Well, readers, I'm going to write more chapters for this story, and here is the first one. Enjoy.
-(-)-
Garfield watched, along with Raven who held their newborn in her arms, as a large air taxi departed, ferrying away Kenobi, Ahsoka, Rahn and Nuvuti to a nearby space port, where a clandestine shuttle craft awaited them. They would purposefully leave a trail for the Imperials to follow.
Senator Binks would be returning soon. The Senate had become a mostly ceremonial body with no real legislative power and they mostly served as an advisory council to the Emperor. Most Senators were resigned to the fact that Palpatine was never going to rescind his emergency powers and restore the Senate's authorities. Nevertheless, being a Senator still had its perks, including a very handsome salary, a housing allowance, a transportation allowance and a staff budget. It made for a very comfortable living, making up for the fact that the Senate was mostly a ceremonial body There were rumors that Palpatine might dissolve the Senate, but the truth was that the body was still useful to the Empire as an administrative tool. Because of its now near political irrelevance few took the Senators seriously anymore, and thus they, with a few exceptions received almost no scrutiny. Binks still had his reputation of being a bumbling fool, and thus neither the Emperor nor Vader thought much about him or what he did, in particular Vader, who remembered well that Binks was an incompetent fool as was thus harmless. Jar Jar was just one of thousands of Senators who did little more than attend parties an socialize on Coruscant, and like them he was mostly ignored by the Empire's military police.
As the taxi vanished over the horizon, Raven sighed unhappily.
"I feel trapped here." She murmured to her husband.
"Me too. I'm sure Yoda has a plan to get us out of here."
"Did Kenobi tell you anything?"
Gar shook his head. "Nothing. I have no idea where he's going or if we'll see him again."
"Gar, we can't hide here in this penthouse forever."
"I know … maybe this Senator Binks will have some information for us when he arrives … you look tired, you should get some rest. Matthew looks sleepy too."
"Might as well, there's nothing else to do here."
Gar kissed both his wife and his son before they headed back inside. He followed her in.
"I'll talk with Dick and the others."
Raven nodded and headed off to their room and he went off towards the large living room, where the others were sitting. Before he got there he stopped in front of a small storage room. The door swished open and he entered.
The chest with the holocron inside sat on a table in the middle of the room. It was locked. He raised his hand, aiming it at the chest, and focused. The lock released itself.
The chest was left behind in Bink's penthouse as it would be the last place the Empire would expect to find a Sith Holocron. Gar stared at the chest for a long time, before he finally raised its lid and opened it.
The Holocron floated out of the box by itself, and hovered, slowly spinning in front of Gar's mesmerized face. The Holocron was said to contain the very essence of evil.
Gar was no stranger to the struggle between the forces of good and evil. He first fought evildoers with The Doom Patrol, and of course later with the Titans he faced what he thought was the embodiment of evil: Trigon the Terrible. It didn't get anymore black and white than that.
It seemed so obvious when he was younger: he was one of the good guys, a hero. But when he was a child, Mento often put him in harm's way. Sure, back then young Garfield was more than willing to play hero, but now he had to question Mento's ethics, placing a child in harm's way. Sure, as a Teen Titan Gar had reached the age of reason and could make that decision for himself, but as a member of the Doom Patrol that decision was made for him.
Until recently he had no idea of how the Jedi trained their ranks. It was during a long chat with Ahsoka that he and Raven learned that the Jedi took toddlers from their parents, with their permission, away from their families, permanently. Ahsoka had no memory of her parents or even knew what their names were, all she knew was her family name: Tano.
This troubled him a great deal. He did remember his parents, however vaguely, and couldn't imagine how being taken from your parents forever wouldn't be a traumatic event for any child. Ahsoka simply said that it was the Jedi way and it was done to protect the child's family, and that history showed it was the best way to recruit future Jedi Knights. Many children washed out early for many reasons: their strength in the force faded, they lacked the mental discipline to properly control it, psychological issues or many other reasons. Those children were returned to their families, though in many cases it was after years of separation, making their return to their families difficult. It was also a challenge for their parents, who now had to deal with a child who had some level of access to the force, which made their reintegration into society difficult. Those who didn't flunk out became padawans.
What disturbed Garfield the most about this process was that no one asked the children if they wanted to be Jedi. It was simply assumed that they would, and of course by the time they reached puberty and became padawans it was very unlikely that any would chose to return to families they did not know, not that they ever asked. This all deeply troubled the changeling.
He remember Darth Bane's voice, telling him that the Sith were not evil. He knew that was a lie, but he was also aware that the Jedi had ethical issues of their own. They were not saints. He once asked Ahsoka about the celibacy vow. She told him more about Lux Bonteri, her teenage crush. She told Gar that for a brief period she fantasized about being Lux's lover, at least until she found out about Steela Guerrera and that he was in an intimate relationship with her. She also told him that it wasn't only Skywalker who secretly broke the vows. Many wondered if Kenobi ever broke his vows with Duchess Satine of Mandalore.
Still there was no doubt in his mind that the Jedi were the good guys. But as the holocron floated before him he wondered if perhaps something about the Force could be learned from the Sith. Jarvik was able to use Force Lightning, after all. Were there other applications that could be tamed and used from the light side, for good?
