Chapter 63
If anyone had asked Mina Bonteri to write an essay off the cuff about what she knew about the Sith, she doubted she could even fill a paragraph.
Very young, she had been read the ancient children's tales passed down through the generations of Onderon. Stories of dark powerful sorcerers and fearsome warriors, who were in the end always defeated by the valiant Army of Light. Those stories had always taught some lesson or truth and were by their nature very fanciful. Then she grew up and read the histories in university, even then it was universally acknowledged that the Sith as a religion and their empire had died out a thousand years ago.
That the Jedi were here and now, claiming that their old enemy was back seemed quite ridiculous. It was merely to excuse their current actions. Bringing back the specter of a long dead threat to the galaxy in a quest for clinging onto their own waning political power.
She said as much straight to the young Jedi's face, fully expecting her to deny it. She would get angry and start spouting the usual dogma.
It therefore came as a surprise when the Jedi padawan in front of her began laughing.
"Ah, ha, oh yes, I'll fully admit that there are some in the Order who are fighting in this war because they see things that way. They see it as their duty to 'preserve the Republic' and see every CIS citizen, senator, representative or planet as 'Seperatist scum and terrorists', who are evil," she declared, her voice steadily becoming more expressive and mocking, her accent turning posh as a high brow Coruscanti. Mina was surprised again at hearing a Jedi refer to the mere concept of a 'CIS citizen' and acknowledge it. "Yet, we're digressing. As to the Sith, yes, they're very much alive and have been an actor on the galactic stage for the last thousand years, under everyone's noses, as I will demonstrate."
Tano waved her hand through the paused holoimage of Count Dooku and the mysterious, supposed 'Sith Master', only for it to change to an overhead view of what looked to be a large circular room of industrial nature, and it took only a few moments for her to realize that the architecture was distinctly Naboo in design, some kind of plasma conduit room.
Two Jedi were here, their blue blades lit and they were engaged in a fierce stand-off with a darkly clothed… zabrak male, who had a double bladed saber staff. She vaguely recalled seeing old illustrations of the ancient Sith Brotherhood with such a weapon.
"This is a visual record taken just over a decade ago on Naboo during the blockade crisis."
The battle started and it was as breathtaking to watch as it was frightening. At first, the Jedi Master was separated from the support of his padawan by an ill-timed force field activation. The master was now fighting alone… green blade flashing against the ugly red with speed and ferocity, yet, there opened a gap in the Jedi master's defenses, the zabrak pounced on it, slamming the hilt of his staff straight into the face of the master, a simple twirl and twist.
It was over.
One of the red blades disappeared into the chest of the master and emerged from his back.
Mina's heart twisted in sympathy as the young padawan screamed in denial at witnessing the death of his master.
The zabrak simply stepped backward, pulling the blade out and moved into a ready stance, to take on the padawan alone.
When at last, the automated force field fell, the padawan charged and engaged his enemy in a flurry of blows and strikes with his blade. Mina could only watch in awe at the ferocity of the young man, yet his opponent was clearly matching him. Absorbing the offense and giving in return.
What happened next was over so quickly she wondered if the visual sensor even caught it.
The zabrak had just shoved his palm forward, yet the young padawan was bowled over and pushed into the deep plasma shaft.
The playback paused, and now for the first time the recording had a very good angle to see the zabrak's fearsome face in detail.
"What you just saw the Sith do is similar to this," said Tano and gestured with an open hand towards the fallen cutlery and food. It all rose into the air, as if invisible repulsors were attached and floated into the sink and waste disposal respectively. "Though used in battle with the equivalent force of a small speeder bike smashing you in the face. A primary skill of most of those gifted in the Force. In any case, what you just saw was a battle between Master Qui-Gon Jinn, his padawan at the time, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the zabrak was called Maul, who was Sith Apprentice to the current Sith Master I showed you speaking to Dooku. Pay attention to his eyes, notice anything?"
Mina's mind was still amazed at the fact that she had just watched the famous General and Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi nearly get killed as a younger man. She refocused and there was something very odd going on with the zabrak's eyes, they were a 'burning' yellow, as if there was some form of implant that was lighting up their inner irises.
"I see it," she acknowledged. "Implant or cybernetic eyes?"
"If only it was that simple. What you are seeing is an effect of the Force, an expression or manifestation of harnessing the Force as the Sith do. Recall for me an image in the Onderonian Tales of Nigu Tarredd, senator."
Mina blinked as the padawan invoked the name of the ancient storyteller. She didn't think that anyone who wasn't Onderonian would've heard of him - yet her mind seemed to flash with her memory as a young girl, sitting cuddled in bed as her father read from the book, and prominent there was an illustration of the evil Sith warrior who fought against the Onderon king, his prominent eyes, with burning yellow irises.
Yet here now, in the last decade, on Naboo, a living Sith?
"So you say that zabrak is Sith?"
"Correct, that they were considered extinct at all is merely another deception made a thousand years ago by a singular Sith who was called Darth Bane. He betrayed his fellow Sith to death at the hands of the Army of Light, while he himself faked his own death only to continue in secret. He recognized that a Sith's Brotherhood of Darkness, by its very nature, was unsustainable. So instead there would always only be two Sith. Not thousands of mad, power hungry sentients, drunk on their own power, fighting amongst each other as much as they were fighting the Old Republic.
