Chapter 4

Obi-Wan looked out at the vast expanse of the dune sea, from high on a rocky mesa where his new home stood. He had been here about month now. It took him a couple of weeks to reach Tatooine and another couple of days to reach the Lars farm. Beru and Owen Lars had been ecstatic to take Luke in. Beru could not have her own children and they were thinking of adopting. The recent death of Owen's father Cliegg made Luke's arrival a joy to the couple.

However, when he tried to visit little Luke yesterday Owen let him know that Luke was not to be involved in any Jedi non-sense!

"Not while I'm alive! I'll protect Luke from the Hutts, the Tuskens, the Empire and from you if I have to! Anakin would still be alive if he had stayed on Tatooine and not gotten involved in your damn wars!"

Owen had been forceful to say the least. Beru let him see Luke but she made it very clear she felt the same. Their love for Luke was great! Obi-Wan was happy for that and Padme would be happy about that too. At first he had felt guilty for telling them Padme was dead too but seeing how much they loved Luke he realized it was better that he be the only one to bear the burden of the secret of Leia and Padme's existence. He thought it best they not have to lie to Luke.

Obi-Wan could have pushed them to be in Luke's life but he felt now was not the right time to press the Lars family. They had lost so much. He could understand their grief so he would be patient. In the meantime he would trust in the Force! He would stay away and wait for Luke to find his way to him.

But standing here alone watching the twin suns set he felt the cold dagger of grief and loneliness more sharply than ever. Padme's pain-filled cries in the med bay as she gave birth to the children she should have been able to love and nurture haunted him. The image of Anakin in that bier stuck to his mind day and night.

It wasn't just his death that plagued him. Arriving with Master Yoda at the Temple to find the blaster bolt riddle bodies of his fellow masters had been tough. But tougher still was to find all the little bodies. The padawans - who had probably not had their lightsabers for very long - lying beside their masters. All the younglings simply cut down in their sleep!

He closed his eyes and cleared his mind, reaching out to the Force. As his body relaxed he saw something in the Force – a brief image of Ahsoka – sneaking through back alleys safe and anonymous. His heart rejoiced! He resisted the temptation to reach out to her and call her through the Force. It would give her away he was sure so he retreated from the vision. Like him, she would wait for the moment when she could join with the new hope that would rise one day. He was certain of that!

And as he let go of the vision he felt something else in the Force tug at him, something that had led him to the vision of Ahsoka. The one thing that connected them both!

'Anakin!' he thought joyfully 'I should have known you would watch over your son!' That confidence… that cockiness! That could only be his former padawan. It was just a flicker in the Force. Anakin – like Master Qui-Gon – had joined the Force but while their physical presences were gone, their spirits were still here with him.

'And they are going to be with me as long as the Force is with me,' he thought, feeling at peace for the first time in weeks. He felt his old Master's presence as well reassuring and proud, pleased that Obi-Wan had mastered his grief. Padme and Leia would be alright, he could feel it from his connection to his old master.

'And someday Luke and I will join them,' Obi-Wan knew. Owen could hide Luke away for now, but one day Luke would go in search of his destiny. Obi-Wan would make sure he was there ready to guide him…

-0-

Anakin kissed Padme and got up out of their bed. He didn't bother to put his clothes on to go to the fresher. Not having to run off in the middle of the night back to the Temple was liberating. If there was a bright side to the Empire, it was that he would never be forced by his obligations to the Order to leave his beloved Padme so immediately after making love to her. He hated rushing off.

Propping her head up on one arm Padme watched him walk toward the fresher in the dimly lit room. Every muscle in his body as he moved was perfectly toned. His convalescence had taken nothing away from his well-honed physique. The limp was almost completely gone and the milky white film that clouded his right eye had begun to fade the instant he came home from his interview with the Emperor. His eye was practically healed now.

