Chapter Fourteen

One week later

Chloe awoke to an unusual feeling of contentment. Happiness. Warmth. Safety.

"Hello," Obi-Wan said. He was propped up on one elbow, looking down at her.

She smiled sleepily and closed her eyes again. He never stayed with her until morning. "Mmm, nice dream, don't go anywhere..."

"Not a dream, sweetheart."

Then she remembered that this was no ordinary morning.

She groaned, pressing her face into his chest so her voice was muffled. "When's the Council meeting?"

He stroked her hair. "This afternoon."

"And you think you'll be assigned today?"

"Yes. There are at least three battalions without Jedi command, and four or five intelligence leads to follow up. It's just a question of deciding which one."

"Feel like bunking off with me this morning?" She snuck a hand down his chest and over his stomach, mapping his muscles with her fingertips.

He chuckled, catching her hand before it could travel any lower. "I'd like nothing more. Unfortunately, I've got a much less pleasurable proposition for you."

Right. Work talk. With a small sigh, she detached herself from the comfort of his body and flopped back on the mattress. "Go on."

He brushed a strand of hair from her face and kissed her quickly on the lips. "I need someone to help me sift the last of the intel, and you are the fastest encryption cracker in the temple..."

The data chips Obi-Wan and Anakin retrieved on their last mission had finally been repaired, leaving hundreds of data files – personnel records, surveillance footage, and encrypted weapon specifications – that needed processing. During his recuperation, Obi-Wan had been going through the records himself, with Chloe's help when she could be spared from the archives.

Chloe wrinkled her nose. "Sure." In reality it was a job she could do in her sleep, but if it meant she would get to spend another couple of hours with Obi-Wan, she'd leap at the chance. By tonight he and Anakin could be on their way to goodness-knows-where, for an indeterminate length of time.

"Good," Obi-Wan said, clearly in Jedi General mode already. He flung back the sheet and started to get out of bed.

"Wait!"

Obi-Wan looked round, alarmed at the urgency in her voice.

Chloe smiled, heaved her sleepy body upwards and looped her arms around his neck. "You haven't even said good morning to me properly yet."

He laughed and smoothed her hair. Then she yelped as, having been moved at inhuman speed, she found herself flat on her back and pinned to the bed by his weight.

There was no need for words; his smug smile said it all. But before she could think of a smart reply, he had lowered his mouth to hers and was kissing her thoroughly. Damned cheat.

Chloe made breakfast while Obi-Wan showered. She was stirring a pan of eggs when Obi-Wan called out from the 'fresher, "Any towels?"

"Oh, sorry, I forget to put clean ones out. Look in my closet. Top shelf. Food will be ready in a minute."

When their breakfasts were assembled and Obi-Wan had not reappeared, Chloe left the food on the counter and went to find him.

In her bedroom, her closet door was open. Obi-Wan was sat on the bed, a towel wrapped around his waist, and water dripping down his legs and on to the floor. He held a small, framed holo in his hands and was staring at it intently.

"Breakfast's ready," Chloe said, walking to his side. "Ah. You've found my picture."

"In your closet," Obi-Wan murmured.

"Erm, yeah. I kind of talk to him sometimes, when I really need advice."

In the holo, a skinny teenage girl with straight, light brown hair smiled shyly up at them. She was seated on a bench in front of a row of trees. Next to her, one arm slung around her shoulders, was a bald-headed man whose smile exactly matched hers.

"It was taken just a month before he died," Chloe said, frowning. Obi-Wan was still staring at the picture with a strange expression on his face. She knew she was gangly and geeky back then, but surely that alone wasn't worth staring at?

"Your father," Obi-Wan said.

"Yes."

"Who was killed on…"

"Rothana. Ten years ago."

"And no-one from your family ever saw his body?"

"That's right. Look, do we really need to talk about this now? I'm hungry, and breakfast is getting cold."

Obi-Wan remained silent, but held the holo up to the light, adjusting the angle back and forth.

"Is something the matter?"

