Star Wars: Secret of The Force

Chapter 9

Bail Organa was a patient man, and he had always prided himself on that. Ever since reports of a Force user on Raxxaann had reached him though, he was understandably worried. He sat at his office desk on the Tantive IV, looking over the reports of his agents. As he looked through, his special communicator beeped. This was the one that he had been given by the head of his intelligence group, although the individual seemed to lead much more than that. "Fulcrum, how goes the search?" Fulcrum, AKA Ahsoka Tano, had her voice distorted whenever she made a call about sensitive information. Bail and her had agreed that this was the best way to handle things. It granted Ahsoka a certain degree of safety, and Bail needed her safe as much as he needed to be safe. Fulcrum nodded under the hood he had given her and replied. "My Agent on Raxxaann has had no luck. She is concerned that we are chasing a trail of ghosts" she replied. Bail sighed. He didn't want to believe it, but he had begun to question the validity of the reports. One of Tano's agents had managed to discreetly, and possibly accidently, get the information from an Imperial probe droid. "You agree with her assessment?" he asked. Bail reflexively rubbed his tired and weary eyes. "Right now, its too soon to say. We both saw the footage from that probe droid and I saw someone use the force. The problem is the environment and the people. I'd prefer to keep this as subtle as possible, to not force our hand unless must." Came the distorted reply. Bail scratched his chin in thought. "What about the smuggling ring your agents found out about?" he asked. Raxxaann was a big planet and there was no shortage of people there with a grudge against The Empire. "Its small, but they've gone to ground after the ISB Sector Commander was found dead and displayed publicly. The Pilots of the ship and those who witnessed the accident might be another story though" was the reply. Bail considered this. He didn't have the resources on his own to get everyone off the stormy planet. Last time had been difficult enough and that was only a moon. "Those pilots and smugglers could still turn this into a victory for us, but a much smaller one. If there is still a Jedi on that planet then clearly, they've gone to ground." Fulcrum's answer to Bails words was not encouraging. "The Imperials haven't banned off world departures and if they have a ship tracking them becomes more difficult. My Agent did report increased Imperial forces on world, but at current we haven't yet discovered why" the distorted voice said. Bail sighed again. "Perhaps we will need to take the smugglers, pilots and any others we can connect to our active groups!" he said. "We've not used up all our chances yet Senator, but neither you nor I have the extra resources to spare. Reluctant as I am, we may need to poke the Gundark nest. If there is a Jedi on Raxxaann then he may very well get involved" Fulcrum reassured. Bail shook his head instantly. "Loathed as they are to admit it, Palpatine and his most loyal may already suspect a rebellion. I dare not tip my hand and reveal all we have worked for until the time is right or we absolutely have to..." he explained. The distorted voice let out a sigh, then answered. "Then the only other option is to make do with the pilots and the others who witnessed it. I'll make the preparation's" Fulcrum said. Bail sighed. Tano was right, she usually was about this sort of thing. Bail looked over the footage again, and managed to make out that the figure he was seeking was a male. "We're seeking a male, that much I can make out" he said after a few moments. "Say we did poke the nest, what did you have in mind?" he asked, reluctantly. As much as he didn't like it, Bail needed to consider every option and winning this war honourably was going to be hard. "Our best chance is to stir up the people of Raxxaann and cause riots. Imperials will be forced to deal with those, and our jedi will very likely step in to force the attention back on to him. This of course is assuming he's still on world..." Bail considered this. The riot if managed might cause a few injuries, but not too many fatalities. "If I were to approve it, you'd need to somehow verify that he is still on world. If he's not then what other course do you suggest?" he asked. Again, and as usual, the answer was quick. "Reach out to other worlds where Jedi are promised Sanctuary from the Empire. The closest that would make sense is Kassyyyk. Even though the Wookies are still under siege, they'll offer to hide a Jedi, unless he chooses to fight alongside them. I don't see him heading for the core worlds, but I'll have my best Agents there discreetly just incase" Fulcrum assured. Bail nodded. "I'll make the arrangements for if we need to get people relocated, but lets try to avoid anything dramatic if we can." He said, finally allowing a warm smile to touch his face. "Good luck Senator, I will update you when I know more, May the force be with you, and hopefully, with our possible ally" Fulcrum nodded, and both of them ended the transmission. Bail sat back in his chair and thought it over. Ahsoka was right in speculating that the Jedi wouldn't return to the core. Doing so would result in a bad situation being made worse, and this jedi's safety wouldn't be certain if he ventured to Imperial centre. There were other variables though. Imperials had been travelling all over the galaxy. Bail hadn't informed Ahsoka, at least not yet, but he had heard the rumours of a secret task force hunting for something. He knew it wasn't the Jedi, all evidence pointed to the group being sent out before he had revealed himself. He sat back, wondering what the Imperials were after. As he brooded on his theories, Bail grew even more troubled, for each theory became worse than the last. He decided to keep his options for now though. Finding the Jedi could be big if he had two enlisted in his cause, it would also mean that the circle of trust would expand. Bail already had more than a few thousand beings enlisted. Most of the beings who had joined him were from Planetary Militias who had fought for the republic in the clone wars, but didn't like the new regime. What Bail really needed were the resources of the former Confederacy of Independent Systems. It would be an interesting task to give Ahsoka, it would also be a good double for a fallback plan if his hopes of recruiting a second Jedi fell through. He quickly started to use his heavily encrypted computer to learn more about some of the more resistant worlds that the Empire hadn't yet forced into the fold.

