Chapter 49
Corellia
Obi-Wan stepped into the room a medical droid had informed him should contain his injured Padawan. Not entirely to his surprise, the room was quite empty. Grumbling incoherently in frustration, he set down the two bags he'd been carrying and took a seat in one of the two visitors' chairs provided.
By his estimation, Vader was probably almost healed by this point and so was most likely on his feet wandering around the ship. Knowing the young man's restless nature, he was content to wait for him to return. There was no immediate need to summon him through the bond, so he didn't. He just sat and waited.
He didn't have long to wait. Not ten minutes after he'd settled in, Vader and Nejaa Halcyon walked in. Vader was clad in a pair of thin slippers, a white and blue patterned hospital gown, and a fluffy white bathrobe, very similar to the type of garb he'd been in when Obi-Wan had found him during his flight from the hospital in Coronet. He and Nejaa were chatting animatedly about some new high-performance speeder and were oblivious to his presence.
Obi-Wan was pleased to see that Nejaa appeared to have lost a great deal of his animosity towards Vader. The two of them were talking almost like old friends. It was a nice enough sight to make him forgive the fact that they still had yet to notice him sitting there in the room with them.
"…and that's why the ZX-25 is better," Vader declared smugly after lecturing Nejaa about why one speeder was superior to another.
"Fascinating," Obi-Wan commented dryly before Nejaa could fire back a response.
Both men started in surprise and whirled around to see who else was in the room with them. Obi-Wan stubbornly refused to laugh at their comical startled expressions and simply sat there and waited for them to recover their wits. Vader was the first to snap out of it, and his reaction was…interesting.
"Obi-Wan!" He cried and pounced on the startled Jedi Master. Yes. Pounced.
"Agh!" Obi-Wan grunted as the younger, though larger, man crashed into him. He was almost pushed out of the chair and onto the floor by the impact and it took a moment to catch his breath. "I suppose this means that you missed me." He wheezed as Vader squeezed him.
"Mm-hm," Vader nodded in Obi-Wan's shoulder. Obi-Wan could feel Vader's relief and happiness even without the connection provided by the latent bond that tied them together. But…
"Aren't you a little old to be doing this?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yeah," Vader sighed reluctantly and even more reluctantly let go and got up.
"Thank you," Obi-Wan sighed in relief, rubbing on the sore spots that Vader had inadvertently inflicted upon him. "Well, you seem to be doing much better."
"Yes, I am." Vader grinned.
And that was about the time that Obi-Wan spied the rather awful-looking scar on his temple. "Oh goodness," he murmured, "That's some scar."
"Really?" Vader frowned. "I can't tell, I haven't been able to find a mirror yet. Master Halcyon says it makes me look like a pirate."
Obi-Wan snorted a brief laugh. "Yes, I suppose it does."
"So, does it look bad?" Vader asked with a faint hint of anxiety in his voice.
"Not too bad," Obi-Wan decided after studying the scar for a moment. "It's just a little startling to see at first."
"Okay," Vader sighed in relief.
"Worried that all the girls'll think you're ugly now?" Nejaa teased, finally getting over his surprise at Obi-Wan's appearance and Vader's childish greeting.
"What? No!" Vader protested, though it was clearly a lie. Neither of them needed the Force to tell them that, his dark blush gave him away. Both Masters couldn't help but laugh at him a little.
"Don't worry," Nejaa chuckled, "girls like battle scars."
"Ugh," Vader groaned, burying his burning face in his hands, completely mortified. "Change the subject please?"
"Alright," Obi-Wan sighed, sobering a bit. "I hear we'll be heading to Corellia shortly."
"Yeah, that's what Bant said." Vader nodded, eagerly latching onto the new topic of conversation.
"Bant?" Obi-Wan blinked. "Bant's here?"
"Yep," Vader nodded. "Maybe she'll stop by later."
"I hope so," Obi-Wan replied. It'd been a while since he'd seen his friend and he'd like to see how she was doing.
