BBY 29
With a cup of tea in hand, Yoda was relaxing in his private chambers when he felt Obi-Wan hurrying to see him. The orthodox Padawan had become an orthodox knight, and Yoda knew Kenobi wouldn't have been so impatient if the situation wasn't important.
"Master Yoda!" He let himself inside, and then paused with a slightly guilty expression at the realisation that he was clearly interrupting. "I apologise, but this is urgent."
"Go ahead, young Kenobi." Yoda assured him.
"I just received a call from an old friend, Guerra Derida, and he wanted to know why he and the rest of the Council of Phindar were being taken into custody by a Jedi Knight!" Obi-Wan raised his voice in astonishment. "Master, Dooku has led an invasion of the Phindar sector! He's sent Knight Ventress to round up the planet's leadership!"
A small, tired and selfish part of Yoda didn't want to hear about this at all. It simply wanted to go to bed, and pretend it knew nothing. With a grunt of exertion, Yoda pushed himself to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane and wincing as his ancient bones ground together.
"Go inform Master Windu." Yoda ordered. "An emergency meeting of the Council will be convened."
Whatever temptations Yoda might have felt for his bed were put far from his mind when he climbed onto his repulsorlift chair, and rode it up to the Council Chambers. It wasn't long at all until the rest of the Council joined him there, Master Windu striding into the room first with a dark scowl on his face. The man had his mind shielded as firmly as any Yoda had ever known, but he knew Windu regretted his decision all those years ago. He had voted to establish the New Temple along with several other masters after being made promises by Dooku, and clearly felt betrayed now more than ever.
As the other Masters began to arrive, Windu leaned over in his seat to Yoda. "Do you think this is connected to the Sith?"
Yoda wished he could say that he thought it wasn't. He wished that he still trusted his former padawan, but to do so would be naive. The Sith had returned, that much was certain. The arm and lightsaber Kenobi had taken confirmed he was a Nightbrother of Dathomir, and where there was one there was likely others. It seemed that Dathomir had become the recruiting ground for a new generation of Sith, explaining why the Jedi had never been able to locate powerful Force Sensitives on that world, despite the frequent appearance of weaker ones.
This new sect of Sith, whoever they were, would see the breaking away of the New Temple as an opportunity. Whatever Dooku's hopes for the New Temple, and his plans to pacify the Outer Rim, basic tactics were to divide and conquer your enemy.
To make matters worse, Dooku refused to reduce the age at which he recruited new Jedi. It left his order vulnerable to infiltration. That boy had always been ambitious and determined to see things done his way, Yoda thought. How resilient would Dooku be to the whispered promises of a Sith? It was all too easy to imagine a scenario where Dooku, long embittered against the Republic, was turned into a pawn in a dark game. Even the boy's growing rivalry with the Trade Federation was fraught with the potential to turn into a confrontation with the Republic, and that was even when assuming no Sith involvement.
Even so, it was simply possible that Dooku had made his move on Phindar simply out of feudal ambitions. During the Dark Age, Jedi Lords were perfectly willing to go to war with each other or neutral systems if they felt they had to. At the end of the day, whatever his Jedi training, the man was a Count now. It would be foolish to believe he wouldn't act like it, even without Sith involvement.
All these thoughts passed through Yoda's mind as Windu watched him.
In the end, whatever his speculations, Yoda couldn't answer. He just didn't know.
"Clouded, the matter is." He rumpled, leaning back into his chair, and Windu did the same as the rest of the Jedi Council sat down.
With everyone assembled, the meeting began. Windu explained the situation, and the rest of the Council received the news calmly. After that, just as they began to discuss responses, the holoprojector in the centre of the room chimed.
Windu quickly glanced at who was calling, his scowl deepening. "Master Dooku is trying to reach us."
Ki Adi Mundi was the first to respond. "Most likely, he realises he's gotten himself in trouble with the Senate, and is trying to persuade us to go along with his annexation."
Yaddle said, "Please. We all know Dooku wouldn't do something so drastic without good reason."
"We did know him once." Ki Adi countered. "But he's changed."
That got everyone nodding, though Yaddle frowned with unspoken disagreement.
