"We never do things my way." "We crashed the ship your way."
- Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi
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"There was a set back at Felucia, Ahsoka made a big mistake so she's been assigned library security until she has learned her lesson." Anakin explained as Obi-Wan, Oriel and Boba stood in front of a data wall in the briefing room.
"That's cold." Boba said under his breath. A punishment like would be absolute torture for the action craving boy.
It was the day after Obi-Wan and Oriel got married and unfortunately, the life of a Jedi did not grant them a honey moon so, after a long night, they were back to business.
Oriel had her ring hidden under her grey glove as she was back to wearing her grey general uniform, not her jedi robes. Oriel had also promised that she would get Obi-Wan a ring as soon as she could because the wedding was under such short notice, it was a miracle Obi-Wan could scrape up a plain gold loop for her.
"Unfortunately it's affected our efforts in the whole sector." Anakin continued in a slightly annoyed tone. "It'll take weeks before we can – " He was interrupted by a groan of pain coming from Master Yoda.
"Master Yoda, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Oriel asked her old Master, kneeling down to his level.
"A disturbance in the force, I feel. Intruders there is soon to be in this temple." Master Yoda answered. He was so connected to the force that when someone did something against the ways of the light side, it physically pained him.
The three Jedi shared a glance of concern. "Then we must be extra careful, double our security and don't let anyone inside the Jedi Archives, not even a Master." Oriel said sternly. She would not let this intruder get a holocrons, for the future of the Jedi and for the future of the force sensitive children.
"Good call young Dune, but what makes you so sure our intruder wants to get into our Archives?" Obi-Wan asked Oriel.
"If the separatists want to win this war, they'll want to eliminate any chance of the Jedi Order having a future, and after their failure to cut off our Clone supply they will attack our Jedi supply next." Oriel explained. "Plus . . . I can feel it in my gut." She added.
"Okay then. Take extra procurations, we shall, when letting Jedi into the Archives." Master Yoda said, trusting the girls instincts.
The three Jedi and Boba were excused from the briefing room and were walking down one of the main halls said by side, Oriel's hand lightly brushing against Obi-Wan's every swing of her arm.
"Where do we start looking for these intruders?" Boba asked breaking the silence. "I mean, what if they aren't coming for the holocrons and they end up stealing something else of value?"
"Well I doubt they've come to hijack starfighters." Obi-Wan stated the obvious.
"But your padawan is right. Blind sided we could become and not see the intruder coming for something else valuable. We must still keep an open mind." He said and Oriel nodded her head in agreement.
"Well what else could they get here, that they can't get anywhere else?" Boba asked.
"Information." Obi-Wan answered. "Jedi transmitter codes." Anakin added, catching onto what Obi-Wan was getting at.
"Every piece of troop information in one place." Obi-Wan said. "An it's all in the east tower." Anakin said. "The east tower of the communication centre." Obi-Wan added. It was as if their minds were connected some how.
"I'll head there right away." Anakin said urgently. "I'll monitor the perimeter defences." Obi-Wan told him before he ran off down the hall.
"Boba and I will assist Ahsoka archives." Oriel said and she watched Boba's eyes light up at the mention of Ahsoka.
"Your padawan can handle that. You'll come with me love." Obi-Wan instructed and Boba just rolled his eyes before running off towards the Jedi Archives while Oriel and Obi-Wan headed off the opposite way towards the east tower.
When Oriel and Obi-Wan arrived at the perimeter scanners, there was no one there except for a droid.
"What now?" Oriel asked looking around the silent room. "We'll just watch and wait." Obi-Wan answered, walking closer to a screen to get a better inspection.
"I don't like just waiting here. The intruder could already be in the building for all we know." Oriel said bouncing slightly on her feet to ease her nerves.
"If that is the case then Anakin will have him arrested in no time. Not to mention both your padawans are guarding the only way in and out of the archives." Obi-Wan said putting his hand on his wife's shoulder to stop her from bouncing around.
"In the mean time." Obi-Wan smirked taking a step closer to Oriel. "I don't see anyone around." Oriel got this tingly feeling in her body when she was reminded of the beautiful day and night she had experienced the day before.
"Obi-Wan." Oriel said taking a step away from him, remembering the situation they were in. "Not here. Someone could walk in." Obi-Wan sighed at the truth.
"Besides, we got a criminal to catch." She stood back in front of the screens and continued her search for any strange activity but thoughts of her love life clouded her mind.
Then the screens all went dark and she couldn't see anything. Not a second later they flickered back to life.
