May The Invisible Hand Be With You - (Star Wars CK2-Style Quest)

[barenhart]

--Jymeen, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move (Those Crates)--

Jymeen had recovered from his final 'debrief' regarding the Foundry Raid and The Blaster Sound Effect Incidents. The Squad Leader had not even broken any extremities. Wait, okay, a finger is an extremity so I guess The Squad Leader did break one. He had not broken any LIMBS, though. He still ended up better off than Jaleesh. Ha!

After word spread from the other Kaleesh in the squad, none of the other squad leaders would take a chance on the aggravation so Jymeen found himself once more Warriorless. Un-Warrior'd? He did manage to keep hold of his blaster, not that it was all that useful with a snapped trigger finger. Now if he could only get one like the Reaper's, at least it would look cool. Even transport pilots got to wear a blaster, after all, even if no one would let him bring a spear. Stupid regulations.

It only took a day at home before his father and mother recovered his pilot appointment and he was off to the Oracle with a load of "vehicle parts, Sair Research Lab" to deliver. So he was taking an Osmium Orray off to the vet or something.

-----

He set the transport shuttle down gently in the hangar, absently toggling switches and hitting buttons in a rapid and efficient shutdown as he called out, "Lowering ramp. You have two hours to unload before I am scheduled in-transit."

Finalizing his duties, he slipped back into the cargo compartment and watched the Agents struggling to unseal a vehicle-sized container. He slipped the canteen from his belt and, shoulders tightening in the Kaleesh equivalent of a wrinkled nose, drank some more of the chilled Calamarian water. Really? Despite recommendations, it sucked. 3/10. Would not repeat.

"Hey, guys, why are you unboxing the Trimantium Tauntaun, anyway?" He vaguely recalled seeing the Agent straightening up to answer him at the Foundry but Jymeen could not remember what he was called. Meh, he was human, he had a weird name, anyway. Screw that guy.

"Turns out the crate is too large and an Equus is not really a tauntaun, anyway. Want to help us with this?"

The small pilot shook his head quickly, "Sorry, can't. Regulations. Like no spears. Or masks. What is up with that, right? I mean, it is.... kind of. I mean, it is just for one person to ride. Like a speeder. Or a bantha."

The Agent looked at him and slowly nodded, turning back without reply. A lot of people did that.

-----

Idiot pilot.

The Agent got back to work, stifling a sigh. They got the container unsealed and a cargo transport at the base of the ramp for the crates that WOULD fit in the passageways. He entered and squeezed into the driver compartment on the Equus, wincing at the fit. He was too large to fit, technically speaking, but he could manage an uncomfortable fit. His fellow agent was a terrible driver.

Activating the personal speeder, he slowly guided it out of the container to follow after the cargo transport, trying to ignore the nagging tone of the Kaleesh pilot behind him.

-----

Jymeen looked up as a familiar whine started up inside the Box. He knew that whine. What the muumuu was the Agent doing, starting up a speeder in his shuttle?! "Hey! Hey, Agent! Stop that, yer gonna scorch the deck! Come ooooon, don't do this to me, Dispatch is going to blame me..."

He trailed off and began to follow along, just outside of the repulsorwash, as he recognized the speeder in question. He had been carrying The REAPER'S Duraplast Dewback?! No way, man, no one in the transport pool was going to believe this!

"Hey, Agent! Give me a second!" As soon as he could get around the engines of the Equus and to the driver compartment, he almost bounced over there in his eagerness, "I mean, you look like cool dudes, you won't let Dispatch know if I helped you out and kind of stretched a few regs, right? I mean, I am a great pilot, really, even with a fake mask on. Trust me, I did it once, just because. Come on, this is The REAPER'S Carbonite Cu Pa! He was amazing on the Foundry, all 'Pew! Pew!' and 'BOOM!' and stuff. I can totally drive it down to the lab while you two get the other parts. Come oooooon, bro. Let me help you with this..."

Jymeen excitedly pestered the Agent as he tried to get away from the pilot. The whining worked far better on The Agent than it did The Squad Leader or His Father, good to know. Maybe humans were more laid back about stuff like that? Yeah, that must be it.

-----

Time Elapsed between Disembark and Delivery: 39 minutes
Oracle Internal Regulations Broken: 7
Transport Section Regulations Broken: 23
Jymeen Descriptions of Reaper's Equus Denied: 11

-----

"M-Ma'am... I mean, Chief Engineer Sair Ma'am, I was just wondering one thing?"

"What is that, pilot?"

"Can I have a Polysteel Pony like the Reaper, too?"

Spoiler: Writer's Note

I totally did not realize my initial Jymeen omake duplicated the name on Panory's Jorvi omake. Sorry about the echo, hon.

Heh. I also got bored and did three versions of Raid layouts for Jymeen. Now you can see why he had so much difficulty hitting things on the Foundry Raid. Please note his "Kalee's Finest" Trait and the Support Traits on his Agent and Abysswalker versions. -giggle-

Spoiler: Jymeen, Warrior (well, Transport Pilot) of the Kalee!

-Rookie: Jymeen gets +5 to his attack and counterattack rolls.
-Phase 1 Armor: Jymeen gets +5 to his counterattack roll.
-Kalee's Finest (Pilot): Due to a (lack of) history involving warfare and innate skill (but an overabundance of awareness, luck and giving blaster bolts the right of way), Jymeen gets +5 to attack rolls and +15 to counterattack rolls. He is subject to Grievous' "Scion of Kalee" buff.

Spoiler: Jymeen, Abyss Agent, Disciple of the Reaper!

-Force Adept: Jymeen gets +10 to their attack and counterattack rolls.
-Phase 1 Armor: Jymeen gets +5 to their counterattack roll.
-Kalee's Finest (Pilot): Due to a (lack of) history involving warfare and innate skill (but an overabundance of awareness, luck and giving blaster bolts the right of way), Jymeen gets +5 to attack rolls and +15 to counterattack rolls. He is subject to Grievous' "Scion of Kalee" buff.
-Force Training: Training in the Blazing Chains and Matukai gives Jymeen +5 to attack and counterattack rolls and decreases the difficulty of a Survival Check by 10.
-Support - On A Red Pony: When piloting an Equus, Jymeen can be attached to a squad instead of being deployed individually. If so, he does not count against your unit capacity and adds +5 to squad attack rolls and +10 to squad counterattack rolls. Once per raid, the squad may take away his blaster and reroll a critical failure on an attack or counterattack roll.

Spoiler: Jymeen, Abysswalker, Horseman of War!

-Abysswalker - Pew! Pew!: Jymeen gets +10 to his attack rolls and +15 to his counterattack rolls and decreases the difficulty of a Survival Check by 10. If a counterattack would incapacitate Jymeen, he can force a reroll of the attack one time during the entirety of the raid.
-Beskar-Enhanced Phase 1 Armor: Phase 1 Armor enhanced with beskar gives Jymeen +10 to his counterattack roll.
-Blaster Bit Prototypes: Using prototypes of Cheriss' Blaster Bits gives Jymeen a +5 to attack rolls.
-Kalee's Finest (Pilot): Due to a (lack of) history involving warfare and innate skill (but an overabundance of awareness, luck and giving blaster bolts the right of way), Jymeen gets +5 to attack rolls and +15 to counterattack rolls. He is subject to Grievous' "Scion of Kalee" buff.
-Force Mastery: Training in the Blazing Chains and Matukai gives Jymeen +5 to attack and counterattack rolls and decreases the difficulty of a Survival Check by 20.
-Support - On A Red Horse: When piloting an Equus, Jymeen can be attached to a squad instead of being deployed individually. If so, he does not count against your unit capacity and adds +10 to squad attack rolls and +15 to squad counterattack rolls. Once per floor, the squad may take away his blaster and reroll a critical failure on an attack or counterattack roll. (He has a lot of blasters.)

 

[Killerflood]

Movie Night at the Oracle​

The Oracle,
Recreation Room

"So Javik, anything you want to say about what we're about to watch."

"Nah, nothing much. You'll see some of it, I'm sure, but I don't think all of it is going to come just from the Raid."

"How'd you do?"

"I survived."

"Not willing to toot your own horns, eh Javik?"

"Fuck off, Ronolek!"

Javik D'rul, a tan Devaronian, scowls at what's probably another agent as the wiseass moves into the rec room. Our group ignores the few chuckles and the other noises filling the room. It's packed today with the only real clear space being in the middle where a holoprojector is being set up. The Dejarik boards have been lowered while the Sabaac and Pazaak tables have been pushed aside. The bar though is untouched. No one touches the bar. Crowded as the space has become, people are still able to mill back and forth from where the nondescript blonde bartender is taking orders. My eyes narrow but then I shake my head.

Nah. No way.

Our normal Sabaac group – Nisskal Epsken's squad, Javik, Martem, Dani, and then I - has taken the side nearest to the entrance so we have to also deal with the other late comers like Ronolek. Ronolek's smile disappears when he sees our unentertained expressions. Especially Sarrin's flashing teeth and Dani's golden eyes. To my side, Dani smirks and leans back when Ronolek shivers and walks away.

I look at Javik and nod my head at the asshole moving away.

I ask, "A friend of yours?"

Javik snorts and sits down. He shakes his head.

"Nah. He's a new apprentice. We all usually think we're hot stuff when we're pulled out for Agent training."

Dani purses her lips and hums. She says, "His ego will be beat down soon enough."

Olvia grins and quips, "Was yours missed or something?"

Dani gives her a stink eye but Javik answers for her.

"Whenever it got too big, yeah."

Epsken raises an eye scale and asks, "Really?"

Dani rolls her eyes but nods.

"Yeah. Tyro's said that when training, 'ego is the first thing to go.' From my short experience when starting out and now training some myself, it typically pops up during basics like meditation. Sitting still for hours at a time doesn't sit well for most hot-blooded individuals. If you're able to contain yourself, then you're nearly certain to be accepted. It's actually a part of the Agent vetting process."

Sarrin asks, "Sitting?"

With disbelief, Martem asks, "Hours?"

Javik grimaces and both he and Dani blandly say, "Yes."

I snort and smile a little.

"'Beating down someone's ego' and sitting still for hours. That sounds like something Xruk would have the new guys go through. Not Tyro."

Dani shrugs her shoulders and smiles at me.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that's who he got it from."

I see curiosity flash across Martem's face. He turns to me and asks, "What happened to that sadistic bastard anyway?"

Sarrin actually growls and says, "Hopefully thrown off a cliff."

Nisskal looks askance at Sarrin while Olvia, Issah, and Javik also look confused.

Issah tilts her head and asks, "Who's Xruk?"

Dani and Martem raise an eyebrow while Sarrin and I just sigh. I feel an elbow hit me and look to see Dani smirking. She nods at me and says, "Well old-timer, I'm sure you know the story the most."

I shake my head and ask, "37 is old, huh?"

Issah to my left chirps, "Yup."

I sigh again and as the group breaks out into soft laughter. Dani wraps an arm around me and playfully consoles me.

"Don't worry Cün," she says, "maybe with that age comes experience."

I flatly stare at her while she waggles her eyebrows. I can't help but join in the laughter this time. I calm down and then nod my head.

"Right, Xruk. I'm honestly surprised all of you Guardians haven't suffered from him but apparently you guys joined up after Grevious' talking down."

The whole group is focused on me now. Even a few others who have been silently eavesdropping are focusing in more obviously.

"See, back when the Watchers were still a gang on Coruscant, he was hired to make us actually competent."

Issah and Olvia giggle while snickers can be heard around us. One outside soul is even brave enough to butt in and jokes, "Back in my day."

That brings in more laughter even if it kills off the giggles within the group. Martem frowns and Dani's eyes flash but I shrug it off and continue.

"Anyway. Pretty much anybody in the gang at that time was either a coward and or a poor shot. Ciaran didn't like this so she discreetly sent out word that anyone who could pass a test and then teach us to actually be intimidating would be paid. Training anyone, especially people who were pretty much thugs, is not very appetizing for most individuals. Sadly for us all, Xruk is not like most individuals. He comes in, out shoots me, and then proceeds to shout his tiny little lungs out by telling us we're all shit and 'should be fed to his mother's pupae.'"

A few outsiders go "ooh" while Olvia scoffs. She asks, "And this guy's face wasn't immediately broken in?"

Martem groans and says, "We tried."

I nod and say, "He has a knack for pissing off people stronger than him and yet getting away from any punishment every single time. Now, since he's the only one to pass muster and then not be chased out or run, he gets the job. So every day we're on the clock but not doing jobs, we're being tortured. So we start shooting until our fingers cramp or we get a perfect score and running through obstacle filled streets and abandoned buildings while getting shot at, among other crazy things."

I see a few grimaces in the audiences but even more nodding heads. Even for how hated he is, his brand of insanity is still known and taught.

"At this point, he was a necessary evil. Even if we were never the most aggressive gang, we likely wouldn't have survived without the good kick in the groin he provided. So for the first few years, he trained us and trained us and …"

I have to stop for a second and think. It's long enough some of the audience is looking at me weird. I end up laughing.

"And honestly nothing much else. The most action we had was stealing from the Black Sun during their first collapse. The first decade was actually pretty quiet for the gang. We did more intelligence gathering than thugging."

Martem smiles and says, "Which is probably why most of the old enforcers became Seekers, huh?"

