Annabeth Chase

As one might imagine, a bomb threat in the Galactic Senate was about as much of a headache as one could get. Everyone was called in, and even a few Jedi from the temple turned up and locked the building down while a Republic Security bomb squad worked the suitcase. Of course, there was no world in which she was going to get to slip out of the medium disaster she had called.

And so while heavily armed Commando teams and Jedi Knights swept the building for intruders and other devices, Annabeth was standing at the far side of the hallway with the briefcase, next to Hightower and officials from republic security, as their bomb squad sent some poor droid in to scan the suitcase. The result offered no hint of an explosive device, everyone exhaled deeply.

"Let's open it up," the Republic Security officer informed him and signaled the droid to open the case.

When the reluctant machine did as he was told they stood to behold as the briefcase fell open, revealing what looked like a large pile of files inside, now strewn across. The droids methodically empties the case, scanned the pilot one more time, and then stepped back and turned to their group.

"My assessment is complete," it announced in a monotone voice. "The case is cleared, no sign of any explosives. No sign of nuclear agents. No sign of any biological agents. No sign of any chemical agents. It appears to be a normal briefcase."

Hightower sighed and keyed the local command center and sent the all-clear signal. Then he turned to Annabeth. "Well, Agent. This is officially your mess. Feel free to check out your catch," he announced. "I got to call the Chancellor," he announced gruffly and pattered her shoulder in what was clearly supposed to be a well-meaning manner.

She did as she was told and walked up to the suitcase, putting on a set of none sterile surgical gloves, and took a few pictures of the unfolding disaster. Then she knelt down next to the briefcase and brushed her hand across the half dozen or so folders willed with papers. The concerning part were the things printed in red, bold, letters. Things like "Top Secret," or "Confidential," and even an "Eyes Only."

"Looks like someone is going to have to ask a few very awkward questions," one of the Senate Guardsmen announced, leading a squad of Commandos to where she was kneeling and quarantining the area off by holding up sheets of canvas around her to allow her to handle what was presumably very sensitive material with some privacy.

She very carefully picked that one up and noted how every single Senate Commando turned around, clearly having no desire to find out what was inside this.

Very carefully she opened the file, read the headline, and promptly closed it again, her blood running cold. It had been titled. "War Plan Blue." And printed below it was the cautionary addition. "Grand Navy Of The Republic Navy, Fleet Com HQ." Annabeth cursed under her breath.

"Okay,..." she said, not part of her wishing it had been a bomb.

She tenderly packed the files back in the case and closed it. "I want to move this to HQ now. Henk, you and your boys mind giving me an escort?" she asked.

"Can't, our sector is down here?"

"What's going on? You need an escort?" she asked and Annabeth looked to see a Jedi, a rather pretty woman with auburn hair, and peculiar silvery eyes. "Not a bomb I take it?"

"Ah, Master Luna," Annabeth greeted the Jedi. "It would seem someone left a few things lying around that they definitely shouldn't have. I need to get this back to the office right now."

Though Jedi were notoriously hard to read, Annabeth very much perceived the young narrowing her eyes. "How classified?" she asked.

"Like the, it should definitely not be here kind of classified," Annabeth said. "And I want this in a secured area, five minutes ago."

Luna ran her hand through her long hair in exasperation, apparently beginning to see the level of paperwork they were in. "We can escort you," she said. "If you wish. I understand you prefer not to work with the Jedi Order."

Annabeth almost cracked a smile, suddenly rather curious to take a look at the bulletin the Jedi Order had on her.

"Nah, I trust you on this," Annabeth said and picked up the suitcase while Luna waved over half a dozen grim-faced robed women.

She then glanced at the Sargant. "Tell Hightower I am securing the briefcase and its contents in the office. I want him there ASAP, it looks like we have a major security breach."

"Yes, Agent," he replied and snapped a salute, which he didn't have too. She was not military.

The gang of women took up position around her and they hurried off to the next lift.

"Yarvin Enclave?" she guessed

"Yes, Agent," Luna confirmed. "I take it you know Thalia?"

Annabeth smiled. "I do, yes."

It was her first Jedi escort, and everything went off without a hitch. The women around her were completely silent.

She still exhaled in relief when she reached the glass window in the wall to the reception. "Buzz me in," she said, holding up her ID, and the man sitting there hastily did as he was told.

