Star Wars: Return of the Sith
21: Tenn's Tale: Arrival on Coruscant
By Nanaki
225 A.B.Y.
Sixteen year old Tenn Sonata stepped down from the public speeder, carrying a single duffel bag that was heavier than it looked. She was using the Force to essentially make it weightless, but more than one man on the trip who'd insisted on helping her with it had nearly dropped it, or strained a muscle. It was hot outside, but that was to be expected. Ever since the Yuuzhan Vong had altered Coruscant's orbit, it had a largely tropical climate, which was only exacerbated by the sprawling, shadeless duracrete plaza in front of the Jedi Temple. The Jedi Temple, built on the site of Darth Krayt's Sith Temple, which itself had displaced Luke Skywalker's Jedi Temple... This piece of real estate had a complicated history, but so did most important sites on Coruscant.
'I'm finally here.' She breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a long trip from Ryloth to Coruscant. Even on a fast, private ship, it would take a few days. Taking public transportation, with multiple layovers on the way, it was close to a full week. She couldn't wait to have a long sanisteam and climb into bed. Her father was supposed to be waiting for her at the spaceport, but with all the layovers and the differences in dates between her starting and ending points, one of them had gotten the schedule wrong. She strongly suspected it was him, but she wasn't completely sure. Figuring out Coruscant's maze of public speeder routes was an exercise in frustration, but the young man at the ticket counter had been more than willing to help her. Young men in general were very willing to help her, with almost anything.
At long last, she had arrived at the Temple. It was late afternoon now, and it was possible her father had already left for the day. He honestly wasn't the most reliable guy in the world. It was the main reason her parents had never gotten married. Still, he had always been kind and supportive. As she walked across the irritatingly broad plaza in the hot sun, her mind drifted back to the first time she could remember him telling her about the Force: "There is absolutely no limit to what the Force can do, Tenn. Literally no limit. And since you have that power within you, that means there is also no limit to what YOU can do." Not something the average Twi'lek man would tell a young female, she knew now. But her father wasn't an average man, he was a Jedi. A Jedi Knight then, now a Jedi Master, with a Padawan around her age, who was pretty impressive, based on how her father talked about him.
Then again, most of the Padawans would be her age or older. The Old Republic Jedi's habit of collecting Force-sensitive infants was looked at today as being cruel and bizarre. Ever since Luke Skywalker had recreated the Jedi Order in the wake of Palpatine's demise, it had strictly been a volunteer-only organization. Current thinking was that most sentient younglings weren't mature enough to volunteer until they were sixteen years old, though exceptions were made with parental approval. Tenn could have gotten parental approval easily enough, but she was in no great hurry to embark on a life of hard work and rigorous self-discipline.
At least, that had been her excuse. Being a Jedi meant a life of adventure, excitement, and danger as well, even in peacetime. Constantly traveling to new places and meeting new beings. Tenn was not a social butterfly or an enthusiastic traveler. She preferred a life of quiet routine, pretty much the exact opposite of what a Jedi could expect. Still, she'd taken her powers about as far as they would go being self-taught, plus the odd lesson from her father on those rare occasions he visited Ryloth. If she wanted to truly master her powers, and she did, then she needed to learn what the Jedi had to teach.
On that thought, she was finally nearing the stairs at the base of the towering temple. There was only one person in sight, a teenage human male leaning back on the steps while looking at a datapad. He was in a patch of shade cast by the building, so she couldn't see him clearly until she stepped into the shade as well. He was wearing fairly dark Jedi robes, though his actual cloak was bunched up under the arm he was leaning on. She noticed that he carried his own lightsaber already, so it was possible he was a Knight, though she doubted it, since it looked like he was around her age. His long brown hair fell down over his eyes, probably on purpose, since it seemed like he was trying to cultivate an air of brooding intensity. It might well have worked, except that he was currently chuckling at something funny on the HoloNet.
"Excuse me..." Tenn began, hoping he would know where her father currently was. "Do you know-" He held up his index finger, gesturing for her to wait.
"Be with you in a second." He said quickly as he tapped at the datapad. "Almost done... Okay, there." He set the datapad down, then looked up at her. Then his eyes widened, and he was quickly standing up, wiping his hand on his shirt before offering it for her to shake. "Uh, hello. I'm Seco. Seco Astrala."
