Anakin and Kara were taking shifts sleeping tonight to ensure Gabby and Padme's safety. Right now, it was Anakin's turn to sleep while Kara stood guard. However, Anakin was tossing and turning in his sleep because he was dreaming, but most good dreams didn't cause tossing and turning.
In Anakin's dream…
There was a place filled with lots of people, who at first were very happy and lived peacefully. There were lots of simple yet thriving towns filled with people of all shapes, sizes, and colors. A plethora of forests existed in this land too with lots of trees, plants, and animals too. And in the center of it all was a beautiful white castle with a diamond dome and crystal towers with a sky blue and midnight blue flag that had a symbol on it that looked like a heart with a sun and moon symbol connecting two halves.
In the castle, there was a king and queen. The queen was very beautiful and she was holding a baby in her arms. However, that happy stuff quickly changed to a scene of panic.
Storm clouds filled the air, as well as plethoras of what looked like swarms of moths, and they attacked the people.
Anakin could see people screaming, running, being killed by these moths, and all of them were being controlled by some hooded humanoid figures who appeared to have enormous moth wings of their own.
The queen rushed out to fight these creatures, leading an army of royal guards, and she was carrying a pink lightsaber! And there appeared to be others with lightsabers too. Red ones.
Meanwhile, the king ran far away from the castle, carrying his baby in his arms, the baby crying as he rushed away and appeared to cast a spell that created a portal of some kind that brought him to a doorstep somewhere, where he placed the baby into a basket, and he left her with a little locked box of some kind and a note.
"Goodbye, my little princess." the king said.
Anakin woke up with a gasp. He found himself sweating from all the stress he experienced, but that wasn't even the most shocking part. To his great surprise, his amulet was glowing underneath his shirt. But why was it doing that?
Anakin lay down, breathing heavily as the amulet slowly stopped glowing, and he quickly sat up with a gasp when he felt someone pulling on his blanket. And then he looked up to see Gabby in her favorite pink onesie, crawling toward him.
"How did you get out of your crib, little one?" Anakin asked, picking the child up.
"Daddy, are you scared?" Gabby said.
Anakin was surprised by that question, although he recalled his daughter being as Force-sensitive as he was. It probably shouldn't have come as a shock to him that she would sense his fear.
"Uh... well, yes. A little, Princess. Daddy just had a scary dream is all."
Gabby put her little hands on Anakin's cheeks, a magic kind of glow appearing on them as she gave him a kiss on the nose, something he always did whenever she woke up from a scary dream.
"A dream is just a story. Mommy says that."
Anakin was proud to know his daughter took many of the great lessons he and Padme tried to pass on to her to heart. Generally, yes, most dreams, good or bad, were just stories in one's head while they were sleeping, but there were those who believed the good dreams were a wish from the heart and bad dreams were a subconscious collection of one's worst fears brought to vision. And in this case, Anakin's nightmare felt more real than any ordinary nightmare.
This was not like the nightmare Anakin had about falling from a roof or being naked in the city square. This dream felt more real than both of those nightmares combined. It felt… like a vision. But Anakin wasn't sure what it meant. He'd never seen a kingdom with a heart of the sun and moon on its flag, not even in many of the Enchantra galaxy's kingdoms. And he'd never seen a human with moth wings before. Either they were some kind of fairy or another creature that was made to be feared.
Anakin said nothing and just sighed. Gabby held up her teddy bear, offering it to Anakin. Teddy always helped Gabby when she was scared. Naturally, she thought her teddy would make Anakin feel better too.
Anakin took the bear in his hands so he wouldn't hurt his daughter's feelings, and he stroked its soft fur. He had to admit, it did feel pretty good to have a stuffed animal to cuddle. No wonder Gabby was so calm whenever she had her teddy. Something about its soft fur and looking into those cute black button eyes on its adorable little face was just so comforting.
Gabby also crawled under the blankets by her father's side and hugged him.
Sighing, Anakin started to lay back down as Gabby cuddled him like she did with her teddy bear. Little by little, Anakin started to feel better, and he held the girl and the teddy bear close to him the rest of the night. Well, whenever it was his shift, anyway.
Kara peered into the room to check on her brother. The moment she saw her niece crawl in there, Kara became concerned, but Anakin seemed content, now that he had his little daughter by his side.
