Chapter 56 - Conversations and Revelations
"Greetings, Jedi Masters." The gray skinned secretary smiled at them. "Director Gotuick will see you shortly."
Qui-Gon sat down to wait, then looked up at Obi-Wan who was starting to pace, still with that grumpy look on his face. "Live in the moment, Padawan."
"I am. At this moment both of our Padawans are without supervision." Obi-Wan answered. "This idea of yours, to split up, makes me uncomfortable."
"You didn't object when I brought it up."
"I didn't feel this way then."
Qui-Gon looked up as he nodded. "Aaaaaah. Just remember to be mindful of the moment as well as the future. Right now both of our Padawans are safe."
Obi-Wan took a deep breath. "Yes, I know."
Both men looked up to a droid opening the office door. "Director Gotuick will see you now." They stood up and followed it into the chambers.
Qui-Gon bowed goodbye to the secretary outside of the office, "I apologize for knight Kenobi. He seems to have forgotten his manners today."
"It's okay. I've had those days too." The Kakala seemed to understand. She smiled as her eyes slid towards the doorway. Qui-Gon nodded to her, then hurried out.
Obi-Wan had raced out of that office the moment they were given leave. Qui-Gon understood it, he did. He knew the almost paternal attachment that forms between a knight and his Padawan. But there was a reason they had their bonds, and it was for moments like this.
"The younglings are still safe." He said as he ran up to Obi-Wan in the hall.
The young Knight almost glared at him. "I'd like to see it for myself."
Qui-Gon grunted as he struggled to keep up with the younger knight. "As Anakin grows up, he won't need you every hour of every day. It's good to let go sometimes."
Obi-Wan stopped and turned. "Is that why you gave him the poster? He's not growing up fast enough for you."
Qui-Gon blinked. "The poster. I told you. He asked me for it."
"He's a thirteen year old boy, who has had a crush on her Royal Highness ever since we left Naboo. And now he has a poster of her up on his wall!"
Qui-Gon laughed. He knew it wasn't the correct way to react, but he just couldn't help it. In a moment he collected himself, and placed a hand on his offended Padawan's shoulder. "Do you remember the Jaelen Girls?" He waited for the look of recognition on Obi-Wan's face. "You had a crush on the youngest one. What was her name? Ara. No. Ren…"
"Rayelle," Obi-Wan corrected him. "And I didn't have a poster of her on my wall."
"No, all of her photos were wearing a skin-tight jumpsuit. Instead you had her album which you listened to all day long! My point is, every teenager goes through this. Have you had the conversation with him?"
Obi-Wan got quiet. "No. Not yet." he sighed. "I was hoping someone on the council would say something, or… I don't know."
"He's your Padawan. The council may want to help, but you should be the one he has this conversation with." Qui-Gon paused.
Obi-Wan groaned an 'I know you're right, but I don't want to,' groan.
"Do you know how I had my conversation? It was with the healers in the temple. When I started asking questions, my master didn't want to talk about it either. It was really awkward. I didn't want to ask any more questions after that and I went down to the archives to do my own research. I think that's why Master Nu still gives me weird looks when I go down there. Anyways, I do wish it had been my Master who told me. This is the sort of talk you want to have with someone you trust.
Obi-Wan let out a sigh. "Yeah, you're right. I will try to do it when we finish the mission."
Qui-Gon nodded. They followed their Padawans' bonds to the cafeteria on the lower level of the bank. In the room, they saw both boys sitting at a table surrounded by pastries. Qui-Gon knocked his shoulder against Obi-Wan's, "Oh no. Look at all those sweets. What are we going to do?"
"Hi Master." Alex waved at them both, causing Anakin to turn to them.
"Did you boys gather any clues while you were here?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Oh, this. Nenny, she works in the bakery. She needed help taste testing a few things. She's really nice." Alex shared.
"But yes. We did gather a few clues." Anakin bent over to pull out a tablet. "We know Meck was here alone, without any other Geonosians, on several occasions. He met with someone first, someone outside the bank."
"Yes, the best physical description I could get was a human, tall with white hair," Alex added.
"Yeah, he used the initial on his bank statements, and for his Tea mugs he called himself Count." Anakin shared. "C could stand for count, which leaves I and S for the first and last names."
Qui-Gon let his eyebrows rise. He honestly was impressed. After a long meeting with the bank's director, the best they could get was a confirmation that the former senator did come there, and a confirmation that the individual who reported Meck traveled to Murkhana did indeed work for the bank during this time. Though his employment was terminated soon after. For unrelated reasons, Director Gotuick had insisted.
