ARCA Barracks

547 days ABG

General Zey recalled both Jusik and Tur-Mukan; whilst Maze did not always agree with the General's methods or orders, this one he did, it was long overdue.

He watched as the two Jedi walked in together.

Jusik spent too much time with Skirata and where the hell Tur-Mukan had been for months was anyone's guess but it wasn't Qiilura and rumour was Skirata had acquired a Grandson.

Darman?

He'd heard the rumours. Seen their looks. The last time both her and Darman were on Coruscant together was …..he dismissed it. The numbers just didn't add up.

Perhaps the child was Skirata's grandson but it didn't say much about the sense of whichever of his children's it was, to leave it with him.

Not his business, he reminded himself.

He watched the two Jedi closely, remembering their original demeanour and body language. They were different now.

He checked the admin droid, sending it to the room next to the General's. He went to check on the Advisors. He noticed Jab heading towards him and took a quick left down a different corridor. He didn't need him at this time.

The Advisor's were as busy as ever; Delta were still on Dorumaa. He headed to the meeting room next to the General's office and switched on the holofeed.

He had a bad feeling about this.

The General called it a 'refocusing conversation'. Maze called it Jedi business and would normally keep out of it. But he couldn't ignore this and didn't want to review it after the fact. He wanted to be up to speed. He switched on the holofeed.

A defiant Jusik sat arms folded across his chest. He had tidied himself up, trimmed his beard and his hair was braided.

About time, thought Maze.

"I'm delighted that you could both make it," Zey said, sarcastically. "Given your very busy schedules." He looked at Etain. "The Gurlanins thanked me for your excellent work in evacuating Qiilura, General Tur-Mukan, and.. your help in the reconstruction process."

"I did what I could, sir."

"Intelligence reports that some of the displaced farmers have already joined the Separatist resistance." Zey watched her.

"It was never going to be a popular decision, and yes, I incurred more non-GAR casualties than I would have liked."

A flicker of distaste crossed Zey's face.

Yeah, that went down well, thought Maze, just as sarcastically.

"Commander Levet deserves a more experienced general."

She isn't wrong.

"I don't know where you've been for the past weeks." Zey addressed Jusik.

Ah! The crux of the matter.

"but I doubt it was all spent on Dorumaa, no matter how loyal Delta are in covering for you."

Silence.

"I want you both to listen carefully. We are very thinly stretched, and if I had Jedi to spare, I would have pulled you both out of active service by now. I don't doubt your good intentions, but you're coming off the rails, both of you."

Zey paused.

"Now, I understand your comradeship with Skirata. He's an excellent soldier, but you are Jedi, and we're fast reaching the point where I can cut you no more slack. Get back on the chart. Start following a few procedures. Skirata is not your role model. He's a Mandalorian."

"Yes sir." Tur Mukan replied.

A little too eagerly thought Maze. But Jusik?

"I'm being a Jedi, sir. It's something you live in every interaction you have with each living thing, not a philosophy you discuss in abstract terms. And I'm not sure that the kind of Jedi the Council wants us to be is good enough."

"Well, you wouldn't be the first Jedi Knight or Padawan to be rebellious. It's normal. I did it at your age."

"Then why aren't you doing it now, sir?"

"And what would I rebel against? The war?"

"It's a good place to start."

That comment worried Maze. He leaned forward.

"Jusik, I'm not blind to the concessions we have to make but I have to answer to the Council and to the Senate, so don't have the luxury of waging little crusades on the margins."

"Our role is not to keep a government in power. It's to help, to heal, to bring peace, to defend the vulnerable-and when those are just slogans we throw around, and not how we treat individuals, it's worse than meaningless."

Jusik sounded evangelical.

"So..." Jusiik continued with a pause. "So I'm requesting a transfer, sir. I want to resign my commission and serve as a combat medic."

"Combat medic?" Maze muttered, "Where the hell did that come from?"

Zey was shocked, then his expression softened.

"I'm not sure there's a mechanism for that, Jusik,"

"Okay."

Maze watched as Jusik looked down into his lap.

"I've given a lot of thought to the consequences of not leading my men in the field, and whether I'm making their situation worse by doing this, but I can't live with it any longer. We sanction the use of a slave army. It's against every single principle of our belief, and it's a stain on us, and we will pay the price of our hypocrisy one day. This philosophy is wrong. Therefore I have to leave the Jedi Order."

I didn't expect that.

"Then may the Force be with you, Bardan Jusik. And I regret losing you. What will you do now?"

Maze recognised the look of relief on Jusik's face.

