Clouded by the Dark Side

Chapter 58 - The Arrest

Author's Note: Aaaand... the climax begins. :') This book is a total of 63 chapters plus an epilogue, so we're getting to the end. ;)

~ Amina Gila

Alema Syndulla

I stand between Anakin and Aniya, Ahsoka on Anakin's other side, as we observe the proceedings. It's not as though I haven't been to funerals before – I have – but this is... worse somehow. Likely, because of the nature of the occurrences. Aniya and I were gone when it happened, and we returned only early morning today. Anakin and Ahsoka had been immediately called back from their own mission to investigate it.

Someone set off a bomb in the Temple, and they luckily tracked it down already, but something in me wonders if it wasn't something more major than what we think. It's shaken me to the core to know that a civilian is capable of something of that nature. I know more and more people are becoming upset about the war and growing disillusioned with the Jedi, but to see them go to such extents... I don't know how to think or feel.

"You were close to one of them?" Ahsoka whispers to Barriss.

"Tutso Mara. We trained together. He taught me how to hold my lightsaber correctly," our friend replies. She's calm, as calm as ever, yet I can sense the lingering traces of sadness. She's lost so much in such a short time. First her master, and now this. I wish I knew what to say to her. I wish I knew what I could do to help, to make everyone stop hurting all the time. Everywhere I turn, there's always someone dealing with a lost one.

Yoda finishes giving his eulogy, and the coffins are lowered into the ground.

Everyone stands together in silence for a few moments longer before the crowd disperses. Us and our masters are walking alongside Admiral Tarkin – who the twins are semi-friendly with, though I highly dislike his attitude – when Ahsoka starts speaking. "So, what happens to Letta now?" she wonders.

"The bomber has been moved," he answers easily. What? Why?! That doesn't even make sense. She killed Jedi, so why wouldn't she be in our custody?

"Moved?" she repeats, and I sense her frustration growing. "Where? Why should she be moved?"

"The Republic military has taken her into custody."

"Why?" I demand, confused. It was the Temple she attacked, so how does the Senate have any control over it?

"This is a Jedi matter, isn't it?" Ahsoka objects.

"Clones were killed," he replies haughtily. "Which makes this terrorist attack a military matter. An attack on the Jedi is an attack on the Senate."

"Admiral Tarkin is right," Anakin cuts in, moving forwards. "Letta isn't a Jedi. It's not for us to be judge and jury over a citizen of the Republic."

Ahsoka stops abruptly, running around to stand in front of Tarkin. "If Letta's guilty, she's guilty, and she should be dealt with!"

"Calm down, Ahsoka," Anakin chides, "Remember, revenge is not the Jedi way."

"She will be," Aniya promises. "She's a traitor, regardless of who executes justice."

"The evidence seems clear, Ahsoka. Nothing will ever change," Barriss adds.

"The Chancellor feels very strongly that the Jedi must be removed from as many military matters as possible," Tarkin declares as we finally reach an elevator. "You yourselves said that you're peacekeepers, not soldiers."

"I hope Chancellor Palpatine knows what he's doing," she grumbles.

"If he didn't, he wouldn't be Chancellor," I remind, nudging her. I can feel her boiling anger, which I can totally relate to, but it's worse for her. I never did spend hours digging through the crime scene, spending time with the injured afterwards. She saw how people were affected; I didn't.