A New Jedi in an Old Republic

Jedi Temple

Master Paloh stepped back from the empty chambers and looked up and down the hall they were in. It was old, and rarely used. In fact, the only motion he could see was a couple distant droids going about their work. He motioned for his Apprentice's attention. "Go. Speak with those Droids and inquire about the Paladins who reside here. I will investigate this place further."

"Yes, Master." The Green Jedi started to jog after the droids, questions already formulating in his head.

As he did that, the elder Master carefully pushed open the other of the paired doors in order to get a better look into the rooms before entering. He didn't have much experience with investigations like this, but he knew enough to avoid disturbing potential evidence.

What evidence there was, however. The front room, much like the one the Corellians were given, was bare. The furnishings were clean, and a finger check against the floor told him that this room was still cleaned regularly. If he had to hazard a guess, it would have been by the droids.

Stepping in, he carefully circled the room, careful to stay away from the walls, the furniture, or anything else set into the floor. Which honestly wasn't a whole lot given the sparseness of the place. The records he had viewed back in the Archived indicated that the Teepo Paladins were still around, and were accounted for in the last census run by the Coruscanti government in the Temple District.

"Where are you?" he asked into the air, not expecting a reply.

Master Paloh then began to consider the possibility that the room was incorrect, that he and his apprentice had been led astray. But to what end? He could accept errors cropping up over time given the sheer scale of the Archives, but having misinformation regarding the location of something inside the Temple itself was beyond understanding.

So confronted by any unanswerable questions, he found a central place to sit down and started to meditate on the Force, to try and get a feeling for this place and what happened here. And maybe his apprentice would return before he was forced into more drastic actions.

Office of Chancellor Palpatine

The leader of the Republic stared at the message sent to him by the Jedi High Council, which was a copy of the ones sent to the Senators at the same time. There was no way to hide the existence of this from anyone, and the wording was such that trying to manipulate this into looking bad for the Jedi was extremely minuscule.

It seemed like the Jedi still had some cunning about them after all. Sidious hid his expression well as some of his plans started to fray. But not unravel, not come undone. There were still many things he could do. This small delay was of no concern.

Office of Senator Padme Amidala

The Naboo Senator and Representative Jar-Jar Binks both read the message from the Jedi.

"Meesa thinks this is notta good." The Gungan said in his heavily accented Standard. "Thosa peoples, they looka uppa to thesa Jedis!"

"They do, Jar-Jar." Padme agreed as she read the message again. The Jedi were regretfully informing the Senate that they could not take up the mantle of Generalship in the Grand Army, that they were not capable of that great and onerous position. They were enforcers of the Law, they were diplomats and healers. They had no real experience with combat, and cited their own performance in the Stark Hyperspace 'War' two decades earlier as an example of what happens when untrained Jedi are in charge.

They made it a point to reinforce that they will serve the Republic in any way that they can, but not in this manner, and pleaded with the Senate to look to the standing armed forces of their worlds and Sectors for those sentients of skill at arms that the Jedi themselves sorely lacked.

Padme relaxed a little. After Anakin's injuries, she did not want to see him harmed again, and this letter meant that the he was not going to be put into danger again any time soon. "What can the Jedi do though? The Confederation has not listened to any of our overtures of peace."

"Sometimes," Jar-jar said with his usual physical flair, "When bombad things happen, yousa just gotta let the little ones let offa energy!"

"This isn't some play fight between younglings, Jar-Jar." Padme objected. "This is serious! The Confederation was going to kill Obi-wan, Anakin and myself in a gladiatorial arena for the masses!" She paused, memories still harrowing. "We must find those within the Confederation who still seek a peaceful resolution to this growing conflict before the death toll rises even more!"

"Yousa needs lotta lucky with that. And the Force too!"

"You're right, Jar-Jar. Perhaps I should petition the Chancellor to send a delegation of Jedi to the Separatists to negotiate a ceasefire?" She could be a member of that as well, and ask Anakin to come with her!

