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POV: 3rd Person

"What are we doing here?" sounded the sharp tone of a barely 20 year old Sheev Palpatine. The older Muun to his side, Hego Demask II, simply chuckled at his apprentice's impatience. The boy was still young in the apprenticeship and had plenty to learn but all the time in the galaxy to learn. Sensing the boy's impatience at his silence though he answered him.

"We are waiting for an individual. One you would do well to stay on the right side of," Hego saw the sneer of his apprentice. All ability to consider humility lost in the young man. It was the worst part of the boy but he had an intelligence and connection to the Dark Side that was astounding. To pass him up would be tantamount to allowing the past 1000 years to go to waste. He was everything the Sith needed to fulfill their plan but he still needed a few more years of refinement to be perfect.

"Who could possibly be of any thre-" the boys eyes widened and he shut his mouth the instant he felt it. The moment when his connection to the force was severed and the world around him became the same as it was for literally everyone else. Seeing it on his face brought a smile to mine, he was finally realizing why we were here and that he wasn't invincible. Take away the force we are just regular people.

"Master. What is going on?" I was going to respond but before I could there was a knock on the door of the apartment. Looking to the boy I motioned with my hand and he, reluctantly, went to the door and opened it. Standing outside was a man in a regular suit with a normal appearance. Little above average in every right but with an intelligence behind his eyes that couldn't be disputed.

"Hego. Good to see you still kicking around," the man nodded and stepped inside not even glancing at the young man. Something that greatly irked him but he kept his thoughts and actions in check. He knew, just as Hego did, that the man who entered the room was dangerous. He may have looked normal but the way he carried himself and moved spoke of anything but. This man had years of combat experience.

"Watcher. You haven't aged a day since I first met you," Hego reached out a hand and it was taken by the Watcher. Shaking each others hands they sat down in the chairs across from each other. The young apprentice taking up the spot behind his master.

"I keep getting that. Yoda said the same thing a few hours ago," the young man snarled and immediately blared his lightsaber to life. All he got in response was a raised eyebrow from the Watcher and a sigh from his master. "Do you want to handle that?" the Watcher asked Hego.

"Put your saber away Sheev. I know your hatred of all things Jedi drives you but control yourself; you could not hope to ever match him," that received a wide eyed stare from the young man temporarily breaking his anger. If the Dark Side had been here though he would've lashed out regardless of his masters words. With the Dark Side gone however, he was able to control himself.

"You don't get a handle on your anger your 'Great Plan' will be nothing but ashes at the end of this and I'd rather that not happen," the Watcher stated getting a paranoid look from Palpatine but nothing else. He didn't trust this man but if his master was willing to entertain him then he should too. At least until there was a way for him to take advantage of this man some way. He had years yet and his political career was in its infancy, there was time.

"As much as I disagree with my apprentice I am surprised you met Yoda. You two were not on friendly terms last I checked," the statement got a snort from the other man.

"We still aren't. However, he was willing to pay a hefty sum for some information on the location of one of their lost temples," no matter how hard they tried both the Master and Apprentice were both visibly shocked and interested in the information as well. Which the Master now realized might be the reason that the Watcher had agreed to meet. The man was as illusive as they came and only decades of searching and an inroad with his former master had led him to the Watcher again.

"Is that information still available?" Palpatine asked forgetting the first rule of negotiating, don't show your interest or hand too early. He did both and both older men in the room recognized it. The Master internally grimacing and the Watcher observant.

"No. I didn't give it to Yoda either. As far as I'm concerned that information is mine and everything it entails until either faction is actually worth a damn," his words and cold delivery echoed with Hego as he agreed on some level that both the Sith and Jedi needed to be redone. Maybe not the way of old but the Rule of Two was no longer the way to go, the withholding of information has stagnated the progress of the power of the Sith. Even if they were now stronger in the force than many from the Old Republic if it come down to any combat scenario they would loose to any true Lord and that was together with his apprentice.

