IA: A Prelude to War

by Crayz9000

First book of a series. 30 years before Yavin, a massive Jedi expedition known as the Outbound Flight disappeared in the unknown regions of the galaxy. Most assumed it had been destroyed by an alien named Thrawn... but what if that assumption was wrong?

24. Twenty Three

23

Luke Skywalker danced back a step to avoid being scored by the viridian lightsaber blade wielded by his opponent. It wouldn't have done any damage even if it had touched him, since it was a low powered training saber, but a touch still counted against him and he wasn't about to let that happen.

He glanced around the sparring room aboard the Jade Sabre, noting the sweat that was dripping down Mara's brow. Her face seemed positively radiant, and the swelling in her abdomen was unmistakable. She seemed more alive than he had ever seen her-

Luke grunted suddenly as she used the Force to shove him backwards. He managed to recover his footing after only two steps, and brought his own training saber into the en garde position.

"How's the baby affecting your stance?" he asked.

"I'm still in one piece, aren't I?" She winked at him. "But you know what, farmboy, if you want to use those healing hands of yours later on I'm not going to complain about it. Now get over here before I kick your sexy ass back to Tatooine."

Training saber humming, he chuckled as he took a few steps toward her. "I would return the favor, but it's just not proper etiquette to do that to a lady, pregnant or not."

"Oh, so now you're going to hold back just because I have something growing inside me? You of all people should know that most thugs don't show that kind of restraint."

"I know," he replied. "I never said anything about holding back." He launched into her, the blade dancing almost of its own accord. Her own blade sang as she parried his blows, the two Jedi locked into what normally would have been a deadly dance. Each cut and thrust was deftly parried, each defensive action followed up with an offensive move.

As they fought each other to a standstill, he leaned forward, pushing the locked blades to the side, and kissed her on the lips. Her eyes snapped wide open before relaxing again, and she let her saber drop to the floor where it shut itself off automatically. Then she wrapped her arms around her husband, enjoying the moment for as long as possible.

Unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be very long at all. "Uncle Luke?" a voice rang through the ship. Moments later, Anakin's head appeared in the opening of the sparring room. "Oh. Sorry."

Mara unwrapped her arms and went to sit down while Luke walked over to his nephew. "What's the matter?"

"Just got a call from Fleet Command. Admiral Kre'fey wants to see you immediately."

Luke nodded. "Well, let's not keep him waiting."

Typical of Coruscant skylane traffic, it took them close to an hour to cover the distance from the spaceport pad where the Jade Sabre was berthed to the offices of the New Republic Defense Force's Fleet Command. With its critical role in the security of the New Republic, Fleet Command was buried within the massive bulk of the former Imperial Palace, over a kilometer beneath the surface of the buildings that made up the artificial mountain.

The air taxi dropped the three Jedi off in front of the main entrance, a massive set of doors that led to the Grand Corridor. The corridor, nearly a kilometer in length, was fortunately lined with moving walkways that Mara seemed to be glad to take advantage of. As they made their way through, Luke glanced up and noted the scaffolding covering the walls. The Senate had been making noise for years about replacing some of the more Imperial elements of the architecture in the Corridor.

While he was watching, there was a slight cracking noise as several floating labor droids detached one of the massive, multi-segmented round windows that topped the vertical slits which let in most of the light to the chamber. As he looked at the window, he couldn't help but be reminded of his time in the Emperor's throne room aboard the second Death Star almost twenty-five years ago, gazing out of an identically-styled viewport as the Rebel fleet had been subjected to the overkill of the Death Star's primary weapon.

He brought his head back down and caught Mara's gaze. She had also been watching, he realized, and he briefly wondered what she thought of the process. After all, she had practically been raised in the halls of Imperial Palace.

"I always thought those windows were ugly," she remarked after catching his unasked question. "Good riddance."

It took several more minutes for them to reach the end of the Grand Corridor, which stopped at the entrance to the Council chambers. Dozens of turbolift shafts lined the now narrowed sides of the corridor. Mara strode over to one and pushed the call button; moments later, there was a soft chime from another shaft and the three Jedi boarded the turbolift.

When the turbolift stopped, Luke deferred to his wife, allowing her to exit first and lead the way. Despite all of the years that had elapsed since she had lived on Coruscant, she still seemed to know the twisting, convoluted corridors of Imperial Palace better than anyone Luke had ever met.

By the time they reached the offices of Fleet Command, Luke had lost count of how many left and right turns they had made.

"Master Skywalker," a gruff voice suddenly announced.

