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.

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Obi-Wan was a little surprised that they'd been so readily accepted on such short notice; whether Kista had managed to convince Jade, and anyone else in charge, that the Jedi-pretending-to-be-merchants were trustworthy, or that these people were really that desperate for transports and pilots played a contributing factor to that acceptance remained to be seen.

For the most part, Obi-Wan tried to read between the lines, looking as much at what Kista didn't tell them as much as anything. And unfortunately, what he was able to see seemed to support Anakin's instincts on the situation.

So when Anakin asks his question, it's only a cursory glance at the people around them that's needed for Obi-Wan to agree. "From what I can gather from the whispered rumours, word is getting around about possible trouble."

And by that he means that Kista's secret misgivings about the Separatists were no longer secret. Or, at lest not as secret as he'd like them to be at this stage of the game.

"All it's going to take," he mutters, "is for the wrong person to get the wrong idea or for something bad to happen," or both, "and fingers are going to start being pointed."

And blasters, most likely.

"Any ideas on who this wrong person is, yet?" Because his own list is a little too long, and he'd really like to narrow it down by cross-reference.

He's keeping a wary eye on those gathered, making note of who's present and who's not, and how many of those are on that list.

Anakin nods in the general direction of Jade, being shadowed by Malco. "Him," and then another nod to a small cluster of merchants from the same ship who'd been there "helping" for some time, "them," and one more at an older Tarisian woman who seemed to be involved in various technical operations for the group, "her."

"How about you?"

"Add them," a nod to the dynamic duo that served as their guards, "and him." this last was a communications specialist, that worked with the tech-op Anakin had pointed out.

"You really think they're smart enough," he means the guards, "for something like this?"

Looks could be deceiving, sure, but that would be some serious deception, he thought.

"No," Obi-Wan admits. "But I believe that fear of one's master can be easily overcome with promises of vengeance. I think Malco's capable of making that promise, and those two have some modicum of fear of both Jade and Kista."

Anakin makes a thoughtful sound of agreement as he flashes a look over the guards again.

"Wonder what the ladies have on them." Because, despite how capable both Jade and Kista appeared to be, Anakin highly doubted it was fear of what they could do to the guards physically.

But it might be worth knowing their motivation if they were indeed involved.

"I haven't the faintest idea. We'll have to ask Kista the next time we get a chance. Otherwise, I think we need to find a way into the comm center on our own. I would very much like to see what calls have been going out, and who's been calling in."

"Too bad we don't have Artoo." But there hadn't been a compelling enough reason to bring the droid under their cover story and no reason to think that they'd need the astromech unit's services anyway. So they'd have to get into the comm center on their own merits. "You don't happen to be feeling particularly homesick for Thyferra, do you?"

Not that it would make the powers that be more likely to let them actually use their comms, but it might be excuse enough for why they were trying to get in there. "I don't know that they'd believe I have a new wife with a baby on the way I'm worrying over every night," he says, wryly. "But you have more practice being a father." So to speak.

It takes several moments for Anakin's words to sink in. Once they do, the Jedi's blinking and giving his companion a rather incredulous look. It's only decades of training that keeps him from sputtering or otherwise drawing any ~~more~~ attention to himself as his mouth works for a fraction of a second before being pressed in a thin line, brow furrowing in contemplation.

He can't think of any real substitution to Anakin's suggestion on why they might want to be heading anywhere near the comm center, and it pains him ever so slightly.

His nose wrinkles in his disgusted-deafeat expression and his sighs. "Remind me never to complain about that droid ever again." Because if he'd been with them, Obi-Wan wouldn't have to do as Anakin suggested.

Anakin absolutely isn't going to conceal the flash of unfettered amusement in his eyes or the way the corners of his mouth turn up in a barely repressed grin of mirth. It's not his fault that Obi-Wan makes the best put-upon expressions.

"Don't worry," Anakin says, moving to stand, "I won't let you forget." Ever.

Obi-Wan's frown deepens a little at the fact that Anakin is so obviously enjoying this, but with another sigh he, too, move to stand.

"Well, I guess we'd better go and see if they'll let me call my wife." He stresses the final word a little, as it's one that he's never used in this context before, and he's trying to get used to the feel of it rolling off his tongue.

