So, I just found the "Alerts" section for stories and accidentally imported all of my favorites in there, including all of the completed stories! So I then had to remove all of those erroneous entries. Oh boy, there are going to be some miffed authors out there! Their inboxes are going to be flooded with alert messages! Sorry!

Shinen no Hikari: Thanks for the info on Dooku, I was going just a little crazy trying to find Dooku's first name! Now I don't feel so bad about making one up. As for the Ventress back story, I was thinking more along the lines of the comics with her origin on Ratatac where she was trained by Ky Narec before he was killed. I felt Maul would have spotted her potential and started training her himself now that he wasn't in two pieces. Thanks again and I hope you're enjoying things so far.

Obi-Wan was shaken awake by Boba.

"It's time, come one!" he whispered excitedly, pulling Obi-Wan up. Once he saw the man was sitting up on his own he dashed off to get his pack.

Obi-Wan shook his head clear of sleep and placed his feet on the floor. He didn't remember going to bed with his boots on. That was odd. Wait, he didn't even have black boots like this they were more like…

His stomach suddenly twisted and he clutched at it, his hands trembling and itching terribly. He pulled his arms away from his chest to look at his hands as the skin seemed to become covered with some kind of black paint that ran down his arms and over his palms. Thin red lines began to appear in a frighteningly familiar pattern and he raced over to his basin where the mirror revealed his face also becoming covered with the black paint and he frantically tried to wash it off. It only seemed to speed up the process and his hair fell away to reveal small horns. He looked over at Boba who had returned.

"Ben!" he screamed and Obi-Wan shot awake, sweat covering his body, his breath hitching in his throat.

"I didn't mean to startle you," said Boba at his side, "but it's time to go." He stood back up from his kneeling position next to the bed and left to get his pack.

Obi-Wan tried to calm his breathing, opening himself to the comforting force, allowing his fears to wash away through its flow. He walked over to the nightstand and washed his face, at first nervous to look at his reflection but then determined to check for horns forming in his hairline. He breathed a cleansing sigh of relief when he found no stubs.

So, Maul was close, that was certain. They had to leave now. His conversations from earlier in the day had not been very successful and now was the time to act.

Dooku had not returned with good news. The Geonosians wouldn't accept moving Jango anywhere as a possibility. According to Dooku, they were trying to gain a stronger position within the Separatist movement and they saw Jangos conviction and sentence as a way to show that. A number of high ranking officials from many systems with Separatist sympathies would be in attendance and it was hoped this show of strength would raise them to the Separatist Council.

It appeared that Dooku had been working with the Separatist leadership for some time through peaceful means to try to avoid open conflict with the Republic and so far it was working. He had managed to help them avoid open war, but tensions were at their highest and he felt the slightest thing could tip the balance at this point. He was convinced it was the dark lord behind the escalation in tensions, but his calls to the Jedi Council seemed to fall on deaf ears. Obi-wan found that unlikely, but he kept his thoughts to himself. If the Council was experiencing the awakening to the force he was feeling, it was not possible for them to be missing such an obvious explanation for the situation the galaxy found itself in.

That got Obi-Wan thinking about his connection to the force and the Councils responses so far. His mind went back to the hangar where Maul had taken Nawe. That place had exuded the dark side blocks away, it had almost been a black beacon in a fog of white. How could the council, with members of far greater power than himself, have missed that? Unless they were not experiencing this awakening that his system was going through. What if, instead of having a growing connection to the force over these years he'd been away, they were having their connection diminished? He had inadvertently shielded himself from this with his disappearance and now that he had reestablished his open connection, the force, which had been deprived of connection to its guardians, was flowing through him with added vigor to make up for the lack of connection to other light siders. It was a stretch and Obi-Wan had never been good at conspiracy theories, but he could see it being plausible, especially if what Dooku said about the Council's response to him was true. That was the thing, he couldn't exactly go and ask them right now! Still feeling frustrated with the whole situation, he had gone to see Jango after an audience with the bounty hunter was finally granted.

He had not been much help either. The man was as stubborn as a nerf! All he would say was that he had done this for Boba. Obi-Wan couldn't see how getting himself executed would help Boba in any way.

"Maul would find us and destroy us for what we've done," he had said.

"Then why do it?" exclaimed Obi-Wan, "Why didn't you send me down here on my own, we could have set up a rendezvous or something, we could have avoided all of this. I would have protected you."

"I'm sorry, Ben, but on your own you are no match for Maul and Ventress. You need help and I just couldn't risk Boba falling into their hands. As soon as I met you I knew you were the one person who would do everything in your power to keep him safe and inevitably free my sons from their slavery. They are what are important now. Don't let my sacrifice here and my faith in you be unfounded."

"Jango, I'm no boy's father. He needs you. We'll find a way to get you out of this."

Jango rested his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "Take care of Boba. That's what will get me out of this. Knowing that Boba is safe with someone who will never give up on him makes me feel more free than any bird flying through the Alderanian mountains. You should go and check he isn't doing something foolish!"

Obi-Wan's time with Jango was up and he had been led from the room before he could respond to Jango. As he had said, he was no father! He barely knew how to talk to the lad, let alone take care of him. His use of humor would only go so far, how did Jango expect this to work? That had pretty much clinched Obi-Wan's decision. That night they were busting Jango out and the three of them would head off and away from the whole mess and figure out who best to trust. Then it hit Obi-Wan, it was so simple! He could go home to Naboo, Amidala was there with Skywalker, they would help, he was sure of that. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier? He had raced back to Boba to tell him of his plan and the two had decided to get an early night so they would be ready when the time was right.

He headed into the main room of the apartment he and Boba had been given to share. Obi-Wan checked that the hall was clear and they made their way out. Obi-Wan sensed a certain amount of tension rising around the whole place and thought it odd that they had not encountered any guards or patrols as they made their way to the detention block. The reason for the few guards was made clear to them when they approached the cells. It was as if every guard in the city was gathered around there, swarming and swooping through the area. What could have happened to draw such attention?

"What are you waiting for, do your distraction!" hissed Boba over his shoulder.

"I don't think I can distract this whole army, Boba. We're going to have to think of something else."

"Well if you won't I will!" said the boy and he moved away from the wall they were hugging. Obi-Wan put his arm across Boba to stop him.

"Wait, we can't get through this. Let me find out what's going on. I haven't given up yet." He urged Boba back to the wall and from their hidden position he reached out with his feelings to search the cell block. He sensed Jango in his cell, unrestrained and pacing, awaiting his fate. They were so close to getting out of this.

His mind drifted to the next cell and his breath caught in his throat.

"Padme!" he gasped.