morally_cryptic | [fic/rp] across the galaxy

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[fic/rp] across the galaxy

[ooc: Just prompted by a little mental image of Anakin "stargazing" that popped to mind earlier.]

On Coruscant, it was impossible to see the stars, even if one was looking out from the Council room at the top of the Jedi Temple. An unfortunate side effect of so much light from so many buildings and various forms of transport speeding around the airways. Not to mention that there was simply so much starship traffic, one likely wouldn't be able to tell the lights of ships from the field of stars behind them anyway.

Anakin had discovered this unfortunate fact not long after he came to live at the Jedi temple. He'd thought that, surely, so close to the center of the galaxy, the sky would be full of stars to see that he'd never been able to see before on Tatooine. Instead it turned out that perhaps the only thing that was better about Tatooine than Coruscant was that the desert planet was so sparsely inhabited and that the skies were so clear. Even out on the Rim, the sky was full of stars and the spiral arm of the galaxy could be clearly seen arcing across it.

He didn't try to watch the night sky on Coruscant anymore, but he still kept up the habit of at least looking for a moment whenever he found himself on a new planet. At the center of the Republic, however, he has to content himself with substitutes.

Which is why he can be found in an empty classroom surrounded by a holographic rendering of the galaxy. He's been spending all afternoon, so far, carefully marking off different star systems in various designated colors. Technically the entire exercise could be done by a computer but that wasn't Anakin's purpose in doing it. It requires concentration, but it doesn't require him to spend much effort in actually thinking so the whole activity is almost meditative.

The first batch of colored systems is simple: yellow for those that Anakin has already been to. Naboo might possibly be a subtly brighter yellow than all the rest, as if he'd lingered on that one for a moment longer than the others. He'd once told Qui-Gon he was going to see them all and certainly he had a better start on most other inhabitants of the galaxy, but it was still extraordinarily minute compared to the sheer number of systems represented on the map.

The second batch are green, signifying systems where battles of the Clone War have been fought and the Republic retained (or gained) control. Another group are blue, for the Separatist-won battles.

And finally, there's a sprinkling of red dots across the galaxy, mostly concentrated Rimward, and these are for those systems where battles are currently raging. Places he should be where he could be doing some good and making a difference. Staring at those flashes of red, it was almost enough to have him just commandeering a starfighter and heading out somewhere...anywhere. After making sure orders somehow just happened to make it through the system so that Rex and the 501st would be meeting him, of course.

But it wasn't, quite, enough. Contrary to some people's beliefs, he did have enough self-awareness to recognize that any action along those lines would likely not end well. That didn't mean he didn't still feel the temptation and it's that thought that has him swiping a hand through the starfield and systematically clearing everything out again until only dots of yellow remain on the map. He stares at those longest before they're wiped clean as well.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Right. Now, they didn't stop to pick anyone else up, so maybe one cargo ship per crew? Or maybe we were the only ones inbound at the time? Or you're right; it was special, just or us, which means we were expected. But how could they know which transport would be ours?"

Obi-Wan glances around the room again.

"And then this place looks like a staging area; not quite a spaceport, not quite a major military operation, if any. There's very little technology, in spite of the capabilities of our captors to use it."

They couldn't know which transport was theirs. Unless they had sources on Coruscant too, which made this an even bigger headache than it already was. But it just didn't seem to fit, did it? "I promise I didn't paint please capture us on the underside of our ship," he says jokingly.

He stares at the door a moment. "You know, there's nothing actually keeping us from taking a look around, right?"

Obi-Wan grants him the smile he was obviously fishing for. "They might take everyone that they capture, and if they've been expecting us, then they may not have known if or when we'd come. So we're still back at the possibility of them taking the crews of the ships they commandeer. And it would make sense, since a closed community would rely on such a practice to prevent inbreeding."

He glances at the door. "I know," he says. "But where would we go? We have no idea how far the passage goes in the direction we were traveling, and going back to the spaceport," for lack of a better word, "would have us running back into the guards."

Another glance at the door, "Not to mention they may not trust us."