I smile as well and nod. I focus back on the story and continue.

"Now back to Xruk. Because of the gang's, and then mercenary business', early phase focus on intelligence work and simple guarding, Xruk wasn't important."

Sarrin here grumbles, "He was never important."

Olvia giggles and I smile as well.

I nod but say, "Maybe, but he provided discipline during the early years to a lower city gang which had, without it and Ciaran's vision: no money, no skills, no services, and no future. "

I get a few stares at that. Martem shuffles in his seat and has an uncomfortable look on his face. Like me, he's one of the rare few originals and so knows what I'm talking about. I don't know about any others. Some left. Some have fallen. Others were silenced. I never bothered to dig. The place is quiet.

Damn. Way to kill the mood. Anything … ah, yeah!

I smirk and say, "But Xruk's sadism is eventually blunted by Grievous proportions."

A moment of silence and then Nisskal breaks into a groan. This sets off a chain reaction of mutual pun disdain. Dani elbows me but I ignore her. I decide to finish up.

"So last I heard, Xruk is still 'officially', " I emphasize how unofficially he isn't with finger quotes, "an advisor on the great council but is rarely seen giving actual organization level advice. His current responsibilities now are solely to plan and lead the training of the Guardians. Much to the continuing grief of all of the trainees."

Grumbles all around point to that truth. People begin talking again but someone in the center claps and gets all our attention. To my surprise it's Gulan.

Wait. Where did he come from?

He looks around and nods.

"Alright germs and lice, while story time with old man Barnas was fun, I do believe you've come here to see a few videos, right?"

A cheer goes across the room. Dani leans into me and says, "I told you, you were old."

I roll my eyes and say, "Dick."

I can almost feel the wide smirk as Dani replies, "Sorry. My plumbing happens to be internal, not external."

All I can do in response is laugh while holding my face in a hand. The lights darken as I collect myself and then the projector starts up. Four rectangular screens make up the sides of a cube. They hover in the center of the room. Soon enough, the video starts.

---

<Black Screen>

<Static-cut to helmet-cam footage of the devastated horizon of Metalorn. Smoke slowly wafts up and the distant sky is lit up in red.>

Grievous: "I have been told that in times past they were meant to be set loose on the galaxy to slay all those who would stand before its masters."

<Cut to a dark hallway where another squad of Kaleesh is following a squad of Wookiees.>

Blasterfire erupts from in front. The Wookiees take to cover to reveal a squad of exterminator droids.

Grievous: "They are supposedly the most dangerous!"

<Slide-transition to helmet-cam footage of an agent ducking in cover alongside a squad of BX droids.>

Agent: "Point squad three in heavy contact!" *Audible Breathing* "Suppressed! Unable to continue momentum!"

Grievous: "Perhaps that is the truth."

<Cut to footage of a squad of Wookiees being suppressed and unable to advance against unseen adversaries. One roars but quickly ducks back.>

Grievous: "Perhaps their reputation is accurate."

<Cut to more helmet-cam footage of some Guardians following the Silencer into a room.>

Guns are raised as heavy footsteps can be heard. Suddenly the squad spreads out and points their gun when a Jedi Sentinel jumps into their room. She swings around.

Jedi: "Where is-"

A body is thrown into the room. A quick glance shows a dead Jedi. Deep and throaty laughter is heard.

<Cut to black and silence.>

< Static-Cut once again to helmet-cam footage of a squad of Kaleesh prowling through a forest.>

They stop just before a clearing. In the clearing is a compound

Grievous: "However, I refuse to believe that!

A large explosion occurs behind the compound.

"Hear my words my fellow soldiers! Today we begin our advance!"

<Cut to charging Kaleesh as the defenses of a compound are overrun.>

"We are warriors! We yearn for foes such as them."

<Cut to CB-3 droids emerging out of a hallway carrying heavy weapons.>

"To do battle with them!"

<Cut to a fierce battle with Durge. He's being blasted into by a lot of blasterfire and even grenades but he's noticeably regenerating.>

"To push ourselves to our limits fighting them, and to show ourselves that we are superior as we step over their broken bodies!"

<Cut to a hallway strewn out with hundreds of bits and pieces of broken exterminator droids.>

<Cut to footage of Grievous standing in front of an assembly of droids, Kaleesh, Wookiees, and random humanoids.>

Grievous: "Will you follow me into battle!?"

Nearly everyone but the droids cheer. Grievous lifts his weapon and motions it outward.

Grievous: "Then join me! We shall march into the depths, we shall meet the enemy, and we will crush them beneath our feet as we march forwards to victory!"

<During this line, footage of Durge's end is shown as he's overpowered by disrupter shots and slowly erased.>

<Slide-transition to show the logo of the Abyss Watchers>

Chorus: "WE ARE THE ABYSS WATCHERS! AND WE JUMP! STRAIGHT! IN!"

<Crash to black. End.>
​

---

As the video ends, the entire room is quiet. A slow clap begins. A few more join. Like an avalanche, more and more people join until the entire room is eventually cheering.

Dani leans into me and asks, "Were we supposed to become an action movie?"

I can only shake my head and laugh.

"Alright, alright people! Settle down!"

Gulan's shout is barely heard but everyone manages to quiet down. Gulan squeezes back into the center and fiddles with the projector. He leans down and switches holodisks and then stands back up. With a wide grin he announces what's next.

"Now at the beginning I said videos. I've got two and you've watched the first. Now the first one was obviously a recruitment video but this second one, to me, is truly special."

Gulan's grin turns wicked and I immediately become wary. I notice a few others including Olvia fidget in their seats.

"I'm going to show the video and then call up a lucky winner to receive a prize."

Everyone is curious now. Prizes are serious business. However, Gulan's face says that such a "prize" may be not something anyone would want.

"Now then. Let's start. Who can guess the main individual speaking in this video?"

The projector turns back on and we watch. I feel as if ice has been dumped down my back with the very first words said.

---

<Helmet footage again of a heavily crowded speeder filled with what appear to be clone troopers.>

The viewer is looking outside through open doors when the helmet radio blares.

Unknown: "We have two minutes so listen up!"

All of the troopers turn to face the front of the speeder. The video shows another trooper in commander gear up front standing in the cockpit doorway. The leader gives orders to Seekers and then Guardians. A particular order to the Guardians is quite shocking.

Commander: "Anything floating needs to hit dirt as soon as possible! I don't even care if the Great Boss herself tries to land in the Oracle! She eats mud!"

(Out of Video: A few startled grunts can be heard from the audience.)

Everything is quiet for a moment except for the speeder when a trooper shouts out.

Unknown Trooper: "Are you mad?"

The Commander visibly shakes his head.

Commander: "No, I just know she can take it."

<Smash cut. End>​

---

When the short video ends, booing can be heard from around the circle. Meanwhile, I'm hunched over with my face in my hands and I can audibly hear Dani and Olvia laughing their guts out. I pull my hand down my face as I look up. Martem is leaning back and has his own hands covering his face too, but he's noticeably smiling and trying to hold back laughter. Javik is staring slack-jawed at me while Nisskal just shakes his head.

He says, "Really? Really?"

Issah just stares at the floor for a second before turning up to face me. She has a confused look on her face and she cautiously asks, "She- … She can take it?"

The hesitant disgust in her voice sends Olvia and Dani into a deeper fit of laughter. Even Sarrin begins to chuckle. During this, Gulan is slowly turning around the room with a deadly smile.

He says, "There is an individual among you who should be shamed due to such statements. Nothing too harsh for something obviously meant as, and I quote, 'a morale raiser.' But such things do require a response, wouldn't you say?"

The general murmur in the room speaks of agreement. Only a few individuals are frowning in genuine anger. Most have either neutral expressions or have expecting smiles on their face. Gulan finishes his turning and zeroes in on me. His smile grows wider to show his fangs. He waves his hand to get me to stand up.

"Cünuel Barnas! Come on down!"

The entire room focuses on me and I internally scream. I slowly stand up and walk to the center. Martem jokes by saying, "We knew you well."

Sarrin nods his head and mumbles, "Good luck."

I finally get to the center and stand on the other side of the projector from Gulan. I cross my arms and try to act nonchalant. Gulan takes a datapad out and makes a great show of reading it.

He says, "I had so many prizes possible that it was so hard to choose one for you! In the end, I just couldn't choose. However, we all must be thankful for another special guest who has decided on your equally special gift! Germs and lice, welcome the Galaxy's Finest, Ciaran!"

My eyes shoot wide and I jerk around to the entrance, but she's not coming from there.

How!? We didn't notice her coming in! Where did she- No …

I finally notice Gulan pointing to the bar and I turn to see Ciaran coming from out behind it.

What the fuck? The Bartender?

Ciaran, with her visor now back on her face, is gliding through everyone with the widest smile. In her hands is a covered plate. She arrives in the center and the three of us make an impromptu triangle.

Gulan nods his head and says, "Well my lady. What were your thoughts on this poor soul?"

Ciaran hums and then tilts her head. She says, "Weeellll~. At first I didn't know what to think. After all, Cünuel has always been such a serious individual. It was really quite the shock. But then I thought on what he said and I realized something."

She brings up the plate and the lights are turned back on so that everyone can see it. Ciaran's smile grows to its largest size.

She continues, "If Cünuel believes I can 'take it', I want to make sure he knows I can dish it out just as well."

With a flourish she takes the cover off the plate. I'm immediately confused by its contents. The plate is filled with a wet and brown material. Small darker clusters can be seen and the whole thing is crumbly. It takes a second for me to realize what it is and, before I can say anything, an audience member shouts out the substance's name.

"Mud!"

At that moment, the entire room breaks down into hysterics. Pretty soon a chant starts up and eventually everybody but the three of us are shouting it.

"Take it! Take it! Take it!"

I grimace and look up at Ciaran's face. Her teeth are showing with a sharklike grin. She raises an eyebrow. I close my eyes and sigh.

I mumble, "Didn't say I have to eat it at least."

I grab the dish from Ciaran's hands and take it. Cheers go out and a few then start to chant 'eat it.' Ciaran turns around and waves that one off.

"Now, now. I didn't wind up eating anything so I see no need for Cünuel to do so either. He's got his prize."

She turns back around and says, "But I do so hope he savors it."

Groans and curses come next. Whether from me not having to suffer the taste or from the pun, I don't really care. Ciaran looks to Gulan and nods her head. He nods back and then claps his hands again.

"Okay! Videos have been shown and the prize given out! Get out of here you maniacs!"

Another cheer goes up and the crowd starts to disperse. Ciaran gives a more gentle smile to me and nods her head. I manage to give a crooked smile in return and do the same. I then turn around and walk back to my group. They proceed to give me a few claps on the back. Javik steals a glance at the plate and then asks, "What are you going to do with that?"

I stare at it for a second and then shrug.

"Mud is going into the garbage and the plate into a washer."

Martem snickers and then says, "But it's a prize! You can't just throw it away."

I give him an incredulous look while the rest of us laugh at that. Issah gives a suggestion, "Put some seeds into it and make a plant."

I hum at that and Dani pokes me. I look at her and she winks.

She says, "I'll buy the seed if you buy the pot."

I sigh and then give in.

I say, "Sure, sure."

In the end, our group parts ways. Even with my "prize", I would consider the night to have been fun.

Just another crazy day.

 

[Barondoctor]

Reaper Man: Homecoming​

I got onto the shuttle with Tyro Torwin. "You should know, I designed the Equus-class speeder with you in mind. A flying gun layered in enough armor and shielding that it ends up becoming an airborne engine of death, with a decent auto-targeting system if you need a break. You should take a look at it, once Cheriss optimizes the design and the first ones come off the production line."

I think that gave him something to think about, but I wasn't sure. For the next few hours, I was just meditating, working on my Buried Presence technique, because I went for a long time out in the open.

The proximity alarm pulled me out of the trance I'd drifted into, checked the coordinates we were heading for. An asteroid in a star system near Lorrd. Pretty quiet little spot. Doubly so because the Lorrdians do nonverbal communication better than a lot of folk do verbal communication and so have less need for speech.

I smiled to myself as Tyro handled landing procedures, putting on my mask and with a flick of my wrist extending the scythe. After all, what's the difference between Riphath Althean the medic with delusions of grandeur and Reaper, the call-sign Grievous gave me? In a word? Presentation.

I strode off the ship and saw her. The Ciaran. Lady Ciaran, in the flesh. The only other non-Kaleesh to get a mumuu mask. "Death comes for everyone, Ciaran. For you, however? Not today." I sketched a bow, removing the mask and flicking the hood back, the scythe folding up and going inside the sleeve of my robe as I returned to a normal posture. "Riphath Althean. Pleasure to meet you."

Okay, point of order, I'd rehearsed that ever since Grievous gave me the Reaper callsign, and this was just the first good occasion for it. Yeah, Rondaes called me a nerd for it when she caught me the one time. She's probably right. Then again, if I wasn't a nerd I probably wouldn't have gone to Byblos for med school in the first place.

"So exactly how many times did you rehearse that introduction? 10? 30? It's not bad though. I'd say overall it's a...7 out of 10," I heard her say.

"Ahh...probably about seventeen, but the last six or seven were tiny refinements," I responded without missing a beat.

I walked into the meeting room, where Ciaran and Tyro showed me Darth Vectivus. There was a brief explanation that he was a retired ex-Sith who'd tied his existence to something else alive, and that he was as proud of his skills in business and money management. Finally! An answer!