The stump of his right arm still had burn scars from the attack in the Emperor's office but he could move it now and the loss of his arm didn't seem to slow him down. He didn't even seem to need the arm. She felt a little girly disappointment as the door of the fresher opened then closed behind him and she drummed her fingers on the bed impatiently waiting for him to come back out so she can continue admiring his…shoulders…

"How he fell for it is beyond me!" Padme insisted for the umpteenth time since his triumphant return from the Emperor's palace. Anakin chuckled as he made his way back to their bed.

"His over-confidence is his weakness," Anakin replied as he had several times already. He smirked amused as he got back into the bed, kissing his wife as he reached out with the Force and pulled her towards him.

"I'm sorry that I worried you," he said propping himself up on his left arm. She kissed him softly.

"I think the worst is over," Padme replied feeling like the nightmare was starting to ebb. Their long wait had just begun but as long as they were together they would be alright.

"We will wait for the new hope to rise. But we will not be helpless or idle," he added and kissed her deeply. His strength once more surrounded her and she relished his passion as it ignited the fire between them. Padme pushed him down to straddle him. He smiled and just let her have her way. This was her time…

Almost a month had passed since they arrived on Coruscant. The Emperor had lost interest in Anakin within a week of his arrival. It became obvious when the emperor's spies had stopped following him. They thought they had stayed out of Anakin's radar, but they were wrong. He made sure they had nothing to report to the Emperor though.

The gungan representative – a young gungan female by the name of Jaya Klim – had joined Padme and her staff. The girl had been extremely polite, charming and deferential. She was intellectually gifted too. But Anakin had seen through her instantly and made damn sure Padme and her friends were aware! She resented Padme and the Naboo – and she had a deep lust for power. The Emperor's plan became obvious.

'Divide and conquer! He means to stoke once more the distrust and resentment between the Naboo and the Gungans,' he realized, angry that all of Padme's hard work to bring the two peoples together was being sabotaged by Palpatine's greed. He remembered Sabe said someone had hacked their medical records on Naboo. He had been careful to alter the memory of the med droid that had performed a vasectomy on him to protect Luke and Leia – and any other children they might want to have one day. He was willing to bet the young gungan was an agent of the Emperor.

Today he had gotten up early as he always did. He helped get breakfast on the table and listened intently as Padme, Eirtae, Sabe and Rabe discussed the agenda for the senate floor. Their faces were neutral but Padme and the other women's frustrations were palpable. The senate was a sham! Last week a planetary government had put in a bid to be considered as a base for one of the Empire's new military academies. However, they were once a separatist planet. The planet's economy had suffered in the war and the academy would have benefited the population.

The proposal the planet put forth passed on the senate floor but the Emperor had produced some report of rebel insurgents on the planet and instead had sent a fleet to bomb most of the planet into rubble then take over all the businesses of the planet. The population was essentially slaves to the Empire now. Life in the Empire looked grim for anyone who had not been licking the Emperor's boots since before he became the Emperor.

He hugged his wife and kissed her goodbye but he felt deeply troubled. It wasn't just the senate that troubled Padme now. Over the last few days she had been waking from terrible nightmares. In those nightmares he stayed dead but to add to it their children were dead, so was Obi-Wan, Bail Organa, Sabe and Tonra. It was hard to watch her weep so deeply. He needed to do something but didn't know what yet.

He started his day the same way he started most days - by doing some lightsaber training. Lightsaber fighting with only one arm threw off his balance so it was a little like re-learning how to fight. It really didn't take him long to recapture his proficiency though. He took a break late in the morning to join Padme in her office for lunch but realized right away why Padme had insisted he avoid the senate building. It took him nearly an hour just to get through the new security checkpoints even though Padme made sure he was listed as part of her staff.

As he walked towards her office he noticed some senators and staffers would go out of their way to say hello to him. Others disappeared so quickly into their offices he was sure they were avoiding him. Some greeted him in a nervous, almost frightened way. He was not sure what to make of it. He wondered if they really bought the propaganda about the Jedi being evil. From his new understanding of his fellow Jedi - he knew they were naive and perhaps too proud but they were not evil. He decided to put it out of his mind for now as he entered Padme's office.

