Precipice by shadowsong26

Part 4: Commander

Commander: Chapter 17

After that first, explosive message, Bail had heard nothing from Obi-Wan or anyone else for nearly a full standard day. He had restrained himself from sending more than two follow up questions-one immediately after, and another twelve hours later-because the more often they used their secure channel, the likelier it was to be compromised.

The response, when it finally came, was not particularly detailed. Still, it at least confirmed that both Jedi were alive and, for the moment, as safe as they ever were these days, but that Anakin had been badly hurt. It failed to specify exactly how- probably, or so Bail assumed, for the same reason he'd kept his requests for clarification to the bare minimum. More details meant more data, which meant a greater risk to their encryptions.

And Bail understood that, of course. From a practical, security standpoint, Obi-Wan was making the best decision he could. He knew that. But that didn't make all of the unanswered questions any easier to live with. Even for him. He kept...remembering...the wet thunk when Anakin had landed in his speeder outside the burning Temple; kept remembering listening to that awful, unsteady breathing; kept remembering the fear, all the way to the spaceport and off of Coruscant itself, that it would stop.

And if it was that hard for him...

Bail was absolutely convinced that, if Padme had had any idea where her husband was right now, she would be gone. As it was, she had recalled Sabe from Naboo, for additional comfort or protection or both, and was keeping to her apartment as much as possible, sending Dorme in her place anywhere she couldn't make an excuse or simply not turn up. Nothing-yet-had appeared on her schedule that absolutely needed her, and not a decoy, but the longer this went on…

And then there was another day of anxious silence after that confirmation before they heard from Obi-Wan again.

Bail checked the emergency comm constantly over that day, whenever he thought he wouldn't be seen doing so, and monitored the dead drops as closely as he could, in case further details came in that way, but-nothing.

But now, finally, finally, he'd gotten another message on the secure line, asking if they could meet, leaving the time and place up to him.

Fortunately, he was ready right away with an answer. He'd tried to always have a contingency plan for this sort of thing in place, ever since he'd had to scramble on short notice when Specter had first appeared. And, given the limitations of Obi-Wan's messages, he'd made all but the absolute final arrangements for one of them within hours of the first one, half-expecting a request like that would come eventually.

They would have a much smaller window this time-the project he had available only required his actual presence for a day, and he wanted to be back in the capital if at all possible when news of Specter's death officially broke. (He was delaying his planned trip home for the same reason; but Breha understood, and he'd make it up to Winter when he finally did get there.)

Still, it would be time enough for him to meet with Obi-Wan, to find out exactly what had happened to Anakin; possibly even discuss the situation with Luke and Princess Lavinia, but that was a much lower priority, as he'd already decided.

He sent a response with the location and timeframe, and got a brief confirmation almost immediately.

That done, he left the final arrangements to his staff and went to update Padme.

She didn't seem surprised, either; mostly relieved that things were finally moving forward, but still anxious, clutching her skirt tight in her fists. "So, we'll know soon."

"Yes," he said. "I'll tell you everything he tells me as soon as I get back. I promise."

She nodded. "I've been trying to make it work," she told him, glancing down at her hands; she frowned, forced them to relax. "So I could-so I could come with you. I kept thinking, I could probably blend in with your staff, Dorme could keep covering for me…"

He winced internally. He'd been afraid of that, in the back of his mind, ever since he'd started laying his own plans. And he wasn't sure he could talk her out of it this time, the way he had-the way he had when she'd wanted to run into the burning Temple, six years ago. The risks were much more nebulous now, after all.

Still, the way she'd said it was a relief. As if she-or, possibly, Sabe-had managed to talk herself out of it.

"But?" he prompted, as gently as he could.

She sighed. "But if an emergency happened, something my handmaidens couldn't handle, something requiring prolonged contact with someone who'd figure us out, I'd have to...to abruptly fall ill, or something, and that…"

"Would draw attention," he finished for her. And, though neither of them was quite willing to say it out loud, they both knew-depending on how much Palpatine knew about what had happened to Specter, it was entirely possible he'd stage something. Just to test for that very thing.

Or, equally possible, he might not stage something, in the hopes that she would run off like she desperately wanted to, leading the Empire to their Jedi friends.

She nodded miserably.

"I'm sorry," he said. What else could he say?

"And I know it's not-I won't even-it's not like he'll be there, or…"

And if there was even the slightest chance he would…

Risks aside, six years was a long time to not see the man she loved.

"Probably not," he agreed.

"As it is, I'd at least-I'd at least be able to see Ben again," she said. "Which would be- that would be wonderful, too. It's been too damn long. And it's...it's hard to walk away from that. That's part of why it took me this long to give in. Sabe and the others and I argued for hours, right up until this morning. That and-and it won't be much faster, for me to hear, but...but it would be enough."

He nodded, and squeezed her hand briefly "I'll update you as fast as I can. I promise."

"I know you will," she said.

"Will you be all right until then?" he asked.

She nodded, and gave him a ghost of a smile. "Don't worry. I have people to keep me from doing anything stupid, and I'll...I'll find something to do, so I stop brooding. But…" She paused, her smile fading. "Come back soon, all right?"

"As soon as I can," he promised, then squeezed her hand one last time and headed out the door.

Everything went smoothly, getting to the designated planet and then splitting off from his staff to meet with the Jedi. Bail would have almost been suspicious, if he hadn't had this planned, at least broadly, for as long as he had.

Just like last time, Obi-Wan had beaten him to the rendezvous; probably by no more than an hour, though. Four years hadn't changed him much, other than putting a little more silver in his hair. He did seem tired, stressed, in a way he hadn't been the last time they'd met in person, but Bail figured that probably had more to do with the immediate crisis than anything else.

He did dredge up a smile when Bail approached. "Bail," he said, rising and bowing briefly once Bail had cut the bike's engine. "Thank you, for arranging this so quickly."

"Of course," he said, climbing off and going to join the Jedi. "It's good to see you again. I just wish it could be under better circumstances."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Someday," he said softly.

"Someday," Bail echoed. He paused for a moment, then asked, "How...how are you doing?"

"All right," he said, after a moment's thought. "Or-I will be, soon, I think. Better than the past couple of days, certainly. It's been...trying."

He nodded. "What happened?"

Obi-Wan was quiet for a long moment, gathering his thoughts. "Specter tracked Anakin down. They fought, Anakin killed him, but…" He closed his eyes briefly, took a breath. "He lost his leg."

Bail sucked in a breath. "That's-I'm sorry." Because it wasn't as bad, not nearly as bad, as his nightmares had made him think, but at the same time…

That poor kid; and he'd already lost his arm, too.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan said softly.

"How-" He paused. "How's he doing? Is he…?"

"He's stable," he said. "And safe, for the time being. In good hands. But there were...complications, delays in getting him care."

Which was bad; even with a lightsaber (or, at least, Bail assumed it had been Specter's lightsaber) to cauterize the wound and keep Anakin from bleeding to death…

"What can I do?" he asked. That first message had mentioned additional resources which, under the circumstances, could mean any number of things.

"As I said, he's in good hands now. We were able to find a doctor, and he is extremely capable, but he can't source a-a prosthetic without drawing too much attention," Obi-Wan said. "Can you help us?"

"Yes," he said, immediately. "But it might take me some time." Actually finding what they needed shouldn't be a problem-enough of his various charity projects involved donated medical supplies that he knew exactly who to contact. Besides, he could bury this specific item in all the rest; the risk of compromise was minimal on that end.

On the other hand, figuring out a way to get it to the Jedi that couldn't be traced back to him, while also making sure it didn't get lost or stolen in transit...that would take some work.

"Of course," Obi-Wan said. "I understand. And it will...it will be awhile before he's ready for it."

Damn. Serious complications, then. "How's he handling that?" Bail asked.

He sighed. "Right at this moment? I'm not sure," he admitted. "He's still-he's been somewhat disoriented, the past few days. But it's different, than...than before. With his arm, I mean. Everything happened very quickly then; I don't think he'd really grasped that it was gone before he had the new one. Hard to say which is worse." He paused. "The prolonged inactivity will be difficult for him, though."

Bail nodded. "I'll work as quickly as I can, then, and let you know as soon as I have everything in place," he said. "I'll leave a message at one of the dead drops for you."

"Good," Obi-Wan said. "Thank you."

"Of course," he said. "What...what can I tell Padme, in the meantime?" It wasn't necessarily fair to ask Obi-Wan to go over all of the messy details, but she would want to know. She would need to know.

But, of course, Obi-Wan had anticipated the question. "Give her this." He pulled a datacard out of his pocket. "The file on it has everything, as of when I left. It'll erase itself ninety minutes after she opens it, but that should be enough time."

"Right," he said, and accepted the card.

"And I have this, as well." A letter; handwritten on flimsi like all the others. Shorter than the last few he'd seen, only about a page, but still. Anakin had at least been well enough to write. That was a good sign.

Assuming it's reasonably coherent, that will go a long way towards reassuring her. Bail took that as well, and put both away for safekeeping. "I'll pass these along."

Obi-Wan nodded, then paused again. "There is something...unrelated I wanted to ask you about, as long as we're both here."

"Yes?"

"I encountered a Naval commander not long ago; I was told his name is Thrawn," he said. "Do you know anything about him?"

