Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Mandalorian Wars
Chapter 9
Avner watched Darious and his padawan leave. They were already a little late for going to speak with the representative thanks to Avner's sudden arrival. In the end, what his friends were doing here was both a good and bad thing. On one hand Taris would join with the Republic and gain some protection, on the other when Taris was attacked the Republic would have no choice but to fight a full on war with the mandalorians.
"So, you, of all people, don't have a plan if Kavar says 'no'?" Alek shook his head as Avner returned his attention to his oldest friend. "He's going to say no, Avner. And what will the Republic do then? Just end up without Jedi aid in this coming war?"
"The Republic might not even believe war is coming," Revan pointed out. "Until war actually breaks no one will believe that another is just on the horizon."
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. In the end though, Alek was right. If Kavar didn't act, what would happen? He'd seen firsthand how the Mandalorians fought. He'd felt as they'd slaughtered people without a second thought. Deep in his heart, he knew he couldn't sit back and watch as innocents died. But he was just a knight with little standing in the Order let alone outside of it. Who in the right mind would listen to his warning?
"Look, I don't want to go against the Order," Alek started. "After all, all three of us owe the Jedi everything. I mean, where would I have gone after my world was destroyed? Where would Darious have gone after his parents were murdered?"
"And what would I have done but die on the streets of Telos," Avner stated as he stood and moved to the window. He looked out across the city and could see nothing of interest. A vision flashed before his eyes. The calm buildings were burning. War droids filled the air, firing down on the people below. Avner shook his head and turned from the window. "Right now, just figuring out what to tell the council is my top concern."
Alek grunted. "You're going to have a hell of a time explaining the coming war. Vrook's more likely to believe the sky's falling than another war hitting the Republic so soon after the last one."
"And Vandar will caution patience to see if the warning is true or not," Avner put in as he started to pace the length of the room. His hand rested on his chin while he thought on this. "Hopefully Atris isn't there at all," he murmured this to himself.
"Ha, and since when does she leave Coruscant and the archives?!" Alek laughed. "I can't see her in the field let alone anywhere but on Coruscant."
Avner nodded his agreement to this. Even though, without her there it would've been ten times easier to persuade at least Kavar that a war was coming. "I know." He collapsed back into a chair. "Atris is going to be a pain until the day I join with the force." It didn't matter they were about the same age either. All this did was make it so that she could state that Avner's still being a knight was a sure sign he'd fall to the dark side. He placed his hand over his eyes and leaned back in the seat.
"Are you talking more about how she says you're bad for everyone you meet because you're 'on the verge of falling to the dark side,'" Alek quoted Atris word for word and even tried to make his voice higher to mimic that of a woman's.
"Err," – Avner peeked at Alek through a gap in his hands – "that was a really bad impersonation, Alek." Avner sighed and closed his eyes. "Anyway, I think the point I was getting at is that if she's there I doubt Kavar will act. Too many of the other masters on the council would judge him for it."
"Then what?" Alek pressed, there was now a hint of excitement in his voice.
"I could try to get others to see war is coming. Perhaps if some of the soldiers and those on the senate hear the message and believe they would be able to sway the masters… or I could just go in search of proof." He liked the second idea far more. "The more evidence I find the less likely the council is to disbelieve me."
Alek snorted. "Has never stopped them before in disbelieving you that is. Remember Kreia?"
"Why bring that back up? It's half the reason Atris doesn't like me."
"Only half?!" Alek demanded. "She was banished because the council caught her studying the dark side. Atris believes you're bound to follow in her footsteps and get curious enough to start looking into dark side techniques!"
"Why are you shouting?" Avner murmured. "I know what Atris thinks of me and it's not just Kreia's fault. I've done nothing to dissuade her opinion on the matter."
"You're talking about asking Master Zhar to train you in the 'saber?" Alek laughed. "By that line of thinking I'm also going to fall. Besides you really needed the extra training. Your 'saber technique is terrible."
"Is?" Avner straightened, both his eyebrows raised. "I thought I'd made vast improvement on my 'saber skills."
"You'll never catch up," Alek teased.
"Ha, ha. I didn't know we were competing." Avner smiled. "By that logic, you'll never catch in force technique."
At this Alek scowled. "I really don't even want to try." He leaned back in his seat. "Anyway, what are you planning telling the council?"
"What the prime minister told me," Avner started. He shook his head. "Though I doubt most of them will believe it." A small sigh escaped him and closed his eyes again. "I don't even have a timeline yet to when the mandalorians will attack the Republic or what other worlds have been conquered but can't tell the Republic they have been."
"Well, you're not going to get those answers while you're half asleep," Alek stated. "Get some rest. We're not leaving for awhile yet. You could use that time to come up with whatever plan you want to come up with."
