Word Up, Return To Fair City Batch 5 (part 2!)

fool's gold

part 2, with part 1 included :)

--

“It cannot be stressed enough how dangerous this news is.”

General Madine leveled a flat glare towards the Rebels, who were nodding thoughtfully. Luke wanted to scream. “It appears we as the Alliance have a new enemy—an unknown enemy, one who has yet to strike, but one who will clearly be formidable. After all, look at his father.”

Yeah, huh, what must that be like? Having Vader as a father? Of all the—

“It is our understanding that not even the Empire knows the identity of Vader’s child. Whoever they are, they’ve been kept well under wraps. Obviously, if their identity were to be revealed, they would be in extreme danger. It’s no wonder Vader hasn’t advertised their existence. Being his offspring would come with a myriad of built-in enemies.”

Great. Oh, great. It didn’t help that Leia had murmured agreement to that. Little did the Alliance know that Vader’s enemies were so numerous they technically included his son. Not that Luke was about to share that little fact with the group. He raised his eyes to the ceiling.

“The media is also champing at the bit to find out more. No one knows anything. No one knows the age of the being, no one knows the species—much like with Vader himself, even the most basic of details are a mystery.”

A mystery even to the child himself, Luke thought miserably. He didn’t know anything about his father either. Well, besides the fact that he was (1) tall, (2) dark, and (3) evil, and, oh, that’s right, he’d been Anakin Skywalker once upon a time. Somehow, Luke got the feeling that information wouldn’t smooth over any ruffled feathers.

Why didn’t you tell me, Ben, he thought unhappily for not the first, second, or even thirtieth time. He felt as if he had been led blindfolded, not with a knife to a blaster fight, but with nothing to a, a nuclear event. The information had definitely dropped with the subtlety of a nuclear bomb.

Wedge spoke. “Are we planning to devote any resources to finding them, whoever they are? Or are we just going to wait to see if they make an appearance?” Unsettled murmuring rose in response at the thought of a Vader 2.0 waiting in the shadows. Luke tartly thought that, much like the man himself, the Alliance was going to be disappointed. The last time Luke had pulled out his lightsaber in a fight, he had lost a hand. Catch him repeating that experience again anytime soon. That, and, uh, Luke had all the trained finesse of a wobbling baby bantha foal. He exhaled gloomily.

General Madine sighed. “It’s hard to say at this point. If Vader has trained his child—if that child has Vader’s powers—I don’t have to state that they are an extreme danger to the Alliance and its mission. Vader himself is enough of an enemy for us, let alone Vader doubled.”

Vader doubled—Luke’s mouth dropped open in offense (and a little bit of humiliation at how far Madine has missed the mark as to the threat level), but he clamped it shut before anyone noticed. A moment too late because Leia shot him a funny look. Luke tried to smile at her to cover it but knew from her expression of unimpressed all over that he had probably just looked constipated.

“We’ll keep everyone updated on our strategy,” Madine finished. “High Council is still discussing how we want to approach it.”

“Well, I think the best defense is a good offense,” Wedge muttered, lowering himself back into his seat.

“I’m on the same page,” Madine nodded. “I suspect that’s where the Alliance will land.”

Luke decided he didn’t like the direction the conversation was heading. “I mean, is it really necessary? Vader’s,” barely catching himself before he said son and blew everything to hell, “child hasn’t done anything yet. What if they aren’t a threat?”

They aren’t, he added silently in his head. Not only because Luke’s politics and sense of morals were about as far away as his father’s as possible—forget opposite end of the spectrum, between Luke’s Vader’s lay the entire spectrum, if you asked Luke—but also because…well…Luke didn’t know anything. Baby bantha foal, indeed. Vader could squash him like a bug. Leia could squash him like a bug. Although the thought was unpleasant, embarrassing, and a whole other pile of disagreeable words, Luke presented no threat to the Alliance.

“Luke,” Leia’s voice was patient, which meant that Luke had just said something she considered idiotic but that she wasn’t going to hold it against him. “It’s Vader. Any child of his would almost certainly be a powerful Force sensitive.”

