#is that anabasis anakin is actually really good at the political game

[fialleril]

Any chance we can get some Anabasis or DAV in celebration of Triduum/Holy Week?

Late reply is super late, but better than never I hope.

I’m working on the next DAV fic which would actually be a perfect fit for the Passover / Easter season, with its focus on themes of liberation, but it is, alas, not finished yet.

So in lieu of that (and by way of apology for being gone so long), here’s a snippet of Anabasis.

This one is pretty spoilery, tbh. But Holy Week for me is all about liberation and new life, and this part of the story is definitely that. So when I finally publish the whole of Anabasis, you all can pretend to be surprised...

[In which Anakin finds Palpatine’s collection of Sith holocrons...]

*

The place was dim and musty, and it clanged with the distantechoes of crumbling old machinery. Padmé’s hand drifted uneasily and came torest on the blaster at her hip. Just in case.

The door Dinsa had stopped before was the seventeenth in aline of identical doors, each unmarked and wholly unremarkable, the sort thatmight be found in any number of abandoned factories or warehouses in the Works.

But Padmé didn’t fail to notice the way Dinsa stood wellback from the door, or the way she and Sabé watched Anakin closely, alert andready for any sudden directive. Anakin himself was focused intently, seeminglyunaware of anyone else around him. Padmé shifted from foot to foot, watchinghim stand perfectly still, watching the light of memory burn in his eyes.

“Anakin?” she whispered, hesitating only a moment beforeplacing a hand on his shoulder. Warmth bled through his clothing and into herskin.

He blinked slowly, just once, then turned from the door toface her. His mouth curled, far too vicious to be called a smile.

“This is the place,” he said. “I can feel it.”

There was a keypad just beside the door, but Anakin didn’tbother with that. His eyes closed briefly in concentration, and then the doorexploded.

The durasteel crumpled inward, fire sparking from thecontrol panel and lending a sharpness to the ancient smell of the room beyond.Padmé blinked. Shafts of faint light streamed through the shattered remains ofthe door and caught on the thick motes of dust dancing in the air.

It wasn’t an especially large room. What space there was satmostly empty – there was only one hefty durasteel storage container in the farcorner of the room. A fine layer of dust covered the floor, undisturbed by anyfootprints. Spiders spun in their corners, weaving vast networks ofunchallenged webs. The air smelled like a tomb.

Dormé stepped closer to Padmé, taking up position slightlyin front of her, a small blaster ready in her right hand. Sabé and Jothra wereeyeing the room intently, cataloging the space from corner to corner and backagain. But Dinsa seemed wholly focused on Anakin.

He drew a deep, ragged breath and his face set in a still,inscrutable mask.

There were a series of seals and locks on the storagecontainer, some obviously requiring codes and others far less clear. Padméwatched as Anakin examined them, his fingers hesitating over a keypad. Shewatched them ghost across a series of numbers, draw back, and then return againin a different pattern, never truly touching the keys.

“Stand back,” he said at last, drawing his hand away. Hiseyes didn’t leave the cabinet.

Padmé stepped well away, Dormé following in her wake butstill keeping between Padmé and the mysterious container. Sabé and Jothra stoodto either side. Dinsa moved barely a pace, and her gaze remained fixed onAnakin, who didn’t move at all.

The heavy durasteel door of the storage container crumbledloudly and fell away, its echoes trembling through the room. A sudden arc ofwicked fire leapt out from the casing, searing blue, but Anakin only raised hisright hand. The fire seemed to gather there, gleaming and pulsing against hisskin, until he turned his palm down and it jumped from his hand to grounditself in the warehouse floor. There was an awful smell of burnt dust. A thick layerof black soot scorched the floor beneath drifting tendrils of smoke.

“There are…precautions in place,” Anakin murmured, flexinghis fingers. Steam curled around his hand, but the flesh appeared unhurt. “Tokeep the holocrons out of Jedi hands.” His mouth twisted. “Only someone trainedin the ways of the Sith can access them.”