Luke turned to come face to face with a Bothan in an Admiral's uniform. "Admiral Kre'fey," he acknowledged. "How are you?"

The Bothan's ears twitched. "Long times of peace are terrible for those in the military," he replied flatly. "The Senate is thinking about downsizing the Fleet."

"Again?" Luke asked in surprise. It seemed as though a demobilization bill popped up every few years. The simple fact remained, however, that it took countless millions of ships to patrol the galaxy. Most of them were operated by local and sector governments and thus were not directly under command of the New Republic Defense Force. Even so, the Defense Force alone operated more ships than the Kuat Sector Fleet, which most armchair generals agreed was the largest of the sector fleets.

"What about that attack on Rhommamool three years ago?" Mara interjected.

"Brush conflict," Kre'fey dismissed the question. "The local command could have dealt with it, had they had recognized the problem and responded sooner." The Bothan swept his arm around. "But pardon my manners. Please, follow me to my office."

The path that Admiral Kre'fey took went around the strategy room, which was a large pit of computer consoles arranged in concentric semicircles around a holographic projector at the bottom. The projector was currently displaying a massive, holographic map of the galaxy that sat there, spinning sedately.

They entered Kre'fey's modest office and he closed the door behind them, gesturing at the chairs arranged in front of his desk. Mara eased herself into one of the chairs, and Luke noticed a slight grimace flicker across her face before it returned to normal.

"So," Kre'fey said as he took his own seat, "what brings you here?"

"I'm concerned about recent events in the Tingel arm," Luke replied. "In the past several months, we've seen scattered attacks on shipping throughout the area. Kyp Durron lost his entire squadron to a previously unknown alien force in the Helska system less than a month ago."

"I doubt that many in the Senate will be very concerned with the loss of his squadron," Kre'fey said, his ear twitching again. "His reckless leadership has not earned him many friends here on Coruscant."

Luke let his head drop. "I know. I haven't always approved of the tactics he uses. However, there is something going on, and I'm pretty sure it's tied to Helska. His apprentice is still missing on the fourth planet, but we do not have the resources to mount a search and rescue mission."

Kre'fey slowly nodded. "Unlike my cousin Borsk, I do trust Jedi intuition. I will let Dalonbian sector command know what you said. Ultimately, it is their decision. I can only step in if the issue proves to be too much for them to handle."

"Thank you, Admiral." Luke came to his feet and was about to shake Kre'fey's hand when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Kre'fey said.

The door clicked open and a somewhat nervous-looking young aide stepped in. "Admiral, you're needed in the situation room."

"Can it wait?"

"I'm afraid not, Sir."

Kre'fey coughed and came to his feet before turning to face the Jedi. "In that case, would you like to come see the situation room?"

"I would-" Anakin began before hastily checking his aunt and uncle's faces. Luke merely smiled in response to his nephew's eagerness. "I would love to."

This time, instead of merely passing by the situation room, they entered it and found that the holo view had been changed from the galaxy to one of Coruscant. In comparison to the glittering view of the planet from space, this view was clouded by a sea of glowing dots that hovered above the planet's surface.

"The bigger ones are ships," Anakin remarked after looking at the globe for a moment, "and the smaller ones are pieces of debris, right?"

"Yes," Kre'fey agreed before turning to the aide. "What happened?"

"Sir, a Dreadnaught dropped out of hyperspace in one of the approach lanes. It's not one of ours."

The Bothan's ears flattened. "Imperials?"

"No, that's the thing, Sir. They're broadcasting an Old Republic identification code."

"Then they must be spoofing it," Kre'fey concluded. "We've accounted for all of the Katana fleet dreadnaughts, have we not?"

"We did, Sir. It's not one of them."

Kre'fey walked over to the massive holomap and looked at the marker for the new contact. "Have Viscount move to intercept and in the meantime, keep trying to raise them. Whoever they are, I don't want them getting any ideas."

"Yes, Sir." A few moments later, the aide looked back up. "Channel open, Sir."

Luke followed Kre'fey over to the holoprojector, where a quarter-scale projection of a woman in an Old Republic naval uniform stood waiting.

"This is Commander Tel Kenor on Ny'lith Boro," she introduced herself, "requesting docking permissions."

Kre'fey cleared his throat. "Commander Kenor, this is Admiral Kre'fey of the New Republic Defense Force. I am not familiar with you or your ship. You are in Coruscant restricted space. State your business."