“Yeah, kid,” Han languidly stretched out his feet, having leaned back in his chair during the entire conversation with his characteristic idleness. “I’m with her Worshipfulness on this one. I ain’t eager to sit back and let some nightmare creature of the dark sneak up on us.”

Nightmare creature of the!!—Luke knew he had zero right to be so offended at the entire conversation but also thought sulkily that anyone would be a little insulted. Well, except Vader, probably. Which made Luke wonder for a split second how Vader felt about his general image as a whole, but then he shook off the thought. Anyone who still cared about how they lived at all wouldn’t do what Vader did on a normal weekday.

After a beat, Luke just shrugged in surrender, letting the conversation wind on without speaking again. The Alliance would piddle away resources (Luke had tried to stop them, he really had), and Luke already knew they wouldn’t find anything worth noting. In the meantime, he’d try to live in peace. As much peace as someone being intently hunted by both sides of the war could.

--

“I bet he eats infant limbs for breakfast.”

“Hey, it could be a girl too.”

“I bet she paints her face in blood then.”

“I bet they suck the blood of their victims.”

“Hey, that’s vampires,” Luke objected halfheartedly, speaking for the first time since the Rogues’ conversation had begun. Lunchtimes weren’t as fun lately, not since the news of Vader’s child had swept through the base. Not that anything was much fun after Bespin, but if Luke had learned anything from missions with Han, it was that things could always get worse.

“Yeah, but for all we know, Vader could be a vampire.” The pilot’s mouth was flecked with sauce as he continued. “Mebbe that’s why he wears the suit. Can’t be in the sun.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Luke said flatly, but everyone else was nodding thoughtfully.

“Whoever it is, I don’t envy them,” Wedge commented. “Vader is hardly going to win parent of the year awards.”

It was the first sympathetic comment Luke had heard, and it nearly made him tear up. Finally—

“Not that it matters in the end. The jarra fruit never falls far from the tree,” Wedge took another bite of his sandwich decidedly. “You know, Luke,” he mused, “They probably are aware of your existence, given how Vader has hunted you down.”

Luke stiffened—the remark toed too close to uncomfortable truths, but no one blinked an eye or wandered after the thought to its logical conclusion.

“Yeah, it’s a good thing the Rebellion is searching for them. Vader’s child could be after you too, for all you know,” Tycho remarked. “They might view you as an enemy, same as Vader.”

This—this was ridiculous. “I think I’m good,” Luke said weakly.

“If you say so,” Tycho shrugged. “But given your status as the pilot who destroyed the Death Star and Jedi trainee, whatever you call ‘em, I’d watch my back if I were you.”

Oh, Luke was, but for entirely different reasons than Tycho was thinking.

“Don’t worry, Luke,” Wedge said kindly. “You have us to watch your back. You aren’t going it alone. Vader’s child won’t hurt you, not if we have anything to say about it.”

Luke didn’t know what to say other than thanks.  

Their lunch was interrupted by a summons to a briefing room.

“Gentleman,” Madine greeted, Leia standing beside him. “We’d like to update you on where our search stands. We’ve compiled a list of potential identities for Vader’s child.” A holoprojector flickered to life in the front of the room. “First, we have…”

What followed was an indescribable mix of assassins, warmongers, Imperial hands (Luke noted the red haired one), and various other slightly to very murderous galactic citizens. By the end of it, Luke was simultaneously relieved and insulted. Relieved because the Alliance was nowhere closer to guessing his secret, and insulted because—

Luke blinked. Shifted uncomfortably. Wondered if perhaps he wasn’t getting enough sleep. That had to be it; there was no other explanation for the mysterious disappointment that—

“Luke, are you coming?”

“Yes,” Luke said quickly, leaping up to follow Leia and leave the room and any awkward realizations behind him. This would die down soon enough once the Alliance failed to find anything.

--

Or so he thought, until a month later, when Leia came marching up. “I have news.”

“Oh?” Luke said distractedly, eyeing the fencepost he and Han had been trying to hit with rocks for the past hour. Han had soundly been kicking Luke’s ass. Luke sighed. Destined to suck even at throwing pebbles.

