Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.16.5

Obi-Wan slept the whole way to Xlenia. Anakin didn't mind, he had been unconscious for the whole night he had been trapped under rubble. Not to mention Obi-Wan probably hadn't slept since before he arrived on Utapau, and a lot had happened since then. As far as Anakin was concerned, Obi-Wan deserved to rest.

While his master was out cold, Anakin and Artoo tried to figure out more about how the chancellor had been killed. Technically, Kayla Kanai had been Anakin's charge, but he knew that he wouldn't have been any help protecting her if the same clones that tried to kill him had also targeted the chancellor. He probably would have done more harm than good, but it was still weighing on his mind. The Senate no longer had a leader for the second time in less than a year. Between that and the loss of the Jedi Order, the Republic was in for months of setbacks, maybe even years.

The only thing keeping Anakin from losing his mind about it was the certain knowledge that he couldn't change it. He could help, and if the opportunity arose he would be willing to try to start the recovery process, but he didn't understand enough. Until they knew more about what happened, he had to survive.

He opened the file concerning the chancellor's death. Her body had been found in her office, slumped over in her chair with a blaster wound in her chest. No suspect had yet been found, but a clone blaster had been left in the room. Kanai had been shot not long after Anakin had fled to the Lower Levels.

Anakin had to admire the strategy involved. Whichever clone had turned against the chancellor had taken advantage of the fact that his DNA was the same as millions of other clones, any of which could have been the suspect. Granted, most of them hadn't been on Coruscant, but even that wasn't enough to narrow down the search enough. If the killer had taken the precaution of completely blank armor, with no paint or design to speak of, there would be no way to identify the clone.

They didn't even have video evidence to work with. Sometime after Anakin had left her office for the last time, the security footage had been sabotaged. There was no way to see exactly what had happened, and the footage from the hallway outside her office wasn't any help either. No one had come in the room or gone out of it in the time that the chancellor was killed, and the occupants of the hallway had been so panicked by the attack on Anakin earlier that they had all hidden inside rooms, so no one even heard the shot be fired. It was brilliant. Cruel, of course, but brilliant.

After hours of flying through hyperspace, Artoo alerted Anakin that they were almost to Xlenia. He woke up Obi-Wan, who seemed to be doing better after a decent night of rest. A few moments later, the hyperdrive was disengaged and the ship halted above Xlenia's atmosphere.

Immediately, Anakin could tell that Ahsoka was there. Her Force presence was much stronger, and Anakin could more or less pinpoint where she was. Sighing, he told Obi-Wan, "She's all right."

While he trusted Anakin, Obi-Wan didn't have a Force Bond with the Togruta, so he felt less sure of the fact than his apprentice did. Activating the communications aboard the shuttle, he scanned for any broadcasting signals. There was only one, coming from the surface.

They connected to the source and Anakin sent out a message. "Hi, I'm here to pick up an order of Snips?"

Facepalming, Obi-Wan shook his head at Anakin. "Seriously?"

"What? Only Ahsoka wouldn't question it, no harm in being cautious."

"It's good to hear you," a relieving voice replied. "Took you long enough."

Obi-Wan laughed at their teasing, grateful for a little humor. Mortis knew all three of them needed it right now. He never thought he would be so grateful for their banter.