"So the Sith continued, master to apprentice, until we reach today," Tano swiped her hand through the holo and the image of Dooku and the Sith Master returned, only this time… it unpaused and the two figures began to talk.
Dooku had just emerged from the ramp of that beautiful Punworcca interstellar sloop that she recognized he used from time to time. He turned to the dark hooded figure and bowed slightly.
"The Force is with us, Master Sidious," Dooku greeted confidently.
"Welcome home, Lord Tyranus," Sidious replied lazily, but the undercurrent of sheer malice that radiated from that voice was astonishing. The dark figure gestured and they began walking side by side. "You have done well."
Dooku didn't immediately reply but said, "I have good news for you, my lord… the war has begun."
"Excellent," Sidious commented with satisfaction. "Everything is going as planned."
The men walked out of visual range and then there was only darkness. Tano waved her hand and the holo vanished. "I wish there was more, but just having that little is a miracle of substantial scale. It is in the heart of the Sith Master's power on Coruscant, where his domain is near-absolute."
"And I suppose the plan they're referring to is the current war?" Mina questioned wryly and stared at the young Jedi knowingly. She was no fool, she had been in politics longer than this young girl had been alive. She could see how careful the young padawan was with her presentation and words.
Then the padawan turned and met her eyes directly in answer. Mina was shocked to see a look there that was also knowing; an acknowledgement of the game being played here. Those were eyes that did not belong in a togruta of mere sixteen or seventeen standard years, if she were to judge by the length of her lekku.
"Correct, the war between the CIS and Republic has been engineered from the very outset and is being carefully managed… on both sides, Senator Bonteri. I have named Dooku as the apprentice of the Sith Master." Tano gestured to the holo and it lit up, showing Sidious again. Scanning overlays began draping themselves over the figure and measurement began popping up; height, body structure dimensions, even the visible nose and chin was highlighted and being dissected by the computer program.
Then she visibly gasped as a second image appeared, as it showed a well known fully body publicity image of Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine himself. The computer began comparing height… even if Sidous was slouched a bit, it didn't stop the program from extrapolating a perfect match. Arm lengths and hands, the same story. The nose and chin were matched with 92 percent certainty.
Mina suddenly found herself struck nearly dumb with the implications the padawan was bringing forth here.
If Dooku was in effect, actually in league with Palpatine secretly, then… what was the point!?
Why?
Why fight?
Why start the CIS?
Why cause all this destruction and war?
Why throw the entire galaxy into two camps?
Why did her husband have to die?
What did he actually die for?!
She was brought out of her spiral of thoughts by a simple touch, as Padme's soft hand grasped hers.
"This isn't easy, Mina, I know. You might not trust Padawan Tano, but you can trust me and she has been dead right so far and I've since confirmed quite a lot of this… as much as humanly possible anyway without tipping our hands to him. Palpatine is the heir of a long term plan not only to destroy the Jedi, but also build a new Sith Empire out of the ashes of this war. He plans to use the CIS and Grand Army as a blade and hammer to reshape the galaxy to his liking and in the end, he will throw away and even destroy those tools."
Mina felt like her world was spinning and she placed a hand on the table to steady herself.
"No, it's not possible," she denied. Her husband had not died for nothing!
She stood abruptly and just wanted to be away. Anywhere, she didn't care, but somewhere without that blasted Jedi and without Padme's pity.
Her feet carried her away and she found she didn't care where she was going. She was barely aware of going outside, her hands finding purchase on the balcony railing that looked out and afforded a beautiful view of her estate here on Raxus. It was just twenty kilometers from the capital, yet the house was surrounded by unspoilt nature and beautiful distant, snow-capped mountains.
At this point she realized tears were already spilling from her eyes and finally she allowed herself to weep properly for her husband. She had been keeping her composure for so long that she almost hadn't remembered what it felt like to not have to wear a mask. Her grief just poured out of her and she was surprised at just how much she had been holding on to. It was as if she had been hoarding it and damming it up, because truly expressing it meant finally acknowledging the truth. Letting the little tiny hope in her heart die that it was all a mistake and that he would come back one day.
How long she stood on that balcony and wept, she didn't know, but when the tears finally dried up, she was tired, spent, utterly empty and numb. It was a wretched feeling yet she had no choice but to endure. It would be so nice to just go back to bed and pretend she hadn't even woken up, that there had been no Ahsoka Tano or Padme Amidala in her kitchen.
But that would be running away, wouldn't it? It would be preferring the sweet lies instead of the bitter truth.
What even was the truth?
She knew better than to think that the reports she saw in parliament were the true picture. That the mega corporations in the CIS weren't also churning out information that would benefit themselves and maximize their own profits from this war. Every kriffing one of those snakes on the CIS Executive Council would do anything…
"It really is beautiful out here," said Tano's voice and in that moment, Mina found she hated it. Hated how serene and calm it was. Hated how the Jedi hadn't stopped this from happening. Weren't they supposed to have all this mystical power in the Force? The young togruta was standing with relaxed arms and solemnly folded hands in front of her waist. "Padme should be the one standing here, but she confessed that she'd be hard pressed to stop you if you decided to do something rather rash."
"Does she really think I'd jump?" she asked bitterly, her eyes briefly looking at the rather long way down.
"No, but it's the sad fact that people who actually take their own lives are the ones who hide the symptoms best. We can't imagine that they'd actually do such a thing, until it happens." Tano stepped forward to lean against the balcony railing and observed, "You don't want to talk to me."