His tone as he speaks about Anakin's veiled suggestion that they go explore is one that is merely presenting facts; in fact, Anakin may have heard it a few times when Obi-Wan is actually agreeing with the plan but choosing to play Devil's Advocate for the sake of argument.

Anakin wrinkles his nose at the inbreeding comment. "Says something about a place if they have to kidnap people to get them to come live there."

Oh, Anakin's heard it a few times and he recognizes it well enough. And of course they're good points either way. "I'd be surprised if they did trust us, locks on the door or no." He wouldn't trust them if he were in these people's shoes. "The passage did feel like it was heading up though, I was wondering if we'd find ourselves a roof view, eventually."

The problem with a stone fortress or whatever it was they were in is that it didn't come with convenient air ducts or turbolifts to just skip the hallway-wandering and go straight to the climbing up to some place with better visibility.

"Yes, but wandering around on our own before we've been given permission to won't begin to build trust, either," he clarifies. "But still, it would be nice to have more data."

He falls silent, for a moment, and seems about to make up his mind on something when there's a knock at the door.

Anakin looks over at the door, then back at Obi-Wan with a wry expression. How polite of them to knock. "It sounds like our dilemma just got solved."

He hops off the bed with something almost like a spring in his step. Finally something's happening. Hopefully. As he opens the door, "I hope this is for the tour we were promised..."

"You'd think so, but no," comes Kista's reply. And there she is, the woman who marched them unceremoniously off their ship. She's changed into less severe clothing, opting for something closer to what Jade was wearing rather than the black ensemble she had on previously.

Obi-Wan doesn't bother to get up, really. There's no real need to at this point. "Come to gloat over our capture, then?" he replies, more curious than anything at this point.

Oh Anakin's expression says as clearly as if he spoke the words. It's you again. Great. He'll just be taking a cue from Obi-Wan and dropping back down on the edge of his cot then.

"I would," replies Kista, "if there were anything to gloat about. But we do," she smiles cooly, "thank you for your contribution. Trust me when I say your bacta will be in good hands."

Anakin raises his eyebrows, "after you sell it off to the highest bidder, you mean." He doesn't actually entirely believe that's what they're going to do with it, he's more just curious to see if it will draw something out of her.

"Whether we do or not is none of your business," she replies sweetly. "That being said, I'm here to let you know what is your business."

Obi-Wan manages not to twitch a muscle at the comment, though Anakin will surely sense a more keen alertness from him.

"We're listening," he says, prompting her to continue.

"The basics are these: we're Taris citizens that oppose the government's neutrality in this war. We've seen what a schism like this can do to a world, and as much as we disagree with the government, we love our world too much to put it through that. Shortly after Taris declared neutrality, we came to the decision to defect, for lack of a better term."

"And where would you go?"

"We were all unanimous on seeking sanctuary on a Republic world," Kista explained. "So we've been staging a slow exodus from Taris to where we are now. Of course, to preserve our safety, only those who are proven to be with us are told how to join us, and supplies...well, you've seen what we do."

"And the crews?"

"Are offered a contract. We've already taken their supplies, but we need transportation once we're ready to leave. They have ships that have room for passengers and cargo."

That explained why the Jedi were contacted; as representatives of the Republic they would have a vested interest in helping these people.

"You've hit some trouble, haven't you?" Obi-Wan guesses. "And in order for this exodus to work, and for you to make a clean break, the Republic can't be seen to offer you aid. It would look like we enticed you to leave."

"Very perceptive." Kist sounds a little impressed.

We enticed? Anakin has to consider for a moment whether that was accidental on Obi-Wan's part or not. Everyone knows Thyferran merchants aren't about taking sides when the bacta cartels can profit from selling to both the Separatists and the Republic.

Though he can't quite hide the smirk that appears in the corner of his mouth at the thought that they were their own kind of Separatists...just defecting to the Republic instead of from it. "He has his moments," Anakin finally chimes in, a bit dry. "So basically you want us to say we'll work for you and you'll give us back our ship so we can shuttle your people around?" He leans forward a little, looking skeptical. "What if we don't agree?"

