『Elusion to Flight 』

It didn't take long for the Jedi Masters of the Council to arrive fashionably late behind the rest of their Jedi Knight underlings and their Padawans.

Dooku stood on one of the lower pods, looking over the lower area at the bottom of the chambers. A frown placed on his lips as he could not sense his Padawan above him. Yet he could also sense that there was death down below.

"Ento..." The boy had saved his life within less than a day of becoming his padawan. As he looked to the burnt pod above, he had no idea if the boy was alive.

However one thing was true, he couldn't sense the young girl, the Queen either. They hadn't died, at least she hadn't. He would've sensed that at least, so where did they go?

As the Jedi Masters of the Order pried the door open, rather than going around the old fashion way, they clambered down inside the office. As they landed on their feet, the members of the council covered their noses if they had a nose to cover.

Dooku glanced down towards his superiors before jumping from the pod he was situated upon and landing on his feet. He walked over to the open horizontal blast door and hopped down with the rest of them.

"What a slaughter..." Mundi commented as he looked over the corpses in the room.

Finis lay by the door, his guards surrounding him even in death. They were fried, their skin turned brittle from multiple lightning strikes. However, out of all the dead bodies, there was one missing... Mas Amedda, the Vice Chancellor.

"Everyone's' dead...?" Dooku narrowed his eyes on the body of the Chancellor, then towards his aid. Her head was turned half way round as if it had been twisted around through the use of the force.

Windu knelt down as he examined the Supreme Chancellor's corpse, they could see the cause of death as plain as day. None of his things were missing, not even his personal starship's transponder keys.

"This was done out of anger," the man stood as he looked towards the open door way. His eyes narrowing on the trail of death left behind by Palpatine's escape.

Guards were dead, laying face down, or sprawled on their backs. Their armor and robes burnt to a crisp. They were mere burnt out husks of what they used to be.

"His face is going all over Galactic News due to his stunt, he won't be able to evade us for long.. Even if he goes into the Coruscant underground." Mundi pointed out as he walked over to his colleague.

"What about Mas Amedda?" Mace asked as he looked to his fellow council members, "Why wasn't he killed? Why isn't his body here?"

"Hostage he may be? Hm." Yoda tapped his cane along the metallic floor, taking in the scene.

"No, there doesn't seem to be a sign of struggle from the Vice Chancellor," Plo Koon pointed out as his eyes trailed along the ground. There were no scuffle marks, he wasn't dragged. It was likely the two of them walked out of here.

Dooku walked up to his former Master, "I cannot sense the boy or the Naboo Queen after he detonated the Sith's weapon." He expressed his concerns with a strong tone of voice.

Yoda looked up to Dooku as he spoke and nodded, "Strange this is. Investigate we must."

Dooku nodded as his Master stated the blatant obvious, with the same concerns.

"We can only assume that Mas Amedda is not a hostage, but a collaborator," Mace Windu turned his gaze towards Yaddle and her former Apprentice. "We have to investigate the Senators, discreetly."

"Cause much chaos this action will... Rethink we must," Yaddle responded to Mace Windu's suggestion rather quickly. The Senators and the Bureaucrats most of all will not like the Jedi snooping around in their affairs.

Dooku caressed his chin at this, thinking of the possibilities of where Ento could have gone in such little amount of time. Nothing came to mind.

However he then let his mind go, listening to the force. He could sense Palpatine, on the run. He was already outside the building. "Masters of the Council!"

Yoda nodded as they all sensed it around the same time thanks to his reaching out with the force. Most of the Jedi Masters and the Knights followed after while others stayed behind to maintain the peace.

With no Vice Chancellor, and no Supreme Chancellor, nor Chief of Staff left behind... Who was to take control of the Government? They could hold an Election, or the Jedi themselves could assume control of the Galactic Republic.

If anything, it was likely the Ministry of Defense will take over the Republic for the time being.

Count Dooku made his way back up to the surface and began jumping from pod to pod. Once he reached the one where his Apprentice once was, he paused. His eyes narrowing on where he had last seen the boy before he detonated the Sith Lord's lightsaber.

There were several pieces of thin phrik shards embedded in the pod's interior. However there was no evidence of bodily damage other than a little blood.

Kneeling down, Dooku took out a small device and collected the sample before tucking it away into his belt's pouch. "Where have you gone, boy...?"

Standing up from where he was kneeling, he used the partially intact controls to bring the pod back to its starting point. As he stepped into the corridor, he was half expecting to see them there waiting, but it was just an illusion of the mind... Hope. The young boy and the girl weren't in the corridors, all that awaited him was panicking senators and representatives from mega corporations that practically act like small planetary powers.

Snarling at this fact, he began making his way down the corridors until he made his way out from the main lobby. As he stood on the main platform outside the front doors of the senate building, the frowning Master Jedi glared at a starship that haphazardly escaped from a nearby private hangar and darted towards the upper atmosphere.

"Kyr'am at aruetiise.." Dooku muttered 'Death to Traitors' under his breath in Mando'a, the Language of the Mandalorians. Though this wasn't meaning traitors to the republic, or the Jedi, but a person who had betrayed him personally.

+ + +

Feeling something heavy on top of her, Padmé's eyes fluttered open. Darkness surrounding her, she could hardly tell if she was awake or with her eyes open. However, she could plainly tell as she looked to her hand.

Despite being surrounded by darkness, her body and skin were fairly illuminated. Though she couldn't really tell which direction the light was coming from.

Unable to sit up, her eyes rested on the boy who was resting against her. His head laying on her shoulder blade. It was none other than Ento. Blinking at this, she would lightly nudge him.

