A New Jedi in an Old Republic

Jedi Temple

"Troubled, you are." Yoda greeted his friend, former apprentice and co-member of the High Council in the darkened meditation room.

"I am," Mace Windu admitted as Coruscant spun through the night, heedless of the concerns of the people on it, no matter how powerful they were. "The discussion between the Chancellor and the Knight-Errant becomes more and more troubling the longer I dwell upon it."

"Apparent in the Force, that is." Yoda could sense Mace's troubled mind from some distance – which led to his appearance now. "Your mind, speak."

"We consistently fail to give Katarn credit for the true measure of his intelligence and resources," Mace observed. "And yet at the same time he seems to be giving us due credit for our own capabilities." He did not sigh, for that would be improper for a Jedi to express themselves that way. "He seems to find us in want. Then, when he spoke with the Chancellor, it became apparent that he saw a larger picture of the state of the war than we do. Or could."

Yoda nodded, simply being a good listener as Mace got to express his concerns to someone he could trust. "From outside the Order, he is. Given, different views are."

"It is more than just us he is pointing out the flaws that he sees in. He stated that the Republic is not in control of their own war effort," Mace quickly hit on the high points of Kyle's exposition to the Chancellor with no hubris or malice.

"Hrm," Yoda committed to no response save one that encouraged Mace to keep speaking.

"But most troublesome, Master Yoda, was that he knew the name of Sideous."

"Secret, that name is." Yoda focused more on Mace. "Come by that name, how?"

"He did not say, but implied that his own Order has their own spies and resources." Mace shook his head. "This is very troublesome. We thought that Dooku was using that name as a distraction when he spoke to Obi-wan, but to have independent confirmation...."

Yoda 'hrm'd at this piece of information. "Cloudy, the Force is. Know, we must, how he came by this knowledge. Spies in the Order? Spies in the Sith?"

"He also had an interesting interpretation of the Sith that he relayed, which I think we could utilize in our own efforts," Mace said. He quickly repeated Kyle's assertion about how the 'Sith' that worked for the Confederacy were simply a reflection of the way the Jedi operated in the Republic.

"Palpatine, a Jedi he is not," Yoda pointed out. "Count Dooku. Darth Tyrannus. Leader, he is. Learn, all shall, why the Jedi do not lead, but serve."

"I agree with that sentiment, Master Yoda," Mace said. "However I am concerned that the damage he will cause to the Republic and the Confederacy before all is done will be something that will take generations to undo."

"Perhaps," Yoda thought. "Begun, the search has, for specialists to help restore the image of the Jedi to the people."

"I look forward to that," Mace said. "Tell me, what do you think of what concerns me?"

"Change," Yoda muttered. "Change, change, change." He shook his head back and forth. "Too fast. Yet too slow. We must, but know not how. Easy to blame, Katarn will be, when troubles ahead. Much consideration will be needed."

"I agree. We must meditate on this for guidance," Mace commented. "We should also question Katarn regarding his sources. I think Obi-wan will be a good choice for that."

"Agree, I do." Yoda nodded. "Understanding, we must have."

Practice Chambers

"How's the hand?" Kyle asked as he lightly twirled his lightsabre around.

Anakin dropped his own sabre into his flesh-and-blood hand and flexed his cybernetic replacement. "Stiff. I can't really feel it like I could my own body."

Kyle nodded. "Cybernetics are always hard on Force users. The Master of my order, Luke, needed a replacement from the wrist down after a bad fight. Took him a while to train himself again."

Taking that as a challenge – that someone could succeed and therefore so could he – Anakin returned his sabre to his other hand and resumed his training stance. "Ready?"

Switching to a defensive style, Kyle nodded. "Ready. Remember, easy and simple for now."

Anakin swung his lightsabre in a quick arc, and Kyle backed up a half-step to give himself plenty of room to parry the swing. Anakin repeated the blow again and again, Kyle expertly preventing the blow from landing each time.

"Thank you for agreeing to this," the young Jedi said as he flexed his hand, getting a feel for how much power he could put into a strike.

