There was one change in the Jedi Order that was entirely Anakin's doing, and everyone agreed it was a good change. Anakin was very proud of that and wasn't afraid to show it.
While all Padawans start as younglings, not all younglings become Padawans. Those who didn't get chosen or didn't pass the initiation trials were given a place in the Jedi Service Corps, which broadly fell into four divisions: Agriculture, Medical, Education, and Exploration.
Anakin was a rare case of not growing up in the temple and jumping straight to Padawan, so he had not been aware of the existence of these corps at first. He originally learned of them by listening to Obi-Wan recount how everyone else had passed up on taking him as a student until Qui-Gon did. Much longer, and he would have been sent to one of the other corps. Kenobi had recalled the anxiety and dread he felt up until he had been chosen as a Padawan.
Anakin might not have thought more of that if not for one fact: he spent a great deal of time with younglings, Ahsoka and her fellow clan members, along with others who had grown close to him by helping ease their nightmares from five years ago. He heard more than a few wondering what they'd do if they didn't become Padawans. So, Anakin had taken it upon himself to explore the service corps, understand how they lived and operated.
He had admitted to Qui-Gon that there was some fear involved in that decision. He was new to the Jedi Order, and Obi-Wan's talk of dreading going to the Service Corps reminded the young Skywalker uneasily of the feeling of being a slave, of not having a true choice in how his future went. Was the Service Corps some terrible second-class position within the Jedi Order, of those who failed to become Jedi but were not allowed to leave the Order?
To Anakin's relief, it was not the case. The Service Corps was not forced to work or mistreated, and members of the Order were free to leave, even if few did. It was simply fear that drove this; everyone dreamed of being a Knight or Master, but not everyone could, even with the Force. It was just how things worked out sometimes. And a Youngling who was unable to become a true Jedi would feel like a failure, no matter how it was framed or delivered.
But that didn't mean the Service Corps was something to dread. Thus, Anakin had asked a question, or rather given a suggestion, to Master Phara Nannar; having some of the older or more mature younglings under her, the chance to meet and see the work of the other divisions of the Jedi Order, to see if there were any they would enjoy joining.
The Kushiban Jedi had found it a novel concept. And despite a few awkward meetings and mishaps with overly curious younglings, it had gone over very well. Many Younglings found something in at least one of the divisions they had a talent or liking for, and the members of the Service Crops were happy to see younglings who wouldn't feel like rejects or failures upon joining them. Other youngling clans had started doing it too.
Anakin, however, was just happy to help Ahsoka and the other kids. He had mused more than once that this might be what being an older brother might feel like. And Anakin didn't do anything in half measure.
"Ahsoka, visiting the ExplorCorps again?" Anakin asked with a grin at the Togruta down a hall from the Exploration Corps area, holding a datapad.
"Skyguy! You're back!" Ahsoka greeted him with a quick hug before showing him the datapad. "I was looking up stuff about my home world. I figure I should visit there at least once, you know? And they said there might have been a Jedi Enclave there."
"A temple, on Shili?" Anakin asked curiously as he skimmed the contents.
"No, more like an outpost. Maybe. The records are from over a thousand years ago, so they might be wrong," Ahsoka explained. "Even if they're right, there probably isn't anything left."
"But you'd like to take a look one day, right?" Anakin guessed knowingly.
Ahsoka nodded rapidly. "And hey, if I end up as an Explo instead of a Padawan, maybe you can come along and help protect me, O Mighty Jedi Skyguy?" Ahsoka suggested playfully.
Anakin snorted with a teasing smile. "Ahsoka, you somehow don't become a Padawan? One, I'm going to eat a bowl of sand, and two? I'm sure you'll still end up being one of the most dangerous things on whatever planet you set foot on."
Ahsoka put her hands on her hips with a look of mock pride. "I will kindly take that as praise!"
They paused before both of them peeled into laughter. "It's good to see you again, Snips," Anakin said with a smile.
"You too, Skyguy," Ahsoka said with a smile. "So, how'd your mission go?"
Anakin groaned and looked to the ceiling.
"That bad?" Ahsoka asked in concern.
"No, just...confusing," Anakin admitted.
A series of whirls and beeps interrupted them as a familiar droid came up to them.