Gar gestured and the holocron sank back into the chest, which he closed and locked.
-(-)-
Vader stood on the Avenger's bridge, his arms crossed, staring in the hyperspace void as they gave chase to the rogue shuttle craft that left Coruscant without official cleatance. Unfortunately for the Empire the shuttle had a good head start and to make matters worse its hyperspace path lead to a massive junction that had dozens of hyperspace lanes lanes leading out of it. There was no way to determine which path it took at the junktion. The shuttle had escaped.
Jerec stood deferentially at Vader's side. The blind Inquistor pondered his master. Few knew Vader's true identity, and Jerec was one of the few who knew that the Dark Lord of the Sith was none other than Anakin Skywalker. Jerec encountered Skywalker a few times when they were both Jedi Knights. He never believed that Anakin was the Chosen One, it was too obvious that Kenobi's apprentice, in spite of his great skill, did not have what it took to fulfill the prophecy. Now he was a robotic cripple, a shadow of his former self and the Emperor's lap dog. Getting rid of Vader and taking his place was doable, though Jerec knew would have to bide his time. Of course, if he could find the Valley of the Jedi he would become more powerful than even the Emperor himself. But for now, he would have to be patient.
"We have lost them, my Lord."
"Yes, Jerec, I am aware of that." Vader's voice betrayed a hint of anger.
"What are your orders?"
Vader sensed something odd. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew where he had to go.
"Set a course back to Coruscant, I will report our failure to Emperor myself, in person."
Jerec bowed ever so slightly. "As you wish."
-(-)-
Gar quietly exited the storage room and resumed his walk to the penthouse's large entertainment area. As he walked in the other Titans, who were seated on a few couches all turned to face him. He immediately noticed that a strange looking alien with big floppy ears was with them.
"Where were you?" Nightwing asked. "Our host has arrived."
"I was in the storage room, taking inventory of all those lightsabers we found on Hoth ..."
He turned to Jar Jar. He looked like a humanoid frog with floppy ears.
"You must be Senator Binks?"
Jar Jar smiled one of his huge Gungan grins.
"Yousa guessed right. Yousa Garfield Logan, Jedi Knight."
"I am. Pleased to meet you. We weren't expecting you to arrive until tomorrow."
"Meesa have a longo talko with Obi Wan. Wesa needa to move you somewhere safer. Weesa take you to Naboo, to Gungan City."
"Gungan City?"
"Eesa safe place."
"A safe place? How is it safe?"
"It's under water and the Empire doesn't consider the Gungans to be a threat, so they're not only out of sight, but are also ignored." Blackfire explained.
"Underwater … oh crud … Rave's gonna hate it. Can't we stay on the surface in what's it called … Theed?"
"There's a small imperial garrison in Theed, so we can't stay there. But Senator Binks is right, the underwater city will be a safe hideout." Nightwing interjected. "We'll leave in a few days. Senator Binks has a ship with diplomatic immunity, and it's a fast one. The official story is that he's moving part of his household back to Naboo."
Gar rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not crazy about this, but anything has got to be better than staying here. This world feels dead … artificial, even the Force feels weird here. And it doesn't help that it's the Imperial Capital … anyway, I'll go tell Rave.
-(-)-
"An under water city? You mean we'll be living in a submarine?" Raven asked. "Gar, you know I'm claustrophobic."
He pulled a holoprojecter out of his pocket and turned it on, display a vista of the Gungan city.
"It's actually pretty roomy. Lots of open space."
Raven frowned. "Oh well, I guess it'll be better than here."
-(-)-
"Gar, wake up."
"Huh, what?" He replied as he slowly opened his eyes.
"You're tossing and turning in your sleep." Raven replied.
The changeling sat up in their bed.
"You're sweating, you're drenched" She added as she gently caressed him.
"Sorry I woke you up. I'll go drink some water and clear my head. I'll come back later."
"I can come with you."
"Nah, you get some sleep. I won't be long, and I'll be quiet when I come back. Promise"
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"I'm sure." He replied as he gently kissed her.
"OK. But don't stay up all night." She said as she got back under the covers.
-(-)-
After pouring himself some kind of Naboo calming tea, he walked out to a balcony, sat on a chair with his drink and watched the late night air traffic zoom by in the hundreds of lanes he could see from his vantage point. He sipped on the tea while staring into the night sky.
So much had happened in so little time. Jar Jar's penthouse had unobstructed views of both the abandoned Jedi Temple as well as the Senate building. He looked at the Temple and felt curious about it. He considered morphing into a bird and flying over to inspect it. He knew that would be a great way to be discovered and quickly discarded the idea. Plus he knew it was pointless, it was certain that the Temple had already been emptied out and gutted by now, and possibly had already been re-purposed for some other use.
He took the last sip from the cup and decided he was ready to go back to bed. He dropped the cup off in the kitchen. Fortunately, apartments in Naboo were more like Eartly apartments than those on Tamaran, though the toilets, or "freshers" as they were called, were a bit different, as they were designed to accommodate non humans of all shapes and sizes. On his way back to the bedroom he stopped in front of the storage room and paused. He shook his head and began to turn away, but stopped.
After hesitating some more he turned back to the storage room and entered.
The door swooshed shut behind him.
