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The Knight Before The Dawn | Chapter 6

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Chapter 6

A short flight away from the Jedi Temple, Admiral Tarkin was interrogating his new prisoner, Letta Turmond, in a Republic detention facility. Letta was immensely frustrated by the same questions being asked over and over again by numerous people. Tarkin, however, was different. Letta barked at his initial questions of formality. "I already told you and the last three men! Jackar gave his life to make a statement! It was his plan!"

Tarkin smiled maliciously. "All of it was his plan and his doing. You just fed him the nanodroids at his request. Otherwise you're innocent. Correct?"

"Yes! Now, let me go!" Letta was done. This would be the last officer she'd even say a word to.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere, Miss Turmond. By that confession, you're still complicit in Jackar's actions and aided in the deaths of over a dozen lives. Enough on that though. I want to talk more about the plan of the attack." Tarkin slowly paced the small interrogation room, walking behind her and maintaining his authoritarian presence.

Letta groaned and rested her head on the table in front of her. Tarkin ignored the gesture and continued the interrogation. "Where did you say you worked?"

"In the market." Letta said with her head resting on her arms. She was beaten and worn down, exactly where Tarkin needed her to be.

"Do, you have any medical training? Specifically in medical engineering?"

"What? No. I work in the market."

"Did Jackar ever work in the medical wing of the Jedi Temple?"

"No. He always worked on vehicles."

Tarkin circled around in front of Letta and slammed his fists down on the table in front of her. "Then how would the two of you, with no medical training, be able to reprogram nanodroids to be able to follow a bloodstream benevolently up until the point of detonation?"

"I… ah…" Letta was caught off guard by the line of questioning. There was no answer that she could give.

"Your husband is dead. All we have is your testimony and all of the evidence points to you! So, are you going to lie to me about reprogramming the nanodroids or are you going to tell me WHO HELPED YOU!?" Tarkin had her in a corner and they both knew it.

"No nanodroids were supposed to be found. They were all supposed to explode!" Letta pleaded.

"Then it looks like whoever helped you has set you up to take the fall. Either that or they didn't consider the nanodroids in the hand being too close to the detonation trigger to receive signals from it." Tarkin excelled at manipulating people. He never had any doubt that he would get every answer he wanted when entering that room.

"I… It's…" Letta almost gave up Barriss' name, but she remembered that Jackar's death would be for nothing if she did. So, she remembered the contingency plan. "I won't speak to you anymore. I won't speak to anyone but Ahsoka Tano."

"Agreed." Tarkin grinned. Letta's eyes looked up in surprise. He accepted her ultimatum without any fight. She was glad not to fight for her ability to speak with Ahsoka, but why was that so easy?



Moments later, a holo-image of Admiral Tarkin appeared in Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's office. "Chancellor, I have news." Tarkin stated nondescriptly.

Palpatine turned to the government officials in his office. "It's late. Perhaps we can continue this discussion tomorrow when we are all better rested. Goodnight." The few officials respectfully bowed and left promptly. Tarkin's image remained statuesque as he waited for a sign that he could continue.

Once no one was in the room but the chancellor and Mas Amedda, Tarkin continued. "Ahsoka Tano is on her way to see the prisoner."

"Very good, Admiral. Stay at the facility and await my orders." Palpatine grinned slightly. His puppets were all behaving as according to plan. He turned to his blue changrian vice chancellor, Mas Amedda. "Ready my private ship." Without a word, Mas Amedda swiftly exited the office and made the preparations for Palpatine to go to the Republic Detention Facility.



The flight through Coruscant was pleasant albeit a bit boring for Darth Sidious. He would occasionally look out of the windows of his private shuttle at the little dots of people scurrying about like rats in a maze. He didn't need to be so far above them to see them that way. They were always small and insignificant. So much of his life had been spent maintaining appearances and slowly biding his time. For being one of the most powerful Sith Lords to have ever lived, he spent fairly little time as his true self. It was moments like this trip to the Republic Detention Facility that he reveled in. Yet again at long last he could exercise his power.

So as not to draw attention to himself, he was flying one of his less-known private shuttles that wouldn't be recognized as the Supreme Chancellor's ship. He needed to remain discrete. As soon as he landed in a showy spot near the detention facility, he turned off the shuttle and used its computer to bring up a holo-image of Letta Turmond's cell. He was slightly amused as he watched her pace nervously back and forth in her small holding cell.

