Thread : Mace Windu headaches, chapter one : Kenobi by way of Solo
The Force was definitely laughing at him because Obi-Wan Kenobi was doing battle meditation. Then Mace remembered his Jedi brethren were recently the butt of a longstanding joke about drawing hasty conclusions and modified this statement: Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi was probably able of battle meditation. On the other side of the room, Yan Dooku looked like he had struck gold when taking over Padawan Kenobi education. The logic of which having been that, as Padawan Kenobi was dreadful at lightsaber fight, he should be assigned to a fencing expert to catch up in this area. Battle meditation. No one had perfected battle meditation since the last Sith war. Granted, Padawan Kenobi wasn't doing a perfect battle meditation but he was, as indicated, a padawan. Mace had no doubt that by the time he was a master he would be able to. By the look on Dooku face, when he was a knight of a few years, because the master would be honing this talent to perfection. The major role Kenobi was called to play, did it have a link with this ability? With the war coming, it could well be.
It took an uncomfortable amount of time for Mace to understand Solo had not given them a gift with his padawan, but a constant source of headache. Retroactively, Mace should have known that, because Solo had been trying to poach another master for his padawan for the whole year before his death. Either he had known his end was near, or had felt he couldn't handle the stress anymore. Mace did not need another source of stress: he had enough being councilor and finishing preparing his own padawan for her trials. Lately, Yoda even mused about naming him master of Order. The sole reason Mace was even remotely considering accepting was because he knew exactly what the rest of the Council would think of Solo as a source, which is to say they would dismiss him and blind themselves to the threat of the Sith.
Mace could preemptively understand their dismissal as Solo had been quite an heretic, but the effectiveness of his teaching sometimes made Mace ask himself if it wasn't the Coruscanti who had the wrong side in this. The way Padawan Kenobi explained shielding technic was both revolutionary and embarrassingly documented in different technics no one ever thought to put together then put in writing. He made a friend with the Shadows on this one and an enemy of the adepts of the new code in the same breath, because his desert metaphor was heavily inspired by the ancient code of yet. Mace did not see fit to intervene, at least until he found Obi-Wan arguing about the possibility of coming back to the Light Side from the Dark Side. "A purely theorical exercise of the mind based on comments made by Master Solo, Master Windu". Which was when Mace found himself confronted for the first time to the "relatively speaking" school of manipulation by Han Solo. The padawan was less talented than his master, but not far behind. Mace left him to Master Nu so she would set him right. He learnt a week later they had started drafting a thesis of heresy following some comments made by the padawan about how his master had explained some elements of Ach-To Temple.
Getting the Council to admit Obi-Wan was really doing battle meditation afterward was harder than it should have been, as the new code most fierce adepts feared acknowledging an heretic had rediscovered such a technic would weaken the new code. At the end, they had no choice but to validate what most of the Temple already knew lest they appear dogmatic. Now, if Padawan Kenobi would cease asking improper questions and starting alarming debates, Mace would have more chance to pretend he wasn't an heretic. And if Master Nu would stop unearthing proofs from Ach-To and the depths of her Archive which Mace had to review before either telling the new code adepts that yes it was proved, or Jocasta that she needed more proof, he would be glad. Happily, Depa became a Knight without a hitch.
Enthusiasts wanting to learn battle meditation constituted most of the young knights and part of the senior ones. The masters were more reserved but just as curious. Half of the Council came for the first lesson, either to watch what sort of teacher Kenobi was or to ascertain he didn't try to spread his heresy. Three minutes in, the padawan had very politely told a quarter of the Council to sod off in such a way half of the room hadn't understood when one of the new code more zealous adepts asked reparation. Then Kenobi indicated he wasn't going to speak about the Force in his lesson and the new code adepts appeared ridiculous. Mace was sure the padawan was relatively speaking completely innocent of anything, and just as sure the new code adepts would remember the insult and the Order believe them a bit irrational. Well, it seems Dooku would have his plate full explaining his padawan how to play politics inside the Order, because that wasn't Mace job. Not on this instance.