"Hi, I'm Tenn Sonata." She shook his hand slowly, not liking the look in his eyes, but not wanting to judge him too harshly, either. Most young men had a similar reaction upon first meeting her.
"Tenn... Sonata, is it?" To his credit, he didn't try to hold onto her hand longer than politeness would dictate. He quickly scooped his cloak and datapad up from the stairs. "You must be Master Vao's daughter, right?"
"Yes, I am. You know my father?" She stepped onto the stair beside him.
"Well, yeah." A condescending smirk appeared on his face for just a split second, before he supressed it. "There are only about two dozen Masters on Coruscant right now, we know all of them. Besides, my friend Negian is his Padawan, so I know him better than most of the Masters."
"Do you know if he's still in the Temple now?"
"Hmm..." He stretched, looking up at the late afternoon sky. "They're probably still sparring. Those two are always refining their saber technique. I can show you the way, if you want."
Tenn appreciated that he was either confident or restrained enough to give her a choice, instead of insisting that she follow him. Besides, it had been over six years since the last time she'd visited her father here, so she could use a guide. "By all means, lead the way." With relief, she followed Seco into the cool interior of the temple. "You sound like you don't approve of how much time they spend refining their saber technique." She observed, mainly to make conversation.
"Well hey, it's important, obviously." Seco replied, sounding a little defensive. "But there are other things in life that deserve some attention too."
She agreed with that, but couldn't help asking, "Like what?" His only response to that was a lopsided smile that he'd probably practiced in the mirror more than once.
"Lots of stuff." He replied quickly. They came to an intersection of hallways. The walls here were a combination of rough hewn stone and natural wood, either as a warning against relying on technology too much, or just because it looked nice. Tenn wasn't sure which. "Let's see..." Seco stopped to think for a second. "The quickest way from here would be to cut through the main auditorium." He led her through several very broad hallways, then they emerged at the top of an absolutely huge auditorium. It looked like it could seat tens of thousands of beings, though it was empty right now, aside from the stage. There, one man was standing behind a podium, with a golden droid standing just off to the side. Tenn found herself holding her breath as she realized she knew who the two were. She could just barely make out what the golden droid was saying.
"That was much better, Master Dirk. Far fewer utterances of 'uh' and 'well' than your first few deliveries. Still, it's a bit too obvious that you're reading a prepared speech. It would be best to look out at the audience more."
"You know Threepio, you're not exactly the most gentle critic." Dirk Skywalker complained mildly.
"I'm only critiquing your performance as you asked me to, Master Dirk." C-3PO responded reasonably.
"Of course, Threepio." Dirk smiled. "I'm sure I'll do a better job of looking out at the audience when their actually IS an audience. At least, I hope so. This public speaking is new to me, after all."
"I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job, Master Dirk. It's just your fellow Jedi, after all. Although if you do make a mess of it, they'll probably never let you live it down." Threepio added, still managing to sound reasonable.
"Thank you, Threepio." Dirk responded dryly.
"I suppose if you start to feel nervous, you could try the traditional technique of imagining the entire audience is naked. A suggestion I've always found baffling, as it should result in both arousal and extreme embarrassment at the same time..."
"Thank you, Threepio." Dirk said, a bit more forcefully this time. He stepped away from the podium and clapped the droid on the shoulder. "I think that's enough practice for now. I'll get Lucia to give me her input later." Now, he looked up toward the top of the seats. "Oh, I guess we had an audience after all."
"Didn't mean to sneak up on you." Seco called out as he began descending the many stairs leading to the stage. Tenn followed a second later. "We were just shortcutting through here on our way to the sparring rings."
"We? Are you giving another of your 'exclusive guided tours', Seco?" Dirk asked with a raised eyebrow as they got closer.
"Oh come on, Skywalker. You're going to give her the wrong idea about me." Seco tried to laugh it off, but Tenn noticed that he quickly glanced back at her, so it seemed he was worried about it.
"Astrala, she already knows you're a teenage human male. I'd say the damage is done." Dirk responded genially.
"Anyway..." Seco finally arrived at the base of the stage, now looking up at Dirk. "This is Master Vao's daughter. She's one of us." Tenn was surprised that Seco would put it like that, considering they'd only just met. But then, there were still less than five thousand Jedi in the entire galaxy, thanks to Darth Krayt.