After an annoyingly long wait, a light on his communicator dashboard started to blink. He looked up and saw Ahsoka Tano land her Jedi speeder and enter the facility. She looked aggravated. 'Good.' Sidious thought. 'Hold on to that anger. It will help sell the show.' After he lost sight of Ahsoka, he hit a button on the dash and a holo-projection of Admiral Tarkin appeared. He stood at attention and awaited orders. "The Jedi has entered the facility. Go to the Security Control Center. Order anyone inside to leave, and then disable the audio recording on the prisoner's cell monitor."

"It will be done, my Lord." Tarkin bowed and his holo-image vanished. Darth Sidious turned his attention back to the live feed monitoring Letta Turmond's cell. With nearly perfect timing, the audio stopped transmitting just as Ahsoka Tano entered the room to speak with Letta. Sidious didn't need the sound though. He could sense every thought and feeling in the entire building. He used the Force to practically be in the holding cell with them. Ahsoka was interrogating Letta who was about to give up Barriss' name.

Darth Sidious waited for just the right moment; right before Letta could speak the name. Then, he simply lifted a hand from inside his shuttle outside the building and Letta began to gasp for air. For dramatic emphasis, Sidious used the Force to pick Letta up while using Force Choke. He drew it out. Letta squirmed and scraped at her neck for hands that weren't there. Ahsoka reached up and tried to combat the Force Choke, but she had no idea who she was up against. He didn't even blink at the resistance she tried to make. After enough footage was captured of Ahsoka using the Force towards Letta as she choked, he closed his fist and Letta fell to the floor. There was no reviving her. Letta's throat was crushed.

Sidious wore a sinister, wide grin of malevolent victory on his face as he watched clones rush in to arrest Ahsoka. For so long he had craved this moment. Finally, he would be rid of Skywalker's last hope keeping him from falling to the Dark Side. He turned off the monitor and activated the holo-communicator. Tarkin's image appeared. The Admiral bowed respectively. "Well done, my Lord."

"Go to Jedi Offee's living quarters. It is time to recruit our newest agent." Sidious' grin was malicious and unsettling.

"Very good, my Lord. I shall report back once it is done." Admiral Tarkin bowed again and vanished. Darth Sidious cackled and laughed as he turned on his shuttle and headed back to his office in the Senate Building. The night on Coruscant just grew a little bit darker.



Back at the Jedi Temple, Barriss Offee was trying once again to dissolve her feelings of conflict and guilt through meditation in her living quarters. She was focusing on what Ahsoka suggested; moving past them. It was a new and different approach, but she was already getting more results on her first try than when using her master's suppression method. The blinds to her lone window were shut leaving no light in the room aside from the soft amber half-orb on the far wall. There wasn't a lot of ambient light from Coruscant's nocturnal, neon glow that managed to penetrate her window, but she enjoyed the extra feeling of privacy.

As she gracefully levitated about a half meter above the floor, she replayed many conversations and memories over. She managed to resolve a few issues, but nothing major. If Letta and Jackar intentionally betrayed her, she managed to find the strength within herself to forgive them. Slowly, the deepest parts of her mind were beginning to relax. This time during meditation, however, she kept the hallway outside her room within her awareness. She didn't want to be interrupted unexpectedly again.

It was a good thing that she was focusing on the hallway since a man had slowed to a stop at her door. There wasn't any knocking. He just stood there for a moment. Barriss slowly retreated from the depths of her meditation and lowered to the floor. She dedicated more of her focus on the man and could sense that he was fidgeting or tinkering with some sort of device. As she finished coming back from meditation and opened her eyes, her door opened without a knock or bell. Admiral Tarkin stepped in, closed the door behind him and placed a device on the door in one fluid motion. Despite her distaste for the man, he was an Admiral of the Grand Army of the Republic and she was reluctant to drive a wedge any further between the Republic and the Jedi Order. So, she remained calm and allowed his boldness.

"Admiral Tarkin? This is most unexpected. What are you doing here?" Barriss tried to hide her feelings of shock and a hint of fear, but was unsuccessful. She rose to her feet, but he still towered over her with a very authoritarian demeanor even while he wasn't facing her. He set a few switches on the device he placed on the inside of her door.

He spoke as he was activating the device. "So long as this device is active, the door will not open and all surveillance technologies are deaf and blind to everything within this room." Tarkin said matter-of-factly. He then turned around and stabbed Barriss in the neck with a syringe. "I understand you are fond of nanodroids."

"What did you just do!? Why are you here!?" Barriss pulled away as quickly as she could. She sensed malevolence in the Admiral, but she wasn't expecting to be assaulted in any way, least of all with a large syringe. She held her hand over her neck trying to Force Heal the opening left by the needle and to suppress any toxins, but there didn't seem to be any toxins. She wasn't getting dizzy or nauseous. There was just this strange feeling in her neck.

