Ascension: REVISED: Chapter 3
When the Jade Shadow finally landed in the hangar bay of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Luke told Jaina to stay aboard and look after Vestara. Then he told Ben to come with him.
The Skywalkers were met with applause from many Jedi in the hangar, and all of the Masters, including Kam and Tionne Solusar, and several Knights and apprentices were present. Not all of them were applauding their return, as several of them were aware that at the moment, there was a Sith apprentice currently aboard the Jade Shadow. The applause from the Jedi who were celebrating Luke and Ben's return to Coruscant gradually died down when they saw the look of apprehension on the Skywalkers' faces.
The scene in the hangar bay now quiet, all of the Jedi could sense the feeling of unease between father and son. Previously, just before they stepped down the landing ramp, Luke told Ben that as soon as they were off the ship, Luke would handle his own responsibilities with the Jedi while Ben would retire to his quarters in the Temple. Ben wordlessly obeyed this previous command and stalked off to accomplish that simple duty. Several Jedi, including Masters Kyp Durron, Corran Horn, and Saba Sebatyne, looked away from Luke to watch his son walk away before they returned their attention to the Grand Master of the Jedi Order.
"My fellow Jedi," Luke loudly announced in a calm yet authoritative voice throughout the hangar bay, "as you can all see, I have finally returned home. And as was my duty to fulfill in my exile, I have come to discover the cause of my late nephew Jacen Solo's fall to the dark side of the Force. Throughout the course of his five year journey following the Yuuzhan Vong War, the edicts he had been taught from Force sects other than ours were merely the paving road to what was his inevitable downfall to the dark side. That road, for those of you unaware, had begun during that aforementioned war, when Jacen was brainwashed by the invaders and an enigmatic Force-user who had been among the Vong, whose name was Vergere. While it is ambiguous as to whether or not Vergere was really a Sith Lord in disguise or not, it is clear that her teachings were what warped Jacen's mind enough to start his path to his unfortunate destiny of becoming Darth Caedus.
"And now on to my first official act as the reinstated Grand Master of this Order. Master Saba Sebatyne, please step forward."
Saba stepped from the lineup of Masters alongside her, and walked up to several meters from Luke before she knelt and bowed her head in obeisance. Luke closed the gap between them, and he motioned for her to look upon him and stand up to face him.
"Master Sebatyne," Luke began, "you are hereby relieved of your duty as acting Grand Master of the Jedi Order. For your actions in leading the Jedi to eventually overthrow the now-deposed Chief of State Daala, I thank you. And as for your actions in having to kill Master Kenth Hamner in order for the actions of the Order to proceed, I reprieve you." Saba's eyes shot up in surprise at this.
"Though Master Hamner was a well-intentioned and good-hearted man and Jedi," Luke continued, "his ideals were sadly misplaced for the likes of Chief of State Daala. In having to end his life so that our goals could go on, I would normally assign to you some form of punishment. But now more than ever, the Jedi are needed for the good of the galaxy." Luke nodded for Saba to return to her place with the other Masters.
Luke then looked out over the general assembly of Jedi around him. "Now more than ever, we face a grave crisis the likes that haven't been seen since the days of Darth Caedus's reign of the Galactic Alliance. The government already has its hands full enough as it is, what with new governments being run by ex-slaves petitioning to join the GA, and other matters are distracting them too much to face off against the greater dangers that threaten this galaxy. As all of you know, we are officially part of the Galactic Alliance, and unfortunately, that hinders us if we are to defeat Abeloth and the Sith; with the Galactic Alliance in such dire restraints themselves at this point in time, we cannot be limited from what needs to be done."
Luke inhaled, ready for the reaction from his fellow Jedi after he gave out this announcement. "That is why we are to move off of Coruscant, and therefore out of the Galactic Alliance, in order to counter Abeloth and the Sith."
Many of the other Jedi in the room reacted in shock, as expected.
"Silence." Luke said it loudly, but without losing his calm or cool; he had Force-projected his voice, just as he had many times before. And just like those other times, all of the other Jedi shut up when he spoke.
