The Council, fully gathered if not fully awake, was called to order by Master Yoda.

"Before I share my news, want to discuss the mission to Xlenia, I do," he began. "Master Windu, Master Kenobi, thoughts, do you have, hmm?"

Obi-Wan Kenobi started. "Frankly, I'm concerned. I don't appreciate being stranded in the middle of nowhere without a hyperdrive," he commented. "Especially by the hand of the Inquisitor."

"It was well planned out, and very well executed," confessed Mace Windu. "As much as it pains me to admit it, I am impressed with the Inquisitor's reaction to being baited into a trap."

"From what I heard," Depa Billaba remarked, "It almost seemed as if you were the ones who fell into a trap."

"I certainly felt like it," replied Kenobi, but Windu didn't answer. It was supposed to be his trap, after all.

"How is Skywalker?" Asked Luminara Unduli, in a small voice.

Kenobi folded his hands and leaned on his elbows. "He seems to have given up that she is Ahsoka, at least from what I can tell."

"Has he given up on saving Tano, or her being Tano?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked. "I just want to be clear."

"On her being Ahsoka," Kenobi answered, and Adi-Mundi nodded.

Shaak Ti spoke up. "What made him change his mind?"

"The Inquisitor fired on his fighter. I believe that he didn't expect her to do that if it was her, so he gave up."

"And do we still believe she is Tano?"

No one answered the Togrutan Jedi Master at first.

Yes, they all still believed that she had fallen to the Dark Side, but none of them wanted to repeat the argument that had taken place a few weeks ago about her reasons for turning.

Yoda filled the silence. "Impact my opinion, Skywalker's change does, but change our actions, it does not. Capture her and defeat her, we still must."

"Preferably before she gets too close to the Chancellor," added Windu.

"What do we plan to do about the droids we identified?" Asked Kenobi. "I'd rather not get stranded again. Next time, we may not be as lucky as to have enough food and air as we did earlier."

"There's not much we can do," said Billaba, "Except watch for them and avoid them if possible. We don't know where they're being made, so we can't stop their production."

"Ah," interrupted Yoda, "but a lead on that, I have."

The Council turned to him, waiting expectantly.

"Multiple anonymous tips, we have received. Point to the origin of the droids, one of them does."

"And you're sure it's not a trap, Master?" Asked Ti.

"No, I am not, but investigate it, we must. Afford to let this go, we cannot."

Kenobi spoke up. "We just had our own trap turned against us. What good will setting off one of theirs do us?"

Adi-Mundi countered Kenobi. "You said it yourself, we can't risk getting stranded without adequate supplies. If we have anything on the source of these droids we need to at least investigate, even if it is a trap."

"I will go," Luminara spoke. The Council shifted its attention to her. "A Jedi Master ought to be the one to go on this mission. I volunteer myself."

Master Yoda stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "On Kiros, the factory is rumored to be."

Shaak Ti perked up. "Kiros? A Republic system?"

"Rumored to be hidden from plain sight, it is. Given, directions were."

Master Ti thought for a moment, then declared "Then I should go with Master Unduli."

No one objected, so Shaak turned to Luminara, who nodded. "The two of us will be able to confirm the source, or the opposite if it is false."

"Leave immediately, you should," Master Yoda counseled. They stood up and walked towards the exit.

The rest of the Council looked after them as they left, then resumed their conversation once the doors sealed. Windu began.

"Did anything else come from this anonymous source?"

"Yes," answered the Grandmaster, "but wait for their safe return, we will before we continue to trust them."

Aboard a ship, flying out to Kiros, Shaak Ti and Luminara Unduli did not speak. Not at first. It was only when Luminara spoke out to Shaak that the two began to talk.

"Shaak?"

"Yes?" Shaak had been preoccupied with her conversation with the Younglings but put it aside.

"What do you make of Skywalker's change?" She asked, not looking at the Togruta but out of the cockpit.

Shaak drew a breath before she answered. She knew this was a delicate subject, but it was an important one. "If Skywalker no longer believes that Tano is the Inquisitor, then the Inquisitor has become less dangerous to him." She glanced at the Mirialan, but Luminara did not turn to face her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the Inquisitor has clearly been taking advantage of Skywalker's doubts and hopes against him," she explained. "If he no longer has those, then the Inquisitor can no longer use them against him, or the Jedi Order."

"Yes," mused Luminara, but Shaak heard the pain in her voice. "We wouldn't want anyone to use our loyalties against us."