Jedi Temple

Kyle knew that Jan's plan would take a while to come to fruition, and add to that the Corellians would need a couple weeks to get their assignments done. He had spent half an hour compiling a report for the High Council explaining where half the Green Jedi had gone, and that the other half were available for assignments, though he did imply that any such things had to be approved by him, given that the High Council itself had given him that responsibility.

Then he tried meditating, but couldn't find in himself the calmness required. Not that he was good at that anyways. He was more of a peace-through-motion kind of guy.

So he drifted through the Temple, finding himself with no path but forward. There was a certain level of tenseness in the air, one with which he was familiar. It was the Force which guided him until he found himself compelled to stop.

He opened his eyes and looked around, having stepped through a door into what appeared to be a large group of younglings waving lightsabers around, and a certain elderly Battlemaster trying to impose order on them with the help of a couple older students.

"Master Drallig! Did you need a spare set of hands?" Kyle stepped forward, knowing just how hard it could be to get even two students with lightsabers in hand to pay attention, let alone ten or so.

"Knight-Errant Katarn!" Cin looked up with a mixture of relief and concern. "How much experience do you have with younglings?"

"Enough." Kyle said over the sounds of moving lightsabers.

"Master Drallig! Who is this?" One of his assistants, a young Togruta said, looking cautiously at Katarn.

"Ah, forgive me. Initiate Tano, this is Knight-Errant Katarn. Katarn, Initiate Tano." Drallig let the two greet each other as he moved to restore some semblance of order.

"Hey, you can call me Kyle," the human said. "You his Apprentice or something?"

Tano looked annoyed with him. "No. I'm an Initiate. Not a Padawan. And what sort of title is Knight-Errant?"

"Mine." Kyle firmly replied, knowing from experience that getting into pedantic arguments led nowhere with children. "Come on, let's help Master Drallig."

Soon Kyle and Cin had organized the younglings into groups, Kyle simply taking the instructions of the Battlemaster and repeating them to the group he wound up with. With his five ad hoc students, Kyle got them to perform basic movements with the lightsabre in order, teaching them the basics of combat fit for a person who held a proper lightsaber for the first time.

Once that was done, Kyle checked on the progress of the other groups. Cin and his Rodian student had no issues, while the Togruta was failing horribly, raising her voice in exasperation as she slowly lost control. Kyle and Cin met eye to eye for a moment, before Cin moved to help her learn how to lead and teach while Kyle stepped over to oversee Cin's group for a moment.

Soon, Cin and Tano had her group under control, and the four teachers took a moment to compare notes. Or rather, Kyle watched while Cin talked to his students about their leadership and why the succeed or failed. He listened from behind the two Initiates, while at the same time keeping an eye on the younglings.

There were more Jedi in this room learning than he had ever seen back on Yavin. He felt that he had no real appreciation for the scale of differences between the two Orders. Except to say that the Jedi of this time were far larger than he had envisioned.

"And Tano, what do you think was different from what you did than, say, Knight-Errant Katarn?" Kyle's attention was drawn back to the conversation in front of him when his name was mentioned. Now being used as a direct teaching tool, rather than as an extension of Cin's efforts, Kyle was aware that he really had little means of defending the source of his knowledge and experience.

"He's bigger!" She said instantly, and Kyle knew she had missed the point of the exercise completely. But he kept silent and instead made a show of ignoring her and on the students. A few needed to work on their basic stance, so he tapped the shoulder of the Rodian and whispered a suggestion into his ear. Nodding, the student went to help the younglings with their problems before they became problems.

Turning his attention back to Cin and Tano, Kyle caught the tag end of it. "... and he shows patience when helping those under his care. Learn from that example, Initiate."

"Yes, Master." Tano seemed appropriately dejected, shoulders slumping.

"Good, now, go back and talk with the other Initiates."

"Yes, Master."

