"You want to turn the Jedi into politicians," he finally said.

"No. I want them to recognize that they are politicians, whether they like it or not. Power and politics are inseparable." Chancellor Palpatine rose. "You, Anakin Skywalker, you have power. I can see it in you. Your connection to the Force gives you clarity and boldness. The Jedi Order needs more like you."

"I am still a student," Anakin said, standing.

"Then learn," Palpatine told him. "Take this opportunity. Find out how to maneuver in Senate politics. It might turn out to be the skill the Jedi Council needs most. Not exactly the glory of lightsaber battles, but crucial nonetheless."

"How can I do that?" Anakin asked.

"Come with me to meetings while you're here," Palpatine said.

"Watch. Listen. Tell me what you think, and I will share my thoughts with you."

It was an extraordinary offer. Anakin knew he had to take it.

"I will have to request permission from my Master."

Palpatine inclined his head. "Of course. And in the end, who knows?

Perhaps you'll be able to teach Master Ken.o.bi a thing or two."

CHAPTER NINE.

Obi-Wan trailed Teda through the maze of Senate corridors that led through the various wings. He hated how Teda strolled as though he belonged there. He remembered the prison he had seen on Romin, the prisoners ragged and starving. He remembered the slums he had seen on the outskirts of the capital city, the luxury of Teda's life compared to the suffering he pushed outside the city walls. Teda did not deserve his clear conscience. He did not deserve his ease.

Teda stopped at last at one of the little cafs that were tucked into the alcoves of the Senate hallways, a place for beings to stop and take light refreshment before returning to their duties. Teda hesitated at the entrance and looked around, then headed to a table in a far corner. Obi-Wan headed for the self-service refreshment bar. As he helped himself to some tea, he saw in the mirror overhead that Teda was meeting Senator Sauro.

Obi-Wan made no attempt to conceal himself. He put down his steaming mug and headed to their table.

"I can't say this is a surprise," he said. "I expected that you would be behind any plot to discredit the Jedi Order, Sauro."

"As usual, you begin every exchange with rudeness," Sano Sauro said coolly. His thin face looked as tidy and pale as ever. His lips were almost white. He was dressed in a severe suit of black cloth. "I don't know what I've done to deserve your contempt and I don't care, but it continues to be tedious to put up with it."

"You know very well what you've done in the past, and what you are doing right now," Obi-Wan said. "You are the shadow behind these hearings."

Sauro sipped at a gla.s.s of water, the only item in front of him.

"Senator Divinian is the presiding official over the hearings, not me."

"How odd, then, that you are meeting with the main witness against the Jedi," Obi-Wan said.

"I'm merely holding out a friendly hand to an exiled ruler of a democratic government that was overthrown by Jedi aggression," Sauro answered.

"That's right," Roy Teda said, anxious to demonstrate his importance in the discussion.

"Also, how odd that you chose to meet so far away from the hearing chamber, in a deserted part of the Senate," Obi-Wan remarked.

"I like peace and quiet," Sauro said. "Obviously, I am not finding it at the moment."

"That's exactly right," Teda repeated, nodding. He looked desperately eager to please Sano Sauro.

Sauro didn't pay attention to Teda. He kept his cool gaze on Obi-Wan. "So you see, Ken.o.bi, I have no hand in the utter demoralization of the Jedi. I am merely a witness to it."

Obi-Wan leaned over the table on his fists. He locked eyes with Sauro. "I'll leave you to your thieves and murderers, Sauro. I realize they've gotten you far, but one day the company you keep will ensure your downfall. "

"Who are you calling a murderer?" Teda sputtered. "Or wait, am I the thief?"

Obi-Wan turned on his heel and left. He walked quickly through the halls and jumped into a turbolift. He didn't want to waste any more time.

He needed to talk to the one being he knew had the most knowledge of Senate intrigue, the best political mind he knew - his friend Tyro Caladian.

He took the lift down to the lowest level, then followed a twisting corridor that narrowed as it descended. After a short ramp, it turned and Obi-Wan found himself in a dim hallway. Bins and durasteel boxes were stacked outside a door. He smiled. Tyro hadn't changed a bit. He could always count on his industry.

The door was slightly ajar, so he pushed it open and peered in.

"Tyro, I need you once again."

A voice came from behind a stack of procedural manuals. "My ears are happy! It is the voice of my friend Obi-Wan!"