"So you'd be the person to talk to about figuring out how to properly invest for my retirement," I quipped.

Vectivus laughed. "In a manner of speaking, I suppose. Another time, though. Right now I believe your boss has a speech prepared."

I eased into a parade rest position, appearing both comfortable and respectful.

Ciaran stared straight into his eyes. "Riphath Althean."

I didn't move, but my face seemed to wear a 'thaaaaat's meeee' expression.

"In recognition of your abilities and achievements, I hereby declare you to be one of our Abyss Walkers, the highest possible rank of our Force corps within the Watchers. Your promotion is something of a surprise, as you did not come up through the Agent program, but I'm not in the habit of turning down opportunities because they didn't arrive as expected. You will be given the respect and responsibilities that come with the position, as well as the appropriate increase in compensation and the honor of carrying your own self-crafted lightsaber, in addition to your wan-shen."

I nodded. Now I understand what Tyro was saying about the galaxy not making sense.

The rest of the speech kinda blended together as I started thinking about how I was going to put together my lightsaber.

I had some time in the workship and ultimately put together something fairly simple but with some intriguing functions. The emitter was fairly short, with a round but flat disc of phrik alloy which would stop anybody attempting to slide their blade down my own to get to my fingers or ruin the lightsaber. A doubled switch allowed for me to lock it in the "on" position so I could use it as a thrown weapon as well. A tooled black leather handle eventually gave way to a heavy pommel. The whole thing came out to a little less than 30 centimeters and hooked onto my belt rather easily.

So. Now I have a lightsaber and aside from my Matukai training no particular talent for it. This isn't possibly going to get me into far more trouble than it's worth, I thought.

A competing thought surged to the front of my mind:

News flash for Riphath, Galaxy to Riphath: If you were looking to avoid trouble, you should have transferred out of Grievous' squad the minute after you met him. Everything after that, the thought went, providing pictures of Grievous, Master Veskasa, Rondaes, and Ciaran, came from having the guts to stick around and see where it went.

Hey wait a sec. Why did she get a spot in that listing?

Um, hello, lightsaber. Promotion. Also, she's cute.

Great. My brain hooks onto the fact that my boss's boss is attractive.

Yes, your eyes still work.

I pushed the thought out of my mind.

So rather than follow that thought through to its conclusion...why don't I go talk to Darth Vectivus and see what he would recommend for retirement investing?

A/N: I am up way too late but this was too much fun to not write to its conclusion.

 

[Whumbly]

Aftermath of Major Malevolent

Bright white fills his vision as Koliya Karrosi opens his bright golden eyes and lets out a low groan, his body feels as though its gone ten rounds with an angry Wookie. His mind is fuzzy, unable to remember how he got here, but he recognises the annoying brightness from the ceiling of The Home's infirmary and raises a black furred paw to cover his eyes.

From beside him there's a husky, dry chuckle, "well looks like the furball's up."

Koliya turns his head to see white on white as vision burred, reforming into a pale familiar figure. A headache emerged as a flash of memory it him.

"You furball," a pale and deceptively strong hand shoots out to grab the collar of his shirt and starts dragging the larger Agent along the corridor with surprisingly swiftness, the voice is searingly hot with anger, "I need a sparring partner."

Asajj Ventress is lying on the bed next to him, pale grey contrasting with a jet black and roughed up sparring attire. A large number of cuts and large bruises dot her visible skin and Koliya is sure that under his fur is a similar situation. He reaches out in the Force, to try and understand what she feels, but stops as he feels nothing, but a cold hollow void. Koliya is good at hiding his emotions, but Ventress can probably see the confused panic in his eyes because she turns her head and glares with all her worth at the offending figure.

Koliya follows her gaze to the opposite side of the room and comes to rest on the legendary image of Thrawn, sitting calmly in one of the uncomfortable waiting chairs, a Force-to-honest paperback in his hands calming reading away at some historic text. A large brown lizard drapes itself across the military genius's neck like a scarf, blissfully unaware of the annoyance it is receiving from two sets of eyes. Koliya notes the lizard isn't clinging to the shirt, but something underneath it... a portable version of those branches. Huh, no wonder Thrawn looked calm.

"So it would seem," Thrawn looks up from his book, a free hand idly stroking the chin of the lizard, "Agent Karrosi, I presume you are well enough for a conversation."

Koliya licks his lips and from his mouth comes a voice comes something unexpected, calm, sophisticated and smooth, "as long as I don't have to stand up."

Thrawn masks his looks well, but the slight movement of his head gives away a sense of curiosity. Ventress is not nearly as subtle, her gaze scrutinising, "mind tell why a Cathar has a Core accent?"

Koliya gives a small smile, a pure mixture of nervousness and attempted charm, showing hard scrubbed and sharp teeth, "vocal implant," he replies, rubbing at his throat, "it helped during my time as a Watcher," the smile continues to placate the Sith Exile's curiosity... it doesn't work, "and I didn't like my own voice. It was embarrassing."

Ventress gives one of her looks (trademark smirk #4), but is interrupted before for the teasing can continue.

"Before you two divulge into the antics of a class of younglings," Thrawn cut in, "I do believe we need to focus on what happened."

...agents dashing out of the sparring arena filled his and those foolish idiots who tried pulling out holo-recorders were dragged out by Blackguard observers, obviously more experienced with similar situations...

"So I got angry," Asajj huffed, "I had every right to be."

"True," Thrawn accepted, "Ciaran could have worded it better. Though that doesn't excuse taking out your frustrations on the first Agent you saw and the sparring arena."

... the ignition of lightsabers, not the training kind. Blood red light illuminates a terrifying face...

"He's fine."

... dodge, duck, parry, keep moving. Distract her with blaster shots, got in for the strike, wear her down, keep aware of your surroundings...

"From the cameras you two didn't destroy," Thrawn drawled, "you tried to kill him in your anger."

... a Force Push slammed him into the wall. There is a reminder of a similar situation when she first arrived...

Ventress' face dropped and she runs a hand through messy white hair, "I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Obviously," Thrawn drawled, "had it been anymore serious Agent Karrosi would have maimed or worse killed."

... leans back, a red blade nipping at the fur on neck...

"Fortunately when the first punch was thrown, you both decided to degrade from a near-lethal spar to a savage brawl,-"

... she is stronger and faster, but he has the size and the will from being afraid and the experience of fighting in brutal semi-legal ring matches. The world becomes fist and elbow, feet and knees, fang and claw as the two roll across the floor...

"-it made it easier for HK to," Thrawn mulled over the words, "calm the situation."

... barely sees a glint of brownish-orange metal before a wave of stun bolts slams into them both, knocking them unconscious.

The two of them sit in silence. Thrawn stares at them both before sighing, "however considering the circumstances, punishing you would not solve anything. You made a error in your judgement, but I believe you will not let it become a mistake. Darth Vectivus has suggested that living in the middle of a Dark Side Nexus might not be entirely healthy for your current mental and emotional state. So, by order of Lady Ciaran, you're being assigned paid vacation for three week."

Ventress seems ready to protest before Thrawn raises a hand, "but I know you Asajj," Koliya blinks at the use of Ventress' first name, "you aren't one to sit around, that's why Agent Karrosi will be accompanying you on a mission to Coruscant. The protest movement against the Jedi Temple is concerning to many people. Thus we need a fresh pair of eyes on the situation."

"You do realise," Ventress replies coldly, "that I'm supposed to be dead."

"Well," Koliya strokes his chin as eyes turns to him, he pauses before continuing, "beyond your Force Cloak that would make you appear normal to the Jedi, you... well I doubt anyone would recognise you. I mean you're no longer Major Malevolent."

Ventress glared, "Major Malevolent," she repeated slowly.

Koliya squirmed in his seat, "err... your nickname when you first arrived... and Force Pushed Jenkins into a wall hard enough to leave an imprint of his face."

Ventress let out a hiss, "yeah I was not a good person."

"Well you've changed and not just the hair," Koliya replied, "a little training and the right clothes I doubt even Kenobi would recognise you."

A whimsical look crossed the Sith-Exile's face, turning to look at Thrawn, "we won't be going near the Jedi Temple?"

Thrawn nodded, "can't afford for you to be revealed... well not yet."

Ventress smiled, a cold, dark smile, "yes, remember if Ciaran succeeds, I want to be able to surprise the old man."

"Acceptable," Thrawn's voice is clipped, "and Agent Karrosi," ears swivel, "when you're feeling better, report to Lady Ciaran," the smallest of upturns of the corners of his mouth, "I wish I could say more, but... I'm really not a liberty to say."

With that he departed the room, leaving the two of them to feel the Force return. Koliya mulling over the words as his mind pieced things together. For all the secrecy, people talked and he listened and it wasn't hard to figure it out. Neither it seemed was Ventress finding any difficulty.

"So congratulations is an order," the words are dry as they both stare at each other in a awkward silence, "you said something about the right clothes."

Koliya gave a charming smile, his training allowing him to mask the daunting process of personally helping Ventress with a important mission, "I used to be a Watcher. We had to take on a lot of roles," his eyes look up and down Ventress, gauging her size and the way she walks, "what's your opinion on Bounty Hunters?"

OCC: my submission for new Abysswalker, Koliya Karrosi, the Cathar ex-Watcher.

 

[Dr. Snark]

The Home

In the heart of Vectivus' Home, one of the most secretive locations in the Abyss Watchers and the galaxy as a whole, Ciaran was grumbling to herself as she faced her most dreaded of adversaries:

Bureaucracy.

"Oh no, Ciaran, it was a great idea to have all these official forms and things for the Agents," she said to herself as she furiously typed away. "Come on, what are the odds that you'd have some random guy turn out to be a perfect fit for the Abysswalker position without formal Agent training? The odds of that have to be astronomical, which is good, otherwise you'd be burying yourself in forms just to get the guy formal recognition WHY DID I THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA-"

"Lady Ciaran?"

"GAH!" Ciaran yelped in shock as she faced the intrusive phantom of Vectivus. "Do you mind!? I'm in the middle of incredibly-"

"Number Two."

"Sirs," the stoic man said as he entered the room with a datapad. "All necessary documentation to promote Riphath Althean to the status of Abysswalker due to 'extraordinary circumstances.' Sirs."

Ciaran looked at him, groaned, yanked the datapad out of his hands, then sank down in her seat. "Could you have gotten him to do that a bit sooner?"

"I was only aware of the issue when you started screaming about it a short while ago," the phantom replied. "At any rate, since you are here-"

"Finances meeting?"

"I assumed you'd rather talk about profits and things related to it than bureaucracy."

Ciaran was silent for a moment. "Well...you're right. I don't know what else to tell you."

Sullust Facility

"You know what's nice about Sullust?"

"Given the toxic atmosphere, unstable surface, and magma flows across the planet, no, I can't say I do."

"...Erm. I was going to say something witty but that response killed any response I could think of."

"Just be happy that the Sullustans were smart enough to decide to live underground. I imagine it's far more comfortable down there."

"It is. The new facility is in scenic SoroSuub Central surrounded by beautiful cave walls and more cave walls."

"I must admit it says something about SoroSuub's presence that the planet's capital is also their main headquarters. Does that sound familiar to you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about at all. No sir."

Reward: Facility on Sullust

Arkania Facility

"So how did purchasing that facility on Arkania go?"

"...Well enough. There was only some evidence of some abortive experiments there."

"Do tell. I have to admit I'm legitimately curious as to what you were told to 'ignore.'"

"Let's see, they told me that some of the stains on the walls were from a liquid used in some bio-titan...thing they tried to do that apparently went very wrong - and in case you're wondering no there's nothing left on the computers there about that. Um, what else...also they told me that if I found any former staff members turned into some gelatin-esque substance while my people were moving in that it wasn't an issue but I should still hand over the bodies to Adascorp. Was there anything else...?"

"I think that says enough about the Arkanians as it is."

Reward: Facility on Arkania

Tibannopolis Reoccupation

"You'll have to bring me up to speed on Tibannopolis, it was built after my time."

"Basically the idea was that it was supposed to compete with its sister platform Cloud City, but apparently it was mismanaged badly enough that it was abandoned after its completion. Naturally I took that as a challenge and an opportunity to get direct control over a source of Tibanna gas."

"Reasonable enough."

"Yes, but...weeeeell there was a slight complication when we bought it out. Turned out that we had...squatters."

"What, a few thugs?"

"Try a Jedi sect using the platform as a base."

"You're joking."

"Nope. Fortunately the auditing team was smart enough to not try and boot them off, so for right now they're being...tolerated is the accurate word but it honestly sounds too harsh. It's more like benign neglect: we don't ask questions, and they don't mess with us as we move in."

"I can't say I'm certain that will last. Jedi have an uncanny ability to find injustice or what they perceive as injustice when given the chance."

"Good thing then from what I understand this group is a bit more...lax than the Order. They're still 'noble defenders of peace' and all that junk but apparently they disagree with the Order's way of doing thing. And these days that makes them alright in my book."

"Because it makes them easier to work with and/or manipulate?"

"Yep!"

Reward: Tibannopolis reoccupied

Lorrd Property

"Lorrd is such a fascinating world. There is so much knowledge in the halls of the universities and academies that dot the planet...but of course I assume you're also interested in its strategic value."

