My thoughts were interrupted by a Padawan's voice ringing in my head.
Um, Master, I'm done.
"Good lecture, Snips," I said. To be honest, I hadn't listened to most of it, but she still deserved praise.
"Thank you, Master!"
"Excellent. Younglings! All aboard!"
The children hurried up the ladder. Turning to the padawan, I added,
"Help them get settled. I'm heading to the bridge."
"Yes, Master!" Ahsoka hurried after the younglings.
Climbing the ladder, I touched the panel, sealing the hatch. The ladder slowly retracted, creaking and squeaking a few times. After that, I made my way toward the ship's wheelhouse.
On the way, I noticed Puck leaning out of a passageway leading to the lower deck.
"Sir, have they dumped the kindergarten on you again? It's becoming a habit…"
I chuckled good-naturedly.
"You yourself... are just a kid. Not even twelve yet."
"Ten and a half, sir. But I'm big for my age."
Waving off the laughing clone, I continued toward the bow of the ship. At last, I reached the bridge. The first lieutenant was there, along with a gray R-2 series astromech that had taken up its place to the left of the pilot's seat. The Zeltron was studying the display showing the ship's course—coordinates that had just been entered by the droid.
"Sir, where are we going? I don't recognize these coordinates…" O'Connor asked, sounding puzzled.
"Not surprising. It's Ilum, a planet in the Unknown Regions."
"Wow! I didn't know there were hyperlanes out there!"
"There aren't. It's a secret route."
"I see… So we shouldn't talk about this?" Grace asked resignedly.
"You're thinking in the right direction. All right—everyone's aboard. You may take off."
"Acknowledged, sir!"
***
Ahsoka smiled contentedly. Everything had gone even better than she had expected. The younglings were now making their way down the corridor to their quarters. Soon they would begin their fifth meditation of the day, known as the "evening" meditation, which would conclude their usual routine…
She flinched slightly when a small hand hesitantly brushed against hers. Turning around, she saw Ashla.
"Padawan Tano," the little Togruta said with a timid smile, "I wanted to ask…"
"Of course—go ahead!"
"When you were telling us about Ilum… Master Vikt…" Ashla hesitated. "He was looking at us strangely… like… through us?"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Ahsoka said gently. "That happens to him sometimes! It's normal for him."
"Okay, then!" The girl nodded and quickly disappeared behind the doors of her cabin.
He's spaced out again… and I didn't even notice, Ahsoka frowned to herself. I'll have to ask him what he was thinking about.
***
Amid the noise of the senators' conversations, it was impossible to distinguish individual words—they were arguing over new bills. Riyo Chuchi, like many others, waited patiently for Mas Amedda to restore order. The discussion revolved around new military purchases: clones, ships, combat equipment, and the allocation of funds for bacta and food supplies.
Her thoughts, however, were far from the Senate floor…
After that meeting with Mikore Vikt—after that conversation—she had thought long and hard about his words.
Riyo… did not believe that Mikore had lied to her. It wasn't that she sensed deception; on the contrary, something told her he wouldn't lie. But… having been a senator for four years—and involved in politics for far longer—she got used to the fact that intelligent people often lie. Lies, omissions, and politics went hand in hand. The Senate… she had long understood that nothing could be achieved through honesty alone, yet she continued to hope the system might still change. But… in politics, virtue often served only to elevate its bearer like a target—conveniently placed for attack. And so, silently, she continued to do her job.
Nevertheless, she decided to verify his claims.
It wasn't difficult, but it was time-consuming. First, she was caught up in hearings on a bill transferring command of planetary defense forces to the Republic and integrating them into the Grand Army. The bill passed by a majority vote. One and a half thousand senators voted against it, while the remaining six voted in favor. Most were neutrals or representatives of small factions, but shaken by recent events, they sided with the Chancellor's supporters. The loyalists and their followers remained in the minority. Hoping the bill might somehow help Pantora—since it certainly wouldn't harm it—she voted "yes."
Then came a brief recess, though there was no time to rest.
For four days, she reviewed reports, studied historical records, and pored over endless tables… The data—compiled by her loyal LEP-model droid secretary, Tibby (a gift from her father on her fourteenth birthday, specially modified from a servant droid into a protocol droid; the sight of the funny, long-eared droid always made her smile as memories of her family surfaced)—was not classified. Most of it was publicly available, scattered across the Holonet or stored in the Senate Archives, to which she, like all senators, had unrestricted access. There were transcripts of senatorial speeches, records of every bill ever passed, and more recent documents from the Jedi Order, including reports on agreements with the Kaminoans…
Reports. Statistics. Figures.
She hadn't paid attention to many of these details before. But now, knowing what to look for, she dug deeper and deeper into the mass of information, searching for—and analyzing—anything that might confirm or refute the Jedi's words. After four days of searching, she was finally able to draw her final conclusion.
And she was practically horrified.
Mikore was wrong. Everything was far worse than he had said. Perhaps he simply hadn't seen the whole picture of what was happening