Beginning Again

Chapter 4: First Lead

Obi Wan POV

When we arrived on Alderaan we found Senator Organa waiting for us at the landing platform, I didn't need the Force to tell me that he was stressed, for his face said it all.  It was understandable that he was upset, his wife was still in danger and so far it didn't seem like anyone had found any clues as to her whereabouts.

"Master Jedi, thank goodness you're here."  The Senator said when we reached him.

"Have there been any more developments?"  Anakin asked.

"No."  He replied solemnly.

"Then we need to get to work quickly.  Can you tell us again, where her majesty went that night when she couldn't sleep?"  I requested, thinking that would be the best place to look first.

"If you'll follow me, I can show you."

Anakin and I nodded and proceeded to follow him to the terrace, the Queen's last known location before she disappeared. "Thank you." I said to him before looking at Anakin. "Rental and I will search for clues here, why don't you and Alexa start-"

"Questioning the staff?" Anakin questioned, cutting me off as he guessed what I was going to say. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and simply nodded. "Will do master. Come on Alexa." He said to his padawan and I watched them go back inside.

"Start looking for clues, please Rendal."

He promptly did as I asked and began investigating the area. During that time I asked to speak with the senator privately. "I'm sorry this happened Bail, but I give you my word we will do everything possible and we will get Breha back."

"Thank you, Obi Wan." He smiled wearily.

"You don't need to thank me." He was a good friend, I wouldn't let him down. "I have to ask you a few questions though."

"I'll answer any questions you have."

"Very well. Is there anyone that you can think of who would want to do this?"

Rendal POV

As we began to look around I saw just how beautiful Alderaan really was, especially the view from the terrace, I could understand why the Queen would choose to go there if she couldn't sleep. So, naturally, I couldn't help pausing in my investigation to look at the scene in front of me.

Under blue and sunlit skies, the view was wondrous to behold, for there were tall, majestic mountains covered in rich green pine trees and in front of them a lake.  The lake was as flat as any mirror. It lay without a ripple in the silver-blue water as if time itself had been frozen. From the tall pines around the edge came not a sound, no movement of branches, no birds calling.

Still as I stared at the beautiful sight, I couldn't help thinking about how the place would look at night, with the moon shining and reflecting off the water....  The very thought of such an awe inspiring image made me sigh as I realised just how romantic that would be....  And how much I would love to have Alexa sit with me in a place like that....

Snap out of it you nerf herder!  You can't afford to be thinking like that when the Queen needs saving!

I mentally slapped myself, how could I be so stupid as to think of myself at a time like this when there was a life on the line?  Darn my silly romantic ideas. Shaking my head I went back to examining parts of the terrace in an attempt to find some clue left by whoever had kidnaped her Majesty, or maybe something that was left by the Queen herself.  So far I had found nothing, but that didn't mean I could afford to give up. With a sigh I looked down and it was then when my efforts were rewarded, there was a small splattering of blood on the edge of the terrace.

"Master, I've found something you might want to see!" I called and he and Skywalker came over.  I noticed their eyes widen slightly when they saw the blood.

"Good spotting, my young padawan."

"Thank you, Master." I replied.  "I will take a sample and take it back to the ship to analyse it."

"Good idea, Rendal, get to it."  Master Kenobi nodded and I took a sample before walking back to the ship.

On the way I found Alexa and, with Master Skywalker's permission, took her back to the ship with me. I thought that might be more interesting for her than talking to all of the servants etc at the palace.

"Thank you for getting me out of there, all we are getting is the same answer. No one knows anything." Alexa sighed and rolled her eyes.

I put my hand on her shoulder supportively, I could imagine how annoying it could be to not get any good answers from people. Surely one of them had to know something about it. "Just let Master Skywalker handle it for now, I'm sure he will find something out soon."

With that said we arrived back at the ship and had the blood sample analysed, when we got the results back we were none too surprised to see that it was Queen Breha's blood. Wherever she was, this made it clear that she hadn't gone alone and the person who took her hadn't been polite about it.

"We should tell Skywalker." Alexa suggested and turned to face the door, only for the man himself to walk in.

"Good idea, what have you got?" Master Skywalker asked, walking over to us.

"The blood we found belongs to her majesty." I answered.

"So that confirms our theory." My master came in at that point. "We found fingerprints belonging to a Trandoshan."

"Did we get an ID?"  Alexa asked.

"Yes, his name is T'doshok."

"That name sounds familiar...."  I murmured, having remembered hearing it somewhere.

"It should, he tried to kidnap Shayla Paige-Tarkin, senator of Seswenna sector."  My Master stated.

"What would he want with the Queen?"

"Don't know, but he is a bounty hunter so he was no doubt hired by someone who has something either against the Queen or Senator Organa."  Master Skywalker assumed.

"Or Alderaan."  I added.

"Yes, that could be a possibility."

"Have you told Senator Organa?"  I asked, they shook their heads.

"No, we're going to do that now."

Alexa POV

I opted out of being present when Obi Wan and Anakin went to tell the senator about what they had found out.  I didn't want to be standing there awkwardly not knowing what to say, and apparently Rendal felt the same so we waited outside the room where our masters were talking to Senator Organa.

"So what do you think we'll do now?"  Rendal asked.

I shrugged, "Track this bounty hunter down I guess.  He is the only lead we have so we'll have to try and get more information out of him."

"Ok...  Alexa...  I know this is going to sound bad, and probably insensitive, and it kind of is but...  I wanted to ask, since you were, um, on your own for awhile...  Would you know how to find this guy?"

I arched an eye marking at his question.  It sounded like he was implying that because I lived on the streets I automatically knew how to find criminals.  Rolling my eyes I sighed.  "I might know something, but I'm not exactly an expert on finding creeps you know."

"Oh I know I just um...  Sorry?"

"Oh no don't mind me keep going, keep digging that hole."  I said with a smirk.

"Sorry."  He said again, this time looking even more guilty.

"It's alright, I know you didn't meant it."

"Thanks."

"You'll still have to do something to make it up to me later. Say... Spar with me when we get the chance?"

"You're on."