Chapter Fourteen - The Precipice
Author's Notes: Thank you everyone for your feedback and suggestions. As I've said before, I love getting feedback and your suggestions do help my thought process. I won't give any hints about what the future will bring to our heroes, but your ideas will be considered.
On another note, I just wanted to express my frustration with the notion of what a Jedi's role is. In ROTS, Obi-Wan told Anakin that he served the Republic. It seems patently absurd to me that a democracy would so closely align to the Will of the Force. Indeed, in Legends AU, the newly reconstructed Empire employs the Imperial Knights, Force sensitives who reject the Dark side but still swear fealty to the Emperor. I'm sorry for the ramble, it was just something on my mind that annoyed me about Obi-Wan and the Jedi in general.
"We will never betray the legacy of the Jedi. I will never surrender the Republic to the Sith."
- Bail Organa
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"The Dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural."
The words were still resounding in Anakin's mind hours after the words had been spoken by the Chancellor. It seemed so obvious to Anakin, so transparent that the story of Darth Plagueis and his ability to save someone from dying was meant to draw him closer, to seduce him to the Dark side. The fact that Palpatine had knowledge of any Sith Lord that wasn't commonly known should have been a glaring sign.
And yet...
Somehow, despite these obvious signs, I still managed to fall to the Dark side.
Anakin sighed. He wouldn't dispute Luke's tale of his fall but it seemed so improbable that he would have fallen for Palpatine's ploy. And yet, Palpatine's words rolled through his mind and he had to acknowledge that the temptation, despite all his newly acquired foreknowledge, was still there. The ever-present image of Padmé dying and Palpatine's vague promise of salvation was tempting, even now that knew better. Worst of all, he felt guilt for the things that he had never done in a time that was not his. Guilt for failing Padmé, Obi-Wan, the Jedi, and Luke.
Anakin grimaced and let out a long breath. I have brushed the Dark side before and Force knows I've never been a perfect Jedi, but I swear that whether I am the Chosen One or not, one thing that I will never be is a Sith. I will not fail Luke, I will not cast him in the dark future he was born into.
Anakin stood on the veranda outside of Padmé's apartment and stared at the distant Jedi Temple. Clad only in loose, dark trousers, he had spent a great amount of time the next afternoon after his meeting with Palpatine at the Opera meditating. It wasn't something he usually enjoyed, but doing so now felt like a lifeline to keep him afloat as events spiraled out of control.
That morning had been spent giving an update to the Jedi Council. Though they now knew who the Sith Lord was, there was something of an unexpected difficulty while they planned their next move. Palpatine's request that Anakin be the one to lead the attack on Grevious at Utapau had startled several of the Masters. Given that Anakin was in his sights as a potential apprentice, his request that Anakin be moved off-world had been odd.
Somewhat to Anakin's surprise, it was Mace Windu's insight that had guided them through their subsequent deliberations.
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"But why would he wish for you to go?" Obi-Wan wondered aloud.
It had been a reasonable question for if Anakin was to be his next apprentice, Palpatine would presumably want him closer in order to turn him.
"To fight Grevious, a Master would be sent," Yoda murmured.
Master Windu eyed Yoda speculatively before he nodded slowly. "If we were to send a Master, that'd likely be frustrating to you, Anakin. It would be another wedge to be used to isolate you from the order. If we were to send a Master, the one we would have sent would likely be Master Kenobi. This would leave you even more isolated. I'd say it's likely that he'll be abandoning subtlety soon. Grevious must be eliminated and doing so would leave Palpatine with no choice but to surrender his powers."
"And he will not," Aayla Secura nodded. The stunning blue-skinned Twi'lek woman was currently on Felucia, but was in attendance via hologram. "That will be the decisive moment, the moment where the outcome will decide the fate of the Sith. Even with many of our Order now in safe places, if Order 66 is declared, many Jedi will die."
"Here, you must stay, Skywalker," Yoda stated gravely. "In a critical position, you are. Do not underestimate this Sith Lord."
Anakin nodded, "Yes Master."
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Following that discussion had been the updates on Jedi being evacuated or relocated to safer places. If Order 66 was given, as Master Secura had said, many Jedi would die. But not all. Many now had means of escape, or were in relatively safer positions among non-clone troopers.
It took some effort to stay still on the veranda. He wanted to pace and tug at his hair. It wouldn't be long, on that the Council and he agreed. No, it wouldn't be long until the future of the galaxy was decided. For the sake of his children, it would not be a future where he existed as a dark specter who enforced an empires tyranny.
A quick message from Luke said that he and Mara would be on their way back. While he had been in the Council room, Luke and Mara had worked with other members of the Temple to assist in the preparations for the strike team. They had also spent some time in the archive, working on a datapad which would hold some of their foreknowledge of events to come.