"Guilty. Given that it's the closest major world to your Home I'm sure you understand why I want to keep a close eye on it. That being said I'd hardly be against looking into some of the local universities there to see if there are any talented individuals worth hiring."

Reward: Property on Lorrd

Coruscant (Uscru Investments, All Planets Market, Underworld Takeover, Corusca Intelligencer, Undercity Healthcare)

"It's good that you're starting to use mass media more directly. Even if it is a small voice in a sea of pro-Palpatine media it's still worth something."

"Well if I have my way it's going to be a lot bigger than a 'small voice,' but that's at least a few months off. One thing's for sure it'll let me push things into the public conscience more easily."

"A valuable tool to be sure. I can't say I have much to say about your investments into the Uscru District or the All Planets Market so let's speak of the parts of Coruscant people don't want to mention."

"Providing healthcare and having it be tax-free is the best thing I could hope for. Maybe call it sympathy because I know how bad it can get down there, but I'm still making money. As for my ah...gentrification programs the fact of the matter is that a lot of Guardians and Seekers come from the places like the Undercity because they have nowhere else to go. I get more men, and a lot more space on the planet where people don't want to look. Win-win."

Rewards: +75 investment income, +75 trade income, Guardian/Seeker recruitment rate increase, potential for further development in owned areas, +25 Investment income, Abyss Watchers-owned media outlet set up on Coruscant, +75 Silver Cross Income

Kalee (Tradeport, Benelex Expansion)

"Do you think having more Kaleesh on staff will give the House Benelex a more...aggressive reputation?"

"It'll be fine."

"Right. Trade is a logical step at this point...speaking of which, how are your investments in the farming and industry areas going?"

"They're definitely starting to grow quite a bit, and I'm positive they'll pay for themselves very shortly."

Rewards: +50 trade income, +50 Investment income, income from Farming investments increases to +50, income from Industry investments increases to +75

Mandalore (Aegis Security Facility, Karada Facility)

"Okay I'm going to level with you, I'm not providing security so much as getting paid to ship Mandalorians elsewhere in the sector."

"I can certainly see the logic behind that, and of course it gives you an excuse to set up patrols around your mansion. As for the Karada facility I take it no one's noticed Skirata 'borrowing' a few more of your 'unique' products?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Karada has absolutely no affiliation with any such individuals whatsoever, and the records will prove it."

Rewards: +25 income, defenses established, +50 income from Karada sales, medical supplies for Clan Skirata

Lordran, Kiln (Personal Retreat, Basic Droid Factory, OOM Droid Factory, Single-Trooper Aerial Platform Factory, Vulture-class Droid Starfighter Factory, C-9979 Landing Craft Slipways)

"I take it you wanted more disposable troops for the Foundry attacks."

"Well...yes there's that, the vulture droids will be a great asset for the Oracle Fleet, and the Landers have been proven to work very well in tandem with Lucerhulks."

"Of course. However, I was wondering if you were going to mention your pet project."

"Okay, I've been putting it off for a while but I've always wanted to have my own personal fortress/palace that I can stay at. I think the bright colors, high ceilings, temple-like architecture, and the fact that it's now the largest building on the planet make it quite-"

"That, while impressive, wasn't what I was referring to. That small island out in the middle of Lordran's oceans was what really intrigued me. It seemed so...quaint for someone like you. Practically isolated with only a small forest and a large rock pinnacle, barely any room on it save for a few people...and then there's the buildings. From what the records Number Two showed me all that's there is a cabin, a library at the center of the island, a very archaic clock tower to the south, an equally archaic observatory-"

"I get it."

"Why something so humble?"

"...It's quiet. Honestly it's nice to know there's somewhere in the galaxy where I can just be alone for a little while and just relax. I doubt I'll go there before this Palpatine business is all over - too much happening practically every second right now - but it's nice to know it exists for just me. Speaking of which: do not tell anyone about it."

"Not a word."

Rewards: Personal Retreat built, +2 groups of basic B1 battle droids per turn, +2 groups of OOM battle droids per turn, +2 groups of STAPs per turn, +1 group of Vulture Droids per turn, +1 C-9979 Landers per turn

La'Sombra (Defense Grid, Svivreni Material Research Facilities)

"Finally got proper defenses set up and the Svivreni are going to be such a big help for our materials research. Not much more to say besides that."

Rewards: Defenses for base established, Significantly Decreased research times for current/future anomalous/rare materials research

Nar Shaddaa (Expanded Smugglers Den, Undercity Investment, Karada Medcenters, Versuch Labs, Boltholes, Serv-O-Droid Expansion)

"It's honestly kind of sad that the Hutts never understood how much money you could make simply by working with the poor and disenfranchised more closely."

"But you aren't complaining."

"Nope."

"Speaking of the masses I must admit that setting up boltholes on Nar Shaddaa is unquestionably a wise decision. I visited the moon a few times in my life and it is borderline impossible to sense any particular Force presences there."

"Coruscant's a lot like that too once you reach its Undercity but obviously it's nice to have someplace to hide that isn't directly under Palpatine's nose."

Rewards: +50 Smuggling Income, 30% boost to Nar Shaddaa income, +50 Karada income, +100 Investment income, Boltholes set up across Nar Shaddaa, +25 investment income

Castell (Gossam Militia Investments, Castell Academy Investments)

"Finally committing to your coup?"

"Yep, and I have even more unofficial support than before! It's just great. I'm going to enjoy seeing Shu Mai's reaction when her precious commandos turn on her..."

"'If.' Not 'when.' Be reasonable."

"Let me dream."

Rewards: Gossam Commandos more likely to support you, potential increase in Underworld Rumors, increased promotion rates for all Abyss Watcher military squads barring Force users, Gossam Commandos more likely to survive and more likely to support you

Muunilist (Muun Auditors)

"Would you believe me if I told you some of my own financial advisors were Muuns?"

"Can't say I'm surprised. I showed a balance sheet to one of the auditors and...well...I don't want to talk about it."

"I imagine his lectures were far more detailed than my own."

"...Yes they were...why...why did I think that was a good idea..."

Reward: +75 Investment income, increased information on financial matters across the galaxy

Vectivus' Home (Defense Grid)

"The new defenses are properly camouflaged I hope."

"Buried into asteroids around this place and I've got a few ships in deep space ready to jump in just in case. It's a thankless job, but now I know for sure that this place is safe."

"As do I."

Reward: Defenses for base established

Kashyyyk (Ithorian Botanical Garden and Nursery, Sienar Expansion)

"Do you really think the Ithorians can actually grow those titanic trees on worlds other than Kashyyyk?"

"They're paying to get samples, I don't really care if they can actually pull anything off with those, honestly. That sort of reminds me that I should tell Raith 'you're welcome' for giving him the chance to tap a few Wookiee engineers on the shoulder for recruitment."

Rewards: +50 investment income, +25 investment income

Taris (Promised Land Skyway Lanes, Orbital Drydocks, Mercy Medcenter Expansion, Planetary Shield, Svivreni Mines, Black Market Control, Ojoster Intelligencer, Aegis Security Expansion)

"At least now you have actual defenses in place between the military expansion and the new shields, so my usual complaints are not worth bringing up."

"Told you I had plans for that."

"Right...anyway in all sincerity at least this round of investment has sound logic to it; setting up on-site supplies of raw materials, a better ability for the planet to service a military fleet, a news outlet that will effectively let you control the public consciousness if you wish..."

"As if I don't already."

"...A fair point. As for the nekghouls it's good to see that they haven't been driving off people from establishing the new skyway lanes."

"Credit where credit's due, Zinnerman's also been doing a good job at assuring the people that these aren't rakghouls and are in fact citizens of Taris. If very intimidating ones who don't like it when people are on their property."

"It helps that he managed to get coherent testimonies out of a few of them."

Rewards: Mass transit to Promised Land possible, nekghouls able to be fully integrated into Taris...at least economically, +100 Investment income, ability for Taris to handle ship repairs, +100 Karada income, ability to operate Karada from Taris, Planetary shields set up for Taris, +75 Investment income, Taris gains on-site source of raw materials, +50 black market income, +25 Investment income, Abyss Watcher-controlled media set up on Taris, +50 Security income

Naboo (Naboo Moon Mining Guild Investments, Borvo's Black Market (Naboo & Rori))

"Funny, Uncle Borvo was almost sad when I told him I'd be buying out some of his old market contacts on Naboo."

"Borvo always has surprised me with how reasonable and empathetic he is...at least in comparison to other Hutts."

"Well, where did you think I got the 'Uncle' idea from? Anyway there's that and the new Mining Guild investments I've made which for once are very public. 'Lady Ciaran takes a stand against slavery!' ...Of course I did have to place a few calls to the Hutt Clans to reassure them but they seemed to understand what I was trying to do there."

Rewards: +50 income from Mining Guild investments, good PR against slavers, +50 smuggling income, +50 smuggling income

Cato Nemodia (Karada Medcenter, Rush Clovis' Factory)

"Heheheheheh."

"You done?"

"Heheh. Okay now I am. Forgive me, usually I don't have the chance to profit off of others' misfortunes this directly and I'm enjoying the feeling of it. And before you say anything yes I know I shouldn't indulge too much, but I can indulge a little, right?"

"As long as it is in moderation."

"Right. Anyway, I now have a perfectly functional droid factory that already has production lines for OOM and B2 droids and there's nothing stopping me from adding on others aaaannnddd for all anyone knows CIS-affiliated droids are being stored there. I have high productivity, expansion capability, and deniability all in one package! It's great!"

Rewards: +50 Karada income, Clovis' factory taken over and reactivated, +3 OOM Battle Droid Units and +3 B2 Battle Droid Units per turn (Cap 15)

Ord Mantell (Smuggler's Den, Fort Garnik Depot, Conference Center)

"I already know Ord Mantell is a shadowport. So let's talk about your military endeavors there."

"Fort Garnik was an old ORD that was active around the Great Galactic War era that helped handle logistics for a large part of the Northern Rim. Given that I want better logistics for the Northern Rim it only makes sense to reactivate it under CNS control."

"Was that legal by the way? It wouldn't surprise me if the fort was still under military jurisdiction."

"Surprisingly yes, it had been abandoned for decades, maybe centuries even. Besides it's not really a major military facility that the Republic would care about...not yet at least."

Rewards: +50 smuggling income, +50 military income, Fort Garnik reactivated with potential to expand capabilites, +50 smuggling income

Corellia (Aegis Security Facility, Dedicated Salvage Teams, Large-scale Wiretaps, Garm Bel Iblis's Militia Funding, Karada Medcenter)

"Aside from the usual investments which are barely worth talking about I'm curious as to this 'Bel Iblis Militia' that you've sent some funds to."

"Turns out when Garm supported Corellian neutrality he wanted to make sure it could stay neutral if some ships came knocking. So he rallied a bunch of Corellians into a militia that patrols the sector and protects them from pirates or potential CIS attacks."

"So you sent them enough funds to let them upscale to proper military-grade equipment-"

"With a few 'special bargains' from Incom no less. They're now as good as the rest of the Council 'defense forces' at this point and I've been able to get them better integrated too."

Rewards: +25 income, defenses established, +25 Salvage income, per turn roll for other benefits, +25 Information income, Bel Iblis' militia integrated into CNS fleet, increased security for Corellian space, +50 Karada income

Salvage Rolls
Coruscant: 48 (+25)
Nar Shaddaa: 49 (+25)
Taris: 27 (+25)
Space: 79 (+75)
Ord Mantell: 87 (+100)
Dantooine 1: 26
Dantooine 2: 13
Corellia: 93 (+100 & Event)

"A shame that nothing of value was recovered from Dantooine."

"Well, I'd say the new Corellian team more than made up for it. Did you see what they managed to find?"

"Some...unusual chamber if the reports I read were accurate."

"They were. And they still have no idea what it is they really found. Does any Sith artifact resemble six small cones surrounding a large one, about 30-ish meters tall?"

"Hm...none that I can think of."

"Well then that raises more questions because the basic scans the teams ran indicate that the room in question is very old. If the Sith didn't put it together then who did...?"
the Ones
"But why?"

"Lady Ciaran?"

"Sorry, just thinking to myself."

"You realize you don't have to hide anything from me."

"I know, but...it's strange. Maybe it's just me being selfish but I feel like this is something I need to figure out myself."

"I understand. Very well then, that is all I have to speak to you about. If you need me...well you know where to find me."

"Wait, before you go - you have heard about Cheriss' advancements in frame development, right?"

"Indeed. It is quite astonishing."

"Do you think you could...I don't know, 'possess' one built for you?"

"Hm...I would err towards 'no,' mainly because if it were possible every Sith Lord that ever lived would have tried to do something like that. Honestly Lady Ciaran it takes far more effort on my part than you realize just to keep sustaining myself within the Home, and to attach myself to a droid would likely be too much for me. It may be possible, but I would not know where to start unfortunately."

"Blast...well maybe you could re-bind yourself to another location? The Chu'unthor might work."

"...The beauty of the irony of a Sith Lord taking up residence in a Jedi vessel is not lost on me, but I do not think that would work either. One of the main reasons I am able to sustain myself here at the Home is due to the fact that it is a Force Nexus, meaning that I can draw on the energy within it to help sustain my presence. If I were to try and leave, I would likely vanish entirely. Perhaps if I had only died a few years ago it might have been possible but it has been centuries since my physical body died. Now it simply takes too much effort to sustain myself here for me to go elsewhere."