The name was vaguely familiar, but that was all Bail could say. Bel Iblis was the one who kept track of the military officials a few steps below High Command, as potential future threats.

"Not really," he admitted. "But I could find out. Why?"

"He's very good," Obi-Wan said. "Better than most I've dealt with. I'd rather not be unprepared when I meet him again."

He nodded. "I'll see what I can find, and get back to you."

And now it was his turn to hesitate. He had been planning to wait, but as long as they were discussing unrelated, non-emergent business...

"What is it?" Obi-Wan asked.

He sighed. "Low priority. We think. Or-at least not crisis-level."

"All right."

"But...we were planning to make contact with Princess Lavinia this week."

"What went wrong?"

"Luke beat us to it," he said. "He wandered away at a reception. Which he knows he's not supposed to do, but-"

"Children have minds of their own," Obi-Wan said dryly. He was frowning a little, but didn't look too concerned.

That's encouraging. "Yes. So far as Padme can tell, he had no idea who she was at first, just...saw a little girl sitting by herself and decided to make friends."

"I see," he said, then was quiet for a moment. "Did it go badly?"

He shook his head. "Padme told me they seemed to be getting along when she found them. They were playing a game."

He considered. "It's not ideal," he said. "Nothing that draws more attention to Luke is ideal right now. But there's a chance this would have happened anyway, even if you had managed to control the initial contact. I would advise-monitor the situation closely, but for now, don't try to interfere."

Bail nodded. "That's...more or less what we decided, but I wanted to let you know. And I'm glad you agree."

"Right." He seemed about to say something else, when Bail's commlink buzzed in his pocket. Obi-Wan sighed. "Time?"

"Time," he agreed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he assured him. "You've been more than helpful, on extremely short notice. I don't know what we'd do without you."

"I'm just glad I could help," he said. "We'll be in touch?"

"Yes, soon," he said. "May the Force be with you, my friend."

"And you," Bail said softly, before getting on his bike again and returning to his official task.

Luke had been dreaming again; not exactly about the wide-open planet with the blue, blue skies, but it had felt the same, almost. It made him think about it, anyway, even though the place where he'd been was dim and foggy instead.

In the dream, he'd been sad and a little bit scared, but at the same time not, or maybe not anymore. Like something had happened, something bad; he thought maybe someone important had gotten hurt. But, now, there was-he felt like the worst was over. Like things were starting to get better, even if it wasn't good yet.

He sort of thought that maybe it had something to do with the other dream he'd had, a few nights before, where it was cold and dark and he was falling, falling, falling under blinking red lights.

At least tonight's dream hadn't been scary, like that one.

But it was still enough to wake him up, and keep him awake, even though it was really, really late, so late it was early. And he wasn't sure why. It wasn't the dream, exactly-the dream had been settled. Like taking a breath and finally sitting down after a really, really busy day.

Maybe it was because he wasn't exactly feeling like that outside of the dream. Mostly, he thought, 'cause Mamma had been all edges inside ever since Uncle Bail had gotten that message, when he'd come over for dinner a few nights ago, and Luke couldn't figure out how to help her. But also, he was still trying to get to see Lani-even if the Emperor said no, 'cause he wasn't going to leave her alone without any friends. But he couldn't figure out how to do that, either.

At least his other self, the one from the empty-planet dreams, was doing better than he was.

After a few minutes, 'cause it was something to do and better than staring at the ceiling and watching the traffic lights dance, Luke crawled out of bed and crept over to the door. It slid open without making noise; once it did, he could hear soft voices in the living room. Mamma and Uncle Bail, and she sounded...sad, and tired. Still really upset, but not tense and worried like she had been the past couple days.

Almost like in my dream, except not-not as sure. Not as hopeful.

He frowned and edged closer, moving as quiet as he could.

"It feels...it feels real now," Mamma was saying. "Not that...I mean, you know how it's been, since-not knowing has been unbearable. And knowing is better, even as bad as it is. But…"

"But now that that's not the immediate concern?" Uncle Bail prompted, after a few seconds.

"The...the worst case scenario...it's not abstract anymore," she said, and sighed. "I think maybe I haven't let myself think about it before. Not really. It was too-too awful to contemplate. But now...it's not just...it's not just something that might happen now. It's no longer something I can ignore. Hells, Bail, he came so close."

"He did," he said quietly. "But he's safe now. And he's-he will be all right. Even if he isn't just yet."

"I know. I know, I know, and I keep telling myself that. I keep reminding myself it wasn't as bad as it could have been," she said. "I know it wasn't, and I'm-I'm so grateful for that, believe me, and I'm trying to stay focused on that but…"

"But," he echoed.

