Chapter 12: Receiving Answers
The Jedi Master and the Jedi Apprentice were quick to head towards the sector where Anakin has been running from their clone forces and themselves a few days ago where they had spotted Crys, Wooley, and few clones of the 212th and 501st combined investigating. Having not getting a good eye on them, the clones were about to tell them to leave when they had recognized their Jedi General and backed off, saluting and quickly apologizing, but also offering their assistance, which the two had turned down.
Sadly, them investigating the place resulted in nothing being solved. Of course the mastermind behind this whole thing wouldn't leave anything behind out of risk of them being caught instead of Skywalker. Both were coming to find every angle, not willing to leave the smallest of details behind. Whoever setting Anakin up had clearly planned this out through contingencies.
Reaching out with the Force upon going to the sector, the two sensed a familiar presence that seems to have pain and fear, causing the two to become mysterious and venture out to check who is having these two emotions.
That led the two Jedi to spot the figure of former Asajj Ventress of the Separatists walking through the undercity.
Obi-Wan always kept a close eye on her just in case she tries anything. The Jedi Master prefers to make sure she couldn't try anything than to give her the benefit of the doubt which is why he hadn't reported to where she resides at towards the Council.
If he did then the Council would likely send Jedi to apprehend her and interrogate her even after she saves the life of one of their own.
As they stared down at Ventress, they had noticed there was something off about the Nightsister. Her duel lightsabers weren't at her waist like they should have been.
She stopped, and both of the Jedi knew that she had sensed their presence, making their attempt at watching her closely go flaw, but still deciding to check her over.
The Togruta jumped down as Obi-Wan turns around a corner, making his presence truly known, but both of them didn't have a fighting stance, however, they will be ready to counter the Nightsister should she try and flee from answering their questions or go back to that Sith Assassin who had served Count Dooku.
"Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi," Ventress spoke, turning around to face the Padawan before glancing up towards Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"Ventress, we are not here to fight you, we just need your assistance," Obi-Wan said quickly, wanting to avoid a potential conflict from arising, also believing that the Nightsister is a changed woman.
"Really, then what honor do I own to two Jedi?" Ventress asked sarcastically, bowing in mocked jest, a gesture that clearly irritated the Togruta Jedi Padawan.
Resisting the urge to bared her fangs, Ahsoka walked up towards the former Nightsister, her body movements tight and her muscles bunched as she responded, "You know why we're here, Ventress, now we're going to give you one chance to confess here or at the prison."
The Jedi Master swore that Ventress's face almost fallen into a look of fear, but the Togruta didn't appear to catch the look. He knew he had to intervene before the Togruta possibly beats Ventress to a pulp which is something she would do since it appears that she's more like her Master than she admits. Ahsoka was impatient, snappish, and can sometimes grow angry.
"Enough, Ahsoka, we have come here for answers. We cannot one hundred percent ensure it was her. Besides, where are Ventress's lightsabers?" Obi-Wan inquired, knowing that the Nightsister had adapted to bringing her lightsabers with her, secretly because she was afraid of being hunted down by Count Dooku. He turned towards the Nightsister with a compassionate look, "Ventress, this can be resolved easily. Anakin doesn't believe you are the one that had attacked him and been the one behind all of his injuries. If you tell us all of your information, I would speak with the Council on your behalf, I promise."
A brief look of surprise came across the Nightsister's face along with a look of pondering. She had been able to watch the Holonets where the public confessed that they had caught Anakin Skywalker so she knew Kenobi and Tano was desperate.
Surely, Kenobi would be able to pardon her of her past crimes as a servant of Dooku and allow her not to live in a life of hiding from the Jedi and the Republic which will beneficial, but there is still Dooku and the Separatists.
"Skywalker and I formed a temporary alliance because we had come down towards a deal. If he is able to find all of the pieces of evidence to prove his innocence, he would speak to the Senate on my behalf to pardon me of my crimes. It was supposed to be easy and we had separated with him going to the warehouse and me going back to my flat. However, someone knocked me out and stole my lightsabers." The Nightsister replied, her voice sounding angry yet tinges of pain were in it.
"So what are you now? A bounty hunter now? This is highly embarrassing," Ahsoka quipped, unable to contain the amusement from rising across her face, earning a distant smirk from Obi-Wan and a frown from the Nightsister.
"At least I'm not always following the will of a Council, Tano, most of all a corrupt one which is guided by nothing but hypocrisy." The Nightsister's reply was quick and also have teasing in her tone, earning frowns from both of them as a smirk came across her face.
"Ventress, the Jedi is only trying to save the entire galaxy-" the Jedi Master begins to speak, wondering if he can ever completely sway the Nightsister's thoughts of the Jedi. The Jedi was only trying to help the galaxy instead of making things worse, though the Jedi Master would admit that there is something different about the Jedi Council lately.
