The Gul'dan Chronicles Episode I

by TrevorGuldan

One year after QuiGon Jinn's death in TPM The Phantom Menace, a young padawan is nearing the end of his apprenticeship. This is his story. Original characters in the Star Wars Universe, which belongs to Mr. G. Lucas

9. Chapter 9

SHROUD OF THE DARK SIDE

The Gal-Tox casino was in full party mode tonight and the pickpockets that night were having a very successful evening. The Thieves Guild had asked that these two work the casino crowd to test their nerve and their skills for entry. The pair had worked together long enough that they instinctively knew where the other would be for a particular mark. The evening was coming to a close for them. They were about to leave the area when a movement off to the north of the casino attracted their attention. A smaller figure moved away from a larger one, and there was a repulsorsled in front of them. They split apart, and were ready to take the unsuspecting target by surprise. The larger figure seemed to be standing still, staring at the figure moving away. The taller pickpocket stood next to a lamppost to give the figure a distraction. That figure moved behind the repulsorsled and pushed it forward rather easily. Must be strong, those repulsorsleds don't usually move that easily, the young thief thought. He gave a hold sign to his partner, who stood up a little straighter, as if asking for clarification. The first thief was unsure of the mark now, and wanted a better look.

The sled moved into the lighted circle of the lamppost. The figure's legs walked briskly, denoting confidence and an air of competence. The thief started to pick himself up from the post he was leaning on when he spied not one, but two quickdraw holsters containing not blasters, but lightsabers. With the amount of ligthsaber deaths in the spaceport area, it was going to be best to leave this one alone.

Trevor noticed that the pair moved off, leaving him alone with the remains of the droid he had just defeated. Having the two lightsabers strapped to his leg might have been a bad idea in Shudo's mind, but avoiding conflict certainly was better than more deaths. The trip back to the security office, other than the wide eyes of the shadier denizens of Ord Mantell, was uneventful. After seeing the two lightsabers, people tended to keep out of his way.

Once back at the security station, the deputy on duty whisked Trevor into the analysis room and assisted in the removal of the metallic slab of 'droid' onto the analysis table. Two droids rolled over, and one started to scan the entire remains. E5 rolled up to Trevor and sat still.

"E5, I need you to monitor the scanning of this," Trevor asked wearily. "I have to report to the Council." If he were pressed, he would tell those he could trust that he was not looking forward to this report. He had omitted Yendys' involvement in the investigations, and that might be allowed to be removed. The Order had given him instructions early on in his training that any encounter with a Rogue Jedi must be reported on immediately. He was hoping that he could convince the Council, or at least some of the lower ranked members of the Council that she had been helpful. He hoped against hope, but something in the back of his mind said that no matter who it was who answered this call would have to hear about his omission.

The walk to the holonet room was a quick one. Trevor punched in the codes for the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and waiting patiently. After a few moments, Mace Windu appeared in front of him.

"Trevor Gul'dan, you have more news on the investigation."

He took a deep breath and began.

"Master Windu, I believe that the investigation here is nearing a close. I have met up with Yendys Arctell, who had also been investigating these murders on her own and was instrumental in protecting an innocent." Mace's right eyebrow raised nearly a half a centimeter. "She protected someone from a super battle droid armed with a lightsaber. That is what I believe was killing people here on Ord Mantell."

"A droid?"

"Yes. Based on the information that we confiscated on Metallos, there was a schematic for an addition to a battle droid similar to those there that would allow it to use a lightsaber. This droid did have that attachment and it was a red bladed saber. I was able to defeat the droid,…"

"You engaged it." Windu's statement nearly flustered Trevor. He pressed on with his dissertation.

"Upon our reconnaissance, the last orders were to protect it's home base of operations. It tried to use stealth and guile extremely well. It diverted our attention away from where it was coming from. It did not gain the advantage, but it was very smart.

"Well built and well programmed."

"It also had a double blaster on the opposite arm. In my opinion, if it were outfitted with a second lightsaber attachment, it would be rather dangerous indeed. Currently, remnants of the droid are being analyzed for the codes for the transceiver to be able to triangulate where the signals are coming from."

"Very good. Do you have any reason to suspect that there is any continued danger on Ord Mantell?"

Trevor was unsure of the reason behind the question, and he voice cracked enough to let it be known that he was nervous. "Until I know where the transmission are coming from, Master, I don't know if she has another droid available. There was a death out in the badlands that I have not investigated yet. It may be possible that they have another base out there, but until I know where they are coming from, - so where the transmissions are coming from." Trevor's mind was reeling and he could not seem to get the words out. "If the transmissions are coming from off planet, then I would say that the danger may be over. I probably would not know for another three to four days."

Windu's image nodded. His face was a mask of concentration, as if he was listening to something, or someone. He nodded and stared back at the Miraluka. "Your priority now is to determine the source of the transmission, of course." A slight pause. "Work with the authorities there to accomplish that task as quickly as possible. Contact me as soon as there are any developments."

"Yes, Master. Was there anything else?" Trevor's curiosity tugged at the sides of his consciousness.

"That will be all. Well done." The image of Mace Windu faded out. Trevor turned on his heel and walked back towards the analysis room. He didn't feel tired, but knew that he would need to have some sleep at some point. He walked up to E5, who was continuing to watch the forensics droids scanning the slab.

"E5," the droid whistled an affirmative response. "Wake me in the morning, or if something important comes up." E5 agreed, and he walked out of the room, heading towards the resting chamber he used early. What was it, three, four hours ago? Trevor thought to himself. As he laid back, the image of the white-haired, dry-skinned female from the communications terminal haunted him. What was the most striking in Trevor's mind was that even though the image was black and white, he was fairly certain that in living color, she would have remained the same. There was something odd about her accoutrements, but he could not put his mind on it. It kept moving around, continuing to evade capture until sleep surprised Trevor.

The comlink beeped loudly, too loudly for such a quick wakeup. He reached over and turned it off. Sleepily, he responded, "Yes?"

A droid's twittering could be heard, and Trevor figured that it had to have been E5. What time was it? He looked at his chronometer and noticed that it had only been about four hours since he'd fallen asleep. He reached over for the datapad, plugged it in, and responded, "Go ahead, E5. What is it?"

"Complete analysis is continuing on the droid remains and the communication device. Signal analysis points to a source somewhere offplanet."

Trevor's head seemed filled with cotton, so he had a hard time reading most of E5's report. However, when the words 'off planet' appeared, he realized that the danger was most likely over. However, he needed to be sure.

"E5, statistical probability that this signal could have been bounced off a relay station outside the system and have it originate from someone on the planet?"

The droid heard those words, and began some quick computations. The dome swivled back and forth as it replied back. From the resting quarters, Trevor read, "Probability for such an exact scenario, less that one in fifty." He winced at this thought. So, we still don't know who is behind this, but would they have any more. He sat with his back to the wall, thinking about the possibilities of who might be behind this kind of serious droid construction. He sat for a few minutes, thinking about where this signal would originate. He started to get himself back to sleep when an idea popped into his head. The Jedi Temple would certainly have more sophisticated equipment. He grabbed the comlink, and contacted the astromech again. "E5, see if we can put a relay device on there to send all the transmission data back to Coruscant."

"It should be doable."

"Do it."

"Affirmative."

Trevor signed off, and drifted back to sleep for another few hours.

The analysis room was starting to fill up with droids and organic lifeforms more since the break of day. Trevor entered the room to find six forensic droids working different evidence tables. No one had changed anything with the slab that he returned with from earlier that day. The morning light shone into the one small window of the forensic room causing a reddish haze to the room. He walked over to E5, who was the closest droid to his equipment.

"What have we found?"

"The information was sent to Coruscant and compared their initial analysis with our continued analysis. Probability of signal origination from Ord Mantell dropping exponentially, based on transmission facilities on planet. Still unable to triangulate signal source."

"Did you get the transmission relay device on it?"

"It was used to transmit current data to Coruscant. It will relay additional communications, should we so desire."

Trevor nodded his head. He was hoping that whoever was on the other end of the communication chain would try and contact the droid one more time soon. It made sense that they would want to do that. He patted E5 on the dome and walked out of the room. He turned towards the main lobby of the security station. He stopped the first person he could, which happened to be the same deputy whom he had met earlier that day.

"Excuse me, Deputy. Where can I find Chief Boca?"

"I'm not sure, Master Jedi, but I will find him for you. Shall I have him meet you in the conference room?"

"Yes, please. Thank you."

The deputy turned over his datapad to a lieutenant, and walked out of the room. Trevor turned on his heel, heading back towards the main conference room. Chief Boca entered the room nearly five minutes later.

