Author's Notes:
Hello all, sorry for the long wait for the update. I've been very busy lately and haven't had the time to work on this, but I've finally started to pick it up. If you are enjoying the story so far, chapter 14 has also been released on AO3, and it will be coming to this site shortly too. Thanks for reading! I really appreciate all of the comments and support I have had so far!
Come find me on AO3 for the latest version of this story!
Stay safe :)
Phoenix0827
CORUSCANT - LEVEL 1312 - 1312 POLICE STATION
Despite having to wait a short while, Obi-Wan and Plo Koon were finally taken to the local station to inspect the speeder. The Superintendent had been too occupied with a possible new lead, so instead he left the Jedi Masters in the 'capable' hands of Sergeant Malek.
Despite the high rank, and the Superintendent's assurances that the young man was more than capable, Obi-Wan wasn't convinced. It wasn't often that younger people achieved such high ranks, and it was usually due to political influences if they did. For now he was going to be cautious, as it still wasn't clear who was involved in this intricate web of a plot. It was plausible that the police force could be involved, and Obi-Wan knew he would have to be careful until they knew how widespread this threat was.
The police station itself was fairly run down, with only a handful of police droids on site. It was concerning that the authorities were in such a bad state.
"As you can see, it's not as luxurious as your temple." Sergeant Malek suddenly stated, bringing Obi-Wan out of his thoughts. It was an attempt to make a conversation with some kind of joke, but neither Jedi paid it any attention.
"Just a jokeā¦" he grunted, guiding the Jedi through the lifeless station and to what was a series of corridors, some of the walls having built in cells. Obi-Wan and Plo Koon exchanged glances, both realising just how poor quality the conditions were. They actually felt bad for the few prisoners that had ended up in here. Had the Jedi really been that focused on the war effort that they had let the lower levels of Coruscant become this bad.
Ahsoka was right. They had let these people down.
"We don't get nearly enough Government funding ever since this war started." Malek murmured, clearly feeling the sense of disapproval from the two Jedi, "Unfortunately, we can't improve the condition of the cells even if we wanted to."
"You should still be funded well enough to provide decent standards of living, even if they are criminals." Obi-Wan replied, not happy with his response.
Pretty much all of the cells didn't even have beds or toilets, and most of the prisoners looked like they were literally on death's door. They were in a sad state, and Obi-Wan couldn't help but pity them.
"Welcome to the lower levels, Master Jedi." the Sergeant responded sarcastically.
"Well you receive some funding, what exactly does that go to?" Plo Koon asked as the group continued to walk down a long corridor.
"Our equipment isn't cheap ya know. Not to mention all the salaries I have to pay and so on." the Sergeant mumbled, quickly bringing the conversation to a close as the group reached a large door.
Obi-Wan and Plo Koon exchanged glances again, knowing full well that there was more to that previous conversation that the Sergeant was letting on. Corruption had become quite common in the Government, but the Jedi didn't have time to address the matter yet .
Malek pulled out a card and swiped the lock, taking a few attempts to actually unlock the door. With a sigh, he pushed it open and gestured for the two Jedi to enter. "Welcome to the impound," he said, "we keep any vehicles we- well, acquire , in this storage facility."
Letting the door close, the officer took the lead, taking the two Jedi through the small maze of speeders and small starships.
"Quite a collection." Obi-Wan commented, inspecting some of the vehicles as they walked past. Most of them were in poor condition, most likely not even operable anymore.
"Isn't it just. We're hoping to expand this area once we actually receive more funding, it's getting pretty full in here." Malek stated as he brought the Jedi to the corner of the facility.
"Here's the speeder bike we retrieved from the dock." the officer said, sounding almost bored as the group came to a stop. "As you can see, it's in no condition to even be used. I don't see what relevance this even has to your investigation."
"And you're sure this is the same speeder bike that was used by the Ithorian?" Plo Koon asked, watching as Obi-Wan took a closer look at the old speeder.
"Well, we have no identity match on the Ithorian, as we didn't even know he was at the scene until recently. Peculiar isn't it, he just disappears after a firefight and now we have no trace of him." Malek responded as he stared at the speeder bike.
