Chapter 8 : Terrorism !
Author Note : As promised, here comes the next chapter. I admit I still don't have enough time to think about this fiction but it feels pretty good to have time to write this story once again. I'd like to thank all of those who reviewed the last chapter, for your support and fidelity.
Oh and to answer one of your previously asked question : no, Shira Brie is not Mara Jade, they are different women, but I promise Mara will be part of this story :)
Within the entire New Jedi Order, there wasn't a single padawan who had been allowed to visit Mandalore, except for the son of Bo-Katan Kryze, Liam, the mandalorian Jedi raised to symbolize both the Order and the new alliance with such world. He was to represent the defensive way of actions of the Mandalorian, and to become the next Mand'alore the Protector, after the current one, the famous Boba Fett.
But for Galen Kenobi, Mandalore had always been the subject of holopictures, rumors, or imagination. He had never been given the chance to actually land here, and to see with his own eyes the mesmerizing beauty of this world. And how awfully short they were !
Nestled within a vast, black-colored dome that protected against the inhospitable desert region of the planet Mandalore in which it was located, Sundari, the capital city, was filled with high-technology structures made of permacrete, beskar iron, and transparisteel to create a refined compromise of a complex series of rectangular and often cube-shaped buildings.
During the ride in one of the many airspeeders that had carried the Jedi team of Siri Kenobi, Galen had been in complete awe. Such bright colors had nothing to envy to the Jedi Temple in Ceresta, and the young padawan understood why his friend, Liam Kryze, had always been torn between his home-world, and the Jedi's planet.
However, they were now walking the long, as bright as the entire city, corridors of the Sundari Palace, leading to the large Conference Room where the Neutral Confederacy's Council was awaiting the Jedi. Every single one of them, even Liam who had decided to greet his friends at the docks, could feel the tension coming from that room : after all, grave accusations were held against them. But Siri knew. She knew she had been trapped by those she was looking for : they had brilliantly set a scene where the Jedi appeared as the destroyers of a neutral fleet, which clearly wasn't. Nevertheless, the blonde Jedi Master was not to be underestimated, for she had a plan too. She had fought during the Clone Wars, during the Battle of Thousands Swords, she knew the art of war all to well unfortunately, and as the wife of the Negotiator, she knew how to deal with politicians.
" Your weapons," a guard dressed with the quite recognizable armor from Hapes, another very wealthy world from the Neutral Confederacy stood in front of the main door, insisting. "Please, you must cooperate, Master Jedi."
Siri's right eyebrow rose in annoyance, but motioned her son, Ahsoka, General Rex and the Cerestan soldiers to do as they were asked.
The guard seemed to swallow the hard lump in his throat as he, and two others, gathered the lightsabers and very advanced blasters and rifles, but tempted to contain his composure as he let them all pass. Ahsoka stepped in first and started to walk down the deep blue marble stairs leading to a very long table where the thirty-seven deputies of the Neutral Confederacy were waiting for them. There was actually more than a hundred worlds in such groupe, but for practical matters, every deputy was representing 3 systems, sometimes more, sometimes less.
"Greetings Master Tano !" Boba Fett was the first to rise from his white seat, at the end of the table, and ordered with a simple gesture of his left hand the guards to give his guests some space.
Ahsoka felt once again the good-will of the still young Leader of the Confederacy, and the friendship he cared so much to preserve between them. She remembered the battles she fought at his side, last time she had come to Mandalore to save it from the Killiks Invasion. How much devastated he had been when Satine Kryze died, and how much reluctantly he had accepted the mission she had assigned him to. But after more than ten years as its leader, the Jedi Knight honestly thought that the non-biologically-enhanced clone of Jango Fett was one of the best non-Force-sensitive leader in the entire galaxy, only rivaled by Bail Organa, and Padmé Skywalker. One day, Ahsoka hoped she would count Lux in such group.
"It's a pleasure to be here once again, Manda'lore," she said with a tender smile, "though I admit I wished in better circumstances."
"At least, they are better than last time," Ta'Chume, the almost angelic Queen Mother of the planet Hapes had also come to greet her.
The woman was a stunning beauty with her red-gold hair and dark green hair, and her mind was one of the brightest, combined with a slight Force sensitivity that was found with the queens of such planet. Ahsoka had met her once, during her final stage of her apprenticeship under Obi-wan's wings while she had accompanied the Master of the Order for a diplomatic mission. She remembered the interest the Queen Mother had for Obi-wan, stating her need to find another husband to have a daughter of her own, the only possible heir to her throne. Ta'Chume had two sons, known to Ahsoka, and such declaration had shocked the female Togruta to the core, and had allowed her to see through the mask of beauty. Deep beneath the bright smile and the goddess-aura, hide a ruthless manipulative monster that the Jedi had tried to observ, without real success : Hapes was extremely closed to the galaxy, so joining the Confederacy instead of the Republic appeared logical, though questionnable.
"Queen Mother," Ahsoka bowed in respect. "I hope your sons are growing into fine men," she teased, almost grinning.
"Your surrogate son appeared much better than my own, I'm afraid," the Queen declared, admiring Galen with her eyes. In a reflex, Ahsoka extended her arm straight, protecting her padawan behind her.
"Galen is actually my son, Ta'Chume," Siri came out of the shadow in a blink, caressing the shoulder of the boy.
"Siri …" the other woman's obviously jealousy was deforming her face. "the Cold Queen here on Mandalore. Is your husband too busy to deal with us ?" Galen couldn't understood why there was a certain rivalry between that woman, and his mother, but that was something he would not ask her about, at least not before a few years.
"I am certainly not here to deal with you," the Jedi Master nodded at Fett and headed with her usual dignity towards the conference's table.
The Queen Mother had not missed the amusing smile of Jedi Tano and regained her seat to hear what she was hoping for. It was no use to announce her resentment against the Jedi, after Obi-wan's refusal, but she couldn't let her personal feelings cloud her judgement … for the moment.