Kyle stepped aside to let her pass before moving closer to the aged human. "Hey. Thanks for letting me help. I was getting a little bored waiting for things to happen."

"I just counseled patience with Tano," Drallig said. "Do I have to do the same with you?"

"No!" Kyle defended himself with a smile. "It's just that with my position, I've got a lot of things going on, and getting out of the office, so to speak, was high on my list of things to do."

"And I thank you for your assistance," Drallig said politely. "You have some skill with that."

"Eh, I've found it's less trying to control the children and more pointing them in the right direction and giving them some motivation."

"Like your own time as a Padawan?"

Kyle was never technically a Padawan, but he wasn't about to admit to that. "I had plenty of motivation, that's for sure." Finding and killing Jerec.

"I see," Cin said as he turned his eye to his two students. "Did you come here with a purpose, or just familiarizing yourself with the layout of the Temple?"

"A bit of both," Kyle admitted. "It's hard to find a good sparring partner at our skill level, you know?"

Drallig let a small smile tug at his face. "Yes, it is. But not today. I have other commitments to attend to. You may find other sparring partners down two rooms, but I do ask that you take it easy on them."

"Finally!" Kyle said aloud. "Someone respects me!"

Seranno

Ventress awoke to pain, her old friend. She had been bested by that old man, and he made sure that she knew that there was a massive difference between him and her.

She would have her revenge, though it would not be immediate. No, she would learn from him first, and once his usefulness was at an end, she would then strike him down for every slight he would impose on her in the meanwhile.

The first was in taking away her Lightsabers. While her clothes were still on her, she got out of the bed she had been laid down in and searched for the two weapons that had seen her through thick and thin. She could not, so she responded by drawing on the Force, and holding it at the ready until she found them.

Walking along the only path available to her, she came to a set of stairs which she descended into the natural sunlight of this world, a far cry from the constant gloom of her homeworld.

There! Her senses rejoiced at the familiar sensation of her blades. Not sensing a trap, she leapt down the lower half of the stairs, summoning her weapons at the same time.

Once they were in her hands, she readied herself for another attack, but none came. It would appear that her.. host. Yes, that was the word. She most certainly was not going to call him 'Master' in any believable way.

And just what were these 'Dark Acolytes' anyways? Obviously they practiced utilizing the Dark Side of the Force, but that meant nothing to her, one who lived in the Dark Side. And yet there was no one here either. Her wounds had been tended, so it seemed like she was simply being left to her own devices for now.

Or perhaps not. Of course she would be spied upon, mechanical eyes that watched her every move. And she couldn't see them. That didn't mean they weren't there. With the comforting presence of the two blades, she began to explore the room in more detail. There was nothing to see, except for the vista over some generic cliffs and a sunset one could find on any of a thousand worlds.

"Enjoying yourself?" Ventress' weapons were in her hands the instant Dooku spoke, yet she felt no hostility from him. In fact, she felt nothing, like he was hiding himself in the Force. A skill she was barely aware of, let alone given the chance to master. He spoke more, as though he were completely ignorant of the implied threat in her hands. "Serrano has many such vistas, and I find myself connecting to them. The thoughts that the Republic would pervert them are something I draw strength from."

"You grow attached to such things?" Ventress asked, not yet ready to lower her weapons.

"A bit, yes. When I was a Jedi, such behavior would have been frowned upon – unless of course, I spoke as though it were the Force I was appreciating, rather than the view." Dooku stepped up past her and towards the window, hands at rest behind him. "Becoming a Sith has set me free." He turned to face her. "Tell me, do you know the Sith Code? Not the Jedi one, of course."

Ventress found that she did not, and let the silence be her answer, rather than admitting to her failure.

"Ah, very well then. Allow me to enlighten you. Peace is a Lie; there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through Strength, I gain Power. Through Power, I gain Victory. Through Victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall set me free." He looked at Ventress. I can see by your eyes that this is the first you have heard it. Your first task as my Dark Acolyte is to study it, and to understand it. Once you have something that satisfies me, that shows me you understand in some faint glimmer what it means to be Sith, then your teachings will begin."

