Talk about exciting! The third story in my Dark Ahsoka series. I really debated about who I'd put under the character genre, but I decided to give it the same one as before because the entire sage will culminate in Anakin and Pesinoe/Ahsoka's relationship. So no comments on it really. I'll just say it's only the beginning and I enjoyed writing it. With out further ado, the first chapter of Transition in Darkness! Read, Enjoy, and Review!
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Chapter One
Anakin was alert as he suddenly found himself in unfamiliar territory. It definitely wasn't the rebel base. It was way too warm to be Hoth. He had been meaning to seriously hurt whoever had come up with the idea to have a base on that force forsaken planet. Unfortunately, neither Leia nor Padmé would tell him. If Anakin could just find out who it was, he'd make their life miserable.
He looked around and recognized the place as the council room from the jedi temple. When he spun around, Yoda's image appeared in his regular seat as did the rest of the council who had been dead for over twenty years now. Well, as far as he knew Yoda wasn't dead. Anakin just had no clue where he was in the galaxy.
"What's going on here?"
"The council wishes to discuss what will be the future of the jedi Anakin."
Anakin turned in the direction of the voice and smiled. "Obi-Wan."
"Hello Anakin. It's been a long time," he said.
Indeed it had, three years to be exact. It was after he got over his excitement at seeing his old mentor again that Anakin processed why Obi-Wan said he was there.
"What do you mean the future of the jedi? If it's something for the council to decide, why am I here?" he asked.
"Partly because aside from Yoda, you're the only living jedi left," Obi-Wan said gravely.
"That," Mace Windu began, "and the fact that this matter concerns you as well."
"You mean…" Anakin trailed off.
Yoda nodded. "To train your children or not, we must decide."
Anakin's lips formed a thin line, but he wasn't going to say anything yet.
"What's there to discuss?" said Seasee Tiin. "The jedi order must be rebuilt. Of course the Skywalker twins should be trained."
"They're too old to be trained," Kit Fisto argued.
"I think age is irrelevant in this case," Shaak-Ti said. "Training Luke and Leia is the only hope for the jedi order."
Anakin cracked a small smile. At least Shaak-Ti didn't talk about his children as though they were just tools to be used. She said their names.
"Why can't we find other force sensitive children and raise them from the cradle as jedi?" Mundi suggested.
"Don't be foolish," Mace said. "We'd be waiting another generation to destroy the sith. By that time, they would be too powerful to destroy. We need to take action now."
"Master Windu is correct," Tiin added. "Despite the fact that I disapprove of their parentage, being that they came from an illegal relationship, they are our last hope."
Anakin raised his head to glare. How dare he criticize his and Padmé's relationship? If it weren't for their so-called illegal relationship, Luke and Leia wouldn't have been born, and they wouldn't have been having this discussion. They'd be facing extinction.
"Mm," Yoda said. "Too old indeed, the children are to train. No other choice however, we have. Trained, the Skywalker twins must be. Start with Luke I shall. Send him to me on Dagobah we will."
Mace looked at Anakin. "You will inform him of this?" he asked.
Anakin shook his head and put in his opinion for the first time since the beginning of the discussion.
"I won't have it," Anakin replied. "You will not train Luke."
The room suddenly became deathly quiet and though all the masters remained outwardly passive, he could feel the shock, surprise, outrage, and betrayal even.
"What do you mean Skywalker?" Mace asked glaring.
Anakin stood his ground. "It's not the aspect of Luke being trained that I don't like. It's the aspect of you all indoctrinating him with that ancient code of yours."
"Part of the jedi, you are also," Yoda replied.
"I never said I wasn't, but if we're to bring the jedi back, we have to start with a clean slate, and that means revising the code to better uphold what the force wills," Anakin insisted. "Even now I can see that you all are stuck in your ancient ways. It's time for the jedi to change. We've been doing the same thing for the past thousand years out of fear for what would happen if we allowed emotions and attachments. I won't have Luke apart of that."
"You have no right," said Fisto indignantly.
"Actually I have the force given right. He's my son," Anakin deadpanned
"Your son is almost an adult. He can make the decision for himself," Mace said.
"Yes, he can. But I won't have him rushing into this out of a sense of obligation without knowing exactly what this all entitles. The code has to change," Anakin said stubbornly.
"Perhaps Anakin is right," Obi-Wan said. "It's time for a change. Emotion isn't a bad thing. Just look at him and Padmé. He's speaking from experience."
"You're using one example, the chosen one no less," Mundi rebutted. "We have vast histories of people who turned to the dark side because they couldn't control their emotions. Take his padawan for example. We had good reason to ban emotion."
"And look where it's gotten us," Anakin snapped. "We're on the brink of extinction."
"I see the situation with your former padawan is still a sensitive subject," Mace said observantly.
"You think?" Anakin asked hotly. "Just because there's a risk that a person's emotions can lead them to the dark side doesn't mean they should be banned. It's part of life, especially when we're taught to keep peace out of compassion. How can we have compassion for people when we can't relate to their feelings? Particularly love."
"Like we said," Fisto said. "Take a look at your former padawan."
"Can we truly blame this all on her?" Anakin shot.
"She did destroy the jedi," Mace added pointedly. "There's no way around that."
"I don't deny that. Ahsoka was wrong to handle her feelings the way she did, but the jedi had a part in their own fall. We're not innocent in all this. It's partially our fault that the galaxy is immersed in darkness."
