Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Star Wars or SEE. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am just a simple writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: This was a real lightbulb moment for me. Have any of you had random bits of story elements and character ideas that you've wanted to use but just had no idea how they all fit together? Cause that's me on the daily, and this one finally came together when I read a new Star Wars book that made it clear the Order doesn't always ask politely to take force sensitive children from their parents. That, along with the awesome show SEE on Apple TV and the Ronin from Star Wars Visions.

Note: This will be a crossover insofar as the Alkenny people are mentioned, their status as an all blind population is present, and Baba Voss is our main character. However the story will mainly focus on the Star Wars storyline.

Note: Shippers of Anakin and Padme beware, I'm taking her in a different direction here.

Note: For those of you that haven't watched SEE yet, I highly recommend it. Seriously I just binged both seasons in less than a week and the moment I finished I was dying to write something about it. Can't wait for season three. (Tomacti Jun easily became my favorite character in season two. Fight me!)

Note: Baba is not going to be a Sith, but he will be incredibly Grey. He does not crave violence, but unlike the Jedi he will end a threat when he finds it. Additionally, I'm gonna be roasting the Jedi Order quite a bit throughout this story. I may not have liked what Disney did with their trilogy, but at least they mentioned the Jedi's hubris and hypocrisy.

Note: Yes, Baba is taken as a padawan at a younger than normal age, but canonically in the past exceptional children have been apprenticed earlier in the temple. Also, anyone else think Baba Voss works great as a Jedi name?

Chapter One - The Truth Will Set You Free

The skyrise of Coruscant extended far above the cloud cover of the city. Majestic towers thousands of floors high littered the landscape and pierced the heavens like the teeth of an angry god. Of course the world below was not so high in eloquence or majesty. Hundreds of sub-levels descended into the deeps of the city planet, each one progressively poorer and less well maintained.

As Baba Voss, padawan of the Jedi Order, followed his mentor up the steps to the temple they both called home he asked, "Master Jinn?"

The taller man turned to look down at his padawan learner. At thirteen he was the standard age that most began their tutelage under a master, but he had shown such potential at the age of six that Qui-Gon had been given permission to take him as a student early. As a matter of fact, today marked the seventh anniversary of their partnership. "Yes, Baba?"

The boy glanced from the splendor of the temple ahead of them before asking his question, "Why do the Jedi have so much? We're supposed to live as monks."

"Oh?" This was new. The Jedi Master had long asked this of the council himself, but it was the first time a pupil this young had questioned it.

"Well, it's only that we've been to the lower levels of the city before. Many times. And there have been other worlds I've seen that are equally deplorable for the people that live in them. I understand that we can't be everywhere, so there is only so much we can do off planet, but the Order is based here. We live here. And while so many suffer beneath us from lack of work, food, sanitary living conditions, or protection, we live in a grand temple, there are hundreds of us here at any given time, we have an army of support staff and personnel, and a fleet of cooks. Could not some of the resident Jedi be sent below to offer aid and protection to those in need? Could we not offer money from our treasury to those that suffer poverty or even send some of our technicians to repair public transport rails?"

"This is a wise and well thought out question to ask, padawan, where did it come from?"

Baba shrugged, "It just seems like we have the ability to help people but we don't always use it. The feelings I've gotten from this place…" He looked at his hands, "the Jedi here seem too content. Too stuck in the way things are to consider that they might do more. I've felt it more and more the closer we've come to the doors."

By then they'd reached the stairs leading up to the temple's main entrance. Qui-Gon gave them a look of consideration before leading his padawan around them to a hidden alcove built behind the walkway. "Then perhaps we should take a different way in, eh?" They entered a doorway built into the seams of stone and closed it swiftly behind them. As they began to walk in the shadowed alcove ever deeper into the structure, the Jedi said, "These tunnels were built for those civilians that work inside, but I do not think they will mind our use of it. To answer your question, I do not know."

"What? But you know everything, Master!"