It was easy to forget that the future Luke and Mara came from held deeper terrors than that of the Sith and the possibility made him shiver. The datapad they were inputting their knowledge into could save millions of lives in the future.
Anakin sighed and waited for his son and his daughter-in-law to arrive.
Luke sighed as he navigated the speeder through the constant traffic.
Mara looked sideways at him. "What?"
"The Jedi," he sighed again.
"Not everything you hoped and dreamed of?"
"No. They are more arrogant than I had thought them to be. Since our arrival, they have been less so, and less inwardly focused. But there have been so many signs! So many different premonitions of the dark days to come, so many glaring truths that were ignored as the Clone War raged on," Luke replied with a disapproving face.
"They were not born into a galaxy where everything had already turned towards darkness Luke, they had far less reason to see the Sith lurking under their beds."
"True. Mara, I spoke to Mace Windu today. He had come to me about a vision he had some time ago, about Coruscant covered in an exotic jungle, about the Jedi Temple merely being ruins, about strange impossible ships bombarding the unfamiliar landscape of this very planet."
"The Vong?"
Luke nodded, "Had to be. He asked if it was the work of Sidious, I had to tell him that the Sith were not the most dire threats that this galaxy had to face and that the enemy was far stranger and far more dangerous than he could imagine."
"I bet that was an unpleasant burden for him," Mara said.
"Yes." Luke paused and looked at Mara. There was pain in his eyes, Mara saw, grief and disappointment. "They knew Mara. Or at least, they suspected. They saw what might be coming. How much could have been averted in Windu's vision had been shared or remembered?"
"Likely none of it, Luke. It was a vision, as you well know it, the future is always in motion. I doubt the Republic would have been prepared for the Vong just from a single Jedi Master's prophecy of an ambiguous future," Mara said, rubbing Luke's shoulder.
"Decisions that have shaped the galaxy have been based on less, Mara. With forewarning, how many of our friends would still live? Would my sister be alive today?"
Mara paused, testing out Luke's mood like one would test the grounds of a minefield. "Don't do this to yourself, Luke. You know very well that the Republic won't be completely prepared for the Yuuzhan Vong, not even with us here. Focus on the here and now."
"I know, Mara...it's just so-"
"I know Luke, I know." Mara pulled Luke towards her and kissed his forehead before slapping him on the shoulder. "Now get this hunk of junk moving, Skywalker, I have a mother-in-law to have girl-talk with."
Luke smiled. "How utterly terrifying."
"What happened next with Windu?" Mara asked curiously.
"He asked some questions which I answered, but I told him we needed to focus on the Sith, and that the answers regarding the Yuuzhan Vong would come from us, even if our lives were to end, from the information we are submitting into our datapad."
"Luke, perhaps we should copy the information into a holocron as well."
"That is a good idea, Mara!" Luke exclaimed a little too brightly.
"You already began?" Mara asked suspiciously.
"I was not the Grand Master because of my boyish charm or striking good looks, Mara," Luke replied airily.
Looking Luke up and down, Mara sniped back, "That much is obvious, Farmboy."
Luke grinned than sighed again. "Let's go see Anakin again and talk more about his meeting with Palpatine last night."
Mace Windu and Yoda sat in a meditative pose in the latter's quarters. The lights were turned down low and the two spoke quietly about the future, about the Sith...and about the Vong.
"From what Luke told me, these...Yuuzhan Vong...would be responsible for the destruction of worlds, of billions of lives, and of conquering a massive chunk of the galaxy before finally being repulsed," Mace said gravely.
"Possible it is, that a favor the Sith did us."
"What?"
Master Yoda chuckled at Mace Windu's appalled tone. "Without the Clone Wars, militarized the Republic would not be."
"By reintroducing warfare on a galactic scale, he made it possible for the future to repulse the Vong," Mace said slowly nodding.
Yoda grimaced. "Yes."
"I refuse to thank him for it, Master Yoda, but yes, he might have done the galaxy a favor, for a horrifying price."
There was a silence.
"More to say have you," Yoda prompted.
"I worry. I worry for the Jedi and I worry for Anakin. I have never truly approved of the boy and I wonder if in Luke's future, my less than subtle disapproval might have pushed Anakin away from us. I will not dwell on this, but it is something I considered after I heard of Palpatine's plans for the boy."
Yoda nodded, "Palpatine plans deeply. Unlike any other Sith we have encountered, he is. Seeks domination over life as all Sith do, but pursues it more subtly and with impossible patience."
"The Jedi Order is about as a secure as it can be without giving itself away in the face of Order 66. The time where we will confront him is drawing near. Master Kenobi is already on his way to Utapau and if Grevious is destroyed than the time will have come."