Mina laughed bitterly, "Is that your amazing Jedi powers telling you that?"
"No, simple deduction, experience with sentient nature and human psychology."
"They teach that at your Jedi Academy?"
"No, if they did that, I think the galaxy would've been a very different place today," Tano said solemnly. "But we do need to talk, Senator Bonteri. As much as I wish I could give you all the time in the world to mourn, regain your composure and then tell me to leave - things are complicated."
"Then just say what you want to say, Tano," she said coldly. "It's not like I could force you out of my house, but I can choose whether or not to listen."
"A warning, whether you admit it or not, you know certain facts now that are very dangerous. Facts that will see you killed if you're not careful. If you are ever in Dooku's presence physically or even holographically, he will pick up on your subconscious hostility to him. It will make him curious, he will investigate and dig, even using the Force to probe your mind. If he suspects even an inkling that you actually know that he is Sith Apprentice Lord Tyranus, even if you don't personally believe it… you will soon die in a convenient accident or even in a faked 'Republic attack'. Where your death will be used then as a tool for convincing CIS moderates ever deeper into supporting the war."
"What?!" she snapped in anger at the young Jedi.
"That is the current trajectory of probability that you are on, senator."
"Oh and you just magically know this via the Force?" she asked sarcastically.
"Yes," Tano shrugged simply. "The Force is the pathway to many abilities, senator. This one has its uses, but most of the time I feel I am cursed with it. Pronouncing the fate and death of someone is not nice for either the prophet or the subject."
"And now you will tell me that I can do nothing about it, that trying to stop it will just make it happen all the quicker."
"No, senator, on the contrary, it can be stopped. This is not that kind of prophecy."
"And you have a solution that you'll provide, but which will come at some kind of cost," she pronounced cynically.
"No, the solution will not come from me, I'll just pass it along."
"Stop speaking so cryptically!"
"Apologies senator," Tano bowed her head. "I am in a constant duel with the Sith in the shadows, I wear many masks, my words and actions measured for effect. It's become an unfortunate habit. I will facilitate the transfer of select memories from Senator Amidala on how she trained to shield her own mind. It won't provide you instant protection, it's merely the instruction manual, you will still have to practice and apply it on your own. Until you've reached her level, simply announce you're going on a sabbatical to recharge after a very long year, avoid taking a holocall from Dooku, let a clueless assistant pass on messages."
"And this will help? You're the one who put me in danger in the first place!"
"I acknowledge it and that's why I want to save your life. I also want to save the people of Onderon from civil war."
Mina had thought she had heard much, but this was… too much! "What?"
"Did you really think your entire population supported the move to the CIS? Do you think that there aren't some out there who know that King Sanjay Rash's accession to the throne was actually a bloodless secret coup?"
"But Dendup stepped down voluntarily!"
Tano had the gall to laugh! "Ha ha, wow, even you don't know? Oh boy, that's quite the feat. I have to give Rash and Dooku credit for that one, masterfully done."
"That's impossible! Rash…" Mina trailed off as all the small little details she had ignored started to come together. How the former king, Ramsis Dendup, had seemed… different. How he had deferred decisions on policies to Rash, which he had normally been very interested in. How Dendup's ill health came at just the right time… then the abdication.
"Ah, and the light of realization and knowledge dawns," Tano commented. "There's no other such feeling in the universe. So yes, soon enough a rebellion against Rash will form. The Jedi and the GAR, who only want to see Onderon removed from CIS influence and returned to the Republic, will help this rebellion along secretly. Events conspire and despite the rebellion's best efforts to keep it quick, clean and done with as little loss of life as possible, it fails. Onderon will experience a full scale civil war. The rebels will win eventually and ostensibly return Onderon to the Republic fold, but the CIS returns in force later to lay siege to the world in retaliation- "
"Stop, please! Just… stop."
"Time is not on our side, senator. Our conversation can only be kept secret for so long."
Mina rubbed her head, feeling a sudden ache in her brain. "What do you mean? There's no one listening."
"The small surveillance team hidden in a nearby dugout, that I had to make very sleepy says otherwise," Tano smiled humorlessly. "There were also roughly five surveillance devices that I had to sneak through to make it to your bedroom. I'll give you a memory of their locations so you can know where to find some actual privacy in your home. I'm also leaving an encrypted datapad on your chest with some files that I think you need to review and a schematic for a device which will let you fool the surveillance. Have it made discreetly, senator and don't remove them."
Mina felt very confused now. "What do you mean 'on my chest'?"
Tano smiled widely, "Tell me, senator, look up in the sky and tell me, what's missing?" She frowned for a moment and reluctantly looked up at the utterly blue sky that didn't have a cloud in sight. It was vast, beautiful and… she didn't know what she should be looking for. "That's rather curious, not a single shuttle, ship or speeder in the sky, even though we're so close to Raxulon."
Just like a key that fit into a lock, her mind latched onto that detail and other inconsistencies became known.
Lux should've woken up by now, there should be household staff on the lawns around the house, tending the gardens, but not a soul was out here.
"You see, senator. This place isn't real. This is all happening in your mind. The sun hasn't risen, your son is still fast asleep. I'm standing over you in bed, my hand on your head to facilitate our connection. Padme is actually in Raxulon at our hotel room, in meditation and I pulled her mind over into this 'place' for us to have our conversation."
