Chapter 10: Smog and Bridges
21 BBY, Coruscant
Anakin had not expected the search for Harry Potter to take so long, but he was, without a doubt, grateful for being assigned the mission, as opposed to helping Mace Windu and Shaak Ti in dealing with the aftermath of half of the Jedi in the galaxy feeling a disturbance of the Force, and the Dark Side beneath the temple. As far as he knew, the Council ended up settling on telling them that there had been some great battle against an agent of Count Dooku that had tried to destroy the Temple with the Dark Side, but that was stopped by the Council.
Honestly, it baffled Anakin just how everyone simply… accepted the words of the Council on the matter and hadn’t even asked any questions. To be fair, while Anakin disliked the secrecy, it was better than saying that there was a Sith Shrine beneath the Temple that might have been influencing and was definitely clouding their sight. After all, Anakin could feel the Light of the Force shine imperceptibly brighter every day, even if it was subtle.
Still, it was better to focus on the search for Potter, instead of wallowing about what might have happened, not that this was any less frustrating. It had been a couple of days since he, Obi-Wan and Snips started their search, and had found little to no trace of Harry Potter.
Anakin had seen the man, and he was certainly a stranger to Coruscant, and the city-planet could swallow a newcomer whole, hence the worry. Things were also not quite calm. They were currently in one of Coruscant’s lower districts, and it was not the first time they had seen the Coruscant guards involved in a shootout. For what felt like the hundredth time that night, Anakin felt the need to help the guards somehow, only to be stopped by Obi-Wan.
He rolled his eyes at his master, already knowing his coming words, “We are not here for this, Anakin. Coruscant’s criminal elements are the responsibility of the officers of the Coruscant Security Force, and the potential repercussion of an unsanctioned operation without the Senate’s approval, especially in Coruscant, would be grave indeed.”
“I know, Obi-Wan, but at least, we would be doing something useful instead of mindlessly looking around for Harry Potter, hoping that we would find him.”
And wasn’t that a waste of time. All they had done so far was take a Datapad with their target’s face on it, taken from the temple’s surveillance footage, and show it to as many informants as they could, to no avail. The Force did not help in any way. Sure, he felt the fact that he should probably find Harry Potter, but it provided him little to no guidance or visions that could help him. It seemed like a waste of time, time that could be spent helping the people of Coruscant.
Things had gotten dangerous enough that he had even gotten Snips to stay in the Temple. He wasn’t particularly worried for her safety, as she had done very well on the battlefield, but the state of the people in the underworld of Coruscant was not something that he wanted her to experience for a few more years, not if it wasn’t necessary, of course. Shaak Ti had thankfully agreed quite vehemently, deciding to help Ahsoka with her training instead, probably something specific to Togruta. Ahsoka hadn’t protested much, given that she had been extremely bored with their search, even if she tried to hide it.
Obi-Wan hummed, “I will admit that the state of the underworld has been quite… hectic, compared to my previous times here. Perhaps, a trip to Dex’s Diner would help us find a lead to Harry Potter. He is quite connected, and perhaps, while we are there, we might accidentally find some answers as to what seemed to stir the city so much. And should we, through random chance, find ourselves involved in this trouble in our search for our target, then it would hardly be a cause for outrage, don’t you think so, Anakin?”
A large grin appeared on Anakin’s face, “And here I thought that you were getting boring, old man.”
His former master rolled his eyes in a way that said that he found answering this insult to be beneath him, hiding the fact that he really, really, wanted to say something. Instead, he simply said, “I will be the one flying.”
Anakin squawked in mock outrage before following his master back to their Speeder. He had missed this, spending time with Obi-Wan without a war over their heads. While he would admit that he felt at home in battle, probably more than a Jedi should, he had forgotten to appreciate the small quiet moments. He wished he could have shared them with Padme, but she was in Naboo, attending some event as the planet’s Senator.
