Again, as always, thank you all so much for reading, and forgive me for the snail's pace at which I am updating. I am going to try to finish this up though this vacation, as well as get started on its sequel. Hope you enjoy this next chapter
Chapter 14
"And again, my sincere thanks for the ship."
The Nubian officer returned Master Gallia's bow and set off for more pressing matters, leaving the two Jedi alone with their newly rented speeder. Adi had been none-too-pleased by the ease in which the young boy had stolen their starship, and felt more than a little embarrassed having be reduced to begging for transportation from the beleaguered forces of a soon-to-be conquered planet. Still, one did not say no to a Jedi.
Looking over to her partner, she wondered if Obi-Wan shared her embarrassment. The young knight appeared to be on a planet of one, staring aimlessly into the sky, towards the far horizon and the first traces of dawn.
"I think we have some work to do to repair our image on this planet," remarked Adi half-jokingly as she tried to get some semblance of a response from Obi-Wan.
He didn't seem to process her joke.
"He's out there," pointing towards the vague direction he had been staring at. "I felt him. We were so close. I feel him still."
"Then let's proceed with our mission then," Adi replied, back to her professional self.
They sped through the plains and around the mountains while trying to avoid troubling areas of conflict that may have interfered with their immediate mission. It was about an hour of silence later that Obi-Wan spoke.
"He is still good, you know."
"How do you know that," Adi asked, not looking at the knight.
"I can still feel him somewhat. His thoughts. He is conflicted, confused, fearful, and angry. But I do not feel any traces of evil, or…malicious intent."
"Perhaps he is deceiving you. If you can feel his presence, then I am sure that he can feel yours too. He could be manipulating you, trying to get you to feel what he wants you to feel."
Obi-Wan sneered at the comment, almost with hostility.
"He is merely a boy. The more the Jedi Council overthinks this situation, the worse they will make it."
The tension seemed to escalate as Adi quickly responded.
"You seem to speak of the Council as an enemy. Do not forget who you are talking to, Knight Kenobi! I am a member of the Council that you are slandering against."
Obi-Wan's shoulders stiffened and his hand fell unconsciously towards his lightsaber. He blinked, and the moment of irrationality disappeared.
"You misunderstand me. I am not against the Council, but is the concept that the Jedi Council may sometimes be wrong so foreign to you?"
"This argument is pointless," Adi stated. Then, trying to change the subject, "while we are debating about a Council, an entire planet is being ravaged and subjugated."
She then paused to consider her own words.
"Obi-Wan, should we do something about this invasion?"
To her surprise, he immediately rejected her notion. His words, though enunciated slowly, seemed on the brink of violence. "We have our mission, Master Gallia. The Council has ordered us to find and apprehend Anakin Skywalker, and we cannot deviate from the mission."
"Oh," Adi replied, trying her best not to sound sarcastic, "so all of a sudden the Council is perfect again?"
"This is not about the Council! The Council would judge Anakin to be the more important issue at hand, because he is!"
"More important to whom? The Council? Or yourself?"
Obi-Wan was barely able to resist the urge to strike the Council Member sitting next to him. Instead, he did his best impression of the calm, centered Jedi Knight that he was, the one who was able to carry out an argument without inflammation or passion, a skill that had aided him in so many negotiations in the past.
"He is important, Master Gallia, because he is the Chosen One. He is destined to bring balance to the Force, and that affects our entire Galaxy, not just a planet, mind you. And besides, there is really nothing we can do about this invasion. If you remember, according to the security forces back in Varykino this is a legal occupation sanctioned by Queen Amidala herself."
"Oh, you can't possibly believe that junk, can you?"
"Of course I don't," Obi-Wan replied, his eyes becoming distant again. "I've met the Queen before, and it won't make sense for her to sacrifice everything me, Master Qui-Gon, and Anakin worked for five years ago.
But don't forget," he added, looking straight into Adi's eyes, "about the Captain we escorted into hyperspace before we touched down onto the planet. He is on his way to meet with Chancellor Palpatine right now, and I am sure that they will get to the bottom of this. Until then, I am sure that the Jedi Council, yourself included, will never allow us to interfere with what still appears to be a domestic and sovereign issue at the moment."
"Spoken well," Adi grudgingly admitted, her attention suddenly focused on the ship's navigation rather than the Knight next to her. "You sound just like the Council."
Obi-Wan ignored her last quip. "Keep the course," he almost ordered. "We are gaining on my old Padawan. I can feel it."
She wasn't even sure if she wanted to go through with this anymore. A part of her screamed for her to just let it be, let bygones be bygones, however horrid they are, and just run away. Why bother with the pain, it asked her. Just shove it deep into her heart somewhere, and forget about it forever.
It was tempting, but Padme knew that she could not carry out this fantasy. She would never be able to just forget about her family. There was no doubt in her mind that the sight of their blood and broken limbs and the smell of their burning bodies will torment her forever.
