Chapter 12: The Visitors
The first one to turn up on our proverbial doorstep was Master Windu. We'd all assumed he was dead but truth to be told we hadn't got any intel from the outer world confirming it. It wasn't until some weeks after "Imperial Day" we got a message from Dex that someone we knew would be joining us, if we approved. Of course we said yes. Dex had proven to be reliable and since he was the one relaying the request the newcomer could most likely be trusted.
This time I went off myself. As much as I trusted Ramen I considered myself to be the more suspicious kind. War tends to promote those skills in a person. When Dex followed me into his quarters where I myself had resided until I found my own hideout I had no idea whom I was going to meet, but never in a million years would I have expected to meet Mace Windu himself.
He was thinner and somehow smaller than I remembered and one of his arms had been replaced by a not very advanced prosthetic. He was just as surprised to see me as I was to see him, but I must admit I felt a little un-jedilike pang of satisfaction when I heard his deep voice greet me with a polite: "Knight Tano" as he bowed lightly to me. It was an indication that he still considered me to be the jedi I myself had renounced to be.
The explanation of his rescue came the next evening when he had properly settled in with us and the smaller initiates and crechelings had been tucked in.
He'd gone with three other masters to arrest the sithlord and failed spectacularly. The other fell in the first few minutes after the fighting began, but he seemed to have the upper hand when Anakin arrived at the scene. But Anakin did nothing, he just stood as paralysed and then he rejected to help. For a moment Master Mace was baffled, and that tiny moment was all the Sith needed. Anakin turned to defend the Sith and Mace's arm was cut off almost at the same time as Palpatine force pushed him out the window. It should have meant death, but by some incredible luck he dropped into a bypassing speeder who helped him to relative safety - at Dex' place, of course.
After that he'd spent the time in hiding, recuperating from his injuries.
After the first shock had ceased I was truly glad to have him with us. Master Mace (I still couldn't manage to call him just Mace…) was a better organisator than the rest of us combined and somehow our hideout felt more like the temple when he was back and in charge. He'd lost his own lightsaber in the battle but he was still capable to instruct us in the saber forms, and he even took his part of teaching the initiates.
The next visitor came almost a year after "Imperial Day" and was an even greater surprise. We'd heard news from Dex that another survivor would like to meet us. Master Windu was the first to greet the newcomer when Ramen took him in, and I had no idea that my grandmaster would once again stand in front of me. When I saw him I completely lost it. I managed to squeeze out a somewhat decent greeting before I found myself hanging around his neck sobbing like a crecheling. Our common history came back to me like a flood wave. All the adventures and horrible situations we've been living through together. All the friendly banter, the laughter and the horrors - everything that made us family. Everything that was the attachment no jedi should ever have. All the…love. Not the romantic love, but still love.
After bawling my eyes out and soaking Master Obi-Wan's tunic and tabards thoroughly Master Mace interjected and suggested that we'd go somewhere more private. Gratefully I wiped the last of my tears and agreed.
The following days turned out to be busy to the extreme. In the past I had noticed that things…happened… when Master Obi-Wan was around, and even worse when both he and Skyguy were present at the same time. Nothing ever changes - does it?
The first thing we did was to plan a rebellion.
Well, not exactly like that but obviously Master Obi-Wan was involved in something he wouldn't tell about and just as obviously (because he told us that part) some of it involved preparing for fighting the Empire with all means available. We'd all been looking forward to the end of the Clone Wars and we'd never wanted to see something even resembling a war again, but I understood the necessity of it. Leaving a Sith Lord in charge of the vast parts of the galaxy that had previously been the republic was unbearable. So, we had to gather our forces (pun intended) again.
Our second move was to plunder the Jedi Temple. I had never thought about it but after listening to Master Obi-Wan and Master Mace it was crystal clear that running a Temple with several thousands inhabitants demanded some founding and as the Temple had been mainly self sufficient there had to be values somewhere. The banking facilities were under the government of the Sith so we could for sure not use the money that had once been gathered there, but unbeknownst to me the Temple had it's own treasure vault. And with two council members present we were actually able to access it.
So we did. We withdrew artefacts that could easily be transformed into credits on the black marked (where did Master Obi-Wan learn about such things?) and then some more that could be easily transported to our new home on Draay 2. After long discussions we had agreed that the abandoned Jedi Temple on the moon likely would be so far away from Coruscant that the younglings might have a chance to grow up there.
Our main problem was to get off of Coruscant. Stealing a ship from the Emperor would prove difficult and draw too much attention and for once Dex couldn't help either. But once again Master Obi-Wan pulled a plan out of his sleeve - our old "acquaintance" Hondo Ohnaka might be able to help, at least if he was offered enough credits. This plan sent me and my grandmaster out on a minor mission aiming to purchase a ship large enough for our entire group from the pirate chief. It was during this short mission I learned that my suspicion that Master Anakin had turned was completely correct. Master Obi-Wan had seen it, or rather he had fought the Sith Lord that once had been my Master and my brother on the remote planet of Mustafar and defeated him. When Master Obi-Wan told me what had happened I swear my heart almost broke. For him. For Master Anakin. And maybe most of all for myself. In that moment I truly realised that the world I knew was gone forever. If the chosen one could turn, then who knows what would happen?
Our mission was a success and the next step was to get all our proteges on board unseen. We had agreed that when they got the signal they should leave the Temple in small groups and move to the rendezvous point. That part of the plan went well. What we had not expected was that the sith seemed to have multiplied as several dark beings appeared and we had to fight them down one by one.
But we managed, and once again we were in space on our way to an uncertain future. Just as we entered hyperspace I could feel a dark, yet somehow familiar, presence at the spot we'd just left.
Darth Vader.
