Palpatine has been waiting for this call. It took Anakin longer than he would have liked to find a new holoreciever and contact him, but in the grand scheme of things, what's a single month? He's been playing the long game for decades.
"Anakin, my boy," he says as the young man appears before him in trembling blue on his private holoreceiver. He leaps to his feet as if he's surprised. "Whatever can you be thinking? Your call could be traced."
Anakin blinks, looking nonplussed. "Are you going to trace it, Chancellor?" he asks.
Palpatine puts on a show of blustery surprise. The fool is so trusting. "Well, no," he says. "How could I turn on such a close friend as you?" He leans forward conspiratorially. "I tried to convince them not to issue the warrant for your arrest, but the law is the law, and you did break it, after all." He pauses to play up an overwrought sigh. "I understand why, though."
Anakin does not raise any of the questions someone like Amidala might have brought up, such as why, if he understands, hasn't he changed the law with one of the many emergency powers he has accumulated over the course of the war. Years of reinforcing that everything can be taken at face value and follow-up questions are for politicians is paying off nicely.
"Of course, Chancellor," Anakin says. "I had to protect my men."
"Of course you did," Palpatine says, leaning into the put-on sympathy. "It's high time someone did something."
Anakin nods gravely. "I only wish I could help more than just my own legion."
"Perhaps you can," Palpatine suggests. Oh, this is too good. He imagines Skywalker attacking Republic military units and making off with kidnapped troops. If only he can make it happen. Turning Anakin against the Jedi Order has been an operation long in the planning and unexpectedly set back by his sudden desertion; there was a certain risk that the Jedi Council would allow him to roam free and do as he pleased - so far they had made no move to take him into custody - which would hardly endear him to the idea of slaughtering them all when the time came. But the Jedi would never stand by with their troopers being taken by force. From here it's just a matter of leaving the right impressions on the right psyches. Child's play.
"What do you mean?" Anakin asks, taking the bait like a baby mee fish.
"Well, I shouldn't have said anything," Palpatine says. "No, it's too risky. I'll see what I can do on my end, my boy. It's just… well, you know how slowly the Senate moves."
Anakin nods in agreement, his face thoughtful.
"Can I contact you on this frequency?" Palpatine asks, behaving as though the subject really has been changed.
"Yes," Anakin says. "I'll… I'll let you know if it changes." He's distracted, still thinking about clone troopers. Good.
"Unfortunately I have duties to attend to now," Palpatine says. "But we'll speak again soon." It's not a question.
"Of course," Anakin says, and he bows before the transmission is cut short.
It's the day for holocalls, apparently, because almost as soon as Anakin's call with the chancellor ends, he receives a message from Padmé with the contact information for the Duchess of Mandalore. Anakin plugs the frequency into his holotransmitter and sends the call. It's picked up immediately, almost as if the duchess was waiting.
"Master Skywalker," she says, and Anakin acknowledges her with a short bow. "I've been told by Senator Amidala that you have about five hundred refugees on your ships. She asked that I take them in on Mandalore."
"I don't wish to impose on your hospitality," Anakin says carefully. "Most of them are natives of Ryloth, so sending them home is not an option. It would be a temporary situation, just until they can reasonably be transported to their home planet."
"You understand, of course," the Duchess says, "that I cannot condone a course of action that will lead the war to Mandalore."
"Of course," Anakin says. "I can assure you the Separatist military will not be looking for them. They weren't -"
Satine raises her hand, stopping him short. "Senator Amidala told me where you got the refugees, Master Jedi. It's of little consequence. I was more concerned about you. Unfortunately your actions over Coruscant last month, admirable as the intention may have been, have made you a liability."
Anakin can't really argue with that. Associating with him will destabilize Mandalore's carefully cultivated neutrality with the Republic, while pinning an even bigger target on the system for the Separatists.
"Senator Amidala and yourself are the only people who know about my involvement," he says, hoping he sounds more confident than he feels. It's not necessarily true. It's possible rumors got out; messages sent before they jammed communications or stories told by surviving slavers. Anything that does get out will be little more than rumors, though, and rumors will abound regardless. "There's nothing to tie them back to me. And if the war is brought to Mandalore, of course my men and I will be at your disposal for defense."
"I don't require your protection, Skywalker," she says sharply. "I'm taking a bigger risk than I like just talking to you."
"These people didn't ask to be enslaved," Anakin says, equally sharply. "None of them are soldiers. Like you, they were just trying to live their lives in peace." He forces some semblance of compusure into his voice. "I'm not asking for you to associate with me. I'm asking for you to give these people a place to live while they heal."
Surprisingly, she doesn't retort. Instead, she looks sad. "I sympathise with their plight. Unfortunately, I barely have enough to keep my own people fed and happy. Mandalore's neutrality has not protected it entirely for the ravages of war."
Anakin suppresses a sigh. He'd hoped to be able to solve this problem quickly. A long search for asylum will only hurt the people he's trying to help. "If you feel you cannot take the risk -" he begins.
Satine raises her hand again. "However, it is not in line with Mandalore's peaceful ideals to allow innocent people to suffer. Concordia, our moon, has a few settlers, but for the most part has remained empty since the Death Watch was driven off of it. You may take them there. We have little food to spare, but Concordia is rich with resources."
"Thank you, Duchess," Anakin says. This is more than he could have hoped for.
"Don't make me regret this, Skywalker," the Duchess says quietly.
This chapter was delayed partially because I had writer's block for a while and partially because, last month being March, I was focusing on my eternal and undying obsession with The Lord of the Rings for a while. Also, chapters will be a bit slower from here on out, since I've burned up the frenzy of mad inspiration that accompanied the initial phase of writing. I'm also writing multiple other fanfics that I'm not actively publishing, so yeah.
I probably had a bunch of things to say about the chapter, but I forgot them.