Part 19 (1/2)
”On the Council . . . ,” Anakin murmured.
He could see himself seated in one of the low, curving chairs, opposite Mace Windu. Opposite Yoda. He might sit next to Ki-Adi-Mundi, or Plo Koon-or even beside Obi-Wan! And he could not quite ignore the quiet whisper, from down within the furnace doors that sealed his heart, that he was about to become the youngest Master in the twenty-five-thousand-year history of the Jedi Order...
But none of that really mattered.
Palpatine had somehow seen into his secret heart, and had chosen to offer him the one thing he most desired in all the galaxy. He didn't care about the Council, not really-that was a childish dream. He didn't need the Council. He didn't need recognition, and he didn't need respect. What he needed was the rank itself.
All that mattered was Mastery.
All that mattered was Padme.
This was a gift beyond gifts: as a Master, he could access those forbidden holocrons in the restricted vault.
He could find a way to save her from his dream . . .
He shook himself back to the present. ”I ... am overwhelmed, sir. But the Council elects its own members. They will never accept this.”
”I promise you they will,” Palpatine murmured imperturbably. He swung his chair around to gaze out the window toward the distant spires of the Temple. ”They need you more than they realize. All it will take is for someone to properly ...”
He waved a hand expressively.
”... explain it to them.”
=11=.
POLITICS.
Orbital mirrors rotated, resolving the faint light of Coruscant's sun to erase the stars; fires.h.i.+ps crosshatched the sky with contrails of chemical air scrubber, bleaching away the last reminders of the fires of days past; chill remnants of night slid down the High Council Tower of the Jedi Temple; and within the cloistered chamber itself, Obi-Wan was still trying to talk them out of it.
”Yes, of course I trust him,” he said patiently. ”We can always trust Anakin to do what he thinks is right. But we can't trust him to do what he's told. He can't be made to simply obey. Believe me: I've been trying for many years.”
Conflicting currents of energy swirled and clashed in the Council Chamber. Traditionally, decisions of the Council were reached by quiet, mutual contemplation of the flow of the Force, until all the Council was of a single mind on the matter. But Obi-Wan knew of this tradition only by reputation, from tales in the archives and stories told by Masters whose tenure on the Council predated the return of the Sith. In the all-too-short years since Obi-Wan's own elevation, argument in this Chamber was more the rule than the exception.
”An unintentional opportunity, the Chancellor has given us,” Yoda said gravely. ”A window he has opened into the operations of his office. Fools we would be, to close our eyes.”
”Then we should use someone else's eyes,” Obi-Wan said ”Forgive me, Master Yoda, but you just don't know him the way I do. None of you does. He is fiercely loyal, and there is not a gram of deception in him. You've all seen it; it's one of the arguments that some of you, here in this room, have used against elevating him to Master: he lacks true Jedi reserve, that's what you've said. And by that we all mean that he wears his emotions like a HoloNet banner. How can you ask him to lie to a friend to spy upon him?”
”That is why we must call upon a friend to ask him,” said Agen Kolar in his gentle Zabrak baritone.
”You don't understand. Don't make him choose between me and Palpatine-”
”Why not?” asked the holopresence of Plo Koon from the bridge of Courageous, where he directed the Republic Navy strike force against the Separatist choke point in the Ywllandr system. ”Do you fear you would lose such a contest?”
”You don't know how much Palpatine's friends.h.i.+p has meant to him over the years. You're asking him to use that friends.h.i.+p as a weapon! To stab his friend in the back. Don't you understand what this will cost him, even if Palpatine is entirely innocent? Especially if he's innocent. Their relations.h.i.+p will never be the same-”
”And that,” Mace Windu said, ”may be the best argument in favor of this plan. I have told you all what I have seen of the energy between Skywalker and the Supreme Chancellor. Anything that might distance young Skywalker from Palpatine's influence is worth the attempt.”
Obi-Wan didn't need to reach into the Force to know that he would lose this argument. He inclined his head. ”I will, of course, abide by the ruling of this Council.”
”Doubt of that, none of us has.” Yoda turned his green gaze on the other councilors. ”But if to be done this is, decide we must how best to use him.”
