ED : Chapter 23: Welcome to the Jungle I

Mimban/Circarpous 28.7 BBY (14 Days Later)

Mud continually sucked at my boots, as a light but steady rain continued to patter down on the hood of my fortunately weather-proofed Jedi cloak. Despite the rain's seemingly perpetual fall, thick mist managed to coil all about our group like a gently swirling and nearly all-concealing gray blanket. 

Dulling and distorting in strange ways the many unknown sounds belonging to the jungle's inhabitants, while creating an ever-shifting limit to our field of vision as we moved. 

The addition of all but invisible and bottomless bogs to the jungle's nearly trackless nature made travel under these conditions while lacking an expertise with this specific locale feasible only due to the Force.

That wasn't my area of focus at present, however. 

I was splitting my attention between simply staying with the group as it moved, and minding the reports I was receiving from a droid control-interface I was kept busy using telekinesis to keep dry enough to remain functional. 

I'd built both the droids and interface with an extremely humid environment in mind, but Mimban gave new emphasis to the term "dripping wet." Everything here was damp, wet, or soaked all the way through. 

Causing the growth of the huge swathes of brightly colored molds and various sorts of fungi. Which together gave the entire planet a lingering odor akin to rotting fruit mixed with beds of mulch.

Finding the Temple of Pomojema from the air hadn't been difficult. It was, after all, the only large piece of advanced stonework that was anything you might refer to as structurally sound anywhere in the jungle of the northern hemisphere. 

No, it had been finding somewhere solid enough to set the Argent Bulwark down which wouldn't lead to the heavy starship immediately disappearing beneath the unstable surface of the planet. 

Somewhere that also happened to be (relatively) near to an ancient temple long since all but swallowed by the jungle that had proved to be the challenge. A long day of slow flyovers to scan for such a landing site had followed after our two day journey to reach the planet. 

Finally resulting in the eventual discovery of a rare rocky plateau approximately eighty-five miles south by southeast of the Temple which scans indicated was strong, stable, and clear enough to serve as a viable landing-site. 

We'd all disembarked anticipating no more than a seven or eight day hike. We had the Force on our side, after all. Surely we could manage slightly more than ten miles a day, right?

That had been two weeks ago. It wasn't really the difficulty in traversing the terrain per se which slowed us down. The chief difficulty was finding viable trails that hadn't already been claimed by the indigenous peoples as part of their territory. 

After the first confrontation between our group and a band of Coway warriors intent on defending their territorial prerogatives had nearly forced us into a fight with the primitive hunter-gatherer worshipers of a warrior-god whose tenets bid them behave as the next thing down from Orcs, Yoda had declared we would be avoiding trails blazed with Coway markings. 

It had been interesting watching the Grandmaster use the Force to converse with aliens whose language I was positive he didn't know, but frustrating to be giving way to the demands of beings not in any way harmed by our use of their trails. 

Individuals who'd stubbornly refused all possible offers to "rent" the use of their trails for, reasons, I guessed.

"Patience, Apprentice. What does it matter how long the journey takes us, if what you told me about your nocturnal activities during our stay within the Temple was accurate? If the only beings who know about this mission are either on this mission, members of the High Council, or highly trusted Sentinels serving as factors to the High Council, how could the Sith learn of their peril?" 

Dark Woman very quietly inquired in what was meant to be a comforting manner. She'd dropped back to my position at the tail of the group so we could talk with a measure of freedom, but her words made it clear I hadn't done a sufficient job in explaining the evil genius or the sheer dark power arrayed against us. 

I knew it was her mind, fighting the notion the Jedi were not only the hunters, but also prey. She had long since grown accustomed to Dark Siders being something you simply hunted down, rooted out, and moved on from. 

Still, knowing what the problem was didn't make it any less frustrating.

"Master, no one ever went wrong by assuming That One knows that which he could not" I murmured in equally low tones. 

I didn't want to be making any reference to my meta-knowledge this close to our fellows, but Dark Woman's comments hadn't left me any choice. 

While I spoke, a vision of a thousand mind-controlled Coway warriors being set on us by Bulq in his new guise as a Sith Apprentice flitted through my mind's eye. It was only one possible method the Dark Side might be utilized to make our superior numbers and power go for nothing, and that was what bothered me. 

