Yoda took a seat, placing his walking stick across his knees and picking up his cup of caf with a small clawed hand. He was tired and his joints were aching relentlessly, but he was listening carefully to the conversation that was going on in front of him. Last night he, Syndulla, Jarrus, Obi-Wan, Bail and a select few other alliance leaders had spoken for only a short while. They'd been tired after their journey and the time on Dantooine was very late, so they had retired to lodgings soon after.
This morning saw a different discussion taking place, one that was much more serious in nature. Only he, Obi-Wan and Jarrus were present in a small room in the operations building he had requested to occupy. It was scarcely furnished and the permacrete walls were bare, lacking any plaster or paint. There were two small windows looking outward to the north of the camp where deep space starfighters were kept. Dimly the noise of activity from outside reached his long ears, but in the room, it was still and calm.
Jarrus had reacted strangely when they first met. A pulse of recognition had moved through the Force before he could control it, and Yoda had simply quirked a curious eyebrow. However, as they had spent days together floating through hyperspace and changing lanes, Yoda had meditated on the man's Force presence and made a shocking discovery.
As he had extended an exploratory arm through the Force to brush against Jarrus' mind, he found that the man had erected shields around himself, blocking other Force-sensitives from access. This was a shock in itself, but then he realised that these were not the shields of a Knight or a Master - they were at a young Padawan's level of ability.
It was then that his identity had clicked into place. The man's face reverted in age to a young teenager with spiky hair and long braid. Kanan Jarrus was in fact Master Depa Billaba's Padawan, Caleb Dume. He had survived Order 66 where his master had not. Yoda was relieved that another strong Force user had made it through the massacre, and he was deeply impressed that the man had hid himself so well for all these years.
Caleb seemed to be under the impression that neither he nor Obi-Wan knew who he was, and he was half correct. Obi-Wan didn't appear to have noticed the true identity of the young man and was chatting away at him to help ease the uncomfortableness of his body language. Shifting awkwardly in his seat, Caleb was presumably nervous about why he had been summoned here alone in the company of two Jedi. Yoda smiled to himself. It looked like he wouldn't be alone in coming out of hiding.
Qui-Gon's promise that another powerful Jedi would be joining them made him wonder - was Caleb the one? His Padawan shields suggested otherwise, but he couldn't rule out the possibility. Yoda looked between the two human males as they conversed, one who was fighting the urge to run and the other who was chatting amicably, trying to put the other at ease.
"Well, it hasn't been easy, has it? Did you run into any trouble on the way here?"
"No sir."
"Please, call me Obi-Wan," he smiled with his usual gentility, sipping his drink.
"Oh, sorry. No, Obi-Wan. The journey was smooth. There were no incidents," he said, glancing between the two of them, his youth showing in the way he handled his nerves.
"I remember that Myto's Arrow hyperspace lane used to have a real problem with pirates," he commented. "I'm glad you escaped unscathed."
"I imagine Master Yoda would've protected us," he smiled a little, meeting his gaze for a second before glancing down at his lap and twiddling his thumbs.
Yoda decided to put him out of his misery.
"Curious are you, on why we have called you here?" he asked, pointing his stick at him.
Caleb met his eyes again briefly before looking away and running a hand through his brown hair. Yoda could feel his heart rate increase slightly. "Yes, I am curious."
"This meeting, for members of the Jedi Order it is," he said and pointed his stick at him again. "A member, you are still."
Obi-Wan and Caleb stilled and Yoda felt through the Force recognition hitting the older Jedi, and shock hitting the younger. No body spoke for several seconds.
"Master Depa Billaba's Padawan, you are. Caleb Dume, hmm."
The subject of his statement blanched and stared at the floor unseeingly. He had been hiding himself for nine years; it wouldn't be easy for him to face his past. That was something he could empathise with. But Yoda hoped that for all their sakes he would be able to.
"I remember you also," breathed Master Kenobi as the shock subsided and his memories came to him. "You were a very talented youngling."
"I…I can't be Caleb again," he muttered quietly despite the compliment.
