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A Shift in the Force: Chapter Twenty-Eight: Secrets in Death

AN: Gods above, there is so much in this fic that I want to write right now. There's so much great stuff coming soon.


Sabé awoke to the sensation of one of Arthree's rectangle-shaped feet colliding gently with her side. Sabé groaned, rolling over.

"Arthree," she grumbled, "this isn't a time-sensitive mission, I can sleep in."

Arthree beeped this time as he nudged her and Sabé froze, rolling back towards him to stare at his radar eye. "What did you say?"

"What're you going on about?" came Taria's sleepy voice next to her.

"Arthree says I've got an encrypted message saved in Arthree's database, don't worry about it," Sabé muttered back, pulling her body out of the sleeping bag in order to move to a distant part of the cave in order to pull out her datapad, transferring the message only to frown on its contents.

Jedi Shadows were involved in some rather deep cover operations and even though Sabé was the only one who actually locked her true self –her memories, her experiences, her allies– deep down within her in order to take on the visage and personality of the alias she was portraying, Jedi Shadows still had a system for keeping others from finding out who they were.

Encryption was at the core of that.

Jedi Shadows encrypting their information wasn't a new development, but each Jedi Shadow had their own encryption key that was needed in order to comprehend the data that was encrypted. Usually it was specific to something that was personal to the one using it, like a story that had been read to them in the crèche, or something that was from their planet.

Sabé was rather unfamiliar with this code, and there weren't too many Jedi Shadows to begin with, in fact, she was one of three. But she knew both of Maw and Taria's codes, and they knew hers; it was a requirement, because someone had to be able to comprehend the data any of them uncovered.

"Where did the data originate from?" she asked Arthree in an undertone so as not to awaken Talik –who hadn't even awakened at the sound of Arthree's noise from earlier– and Taria –who had fallen back asleep once given the opportunity.

Arthree gave a beep before his holographic projector showcased the planets located in the Esstran system, one of the planets lighting up in emphasis as he beeped out the name.

"Ziost," Sabé murmured it out loud.

Ziost was the planet that was rather similar in appearance to the planet Korriban, the homeworld of the Sith –or so it was believed and recorded in the Archives; no one had actually stepped foot on Korriban in centuries, eons really…at least no Jedi had. Ziost was the adopted homeworld of the Sith after Korriban had been abandoned.

Sabé couldn't remember if anything or anyone still even lived there. It was a barren wasteland, much like Korriban was said to be, partially covered in ice with all plant-life and wildlife long since dead, and any technology long since deactivated. Sabé was almost sure the last time there'd been any documentation concerning the planet had been during the Great Hyperspace War, but that had been more than three thousand years previously.

Why would anyone have an interest in going there in the first place?

Sabé frowned. "Who sent the message?" she asked instead, and the answer surprised her more than anything else and she found herself staring in incomprehension at the astromech who twisted his domed head in what she was almost sure was the astromech version of confusion.

"You're sure?" she asked, struggling now to keep her voice down. "Absolutely sure?"

The astromech gave an affirmative beep and Sabé breathed out sharply, running a hand through her long braids.

But she wasn't even a Jedi Shadow! What was she doing using a code similar to the ones Sabé, Taria, and Maw used?

Sabé stood so quickly that she almost banged her head on the side of the cave wall before grabbing her comm and making her way up the sloping path that had led them from the edge of the cave deep into its depths.

When she reached the top, close to the edge where she could see the perpetual rain falling down over where Sabé and Talik had parked the Starfighter the previous night, she pulled out the comm, connecting it to one of her known frequencies.

It took a painfully long time for him to pick up; Sabé had almost started to lose her patience.

"Sabé," growled the Boltrunian growled across the comm, "do you have any idea how early it is on Coruscant?"

"I imagine it's very early, Knight Maw," Sabé said blandly. "I just received a very strange encrypted message that was sent from the planet Ziost…you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

The long silence that followed her question was enough of an answer as his words could have ever been.

"You sent a Jedi Guardian on a Jedi Shadow mission?" Sabé asked dubiously. "To what end? Even though Taria and I are indisposed, you're more than capable of—"

"My attention was required elsewhere," Maw said in a tone that clearly said he didn't have to explain his actions to Sabé, which was technically true; he was her superior after all, but they were on equal grounds by both being on the Council of First Knowledge.