“It’s about Vader’s son.”

That got Luke’s attention instantly. His head snapped towards Leia, who was gazing down at her datapad. Han, for once, leaned forward with interest instead of lazily reclining.

Son? They had already found out it was a son?

“We also weren’t expecting to have so much luck so soon,” Leia responded, Luke realizing he had accidentally blurted his thoughts out loud in a panic.

He rocked back on his feet with a tentative, “That’s good.”  Or not. It was in fact, bad. Very, very bad. But nothing else about Luke’s life was going well for him at the moment, so he just wearily accepted that this was going less than amazingly too.  

“So, what did you actually find?” Han interrupted impatiently. “The kid and I were busy.”

Leia shot him a scorching look, then briskly pulled up something on her datapad. “Our spies in the Empire have informed us that based on communications between Vader and the Emperor, Vader’s child is a boy. Vader frequently refers to him as one.”

Oh, that was all. Luke could have told them that. After all, Luke actually---

Luke shoved down the thought before it took off. He didn’t like anything about Vader. Nothing. Zero, zilch, nada. He would have even told the Alliance Vader's son hated him out of sheer spite, if it wouldn’t blow his cover (? As much of a cover as someone’s real identity could be) apart.

“Huh…welp, one step closer to finding him,” Han meandered to find another pebble, clearly bored with the conversation once it was clear no other information was forthcoming.

“Yes. We’ve managed to eliminate half of our list of potential identities.”

Half of zero was still zero, Luke thought comfortingly.

“You know,” Han said reflectively, “You could cut down the list more by focusing on known Force sensitives.”

Wait—

“We’ve actually already planned on doing so,” Leia’s tone said she wasn’t about to be outdone by Han. “But thank you for the suggestion.”

Wait—

A lazy grin. “Anytime, your worshipfulness. In fact—”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Luke cut in loudly (and desperately).

Both Han’s and Leia’s eyebrows shot up.

“Luke…” Leia began after a beat, “I know this must be stressful for you, knowing that Vader likely has his son after you too—”

“But, kid, I wouldn’t sweat it,” Han finished. “If Vader hasn’t gotten you yet, his son isn’t gonna either.”

Luke didn’t respond. He was staring down at his hand. A silence fell as Han and Leia watched him.

“Vader won’t touch you,” Leia said fiercely. “Never again. He’s scum, Luke. He’s scum, and one day, we’ll defeat him. I know it.”

It should have been comforting. But Luke just felt sick. He knew what Leia meant by defeat. Doing otherwise was unthinkable. Yet somehow…

“Him, and his son,” Han added.

Luke was done. After dropping a curt, “Sure,” he walked off, shaking his head while muttering.  He felt Han and Leia’s eyes on his back but ignored it. They wouldn’t guess the truth. No one had. Luke scowled and kicked at the ground. No one could believe that he and Vader had anything to do with each other. Luke knew he should be delighted, but all he could think of was Obi-Wan telling him how Luke was so much like his father, recalling it with a wistfulness that ashamed him. Luke—he’d wanted—well—

Anyway, that was probably yet another one of Obi-Wan’s lies, Luke dismissed firmly. He was profoundly lucky that he and Vader were so dissimilar; it was the only thing saving his ass right about now.

Still, Luke spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the base alone.

The Skywalker chin dimple got my crying rn

*gently holds* (trollstuck designs by @dawsonschristian)

Duhess Satine in battle armour

sketch by Dave Filoni

Crack AU where Anakin can all of a sudden hear the background music that we all hear. Those pleasant chats with Palpy become a lot more ominous. Though Anakin admits that the fights have become a lot more epic. Thoughts?

Hahahahaha. Love it!

And okay, my first though was “and the galaxy was saved because even Anakin Skywalker would struggle to keep trusting Palpatine with that music playing in the background”

Anakin think he’s gone COMPLETELY insane (maybe he’s finally been electrocuted too many times and its fried his brain). He doesn’t tell anyone though because he can still fight just fine just… everything is a lot more musical. He doesn’t want to be thought crazy and taken off the front lines.