"We always think the choices open to a Force-user are light side or dark side, Jedi or Sith, but I believe there are an infinite number of choices beyond those, and I'm going to make one."

He stood up, bowing his head politely. "May I keep my lightsaber, sir?"

"You built it. You keep it."

"Thank you,

Maze heard the doors hiss open and shut, then Jusik was no longer in view.

Zey let out a long breath. "I regret that, I really do. Very well, General. Dismissed."

Once Tur-Mukan left, Zey was alone; Maze was concerned to see him lower his head into his hands.

He had never fully understood the relationship between Padawan and Master; he didn't think it was like father and child but it must have been closer than just comrades. He wasn't sure. He supposed it could depend on the people concerned. He could ask Essie what she thought. No he couldn't.

Bloody idiot! He berated himself and turned off the recording and heading towards the General's office.

.

"I think that's all Maze. No meetings tonight the Senate is in Session. So your time is your own."

At one time Zey would have felt the anticipation of free time from his aide but recently it was a feeling of loss and doing more of the same, training, checking the advisors. Occasionally he sensed anticipation of a fight but nothing else. He closed himself off much of the time, as if he was trying not to feel anything.

Zey contemplated saying that they were debating the Clone issue but to his mind there was no issue. Jusik was right. They should have the same rights and freedoms as anyone else.

.

University Library Plaza

580 days ABG

Essie dropped Del off at the nursery and walked towards the Library. The work was as it had always been but with no distractions. No Maze and no Johl, he had finally received his promotion and headed off to another library.

She missed them both.

Swallowing hard, she tried to think of what she was supposed to be doing today, thoughts of Maze always distracted her. Sometimes she thought she felt him near her but put it down to wishful thinking.

Could she have done anything different?

Perhaps she should never have pursued the relationship, stayed friends but…

All that was too late.

Taking down the Chancellor's display and boxing up the items to be returned was the main order of business today. She was glad they were finally going; the exhibition had lasted much longer than initially planned. Several of the artefacts disturbed her and the display area felt permanently cold, even with the sun streaming through the transparisteel dome and the Temperate weather outside, which usually made it hot.

The noise from a crowd met her before she turned the corner into the Plaza and saw a lot of people walking around with placards; she stopped to read them.

"Clones Rights Now."

"Skeenah is right. Senate act now."

"Shame on you Shreeve."

Someone spotted her watching and ran over pushing a sheet of flimzi in her hand; folding it over, she didn't even glance at it before pushing it in her pocket. She knew why they were demonstrating here —The Chancellors exhibition— not that the Library had any choice in the matter. Banners were still flying from the building advertising it with a large image of his face. This was the last place still hosting the exhibition. She walked up to the entrance but it was blocked with bodies; she pushed her way through, muttering "Excuse me." She had a good reason for supporting this; just because Maze had gone, the feelings hadn't. The clones deserved to be free, to have choices.

The pain on the back of the head was unexpected and knocked her to her knees; she hadn't sensed the attack beforehand, was preoccupied and now felt nauseous and dizzy. Reaching back, she winced as she touched the injury, her hair was wet; she looked at her bloodied hand, confused. She tried to stand but was pushed over again.

A gloved hand grabbed her bicep and lifted her up. "Ms Devro?" A clone voice said.

"Yeah." She managed, "Maze?" She slurred, confused.

"Stone. Come on let's get you inside."

He shouldered his way through the crowd.

"Hound! Get this cleared. It's getting out of hand." Then he practically dragged her into the Library and to the break out area, pushing her down into a seat.

"Ms Devro?"

"I'm sorry I'm going to…"

A waste bin was pushed under her face, just in time for her to deposit the recently eaten breakfast. Fingers were probing the back of her head and she felt something spray on it and the pain subsided, in fact she couldn't feel much there.

"Ms Devro?" She looked up. A Coruscant Guard was looking at her and one stood to the side. He held up a finger. "Follow my finger with your eyes."

She did as instructed, as he moved it slowly from one side to the other.

"Do you still feel nauseous?"

"A little.."

"Can you remember what happened?"

"I was trying to get through the crowd, to work. I work here. Something hit me."

"Good." He turned to the other clone, "She seems fine but should rest."

"Thanks Stitch. Get back to Hound and the boys they'll probably need you."

"Yes sir." There was a clatter of boots on the floor, which sounded just like Maze.

"Sorry about that, Ms Devro."

"Essie. The name's Essie. Please use it."

"Er..Yes. Essie. As I was saying. Sorry I didn't get to you in time. We'd had Intel that there was going to be trouble."

"Trouble? I though Skeenah's group was one of the better ones."