"Oh, of course." Dirk hopped down from the stage, extending his hand as he did. "Alaric has been talking about you quite a bit lately. He seems very excited that you're starting your studies here. Anyway, I'm Dirk Skywalker. Glad to meet you."
"Yes, I know." Tenn replied, a bit breathlessly. "Tenn Sonata. It's a pleasure."
"And I am C-3PO, being-droid relations!" The golden droid shuffled up to the edge of the stage, bowing as he did.
Tenn couldn't help but smile up at him. She'd heard her father describe Threepio as "the galaxy's most pedantic twit" more than once, but he'd grudgingly added that, "He doesn't seem to realize how annoying he is. He THINKS he's being helpful." Privately, Tenn thought that was a bit harsh. Considering that Threepio had been cobbled together from the scrapped remains of several different protocol droids, by a human child with no formal education at that, it was amazing he functioned as well as he did.
"Please let me know if I can be of any assistance." Threepio continued.
"Well, right now I just want to find my father so I can get to his place and get some sleep." Tenn admitted.
"Did you come all the way from Ryloth on public transports?" Dirk asked sympathetically.
"I sure did." Tenn nodded.
"So that would make it, oh, about a week since you slept in an actual bed." He surmised.
"So stop talking the poor girl's ear off, Dirk!" Tenn looked past Dirk to see a human woman with long, wavy blonde hair heading their way from the other end of the stage. "Hey, I'm Lucia Noa." She waved at Tenn. "Although in a few weeks now, I'll be Lucia Skywalker, against my better judgment. Which I guess makes us de facto friends." She said as she stopped in front of Tenn.
"Oh? How's that?" Tenn felt a fog of fatigue slowing her thoughts.
"Well, ever since Cade Skywalker and Shado Vao reestablished the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the two families have been very close." Lucia explained patiently.
"I'll admit, I'm actually surprised we haven't met before." Dirk nodded in agreement. "I suppose it's because your parents... don't get along." Now he looked over at Lucia. "Well, I tried to phrase that delicately, and I ended up sounding like a murglak."
"Yeah... You're good at that." She smiled, patting him on the cheek before turning back to Tenn. "Anyway, let's get you to your father so he can take you home."
Tenn looked back at Seco for a second, and was surprised to see that he didn't seem very happy. She had expected him to be smug about rubbing shoulders with the Skywalkers, but instead he seemed disappointed that her attention had been taken away from him. Even though he clearly would have cut off his own arm for the chance to see her naked, she decided to take pity on him. "Actually... Seco was already doing a fine job of being a guide. We'll let you get back to what you were doing." Tenn said gently. "I'll definitely want to talk to you when I'm not such a sleep-deprived mess." She added.
Lucia looked surprised, but Dirk just nodded. "All right then, we'll see you soon."
.
"Well, you really ARE one of us." Seco observed after they exited the auditorium.
"Oh? How do you figure?" Tenn raised an eyebrow.
"Actually turning down a personal escort from the Skywalkers? That's impressive." Seco grinned in approval.
"Do you... not like the Skywalkers?" Tenn wasn't sure where he was going with this.
"It's not that. They're just... overrated, I guess." Seco made an irritated gesture with his right hand as he thought about what to say next. "People seem to worship the Skywalker name without giving much thought to WHY. I mean, if I had a midi-chlorian count that high, I'd be amazing too."
Tenn decided now would be a good time to keep quiet about her own midi-chlorian count, and just shrugged. "Well, if nothing else, the Force seems to favor them when it comes to bringing change to the galaxy, for good or ill."
"Hey, I admit, the Skywalkers who rebuilt the Jedi Order from virtually nothing were pretty amazing." Seco conceded, sensing that he might be on the verge of starting an argument with her, which was something he had no interest in doing. "Luke was special. Cade was special. But Dirk..." He lowered his voice a bit. "Dirk is a spoiled mama's boy with no self-discipline. He's about to marry a professional gambler, for crying out loud."
Tenn tried to keep a neutral expression on her face, but she must have failed, because Seco's next words sounded defensive. "He's powerful, of course. Only a fool would deny it. But there's more to being a great Jedi than just raw power." They were deep inside the temple now, out of sight of any daylight. Seco stopped in front of a wide pair of doors. "Sorry, didn't mean to go on a rant. But, here we are."