"Could a phantom possess it?"

"...Perhaps with enough time and study it could be possible, but it would ultimately be pointless. If you yourself were to create a phantom of me for example it wouldn't truly be 'me.' It would be a replica of me, and while it may be able to act as though it were me to some extent it would ultimately only be an extension of whoever created it."

"I see."

"Forgive me if I came across as harsh there - I do appreciate you keeping your promise in mind."

"Thanks. Anyway, on a kind of related note, need to ask Cheriss about the technological investments I've been making."

"Very well then. As I said, you know where to find me."

Corellia (Nerfworks), Muunilist (Phlut Deign Systems Investments)

"Cheriss! Cheriss I know you're there-"

"Ohhisorrywasworkingwiththespiderdroids-"

"Unit 5 continues to request additional oil baths."

"Unit 8 requests that Unit 5 stop making irrelevant requests to Chief Engineer Sair."

"I see...good work on those by the way. I'm still impressed that you managed to create a self-improvement program that worked so well."

"Ahahahaha yes it was a lot of VERY difficult work ANYWAY you wanted something?"

"Your opinion on the Phlut and Nerfworks projects."

"Riiight. Okay, so the Phlut IG line is really impressive - they're nowhere near HK-47's level but they much easier to mass produce. Apparently the Lancer variant they were using a while back did a lot of damage to Republic armor during the Battle of Muunilist honestly I had no idea how given that they were using what were basically tougher lances but now that I look at it it makes sense with the alloys in them-"

"Cheriss."

"Oh, sorry, was getting too technical. Anyway, the point is with a bit of work I think I can keep their effectiveness as anti-armor units while also giving them better combat abilities on foot. It's going to be a bit expensive but-"

"I can cover it."

"Yeah! Anyway the Nerfworks thing. That...that's really something right there."

"Think any of those droid ship designs can be useful to us?"

"Huh? Oh right right yes. Maybe. Possibly. I've already gotten my hands on blueprints for their monitor and freighter ships and a bunch of other things and they're really impressive though really at the end of the day they're only as good as the droid brains in them and the ones I've seen could really use some improvements but I can handle those if you really wanted me to. But uh...there was one other thing I reaaaaally don't think I was supposed to see..."

"Benefits of working with me Cheriss. What was it?"

"The 'Crusader XX-777' project - an escort frigate design of some kind by the looks of it. Apparently they put in a very old military droid brain into the ship to bypass the need for tests and so on, but it ended up being destroyed...I think. The records that I am NOT supposed to have were a bit...uh...inconsistent when it came to the ship being actually destroyed. That and I had some people do some digging and there have been scattered reports of a ship matching the Crusader's description in the galaxy so I'm pretty sure it's still functional and operating on it's own. That's kind of amazing, isn't it?"

"And?"

"Aaaaannnd while the project went wrong it did give me some ideas. You remember the thing I was talking about when you came by?"

"How could I forget."

"Right well I realized that to handle the range of motion that I'm going to need out of it I'd have to implement a very efficient droid brain but I was originally planning to just have it support the pilot but now I'm thinking that it could work in closer tandem with them by - well I haven't gotten that far yet but I think I'm on to something there. It'd be more difficult to put together but I think it would realllly pay off in the long run."

"Right."

"Anyway most of these are already on the open market so producing them ourselves...well we could do it but really the only change we'd make is having different droid brains installed. If you're wondering about the Crusader I could put together a droid brain for that and we could put together a slipway over Lordran for them but aside from that starship design isn't really my thing. Maybe ask Raith and see if he has any better ideas?"

"Not a bad idea. Thanks for the report Cheriss."

Rewards: +25 income, access to IG droid schematics, potential for future upgrades, +50 Investment income, access to Nerfworks designs

"Right then. Next-"

"Lady Ciaran?"

"Uggh...Thrawn, why did you bring a ysalamiri in here? More importantly how are you already he - wait you were handing over those orders to Asajj right?"

"Yes. She will be on her way to Coruscant shortly."

"'Shortly?' ...Dammit, what did she do?"

"Apparently she was venting her frustrations on one of your Abysswalkers to-be. He is still alive albeit rather...singed."

"......Did you tell her about...that?"

"I believe it is something you should do."

"...I hate that you're right. Anyway. Those issues aside, how did your fleet project work out?"

Oracle ('Grand Fleet' Initiative)

"Quite splendidly. As you can see the Oracle Fleet now consists of modernized, military-grade equipment across the board. The fighter compliment now consists of a combination of Headhunters and Y-Wings for a mixture of anti-fighter and anti-capital combat. In addition with the help of some 'unofficial' contacts at the Kuat Drive Yards and some assistance from Raith I was able to track down a number of military ships that were meant to be scrapped for whatever reason but were relatively intact, allowing their integration into the fleet. On a more legal front I was able to purchase a number of Corellian ships for the fleet that should do an excellent job at anti-fighter defense, as well as a number of other ships that were on the market and could easily be brought up to par with the rest of the fleet. Sadly we were not able to get any larger ships in comparison to the Oracle itself or the Invisible Hand as purchasing a significant amount of the larger ships would have been too obvious at present."

"So all in all what do you think?"

"If the new fleet is forced into an engagement with any Republic or Separatist strike force they would be able to hold their own at the very least. At most given a good commander they can win an engagement, especially given the state of the Oracle at present."

"That sounds good to me by any stretch."

Reward: Oracle Fleet upgraded to military-grade, increased chances of success for Martial actions in space

"Right. That's all, thank you and please get your pet Force-repelling lizard away from me. I think I'm starting to feel my head spin a bit..."

"You seem like you are in a hurry. Is there something you need to do soon?"

"Yes. It'll be after I induct the new Walkers of course, but it's very important. Very secret."

"What could it possibly be that requires your attention?"

----------

The Emerald Dream, Taris Orbit
Space Curling Arena

"Space curling!~"

"You're serious. This is an actual thing people do," Padme muttered to herself in disbelief as she sat in a chair across from Ciaran, staring in disbelief at the arena in front of her and the readings indicating the ship's tractor beam was holding onto a small asteroid. "You know I thought this was some overly long practical joke you were playing up until now. How - why - who?"

"Funny thing you should ask, apparently your boyfriend started the idea by throwing rocks at a space station," Ciaran said coyly.

"...That does sound like him," Padme muttered in slight resignation, and to Ciaran's interest/amusement she didn't deny anything nor did she ask for clarification about who Ciaran was referring to with the 'boyfriend' comment. Shaking her head Padme gripped the co-pilot's controls after Ciaran had handed control over to her. "Okay, so uh...the rocks do eventually stop, right? Because I really don't want to be in the news as the Senator who accidentally dropped an asteroid on Taris."

"It's fine. There's a bunch of gravity things there. It'll be fine."

"Alright..." Padme said to herself before she sent the Emerald Dream charging forwards towards the buoys that designated the throwing line. Just before the ship reached it Padme forced it to slam to a halt, disengaging the tractor beam and letting the rock the ship was towing fly forwards until it eventually...ended up close to the point where it would have been out of bounds.

"Not bad for a first throw," Ciaran said as she leaned back.

"I was never really that good at piloting so that's good enough for me."

"Right. So..." Ciaran grinned viciously. "You know I wanted to mention that you never asked who I was referring to when I said you had a boyfriend -" Padme's face began to color red as Ciaran said that, "- and I didn't hear any sort of denial either~"

"T-that...well...it's just a thing w-we're both...yes."

"Oh do te-"

Suddenly a loud tone came from the pilot's console and a red light winked on.
it begins
"Wha-"

"Priority message," Ciaran said worriedly. "I told my people specifically that they shouldn't call unless-"

The holoprojector came online, displaying the image of an obviously concerned Gulan. "Boss I - am I interrupting something?"

"No you're not Gulan."

"Do I know him?"

"Maybe, he is one of my closest employees. Padme, Gulan, Gulan, Padme, if you haven't. What is it?"

"The Jedi Temple's been bombed."

Both women went dead silent as the processed the gravity of that statement.

"You're serious," Padme said.

"Look on the Holonet if you need to, the news is spreading fast."

Ciaran and Padme shared a glance for a moment before Ciaran quickly reactivated the pilot's controls and began to move the ship away from Taris. "Thank you for letting me know, Gulan. Out."

As the image went out Padme strapped herself in. "How soon can we get there?"

"This is a vessel designed by Raith Sienar himself. We'll be there in a heartbeat," Ciaran said as the ship finished its calculations, sending the ship into hyperspace...

AN: It begins.

We're going to be going into a "mini-"arc here, because as it turns out all of the changes made to canon at this point (going all the way back to the Huk-Kaleesh War no less) have resulted in some very interesting situations that could have very far-reaching consequences depending on how things play out with that...

Aside from me finally kicking off The Thing, not too much else to comment on here, except that if you think the description of Ciaran's "actual" retreat sounds familiar, it should. Enjoy~

 

[Dr. Snark]

Coruscant Undercity
Abyss Watchers Base

It was a fact of life that the Abyss' Watchers' facility on Courscant was almost constantly busy given its close proximity to Palpatine and the Senate, it's staff working around the clock to keep an eye on transmissions within the heart of the Republic's political system.

After the bombing though the base exploded into activity, with almost constant demands for information about the damage done to the Jedi Temple, information on anyone protesting around it, any signs of activity in the area, and basically anything that could even be tangentially related to the bombing. It was to the point that Ciaran's arrival was barely noticed until she started demanding answers from the staff.

"Were there any casualties?" "Officially there have been 25 with 12 more injured."
"Any sign of the bomber leaving the area after the attack?" "No. The area was swarming with Watchers and our underground contacts didn't see any sign of anyone trying to hide anything."
"Do we know what was used as the explosive?" "There hasn't been an official statement from the Jedi yet, but we're assuming it couldn't have been something obvious like a thermal detonator otherwise a security alert would have gone off."
"How did we not see this coming?" "I don't know. We didn't hear anything about the Undercity about someone being insane enough to bomb the Jedi Temple of all places..."
"Anyone claim credit for the attack?" "No. In fact there's been no sign of any communication from the bomber or anyone affiliated with them."
"The Jedi are setting up a funeral for the victims in a few days-"
"Ventress and Karrosi are currently out in the Undercity trying to track down any potential sources-"
"Thrawn is coming in on the Scimitar to lead the investigations from here-"
"I need dossiers on the protesters, their families, their criminal records, I want to know what every man and woman in front of the Temple had for lunch yesterday-"
"The Sentinels haven't given us any information yet, but we've already gotten word that they'll forward us anything that they think we can look into-"

After what seemed like an eternity Ciaran settled into her office to process her next moves. Breathing in she went over the most relevant facts:

The bomber or group behind the bomber was staying anonymous.
The protesters were criticizing Jedi interventionism and militarism, primarily citing the Huk-Kaleesh War scandal as a sign that the Jedi Order was doing more harm than good.
There was no word among the underground about anyone insane enough to attack the Jedi Temple.
There's a non-zero chance that Bulq is involved in this.

All of those didn't really help Ciaran to determine who the bomber was, but it did help her realize an important political factor that she could influence. Without hesitating, she called Grievous to weigh in on the situation. It was only a moment before the Kaleesh general's hologram appeared in front of her. "I assume this is about the attack on the Jedi Temple?"

"Partially. I need to know what your opinion is on the matter in general."

Grievous was silent for a moment before responding. "I freely admit that I have no love for the Jedi. However this attack is the definition of dishonorable." He folded his arms, his gaze visibly intensifying even through the static of the hologram. "Instead of attacking the Jedi themselves, this being killed those whose only affiliation to the Order was through menial labor and basic maintenance. They were not warriors, or leaders, or anything of the sort. They were merely ordinary beings who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But more than that...this attacker is a coward. They strike at the Jedi themselves, and instead of making a stand right there and then when the eyes of the galaxy would look upon them...they run and hide in the shadows. It is disgusting to me. Does that answer your question?"

"Mostly. I need to know one more detail: what do you think about the protests happening at the Temple?"

"...They are right, at least to a point. The Jedi I have seen are far too eager to meddle in affairs that they have no place in. However...they are of the belief that the Jedi's status as warriors is what the root of the problem is, but that is far from the truth. From my experience it is their belief that they are infallible. In judging right and wrong, in their actions always doing good for those that they influence, they always are of the belief that they are right because they are Jedi, and Jedi cannot be infallible in their judgement. Otherwise they would not be true Jedi."

"I feel like that's more descriptive of the older Masters than younger Jedi."

"I admit that may be so. Skywalker was not like that, though from my understanding it was because he was fighting a battle against himself. His pupil Tano was also not like that, though I would credit that to Thrawn for teaching her how to stop and think and observe the world around her before acting." He brought a hand to his chin in thought. "There's more to this line of questioning than my mere opinion, isn't there?"

"Yes. I wanted to know if you would be willing to officially condemn the bombing and potentially deny the bomber legitimacy. You are the name people think of when the Kaleesh are brought up."

Grievous folded his arms again, thinking to himself for a moment. "I could. However...I am no politician Lady Ciaran but I am certainly no fool. My mere presence on Coruscant could cause significant controversy in and of itself, and I would have to deal with...urgh...the media more closely, a task that I would rather not go through if possible. I could certainly have a response broadcasted from Kalee, but it may not be as effective if I were on Courscant itself. You are more familiar with the battlefield that is politics than I, so I will defer to your judgment in this matter."