"Give it to us," Palpatine sneered at the man reigniting his saber but made no move to do anything. He received a chuckle from the Watcher.

"Kid. You've got a century before you even register as a threat to me. And that's if you stay in your prime," he let his words hang in the air as he stared down the Apprentice. The younger man holding his gaze for almost a minute before breaking away and sneering as he deactivated his lightsaber. "I like the kid Hego. He gets a handle on that anger and you got a real shot at doing this without my help."

"He is still learning. He has plenty of time to do so," Hego responded getting a nod from the Watcher. "I am curious though as to what happened with the Jedi if you refused to give them the information they wanted."

"They tried to ambush me when I was leaving. Had to fight Dooku, Windu and some of their former padawans to get out of there so that wasn't fun but I managed well enough."

"I did not expect for you to walk into a trap like that," Hego stated knowing there was more to the story that the Watcher wasn't telling. Somewhere in there he had done something or prepared something; he hadn't just walked into an ambush that obvious. Man was too paranoid and well informed for that to be the case.

"I'm good but everyone makes mistakes now and again; happens in life. Some of us are able to recover and some aren't, it is what it is. Besides, I was curious if the Jedi of this era had improved in the last couple hundred years or not. Been a while since I had a good fight," there it was Hego thought. It was more of a test for the Jedi as he remembered what the man had said about them when they first met. He hated them, how corrupt they had come and how blinded by their 'superior' side of the force.

It's one of the reasons why he had fed Hego's master and now himself information to help with the 'Great Plan'. It's also why he wanted the plan to succeed but Hego understood the man's intentions. He had spent decades researching the man in every facet of his being. There was next to nothing really about him but the few things Hego could find all stated the same thing. That he watches and records the happenings of the galaxy but he also makes sure that it stays as balanced as possible.

Which would beg the question as to why he allowed the Sith to be reduced to the rule of two. Then again the Jedi had almost been eradicated multiple times since the man became an active component of the galaxy. It's entirely possible that he just made a mistake or was outsmarted. With how old the Watcher was it was statistically impossible for him to be perfect.

"How did they match up to the Old Republic Jedi?" Palpatine asked genuine curiosity lining his voice.

"Disappointing. At this point though both of you are so I'm not sweating it," Hego could feel the pride of his apprentice be hurt and his anger rise again even without the Force. However, Sheev was able to get a handle on it and didn't respond or give any indication that he was insulted. It seemed to Hego that his apprentice was already learning to be better, good.

"So why did you take this meeting anyways? Was it just to talk?" Hego asked the Watcher who shook his head and reached into his pocket with a data chip on it.

"On that is some information that should help tremendously in the future for you. You both owe me a favor that I will cash in eventually. Remember that," then the man simply stood up and walked out of the room without a care in the galaxy. I waited until the Force returned for me before seeing if the chip was dangerous at all.

Nothing resounded in the force against taking it so I did and decided to look into the information later. He wouldn't screw with us that much as there was no gain to be had by him at this point. Still, Hego was optimistically cautious with anything regarding the Watcher. He was never to be fully trusted, there was always an angle he was working that no one else saw.

"Who was that Master?" his apprentice asked shaking Hego out of his own thoughts.

"That was The Watcher. I know very little about him besides his combat preferred combat style and that he is eons older than the Rule of Two. He was first known to the Sith just about 500 years after the Great Surge and subsequent Failure of the old Empire."

"How did they discover him?"

"He was a politician who pissed off the Sith and they tried to eliminate him. It didn't go well for them. That is all we will ever know about his origins unless he deems to tell us himself."

"We could take him master. Hire a few bounty hunters to work with us, maybe a Nightsister and some Pirates. If he is truly that long lived he will have plenty of money," Hego openly laughed at the suggestion of his apprentice.

"We will do no such thing. He has helped us and is a tentative ally, to provoke him would invite death for us and failure of the 'Great Plan'. That's not to mention that the moment we reached out to any organization he would know about it. Adding to that his best combat style specializes in taking on multiple opponents and the force doesn't work around him. It is no wonder he was able to take the Jedi as they are now even outnumbered as he was," Palpatine scowled but otherwise said nothing more about his idea.