A Svivreni poked his head over the manuals. His small face twitched and his bright eyes were alight with pleasure. He scurried out from behind the desk that took up almost the entire room. He stopped directly in front of Obi-Wan, opened his hand, and closed it. He placed it against his heart, and then Obi-Wan's.

Obi-Wan followed the same gestures. Svivreni had different codes of greeting and good-bye, and Obi-Wan had advanced to the most affectionate with Tyro. "It's been too long."

"Yes, indeed. Oh, let me find you a chair." Tyro broke away and began to sweep books off a chair. "You Jedi, never sitting, always moving."

Obi-Wan sat. Tyro leaned against the desk to face him. Now, they were eye to eye.

"I do not have to ask why you have come," Tyro said, his dark eyes full of worry. "I was at the hearing." Obi-Wan grimaced. "I did badly."

"You did well, my friend. As did Senator Organa. But the anti-Jedi faction had packed the house with supporters. And Divinian's questioning!" Tyro threw up his hands. "An outrage. It was obvious he wasn't looking for truth. In another time, too obvious. Steps would be taken to have him removed from a position of authority. But these days..." Tyro shrugged and fiddled with the metal clasp that kept back his waist-length dark hair. It was a gesture he used when nervous, and Tyro was often anxious about the state of the Senate.

"Yes, things continue to decline, no matter how the Chancellor tries," Obi-Wan remarked.

"He does his best. But this uproar against the Jedi - I've never seen anything like it. Even for the Senate, it's ridiculous. And frustrating. It's just a distraction from the real work they should be doing."

Distraction. The word clanged like a bell inside his mind, but Obi-Wan didn't know why. Another word had hit him earlier, just a tiny ping, what was it...

Demoralized. Sauro had said that the Jedi were demoralized.

Disruption + Demoralization + Distraction = Devastation.

Xanatos! Granta Omega's father had devised that formula for orchestrating evil to take root. He had done it at the Jedi Temple itself, hoping to destroy it forever. Could it be that his son was using the same formula to destroy the Senate? Was that his real goal?

If Omega was behind this Senatorial effort, he had already succeeded in disrupting the Senate, demoralizing the Jedi, and distracting everyone. But if that was truly the case, what was the coming devastation he was planning?

Obi-Wan didn't know. But suddenly he knew in his bones that his earlier instinct was dead-on. Omega was behind this.

".. and I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this," Tyro was saying, "but it was inevitable given the circ.u.mstances, I suppose."

Obi-Wan wrenched his attention back to his friend. "What is it?"

"Bog Divinian's committee has taken an unusual step. Instead of a recommendation, it has just entered an official pet.i.tion to ban the Jedi Order from any Senate action. This was clever... but not clever enough.

Senator Organa found a clause that allowed him to appeal directly to the Chancellor in a separate closed-door session. Palpatine is scheduled to decide on the matter later this afternoon in a meeting with both Senators."

"This has all just happened since the hearing? I thought the Senate was supposed to be slow."

"Only when real things are getting done," Tyro said drily. "When it comes to political maneuvering, you have to move fast." Tyro gave him a keen look. "What is it, my friend? The Jedi Order is in trouble, but we will find a way to fight, I promise you. You have more friends than enemies. You just have to remind your friends that they are your friends.

It's the Senate way."

"The Senate way," Obi-Wan p.r.o.nounced in disgust. "And what is that?

Talk. Deals. Bribes. Corruption."

"Obi-Wan." Tyro silenced him gently. "I agree with you. All this is true. But I still believe in the Senate. It is the living symbol of the Republic. Until it was formed, the galaxy boiled with chaos. It is our only chance to bring peace to the thousands of worlds that cannot manage alone. There are good beings in the Senate, like Senator Organa. Many of them. They will win in the end."

Obi-Wan had never heard Tyro defend the Senate so pa.s.sionately before. Usually, he railed against it. But of course that was why he continued to toil down in his little office, searching for ways to make it better. "What amazes me is that you keep your faith in the Senate, no matter how many times your heart is broken."

"Oh, my heart may break from time to time, but never my will," Tyro said lightly. "In that way we are alike. Now, tell me what worries you."

"It's not so much the pet.i.tion, but what the pet.i.tion might conceal," Obi-Wan explained.

Tyro shook his head. "I don't understand."

"What if this action to discredit the Jedi is just a diversion so that something worse could occur?" Obi-Wan said.