Ventress bit back the question of if she failed that, for failure was obviously not an option. "Do all the ... Acolytes go through this process?"

"Some do. Some need not, for they display an innate understanding of the Code. Show me your strengths, Assaj Ventress, that I may make you more powerful." With that, he spun on his heel and started to walk away. "I have much business to attend to. We will not meet again until you are ready."

Jedi Temple

Anakin was not about to kick the speeder he was working on. He most certainly was not about to express anger at a machine who refused to start, no matter how much he poked at it, nor how much he wanted to beat it into submission. He was better than that. Better that the damned machine.

He needed to take a break, and to cool off. "R2," he said to his companion droid, "tidy up. I'll be back." He stood and started to walk away as the astromech droid started to organize the tools behind him.

As he walked through the landing bay, he saw a familiar face in the crowd, along with two of the Corellian Jedi walking with her. Curious, he angled toward them and waved when he made eye contact.

"Skywalker," Jan said, just a little bit off guard. "Go on ahead," she told her escorts, "I'll catch up." She stood still while the Corellians went away, and Anakin came up to her. "What can I do for you?"

"Um," Suddenly he had no idea why he wanted to speak to her, just that it seemed like a good idea. "Do you know where Master Katarn is? I wanted to talk to him more about his Sect's interpretation of the Jedi Code..." It was a lame excuse, and he could tell that she saw right through it.

"I don't know," she said. "You can leave a message with the Corellians or I can let him know when he comes home this evening."

"That may be for the best," Anakin admitted before reflexively reaching out with the Force to get a feel for her.

She didn't like him. In fact, he could sense a little fear in her. That confused him even more.

"Pardon me for asking, but have I done something? Have I offended you in some way?"

"What makes you say that?" Jan asked, crossing her arms across her chest defensively.

"Well, you don't like me, and your body language..."

"You mean the Force," Jan said, cutting through his excuses. "Fine. Someone with your name – Skywalker – did some very evil things were we're from. Not to me directly, but enough that I and Kyle are wary of that name."

Anakin didn't know much about his mother's family, but the thought of finding out was too much. "What happened to him? Or her?"

"Dead, at the hands of his son." Jan said flatly, before seeing the shock cross Anakin's face for just a moment before replaced with the typical Jedi passivity. "You want to know more, talk to Kyle, Skywalker."

"Anakin." He said in the moment, with no forethought. "Call me Anakin. Not Skywalker. If it'll help."

Jan paused. "Maybe it will." Then, recalling that Kyle wanted to work at steering this young man away from the path to becoming Darth Vader, she gestured at the Raven's Claw. "Want to come aboard? You can leave a message there, and if you're having troubles with your prosthetic, I can help with that."

She wasn't a Jedi, but she did travel with one, Anakin mused. She could be someone to talk to. "Of course. If I may, what were you doing with the Corellians? I thought Master Katarn was responsible for them."

"Secret stuff. For the Senate." Jan shook her head. "No offense, but I don't think you have experience with that sort of thing. You look more like a flyboy to me."

Anakin bristled at the comment, but knew that she couldn't have known about his relationship with Padme. Instead, he focused on the compliment. "I know my way around starships," he said with some bit of pride. "Although probably not as much experience as you."

Office of Senator Mon Mothma

She watched as the other two Senators read over the reports of the DEMP weapon. Once Senators Organna and Amidala were finished, she asked them simply, "What do you think about this?"

"I think that this is a good idea," the native of Alderaan said. "As much as I do not like this war, having a weapon like this that disables, rather than destroys is something my constituents can approve of, and if we have something that's a hard counter to the Trade Federation's Battledroids, they will not be able to field them in anywhere near the same effectiveness."

