Chapter 52: The Chosen One (Part 2)

The first thing Siri is treated to the following morning isn't a Council summon for punishment, nor Obi-Wan coming to scold her.

Its a face full of blazing Supernova pulsing angrily in the Force. "You wanna know what I woke up to this morning? Grandmaster Fay and Qui-Gon sipping tea discussing you breaking into my medical information."

Siri steps aside and lets him into the apartment. "Its hardly breaking in if you leave your hair all over my couch to pluck and put through a scanner."

He scowls at her. "Why? Is this some kind of petty revenge or something? I didn't mean for you to get hurt from the meditation!"

She scoffs. "No, this was me doing something I really should have done the moment I had the chance."

"None of that cryptic Sith speak please."

"You are the most powerful Force Sensitive ever born," she said flatly.

"Yeah, I know," something between a scowl and a cocky grin on his face.

"Arrogant ass," she says before focusing, "I really don't think you understand exactly what that means. What you are."

Because she hadn't got one ounce of damn sleep last night, her mind whirling and trying to comprehend.

He crosses his arms and gives her a dark look. "I'm a person..."

"And your name is Anakin, yeah, I know," she cut in, "I'm not talking down to you like you're still a slave, I'm not saying you aren't a person, so stop being such a defensive little shit and listen."

He glowers at her, but goes silent.

"I put your DNA through a scanner, aside from your Midi-count being off the kriffing charts, I looked for your parent's DNA from that, your mother was born Republic, so she showed up..."

Anakin's face closed off, his vibe in the Force going cold. "I don't want to know."

Siri blinked, caught offguard. "What?"

"I don't care who my father is," said Anakin icily.

Press...

The dark whispered hungrily, scenting pain and suffering, scenting weakness. Surprisingly, she feels a general nudge of agreement overall from the Force. "Why?"

"My mom was a slave," he said bitterly, and with no small amount of self-loathing, "Why would I care about whoever her... her rapist was?"

Her... oh Force this idiot boy. How long had he been carrying that thought around in him?

"You don't have a father."

"Yeah," said Anakin sourly, "It's better that way."

"No, you literally don't have a father, you have no paternal DNA."

He blinked. "...excuse me?"

Siri reaches forward and plucks his comlink off his belt and thumbs for Jinn's number.

"Yes Anakin?"

"Come fetch your idiot apprentice, have him take a DNA test, and show him he's not a kriffing rape baby."

"A wha..." begins Jinn before cutting himself off, speaking crisply, "I'll be over shortly."

"Really would have thought the Jedi would have explained this to you Supernova," said Siri, handing back the comlink, "Since they go on and on about their silly little prophecy."

Anakin takes it, an unreadable expression on his face, saying nothing.

That look hasn't left by the time Jinn arrives, giving Anakin a soft, sad look. "Anakin, why did you never talk to me about these ill thoughts? Regardless of their lack of truth, a Jedi must move on and let go of such things."

"Of course, Master," said Anakin, baritone.

Qui-Gon doesn't look pleased at the obvious brush off, but motions to the door, and his apprentice goes.

"I would think it would be obvious, Jinn."

Qui-Gon pauses at the door, but doesn't turn.

Siri's lips peel back and she lets out a cutting remark, "You are a Jedi, he grew up a slave, why would he believe you could relate to that? That you, a Jedi, would understand what he feels?"

"What makes you so sure that is the reason?" asked Qui-Gon, not conveying his own opinion, hard to tell if he was being the devil's advocate or not.

"I was made a weapon, Jedi," said Siri darkly, "Its part of my job description to identify weaknesses to exploit in and between others."

"And yet you would neutralize this one?"

Siri's mouth snaps shut, teeth grinding for a moment. "Just because I am a Sith doesn't mean I can't play favorites, especially towards this one."

That gets Qui-Gon to turn, eyebrow raised. She smiled nastily "I don't believe in prophecy, but I do believe in cause and effect, and that it is likely a very good thing that Sidious cut me off from the Veil of the Dark Side."