"Artoo!" Ahsoka greeted enthusiastically as the astromech droid rolled up to them. "I haven't seen you even longer than Skyguy! I've been working on understanding Droid Speak. But...did he say piracy within piracy?" she asked Anakin.
"Conspiracy within conspiracy," Anakin corrected with a shrug. "But yeah, there was some scheme going on, and someone was scheming within that, and several scheming around them. And that's before mentioning the assassin."
R2D2 beeped a short reminder to Anakin.
"Right, and I saved a magistrate," Anakin remarked, privately wondering if Hego Damask was ever really in danger. It would be Anakin's luck to accidentally help a Dark Sider keep their cover by saving them right as they would be forced to expose themselves.
"Magi-straight?" Ahsoka asked curiously. "What's that? Is this one of those people who get paid to do "magic" for show?
"I'm not exactly sure," Anakin admitted as he cupped his chin. "From what I've gathered, it's a title for someone leading or in charge of something. He was from the Banking Clans, so maybe it's a title among them?"
Ahsoka made a curious noise of acknowledgement. "Diplomacy seems really hard, having to remember so many different titles and customs for important people."
"You're not wrong," Anakin agreed with a smile. "So, did anything interesting happen here?"
"There's a new youngling in another clan that sleepwalks a lot," Ahsoka answered honestly. "He winds up in funny places. Master Yoda found him in the council room, sleeping in one of the chairs."
"Sleepwalking Jedi. That sounds like it could get scary. Has anyone used the Force while sleepwalking?" Anakin mused to himself.
"Not everyone can make a Force Gust with their sneeze, Anakin," Ahsoka pointed out with a grin.
"One time! I did that one time during a sneezing fit!" Anakin said defensively.
Artoo whirled a question to Anakin.
"No, no, I never sleepwalked," Anakin answered. "I did wake up, go to Wattoo's place, and fall asleep and forget I ever walked there."
"Skyguy, that sounds like sleepwalking with extra steps," Ahsoka said flatly.
Anakin rolled his eyes. "As for my trip to Albingi, well-"
Anakin stopped suddenly with a strange look on his face.
Artoo chirped in concern, looking between Anakin and Ahsoka.
"Skyguy? What's wrong?" Ahsoka asked with a head tilt.
Anakin smiled at her. "Sorry, Ahsoka, I just realized Master Qui-Gon wanted to do some meditation sessions around now."
Ahsoka stifled a giggle. "Are you still trying to avoid those?"
"Not all the time," Anakin answered diplomatically, getting more amusement from the youngling. "Sorry, Ahsoka, but I'd better get going. Artoo, you can stay and chat with her a bit, help her finish learning droid-speak."
"Is this just because you forgot what parts of the story you're not supposed to tell?!' Ahsoka called after him as the Padawan made his leave.
"Maybe!" Anakin answered without looking back.
Ahsoka sighed before looking at Artoo, whose "eye" looked back at her with what felt like curiosity. "You want to tell me how you ended up with Anakin?" Ahsoka asked curiously. "I don't think I ever heard that story."
Artoo whirled in what might have been amusement.
Anakin waited until he rounded a corner before picking up the pace, doing his best not to draw undue attention to himself.
"Skywalker," a teenage Padawan called out as he moved to try and outpace him. "Where are you off in such a hurry, Sithling?"
"Oh, you know, I just have a meeting with a Sith Lord," Anakin said casually as he side-stepped the attempt to block him.
"Hey, I'm trying to talk to-" the teen tried to grab Anakin by the cloak, only for Anakin to lean forward and take off in a Force-Sprint before he could. "You."
"Not worth the effort," one of his friends grumbled.
Anakin paid no mind to the incident he had just avoided, nor to the others he passed by that gave him surprised looks for speeding through the temple, and headed out to the garden, looking around until he found Qui-Gon sitting on a stone next to a tree.
"Ahh, Anakin. I was just about to go for lunch," Qui-Gon greeted before frowning as he noted Anakin's demeanor and the Force. "And by your expression, you haven't come to join me. What is it, Padawan?"
Anakin carefully glanced around. "Master? I think he's here."
Qui-Gon stared. There was only one "he" Anakin could mean without specifying. There was only one time that Anakin had used this exact tone when trying to mention his arrival without saying his name.
"Are you sure? In the temple?" Qui-Gon asked carefully.
"On planet, but yes, I'm sure," Anakin answered in a low voice.
