Palpatine and Anakin

“Anakin, in all the years we have been friends, have I ever asked you to do anything even the slightest bit against your conscience?”

“Well – “

“And I never will. I am very proud of your accomplishments as a Jedi, Anakin. You have won many battles the Jedi council insisted to me were already lost – and you saved my LIFE. It’s frankly appalling that they still keep you off the council.”

“My time ... will come ... when I am older. And, I suppose, wiser.” He didn’t want to get into this with Palpatine; talking with the chancellor like this – seriously, man-to-man – made him feel good, feel strong, despite Obi-wan’s warning. He certainly didn’t want to start whining about being passed over for mastery like some preadolescent Padawan who hadn’t been chosen for a scramball team.

“Nonsense. Age is no measure of wisdom. They keep you off the council because it is the last hold they have on you, Anakin; it is how they control you. Once you’re a master, as you deserve, how will they make you do their bidding?”

“Well…” Anakin gave him a half sheepish smile. “They can’t exactly MAKE me, even now.”

“I know, my boy, I know. That is precisely the point. You are not like them. You are younger. Stronger. BETTER. If they cannot control you now, what will happen once you are a master in your own right? How will they keep your toes on their political line? You may become more powerful than all of them together. That is why they keep you down. They fear your power. They fear you.?

Anakin looked down. This had struck a little close to the bone. “I have sensed … something like that.”

“I have asked you here today, Anakin, because I have fears of my own.” He turned, waiting, until Anakin met his eye, and on Palpatine’s face was something approaching bleak despair. “I am coming to fear the Jedi themselves.”

“Oh, chancellor – “ Anakin broke in to a smile of disbelief. “There is no one more loyal than the Jedi, sir – surely, after all this time – “

But Palpatine had already turned away. He lowered himself into the chair behind his desk and kept his head down as though he was ashamed to say this directly to Anakin’s face. “The council keeps pushing for more control. More autonomy. They have lost all respect for the rule of law. They have become more concerned with avoiding the oversight of the senate than with winning the war.”

“With respect sir, many on the council would say the same of YOU.” He thought of Obi-wan, and he had to stop himself from wincing, had he betrayed a confidence just now?”

Or had Obi-wan been doing the council’s bidding after all? … Be wary of Palpatine, he’d said, and be careful about your feelings …

Were these honest warnings, out of concern for him? Or had they been calculated: seeds of doubt planted to hedge Anakin away from the one man who really understood him?

The one man he could really trust …

“Oh, I have no doubt of it,” Palpatine was saying. “Many of the Jedi on your council would prefer I was out of office altogether- because they know I’m on to them, now. They’re shrouded in secrecy, obsessed with covert action against mysteriously faceless enemies-“

“Well, the Sith are hardly faceless, are they? I mean, Dooku himself -“

“Was he truly a lord of the Sith? Or was he just another in your string of fallen Jedi, posturing with a red lightsaber to intimidate you?”

“I… “ Anakin frowned. How could he be sure? “But Sidious …”

“Ah,yes. The mysterious Lord Sidious. ‘The Sith infiltrator in the highest levels of government.’ Doesn’t that sound a little overly familiar to you, Anakin? A little overly convenient? How do you know he is not a fiction, a fiction created by the Jedi Council, to give them excuse to harass their political enemies?”

“The Jedi are not political -“

“In democracy, EVERYTHING is political, Anakin. And everyone. This imaginary Sith lord of theirs – even if he does exist, is he anyone to be feared? To be hunted down and exterminated without trial?”

“The Sith are the definition of evil- “

“Or so you have been trained to believe. I have been reading about the history of the Sith for some years now, Anakin. Ever since the Council saw fit to finally reveal to me their ... assertion … that these millennium-dead sorcerers had supposedly sprung back to life. Not every tale about them is sequestered in our conveniently secret temple archives. From what I have read, they were not so different from jedi; seeking power, to be sure, but so does your council.”

“The dark side-“

“Oh, yes, yes, certainly, the dark side. Listen to me: if this ‘Darth Sidious’ of yours were to walk through THAT door right NOW - and I could somehow stop you from killing him on the spot- do you know what I would do?”

Palpatine rose, and his voice rose with him. “I would ask him to sit down, and I would ask him if he has any power he could use to end this war!”

“You would – you would – “Anakin couldn’t quite make himself believe what he was hearing.

“And if he said he did, I’d bloody well offer him a brandy and talk it out!”

“You – chancellor, you can’t be serious – “

“It’s only an example, Anakin. I would do anything to return peace to the galaxy, do you understand?”

“You ... probably shouldn’t use that ... example … in front of the Jedi council.”

“Oh,yes.” Palpatine chuckled. “Yes, quite right. They might take it as an excuse to accuse me.”

”I’m sure they’d never do THAT – “

“I am not. I am no longer sure they’ll stop at anything, Anakin. That’s actually the reason I asked you here today.” He leaned forward intently, resting his elbows on the desk. “The Jedi claim to be absolutely dedicated to the core values of the republic, but their action will speak more loudly than their words; as long as someone keeps an eye on them.” You may have heard this afternoon, the senate will call upon this office to assume direct control of the Jedi council. This office will be the single authority to direct the prosecution of the war, and we’ll bring a quick end to things. And I am asking you - as a personal favor to me, in respect for our long friendship, to accept a post as my personal representative on the Jedi council.”

Anakin blinked. “Me?”

“Who else?” Palpatine spread his hands in a melancholy shrug. “You are the only Jedi I know, truly know, that I can trust. I trust you.I trust you. I trust you. I need you, my boy. There is no one else who can do this job: to be the eyes and ears – and the voice – of the Republic on the Jedi Council.

“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 nattered 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 …