[] Have Grievous publicly denounce the bombing.
-[] Directly from Courscant.
-[] Through a holonet broadcast from Kalee.
[] Do not have Grievous say anything.

AN: Short I know, but I realized that there's already an important or at least interesting decision to be made right here before we really get into the heat of things.

(I'll try to think of a witter name for this once things kick into high gear.)

 

[Panory]

Declares my omake non-canon

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Of course you realize...

Someone's Gotta Do It One More Time​

"You have your assignments, let's find out what the hell happened." Minn Adri nodded to conclude the planning meeting and watched her subordinates scatter. All but one. "Yes, Veltress?"

"Are we just going to ignore that last order from up top?" asked Calos. Out of all the people she commanded, Calos Veltress was the single most literal minded of them. If he were less intelligent in general, she could be convinced the man didn't even know what a metaphor was.

"What order are you referring to?" Minn groaned, knowing that she'd no doubt regret asking.

"Our orders are to compile dossiers on the protestors, their families, any criminal records they may possess, and what they had for lunch yesterday." repeated Calos. "Okins is looking into the protestors, Yula is finding out which ones have families on Coruscant, and Zalzzabar is collaborating with Corscant Security Forces to look into the protestors' criminal history. But no one is asking around to find out what the protestors ate for lunch."

Minn sighed in exasperation. It was times like this she contemplated asking for a raise. "Veltress, they weren't being serious. It's just a figure of speech, telling us to be thorough."

"And if it's not? I don't want to start ignoring orders because I thought they were a figure of speech." protested Calos.

"I guarantee you, no one but you is expecting us to look into what the protestors had for lunch yesterday." Minn clasped her hands together and pointed them at Calos for emphasis.

"I'm just saying, what if one of the protestors had something for lunch yesterday that would blow this whole thing wide open, and we don't look into it because you decided it was a waste of time?" speculated Calos.

"For the love of- look, if it makes you feel any better, I promise to take full responsibility should that very unlikely event come to pass." said Minn, mostly just looking to get Calos Veltress out of her office and go through some of the paperwork that had started to pile up. "Now go help Yula with her assignment. Poor girl has enough on her plate."

"Yes ma'am. I'll bear that in mind." Calos saluted, then left, much to Minn's relief.

XXX​

"So, full responsibility?" prompted Calos.

"Yes Veltress. I know." The information itself was a godsend, even if it had come from outside sources. But the fact that it proved Calos' insane conspiracy theory correct wasn't worth it.

"I'm just saying, explosive nano-droids were found in the man's leftovers from lunch the previous day. If you had listened to me from the beginning, we'd have known that days ago." If he were any more smug about being right, Minn would have decked her own subordinate right then and there, consequences be damned. She had no idea that anyone could be such a sore winner.

"I'll be sure to take your advice more seriously in the future, Veltress." said Minn, trying to be cordial through gritted teeth.

"Well good then. As long as you listen to my good ideas going forward." Calos gave an exasperated sigh. "Someone's gotta do it."

This time, Minn did punch him.



AN:

Alternatively, nobody was actually assigned to ask people what they had for lunch, because that's just silly.

Click to shrink...

Well fine then, if you want to be boring about it.

 

[Barondoctor]

Watching the Detectives​

It wasn't long after word of the Jedi Temple Bombing spread throughout the Watchers that I received a message.

Master Althean-

By now I assume you are aware of the Jedi Temple Bombing, and I believe your expertise will be essential in the Abyss Watcher investigation.

Meet me in the conference room in two hours and bring your medical kit.

-Mitth'raw'nuruodo, "Thrawn"

I went into the conference room two hours from when the message was sent and saw Thrawn already in the room.

"I'll keep this brief. I want you on the job because you are both combat-capable and trained in medicine. Specifically, trauma medicine. You know how to properly neutralize a fit woman around the age of 50. You are also capable of keeping track of one and being able to take care of it on a moment's notice."

I sputtered for a moment. "The...yes. Probably two and a half migs per kig of propofol, because if my guess is right her system's probably a little resistant." I blew out a breath. "There's really two kinds of people that catalogue the strengths and weaknesses of the human body. Healers and assassins, and the line that separates the two...I won't kill her. That doesn't mean I won't neutralize her if I have to, but there's plenty of extremely powerful sedatives I can use, as well as at least one grapple finisher you might be familiar with. Matukai self-strengthening techniques make grappling rather effective as a form of restraint. Best if I look like a harmless doctor with a side of eternal student."

Thrawn smiled, shook his head. "I picked you because you performed admirably the last time subtlety was needed for a medical task. I fully believe you can handle this one. She's human, and I believe you can estimate her weight once you see her to get the proper dosage. Killing her is not acceptable, and neither is insufficiently dosing her. While I believe she is likely of sufficient mental stability for this operation, I also believe in having failsafes."

On the way to Coruscant, I gauged Arla Fett. Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of sixty kilos. I had my medical kit with me and a syringe where I pulled up a 150 mg dose of propofol, keeping the syringe in a pocket. I otherwise kept watch over Arla Fett but stayed to myself, checking and rechecking my medical kit.

We arrived in a safehouse on Coruscant and unpacked. I'd played a game or two of Quadrant with Dani to pass the time, and then we got to talking about the bomb.

I mentioned that while the action itself was deplorable and I hoped we caught whoever was responsible, I was interested in how they'd managed the bombing.

"I thought you were a medic by training!" I heard Miss Plenar insist.

I grinned. "The study of medical science consists of a number of scientific fields, including organic chemistry. Back when I was studying it, there was a NetJournal I used to read by a professional chemist about Things They Won't Work With. It was a raconteur's guide to some of the most unpleasant or scary chemicals around. There was an entry about a substance that would burn sand and at least half a dozen about particularly explosive chemicals. If there's any trace left I might be able to run chemical analysis and figure out what it was that blew up."

"You know how do that?" She asked.

"Mostly. I'd need to have the reference for what the different peaks and shapes on the spectrometer actually mean, and some different chemical references, but yeah, I could work it out. They didn't let you have the references in class, but class was years and years ago, so I'd call that a draw. I did get a 95 in the class." I didn't need to tell her that I only got a 60 in that section.

It was then I heard Arla speak up. "You'll be looking for nitro groups, a compound with a lot of nitrogens and oxygens attached to relatively few carbons."

I pulled up the articles from the NetJournal on my datapad. "Several sections of this category could just as accurately be called Things That Want To Suddenly And Explosively Turn Back Into Elemental Nitrogen Without Warning. Today's item goes a step further and adds more oxygen and makes the crystal packing tighter, which raises the all-important kapow/gram ratio. There is, of course, little reason to do this unless you feel that life is empty without sudden loud noises."

The room burst into laughter as I continued to read. Hopefully all I would have to do is tell stories, listen, and watch Arla Fett for signs of instability necessitating sedation...without letting on that this was what I was doing.

Any actual investigation I got done while I was there would be a plus.

All in all, though, not a bad first job as an Abyss Walker. Other than the fact that if I screwed this up I'd have Jango Fett out to skin me alive, which was plenty enough to keep me on my toes.

A/N: To make the "cite your sources" echo in my brain stop, Things I Won't Work With is both real and really funny. Entertaining in other fashions is a certain Elvis Costello song.

 

[Dr. Snark]

Coruscant

After telling Grievous to make a speech from Kalee, the hours seemed to go by in a blur for Ciaran.

"This brazen assault on the Jedi Temple is nothing short of disgraceful. While we Kaleesh have had our own issues with the Order, we are at least willing to let the galaxy judge our words for what they are. This bomber seems to be only content with murder for the sake of murder..."
"The official condemnation of the bomber by Grievous has drawn a significant amount of attention in the last few hours, as many experts believe that the bombing was motivated by the scandals surrounding the Huk-Kaleesh War. Experts are still trying to determine why the bomber or the organization supporting them has made no demands or statements..."
"Duchess Satine Kyrze is expected to attend the funeral for the four casualties taken in the attack. In an official statement she said that 'The Jedi Order has my fullest sympathies in this time of sorrow. This is not a matter of politics but simple decency and sympathy in what is no doubt..."
"While the Jedi Order has yet to confirm it, many believe that the casualties at the temple would have been far greater had most of the staff not been moved to Tython, as the bomb appears to have gone off in one of its hangars-"

"Ciaran."

The woman in question jolted out of her reverie as she processed Thrawn was speaking to her. "Ugh...sorry about that. What was it?"

"I wanted to let you know that I will be arriving shortly with Miss Plenar, Master Althean, and Miss Fett to assist in the investigations."

"Right, that makes - Miss Fett!? Did I hear that right!?"

"You did," Arla said as she stepped into view just to the side of Thrawn. "I specifically asked to be assigned to this."

"...Arla, I appreciate that you're willing to help but-"

"I can't just stay by my brother's side forever," she said as she breathed in, steadying herself. "I know it's not going to be easy for me, which is why he specifically ordered that your men be with me at all times," she said as she slightly gestured in Thrawn's direction.

"And just what exactly do you think you can bring to this?"

"Understanding of the mindset of a fanatic," Arla said before taking in a deep breath. "I...I honestly don't think you can understand why someone would be insane enough to bomb the Jedi Temple of all places, but I can tell you that if the Death Watch could have done it they likely would have. You have to understand that people like the Death Watch don't see the galaxy like a sane being does; to people like them everyone is either with them or against them, and..." She went silent to gather her thoughts. "...There's only so far logic and reason can get you when dealing people like them."

Ciaran folded her arms. "I'm going to need proof that you can be an actual asset and not a liability. So tell me, based on the evidence so far why do you think that the Temple was bombed?"

Arla withdrew into herself slightly though Ciaran could tell it was because she was seriously considering her question. "The Huk-Kaleesh War is an obvious factor. After that you need to start accounting for the location itself. Obviously the Temple was bombed but the important thing was that the bomb went off in an area few Jedi would actually be in in comparison to the rest of the Temple. I know that they can sense hostile intent to an extent but if you could get a bomb into the Temple you could definitely have it inflict more Jedi casualties. This was not a message to the public. This was a message to the Jedi."

"And what would that be?" Ciaran asked, her curiosity growing.

"Since whoever did the bombing hasn't made any demands I think that it's something along the lines of 'you're more fallible than you think you are.' But honestly...the only way you're going to figure out the 'why' is by asking the bomber themselves."

"I see...okay then, how do you think the bomb got in?"

"With the high security measures in place I guarantee you it was a patsy or something similar. I doubt they even knew they were bringing in a bomb; they could have been asked to hold something on their way in and hand it back when they got back out or something."

"What makes you say that?"

"The fact that it's the Jedi Temple. I can't say I know exactly how the Force works but I'd think that with that many Jedi around they'd be able to detect that level of hostile intent or fear that someone who knew they had a bomb would have."

Ciaran was silent for a moment before nodding. "Alright, you pass. I won't contradict Thrawn's decision," she said as she looked at the Chiss in question, "though I'm fairly sure he did the same thing I did."

"An accurate assessment," he replied.

"You do know that you're technically still wanted, right?"

"Can't see through armor."

"Mandalorian armor's going to draw a lot of attention these days."

"That's the idea. I..." She breathed in slightly again. "There are...signs that the Death Watch had, subtle ways of saying who they were to others without anyone else noticing. I'm going to have your people follow me and see if we can find any trace of whoever's behind this."

"...Alright. As long as you're sure."

"I am. I need to do this. I may not be as good as my brother but I'll do everything I can to help."

----------

The Jedi Temple was the last place Anakin Skywalker wanted to be right now.

That wasn't to say that he didn't want to help stop whoever bombed the Temple. He was planning on helping with the investigation whether the Council wanted him to or not, though given that he and Ahsoka had just gotten back after explicit orders from Yoda himself he was certain he would be assigned to it anyway. That wasn't the problem.

The problem was himself.

Or more accurately the fact that he'd spent the last half-year constantly debating whether or not staying in the Order was the right thing to do...or whether or not the "right thing" mattered and he should do what he wanted. It was no coincidence that he'd been taking on missions more or less constantly to keep himself away as much as possible, but now he couldn't stay away. Not now.

Even then...the events were nagging at him.

How could someone bomb the Temple? And why?
Was it a Jedi that fell?
If it is, why hasn't anyone found them yet?
If it isn't, how could they evade the Order?

Trying to clear his mind, Anakin had spent the better part of the day pacing around the Temple grounds, trying to make sense of things and at the same time trying to focus on the more immediate problem of the bombing. As he wandered through one of the outer training grounds he noticed that the sun was about to go down, the stars in the night sky starting to appear.

"Anakin Skywalker."

Anakin whirled around to face the voice that had come from behind him, his hand reaching for a lightsaber. "Do I know you?" he said to the figure in a cloak standing impassively.

"Unlikely, unless you know the names of the Sentinels."

Anakin's hand drifted away from his saber though he was still clearly suspicious. "What do you want?"

"It is not what I want, rather that I believe we can help each other. You are quite familiar with the Lady Ciaran, yes?"

Anakin glared at the figure suspiciously.