"She probably will, she visits here a lot." Vader shrugged, fiddling with the cuffs of his bathrobe's sleeves.
"Hm," Obi-Wan murmured, catching sight of Vader's new prosthetic. "Let me see that." He lifted the robotic hand up and studied it curiously. "A new model?" He observed. "You like it?"
"Oh yeah," Vader grinned enthusiastically. "Way better than the old one."
Obi-Wan chuckled and did nothing to correct Vader's poor grammar. "Good."
Vader rotated his new wrist and winced slightly. "Kind of tingly though."
"It should pass in a few days," Bant declared, gliding into the room.
"Bant!" Obi-Wan smiled, turning to meet his old friend. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," she assured him with a smile. "It's good to see you again, and in much better shape than last time."
"Last time?" Nejaa asked curiously.
"Yes, last time, just after he returned from the dead." Bant snorted.
"Oh…oh right, I heard about that." Nejaa muttered thoughtfully.
"I'm glad you decided to take better care of yourself this time Obi-Wan." Bant smiled.
"Yes, now it's time for my apprentice to be learning the same lesson." Obi-Wan fought back some chuckles and favored Vader with a mock-glare.
"No worries Master," Vader cringed slightly, "I think I've learned."
"Excellent," Obi-Wan nodded in satisfaction. "I'm glad to hear that."
"As am I," Bant sighed. "I don't wish to have to put you back together again."
Vader cringed a bit more and laughed nervously. "I don't want to need to be put back together again."
To save Vader further embarrassment, Obi-Wan steered the conversation onto other topics, such as what Band had been up to since being assigned to the Wandering Star. Bant was more than happy to tell him all about it and Nejaa and Vader didn't mind listening along, adding their own questions and comments every now and then. And so, before any of them realized it, hours went by…
Some days later, the Wandering Star dropped out of hyperspace in the Corellian System. The system itself was the heart of the Corellian Sector, a hub of trade and ship-building. And the system is, according to many scientists, quite unnatural.
Almost all the rocky planets in the system were habitable. Aside from Corellia, the capital planet of the system, there were four other worlds capable of supporting life. There was Drall, Selonia, and the truly unique 'twin' worlds of Talus and Tralus, two planets that orbited around each other as they circled their star, Corell. And between the twin worlds hung the ancient space station known as Centerpoint Station.
How the system could form the way it had and who built the mysterious Centerpoint Station remains unknown, but most natives of the system don't care. They were a fiercely independent bunch, usually more concerned with their own affairs than the affairs of the greater galaxy. They'd tried to stay out of the Clone War, but ended up being pulled in anyway, and few were really happy about it.
The Med-Star ship carefully navigated the cluttered outer reaches of the system, passing several bulky orbiting shipyards, to reach Corellia, the third planet out from the star. Once it reached its destination, the bulky hospital ship slid into a high parking orbit over the planet's equator. And as various shuttles came and went from the ship, bringing supplies up and taking some patients down, Obi-Wan, Nejaa, and Vader left for the Jedi Temple outside of Coronet.
After saying good-bye to Bant, who remained stationed aboard the Wandering Star, the three of them boarded a shuttle along with a few recovering Jedi that was bound for the Corellian branch of the Jedi Temple. The shuttle wouldn't take them directly there, but to a landing field that was nearby. Then they could be brought the rest of the distance by speeder, or even by foot if they felt like it.
As they descended through the atmosphere, Obi-Wan admired the landscape below as it whizzed by. While Corellia was an advanced world on par with Coruscant, it wasn't nearly as overrun with buildings and urban sprawl as the galactic capital. Corellians love open spaces and so they preserved them by keeping their cities small and moving things like their shipyards out into space.
The shuttle made a pass over Coronet itself as it lined up to land. It was Corellia's largest and most populous city and the planetary capital, located by the shores of one of Corellia's two major oceans. Instead of many tall skyscrapers claustrophobically spaced, the city sprawled wide and low, dotted with many large parks and gardens, giving the city's citizens the wide open spaces they so dearly loved.