They had a cheerful lunch interrupted only once by Bail Organa. The first meeting with Bail when he and Padme returned to Coruscant had been a bit awkward for Anakin but Bail was a master diplomat. It was hard not to become friends with the man right away. He had stopped by to let Padme know he was heading back home to Alderaan. It was time for another ceremony for Leia. It never ceased to amaze Anakin to see how devoted Bail was as a father. He was grateful for it but it didn't stop him from missing his little daughter every day.

"You know, when you're ready for that honeymoon trip, there is a beautiful lake down near Apenza peak popular with newlyweds. Breha and I would love to have you over," Bail invited courteously. It took everything in Anakin not to jump out of his chair and take him up on his offer. He desperately wanted to meet his little daughter!

"Thank you Bail. That's very kind but I don't think we'll be going on any holidays for a while," Padme replied looking sad and tired. Anakin frowned; she would need a break soon he was sure. The same tired and sad look flitted over Bail's eyes for a moment.

"The offer stands," he insisted with a sad smile. Anakin got up out of his chair then and shook Bail's hand.

"And we will take it...maybe not today but soon!" Anakin assured him. Bail smirked knowing that as husbands of hard working, powerful women, it fell to them to make sure they took breaks. It was something they could bond over! He said goodbye sounding cheerful again saying he'd be back in a few days.

"You are incorrigible," Padme sighed forgoing the lecture about how dangerous it was to go near them so soon. She was tired and stressed and part of her really did want to see Leia again. He came around her desk to say goodbye.

"I might be late tonight. I have a meeting with Senator Bonteri. I want to introduce him to some of my allies in the Senate," Padme let him know tiredly. She had been trying to clear her schedule to meet with Lux. Mina Bonteri – Lux's mother – had been a close friend and though Anakin had disagreed with Mina's views of the Republic during the war – he now wished he had paid more attention and not seen things quite so black and white.

"I'll keep your dinner warm then," Anakin promised as he kissed his wife goodbye.

"I hope that's not the only thing you'll keep warm for me," she teased seductively. He chuckled.

"Of course not milady," he replied and kissed her once more.

He ran into Mon Mothma on his way out of Padme's office. She offered her condolences for his loss. But Anakin could tell that while polite and sympathetic, she and the other senators with her were eager to get away from him. It finally hit him why the senators were acting strange! Up until very recently he was very deep in Palpatine's confidence and had been a strong and very public supporter of his policies and his power.

It had strained his marriage and caused Padme's friends to distance themselves from him. Mon Mothma was likely to be part of Bail's plans to oppose the Emperor but unlike Bail she had no reason to trust Anakin. He would have to work hard to earn their trust if he wanted to help them return democracy to the galaxy.

'Bail trusts Padme and vice versa that's why he trusts me. But her other allies have no reason to,' he thought sadly as he made his way out of the senate building, seeing with fresh eyes the motives behind the way the senators and their staff greeted him on the way out.

He put all of that out of his mind as he finally reached his speeder, promising himself to meditate on the problem later. He tried to keep his thoughts on the good moments as he slogged through Coruscant traffic back to their apartment but his mind now came back to Padme's nightmares.

'She feels helpless!' He realized. Bail had been acting distracted and missing Senate meetings. People were attributing it to being a new parent. Anakin thought this was true seeing Bail's devotion to fatherhood for himself, but only partially. Bail was not likely to let his little daughter look forward to living her entire life under imperial rule.

Anakin knew he was not going to do that either! But he didn't have Bail's resources – he needed a different way to contribute especially if he was going to earn the trust of Padme's senate allies.

'I also need to figure out how to help Padme,' he drove past his apartment and continued on a little aimlessly, letting the Force control his destination. He ended up parking a few blocks from the Temple. He walked towards it knowing that the Force had some knowledge for him to glean there. As he approached he noticed there were a lot of stormtroopers in the area but Anakin was a master at sneaking in and out of the Jedi Temple.