"Now," Luke continued, "if we are to move off of Coruscant as soon as possible in order to confront Abeloth and her minions, we must move quickly. We must take all documents, hand-written and otherwise, out of the Temple's libraries and computer mainframes, prepare our StealthXs for launch..." Luke listed off several other things that all of the Jedi in the hangar had to do. He gave the special instruction to Saba to call for an emergency meeting with her fellow Chiefs of State–Wynn Dorvan and Haydnat Treen–and tell them what the Jedi are doing. He then singled out Jedi Knight Natua Wan to take him to the Temple's library so that he can maybe help her in her research of Sith-associated planets, which could help the Order track down Abeloth and her Sith allies. Natua agreed to this, even though she didn't really have a choice.
After all this, Luke announced, "You all know what you have to do. So do it."
With that said, everyone in the hangar dissipated from their groups and went about to accomplish the tasks needed for them to leave Coruscant as soon as possible. Natua Wan then directed Luke to the Temple's library, and there, as the Jedi around them went about bustling for their duties, he asked her, once they got to a terminal, "So what new leads have you found, Natua?"
As Natua began typing the keys on the keyboard, she explained, "Well, just last night, Master Skywalker, when it seemed that I had run out of leads, I simply pulled up a random search, and I found this." Natua finished typing at this point, and a holographic photograph, accompanied by informative text at the side, had displayed a dark and barren planet. "This is Upekzar. Since we're pressed for time, I'll just give you the necessary information as to why I think Abeloth and the Sith would come here. This planet is the home of a type of ritual that the ancient Sith once used to train their students by exponentially increasing their abilities in the dark side by having them confront these creatures that give out hallucinogenic pheromones. These hallucinations give out avid nightmares that would severely traumatize those Sith students who were weak, and those who were strong would gain further strength from these experiences."
"Then we'll start our search for Abeloth and her cohorts there," Luke stated. "You get ready to leave. I'll go get my son."
Natua nodded to the Grand Master, and then they split up to accomplish their respective tasks.
~o~
The door to Ben's quarters in the Jedi Temple opened up, and he looked up, sitting on the edge of his bed, to find his father standing at the doorway, just as he did a few minutes after he hurt Vestara.
"We better get going, Ben," Luke said simply. "The Jedi are getting ready to leave Coruscant." The Grand Master turned away to leave, and Ben wordlessly followed.
Not a word was spoken between either Skywalker, nor did they talk to any of the other passing Jedi among them, even once they reached the Temple's hangar bay, where reporters and other media paparazzi had entered and surrounded various sections of the Temple. They were interviewing Jedi who were uninterested in being interviewed, and Luke had no reason to feel any different as reports began surrounding him and his son.
But Luke knew neither he nor Ben were going to make another meter to the Jade Shadow unless he himself offered a word as to why the Jedi were moving off of Coruscant and out of the Galactic Alliance. It was a wonder why Master Sebatyne didn't offer some information to the media, but then, she probably did, and just as the media would be, they wanted more coverage and edges to explore or exploit–depending what your viewpoint on such a matter was. So Luke explained that the Jedi were doing this so that they could be an independent entity from the Galactic Alliance; he didn't mention Abeloth, her cohorts, or any of the Sith he suspected were already on Coruscant as it was, for he didn't want any more attention from the Jedi's enemies as it were.
After Luke gave his comments, he and Ben continued on to the Jade Shadow, though the reporters kept surrounding and following them, offering more questions that neither Skywalker would answer. But fortunately, the reports were courteous enough to stop a few meters away from the Shadow's boarding ramp as Luke and Ben climbed aboard.
Luke sealed the ship off from the media, who still threw out questions, and Ben began to return to his quarters aboard the ship before his father said, "No. You come with me; help me prepare the Shadow."
Ben nodded, and followed his father into the cockpit. There, he helped him ready the Shadow's controls while, outside in the hangar bay, other Jedi were already boarding their StealthXs and getting ready to launch. The media reporters still tried fielding questions to what few Jedi were left trying to get to their starfighters, but they failed to get any more information than what Luke already told them.
Once all of the other Jedi reported readiness, they announced it over the Shadow's comm, and Luke acknowledged each and every one of them, with Saba Sebatyne coming in last just after she was done her session with Wynn Dorvan and Haydnat Treen. The only announcement Luke made as the hangar bay's ceiling opened up was, "Let's roll."
With that, every ship in the hangar bay of the Jedi Temple launched, with all of the media reporters having been smart enough to have moved safely out of the way for the ships to depart, and those reporters watched in awe as the Jedi ships left without celebration.