"Tell that to all of your victims from not only this time but from the time of the old Republic; the Sith Holocaust a thousand years ago, the Padawan Massacre, the removal of Darth Revan's memories, not going out in the Mandalorian War, the Jedi refusing to help the people that truly need them for many years, the fall of Dooku, and my fall from the Jedi. Admit it, Kenobi, the Jedi has been a lost cause for a very long time," the Nightsister spat in response, knowing that she had struck a core in the Jedi Master by not only events that happened a few years ago but from ancient history that Kenobi himself finds himself secretly disagreed with.
Is it only a matter of time before the Jedi is truly lost? This war has changed many of the Jedi for the worse despite them doing questionable things in the past generations. Now thinking about it, every time he and Anakin go into battle, they are thrilled by it, wanting to take down the battle droids, despite Commander Cody and Captain Rex just wanting the war to end, having been tired of losing their brothers.
Kenobi reminded himself that he would need to meditate and call off the will of the Force later, hoping to gain guidance from it that he can hopefully bring to the Council which would probably make this war shorter. Perhaps he can talk to the men in the 212th later and asked them what they had thought of the war as a friend to each of them.
Ahsoka seems just as competent as she had heard about those stories but just thought they were tales from anti-Jedi who was trying to persuade the public against the way of the Jedi. Perhaps she can revisit the archives later and truly read into those stories.
"Ventress..." a sigh from the Jedi Master, wondering if they had come down here for a waste of time, "Do you have any other information?"
Ventress places her hand on her chin in deep thought, knowing that she had been knocked out and that her memories were only coming back towards her little by little. Thankfully, the Nightsister didn't perish by the user that did knock her out as she had originally thought she would have.
"When I heard Skywalker was on the run, I had thought he would have brought a large bounty," Ventress declared.
"A bounty?!" Ahsoka demanded, her hand crasping her lightsaber tightly, making her resist the urge to cut Ventress down and eventually succeeding, causing Obi-Wan to inwardly be proud of her. She had been challenged with the dark side many times before, but always came out in the light.
"I was going to turn him into the authorities, collect whatever bounty was due," Ventress informed them.
"What stopped you?" Obi-Wan inquired, staring at her up and down, knowing that she had changed, but the fact that she seems much more light than the last time reassured him.
"First, I admit it, I was interested in the money and a little bit of revenge, but then I realized your fallen apprentice and I had a lot in common," Ventress declared. It was true. Both were abandon by the people that they had trusted with their lives.
"How can you compare yourself to Anakin?" Ahsoka asked, her voice becoming more of a growl. Anakin and Ventress was different from each other in every way possible.
"It's true! My master abandoned me. And that's exactly what Kenobi done to Skywalker. He and his precious Jedi Order." Ventress replied, her voice becoming solemn and her voice strangely becoming hoarse as she stares directly at the Jedi Master.
Obi-Wan stares at her with shock, wanting to deny it, not wanting to admit the fact that he hadn't spoken large enough on Anakin's behalf.
But Ventress was right about everything; he had abandoned Anakin without speaking high enough as the Jedi Knight would have certainly done if he or Ahsoka was the one facing these charges.
"When he came to my shed, he'd contacted someone named... Barriss... that is why we needed to go to the warehouse, it was this Barriss that told us to go there," Ventress responded, remembering that woman that Anakin had talked too, though it was a weird conversation since they didn't seem to know each other very much.
Ahsoka's eyes widened in shock as she wondered if Barriss, her dear old friend that she had stayed with and saved when she was under the control of the brain worms, was behind all of this and the one that is framing her former Master. Although she couldn't see her that much anymore as she and Anakin were always sent on missions, she would occasionally contact her over the Holo transmissions and the two would have girl talk, acting like they weren't across the galaxy and was face-to-face.
She had been missing those times and the times where the two would be playing, sparring, talking, and giggling about the mischievous things to do that would give Master Kenobi, Skywalker, and Unduli heart attacks, and the Mirialan teasing her about Lux.
Is there a chance that she hadn't been around the Mirialan long enough for her to realizes a change in her friend? Barriss had changed since she had last saw her and it was almost as if she was regretful of an action.
'Barriss, you didn't!' Ahsoka thought towards herself bluntly, realizing that Barriss might have been behind everything, but hoping she wouldn't lose a dear old friend that she had trusted with her life. Surely she can explain this. If Barriss is this mastermind and a traitor, who can she truly trust? Why would Barriss aim at her former Master and make him look guilty for crimes that Anakin would never willingly do as he would never harm innocents?
"Master Kenobi, let's get going," Ahsoka spoke up, causing Master Kenobi to turned towards her and give her a nod, as the Togruta turned to face the Nightsister again, her face darkening and her eyebrows furrowed as she spoke with venom. "If you are lying, Ventress, you're dead."
"Such promises," she remarked as both had left the scene before she'd sighed and look down, wanting to follow the two of them for some reason, but fighting against that urge.
Why does she want to rescue Skywalker so much? Is it possible that he was the only person that ever truly knows her and offers her friendship and a strange sort of comradery? She had told him information that was deeply scarring that she didn't even reveal towards Count Dooku or anyone else before. Skywalker was once her swore enemy that she had wanted nothing but more to destroyed, but now, she had felt like he's the only person that could be her friend.