Once he figures out what the various musical cues mean he actually finds them useful in figuring out how dangerous a situation is. Also battles are so much cooler now and boring landscapes are slightly less boring because at least now they have mood music. Yep, he can live with this.

(Although he is always confused why the ominousness that is The Imperial March starts playing at some of his decisions)

Hayden Christensen, Louis Vuitton 2004.

"You're telling me you haven't tried to mass hypnotize your audience even Once?!"

I’m gonna just throw this out before it happens:

Even if Sabine somehow “unlocks” the force through hard work, the Jedi were STILL RIGHT to only recruit force sensitive children.

There has only been one episode of Sabine learning to be a jedi so far. Look at how terrible of a time she’s having. She’s making zero progress, and we know she spent a long time with Ahsoka before quitting because she was making no process.

Why is she putting herself through all this grief with no reward? No idea. That’s another post.

But the point is Ahsoka isn’t even teaching Sabine what younglings were usually taught. She’s not trying to get Sabine to deflect blaster shots (bc she’d never be able to) and she’s not trying to teach Sabine how to move things with her mind (bc she’d never be able to). It’s just lightsaber lessons. Something Kanan taught Sabine already just as a Mandalorian wielding the dark saber. Sabine would be doing so much worse if she was in a normal youngling group.

Sabine has only gotten this far because she is a natural warrior. And she still already quit once. Ahsoka’s really not helping at all. She’s just telling Sabine to “feel it”

And sure! The other jedi masters did that. But they did that knowing that their students actually had a natural ability to feel the force!! Their students knew what they were trying to feel.

For someone who went through the public school system with dyslexia I honestly felt so frustrated and bad for Sabine last episode. Ahsoka and Huyang are telling her to do things she just has no ability to do. At least Huyang is being honest with her about why.

There is nothing more frustrating when you’re struggling and someone tells you to just. Do it better. Huyang and Ahsoka are not giving her any real instruction. Bc there is no instruction. There is no shortcut like there was with reading.

But unlike me and reading, Sabine does not have to be a jedi. She does not have to learn how to use the force. So why is Ahsoka putting her through this? Why is she putting herself through this?

Imagine if the Jedi order did that with little kids? Kids who may not have the option to quit like Sabine did? That would so so terrible for them. It’s already terrible for Sabine. How long did Sabine try the first time around? How terrible did it get, not making any improvement for so long, before she quit the first time? She doesn’t have to be a jedi. If you’re not force sensitive there’s no reason to force it. (Hehe, get it? Force it?)

If Ahsoka wanted a padawan she should have found someone force sensitive and trained them. Honestly this whole thing feels like a cruel joke on Sabine: someone who works hard and is naturally talented at many other things.

Cody gets bitten by a werewolf sometime during the war, and can transform at will with no full moon requirement, effectively becoming himself as a very large dog

he and Obi-Wan conspire to keep this fact hidden, as they're very aware of the danger of the Kaminoans finding out and disappearing him into their labs

when Order 66 goes out, Cody has a split second to fight it

and, well. wolves aren't exactly good soldiers, and you can only sort of expect them to follow orders.

transformed, Cody runs straight to the General, but when he gets there, he realizes that he can't actually warn him of the danger, because he can't transform back to explain without the Order taking hold

but he can whine sadly and pull on Obi-Wan's ridiculous sleeves with his teeth until Obi-Wan gets the hint and lets him lead him away to safety in a stolen ship

they make the rendezvous with Bail and Yoda

(Bail: what's with the dog Obi-Wan?

