Chapter 18.  The Tangled Web – Part I

Left to their own devices Anakin and Balé found unlimited diversions. They went exploring and discovered that the apartment building had a roof garden. Planters became planets, pathways became space lanes, and the Galaxy was threatened and saved many times over. Balé was the delighted recipient of some extremely entertaining lessons in hand-to-hand combat. Anakin's energy and imagination matched her own, but eventually even she tired and they settled down for a rest amid the greenery. Balé idly watched the air traffic while Anakin pulled out the letter from Obi-Wan and worked carefully to unravel all of its secrets. The more he learned, the more he missed his former Master.

Everything Obi-Wan hinted at in the letter, just like all of Anakin's recent experiences, only raised more questions. Throughout Anakin's life in the Order Obi-Wan had supplied answers, helped him solve problems and provided endless lectures on subjects Anakin couldn't have cared less about. Unfortunately all those subjects were the ones that held the keys to the problems that now confronted him. He wished he had paid better attention. It seemed you couldn't solve economic and political woes with a light saber.

Out of nowhere Padmé's thoughts broke into Anakin's with the force of a storm.

Anakin! she cried out in his mind.

Mindful of the child next to him, instead of leaping up as he wanted to he casually folded up the letter and tucked it safely away in his belt. But his entire being went onto alert.

What is it? Has someone hurt you?

Her thoughts were incoherent at first, and then resolved themselves into something like words.

Not in that way. But oh, Anakin, we are moving toward tyranny. The Galaxy is becoming a dictatorship.

Hold on, he sent, not understanding fully and not knowing what else to say or do. We're coming.

Anakin continued to sit quietly, looking deceptively relaxed while his mind worked furiously. Then he reached for his COM link. His call was brief and met with success.

"Time to go, Warrior," he said to Balé as he stood up and helped her to her feet. Anakin had discovered Balé's bloodthirsty streak. She had killed him twice already that afternoon, with great enthusiasm.

"Where?"

"To see Padmé at the Senate. But before that there is someone I want you to meet."

"Who?" she asked curiously. She was ready for any new adventure as long as Anakin was there, but new people made her nervous.

"A young friend of mine. A Jedi," he said conversationally, while directing their steps to the building's landing platform at a pretty fast pace.

"A boy or a girl?" Balé was already beginning to feel shy.

"A boy," Anakin said, using the COM link again to order an air taxi. Padmé had taken her personal transport.

"Boys are stupid," Balé declared, hiding her anxiety in bravado.

Anakin looked down at her. "I'm a boy," he reminded her.

Balé laughed at his silliness. "You're a grownup," she corrected him.

Anakin conceded the point.

"Well, Poulin is in between being a boy and a grownup," he explained.

Balé thought about this while they climbed into the taxi, which was waiting for them by the time they reached the platform.

"Will I like him?" she wondered, snuggling close to Anakin, who was sitting sideways as usual in the confined space.

"I do," Anakin said. That seemed to satisfy her, for she spent the rest of the short journey looking out the window with interest, leaving Anakin the space to think.

The emergency session of the Senate. It had to be something to do with the emergency session. Anakin reached out to Padmé with his thoughts and found that she was traumatized; he felt her anguish and confusion as waves of misery and pain. He didn't realize that he was fingering his light saber while he deliberated.

Poulin was waiting for them on the Senate landing platform when they arrived. The journey had taken only minutes and Anakin was grateful for the boy's quick response.

"Balé, this is Poulin Brith," Anakin said by way of introduction. "Brith, this is my friend Balé. Senator Amidala's daughter."

Poulin managed to raise his eyebrows in Anakin's direction while greeting the child warmly.

Anakin leveled a severe Shut Up look at him, and Poulin grinned.

"Is it all right with Master Medulla that you're here?" Anakin asked as they walked into the building. Balé was predictably uncertain and clung to Anakin's hand while watching the new Jedi out of the corner of her eye. He wasn't as tall as her own Jedi, but he looked like a grownup to her.