His eyebrows furrow. "And what is that supposed to mean exactly?"

"Go deal with your apprentice," she shoes, "Ask after that's dealt with."

Siri smiles smugly when he goes, because oh yes, she had done quite a bit of thinking last night. About Skywalker. About Sidious. Specifically something he told her years ago that occurred to her half way through the night. That he and his master had directly challenged the Force and willed it darker. Sidious and his master kriffed with the Force in a way that should never have been done. Skywalker was the consequence of that decision. It had nothing to do with prophecy, but with Sidious and Plaguies overreaching, badly.

Its not that the Force had never swung heavily dark or light before in history, far from it. But it was natural shifts based on the state of the Galaxy. The Jedi Purge and the two wars before it way back when probably darkened the Force quite a bit, but again, natural cause. The Force was likely lighter when it was mostly Jedi and other sappy light factions in the galaxy after an incarnation of the Sith had been bested (because Sith generally killed off, enslaved, or converted competing darksiders). What Sidious and Plaguies had done had been the result of challenging the entire Force. Sith bent the Force to their will, yes, made it their servant, but that was small trifles in the grand scheme of things, single normal uses of the Dark Side. This had been on a colossal scale, the Force entirely. This demanded a response by the Force.

Perhaps the only time to Siri's knowledge the Force has ever directly acted like this.

There have been champions that have risen up, light and dark alike, to best their overbearing counterparts, but none directly spawned by the Force to her knowledge. What Skywalker is, and what he will be capable is unprecedented. And that power, that potential, it pulls at her, calls to her. She wants that power, she craves it. To revel in it. If she cannot posses that power, then she will damn make sure she is allied with it, or at a minimum, is not directly against Skywalker. IF the boy lives that long.

But likely, he is.

Because Sidious has had plenty of chances to kill Skywalker on his little trips to visit the Chancellor, and he hasn't.

She sighed. "Corruption it is. But the question is, how will Sidious get to Skywalker? Because he's had plenty of chances to abduct him as well."

She gets the sense that the Dark Side is laughing at her, mocking her obliviousness. And doesn't that rankle, because she does feel like she is missing something, some key piece that makes everything fit together in the great game Sidious is playing. Or maybe she's expecting the wrong thing. Skywalker isn't Siri, whose to say Sidious is going to try the same methodology to convert him as he did Siri herself?

The Force is silent on that, shrouded behind a Veil she no longer can access nor wants to, aside from trying to find a way to tear it down, but that is far beyond her current abilities...

Obi-Wan fetches her an hour later, giving her the silent treatment as she is escorted... not to the Council Chamber. He leads her to the Jinn/Skywalker apartment, where the rest of the Lineage, sans Yoda, is there along with Fay and Windu. Skywalker looks like a mess, sitting on the couch, staring down aimlessly at his hands in his lap. Would have thought the knowledge he gained about himself would have been a relief, strange that he looks worse. There is a sense of -weight on my shoulders- come off him that answers the question for her.

She doesn't believe in the prophecy, and maybe Skywalker hadn't really believed in it either. Apparently now he does, and it scares him.

Dooku motions to a chair drawn from the kitchen table. "Sit, and explain what you said to my padawan."

"I'd rather stand," she says, crossing her arms.

Dooku narrows his eyes. "You expressed 'relief' that Sidious had cut you off from the Veil of the Dark Side, why?"

"Because, I know exactly what he and his master did to cause Skywalker to be born," she answers.

That gets everyone's attention, even Anakin looks up.

So she tells them, recites as best as she can recall what Sidious had told her about him and his master challenging the Force over months of meditation.

"Impossible," says Windu at the end, impulsively for one such as he, "No one can challenge the Force."

"Mmm, except they did," said Siri, "Or are the Jedi not blocked by the Veil? Has the Force not darkened year by year since I was a child myself? Perhaps even before?"

Windu scowls, but goes silent.