Obi-Wan, sweating: it's, um, a service dog

Yoda: ...fake, that sounds, but okay)

and then Cody and Obi-Wan make the trip to the Temple to disable the beacon, with Cody fighting off his brothers as nonlethally as he can while Obi-Wan does his best to follow his lead

after they find the evidence of Anakin's betrayal and receive Yoda's assignment, Obi-Wan sobs into Cody's fur the whole flight to Padme's apartment, and then silently the whole flight out to Mustafar hidden aboard her ship

while Obi-Wan is busy fighting with Vader, Cody manages to drag Padme's unconscious body back aboard her ship, then sneaks back closer to the fighting just in time to see the end of the duel

(if he waits to act until Obi-Wan is just far enough to not notice when Anakin's screams cut out, well, that's his own business)

he follows Obi-Wan back to the ship and drapes himself across the man's lap the whole way to Polis Massa

after Padme's death and her children's birth, Cody demands that they keep at least one of the babies

(look at his puppy dog eyes. how can you so cruelly deprive him of tubies like this.)

so Luke grows up with his Uncle Ben and their very strange, very large dog, Cody

when they end up on the Death Star nearly two decades later, Cody materializes from wherever he'd been lurking on the station just in time to drag Obi-Wan to safety during his duel with the Grand Inquisitor

as soon as their bedraggled group arrives on Yavin, Rex shows up to eagerly greet his former General; Cody, while thrilled to see his brother alive, starts viciously growling at him as he approaches: he might not understand in detail how the chips work, but he knows what he experienced that day, and he's seen what his brothers have done since then

Obi-Wan explains the situation to the man from the Cody-approved distance of half the hangar away, how Cody transformed one day and has refused to turn back since, and Rex immediately expresses his confusion, asking if they haven't removed Cody's chip

(Cody: I assure you, I did NOT let anyone microchip me!)

following Rex's explanation, Cody rushes them all to the medbay to undergo surgery, leaving Obi-Wan to explain to Luke how their 'dog' is actually his other Uncle

while Obi-Wan and Cody are distracted desperately making out with each other in the medbay, Luke sneaks off to destroy the Death Star, setting them up to all live happily ever after

Empress

This AU really starts when Anakin finds his mother in the Tusken camp, but only truly works if there is a little set up before.  It is imperative, for reasons that will become clear, to note that in this Palpatine has been manipulating Anakin with the Force, as opposed to only psychologically, since he was a child.  Palpatine has been seeding the darkside, hidden deep so that it was never discovered (even by Anakin), waiting to sprout and spread the darkside like an infection at the appropriate moments. 

When Anakin finds his mother as she dies, he loses it, but not to violence. Instead he panics and shoves every bit of Force that he can into his mother’s body to try and bring her back and heal her. Every bit of the Force, including the darkside seeds that Palpatine had been planting.  Because healing is primarily a light sided technique, thus somewhat purifying, Shmi does not get the full force of the darkside infection that would have hit her son (so we avoid Vader!Shmi or even Full Sidious!Shmi) however there were a number of long lasting effects to the way Anakin panicked and brought her back (incidentally Anakin has now created two new deities for the Tuskans, which Shmi does note and will make use of later).  These include:

A Force bond between her and Anakin that gave her Anakin's memories and feelings for the past decade. 

A working knowledge of what Palpatine knew (From Palpatine’s Dark Seeds), though no firsthand memories. 

Force Sensitivity that is powerful enough to use the various techniques she just gained the knowledge to use.

A significant hit to the moral centers of her psyche.

A Soul Deep and engrossing ambition to rule the Galaxy.

Now Shmi is not evil in the way that Palpatine is (Palpatine is the kind of evil that not only does whatever he wants to accomplish his goal, but actively goes out of his way to create as much collateral as possible and will in fact even mildly inconvenience himself in order to increase collateral damage) but she does now fall closer to Amoral than not. Like her first option is not to kill kids, but it is never not an option. Shmi does justify her new desire to rule the galaxy, based on the fact that she would be better at it than Palpatine. 

By the time Anakin and Shmi have made it back to the Lars homestead, she has her son wrapped around her finger even more than she would have. She had also, through the careful recounting of how one of the men who had seemed so kindly to the slave children had actually been a child murder (couching it it in terms that one of Anakin's childhood friends, who it turned out had been a victim of this man, grave had been found and the man brought to a rather brutal justice), partially broken Anakin’s trust in Palpatine without ever letting on that she knew who Palpatine was.  