The holopresence of Ki-Adi-Mundi flickered in and out of focus as the Cerean Master leaned forward, folding his hands. ”I, too have reservations on this matter, but it seems that in these desperate times, only desperate plans have hope of success. We have seen that young Skywalker has the power to battle a Sith Lord alone, if need be; he has proven that with Dooku. If he is indeed the chosen one, we must keep him in play against the Sith-keep him in a position to fulfill his destiny.”
”And even if the prophecy has been misread,” Agen Kolar added, ”Anakin is the one Jedi we can best hope would survive an encounter with a Sith Lord. So let us also use him to help us set our trap. In Council, let us emphasize that we are intensifying our search for Grievous. Anakin will certainly report this to the Chancellor's Office. Perhaps, as you say, that will draw Sidious into action.”
”It may not be enough,” Mace Windu said. ”Let us take this one step farther-we should appear shorthanded, and weak, giving Sidious an opening to make a move he thinks will go un.o.bserved. I'm thinking that perhaps we should let the Chancellor's Office know that Yoda and I have both been forced to take the field-”
”Too risky that is,” Yoda said. ”And too convenient. One of us only should go.”
”Then it should be you, Master Yoda,” Agen Kolar said. ”It is your sensitivity to the broader currents of the Force that a Sith Lord has most reason to fear.”
Obi-Wan felt the ripple of agreement flow through the Chamber, and Yoda nodded solemnly. ”The Separatist attack on Kashyyyk, a compelling excuse will make. And good relations with the Wookiees I have; destroy the droid armies I can, and still be available to Coruscant, should Sidious take our bait.”
”Agreed.” Mace Windu looked around the half-empty Council Chamber with a deepening frown. ”And one last touch Let's let the Chancellor know, through Anakin, that our most cunning and insightful Master-and our most tenacious-is to lead the hunt for Grievous.”
”So Sidious will need to act, and act fast, if the war is to be maintained,” Plo Koon added approvingly.
Yoda nodded judiciously. ”Agreed.” Agen Kolar a.s.sented as well, and Ki-Adi-Mundi.
”This sounds like a good plan,” Obi-Wan said. ”But what Master do you have in mind?”
For a moment no one spoke, as though astonished he would ask such a question.
Only after a few seconds in which Obi-Wan looked from the faces of one Master to the next, puzzled by the expressions of gentle amus.e.m.e.nt each and every one of them wore, did it finally register that all of them were looking at him.
Bail Organa stopped cold in the middle of the Grand Concourse that ringed the Senate's Convocation Chamber. The torrent of multispecies foot traffic that streamed along the huge curving hall broke around him like a river around a boulder. He stared up in disbelief at one of the huge holoprojected Proclamation Boards; these had recently been installed above the concourse to keep the thousands of Senators up to the moment on news of the war, and on the Chancellor's latest executive orders.
His heart tripped, and he couldn't seem to make his eyes focus. He pushed his way through the press to a hardcopy stand and punched a quick code. When he had the flimsies in his hands, they still said the same thing.
He'd been expecting this day. Since yesterday, when the Senate had voted to give Palpatine control of the Jedi, he'd known it would come soon. He'd even started planning for it.
But that didn't make it any easier to bear.
He found his way to a public comm booth and keyed a privacy code. The transparisteel booth went opaque as stone, and a moment later a hand-sized image s.h.i.+mmered into existence above the small holodisk: a slender woman in floor-length white, with short, neatly clipped auburn hair and a clear, steadily intelligent gaze from her aquamarine eyes. ”Bail,” she said. ”What's happened?”
Bail's elegantly thin goatee pulled downward around his mouth. ”Have you seen this morning's decree?”
”The Sector Governance Decree? Yes, I have-”
”It's time, Mon,” he said grimly. ”It's time to stop talking, and start doing. We have to bring in the Senate.”
”I agree, but we must tread carefully. Have you thought about whom we should consult? Whom we can trust?”
”Not in detail. Giddean Danu springs to mind. I'm sure we can trust Fang Zar, too.”
”Agreed. What about Iridik'k-stallu? Her hearts are in the right place. Or Chi Eekway.”