He's not saying they won't. He's just wondering what they do about those who don't want to play along.

Kista stares at him steadily for a moment. "You know, I get the feeling that that won't be a problem with you two."

Ah. Whether it was accidental on Obi-Wan's part or not, and Anakin is leaning toward the other Jedi slipping that in there intentionally, apparently she picked up on it too. "Come again?"

Kista went back to smiling sweetly, "I get the feeling you got our invitation."

[ooc: and I just started wondering...what did they do with their lightsabers? I doubt they'd have wanted to leave them on the ship. I really doubt they left them on Coruscant. While the idea of Anakin's being incorporated into his arm right now is a little hilarious, that seems unlikely too. Then again, it really isn't like anyone searched them.]

Edited 2015-04-28 02:56 (UTC)

Obi-Wan's almost grinning now. She'd taken the bait and confirmed what he'd figured: Kista was their contact on the inside. If she hadn't been, she'd have questioned the same slip of the tongue that Anakin would've. They didn't call him The Negotiator for nothing.

"Of course we did," he confirms. "I'm just not sure how you managed to keep your operation a secret while getting the message to the correct people. But it's not relevant right now. What is relevant, is what's troubling you."

"As I said, no one's told how to find us unless we can verify they're firmly with us. I suspect one of those people is a Separatist sympathizer."

This just got complicated again.

[ooc: Obi-Wan says he has his. He won't tell me where, but I suspect it's hidden very well.]

Edited 2015-04-28 16:04 (UTC)

Of course she does. Of course.

This couldn't be easy after all.

"So how do you verify they're with you? Obviously it appears not to be as foolproof as you thought." And if they can figure out the hole in the plan, maybe it will point them to the mole.

That has her eyes narrowing, perhaps a little in thought and a little in offense at Anakin's phrasing, even if it's a sensible question. "Maybe I should start by confirming you're with us."

Obi-Wan shakes his head. "Please don't make me separate you two," he admonishes. "I'm sure we don't have much time left to discuss nuances of protocol. Has anyone else suspected Separatist involvement?"

Kista, still eying Anakin, shakes her head. "Not that I know of; to be honest it was luck that I found out. We have a routing sequence for sending messages back to our coordinators on Taris. I was performing a random security check on the systems to make sure nothing had been breached. Everything looked fine, and I was about to log off when I noticed a very small anomaly in the final string of commands. Normal variations in our code are what help us remain anonymous when we route our messages."

"But this one was different?"

"Not different, but misplaced. The marker was in the wrong spot, which means someone tried to cover up an unauthorized transmission and failed. I went digging, and it turns out that it wasn't the first time the logs were tampered with."

Anakin takes the admonishment in stride and backs off, listening thoughtfully. "Do you have any idea what they were sending out or where it was going?"

Yes, the Separatists, he assumes, but there's seeing evidence of tampering and there's finding what the tampering actually did.

Kista spreads her hands a little, "some of it. A few of our communications about the number of those we were going to move off Taris were re-routed. Unfortunately, they seem to have bounced the signal around enough that it was impossible to trace. Especially since we don't really have that sort of equipment here." Unlike, say, the Republic. "Some of the others I found I just know something had been sent that wasn't supposed to be."

Anakin frowns slightly, "did those messages you did find include information about where you were taking them?"

Like, did they have to worry about the Separatists showing up at any minute.

"I don't know. I could only recover partial messages, nothing whole. So if anything was appended to those I was able to find, I don't know."

Obi-Wan strokes his beard thoughtfully. "Which means that our first priority will be discovering the entire deception. There's no sense in acting on partial information."

Kista nods. "Right. I'll see what I can do to get you close to the comm center. In the meantime, Jade will be here soon to take you on that tour."

"What can we expect from it?"

"Absolutely nothing. She's going to take you back to your ship to assure you that it's okay, and then make you the offer to help. Not that you really have a choice in the matter, but she likes the pretense."