"Any particular reason you chose her?"

"Why not her?" Maw returned, unimpressed.

"Shadow missions take away from padawan training, and she's got one of those, remember?" Sabé pointed out.

"So do you."

Sabé scowled. She'd been a Jedi Shadow even before she'd taken on Talik as her padawan learner. "Yes, but Talik always has a master to learn from, even when I'mnot there to teach her."

And the Jedi in question had never had a particular fondness towards undercover missions.

All that could be heard on the other end was static-y silence.

"I don't suppose you'd know the code she used to make the encryption?" Sabé asked dryly with just a hint of annoyance.

"No," he said shortly and Sabé grumbled under her breath before canceling the connection and glowering down at her comm where it was strapped to her arm.

"Thanks for nothing," she complained to herself, knowing full well that he couldn't hear her.

It wasn't as though she hadn't taken undercover missions before, but still the growing sensation of unease spread deep within Sabé's stomach.


They'd left rather early with Sabé and Taria sharing a low conversation away from Talik with grim expressions on their faces. It made Talik's insides twist uncomfortably in her stomach. She tried to use her Force-listening in order to hear them better, but either Taria or Sabé had shielded themselves with the Force because Talik was rebuffed and couldn't hear a thing.

Within an hour all of their things had been packed up, what little there had been in the first place, with Arthree making a comprehensive scan of all the scrawlings across the cave walls and Taria and Sabé had collected all the synthetic red crystals they could find into a consolidated jar that was tucked into Taria's bag.

"Are we going home?" Talik asked as Arthree powered his boosters in order to return to his designated spot on the Starfighter while Sabé and Talik pulled their own transparisteel canopies down over themselves before locking into their seats.

"No," Sabé said shortly. "We're going to Ziost."

Yesterday Talik would have voiced her complaints rather loudly, because they were supposed to go back to Coruscant after their training mission on Dagobah was completed only to be sent off to Pamina Prime, and now to Ziost. But none of those thoughts formed in Talik's head, because she wasn't sure she had seen her master or Taria so startled before.

"Why?"

"Because I received an encrypted message from a Jedi on a mission there," Sabé said before flicking a switch by her screen. "Patching through: code 7654-e3. Taria, can you read me?"

"Loud and clear," Taria's voice chimed in over the comms. "Ready when you are."

"Lifting off," Sabé said as the engines fired and Talik looked through the transparisteel into the thick rain to see that Taria in her similar Starfighter doing the same. It was only once they'd left the planet's atmosphere and headed into warp that Talik opened her mouth once more.

"Is it bad for you to get an encrypted message from a Jedi on a mission?" she asked out loud.

"Not usually," Taria answered her. "But this Jedi was on a Shadow mission and that's a different matter; Jedi Shadow missions can end up being very dangerous—"

"That's why Master fakes her death on a lot of them," Talik presumed.

"Every Jedi Shadow fakes their death at least once," Sabé remarked dryly. "Sometimes it's the only way to come out alive."

"But every Jedi Shadow uses a different encryption code to keep others from understanding the data they collect," Taria added. "And every Shadow knows only to send their information away when things are dire."

"So someone sending you encrypted information is really bad," Talik surmised with a grimace.

"Possibly very bad," Sabé agreed. "Settle in, it's going to be a long flight."


Ziost was cold, that was the first thing Talik noticed when they landed and goose bumps rose on her arms under her cloak as she turned up her head to keep her lekku protected. The second thing she noticed was how the color had leeched from Sabé's face as she braced a hand against the Starfighter to keep upright.

"Master?" she asked curiously and Taria turned back to fix on Sabé, and then she was at her side in an instant.

"Sabé? Sabé, can you hear me?"

"What's wrong with her?" Talik asked, worry coloring her face and voice as Taria helped her sit down. "Is she sick?"

Taria didn't answer her at first, cradling Sabé's head in her hands. "The last time I saw Sabé like this was back when we were all in our Initiate clans and she thought it would be a good idea to cut herself off from the Force."

"I remember that story," Talik hummed in agreement. "She said it was like the Force was hammering against her head at night."

"She says that the Force presence on Coruscant is suppressing," Taria said, frowning as she looked over her friend. "This place has to be worse for her."

"Why?"

