"A moment passed as the Dark side, always present but always in a slumber, awakened inside of me and every question was answered. Where the abyss had been mere moments ago, steady ground now revealed itself, erasing every particle of the paralysing...
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I was the last one to arrive at the next morning's session with the Council. Obi-Wan looked at me with raised eyebrows when I entered the chamber but no one else seemed to take notice. I hurried to my chair and sat down.
After a quick briefing of the latest events on the battle lines, Windu turned to me.
"Skywalker", he said. Not Master. "You met with the Chancellor last night. What did you discuss?
I stopped the urge to roll my eyes, knowing what I could actually tell them, knowing how I could diminish their authority with a few simple words - The Chancellor knows. He's smarter than you. He would never ask me to commit treason towards you.
I straightened in my chair, brushing away the bitter thoughts and when I spoke, I did so calmly.
"The whereabouts of Grievous", I said, reaching to my belt and grabbing my datapad, opening up the location Palpatine had sent me. I turned to the Jedi next to me, Eeth; "Master, could you pass this to Master Windu?"
Eeth raised his eyebrows and I stifled a smile. No one but me seemed to enjoy the joke. "Alright", I said, rising up. "I'll do it myself."
Windu looked sternly at me as I handed him the datapad. He then frowned, looking at the rapport and I went back to my chair.
"Pau City. And this was discovered by the clone intelligence?", he said after a while.
"Palpatine thinks General Grievous is on Utapu?" Ki-Adi spoke.
Showoff, I thought, but stayed professional as everyone turned to me.
"A partial message was intercepted in a diplomatic packet from the chairman of Utapu."
Yoda made a humming sound and no one was looking at me anymore. "Act on this we must. The capture of General grievous will end this war. Quickly and decisively we should proceed."
"The Chancellor has requested that I lead the campaign", I said, suddenly nervous because as soon as I spoke the words myself, I realised how much I wanted this. I didn't want to leave Padmé, I didn't want to miss anymore of the pregnancy or worse still, the delivery. But I wanted to be rid of my current assignment and be back where I always knew exactly what to do, where everything was up to me and every task logical and doable.
The tension in the room shifted immediately and I knew I would never get what I had asked for.
"The Council will make up its own mind who is to go, not the Chancellor", Windu said with a sharp tone.
"A Master is needed, with more experience."
Or simply a Master, I thought. No one in this room could claim to surpass my competence.
"I concur", Ki-Adi spoke. "Master Kenobi should go."
What? Obi-Wan was my ally, but more so, he was my equal. I had saved him numerous times, we usually completed missions together, we completed each other. And now, he supposedly outshone me because of... ranks? I couldn't view this as anything else than a direct insult towards me, another way for the Council to express their lack of faith in me.