"Whatever he's calling for, to speak to him at this time might suggest that we support his current actions." Windu said. "We've made concession after concession for him, and I fear we've only taught him that he can demand what he wants from us. We must remember that our role is to mediate an end to conflict. Whatever Dooku's issues with Phindar, we can't be trusted to be peacemakers if we treat him with favor. We cannot afford the appearance of collusion."
There was a round of nods, and Yoda saw that the Council were already in agreement. "Very well." He said.
After muting the call, the Council let Dooku try to call a few more times as they resolved a course of action. The first thing to do was to send a Jedi team to Phindar to assess what exactly was happening there, and what could be done about it. Once they had determined who the aggrieved parties were, and what the cause of the fighting was, they would attempt to negotiate a settlement.
Yoda went to bed that night, and considered calling Dooku personally, but held himself back from doing so. Windu was right. The Jedi must remain apart from the cut and thrust of local politics. They couldn't be dragged down by personal connections. He meditated before bed, casting his mind out to find Dooku stressed and worried as he rushed back to Serenno, but Yoda had expected as much and withdrew himself before he was noticed.
When he did go to sleep, he dreamed of a blazing fire, slowly drawing him towards it. No matter how much he struggled, he knew it would consume him. He was starving, too weak to resist. He didn't fear his own death, but with growing horror he realised he wasn't the only one being drawn in. Behind him was every youngling he'd ever raised watching fearfully with gaunt faces, as they drew closer and closer to the blaze. Their fear surrounded him, their wails deafened him, and as the blazing flame finally reached his toes, he realised his own voice was joining them.
Yoda awoke in a cold sweat, his throat strained from overuse. Staring at the sun rising over the edge of the Coruscant skyline, he wondered if that dream was one of prophecy, or just the mind of an old man, overworked and struggling with stress.
Anakin thought that in some ways Coruscant was almost the same as Tatooine. There were big differences too, like it was never quite as warm, though the nights were just as cold. Even just a normal city street made the noisiest festival in Mos Esper seem like nothing. No dune songs, but always the woosh of passing traffic.
The people were the same though, the way they thought. A lot of people were miserable, struggling to make it through the hour or the day, and they did that by not thinking about anyone else. They shut down that little voice inside themselves that told them they were being rude, or hiding the truth. There was no need for right or wrong when you were caught in a sandstorm. Anakin didn't blame them, he did the same thing.
When he was grown he wouldn't have to turn a blind eye. When he was older, and stronger, he wouldn't look away from the unhappy people, he'd just do something about it. No one would be able to stop him.
"Anakin." Master Yoda's voice rang out sharply. "Clear your mind."
Right, meditation. Anakin breathed out, trying again to focus his thoughts. Or unfocus them.
Whatever.
Meditation didn't come to him easily. There were always so many people moving about, thinking and discussing billions of different things, and machines were everywhere. Amazing ones that he'd never even seen or heard of before, that could do things he never even knew needed doing. Floating billboards that did nothing but show advertisements, holorecorders that could alter the sounds they recorded, and best of all, the holonet! The holonet in particular was shiny! Everything was on the holonet.
"Anakin." Master Yoda warned. "You must make your mind still."
Right. Still.
He could do still.
"On Tatooine, there were days of rest, hm?" Yoda asked. "With your mind, show me those days of peace."
Anakin frowned. When he was a slave on Tatooine, there were no days of rest. Even on race days, which all the free sentients took to watch the circuit, slaves were still expected to stay busy because there was always work to be done.
The only days Anakin wasn't rushing about trying to get everything done before the sun rose was when there was a sandstorm. Then everyone had to shelter indoors.
"Tell me about those days, hm? The sandstorms."
Well, the sandstorms were dangerous. No one could travel in them, they'd be blinded and getting lost could be deadly, so there wasn't much to be done. Watto would call the slaves inside, and power down the droids, before shuttering all the hatches and sealing all the doors. If there was cleaning to be done then of course they would do that, but if the storm lasted for more than a few hours they would run out of work. Watto would slink off to his room to grumble and sulk about the wasted hours, while Anakin would sit in the cool shelter with his mother, listening to the sounds of the wind rushing past outside.