They had not spent as much time together as he would have liked, with him on the front. Then again, his wife did tend to get stuck in many unfortunate situations that ended up with her needing rescuing.
Still, it was not long before Obi-Wan took them to Dex’s Diner, though he did drive like a blind grandmother who was afraid of heights. The moment they entered the diner, the waitress gave them a wide smile, especially to Obi-Wan, and they sat in the corner booth waiting for Dex to finally make his way to them.
It did not take long until the Besalisk walked towards the booth, with a wide smile on his face. “Obi-Wan! It’s been far too long. Far… Far… too long,” he then turned towards Anakin, “And if it isn’t little Ani. Oh, how far you’ve grown. The Hero Without Fear, huh?”
Anakin blushed a bit at the indignation of being addressed this way, but chuckled nonetheless, “Oh, you know, Dex, things happen in war.”
“Dreadful thing, I know,” Dex commented while shaking his head, “Half of the Kriffing galaxy has gone mad, I’d say.”
“More than half, would be my opinion,” Obi-Wan joked back, “But I can’t help but notice that things seem particularly… chaotic on Coruscant these days.”
To Anakin and his former master’s surprise, Dex burst into laughter, “Isn’t that an understatement and a half? I swear it was like a bad Holofilm or something. If all my contacts hadn’t confirmed what happened, I would have thought that it was Bantha Poodoo. First the Senate and now, this.”
“Did something happen in the Senate?”
This time the Besalisk gave them an incredulous look. “What have you been up to in that Temple of yours? Most of it is all over the HoloNet in the last couple of days.” Obi-Wan and Anakin shared a look, and Dex rolled his eyes, giving them a Datapad, “Here, take a look.”
Anakin grabbed the Datapad and felt his eyes widen as he continued reading an article and muttered, “What the Kriff?”
Apparently, the Senator of Ryloth, Orn Free Taa, a rather obese Twi’lek, crashed his luxury Speeder in the middle of the Senate district of Coruscant, near some kind of nightclub. He claimed that it had been stolen by a human, though he couldn’t identify him. Most importantly, from the wreckage, the security force retrieved a hidden Datapad while investigating the potential mugging. For some reason, the Datapad was completely unlocked, the biometrics being turned off, and didn’t even have a password, which he found extremely strange.
Anyway, now, someone leaked the fact that the Senator was being investigated for corruption. It didn’t help that a Slicer managed to get some of the investigation’s data, which involved a lot of collusion, bribery, and a web of deceit that enveloped all the Senate.
Given the pressure of the released data, a lot of Senators were being investigated, and even the Chancellor had been questioned, though there weren’t a lot of details on that. Anakin wasn’t worried, though; he was sure that his good friend was not corrupt. After all, he was helping greatly in the war effort and working tirelessly to circumvent the slowness of the Senate to allow the Jedi to protect the galaxy and fight the Separatists. But, given what he read, the Chancellor would likely be busy dealing with the chaos of the coming days.
Still, that did not change how ridiculous all of this is: “How did so much happen in just a few days?”
The diner’s owner shrugged at that, “I’m just a lowly cook. What those rich folk get up to isn’t my business, though it is funny to see politicians trying to wiggle out of their problems.”
Anakin and Obi-Wan politely chuckled at that, and while they were both amused by a few of the Senators finally getting some trouble, given how arrogant and demanding they tended to be, this would significantly impact morale and the war effort. It had all of the makings of a Separatist plot, which was extremely troubling. As for Anakin himself, he was worried as to how Padme would handle this. His wife would rather jump into a warzone than to engage in any sort of corruption, but Senators being scrutinised could mean that someone might discover the truth of their marriage, something that he couldn’t allow to pass.
Still, he saw Obi-Wan frown, obviously deep in thought as well, and he spoke up, “I don’t understand what this has to do with the Underworld being so restless.”
“Oh, it doesn’t. I was just surprised that you didn’t know of it. You had to be hiding under a rock to not hear about that.”
