Hey folks, Grubkiller here.
This is a new story that I've been wanting to work on. It's a sequel to my other story, 'Ahsoka's Walkabout'
It's inspired by a Clone Wars Arc that we were robbed of by Disney, in which Ahsoka assists a group of Jedi while investigating ancient Sith ruins deep beneath the Jedi temple.
It will also tie in with the Revenge of the Sith prequel novel, Labyrinth of Evil, and the hunt for Darth Sidious.
Hope you enjoy.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Rik's Cantina, Coruscant underworld.
Even in the midst of the war, and even in this part of the underworld, some businesses were still thriving. Some, more than others. Especially drinking establishments, and black market deals.
It was these sorts of places that attracted crime. On the flip side, it was also supposed to attract justice. But the authorities were too busy enforcing Palpatine's executive decrees and with the war, to even bother with the world down here.
As far as anyone was concerned, the underworld didn't exist.
But to one former Jedi, that had to change.
Ahsoka Tano has been a vigilante and a few weeks now. She mostly helped people fight off street thugs and robbers. But this day was a special day. She had heard rumors of a black market arms dealer selling weapons on the black market.
Anyone could buy one from the black market, as the Republic heavily restricted legitimate arms dealers thanks to the security acts. But alot of these arms dealers were making sales to shady individuals.
But what bothered Ahsoka the most was that she heard rumors of one black market dealer making sales to the Separatists, almost exclusively, were it not for the hefty sums paid by some business owners for private security.
One of these transactions led her to the crew of a space freighter, which specialized in running spice. A crew which she followed to a bar called Rik's Cantina.
There were many ways to get information out of them. But she would opt for the more subtle approach.
So she donned an alter ego that she had developed for herself. A 'down-on-her-luck' mechanic named Ashla. She wore a pair of tight work pants, that hugged her curves nicely, and a short top that struggled to hold up her plump breasts with two small buttons, and revealed her torso in all its womanly glory. (A/N: Look up Republic issue 72, comic cover. Ahsoka is wearing what Aayla is wearing)
She held a bag over her shoulder which was holding 'tools', which were actually her new lightsabers.
Now that she had the cover story, and her prey, it was time to get to work.
Rik's Cantina was just your average cantina's in the Coruscant undercity: somewhat rundown and sleazy, and filled with drunken patrons.
It had holoscreens that showed various sports and events, and promiscuous dancers to keep the cantina's clientele entertained.
But at one table in the far corner, blocked off from most of the cantina, one spice crew was being entertained by their new togrutan friend. They were laughing, telling stories about their many adventures, and throwing back many drinks.
The down-on-her-luck mechanic named Ashla smiled as her eight new friends, three Humans, a massive Houk (the leader), an Iktotchi, an Advozse, and a Chadra-Fan, began to loosen up.
That's when a twi'lek dancer, wearing a long transparent skirt, and absolutely nothing else to cover her freely bobbing breasts, came by with another tray of drinks for the rowdy patrons. Before her friends could reach into their pockets and get any credits, "Ashla" had already produced several silver and gold pieces, which she dropped on the tray.
"My round, boys." She said, to which the utterly plastered spice crew raised their fresh glasses to and cheered, and it was bottoms-up.
'Ashla' smiled.
Then she sat back on the table, and hooked her arms around the bashful Advozse and the Iktotchi men, whom she pulled in closer, before she spoke up for her friends to hear.
"So listen boys, I got this problem," she started, to her plastered friends. "I'm supposed t'meet this Sep Weequay, right? A guy named Car Affa. So I come all th'way here - and where is he? Dunno. Can't find him. And you ask me - snooping around this neighborhood's not healthy."
The Iktotchi she pulled closer was severely bashful. He chuckled nervously and hiccuped a little. "Nooo, nope. Not healthy at all. The authorities discourage it. And who would want to anyway. Word haz'it that an Anzati is roaming 'round these parts. Peopleah've been turning up with their brains all sucked out, I hear." He said as he peered down at 'Ashla's' chest.