Nor could she forget her actions afterwards. How she almost felt satisfied as she was cutting through the limbs of her assassin, and how she wanted that feeling to last forever. Unfortunately, it didn't, and the dramatic fall that followed so quickly the temporary high she was on had almost driven her to end it all. Thankfully, Anakin had been there to stop her. She still may not want to live anymore, but Padme knew for certain that there she still had things she wanted…no, needed, to do in her life.
The confrontation that would soon occur was necessary, she told herself. The slaughterer of her family was dead, never mind the means, but Padme knew that she would never gain anything close to closure over the matter until she knew why; why someone would ever order such a senseless, meaningless, yet heartbreakingly cruel act of violence. Perhaps the same person was responsible for spreading such devious lies about her, accusing her of betraying her own planet. She did not know what angered her more, the lie itself, or the fact that it was accepted so easily as truth by the people that she had dedicated most of her life to. It was a betrayal that stung so much more than any trivial political defeat would.
"How are you feeling," the boy asked tenderly, while physically keeping his distance from her.
"I don't know. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this." They were both sitting in the cockpit of the ship, and Padme leaned towards Anakin until her back rested along his chest. Anakin circled his arms around her protectively. He checked the ship's computers.
"We are almost there," he stated, and then almost as an afterthought, "do you want me to kill him?"
"I want to talk to him, at least. Find out why he would do such a thing. Cnal Ides-Broos is a very dignified man. I have met him a few times, and have always respected him and his work. I need to know what I have done to incite such ire from him."
"He is scum," Anakin spat, holding her closer. "It's that simple. I have a feeling that he is behind the invasion too. And the lies about you. I know you would never betray Naboo, Padme."
"I too think it to be too much of a coincidence."
It drove Anakin crazy. He was so close to Padme. They had spent the last few weeks together. They were alone now, with nothing to bother them but their demons. But there were so many of them, hounding his mind as well as hers. Why couldn't he just simply enjoy the time he spent with her? Why did their time together always have to be accompanied by so much pain, conflict, and death. Why couldn't he just hold her, as he was doing now, without the burning memories of holding his dying mother in the back of his mind?
He had tried to blame his mother's death on himself, on his Master, on the Jedi, and on the entire Tusken tribe. Of those four, the only target he could act on was the Tuskens. But what was so frustrating for him was that they were all the same: all faceless, speechless (comprehensible, at least), and equally responsible for killing his mother. And since they were equally responsible, it meant that at the same time none of them were directly responsible.
He killed them, and the killing got easier as he gained more murderous experience, but he lacked any satisfaction from the killings. Anakin knew that the Tuskens did not know why he was killing them, and he would never be able to make them understand why they deserved to be hated and butchered. He could voice out his accusations, but none of them would comprehend a word he was saying. They were all so…anonymous.
But now it was different. Padme's pain was his pain, and that pain had a name. Cnal Ides-Broos. And soon, the pain would have a face. Padme might still be unsure of what to do with the poet, but Anakin had already made up his mind.
"Darin," he shouted desperately at the holograph. "Surely you have seen the broadcast! He has betrayed us. I should known all along Repsaj was going to do that."
The crime boss with whom Cnal had conspired glared back at him with an apprehensive expression of feigned puzzlement.
"I do not know what you are talking about," Darin Lupes replied cautiously. "I know as much as any common man who has been watching the holo-casts. The time is urgent right now. We must all stand together as the Naboo and do the right thing. Vigilantism is not the answer, Master Ides-Broos. If I were you, I would turn myself in. I'm sure that the Governor will be merciful, especially in light of the situation."
"What are you talking about, Lupes?" Cnal pounded on his desk. "We were all in this together, you, me, the governor…" Realization finally dawned on him. "He's already reached you, hasn't he? You're shutting me out, all of you."
"Look," Lupes replied, almost sympathetically, "whatever I was or wasn't involved in…it's gone too far. This invasion is…most unexpected. Responsibility…needs to be addressed."
"Don't do this to me, Darin! It was his idea too! Repsaj was our link to the Neimoidians."
The mobster looked around nervously. "This conversation has to end," he stated abruptly, and his image disappeared immediately.
"Sithspit," he swore. Pacing around the room nervously, he unsure of whether to be more worried about the rapidly failing and backfiring assassination attempt or his own well being.
Cnal stopped beside the window of his modest house, nestled deep in a mountain valley. All was calm and quiet, for now. The Neimoidians were coming though. It had been his operation at first. He had been the one who initiated the assassination and recruited all the conspirators. Out of the best intentions, he reminded himself. Even the invasion he could not pin all the blame on Repsaj, for it had been his idea to discredit the Queen with it.