Avner nodded. "Sleep sounds good," he admitted. And it really did. Sleep without having to keep one eye open to make certain no one tried to take his lightsaber, a sleep where war wasn't raging around him, a complete sleep where he could fully rest. Yes, that sounded good!
"Take a shower; then get some rest," Alek said as he stood. "I should get back to the politics." He made a face at this.
"That bad?" Avner laughed.
"You have no idea," Alek said darkly. He smiled before he nodded to Avner and left the room.
Left completely alone, Avner felt the weight of what he'd seen and the message he carried pressing down on him from all sides. A small sigh escaped and he closed his eyes. What would happen next? He shook his head and stood. Right now he didn't need to think more on this matter. If Kavar didn't act than that was in the future, in the here and now he needed to clean and rest before thinking further on the matter at hand.
Avner moved off to do as Alek had advised. Less then ten minutes later he collapsed back into the seat, clean, but still wearing the tattered remains of his robes. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Right then he was just grateful for the breather from one event following another and constantly being on the move. There had been little time to sit down and even less to actually get some good sleep.
At some point Avner drifted off to sleep.
He could hear voices through the deep, velvety darkness which surrounded him from all sides. A murmuring of people and beyond that a louder chant from the mandalorians. The murmuring increased a little in volume.
The darkness gave way to a sea of soldiers standing out before Avner. Each of them wore a Republic uniform and all of their shadowy gazes were trained on him. The soldiers vanished to be replaced by the Jedi council.
Vrook was seated before Avner, his eyes sterner than usual. There was something about him and the others present that told Avner something was wrong. His eyes flickered to Atris. Her lips were pursed and cold eyes locked on him with a deep, burning suspicion.
The images changed again. People were shouting. Blasters fired in the distance, accompanied by the low hum of lightsabers.
"Revan!" someone shouted over the sound.
"Avner!" someone shook Avner, calling out to him and ripping apart the dream. "Avner, wakeup."
"Wha—" Avner opened his eyes and, blinking, was greeted by the blurred figure of Alek. "Alek? What's wrong?" he straightened and rubbed his eyes.
"Nothing," Darious' voice sounded from somewhere behind Alek. "I told him to let you sleep, but he insisted on waking you."
"It's not 'nothing,'" Alek retorted, returning to the seat he'd left before Avner had fallen asleep. "Darious and I contacted the High Council and updated them on what's going here," Alek began. "They're ready to approve Taris joining with the Republic."
Avner nodded. "That makes sense. Is the council planning on placing a temple here?" he asked.
"Yeah, but anyone could've guessed that."
"They just want to show support for the world joining with the Republic and the senate did ask for the council to give them their opinion of the planet," Darious explained, joining them at the table. He pushed a plate of food towards Avner. "Since you're up you might as well eat."
Avner sighed and pulled the plate towards him. There was no point in arguing and he had to admit he was rather hungry. "So there's to be a temple here? I really don't envy the masters put in charge of this world. It's going to take a lot of work to get the crime down."
"That's true. I wonder if masters would even be interested in a world like this?" Alek tilted his head to one side.
"I guess we'll soon see an answer to that question." Avner started to eat. "Though," he started after a time, "I don't know how long a temple will last here."
"You mean with the mandalorians heading in this direction."
"Yes," Avner admitted. His mind wondered back to his dream. Had it just been a dream or a vision? He really hoped it was just a strange dream and nothing more or less. Plus, who was Revan? "Did you tell the council you found me?" he asked.
"No," Alek admitted. "I really didn't want to be lectured on how going into the lower city to find you was a bad idea..."
Avner smiled and nodded before he finished the rest of the meal. "It will give me more room to speak when we get back to the core worlds, at least."
"There's that." Darious nodded. "But there is also the fact, that the council isn't one to leap into action unless it involves the dark side."
"I'm aware," Avner sighed. Though, that was the main issue he'd be facing when speaking the council. He just hoped they weren't that narrow sighted and could actually see the danger the mandalorians posed… for the Republic's sake, Avner hoped. "When are we heading out?" Avner asked.
"Soon," Darious informed him. "With the news that the order is going to sign on we just need to stay a day or so before heading back to Coruscant."
"Good." In the end, Avner was just grateful his friends had found him so that he would be able to deliver the message. But Alek was right, what if the council did nothing? Then would happen?
xxx
By the time the three of them arrived back on Coruscant, Avner hadn't decided on a course of action to take if the council didn't act. Even worse, he couldn't think on what to do if Kavar didn't act. It wasn't so much he didn't have ideas on what to do. More over it was just the fact that he didn't want to dwell too long on what would happen if the council or someone didn't act.
