Mace Windu did his best to exude serenity and patience in his seat at the Senate Refugee Committee's conference retreat. The two most senior Senators hosting would have sold each other to the Separatists for a single soggy hors d'oeuvre, so Obi-Wan Kenobi, who'd done large favors for both of them before the war, was seated at the main table as a necessary peacekeeper. Though even he had begged off on moderating the afternoon sessions and dumped them on Mace so he could go be drunk in a ditch or do something else less soul-crushing than attending this conference.
Even so, Obi-Wan could have run this even wholly by himself, but no, the Chancellor had wanted to come, so Mace, as one of the few Jedi available at the moment, had been tapped as security, as had Anakin Skywalker and his padawan Ahsoka Tano. Then the Chancellor had begged out due to not feeling well and all this security was for naught.
"Master Jedi, have you heard from Senator Karybal?" the person next to him asked, pulling him back to the present.
"I can't say I have," Mace replied. "Is something the matter?"
The woman – Senator Varand Olp – pinched her mouth. "Not exactly," she said. "No-one has seen him after lunch. I was wondering whether he'd also come down with something."
More likely he too had quit after the disastrous morning session, which had escalated to throwing objects, and started day drinking. Then, lacking the Force, he could not sober up, and was now either massively hungover or extremely drunk in his bedroom. Mace didn't really care.
His companion, however, might need some reassurance. Mace reached out with the Force and caught Anakin's attention from where he was holding up the wall, mere Knights apparently not worthy of sitting with Senators, and called him closer.
"Could you check on Senator Karybal?" Mace quietly asked once Anakin was close enough to hear. "He hasn't been seen since lunch and Senator Olp fears he might've caught something."
Anakin nodded and marched off, collecting his padawan on the way. Had the Chancellor actually been present, Mace might've criticized both of them going, but as the Chancellor had sneezed once five days ago and thus wasn't here, this could only count as saving his padawan from a fate worse than death.
Senator Arrakakh cleared his throat on the other side of the table. "Now, as I was saying, the Chancellor's and the refugees' health are, of course, worthy of concern, but lately my gut has been acting up-"
If only Humans could feign death. Mace would surely do so.
A subjective eternity of listening to digestive issues and posturing later, Anakin Skywalker returned. With the robes, the general populace might not be able to read his mood, but Mace felt something hover around him in the Force.
Anakin bowed to Senator Olp. "Senator Karybal is resting," he said. Then he turned to Mace. "Commander Neyo requests your guidance on a military matter," he lied.
A better man might've planned to return to the table, but Mace saw only a means of escape. "Forgive me, this might take a while," he said and rose.
"The war waits for no one," Senator Arrakakh said with a dismissive wave of the hand.
Mace bowed and left with Anakin. As they exited the the dining room, they turned away from the secure communications room.
The door closed behind them. A few more steps down the corridor, and Anakin said, "The Senator's dead."
"Video evidence?"
"Ahsoka's going through it. Probably not much."
The conference had the highest level of discretion and thus had disabled the internal video cameras. Mace could feel a headache coming on.
In what was perhaps the greatest miracle of Mace's life, Ahsoka had actually found something useful on the security cameras. The internal cameras had been turned off, but the external ones showed a black-clad figure sneaking into the vents. Image enhancement revealed it to be Darth Maul.
At that point, Obi-Wan entered the security station. "What's the problem?"
"Darth Maul killed Senator Karybal," Ahsoka said.
"Excuse me, but what?!"
"Senator Karybal is dead, and we have footage of Darth Maul breaking in at a matching time," Mace explained.
Obi-Wan's face took on an interesting expression and odd feelings flitted over him in the Force. "I see. How did Senator Karybal die?"
"Slit throat. They're still doing analysis on the knife."
A perverse sense of relief flickered across Obi-Wan before he clamped down on it. Mace put a pin on it. "If it were Maul, don't you think he would've used his lightsaber?"
Anakin frowned; he must've also picked up on the relief. "Why else would he be here? Your presence was easy to predict, given who's hosting and the need for Jedi representation. He's probably trying to get at you by killing Senators nominally under your protection."
"Really, Anakin." Obi-Wan crossed his arms. "Just because he's here means he's definitely responsible for the Senator's death?"
