Coruscanti Prison #3
Coruscant
The meeting room on the first level of the prison was remarkably comfortable, with plush chairs and windows which looked out over a more or less pleasant section of the cityscape. Those assembled were not inclined to admire the view, however.
"They assassinated Chancellor Palpatine!" General Wilhuff Tarkin exclaimed indignantly, glowering at the trio of Jedi in front of him. Yoda had hopped up onto the table so that the humans need not crane their necks, and Jedi Masters Kenobi and Windu were standing side by side. Padme Amidala sat across from Tarkin, while Ahsoka Tano loomed protectively near the Senator.
Last, but not least, a Mon Calamari male sat a few seats away from Senator Amidala, his bulbous eyes half closed, his face twisted in distress.
"With all due respect, General," Kenobi said, "Skywalker and these unknowns are innocent until proven guilty."
"We found Palpatine's body in the opera pit and his legs had been removed with a lightsaber!"
"They destroyed it all!" the Mon Calamarian male, Jopesh, cried out suddenly. "The instruments, the anti grav accelerators. All gone! Who is going to pay for all that!"
"The destruction of instrumentation is of far less concern than the assassination of a sitting Chancellor!" Tarkin snapped.
"There is some truth to that," Padme remarked, speaking for the first time, "But Jopesh, I am so very sorry for the loss of your musical instruments, and I will work hard to replace them."
"The piano was a Squidavarius," the alien responded, and he lifted his webbed hands onto his face and began sobbing softly.
"Anyway," Ahsoka said, sending a comforting wave of Force energy toward Jopesh, "I think we can all agree that appearances can be deceiving, can they not? It was only yesterday that I was nearly found guilty of a crime for which I was entirely innocent. Or have you forgotten, General?"
Tarkin, who had served as prosecutor over Ahsoka's trial for bombing the Jedi Temple, flared his nostrils and said stiffly, "I am aware that Jedi Skywalker averted a grave miscarriage of justice in your case, but the presence of Skywalker and two unknowns in the opera house, all armed with lightsabers, with the Chancellor without his legs and drowned, seems an open and shut case."
"Just as the Temple bombing seemed to be," Windu said sternly.
"Be that as it may, I insist that the Jedi expel Skywalker from the Order and…"
"Will not do so," Yoda interrupted, stalking forward to glare at Tarkin. "Mistake we made with Padawan Tano. Skywalker under our protection, and determine his crimes we will."
"That is completely not…," Tarkin began.
"Where are they?" Padme demanded, standing up and spearing the general with a stern gaze. "I want to see them now. For all we know, you have made up this entire thing. Perhaps you are behind the assassination of the Chancellor!"
"How dare you?" Tarkin fumed indignantly.
"I think it would be best, General, if you took us to Skywalker immediately," Obi-Wan said. "For one thing, if he is indeed guilty, if he has gone rogue, your people will have difficulty containing him in this prison."
"We have Skywalker and his associates in level 28 underground, our highest security cell block. I assure you that they will not escape."
"Take us to them, now," Amidala ordered, her eyes narrowed to contain her fear. Had Anakin been hurt?
Tarkin gritted his teeth and looked around him. "Very well, but I will not be releasing them into your custody until we have finished a preliminary hearing."
The Jedi exchanged quick glances and Yoda said, "Well very."
/
Level 28
The control room of Level 28 was an impressive place, filled with instrument panels bristling with knobs and buttons, and with numerous locked cabinets containing enough weapons to turn back an army. There was a small kitchen adjacent to the command center, with an array of foodstuffs for the guards in case someone tried to take over the cell block and the guards had to lock themselves away for a time.
Anakin Skywalker sat on a chair and put his feet on one of the panels, being carefully not to push anything important.
"I don't know," he said, and took a sip of a ration bar. "I thought my job in life was to be a Jedi."
Luke had disdained the ration bar in favor of a bowl of easy to make soup. "Anakin, I get it, but the truth is your twins are going to be a lot of work. You basically went crazy in our timeline because you pushed yourselves too hard."
"It's still hard to believe that I turned to the Dark Side," Anakin said mournfully.
Leia appeared from the corridor opposite the elevator and waved a hand toward the kitchen; a ration bar flew into her hand and she dropped into a chair next to her brother and ripped it open.
"How are they doing?" her brother asked, waving a hand toward the cells.
"A little scared, and a lot nervous," Leia replied. "I mean, since we didn't kill them and just locked them up, they should know that we aren't intending to damage them."
"They are probably more worried about losing their jobs," Luke remarked. "I mean, this is a pretty cushy position, just hanging out in a control room eating snacks and sleeping. And they were found literally napping when we broke out of our cells."
"I confess I couldn't manage those cell locks," Anakin said with some embarrassment.
The twins exchanged amused looks and Leia said, "My husband is amazing with locks, and our friend Lando is equally gifted. Luke and I both are pretty hard to keep locked up now that we've been trained by the best."
"Is your husband Force sensitive?"
"Nope. He's a scruffy Corellian named Han Solo, and he is not Force sensitive. He is amazing though."
"And Luke, you are married too?"
"Yes, to the former Mara Jade. She is a Force sensitive. And…someone is coming," Luke said, shifting his attention to the elevator.
All three stood up and, by mutual consent, distributed themselves around the room so that they couldn't be shot at in a group.
"Yoda and Kenobi," Luke said a moment later, "and Ahsoka."
"Padme is with them," Anakin finished.