Jinn chuckled lightly at the exuberant tone of his student. Had he ever had that much faith in his own teacher? Of course he had. Master Dooku was only second in his knowledge and ability to Master Yoda. "I hardly know everything, young one. But this issue has occurred to me before, as well as others. Many times have I gone before the council to suggest measures similar to what you have just said, but I have been rebuffed. The general consensus is that Jedi are too important to be wasted on such things, and that we must stay in the temple when planet-side so that we are always ready to be deployed when needed to the greater galaxy." He shrugged his own shoulders then, "I obviously do not agree, but then I am not on the council so my opinion means nothing."

That was something else that had been bugging Baba. "Why aren't you on the council, Master? You have the seniority."

"Are you calling me old?"

"You know what I mean."

Qui-Gon sighed, "That I do. The short answer is, I do not believe it is what the force intends for me. The long one is that I have not agreed with many of the decisions the council has made for a great many years now. The council must speak as one, and I would not be able to stop myself from openly condemning them. So instead I argue when I am able, and give the best example I can of following the living force instead of their committee." He tried his best to not bite off the last word. He hated seeing what his beloved order had become in his lifetime. More and more beholden to the whims of the senate and public image.

"The living force?" Baba asked. "How can the force guide you anywhere? I have heard that it can grant visions of the future to the strongest practitioners, is that what you mean?"

"No, Baba. I had intended on waiting another year before explaining this to be honest, but this tunnel does go on for a while and I deeply dislike uncomfortable silence so I might as well tell you." He gave his apprentice a look that clearly implied he was enjoying their conversation. "What many seem to forget, and what I try to impart as best as I can to our fellows, is that the force is a living thing. It penetrates and binds us all together in a vast web that we call existence, and it has a will of its own. If we meditate and focus enough, sometimes it can nudge us in the directions we are meant to go. Put us in the places we can do the most good."

Slowly putting the pieces of his time with his master together, along with the annoyed messages from the council he had heard about Qui-Gon just going wherever he wanted without approval, Baba guessed, "So instead of waiting to be told where to go for missions you've just been listening to the force and going where you feel it was sending you?"

"Indeed." Jinn was proud of how quickly his student had understood. "It annoys the heck out of the council, but I've been successful so many times that they can't really argue with my methods."

"So should I just disregard the council when I'm a Jedi like you?" Baba joked, earning a fond eye-roll from his mentor.

"You should follow your conscience, listen to the force, and do what you feel is right. But you should also be willing to accept the consequences for said choices. I myself have been reprimanded many times for my actions."

For the life of him Baba Voss could not picture his stoic, yet mischievous master being reprimanded for anything… okay maybe a prank. The man did like to mess with people. He could still remember that time Qui-Gon had dyed Master Yoda's robes blue. No one had been able to prove it was him, but Baba had known. His master had just the tiniest tinge of blue at the base of his fingernails that day.

Twenty minutes of walking later finally found them once more in their conjoined rooms on one of the middle floors of the temple. As he unpacked his belongings, Baba gave his own space a cursory examination. He'd never really understood the Jedi's stance on cutting off all property and belongings. They said one shouldn't hold any particular deed or act in esteem, that remembering those things could lead to an abundance of pride, which was somehow a bad thing. As such, Padawan's were discouraged from keeping too many mementos or personal affects aside from their robes.

Baba… had never really subscribed to the same belief, and Jinn had never forced him. Thus it was, that while most students would find only a small mattress and closet waiting for them, he had both and a series of shelves hosting a multitude of multicolored and shaped rocks. Each one was from a different mission he'd helped to complete, a planet he'd visited, or a friend he'd made along the way.

When his things from his latest mission were safely packed away and his bag returned to its place under his bed, the padawan learner took a new one out of his pocket, took a moment to rub the pads of his fingers over it, and basked in joy as the recollection filled his mind like a holovid. He saw himself and his master standing on a rise with the delegates of three different settlements discussing the particulars of a peace treaty. One was human, another Togruta, and a third Mirialan. Each had come with their families to settle on a new world in the rim, and each thought themselves the rightful owners of a particularly profitable mining location as 'the first ones there'. Such was the skill of Qui-Gon as a mediator that a settlement had been reached in a matter of days.

Placing the stone on its prepared place, Baba looked down the line to all the others. These stones were memories. Literal memories in his case. He'd been born with a natural skill for psychometry, and with a touch he could draw memories from people and objects at will. With enough focus he had found that he could also push his memories into the minds of others with enough focus. He'd never had a bad scouting report again after figuring that out.