"Caleb listen to me," Obi-Wan leaned forward where his injuries would allow it, and caught the younger man's eyes with his own. "There are two children being held on Darth Vader's ship. They are Skywalkers and they are the only hope the galaxy has of bringing balance to the Force," he spoke seriously to him, hoping to instil the importance of his words. "We need all the help we can get in the eventuality of a confrontation."
"I heard about them through the network…" he said. "They are Anakin Skywalker's children, aren't they?"
Kenobi nodded and Yoda observed them both over the rim of his cup. It was good for them that only a few people knew who Anakin had become. Most of the galaxy and therefore the rebel alliance, believed he had died defending the republic on the night of Order 66. No Jedi had survived the massacre at the temple, and those who had seen their murderer would never be able to tell others. Yoda breathed out a deep exhale, letting his sorrow drift away into the river of the Force.
"But they're just children, they're too young to bring balance. Surely Vader would've killed them both already if he knew they were a threat…" Caleb reasoned, missing the flash of distress Kenobi quickly shielded. But Yoda picked up on most things others thought they hid.
"Bring balance they will. Keeping them safe, our Jedi mandate now is."
Caleb looked like he was about to ask how he knew what the mandate was, before remembering who he was talking to. He seemed to accept their authority, moving his shoulders back slightly and straightening up.
"So, you both think they're still alive?"
"Yes."
"Do you have any proof? What if they're not? What if we risk it all for two kids who the Sith butchered?"
Yoda threw a side glance at Kenobi, who again was showing subtle hints of alarm at his questions.
Calmly he replied. "Sensed their deaths, we surely would have."
He took a moment to think over his answer, then seemed to accept it. "Yes… I suppose you would have." Caleb glanced back at his hands and spoke quietly, almost to himself. "I remember Anakin Skywalker. He was a good man. He was very brave in the clone wars."
"He was," Obi-Wan agreed solemnly.
"Even if I did agree to help, I had to teach myself the ways of the Force after the death of…my Master. I'm still a Padawan. I've had no teacher these last nine years."
"Help with that, we can," Yoda reassured him.
"Are there any others…that survived?" Caleb asked looking up, hope shining in his hazel eyes.
"Know how many survived, we do not. But certain am I, that there are some. Hmm…definitely there are some," Yoda deliberated.
His words seemed to comfort the young man and he sat back a little though his hands were still shaking slightly. It was probably the first time in nine years that three Jedi had sat and spoken together, so dispersed the ones in hiding must surely be.
"We are going to need every ally the alliance can provide to save Anakin's children," Obi-Wan repeated, leaning back in his chair and running a hand through his short hair. "If you know of anyone trustworthy outside the official network who could help us, we would greatly appreciate the assistance."
"Yes, I'll have a think. I've gained quite a few contacts who would like to see the end of the empire. Masters, if you don't me asking, what is your plan to get them back? How will you save them whilst also allowing the prophecy of balance to come to pass?"
"We're working on it," Obi-Wan smiled at his questions. They had all been thinking the same thing.
"Know from a friend, the right course of action to take, we do," Yoda reassured them, remembering Qui-Gon's wisdom.
Somehow the twins would bring balance. In the meantime, it was their duty to keep them safe. They all had to trust that in saving them, it was part of the Force's will. Who knew, it could be years before they fulfilled the prophecy, but they would not allow their lives to be snuffed out before they'd even had a chance. If it came to a confrontation, they needed to be prepared.
Caleb nodded again. "Can you give me some time to think about all of this? And I need to discuss it with my captain."
"Of course," Kenobi inclined his head politely and Yoda did the same.
He stood and after a moment of uncertainty, bowed from the waist like a Padawan dismissing himself from the high council would, and left the room. The door slid shut behind him and the two masters exchanged a look. It was the closest him and Kenobi had been to being council members since the Jedi temple was destroyed. It was a strange feeling.
"Do you think Caleb was the Jedi Qui-Gon told us was coming?" Kenobi asked.
"I think not. A stronger ally, Qui-Gon will send."
"Still…do you think its a coincidence that a former member of the order was the one who ferried you here all the way from Dagobah? It seems…fateful."
"Strange the ways of the Force are. Predict them, we cannot. Unravel them, we cannot."
