EXCERPTS FROM THE AUDIO JOURNAL OF QUI-GON JINN, JEDI KNIGHT
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 13:6:10
Obi-Wan and Anakin left today for Rekam, an Outer Rim system that is ravaged by the civil war between those factions that still remain loyal to the Republic and those wanting to join the Confederacy.
This is becoming a familiar scenario on many systems and, as it is happening to all the Jedi and Sith across the galaxy, my son and my Padawan are going to give military support to the loyalist factions, in the hope Rekam does not secede from the Republic.
It felt strange for me to watch them board their starfighters knowing I was not going to join them.
It is not the first time we have been assigned to different missions along the years, but this time is different. This time I watched my son and my Padawan leave me to fight a war.
I watched them leaving knowing there is the real chance they might not return, for the hostilities are already claiming the lives of too many Jedi. Each day new victims are reported and scrolling down the list of the dead I read the names of Jedi I have known since my days in the Crèche.
I read their names and ask myself why I am not out there fighting as they did, as Obi-Wan and Anakin will soon be doing.
I should be out there, helping them to capture or eliminate the man who caused all of this, Dooku.
Instead I am here, bound to the Temple…
Stop this at once, Jinn! Self pity is not for you! Nor have you ever showed suicide tendencies!
You know perfectly well that you have never been the same after Naboo. That your body is much more delicate and prone to illness than it was before. It has never been a problem before and it must continue to be so. After all, being prone to cold and other ailments has always been a small price to pay in exchange of being alive, instead of being dead as you would have been had not Obi-Wan healed you on Naboo. But even the Force cannot make miracles. You have accepted your limitations so far and you will continue to do so.
A sudden smile appears on my face. I am picturing Obi-Wan's expression the only time he heard me address to myself in my journal as "you". I don't think I ever seen him more puzzled.
I wonder what he would react had he heard me just a few minutes ago. I don't think he would be very understanding. He despises self-pity and I am sure he would give me a good shake if he were here.
He would be right.
This self pity is useless and unbecoming, as my regrets also are.
As soon as I complete this entry, I will go to the Room of the Thousand Fountains and meditate there. The sound of the dripping water has always been able to soothe me and I hope it will help me to regain my connection with the Living Force. Connection that, I suspect, is being disturbed by the war and the too many deaths I have been sensing.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 13:6:12
Obi-Wan and Anakin have arrived to Rekam. The situation seems to be less critical than it was reported. The local loyalist factions have already won several battles against the separatist parties, and so far there is no trace of the dreaded droid army of the CIS.
Obi-Wan hopes to close the question and re-establish order before Dooku might send reinforcements.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 13:6:23
My son's prediction about the Rekam situation have been proved right. The capital city of the planet has fallen after an eight-days long siege and it is now in the hands of the loyalist party.
I am happy this campaign has been concluded so quickly, but it does not mean that Obi-Wan and Anakin will back on Coruscant any soon.
They will stay on Rekam until the situation has stabilized enough and them they will move their troops on to Rhen Var, the planet hosting the Jedi Temple of Ulic Quel Droma. Apparently it is a minor planet in terms of strategic strength, but Separatist forces have been reported being in the area by our intelligence.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 13:7:7
If the campaign in Rekam was easier than predicted, the one on Rhen Var has proved a failure.
The numerically inferior Republican forces were defeated by the invading Separatist droid army, and it is thanks to Anakin and Obi-Wan if it did not end in a complete slaughter.
Before the battle, my son and my Padawan detected the invasion army and managed to evacuate most of our troops before the Confederacy attacked.
Obi-Wan told me Anakin gave proof of his extraordinary courage and skills by single-handedly fighting the droid army as the last outpost was evacuated.
My son reports that Republican intelligence and some Jedi are at work to discover why Rhen Var is so important for the Separatists.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 13:7:31
Another report from Anakin and Obi-Wan.
They have just launched another massive attack on Rhen Var to prevent the Separatist army from getting their hands over an object called the Dark Reaper, crafted during the Great Dark Lords War, about 4,000 years ago.
It looks like this weapon is hidden inside the Jedi Temple of Ulic Quel Droma and it is imperative that Dooku and the Separatists do not obtain it.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 13:8:1
The Separatist forces on Rhen Var have been defeated.
The attack my son and my Padawan led against the Confederate forces overwhelmed them.
This time it was Anakin to lead the troops fighting on the ground while Obi-Wan lead starfighter squadrons. I wonder why they reversed their usual roles, since Obi-Wan has such dislike for flying… Whatever the reason, the most important thing is that the battle was won and that the Dark Reaper destroyed.
Obi-Wan has once again praised Anakin's efforts, this time with the boy present, something that had not happened in many months.
I was so happy to see them so at ease with each other and I trust the Force this improvement in their relationship will prove long-lasting.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 13:8:17
This evening I received a long transmission from Obi-Wan. He is currently stationed on a planet called Muunilinst, and he told me today's battle was very hard, albeit successful.
He said he had to fight against the new Separatist chief military leader, a bounty hunter named Durge. This being was a giant and he seemed to be indestructible. Obi-Wan was forced to recur to all his resourcefulness to manage to defeat him.
But there was much more than tiredness on my son's drawn features. There was also rage, for Anakin, who was in charge of the fleet, disobeyed to Obi-Wan's orders to chase a Separatist pilot, whom he said was very strong in the Force.
As far as Obi-Wan knows, Anakin has pursued the Force user as far as Yavin where the two of them were then involved in a duel. My son says my Padawan is on his way back and what he will give him a piece of his mind as soon as the boy appears in front of him.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 13:8:22
After so many, cold military entries, after so many days spent dreading to read a beloved name in the lists with names of the fallen Jedi and Sith, finally I have something beautiful to report.
Today something extraordinary has happened: my grandson – I am sure he is a boy – has moved for the first time, and Lianne has been so kind to let me feel him too.
I admit I was not sure of where exactly I had to pose my hand, for I never had the opportunity to do it when Lydah was expecting Obi-Wan. By the time she arrived to the Jedi Temple, she was already so sick and weak because of her organs failure that the healers rushed her into surgery in the hope to save our son. So I have never known one of the simplest and yet most wondrous things a father can experience.
Lianne sensed my hesitation as I hovered with my hand over her belly and she took my wrist, leading me to the right spot.
She smiled at me as I stood silent, my palm pressed against the curve of her stomach. As I waited for "something", I could not help but think how much way I have covered in the ten years I have known her.
I still remember how stiff and ill at ease I was when I first met my daughter-in-law, a little time after Obi-Wan came to live at the Jedi Temple. I was so embarrassed and uncomfortable I barely opened my mouth.
Luckily, that inauspicious beginning has not prevented us from forging a strong friendship, based on respect, genuine caring and on the love that ties both of us to Obi-Wan.
As I was there, all lost in my memories, I felt a ripple under my palm and then something small – A fist? A foot?—pressed against my fingers with surprising energy.
It was an amazing sensation, one that brought tears to my eyes. It was like I realized only then that Obi-Wan and Lianne have created a new life and that soon our family will welcome a child. The first one born at he Jedi Temple since…since Obi-Wan himself. I think it is somehow fitting.
I cannot help but feel blessed I was allowed to feel my grandson in this way, and I hope Obi-Wan will know my same joy very soon.