Qui-Gon scowled and looked out beyond the temple toward the planet-wide cityscape.
What business did Darth Vader have on Coruscant?
Meanwhile
"I heard you had a great battle on this planet, Mal'ary," Ghazhak remarked with deep respect as he glanced up at his lord. "But I did not imagine this."
Vader said nothing as he looked out over the area of what had once been called The Flats or The Works. Now it was commonly just referred to as The Jaw, the scarred ruin of where Sidious had unleashed a Force Storm during his final stand. Far from being repaired, it looked even worse than he recalled.
Beyond the outskirts, it was just ruins and deserted buildings. Even some of the massive, richer buildings just beyond the Flats had not been spared and were now toppled over to add to the maze of debris. It was easy for one to get lost here, but the further into the Jaw one looked, the deeper it grew. Coruscant had over five thousand layers, and at the Jaw, the surface had collapsed to further levels below. No one was sure how many layers had been breached, how much had collapsed…a dozen at least.
But getting lost wasn't the worst danger. Deranged droids, toxic substances, and the creatures: The Cthons, The Corridors Ghouls, and more still; all creatures that normally lurked far beneath the surface level of Coruscant in the darkness that no sun would ever touch, but had been intruding upon the surface more and more.
When Vader didn't speak, Ghazhak emitted a vibrating sound in his throat, his version of a hum. "I spotted and heard many patrols. Shall I dispose of any that grow too close, Mal'ary?"
"No," Vader answered, glancing down at Noghri. "Explore the edge of the Jaw until dawn tomorrow. Spy on the patrols, gather an understanding of the current situation. Remain hidden from them unless something forces you to reveal yourself. Return to the ship if you cannot locate me."
Ghazhak nodded obediently, silently leaping over the edge of the building to make his way into the hazardous zone.
With his servant dispatched, Vader turned his gaze away from the Jaw and towards the North.
North, to the Jedi Temple.
He could sense his younger self was still on this planet. He had little doubt the Padawan would sense him before long as well, if he hadn't already. "We did not cross paths on Albingi. I do not think the chance will slip by here," he mused to himself.
He briefly debated just ripping the bacta patch off and just heading to the temple, but he doubted that would be well received with the Master of the Order and the Grandmaster both missing. He was trying to have some subtlety in provoking the galaxy into a civil war to get it over with, not overtly be the one to restart the Neverending War of Jedi and Sith.
Still, he knew his presence here would not go unnoticed long. But then again, he wasn't exactly trying to hide it.
"Hey, Sir! You can't be-!"
The voice stopped with a pang of shock and no small amount of uneasiness.
Vader turned to see a member of the Coruscant police force, a young, human or human-adjacent, male.
"Here," the man finished in awe as he realized what, or rather who, he was seeing. "Oh, wow, you're really him."
"Indeed," Vader said evenly, his tone almost dismissive. "It would be wise if you pretended you never saw me, Officer."
"Probably," the man agreed, visibly considering his options and chances. "...We were told to deliver a message to you, me and the others that patrol the Jaw."
Vader tilted his helm forward lightly, both interested and suspicious. Someone thought he might come here? Why? And more importantly, who? "State your message," he ordered.
The officer swallowed. "I-it's a question, really. A request. If asked, would you be willing to aid in dealing with The Jaw?"
Vader's helm bore into the man, but internally, he was deciphering the meaning. They couldn't mean evacuating or stabilizing the deterioration of the Jaw. They would have gotten out every soul they were able or willing to retrieve by now, and stopping the Jaw from getting bigger was a matter for someone with money and material. Not something they would ask Darth Vader for.
"You desire aid in pushing back the Cthons and other creatures," Vader deduced calmly. "Why ask me and not the Jedi?"
"We did ask the Jedi," the man said quietly.
Vader leaned his gaze up slightly in surprise as he sensed something nervous and dreadful within the man at that, something in his memories that emitted a taste of fear at just being recalled. And it involved the Jedi.
Something was going on here, something that had escaped his notice and likely Plagueis's as well.
"Who would request my aid?" Vader asked pointedly.
The man gained an ironic smile. "Who else?"
Vader hummed…who else indeed.
Meanwhile
"So, Vader has found his Great Prize," Dooku mused within his study as he heard from Windu of the enormous starship within Vader's possession.
