Chapter Twenty Six

Eighteen months earlier

Yoda, Tanacca and Skyler left the Council chamber on an assignment, a minor diplomatic mission to oversee the transfer of power from one regime to another. The danger level was considered minor, so the Council decided to send Yoda and the two Padawans. Skyler had been tagging along with Yoda since Maure's leave to guard her family. It had been months since Skyler tripped over Yoda and his hip was healing nicely, his memory of the incident faded. No one seemed to notice the changes in Skyler's wardrobe lately. His sleeves became too short and his robe crawled up his ankles; the lack of observation would prove disastrous.

Yoda sat squirming in his seat in the cockpit; it was too soft and still being broken in. He cooked his favorite stew to give the ship that homey feeling and arranged his few pieces of memorabilia. The new droid had been altered to appear less human and its name changed from Sam one to S2-D2. It was shorter, with a dome top and straight sides with less visible controls. Yoda looked at it and scratched his head, wondering what the designer's logic was behind the design.

Tanacca and Skyler took turns as co-pilot since both fit the seat, Skyler being almost as tall as the female Wookie. It took them no time to settle into the ship between youthful exuberance and the Jedi lack of possessions. Tanacca's were mostly grooming supplies, a seven foot walking fur coat tended to cause problems, especially during shedding season. Skyler carried an extra suit of clothes in a larger size, just in case his growth spurt didn't stop at six inches. Then there was the picture of him and Maure, the day she chose him as her padawan; he formed the usual student crush on the older female teacher and missed her already.

Skyler finally overcame his space sickness and grew to love traveling in hyper-space, so he slipped off to the cockpit every chance he got. He sat meditating when the nav-computer beeped and announced their arrival. "Destination: Mustafar."

oOo

Pre-Governor Oreste met them at the spaceport with an armed guard for his own protection, not Yoda's, and was now following him and the padawans into the chambers of the ruling authorities of Mustafar. The change of power was supposed to be routine, but the new Governor of the planet requested a Jedi presence just in case. Some on the planet still respected the Jedi and wanted them to return, but the change from a lush green planet to the volcanic globe fit only for mining was not the ideal place to house a Jedi temple anymore. Out-going Governor Verdan did not seem to hold the Jedi in such high esteem.

This was not the first change of power ceremony Yoda attended, or the most elaborate, but it definitely was the longest and no one was allowed to sit. He started to get an uneasy feeling about the halfway point, but could see nothing of concern behind him.

On his third turn to try to find the source of the disturbance, he noticed he was the subject of discussion of the two Governors. He straightened and faced forward, giving them each a reassuring smile, only to wish he was as sure of the situation as he tried to make them.

He stood silently, trying to look Masterly and confident, unconcerned, yet aware of his surroundings when it happened.

As usual for a teenager suffering from a growth spurt, Skyler dosed off during the ceremony. Since he was standing guard over the control panel of the newly installed repulsor field, he had the misfortune of falling on the disengage for repairs button and the codes were in the process of being changed. The head tech had been called off planet when his wife went into labor suddenly a month early. The assistant to the head tech knew the old codes, but forgot the new codes in the excitement.

Yoda tried to use the Force to find the new codes, but only succeeded in shutting down the forcefield protecting the office complex, speeding up the demise of the building and increasing the danger of injury to the members of the governor's party.

The abandon-the-complex-alarm was finally sounded, but not in time to prevent injury to all those present. The out-going governor was at the back of the room, so was the last to be evacuated, thus suffering disfiguring burns to most of his body. He swore Yoda did this on purpose because he objected to the Jedi presence at the ceremony and swore to get even. Yoda assumed he was just speaking out of pain, until he saw the name of who to contact for payment on the bounty hunter's datapad.

-Wemle Verdan Mustafar communication code #24349

oOo

Maure quickly grabbed the diaper bag and her cloak, adjusted Luka in her arms and followed Yoda out of the cell. The trip out of the ship seemed twice a long as the trip into it. Their hope had been to get on board and make an escape, but now that hope was all but gone. Maure continued to wait for Yoda to tell her through the Force who was waiting for them outside the ship but he didn't look at her the whole trip. She wondered what was wrong with his face; it looked almost ... red.

oOo

As they neared the ramp to the ship the heat confirmed Yoda's suspicions; they were on Mustafar. 'Nothing good happens on Mustafar,' Yoda thought.

At the bottom of the ramp stood Verdan and an army of armed guards. Verdan was pleased with himself for actually bringing the little troll back to experience justice, his form of justice. The sight of Maure carrying a child was not as pleasing.

"Logant, who is she and what is that?" he hissed out of the scarred face.

"They were with him, so I was obliged to bring them along." Logant realized that decision was going to cost him.

"I said nothing about bringing passengers with you. I only paid for and only wanted it."The hatred rang in his voice.

"I know a planet where good looking women fetch a pretty price; I can unload her there. The brat can go to one of the baby shops on Corelia; some people pay well for a brat such as him to raise." Logant reasoned aloud.

Yoda saw the anger building in Maure's face, then saw her release it to the Force. 'The guy who bought her, I would hate to be.'

Maure turned and looked at the scarred gentleman and said in her softest voice. "I could be of great value to you, there are many ways for one to use their Force capabilities. I have always felt restricted by the Jedi code and have long looked for someone strong enough and rich enough to make my exit worth my sacrifices. I think you could be that man, once you get rid of the troll, we should talk."

Yoda gasp in horror at the betrayal, "Maure, how could you!"