Fett too returned to his position and cleared his throat, he certainly didn't want to interfere between the two 'queens'. And one of his general had reported facts that needed to be discussed, if not more.
" Master Kenobi," Fett started, turning on the holoprojector on the table casting the blue schematics of a Munn cruiser and three locations in the galaxy. "General Nunb has reported to the Council the loss of four Munn cruisers five hours ago, during a battle that seemed to have occurred at these coordinates."
"There are evidences that your own cruiser stopped its course at such place," the human deputy of Socorro explained calmly, opening his long white hands on the table. There was no accusation tone in his voice, but Galen, standing still behind his Master felt the doubt in the heart of the noble man. "Did you attack our fleet ?"
"No Deputy," Siri shook her head, "we were forced to exit hyperspace to avoid collision, though we had been certain no ship was on our trajectory, and you have been informed of our computers' efficiency."
"So you stopped, and came in front of the Munn," the Sophi King and Deputy Alaric, a former separatist, commented. "Will your engineers confirmed this ? Will you allow us to watch the record of the battle?"
"If they had recorded the fight, my friend," Queen Ta'Chume added with poison. "But the Jedi aren't stupid enough to do such thing, are you?"
"Queen Mother," Fett interposed himself, "they are presumed innocent until we have proven otherwise. Your accusing tone does not fit in such meeting. Please, do not tame the honor of the Neutral Confederacy in front of our Jedi friends."
"Your friendship with the Jedi Order is well known, Manda'lore," an old Zabraack deputy said. "It may also soil your impartiality in this matter. The presence of Liam Kryze is enough to convince me you are siding with them." Many other representatives voiced their agreement with the apparently wiser one.
"Forgive me but," General Rex stepped in, "we have indeed recorded the space battle, and if you do not believe its authenticity, bring your best men and test it. We have nothing to hide from you. We're here to help you, to protect you from the enemy within."
"Ah yes," a brunette woman with yellow eyes stared at Boba Fett. "The Rebellion we have tried to warn the Republic about." The son of Jango nodded slowly. "Well then, General Rex, please. Show us. I can assure you, and I am speaking for many of my colleagues, we are trusting your good faith."
"It is very kind of you," Siri bowed her head in relief. That woman appeared to be what the Neutral Confederacy claimed to be : calm, peaceful, and always gathering knowledge before taking action. Somehow, she reminded the Jedi of Fett, and Siri hadn't missed the tender smile, if not loving, the female deputy had addressed to Manda'lore.
"But before that," the same woman added, "I'd like to know why Senator Lux Bonteri of the Republic is here, on Mandalore."
Galen froze immediately : how could the deputy know ? Was there a spy inside the Star Defender ? Impossible, every member of the crew was from Ceresta, they were all dedicated to the Jedi Order and their world. And if one of them would betray them, he would be caught by one of his comrades. The people of Ceresta was Force-sensitive, and after a decades of living and training with the Jedi they have learned to read expressions, to feel the tension in someone. Of course, only a Jedi or a stronger being could fool them, but they could not fool Galen. No. There was no traitor aboard.
"The Republic has humiliated us in the Senate," a deputy recalled. "Why sending such famous senator now ? To mock us ? To declare war ?"
"Bring him here !" another one said. "Let him explain to us why Rothana was destroyed !" Dozens others agreed, fist hammering the table.
"Senator Bonteri is here to collaborate with the Council," Siri announced, using the Force to set every single chair straight in front of the table, causing many deputies to yelp in surprise. "Chancellor Skywalker is also facing problems with the Rebellion we, the Jedi, are trying to find. But we need the help of both sides, united and cooperative. Divided, you will all get destroyed from the inside, and you will allow the Empire to rise. We cannot win alone."
"What Empire?" Ta'Chume cleared a voice, still shocked by the demonstration of power. "Palpatine's Empire?"
"Sidious' Empire," Fett corrected.
"We have proofs," Ahsoka added, nodding to the Queen Mother. "The Rebellion is a group formed by individuals from the Republic and the Confederacy trying to rebuild the Empire Sidious ought to create. And we are certain that such group has within its ranks, users of the dark side. It is our job to find them before they tear you apart, and bring war to the galaxy."
"What would they gain from a divided galaxy at war ?" the brunette deputy asked, bitting her gorgeous lips.
"They would appear as savior," the old Zabraack said before Siri. "Able to bring a solution to peace. A solution none of us was able to think about. They would conquer the hearts of the people. Then nothing could stop them to conquer governments, this Council or the Senate. Bring Senator Bonteri, Master Kenobi, I am more than willing to help you."
Skywalker hadn't said a word during the travel from the Temple to the Military Base of the Republic built on Coruscant during the Clone Wars, but Anteres Kenobi understood such place was a reminder of terrible events for the now leader of the Republic Guard, as he was running toward the entrance of the large dark complexe. Oddly enough, it was the first time the son of Siri and Obi-wan saw Anakin with his official outfit which only consisted of a dark blue sleeveless robe bearing the symbol of the Republic Senate, that the Chosen One was wearing above his brown more traditional tunic. But at least, the robes, presumedly wore by the other members of the Guard, were adding a clear message of unity in this group of warriors.
Eight stormtroopers were awaiting them, with the distinct blue color on one of their shoulders' protections, as well as a blond officier dressed with a cream uniform.
"General Skywalker," the man saluted, raising a straight hand near his forehead, "we weren't expecting your arrival. Is something wrong ?"
"I'm sorry Commander," Anakin replied, "the content of my mission has been given by the Chancellor herself. If you wish to know the details, you'll have to ask her."
"And who is this young boy?" the commander looked at Anteres, analyzing the boy wearing unusual clothes. Tall for his age, which the commander guessed as about fifteen, the younger human, with short dark blond hair, was wearing something very similar than his own uniform a plane fit dark grey tunic, which was opening from the line of tissu running from the left shoulder to the black belt, a pair of black trousers and black leather boots. But most of all, he had a quite elegant lightsaber hanging of the belt.