Mina felt her fear heighten as her mind heard the words and suddenly the sun was darkened by an utterly impossible eclipse. The wind began to pick up and tousled her dress. Clouds impossibly raced over the sky with speed that looked like a time lapse image.
"Relax, senator," said Tano calmly, her words seeming to resonate like thunder.
She blinked and the world around her was back to relatively normal. Only the sky was different, a large moon hovered overhead, but it was a moon that she knew Raxus did not have.
"What's going on? If this is not real…" Mina focused and tried to shake off the fear, but it was stubborn, clinging onto her like glue. She breathed deeply, fighting to stop the rapid pace of her own heart.
"I've just asserted more control of the mental landscape, we're now more in my own mind than in yours. I've been stretching the time dilation we're experiencing here more than is wise. The surveillance team watching you is about to get a routine check-in call. When they fail to report in, it will raise concerns and a response team from CIS Intel will be sent out. Hopefully the false trails I've left in their computer systems will send them on a wild goose chase all over Raxus."
"There are so many questions I have from what you just said," Mina groaned. "What's a goose?"
"Nevermind that," Tano waved it off. "I'll induce you to fall asleep properly in a few moments. When you wake, you will remember everything. Push off your blankets and you'll find the datapad under your left arm. It'll only unlock with your voice and the following password sequence," Tano recited sixteen letters and numbers that seemed to sear themselves in Mina's mind, "followed by the phrase, 'Dendup didn't abdicate'. Understand?"
She could only nod, screwing up her eyes as the headache only increased in intensity.
"You'll also want to take an analgesic and lots of water when you wake up. Oh yes, one last thing, not a word of this to your son."
The world around her vanished and Mina Bonteri only knew the sweet oblivion of restful sleep.
The next day, Padme and I were in a cozy diner called Damzor's Kitchen, not far from our hotel to try our hand at some proper local cuisine for breakfast. It wasn't a big place, but it had the same air as Dex's Diner on Coruscant. Apparently Damzor himself worked in the kitchen and made sure his customers got good food. He was aided by a lot of droids and had very few organic staff helping him.
Soon we were tucking into a plate loaded with brualki sausage, horvar eggs and the closest thing I've found on the menu that could be a localized equivalent of French fries; crisped javadi vegetables that were actually palatable to my stomach. It was very good, especially with salt. Now if only I could get it imported or served on the Resolute. The problem, according to the waiter droid, was that it was a plant that only grew on this planet and it had thus far utterly failed to be cultivated in any offworld biome.
"Do you think she'll agree?"
Padme chewed for a few moments before answering, "I've known her since I joined, she was my mentor for four years. She'll come around. You did shake her world a little hard when you revealed the apprentice for what he was. She's always admired him."
We had to be careful of our words in this public setting. Just saying the name 'Dooku' on Raxus was bound to perk ears in your direction. "It's very easy to admire the man he was, before the enemy warped and twisted him into what he is today. If he had begun the CIS truly out of his own initiative and early ideals, then this war would be a very different affair."
Even without Dooku, Sidious would've continued the clone project, simply taking a more direct hand in working with the Kaminoans. What would the CIS look like without Sidious' malign influence and only a respected, idealistic Dooku at the helm?
It was a question that had so many variables, especially because it was a divergence in the past. Would it be a true war to the knife? Without all this stage managed bullshit. What would the Jedi reaction be to such a war? I could only answer that personally, I could see Dooku becoming a modern Revan-lite. I knew many of my own generation among the Jedi and the one before, who greatly respected Dooku, his ideals and ideas. Jedi who saw that the Order had become a servant of the Senate, not a servant of the people.
A corrupt Senate that only served its own members and the corporations.
We could've seen another outright split in the Jedi Order.
Sidious wouldn't want that. He didn't want to divide his enemy, he wanted to rout the Jedi from the galaxy and history. He wanted to achieve the old Sith dream that would see the Jedi extinct, with no chance of a return.
Padme bumped my leg under the table pointedly to pull me out of my woolgathering, her intent eyes gestured up and behind me.
I sensed no danger and focused my hearing in that direction without turning around. Oh, she was pointing out the large broadcast holo in the corner of the diner.
It had been constantly blaring out a music vid from a local bith musician. I could appreciate its nuance and tones way more than a human could, but it was not my cup of caf. Now the music abruptly stopped and the voice of a newscaster emerged.
"We interrupt this channel to bring urgent news to our viewers. I am Vak Bordred from Raxulon Daily. We have just learned of an attack on Coruscant. I repeat, there has been an attack on Coruscant."
Every ear and eye in the diner turned towards the feed.
I could feel the shock among the patrons of the establishment upon hearing that. It was understandable, since the Republic capital had not been credibly threatened by anyone for close to a thousand years at this point.
"Details are few at this point and no official comment from the Republic as yet, but the Daily has confirmed from CIS sources that at 0323 local time, CIS Navy droid units in engineered disguises infiltrated the Coruscant power hub on the three hundredth sub-level and sabotaged the facility."
A number of people in the diner actually cheered, clapped and shook their fists in victory. The majority just remained in shock and was just gaping at the screen, as if they couldn't believe their ears. Even Padme, despite having some early warning from me, was simply staring in astonishment and I felt her internal horror.
