Blurred Sides (COMPLETE)

7.2.2

Anakin, once again, was walking through the front doors of the Senate Building. This time, he had been sent with a message from the Council to the Chancellor. After yesterday's Council hearing the Jedi Masters decided that the Chancellor ought to know of this new threat, both the person and the message she gave. Since Anakin was the one to hear the message firsthand, it made sense to send him.

He maneuvered through the extensively decorated and complex halls absentmindedly. Anakin made this journey hundreds of times recently, both to see Padmé and to see Chancellor Palpatine. He probably knew the layout of the Senate Building better than some of the Jedi Masters by now. He passed the security to the top floor, where the Chancellor lived while he stayed on Coruscant, and approached the guards that were stationed outside his doors.

"Is the Chancellor available right now?" Anakin asked, even though he had already sensed his presence inside the room.

The guards checked in with their charge, then nodded and let him past the doors.

Chancellor Palpatine looked up from his desk and smiled warmly. "Ah, Anakin. I apologize for the guards. I told them to let you in if they ever see you, but security is security." He sighed. "The price of safety only grows in these dangerous hours."

"I agree, sir," Anakin responded, not really caring but not wanting to contradict the politician. He sat in the closest of the two seats in front of the polished desk. "I was sent with a message from the Jedi Council, and I think you will want to hear it."

Palpatine looked up and folded his hands on his desk. "For me? From the Council?"

"Well, not necessarily," Anakin amended. "It's from someone else, but the Council sent me to tell you."

"Ah," said the Chancellor, secretly amused. "I see."

"Do you remember that tip you gave me the last time I was here?" The Jedi asked. "The one about a new Separatist base in the Xlenian system?"

"Partially, although I can't say I recall any of the minor details, other than I recommended you for the mission."

"I met someone there," Anakin said, sitting forward in the seat and leaning his elbows on his knees. "She said she was an Inquisitor."

Palpatine resisted the urge to smile. Did she now?

"She told me as she left that 'You can tell the Council that the Sith are tired of waiting for surrender. Mark my words, Skywalker. Within months, your precious Chancellor will have no choice but to bow to Darth Sideous.'"

Palpatine furrowed his brow. "That is quite a frightening message."

"The Council views it as a direct threat to your safety, sir."

"Well, how do you view it?" Palpatine asked innocently, but in his head he watched his words work in the Jedi. When the Chancellor asked for Anakin's opinion over the Council's, it only brought him closer to the betrayal of the Order. A small step, but a step forward in his plan, nonetheless.

Anakin thought for a moment. "I'm less concerned with the message than with the person," he said finally.

I'll bet you are, Palpatine thought. "What about her?"

"Where did she come from? How did she manage to rise in the Separatist Army without the Order noticing?"

Palpatine let the Jedi's questions swirl through the air before answering. "Well, it wouldn't have been the first time something has slipped past the Order."

He had done it. He had said the magic words. Just the indirect mention of his lost Padawan had his thoughts churning, and turning against the Jedi.