The next few seconds seemed to grind by, and the door to the elevator opened, and six people stepped out.
Anakin's gaze shifted immediately to Padme, and he smiled in relief. He had been nervous about running off to kill Palpatine and leaving his wife behind, but Ahsoka had promised to keep her safe.
Luke's gaze shifted immediately to Ben and Yoda. For all that he was exasperated by the failings of the Jedi, he knew both of his teachers had at least had good intentions, unlike Palpatine, who just wanted to take over the galaxy and murder lots of people in the process.
Leia's gaze shifted immediately to General Tarkin, and she took an immediate, outraged step forward. "Wilhuff Tarkin! I should have expected to find you running this prison. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought down here!"
This, not surprisingly, discombobulated the entire party, who were already surprised enough to find Anakin and his companions hanging out in the control room instead of being securely locked up.
"How, why, where are the guards?" Tarkin demanded, his blue eyes wide. "Master Yoda, I must insist..."
Luke had reached out a staying hand toward his sister, along with sending a pulse of soothing calm in her direction, and said, "I think the last thing you want, Tarkin, is to have a bunch of Jedi battling in a small enclosed space, especially since my sister wants to chop you in two pieces."
"Or four pieces? Or eight?" Leia said, her face twisted into a hideous scowl.
"Behave," Luke said gently. "After all, if we kill Tarkin now, he can't give the Order or the Senate a guided tour of the Death Star."
Leia clenched her teeth, her eyes flaming, and then sighed and nodded. "I suppose that is true, though it must be a mere superstructure now."
"Death Star?" Kenobi asked feebly, and Tarkin, who was always pale, looked paler in the harsh lights above them.
"A battle station which, when completed, will be powerful enough to destroy planets, currently in orbit around Geonosis," Luke said authoritatively. "But we are getting ahead of ourselves. I am Luke Skywalker, this is my twin sister Leia, and we are the children of Anakin and Padme Skywalker, who are married, but we are from a different timeline 30 plus years in the future."
Yoda, not surprisingly, focused on the most egregious of these remarks, from his own certain point of view. "Married? Not possible is it, Jedi Skywalker?"
"I am married," Anakin said, suddenly defiant, and promptly crossed over to his wife and kissed her firmly, passionately, and determinedly on the lips.
Kenobi actually squeaked in astonishment while Tarkin, his lips nearly bloodless, exclaimed, "Master Yoda, Master Kenobi, I order you to arrest these individuls and..."
"And what?" Leia demanded, stalking forward with such menace that the Tarkin felt suddenly breathless.
"You, or your Alter in our timeline, were the one who gave the order to destroy Alderaan with the Death Star," the woman continued, her nostrils flaring slightly. "I hate your guts, Wilhuff Tarkin, nearly as much as I hate Palpatine's guts. We've killed him many times and in many ways, but I haven't had much of an opportunity to creatively wipe you out. I am certain my brother would be glad to help me in my brainstorming?"
"Leia," Luke remonstrated with an evil grin. "Don't give in to hate, that leads to the Dark Side."
Leia turned and gestured, and a host of ration bars suddenly leaped from the kitchenette in a vague attempt to pummel her brother, who responded in kind, and suddenly the air was filled with bars and even some plastic forks and knives, which was rather overwhelming to the two non Force Sensitives in the bunch.
"Tingling toes!" Leia suddenly yelled, and all the impedimenta fell to the ground.
"We are leaving," Luke said a moment later. "Anakin, stop being a Jedi. Master Yoda, go through Palpatine's records. He was the master Sith Lord and was running things. Also, check the chips for the clones – Order 66 will make them turn on the Jedi. Oh, the guards aren't hurt..."
The twins disappeared, leaving the others behind.
Silence fell for a full minute and then Kenobi said, "Palpatine was a ... a Sith Lord?"
"He sure was," Anakin replied, tightening his grip on his wife. "He blasted the twins with Force Lightning and moved a piano so it didn't fall on his head."
"Ridiculous!" Tarkin snapped.
"Not," Anakin replied insouciantly, pulling a holocrystal out of his pocket. "It's all there, the whole interaction with Palpatine. Definitely a Sith Lord, and according to my time travelling Alter twins, Tarkin has been working hand in glove with Palpatine, and the Separatists, for a very long time."
"I..." Tarkin said feebly. "I..."
"Much we must do," Yoda said, his ears drooping
"And the first thing is this," Ahsoka said, her eyes bright with anticipation. "General Tarkin, you are under arrest on suspicion of plotting against the Republic. Into the cells you go!"
/
Varykino
Naboo
"Daddy!" Viola Skywalker squealed, leaping toward Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and wrapping her arms around his legs.
"Hello darling," Luke replied, leaning over and lifting the girl into his arms. "Do you like Varykino?"
"Wet! Wet!" Viola screeched, pointing toward the glittering waters out the window.
"Sounds like you have been having fun?" Luke said to his wife, who walked over to kiss her beloved husband.
"Fun is a word. I am glad that Aunt Pooja is around to help with the kids as they naturally are getting into everything. How did things go with the Weequay pirates?"
Luke sighed and wandered into the kitchen in search of sustenance, still holding Viola. "It went fine, though Leia and I were both a trifle stunned when in the middle of a fight, we got launched to the days of the Clone Wars, and we had to kill Palpatine and sort out Anakin and Padme, and then we got sent back to the middle of a fight! But we did fine. Those pirates are no more."
"I'm glad," Mara said simply. "Do you want some blue pudding?"
"Yes, please."