That was not his only skill however, and since his things were put away he decided it was time to exorcise the other. Closing his eyes he felt for the metaphyiscal tendril that always seemed to surround him, and drew on it with the strength of his will. An instant later the force responded, and when he opened his eyes the world seemed just a bit dimmer.

He smirked and began shuffling quietly back into the hall. This was the reason he'd been chosen to apprentice under Master Jinn at such a young age. Not his skill with a blade, not his intelligence, but his innate talent to hide himself in the force. In this state no Jedi could sense him, normal people's eyes seemed to just sweep past him with no notice, and his feet made less noise. The only downside was that as long as he remained shielded his own ability to sense others was cut off.

It only took a couple seconds to reach his master's rooms and just as he expected the man was taking a nap instead of unpacking. He always did this. So of course he had to be punished. Snickering under his breath Baba went to the small kitchenette, filled a bowl with warm water and slowly, oh so slowly, put his master's hand in it. Then he made a break for it. He was sure he'd have a crushing amount of sparring waiting for him upon his return, but it had been worth it. After all, his master was the one that taught him he should never back away from a perfectly good prank. They keep spirits high.

Luckily there were a couple of things he could do to fill the time between now and then. He started with visiting the younglings in their cloister on the floor level of the temple. The other padawans were older than he, and many called him a fluke and a spoiled upstart for starting his training as early as he had, so he much preferred the younger students for company. He wasn't so much older than them, and some of his best friends were still amongst them. Chief among those were Aayla Secura, a Twi'lek, and Luminara Unduli, a Mirialin. Both were a couple years his junior, and they greeted him with flying hugs when he entered the room, babbling questions about his travels and everything he had experienced. The girls were voracious for details about the outside world.

Another boy, Baba thought his name was Kenobi, tried to tell them off for showing too much emotion, but the padawan simply waved him off. Aayla and Luminara were his friends and he wouldn't have anyone criticizing them for simply being curious. Once the boy had quieted down he extended his arms with a hopeful expression on his face, an act that the blue skinned Twi'lek and the green Mirialin were quick to follow.

Baba laughed at the sight. Clearly his friends weren't the only ones curious about what was out there. He gently placed his hands inside Aayla's and Luminara's and focused on the flora and fauna of the world he'd just been to. Then he did the same with Kenobi. His heart warmed at the wide eyed looks of wonder the images he was sending brought forth. This was the greatest benefit of his abilities in his mind, making others smile. He stayed for another hour, answering questions from the three younglings, and the veritable army of much smaller children, before taking his leave.

There was one more thing he wanted to do. His ability to do so was much more infrequent than visiting his friends, but it was no less important in his mind. Drawing on his abilities once more he shadowed himself and slipped past the sentries at the main doors to leave the temple. At the nearest sky-lane he hailed a hover-cab and directed it to the nearest hospital.

The staff there knew him from past visits, so there wasn't even a wait before he was directed to a very particular wing of the facility. It was here that the elderly and dying were kept. Those with no hope of recovery or leaving alive on their own. These too benefitted from his gift.

Room by room he went, picking up objects prepared by the nurses, seeing the memories presented inside them, and then taking the patients by the hands so they could see them once more themselves. It was a small thing, giving them perfect recollections of their own memories, but the tears of gratitude made it all worth the effort of sneaking from the temple. The staff praised him, the patients loved him, and the families of those that fell after the fact sent many a letter thanking him for granting their relatives some measure of peace before the end.

It was in the last room that something changed. A twinge in the force unlike any he'd felt before. He had no frame of reference for what it could be, and thus had no way of knowing that this visit would change his life forever. On the bed was a man perhaps twenty years older than himself. A wild beard covered the lower half of his face and his eyes were a milky white. He was blind. On his face were a series of raised scar lines detailing intricate patterns. It seemed he or his people practiced scarification.

A quick look at his chart explained the stranger's presence in this wing of the hospital. A tumor of the lungs, grown to a point that it was incurable. Cloning existed to grow new organs, but this man most likely didn't have enough money to afford it. At this point all that could be done was keeping him comfortable. A nearby table held an armband of some kind.

