Author's Note: Thank you to everyone for your comments and/or for adding me to your alerts or favorite lists. This story is actually completely finished; it's just taking me a bit to re-format it for this site (the whole thing is in one document instead of separate chapter documents, and I can't help tweaking it again before putting it up). At this rate, I should (hopefully) be able to post at least a chapter a night, maybe two on weekend nights. Thank you again for reading!
Anakin had just made the jump to hyperspace when he felt it - a sharp weight on his chest, pain stabbing his heart. He gasped for air; for a moment he couldn't breathe. Death ... death ...
"No!" he screamed into the cockpit, casting his mind out in panic, terrified of the void he might find, a yawning pit in his soul. But her presence was there; still there. He focused his tortured mind upon it, breathing deeply; drawing peace and serenity from knowing she was safe and still lived. He knew then it was the Jedi whose death he had felt. He would be too late to save the ones in the temple ... too late ...
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He brought the ship out of hyperspace early. The clones ... in the space around Coruscant they would be looking for Jedi as the enemy. Although he had technically left the order, he was still in a Jedi fighter. How could he approach the planet? How?
He thought furiously, vainly trying to keep the thought of being too late out of his mind: They're dying, they're dying! You're never going to make it; it's too late already! They'll all be dead by now! STOP IT!
Tears blurred his vision and his breath came in ragged gulps.
Think! THINK!
The transmitter glowed eerily in the phosphorescent light of his control panel. Was it the Force telling him to use it, or was it his imagination? He couldn't think! Surely it was impossible to hear the voice of the Force; he was too terrified ...
His hand slammed down on the transmit button without conscious thought. For a moment he remained silent. Then ...
"Emer ... emergency code nine ... nine thirteen," he forced from his lungs. His teeth began to chatter and he fell silent, not trusting his voice. But the line stayed open.
A scrambled hologram wavered on his console, then resolved as the computer decoded the encryption, one unique to the Jedi.
"Senator Organa?" he asked, surprised. Some unwanted dream-memory of the senator seeped in through the back of his mind. He pushed it firmly away, trying to lock it out. Senator Organa was one of the few politicians he trusted. But could he afford to? He had trusted Palpatine ...
The memory crept farther in and he saw there was no deception in it, no reason not to trust him. Quite the opposite - rather that he had done nothing to earn the senator's trust, not for the ... NO! I don't want to know! But it was too late ...
Anakin wept for what was - would be - lost. And blessed Bail Organa for the gift.
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The three of them sat in the briefing room on the Tantive IV. They had just finished watching the recording of Palpatine's betrayal of the republic Skywalker had brought with him, stored in his astro droid. But for a long while, none of them spoke.
At last, Master Yoda broke the silence.
"Unexpected this was," the old master said. "Blinded by the dark side to his deceit we were. Too late it now may be."
"No," came a half-whisper from the third person at the table. Skywalker had been sitting through all of it, though to Bail's eyes he had not appeared to be paying any attention to his surroundings. His face remained buried in his hands, fingers pulling at his hair. It had taken some pointed words punctuated with a jab to the ribs with Yoda's cane to even coax him out of the seat of his fighter. Bail had been shocked by the young Jedi's appearance; he looked ill - there was no color in his face and his eyes had a sunken, hollow look, as if he hadn't slept in days. But now he repeated, his voice growing stronger, "No. I won't let it happen. It will not be too late."
"Know this you cannot," Master Yoda replied softly. "Strong enough to defeat this Lord Sidious you are not, not yet."
"We do not have time to wait," Skywalker argued reasonably, "And you are not strong enough, either, Master Yoda. I have seen your battle with him. He will purposely drive you to anger, and you will have to withdraw."
The wizened master considered this for a moment, then replied, "You he will also in this way fight. More of a danger for you it is."
Skywalker replied by reaching down and unhooking his lightsaber from his belt. Using both hands, he presented it ceremonially to Master Yoda.
"I am no longer a Jedi," he declared solemnly. "I gave the council members present my resignation ... yesterday ..." - he faltered, unsure of how much time had passed - "... or maybe two days ago. Now I formally resign."
