Disclaimer: I don't own SW or Dai Bendu.
Posted 5-11-2023
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Chapter Two
The Chase
Later that evening, the Senator had gone to bed, and Leia was on guard duty. She was in the living room, standing at the windows, one hand resting on her lightsabre hilt, her eyes closed as she breathed in and out rhythmically. Meditation was something she had taken to like a Nautolan to water. It just worked for her. This, of course, wasn't a full meditation. That would be too risky whilst on guard duty. But it let her clear her mind, as her senses extended in search of attackers.
She sensed her Jaieh's approach and opened her eyes just moments before the door slid open and Obi-Wan entered.
"Captain Typho has more than enough men downstairs," he declared. "No assassin will try that way. Any activity up here?"
Leia shook her head. "Quiet as a tomb," she replied. "I can't sense a thing out of place."
Obi-Wan pulled out a palm-sized view scanner from his utility belt. He frowned in concern and disapproval when he saw no sign of their charge. "Why can't we see her?" He asked his Padawan, who pursed her lips as she responded.
"She covered the cameras," the younger Jedi explained, disapproval evident. "I don't think she liked being watched as she slept."
Obi-Wan huffed in exasperation at the lack of concern the Senator was showing for her safety. "What is she thinking?" He grumbled.
"She programmed Artoo to warn us if there's an intruder," Leia replied dryly. "I tried to convince her it wasn't enough, but she insisted."
"It's not an intruder that I'm worried about," Obi-Wan grumbled. "There are many other ways to kill a Senator."
"She insisted," Leia said helplessly. "She's a Senator. I couldn't overrule her."
"I know, I'm not upset with you," Obi-Wan assured his Padawan. "We-" he cut himself off as the Force screamed a warning, and the two Jedi began racing for Amidala's bedroom. "She's under attack!" He yelled.
"I sense it too!" Leia exclaimed in response as she jumped gracefully over the sofa.
They burst into the room and found a probe droid hovering outside a perfect round hole in the window, and two bugs the Jedi recognized as Kouhuns, deadly centipedes, crawling over Amidala's face.
They ignited their lightsabres, the sudden light making Amidala jolt awake. She let out a shocked cry as she watched Leia use the Force to throw the Kouhuns into the air, away from her face, and slash them both in two. Obi-Wan, meanwhile, raced for the window and jumped out, grabbing onto the probe as it began to fly off.
Leia spun on her heel and ran for the door, snapping at Captain Typho and the Senator's on-duty handmaiden, Dormé. "Get her to a saferoom, some place with no windows! We'll be back as soon as possible!"
Leia quickly got to the speeders and jumped into the one marked with the Jedi symbol, zooming away at a speed only a Force sensitive could safely manage, following her training bond to her Jaieh.
She eventually spied him dangling precariously from the droid, and gunned the speeder even harder, to get beneath it. She was just in time, as the droid was suddenly hit with an energy bolt, causing Obi-Wan to plummet toward the ground. Thankfully, he grabbed onto the speeder and climbed in, huffing to catch his breath. Leia pressed harder on the accelerator, trying to keep up with the would-be assassin.
"Alright, Jaieh?" Leia called to Obi-Wan as he clambered into the passenger seat.
"I'm fine," he assured her. "How's the Senator?"
"Unharmed. I told Typho to put her in a saferoom until we get back."
He sent a feeling of approvalpridesatisfaction to her before they focused on the chase, Obi-Wan holding on tightly as Leia swerved and twisted through the other speeders, working to catch up with their target.
"Try not to kill us please!" Obi-Wan yelled at her.
Leia tossed him a mischievous grin and called back, "There is no Death, there is the Force!" as she neatly dodged the bounty hunter's shots.
"Doesn't mean I want to join it just yet!"
"Oh ye of little faith!" Leia laughed as she deftly zoomed through a construction site.
"Just slow down!" Obi-Wan exclaimed exasperatedly. Leia was a natural pilot, but she was also a speed demon. She'd never crashed, but Obi-Wan was convinced it was only a matter of time before she got herself killed with her mad tricks. "There! There they are!" He pointed at the bounty hunter's speeder. Leia pressed the accelerator flat, and the world blurred.
Finally, after multiple near-death experiences and Obi-Wan nearly going into heart failure, they cornered the assassin in a nightclub in the lower levels of the city.
"You're going to get us both killed one day," Obi-Wan complained as he climbed out of the speeder on shaky legs.
Leia smirked at him. "The Force is with us, Jaieh," she assured him. "It's not going to let us die in something as mundane as a speeder crash."
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's just find that bounty hunter," he sighed.