He managed to avoid all the patrols. He pulled the scarf he was wearing up to cover part of his face and pulled the hood of his cloak down close but actually removed the eye patch he used to cover up that his eye was healed. He pulled his arms deep into the cloak. If there were imperial surveillance cameras in the temple, his missing arm and the eye patch would give him away. He managed to get in with little difficulty through a maintenance worker entrance.

He quietly snuck around corridors. The dark side of the Force infected every area where his Jedi brethren had suffered and died. His heart clenched in grief and pain hearing the echoes in the Force of the children who screamed as their protectors fell then they were gunned down. He forced himself to go from corridor to corridor hoping against hope that someone other than he and Obi-wan and Yoda had survived. Guilt gnawed at him as he wondered if this was his fault!

'Should I have waited? Should I have called and talked to Master Yoda instead of going to Master Windu? Should I have called Obi-Wan? Could I have prevented this if I had been patient?' he asked himself as he tiptoed from floor to floor. He picked up random bits of gear here and there, filling his back pack while avoiding the construction droids and the troops trying to sort and clear the debris.

He was careful to make sure he just looked like a common thief to any surveillance equipment in the temple. He smirked in dark satisfaction as he saw construction droids using drills and heavy demolition equipment to get through doors any Jedi – even the youngest child – could've just walked through.

'The temple is still putting up a fight! Good!' he thought as he looted around a construction droid that was crushed when a portion of the library collapsed on it. He scored a lightsaber half buried in the rubble. The hilt casing was partially crushed but the crystal was intact. The crystal was yellow which meant it was either Master Nu's saber or it belonged to the Temple guardians. Yellow was the color of the knowledge seekers and the Temple guardians.

Anger and grief warred inside of him and he struggled to keep himself from attacking the troops in the temple. He would put Padme and her allies in danger if he was caught fighting here. He would endanger the secrecy that protected Ahsoka, Obi-Wan and his children. He kept reminding himself of that as he ran into a pair of clonetroopers who were talking of how annoying their Jedi commander had been and how glad they were that the guy was dead.

"What a sanctimonious idiot?! I'm glad I don't have to deal with him anymore! Just wish I could have killed his stupid smuggler friend and her crew! Rhymes with Orange! What a stupid name for a ship!" the clone complained. Anakin made a mental note of the name of the ship. A Jedi sacrificed himself to help a smuggler escape…that smuggler and her crew might be some help to the rebellion he was sure Padme and her allies were going to start.

"What a stupid name for anything you mean! What did you do with the kid?" asked the other trooper as he chuckled. Anakin leaned in a little from his hiding spot high in the rafters to hear better what the troopers talked about.

"We were going to execute her too but we got a message to capture the padawan and take her to Mustafar with the ones we took from here," the first trooper said. Anakin's eyes went wide! There were living padawans who hadn't escaped like Ahsoka! Padawans probably being tortured and humiliated for whatever dark agenda the emperor had! He struggled again with his rage. He wanted to land down on their heads and strike them down for what they did. But he couldn't afford to think like that! He needed to figure out how to find that padawan and rescue her.

'I need to get back to Padme! We have to get to Mustafar!' he thought as he took slow soft breaths waiting for the soldiers to leave.

"Did you hear about that Master? I hear she might have some Jedi kids hidden. Those new guys are working her over trying to find out where she hid them," said the first soldier as they began to walk away. Again Anakin slowed his breathing and stealthily followed them along the rafters. There were multiple Jedi captured and who knew how many younglings in danger! He needed to do something now! He reached deep into the Force concentrating on the soldier's mind.

"Where was this master taken?" he whispered.

"I guess she was taken to Mustafar with the others," the first soldier said, easily responding to Anakin's Force suggestion. The other shrugged both soldiers completely unaware of Anakin's presence.

"Who cares? They're all gonna die anyways. It's a waste of time to catch them. They never say anything before they die," the second soldier replied and Anakin released the first soldier sending him a suggestion to agree. Anakin forced himself to wait until they were gone before he dropped back down to the corridor and hurried to the exit.

