SW Chapter 5 (Patreon)

The Rendili Orbital PlatformRendili System, M-11

Anakin's POV

The Force swirled intensely around me.

It was something I had never felt before. Most Jedi would have been overwhelmed if they stood where I was standing now. Even for me, it took real effort not to fall completely into its currents. Very few ever did that—completely surrendering to the Force and letting it guide every step. I never had. I would not lose myself in it.

Despite the ominous feeling of impending danger throughout the Force, there was a faint, almost amused affection from the Force itself at my refusal to fully surrender. Older records in the Temple spoke of the Force as something closer to an all-powerful entity, a vast collective intelligence with its own will: Ashla and Bogan—Light and dark as two sides of the same living thing. I had never known how much stock to put in those old writings, though lately it was getting harder to ignore, as it was very rare that I had felt the Force's intention so blatantly.

It was something to meditate upon, or maybe I should ask someone...

I sighed and held my position, leaning back against the wall. Despite myself, I was starting to feel anxious. This entire summit had never occurred in the timeline I remembered—or if it had, it had never been mentioned. I was not holding my breath on the second possibility.

The Force nudged me.

I turned my head toward the direction it indicated and found myself looking out through a nearby viewport. There was nothing there, only the vast expanse of space.

What are you trying to tell me...

A quiet sigh came from beside me.

"They've been gone a while now," Captain Typho said. I blinked, coming out of my reflection, and checked my chrono. Then I looked down the long hallway where Padmé, Sabé, and Clovis had disappeared into one of the many private rooms the station offered. I wasn't sure where they were, but the Captain was right; they had been gone for a long time.

"Yes," I said. "They have."

In truth, they had almost completely left my mind. I had been so focused on the strange pressure in the Force that everything else had faded. I berated myself for it; I was responsible for Padmé's protection, and she was now alone with a possible Separatist sympathizer.

I glanced at Typho, then turned my head as the sound of approaching footsteps echoed from the other end of the corridor, from where the conference hall was situated. He murmured something about going to check on them. I ignored the suggestion as Satine Kryze and her entourage were walking toward us. She recognized Captain Typho and came to a stop.

"Captain," she said. "Where is Senator Amidala? I was hoping to catch her for a quick luncheon."

Typho's posture stiffened. "The Senator is currently preoccupied, Your Grace."

Satine's expression tightened in mild disappointment. "I see. That is a shame. Please let her know she is welcome to join myself, Senator Organa, and a few other like-minded colleagues as soon as she is able." She gestured back toward the corridor she had come from. Typho gave a short nod.

Then her gaze shifted to me. A polite

smile formed on her face as she gave a once-over to the robes I wore.

"I am Duchess Satine Kryze. I recognize the robes. Who might you be?"

I inclined my head in a small bow. "Padawan Anakin Skywalker. I'm here as part of Senator Amidala's protection detail."

Her brows rose with graceful surprise. "A Padawan... where is your Master, then?"

"I was the only one asked to join."

"Oh my..."

Before the conversation could continue, a soft beep sounded from within the folds of her regal dress. Satine froze. She pulled the comlink free and stepped aside at once, one of her guards moving to partially block her from view. I watched the sudden change in her demeanor with a particular interest; it was so out of character for a renowned career politician.

Curiosity got the better of me. I reached out through the Force and sharpened my hearing just enough to catch fragments of the hurried exchange.

"...Glen, why are you calling my personal com—"

"Mom—"

"...you need to leave..."

"...dream..."

"...danger..."

Mom, I thought, astonished. I didn't know the Duchess was married, much less that she had a child.

Then the Force pulsed sharply as a sudden vigilance slammed into me. My eyes widened as they snapped.

"Is everything alright?" I ignored Captain Typho's voice as he had followed me toward the nearest viewport. A ship tore out of hyperspace in a brilliant corona of hypermatter. I couldn't recognize the ship by design; it was roughly the size of a light freighter, perhaps smaller. The design was angular with dark plating.

Regardless, alarms blared as everyone froze. The ship had re-entered real space right next to the space station.

A jump like that should not have been possible. In theory, a ship could enter or exit hyperspace almost anywhere in real space, but no one did it near planetary masses or stations, or deviated from known hyperspace lanes. The risk of colliding with a mass shadow was too high. Only the most advanced navicomputers or an experienced Force-sensitive capable of flying the ship manually through hyperspace could accomplish it.

It was something even I would hesitate to do; it required dedicated practice, and most importantly, you had to be gifted in the art.