The leader of this merry crew, a large Houk named Gort, who was the least drunk, spoke up next.
"I think we can help you out." Gort said. "He runs a warehouse down in level 1312. But he never shows himself. Usually has a currier meet us with a holo-message from him. He has some crazy clients, and some serious firepower."
Then Gort sat down, shoving his drunk Iktotchi friend aside. He sat down right behind 'Ashla', and ran a sausage-like finger down her lekku and exposed torso.
"Besides,a nice little Togrutan girl like you shouldn't be messing around with guys like Car Affa." Gort said as he leaned in closer to Ashla.
Ashla crossed one leg over the other, placed her palms flat on the table, and leaned back against Gort in a stunning pose. "Hmmm, but Gort, sweetie," she said as she turned her head to face him, "It would really be a big help if you told me where to find this guy." She said as she turned around, and hooked her arms around his neck, before pulling his face towards her. "And I'd be so grateful!"
Gort chuckled nervously. "Well... if you put it like that-" he started, before he was silenced by a long, passionate kiss, delivered by Ashla.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Warehouse, level 1312.
With the information that Gort gave her, thanks to her feminine charm, Ahsoka parked her speeder bike in a nearby alley, and pulled her new lightsabers - which she had built from second hand junk and with gems instead of kyber crystals - out of her 'tool-bag'.
Ahsoka closed her eyes as she walked through the crowded streets. She was still wearing her revealing mechanic outfit. This deep in the underworld, she couldn't have been more than a shadow amongst the people. And the Force would guide her steps, and get her through the crowd.
In the shadows of the Lower-city slums, Ahsoka crept towards the warehouse that Gort's crew had told her about - with some feminine persuasion - owned by a Separatist arms dealer, supposedly stockpiled with weapons, drugs, and credits.
But when she was just about to round the corner, a pair of Weequay walked outside, forcing her to hunker down behind the side of the building, out of sight.
One of them began to inject himself with a death stick, wanting to relax at that moment in the most illegal way possible.
"Come on, we're on the job now." One thug said, chastising his compadre. "Can't you wait until later?"
"Oh come on, it's just a mild mixture to take the edge off. It won't hurt," the narco-thug said.
Ahsoka closed her eyes, and reached out with the force, hoping to have a strong influence on the weak-minded. "If it isn't a big deal, you'll have some to." She whispered.
The other guard froze, as if he was entranced. "If it isn't a big deal, I'll have some to." He said, holding out his hand.
The guard under the influence looked at his friend. "If you say so." He said before he gave his friend his own death-stick. He injected himself with it and began to feel the effects take hold.
"See? No harm done."
They suddenly flew into each other, head first, knocking themselves out cold.
Ahsoka smiled, satisfied with her work. But then she realized that she had to hurry. She looked up and saw a ventilation vent. She used the force to pull it free, and set it down next to her.
Without even looking, Ahsoka jumped up into the shaft, and disappeared into the ceiling before anyone could spot her.
Ahsoka looked down through the gaps in the vent, and saw more guards patrolling the warehouse, all armed with Separatist weaponry, and they began to spread out. It didn't look like they knew she was here.
She eventually came across the warehouse grounds, which she started to comb for anything valuable. It was full of weapons of all descriptions. But she only needed a few things, like the bandolier of thermal detonators on one of the crates, and a button to go along with it, which she attached to her comm-link.
Ahsoka smiled.
'This could all come in handy.' She thought to herself as she began to place the charges in as many conspicuous places as possible, before she went back into the vents continued to crawl through them on all fours.
Deep within the confines of a warehouse's control room, Ahsoka was on one of the computer terminals.
'Accessing data logs.' The computer said.