He placed the picture down on the bed, but kept his eyes fixed on it. "I recognize him."

Chloe picked up the picture. "He was fairly prominent in the Academy. He even appeared in news items occasionally, when they needed a scientific opinion on something in his field."

"I've seen him."

"I suppose you could have. You must have a good memory-"

"No," Obi-Wan interrupted her. "I mean I've seen him recently. Do you remember the suspected Z-toxin lab I mentioned?"

"Yes, of course." Snippets of intelligence about the mysterious neurotoxin had been circulating for several years now. It was reputed to be a biological weapon with the capacity to wipe out populations of entire planets without so much as a single missile being fired. But there had been no solid evidence of its existence, until now.

"This man was working there," Obi-Wan continued. "I saw him in the video footage. I noticed him because of his smile. He reminded me of you."

"I don't understand," Chloe said, a little bit annoyed that Obi-Wan could associate her in any way with something so sickening. "You must be mistaken. Why didn't you say something?"

Obi-Wan looked up at her. "It seemed trivial, compared to the horror of what he was working on."

"You're not actually suggesting it is my father, are you?" Chloe said, irritably. "You said that lab footage was only three months old."

"Yes, it is."

"Then that's not possible, never mind the fact that he would never have been associated with anything of the kind."

"I know, it shouldn't be," Obi-Wan said, calmly, as if she was a small child getting worked up about nothing. "But I've been sitting here for ten minutes going over it in my head and I'm certain this is him. The clip was in color, completely clear. I got a good look at him, and the resemblance to you was disturbing enough that I watched it a second and a third time."

"And the dates on the files?"

"All cross-validated in the intel lab. There's no reason to doubt them."

"Then there must have been an error. Droids make mistakes all the time, or at least the people programming them do."

"Of course." Obi-Wan carefully took the holo from her slackened fingers. "That's why I called the lab a couple of minutes ago to get them to check the files manually."

"What did they say?"

"That they'll get back to me."

Chloe sat down heavily on the bed next to him. They both stared at the photo of her father. Chloe tried to recall the feeling of well-being she had experienced when she woke up, but she couldn't quite manage it. The moment seemed like days ago, not minutes. This had to be a silly mistake. Any second the lab would call and she and Obi-Wan would laugh about it, eat their breakfast and get on with their day.

For a second, she let herself consider what this might mean, if it wasn't a mistake. If Obi-Wan was right…

Obi-Wan put the picture down, and placed his hand over hers. "You want some breakfast?"

For once his touch wasn't comforting. She brushed him off and stood up. "No," she said, and crossed the room to stand with her back to him, staring out of the window.

"It might be better not to think about it, until we know one way or another."

Too late for that. Her brain was sprinted ahead, whether she wanted it to or not.

Obi-Wan's comlink beeped.

Chloe, snapped her head around, watching as he activated it.

"Kenobi."

"This is Padawan Nika in the intel lab sir. I have the results of the manual file check you requested."

The girl paused. She sounded nervous.

"Yes?" Obi-Wan said.

"I've run the check three times and it's come up with a conclusive answer. Ninety-nine point five percent certainty."

"Of what?" For a moment Obi-Wan sounded as impatient as Chloe felt.

"Sorry sir, I meant to say, ninety-nine point five percent certain that the date on the file is accurate. At least to the nearest thirty days."

"Thank you Padawan. Good work." Obi-Wan shut off the com unit. He looked up. "I'm sorry. I know it's not what you wanted to hear."

"I want to see it."

Obi-Wan stood up. "Of course, we'll go straight to the temple."

But Chloe was already connecting up a data lead to the terminal on her desk. "I can encrypt a channel right here."

"I'm not sure if that's possible…"

"Trust me, it is."

"Then it's certainly against protocol."

"Please, Obi-Wan. No one will ever know we've been in. It's my career on the line if anyone finds out." Chloe tapped at the keyboard, her face set rigid with determination. She needed this to be settled now. Obi-Wan could not make such accusations and expect her to calmly amble off to the temple as if it were a normal day. "I can do this with or without your permission, but it will be quicker if you help me."