When Kara saw that it was time to switch, she'd offered to take Anakin's shift so he could continue to rest peacefully a little longer, but Anakin, being as stubborn as he was, insisted he take his turn on guard duty.
Despite Gabby keeping him calm for the remainder of the night, Anakin still couldn't banish the thought of the horrible nightmare he'd had about the moths and the people being attacked.
The next morning, he stood, looking out into the morning sky. And Gabby, being the little imitator she was, copied her father's position of standing up straight and holding his hands behind his back.
Padme walked out to see her baby daddy and their baby both standing in matching positions. She was quiet, and although she was not Force sensitive, she did get the sense that something was on Anakin's mind. She was too concerned to even note how adorable it was that their daughter was imitating Anakin. And she was about to leave, when Anakin spoke up.
"Don't go."
"I don't want to disturb you." Padme said.
"Your presence is soothing." Anakin said.
"You had another nightmare last night."
"Jedi don't have nightmares."
Gabby looked up at her father and said, "Then why does Auntie Kara always say I'll get nightmares if I watch scary movies?"
"You're only half-Jedi." Anakin said, breaking out of his trance but then trying to get back into it.
"I heard you." Padme said.
Anakin, however, didn't feel comfortable discussing something so serious around a toddler.
"Gabriella, why don't you go help Grandma and your aunties with breakfast so Mommy and Daddy can talk." Padme said.
Gabby was curious about what was happening, but she did as her mother said and went inside.
"I saw people being attacked," said Anakin once Gabby was out of sight. He knew now his so-called nightmare wasn't a nightmare at all, but a vision. "They were suffering, screaming… and when I woke up…."
Anakin took out the amulet from underneath his shirt.
"This amulet that Qui-Gon gave me was glowing."
Padme took a good look at the amulet; Anakin hadn't even told her about it. But, he promised to explain it to her if she promised to keep it secret from anyone else. So, once she did, Anakin explained to her how Qui-Gon told him it was very special and that he chose Anakin to be its next holder, and he'd given a similar amulet to Kara to protect.
"Somehow, my amulet is connected to what I saw in my dream… but I don't know how."
Anakin turned toward a pot of red flowers. He sighed and tried holding one of the delicate things to distract himself, but it did nothing.
"There's something about this amulet Qui-Gon never told me about, but he told me to keep it a secret.." He turned back to Padme with an important message. "I know I'm disobeying my mandate to protect you and your daughter, Senator, but I have to go. I have to find out why this amulet was important."
"I'll go with you." Padme said.
"I'm sorry. I don't have a choice."
Meanwhile...
Young Boba Fett and his father had just about finished packing their ship Slave I and were getting ready to board and take off, when the child heard some doors hissing and looked up to see a familiar man running towards them.
"Dad, look!" exclaimed the young clone.
Jango looked to see the Jedi, and although he was a ruthless bounty hunter, his first concern, like any good parent, was his child's safety.
"Boba, get on board!" said the father.
Boba obeyed, quickly getting inside the ship while his father attempted to blast the Jedi, only for Obi-Wan to deflect each shot with his lightsaber. Obi-Wan got closer and closer, but Jango continued to open fire, using his jet pack to get higher up. Obi-Wan dodged every shot. Meanwhile, Boba, having been trained to use the ship since before he started walking, started to warm up the ship for take off.
Obi-Wan just barely managed to avoid every shot fired by Jango, dropping his lightsaber in the process, and then Boba was the one shooting at him using the blasters on Slave I, Obi-Wan barely managing to dodge in time to spot Jango flying towards him, and then jump up to karate kick the bounty hunter in the gut, throwing him off course and making him drop his blaster.
Jango and Obi-Wan continued to fight man-to-man with only their bodies and martial arts skills as weapons.
Jango bumped Obi-Wan with his helmet, making the Jedi fall down. It didn't help that all the rain made the ground so slippery.
Obi-Wan tried to call his lightsaber to his hands, but Jango fired a lasso around his wrists and flew on his jetpack, taking the poor Jedi with him. But Obi-Wan got an idea. Quickly, he held onto the rope and managed to wrap it around a nearby pole, causing Jango to fly off course again and hit his jetpack against a wall, knocking it off of his armor, sending it crashing into a roof, exploding the jets.
