Precipice by shadowsong26

Captain: Chapter 5

The problem with being a very public figure was that it made setting a clandestine meeting with a wanted fugitive-let alone one so recognizable as General Kenobi-a logistical nightmare. Bail couldn't go anywhere out of the way enough that the Jedi could show his face openly, not without exciting comment. And, unlike those first terrible weeks, the galactic political situation was largely stable enough that he couldn't simply disappear for a few days without questions.

Not for the first time, as he had approached this problem, Bail wished that Alderaan shared Naboo's custom for using body doubles.

But, as they did not, he'd had to come up with another solution. When he couldn't, he'd done what he always did in such situations-he'd asked Breha for advice.

When she had answered the call, she'd had their daughter on her lap. Which, naturally, meant five very important minutes of making silly faces before he could take care of any other business. But then he had posed his question at last-carefully, of course; preserving the plausible deniability she'd asked him for when this all began. The conversation itself, at least, was secure enough that he didn't need to be too opaque beyond that.

"Demarix," Breha had said immediately. "Set it up there."

He'd blinked, a little surprised. "Really?" It was small, out of the way-primarily arid plains and rocky pasture, some mediocre farmland on the primary landmass, but too far out of the way to be much exploited. Yet. So it would do well to keep the General safe, but he might still have some issues justifying his visit.

"Yes," she'd said, gently prying her necklace out of their daughter's hands. "They've recently had some massive seismic disturbances in the southern hemisphere. I received a petition for aid this morning."

Ah. Yes, of course, that would solve several problems at once-his own, General Kenobi's, and hopefully Demarix's citizens' as well. Trust Breha to have the answers.

"Thank you," he'd said. "I'll pick up the relevant supplies and head there directly."

She'd smiled. "Wonderful. Everything's in place, of course. If you hadn't called, I was going to reach out before assigning someone else." She'd paused for a second, then added, hopefully, "Will you come home for a few days, after?"

"I will," he'd promised. It had been a while-too long-since he'd last seen his wife and daughter in person. Holocalls like this one, while frequent, were not the same. And, yes, that was the life he'd chosen as a Senator (as a rebel), but he'd missed them.

"Yay!" The baby bounced in her mother's lap, clapping her hands.

"We look forward to seeing you," Breha had said, then glanced off to one side and sighed. "But I have a budget meeting I'm now officially late for, and I know you have your own preparations to make."

Sadly true. But he'd see his family soon enough. "All right," he'd said. "I'll see you in a week or so. I love you both."

"Love you, too," she'd said.

"Bye bye, Daddy!"

"Bye bye!" He'd smiled at them both and waved for his daughter, then switched off the comm and gotten to work.

From there, the arrangements had been simple enough to make. He'd told Captain Antilles where they were going, then sent General Kenobi a coded message with a time to meet and a location a few hours north of where they'd set up their base, on one of Demarix's sparsely-populated plains. He'd been fairly sure he'd be able to slip away unnoticed for a few hours-this type of relief work almost always had just enough of a cover of controlled chaos for that.

That had been three days ago. Bail and his people had arrived yesterday, and gotten things set up. He'd met with the planetary leadership for several hours, to get more detail about their specific needs. And now, that being done, he had the cover he needed to slip away.

He nodded to Captain Antilles, then returned to the ship. Officially, he was communicating with Alderaan and coordinating the additional, updated aid and supplies. In reality, his trusted staff would handle that for him, while he snuck out on a speeder bike they'd brought along for this very purpose.

His people could cover for him for about half a standard day. Enough time to go to his meeting, deliver his message, and return.

He was, unfortunately, running a little behind schedule-almost an hour late; General Kenobi had beaten him there.

The Jedi was sitting on a rock, cloaked and hiding his face. There were scorch marks and wear patterns on his robe that hadn't been there the last time Bail had seen him, but he seemed otherwise all right. Bail was relieved to see it.

Kenobi tracked his approach and rose gracefully as the bike came to a halt.

"I was beginning to think I'd misread your message," he said, dropping his hood back.

"I apologize. It took me a little longer to get away than I thought it would," Bail said, then paused before adding, "It...it is good to see you again." The circumstances were, of course, awful, but…

"Yes," the General agreed quietly.

For a moment, neither of them spoke, then Bail pulled out his datapad. Might as well get the unpleasantness over with as quickly as possible. "I need to show you this," he said. "I'm sorry."

Kenobi raised an eyebrow and said nothing, nodding at him to start the recording.

He did so, and then quickly looked away. He'd watched Senator Alavar's murder more than enough times already. If he never had to see it again, it would be too soon.

Fortunately, the General only felt the need to watch it once.

"I see," he said. "Thank you, for bringing this to me."

"Of course," he said, with a half bow. "This is all I have at present. We're working on enhancing the footage, but…" He shook his head. "I know none of this is what you were hoping to hear."

He shrugged. "No. But it's not entirely unexpected, either." He paused, then added. "It... is coming rather sooner than we'd anticipated, though."

Well, that was...it made Bail feel marginally less awful, to know that the Jedi had planned for this. Of course, the fact that this being had apparently shown up too soon might mean a prodigy of some sort, which could mean disaster. Or, on the other hand, it might mean Palpatine was rushing things, finally making a mistake they could exploit.

