Hello everyone. Thank you for the continued support for this story. I want to answer one question that someone asked; No, Ahsoka will not be depressed for ever in this story but she will get worse before she gets better. Indeed, something will happen that will make her worse initially but will put both her and Anakin on a very quick road to recovery but that's a few chapters off yet. Just a note; this will not be an Anisoka; they will develop a brother sister relationship nothing more. Anyway on with chapter 4; Anakin has a frank talk with Kliph Freeah whilst Ahsoka watches and a strange and disturbing event happens that may totally change the direction of the investigation. Just a note; I will not be telling you any of Kliph's thoughts during this chapter, only what he says. It is quite deliberate to keep the mystery. Also, this is one of the first pivotal chapters, so read carefully.

An Agri-Corp Mystery: Chapter 4 – A Talk with Kliph

The Force has a will; that is the one fact that almost every Jedi agrees on. There may be slight disagreements about the exact nature of the Force from Jedi to Jedi but that is the one fact on which they mostly all agree. Anakin Skywalker couldn't help but think about that fact as he led a very shocked Ahsoka Tano behind him. He was beginning to wonder whether meeting Ahsoka was the will of the Force. Even though he could sense the girl's surprise after he had asked for her continued help, he could sense that the depressed thoughts that clouded Ahsoka's mind had lessened slightly and even her eyes were looking slightly brighter.

Ahsoka walked behind Anakin as they headed back to the quarters building. She was still seriously confused about why Anakin Skywalker wanted to bother with her. She certainly wasn't going to complain but it seemed so unnatural to her after being basically in solitary confinement for a year and a half. Ahsoka couldn't help but be slightly excited at the prospect of doing something other than sitting in a field. Perhaps she could pretend that she wasn't such a failure and was doing something that perhaps she would have done if she had have been picked as a Padawan; for a while at least. Ahsoka wasn't going to try to fool herself however; she was well aware that it was just temporary; she would be back on her own soon enough and she quite understood why.

Anakin had noticed that Ahsoka had been quiet since he had told her to follow him. Taking a brief glance at her, he could both see and sense that she was deep in thought. He frowned for a second as he wondered what she was thinking about but it didn't take him long to realise that she was thinking of another life and what could have been. He knew the signs all too well; after all, he had frequently thought about what could have been himself; especially after his wife's death.

Anakin chose not to interfere with Ahsoka's thoughts; everyone was allowed to dream. Instead, he led her back into the quarters building. Concentrating on the Force, Anakin sensed that Kliph was in the control room. With what Ahsoka had told him during the tour of the base, Anakin was growing slightly wary of Kliph; although the council had told him that both Jedi on Pheebos had already been cleared of involvement, he still wasn't sure about Kliph. In Anakin's view, with the state of Ahsoka, Kliph was guilty of negligence at the very least and he had to wonder whether Kliph had more secrets.

"Kliph is in the control room Ahsoka. Let's go as I need to speak to him."

Anakin's words snapped Ahsoka out of her thoughts; she had barely noticed that they had gone back inside. Slightly embarrassed she replied, "Um….ok….Do I need to say anything or just watch and listen?"

"Not if you don't want to," Anakin answered. He sighed; the reason Ahsoka asked that question was obvious to him, "You're not comfortable talking to people are you Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka's lekku darkened and she shook her head slowly. She did consider lying and telling Anakin that she was but she knew that it wouldn't work; he would be able to sense the truth anyway, "No Master Skywalker, I'm not if I'm honest. I'm….I'm just used to being alone I suppose."

Anakin sighed again, "Ok Ahsoka, leave the questioning to me as I understand that Kliph is your senior here."

Ahsoka nodded with relief, "Thank you."

Anakin signalled for her to follow and headed off to the control room before Kliph went anywhere. After a few seconds of walking in silence, Anakin led Ahsoka back into the control room that Ahsoka had shown him earlier in the day. He noticed Kliph Freeah inspecting the shipping rota on one of the room's terminals. "Ah Kliph, do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

Kliph turned around and the Zabrak eyed Anakin and Ahsoka with a slight hint of interest in his gaze; an interest that did not go unnoticed by Anakin. "Certainly Knight Skywalker," Kliph replied, "I'm done here so ask away."

"Alight Kliph" Anakin began. He decided to start easy; there was no need to antagonise Kliph yet. Anakin had to stop for a second; when did he get like Obi-Wan? Anakin mentally slapped himself over that, "Ahsoka tells me that she handles the fields and the crops; what is it that you do?" Anakin already had some of the answers to that of course but it would be interesting to hear Kliph's reply.

