Qui-Gon had also been summoned to testify, so Obi-Wan wasn't surprised to find him in the temple's lower level hangar when he arrived the morning of the Senate hearing concerning the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo.
He was also not surprised to see Mace Windu with Qui-Gon, as Master Windu had long been the Order's primary point of contact for the Senate and the Chancellor.
He was, however, surprised to see Master Yoda waiting with Master Windu. He didn't let shock slow his stride as he joined the other three.
"Agree with this, I do not." Master Yoda tapped his stick on the floor for emphasis. "Always in motion, the future is."
"Until it becomes the past, and then you're not entirely sure how you got there," Master Windu countered.
Master Yoda started to reply, but Master Windu held up a hand.
Obi-Wan hadn't seen anyone check Master Yoda before. A glance at Qui-Gon confirmed his former master was also surprised.
"Kenobi doesn't look like a fireworks show anymore," Master Windu said, "but there are still far more shatterpoints around him than almost anyone else I've ever seen. If his vision is even partly correct, today is important."
Master Windu's words rang true in the Force, and Obi-Wan gave thanks to the Force that his outer robe concealed his shiver. Today's hearing was a key, if not the key, to preventing the future he'd seen.
"We mustn't keep the Senate waiting." Qui-Gon's mild observation spurred them to board the speeder that would take them to the Senate.
BREAK
From the air, the Senate building looked like a mushroom, or at least the cap of one.
Obi-Wan wondered idly if that was representative of the kind of speeches sometimes made there, ones he suspected of being influenced by certain kinds of psychedelic fungi. Or just an overconsumption of Corellian brandy.
Keeping the thought to himself, he pulled his hood over his head as the speeder came to rest outside the Senate. Mace Windu and Qui-Gon did the same.
Master Yoda didn't bother, but neither did he spring to perch on one of their shoulders as he might have done if they were still in the temple.
Thanks to years of classes focusing on consular matters, as well as xenocultural training, Obi-Wan recognized the message Master Yoda chose to send. He led the other three, forcing the taller humans to shorten their strides. The effect presented was certainly one of sedate, calm control.
Exactly what everyone expected from the Jedi.
They passed through security checks with only the mildest of issues. One of the guards on duty, a lavender-haired Pantoran male who appeared barely old enough to have completed training, attempted to confiscate their lightsabers.
"No weapons on the Senate floor," he said, his expression almost a parody of severity. Obi-Wan hoped he kept his job long enough to learn a truly severe expression.
"Exception for Jedi, there is," Master Yoda said. "Check the rules, you will – and quickly, so late we will not be."
The Pantoran's skin darkened to a deep indigo, but before he could say anything or otherwise respond to Master Yoda, a female Togruta guard stepped forward from where she'd been screening other visitors to the Senate.
"I don't know whether you're the bravest soul on Coruscant, or the most ignorant," she said. The words were a reprimand, but her gentle tone kept the Pantoran from bristling in anger. "Brave for facing down Master Yoda and three other Jedi all alone, or ignorant for not knowing the exception for a Jedi's lightsaber."
Obi-Wan, like his companions, remained silent as the Togruta explained the section of the rules – down to the sub-sub-paragraph – that allowed the exception before she looked up, then down, meeting each of their gazes, or what would be their gazes if their faces weren't shadowed by their hoods, before finally settling on Master Yoda.
"Please accept my apologies," she said. "We will review the codes for visitors to the Senate. This will not happen again."
The three masters all inclined their heads without speaking.
Obi-Wan inclined his head as well, but said, "If an error had to be made, I am glad it was one of too much caution rather than too little. Thank you for your diligence, guardsman."
He sent a wave of reassurance through the Force as he trailed behind the other three Jedi. It was doubtful the Pantoran would feel it, but Obi-Wan well knew the disappointment that accompanied failure. He hoped the Pantoran wouldn't let that feeling fester and grow, but that was the Pantoran's path, not his.
He could only remind himself that the Force never required perfection because perfection was unattainable for any mortal being. And probably immortal ones, too, if such beings existed.
BREAK
Intimidating.
That was Obi-Wan's first impression as he followed the other Jedi into the Senate chamber, seeing it for the first time.
His second was, impersonal.
Concentric widening rings of shiny black pods that could have been VIP seats at a concert angled up and away from the Chancellor's podium in the center of the space. Representatives from nearly fifty thousand inhabited systems met here, so the rings of pods stretched upward almost farther than the eye could comfortably see.
Obi-Wan knew from his classes that the oldest members of the Republic held the lower pods, and the newest members the highest pods. Clearly, that was meant to indicate some kind of ranking or prestige, which Obi-Wan thought was nonsense.
All members of the Republic were equal under the law, so why should they be ranked in any way within the Senate? If Obi-Wan had his way, he'd assign the pods randomly and reassign them every few years so no one group of systems had any perception of pride of place over the others for long.
Unfortunately, he wasn't in charge, so he had to content himself with following the other three Jedi to the pod reserved for them.