Padmé cast a nervous glance between Anakin and the storagecontainer, which remained shut fast. She hadn’t really thought he intended totell the Jedi about this place, of course, but…

“What are you going to do?” she whispered.

Anakin turned and smiled at her. It was a soft expression,almost tender and shockingly open. Ridiculously, Padmé found herself smilingback without even knowing why.

“I told you,” Anakin murmured, his smile quirking at thecorners. Without any further explanation, he turned back to the storagecontainer and pulled the door open.

It moved easily, soundlessly. Nothing else happened. Padmédidn’t know what she’d been expecting, but this felt somehow anti-climactic.

Inside the container were row on row of holocrons. Mostlooked exactly the same, small pyramidal constructs of dark metal, shot throughwith dull lines of red. Three holocrons, prominently displayed at the center ofthe top shelf, were noticeably older than the rest.

Anakin was evidently looking for something. His eyes wereclosed, but his face turned from side to side as though he were examining eachrow, scanning carefully over the contents.

A moment later his eyes snapped open and he selected aholocron from the exact center of the unit. Padmé thought he was laughing verysoftly.

“He did make one,” Anakin whispered.

He drew his hands back, but the holocron remained, floatingeasily in the air. The red lines began to glow, and then to separate, and thenan image of Palpatine appeared, shrouded in black, only just larger thanPadmé’s hand.

She drew in a sharp breath and stepped back as a voice she’dheard recently only in her nightmares began to speak.

Anakin’s grin was sharp and violent. He slashed the air withhis hand, and something in the holocron sparked and snapped. Palpatine’sterrible voice died. Smoke curled from the bottom of the device.

“You don’t get to speak,” Anakin hissed. “Not ever again.But you’re going to watch.”

It must have been an illusion, Padmé thought. Holocrons wereteaching tools, but they were only minimally interactive and they certainlydidn’t possess any measure of sentience. So she must have imagined the suddenrage that twisted Palpatine’s face.

The Emperor’s lips were still moving, but whatever he had tosay would never be heard now.

“Of course a Sith holocron can’t be destroyed by justanyone,” Anakin said, evidently directing his words at Palpatine’s image. “Noteven by a Jedi. Security precautions. Access only to those who are worthy.That’s what you always said.”

Anakin selected the midmost holocron from the top shelf. Heheld it easily in his right hand as he addressed the hologram.

“But you made me a Sith, Master,” he said. “Not worthy ofthis knowledge, oh no. Of course not. But well trained. Enough to do this.” Hechuckled suddenly, his hand tightening around the ancient holocron. “This isDarth Bane, isn’t it? The last and first. The founder. You always said he wasthe greatest of all the Sith, apart from you, of course.”

Anakin smiled.

A sudden sharp premonition made Padmé step back again. Dinsafollowed, moving back several paces to stand beside Sabé, her eyes dartingquickly between Anakin and the floating image of Palpatine.

“This is your legacy, Master,”Anakin said, and lightning sparked from his fingers, blue and bright andcrackling with ozone.

The holocron melted into slag and dripped to the floor.

Something howled.

It was a scream without a voice, filling the breathless airof the room and echoing back through her mind, burning like a star going nova.The darkness swallowed it.

I will destroy himcompletely, Padmé remembered Anakin saying, and how they’d both hoped thatPalpatine was watching from whatever reality waited after death.

She looked again at Anakin. He stood in profile, his face aferocious mask of shadow and reflected blue fire, another holocron alreadymelting from his fingers. At his feet was a steadily growing pile of slag. Hiseyes shone as blue as the flame.

*

The Force was screaming.

Barriss felt it where she waited, pacing her quarters untilAhsoka returned from her meeting with the Council. The feeling tore into her,leaving her blinking and off balance, suddenly unsure of the reality around her.Something was shifting, but she didn’t know what, and she wasn’t certain if itwould prove to be for good or ill. She only knew that it felt like a beginning.