Obi-Wan jumped at Jango again, but knocked him over the wall.
"Oh, not good." Obi-Wan said, and not necessarily because Jango dying now would mean the Council's only clue to Sifo-Dyas and the clone army would be gone forever, but also because his hands were still literally tied, and he was pulled over the edge with Jango.
Jango pushed something against the roof to stop himself from falling, but Obi-Wan slipped over the edge of the roof. Luckily, he still had the rope on him, and he held on tight... until Jango cut him loose to save himself.
Quickly, as he fell, Obi-Wan gathered the rope and managed to lasso it around a pole to save his life so he could swing to a walkway down below and start following the bounty hunter again.
Meanwhile, Jango lay down for a moment with relief and climbed up to his ship, thinking he'd successfully rid himself and Boba of that meddling Jedi. And this time, he managed to get on board with his son just as Obi-Wan returned through the same entrance where he'd entered the battle with Jango. But Obi-Wan was prepared for this.
Obi-Wan took something out from his pocket and threw it at the ship, and it stuck to the ship's outer wall. It was a tracking beacon, which Obi-Wan could use to track the ship and follow it to wherever the Fetts may try to hide.
Anakin brought Padme and Gabby to the ship and was about to prepare to take off, when he suddenly realized something: he had no idea where he was supposed to go.
How was he supposed to find a connection between his amulet and a dream if he had no clue where he was supposed to go?
"Anakin? What do you think you're doing?" said a familiar voice.
It was Kara.
"Right now, I think I'm racking my brain." Anakin scratched his head.
Kara sensed that Anakin was confused and a bit frustrated. She asked Anakin if he would tell her what was bothering him. But Anakin was hesitant.
"This wouldn't have to do with the amulets, would it?" Kara asked.
"How did you guess?" Anakin asked, surprised.
According to Kara, she'd had the same dream as Anakin when she went to sleep last night, and when she woke up, her amulet was glowing too. It appeared both amulets were connected to the dream.
"Did Master Qui-Gon ever tell you where the amulets came from?" Padme asked.
"Unfortunately, no." Kara said.
"That's why I was going to take off. To find answers. Except… I have no idea what place has a flag like the one I saw."
Kara decided to help Anakin do some research.
The two Jedi, Padme, and Gabby went to a library where they looked into some books about flags from across the galaxy. Anakin sketched a picture of the symbol he'd seen on the flag. Unfortunately, none of the books had a picture that matched, neither did any website they checked on the computers; not even information retrieval could find a match.
"Maybe they're magic necklaces!" Gabby said.
If there was one thing that could get an energetic child like Gabby to sit still, it was storytime. She always loved when the grownups read her a storybook, all of them about different things. Sometimes classic fairy tales, sometimes urban legends, and sometimes funny books made just for little kids. And Gabby liked to act out the stories sometimes, and sometimes she used what she learned from the stories in real-life scenarios.
If Gabby was remembering correctly, in some of the stories she'd read about glowing necklaces, it was usually because they were magical.
Padme thought maybe Gabby was onto something.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Kara said.
Kara got onto a computer and found some sites that were not really known to most ordinas. Kara took Anakin's drawing and searched for a match. There was a match. The symbol was the flag for a kingdom called Solaris on a planet called Luzavia. Except, when Kara clicked the link to find out more, a big red X appeared on the screen, indicating no one was allowed to go on that site. Kara checked to see if it was because it was password-protected, but the screen just blacked out completely.
"Poodoo!" Kara cursed, getting shushed by other patrons in the library.
It didn't look like the computers would be any more help from here, but now that they knew the name of the kingdom and what planet it was on, it was a start. But they didn't have any coordinates. Solaris could've been anywhere on this Luzavia planet; they didn't even know how big it was.
So, Kara and Anakin only had one more trick they could try: meditation.
"I know you hate meditating, Anakin, but-" Kara said.
"I'll bear with it this time." Anakin said.
So, Kara and Anakin sat and held hands as they meditated together. To find a location, both of them needed to concentrate really hard and really hold their focus in order to know precisely where to go. It was harder for Anakin at first, but he was determined to find answers, so he gave it his all until… he got it!