"Chief. We have started the analysis of the communications device we found in the smelting facility. It would seem that this is the receiver for an off-planet communication link. Please keep it locked away so that no one gets a hold of it. We have it prepped to relay signals back to Coruscant if anything comes in."

"Excellent. If you like, we can arrange for secure transport back to Coruscant if you prefer. You can hand the hardware over to the analysis team at the Jedi Temple."

"Keep the transmitter here, but send the droid back. I don't want to tip my hand too much."

"The communication device hasn't been customized too much, so I am sure that your analysis team won't be missing the transmitter too much. We will arrange transport. It will probably take a few days but it will be safe." Boca seemed to be less tense this morning, knowing that no more lightsaber deaths were possible now. "Is there anything else we can do?"

"Yes, I need to use the Holonet room once more."

"Absolutely."

Trevor walked back to the communication room, and had to wait for nearly fifteen for communications to be made to the Temple. When he was finally connected, Mace Windu's image appeared once again. They greeted each other, and Trevor made his report.

"The analysis that has been done here that E5 has double checked with the Coruscant analysis droids came from off world."

"We have been informed of that discovery by the analysis room just recently."

Trevor nodded, "I plan on leaving the communicator here on Ord Mantell, with a relay transmitter back to the analysis room. Should any more instructions come back, the analysis room might be able to have more updated data to deal with."

Windu's eyebrows shot up. "Excellent idea. Is there any more business you haven't finished on Ord Mantell?"

Trevor's head cocked to one side, "Not that I am aware of."

Windu's face seemed to change gears nearly instantly, which made the hair on Trevor's neck stand straight out.

"We have received a transmission a few hours ago. I am going to retransmit it to your location."

Windu's figure shimmered out of focus, and was replaced with Oron Essada. Trevor's eyecoverings raised up a couple of centimeters. This was unexpected. He was standing there in his senatorial robes, elegant and regal. The picture showed a calm Senator, hands on the lapels of his robes, but the voice betrayed concern.

"Greetings, my friends. I am sending this message to you from Umgul. I have returned for a brief stay, various matters of state to attend to and I am seeking your help. I'm… having some… difficulties arise with various dignitaries and business representative visiting here during my return and I wondered if it might be possible to enlist the aid of, uh, someone who had proved useful in the past. I heard that the Jedi-in-training, Trevor Gul'dan, had been promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight. Was interested in enlisting his services again, if possible. There has been a series of attempted attacks on at least one member of the visiting dignitaries on Umgul and I am hoping that with his help, or with any Jedi who might be available should he prove to be otherwise occupied, that we might be able to uncover these attackers and put an end to this threat. If you can help me in any way, I would appreciate it very much. Thank you." And with that the image of Essada faded. Mace Windu's image reappeared.

"After conferring with the Supreme Chancellor, he recommended that we grant the Senator the assistance he has requested. And if your business on Ord Mantell is complete, Umgul is a bit out of your way, but we would to like to honor his request, if possible."

Trevor attempted to keep his face still. He thought about the trip, wondering if his Whitecloak would make it. After doing some quick calculations and with having E5 navigate, he thought that it would take him about two days to complete the trip, should he leave immediately. There really wasn't anything left for him to do at this point, except wait around. Waiting was not Trevor's strong suit. He lifted his head up and spoke decisively.

"Tell Senator Essada that I will arrive on Umgul in approximately fifty-two hours."

"We will relay your response. Use your best judgment on this mission. Report back to us if you feel that anything of significance warrants our attention."

"Very well. I will ask that Chief Boca to continue watching out for any additional droid activity. I am not sure we got them all."

"We will continue to monitor the activities on Ord Mantell and report back to you should something of significance arises. Any communications will be sent directly to your Whitecloak. May the Force be with you." And with that, Windu's image faded from the communication room.

Trevor stood still in the room for a few moments. He felt the need to reach out to see if Yendys was around, so he reached out with the Force. His emotions were clouding his mind, so he was not able to sense anything. Trevor turned from the pad he was on, and muttered to himself. The door opened, and Trevor went to give instructions to Chief Boca and to gather E5. Chief Boca was still in the conference room, awaiting to hear the results of Trevor's conversation with the Council. Trevor passed along the information to Chief Boca, who agreed to the tasks the Council set for him.

Boca reached out his hand, "Can't thank you enough for your help. I don't think that we could have successfully neutralized this threat without any more loss of life."

The grip Boca gave nearly crushed Trevor's hand, but he did not let it show. Boca was not one to be overly emotional, but Trevor figured that if he were married or had kids, he probably was just a big teddy bear. "Glad I could help," he replied modestly.

"Good luck on whatever your next mission brings you."

Trevor thanked Chief Boca, and left the room. E5 trailed along, heading to the ship and getting it prepped.

The whine of the engines could barely be heard through the canopy of the fighter. Trevor reached across, punched in the codes to allow him to fly directly to the atmosphere into space, where he could get moving towards Umgul. His mind kept thinking back to the message. Why did Essada want him in particular? He could have asked for anyone, but why him? Shudo probably would have been best to handle the diplomatic side, or some other possibility. Trevor didn't realize how quickly his name was being use around the Temple by other padawans as the next Jedi Master amongst them.

The Whitecloak slowly flew out of the atmosphere, more slowly as it normally would. Trevor decided to work on his astrogation skills this time. Knowing how badly he's piloted in the past, he figured he'd practice his astrogation skills. He confirmed with E5 some of his calculations, but E5 corrected a couple of minor mistakes, Trevor realized that he had plenty of work still to do with his piloting skills. He looked around at the sensors, punching in the coordinates for Umgul. The various displays on the Whitecloak showed all was well with the operation of the ship. One display showed the types of sensors that were around him. As the atmosphere cleared and space stretched out in front, Trevor noticed a quick blip of a search sensor following him. Trevor watched the display closer, wondering if there was something there or just a figment of his imagination. The signal repeated itself then immediately disappeared. The small dot on the screen faded, leaving a ghost image on the display.

"E5, are we being tracked?" An affirmative response showed up on the translation display. Trevor's face twisted in concern. Why would someone be following me, he thought. They were either searching or trying to stealthily follow someone. He did not recall seeing as he was leaving the spaceport, but with all the ground clutter, it was possible that it was hiding there, biding its time. Trevor commanded E5 to stop the hyperspace countdown, and turned the Whitecloak gently to port. The following ship turned slightly into an intercept course as opposed to a parallel course. His hunch of being following now caused all the hairs to be raised on his body. He was not the Order's best pilot, but E5 might be able to help with control, if necessary.

"E5, I need an analysis of that ship. Now."

The astromech worked efficiently. "Unable to identify make at this range. Length 21.5 meters. Slightly faster than the Whitecloak. Heavier shielding and better weaponry. Nearly three times the shield power."

"Time to intercept."

"Ten minutes."

Trevor realized that if the pursuer knew what direction he was headed, they would be able to triangulate his location. Trevor decided to throw a wrench into the works.

"E5, when they are half the current distance to us, recompute hyperspace jump to a different direction, randomize distance for the jump."

"Short range?"

"Yes. No more than five lightyears."

Trevor waited for the droid to finish the computations. The ship, realizing that it was gaining on the target, slowed down and matched speed. Knowing that he was out-gunned and out-shielded figured that he'd need to change tactics. Flipping the ship over on its back, Trevor turned the ship back to face its follower and cut his speed down to barely maneuvering speed. The other vessel looked as if it were veering away, but a quick communication from E5 gave different news.

"Powering up weapons."

Trevor realized that he might not get out of it alive.

"Recompute hyperspace jump again. Be prepared for hyperspace jump on my mark."

E5 started to whistle an indigent response, but chose instead to follow the command. Trevor pushed the ship toward his opponent. The moving speck showing with the background of stars seemed to get larger and larger. As it got within range, the ship fired a barrage of laserfire that would have ripped apart the entire ship and everything in it's path. However, Trevor was surprised by the firing pattern, as it was not hitting his ship at all. It was almost as if it were just a distraction. The two antagonists continued to head straight for one another. Trevor's fingers never depressed the switch linked to the laser cannons on the Whitecloak. Instead, he continued to advance on the opposing ship. The ship's teardrop shape was clearer as it neared. E5 squawked that the jump would take place in five seconds. The two ships veered away at the last second. E5 counted down to jump time, and took over control of the ship to orient itself to the position that it had selected. Trevor watched the other ship as E5 maneuvered. The teardrop ship also adjusted itself and jumped nearly two whole seconds before the stars lengthened into lines and the Whitecloak itself jumped into hyperspace. As E5 maintained control of the ship through hyperspace, Trevor wondered who would be crazy enough to go after his ship, and why. He pondered that thought for the next twenty minutes, through the reversion to normal space, and E5's recalibration for the jump to Umgul. As the Whitecloak jumped a second time, Trevor decided to put the thoughts out of his mind. It wouldn't do to mull over a crazy space pilot, when a Senator had asked for his help. There was also something odd about Essada's request. He hoped that he'd get more information when he arrived in two days.

