Chapter 23. The Invisible Hand

Anakin instinctively stood as the doors to the Jedi Council chamber swung open, but did not go inside. He had not been summoned; presumably Obi-Wan had. He glanced at his former Master, who showed no signs of moving.

"The Council is ready for you," he whispered. Obi-Wan shifted his position and then stopped, groaning softly.

Anakin frowned. Lon stalked toward him out of the Chamber, looking pale and shaken. As he passed the Padawan threw a look of pure disgust Anakin's way.

"Traitor," he hissed.

"Be careful," Anakin shot back in a lowered voice.

Lon stopped in front of Obi-Wan. "The Council is ready for you now, Master Kenobi."

Obi-Wan nodded and curled forward as if to rise, then collapsed back into himself.

Anakin stepped closer and bent down to him.

"Are you all right?"

"Can't stand right now," Obi-Wan growled. "Tell Master Windu."

Anakin glanced up at Lon, nodding toward the Chamber doors to indicate that he should go inside and make the announcement. Lon pointedly turned away from him and headed down the corridor, leaving Anakin with his huddled former Master and the open doors to the waiting Council.

"What's wrong?" Anakin whispered, reaching out to him through the Force. He was almost knocked back by a wave of pain.

"A couple of cracked ribs, I think," Obi-Wan gritted between clenched teeth. "Made it this far, but rested too long. Stiff." Now that Anakin leaned closer he could hear that Obi-Wan's breathing was shallow, and occasionally hitched spasmodically.

"You should be in the healing center," Anakin said.

"No!" Obi-Wan said sharply. "Get Master Windu."

Anakin had no choice but to walk into the Council Chamber uninvited. His throat was tight as he strode resolutely to Master Windu and bowed, and he imagined disapproval stinging him all over like sand in a desert storm. His blue suit felt like nothing more than a carnival costume.

"Forgive me, Master Windu," Anakin said quietly into the Master's ear. "Master Kenobi is outside but feels he is unable to stand. He seems to have some broken ribs."

Mace bowed his head while he listened. "Very well." Then he raised his eyes and pinned Anakin with a hard look. "Stay with me."

Mace stood up and spoke to the assembled Council. "Master Kenobi is injured and needs immediate attention. I will receive his briefing in the healing center and report back to you as soon as possible."

Anakin tried briefly and failed to imagine the Jedi Council ever making the same accommodation for him. The stars would burn out first.

"Join you, I will," said a familiar voice, and Master Yoda hobbled up beside Anakin. Out of nowhere a Padawan hurried to his side with his hover chair.

Great. Anakin took a deep breath but it didn't help. He still felt strangled.

The trio approached the brown heap in the chair of the anteroom.

"You're here sooner than expected," Mace said gruffly to Obi-Wan.

"I took the direct route," Obi-Wan muttered. "I was in a hurry. Caught a little unfriendly fire."

"We're going to the healing center," Mace said, looming closer to the prone Knight.

"No," Obi-Wan protested. "Later. I have much to report…" Before he could say anything more the powerful Master picked him up like a bundle of twigs and marched purposefully down the hallway toward the healing center. Anakin glanced at Master Yoda, who merely nodded after Master Windu to indicate that they should follow. Anakin obeyed.

"Here without being summoned, are you?" Master Yoda said quietly on the way down the hall.

"Yes, Master." Anakin conceded sullenly.

"Well done, that is," Yoda said. "Much to discuss, we have."

Anakin took no pleasure at all in the Ancient One's oblique approval.

* * * * *

The small room at the heart of the healing center was windowless and Anakin was beginning to feel trapped. He wanted to pace, to prowl, but there was no space for it with the four of them there. He was reduced to leaning against the wall in a corner of the room with his arms crossed tightly so that he would have something to hold on to. Himself, probably.

Obi-Wan lay curled up on the single cot. Master Liaat had seen him briefly, but further healing had to wait until this conversation was done.

Anakin scowled. Master Liaat hadn't done much for the pain because Obi-Wan had insisted on keeping his full faculties, and the burning, stabbing waves of it kept searing into Anakin's awareness. It was beginning to feel as though his own ribs were on fire. He wished they would do something about it. Any one of them could have stopped it by now if they chose.

But all three Jedi Masters were completely focused on only one thing – Obi-Wan's report from the field. As he laid it out piece-by-piece, frequently pausing for breath, the atmosphere in the small room seemed to grow dimmer and more airless. Anakin started to feel as though he was suffocating. The more restless and impatient he became, the more he shielded himself from the scrutiny of the Jedi Masters.

The picture Obi-Wan painted for them verged on the unbelievable.