To the galaxy, whether they wanted to admit it or not, Coruscant was the center of it. The bastion of civilization and history that had been there for thousands of years. It hadn't been directly attacked since the Sith Brotherhood had managed to launch a surprise offensive through the Army of Light's defenses.
Padme put down her cutlery, stared at her plate before abruptly pushing it away. "How many have just died?"
Prescience could give the answer, but I was keeping my eyes firmly on the immediate future here on Raxus.
"Too many, Padme. The bombing alone, a few hundred power plant workers. The deaths as a result of a widespread power failure across numerous sectors, including the Senate district; tens of thousands, with more occurring over the next few weeks as reserve power fails, grav systems fail and buildings collapse."
This would eventually force the Republic to use all nearby military starships; Venators, Acclamators and even conscript many civilian starships with large enough on-board power plants to land and hook themselves into the planet's power grid to prevent more disaster, whilst engineers and workers scrambled to build new more distributed reactors into the grid.
"There's no way Saam's bill won't pass now."
I nodded absently but my attention was firmly local as a probability line shifted and roared into focus.
I massaged my forehead in irritation at myself. What the frakking hell had I missed?
"Naala? Are you alright?"
Before I could answer, I heard a beep from my encrypted datapad in one of my belt pouches. My hand subtly reached down and silenced the thing, before I glanced down at its screen.
"No, bad news, I'm afraid," I said aloud, whilst pushing on the bond and meeting her eyes. 'Received word. The records for Naala Taan were just accessed and sliced from somewhere on Raxus.'
Padme kept a decent poker face, reacting convincingly to just what was being said aloud and allowed her eyes to widen in sympathy. "I'm sorry to hear that."
I pushed my perceptions outward, my Farsight and empathy, ranging out of the building, up and down the street. It didn't take too long to find the obvious tail. Well, obvious to me at least.
'Just great, there's a gotal across the street, sitting at the public transport stand, who's very interested in this diner's front door,' I thought.
'Are you sure, Ahsoka?'
'Yes, he's equipped with a passive directional sound sensor that's aimed directly at our position.'
'And it can hear us through a window?' she thought incredulously, glancing idly at the window that was right next to our booth in the diner.
'It's possible, the tech required would not be generally available commercially.'
'Who is it? CIS?'
'There is a chance. I'm not infallible, Padme. It might be that they saw through my false trails or I missed a bug at the senator's residence that captured my image. It doesn't matter who this is, we have to shake them. We cannot be identified as having ever been on Raxus, Padme.'
'What do we do then?'
'We finish our meal, the key is now that they must not suspect that we know they are there. Then we walk out of here together. They've already flagged you as a person of interest and are just waiting to get a good image of you. Splitting up will merely result in you getting snatched by them and expose me when I successfully defend myself.' That was a nasty probability line that hit me. I would rescue her of course, but the cost was unacceptable in terms of exposure. It would result in a major firefight with the team attached to the gotal intel agent, that would force me to bring out the Darksaber. At that point it would be obvious a Jedi had been involved and I would be waving a flag to both Sidious and Dooku. If Dooku was on Raxus, he'd sense the obvious Force disturbance of such blatant usage.
'So they will attack?'
'Only if we present an easy target. If we remain together, they're content with just keeping surveillance. Probably use us to fish for more possible spies to investigate.'
'Ahsoka, at some point Mina is going to want to talk to us. We can't endanger her-'
'I know, Padme. That's why we have to shake them off or I have to subtly neutralize them.' I felt her shock at the idea. 'I didn't mean to kill.'
'You really scare me sometimes, Ahsoka.'
'I scare myself, Padme. I sometimes ask myself, what would and wouldn't I sacrifice in this fight against the enemy? Would I sacrifice a life here, a life there? A ship? A planet? Would I sacrifice myself, my morals or ideals? You or even Anakin? Is that what the universe will one day ask of me?'
'I- I can't answer that, Ahsoka. You've already nearly died because of me…'
"Our food is getting cold, Dishan," I smiled at her, stopping the internal tirade of woe firmly. I began eating in earnest, there was no way I was not finishing every bite of this javadi.
Padme nodded and pulled the plate closer with visible reluctance.
We ate with no hurry, not wanting to give off the wrong impression to our observer.
When we were done I called over a waiter droid and handed over an appropriate denomination credit chip. "Keep the change."
"Damzor's appreciates your patronage, customer, do come again!" The droid announced in the local Raxulon dialect of Basic, which had some bits of its accent that reminded me of Aussie English.
We emerged from the diner and I had to give the gotal some credit in his fieldcraft, he didn't react at all, not even the smallest hint. He merely continued reading his own datapad, which was the disguise for the audio sensor. His emotions were a completely different story.
He was suddenly anxious, his heart was beating faster and his attention was fixed on us out of the corner of his eyes.
He stayed rooted in his seat until we were almost twenty meters down the street and he was sure we wouldn't turn around.
The amount of pedestrian traffic around us wasn't enough to completely disappear into, but that would soon change as we got closer to the hotel.
I was using the opportunity to see if we had more than just the one tail.
If I was in charge, I'd have at least five; one in front of us, one behind, two walking parallel and a fifth one in a speeder that would be ready to give chase should we get into public transport of some kind. That was risking falling into the trap of overestimating your opposition though. I hadn't had much attention to spare for exploring the probability line in which Padme had been snatched by these guys. Now with that line firmly gone, I was now wishing I had been more patient.
