Star Wars: Secrets of the Jedi (AU)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"What do you mean we aren't going home, Master!?" Anakin yelled as he paced. "This was supposed to be a one and done."

Reeft couldn't help but smile at his padawan. While he paced like a caged rancor and yelled about unfairness, there was no real anger in his words, just the same extreme frustration at the situation that plagued them all.

"Chancellor Palpatine personally contacted the Jedi Temple and asked that you and I be assigned to Jabiim," Reeft explained in a calm voice. "A human by the name of Alto Stratus has gained support as a Separatist leader on planet. Apparently he has been calling for, and recently achieved the goal of having Jabiim secede from the Republic. He's been giving rather anti-Republic and anti-Jedi speeches. Our task is to arrest him and hold him for treason."

"Treason?"

"Yes, treason," Reeft confirmed. "Seems that the planetary government, the Jabiim Congress approved the secession. Stratus staged a coup and had the loyalist members of the congress killed for speaking out against him."

Anakin sighed and slumped into a nearby chair. "Just us?"

Reeft sat as well. "No, the Republic is sending a task force. You and I are to lead the mission to arrest Stratus. The rest of the task force has been ordered to retake the planet by force."

Anakin shook his head. "That's why we keep losing planets and star systems to the Separatists. We want the people to see us as saviors, as the ones who are going to bring freedom back to the galaxy, yet we go storming onto these worlds and retake them with force. It's no wonder so many beings see the Confederacy as the way to true freedom and not the Republic."

Reeft tilted his head. "Is that the way you see it?"

Anakin leaned forward and rested his arms on his thighs and clasped his hands together. "Sometimes, I wonder if we're doing the right thing. I wonder if fighting fire with fire is right. I understand that we've gone past the point of diplomacy, but I'm just not always certain that storming in and demanding that everyone see that we're the ones in the right is the best approach to achieving peace."

Reeft couldn't argue with him. "For the most part, I feel the same way."

"For the most part?"

Reeft smiled. "What else do we have, but war, Anakin? You said yourself that the time for diplomacy has gone. If we're past the talking stage, what is left but fighting fire with fire? If we stand by and let the Confederacy run rampant all over the galaxy, then we've already lost."

Anakin nodded. "I know that. It just doesn't make it right. Gaining peace through superior firepower? Isn't that what the Separatists are trying to do? What we've lost sight of is the fact that public opinion favors them as the freedom fighters and the Republic and the Jedi as the oppressors. We're not making friends doing things the way Chancellor Palpatine is running this war."

"Perhaps not, but in the end, as I said, what else do we have? Reeft repeated. "Do you think we should surrender and give the galaxy to the Separatists?"

Anakin chuckled. "Of course not. I didn't mean to sound like I think we should give up the fight. I do understand that sometimes two sides meet in the middle and the only option available is battle. That's the situation we're in; I just don't have to like it."

Reeft laughed with him. "No, you don't. Neither do I."

/

Coruscant—Several Months Later

Late Evening

Obi-Wan had been dismissed for the evening. Palpatine had told him he was finished and heading for his personal residence. He watched as the older man gathered his things and left his office. Obi-Wan walked with him until he had reached his residence and stepped inside.