Some of the slaves would tell stories to each other quietly, but Anakin preferred to stay in his room, reading manuals under his bed sheets. Sometimes he wouldn't even do that. He'd just sit, and listen to the storm passing by.
"That's it, Anakin. Good." Yoda murmured. "Share your sound. Clear your mind."
The sound was something he knew, something familiar. He relaxed into it, the gentle rushing of winds against the strong walls of his home. The breath of his mother as she slept through the long nights. Though there were sounds everywhere, none of it could distract him from his own overwhelming sense of boredom.
Yoda sighed, and Anakin could feel the old man's gaze on the back of his neck.
But it was true. Meditation was boring. Instead of doing something useful the point was to sit there and do as little as possible. To even stop thinking, and just feel the Force. The problem was Anakin had always felt the Force, even from before he could remember. The worst part was that Yoda insisted he needed remedial classes to catch up with the other Younglings, but Anakin knew he was already ahead of them.
"Ahead in some things." Yoda harrumphed. "But in others far behind. Great your powers are, but lacking in humility."
Anakin sighed, shielding his mind again.
When he left home he'd been excited to become a Jedi under Master Qui-Gon Jinn. He knew he might have to catch up to the other younglings, and at first it seemed fair enough, but after two years, when he was already first in every class, he couldn't understand why Master Yoda still insisted. In just a few months the Younglings would start to get nominated as Padwans by interested Masters, and Anakin already knew who was going to be his. Knight Kenobi had made no secret of his desire to train Anakin, and out of respect for Master Jinn's memory, no one would contest his claim. So Anakin had no fear at all of being passed over, and he absolutely did not need remedial lessons anymore.
He was frustrated, and he could tell Yoda was too.
He bet the 'other' Chosen One didn't get treated like this. He heard the adults talk about her occasionally when they thought he wasn't listening, and if what they said was true, she was actually trusted by the adults around her, and given all kinds of positions in governance. Supposedly she was even leading fleets into battle and raising entire armies!
Meanwhile even Watto had respected Anakin more than Yoda did. Sure he was a slave, but he at least Watto trusted him to fix and build things. Instead of teaching Anakin new things or even giving him things to do, Yoda kept him here under his thumb, wasting time. Was this punishment? Anakin couldn't even think of what he'd done wrong. When he was finally a Padawan, he hoped that at last he would get away from the old goblin.
Suddenly, Yoda's frown deepened, and for a brief moment Anakin worried he'd let his mental shields drop, but assured himself they were firmly in place after a moment. "What's wrong?" He began to ask, but the Grandmaster just silenced him with a wave of his hand.
The Grandmaster's holocom let out a tone, and he answered it. "Yes?"
"Grandmaster, the Supreme Chancellor is here." The mask of a Sentinel was projected. "He wishes to see you."
Yoda nodded, then turned in his chair to regard Anakin. "Go, you may."
"What does the Supreme Chancellor want to talk about?"
"Go." Yoda repeated, and pressed a switch on his chair. It floated out the doorway towards the turbolift.
With a sigh, the young boy followed behind. He rode down with the Jedi Master, who said nothing at all as he stared at the doors, a grim look on his wizened features. They waited in silence for almost a minute until finally they made it to the Main Floor, where the Supreme Chancellor was waiting for the Grandmaster. He was a friendly looking older man in the grand robes of his office, with grey hair and clear blue eyes. The Supreme Chancellor was a famous face, one that Anakin immediately recognised from the Holonet. He spoke with the same aristocratic accent that Queen Padme had, though she sounded much more stern then he did.
Yoda floated forward, not even bothering to introduce Anakin, who started to walk away, when suddenly the Chancellor spoke up. "Hello there, young man. And who might you be?"
So shocked that he was being spoken to, Anakin looked about to see if there was another young man nearby that the Chancellor could be referring to. "Uh, Anakin. Mister Chancellor."
"Mister Chancellor indeed!" The old man chortled. "Please, my name is Sheev Palpatine. No need to stand on formality."
Anakin blinked, staring at him for a moment, still wondering why he was even being spoken to.
