A/N: This is being written as part of a 20-minute creative sprint with the amazing and beautiful Lauren the Flute. Check her out on Twitch and YouTube if you get the chance!

The Empire of Disney owns Star Wars. And yes, their planet-destroying superweapon will have mouse ears like everything else.

After the incident with Palpatine, I couldn't take my mind off of his threat. One thing I still knew for certain: Neither me, nor any other Jedi outside the Council (and not even a number of them, considering Episode III) were any match for the monster. Not to mention, Darth Sidious was working with a plan spanning a millennium, and was a master strategist who generally set everything up so that all possible outcomes benefited him. The Sith Lord was never without an answer for a situation he could see, and I was no exception. The fact that he merely threatened me meant that I was either not a threat to his plans for the moment, or that he was already laying the foundations for removing me from the equation. Neither outcome was very reassuring.

Thankfully, meditation on the matter made things clearer; through my unusually strong mental connection to the Force, I could sense that such a confrontation wasn't in the cards for me anyway, at least for the time being. Besides, there were still two years between me and the Jedi Purge and the fall of the Republic—whether or not I could affect things now didn't mean I could later on. In the end, I decided to let things progress as-is until some opportunity revealed itself—or, as I called it, the Obi-Wan Soresu approach. Fortunately, I now had that very Jedi as a Master.

The morning after involved the beginnings of my instruction in Form III, Soresu, Master Obi-Wan's specialty. Unfortunately, the instruction was interrupted before we could get past the basic foundations, courtesy of a visit from Mace Windu.

"Master Windu," Obi-Wan bowed his head, a movement mirrored by me. "What seems to be the problem?"

"The Council has an important assignment for you," The legendary Jedi frowned (well, more than usual) before revealing a holo of a man in Mandalorian armor fighting Republic troopers. "A republic cruiser was attacked by unknown assailants—Mandalorian assailants. Only one survived, but he committed suicide before he could be captured."

I immediately recognized where this was going. The Mandalore plot, AKA "Obi-Wan and Duchess Satine bicker like an old married couple for two episodes straight".

My new Master paused at the mention of Mandalore, for obvious reasons. "Wait, I thought Duchess Satine was insistent on neutrality? After all, she is the leader of the Council of Neutral Systems."

Windu said as he deactivated the holo and handed it over to Master Obi-Wan. "That was our belief as well. But some unsavory rumors have been floating around Mandalore in general; specifically, that they are about to break off and support the Separatists. We need you to go to Mandalore and investigate."

Kenobi winced ever so slightly. "Are you certain I am most suited to this mission?"

Windu nodded. "Out of all the Jedi, you are most familiar with the Duchess; that may make her more willing to cooperate with your investigation."

After a brief pause, Master Obi-Wan finally gave in and turned to me. "Well, it looks like your first outing as a padawan has arrived already, Kevin. Force willing, it won't involve much more than awkward conversation."

The Force still wouldn't let me say anything about the future to him, but I knew that last sentence to be both a jinx and an absolutely massive understatement.

I only vaguely recalled what Mandalore actually looked like in the Clone Wars series, but our arrival on the planet was more than enough of a reminder. MUCH more, in fact—the show just didn't do it justice. Upon reaching the Palace, it got even more magnificent—nearly every room had heavily ornamented floor-to-ceiling windows, with as few retaining walls as necessary, resulting in breathtaking natural light everywhere.

"General Kenobi." An older man stepped into the room to greet us, nodding his head at Master Obi-Wan, who walked forward to shake hands with the man.

"Thank you for meeting us, Prime Minister Almec. This is my padawan, Kevin Caller; he will be accompanying me during our stay."

Almec shook my hand as well before turning back to Kenobi and gesturing us to follow him. "I welcome you as servants of the people, but I am troubled by the false rumors that brought you here. Mandalore would never turn against the Republic; the Duchess Satine values peace more than her own life."

Master Obi-Wan replied in a tone that contained a slight amount of bitterness to it. "Oh, I'm aware of the Duchess' views—"

"Master Kenobi, Mandalore's violent past is behind us. All of our warriors were exiled to our moon, Concordia; they died out years ago."

"Hm. Are you certain?" Kenobi stroked his beard. "I recently encountered a man who wore Mandalorian armor, Jango Fett."

Almec responded with an offended huff. "Jango Fett was a common bounty hunter! How he acquired that armor is beyond me—"

"Well, Master Kenobi, my shining Jedi Knight come to the rescue once again."

All eyes turned to none other than my Master's ex, Duchess Satine, who walked stoically to her throne and sat down, the throne lighting up as she did so.