"Good to know I'm still at the right planet," Kenor began. "This is the Ny'lith Boro, Outbound Flight designation D-Six. We have diplomatic envoys aboard from the United Federation of Planets to see the Senate."

The Bothan opened his mouth to reply and then stopped. He turned to Luke, nostrils flaring. "Were you aware of this?"

Luke shook his head, still shocked by the sudden proclamation. "No."

Kre'fey hit the mute button on the projector controls and turned back to his aide. "Get me everything you have on Outbound Flight. I want to know who all the commanders were." He motioned for another aide to come over. "You, run the ship's registry number through the Rendili database, see if it matches what she says it is."

"Yes, Sir."

By the time they turned back to the holo and Kre'fey released the mute switch, a second figure had joined Commander Kenor on the table.

"Excuse me," the new arrival began. "Is there a problem?"

"There is," Kre'fey replied. "Outbound Flight was reported to be destroyed by the Empire on its maiden voyage some sixty years ago."

Now it was the new arrivals' turn to be confused. "The Empire?" the man asked. "What Empire?"

Luke exchanged looks with Mara. I think they're telling the truth.

"The Old Republic collapsed during the Clone Wars only a few years after Outbound Flight's departure," Kre'fey began. "It became the Empire."

The man in the holo frowned. "You speak of the Empire as if it was in the past," he replied. "Who controls Coruscant now?"

"The New Republic," Kre'fey replied. "I am Admiral Traest Kre'fey, New Republic Defense Force First Fleet. Who might you be?"

"Jedi Master Dellen Coureran," the man replied. "May I speak with the Jedi Council?"

After exchanging another confused look with Mara, Luke stepped in front of the holocam. "I am Jedi Master Luke Skywalker," he said.

"You-" Dellen suddenly cut himself off. "Skywalker?"

Luke nodded.

"Are you in any way related to Anakin Skywalker?"

"He was my father," Luke replied.

There was a long pause. "Your father?"

"Yes. Why?"

The other Jedi Master opened and closed his mouth several times. "Then he broke the Code," Dellen finally said. "There is no emotion, there is peace," he recited. "A Jedi must not become attached lest it lead to emotion."

Before Luke could reply, one of the aides ran up and Kre'fey hit the mute switch again.

"Here you are, Sir." The aide handed Kre'fey a datapad, and the Admiral wasted no time looking through it.

"Tel Kenor, age thirty-seven," Kre'fey muttered, glancing back at the hologram. "She hardly looks older now than she did in the records."

"Do you mind if I look?" Luke asked. The Bothan nodded, passing him the datapad. He tapped in a query, and a summary page appeared.

DELLEN COURERAN. HUMAN. BORN IN CORONET, ON CORELLIA, 6\15\73.

Not wanting to waste time, Luke quickly scanned through the early parts of the Jedi Master's history.

ASSISTANT TO MADAME JOCASTA NU AT JEDI ARCHIVES, 10\9\43. GRANTED RANK OF JEDI MASTER BY JEDI COUNCIL, 7\34\38. ONE OF SIX JEDI MASTERS ATTACHED TO OUTBOUND FLIGHT PROJECT 9\4\32 AT REQUEST OF MASTER JORUS C'BAOTH. NO RECORDS EXIST AFTER PROJECT DEPARTURE FROM YAGA MINOR, 4\1\31.

He skimmed through the rest of the record, looking for any images of the Jedi, but there were none.

"Is there a problem?" Dellen asked.

Luke released the mute switch. "No," he replied. "My apologies."

Admiral Kre'fey stepped back into view of the holocam. "I have cleared your approach with Coruscant Traffic Control. We will meet you at Docking Platform 587-Besh-93." He looked at the two figures for a long moment. "Welcome home."

. . .

As it turned out, Docking Platform 587's orbit over Coruscant was more suited for drydock use than as a mere docking platform. The platform itself was massive, easily outdoing even some of the heavier classes of Star Destroyer in terms of sheer volume.

Having said that, it would have been insane to put the docking platform up against even the Dreadnaught that was now connecting to it. The orbiting platform's defenses consisted entirely of point defense laser turrets. Its maneuvering thrusters were only sufficient to allow it to hold its geosynchronous position over the planet, and its shields (while strong) would never hold up to any semblance of concentrated fire.

Such thoughts were the last thing on Luke Skywalker's mind. Right now, a ship right out of spacer's legends was docking at port Besh-93. A ship from the legendary Outbound Flight. According to everything he knew, it shouldn't exist in this condition and yet all of his senses were telling him that it did.