"Such an unnatural, aberrant action," said Fay, for once looking visibly disturbed, "It will never be enough for the Sith to just have power, will it? They crave and crave more and more until they've consumed everything. A parasite, a cancer."

Siri narrows her eyes...

But before she can respond, Obi-Wan addresses Siri, "But you said it was a good thing you were cut from the Veil, like Grandmaster said, why Siri?"

"The Veil of the Dark Side is a symptom, a creation of that challenge, or if you want to deal in silly prophecies, that imbalance," said Siri, sneering, "I don't believe in prophecy, but I do believe in cause and effect. Anakin was born to fix the stupid overreach that Sidious and his master did, and well, best that I have nothing to do with it."

The look of scorn Windu gives her is oh so amusing.

"You can condemn the Sith all you want, me all you want, but to my knowledge, my Order has never pulled this idiotic shit before, until the last duo," she said flatly, "Maybe we cause darkening through wars and strife riling up the galaxy, but such things naturally happen anyway."

Windu now looks curious, and thoughtful, eyeing her in a way that makes her wonder if he actually sees her, or is seeing in her, shatterpoints she wonders, what is he seeing? "You... disagree with this action taken by Sidious and his former Master? More than just as a method of survivability?"

"The Force is everything, it is life itself," she says, even if its something the Jedi recite, it is the truth, "While I may take my power from it, pull and bend the Dark to my will, that is how the Dark Side IS. It is passion and chaos, primal, if you don't control it you are controlled by it, destroyed by it. Doing that to the entirety of the Force itself..."

She shakes her head. "My line may have created some of the most powerful Sith to ever live, but its also created the most arrogant. I thought it then, I think it now: Challenging the Force itself directly like that is suicidal and likely to get us destroyed."

She gives Windu a crooked smile. "Assuming you can keep Skywalker alive and uncorrputed, that's the likely outcome."

Qui-Gon moves to lay his hands on Anakin's shoulder. "We will safeguard Anakin until he is ready to fulfill his destiny."

Siri regards Qui-Gon for a very long moment. "You can't always be there, Jinn, and there are times you being there could harm instead of help."

Jinn tilts his chin up. "And how is that?"

"If Sidious had you by bladepoint and threatened to kill you if Skywalker didn't surrender or back off, what do you realistically think Skywalker would do?"

Anakin flinches at that as Qui-Gon's grip on his shoulder's tighten. "His duty."

Bantha kriffing shit. The mocking in her eyes conveys what she thinks of that.

"Anakin is young and still learning the Jedi Path," is Qui-Gon's answer, "As he grows..."

"The clock ticks as he ages," cut in Siri, before deciding to see if she can slip in something, to see if the Jedi catch on, "The more control of his power he gains, the less time Sidious has to act. There will come a time when Sidious must do something and deal with Skywalker before he becomes beyond his means. Sidious will Force a confrontation before Skywalker is ready."

"Your belief in your Master's omnipresence is born out of fear," commented Fay, "Influential and powerful as he is, he cannot be everywhere and do everything at once. Especially without an active apprentice to carry out his will, and one such as you takes years to train, and he used your Jedi training as a base to speed that up."

Siri scoffed. "He spent most of the first year training the Jedi out of me. That was time wasted from his point of view."

That gets the usual glower from the Jedi, and her eyes shift to them one by one. None of them caught her wording then. None of them caught the hint about how powerful Skywalker currently is, after all, she made not comment about Skywalker becoming more powerful. They have not a clue. He already has all the power he needs to kill Sidious, just not the control to bring it out. Probably because their feeble little complacent minds cant comprehend that such power naturally exists. That it isn't trained or guided or grown from their 'vaunted' wisdom.

Skywalker is part of the Force in ways no other being is, and oh how does that make the greed and jealousy in her for something she will never be bubble.

"I'm curious," said Dooku, "That now is apparently the time that you chose to reveal it. I do not believe you lie, but you have a habit of choosing to reveal pertinent information at your leisure rather than at first opportunity. Its been three years..."