Master Obi-Wan tried his best to sound professional. He failed miserably. "After all these years, Duchess, you're even more beautiful than ever."

"Kind words from a man who accuses me of treachery..."

I had heard all of this before in the episode; I felt practically forgotten here, and for good reason—once these two got started, few people outside of their conversation were ever able to get a word in. Needless to say, I tuned most of it out, trying to consider how I might be of use here aside from being little more than the third wheel for the first act and trying to avoid dying in the second. Once the Duchess asked to walk with Master Obi-Wan, though, some subtle changes seemed to occur. For example, the two seemed conscious of my presence, and thus didn't hold hands as they left... and made sure to walk on either side of ME. Yeah, that had nothing to do with their issues with each other.

As we walked, Satine resumed following canon. "It's so good to see you again, Obi-Wan, despite the circumstances."

I noticed that she dropped the formal title and went with the first-name basis; out of sheer boredom with canon, I decided to wait for a lull in the conversation to ask Master Obi-Wan about it and see how he reacted. Kenobi resumed the conversation from the show.

"Your peaceful ways have paid off; Mandalore has prospered since the last time I was here."

"Not everyone on Mandalore believes that our commitment to peace is a sign of progress," the Duchess replied. "There is a group that calls itself Death Watch; I imagine these are the renegades you're looking for. They idolize violence and the warrior ways of the past. There are those of us, certain officials, who are working to root out these criminals; it has been an ongoing investigation."

Once again, Master Obi-Wan stroked his beard in thought. "How widespread is this Death Watch movement?"

"It's hardly a movement! It's a small group of hooligans who choose to vandalize public places, nothing more! We shall soon have them in custody; we have tracked them down to our moon, Concordia."

"I hope you're right, Duchess..." my Master responded skeptically.

He paused for a moment as she moved ahead a bit. This was my opportunity. "Um... Master Obi-Wan?"

"Yes?"

"What exactly happened the last time you were here?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I just noticed, she didn't refer to you as 'General Kenobi' or 'Master Kenobi'. In fact, she seemed kind of familiar with you."

"Well... it's not exactly relevant to this situation, young padawan," he replied, blushing in embarrassment. "Our relationship is strictly professional."

I smirked. "I didn't say it wasn't, Master."

He rolled his eyes and sighed dejectedly. "I think you may have spent too much time with Anakin."

"Sorry, Master. I shouldn't have pried." I decided to back off a bit; no sense in irritating him too much on our first assignment together.

"Well, at least you realize and admit your mistake. That's definitely an improvement over him."

Normally, he'd combine a comment like that with a smirk or a quiet chuckle; instead, he looked after Satine with a distant expression. I wondered if I changed something; I didn't have long to find out. We caught up to her shortly after, but instead of continuing the conversation and briefly bickering over philosophy, they remained silent. Suddenly, my Force sense went off like a fire alarm—and I knew exactly what it meant.

An explosion rocked the area, taking everyone else off-guard aside from myself and Obi-Wan, who reflexively moved to shield her just as the blast occurred. As they looked to attend to the wounded civilians and notice the Death Watch calling-card in the form of a holo, I backed off slightly in the direction of the crowd where I knew the bomber to be, stopping just close enough to be able to use a force-assisted leap over his head to stop him from escaping once he bolted and pretending to look around in shock.

Master Obi-Wan helped Satine to her feet. "I want to interview everyone here; nobody leaves this scene!"

Just as Kenobi finished his sentence, my target attempted to run; I acted, leaping in a backflip clear over the man's head and landing right in his path, activating my lightsaber as I did so. "Going somewhere?"

The culprit turned in the opposite direction... right into Master Obi-Wan, who quickly grabbed his arm at the bicep and wrist, twisting his hips and pulling down as he shifted his weight. The result was the culprit landing hard on his back, staring up at Kenobi as the latter placed a foot on his chest, pinning him down.

"Good work, young padawan! As for him," he said, looking down at the bomber, "I think I know where we should start the interview. Sorry about the rough handling, but I would like to ask you a few questions."

The man's response came in the form of a few words in Mandalorian that didn't exactly need translation. Still, I remembered that the Duchess didn't exactly translate the bomber's last words in the show immediately, so I decided to be useful again.

"Master, can I test to see how far my sense abilities have come?"

He nodded. "You may."

I knelt at the bomber's side, then closed my eyes and reached out with my mind. Not long into my training, I had enough skill in telepathy that I could learn to speak rather fluently at a rapid rate through regular contact, but that particular skill stopped being practiced once I had learned all the Huttese I could. That said, I practiced the other applications of telepathy as much as I could. Fortunately, that extra practice paid off.