"This is padawan Anteres Kenobi, from the Jedi Order," Anakin introduced. "He's here to help me."
The commander's eyes widened in surprise, and immediately came in front of the Jedi, extending a hand, "It is always an honor to meet a Kenobi, I am Commander Crix Madine." Anteres shook the hand promptly, and nodded with his head, though chose to remain silent.
"We are in a hurry, Commander," Anakin stated behind. "Do not let anyone enter."
"What if you require assistance?" Madine asked, still staring at Kenobi.
"I'll call my own men then," Skywalker said, before passing the stormtroopers and entering the complex.
"Be careful Commander," Anteres started to walk toward the entrance before whispering those words quietly. "Something is coming …" And the commander was left alone with his soldiers.
Anakin had already persuaded the stromtroopers inside to let him pass, due to the urgency of his missions and his ranks, though Anteres suspected they would have let him go anyway : there was an undeniable amount of respect in the hearts of the men guarding this base. The Jedi followed the Guardian in the many dark corridors, through the many shields and armored doors.
"You lied to him," Anteres broke the silence with an amused tone, "you don't even know what we are looking for."
Anakin didn't stop walking but turned his head, a slight grin on his face, "Padmé has granted you a total autorisation to search whatever you think we will find. My words were then the truth, from a certain point of view."
"I hear the teaching of my father in your voice, General Skywalker," Anteres couldn't help but smile.
"Is it a bad thing?" The other replied, saluting the soldier patrolling the perimeter. "Do you sense anything? I planned to check the progress they made with the last records of Artoo on Byss."
Anteres nodded, "This could obviously be the enemy's target if they want to stop us."
Anakin would have smile even more, if the boy hadn't gone so serious at this moment, but the compatibility of their instincts was quite appreciable. Even with Obi-wan or Ahsoka during his days as a Jedi Knight, Anakin had always felt things like no-one else. This young man knew, and felt the same way as he did, but if Obi-wan's theory was right, then Anteres was basically his brother in the Force. Perhaps the two of them would have to talk about this, how they see the world, how they feel the Force into their body, to their core and mind.
"You're distracted," Anteres broke the Guardian back to reality, "we're almost here."
Skywalker blinked as he realized the boy was now standing in front of him, before a thicker door which Anakin remembered as the main information's center of the complexe. The door itself was reinforced by a pair of shields and another door, as protected as the first one, and the room was supposedly guarded by at least twenty men, plus the engineers and scientist present.
The Guardian slowly came at the boy's side, and placed his left fleshed hand on the red detector, on the right side of the wall, which turned green instantly, as his face appeared as a holoprojection from the same device. With a heavy sound, the door opened and the shields were deactivated while the Jedi advanced. Four stormtroopers immediately pointed their weapons at him, but when Anakin entered, their suspicions and panic, that Anteres clearly felt, were gone.
"Skywalker!", a male Twi'lek with a white smoke rose from his computers, a broad smile on his face while coming at them. "It's always a pleasure to have you here."
"Doctor," Anakin nodded again, obviously faking gallantry, "where is your work concerning what I brought last time?"
"Well allow me to show you directly," the alien didn't seem to notice Anteres, so the boy decided to look around, trying to understand why the Force had sent them here. They needed informations about the attackers on Byss, that was certain, but there was something more … Anteres knew it.
"That was quite a challenge, Master Skywalker," the alien returned to his computer showing a complexe series of numbers and algorithms that Anakin couldn't understand. "But we found something I hope you'll find useful." He continued to tap quickly on the keyboard. "One moment, please."
"Of course," Anakin laid his eyes on the Padawan, wandering in the depth of Force as the guardian felt the huge shift of power surrounding the boy. "Did you find something, Padawan?"
Anteres' jaw tightened at sight as he turned at his father's former apprentice. "Someone else was here recently."
"There is a record of who's in and who's out," a stormtrooper told him. "I can check if you want."
"I'm confused," the scientist suddenly rose from his chair, almost tearing his lekkus from his head. "It's not there."
"What is not there, Doctor?" Anakin focused once again on what was next to him.
"The file ! The file containing all of our works."
"You will have to be a little more specific," Skywalker was loosing his patience, while Anteres had grabbed the hilt of his weapon. Was there a threat he was failing to sense?
"The records you gave me disappeared, there isn't a trace of it," the Twi'lek explained, and other scientist came to help him, only to discover the same tragic truth. "We've been robbed!"
"Can you find when it happens?" Skywalker knew that by finding the time, perhaps he could chase after the thief.
"We don't have too," Anteres ignited his lightsaber, showing the white energy's blade to every person around him. "They're still here." And then, the general alarm rang in the whole complex, every single light turned red and doors were closing.
"They are trying to stop us," Anakin yelled, opening wide his right hand to simply destroy the entrance's doors, creating a small explosion strong enough to damage the shields generator. "We can't let them escape."
"It's way too obvious," Anteres told himself, "we'll get frame for stolen the informations we came to collect …"
"Wait, General Skywalker !" A female togruta scientist screamed at the already running guardian. "There's something you must know !"
"Tell me," Anteres was closest to the female. "I'll catch up with the general."
"I've detected a bomb in the East side of the complex," she told him. "It's the reason the alarm was set on."
"Can't you be more specific?"
"I'm sorry, the computers are shutting down for protection."
"This is what I was missing," Anteres would have slapped his face. "They are distracting us with the bomb, allowing them to escape…."
Kenobi couldn't lose any more seconds, so after telling the staff to find refuge or to escape the complex, he used the Force to quickly join Anakin Skywalker, already running into the corridors' maze, letting the Force guiding him toward the bomb location.
"Found anything?" Anakin asked him, between two breaths.
"We have to go east, but it's all I have …" Anteres replied, jumping on the left wall, only to use it as a support for a second much stronger leap on the right, propelling him like a rocket into the corridor. A brilliant move to gain speed that Anakin immediately copied.
