Star Wars: Second Chance

3: The Council Yells

3: The Council Yells

Anakin noticed Obi-Wan looked worried and looked around, saw Luke's damaged and empty seat and got up. The two searched frantically, finally finding Luke crumpled against a bank of monitors. They could feel his Force Presence strong but filled with pain. Obi-Wan put a hand over Luke's face and winced.
"Very badly broken ankle, bruised ribs, concussion. Nothing serious but he does need medical attention."
"Yeah. I guess we'll have to wait for answers. Like, who is he, how is he a Jedi, and where did he come from?" Anakin said. Anakin wanted to know the answers but some primordial part of him felt worry for Luke. An inexplicable urge to protect him. He shook it of and turned to Obi-Wan.
"I know." Obi-Wan said. "But first, Let's get off this ship."
-SW-
The small Jedi Shuttle carrying Palpatine and the Jedi arrived at the landing platform. There were a dozen senators, including Bail Organa, Jar Jar Binks, and C-3PO, waiting for them. Palpatine, R2-D2, and Anakin got out. Obi-Wan and Mace Windu stayed in the doorway of the Jedi Shuttle.
"Are you coming, Master?" Anakin asked Obi-Wan.
"Oh no. I'm not brave enough for politics. I have to report to the Council and explain about Luke. Besides, someone needs to be the poster boy." Obi-Wan responded.
"Hold on, this whole operation was your idea. You planned it. You led the rescue operation. You have to be the one to take the bows this time." Anakin complained.
"Sorry, old friend. Let us not forget that you rescued me from the Buzz Droids. And you captured Count Dooku. And you rescued the Chancellor, me unconscious and no help, and you managed to land that bucket of bolts safely." Obi-Wan said.
"All because of your training, Master. You deserve all those speeches of your greatness." Anakin replied back.
"The endless speeches . . . Anakin, let's be fair. Today, you are the hero and you deserve your glorious day with the politicians." Obi-Wan told him.
"All right. But you owe me . . . and not for saving your skin for the tenth time." Anakin smirked.
"Ninth time . . . that business on Cato Nemoidia doesn't count. I'll see you at the briefing." Obi-Wan corrected.
Anakin smiled and walked away from Obi-Wan.
The Chancellor and his entourage approached Master Windu.
"Chancellor Palpatine, what a welcome sight! Are you all right?" Asked Master Windu
"Yes, thanks to your three Jedi Knights. Count Dooku is dead, but General Grievous has escaped once again." Palpatine said.
"General Grievous will run and hide as he always does. He is a coward." Mace responded.
"That maybe true, but with Count Dooku dead, he is the leader of the Droid Army, and I assure you, the Senate will vote to continue the war as long as Grievous is alive." Palpatine warned.
"Then the Jedi Council will make finding Grievous our highest priority." Mace said before re-boarding the shuttle and flying away.
Mace asked Obi-Wan "You mentioned 'Luke' and the Chancellor spoke of a third Jedi. What was that about?"
"During the battle with Dooku there was a powerful surge in the Force and there was a third man in the room named Luke. He had a lightsaber, control of the Force, he stopped Anakin from killing Dooku, and he saved our lives. He was injured in the crash and is the man we brought aboard. Over here." He beckoned Mace and showed him the young man with blond hair unconscious in a seat. "So this is Luke." Mace said.
"Yes, Master. We can trust him. He was injured saving me from falling down a lift shaft to my death." Obi-Wan replied.
"Very well, we will heal him at the temple. Then, when he wakes up, I want to know who he is." Mace said.
-SW-
Loud noise, pain, a crash. Luke remembered these things as he floated in his healing trace. Images flashed before his eyes, unfocused before one of a man and woman sharpened before his eyes.
The man was Anakin but Luke didn't know the woman. They embraced and kissed. Was this his mother?
"Oh, Anakin! Thank goodness, you're back." The woman said.
"I missed you, Padme. I've missed you so." Anakin said. So...her name was Padme.
"There were whispers . . . that you'd been killed. I've been living with unbearable dread." Padme told him.