'Padme, we're going to do something to shake the bushes. Follow my lead.'
I grabbed her by the hand and pointed across the street to a clothes boutique. "Oh Dishan! We have to go."
A gap opened in the speeder traffic of the street and I dragged her across.
"Naala, seriously? You've been to every shop for a thousand light years," she laughed incredulously.
Our sudden maneuver brought the gotal to a sudden halt as he seemingly wanted to check his shoes. It also revealed a human on the other side of the street that also stopped and suddenly found a storefront very interesting. Now that I focused on him - a rather unremarkable black haired guy with a full beard - his emotions were also nervous and his nose was glued to a datapad… which my technometry confirmed was another listening device.
The boutique we entered was not just for clothes, in fact its speciality was more of the intimate variety that catered to the wide range of species in Raxulon.
Specialty lingerie that was clearly meant to leave just enough to the imagination, but which would come off just as quickly. Various implements and 'toys', only some of which I could identify and others that were a complete mystery, with shapes that did not bear thinking about.
"Oh," said Padme faintly, her face coloring a bit as she stared at a frilly gold, partially transparent bra and panty lingerie combo that had fine straps that connected the top to the panty.
I tried vainly not to imagine her wearing that.
This is not the time, Ahsoka, I scolded myself.
Our bursting into the shop at a decent clip naturally attracted attention.
"Welcome customers, how can I help you today?" said the store clerk.
Thousands of hours of Jedi training in self control was the only thing that let me keep my wits as my eyes reported to my brain, that yes, what I was seeing was real.
The clerk was a tall woman wearing a long dress that was made of something that resembled chiffon. It was blue and partially transparent, but the distracting part was that it had a neckline that plunged beyond her navel. It just prevented her nipples from showing but her inner bust was in glorious view. The dress was also only held together by a ring at her waist, in addition to being parted at the front that showed off those eternally long legs as well. She also must've had a biosculpt done because there was no way that anyone had such perfectly bronzed, unblemished skin naturally. Her face and long red hair was just the cherry on top of the cake.
Whoever the owner was, I tipped my figurative hat at his marketing. I not only wanted that dress for myself, but definitely wanted to see Padme in it even more.
Focus.
"Yes, my friend here is looking for something to surprise the hubby with," I gushed and winked at the clerk knowingly.
"Naala," Padme hissed in embarrassment and a slight shock that was truly felt.
The clerk's green eyes sparkled with amusement, "I see, is she looking for a bedroom aide or just something provocative to wear?"
"I think the latter," I answered immediately and gently pushed Padme forward. "She really liked that gold silk combo lingerie back there. You'll need to measure her, correct?"
"Yes, we use a body scanner to get exact dimensions, then tailor for a perfect fit."
"Excellent, and tell me the dress you're wearing is also on sale?" I pleaded.
"Of course it is," the clerk nodded curtly.
"Then I'll take one of those in blue, and Dishan will get the lingerie."
"Excellent, follow me please."
When the clerk had turned around Padme glared at me, which I returned intently, including a subtle hand signal for, 'Go, danger."
That got her properly moving and the clerk led her behind the store counter and into a fitting room. In the meantime, I pretended to be browsing the shelves further.
The door to the shop opened, ringing a chime and our second tail, Mr Beard walked in and I could feel his natural shock, apprehension and even embarrassment at being in a place like this. Outwardly, his training kept his expression politely neutral and he started also browsing the shelves, all the while trying to keep me in sight out of the corner of his eye.
I let myself get one good look at him, gave him a polite nod in acknowledgement before returning my attention to the shelf of… edible lingerie? Really.
My focus returned to Mr Beard as my senses began taking in everything about him, especially via technometry, as he had an implant behind his ear with a pulsing EM signal. A subcutaneous comlink, very handy. Though if its frequency range and encryption was ever compromised then it would act as a clear identifier and locator. A clear liability for a spy.
He also had a small pistol hidden in his jacket, but it wasn't high energy enough for a blaster. It would work fine as a stun gun though.
Prescience of the next few minutes showed that this guy would attempt to use that stun gun on me. I pushed my intent to let it happen and it revealed that he would grab me under the arms, and carry me out to a speeder car that would be waiting.
Padme would be left alone for the moment at least.
Getting my ass abducted was not on the cards for the day. As much as it would be interesting to trojan horse these guys, find out who they were and take them out. The chance was just too great that I was actually dealing with CIS Intel. In which case, I would have an entire state intel agency to take on - I was not about to go Jason Bourne on the entire CIS Intel presence on Raxus, not when I had Padme's safety to worry about and consequently an entire galaxy.
Mr Beard was steadily getting closer, keeping his right hand up and occasionally pushing a bit of skimpy clothing aside to inspect it. Neatly serving to keep his hand as close to his stun gun as possible. It was very natural and I was clearly dealing with someone trained, professional, but I would hesitate to say experienced.
The CIS spy agency was new, as was Republic Intelligence, but they had drawn and recruited from the clandestine agencies of their member worlds extensively. Very few Expansion Zone and Outer Rim worlds were developed enough to actually have them or see a need for it. Most of RI's personnel were actually sourced from megacorps anti-corporate espionage divisions.
Throwing such diverse talent into a melting pot and expecting it to turn over consistent results immediately was not realistic.
Could this team actually be RI?
Had they been observing the CIS team that had been observing Bonteri?