Six months in, it remained only ten of the enthusiasts, because battle mediation training involved a vicious remote and training until fainting. Only Soresu masters did this sort of things habitually, but with the war to come extra endurance would benefit everybody. Naturally, putting measures in place meant explaining them to the rest of the Council, preferably without saying the words "Sith" or "Han Solo" which had the remarkable ability to shut off half of the Council in denegation of everything associated with those words. So Mace was reduced to create a battle plan in the aim of convincing his own Order of things they should have very well known if they weren't so removed from reality. Mace had not realized the situation was that dire before Padawan Kenobi started making waves. Young Kenobi had spent four years learning away from the Temple and had not been the only one in such case – even if most had been masters and as such protected from the brunt of the critic. Divergence of opinion were expected and could be discussed about without near ostracization of one of their own, Mace felt. One of their main missions was to mediate, damnit!
So Mace had Kenobi and Jocasta stage a glaring difference of opinion, in the wake of which he sent a vocally critic master and his very heretic padawan on a string of long missions. Then, Master Sifo-Dyas explained their plight with the phantom ally of the leading expert of foresight amongst the Green Jedi. The content of conversations circulating amongst the Council were very much real on the other hand. As none of them had ever met Han Solo, there was no chance they recognized him through his writing. At this occasion, he took a page of Solo book along with Sifo-Dyas, discussing the validity of this source and establishing the leading expert of foresight amongst Corellian Jedi as a trustworthy one. The rest of the Council was felled by the same fallacy most did when confronted to Han Solo. A joyous "Know him I think I do" by Master Yoda settled the first show of common sense when it was explained that the expert name could not be revealed because Corellia Temple – not the Jedi, the Temple which made no sense until diving into the issue – was under witness protection. After that, the Council was most tragically lost, to Mace despair as he would have to teach all of them to fact-check.
The second wave came while all the minds of the Council had admitted something was clouding the Force. Mace pulled aside a few non-zealous Jedi to make change in lesson plans, Jocasta assigned home-work on Sith and Force-shielding technics, and padawans naturally asked their masters help, leading to discussions amongst the masters. Soon lone Jedi were drawn into conversations and the topic was brought amongst the Council. Sifo-Dyas evidently rejected the idea when one of the new code adepts broached it, then Master Yoda hummed worriedly and refused to comment. Master Yoda slight assent was the permission most of the Council was waiting to discuss the subject instead of rejecting it out of hand. Mace established a falsely impartial position by siding with the non-Sith believers but acknowledging strife was coming hence the need to rework curriculum. Master Sifo-Dyas had already took the role of foresight expert, revealing visions whenever necessary – all of which had been ascertained by Solo. The scope of Solo sight was properly awing. Somedays, Mace wondered if Solo had not dabbled in the Dark Side enough to not be affected by the veil. Those days coincided with the times Padawan Kenobi proffered knowledge of the Dark Side most Shadows had barely heard about. It still struck Mace as suspicious that Padawan Kenobi inheritance from his first master included a Sith holochron, which those in the know had long believed to contain the curse of life technic Solo had mentioned twice in his tales.
Master Yoda was a mostly silent support whose only role in the plot was to save the day when the Council started grasping threads. Despite Mace efforts, they did not need Master Yoda help often enough for his peace of mind. By third Council session after the reveal of the Sith, they pilfered a Sith-believer Councilor and induced him into their conspiracy. Well, Master Yoda did, having saddled Mace with the position of master of Order and as such gained free time. Having settled the progressive uncovering of the situation in the Council, Mace turned his attention toward the rest of the Order. Padawan Kenobi had started giving session of battle meditation and could not be asked to do more while a padawan. His little clique of young padawans was slightly worrying in term of doctrine, but questioning was something the Temple was sorely lacking so Mace let them be, hoping it would spread to their masters. Master Yoda opening advanced Ataru tutelage had set the Temple abuzz with worry, which did wonder to awareness and thinking habits. Master Yoda reputation also meant the whole Coruscanti Temple was aware something was happening, and Mace did not doubt it would spread to the other Temples in time. The Jedi connected with the prophets reinforced this awareness by confirming rumors by their own tenseness. Sifo-Dyas really did wonders here, for all he did not manage a glimpse behind the veil.
Jocasta slight favoring certain sections of the Archive to the visitors pursued the same objective, for all she disapproved Mace tactics. As Master Yoda had gone along and felt it was needed, Mace didn't care much about her doubts, and privately approved the mandatory course about deciphering propaganda she gave to older Initiates. Most Jedi would probably benefit from them based on Mace observations. Depa found her first padawan helping one of these lessons. His old padawan and her circle of acquaintances had decided to add themselves to Mace strategy without his input, and steadily contributed to most of the Order awareness and serious training of padawans as they started to be of age for their first students. A smattering of sensible Jedi had come to the same conclusion on their own and added to the number.