Oron Essada paced in his spacious living area. The transcript from the communication center sat on the datapad in the center of the sofa table. The ornate furnishing of the Senator had not changed much in the three months since his ascension to the seat. His life, however, did. His wife of nearly twenty years still maintained a loving relationship with him and had borne him three wonderful children. Holographic images of them at work, school and play littered the window sills of the official residence. The sounds of rain against the windowpanes were a constant reminder of Essada's mood. His youngest son had been taken from his bedroom nearly four days ago. Local authorities had not given any clue as to who, what or even why Marl had been taken from his bedroom. Security cameras had been disabled, or erased in such a way that no one had any records of entry or exit. Time stamps on the holovids had two separate gaps where no data was recorded. Two hours after the discovery, a coded transmission had arrived at the Senatorial offices of Oron Essada. The message had been specific in its instructions, and rather cryptic. Essada had been pacing for nearly two hours. A response to his message to the Jedi Council for help had been answered and the young Jedi who had so successfully helped him on Coruscant was already on his way. He was not sure why he was requested to ask for him directly, but someone had a grudge against the young man. He had hoped that someone would be able to find his son prior to this, but when the threat against himself and his family was repeated, he knew he had to follow the kidnapper's demands. A soft whistling invaded Essada's contemplation. He walked over to the communications terminal.

"Yes, what is it?", he answered gruffly.

"Sir, I have a transmission from an ambassador from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. He says his name is Trevor Gul'dan. Shall I--"

"Secure the line and patch it through," Essada roughly interrupted.

The technician had heard rumors that the Senator was undergoing some very deep stress recently and was not to be argued with. He quickly scrambled the line, and warned the Jedi Knight who had arrived just moments before that the signal was going to be encoded.

Essada waited the few moments while the transmission was completed. He looked out through the window, over the flowing fogbanks of the planet. Umgul was a terrestrial planet that contained its fair share of mountains, hills, and valleys. However, a persistent fog caused many different accidents by tourists, so the traffic controllers always had their hands full. The signal from the com-station indicated that the transmission was now secured.

"Trevor," Essada started.

"Senator," came the response from the Jedi. The voice still seemed rather young, but also still older at the same time.

"Congratulations on your new rank as Jedi Knight."

"Thank you, Senator."

"I was very glad to hear of that. I have been following your progress, what little I can learn about it."

A slight pause seemed to linger in the air as Trevor listened to the senator. This is small talk, I don't remember him being like this.

"Senator, is there some place we can meet?"

Essada looked around the room. No, this is just not safe enough someone might hear what I say. Many thoughts whisked through his brain.

"Yes. Yes. Why don't you dock at one of the diplomatic bays in Umgul City, and I will get the information from Traffic Control and meet you there."

"Very well, Senator."

The transmission ended rather abruptly. Essada looked around, grabbed an elegant robe and exited the room rather quickly. He communicated to his body guard and left to meet the new Jedi. I hope that I haven't made a mistake.

Trevor guided the Whitecloak down through the clouds towards the foggy diplomatic landing area. The massive limestone hills and craggy outcroppings gave the image of a large animal reaching out and swallowing the rather modern city. There were plenty of large notches in the limestone hills where ships could be seen landing and leaving. He guided the ship into a cavern, turned the ship around so that it faced outward, and landed the craft softly. He raised the canopy up and turned to E5.

"Stay with the ship. Please contact the Council and let them know that we have arrived. I would like to have an update on what's going on. Send also the information on the encounter with the Firespray." He started to turn away, but looked back. "We need to give you a different name, E5." He smiled at the diligent astromech, and jumped down from the ship. The canopy dropped slowly as he walked over towards a sliding access door towards the back of the landing bay. The doors opened, and Trevor tensed slightly. An entourage seemed to be standing outside the door, but a familiar voice raised itself above the crowd.

"Trevor! Good to see you again."

Essada's raised hand as a reference point, Trevor veered over to his location.

"Good to see you too, Senator."

"Come on. Let's find some place more comfortable to talk. Have you had anything to eat?"

Trevor's insides spoke quietly to him as he responded. "Not for a while."

"Good. Let's go grab a bite." Essada waved Trevor down the corridor towards a turbolift that whisked them away from the landing bay. They spoke of nothing in particular, mainly small talk about Coruscant and the weather, two things that were fairly safe topics. At the bottom of the turbolift, Essada led the Jedi across an elevated traincar track to a busy section of the business district. Essada explained the history of the city and how it was constructed into the side of the hills. Essada continued to give a bit of a history lesson as they reached an upper class restaurant. The pair walked in, and Essada immediately walked to a corner booth.

A waiter-droid came over to take their orders. Trevor, not wanting to be rude, ordered a simple vegetable juice, while Essada ordered Calamari tea. The Jedi watched Essada jumble his way through the orders. Trevor ordered a sandwich and soup, the name he could not pronounce but was assured that it tasted like a land foul from Coruscant. Essada only ordered pakin soup. The droid wheeled away, and Trevor sat back in the seat, in as much of a relaxed position as possible.

"Well," the Senator began. He held his tea cup in his hand, and tipped it slightly towards himself. He stared at the contents for a moment before Trevor interrupted his thoughts.

"What is the problem, Senator?" the Jedi asked politely. "Your message was rather cryptic other than the specifics of an attempt on someone's life."

"Yes." Essada continued to stare at the contents, hoping to find courage instead of tea. Not finding it there, he straightened his shoulders and replaced the cup on the saucer. "It is a tricky situation at best. I must admit that if I had not heard that you had been involved in some rather dramatic mission as of late, I might not have asked for your help." Essada sighed.

"I sense a 'but' here, Senator." Trevor immediately detected something was amiss. Essada seemed to be very nervous, almost panicky nervous. Normally, senators keep there emotions in check, but something was definitely wrong.

"Recently, a perspective businessman who was looking to set up a fairly lucrative business arrangement with local industry here on Umgul came to meet with various merchants and corporate figures. I was also to participate in trying to entice him to bring that business to the planet. Could have been profitable for the entire world economy. Haba Murlon was his name. He's a Chevin." Essada paused for a moment. "I had three meetings scheduled with him. The first was what you would expect, basically pleasantries and formalities, not much accomplished. The second meeting seemed to be going along rather well. And then I was to have an informal meeting with him, showing around the town. Basically, sweet talk him about setting up shop on Umgul." At this, Essada's voice dropped down an octave. "When I arrived at his quarters, I realized that meeting wasn't going to happen."

"What caused you to have that feeling."

"He was dead." Essada's face seemed to change a bit of color, as if recollecting the scene.

"How did he die?" Trevor pushed slightly.

"The investigators are not entirely sure."

"Do you have the crime scene holos?"

"Yes, I do. But there wasn't much left of him."

"How long ago was this?"

"This was, uh, four days ago. Whoever did it pointed a thermal detonator into the room. But we believe that he was killed before the room was destroyed. It would seem that the detonator was used merely to cover someone's tracks. Haba was very large and the explosion incinerated most of his body. However, analysis of what remains could be found showed a high level of stress related horomones in his system prior to the explosion."

"What was his business?"

"He was involved with agriculture and food production. There were plans to make use of the moist and expansive growing potential of some large regions that were not being used to their fullest extent. He had contracts with several heavily populated systems, like Coruscant, who needed large scale food import. It could have been an extremely low-cost, high-profit arrangement."

"Were there any records of someone going into the room prior to the explosion?"

"No, there were no security cameras in the room or even in the hallway."

"No other rooms connecting to his?"

"His assistant's room was a part of the apartment. She was also killed in the blast." Essada seemed to want to say more, but held himself back. Trevor missed the cue. "This is extremely troubling."

"Were they going after you, or after him?"

"I don't know why they would go after him. He was a business farmer."

"How many enemies did he have?"

"How many enemies does a farmer have?"

"If he were a successful businessman, he may have a few," Trevor pointed out.

"I was not aware of any major, let's say vicious, competition." Essada's mouth opened again, as if to say something, but held back again. Trevor finally noticed that Essada's brow was sweating profusely. He had even moved forward in his seat while taking in a deep breath. He seemed to be wanting to say something more, but forcing himself to not say anything. Trevor adjusted his vision around, noticing that all the patrons were people he'd expect to be here; the rich, the politic, and the powerful. Trevor did not sense something out of place, so he retracted his vision to a normal point of view. He leaned his body across the seat and rested his elbows on the table. In a subdued voice, Trevor faced off against the esteemed Senator from Umgul.