When the shuttle landed and dropped its ramp some Corellian Jedi scampered aboard and helped unload their weakened brethren into speeders waiting to take them to the nearby Temple. They greeted Nejaa warmly as he was a well-known Master here and favored Obi-Wan and Vader with curious glances as the three of them disembarked. The three of them hopped into a speeder that didn't contain the other injured Jedi and settled back for the short ride to their destination.
The Corellian branch of the Jedi Temple was vastly different in size and appearance from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Instead of being one massive building shaped like a ziggurat topped by spires, it was a collection of rectangular buildings radiating outward from a central tower like spokes on a primitive wheel. If all the buildings were combined into one, the space contained would be less than a third of what the Coruscant Temple contained, but fewer Jedi lived here so it worked well. The central tower at the heart of the Temple was just like the central spire of the Coruscanti Temple, it was where the Corellian Council (not to be confused with the Jedi High Council on Coruscant) met to manage the rest of the Jedi who lived here. And surrounding the tower and all the other buildings of the Temple were gardens of both native and exotic plants. It lacked the ancient magnificence of the Coruscant Temple, but the Corellian Temple was beautiful in its own way.
The speeder brought them to the Healer's building. Here the other Jedi, who were still injured, were admitted for further treatment. They also checked Vader over and cleared him as healthy. At a few days shy of two weeks, he had exceeded the Healers' earliest estimations of recovery time. It seemed that the Force was with him, as well as the strength and resiliency of youth.
Now they were wandering over the sprawling, wide open Temple grounds. Vader was openly fascinated by the flower-filled gardens, he really hadn't looked around much the last time he was here. Nejaa cheerily waved to Initiates, Padawans, Knights, and Masters that he knew as they walked. Obi-Wan merely noted that there were fewer Jedi around than he remembered. They were probably off on some distant front, fighting in the war.
"Master Halcyon!" A young Whiphid Jedi boomed in his rumbling bass voice as he hurried over to them.
"Yes D'Kink?" Nejaa greeted the massive, long-faced alien.
"This came for you a few days ago." The Knight told him, handing over a scrap of paper that looked smaller than it was due to his large hand.
Nejaa accepted the note, skimmed it, and then went very quiet and still. "Thank you D'Kink," he managed after a few minutes, shoving the note into one of his belt pouches.
The Knight bowed and moved off to take care of some other business. Nejaa stood there for a while, long enough for Obi-Wan to wonder just what the note said. And then Nejaa moved off in a different direction without a word, his jaw set in determination.
Obi-Wan was intrigued and got Vader by the arm, pulling him away from a small carnivorous plant originally from Kashyyyk that he'd been studying, so that they could follow Nejaa and see what was going on. Vader started to protest, but was silenced by Obi-Wan's gesture for quiet. Then he picked up on the interesting hints of turmoil, excitement, and anxiety coming off the striding Corellian Master and he eagerly followed Obi-Wan's lead after the other Master.
Nejaa led them away from the Temple, back into Coronet. He wandered through a residential district on the fringe of the capital, following streets that led to the heart of the city. The Corellian Master skirted the rowdy Treasure Ship Row, a neighborhood that contained many aliens and even a few pirates and smugglers, and headed towards a nearby middle-class apartment complex. Obi-Wan and Vader followed him the entire time and Nejaa seemed oblivious to their presence. But then just as he was about to enter the building, he paused and turned around.
"You followed me?" He blinked, startled.
"Well, yes." Obi-Wan shrugged. "Do you want us to leave?"
Nejaa chewed on his lip thoughtfully and studied the two of them, his eyes lingering longer on Vader, before he came to a decision. "No, you can come in if you like."
"What are we doing out here?" Vader asked curiously.
