Title: The Concert – Part 1

Rated: PG-13

Summary: The padawans plan to sneak out to a concert, and end up dealing with more than they bargained for.

Author’s notes: This started as just a little blurb but eventually it ended up with a plot…so yea! I don’t know much about politics so I tried to make it as realistic as possible. Please tell me what you think!

"So we’re staying for a while then master?" Obi-Wan asked as he sat down next to his master to begin the day with meditation.

"We will stay here between missions" his master replied in his usual calm tone of voice. He could sense that his apprentice’s thoughts were elsewhere. They had been at the temple for two weeks now, and he could already feel Obi-Wan’s improvement in dealing with the living force. Associating with peers had helped, but they had also added to his distraction. He knew the root of the distraction, one whom his padawan had been infatuated with since their arrival on Courscant. He wasn’t sure as to how he was going to breech the subject with him.

After morning meditations Obi-Wan prepared to leave for breakfast. He buckled his brown belt around his beige tunic and started for the door. Qui-Gon caught his padawan giving himself one last look in the mirror before going out the door.

"Obi-Wan," he called. Obi-Wan paused by the door and turned to face his master. "Remember that she is only 13," Qui-Gon said to his pupil, who looked back at him curiously. "Three years can be a world of difference, especially at your ages." He said.

"Two and a half years, Master. And she is mature for her age."

"Yes, she is wise, but still young, you both are."

"What are you implying master?" Obi-Wan asked. He wasn’t sure what his Master thought him and Mira were up to, but it certainly wasn’t as bad as his master was thinking.

"I’m not implying anything my Padawan. I have just noticed that you have been rather preoccupied lately with thoughts about Mira and I am concerned." Obi-Wan just nodded. So his master had noticed that he was having problems concentrating on everything. "We will discuss this later." Qui-Gon said gently and with that Obi-Wan was dismissed. The older jedi did not know what to think. Was it just puppy love that would pass or was it more?

"Comon Pink! It will be fun!" a voice pressed. Obi-Wan looked ahead to see Mira and Bant in conversation with another Padawan, one that looked familiar, but had so far remained nameless. He was tall, had dark hair, sharp features and a rough voice. Obi-Wan had overheard other female padawans voicing their opinion on him apparently he was ‘dreamy’. Another thing he had picked up in the past two weeks was that many of the other students had a nickname for Mira. In fact the only ones who did call her Mira were Cean, Tar’rs and Bant. Everyone else knew her as Pink, the name obviously came from her lightsaber, which was exactly that colour.

"No way Geffen, last time you said that we were confined to our rooms for two weeks," Mira said.

"It was worth it wasn’t it?" Geffen said to her.

"Don’t listen to him Mira, we’re just going to get in trouble." Bant said reasonably.

"Well it’s up to you. You can invite your friend Obi-Wan. Anyway, if you change your mind, you know where to find me." He flashed a charming smile, turn and left.

"What was all that about?" Obi-Wan asked the two girls as he walked up. They both just shook their heads and said, /nothing/.

The three made their way to the cafeteria and joined Cean and Tar’rs who were already seated.

"Did Geffen talk to you guys yet?" Cean asked.

"Yes." Mira replied.

"Well?" Cean prodded.

"Well what?"

"Are we going to go?"

"Uh, hello, does no one remember what happened last time we did something like this?" Bant asked incredulously.

"Yea, but this is like the biggest concert in the inner core!" Tar’rs said.

"That’s what you said about the last one." Bant replied.

"What’s going on?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Geffen and Onta got 8 tickets to see Durbalda tomorrow night." Cean said.

"But the problem is that there is no way that our masters will let us go." Bant said to Obi-Wan, "well my master might let me go, but that’s just cos he feels I’m old enough." She rubbed in to her 13-year-old friends.

"I’m not risking it." Mira said. "Master Mace already had a huge fit last time we tried to pull anything like this, I thought he was going to have some sort of coronary and keel over."

"Well screw that idea then." Cean said.

"Why?" Tar’rs asked.

"If Mira is not coming then I don’t want to risk it. She is the only one who can lie well enough to get away with it." Cean replied.

"I don’t lie!" Mira exclaimed. The group just laughed. "I don’t!" she re-affirmed. She just bent the truth.

"Oh no, you don’t lie Mira, and I don’t know glow." Cean said sarcastically.

"Do you really want to go that badly?" Mira asked. They two boys nodded. Mira looked at Obi-Wan and Bant. Obi-Wan just shrugged while Bant gave her a wary look. She sighed and stood up. "Alright, I’ll talk to Geffen."

* * *

"Okay, we have one little problem here," Geffen said. He sat in the corner table in the recreation room with Mira, Obi-Wan, Bant, Tar’rs and Cean.

"A little problem?" Mira asked, "I would think it’s a pretty big one."