"We checked the bike for DNA samples but found nothing," the officer continued, "and considering the state of the bike we just assumed it had nothing to do with the skirmish at the docks. No one has touched it since we brought it here."
Plo Koon nodded, kneeling down at the front of the speeder. It was an old Joben T-85 speeder with a very damaged power core. Theoretically, it could have been used in this state, but it would have been very dangerous and would have probably exploded if put under much pressure.
"It is possible the speeder was damaged during the firefight." Plo Koon stated as he cautiously traced the power core with his hand.
"I'm afraid not. The speeder was far away from where the skirmish took place, so I don't see that being possible. Blasters are sometimes quite inaccurate in the wrong hands, and we didn't come across any blaster marks on the nearby crates."
"And how long after the skirmish was it until you arrived at the scene?" Obi-Wan finally spoke up after a short period of inspecting the bike from afar.
"Eh, a couple of hours afterwards, it's hard to make a precise judgement. We don't really have time to keep track of those things down here." the officer shared in a dry tone.
"A couple of hours? " Obi-Wan responded, shocked at how unprofessional the law enforcement was in the lower levels.
"Complain to the Chancellor, not me. If we had more funding then I would have enough units to respond to crime down here. Do you actually have any idea how many calls we get every day?" the officer remarked with a defensive tone.
Realising they weren't going to get anywhere with the Sergeant, Obi-Wan just accepted that they would have to agree to disagree for now, just giving the officer a slight nod in acknowledgement.
"Would you mind giving us a moment?" Obi-Wan asked after a few moments of awkward silence.
"Yeah, whatever, come and find me if you need anything." Malek replied as he walked off, giving Obi-Wan a slight glare first.
Obi-Wan shook his head, still not impressed with their lack of care towards the investigation. It was no wonder that evidence was missing, especially if they had left it that long before actually responding to the crime scene.
"I think it's safe to say we're at a dead end again." Plo Koon began as he continued to inspect the speeder. There were no signs of any items that could be used to help them. It was a miracle that the old speeder was even still holding together.
"There's got to be something, we just need to know where to look." Obi-Wan replied, still holding on to some hope.
"Whoever our suspect is, they are able to elude us at every corner. They have always been one step ahead of us since we started searching." Plo stated with a sigh, almost accepting defeat.
Before Obi-Wan could respond, his holo-communicator began to beep. "More news?" Obi-Wan pondered out loud as he pressed the communicator, "Kenobi here."
"Master Kenobi, I have some good news." came the somewhat exhilarated voice of Superintendent Heckmann, "We were able to identify the ship model after some further questioning. It seems to be a Barloz-class freighter."
"That's great news, good work." Obi-Wan replied enthusiastically, also happy to be finally making some more progress. Perhaps this was the lead they were looking for?
"Although there is a slight problem."
"What kind of problem?" Plo Koon asked, the two Jedi suddenly feeling less excited about the news.
"Unfortunately, no ships of that model requested to land in the few hours before the crime, and so we have no way to track down the suspects yet. I'm still waiting for confirmation and some data from a few days back, but it isn't looking good."
Obi-Wan began to stroke his chin, "They must have switched to the freighter after landing on Coruscant."
"And it could take months to find it, as it could be on any of the levels." Plo Koon spoke with a sigh.
By switching ships after landing, the suspects had made it almost impossible to be tracked. Coruscant was far too vast to ever track down one ship, and so they just had to accept this as a lost cause for now.
Obi-Wan also let out a slight sigh, "Very well, thank you Superintendant."
The officer nodded, then closed the comm shortly after.
"I think we may need to re-evaluate the situation." Plo Koon stated after a short moment of silence. "Perhaps we can find more information at the Ithorian's home?"
Obi-Wan considered this for a moment. Ahsoka had mentioned that she had been working at a bar for Oren's brother, so perhaps he would have more information. He also didn't want to give up on the other suspects yet, and was hoping to get permission from the Council to start a wider investigation. He knew it would take a long time and a lot of resources, but smuggling in Kyber crystals to the heart of the Republic could not be allowed to continue.