The old master continued to regard Skywalker, but said nothing; nor did he reach out to take the weapon. Finally, he said, "The dark side not only Jedi tempts."
Skywalker set his lightsaber down on the table, stood up, and walked across the room. He stopped in front of the bulkhead, his back to them.
"It is already too late for me," he said ominously. "I have nothing left to lose. She will die no matter what course I take."
Master Yoda dropped his gaze and said nothing.
"She?" asked Bail, confused by the sudden turn of conversation.
"My wife," he said simply, glancing over at the Jedi master without turning around. He looked back at the wall and continued, "I've been married for three years. My resignation was late."
Bail knew marriage - or attachment of any kind - was forbidden by the Jedi code. Yet he felt more wonder than surprise to discover Skywalker's transgression. The young Jedi had always seemed to him less reserved and more personable than the others he had met. And - though he didn't know why - it oddly comforted him to know that the Jedi, for all their abilities, were still people, with feelings of their own.
"Master Yoda," Skywalker began hopefully, though as if he feared to hear the answer, "If I succeed, will ... will my children survive?"
Children?
The ancient Jedi closed his eyes a moment in meditation. But when he opened them, all he said was, "Impossible to say. Clouded by the dark side the future is."
Skywalker turned his head away, but Bail could see tears sparkling in his eyes.
"Forgive me," the senator said, "But why only if he succeeds?"
With a glance towards Skywalker, Master Yoda replied, "Needed to fulfill the prophecy they will be, if succeed he does not. The Force itself preserve them will. The Chosen One he is - who balance to the Force will bring."
The senator looked up at the Chosen One, who stood in mute agony, staring at the air in front of him. He can't lose his children, he thought. Especially if he is this Chosen One, how could the Force use him so callously?
"On Coruscant is Senator Amidala?" Master Yoda inquired.
Bail almost turned to answer, when he saw Skywalker shake his head.
"She's already gone to Naboo," he said. "She wanted to have the baby ... the ... twins there."
He turned around. "Master Yoda, she'll die in childbirth. Is there nothing that can be done to save her?"
Padme was Skywalker's secret wife! A knot began to form in Bail's throat. The young senator was a good friend, but it was the face of his own dear wife which suddenly filled his thoughts. His own wife, as she had looked six years before, when their child had been born ... and had not survived. His wife had also nearly ...
He broke off the thought. She was fine now; she had survived, if they would no longer have any children of their own. He looked up at Skywalker, who had closed his eyes in pain at Master Yoda's negation.
"If natural her death is, prevented it cannot be," the old master told him gently.
They were abruptly interrupted by a message from Captain Antilles. Bail flicked the comm switch.
"Your Highness, a message is coming through to you from the chancellor's office."
"Put it through," Bail instructed. They all listened as Mas Amedda invited the senator to a special session of congress. "A trap?" he asked when the image had blinked off.
"No," said Skywalker dully. "He intends to use the session to accuse the Jedi of trying to take over the republic. That will give him the excuse he needs to justify killing them."
Master Yoda looked thoughtful.
"If a special session of congress there is, easier to enter the Jedi Temple it will be," he remarked.
Skywalker nodded at the comment, but said, "I will go to the congressional building with Senator Organa. Once the senate convenes, I should be able to make it to his office and wait for him there."
Master Yoda gave a small nudge to the younger man's lightsaber.
"Need your lightsaber you will," he said.
Skywalker stared at it for a long moment, his face unreadable. At last he said, "No. I can't take a weapon. I can't defeat him that way."
To Bail's surprise, Master Yoda did not argue the statement. For awhile, they sat in silence. The senator was nearly ready to excuse himself from the table, when Master Yoda spoke.
"If succeed you do not, Anakin," he promised the younger man somberly, "protect your children from the Sith Lord I will. Hidden where he cannot find them they will be."
"I know," he whispered without looking up.
"I will also do whatever I can," Bail told him. He wanted to add that he would gladly take the children if they were orphaned, but could think of no polite way to convey his intent.
Skywalker looked up momentarily. Though he said nothing, he regarded the senator with a look of such hopeless dignity and cherished acknowledgment that Bail somehow realized the young Jedi had already known his thoughts.