Kliph's mouth curls up with amusement, "I have done my fair share of that down the years I assure you. Now, I'm not as young as I used to be and as the senior Agri-Corps Jedi here, my duties are more administrational now."

"Meaning?" Anakin enquired. He was starting to lose patience with Kliph already; Anakin had never heard such a self-important reply.

"I handle the running of the base now; assigning tasks, quarters, dealing with the delivery of our output, things of that nature."

"Okay" Anakin said slowly, "How long have you been assigned here?"

"I was one of the first to come to Pheebos Knight Skywalker" Kliph replied in a tone of voice that made it clear that he was proud of this base. "This is one of the Agri-Corps' newest bases. It has only been here fifteen years. I have been here for fourteen of those."

Anakin noticed Ahsoka was looking at Kliph with wide eyes. It was clear to Anakin that Ahsoka didn't know anything about that. For a second, he wondered why Ahsoka hadn't been told that but let it pass and asked, "In that case Kliph, perhaps you can tell me what these controls are for and why they are here." Anakin walked around the central holo projector and pointed to the strange controls he noticed during the tour.

Kliph turned around and looked at the controls Anakin was referring to. As he read the control panel, his eyes narrowed and he frowned, "To be honest Knight Skywalker, I don't really know. I've only been the senior Jedi here for the last few weeks; since the last few Jedi were reassigned. I've certainly never used this panel." He leaned over and studied the individual controls more closely, "To my knowledge, there is nothing on this base that would require bio containment filters." He stood up and shook his head slightly, "Strange; the Force does indeed work in mysterious ways."

Anakin raised an eyebrow. He could sense that Kliph was telling the truth and it surprised him; he would have lain credits down that Kliph had something to do with those controls. "Have you seen anyone use these controls?"

Kliph looked to the ceiling for a second before he answered; "Now you come to mention it, I have seen this panel in use and powered up on the odd occasion but there was no-one by it. As I wasn't the senior Jedi at the time, I wasn't in here that often however." Kliph looked over to Ahsoka, "Ahsoka, have you seen anyone on these controls?"

Ahsoka looked up and searched her memory. In reality, Ahsoka knew very little about the operation of the control room. After a few seconds thought, she replied, "No Kliph, I don't think I have."

"Strange indeed" Kliph stated.

"Do you have any more info about them?" Anakin asked.

"Not really" Kliph replied. He then stopped almost as if he had just remembered something, "Actually, I can remember that a new control panel was installed here about three years ago; we had a whole gang of Republic engineers here for a week. I wonder if it was this panel that was installed."

"That's interesting," Anakin answered. He was fairly certain that it was indeed that control panel that was installed but he' have to make sure somehow. In addition, something in Anakin's brain clicked, "I'll have to look into that. I've got a feeling this control panel is somehow linked to the poisoning."

"Really?" Ahsoka asked. She was certainly surprised to hear that. To her, there didn't seem to be much of a connection.

"Yes Ahsoka, I do" Anakin said. He then turned back to Kliph, "Both Ahsoka and you have now mentioned that people have left here. Any idea about why they've left?"

Kliph's face suddenly became serious. Anakin could sense a tiny bit of anger in Kliph after he asked that question. In a serious tone, Kliph answered, "No I haven't Skywalker. I'm not happy about it either; there is too much work here for just Ahsoka and me."

"As the senior Jedi left Kliph, were you told anything?" Anakin asked. He could also see that Ahsoka suddenly took a very keen interest in the answer that Kliph may give.

"That's the strangest part to be honest." Kliph sighed before he continued, "This base had over twenty people here at one point, yet all of a sudden there came a series of very fast reassignments. All we were told was that the decision had come from within the Agri-Corps."

"What?" Anakin was puzzled; this was certainly very unusual behaviour, "How fast?"

"Fast!" Kliph exclaimed, "Eighteen personnel were gone in just three months." He shook his head, "What I found really strange was the fact that the previous senior Jedi before me did nothing to try to halt it."

"That's right" Ahsoka suddenly stated in a curious tone, "I remember that. I was told to mind my place and that I was just a youngling when I asked about it."

Anakin turned to look at Ahsoka, "You were?" Ahsoka slowly nodded in response and Anakin let out a string of Huttese curses under his breath. He then turned back to Kliph, "Did that include the personnel that weren't in the Agri-Crops?" Anakin was considering changing his mind slightly about Kliph as he could sense no falsehood in anything that he said.

