Eye Of The Needle (Star Wars)

Chapter 43: The Duchess Of Mandalore

"Jeren, Lorea, Orlamax, this is Storm Ca'ana, our cousin." Nova mentioned.

Orlamax scoffed. "You mean our half cousin? We may have the same grandmother, but you are no granddaughter of Grandfather Prikri."

Lorea immediately intervened. "She's still family, regardless of not having the same grandfather as us."

"Yeah Orlamax, Lorea's right. She's family." Jeren argued, defending me.

"Yeah, well at least our grandfather is respectable noble who stands for peace and not a Sith and Separatist leader." Orlamax retorted.

"Orlamax!" Nova scolded.

My anger quickly rose at his words, and unfortunately it got the better of me as I blurted out. "At least my sisters aren't part of the Sith and my grandfather's alive!"

At my words, Nova, Jeren, Lorea, and Orlamax all looked at me rather baffled and shocked. After a few moments, Orlamax finally spoke. The fear in his voice was quite evident. "You're just like him, Storm. You're just like Dooku."

My face fell at at his words. I use to love being compared to Dooku, but now that he is what he is...I didn't like hearing that. Fortunately, Obi-Wan contacted me through my comlink. "Storm, Nova, we are about to discuss the marching orders."

"Nova and I will be there right away." I replied through my comlink.

With that he sent us the location of where he was and we made my way to them, which was in the cargo room. On our way there, I spoke up. "Nova, I'm sorry for what I said...that was uncalled for. I allowed my anger to get the better of me."

"It's alright, it's not entirely your fault. Orlamax did push your buttons, and for that I'm sorry. He's a good person, he'll come around. I'm sure of it." Nova assured me. "I'll talk to him."

We then arrived at the cargo room where Obi-Wan, R2, R3, Rex, Cody, Mocax, and the rest of our troops were. As soon as we arrived, Obi-Wan began the briefing. "You know your marching orders. The safety of the Duchess Satine is of the utmost importance. The Death Watch will stop at nothing to assassinate her before she pleads her case to the Senate."

"The Death Watch may be backed by the Separatists, so stay sharp." I warned.

"R2, R3? Use your scanners to probe for any suspicious droid activity." Anakin ordered.

R2 and R3 gave affirmative beeps. Rex then spoke up. "Anything else, sir?"

"No, that will be all." Obi-Wan replied.

We then heard a beep coming from Obi-Wan's comlink. "Yes?"

"The Duchess and her retinue requests your presence." A male voice answered.

"Very well." Obi-Wan responded.

With that Nova, Obi-Wan, Rex, Cody, Mocax, Anakin, and I entered the elevator. As we made our way up, I couldn't help but sense anxiety from Obi-Wan.

"I sense some anxiety from you about the Duchess." I observed.

"She couldn't be in safer hands." Anakin mentioned.

Obi-Wan placed a hand under his chin. "Yes, I know."

Anakin furrowed his brows. "Then why?"

"Never mind. It's all in the past." Obi-Wan retorted, wishing to drop the subject.

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you're close to her?"

"I knew her. A long time ago." Obi-Wan explained.