Note: Prior to this update, this site was having some issues, including with email updates not being sent out. I'd suggest you to check the chapter before this one, to make sure you read it, before reading this one.
Chapter 98 - Betrayal
Anakin walked Mace-Ti into the make-shift recording studio they'd built on Beskarn. It didn't have all the bells and whistles of the professional studios making his wife's, and his if you promised not to tell anyone, favorite dramas. But it did have what he thought he'd need to credibly make it seem like Mace-Ti was anywhere in the galaxy he wanted. In truth, Anakin was quite proud of his little set-up. Most of it was salvaged from junkyards, but he could see a bunch of faked messages leaked to the empire, leading them farther and farther astray.
Anakin stopped and gripped the eighteen year old's shoulder. "Remember, as far as he knows, you're home. With the family I found to adopt you. He doesn't need to know where that is."
"Is it okay that I called you Uncle Anakin, in the last video, I mean?"
"Yes, if he asks, just tell him you call all Jedi an aunt or uncle. There's no need to get into the specifics. Try not to name any names, and more importantly…" Anakin paused.
"Don't tell him it was your step-brother who adopted me." Mace-Ti filled in the gaps.
"..." Anakin shrugged. "I meant to say, more importantly, be yourself. But yeah, that's a good subject to avoid. Anyways, there is a very brief delay to the recording, so if you do say anything you shouldn't, I will be able to stop you."
Mace-Ti nodded. "Thank you, Uncle Anakin. I never thought I'd ever have this opportunity."
Anakin smiled and rubbed his nephew's back. "Be yourself. I'll be right outside, if you need anything."
Mace-Ti turned at the last moment, threw an arm around Anakin and squeezed.
Anakin returned the hug, and then slipped out. In the office outside of the recording room, Obi-Wan was already sitting by the equipment, not that he knew how any of it worked.
"That was a good reminder, to be himself," Obi-Wan commented, as Anakin was starting the computer.
"Yeah, I just worry for him. I know I never had a father, but I understand how the opinion of one, even under a guise, can affect you." Anakin thought for a minute about his old mentor, grandfather figure, and friend, who's now their biggest enemy. If he were in Mace-Ti's place, and the Sith was Palpatine, he would not have stood a chance.
Obi-Wan beside him, looked away as shame filled their bond. "You said once, that I was the only father figure you'd known. I should've been better at it, I know…"
Anakin shook his head. "I don't blame you for any of that. The Sith was hidden in shaak's clothing, and you were a beginner with younglings. A fact I took advantage of too often to blame you for." Anakin smiled.
Obi-Wan laughed, "I knew it."
Anakin pressed a button on the panel in front of him."Okay, Mace Ti. Are you ready to make the call?" He looked up through a one-way-Transparisteel Panel into the room. On the other side, it would look like just a mirror.
"Yes, I'm ready," Mace-Ti nodded from the other room.
"Okay, here goes." Anakin pushed a button and a holo-screen activated. For a moment all it displayed was a fuzzy white line, a wait bar, as they waited for the other end to pick up the connection. After a moment, a fuzzy, gray room came into view.
"Is it another meeting with Master Youlao?" They could hear a voice ask on the other side.
"Da-ad?" Mace-Ti vocalized with a stutter.
A surprised face appeared on the screen, looking at the camera as if it would morph into a terrifying beast. "Boy," he whispered.
Anakin pushed the button to activate the camera in the room. It would display Mace-Ti's holo image in the prison, with a background built to look like a common Library on any core world. Through the window in the image was a landscape Anakin specifically made from combining images. If anyone dared try to identify it, it would only lead them to confusion.
"Hi Dad, It's me, Mace-Ti. Uncle Anakin said that you're my dad." Mace started to stutter nervously. "I-I mean…"
"I am." Tel-Mac confirmed. "Did Knight Skywalker raise you?"
"No, I-uh, I call all Jedi Aunt or Uncle. They found another non-jedi family to adopt me."
Tel-Mac nodded. "I am glad. I can see that they treat you well."
"Oh yes. They want me to take over the farm, but I was like, I don't know if I want to do that. Commit to that for the rest of my life, and all. At first I was worried they wouldn't let me explore anything else, but they agreed, and… I shouldn't talk about that." Mace-Ti wound in his excited ramble.
"Is that what you're researching now? Other careers?" Tel-Mac asked.
"Yeah." There was an awkward pause as both parties ran out of topics.
Anakin felt sympathy towards them both. It was hard, he knew, reconnecting like this. Despite the family link, they both were essentially strangers. That might have been why he didn't immediately stop the transmission, when Mace-Ti started to chat.
"So far the only idea I have is that I can write a better introductory script for a presentation about the planet than the one they had on the ship getting me here. I mean really, sand dunes are a wondrous thing! My ass! It was three hours into the thing that they mentioned sandstorms, and if I was to advise a newcomer, that would be the first thing I'd mention, along with how to spot them, and how to dress to minimize sand getting into every nook and crevice. Which the documentary didn't even mention!"
"So, you were adopted onto a desert world, close enough to the Jedi to have a pseudo familial link." And that was when Anakin realized his error. He slammed that cut off button before Mace-Ti's response could be broadcast. The boy's face went gray-white in shock, They could still see Tel-Mac in the prison tapping the screen and looking around for an answer to what was happening, just there was no more audio being transferred.
"I'm sorry Uncle Anakin. I messed up, didn't I?" Mace-Ti apologized.
Anakin spoke up into a microphone, "No, the mistake wasn't yours. He still doesn't know which desert world, and he's still in prison. I think that is enough for today. We can strategize, and tomorrow, maybe we'll let you slip a few things about an oceanic world, just to confuse him." Anakin looked over and Obi-Wan nodded with a half shrug, suggesting he agreed with the idea.
Mace Ti stood up and was about to leave the room, when Anakin's Comlink started to vibrate on the table where it was placed. Obi-Wan reached for it before Anakin could react, and read the caller's ID. "It's from the prison."
He handed the unit to Anakin, who pushed a button to answer the line. "Skywalker here."
This is General Wenslaw, I run the prison on Dagobah. I'd encourage you to tune back into the commlink in the visitation area."
Anakin looked back at the viewscreen and Tel-Mac had started to hyperventilate. He had stepped back from the camera, and several guards were attending to him. One had stepped away from Tel-Mac and was using a comlink right now. Anakin pressed a few buttons, and said, "We're back."
Tel-Mac immediately threw off his aids and ran back to the camera when he noticed the link reestablish.
"Boy, Where is my boy?" Tel-Mac tapped at his holoscreen. Right now it was displaying Anakin and Obi-Wan in the windowless room they were using.
"Mace-Ti had to go. Tomorrow he'll be available to talk again." Anakin said in a firm voice.
"You have to tell him to leave that desert world, before… Before it goes kaboom!"
"What do you mean?" Anakin asked.
"Years ago, Obi-Wan, Marris and I used a hacked datapad to access the holonet, and determine your location. There were two options that came up. We made a quick assumption at the time and thought you were with the Zillian Flyers. When the Empire captured me on Felucia, that was the information I gave them to get a ship to get away with. At the time we just assumed you got lucky and got away, but what if we were wrong entirely. The other world was Tatooine, a desert planet you know well, and one the Emperor is going to destroy with his new superweapon once it is finished."
Anakin and Obi-Wan looked at each other, then back to Tel-Mac on the screen. "You sold Anakin out." Obi-Wan said with a disappointed tone. "This was before you even fell."
"Skywalker was always a spoiled brat. Thinking he was yards ahead of his age-mates. All because of a stupid prophecy, one that turned out to be worth absolutely nothing." Tel-Mac glared at Anakin, and Obi-Wan leaked a little anger beside him.
Anakin reached over to put a hand on his arm. "That's enough now. We can debate old arguments another time. You say Tatooine is a target. We had heard about the new death star he's building."
"He said it was just to demonstrate its power. But then he doesn't always tell me everything. When the device is finished, he's going to get it to destroy the whole planet, so the rest of the universe will know who to fear. Even though I and several of his aides insisted that it wasn't a big enough target to make that kind of statement."
Anakin and Obi-Wan were able to share a feeling of intense worry, over their bond. There were discussions they had to have, but now was not the time for them.
Tel-Mac reached out to the camera, just out of his reach in the prison. "Tell me, you'll keep my boy away from that planet. You don't need to confirm anything about where you are, or where he is. Just tell me that he won't be on that world when the weapon is finished.
"He won't," Anakin exhaled, and Tel-Mac seemed to breathe easier as well.
Hello again,
I am sorry this took so long to finish. Real life was playing Keepsie with my inspiration for a while, and I couldn't figure out how to write this part.
The part Tel-Mac refers to, when he says he, Maris and Obi-Wan used the Holonet to determine Anakin's location, is in chapter six, then the time when he was captured and he admits to ratting Anakin out, happened between chapters 8 and 9. When I originally wrote that part, I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to get Tel-Mac to fall, and I thought if I were to rewrite it, I'd be changing a lot of it. However now that I've gotten to revisit things, I think it's feeling a bit more intentional now. At the end of chapter 9 Obi-Wan was driven to slap Anakin in a rare moment of unkempt emotion, when the Zillian Flyers got raided by the empire and everyone was assuming he was dead.
Anyways, this website was having some issues between September and the new year. Stats were down, and email notifications went down too, for a time. The Stats are back up, and the emails are working again, from what I hear. So please do look back to make sure you saw the chapter before this too. I have no idea if my update was affected by this.
Gee, even dot in parentheses, followed by com is getting autodeleted by the site's autofilter. They REALLY don't want you to be discussing any links here. You'd think they'd have an exception for their own website, but no. I'm going to have to get creative with how I reference the site to you all.