Anakin slipped into the nearest barracks, mindful of security cams. He used the Force to blur the sensors briefly. He'd done it before a million times, on missions as a Jedi, as a husband who knew what a scandal it would cause if their marriage was discovered. Even as a boy playing tricks on his Jedi Master. The people were harder. He avoided them as much as possible, which is why he ducked into the laundry of the barracks rather than hitting the main area. The droids were busy cleaning and drying and it was easy to snatch a uniform that fit and was dry. He left behind a confused droid that never saw where the missing outfit went, only knowing it was somehow one short of it's load.
From there, he strode steadily and confidently in one of the computer rooms and started attacking files. He had a lot of data to search through and not much time. Worse, he had to be careful how he found it, lest someone had flagged certain search patterns. It was an unpleasant thought. He really didn't think that highly of Isard doing that. But he could be wrong. And with Thrawn, Mara Jade and an unknown player involved, he shouldn't take any chances
It took a whole lot of digging in discreet areas. Creating a communications tunnel between this computer and another one on Coruscant took time. Then he created another tunnel from that computer, straight into the Emperor's palace. Then he used those computers to dig through the information he needed. Without Artoo, it would've taken even longer. The droid whizzed through information, absorbing information and recording at high speed. Long range transmissions from Byss. High ranking communiques especially. He especially dug into any between Isard and Thrawn. He also found various Imperial scientists, most recently General Evir Derricote. He didn't hesitate to access communications to and from the Lusankya. Then he dove into the ships computers. Finally he downloaded the maintenance logs from the Lusankya itself. He hesitated then. Was that everything they needed? Not quite. He started downloading data, everything he could find from the archives regarding the Clone Wars, secret files and communications, things that, had the Jedi had access too, would've revealed Palpatine's true identity and his complicity and intentional instigation of the Clone Wars. He wouldn't know if he had everything unless he read what he had, and he didn't dare linger and read it all. He needed to leave before anyone discovered his meddling. He took a few moments to cover his tracks, backing out of all of the systems and erasing the evidence of the codes he'd used.
Rising, he hurried back out and worked his way back to where he'd left Ahsoka. Suddenly alarms started ringing. He could sense the sudden heightened alertness, worse, it was directed to this area.
"All personnel, remain at your stations until otherwise ordered. All identification will be confirmed. Anyone out of their assigned area, remain where you are and be prepared to show identification."
Anakin's eyes widened. He kept fuzzing the holo cams. But even that might be noticed. He broke into a Force powered sprint, heading back to a secret exit that would lead him back to Ahsoka. He hurtled around the corner, dodging for the hallway he needed. The clatter of stormtrooper boots resounded behind him.
Anakin spun around uneasily. They were right behind him. Running would look suspicious. He stopped.
"Halt!"
Anakin stiffened as they came into sight. His blue eyes widened innocently.
"Why aren't you at your station! Show identification!" The commanding officer with the stormtroopers was of an alarmingly high rank. A
Anakin cautiously handed over his ID, hoping the Empire hadn't tumbled onto all the new ones the Alliance had created using his credentials to hack in.
"Why aren't you at your station!"
Anakin's mind whirled. "My droid assistant is malfunctioning. Heading to the droid repair for a fix, Sir. " Anakin was internally swearing that he hadn't used a higher ranked ID than the officer before him.
"What's your post? Whose your commanding officer?"
"Commander Lynier, Sir." Anakin said calmly, referring to another roving and false ID. This one was with the Imperial Internal Security Bureau. Messing with them could get an officer in deep trouble. The officer knew it and visibly blanched. One of the stormtroopers nudged the commander and handed back the ID.
"You are clear. Get where your going and stay there. We're in lockdown, there's an intruder."
Anakin nodded. "Yes sir, thank you sir."
"Give Lynier my regards."
"Yes sir." Anakin replied as the troops hurried on. He could sense Ahsoka closing on his position.
Turning, he hurried to the closest entrance, glanced around, and hurried in. He nearly bumped into Ahsoka.
"Are you all right? When the alarms went off, I was worried. How did you get by those troops?"
"Yes. I don't know how they got tripped. I told them I was with ISD. No-one wants to mess with them."
"That was close. So are you planning any more death defying stunts?"
"First let's get to a secure place to check out what I already found. Then I'll see if I need to perform any more death defying stunts." He replied cheekily.
"Great." Ahsoka said. "I don't suppose there is a better exit than the sewers?"
"Not really."
"Figures."
Artoo squawked in unhappy agreement.
By the time Han set the Falcon down, under false ID, Luke was practically ready to run.
"Easy kid, you got the location we're meeting them?"
"Yes."
Han turned to Lando and Chewie. "You guys take good care of the Falcon."
Chewie let an unhappy grumble. He wasn't happy at leaving Han here, but then again, Han wanted him to care for the Falcon. And of course, that mission was important too.
"We'll take care of ourselves too." Lando said dryly.
"May the Force be with you." Luke said firmly, glancing at Han, who was casting worried looks at his ship. The Falcon looked the same as ever, except for a few cosmetic hull alterations, purely to make it a little less identifiable as the most famous ship in the Alliance.
"I'm sure the Falcon will be fine, Han." Leia grabbed his arm and started to steer him away. "Take care, Lando, Chewie." Luke said.
