Sleep eluded Obi-Wan for most of the night. His attempts at meditation hadn't fared much better. So, hours before the first creeping blush of dawn could warm the sky, Obi-Wan found his restless feet had led him to Pei Pelri's sleeping quarters. He stared at the inlaid door. What was he even doing here? He couldn't disturb his friends rest, just because he'd failed to find his own.
"Do come in Obi-Wan," he heard a voice call from behind the durasteel, "you're brooding so loudly out there, you'll wake up half the Temple."
The door slid up, revealing a softly lit interior. The low bed in the centre of the room was still made, it's woven green sheets crisp and untouched. Shelves lined the walls, filled with an assortment of oddities. It reminded Obi-Wan of the mess of Anakin's room, though this at least had some semblance of organisation to it. "I am sorry to disturb you Pei," he said as he entered, the door whooshing shut behind him.
"Fortunately for you, I was already awake," the Sullustan replied, from where she was tucked into a comfortable looking chair in front of a desk heaving with datapads. Pei didn't look up at Obi-Wan's entrance, she just flicked a hand to indicate the workload in front of her. "I have a mountain of reports and analysis to go through from the studies on VK-3NJ67, which have all been accumulating in my absence. It's riveting stuff."
Now that he was in Pei's room, Obi-Wan had no idea where to start. What was he even going to say? He wandered over to a wall covered in an array of colourful art and beautiful patterns. It was only on closer inspection, that he could see they were enlarged microscopic samples. Crystal fractals. The colourful web of plant cells. The fluorescence of protein structures. Beauty and complexity held in even the smallest living forms.
"Out with it then," Pei said, interrupting his thoughts. He turned from the pictures to see that she was watching him now, dark eyes glittering in the low light.
"I talked to Doctor Nema yesterday," he said.
"And?"
"And…while I can understand the reasoning behind the Council's decision-" Pei cut Obi-Wan off with a derisive snort, "-I've not been able to shake the uneasy feeling that there's something very off about the whole thing. Doctor Nema had mentioned you had voiced your opinions-" another snort, "-at the time, and I was rather hoping you would share them with me."
"You know me well enough that you could probably list them yourself, Obi-Wan," Pei replied. She tossed the forgotten datapad in her hands onto the desk, not flinching at the mini avalanche caused by the impact. Pei tugged at her left ear; an old habit Obi-Wan recognised from their shared youth. Something was bothering her too. "The Council - as usual - are happy to pass over on anything that may cause even the smallest amount of upset to daily life in the Temple - especially if it could lead to discoveries that might challenge their views on the Force. The Chancellor is only showing an interest as it will probably buff his political ties - or help him to form new ones."
Pei released her ear and shook her head, letting out a sigh. "And in the middle of it all, is one frightened, injured woman who was entrusted into our care - and whose trust we betrayed by not fighting for what was best for her."
"Doctor Nema said that Emily had asked for me?" Obi-Wan unexpectedly found himself saying. Because that had been it, hadn't it? The thing his mind kept looping back to - batting aside sleep and interrupting meditation.
"If by 'asked' Doctor Nema meant, 'screamed your name until she was sedated', then yes, Emily asked for you," she replied. Obi-Wan scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to push aside the sick rush in his stomach. He had wanted Pei's honest opinion, but that didn't always prepare you for the blow.
"What about the reports they've been sending?" he asked.
"It's just a bunch of vague and useless data, nothing helpful." Pei eased herself up from the chair, smoothing down her loose nightclothes and stretching out her long toes. Obi-Wan watched as she pulled a set of robes from her dresser. "All of my research was transferred at the same time Emily was carted off - my formulations for the analgesic gel, anaesthetic compound and her nutritional paste were all taken as well. I have been, very specifically, instructed by the Council to focus my attentions elsewhere."
"Obi-Wan," Pei said, after a long pause. "You didn't wander into my room before daybreak, just to ask me questions you already know the answer to. Why are you really here?"