Quickly, Anakin planted the coordinates into the ship and sent himself and the girls to find the missing connection between the amulets and the two Jedi's dreams.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the galaxy, a certain ship by the name of Slave I was being followed by a Jedi star fighter being piloted by none other than Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was on the trail of Jango Fett and his son Boba Fett.
Obi-Wan exited the hyperspace ring and continued to follow the bounty hunters, remaining just far enough so hopefully Jango wouldn't see him, but close enough not to lose his ship.
Unfortunately, the tracker on Slave I caught something, which Boba noticed.
"Dad! I think we're being tracked!" Boba warned his father.
"He must have put a homing device on our hull." Jango said. He then began hitting a few buttons and switches. "Hang on, son. We'll move into the asteroid field, and we'll have a couple of surprises for him."
To Boba, that sounded like fun, not being used to such excitement. Most fathers probably took their sons to ball games and monster truck rallies. But this father took his son on death defying bounty hunting missions. Well, now he did, anyway; this was Boba's first time off Kamino. Jango was ruthless, but he wasn't stupid enough to endanger his son if he didn't believe he was ready.
Sure enough, the bounty hunters did have a couple surprises waiting for Obi-Wan, which the Jedi was quick to notice thanks to his droid R4.
"Seismic charges! Stand by."
The seismic charge blew up inside an asteroid. Fortunately, Obi-Wan dodged it. But that was just the first blow. A second one soon came out, and this time, a lot more rubble and rock flew around, Obi-Wan just barely managing to escape this time.
Jango had to admit, he was impressed by Obi-Wan's evasion skills, but he was also annoyed that he didn't seem to know when to quit.
"He doesn't seem to take a hint, this guy." said Jango.
So, Jango flew Slave I right into an asteroid. And of course, Obi-Wan followed him.
It was dark in there, full of scary caves. Boba didn't like to admit it, but he was still afraid of the dark.
"Look out!" Boba exclaimed, seeing some rock just in time for Jango to dodge it.
Luckily for them, they found the exit. And so did Obi-Wan, not realizing that Jango took this as an opportunity to get behind Obi-Wan and start firing.
"Oh, blast! This is why I hate flying!" Obi-Wan grumbled as he started dodging the firing.
Jango kept firing and firing, but missed almost every time. But then he got hit.
"We got him!" Boba cheered.
"We'll just have to finish him." Jango said, preparing to do just that.
And Jango fired what appeared to be a heat-seeking missile, judging by how it seemed to follow Obi-Wan's ship and its every move.
"R4, prepare to jettison the spare part canisters," instructed Obi-Wan.
R4 beeped affirmative. On Obi-Wan's count...
"Fire now!"
And the missile was blown up with the spare part canisters. Jango and Boba also thought they'd gotten rid of Obi-Wan, but he'd actually escaped and got himself out of sight right in the nick of time.
"Well, we won't be seeing him again," said Jango.
Jango steered Slave I onto a world where he landed in what appeared to be a port of some sort where he and his son could hide. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan waited with his ship parked on one of the asteroids until the Fetts were far enough.
"Well, R4, I think we've waited long enough." Obi-Wan said.
R4 beeped, and off he and his master went to continue their path, and they came across what appeared to be a refinery of some sort.
Obi-Wan sensed something was off.
"There's an unusual concentration of Federation ships over there, R4."
Obi-Wan soon landed the ship and exited quietly, prepared to face whatever awaited him. He told R4 to wait for him in the ship until he returned.
Anakin and Kara's ship landed at what appeared to be a clearing in the forest. Except, when the passengers exited their ride, they were met with an unpleasant sight.
All the trees were gray and had no leaves, and the grass beneath their feet looked gray and felt brittle too.
"Where are we?" Gabby asked, hugging her mother.
"I don't know, Baby. Just hang on to me." Padme said quietly.
Anakin and Kara held their lightsabers just in case as they walked through a somewhat clear path. There didn't appear to be any animals around either. And when they got out of the forest, they came across a town.
"Hello?" Anakin called. "Anyone here?"
No answer. There didn't appear to be much activity.
Everywhere the group went, every building, every house, and every school was abandoned. Nothing but dust and cobwebs growing there. Not even bugs were there. And if the building wasn't dusty and old, it was burnt and damaged.
"This place was so beautiful in our dreams," said Kara. "And it was populated with many families who were happy and living in peace."
