I'm going to try to respond to reviews in the chapter headings as I type this up, so please review!
Bek-K: You ask some wonderful questions that I hope will be answered in the next few chapters. I hope they don't disappoint!
"So, what's bothering you, Cpl?" asked Kenobi once they were outside.
"Can't hide anything from you, can we Captain," he said, once again impressed by how well Latterie could read people. "They assigned a Jedi to the senator."
The news felt like a hit in the face to Kenobi and only his excellent control prevented his true feelings of horror and fear of discovery from flashing across his face.
"A Jedi, really," he said carefully," whose idea was this?" He had a feeling he already knew, he just needed his suspicion confirmed by his young subordinate.
"It was the Chancellor, you know he has a soft spot for the senator."
/What could that man be planning/ thought Kenobi, he never did anything without a serious plan behind it.
"He says it's because of our depleted security capacity with you and Typho still out of commission."
"I would hardly call my present condition 'out of commission'."
"That's what Senator Amidala said," Nacto continued," but the Chancellor insisted and there were Jedi Council members present who agreed."
Kenobi's heart skipped a beat. The Jedi Council? Could they know? Had they possibly sensed him and his failure to cope with the situation? He gathered his thoughts and reined them in so as to not miss Nacto's words.
"They decided on Master Yoda and his apprentice and you'll never guess who that is!" The lad was beaming at the thought of revealing the padawan's name and instantly Kenobi knew who it was.
"Skywalker," he said quietly, only one padawan name would elicit such excitement from a Naboo native and that was Anakin Skywalker, the lad who had single handedly destroyed the control ship over Naboo all those years ago. Kenobi wanted to hide, to scratch the name from his mind, to abandon everything and find a very small hole to crawl into. But that was out of the question. His loyalty to the people he had brought together around him, the very person who was telling him all this, he was with them to the end, whatever end that would be. If he was to be discovered now, it would be fitting it was the chosen one Qui-Gon had taken such risks to secure.
/You got your wish, old master/ he thought to himself /Anakin will be a Jedi./
"The senator is livid, she doesn't think it's needed, but when Skywalker's name was mentioned she grudgingly accepted. Master Yoda has to take care of some other Jedi business right now, apparently, but he was happy to have Skywalker start this afternoon."
"He's at the apartments right now?" Kenobi was surprised it had all happened so quickly.
"Yes, he was inspecting security when we got the call that you could be released, so he sent me to get you. Sabe asked to come and see Dorme. I think she plans on staying here tonight if she can."
"I can't see them having a problem with that. Besides, I would like one of us here when Typho comes out of the tank tomorrow. Seeing her, Dorme and Nawe will do him some good. Let's get moving, I want to meet this Jedi."
Secretly Kenobi was dreading this meeting. He had hidden himself from Padme and Panaka, but this would be a real test of his force deception techniques and internal force suppression. He and Anakin had not spent much time together, but they had met and physically touched. It was merely shaking hands, but who knew, perhaps that was enough for the chosen one to sense his deception. Thankfully it sounded like Master Yoda wouldn't be there, so that was something. Even so, Kenobi was getting one of his very bad feelings, but he knew he had to get over it and braced his force defenses for the encounter.