Luke, Leia and Han zipped through the drizzle of Coruscant's lower levels. The battered but serviceable air speeder was courtesy of a local Alliance sympathizer Leia knew. Water splattered the windscreen as Han steered. It was hard to tell if it was raining up above or not. For all they knew, it could've stopped by now and just taken this long to hit them. "Been a long time since I was here." Han remarked softly.
"Are you sure you still know you're way around?"
"Baron Vondo's Luxury suites, right?"
"Yes."
"Somehow this doesn't look like a place to find anything labeled 'luxury' suite." Luke remarked, considering the dilapidated buildings.
"It was probably luxury when it was built...a couple of centuries ago." Leia replied.
"And a couple of layers of skyscrapers ago." Han added.
"There it is." Leia pointed.
Han left the speeder lane and landed in the parking area. A lighted sign flashed overhead. It read "Baron Vondo's Lux... Suit..."
"Lux Suit?"
"Not doing good enough business for sign repair I imagine." Leia noted.
"Probably that's why." Han noted, motioning to the variety of clientele. "Establishments that cater to non humans tend to get penalized."
Leia nodded. "Higher taxes and tariffs. Less human business."
Luke just shook his head in bewilderment at the bias. The three kept hoods up and hands on weapons as they strode confidently through the door. Luke stayed alert for anyone watching. He sensed no particular interest. Turning his sense forward, he searched for his father and Ahsoka. He frowned when he couldn't locate them.
"Third floor, corner suite, this is it."
"Hey. Bigger than I expected." Han looked around the room. It really was suite size, fairly large with a couple of bedrooms. That was as far as the luxury went however. It didn't look like it had been redecorated for a hundred some years. The beds and furniture were sagging and the blankets threadbare. The only thing new was the computer terminal and even that, on closer inspection, appeared to be patched.
Artoo turned and bleeped excitedly at them.
"Hey Artoo, where's my Father? Where's Ahoska?"
The droid's whistled answered was translated on one of the computer monitors. Anakin and Ahsoka were investigating suspicious communications between Isard and General Derricote. They had retrieved the blueprints for the Lusankya, confirmed the entrances, found a terrifying amount of evidence that Palpatine was complicit in the Clone Wars. They were still going through the information in hopes of figuring out who the new leader was. But it was the communication with General Derricote that had Anakin immediately concerned. The man had a specialty in bio weapons and some of the information they'd found, suggested they were creating one.
"Bio weapon?" Leia gasped. "On Coruscant? Of all the insane..."
"So who said the Empire was sane?" Han snorted.
"Let us see those files, Artoo. Maybe we can help," Luke urged.
Anakin and Ahsoka hovered near the building, circling it yet again. They'd already checked even the sewer below, the surroundings and the ventilation. They'd taken careful note of what and who was taken in. It had medical hazard level safeties on pipes that bypassed the local sewers, leaving only the main connected.
"This is bad." Ahsoka said. Her eyes were wide in her covering hood. "It's so dark. Pain. Death."
Anakin's eyes were narrow. "Suffering. This is a lab. They're doing medical experiments in there."
"On sentients too."
Anakin nodded. "Non humans. That's the third sullustan. The fourth wookiee." His arms were folded in the long sleeves of his robe as they casually continued walking.
"What do we do?"
"From the urgency I'm sensing in there, they are on a deadline. They must know the Alliance has to come for Coruscant. They want it done in case they need to retreat." Anakin frowned. The thought nagged him in warning.
"And whatever they are working on, has to be done by then." Her voice was troubled. "Think it'll only affect non humans? But why do it at all...some kind of scorched earth policy in case they have to fall back?"
"Could be. Either way, it's divide and conquer."
"The Alliance won't split along species lines." She said firmly.
"It doesn't have too. If they take Coruscant, the people here won't necessarily be members of the Alliance. And they'll be suffering. The Alliance loses it's mobility and is tied to a sick planet, forced to divide it's attention between freeing planets, healing the sick and putting together a government."
"That's diabolical." Ahsoka frowned too. "How do we stop them?"
"Kill the disease, before it gets out." He said slowly. "That's the easy part. It's the disease in the test subjects that's the issue. We can't leave them there if we want to stop the experiments. And we can't just free them without risking whatever their infected with will spread."
"Bad. Very bad." Ahsoka whispered. "Did it ever happen...under you? One of these things gets out, I know the Empire experimented..."
"Yes." Anakin said grimly. "On Falleen."
"What was done about it?" Ahsoka phrased the question carefully, not wanting to imply an accusation.
Anakin stopped, eyes on the ground. His eyes were sad, lips turned down. He looked her in the eye. "We razed the city from orbit."
Ahsoka stared back at him. He'd given the order. She didn't need to ask.
"The scary thing is..." Anakin said slowly, "I don't know that I had a choice. I honestly don't know how else we could've stopped it. It was highly contagious, always fatal."
"I'm sorry." Ahsoka whispered.
"The price of fooling around with bio weapons." Anakin said tiredly.
"We need a better solution, this time."
"Yes. We do."
to be continued
Note: Evir Derricote and some of this chapter and the next are inspired by a "what if" involving events from X-Wing Rogues Squadron novels.