Chapter 7
"…and with a new breed of Sith on the loose, it is the responsibility of the Jedi to seek them out and thwart any attempts to destabilize what precious little the galaxy has gained in the last few years."
Jacen Solo had spent the last half hour briefing the Jedi Council and virtually all the Jedi Masters in the Order on why he believed the Sith were re-emerging. Luke had decided such information was too significant to not include as many of the thirty Jedi Masters as possible in the discussion. Only those who were deep under cover or on diplomatic missions were not present.
"Thank you, Jedi Solo," Kyp Durron's voice came from the right of Jacen. The Council members sat at the large C-shaped wooden table, while the other Jedi Masters stood along the walls. Jacen stood alone inside the curve of the table, directly in front of Master Skywalker. "You will now leave so we may discuss this issue."
"I would like to take part in the discussion," Jacen said.
"Jacen, you were invited to this meeting for your presentation," Luke explained, cutting Kyp off. "Knights are not permitted to join in on discussions uninvited."
"Then invite me," Jacen suggested.
Many shocked looks were traded around the room. Only Mara ordered Luke around, and never in public.
"This is not a discussion we feel any Jedi Knight is privy to," Kyp said. "Leave this chamber now."
"Well, if you won't invite me as a Knight," Jacen said slowly, "Promote me."
This argument sent ripples of conversation through the room. Kyp leapt out of his seat and was shouting something, but Jacen merely stared at him without flinching as his voice was drowned out by the other Jedi arguing in the room. Jacen could feel his sister's eyes burning into him, so he sent a reassuring pulse through their twin bond. This needs to be done.
Be careful, Jaina warned.
Kam Sulster stepped forward to speak and the voices silenced. Kyp sat down, but continued to look as though he had feasted on a live mynock. "Jacen, while everyone here respects your abilities and your history with the Jedi Order, you have been out of touch with us for five years now. We can not set a precedent for any Jedi to leave a Knight for a few years and reappear as a Master. It just wouldn't be proper for us to do something like that."
Jacen considered Kam's argument with a nod. "And I suppose you'd also be wondering what my abilities are now since I haven't been around for long."
"Yes, exactly," Kam continued. "How do we know you haven't become less adept at using the Force, rather than better?"
Jacen nodded again, and chose his argument carefully. Yoda had warned him that information about his contact with the ascended Jedi should be kept from the other Jedi unless absolutely necessary. Especially from Luke. "What if I promoted myself?"
"You can't do that!" Kyp jumped out of his chair again in outrage, knocking it back so it hit a pair of Jedi behind him. "No Knight can simply claim Mastery! The Cou…"
"Master Skywalker did," Jacen cut Kyp off. "And who better than myself to judge my own skills?"
Before anyone could throw another word at Jacen, Luke stood up.
"Come with me. Nobody is to leave this room until I return."
-! #$%^&*()
Luke led Jacen out into the gardens around the Academy, but did not speak until they reached an area deserted of other Jedi surrounded by a waist high hedge.
"Explain yourself," Luke did not appear angry, but rarely did he speak so abruptly. Jacen could sense waves of anger well hidden beneath his uncle's calm exterior.
"I should be part of that meeting," Jacen said. "You know it, I know it, and they know it. You're all hiding behind some silly rules to keep me out so everyone can criticise me, look the other way to ignore a very real threat, and go back to being good little Jedi sitting your collective butts on your Republic-sponsored throne in a time of peace. Nobody wants another war, least of all myself, so they're trying to ignore the possibility of one by discrediting me. Doesn't this all sound a bit familiar? I seem recall the New Republic doing exactly that to us at the start of the Vong war."
"Jacen, look how it appears from where we're sitting," Luke argued. "You came out of nowhere after five years of gallivanting around the galaxy and start ordering Jedi Masters around. Not just one, the entire assembly! I'm surprised no lightsabers were lit."
"And that alone indicates a problem!" Jacen exclaimed, pointing back towards the Academy. "You have so-called-Masters who can barely control themselves running an organization of very powerful beings entrusted with the protection of the galaxy itself! They're as egotistical, stubborn, and short sighted as any of the former New Republic senators who nearly lost us the last war before it even begun. You think I'm the problem? I'm trying to protect lives - trying to get their job done - and they won't even give me the chance to speak without you telling them to let me? They're too busy going on with their own lives to notice we have a responsibility to the galaxy!"
Luke opened his mouth to speak but Jacen cut him off, switching tactics.
"Even if I'm wrong, as remote a possibility as that is. Even if I am wrong, would it hurt to be cautious? To look around? Ask some questions? If we spend a week looking for a threat to the innocent lives of this galaxy, the worst that anyone can say is that we're over budget on fuel for this quarter. At the end of the week, the Jedi Order will be doing their responsibility by pursuing the safety of the people of the galaxy.