"I'm sure you are aware but we expect that she will want to examine the case herself," the figure continued after noticing Anakin wasn't speaking. "While the Order certainly has capable individuals like you involved in this matter we are of the belief that additional eyes will be needed. Eyes that can look into places that a Jedi Knight cannot see."

"Meaning?"

"When you are assigned to the case - and that is a certainty - if there is any information you wish to pass to her simply use this," the figure said as he handed over a small device to Anakin. "In return we will inform you of anything she wishes to say to you."

"...Why this secrecy? I know she and the Council don't get along, but I could-"

"It is not you that is the issue here. You will understand tomorrow once the Council brings you up to speed." The figure walked past Anakin. "Good hunting."

----------

"How could the Separatists get into the Temple?"

"Worse than that it is, young Padawan."

"What could be worse, Master Yoda?"

"Everything is on the table. We have to look at the possibility that it could have been anyone in the temple, even a Jedi."

"If a Jedi this is, gone to the Dark Side they have."

"I...I can't believe a Jedi would attack a place this sacred."

"We'd like for you two...Skywalker?"

Anakin shook his head slightly. "Sorry. Just thinking things through. You want us to lead the investigations then?"

"Yes," Mace replied. "We can't trust anyone here, even a Jedi. You and Ahsoka will provide an impartial point of view, free of assumptions." He winced slightly as he said that.

"Is...something wrong, Master?" Anakin asked.

"There's already someone working on the case which is why your perspectives will be necessary."

"Wait, who?"

----------

"Darra!?"

"Hey Ani, long time no see," the young Jedi in question said as she slowly walked towards Anakin and Ahsoka with a noticeable limp, seemingly ignoring the hangar debris and the various droids scanning them. "So, the Council decided that they needed someone who's actually been out and about in the galaxy looking into things instead of me?"

"That's - that's not the point!" Anakin shouted as Ahsoka looked between the two of them confused. "We've been told by the Council in no small words that -"

"Don't trust anyone, everyone's a suspect?" she said as she chuckled darkly. "Can't say I blame them. Don't worry though, I've got security footage, multiple alibis, and I even turned over my communication and holonet history to be sure. You can still trust me."

"But why are you here?"

"I needed to do something, anything to help," Darra replied. "For once this is something I can do even if...well...you know how it is," Darra said with a slightly sad smile.

"Uh...are you going to introduce us?" Ahsoka asked.

"R-right," Anakin said as his mind shifted back into gear. "Ahsoka, Darra Thel-Tanis. She's an old friend, from when we were still Padawans. Darra, this is Ahsoka, my Padawan."

"Is that right?" she said as she turned to face Ahsoka, her face noticeably lighting up. "How many times have you had to bail him out of trouble?"

"I think we're up to sixteen now," Ahsoka replied without missing a beat.

"A-Anyway, we need to focus. The bomber could still be out there," Anakin said as the three began to move through the hangar.

"I can't believe a Jedi would do this..." Ahsoka said quietly, looking around and fully processing the damage around her.

"Not every Jedi agrees with this war, Ahsoka," Anakin replied as Darra visibly winced. "There are many political idealists among us."

"Myself included," Darra said quietly.

"But a traitor?"

"I'm afraid one can eventually become the other," Anakin said. "Remember Count Dooku and General Krell. That's how they started too."

The three of them continued their walk, not really paying attention to the debris for a moment before Anakin stopped to look around. "Enough of that, we need to get to work. Darra, have you talked to the wounded?"

"Not yet. I've only just started preliminary scans, but now that you two are here I can get on that."

"Right," Anakin said as he asserted himself. "You..." He shook his head. "I do trust you but I from what I heard I doubt the Council would appreciate you interviewing them on your own. Take Ahsoka with you, and I'll stay here and look over the scene, see if any of the droids around here find something."

"Hah. Look at Ani being all assertive," Darra teased lightly. "But that does sound like a good plan. We'll let you know if we hear anything," she said as she and Ahsoka left the area.

"Right..." Anakin said to himself, closing his eyes and breathing in. As the two left it felt as though the hangar began to darken slightly, the atmosphere becoming more oppressive. Distant sounds of scraping steel suddenly seemed to echo through the room before they were joined by the sounds of people screaming-

-screaming as the clone troopers advanced through the Jedi Temple, mowing down anyone who got in their way as he led them forward, cutting down people that he had called his friends and comrades as though he didn't even know them, even as they threw themselves at him to try and stop him-

Anakin's breathing began to become more rapid as the vision began to overwhelm him before he reached towards his chest, feeling the snippet beneath his robes-

"Take it."

"The Japor snippet? Padme, I gave that for you to keep way back when. Good fortune and all that, remember?"

"You need it a lot more than I do right now," she said as she hung it around Anakin's neck. "After everything you said..." She smiled sadly. "If you ever get scared or afraid, just hold on to it and remember that I'm always going to be here for you."

"Sheesh, you're treating me like a little kid now?" Anakin joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Be serious." Padme replied as she lightly jabbed him in the arm. "I..." Her face fell slightly again before she looked at Anakin worriedly. "I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through right now with the visions you told me about but...you're not alone. Don't ever forget that, okay?"

"I won't. I promise."

Anakin's breathing began to steady as he came back to his senses, taking in the room around him and noticing that the various analysis droids were still moving around, scanning individual pieces of debris. Thinking things over, he moved towards one of them to see what he'd found so far.

---------

As Ciaran was going over data coming in on the Temple bombing, she received a call that had a cipher indicating it was from the Jedi Sentinels. Pushing a button, a figure in a cloak appeared.

"Figured you'd talk to me sooner or later," Ciaran said neutrally. "Anything come up yet?"

"No. The investigation has only just begun in earnest. I was calling to warn you that intervening directly in the matter would be inadvisable given that one of the primary investigators is one Darra Thel-Tanis."

Ciaran was silent for a long moment. "Was that intentional?"

"The Council did not stop her. Perhaps that is enough of an affirmation. However we can still keep you in the loop; one of the other investigators is Anakin Skywalker, who has agreed to use us as an intermediary in this matter. If he finds anything he will pass it to us, and in turn we will pass it along to you."

"Understood. I'll try and stay out of the way as best I can, though really there's not much I can do since it's in the Temple right now."

"Very well then. We will be in touch."

-----------

"Did you notice anything unusual about the hangar?"

"Not really...although I left the hangar five minutes before the bomb exploded."

"Did everything seem okay before that?"

"Everything seemed normal. ...Is it true that a Jedi might be responsible for the attack?"

"...We're not certain of anything at this point." Ahsoka moved over to Darra, who had just finished talking with another victim. "This distrust is troubling. Some of these people have worked within the Temple for years."

"Ahsoka...believe me when I say that doesn't matter," Darra replied quietly. "All it takes is one act of betrayal and..." Her face fell. "Let's just say I know where these people are coming from."

"I...think I know who did it," a man spoke up from the back of the room. "Who blew up the hangar."

"Who?"

"I believe it was...Jackar Bowmani."

"Jackar Bowmani..."

"Who is he?" Darra asked. "Has he been working at the Temple for a long time?"

"He was a maintenance crew member, and has been with us for a few years now."

"And you think he was the culprit because...?"

"I passed him as I was going on my shift change. He - he had been working all morning in the section the blast came from. It was the last place I saw him."

"Have you seen him since the explosion?" Darra asked.

"No. Truthfully I didn't see much of anything after the explosion."

"I see," Darra said before laying a hand on his shoulder. "I...thank you for telling us about this. I know what it feels like to be a part of a tragedy like this." Without another word she stood up, slowly leaving the room as Ahsoka followed her.

"Mast-"

"Please call me Darra."

"Darra...what was that?" Ahsoka asked. "What were you talking about?"

Darra sighed. "I'm sure you noticed the limp, right?"

"Yes..."

"Well, that's because of the cybernetics in my leg. They aren't as good as they used to be."

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking that is, I-"

"It's fine...it's fine. I was on a mission a few years ago to pursue a man who had attacked the Senate and...it went wrong. It went very wrong. I would have died if it wasn't for..."

"For..."

"Ciaran. She and her men helped the Sentinels track him down and they arrived just in time to keep me alive. I'm a lot more machine than I used to be but..." Darra went quiet. "I'm alive. For whatever reason the Force wills it."

"...I heard that you testified against her. About connections to the Hutts?"

"...Yeah I did." Darra looked at Ahsoka sadly. "That's what I was talking about earlier. It doesn't matter what someone has done for you...all it takes is one act of betrayal and that can be enough to ensure that you can never trust them ever again."

The two of them were quiet before Ahsoka spoke again. "Do you think she's behind this?"

"There's no way," Darra said with conviction that surprised Ahsoka. "She gains nothing and loses everything if she did this given her actions so far. And I know for a fact that woman would rather die than willingly do something that would damage her reputation or income."

As the two turned a corner, they ran into a very concerned Anakin. "Either of you two find anything?"

"Yes, thankfully. Jackar Bowmani, one of the Temple workers. One of the witnesses saw him in the hangar bay before the bomb exploded, and apparently there's been no sign of him since then," Darra explained.

"I see," Anakin said, taking in the information. "I'll talk to security, see what they can find," he said as he walked past them. As he did so he quietly brought out the Sentinel device...

---------

"Skywalker has found a lead," the Sentinel explained to Ciaran. "Jackar Bowmani, male Abyssin maintenance worker. Last seen at the bomb site and by all accounts has completely vanished since then."

"I'll see what I can pull up," Ciaran said as she ended the call before placing one to the analysis team. "I need a dossier on 'Jackar Bowmani' ASAP. The subject is a male Abyssin, see if there's any sign of him anywhere."

After some time Ciaran got a dossier. Jackar Bowman, maintenance worker at the Jedi Temple. No criminal record, no signs of mental disorders, was pro-Jedi by all accounts, specialized in munitions and more specifically nano-weaponry...and was married to one Letta Turmond, who just so happened to be a member of the protests around the Temple.

As she processed this, she got another call from the Sentinels. "Skywalker has found another lead-"

"Probably the same one I have. Letta Turmond?"

"Indeed. She has been taken into temporary custody until he can question her."

"Meaning that there should be no one home. The dossiers I have on hand indicate they live in an apartment in a rough neighborhood, someone could break in..."

"I will note that Skywalker's investigation will likely move to that location at some point," the Sentinel noted. "Anyone else would have to move quickly and quietly if they want to find anything."

[] Have someone break into Jackar and Letta's apartment to see if there are any leads.
-[] Do it yourself. You've broken into many Courscant buildings in your life, this one would be no different.
-[] Have Arla and company break in. Maybe she'll pick up on some signs that you'd overlook.
-[] Have Asajj and Karrosi break in. Asajj has done enough black ops work that she'd probably be able to pick up on anything suspect.
[] Set up people around the apartment to watch and listen for any suspicious activity, but don't go any further than that.
[] Leave the house alone, you don't want to risk anyone picking up that you're unofficially investigating the matter as well.

AN: Yes Anakin is supposed to be the focus character this time around, namely to show how things are already going to play out a biiiit differently than people expect (even if I did crib from the episode's script for a lot of this) and to help set up for later when Shit Gets Real.

Suffice it to say you're probably going to be seeing a lot of 'Side Anakin' as it were as this plays out.

 

[Dr. Snark]

Coruscant

It didn't long for Arla, Dani, and Riphath to arrive at Letta Turmond's apartment to begin scoping out the area. They came prepared with directional microphones, long-range scanners, and other various odds and ends to make sure that no one would get into her apartment without anyone noticing.

The only problem was the waiting. It'd be at least a couple of hours before she got back so the team waited.

And waited...

And waited.......

"I hate this part of the job," Dani grumbled to herself.

---------

As Anakin entered the temporary holding room, his interviewee Letta looked at him with a mixture of anger and concern.

"You have no idea where Jackar is?"

"No," Anakin calmly replied.

"You are a Jedi and you cannot find him?"

"I understand your frustration," Anakin said, trying to move the conversation to a different topic-

"Don't. Just find Jackar."

"Letta," Anakin asked calmly. "Do you think Jackar could do something like this? Blow up the Temple?"

"Do you have any idea what someone has to go through to work in the Jedi Temple? Jackar dedicated his life to serving the Jedi. It had been his dream. Not just anyone can walk into your precious Temple," Letta snapped as she went into a full-on rant. "He passed all the entrance tests that were needed!"

"I have to ask," Anakin replied. "Everyone is a suspect in this matter."

"Jackar would never do anything like this. Please, find him."

Anakin went silent for a moment as he processed Letta's words. It seemed so cut-and-dry but...there was a voice in his head that sounded disturbingly like Ciaran telling him there was something he was missing, some detail about the situation that was eluding him.

"Was he talking to anyone unusual the day before the bombing? Maybe someone brought him something?" Anakin asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Letta said. "I told you he would never do anything like this!"

"I know, and that's what worries me," Anakin replied. "There were a number of Jedi in that hangar at the time of the bombing-"

"Are you trying to gain sympathy from me!?"

"What I'm trying to say is that they were caught off guard, otherwise an alarm would have been raised," Anakin calmly explained. "If there were that many Jedi in the hangar they would have been able to sense any hostility that close by."

"What does that mean?" Letta asked, now calming down slightly.

"It means that your husband may have been duped into delivering the bomb by someone else," Anakin said, working through the logic as he was talking. "If he didn't know about any bomb he wouldn't have attracted any attention from the Jedi there." He looked into Letta's eyes. "Your husband could be hiding because he's afraid he'll be wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit. So I need to know. Was there anything strange that happened on the day of the bombing? Anything at all?"

