Chapter 74
Discussion
"I just can't believe that a Jedi would secretly get married." Ahsoka shook her head. "I mean... I know Jedi sometimes have relationships. I know they have feelings. Master Obi-Wan and Duchess Satine didn't do a very good job of hiding their feelings for each other. But they never..."
"The rule against marriage for Jedi has been fairly constant throughout our history," Master It'kla said. "But there have always been rare exceptions. Attachments and passion are dangerous to a Jedi. They can lead to the dark side. And yet love and protection are of the light. It is a dangerous line to walk sometimes."
Ahsoka looked back and forth at the two older Jedi. "You don't think that... I mean, Anakin and..."
As she trailed off, Master Yoda interjected, "Know of his feelings for the Senator, I did. Hide them from me, even Anakin Skywalker could not. Know of their involvement, I did not. Until too late it was to do anything."
"So... on the news it said that Padme was pregnant." She couldn't bring herself to finish the logical conclusion to the statement.
Yoda nodded. "Yes. The father, Anakin was. And to both of their downfall, I fear, their relationship led them. A powerful force, love is. But at peace, a Jedi must be. Of the light side love is. But of the dark side passion can be. A fine line many Jedi walk. And fall, even the best of us do."
Silence settled around them, broken only by a faint snoring sound coming from the unconscious Human on the far side of the room.
"I guess you really never do stop learning new things," Ahsoka finally said. "It's hard to believe... Skyguy. A father. He would have been pretty good at it, I think. He did a pretty good job teaching me."
Yoda pursed his lips. "Hmm... so little patience he had. Changing diapers, I fear, may have been too much for him."
In spite of everything, Ahsoka found herself laughing a little bit. "I guess there are some advantages to having the Force. Telekinesis to change the diapers... so you don't have to touch it."
"The ability to diminish or block one's senses, so one doesn't have to smell it either," Master It'kla added.
"Useful skills, those are," Yoda said.
Admiral Tarkin stood between the two burly Imperial Guards in the narrow turbolift. He suspected that whoever designed it purposely made it so that anyone traveling up to the Emperor's throne room would feel claustrophobic, and somewhat dwarfed by the broad shoulders of the two men wearing armor on either side of them.
Tarkin did not stand particularly broad or tall. In fact, he was a rather slight figure of a man. But he wore his uniform, crisply pressed, over his gangly frame quite well. He had not always been a military man. His success in military service had led him into politics. As a younger man, he rose up to the rank of Lieutenant-Governor of the Seswenna sector. But the war broke out, and he felt that it was his duty to stand against the schism that threatened to tear the civilized galaxy apart.
Over the course of the last several years his uniform had become a part of him.
The turbolift came to the end of its journey, and the doors opened. The guards escorted him into the Emperor's throne room. Several servants scurried out of the room, and Tarkin couldn't help but notice that the Emperor used no droid servants. The rumors about him being Force sensitive had reached Tarkin's ears. A man in his position who could read the thoughts and intent of living creatures might very well choose to use few or no droid servants, if only for safety reasons.
Then again, the man who led the Republic in a war against the robotic army of the Separatist movement might choose to avoid using robotic servants out of respect for the lives lost.
The guards led him up to the throne itself, and he kneeled down in front of it.
"Rise, Admiral," came the creaking voice of the Emperor.
Admiral Tarkin stood up and lifted his gaze up to the throne. A lesser man might have flinched at the sight of the Emperor's pasty, scarred visage. Tarkin did not.
"Do you know why I have called you here, Admiral?"
"I have several ideas, my lord, but I would not presume on your intentions."
The drooping flesh around the Emperor's mouth moved upwards in what Tarkin thought might have been a smile. "Intelligent, observant, and always to the point. This is what drew you to my attention during the Clone Wars. But the reason you are here is due to a certain... proposal you presented to the Grand Admirals."
"Ah, the Core Worlds political analysis. I suspected it would not be well received."
"By the short-sighted men in the Admiralty board, no. By those of us who have farther-reaching vision... I found it to be quite insightful. And, more importantly, entirely correct."
"I am glad to be of service, my lord."
"Your analysis was nothing new to me. What surprised me was your preparation, and my own Admiralty board's inability to see what you made obvious in your proposal."
"I suspected that they would not see the issue as clearly as I. The steps I have taken are relatively simple. Bothan spies can be bought and sold relatively easily, and the planet has several Bothan settlements on it. With a single order, and only a few thousand credits in payment, I can have them take down the planetary shield generators from within."
The Emperor lifted up a datapad from the arm of his throne and read from it. "It is clear that in order to prove essential to the people of the Empire, the Empire requires a certain amount of friction and loss. Should this world continue to be a center of arbitration, it will undoubtedly lead to large swaths of the population becoming less dependency on the Empire. In addition, the current climate is ripe for the blame for any unexpected military actions to be laid at the feet of Separatist holdout groups."
Tarkin nodded. "Those are my words, my lord. I stand by them."
"And you have already secured the means to destroy the planet." The Emperor's mouth widened into what could almost be described as a leering grin. "Good... good. You will take a small strike force there. Execute Base Delta Zero. Ensure that it looks like an attack by dissidents. Any and all official log entries on this mission will be sent by courier directly back to me. They will not be entered into the official record. Then you will spearhead the official Imperial relief efforts after the attack."
"As you wish, my lord," Tarkin replied, bowing his head.
Ahsoka, Ylenic, and Yoda spent the rest of the night trading stories. Eventually Ahsoka remembered to run to the Whipclaw and retrieve the ancient holocron she'd found. She returned to the mud hut with it and presented it to Yoda.
"A group of archaeology students found this in the ancient Jedi enclave on Dantooine," she told him. "It belonged to a Twi'lek Jedi named Zhar Lestin."
"Familiar, the name is. Survived the Mandalorian wars, but was killed during the Sith conflicts after." Yoda held out his hand and the holocron hovered above his palm. "Questions I may have for an ancient Jedi Master. But for now, wait they can."
He set it aside, and the conversation turned back to funny stories of old friends. While Master It'kla was retelling the tale of a hapless Rodian Jedi who accidentally opened up a door to a room that was infested with telexis slime weevils, and got one stuck in his ear, Ahsoka realized why tonight felt so different.
She wasn't just being treated like a Jedi Knight. She was being treated as an adult, as an equal, as a peer. For the first time, two Jedi Masters were acting as friends and companions, rather than teachers.
A part of this made her sad, wishing that she could share this moment with other old friends, like Skywalker, Kenobi, and Plo Koon.
They had all seemed to huge to her when she had first met them. Plo Koon had been the strange man in the brown robe who first showed her what the Force was, and that she could touch it. He had to kneel down to even offer her his hand, because she was barely tall enough to come up to his knee. When she had met Kenobi and Skywalker, they were legends. Heroes. They were both at least a head taller than she was, and their reputations were even larger still.
Over the years she'd spent at the temple, she had grown up. She was nearly eighteen years old now, the galactic standard for adulthood for most bipedal races. She had seen other Jedi make mistakes, and learn from them. She had made plenty of her own. The older Jedi, the teachers, were there to ensure that she learned from her mistakes and her successes.
Now she was truly a Jedi Knight. She might not have Anakin or Yoda's raw power, but in the end, that didn't matter. The galaxy was recovering from one of the largest wars it had see in centuries. There would always be places where someone with the Force, and a some wisdom, could help make it better.
Author's note: Sorry I was a little late updating today. I had the chapter written last week, but today's my birthday, so I kinda lost track of time and just noticed that it was Wednesday, and I should really update. :)