Baba was inches away from touching the object when the man's hand shot up and latched around his wrist. "Know me!" He hissed and the world around the young padawan faded away.

He experienced a world unlike any he'd visited before. No visible towers, cities, or skylines. Just greenery as far as the eyes could see. Peace and calm were the binding that held this ecosystem together rather than the steel and punishment of Coruscant. Said peace was suddenly disrupted in a big way as a bright light started growing in the sky.

Baba was looking through the eyes of the patient he knew, so the people with him that all looked toward what was clearly a rapidly falling republic transport were most likely his tribe. But wait, they weren't looking, they were 'hearing'. What was this? Sound, touch, taste, everything was adding up to a 3-D echolocational view of the world around him. It was only Baba's own knowledge of sight and color that was filling in the rest for him.

The craft crashed into the dirt about a mile away and the tribe hurried to its location as fast as they were able, shuffle running with walking sticks leading them in case of obstructions. Four bodies were dragged out still breathing. The other passengers had died on impact.

The padawan jolted at the sight of the fallen. The four were clearly Jedi, and he didn't recognize two of them, but the others were Master Windu and Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. They were much younger but there was no doubt to their identities.

Images, senses, and impressions flashed at a rapid pace then. The Jedi brought back to the village and healed by a people that called themselves the Alkenny. They fed them, sowed their wounds, showed compassion and sent messengers to a tiny spaceport that was located many days away to send a ship when able.

Baba watched as the Jedi ate their food, praised the Alkenny's kindness, and promised a hefty reward from the republic. He also watched as a particular woman carried a small bundle across her chest past the stranger's tent day after day as she completed her chores. Why was he seeing this? And why was that woman so familiar?

The scene changed again, and the village was gathered behind the man that was the patient and the woman that was again holding her bundle. The Jedi were standing healthy and strong in front of a new craft, no doubt procured from the aforementioned spaceport.

Windu stepped forward to address them, "Thank you, Chief Voss, for the aid you have provided to me and mine. You have the gratitude of the Jedi Order for this service."

The chief waved him off, "No gratitude is necessary. It is only right to aid those in need. Do you have everything necessary for your journey?"

A feeling of unease came from the Jedi before he answered, "No."

"Oh, is there not enough food or water for your journey back? I'm sure more could be procured."

"That is not what I meant." Windu took a deep breath before gesturing to the bundle the woman was carrying, "Your son has the potential to be incredibly powerful in the force. We can all feel it. Would you consent to giving him to us, that he might be taken to our temple and trained in the ways of the Jedi to serve the greater good of the galaxy?"

It was the woman that spoke then, wrapping her arms protectively around the bundle she held, "Our son shall go nowhere with you, Jedi."

"Mira is right." The chief addressed them once more. "Family is prized amongst all else in the Alkenny. I could no more give you my child than I could my own arms."

Master Mundi spoke next. "The boy has a clear ability to use the force. Thus he has an inborn responsibility to use it to aid and protect others. He must be a Jedi. Surely you see this?"

"You think you are the only ones to understand the force?" The chief asked to a stunned republic audience. "How is it that we are blind, yet you cannot see? The Alkenny have known of the force for generations. We have felt its flows and pulses through our world and understand its natures both light and dark. Much as our sister tribe on Dathomir does. My son will be fine without your instruction. His people will see to his training."

"Light and dark?" Mundi gasped, "You cannot mean to teach him of the dark side."

"You would think Jedi would be more enlightened. There is no light side or dark side in the end, Master Mundi. There is only the force. We will teach him all that he needs to know. Not limit him by cutting out half of his education."

"We cannot allow that, Chief Voss." Windu took control of the situation once more. "With the power we have felt inside him, that boy could become a Sith of monstrous proportions if exposed to the teachings of the dark side. There is a reason we do not teach such at our temple. Such knowledge is too dangerous."

Dark looks began to form amongst the Alkenny, and weapons began to loosen in sheathes. "We have given you our answer, Jedi." Voss growled. "You do not have permission to take my boy from me or mine. Leave this world before you spit on our hospitality any more than you already have."