"That is a possibility. It's unlikely the authorities have been there, as they weren't even aware any Ithorians were involved. We will need to move quickly if we are to secure any evidence before it is lost." Obi-Wan replied.
"I would also like to attempt to locate the smugglers too. We can't have them roaming free around Coruscant, who knows what they will bring next time." he added, Plo Koon nodding in agreement.
"Then we have a plan. I will go and visit the Ithorian's home and try to find some more leads. I will allow you to speak to the Council about a further investigation." Plo Koon said somewhat humorously, knowing that reporting to the Council could be rather tedious.
"I had a feeling you'd say that." Obi-Wan said dryly as the two Jedi began to leave the impound. "I will speak to the Council from here, be sure to contact me if you find anything."
MID RIM - RINGO VINDA - SEPERATIST COMMAND CENTRE
The battle for Ringo Vinda had been as difficult as Anakin had anticipated. He had been forced to launch a second attack with what little forces he had left, and was by some miracle able to take the Separatist command centre.
Luckily, Admiral Yularen had successfully taken out most of the Separatist fleet, which caused the coward Trench and what he had left of his forces to retreat. Rex had also returned to assist him, and his presence on the battlefield was most welcome.
It had come at a great cost however, having lost almost half of his legion. Not to mention Doom's forces, which were almost completely depleted. Had the 501st not arrived in time, the entire legion could have been wiped out.
What Anakin still couldn't understand was why Tup had killed Tiplar, and from what he could tell without any hesitation. It was a frightening prospect- the possibility that the entire Clone army could be compromised by a Separatist virus. He wouldn't be surprised if they had created some kind of pathogen, they had attempted it in the past on Naboo. The truth was, the Clones massively outnumbered the Jedi, and if they were compromised it could lead to terrifying consequences.
He had called Rex back to the frontlines to aid in the last attack, but also in hope that he may have some answers. Unfortunately, Rex was as clueless as Anakin was, and so he would have to be patient for now.
However, he was finding that hard at the moment, as he was still so frustrated with the Council. Had they just sent some reinforcements, all of this could have been over by now. He couldn't understand why Obi-Wan wasn't available to help, and why the Council wouldn't share where he was.
Standing in what was once the Separatist command centre, Anakin continued to replay the events of the battle in his mind, trying to work out why Tup had betrayed his Jedi.
"General? You wanted to see me Sir." Rex spoke with a slight hint of trepidation in his voice. All the men had seen it, not just Rex. Anakin had been quieter than usual. He had never led his men into such high casualties before, something he'd promised himself to never let happen after General Krell's carnage.
Anakin slowly turned around to face his Captain, having been staring out of the window to the hanger below for far too long.
"Rex- I'm sorry about our losses. We should have never tried to retake this base, it came at too great of a cost."
Rex didn't respond at first, not really sure what to say.
"Sir," the Captain started, slowly considering his choice of words, "we had no other choice. Our orders were to take back this station, and we did it."
Anakin remained silent, still feeling guilty for the loss of every single one of his men.
"Sir, with all due respect, this is what we are bred for . We will follow you until the end, Sir."
Anakin nodded as a sign of respect, although he was still clearly consumed in thought.
"General, is there something else?" Rex asked as respectfully as he could, not wanting to interrupt his line of thought.
"Yes, there is."
Anakin let out a deep sigh, "I'm concerned about the virus. You saw yourself how easily Tup executed Tiplar. How widespread even is this?"
Rex wasn't surprised that the mystery behind Tup was bothering his General, as it was literally on the mind of every Clone. What if they were to do the same?
"Before I was ordered to leave, General Shaak Ti was overseeing a scan on Fives for signs of a virus. If he was also exposed, I'm sure we would have been made aware by now." Rex responded, becoming slightly concerned at his own words. The possibility of it not being a virus was far more scary, as it would mean Tup had another motive to kill a Jedi.
"Something still doesn't add up though. Why would it only affect Tup?" Rex pondered out loud.
Anakin considered this for a moment. Rex made a valid point. Tup had been close to a lot of the Clones in his division. If he was to have spread the contagion, why wasn't it affecting anyone else?