"Sure," Leia chirruped. "Lead the way, Jaieh."
"Can you see them?" He asked her lowly as the pair slipped into the club, mild notice-me-nots disguising them.
"Not yet," Leia whispered back. "We have a problem. From what I saw when I was chasing them, they're definitely a Clawdite."
"Take care then," Obi-Wan advised his young apprentice. "They could be anyone."
"I got a trace of their Force presence," Leia told him. "I'll recognize them when I see them."
Obi-Wan nodded approvingly, sending her a feeling of loveprideworryfondness. Leia responded with a sense of lovewarmthtrust. He smiled at her briefly before they went back to searching for the Clawdite.
They drifted apart, Obi-Wan going to get a drink to settle his nerves after the stressful speeder chase, while Leia went assassin-hunting. She wandered the club under a 'don't-notice-me' Force shield, and then felt a sense of danger that had her rushing back to her Master. She was just in time to see him cut off the Clawdite's hand at the wrist, sending their hand, still clutching the blaster, falling to the ground. Several people screamed and leapt to their feet, and Leia raised her hands in a soothing motion, a hint of the Force in her voice.
"Relax, everybody. This is official Jedi business. Just go back to your drinks."
Slowly, the beings returned to their conversations and drinking, while Obi-Wan and Leia escorted the Clawdite outside of the club, where Obi-Wan attended to their wound as they glared hatefully at the two Jedi.
Leia crossed her arms and aimed a narrow-eyed glare at their prisoner. "What's your name?" The Padawan demanded, the Force lacing her voice.
"Zam Wesell," the assassin replied sullenly.
"Do you know who you were trying to kill?" Leia pressed.
"The Nubian Senator," they shrugged.
"Who hired you?" Obi-Wan demanded.
"It was just a job," Wesell insisted. Obi-Wan's glower increased.
"Who hired you?" He repeated.
"That Senator's gonna die soon anyway, and the next one won't make the same mistake I did...," Wesell warned with a dark smirk.
"Tell us who hired you!" Obi-Wan thundered, the Force strengthening his demand.
They glared at him then began spat, "A bounty hunter named-" they were suddenly cut off when a dart pierced their throat, killing them instantly.
There was a whooshing sound and the Jedi looked up, watching as a man in Mandalorian armour and a jetpack flew away.
"A Mandalorian," Leia muttered. "Well, that narrows it down." Her voice was full of sarcasm and she felt her Jaieh's mental grimace in the Force.
Many Mandalorians, especially the Haat'mando'ade, had taken up bounty hunting to escape the civil war that had destroyed their system, and even more had fled when the New Mandalorians took control. All of them were skilled, and many had a grudge against the Republic for Galidraan. Thankfully, most didn't blame the Jedi, knowing they had no choice and that they had done their best to only injure, not kill. But that was only the rational ones, and the Mandalorians as a whole were eager to take up bounties against Republican officials, whether they'd held their positions at the time of Galidraan or not.
The point was, knowing their opponent was a Mandalorian didn't exactly narrow things down.
The next day, the Jaieh-Padawan pair stood before the High Council.
"Tracked down, this bounty hunter must be," Yoda stated decisively, his clawtips touching each other. "Do this, Padawan Skywalker will."
"Me?" Leia repeated in surprise. "By myself?"
"Yes," Jaieh Windu agreed. "It will be a good test for your readiness for your Trials."
Leia let her fellow Jedi sense her surprisehonourdetermination through the Force as her expression remained even and serene. "As you say, Masters," she murmured respectfully with a deep bow.
They nodded back, sending back their confidence in her abilities, before turning to Obi-Wan. "Protect the Senator, you will, Jaieh Kenobi," Yoda instructed his great-grandpadawan. "Decided, the Chancellor has, that safest it will be if return to Naboo Amidala does. Take her there secretly you will, while remain behind as decoys her handmaidens and security guards will."
Obi-Wan stiffened, but bowed in acceptance.
"Have confidence in you, we do," Yoda added. "Trust that blind you, your emotions will not."
"I will trust in the Force to guide me," Obi-Wan assured the Masters, who sent him their approval.
"There is something Dark about this," Jaieh Dooku murmured thoughtfully. "I sense that there is more to this than we can see. Take care, both of you."
"We will, Jaieh," Obi-Wan promised his grandmaster.
Bowing once again to the Council, the pair left the Council Chamber and hurried to get ready for their new missions.
"Take care, Padawan," Obi-Wan urged his apprentice as he tossed his pack over his shoulder, dressed in a set of civilian clothes reserved for undercover missions instead of his usual robes. "Mandalorians are dangerous. Trust in the Force, and you will not go astray."
