Chapter 13
Over the next few weeks Farra resumes her duties of watching Palpatine. One day he tells Farra he wants to talk to her and the two go to his office.
"Farra, what would you say if I told you that you could be very powerful indeed. Perhaps more powerful than even Yoda and Mace Windu" Palpatine said.
"I am not interested in power. I am just happy to do what I have to do. I would like to become a Jedi Master yes, but all things happen when they are meant to happen"
"From your point of view" Palpatine said.
'Which has been fed to you by the Jedi' he thought.
"And what is your point of view?" Farra asked Palpatine.
"Both the Jedi and the Sith crave power. It is how they use that power which is different," Palpatine explained.
"And you know this how" Farra asked.
"I have seen how both the Sith and the Jedi operate" Palpatine replied.
This shook Farra to the core as she then realized that Palpatine could indeed be the Sith Lord the Jedi were seeking. She wondered how to tell Anakin what she knew as she knew he wouldn't like to hear it.
When she returned to her room Farra meditated, wondering how Palpatine had had the chance to see how the Sith operated. She was so deep in thought that she was unaware of Anakin joining her. He sits down beside her and takes her hands in his. Farra comes out of her meditation and finds Anakin there.
"Are you ok my love?" Anakin asked.
"Palpatine told me something that has disturbed me greatly," Farra said.
"What did he tell you?" Anakin asked.
"He told me he has seen how both the Jedi and the Sith operate" Farra said.
"Sithspawn, that doesn't look good for him" Anakin said.
"No it doesn't. We should investigate more before saying anything to the council in case we are jumping to conclusions.
Palpatine continues to talk to Farra about her becoming more powerful. He also begins to tell her that he suspects the Jedi are plotting to overtake the republic. Farra is shocked by this but doesn't show it. Palpatine then tells Farra he needs to be able to trust someone in coming days and tells Farra he hopes he can trust her and Anakin.
"Of course you can trust us," Farra said.
She still didn't know for sure that Palpatine was the Sith Lord so had to trust him until she knew for sure.
"How can I help you?" Farra asks Palpatine.
"Just keep me up to date on what the Jedi are doing in the war. It would be a great help"
"Ok I can do that" Farra said.
That night she discusses things with Anakin.
"We need to keep him trusting us for now Farra. If he knows that we suspect him and he does turn out to be the Sith Lord he'll disappear. Mark my words. We need the element of surprise on our side.
"Agreed" Farra said.
The two Jedi inform the council of what they have learnt.
"We are growing certain that Palpatine is the Sith lord we seek. We think he is biding his time waiting for something though we don't know what" Farra said.
"You have done well," Mace said.
"Keep Palpatine from knowing that we know we must" Yoda said.
That night Anakin has a dream about Ferus. He sees him dressed in black holding a red lightsaber fighting Obi Wan. When he wakes he pulls a robe on and goes to Farra's room to find out if she had the same dream. She had and she was sitting up in bed her face white. Ferus was a good friend of hers.
"Farra it will be ok. We wont' let him hurt Obi Wan"
"Ferus can't go to the dark side he's my friend" Farra said.
Tears began to stream down her face. Anakin sat down on the bed and held her close.
"Try not to worry my love. If it is his destiny to turn to the dark side who are we to change it" Anakin said.
A few days later the two Jedi were sent to Zaadja to destroy the droid factory there. Another Jedi, a female named Tohno was with them and the plan was for Tohno to sneak in, plant explosive charges in the base then sneak out. Anakin and Farra along with the army of clones sent with them would distract the enemy but not engage them. Tohno got in all right but was spotted and the entire base alerted. Anakin wanted to rescue her but Tohno told him to honor her sacrifice. Tohno propped her backpack against the wall on one side of the room. Knowing she was going to die, she threw her lightsaber at the backpack and it struck the charges inside the backpack. The base went up in a huge explosion, which also destroyed a nearby Confederacy ship and the Confederacy forces marching out to meet the republic forces.
Anakin and Farra, who were leading the Republic forces, stopped marching and watched the explosion, Farra calming and comforting Anakin who felt that he had failed as he could have rescued Tohno.
"Tohno wanted you to honor her sacrifice and we did the right thing, love. Our job was to distract the CSI while she did her job. She did her job well"
"Of course you're right love. I'm sorry" Anakin said.
They turned around and lead the clones back to the ships they had landed in and watched them re enter the ships. Then the two Jedi re-entered the ship they had flown to Zaadja in and prepared for take off. They decided to meditate so found an empty room where they could be alone together. They sat down and Anakin wrapped his arms around Farra and the two closed their eyes. Farra snuggled into Anakin enjoying the warmth of his embrace. She felt complete and whole and the two quickly fell into a meditative trance.
When the two ended their meditation they relaxed together enjoying being alone.
"When I am with you I feel whole. When you aren't there I feel like something is missing" Anakin told Farra.
"I feel exactly the same Anakin. I don't know what would happen if we were to be separated permanently. We must be on our guard against attempts to separate us. Ventress has tried twice but failed and it wouldn't surprise me if another attempt were made" Farra said.