He's almost glad that there's no way Anakin can record any of this; he'd never hear the end of it from certain people back home.

It's so rare to see Obi-Wan discomfited quite like this. Anakin has to enjoy it when it happens.

"She misses you terribly, I'm sure," he says oh-so-helpfully. "You wouldn't want her thinking you'd left her after all."

Though if they, by some miracle, actually let Obi-Wan make the call, they were going to have to think fast as to where to send it.

"Oh, I'm sure she does," he replies. "And why would I ever leave her? You're right, she must be worried sick." A beat later, as he draws closer to Anakin so he can speak quietly, "You sure you wouldn't sell this whole married thing better? No kids need be involved, after all? Newly weds recently parted for this job and now you're just itching to get back, and your wife can't bear to be without you for too long?"

Anakin can't quite repress the way he tenses at the suggestion. It doesn't help that Padme has been on his mind. Of course, she's really never far away from his thoughts.

"I...think you're the better actor, truly."

Which isn't entirely a lie.

Obi-Wan notes the tension, but knows better than to pursue it now. It's irrelevant to the mission, and unless or until it becomes a problem, he's letting it slide.

"I'm glad one of us has confidence in me."

"Come on, you think the Negotiator isn't up to this? I have every confidence in you."

And he's about to be 'on' anyway, as they're approaching the comm center. So louder, he says, "Owen, I'm sure she's fine. You're worrying over nothing."

Obi-Wan offers a tiny smile. "Well, when you put it that way. Hopefully we won't have to grease the wheels a bit." And by grease the wheels he means Jedi trickery. "Then again, we could end up with a comm center crew that's immune."

And then Anakin's starting his play-acting and Obi-Wan shifts gears. "It may be nothing to you," he replies. "But I worry. You know she begged me not to go on this mission. The least I could do is reassure her I'm fine."

"She begs you not to go on every mission. I don't know what she expected, marrying a merchant."

As they actually get to the entrance, one of the comm center crewmembers looks up, "hey, shouldn't you have somewhere else to be?"

Obi-Wan has his very best Worried-Yet_Hopeful expression on his face. "Probably," he replies to the crewmember, "but before I go, I was wondering if I could send a quick message to my wife? Nothing fancy, just a still alive, be home soon sort of thing?"

Anakin slid more-or-less unobtrusively to the side, backed up against one of the consoles in order to give everyone else room, of course.

The crewmember looks from Obi-Wan to Anakin and back again, skepticism writ clearly on his face. "If we did that, we'd have to let everyone here do it and we'd never get a kriffing thing done."

Obi-Wan smiles wryly. "Understandable. I suppose I'll just have to wait until she shows up and tell her in person. She tends to get anxious if I don't check in with her, you know, and when that happens, she usually comes looking for me. She's never failed yet." He shrugs as if it's no big deal.

He looks over his shoulder, as if searching for someone. "I guess I'll have to find Jade and ask her for a room that can accommodate my wife, as well as the two of us."

A couple of the techs looked at each other, one of them shrugs like eh, what harm is one time?. The first tech sighs loudly, "one call. make it short."

Obi-Wan can likely hear Anakin smirking at his back. Which is better than anyone hearing him surreptitiously sliding a small device into one of the console's dataports.

For a split second he has no idea who to address the message to; oh, they have a Thyferra-based comm signal to send transmissions to, which are then manually rerouted on a different comm-board to the appropriate parties under proper encryption. But he can't very well send a standard, encoded message the way he would have had this been, say, the comm on their ship.

Only one person comes to mind, and she will utterly and completely hate him for it for the next forty years, and then tease him mercilessly for the forty after that.

Regardless, he makes a show of trying to contact his "wife" but getting no immediate reply. So he gives a helpless shrug and a wry smile to the techs, and begins to type out a brief text-based message - no need to go asking for full-blown, recorded holo privileges, after all - taking his time until he can sense an all-clear signal from Anakin.

Of course, his minor lingering gets the techs a little antsy, and one of them snaps, "Oy, we said make it short."

Edited 2015-05-12 23:59 (UTC)

Then disregard my last email ;)

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Making an Executive Decision on one detail... :D