"No problem!" Kyle replied. "After talking to the Chancellor, I could use something relaxing like this."

"That's odd," Anakin replied as he turned away from Kyle and gave a couple practice swings to the empty air, "I've never had problems speaking to him. He's a nice man."

Kyle felt sad for a moment, thinking about a pre-Vader Anakin Skywalker being swayed to the Dark Side by Sideous and his guise of Palpatine. "You trust him, don't you?"

"You don't?" Anakin replied in shock.

Kyle shrugged. "He's a politician. I'm a little jaded where those are concerned."

"You should learn to trust then, Knight-Errant." Obi-wan strode into the practice arena with a firm pace. "Anakin, you missed your meeting with the Healers." He glared at his pupil with disappointment and worry. "Go there. Now."

Anakin deflated. "I'm fine Master! Master Katarn was just helping me with my sparring."

"Go see the docs," Kyle said, siding with Obi-Wan as he turned off his sabre. "I've got no problems helping you out with some practice, but that isn't an excuse to miss out on something you don't like."

Seeing he could not win, not now, Anakin deactivated his weapon and sighed. "Very well, Masters. I shall be going." He turned to walk away, head down even as Obi-Wan and Kyle kept watching him.

Once he was gone, Kyle apologized to Obi-wan. "Sorry, he didn't tell me about his appointment."

"He rarely does when he thinks he can get away with it," Kenobi accepted the sincere apology. "He also doesn't want to show weakness in front of me, it seems. Or else he would have asked me for help in regaining his skill." The Jedi Master seemed quite sad at the fact. "How is he doing?"

Kyle smiled. "Better! He just needs to regain the same confidence he had before his injury, and he'll be back to normal in no time!"

"It was that confidence that got him hurt in the first place," Obi-wan warned. "But he is getting better?" There was a note of hope in his voice that Kyle couldn't miss if he was dead.

"Definitely," he said as he looked at the door where Anakin had gone. "I know what you're thinking – that you're feeling cut out by him not coming to you for practice. I've seen it before though. You're right about the weakness thing – he'll come back to you once he feels he can face you again."

Obi-wan wasn't aware that he was that obvious. "Thank you for your kind works, Knight-Errant." He walked over to the practice mat and ignited his own lightsabre before moving into Form III practice. "I also have some questions for you from the High Council. They didn't want to haul you up there as it would be counterproductive, so they asked me instead."

Kyle stepped back to give Obi-wan room to practice his slow and precise motions. He felt that this was the response to him overplaying the hand that Jan had prepared for him, and even warned him about. But he was prepared for that. "What do they want to know?"

"How you know about Darth Sideous for one. The only time we've heard that name was from the mouth of Count Dooku on Geonosis."

Thankfully, Kyle already had a deflection prepared. He stepped into the practice ring and activated his own sabre, making his intentions clear. Obi-wan saw this and stepped back to his own starting position on the far side of the mat and waited for Kyle to advance to his own point.

"They don't trust me?" Kyle didn't bother stopping on his mark, ignoring it as he kept his pace even and regular as he advanced on Obi-wan – who in turn readied himself for Kyle's eccentric offense.

"It's not you," Obi-wan replied as he watched and waited. There was something intimidating in the way Katarn approached, calm and collected in a way that spoke about how he dealt with duels in the past. "Then they do have questions regarding the veracity of your...!"

Kyle made a quick strike, flicking his sabre around with just the wrist and a little bit of elbow in the swing. Obi-wan responded to the half-effort attack with a conservative redirection of the blade away from him even as he kept a wary eye on Katarn's open hand for any tricks.

He remembered the demonstration battle against the Battlemaster well.

"Your sources!" He finished as both he and Kyle steadied themselves. "You can understand that? Trust, yet verify?"