Taria gave her a curious look. "Do you even know where we are?"

"No," Talik said honestly. She'd spent their time at warp catching up on some much needed sleep.

"Ziost is the adopted homeworld of the Sith, Talik," Taria told her flatly, "the Dark Side is thick here."

"I can't sense it," Talik said, frowning and focusing, but that changed nothing.

Taria cast her a wry glance as Sabé breathed in and out deeply like she was trying to calm herself down. "You're young and inexperienced and not as in tune with the Force."

"You're not crippled by it," Talik pointed out with a sulky pout.

"Sabé's more…sensitive to the Force than I am," Taria said, turning back to her friend. "Sabé, you all right?"

"Give me a moment," Sabé breathed out sharply, pressing a clammy hand against her brow. Talik didn't think she'd ever seen her master sick, but she certainly did look that way right now. "I need to…adjust."

She closed her eyes and focused, the feeling heat weighing down on her, making it difficult to breathe, making her head ache, slowly abated, like a cloud that was slowly pulled from her eyes.

Sabé blinked her eyes open, grimacing. "I didn't faint, did I?"

"Nearly," Taria said dryly, "I'm guessing the planet's really that bad?"

Sabé grunted in agreement, taking Taria's hand when she offered it to her, pulling her into a standing position. Sabé swayed dangerously for a moment with a dull headache aching inside her head, but Sabé could distract herself from that.

"I'm fine," she told Talik as she hovered closer in worry, looking around them instead.

"I think we're on the half of the planet that isn't a popsicle," Taria added in an effort to distract Sabé, which seemed like the best way to go, given her current headache. "They're a bit more advanced than I thought they'd be."

Sabé could see what she meant; the datapads in the Jedi Archives had always made it seem that technology on Ziost was primitive and not very advanced, but the structures around them told a different story.

"Arthree," Sabé said, and her astromech wheeled forward, eager to please, "can you locate where that encrypted message was sent?"

Arthree gave an agreeable beep before a scanner extended from the top of his domed head, twisting around several times as he attempted to narrow down the location before wheeling off in the direction that was north, leaving the three to follow hastily after him.

Silence descended and Talik didn't think she'd ever felt something so strangling. The bond between her and her master was so utterly devoid of any sensation that it was doing nothing for her nerves. It wasn't all that common for her master to cut herself off almost entirely from her emotions; Talik had only seen her do it a few times, usually in the presence of members of the High Council that she found particularly grating.

She didn't know how long they'd walked, but when they reached an abandoned hangar, both Sabé and Taria took off running, seeing something that Talik had missed, but she followed quickly after them, coming to a stop when she found them kneeling on both sides of a fallen body and Talik's blood ran cold.

The last time Talik had seen her, she'd been wearing the same cream-colored robes that most of the Jedi wore, but she'd abandoned them for a jumpsuit that was black in color, similar to an outfit Talik had once seen her master wear. The blonde hair fell around her face in disarray, even as Sabé pushed the strands aside to see cloudy eyes that had once been so blue. Taria positively shook.

Even in death, Siri Tachi was stunning.

Talik swallowed in horror, looking to the blacked mark on her chest, too large to have come from blaster fire…the right size for a lightsaber.

"Siri," Taria murmured brokenly and Sabé bit her lip, cradling a cold cheek in her hand.

Sabé had a very small number of very close friends, but Siri, despite her knowing the feelings Siri and Obi-Wan had once shared, was always fun to spar with. They were the only other Jedi in the Temple barring Mace Windu that possessed purple lightsabers, something that had always humored them. The last time Sabé had seen Siri, the woman had tried to coax her into fighting with a single 'saber to see if she had a weakness in that area, but all Sabé had done was laugh.

Sabé scrubbed at her eyes, trying not to feel overwhelmed. First there'd been that business with Korinth'Kel…now Siri?

"By the stars, Siri," she muttered, "what happened?"

"Who would do this?" Taria asked, stunned and horrified beyond all belief. "Who would kill her?"

But Sabé had no answers, shrugging off her cloak to place it gently over Siri's fallen form, hiding it from view.

"Arthree," she said, her voice shaking just slightly, "I need you to transmit a message to the High Council on Coruscant.


Their meeting had almost concluded when one of the Jedi in charge of the main comm frequency commed Yoda.

