***1***
Anakin had returned from Christophsis a few days ago. Since then he had spent most of his time on the couch, sitting as quietly as a statue. He silently read his datapad, catching up with military reports and news that he had missed. He put a blanket on his lap to keep warm, which immediately became Imperius' favorite spot. She purred and took naps. He pet the cat, then focused on his datapad.
Sometimes, he entered a meditative state. His thoughts returned again and again to the irregular things that had happened during the battle. Obi-Wan was perceptive. The Separatists had known their movements ahead of the time. When Anakin had arrived at the location of the tactical droid commander, a swarm of battle droids had closed in on them. The enemy had known the Republic forces were coming. It could have been a coincidence, but they had known he was coming. They knew Vader .
Two IG-100 MagnaGuards had been deployed. They were designed specifically for fighting Force wielders, presumably the Jedi. Anakin had seen recordings from other battles. This type of droid usually targeted the Jedi and ignored the clones if they didn't stand in their way. It was possible that they had been sent there for Obi-Wan. But it didn't make sense that the two MagnaGurads went straight for him, a non-Jedi officer in a pilot's uniform. He hadn't rebuilt his lightsaber yet. Even if he'd had his lightsaber, he wouldn't have brought it to a battle led by a Jedi general. Yet, the two droids had focused on him. The clone troopers had come to his defense. He immediately ordered their retreat.
Vader had known he could take on the two MagnaGuards if nobody was watching. He could have grabbed one of their force pikes and fought hand-to-hand. Without a lightsaber, though and still recovering from Geonosis, he had known it would be an uphill battle. Instead, he had contacted Yularen right away. They immediately agreed that an orbital attack would be the most efficient option, although the Admiral had had some concerns about the Jedi's reaction.
"We are no Jedi. Do it," Anakin had insisted.
Vader knew Dooku was behind the ambush. The traitor was determined to kill him. It was quite a surprise that Dooku hadn't exposed Sidious and Vader yet. He must have some sinister agenda. The situation was getting complicated and dangerous for the Sith. It was the most perilous situation when someone who knew all your secrets betrayed you.
Now there were other traitors in the Republic military, working with the enemy.
The clone army had been created by the Jedi, which was an original sin of the Grand Army of Republic. On the battlefield, Anakin appreciated Rex, Cody, and all the clone troopers. He liked their company. They were good men. He took an effort to remember their names, but Vader couldn't trust anything made by the Jedi.
He decided to focus on something more interesting. Rackeli had sent him an Holovideo, which he had already played multiple times. It was her speech at the Jedi Temple protests. The protest now featured diverse topics other than demanding a transparent investigation of the Sith-a topic that made Vader uneasy, but somehow his master liked it.
The public's grievance against the Jedi seemed to be growing. People were angry at Jedi for commissioning an army without a Senate vote. They were angry at the Jedi's poor leadership and resulting civilian casualties. Every day, the list of grievances grew longer. Anakin was delighted that people shared his point of view. They were finally seeing the truth of the Jedi hypocrisy.
Rackeli's speech was interesting. Her accent was stronger than usual and Anakin supposed she was nervous. He'd always had the same problem. She made a few good points. No children's fate should be decided at birth. No child should be made to fight in a war. It was against the values of the Republic. She elaborated her points by relating to her own experience and family. What made him most impressed was that she used his line but said it more eloquently.
"Every mother has the right to be reunited with their children, at any time, if they wish," she said. "It is what freedom should be. It is what the Republic is about."
It was quite a speech. If Anakin ever made the high command, he should hire her as his chief-of-staff, or at least press secretary.
Palis, meanwhile, had penned an article to condemn the demonization of the Jedi Faith. Rackeli had fought back. The public's reaction was minimal. Not many people were interested in Jedi internal affairs.
Neither was Palpatine. The last time they had spoken, Palpatine had scolded him for wasting time on such trivial things and missing out on the bigger picture. "How Jedi conduct their own business is not your concern. You are neglecting your duty and distracted by unfocused passion," his master had said.