"I'm out here to visit Mina, you're out here to follow me." Nejaa snorted and headed inside the building.
"Who's Mina?" Vader wondered as he stepped towards the apartment building's front door.
"Mina, I believe, is his wife's name." Obi-Wan replied, recalling that name being mentioned when Nejaa had spoken of his spouse.
Vader got as far as grasping the door handle before freezing. "Could you run that by me again?" His voice was perfectly calm, but Obi-Wan could sense that that was merely a façade.
"Mina is his wife's name." Obi-Wan repeated, amused.
Vader had no visible reaction. He just stood there on the front steps with his shiny metallic right hand holding the door handle. His prolonged silence and lack of movement started to worry Obi-Wan.
"Vader?" Obi-Wan prodded.
"That," Vader said in the same perfectly calm, soft voice, as he slowly turned around to face Obi-Wan, an utterly blank look on his face, "just broke my brain."
Obi-Wan couldn't help but laugh at that statement. "Jedi do occasionally marry too, you know." He chuckled.
"Was he married before?" Vader asked.
"No, he wasn't married when you first met." Obi-Wan smiled. "Shall we go in now, or do you want to go somewhere else?"
"Let's go in." Vader said after a moment, appearing somewhat recovered from his shock. "This I have to see."
"Alright," Obi-Wan nodded, giving Vader a little push to get him through the door.
They climbed a few flights of stairs, honing in on Nejaa Halcyon's presence in the Force. He was on the third floor, down a hallway, chatting with another man. The other man was dressed in the green-and-gray uniform of a CorSec officer.
The CorSec officer turned as he heard the two of them approach. "Friends of yours Nejaa?"
"Yes," Nejaa nodded. "Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan."
"Rostek Horn," the officer named himself and held out his hand to shake. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Obi-Wan agreed, shaking the offered hand.
Before anything else could be said, the door to a nearby apartment opened and a woman in a nightgown and robe bolted out and practically tackled Nejaa. The Corellian Jedi didn't seem to mind one bit, though he barely managed to stay standing after the force of her pounce. Obi-Wan and Vader stared in confusion. Rostek simply looked amused.
"Nejaa!" She squealed, hanging off his neck and snuggling affectionately into his chest.
"Hi Mina," Nejaa smiled, hugging her back.
The two of them started to get more cuddly and affectionate and Obi-Wan felt distinctly uncomfortable watching. A glance in Vader's direction told him that the younger man was just as uncomfortable. Rostek only shook his head at their behavior.
The CorSec officer moved closer to Obi-Wan and whispered. "They'll probably be at this for a while, you might want to wait inside." He gestured to the still open door to Mina's apartment and then walked off, presumably to return to his job or his own home.
Obi-Wan was more than happy to follow Rostek's advice. Carefully steering Vader around Nejaa and his wife, Obi-Wan brought his younger companion inside the apartment and closed the door. While he was happy that his friend had found a woman to love, it was simply too awkward for him to watch them be quite so…affectionate…with each other.
Vader was just as relieved to get away from the sight and sounds of Master Halcyon making-out with his wife Mina. Watching adults, people that were noticeably older than himself, get all kissy always made him squirm. While it was all well and good that they loved each other, he really didn't want to see them act on it quite so much.
Sighing in relief, Vader glanced around at the inside of Mina's apartment. It was a nice enough place. Simple and uncluttered, but it had a nice homey feel to it. There were some flat images and some short-looped holos hanging on walls and sitting on shelves. The walls were painted in nice warm tones of orange and red, and the carpet and furniture were in shades of creamy off-white.
Spying a mirror on a nearby wall, Vader eagerly walked up to it. He still hadn't found a mirror or surface reflective enough to serve as a decent mirror since his injury on Malaar. He really wanted to know about his pirate-like scar.
That doesn't look too bad, he decided after a moment. Almost got my eye, he noted with a slight wince. But I can totally live with this.
"There you are." Someone, a woman from the sound of her voice, said.