She plugged a small portable hard-drive into the terminal, before she starting accessing the warehouse's files. Mostly manifests detailing the shipments and some sales logs. But some files were corrupted. But they were definitely being sold by the Separatists alright. But what were they hoping to gain from this? Then she remembered that the Separatists liked to pay merc groups to assassinate Jedi. If the Seps couldn't do the job on the battlefield, then they would try off of it.
Then Ahsoka saw different pieces of equipment that were once in the warehouse's manifest, but have already been sold. Loader droids, industrial-grade explosives, and mining equipment.
Maybe that was it.
She pressed the download button.
'Downloading databanks.' The computer said.
Suddenly, her montrals tingled, and a disturbance in the force began to warn her about something. She quickly ducked as a chair was thrown at her, but instead it hit the computer terminal, damaging it.
But Ahsoka had no time to inspect the damage. As she ducked, she also spun around and ignited her new orange lightsabers, and was met with a tall droid of some kind. It looked like a 501-Z Police/Security Droid, but it was clearly reprogrammed for Car Affa's security, as it produced a pair of arm blasters, and began to fire on her. She deflected the blaster shots with her lightsabers back into the droid, which merely shrugged them off.
To her surprise, it began to run toward her, producing a wrist mounted energy-blade, which it began to swing towards her. She cartwheeled back to avoid several successive swings, and began to parry with it. It was a proficient fighter, but no match for a trained force-user. On its next swing, Ahsoka ran towards it and slid underneath its attack on her knees, and slid between its legs.
As she slid through, she sliced off its legs at the knees with her lightsabers.
Then, as it fell back, she dove out of the way, and when it fell, she cartwheeled back over it, and plunged both of her blades deep into its chest. But it still didn't quit. The droid's hands grabbed her by the neck and started squeezing.
Struggling to breath, the young Togruta slashed its arms off before decapitating it.
She fell onto her backside and scooted away from the droid parts, which finally stopped moving. She started to pant very hard, nearly panicking. But she got a hold of herself, before the computer startled her.
'Download complete,' it said. "Warning, files corrupted."
Ahsoka rolled her eyes at the heavily damaged computer, before she took the hard drive. She was prepared to leave when she heard voices with her Lekku.
"I assure you, the shipments will be made on time, Anzati. But your masters must send us more... 'incentives' if we're going to take risks smuggling-"
Then another voice, female, cut him off. "My masters don't want excuses. They want results."
They were approaching quickly.
Ahsoka had to think fast.
Car Affa walked into the control room with his Confederate client, who was giving him an earful.
"But my lady, the Republic is making it difficult to get the proper equip-" Car Affa stopped himself when he saw the control room heavily damaged. "What happened here?"
The guards that escorted the pair fanned out and established a perimeter. As Car Affa and his men went to find out if their computer were operable, the Anzati woman with silver-white hair and green eyes, who was armed with clawed gauntlets, and wore tight leather clothing that exposed her midriff, began to inspect the damage.
Scorched cuts that were on the ground. Then she was intrigued when she was able to sense a powerful life force nearby. She licked her lips at the very thought of being able to taste the soup that this creature possessed.
"What is it?" Car Affa asked.
"Lightsaber marks. And the droid you had patrolling the area is gone." The woman said. "It looks like you have an intruder. I don't have time to help you with your problems. As you fail to understand, we have an unforgiving timetable. Make sure you keep sending us the equipment that we need," the Anzati said before she walked up to the Weequay, and got face to face with him, "or I'll be back for your 'soup'.
The Weequay gulped, and nodded.
As the Anzati walked away, he and his men started looking for the intruder.
A half hour later, one of them looked at the vents on the floor and saw something metallic. He lifted the grate and saw their security droid in pieces. Lightsaber cuts.
"A Jedi's loose in the warehouse. Find it."
That's when he saw that the droid had something on it, flashing and ticking.
"Oh Scray!" He exclaimed, before his world was consumed by fire.