"Senator. You need to tell me everything. The reason I need to know is if I don't have the information you have, I cannot get a very clear picture of what is going on. If this is not the place to talk, then we should go some place else."

Essada blinked a few times in amazement. "I think you can understand that it is not in my character to lie to a friend. Not in my character to lie to a Jedi or a respected member of those who enforce peace. My interest is peace."

Trevor pushed his advantage. "This is personal. I am getting a sense--"

Essada's eyebrows went up slightly, take aback by the Jedi's perceptions and bluntness. "It is not in my character to do anything of that nature; but as you can imagine, under extreme circumstances, that sort of thing might be the only alternative."

Trevor realized that he was pushing too hard, so he sat back and relaxed a bit. "Well, let's eat our meal. Obviously this is a very stressful situation for you. You invited me to lunch to talk about it. You are not quite ready. That's fine. I am here at your request. When you are ready, I will listen."

At that moment, the waiter droid returned with their meals. The pair ate in silence for the remainder of the time, each with his own thoughts. Trevor wondered what was truly going on behind the scenes. Something just felt wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Some meditation time would have been helpful, but he needed to concentrate on the matter at hand.

Twenty minutes later, the droid collected the remains of their meal. Trevor looked over to Essada, who wrung a napkin in his hands.

"I have already said too much. I have no idea if they are listening. Honestly, I have no idea what I have dragged you into, and I am sorry."

It was Trevor's turn to have the hair's stand up on the back of his neck.

Essada spoke, "I am supposed to invite you to attend the blob races this afternoon."

Trevor whispered to himself, "I really have a bad feeling about this."

"Once we get there, and I have no idea how I was going to do this, but I was supposed to lose you. I was then going to meet someone and retrieve my son." A chill raced down Trevor's back, causing each hair follicle on his shoulders to tingle. "Now, no one has come out and said it, but I am quite certain that at that point, you would be on the receiving end of a very nasty surprise. And I hope you understand, but if I thought that if it was the only way to save my son, I would do it. However, with what happened with Haba, I don't think that I am going to be able to get my son back without help. I don't know if they are listening to me. If they are, I may have already signed his death warrant. But if I didn't say anything, I don't think I would get him back at all. I've taken what measures I could to prevent them from being able to hear me, but, as I said, I can't be certain."

Trevor exhaled deeply. So, it would seem that someone has been planning this rather well. Interesting that no sooner than a droid wielding a lightsaber is destroyed, a respected senator's son is kidnapped. Someone is DEFINITELY after me. Not that I'm paranoid or anything. After thinking this to himself, he spoke to the Senator in a rather conspiratorial tone.

"Senator? I have grown quite a bit since the last time we spoke. I can handle myself a bit better. And I promise I will do what I can. However, we need to keep these plans in play if we are going to. I need to send a coded message to the Council. They must be made aware of this. It is rather important."

Essada whispered, "I can tell you where to find a secure holonet com-station." Sliding a datapad over to him, he continued in a normal volume, "Let's say that we will meet up again in an hour. Then we can head over to the track a little bit early, since you were so curious in the blob racing. Maybe I can get you a tour of the stables."

"Very well, Senator. One hour should give me enough time to get settled."

"Very good. One hour."

And with that, the Senator stood up. Trevor watched the Senator placing the layers of protection and false serenity being put back into place. There seemed to be a bit more steel in the man's back now as he walked out. Trevor started to take care of the bill, but the cashier had said that the entire bill was already covered. Trevor nodded and left the restaurant. On his way out, he asked E5 to meet him at the com-station Essada had recommended. He returned his comlink to its pouch and started his walk to the com-station. The map Essada had given him showed that the station was at the government center, well within walking distance. Trevor decided that the fresh air would do him some good considering that E5 would take nearly fifteen minutes to get to the station.

As he walked the streets of Umgul City, he reached out through the Force, trying to see if someone was watching him. Hundreds of people walked in and out of small shops and cafes. With that many people, finding anyone would be a hard time. Trevor kept looking around with his vision, but also reaching out through the Force to identify people. He did this for nearly five minutes, getting used to the amount of people and the different signatures they left in the Force. As he was walking along, he touched on a figure's Force signature that felt like sticking a hand inside the guts of a fish; cold and dead.

The shock of this feeling was unbelievable. Trevor moved his hand in front of his face to try to cover the surprise should any one be looking. Something evil was definitely in the area. It was different when he found Yendys. At least her Force signature was pleasant. This was the total polar opposite. At some point, Trevor realized that he might be watched so he continued to move to the comstation.

E5 was waiting when he arrived at the comstation. The presence was still nearby, so Trevor walked into the station as if he didn't have a care in the world. E5 twittered a bit, but Trevor motioned slowly as to not alert his tail. Inside the comstation, Trevor bent down and whispered to E5.

"I want this message embedded inside of my transmission to Coruscant." He proceeded to dictate to E5 the events that happened with Essada at the restaurant as well as the plans of the kidnappers. Once completed, Trevor punched in the codes for the Jedi Temple with the proper priority signal. He activated the comstation, and awaited for the connection to the Council Chambers. The holonet station hummed, and the image of Master Eeth Koth appeared.

"Master Koth, I have arrived safely on Umgul and met with Senator Essada."

"Excellent."

Nearly stepping on his voice, Trevor changed the tempo of the entire conversation. In Huttese, Trevor whispered, "Coded transmission embedded. I have a bit of a problem."

Koth responded with an slang version of "Oh, I see." The hands reached up and grabbed his face. But the eyes whisked back and forth, reading the second message quickly. Replying in Basic, "It is always difficult when practicality and politics meet. Do what you need to to achieve your mission." In Huttese, Koth responded, "There is an old saying: the best way to gain an advantage over your competitor in a deal is to keep them off their feet and keep them off of their home turf. Then you will have the advantage."

Trevor thought about the saying, realizing the hidden message. He then responded in Basic. "I'll report back upon learning more details of what the Senator requires of me. He has been rather close to the vest. Nothing has been said, it was basically a casual sit down lunch. He did mention that he wanted to bring me to the blob races."

"Yes, that should prove interesting."

"Maybe I can get the Senator to open up after the blob races. I mentioned it last time we met that I was interested. It might be able to loosen the Senator's tongue."

The image nodded to Trevor. "Good luck, Trevor. May the Force be with you."

Trevor nodded back, and the image faded. The hidden message gave Trevor a level of confidence that he hadn't felt since Essada dropped the news about his son. Trevor had guessed that Master Koth would have been a rather ferocious fighter if cornered. As he opened the comstation door, Trevor walked out, turned to E5 and requested he return to the ship, forwarding any important message from the Council to his comlink. He added that it should be sent in Anx, Shudo's language, figuring that Shudo would want to speak his native language from time to time. He watched E5 roll back towards the diplomatic hanger bays. He reached out with the Force, and was rewarded with the same feeling of cold, dark and death nearby. Screwing his concentration even more, Trevor realized that the figure who was emanating this feeling was definitely nearby. He rotated his vision in a full circle, trying to figure out where this feeling was coming from. As he neared his right shoulder, a cowled figure ducking behind the corner of a nearby building caught his eye. He turned his walking self towards the direction of the tourist district to give the indication that he was not looking around, or had not seen anyone. Redirecting his vision gave him a better clue as to his shadow. The cloaked figure removed the cowl to present natural platinum blonde hair. The obsidian orbs that allowed the figure to see were rather striking and the veined skin announced to Trevor louder than a one-hundred piece band that this was his mysterious communicator from Ord Mantell! As he watched, her eyes seemed to blink, but the lids did not move. Where a human's eyes would blink from the top and botton, this individual's eyes blink from the inside, from right and left. Freaky, Trevor thought. What she was doing here was not as concerning as that dark, cold feeling. He had never felt anything like it before. The power of death was the only description that he could use. It was very easy to distinguish from other sensations in the area. She might have even been following him since meeting up with the senator. She pulled up the cloak, and moved off into the crowd.

Thinking he'd get the surprise on this mysterious person, he tried to mask his presense in the Force as he did for Yoda a few weeks ago at his Trials. Figuring that he'd successfully masked himself, he bolted for the corner of the building that hid the unknown tail. Trevor reach the first alleyway, turned and raced to the other side. He was barely winded when he pulled up short of the next street. He peered around the corner and was surprised to find that the figure was no longer within immediate contact. Trevor's face took on a concerned look. She was here a short time ago, Trevor thought. He surveyed the crowd and walked towards the comtubes that connect the city to the rest of the planet.