She heard Obi-Wan cross the room to stand behind her. "I guess I have no say, then."

Chloe smiled in brief satisfaction as the logo for the temple intranet appeared on her screen. Moments later she was in.

She nodded as she listened to Obi-Wan describe how to navigate to the right directory, feeling strangely calm: numb, detached, as if this was happening to someone else. The connection was slow, and as the screen began to fill with file names, the logical, professional, problem-solving part of her brain ran through the possible scenarios.

Most likely was that Obi-Wan had made a mistake in his identification of the man in the footage. All her instincts told her this must be the case. They would find out for sure in a matter of minutes.

But, if Obi-Wan was correct, then that left two possibilities. Either someone had cloned her father…

…or he was still alive.

Chloe stared blankly towards the window, oblivious to the rush of traffic outside. The framed holo of her father and her teenage self lay on the dining table in front of her.

"Drink this." Obi-Wan said. He placed the mug of tea on the table, and sat down, taking one of her hands between both of his. "It'll stop you shaking."

Chloe glanced at the drink, but didn't pick it up. The holo caught her eye. She shuddered, and turned it over. There had been no mistaking the man in the footage. The way he held himself, the way he walked, his voice… there was no way those characteristics could be transferred to a biological clone. In any case, if he'd been cloned based on cell samples taken just before his death, and then grown to adulthood in ten years, that would mean growth acceleration beyond all limits currently known to science.

But the idea that her father would have ever considered working for the Separatists - a terrorist organization, for Force's sake - was preposterous. Unless he had been coerced somehow… tortured… brainwashed… and that was unbearable to think about. And could someone really have gone to the trouble of faking his death, all those years ago?

She looked up into Obi-Wan's clear blue eyes. "Where," she said, managing to keep her voice calm. "Where's the lab? Where is he?" For the moment, it felt safer to think of the man as nothing more than "he".

"We don't know," Obi-Wan said. "At least not yet. The disk contained a jumble of clips extracted from a Separatist archive. The recording dates are embedded in the file headers, but, as for location, we're going to have to rely on any clues visible in the footage itself, and that will take a lot longer."

Chloe pushed her chair back and stood up. "Then let's go."

"What about breakfast?"

"Not hungry," she muttered, heading for the door.

Chloe waited impatiently as Obi-Wan pulled on his boots, grabbed his robe, and as an afterthought, stuffed some bread and fruit into a paper bag.

"Here," he said, "in case you're hungry later." Chloe took the bag without a word.

"Hey," Obi-Wan said, raising a hand to her cheek. "You okay?"

She looked at him. The truth was that she didn't know. Long-buried memories of her father's disappearance were starting to return, dredging up grief she had long since congratulated herself for dealing with. Now it felt as raw as ten years ago. She wasn't sure that was something she could share with Obi-Wan.

"Sure," she said, and was just about to activate the door when it slid open in front of her.

"Hi honey," said Matty, dragging her suitcases through the door, raising an eyebrow at Obi-Wan and then grinning at Chloe. "I'm home."

Tears of relief flooded Chloe's vision at the sight of her friend. A second later she was enveloped by Matty's enthusiastic hug, and inhaling the familiar scent of the very expensive perfume Matty always found someone to buy her. "I missed you," Matty whispered in the ear that was farthest from Obi-Wan. "And it looks like you have a lot of explaining to do."

Matty pulled away, and extended her hand to Obi-Wan. "Hi," she said, tossing her red curls over her shoulder and smiling the demure smile that she always used when meeting powerful men for the first time. Pretty. Unthreatening. On the surface, at least. "I'm Matilda."

"Hello," Obi-Wan said. He shook her hand politely, although his eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second. "Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Um, yeah," Chloe said, finally spotting the awkward silence. "Matty, this is Obi-…, err Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. And this is my roommate and dear friend, Matty Jaks."

Obi-Wan inclined his head to Matty. "Good to meet you. I'm afraid we were just leaving."