"Wish we knew more about him. Something to give us at least a semblance of an edge against him."

"We may in the future but for now we have nothing. It doesn't help that all records as his time as a politician were scrubbed from all records. All that is known is that he was one for the Empire at one point and was important enough to get a personal Cipher."

"Cipher. I am not familiar with the term."

"Spy, bodyguard, killer, confidant, and many others. It was not unheard of back then for it to happen or for them to involved with those they protected."

"Do we have any information on his Cipher?"

"Only that they went by the nickname: P."


POV: Jericho

Looking back on everything and how I got there in that office at that moment still confuses me in every facet. I was somehow the Moff in charge of this entire system, became friendly with the Emporer and now had a personal Cipher. I had been important as a Sith but I had never been important enough for my own personal Cipher. Still, no real idea how I got there; it just spiraled out of control and that's where I ended up.

One day I was minding my business selling some Republic secrets to a Cipher, guy was polite so I gave him a bit of extra info. Next thing I know there's a shooting in the city literally right next to the nice restaurant I was eating at. So I go outside, more annoyed than anything, and put a single blaster round into the guys head from behind. Then I promptly go back inside and continue my meal.

From there the news went crazy over me calling me some kind of hero which was nice but definitely didn't fit the situation. Regardless I got cornered before I even left the planet when I revisited the restaurant, their steaks were amazing, by the media. They asked me a few questions and I answered them and apparently it was all the right things to say.

People went crazy for me and demanded I start actually helping out and to be honest I was bored so I did. The war was in one of those extended Cold Wars where 'peace' was current but it wouldn't last. Well, it would last another 100 to 200 years but it wouldn't last overall. Regardless I found myself in a political debate mere weeks after I killed that shooter because the reelection for the Moff of the Sector was up.

Usually there is not reelection for Moff's and the Emporer just assigns someone or it's passed down. The last one was a traitor though who was selling secrets to the Republic and that innformationn had been what I had given to the Cipher. Either way the Emporer wanted someone selected by the people this time around. I suspected it was just a passive gesture and he wanted to see them die a quick death before he could install a puppet. Or the Sith tried to muscle in and the emperor told them to fuck off and made it an election out of spite.

Whatever the case I found myself in that debate and ended up trouncing the guy so badly he received public shame. From there the media did my job for me and bullied the rest of the candidates until they just gave up. Which opened the road for me I walked to the finish line of the election completely unopposed.

From there I completely overhauled the entire system to my liking. Through some subtle bullying of several companies I got them to move jobs to my System and increase wages. Plus I repeatedly told the Sith to fuck off which endeared me to the people something fierce. Sith had 'fun' in this system in the past so that wasn't all that surprising. Publicly telling a Sith Lord to fuck off from my system though was the cherry on top.

Not only had the media in the system run wild with that but the entire Empire did. It was squashed almost immediately by the Sith and the news didn't make it far but it made it far enough. The Emporer heard about it and visited my system to 'endorse' me. Essentially he moved the target from his back onto mine as we were now both number one and two on the Sith shitlist.

Over the next year I continued to improve my system making it one of the more prosperous ones outside of the Empires core systems. It was by no means the best at all but acceptable and the people were happy about it. That, of course, came to a head as the Sith's dislike of me continued to increase. They didn't like that I was able to do what I was doing with zero Sith oversight or involvement, their words to me and I couldn't help but laugh at them. I was once a Sith afterall.

Anyhow, after I laughed in their face I had no less than four assassination attempts by Sith Infiltrators, assassins and the like. Two died and two were alive at the moment. One of them was given to some Hutt as a gift so that they would stay out of my system for a few years. The other was my personal slave. Cathars were rare afterall but pure white Cathars were the rarest of the rare. I treated her well all things considered and she's repaid me sparing her by being essentially my personal butler.