He finally spotted her a good distance down the road, running away from Trevor's position. Now there were two immediate possibilities; either she realized that he was heading to meet the Senator, or she realized that he was trying to follow her. He took only a moment to decide to continue following this stranger. Trying to keep his presence muted, he chased after her. The crowds did not lend themselves for quick transit, but Trevor realized that her lead was not insurmountable, but she definitely had a good jump on him. Trevor continued to run towards his follower towards the comtube area. The main comtube had a loading ramp nearly thirty meters ahead, and as Trevor reached the ramp, she turned her head and looked right at Trevor. Well, she knows I'm here now. Trevor allowed his Force presence to normal. A commuter train arrived at the main terminal, right near where the figure was running from. Her cloak billowed out as she threw it to the ground. Knowing that she was being persued by the Jedi, she ignited her lightsaber, red blade swinging back and forth clearing a path towards the commuter train. Trevor continued to ascend the ramp, avoiding people who were trying to escape the red lightsaber. She swung the lightsaber in wide arcs, causing passengers to dive out of the way. She nearly decapitated a handful of people in trying to reach the train. Trevor reached down and grasped his own lightsaber from the right holster. He did not ignite it at this point, knowing that he wanted to be sure he was not near anyone who might get hurt by the extraction of the blade. The crowd, seeing his saber hilt, gave him plenty of room as well. Trevor ran towards the last car, and entered the car just as the doors closed. Passengers threw themselves into their seats to avoid getting run down by both of the antagonists.

The black eyed figure moved her way towards the front, kicking down doors and knocking over bystanders who got in her way. The train was moving down the track, and Trevor could look through the windows to see in the cars ahead. Most of the comtubes were controlled by druids, and Trevor could see into the piloting compartment. The droid was sliced in half and the control board was smashed to pieces. He saw that the speed control levers were pushed to the limits. Trevor suddenly realized that the panel did not normally glow red. She's around the corner, waiting to bait me on. Trevor arrived at the front of the second car, and smelled a trap no matter what he did.

"EVERY ONE, OUT! THIS WAY!" Trevor shouted. Most of the passengers were already at his door. He stepped out of the way, allowing quick exit of the passengers, and stepped into the middle of the gangway. Trevor ignited his lightsaber, and verifying that no other passengers were on the first car, sliced his blade through the connecting umbilical cords. Sparks flew as Trevor connected with the main metallic connector between the cars. The remainder of the commuter train immediately started to slow down as the main car pulled Trevor and his attacker forward.

A sizzling sound caused Trevor to turn back towards his attacker. Suddenly a metallic clank reached his ears as his vision noted that a round piece of metal floated off the top of the train, into the atmosphere of Umgul City. Trevor grabbed the top of the car and, using the Force, flipped himself onto the top of the main engine.

The wind whipped by his face as the train continued to gain speed. On the front portion of the car, just in front of a large hole, the lithe figure stood with her feet shoulder length apart, red blade held with two hands in front of her, and a sneer on her face. Trevor twirled his lightsaber in his right hand in a complete circle, preparing for any sort of action on her part. He finally realized that she was a Chev, a symbiotic species that were basically slaves to the Chevin. She glared at Trevor, daggers in her eyes. Her mouth opened, as if about to take a large bite out of something and a thunderous hiss issued forth, running at the Jedi.

Trevor walked two meters forward and began a quick two stroke series of strikes he learned early on from Shudo. She deftly parried both strikes, and countered with a blaze of swings on her own. Her ferocity caught him off-guard on the first strike, but Trevor countered her remaining swings. He then rolled his shoulders and sent two quick thrusts towards her. This time, she had to take a step back to counter his attack. Each time they traded blows, she continued to hiss at him as if trying to distract him. It worked during the middle of the next series of her attacks. However, Trevor realized he'd seen this move before from Shudo, and countered them with little difficulty.

Each combatant took a small step backward, as if at some prearranged signal. Trevor immediately jumped forward slightly, swinging the blade low on the left, but high on the right. She was certainly having a difficult time with his fighting style, as he kept changing styles to keep her offbalance. She responded with two swipes to the head, which he blocked effortlessly. However, the stab towards the body was not what he expected. As he dodged the blow, he realized that his energy stores were drained. He got back to his feet, feeling extremely tired by this point. His lightsaber dropped from its normal position down nearly five centimeters. Trevor ratched up the courage to end this quickly. He took a deep breath as he brought his lightsaber across his body towards her neck. His attack was strong enough that her parry rebounded backwards onto her shoulder. She screamed in pain as the blade connected.

Trevor's subconscious had registered a sound earlier, but had ignored it until the sound could be heard over the roar of the wind in his ears. He was able to catch a glimpse out of the corner of his vision a speeder bike racing alongside the train. The bike ducked back behind Trevor. An impression of blaster fire reached Trevor's brain, and he ducked down just as two blaster streaks over his head. The other combatant also moved out of the way. However, the Chev recovered her footing first and hacked at Trevor, trying to cut him down. Even on one knee, Trevor blocked every blow. Pushing the last attack back, Trevor stood up and faked a swing for the head, then redirected his blade across her stomach. The blade bit into skin, and the Chev bellowed in pain. She reached her arms back, ready to strike at his head. However, Trevor turned his body around, spinning on one foot, extended his arm outward and dissected the body across the lowest part of the midsection, right under the hips. The torso slid off, bouncing into the atmosphere.

Trevor disengaged his blade and immediately wondered how to get the train to stop, and how he was going to get off. Suddenly the speeder bike pulled along side the train. A helmeted pilot guided the bike steadily next to the train. Without speaking any words, Trevor realized that this speeder bike pilot was offering a ride. Trevor did not ask twice, and jumped onto the bike, exhausted. He reached around to make sure that he did not fall off. The pilot turned away from the train. Just after doing so, two more air speeders with Umgul Traffic Control markings whipped past, going after the commuter train. Trevor felt better now that he wasn't on that fast moving train, even though the speeder biker was moving not much slower. The pilot landed quickly to give the passenger a chance to be on solid ground once more.

Once the bike came to a complete stop, Trevor dismounted the bike and took a step back. Something told Trevor that this pilot knew him, and he was partially curious as to who would have helped him. As the pilot withdrew the helmet, long brown hair and horns identified exactly who would help him in a time of need.

"What are you doing here, Yendys?"

Yendys Arctell gave Trevor a sly smirk. "You know, you are a pain in the butt to follow. I had to act like I was attacking you just to get by."

"We need to talk about this. But first, I need to find that body right now." Trevor's current temperament was not one to discuss surprises. Yendys saw in her former clanmate a Jedi Knight just coming into his power and the leader that she sensed he would become. She nodded, "Let's go." The pair re-mounted the bike and took off in search of the body. Five minutes later, Trevor spotted the body sprawled in the middle of a side street. Yendys landed the bike and Trevor went over to investigate. Trevor reached down, and turned the body over. He did not look at the face much. The black eyes stood out from the face and a trickle of blood traced a line down from the mouth. It stood out so shockingly from the rest of the black and white complexion of the Chev. Yendys just stood with the bike, watching Trevor and his reaction.

Trevor stood up, searched for a blanket or a robe. Retrieving one from a pile of rags in a nearby alley, he covered the Chev's body. He nodded to Yendys and proceeded to contact Senator Essada. Essada immediately responded in a frantic tone.

"What's happening?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm – I'm -- waiting for you!"

"I'll be there shortly. I ran into an associate," looking over at Yendys. Her eyebrows raised a few centimeters, as if saying What?

"Any word on my son?"

Trevor silently took a deep breath. "None yet. But I am working on it."

"I'm waiting…" Essada's voice was nearing panic.

"Senator, I will be there shortly." Trevor quickly ended the conversation, knowing that the Senator was certainly not in a position to help. He motioned for Yendys to come over. "We need to transport this to the Senator. Can you give me a hand?"

"What, a big strong Jedi like you needing help from little old me?" Yendys' joke met deaf ears.

"I'm not in the mood. Lift."

Yendys realized that she pushed him just a bit too far, but she just shrugged her shoulders and gave Trevor the boost needed to load the body onto the speeder bike. Trevor searched the body to try and secure things that might have fallen off during transport. He grabbed the Chev's lightsaber, strapped it to his belt, and search the utility belt's pouches. He found a small blaster pistol, a sensor pack, a set of macrobinoculars, a really high tech comlink, and a little inactive translator droid. He grabbed the comlink and droid, secured them into pouches on his belt. He turned around, and realized that a crowd was starting to gather.

"We need to get this body off of the street. If this was the cause of the kidnapping and the Chevin's death, then where is the boy? There has to be another associate nearby." Trevor reached down for the comlink and activated the comlink. Trying to find the last frequency used, he was actually able to find three different codenames, not communication frequencies. The names shown were DRONE, TEST, and TALON. He tried to figure out the comlink, but gave up after another fifteen seconds. He turned to Yendys.

"I need you to take me to the blob track stadium."

"Did you find any body on the comlink?"