Poulin laughed. "He's feeling guilty about having kept me cloistered in those dusty library storage rooms so long, even though I don't mind. He thought it would be good for me to get out for a while."

"He knows it's me, right?" Anakin said dubiously.

"He actually thinks pretty highly of you since my saber qualification improved so much," Poulin said cheerfully. "It saved him the trouble."

Despite his worries Anakin laughed. He was in a tearing hurry, but it was essential that he not appear to be, for Balé's sake.

"We have your information, by the way," Poulin added matter-of-factly.

"I was hoping you would," Anakin admitted. "I need it now. Can you have it for me when I pick up Balé?" He hoped Poulin understood how essential secrecy was.

The boy nodded.

Now came the hard part.

"Balé," Anakin said, dropping down on one knee in front of her, "I need to go take care of some things. Would you mind staying with Poulin for a while?"

"Can't I come with you?" Balé asked in a small voice. "I thought we were meeting Padmé."

"We will, but she's not quite finished yet. I have to get some information she needs and it's something I have to do on my own. I won't be long, I promise."

He looked at Poulin. "Stay down near the training rooms and the barracks."

Poulin got the message. There was something going on, and the little girl needed to be kept out of sight and protected. He nodded.

"I don't want to," Balé protested.

Anakin felt time growing shorter by the second.

"I thought you wanted to learn how to fight?" he asked, blatantly appealing to her fierce side.

Balé's look changed to one of interest.

"Poulin is one of the best swordfighters in the Galaxy," Anakin vowed, to the boy's utter astonishment. "He can teach you like no one else."

Balé looked at Poulin dubiously.

"I taught him," Anakin said, in desperation.

As far as Balé was concerned, that made it all right. She had watched Anakin fight with swords.

"OK," she agreed.

"Training swords," Anakin suggested to the astounded Poulin. "You'll be fine." And before he could hear any more protests, he sprinted away.

Where are you? he called out to Padmé.

All he could feel from her was gut-wrenching grief. He ran as if his life depended on it, reaching out through the Force to locate her as he went, and found himself hurtling straight toward the Senate Chamber.

* * * * *

As he came closer Anakin could hear from the shouting and calling inside that the emergency session was close to being out of order. He let himself into the gallery at the Chamber's highest point, far above the floating pods and the pillar at its heart where the Chancellor stood with several members of his staff. Master Windu and Master Yoda were there, watching the proceedings. They nodded tersely as Anakin came up behind them and then turned their attention back to the bedlam below.

Anakin crept far enough inside so that he had a clear view of the scene.

On the floor of the Chamber, far below the platform from which the Chancellor was attempting to bring order back to the proceedings, stood several rings of silent soldiers in gray uniforms with peaked caps. They stood at attention with their legs in their shining black boots slightly splayed and arms behind their backs, facing outward from the pillar toward the pods. As far as Anakin could tell from this distance, most of them appeared to be human or humanoid. Everywhere throughout the Chamber delegates were standing in their pods, gesticulating according to their custom and species, and shouting. It was chaos.

Padmé, Anakin called out silently. Master Windu looked at him briefly, having sensed a surge in the Force, and then turned his attention back to the scene below.

Anakin silenced his thoughts and searched with his eyes. From his current vantage point he could barely see her pod, but he made out her figure and that of Captain Typho next to her. Instead of a response all Anakin received when he touched her mind with his was a powerful array of emotions ranging from despair to rage.

Chancellor Palpatine continued his efforts to make himself heard over the shouting.

"My friends," he said several times, over the din. Then suddenly his voice, although still not raised, seemed to rise above the noise and the room quieted down.

Anakin felt the hairs rise on his arms and the back of his neck. The whole Chamber seemed charged with some kind of energy, but he couldn't identify what or where it came from no matter how hard he searched. He glanced at the Jedi Masters but didn't notice any change in their quiet, attentive demeanor.