The Jedi Order was not, in any sense, an official member of the Republic, but it had coexisted with it for thousands of years and, since the Ruusan Reformation, had been in a strange partnership with the Republic as a sort of permanent observer.
As a result, the Order had a pod only a few levels up from the ground, which put it generally at eye level to the Chancellor's platform. For most meetings of the Senate, a senior padawan or new knight would attend, ostensibly to report back to the Order anything that might require their attention, but Obi-Wan knew more than one such senior padawan or new knight who'd used the time to catch up on mission reports – or their favorite holonovel.
Today, though, four Jedi approached the lift that would take them to the pod, the senators and staffers around them gradually falling silent enough that the tap tap of Master Yoda's cane echoed through the cavernous space.
Several of the senators and staffers stepped aside, offering to let the Jedi precede them in the queue for the lift, and Obi-Wan was grateful that his hood hid his face, which felt hot with embarrassment.
"To take your place, no need there is," Master Yoda said.
A moment later, gasps and small, shocked cries sounded around them. Obi-Wan looked up in time to see Master Windu and Qui-Gon levitate themselves toward the pod where Yoda already perched.
Well, if they were giving the senators a show…
Obi-Wan took a step back, then launched himself upward, tucking his legs into his body as he somersaulted in mid-air and then landed in the Order's pod.
"Showoff," Qui-Gon muttered.
Obi-Wan grinned. "Master Yoda started it."
BREAK
A narrow band of white light appeared at the base of each pod as it was occupied. Obi-Wan thought it could be quite soothing to watch if there were any kind of order or pattern to the process.
No such pattern existed, so Obi-Wan simply sat quietly while Qui-Gon and the other masters spoke among themselves or to those in pods on either side of their own.
The biggest drawback to the pods was that there were no identifying marks to distinguish who sat where. Surely, despite the range of visual capabilities among the Senate members, someone could find an acceptable way to display planetary or system standards, flags, or sigils on each pod when it was occupied.
No one had done so yet, however, so Obi-Wan contented himself with trying to pick out the Nabooian delegation. He hoped that wouldn't be too difficult, considering the queen's usual somewhat ostentatious dress.
He'd just found Queen Amidala, who shared a pod with two of her handmaiden/attendant bodyguards and a man he recognized from his briefing packet as Senator Sheev Palpatine.
Wrongness skittered across his awareness so much that he couldn't conceal a shudder.
Qui-Gon turned away from whomever he was talking to and focused on him.
"Obi-Wan?" he asked softly as Masters Windu and Yoda also focused on him.
Obi-Wan tried to speak, found his mouth too dry, and worked his tongue to generate a bit of saliva.
"Not here," he rasped. "Not now."
"After, then," Qui-Gon agreed. "Can we ease you?"
Obi-Wan shook his head. "I'll recover quickly. Just – something unexpected."
The other Jedi accepted that, though part of their attention remain on him even as they resumed their other conversations.
He had a few minutes to center himself once more before they were all called to rise as Chancellor Valorum entered and took his place at the central podium.
Valorum took his place and his assistant called the meeting to order. A few formalities followed, including Master Windu asking the Force to guide them all during the meeting and after, and finally they were allowed to sit.
Valorum looked down at his datapad before he spoke, his voice echoing through the chamber. "The chair recognizes the senator from the sovereign system of Naboo."
Senator Palpatine rose and touched a control. Naboo's pod detached from its place and floated downward toward the central podium with a low mechanical hum.
"Supreme Chancellor," Palpatine began, his voice likewise echoing. "Delegates of the Senate. A tragedy has occurred which started right here with the taxation of trade routes and has now engulfed our entire planet in the oppression of the Trade Federation."
Another pod detached, and a new voice spoke Basic with a heavy Neimoidian accent. "This is outrageous! I object to the Senator's statements!"
Valorum glared at the speaker. "The chair does not recognize the Senator from the Trade Federation at this time."
The Trade Federation senator fell silent, but even as far away as he sat, Obi-Wan felt his frustration through the Force.
Palpatine spoke again. "To state our allegations, I present Queen Amidala, recently elected ruler of the Naboo, who speaks on our behalf."
As Palpatine switched places with the queen, Obi-Wan noted that the queen wore yet another elaborate gown and couldn't help wondering where she'd gotten it on such short notice. She certainly hadn't had sufficient time to have an ensemble created between their arrival and this meeting.
Perhaps she had sent a few ahead after her election, against such a need? It was the only answer that made sense. Obi-Wan hoped he'd have a chance to confirm it with Padmé when they met again after today's hearing.
"Honorable representatives of the Republic," Amidala began, her tone oddly resonant even as it echoed through the chamber, "I come to you under the gravest of circumstances."
As she spoke, Obi-Wan allowed himself to enter a light trance-like state. It couldn't be full meditation in these circumstances, but neither did he need to pay attention to every word spoken. He simply needed to be ready when his turn came, and the state he settled into would easily allow that.
He shouldn't even know how to enter this level of awareness, where his conscious mind relaxed, but his subconscious recorded everything around him and made it available to his conscious mind when needed.