Obi-Wan nodded and stood, rolling his shoulders back gingerly and wincing at the pain. "We've got a lot more to get through today Master Yoda. I'm going to get myself another drink, would you like a top up?"
The rest of the morning consisted of talks and meetings, looking at every possible way to get information on Luke and Leia's whereabouts and status. Then, into the afternoon they talked of possible ways of extracting them from all the different locations they could think of and hopefully, Padmé Amidala would be with them and could be rescued too.
The aged Jedi Master listened for hours as rebels brought forth reports on options such as bribing scouts, spies and defectors to gain inside information about Vader's personal star destroyer and other locations that he frequented, such as the Imperial Palace. They had spies in the imperial navy, but none on Vader's ship, and so they were left totally in the dark on what had happened since the alliance's failed rescue mission.
Granted, they did have a a light spacecraft that had arrived on the scene recently, carrying out surveillance far away enough to remain undetected. However, any number of smaller craft could've arrived or departed from its great hull in that blank timeframe that lasted several days. For all they knew Luke, Leia and Padmé could've been transported anywhere by now.
The visual on the ship had reported nothing of importance so far, only that it had moved positions several times. The main thing to note was that it had made no move to travel into hyperspace yet. When Vader's ship did choose to jump, which could be at any moment, they would have no way of tracking them. The imperial navy's data network was almost impenetrable to hack for fleet locations. So for now, the crew were voicing their opinions of possible places they could be taken.
"Vader is rumoured to have castles on several planets where he conducts business from besides his star destroyer and his home in Imperial City on Coruscant," Bail spoke up and everybody listened. "We currently don't know any of their locations, but if we focused our efforts on staff location data hacking, we could find them with enough time. It's possible he may secure them in one of these high security castles."
A young man named Wedge Antilles spoke up in the discussion. "If I may speak on the matter of Project Harvester. Would it be possible the children have already been sent, or will be sent very soon, to the Imperial Academy in Arkanis?"
"That's definitely a possibility," Master Kenobi agreed. "But would he send them there so quickly? Would he let them out of his sight now that he has them?"
"If we do decide to investigate the academy, it's an institution with formidable defences and thousands of lifeforms inside," another leader spoke up, a woman with brown hair and a stocky build. "We would have to be certain they were there before infiltrating."
Yoda inwardly considered consulting Qui-Gon about the twin's whereabouts, perhaps the Force ghost would be able to help in more practical ways beside guidance.
"Another one for the information hacking list it is then."
The talk moved onwards, with more options and ideas being thrown in. Sometime later the discussion moved towards an alarming rumour that had been growing for some time about a massive battle station being constructed near Geonosis. Many of the humans and aliens in the meeting had scoffed that such a thing existed, but the rumours persisted and it concerned Yoda deeply.
He glanced sideways at his old friend, Master Kenobi. The man was resolute, focusing all his energy on working out a solution to rescue his family. Despite his injuries, he was in top form, listening and negotiating as well as he'd ever done on the Council or on a mission. The wizened old Jedi was proud of him and how much he'd grown from their first acquaintance. With an inner chuckle, Yoda remembered when Obi-Wan had been his height, an adorable and curious youngling in the crèche with big blue eyes. Later he'd been a boisterous teenager who gave Qui-Gon no end of trouble. But losing his master, having to raise and train Anakin, enduring a war and then the betrayal of the Jedi…he wondered how much more the man could take.
It was clear from what Qui-Gon had told him that Obi-Wan had allowed very strong attachments to form with Padmé, Luke and Leia. He was even going to be a biological father of a baby soon, something which no Jedi, except in exceptional circumstances like Ki-Adi-Mundi who was one of the last of his species, was allowed to do.
He was not disappointed in the younger man's divergence from the code. Yoda was well aware that his friend had been going through undoubtably the toughest time of his life, and Order 66 had changed everybody around him in some way. But still, he was concerned about these attachments. Would his friend be able to withstand the grief and agony if any of them perished? Would he still be able to carry on living? Fear, pain, suffering. Obi-Wan was experiencing all of these chaotic and wrenching emotions. Paths to the dark side were all open at Kenobi's feet, he just hoped he would be strong enough to remain in the light no matter what the future held.