A look of pain crossed Windu's face as he said, "I truly hoped it would not come to this. Please believe that I am sorry for what must happen now, but that boy has too much potential to be left to chance. He must be a Jedi. I had hoped you'd see reason, but now… I will do what must be done. For the good of all."

"I already told you-"

Windu raised a hand to the chief and channeled the force, "You will agree to give your son to us."

The chief scoffed, "You think your paltry mind tricks will work on me?"

Ki-Adi-Mundi raise his own hand to join his partner's. "You will agree to give your son to us."

Voss shook his head as if a stray fly was trying to enter his ear. "I-I will not."

The third Jedi followed suit.

"I-I-I will…"

The fourth added his hand to the mix and it was over.

"I… will allow it." The chief's face was slack and tears were falling freely as the words left his mouth. Then he fell to the ground, all strength leaving his body as his warriors ran forward, weapons drawn, and war cries bellowing.

Baba didn't see all of what happened next, but he had the impression of bodies being sent flying back into the air from force pushes, and screams of frustration, followed by a view of the woman he knew to be named Mira reaching toward the ship screaming, "Baba!"

The last thing he perceived was the group of Jedi running up the ramp of their space craft, a wildly wriggling bundle in Windu's arms.

Baba Voss came back to himself in the hospital room, and could only stare at the weak being lying before him. The things he'd seen in that vision… "F-Father?" He asked.

The ghost of a proud smile crossed the man's face. "Knew… that I would find you… someday, my son. Never… stopped looking." At the end, the smile fell away, and the vital readers screamed as he flatlined.

"Help!" He ran to the hall screaming, "He's dying!"

The doctors came to try and resuscitate him of course, but there was nothing to be done. The man that had been Chief Voss had been too weak for too long to come back from death.

When he saw that nothing was to be done, the padawan snatched the bracelet off the end-table and ran. (something told him it was important) He didn't know what to do or where to go, but he needed to think about all of this. He needed time to understand.

Long into the night he wandered the sky-ways of Coruscant just trying to wrap his head around everything he'd learned. When he finally made it back to the temple Qui-Gon was waiting to tear into him for pranking him and disappearing as he had for so long, but one look at his face and all his plans went out the window. He brought the boy back to their quarters and tried to figure out what had happened to make him so emotional, but he refused to say a word until the older man eventually left him alone. Hoping that he'd come to him in the morning with his story.

Baba only lasted ten minutes in isolation before he could no longer be alone with his thoughts. He shrouded himself in the force, snuck outside his domicile, and made his way to the only place he could think of that could help him now. The library. Inside its records was the accumulated knowledge of thousands of years of history and research, so there was sure to be information about his past that he could use to correlate or disregard what he thought he now knew.

Sitting at the first empty terminal he found, he forced himself to remember every detail of his vision. He entered information about the mystery planet's plants, terrain, and people. The keyword Alkenny took him directly to the world in question, a garden planet called Paya. It was apparently populated with tribes of all blind citizens with the powers of psychometry. A whole world full of people like him. A quick search of his own medical records proved that yes, upon arrival to the temple as an infant Baba had been blind as well. The Masters had commissioned new cloned eyes to replace his bad ones. Following that he made a search of instances where groups of Jedi went missing around the time he was first brought to the Order. Sure enough, there was record of a republic cruiser disappearing within that planet's vicinity. A sudden storm of space debris had apparently scuttled it.

So what did this all tell him? His tribe was real. His world was real. A group of Jedi did in fact crash land there. Everything was adding up in the worst way and something dark, angry, and cold began to grow inside him at that realization. The Jedi, the guardians of peace and light, had lied to him all of his life. They had stolen him from loving parents that wanted him. They had even used the force to compel permission from his father, a man that had fed and cared for them; most likely because Jedi law states that a Jedi cannot take a child from their family unless they have permission from one of the parents. (It never said it had to be voluntary permission.)

