Chapter Five - MIA

Obi-Wan Kenobi left the planet of Utapau behind him as he flew away in his starfighter. He had left Commander Cody and his troopers to clean up what was left from the mess of the battle which wouldn't take too long.

The Jedi master kept replaying the image of General Grievous crumbling into nothing but a pile of scrap metal at his feet. It had been a challenging duel as all duels had been against the General in the past few years of the Clone Wars. But now that it was finally over he felt a strong sense of peace.

In no time at all he'd cleared the planet's atmosphere. He was about to tell R4 to set the light-speed coordinates to Coruscant when his comm system started beeping. He activated the comm and a miniature image of Mace Windu appeared. "Master Windu. I am pleased to report that we shall be seeing no more of General Grievous from now on."

Windu showed no satisfaction but he nodded once. Obi-Wan could sense that something was amiss.

"Master Windu, has something happened?"

"Yes, Master Kenobi. Many things have happened while you were succeeding in your mission. Most importantly is that the Sith Lord Darth Sidious has been discovered and detained."

Obi-Wan's eyes widened in astonishment, could this day get any better? "Excellent, so who was it?" He asked.

"Chancellor Palpatine."

Kenobi's jaw dropped and he gripped the controls tightly. He could not believe it. Their enemy had been right there in plain sight all this time and yet they had not seen it. But at the same time it was as though a light had flicked on in his mind. He recalled Count Dooku's words to him on Geonosis:

"What if I told you that the Republic... was now under the control of the dark lord of the Sith?"

It was now that his claims all made sense: "Hundreds of senators are now under the influence... of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious."

He also recalled the conversation he had had with Mace Windu after they'd left Anakin and Palpatine at the Senate after the battle of Coruscant had been won.

"Master Fisto and I managed to arrest him, but unfortunately Master Kolar and Master Tiin were both…killed in the fight." Obi-Wan's gaze dropped as he thought of the lost Jedi Masters. "Master Fisto was injured and fell, but he managed to get back into the fight and help me overpower Palpatine."

"How is Master Fisto now?"

"The medics say he will live and that his injuries will recover."

Obi-Wan rubbed his brow with relief. "And, what of Darth Sidious?" he asked.

"He has been imprisoned and we had to take drastic measures to ensure he won't escape." Kenobi nodded feeling gratified that the Sith Lord had at last been found and detained. "I have informed all the Masters of this news. Once they have all returned and assembled, we shall be seeing to his trial and sentence."

Obi-Wan straightened up in his seat. "I should be back myself soon. Then I will help you sort this matter."

He was about to deactivate the comm system when Master Windu's voice stopped him. "There is another urgent matter, Obi-Wan, one which you will need to see to. I shall explain it to you once you've returned."

The spark of gratification vanished in Kenobi's chest because of the seriousness in Windu's voice gave the impression that it wasn't good news. He nodded in response and Windu's image vanished. A second later Obi-Wan's ship shot forward into hyper-space.

When the Jedi master's ship had returned to Coruscant's atmosphere, he was landing at the Jedi Temple in a matter of minutes. He could see Mace Windu walking across the landing platform towards him. When Kenobi had climbed out of his ship he walked over to meet the dark skinned Jedi master.

"Master Windu, has anything else happened since we broke contact?"

"No, Palpatine is still secure in custody and Master Yoda has returned from Kashyyyk."

Obi-Wan was confused. "But I thought he was to stay out there longer than this."

Windu held his hands behind his back. "He has returned because I requested so."

"But why?"

Windu didn't directly answer the question, he just turned and Obi-Wan began following him out of the hanger bay and into the temple.

"Is this by any chance related to the urgent matter you spoke of earlier when you contacted me?" Obi Wan asked when both Masters were had entered a deserted corridor.

"It is, and we need to speak with Master Yoda immediately." Kenobi and Windu said no more to each other as they made their way to Master Yoda's quarters. Upon arriving, they found Yoda seated in one of his pod seats with his eyes closed in silent meditation. The ancient master opened his green eyes as the door closed behind Kenobi and Windu.

"Congratulations on your mission, Obi-Wan," he said. The bearded Master gave the older master a curt bow. "And Master Windu, I believe we have a more important matter, which you said was urgent for us to hear?"

"Yes Master Yoda," Windu replied, and he and Obi-Wan seated themselves in two of the other pod seats.

"As I already informed you both, Master Fisto and I captured Darth Sidious and he is now securely imprisoned." Even though Windu had already said this, Kenobi still found it incredible that all this had happened while he had been occupied with fighting General Grievous.

"How is it you discovered Chancellor Palpatine as the Sith Lord?" Master Yoda asked.