She smiles mockingly. "Does the how of it negate the fact that Supernova is here?"

Dooku glares at her. "The point stands."

"If I don't think its relevant, or has a purpose, or is useful for getting in Sidious's way," she answered, "Why would I tell you?"

"Siri...," begins Obi-Wan.

"You seem to forget," said Siri in a sharp tone, "That we are not even allies of convenience. We use eachother for our goals, which happen to gather around killing Sidious. Nothing more, nothing less. Anything that I don't believe caters to that does not fall under my agreement with the Courts."

"That leaves much up to your own interpretation of that agreement," said Dooku crisply.

"How unfortunate for you," she mused, before crossing her arms, "An active enemy of the Jedi I may not be, but we are not allies."

She makes an about-face. "In seven years my parole is up, and I am walking out of the Temple. I have no interest in an active conflict with the Jedi Order, but beyond that? I could go the rest of my life without seeing a Jedi again and find that much to my liking."

"The feeling is mutual," commented Dooku mildly.

Siri walks out of the apartment back to her own, deciding that the Council isn't likly to demand her presence to scream at her with what she gave them. So she settles in to think and wait...

Skywalker is quiet the next day, but still hogging her couch.

"Don't you have classes or something?"

"Rest day."

"Don't you have friends you can go bother?"

"No, I don't."

That snaps Siri's mouth shut, getting a subtle frown from her. "I don't see you as the loner type."

He shrugs and nestles into the couch cushions. Hmm... she could push, but she's got better targets if she wanted to press at the boy. Speaking of which... she has a little revenge in mind. Not on Skywalker, no, but Fay and the Jedi as a whole for that manhandling she got. Even if she was kind of asking for it, but hey, she was a Sith, vindictiveness was a given. This in particular was probably something Sidious might find amusing to have seen used. Though he wouldn't find it amusing if it was fixed.

"Say... Supernova..."

Anakin groaned. "I know that tone."

Siri cracked a grin. "Do you?"

"Yeah, when your about to do something you find 'darkly funny', or about to pounce on something, you always get this eager little hitch to your voice and presence," he said flatly, "Followed by you doing or saying something that rattles people or pisses them off. Generally the entire Jedi Order."

Siri threw back her head and howled with laughter. "Well shit Supernova, you've got me pegged, but anyway, I've got a few friends I'd like you to meet."

He narrows his eyes, smelling a trap of some-kind. "You have friends?"

"Harsh."

She moves to the door in dark anticipation, because she had studied Skywalker of the years, his tics, what set him off in conversations. "Now come along little slave."

Predictably, his presence blotched in fury.

"I'm not a slave!" he shouted, anger rolling off him.

Siri's face shifted from contempt to sly victory, her voice reflecting that, "Correct, you're not."

Anakin went from angry, to warily confused in a split second. "I don't... what are you..."

"You have such individuality, hardly a slave trait," she said, predatory, "Tell me, what do you understand of the Jedi's view of individuality?"

"What... does that have to do with meeting 'friends'?"

Time to abuse slave mentality. She only felt slightly guilty.

She motions to the door and they walk out, Siri gives an exaggerated bow to one of the Temple Guards standing outside. "Supernova, I'd like you to meet one of my dear, dear friends."

"I'm pretty sure none of them like you," said Anakin dubiously.

Both of the guards outside her door are watching warily, saying nothing.

"Tell me, have you ever talked to one of my friends here or one of their buddies around the temple?" posed Siri, just a tint of malice in her voice.

Anakin hesitated. "Well... no. I mean, they're on-duty, not s'posed to bug them."

"Tsk, so responsible," mocked Siri, "But where are our manners? Why don't you introduce yourself, Supernova?"

Trap set.

"Umm... hi, I'm Anakin," said Skywalker to the left guard.

The guard gave him a slight head bob of acknowledgement, but the gaze is still warily on Siri.

"Whats your name?"

Trap kriffing sprung.

The guard doesn't answer, making Skywalker slightly offput.

