CHAPTER FIFTEEN – COME, SEELING NIGHT

AHSOKA

"Ronan LePage?"

The University of Onderon's dorm walls are very thin, so we can hear each heavy footstep as the dorm's occupant ambles up to the door, pulls the lock, and opens it.

"Yeah?" he says, bleary-eyed.

"Hello Ronan, I'm from the milita and we're following up on your hospital report," Tandin says. "Six days ago, did you check into Iziz Municipal Hospital's emergency room for an anooba bite?"

Ronan rolls up his pants leg, revealing a large bacta patch adhered to his thigh. "Yeah, some mutt took a chunk out of me."

Tandin holds up his comlink to show a holo. "And this is your wound?"

"Yeah."

"Is your roommate home?" Lux asks.

"No, he's at class. Why do you – hey!"

I shove my way into the dorm. Ronan follows me in. "Hey, what's your problem? Get out of my room!"

Tandin and Lux enter and shut the door behind them. Tandin pulls up another holo on his comlink.

"This is your wound, and this is the vet's impression of my anooba's mouth. My anooba, who was home six days ago the night you broke into my house."

Ronan freezes.

"Look man," he says. "I didn't even take any of your stuff!"

"Then why did you break into my house?" Tandin demands, railroading the interrogation. "You didn't take anything, so you clearly didn't want money."

Ronan pauses for a second. "Look. My grades slipped a little this semester and I lost my scholarship. I need the money if I want to stay in school, so I put out an advertisement saying I'll do odd jobs. Your brother contacted me, said you stole some stuff from your grandparents and he wanted me to get it back."

Tandin sighs.

"I don't have a brother," he says.

Ronan's eyes grow huge. "W-wait, what?"

"What were you supposed to retrieve from General Tandin's home?" I demand.

"Um, the guy sent me a few holos." He ducks further into his room and grabs a datapad to access the HoloNet. "It was a golden stake thing, a ring, some kind of box, and a piece of swirled glass in a frame. He said they were a set of family heirlooms."

"They are," Tandin lies, "But they're not his. Did he give you a name or an address where you were to drop off the heirlooms?"

"No. We did the whole thing through the HoloNet. He never gave me a name and when I messaged him about your monster, he paid my medical bill with an anonymous transfer."

"If you didn't give him anything, then why'd he pay you?"

"I threatened to expose him on the HoloNet, for all that was worth without me knowing his name."

Wow. That's actually pretty smart.

I hold out my hands. "May I see your datapad?"

"Uh, you don't look like Royal Milita."

"I'm not. Ahsoka Tano," I flash my best imitation of Anakin's cocky grin. "Jedi Padawan."

Ronan practically throws the datapad at me. I catch it with the Force, smile inwardly, and start digging through the files.

Lux cranes his head over my shoulder. "The sentence structure is very formal."

"This isn't an amateur. Someone definitely knows the truth about the arti – heirlooms."

To his credit, or rather out of mortal terror, Ronan doesn't make a peep.

"How were you supposed to deliver the heirlooms?" Lux asks.

"He told me to mail them to a post office box."

Of course he picked the option no one can trace. I'm about to bang my head against the thin dorm walls when Lux speaks up.

"Hold on a minute. This post office box is in the same building as mine!"

"And what building is that?"

"It's right across from the palace. Only the employees use it."

I share a look with the two of them.

"And only one palace employee knows about the heirlooms."

Tandin goes absolutely white in the face. I can't quite blame him; if the Jedi Council had gone through two violent transfers of power in the last few years, I would need to sit down if someone told me Yoda was actually a Sith Lord in disguise.

And it's not just Tandin. I remember King Dendup and his grandfatherly ways – not the type of person I would peg for a treasure hunter.

Luckily, Tandin and I aren't alone in the room. Lux pries Ronan's datapad from my hands and gives it back to its owner. "Thank you for your cooperation!" he shouts and tosses a five-credit chip in his general direction before steering both of us out of the dorm.

The second the door closes, his face belies his true emotions.

"King Dendup?" he hisses. "What the – why would he even want these?"

"Lux, did you miss the part about a secret tomb that holds untold amounts of wealth or power?"

"Why didn't I think of it?" Tandin laments. "I thought I was going to serve a good king this time. I really did."

"He had us all duped," Lux says. "You did whatever you could."

"Both of you, quiet." I order. "Ramsis Dendup is a king with a planet's resources at his disposal. Tandin's plan, however morally questionable, worked. We need to have a backup plan to divide the artifacts again in case this plan goes south."

Lux chews his lip. "I vote that the decoder glass goes to Hutch. He can stay on Rion with his girlfriend; as long as he has HoloNet he can survive."

"I'll give the music box to Ivy, the palace cupbearer," Tandin says. "She's always sunny, and no one will notice if she uses its magic by accident. Hide it in plain sight, if you will."

I clear my throat. "I'll take the ring and give it to Padme. If anyone has extraordinary luck already, she does." And she can use a boost wherever she can get. "What about the blade?"