"What was that?" Obi-Wan asked the droid that was accompanying them.
"The system was just recycling sir." It answered and then the small transmission table come to life.
"Master, I'm in the tower." Anakin informed. "No intruders, but something just happened. All the scanners were behaving strangely for a moment."
"Something happened down here too. We lost all eyes on the perimeter just as quickly as they came back to us." Oriel said.
"It cannot be a coincidence." Obi-Wan concluded and they were interrupted by a small tapping sound coming from the doorway. Oriel turned and saw Master Yoda making his way to them, tapping his cane along the way.
"Arrived, the intruders have." Master Yoda told the three Jedi.
"But if they are not in the tower, what are they after?" Obi-Wan asked cluelessly but Oriel already knew the answer.
"The Archives!" She exclaimed panicked and readied herself to break out into a run down to the Jedi Archives but Obi-Wan grabbed her arm to stop her from going further.
"If they were after a holocron they wouldn't enter from the east wing. Surely they would want a direct path to get in and out." Obi-Wan told her and Oriel was getting slightly frustrated at how everyone was shutting down her theory that they were after a holocron.
"The communications system, they could be after." Her old Master thought aloud.
"If that's so, then they must be in the central ventilation system." Anakin said.
"Let me check." Obi-Wan clicked some buttons to get an overview of the central ventilation system and sure enough, there had been a disturbance.
"You're right, there has been a disturbance." Obi-Wan said. "It's at the top of the south tower."
"I'll meet you there." Anakin answered before flickering away from their view.
"Come on, let's end this." Oriel said determinedly and grabbed Obi-Wan's hand before running out of the room in a hurry.
After quite a bit of running, Oriel and Obi-Wan made it to the top of the south tower and they were standing on the outside of the temple, looking into where someone had removed one of the covers for a vent. They had also regrouped with Anakin.
"Well, looks like this is where they broke in." Anakin pointed out the obvious. "Ya think?" Oriel said slightly annoyed.
"Fortunately we'll have a less troublesome time." Obi-Wan said before waving his hand over one of the controls to the shields and they flickered away with a low hum.
Without hesitating, the three Jedi climbed in the rather large tube that was the ventilation system. Anakin in the lead and Obi-Wan behind leaving Oriel in the middle.
Their footsteps echoed quite loudly in the metal tube and it was distracting for Oriel as she was trying hard to tune her ears onto any sign of the intruders. Oriel closed her eyes and took a deep breath, meditation style, to try and reach her mind onto any unwanted visitors roaming around near them.
When she had her eyes closed she was pushed backwards by an arm hitting her chest. Frightened, Oriel fell backwards and Obi-Wan caught her before she could hit the ground.
"Thanks." She thanked Obi-Wan as he lifted her back to her feet. "No problem dear." He said and Oriel kicked his shin becuase Anakin was standing right there.
"Dear?" Anakin asked with his brow raised and looked back and forth between the two.
"Well I call everyone dear." Obi-Wan defended, trying to ignore the pain in his shin. "Especially lovely ladies." This earned him a elbow to the waist.
"Okay dear." Anakin teased to Obi-Wan who rolled his eyes.
"Why did you hit me in the first place?" Oriel said changing the subject.
"Well, dear, while you were meditating, you almost walked right off the edge of a quite high ledge." Anakin said in a smart ass tone that Oriel hated. She looked around Anakin and saw a very large drop.
The three Jedi took out their grapples and attached it to the roof of the hole before jumping off and slowly falling to the bottom.
When they reached the end, they detached their strings and Oriel groaned as she peered around. They were at an intersection of five to six new tunnels leading to different parts of the temple.
"Great." Anakin said sharing Oriel's thoughts. "Which way do you think they went?" He asked.
"The communications centre is this way." Obi-Wan said pointing to a tunnel on Anakin's left but Oriel had a strange feeling in her stomach telling her it was the wrong way.
They continued crawling through a smaller tunnel for a while until they reached yet another intersection.
"I don't think this is the way they came." Oriel finally said, having enough of this wild panther chase.
"I agree." Anakin said and Obi-Wan put his wrist to his mouth where his communicator was.
"Master Yoda, are you picking up any other signs of life in this quadrant?" He asked the blinking light that signalled Master Yoda was listening.
"Deep in the temple, the intruders are." Master Yoda said disappointedly. Not directed to the three Jedi, but just the fact that the intruders got into the temple in the first place.
"How are they managing to stay out of our way?" Obi-Wan asked frustratingly. Master Yoda thought for a long second before answering.