As he watched, the skeptical parts of his mind warring with the optimistic parts, the port's airlock began to cycle, and the door irised open barely a minute later. A man with sandy blond hair, wearing well-kept robes similar in design to the one Obi-Wan had worn so many years before, and a woman in distinctly Old Republic military uniform stepped through the airlock as soon as it had finished opening. They were followed by a small group of humans and some humanoid aliens that Luke had never seen before.

He squinted at the man again. Outbound Flight had been missing for some sixty years, yet the man in front of him, the Jedi he realized by the lightsaber hanging at his belt, looked younger than himself. The woman standing next to him looked even younger.

"Dellen Coureran," the man began, outstretching an arm in greeting.

Luke took the outstretched arm and shook it. "Luke Skywalker." A moment later, he realized that Dellen was examining him in the same way he'd studied Dellen a moment earlier.

"You do look like Anakin," Dellen concluded a moment later. "Where is he? I would like to speak with him, and Master Kenobi, if possible."

Luke shook his head slowly. "I'm afraid that won't be possible," he replied. "My father and Master Kenobi both became one with the Force about thirty years ago."

"Then what about the Jedi Council?"

Again Luke shook his head. "The Jedi Council has not existed since... I was born, as near as we can tell. I trained under Master Kenobi and Master Yoda for several years before they passed on."

Dellen looked around the docking platform in surprise. "It seems that we've missed quite a bit," he finally remarked. "I suppose you can bring me up to speed?"

Luke shrugged. "I can give you an overview," he replied, "but if you want to read through everything, we'll have to go take a look at the Senate Library."

"Perhaps later," Dellen said. "Master Skywalker, this is Commander Tel Kenor," then he turned around to gesture at the closely bunched group of humans and aliens in strange, tight-fitting uniforms, "and this is the diplomatic team from the United Federation of Planets."

"Pleased to meet you," Luke replied, shaking a number of hands. "This is my wife Mara Jade-Skywalker, my nephew Anakin Solo, and this is Admiral Traest Kre'fey."

A shocked look passed over Dellen's face. "Your wife? Nephew?" His eyes went back and forth between the Jedi before stopping on Mara, or more particularly, the bulge in her abdomen. "And... ah... I suppose congratulations are in order."

"Thank you," Mara replied.

Luke scratched his head momentarily. "I never did get the chance to ask you when we were on the holo," he began, "but what did you mean about my father breaking the Code?"

Dellen gave Luke an even more incredulous stare. "You are familiar with the Jedi Code, I hope?"

When Luke nodded, Dellen continued.

"Could you recite it for me?"

Luke took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began.

"Emotion, yet peace.

"Ignorance, yet knowledge.

"Passion, yet serenity.

"Chaos, yet harmony.

"Death, yet the Force."

There was silence for several moments after Luke finished, as Dellen appeared to attempt to come to grips with himself. "That's the old version, not the Code of Master Odan-Urr," he finally said. "Why do you use that version?"

Luke shrugged. "Tionne-our historian-and I spent months going through the Jedi Archives. We chose this because it was most consistent with what I had learned from Master Yoda and Master Kenobi."

"Master Yoda was always strict about using Master Odan-Urr's version," Dellen replied. "He would always warn the Padawans of the consequences of allowing themselves to become overwhelmed by emotions."

A cough next to them caused both Jedi to turn and look at a slightly annoyed Bothan.

"While this has been a fascinating discussion of Jedi philosophy," Kre'fey said bluntly, "we have more business to attend to. I believe your guests have requested the audience of the Senate?"

Dellen nodded and turned to Luke. "I would like to continue this afterward, if you don't mind."

"Of course."

Then the Jedi turned to the Federation diplomats. At the front of the group stood a balding, middle-aged man and a tall, graying near-human with pointed ears. The bald man was dressed in a red, almost skin-tight uniform while the near-human wore charcoal robes. "Allow me to introduce the Federation's representatives, Ambassador Spock and Captain Jean-Luc Picard."

Luke and Kre'fey shook hands with the two, and then Kre'fey focused on Picard. "You are a military man, I presume?"

Picard nodded. "USS Enterprise, Federation Starfleet."

"I see." Kre'fey's ears twitched in thought. "Why did you not bring your ship here?"

"Our warp drive is much slower than Outbound Flight's hyperdrive. It would have taken us many years to cover the same distance."

Kre'fey nodded. "Understandable. Now, please follow me. There is a shuttle waiting for us. I already made arrangements with the Senate External Relations Committee to see you."