He'd learned the trick from Quinlan Vos, whom he'd known since he was barely old enough to begin basic kata training. Quinlan had become a Shadow, and Shadows had more training, and more specialized training, than any other group within the Order.
Obi-Wan had complained to Quinlan after a particularly grueling mission with Qui-Gon, in which they'd both been required to pay the strictest attention to the details of the negotiations constantly even after meetings officially ended for the day, and Quinlan offered to teach him the Shadow technique he now employed – on the condition that he never teach it to anyone else except his own padawan, should the need arise.
Obi-Wan had accepted the training gratefully and it was thanks mostly to that training that he was beginning to build a reputation as a skilled diplomat in his own right. He didn't care about the reputation, but he was grateful every day that he didn't have to focus as stringently as others did during similar situations.
Queen Amidala barely got through her opening remarks before the Trade Federation objected and the hearing nearly devolved into chaos. At the center of it, the chancellor spoke with one of his aides for a long moment.
Finally, looking supremely harried, Supreme Chancellor Valorum asked, "Will you defer your motion to allow a commission-"
Obi-Wan was on his feet before his conscious mind caught up with his subconscious, stepping onto the pod's tiny speaker's platform and pressing the button that signaled the Jedi wished to address the Senate. If he used the Force to broadcast that signal a little more strongly than protocol strictly allowed, well, nobody else needed to know.
His companions sent tendrils of inquiry through the Force, but all he could do was assure them he knew what he was doing. They'd find out the details soon enough.
After a moment of shocked silence, Valorum cleared his throat. "The chair recognizes the representative of the Jedi Order."
Obi-Wan removed his hood and slid his hands into his sleeves to clasp his elbows. "Chancellor, Your Highness, esteemed senators. Before any action, even the formation of a commission for further study, can be taken, you must hear all of the relevant testimony, and there are some facts of which Her Highness is not fully aware."
Senator Haarko of the Trade Federation, their pods now close enough that Obi-Wan could identify him, scoffed. "What facts? There is no proof-"
"There is the word of a Jedi," Obi-Wan said, cutting him off. "Unless you wish to accuse me and Master Jinn of lying to the Senate, and by doing so subvert the procedures established centuries ago for Jedi testimony?"
That sent a titter of surprise through the assembled beings, as he'd intended it to. Behind him, Qui-Gon groaned softly enough that the sound wouldn't travel past their pod. Obi-Wan imagined Mace Windu was rubbing his forehead. Or at least wanted to.
After a long moment spent conferring with his aide, Chancellor Valorum spoke. "The Senate will hear the testimony of the Jedi – uninterrupted – pursuant to various subsections of Section 66 of the Republic Charter. Specific subsections will be noted in the minutes of this meeting. Please state your name for the record, Master Jedi, and you may begin."
"Obi-Wan Kenobi, Knight of the Jedi Order," Obi-Wan said. "Master Qui-Gon Jinn and I were instructed to travel to Naboo to negotiate the dispute between Naboo and the Trade Federation. Upon our arrival at one of the many Trade Federation vessels in orbit around Naboo, we were escorted to a conference room to await the Trade Federation's delegation."
He guided the pod further up into the chamber, pausing when it flew level with Naboo's pod and the Trade Federation's pod.
Obi-Wan regarded the Trade Federation's party with the blandest expression he could summon. "No delegation arrived. Instead, the Trade Federation destroyed our transport, the Radiant VII, brutally murdering her crew of eight."
The Senate erupted into chaos, and Obi-Wan thanked the Force that the vast majority of Senators felt angry and appalled. Those feelings would only help him achieve what came next.
It was some time before order could be restored, but eventually Chancellor Valorum addressed Senator Haarko.
"Senator? How do you respond to the Jedi?"
"As I do to Naboo," Haarko snapped back. "There is no proof."
"Well, actually," Obi-Wan said. "There is. You see, Radiant VII was commanded by Maoi Madakor, a member of the Exploration Corps, who sent a comm confirming our arrival. No further communications were received from her or Lieutenant Antidar Williams, who was also on the bridge when we arrived."
Neimoidians couldn't sneer, but Haarko's tone certainly sounded as if they could when thon said, "Perhaps they abandoned you."
That was a desperate ploy, and it made about as much sense as the Trade Federation's blockade of Naboo. What about this situation made them so desperate? What was Obi-Wan – what were they all – missing?
Obi-Wan would meditate on that question later. For now, he simply smiled blandly at the senator.
"Perhaps they did," he allowed. "But in that case, I would assume the Trade Federation has a record of Radiant VII's departure – security video, or perhaps a docking log entry?"
Haarko hesitated, and that was enough for the tone of the meeting to change.
Where before many had seemed uninterested, now a frisson of anger and outrage emanated from most of those gathered. Obi-Wan decided to drive the point home.
"Absent such evidence," he said, "and in accordance with agreements between the Republic and the Jedi Order in effect since the Ruusan Reformation, the Jedi deem the Trade Federation responsible for the murders of Captain Madakor and her crew as well as the destruction of the Radiant VII and demand restitution."