But it was all supposed to be under control. His control. There weren't supposed to be so many deaths. Just a temporary occupation, give the Trade Federation some money, and watch Naboo prosper as the ideal democracy. But now everything was in the Governor's hands, and who knew just how far the slimy politician was going to let the invasion go.
Cnal chided himself; Lupes was right. He couldn't run away now. He wasn't going to turn himself in either, but he would take responsibility somehow for this mess that he had helped bring about.
He heard the sound of a speeder outside rapidly coming to a halt. Without any knocks, his living room door was violently torn down. A set of rapidly approaching footsteps. Could it be that the Governor's troops had already arrived to get rid of Repsaj's dirty evidence?
Cnal raced back to his desk and opened his drawer. He had just enough time to pull out his blaster when the door to his study was flung open. To his surprise, his two shots were easily deflected by a blue lightsaber. A boy stepped into the room, followed by the Queen herself.
The boy, whose blue eyes burned with fiery hatred, he recognized as Amidala's Jedi protector, the same one who had thwarted their first attempt to kill her. Cnal froze in shock, but the boy did not hesitate in approaching him. With a quick slice of his blade he cut off the hand that held the blaster. Cnal barely had the time to feel the pain before he found the tip of the deadly lightsaber pointed right between his eyes.
"Explain," was all he said. Or rather, ordered.
Cnal shifted his eyes away from the weapon and towards the Queen, who was standing nervously at the entrance of the room. Seeing his eye contact, her expression immediately hardened into one of pure hatred. She pulled out her own blaster from underneath her dress, and Cnal now had two weapons pointed towards him.
"Don't try anything," the monarch warned coldly.
Not that he could. Besides to try and argue his point.
Cnal Ides-Broos straightened his back and summoned the remaining shreds of his dignity.
"I did it all for Naboo. For the continuation of democracy. To end our democracy's greatest threat."
"And how were my mother and father and sister and brother-in-law and niece threats to democracy?"
"Oh no, I had nothing to do with that."
As if it were possible, his words stoked even more the flames that burned in the young Jedi.
"Liar," he cried out, and suddenly Cnal felt his throat tightened and restricted by an invisible hand.
He struggled to make himself heard, but his best efforts resulted in nothing more than a whisper.
"They were going…to change the…Constitution…to make you…a dictator…the invasion…was not supposed…to be like this…"
The Queen stepped forward until she stood at the Jedi's side.
"And did it ever occur to you," she voiced, tears dripping down her cheeks, "that I already knew about the amendments to the Constitution, and had already drafted documents ensuring that I would voluntarily step down from office once my term was over?"
The words came as a blow to Cnal Ides-Broos, causing him more pain than any loss of oxygen or appendages could.
"I…couldn't give you…that choice…" he argued weakly, trying to remain righteous, if only in his own mind.
Padme kicked the poet hard in the shins and spun around away from the man. She didn't want to argue with him anymore. From her years of experience in politics she knew that it was impossible to win over ideologues convinced in their beliefs. Was that what her parents died for? For some halfhearted notion resulting from the delusional paranoia of an overactive mind?
"Anakin," she said. The boy had not moved an inch since the initial confrontation, other than to subtly squeeze together the fingers of the hand that didn't hold the lightsaber. "Do what you want with him."
Cnal felt the grip loosen from his throat. Greedily sucking in the air, he realized that his last chance of surviving was to turn the tables around, against their common foe.
"I was betrayed," he pleaded loudly. "The Go…"
"Silence," the Jedi ordered, and Cnal felt his throat being constricted again. He felt the handle of the young man's lightsaber being thrust into his remaining hand, and then his wrist grabbed in as firm a hold as the invisible one around his throat.
"I will be more generous to you," he stated almost diplomatically, "than you ever were to Padme. I will give you a choice. You will do this to yourself."
Anakin pushed forward with his arm, bending the poet's elbow so that the tip of the lightsaber journeyed closer and closer to his head. The man put up significant resistance, and Anakin called upon the Force to help him.
It proved to be more than enough. The lightsaber plunged through the poet's head at a surprising velocity, and it was all over. The body slumped ahead face-down onto his desk, which was a relief for all aesthetic purposes, and its lifeless hand dropped the lightsaber. Anakin grabbed seconds before it hit the ground.
He turned back to the Queen, who was sobbing again. Anakin put his arm around her shoulders. With no words needing to be said, he slowly escorted her out of the room and back towards their ship.
He stopped right before they left the house.
"There are more who meant to harm you, Padme. I think he was trying to telling me that."
"Perhaps." Padme turned her head and looked deep into Anakin's eyes, trying to reach through him. Begging him.
"No more, Anakin. No more killing. No more death, on my accord."
"If you wish," Anakin obliged. He suddenly felt lighter and calmer. His muscles relaxed as they continued their way out of the poet's house.
Seconds later, Anakin found himself staring right into the eyes of his old Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi.