and then there was Ahsoka! yay! not exactly the circumstances under which they would have hoped to meet though.

She was woken by the sound of a door chime but it didn't take her long to remember where she was. Synthsilk sheets were not something that Soniee would soon forget. Momma Ordo would have thought them too frivolous a luxury and the academy issue bedding had to stand up to repeated washings. No, Soniee knew that she was in the penthouse of the Senate apartment complex and she had a vague memory that Senator Amidala had put her visor and helmet on the bedside table.

She reached for the visor now as much to have the feeling of something familiar in her hands as to look at the chrono.

She heard the door swish open in the other room and a droid's voice answering. "How can I help you?"

"I need to speak to the Senator." A male voice responded.

Soniee didn't pay it any mind. She held the device up to her eyes and was surprised for a moment that it didn't show to her start-up window. The image was the last one viewed by the last user. That had been Master Kenobi and the image was of a young Duchess Satine on a balcony with another man's hands on her waist and a child in her round belly. That was how he knew. That was why he'd apologized for looking into her private files.

She heard Senator Amidala's voice then, though the Senator was trying to keep her voice low presumably so she wouldn't wake her guest, "Commander Fox, is something the matter?"

And then the man's voice again, not bothering to lower his volume, "I'm here for Soniee Ordo. I am to escort her to the Jedi Temple for questioning."

"Questioning about what?"

"I'm sure you've heard by now about the bombing?"

"Well yes," Amidala answered. "But Miss Ordo was here when that happened. I can testify to that."

Soniee sat up in the bed, she ran her fingers through her hair to dislodge the last of the braids and tangles and then drew her hair back into a knot at the back of her head. She quickly grabbed her things and walked out in to the front room. "I think I know what this is about. It's because my ship or a ship that I flew was in the hanger. Is that right?"

It was a clone trooper with red markings on his armor, she saw, who the senator was speaking to. He nodded. "That's right." He turned back to Amidala. "I am sorry about this but right now everyone is a suspect."

The senator went to Soniee's side and put a protective hand on the girl's shoulder. "They're sure it wasn't an accident?"

"Quite sure, Ma'am. Jedi, clones, and temple workers were killed in the blast. It was deliberate."

"But who would do such a thing?"

The clone commander seemed to stand a bit taller, more official. "That's what they're investigating now and it's why I need Miss Ordo to come with me."

Soniee touched the Senator's hand that was resting on her shoulder and gently pushed it away, "It's okay. I'll go. I know I'm innocent." She looked at the helmeted clone. "Master Kenobi knows I'm innocent, too. I flew him to Coruscant in that ship. But if any information I have can help..."

Amidala hugged the younger girl and then looked her in the eye. "Would you like me to come with you? I could speak on your behalf."

"No," Soniee smiled. "To tell the truth, answering a few questions about a ship I flew sounds a lot less scary than speaking before the whole Senate."

"We'll work on that as soon as you're finished with this." The Senator smiled at her and then shot the clone trooper a sterner look. "You hear that, Commander Fox. You see to it that Miss Ordo returns here safe and sound as soon as she's done with her interview."

There was no mention of her being a suspect, Soniee noticed, and for that she was thankful.

"Yes Ma'am," The trooper saluted. "I'll bring her back without a scratch."

Soniee was glad that the trooper seemed to trust her enough to let her walk ahead of him unhindered. No binders were put on her hands nor was there a blaster used to hurry her along. Something about it still seemed a bit like being put under arrest.

She was careful to go willingly so there would be no question of her resisting. That is until she thought of the devices in her hands. She turned back toward Amidala for a moment. "Oh, Senator Amidala," she said. And the clone commander's hand did go to hover over the weapon on his hip.

The Senator ran forward. "What is it? And please call me Padme."

Soniee looked timidly at the clone before she held out her visor. "There are some holos recorded here, news from the past few days in Sundari. I showed them to the council. They may help with the Senate as well."

Padme nodded to reassure Commander Fox as she took the device. "I'll look them over while you're at the Temple, Soniee, and we'll put together a convincing argument when you return."

"Thank you, Sen- I mean, Padme."

Soniee did not look out at the view as they flew back to the Temple. She was going over the Jedi code in her head again as Master Kenobi had taught it to her on the way to Coruscant. There is no ignorance only knowledge. Well, she knew she was innocent and if anything she knew could help the Jedi find who had done this terrible thing she was glad to help.

She was also thinking that if she co-operated and got this over with quickly it would mean she would get back to Mandalore sooner. Although, how she was supposed to do that now without a ship, she had no idea.

The clone commander led her back up the steps, through those massive columns, and through the halls toward what appeared to be some kind of med bay. There were a lot of beings on stretchers and cots with injuries from the bombing. Seeing them made Soniee sad and frightened and yes, a bit angry at whoever had done this. She could feel just the beginnings of that hot bubble of hate stirring in the pit of her stomach and she quickly tried to squash it down. There is no emotion only peace.

They came to a small, empty room nearby the infirmary and Commander Fox gestured for to enter. "You're to wait here and the interrogator will be with you shortly."