"I am here to represent someone who is interested in your future." Tarkin had a slight grin on his face with narrow eyes as he watched Barriss begin to stumble with the unusual sensation.

"Who!?" Barriss barked at him. She was considering arming her lightsaber regardless of who he was.

Tarkin pocketed the syringe and maintained his elitist demeanor. "All in good time. The injection that I just gave you was a small dose of replicating neuro-nanodroids. As we speak they are multiplying exponentially as they spread out through your entire body."

"For what purpose?" Barriss immediately began running scenarios in her mind, but she was certain that whatever she could think of wasn't as bad as what Tarkin had planned.

"Insurance. We need to know that you are going to behave and not do anything… deviant." Tarkin stood at the door to keep Barriss from making any sudden escapes.

"I… I don't understand." Barriss got a grip on the sensation of nanodroids spreading through her body.

"That is because you don't need to. I will be in touch." Tarkin turned towards the door and motioned to deactivate the device cloaking the room, but wasn't actually doing anything to it. He was waiting.

"I have experience with nanodroids!" Barriss shouted at him. "I can get them out! Whatever you're plan is, it won't work! I'll… AHHHHH!!!" She screamed in pain as electricity arced across her entire body. Barriss was immediately crippled to the floor and pushed to the threshold of pain that she could endure. A little bit of smoke crept up from all over her. She was being electrocuted from within her own body!

"Deviant behavior is not favorable or healthy, Padawan Offee." Tarkin turned back around revealing a small trigger in his hand. Barriss' eyes were squinted shut in pain, but she managed to peak out through her eyelids enough to see it. "Know that you will be monitored. Know that this taste of power was only a sampling. Should you tell anyone or do anything outside of what is expected of you by your peers, the next shock you receive will be fatal. To everyone you are just another Jedi, but know that you work for me now. Do I make myself clear?"

Before she could answer, he shocked her again. The nanodroids all emitted enough electricity to maximize her nervous system's ability to register pain. He continued shocking her until it was very clear that he broke any amount of resolve that she had. He waited a moment for her to recover. Once she picked herself up to her knees, he pulled a holo-device from his pocket and turned it on. The display was a view of him from a lower angle. It was exactly what Barriss was seeing through her own eyes! "From now on, we see what you see. We hear what you hear. If you even hint at trying to get the nanodroids out or deviating from your Jedi protocols in any way, we will immediately end your life."

"But… why?" Barriss was broken. Tears poured out of her eyes as she used what strength she could to stand up.

"As I said, you don't need to understand. You just need to be compliant." Tarkin turned the device on the door off and exited her room. "Have a splendid evening, Jedi Offee."

The door shut and Barriss was alone, sort of. With someone seeing what she sees and hearing what she says she wouldn't ever be alone again. She collapsed on her bed in tears. Barriss was only beginning to understand the situation she was in. There was no telling who all was involved in this plot or what their plans for her were. The only certainty was that there would be no happy ending for this scenario. Even if she served this new power over her, there was no telling whether or not they would kill her as soon as her usefulness to them expired. Barriss couldn't tell anyone. She couldn't do anything. Barriss Offee spent the rest of the night drowning in her own tears curled up in a ball on her bed.
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READ THIS --> This is a companion story to the final four episodes of Season 5 of The Clone Wars animated television series. It glosses over crucial scenes that you need to be familiar with. I'm not going to bother telling you the story you already know. This is what happens behind the scenes. Watch the show before reading this story. Otherwise, it may not make much sense and will definitely contain spoilers.

Ever wonder why Barriss Offee did what she did during the last episodes of season 5? Well, here's my take on it. This story retells those infamous four episodes from Barriss Offee's point of view. It doesn't change anything from the show. This is not a fantasy retelling. It is my attempt at exploring Barriss' motives and uncovering hidden plots and conspiracies that lie in between the scenes of the show. You my be very familiar with the show, but you don't know this story. I promise that this will be surprising at parts and hopefully you will never watch those episodes in the same way ever again.

I know that my conclusions that I draw with this story won't appease to everyone, but that's when you have to remember that this is my interpretation. There are many ways these scenes could've played out or not at all. Try not to over-analyze too much and just have fun. Thanks for stopping by and thank you SO MUCH to those of you who waited for this story! I hope it was worth the wait! Cheers B-)
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Jedimaster9000's avatar

Like what Poe dameron said palpatine is always out there pulling the strings