The doors whooshed open to reveal near-total darkness. Two rapidly moving blue lightsabers illuminated the gloom. They were set to training mode, so they were dimmer than usual, and didn't sound like normal lightsabers either. They definitely still looked impressive, stabbing, slashing, exchanging several blows per second. Tenn tried to identify exactly what style they were using, and decided it must be Juyo, Form VII, since she saw elements of several different styles in what they were doing. "Oh Master Vao!" Seco called from the doorway. "I hate to interrupt, but there's something that needs your attention."
"Seco, you LOVE to interrupt." Tenn heard the voice of her father reply. The lightsaber on the right switched off, then the lights in the chamber came back on.
"Wait, we can't stop now. I was about to win!" The young Zabrak on the left protested.
"Sure you were, Negian." Alaric Vao smirked a bit as he came forward. Then, his eyebrows went up as he spotted his daughter in the doorway. "Tenn! What are you doing here already? I thought you were arriving on the 7th. The 7th on Ryloth, that is..." He trailed off, doing some calculations in his head.
"It IS the 7th on Ryloth." Tenn told him mildly.
"No, see, relative to your starting point, I was counting forward from the layover margins..." Tenn couldn't help smiling at that, even as she shook her head. Whenever her father was in danger of losing an argument, he did his best to turn the whole thing into a hopeless mess of confusion, using odd logic and even odder phrasing. Judging from the smirk on his face, Negian knew it too.
"Good to see you too, Dad." Tenn stepped forward into his hug.
"Sorry, I really was planning to meet you when you landed." He said softly. "Anway, I see you've already met Seco." He said as he stepped back, not sounding overly happy about it. "This is Negian Kanazzer, my Padawan learner."
"Hey, it's good to finally meet you." Tenn said as she shook his hand. "I've heard a lot of good things."
"About me?" Negian looked quizzical. "Are you sure it was actually your father that you were talking to?" They both laughed at this. Negian had skin the color of desert sand in the evening, a shade Tenn found quite appealing. He had no hair on his head, just a symmetrical crown of small horns. He also had some tattoos on his forehead and cheeks, but nearly all Zabraks did. His tattoos didn't seem to be designed for grabbing attention. Instead, they complimented the natural contours of his face.
"All right, I think it's safe to say, that's enough practice for today." Alaric nodded at Negian. "Those poor newbies in the AP classes aren't going to stand a chance against you, anyway."
"Wait a minute..." Tenn was confused. "If you guys are already apprenticed to a master, why are you taking classes with the new students?"
"We've been asking that for months now." Seco was quick to answer.
"Ugh... Thanks for bringing that up, Tenn." Alaric groaned. "It's mainly for social development. It'll be good for them to spend time with other Force-sensitives their own age. And..." Now he turned to look pointedly at Negian. "As I keep telling them, a big part of being both an adult and a Jedi is doing things you don't want to do."
"But wait..." Tenn was still confused. "How is it that you two already have enough training to even be Padawans, when it looks like you're both about my age?"
"Because we're old school Jedi." Negian answered quickly.
At Tenn's puzzled look, Seco elaborated. "We were both orphans, taken in by the Order at a very young age."
"I could have sworn I've told you about this before." Alaric looked to Tenn, but he seemed unsure.
"You also could have sworn it isn't the 7th on Ryloth." Tenn shot back.
"Fair enough." Alaric shrugged. "At any rate, let's get you home so you can get some actual sleep."
"That would be wonderful, yes." Tenn replied gratefully. Seco and Negian took that as their cue to leave, and simply bowed quickly before heading off down the hall.
Tenn actually managed to fall asleep in the speeder on the ride back to her father's apartment, even though it was a convertable. Though Coruscant was full of wonders she was eager to see, it could all wait until she'd adjusted to local time.
.
Three days later, Tenn found herself back in the Temple's main auditorium, this time with around five hundred other beings. Just under two hundred new students were starting in the Temple, but a fair number of family members had accompanied most of them. Most of the newcomers would be studying for three years before officially becoming Padawans and apprenticing with a Knight or Master, but Tenn was in the Advanced Placement program for those who'd had significant training before arriving. The program aimed to cover the same amount of material in a single year, assuming that AP students would be familiar with most of it already. There were only twenty five beings in this year's AP class, which included Lucia Noa, seated to Tenn's right, and of course Seco and Negian, who were on her left.
