"I suppose I could look at it," you say.

"Excellent. Follow me."

She sweeps off towards what is likely the main entry. You follow her, wary of what must be a trap of some sort. Nothing materializes.

Outside, you walk a short distance to the side. Nu waves her hand and opens the door to a speeder for you with the Force. You feel a pang in your hearts at this blatant, open use of the Force. You did not get the chance to stretch yourself when in Sidious's service.

Nu takes the driver's seat and pulls out, easily joining the traffic. She drives inconspicuously, going with the flow of the other speeders and not breaking any laws that you are aware of. It is exactly how Sidious taught you to drive in civilization. It is exactly how you'd imagined a Jedi would drive.

The two of you soon arrive at the Jedi Temple. Nu does not bring you to the main doors and their scrutiny, but to some side entrance. She parks the speeder at some Force-operated speeder bay and leads you to a door. A pair of Temple Guards stand, faces hidden behind anonymizing masks, saberstaves out in universal warning. They do not twitch as you are led past, but you feel their attention in the Force. Jocasta Nu smiles at them in with a message you have not benefited from in your memory: If you want him, you'll have to go through me.

You do not stumble as you step into the Temple proper, but it is a near thing. The Force is suddenly heady with a sense of calm. It is almost soporific.

Safety has always been an illusion. This sense might help the Jedi sleep better at night, but Sidious will come tear it down. He always does.

Golden light filters through the windows onto a hallway coated with art. You brush your fingers across the mural and are assaulted with a sense of joy and belonging. Millennia of Jedi have lived here, shared their joys and sorrows with their kin, and embossed the very fiber of their dwelling with the safety they've felt with each other.

You have on occasion seen such things from the outside, mostly a few moments before you've ruined it forever. This is the closest you have gotten to having it yourself. Like always, Sidious will inevitably come destroy it.

The turbolifts at the end of the corridor open and Mace Windu himself walks out. He has obviously been forewarned, as your presence doesn't faze him. The Temple Guards must have comms, then.

"Hello, Jocasta," he says once he's at talking distance.

Jocasta Nu smiles sharply, like this is a fight she expects to win. "You gave me leave to hire anyone I met at the University."

Mace Windu sighs deeply and pinches the bridge of his nose. You can't help but feel slightly offended at this indicator that he doesn't consider you a threat. "I see."

"Perhaps you shouldn't have sent half my archivists to the front lines," Nu replies primly.

"That was not my decision," Windu says, warm like a well-worn argument. "The Senate mandated it and we cannot go against the needs of the people. Civilians are dying, Jocasta."

So it was Sidious who caused the chain of events that led to you working in the Jedi Temple. No doubt he will fall over laughing when he hears of it. Perhaps he will even be amused enough to leave his original timetable for the destruction of the Jedi intact rather than accelerate it for the sake of tormenting you.

"And I have a database migration to oversee. How was I supposed to leave a young man who has opinions on Kroth/16 unhired?"

Windu sighs again and waves you on. "May the Force be with you, Jocasta, Maul."

"And you as well, Mace," Nu says as she brushes past him.

"Master Windu," you say with a nod before following Nu to the turbolifts.

A fundamental feeling of rightness settles over you in the Force. You wonder how the Jedi have managed to embed this in the Temple so that it settles over even you.

The doors open, leading you to a vast hall. You cannot help but pause to take it all in: stained glass windows with abstract representations of the Force let in colored light that dances over archives stacks thrice as tall as a human. The place feels like knowledge. It pulls at you like a light pulls a moth, making you take halting step after halting step towards the epicenter of enlightenment.

Jocasta Nu comments on things in a low voice, telling you what is what, as she gently leads you to a terminal in a corner. She calls up the database migration interface. You can see why she hired you: the previous person doing this must've fallen to the Dark Side.

No matter. You are now within the Jedi Temple, Kenobi's home, and can wait there for him. He will return eventually. You will kill him then. If he avoids you, you might dangle knowledge of Sidious's civilian identity to you as a lure. As a Jedi, he is bound to respond to that.

But for now, you will do as Jocasta Nu bids you. She herself is interesting enough company, and you can hone your rage with the Kroth/16 export interface – even if the Jedi Temple seems intent to blanket you with peace and contentedness.

The End.