"I've called Artoo to help us," Skywalker announced. "We can only hope we will have time to defuse the bomb."
That was indeed a high risk, though Anteres was still worried about those who had stolen the informations about Byss, and it could be very like the same persons. Then one question was to be asked : did they know Anakin and Anteres would be here, and therefore placed the bomb to stop them or not ? Because if this was the case, then only someone very close to Padmé Skywalker would have informed the bombers. If so … the Chancellor was in grave danger.
Shaking his head to regain his concentration, Kenobi accelerated the pace of its course to follow the taller Chosen One. Fortunately for the padawan, he had a huge amount of training concerning running with the help of the Force in the rich jungles of Ceresta. But here, in the narrow corridors of the Military Base of Coruscant, and with an approximative direction, the task was far more difficult.
Abruptly, as if an invisible wall had been raised in the middle of an intersection, Anakin Skywalker stopped, his boots slipping on the ground, though without almost a sound, and took cover on the next wall. Noticing the surprise of the Padawan in the Force, Anakin had the reflex to grab the grey tunic of the boy before he passed the intersection and blow their cover. Pulling back at him, the Guardian held a finger against his lips, and ordered the boy to wait.
The Chosen tilted his head away from the wall, to stare at eight stormtroopers circling his astromech blue droid, their guns pointed at him, and clearly in communication with someone else. From what Anakin could hear, they were not thinking about helping Artoo, but rather stopping him, which was a problem. Not because Artoo couldn't defend himself, but because these men were obviously against him, against the Republic. Therefore, they knew where the bomb was, and perhaps were they the bombers.
However, before Anakin could think of a rescue plan, Anteres had twirled in the air, above his head, and used the Force to disperse the stormtroopers against the walls, leaving Artoo harmless and safe. The Padawan immediately ran to the only soldier left conscious and removed his helmet.
"Where's the bomb?" Kenobi asked. Anakin felt the Force trembling around the boy, confirming the use of a Mindtrick, without a gesture.
"Here," the stormtrooper drew a holomap from his belt and gave to the Padawan. "You are very close."
"Did you place the bomb yourself?" Anakin kneeled next to the human. He nodded. "How could you have moved a bomb in?"
But when the stormtrooper was about to reply, he was headshot, dead, his last words never reaching the ears of the Guardian or the young Jedi.
It was half of second later, Anteres summersaulted back on his feet, and launched himself against the five appearing stormtroopers lead by one grey-haired human officier, already firing at them. Kenobi countered every single laser, protecting Anakin Skywalker behind and killing three of the enemies in a blink. The last stormtrooper stupidly charged at the padawan who severed him in two parts, and hammered his blade right through the officier's heart who hadn't the time to understand his fate.
"We'll have to presume every soldier in this base will try to kill us now," Anteres stated gravely.
"You don't know that," Anakin was still shocked from the last demonstration of the boy's powers. They were incredibly huge, if not limitless, and a reminder of the greatest warriors Anakin had known in his life such as Yoda, Obi-wan or even Sidious. Force, Anteres had, perhaps unintentionally, also destroyed half of the walls and roof. If Sidious and Vader were Titans of Darkness, just like the padawan had said in the Temple, Anteres Kenobi was without doubt a Titan of the Force.
"You want to wait until they shot us?" the boy replied, an eyebrow raised in surprise. "I won't."
"You would have said the same to Obi-wan," a small voice inside Anakin's head echoed. "Alright, but let's knock them unconscious rather than killing them, if we can."
"Deal." And Anteres continued his course toward the now exact location, given by one of the bombers that the boy took care of. And he was faster than ever !
It wasn't long before the two humans and the little droid arrived to the large storage room, indicated by the last stormtrooper betrayed by his own allies, and Anakin figured immediately why the bomb had placed here. This particular room was basically the support of the three upper levels of the Military Base, as could tell the many black columns rising from the ground to the high celling : meaning that an explosion here would make the entire base collapse on itself. So it was obvious the bombers had planned this before their arrival, they had the time to choose the better place for the most efficient explosion.
"There !" Anteres called Anakin and Artoo right in the middle of the room, where a large generator was built hanging in the air, surrounded by a small platform for access. Joining the padawan, Skywalker discovered the huge quite unusual bomb fixed on the generator. The exploding device itself was something Anakin saw before : there was something biological inside, a thick red liquid that reminded him too much of what he had seen on Byss. The ressemblance couldn't be a coincidence, the bombers had to be connected with the enemy inside Sidious' former fortress.
"Artoo, can you defuse it?" Anakin turned to his old companion.
The droid biped in affirmative, though made a sound of uncertainty.
"What do you mean, you don't know if you can make it in time?" Skywalker pushed Artoo toward the bomb, "You haven't looked at it yet."
Artoo sounded offended, but connected with the bomb, his processor working as fast as he was known to do, while he was giving informations to the Guardian.
"If you can't make it," Anakin explained, "tell us now, and we will escape, there is no point in dying here. The base is probably almost empty, thanks to the evacuation's alarm."
"We can't let this explode," Anteres countered. "The radius of the explosions might not only destroy this complexe but the entire district with it. We must stay, and defuse the bomb no matter what."
"You're taking a high risk with such gamble, you don't know how powerful is this thing," the older human had no intention to let the son of Obi-wan die here.
Unfortunately, Artoo confirmed that the explosion would destroy what Anteres had announced, and he wouldn't run away, he knew he could defuse that device.
"All we have to do is protect Artoo," the padawan said, sitting with his legs crossed next to the droid. "The enemy knows Artoo is here, someone will be sent to stop us."
Anakin couldn't believe that the boy was starting to meditate with such threat of an imminent danger on their lives : he had too much to think about !
Quickly taking his comlink on his belt, the Leader of the Republic Guard called the Temple for help : "This is Anakin Skywalker, I request all of the available guardian to evacuate District 7.5 and 8 immediately. Padawan Kenobi and myself are trying to prevent a bombing on the Military Base, if we do not succeed, you have the obligation to limit casualties. Do you copy?"