"All too well," Kyle confirmed as he watched Obi-wan's style with the eye of a Battlemaster. "Not bad. Form III, right? Soresu? A bit defensive for my tastes, it gets me nowhere in a fight." He raised his sabre to point at Obi-wan's own. "And you're not used to it yet, your body is fighting to go into a different stance. Let me guess.... Ataru? Form IV?"

"A Jedi should not seek to harm his foes, but to subdue them without force," Obi-wan stated to hide his surprise that Katarn was able to have his measure that quickly – unless of course he got that information out of Anakin.

"I agree," Kyle said before making a single short strike which Obi-wan parried again. "You call it Form Zero, if Cin is to be believed. Talk things out first. It's what we teach back home."

He stepped back and gestured at Obi-wan's arm. "You're still trying to set up a strike the way you're holding yourself. Wait. Be patient."

"I don't need you to teach me how to defend myself," Obi-wan found himself saying, rejecting the gall of Katarn to treat this like Obi-wan was a student of his.

"Fair enough," Kyle said flatly and slammed into Obi-wan with the Force.

Obi-wan had little warning except for the motion of Kyle's arms as he thrust out with them to help direct the blow. He focused on himself, and tried to defend, but Kyle's push was far stronger than it had any right to be; it came from nothing and slammed into him like a Krayt Dragon had decided to body-check him.

But he stood and held against the blow. Kyle looked on in approval. "Good," he said. "I'm always willing to help, but a student has to be willing to learn."

"I am not your student," Obi-wan objected.

"Everyone is a student," Kyle replied as Obi-wan refused to take to the offense. "Lesson I learned the hard way."

"You should not be so arrogant," Obi-wan warned.

Kyle thought that over. "Am I coming across like that? Sorry."

"Yes, you are." Obi-wan deactivated his sabre. "Well?"

Turning off his own weapon, Kyle shook his head. "Even if I told you the truth, the High Council wouldn't believe me. They think that they can know and have a say in everything that goes on, but that arrogance will get people killed. They want to know how I know about Sideous? I know because the Jedi and the Sith have made the same basic mistake."

"And what would that be?"

"They all look down on people without the Force." Kyle snapped out and walked away before he would do anything else to ruin his working relationship with Kenobi or the Temple Jedi.

Seranno

Dooku knew who the most likely suspects to be spies were. Quinlan Vos he knew about already, but kept him close to feed information to the Jedi through. Ventress was a good possibility, so she too would be called to perform this mission. Sora Bulq had abandoned the Jedi after Geonosis, and Dooku knew his professed loyalty would need to be tested. Karoc and Vinoc were loyal, but not to the task at hand, so he would need to send someone else. Saato would do nicely, especially as those loyal to him and his cause would turn on the traitor in their midst.

They all stood before him, in his vaulting office. "I have called you all here to perform two missions for me," he said in his best commanding voice. "The Republic is developing a new anti-droid weapon on the world of Garamost", he tapped a hidden button in his hand and a hologram of the planet and its system sprang up behind him. "Because our information is incomplete in how far along the development is," he commanded the hologram to focus on one region of the planet where the information from his Master indicated the factory was being built. "It has been decided to send you as a strike force to remove the factory, kill everyone present, and destroy all technology and information you find. We cannot risk sending in droid armies if the weapon is active."

He expected someone to raise a concern over the number of Acolytes being sent, and his expectations were not defeated. "Hah!" Karoc yelled out, "Just send Vinoc and I, and we will destroy it all for you, our lord!"

Dooku smiled. It wasn't a pleasant expression. "And that brings me to my second mission. It seems there is a traitor in our midst," that got the right response he was looking for. Instantly the six Dark Acolytes started to examine each other for perceived fault. "Therefore this is a test of loyalty. Other groups will have their own tasks."

"And if we find this traitor?" Ventress hissed.

"Kill them!" Dooku proclaimed. "I will have no dissension in our ranks!"

"My lord!" Saato lowered herself to one knee, "We live to serve!"

"Do not think yourself above suspicion," Dooku warned the Dathomari Witch in his service. "You must all watch each other for the slightest suspicions and act upon them!"