After they get back to the Homestead, Shmi tells Anakin that she wants him to visit again and to bring Obi Wan (It was after they had talked about what had been happening since he left). Anakin loves Obi Wan as a brother, and as such Shmi loves him too. Padme has also fallen quickly under Shmi’s influence, which is good considering that Shmi intended to make Padme another daughter in law (Both because Anakin had a crush, and she wanted Anakin to have what he wanted, and because Senator and former Queen of Naboo is actually a decently powerful set of titles).  Shmi gently shoos her sweet, oblivious son off the planet with her future daughter in law (it is for the best that her Jedi Son be off the planet for what she is about to do next) making them promise to visit soon. 

Cliegg and Beru also fall quickly under Shmi’s spell. Owen holds out a bit longer (I am fully convinced that his ability to hold back Skywalker BS comes from growing up with Shmi, not his few interactions with Anakin) but is just as willing to follow Shmi’s lead within a tenday.

While a galaxy wide war is breaking out, Shmi quietly but very firmly takes control of Tatooine. Then, in spite of the fact she had not left the planet in decades, she quickly takes control of the rest of the Hutt Empire.  Her identity remains hidden; she does not want to fight her son or his Jedi family because they do not yet understand her vision for the galaxy. They will, of that she is sure, but it will take time.

One of the many things she does is abolish slavery within her new Empire.  It is both easier and harder than it would appear. Easier in that she does not care about the power or money of the people who made their living in trafficking of sentient life, so she does not care about the economics of the systems she dismantles. Harder because the Hutt Empire was built on slavery; there are significantly larger portions of every population of the Hutt Planets then anyone realized who had spent most of their lives enslaved, with no training or education and very little idea how to exist without being enslaved (with all the psychological and sociological implications therein).  But she does it, quietly absorbing the fledgling Zygerrian Empire as well. 

A year and a half into the Clone wars Shmi is finally ready to make her move. 

In that time she has become well connected with Padme, who asks for approval to marry Anakin six months into the war (Approval that Shmi grants, on the condition that Padme also get approval from Obi wan, as Anakin’s older brother/father. Padme asks, and to the surprise of both Padme and Anakin immediately gets Obi Wan’s baffled, but pleased, approval. In this one marriage is not forbidden to Jedi, it really isn’t even discouraged. No one seems to want to marry a Jedi, as far as the Jedi are concerned. Date a Jedi, well that seems to be common fantasy. Sleep with a Jedi, all the time. But never marry. This all serves Shimi’s true purpose, to continue to break the trust between her son and Palpatine). They do decide to wait until after the war, when they can have everyone attend; in part because Palpatine is pushing them both in a really creepy way. 

She makes her move by going on vacation with Cliegg to a world she knew, from her own spies, was about to be attacked by separatists. A world that it was highly likely the 212th would be deployed to. In the time it takes for the 212th to liberate the planet, it is a relatively minor battle so only takes a few weeks, Shmi and Clieg have connected with the battalion and convinced them to transport them (Shmi and Cliegg) to Coruscant.  If asked, even Obi Wan, Cody, or the Natborn officers are not sure how they came to agree to take two civilians to the Core but everyone Shmi meets becomes absolutely convinced that it was a reasonable decision. During this trip Shmi bonds with Obi Wan, as her son’s brother/father/teacher.  This was one of her goals, to get a clearer picture of who Obi Wan is, and through him the Jedi Order; Anakin’s memories and feelings are a bit mixed on the Jedi as a whole but she also knows, from Palpatine’s knowledge, that Palpatine had been manipulating those feelings for years.  She finds that she does like Obi Wan. Because of this Shmi intends, beyond even what her plan calls for,  that she would ensure that Obi Wan found happiness in her Empire. 

Upon arriving on Coruscant Shmi sends Cliegg (in disguise) to meet with various criminal underworld leaders who know of her fledgeling Empire, while she meets with members of the Jedi council to plant the seeds of her Galactic Empire. 