"Yes, I found three nicknames or code names on the call list." He read off the list to her. "Do those make any sense to you?"

Yendys thought about it for a few moments. "Well, DRONE sounds like a droid. TEST, test, test,…" As Yendys repeated the word over again, both of the Jedi reached the same thought at that exact moment. Yendys spoke what Trevor was thinking. "Do you think that the droid on Ord Mantell was a test model?"

"Could very well be. It would make some sick kind of sense, wouldn't it?"

"Trying out a new model, seeing how it works on its own. Might have found the origin of that signal."

"I think we might have. Look at the face." Trevor reached around and uncovered the face of his attacker. "Does this look familiar to you?"

"Yes, it does." Yendys' face actually blanched slightly. "So, DRONE would be a droid, probably not the one on her belt. TALON…"

"Something to be used to attack. She wasn't expecting--"

"Now, you are looking for somebody's kid?"

Trevor smirked at her. "Yes, and the somebody's name is Senator Oron Essada."

"If somebody else has the kid, if she didn't just have him locked away, if she had an accomplice, out of those choices, it was probably the droid."

The two talked about the choices and where to go from here. Yendys also asked about what else he found. He showed her the 'translator' droid and her eyes opened as big as starships.

"Wow! I've wanted one of these for a while now?"

Trevor was now interested. "What is it?"

She grabbed the droid from him and proceeded to press three buttons simultaneously, turning on the droid. As the gyros spun up, her eyebrows raised up. "Well, it's functional." After working the controls for a moment, a compartment opened displaying a myriad of tools and gadgets. Within a moment or two, the droid started to hover. Trevor realized that this was a hovering slicer droid, used to get into the Senator's house and kidnap the boy. She reached up, deactivated it, and started to pocket the device. However, with Trevor watching her every move, she reluctantly gave the droid back to Trevor. He nodded once and pocketed it.

"We need to get to the stadium. We don't have much time," Trevor warned.

"No, I don't think we do either. Let's go." The pair quickly mounted the speeder bike and proceeded directly towards the blob stadium. The trip took nearly ten minutes of crisscrossing the city to reach their destination. Trevor asked Yendys to put the helmet on, because he didn't want to give away anything at this point. Trevor only hoped that it would be enough.

As they neared the stadium, Trevor noticed that the persistent fog that seemed to enshroud the entire city was absent here. He looked ahead and noted that large fans could be seen above the stadium forcing the fog away. It reminded Trevor of a well, but this time it was a well of fresh air. The bike slowed down and approached an entrance way. The races were still at most an hour away, and the guards waved them to park the speeder towards a parking area just for bikes. The body was, thankfully, still wrapped up on the back. The pair dismounted and Trevor walked up to the guards at the doorway. Both guards each instinctively took a step to opposite sides of the gateway, as if covering one another. Trevor realized that he was not in the traditional Jedi robes. He was still wearing his white shirt and dark pants. And the quickdraw holsters with the lightsabers probably didn't make them any less nervous either. Yendys stood by the bike, helmet still on her head.

"Can we help you?" one of the guards asked.

"Yes, I am here to see Senator Oron Essada. He told me to meet him here." Trevor's eyebrows raised up slightly, as if assuming they would know who he was and where he'd sit.

"And you are?"

"My name is Trevor Gul'dan."

"And what group are you with?"

Trevor paused for only a moment. "I am with the Senator."

The guard looked down at the two lightsabers, and realized that the only kind of person to have two lightsabers would be a Jedi. I really don't want to heckle this Jedi any more, do I, thought the guard.

"Well, I am not sure that the Senator is here yet, but you can walk down the corridor here, and you'll be able to find his viewing box rather easily."

"Excellent. Is there a place where my associated and I can store something rather unique?"

"We have some holding rooms that you can use."

"I need to reserve an entire holding room." As he said this, Yendys grabbed the body and heaved it over her shoulders. The guards looked at each other in disbelief. They lead the pair to the holding rooms and showed Trevor how to activate the locking mechanism. As Yendys dumped the body into the room, Trevor asked the guard to turn away. He punched in a random bunch of numbers to lock the door.

"Is there a temperature control for this room?"

The guard had a perplexed look on his face, but showed him where it was.

"I would ask that you not discuss any of this. Jedi business, you know."

At the word Jedi, the guards visibly relax. "Oh, don't worry, Master Jedi. We know you were never here." They immediately turn away and leave the two standing perplexed in the corridor. Trevor shrugged slightly, and turned towards the nearest stairwell.

"Can I take off the helmet yet?"

Trevor wheeled on her, getting right in her face. "Depends. What are you doing here?" His voice was edged with steel.

"All right…" Whipping off the helmet, Yendys shakes her hair out. "Look, I know you. I haven't seen you in a long time, but I know you. You weren't going to let that transmission slide. I knew you were going to go after her." Her face told him, I told you so.

"I did NOT expect her to be here." Trevor whispered each word as if it were a sentence.

"You mean, you just ran into her the very next place you go?"

With teeth gritted, he hissed "Yes."

"Boy, it's a good thing I followed you."

Trevor's demeanor changed. He actually was very glad to see her, but he didn't want to give her the complete satisfaction of winning this round. However, if she hadn't been following him on the train, he might just be in a pile of rubble somewhere. "Yes, very good thing. Now, the next question is how?"

"Well, you know you would have gone after her if you could of." A moment's pause, as Yendys had turned away from Trevor's face. When he did not respond immediately, she turned back, finally understanding the question.

"Oh! Oh. Well, you know. Old friend…" She walked over to him, reached across his shoulder, pulled something off his collar.

"Hold on to that, will ya?" She smirked and headed up the stairs. Trevor turned his vision down, and saw a small tracer in the middle of his palm. He suddenly felt very foolish for giving her a hug. But at least, she was not rubbing it into his face.

"C'mon," Trevor mumbled and the pair walked into the stadium and looked out.

They looked out over the track, spotting a bizarre looking track. There were straightaways with machinery littering and blocking the track. A man was out in the middle of one of the straightaways poking at a pile of protoplasm with a long pole. Trevor thought it was odd until the semi-transparent protoplasm moved. He immediately thought of a giant amoeba. When the pole contacted the blob, it suddenly took off down the track, sprinting for its life. As it moved down the track, Trevor noticed a few others scattered around. Each of the blobs had their own colors, and a pair seemed to touch one another, but not mess. There was enough activity to nearly distract Trevor from his mission. There were so many different obstacles that he couldn't understand what they were there for, but after watching for about two minutes, he understood why people liked blob racing. Maybe if I am able to retire, I will be a blob racer. Trevor smiled to himself.

Trevor wrenched his vision away from the track on the floor of the stadium to the seats across and near his current location. He could see a few early spectators arriving, getting the best seats. They had walked to a fancy balcony area where ramps and stairways lead down to the floor or up to viewing boxes and balconies. The crowd was very small, still too early to have much of anything going on. Trevor reached down and grabbed his comlink.

"Senator Essada, please."
Yendys decided that she didn't need to hear any more. She walked down the ramp a few steps, sat down in a seat, and placed her feet over the seat in front of her. She placed the helmet down under the cushion and waved to Trevor as he was connected to Essada.

"Trevor."

"Senator, do you think you can meet me at the stadium."

"Have you found my son yet?"

"No, not yet. But I am working on it, getting closer every moment."

"I am on my way."

Trevor walked down and crouched down next to her. "I need a favor."

A wicked grin crossed her face. "Oh, and what kind of favor is it?"

He reached onto his utility belt and handed Yendys the Chev's comlink. "I need you to use your newly acquired skills and find out where these other 'code names' are located. I need locations of where those things could be."

The smile that shown on Yendys' face disappeared quicker than a hyperspace jump. She took the comlink from Trevor's hands and immediately went to work. Trevor stood up and looked around at the stadium more. He followed a few people, and even searched under the stands but could not find anything suspicious. Moments later, Yendys tugged on his pantleg.

"Ok, if we're right, and the drone one is some droid that is watching the kid, then I can send a signal that will call it to our location, wherever the communicator is."

"Will it bring the boy?"

"I can send a non-verbal message."

"What about the other one? We know what TEST is."

"We don't know what that is and I don't want to send to something to someone I know nothing about. I think that, if we send the signal and plant the communicator in a little nook here, we should tuck out of the way."

Trevor took a deep breath, and acquiesced. Part of him wanted all the information gathered, but her logic made some sense.

"All right. How long to do you think it will take to get here."

"If it is close by, not long at all. That way, we catch it by surprise, instead of the other way around."