However, Artoo indicated that the communications were jammed, so his message would never reach the Temple.
"Contact Master Luminara," Anteres said, his eyes closed as he sent his own comlink flying in Anakin's hand. "Our communication system is unique, and untraceable, you won't have any problem."
Skywalker thanked the boy, and stared only a few second at the glass made cylindric communicator, noticing its complex elaboration, and turned the small wheel in the middle of the device. After two tries, the name of Luminara was written in a blue light on the length on the comlink and Anakin pressed the small black button on the other side.
"Anteres, I sensed your need of assistance in the Force, what is it?" The Mirialan Jedi Master seemed quite concerned.
"Anteres is meditating," Anakin answered. "This is Skywalker. Are you still inside the Temple?"
"Yes, Skywalker," she said. "Shira and I are with your son and other members of the Guard."
"Good, I need you to listen very carefully. There is a bomb right in front of me, inside the Military Base of the Republic. We don't know if we'll be able to deactivate it in time, so send every guardian to evacuate the surrounding sectors."
"Must I inform the Chancellor of this terrorist act?" Luminara felt the urge to return to Padmé.
"Yes, please," Anakin nodded as he stared at the very passive and calm young padawn in meditation. "You should also contact Ferus."
"Ferus is currently leading a dangerous mission, I will not distract him," the Jedi Master refused. "I trust the Force to bring both of you back alive. Luminara out." And the blue light on the cylindric comlink faded away, indicated the end of the communication.
Running a trembling hand in his hair, Anakin sighed loudly as he came next to Artoo, checking on whatever progress he was making. Patting the droid's dome, Skywalker started to analyze the bomb with greater attention, especially the red liquid that, he hadn't noticed it before, quite marked by the dark side of the Force.
This bomb could then be the result of a Sith alchemy, the very same that was performed to grow the clones on Byss. His instincts were right.
"It feels like they are everywhere, my little friend," Anakin shook his head in defeat. "How can we fight someone inside -?"
But out of blue, without letting the Chosen One finish his sentence, Artoo watched his long-time friend fly with a dangerous speed across the room, and collapsed against one of the columns, that shattered at the impact. The droid turned his visual sensor toward the doors, and saw two Guardians of the Republic, one female human and a male Nautolan, standing at the entrance, dressed with their dark blue capes bearing the symbol of the Senate, both of them with a hand extended forward. Artoo understood quickly they had Forcepushed their leader in the air to knock him down.
"You shouldn't have done that," Anteres rose slowly, checking in the Force the health of his friend who only appeared to be unconscious. "Traitors".
"I will take care of the boy," the woman with very long brown hair and grey angry eyes. "Destroy the droid."
Immediately, the Kenobis' son used a massive amount of power in the Force to make the entire room tremble, the steel and stone on the floor were bending at sight while the walls' covering shattered like glass.
"I won't let you touch Artoo," he threatened, igniting his white lightsaber.
"He's strong. Very strong … We take him together," the Nautolan ignited an orange blade, and after his comrade, the woman also drew her blue lightsaber. "In the name of the Empire, you are sentenced to die".
Anteres stared one last time at Artoo behind him and took a necessary distance in order to protect him from the fight he was about to start.
"Well then," the padawan performed the salute of Makashi, just like Master Jedi Dooku had taught him to. "En Garde !" And the three warriors leapt at each others.
Nothing had changed for Ferus Ollin inside the large maze of building, in the district called the Works, where the late Dark Lord of the Sith Sidious had hidden his true self, his agenda and even his short-timed allied. Ferus could still picture Palpatine talking to him, here in this large hangar, where he usually landed with the Twi'lek Sith Darth Vectious. The Jedi missed her, he missed Dia, the female Sith who had opened her heart to him, and sacrifice her life to save the entire universe from the claw of Palpatine. Even now, the Jedi Knight could use her knowledge to move into those corridors without encountering droids of personal turrets, though he and Shaak Ti had no difficulties to destroy them, or to protect the engineers team from Ceresta that had come with them. However, the real threat inside those walls wasn't the defenses but the overwhelming presence of the dark side of the Force, whispering obscure thoughts and orders in their ears. Though the two Jedi had encounter such dark force in their past, the Cerestan engineers, all of them slightly attuned to the Force, were sweating in fear, panic rising in their hearts. If the Jedi weren't there, they would have gone crazy, and fell in the depth of the terrible fields of the dark side where no one trained enough could survive.
"Something is off," Shaak Ti voiced her concerns. "Padmé told us Commander Arriss came here to destroy all of Sidious' work, but I don't feel his presence."
Ferus blinked as he looked behind him, where the Togruta was standing. He had been too focused on Sidious and Dia's presences to think about anything else, but Shaak Ti was indeed right. He couldn't feel Anakin's right hand, and second in rank of the Republic Guard.
"Was there any recent activity here?" The male human asked one of the engineers.
The man immediately checked the holocomputer on his forearm, "No, Master Ollin. None of the machines had been used since at least 5 years."
"Can you identify what was done at this precise date?"
"Of course, but we'll have to find the data's generator," the Cerestan replied. "But I assume you already know where it is."
"Follow me," Ferus nodded, motioning the group to march behind him as he raised his green lightsaber to create enough visibility.
The whole team funneled down into a narrowed tunnel, clearly descending in the lower levels of the structure, until they reached a very wide hall, homing large heat generator built from the floor to the ceiling. These exact machines had been functioning when he had secretly joined Palpatine during the Clone Wars, when he was still under the influence of the dark side, and his desires for the resurrected red Twi'lek. This place was the symbol of this traumatized past : once secretly active, but now lost and long forgotten.