"Master Yoda, there's Knight Amidala and Knight Damesin on the line for you, they say it's important," came a mushy voice.

The eyes of the other council members flicked towards Yoda. "Put them through, you will," he intoned.

"At once, master."

"Yeah, you better put us through," Taria snarled as their wavering blue forms appeared on the center of the floor. "What part of a kriffing emergency did you not understand?"

"Master," Sabé said solemnly in place of Taria's irate tone, "I'm not sure if you've been made aware of our current condition, but Talik, Taria, and I have left Pamina Prime in order to journey to the planet Ziost after an encrypted message was sent to me early this morning."

There was an outbreak of curious muttering at the mention of Ziost.

"I would like to request a transport be sent to our location in order to bring Jedi Knight Siri Tachi home for a proper burial."

Adi Gallia, Siri's former master leaned forward in startled horror, raising a hand to her mouth, eyes wide and startled.

Jedi deaths weren't unusual, but Siri was a very skilled Jedi, not one to be caught unawares.

"Sent, your transport will be," Yoda said, bobbing his old head in regretful understanding. "Proper burial, Siri Tachi will be given."

And the holographic projections cut off abruptly, leaving Adi Gallia to stand to depart without a glance back.


Adi Gallia had always been fond of her former padawan. Siri had been headstrong and clever and she'd seen a bright future for her…for her life to be cut so short so suddenly plucked viciously at her heartstrings.

She knew she had to let go of her anger and her sadness, but she had raised Siri, she allowed herself a moment to bask in both emotions as she strode towards where Taria, Talik, and Sabé all were, the long cloak hiding Siri's body from view.

"Master Gallia?" Surprise colored Taria's face and Talik's brow furrowed, but Sabé didn't appear all that surprised.

"Show me," Adi said, her voice wavering just slightly, and Sabé nodded, kneeling to pull the cloak back to expose Siri's head and Adi looked away quickly. It would have been impossible not to recognize that face, the curve of her lips, the smoothness of her brow.

"Talik," Sabé said quietly, "get the repulsorlift from Master Gallia's transport."

"Yes, Master," Talik said, just as quietly, darting away as Sabé stood to extend Siri's lightsaber to Adi, something which took Adi a moment to notice.

"Does Ferus Olin know?" Taria asked, anger gleaming in her eyes at the loss of another friend. Ferus Olin was only a few months short of being Siri's padawan a year; the news would hit him hard.

"I–" Adi's words were briefly choked. "Yes, I told him before I left…he wanted to come along, but she wouldn't have wanted him to see her like that."

Taria's eyes softened. "What's going to happen to him?"

Adi swallowed thickly, eyes glancing back down to Siri's face. She looked peaceful, and that was the only consolation.

"I will take over his training in her stead," she said solemnly and both Jedi Shadows nodded in understanding.

"Master Gallia, this question might make you a bit uncomfortable…" Sabé said cautiously, treading lightly on wounds that were still open and in agony. "But the encrypted message that Siri sent me…we still haven't managed to decrypt it, do you know what she could have used as her encryption key?"

"No," Adi said slowly, still at a loss. "I haven't the faintest idea."


Things were quiet in the apartment back at 500 Republica. Talik had disappeared into her room with Anakin, both a bit muted; it wasn't the way that either of them had wanted her return to go.

Sabé poured herself a generous amount of Corellian whiskey that she hadn't touched since Korinth'Kel's funeral. She downed it in one go, the heat of the alcohol flushing her cheeks.

And Sabé decided that she rather hated funerals.

"You look terrible."

Sabé almost jumped at the sudden sound of Obi-Wan's voice, relaxing when she turned towards him. She'd only seen him briefly at Siri's funeral, and she hadn't stuck around afterwards to speak with him; she wouldn't have known what to say.

She'd known that Obi-Wan and Siri had some kind of relationship in the past, back when they were on an assignment together, but she didn't know how deep it ran, and it wasn't any of her business. Obi-Wan had a thing for blondes after all.

"You look worse," she tossed back, holding out the jar of whiskey to him, but Obi-Wan abstained; wise man. "Nice beard," she added.

Obi-Wan reached up to stroke at the short gingery beard curling around his chin.

He looked more mature with the beard, Sabé thought, and painfully attractive. No wonder Siri had fallen for him.