"Do you really think that Senator Karybal's death was completely unrelated to Maul's upcoming murder spree?"
"What have I told you about making assumptions?" Obi-Wan snapped. "Or are-"
"We will investigate the matter fully and keep an open mind about anything that fits the evidence," Mace interrupted the upcoming argument. "How are the rest of the attendees?"
"The Chancellor popped in over holo to wish everyone a happy evening, and now they're getting drunk on expensive wine. Perhaps I should check in on them?" Obi-Wan suggested.
"Go."
There was something odd with Obi-Wan. Mace went over everything he knew about the other Council member and tried to match it with his current behavior. He found he couldn't. It wasn't that odd for that to happen – it was hard to hold a sufficient mental model of all one's colleagues, especially when one rarely met due to the war, and Mace had never been the best at the skill – but that it happened now was alarming.
He did, however, have the man's former padawan with him. "Was there bad blood between Obi-Wan and the dead Senator?"
Anakin looked just as stumped as he. "No, I don't think they knew each other."
"Is Master Kenobi acting strangely to you as well?" Ahsoka asked.
"He is." Anakin's face twisted. "What the kriff is wrong with him?"
Ahsoka came to some private realization, then immediately chose not to reveal it. Like her master, however, she was not at all subtle or capable of hiding her facial expressions, so Mace and Anakin could both observe her conflict on her face and in the Force.
"What is it, Snips?"
Ahsoka hunched up and traced patterns on the floor with her toes. "It's probably nothing, but ... the Senator died after lunch, and Master Obi-Wan wasn't accounted for. And he's acting all weird. So he's technically a suspect?"
"But wouldn't he be happy we had another suspect, then?" Anakin countered. "Besides, if Obi-Wan were to flip and start murdering Senators, he wouldn't start with Karybal."
"True, though you are welcome to tell Obi-Wan he's a potential suspect if he gets annoying with you, padawan." Mace hoped he'd be in the room; Obi-Wan's expression would be deeply amusing. He rose and left Anakin and Ahsoka to run the investigation – they'd mostly been on the sidelines, so the politicians and other attendees wouldn't notice their absence – while he went to be seen in the alcohol consumption session.
The hosting Senators had ended up in an argument that Mace spent half an hour defusing. Obi-Wan, who could've done it in half the time, was nowhere to be seen.
An hour later Anakin cornered Mace on his way back from the refresher and stuffed a sandwich in his hands. "The analysts didn't find any Zabrak DNA on scene, just a bunch of human segments and a Togruta one that's almost certainly Ahsoka," Anakin said while Mace ate. "How are you and Obi-Wan holding up?"
"Obi-Wan isn't in the banquet hall."
Anakin frowned. "But where-" He set his mouth. "We have to check on him."
"I agree." Mace finished the sandwich. "Your padawan?"
"Still helping security. I'd ... rather keep her out of this."
Mace nodded. In all likelihood, it would be nothing, but in the small chance that it was actually something serious, keeping a padawan out of the blast zone would be for the best. This would also give Anakin the chance to calm down and think before he consoled her.
It was a short walk to the room Obi-Wan was staying in. Obi-Wan answered at the first knock. "Hello, Mace," he said, very conspicuously frazzled and doing his best to block the view into the room. "I'm sorry, I completely lost track of the time-"
"Ahsoka's not here, you don't have to lie about your drinking." Anakin frowned, then leaned in closer than was socially acceptable to sniff Obi-Wan's breath. "You weren't drinking?"
"I do not have an alcohol problem-"
"Everyone knows you have an alcohol problem, Master!"
"Really, Anakin, can't you just-"
At that moment, Obi-Wan was too distracted arguing with Anakin to properly block the doorway. Mace slid past him.
The room was cluttered with datapads and holocrons, a fair chunk ones Mace recognized from the Jedi Archives, but some Sith ones as well. Not an empty bottle was in sight.
Presiding over the mess was none other than Maul himself. "Ah," he said. "Master Windu."
Mace considered drawing his lightsaber, but as the other was sitting on the floor, reading a datapad, and had managed to share quarters with Obi-Wan Kenobi without any obvious murder attempts, Mace chose diplomacy. "Maul."
