Guest: I will be keeping this up after I begin on the new one.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CORELLIAN RUN, MID RIM
Obi-Wan looked at his former Padawan. Anakin had kept a death grip on the controls even though they were in a hyperspace lane. His stony expression hadn't wavered, and he spoke in monosyllables only when absolutely necessary. Obi-Wan wished they were in better circumstances to broach the sensitive subject, but it had to be discussed.
"Anakin, would you please let autopilot take over? I think it can steer us through a hyperlane," he said gently. Anakin relented, slowly releasing his grip and leaning back in his seat. After a pause, Obi-Wan continued, "I know you're upset. Would you please tell me what's going through your mind? I only want to help you." There was another long pause, and Anakin began to speak rapidly.
"Palpatine goes off and becomes a Sith Lord and takes over the galaxy, and the Council didn't even notice! And now that kark arrested Padme for treason! Do you know how many Senators share her views and haven't been carted off and had their house leveled by clones? I won't let him harm her, she's done nothing wrong!" he fell silent again. This entire situation only made him think of his life on Tatooine, how anything the Hutts or the man with the biggest gun said was law. And this great 'democracy' had been toppled like a house of cards! So much for being a safeguard of freedom, he thought bitterly. Palpatine had played them all, the suspicions of the Council be damned. I should have killed him when I had the chance.
"Anakin, I can't imagine what you're going through, but for now we've got to find a way to get a handle on our emotions if we're going to plan our next move effectively," he heard Obi-Wan say.
"Us 'planning our next move' got Padme arrested!" Anakin exclaimed. "We can't keep sitting around, we have to do something! I'm not going to let anything happen to her, not after all she's done for us!"
"I understand how easy it is to let your concern for someone you are in a relationship with take over, but you have to keep a clear head now," Obi-Wan said softly.
"Well what else would-," Anakin stopped talking mid-sentence, looking Obi-Wan square in the eye. "Did you say in a relationship?" he asked, the words hitting him in the face. He thought his heart was going to stop, does he know?
"Yes. I always knew you and Padme had a close relationship, but I didn't think it was of that nature until recently. How long have you been seeing each other?" Obi-Wan asked calmly, as if he were discussing the weather and not a forbidden relationship that would have Anakin expelled from the Jedi Order faster than he could say bantha.
"How?" Anakin asked, too shocked to say anything else.
"Please, you didn't think I would figure it out?" Obi-Wan asked sardonically. "You began to have mysterious absences from the Temple, even at night. Nothing worth mentioning of course, perhaps you were off meditating or something, you were always in better moods when we were on Coruscant. Padme would always ask about you when I was on furlough and you weren't, always discretely of course. Once you began volunteering to spend a day with the politicians I knew there was something going on," he added jokingly.
"Did you tell anyone?" Anakin asked quickly.
"No, I didn't have anything solid to ask you about that couldn't be given an innocent explanation."
"How long have you known?"
"Since the First Battle of Geonosis," Obi-Wan answered nonchalantly. Anakin sat in silence, completely shocked and overwhelmed. Obi-Wan had suspected his and Padme's relationship since the day they got married and hadn't so much as hinted that he knew something was going on. Had the Council suspected as well? At least that's not a problem anymore, the Council doesn't exist, Anakin thought, a bizarre ray of optimism shining through. Obi-Wan could tell his former Padawan was still processing the fact that he had figured out, but the younger man did seem more at ease, less tense. That was as good as it was going to get for now.
"Do you have any thoughts on how to rescue Padme?" Obi-Wan asked, gingerly steering the conversation. "I know if we contact Luminara she will be more than willing to assist us."
"I'll dial her right now," Anakin said, pulling up his holo. Seconds later, Luminara's image filled the display.
"Is it safe to assume you're contacting me with regard to a certain Senator from Naboo?" she asked. The one channel they could pick up on Polis Massa was the news, and whenever the younglings were otherwise occupied, she learned as much as she could about Palpatine's new regime. A few hours ago news had broken that Senator Amidala had been arrested for high treason after colluding with Jedi revolutionaries such as Anakin Skywalker and Yoda. A grainy video had surfaced of her boarding a ship in prison garb, but it was too unfocused for Luminara to discern anything about her condition.
"Yes. Can you make it to Coruscant at the moment?" Obi-Wan asked.
"No, we're under some travel restrictions. You need to contact Aayla, she's nearby," she told them. "I know Senator Amidala is in the securimax prison, but I can't say what block. Aayla will be of more help with that. I'll let her know you're coming and she'll tell you how to reach her."
"We will. Have you and Yoda decided on how to deal with Palpatine?" Anakin asked. An annoyed look flashed across her face, but she quickly concealed it.
"Yoda has yet to decide on how to proceed," she said, a bitter edge in her voice. Anakin nodded sympathetically. He had often felt the same way when the Council would drone on and on about this or that, he couldn't imagine being trapped on a barren asteroid with nothing to do.
"He will make the right decision, I'm sure," Obi-Wan said encouragingly. "I don't want to keep this line open any longer. May the Force be with you, Luminara," he said reverently.
"May the Force be with the both of you," she said, bowing her head. The controls began to ding, indicating they would need to drop out of hyperspace soon to arrive on Coruscant. Anakin replaced his holo and gripped the controls. He was going to save his wife, no matter what.
CORUSCANT
Anakin looked around as inconspicuously as he could manage. He was anxious to save Padme from Palpatine, but a significant portion of that rested on Aayla giving them valuable information. And Aayla was ten minutes late. He began to drum his fingers, but ceased after seeing Obi-Wan's glare. Drumming his fingers had always annoyed the Jedi Master, and no doubt he was more on edge than usual today. The two sat in a booth in the back of a bar that could only be disguised as disgusting. They were on the edge of The Works district, and the stench was worse than Anakin remembered. A figure slid into the booth next to them, and pulled off their hood.
