“What do we know so far?”

  “The relevant incident is supposedly on a small outer rim world. Fairly populated with a few major cities, and a population of a billion sentients, nothing like the higher population of any of the core worlds. Nothing else of much significance there except for a larger than average Techno-Union Planetary Headquarters. And Anakin Skywalker, who works there.”

  “The Techno-Union? What is he working on there? Who gave him the connections to get a job like that as a Jedi?”

  “We’re unsure. And he’s not a Jedi any longer. I thought he made his opinion on the topic rather clear in his Senate hearings. As for the job, it’s likely Count Dooku who gave him the position, but the Techno-Union’s been holding onto the exact details tightly. As they like to do with anything that goes on at any of their headquarters. All we know is that he works in one of their research labs and not much more. It doesn’t seem that he’s been using his… Force magic much at all from what we’ve detected.”

  “The Council itself has given me this mission. They felt another burst of Dark Side from that planet, just like what happened in Mos Espa. It’s my job to investigate, and it’s a fact that a powerful burst of the dark side was released on that planet only yesterday before being suddenly being cut off. In the exact pattern observed only once before by the Council. The only question left is why Anakin Skywalker did so, and who he hurt in the process. And… Whether we should take him in.”

  “Master Jedi, I don’t think it’s wise to even suggest capturing him,” the man from Republic Intelligence warned, “Especially given how the previous attempts went. The public’s view of the Jedi is lower than it has ever been, even after the Senate’s investigation found nothing substantial. It would be a public relations nightmare if there was another incident that could be portrayed in a bad light. You will have no assistance from Republic Intelligence in any such operations. Not again.”

  Jedi Knight Aurtera waved her hand dismissively, “Not a master yet, only a Jedi Knight for now. Haven’t passed my trials… I understand your point completely. But it is the Council’s position that if he presents a danger to innocents then we must make the effort regardless of how others may see it. Getting the support of Republic Intelligence or not is above the two of us, the Council would deal with those kinds of matters. But you are right regardless, we should be absolutely certain before we act. I doubt that asking the boy anything directly would lead to any answers. When I went to summon him to the Council, he refused without a second’s thought. I don’t see him being any more rational about it now that Dooku’s had time to support his stubbornness. What of his mother and the other one, the Twi’lek? Ms. Reborn? What have they been up to?”

  “They’re living together with Skywalker, in a rural zone of the planet on a private estate just outside of the nearest town. Skywalker has a personal ship that he flies to the Techno-Union every day. The two women have opened a general store in the nearby town. From what we’ve observed from our sources, they haven’t done anything suspicious. We’re monitoring their taxes and shipping manifests and it all appears to be innocent goods being sold to the town. For all intents and purposes they seem to be living perfectly normal lives in their small town. Part of the community, and no suspicious activity that warrants any further investigation.”

  “Is that sympathy that I hear? Are you sure that you’ve been looking hard enough? What of any recent incidents on the planet? Maybe not something as gruesome as Mos Espa, but a similar event? Especially something that Skywalker might have been involved in?”

  “No Ma’am. Nothing like that. There was a gang related shooting at one of the clubs in one of the major cities that killed a few people that’s been in the local holonews recently. But besides that everything has been quiet.”

  “Shooting? How many dead are there? What of Skywalker, was he there?”

  “No, there’s no evidence that Skywalker was anywhere near the club that night. There were only three casualties total, local gang members to the area. Besides that there were only light injuries among the bystanders fleeing the fight. Apparently the gang members were harassing a woman and the man that she was with pulled a blaster and shot the gang members dead after things escalated into a full fight.”

  “And this man? The woman? Any identifications of them? Security footage?”

  “No. But evidence in the police report points to members of a rival gang in the city. There’s local rumors of a gang war as a result as the two groups both blame each other for the incident. Any security footage of the club was destroyed after some amateur smashed the communications room blindly and ruptured the data drives in a stroke of luck for themselves. I don’t think that this event is close to anything you are describing. The local authorities can handle it themselves. It's the only event in that timeframe that matches anything even approaching a large scale violent event like what happened in Mos Espa.”

  “What kind of watchers do you have on Skywalker right now? Is it possible that he slipped away from them and went to the club at some point? Perhaps he made it out of his home somehow undetected?”

  “Watchers? Master Jedi, I think you misunderstand. The investigation into Skywalker’s situation concluded over a year and a half ago. We did a full exhaustive investigation at the Council’s request and came up with nothing beyond the ordinary. At the Council’s request also, we’ve maintained some passive monitoring of the Skywalker family without any agents on the ground on the planet. It’s been nearly two years since he last left Coruscant and there have been no incidents in all of this time. He and his family haven’t even committed so much as a single crime during our monitoring period from what we can tell. They even went on vacation a few months ago, which we also had our analysts investigate the records for closely. At the Council’s request. Again nothing.

  “That is our conclusion. We have found no evidence that Skywalker was doing anything untoward at the time you claim that he was consumed by the Dark side of the Force. Or at any point in the last two years since he left Coruscant.”

  “Claim? The Council felt it, agent. They’re never wrong about these things. The Dark side was strong on that planet for nearly a full day before suddenly winking out again into nothing. We should organize agents on the ground, an in person investigation…”

  “I think that is quite enough, Master Jedi,” the man’s tone became irritated as she kept pressing him, “We have wasted enough of the Republic Intelligence’s resources on this delusion. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing. Until there is any actual evidence of suspicious activity, we will stop wasting resources on this nonsense. Our investigation into Anakin Skywalker is closed as of this moment.”

  “Sir, this is outrageous!” she said, “Surely you must see the danger if…”

  “If, if, if…” the man interrupted, “That’s all your Council has given me for years! Guesses and speculations based on Force magic that no one else can verify! My decision is final. Until you or your Jedi Council can present any actual evidence worth investigating, this investigation is concluded. You may see yourself out, Jedi Knight Aurtera. Best of luck in your own efforts. We will send along all the relevant information about Skywalker that we’ve uncovered to your Council. But we will no longer assist you with this matter beyond here.”

  She stiffly stood to her feet and bowed slightly.

  “Thank you for your time, and for your assistance so far then.”

  He snorted and waved his hand as if to shoo her away, “Yes, I’m sure. A good day to you too.”

  She walked out of the office and had to take a moment to sink more deeply into the Force to calm herself before continuing to go to report to the Council on what had just happened. It was most disturbing that the investigation had turned up nothing of note… Luckily the political maneuvering that she was sure was behind the end of the investigation wasn’t hers to deal with but the Council’s.

  She couldn’t imagine how the man could dismiss the danger of somebody that was already so verifiably dangerous. The boy had to be monitored for the safety for all the innocents around that he could hurt if something went wrong.

  — — —

  Jedi Knight Aurtera flipped through the reports on Skywalker. Everything that he’d been up to in the last two years. Anything that could give her a lead on what he was hiding, and how he was hiding his Dark Side energy so perfectly. And why he’d expose it to the galaxy so suddenly and seemingly without purpose from what she or the Council could tell.

  It had been about four months since the incident, and she was still getting nowhere. Everything in the reports were mundane details, mostly on Skywalker’s mother’s business and store versus on the man himself. Beyond helping out at his mother’s store from time to time and a few casual connections in town, he was a mystery to the reports. Nothing known about what he did at his job. Nothing known about whether he was still practicing his Force abilities or not, nothing known about his interests or goals beyond spending time with his family.

  It was… Frustrating. After sighing as she read another report, she returned and kept reading along. The vacation that the family had taken was the only lead that she had. It was the only time that Skywalker or his family had done anything at all that broke their mundane routine.

  She looked deep in the reports and after some digging finally found something to grab on to. This Elara Arscata. She was sending messages to Skywalker, and more importantly receiving messages back from him. This was how she could subtly interrogate Skywalker and get him to spill something that he might not otherwise. Her way to get the evidence that she needed and get to the truth.

  She was on her way there now. After explaining what she needed to the Council, they’d given her some materials and intel on which merchant headquarters that this Elara Arscata and her parents' merchant company operated out of.

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  The Council had approved her plan, but she still felt a little wary about it. Despite it being her idea, it seemed like it would be hard to pull off. But right now she had gained no actionable information in all of this time, so better a low chance of success than none.

  The biggest trouble would be keeping this Elara quiet while Aurtera executed the plan. She’d have to get the parents on board with it first so that Elara would feel compelled to comply despite whatever relationship she might have with Skywalker.

  — — —

  “Mom? Dad? What’s this about?” Elara asked as she sat in the office and looked between her parents and Knight Aurtera. It had taken some convincing, but after some argument both of the parents had fallen into line with what Knight Aurtera needed to do and make sure that their daughter would comply.

  “This woman here is a Jedi Knight from the Republic,” the mother said and gestured towards Knight Aurtera, “She’s here to talk to you about those messages that you’ve been sending to that boy. Anakin. You went to go visit him in person two months ago, didn’t you?”

  Knight Aurtera kept her expression flat as she absorbed that information. That hadn’t been in any of the reports that she’d read. This girl had personally visited Skywalker?

