Anakin's Fortress - Book II (temporary cover)

Twenty-eight - Raconteur

You cannot win the galaxy with a clenched fist.
Year 12

———

Kat

Anakin sends another message, and I watch him type it out with increasing suspicion. I was going to wait until he finished to press him—but unfortunately, my bladder is calling. I give him a glare he can't see before leaving the cockpit.

I'm mid-act when there is a quiet thud outside the refresher. Alarm bells go off inside my mind while I try to cut myself off. The sound wasn't from outside the ship, and it could certainly be Anakin. Except it sounded like a body hitting the floor and I, personally, have never seen Anakin fall. I'm not sure Force sensitives are generally klutzy.

Forgoing hand cleaning for safety, I open the door maybe ten seconds after I heard the sound. The sleeping chamber comes into view and directly across from me, the closet slams shut.

"Anakin," I say, the word sharp and swift. If he's trying to scare me, at least I'll know, because he won't respond.

But he does, his tall frame appearing so fast, that he clearly heard something in my voice.

"Someone's in the closet."

He cocks an eyebrow, not looking concerned at all. "Oh?" He starts toward the closet door. "Who's there?"

It opens just before he can reach it—and a blonde, blue-eyed kid smiles up at him.

"Luke!" I exclaim, relief and surprise swishing through me. He waves a bit sheepishly before returning his attention to his father. If I hadn't already been looking at Anakin, I would've missed it. The wink.

"Where are we going?"

I roll my eyes and will my heart to slow as I return to the refresher to clean my hands. Through the open door, I hear Anakin tell him it's a surprise.

When I return to the cockpit, Luke is analyzing the systems. "Now, what exactly were you going to do, Anakin? Leave your kid in a closet the whole trip?"

He gasps and gives me an offended look. "You would assume I told him to stowaway?"

"Unlike his father, Luke isn't much of a rule breaker." There's a crash in the back, and I roll my eyes. "What, did you make Obi-Wan hide in the cargo hold?"

Anakin laughs as he goes to investigate—only for that BD droid he got Luke to come rushing in beneath his feet.

"What the—" he says, just as Annie almost runs him down.

"Annie! Stop that!" She's chasing the little droid, just reaching out to zap him when I yell. "What in the world!"

"Whatcha got BD?" Luke asks, reaching down to take something off him. He turns it over in his hand and cocks his head. Annie beeps something that sounds an awful lot like uh-oh.

"Is that an old doculense?" I ask, stepping forward and holding my hand out for it. Luke gives it to me and I see right away that it is indeed.

"BD, where'd you get this?"

Beep beep boooop

"In Annie? Why were you looking in her?"

BD says he scanned her and saw it—and a restraining bolt.

The doculense I have on Annie is state of the art, new technology. It also goes with her programming, which is why BD wouldn't have seen it as an abnormality...

I shift slightly to look at Anakin, only to see one guilty-looking man. He stands there, his shoulders rounded, his arms crossed, and a pitiful little smile on his face.