Count Dooku had been on D'lai and was arranging for the manufacture of Force-disruptor weapons that could be used by anyone. He also was recruiting and training small groups of D'laians to assassinate Jedi Knights.

"I did not imagine that was possible," Master Windu said heavily at one point in the tale, but for the remainder of the time he listened silently.

The weapons were being shipped out of D'lai and distributed throughout the sector in diplomatic packets. Obi-Wan had verified this by liberating and opening some samples. A large quantity of the weapons was being shipped through Naboo.

That must be where Obi-Wan got the one he sent me, Anakin thought. He still kept it in his utility belt at all times, like a talisman.

Ever vigilant about protecting its sovereignty, Naboo had instituted strict Rules of Inspection with regard to materiel and personnel of the Republic's Army forces that occupied the planet. Although most of the inspections turned up nothing suspicious, Naboo's security services were in communication with nearby systems that had suffered incursions from Separatist factions. There was surprising concordance between the timing of these so-called Separatist attacks and the movement of Army vehicles and personnel to and from Naboo. The Naboo were struggling to find hard evidence to back up their suspicions.

Anakin wondered whether Tibbs' list had given it to them.

Master Windu must have been considering the same thing, for when Obi-Wan stopped speaking to catch his breath the Jedi Master suddenly turned to Anakin.

"Why were you attempting to obtain the list of star systems suspected of harboring separatist activity from Deputy Security Chief Tibbs?"

I wasn't attempting; I was succeeding, Anakin thought resentfully as it became quite clear to him what Lon had been discussing with the Jedi Council. Well, that was no surprise. That was, after all, why he was here. He wondered when the questions about Chief Zangan's death would begin.

"Senator Amidala asked me to obtain it for her when it became clear that the list might be used as a basis for accusations of disloyalty to the Republic. She wanted to know whether Naboo was on the list."

"We already had that list, Anakin," Master Windu growled. "Padawan Erian was working on it."

"Yes," Anakin agreed, annoyed. "I know. But that wouldn't tell us whether any changes had been made – whether someone had distorted the original information produced by the Jedi analysis. Only a comparison of the two lists could do that."

"I distinctly remember directing you to leave the intelligence problems alone," Master Windu countered. "Senator Amidala could have come to us with her request."

Will you never trust me? Anakin thought furiously. As a reflex action he tried to fight down his outrage, but he was getting tired of acting as though everything was normal when it most certainly wasn't. He remembered his last appearance before the Council and wondered whether his feelings were shielded now as they had been then. At this point it hardly seemed to matter any more even if they weren't.

"I thought we were all working together," Anakin retorted pointedly. "Why would it matter whether she come to me, or Master Medulla, or the Council? Master Kenobi is working with the Naboo. Why shouldn't I?" He a let a moment pass and then added, with emphasis, "They trust me." 

There was a sudden groan from the cot as Obi-Wan shifted and shot a warning glance at him. Anakin's ribs throbbed.

"Where is that data now?" Master Windu persisted, evidently choosing for the moment to disregard Anakin's belligerent tone.

"Senator Amidala's people are analyzing it."

Obi-Wan's stare was growing more intense. Anakin ignored it. He had spent months getting others to do his bidding and didn't feel like pretending to be a submissive Padawan any longer.

"Then the information is in their hands and not ours," Master Windu persisted.

"They will provide the list and their analysis to me whenever I ask for it," Anakin said obstinately. He decided that if the Jedi Masters didn't like his tone they could add it to the catalogue of his crimes.

Obi-Wan's voice suddenly sliced through the intense pause that ensued.

"Stop it, Anakin!"

Anakin flinched, and then immediately hated the fact that he had flinched.

"Stop what?" he snapped.

Master Windu and Master Yoda remained silent, but watched the interaction closely.

"Your new parlor trick. Whatever it is you're doing that allows you to completely mask your feelings."

Anakin felt the corner of his mouth begin to twitch upward. So it was working. Even Obi-Wan couldn't see through him.

"I'm no longer your Padawan," he pointed out. "I haven't been for a long time." You can't tell me what to do.

Pain and exhaustion were evidently wreaking havoc with Obi-Wan's self-control. He tried to sit up, making Anakin want to clutch at his ribs, and raised his voice.

"We can't afford to hide anything from one another, Anakin – especially not now!  Don't you understand what we are facing?  If we aren't completely honest and open among ourselves then there may be nothing left at all in the end – we could see the end of the Jedi Order within our lifetimes." He slumped back onto the cot, breathless. "We have to work together, whether you like it or not."

"Really?" Anakin said, pushing hard at the boundary between directness and insolence, "Master Windu doesn't seem to think so."