  “Yeah?” Elara said and glanced suspiciously between her mother and Knight Aurtera, “What about them? What would a Jedi want with Anakin?”

  Knight Aurtera cleared her throat and stepped forward.

  “I’m here to investigate him, we have reason to believe that he’s a dangerous criminal. He’s being investigated for dozens of crimes ranging from tax evasion all the way up to cold blooded murder. I was sent to watch him and collect evidence of his crimes so that he can face for justice.”

  “What?” Elara said and stood to her feet, “No! Anakin would never do anything like that! You must have the wrong person.”

  “Then what does he do?” Knight Aurtera asked, “Where did he grow up? What has he really told you about his past?”

  “He… He works for the Techno-Union. He… grew up on Tatooine. In Hutt space. Someone came and helped Anakin get his fancy job. Is that wrong?”

  “It’s not the whole truth,” Knight Aurtera said, even if she was internally surprised that Skywalker had told Elara even that much. But she could see doubt on the girl’s face as she realized just how little she truly knew about her… crush? Boyfriend? It remained to be seen.

  “Don’t you see?” Knight Aurtera pressed, “He’s being intentionally vague. All of that is true, except that we believe that he’s involved himself with some rather nasty people. And that his job at the Techno-Union may not be as innocent as it may seem.”

  “I don’t believe you. And what do you want with me? If you have evidence then shouldn’t you be going after him, not me?”

  “Elara, the Jedi is here to help,” the mother answered quickly, “If that boy’s dangerous, we don’t want you anywhere near him. It’s best to let them take over and run their investigation so that all of us can be safe. The Jedi says that the Skywalkers might have even chosen to reserve a ticket at our hotel on purpose. Even if we don’t know why yet.”

  “That… That’s ridiculous!” Elara protested, “Dad approached them while they were minding their own business. Didn’t you, dad?”

  Mr. Arscata shifted uncomfortably as everyone stared at him.

  “That’s true. But they were pretty distinctive. Shmi with her facial scars and Slarena being a Twi’lek beautiful enough that she could be a fashion model… Maybe they knew that I’d come over and introduce myself. We did spend a lot of time with them on the vacation and they were all rather evasive about their pasts when it came up.”

  “They… They don’t have to tell us anything. None of that means that they did anything wrong. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe any of it.”

  “Elara,” Mr. Arscata said firmly, “Jedi Knight Aurtera and the Republic are asking for our help here. If Anakin really is innocent then helping the Jedi won’t do any harm. Isn’t that right, master Jedi?”

  “Exactly,” Knight Aurtera confirmed, “If Anakin’s innocent then there will be no harm done. I swear it.”

  “But you don’t think that he’s innocent?” Elara asked.

  “No. But we could be wrong. It’s always possible, if unlikely.”

  “Well…” Elara muttered, looking resigned, “What do you want then?”

  “Elara!” Mr. Arscata barked, “Don’t be so rude to the Jedi! I’m so sorry master Jedi, my daughter’s just upset, she has a large crush on the boy. I’m sure that you understand.”

  Elara looked annoyed, but didn’t say anything.

  “It’s quite alright,” Knight Aurtera said calmly, “I know that it’s a lot to process at once. Do you have access to the messages that you sent to him and his replies? You were told to bring your personal devices with you, no?”

  “Yes,” Elara said, looking confused, “What would you want- Hey, no! You can’t look at those, it’s… Just between us. There’s nothing in there about any criminal stuff.”

  “Maybe not. But he might have let something slip that could help our investigation. Even something seemingly innocent could help pinpoint his location during the time of a crime.”

  “No, I want a warrant or something,” Elara said stubbornly, “Even if you’re a Jedi.”

  “Elara, the Jedi is asking nicely,” the mother said, “We think it’s for the best if you help her. They don’t care about whatever embarrassing things you might have said to that boy.”

  “But they’re private, you can’t…”

  “I assure you that no one but me and other qualified people will read the messages,” Knight Aurtera said as she saw the girl start digging in her heels, “No one else, even your parents, will ever read them.”

  Elara hesitated at that and the mother looked surprised.

  “But Anakin…” Elara said weakly, even if Knight Aurtera could see that her resolve was wavering.

  “Elara, what if he is some dangerous criminal?” Mr. Arscata said, “It would be better to know, wouldn’t it? You’ll inform us if you discover that he’s guilty of anything, master Jedi?”

  “Not the specifics. But yes, I will inform you if Mr. Skywalker is suspected of any wrongdoing. I suppose you deserve at least that much.”

  “And… And you’ll really leave him alone if he’s innocent?” Elara asked after a charged pause.