Ahsoka watched the explosions rip through the warehouse's roof, and belch fire... and bodies... out of the windows.
Sirens began to go off in the distance.
The local thugs wouldn't be getting their weapons from here anymore. But now she needed to know more about the Anzati that was obviously working for the Separatists.
As Clone Troopers from the Coruscant Guard and local police droids came onto the scene, Ahsoka decided that it was time to acquaint herself with the Anzati assassin.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dex's Diner.
"Hey, little girlie!" Dex, the owner of this fine establishment, exclaimed as he gave Ahsoka a big hug with two of his four arms, lifting her off of her feet.
"It's good to see you again, Dex."
"So," Dex said, as he lowered her onto the deck. "Can I fix up anything for ya darlin'?"
Ahsoka smiled. "Just a couple numa sliders is fine, nothing too fancy." Then she leaned closer to his ear. "But I could use some information."
"Hahaha, come with me," Dex said as he led her back to the kitchen.
As he fooled around in the kitchen, chopping up veggies and grilling the meats. "Just like the old days, huh. You and those other bums for masters who never stop by."
Ahsoka chuckled. "Well, there is a war on Dex," she said as she hopped up onto the counter, crossing one leg over the other, as she leaned back.
"Ha, don't I know it. And we've got this new security act stuff. Things are getting tighter. Can't even think wrong these days. And it's even worse on the lower levels." Dex said as he slid Ahsoka's order across the counter to her. She stopped it with the force.
"I'm looking for someone. I need a name, Dex," Ahsoka said as she picked up a slider. She produced her holo-projector and a few credits, and slid them across the table.
The projector stopped by Dex. He pushed a button and an image of the Anzati woman appeared. "Word has it that an Anzati woman works around here. Does she look familiar?"
Dex looked at the image and nodded. "Oh yeah. I recognize her. Of coarse, I didn't realize she wasn't human. They look so similar at first glance." Dex tossed back the projector. "Her name is Saje' Tasha. She came here a couple weeks back. She's a high-end assassin, works out of the lower levels. She usually specializes in political jobs from what I understand. Real picky."
"I want you to get the word out. 'Ashla Chutu' is looking to hire Saje' Tasha and will pay top creds." Ahsoka instructed before she took a bight out of her slider.
"Sure, but why not say it's you looking to hire?" He asked.
"I want surprise to be on my side and I can't just tell someone working for the CIS that a Jedi wants to hire her."
Ahsoka finished her meal and jumped down from the counter.
Dex nodded. "Alright, I'll put the word out."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Coruscant, the lower levels.
Speeders of various kinds tore through the undercity of Coruscant on an hourly basis, just as before. Only very few of them were stopping to check the place out.
But one that did of them carried a particular togruta that was looking for answers.
Ahsoka parked her speeder and only took her shoto-blade, leaving the main blade with the speeder. Seeing as how she was still wearing a revealing outfit, the shoto was the only weapon she could fit in her... 'breast pocket.'
Shops were closed, homes were boarded up, and the few people who remained were only the desperately poor citizens, or the overly clever criminals.
It was even a potential hotbed of Separatist activity.
As such, propaganda monitors with Chancellor Palpatine blared his speeches across the dirty streets of the underworld.
Ahsoka walked through the decrepit neighborhood to find her quarry.
This part of town was a lot livelier before the Senate passed the 'Security Acts.' Acts which Palpatine enforced with an almost monarchical authority. Before the War, you could find almost anything you wanted down here.
It was still true. But you had to really know where to look.
Unless it finds you first.
A voice whispered to her, but she wasn't startled. Very few people can sneak up on a Togruta. "I am Saje Tasha. I understand that you wanted to meet with me."
Ahsoka turned around and saw the white-haired Anzati she'd seen at Car Affa's warehouse.
"Heard you coming a mile off. I thought Anzati were sneakier than that," Ahsoka quipped. "But never mind. I need to hire an assassin, and you're highly rated. Wanna talk target and terms?"