"We must get the Senator!" Typho's voice cut through the rising panic as he tried getting my attention. I kept my eyes locked on the ship as it adjusted course and began closing the distance. A couple of minutes at most.

"Go get her," I said passively to the man.

"You..." He gritted his teeth, and the words ran down the hallway, leaving me and the Mando entourage. I knew I was extremely rude right there, but I knew Padmé was fine now that I understood what the actual threat was, looking at the ship. I felt something I had never felt before, something I had tried extremely hard to find in Palpatine.

Darkness. Twisted pain. Fear and anger coiled tightly together. It reminded me of the raw, predatory presence the original Anakin had sensed on Tatooine when Darth Maul had tried to run him down. For a heartbeat, I wondered if Sidious or Dooku themselves had come. Then I reached deeper and relaxed, if only slightly, at the four inexperienced signatures in the craft. This did not mean they would be easy to beat, but at least they weren't them. By this time, Padmé and the group had arrived. They looked out of breath, and all their clothes were disheveled; even Typho's face was a shade paler. At the back of my mind, I realized what had been going on, and thankfully, I felt nothing.

I nodded to myself. I might have some of the older Anakin's feelings, but it wasn't something that would overrule me.

"What is going on?" Padmé demanded, looking between us.

A station officer pushed through the growing crowd, panic written across his face. That alone made me frown. There were dark-siders on that ship, yes—but it was still only one vessel. A platform of this size should have had shields and anti-starship batteries.

As we turned and began moving with the flow of people, I pushed my way to Padmé's side, not bothering to lower my voice.

"I sense the presence of the Sith in that ship. Stay wary, Senator."

Her eyes went wide, reliving the Naboo crisis.

"What?!"

I gave her a small, humorless half-smile and kept us moving.

Inside the conference hall, a number of people had not yet left. Bail Organa stood near one of the communication consoles, his voice raised uncharacteristically.

"What do you mean the shields are down?!"

So that was why.

I exhaled slowly through my nose.

Of course.

The chaos of uncertainty grew in the conference hall. A few of the senators that had left first, like Padmé, were being brought back. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to bring anyone here, but if the hall was reinforced and sealed off, then it might not be a bad idea. After all, it wouldn't take much to destroy a station of this size without shields. A couple of well-placed turbolaser shots could blow up something important and kill us all.

People were in a near frenzy now, some yelling they needed to leave and reach their own starships to depart the station. It wasn't a bad idea, but the transit time would leave them exposed, and no one here was wearing a sealed suit that could survive vacuum.

I needed to take control of the situation before it collapsed completely. I pushed my way to the center of the room and caught one of the station officers by the arm.

"Officer, where is the defense fleet?"

The man looked pale. "We—we're unable to contact them."

Something cold settled in my stomach. "Who is in command?"

"Captain Jace Dallin."

The name seemed familiar, but I just couldn't place it. Around us, the noise continued to climb. Someone demanded to know if the approaching ship had been hailed. Another voice asked what they were supposed to do. I made a decision that would almost certainly change the course of everything that followed.

Until this moment, the galaxy at large did not know the Sith still existed. They had been erased from common history, reduced to half-remembered stories of the Jedi's ancient enemies. While scholars and elites of the galaxy probably knew their exact exploits, the galaxy as a whole had forgotten them. I knew exactly what they wanted here—either to kill or to seize as many of the neutral representatives as possible.

I was unsure why the Sith were coming out to the public after hiding for centuries, but it did not matter to me. If they wanted attention,

let's give it to them...

I turned to the one man in the room who had both the standing and the historical knowledge to understand what I was about to say.

"Senator Organa."

Bail looked at me and then at my robes.

"I believe the Sith—the ancient enemies of the Republic—are aboard that ship. And they are coming here," I continued.

Confusion moved across the nearest listeners as they listened in on my voice.

"Who?" someone demanded.

"They are an older order," I said clearly. "Enemies of both the Republic and the Jedi. They were defeated nearly a thousand years ago... or so everyone believes."

Commotion surged again. Bail raised a hand to silence everyone. I was thankful he had accepted my statements after a moment's consideration and then asked the most important question.

"Why are they here?" he asked.

I met his eyes. "Some within the Jedi Order believe the Separatists are being influenced by them."

Disbelief rose amongst everyone in the room; clearly, they were skeptical of some random man's nonsense.

Someone near the viewport called out that the ship was still closing. It was well within weapons range; the fact they had not fired further proved my thoughts: they wanted to come here...