"Yeah, and he apparently had a thing for green tea. But not just any green tea. Ithorian Green Tea, without any sugar, apparently," Anakin added.
This news made Qui-Gon's eyebrows come together. He remembered the disgusting taste of that brew was one of his old Master's favorites. 'It couldn't be.' His mind insisted.
"Oh, and there was someone else who heard Meck call him something else too." Alex piped up. "Ty-ran-us, but that doesn't start with an I or an S."
Qui-Gon's head started to spin. He knew a certain count who used that nickname in the past, but… Obi-Wan caught him and whispered in his ear. "The moment, Master. Remember to be in the moment." His old Padawan was enjoying this moment way too much.
"Yes, we should go back to the ship. I have some comm calls to make. If I'm right, we will need to talk to Dooku." Qui-Gon stood up again.
"And that's what we've uncovered." Qui-Gon finished.
The holographic form of Yoda seemed to react to this news with the same alarm he had. Only Yoda seemed to react to a different part of his message. The Grandmaster sighed in disappointment to hear his own former Padawan might be tied up in this mess. But the clue he really reacted to was, surprisingly, the abbreviation CIS. Something Qui-Gon still didn't know the meaning of. He only included it in an attempt to be more thorough, and he especially didn't want the council to accuse him of leaving out important details. Again.
"Increase the Urgency of your mission, this news does. Level Red you now have," Yoda said.
Qui-Gon scratched his head. The act of applying urgency levels to missions was a procedure only really done in times of war. "We will head to Sereno and question Master Dooku immediately, then."
"No." The Grandmaster objected. "Another team, I will send to find Dooku. On to Murkhana you will go. Any traces of Sepi- this CIS you will track. Back-up I will send you."
"Umm-hmm," Qui-Gon hummed. He didn't know why Yoda looked so worried, but the Council was privy to a lot of information. "I'm sure this all has an innocent explanation, but we will head there straight away."
Yoda nodded, "And a message for your backup, I have."
"Okay," Qui-Gon accepted. He didn't know why he'd have to give them a message. If Yoda were sending another team, why wouldn't he tell them himself? "What should I tell them?"
"Told you so, I did." Yoda gave him a very grim smile.
Murkhana was in an entirely different sector to Niro and the Banking Clan headquarters where they were just at. Anakin wanted to stay up while they flew, but Obi-Wan encouraged him to get some rest. "You want to be ready to fight at any point on a mission. Even if you're not tired now, you will be later."
Anakin looked over at Alex, who was already yawning, and he couldn't help but yawn too. "Oh alright."
He squeezed into the bunk in the back of their ship, and closed his eyes. Soon, in the land of dreams, he was in one of those adventure holo movies he and Obi-Wan like to watch. They were on a hunt, through a jungle. Qui-Gon kept getting lost, even though he was the one holding a map.
"Over there!" Anakin pointed, and they stepped closer to see what he was pointing to. An old temple door stood open under the foliage. "That's it. What we've been looking for."
Anakin got excited to see what treasures he and his master would find. Only then his dream turned into a nightmare and he saw flashes of Jedi, including his Master and Grandmaster, all wearing slave collars. With a gasp, he woke up and looked around.
Qui-Gon stepped into the room at the back of the ship. For a second Anakin expected to see a slave collar on his neck, like there was in the dream. He pulled up and stared at the man closely. No collar was on his neck. Anakin breathed a sigh of relief
"We're almost there." Qui-Gon told him.
Anakin pulled himself out of the bed. He was going to go find Obi-Wan to tell him of his dream right away.
"Obi-Wan is piloting. If you come out, I want to talk to you two before we land."
Anakin nodded and followed Alex to the ship's refresher. Any discussions about his dream would have to wait.
"Alright, Padawans." Qui-Gon turned around to address the youngest two while Obi-Wan handled the wheel. "Below is Murkhana. Now, we have special permission to enter the corporate alliance headquarters, but our jurisdiction here is limited. That means we will need to stay together and follow our leader. They have corporate secrets on their computers which will be more than a slap on our wrists if we let anything out." Qui-Gon made sure he got direct eye contact here. "No. I repeat, No hacking their computers."
"Yes Master," Alex let out a breath.