At the end of that year period the Emporer gave me a gift. As a sort of congratulations for surviving for the year he had given me a Cipher. She went by Cipher 15 but it took me all of about an hour to find out where she came from, who she was, her entire background and of course her name. Which was hard to pronounce.

Chiss, as she was, had notoriously long names that were difficult to pronounce; Posse'ipoli'zuco was her name but I just called her P. That being said she was immediately uncomfortable that I knew that much about her but I waved it off by saying you don't survive as I have without having people everywhere. This made her even more curious about me but she stayed her hand.

As for P herself I knew, just like Chulli, I was in trouble the moment I saw her. Tall, slender, beautiful with a pert ass with piercing red eyes that were unusually kind for a Cipher. Also she was ridiculously smart; not educated smart, she understood damn near everything I threw at her within only a couple minutes. It was awesome to have someone like that.

Paid dividends later as she saved me from a bomb that had been planted in my office. I had known about it through my contacts but I hadn't known where it was planted or its explosive potential. Anyways, it was estimated that it would've taken about a quarter of the building if she hadn't disarmed it in time. I repaid her by giving her a raise, which she denied. Then I offered a vacation, denied; then I offered the Cathar butler/slave for a night and she accepted.

Being completely honest I hadn't expected that outcome but rolled with it and let her have my slave for the night. I may detest slavery now but all things considered it is a useful thing to have when you need someone to be obedient. There are precious few ways to get out of being a slave, especially when the one holding the reigns is actually comptetant and has the money. Plus, it wasn't like I treated her like garbage; she was given enough to never worry again. Nynda was the Cathar's name.

They played off each other very well in combat and were, more or less, the best that I could ask for. Nynda was a perfect butler/secretary and Cipher did everything she couldn't or didn't. Not to mention that Nynda got constantly flirtier over the years with both myself and P. Their conversations were almost always them exchanging barbs though it was always in good nature.

Regardless after that night both became just a little bit more loyal than I ever expected them to be. I still didn't trust them for quite a long time but they slowly earned it. It is basic principal afterall not to trust a Cipher no matter what or your slave even if you were kind to them. That being said I increasingly found that Nynda would stay the night with P at every opportunity

I had P checked weekly for any foreign substances in her system in case Nynda was trying something. She never was but I still made it a point for her to get tested once a week until about two years after they had their first night together. Then it was just once a month but I would do it randomly just in case. Paranoia of a Sith never truly leaves you.

Something that is what put me into the spot that started my disappearance from Politcal life. I was doing my normal routine of the week as a politician which menat doing essentially nothing but listening to complaints and not paying attention. That's a lie, I did pay attention because the people somehow made me care but at that moment I couldn't really care.

It was just two stupidly wealthy owners of two competing companies presenting their case to take control of the new ship port that had been proposed the year before. I honestly don't even remember their names anymore but it's not like they mattered in the end. Just that they were the ones that kickstarted the fall of my political career.

"You and your company have been the headlines for the past year on everything you've built decaying within a decade!" one of them screeched

"Those were all quick fixes and those places knew that. We told them it wouldn't last and they didn't listen to us. It isn't out fault that they failed," the other shouted right back. As they continued to argue I looked to Nynda who was on my left.

"Anything on them little kitty," Nynda didn't care for the nickname but I wasn't going to stop calling her it. She stopped scowling at it the year before and just pouted. Something that looked amazing on her.

"Nothing from my contacts in the underworld on either. They seem to be clean… as clean as they can possibly be at least," I nodded at that before looking over at P.

"Second one is right that the stuff they made was never meant to be long lasting. That being said they've never made anything that was meant to last past five years at the max."

"Gentlemen," I snapped getting the attention of both of them. "I'm done hearing both of you blither about this. You each have one week to give me a proposal on what to make for the ship yards. Whoever has the better one will get the job. Plain and simple. Now, get out of my office."