In the office, she immediately headed over to her desk, opened the drawer with the safe in it, and placed the briefcase inside. Then she slammed the safe's door shut and locked it. Only then did she realize that her office was empty. Her team was either at home or off on errands. And all the other agents were still tied up with the bomb threat.

Five minutes later she and her bosses boss stormed into the room, with two aids at his side. "Chase, you said something of a major security leak."

"Yep," she said. "Got some very sensitive stuff here," Annabeth confirmed. "We really need to call SIS and have them send someone from their Counter Intelligence department here ASAP."

"What kind of..." "The way above my paygrade kind. I only skimmed the title of the Eyes Only one knows enough that this shit shouldn't be here." Annabeth cut in. "

"Where is it?" he finally asked.

"My safe," she replied, nodding down at her drawer.

"Okay, I will make the calls," he said and hurried off to his office.

A minute later Silena hurried into the office and spotted her sitting at her table, surrounded by the group of Jedi.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Don't ask," Annabeth said.

"Okay,..." she said and trailed off. "I will do some paperwork then..."

"Anything come up on your end?" Annabeth asked.

"Funny you asked, I caught Sally Blofis in the act, so to say," Silena declared boldly.

"Oh really," Annabeth asked hopefully, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, she ran a red light to catch a metro," Silena announced. "I already sent a warrant for her arrest to a judge."

In response, Annabeth offered her a rude hand gesture. Finally, Hightower returned, with two senior officers Senate Guard Officers in toe. She was grateful for the backup. Together they waited until the representative from the Strategic Information Service arrived, which he did in surprisingly short order.

He was a solemn-looking young man, with dark eyes and hair, and a very pale complexion. He was quite skinny, almost lankly even. "Agent Nico Di Angelo, SIS. I am the on-duty counterintelligence officer for the Senate Quarter," he introduced himself and shook everyone's hand.

His dark, depressed eyes flickered from one of them to the other as they introduced themselves.

"I was told you found something for my agency during the bomb threat?" he asked, his voice distant and detached.

Annabeth nodded and opened the safe again and retrieved the briefcase.

"Not here," she said and led him off to a small conference room.

"Guys, stay outside. The fewer who see this, the better," Annabeth said and closed the door behind herself and the spook.

Then she placed the briefcase on the table and presented the files.

"For the sake of establishing ownership, I peaked at the title of the eyes only one," Annabeth said grimly as Di Angelo picked the one she mentioned up and opened it. His already pale complexion turned even whiter.

"This,..." he said slowly as his eyes scanned a lot further than hers had. With every passing line he read, his face turned even paler. "Should not be here," he finally concluded.

"And you only read the very top?" he asked. "We both know there are sensors in this building with enough resolution to track your eye movement."

"Yes," Annabeth assured him. "I have a security clearance. I know the deal."

"Good," he said, now beginning to look into one file after another, clearly still not pleased with what he was seeing.

"Did anyone else see it?" he asked.

"No," Annabeth assured him.

"I can give you a preliminary investigative report within a few hours. But from what I pieced together the Senator of Alderaan just saw it lying around and brought it to me. For safety reasons, I called in the alert,...and after ensuring it wasn't an explosive device I checked what kind of documents were to establish the owner. It isn't the first time someone forgets some sensitive around here. Usually, we just secure it, inform the owner, and hand it back to them after subjecting them to a two-hour-long lecture," she explained, her arms crossed.

"I am not surprised," Nico said. "People treat this stuff like toilet paper. Well, this time someone can count themselves very lucky if they don't spend the next decade in prison."

He sat down and rubbed his temples. "Long shift?" she asked.

"Yes,.." he said. "Senate Quarter is a counterintelligence nightmare. Twenty-five million souls on the sky level alone."

"If it makes you feel better, I have other stuff to do too," Annabeth assured him.

"Well," Nico finally said and began to gather the files back into the briefcase and closed it. "I will take this back into HQ and call someone at Fleet-Com HQ. Can you try and get me an ID on the person who lost it ASAP and finds out if anyone else handled this?" he asked.

"Of course, I will get to it right away," she promised.

"Much appreciated, Agent Chase. I need to send my preliminary risk assessment up the chain of command as soon as possible. I am officially taking this off your hands now," he said, handed her a card with his contact information, and took the briefcase out with him.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen," he said once back in the office. "I would say it has been a pleasure to work with you, but this clusterfuck is going to cause me a lot of sleepless nights," he said to them.