With one last anxious sigh, the Nightsister turned around, knowing that she shouldn't care about the fate of Skywalker, but in some sort of strange way, she had felt remorseful for not following the two of them.
The time of the trial finally came, and Anakin was lead out onto the platform with two shock troopers standing behind him, keeping his head bowed low to protect himself from the light or to ignore the looks of disgust, betrayal, disapproval, and sympathy from members in the court. All the former Jedi Knight can do is stare out at his surroundings, doing little more but to reach out with the Force and scanning their feelings and those feelings make him feel like he'd wanted to die right than and there.
Now, the former Jedi Knight stepped onto the lift that brought him to the center of the room, allowing him to get a better look at how huge the courtroom was.
Instead of being at the civil courts outside of Rotunda, it was at the Republic's military complex which means his sentence can possibly result in death, but quite frankly, the former Jedi Knight found himself not caring as much as he should have.
He heard the door open to his right and caught the form of Padmé, enrobed in a long black clothing that was majestic, luxurious, and beautiful, her steps as strong as ever, and her head held high. Anakin was barely able to resist the urge to race up, grasp her, and just hold her, not caring about the eyes of the Council who would be watching, but he was no longer a Jedi Knight, meaning that the rules no longer applied towards him.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when the sound of the door being opened from the left was heard, and Anakin saw Admiral Tarkin walking in, a sneer across his lips, and eyes gleaming. He couldn't believe that he once called this man a friend, and shall never do so again. Something urged him to strangle the man until he was dead, but Anakin knew that wouldn't make it any better and that he wouldn't be the better person so he managed to call out through the Force and calm himself, using Padmé's presence alone to fully calm himself. Unbeknownst to the former Jedi Knight, his eyes were not their ice blue anymore, but as golden as the twins' sun of Tatooine.
He looked up anxiously and saw instead of Chancellor Palpatine standing there, it was the Vice-Chancellor, Mas Amedda with two Red Guards that were oddly becoming more common around namely the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor. Anakin was shocked by that since usually, the Chancellor is the one reading the sentences in cases like this and Amedda is usually the guy who would assist the Chancellor in the background, but it appears that the Supreme Chancellor isn't the one here this time.
Anakin reached out for his presence through the Force and saw him sitting in the courtroom seat, and was shocked just as he was amused by the Chancellor being one who is going to spectate. He had offered him a kind smile that reassured Anakin as he sat down.
It also reassured him that the Chancellor didn't have the heart to judge him and place him on a sentence that would likely be resulted in a guilty outcome, but still though, if the Jedi Council can betray him, could Palpatine betrayed him as well? He had found himself growing distrustful of everyone besides from Padmé and Ahsoka.
"Anakin Skywalker, you have been charged with sedition against the Jedi Order and Republic itself. This court shall decide your fate. Prosecution, you may begin your arguments," Mas Amedda spoke at long last, nodding towards Tarkin, motioning for him to begin his statement.
Tarkin nodded, takes a few steps forward, and sneered at Anakin without any remorse in his eyes, causing him wanting to further crack his skull but refraining from doing so, "Former Knight Skywalker, I shall prove that you were the mastermind behind the attack on the Jedi Temple, and once your accomplices carried out your orders, you eliminated them one by one. Luckily for you, the Supreme Chancellor has talked me out of bringing down the full extent of the law to be brought down on you, including the penalty of death. Or you would have been facing the firing squad, traitor."
The former Jedi Knight growled lowly and bared his teeth at Tarkin, feeling his muscles cracked as he'd wanted nothing more than to beat Tarkin's ass.
"Calm yourself you must, young Skywalker," a wise voice whispered into his ear, almost as if someone had called off the power of the Force, though Anakin knew it was Master Yoda, who sat in his seat, watching him with sad but not hostile eyes.
Anakin knew whatever happens the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order would always have his back, and that along with the assistance of his wife might be enough for him not revealing a darker side that tends to reveal itself more nowadays.
Anakin stood confidently and prepared, knowing what is to come next.
Arthur's note: Am I cruel to end it off like that on a cliffhanger? Perhaps, but it had to happen and would continue to happen throughout this.
Originally, I was going to have Palpatine be the judge like in the original timeline but I felt like this is more realistic. I had noticed flaws in many stories where they have Palpatine do dumb things that cost him Anakin, and while they are not all bad, it usually makes me facepalm and confused for at least several minutes. I feel like Palpatine would have wanted Anakin unless he stood beside the Jedi in the Chancellor's office or if Anakin had proven to be unworthy so I'm going to have Palpatine be that manipulator who would have his eyes set on Anakin... for now at least.
I'm going to attempt to make Palpatine as evil as possible, doing things that make even my own blood boil somewhat. I don't want him to be regarded as that guy who makes mistakes or kill just to kill when they are benefits towards his plans.
May the Force be with you all always.