"Oh, I'm sorry Master Yoda." The Chancellor said to the Grandmaster. "I didn't mean to derail you, I do so enjoy a chance to speak with the Padawans."
"I'm not a Padawan yet." Anakin said.
"Really?" Sheev gasped. "And why not? Just by the look of you I can see a young man ready for anything in the Galaxy."
Grandmaster Yoda interrupted. "Youngling Anakin may be a Padawan soon, but Youngling now he is, and soon his curfew will be."
"Oh, come now, Master." Chancellor Palpatine smiled, easily. "The boy surely doesn't need a strict curfew. Why, on Naboo I was allowed to roam the streets of Theed at his age, and the Jedi Temple is surely safer than that. You have to give the boy some freedom or of course he'll rebel."
"Consider your advice, I will." Yoda said. "Speak more in my office, perhaps."
"Yes, lead the way." The two old men left together, entering the Turbolift. As the doors closed, Yoda gave Anakin a stern glare, while Palpatine smiled at him encouragingly.
With a sigh, Anakin went to find his creche and his bed, not wanting the Grandmaster to find another excuse to lecture him.
Quinlan Vos was sleeping deeply when he received a knock on his door. Rubbing his eyes, and sitting up, he saw the silhouette of someone through the frosted glass pane, standing just outside. He stood up, wondering when he'd agreed to be part of the Jedi Quick Reaction team, before remembering that he hadn't. Why was someone waking him up at this hour? What time was it?
His compad had told him that it was just past midnight, and that Master Yoda had tried to call him twice. Quickly pulling on his robe, Vos lightly stepped over to the door and opened it with a wave.
"Apologies for the late hour." Master Windu told him, and he looked about as tired as Vos felt. "Master Yoda and I wish to speak to you in his chambers."
"Important news, I take it?" Vos asked, stifling a yawn. Without waiting for an answer, he tugged his lightsaber over to his belt and quickly slipped on his boots.
Yoda's chambers? Vos frowned to himself as the Turbolift took him and Windu up the tower. That was unusual. Normally if he was being assigned a mission, it would happen in the Council Chamber. Something strange was afoot if Windu and Yoda wanted to speak with him privately.
Inside Master Yoda's chambers, they found the little green man sitting cross legged with a grim face, his brows drawn together and his lips turned down.
"Did you bring your compad or your holocom?" Windu asked Vos.
"Just the holocom."
"Turn it off, please."
Surprised at the sudden need for secrecy, Vos did so, gazing at the two Masters and wondering what this could be about.
"A great thing, I must ask of you." Yoda began.
"A secret mission that no one can know about." Windu added. "Which you can refuse if you choose."
"What about the Council?" Vos asked.
The Jedi Master simply shook his head, and Vos made no effort to hide his surprise. Windu was among the most procedural and Orthodox of all Jedi. For him to call on Vos to do something that even the Council couldn't know about was shocking.
"Alright. I'll hear it." Vos said after a moment's pause.
"The New Temple has become dangerously erratic." Mace Windu said. Then he added in a low tone, almost like he was ashamed to say it. "We would like you to join it, and report on its activities."
Mind racing, Vos considered the man's words. "We're spying on the other Orders now?"
Neither of the two masters looked happy with the idea, but neither of them tried to deny the accusation.
"...I might be more willing if I knew what's really going on here." Vos finally said. "Because this isn't just about Phindar. Neither of you cared enough for the planet to dispatch a Jedi when it was run by the Syndicate, and I doubt either of you care all too much for it now."
The two exchanged another annoyed look at that. "We're concerned about the potential target the New Temple could be for Sith infiltration."
Now that was a hell of an admission. The Main Temple didn't spy on the Green Jedi, the Teepo Paladins, or even the non-jedi sects like the Matukai. It wasn't that Jedi didn't go undercover on occasion if they might have to infiltrate a criminal syndicate, but doing so to another Temple was unheard of. Though if the Sith had returned, and the Galaxy was once more at risk of being plunged into chaos…
Not to mention Vos had those same concerns. The Sith choosing to take out Sifo Dyas, Dooku unearthing a Sith ruin on his homeworld, and the remaining mystery about what exactly was going on with Ky Narec and Asajj Ventress all had Vos eyeing the New Temple. There was plenty there to be worried about.
