Apologies for the wait. As expected, real life has taken over. Thank you for all your reviews and to all of you who have added this story to your favorites or alert lists. Much appreciated.

Thanks again to my awesome beta, Angel5000. She is, quite simply, awesome!

---

Downtown: Chapter Three

Mace hadn't even landed the transport and already the Jedi on board could feel the Force slipping away. The use of anti-Force weapons was illegal and campaigned against, especially on Coruscant. That meant the enemy was bold, armed and highly dangerous. From the air, the devastation wrought upon the fairground was plain to see. Emergency services were everywhere, trying to help the injured whilst covering the dead with anonymously blank sheets. The scene was cacophonous; an absolute nightmare.

“Any idea if Obi-Wan is down there?” Mace asked Qui-Gon quietly.

It took a lot of concentration but Qui-Gon controlled enough of the Force to scan for his Padawan. “No. I can't sense anything within the blast zone well enough to tell.”

“If we land, we’ll be without the Force entirely if we stray too close to the blast’s ground zero,” Mace observed.

“I have to go,” Jarc spoke up. He asked Mace to open the hatchway so he could fly down to the surface. “I can report back to you and the other healer teams. You could return to where the Force is unaffected and see if it has any further warnings to offer us.”

Agreeing, Mace opened the hatch. “Keep your com-unit on you at all times and be aware Jarc that the Force will be completely beyond your reach while you’re in the blast radius. It will feel strange, sort of like reaching for something you know is there but it remains beyond your reach. Avoid trouble at all costs.”

Jarc bowed before disappearing. A moment later, they saw him with a medical pack strapped to his stomach swooping to the ground, wings fully extended. Mace put a quick call through to the Council, alerting the senior Jedi Masters to what had happened. Yoda promised that the healers were already on their way, adding that he would send along several Knights who had undergone training in null-Force conditions.

"Disrupted, the Force is," Yoda said in conclusion. "Wary, you must be. Danger there still is, lurking unseen. Meditate we will, but trust your own feelings you must."

With those ominous words still echoing in their ears, Mace took the ship higher. Qui-Gon, using the scanners and the cameras attached to the ship's exterior, set the recording equipment to transmit data to Coruscant's emergency services and the Jedi Council. It would also, undoubtedly, serve as footage for the media and, maybe later, prosecution of whoever had done this.

"Is it as bad as it looks?" Mace asked, focusing on piloting.

"I think so," Qui-Gon replied with a carefully neutral voice. Years of dealing with disasters had given the Jedi Master the necessary ability to emotionally distance himself from many atrocities. He punched a few keys and the camera zoomed in. "There are a lot of people down..."

"Look, once we've got back up here we can get down there and ask around about Obi-Wan and..."

"Aebii."

"Obi-Wan's certainly taken a liking to her," Mace commented with a grin. "D'you think there's a future there?"

Lifting an eyebrow, Qui-Gon assumed: "As in Obi-Wan becoming a Knight and taking her as his Padawan?"

"Stranger things have happened," Mace replied.

"Only time will tell I suppose," Qui-Gon said. "Time, and the will of the Force."

"But if you were allowed a single wish?" Mace prodded.

"I would wish for Obi-Wan's happiness."

Mace gagged. "That's too mushy for me. I can't take it. I..."

Everyone will die!

The words dropped Qui-Gon to his knees and Mace lost control of the ship long enough for the auto-pilot to kick in. Their heads pounding, the pair shared a deeply concerned look. Neither needed to speak, because they were both thinking the same thing.

The worst was yet to come.

"We're landing outside the blast radius," Mace announced when he had recovered enough to speak. "We'll consult the Force immediately."

"There's no need," Qui-Gon replied in a quiet voice. Mace looked over his shoulder, finding Qui-Gon hunched over a small screen. "Someone's hijacked the holonet. Listen."

With the sound turned up, Mace could hear what was being said as the screen showed nothing but images of destruction from across the galaxy. "We will destroy your world. We will annihilate all you hold close. For too long you have harboured the criminal Jedi. For too long your Senate has grown rotten and corrupt. We will end it. You will all die and we will reign in your place." The screen flashed white, the speech replaced by screams of horror and suffering. It was crippling to hear and Qui-Gon hurriedly shut the sound off. The Force was far from quiescent, roiling like a storm-tide.