Seco and Negian didn't seem to be very happy with each other at the moment, and she suspected she was the reason. Negian was seated on her immediate left, but he wasn't in a talkative mood right now. She had seen more of them over the past few days than she had expected, but they'd been very eager to show her their favorite places to hang out in the area. They'd taken in a few holofilms, and gone to a speeder-racing track, where Seco and Negian had made short work of everyone else, including her. Most boys probably would have let her win, but these two were too busy competing with each other. Of the three races they'd run, Seco had technically won two, but all three had been virtual ties.
Her father, on the other hand, had only taken her to the Empire Memorial Museum, which was dedicated to telling the true story of both Palpatine and Krayt's Empires, "So we never forget." It was important, he insisted, and Tenn couldn't argue with that, but it was incredibly depressing. It also completely omitted the Pius Dea era, which Tenn argued was every bit as much of an evil empire as the other two, even if it had occurred over 10,000 years ago and wasn't strictly based on the dark side. Alaric had responded that if it included EVERY oppressive empire in the galaxy's history, like Xim the Despot's and the Rakata's, the museum would cover a hundred square miles.
So far, Tenn had most enjoyed spending time with Lucia. She had a colorful personality and an even more colorful past. She was the daughter of a smuggler based on the world of Teth, which was both in the Outer Rim and very close to Hutt Space. She had been to over five hundred Outer Rim worlds in person, and at age sixteen she had embarked on a mostly unsuccessful career as a professional gambler, up until she had met Dirk Skywalker six months ago. Tenn found that Lucia was very quick to acknowledge her own faults, while slow to find fault with others, which made her pretty much the opposite of Seco. Still, complaining a lot was hardly a rarity among teenage males, regardless of species...
Tenn blinked a few times as she realized that she was once again rationalizing Seco's somewhat antisocial behavior. She wasn't sure why she kept doing that, aside from the fact that Seco was both handsome and interesting. But then, the same could be said about Negian, and he had a better sense of humor. Yet again, Tenn told herself that it was too early to be thinking about a potential boyfriend. She should at least meet more of her fellow students first. It was just that Seco and Negian were both clearly interviewing for that job already, even if neither had overtly said so.
Tenn stretched out in her seat and looked up at the top of the auditorium, several hundred feet above. She saw that various murals had been painted near the ceiling, showcasing important moments in Jedi history. Looking closer, she saw that these murals all depicted diplomatic events, mainly the signing of treaties. Clearly, this highlighted the Jedi Order's desire to be seen as keepers of the peace, rather than warriors, but it made for some pretty boring murals. Would it really have been out of line to show Cade Skywalker's duel with Darth Krayt? Jaina Solo versus Darth Caedus? Luke Skywalker defeating Supreme Overlord Shimrra? Apparently so.
Finally, Tenn heard the audience quiet down, and she turned her eyes back to the stage, where Dirk Skywalker was walking up to the podium. Some polite applause broke out, which Dirk quickly waved aside. "Welcome, everyone to the home of the Jedi! All of us here want to thank you for your willingness to spend your lives working for greater peace and prosperity in the galaxy. Now, my mother is usually the one who gives this welcoming speech, but she's off trying to singlehandedly prevent a war that would involve several hundred systems. You know, standard Jedi stuff." He flashed a winning smile, and a few chuckles could be heard in the audience. "It's traditional to spend most of this speech talking about Luke and Vader, but you know what? I'm not going to do that." There were a few surprised murmurs at this, as well as a bit more laughter. "I mean really, is there anyone here who doesn't know their story by heart already? Given all the holofilms, stage plays, and even operas that have been made about them in the last two hundred years, I think popular culture has them pretty well covered."
"Today, I want to talk about two other members of my family tree. One was a very sensitive and caring youth who loved animals and corny jokes. The other was short-tempered and prone to angry outburts from a very young age, and had a real problem with authority. Which one became a great Jedi Master and which became a terrible Sith Lord was the exact opposite of what you would expect. Of course, I'm talking about Jacen Solo and Cade Skywalker." Dirk was speaking fairly quickly, but otherwise Tenn didn't think there was anything about his speech that C-3PO would criticize.
"Jacen Solo is largely remembered as a dupe who got played by Lumiya and had no idea what a self-fulfilling prophecy was." Dirk continued. "It's a very similar story to Vader's in that respect, but that also badly oversimplifies it. Of course, we don't know ALL the details of his fall to the dark side, but some circumstantial evidence, along with Ben Skywalker's testimony, indicates that Jacen saw right through Lumiya's attempts to control him. He calmly, analytically decided that the power of the dark side would help him prevent another galactic war, and embraced the dark side truly believing it would help bring peace. This is in stark contrast to Anakin Skywalker, who truly was duped into believing that the Jedi had betrayed him, and that Palpatine was the only one he could trust, which was the exact opposite of reality."