Saje held her chin thoughtfully with her clawed gauntlets. "Unnecessary. I always research my contacts before meeting with them. You are Ashla Chutu. Funny how that's also the name used by Padawan Ahsoka Tano, apprentice to the 'Hero with no Fear' for about a year, and before that to the late Master Sendak, when on undercover assignments. Funny how you end up in the underworld like she did."
Ahsoka looked at her with a very neutral expression. "Impressive."
Saje began to walk away, as if uninterested. "Jedi don't usually hire assassins. So tell me, dear child, what do you call me for? Let me guess, you want information?"
"You're working with the Separatists, and smuggling weapons into the underworld, in exchange for mining equipment. I want to know why." Ahsoka demanded.
Saje turned around, looking at Ahsoka with disinterest. "My Anzati code of honor forbids me from discussing a contract that I may or may not have agreed to."
"Your actions are causing innocent people to be hurt, and for that, my code of honor demands that I stop you," Ahsoka said as she summoned her shoto, and it's orange blade ignited with a snap-hiss. "By any means necessary."
"Mmmh, such aggression is not the Jedi way." Saje said.
"I'm no Jedi." Ahsoka said, before she slashed at the assassin with her blade.
But the assassin merely raised her wrists, and the blade was blocked by her gauntlets.
Ahsoka growled. "Cortosis?"
"Gifts. Their source... also a secret," Saje said as she swiped back with her clawed gauntlets.
Ahsoka parried the slashes with her blade.
"I don't care about the weapons. You already know what I want!" Ahsoka demanded.
Realizing that attacking a Jedi in a straight up fight was futile, Saje broke off the fight, and bolted down a decrepit alleyway. "Come take it, if you can." She shouted back.
Ahsoka charged after her, only to chase her through a dark area, which was run down and filled with stray animals. She held fast, and slowed down, using her montrals to listen to the area around her. But their were so many noises, between creaking metal, running water from broken pipes, and squawking animals, that it was confusing.
"We all have needs," she heard a voice say, echoing throughout the alleyway, but unable to pinpoint where it was coming from. It might have been within her mind. "...and hungers. Your 'soup' is a dark, complex stew, Jedi. I sense a kinship between us."
"We are nothing alike!" Ahsoka called back.
"Aren't we?!" Saje called back. "I once stood highly among my people just as you did, Jedi. Now there is a void within both of us that is longing to be filled. Mine with my addiction to the taste of 'soup', and yours you fill with the force."
Ahsoka kept looking around. But she was starting to pinpoint the origin of the voice.
"I can feel the richness of your 'soup', girl. The anger you excrete." Saje said as she jumped out of nowhere. Ahsoka raised her blade, only for Saje to slash the hilt, deactivating it. "It makes you sloppy."
But Ahsoka used the force to send Saje flying into a fence. "You're arrogant, and that makes you stupid!" As Saje struggled to get up, Ahsoka used the force to rip the guantlets off of the assassin's arms, before she crushed them, much to Saje's anguish. "You will tell me what I want to know."
"Ha!" That only works on the weak-minded.
Then Ahsoka placed her hands on either side of Saje's head and used the force to dig deep. "Then I'll have to be more forceful."
And the force began to surround both warriors, and Ahsoka felt her mind enter a different void altogether. All she felt was pain, and suffering, and the deaths of so many people.
"No! Tell me what I seek! Tell me what I want to know!" Ahsoka ordered.
Saje smiled, as her cheek pockets slid open and little tentacles emerged. "As you wish."
Ahsoka fell deeper into the assassin's twisted little mind. Car Affa was your contact. But who was yours? Show me! Count Dooku. Then she saw pieces of mining equipment being put to use by people in a camp site, being guarded by Separatist commando droids. They were on... Coruscant? What can you dig for on Coruscant?
Ruins. Ancient. Sith?
Location... GIVE ME A LOCATION.