Vader whirled around to see a woman standing nearby. The woman bore some resemblance to the brief glimpse he'd gotten of Mina, making him think she was a sister or maybe a cousin. She was dressed in business attire and looked irritated. She also had what appeared to be a rumpled up blanket cradled in her arms.
"Here, I have to go, my lunch break's up." The strange woman declared and dumped the blanket into his arms.
"Huh? Wha–" He tried to protest, but the woman had already strode out of the apartment.
What did she mean? 'There you are?' What the heck? Vader blinked, trying to figure out just what the heck was going on. His Master looked equally confused, staring at the closed door where the woman had exited.
Wait a minute, Vader frowned, glancing down at the bundle in his arms. It weighed more than just a plain, ordinary blanket should. Puzzled, he shifted the blanket-wrapped object, freeing up his left hand so he could unwrap the thing. What he found underneath a fold of the blanket almost made him drop it in shock.
Ack, it's a baby! What-what the…? He stared at it in confusion. What the heck was a baby doing in Mina's apartment? And then… Oh eww!
He was holding concrete proof that Master Halcyon had had sex with his wife. Gross! Why did she give this thing to me?
"What did she give you?" Obi-Wan asked curiously.
"A baby," Vader replied, still staring at it.
"A-a what?" Obi-Wan sputtered.
"A baby," Vader repeated, wandering over to show Obi-Wan just what was buried in the blanket.
The baby was napping peacefully in the powder blue blanket. It was the tiniest baby Vader had ever seen, let alone held. Its skin was very pink, almost raw looking, and its features looked kind of…squashed and wrinkly.
This doesn't look like any baby I've ever seen, Vader mused. Any Human baby anyway. Is this normal?
Obi-Wan appeared to be of the same opinion. He stared down at the infant with an anxious, worried sort of expression, his hand covering his mouth. Vader almost began to wonder if the older Jedi was afraid it.
"How old do you think it is?" Vader asked softly so as not to wake the baby up.
"A few days maybe," Obi-Wan shrugged. "I don't really know, I've never seen an infant this young."
"Hmm," Vader hummed and walked over to a couch and sat down.
Obi-Wan trailed after him though stayed standing instead of taking a seat on the couch alongside Vader. The apartment was silent as the two of them either had nothing to say, or said nothing to avoid waking up the baby. And the baby stayed asleep, blissfully unaware of what was going on.
"I wonder if my sister's still here." Mina murmured as she and Nejaa finally decided to come inside.
"No, I'm pretty sure she left." Vader snorted.
"Oh that's too bad." Mina frowned, then seemed to realize who she was speaking to. "Nejaa you brought friends?"
"Well, yes." Nejaa shrugged. "So where is he?"
"I gave him to Jessi to come see you. So…he's wherever she left him." Mina answered, scanning the apartment in search of something, though she clearly missed what she was looking for.
Hmm…'him'…baby…blue blanket… "She gave him to me." Vader sighed, shifting on the couch so she could get a better few of the baby bundle in his arms.
"She did?" Mina blinked in surprise. "Oh there's little Valin!" She cooed, scampering over to collect her misplaced baby.
Vader was more than happy to pass the little bundle of joy back to mommy and be free of the worry that he might drop it on accident. Mina happily cuddled the baby, cooing to him softly in nonsense baby-talk. She then brought the snoozing infant over to Nejaa to show off.
"Look Daddy, isn't he cute?" She gushed.
Nejaa didn't answer. He appeared to be too fascinated with his infant son to have even heard the question, let alone formulate an answer to it. Mina didn't seem to mind this and took his silence to mean an enthusiastic yes.
While the two proud new parents admired their newborn offspring, Vader studied Mina's elaborately carved wooden caf table. It was stained a rich reddish-brown color and covered in images of native Corellian wildlife. Obi-Wan seemed to find it equally fascinating.