Vader could not care less about the wellbeing of Jedi youth. They had been or were being indoctrinated into a life dedicated to killing him and his kind. Yet, deep down, he felt it was relevant to him, in some ways he didn't know how to put into words.
Vader had argued back that it was a part of the bigger plan. The lawsuit would make Jedi look bad. At that point in the conversation, Palpatine had utterly lost his patience, but Vader had managed to get conditional permission to continue assisting Rackeli so long as he delivered results for his assignment on time.
Soon he would join Padme for dinner. He hadn't had much of an appetite since his return. Padme made an observation that he was quiet and impassive. He was not making poor jokes or ranting about things, which was unusual.
He didn't care about being usual or normal. His career was getting tougher. More battles were waiting for him. He thought about recruiting operatives to help him. There was just too much work. He couldn't do it alone.
***2***
The Senate formed a new committee to handle the supposed Sith infiltration. The Committee members had not decided on a name for the committee yet, but everyone was already calling it "Sith Hunt Group".
Padme was invited to be on the committee because no world had more grievance towards the Sith than Naboo. Palpatine politely declined his own invitation to join the committee but promised that he would review reports of progress.
Padme innately didn't want to "hunt down" anyone. During the committee meetings, she wandered into her memories to look for joy.
Palis's career in journalism came to a quick end. She was hired as a "Sith Hunt" investigator by the Senate because the Jedi Order could not spare a Knight to join them. Both sides thought Palis was in a perfect position to bridge the Order and the Senate. A big reason for Palis to accept the job was that Padme was on the committee. Friends stuck together in difficult times.
"I am basically back to the Order again. The only difference is that I have a salary," Palis joked. "It pays pretty well."
Despite the good salary, Palis called the committee "bantha shit," which surprised Padme. Anakin used the exact same phrase. It was ironic that their reasons were completely the opposite.
Palis briefed the Committee on the ancient Sith Empire history, philosophy, power source, and past crimes. There had been tons of horrendous atrocities. However, the politicians thought it was just another authoritarian regime characterized by infighting, corruption, and cruelty. From the sound of it, they were not so different from the Hutt clans. Palis complained that the politician didn't understand Sith, not even Padme.
" Political interference on Jedi business really did nobody any good. The Master Windu was right about it," Palis protested.
In the meantime, Anakin had been deployed to several battles since Christophsis. Whenever he was back, he asked about the progress of the "bantha shit hunt." His face fell every time she told him the Committee had not yet been disbanded.
"Another case of Jedi meddling in politics, using their power and influence to hijack the Senate agenda," he hissed. "The way they recruit their younglings is problematic. Worse yet, they refuse to submit to outside inquiry. What a double standard!"
Padme also learned that Anakin made a new friend, a Twi'lek lawyer about his age. Both of them were ambitious and relentless. Rackeli's stubbornness reminded her of her own opposition against the Military Creation Act.
Palis remained a Republic Chronicles column writer. She wrote "Jedi Business" section every few days. Rackeli was toe to toe with her, fighting with words. Anakin would never miss the fight no matter how limited his access to the HonoNet was.
Padme missed Anakin. Desperately. She looked for every trace of him when he was away. Anakin was very alive in these comments, similar to the daring warrior in the Holovideos taken by the drone. However, it was not always the case when he took a break on Coruscant. He could be very lively and playful one day, but solemn and robotic the second day. Padme found his HoloNet comments both reassuring and concerning. The three of them all passionately care about issues, similar issues, but they just ended up fighting.
After the Jedi children case was dismissed in court, Palis invited Padme out for a drink. Anakin announced that he would help Rackeli to introduce legislation to reform the Jedi Order. It gave Padme a good laugh, but it made Palis very nervous.
"I will kill it the first day the petty bill is introduced," Palpatine reassured them when Padme came to him. "What a waste of time. They won't find a sponsor for such a thing."
Since the Chancellor was against this idea, the bill was already dead on arrival. Palis said that she slept better knowing that.