"They are. And their demonstrations are usually peaceful. It doesn't look good demonstrating on behalf of clones then fighting them. The Senator thinks someone is trying to discredit his group."

"Ah! I see what you mean. Did the Intel come from Skeenah?"

"Yes. He's addressing the Senate tonight and this happened just in time."

"Sounds like someone is out to get him. Could it be the CIS?"

"We don't know yet."

"SBI will be looking into it."

Essie tried to stand but swayed, as the room spun.

"Hey. Take it steady. Stitch says you've got to rest."

"I can't really. I have to pack these up." She waved, at the chancellor's artefacts still on display. "They're valuable, part of the chancellor's personal collection.

Stone looked along the display.

"I'm off shift in an hour. I can do my report from here and I have a couple of shinies who owe me. They could pack. Would that help?"

"That would be great because I'm not sure I could even pick one up without dropping it now."

"And you wouldn't want to drop any of the Chancellor's favourite pieces would you?" There was an element of jest in his voice.

"Oh no, definitely not." She reluctantly smiled.

His head moved slightly to one side and she thought he was talking to someone.

"They'll be here soon."

"Thank you."

.

Commander Stone was adamant that she did nothing, not even make caf. Apparently Stitch's word was law, when it came to injuries and the Commander abided by it. So she directed them, advised them, even taught them about the objects. They were different to Maze, very different.

Eventually they reached the final Artefact, dusted it, packed it and locked the case. The Chancellor's couriers were due in thirty minutes, according to the message she received. She was lucky it hadn't been busy but the demonstration had obviously put people off coming in.

.

Commander Stone was about to dismiss his 'Shinies'.

"Just a minute." She rummaged in her bag and found the complimentary cards in her bag for the Tualin Oola. "If you're ever down that way drop in. Tell them Essie gave them to you. Free caf and cake."

They looked at the Commander who nodded.

"Thank you ma'am."

"It's the least I can do."

They scuttled out, seemingly afraid the cards would be taken away from them

"So how are you getting home?"

"I need to pick up my son, then I use the EasyRide train."

"Oh no. Can't trust you on that. I'll get a speeder."

She watched him leave, thankful she didn't have to negotiate the EasyRide system.

.

Essie sat nursing a headache still but catching up with the live broadcast from the Galactic Senate; Den Skeenah was speaking:

"We have laws on how we treat sentient species. We have laws on how we treat animals and semi-sentients. We even have laws protecting plants. But we have absolutely no laws whatsoever governing the welfare of clone troops—human beings. They have no legal status, no rights, no freedoms, and no representation. Every one of you here who accepted this army without murmur should hang your head in shame. If that's the depths we as a Republic can sink to in the name of democracy, it hardly surprises me that the CIS wants to break away. The end can never justify means like this."

She found herself agreeing with every element of his speech, which was unusual for her; she could usually pick holes in them, whoever was speaking. After listening to him, she contemplated an action, one she had never taken before but had been in her mind for months.

She pulled the flimzi sheet from her pocket and read it. It was the next meeting.

"I could go, just find out more about him and his group." she said to herself. It was something to do other than go through the motions of her life.

.

The meeting room wasn't ostentatious, just one of the normal meeting rooms in the University. She wasn't sure what she expected. There were a few people sitting around, looked to be mostly students but all different species not just humans. A Rodian spotted her and approached.

"Not seen you here before?"

"No I'm new. First time."

"I'm Kaal."

"Essie." She shook his hand, always unsure about the suckers; they just felt normal. She was surprised at the variety of species, thinking it may only be humans but she supposed slavery affected every race in the galaxy.

She realised how little Nat and Sol had actually spoken about their times as slaves. It was always about how they met and escaped. She didn't blame them.

"There's drinks over there and we start in five minutes. Den's been able to get here tonight, give us some feedback on his speech."

"Yes. I watched. It looked as if it went well."

"You can never tell." He replied. "Too much goes on behind the scenes."

Too right. She thought, as she headed towards the refreshments as Kaal went to greet another new potential member.

After getting herself a Caf, she sat herself down on the front row and picked up a leaflet

.

Essie was surprised when the meeting finished, as the Senator grabbed a Caf and some cake then wandered around all the different groups that had sprung up, each discussing a separate aspect. Even between his supporters there was dissension. She sat and sipped her Caf, it was still hot. Sitting quietly she watched the various groups, mainly students but a few older people dotted around. She felt she could include herself in the latter group, no longerfeeling like a student.