There was also the fact that Tup had gone missing for a few rotations, something that made Anakin feel uneasy. "Perhaps the Separatists did capture Tup and inject him with some kind of virus?" Anakin said.
"We didn't have time to launch a full investigation into his disappearance, Sir, but it is possible."
Before they could finish their conversation, General Tiplee and Commander Doom entered the command centre.
"General Skywalker." Doom almost immediately said in a reverent tone. The Commander held a great amount of respect for the young Jedi after his heroics during the last battle, having witnessed him cutting through the droids with such ease and prowess.
"I assume we are still waiting for an update on Tup's mental state." Tiplee stated quietly as they both approached Anakin and Rex. Tiplee was still clearly shaken up from the events of the battle, and was struggling to hide how the loss of her sister was affecting her, something Anakin could sense through the force.
Anakin sighed and shook his head, "Yes, we're still waiting for an update from Kamino."
A short silence befell the group, all having mixed emotions and being exhausted from weeks of combat.
"Well, I assigned a couple of squads to root out what remains of the droid presence here." Doom stated as he broke the silence, "It seems Trench took most of his forces and retreated, as we have almost complete control of the station now."
"Almost? " Rex asked, a little concerned.
"There are a few pockets of fortified droids in some areas of the station, mostly cargo holds and smaller hangars. I might need some more men to take them out, as my squad is heavily depleted." Doom asked both Rex and Anakin for permission.
Anakin nodded almost immediately, "Very well, Rex can make the arrangements. The sooner we have control the sooner we can leave this place."
With that, both Rex and Doom left the command centre, leaving Anakin and Tiplee alone as they both observed the hangar below them.
"Was all of this worth it?" Tiplee asked, gaining a slightly confused stare from Anakin, "We lost so many and for what. An irrelevant shipyard."
Anakin could feel her frustration, knowing full well that the cause was from the loss of her sister. Despite the code forbidding attachments, Anakin couldn't fully understand why the sisters were never separated, as it in a sense went against the Jedi code.
"We couldn't allow the Separatists access to a large construction yard like this. It would only escalate the war and casualties." Anakin reasonded, despite knowing the Republic would only do the same thing. There was no way to avoid loss of life in a large, galactic war like this.
Judging by her lack of response, Anakin felt that he had to offer some kind of comfort, even if he didn't really know the Mikkian very well. "I didn't know your sister very well, but she seemed like a great leader and inspiration to follow. I'm sorry for your loss."
"She's one with the force now." Tiplee said solemnly, "I just want answers."
Anakin nodded. They all wanted answers right now.
"We should inform the Council of our progress. They will no doubt want to hear a full report." Tiplee stated, starting to walk towards a holotable.
"Ah yes, the Council ." Anakin muttered with a slight hint of disgust. Tiplee either didn't notice or chose not to respond, inputting the code for Coruscant.
It didn't take long before the holographic High Council was before them, if you could even call it a Council anymore. As usual, Mace Windu and Yoda were present, as well as Saesee Tiin. The rest of the members were away. Anakin noticed that Obi-Wan was also still absent, which only made him more curious to what kind of assignment he had been set on.
"Knight Skywalker and Tiplee. Where is Knight Tiplar?" Mace asked, immediately noticing the absence of one of the former Jedi and fearing the worst.
"Knight Tiplar was lost during the battle." Tiplee stated, trying not to be overcome by emotion, "She was killed by one of our Clones."
A short silence followed, the tension rising dramatically. The report of a Clone killing a Jedi was most concerning.
"One of the Clones? A traitor?" Saesee Tiin asked, surprised at the revelation just like the other Jedi Masters.
"We're not sure- we still need more information. We've sent the Clone, Tup, to Kamino to be scanned thoroughly. We believe it could be a virus, but we're not certain of anything yet." Anakin answered, giving Tiplee a moment to recover herself emotionally.
"Concerning news, this is." Yoda said slowly, looking between both Mace and Tiin, "If found a way to turn our men against us, Dooku has, devastating, it could be."