"Master, his memories are guarded really well, but I managed to learn Mandalorian from him."

Master Obi-Wan decided to take advantage of the mental pressure my power put on him, adding a little more as he began asking questions while I translated. "Now, I would much prefer that this NOT be an interrogation, but an interview. I can't promise I will let you go—that decision will be up to the local authorities—but I can promise that, should you cooperate, I might put in a good word. So, to begin with, would you kindly tell us your name?"

The man seemed to struggle a bit under the mild mental pressure before finally giving in. -"Sael Osool..."-

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sael. I am Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, and this is my padawan, Kevin Caller. You are already familiar with Duchess Satine, I presume?"

A few more moments passed before Osool responded. -"Yes. She was..."-

"She was what?" Master Obi-Wan asked pointedly.

-"I can't. I can't betray the cause."-

I jumped in, seeing an opportunity. "You know, I read up on the old Mandalorians. Your whole 'cause' is about trying to bring that back, right? 'The way of the warrior'. Is bombing a memorial shrine and fleeing the scene something the Mandalorians of the past would have done? Sounds less like the ruthless but honorable warriors and more like common terrorists to me."

"An excellent point, padawan. Sael, you clearly believe in honor in some form; otherwise, you wouldn't be so intent on protecting your cause. That in itself is admirable. But you must ask yourself: if this is the manner in which your cause conducts itself, is it truly a worthy one?"

Sael frowned for a few moments, initially angered by our words, before a resigned expression came over his face. "You're right," he said, dropping the Mandalorian and speaking Basic, "I have shamed myself as a warrior. I thought that Death Watch embodied those old ways; they wore the armor, they practiced the rituals... but you're right. Our ancestors would have sought battle, not subterfuge."

Master Obi-Wan nodded, smiling warmly as he removed his foot and helped the man to his feet. "I'm glad you are willing to listen to reason, Mr. Osool. In that case, it seems Death Watch is giving your ancestors a bad name; perhaps you might consider helping us to stop them?"

Osool nodded. "I shall. And in the process, I might regain a small fraction of my honor. As for your earlier question, Duchess Satine was the target here, not the shrine itself. Also..."

He turned to face the Duchess. "I heard your earlier comment about us... no, about Death Watch being nothing more than vandals. I'm afraid you're wrong; they are a fully-fledged insurgency based off of Concordia. The leader himself sent me here."

"Who is this leader?" Satine frowned sympathetically. "I echo Master Kenobi's promise; if you help us, I will try to lessen your sentence as best I can."

Osool shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that. He kept a helmet on at all times. That said, I think he's someone in your government; he seemed to know a lot about that kind of thing, more than just your average soldier would. In fact, the way he talked about you implied that he knew you personally."

"Well, Satine," Master Obi-Wan said, "It appears that you have a traitor in your government. Perhaps even working with the Separatists—"

"Absolutely not! Don't try to use this as an excuse to pull Mandalore into your conflict, General!"

"If the Separatists ARE involved, Duchess, they may not give you a choice in the matter!"

"Since when did the Jedi become soldiers instead of peacekeepers?"

I decided to interject. "Um, Master? Duchess?"

"What?" both shouted in unison.

"Maybe we should continue that argument some other time. There's a terrorist group we have to stop and a traitor we need to expose; if we do that, we might find out whether or not they had outside help, and then we can decide where to go from there."

They looked at each other for a few moments in silence before sighing. "Well, my padawan is right. Forgive my rudeness, Satine."

"Apology accepted... Obi-Wan. We should make preparations to visit Concordia."

Master Obi-wan raised an eyebrow. "'We', Satine? It will be dangerous..."

"And if so, I will have my Knight to protect me." Satine gave a playful smile in return as she walked away.

I couldn't help letting a comment slip out. "Yup. Strictly a professional relationship."

"Definitely too much time with Anakin..."

"Supreme Chancellor? I did not expect a call from you so soon. I thought that you found my report on the hyperdrive test to be satisfactory—"

"Rest assured, Lieutenant Commander, I did not call to criticize; in fact, I have a rather unusual request to make of you."

Orson Krennic tilted his head at the holocall projector, slightly confused. "What would you ask of me?"

A rather disturbing smile—one that sent shivers down the man's spine every time he saw it—crossed Palpatine's face. "I would like you to attempt to replicate the incident as closely as possible, then analyze the resulting effect on space-time distortion. We may have a use for it."

Yeah, the canon derailment seems pretty subtle for now. Rest assured, though, that the process of jumping off will be gradual, and by the climax of this fic, it's going to go WAY off the tracks. Just be patient, the REAL plot will come soon enough...