"Hey... I... I can't get up, are you alright?" Padmé continued to push at him until she was able to roll him off onto his back with a flushy 'thud.'

Ento lay there though, unconscious and shallowly breathing. There were small specs of phrik metal imbedded in the upper left hand side of his face, just around the eye.

"Oh my!" Padmé immediately cradled his head, and went to call for help, before looking at her surroundings once more. It was still dark here, but it didn't feel threatening. If anything, it was warm and welcoming. For the moment there, she was rendered speechless until she could hear a quiet whimpering sound. "Who's there!?"

The Queen craned her head to the right and to the left. She saw no one, but she could clearly hear someone crying! She then turned her eyes back down to the boy's head she held in her lap.

"Ento! Wake up!" She lightly slapped her fingers against the 'good' side of his face.

"Mmm..." He groaned, his hand subconsciously lifting up to swat her hand away.

Padmé glared down at him and tore her headdress off before tossing it aside, "Wake up!"

Opening his eyes partially, Ento's eyes blankly gazed up at her. He could feel the searing pain of the hot pieces of phrik embedded in his skin, causing him to grimace heavily. "I'm up..."

"Do you know where we are?" Padmé quickly asked him as she helped him sit up, keeping an arm around him as she did so.

Ento's eyes drifted from side to side. Unlike Padmé, he could see multiple archways, though overall the place was pitch black except for their forms and various strange white outlines.

"This place is... New..." The teen muttered mutedly to himself, slowly moving to his feet, bringing the girl up with him. "What's with that crying though?"

"You hear it too...?"

"Maybe it's coming from one of the frames." Ento looked at the various archways.

"Frames...?" Padmé looked at him with a confused look and mildly concerned considering he could see something she couldn't. She quickly found herself clinging to his right arm.

"First..." Ento raised his hand to his face, using the force he began to heal himself. The pieces of phrik would slowly be rejected from his face and drop to the ground like little metallic tears. Within a minute or less, his face was fixed almost immediately, and he was free of pain.

Letting his hand then fall to the side, he closed his eyes and reached out with the force.

He quickly found that this place is not what it seemed. It wasn't one place, it wasn't one time. This place, it was within and between time and space. "How did we get here..."

That was when he reached with the force, the place the crying was emanating from.

It was a girl, about their age, his height. Feelings of betrayal, fear, abandonment and hopelessness. All of these things lead to the darkside if one let it rule them and dictate their actions.

However as he was reaching out with the force, and touched her, the crying stopped.

The girl opened her eyes and stared at the empty room she was confined to and tortured in. It was dark and she saw no one, she was about to start crying again, until she felt the force wash over her once more.

Taking in a sharp breath, she felt an urge to stand. "Who... Who are you...?"

There was no answer.

Stepping forward, one hand out in front of herself, she creased her brows. She could hear movement outside the room, the place of her torment. Her eyes flickered to the door.

The force called out to her and she knew it was now or never. Darting forward, the young girl drove herself into what she believed to be the wall on the opposite side of the room. Squeezing her eyes shut, she never met an impact.

Slowly dropping her paces, she came to a halt and opened her eyes.

"Who are you...?" Ento raised a brow looking over the girl with a shaved head and darkside tattoos on her torso and arms. She had yellow eyes lined in orange that glowed eerily iridescent in contrast to the dark surroundings.

Her corrupted eyes stared forward at the boy who asked who she was. She then flickered her gaze over towards the other girl who was holding onto him. She then glanced behind herself, no longer feeling the torturous room she had once resided in.

"Where... Is this...?" Her eyes moved around, taking in the pitch darkness which surrounded them. Then she looked to her hands, just like the two other people, she could see her digits quite clearly. She then lifted her head and looked to the boy who had asked who she was.

"My name... Is Vaylin Tirall. Who are you? How did I get here? Was... This your doing?"

Ento blinked several times at the barrage of questions that was sent his way. "My name is Ento Rhade," he bowed his head slightly. "You probably got here the same way we did... I have no idea. If it was my doing, I hope you don't mind?"

Vaylin's eyes narrowed on the braid in his hair, then towards the other girl. "I don't," oddly enough despite their appearances, she didn't feel at all bothered by them. "So... Are we lost...?"

Even if they were lost, she was happy to be here rather than there. She wiped the snot from her upper lip on her tattooed arm. "Where are you guys from?"

"Naboo." Padmé responded as she tilted her head to the side.

Ento pursed his lips and quipped, "Places."

Vaylin found herself giggling at Ento's response, something she never thought she'd do again. "Both places in the Greater Galaxy..." She muttered to herself, smiling faintly. "Can you take me back to where you two are from?"

Hearing the request, the two looked at one another and shrugged. "I don't see a problem, I can arrange a home for you on Naboo, once we put an end to the Crisis..."

"Crisis?" Vaylin blinked hearing this.

"The Trade Federation has my homeworld blockaded, we were on Coruscant appealing to the Senate for Aid when the Sith attacked." Padmé explained rather quickly, maybe leaving a detail or two out, such as who the Sith was.

Nodding to this, her eyes flickered to the one who she felt strangely through the force.

"Well, let us figure out how this place works and we can get home." Ento gestured for her to follow them, as he then lead Padmé towards familiar sounds and feelings.

Despite how nice it felt here, he wanted to leave. It didn't feel like he belonged wherever this was, not at all. As they made it to the edge of an archway, Ento peered his head through, before ducking back in. "Yup, it's where we once were."

Nodding to his observation, the trio then entered the archway.