"Of course, Jacen was dead wrong about his Sith powers bringing peace, but all indications are that no matter how brutal his tactics became, he truly believed he was sacrificing himself for the greater good. He never pursued power to glorify himself, and was probably the closest thing to a selfless Sith we'll ever see. Not that I'm trying to justify or excuse what he did. He became a monster, and we're all lucky that Jaina Solo was both willing and able to stop him." Dirk slowly shook his head.
"On the other hand, Cade Skywalker SHOULD have become a monster, given everything that happened in his life. He did, for a while, but he never let the dark side control him, even when he was actually training in the Sith Temple. Even as he used the dark side whenever it suited him, his hatred of the Sith insured he would never join them. While that sounds very counterintuitive, it's worth remembering that his hatred was born out of love, and the pain of losing his father at the hands of the Sith." Dirk paused for a minute, seeming to collect his thoughts.
"I just want to clarify, I would not hold Cade up as a role model for anyone. He was a self-absorbed jerk, near-drug addict, and he only ended up defeating Darth Krayt largely because the galaxy didn't give him a choice. But I do hold him up as an example of how no one needs to be a prisoner of their past. Everyone deserves another chance, at least if they're honestly sorry about the bad things they've done in the past." Tenn got the impression that Dirk was looking directly at Lucia as he said this. "Also, given who Cade's mother was, I think it's fair to say that a good number of his problems were the result of genetics." This earned some more scattered laughter from the audience. "At this point, I'd like to invite someone who knew Cade personally to say a few words. Please give a warm welcome to Jedi Grand Master Rondo!"
There was a collective gasp and then enthusiastic applause as a hulking Gen'Dai walked onto the stage from behind the curtains. Master Rondo was large even by Gen'Dai standards, a towering mass of muscle well over eight feet tall. Like most Gen'Dai, Master Rondo hid his face behind a mask, as a Gen'Dai's mouth was full of sharp, dagger-like teeth that most beings found terrifying. However, the Gen'Dai were a classic case of appearances being deceiving, as they were a largely thoughtful, introspective species. Tenn knew that Master Rondo was around three hundred years old, but for a species that could live four thousand years or more, that was still quite young.
"Thank you, everyone." Master Rondo waved out at the audience, his voice sounding a bit tinny as it filtered through his mask. "I just wanted to talk about how Cade Skwalker convinced me to join his Jedi Order, back when he and Shado Vao were just starting to rebuild it, and they were badly in need of recruits. Cade asked me to stop by his home on Coruscant so he could make his pitch. That was how he phrased it, by the way. He didn't try to make it sound more appealing by pretending it was some high, noble calling. He freely admitted he was giving a sales pitch." Master Rondo chuckled.
"First, I was surprised by how small his apartment was. Construction on this temple had only just begun at the time, you see." He explained. "Cade explained that re-founding an order that had been forbidden by the galactic government for more than ten years didn't pay as well as one might hope." Master Rondo had to pause to wait for the laughter to die down. "I was also struck by how the angry-looking tattoos and scars on his arms contrasted with the otherwise tranquil domestic scene in his home. His lovely wife, Deliah Blue, was holding their son Grey by the hand as he tried to walk, but the boy hadn't quite figured it out yet."
"Cade and I sat down to talk over a cup of caf, and I explained my reluctance. I had survived the Jedi purges of both Palpatine and Krayt by keeping a low profile and never using my powers, after all. I asked what measures he had in mind to keep the Sith from rising up to destroy us once again. And I'll never forget what he said:
'You're asking me to guarantee something that might or might not happen in the future. No one can do that. I can't promise that some smooth-talking Sith won't manage to turn the galaxy against us. I can't promise that the government won't try to turn us into just another branch of the military. All I can say is that we need you. I've seen firsthand what happens when the dark side is allowed to spread across the galaxy unchecked, and so have you. Someone needs to stand up for all the innocents who get hurt when that happens, and like it or not, the Force has chosen us to be two of that "someone".' It was that simple." Master Rondo nodded. "No talk about what a high and noble calling it was, no talk about the thanks of a grateful galaxy. Just the fact that because we had the power to protect people, we had an obligation to do it."
