Annabeth Chase

"Jedi Knight or not, he's looking at north of fifty years behind bars," Annabeth said. "So I really need to talk to him. Otherwise, there is nothing I can do."

It was a lie, and Annabeth knew Thalia was aware of it. The only helping Annabeth would do is help Percy Jackson make the prosecution's case that much easier when she gave him her friendship bracelets.

Annabeth enjoyed being right, probably too much. For a few long moments, she reveled in it, already looking forward to rubbing it under everyone's nose once all was set and done.

"So," she said, writing down the name. "Percy Jackson. Date of birth?" Annabeth prompted. "Location?"

"I don't know," Thalia said. "On both of those. He isn't technically from the Coruscant Temple, but from one of the enclaves, like me. He is also a Guardian, unlike me."

"What enclave then?" Annabeth asked impatiently.

"You know I'll find out anyway. It's what I do, all you'll be doing is saving me from running around and wasting time," Annabeth added.

"They called themselves the Corellian Knights," Thalia finally explained, giving Annabeth a rather weary look.

"Never heard of them," she replied. Some of them, like Thalia's, with its exclusively female membership were rather well known and had for a long time rested within the sphere of the public imagination.

"It was a rather nomadic enclave based on Corellia that was mostly active across the Corellian run until the war really heated up. Weren't that many to begin with," Thalia explained, her voice gaining a strange sub-note and Annabeth took a few heartbeats to pick up the shift in tact. If Annabeth hadn't been such a keen student of human behavior. She could almost feel Thalia beginning to put up barriers, her normally open face gaining that mask of tranquility that her order so favored.

"Was?" Annabeth asked, careful to put a gentle, none pressing note to her voice. She liked Thalia, even considered her something of a friend, and Annabeth did not relish using the tricks of her trade to pry out information the Jedi wasn't eager to share. Especially when it was a family member of hers. Of course, such things as family relationships should not matter to a Jedi. They should be above such attachments, at least that was how Annabeth understood it. But Thalia had always been eccentric and Annabeth had very much noticed her getting defensive over someone she clearly cared about a great deal.

"That enclave is shattered. Most of them are dead, almost all of them in fact," Thalia explained. The Jedi was now speaking very fast and in a low voice.

Annabeth cocked her head slightly. "I take it you knew them," sensing this was a rather personal topic for Thalia.

"Knew them?" Thalia asked, pulling her lightsaber from her arming belt. For a freak moment, she thought the warrior would activate the weapon, but instead, she just stared at it. "I was there when they fell. I watched them die."

Realizing that that was clearly a topic a lot more personal to Thalia than she had initially anticipated Annabeth decided to ease some of the pressure she had clearly built up.

"So, what's the deal with the enclave?" Annabeth asked, looking out the window as they passed between a vast forest of towering skyscrapers, poking through a fluffy layer of clouds.

"The enclave?" she asked.

"These Corellian Knights," she elaborated lightly to ease the pressure she had inadvertently built up. "I understand they form around some alternative view on doctrine or philosophy."

In all those romance novels, Annabeth thought to herself, these differences would usually center around relationships or sex. She knew that this was very likely not the case.

Thalia shrugged, clearly happy at the change of topic. "To summarize, they were notorious for being one of the most martial factions within the order. Too martial for the taste of the council. Very fixated on the knight part in the Jedi Knight gig. Also took other parts of the code more as guidelines rather than rules."

"Why would the Council allow this?" she asked.

Thalia gave her a long grim look, her electric blue eyes boring into Annabeth. "I guess they had their uses during the war," Annabeth deduced. "And when they became a past tense when the Jedi Council was overly upset," Annabeth continued, happy to take the blame somewhere Thalia would be more than happy to see it placed, betting on this personal sympathy Thalia clearly held for these Corellian Knights.

"I did not say that," Thalia hastily said.

"So now that they are past tense, what happened to remnants of this enclave?" she asked.

Thalia lowed her gaze in what Annabeth took a moment to place as shame.

"Few were reabsorbed into the Order proper, or other enclaves. Most retired... After it happened, any overt action against them in any way would have not gone down well with the ranks," Thalia said.

"And what happened to this cousin of yours," Annabeth asked innocently, keeping her voice light and her phrasing innocently. "I can't imagine the Council being happy with someone fucking around with prisoner transports."