Avner sighed and followed Alek and Darious into the temple. It'd felt like a lifetime since he'd last been here. Even still, it was hard for him to feel the peace he normally did with so much weighing down his mind.
There is no emotion; there is peace, the opening phrase did restore some calm to him. He needed to stay focused. He could appear before the council so nervous that they mistook it for fear and the first signs of a fall.
The three of them stopped before the council chambers. Avner hesitated before he followed his friends into the large, round room. The windows behind the chairs around the room showed a magnificent view of Coruscant. Every time Avner stepped into the room his eyes were drawn to the view. There wasn't a time in his memory that he hadn't stopped to look at the city and traffic barely noticeable from this distance.
Several of the masters were there, seated opposite the doors into the room. The first one that Avner noticed was Master Vrook, his expression stern as it always was with his eyes locked on Avner. There was no telling what the master thought at seeing Avner there. A piece of Avner didn't want to know what the older man was thinking.
Next to Vrook, Atris was seated. His heart plummeted at the sight of her sitting there straight backed with blue eyes flashing at the sight of Avner. Her robes were traditional historian robes that showed her as head of archives here on Coruscant. Her hair was shock white despite the fact she was a little younger than Avner was.
On her right was Kavar. And on the other side of Vrook sat Master Vandar, his green eyes shining and wrinkled face crinkled in a smile. "Young Knight, I am glad to see you made it off of Tarnith in one piece," the oldest of the master said with a bow of his head.
"Thank you, Master Vandar," Avner started as he bowed to those in the room. There were two masters missing today: Masters Zez-kai Ell and Lonna Lash. Both of whom Avner had never known too well so wasn't certain if they would be needed here or not right then. "It's good to be back on Coruscant."
"We'll hear Knight Squin – Alek's and Darious' reports first," Vrook stated, showing no signs of emotion at the sight of Avner well and relatively unharmed.
Alek stepped forward and bowed his head to the masters. He and Darious filled the masters in on what was going on with Taris. They told them how the representative of Taris had been grateful to learn the Jedi supported them in joining the republic and was more than happy to have the Jedi place a temple on Taris.
All through this Avner watched the masters to see their different reactions to the information being presented. Vandar rubbed his chin and was nodding while Vrook just sat back in his seat, listening to the report with an impassive expression.
When Alek and Darious came to a close, Vandar straightened. "You've done well, young knights. Once the Republic brings Taris in we'll send in a few Jedi for the temple."
"You're report on the lower city is troublesome. Was there nothing you two could've done to stop some of the crime down there?" Vrook asked, though his tone made it sound more like a demand.
Avner stepped forward. "The lower city gangs are too wide spread and rooted into the lower city for two Jedi, even three, to be very effective against them. Plus there are refugees in very street. Any battle down there would result in an innocent's death."
The masters looked at Avner. "Nonetheless," Atris stated, "you should've been able to put an end to some of the crime down there. If you two hadn't been more concerned about finding your… friend and more concerned with your mission then you would've stopped some of the crime."
Alek looked ready to fight Atris over this. He stepped forward, eyes blazing.
Avner held out his hand, stopping his friend. Looking Atris evenly in the eye, Avner said, "I was down there since bringing a group of refugees in from Tarnith. When the gangs fought or tried to take credits from the refugees it resulted every time in death. Fighting them isn't the answer. The only way to stop the gangs would've been to go straight to the source. Three knights wouldn't be enough to storm the base and capture all the members of each gang."
Vandar nodded before turning his attention back to Alek and Darious. "Thank you for your report," he repeated. "The two of are dismissed. You've earned some rest."
They hesitated and looked at Avner. Alek clapped him on the shoulder before bowing to the masters and leaving the chamber. Left alone with the masters, Avner looked from one to the next, gathering his thoughts.
"By the sounds of it you got off Tarnith during the fighting," Vrook stated. "Why didn't you return when you were recalled?"
"I was in the custody of the mandalorians at the time the message came in," Avner said. "By the time I got out with several Republic soldiers, the planet was already over run."
"You should've headed back the second you landed on Taris, not delayed," Atris put in. "Because of your foolery we're shorthanded for knights on the core worlds for places that really need their help."
"Tarnith really needed my help," Avner put in. He took a deep breath. "Besides, the mandalorians don't plan on staying beyond the rim of Republic controlled space. They're ultimate goal is the Republic itself."
Silence greeted his words. Vandar was frowning as he rubbed his chin while Vrook glanced at the other masters in the room. Kavar was leaning forward a little, eyes intent on Avner.
"How do you know this?" Kavar asked.
Avner told them what he'd learned and how he'd learned it in a few short sentences. "It seems Tarnith is being revamped as a supply world for the mandalorians," he finished.
"That is little proof that a war is coming. It sounds just like a man desperate enough to tell you a lie in order to save his own hid," Vrook stated.