"Can we negotiate?" another senator asked. "If these are Separatists—"

"No." Padmé's voice cut out. She had regained her composure. "The Sith do not negotiate."

A man turned toward her. "How would you know that?"

"They were behind the invasion of Naboo," she answered. There was a beat of silence at her declaration.

Then Duchess Satine, still visibly skeptical, spoke. "We should hail them and request a parley."

I seized the opening.

"Yes," I said. "We should. But I will do it."

Satine frowned and began to object, but I did not let her finish.

"Please allow me," I said. Everyone in the room stilled at the intensity of my voice; even normal beings, not just Force-sensitives, could sense that something was amiss.

Padmé quickly came over, looking worried. Despite everything, she was a kind person at heart.

"Are you certain, Anakin? It could be dangerous."

"I will be fine, Padmé," I assured her. After all, this was what I had been preparing for, and I was not alone; the Force stood with me.

The officer at the communications console attempted to hail the approaching ship, informing them that they were passing through the atmospheric shielding. He received no reply, though the ship did course-correct toward the shielding.

Then I shrugged out of my outer robes. Several people exchanged uneasy glances at my obviously armored form. I suppressed a smile and walked forward, nodding to Captain Typho, indicating that he should keep Padmé safe until I returned.

Without another word, I walked out of the hall and toward the open plaza beyond. The door shut behind me, sealing the room to keep everyone safe. Despite my attending the parley, they could still see and hear everything inside the room.

This was it, I thought.

The approaching ship slipped through the adjusted atmospheric shielding with ease. It turned slowly in the open air of the plaza and lowered its ramp, roughly fifty meters separating us.

Four figures stepped out of the darkened interior.

I reached for the Force and let everything else fall away—every worry, every lingering thought of the summit. The dark side rolled off them in thick, putrid waves. Three of the four had the sickly yellow eyes of those who had already surrendered too much of themselves. The fourth was different.

I recognized her: Severance Tann.

She stood slightly apart from the others, all dressed in dark clothes. I could tell she was somewhat different; the dark side was not as ingrained in her as it was in the others, whether because of her aptitude or something else, I did not know. Beside her were three acolytes—I refuse to call them Darths—I did not recognize: a tall, broad-shouldered human male with a heavy brow, a lean near-human woman with close-cropped hair, and a thinner male.

They dropped from the ramp to the plaza floor without hesitation.

I took a single step forward, still leaving my lightsaber unlit.

"Greetings," I called across the distance. "My name is Anakin Skywalker. You appear to be in the wrong place."

It was the lean woman who answered. She stepped ahead of the others, drew her lightsaber, and ignited it with a sharp snap-hiss. The crimson blade bloomed, displaying her intent.

"We are exactly where we are meant to be, Jedi," she said in a cruel voice edged with contempt as she looked at me. "We are here to carry out our master's will."

They could not sense me. It was something I had perfected in the first moment I had woken up on Ilum all those years ago. They believed me weak.

"And what might that be?" I asked, still not reaching for my own weapon.

The restless male acolyte let out a low, unpleasant sound.

"The dead have no need of answers."

I exhaled once. I felt a tingle of anticipation before shunting it onto the Force. I drew my lightsaber and ignited it. The blue blade cast its light across the dark stone of the plaza. In that moment I understood that nothing afterward would remain the same.

"You will not pass."

The hulking male gave a short, rough chuckle. One by one, the remaining three ignited their own red blades.

"Attack!" the woman screeched.

For Sith acolytes, they moved with surprising coordination. All four came at me at once.

I met them with the Force.

A sweeping push slammed the hulking male and the thin one backward across the dark stone. In the same breath, I reinforced my body and surged forward to meet the remaining two—Tann and the woman,my lightsaber already tracing a tight defensive arc. I shifted forms without thinking, flowing from the tight efficiency of Soresu into the aggressive angles of Ataru, leaping high to clear a horizontal slash, twisting mid-air to land behind them, then driving them apart with a rapid series of strikes.

The other two tried to rejoin the fight. Another Force push drove them to the ground again.

I made my choice.

Tann was the weakest link among the four; she had to go first. I turned on her fully, pressing hard, forcing her onto the defensive. When the opening came, I drove a precise cut toward her weapon hand, intending to take the arm. To my surprise, she simply released her lightsaber and spun, driving a sharp kick into my midsection.

The impact landed solidly.