"My friends," Palpatine began again, "this is not a path I would have chosen if there were any alternatives. But our foes confront us with these harsh and evil realities, and if we do not engage them vigorously, with all the resources at our disposal, they will succeed in pushing us back farther and farther until there is nothing left in the Galaxy but anarchy!" As the Chancellor's last words rang out the Chamber was suddenly and eerily silent.

Using the silence to emphasize his words Palpatine went on. "These officers have been carefully trained as directed in the Military Training Act passed by this august body not long ago. Their assignment as military governors in those star systems most threatened by Separatist activity will help to protect what we hold most dear – our freedom and our democracy! Their role is military and remains strictly a part of the war effort. They are not a threat to your sovereignty!"

Shout went up. "Yes they are!"  "This is the first step toward dictatorship!"  "We will not tolerate it!" A roar rose again as many other delegates joined in the outcry.

Chancellor Palpatine raised both arms in a reassuring gesture.

"Calm yourselves, my friends! Calm yourselves!" Again his voice commanded attention. "This action has been taken with the greatest care and the highest regard for the good of the Republic!"

"Says who?" someone bellowed. Jeers broke out. "How has it been decided which systems should have a military governor?"

Others around the Chamber took up the cry. "Show us how those decisions have been made! And by whom!"

The Supreme Chancellor allowed the din to carry on for a while longer. The rings of silent, motionless soldiers at the heart of the Chamber stood in marked contrast to the activity and commotion everywhere else. Only the Jedi Masters stood as still. Anakin noted how the Force rose and surged between them.

"We have used the best information available, provided by the Galaxy's most trusted protectors, to determine where the greatest threats lie. These determinations have been made by none other than the Jedi Order itself!"

There was a momentary lull in the Chamber that suddenly turned into pandemonium again. Anakin could feel the atmosphere turn dark and threatening. Again he looked to the Jedi Masters for enlightenment, but they were engaged in an intense, hushed conversation.

"That information was never meant to be used publicly, or for a purpose like this," Master Windu remarked quietly to Master Yoda. "Our analysis was intended solely to help us identify and calm potential trouble spots. And it was prepared at the Chancellor's request."

Yoda's gaze sank to the floor. There was a heaviness about him. "Never before in this way, has the Jedi Order been used," he said equally softly. "For political expedience. Terrible consequences, I foresee."

Anakin looked from one to the other. Lon had been working on this information on the Order's behalf, and the Chancellor had obtained it through Tibbs….

The uproar in the Chamber was getting worse, but this time the Chancellor was not making any efforts to quell it.

"Traitors!" "The Jedi have gone too far!" "Who are they to decide our fates?"

Anakin was stunned at the sudden turn of events. In a single moment the thousand-year reputation of the Jedi Order as trusted guardians of the Galaxy had been called into question, leaving doubt and suspicion about the Order's motives in the minds of many.

Suddenly Padmé's thoughts broke into his awareness.

Anakin – I need that list before it disappears. I have to know whether Naboo appears on it. Please…I'm desperate. I need to know what we are facing.

Don't worry, he reassured her, relieved to be able to take action. I'll get it. At least this was something definite he could do.

He glanced at the bowed heads of the Jedi Masters one more time and slipped out of the Chamber, thinking quickly about where best to find what he sought.

Tibbs, he decided. Definitely Tibbs first. Anakin launched himself toward the Deputy Security Chief's office.

* * * * *

Anakin was relieved to find Tibbs in his office. That would make things easier. As far as he could determine, Zangan was nowhere nearby. He made a point of appearing before the Deputy Chief suddenly and silently, like a ghost. Tibbs looked up to find Anakin staring him in the face without warning, and shuddered.

"The Chancellor asked me to get from you a copy of the list you recently obtained from the Intelligence Department," Anakin lied. "The one that details systems likely to harbor Separatists."

Tibbs looked at him with narrowed eyes. "That document is classified. If the Chancellor wanted you to have it, he would give it to you personally."

"Actually," Anakin persisted, stepping even closer and glowering down at the Deputy Chief menacingly, "he expressly asked me to get it from you."

