Chapter 61 - Warning!
"What are we going to do?" The question was whispered by all the younglings in their group, and as much as he wanted to, Dooku had no answers to give them.
"Should we contact the council again?" Alex suggested.
"No." Anakin sounded decisive. "They would only send someone else. Who would go in there and get possessed as well."
"But what if they do send someone? And we don't warn them!" Freya worried.
"Why would they send anyone? Your master just went in there. It'll be a little while at least before they are worried enough to send in someone else," Asajj pointed out. She had a point, considering how long her Master had been without backup on Rattatak.
"Master Rancisis!" Leeta shouted with a dawning realization in her wide eyes. "He was Yaddle's Padawan too. If he feels anything like what I just felt, he'll know something went wrong."
Dooku leaned forwards. "Yes, Master Yaddle is known for keeping her Padawan Bonds strong long after her Padawans move on. And there are a lot of knights who have no doubt felt what happened. Though Oppo being on the Council could make them move faster." He turned to Anakin again. "Use Code Nine-Two-Two-Five-Four. It will make them stop before sending anyone else."
There was a moment where the younglings all sat staring up at him. "What. I used to be on the Council. Now go!" He ushered and the younglings all stood up and Anakin ran to the comm unit.
"Oh, we missed a message. It's from Master Billaba."
"Quick. Send the message to the council and we'll listen to the message when we're done," Alex urged.
"Okay." Anakin dialed the Council's main line and plugged those numbers into the text field. Then he hit send.
A minute later, text came on the screen again. "Message Received." Anakin read, and they all sighed.
"Now what does Depa have to say?" Freya asked.
"No wait! They're moving." Kate pointed to the computer which had a map and a little red dot representing their masters. As long as Obi-Wan still held his comlink, they'd be able to track him.
Dooku ran to go look at the screen with as much enthusiasm as a youngling.
"I think they're back on the ship. It looks like they're flying." Anakin pointed to the screen's positioning numbers which represented elevation. They were going up.
"Now what are we going to do?" Freya wept.
"Do you think the council should send someone else now?" Alex asked.
Dooku tapped Anakin's shoulder to get his attention. "Whatever you did to access the computer and comms, can you do it on the ship's navi-computer?"
Anakin stood up. "Sure I can. You want to fly after them?"
"Yes. I have a feeling I know where your Masters are headed, and if we are going to beat them, we should head out straight away."
"Do you want me to fly us? I flew a few simulator crafts and it isn't that different to my old Pod-Racer."
Dooku looked down in surprise. "You flew a Pod-Racer? No." He closed his eyes. "I'll deal with the child maltreatment later." He opened his eyes a crack. "I will fly us, but I could use a racer's instincts in the cockpit, if you would be inclined to help.
"Alright. I can do that." Anakin bounced up and headed towards the cockpit, stopping to type at a few computers along the way.
Dooku followed him and smiled when he heard the engines begin to purr.
Anakin was a touch insulted at his grandmaster's reaction to his suggestion. But then by now, he was used to adults having the idea that kids shouldn't pilot. Of course on Tatooine, it was very regular for youngling slaves to fly the speeders taking goods to market and such. After all, the adults would all need to be able to fight if their band were attacked. The youngling slaves had to earn their keep in some way, and what better way than flying the owner and his goods away from the fighting.
But in the rest of the galaxy that's "unheard of," so Anakin didn't even bother to explain it anymore. He was glad his Grandmaster agreed that he could at least help. That's what Anakin was doing now.
"Don't use Autopilot yet." Anakin suggested. He was trying to reprogram the computer to skip many of the usual Piloting fancies. Following the airspace rules, his master would call it. But such things were not necessary and would slow them down.
"Aye. I don't intend to." Dooku started to steer their craft up past several others who were waiting to use the airway.
Anakin smiled. Dooku's flying style was something else, that's what Qui-Gon used to say. The man flew past several waiting speeders not bothering about the right of way. Anakin could appreciate this 'something else' later. He shook his head and went back to work.
"Okay, you can use the autopilot to get us to the jump point now. I'm going to set out our hyperspace route." Anakin announced. "Where are we going?" The tracker on Obi-Wan's comlink had vanished when they entered hyperspace.
