Chapter Fifteen

Rahm Kota sat in the Y-wing, waiting to exit hyperspace near a small, backwater planet in the Outer Rim. Suddenly, an alarm started to beep in the fighter-bomber's cockpit. Not wanting to get destroyed in the middle of hyperspace, he jumped out of it, right into a fleet of old Venator-class Star Destroyers. Kota realized that they were Clone War relics, and that they hadn't seen the transformation of the Empire yet. Kota scanned all of the Venators, but none seem to be running. He approached them carefully, but when they did not fire on him, he proceeded to use the Force to open the lead Star Destroyer's hangar doors and landed. Kota got out and explored the area. Numerous starfighters of various types sat there, unused for almost 2 decades. LAATi gunships also rested in the hangar.

'Interesting. There are so many spaceworthy starfighters and gunships in here. The capital ships look the same as well. The Alliance will be very happy to get new ships.' Kota thought. He continued to a turbolift. He pressed a button. Surprisingly, the elevator doors opened and Kota stepped in. He pressed another button and a few minutes later, the doors opened to the cargo hold. Rows upon rows of AT-TEs, AT-APs, and RX-200s sat like the fighters. Crates also sat in rows inside. Kota opened one of the crates and found power packs for blasters.

'This place is filled with weaponry. The Alliance must see this.' Kota thought. He exited the cargo hold and went to the engine room. Pathways were marked to several other directions. Kota went to another elevator, which took him to the bridge. It was dark and empty with no one in sight. Kota turned and went back to his ship and contacted Princess Leia.

"General, I assume you found a Jedi?" She said.

"No, but I found a fleet of 12 Republic Venator-class Star Destroyers abandoned in the middle of space. I'm transmitting the coordinates." Kota replied.

"We have them. Please stay put. We will arrive shortly. Leia out." The Princess said before disconnecting. Kota sat on the floor and began to mediate.

Ahsoka and Luke's freighter, with K'Kruhk on board, jumped out of hyperspace and sailed towards the surface of Utapau. The Courageous landed in the hangar closest to the makeshift Jedi Council Chambers.

"Your story is quite interesting and disturbing. I do feel sorry for you Padawan Skywalker." K'Kruhk said.

"Thank you, Master K'Kruhk." Luke said. "Since as we already told you, we have two empty seats in the Council, so we like you to join us."

"Thank you. I will accept." K'Kruhk said. Just then, Sami and Obi-wan had stepped in with Hormuun Chang.

"Hello, Master K'Kruhk. I'm Obi-wan Kenobi, the Grand Master. I welcome you into the New Jedi Order." Obi-wan said. Sami bowed to the Whiphid respectfully.

"The Negotiator has finally become our leader. Good job. Anything new I need to know?" K'Kruhk said.

"Yes. We have abolished the rule against attachments due to my marriage with Siri Tachi and we command Alliance soldiers. The Council Chambers aren't permanent; it travels with the Alliance leadership." Obi-wan stated. K'Kruhk chuckled.

"All right then. I shall go and meditate. And by the way, your Padawan is carrying my old lightsaber. Did you happen to defeat General Grievous?" K'Kruhk said.

"My wife and I have defeated General Grievous. She took a couple of his lightsabers to give to our children." Obi-wan said.

"She's your kid? Nice to meet you, Padawan." K'Kruhk said, greeting himself to Sami.

"Umm… Do you want your lightbsaber back?" She asked.

"No need. I have a new one." K'Kruhk replied. Then he went off to meditate. Obi-wan's comlink started to beep. Obi-wan answered it and a hologram of Leia appeared.

"General Kenobi. General Kota has discovered a fleet of twelve abandoned Republic cruisers near the Sinroest system. We want you to get to the fleet. Kota has reported that they are carrying all sort of weaponry we can use, including ammunition and starfighters. Can you help us?" She said.

"We will be on our way." Obi-wan said.

"Take a Viscount cruiser. It should hold enough people to give the Star Destroyers the required crew." Leia said.

"Very well. We will see you later." Obi-wan said. He disconnected and headed to the Courageous.

