Off Course
Chapter Three
"History remarks that between the Sith and the Jedi, the latter are remarkably incapable of guile. From what I've seen though, I'm more inclined to think that they are just better at hiding it."
—Mon Mothma on Jedi operations, circa 34 GrS.
The hangar was a mess.
This time, it had nothing to do with the presence of Anakin Skywalker. In fact, he was sedately pacing along the back wall of the hangar in question, supervising.
It was a long established Jedi tradition that senior Padawans – a Padawan became senior by dragging their master's unconscious body to the Temple Healers at least once – were to take a two-year internship with the Coruscant Security Force to learn the finer points of law enforcement. The internship was part-time, owing to various demands in both organizations, and with the breakout of the war attendance had declined significantly.
For Ahsoka, the Jedi Officer Program was a welcome pastime for when she was planet-bound, either on mandatory leave, or when Anakin was haring off on some adventure too wild to take her along. It was thus that dressed in her official uniform – the same cut as the CSF regulation, but done in creams and browns rather than navy and black – she strolled around the wreckage of the LAAT/is and observed the situation, scribbling notes on her datapad and consulting with her trainer.
Detective senior Sergeant Kellros Heshcom was an average man, brown hair greying around the temples and stern face creased with both laugh-lines and wrinkles. Having transferred from CorSec at age 25, he had spent the past forty years policing the galactic capital, and the past thirty as an instructor with the JOP. Enjoying his work, he had passed up many promotions to stay with the program, but as age was catching up to him, he had long since decided that Ahsoka Tano would be his last student, before excepting his promotion to Lieutenant in charge of the Core Enforcement Agency Liaison Office.
Ahsoka was a good student and a credit to her teaching lineage, displaying the same diligence and attention to detail as did the then-young Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
It was this meticulousness he was now observing.
Having taken the obligatory notes and interviewed the ID team in charge of the scene before her arrival, Ahsoka was now examining the general distribution of debris. It was immediately evident to an experienced investigator that something was not right. It took Kellros himself some time to establish what that something was, and he was proud to see Ahsoka catch on.
"One explosion could not have done all this." She said thoughtfully, "At least, not the kind of explosion we're looking at."
"Indeed," he affirmed, "LAATs are designed to withstand the occasional anti-armour missile, the destruction we're seeing here would require a yield close to 400 kilograms..."
"…in which case," Ahsoka picked up, "we would not be seeing pieces this large, and the hangar would be much less intact."
The Temple Labs were located on subbasement 34, far away from prying eyes or external disturbances. Across the gaping ventilation cavern loomed the towers of the smelting complex, while here behind starship-grade transparisteel, Jedi in hazmat suits and masks fiddled with chemicals, concoctions, compounds and formulae.
Ahsoka Tano and Kellros Heshcom were here on a slightly different affair. Occupying an analysis bench, they were going over bits of debris with a microscope and a fine-toothed comb.
"As I have stated numerous times," Russo-ISC whined, "The explosion appears to have been caused by nanodroids. I do not—"
He was cut off sharply. "And as I have stated," Kellros all but growled, "Nanodroids do not exist."
Russo looked affronted. "Really, Detective, your limited organic mindset does not lend itself well to matters of investigation. Perhaps I should report your inadequacy to Master Windu. I am sure—"
Whatever Russo was sure of, the galaxy shall never know, a bright pink saber blade hissed to life long enough to spear his processing core and then retracted back into the shoto held by Ahsoka Tano. Giving the few surprised scientists in the room a jaunty salute, she went back to studying the current piece of debris.
"Whoever did this…" Ahsoka muttered, "They went to an extraordinary amount of effort to push that theory.
Night was rapidly taking hold of Coruscant, and per time-honoured tradition, Jedi were assembled in the Council chambers, hearing matters of import.
"I will know for certain when the forensics department finishes their work," Ahsoka reported, "However for now it appears that the hangar bombing consisted of several detonations of military-grade shaped explosive, strategically applied as to produce more theatrical carnage."