"I'm back, I'm all right. It feels like we've been apart for a lifetime. And it might have been ... If the Chancellor hadn't been kidnapped. I don't think they would have ever brought us back from the Outer Rim sieges." Anakin said.
So, Anakin and Obi-Wan had been out combating Separatists before rescuing the Chancellor. This was the Clone Wars. Apparently, the Force had given him what he'd asked for. A chance to save his father.
Anakin started to give her another kiss. She stepped back. "Wait, not here..." she told him, looking around.
He grabbed her again. "Yes, here! I'm tired of all this deception. I don't care if they know we're married."
Know they're married? What did that mean? Were they married in secret? Why?
"Anakin, don't say things like that. You're important to the Republic ... to ending this war. I love you more than anything, but I won't let you give up your life as a Jedi for me..." Padme said.
The Jedi have a rule against marrying?
"I've given my life to the Jedi order, but I'd only give up my life for you." Anakin pledged.
"I wouldn't like that. I wouldn't like that one bit. Patience, my handsome Jedi . . . Come to me later." Padme said playfully.
Anakin embraced her, then looked at her. "Are you alright? You're trembling. What's going on?" He asked.
"I'm just excited to see you." Padme said.
"That's not it. I sense more . . . what is it?" He asked his wife,
"Nothing . . . nothing . . ." Padme eluded.
"You're frightened. Tell me what's going on!" He begged.
Padme began to cry. "You've been gone five months . . . it's been very hard for me. I've never felt so alone. There's . . ."
"Is there someone else?" Anakin coaxed.
"No! Why do you think that? Your jealousy upsets me so much, Anakin. I do nothing to betray you, yet you still don't trust me. Nothing has changed." Padme said angrily.
"I'm afraid of losing you, Padme . . . that's all." Anakin said sheepishly.
"I will never stop loving you, Anakin. My only fear is losing you." Padme pledged.
"It's just that I've never seen you like this..." Anakin said.
"Something wonderful has happened." Padme whispered.
They looked at each other for a long moment.
"I'm... Ani, I'm pregnant." Padme continued.
Anakin was stunned. Luke could see him thinking through all of the ramifications of this. He took her in his arms.
'That's . . . that's wonderful." He said.
"What are we going to do?" Padme asked.
"We're not going to worry about anything right now, all right? This is a happy moment. The happiest moment of my life" Anakin told her, joy in his face and voice. Luke was stunned. What had happened to make this great man turn evil and betray his wife, children, and closest friend? What had Sidious done?
The image of his parents began to fade and Luke could feel himself returning to consciousness.
When his eyes opened he assessed himself. No pain in his ankle or chest, just a slight headache. He tried to sit up and flopped a little.
"Woah, slow down." Said a familiar voice. Luke turned his head and saw Anakin standing next to his bed.
"How long was I out?" Luke asked.
"Only a couple of hours. The Council is eager to hear your report. They want to know who you are. I would too." Anakin replied.
"I've never met the Council before... " Luke said, deep in thought. "Congrats by the way."
"Excuse me?" Anakin said, a flicker of fear in his Force Aura.
"You know, on the child." children. He's on for a shock.
"How do you know about this?!" Anakin said angrily.
"Force Vision. Happens sometimes when I'm in a trace. Why? Is there a problem?" Asked Luke, trying to confirm what he had guessed.
"Wait a minute...you have never met the Council and you don't know about the Jedi Code. How are you a Jedi?" Anakin asked suspiciously.
I'm blown!
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Luke said.
"Try me." Anakin said, arms crossed.
"You know how I just appeared on the Invisible Hand?" Luke asked.
"Yeah..." Anakin said impatiently.
"Well, I'm from the Future. The Force sent me back here."
"Saying I believe you, how does that explain how you don't know about the Code?"
This was going to be the hard part. "Where I come from, I am the only surviving Jedi."
Anakin's eyes opened wide. "How is that possible?"