Mace, despite the queasiness rampaging in his gut, took the ship's controls again. "It's going to happen, any second," he said, his voice tight with barely restrained frustration. "Another..."

In the distance, another explosive cloud blossomed in the air, its light reflecting in their eyes. Mace aimed the ship straight for it, knowing Qui-Gon would relay the information to the Council.

They were no longer looking at a single terrorist incident. They were looking at a declaration of war.

---

The walkway soon took Obi-Wan and Aebii back into the interior of another equally desolate building. Whatever it had once been, time had erased the nuances of its identity. Aebii stuck close to Obi-Wan, her hand never leaving his. She had to jog a little to keep up with his pace but remained silent until he grew too fast and she had to ask him to slow down.

"Sorry," Obi-Wan said, his steps slowing. "I'm so used to walking with my Master. He's got the longest legs."

"I think I'd always have to run to keep up with Master Qui-Gon," Aebii commented.

Cocking his head with the amusing recollection, Obi-Wan commented, "It took a lot of growing 'til I didn't always have to run."

They carried on walking, Obi-Wan opening doors every now and then but only finding dark closets or barren rooms that had probably been offices. Thus far though, there was absolutely nothing that resembled a staircase. Ignoring the little voice in the back of his mind that insisted there simply was no way up, Obi-Wan kept looking and kept Aebii distracted. But the child was a Jedi, and it wasn't long before her mind got itself stuck firmly on their predicament.

"Is that man going to keep coming after us?"

"He might."

"But you can fight him with your lightsaber, right?"

"Yes."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely."

"What about the voice in my head?"

"I'm not sure who that was."

"It made me walk when I didn't want to. What if it happens again?"

"If anything happens, I'll hold on to you tighter." Another door, another dead-end. "Don't worry about it, you'll be fine."

"What happened to all the people at the fair?"

"I don't know." It was a partial lie, because he had felt numerous deaths, but he didn't burden Aebii.

Squirming a little, Aebii then said, "Everything still feels funny."

"I know."

"But, y'know, I can tell something's not... um... I dunno how to say... something's... different? Um... I dunno..." The little girl tugged thoughtfully on her hair as if to make her brain work harder. She eventually gave up, deferring to Obi-Wan senior status. "Don't you feel anything?"

He released a breath and focused as best he could. "You're right. It's hard to say." At Aebii's frustrated huff (yes, yes, he knew that being in his twenties and therefore so much older than her meant he had to know everything), Obi-Wan reached for better words. "Mostly, everything feels fine. Strange, yes, but fine. However, at the same time, something's not so right. Imagine... imagine disturbing still water."

"There'd be ripples!" Aebii declared.

"Exactly. So, something is making the feeling of calm ripple, like when you throw a stone into a pond."

Aebii nodded, happy with this explanation as they walked further into the empty building. Further down the hallway, walls had given in and crumbled, revealing gutted rooms beyond. Aebii clung to Obi-Wan, her small body fraught with trembles. The cavernous darkness was almost unbreakable; Obi-Wan's glowstick was woefully limited in the light it could produce. He was tempted to use his lightsaber, but didn't want to alert anyone (or thing,some overly imaginative brain cell muttered) to their presence. Obi-Wan considered stepping into one of the empty rooms they came across, but his first choice door swung open on a room where the floor was a distant memory and the second door revealed a floor with a disturbing tendency of groaning.

"We'll find a way up Aebii, it's just a matter of time."

"Sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

It was cold here too, this empty shell far from sunlight. They were in no danger of hypothermia, but the chill was unpleasant and another hardship that Obi-Wan could deal with far better than Aebii. He smiled down at her, aiming to reassure. The poor kid hadn't expected this when she'd begged to go to the festival.

It wasn't too much later when the architecture changed from neglected neutral furnishings to completely utilitarian. It was hard to say if the building had been stripped or if it had never been finished. Either way, at the end of a depressingly gray corridor, Obi-Wan found a door that opened up onto the one thing he and Aebii needed more than anything:

A staircase wrapped around the wall of the yawning abyss - the only other thing in sight.