"To be clear, I DO consider serving as a Jedi to be a high and noble calling. And you frequently will have the thanks of a grateful galaxy. But at its core, this is a job we do because someone needs to do it. A look at the history of the New Republic between the battle of Endor and the Yuuzhan Vong invasion shows this best, I think. Without the thousands of Jedi that had defended the Old Republic, the galaxy was in a state of near constant war. The New Republic was always just barely surviving the latest Imperial admiral's scheme to topple it. Without Luke Skywalker and his tiny handful of Jedi, the Yuuzhan Vong probably would have gone to war against Empress Isard. And on that note, I'll turn things back over to the newest Skywalker." Master Rondo gestured for Dirk to step back up to the podium.
"Thank you, Grand Master." Dirk gave his leader a quick bow. "To build on what Master Rondo said, I'll freely admit that we need all of you far more than you need us. Sure, we can train you to use your powers more quickly and effectively than you could learn on your own. But even today, we're still in the process of recovering from what Darth Krayt did to the galaxy. We need more Jedi, badly, and I want to thank every one of you for being willing to dedicate your futures to us." Dirk bowed again, this time to the audience.
"I just want to add one more thing before I let you go. I know most of you have known you were Force-sensitive for a long time now. I'm sure a lot of you are eager to show everyone what you can do, how strong you are. With that mindset, it can be easy to become frustrated when you run up against a problem you can't tackle right away. Just, don't be too proud to ask for help, all right? Anakin Skywalker was too proud to ask for help, and look what happened to him. Well there, I got my obligatory Vader lecture in there after all." Dirk smiled, and laughter came from the audience again. "Welcome, everyone. Please make yourselves at home here." With that, he stepped back from the podium, and slowly walked offstage.
Lucia got up right away, and Tenn followed her. However, Tenn found herself thinking about Master Rondo's account of how Cade had talked him into joining the Jedi. That was the one piece of lore she hadn't been familiar with already. She had to admit, she'd never thought of herself as being the only thing keeping the dark side from engulfing the galaxy, but she supposed it was a possibility she should keep in mind. You couldn't expect the Skywalker family to always save the day single-handed after all. At the moment though, she was mainly looking forward to actually starting classes. The more serious thoughts in her mind could wait, at least for now.
.
"My father always said, 'We take what is given.' Felt like all the galaxy ever handed me was darkness and grief. Like Krayt, I took what was given, and gave into my anger... Wrapped the anger around me so close, it blocked out the light. Suffocated myself in death and darkness until I forgot how to live. Tried to cut myself off from the Force so I didn't have to feel anything. Tried to make my heart a void... But nothing's a void-not even in space. I've seen the way all things connect. Energy flows through everything in the galaxy. Creating life. Healing it. As long as the galaxy exists, life will find a way. There is no death-there is only the Force." - Cade Skywalker, Star Wars Legacy
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(Nanaki's note: Boy, this chapter took on a life of its own. When I started it, I thought it would be fairly short and to the point, but the opportunity to start fleshing out the backgrounds of FIVE important characters, plus introducing two more that had only been mentioned briefly before, caused it to balloon up pretty quick. Then, when I got to the welcoming speeches at the end, it was hard not to make them a lot longer. But I figured that in the context of a welcoming ceremony, opposed to an actual classroom lecture, they were probably on the verge of being too long already. Still, once I started writing about Cade post-Legacy, it was hard to stop. All that, and C-3PO too! I'm sure you're wondering where he was all through Legacy, if he survived. That... is a story for another day.
Regarding Jacen Solo, I feel that exactly how much of Darth Caedus was his own doing and how much was Lumiya is very much open to debate. It's clear that Jacen managed to convince himself that he was in charge. But Lumiya was a skilled manipulator, and I think she knew that letting Jacen feel like he was calling the shots was the key to controlling him. Still, it's not like Jacen had any doubts about his dark path after she was gone, he remained committed no matter what happened. On the other hand, Jacen didn't really start screwing up until Lumiya was gone either. Unlike Dirk, I'm not really sure what to think about this one. I am sure that I want to have another chapter done before Thanksgiving. Between Pokémon Sun & Moon and Final Fantasy XV both releasing at the end of this month, I'm going to be a bit distracted in the near future.)