"I'd suggest we all take more caution around the Clones until more information has been revealed. We will contact Master Shaak Ti on the status of the scans to see if they have made any progress." Mace concluded.
"And what of your current progress? Have you managed to secure the station?" Saesee Tiin added.
"We are just rooting out the remaining droids now. Admiral Trench escaped with most of his forces, we were unable to intercept him in time." Tiplee replied with a sombre tone.
"That is most unfortunate, his capture could have been critical to the war effort. But at least we now have the station secured. Good work, both of you should return to the Temple once the station is under control." Mace said, checking with Yoda for approval. With a nod from the old Master, Mace looked back to Anakin and Tiplee, "Leave a small garrison to reinforce the station, we will discuss the events with the Clone trooper once you arrive at the temple."
Rex and Doom walked down one of the many corridors of the Ringo Vinda station with a small squad of troopers. It was mostly made up of troops from Doom's unit, but Rex had brought along a couple of Clones from the 501st for support.
They were fairly well armed, with mostly DC-15 rifles and a couple thermal detonators. The droids were dug in for defence, so they also brought a Z-6 rotary cannon if things started to get messy.
"So, what's it like serving under General Skywalker?" Doom asked suddenly, breaking the silence they had been in for so long.
"General Skywalker makes use of some- uh, well, unconventional tactics." Rex started, chuckling to himself at some of his memories during the war. "He's a great leader and inspires the men, he's saved my life many times."
Rex then looked at Doom, "What about you?"
"General Tiplar was an inspiration too. I would have given my life to protect her if I could have." Doom replied quietly as the group reached a large door. He signalled for one of his men, 'Code', to slice through the locked door.
"I respect General Tiplee just as much, but I think she will struggle to lead without her sister now." Doom concluded, letting out a sigh, "I have no idea what will happen to the rest of us."
"What do you mean by that?" Rex asked, a little confused.
"I've lost almost all of my men, and one of my Generals. I failed them and so I've failed as a Commander."
Rex placed his hand on Doom's shoulder, giving it a slight shake, "Listen to me, you haven't failed anyone. We all lost brothers, and you and your men valiantly held this station until reinforcements arrived. Without that, we would have lost control, and more men would have died trying to take it back!"
Doom didn't answer, as he was still deep in thought. Would he be reassigned to another legion? Would they put him on maintenance duty? The possible scenarios frightened him, as he couldn't imagine a life away from the battlefield. It was all he knew.
"The loss of General Tiplar wasn't your fault, and you won't be held accountable for it. I'm sure we will have answers soon."
"Sir, I'm almost through this door." Code interrupted as he continued to slice through the panel.
Both Rex and Doom pulled out their DC-17 pistols, all Clones now prepared and aiming at the large door. Some of the Clones were able to take cover behind a couple of crates, however most of the corridor was open territory, making a prolonged firefight lethal.
Code continued to tap on his data pad, which was connected through multiple wires to the main control panel. "Got it!" he exclaimed, dropping the pad and picking up his blaster as he quickly ran over to the other Clones for cover.
The door slowly opened, revealing a small storage room and a handful of Battle Droids.
The Clones immediately opened fire, unleashing a sea of blue bolts towards the droids. A couple of the shots found their targets, knocking the B1's to the ground.
The droids didn't even have time to return fire, having been quickly gunned down by the Clones' precise firing. Doom signalled for his men to start moving forward, however, four Super Battle Droids emerged from the door, returning fire at the now exposed Clones.
"Look out!-" one of the green-armoured Clones managed before being shot down. The rest of the exposed Clones scrambled to cover, pressing up against the walls of the corridor for some protection from the heavy blaster fire.
"Salvo, give em heat!" Doom shouted over the sounds of blasters firing.
One of the Clones from Doom's squad, decorated with green markings and a black kama around his waist, quickly stood out of cover with his rotary cannon, unleashing a wave of blue bolts towards the droids.
The Super Battle Droids were eventually overwhelmed by the blaster fire, soon dropping to the ground with a thud.
He continued to shoot the fallen droids for a few moments, his emotions getting the better of him, before promptly ceasing fire at Doom's command.