What he liked about Tyro was that his friend did not waste time.

His small, furred face grew intent. "Ah. Of course. Continue."

"I have been tracking Granta Omega and Jenna Zan Arbor, both of whom are familiar to you," Obi-Wan said to Tyro's nod. "What if they were behind this latest scheme? What if it is merely a smokescreen for their real plan? "

The possibilities clicked through Tyro's brain. "Of course if it is true that they're involved, this would be more than possible - it would be likely," he said rapidly. "It fits with the way Omega operates. And it makes sense, since Sano Sauro is involved." Tyro's face contracted into an expression of distaste. Sauro was his enemy, too. "That would explain why he has remained in the background. He doesn't want us to connect him to this campaign, because he knows we will immediately make the connection to Omega."

"There is something we're not seeing here," Obi-Wan said.

"The Chancellor is, of course, a big supporter of the Jedi," Tyro said, thinking. "It's unlikely that he will approve the pet.i.tion. Bog and Sauro could then manipulate this defeat into a call for a no-confidence vote. That would allow them to propose Sauro as Chancellor. I know that is his ultimate ambition."

"Then Omega would control the Senate," Obi-Wan said slowly.

Tyro tapped his tapered fingers on the manuals. "But Palpatine is too powerful and too skilled to be outmaneuvered. And I doubt even Sauro could muster enough support for a vote of no confidence. Let's see, he controls the Viga alliance, and the planets in the Commerce Guild, and...

yes, he could get several systems in the Mid-Rim. But in the Core? No.

He's powerful, but he's actively disliked, and there is a strong opposition faction headed by Bail Organa that can't be discounted."

Tyro ended his speculation, realizing that Obi-Wan had grown impatient with the details of Senate politics.

"In conclusion," he said, sighing, "I have no conclusion. I can't see them trying such a thing. You don't try something like that unless you're sure you can succeed. Palpatine is tremendously popular, especially at the moment. Tomorrow there will be a ceremony for the opening of the All Planets Relief Fund. A huge group of supporters will be attending-including many Jedi. This is Palpatine's pet project, and it's a good one. He's worked his way through the tangled bureaucracy to get it off the ground. Now any world in peril can pet.i.tion the Senate directly for funds through one central account. Palpatine claims this will stop the bureaucratic slowdown for relief to troubled worlds. You see, before this, a world would have to pet.i.tion the committee for Relief, which would then turn the matter over to a specially appointed investigatory committee, which would then - "

Obi-Wan's comlink signaled, and he held up a hand to interrupt Tyro. He had to admit he was relieved not to get a crash course in the now outdated procedural details of Senate relief efforts.

Siri's crisp voice came through the comlink. "We found something.

Possibly Omega and Zan Arbor's hideout. We need backup. They could be inside."

She gave him the coordinates. Obi-Wan stood as he flipped his comlink closed and put it back in his belt - at last, action and not meetings. "I have to go."

"And you will take care, I hope. I think you are right. Our enemies are hidden, and that makes them more dangerous." Tyro held his hand out, fingers spread. Obi-Wan pressed his own spread-fingered palm against it.

It was the gesture of good-bye that the Svivreni made to only those closest to them.

The Svivreni did not say good-bye. They considered it bad luck.

"So go," Tyro said in the Svivreni farewell.

CHAPTER TEN.

Obi-Wan was well acquainted with the many exit doors of the Senate complex, and he hit the streets of Coruscant in minutes. He took a vertical monorail down a hundred stories to the business district where Siri and Ferus were located, near the bank of Aargau. On the way, he contacted Anakin.

As he rounded the last corner he saw his apprentice streaking down through the air. Looking up, Obi-Wan could see that Anakin had made the jump from a platform twenty stories up.

"I'm sure there was a lift tube," Obi-Wan said as Anakin ran up.

"Or even stairs."

Anakin grinned. "Too slow."

Together, they ran up to Siri and Ferus, who had taken up a position behind a jumble of airspeeders parked in front of an interior mall of popular shops and restaurants.

"We got a tip from an informer," Siri said. She pointed to a small white building across the way. A blinking sign said VIRTUAL HAPPINESS.

Another sign, smaller and clumsily handwritten said: OUT OF BUSINESS.

"It was one of those sim-voyage places," Siri said. "You know, where you can go and have a simulated vacation experience to the luxury worlds of the Core. But our source says a couple moved in a few days ago.