He could feel Master Windu gathering himself for a reply, but Anakin's attention was being diverted by his perception of Obi-Wan's private struggle to calm the fire in his chest.

All at once he'd had enough of Jedi forbearance.

Without any warning Anakin shot a burst of Force energy toward his former Master, momentarily pinning him to the cot. Obi-Wan cried out in pain and shock. Master Windu moved toward Anakin like lightening, only to be stopped by an equally swift raised hand from Master Yoda.

There was an endless moment during which the only sound in the room was that of Obi-Wan's gasping breath. When he finally could speak he exploded into a string of expletives like nothing that had ever passed his lips before. Anakin was deeply impressed. There was no indication whether the other Jedi Masters shared his admiration.

"With that blasted new shielding of yours I didn't see that coming," Obi-Wan snarled when the outburst was over. Gingerly he felt his ribs, where the pain was subsiding rapidly. "What in blazes do you think you're doing?"

Anakin remained hunched in his corner with his arms crossed, thoroughly pleased to have drawn such an extreme reaction out of his former Master.

"Unfortunately, the blocking effect only works one way," he retorted. "You were driving me crazy."

Everyone in the room could perceive a mounting sense of intention coming from Master Windu, like a massive storm cloud gathering on the horizon. Anakin braced himself for whatever the Jedi Master had in store for him. He was almost glad. At least at the end of it he would know where he stood.

He never found out what Master Windu was about to say because Master Yoda chose this precise moment to push the destiny of the Galaxy one step forward.

"This ability to shroud your feelings - a gift from the dark side, it is," the ancient Jedi Master said quietly to Anakin.

The room dampened down into a profound silence. This time it was an airless, heart stopping silence that charged the small space with tension.

"What do you mean?" Anakin's boldness took a nose-dive. He could feel a wave of alarm coming from the cot, where Obi-Wan still was struggling to collect himself after Anakin's aggressive healing.

"Long has the darkness sought you out, young Skywalker. Found you, it has."

Anakin could perceive clearly that Obi-Wan's ribs were feeling considerably better, yet even so the look his former Master shot him was filled with pain. Anakin held his eyes for a long time, puzzled.

"I don't understand, Master," Anakin said after turning back to face Master Yoda. His belligerent tone and attitude had vanished.

"Shrouds the vision of all Jedi, does this darkness. Makes it difficult to perceive even that which is right in front of us. Yet everywhere is the evidence of its working."  His eyes bored into Anakin's. "This shroud you wear to hide your mind and heart – its source is the dark side of the Force."

Anakin stared at the diminutive Master in appalled fascination. This was not what he had expected to hear, and Yoda's words effectively knocked all his defenses out from under him. He sensed Master Windu and Obi-Wan keeping their distance, physically and emotionally; leaving him to grapple alone with what he was being told.

"Ascendant in the Galaxy, the Sith once again are." Master Yoda went on. "War and suffering is their domain. Domination, their goal." Yoda paused to make certain his meaning could not be misconstrued. "Want you, they do."

"The Sith want me?" Anakin whispered. Fascination began to give way to something closer to revulsion. His arms dropped to his sides and hung there helplessly. Everything else was forgotten. "Want me for what?"

"Powerful you are, with the Force." Master Yoda pointed his stick first at Anakin and then toward Obi-Wan, who still lay frozen on the cot, watching the scene intently. "Heal and kill you can, with the same ease."

"So can you!" Anakin burst out defensively. "So can every Jedi."

"Heal, we can," Master Yoda continued relentlessly. "Kill we can. Take these actions, we do, with the greatest caution and care." The Ancient One floated a bit closer to Anakin and looked penetratingly into his eyes. "Feeds on our deepest, most powerful feelings, does the dark side. Increases, its potency does, as we allow our sympathies and antipathies to rule our actions."

That was close. It was too close. Anakin's mind skittered around, looking for a way out.

"I'm not powerful," he protested. "Look what happened in the Senate. I failed. If it hadn't been for you…"

 "Fail, you did not!" Master Yoda's voice became piercing. "Successful, you were!  Successful until the invisible hand of the dark side revealed itself and tore the pods in the Senate Chamber from your grasp!"

The Force rose and surged around Master Windu, but he did not speak. Obi-Wan might have been a statue where he lay listening with all of his being.

The invisible hand of the dark side. Anakin remembered his odd perceptions of the Force. The hairs rising on his arms and neck. The feeling of darkness. The spite.

But why?

"Why?" Anakin could barely form the word. Shock had drained the last of the fight out of him.

