AN: Hello all! I hope everyone involved in the blizzard is safely at home! Enjoy this chapter, please review! May the Force Be With You!
Disclaimer: It belongs to George Lucas.
CHAPTER 13
Charlie awoke blearily the next morning. She went to open her eyes, but they screamed in protest. Her head hurt, and there just might have been dancing gungans behind her eyes.
Making a supreme effort to open her eyes, she squinted at the light. How long had she slept? She'd awoken on her own, no beeping from her comm or R4, which made her worry about the time. She checked on her chrono, groaning when she saw it was a little past ten. Charlie never slept that late. She let her head fall back onto her pillow, hoping to maybe fall back asleep.
But before she could, the memories of last night washed over her. She felt herself flush and then shiver. She smiled at the memory of Obi-Wan's lips on hers.
"Mmmmm…" she moaned. Last night, despite her reservations, had gone as best as she could have hoped. Obi-Wan was interesting, funny, and many other things in between. He was a good date.
Charlie felt her stomach twist, and realized that she was hungry.
"R4." Charlie called for the droid. "Will you order some breakfast brought up? I don't think I'm going to be able to make it down to the mess in time."
The droid beeped his acquiescence, and she shut here eyes, trying to make the ache go away. When she finally decided it was too late to fall back asleep, she slowly sat up, trying to stave off any more pain. She kept her eyes shut, using the Force to call fresh underclothes to her from her dresser, and walked into the fresher like a blind woman.
Charlie made it through a nice, long shower without much more pain, and exited in the underclothes and the soft robe, feeling much more human than she had when she'd awoken. There was a knock just as she was folding her sleep clothes. She answered the door carefully in deference to her robe, and saw a droid standing here there a delicious smelling plate of food and a jug of her favorite Bezlet juice. She took them gratefully, thanking the droid, which bowed and left.
She went took them to her desk, talking mindlessly to R4. She ate with gusto. This reminded her of Anakin the previous night. Obi-Wan had called Anakin a slob.
"Obi-Wan." she thought with pleasure, again. What a wonderful date it had been.
"Date? Where did that come from, Charlie?" she asked herself.
Though, then again, she supposed that's exactly what it had been. That had been her intention, and his too, she realized with a smile. Thinking back on it though, it was really no surprise that Obi-Wan had taken them to the seedy bar. The ability to go unnoticed for who he was must be treasured by a Jedi as respected as he was.
Their conversation about Anakin had troubled her, however. She sensed there was more there than he was letting on. Charlie considered their force signatures, which she had found to be pretty good representations of their owners. This was not a power all Jedi had. She would guess that, of the council members, Masters Windu and Yoda were the only ones powerful and wise enough to be privy to it. Her's came simply from her Silverstar heritage. It was one of the skills she trained with, and it had come to her during that first encounter with Tyranus.
She had felt Obi-Wan's force signature the very first time she knew to be looking for it, in the Hall of a Thousand Fountains. Obi-Wan walked clearly in the light, and his signature reflected that. She supposed it came from his complete respect for the Jedi, and Qui-Gon's death at the hands of a Sith Lord. Obi-Wan was not the perfect Jedi, though, for she felt the remains of his teenage rebelliousness on the outside of his signature. She could feel, first and foremost, his dedication to the Jedi, to Anakin, and to his vow to maintain peace. He wasn't called the Negotiator for nothing, she supposed. She wanted to go further, to find out more, but it was a tremendous invasion of privacy, and without Obi-Wan next to her, she really couldn't. Distance was a factor in all things Force related.
Charlie considered Anakin's force signature next, with more trepidation. His was not blinding with the light side of the force, but it was equally blinding with power. She'd known immediately when she met Anakin for the first time that she was dealing with an extremely powerful Jedi. Charlie wondered who his parents were, to produce such a powerful offspring. There was devotion to Obi-Wan, an intense love for Padmé, and a soft spot for the memories he had of Qui-Gon Jinn. There was also a thread of darkness, splitting the light into sections. There she saw pride, but also a want, no, a need to be accepted by Obi-Wan.
Suddenly, Charlie shook her head, backing out of the force and back into her room. She had gone too far. She would not endanger Anakin's privacy, especially where his relationship with Obi-Wan was concerned. Not after their conversation the night before.
Charlie stood and stretched, hissing as her bones popped. She dressed for the day quickly, donning her weapons and her Silverstar cloak. She wanted to be prepared if she was called in front of the council. She didn't have any messages on her comm unit, so she assumed she was free to wander for the day. She decided to train; she was feeling much better and hadn't really been training since the day she battled Master Windu. She wanted to find a place to go for a swim. She packed a change of clothes and a holo to bring. She mused about maybe visiting the archives later as she left her room.
"I have an audience." Charlie thought to herself, as she focused on her movements.
She was on the movement trainer, basically a giant, sprawling, very sturdy jungle gym. She had her saber out, and was practicing her katas while fighting off a couple of very persistent droids. To do this, and to push herself a little farther, she stayed in touch with the Force, allowing it to focus her and to speed her movements a little.
When she'd finished the last of the katas, she jumped, catlike, from the jungle gym and proceeded to disembowel the remaining droids. She deactivated her saber and pressed a button on the wall that called off the constant resurrection of the droids. She was done. Her audience dispersed when she looked at them, enthralled but afraid at what her reaction would be. She allowed herself to recenter after the vigorous exercise, and she grabbed her cloak, off in search of someone who could tell her where she could swim.
Swimming had been one of her particular favorite pastimes in the temple. The very bottom of the large building opened into an underground ocean, with enough light from holes in the roof above to see by. She'd known how to swim, and quickly took to meditating down there when she could.
