(Coruscant System, Thirty minutes later)
More than fifteen minutes of unresponsive silence from the Temple followed my request for information. "Not even a 'please standby' or an 'unable to provide the information you've requested" I muttered. Concern beginning to crack the patina of calm I'd maintained for the first ten minutes.
Trying to act as Dark Woman would have wished, I focused on what I could do in the present. Studying Seraph's scanner returns on the situation that had by now moved into the system's outer reaches. Nearly all of the CDF's heavier capital ships were pursuing the remnants of the C.I.S task-group.
Something like ten of the Recusants, plus a dozen Munificent frigates had formed up in a following half-sphere formation that had the surviving dreadnaught at it's heart. Totally unconcerned with their own survival, the warships making up said formation were acting as a trailing shield for the fleeing Malevolence's aft quarter.
Soaking up turbolaser fire from four wedge formations made up of Venators and Dreadnaught cruisers busily hammering them into scrap, while bombers and starfighters zipped between firing arcs to launch concussion missiles or proton torpedoes at precisely chosen targets.
Now that the vulture droids had been scoured from space, the Separatist vessels had no meaningful answer for the horde of small and nimble crafts, yet they remained for the moment an active impediment to the Republic warships trying to slag the enemy flagship's sub-light engines.
A wing of Venators was working to simply overhaul the superweapon, but while they appeared to be faster than their quarry, it wasn't by much.
Directing a silent query Seraph's way, I watched as the living ship's acute senses were translated by the sleekly grafted-on display into precise figures describing the rate of closure between the hunters and their quarry.
A check of the console chronometer confirmed my suspicions. Prompting me to shake my head, but otherwise keep the growing doubts concerning the likelihood of the Judicial Fleet stopping the wounded fleet-killer to myself.
"It's been forty-five minutes since we crippled the Malevolence, and it doesn't look like that boarding action is going to be viable for several more minutes, minimum." The thought was a grim one, but I didn't see any reason to doubt my assessment of the available information.
A moment later, I sensed a split-second of confusion and subsequent disquiet from Padme. The related reactions meant she'd probably sensed my own growing uneasiness with the entire situation.
Only to find herself wondering where she'd come by such a specific intuition. The Force Bond between us was certainly growing in depth and complexity at a speed I should probably have found alarming, but instead, I found the awareness of her in the back of my mind both comforting and curiosity-provoking.
Had there been such a Bond between her and my counterpart in the Might Have Been? If so, I could easily see how it could have become a self-reinforcing part of that other Anakin's problem. Always being aware of what you had, and therefore stood to lose in such a visceral sense? That could definitely become fuel for a consumptive fear of loss, or the fodder to feed an ugly possessiveness.
Padme chose that moment to speak up in a concerned tone. Her voice wrenching me from my musings.
"Perhaps your brothers and sisters have their hands full with the planet-side emergency. Couldn't that explain why there's been no response to your attempts to hail the Temple?" The question sounded reasonable enough, if you didn't possess an insider's knowledge of the Temple's deeper workings.
"The members of the High Council who haven't gone to locate saboteurs or help with the droids are almost certainly gathered in the Council's Situation Room.
Given the nature and scope of the Separatist incursion, I'm not surprised the Council is unavailable, but there are always Jedi Knights on duty in the communications center.
We aren't being jammed, so something's happened to the comm center itself. That's the only reasonable-" My mouth snapped shut in mid-explanation, as remembered images flitted through my mind's eye. Images that made me wonder, assuming I was right, just how much unpleasantness could possibly be squeezed into a single day.
Trying a different tack, I punched in the necessary code-keys to connect to S.B.I communications under the S.U.A (Special Unaffiliated Agent) identifier I'd been provided shortly after my Knighting.
Requesting a secure comm-to-comm signal for one of the many frequencies I had memorized. The holo-comm remained dark for about thirty seconds, then Master Windu's bald head and upper shoulders suddenly appeared.
Taking in the sight of the Senator to my right, he studied me for a moment, then asked "What have you got for me, Skywalker? We just lost the comm center to one of the walking bombs responsible for the planet-wide blackout and the damage to ground-side HoloNet relays, so I can't give you much time."
"Master Windu, I saw a flat-headed, roughly cube-shaped tech droid approximately point six meters tall enter the comm center by way of a ground-level service duct, then explode. After the explosion, my vision jumped to an irregular hole cut through a high-security door much like the one in the Archives. A male Duros was emerging from the hole, and he had a holocron in his hand" I replied in an urgent tone.
For just a moment, as the other man's eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed, I thought I'd finally fallen through the progressively thinner ice I'd been skating on with respect to my "visions" for years. Then the Jedi Master turned to one side, and began firing orders at Jedi I couldn't see. This went on for more than a minute, before his attention finally returned to me.
"Have you foreseen anything else the Council might choose to take into account?" The question was asked with Windu's usual calm restraint, but it contained some subtle, ineffable quality that made the words something like a challenge. It made me think the proverbial ice I'd so recently considered was now so thin a single wrong word could trigger my plunge through it.
