Chapter Text
Ale-Thea Bultan had been a reporter for seven years at the Republican Rambler. Most thought it a gossip rag or even worse, a tabloid that liked to stir up trouble. Thanks mostly to previous editors. The newest one was a fellow Bothan by the name of Dun Farsth. He had nearly turned the Rambler’s reputation respectable again. He asked her to do a fluff piece on the Jedi generals. Poster boy, Anakin Skywalker, was the one that would definitely sell. Ale-Thea had rolled her eyes – a habit that she had picked up from her human co-workers – and went to do her assignment.
Looking up previous done articles made Ale-Thea near facepalmed. They were almost universally about his hair, his abilities as the Hero with No Fear, and speculations about his and the Senator from Naboo’s oh-so secret relationship. Ale-Thea wanted something different, so she dug deeper. She found a picture that made the fur on her forearms stand on end. It was an old picture taken by a real tabloid. The article was bunked years ago, but the picture. That picture showing the Chancellor and a then-tiny Anakin Skywalker together.
It was a simple thing; the Chancellor had had a hand on Skywalker’s thin shoulder. It may have been paternal – as the debunked article tried to spin a tale of shameful illegitimacy and over the top reconciliation – but something about Palpatine seemed almost … possessive. Ale-Thea shook herself and looked further. Perhaps it had just been the lighting. There were all kinds of reasons why the picture hadn’t really shown what was really happening. But again, and again, and again; pictures of the both of them together over the years showed the same thing.
‘Perhaps it was just the Chancellor looking like a creep,’ Ale-Thea thought. Her thoughts circled round and around, until she shook herself and with determination, set off for the Senate’s Administration Building. She would find the evidence or lack thereof there.
§
It was actually pretty easy to get a hold of the answers to her list of questions. It was just as easy to get copies to take with her. The sources that she would need had apparently been relegated to semi-classified information records. The war and the more recent missions therein were deemed more crucial and secret. The classified pieces had been blacked out, but the rest continued to build a horrible conspiracy with a most-likely pedophile having the most power in the Republic.
Throughout the years, in the many pictures, there was no one else accompanying the duo. Where was Jedi Master Obi-wan Kenobi? How could he not have noticed that something was going on? The answer was that Obi-wan Kenobi had been requested for a significant percentage of missions more than any other Jedi Knight or Master.
Putting together the timeline, Ale-Thea noticed that Obi-wan had gone to Naboo with his Master, a Qui-Gon Jinn, who had been killed in the Battle of Naboo, leaving Obi-wan – no doubt grief stricken – with a nine-year old Anakin Skywalker. Then, about three months after the young Team had returned to Coruscant, the Chancellor had started to request Padawan Skywalker to spend time with him.
Supposedly, to get to know the Hero of Naboo better. The requests had been denied at first. Knight Kenobi’s official reasons were that young Anakin was just settling into the Temple and needed to have his education assessed, and that since Anakin had never been to the Rotunda before, he wouldn’t leave his Padawan alone there. The requests for meetings continued, and the language seemed to change.
It wasn’t obvious, but the connotation of the requests and their replies were … telling. It seemed from even some of the language being used that Kenobi didn’t trust Chancellor Palpatine at all. The last report before the increase in the mission load, stated that Kenobi was on his last discipline mark before Padawan Skywalker would be taken from him and placed into another Master’s care. That shocked Ale-Thea and filled her with dread. It was a small excerpt written by Jedi Master Mace Windu, stating that the Chancellor was starting to use vague threats and innuendos, the ones basically accusing the Order of kidnapping babes from their mothers’ arms, to brainwash into being obedient Jedi drones. The Chancellor had said that he would like to talk to the one Padawan he knew wasn’t brainwashed from the start, the one Padawan that actually helped his people from suffering under the Trade Federation.
Ale-Thea had to go outside and light an incense stick. Breathing in that purifying scent, she fumed. She knew that the records would probably get worse, just a gut feeling. Twenty minutes later, she returned to the files. Ten minutes in, Ale-Thea got back up, grabbed the incense pack, a bottle of Andover, and a portable dispose. She was going to need them. This was getting beyond worse.
