Chapter Three
NEW YORK CITY; THE UNITED NATIONS' OFFICE, PRESENT DAY...
"--Oh, Ms. Downstead, did you forget about that last meeting," Debby, the office secretary to Amy Downstead, called out. The Special Assistant to the US Secretary of State was virtually flying out of the office's doors before Debby got her in time!
It was as though Amy hit an invisible wall, as she stopped. Then she remembered the added appointment. "Guess I'll be having dinner at nine tonight..." She blew out a frustrated sigh as she turned around to return her coat and business-case back to her office.
"You know," Debby said from her desk; her voice on the furtive side, "I can always say that you're tide up in a conference call with the President."
"Debby," Amy said with a slightly exhorted tone as she disappeared into her office to drop her personal belongings there. But when she came out again, Debby could see that she was smiling at the suggestion.
"Well, I still don't understand who these guys are, anyway," Debby admitted as she began to clean up her desk for the end of the day. "Chlorian Watch...what kind of name is that? It sounds like they're on a watch for chlorophyll instead of human rights violations!"
The special assistant laughed at her secretary's comment. "Well, Fran said they checked out as a legitimate ngo."
"Yeah, she told me about that the other day. But, I mean, like, where? Usually these activists have a specific place or demographic that they represent...from what I read on their official website, they're pretty vague about whose rights they're fighting for."
Amy nodded as she thought on it and edged to the doors that went to the lobby. "Yeah, I looked at their site, too. Their name and mission statement actually implies they're on the watch for human rights violators."
Debby stopped her yet again. "Yeah, but on a watch for whom?"
That last question stuck in Amy's mind. Indeed, the special assistant seemed to go into a trance. When Amy woke from the odd state of mind, she saw how Debby was looking at her.
"That's been happening to you a lot lately, Amy," the younger woman stated with great concern.
Half embarrassed, Amy gathered herself. "Actually, Debby, I've always had these spells--ever since I was a toddler, according to my parents." She shook her head, as if in denial. "But you are right; they've been stronger than ever before!"
Debby was going to say more, but Amy insisted that she had to go to her meeting.
When she reached the visitors' area, she was surprised to see how clean-cut the two suited men looked. Usually, Amy's preconceived notion went, activists who fought for civil and human rights were usually more of the Hippie-type--long hair, beards, non-conformist clothes...in other words, exactly how Padawan Jacob Millstine and Jedi Salvitor normally dressed like.
Amy shook both of their hands upon reaching them. "Hi, I'm Amy Downstead; Special Assistant to the Secretary of State."
"Greetings, Ms. Downstead. I'm Salvitor, and this is my vice-president of the organization..." Salvitor let his padawan answer for himself at this point.
"Jacob," he said with a firm nod and bright smile.
Amy led them down the hall and to a room especially set aside for United Nations meetings for potential causes to go to the dockets. In other words, a small room that was not meant to impress the audience at hand, like one would find at the UN's great conference room; where all the television cameras and dignitaries converged.
There were a couple of rounds of small talk before Amy steered the conversation to its purpose.
"...well, I hate to tell you, gentlemen, but a friend of mine commented on not knowing what exactly your cause is about. I couldn't give her a good response, even after having read your mission statement on your official website! Now, as you know, with the backing of the president, the secretary of state is more than happy to look into any human rights issue that impacts Americans, wherever they may happen to be..."
Jedi Salvitor noted how the special assistant became a bit more rigid in her demeanor at that point. "But the secretary must be absolutely convinced that the problem presented rises to the level that the UN and the US deem actionable."
Jacob, understanding diplomatese well, looked upon Salvitor and gave him a knowing look...but it was not merely for the political jargon that Amy cited. Salvitor gave the slightest nod back to Jacob.
"In other words," Salvitor played off, responding to the special assistant's slight rebuff, "who, exactly, is it that Chlorian Watch is watching out for? Isn't that it, Ms. Downstead?"
Amy frowned upon Salvitor's response. She glanced at his younger companion, but he, too, seemed to have stiffened in attitude as Jacob looked upon her with an open stare; his body as still as a statue.
Then, with no warning, Amy stood up from her chair. "Gentlemen...I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm not quite feeling myself this evening. I--"
"We know about you, Ms. Downstead," Jedi Salvitor simply stated to her. At first, he kept his eyes down on the table, but then slowly lifted his eyes to meet those of the thirty-something professional.
Amy reacted as if she had been splashed with water. "Excuse me?"
"The precognitive visions," Jacob filled in, "that odd sense that someone else is behind you, then vanishes; objects jumping right into your hand when all you've done was think about them--"
"Or jumping twenty feet over your opponent's team on the soccer field," she, now, contributed to the list; her eyes deep in her experiences. "Or...accidentally lifting someone a couple of feet off the floor when you get into a heated argument!"