Running a hand through collar-length hair only now beginning to darken, I loosened the tight rein I'd been holding on my feelings as I replied simply "I know that Dark Woman needs immediate medical attention. If I can feel her pain this keenly, her injuries must be severe enough they're preventing her from focusing."
It felt like there should be more I could say, more I could do for my Master, but I'd decided a very long time ago that I had to trust someone implicitly. It just so happened that, right now, trusting that someone meant not rushing off to do what I thought best.
I knew it was possible that I might be abandoning to death the woman who'd gone to lengths which would horrify the blind and the ignorant to help me truly realize my potential. The mentor who by doing so had helped me discover a sense of self-worth which had eluded me for the entirety of my first life.
It wasn't by any means an easy thing to do, but I also knew that real trust sometimes required faith. Faith strong enough that it saw you through putting another's judgment before your own, when everything in you screamed you should be doing the exact opposite.
Having turned slightly aside to nod in acknowledgement of something he was being told, Windu now seemed to consider me more closely.
He studied me with a coolly impassive expression for several seconds, before his manner eventually softened. Inasmuch as Mace Windu could ever be said to soften, anyways. "I'm told that Master Vos rushed into the Halls of Healing a few minutes ago.
He was carrying Dark Woman in his arms, despite his own considerable injuries. Circumstances obviously haven't provided opportunity for a debriefing, but he told Master Che that her injuries were the result of an explosion."
Shoulders hunching almost imperceptibly, his voice grew somber as he finished explaining "She was caught in the same blast which claimed the life of Master Poof."
Despite my continued concern for my Master, I closed my eyes and lowered my head at the terrible news. Allowing several moments to pass in a respectful silence, I finally looked up once more. A question in my eyes, and on my face.
Only to find the Jedi Master with a hand raised, and a resolute expression on his face. Anticipating my question, his head swung slowly from left to right in a gesture of negation, as he made his position clear.
"For the time being, the High Council has decided to keep to itself the circumstances surrounding the serious injury of two Jedi Masters, and the death of one of it's members." He seemed to be waiting for me to object to this decision, but my focus was on carrying out the order I'd been given for an eventuality like this one.
"Dark Woman left a message for you specifically, Master Windu. In the event she was rendered unconscious as a result of severe injury, and returned to the Temple in that condition, I mean" I told the man promptly. I really did want to know who or what had gotten the better of my Master, but that desire paled to nothing, next to ensuring she got the sort of help she needed to recover.
For only the third time since I'd met him, Windu seemed completely caught out by something I'd said. He'd apparently thought I was really going to dig in and try to pry the details out of him, but his recovery was almost as fast as his reflexes.
"What did she say, Skywalker?" No cool, calm finesse this time. Just an insistent demand that had popped out as if by reflex. Demonstrating how deep his own concern really ran. It surprised me to realize he was actually almost as worried about Dark Woman as I was, but I didn't hesitate.
"My Master said that every effort should be made to return her to consciousness, then assist her in retaining her mental focus. Even if it means worsening her condition dramatically in the short-term. I've seen her use the healing trance to recover from injuries I would have considered almost immediately fatal if suffered by another, so that's almost certainly what she has in mind."
I reported this in as calm and level a manner as I could manage. Knowing the Jedi Master I was speaking to always correlated credibility with control of one's emotions, and positive this was really all I could do for Dark Woman.
Seeming to consider what I'd said for only an instant, Mace nodded once, sharply. "I'll see to it the Chief Healer is made aware of this." He paused a moment, then added.
"Everything that can be done, will be done for her, Skywalker. Even if it means setting Master C'baoth and his devotees to fulfilling her directives." The words themselves weren't quite a promise, but the determined cast of his strong features made the statement the next best thing to one.
I was nodding my understanding, when I heard a number of distorted voices on his end that I couldn't make out. Whatever was being said, it snatched Windu's attention away again. Causing him to bark "Inform the Gatemaster there's more than one intruder, and send additional Guards to every exit!"
Looking as if his attention was being pulled in five different directions at once, his attention swung next to Padme. "Senator Amidala, One of your retainers appeared at the Temple gate a little more than an hour ago requesting she be admitted.
I spoke to the Gatemaster, who conveyed to me the gist of the message she was hoping we could get to you. It seems appropriate I should pass on a concise summary of that message before I go."
Seeing he had her undivided attention, Windu continued, saying "Queen Neeyutnee has been trying without success to contact you since just before the beginning of the blackout and subsequent Separatist attack.
Her Majesty was unwilling to share much with even so trusted an intermediary, but she did say the Gungan ambassador to the royal court was recalled without explanation a few hours ago. There was significant emphasis placed on the need for you to return to Naboo as soon as possible, Senator.
That's what I was told, at any rate. You have my apologies that I couldn't arrange for the two of you to speak, but I hope you'll understand when I say the situation here is quite, hectic."
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