"Your resolve, to test. The strength of your attachments, to probe." Master Yoda was close enough to poke Anakin in the chest with his stick. "The depth of your fear to expose. Your fear of losing those close to you."

This was not, not, NOT what Anakin had expected to hear.

If this is true I am a danger to everyone I love.

Anakin's mind and heart began violently to reject what he was being told.

"I didn't kill Chief Zangan," he hissed.

Obi-Wan wasn't doing a good job of controlling his distress. Anakin could feel it surge.

Master Yoda focused solely on Anakin.

"True, that may be," he continued relentlessly. "Yet the desire alone may have been enough, when perceived by others. Perhaps, another gift to you from the dark side, was the death of this man."

Another gift from the dark side.

Beginning with Yoda's first words Anakin had felt as though he was falling into some deep, deep pit. Now it seemed he might be nearing the bottom.  Something shadowy was beginning to stir in him. A tremor of familiarity.  A flicker of recognition.

"Why?" Anakin asked again, sharply. "Why me?"

Mace Windu's voice rumbled through the room like faraway thunder.

"The Sith know who you are, Anakin. They know who you are as well as we do. They have probably known, and have been watching you, since we first became aware of you."

"They know who I am? What do you mean? Who am I?" Anakin asked the questions, but began to feel as though he already knew the answer.  A void opened up between him and the Jedi Master, waiting to be filled not so much by an answer as by a confirmation.

"The Chosen One. The one who will bring balance to the Force."

Obi-Wan heaved himself up on the cot, his ribs evidently forgotten.

"Anakin," he gasped,  "I know how much you hate that name … but just listen …"

Anakin crashed into the bottom of the shaft. There was nowhere else to go. He began to laugh.

"So… I'm not good enough for the Jedi Order. You never wanted me. But the Sith have sought me all along?" The bitterness in his laughter twisted every heart in the room. "No wonder you hold me at a distance." No wonder you watch me all the time.

"That isn't true, Anakin," Mace growled. "This path has been placed before you. We have made every effort to give you the tools you need to meet your destiny with wisdom and courage." 

This path has been placed before you. To hear his mother's words coming from the Jedi Master's lips was almost more than Anakin could bear. Flung back unwillingly in memory to the beginnings of all this, Anakin saw the face of the one soul he had trusted the most. The one he thought knew what was best for him.

Why did you bring me to this place, Master Jinn?

If there was an answer, he did not hear it.

"Dooku tried to kill me," Anakin said grimly after a while, when no one else had spoken. "Or have you forgotten that?"

"The Sith Master, Dooku is not," Yoda said quietly. "There is another – the one whom Dooku now serves. He does not reveal himself, but great, his power is."

The invisible hand, Anakin thought as his mind raced and skidded and bumped and crashed around Master Yoda's words. Around his own perceptions. Around his fears. The hand that brings gifts.

"You obviously need me for something," Anakin decided as his lurching thoughts finally found their way back to some kind of a beginning. "What is it?" I assume you have no gifts for me. Only burdens.

"Remain near the heart of the Senate, you must. That is where the Master of the dark power toils – at the heart of the splintering Galaxy. Reveal himself to you he will, if we are patient."

"Because he wants me," Anakin said, with loathing.  

"Yes."

"What am I supposed to do there?"

"The job you have done so well. Draw the darkness out into the light."

"Bait for a Sith Lord," Anakin said, as he finally grasped the full extent of the Jedi Order's betrayal. "That's what I have been all along. Sithbait. And everyone knew it but me." He looked into Obi-Wan's grief-stricken eyes from an enormous, unbridgeable distance. How could you?

"Even as a slave I was worth more than that."

"I'm sorry, Anakin," Mace said with sudden gentleness. "We had to do it this way. If you knew, if you were aware in any way, the Sith Master would also know. He would know and he would have withdrawn completely."

Anakin crossed his arms once more, not looking at any of them. His heart had constricted. His veins were ice.

"And now?"

"He will reveal himself. Begun, our battle has."

Anakin laughed again, a single burst of mocking recognition that reverberated in the small room.

"And I am the prize."

"Don't give in to bitterness, Anakin," Obi-Wan urged him. "You are the only one who can do this. We need you. The Galaxy needs you."

Anakin refused to dignify his former Master's words with a comment.

"Easier to fight an enemy who can be seen, it is." Master Yoda insisted. "Support you, we will, as we did in the Senate Chamber. Strong, you must be, young one. Much is at stake."

"This shielding – this shroud you complain about," Anakin said impersonally, to no one in particular. "Is it still in effect?"

"Yes." It was Mace Windu who answered.

"Good," Anakin spat, and walked out the door.