"I'd be willing." Vos answered. "But I need to know. Is this actually, about the Sith, or was this something Palpatine asked for?"
The look the two gave each other confirmed for Vos he hit the nail right on the head.
"Palpatine has his own concerns about the New Temple." Windu answered, diplomatically. "The Trade Federation is looking to the Senate for a bailout, and Chancellor Palpatine is concerned about an outbreak of war in the Outer Rim while they're weakened."
The Fed needed a bailout? Vos almost didn't believe it. They controlled a huge swathe of Trade Routes, and had thousands of planets paying into their security services. Not to mention they controlled the entire Corporate Sector. How could such a massive business be failing to turn a profit?
He'd have to look into that one on his own time. He supposed that if nothing else, the Trade Federation would have to have massive overheads when it came to maintaining their empire.
"The Trade Federation has done much to embitter the people of the Outer and Mid rims against the Republic. The New Temple could easily serve as the lynchpin of a Separatist movement." Windu explained.
"Such feelings were used by the Sith." Yoda rumpled. "The New Sith Wars started that way."
"So you're worried that the Sith are going to take an interest in the New Temple." That was if they hadn't already, which Vos was pretty sure they had. It would explain a few things.
"Palpatine had information for us." Mace continued. "Republic Intelligence has been keeping an eye on House Serenno. An informant has reported that a Sith Assassin struck at the Palace while Dooku was away."
Vos eyebrows shot up. "What happened to the family?"
"We're still waiting for more information." Windu explained. "We believe that the girl's tutor, Green Jedi Master Sturn, was able to slay the assassin."
Well that was a relief to hear. However snooty that Princess was, it would be horrible if a Youngling was hurt or killed.
"If Dooku's family had died, the grief could have pushed him to the Dark Side." Vos murmured. Wasn't that a nightmarish idea? Dooku was one of the most powerful Jedi, and even Yoda with all his eight hundred years had never met a better duelist. It would be almost as bad as the defections of Revan and Darth Ruin.
Windu nodded in agreement. "Our thoughts, exactly. For the sake of the Republic, and the Jedi, we are asking you to defect to the New Temple. You're already known to… not quite fit in with the rest of the Jedi. Your criticisms of the Council have been public for some time."
"Look, I just want the Council to pull it's head of its backside.'' Vos snorted. "We could be doing a lot better."
"Never doubted your loyalty, have we." Yoda said, in a grave tone. "Entrusted with this mission, you are."
He would have been perfectly willing to go along with it, but there was one final concern he had. "What about Aayla?" Vos asked. "She's not ready to be a Knight, yet."
"If you agree to this mission, you won't be able to bring her with you." Windu said. "I will take her on as my Padawan for the remainder of her training."
Now that stung a little. Aayla was a good kid, and being abandoned by her Master was going to hurt. This was a secret mission, so he couldn't tell her that he was really going undercover. Even so, more important than any one Padawan's feelings was the future of the Galaxy. As long as the Sith were out there, hidden, and planning their return, everyone everywhere was in danger, and that included Aayla.
With a sigh, Vos nodded his head. "I'll do it."
Sturn finally found his grandson Yash, abandoned in the streets of Celanon. The only thing that allowed him to find the boy was their connection in the Force. When Yash recognised Sturn, he wrapped his arms around his grandfather and bawled his eyes out.
The blood on his scalp had scabbed over into brown chunks in his hair. The boy was barefoot in the streets during what seemed like a spring thaw, with cold slush everywhere. His lips were blue, and Sturn took his time carefully checking the boy's toes to make sure he wouldn't lose any to the cold. Yash was hungry, filthy, and looked like any other child abandoned on the streets. Seeing his own flesh and blood treated like this, Sturn felt an anger stirring in his heart like nothing he'd ever felt before.
Where was that kidnapper? Had he really just abandoned the boy in some alley?