"Possible, it is, that they are receiving help, from the inside." He suggested and it made perfect sense.
"Wonderful." Obi-Wan said sarcastically, shaking his head at the situation. The his coms switched off.
"We should probably head back." Oriel sighed, not happy with their results on their hunt through the vents. As they walked back, she got that feeling in her gut, telling her to follow her thoughts that were leading her to the Jedi Archives.
"Obi-Wan?" Oriel asked, getting his attention. He turned around giving her the look to continue.
"I think we should go and at least check the Jedi Archives." She said strongly, saying it as less of a suggestion and more of an order and she felt kind of guilt. Oriel hated speaking that way to Obi-Wan but she had had enough of him shutting her thoughts down.
"Alright." Obi-Wan answered, hearing her tone of voice. They continued to crawl through the vents, but they headed in the direction of the Archives and sure enough, they found that someone had already headed that way as one of the grates were knocked out of position.
"Looks like you were right." Obi-Wan said in a sort of contributing manner. As they climed through where their intruder had gone, Anakin's coms chirped and Ahsoka's voice echoed through the tunnel.
"I've capture the imposter disguised as a Jedi. She says the intruders in the holocron vault." She informed and this made Oriel panicked.
Oriel started to leave in a hurry to try and intercept the intruder before he could get too far, but once again, Obi-Wan grabbed her wrist stopping her from going any further.
"Let go of me, I need to stop him for the sake of those innocent children." Oriel said trying to pry Obi-Wan's hand from her wrist but he wouldn't budge. He knew if he let her go in that state of mind, she would most likely end up doing something stupid.
"Relax Oriel. A holocron is no good without a Jedi to open it." Obi-Wan reasoned.
"Even so, they are up to something and it's not something good." Oriel said, relaxing her arm, taking into thought of what Obi-Wan said.
"I know this matter means a lot to you, but you need to clear your mind otherwise you will do more harm than good." Obi-Wan said gently and Oriel sighed knowing he was right.
Once he felt the girl completely calm, he released her, and the three headed in the direction of the holocron vault. As they neared, the could see smoke floating around one of the corners.
They followed the smoke and saw someone had cut a hole in one of the pipes. They jumped through the hole one after the other and were greeted with the entrance to the holocron vault that someone had pried open.
"He's already gone." Oriel said sadly, thinking this was then end of the chase.
"There!" Anakin pointed to another whole in the tube where the intruder must've made their great escape. "That goes to the communications centre, quick!" He exclaimed, jumping through, leading the way.
They neared the communications centre and Oriel could hear voices not to far ahead. They rounded the corner and Oriel spotted a small shadow up ahead, it was an outline of a small droid.
"Bomb!" She heard the voice of Mace Windu call urgently. The droid was force pushed back into the vent and unfortunately it was no more than four feet in front of them.
"Oriel go! Go!" Anakin said horridly as he couldn't run until Oriel did and she didn't think twice before sprinting around the corner behind Obi-Wan.
Oriel looked behind her and was just in time to see a cloud of orange erupt behind Anakin who dived forward to get as far away from the explosion as possible, which meant diving right on top of Oriel.
She wheezed as Anakin knocked her over and his full body weight hit her chest. Oriel turned her head and started coughing to the side, so she was spitting in Anakin's face.
"Get off me." She struggled to say as she had little to no air inside her lungs. Anakin just started laughing and got off her with shaky arms, coughing a little too from the smoke that surrounded them.
"Are you alright?" Obi-Wan asked, putting his hands under her arms and lifted her to a crouching position as that was as far as they could stretch in the small tunnel.
"Yeah I just wasn't expecting Ani to way a tone." Oriel answered waving her hand in front of her face to shoo away the intoxicating smoke.
"Hey!" Anakin exclaimed at what Oriel had said. "Your lucky I protected you." He defended.
"Arlight you two, do you mind we get out of this tunnel before you have a go at each other." Obi-Wan said breaking the two up. Oriel crawled behind Anakin until the reached where the explosion had occurred and all three started coughing furiously as the crawled out onto the floor of the communications centre.
Oriel felt slightly embarrassed as she looked up to see Master Yoda, Windu, Aayla and Kit Fisto all standing, watching her cough her lungs out.
"Come. Inspect the holocron vault, we must." Master Yoda said, taking no note in the three Jedi's conditions.
They all got off the floor and dusted themselves off before following the other Jedi Masters out towards the vault.
(Authors Notes)
Sorry not much happened in this chapter but I will try to put more Dune and Kenobi action in the next chapter, happy reading! :)