The Beginning of the End
Obi-Wan was in a meeting, he frowned, and Anakin was late. Very late. He hadn't had time to confer with Master Yoda about his vision from the Force but he knew what Master Yoda would say and he was right, but why didn't his feelings buy it. Let go of all you fear to lose, Kenobi, Obi-Wan told himself. Let go of Anakin, he couldn't do it. He had already lost his master, not his padawan too. The Chancellor's ship pulled up and one of the red guards called him closer. "We are expecting Jedi Knight Skywalker." Obi-Wan's brow rose in astonishment as Anakin's words repeated themselves. 'His next move will be control over the Jedi Council.' Obi-Wan knew that he had to discover the identity of the Sith Lord, for Anakin. The Chancellor usually informed the Council, not this time. Obi-Wan returned to the Council, awaiting Anakin, he frowned deep in thought.
"You missed the report on the Outer Rim sieges, General Skywalker," Obi-Wan said with a hint of a smile.
"General? Me?"
"With what happened on the Invisible Hand it's only fair. You captured a Sith Lord; it hasn't been done in thousands of years."
"So I've heard," Anakin said wryly. Obi-Wan looked at him, he seemed stressed, but so was he. He wanted to ask Anakin about the dream he had once had about his mother.
"You missed the report on the Outer Rim sieges. "
"I'm sorry, Master. I have no excuse."
"In short, they are going very well. Saleucami has fallen, and Master Vos has moved his troops to Boz Pity. "
"What's wrong then?"
"The Senate is expected to vote more executive powers to the Chancellor today. "
"So it's begun. Obi-Wan we must hurry. It's the beginning of the end, and we still need proof."
"Be careful of your friend, Palpatine."
"You are my friend, Obi-Wan. The only ones I trust are you and my wife."
"Nonetheless, it was only a few standard days ago you were singing his praises," Obi-Wan said softly. "He has requested your presence. "
"What for? " Anakin asked stiffing immediately.
"He did not say."
"My beacon hasn't gone off. If the Council wanted me..."
"He did not go through the Council."
"Why?"
"Perhaps, he has some reason to believe that the Council would have resisted sending you? Relations between the Council and the Chancellor have been...stressed.""
"Oh," was all Anakin could say. It was fast approaching, the beginning of the end.
"I am your friend, Anakin. And as your friend I'm begging you please Anakin, please be careful. ."
"Don't you mean be mindful?" Anakin asked trying to lighten the darkening mood with a joke about Obi-Wan's teachings.
"No, Anakin. No. This is a dangerous time for a Jedi. Please be careful. I don't want to lose you."
"You have my word, Obi-Wan. Are you afraid of me, of my powers?" Anakin asked suddenly growing quiet as he studied Obi-Wan.
"No, Anakin. I am proud to call you my friend, proud to have been your master."
"I sense fear from the Council, they don't trust me. I feel fear of me when I look at them, fear of me, of what I can do. I've done nothing to earn their fear, I've done nothing but save their lives. I'm trying to save the corrupt Republic, that's all I'm ever doing is trying to save them."
"I know Anakin. Please, be careful."
"You worry too much, Obi-Wan."
"I have to..."
"Because I don't worry at all. Master, will you go visit our prisoner?" Anakin asked.
"I will do what I can." Obi-Wan said as Anakin boarded the Chancellor's shuttle.
"You are wrong, Master," Anakin whispered to no one at all, as he awaited the 500 Republica to appear in the horizon. The Chancellor's shuttle was so slow, he thought grimly. "I worry plenty."
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Anakin looked around the Chancellor's office, awaiting his appearance. He began noticing things he hadn't before. The Chancellor's office suddenly reminded him of being on board the Invisible Hand. And why shouldn't it, Father? He hear the voice of Luke echo in his thoughts. He has his own personal tastes. He was controlling both sides of the war. The Robes worn by the cadre of guards was the exact same shade of red as the carpet, as the carpet from the Invisible Hand. In fact, in the guards had been droid, would they remind him of Grevious's personal bodyguards he wondered. Palpatine must have sensed his appearance, Anakin hadn't sensed his as he stared around the room at what Anakin knew were Sith artifacts, but how could he prove it to the Council who didn't trust him. Did he even want too? Maybe they deserved their death at Vader's hands? No, Luke said in his thoughts, no one deserves execution no matter what their crimes. Still...Anakin thought it was tempting.
"Anakin, come closer," Palpatine said, and Anakin tensed at the familiarness that he used his name. He bent over him as he remembered Vader doing in protectiveness. Was there nothing he could consciously do to stop it? "Have a seat, my friend," Palpatine said as he turned to his companions. "Leave us." Anakin took a seat that was recently vacated. He looked at Palpatine; he appeared what he had always appeared: a kindly old man trying desperately to hold the Republic together with his bare hands, but Anakin knew better, didn't he? Anakin was confused. What if it was a trick? No, Qui-Gon would never trick him, he knew. "Do you see, Anakin? Do you see what they have done to my magnificent city?" he asked, in a pained voice. The pain seemed so real.
Anakin cleared his throat finding it hard to speak at first, "You know you have my best efforts, and those of every Jedi," Anakin replied with pride.
"I know I have yours, Anakin. But the rest of the Jedi..."
"Surely, Master Kenobi can be trusted."
"Yes, Master Kenobi. But what if he's being manipulated by the rest of the Jedi."
"He is loyal," Anakin defended.
"To a fault, almost like another Jedi I know. Something's bothering you, Anakin."
"It's nothing. Jedi business, you understand."
"As of today, Jedi business is MY business," Palpatine corrected. Anakin looked away uncomfortably. "I have asked you here because I need your help on a matter of delicacy. I hope I can depend on your discretion, Anakin."
