Coruscant, Senatorial & Delegate Landing Complex (6 Hours Later)
The cold of the early spring Coruscanti night didn't touch me, but I still shivered for a few moments while striding across the surface of the main landing-pad complex serving the spacecraft of Senators and delegates.
I'd drawn the long, hooded, midnight blue cloak I wore close about me as I'd split up with Dark Woman and IG-D1 not far from the Temple, yet still felt exposed as I approached a certain J-Type Naboo Star Skiff.
The watchful presence who'd been studying my approach for quite some time was palpable to my Force Sense even from here, but that wasn't the least bit surprising.
When people speak of unsleeping, ever vigilant sentinels, they were talking about Gregar Typho and just didn't know it. The one-eyed guardsman who oversaw Senator Amidala's security detail had, I realized as I came within a hundred meters, already realized I was a Jedi.
I picked that much up as surface thoughts gleaned from a mind as disciplined as it was regimented while the skiff's ramp began to descend, and picked up my pace.
The bags to either side of the pack on my back shifted a bit uncomfortably as I began to jog, but I paid the sensation no mind. It wouldn't do to keep the main waiting any longer than necessary.
At the bottom of the ramp, I halted and smoothly lowered the hood of my cloak. Before I could explain my presence, however, the good Captain cut me off with a raised hand.
"You should come aboard now, sir." It was difficult to glean emotional nuance from a voice so rough it's owner sounded as if he gargled with gravel every morning, but Gregor's aura was a mix of concern, confusion, and a low-key overarching anxiety I surmised was a facet of his omnipresent concern for Padme's safety.
Normally, my gift for empathy would make someone who wasn't Force-sensitive the next thing to a completely open book to me.
In this case, however, the good Captain's emotional and mental discipline was having a genuinely reductive impact on my ability to glean everything I might want to know at a mental "glance."
Following Gregar aboard ship quickly, I noted how quick he was to raise the ramp as I boarded, and frowned at how cagey he was playing our meeting. Fortunately, it didn't seem like I'd have to wait long for an explanation, as a surge of palpable relief shot through the man's aura as the ship was once more self-contained.
Not a man who seemed in the habit of smiling often, it was almost strange to see the broad smile which tugged the corners of the man's broad features upward.
"It's good to see you again, Jedi Skywalker. It seems congratulations are in order." A still-smiling Gregar offered in his exceptionally rough, direct, yet obviously heart-felt manner.
Running a hand through brown hair I'd grown out into "Episode III Fashion" despite the fact it wouldn't darken attractively for another couple years, I smiled back and responded "Thank you for that, Captain.
The good opinion of a man who's proven himself such a capable and dedicated protector means a great deal to me. I'm just now getting used to operating without Master Dark Woman's watchful gaze upon me."
The guardsman nodded amiably in response, but his smile slowly faded as a hesitance to press whatever point was on his mind warred with his devotion to duty for a few moments. Finally, he pushed forward to resolve his confusion over my unexpected presence in the simple and direct manner he was known for.
"Two hours ago, Knight Kenobi comm'd the Senator to tell her the Jedi had reconsidered their involvement in the S.B.I investigation. Now, ninety minutes after Senator Amidala's departure to, ehh, begin reestablishing a rapport with that Fanned Rawl, Clovis, you show up. Respectfully, what's going on in that Temple of yours?"
Allowing a bit of a grimace to show on my face, I decided to be as truthful as possible. Without destroying Gregar's faith in the Jedi Order, that is. "Clovis is collaborating with Senator Lott Dod and the Archduke of Geonosis, Poggle the Lesser.
He's using his position as a high-ranking member of the InterGalactic Banking Clan to embezzle funds and thereby underwrite a new droid foundry on Geonosis. Senator Amidala will manage to convince him to bring her along for his meeting with those two slime-snakes on Cato Neimoidia."
I saw that my words had caused the Captain's one good eye to narrow as he digested what he'd been told, but now it was time to tread carefully.