Now Jedi Salvitor and Jacob looked upon each other with concern. Both watched as she took out her smartphone and placed a call to her secretary; telling Debby that she was going to be a little longer and for her to go home. She, then, opened the door to the conference room and looked around the lobby; making sure no one else was around. Except for a couple of janitors, all was clear. She closed the door and locked it.
The Jedi and padawan remained silent as Amy reclaimed her seat. She kept her eyes off to a corner of the room as she slid into the chair. Salvitor sensed that she was troubled--making her ripe for recruitment from the Sith!
"I'm surprised you don't have a hundred questions for us," Jacob said with a bit of levity, remembering how he was a couple of years ago, now, when Darth Harest and Jedi Salvitor first encountered him!
"This is going to sound weird," she said after a long delay, "but I felt your presence here before. A few times, actually. So I knew I could trust you...I'm not sure why. Anyway, there's no sense in pretending I'm normal, is there?"
Salvitor was nodding; a smile finally gracing his face. "We call that the Force, Ms. Downstead."
"Amy, please," she said as she turned to fully face them.
Both men nodded in consent and waited for her to speak. For not only could they sense that she was, indeed, upset about something, but her demeanor said as much. "So, I take it you found me like those other people did?"
Salvitor's face dropped suddenly, and Jacob sat stone-faced.
"What other people, Amy," Salvitor asked.
"I don't know who they were. I kind of got the same feeling like I did with you two, but it was different..." She looked at Jacob, then back at Salvitor. "Kind of like you said, Jacob; that feeling like someone's behind you, but when they talked with me that feeling never left! Like something was--"
Salvitor grabbed her by the hand as he glanced at his padawan. "We must go--now! We will explain later."
Any other time in her life, any other situation, Amy would not have gone with two strangers she just met. But what she was feeling at that moment was far more threatening than anything she sensed from Salvitor or Jacob!
They did not even bother to shut the door to the conference room as they
quietly trotted down the lofty halls of the United Nations edifice...and there; down the hallway, three Sith stood. One, dressed as a janitor, the other two in business suits--of which, they were taking their jackets off, making no pretense as to their intentions, nor a care about security cameras or the guards that would surly come upon seeing the spectacle from those cameras!
Jacob quickly fished for his smartphone and selected his contact. "Illitar, come get her; tenth floor!"
After replacing his phone, Jacob was, as gently as he could under the circumstances, pushing Amy down another hall while Salvitor was already running down the hall to engage the Sith; his lightsaber ignited and its droning sounds pulsating as he ran. Jacob took off to catch up so that his master would not face them alone.
The three male Sith already had their red sabers ignited and were right upon Salvitor! Jacob, a few yards away from the three-to-one fight, gestured for a nearby fire extinguisher to loosen from its perch and beamed it at one of the business-attired Sith.
It was now a two-to-one battle! For the time being.
When Jacob reached ground zero in the fight, it was the 'janitor' that had engaged him. He was probably about Jacob's age, hence, quicker! His style was such that he swiched his lightsaber between both hands and would often kick--much like a mixed martial arts athlete! Indeed, one of those kicks sent Jacob straight through a door to a conference room! The janitor-Sith showed no mercy and continued his assault while Jacob was on the floor...that is, until Jacob Force-pushed him directly up into the ceiling! And there he stayed, stuck within the cables and wiring for the building.
The janitor-Sith's hilt dropped from his grip during the push. Jacob picked it up, lightly tossed it in the air and sliced the hilt with his own blue, shimmering Force-blade. A small pop of an explosion--on the scale of a larger firecracker, was all that happened. But either way, that Sith was disarmed and would have to build a new lightsaber...for now, Jacob had to help Salvitor!
But by the time Jacob was back out in the hallway, Illitar, the middle-aged, female Jedi he called earlier, was already tasking the same Sith Jacob had struck with the fire extinguisher while Salvitor was still working on the same Sith from before!
"Masters," Jacob shouted over the thunder-cracks and hums of all the lightsabers, "we've got to go! Security will be here soon, and I'm sure they'll have backup after seeing this!"
Indeed, even the two Sith in the Oxford shirts and fancy ties began to pull back. One of the two gestured for them both to go, and their lightsabers were disengaged. They ran down a different hall than where they came from; leaving the janitor-Sith stuck in the ceiling...as did the Jedi. The Sith trapped among the conduit pipes and wires would have an interesting time explaining to the police what it was they would, surly, see in the security video to the United Nations' headquarters!