"We appreciate your hospitality," Spock replied.

.

---

.

Dellen noted with wry amusement that the application process for a member government had not changed much between the Republic and the New Republic. The senators in the External Relations committee had rushed them through which forms they would need to fill out, set up appointments with the various New Republic agencies they would need to file said forms with, and generally pushed them out the door as quickly as possible.

That was in stark contrast to the three hour wait in the anteroom of the committee chambers. Another sign that the finest traditions of Republican bureaucracy were still alive and well was the fact that the next available Senate membership hearing was a week away.

"So," Dellen said to Luke, "continuing our conversation from earlier, if you don't use the Jedi Temple any more, where do you train the Jedi?"

"We have a Praxeum located on Yavin IV, in the old Massassi Great Temple."

Dellen frowned. "Yavin IV? The last time the Jedi were there was to destroy Exar Kun."

"Well, if that was their goal then they did a pretty poor job of it," Luke said with the barest hint of amusement. "Exar Kun nearly killed me when I first set up the Praxeum."

"I always had wondered about that," Dellen remarked. "It seems the Jedi of that era assumed that a simple orbital bombardment would be enough to stop a Sith Lord."

"Evidently not. From what one of my students told me, Kun transferred his essence into the Great Temple itself. The building withstood their bombardment, and when I brought my first Jedi trainees there, he began twisting their minds to the dark side."

"Impressive, for a Sith," Dellen remarked. "How did you manage to destroy him, anyway?"

"I had some help from the trainees and my niece and nephew," Luke explained.

"Ah." There was a long pause while Dellen contemplated what he had been told. "Now, about the Jedi Council. How do you govern if there is no Council?"

"Up until about five years ago, there were too few Jedi Knights to warrant a Council," Luke replied. "We've discussed setting it up, but frankly I have no idea where to begin. Or how I can get some of the Jedi to accept its authority."

"That is perhaps the most worrying issue I see," Dellen replied. "Your Jedi have been trained with, from what I can tell, a lack of respect for central authorities. Now," he held his hand up, "I am not necessarily saying that is a bad thing. From what I've learned so far browsing through the archives, blind obedience was the downfall of the Order-of my Order."

"It has been quite a sticking point with the Senate," Luke said. "They feel that as long as I lead the Jedi, if anything were to happen the entire Order could fall into chaos. I'm afraid they might be right."

"Well," Dellen mused, "it seems there are now seven Jedi Masters."

"Eight," Luke corrected. "Master Ikrit has been working with our youngest trainees at the Academy for the last five years."

"Which means that you only need to appoint four more Jedi Masters to have enough seats to form the Council," Dellen finished.

Luke's expression narrowed. "If only I could do that without being accused of playing favorites."

Dellen considered the statement. "I suppose, since we have eight Jedi Masters, that we could convene and select the remaining four as a group." He shook his head. "It's funny. I spent most of my time in the Temple working in the Archives, but never would I have imagined that Master C'baoth's little mission would wind up being the largest surviving group of Jedi Masters in the Order."

"Speaking of C'baoth," Luke paused thoughtfully to scratch his chin, "how do you feel about his administration of Outbound Flight?"

"Successful, I suppose," Dellen replied after a moment. "Considering that we were very nearly destroyed before we had even left the galaxy, I think we can all count ourselves lucky to be alive. Why do you ask?"

"Let's just say I had a run-in with an insane dark Jedi who believed he was Jorus C'baoth," Luke surmised. "about twenty-five years ago."

Dellen frowned. "But he wasn't C'baoth."

"Yes. And no." Luke said. "He was C'baoth's clone."

He nodded, seeing where Luke's train of thought was retaking him. "And you are concerned about the stability of the real C'baoth."

"Yes."

The Jedi licked his lips as he considered the implied question. "Master C'baoth has never been the most... shall we say, conventional Jedi in the Order."

"His biographical entries in the Senate database implied as much," Luke agreed. "I suppose that was one reason why Palpatine wanted to get rid of him. Any Jedi who was not blindly obedient to the Order's way of thinking..."

"Would be a severe threat to his push for power," Dellen finished. "That is food for thought. But it seems that we're fortunate in that the Sith appear to be truly finished with the death of both master and apprentice."

"That hasn't stopped anyone from trying to take their place," Luke said carefully, "including Palpatine himself."

"Sounds like quite an interesting story," Dellen said. "You mentioned the Senate library earlier. I don't suppose you could show me where that is so I can catch up?"