"Where did they all go?" Gabby asked.
"My best guess, they fled what or whoever attacked this kingdom."
Anakin looked around, and then he spotted something shiny! It was covered with dead leaves and bits of dirt, but Anakin sensed it was important.
Anakin picked up the shiny object and started to dust it off. It looked like… a lightsaber! But this lightsaber was different from most he'd seen. This one had a handle made of gold! Anakin had never seen a gold handled lightsaber before. It had to be the most beautiful lightsaber Anakin had ever seen. Carefully, Anakin activated it, and the blade was pink, just like in the dream.
"That woman I saw in my dream was carrying this lightsaber!" Anakin said.
"That's right. I remember," said Kara. "Except, I have no clue who she is, or if she's even still alive."
"Judging by the state of this place, I wouldn't count on it. Plus, what Jedi would leave their lightsaber behind?"
"Maybe if they wanted people to think they were dead?"
"Touche."
Kara and Anakin agreed they needed to do a little more investigating. Maybe there was a library around here with some books that could tell them a little more about this place.
Inconveniently, they found the library, at least what was left of it, and there wasn't a book in sight. So, Anakin and Kara decided to go to the last place they'd spotted in their dreams before the baby was dropped at an orphanage: the castle.
The castle was badly damaged and abandoned just like the village. Dust, cobwebs, broken vases, dust clouded windows, and sure enough, Kara and Anakin spotted the very flag they'd seen in their dreams! Except, it was torn and scratched.
Gabby screamed as she spotted something else on the floor. A skeleton. And there wasn't just one. There were multiple human skeletons in old suits of gold armor, and a few horse skeletons too; that was the one kind of horse Gabby didn't like to see.
Padme hugged and comforted Gabby as she hid her face in her mother's chest.
"It's okay, Sweetie."
Anakin and Kara looked around, and they also spotted another skeleton with an outfit that looked familiar. There was a torn cloak near him (the skeleton was clearly wearing men's clothes), and judging by the metal sword in his back, he was stabbed to death.
"This attack happened a long time ago." Kara concluded. "Whoever that man was in the dream, he at least appeared to have gotten his baby out safely."
"He must've returned to aid in the battle. But what battle is the question."
Kara and Anakin decided to search for more clues. Castles usually had a library; maybe there would be at least one book that could tell them more about Solaris and possibly who the people in their dreams were.
The Jedi decided to split up. Kara took Gabby to search above, while Anakin took Padme to search in the basement.
Kara and Gabby managed to find a library, and there were a lot of books in there.
"Ooh! Books about ponies!" Gabby said excitedly, climbing a ladder to grab the pony books. She knew they were pony books because they had pictures of horses on the cover.
"Focus, Gabriella." Kara said. "This isn't storytime searching."
"What are we looking for then?"
"I'm not exactly sure. My best guess, however, history books, or ones that have a picture that matches my and your father's amulets. So, why don't you help me look?"
"But I can't read yet, Auntie Kara."
Kara facepalmed; Gabby was only two, of course she wouldn't have learned to read yet.
Kara grabbed the ladder used for reaching the higher shelves and started to climb.
"In that case, just look for pictures. If you can find a book with a picture of any piece of jewelry or one that looks like our amulets, let me know immediately, okay?"
"Okay, Auntie."
"Good. Now, I'm going to check the higher shelves."
Meanwhile, Anakin and Padme found the basement. There were quite a few boxes down there, and the couple decided to check and see if there was anything important inside. In most of the boxes though, they found old clothes, some material for making clothes, sewing kits, stuff that looked like holiday decorations, some wood carved statuettes of animals, and a couple of books: one that contained sketches of various plants and animals, which Padme found fascinating, and one with a picture of the flag's symbol on the cover!
Anakin quickly opened the book to see what it was about. The first page held a crucial introduction:
The kingdom of Solaris is renowned throughout Enchantra for being the brightest of bright in more ways than light. For centuries, the monarchies of Solaris have provided allies in trade with various resources, one of their best being the beautiful poinsunna flower.
And above the introduction was a picture of the castle before it was damaged. It definitely was beautiful before whatever battle ensued. God knows how long ago.