Or, possibly-

A horrifying thought occurred to him.

"You don't...you don't think he's someone…" He trailed off, unable to quite put it into words.

What if this is another survivor, someone Palpatine found and broke?

But, to his relief, General Kenobi shook his head. "I...can't be certain, not without more information, of course, but I don't think so."

"Good," he said. "That would be..."

"The worst-case scenario," he said. "I do try not to go there too often."

And that was a reminder, now that the immediate necessity had been taken care of. "Padmẻ asked if...she's worried," he said. "Do we need to move Luke?"

"No," he said, immediately. "It doesn't…" He paused, as if considering the best way to explain. "The protections we built for him, either they work or they don't. Barring a savant from outside the galaxy, who interacts with the Force in a way completely foreign to our understanding...this doesn't change anything. He is no less safe than he was before."

Oh, good. "I'll tell her," he said.

"How are they?" he asked. "I didn't tell Anakin who I was meeting-I didn't want him to panic until there was a reason to-but once he's through being cross with me over that, he'll want to know."

"They're doing well," Bail said. "It's...hard, sometimes, for Padmẻ , I think." She still feels guilty, for her part in this. And there's very little I can do to convince her otherwise, because she knows it's not really her fault; she knows it's irrational, but… "But she's getting by. The letters make all the difference, I think." Which, as soon as he said it, he realized he wasn't entirely sure General Kenobi knew about those.

But he nodded. "Anakin's much the same," he said, with a wry smile. "He has most of her letters memorized, I think."

Oh, good. I was hoping I hadn't overstepped. "We're making some progress, and that helps, too. Not quite enough to start more overt coordination with your network but...well, maybe in a few years."

"Right," General Kenobi said. "Unless something else changes, we're in a similar situation on our end. We'll see how things go."

And that-that being, the one in the video, could change everything. But, like the General had said, imagining the worst-case scenario was far from productive. Bail chose to focus on happy things instead- hopeful things. "And Luke, of course, lights up any room he's in."

"Yes, I imagine he would," he said, then paused. Almost wistfully, he asked, "I don't suppose you have any pictures?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." He picked up the datapad-it did feel a little odd, keeping baby pictures on the same machine as something so awful, but this was his personal 'pad, the one he always carried with him; the one that had every defense against slicing or mirroring his security could come up with. All of his most valuable data-whether deadly or precious-was on here.

He skimmed through until he found the right directory. "Here-" He called up a picture of Luke, with his head tilted looking quizzically up at the camera, covered in bright yellow paint. "I took this...oh, I think two weeks ago? Padmẻ and I, and a few others in our coalition, were interrupted when he got away from his minders."

General Kenobi laughed, and Bail smiled to himself at the sound. It was a very nice one, and he had a sneaking suspicion it was a rare one, these days. "Could I have a copy?" he asked. "To show Anakin, of course."

"Of course," Bail said.

"Thank you," he replied. He tapped the screen idly, probably hoping to see another picture of Luke, and instead landed on one Breha had sent the day before. "Oh, and this must be your daughter!"

"Yes," he said, grinning. "She's a few months older than Luke-I've never brought her to Coruscant, so they haven't met yet, but someday, I like to think they'll be friends."

"Someday," he agreed. "She's beautiful."

"She is." Because, really, that should be obvious to anyone with eyes. And then, as long as they were sharing… "Do you have any pictures of Leia?"

General Kenobi ducked his head a little. "I have one," he admitted. "Which I shouldn't carry, I know-it' safer that way-but...well." He pulled out a datapad of his own and called it up. She was sitting in her father's lap; General Skywalker was pointing something out to her, and she was staring up at it in wonder.

"She's adorable," he said. "They look happy."

"She is, when I've seen her," he said. "And he is, when he's holding her."

"Good," he said. Though the way he'd phrased it was-well, given the realities of the work Skywalker was doing, it made sense. But it was a sad story. One of far too many for such a young family to bear.

We'll make the next ones better, he thought, looking down at the picture again. For all three of the children.

Kenobi watched him for a minute, as if weighing something internally, then said, "I can give you a copy. To show Padmẻ . You probably shouldn't keep it, but…"

"Thank you," Bail said, sincerely. Even if they had to destroy the file afterwards, for Padmẻ to get just a glimpse of the family she'd left behind was too great a gift to refuse.

It was the work of a few seconds to send the files-the pictures of the children, and a copy of the security tape-to one another, working their way through all the relevant encryptions. And, no sooner had they finished, that Bail's datapad beeped at him.

"Ah," he said. "That would be Captain Antilles. I have to get back."

The General nodded, putting his own datapad away again. "And I shouldn't stay much longer anyway. You have work to do, and I have some news to deliver."

"At least not all of it's bad?"

"At least," he agreed. "You'll let me know, if you learn anything else about our new friend?"

"Of course," he said. "Be safe. Please."

He smiled faintly. "As much as I can." He pulled his hood up and bowed. "May the Force be with you, Senator."

"And with you," Bail replied softly, before turning back to his speeder and leaving his clandestine meeting with a wanted fugitive behind; ready to resume his role as a very public figure once more.