The war raged violently on. The Republic and the Separatists had their own victories and defeats. In comparison, the "Sith Hunt Committee" produced nothing, except hundreds of pages of reports compiled by Palis, filled with long quotes taken from Jedi history books. No one bothered to read them. Even Padme could barely make it through the first hundred pages. They were both too technical and too frightening. Palis even admitted as such.
To keep herself sane, Padme indulged herself with the little things about the people who she deeply cared about. Their joy, sorrow, anger, and conflicts. They weren't really funny but she clung to them. They kept her from drowning in despair during the dark time.
Padme thought the committee would stay useless. However, she was wrong.
They'd been at it for months when one member suggested that they switch gears. "We all agree that we are clueless about this Sith business, but we can't sit here wasting taxpayers' money," he said.
The whole conference room went quiet.
"We can't identify the Sith, but we must identify the traitors in our ranks. There are several hundred of them. The investigation should focus on catching them."
The committee chair seconded him. "I move that we give this recommendation to the full Senate. There should be stronger monitoring on all senators and their staff members. Jedi read minds. Let them do the monitoring. Chancellor Palpatine has been waiting for our progress."
"No," Padme shot to her feet. "That is unethical and unconstitutional, an egregious invasion of privacy and deprivation of liberty."
"We are in a war. We can't be idealistic here. Don't you feel the crimes committed by the Sith Empire egregious?" The senator gestured to Palis' reports. "Things will return back to normal when we win. The longer the war drags on, the more liberty we will lose!"
"By the way, if you are no traitor, why would you worry about monitoring?" another added.
Again, these senators conflated security and oppression. They had done the same thing when lobbying for the military bill. The committee voted to support the recommendation, winning with a large margin. A full Senate vote was pending.
Now this "Bantha Shit Hunt Committee" had a formal name. "UnRepublic Activities Control Committee." For a brief moment, she felt this may be a glimpse of how a Sith Empire looked like. Dooku was winning here.
***3***
Obi-Wan had been musing about the leaking of the intel. After Christophsis, the irregular activities stopped, but it had started again in the recent battles. He started to create a list of suspects, while Anakin had his own theory.
Anakin was most agitated by one thing. One person, to be precise. Asajj Ventress. The Dark Jedi.
Ventress followed them to almost every battle. She seemed to be very interested in Obi-Wan. They had fought multiple duels. They had given each other a couple burns, but neither had lost a limb.
However, Anakin was convinced that she was after him.
"Master Kenobi, what makes you different from other Jedi? Are you on the Jedi Council? There were a few thousand Jedi out in the field. Why did she choose you as a target?" Anakin asked. "She was toying with you in that last fight. She didn't want to kill you."
"So, what is your point?" Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow.
"She wants to draw me out and kill me," Anakin spat. "I very much like to end her cowardly life myself, but I will not fall into a trap.
Obi-Wan was tempted to tell Anakin that he was arrogant beyond words if he genuinely believed that a powerful Sith assassin had been to handle him. Or maybe he was just insane. A junior officer with no trained Force abilities targeted by an assassin? It was definitely paranoia.
Still, when he put more thought into it, Obi-Wan supposed it could be true. The death of the Chancellor's son would be a big blow to the Republic's morale. After all, Anakin had already become a poster boy for Republic propaganda. Obi-Wan himself had gotten swept up in the media circus a few times himself. He had started to hear people call Anakin the "Hero with No Fear." To his surprise, Obi-wan got himself the title "Negotiator."
Nonetheless, either one of them being the special assignment of Dooku's assassin was unnerving.
"We used the traitor to draw her out, and end them both." Anakin made a throat-cutting gesture.
It was easier said than done. They started with identifying all the individuals who were assigned on the missions and tasks that had gone wrong. Each clone and officer was assigned a risk level based on how many times their names appeared on the list.
Of course, the people with the highest scores were of course the leaders who made strategic decisions: Anakin, Obi-Wan, Rex, Cody, and Yularen. The second highest risk group were individuals who worked closely with the leaders. The list was pretty long with dozens of names.
They interviewed each one, collecting alibis and evidence. They also analyzed who was put into danger by these intel leaks. Presumably, the spy had no interest in killing themselves. Obi-Wan refused to let Anakin interview anyone alone. The young man was in an irritated mood, small things could draw ire from him.