Shaak turned to fully face Luminara. "If it truly is Tano, then it is not your fault. You are not the reason she fell."

"But I'm the reason Barriss fell," she responded and looked up for the first time at Shaak. "If I had paid more attention, I would have noticed, something, anything, a sign that I was losing her. By the time I realized, she had already hurt so many people." Luminara closed her eyes. "So many..."

"None of us realized in time," she tried to comfort the other. "It wasn't just you."

"I was supposed to, though. I was her master, she was my responsibility." Luminara shook her head. "I was a fool. At least Skywalker knew his Padawan well enough to help her."

"We all condemned her," Shaak reassured her, "Any one of us-"

"It was my ignorance that led to Barriss' attack on the Temple. Skywalker did everything in his power to help Tano, and I sat back and watched." Luminara's voice began to break. "I was going to go in to her, to talk to her, before her execution. I was too late. She had already escaped by the time I reached her cell."

Shaak knew she was referring to Barriss Offee's escape. Much like Ahsoka, she had found a way out of her cell and had avoided execution. The only difference was that Ahsoka had pleaded innocent, and Barriss did not. Now both were out in the galaxy, somewhere, and neither had been seen in ten months, going on eleven soon. Indeed the Council would have assumed that Barriss had been the Inquisitor, had she not been a Togruta.

She didn't know what else to say, other than "Ahsoka may not even be the Inquisitor. There is no proof yet, and Master Yoda has not set anything in stone."

"And if she is?"

"Then it is the fault of the whole Council, not just one person. We all refused to listen to her, Skywalker alone defended her, with the help of Senator Amidala."

"But who's fault was it that the Temple was attacked in the first place?"

"Barriss was to blame, not you."

Luminara shook her head. "I should have been condemned with her. If only I had been with her."

Shaak realized that Luminara was no longer speaking to her, but thinking aloud to herself. This is her own consequence, Shaak realized. Her punishment to herself for losing her Padawan. That's why she took this mission. That's why she's flying into what could be a trap.

Then why was Shaak there? To defend her people, yes, but there was more she realized. She was a Togruta, and so was the Inquisitor, and so Ahsoka had been. If anyone could separate the two, with only their eyes and ears to rely on, it was Shaak.

If only there was a DNA reader on board, then Shaak and Luminara could prove the identity of the Inquisitor. As it was, they had nothing like that with them. They had left in too much of a hurry to think of such a thing.

The ship jumped out of hyperspace and Kiros came into view. Shaak began firing up the engines, and the two Jedi Masters sped down towards the surface. They landed in the first place they found, and left the ship immediately, wanting to get the mission over with as soon as possible.

First, they had to check in with Governor Roshti, so he was aware of what they were doing. If the fight got too close to the citizens, they needed to be able to evacuate in a timely manner. Shaak Ti knocked on his door, while Luminara waited behind her.

Roshti answered the knock himself, and a smile grew on his face when he saw the Togrutan Jedi. "Ah, Master Ti, and Master Unduli," he added, acknowledging the other woman. "Come in, both of you."

The women stepped inside and Roshti shut the door before addressing them. "To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?" He asked.

"An unpleasant mission, I'm afraid, Governor," Shaak answered. "We have received a tip that there may be a Separatist factory hidden on your planet. Master Unduli and I have come to confirm that knowledge."

"If the danger comes too close to your people, you need to be ready to evacuate," Luminara explained. "We wanted to alert you before we began our mission."

Roshti, although slightly taken aback at the announcement, heeded their warning. "Well, I thank you for cautioning me, and my people. Is there something we can do to support you?"

Shaak thought back to the exact words of the tip they had received. "Could you point us to the farthest west storage bank in your colony? Our directions are given from there."

"It's not...in the storage bank, is it?" The Governor confirmed.

"No, but it is 7 degrees North of East from that building, about three kilometers away."

Roshti nodded and went outside to point them in the right direction. "This path will take you to the storage bank, it will be on your left." He turned to go back inside, then thought of something else. "Master Ti?"

Shaak turned around, and Luminara, who had already started walking, stopped in her tracks.

"Is it true, that Padawan Tano left the order, almost a year ago?"

Shaak could only nod. She didn't trust herself to speak.

"And the Inquisitor, what about her?"

"Her identity has not been confirmed," replied Shaak shortly. "We have yet to find out who she is."

Roshti nodded, then forced a smile. "Thank you, both of you, for coming to help us. May the Force be with you," he waved to them, then went back inside.

The two women started down the path to the storage bank, neither saying a word.