"Well, Agent Di Angelo," Hightower said. "We will escort you back to the hangar. If you would follow me," he said.

"You got paperwork?" she asked.

"Jope," Annabeth agreed.

The preliminary investigation set her back another four hours. And she didn't work alone. While she did take lead, Hightower, and three other senior officers took the time out of their day to help her out. This at least was a very straightforward investigation. They had an entire high-security facility worth of surveillance equipment that let them observe as some Rear Admiral set the case down for only a moment, god distracted for a moment, and headed off. They watched as Senator Organa appeared, stood next to the suitcase awkwardly for a minute or two, looked back and forth down the hallway, and then picked it up to bring it to Annabeth.

It took them exactly ten minutes to ID the Vice Admiral in question. "You think he noticed yet he lost his case," Hightower asked, trying not to sound too amused as Annabeth hastily typed out her preliminary report, and attached files from her surveillance footage, before sending the entire encrypted report off into Di Angelo's inbox.

There was a collective sigh of relief, now that this particular pickle, was not theirs to worry about anymore, for the time being at the very least. Now all that was left to do was guard the Galactic Senate.

"Can I please get back to my own Investigation," she almost begged.

"Yeah, alright," Hightower finally said. "We will handle the rest for now."

Finally, Annabeth returned to her cubicle, grabbed her chair, and pulled it to the large screen where their case was physically portrayed behind a holoprojector.

"You handled your thing?" Silena asked, joining her.

"For now, though I think I might get subpoenaed in a few weeks," Annabeth said, gazing at the bored.

"What are you thinking?" Silena asked.

"That I should probably pop by the next Jedi Council meeting and explain to them what Obstruction of Justice means."

"Will you ever back off them," Silena asked. "They are all so awfully braved. Saw some combat footage of a few of them charging into their certain deaths. They didn't even bat an eye."

"I am not disputing their courage," Annabeth said, not taking her eyes off the bored. "Only the legality of their lack of cooperation. This republic is based on laws, if we let the Jedi walk around on our institutions I fear we might soon find ourselves in a very dark place indeed."

"We've checked the Biometrics of all certified passenger ports," Silena said to herself. "They can't have left that way."

"They were helped by a Jedi Knight," Annabeth argued. "Say about them what you want, Mr. Jackson knew exactly what he was doing. The guy managed to track the Gunship in flight, interdict it without killing the crew or the prisoners, and then proceeded to exfiltrate our prisoners right out from under our noses without the application of lethal force. This guy can get people off-planet."

Just then the holo terminal on her desk began to blink. With a sigh, she took the call and the image of the Senat Guard's communications officer appeared.

"Agent Chase," he greeted her.

"Ah Simon, what's up?"

"I got a Republic Security type, Captain Holland, on the horn. He asked if you were looking for one Ms Namnite...?"

"Yes, I am," Annabeth said blankly.

"I will put him through then," he replied.

The projection flicked and the hologram of a weary-looking Republic Security captain appeared.

"Agent Chase," he greeted her politely.

"Captain," Annabeth returned the greeting.

"I run the two two seven precincts down on level one thousand three thundered thirteen," he introduced himself.

"Yes?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, two of my officers detained a Twi'lek for failure to present an idea. We started running her but had to cut her loose, there was a mass brawn and we needed all hands on deck. Facial recognition just came back, turns out you are looking for her. One Ciana Naminte."

"And you let her go," Annabeth asked blankly. "Sorry Agent, we just thought she was a runaway teen and we needed the manpower."

Annabeth yawned deeply, asking herself why she was the only one in her team who hadn't actually been home since the case started.

"We are on our way," Annabeth decided. "When can I talk to your two officers?"

"Their shift ends in half an hour," he began.

"Captain, could you ask your men to stay on station?" Annabeth asked. "I really need to talk to them in person."

He sighed. "Yeah sure, but we're billing overtime to your office."

"That seems reasonable," Annabeth agreed.

"Very well, I will let them know," Captain Holland replied. "See you in a few hours."

Annabeth glanced at Silena. "You call Luke, I brief Hightower?" she asked.

"Want me to also call Levesque and Zang? They might want in on this. Seems only right they can back in the action, plus it would do their careers good."

It was a strange request, but she only shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Here you go. I hope you enjoyed yourselves. This is moving forward quickly.

I really want to actually get the full cast together, but story-building takes a while.

Do leave a review.

Henry Locker over and out.