"May I remind you, anger is destructive," Obi-wan found himself repeating for the fourth time that afternoon.
"We are interrogating suspects, not chatting over drinks. The spy will make errors and reveal themselves under pressure!" Anakin protested.
"This is different from investigating the Separatist operatives we captured. They were our own men. We are asking their assistance in revealing the identity of the suspicious person, "Obi-Wan explained as patiently as he could. "People are more willing to talk when treated with gentleness. Fear paralyzes."
"They are soldiers! I am not going to babysit."
Obi-Wan realized that they indeed had some major differences in their beliefs of how people functioned. It was more than a temperament issue. He wished he could help Anakin see the world in a more positive and tender way. The Jedi pursued peace and serenity, not just for themselves, but for people who were around them as well. There were so many misguided souls.
Fortunately, they reached a compromise. They would each play to their specialties. Anakin would be the bad cop, and Obi-Wan the good. They managed to exclude some individuals from the suspect list but still couldn't identify the spy.
"Commander, I would like to tell you more, but I don't remember everything," Clone Trooper Stormy mumbled.
"Master Jedi, do something to help him remember. " Anakin slammed his hand on the desk. "Use some Jedi tricks."
Obi-Wan handed a cup of tea to the trooper. "How about having some calming beverage instead?"
The clone relaxed and spoke. "A few nights ago, I heard some muffled sounds in the cargo zone 2. I didn't think much of it." Stormy blushed. "Brothers have basic needs after all."
"Who are they? Do you know?" Obi-Wan inserted some weight into his voice.
"I believe one is Slick. I don't know who the other person is though." The trooper shifted nervously. "I don't mean to get anyone into trouble. Having sex isn't against regulation, sir."
"Zone 2. Strange interpersonal activities. I wrote it down." Anakin shook his head and sighed dramatically. "Great trick, Master Kenobi"
"Commander Skywalker, I need a few words with you," Yularen called in. "Report to the Bridge."
Anakin looked defeated and left the interview room reluctantly. Interestingly, Obi-Wan sensed a hint of relief from him in addition to disappointment.
A few minutes later, Yularen joined Obi-Wan. Anakin was nowhere to see.
"I gave Skywalker some professional guidance on interrogation. Now he had some errands to run. We shall proceed, " Yularen said confidently.
Now Obi-Wan vaguely recalled that the Admiral had worked in a Republic intelligence unit on Coruscant. From the way Yularen carried himself, he was indeed an experienced professional.
Obi-Wan blamed himself for ignoring this detail, which had resulted in him being stuck in these investigations with a firecracker and a complete lack of any real progress.
A few minutes later, Anakin's voice was on the shipwide broadcasting system, announcing an emergency gathering for all personnel to report to the bridge.
What the hell was going on? Obi-Wan looked sharply at Yularen but the man wore a sabacc face.
"The traitor had been identified," Anakin declared icely once they'd all arrived. "CT-756, Captain Rex, you are under arrest." He went straight to Rex and handcuffed him.
Rex was in total horror. "Sir, it was not me! Something is wrong!"
Some clones froze with disbelief. The room was saturated with fear and anger. While Anakin harshly pushed Rex toward the brig, Yaluren scanned the whole group with narrowed eyes. Obi-Wan sensed a different emotion from one of them. Even though his face was impassive, he radiated relief.
It was Slick.
"Set course on Ryloth. All of you return to post," Yularen announced. Then the two of them walked to the briefing room in silence.
"This is a set up. You two know it was Slick, not Rex, right?" Obi-Wan said dramatically. "Very traumatic for Rex. It is quite ruthless"
"But it works." Anakin had been waiting for them in the room. "He is a good soldier. He will understand."
"I am surprised that you chose Rex to be the bait," Yularen casually commented.
"I trusted that he is least likely to be the traitor. His reaction would be most authentic, thus, powerful." Anakin looked outside the window.