She constructed the entire timeline, right up to the first battle of the Clone Wars. The information from then on was still classified, not that she needed it. The evidence in the decade available alone was alarming. Knight Kenobi had spent about eighty percent of the ten-year span on missions, traveling to and from missions, and recovering from said missions. Eighteen out of twenty were ones – from the wording alone – would make anyone hesitate to go, let alone bring a teenager along with them.
So, Padawan Skywalker was left at the Temple. Looking over the timeline, Ale-Thea frowned. Alright, Knight Kenobi wasn’t even on planet for near all of General Skywalker’s apprenticeship. She wondered about the other Jedi though. ‘Why would they let Skywalker go through this?’ That thought actually brought another one to the front, ‘Why didn’t Skywalker say anything?’ It might be that there actually wasn’t anything really going on. Or…
Ale-Thea looked up Skywalker’s personal file. It was available for public sight, so long as no one tried to look too closely at the missions he had been on. It was rather vague for the most part, generalized verbiage, no doubt to protect Skywalker’s privacy, at least in part. Going to the very beginning, when he was introduced to the Jedi Order, one line, the one damming line that pushed her over the edge and had her heaving into the disposal.
>>> Master Qui-Gon Jinn discovered the Foundling, Anakin Skywalker, on Tatooine and won the slave from his former owner, a Toydarian junk shop owner by the name of Watto, in a bet. The boy’s mother remains in his former master’s ownership. <<<
§
Ale-Thea had met formerly enslaved sentiments. For the most part, they would never go near altercations. They had severe mental scars from the horrors that they had been victims of. One of the things that most of the freed slaves she had talked to, had told her about a few gaslighting techniques that the slavers would employ to keep their slaves cowed or even a twisted version of loyal servants.
Grooming and such on the younger – especially children – enslaved were belittled, manipulated, and sometime – very rarely – given a “treat” – something that everyone should be able to have at their hand, these poor victims of systemic abuse have to toil for day and night to get maybe once a rotation… if ever…
After she finished heaving and taking a sip of water – the Andover would have to wait for when this article was completed – Ale-Thea returned to the personal file. Silently begging for a note, a something, to indicate that Padawan Skywalker was given mental healing as well as physical. ‘Please,’ she thought, ‘Please, let there be a record…’
Nothing, not a note, not a snippet! Not even a record of a physical to see if his physical health was good. Closing her eyes, Ale-Thea took a deep breath and started filling out her article’s bare bones. This was going to be a real eye-opener rather than the fluff piece that is the usual articles aired about Anakin Skywalker, but this needed to be done. She silently prayed that General Anakin Skywalker, the Hero with No Fear, would be okay and maybe even forgive her for writing this article.
§
It took her almost the whole day to find the evidence, get all the references, find the years-old reports available to the public, and connect the missing pieces. She had written the article about what she had found and took it to her editor. She hadn’t touched the Andover, she will definitely be hitting that drink after she dropped the article to her boss.
At first, Farsth had merely pricked his ears at the title of her article, but as he continued to read, the ears went down, his brows furrowed, and his eyes started to spark. When he had finished reading, Farsth closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale… a few more times.
Farsth looked up and opened his eyes, “The Hero with No Fear: Friend or Victim?” With Farsth’s eyes blazing an inferno. He was furious. Ale-Thea braced herself, not knowing if he was furious at her or the article. “This isn’t a fluff piece, this is not your assignment,” Farsth growled. Ale-Thea flinched and braced for what lecture she was about to get.
“This is going on the front-page and we will let that sorry excuse of a Chancellor answer for it.” Ale-Thea jerked her head up and looked shocked at her editor. She hadn't expected that, but then again, maybe she should have. Dun Farsth had already gotten up from his seat and was storming towards the secured computers that would download data, splice said data into the Rambler’s databases, and then project the article into projection throughout the galaxy – to every data-pad that had a subscription to their news outlet. Farsth put the article into the machine and stated in a ringing furious should “Front Page, Priority One!”