She was right of course, Obi-Wan realised. He knew exactly why he had come to her, even if he struggled to admit it to himself. "I was thinking that we might pay the facility an unexpected visit."
"Really?" Pei said, though she didn't seem remotely surprised. "The Council won't be happy with that, and we both know how much you hate disappointing the Council."
"Yes well, as you pointed out, the Council can - very occasionally - be incorrect in their assessments." Obi-Wan watched the Sullustan's mouth flaps tug up into a little smile. "If my fears are unfounded, I'll happily stand before the Council and bear the full brunt of their judgement," he clarified.
"Hmmm, there's more than a little of Qui-Gon left in you yet-" Pei said, wandering across the room to pat his shoulder. Then she reached up and tugged at his beard. "-and I don't just mean in that ridiculous hair you've insisted on growing all over your face."
Obi-Wan batted her hand away, but he couldn't help the relieved smile that split his face. Pei was a good friend, even when she was happily knocking your self-esteem to the ground.
"Well?" she said. "Stop standing there grinning at me like an idiot. Go get your padawan and I'll meet you at the transporter bays on the East side."
"Yes, Master Pelri," Obi-Wan said, in his best submissive padawan tone, before giving a mocking bow. He barely dodged the datapad that was launched after him, as he ducked out of the room with a laugh. Now all he had to do was drag his apprentice away from his morning meal.
That, as it turned out, was not as hard a task as it usually was. The minute Anakin had been told that they were going to visit Emily at her new facility, the boy practically shovelled his entire plates' worth of scrambled nuna eggs and fried Kooriva mushrooms into his mouth, before jumping out of his chair, cheeks bulging, as he struggled to quickly gulp down his breakfast. A quick trip to change into their robes, and they were met by an impatient Pei at the landing pads, not twenty minutes later.
"Do you know the coordinates to this facility?" Obi-Wan asked, as the three of them piled into one of the Temple's bigger air-taxi's, Anakin slotting himself in the pilot seat with practiced ease.
"No, I thought we would just fly from building to building and ask for her by name…" Pei said, pulling out her remote comms tracker. She punched a couple of buttons, and a green dot flashed on the vehicle's navigation panel, just as Anakin pulled out from the bay.
"Do you know anything about this place?" Obi-Wan said, as the skyline zipped past them.
"It's one of the Republican Cross-World Research Institutions. Good facilities. Highly regarded. Has some of the best and brightest of the Republic's scientific minds working inside."
"Why does none of that seem to comfort me?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Well, we're about to find out, Master," Anakin replied, as a gleaming tower came into view, shaped like a tailfin cutting through the sky. Anakin transmitted a request to dock using a Jedi access code, and a few seconds later, a side panel opened up, allowing their vehicle entry. Just as their boots hit the landing pad, a silver protocol droid shuffled out of a side door and approached them.
"Welcome to the Repprodel Institute of Scientific Research. We are honoured to welcome the Jedi to our facility. How may I help you this morning?"
"We were hoping to speak to one of the scientists in your institute," Obi-Wan replied.
"Oh yes, of course. One of our lead technicians will be delighted to speak to you, I am sure. This way please," the droid said, wandering back to the side door it came from. After exchanging a look, the Jedi followed.
Obi-Wan was struck by the unfamiliar jitter of nerves. What if he'd just been overthinking everything? As they walked through the clean, bright corridors and past glittering laboratories full of some of the most advanced tech he had ever seen, Obi-Wan started to get the horrible feeling that this was all just in his head. That they'd find Emily happy and healthy and engaging with the staff, glad to get away from her dull iso-chamber in the Temple, and from Obi-Wan constantly hovering over her. And he should be thrilled at the prospect that she would be happy here, shouldn't he? Isn't that what he wanted? Was his apprehension just down to his own attachment, and the guilt of not being there for her when she was transferred.
"You're brooding again," Pei said as she walked along beside him. Obi-Wan pulled himself from his thoughts, taking a moment to just breathe and clear his mind. If Emily was happy here, then they would take their leave with the sincerest thanks and gratitude. In the end, all that mattered was her wellbeing.