They grumbled as they left but at least they got the message, I hoped. Either way I left with Nynda and P and we made our way back to my apartment. Where I began to read something, I can't remember what. What I do remember was that it was about sevenish years into my stint as a politician at that point. Something I hadn't realized until P and Nynda sat down across from me.

"Sir," P began. "Nyn and I wanted to talk to you about something."

"I am absolutely willing to join both of you in bed," I stated not even looking up from whatever I was reading. "Seriously. I just need the invite and I'm there," that time I did look up from my reading material and looked at them. P was giving me a unimpressed look though Nynda looked happy. I filed that down for later.

"Not what we wanted to talk to ou about," P answered.

"Now that is disappointing."

"I agree Master," Nynda chirped. I did ask her to stop calling me that years ago but she decided she wouldn't listen to me about that. "I know you'd enjoy it too," Nynda purred as she nibbled at P's ear who promptly swatted the horny Cathar away. I just laughed at the development used to it at this point.

"Be that as it may," not denying, again filed away for later. However, both P and Nynda instantly got serious. "Why aren't you aging and why does the Force not work around you."

I narrowed my eyes at the both of them contemplating the answers I could give. They had both been loyal so far and I didn't see a reason that they wouldn't be but paranoia won out. I couldn't trust them without a binding way of some kind. Even if I had something like that I couldn't rightly tell them. Especially P; she was my Cipher but she was still a Cipher and loyal to the Empire and her telling anyone would be disastrous for myself.

Something that became an instant problem since they both confronted me and I couldn't exactly wiggle my way out of it without telling them what was going on. I was saved however, when someone at knocked on my door. Standing up from my chair I walked over and made to open the door when I heard a click.

It wasn't the door as I recognized the click; it was the click of a blaster charge being inserted to a blaster. My eyes widening I turned around and took off from the door sprinting towards where my weapons were, cursing myself for not having a blaster on me; at least a holdout one. The moment I turned around both P and Nynda recognized what was going on and brought out their pistols and took cover.

The moment they did and I was away from the door it was blasted open by a thermal charge and then blaster fire erupted. Believing in P and Nynda to hold for a few seconds I sprinted into my room and grabbed my scattergun slugthrower*. The ammo was limited in the thing with only five shots in it but there was nothing better than it in close quarters.

With the scattergun I also grabbed my lightsabers but hid them and instead made the twin Phrik axes visible on my waist before sprinting out of the room. The moment I did I saw a soldier in blacked out gear sprinting towards my room. He got a blast to his chest and it erupted in a spray of blood and gore, his chest turned into chunky salsa.

Cycling the round I spotted the next blacked out soldier and put a round into their legs. Shredding both of their legs with a single squeeze of the trigger and they went down screaming. Fully getting the attention of the remaining four attackers I got into cover as I heard the blaster fire hit my cover. It didn't last long as I pointed the scattergun around the corner and fired. I heard a scream of pain that quickly turned into gurgles and then nothing.

Looking outwards towards where I knew a mirror was I saw that P and Nynda were still alive behind some cover. However, P was putting Bacta patches on Nynda who had blaster marks on her side left side and shoulder. As for the rest of the soldiers only two were still combat ready. One was holding a gun on Nynda and P and the other was slowly making their way towards my cover.

Watching them in the mirror I waited for the them to get closer and closer to the corner. When they were just at the edge of my range to be quick the one I had shot in the legs screamed out in the Chiss language which surprised me but I saw the eyes of the one closing in on me twitch towards the voice on instinct. The moment they did I popped out and violently decapitated him with a singular shot.

The one who had been looking at P and Nynda raised his blaster from them and targeted me. He never got a shot off as P punched him in the crotch before rising up and viscously hitting him in the chin with her knee. The man collapsed backwards unconscious and with the fight over I stood up and walked towards P and Nynda putting the final shot of the scattergun into the one I had shot in the legs. The loud report of the gun now deafening in the silent apartment.