He reached his speeder after a long and circuitous route. He took off the robe and scarf he was wearing and dumped it in a trash bin. He had to make sure no one - or nothing - was following him. He also took his time getting back to the apartment. He needed to go somewhere to be seen so he could justify his long absence. The troops at the Senate residences still reported the comings and goings of the senators and anyone who lived with them.

He went to the market and took his time browsing the stalls and being randomly generous with some of the merchants and talking to shoppers there so they would remember him. He finally made it home as the sun was setting with fresh flowers and some hair ornaments for Padme. He arrived mere minutes before Padme did. She seemed a little less frustrated than usual.

He kissed her and he was glad that she loved the flowers and the trinkets. He listened as she gave him a rundown of her day. It was the usual nonsense but she was glad that Lux Bonteri was looking like he was going to be able to settle right into the world of politics with the same aplomb his mother had shown in her days as a Republic senator. He waited patiently until the household staff was gone and the maintenance droids left the apartment.

"So you haven't told me about your day Anakin," Padme asked but as he looked in her eyes he knew she wasn't buying the banal answer he had given before. He looked around the table as Eirtae, Rabe, Sabe and Tonra watched him expectantly. Not all that long ago he would've been too proud and stubborn to ask for help. But he was not the same Anakin he had been during the war. It had only been a couple months but it seemed like another life ago!

"I went to the Jedi temple," he said softly. He waited for the worried reprimands from his reckless little adventure that should have come from his new family but nothing came. They waited patiently for him to continue.

"And?" Padme prompted patiently putting her hand over his. With a sigh of relief he recounted every single detail of his impromptu heist in the temple.

"Bail told me he tried to rescue a boy trying to escape from the temple. The troopers shot him to rags before he could reach Bail's speeder…" Padme explained as Anakin recalled the echoes in the Force of the dying children. Eirtae and Rabe wiped angry tears from their faces, muttering of the utter horror in murdering children.

"They didn't kill all the children," he continued grief making him stutter for a second.

"The Emperor took them alive," Sabe put in horror-stricken exchanging horrified looks with the rest of the people on the table. Padme wrapped both her hands around Anakin's. He held on to her hand like a life line! If he let go he would drown in his sorrow and get lost in anger. He recounted what he had learned from the trooper. They listened in shocked silence.

"I was careful getting back to my speeder. I went to the market and made myself recognized by some troopers – not clones – just some of those new stormtroopers. I smiled for a few holos," he concluded letting out a ragged breath. No one said anything. The idea that children were being captured to be tortured and murder by the Emperor was horrifying! It was Tonra who broke the silence.

"Alright, so when are we going to Mustafar?" he asked. His calm tone belied the rage that simmered underneath the man's calm face. He had watched two women he cared about suffer without being able to help. He buried a brother in arms; his new friend lost nearly everyone he ever knew. He was tired of losing! Anakin smiled at the man sitting across from him grateful for his support.

"Right! We have to do this! I watched the Senate floor applaud the destruction of the Jedi! We're not getting any help from them!" Padme agreed vehemently.

"I don't trust myself to make the plan. Because of the way I feel I'm afraid of doing something reckless," Anakin added feeling relieved and happy that they had seen the need in his heart to find those children.

"We can't all of us go. It would be suspicious," Sabe pointed out.

"Right! Especially with our little sneaky spy skulking about," Rabe pointed out, reminding them of Jaya's insincerity.

"But we can use her for our cover!" Padme exclaimed with a wild excited look in her eyes. She got up and began to pace as she asked Anakin questions about the troopers he had overheard and recalling Anakin had once been to Mustafar.

"I'll pull up what I can find about the systems around Mustafar and see what we can use. There is a resort on Bespin I sold some art to a while back…I feel like it was near there because it sounds familiar…" Eirtae trailed off grabbing hers, Rabe's, Sabe's and Padme's data pads from the office and coming back as Sabe asked him questions about Mustafar. Anakin recounted his adventure with Ahsoka when they rescued a pair of force sensitive infants kidnapped by the bounty hunter Cad Bane.