"When you say 'theatrical carnage'," Master Windu began, "What do you mean, exactly?"
"Just a minute," Ahsoka cautioned, producing a datachip and inserting it into the viewer courtesy of the Force.
"These are some plausible explosions," She narrated, as various holographic fireballs bloomed into existence, spreading outward and tossing about chunks of simulated debris. "LAAT/is are rugged ships, but are more designed to withstand external forces rather than maintain internal integrity. In which case, one could easily be disabled by a small charge that, as you see, hardly causes a smoke, let alone destruction. If one went a more dramatic route in search of casualties, you could detonate the anti-personnel ordnance, breach the fuel tanks, or overload various power systems. That's in the 'small range' as it were."
Ahsoka keyed to the next set of simulations, "On the other end of the spectrum, if you went for destruction of the airframe, you could look at thermite solutions to degrade the hull, demolition charges at key structural weaknesses, or simply apply a lightsaber to it."
A ripple of grim amusement passed through the Councillors, but it passed swiftly. Master Windu again spoke, "So, what you say, Padawan Tano, is that the job was a waste of good explosives?"
"In essence, yes." she nodded. "A large amount of 'blunt' explosive would tear apart the gunship, but would also produce smaller debris and damage the hangar. A concussion explosive would burst the cabin at the seams while leaving the wings crumpled but intact. Disabling the gunship could be done more precisely and efficiently, and so could producing casualties."
The council sat in silence for a time, exchanging thought on currents of the Force and gazing into its depths. Then, decisively, a few heads nodded, and Master Plo Koon leaned forward, "Ahsoka, what is your 'unofficial' reading of the situation?"
She too took a moment to think, then spoke, "To me, it seems that this was a coordinated, multi-phase attack against the Order. The amount of explosive used would be tough to smuggle into the Temple, and would take an extraordinary time to apply so precisely. Further, the Attacker – at this time unknown – did a thorough job of suggesting that the bombing was committed courtesy of nanodroids – a technology which is not in existence and has been widely proven to be impossible to manufacture."
Catching her breath, Ahsoka continued, "I would hypothesise that the Gunships were treated with the shaped explosives at a dockyard or other facility, further, they were applied into not onto the structure, which would imply a very large inside job or a deliberate 'retrofit', which excludes the run-of-the-mill terror cell. Once ready, the gunships were flown into the Temple, bypassing the normal weapons tests, naturally. The detonation occurred once all crew was aboard, which excludes a timer, as the party was delayed by a good half hour due to traffic, and also proximity or motion sensors, as the prep crew went over the ship without problem. This means that another party was there to manually push the trigger, after getting visual confirmation."
Ahsoka sobered abruptly. "I can also say for certain that at least one of the Jedi aboard that ship survived the initial blasts. Parts of the wreckage were found far beyond where the explosion could have thrown them, as if someone tried to free themselves. The only question remains, who killed that survivor…?" Ahsoka trailed off, deeply disturbed.
Master Piell did nothing for her mood. "The same man who triggered the explosions. He vas later shot dead by Kal Skirata vile attempting to flee the scene."
Despite assuming as much in her mind, Ahsoka was still a little startled to hear it said aloud. She was about to question the master on the matter, but Mace Windu spoke first. "Your assumptions are indeed correct, Padawan Tano. Correct to the last. There is a plot to destroy the Order, and with this attack, the Supreme Chancellor has just shown his hand."
To say that Ahsoka was baffled in the extreme would have been a momentous understatement, so blunt was Master Windu's remark. Yet again though, before she had the opportunity to answer, he continued, "This attack was meant to distract the Jedi from the situation on Mandalore, by forcing us to hunt for the culprits and sure up our defences rather than mount a liberation campaign, thus acting as valuable propaganda against the Order. Something along the lines of hypocrisy or negligence, no doubt."