"What?!" Anakin demanded and barreled past Obi-Wan, who followed them in and locked the door with a sigh. "What are you doing, Obi-Wan?"
"Maul's master was apparently supposed to come, but didn't."
"And the holocrons?" The Jedi didn't prohibit sleeping with the enemy, but for the holocrons alone Mace had grounds to bust Obi-Wan back to Knight permanently, and Obi-Wan knew it.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath and collapsed onto the bunk. "I grabbed some relating to defeating the Sith when I heard Maul's master was to be here. I only knew some moments before we left, and the Chancellor informed us he would be attending remotely before I had a chance to talk."
"You knew who the Sith Master was and didn't tell us?" Anakin demanded.
"No; Maul's been playing coy on the matter."
"What else do I have to play coy about? You've already seen it all, Kenobi," Maul responded, finally setting down the datapad. "As Sidious decided not to turn up, and Kenobi was here with such a treasure trove of material, I decided to investigate ways to kill Sidious over the holocomm."
"We do all want Darth Sidious dead," Obi-Wan hurriedly reassured Mace and Anakin.
"Then why hide this?" Anakin was trying to hide his feelings, but the storm of hurt and betrayal was obvious. Mace put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
Obi-Wan ran a hand over his face. "I hoped I could, ah, handle the matter without the full attention of the Council."
Mace did his best not to roll his eyes. "While I understand operational secrecy concerns, surely you told at least Master Yoda?"
Obi-Wan's wince told everyone he had not told Master Yoda. Mace had half a mind to kick him off the Council, but unlike Obi-Wan, he understood the benefit of consulting other people when making serious decisions.
Before anyone could say more, Anakin's comm rang. "Hello, Ahsoka," he said, doing a good job hiding the emotional turmoil he was in. "What's the update?"
"They found Senator Olp's DNA on the scene, and she has no reason to have visited," Ahsoka said. "What's up with Master Obi-Wan?"
Anakin looked at Obi-Wan. "He'll tell you himself," he said while maintaining eye contact. "I'll be there in a bit."
"If you finalize the investigation, I can take care of things in here," Mace offered.
For a moment, Anakin looked like he might throw a fit, but then he nodded and acquiesced. He went to the door only to stop at the jamb. "Who's the Sith Lord?"
"If I tell you, will you believe me?" Maul asked.
"I already told you I would," Obi-Wan said, but his Sith paramour ignored him.
"We will listen and investigate accordingly," Mace promised.
Maul tilted his head consideringly, but Mace's assurance was apparently enough, for he said, "Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith and the puppetmaster behind this war, is none other than Sheev Palpatine, Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic."
The Force rang with the truth of his words. Mace suddenly envied Obi-Wan's seat. Next to him, Anakin fainted; Mace caught him with the Force before he could hit his head too badly.
"Oh Force," Obi-Wan said, cradling his head in his hands.
"You see why I didn't tell you earlier," Maul said and went back to his research.
As Anakin returned from the land of denial, Mace put a hand on his shoulder and made an executive decision. "This knowledge is not to be shared over holocomm, given to people outside the Jedi Order, or spoken of outside secure quarters. Anakin, I will come with you and assist in Senator Olp's interrogation and arrest. Obi-Wan, you handle matters here."
"I shall. Thank you."
Mace glared at him. "Make no mistake – you will discuss your shortcomings with the rest of the Council." Then he squeezed Anakin's shoulder until the Knight got some hold of himself and steered them out of the room.
"What should I tell Ahsoka?" Anakin quietly asked.
"Let her believe this is part and parcel with whatever Obi-Wan will tell her. She should be told, but not now." The girl shared more than a bit of Anakin's attitude on people keeping secrets from them. Beyond that, Anakin's close association with the Chancellor – with Darth Sidious – meant his padawan was in the splash radius and deserved to know what she was being protected from.
Anakin sighed. "We're kriffed."
"But less kriffed than we were even earlier today."
That at least seemed to hearten Anakin enough that he could pull himself together and walk like he usually did. Mace rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder and tried to plan. He'd tell at least Master Yoda and Adi Gallia, and he'd have to ask the Shadows to investigate Palpatine, but armed with knowledge of his true identity, the Jedi could finally win this unwinnable war.