"Stay here, Sami. I'm going alone. I won't be long." Obi-wan said. Sami nodded and ran to Luke's side. Obi-wan blasted off and the Jedi watched as the freighter flew towards a very large Mon Cal cruiser. Then, the cruiser turned and jumped into hyperspace.

Three days later…

Siri and Riekan's transport jumped out of hyperspace at Utapau. Mace and Siri were in a heated argument about attachment.

"I warn you, attachment is going to lead you to the dark side. Look what happened to Anakin!" Mace shouted.

"Master Windu, I was married for almost 20 years, had two kids who are now famous throughout the Rebellion, and I never felt the Dark Side once. Not once! Obviously, love does not lead to the Dark Side when done properly. Anakin obviously didn't love Padme right or Palpatine had lied to him. I am hoping for the latter, because I would've understood why he did what he did." Siri shot back.

"Would you have done the same if you were in his view?" Mace pointed out.

"Of course not! I was raised at an early age to learn to let go. If I knew my husband would die early, I would've prepared to let him go once he died. Palpatine exploited Anakin's inability to let go of loved ones." Siri replied. "And, if I knew I had to kill younglings without mercy, I definitely would've joined Palpatine. Now stop talking about it. You're bringing back that horrible memory of that security holo."

Siri burst into tears and her son glared at Mace.

"Look what you have done, Master Windu. Can't you just deal with the new changes in the Jedi Order? You see, it's because of your ignorance to the bigger picture that the old Jedi Order was wiped out. You should know that ignorance is against the Jedi Code. 'There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.'" Riekan said with contempt. Mace looked shamed.

"I am sorry, Master Kenobi and Padawan Kenobi." He said. Riekan turned and saw the fleet of Venator Star Destroyers. Then, a hologram of Obi-wan appeared.

"Welcome back, Siri and Riekan. Meet up with me on the lead ship. We have a new mission." Obi-wan said.

"Yes Father." Riekan said. He guided the transport towards a Star Destroyer. Its hangar doors opened to admit the Jedi and they landed inside. Obi-wan was waiting at the floor. Siri, Mace, and Riekan disembarked and walked towards Obi-wan.

"Master Windu? Is that you?" Obi-wan said, surprised at the Jedi Master.

"Yes, it is. I've survived Palpatine's encounter." He said.

"But how? You lost your right arm." Obi-wan said.

"I used the Force to slow my fall. I landed in a speeder and the driver took me to the spaceport. The freighter pilot was nice enough to take me to Polis Massa, where I got an artificial hand. Then, the pilot took me to Rakata Prime, where I was exiled for the past twenty years." Mace explained.

"Interesting. Now the new Council has only eleven members, has Hormuun Chang didn't want a seat, so you should be able to take the last seat. Due to our small numbers at the moment, we had no choice but to put Sami, Riekan, and Luke on the Council, even though they are Padawans. But not to worry, all three of them are nearing Knighthood." Obi-wan said. Master Windu bristled a little before composing himself.

"Now to the bridge. We have received a mission from the Rebel Alliance." Obi-wan continued. The five Jedi made their way to the bridge, where Ahsoka and Luke were waiting for them.

'Luke, you should do the briefing. It will help you once you become a Knight.' Ahsoka thought.

'Okay. But don't interrupt me like my father did to you in your stories.' Luke replied.

'Don't worry. Your father learned the hard way not to interrupt me.' Ahsoka replied.

"All right, you all are here. Now Rebel Intelligence has discovered a major weak spot in the defenses of the ship yards near Kuat. The Imperials scan the system four times a day to make sure we aren't in the area. But, two weeks ago, an accident had knocked out their scanner and rendered them blind to system wide invasion. The Intel reports suggest that repairs are to take a month to complete. Since they don't know we are aware of this, we can surprise them in a swift attack that will disable the ship yards and disrupt the production of Imperial Star Destroyers. Any questions?" Luke said. No one had any.

"Off we go." Luke finished and the Jedi split up to their new Star Destroyers.

TBC…