Windu scowled. "You've been looking into Vader's movements too, I take it?"
"Of course. While I am more aligned with Master Yoda on this subject, I believe in gathering information. More to the point, Vader himself is about the only reliable lead towards uncovering anything about Darth Plagueis," Dooku explained with a hum. "Vader's Great Prize. I rarely receive information directly overheard directly from Vader's agents, but that phrase came up more than once in reference to this vessel."
"Some of ours have encountered the wreckage of one of Vader's lost ships," Windu remarked. "By that and the state of this warship, we believe there was some form of infighting among Vader's forces."
"Come now, Master Windu, we have had that same theory since we learned of Vader's existence," Dooku said with an amused smirk. "But it does seem more and more likely. Still, I had other suspicions regarding this."
"Suspicions that you no doubt looked into," Windu said knowingly.
Dooku huffed as he reached into his desk and began to rummage through it. "You would be correct. I am aware of Vader's fleet, as is anyone with any genuinely effective network of information in the Galaxy, but the images taken of the massive mystery ship and the vessels of Vader's fleet were rarely of the best quality. I did note the similar design and decided to try looking in from another angle," Dooku said as he pulled out a datapad. "Ahh, here it is."
"What is this?" Windu asked as he took it and read the title. "Walex Blissex?"
"A starship engineer and designer who works for Kuat Industry. Brilliant fellows that quickly rose through their ranks," Dooku remarked coolly.
Windu's eyes widened for minutes as he skimmed and found something important. "He designed the Delta-7, the new ships designed for the order," he realized, looking up to meet Dooku's gaze. "How did he cross your radar?"
"Because the designs share some key similarity to some of his unseen concepts," Dooku said with a small smirk. "It might be best not to ask how exactly I came across that information."
"I trust it was nothing heinous," Windu said carefully. "You suspect he is working for Vader?"
"I was, until I met the man," Dooku said with a sigh to Windu's curiosity. "Walex Blissex is a sincere pacifist. He genuinely wishes to make crafts to help and defend people. The state of the galaxy has him in a rather depressed mood, knowing that his works will likely be used for war one day. He is, however, like you, believing that the best hope lies in defending and remaking the republic. If only because he imagines the lawlessness of that power vacuum would invite only more terrible things."
Windu sighed. "And now his work might already be taken and reworked by the Sith. But even if Blissex is unaware of it, do you think Kuat Shipyards is the creator of Vader's fleet?"
"They're my lead suspect, minus one unknown factor," Dooku confirmed, getting a raised eyebrow at his wording. "Hiding the amount of resources and labor it would take to create ships like that is no easy feat. More so, years ago, before this tension arose."
Windu hummed. "You think our old theory is more at play. That Vader's forces were built and located at some location outside the Republic's eye, an isolated or uncharted system, even the Unknown Region."
"Having spies funneling plans and technology to a power base would be far easier," Dooku said before chuckling. "Unless we are to suppose that Vader's fleet appeared out of stardust."
Windu allowed himself the briefest of amusement at that. "This doesn't give us any new leads, however."
"Not directly," Dooku agreed with a meaningful tone. "I did some inquiring into Kuat's funding. There was a rather large amount of funds coming from various groups and individuals, some of whom are fictitious or very much dead. And there was a rather subtle but keen shifting in prioritizing ships designed for combat- defensive reasons, of course, and patriotic concern."
Windu noted the obvious sarcasm. "Isn't that evidence to support the theory?" he asked curiously.
"Perhaps, if it hadn't stopped five years ago," Dooku said meaningfully to Windu's surprise. "Oh, not entirely, of course. That would be too suspicious. But their donations are more sporadic and their direction less keen. All after a very certain event."
Windu scowled as he put it together. "Kuat may not be directly aiding Vader, but they are being controlled by Darth Plagueis."
"More than likely. One does not throw away an asset like that even if they abandon whatever grand plan that Vader thwarted," Dooku remarked with a headshake. "Investigating thoroughly such an organization as Kuat is beyond my reach, however, but looking into their sources of money is not."
Windu paused for a moment. "Has the name Hego Damask come up?"
Dooku's eyebrows both shot up. "The Magister of Damask Holdings? He has. Why?" he asked curiously. "...Ah. You left something out of your story, didn't you?"
Windu grunted in confirmation.