"Yes, I do believe 8 padawan walking down the streets of Courescant would not be to discreet." Obi-Wan said. The group kept on glancing up at the entrance of the room, expecting one of their masters to walk in at any moment.

"It’s not that big of a problem, we’ll be in regular clothes and we can go in groups of two or three." Geffen said logically. He had been sneaking out of the temple since he was 13 and now at 15, was passing his tricks down the line.

"Well it’s not going to be as easy this time," Cean said as he thought about last time. They had all arrived back at the temple with no problems until they bumped into a couple of masters who had also been at the concert and spotted them.

"Yea, I just got my free period back yesterday and I don’t want to lose it again," Tar’rs said.

"This is such a bad idea," Bant chimed in.

"Listen, we’ll use the force or something! We can do this! We’re Jedi!" Geffen said, "and Pink is a good liar, she can think of something." He pointed to Mira, who sat there with an innocent look.

"I don’t lie!" she exclaimed. Geffen just gave Mira a wink. Obi-Wan did like that and found himself shifting closer to Mira. He couldn’t believe that his friends were actually going though with this crazy idea, but he found it all quite amusing. He started to wonder what he was going to say to Qui-Gon and if they would actually get away with it.

"I’m not lying." Mira said firmly.

"Keep telling yourself that." Bant said with a smirk.

The doors to the rec room slid open and Qui-Gon and Mace entered. The heads of the 6 padawan immediately shot up. Cean turned dull on the spot, which prompted Tar’rs to grab his arm and pull him towards the exit. The two masters just smiled at the padawans and moved over to the chess table. The paid no attention to the enormous shield that they were generating. As if they all suddenly realised how suspicious they looked, the four remaining padawans looked back down.

"I’ll see you all later," Bant said as she got up to leave.

"Yea me too. And Pink if you need to know more about that stuff, you know where my room is." Geffen winked as he got up.

"What stuff?" Mira had no idea what he was taking about.

"You know what kind of stuff!" he said loud enough for the two Masters to hear. Mira looked at him wide-eyed and blushed she finally caught on to his joke.

"Get lost you bastard!" she exclaimed as she glanced tentatively at her master. Geffen just laughed to himself and walked out the door. Mira gave Mace an innocent smile. "He’s just joking. I know nothing of that sort of stuff," she vehemently denied. Mace just looked at her unconvinced. He had learned to expect just about anything from her. "I swear! All I know is what I’ve read from that holonovel on your nightstand." Mira said calmly and with that Mace’s attention returned the chess game. Qui-Gon and his padawan just watched the exchange, both amused.

* * *

"Okay here’s the plan," Geffen started "Cean and Tar’rs you two go to the stadium first, and wait by gate 4. Then Bant and Obi-Wan. Pink and I will be there about 10 minutes later. Onta said that he would already be there with the tickets. Act cool, calm, and collected, and no one will suspect a thing."

Obi-Wan wasn’t so sure about that. He also didn’t like the idea of Geffen going with Mira instead of him.

"I have a bad feeling about this." He said to the group

"Famous last words?" Tar’rs joked

"We’ll be fine." Mira re-assured him. For some reason Obi-Wan didn’t believe her.

* * *

Mira and Geffen walked towards the stadium. It was a fair ways away from the Temple, which made for a long walk. Geffen took this opportunity to quiz Mira about Obi-Wan.

"So what is up with you and him?" he asked

"What do you mean?"

"Oh don’t play innocent with me."

"Honestly, I don’t know what you mean?"

"Oh, comon, all the other padawans are talking about it."

"About what?"

"You and him."

"Me and him?"

"Yes. Now don’t you think he’s a little old for you?"

"Old for me?"

"Yes Pink, Old. You know what us older boys can be like."

"I know what you can be like Geffen, and no one is quite as bad as you."

"Bad? I’m not bad."

"Okay you’re not bad, you’re just horny."

"There is no passion." Geffen said quoting from the code

"Whatever!" she replied rolling her eyes.

"Come now…no pun intended there, but what is up with you two? He’s only been back two weeks you know, me on the other hand, we’ll I’ve been at the temple with you for a while"

"There is nothing going on! At least I don’t think there is."

"Don’t think?"

"Okay, maybe there’s been a kiss or two."

"Or three or more?"

"It’s none of your business." Mira said and kept walking. She didn’t know what was going on with Obi-Wan. She was having these strange feelings about him. She had started to feel nervous around him. There was no reason for this but every time she saw him her heart started to beat faster her chest tightened and her stomach started doing flips. After a while she would calm down again, but it was awkward. Everything seemed to be awkward these days, her body, her relationship with her master, and with her friends. So this was puberty. Mira just hoped to the Gods that it would be over soon.