Anakin tried to skip some pages to find more information, but to his great surprise, the pages wouldn't budge. It was like they were glued together, only they didn't feel sticky at all. In the midst of struggling to open the book, Anakin dropped it and it fell to the back cover with a note, which Anakin read.
"Hope this book helps your student actually learn, courtesy of Professor Lexicon's House of Read to Turn Enchanted Bookhouse." Anakin groaned. "Great, it's an enchanted book. Can't turn the page without reading each one first, I guess."
Padme, however, looked into the sketchbook.
"Well, this one's not enchanted." Padme said. "Look at the inside of the cover."
Anakin looked inside the book. It had a message in it.
For my dear prince Reginald Starling, lover of art, light of my world, and future king of Solaris. Happy 18th Birthday, my son.
Best of wishes, Mother
Anakin suddenly remembered his dream! The king and queen in his dream… Reginald Starling must've been the king's name.
"Okay, now I know his name, but I still don't know who those people were that attacked or what happened to his wife."
"If he was married, there must be a marriage license somewhere here." Padme suggested. "I did see a church on the way here. Maybe they have a record of his marriage."
Meanwhile, Kara and Gabby were still searching the library.
Kara found a lot of books on traditional Solaran jewelry, crown jewels throughout history, even a book with portraits of past rulers of Solaris. Unfortunately, none of them matched the king and queen Kara dreamed about.
"Auntie Kara!" Gabby called. "Look what I found!"
"If it's another book about ponies-"
"No! Look."
Kara climbed down so she could see the book Gabby found. Inside the book, Gabby found a picture that matched Anakin and Kara's amulets.
"Good job, Gabby! Now, let's see what's special about these amulets."
Kara looked in the book and found that although the picture matched her and Anakin's amulets, something was different in the picture. There was a third amulet. That one had a yellow diamond. These three hearts were known as the Hearts of Sunrise, three powerful necklaces that were traditionally passed down to the heirs of Solaris on their fifth birthdays. The red one always went to the eldest child, the blue one to the second born, and the yellow one to a third child, should one be born.
"A third amulet?" Kara gasped.
Qui-Gon never mentioned a third amulet. Then again, he hadn't mentioned the other amulets to her or Anakin; just the ones he'd given each of them. If there were three amulets, did that mean a third child existed somewhere?
Kara had to tell Anakin about this. Quickly, she grabbed the book and rushed with Gabby to go find Anakin and Padme.
Padme and Anakin left the castle and arrived at a beautiful church. Sadly, even that place was a bit of a mess. But, it wasn't in as bad shape as the rest of the kingdom.
"Guess it's true what they say," said Anakin, fingering at a rosary hanging from somewhere. "Faith really does keep things strong."
Padme sighed as she looked at the church. Despite the dust on the stained glass windows, she could tell they were gorgeous.
"This place must have been beautiful in its prime." Padme said. "I could see myself getting married here."
"Maybe you could." Anakin teased as he took Padme's hands.
And then, Padme looked where they were standing. Right at the altar.
"Anakin, stop it." Padme playfully pushed Anakin's shoulder. "Remember why we're here."
Padme and Anakin looked around and managed to find what appeared to be a parsonage, where the priests who served in the church lived and prepared their sermons. Inside, there was a file cabinet, and one of them was labeled "Weddings."
Anakin used the Force to pick the lock, and managed to get the drawer opened.
"Whoever was the last priest at this church was definitely blessed with great organization skills." Anakin commented.
Padme and Anakin sifted through the files under 'S'. There were quite a few weddings at this church, and a lot of S surnames too.
Starlane…Starrlette…Starling!
And on one marriage license was the name Reginald Starling, this particular certificate marked as a royal wedding. Anakin looked at the certificate for the bride's name. Serafina Kingston.
"Serafina Kingston… that was the queen's name."
"Anakin! There you are!" Kara exclaimed.
"Daddy! I found a book! A helpful book." Gabby said excitedly.
"You did, did you?" Anakin looked at his sister.
Kara showed Anakin and Padme the book and told them all about what she'd learned, including the third amulet.
"Now, I checked what was left of the treasury. No sign of the third amulet." Kara said. "Either the attackers stole it, along with everything else, or we have a third sibling."
But something else didn't quite make sense to Anakin. If those amulets were from the kingdom of Solaris, why did Qui-Gon have them?