Dooku activated the autopilot and let the steering wheel rest. "Go to Belderone. Then we'll jump to Columex and use the hyperspace lane to get to where we're going."
"And where is that?" Anakin asked.
"Coruscant." Dooku announced. "You said they were talking about finding hosts in a Jedi temple. What better temple than the one on Coruscant?"
"Coruscant…" Anakin thought out loud. "We should go to Pasmin instead. I know it's technically backwards, but It's a less used route, and should get us onto the main Hyperspace lane faster."
Dooku nodded, deciding to trust the youngster, and Anakin began to type in the route. He then looked up to notice the other younglings had followed them into the cockpit.
"Would the Sith really try that? Taking over the Temple?" Tol asked, his voice sounding like a youngling who'd heard too many tales under the dark of night. Tales where their temple would become infested by dark things. The others were sharing looks back and forth, letting him know they were in a similar place. Dooku remembered, even in his day, younglings were prone to share such stories after the creche masters went to bed.
"Yeah, of course they would." Asajj pointed out. The one who likely had never heard such tales sounded annoyed by her peers' doubts. "They want to infect more Jedi. What better place to do that than in your very temple."
"She's right. The temple on Coruscant is in danger and we need to get there to warn them. The code you just gave the Council makes them regard the entire mission as being dangerous. They won't take any more of our calls, unfortunately."
"So why did you have us give it?" Alex asked. His arms folded in front of his chest.
"He didn't know that we'd have to, then," Leeta defended.
"She's right. I didn't think. They were talking about leaving for a Jedi Temple, but I didn't think they'd leave so soon." Dooku shook his head. "They are going to the Temple, and we'll hopefully get to warn them to put up a defense. If not, I don't know what will happen. There is a small piece of truth to the stories younglings tell themselves about the Temple. The foundations the place was built on were once a Sith Shrine. The old builders removed every trace above ground of the structure, but its founding stones are still there. And the Sith inhabiting your Master's bodies probably know this. Which means, the Temple will not be completely safe from an assault of the dark side."
"Which means we have to get there faster." Alex decided.
Dooku nodded, and reached for the lever to jump to the point Anakin had programmed in.
Depa looked down at her comlink. She was knee deep in another council discussion, yet she was still worried about the younglings. She messaged them back after talking to Yoda, but they didn't answer her communication.
The council had gathered itself this time. Oppo Rancisis had felt something bad happen to Master Yaddle, and he, along with a few of his Lineage siblings, were presenting a battle plan to go in there and save her. Depa felt sympathy for them, if it was anything like what happened to Master Windu. But she was also thinking their idea sounded a little overpowered. Comeon, they want to bring three cruisers full of the Republic's latest War machines as weapons. And they were going up against what? One Sith. Alright, maybe he did take down Three Masters and Knight Kenobi at once. But there can't be more than two of them.
Depa felt the comlink on her hip vibrate with a message, and she reached down to see what it was. A string of numbers appeared on the screen 'Nine-Two-Two-Five-Four.' This nearly made Depa jump out of her seat. Nine meant the message was for the council and of utmost importance. Twenty two meant the message was from a council member, maybe Master Windu programmed the computer of the ship to send it after a time. Fifty-Four, a significant number, meant the current assignment was so dangerous they were advising a communication black-out with the system. No messages, and especially no knights, in or out.
'Gosh, Master Rancisis is not going to like this.' But it was a vital message and had to be given. Depa quickly typed in a reply, as was the code, and she stood up to quiet the bickering councilors around her. All seemingly had reached an agreement that something had to be done, just not yet on what. And she was going to make this rare point of consensus mute, just her luck.
Hello,
Well, everyone's headed back to Coruscant now. But what will happen? Will they warn them ahead of time, or will the Sith take over the temple?
I figure the council has to have its own special codes. And Dooku would be aware of them.
And the temple being built on a Sith Shrine is Canon. Dooku would be aware of that too, I'd imagine.
Next chapter I don't really have plans for yet, so it may take me a while.