Tibbs scowled back at him with a creditable amount of courage.

"Why?" he demanded.

"It's a test," Anakin lied further, irritated that Tibbs hadn't caved immediately. "One I suggest you pass. I'm getting another copy from a different source. My job is to compare them." It was complete rubbish and Tibbs had no idea what he was talking about. But it sounded just plausible enough, and certainly threatening enough, to make the ever-cautious Deputy Chief doubt his own judgment. He hesitated.

"Give it to me now," Anakin demanded through the Force, moving his hand only slightly. Come on Tibbs, he thought urgently. I don't have the time for this. Be afraid, and give me the list.

Tibbs was giving in, and Anakin felt it, when they were interrupted by Chief Zangan's most unwelcome and deeply hostile presence.

"Skywalker!" he snarled. "What are you doing here?"

Anakin ignored him, keeping his focus on his prey.

"Tibbs?" Anakin said warningly.

"Whatever this snot-nosed lapdog wants, don't give it to him," Zangan barked.

Tibbs hesitated. Anakin lost his patience completely and whirled around to face his infuriating adversary.

"Stay out of my way, Zangan." In the background of his awareness Anakin could feel the tensions in the Senate Chamber rising to a peak, and his sense of urgency doubled. "Why don't you have extra security assigned to the Chamber, anyway? It's a cauldron in there."

"I assigned what was needed, if it's any of your business," the Cixassian said dismissively. "You'll just have to leave implementation to me."

Anakin paused. The impressions he was receiving through the Force spelled trouble with an urgency that overtook his other purpose. It was clear that the Security Chief had not paid any attention to the potential volatility of the emergency session and had no idea what he was dealing with. Unhesitatingly Anakin pulled out his COM link and ordered Pell to reinforce Chamber security on the double, specifying one of their recently designed contingency plans. Pell responded to Anakin unquestioningly, never mind the chain of command.

Zangan blew.

"You have no right! You don't have the authority!" he bellowed.

"Safety considerations override incompetence," Anakin snapped and turned back to Tibbs, who if anything had turned even paler.

"You have ten seconds," Anakin informed him, desperate to get back to the Chamber himself but unwilling to leave Tibbs to figure out that he wasn't obligated to give Anakin anything. It was now or never.

Tibbs inched toward his new and improved console, the result of a recent complete office renovation, but stopped when his Chief ordered him to.

"I said not to give this turdwallowing piece of bantha-offal anything!" Zangan shouted.

Anakin crashed headlong into the outside limits of his patience. Furious, he reached out with the Force and hurled the Chief of Senate Security halfway across the room so that he smashed heavily into the new wall opposite Tibbs' desk. The Deputy Chief watched his superior crumple to the floor at an awkward angle. Anakin didn't even look back. His eyes stayed on target.

"Five seconds," Anakin warned.

Tibbs took a shaky breath and slithered over to the console, having to make two attempts with trembling fingers to retrieve the data Anakin demanded.

Zangan groaned.

No sooner was the data chip in his hand then Anakin sprinted out of the office without a backward glance and threw himself toward the Senate Chamber. In the hallways leading to the Senate's center he encountered troops on rapid deployment coming from all sides, but he outran them all. Good job, Pell, he thought approvingly. It appeared that the plan was being carried out perfectly.

Suddenly Anakin felt a powerful call through the Force; Jedi were being summoned to the Chamber from everywhere in the Senate building and nearby. He silently willed Poulin to stay put with Balé and hurried even faster.

Padmé, Anakin tried again. Tell me what's going on now.

The combative atmosphere in the Chamber evidently had brought her back into focus, and she once again was fully alert and in control of her emotions. Anakin was proud of her. She really had courage.

Several systems have called for a vote of no confidence in the Chancellor. Additional Senate troops are gathering, but so are some of the security forces of individual delegates. It feels as though there will be conflict.

I sense that, too, Anakin answered. I'm almost there.