Lux shrugs. "If we're in so much danger that we have to divide the artifacts, then it just might be time to turn it over to the Jedi Order."

"Just give it to me and I'll take care of it," I promise, envisioning a nice place for the dagger in a dusty corner of the Holocron vault.

"Okay, so we have a backup plan. Now we just need to come up with Plan A." Thank goodness for the one lecture Master Kenobi gave me on planning – always come up with Plan B first, then go to the more complicated Plan A.

"The first step, I need to get the glass from my blaster safe at work," Tandin says. "I'm sure Dendup could open it if he wants to, even if he'll need a blowtorch."

"Then let's go get it."

Lux speaks up in the turbolift on the way to the palace.

"Tandin, you said this tomb is located somewhere in the catacombs beneath Iziz?"

"Yes." Tandin slides his gaze sideways to Lux. "Why do you want to know?"

"Now that we have a king on the dejarik board this isn't hide-and-seek anymore, it's a race. We need to open the tomb."

Tandin nearly chokes on his tongue. "Open the tomb? Lux, everything we've done so far has been an effort to keep the tomb sealed!"

"It's either we open it, or Dendup opens it. Which one do you like better?" Lux quips.

"Tandin, I've got to side with Lux here. We all know what we're up against, and this time we don't have Steela to help us get a king off the throne. We need to get in here, get the glass-," something occurs to me. "Get Saw, and get to the catacombs as soon as we can."

Lux nods assent at the inclusion of Saw. "Alright: we have all four artifacts and Saw. How are we going to find the tomb in the catacombs?"

"It won't be easy. You know how extensive the catacombs are," Tandin says. "The Naddists were many things but stupid wasn't one of them, so we can safely assume it's nowhere near the tomb of Freedon Nadd. Unfortunately, that doesn't eliminate much."

"There has to be some kind of clue," I implore. "If they meant for this treasure to be found, which they obviously did because they left keys, then they wouldn't leave us to just wander aimlessly around the catacombs."

Lux takes the ring from his pocket and examines it. "It just looks like a normal ring."

A lightbulb goes off. "Put it on and start walking in the catacombs. You'll find the tomb in no time."

"Very funny, Ahsoka," Lux mutters while making no move to put on the ring.

Tandin closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

Lux snickers. "Are we going too fast for you, General?"

"No, I'm just not used to teenagers." He rolls his eyes. "I only imagine it'll get worse once Saw is with us."

I lean into Lux's ear. "Remind me to grab Saw's medication, or we'll have some issues once the current dose wears off."

Lux winces. "Yes, that would be a sound decision. Better grab some snacks for him while we're at it."

"Good idea." When Anakin gets hungry, it's not a pretty scene.

The turbolift opens and Tandin takes the lead with us trailing behind, making a beeline for the general's office. We couldn't be more obvious if we were doing the "innocent whistle."

Lux tries to cut the obviousness hanging in the air by chirping: "It's a great day to have a barbecue, isn't it?"

"…Yeah." I fix him with a look that says cut the small talk.

Lux shuts up.

"I can get the glass out of my blaster safe in a few seconds. If anyone asks, I forgot my house keys," Tandin whispers and taps in the keypad to his wing of offices. "It's almost lunchtime, so nobody should be in the-."

The door opens, revealing a tall Bivall with a surprised expression.

"Oh, hello Advisor Cree," Lux smiles. "How are you doing today?"

"Very well, very well," Cree says and goes back to his desk. "I'm finishing a few tasks. How is your shore leave?"

"We're heading over to General Tandin's for a barbecue just now," Lux lies. "We're going to take Saw with us; he could use a change of scenery."

"He'll be ecstatic," Cree agrees. "Enjoy your barbecue. Oh, and make sure you watch out for Tandin's titan anooba. That behemoth will think you're the main course."

Lux and Tandin freeze.

I suddenly get the feeling that something is very, very wrong and my hands creep toward my lightsabers. At the same time, Lux's goes to his holstered blaster.

Tandin turns around very, very slowly and says:

"You've never seen my anooba."

Cree's perpetually surprised look grows.

"Advisor?" I ask, taking a step toward the desk. "Just a question; do you have a post office box at the office across the street?"

If Cree had lifted a weapon I would have stopped him. If he had run I would have stopped him. But Cree's only move is to stab his finger into something on his side of the desk.

The office doors slam shut and there's a whirring sound.

Something solid whistles through the air and adheres itself to my shoulder.

I manage to hold my eyes open long enough to see Lux and Tandin fall to the ground next to me.

This looks like a great place to leave you all hanging...

In the Christmas spirit (and because I'm nothing if not evil) this story will not be updated on Christmas Day. Instead, I will have a Christmas-themed oneshot for your enjoyment and to soothe the suspense.

Thank you to McAwsome, RoseRavenclaw, and TessaFred for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!

Until next time,

LS