"In the future, the Republic is overthrown and replaced with the Empire. The Emperor, a Sith Lord, eradicated all the Jedi but two. They taught me what they knew before they died. I am the last Jedi."
Anakin sat in silence, digesting that. "Can you prove you are from the future?" Anakin asked.
"Yes." Luke said. He held up his right hand and opened the access panel on the wrist. Inside, Anakin could see the gears and power cell.
"Impossible! It looks real!" Anakin exclaimed. "All the Jedi are gone?" He asked.
Luke nodded mutely.
Anakin exhaled a long breath. "We better get you to the Council."
-SW-
Outside the Council Chamber, Anakin turned to Luke. He raised a warning finger. "Be respectful and whatever you do, don't do what I do!"
Luke raised an eyebrow at the advice but nodded. He took a breath  and went to face the Jedi Council for the first time.
When he and Anakin were in the center of the chamber they bowed simultaneously, making Luke want to smile but he kept a neutral expression.
"Masters, this is Luke Starstrider. He helped myself and Master Kenobi on our mission aboard the Invisible Hand."
Luke looked at Master Yoda and saw a twinkle in his eye that showed he knew something. The twinkle appeared at he mention of "Starstrider" so Yoda probably knew that he was actually Luke Skywalker. Luke would not be surprised that the wisest Jedi of all would have figured this out.
"Starstrider, say you, from where are you?" asked Yoda in his mixed up way.
"I'm not sure you would believe me if I told you, Master." Luke said.
"Try us." Master Windu said sternly.
"I come from 23 years in the Future. In said future, I am the last remaining Jedi."
This declaration provoked the usually calm, meditative atmosphere in the room to evaporate into the chaos of 12 shouting voices.
"What?!"
"How?!"
"Liar!"
"Silence!" Master Yoda called, rapping his gimmer stick hard twice on the floor. Silence fell. "Believe him, I do. Tell me, young one, how happen this does."
So, Luke began to tell the tale, what he knew of it. He told how a Sith Lord named Darth Sidious became emperor of the Empire which replaced the Republic. How the Clone Wars ended with the eradication of the Jedi. How Sidious's Sith Aprentice named Darth Vader killed all the Jedi who had escaped the Purge except two who had trained Luke. When he was about to tell about who Sidious was the Force halted him, warning him not to tell who Anakin or Palpatine.
When he was finished with what the Force would allow him to tell, Master Windu asked "Who are these Sith Lords you spoke of?"
Luke sighed, "I'm sorry, Master Windu, but the Force will not permit me to say."
"The Force will not allow you to tell? The Force protects the Jedi. If this information could save us, why would the Force not permit it?" Asked Master Windu, outraged.
"Strange the ways of the Force are." Master Yoda explained. "Know we will eventually, if to know we are at all. Now, said you two surviving Jedi trained you. Who?"

"The first was an old recluse who lived out in the Jundland Wastes. I knew him as Ben but I later discovered that his name was actually Obi-Wan Kenobi." Everyone looked at Obi-Wan who looked shocked that out of all the Jedi, he survived. "As to the second Jedi," Luke continued, "That was you, Master Yoda. In the future, before you died, you told me that I was a Jedi Knight."

Strained silence hovered in the tense air. Breaking the silence, master Yoda said. "A Jedi Knight may you be, but told me has Master Kenobi that fought Grevious you did. Brave that was but flaws in your technique there were. Train you we shall while here you are. The future of the Jedi you are. Who, the question is."
Anakin stepped forward and placed a hand on Luke's shoulder. "Master, if you will permit me, I will train Luke." Luke could tell that Anakin did not like asking for permission, but he was doing it for Luke. Master Windu looked like he would protest but Master Yoda spoke first. "Allow this, I shall. Help, Master Kenobi, will you?"
Obi-Wan nodded and that was that.
Luke and Anakin left the Council Chamber, and Luke had a feeling there would be serious discussion once they were out of earshot. 
"We can start training tomorrow, Luke, but for now would you like to come over for dinner?" Anakin asked, pulling Luke from his thoughts.
"Yeah, that would be great."

*2204 words