Lena hated Raxxaann, but what she didn't hate was her mission. When Fulcrum had contacted her and assigned this mission to her, Lena had at first questioned why she had been chosen for this. As she looked around the world now, she had her answer. The idea of a jedi hiding on the planet made sense, even if it was dark and wet. Fulcrum's briefing hadn't offered much in the way of what she was looking for on the planet, but she'd heard too much about how important this was. After arriving in civilian garbs arousing no suspicion, Lena knew that the first stage of her job was done. The second part of the mission had been to make contacts, which was somewhat standard for this type of mission. The more difficult part was finding the rumoured Jedi that had been here. Lena knew of her own Force Sensitivity, had even taught herself some basics like lifting, pushing, pulling and such in terms of smaller objects. Lena's personal stake was that she needed a teacher to help her control her gifts, and avoid the cruel fate of the jedi. Lena mentally thought over her next steps. Recruiting the pilots and witnesses was doable, but not her mission. It would help certainly, but according to Fulcrum, whatever cause she was helping had no more than seven and half thousand members at best. Fulcrum's thought process, and that of her superior, whoever he was, seemed to be that a jedi could boost their numbers. Lena agreed, so long as it was done right and the Jedi was real. Fulcrum seemed anxious to recruit as many people as possible, just as whoever the mysterious being was had recruited her and her own faction to the cause. The best thing to do was return to her safehouse, discreetly purchased, and try to put the pieces together. There was no way of being sure that the Jedi was still on the planet. When she eventually reached the safehouse, Lena entered, changed into something a bit drier, and looked over what she knew. It wasn't much. Lena looked over the reports that she had managed to verify after Fulcrum had pointed her towards informants. Lena could sense things, but having already tried she knew the Jedi must be able to manage, if not completely surprises, his force powers. Lena had taught herself to do that as well, but given she hadn't been found by the Jedi she was fairly confident that the empire knew nothing of her skill. Although there were people on the planet she could recruit, Lena still wanted to focus on her primary mission, which had been to verify the existence of possible anti-imperial groups as well as a possible force user. There had been some leads however, but none had ever gone far enough to warrant a report to Fulcrum. The best chance she had was to ask about the supposed Lightsaber some locals had seen. Lena turned the possibility over in her mind. That was worth exploring.

I had followed the mysterious woman to what looked like a safehouse. Whoever it was she reported to was clearly very careful. As curious as I was about why this girl was looking for me, I didn't have long to find the answers. There was something that made me want to keep following. I quickly remembered my master's mission for me. This girl had her own mission, and I needed to work on that. Deciding I'd be able to sense her leaving, I scouted around the area. I found no Imperial forces on the ground, but I did find a dropped communicator. I ran a few checks, and could tell it held encryptions, meaning I could contact Kara without any unwanted eavesdroppers. "Czar? Are you ok? I was starting to worry when I hadn't heard from you!" she said. I hushed her quickly as I listened, but the 'Agent' must not have heard. "I'm fine, the imperials captured me briefly but I managed to escape. I don't think they know who I am or what I need to do yet!" I replied. "What are you thinking?" she asked. I thought it over for a few seconds. "I don't know, someone else is looking for me and I'm not quite sure why, but by the sounds of things they're no friend of the Empire!" Kara looked interested. I wished I hadn't said anything. "But you don't want to find out why? What we're about to do would be easier if we had people who could help us, useful too!" she pointed out. I thought over my friend's words. "No, this is Jedi Business, but to keep both sides of the debate happy, I'll make sure there are clues for them to follow. At the very least, if allies are needed, hopefully they won't be far away" I said, finally after a few moments of silence. Kara nodded in agreement. "I'll leave you to give whoever your admirer is their first set of clues... while you do that, I'm on my way to pick you up, keep your commlink on so I can track you" she smirked. I sighed. "Romance was always discouraged among the Jedi..." I say. It doesn't work though as Kara quickly cut the transmission. I shook my head, laughing slightly. I carefully reached out with the force. Still no Imperials. I didn't like how quiet it was. I knew that The Eighth Brother was searching for me, and I doubted he'd be trying to give me time to escape. I thought about my next move. If I was going Raaeda, then I would no doubt need to use my force abilities. I reached out with the force again, and then finally sensed something. It was The Eleventh Sister, probably trying to locate me through the force. I thought about my options. I doubted I could win in a fight easily against her, but if she was alone and we fought somewhere on my terms, it could be done. "Time to go on the offensive..." I mused, and went off to prepare my ambush.