The Loyalty of the Dark

Chapter 14

"Anakin," Palpatine's voice said from the little speaker resting in Eclipse's ear and immediately drawing her attention away from the shadowfeed jobs she was looking over to try and make some credits—nothing close to home that wouldn't immediately draw the Jedi's attention unfortunately. She'd spent the previous afternoon bugging all of the Chancellor's offices and personal quarters. While most of what happened was rather, well, boring and Senate related—she had yet to locate the place the Chancellor was using for Sidious's activities, but it wouldn't be long until she had—Vader's Shadow was glad for her own forcite. She wished to know any and every thing that happened when it came to the Sith Lord's interactions with her Master, not to mention she may eventually overhear the key to what happened to Padmé—unless she was mistaken, Anakin had now witnessed the vision Vader had told her about which meant that at the very least it was near enough for him to see, though that could mean days to weeks to months. Her Master's visions were always accurate, but the timing was rarely clear. "Join me." It was silent in the room as the Jedi did as asked—or at least Eclipse assumed so, she hadn't brought up a holo nor did she plan to.

"Do you see, Anakin?" Palpatine asked, his voice horse with emotion. "Do you see what they have done to our magnificent city? This war must end. We cannot allow such....such...." His voice trailed away, perfectly portraying a nearly broken man that caused Eclipse to roll her eyes in disgust. Utterly pathetic.

"You know you have my best efforts, and those of every Jedi," Anakin's voice responded, tone reassuring.

"I know I have yours, Anakin. The rest of the Jedi...." Palpatine sighed, before waiting long enough to entice a subject change. "I have asked you here," the Chancellor said slowly, "because I need your help on a matter of extreme delicacy. I hope I can depend upon you, Anakin."

"Of course," came the Jedi's almost worried response.

"You see, I...." Palpatine sighed as though he was ashamed to continue The Sith apprentice sneered in disgust beneath her mask. Vader and Eclipse never needed to act as though they contained emotions, just war machines. It was them. It was the truth. It was freedom. Anything less was akin to the scum that resided in the Senate who acted as though they cared about the people they served and weren't paid off to benefit some higher interest. "I have begun to fear the Jedi themselves."

"Oh, Chancellor there is no one more loyal than the Jedi—surely, after all this time—"

"The Council keeps pushing for more control. More autonomy. They have lost all respect for the rule of law. They have become more concerned with avoiding the oversight of the Senate than with winning the war."

"That is far from the truth. They want to win the war as much as the rest of us....and with all do respect, sir, many on the Council would say the same of you."

"Oh, I have no doubt of it. Many of the Jedi on your Council would prefer I was out of office altogether—because they know I'm onto them now. They're shrouded in secrecy, obsessed with convert action against mysteriously faceless enemies—"

"The Sith are hardly faceless," Anakin interjected—rather firmly, Eclipse may add. "Dooku himself—"

"Was he truly a Lord of the Sith? Or was he just another in your string of fallen Jedi, posturing with a red lightsaber to intimidate you?"

"I...." Anakin dropped off, suddenly sounding rather uncertain much to Eclipse's surprise. How in Force's name could he be uncertain about that? Tyranus was a Sith, certainly not an impressive one, but a Sith nonetheless. "But Sidious—"

"Ah, yes, the mysterious Lord Sidious. 'The Sith infiltrator in the highest levels of government.' Doesn't that sound a little overly familiar to you, Anakin? A little overly convenient? How do you know this Sidious even exists? How do you know he is not fiction, a story created by the Jedi Council, to give them an excuse to harass their political enemies?"