"That's a shame," Matty said, smiling a mischievous smile as she looked from Obi-Wan to Chloe and back again. "I thought I might be in time for breakfast."

Obi-Wan's com unit beeped.

Obi-Wan expression was one of relief. "Would you excuse me?" he said, and stepped past them and through the doorway without waiting for an answer.

Matty said nothing for a few seconds, until Obi-Wan could be heard speaking quietly from down the corridor. Then she hugged Chloe again before taking her by the hand and leading her further into the apartment.

"Well?" she whispered, fiercely. "Obi-Wan? First name terms? He wasn't just here on business, was he?"

"No," Chloe said, with a sigh. "And seeing as you'll get it out of me eventually, everything you currently suspect is correct."

Matty frowned. "What's the matter, darling? You're pale. What's he done to you?"

Chloe rubbed her forehead. She was starting to get a headache. "No… I mean nothing. This isn't about him. Something's come up, and, oh Matty, I wish I could tell you about it but I can't. It's classified, and until I know exactly what's going on I can't say a word."

Matty put a hand on Chloe's arm. "Don't worry about it. Look, you go off and do what you need to do. I'm going to be home for at least a week, so we'll catch up later, yeah?"

"Chloe," Obi-Wan interrupted from the doorway.

"Yes?"

"There have been a number of developments regarding the operation we were discussing. We need to get to the temple. Right now."

"Okay," Chloe said, patting Matty's hand and stepping away.

"You want me to drive you?" Matty said. "I'm much faster than the shuttle, the traffic out there-"

"That won't be necessary," Obi-Wan snapped. "My padawan is on his way to collect us. Are you ready Chloe?"

She nodded, glancing behind her, already feeling homesick at the idea of leaving the apartment.

"You take good care of her," Matty, said, in a tone that meant business.

Obi-Wan didn't answer, but flashed her a rather sarcastic smile as he ushered Chloe out of the door. She looked back at Matty apologetically. Her friend nodded and smiled, and made a shooing motion with her hands.

"You okay?" Obi-Wan said for the second time, as they waited for Anakin in the ground-level parking bay.

"Mmm," Chloe replied, not looking at him. "What's the development?"

Obi-Wan frowned. "We have a possible location for the weapons lab. And evidence from another lead indicating that the Separatists are preparing to test it."

At the temple, Obi-Wan and Anakin headed straight into an emergency meeting of the Jedi Council. Chloe sat amidst droids in the intel lab, searching for the file she'd watched with Obi-Wan in her apartment. She found it quickly and pressed play.

The picture was perfectly clear: a fixed, wide angle view of a laboratory consisting of a white room, work surfaces around its perimeter, and a large table at the center supporting various pieces of equipment that Chloe didn't recognize. She could hear the hum of several droids as they moved about the lab. One carried a tray of test tubes containing a blue-coloured liquid through a doorway at the far end of the room. Through a viewing window in the lab wall, Chloe could just see the droid transferring the tubes to a rack suspended above a tank of a reddish-pink substance.

Off-camera, someone stared speaking. "Cycle four, protozoan version two point zero seven. Test four-two-zero. Live human muscle tissue samples, harvested less than two hours ago. Previous tests indicated the neurotoxin was not released at sufficient density for lethal human paralysis within the target time of sixty seconds after exposure."

After a few seconds the bald-headed man came into view from the left. Chloe breathed in sharply, just as she had when she'd seen it for the first time. The shock was not any less this time.

"I think this one might be a success," the man said, momentarily turning directly to the camera and flashing a wide smile.

Unable to stand it any longer, Chloe jabbed at a key to shut off the video.

She closed her eyes, but it was as if the image had been burnt on to her brain. She shuddered. She felt sick.

No matter how much she tried to persuade herself otherwise, her instincts were no longer telling her that this was a mistake.

Her instincts were telling her that her father was alive, and that he was helping the enemy to develop one of the most dangerous weapons in the history of the Republic.

And smiling while he did it.