Anakin's Fortress - Book II (temporary cover)

Forty-seven - Rigmarole

The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is Kitten.
Year 14

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Anakin

I spend the entire trip isolated. I try to meditate, and fail. I try to think about Obi-Wan's apparent decision to bring back the Jedi, and I just get angry. So finally, I just lie down. At sleep, at least, I'm successful.

I wake up quickly, sucking in a breath as the small cot shakes. For a moment, I think I'm still on Kashyyyk, buried in tons of rubble. But then two young voices register and I remember where I am.

"We're here!" Luke says.

"It's Dantooine, Father," Leia adds just as my eyes are opening. "Isn't that neat?"

"Dantooine," I mutter. "Sounds like another wonderful place..."

"Come on!" My son starts to pull me to my feet while I grumble like Obi-Wan used to. I distinctly remember thinking he was old and grumpy.

The senator is flying the ship when I get into the cockpit. Rex appears to be closely monitoring the skies. I take stock of the planet we're approaching.

"This place is about as backwater as it gets," I mumble.

"Yes," Senator Eridani says. "That is the point, isn't it?"

It appears we're going to be landing in a huge empty area of grasslands. There's absolutely nothing nearby. I sigh but don't ask any of the questions running through my mind.

Mostly because I sense Kitten. It's only a whisper, but it's there.

The senator exchanges some deeply coded phrases with someone. I try to look at the ground below us as we lower, but I only catch a glimpse of the ground closing above us. Huh. Some sort of hidden bunker, then.

The guards standing inside are not the traditional guards of a senator. They're fully armored and each holds eltrostaffs and carries sidearms. The visors of their helmets hang low, but I see their eyes following us.

I glance back up at the ceiling to see it far above. We must be almost a klick underground; it's impressive.

We follow the senator down a long corridor that doesn't feel like it's beneath the planet surface. However, I can feel the minor tilt to the path—it's slowly going deeper. It's well-lit, and eventually, we start passing doors, some open to reveal rooms of all sorts.

"I've never seen anything like this," Leia whispers behind me.

"It's really old," Luke points out.

"Very old," Yoda says. "Before my time, even."

"How could that be?" I ask over my shoulder.

It's the senator who answers. "This was once a hidden base of a Mandalorian faction. Then for some Jedi. And likely other people over the years. Master Yoda is correct, this is almost three thousand years old. The tunnels are, at least.

"During the war with the Separatists, my father began searching for places to hide his wealth, including physical caches. It would seem we would be lucky he did, for multiple reasons. One being the money left to me, of course. The other one," he gestures around, "includes the things he discovered, like this hideout. We cleaned it out and yes, he hid credits here. But when the war came to our planet, we started preparing for the worst." He pauses for a moment. We are now in what appears to be a long walkway, further down there are windows on either side. Weird, we're underground...

"Thanks to the Jedi, we did not end up fleeing our home. Still, we upgraded most of the place and stocked it full. At the end of the war, it could hold maybe a hundred people for a month, or our family for a year. Now, however..." he trails off and looks slightly to his left. I follow his gaze. We are looking through a large window with what appears to be like a courtyard, except there is no fresh air. There are bushes and small trees and above each cluster is a large street lamp that lights the area, but must also provide some sort of UV rays to the greenery.