Again Thalia hesitated. "Listen, I am not helping you go after him. I have said too much already"

"Come on Thalia," Annabeth tried her luck. She knew Thalia too well to try to appeal to her professionalism. Thalia was a warrior, not a professional and Annabeth had no wish to burn both a source and a friend.

She had more than enough to move forward now in any case. She had a name, and if that alone wasn't enough the part she had let slip about an entire enclave worth of Jedi being wiped out, an incident Thalia herself had witnessed,...well that sounded too high profile to burry and was without any doubt something Annabeth could work from. She really hoped Thalia was never on the wrong side of an interrogation room, the Jedi really sucked at it.

"I understand, believe me," Annabeth assured the Jedi. "If you don't trust me then at least talk to him yourself. It will be so much better for him if he comes in on his own rather than me having to hunt him down. There was an attempted murder on a member of the Galactic Senate, and this Percy Jackson has directly interceded on behalf of the prime suspect."

"I definitely will," Thalia said. "But do not be surprised when not all is as it seems."

Annabeth gave Thalia her best look of polite scientism. "I really won't know either way until I talk to him, will I?"

Regardless of what his motivations might be, Annabeth thought to herself, she was still going to throw the book at him for freeing a captive and assaulting a Republic Agent. No, Annabeth had not forgotten about getting sent to the hospital. She had taken it personally and excelled at holding grudges.

"Anyway," Annabeth decided to finally change the conversation.

"What have you been up to?" she asked.

Thalia shrugged. "Babysitting mostly. Escorted a bunch of younglings on a right of passage for the past two months and just got back."

"Like this lightsaber-making ceremony from that show? What was it called? Blades of Light or something?"

Thalia laughed. "Yeah, something like that. I don't think the producers of that show actually realize a good portion of the order actually watch it. Some of the Padawan are actually adopting some of the more cliché quotes."

Annabeth grinned, a mental image of a group of robed and cloaked Jedi kicking back with snacks and drinks to watch the latest released episode.

"You?" Thalia asked.

"Oh, the usual. Some corruption here, and unruly representatives there in the Senate chamber. Had one Senator spazzing off on spice, his aids called us after he tried to force feeding her a pencil sharpener. Keeping that from the media was not easy. Now I have this attempted hit on a Senator,..."

"Sounds like a lot of paperwork," Thalia mused.

"Yeah, I more or less have a desk job," Annabeth admitted.

"Cut the chatter!" Travis yelled, rosing to the seat in the shuttles center aisle and they fell silent.

"Connor takes point, once he calls clear the wingers follow, then comes the Chancellor's formation. Chase, you stick to the Chancellor's left wing. Grace, I want you behind him. If anything happens on the way to the stage, Ms. Chase and Grace escort him back. The relief squad moves up to reinforce them, while the first squad covers them. Keep your head in a swivel. Any questions?"

There weren't, having already gone through an in-depth briefing at the beginning of the day.

When they finally landed at the event location the shuttle landed on a landing pad and they guided the Chancellor down onto the University of Coruscant's main yard. Thousands of students had come out to welcome them, and the crowd was only parted by a fenced-off path, secured by hundreds of officers from Republic security.

She knew there were snipers in position, but this was the most dangerous part of the entire event. Annabeth stayed at the Chancellor's side, her practiced eyes scanning the crowd, inside the cocoon of six blue armored soldiers. Of course, it took longer than the expected two minutes, with Chancellor Paston not wasting the chance to shake hands with students, exchanging a few words here and there. It was a nightmare, awkwardly halting the entire formation every time. Finally, it was over and they were safely inside the teacher's study where they were met by dozens of staff members and guards already waiting.

Annabeth and Thalia headed over to Will.

"Annabeth, I want you in the crowd. Call out anyone who peeks your interest or who looks like they are up to no good. This is a private event, and not the occasion for some freak to make a statement or something," he ordered.

Annabeth mock saluted and headed back into the open area and mixed herself under the ground. She should have been here in the crowd since the morning, not joining after very visibly walking at the Chancellor's side. She should have spent the past few days preparing for such an assignment, researching the more radical groups, and other known troublemakers. Now she had been forced with a few short lists.

After putting on her casual civilian, college student face she mixed her way into the crowd, listening in on conversations here and there.

"Agent Chase?" someone suddenly addressed her from behind.