"Ah!" said Siri, snapping her fingers, "That's right! Temple Guards don't have names! How forgetful of me. They're required to give up any individuality, any identity, their faces behind a mask, their very names."

Anakin went still and quiet, blank in the Force.

"Its sad to say, they have less than most slaves do," mused Siri sadly and sagely, "After all..."

Anakin takes a step back. A tint of confused-disbelief and denial, leading into barely suppressed fear and horror.

"At least most slaves have a name, right Anakin?"

Skywalker turns and bolts.

Siri chuckles darkly as he disappears down the hall.

"You truly are a disgusting witch," comments the Guard with a growl, "Within the Jedi Order, we are an ancient and honored position, not to be used as a weapon against a child."

Siri hummed. "Not my fault the Jedi are leaving weaknesses in their so called Chosen One. Maybe they should do something about that slave mentality, or maybe they should do something about the fact that the boy can find parallels between slavery and the Jedi. After all..."

She smiles menacingly. "I'm not the one who decided how he would react. That was entirely him."

She can feel the glower behind the mask, but she merely returns it with a sense of mocking through the Force, returning to her room smugly satisfied...

"It is finished then?"

Sidious poses the question, watching Taelson Fry tense under his gaze, the pair standing in a projector room, the plans for his battlestation being readied for presentation, newly named. The boy, young man he supposed, had wanted to name it some catchy little thing. He had a much better idea. "The plans for the Death Star are, finally, complete?"

"Yes, Lord Sidious."

The blueprints should have been done years ago, but becoming Chancellor, cleaning up Tachi's mess, training his Acolytes in addition to his stand in apprentices, and manipulating Skywalker all ate into his time. He had barely had a chance to press his Chief Engineer on his duty and requirements.

"Show me."

The scope is... smaller than he would have imagined, or liked. "The Death Star is supposed to be imposing, hope rending, a thing of despair to see above your world before it is gone. This... is smaller than an average moon by quite the degree."

"Theatrics aren't my style, Sidious," said Fry flatly, "I go for practicality and efficiency. This is far more usable then the fat garbage Raith was making the base of the plans."

Sometimes, he wonders if he got too used to Tachi mannerisms, to allow such insolent and casual regard to him. "Is that so?"

"Do you want a list?"

Sparks dance along Sidious's fingertips in warning.

The Engineer punches a few keys on his screen, bringing up equations and calculations. "List it is then. First, construction time on this will be at least half the time of the bigger one, and need far less Kyber and important metals to operate its primary weapon. Much easier to acquire, and draw less suspicion for the amount."

"Will it still be able to destroy a planet?"

"Yes, at absolute maximum charge."

Sidious's eyes narrow. "And how long does such a charge take to build?"

"Is a planet going to be running anywhere?" answered Taelson dryly.

"No, but those on one might."

"At least an hour, but that charge can be built in transit if you really need it done ASAP."

He doesn't like it. Half an hour at most would have been far better. Preferably fifteen minutes. Enough time to get to a ship and have hope, but not nearly enough time to actually escape the explosion alive, despairing as they realize their impending doom, an appetizer for him and the Dark Side before the main course a planet's destruction would provide.

"But, a lesser charge is much quicker, since so much unnecessary space has been cut, and what we have is more focused on power generation," continued the Engineer, "You can charge enough needed to blow up a capital ship in minutes, without needing a full damn day to recharge the weapon that Raith's design would have needed."

"I had his assurances such a thing could be overcome."

"Science says otherwise, at least not without some hefty technical advances."

Sidious rubs his chin in thought. "So, you went with a design more useful in fleet combat, rather than a pure symbol of absolute domination and control."

Its not what he demanded, and yet...

"Yeah," confirmed Taelson, "And honestly, the size of that original battlestation mock up was asking for engineering trouble. The more there is to build, the more systems to wire or make or link or whatever, the more likely it is someone will kriff something up. Or that something will break and then you need to fix it, maintenance alone would be astronomically ridiculous and hardly worth all that hired help."

