tried attempting more than one Inquisitor penetrating his mind?"
Maul crosses his arms as he sits across from the Count. His mouth is shut as he listens to the old man. " Qui-gon has been trained in both the Sith and Jedi ways for his entire life. He was tortured during the Clone Wars. It may take more than one powerful force user to penetrate his mind or break it."
Maul rubs his chin and mutters, " I doubt my underlingers are strong enough to break him… except- Skywalker."
Dooku shrugs and suggests, " I doubt that Skywalker will be available for your interrogations as he is on another investigation for me, if you don't remember."
Maul suggests, " I only need him for a few hours. I'm sure you could spare him for that long. I will call upon him on his night shift tonight. He should be here within the hour."
Dooku waves his fingers and the shell of the holocron falls gracefully back onto the desk. He states firmly, " No he will not be available until the end of his shift, as I find it is more important for him to find this bounty hunter and crush her before she attains more information about the Emperor's projects."
Maul laughs cunningly in his face. " The Emperor's projects? Please I am well aware of the project that Director Krennic thinks of as his personal baby. Krennic has a big mouth and loves to brag about his project. You are more concerned with those recordings implicating yourself into knowlying blackmailing a diplomat for funding without going to the Senate for approval."
Dooku's expression is flat and Maul cannot read the old man's expression, he didn't care for Dooku, never had. Dooku responds idly, " Skywalker will be leading this operation as I have instructed him to do, and if you choose to attempt to disobey my orders I'll be discussing it with the Emperor himself."
Maul gestures towards the door. " I will be speaking to the Emperor myself about this matter in the morning. I think he will agree that Skywalker will be useful in obtaining information on the connection between his mentor and the rebellion. He is after all, an Inquisitor in training."
Dooku stands and says nothing more to the Inquisitor. He casually strolls out of his office and his shoulders hang as the door hisses shut behind him. The Emperor would approve of Skywalker's interference in the interrogation because he believes him to be of his blood- and if Skywalker is currently involved with the rebellion, he will be implicated as well, if they are to penetrate Qui-gon's mind which leaves Dooku with two choices. One- allow this implication to happen or two- volunteer himself as an interrogator to the man he helped raise and attempt at distorting the memories enough that Maul will only see what he needs to see. He doubts Skywalker is strong enough to do so.
That leaves him with no other choice but to volunteer himself- and destroy the career of his adopted son. To destroy his life because the evidence he finds will be enough to connect him to the Jedi and probably the rebellion as well.
To Be Continued.