Sturn searched with his mind, but found the monster nowhere. Gritting his teeth, he lifted the boy up and hurried him back to his ship. The uncaring crowds of the city street didn't even glance at him, and the port authorities only barely questioned him. What an absolute cesspool. Didn't they care for each other at all? On Corellia, if anyone saw a child wandering alone in such a state they would immediately call CorSec.
Back in his ship, Sturn got Yash cleaned up and bundled into a blanket at the center console. He was able to feed the boy a few ration bars and get him a warm cup of hot chocolate to sip while he called the boy's father. Yash was the only one who had gone missing in the explosion on Correllia, and the entirety of the Green Jedi had been searching frantically for the youngling.
"No ransom? Then what did he want?!" Sturn's son demanded, furious. "Then what was this about!?"
"I don't know, son." Sturn answered. "I just don't know."
Finally, with his ship headed back towards Corellia, Sturn ducked into a side room. With the kidnapper keeping him on the line, Sturn hadn't been able to answer any of the numerous calls people had made to him until he got to Celanon. There were a multitude of calls from Serenno, and even one from Dooku.
He was probably furious at Sturn.
With a sigh, Sturn mentally prepared himself to get reamed out by his boss.
The phone only rang once, before Dooku answered, and immediately Sturn could see something was wrong. Dooku didn't look angry, he looked murderous. Even through the blue of the holocom, his eyes blazed with fire.
"Where are you?" Dooku demanded in his aristocratic bass.
"Celanon." Sturn answered immediately. "I apologise, but my grandson was kidnapped. I had to collect him from here, or he would have been killed."
The expression on Dooku's face seemed to grow even darker. "I see. You didn't think to inform any of my men?"
"The kidnapper was on the call! If I hung up or stopped to talk, he would have killed Yash."
"...In your absence, an assassin has attacked the Palace."
The stomach seemed to fall from Sturn's body. Real horror raised the hairs on the back of his neck. "Oh, Force spare us! Is Tan'ya okay?! Is everyone safe?"
"All of them have been injured." Dooku replied. "Though Tan'ya was barely able to slay the assassin with the help of the House Guard."
Relief washed over Sturn, and he looked up with thoughts of thanks for the Force. "Dooku, I'm so sorry-"
"You abandoned your post." Dooku interrupted.
"I know, but-"
"My entire family is on the verge of death because of you." Dooku's voice was level, but he sounded like if he was standing in front of Sturn they would already be fighting to the death.
Sturn swallowed, looking down at the floor. Finally, he answered. "What else was I supposed to do?" He asked.
"You abandoned your duty!" Dooku thundered.
"I did… But you know as well as I do, Count, that a man's first duty is to his family before anything else." Sturn said, in a quiet voice. "If it was your child in danger, you would have dropped anything to save them as well."
Dooku drew in breath, ready to shout, but stopped himself. His expression changed, going from anger, to reluctant agreement, before finally settling on carefully schooled neutrality. "Is your grandson safe?"
"Yes. He's here with me."
"...Good."
With that, Dooku hung up.
Four hours later, while Yash was sleeping and Sturn was nervously pacing, he received a call from his son again.
"Father, I just thought you should know that CorSec just got an extradition request for you. The Government of Serenno is demanding you return there to face a tribunal. You've been charged with dereliction of duty."
"...Do you know the potential sentence?" Sturn asked after a moment.
"No, but in most places a charge like that would be punishable by death. I can speak with CorSec, we can deny this request."
Putting his head in his hands, Sturn hesitated to answer.
"Dad?"
"Just… let me think about it, son."
"What's there to think about?" He demanded incredulously. "You can't seriously be thinking of going back to that kriffing mudhole! Not when they want to kill you!"
Staring at his feet, Sturn thought of Athemeene, injured and near death, and his stomach churned with guilt. They had been looking to him for protection. Whatever his reasons, even little Madalee had been hurt because of him.
"Dad!"
"A man's first duty is to family, son." Sturn finally answered. "But… there are other things worth dying for as well." He hung up, and went back to check on Yash. He lingered in the doorway, watching the young boy's chest rise and fall, before returning to the bridge.
Opening up the navicomputer, he changed his destination from Corellia to Serenno, and the computer popped up with a window.
Are you sure? It asked him.
He hesitated for just a second, before punching yes.