This is the last pre-written chapter to bring over from forums, I forgot I even had an FF account for years.
It took a few days after Yoda's request and command to Callera for the medical staff responsible for the Queen to clear her for visitors and questions, so Callera spent those days bringing her legs back into balance after Maul's damage during the fight.
Healer Ky'sa had been a fairly regular companion during those days; Part physical therapist, part mind healer, and part interrogator.
"You have questions, Healer Ky'sa." Callera's statement panted out to the dark-haired purple-eyed human while cooling down from her exercises.
"I've seen enough of your file to know there are holes in it."
"Do you trust the Council that those holes are there for a reason."
"Some of the holes make sense, others do not."
"Like what?"
"Your Master for one. I cannot trace your Master to their Master to their Master and back to the Order. Even with your explanation of a splinter Order, it doesn't make sense timeline-wise. Because you should be more experienced in certain elements of the Force and Jedi Traditions if your splinter order had developed the last time the Jedi Order shattered."
"But it is the truth."
"And that is what is confusing about it! Everything talked about rings true in the moment, but yet when researching the facts individually, it all falls apart."
"And you think one of the 'holes' if filled in would make everything make sense?" Callera's voice tinged with wry humor at the frustrated healer.
"Yes!"
The exasperated exclamation pulling a chuckle from Callera's lips before she goes serious and still, letting her icy blue eyes bore into other woman's purple eyes. "Healer Ky'sa, I know you are not going to be my designated mind healer and even if you are helping with my physical therapy, you shouldn't have need of doing a deep dive on my records beyond the damage I showed up with and the most recent fight. So why?"
The healer takes a moment to breathe before responding, "You are an unknown 'Jedi Bladesinger,' and the pieces don't fit around you."
"You should have a yellow lightsaber rather than the green blade I've seen in your lightsaber."
The straightforward statement causes Ky'sa's eyes to narrow, "What do you mean by that?"
"My Order always wondered where the Sentinels of the Jedi Order went, since for a time a yellow blade was sign of that role in the order. But being the Jedi's spies, shadows, and investigators, it made no sense to 'declare' yourself that way. Instead folding the tradition into the more upfront roles and hiding behind the expected actions of the Guardian or Consular. The Mediator is also gathering information to look for strands that bind the conflict together. The Guardian being a more subtle protector of an expected target." Giving the healer a more pointed look, "A Healer digging deeper through personnel records for 'trauma' while you are actually evaluating a target."
Ky'sa hums noncommittedly and motions for Callera to continue.
"The High Council tells you everything is fine, but something feels off, so you dig. In your digging through the 'official' files nothing makes sense. Lack of specific worlds mentioned during events, gaps in the timeline that while natural, leave you with more questions than answers. So, you worry about if I have managed to pull a blindfold over the Council, to make myself a dagger right at that heart of the Order."
A nod from the purple-eyed woman is the only response.
"I know the High Council and Chief Healer Che have a fuller evaluation of me Ky'sa. I know my 'welcoming' was contentious. I've shared memories with Master Mundi and Master Jinn," that declaration causes the dark-haired woman to narrow her eyes slightly, "on separate occasions to prove my sincerity and my truth to them."
"Could have given them false memories?"
"I cannot do that, Healer Ky'sa. The limit of my ability to influence a mind is to amplify or reduce emotions, but I cannot remove them. I can also project an aura of being 'uninteresting' to those around me, but I cannot make them truly forget me. And that is just on the technical level. Add in the will and mental fortitude of Masters of Council caliber, that outcome is far outside my capabilities."
"Could they have misinterpreted those memories?"
"If they had questions on what they saw, I told them unequivocally what they witnessed through my eyes." Callera lets her sincerity flow with her words.
"Will you tell me what they saw?"
"No, but if you ask them you can tell them that I have given you permission to know about them."
"Why not tell me yourself?"