"Yeah, looking back, I also found that curious." Kliph raised his finger to make a point, "It didn't click with me until you brought it up Skywalker but I couldn't understand what the Educational Corps and the Medical Corps were doing here and I certainly couldn't understand what those scientists were doing here."

"Scientists?" Anakin exclaimed. That explained who the 'Special Purpose' staff members were Anakin reasoned, "Any idea what type of scientist?"

"No, as I said, I wasn't the senior Jedi at the time."

"Who was?" Anakin asked. Perhaps he could get some information from him or her Anakin reasoned.

"Ah, that would be Joa" Kliph replied, "Joa Pritia was her full name. She's a human woman in her late thirties, early forties in case you ask. She was also reassigned very fast and I have no idea where she is now." He then brought his finger up to his mouth and continued, "She had a friendship with one of the male scientists that was slightly against the Jedi code if you ask me but out here, it didn't matter. Don't tell the High Council but unofficially, we allow ourselves to be slightly freer with the code here. After all, we are basically just farmers." Anakin raised an eyebrow and he could see that Ahsoka was shocked beyond belief. Kliph chuckled slightly before he continued, "Come to think about it; it wasn't long after she left that the problem with the poison in the crops appeared. Must be a coincidence I suppose."

Anakin frowned as he remembered Ahsoka mentioning Joa, "I don't believe in coincidences Kliph. My former master doesn't either. Hmmmm, maybe I can get the council to chase her up." Anakin raised his head and asked Kliph, "There is one more thing; Ahsoka told me that the potatoes that you grow here go to make carb sticks, but where are the lettuces and berries sent?"

"Ah, the pink lettuce is usually sent to clone trooper barracks to give them some variety in their meals. The bilaberries however are a cash crop. We usually sell them to civilian distributors to get some credits in for the Order." Kliph glanced back at the screen he was originally looking at, "In fact, that is what I was checking when you came in. I wanted to see if any transport ships were due for a pick up. Sadly, it would seem that we have been barred until the poison issue has been solved."

Anakin nodded and turned to Ahsoka, "Ok, thank you Kliph, that will be all for now. Come on Ahsoka, we've got start pulling….." He was interrupted by a droid that came into the room. Anakin could see that it was one of the droids that assisted Ahsoka in the fields.

"Excuse me Masters" the droid stated in its deep robotic voice, "Something strange has happened on the fields. I request that you come with me."

"What has happened Tee Sixty?" Kliph asked urgently.

"My fellow droids and I have found an entire swarm of dead weevils and we can't understand what killed them" the droid replied.

"Lead the way and show us" Kliph ordered, "Come on Ahsoka." He then turned to Anakin, "Are you coming Knight Skywalker?"

Anakin nodded. He was definitely coming; Anakin knew that it usually took quite a lot to concern a droid unless its name was C3PO of course. Therefore, he reasoned, for a simple agricultural droid to think there was something strange, something really unusual must have occurred and he knew that he had to see it. One fact didn't escape Anakin; odd events just seem to happen on Pheebos and he was certain of one thing. It was not a coincidence.

The droid led the three Jedi back outside. For a while, Anakin wondered exactly where the droid was taking them until it led them into the field of pink lettuce and along one of the walkways between the crops. The scene that met the three Jedi was unlike anything that any of them had seen before. In front of them were an uncountable number of dead weevils. In fact, there were so many of them that in some places, the earth could not be seen for their dead bodies.

"What in the Force?" Kliph asked with some serious concern in his voice.

Anakin was also concerned; he remembered Kliph telling him that they were fighting a plague of weevils but even so, seeing this number of dead was unsettling to say the least. He noticed that Ahsoka had turned her back and it seemed to him that she was unable to look at the scene. Anakin got down on one knee. Looking closer, he could see why the droids were confused; there was no indication of how they died on any of the weevils he looked at. The only thing he could ascertain was that this swarm had been feeding on the pink lettuce crop before they died; the bite marks and ragged leaves on the plants were clear to see.

"Something's wrong here" Anakin stated as he continued to study the scene, "I have to ask, Ahsoka, did you use any insecticide here?"

Ahsoka briefly turned back around. She immediately felt sick looking at the scene in front of her. She thought for a moment that she was going to get the blame for this but nevertheless she answered truthfully, "No Master Skywalker. In fact, we don't use insecticide at all in the Agri-Corps; we believe that's it's against the will of the Force."

"Ahsoka is right Skywalker; we don't" Kliph cut in.