What he saw then made him glad. They were ready to turn on each other, for only the strong would thrive in the Dark Side. This would be a good test for all of them, not just those loyal to him.

Republic Intelligence

Seven different locations were marked on the holographic representation of Garamost. Armand Isard was one of three people who knew about all the locations. This was the first major test of Republic Intelligence in this conflict, and he did not want to fail at all. He refused to fail his Chancellor in this first trial.

He just hoped that the Senator and the Agent knew what they were doing.

Guest Quarters, Jedi Temple

Nejaa refused to skip down into the quarters shared by his people. It would be improper. "Great news everyone!" He called out to those who were here. "Our fellows who went to Bespin were greeted by the Altisian Jedi there, and they have agreed to join us!"

There was no one in the rooms. He hadn't checked before speaking. "Well, that was a waste of a good entrance." He had already sent confirmation to Katarn and to the High Council, and he hoped that one success so far would help loosen up the Temple Jedi and accept their help more readily.

"Where is everyone?"

Raven's Claw

"Jan, you called?" Kyle knocked on the ramp to their ship before boarding. "Jan?"

"Up here!" She called out from further in, half-way down the length of the ship where she had a panel open and wiring falling out.

"What's up?" Kyle asked as he dropped his sabre on his bed and picked up a bag of tools that he knew Jan was going to ask for shortly.

"Oh, thanks!" Jan said as she reached for said tools. "The mission is a go, can you spare a couple days?"

"I think I can," Kyle said. "Nejaa's got a good head on his shoulders, so I can leave him in charge without much issue."

"Good to hear," Jan replied as she finished her repair and started to close up the panel. "We're going to Garamost and wait to see where the Separatists hit."

"What is on Garamost?" Mace spoke from the entrance to the Claw. He strode up the ramp, but stopped at the threshold to the ship itself. "Katarn?"

Kyle and Jan shared a look. "I thought they knew?" He asked her.

"It's been compartmentalized," Jan explained. "To minimize leaks."

"What is going on that is taking Katarn away?" Mace demanded without being overbearing.

"There's a trap being set for spies in the Senate, and I've been involved with that since before I came to the Temple," Kyle spoke the half-truth. "The Jedi were not informed because you didn't need to be, and it would simply be one more point of failure for the mission."

Mace reflexively bristled at the implication before logic asserted itself. "The High Council should have been informed, regardless."

"Don't take it up with us," Jan said as she finished reattaching the panel. "Republic Intelligence made that call." She privately enjoyed the idea of breaking the Jedi of the day of the idea that they had to know about everything. Luke made sure that the New Order didn't need to with the New Republic, and it worked out quite well for the most part.

Mace looked at Kyle. "And you are there to supervise?"

"No," Kyle said as he walked to the back of the ship, a physical presence that should have let Mace know that he was still intruding. "I'm the trap."

For a moment, Mace thought about continuing the argument here and now when something in his mind started to make sense. And it included the recognition that he was going about this in the wrong way. Katarn respected action, not just words. He wanted to know, and to be known as someone who was willing to do what they say.

"Very well, I am coming with you," he announced.

"What?" Kyle shouted.

"You can't!" Jan retorted right after. "You're on the High Council, you can't just up and leave!"

Mace shook his head as he crossed into the ship properly. "I have a responsibility not only to the Jedi, but to the Republic as well." He looked at the cramped ship without worry. "Therefore I will attend this operation to see and learn for myself things I do not know."

"Off," Kyle warned even as Jan put her hand on his shoulder.

"Kyle. Backup," she explained how she would fit Mace into the plan with a single word. "This whole thing is about deception. As long as he can keep from telling people what he's really doing, no one will expect him."

Kyle looked back at Jan, then back at Windu. Then back to Jan, who nodded in confidence. "Very well," he accepted her decision. "But you're not in charge. You follow my orders, got it?"

"I am capable of such things," Mace said firmly. "When are we leaving?"

High Council Chambers

"Did Master Windu say where he was going?"