"Do it." Yendys activated her plan and sent the signal. She walked up the ramp they were on and placed it in the nook she indicated. She then walked back down towards her seat and got herself set. She plunked the helmet on her leg as if she were waiting for the show. Trevor walked up the ramp, down the other side, and sat down to rest. He wasn't sure how long it was going to take, but started to perform a simple relaxation exercise. It had been a while since he'd done it, and was surprised that he found himself feeling more refreshed than before. He hadn't been able to gather the Force to himself, but upon doing a simple exercise, he felt better than he had since the train ride.

No more than three minutes after he sat down, a steady k-tung, k-tung, k-tung could be hear coming down the hallway. Trevor adjusted his vision to the entrance of the hallway leading under the seats, and saw a large battle droid, outfitted just like those he and Shudo found on Metallos, walking down the corridor, with a large bundle on it's back. He moved his vision down the corridor so that he could actually look at the back hanging over his shoulder. It was certainly big enough to hold a school age child. Trevor stood up, slid the lightsaber into his right hand, and headed up the ramp. He reached the entrance way at just about the same time as the droid reached the comlink. Trevor continued to walk down the corridor and tried to say, "Oh, excuse me" as if walking by him.

Yendys noticed that Trevor had stood up. She also could hear the steady footfalls of the droid down the corridor. She did not have Trevor's vision, but her vantage point gave her a direct line of sight to the comlink and the droid. To anyone that was looking at her, it would look like she was just stretching her arm behind her head. However, Trevor felt Yendys gather the Force to her, and reach out with it. Trevor was surprised to see the straps break on the bag, dropping the bag onto the ground. The droid turned its back to Trevor, weapons folding out on the ready. Nice, Yendys. Thank you!

Trevor ignited his lightsaber and swung wildly. The blade connected, skittering across the leg. It tried to pull out of the way, but was unable to get out of the way. Trevor glided his saber straight up the middle of the droid, dissecting it in half. The pieces fell away, not falling on the boy. Yendys heard Trevor's blade ignite and bounded out of her seat, running up the ramp. As the first droid fell down, Yendys reached the top of the ramp. Both Jedi heard the clomp clomp clomp of more footfalls. Two more droids walked into the far end of the corridor, only five meters away and both sets of blasters firing away. Trevor took one long step over the boy, and began waved his lightsaber in front of his body in a classic Jedi defensive posture. However, the droids were very erratic in their shooting, so Trevor's defenses were never tested. All of the laser shots headed straight into the walls and ceiling. The droids walked into Trevor's range and he extended his sword arm out to the first droid, severing the laser arm on the first swing and the follow up swing dissected the droid across the middle. Trevor's arm swung across the hallway towards the other droid, but the sound of three more droids marching towards his corridor caused him to stop in mid swing. The second droid fired directly at Trevor's head. He raised his sword up and deflected the shot back towards the droid. It resoundly struck the chest of the droid, causing it to fall backwards. It was certainly damaged, so Trevor reached out, lightsaber impaled directly into the center of the head. The droid slumped down on to the ground, completely destroyed.

"Yendys! Check on the boy!"

Trevor's adrenaline was flowing now at full speed. He turned his back to Yendys, knowing that she would could take care of the boy should he fall. However, he was not going to let droids end his life. He felt himself completely drained away, and unable to call upon the Force. Any direct hit from the droids might kill him, but at least he would go down fighting.

Three more super battle droids turned the corner, firing at white-bladed Jedi. Trevor's defenses were certainly stronger than ever, deflected a shot back at the droid that originally fired it. The shot took a good chunk out of the shoulder. Trevor spun on his toes and swung into the injured droid. His blade sliced completely through, causing sparks to light the entire hallway. He ducked under a laser bolt, gliding his saber up through a second droid. He caught the droid in the power pack, causing the droid to seize up and literally blow apart. The third droid attempted to counter attack, but the debris field from his fellow droid caused all his fire to go awry. Trevor's blade, coming down from the last swing, caused the droid to take a step backward. He riposted his saber into the center of the droid, and flicked his wrist, causing the droid to split into two pieces. As the debris clattered to the floor, Trevor searched the area for more antagonists, but thankfully could not find any more. A deep breath escaped Trevor's lungs as he settled his lightsaber in his hands a bit more comfortably.

Yendys had, by this time, extracted the boy from his bonds. She had moved him out of the corridor into a seat just to the right of the door. She looked him over and reported to Trevor.

"He seems to be a little groggy. They might have used a tranquilizer on him, but other than that, he's fine. Could you grab the comlink from the hallway?"

Trevor walked back down the corridor and gathered up the comlink that they used for bait. He returned it to Yendys, and she looked at the names one more time. An inquisitive look appeared on her face. "Look at this," she said and handed the comlink back to him. Trevor looked at it and realized that the DRONE and TEST entries had been lit with a different color.

"Looks like this is an active communication device. If something is dead, she would know if any of these were still alive. So, who is Talon?" A moment later the guard unit that they encountered at the gate stormed down the corridor with the droids. Upon seeing the ignited lightsaber they immediately deferred to Trevor.

"Is everyone ok?"

Yendys spoke right up. "We have a boy who may need medical attention."

The guard got right onto his comlink. "We need a medical team to Junction box AA-23 immediately." Right on the heels of the communication, Trevor could hear Senator Essada calling his son. Essada was running down the hallway, just as a frantic father would do.

"Marl! Marl!"

"I'm over here, Da!"

An emotional reunion between father and son did not need a Jedi and his associate in the middle. So Trevor and Yendys took a few steps away from the scene to allow some privacy. As the two looked over to the Essada's, Trevor leaned over towards Yendys.

"You sure you don't want to come back?"

Yendys looked at Trevor with a gleam in her eye. "When I'm doing all this good out here?"

Trevor's face broke out in a very broad smile. He realized that nothing he could say would be appropriate. She had made her choice, and no matter what he would want from the future, nothing would allow her to go back on her word. She'd been given a choice many years ago, and she passed up on it. Yoda had explained to Trevor that it was her path, and so long as she did not go over to the Dark Side, she could still be of some use to the Order. I don't know how he does that, but he's right again!

"Keep up the good work."

"Same to you." She studied his face, as if seeing it for the first time. He's a Knight now. But he hasn't changed who he is. I'm glad the Order didn't corrupt him too badly. She hands the comlink back to Trevor.

He turned his back to the security team and faced her. "We need to do this again."

"Yeah, well, I figure it isn't going to take you too long to find out who this Talon is, or what it is."

"I'm thinking it's a who. It might be someone who knows how to transport these illegal droids back and forth. This might be the connection we need to break this open." Trevor did not know how to proceed. Any other topic was either forbidden by the Council or something that he was not prepared to deal with at this point.

"So. Keep in touch. You going to be on Ord Mantell for a while, or are you going to be moving on?"

"I am not sure exactly where I'm heading next. You still have that transmitter?"

"I do."

"Good." She took a deep breath, and turned to him. "Well, let's not get mushy or anything here. I don't want to get caught in all of this that's about to happen." She waved her hand back at the entourage that was forming around the Senator.

"You already have."

"Not yet. I'll be in touch." She turned around, walked directly down the ramp, and jumped over a barrier into another section. She looked back, and gave Trevor a huge smile, bigger than any thing else she had given him recently. Trevor knew that at this point in the day, after the battles he'd faced, he was not in a condition to stop her. He had a feeling he'd see her again, but not for many years. Trevor grasped the transmitter that she had placed on his clothing. He realized it was still on, so he turned it off and placed it back into his pocket. When he looked up, she had disappeared. He nodded silently to himself, and turned around to face the rest of his assignment.

Allowing the Senator to have some time with his son, Trevor investigated the droids. They were exactly the same types as those on Metallos. He was not able to gather any information from them, so he left them alone for now. He'd have to bring them back to Coruscant for more analysis. He waved down the commander of the security force guarding the Senator.

"Commander, do you know how many Chev's there are planetside?"

Commander Javin Sico gave the Jedi a confused look. "Impossible to tell, we have so many people coming and going. Why do you ask?"

"There was an incident on the commuter train earlier today. The party that caused it was a Chev."

"Do you think this was connected to the death of the Chevin."

"I think it was directly related to the Chevin, but not in the traditional way. Chevs and Chevins have a symbiotic relationship, even though the Chevins have enslaved the Chevs for centuries. I believe that she killed the Chevin to cover up her tracks. But I can't be certain until I find this Chev's base was."

"Is the person still at large?"

"No, she is not."

"You neutralized the threat?"

"In a manner of speaking. If I knew where her base of operations were, …" Trevor had walked down the corridor towards the opening on the balcony. Two medical technicians were reviewing notes while a third continued to administer aid to the young Essada. A thought suddenly struck Trevor and he realized he might know where her base of operations was. He walked over to the young boy and squatted down in front of him.

"Hey, Marl. How are you feeling?"

"I'm doin' ok." Marl Essada had the facial features of his father, only compressed into the body of a ten year old.