Anakin shook his head. Now he was seriously worried; what could kill a whole swarm of weevils just after eating the crops? He froze with fright; he prayed to the Force that he was wrong but by the same token, it was impossible, the tests had already been done hadn't they? "Kliph, Ahsoka, we need to analyse one of these weevils; there's a terrible feeling in the Force."

Ahsoka closed her eyes for a second and concentrated on the Force. She was a little out of practice in concentrating in this fashion but her heart sank as she realised what Anakin meant, "Yes, I sense it too Master Skywalker. There's a huge tragedy occurring here; I…I don't like it."

Kliph picked up one of the weevils, "I sense it also. In fact, I've sensed it since we entered this field. I've got one of the weevils for testing."

"Good" Anakin stated quickly. For some reason, the Force was screaming at him to get out of that field and there was something unhealthy, "We've got to go now."

"I think you're right Skywalker" Kliph had a look of fear on his face. For the first time, Anakin could tell that Kliph genuinely had no idea what was going on. "I'll analyse this weevil when we get back."

Anakin and Ahsoka both nodded and all three Jedi got out of the field as quickly as they could and made their way back to the quarters building. As soon as they were back inside, they headed straight to the control room. Kliph inserted the deceased weevil into one of the terminal's testers and proceeded to run tests.

After a few seconds, the computer beeped and Kliph read the results off its screen, "OH MY GOD NO!"

"What….what is it Kliph?" Ahsoka asked. Her fear was radiating through the Force and Anakin could tell that she was making no attempts to hide it.

Kliph looked terrified and broken. Anakin wondered what in the Force Kliph had discovered. This time, it was Kliph's turn to stutter, "This…this cannot be…it cannot….According to this, the weevils were killed by the same nerve toxin that was found in our output. This weevil was saturated with it."

"What?" Anakin exclaimed, "How?"

Ahsoka was now terrified. In her view there was no possible way that the weevils could have been poisoned; they had eaten the lettuce straight from the field. She froze with realisation; it could only mean one thing, "The only way that's possible is if the plants themselves were poisonous."

Anakin could instantly see where she was coming from; he had had a similar thought in the field but he knew that tests had been done, "The plants and soil have already been tested Ahsoka. Don't worry."

"Who told you that Skywalker?" Kliph asked with narrowed eyes.

"The council" Anakin replied, "They told me as they sent me on this mission that everything had been tested."

Kliph and Ahsoka both shook their heads. Kliph gave a quick frown and stated, "Someone has lied then. Skywalker, apart from a few tests in the warehouse and the transport ships no one has tested anything. Ahsoka and I were considering testing ourselves in fact but we simply haven't had the time."

"That's right Master Skywalker" Ahsoka agreed, "I would have told you before but I was under the impression that you knew the situation as we did." Ahsoka gestured towards Kliph and then to herself.

Anakin stared as he realised his entire investigation had just changed. His initial thoughts that he had had back in the council chamber were right; someone was lying. In addition, he knew the seriousness of what he now had to do, "In the name of the council then I must order that everything here must stop."

Kliph sighed, "I had a feeling you would do that. What do you want us to do?"

Anakin thought through all his options for a second. He was slightly more willing to trust Kliph now but he still wasn't totally sure about him but he realised that he didn't have much choice at that moment. Anakin however now trusted Ahsoka completely; the Force had told him with certainty that he could. In fact, the Force was pushing him to her even stronger than before and he still wasn't sure why. After some thought, he came to a decision, "Kliph, I want you to contact any ships that may be coming here and stop them. In addition, can you please test the soil and plants?" Kliph nodded his agreement and Anakin turned to Ahsoka, "Ahsoka, you're with me."

Again, Ahsoka was shocked, "What will we be doing Master Skywalker?"

Anakin smirked, "Well first Ahsoka, I'm going to contact the council again and then there's something off in this base and we are going to find it."

Ahsoka's eyes widened as she nodded. She wondered exactly what Anakin meant but she would have to wait and see. She was sure of one thing however; her life had gotten considerably more interesting since she had met Anakin Skywalker. She just hated the thought that she would have to go back to loneliness again once this was all sorted out.

Well that's chapter 4. What do you all think now? I hope I've given everyone a real mystery here and it's far more complex than it initially seemed I assure you. As I said at the beginning, this was the first really pivotal chapter as it gave Anakin some answers but also many more questions. I hope the weevil thing meets with everyone's approval as I needed something slightly horrible to steer Anakin but didn't want anything too horrible.

Anyway, next chapter Anakin contacts the council again with the news and then he and Ahsoka start having a real poke around whilst they wait for the tests that Kliph does.