But something drew Obi-Wan's attention, something that kept him from running up the stairs at full speed. He even held Aebii still to keep her from getting too far ahead. She tried to ask what was wrong, but he silenced her quickly before looking out over the stairway's edge. Far below, just visible in the light that shone from there, Obi-Wan could see people moving in hurried yet calculated manners. Frenzied activity was taking place but it was only after considerable eyestrain and the onset of a headache that Obi-Wan realised what they were doing.

He went so pale Aebii panicked. She didn't have a chance to ask what was wrong. Obi-Wan grabbed her, told her to climb onto his back and started running.

"It's bad?" Aebii said, too confused to ask anything else.

"We have to get back to the surface. We've got to warn everyone."

"What is it?"

He hesitated briefly, wondering if maybe he shouldn't say. But the girl was trembling, and lying wouldn't help. And she was a Jedi. If she was to make it in that life, she'd have to get used to the harsh reality of life quickly. He told her the truth. "Explosives. I've never seen so many." The image flashed in his mind - the walls far below invisible beneath all the plastic explosive. There was, without a doubt, enough to level several buildings. "I think..." The horror of it sickened his stomach. "I think someone's trying to destroy the city."

Everyone will die. Suddenly the words made sense.

From somewhere up above, a door clanged open. Footsteps, ridiculously heavy, began heading down. Aebii's grip on Obi-Wan tightened until it was almost painful. He held his lightsaber as he edged up the stairs, ready to defend himself and Aebii if necessary.

When they came face to face, Obi-Wan couldn't believe who he saw or, more correctly, who he heard. That wheezing laugh was unmistakable. But how had he gotten up here so fast when he'd been sealed in that old shipping building?

"If I were you, Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, I'd let the man with the blaster bring you down here." The voice, female, young and boasting a tone that suggested years spent in expensive, exclusive private schools, echoed from below. "He's not got too much of a brain left. He's under orders to kill if you resist and I'd really rather have you survive a little longer."

"Obi-Wan..." Aebii whispered.

"It's okay." He shifted her until he held her to his chest, figuring if the blaster-wielding man was behind them, Obi-Wan should be the one to take any shots. Then, with a heavy heart and a nervous stomach, he started walking down. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"But I..."

He leaned in close so only she could hear. "Don't let them know you're scared. Be brave. I know you can do it."

Aebii managed to nod but she clung onto Obi-Wan and he held her as tightly as she needed him to. He walked at a measured pace, refusing to hurry but not dawdling either. Obi-Wan knew, without a doubt, that they were in serious trouble - that the whole planet was in trouble, so panicking was not going to help...

...Not that he was much of one for panicking.

When they were several levels below where they had entered the stairwell, Obi-Wan could finally see the explosives up close. What he saw was truly terrifying, leaving him unable to repress the shudder that shot through his body. These weren't any normal explosives.

Anti-Force. They would create a massive null-Force area. The Jedi would be incapacitated.

Aebii let out a quiet whimper, clinging ever more tightly to Obi-Wan. She didn't know what the explosives were, didn't understand the implications, but if Obi-Wan was uneasy about it, then it had to be bad.

Another level lower, and the woman who had spoken before finally came into view. She was a big woman insofar as she was extremely tall. Her skin, pale in the darkness, was scarred and pock-marked. Her four arms were easily setting up the detonator. The appearance of large red numbers in the digital chronometer, the countdown starting a heartbeat later, signified the end of her work.

The timer said three standard hours.

"You're the one who brought us here," Obi-Wan stated, his voice completely steady despite the increasingly dire situation.

"I am."

"Why?"

The woman shot him an amused look, using one of her four hands to brush white hair out of orange eyes. "You'll find its harder to get the answers you want without those Jedi Mind Trick powers of yours."

"You wouldn't have brought us here unless you had a reason to," Obi-Wan surmised. "And your..." he eyed the man holding the blaster. "...Pet. You said experimentation. You're not just any terrorist. You've got money behind you."

"Ah, the Jedi wants to work out his puzzle. Sweet."

"Whatever you're doing, whoever you're working for, you won't win."

"Oh, won't I? Blasts have been happening all across Coruscant and believe me when I say this," she put a hand against the explosives, "is not the only one of its kind. Countless people will die and the Jedi will be rendered helpless in their own Temple."

Anjeru. Again Obi-Wan's thoughts returned to that Anti-Jedi group.

"So yes, I really think we will win."