"No," Yoda replied, although he had his suspicions with Katarn and his ship leaving the Temple as well at the behest of the Republic. "Trust him, I do. Progress, has there been, on our requirements?"

"Yes Master," Ki-Adi-Mundi replied. "We have narrowed down our options to four organizations that deal with public relations."

"And we need to decide who will represent the Jedi on this diplomatic tour the Senate wants; it will have to be someone very good at speaking to maintain the status quo at the least." Plo-Koon observed. "This is not the best time for Master Windu to take leave for a few days."

"No, it is not," Yoda muttered. "Trust him, we shall, that the Force will not lead him astray."

Seranno

The six Acolytes chosen for the mission to Garamost were given time to prepare both themselves and their equipment before they departed.

Naturally, Ventress checked her sabres first, making sure that they were in perfect condition, that the blades were the exact same length and that they were easy to draw and ignite in a single smooth motion.

Once she was satisfied, she moved on to less important details. Information supplied about the target of their attack was sparse, and the presence of a shield over the complex prevented the prudent measure of simply bombarding the location from orbit. The Sith Assassin reviewed what they did know, and she didn't like it one bit.

There was little to go on, and the Acolytes were expected to figure things out once they hit the ground. In one way, she supposed, this was another test from Dooku, to see who had the initiative to advance the mission even in the face of opposition from within and from without.

She actually doubted there was a spy in the Acolytes, for if there was, Dooku would have found them long ago and made an example of them. They were a small organization, hand picked by the Count himself, and to admit to a spy within their ranks was to admit that he had made a mistake.

Mistakes got Sith killed. No, he must have a deeper plan.

The basic plan was for the Acolytes to take a long-range shuttle, arrive in the system, sneak onto the planet, attack and destroy the facility from under the shields, then extract themselves.

It wasn't the worst thing she had ever seen. But there were just too many unknowns for her taste. While others would relish the opportunity, she saw that there was too much not being given to them.

That being done, she moved on to collect other equipment she might need. Demolitions were a given, and she found that other Acolytes had moved to gather what they wanted from the armory before her. It didn't impact her choices though, Dooku made sure his home residence was well defended from any possible form of assault.

As she exited, she saw the Vos was coming in her direction, obviously going for some supplies himself. "Greetings," she said to her fellow Acolyte. "Picking up some gear?"

The Kiffar Sith simply grunted.

Ventress stood aside to let him pass, examining him with the Force as he did so. The Dark Side swirled around him, permeating his very being. Yet he fought it. He struggled to find himself when it would be so easy for him to slip into the folds of the Dark Side never to return.

Even if she thought it was folly in the long run, for the Dark Side was obviously strong in him, she had to respect the effort it took. On Dathomir, such tests of self-control were more the purview of the Witches than anyone else, for it made them strong.

She hoped that he wasn't the fictitious spy that Dooku had set them to finding. It would be a shame to lose such a fine specimen to unfounded paranoia.

Raven's Claw

Kyle and Mace sat in the cockpit while Jan slept in the back. The colors of Hyperspace surrounded the two of them as Kyle briefed Mace on the general outline of the plan, and his (now their) part in it.

"I do not understand why they would not ask the Jedi to investigate," Mace pondered aloud after Kyle finished. "We would be able to get to the bottom of who this leak is – even if they exist."

Kyle shook his head. "You would be too obvious. Jedi aren't exactly subtle, what with the robes and the lightsabres."

Mace did not respond, simply adding the fact to the list of things he would talk to the High Council about when they returned from this mission. He changed topics. "Nice ship."

"Thank you," Kyle said, but did not elaborate on the ship's history. "We'll be arriving at Garamost in a few hours, and there meet up with the rest of our team. Why don't you grab some rest or meditation before then?"

Windu knew that he would not be allowed to be alone in the ship's cockpit, nor would he begrudge Katarn that. "I think I will," he said as he stood up. "I will not disturb your pilot."

"I'm not worried about that," Kyle said with a smirk. "She can sleep through almost anything when she wants to."