  “Of course.”

  “Well, I… Okay,” Elara said reluctantly and pulled out a datapad from the backpack that she’d walked in with. She unlocked it and handed it over to Knight Aurtera even if she did so slowly and looking like she'd much rather be snatching it back rather than continue to hand it over. Knight Aurtera pulled out a bulky box from her robes and plugged it into the datapad that she’d just been handed.

  The box hummed and whirred as it copied all of the data within the datapad, including the list of messages to and from Skywalker.

  “Thank you,” she said after the process was finished and she handed the datapad back to Elara, “Now there’s one more thing I want to ask you to do before I go and investigate Skywalker myself hopefully.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We need you to cease all contact with Anakin Skywalker until our investigation is finished. That includes any more of your messages on that datapad. To ensure that you’re not tempted to do so, your parents have agreed to take this datapad and replace it with a newer model without Skywalker’s number saved into it.”

  “Wait, but I don’t remember what his number is, it was so long ago!” Elara said, “How will I—”

  She cut herself off, but it was too late. With a nod to the parents, they took the old datapad from the girl and passed their daughter the shiny new one. Elara stared down at the shiny new device in disgust as if she had just been handed a pile of dirt.

  “I know this will be hard for you, Elara,” the mother said, “But this is for your own good. We just want you to be safe. And it’s the latest model, far better than the last one.”

  The girl didn’t respond, still staring down listlessly at her new datapad as the old one was placed in a cabinet in the father’s desk, which was firmly locked shut a second later.

  “Thank you for all of your cooperation,” Knight Aurtera said, “I’m sorry for the distress that I’ve caused all of you. I hope that your help will let Justice prevail for this case.”

  “No, thank you Master Jedi,” the father said, “We had no idea that any of this was happening. Thank you for informing us, and good luck on your investigation. Just send us a message if there’s anything else you or the Republic need our assistance with.”

  “Perhaps I will. Thank you for the offer. I’ll be off now. Goodbye.”

  She left the room and set the course of her hyperspace jump nearly as soon as she left the large space station where the merchant family had based their operations. After a few minutes, Knight Aurtera was surrounded by the blue flickering of hyperspace as she traveled towards the planet where Skywalker currently lived.

  She took out the bulky device with the copied data and plugged it into the ship console where it transferred over. She wasn’t as well versed with the technology, but the software installed into the ship’s systems did its work and started decoding and searching the data for anything out of the ordinary.

  After half an hour, the scan came back normal. Nothing but a commercial datapad used by a civilian.

  She transferred the messages between Elara and Skywalker into a spare datapad she had lying around and sat down and started reading right from the oldest message. She was sure that there was something here that would help her somehow.

  — — —

  She exited from hyperspace above the planet and went over the ship’s console to check if the second piece of software was working properly. According to the Council it was a virus that would infect the local communications satellites. Normally the satellites would be better protected, but the nature of the virus meant that none of the truly sensitive information would be accessed, so it was much less likely to be detected than normal.

  This virus did one thing and one thing only. It took the messages from Anakin Skywalker towards Elara Arscata, and redirected them to Knight Aurtera’s ship. And make sure that they appeared to properly arrive at their destination, wherever that was out in the galaxy. And make any returning messages appear completely legitimate as well with the proper time delays that one would expect with normal communications.

  Unfortunately, she had read a majority of the flirty messages between the pair in hyperspace. It was amusing how awkward some of the exchanges between the pair were, but beyond that it was largely boring work. Elara talked about her time in the merchant vessels and her opinion on random topics, which didn’t interest the Jedi Knight. And Anakin’s replies either addressed the topics that Elara brought up, or talked about his mother’s store or things that he’d done in town.

  He only mentioned his job a few times, and always in the vaguest terms of having a ‘rough day’ or being annoyed with ‘one of his coworkers’ without elaborating much more than that.

  The analysis program was scanning over the text as well of course, but no luck so far on anything that could be useful.

  No, she’d have to move to the next step. The analysis program had already made an analysis of Elara’s writing style and created a psychological profile on her based on the other existing data that the Republic had on the girl in the larger database.

  Knight Aurtera would impersonate Elara Arscata and probe the boy for information over the messages, and use the analysis program to reformat it so that it was convincing enough that the boy didn’t suspect the switch.

  She was sure that if the boy was pressed just a little harder then he might let something important slip. Something to give a hint about his sponsor or what was happening with his strange Force powers that baffled even the Council. And most importantly… To confirm if he truly had fallen to the dark side or if the Council was truly somehow mistaken about the true source of the dark side pulse on this planet.