Chapter 6

At the beginning of the war, Anakin had never expected he'd be breaking into a Pro-Republic Senator's office. Many things had changed, and if his suspicions were correct, a lot more was about to.

He knew he was crazy to suspect Palpatine, let alone take the risk of spying on him, but he had to know the meaning of his dream, no matter what the cost. There was just too much danger if the dream turned out to be a premonition; he was willing to risk anything to make sure it wasn't.

He carefully checked to make sure Artoo's security systems were set at maximum level before motioning to him to access the computer panel. Artoo beeped quietly, indicating that he had disabled all security in Palpatine's office. Anakin typed in a few code words, and the door slid open, revealing the room he'd been in only hours earlier, except that it was now empty, dark, and eerily quiet.

Lightsaber held ready, just in case, he moved slowly across the room and over to the huge desk, going straight toward the locked drawers on the left center.

Halfway there, he stopped, sensing through the Force that his entry had been far too easy. He had disabled the security; but even disabling it could have triggered a silent alarm of some kind. Glancing furtively back into the hallway, to make sure no one or nothing was approaching, he decided to risk moving forward, reaching up to his hood to make sure his face remained well-covered. The last thing he needed now was an accusation of conspiracy.

Artoo signaled him with a single red light that he would keep watch. Nodding to the droid, he turned and went back to the desk, placing his flesh hand over the keyhole. Concentrating with the Force, he turned the gears internally and opened the old-fashioned lock to reveal the contents of the drawer. His heart sank at what he saw, venomously sitting on top of everything else.

The elegant hilt of a gold-coated lightsaber, looking as though it had recently been primed and polished for use. Anakin almost didn't want to touch it. Even so, he had to see whatever else was in that drawer. He picked it up with his gloved prosthetic hand to avoid leaving fingerprints behind and carefully rummaged through the rest of the drawer with the other.

He also found a book, something about the stone-black cover surrounding its thick and well-worn insides seeming to speak through the Force of evil itself—although honestly, if he was going to be that way with himself, he could not possibly imagine any legitimately evil intentions in the Chancellor he'd known since childhood. All his suspicions had to go on was the dream—and the determination to leave no stone unturned in protecting his wife and unborn child. If someone was trying to frame the Chancellor, he would get to the bottom of that, too.

Determinedly, he set the lightsaber back down the way he'd found it and started briefly rummaging through the book, squinting to scan the general contents as best he could in the darkness.

It didn't take him five minutes to slam it shut again, setting it back in the drawer with a sick feeling in his stomach. The wording of the book had startled him in more than that it spoke of perverted forms of evil and glorified them. It also took great pains to glorify and flatter the reader, proclaiming the general goodness of beings everywhere and the triviality of their mistakes, while ironically calling for murderous revenge on every so-called enemy of the writer (whoever he or she may have been).

Now, it was the irony of that flattery that disturbed him. Palpatine, though Anakin had not for a second realized it in the past, spoke in nearly the exact same way. Trembling now as he sat back on his heels, unable to take his eyes from the drawer, he reconsidered why he valued Palpatine as a friend. To be sure, he was loyal and encouraging. But his encouragement had rarely been constructive. It had at times appeared so, such as when he had recommended that Obi-Wan not be told about his illness.

In reality, when Anakin was with Palpatine, it was as if, to the older man, he could do no wrong. He always had pity when Anakin had a complaint, never a scolding for his own sometimes shameful behavior. Opposite of Obi-Wan, his other best friend, Palpatine had criticized him far too little!

But could that really be evidence for him being a Sith Lord? Such an idea wasn't only preposterous, it was impossible!

Palpatine's just fallen into some bad reading. Who can blame him?

He was an intelligent man; perhaps a bit too intelligent, but even Anakin had read things he'd later regretted. About the lightsaber, though—no other way around it, it must be a trap for the Chancellor. Some Sith out there could have sent him the dream, too, again making it appear that Palpatine was the one to blame. All the Jedi knew by now that there was still a Sith Master out there somewhere, and this must be part of an elaborate plot to draw attention away from the real culprit.

One thing still bothered and confused him, though. Why had the Sith, whoever he was, targeted him? Palpatine, yes. He was the Chancellor, leader of the whole galaxy. Bring him down, you brought everyone else down with him. But Anakin was not exactly one of the Jedi most likely to turn in an accusation on the Chancellor! It was widely known that they had been close for many years.

His head spun with all of his new knowledge. His next move was a bit of a puzzle to him. Who did he report this to? Certainly not a member of the Senate; they would pick out the bits of evidence they wanted to hear, and likely move to support a very different perspective than his own. Not Palpatine, much as he would like to, he couldn't trust him with everything just yet, especially if the black book did turn out to be his.

Not Obi-Wan.

Not the entire Council. Recipe for disaster, right there.

He needed a Jedi. Someone who could be trusted to keep quiet, but remain honest and fair. One name came to the forefront of his mind: Mace Windu. Not that Anakin hadn't trusted him before he'd helped him find out he was dying in the first place. But now, he felt that they had a mutual connection that had been greatly increased from before. Windu would be the one to tell. He'd have a wise suggestion for their next move, and be ready to help Anakin make it, too.

With that final conclusion to his thoughts, he stood up, shutting the drawer and relocking it with the Force once again. He turned to Artoo, about to signal him to leave immediately, when suddenly three impossibly bright lights flashed in his face.

Not startled for a moment, Anakin burst into action with the Force, and although the light had already given away his identity, he thrust the three—guards, he assumed—flying against the wall in all different directions, making his run for the door. It shut in front of him, locking him away from Artoo, who was still outside to avoid being seen.

Still blinded by the flash of light, Anakin groped forward with the Force and just missed stopping a guard before the humanoid jumped on top of him, whacking him across the face with something hard…and somewhat sharp.