"They know the truth of me, and they know you better than I do. Evaluate their stories of me Healer Ky'sa, and then we will talk."
That had been yesterday. Callera figured that after that conversation, Ky'sa had either talked with the Masters she'd named, or talked with others of 'similar' inclinations trying to evaluate Callera. Her morning checkup proved that insight true.
"You're from the future?!" The disbelief in Ky'sa's voice clear in the quiet examination room.
"What makes you think that?" This time Callera stays resolutely calm in the face of Ky'sa's declaration.
"If what Masters Mundi and Jinn told me is true, that is the only way your record and admitted skill with the Force makes sense. If it's our Order that is destroyed, then your level of training fits. If it's our Order that is destroyed, your skillset and the descriptions you gave them of your Jedi makes sense. But time travel is impossible!?"
"Before walking into a vergence on Dagobah, I would have agreed with you. But somehow, I go from not only a future to the past, but to an entirely different timeline! When I understood I was in the past, I hoped to meet a few of the Jedi whose actions in the here and now helped lay the groundwork for my order, but they don't exist here!" Callera's voice rising as she lets the frustration of her situation flow through her words.
"Based on that, I'm guessing you've been giving the High Council advice to avert the Order's destruction?"
Callera nods, "At the very least, I'm trying to prove the threats are real. The fight in the Senate speeder bay proved the Sith exist and validated many of my claims."
"But not all."
"Correct, I know who the Sith Lord is because on the lead up to my time he became an Emperor that the head of my Order had to face down. And I have been face to face with that Emperor since I've been here."
"Why not strike him down if you are so certain?" Ky'sa's voice curious and noncommittal
"Because if I try publicly, I will be stopped by outside forces. If try to kill him privately, he will kill me. His 'interference' before he let me face his apprentice made that clear."
"You mean when you froze? I've looked at the recordings."
Callera nods, "He held me there and with no effort my muscles were being torn."
"That means he was nearby." Ky'sa infers.
"You are right he was nearby, but he could have been miles away. I've heard stories of dark siders able to choke someone from incredible distances. But he was right there, watching. He wanted to watch me suffer as Anakin died." The tension in Callera evident as she tries to force down her vehemence.
"Why didn't we see him on the recording then?"
"You did, this Sith Lord is hiding in plain sight and only ironclad proof is going to let us go after him directly."
"Palpatine." Ky'sa's voice sure as she says the name.
"Correct, but what makes you come to that conclusion?"
"Unless the Sith Lord was hiding themselves from technology, senses, and the Force. They'd be on the recording as you indicated. You mentioned an Emperor, if the Empire was built from without then there would be an external conqueror. But your comments imply he is a well-protected public figure that you have met in person, so an internal coup is how the Empire in your timeline had to come to be. Someone from within the halls of power in the here and now is the Emperor of your past. Other than Chancellor Valorum and Queen Amidala, the only high-profile figure from outside the Order you have had contact with is Senator Palpatine."
"You have it, Healer Ky'sa. The Jedi's greatest enemy is right in front of us, and unless we have proof, we can do nothing."
"You haven't been doing nothing, Callera."
The sudden familiarity startles Callera before she replies, "I'm trying to link him to various steps that are in motion right now, that enable him to destroy us and take over the Republic."
"What about the interview that Yoda wants you to do?"
"I don't think we'll get anything out of him directly, but I can make him nervous. If I can make him think that I know where certain bodies are buried, but not by who…"
"…you hope to provoke him to make a mistake and reveal more."
"Correct."
"Do you think my Padawan will be in any danger if we are the one's to interview Queen Amidala and the other's?"
"Only if I provoke him enough to drop the genial Senator façade. And that's the last thing I want to do, he'll kill everyone in the room without a second thought if I push him that far."
Ky'sa stays silent, letting the weight of the situation fill the room before responding. "I guess we will both have to be mindful of our words tomorrow."
"Indeed we shall, Ky'sa. Indeed we shall."