Obi-Wan, meanwhile, was facing troubles of his own as he entered a cave of some sort, only to find it wasn't a cave at all. It was some kind of chamber or a palace, judging by the balconies and shiny windows.
It was quiet. Too quiet. No one seemed to be there, but Obi-Wan knew that silence was always necessarily a good thing. And then, that silence was broken as Obi-Wan began to hear the sound of metal clanging in a certain rhythm. Curious, Obi-Wan followed the sound until he reached a window that showed him what looked like a factory that was building droids. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them.
"We must persuade the Commerce Guild and the Corporate Alliance to sign the treaty." said a man's voice.
"What about the senator from Naboo?" said another voice, revealed to belong to none other than Viceroy Gunray. "Is she dead yet?"
"I am not signing your treaty until I have her head on my desk."
"I am a man of my word, Viceroy," said an older human male. "But first, we must get her child, and we must get her alive."
"Remind me of the importance of the girl?"
And that was when another being entered the room. A woman with gray hair, though she actually appeared very young, around her late twenties, and she was dressed in gray robes. But what really shocked Obi-Wan was the fact that this woman had huge gray moth wings!
The woman put her arms around the human man rather flirtatiously.
"The princess is a powerful being, currently under an impressionable age, which grants an advantage to raising her to work for us before she grows too powerful for us," said the woman. "My sister has assured me that as long as all of you cooperate, our victory is a guarantee."
"With these new battle droids we built for you," said another being. "you'll have the finest army in the galaxy."
Quietly, Obi-Wan moved a little higher up to get a better view of the situation, and he continued to listen in.
"I am quite convinced that 10,000 more systems will rally to our cause with your support, gentlemen." said the human man, presumably their leader. His name was Dooku, a former Jedi Master.
Another alien spoke in a foreign tongue.
"What you are proposing could be construed as treason," said Dooku.
"The Techno Union army," said a being covered by metal armor, amid some electronic warbling. "is at your disposal, Count."
"The Banking Clan will sign your treaty," said a Muun.
"Good, very good." Count Dooku praised. "Our friends from the Trade Federation have pledged their support, and when their battle droids are combined with yours, we shall have an army greater than any in the galaxy. The Jedi will be overwhelmed. The Republic will agree to any demands we make.
Uh oh. That can't be good. Obi-Wan thought.
In another room, there was a woman, looking into a handheld mirror she held in her green gloved hand, when the gray winged woman entered.
"Mari, I-"
The green hooded woman jumped, an enormous pair of green and black moth wings spreading out quickly.
"Gray Yolanda Morphina! How many times must I tell you not to interrupt me when I am mirroring?!" grunted the woman, who kept her face hidden under her hood.
"Sorry." Gray rolled her eyes. "But the others are questioning the significance of that little girl you wish to obtain. You still haven't told me of her significance, Little Sister."
"Just because you're two years older than me does not grant you the position of Leader." Mariverde said. "And this brat… her significance is still unclear. The day she was born, I felt a stronger surge than last time. A strong surge of magic I could not explain. But, I require a closer inspection of the child to be sure."
Obi-Wan, meanwhile, attempted to get a transmission out.
"The transmitter is working, but we're not receiving a return signal," said Obi-Wan. "Coruscant's too far. R4, can you boost the power?"
R4 beeped no.
"We'll have to try something else." Obi-Wan boarded the ship and came up with another idea. "Maybe we can contact Anakin on Naboo. It's much closer."
So, Obi-Wan sent a signal.
"Anakin? Anakin, do you copy? This is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Anakin?"
No answer. That could only mean one thing.
"He's not on Naboo, R4. I'm going to try and widen the range. I do hope nothing's happened to him."
Little did Obi-Wan know he was being watched. But, he was too busy tracking Anakin to sense it, especially when he got a tracking signal.
"That's Anakin's tracking signal alright, but it's coming from…empty space again? What in the blazes is he doing there? I told him to stay on Naboo." Obi-Wan was worried. For some reason, there was nothing but empty space in what turned out to be the Enchantra galaxy. But with no knowledge on the planet he was on, there was no telling if Anakin may be in danger.
"Anakin? Anakin, do you copy? This is Obi-Wan Kenobi."
There was no time to try Kara too, so Obi-Wan kept trying for Anakin.