"Tie him up P," I ordered as I started to check of Nynda. She gave me a smile and thanks as I did so. Took me a minute to see that she would be okay; just flesh wounds was all she got. Though as I finished making sure she was up I heard the click of a blaster again but it wasn't from behind me. It was Nynda who had a holdout blaster against my stomach.

I looked at her wide eyed not expecting that turn of events and my surprise cost me. I felt something impact the back of my head and then nothing. Waking up after being knocked out like that wasn't fun but at least I woke up. Taking bearings of my surroundings I found myself still in my apartment but this time in my bedroom and tied to a chair. Not my most pleasant fantasy I admit but I could roll with it; at least I wasn't gagged.

As I took everything around me in I also noticed that P and Nynda were quietly arguing with each other. Adding to that the one Chiss soldier who hadn't been killed in the assault was tied and bound only a few feet to my left and awake. We made eye contact with each other and recognized that we were both betrayed in some facet.

"Are you ladies done arguing so you can tell me what's going on or have you not finished?" I questioned them which received a very snappy reply.

"No, we are not. Be patient," Nynda snapped at me getting P to rub her head in her hands. Either way, there was nothing else for me to do besides wait. I could've tried to get out of the bindings and I very well could have but at this point I was curious. Being a politician was starting to get boring and I wanted some excitement and it seemed I was about to get it as P turned around and looked at me.

"The Ascendency has heard rumors of a civil war brewing within the Sith and would like to employ your expertise on them."

"As would the Pyke Syndicate but they have heard it from the Republic side that the Senate is trying to alienate the Jedi for more power," both are things that were currently true at the moment and would happen again in the future.

However, both were ploys as the Sith wanted to see if any from the Republic or crime groups would try and take advantage. Showing the Empire exactly who needed culling. As for the Republic the Jedi were indeed moving away from the Senate but they weren't being alienated, at least not truly. The Jedi were just expanding and making homes across the galaxy silently because they didn't trust the Republic as there were traitors everywhere.

They encouraged the rumor to see if anyone would try and act. Essentially, both the Sith and Jedi were doing the same exact thing but in slightly different methods. Methods that made sense to both parties. Regardless, I would tell P and Nynda the truth but I was curious as to why the Ascendancy sent one of their hit squads after me. Plus, why did P and Nynda tie me up.

"I'll answer your questions but I want to know why I am tied up first?"

"Because you are The Serpent," Nynda almost sneered. "You are never to be trusted around a woman."

"I think that was meant as an insult but you definitely made it sound like a compliment. Like I can whoo any woman with a look," my words brought an almost teasing smile to Nynda's face.

"Worked on red eyes here," she snickered getting a scandalized look from P.

"Like you were any better kitty cat," they then proceeded to exchange barbs with each other that resulted in both myself and the tied up Chiss to exchange suffering glances. Both of us realizing I should've just shut up and let them talk. Don't get me wrong, I was ALL about it at the time but it just wasn't the right moment.

"Ladies," I barked at them getting them both to stop. "Explain now," it was almost a growl with the tone I used. It had been a long time since I had used that tone but it worked both shut up. Nynda shivered though which brought my thoughts elsewhere but I pushed them down so I could focus.

"Remember when we visited the city of Lysim last year for the charity and there was an outbreak of Endregaad Plague a few days after we left," I nodded my head remembering and then it clicked with me that she had taken a sample of my blood to make sure I was okay. I groaned at the implications.

"P… Did you really send samples to the Ascedancy to make sure I was okay," she looked sheepish at my words but no more so than what a Cipher could look like.

"I did. They found that you matched with The Serpent and that you've been alive for almost 1000 years now and look basically the same. You hid yourself well but they were able to find your influence, several times in fact."

"And why is he here," I gestured to the tied up Chiss.

"I was given the order to bring you in several months ago," I groaned, loudly, at that. Giving Nynda an excuse to laugh hard at P. "Be that as it may, they probably assumed I had either turned traitor or had been found out and you killed me."

"What of the Empire then P? Do they know who I am," she shook her head which brough tme some relief. Then she opened her mouth again.