Then she saw it. The Jedi Temple. Miles below it.
That can't be.
Ahsoka felt herself waking up from her extraction of information, only to find herself in a daze. She could feel herself being pinned to the ground. Through her blurry eyes, she could just make out Saje, who's cheek tentacles were inserted into her nose, devouring her... 'soup'.
"So, you know the truth...? No matter..." Saje said as she continued to suck out Ahsoka's very essence. "Now you will be silent... forever."
Ahsoka tried to struggle. But she was in a trance. A painful trance. But she could still do something. Reaching down towards her ankle, she reached out with the force, using all of her might to summon the blade that was holstered in her boot.
After a few long, agonizing seconds, the knife hilt flew into her hand, and she imagined herself cutting through Saje's tentacles.
And then she heard a blood-curdling scream.
Ahsoka quickly got up and pulled the tentacles out of her nose. "AAAH!" She screamed before she nearly blacked out.
"NNNOOOO!" Saje screeched as she reached for her cheeks. "I'll never again be able to taste the richness of soup again!"
"My heart bleeds," Ahsoka said sarcastically as she pinched her nose shut to stop the blood from flowing out.
Saje got up and walked towards Ahsoka. "I'll make you regret this, girl!"
But before she could get any closer, Ahsoka summoned as much of the force as she could and concentrated it into a vicious force blast, which send the white-haired witch crashing through a wall.
Barely getting up, Saje began to limp away from Ahsoka. "I'll make you pay another time." She called back, before she disappeared into the run down neighborhood, leaving Ahsoka to gather her strength.
'So... what now?' Ahsoka thought to herself.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Undercity.
As Ahsoka was about to take her speeder to the place she had to rip out of someone's mind, she felt cold all of a sudden. A great empty void of fear was close by. It... called out to her, tempting her to investigate. She reached out with the Force and tried to see what it was, only to be overcome with dark images of pain and suffering. She winced as she caught a glimpse.
At first, she was tempted to return to Sienn'hra's... "hotel." But then, her curiosity got the better of her. She had to go see what was calling out to her, what the Separatists wanted with it, and yet also felt so foreboding.
That's when she decided to get into her speeder and follow the source of this ominous presence.
Deep within a dark abandoned sector, far below even level 1313, Ahsoka parked her speeder on the edge of the sector, and moved from abandoned rooftop-to-abandoned rooftop, keeping to the shadows so as not to arouse suspicion.
She eventually followed the dark presence to a large open area before taking cover behind a waist-high stone slab. It was dark in this area, and everything was gray, from the stone flooring to the broken and crumbling statues that littered the ground.
'Gray statues?' Ahsoka thought to herself as she looked closer at the broken statues. They had been wielding stone lightsabers. At first she thought this was a Jedi shrine. But she soon would discover that this was not the case.
Inside of an abandoned opening, which had figures wearing familiar black armor guarding the perimeter, in front of a tall stone door that was about as tall as the entrance to the Jedi Temple, around the buzzing artificial lights that illuminated the dark corners of this shrine, A dozen armored figures, wearing dark cloaks, patrolled the area. They were bolstered by CIS commando droids.
Several of them reported to a cloaked figure, who's hologram illuminated the area.
Ahsoka was able to hear the conversation with her montrals, which acted as organic radar for her people. Judging by the presence of commando droids, and CIS insignias on the heavy equipment, she was expecting to see and hear Count Dooku.
"Lord Sidious, we've discovered the shrine. But we fear that the Jedi may be on the trail of our excavation."
The figure had his hands clasped. Only his chin was visible underneath his dark hood. He growled, sending a shiver up Ahsoka's spine.
"This complicates things. The Jedi could ruin everything we've been working towards. This shrine is critical to realizing what I have in store for the galaxy."
Ahsoka was dumbfounded, and she was frozen with fear when she realized that she stumbled across a Dark Lord of the Sith. The one they have been looking for.