She eventually reached the bottom of the mug and drained it, then turned around looking for somewhere to deposit it. She spotted what she thought was the refreshment area, which appeared to be a kitchen and headed towards it, intending to deposit her cup and leave. Del would be getting cranky. Since Maze had gone he had become very clingy and she indulged him.

It was only a small room so she had to queue to deposit her mug near the dishwasher. She leaned over, deposited it then turned quickly, not realising the person behind her had a full mug. Her shoulder hit his hand and Caf spilled all down his shirt. It made a rather large dark patch on the pristine blue material.

"Oh…. " she nearly swore, until she saw who it was, "I am so sorry Senator. Please forgive me, let me get something to wipe it." She reached for some cleaning cloths, and frantically tried to remove the worst.

"It's okay. It's fine I have another." He backed out of the kitchen area, away from her. She couldn't blame him. A tall man appeared next to him, with a new top in his hand..

"I'll take it and pay for it to be cleaned." She offered but they had already left the room.

Well. That's buggered that up. She thought.

But she sat and waited. She had said she would get the shirt cleaned and she would. She could wait a little longer.

She waited as people left, nodding to her, until the room was empty and the cleaning droid started to clean up around her. Finally she stood up ready to go.

"Oh! Are you still here?" It was the Senator's Aide or friend, or whatever. "We thought everyone had gone."

"I said I would get the Senator's shirt cleaned and I will."

"It's already been sent away."

"Let me know how much and I'll pay here's my name and number. Or you can find me at the University Library, the name's Devro."

"I know that name." The Senator had finally emerged in a new top. "But you can't be one of the people I heard of. I thought they were both killed a number of years ago."

"My name's Essie; I'm the Librarian at the University Library, specialising in Political and Military History."

The Senator stood thinking for a short time before he continued. "Any relation to Kai and Lia Devro."

"My parents. Why?"

He smiled, looking so different, so much younger than when he spoke so eloquently in the Senate.

"I was inspired by their work out of Alderaan. It was such a loss when they died. So you're their daughter. Political history eh?" He smiled again.

"Huh, huh. I'm the chief Librarian."

"If it hadn't been for them I would never have gone into politics. Don't worry about the shirt, something always happens at one of these events, eh Rik." He spoke to the man standing behind him.

"It's good to meet you. Will you be joining us? It will be useful to have someone with your background and, if I may say so, a little older than the ones I normally attract."

"We'll….since you ask so nicely. Yes. You'll probably see me at the next meeting, hopefully."

"That's all I ask."

.

Nat's Gym

Essie had enjoyed the last training session, it had gone well and a couple of the more subdued participants had actually stayed to train. Sol had gone to pick up Del; he had gone to a friends for dinner and some holo's, even though they were so young. He is growing so fast now. That same boy was coming to hers next week.

She pushed up with her feet. Her training tonight was not intensive and she would do some stretching next. Still these weights needed some push behind them.

She slowly let them return and turned her head, seeing a Corrie Guard talking to Nat, who pointed at her. The clone pulled off his helmet, revealing the numbers tattooed on his face.

"I was around this way and just thought I'd check how you were."

He didn't sound like Maze and his eyes had flecks in them. She pulled herself back, realising she was comparing him to Maze.

"After the demonstration." He added.

"Oh! Commander Stone. Thank you. Yes I am fine but I didn't know you came around these parts?"

"After the stabbing a few months ago, we implemented more patrols around here. In light of what you do with the ladies. I understand the class is finished?" He looked around the gym, then back at her.

Essie felt herself getting a little warm and it wasn't from the exercise.

"Yes. It's finished, we do two a week. Some of the ladies are also starting to train with us but they prefer ladies only nights, apart from the ones that are feeling more confident. Like Suu, over there."

She pointed to a chubby red haired human training with some free weights.

"She's really getting the hang of it."

"Hmm! I can see. I'll bear the times in mind, Essie. It is okay if I call you that isn't it?"

"Of course. I told you to."

"Going to finish my rounds. Be seeing you!" Commander Stone gave her a lazy two fingered salute before jamming his helmet back on and striding out of the door.

"Was that Commander Stone?" Asked a familiar voice, which made Essie jump.

"Jab I wish you wouldn't do that. It's …"

"Clever?" He interrupted.

"No irritating and yes it's Commander Stone."

"Ooh! You think I'm irritating, you should meet the Nulls."

Essie wasn't really listening to him but was watching the Commander as he left. But then thought why would she want to meet something that was Null and void. Sometimes she didn't understand Jab, as much as she liked him.

.

A/N - Maze would like to know everything that happens in the Barracks as far as he can. Reviews are always welcome.