The cold feeling grew stronger. Did Qui-Gon know? That was the final piece of this puzzle. If his mentor knew that he had been effectively kidnapped as a baby and never told him in seven years of instruction and partnership…

He had to leave. Baba knew that. He couldn't be a part of an Order that would allow what happened to him. Especially not when two of his kidnappers were on the Council that led them. But there were some things that needed to be done first. If he just left, the first thing the Jedi would do would be to look for his home world in the archives and search for him there. If they went to this much effort to get him he didn't see them just letting him go. True, full Jedi had been known to leave the Order on occasion, and 'supposedly' padawans could also do so voluntarily, but he'd just learned that Jedi Masters had a habit of suborning free will when it suited them. They'd done it to get him. How far would they go to keep him? The answer was simple, his home needed to disappear.

There was an old saying, only a Jedi can erase something from the archives. But that was really a load of bantha fodder. The only one that could erase anything was the head librarian, Jocasta Nu, or rather anyone using her personal terminal.

The world grew darker once more as Baba drew on the force, and because no one present could sense him, no one saw him enter Jocasta's office, no one saw him activate her terminal, and no one saw him copy the coordinates for Paya before deleting them from existence. There was a small chance of the masters simply remembering the coordinates themselves, but he rather doubted it would happen. Over twelve years was a long time to remember so many numbers off the tops of ones heads.

Master Jinn was still asleep when he made it back to his quarters. For such a powerful force adept he was a remarkably heavy sleeper. So it was he did not stir when his padawan packed his bags, he did not stir when he stashed all of his rocks, and he did not stir when he left a holopad next to his bed and left the room.

Like a shadow he ghosted from the temple halls, his bag heavy on his back, soul lighter than air, and a dark serpent in his gut pushing him to lay waste to everything around him.

The Next Morning

Qui-Gon awoke to a loud beeping near his head. He sat up and found a lit holopad lying on his end table. What was this? He picked it up and swiped his finger along the glass to activate the receiver. Above the pad, a holographic image of his padawan in traveling robes emerged.

"Master Qui-Gon." He said, a strange look on his face.

The master in question glanced toward his student's room, only to see the door wide open and his shelves of precious stone memories wiped clean. Smothering his sudden worry he asked, "Baba, where are you?"

"The answer to that question will depend on how you answer mine."

"What?" Jinn saw it again. That look. That… distrust. Baba had never looked at him that way before.

"My question, Master. I won't tell you how I learned this, only that I did. I was stolen from my family as an infant by Masters Windu, Mundi, and two others I do not know. They coerced my father into giving me up against his will. This is in direct violation of Jedi law and doctrine. My question is did you know? I'm asking you to tell me you haven't been party to this lie that has been my life."

Qui-Gon froze, and his padawan noticed. "So, that is the truth. You did know."

"Baba, this is not a simple issue-"

"It's simple enough. Four Masters broke the rules and kidnapped an infant. Nothing was done that I can see to reprimand them, expel them from the order, or return me to my family. You apparently knew about this, yet never told me anything. You are as guilty as they and this Order are."

"No, Baba. I was forbidden from saying anything to you. We all were."

"And you just listened? You! The Master who was never asked to join the council because he didn't follow their edicts to the letter! The rebel who claims to do what he believes is right and goes where the force sends him!"

The master winced, "I protested the actions taken the moment I heard. I went before the council and demanded Mace be made to answer for what he'd done. Yoda agreed with me, but no one else did. There was nothing to be done." He sighed. "Then I met you for the first time and I just knew you were meant to be a Jedi, young one. Your abilities were astounding, you picked up my blade forms like they were second nature, you understood every lesson I gave to you. I believed the force was telling me you were where you were meant to be. I didn't tell you the truth because I didn't want you to miss the things you could never have."

Baba Voss stared at the visage of his teacher, his mentor, the closest thing he'd ever had to a father, and all he could feel was hate. "You have betrayed me, Master. This Order has betrayed me, but more than that, you have all betrayed the beliefs and tenets that the Jedi are meant to stand for. If this is what the Jedi Order truly is then I want no part of it."

Qui-Gon shot to his feet, terrified at what he was hearing, "Baba! Don't judge us all by the actions of a few. Please. There are so many here who care about you."

"Goodbye, Qui-Gon Jinn. Pray that we never meet again. For your sake." The holopad died.

"Baba!"

Several kilometers away, Baba Voss threw his own holopad into a nearby trash compactor and raised the hood of his cloak over his head. His old life was now behind him, and a spaceport was ahead.