"So you two had been plotting this from the beginning. You kept me in the dark." Obi-Wan rubbed his temple. "Anakin, I didn't realize you were such a talented actor." Irritation was rising in him. He felt like a fool.
"I didn't try to trick you! I honestly believed I could find the suspect, in my way," Anakin yelled at him. "The Admiral was quicker, more skilled than me."
"Skywalker made noises, stirred up anxiety, and drew attention to himself. It gave me easy access to information. It was not acting. He thought I was a backup plan. He still has a lot more to learn." Yaluren looked at the young man almost fatherly, which stirred up some feelings inside Obi-Wan. Despite Anakin's frequent heated arguments with the Admiral, sometimes he behaved
like a humble student. He didn't know Anakin had this side. More accurately, Anakin never showed this side to him.
Officially Obi-wan was the top commanding officer of the fleet, but his deputy and the Admiral had more comradery between the two of them. A word came to his mind, "invisible", which he heard Palis complained about several times before. Yet, he never understood. Now he started to miss her.
He brushed these emotions aside.
"You got Stormy to talk. It was useful." Anakin calmed down. "We know where to look. Zone 2. Slick will contact Ventress or whoever his handler is."
"He is a pretty good spy though. I didn't think he was particularly suspicious. After we are done with Ventress, I will publicly execute him for treason myself," Anakin snarled. "We need to set an example."
Obi-Wan flinched. "You still need evidence." Death penalty for treason was common practice on the battlefield. However, Anakin being reveled in using fear to command was chilly.
"He will talk. I will see to it," Anakin said coolly.
***4***
Obi-Wan, Yularen, and Anakin waited in the monitoring room. None of them spoke. They had already set up cameras that covered all the places that Slick could show up.
Anakin was losing patience. He wanted to end this shitshow and bring justice to the traitor swiftly. Also, he didn't like the idea of leaving Rex in the brig for too long. Palpatine would scold him for being too weak and cultivating useless attachment. Jedi and Sith agreed upon almost nothing but shared a common distaste for attachment. Except the Sith was okay with some attachment. Anakin still wasn't entirely sure what made one attachment a strength and another a weakness, but he deferred to his master's wisdom.
To kill time, he pulled out his datapad and started to draw Padme. He missed her badly.
He was in the middle of drawing her cuddling with lmperius when Obi-Wan broke the silence.
"Slick just left his quarters."
Slick arrived at the storage room in zone 2 first, then a female naval officer rendezvoused with him.
"Are we watching pornography here?" Anakin went back to his drawing. "You two let me know when they start to talk."
Strangely, they didn't speak even one word, then the woman left. They didn't exchange any items that could contain information either.
"It seems that they were only interested in pleasuring each other," Yularen said nonchalantly.
"His lover could be an excellent justification and provide false testimony unknowingly, if someone found out about these suspicious activities, like Stormy did. Very cunning," Obi-Wan said, thoughtfully stroking his beard.
This comment made Anakin self-conscious. He deleted his half-finished drawing and put down the datapad. It reminded him of Palpatine's comments on his relationship with Padme. If she found out what he was, would she feel about their relationship in the same way?
"The main course starts now."
Slick took out a commlink, which was different from the type issued to clone troopers. They zoomed in the video. Ventress' blue figure popped up as the Holocall went through.
Anakin inhaled sharply. He didn't know which one angered him more, this traitor plotting with Ventress or using a naval woman as a tool.
"The Resolute command believed Rex to be the spy. It was surprising. Yularen may have noticed me," Slick said quickly. "They may go after me soon. Skywalker was paranoid."
Anakin cursed internally. He would choke the life out of the traitor if the situation allowed.
"They were heading to Ryloth. The specifics have not been revealed yet. I will contact you again when we land." Then he severed the connection.
"Our mission was halfway done now," Obi-Wan commented. "Now it is up to me to capture Ventress. Anakin, you go after Slick when he is on the ground."
"No, I will go with you and fight her."
"Are you insane? She is a Darksider. You can't always be lucky."
"I can handle myself." He ignited the force pike that he brought along. "This will do."
Capturing Ventress was not enough, she must be neutralized.