The members of the Council felt it where they sat injudgment. Master Windu’s arm shook with it, and Ahsoka’s lightsaber fell to thefloor. Master Yoda grimaced and clutched his head in pain. Masters Dooku and Nuflinched as well, but their eyes found one another and something unspoken andsignificant passed there, unseen by the rest. Master Gallia’s eyes slippedclosed, and Master Kenobi’s hands clenched the arms of his chair so tightlythat his knuckles shone translucent.

Ahsoka herself staggered in the center of the CouncilChamber, gasping for breath, half elated and half terrified and not knowingwhy.

The younglings felt it, gathered together in the mess hallunder the supervision of two of the older padawans. They felt the shift butcouldn’t name it, and they clung to one another, wishing that Lahksa andBarriss were there to promise everything would be okay.

The howling in the Force went on and on, until suddensilence fell.

And then there was Light.

*

The Jedi Council was waiting in Padmé’s receiving room.

None of the security systems had been triggered, and they’dhad no warning from 500 Republica’s security team, either. It was all tooobvious that Padmé and her handmaidens weren’t expecting to find guests in herapartment.

Maybe Anakin should have said something, after all.

The Jedi rose as they entered, and Padmé started visibly,her hand reaching automatically for the blaster at her hip and half-drawing itbefore she stopped herself. Dormé and Sabé had moved to shield her, theirblasters already leveled at the intruders. Even after the moment of initialsurprise had passed, they didn’t back down. Dormé, in particular, looked furiousand was making no effort to hide it.

That was…a relief, Anakin thought. It was good to know thather loyalty to Padmé was so absolute, that she wouldn’t cower to the Jedi anymore than she would to him.

Anakin himself eyed the Jedi with undisguised amusement. Hedidn’t bother to pretend surprise. He didn’t bother with innocence, either. Theacrid scent of melted metal and plastic still clung to him, and he didn’t doubtthe Jedi had noticed. But he’d let them wonder, just a bit longer.

“Welcome back, Vader,” Windu snapped, his voice bone dry.The other members of the Council spread themselves around the room, circlingAnakin loosely, their hands hovering easily near their lightsabers. They’dapparently decided to ignore the presence of Padmé and her entourage entirely.Anakin bit back a laugh. The last Master who’d done that had required a genetictest to identify his body afterwards.

He wouldn’t make that mistake. His eyes darted quicklyaround the room, blocking people and things in a mental map. The Jedisurrounded him, which meant they surrounded Padmé and her handmaidens, as well.Dinsa and Jothra had fallen back slightly, their eyes fixed on him, waiting fora signal.

Anakin only smiled. He’d expected this. Counted on it, even.

There were few things Jedi disliked more than the game ofpolitical nicety. Anakin had always thought this a strange quirk for afundamentally political organization. And it had served his Master well in thelast days of the old Republic. He wondered if the Jedi had fully realized thatyet.

So he arranged his expression in a mask of genteelpoliteness. He knew it was effective, because Padmé had told him once that itlooked entirely unnatural on his face. His Master had been quite capable ofportraying a genuine smile when it suited him, but Anakin had always found thatthe vague discomfort the wrongness of his society smile raised in others servedhim much better than a believable lie ever could.

“Hello, Master Jedi,” he said easily. “What can I help you withtoday?”

The members of the Jedi Council looked at one anotheruneasily. Anakin did not allow himself to grin.

“A great disturbance we sensed in the Force,” said Yodaseverely. “Many voices, crying out in rage and hate. A strong surge of the DarkSide, it was.”

“I see,” said Anakin, nodding politely. He could feel Padmélooking at him, but for now she kept her questions to herself, hidden behindher own neutral politician’s face.

Windu, apparently, had already run out of patience for thegame. “What did you do, Vader?” he growled.

Anakin laughed.

He hadn’t meant to. But he found now that he couldn’t holdit back. His Master’s holocron weighed heavy in his hand, the last remainingrelic of a dead world, and the Jedi still didn’t understand.

He looked at them each in turn, until his eyes landed onJocasta Nu. She was watching him with open curiosity. It was such an unusualexpression on a Jedi that Anakin found himself unable to look away. Instead, headdressed his confession to her.