It is in this that we truly see the difference between Shmi and Sidious. Shmi wants to Rule the galaxy. Sidious wants to Subjugate the galaxy. Now granted the difference between the two is not as much as people who want the former would protest, but is greater than what the people who want the latter would claim. In this case ruling is a small group having a disproportionate amount of power over a larger group. Subjugation is a group or person asserting total control over another group or person. While a ruler can abuse the power they have, in order to subjugate someone, a being MUST abuse them to break them in such a way the subjugator can control them.  

In spite of her forced amorality Shmi is actually a good person and wants to be a good Empress for the galaxy. So for her, subjugation is more work (realistically 90% of the galaxy is not going to notice if they are in a republic or an empire, and not just because the Empire had been disguising itself as a republic for a decade. That same 90% have comparatively simple needs and are going to be fine with a ruler who provides them. Whereas requires constant control measures to apply the exact correct amount of pressure to bend the populace to your will, without breaking them into rebelling. Ruling well is actually less costly) for less benefit. Because of that having the super powered warrior monks, who most of the beings that would oppose an Empress on principle are going to look to as a paragon of wisdom,  buy into the idea that Shmi should be Empress and that they would be happier in her Empire makes more sense than eradicating them.  Also, complicated feelings aside, the Jedi make up part of Anakin’s family and she does not want to hurt Anakin’s family.

Shmi also, at the behest of Anakin, took time to go with him to meet his friend Palpatine.  While in the waiting room she speaks with Fox, on guard duty, who she recognizes from her talks with Cody as the person to place a bet with(No one suspects the stern commander of the Coruscant Guard to be the biggest bookie in three systems). After about an hour of chit chat (During which Palpatine has no idea he has met someone with all of his knowledge, who is planning to abscond with the Grand Sith Plan) Anakin and Shmi leave the Senate. Anakin semi anxiously asks her what she thinks of Palpatine, babbling a little bit that Obi Wan doesn't like him, but Obi Wan hates most politicians. Shmi, after letting a long pause stretch, says that Obi Wan has good instincts (Look I really want Palpatine to be faced with his own manipulation tactics) and casually mentions Obi Wan’s time enslaved and how that must have hond those instincts- which he had not told Shmi about but that she could guess.  Again without directly accusing Palpatine of anything, Shmi manages to get across to Anakin that as the Chancellor, Palpatine actually currently has all the power and has used it to effectively enslave the clones and the Jedi. Fully breaking Anakin’s trust in Palpatine and tying him closer to the Jedi (where Shmi wants him).   During this exchange Anakin asks what she had been talking to Fox about and she answers with ‘placing a bet’. Anakin lights up and guesses it is the ‘CodyWan Bet’, because literally everybody noticed their pining and that neither will admit it (Shmi uses that to drive the point home that both are effectively enslaved and do not feel free to be together if they might be ‘sold’ apart-a concept that Anakin is very familiar with).

I am not sure where it ends, except that Shmi does indeed become Empress and her Force powers work as such that she gains power through being loved, so in being a good ruler she stops aging. The Jedi do buy in and Palpatine does end up dead. Someone in Shmi’s smaller Empire, before she becomes Empress, discovers the chips and their purpose, which leads to the entirety of the Clones transplanting themselves (GAR, Cadets, everyone) to a planet in the former Hutt space (deeply freaked out over what they could have been made to do to their Jedi) and refusing all calls for like a year, while they dechip. The Jedi (all of them) transplanted themselves to the next planet over, waiting semi impatiently to be allowed to visit their men again.  Shmi meeting Ahsoka after she becomes Anakin’s Padawan and deciding that, as her oldest grandchild, Ahsoka would have the option to be her heir if she would like (Ahsoka really wants to be a Jedi, but agrees to hold the status until another heir comes along-she gratefully passed the heir status to Leia when Leia was born, as she could not be knighted while still the Empress’s Heir). 

Oh and Obi Wan does get to be happy with Cody in the new Empire, with frequent visits from Satine (I like the idea that they were childhood sweethearts/first loves that knew they would not fit well romantically but still loved each other and got to be overprotective of each other-Satine adores Cody, thinks he is perfect for Obi Wan and thy find time every so often to take an evening to drink over whatever ridiculous situation Obi Wan go himself into this time)