"So, what's the current plan of action?" Ahsoka wondered, switching to her commander mindset.
"Assuming you're willing to go along with this," Master Windu waited for a preliminary nod before proceeding, "The bombing has given us an opening to start a devious scheme of our own, involving a great deal of subterfuge, yelling, theatrics, and fireworks. How we proceed from here, at the moment, depends on whether or not you sign on, but that decision lies solely with you, as this mission will require great sacrifice and this Council cannot, in good conscious, force it on anyone."
Ahsoka was thoughtful. The solemn atmosphere in the chamber had brought on a whirl of dread through the Unifying Force, showing her glimpses of possible futures. Even so, she kept her head. "How does my acceptance change the plan? She asked, then, as a second thought, added, "If that's not classified."
Obi-Wan chuckled warmly, "It's classified, but you're authorized to know. The Council believes that your connection with the investigation is likely to draw the attention – and action – of those who perpetrated the bombing and their associates. Assuming you sign on, we're going to go through with the trademark Anakin 'spring the trap' approach which will likely end with a lot of upset people and dead bodies. If you chose to sit this one out, we'll send you on a mission to one of the Jedi outposts with a platoon of Shadows and make sure that whoever takes your spot makes a lot of noise to draw the attention away from you."
Ahsoka considered it again, weighing risks and possibilities, feelings and thoughts, then she said two words: "I'm in."
"Good!" Master Windu exclaimed, relieved. He stood from his seat and strolled about the chamber, "Republic Intelligence just transferred one of the bomber's accomplices to their custody, and there will be a funeral service tomorrow, after that I think—"
Master Windu would have gone on thus for hours, but Obi-Wan interrupted him, "What I think Mace meant to say," he said, pointedly jabbing the other councillor in the ribs with an elbow, "...was 'Welcome to Project Esk, Ahsoka."
And there you have it, worldbuilding over, stage set and cameras rolling...
Next chapter will start what I'd like to call "the story proper", featuring some yelling, some fireworks, and generally being a very loose reimagining of the events in To Catch a Jedi.
On another note, this chapter actually got back on track in terms of mood; once again to slightly dark, serious and forboding. But, the campish (as Count Mallet put it) humour will still return, just at an unforeseen date and time much further down the line. (at least until chapter 10, I think ).
Speaking of mood and setting, I am really proud of this chapter in that it differs vastly from Sabotage not for the sake of differing, but by involving actual procedure into the investigation, as well as conclusions, analysis and logic, all of which the original ... lacked. Despite being peacekeepers, it had never been stated that the Jedi had any experience with crime scenes or investigation, which sort-of excused the monstrocity of Russo-ISC.
Pertenant notes: Kellros Heshcom is an on-the-go anagram of Sherlock Holmes.
I regret to cut this section short, but unfortunately, my notes on this chapter were obliterated by FF.N's engine (details below).
Thank you for your understanding and for reading, guys! May the Fiction Be With You!
Now for the details: FF.N is attempting to maintain security and block cross-site scripting in user submissions, they are doing this by filtering HTML tags when files are "saved" on the server. IN actuallity, cross-site scripting can still be done, (laughably easily, actually) and their sifter interferes with their own coding.
I do most of my story formatting through the local doc manager because FF.N has been known to wipe even things like centering from uploaded files, and this is where I run into the problem. Instead of using «em» or «i» tags for formating italic text, the system did a «span» with a style="" attribute. I do not have the foggiest as to why they did it, but the fact remains, and I lost about a page worth of observations when the «span» was eliminated (along with everything that came after).
«p class="sarcasm"» Good on you, FanFiction! Keep up the stellar work! «/p».
(No, seriously, I half want to move all my stories to my own site...only thing that's holding me back is lack of exposure...so, less followers)
Updated 13/11/14, 1020 GMT: Fixed FF.N's mess. Thanks Count Mallet for alerting me.
Clean word count: 1,883 | Originally Published: 11/11/14, mid morning GMT.