The storage room was on the East side of that hall, where a large opening pierced the durasteel leading to a complex of large data base, and shields destroyed a few years ago. The Togruta understood within the Force Ferus' direction and headed directly to that very room, followed by the Cerestan team, closely behind her, as if the brigh presence of the female Jedi was protecting them in the middle of so much shadows and darkness. Finally, Ferus forced himself to pass the doors and simply watched the engineers working on the many computers still present on the floor.
"Someone else was here," Shaak Ti told him, bringing her right hand on her chin. "He's very very strong in the Force, stronger than both of us."
Ferus inhaled slowly, filling his lungs with an air he had never wished to breath again, and closed his eyes, seeking an answer in the depths of the Force. "The presence is as dark as Palpatine, but in a different way."
"How could we have missed such powerful being?"
"Maybe we haven't," he replied. "Such person was probably hiding for decades, waiting the perfect moment to strike."
Shaak Ti stared for a moment at her trembling hand, then turned toward the man, "We should ask Obi-wan to check, perhaps he knows something."
"Obi-wan fulfilled the mission the Force gave him years ago," Ollin shook his head in denial. "We are facing a totally new threat."
"But we are not blind as we used to be."
"Master Ti !" the chief engineer called the Togruta, waving at her to come closer. "We found something unusual."
Both the Jedi returned to their teammates, and stared at a wide screen decrypting various data of any kind : Ferus noticed the presence of some holorecords, codes and security details.
"Didn't Commander Arriss erase all these things?" Shaak Ti asked to the two humans.
"The Chancellor said so," the engineer replied, nodding. "But what you are currently seeing is only a back-up of the datas once stored in these machines. It was very well hidden. No engineer of the Republic could have done this alone."
"Could someone else have made such back-up ?" Ferus trusted the skills of the Cerestan, naturally born with a much higher IQ than any human he had ever encountered. Some stories claimed the Cerestan were as smart as the pure-blood Sith used to be, created by the Force as the only balance against the people of Korriban. That was why, in many texts, the pure-blood Sith were the demons, and the Cerestan, though not called by such name, were the angels. "I mean, after the suppression made by Arriss."
"Well technically it is possible," the chief replied. "Assuming that Commander Arriss wasn't skilled enough to erase every piece of datas, considering that Darth Sidious would have taken drastic security mesures. Yes, it is possible."
"But you don't seem to believe in such theory," Shaak Ti noticed. "I'd rather not explain to the Chancellor that her men were not competent enough to achieve their mission, five years ago, so I am all hears."
"The back-up datas are a distraction," the Cerestan tapped quite a lot of buttons on his wrist holocomputer, frowning at the obvious difficulty he was facing. "Someone restored all of the information to blind us but …. There is actually a trace of another entrance in the main computer. Right before Arriss' actions."
"What is it?" Ferus came closer, trying to see what the man had figured out.
"A copy was made of all the data. Not just a restored back-up, but everything single file was copied."
"Can you detailed the timeline of the copying?" Shaak Ti hoped her feelings about this matter were wrong.
"It happened the exact same day, the suppression was made instantly after the copy," the man affirmed. "The team that was sent to destroy all of this played the General and took everything with them."
"This implies grave accusation, sir," Ferus raised an eyebrow : how could Anakin have not see this?
"There is no doubt, Ferus," Shaak Ti looked right in his dark eyes. "Commander Arriss disobeyed a direct order from his superior, and may have sold the data, or worse, is already using it."
"Arriss has already left Coruscant with the fleet to deal with the traitors near Kashyyk," Ferus recalled. "We cannot confront him."
"We'll have to inform the Chancellor and Anakin," Shaak ti advised. "Then we need to contact the fleet."
"Tarkin is with Arriss …" the male Jedi's hand turned to fist. "They are together ! Tarkin knew who Palpatine really was, I've warned Obi-wan about it, but we couldn't spy on him yet. Now they are gone."
"It is too late to think about the past," the Togruta motioned the whole crew to leave the room, and headed toward their transports. "Padmé is not safe, and neither are we here on Coruscant. The Old Guard might be infiltrated by other traitors, trained by Arriss."
"We must hurry before-", Ferus froze immediately, air leaving his lungs as he sensed his padawan violently calling for him. The dark side present within the walls of this place had prevented him to reach for his young friend, but now, he could hear him yelling through the Forcebond.
"Ferus, what is it?" Shaak Ti had also stopped, standing in front of him, waiting for an answer.
"Anteres," the human Jedi Knight panted, "Anteres is fighting."
"Who?"
"I don't know, all he could tell me was : get away from the Jedi Temple " he shook his head. "He is fighting two warriors … Dark warriors."
"Skywalker is hurt," the female had asked the Force for guidance. "But Anteres is far stronger than those two. We need to go to Padmé, and get Luminara out of the Temple. Let's go!"
His highly advanced processor was still working on defusing the bomb, when Artoo started recording the total chaos reigning with the storage room, or what was left of it. The droid recognized the elegant fighting style of Makashi in the movements of Anteres Kenobi, the same once used by Count Dooku, or by Master Siri Kenobi, a perfectly logical choice in a duel against two trained opponents. The two imperial Guardians had deployed their full powers on the young Padawan but without ever taking the upper hand in the fight. Indeed, Anteres Kenobi was already a force to be reckoned with, parrying in a speed only a machine could have reached, but maybe, Artoo wondered … maybe Anteres was a machine, a machine of the Force. And the fight he was having was actually a piece of art.