"As a Jedi there are limits to my discretion. I uphold the morals and rights of the Republic," Anakin replied wearily, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Of course, Anakin. Don't worry, my boy." Anakin frowned, biting his tongue from screaming at the Chancellor. Jedi did not show anger, he remembered thinking of his own boy, and a grin broke out on his face, despite the dire conversation. "It's appalling that they still keep you off the Council."
"My time will come when I am older," Anakin replied automatically. He grew tired of this conversation and wondered how the Council would feel if he just ignited his lightsaber and took this beast out of the galaxy. Still, Anakin was smart enough to realize the controversy that would begin behind such an act. The galaxy would be in a constant state of upheaval and the Separatists would have won.
"Time is no measure of wisdom," Palpatine said and Anakin grunted his agreement. Hadn't he once said that Master Obi-Wan was as wise as Master Yoda despite their own age differences? "They keep you off the Council because it's the last hold they have over you. Once, you are a Master, as you deserve how can they make you do their bidding?"
"Well," Anakin replied with a smirk, "They can't exactly make me now."
"Exactly," Palpatine replied enthused."That is precisely my point. You are younger than them. Stronger than them. You aren't like them. You know what it's like to live. If they cannot control you know, what will happen when you are a Master in you're own right."
"You are wrong, Chancellor's. I am like them. I am a Jedi," Anakin repeated, remembering Luke's words. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.
"They fear your power .They keep pushing for more power."
"With all due respect, the same might be said of you," Anakin said watching his expression closely. If he felt anything, he didn't show it.
"Of that I have no doubt. There are some that would like me out of office altogether. They are shrouded in secrecy, obsessed with faceless enemies."
"They are hardly faceless," Anakin replied staring into his eyes. Your time is up, he thought, I know your secret. You are a dead man walking for I will destroy you. "Dooku himself?"
"Is he really a Sith or just another of your fallen Jedi, brandishing a red lightsaber to intimidate you."
"But Sidious?" Anakin asked looked at him.
"Yes the mysterious Sidious. The Sith at the highest level of government. Seems a little too convient to me."
"Maybe it's so obvious that no one would expect. Perhaps, you even know who it is," Anakin replied keeping his face expressionless.
"None that I know would be capable of being such...a traitor," Palpatine replied.
"The Sith are the definition of evil, "Anakin continued.
"So you have been trained to believe," Palpatine said and Anakin almost laughed. This was good, was this how he planned to turn Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader? Could anything change fate? Was it fate that he become Darth Vader? No, never. "They were not so different from the Jedi, seeking power to be sure," Anakin did not want to hear this. Go off, he ordered of his beacon, but it remained silent.
"But the dark side-"
"Of course the Dark Side if Darth Sidious were to walk in this room and I could stop you from killing him on sight I would offer him a bloody drink and ask him if he had any power he could use to end this war."
"Dooku is here Chancellor, I'm sure he's ready for negotiates. We don't need Sidious to end this war. Go talk to him, I'm sure the war will end soon, one way or another," Anakin replied.
"I hope they do, my boy, I hope they do. There is still the matter of General Grievous though."
"Count Dooku can call him off; can end the war, with your help. I can assure you, Chancellor, that the Jedi are absolutely dedicated to the core values of the Republic."
"Their actions will speak more loudly than their words- as long as someone keeps an eye on them. And that, my boy, is exactly the favor I must ask you."
Anakin started to protest and recant some of Obi-Wan's Jedi philosophy but curiosity overcame that. "I don't understand."
"I'm asking you to accept a post as my personal representative on the Jedi Council."
Anakin blinked. This was just the opportunity to expose the Chancellor as the Dark Lord of the Sith. He could see himself seated in one of those low, curving chairs opposite Master Yoda, maybe even beside Obi-Wan. His heard soared even as he asked in a voice that was much younger than his own, in a voice that squeaked. "Me?"
"Who else?"
"On the Council..." Anakin murmured, a little dazed as he thought of Padme. He couldn't wait to tell his wife that he was a Master. Not just a Master, but the youngest Master in Jedi history. "I am overwhelmed, sir. But the Council accepts their own members, they will never accept this."
"Even your friend, Master Kenobi. Believe me; they need you, more than you know."
"Master Kenobi is loyal."
"Think how great it would be for him to have his padawan on the Council beside him, think how great it would be for him to truly have an ally he could count on, to no longer keep anything secret from you."
"I didn't think of it like that," Anakin admitted. He couldn't wait to find Master Obi-Wan and see what he had gotten out of Count Dooku
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"General Kenobi, what is your business here?" Obi-Wan turned at the voice, a slight smirk on his face.
"Few address me as such to my face," he said to the lad that had questioned him. He was local security that was for sure. A boy of no more than five or six, and on his face was a look of hero worship.
"Master Kenobi, then," the lad corrected.
"Now that is a title I have earned. Where are your superiors?"
"On a lunch break. See this blaster here, I can shoot anyone, "the tike replied confidently. "And if I can't that droid will do my job for me."
"I see. Would you shoot me?"
"Well, star's end! Why would I shoot a great hero of the Republic and Jedi?"
Obi-Wan smiled, "You can relax I'm just here to see Count Dooku."
"The Sith who captured the Chancellor."
"That's right," he said patting the dark haired boy on the head. He wondered what it would be like to be this kid's father, then he chuckled, the Jedi would never allow such a thing, besides hadn't he learned enough to stay away from that area from Anakin. He loved Anakin like a son, and part of him wanted his own child to raise. "What's your name?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Han, Han Solo," he said bravely.
"I will remember the name," Obi-Wan replied as he walked into the holding cell that held Count Dooku.