"How many did we lose?" Rex asked as the Clones started to move from their cover.
"We lost Crossfire." Doom replied with a melancholic tone as he checked the body for a pulse.
"Storm's dead too." Doom's medic, 'Stim', shouted as he turned over the lifeless body to reveal multiple blaster wounds across the chest.
"We need to keep moving, there's still more areas to secure." Rex spoke quietly after a short moment of silence as they all mourned the dead, "I will contact General Skywalker for some more reinforcements, and for someone to come and collect the fallen."
Doom continued to stare at the two bodies for a short while, flashbacks playing in his head of battles long past. No matter how many times it happened, it was always hard to accept the loss of one of his men.
"Very well, let's move to the next corridor." Doom stated as he snapped back to reality.
There were still a dozen rooms to check, and he wasn't sure if he could cope with losing any more brothers.
CORUSCANT - LEVEL 1312 - 1312 POLICE STATION
Obi-Wan slowly stepped outside the old police station, still unsatisfied with their progress. He had really expected to find at least something. But clearly whoever had removed the body of the Ithorian also took the time to swap the speeder bikes.
It was the only possible scenario, as the speeder didn't appear to be in a condition that was actually flyable. Not to mention the fact that the bike showed no DNA matches to anything. It was clear it had been swapped, but why?
He still had some hope however. Plo Koon had set off to the Ithorian's bar in the hopes of finding some more evidence, or at least to ask his brother some questions.
Still, something about this entire investigation made Obi-Wan feel uneasy. If someone in the Government was really behind all of this, there were only a few individuals who could do it in secret. As much as they could guess, the Jedi would have to act carefully in order to keep the trust of the Senate and the support of Palpatine.
He had contacted the Council too, who had allowed him to continue with his investigation and launch a search for more evidence. However, he would need to act fast as he would no doubt be required in battle again soon.
Obi-Wan was brought out of his thoughts due to his wrist communicator beeping once again.
"I've arrived at the bar, and it does not look good." came the concerned voice of Plo Koon.
"There is no sign of the Ithorian's brother, and with the state of the bar it's safe to assume he didn't leave willingly."
Obi-Wan sighed, "That's not good. It seems someone is trying really hard to make this difficult for us."
"I'm going to contact the Council, as I believe Master Quinlan Vos might be able to assist us here." Plo Koon responded.
"I'm not sure if that's a good idea-"
"His usage of psychometry will be most useful, and it could provide us with the lead we are looking for." Plo Koon politely interrupted. Quinlan Vos definitely had a reputation for being a maverick, but they couldn't pass on this opportunity.
"I see your point. I'm about to start a small search for the ship used at the dock, I will contact you if I find anything." Obi-Wan said as he closed off the comm, only for it to start beeping again. 'What could possibly be wrong now?' he thought to himself as he continued to walk to a speeder.
"General Kenobi?" came the recognisable, gruff voice of Cody.
"Ah, Cody, what's the situation?"
"Sir, we're receiving a priority call from Commander Krennic. He's been trying to reach you, Sir."
"Put him through." Obi-Wan replied as he jumped into the seat of a speeder.
There was a short silence, and Obi-Wan could already imagine that something had gone wrong. Why else would Krennic need to speak with him.
"Master Kenobi, do you read me?" Krennic's somewhat distressed voice came through the communicator.
"I read you Commander, what's-"
"We need immediate support!" Krennic interrupted, the communication line faltering, "We're under attack- droids are- security breached-"
The communication was being jammed as the call came to a sudden close, but Obi-Wan knew exactly what was going on, and he needed to move quickly.
"Cody, ready the gunships fast! Send whatever you can to the Ministry of Science." he almost shouted, readying the speeder and pulling away from the station.
"General, it will take time to prepare the men, but I will do what I can."
"Contact the Council, have them coordinate a defence. We can't let that facility be breached!" Obi-Wan replied as he pushed the controls forward to full throttle.
How had droids launched an attack on the complex? There was no way they could have gotten past the Republic Fleet.
Obi-Wan knew one thing for certain however. He could not let those crystals be captured.