"The Sith know who you are though," we need to leave and now.

"Why are we not leaving then?"

"Because, they don't know that you cancel out the force. We lure in their hit squad, kill them and then disappear. I commissioned parts for a ship after I found out who you were and hired a few people to build it for me. Completely under the table and with completely untraceable money."

"So that's where that accounting kriff up came from," I remember my accountant for my politician persona hiring dozens of forensic accountants to try and find out where the money was going but never found it. Guess I know now.

"Yep," replied Nynda cheerfully before her ear twitched. A moment after it did she sprung up from her seated position and destroyed my bindings with a swiper of her inborn claws. "They're here, just stepped out of the elevator," she stated before tossing me the scattergun and I caught it out of the air before turning to the still tied up Chiss.

"The sith win and both those women die but probably worse first; you die next but either way I'm walking out of here win or loose. You want to help give me a chance to save them from a shitty fate?" the man thought about it for all of half a second before nodding his head. "Just don't do anything stupid."


POV: 3rd Person

The young Skywalker was more frustrated then he may have ever been in his life at the moment. All he wanted was to know more about this Watcher but there was absolutely nothing on the man at all. None of it made sense; next to nothing in the Jedi Library and even less in the Senate Library.

Even of the couple snippets he had been able to find either it wasn't concrete or just didn't make sense. He even had the redacted files with permission of the Chancellor and there was nothing for him in the Senate Library. It was the closest he had come to lashing out in frustration at the total blockage of information since he had been brought to the Jedi temple.

Sighing and letting himself calm down he shut down the terminal and left. Made his way back to the Temple before going to his room to turn in for the night. It was not to be though as when he got to his room standing outside was Yoda, Windu and his master Obi-Wan who, for one, looked seriously confused. As was Anakin who hadn't done anything to warrant their attention; at least not anything that should've been discovered yet.

"Masters," the young man greeted with respect. As much as respect as he could give to two who never wanted him here in the first place and with one taking an active role in belittling him at every opportunity. It seemed that Windu sensed this and opened his mouth to speak but Yoda held up a hand to him.

"Skywalker, curious you are. Power, knowledge is; weight upon you, it also is. Illusive the Watcher it; none have found him, many have searched. Let it lie, you must."

"He is a dangerous individual Skywalker. Not to be taken lightly and he knows everything. With you going to the Chancellor he will know you are looking into him now and he will find a way to meet you."

"Why would he do that. I'm just a padawan."

"One who is friends with the Chancellor and helped free Naboo and has seen real combat already. He will be curious about you," Anakin already connected the dots.

"You want me as bait don't you?"

"Yes," Anakin internally seethed at the man but got it under control. If he was going to be their bait then he needed a reward for this.

"I want everything you have on him then. If I'm to be bait it is only fair," Windu opened his mouth to reply but the chuckle from Yoda stopped him from speaking.

"Relentless you are, young Skywalker. Cloud your mind, let it not. But, honor your request; we will," and that was that as Yoda turned around and walked away. Windu doing the same after sending a look to both Skywalker and Kenobi.

"What was that about Anakin?"

"I found something in the library that was almost entirely redacted."

"And you went to the Chancellor to find out more," Kenobi sighed exasperated by his padawan's actions.

"Ask forgiveness instead of permission. Besides, the only way to access the redacted files was approval from both Master Yoda and Windu and now I have it," Kenobi pinched the bridge of his nose at his padawans words but didn't refute them as it had worked out. Even if it should not have.

"Just… try not to do anything incredibly reckless."

"No 'too', 'very', or 'seriously' reckless. You really have lowered your standards in that regard huh."

"Yes. There is no point in trying to control that part of you; I think the Force just likes to mess with me at this point and it does so through you."

"I really am the chosen one then. Bane of Obi-Wan Kenobi's peace," he was playfully shoved by the older man before they both went into their shared apartment in the temple.


There it is folks. Seeds are being planted.