"I'm so glad to hear the both of you are alright. All I've heard is the propaganda, nothing reliable," Aayla said quickly, pulling Anakin into a hug and squeezing Obi-Wan's hand.
"It's good to hear you're alright as well, Aayla," Obi-Wan said cordially. Seeing the impatient look on Anakin's face, he continued. "Do you have information on where Senator Amidala is being held?"
"Yes. We'll have to talk about this in the apartment, I don't want to attract attention," she said, looking around. "Follow me." Getting up from the table, she moved casually to the exit, and the two other Jedi followed her. They kept some distance between one another on the sidewalk, but never lost sight of each other. She led them down several levels, and into an old duracrete structure that looked like it had been built in the aftermath of the New Sith Wars. Aayla's unit matched the definition of some choice Huttese words, but Anakin declined to comment on that. If they were safe on a planet that was crawling with clones looking for Jedi to kill, he was fine.
"What information do you have?" Anakin asked.
"I'll show you," she said. She did something to her holo, and a layout of the securimax prison projected out into the room.
"How did you get this?" Anakin asked, impressed yet baffled.
"Intelligence is an underappreciated field," Aayla said deviously. "The Empire must have realized we might get our hands on this, because Padme Amidala is logged in two different cell blocks on opposite ends of the building." Anakin saw the highlighted cells and grimaced. One was the top wing on the east side, and the other the lowest level on the west side.
"Palpatine really doesn't want to take any chances on her escaping," Obi-Wan said grimly. "Aayla, if you were Palpatine which cell would you place her in?"
"Lowest one. Both have equivalent amounts of security, but the lower level is less accessible," she said. "I'm friends with one of the human guards from before the purge. He might be able to find out, but it will take at least a day."
"Do you want to wait a day Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked. The younger man scrutinized the map, thinking of all the possibilities. At their strongest they would be three each, but if they made the wrong choice they were all dead. They could divide up into teams of one and two, or he and Obi-Wan went to a cell and Aayla took care of the security systems. None of his plans seemed viable, they simply didn't have enough people to make up for their lack of information.
"I think so," he said. He despised the idea of leaving Padme in prison a moment longer than necessary, but she was strong, he knew she could make it through one day. She had to.
"Alright, I think that settles it," Obi-Wan said. Aayla nodded.
"I'll go find him now, he gets off around this time and goes out for drinks with his friends," she said, heading for the door. "Goes without saying but don't leave the apartment while I'm gone. I've only lasted this long because half the humans here can't tell one twi'lek from another. You don't have that luxury," with that, she shut the door. Anakin kept his focus on the plans. He wanted to have a plan as foolproof as they came when the moment came to rescue Padme, he wouldn't leave his wife's fate to random chance. He had the power to free her, and he wasn't going to squander it.
"I'm going to get some rest, keep my head on straight," Obi-Wan said, hinting that Anakin should do the same.
"Sleep well," Anakin responded. Obi-Wan laid down on the couch, and Anakin kept his gaze focused on the holo. He would save his wife, he had to.
"Good news and bad news," Aayla said as she entered. "Good news, my friend not only told me what block she was in, it's the lower one. And, he'll help us break her out. Come on Obi," she said, sighing when she saw his sleeping figure. Gently waking him, she continued speaking, "bad news is they're expecting a hundred new guards tomorrow."
"A hundred?" Obi-Wan repeated blearily.
"We have to go today then, we can't waste any time," Anakin said, getting up from his sitting position on the floor. "Palpatine will make sure she never sees the light of day if those reinforcements arrive before we do."
"I agree," Aayla said. "I take it you have a plan then, Skywalker?"
"I do," he answered. "Your friend deactivates the security and surveillance systems in Padme's cellblock, makes them read everything is normal, while you and Obi-Wan break her out. I'll storm the upper level with everything I've got, tripping as many alarms as I can."
"Are you insane? You won't last a minute!" Obi-Wan exclaimed. "We're on a planet chock full of clones in case you forgot!"
"That's why it will work. I'm by far the most wanted person in the galaxy, they won't waste a clone on a cell block where there's no security breach. And once you and Obi-Wan are inside, he can bring his ship around and you can use that to escape," Anakin explained.
"And you're going to do what? Fly off into the sunset?" Obi-Wan demanded. He understood his former Padawan would be willing to do whatever it took to rescue his, wife, but this was suicide!
"Not quite. A major speeder lane runs by the prison. I'll jump onto one of the passing speeder and meet you all at a rendezvous point," he said matter-of-factly.
"You're very powerful Skywalker, but I don't think you could handle the full weight of the securimax prison defenses without at least some assitance," Aayla said.
"Can we afford to do anything else? Four is too many to be strolling down the hall to retrieve a prisoner, and two isn't enough in case something goes wrong downstairs."
"And one is enough for when there is trouble upstairs?" Obi-Wan countered. "Don't be foolhardy Anakin, not now."
"I think it can work if Skywalker waits to cause his distraction until we're ready to retrieve Amidala. Griegg will be able to get us to her level, but we'll need security to be thin so we can get her out with less hassle," Aayla suggested. "We can send him a signal to begin his theatrics, and move as quick as we can up to the ship Griegg will have ready and get out of there." Obi-Wan was silent for a moment, looking at both of them. He trusted Aayla and her judgement, as well as Anakin's. But something about his former apprentice seemed, off. He couldn't place his finger on it, but he got the feeling Anakin wasn't sharing everything. Sighing, Obi-Wan put his hands up in resignation.
"Alright. When can we meet this Griegg character?"