"It was young Skywalker who informed me of this information. And his claims were apparently all correct. The moment I stood before Palpatine with Masters Fisto, Kolar and Tiin, and declared him under arrest, he revealed his true self, drew a red lightsaber and engaged us in battle."

Obi-Wan was taken aback that Anakin had somehow achieved his spying mission and had found out the truth. He had been so worried about this mission, which had been placed on the young Jedi's shoulders. And almost impossibly, he had done it and now all the fears had been immobilized. Something else came to his mind, something which confused him even more.

"Where is Anakin right now?" If Anakin's mission had been a success, then why was here not here to share it in person with his master.

Windu turned to face Obi-Wan. "That is the matter which I have to discuss with you. None of us know where he is. I told him to wait in the Council chamber until we returned, but when we did, he was not there. All we know is that few Jedi saw him flee from the temple in his fighter as though he was in an urgent hurry. We tried to track his ship, but the tracking beacon won't respond. Either it's damaged or the ship must have been destroyed in a crash."

Kenobi doubted that, even though many soldiers went MIA during wars and despite the fact that Anakin had a habit of being involved in ship crashes, the Jedi Master had a bad feeling that that wasn't the case this time.

"In the Council chamber I was a few minutes ago. Disturbing feelings I found hanging around its atmosphere." Yoda said, staring at the ground. "Pain, betrayal, loneliness and fear it was."

Obi-Wan stroked his beard as he put all this together. After having found out that the man whom Anakin had had a strong friendship with all these years was in fact the evil Sith lord, it must have been a horrifying shock for him. Maybe it had all been too much for him to bear and he felt he had to get away to find some peace and quiet. In doing so he must have destroyed the tracking beacon on his ship so no one would follow him. Kenobi explained all this to the other two masters and Yoda rubbed his chin in deep contemplation.

"That may well be Obi-Wan," Yoda said simply.

"The question is, where has he gone?" Windu put in.

Kenobi stood up from his seat. "I'll look for him."

All three of them left the room and Kenobi went back to the Hanger bay. However, he didn't get straight back into his fighter when he reached it at the end of the landing strip, he just leaned against it and thought hard. Where could Anakin have gone to? Normally this very place, The Jedi Temple, was the place of sanctuary for every Jedi, but Anakin was different in so many ways.

In the past, Anakin often came to him when he had a problem. But he had been absent this time, so who else would he have gone to? Then it hit him. Why hadn't he thought of it before? He jumped into his ship and flew off and away from the landing strip. Unfortunately, when Obi-Wan arrived at Senator Amidala's Penthouse, the staff informed him that the Senator had left the planet in her ship a few hours ago.

Kenobi re-boarded his ship again and left the penthouse. He flew out of the planet's atmosphere and stopped in the dark night air thinking once again. The fact that Senator Amidala was gone as well seemed to make his suspicions more true. He was sure that Anakin would have gone to Padme if he was alone and intensely troubled with pain and betrayal. There was no reason why he would not go to Padme, she always had a calming and comforting presence. His Padawan and the Senator had had a strong friendship ever since they had met as kids. But why had they both vanished without leaving any word to their whereabouts? He stroked his beard again pondering the possible places they might have gone to.

He first wondered if they might have flown to Tattonie to Anakin's step-family. But Anakin was not fond of that planet anymore as it brought him too many sad memories. First because of nearly living half his life as a slave on that dust ball planet, and secondly because of his mother's death three years ago.

Or perhaps Padme had taken him to her home planet of Naboo. It was a much nicer place to recover than a dry desert planet world. The planet of Naboo was an abundance of pretty much everything someone needed to be happy and feel at home.

It then hit him once again. Kenobi remembered the few years ago when Anakin had almost compromised his mission in remaining on Naboo to protect Padme, they had both travelled to Tatoonie in an attempt to rescue Anakin's mother. And in the days which followed after her death and the duel with Count Dooku where he'd lost his arm, Anakin had always recalled how Naboo was one of his favorite planets. During meditation sessions, Obi-Wan had kept seeing in his mind the pretty landscapes of a beautiful vast lake.

The Lake County seemed like a good enough place to start searching. If it turned out they were not there, he would conduct a search of all the places they had ever visited on the planet.

He entered the coordinates for Naboo. In a flash, his ship entered light speed and it was gone.

Author's Notes

Hello there! Here's a chapter that a bit different from the previous four. No Anakin and Padme, but I'm sure some of you may have been wondering what was happening elsewhere and if Anakin's disappearance had been noticed. Anyway I hope you like it.
Thank you for following and those of you who have sent nice reviews. It's that which tells me that it's a great fanfic and I love to hear feedback so please don't stop even if you have already reviewed, keep them coming! :D

Thank very much to Carrie2sky for your Beta reading!

May the Force Be with You!
LouisaJane007