Annabeth sighed, turned around, and found herself face to face with Rachel Dare, the daughter of her comatose Senator problem. "I did not expect to find you here..."

Flanking the woman was a droid with a large camera for a head and one of those flying camera drones hovering behind her. "Yeah, short-term assignment. I am the Senate Guard," she said.

"Could we talk later?" Rachel asked and Annabeth realized that the two Camera's were turned off. So far the assassination attempt had not gone public yet, all that had been released was that the Senator had fallen ill. She was grateful for that. Rachel at least seemed happy to keep it that way, which was a surprise considering she was a journalist.

"Of course," she said. "I'll ping you. Sorry, I have to get to the press section."

Annabeth smiled and relocated the moment she and Rachel had parted ways.

"Hey, you new here?" some guy around her age asked. He was okay looking, with blond hair, and blue eyes. The typical representative of what in her species past as a prime male specimen, well if he had more than two brain cells together.

"Oh yes, just transferred in from The Royal Academy Of Applied Sciences from Aldera," she replied, trying to offer her freshest and most innocent smile and hide her true sarcastic, salty, and burned-out law enforcement self.

She brushed her hair back and beamed at the young man.

"What is your field?" he asked.

"Architecture," she said. "And Engineering."

She wasn't, but it was a topic that had always interested her, and the only one she felt confident in holding a conversation about if she had to. There was nothing more embarrassing than stumbling across an expert in your supposed field and standing there like a retard.

"Cool," he said and held out his hand. "Rash Timins from Onderon," he introduced himself. "Aldera? You are from Alderaan?"

"Yes, and Lucy Beckett," she introduced herself, falling back on the usual light cover name. She ran a social media account under the name, so it would be able to pass the standard student-level background check. There were a few pictures of her she had posed with Silena where she made a few goofy expressions in a staged party and a few of those where she looked off into the distant mountains in Aldera with the most cliché quotes the Senate Guard could muster under it.

"What is your field?" she asked, beginning to dig for more information almost out of habit.

"Oh, finance and political science," he replied and held out his hand which she shook, and began to think of an elegant exit from a conversation that was already taking up too much of her time. "I am the leader of a student union," he announced and held out a pad. "Would be thrilled if you came by. It is in your interest too as a transfer."

"Hey, here is my contact," she said holding out her data pad. "I have to dash."

He held his out too and linked how own to her fake profiles, and when some girl joined and he turned to face her, Annabeth smoothly slid away into the masses. Annabeth managed to avoid the crowds until the main lecture hall was opened and they began to move in. At the doors, one of the guards recognized her and winked as they passed in.

Fortunately, the event lasted only a few hours and after escorting the Chancellor to his residence she was free to return to the office, now armored with avenues of inquiry that demanded to be exploited.

The sun had already set but fictionally Silena, Malcolm, and Luke were still in the office, working the case.

When she approached Luke cleared his voice. "In the future, could you not squeeze your friendly sources like that?" he asked when she entered.

"You can't argue with results. Did she catch you guys up already?"

"No, she just asked who stole your cookie," Luke said and headed over to her cubical, and was promptly joined by Malcolm. She passed on what Silena had told her and when she was finished Luke sighed.

"So, Percy Jackson. Looks like you were right about the Jedi part," she said and stepped over to his cubicle's terminal and looked him up. "And,...still nothing. But we now know more."

"How about this," Annabeth suggested. "Malcolm, Luke, you continue looking for our missing prisoners. Silena and I will go after this Percy Jackson. Thalia mentioned a mass casualty event among the Jedi, and I think that is a good place to start looking into this guy. We have daily meetings in which we share intel."

Luke sighed. "Fine, ... you can have him."

"It won't be that hard, Thalia mentioned she was there, and we know we have records on her due to her having access to the Chancellor and according to her she and Mr. Jackson is blood-related to her."

"That should narrow it down," Malcolm agreed. "So, I order takeout and we pull an all-nighter?" he asked.

Annabeth shrugged. "Oh, why the hell not? Does anyone know where the Jedi Council publishes its casualty reports?" she joked, already knowing that the notoriously secretive organization almost certainly did not have such things.

So, after Silena got the two of them steaming cups of caffeine-rich beverages they sat down at Annabeth's desk and got to work the moment their dinner arrived. "How do you want to do this?" she asked.