"I was looking for Anakin," he said as Sabé sat the alcohol back down on the counter in order to curl up on one of the couches.

"He's sleeping," she said shortly. "Let him sleep."

Obi-Wan paused, glancing towards the door, beyond which both their padawans slumbered.

"He loves you, you know," Siri had said one night after Sabé had returned from her meditative retreat. "Obi-Wan."

"He doesn't," Sabé had returned with absolute certainty that had once upon a time caused her pain. "I'm not his type."

Siri gave her a dry stare. "You really haven't noticed, have you? The way he looks at you…like he's finally realized he's standing in the same room and something beautiful and mysterious and dangerous."

Sabé's cheeks had flushed pink.

"He used to look at me like that," Siri confided, "that's how I can tell; its subtle so no one would really notice if they weren't looking for it."

Sabé had looked away, not knowing what to do with that kind of information.

"I hadn't spoken to her in awhile," he said suddenly and Sabé looked up to him. "I was always finding other things to distract myself with…missions, Anakin…I never thought she'd actually die on a mission."

"Someone got the drop on her," Sabé said bitterly, "it happens."

Sabé was no stranger to that feeling, of course, it had never caused her death, just left her at the hands of another, though Sabé had gotten rather good at escaping.

"She had a holo of us kissing, you know," Sabé said, remembering that humorous detail, "in case she got nabbed undercover, in it I was her girlfriend, Semele, just in case her cover was questioned…it was my idea to give her a romantic relationship, but she's the one that suggested me…I didn't really mind."

Obi-Wan gave her a soft smile. "You were always the one to go more in-depth in undercover operations."

Sabé shrugged before pulling herself upright. "It's what I'm good at." Then she walked over to where he was still standing, squeezing his arm in comfort. "There's a spare room for you if you want to stay the night."

Obi-Wan reached his other hand over to cup his hand over hers and the Force hummed. Sabé's eyes shifted upwards, cheeks pink from something that had nothing to do with the alcohol.

"Thank you," he said and for a moment Sabé faltered, leaning forward just slightly before removing her hand –her metallic hand– from his arm and making her way back to her room, running a careless hand through her braided hair, her skin uncommonly warm.


It was strange how things in the Temple went back to normal so swiftly after Siri's funeral, but that was the Jedi way; no mourning, no missing the dead. Sabé had never liked that part of the Jedi.

Talik found her training with Vokara Che had renewed with an impressive vigor, the Jedi clearly taking advantage of the time she now had to train Sabé's padawan in the healing arts. Anakin was fiddling around with some machine while Obi-Wan was meditating, and Sabé was back to her duties as a member of the Council of First Knowledge.

Today she was assisting Jocasta Nu in the Jedi Archives.

"Hi, Master Sabé!"

Sabé looked up to smile as the twin Jedi padawans Tiplee and Tiplar flounced past, their arms full of datapads. "Tiplee, Tiplar, I hope you're training hard."

Both twins nodded, the tendrils like seaweed around their face following the movement as they giggled, continuing past her.

"Crazy ones, those two," mentioned a voice at Sabé's side, and she arched an eyebrow at her fellow Jedi, Etain Tur-Mukan, her strawberry blonde hair falling over the shoulders of her beige robes. Etain was only a few years older than Sabé but had never elected to choose a padawan; she had always been a bit insecure about her abilities to teach.

"They're not so bad," Sabé smiled.

"You're just saying that because they're friends with your padawan," Etain returned, a bit too knowingly.

Sabé rolled her eyes. "Is there something I can help you with, Etain?"

"Master Windu's looking for you," Etain said with a bit of disinterest. "Something about an undercover mission."

"Did he say to where?" Sabé asked, flummoxed, her brow furrowed.

"To Alderaan."

AN: So this was kind of a somber chapter with Siri's death and all. Siri's actually supposed to die later, closer to the start of the Clone Wars, but her actions did further the plot that leads to several events that will be happening in the next few chapters.

Etain, Tiplee, and Tiplar are all characters that are going to crop up from time to time and Etain's relationship with Sabé is something I'm really looking forward to fleshing out, because it'll be important, come book four.

And Sabé and Obi-Wan almost had a moment! Isn't that exciting! Maybe they'll actually kiss in the nect five chapters!

As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!