"I will, Jaieh," Leia promised. "Good luck with the Senator. Eno Dai veshah keelel mellu im tamah foh veshah keelel."
"And with you, my apprentice," he replied. They bowed to one another before separating, Leia to the Archives to trace the dart used to kill Zam Wesell, Obi-Wan to take Senator Amidala back to Naboo.
Leia strode through the Archives, heading for a free Analysis Cubicle. Finding one, she slipped inside and pulled the dart out of the pouch on her utility belt. She pressed a button and the SP-4 Analysis droid switched on, ejecting a tray for the dart.
"Place the subject for analysis on the sensor tray, please," it ordered her. She did so, watching the tray retract into the console. The droid activated the system and the screen lit.
"It's a toxic dart," Leia explained to the droid. "Fired by a bounty hunter in Mandalorian-style armour. I need to know where it came from and who made it."
"One moment, please," SP-4 requested. Leia watched patiently as various diagrams and data appeared on the screen, scrolling past rapidly. After a few moments, the screen went blank and the tray slid back out.
"Markings cannot be identified," SP-4 informed her. "As you can see on your
screen, subject weapon does not exist in any known culture. Probably self-made by a warrior no longer associated with any known society. Stand away from the sensor tray please."
"Could you try again please?" Leia requested politely.
"Padawan, our records are very thorough," SP-4 replied stiffly, making Leia suspect she had offended it. "They cover eighty percent of the galaxy. If I can't tell you where it came from, nobody can."
Leia picked up the dart and looked at it, then looked back at the droid. "Thank you for your help," she said politely, stowing the dart back in her pouch and rising to her feet.
She knew exactly who to talk to identify the dart.
Dex's diner was one of Leia's favourite places on Coruscant. It was a safe place for the Jedi, where they could eat as much as they wanted, no restrictions, completely for free and without fear of an attack, verbal or physical. Dex was a loyal friend, and he adored the Jedi.
"Leia!" Dex boomed, the Besalisk scooping her into a ribcrackingly tight embrace. "It's good ta see you! Where's Obi? Your usual?"
"It's always good to see you, Dex," Leia smiled warmly at him. "My usual would be great, thanks. And Jaieh is off on a mission. I'm doing a solo investigation," she added with shy pride. She wasn't the type to boast, but to know that, after only six years of training, and only ten years in the Anohrah, that she was being considered for her Trials was a great honour, and she was excited for her friend to know.
He gasped in excitement and hugged her again. "Obi's Little Light is all grown up!" He cooed. "Take a seat, I'll get you your tubers and nerfburger and blue milkshake. Then you can tell me everything."
Leia took her seat and pulled out the dart, studying it as she waited for Dex's return. It didn't take long for him to come back, her promised dinner in his hands and Hermione left in charge.
"So, tell me," he prompted, serving her. She dug in, handing over the dart, and began telling him everything between bites.
"Someone is trying to kill Senator Amidala of Naboo," Leia explained. "Jaieh Obi-Wan had to take her back to Naboo secretly to protect her today on the Chancellor's orders. He and I caught up to the bounty hunter who blew up her ship and sent Kouhuns after her, a Clawdite by the name of Zam Wesell, last night. But just as they were about to tell us who hired them, they got killed by that dart. The analysis droid couldn't ID it. Any chance you know where it's from? It's my only lead."
"Hmm, let me take a look," Dex said, studying the dart intently. "Uhuh, I know it. By the Force. I ain't seen one of these since I was prospecting on Subterrel beyond the Outer Rim!"
Leia finished her food, having inhaled in with all the rapidity of someone who'd grown up never knowing when or if her next meal was coming. "Do you know where it came from then?" She asked eagerly.
Dex grinned, putting the dart down between them. "This baby belongs to them cloners," he informed the young Jedi. "What you got here is a Kamino sabredart."
"Kamino?" Leia echoed thoughtfully. "I don't think I've heard of them."
"It's these funny little cuts on the side give it away... Those analysis droids you've got over there only focus on symbols, you know. I should think you Jedi would have more respect for the difference between knowledge and wisdom," he added teasingly.
"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge," Leia mused with a bright grin. "So, Kamino you said? It's not part of the Republic, is it? And definitely not CIS, or I would for sure have heard of them."
Dex shook his head. "No, it's beyond the Outer Rim. I'd say about twelve parsecs outside the Rishi Maze, toward the south. It should be easy to find, even for those droids in your archive. These Kaminoans keep to themselves. They're cloners. Damned good ones, too."
"Cloners, huh?" Leia repeated thoughtfully, a flicker of warning going down her spine. "Are they friendly?"