"I cannot approve of any further military spending," Amidala spoke against it. "A weapon is a weapon, and even though this sort of thing is meant for use against droids, a close range shot can severely injure a person."

"Anything can inure a person in the right circumstances," Bail countered. "Even the water you're drinking." He pointed at the glass in her hands. "That does not mean that we should ban it. I can get behind setting up appropriations for this. What do you have in mind?"

"Actually," Mon Mothma knew she needed to get Amidala on board before going any further with her plans. "Think of it in these terms, Senator." She motioned to the data slates before them. "You still wish to negotiate with the Separatists, correct?"

"Of course!" The younger Senator was eager for a diplomatic solution. "Any chance for peace should be taken."

"Well, with this, if we can prove to the Separatists that their armies will not aid them, then they will more quickly come to the negotiating table." It was a simple logic that she hoped that the idealistic Senator would see.

"That's not the point!" Amidala retorted with furor. "We're still making weapons! To harm, to kill!"

"Senator!" Bail yelled. "You will comport yourself properly!" He let his tone of voice return to normal. "We are being given an opportunity to force Count Dooku to the table, rather than letting him and his group attack innocent Republic worlds. How else do you propose we do that?"

Amidala had no immediate response, so Mon Mothma laid out the next step in her and Jan's plan. "Senator," she said politely and softly, "Your motions for a peace envoy are going to be rejected in the Senate because no one believes that Peace can be had properly. Not to mention that there are those in the Senate who see the war as a good thing." There was no need to name the Banking Clans as the first member of that list.

"I have heard that Kamino is pushing to be granted a Senate seat based on their creation of the Army," Bail said. "While I agree that the service they have performed is great, I do not believe that they are ready for a full Senate seat, and all the responsibilities that come with it."

"What about the Jedi?" the Naboo Senator asked. "What do they think of all this?"

"It was a Jedi contingent which brought this weapon to us," Mon Mothma said honestly. "They are in approval of anything that would minimize casualties. Approve of this, and we will be able to better support your initiative when the time comes.

Raven's Claw

Kyle walked up the ramp onto the ship, knowing that meant Jan was in. "Hey Jan! I'm back!" He doffed his jacket and put his weapons away while noting that she had to be up in the cockpit, behind the closed door.

"Jan?" He said again, knowing that the door could easily muffle someone speaking from the back where the bunks were. Curious, he walked up and opened the door.

The cockpit was a mess of wires, consoles opened and tools lying everywhere.

He spotted Jan's lower half sticking out from under the navigation panel, but did not recognize the other person there with her. "Jan? Whose our guest?"

There was a jump, and a loud 'bang!' which caused Kyle to wince at the image of him startling someone under there and causing them to hit their head on something harder than their skull. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," Jan said, obviously not. Kyle looked around and found the medikit, which he grabbed and set down on an open space. "How was your day?"

"Busy, and boring. You still haven't answered," he replied.

"Same," Jan said, pulling herself out. "I was just showing Anakin here some of our systems, and he's been pretty good at helping upgrade a few of them."

The potential Dark Lord of the Sith pulled himself out from under the console as well, a sheepish look on his face. "I apologize, Master Katarn. I lost track of time."

"Jan." Kyle said with all the mock seriousness he could muster. "Are you already looking for a younger man?"

Jan buried her face in her hands. "Kyle! Seriously?"

He couldn't help himself, and Kyle's stern facade broke into laughter. "It's alright!" He looked at the confused Anakin. "Don't worry about it, Skywalker. Jan and I have been together for years."

A moment of hope flitted across Anakin's face. "Together?" Finally he could see what was bothering him, and in a moment, all his lies were laid bare before him. "Actually, Master Katarn. Miss Ors? There is something I would like to talk to you about. Privately. And that you promise that not a word of it goes back to the Council, or Obi-wan."

Jan and Kyle looked confused at each other before Jan seeded the choice to him with a shrug. "Sure, I think. What did you need help with?"