"It wasn't a lie," Avner put in. "War is coming and the Jedi have to prepare for it. We'll be needed by the Republic!"
"No war is coming." Vrook shook his head. "The Mandalorians are just gathering territory as is in their nature, nothing more or less."
Avner's eyes gaze flickered over the masters. "I've seen the war coming," he told them, "in visions. There's no avoiding it."
"Visions, you say?" Vandar asked. "Visions aren't exact, young knight. You should know this better than most."
Vrook and Vandar exchanged looks before Vrook looked at Avner. "You're to stay on Coruscant until further notice. Spend your time recovering from what you saw and experienced on Tarnith."
"What?" Avner gaped at the old master.
Atris, too, seemed caught off guard by what Vrook had said. "Every knight is needed," she stressed the word. "If you're not capable of helping the order then you should stay within the temple." She seemed to add this last part as away of agreeing with Master Vrook instead of countering the older, more experienced master.
"War is coming," Avner pressed, shoving aside his shock at what they had said. "The Order needs to act or the Republic will be lost!" With those words he turned to Kavar and looked at the master. "Without the order, the outcome of a war will destroy the republic, you must see this."
"The council has made its decision," Kavar stated. There was a knowing look to his gaze that told Avner he knew what Avner had expected. "There is no war coming. The Mandalorians will stay outside of the Republic controlled space in order to avoid repeating the Great Sith War."
Avner stared at Kavar. What? That war had been waged thirty-years-ago and in it the Mandalorians had followed the Sith Lord Exur Kun into war against the Republic. It had been a short, but bloody war. The Republic had eventually won, but many Jedi had been lost. More evidence towards this was the fact that there were very few knights and even fewer masters within the order.
Several, if not all of, the masters on the council – excluding Atris who was just too young – had been in that war. They would remember the blood spilled and a time when the Jedi had been more numerous. Even still, the order's, especially Kavar's, refusal to see this threat was just plain stupid.
"You're dismissed, young Knight," Vandar said with a slight bow of his head.
Avner bowed to them. "Yes, master." He turned on his heel and strode from the room.
When Avner entered the hall, Alek left the relaxed position leaning against the wall and straightened. "What did they say?"
"None of them want to believe war is coming." Avner strode passed his friend and started down the nearby stairs.
Alek hurried to catch up. "Even Kavar?"
"Even Kavar," Avner confirmed.
"What now?"
Stopping on the steps, Avner looked at his friend. A frown pulled at his lips as he thought. "Now," – he took a deep breath – "now, I'll find the proof required to convince them that the mandalorians are coming." His mind was made up in that split second. "The problem is, I'm confined to Coruscant for the time being."
"I could find what's needed then," Alek suggested.
Avner shook his head. "No, I don't want you to be dragged down with me. What I am going to do is going to defy the council." He started down the steps again. If he was right he still had an old Republic pilot who would be willing to help Avner off-world. From there he could search for what was needed and see if he could convince others that war was coming.
The support of the senate would be needed in the long run. But short term they were as likely to believe him as the council had been. No one wanted another war… no one but Mandalore that was.
"Too hell with that!" Alek raced after him. "I'm sticking with you until the end!"
"No." Avner shook his head. "Listen," he started before Alek could protest, "for now act as if nothing is amiss. Stay on the council's good side. If worst comes to worst then you can join me. Until then, don't antagonize the masters."
"Avner," Alek protested.
"I already have a bad reputation among them. There's no need for you to get one as well." Avner gave Alek a small smile. "Do as they say."
A hand on his shoulder forced Avner to stop. Alek turned him so they were facing one another. "I don't give a damn about what the council thinks of me. I'm going with you even if I have to find some other pilot and track you down. We're as brothers to every end!"
Avner sighed. He didn't like it when Alek was like this. When his friend had that determined glint in his eyes it meant nothing short of the planet blowing under them would stop him. "All right, fine, but…" Avner trailed off and smiled. "I guess it would be better to have you along."
"Let's get started then." Alek's eyes were shinning. "We've a galaxy to convince that war's coming!"
"Err, yeah, wonderful as that is," Avner laughed and continued down the stairs.
"Where too first?"
"As close to the mandalorian space as we can get." Avner explained, "The best way to know war is coming is to find those who would have that information or worlds on the edge of Republic space that have been nipped at." Or so he believed. In all honesty it would take looking at the mandalorian movements over the years to see where they'd been and where they were heading. To do this he needed more than information the Republic would have them. To do this, he'd have to leave Coruscant and defy the council's order for him to stay here.
This wasn't something Avner wanted to do. The life of a Jedi meant a lot to him, but the Republic needed to know the truth and needed to be warned. They needed to build back up their military and prepare for the coming war!