Anakin inhaled deeply. "I wasn't caught." He repeated his argument from earlier. When he and Obi-Wan found out how the younglings got their information, they were not pleased, and they made sure to elaborate on the risks if he had been caught. Qui-Gon changed his stare. "Okay, okay. I won't hack the Corporate Alliance." He rolled his eyes.
Qui-Gon turned around to see Obi-Wan on the ship's comm unit. "Understood, Master. We will see you there."
Qui-Gon's eyebrows rose inquiringly.
"It's Master Windu and Master Plo. They are our backup," Obi-Wan elaborated.
Behind him, he heard Anakin turn to Alex. "Yessss, Kate and Freya will be with them."
Mace almost sighed out loud. He was not exactly excited to go on a mission with the critical Master of the Order. Even though they technically were of the same lineage and kind of Uncle and Nephew, Mace Windu was always a stickler for tradition and very critical of his Maverick ways. Though he did understand that their padawans were friends, and perhaps that will help them work together now.
"Alright, where are we to meet them?" Qui-Gon asked.
"In the public Hangar. They want to be brought up to speed before we go on." Obi-Wan informed him.
"Okay, then let's do that." Qui-Gon surrendered.
Obi-Wan hit the panel and changed their ship's direction.
Siri pulled her ship up into orbit around Sereno. It was the season for duel missions, she supposed. First Obi and Qui-Gon, now her and Poison Spitter were paired up. "Okay, below is his compound. I've been here once before. Average security. We mainly have to worry about our target. He's force sensitive and won't be caught unaware." As a fellow shadow, she knew the words to use to describe what they were looking at.
Behind her, Kent nodded along. He was a smart boy, and was able to pick things up quickly.
"Do we have confirmation on his location yet?" Poison asked.
Padawan Ramu looked down at a tablet and responded, "No messages yet."
"Then we go in blind," he said. "If we wait any longer, we'll risk losing him." Siri and both of their padawans nodded.
Siri flew down towards the palace. Fortunately for her, the palace had a small landing platform for the palace employees behind it. It was private access, but they also had a droid onboard. R6-D1 quickly hacked the signal, telling the bay to open its doors for them. She landed and dropped the ramp.
They didn't need to tell Kent or Ramu what to do. Both Padawans jumped out of the craft, holding their weapons in one hand and the bag of evidence preservers in another. It made her proud.
She got out and Poison was already using a camera to photograph the vehicles in the bay. "His quarters are this way," she directed them.
It was an unmistakably quiet trek up to the master suite. A few times, she and her Padawan ducked to avoid a maid or butler's eye, but that was all the security they found. "Here we are." she whispered. "Any activity on the shields?"
Poison shook his head. "No. I think we've gotten in undetected," he whispered back.
Siri knelt by the door. She had read her target's file back at the temple. He'd know of the same security features to do to one's door which had kept her alive during her shadow work, and she wouldn't be caught unawares. Using the Force, she disarmed the simple trap and turned the handle to open the door.
The room was empty. Ramu turned on a light when he followed his master in. "No one's here," he said the obvious.
"Looks like we missed him. Attach that wire to his computer," Poison ordered.
Siri and Kent took a scanner and used it on the bed. "He must've just left. It's been 12 hours since a body slept here," she reported.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" a maid screamed when she happened upon them.
Poison grabbed her before she could run away.
"Get off of me!" She yelled.
"It's okay. We aren't going to hurt you. We're Jedi, and we're just looking for your employer. Master Dooku. When do you expect his return?"
She puffed out her chest and refused to speak.
"Master, we've gotten a message from the Temple. He's not on Sereno. They've ordered us to do a level three search, then head back to Coruscant with any evidence we have of his connections to the dark side." Ramu walked past the maid looking up to Siri and Poison.
The girl sighed. He left on some mission this morning. I don't know anything more.
"There's some activity in that tower." Kent looked out the window and pointed. "Look, the servants keep going in and out."
"Yeah, there was a training incident with one of his students. It made a mess to clean up," the maid said.
"His students. Just who has Dooku been teaching?" Siri questioned.
The maid shrugged.
Hello,
Boy, I did not intend to write such a dramatic chapter. It kinda wrote itself that way.
In the next chapter we will be finding out some more about what's been going on. I don't know if we'll get as far as the dream Anakin had, but hopefully at least some of the Dooku stuff.
Anyway, in case you're expecting it to be exact. No. The Force was communicating to Anakin in code. Or his dreamy brain was understanding it in a way the thirteen year old could. Hopefully you'll see what it meant as I write the next few chapters. See you then.