That was basically how the rest of the visit went. Mina and Nejaa drooled over little baby Valin. Vader sat on the sidelines with Obi-Wan, feeling rather out-of-place. And then, only after much cooing, admiring, and a flurry of pictures, they left.
Obi-Wan felt a good deal more relaxed after they left Mina's apartment complex behind. He was happy for his friend, no doubt about that, but that visit left him feeling uncomfortable. Never in his youth had he imagined that someone he counted as a friend, a fellow Jedi, would be married and have a child. He certainly never dreamed he'd witness it.
A few paces ahead of him Nejaa was nearly skipping as he walked. The air around him was thick with joy and contentment. If it was possible for a solid, wing-less being to 'walk on air' Nejaa probably would be doing it right now.
Next to him Vader also seemed relieved to be out of the apartment and out in the open air. Obi-Wan was mildly impressed with how well the young man handled the whole odd encounter. He managed to smile for the few pictures he'd been pulled into; he nodded and gave polite responses to things Mina said to him, even when the things she said clearly embarrassed or bothered him; and he even held the baby multiple times without complaint. Obi-Wan wondered just how Vader knew how to hold an infant correctly anyway.
As they traversed the city streets on their way back to the Temple, they passed all matter of citizenry. From the wide array of Humans; to the short, dark-furred, rodent-like Drall; to the tall, slender, tan, furry, weasel-like Selonians; to the various other alien species who called Coronet home; they all hurried to get somewhere before the sun set. Obi-Wan imagined that it was almost like being on Coruscant in the distant past, before the entire planet was buried under miles of skyscrapers and industrial complexes.
"Ah, what a day!" Nejaa sighed.
"Mm-hm," Obi-Wan nodded agreeably.
"And I must say, I rather liked it when Mina offered to set Vader up with her cousin from Tyrena." Nejaa smirked.
"Can we not talk about that?" Vader grumbled.
"Fine," Nejaa chuckled, "fine. Though, from the holos I've seen, her cousin's really cute."
"I'm not interested." Vader replied stiffly.
"If you say so," Nejaa smiled.
Obi-Wan swallowed a laugh and shook his head. He seriously doubted that Vader would give in and even consider looking at Mina's cousin, or just about any other girl. Because he suspected that Vader had an interest in the beautiful Nabooan Senator. It was doubtful that Vader in any way actively pursued her, but Obi-Wan didn't think the only reason he stopped by her apartment as often as he did was just to sit on her couch, drink her tea, and listen to her talk.
The poor boy… He sighed. He just has to get a crush on a highly influential public figure…
It would've been tricky enough if his charge had fallen for an ordinary girl, but a Senator? Even if Padmé reciprocated his feelings, which he didn't think she did, and they tried to have a relationship, the media attention and scandal it would bring if they were found out would be overwhelming and destructive. It could simply never work. The only thing that Vader could do was what he was doing now, admire from afar and be a friend.
"So, out of curiosity," Nejaa asked, "either of you ever consider having children?"
Trust a Corellian to ask that sort of awkward question. Obi-Wan sighed, "No."
"And what about you?" Nejaa turned to Vader who was religiously studying the duracrete under his boots as he walked.
"Well…" Vader stalled for a moment. "A long time ago…when I was younger… Yeah, I used to think about having kids…in that sort of abstract way that a little kid thinks of those adult kinds of things."
"Really?" Nejaa muttered in surprise. "You…you used to?"
"Yeah," Vader shrugged, not looking up.
"So…you don't want any children now?" Nejaa asked slowly. "Why?"
"I…I'd probably just screw them up." Vader sighed, crossing his arms tightly over his chest.
"Oh…" Nejaa trailed off uncomfortably.
"But if you didn't have to worry about 'screwing them up' would you want any?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I dunno…maybe." Vader shrugged.
Things fell silent between them for a while. They just kept on walking back to the Corellian Temple through the bustling streets of Coronet. As they reached the more deserted fringes of the capital the sun began to set.