Was that how I had been pegged?
How had I missed that?
Mr Beard was now less than a few feet away.
His hand reached into his jacket in a blur and brought the stun gun to bear, pulling the trigger in the same motion.
The blue ring of energy barely had twenty centimeters to travel to hit me right in the back.
The energy sizzle had surprisingly very little volume. It would barely be heard outside the room. To my montrals that was a different story, as was the result of getting hit.
I seized upon the energy that was threatening to overwhelm my nervous system with Tutaminis, channeled it to my hands and slapped Mr Beard right on his legs.
He instantly lost control of his limbs and fell to the floor, twitching. His hands were locked tight and he couldn't let go of the gun.
"Oh dear," I gasped in shock, pretending that I had no clue what was going on.
I knelt down to 'render aid', as the guy finally lost his battle with the stun energy I had dumped into him.
The clock was ticking now. His partner would wait for twenty seconds at most for him to announce a successful capture over their personal subnet.
He had a credit pad, a few chits, the gun, nothing else, not even a fake ID code cylinder. Nothing that could be used to trace back to any identity, only his DNA would provide a search vector. I plucked a few strands of hair right out of his beard and put it in an empty belt pouch.
That'd have to do for now.
Next, I placed a finger directly behind his ear, feeling the implanted comlink there.
My senses plunged along the link, following it through the Force. He was talking to his partner, so my first stop was right outside the shop. I forged ahead to the greater connection and merely three kilometers away, my point of view emerged in a darkened room.
A human sat there, looking at multiple portable terminals. His face lit by the harsh glare of screens. His wavy black hair was unkempt. Streaked, ruined skin on one side of his severe face that looked like he had been in a fire and just not bothered with a proper biosculpt to fix it. His blue-gray eyes glared into the readouts and he was tapping on a comlink earpiece.
"Lightfoot, come in," he said - his voice was a hoarse, throaty rumble that sounded like he had a long history of smoking something.
Naturally, there was no response.
Mr Smoker narrowed his eyes and I could feel his natural suspicion and paranoia flare. I knew immediately that this was no rookie operative. Nevermind his physical appearance of having led a harsh, stressful and dangerous life. In the Force, this man swirled with both the Dark and the Light. He was a hard man, willing to do what was necessary for his own cause and beliefs.
Sorry, Mr Smoker, but I can't let you frak this up.
I reached out to him.
His eyes rolled up as deep sleep fell on him and he fell forward face first into the portable terminals, knocking them over with a harsh clatter.
My perceptions surged backward and I was once again kneeling over Mr Beard in the boutique.
The door swished open, the entry chime sounding.
The gotal entered, his right hand buried in his own jacket, his yellow eyes scanning harshly back and forth, until he caught sight of me kneeling over his unconscious partner.
I really didn't hold his next actions against him.
His own stun gun immediately emerged and he aimed straight at my head.
I flinched slightly as the blue circle of energy hit me square in the face, yet achieved nothing. I simply pulled the energy in and pooled it.
Mr Gotal couldn't believe his eyes and stared rather stupidly at his pistol for a moment before aiming and trying again.
I stood to take this one in the chest. This was not fun, because parts of the stun ring clipped my left breast.
The pain was ignored and I began walking steadily towards him, making sure to meet his eyes with my own.
He shot again, clipping me in the stomach.
I hoovered the energy in and kept walking.
He kept shooting, until I was standing with my chest against the small barrel.
The gun had finally run out of charge, yet his finger kept trying to shoot and he was absolutely paralyzed with fear.
Until I ripped the gun from him using my own right hand, whilst my left hand shot out and gave him a punch in the stomach, whilst simultaneously releasing a portion of the stun energy straight through my fist.
He collapsed to the floor, out like a candle light.
I still had quite a bit of energy to deal with, so I simply knelt and touched the floor, bleeding it all back into the ground below me.
Now, how to play this?
I had a bunch to do to wrap up this mess and do so in a way that wouldn't further tip my hand to either side.
Step one, with a twist of will, use TK on the shop's front door to keep it locked. No further witnesses until the time was right and the stage set properly.
Step two, search the shop for any interior visual surveillance. Thankfully, there were only two sensors, which I shorted out with far greater power than normal, which scrambled and wrecked the data storage. I'd make sure to leave the clerk a very generous tip so that could be replaced.
Next I walked up to the counter to patiently wait for Padme and the clerk to finish.
Half a minute later, I heard the front door of the shop try to open as the final member of this spy cell, the speeder driver, finally came to check on why his entire team had gone dark. It didn't budge and I could feel his panic, anger and skyrocketing levels of paranoia. This guy was another human and it was a pity I couldn't get a visual look at him, but at least I would know him through his unique 'fingerprint' in the Force.
He now felt only frustration as he couldn't dare force an entry in full view of an entire busy street. A grim acceptance settled on his mind and he hurriedly left, abandoning his speeder at the side of the road, most likely to enact whatever extraction contingencies the team had.
I felt only slightly bad that I had just compromised a spy cell that likely worked for RI. They were just doing their job, but at the end of the day, they were working for Palpatine. Fulcrum was now capable enough that we could be considered a clandestine spy network/conspiracy working against him, therefore RI was our enemy, just as the CIS was.
A gasp of fright announced the return of Padme and the pretty clerk.