A young human padawan had given her directions to the pool in the temple. Charlie felt his eyes follow her movement as she walked away. At the pool, there she found yet another droid manning a desk.
"Hello milady." it said in greeting. "Are you here to use the facilities?"
Charlie nodded.
"Very good." it said. "Are you in need of swim clothes and a towel?"
Charlie nodded again.
"Very well, please follow me."
It lead her through a door on the right, into a locker room of sorts. It handed her a bundle of clothes and a towel, pointed out the door to the pool, the showers, and the sauna before making its way back out to the desk.
Charlie found an empty locker with ease, and checked that she was alone before stripping. She'd swum in her underclothes at the lair, completely alone in the hidden ocean, but she knew propriety required her to wear the clothes the droid had given her.
Charlie had completely lost track of time, she realized, looking at her wrist comm. It had been close to an hour of constant swimming. She dipped back under the water one last time, savoring the feeling, before emerging from the pool. She showered quickly, realizing she was quite hungry again, and dressed in her change of clothes before exiting the locker room.
Her hands ghosted over her weapons, subconsciously afraid that she'd lost something. Everything was as it should be, though, so she continued on to the mess. She realized it was a little before four, and she was hitting the mess between meals. The droids would still serve her, but it would be less busy than normal. She entered to a low volume of conversation, appreciating the lack of people.
She ate while reading up on the day's news on her holo. Since the battle on Geonosis, the separatists and Sidious' army had been quiet. This was to be expected. The death of Count Dooku must have disturbed Sidious. There were reports of skirmishes around the galaxy, mostly in the outer rim. When she noticed the name Janulik in one of the articles, she nearly choked on her food.
Charlie's heart stuttered. Her vision narrowed and her emotions suddenly had the better of her. She needed to leave the mess, now. She stood up, roughly shoving the holo into her bag and the plate into the trash. She practically ran out of the mess, out of the temple, and into the gardens. She walked and walked, trying the hold off her feelings until she was sure, with the help of the force, that no one was near.
Charlie had been studiously avoiding any mention or thought of her family for five years. It was easier to avoid the feelings, so she'd channeled them into the force, and left them there.
"Amaris would be almost twelve now." she mused to herself, feeling another pang at the loss of her past life.
She'd never stopped to really think about how her capture would have affected them. She was too busy trying not to reveal herself to the Sith Lords.
"Please, stars above, let them be okay." she said out loud, praying into the force.
Nonetheless, sinking to sit with her back to a tree, dragging the holo back out of her back, and clicking on the link to the article, her hands were trembling.
Terror in the Outer Rim
Inwako Tanbuki
In the few days since the start of what is widely being called the Clone Wars, the separatists have wasted no time in starting their attack. The Outer Rim has been besieged by separatist droids, and while the Republic's clones answer the cries for help, new planets are attacked everyday.
The planet Prionok is a calm ocean world, dotted with islands created with the help of underwater volcanoes. It is home to the peaceful Prionokians, part of the trade systems and a valued member of the Republic for an outer rim planet. It was the first to send a call for aid, most likely because of its status in the senate. A transmission from Prionok described the total destruction of the small island communities. The separatists seem to have a total disregard for life. The Republic's clone detachment landed as soon as possible after the distress call, and the clones were successful in saving what was left of the planet. However, initial reports point to widespread death.
If you have a friend or a loved one living or working on Prionok, please contact the alert network, and they will try to get you information on their status. The destruction on Prionok is a glaring example of one of the reasons the Republic continues to fight back. But there is another horrible story.
On the planet Janulik, there is a small town called Creuset. Its people trade goods for a living, keeping to themselves. A former citizen talks about its vibrant market atmosphere, with traders arriving from all over the galaxy. Creuset seems to be one of the first targets of the separatists, for no known reason. The town was devastated, and without a way to call for aid, there was no saving grace for the citizens. The Jedi Temple informs us that two of its members have been dispatched to investigate the planets importance in the Separatists plan.
There were very few survivors, found only because one detachment of clones luckily did a fly by, checking on the planet to see if it had been targeted. They found Creuset razed and its few survivors very happy to see them. The strange thing is that they found the rest of the planet untouched. The separatists target was specifically Creuset, again, for unknown reasons. The survivors were contacted, and one spoke to us about the attack. The man, identified by the name Fouria, spoke briefly about the destruction and about his own survival, but the incident that seems to resonant with him most is the captures of a small family. He wouldn't give us names for fear of his safety and theirs, but he would tell us that it was a husband, wife, and their daughter, around the age of 12.
Again, if you have a friend or a loved one living or working on Janulik, please contact the alert network, and they will try to get you information on their status. Also, if you have any information on the whereabouts of the missing family, please call the hotline with your information.
Charlie couldn't breathe. It felt as if there was a rock in her chest. She couldn't see. Panic flooded her limbs, and she curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth. Spots danced in front of her eyes, forcing her to reach into the force for the strength to take a breath.
She gasped, breathing hard and fast, willing herself to calm down. But she couldn't center, couldn't achieve the commune with the force that she normally could. Those people, that kidnapped family had to be her Aunt, Uncle, and Amaris.
"Oh." Charlie sobbed out, now crying without really realizing it. "Amaris," she said, "poor innocent Amaris. Oh, what have I done!?"
Her voice raised to a keen, and she realized belatedly that someone might hear her.
She reached into the force, using it as a security blanket, trying the excise the panic and calm the intensity of emotion that had a stranglehold on her.
"This is all my fault." thought Charlie, head now in her hands.
She couldn't calm down, couldn't center herself.
"Please, stars above, for the love of the Force don't let him hurt them." she thought, not realizing she was also muttering to herself.
In her agony, she didn't feel the two Jedi approach.