A Cold Start - Anakin x Reader

trust

We had made contact.

The comm-link crackled with static and a distorted voice broke through the interference. It was barely audible, fragmented and broken. We furrowed our brows in concentration to make out the words. Anakin pressed a few buttons on the comm-link, attempting to stabilize the connection. The static persisted, but gradually, the voice grew clearer.

“Wh-o is th-is!?”

“Who do you think it is?”, Anakin tested him.

“Oh th-ank the uni-verse! You got my mess-age. Sk-ywalk-er! And Y/N.”, Kindon’s distorted but delighted voice filled the room.

Anakin and I exchanged a glance.

I opened my mouth to answer Kindon, suddenly a lot more confident now that we had him on the line, but before I could say anything, Anakin raised his hand to stop me.

His voice was laced with a subtle edge of warning as he did all the speaking instead.

"Listen carefully, Kinson. Yeah. We received your message. Congrats. But we need to be absolutely certain about the validity of the information you provided. You know, I’m not really the one to tolerate any deception or manipulation, especially not from someone like you. And if what you’ve said is true and Y/N’s safety is at stake here, you better give me something to work with or you'll regret ever having contacted her.”

There was a moment of tense silence before Kindon responded, his voice betraying a hint of unease.

"I un-derstand your conce-rn, Skywalker. But I assure you, my inte-ntions are gen-uine. The situa-tion is serious, it’s so much bigger than all of us in fact, and that’s why I saw it as my duty to reach out to you. There is no other reason.”

Anakin's grip tightened around the comm-link, his voice growing more forceful while I just sat there and listened to the conversation with great nervousness.

"Prove it then. I need more than just words. I need concrete evidence that what you're saying is true. Tell me something, something that only someone with knowledge of this conspiracy would know.”

There was a brief pause before Kindon replied, his voice tinged with urgency.
"I can't reveal everything over this channel, it isn't safe, but I can give you a clue. Very soon, the council will contact you, asking you and Y/N to join the mission and fly out to this planet in the outer rim.”

Anakin's expression hardened further, his suspicion apparent.

“It’s not exactly unlikely that we will be asked to join them. You could just speculate on them reaching out to us and thus proving your theory. How could we possibly trust you?”

True.

“I know how it all looks, Skywa-lker, but I have no reason to lie. If you don't bel-ieve me, then you’re putting Y/N at risk... and the galaxy’s balance. Trust is a luxury we can’t afford, but someti-mes, it’s the only way to survive...”

Anakin glanced at me, a flicker of concern passing through his eyes before he turned his attention back to the comm-link.

"You’re asking for quite a lot for how little you have to offer. ‘The balance of the galaxy’...”, he let out a sarcastic huff, “I doubt any conspiracy could disturb the balance that easily.”

Kindon's voice wavered slightly.

“You are the chosen one, don’t forget that. Your fate is the galaxy’s fate... Just re-member, time is running out. I ha-ve to go now.”

With those final words, the connection abruptly ended, leaving Anakin and me in a room filled with silence once more. We exchanged a lingering gaze, both of us aware of the difficulty of the situation we found ourselves in.