Hmph, his Chief Engineer was always like that, so dismissive of his lessers. It was one of the few good qualities about him. Trusting in no one, especially in their competence and capabilities. Only trusting in what he himself could do. Much like Sidious himself he supposed. Still... he wasn't wrong. In his experience with Vosa, the more opportunities he gave her to screw up, the more likely she was without a firm, guided, directed hand. A gigantic battlestation was all well and good, but if someone incompetent ruined the design, or constant issues kept holding it back or ruined it...

"You said half the original time," contemplated Sidious.

"Give or take," agreed Taelson, "The main issues would be labor and the gathering of all the materials, since I assume you'd want it under wraps."

Slave labor is cheap enough if he fishes along the Outer Rim. Or... yes... now there is an idea. C'Baoth is almost ready to begin. All he needs is a reason, which he is sure his apprentice will give C'Baoth soon enough, to initiate the beginning of the end and storm from the Jedi, taking those Jedi and eventually senators loyal to him and starting the 'Separatist Movement'. It would be easier for the separatists to begin that construction for him. If it were discovered that the opposing faction was building something like that... why the Republic would be forced to steal it from them lest someone irresponsible have control of such a weapon.

Force, if he got things in place and had C'Baoth start construction immediately... if it was completed before the planned war ended and he used the 'stolen' superweapon to bring a decisive victory with it... the Galaxy might cheer it on, make it easier to transition and warrant the Death Star. Not that he would truly need the consent of the feeble Galaxy once his Empire was a reality, but it might make the transition easier, allow him to consolidate his power swifter.

"But on that note, I thought you'd like this," said Taelson, punching a few keys.

Sidious watched as the blueprints split into pieces that had fit together so well. "These can be constructed elsewhere and brought together."

"Yep."

Sidious, for once, marvels at the ingenuity of it, of his genius in taking the risk to lose Maul and gain Taelson along with Tachi . If one piece, or even several are found in construction, it wont ruin or reveal the entire design. Not to mention how much easier it would be to hide the construction. To slip in funding for sections easily in bills within both the Republic and the eventual Separatists. "Impressive."

He's already seeing how can use this years from now, not only to get this in use, but in engineering a situation to fit Tachi back in as his enforcer and be pardoned in public spotlight. Why, if she were to be the one to discover, and perhaps capture this for the Republic, her history would easily be swept under the rug for the general public, perhaps even the senate. Skywalker could fit that role as well if need be he supposed.

He poses many more questions and extracts an equal amount of answers before he is satisfied. "Good, good. You've earned yourself suitable reward, my Chief Engineer. You may forward your desires for material possessions or vacation to Sienar for... a few months if you so desire. Afterwards..."

Her bares his teeth. "I have further use of you."

Taelson swallows. "Such as...?"

"Your next project, Chief Engineer, is on a smaller scale. It is one for our dear wayward friend, Tachi, should she prove reluctant to rejoin us when the time comes," said Sidious, smiling menacingly, "I want you to design a containment cell for a Force Sensitive that allows them to feel and use the Force, but not be able to affect the cell they are in, nor harm themselves..."

Review Responses:

Redshirt1453: I don't see a reason not to keep Anakin & Ashoka as Teacher/Student. I have a different person in mind for Kenobi...

E: Thanks.

Moikan Yoloko: I 'try' not to do Sues if I can help it. But everyone has their moments. Did anything/anypart particularly strike you in that vein? And what in particular brought out da tears?

James: I've never played Fire Emblem, so no.

Veins: lmao, rude.

Gendie01: Mmmm, nope, guess again.

Nerdman3000: I'm leaning towards her sticking around until at least part way through the Clone Wars. Mmm, I might not have outright said it, though I did hint it at least once, Siri IS his trial of knighthood. I thought midi's DID go up with age, ya know, as you get bigger you have more. After all, Vader lost power when he lost parts of his body.

I haven't been too affected by C-19.

ItsJustABook: Playing politician.