The young Jedi was standing ground, barely moving his feet while his blade arched in every direction to penetrate the defenses of the traitors. There, he aimed, with a simple extension of his arm, for the shoulder of the woman who almost did not counter. The Nautolan assisted his comrade by slashing the lights on the roof, casting sparkles on the boy who ducked with a jump. However, Anteres would not give any second to his opponents to rest, he immediately came back, the white blade swinging in the air with the sound of death and clashed with the orange and the blue ones. Raising his eyebrows, as a praise for their defenses, he continued to push forward : after disengaging his weapon, Anteres leaned on the left and slashed vertically in order to cut one lightsaber's hilt. But the two traitors had been trained in the fighting arts by no-other than Anakin Skywalker and had anticipated the boy's movement, opening their hands to forcepush the Jedi away from them. Nevertheless, their talents and skills were now wasted by their raw anger and hatred toward the son of the famous Jedi, so the woman leapt in the air to clash her lightsaber against the pure white energy. Anteres caught the enemy's blade with his one, immediately taking the lead in their lethal dance as he imposed his rhythm, slashing everywhere he aimed, forcing the Nautolan to come to aid the woman. In a swift move, the male alien's weapon sliced the air toward the neck of Kenobi, who bowed with a surprising agility, and so failed again, cutting one of the last pylons of the storage room. The padawan quickly recovered, as in a step forward pushed the blue blade away, making a horrible and lousy sound only to stopped the orange one in its movement. The Nautolan, at this moment, realised he was not strong enough to beat that young human, neitheir was his friend, who had apparently not figured it out already. Indeed the angry female Guardian had regained her ferocity by drawing the powers of the darkside of the Force. She became faster, stronger, and … better. However, in a blink, the boy used the greater height of the foolish dark warrior by bringing both blades up above his head, dangerously pushing them closer to the woman's head, who couldn't start to understand why the boy was stronger. Taunting her with a smile, Anteres suddenly withdrew his blade from hers and slashed in the direction of her right knee, clearly aiming to immobilize her, but the Nautolan came to intercept the white lightsaber.
"This won't work against us," the male alien frowned in anger, feeling insulted. "We've studied Tyrannus' style for a decade."
"And he taught me everything in less than a year," Anteres replied, his eyes narrowing with pride. "And so much more."
Out of the blue, Kenobi cartwheeled above the enemy's humming blade while Forcepushing with a simple extension of his index the woman which sent her crashing into a wall. The Nautolan reacted way too late, screaming in rage, as he tried to decapitate the young Jedi in the air but missed considerably. Such failure was fatal, and the alien knew it : Anteres had already landed and his right foot came to kickviolently the traitor's throat, in a such a terrible sound that the Nautolan was certain it had been crushed. As he fell on his knees gasping for air, he stared at the teen standing victorious before him. The Jedi had win the first fight, but the woman was already running at them to prevent Anteres to deliver the death, which he would never do. Jedi didn't kill armless opponent. So the Nautolan smirked with his teeth, tainted by the blood coming from his mouth and let go of his lightsaber, allowing the hilt to run on the floor, and concentrated on healing his damaged body. At least his ally would buy him time to recover and help her against the boy.
"I'm sorry," Anteres said to him as sadness seemed to mark his young face, but the Nautolan took it as hypocrisy, not compassion.
And all the alien could hear, was the high raging scream of his friend, her blue blade aiming for the boy's chest with the perfect speed, and perfect angulation. Yet the son of Obi-wan had not been hit, nor harmed. He had simply raised a hand and the Nautolan felt himself taking off the ground, and the burning pain of a lightsaber running through his pumping heart. He stared in shock at the blue blade that had appeared from his body, but soon, he felt himself drifting away. Away from consciousness, away from any physical state, away from life and felt into the darkness of death. Anteres Kenobi had not hesitated to shield himself with his enemy's body …. And with that last thought, the Nautolan asked his fading mind which one was the strongest : the boy … or death ?
"No ….." The woman blinked twice before realising she has just impaled her comrade. "Nooo ! What have you done?" She screamed as tears of pure hate came rolling on her cheeks.
"You have let the darkside cloud your mind," Anteres replied, taking two confident steps towards her. "You weren't strong enough," he was now right in front of the Nautolan's body, still burning on the blue blade before her.
"YOU KILLED HIM."
"I'm sorry," the boy said for the second time, "but I need only one of you alive," and the white blade appeared out of nowhere, slashing horizontally below the waist of both the Nautolan's dead corpse and the woman, severing the four legs from their bodies. The woman almost destroyed in her lungs as she screamed in pain.
"You will come with me, so that the Jedi can interrogate you," Anteres announced severely, a finger raised as a threat. "You will tell us the names of your allies, and the peace will be preserved. I can promise you that : you will fail."
Sweats and tears were now mixing on her face as she brought her yellow eyes at his blue-grey ones.
"I'll never talk," she said, panting, crawling away from him. "I hate you all, he will kill you. I know he will!" And with that poison-filled threat, she grinned evilly as she twisted her right hand in the air, breaking her neck with the Force to commit suicide.
Taken aback, Kenobi hadn't predicted that at all, and remained silent, in shock, for several long seconds before he blinked to return to reality. He had to be honest, there was a certain anger inside him about this failure : without her, he couldn't stop the so-called imperials, he couldn't know where the thief are gone or who they could be. He had missed the chance to stop the rebellion in one strike. Deactivating his lightsaber, he took one last glance of the dark warrior, then returned to the blue astromech working on the bomb.
"Are you done my little friend?" He asked with a sympathetic smile.
Artoo biped in affirmative but kept a safe distant with the all-powerful boy : the droid had run a research within its on files during the fight. It had confirmed that those two traitors were actually in the top 20 on the Senate Guard, so the boy was indeed a Titan of the Force, just like Skywalker had voiced before.
"I believe General Skywalker will not wake up yet," Anteres had kneeled next to Anakin and had checked his conditions with the Force. "But we can't ask for help."
Artoo sounded confused.
"Because we don't know who is a traitor and who isn't anymore," the boy said. "And we have called the Guard to secure the sector, which means we can be surrounded by enemies."
The blue droid replied something with an absolute assurance.
"Yes, I know we can trust Anakin and his family," Anteres smiled, and put his hand on Skywalker's forehead. "For the moment, only them must know about my fight."
Artoo argued with long sound.
"Of course I will tell the Jedi Order," Kenobi assured. "They actually already know, some of them are waiting for us outside." Anteres used the Force to lift Anakin up in the air, without raising any limb which made Artoo remembered what Obi-wan used to do too. "Now …. shall we?"
Lux Bonteri's world had gone, in less than ten minutes, from a peaceful waiting in the Jedi Cruiser to the lethal hellfire inside the Confederacy's Council Room. How could this happen he still couldn't quite explained : he had been summoned by Master Siri Kenobi to join her to discuss with the Council about the Republic's intention in regards of the last events, and the now fragile peace between the two factions. And then, the very moment he had stopped next to the blonde Jedi Master, her aura and charisma clearly giving her the control of the negociations, a terrible noise had echoed. Windows shattered, explosions were heard and fire came to engulf the room, followed by the sound of death … the death of those around him. Those he couldn't see because of the smoke …. But in the brazero, he had seen his lover, Ahsoka Tano, rose proudly, her two lightsaber parrying the many lasers shots at her, fighting a threat Lux couldn't stare at. Galen Kenobi, her padawan, had come to kneel next to him, protecting him with his twin blue blades from the apparently same enemy while the Republic Senator could hear the dangerous dance of Siri's purple blade slashing men and, from what he could understand, droids.
"Liam," Fett came out of the smoke and took shelter behind the large flipped table, right before Lux. "What's going ?"
The young Mandalorian Jedi had also drew his blue blade, deflecting shots with ease despite the lack of visibility. "Half of the Council is dead. Killed by Republic's men."
"Republic's men ?" Lux repeated dumbfounded. "The Republic doesn't know I'm here, I've brought no army with me."
"There are indeed stormtroopers," Galen confirmed, calling the famous helmet in his head with the Force. "You're not as popular as you think, Senator."
Suddenly, every molecule of smoke disappeared in an instant, revealing Siri Kenobi with both arms extended, the palm of her hands opened, indicating an obvious use of the Force to clear the room, with the Queen of Hapes at her feet, protecting herself on the ground, in the middle of dozens of corps and droids.
"Some of them got away," the wife of Obi-wan seemed almost angry. "Ahsoka, Galen, you go after them." She took a significant pause while she closed her eyes, searching an answer in the Force. "The enemy has coordinated his attacks. Obi-wan and Anteres have also faced a threat."
"Are they alright ?" Ahsoka asked, sensing Galen's worries through their bond.
"They have won their battles," Siri simply said. "We need to win ours. I'll gather the survivor on the Star Defender, and finish the negociations."
"Master Kenobi," Liam approached the gorgeous blonde Jedi, while observing the mandalorian medics taking care of the victims. "If I may, I know every corner of Mandalore. Master Tano will need my help on this case."
Siri nodded and then looked at Fett : "You should call the Protectors, the population needs to be reassured."
"Bo-Katan will be in charge while I assist you on your ship," Boba knew better than argue with Siri Kenobi in such time.
"Very well," she thanked him then promptly came before her son, gently stroking the back of his head. "You take care of these two alright?"
"Of course Mom," Galen grinned, appreciating the trust his mother gave him. "May the Force be with you."
"You too, Galen … Now go !" And the boy obeyed, joined his master and his young friend Liam Kryze and disappeared as they jumped through a window.
"How could stormtroopers get here without being notice, Master Kenobi?" Lux's eyes had remained where Ahsoka was previously standing.
"This is indeed a mystery," Siri frowned, crossing her arms right below her generous chest. "But I am more curious about their motives. You may not have noticed, but many of them were looking for you. I believe their goal was to kill you, then frame the Council so they could execute them."
"Forcing the Republic to officially go into war," Bonteri nodded, cleaning the dust from his rich olive jacket. "We need to tell the Chancellor I'm alright."
"I'll contact my husband," she said, "he is already suspecting some of Padmé's staff, we can't reach her through her administration."
"These are grave accusations, Master Jedi."
"But very true," Siri countered, tapping on the small device on her left wrist. "Only the Chancellor was aware of your mission. The one who sent these stormtroopers at you must have heard your conversation or spy on the Chancellor. In both case, this person is close to her."
"Then I need to go back to Coruscant, to protect Skywalker," Lux started to panic as he understood the danger his leader was in.
"You have been given a mission here, Senator Bonteri," the Jedi recalled. "The peace depends on it, and I need you. Return to the Star Defender with General Rex, I'll make sure everyone is ok before joining you."
"Master Kenobi you can't -" Lux wanted to argue but the old clone came in front of him.
"Do not worry Senator," Rex grinned, "Five Jedi are on Coruscant with Skywalker, they can all protect your Chancellor. Now let's go, you don't want to negotiate with Master Kenobi right now."
Siri smiled at the soldier with a wink, thanking him for his understanding then walked in front of one of the many shattered windows, her head held up to the sky, reaching for the vast powers of the Force.
"Anteres ….." she called through the Forcebond she shared with his son, just like with Galen and Satele. "Are you alright ?"
"Skywalker's warriors are corrupted", the son on the other side of the galaxy replied immediately. "I … had to kill two of them."
"What about the others?" Siri remembered that not only her son, but her former padawan and two other Jedi Masters were on Coruscant, so potentially surrounded by trained enemies.
"I'm regrouping with the Old Guard right now," the boy informed. " Skywalker was stunt during the fight, he is just waking up."
"Do not speak of your fight with him yet," the mother ordered. "Your father is on his way back, wait for him. Speak only with him, he will know what to do.
"Yes Mom."
"Be mindful Anteres, you are in the enemy's territory, trust your instinct and the Force," Siri's heart warmed up after hearing the unshakable resolve in her son's voice. It almost made her forget the terrible fight she just had a moment ago. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Author Note : And there we go, man I had such a hard time writing this down, and I've been busier than I expected, I hope you'll forgive, and that this chapter will bring you the same satisfaction as before. As always, be sure to criticize or anything if you'd like to.
Next chapter : Ahsoka, Galen and Liam investigate, Obi-wan returns to Anteres on Coruscant, and Leia will be in trouble :)