That's when she heard someone priming a blaster right next to her.
"Who are you!?" He asked her.
She slowly turned her head to see a man wearing the black armor of a Sith Trooper pointing a blaster rifle at her. She knew that armor seemed familiar, as she had seen it in her studies of the great Sith Wars. Ahsoka was definitely dealing with something that put her out of her depth.
Thankful that he was not loud enough to be heard by his chanting compatriots, Ahsoka waved her hand across his face. "You will forget that I was ever here."
The trooper froze for a moment. She was afraid that her mind-trick hadn't worked. But then the trooper lowered his blaster. "I- I will forget that you were ever here," he said, and began to walk away.
Ahsoka's heart was beating rapidly. She took one more look at the holographic figure, who she saw turn towards her, and she swore was looking right at her. She immediately ducked, and held her breath, before using every ounce of her power and energy to try and be invisible.
She had to tell someone about what she just saw here, and began to slowly walk out of the ancient courtyard. And when she was sure no one had seen or heard her, she ran. She ran until she was completely out of sight, and she didn't stop running until she found her speeder, and gunned the engine.
As Ahsoka took off into the 'sky', and headed into traffic, she realized that she had to tell someone about what she saw.
She eventually figured that the best course of action would be to tell the Jedi Council about everything she just saw. But she couldn't just drop in at the temple and get an audience with the Council, especially when they were busy conducting a war. She needed a more diplomatic route.
'A Senator might be able to get in touch with the Council,' she thought to herself.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jedi Council Chamber.
It was a beautiful day on Coruscant.
The sky was clear of clouds. Speeders flew across the sky carrying their passengers through the never-ending beehive of Coruscant's traffic, and to their destination.
Just another day in the busy heart of the Republic.
But towering above it all, as the Jedi Temple, which stood as a beacon of peace to the citizens of the Republic.
In one of the five towers ascending from the Temple's foundational structure, the Jedi High Council was in session. They were talking to someone that they weren't expecting to hear from ever again: Ahsoka Tano, the Chosen One's former apprentice.
She stood as a hologram in the middle of the chamber, surrounded by her old masters, many of whom were reporting from the Outer Rim Sieges, also via hologram.
"Are you sure that is what you found?" Master Windu asked.
Ahsoka nodded her head. "Yes Master. I came across an ancient Sith shrine. And I think I saw them excavating it with Separatist equipment. They were also in communication with a hooded figure. I couldn't tell who he was, but I felt a great deal of darkness coming from him. It might be another Sith, other than Dooku."
Everyone in the room looked at each other to exchange looks in light of this new information.
Then, the hologram of Obi-Wan Kenobi broke the ice. "Thank you, Ahsoka. We'll be in touch."
Ahsoka bowed, and was about to disconnect the call when she remembered something. "Oh, and don't tell Anakin that I called," she said.
Obi-Wan nodded in respect, and Ahsoka's hologram disappeared. The windows then depolarized, and allowed natural light to flood back into the chamber.
"How could this have happened? That Shrine was a closely guarded secret." Oppo Rancis asked.
"How is the rest of the Order going to react when they find out that our Temple sits on top of a wellspring of Dark Side energy?" Saesee Tiin asked.
"I sense Count Dooku's hand in this whole operation." Kit Fisto said.
As the nervous chatter continued to persist among the other masters, Yoda finally raised his hand in order to silence everybody, so that he may speak. When all was quiet and everyone's eyes rested on the 900-year old Jedi Master, he spoke.
"A disturbing development this is, to be sure. But we must unravel this mystery as soon as possible. Clearly involved in this, Count Dooku is. As is the True Lord of the Sith."
That raised a few eyebrows.
"You speak of the nefarious entity you encountered in your visions on Korriban?" Plo Koon asked.
"Yes. And if we are to defeat the Sith, then allow the shrine to fall into their hands, we must not."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx