Chapter 13 – Try Again

Coruscant was awash in the golden light of its sun setting over the endless towers, and if Anakin Skywalker had been of a mind to think about it, he would have realized it was one of the most beautiful sunsets he had ever seen. But the thought never occurred to him. His mind was far away, split between the building in the distance where he knew his wife was resting and the Senate building where seemingly his only hope to save her was about to die. Master Windu had told him to wait in the council chamber, so there was no question for Anakin where his duty lay. Only Master Yoda had the stature to overrule Master Windu, and Master Yoda was on Kashyyyk. Certainly Anakin, who despite being on the Council had been denied the rank of Master, was in no position to disobey.

But the clarity of his duty did nothing to compensate for the injustice he perceived in it. It was he who had discovered Palpatine's secret. The Chancellor had tried to seduce him to the Dark Side and Anakin had already responded properly. He had informed the rest of the Council. And yet Windu had said that if Anakin was right he would have earned the Master's trust. If? Did Windu think Anakin would make something like that up? That he would betray a friend, someone who had been far kinder and more supportive of Anakin that Master Windu had ever been, by telling such a preposterous lie? But Windu needed no reason to mistrust Anakin, he had made that clear on many occasions before. He had disregarded Anakin's faith in Ahsoka, and now she was out of the Order. And now, when he absolutely needed Anakin's help, that mistrust still blinded him. Did Windu really think that someone who had trained Maul and dominated Dooku would be easy to defeat? Did he really think that Agen Kolar, Kit Fisto, and Saesee Tiin were stronger than Anakin? Did he really think Anakin would not be useful? It was he that had killed Dooku in single combat, not any of them. Perhaps Windu himself could have done it, but certainly no one else. Even Obi-Wan and Yoda had failed to do it in the past. But even when the need was greatest Windu would not trust him. He never would.

"Give him a reason…," came a soft voice. At first Anakin jumped, thinking someone had entered the Council Chamber without his knowledge. It took him a second to realize that the voice was in his mind. It did not matter where the voice was, it was wrong. When it came to Anakin, Master Windu would refuse to see any reason for trust.

And who cared? As though Master Windu's esteem was the important matter now. Padme was hurtling towards death. Worse still it was a death from childbirth, and so in a way it was he who was killing her. No! He would not allow that; he would never allow it! Palpatine was the only way though. The Chancellor was evil, he could see that now. All the death of the Clone Wars, all the friends he had lost, all the suffering spread across the galaxy, it could all be laid at his feet. But was that not proof of his power, of his intellect? He had pulled the Republic apart from the inside, leading both sides of the war simultaneously. There was a part of Anakin, the part that had been honed and sharpened by years of war, that could not help but admire the cunning. If anyone could save Padme, wouldn't it be him? Did even Master Yoda possess Palpatine's depth of knowledge about the Force? And what would it matter if he did? He had told Anakin to let her go. How could he let her go? She was his whole world. He could not even bring himself to try imagining a world without her. He had suffered defeats in the war, lost battles, lost his own arm, lost his mother. He had survived them all. He knew he could not survive losing Padme.

"Your visions are false…," came the voice again. He swore under his breath at this distraction, which he assumed was some manifestation of his self-doubt. The same self-doubt which had him chasing the approval of the Masters his entire life.

"They are his lies…," the insistent voice said. Whose lies? Palpatine's? How would he do that? Anakin needed no strange voice to provide him the answer. Had he not just thought to himself that Palpatine knew secrets the Jedi did not? Certainly if he could prevent death using the Force he could place visions in the minds of others. He had already seen that power at work on Mortis, had he not? By why would he do that?

"He wants your power…," the voice said. This was, Anakin had to admit, reasonable. Palpatine had reason to lie, he likely had the ability to give him visions. But why would he? Why give him images of Padme's death?

"He knew about Padme. You did not tell him that…," the voice explained. Yes. Yes! He had already known. He likely had known from the beginning. He was using Padme to get to him, because he wanted the power of the Chosen One on his side. He had planned all of this. He didn't care about Padme. His begging Anakin to use his knowledge was just another mask he wore. The man was nothing but masks. His kindness to Anakin was all part of the plan. He had planned to tell Anakin his identity. He must have known Anakin might tell the Jedi. How did that make sense? He would be killed if the Jedi found out. Perhaps he was more powerful than any one of them, but all of them together? Then Anakin remembered that most of the Masters were spread around the galaxy. Yoda, Obi-Wan, Plo-Koon, Ki-Adi Mundi. Most of the Council was gone, gone on missions that had been suggested to the Jedi by clone intelligence or in response to Separatist moves. The Separatists who were under Palpatine's control. He planned all of this. The only great Jedi on the planet were Windu and himself, the Windu who he had always complained about to the Chancellor. The Windu Palpatine knew mistrusted Anakin. This was all a plan.

"You do know, don't you, that if the Jedi destroy me, all chance of saving her will be lost," came a voice in his head he could recognize. Palpatine. He was in his mind. It was proof. He had been in his mind from the beginning. Since he was a child who couldn't protect himself. Anakin felt the rage building in him. The rage he had always sought to push down, to control, lest it control him. But the voice was right, the soft voice, the clean voice. Palpatine had been there, in the shadows, pulling strings from the beginning. Treating him as just another pawn on the dejarik board. He thought he could manipulate the Chosen One? Well, Anakin thought with grim determination, he would see his mistake; he would see it soon.

Anakin leapt from his seat and sprinted towards the door. He made his way quickly to the ships, jumping in one and taking off with the sun still visible in the sky. By the time he reached the Senate building it had only just set. He raced towards the Chancellor's office, coming into the hallway just in time to see Palpatine leap from his chair. He saw Agen Kolar and Saesee Tiin fall almost immediately. He tried to reach them in time to help protect Windu and Fisto, but by the time he was close enough to fight the latter had already gone down.

As Palpatine first crossed blades with Windu he saw Anakin approaching over the Jedi's shoulder, and for a moment thought he had come to help him. But years of war had left Anakin with instincts that would have kicked in even if the voice in his head had not convinced him of Palpatine's perfidy. There was a Sith before him, and a fellow Jedi in danger. He pulled his saber back to prepare to strike, and seeing this Palpatine spun quickly away, leaping as he did so. Windu, who had sensed Anakin's approach hesitated for a moment, not sure what the young Knight would do. But when Anakin charged past him into the Chancellor's office Windu took a position complementary to Anakin's, cutting of Palpatine's avenue of escape.

"Surrender!" Anakin shouted. "You can't beat both of us!"

"You are a fool young Skywalker!" Palpatine shouted, his voice dropping lower, and filled with more malice than Anakin had ever heard before. Palpatine lifted his free hand and sent a storm of Force Lightning towards Anakin, only to see Windu's purple saber appear between them, absorbing the lightning. When Palpatine attempted to thrust into the now exposed body of the Jedi Master, his blade was blocked by Anakin's. Windu spun around so that he and Anakin had now switched spots, and the two of them closed on the Sith Lord. His blade moved unbelievably quickly, with the same hate filled power and speed that had already seen off three Jedi Masters, but Windu and Skywalker were more than his match. For every attack they were there, pushing him slowly back to the window. As he reached it Palpatine tried one last gambit, ripping the chair on which he had been sitting out of the floor and sending it towards a surprised Anakin's legs. When Anakin jumped over it Palpatine, spinning away from Windu's swipe, hit him with a quick burst of Force Lightning, knocking Skywalker roughly against the wall, knocking him briefly unconscious.

For a few moments it was just Windu and Palpatine dueling. Palpatine's frantic attacks had slowed somewhat due to fatigue, and Windu was able to disarm him with a clever twist of his saber. The fear that all his plans were about to be destroyed, that his very life might be about to come to an end, powered the attack of Force Lightning which pushed Windu back even as he blocked it. With a scream that mixed with a cackle of malevolent joy Palpatine put his last ounce of strength into the attack, hoping to overwhelm the Jedi Master. But then he felt himself being lifted off the floor. He turned his head to see Anakin, who had recovered his senses after being stunned, holding out an open hand, a look of wild anger on his face. He was crushing the Sith Lord's body as he lifted him, exerting more power than he had ever done before, except perhaps on Mortis. Then, with a violent swing of his arm, he sent Palpatine flying across the room, bouncing him off the wall just as the Sith Lord had just done to him. Palpatine hit his head hard against the wall and then the floor. He did not rise.