"What about taking on a Padawan?" Nejaa asked suddenly, the question directed towards Vader.
"What? You're joking right?" Vader snorted. "For one, I'm still just a 'Padawan' so there's no way I could take one. Even if I somehow got 'promoted' there's no way the Council would trust me with a kid. And if for some mysterious reason they did, I'd still screw the kid up. I'm a horrible role model."
"You're not a horrible role model," Obi-Wan scoffed. "Just a less than ideal one."
"Hah!" Vader laughed derisively. "'Less than ideal,' that's cute."
"That's a good deal better than 'horrible,'" Obi-Wan pointed out. "You're being negative again."
Vader didn't reply to that.
As they left Coronet behind, they continued their walk in silence. There was a strip of forest between the edge of Coronet and the Corellian Temple, and the shadows cast by the trees and their leaves made it much darker than it actually was. As they hiked along the forest trail, Obi-Wan took the opportunity to think.
Vader seemed genuinely distressed that he felt unworthy to have children of his own, or mentor and teach a child. He acted calm, brushed the ideas off as ludicrous, but from his behavior, from his voice, from the little emotional leaks seeping through their bond, he could tell that it really bothered him. Whether he'd ever admit it or not, it was clear to Obi-Wan that Vader wanted either a family of his own to belong to, or a surrogate sort of family achieved by the Master-Padawan relationship.
Obi-Wan hoped that someday Vader would gain the confidence to move past his fears of 'ruining' any child he had prolonged contact with. He seriously doubted that Vader would actually 'ruin' anyone. From all that he'd seen of Vader's interaction with children, including the Orphaned Padawan on Jabiim, the young man did well with them. And children generally seemed to like him too.
'Less than ideal' you may be today, Obi-Wan mused, glancing over at Vader as they left the forest for the edge of the Corellian Temple. But someday I think you'll be decent, even great. All you need to do is to believe that you can…
It was late, but Obi-Wan couldn't go to bed just yet. That was the price he paid in accepting a seat on the Jedi Council. They could call for a meeting anytime and he'd have to do his best to make it, whether in the flesh or by hologram. And that's what he was doing now.
In the tower at the center of the Corellian Temple, just one level below the room where the Corellian Council met, was a communication room with a very secure connection. Here he could set up a connection to Coruscant and the Jedi Council and attend long-distance. After the tech in charge of this room finished setting it up, she left so that Obi-Wan had the privacy he required.
He sat in a chair provided and moments later eleven blue images of the other Councilors snapped to life around him. It was impossible for him to tell how many of the others were attending the session remotely as he was, only those still on Coruscant could tell, but that really didn't matter. After the simple greetings it was all down to business.
"Too many Knights and Masters we have lost," Master Yoda declared without preamble. "A solution we must find, and quickly."
"There are many Padawans who are close to being ready for the Trials," Master Ti mused. "Perhaps we could knight them without subjecting them to the Trials."
"That's preposterous!" Master Rancisis sputtered. "The Trials are an important tradition. They cannot just be cast aside!"
"It would only be temporary, for the duration of the war," Master Ti replied soothingly.
"If a Padawan can survive the stress of war and succeed, they could well be ready for knighthood. War is its own sort of Trial." Master Windu added.
"But if we do suspend the Trials, even for just some of the Senior Padawans, who is worthy of promotion?" Master Koon asked.
"If we decide to do this, those we consider for skipping the Trials will be considered on an individual basis." Master Windu decided.
There was some further debate on the subject, but in the end they agreed to the measure. Several Masters, most notably Master Rancisis, were very unhappy about it, but times were growing desperate and they needed more Knights. And now came the process of nominating candidates for this accelerated promotion.
Several different names came up, including Ki-Adi-Mundi's Padawan, A'Sharad Hett. But they still didn't have enough names. Obi-Wan shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he listened and thought.
I must be crazy, he sighed to himself. This won't go over well, but… "I have a suggestion…"