* * *

All the padawans met at gate 4 with out a hitch. Onta was distributing the tickets to his friends. With the diminutive blue Twi’lek was another padawan that had recent began hanging out with the group, Genie. She was a short, spunky looking blonde humanoid. The second she saw Geffen she was glued to his side. Geffen was very popular with the female padawans, despite of his reputation. Mira did think he was cute, but she was distracted by Obi-Wan, she hardly ever saw him out of his jedi tunics, and he looked good. Obi-Wan smiled at Mira and headed over towards here. Mira could feel her breath leaving her body, as her stomach started it’s gymnastics routine.

"What seat number do you have?" he asked.

"Um…E17. What about you?"

"H23," he replied with a strange look. "Bant where are you sitting?"

"H24. Why?" she asked.

"Hey Onta! Our tickets are different." Mira said to her friend

"Oh yea, I forgot to tell you. I got tickets in section E and H, there are 4 in H and 4 in E." Onta explained. The Padawan’s rolled their eyes. They now had to all switch tickets.

While they all argued about who was sitting where Cean was preoccupied. His iridescent skin look dull and pale, as it always did when he was not in good spirits. He kept on glancing left and right, as if someone was going to get them.

"I think we should go home now." Cean said. The group stopped and looked at him in surprise.

"You’re kidding right?"

"No, I really think we are going to get in trouble. Something bad is going to happen, I just know it."

"Cean, you’re just being paranoid. We’ll be fine." Mira reassured him. "Now where do you want to sit?"

* * *

Mira, Obi-Wan, Tar’rs and Cean ended up in section H. They headed to their seats and looked around. There were a lot of people. Durbalda was the most popular band in the inner core. Their album had been #1 on the Republic charts for almost 9 weeks now. As they walked, Obi-Wan took Mira’s hand. She couldn’t help but smile what she thought was the biggest goofiest grin she had ever smiled.

"Something is wrong." Tar’rs said as they arrived at their seats.

"Not you too!" Mira rolled her eyes at Tar’rs.

"No, I don’t think we should go home. I just feel that something is wrong. Some thing strange."

"Me too." Cean chimed.

"I don’t feel anything." Mira said calmly. Obi-Wan nodded in agreement. Tar’rs was not reassured, but tried to distract himself. He looked around drinking in his surroundings. There were a lot of people. The stadium was crowded. They had pretty good seats, not far from the stage. As he looked across the stage he saw a small box on that didn’t seem to be part of the sound system. As he looked up into the rafters he saw several more boxes. He was intrigued and thought that it was some sort of new sound system. Tar’rs tried hard to shake the strange feeling he had but it stayed with him.

Obi-Wan wanted to say something to Mira but couldn’t. He was tongue tied, yet again. He seemed to always be like that around Mira. All he wanted to do was look at her all night.

Mira was starting to get nervous. Obi-Wan kept on glancing at her and looking away when she turned to look at him. She was beginning to think that there was something on her face or that something was wrong but before she could question him the opening band started.

"Oh, they suck!" Tar’rs yelled over the music. "Do you want to go get a drink?" he asked Cean. Cean nodded. "Do you want a drink?" he asked the other two. They shook their heads and Cean and Tar’rs were off. As they walked away from the stage, the music got quieter and quieter. Once they were out by the concession stands, the music was barely audible, only the thumping of the base could be heard.

"Are all the boxes in place?" a female voice from around the corner said. Tar’rs motioned for Cean to stop.

"Yea boss, they’re exactly where you told us to put them."

"Good. When we detonate them the place will cave in and no will even see it coming." Cean and Tar’rs looked at each other wide-eyed.

"Then the Republic will see what we can do and they will recognise us for what we are."

"But boss. You’ll have to detonate it from inside the building."

"A small price to pay for the greater good of our people." The female voice replied.

/I’m going around the corner to take a look./ Tar’rs said in Cean’s mind. Before he could answer Tar’rs swing around the corner and rammed into the female, the one that he assumed was the ‘boss’. He banged into her hard knocking what seemed to be the detonator out of her hand. Tar’rs saw two lights flicker off and only hoped that they would not blow up.

"Watch where you’re going kid!" One of the terrorists said. Tar’rs quickly surveyed the situation. There was one female, with a red B in a familiar script tattooed on her arm. The 3 males, also humanoid, had the same tattoos. He recognised them immediately as the Bek’ku. He had heard much about the plant and it’s civil unrest. The monarchy and government was unstable and the people where going to drastic measures to call for change. They had come to the senate to ask for help but they had acted in a way in which more and more things were being handled, by long, heated, debates. Tar’rs had to admit that Bek’ku did seem to need help, but he did not agree that this was the way of going about it.

"What are you looking at kid?" A voice knocked Tar’rs out of thought.

"Uh…nothing sorry." Tar’rs turned and walked away. He could sense that the others were very uncertain of what they were doing, but the woman, the woman was very determined to blow of the stadium. As Tar’rs walk away he could hear them talking.

"That kid broke off connection with two of the…" That was all that he needed to hear, hopefully he had bought them sometime. Cean and Tar’rs turned back and headed back towards the others.

TBC

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