darkforcerising | OPEN POST

Anakin made a face. "I meant the facility."

For a moment, he wondered if Obi-Wan made that conclusion because of his Vader memories, but pushed his feelings about that aside. Even if Obi-Wan had assumed he was using a 'nuclear' option because that's how he'd thought, as Vader, for so long, he couldn't blame Obi-Wan for thinking it. Even he knew he shared similarities with Vader - not this in particular - but in other ways.

"I do have someone, or some people in mind. They might say no... but I think some of them will want to be a part of working against the Empire... Padme's former handmaidens. The infiltrators will need to be human." And obviously all of her handmaiden were that. "Her handmaidens are combat trained and in self defence. They are already skilled at hiding in plain sight and in subterfuge - in a good way. They know how to gather information and they are already used to working with each other and as a team in general. I think they would pick up on any other skills necessary to be long term spies in that setting."

The real hell of it was... he didn't even believe Vader was capable of destroying a planet. He understood the weapon was created and destroyed. That it was used? Probably. That Vader was capable? Was not a thing he even considered. Certainly not a heavily populated one.

Certainly he didn't think Anakin was.

"I assumed as much. The Handmaidens are a good idea." He hated it. "Will they be willing?"

Every option was terrible, because every option involved a person who would potentially be discovered, killed at best, tortured for information at worst. And a person tortured was a person who could jeopardize all that they were working towards.

"Yes. I think so. Sabe, absolutely. There are ten others still alive. I think at least six or seven would be open to helping us. Or just helping Bail if they can't do Scarif specifically. The trouble will be finding Sabe, but if we get her, we'll definitely get the others. I think I know a way to find her."

It was particularly unpleasant knowing that Vader didn't know where Sabe was, so finding her would mean exposing her.

Then again they had already changed... a lot, and had almost definitely made the Empire paranoid. There was no longer any total reliance on what Vader had thought, or known, or done. There hadn't been since they first left Tatooine.

He had his own thoughts, but he wanted to hear Anakin's first.

"How?"

He braced for Obi-Wan to object. "... It will involve going to Padme's grave- or someone going for us to put something there."

"You are not going anywhere near Padme's grave," he said, flatly. "What do you want someone to put there?"

Anakin tried not to look disappointed, he knew why he couldn't. Just like he knew why he couldn't go visit his mother's grave.

"I made Padme a charm before I left Tatooine when I was nine. I can make another one. Padme only ever wore it privately, Palpatine would never know what it is or meant. Just about no one on Naboo or in the Empire would know. But her handmaidens would recognize it. I guarantee Sabe is watching Padme's grave."

He stopped moving and stopped breathing to look up at Anakin, just for a moment. It was such a small thing, but-

He knew Vader wouldn't know what he was about to say.

"She gave it to me. Just as she died. I didn't know what it was, but it was...." It was a lot of things, and imbued with so many emotions. "I buried it with her. It's a good idea to use to find Sabe."

Maybe after it was over they could both visit her grave.

"Oh," Anakin said softly. And he looked down. He did not know that. He knew talking about Padme in any ways would be a cut to their emotions, he just didn't expect something this deep.

"I can change the pattern enough to make it a code, a hidden message that can reveal a way for her to contact us. Sabe is brilliant, she'll figure it out."

He paused, blinked a few times and then pressed on.

"With people in Scarif, Bail will know everything the Empire wants to keep secret. The non-Force related things."

He moved his hand on Anakin's, just a bit, to wrap his fingers around Anakin's wrist and squeeze firmly, but gently.

"She will figure it out and she should be willing to contact me, at least and she'll likely believe that I am who is leaving the message. Which means she will at least be concerned that there is something with Luke." Which would not go ignored.

He hoped they didn't get her killed.

He hoped they didn't get Bail killed.

"And Bail is a force in and of himself. With information more so."

Anakin moved his hand so that he caught Obi-Wan's fingers. He knew he wasn't alone. Obi-Wan wasn't alone either. And they were essentially gathering more and more people to make themselves not alone.

He picked up that hand and held it in both hands against his mouth. And now he was sort of staring off into the middle distance, because he didn't want to discuss the next topic, but it had to be done.

"Scarif done, check. Now Exegol."

That was an amazingly telling gesture. That it was telling of Anakin being willing to take some degree of comfort from him was nice.

That it was a prelude to something Anakin needed the comfort to talk about, less so.

"I'm here and listening," he said, simply and while watching Anakin. Not warily but with concern.

Exegol was difficult because dismantling an Empire was easy compared to dismantling a Sith stronghold. Especially one guarded by Palpatine.