For a moment Annabeth considered her options. "We don't need the archives for this yet. I want you to dig into Jedi Knight Thalia Grace's postings in the last five years. In the meantime, I will look into headlines of major casualty events involving Jedi. From there we cross-reference. Also, see if you can establish a family tree of Thalia."

"Sounds good to me," Silena said and they got to work.

As it turned out, Silena's angle was much faster than her own.

"Oh," Silena suddenly said. "Wait, she was from one of the enclaves. You know what it's called?"

"Yavin Enclave," she replied, guessing Thalia had been fixated on the Order proper until now.

"Yeah, this is easy," she said five minutes later. "Like happened four years ago."

"Wait what?" Annabeth asked, looking over at Thalia's screen.

"Four years ago there was a major incident on Yavin Four. Civilian settlement destroyed, something about a pirate raid. Apparently, the Jedi temple was heavily damaged. There were both heavy Jedi and Civilian casualties."

"Do they mention a group called the Corellian Knights?" Annabeth asked.

"No,...while the Jedi Council told the media that it deeply regrets the loss of life, it does not elaborate on exact numbers. However, in this article from the Mid Rim Broadcast, it says that at least four to five hundred civilians perished in the attack so the attack must have been a significant incident."

"Why was this not headline news?" she asked in exasperation.

Silena shrugged. "For one, this happened parallels to a major battle in the Outer Rim against the forces of Sith Empire. Maybe, a clear-cut victory makes for better news than a cluster fuck."

Silena flicked over to the next page. "Wait, actually this one is interesting," she announced, scanning the screen.

"What?" she replied.

"It is reported that Darth Desolus died in this one, wasn't he like a contender for the Sith Council?" she asked.

Annabeth pulled his file up. "Yeah, he was. Apparently, he led a rather successful offensive into the Chommel Sector and killed a member of the Jedi Council, which is how he gained renown for a political career. Reported death on Yavin 4, and the dates match. Killed by one..." Annabeth said and then sighed.

"What?" Silena asked.

"No name, you'd think they'd write something like this down. It just says a member of the Jedi Order." Annabeth said.

"Anyway," Silena said and printed the sources she considered useful. "Back to work. Going to look into what I can find with Thalia Grace's family tree, though don't be surprised if it comes up empty."

As it turned out, while there was very little information available about Thalia's family tree, running her DNA profile through the system offered a surprising amount of insight. Within two hours they found Thalia's biological mother, who had earlier from alcoholism nearly two decades ago here on Coruscant. Annabeth could not deny a slightly bitter taste entering her mouth when Silena showed her. Apparently, the mother had been some media darling, which knowing Thalia felt out of place. She also had a brother who serves as a junior officer in the Outer Rim. Too far away for their needs.

At the crack of dawn, they really began to make progress as the system spit out Thalia's father.

"Mr Zeus Olympiad," Thalia announced. "A famous business mogul here on Coruscant. Owns like half the planet," Silena announced. "Looks like Thalia's parents are loaded."

"Establish his next of kin," Annabeth immediately said, an early sense of victory settling in.

"Already on it, you know I'm not stupid," she said.

"Jo," Silena exclaimed. "Guess who happens to be directly related to Fleet Admiral Poseidon Olympiad.

"Wait," Annabeth said, a faint sense of recognition settling on and rolled her chair over to her friend.

"Looks familiar, doesn't he," Silena mused, putting the picture of a well-aged handsome man in the white dress uniform, with dark hair and beard, the tanned complexion of a surfer, and familiar sea green eyes.

"I did not expect us to find something this quickly," Annabeth admitted and yawned deeply, having already expected to spend the next few days at the very least to get this far, if not weeks.

"But he has no son named Percy Jackson," Silena said, somewhat crestfallen.

"Yeah no, I'll bet my ridiculous salary on that this is our guy's father. Do we know where he is right now?" she asked.

"Yes, we do," Silena said brightly. "Republic Fleet Headquarters."

Annabeth yawned deeply. "Let us book an appointment for tomorrow. Maybe he knows something about what his son is up to. Or we can find a mother. Let us catch a few hours of sleep first though, I really don't want to go into this completely fucked."

Annabeth promptly sent out a quick memo to the Admiral's staff, informing them that they would be popping by the next day and scheduled a transport.

After catching Luke and Malcolm up on their progress, them not havening much to show for their efforts at all, the two women headed to the barracks for some well-deserved shuteye.