"Take great care, we must. Even with foreknowledge, a great danger Palpatine is."
"Is Anakin in danger of being turned?"
"Before Luke and Mara's arrival, yes I would have said. Now..." Yoda scrunched his face up and closed his eyes, considering the future the Force showed him. At last he sighed, "Always in motion is the future. Danger for Anakin, yes. But of turning?" Another pause. "Possible, but unlikely. Much to fight for, the boy has."
"Then we wait," Mace said.
"Then we wait," Yoda agreed.
The Chancellor sat alone in his office, fingers steepled. It was dark in his office, the only light being that of the surrounding city. Obi-Wan had reached Utapau and without a secure escape, he had no doubt that the cyborg would finally meet his end. It was time. Finally, after so many years, the Sith would have their revenge. He had to speak with Anakin one last time, soon. He would have to reveal himself and that was always a gamble, no matter how sure he might be that young Skywalker would be his.
It was the two new Skywalkers that were giving him continued pause. They were there to protect Anakin, he could feel it. They had to be separated, from Anakin and from each other. It would not be as simple as he had originally planned, but he had not come this far to falter now at the end of things.
Reaching into his dark robes, he grabbed his comlink and activated it. "Sing," he nearly growled, "The time has come. I need you to get in contact with a colleague of yours, he will assist you in your apprehension of Senator Amidala. I need you, and whatever help you deem necessary, to distract or kill those around the Senator. You will be rewarded amply for every Jedi that is killed. Fett will be the one to take the Senator."
"Fett? The boy is talented, but he is just a boy."
"Are you questioning me?"
Kilometers away, Aurra Sing shivered. The voice that came from the comlink purred in a way that reeked of something dangerous. "No, Lord Sidious."
"As you said, the boy is just a boy, but Senator Amidala is a kindhearted fool and is unlikely to be willing to shoot 'just a boy' until it is too late. Be sure to impress upon young Fett that she must be unharmed. She is pregnant and that pregnancy must not be compromised. If she or her child are harmed, I will make certain that you and young Fett beg for death before I finish with you."
"It will be done, my Lord. Where are we to take the Senator?"
"Have Boba take her to the Chancellor's office. Be sure that she is brought there within the next hour and a half."
"The Chancellor's office? Are you-yes, my Lord, it will be done.
As the comlink clicked off, he closed his eyes and searched through the Force. Now.
Clicking it back on, "Anakin, I would like to speak with you, could you come to my office please, it won't take long?"
"Luke!"
Padmé's happy exclamation brought a smile to both Luke and Mara's faces.
Both Skywalkers were embraced by the extremely pregnant woman. C-3PO and R2-D2 were in the room, bickering as they had done and would do for decades. The sight of the two droids made Mara smile. No, some things will never change.
Mara watched Padmé interact with Luke, chattering about the day. They occasionally would talk seriously about the future or about the state of the Jedi's plans, but they would inevitably end up smiling at some topic or anecdote.
We are here to protect this, Mara thought.
[And we will, Mara.]
Luke's voice echoed in her heard and she shook her head. She hadn't meant to broadcast her thoughts, but Farmboy had always been attuned to her, and in the course of their relationship, had only become more so.
"Where's Anakin?" Luke asked, looking around.
Padmé's face darkened. "Palpatine wished to speak with him."
The name brought the warm's previous happy feeling to a stark reminder of what they still faced. As if the name itself had conjured danger, something in the Force made both Luke and Mara stiffen and reach for their lightsabers.
"What is it?" Padmé asked, watching as both Luke and Mara shifted their stances and ignited their lightsabers.
"Danger," Luke said.
As if to punctuate his words, a round device was thrown onto the veranda on the opposite side of the apartment. Though well away from the blast radius, the blast ripped open the side of the apartment and made all three occupants stagger. In the time between the grenade had been noticed and the time it had been detonated, Mara had grabbed Padmé and had shielded her body with her own. Luke reached out a hand, using the Force to deflect shrapnel that would have ripped through them.
Stun blasts began zipping through the apartment accompanied by blaster bolts. Already beginning to deflect the incoming fire, Luke briefly glanced at Mara who shared his dark expression.
It was time.
Author's Notes: Please review, always happy to see feedback. And yep, shit is finally going down. What will happen to Anakin? Will Padmé get abducted? Where will Obi-Wan be when it all goes down? Will the Jedi sense the disturbance and send the strike team to attack Palpatine? And what will the fate of Luke (fetus or adult) and Mara be? What will happen!?
I'll tell you right now, I have no idea. I know the ending I'd like to have, but there are still a lot of questions to be answered and I don't have the answers yet, hence my desire for reviews.