To be fair, Anakin would have heard of the scandal had he stayed in the Temple. Most of the Temple’s gossip, in the brief moments he was there since returning from Maridun, was about the disturbance in the Force, and he hadn’t exactly had the time to look at the news.
Obi-Wan smiled at his friend, “We have been on the mission in the last few days. It seems like we have missed much in that time.”
“Yeah, I assumed you were here about the heist. It’s what half of the planet is talking about, well, the ones who don’t give a Kriff about the Senate’s Karking mess.”
“Is that what drove the underworld into a frenzy, just a heist?” Anakin asked.
Dex barked a laugh at that, “Just a heist? You’re talking about at least fifty million credits worth of refined Spice.”
Both Jedi’s eyes widened in shock at that, “Fifty million? Who could possibly need that much Spice?”
Dex looked around to ensure that they weren’t overheard, but he spoke up quietly, “You didn’t hear it from me, but there is something of an arrangement between the crime lords of Coruscant when it comes to Spice. The Pyke Syndicate prefers to send everything through a handful of major distributors on the planet instead of dealing with hundreds of gangs individually. Keeps things efficient, I suppose. Everyone gets their share, prices stay stable, and nobody starts shooting each other over territory.”
The Pyke Syndicate, alone, being involved, warned Anakin a lot, given the scale of their influence. The cartel alone was responsible for most of the Spice in the Galaxy, and was without a doubt one of the most powerful and dangerous syndicates in the Galaxy. They were also slavers, and Anakin disliked them by sheer principle, but he knew that there was nothing that anyone could do against them without starting a war that would span half of the Galaxy and also come into conflict with the Hutts as well.
Anyone who even tried to steal from them was a Kriffing idiot, and anyone that succeeded… well, he was also an idiot, since they would be found and the result was not going to be pretty.
“And someone stole one of these shipments,” Obi-Wan commented with trepidation in his voice.
“Worse, someone stole the credits and destroyed the Spice.”
“Oh,” Anakin simply said, somewhat taken aback by it.
“I know,” Dex commented, “Hardly believe it myself. Would have been smarter to leave the Spice, at least. Still, it should have been impossible, by all standards. You’re talking about a small army of mercenaries and enforcers, assassin droids, the whole works. All of them were just knocked out before the heist, and the droids were fried, too. They even bypassed the security as if it wasn’t even there.”
Anakin winced at that, seeing the picture becoming much clearer, “How bad are things?”
“Not bad as they could have been. The Pyke Syndicate is not happy, and neither are the crime families of Coruscant. Everyone is on edge, and there are even rumours that the Hutts are involved, too. But they’re keeping their tensions to the Underworld, to avoid having a Jedi General and an army of Clone Troopers on their doorstep. I still wouldn’t recommend going to the lower floors, at least not for a while.”
“Do they have any leads?” Obi-Wan asked.
“No, not a single one. This was a professional job made by ghosts or something. From what I hear, the best guess was some kind of general neuro-agent being used and a team of slicers to get rid of the droids and deal with the security. It doesn’t matter anyway; those credits are all gone, untraceable by design, of course. Rumour has it, half of the payment was in Aurodium coins.”
Anakin winced at that. There was a reason why Aurodium coins were preferred in the Outer-Rim, and that was because it was completely untraceable. Even back on Tatooine, Jabba the Hutt wouldn’t mind being paid in them, while he would spit at the sight of Republic credits. Yes, Dex was right; there was no getting the money back, and the fact that the Spice was destroyed would have been cause for concern.
Dex gave both Jedi a severe look, “I know that it’s not my place to deal with Jedi business, but I wouldn’t touch this mess with a Vibro-pike.”
Obi-Wan raised his hand, “Do not worry, my friend. Our mission didn’t have anything to do with the Underworld. We were only there to look for someone.”
The Besalisk visibly relaxed at that, “This, I can help with. Who are you looking for?”