They entered in to a large reception, filled with designer seats and expensive artwork. Behind a huge, polished stone desk, sat a Rodian female. She stood up as they approached the reception desk, her white uniform a stark contrast to the brilliant turquoise green of her skin.
"I am Suritea Jorr," she said, inclining her head respectfully. "Welcome to our Institute. It is always a rare pleasure to receive Jedi to our laboratories. I am sorry for the poor welcome. If you had contacted us in advance, we would have made the appropriate preparations for your arrival."
"Thank you," Obi-Wan said with a bow. He reached out with the Force, testing the air, but could feel nothing but sincerity from the Rodian. "My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is my fellow Jedi, Master Pei Pelri, and my padawan, Anakin Skywalker. We apologise for dropping in unannounced. We were simply hoping to visit with one of your research patients, recently transferred to you from the Jedi Temple. Her name is Emily."
The Rodian turned to her computer, her large blue eyes flickering through a scrolling screen of text. "I'm afraid that we never received the patient you speak of, Master Kenobi," the Rodian said, drawing her gaze back to him. "She was redirected on route to an off-world facility."
"By who?" Pei demanded, stepping up to the desk to peer at the screen herself. The Rodian blanched a slightly paler green as she was elbowed out of the way.
"We weren't provided with a name, just with verified communication from the Coruscant Authorities that the patient was to be treated in an off-world facility, on the planet Kuat."
"We were not informed of this," Pei said, fingers tapping over the screens. "What about the reports we've been receiving? They were sent directly from your terminals."
"Yes," Suritea stammered. "We were asked to continue forwarding on the reports to all interested parties as previously requested. It's all in the communication. Really, we've done everything we were asked."
"Pei?" Obi-Wan said, every alarm in his head blaring. "Can you find out anything?"
"The comms signatures look official enough, but I can't verify it without my equipment. The tracking signature is all over the place. I don't know if I can trace it's source."
"Can I try?" Anakin asked. "I might be able to."
Pei nodded, stepping back to let Anakin slip in to the space between her and the screens. The Rodian was glancing nervously back and forth between them, her long fingers twisted together. Obi-Wan absent-mindedly stroked his hand through his beard, trying to focus past his feelings to the calm held within the Force. They were going to need all of their wits to get to the truth of this mess. Obi-Wan just hoped they weren't too late.
"Got it!" Anakin shouted. "Getting the comms coordinates now. Wait…zero, zero, zero. The messages are being sent from Coruscant."
"Do you know from where?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Just gimmie a second," Anakin replied, fingers clattering over the keys. "That's weird. The coordinates are pointing to the middle of The Works."
"The Works is just a burnt-out pile of crumbling old buildings," the Rodian said. "There's no scientific facilities there. Are you sure you are correct?"
Anakin didn't reply, he was looking to Obi-Wan. "Master, why would anyone take her there?"
"To avoid being found," Pei replied. Obi-Wan nodded his agreement.
"Transfer the coordinates to the vehicle," Obi-Wan said. "Someone has gone to a lot of effort to cover their tracks. I dread to think what that means for Emily."
No-one said a word as they flew out into the Industrial sector. Anakin was gunning the air-taxi at a speed that would normally have Obi-Wan clinging to the dashboard and shouting for mercy, but now, even as the buildings and traffic flew by in a dizzying blur, it didn't feel remotely fast enough. Pei was a calm and focused energy beside him. She had been a Consular in the research department for many years now, ever since the incident, but Obi-Wan held no concerns should she be faced with battle. Pei was an unflappable presence, even in the midst of chaos. It was one of the many traits he admired in her.
"This is it, I think," Anakin said, slowing the vehicle. A huge tower loomed ahead; its structure shaped like a dart stabbing into the sky. The outside of it was like the rest of the buildings in The Works - a rusted, decaying ruin. Whole sections of panelling had peeled off its sides, revealing the broken bones of its metal struts underneath. It would likely have been an impressive building back when this was a thriving section of Coruscant. Now it was just another crumbling monument to a dead industry.