Soniee would have laughed at the words if she wasn't so nervous. As it was, she just nodded and stepped into the sparsely decorated cell. He closed the door behind her making it feel more than ever like a prison.

There were no chairs in the room only a carpet spread on the floor and Soniee realized that this place was a meditation chamber. That made her feel a little better and she even began to feel a little bored at the prospect of sitting here waiting for her 'interrogator' to arrive. There was a table in the corner with a little drawer and although she was perfectly aware of what they said curiosity did to Lothcats, she opened the drawer.

Inside it she found a string of beads and she remembered what Master Kenobi had said about some Jedi having an object to physically manipulate with their hands to help their minds focus on meditation. This must be such an object. She looked closer at the beads and indeed on each one she saw a word etched. "Peace. Knowledge. Serenity. Harmony. Force." The beads felt warm in her hands and she found herself naturally taking a seat on the carpet and repeating the code as she held each bead between her fingers.

After that it seemed no time at all before the door of the chamber opened and Soniee saw the very last face she expected to see. "Padawan Tano?" She stood while Ahsoka stared and then after a moment recognized her as well.

"Soniee! What are you doing here? I was told I would find my next suspect to question in here."

"Guess that's me." Soniee shrugged. "My ship was in the hanger when it blew. I flew Master Kenobi here yesterday from Mandalore."

Ahsoka waved the information away as if it weren't important. "How is everyone? Korkie? Amis? Lagos?"

Soniee sobered. "Amis was ... killed and so was... The Duchess."

"Oh Soniee, I'm so sorry." She reached out to hug the other girl.

"Hugging the suspect is not very professional behavior for an interrogation." A funny little droid followed Ahsoka into the room and shut the door behind itself.

The padawan rolled her eyes, "Oh right. But Soniee is a friend I'm sure she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time or her ship was. Isn't that what you said."

Soniee nodded. "It was an Ex-Deathwatch ship so I can understand the aversion but Master Kenobi was with me the whole time so he can vouch for me. He and ummm... Barris... Padawan Barris Offee. She was at the hanger to meet us when we landed and she helped me find a place where I could change and get cleaned up before I had to speak to the Council."

"You addressed the Jedi Council?" Ahsoka asked amazed. "What for?"

"Trying to get them to send help to Mandalore. It's - it's bad, Ahsoka, worse than the Deathwatch ever was. There's a Sith lord who's behind it, and he's set Almec back up as Prime Minister."

"A Sith Lord!" the Padawan was amazed. "What did the Masters say?"

Both girls were ignoring the impatient tutting of the droid.

"They won't do anything without the approval of the Senate." Soniee sighed. "So that's what I've got to do next."

"Can we please get back to the matter at hand?" the droid asked.

Ahsoka frowned. "Russo's right, unfortunately. So, let's see. You said you flew the ship here from Mandalore with Master Obi-wan. I'm sure he will speak up for you." She smiled. "And then Barris met you both in the hanger and led you where exactly?"

"I think it was the padawan dormitories or guest quarters? Honestly I'm still pretty lost around here. I got a shower and changed because I still had on coveralls from working on a couple of speeders back at the academy and..."

"You work on speeders?" Ahsoka asked.

Soniee shrugged. "Well yeah. My mom taught me when I was a kid. She was a pilot."

"So you know the inner workings of many kind of ships?"

"Y-yes," she answered the droid cautiously.

"You could have done something to an engine to cause it to... explode?"

"I - no! I would never. I said I could fix them. I would never even think of..."

"Of course she wouldn't, Russo." Ahsoka sighed exasperated.

"That is what we are here to discover and all areas of inquiry must be explored."

"He's right." Soniee agreed. Then she shut her eyes and thought of the exact configuration of the engine of the Kom'rk and then she remembered the readings from all of the instruments. "We had just arrived from the Mandalore System. It took us two hyperjumps to reach the core." She opened her eyes and looked at them. "No. We were low on fuel after the trip. I might have been able cause a small fire but nothing like what must have hurt all those people." She shuddered thinking of the beings she had seen in the med bay.

"Thank you for your honesty." The droid made a note on a datapad and turned to go.

Soniee let out a breath and looked at Ahsoka. "I'm just glad I wasn't there when it happened. I had sent Korkie a comm from the ship before I walked away from it and I meant to go back and check to see if he had returned my comm."

"You never went back to the ship?" Ahsoka asked.

"Never had the time. And I was really hoping to hear from Korkie."

"You miss him."

"I'm gonna marry him. If I can ever get back to Mandalore. And if there's a Mandalore to go back to."

Ahsoka's eyes widened and then she smiled. "Maybe once we find the sleemo who did this, I can help you out with that. But for now I'm afraid." she frowned. "I'm gonna have to ask you to stay here a little longer till we know for sure what happened in that hanger."

"I get it, really. I'll just hang out here and ... meditate."

"You can use the Force, can't you?" The Padawan asked. "Why didn't you say something before?"

The droid, Russo, appeared in the doorway again. "Was it not you who wanted to be a part of these interrogations, Jedi?" he asked.

"Duty calls," said Ahsoka. "We'll talk later."

And with that they left Soniee alone with her thoughts once more.