I answered in kind. My free hand thrust forward in a punch that crushed her throat.

"Gah—" escaped her as she collapsed to her knees, gasping.

The hulking male recovered faster than expected. He came in with heavy, hammering strikes that would have broken a lesser opponent's guard. I met each one cleanly, letting the Force strengthen my arms and shoulders, turning his power aside. In the midst of the exchange, I confirmed what I had already begun to suspect: none of them were truly exceptional. Dangerous, yes. Trained, yes. But not beyond me.

I flicked my free hand. Tann's still-struggling body lifted from the ground and slammed into the charging form of her compatriot, sending them both sprawling.

Then I turned my full attention on the big one.

I advanced with reinforced strikes, fully shifting to Niman, each strike landing harder than the last. I felt his fear spike through the Force as his guard began to collapse under the pressure. One final overhead cut drove him to one knee. A second ended it.

Just as I turned, the Force screamed a warning.

Missiles.

I had no time to deflect them. Instead, I wrapped the Force around myself like armor an instant before the explosions hit.

It was a good thing I practiced the art of Tutaminis...

The blasts lifted me off my feet and hurled me across the plaza. I hit hard, skipped once across the stone, and rolled to a stop.

I stood. My armor was scorched and blackened in places, but I was unharmed. I brushed a scatter of dust from one pauldron and looked up at the hovering ship with a scowl.

Rookie mistake.

The ship opened fire with laser cannons. I blurred forward, causing them all to miss as the targeting system struggled to track me. A handful of bolts came close enough to deflect; I sent them streaking toward the two remaining acolytes, forcing them to dive aside.

I leapt.

My lightsaber carved a deep groove through the underbelly of the ship as I passed beneath it. The cut alone would not bring it down—I had not expected it to. Landing hard, I reached out with both hands and pulled. The ship screamed as invisible pressure crushed its frame, the entire vessel tearing into two ragged halves. I hurled the burning wreckage down onto the remaining Sith. The twin impacts detonated across the plaza in a double bloom of fire and twisted alloy.

Somehow, the last two had managed to shove the worst of the debris aside.

Hmm...

I did not give them time to recover.

I slammed into them without restraint, driving the fight with raw aggression. The lean woman disengaged and fell back, leaving the thin male to face me alone. Our blades locked in a crackling bind as I slowly overpowered him. I heard a scream of pain from the woman, from the corner of my eye, as Dark Side energy crawled up her arms as Sith lightning erupted wildly from her hands, burning and charring it.

Interesting—but futile.

I broke the saber lock and threw the thin male directly into the path of the lightning. The current took him completely. He did not even have time to cry out before the energy burned through him. Intending to finish the fight, I surged forward. One clean stride closed the distance. My blade flashed once as the woman's head left her shoulders before the lightning in her hands had fully died.

And then there was silence, only belied by the subtle gasping hum and the burning wreckage, and all at once the Force was at peace.

It is done.

I looked over the destruction I had caused with an impassive expression—the burning halves of the ship, the scattered bodies, the blackened stone of the plaza. Then I walked toward the last of them.

Severance Tann slowly pushed herself back to her feet, one hand still wrapped around the hilt of her unlit lightsaber. I approached without hurry. Up close, I could see the residual glow of my blade reflect off her blue skin. Even in her ragged state, I could objectively acknowledge that she was striking.

Then a strange feeling rose in me: an unearned protectiveness that edged on pity for having hurt her so thoroughly. I raised an eyebrow.

Interesting.

She was trying to use the Force to alter my emotions.

"Huh," I said, sardonic. "Cute. But no."

I severed the influence with a single, precise act of will. The artificial feelings vanished at once. Even if I arrested her, I would need a way to keep her in check; a normal cell would not stop a Force-sensitive. Still, the entire fiasco brought only questions.

Why is Sidious doing this? What would he gain from all this?

I shook my head. Trying to understand a mad Sith would only lead to failure. If the Sith were no longer content to remain in the shadows, then neither would I. A quiet pulse moved through the Force—a caution, a reminder to remain centered. I accepted it and returned to stillness.

Then, for the first time since Ilum, I allowed my full presence to unfold.

It spread outward like a living tide. The Chiss woman trembled violently as it washed over her. Whatever resistance she still held collapsed. She dropped to her knees again, suddenly finding herself staring into the beating heart of the Force itself.

I looked down at her.

"Do you surrender?"

"I do... l-l-lord Anakin..." she rasped out.

A/N - #ChosenOne