Collaborator

Obi-Wan and Anakin sat on the side of one of the duelling practice rooms, watching Asoka run Boba through basic sabre exercises. Apparently she had been teaching him for weeks, Boba having taken a shining to her unusual style some time ago. Obi-Wan was quite pleased to learn that he had initiated the friendship himself, though a bit less happy that the child's primary impetus for relationship-building was the acquisition of new and deadly skills. Still, the Jedi Maser had always loved duelling and was determined to use this as an opportunity to impart non-murder-related lessons. To that end he had Asoka start at the beginning while he observed to ensure that Boba was picking up correct techniques. This also gave him a moment to explain the full situation to Anakin while the knight sorted through the holocrons Asoka had checked out of the library.

"A cult?" Anakin repeated.

"Yes. Quite a large one, if Jango is correct- which he usually is, in such matters. Once..." Obi-Wan trailed off, his eyes unfocusing briefly before kitting his brows. "What was I saying?"

"Anti-Force cult," Anakin prompted, keeping his face neutral and eyes down on the holocrons.

"Ah, yes. The- a moment," the Master interrupted himself, hurrying over to Boba and Asoka to correct wrist positions. Anakin watched him with a frown. What was so uncharacteristic about Obi-Wan's fury with Jango- er, well... part of what was so uncharacteristic- was its fuzziness. Obi-Wan was a precise person in thought and action. When asked about why he was astonishingly angry with Jango, however, he would point to general characteristics or actions he'd heard about second hand, but rarely to any particular memory. This was odd, both because his Master had come to the temple relatively late in his childhood, and because of the hot-potato-esque series of kidnappings and rescues this had set off between Jaster, Jango and the Jedi.

What really bothered Anakin, though, were moments like these when Obi-Wan seemed to have his thoughts de-railed by the very act of trying to reach for a memory. He wondered if his friend noticed it happening, but had a sinking feeling that he did not. As Obi-Wan sat back down beside him, Anakin pushed these thoughts to the side and went back to shuffling through the holocrons.

"It started in the outer-rim, but with the advent of this war our popularity has apparently declined among certain religious factions who have decided that Midi-chlorions are parasitic demons infecting and corrupting their hosts," Kenobi explained.

"Hence the Midi-chlorion disrupting devices," Anakin surmised.

"Indeed," Obi-Wan sighed. "It seems I have a list of things to discuss with the Council. We will have to investigate this cult to find its roots and the source of its new technology."

"Where did Jango get it?"

"He says someone who knew of Jaster's problems with the Jedi reached out to him. Jango never made a secret of his feelings about the Order so they must have felt quite safe contacting him, but they still took him to a distributor, not the manufacturer."

"So we get in, talk to some people, find out where they were getting their product," Anakin put forward. Obi-Wan shook his head, watching the ark of Boba's practice sabre.

"They tested him for Midi-chlorions before he entered the facility," he explained.

"Okay. We get a clone to pretend to be Jango and get him to investigate," the knight suggested. Obi-Wan winced a bit, either at the suggestion or something one of the kids was doing. He caught Boba's attention and mimed adjusting the angle of the blade.

"I don't think that will work. The clone army has been revealed, and if these people already knew who Jango was they're going to know that we command thousands of men who look exactly like him. That's going to make it extremely difficult to pass off an imposter."

"So we find-"

"A regular person won't have the distinguished reputation of openly and often successfully opposing the Jedi," Obi-Wan cut in, anticipating the man's thoughts. "I have considered every option, Anakin. There is only one strategy that might work."

Anakin looked up from the holocrons to glower at the Jedi Master. "He tried to kill Padmé."

"That mission has ended. His employers bought a task, not allegiance. If he can be convinced to bargain with us, Padmé will be safe."

Silently fuming, Anakin wondered if Obi-Wan had purposefully mis-read rage as concern. Somewhat embarrassed by his own reaction, he crossed his arms petulantly.

"What if he betrays us?"

"He can't. Not if he has accepted payment."

"I don't like this."

"Neither do I," Obi-Wan agreed. "But, cheer up- we probably won't be able to convince him, anyway."

Kenobi stood, motioned for Asoka and Boba to finish up, and helped Anakin into his new, undamaged hover-chair. "I've put off talking to the Council long enough. Can you mind these two while I present... hm- most of my findings?"

Anakin grunted a sullen response which Obi-Wan took for assent, leaving the room. The young trainees wandered over as Anakin clenched his jaw, unable to coherently dis-tangle his anger and misgivings. Glancing down at the holocrons, he realized that there might be something he could do about at least one of his nagging 'bad feelings'.

"Asoka, we're going to go through these holocrons to see if there are any groups with Force-sensitive tech which might be hostile to Force-users. Boba, you return these ones to the library," he instructed, handing the boy a small stack. "Find something for yourself to read while you're there- there are lost of entries on past events or current Jedi."

As usual, Boba looked back at him silently, though now with a slight question in his eye.

"Remember," Anakin added as they started towards the door, "some records require higher level permissions to access. Master Nu's card has all of the permissions for the library, so if you need something... ask her."

Boba nodded in understanding and headed down to the library to steal his uncle's records.