"And if I am right," Jacen stepped closer to Luke staring the Jedi Master directly in the eyes with a fire burning in his own. "We will be far better prepared to address the threat of the Sith than if we sat around waiting for them to strike first. Which, might I add, is exactly how they damn near got us the last time.
"It's not like this is a real council anyway; it's just you pulling your puppets' strings. Go back to them and tell them what to do like always," Jacen said scornfully, spreading his hands palm out. "I'll wait here and let you pretend to ask them what to do with this 'lesser being.' "
Jacen turned away and sat down cross-legged on the ground. He closed his eyes and slipped into the slow steady breathing pattern of a Jedi meditation trance. Luke could sense there was no point to continuing and started on his way out of the garden. What stopped Luke from retaliating was not Jacen's resolve or meditation trance, but the truth behind his criticism - the truth that was making his vision a reality.
-! #$%^&*()
Han parked the stolen hoversled where he found it and crept back along the side of the palace to where he stashed the repulsorlift. The lack of increased patrols around the dilapidated castle seemed to indicate nobody noticed his absence or the disappearance of the hoversled. He strapped the repulsorlift to his back and activated it, rising to the exact height he was hovering at before, just below the windowsill. He saw the two guards, his own and Leia's, outside the door.
Great, Han thought to himself. He pulled out a comlink and clicked it twice. A few moments later Threepio charged out of the room at his top speed and waddled down the hall. Leia burst out of the room after him.
"After him!" Leia told the guards. "Don't just stand there."
The two guards sprinted after the runaway droid, and Han quickly opened the window and hoisted himself through. He slipped into the room and disconnected the backpack, stashing it back in his duffel and grabbed his nightclothes. He hurriedly put the shirt on over his other clothes and got into the bed, pulling the cover up to his neck. Cakhmaim pointed at the glass of blue milk and Han drank half of it in one gulp, almost choking in the process. A moment later the guards came in dragging a deactivated Threepio.
"What's with all the noise?" Han croaked groggily. "Can't a guy get a night's sleep around here?"
"Sorry M-Master Solo," One guard mumbled, trying to back out of the room. "Won't happen again."
With the door finally closed, Tresina deactivated the lights and went into a meditation trance to muffle sounds in the room in the guards' minds. Han quickly told Leia what happened as he properly dressed himself for bed. When he finished his version of the night and was back in bed, Leia relayed events to him.
"After you left there was a bit of an argument between Prime Minister Othrul and one of the other guests. He stormed out and the rest of us were quietly escorted away. Tresina and I decided to do some hunting and we used Threepio's new slicing protocols to break into the central communications mainframe. Guess what we found."
"Vong holovids?"
"A series of communications between Los Othrul and a couple planets what was formerly Hutt space," Leia ignored his reply. "The records and logs themselves were deleted, but the secondary log files were still there."
"Someone's trying to cover their tracks," Han stated the obvious. "And not doing a very good job about it."
"My thoughts exactly," Leia confirmed. "Whoever was doing this obviously didn't expect us to go poking around. But why Hutt Space? The last we heard, the Mandalorians moved in to fill the power vacuum."
"You think the Mandos are moving against the GA?"
"If they are, they're not following their usual routine." Leia sighed. "Normally they just muscle themselves in. I've never heard of a Mandalorian that was into the political subterfuge business."
"Sounds more like Palpatine or the Bothans to me," Han commented.
"Yeah, right," Leia said sarcastically. "Another Sith on the loose is about as likely as a Hutt giving to charity."
-! #$%^&*()
Luke returned to Jacen four hours later. For the first hour the Jedi Masters discussed what Jacen had presented, and Luke found himself using many of Jacen's own arguments to calm his own fears. After the second hour, which mostly consisted of Jedi shouting at each other over various topics from Jacen's status of a Jedi to the possibility of the Sith existing, ended with Luke forcing a vote on the subject. After several passionate speeches from many viewpoints, some more relevant than others, the vote ended the third hour with a tie. Luke broke the tie, deciding it prudent to do as Jacen had suggested – the proof of Jacen's words were not lost on Luke, but the Force told Luke they had decided correctly. A meeting was called for after evening meal to discuss ways to seek out the Sith, a meeting to which Jacen would be invited on Luke's insistence. Luke's fourth hour of absence was spent meditating about the fundamentals of his Order, and reflecting on how knowledgeable his nephew had become – and how dangerous that knowledge could be. He also considered the implications of Jacen's words on his vision, but found he hardly understood any more of it than he did on the night he had it.
After he finally felt comfortable in facing his nephew again, Luke wandered through the gardens in a vague path towards where he left Jacen. He spotted Jacen sitting in the same spot he had been left and stopped just inside the entrance to the clearing. He knew Jacen could sense him and made no effort to hide the fact. He waited until Jacen stood up and walked over. A seemingly satisfied look was on his face.