"How sure of you of Jade's loyalty to your cause?"

Kista's spine straightens, "of her I have no doubt. We wouldn't be here if not for Jade."

Unless, Anakin thinks, this whole thing is yet another pretense and she plans on throwing them all in with the Seps. Probably not the time to bring that up.

"Does she know you're here or are we supposed to pretend we've just been sitting here staring at each other?"

"No one knows I'm here. I'm not sure of who to trust, except for you two." She points at Anakin's prosthetic. "That was how I knew you were my Republic contact. Rumours are rampant about that thing."

Obi-Wan flashes Anakin a wry smile. "And you try so hard to keep it a secret, most days."

Clearly one of the clone troops has caught a glimpse of the mechanical arm and stories have spread.

Anakin flexes his mechanical fingers and makes a face, "what kind of rumors?" He wasn't the only person in the Grand Army or even among the Jedi to have a prosthetic, after all. Granted most of them didn't actually look much like his. Maybe he hadn't considered that part when he'd chosen to go without gloves.

Kista can't help but look a little amused, "one rumor says you built your lightsaber into it and the blade comes out of your hand. It might actually be the most believable one."

Obi-Wan hides a smile behind his hand and covers a chuckle with the slight clearing of his throat.

"Now that you've given him the idea, I'm sure it will be modified like that in the near future," Obi-Wan teases. He quickly schools himself before adding, "What happens after we've had our audience with Jade?"

Offering a final almost-smile in Anakin's direction, she turns to Obi-Wan. "You'll probably be taken to the housing that's set up for the merchants, after which you'll being your integration into society. We'll have to play it by ear from this point forward."

Edited 2015-04-30 21:41 (UTC)

Anakin wrinkles his nose at Obi-Wan. While there's certainly the appeal of making it suddenly much more difficult to lose his lightsaber, it would totally throw off his fighting style.

So there.

"We'll make sure to enjoy the tour, then."

Kista lifts one shoulder in a slight shrug, "it won't take very long but I'm sure you'll manage. Though I'd really better get going before she comes to get you."

"We don't want to keep you, then," Obi-Wan says. "And thank you for confiding in us. I only hope that we can help."

"So do I. Now, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I have duties that I need to get to." She flashes a wan smile before turning on her heel. After a careful inspection to make sure there's no one in the hallway to observe her leaving, she exits the room, the door closing gently behind her.

"Well, that was enlightening," Obi-Wan quips. "And we didn't even have to get into trouble to find any of it out. I'm sorry."

"I was really looking forward to it too. Still, there's always our tour. Or after our tour. Or...are we sure that this Kista person isn't actually playing us?"

You know, for the sake of argument and not just because he doesn't actually like her. Then again, no one here has made themselves particularly likeable.

"I'm not sure of anything at this particular moment. Be on your guard. We'll need to parse Kista's subtext; there's obviously more than going on here than we first imagined."

Whatever Anakin's about to say is interrupted by another knock at the door. This time, they don't wait for one of the boys to open it as it is instead opened by the man who'd been with Jade in the audience chamber. And Jade is waiting, of course, a friendly-type smile on her features. "I trust you'd still like to see the rest of our humble home?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Anakin says dryly.

Jade ushers them out of the room and takes them further into the complex. At some point she turns down a passage which eventually leads to an area much like the one where they'd disembarked. Here, however, are almost half a dozen merchant ships and no one around save a handful of guards at the entrances to the area.

Anakin and Obi-Wan are given the opportunity to collect their personal belongings from off their ship, which they're permitted to briefly inspect to assure themselves that all is in order.

After that, they're brought back to their room, whereupon Jade makes the offer that Kista hinted at. They weren't given much of a choice in the matter, as Jade's explanation was basically her way of telling them what was going to happen in a way that made it sound like she was asking them to volunteer.

She leaves them again, with the pronouncement that someone will arrive in an hour to escort them to dinner.

[fic/rp] across the galaxy

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The Percentile Die I just rolled says that behind Door Number One is...

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Wall o'text, ahoy!

/boggles

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