“Exegol is the secret Sith planet the Jedi never found when they thought the’d wiped out the Sith a thousand years ago. It’s where they hid from the Jedi for so long. Palpatine uses it as a back up for Scarif, and Sith experiments. Back up bodies for transferring his consciousness if he loses the one he has now. It’s also his back up if the Empire fails. He has enough resources there to essentially create another galactic armada.

“To kill Palpatine, we have to destroy everything on Exegol.”

The good news was, that the news was horrible and horrifying enough that it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and that in turn meant destroying everything sounded like a perfectly good idea.

The bad news was: "While I was recovering and ... Anakin." Mind trip there, because this was not the same Anakin, for him, at all " and Ahsoka went to stop Grieveous at Bothawui, we received intelligence that sent Bail and I to Zigoola in search of a Holocron. I spent very nearly the entire time I was there hallucinating and being weakened by one artifact projecting the dark side." He has no idea how much of this Anakin ever knew to remember. It had been during a war and he'd still been trying to protect Anakin, more than talk to him honestly. It was a mistake, but it was made and he wasn't repeating it.

"I have no idea how to move forward in light of that."

Anakin came back when Obi-Wan spoke, watched him as he explained Zigoola. He remembered the battle ObiWan mentioned.

“My first solo command.”

And then something fell into place.

“We spoke after you’d returned. I had to update you about retrieving Artoo. I remember thinking you looked...” Anakin didn’t want to say ‘terrible,’ but... “Worse than you normally did while recuperating from something. I wanted to say something, but...” He’d just had to clean up bungling his first command by losing R2 and didn’t want to push things, Obi-Wan never listened to him (or anyone actually) about taking care of his health so he was picking his battles... it was war.

“I don’t know what to do about Exegol either. I keep thinking and thinking...” he trailed off. How was I ever suppose to fix all this on my own?

"I wasn't very good at listening." About his health he still wasn't. He stroked his thumb over the side of Anakin's hand. He may be fairly useless in going there and lighting a fire, but Anakin was not alone.

"Well. We could always let the Empire complete their planet destroying weapon...." And then use it. Then destroy it. You want the nuclear option? There it was.

"We could even help them."

Edited 2020-01-19 01:30 (UTC)

Anakin looked eyes with Obi-Wan. This was serious. He wasn’t objecting, the feelings he sent in the Force were ones of deep concern for the future - weighing the dangers of what was needed to be done against what they were fighting.

Letting a weapon like that exist... was no light decision.

Echoes of millions of people dying at once, and the feeling of not caring reverberated in his mind.

He knew Obi-Wan wasn’t being cavalier.

He closed his eyes and leaned into Obi-Wan’s hand.

“We don’t do this without Bail on board.”

He was a horrible solider, but a good General and a better strategist. However strange the dichotomy, all of those things were true.

He could feel the weight of Anakin's concern, and while he lacked the knowledge he shared those concerns. He was, not at all, being caviler, but this was... a sound option that could resolve two issues at once.

"Agreed, but is there a specific reason?" Because he just looped Bail in and this felt more... personal.

Anakin did not want to say it. But he said, “Yes.”

He didn’t want to say more but he said, “The weapon was used. On Alderaan.”

He didn't dissociate, he just got... not angry, but very resolved and even more determined.

He... dug in.

For two reasons: One, it was horrifying. Two, it was upsetting Anakin and, all right, Three: He had very little in the galaxy as it stood, that served as a touchstone. Bail was one of those things.

"Well, that isn't going to happen."

Anakin agreed that the Death Star could not be used on anything but Exegol.

“We have nineteen years,” Anakin said. Or less if they help it get made.

It was getting very warm inside. He stood up.

“I need to step outside.”

He let go of Anakin's hand, but he did not let go of concern. "Okay. If you want - or will accept - company, please let me know."

He was ... worried, but the weight of potential and weight of memory were very, very different. He wanted to help, but also knew that sometimes space was help - or as near to it as was possible.

“You can come with, I just want air,” Anakin said. “It’s a lot to think about.”

"It is."

It was. It was a lot to think about, and overwhelming and intimidating but it was also... impersonal, in many ways - for him. A problem, but not an immediate one, and one that had... a possibility of being resolved.

He stood up and walked around the table and put a hand on Anakin's back. "And much, much, more to remember."

For the second time that day, Anakin was grateful for an attribute of Tatooine. The freezing night air was clarifying.

After taking it in for a minute, he said, “I need... I think I need to talk about it. But if you don’t want to hear about it, I’ll... I won’t.”

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