Anabeth: New Beginnings

Chapter 10 - Visiting An Old Friend

Aayla, Obi-Wan, Bo and Ana had met in the strategy room early that next morning to join the meeting as Windu had instructed. Ana looked a lot more presentable than last time, having had a shower, fresh robes and her cuts mostly patched up. Only a few were still noticeable, the one on her lip being the main one to attract looks.

"I guess we all know why we're here, so I'll get straight to the point. I spoke with some of our agents in the underworld and one was in a good enough position to do some digging. It truns out there are rumors going around in the underworld that Crimson Dawn has joined the Shadow Collective" Windu informed them.

"The Shadow Collective? I thought with Maul out of the picture and Death Watch disolving and leaving the operation, they wouldn't keep sticking together" Bo pointed out. "Seems they found a reason to keep the agreement in place, and offer some selected other to join" Anakin concluded.

"Yes, I can see why it might be beneficial for the big crime families to work together sometimes. but why offer some second class mercenaries to join?" Aayla asked. "Perhaps because they needed someone whom they thought couldn't be linked to them to carry out this mission. They couldn't have known we have a spy providing us with this info, and without him, we would have probably put this attack off as a one time theft meant to meet a client's demand.

When we look at he big picture though, the Shadow Collective going after the core of a Sith holocrom is quiet worriesome" Ana said. "What if it's Maul again? He escaped our custody after the Temple was attacked, what if he's out to get revenge?" Master Mundi threw in his theory.

"No, it's not Maul" Ana quickly stated. "It would be the most convincing theory though. He is a Sith which would explain the holocron core, just not what he's planning with it" Master Allie joined Mundi's theory. "It's not him" Ana insisted, now earning raised eyebrows from a few people.

"What makes you so convinced of that" Windu asked curiously. Ana hesitated, sighing and briefly looking at the floor before answerig. "Because he promised me he wouldn't get involved with Jedi business anymore. And he never lied to me, not once".

"You spoke to him after he escaped? Why didn't you tell us you were tracking him down? He could have been dangerous" Obi-Wan spoke up. "He wouldn't have been dangerous for me, I don't know how many time I'll have to tell you to finally remember that. Besides, I didn't talk to him since he left the Temple. I was the one to let him go" Ana admitted.

"He had offered to stay. He wanted to go and help the rest of you. I told him to go while the cameras were still down. He promised to not cause trouble and stay away from the Jedi. After helping out with Palpatine he deserved better than we had to offer".

"You know that wasn't your call to make" Windu pointed out. "Wasn't it? I'm the one who knows him best, I'd know if it was safe to let him go. I'm the only one who could have been able to make that call" Ana defended herself. "Perhaps, but next time, I want to know about such a descision, before it is irreversable" Windu insisted.

"Seems fair" Ana admitted. "Now back to the topic, what do we know about the Shadow Collective?" Anakin asked. "We know they are made up of the three big crime families. The Hutts, the Pykes and the Black Sun. And obviously, they have recruited a fourth member with Crimson Dawn. but apart from that we have no idea what their aims and goals are. They haven't existed for too long and we're still working on recruting someone within the organisation or getting a spy inside" Plo Koon explained.

"There is a fith member" Bo finally spoke up again "From time to time Maul would mention another faction on some secretive calls he never let anyone take part in. Viszla and I were trying to get behind whom he was talking to, but if there was information about them in written format, then Maul was keeping it safe somewhere".