"Dooku had contracted him to kidnap them…for what we never knew! The whole facility began to fall into the lava as soon as we landed," Anakin explained that he and Ahsoka barely made it out with the two children. Tonra already had his data pad and he was standing next to Anakin. A file on Mustafar's mining enterprises already pulled up on his pad.

"That means we have to get in and out without being seen," Tonra advised solemnly, Sabe agreed. She pointed out they were going to need fire resistant gear and started to build a list of the things they would need. Anakin let her know he picked up some things from the temple. He went to his meditation room to retrieve his bag full of temple loot.

He pulled out all the contents and laid them out on the dining table. He was surprised by what he picked up!

"So like how did you know we would need this stuff?" Tonra asked impressed as he picked up a very high capacity code slicing data pad. Anakin opened his mouth to answer.

"A Jedi is guided by the Force, right love?" Padme replied for him. Anakin smiled and nodded. He had done it unconsciously but he had collected nearly everything he needed for this mission! Including pieces he could use to build himself a new arm. The connections weren't fully healed yet but he could tell he would have some functionality in his arm.

"I trust in the Force…and I trust all of you," he said looking around at his team. They all smiled at him.

"Alright! Let's get to work!" Padme exclaimed excited…

Anakin found himself in his meditation circle in the middle of his training room late that night. He couldn't sleep. Guilt and anger roiled inside of him and he was having a hard time getting it under control. He felt Padme's presence before she walked in the room. She was worried about him.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to worry you so much Padme," he said. Padme sighed and came over to sit with him.

"When are you going to stop apologizing for everything Anakin? I'm your wife! Worrying comes with the title," she half-teased. He smiled tiredly back at her. He took a deep breath and decided to tell her about his day in the senate.

"Is that why you didn't want me to go there?" he asked.

"Anakin none of them know you like I do," she began. He smiled at her and kissed her.

"I know. You're just trying to protect me. I love you for that and so much more," He said, pulling her to him. She wrapped her arms around his chest and held him tight listening to the sound of his heart beat.

"They'll come around. They will see the real you soon!" Padme added. He sighed, unable to shake his depression. Palpatine had taken everything he built from him. His career as a Jedi was gone. His accomplishments were being systematically re-written or undone to suit the Empire's agenda. His children...

"Palpatine took everything from me…" he said feeling sorrow start to turn to anger. Padme sat up then and gave him a hard look.

"First of all! He did not take everything! I am still here! Second! Our children may be gone right now but I know they will come back to us! And last if he did take something from you then I say take it back!" Padme lectured. Just like that his anger flowed away from him. He smiled at her.

"Yes! You're right! I will take it back!" he replied and kissed her deeply. They returned to their bed...

-0-

Jedi Master Cere Junda dug deep to summon the Force to her to escape the pain and exhaustion. She continued to resist the inquisitors and their interrogations. Trilla and the other children's safety depended on her holding out. If death took her so be it! At least the children would be safe. The cell was dark and she mustered a little strength to test her bonds on the interrogation table she was strapped to.

'It's no use,' she realized. She was too weak to escape. She had barely slept, she couldn't remember the last time she had eaten and she had lost all track of time. The speakers in the cell blared a high pitched squeal whenever she was alone in the cell. At first it made it difficult for her to concentrate but she had soon learned to block it out with the Force as her aid. The speakers stopped suddenly and she knew what came next. She concentrated on the Force and let her mind clear out. She had to resist!

She couldn't tell how long it had been since the speakers went silent. It was longer than usual she thought. But when the door finally opened a hunched over figure in a black hooded robe glided quietly towards her. The aura of the dark side was so thick around this man that it blocked the little light she was trying to hold on to. She had never experienced darkness like this!

"It is useless to resist my dear," the evil being said in a raspy horrid voice.

"You will give me what I want," he added and then cackled evilly. She screamed as his evil power clawed through her mind. She thought she knew pain but it was not until this moment that she truly experienced what pain could be.

'Trilla...I'm sorry…' she thought as her mind went blank...