Anakin was caressing Farra's stomach as they talked.
'I can't wait to have a child with Farra' he thought, 'We can train him or her in the ways of the Force ourselves'
Farra smiled as she had picked up Anakin's thoughts.
"Lets hope this war ends soon then" she said.
"Yeah that would be good if it did" Anakin said.
Back on Coruscant the two Jedi barely had time to relax before they were asked by the council to go to Virujansi to take it back from the Separatists. They took a large contingent of Clone Troopers and ships and when they reached the planet Anakin made contact with the local militia. The two Jedi landed on the planet and met with the leader of the local militia. After a brief discussion the local militia agreed to work with the Jedi and their forces. It was decided that Anakin would go into the large cave network on the planet and engage the air forces in close combat. Meanwhile Farra would the ground forces against the Confederation droids and Gossam Commandos.
The two Jedi hugged and Anakin looked at Farra.
"Keep safe love. Don't let them kill you"
"I will be fine Anakin. You keep yourself safe and be mindful of your emotions. Losing your temper would not help you to fight better"
"I know. I know" Anakin said.
"May the Force be with us both. I expect to see you alive and well at the end of the battle my love" Farra said.
Anakin looked at Farra then crashed his lips against hers in a brief but intense kiss. The two then went their separate ways as planned. Farra briefed the commanders of her troops and those from the planet who were combining forces with her then they set off. Farra lead her troops to where the ground forces were. Once she had her bearings she used the Force to locate the enemy droids and commandos and ordered her troops to move in. Igniting her lightsaber Farra lead the charge. She soon found herself fighting several droids.
Farra closed her eyes and concentrated allowing herself to be directed by the Force. It guided her as she fought her way through various droids and commandos. Her lightsaber moved in blue arcs as she fought and droids tumbled at her feet. Finally the battle was over and the droids and commandos were all dead or unable to carry on fighting. Farra returned to the control point to await the return of Anakin and his forces. She had been aware of Anakin's thoughts and what was going on where he was during her battle. He had led his troops into the cave network and ordered them to attack the enemy air force. He himself had killed many of the enemy troops. He had kept his emotions under control and fought as a Jedi should fight. When he emerged from the cave network and returned to the command point Farra flew into his arms and the two hugged. Both were relieved to find that the other was not hurt.
'She's ok!' Anakin had thought as the two had reached each other.
Before Anakin and Farra left the planet they were awarded the level of Warrior of the Infinite in a short ceremony. The two were asked to step forward by the leader of the local militia.
"I hereby award you Anakin Skywalker and Farra Sti the rank of Warrior of the Infinite" the leader said.
Everyone cheered and Anakin smiled then hugged Farra kissing her while he did so. When they came up for air the leader congratulated them, as did everyone else. However Farra and Anakin had other matters on their mind, namely going to the Grumani sector to investigate the Confederation's military presence there. The two Jedi say their farewells and blast off in their star fighters. After going to the Grumani sector they returned to Coruscant and reported their findings to the Jedi Council.
Over the next week the two Jedi attend some more exhibition matches by younglings looking to be chosen by a Jedi or a Jedi Master to be his or her Padawan. The two are yet to choose a Padawan each and have been discussing the possibility of training a Padawan between them. They had presented their idea to the council and the council had approved thinking it would be best if they both trained the one Padawan, as they would be able to work together. However the two had not been able to agree on the gender of their Padawan. Farra wanted to train a girl but Anakin wanted to train a boy. As they watched the Padawans fight they both saw Padawans they liked. However Anakin had spotted a male and Farra a female. The two realized they would need to compromise and decided to meditate and let the Force show them the right person to train.
They went to Anakin's room and sitting down on the bed cuddled up and closed their eyes. Tapping into the Force they waited to be shown whom they should train. The Force showed them that a male youngling named Ryal Tibim was the one they should train. He was the one who had caught Anakin's eye, was 10 years old and the two Jedi could see that he had great promise. The two Jedi ended their meditation and went to Yoda and told him of their decision. At the next council meeting Ryal was called into the council chamber along with Anakin and Farra.
"Ryal Tibim, as Padawan Anakin and Farra take you" Yoda said.
Ryal, Anakin and Farra bowed. Then they left the chamber and went down to the lake to talk. Anakin and Farra spent the next half an hour getting to know Ryal. He would accompany them on missions and they would be overseeing his training. Later that same day Anakin told Farra that he would do lightsaber exercises with Ryal and he wanted Farra to critique Ryal's technique. He wanted to be this way whenever they worked with Ryal on lightsaber techniques.
The first time this took place the first thing the two Jedi established was which Form Ryal used. It turned out that he used Form III so Anakin proposed training in him in Form V. He and Farra had had a discussion about this the night before. Farra sat down and watched as Anakin put Ryal through some basic exercises designed to show the two Jedi Knights how good Ryal was with a lightsaber and what his weaknesses were. She soon spotted a number of flaws in Ryal's technique and the two Jedi spent some time discussing these when the session was done. Then they had Ryal watch as they did their own training figuring he could learn from watching them.
Chapter 14