Anakin took out a Datapad with Harry Potter’s face on it. He barely gave it to Dex before the man gave them a questioning look, “What do you want Harry for?”
“You know this man?” Obi-Wan calmly asked.
“Yes. He helped my staff against a few ruffians, and I gave him a meal on the house. Anyone who helps my people is alright in my book.”
Anakin turned to him with his eyes wide and slightly hopeful. After all, this was their first lead in days, trying to find Potter. “Do you know where he went?”
Dex snickered, which confused him for a moment, before he motioned his head. Anakin and Obi-Wan turned at once, and both gaped as they saw Harry Potter sitting on the other side of the Diner, calmly eating a Nerf Steak with enthusiasm, while the blonde waitress, Hermione Bagwa, was recommending him a few dishes.
Just as they prepared to move, the Besalisk gave them a warning tone, “Remember, no fighting in my Diner.”
Obi-Wan gave him a reassuring smile and a nod, which Anakin mimicked. Finally, they moved away from Dex towards Potter, who smiled brightly when he saw him, “Oh, Anakin. What a wonderful surprise. How have you been?”
Before he could say anything, the green-eyed man continued, “And you brought a friend too. This is Hermione, by the way. I was friends with a Hermione once. Well, she tried to kill me a few times. Meh, it’s complicated. So, what brings you to this place? Is it the steak, because it’s delicious by the way.”
Anakin gritted his teeth at the casualness, especially after chasing the man for days without a lead, only for him to be in Dex’s Diner. Thankfully, Obi-Wan must have noticed, gave the waitress a nod, and she quickly made her way towards Dex, and he spoke up first, “I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin’s former master. Do you mind if we join you?”
“Of course. The more, the merrier,” Potter answered, and it was then that Anakin noticed the Datapad that Potter was holding in his hands, one that he did not possess in Maridun. Then again, what did that matter? Anakin wasn’t even sure where the infuriating man even kept his mug of Hot Chocolate. “So, what’s new with you?”
Anakin carefully let his irritation flow into the Force, calming himself and asked, “We were worried as to where you went after you met the Temple. The council was eager to meet with you?”
Potter shrugged at that, “You all seemed very busy, and I would have hated to inconvenience you.”
Obi-Wan, as composed as ever, gave the man a smile, “We apologise for that. A small incident took our attention at the time. What about you? This was your first time in Coruscant. What have you been up to in the last few days?”
For a fraction of a second, Anakin swore that he could see the man's eyes sharpening, before they returned to normal. He didn't know if Obi-Wan didn't notice, or if it had been in Anakin's imagination. He did not have the time to reflect on this as Potter answered, “Oh, nothing much. I just got lost on the road of life.”
Anakin swore that he could see the man’s green eyes practically twinkle in smug amusement as he said that. Once more, he let his irritation flow into the Force. The man hadn’t even said more than a handful of words, but the Jedi Knight was already fighting the urge to strangle him. This was going to be a long conversation, wasn’t it?
AN: I had fun writing this chapter, even if I rewrote it a couple of times. As I said before, I’m still getting the hang of writing a Star Wars story, so bear with me if anything feels off.
The original draft was a Harry POV chapter, and I wanted to show a bit of his... enthusiastic walk around Coruscant. The goal was to have Harry get his bearings with the Star Wars universe, and maybe sow some chaos along the way. Halfway through, I realised that it could have stretched for a lot of chapters, so I decided to go this route, with Anakin and Obi-Wan finding him after a few days of looking for him, instead. I'm not sure it was the right call, but I settled on the idea of showing the consequences of Harry's little adventure like that, which I hope you guys will like.
Also, feel free to let me know if you have any things you'd like to see in that story. SW lore is pretty expansive, especially Legends stuff, and there's a lot that I'll probably miss, so I'm counting on you guys :)
As usual, I don’t mind rewriting this chapter depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.