Chapter Five: Decisions, Decisions
"Wh-what?" Qui-Gon sputtered out, looking between Master Yoda and Jane.
But his question went unanswered as stunned silence hung in the air.
"Obi-Wan, Jane," Bant said quickly. "How about I take you down to the cafeteria while the adults talk?"
Not giving either a chance to respond, Bant ushered the tiny girl and stunned older apprentice out of the room while Qui-Gon continued to attempt to meet the eyes of the Council members, who were all either staring out the window or at their hands in their laps.
Now the silence was just awkward. Qui-Gon was trying to decide which type he liked better.
"Qui-Gon," Ki-Adi Mundi started. "We know this is sudden, but you are the girl's guardian, and you must train her."
"I will respect Knight Mago's wish," Qui-Gon said. "As soon as the girl is of age, I will train her."
"No. You are to start her training immediately." Jorus C'boath said.
Qui-Gon stared at the Jedi Master in shock.
"But she is a youngling," He said, stunned.
"She is young, yes, but she is very talented," C'boath informed him. "Upon testing her, we have discovered that she has a very high IQ and that many of her skills are advanced. She has an accelerated vocabulary, a high reading level, excels in math and science, and in history—a subject she has only been studying for merely a few weeks—she can recall the date of any battle or event. She is also advanced in many Force and saber techniques that no child her age has done before. If her formal apprenticeship training begins now, she can easily become a Knight in ten years or so."
"A thirteen year old Knight?" Qui-Gon questioned.
"Yes, but then her training will continue on. She will train with different weapons, master the different fighting forms, and study with the best tacticians and military geniuses in the galaxy. She could do whatever she wants." C'boath explained with a maniac gleam in his eye.
As long as whatever she does is approved by a committee, Qui-Gon mentally finished, struggling not to grimace. He was appalled at what C'boath was alluding to:
That the Council was planning on grooming a talented but innocent three year old girl into a super-solider Jedi.
Qui-Gon had known that there were several members of the Jedi Order—led by C'boath—who believed that the Jedi should be the rulers of the galaxy, as they were "supreme" beings because they had the Force. He was afraid that they were going to use Jane to get the power they thought they deserved.
I need to find a way to figure out how serious they are about this, Qui-Gon thought hastily.
"What about Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon asked. "While he is indeed nearing the end of his apprenticeship, he still needs a few more years of tutelage and I would like to be the one who sees him off to Knighthood."
Qui-Gon had the brief satisfaction of seeing all of the "Live by the Code or die" members of the Council have dark looks on their faces as Yaddle said, "Two Padawans, you are to have, though against the Code it is."
All it took was one sentence spoken without proper grammar to confirm Qui-Gon's fears.
Qui-Gon found himself in a conundrum. On one hand, he felt he would doom the child if he said that he would take her on. But on the other hand he felt he would doom her if he declined, and she was sent off to another Master, one who would blindly follow the Council's orders.
But… if I take her on, I can at least protect her…
"I will take Jane as my apprentice." Qui-Gon said after a brief moment of thought.
"Then we have no more to discuss," C'boath said, a satisfied smirk on his face.
And, with that, the Council members filed out of the room, except for the three Qui-Gon wanted to talk to.
"You want to turn the girl into a weapon." Qui-Gon stated, not accusingly.
"They do, Qui-Gon," Mace said softly. "Unfortunately, it was put to a vote. Master Yoda, Master Gallia and myself were the only votes against. We were outnumbered."
"Is she even my goddaughter?" Qui-Gon asked.
"She is," Adi said. "If you wish, you may see the documentation Jane brought us."
"I just don't understand," Qui-Gon said. "Why did Jocelyn want me to be Jane's master? Jocelyn and I were not close, and only spoke to each other in passing. So why did she leave her child into my care?"
"Jocelyn wants Jane to receive instruction in Corellian tradition as well as standard Temple training. She must have had a reason to believe you would give Jane the freedoms to do so," Mace paused. "Or disobey orders at the least."
Qui-Gon nodded. He remembered hearing about Jocelyn being denied by the Council to go to Corellia, and they had forbidden Adi from going there as well, guaranteeing that Jocelyn would receive no Corellian instruction, as many—if not nearly all—of the Jedi at the Temple avoided Corellia at all costs. The Corellian Jedi in turn made it a point to not drift too far from their own system. Qui-Gon was one of the few who believed that the Temple Jedi and the Corellian Jedi should unite and work together, sharing traditions, beliefs and training styles.
There were very few who would agree with him. Qui-Gon even doubted that Obi-Wan—his apprentice of many years who many days nearly worshipped the ground Qui-Gon walked on—would agree with him on the matter of the Corellian Jedi lifestyle.
But Qui-Gon knew it was prejudices and each believing their Code was superior to the other's—a belief drilled in by the elders to the young ones—that kept the two groups from uniting. And it was all on the matter of one thing: attachments.
The Temple Jedi believed that in order to become close to the Force, you couldn't love or be loved. Sadly, many took advantage of that; one-night stands were frequent and often, and many times throughout history was a female at the Temple pregnant, or a young man was brought a child whom he sired. The children of these unfortunate souls were then handed over to the Crèche and their parents shipped off on mission after mission. The parents and children were to have no interaction whatsoever.
However, the Corellians encouraged marriage and families and the importance of having someone you love in your life, a support system. Also, the Corellians believed that separating Force-sensitive children from their parents was destructive to both parties, a belief that the Temple Jedi had inadvertently proven to be true. As a result, parents, intermediate family or close family friends guided a child down the path of the Jedi.
Jocelyn had been an orphan, with no family to take care of and train her. After having met five-year-old Jocelyn after stopping on Corellia en route to Coruscant after a mission, Adi had become fond of the girl and offered to train her, which Jocelyn had accepted readily, surprising the Corellian elders. The head elder, however, saw that if Jocelyn went to the Temple, it could be the start of a stronger relationship with the Temple dwellers.
However, the Council did not agree.
Qui-Gon vividly remembered Master Yoda hitting members of the pro tempore Council on the head with his gimer stick at learning that they had forbidden both Jocelyn and Adi from returning to Corellia, demanding what else they had declared while he had been on his three-month pilgrimage to Dagobah. However, Yoda could not lift the declaration.
"Powerful, Jane is," Yoda said softly, jolting Qui-Gon back to the present. "Dangerous ally or dangerous enemy, she could become. Unless trained properly, she is."
"Qui-Gon, I know that look," Adi said suspiciously as she gazed at Qui-Gon, who was smirking slightly. "And I either love or hate the result that comes from it. What are you planning?"
"To train Jane, as I have been instructed, but to drag out her training," Qui-Gon stated, trying—and failing—to stop smirking. "Yes, Jane is smart, but she is also young. Her body is too young to have control over certain aspects of the Force. Or, at least, that is what I shall tell the rest of the Council when they ask. I won't discourage her to go further in her training, but it must be by her choice. This will also give her a chance to see if she wants to specialize in healing, or piloting or whatever she wants."
"Frequent missions might also help your plan," Mace suggested.
"Like this plan, I do," Yoda said approvingly.
"Then it's settled," Adi said, grinning broadly.
They all walked away feeling better about the situation that they first had.