"W- wh- what happened here?" she held a hand at her chest to steady herself. Padme was also naturally surprised and convincingly held a hand to cover her mouth and stared at the collapsed bodies.
"These two came in here and tried to rob me," I said with annoyance, jerking a thumb at the two spies. "They thought me an easy mark. Unfortunately for them, I'm captain of the university's Zama-shiwo team. The human will remain unconscious for three hours, the gotal for four… roughly. More than enough time for the Raxulon police to show up."
"They usually respond within ten minutes," she said and pulled out her own small comlink from the waist of her dress, where a cunningly hidden pocket was.
"They also did something to your surveillance system, not sure what, but I doubt you're getting anything from that," I said with a wince of sympathy.
"Bastards, that system isn't cheap!" She now defaulted to anger and looked ready to introduce her foot to the two prone operatives.
"In the meantime, can I get measured for that dress now?" I asked, playing up the ditzy act.
The clerk looked conflicted for a moment, "We really should wait for the police, but… all right."
I entered our hotel room four hours later and leaned against the closed door, taking a moment to just relax.
Dealing with the Raxulon police and then hurrying over to the RI cell's 'headquarters' to sanitize their equipment and deal with the sleepy cell leader had not been a fun time. It had been nerve wracking in the extreme and I even got Hermione on an encrypted line to double check that I had gotten everything done.
I had arrived at the 'headquarters', a very ordinary apartment building in a lower income area of the city with baited breath, fully expecting the leader to be gone already or waiting for me in some cunning trap. Thankfully, he was still sleeping like a baby and had offered no resistance. I only had to deal with the local security systems they had rigged on the apartment itself, which had been quite extensive.
The only thing I couldn't be sure about was the memories and the minds of the members of this cell.
I was not a Jedi Mindwalker.
The best I had been able to do with Mr Gotal and Mr Beard had been to 'muddle' the memory of their confrontation with me in the boutique. Much like using a brush filled with turpentine to mess up a painting. Their longer term memories of seeing a dark figure take out their competition in surveillance of Senator Bonteri and then tailing me to eventually get a visual ID was way more tricky.
That I had not picked up on them following me from the senator's house was a stupid error on my own part. I had been just so relieved in pulling off the infiltration, getting through to Bonteri, pulling Padme into the shared dream and getting out of there that I had just not thought to keep my senses outward to max. That there would even be an RI team specifically on the senator just hadn't occurred to me at all.
At best, I'd thought any RI efforts would be focused on the parliament as a whole. They didn't have the operatives or the resources to devote surveillance to every senator on the planet.
"Naala? Did everything go well?"
I opened my eyes to see Padme emerging from the bedroom, wearing a vastly more comfortable brown blouse and pants. Her hair was wet, as if she had just come from a shower.
"Yes," I answered simply, walking towards the small couch in the living area. I let my body flop bonelessly on it, just indulging in the comfort. "It went as well as could be, I suppose. Yet in the end, RI will eventually know that there is a third party playing the game."
"Are you sure it's them? What did you do with them? Are you sure it's safe to speak more candidly?"
"I've gone over the room with a fine tooth comb, there's no active scans bouncing off any surface. A passive one will need to be close and I'm keeping a watch for that. As for how I'm sure it's RI, their equipment might have no markings but that computer architecture and hardware is unmistakable to someone who knows what to look for. It's basically repurposed Industrial Automaton computer hardware.
"As for what I did with them. I scrambled their memories of me as best I could, staged a small fire in their little HQ which wrecked their stuff, then put their cell leader in a responding medical skiff as he was also suffering from smoke inhalation. He'll recover in hospital, the speeder driver will enact his exfiltration contingency, whilst the two that attacked me in the shop will be spending the next few months in jail. I imagine RI will let them stew in there for the full duration, no need risking yet more operatives for a rescue that could go wrong in many ways."
"But the speeder driver is the problem then," she said with worry. "You haven't managed to scramble his memories."
"I know what he feels like in the Force, in fact, I can sense his position right now. He's in the western edge of the city's industrial district. If he even begins approaching the spaceport, I'll be waiting. I was planning to do a bit of recovery meditation and hunt him down afterward."
Padme softly walked over and sat beside me, "Given the stakes we're fighting for, Ahsoka, are you sure it wouldn't have been easier to…" She stopped herself and winced.
"Of course it would've been easier to just kill them," I sat up and cradled my head in my hands. "It would be easy. Just infiltrate the police station, then apply just enough pressure with telekinesis to a major arterial blood vessel that leads to the brain. I wouldn't even need to be near their cell. I could just sit in the public reception area. Do the same for the other two."
"I imagine that's the Dark Side?" she asked
"Using the Force in that manner and context is very much an act that pushes into the Dark Side. It's not just like pulling the trigger on a gun to kill someone in a fight or war. When you're manipulating the Force… this is hard to explain… there's a transactional process happening, for want of a better word, that feeds back to you. For me to kill using that technique…" I stopped myself. "No, I'd become the very thing I was fighting. Me falling to the Dark Side is something I don't want this galaxy to ever see. I'd rather you or Anakin kill me first before that can happen."
Padme put a soft, comforting hand on my shoulder, "It won't come to that, Ahsoka."
"Never say never," I chuckled weakly.
The annoying chirp of a comlink hit my montrals at that point.
Padme picked it up from the caf table, and tapped it. A holo blossomed into being with a text message. "It's Mina… she wants to talk."
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