Letta went silent for a long moment. "No. Nothing I can think of."

Anakin looked closely at her before sighing. "Alright then. If I find anything I'll let you know as soon as I can." Not getting a reply from Letta, he stood up and walked out of the room, mulling over the idea that had more or less popped into his head suddenly.

If we go with the assumption that Jackar didn't know he had a bomb more details about this case make more sense. The lack of anyone raising an alarm despite multiple Jedi being in the hangar bay. The reason why someone like him - if Letta's testimony was accurate -

Anakin shook his head. Letta was clearly emotional about the whole situation and that threw her testimony into at least some question. Still...he was now becoming increasingly certain that there was something he was missing, but what was it?

Shaking his head, he made his way back over to the bombed hangar, only to find Darra limping towards him as fast as she could move. "Ani, good to see you, we have a problem."

"What is it?"

"Nanodroids," she replied as she handed over a dataslate with the relevant information. "Specifically a type that makes a very big explosion when they go off. There's been traces of them around the hangar bay."

Anakin mulled over the information before facing Darra again. "This is good to know, but I don't see how it's a problem."

"No, the problem is Jackar. He's not on any of the Temple's trackers."

Anakin looked at Darra confusedly. "Trackers?"

"R-right, you weren't here for that. The Temple had some security updates lately and one of the new additions was to have IDs that doubled as position trackers just to make sure that no one went where they weren't supposed to," Darra explained quickly. "I checked and the thing is Jackar had it on every day since the system was installed, but right after the bombing it went dead."

"As in...?"

"It's gone. There's no sign of it anywhere." Darra looked around worriedly. "The Temple side exits have been locked down, the guards at the front have been notified, and we've got droids searching the Temple, but..."

"Something's not right."

"Yeah. This is..." Darra went silent for a long moment. "I'm getting a bad feeling like this is going to be like Korriban all over again. That something terrible is happening but I don't know what-"

"Easy, Darra," Anakin said as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We're going to figure this out."

"I know, but..." Darra glanced around, making sure no one was around before getting closer to Anakin. "I've heard rumors that the Senate is trying to turn this into a military investigation," she said quietly.

"How is that a problem? Clones died in that explosion too, it makes sense that if we don't find anything they'd want to investigate themselves."

"I know, and it makes sense but..." Darra went silent for a second. "I don't know. I just-"

She was interrupted by a signal from her comlink. Tapping it, her eyes widened. "They found him."

"Jackar?"

"Apparently..." Darra said as she tapped at her comlink before her jaw dropped. "Oh. My mistake," she said flatly. "They found part of him."

---------

"Boss, the SSS are telling us that the Senate is planning on making the Temple bombing a military investigation if the Jedi take too long," Gulan told Ciaran. "You wanna bet-"

"That Palpatine would use it to do one or all of the following: hide the evidence, accuse an innocent to cover for the actual bomber, and/or use the opportunity to discredit the Order? That's a sucker's bet Gulan," Ciaran replied. "Anything from Turmond's apartment?"

---------

"This mission suuuuucks," Dani complained as she looked at the area surrounding Letta's apartment. "There's been nothing going on. No one's showed up to try and break in or anything!"

"Were you expecting someone to just show up and shout 'I'm a terrorist, please arrest me!'?" Riphath replied over the comms. "I'm no expert, but I get the feeling that most of the time nothing would happen."

"He's right." Arla replied. "The bomber is competent enough to at least not leave behind any obvious signs of their attack. Sadly, we have to play the long game."

"I hate that you're both right," Dani griped. "I mean-" She stopped suddenly as she felt the slightest of tugs from the Force, suddenly searching the area around her before her eyes settled on a bald man with tattooed lines on his forehead.

"Plenar?"

"We might have a problem," she replied in a deadly serious tone. "Bald human male, tattoos on his forehead. I think I felt something from him."

"She's right," Riphath responded. "I'm feeling something from him too, and I think he's starting to circle the apartment."

"He's not actively circling it," Arla said, "but I can tell that he's definitely keeping an eye on it."

"I'll call this one in. Doesn't look like he noticed us so stay low and keep an eye on him."

----------

"Boss, I think we might have a problem."

"Go ahead Dani."

"We got a guy watching Turmond's apartment. Bald huaman male, three tattooed lines on his forehead. Not doing anything aggressive yet but he's definitely keeping an eye on it. The problem is that Rip and I are both sensing a stronger than normal Force presence from him."

"Has he noticed any of you?"

"Not yet."

"Good. Stay low, and do not engage him unless he tries anything," Ciaran said before ending the call with Dani and establishing one with the Sentinels.

"What-"

"Someone's casing Turmond's apartment," Ciaran quickly said, repeating Dani's description of him. "You have any men matching that description in the area?"

"No we do not. We will-"

"Not tell Anakin about this yet. If he hasn't noticed us yet we should keep the element of surprise, and we don't know enough about him to assume anything. He might be working for the real bomber."

"Of course. If you need assistance, we will be on standby."

"Right," Ciaran replied as she ended the call. She debated whether contacting Dooku and seeing if he knew who the man was would be worth it, but ultimately decided that trying to contact him now was likely a bad idea. If Palpatine was involved in this odds were he would be in close contact with his 'apprentice' for the time being...

----------

Anakin and Darra entered the room that Jackar, or at least part of him was in, with a worried Ahsoka facing the two of them. "Master, Darra, I've scanned Jackar's arm and it had nanodroids in his bloodstream," she explained quickly. "I don't think he planted a bomb-"

"He was the bomb," Anakin said as it seemed like things began to click into place for him. "We need to check Jackars's home. Now. Darra-"

"I know," she said. "I'll stay here, see if I can track down any more nanodroid bombs or anything. Good luck Ani."

----------

As Anakin and Ahsoka arrived at Letta's apartment, Arla, Riphath, and Dani noticed the tattooed man suddenly break away, doing his best to vanish into the crowds.

"Doesn't seem like he knew they were coming," Arla commented as Anakin and Ahsoka made their way to her apartment. "So hopefully that means he doesn't have any connections in the Temple."

"'Hopefully?'" Riphath asked.

"There's never a 100% guarantee that information will be found by a mole," Dani said. "We can't assume this guy is working alone."

Unknowing of the conversation happening around them Anakin and Ahsoka arrived at the apartment door. Without a word, Anakin knocked on Letta's door. "Letta?" he shouted, waiting for a response but not hearing any. Sharing a brief look with a worried Ahsoka he used the Force to open the door, allowing them access to the dark apartment. Taking out a scanner Anakin quickly moved through the apartment, scanning every surface he could find to see if there were any nanodroids there.

"Master, you seem like you're certain Letta has something to do with this." Ahsoka noted.

"The facts point in her direction, Ahsoka," he said as the scanner lit up with signs of the nanodroids in the apartment's disposal. "Like how the nanodroids are in the disposal, and in Jackar's food by extension."

"W-what are you doing here?" said a voice from behind Anakin and Ahsoka as they both turned to face a clearly concerned Letta.

"We've learned Jackar was involved in the bombing," Anakin declared before moving over to scan her.

"What are you-"

"You care to explain why there are volatile nanodroids in your disposal? Or how they got into Jackar's food?" Anakin asked with a noticeably accusatory tone.

"I-I don't understand...are you saying Jackar was fed these nanodroids?"

"Precisely," Anakin declared as he and Ahsoka stared her down. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to have to bring you in for more questioning."

"...I'll answer any question I can," she said nervously as Anakin and Ahsoka guided her out of the apartment. As they did, Anakin kept a close eye on Letta, noticing as they left she seemed to be sweeping the area around her before-

As she threw a nearby bystander into Ahsoka to throw her off balance and started to run away, Anakin quickly reached out with the Force, grabbing a struggling Letta in place and causing the nearby crowd to visibly scatter. "Now why would you go and try to run away from us, Letta?" he said coldly.

"Y-you're just trying to blame Jackar's death on me!" she said as she struggled against Anakin's Force grip.

"Funny...no one here ever said he was dead," Anakin coldly replied.

"And running proves you had something to do with the bomb," Ahsoka added.

"Not necessarily, Ahsoka," Anakin said with eerie calmness. "People will run for all kinds of reasons. It just so happens that she did it because she didn't want to get caught. Now then..." he glared at Letta. "You're out of excuses, and all of the evidence we have points to you. All I need is for you to answer one question: did you feed the nanodroids to Jackar?"

The sounds of the street around them seemed to go silent for a moment before Letta responded.

"I did."

"You set up your own husband to die!?" Ahsoka said with a mixture of rage and disbelief.

"You're dealing with things you don't understand."

"What are you talking about?" Anakin asked, still maintaining his hold on Letta.

"It doesn't matter," Letta shot back defiantly as she looked between Anakin and Ahsoka. "You have your prize, don't you!? Isn't this what you wanted!?"

Anakin released his hold before moving to grab Letta's arms. "What we want is justice for the people that died in that explosion you set your husband up for."

"You have the gall to call yourselves just!?" Letta shouted as Anakin grabbed a hold of her. "Even as you and the rest of the Jedi are causing so much death-"

She was suddenly cut off as Anakin's grip tightened. "You listen to me very carefully," he said in an icily calm voice that noticeably unnerved Ahsoka. "Whatever you say or believe at this point doesn't matter. You killed innocent people who had nothing to do with the war, including your own husband. I don't care what you think about the Order and quite frankly you have no ground to stand on after what you did. Now shut up and keep walking."

-----------

"Explosive nanodroids in his food," Ciaran said to her Sentinel contact. "You're serious."

"Is something the matter?"

"When I first got here I said I wanted to know what the protestors in front of the Temple had for lunch as a joke more than anything else. I didn't realize it was actually important!" she shouted suddenly.

"Ahaha, fair enough. Joking aside..." the figure said as screens of data appeared in front of Ciaran. "Karada has far more advanced medical and research facilities on hand than the Order does. We'd appreciate if you could look into the nanodroids to see how Turmond was able to acquire them."

"On it," Ciaran said as she ended the call to the Sentinel and called up Var Zheen. "I need you to look at your favorite thing Var Zheen; nanodroids. Sending you the data now."

"Understood. Give me just a moment and I can have some preliminary insights on them," he said as he stood in place, tilting his head as he presumably looked over the data. "Intriguing..."

"What is it?"

"These droids aren't Karada make at all, nor have we had any reports of break-ins at the Verusch Labs. Meaning that Turmond got them on her own, and these droids would be both expensive and highly regulated given that they can be used as explosives in sufficient quantities."

Ciaran frowned. "No, she didn't get them on her own, there's just no way. The apartment she lived in was in a run-down neighborhood and our dossiers on her and Bowmani indicated they both didn't have much income."

"Implying that there is another party involved here that supplied her with the droids."

"Palpatine?"

"There is a 45.29 percent chance of that, but it is also possible that some other group wanted the bombing to occur. At any rate I can safely say that if nothing else we do not have to worry about being accused of supporting Turmond. With enough time and effort I should be able to give you a better idea of where these came from."

"Let me know as soon as you do. Out."

---------

As Anakin and Ahsoka returned to the Temple after dropping off Letta they saw Darra heading towards them. "Good news, no signs of any other nanodroids. Looks like Jackar-"

"Letta."

"Right, she seemed to be acting alone," Darra replied. "Looks like there weren't any Jedi involved."

"That's good to hear..." Anakin said, trailing off as he noticed a familiar figure pass by and glance in his direction. "If you'll excuse me I need to be somewhere," he said, moving to catch up with them.

"You did well, Skywalker. A confession and considerable evidence against Turmond should be more than enough to see her sentenced, whether it is by us or the Senate," the Sentinel said.

"Right...but there's more to it, isn't there?"

"Yes. There was someone watching her apartment before you arrived, and he was trained in the Force."

"Someone knew she was behind it before we did then..."

"Indeed. For the moment there has been no sign of him, though our mutual friend is looking for him and analyzing the nanodroids used in the attack to see if there are any other leads. For now...relax. Let events take their course until we are ready to act."

---------

As Ciaran settled back into her seat an important thought occurred to her: what she was going to do about the funeral for the bombing victims.

Satine hadn't asked for her to show up nor had the Council (big surprise) but her being there might serve as a gesture of goodwill for the Council...maybe. If nothing else it would be good for appearances.

Though there was...one other problem. Darra.

Ciaran frowned as she thought of that. It'd been a couple of years since they last parted under very bad circumstances. If she went, it was almost a guarantee that the two of them would at least see each other. Was it worth it to go? And if it was should she even acknowledge her one-time Jedi associate?

[] Go to the funeral. Even being there might be a good way to rebuild your bridges with the Council.
-[] Ignore Darra entirely. What happened between the Watchers and her was in the past, and at the end of the day she's just another Jedi.
-[] Acknowledge her presence but don't speak to her given the chance. Honestly pretending she doesn't exist would be rather childish.
-[] Say something to her. All things considered her 'betrayal' was hardly personal...at least for you.
[] Don't go to the funeral. Looking at the facts you might cause more trouble than it would be worth.

AN: Once again more of Side Anakin this time, and not too much divergence here...right?

One thing's for sure, that's going to change next update. The 'prologue' ends here.