Anabeth: New Beginnings

Chapter 11 - Contacting an Acquaintance

After her talk with Windu and Anakin, Ana headed to her room to pull out the comm frequency Ventress had given her during her last meeting. She put it into her commlink and pressed the button to call. A few moments later, Ventress did indeed pick up.

"Who is this?" her voice came through the device, clearly wary of having a unknown caller.
"It's Anabeth," Ana replied cooly.
"Anabeth, now that's a surprise," Ventress replied. "What can I do for you?"

"I need some help," Ana began. "I'm looking for Cad Bane."
"Cad Bane, huh? I'm sure your underworld spies have already told you that he is nowhere to be found at the moment."
"They did. That's why I'm calling you," Ana replied.

"Clever girl," Ventress commented. "Let me do some digging, and then we can meet up tonight, same place as last time. 2100 hours, don't be late."
"Got it," Ana confirmed before they ended their call.

Since it was already around lunch time and Ahsoka was babysitting the twins while Anakin was at the Temple, Ana went ahead and grabbed some burgers for the two of them before going and paying her friend a visit at Padmè's apartment. While the twins were having their nap, Anakin and Ahsoka had their lunch together and caught up on all the things that happened in each of their lives.

When the twins woke up again they fed them and held them for a bit until the door to the apartment eventually opened to reveal Padmè and Anakin. Since Padmè had only just arrived back on Coruscant with the rest of the Republic delegation, Anakin had picked her up from the landing platform to take her home.

While Padmè excitedly went to reunite with her children, Anakin went to unpack her things while Ana and Ahsoka started making dinner. By the time their food was ready, the twins were asleep again and they were able to enjoy their dinner and catch up.

Once they were done and they had cleaned up the kitchen again, Ahsoka left for the Temple while Ana headed down to the underworld to meet with Ventress. She had her cloak wrapped tightly around her as she walked through the busy streets of level 13-12.

She eventually entered the familiar alley from last time and slipped inside the abandoned building to wait for Ventress. The dathomirian showed up right on time with a bag in hand.

"What's that?" Ana asked a little confused as she pointed at it.
"Clothes," Ventress stated. "For you. You can't be wearing those Jedi robes where we are going."
"And where are we going?" Ana asked skeptically.
"Corellia. I've heard a credible rumor that Bane has been sighted there."

"Do we have a ship?" Ana asked.
"There is a cargo vessel leaving for the planet in an hour. If you have enough credits to pay the captain, then we have a ship," Ventress replied.
"We'll have a ship then."
"Great, let's get going then. It's still a bit of a way to the cargo docks," Ventress began leading the way out of the door.

Ana proceeded to follow her through the crowd all the way towards the elevator that she had headed down in before. They got inside and proceeded to travel a few levels upwards. Ventress once again lead them through the streets all the way to a train station.

They waited for a moment for a train to arrive, getting on when it did so. Ana looked around curiously as they sped through the tunnel leading to the next station. She had never been on one of these trains before. This, like many of the things the people of Coruscant experienced in their day to day lives, was a completely new experience for Ana.

After a few stops, they finally got off the train again. Ventress lead Ana towards yet another elevator which took them upwards until there were only three levels from the surface. From there, they entered an abandoned building and took some stairs upwards until they were back at the surface.

When they stepped out of the building again they had arrived at Coruscant's cargo docks. Ana looked around in awe at how busy everything was. The whole place was easily double the size of the military docks. And despite the late hour, there were people everywhere going about their jobs.

Ventress lead Ana along the dock, all the way to a big vessel that seemed to have just finished offloading and was getting ready to depart. A man standing to the side spotted them and seemed to recognize Ventress. Ana guessed he was the Captain since his uniform seemed different from all the others working around him.

"She's the second person?" the man asked Ventress with a look at Ana.
"Obviously," Ventress replied through gritted teeth. Ana began to get the feeling she didn't like the guy very much.
"She's a Jedi. This will cost you double," the man demanded.
"That's not what we agreed upon," Ventress snarled.

"Let me," Ana gently pushed Ventress aside to try her luck. "Listen here, don't even try scamming us. You agreed upon a price with her, and you will not alter the deal now."
"Or else what?" the man chuckled. "You'll arrest me for refusing to smuggle you off planet?"

Ana sighed deeply. "Terribly sorry about this. but then again, you won't remember any of this." She reached out with the force, concentrating on the Captain's mind as she slowly waved her hand past his face. "You will let the two of us on board, free of charge."

"I will let the two of you on board free of charge," the man repeated as if in a trance.
"You will forget this meeting ever happened," Ana waved her hand for a second time.
"I will forget this meeting ever happened."

"Very nicely done," Ventress complimented in a whisper as they moved past the man to board the ship.
"Couldn't you have done that in the first place?" Ana asked.
"I never learned the particular skill," Ventress replied.

"I'd teach you some time, but I'm sure Windu wouldn't like that very much," Ana said.
Ventress chuckled briefly. "I can imagine he wouldn't."

Before long, Ana and Ventress had made themselves comfortable in one of the empty cargo containers and they ship went on it's way.
"Couldn't I have just gotten us a shuttle from the Temple though? It would have saved us all this trouble," Ana asked.

"Bane is no fool. If a Jedi shuttle were to land on Corellia he'd know long before we ever found him," Ventress explained. "Now put on the clothes I brought for you. Because he'd know of any Jedi sightings before we found him too."