"I'll be at the meeting," Jacen said. "Thank you, for giving me the chance, Master. I am sorry about my words, but I think you will agree that some of them needed to be said."
Luke nodded thoughtfully for a moment as Jacen started walking away, then used the Force to tap his nephew on the shoulder. Jacen turned back and looked at Luke.
"You can't come in here and make statements like you did today, regardless how right you think you are. I won't stand for it again. Neither will the others. If you have issues with how the Order operates, come to me in private."
"Master," Jacen looked at the ground for a moment, and then back at his uncle. All signs of satisfaction were gone, and Luke was surprised to see how sad he looked, as if on the verge of tears. "I shouldn't have to."
-! #$%^&*()
Jaina wandered lost in her thoughts along the reddish flagstone paths that meandered through the squat buildings that made up the classroom area of the Jedi enclave. She ran the events of the past couple hours through her head trying to make sense of what happened. Jacen's outright defiance of the Council troubled her and made her wonder just how much of her brother had changed over the years of his absence.
Probably about as much that changed in you. A nagging voice in her head rang out, causing her to laugh at herself.
A series of low growls and grunts came from nearby causing her to turn and see her old friend Lowbacca talking to her aunt beside the entrance to one of the classroom modules. Seeing Jaina, Mara quickly excused herself and set off, citing the need to fill out some paperwork.
"Hi Lowie," Jaina said. "It was quite an interesting first meeting."
Lowie chuffed out a laugh. [Jacen certainly livened things up.]
"Yeah," Jaina agreed. "Who knew he'd make a comeback quite like that?"
[He always has had his own way of doing things and seeing things nobody else did.] Lowie pointed out. [I just hope he is right.]
"You want the Sith to return?" Jaina asked incredulously.
[Never!] Lowie barked. [But I do not want to see a good friend's name tarnished for doing what he believes is right. The Council would blacklist him, and none would ever oppose the Council again. We need to be challenged, or we will become ineffective. That is not what the Jedi should stand for. We are becoming too political, too much like the Republic.]
"Well, at least he has a friend in the Council," Jaina smiled up at the towering Wookiee.
[Jacen has many friends,] Lowie grumbled. [Most are just unwilling to commit the Jedi to another war, or to stand against Master Durron. Kyp's support among the more militant-minded Jedi has only increased since the end of the war.]
"What do you think?" Jaina asked after a minute. "You were there with him in that Sith camp. Could he be right?"
Lowie gave her a funny look, as if he was trying to figure out how she knew that piece of information.
[I think,] Lowie moaned carefully. [I should have found the courage Jacen has, five years ago.]
Lowie turned his back to Jaina and walked away, leaving her to some thoroughly troubling thoughts.
-! #$%^&*()
From the Private Journal of Jedi Master Jacen Solo
=With comments by B. Wrarm, Jedi Librarian=
=Approximately 35 years after the Battle of Yavin, Two days after Master Solo returned to the Jedi Order=
=Sarcastic tone= Well, they're certainly not happy with me!
=Bewildered tone= What the =several explicit terms omitted for viewership= happened to the Jedi Order? I can't believe it. I don't want to believe it! They're…they're acting like children! The Masters are sheep to the Council; nobody listens to each other; they…they're closed minded and…and…almost xenophobic! They're more concerned about their own wellbeing than the lives they should be protecting in the GA! The Order was never meant to be like this! How did Uncle Luke let things get this bad? He…I could never win an argument against him before and today I made him look like an idiot. I feel horrible! I didn't want to do that, but it just happened! Uncle Luke must hate me right now.
=A loud moan=
At least the worst of it happened in private.
=A moment of silence=
I did not come back here to do what I did today, but I didn't have any other choice. One thing led to another, and all of a sudden I was telling Uncle Luke how badly he botched up. I've even noticed it in Jaina – she's so complacent with the Jedi Council. It's like they can do no wrong to her and she just follows along because they're supposed to always be right. But it doesn't even look like they don't even know what is right – they're just clinging to power. When did Uncle Luke ever dismiss the view of one of his Knights? And the way Kyp flipped out when I suggested promoting me? Wow. At least they still listen to Uncle Luke, so there is hope for them. I know he's strong enough to reform the Order, but he just seems unmotivated to do it.
Thankfully a few of the masters who can help him out seem to be using their brains, namely Kam. Oh, and Aunt Mara seems to have her wits about her – but that doesn't surprise me. She's always been more of a survivor than anyone I've ever known. What I am surprised about is that she let Uncle Luke get so soft and that she hasn't been getting involved in anything. I get the sense she has other concerns though, namely Ben.
Ben. =Small laugh= Cute kid. And way more powerful in the Force than he realizes. He'll make a great Jedi one day.
=Groan.=
What am I going to do now? We're suppose to be fighting the Sith, not each other!
=End=