Mace and Anakin traded apprehensive looks, each unsure whether this was some kind of ruse. It was Windu who moved towards the prone Sith Lord first, with Anakin following quickly. As Windu bent down to check whether Palpatine was still alive Anakin moved his lightsaber down until it was almost touching the Chancellor's face. Thought it took only a few seconds for Windu to check the old man's pulse and to use the Force to determine whether he was truly unconscious, time stretched for Anakin. What had he done? If the voice was wrong, and Padme was in danger, had he sealed her fate? There had been no time for him to think. He saw the danger and responded, and Palpatine had barely hesitated before attacking him. Was it too late? Certainly he had the Chancellor in a position where he could force the secrets he knew from him, but would the other Jedi allow it? How could he do it without their knowing? He couldn't see a way. He had failed her and he could see no way out now.

"She wouldn't want to be saved that way…," the voice said. Anakin reacted so strongly to the voice intruding on his thoughts that Windu noticed and cast him a worried look.

"I'm fine," Anakin said. "What do we do now? Take him to the Temple?"

"I don't know. He has control of the Senate and the courts, and we have precious little evidence that he is a Sith Lord," Windu said.

"What are you suggesting?" Anakin asked.

Windu's answer took the form of a stern and resolute look in Anakin's direction. Anakin panicked for a splinter of a second. He means to kill him. I can't let him kill him. I need him. I need the secret to save Padme!

"He knows many secrets…," the voice said. Yes! That was it, Anakin thought.

"We need to interrogate him. He must know how to contact the Separatist leaders, how to find them. How to shut down the droid armies," Anakin said.

Windu thought for a moment and said, "Yes, you are right. Forgive me. I let fear and grief take me for a time. But we must move quickly."

Mace Windu stood up and looked down at his three fallen comrades. Using the Force he lifted the three of them up and motioned for Anakin to do the same with Palpatine. In this way they walked slowly through the Senate building, until they came across a platoon of clone guards. Seeing the Chancellor being carried around unconscious by the Jedi they lifted their rifles and one of them yelled, "Stop right there sir!"

"We have placed the Chancellor under arrest," Windu said calmly. As he set his fallen comrades down gently he continued, "After he killed these Jedi, your generals."

"Sorry sir, we need you to release the Chancellor now," said the sergeant in charge of the platoon.

"Don't make us do this," Anakin said menacingly.

For a moment the clones just looked at the Jedi, clearly working up their courage to face two of the most powerful Jedi alive, men they would have heard stories about from their compatriots. But eventually the strength of their inborn loyalty to Palpatine won out. The moment before one of them pulled the trigger Mace Windu sensed it about to happen and ignited his lightsaber, with Anakin following a split second later. They blocked the first volley back towards their attackers, sending half of them to the ground.

"Run now! To the ship!" Windu called out. Anakin picked Palpatine back up and the two Jedi ran down the hall, Windu in the rear covering their retreat. The sound of blasters and the yelling of the clones attracted more guards, and before long there were dozens of clone guards firing at them. Anakin was forced to both block shots with his saber and carry Palpatine at the same time. Eventually they reached the landing platform and jumped in the troop transport Windu and the others had used to get to the Senate building. Anakin hopped in the pilot seat while Windu stayed in the back to keep watch on Palpatine. Anakin flew through the night, wondering if he had done the right thing. Would Palpatine's loyalists react the way the clones had? Would the clones stand down once evidence was produced of Palpatine's involvement? Had he doomed the Republic to war and Padme to death?

"You will save them all…," the voice said as he hurtled towards the Jedi Temple.

After the Jedi escaped, Mas Amedda entered Palpatine's now thoroughly destroyed office. There had been a moment of doubt for the functionary when he discovered what had happened to his master. It was not that such an outcome was unthinkable, for Palpatine had outlined it as one of the possible outcomes of the risks that would have to be taken in the final days of the war. But he had said he thought his actual arrest by the Jedi was an unlikely outcome, and that it meant things were going poorly. The thought that he should abandon the Chancellor and cooperate with the Jedi crossed Amedda's mind. But he quickly silenced such thoughts. The Jedi could forgive what would appear to them lingering loyalty to a duly elected official. Palpatine would not forgive any failures at all.

So he did as he had been instructed to do and accessed the private server Palpatine kept connected to the Senate systems, but which only Palpatine and Amedda had access to. Even Amedda had only very limited access. He was able to access the communication system and broadcast a pre-recorded message whose contents he did not know. Having done as he had been instructed to do Mas Amedda set about finding a place to hide and prepare the lies he would tell if his Master should die.