"See if you can find a docking bay or recess to land on," Obi-Wan said, as Anakin banked up along its side. There was docking bay doors ringed around the middle of the building, but they were sealed, and probably not able to be opened from the outside without a keycode.
"There's a small landing pad further up," Anakin said, and the air-taxi jolted and shuddered as he put them into a sudden spin, a manoeuvre the unwieldy aircraft wasn't built for. They landed in the narrow hatch, the bottom of the ship catching and sparking as it slid along the duracrete floor, a streak of glowing red metal trailing in their wake.
"That was subtly done," Pei dryly noted, jumping out of the aircraft.
"Sorry Master," Anakin said, but Obi-Wan waved away his apologies. He reached out with the Force, but couldn't sense any life nearby. That, however, didn't discount the possibility of droids.
"We don't know what we might encounter. Our main priority is to find out if Emily is being held here, and if she is, to get her out unharmed. Everything else is secondary," Obi-Wan said. "If we can find any information on what exactly is going on here, then we'll consider that a bonus."
Pei and Anakin nodded. Together, they made their way to the south end of the landing pad, where a blast door was already opened. They quietly slipped through into a series of corridors beyond, scuffed and dirty with neglect, but the dim yellowed lights were still glowing along the ceiling. Someone was still in the building. After a few minutes of searching, they came across a storage room, filled with unpacked crates.
"Electronics. Some medical equipment. Food rations. Repair kits…" Pei said, peering through each one. "Someone's setting themselves up for a long stay."
"Doing what exactly?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Master," Anakin whispered, gesturing down an open doorway at the opposite end of the room. Obi-Wan and Pei quietly picked there way over.
"There's something down there," he said, indicating another corridor in the same filthy disrepair as all the other's they had walked through. Obi-Wan couldn't sense anything himself, but he knew to trust his padawan's keen instincts. They had never let them down before. Obi-Wan nodded, indicating to go slowly and quietly.
The corridor branched off, and down the west end, they could see another open doorway, illuminated by the bright light coming from within, the faint buzz of machinery barely audible. The three Jedi slipped down the hallway like silent shadows, more and more of the room coming into view. It looked like an observation chamber of some sort. One wall was filled with dozens of holoscreens, though it was hard to make out their images from a distance. About half-way down the hall, the unmistakable figure of a Gran came into view, the tell-tale antennae and ears marking the species even when viewed from behind. The Gran appeared to be viewing the screens. Obi-Wan pushed back his cloak, letting his hand settle on the familiar grip of his lightsabre. They watched as the Gran tapped over the screens - then froze. Obi-Wan shouted "Now!" just as the Gran slammed its hand down on a panel, and the air lit up with the sound of a siren, the blast doorways slamming shut.
Obi-Wan sprinted, trying to reach the end of the hallway before the door blocked them out. He could feel Anakin at his side, his mind focused and the Force a brilliant glow around him. As he ran, Obi-Wan felt a trill run down his back, and then a millisecond later, the hot brush of superheated plasma rocketed past his face - so close it almost singed his ears - the distinct whirling glow of a green lightsabre blade burying itself into a panel in the doorway. The blast door ground to a halt half-way down, and Obi-Wan slipped through the gap, Anakin at his heels.
The Gran was yelling orders as it desperately bashed buttons. "Secure the test subject! Despatch the security droids!" it shouted, the screens in front of it flickering off. It reached for a blaster, but Anakin already had his blue blade lit as he leapt through the air. The blaster, and the severed arm of the Gran, clattered against the floor as it collapsed back with a scream. Obi-Wan circled the room, looking for further threats. Pei casually pulled her blade out of the molten ruin of the doors control panel, levelling it at the Gran as she entered the room.
"Where is Emily?" Pei asked, her voice cool with detachment. The Gran was clutching at the seared stump of its arm.