"And what if...what if next time, it's worse? Bail, what if next time, he does-" Her breath caught in the back of her throat, and when she kept going, her voice was shaky, like she was trying really hard not to cry. "What if I-what if I never see him again? What if Luke never even gets to meet him?"

Luke blinked. Meet who?

"Four years," Uncle Bail said quietly. "That's what you agreed on, wasn't it? At the latest, four more years, and then..."

"Yes," she said. "And I know it's not safe to do anything else right now. But so much can happen in four years. Look how much happened in four days."

"I know," he said. "I know, I know."

A hand landed on Luke's shoulder. He jumped a little, guilty, and looked up to see Aunt Sabe.

She put a finger to her lips to silence him. Her other hand moved from his shoulder to take his, and she pulled him back into his room and shut the door. "You, my young lord, should not be eavesdropping," she said.

He flushed and looked down at the floor. "I know," he said. "But I couldn't sleep, and Mamma was upset."

Aunt Sabe sighed.

He peeked up at her. "Who were they talking about?"

She shook her head. "You needn't concern yourself with that just now."

"But-" He hesitated. "But Mamma was really upset. She was talking about...about never seeing him again." And she said what if I don't get to meet him, and if he's that important, how come I don't get to know who he is?

She was quiet for a moment, then sighed again. "They were talking about...a very dear friend of your mother's," she said, slowly. "Someone she hasn't seen since before you were brought to Varykino to live with her. And that is all I will say. I shouldn't even have been the one to tell you that much."

But at least it was something. "And he's in trouble?" he pushed.

She stared at him for a moment.

He stared right back.

"He's been very badly hurt," Aunt Sabe said finally said. "And your mamma can't help him, or even go see him, because it's not safe. For either of them."

"Oh," he said. Which explained why Mamma was so upset, even if it still didn't say who he was, or why it was so important to Mamma that Luke got to meet him someday. In four years? Isn't that what Uncle Bail said? Why four years?

But Aunt Sabe had flat-out said she wouldn't tell him any more, even if he asked. And once Aunt Sabe said something like that, only Mamma could change her mind, and even she sometimes couldn't.

But there were other things Luke could find out. Even if they weren't exactly about Mamma's mysterious friend. It was all about asking the right questions. "Is that why you came back early?" he asked.

"Partly," she said, then paused. "You may be coming back home to Naboo with me, when I go."

He blinked, surprised enough by this news to, at least for a minute, forget about his original question. "But...but the holiday's over. Mamma has to be back at the Senate now."

"Yes, she does. It'll just be you. And probably Aunt Elle."

"But-but what about Lani?" Because he still hadn't heard when he could go see her again, and if he left…

Maybe she'd forget him (she was still really little), or not want to be his friend anymore, or he might miss his chance and have to do something dangerous instead of getting permission and Mamma would be mad at him.

"Listen to me, Luke," Aunt Sabe said, very serious. "Things are probably going to get very, very dangerous here on Imperial Center, over the next few weeks. I very much doubt you'll be allowed to see the princess until things settle again anyway, and your mamma will want you somewhere safer until then as well. Probably most of the other Senators and court officials who have their children with them will be doing the same."

Something sort of tickled in the back of his mind. Just like it had at the beginning of Founding Week, while they were on their way back to Imperial Center.

This year was important.

This year, things were changing.

And something fell into place, and he got a horrible, horrible feeling.

"Did…" He hesitated. "Lord Specter isn't here."

"No," Aunt Sabe said.

"Something...something happened to him."

She eyed him for a moment. "That...is a dangerous question, Luke. Think very, very carefully about what it might mean to know a thing like that before it's made public."

He swallowed.

I thought-maybe I might meet someone who would be an important friend. And then I met Lani, and that got-she is my friend, and she needs friends, and that's important, but it's all messy anyway, because being her friend means being watched.

And I thought maybe something would happen so Lord Specter wouldn't be so scary anymore, and Lord Specter isn't here. But those were s'posed to be good things, and instead...

"Is that how Mamma's friend got hurt?" he asked, after a moment.

She glanced at the door. "Yes," she said. "It is."

"I wish…" He started, then stopped. "I wish he hadn't been."

"I know you do," she said, and hugged him close.

He clung back, just as tight, and didn't say anything else for a long time.

Just like he'd thought, what felt like forever and ever ago: this year, this Empire Day, everything had changed.

If only he knew what it all meant.

Original Author's Notes: Poor, poor, chronically underinformed Luke...

So sorry for the late update, guys 3

And this brings Part 4: Commander to a close. It has been a long and wild ride, and all kinds of new patterns have been established, new connections have been made, and old ones have been disrupted.

Next update will start Part 5: Lessons, which will be mostly focused on the kids, and also properly introduce Darth Infernalis.

Thank you all for sticking with me so long! 333333

~shadowsong