"The High Council also has reason to believe the same Jedi presence on Cato Nemoidia which would drastically decrease the level of risk to the Senator's well-being could also prove indirectly responsible for triggering the beginning of overt hostilities between the Coalition of Independent Systems and the Republic.
Reaching a consensus with regards to balancing both these concerns proved problematic, but here I am."
Given that the man before me had spent the entirety of his adult life honing his ability to spot the tiniest discrepancies which might put his assigned charge in harm's way, it wasn't surprising he picked up on the fact I hadn't actually said my presence was indicative that a consensus had in fact been reached.
"Are your superiors actually aware you've decided to, ehh, provide a balance to their concerns?" From anyone else, the question and the echoed euphemism it contained might have come across as sarcastic.
Coming from Gregar, it was a subtle struggle to balance a lifetime of regard for the Jedi as the greatest of all guardians with the sneaking suspicion their choices in this situation were running counter to the goal by which he expressed a love he knew would never be reciprocated.
"When I found out the Senator was being asked to undertake such a dangerous mission without Jedi support, I wasn't pleased, Captain. On my way over here, I was still struggling to control my reaction to the disappointing decision-making process of the High Council, because I became a Jedi Guardian to protect people just like Senator Amidala.
Courageous, thoughtful, principled, and empathetic individuals of the sort willing to shoulder burdens others would refuse. All so they can advance the common good.
I was only three or four hundred meters from this ship, when I realized something that made me feel foolish enough to put a damper on emotions borne of my concern for the Senator's continued well-being" I answered in a reasonably honest manner.
"What might that have been, sir?" There was a hint of something dangerous in the Captain's tone as he asked this. His one dark brown eye boring into me as if he could thereby gain some secret wisdom which might explain what were to him decisions entirely unbecoming of what he believed the Jedi to be.
"If the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order wanted me stopped, Captain, Master Antana and her apprentice would be outside right now. Waiting to take me into custody for my errant ways" I revealed in a rather forthright fashion. It was more than a little embarrassing.
My having gotten so worked up I missed something as obvious as Yoda's inability to miss the Chosen One's direct interference with events he'd foreseen from numerous angles. There could be only one explanation for something like this.
I was being given enough climbing-line to lower myself into the belly of the proverbial sarlacc.
Apparently, this wasn't some apex of deductive reasoning, because Gregar's next words made it clear he'd worked that much out for himself in a tiny fraction of the time it had taken me.
Causing me to realize with a bit of chagrin that those who weren't Force-sensitive used their gray matter for more than the absorption and subsequent deployment of Force-techniques.
"I thought Jedi Masters were above using their own as dejarik pieces. You're saying they're letting you go ahead with protecting Senator Amidala, but you'll be blamed if the High Council doesn't care for the consequences of your efforts?"
It was only a question in that the guardsman was seeking final confirmation of his assessment, but the disappointment absent in his voice, yet present in his aura made it clear the Naboo was hoping I'd contradict him.
"It's my choice to get involved, Captain. No one's ordered me to protect the Senator. It's simply a matter of some risks needing to be taken" I replied with more candor than I was really comfortable.
These statements seemed to satisfy Gregar, because after that, the talk turned to simple logistics. The Captain showed me the sensor-shielded compartments concealed about the skiff's interior.
Places where I could stash things I wouldn't want the Neimoidians to become aware of as the ship was scanned prior to it's landing being authorized.
A revelation which lead me to stow my recon and slicer-droids, as well as the dozen grenades of various types I'd brought along, and a few other pieces of potentially useful equipment. Once that was done, there was nothing to do except wait for Padme's return, so she could be brought up to speed on the change in plans.
I wasn't concerned with the mission's various attendant risks anymore than one might reasonably expect, so why did the thought of facing this woman fill me with trepidation and anticipation in equal amounts? I wasn't some brooding, infatuated man-child, after all. I was in complete control of myself, so I had nothing to fear.
Something I told myself repeatedly over the next hour.
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