“I destroyed the Sith,” he said. And with the words herealized it was true. He was free. His vengeance was complete.

Almost.

There was a ripple of shock and frank disbelief in theForce, maybe even a hint of anger from several of the Jedi. He might have proddedat them with that knowledge under other circumstances. But not now.

Now, Anakin raised his fist and released the last Sithholocron. It floated in the air, lines of red light flaring, and opened on thehologram of his Master, his mouth still forming words that would never beheard.

“I wanted him to watch,” Anakin said, smiling at Nu’swidened eyes. “The others are all gone. Destroyed. Thousands of years of Sithknowledge and teaching, up in smoke. He is the last.”

He could sense Windu and Kenobi tensing, ready for anyopening he would give them. Dinsa and Jothra had moved closer to him again,which wasn’t entirely unexpected, but so had Padmé, and that was…

The warm weight of that knowledge was a distraction hecouldn’t afford to think about now.

Anything you hesitateto destroy is a chain, he could hear his Master saying. It was one of theoldest lessons.

Anakin looked down at the holocron and the silent, powerlessimage of his Master. But I am Unfettered,he thought, and laughed again.

Lightning sparked from his fingers, dancing over theholocron. For one breathless moment, his Master’s face seemed caught, elongatedin a terrible snarl. And then it melted away into the drip of molten metal andthe seared ozone smell of burning circuitry. The holocron dissolved. Now thereremained only a black, stinking pile of sludge on Padmé’s floor.

There was silence. Anakin flexed his fingers. The blue firealways left behind a strange, mildly unpleasant tingle.

“Well,” said Jothra brightly, “that’s going to be fun toclean up.” He prodded the sludge with the toe of his boot.

The absurdity of that statement was apparently enough torouse the Jedi from their shock.

“So,” said Windu. “You don’t know the location of the Sithlibrary.”

Anakin smiled brightly at him. “I didn’t when you asked meso politely before.”

The Jedi exchanged brief, nervous glances, all but Dooku andNu, who looked openly confused. Well. That was interesting.

“But I’ve found it now,” Anakin continued easily. “And I’vehelped you with a matter regarding the Sith. I believe that was our agreement,in the terms of my release? You wanted to find the Sith holocrons, and I foundthem for you. And I destroyed them.”

The Jedi exchanged a glance. Anakin knew he was stretchingthe terms of his parole, but he also knew that Senator Amidala was standingbeside him, that she too was inside the circle of Jedi, and he was counting onthat. Whatever they might do to him, the Jedi would only push the Senate sofar.

And he was right.

“Proof of this, have you?” asked Yoda, his eyes narrowed andhis ears lowered. The question itself was a concession, and they all knew it.

“He has witnesses,” said Padmé. Her chin was raised and hereyes flashed and she stepped just slightly in front of him, almost unthinkinglyprotective. For just an instant, Anakin forgot that he couldn’t afford to bedistracted.

The rustle of movement at his side brought him back to themoment. “And he has holographic evidence,” said Jothra, grinning and hefting asmall datarecorder. Anakin turned to look at him in surprise. Jothra’s grinwidened. “Thought you might want it later, Boss,” he said. “A nice memento,that kind of thing.”

Sabé let out a snort of laughter. “We can also take you tothe storeroom,” she said with a shrug for the Jedi’s benefit. She too nudgedthe black sludge on Padmé’s floor with her boot, then pulled her foot away withan exaggerated grimace of distaste. “If you want to see the other pile of goo,that is.”

“That would be appreciated,” said Dooku. His tone containednothing but distant, polite interest. Anakin was impressed. There was one Jedi,at least, who understood how the game was played.

“You won’t all need to go, I trust?” said Dormé sweetly.“Surely, Master Jedi, someone could be spared to discuss the Senator’s securitywith me?”

The Jedi exchanged another, longer set of glances. At lastKenobi seemed to draw himself up – like a man preparing himself to facetorture, but determined to keep a brave face on it, Anakin thought. He bit hislip to hold back a wholly inappropriate laugh.

“It would be my pleasure, Milady,” Kenobi said.