"Tell us!" Anakin spat, levelling his blade near the root of it's three eyestalks. The Gran was trembling, but its voice was surprisingly level when it spoke.
"What's the point? He'll kill me anyway," he said. Obi-Wan crossed the room, deactivating his lightsabre as he approached the shivering Gran.
"You'll be taken into custody, where you will be kept safe. If you tell us where Emily is, it will likely go in your favour when it comes to sentencing," Obi-Wan said. The Gran laughed, his voice high and trembling, but he refused to say anything more.
"We don't have time for this," Obi-Wan said, looking around the rooms. "Anakin, search the lower levels. If you find Emily, let us know immediately. And be on the lookout for droids, I think he activated some sort of security."
"Yes Master," Anakin said, deactivating his lightsabre and he ran back down the hall they had come from.
"I'm going to take the upper levels. Hopefully one of us will find her," Obi-Wan continued. Pei sheathed her lightsabre and walked over to the control panels.
"I'll keep an eye on this one, and see if I'm able to recall the droids from here," she said. "I'll try to find out what information I can about this operation - and who is behind it."
Obi-Wan nodded, exiting out of the door opposite the corridor they came from. He ran past a series of rooms, some no more than empty supply cupboards - others filled with the leftover scrap and worn-down machinery that indicated this was likely once a factory. He felt a pull towards one of the rooms. It was cleaner than the others - barely. Warning lights throbbed, casting a red glow over a strange padded capsule in the corner. Instruments were scattered around the floor, and there, in the middle of the room, was a deactivated droid, its face plates caved in.
"Emily," Obi-Wan said, just as he heard a scream. Then he was running, the blue glow of his lightsabre humming in his hand as he blew out of the room and down the twisted corridors. He could hear the familiar warning beeps, a droid voice demanding, "Surrender yourself for detainment," as he turned a corner to find Emily crouched behind a large sheet of scrap panelling, her hand pointing some kind of medical vibroblade out in front of her, as she tried to fend off three security droids baring down on her.
Obi-Wan watched in slow motion as a taser-dart flew out of a droid, aimed towards Emily's hand. Reaching out with the Force, he pushed the droid beside it into the darts path, the metal casing lighting up with blue electricity as it shuddered and clattered to the ground, circuits frying. Obi-Wan leapt, twisting through the air to land between Emily and the two other droids, his blade slashing out to cut the nearest one - still tasering it's partner - in half through the middle. He turned in time for his blue blade to catch the arm of the last one as it lurched towards him, the metal limb flying away in molten orange sparks. He used a Force push to send the rest of it flying against the wall.
Looking around himself and sensing no other danger, Obi-Wan turned to face Emily. He was trying to think of something to say to her in English, preferably something both comforting and witty - but when he caught sight of her properly, the words died in his throat. The woman crouched and trembling behind a plastisteel panel in front of him, looked like a hollow wraith of the woman he had known only two weeks before. Her bloodshot eyes were sunken deep into the dark shadows of her face. Where she had been worryingly thin before - Emily was now just jutting bones under transparent, mottled skin. Crawling up her body, twisting over her scarred flesh and across her gaunt face, were silver wires that looked embedded into her skin in geometric lines like a circuit board, polished studs catching the dull light. A metal tube protruded from the conclave of her stomach.
"Emily," he said, reaching his hand out to her. She flinched back, bringing up the tiny vibroblade in front of her again, and that's when he realised - he could feel her. It was there, colouring the air like jagged notes played off key. He knew the emotions - had felt them a thousand times before: fear and pain. But it was like they were pushed out from her, settling at odd angles like they didn't know how to fit in her body. Obi-Wan stepped towards her, but stopped when Emily stumbled back from him. Oh, he thought. He knew that other feeling as well. Fear, pain and the bitter taste of betrayal.
Obi-Wan was so focused on trying to find the words to convince her to trust him, that he didn't notice the sharp jab of metal until it landed between his shoulder blades. "Halt," he heard a droid call, and then his nerves lit up in electric blue fire.