"I need to ask you a question. Do you know where they were keeping you?"

Marl nodded quickly. "Yeah, they were keeping me in one of the storage rooms here, down in the basement level."

Trevor was taken aback by the closeness of her base. "Could you show me where?" The medical technician started to protest, but the young boy bounded from his seat and nearly pulled Trevor over backwards by the sudden burst of energy.

"I'll bring him right back, or you can follow along," Trevor shouted to the technician. The technician nodded, and proceeded to jot notes down on his datapad. Senator Essada followed along immediately, not wanting to have Marl out of his sight. A couple of turbolifts and hallways later, the three of them were deep in the bowels of the stadium. Marl walked the two older men to a small room. He opened the door, and stepped back. Trevor walke in and took in the contents of the room. The items Trevor could see were a small heater, a mini-refrigeration unit, and a pile of rough blankets. He searched around for only a few moments, but realized that this was a temporary holding area, nothing more.

He walked back out grasping his datapad. "Marl, do you recognize this face?"

He turned the datapad over, showing the face of the Chev from the communication terminal from Ord Mantell.

"Yeah, I recognize her." His face drained of color, and he turned away, but he kept his voice strong.

Trevor immediately turned it off, and returned the pad to its normal place on his belt. "You were always in here?"

"Yeah." The boy's face sheepishly turned back toward Trevor. Seeing that the datapad was put away, he seemed more eager to talk.

"What was the last thing you remember before being in here?"

"When that nasty evil Jedi lady came into my room."

"And that was it."

"Yeah, she had a little floating droid with her." Trevor pulled out the droid and showed her. Marl enthusiastically nodded his head. "Yup, that's it!" The Senator's eyes nearly fell out of his head when Trevor showed the younger Essada the slicer. He replaced that to his belt.

"Thank you, Marl. You've been very helpful."

Marl stopped Trevor as he turned around to lead the group out. "She said to do exactly what I was told, or she said she would kill me, and then she'd kill my father. And I said that he was too powerful, he was a Senator, and nobody'd be able to get to him. But she said that she could. And she said that my father wasn't as powerful as she was."

Trevor stopped in his tracks, listening to Marl spout off all that happened over the last few days. He continued to push the matter, just enough so that he wouldn't feel the fear later that night.

"Thank you again, Marl."

"I asked her if she was a Sith, she said that she was something better."

Trevor cocked his head to one side, concentrating on Marl's statement. What's more evil than a Sith, Trevor thought. The Council needs to get this report as soon as possible.

"Marl, you have been a fountain of information." Trevor rustled the boy's hair, and the smile that escaped the boy's face lit up the basement area.

"If you ask me, I'd say she was something worse." Marl spied the two lightsabers on Trevor's legs. "Are you a Jedi, right?"

The flow of pride was short-lived in Trevor's chest, but the resulting gooseflesh reminded Trevor that there were good and truly innocent people in the galaxy. Children took that form, and for anyone to kidnap, or even hurt, a child was definitely part of the Dark Side. He leaned close to him, acting very secretively.

"Yes, I am," whispered Trevor.

"Good. Thank you for saving me." Marl's face would be in engrained in his memory for as long as he lived. Essada put his hand on his son's shoulders and guided Marl out of the dark room. Trevor looked in the room for a few more minutes, but was unable to find anything useful. He closed the door and left the area swiftly.

A few moments later, Trevor found himself catching up to the Senator outside the stadium. Security forces had erected a tent over the gate that Trevor had entered what seemed like days ago. The speeder bike that he had used to get here was nowhere to be seen. Trevor dismissed the thoughts coming into his head, and caught the Senator's attention. The senator excused himself right away, and motioned for Trevor to interrupt him.

"Sir, I need to contact the Council."

"All right. You.. Yes, you… Bring this Jedi to a Holonet room. Now. When he is done, bring him to my apartment."

The guard saluted the Senator and motioned for Trevor to follow him. Moments later, Trevor was standing in a holonet room communicating with the Jedi Council. Master Windu's blue-green apparition appears in front of him moments later.

"Trevor, what is the current status?" Windu began without preamble.

"The kidnapping has been resolved successfully. Marl Essada is now back with his father."

"I understand that things got rather complicated."

"Extremely complicated, Master."

"Who was the kidnapper?"

"A Chev who, by the recollection of the boy, said that she was better than a Sith. She constructed her own lightsaber, and was very well trained in the Jedi Arts."

"Did you defeat her?" Mace asked.

"Yes sir, I did. I have recovered half of its body, and I would like permission to have the Temple study it."

"Immediately, if possible."

"We also found two items of interest." After a moment's pause, Trevor decided to change. "Actually, three. The first was a communicator. She had the boy guarded by a squad of super droids of the same construction as those we found on Metallos. No lightsaber attachments, but the same design."

"Do you think that this was the mysterious client from that mission?"

"I think there is more. There were two other contacts on the communicator. It also registers if there is someone receiving a signal on the other end."

"And one of them is still active?"

"Yes, Master."

"Is there a name or identification of some kind."

"The only identification on here is TALON. I also picked up what I believe is a slicer droid. A very complex droid, I might add. I am bringing that in for study as well."

"Good," Windu said non-committally.

"The third item was a tracer, a homing beacon."

"From who?" He was definitely concerned now.

"From Yendys Arctell. She followed me here to Umgul."

"Do you know why?"

"Actually, she followed me thinking that I was on the trail of the person who created the droid on Ord Mantell."

"And she was trying to help you or stop you?"

"Definitely help me." And he related the speeder bike and how it help defeat the Sith-like Chev. "She also rescued the boy from the droid guarding her. It was her plan to use the comlink like a trap. So, yes, I believe that she was trying to help me."

"Very well." Windu's voice didn't show surprise very often, but this was now the second time in the last year that Trevor had caught Windu by surprise. "If your business on Umgul is complete, I would ask that you return to Coruscant as soon as possible."

"I need to arrange transport for the Chev body. Right now it is in cold storage."

"The Council will arrange to cover any expenses, of course. Use the most security where possible." Windu paused and started Trevor in the eye. "Well done, Trevor. Well done indeed."

"Thank you, Master." Hearing praise from a Jedi Weapons Master like Mace Windu was an honor all its own. The image faded away. Trevor found the guard no more than three meters away from the door, and lead him to the Senator's apartment.

Marl was back in his room, sleeping soundly. Oron Essada closed the door as he finished checking on him. Trevor watched the entire sequence from inside Marl's room. He searched around and found no other evidence of bugging. Essada walked down the corridor quietly to Trevor.

"Well, Master Jedi," Essada began quietly, not wanting to wake up his son, "what can I do for you?"

"I need a diplomatic transport, priority to Coruscant."

"Absolutely, when do you need to leave?"

"Right now." Trevor didn't want to pull rank on the Senator, but he had the feeling that he should be back on Coruscant as soon as possible.

"What are you transported, just yourself?"

"No, myself and a body. Well, actually half a body. I don't have room in my ship to be able to carry the body."

"What docking bay is your ship in?"

"Diplomatic Docking 73."

"Head to Docking Bay 87. The ship will be ready for you in twenty minutes. I'll have a pilot ready for you."

"Excellent, thank you. I appreciate this."

"I have not yet begun to pay you back yet. Thank you."

Trevor bowed slightly. "It is my pleasure to serve, Senator Essada."

"Thank you." Tears formed in the corner's of the Senator's eyes. Trevor shook hands with Essada, turned on his heel, and walked the distance to the diplomatic shuttle bay. He would have taken the comtube, but someone still hadn't picked up the mess he'd made fighting the Chev.

On the way, Trevor contacted E5, and instructed him to follow along with the whitecloak. A squeak force Trevor to place a datapad under the comlink.

"Been notified to dock with ship located in Docking Bay 87." Trevor's eyebrows raised up to the stops, and was deathly curious when he arrived. As the doors opened, Trevor realized that his transport was none other that the Senator's Corellian Shuttle ship. He was stunned for a few moments until he realized the doors were closing. He walked into the hanger bay and walked up the ramp. He checked out the storage area where the Chev's body was located, verified that it was locked down and not going anywhere. He received word that his Whitecloak was now attached and they were ready to take off. The pilot asked the Jedi to kick his feet up and relax for a while.

The quarters on this ship were astronomically better than anything the Jedi Order had at its disposal. Trevor spied a huge bed in the middle of the main chamber. He took off his cloak, vest and shirt and set them on a chair near a vanity mirror. The chamber itself could have held two of Trevor's own bedrooms from the Temple. However, the size of the room was not what was interesting Trevor at the moment. The Jedi fell to the soft bed, closed his eyes and immediately fell into a dreamless sleep, exhaustion definitely winning this battle.