I was confident there were a hundred equally deadly possibilities I hadn't imagined. Palpatine would do anything, risk anything to prevent his being identified as the Sith Lord the Jedi Order sought. 

Even after everything I'd explained to her, I wasn't sure my Master had really digested the idea the might of the Republic itself could be turned against us to shield the man who'd wormed his way to it's heart.

Yet that wasn't the dread which fed my deepest, most unspoken fears. If this worked, then Palpatine would be on the run. 

Yoda couldn't be in two places at once, and Mace Windu couldn't kill or apprehend a Palpatine unwilling to stand and fight. 

When I'd initially concocted the notion of revealing Palpatine as Darth Sidious via the Kaiburr Crystal, I'd envisioned being considerably older and having significantly more time to devise a means of preventing the Sith Lord's escape from Coruscant. 

I had absolutely no doubt he had the Scimitar or a duplicate of the Sith Infiltrator ready and waiting in case he needed to make a quick escape. He would flee the ruins of this plan. 

Only to pick up the threads of a contingency-plan I was CERTAIN the man had prepared. 

The Expanded Universe material made one thing very, very, very clear. You couldn't be certain that Darth Sidious was defeated and dead even when you had sat three days with the body just to be sure.

Which would render a great deal of my foreknowledge worthless. That was my deepest, most potent fear. I knew I didn't have a third the mind for plotting and scheming that Sheev Palpatine did. 

Once we went off-script, this would be decided on the merits, and a part of me dreaded that my side might not be able to pull out the win. I kept giving my fears up to the Force. 

Letting it remind me of my connection to everything as it soothed away anxieties which served no constructive purpose, but my concerns never faded.

...

Coruscant, Republic Executive Building (1 Day Earlier)

The bluish holographic image of Jedi Master Ronhar Kim smiled at his old friend, but there were obvious signs of tension and fatigue in his body language as he apologized.

"Forgive me for taking so long in getting back to you, Chancellor. 

I only returned two days ago from a month-long undercover mission on Nar Shaddaa/Legends to ascertain the source of the unusually large, well-armed, and highly organized slaving raids targeting the Twi'leks of Ryloth, so it's taken me until now to discover the answer to your inquiry. 

I'm troubled, not to mention curious, as to why you couldn't simply take your concerns about the threat uncovered by the Intelligence Service to the High Council, however."

Effortlessly concealing his irritation and impatience with the necessities demanded by the role of interested old friend, Palpatine frowned slightly and adopted his Grade Two Concerned Voice, as he replied.

"I would have thought that would have been obvious, old friend. Given the indications that this new group formed out of the remnants of the Bando Gora seem to possess access to information the Jedi Order would certainly consider as sensitive as I do, I'm concerned that as troubling a notion as it might be, the prospect of a leak actually within the Order cannot be discounted. 

How else would these terrorists know a major operation requiring the private purchase of an extremely expensive starship was recently sanctioned by the High Council, or that said mission had just recently gotten underway?" 

He effortlessly suppressed the urge to smile as the foolish Jedi's frown deepened, with the man's next words making it obvious he'd taken the bait.

"I was afraid it was something like that. Still, it wasn't easy to determine what's going on, and if it were anyone except you, I'd never consider divulging this information. 

The seal of the High Council is on the Grandmaster's mission, so I could be expelled from the Order for revealing what I'm about to tell you" Ronhar related with an even grimmer expression. 

He hurried on with his explanation a moment later, with the Jedi's words sending a shock of surprise, fury, and fear bordering on terror through him. 

Requiring the Sith Lord's every bit of skill at dissembling to go on concealing his true feelings beneath a mask of thoughtful concern.

"I couldn't actually discover all the details given the High Council's seal, but I did learn Master Yoda assembled a detachment involving a Knight trained in xenoarcheology, and another trained as a Liturgist skilled with ancient languages. 

Rumor has it he's looking for some sort of Force-relic, but that's all it is, a rumor. 

I don't know where they've gone, or when they're expected to return. Not very helpful in regards to stopping any terrorist plot to interfere with the mission or kill those on it, I'm afraid. 

The only other detail I can provide is the Argent Bulwark's hyper-comm signal frequency. 

Useless, I know, unless they call in while someone's scanning for the frequency. I'm sorry there's nothing more, but I'll keep digging." The Jedi Master supplied in a worried yet completely trusting voice.