Up above, a door slammed open. From the shock on the woman's face, this was not something she had planned.

Aebii screaming out for help was another shock.

"Who's down there?" A rasping yell came from above. "What's goin' on?"

Obi-Wan barely caught the Force's painfully distant scream telling him to move! MOVE NOW! He dodged out of the way and a blaster bolt, aimed at Aebii, hit the four-armed woman instead. She smacked into her detonater without a single cry, dead before her body slipped to the ground. Obi-Wan dropped Aebii to the ground, ignoring her further cries for help, and threw himself at the man. He made a grab for the blaster but missed, the man pulling it back with more wheezing laughter. Changing tactics, Obi-Wan kicked out with his legs, extending his range as far as he could. He caught the blaster's tip, the force of his blow enough to send it out of the man's hand and tumbling down, down, down into the darkness, never hearing it hit the ground.

Obi-Wan didn't even have the chance to think of his next move. Even his instincts didn't concoct a reaction in time. He took the punch to the left cheek, falling backwards down the stairs. Dazed, vision hazy, he couldn't move as the man threw himself at Obi-Wan, reaching his hands out and grabbing Obi-Wan's head. He could barely believe what happened next.

Die. Gonna die!

The pain of the words cutting into his mind was almost too much for Obi-Wan's consciousness to take, but all of a sudden the man was reeling backwards. Aebii had launched herself onto his back and, using the best tactics all little girls had at their disposal, began scratching and biting him with all she had. The man stumbled away from Obi-Wan, trying to peel Aebii off of his back but the little girl was surprisingly tenacious. Nevertheless, she was no match for a grown man and when he finally got a grip on her, he moved as if to throw her into the black pit that had swallowed his blaster. Obi-Wan tackled the man, yelling at Aebii to jump down and get back. She scrambled away before the man's weight crushed her. Obi-Wan pushed himself back, intending to deliver a kick that would render his opponent unconscious. He didn't get the chance. Moving faster than expected, the man pushed Obi-Wan away, levered himself over the metal railings and disappeared into the darkness.

"Well," Obi-Wan commented, more to himself than to Aebii, "that was unexpected."

"Hey!" The voice from above was closer now, only a few levels up. A human face - middle aged - looked down. "What are you two doing down here?"

"Sir, listen to me very carefully," Obi-Wan called back. "There is a lot of explosive down here - more than enough to level this building and all the ones around it. I need you to evacuate immediately - along with anyone who's with you - and alert the security forces and the Jedi as soon as possible. Do you understand?"

"I'm here on a security check. There's been reports of unauthorised access to the lower levels and I..."

"And you need to move, now. We have no time to waste."

"Okay. Okay, I'm going. There's a communication relay on the level I came down from."

"We'll meet you there. Go on ahead."

The man ran back up and Obi-Wan looked down at Aebii, who had picked herself up and was gingerly brushing dirt off of her tunic. "You okay kiddo?" he asked.

She nodded.

"That was a really brave thing you just did." He pulled her into a hug, stilling the trembles that wracked her tiny frame. "You saved me." Gently pushing her back, Obi-Wan held out his hand. "Don't know about you, but I'm ready to get out of here."

"Okay," Aebii replied quietly, taking his hand as they began heading up the stairs. "I wanna go home too."

"Yeah, the Temple might get a little dull but it's times like this when I really miss it." Obi-Wan kept his pace slow enough for Aebii to keep up with. "Don't tell my Master I said that, okay?"

"I just wanna get back before Master Yumi decides we're late and gives us all that meditation to do."

"I'd almost forgotten about that," Obi-Wan said with a heavily melodramatic sigh. "Oh woe!"

Aebii giggled. "Maybe she'll understand 'cause of everything that's happened. We found that bomb and everything!"

The explosives reminded Obi-Wan of how desperate their situation was, forcing him to pick up speed. He kept up a light-hearted banter with Aebii, distracting her as best he could.

But when a choking, rattling scream came from above there could be no further distractions.

When a body went plummeting into darkness before their very eyes, Obi-Wan knew they had to find a new way to get back up to Coruscant's main levels, because there was another killer down here and he couldn't risk a fight, not when Aebii would be in danger.

He didn't dare admit it aloud, but Obi-Wan knew they were in serious trouble.

To Be Continued...