"Thought on this, you have?" Yoda asked and Anakin nodded.
"I have."
"Share your feelings on this matter, you mind?"
Anakin began to pace. "The jedi are right in the notion that emotions can lead to a dark path, but they can also lead to the light. We shouldn't be forced to suppress our emotions and live a life where we don't know it but are expected to have sympathy for the ones we serve. It's impossible. In asking that, it makes us hypocrites. We're asking men and women to be unnatural by doing this. Instead, we should encourage positive outlet for our emotions, not just seeking refuge in the force, and teach that like anything, it comes with its risks, and we must be cautious of them. If we had done that instead of condemning emotions when a jedi couldn't push them away, if Ahsoka had perhaps had someone, anyone, in the temple that she could have gone to when she was confused about her feelings, maybe we wouldn't be having this discussion today."
"Mm," Yoda replied. "Wisdom there is in your observation Knight Skywalker."
"But the order hasn't made such a drastic change in the last thousand years," Mundi pointed out.
"Well the jedi did make the decision to ban it in the first place," Anakin pointed out gaining a glare from Mundi.
"Only a fool hates change, while a wise man embraces it," said Shaak-Ti. "Perhaps it's time for the jedi to get with modern times."
"Consider this, the council will. Until then, trained Luke Skywalker must be," Yoda declared.
"Well then I'll have you know now that I strongly disapprove, especially when I can train Luke myself," said Anakin respectfully.
"Need we remind who your former padawan became?" Fisto asked bluntly.
Before Anakin could blow his temper and respond, Obi-Wan spoke.
"Darth Pesinoé has nothing to do with Anakin's capabilities as a teacher. That choice was Pesinoé's alone. However Anakin," Obi-Wan paused to looked at Anakin. "You are a little too close to the situation. Luke must be prepared to destroy Darth Pesinoé if he has to, and we don't think you've yet come to terms with her identity."
Anakin sighed. "Agreed. Fine. Make him a jedi. Just know that I don't like this at all. I don't want Luke to feel obligated to do this and think that his duty is to the code before the force."
"And what of the girl?" Mundi asked.
Anakin glared. "I'm already giving you Luke. The decision you come to on the matter of attachment will determine whether or not Leia is trained."
"Reasonable," Mace said. "Alright then. Obi-Wan, you will contact Luke and tell him to go to Dagobah and find Yoda. Meeting adjourned."
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Darth Pesinoé woke up out of her sleep suddenly. Something wasn't right. There had been a spark in the light side of the force. She got up out her bed. What could this have meant…?
Putting on her night robe she got into a meditative position on the bed. She searched the force and found the light. It had been years since she had tapped into the light side of the force and she didn't plan to do so. She simply planned to observe it. Ever since she had killed off most of the jedi, the light side was substantially weakened. There had been no activity from it in the last twenty-one years… Until today. It was getting stronger. Something was going on, and she didn't like it. The dark side of the force was still superior of course, but the long since dormant light side of the force was now active.
She called her ladies and waited while still in a meditative position. The thought of her ladies made her angry, not that they had done anything. They had been loyal to her for the last eighteen years. It was that Palpatine wouldn't let her replace the two she had lost over three years ago. She'd have done it anyway if it weren't for the fact that her master was more concerned about looking for Luke Skywalker. He was going to replace her. She just knew it and now the jedi wanted to train him. Palpatine would not like that, and that's why she would not tell him what she had felt in the force.
In fact, it worked in Darth Pesinoé's favor that Skywalker's son was trained in the ways of the jedi. It would make it all the more harder for Palpatine to turn him. When he was trained, she would find him and present him before the emperor. When he refused to turn, Palpatine would kill him and she in turn would kill her master with the help of her new apprentice… Once she found her that is.
"Yes milady?" the torgruta said for the seven of them.
"What is the report on the location of the rebel base?"
"We have found nothing milady, but from intelligence reports we are sure the Skywalkers are still with them," the blonde haired human said.
Pesinoé nodded. "I have a feeling that we will soon be finding them. Your next instructions never leave this room. I am only going to say this to you once, so listen carefully. When we find the rebel base, you are to let Luke Skywalker escape, but make sure you put up a fight. Do not kill him. I am certain he will go to complete his training in the ways of the jedi. That will buy us time to capture his father and his sister. When we have them he will eventually come to us… after I have trained my apprentice of course and by then he'll be so indoctrinated in the ways of the jedi, he will not turn. I can count on it. Then the rest of my plan will come into place."
"But milady, what if the emperor catches whiff of our plan?" the Twi'lek asked.
"He won't. That's why we're going to make this as convincing as possible. We're going to be as obvious as possible to make the rebels aware of our presence ahead of time."
"How will you do that milady?"
Pesinoé laughed. "For once I am thankful for the male ego and their incompetence in effort to buck female authority. I'm practically counting on Ozzel to mess this up somehow."
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AN: This story turned out to have a mind of its own. I almost couldn't contain it. It's fifteen chapters long and since I may very well add more as I tend to do in my stories, it may get longer. Alright that's it. Tell me how you like it. I'm not sure how often I'll update since I'm simultaneously working on Light of Liberty. It'll be often, I just don't want to forget to update because I'm working on that. Anyway, Hope you enjoyed. Review please!