"That depends," Dex said mildly, a pointed glint in his eye.
"On what?" Leia asked, knowingly.
"On how good your manners are... and how big your pocketbook is..."
A good night's sleep and several hours of meditation later, Leia was feeling much more put together, though she was determined to avoid the Archives until she knew that someone else had drawn Chief Archivist Nu's ire. Leia had made the foolish and naïve mistake of wondering if the Archive was wrong about something, and she feared she may have made an enemy for life out of the proud Archivist. Jaieh Nu was incredibly proud of the generations and millennia of knowledge stored in the Archives. Questioning that knowledge was a one-way ticket to being banned forever.
So, with the Archives of no help in finding Kamino's coordinates, Leia went in search of Tonjaieh Yoda. Unsurprisingly, he was with some Initiates, teaching the younglings from Bear Clan. They were working on basic Shii-Cho, helmets covering their eyes as they batted away the gentle darts being shot by the training droids.
"Don't think... feel... be as one with the Force," Yoda ordered the children. "Help you, it will."
"Tonjaieh, may I interrupt?" Leia called, stepping inside the salle and bowing to the head of her rahkadai and the initiates.
"Younglings, enough!" Yoda called, switching off the droids with a wave of his hand. "A visitor we have. Welcome her."
The younglings pulled off their helmets and switched off their training sabres. "Welcome, Padawan Skywalker!" They chorused with warm smiles for the apprentice who, along with her Jaieh, passed so much of her leisure time playing with and teaching them and their fellow initiates in the other Clans.
"Thank you all," Leia smiled fondly at the younglings. "Forgive me for interrupting, Initiates, Tonjaieh. I'm afraid I need to consult with you about something."
"What help to you, can I be, Padawan Skywalker?" Yoda asked.
"I'm looking for a planet described to me by Dexter Jettster," Leia explained. "I trust him when he says it's there. But the system doesn't show up on any of the maps in the Archive."
"Lost a planet, Padawan Skywalker has," Yoda mused to the children. "How embarrassing... how embarrassing," the younglings giggled and Leia feigned embarrassment to amuse them more. "Liam, the shades," the old Jaieh ordered. "An interesting puzzle. Gather, younglings, around the map reader. Clear your minds and find Leia's wayward planet, we will."
Leia turned on the reader as the children gathered around it, laughing and trying to touch the projected stars and nebulae.
"This is where it should be...," Leia explained, gesturing to an empty space in the system. "But, as you can all see, there's nothing there. Gravity is pulling all the stars in this area inward to this spot. There should be a star here... but there isn't."
"Most interesting," Yoda said thoughtfully. "Gravity's silhouette remains, but the star and all its planets have disappeared. How can this be? Now, younglings, in your mind, what is the first thing you see? An answer? A thought? Anyone?"
There was a brief pause before a Nautolan padib put his hand up. Yoda
nodded to him in encouragement.
"Jaieh?" The boy said. "Because someone erased it from the archive memory."
"That's right!" The other children exclaimed excitedly. "Yes! That's what happened! Someone erased it!"
"If the planet blew up, the gravity would go away," a Pantoran girl reasoned. "So Nakano must be right. Somebody erased it."
Leia's eyes widened, but she sent a sense of prideadmirationlove at the children despite her surprise. "So clever of you all," she told them proudly as Yoda chuckled, the younglings straightening up proudly.
"Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is," he said proudly, smiling fondly at his charges, a glint of sadness in his eyes that the children were too young to detect. Leia knew he was mourning the thought of these younglings' innocence being crushed by the cruelty of the Senate. "Right, the padib is," Yoda went on, turning back to Leia. "Go to the centre of the gravity's pull, and find your planet you will."
He gestured at her and the pair moved away from the children. With a hand movement, Leia made the star map disappear and called the projector back to her as the two walked into an adjoining room.
"But Master Yoda who could have erased information from the archives?" Leia wondered. "That's impossible, isn't it?"
Yoda frowned, and she sensed how troubled and disturbed he felt in the Force. "Dangerous and disturbing this puzzle is," he said grimly. "Only a Jedi erased those files could have. But who and why, harder to answer. Meditate on this, I will. Eno Dai veshah keelel mellu im tamah foh veshah keelel, young one."
"And you, Jaieh," Leia replied, bowing respectfully to the grandmaster.
Dai Bendu:
Eno Dai veshah keelel mellu im tamah foh veshah keelel: May the Force be with you
Jaieh: Master (Teacher)
Tonjaieh: Grandmaster (formal)
Padib: Initiate
Anohrah: Temple