The last main agent of the plot was Yan Dooku. Putting Yan in charge of subtly changing the Jedi Order viewpoint would have been a disaster. Yan had a documented tendency of convincing hardened enemies it was in their best interest to make common cause, but those that weren't hooked by his speeches and manipulation became irreconcilable contradictors. And Yan had made many of those in the Order. Mace wasn't going to bet his strategy on Yan getting lucky rather than unlucky. On the other hand, Yan was one of the most politically inclined Coruscanti Jedi and knew his way forward and backward in the Senate. Someone needed to ascertain their main backer opinions on the Jedi and Yan was already mostly Coruscant bound due to his padawan lessons about battle meditation.
Around three years after Han Solo passing, Mace felt he had a system able to stir the Jedi from their passivity, despite not yet being able to reform them. That was another problem and one Mace could not deal on himself. Then, after three years of near bliss – discounting Padawan Kenobi continual heresy, the uproar at the publishing of his thesis, Jocasta growing interest in Sith-like cultures, Sifo-Dyas continued blindness and increasing anguish which started tipping into paranoia, Yan worrying reports about the Senate, the bloody politicians using Jedi as their attack dogs which necessitated a revamping of mission information checking hence a transformation of the Corps, the antics of the generation of propaganda-informed padawans, the growth of the "relatively speaking" school, Ach-To impact on Coruscanti Temple – scratch that, those years were not bliss. After three years of growing headache, Solo legacy reared its ugly head in form of Anakin Skywalker.
At first, Mace had thought it was a Qui-Gon Jinn headache. Mace had a rather poor opinion of Qui-Gon Jinn, built on a succession of events and happenstance over thirty years. Master Jinn had once taken a sabbatical from Coruscanti Temple to study the way of the Wills and came back a bit changed, to say the least. Prone to follow the whims of the Force, if one cared to elaborate, which was always a good thing for a Jedi. Most of the Temple had decried his initiative, but despite the lengthy paperwork – and all that wasn't put on paperwork which, considering what was already included in the mission reports, Mace did not want to know – Mace was not offended. A Jedi followed the Will of the Force. The business with Jinn padawans was another affair entirely. Master Jinn had once formed a talented young Jedi by the name of Feemor, whose former Master had died before finishing his padawanship. Knight Feemor had acquitted adequately in his trials and missions afterwards. Less than a year after, Master Jinn had selected a second padawan, Xanathos. The Council had had its reservation on the Initiate, but some of similar background, such as Yan, had grown into efficient and respected Jedi. Sadly, Master Jinn proved unable to curb his padawan less desirable tendencies, and Xanathos had turned on his master and his Order.
Such failure sometimes happened, asked some rectification – namely a termination of the Dark Sider and some therapy and deep thinking for the master – but were quietly accepted by the Order, like most indiscretions. Master Jinn reaction had not been adequate. Not only Xanathos lived for the next six years causing misery in the galaxy and cutting short two knights and a padawan lives before being put down, but he systematically burned bridge with his support network. Knight Feemor reaction further proved a deficiency of Master Jinn teaching, as after being denounced by his former master and struck down from Jinn legacy, the formerly calm Jedi was twice reprimanded for reckless behavior before a therapy order was issued. Six months later and an uncovered unhealthy attachment, Knight Feemor returned to active duty, quickly enrolled in the Shadows, and was actually the one to finally deal with Xanathos. It was however the last straw on Knight Feemor sanity and, feeling himself slip toward the Dark Side, he took the coward way out rather than seek therapy a second time. Mace had been quietly angry when learning Qui-Gon Jinn had not come to Knight Feemor funeral pyre after having thoroughly ruined his once student. Unhealthy attachment also explained why Master Jinn had not cut short his traitorous padawan when he had the occasion. Master Dooku had also been sent reeling after a disgraceful and rather one-sided shouting match with his former padawan, but his own network had somewhat cushioned the shock. Mace did not know if this rejection had had any lingering consequences on Yan, because the Makashi master quickly switched his attention to another of his padawans who had recently lost his first padawan during a mission. Similarly to Knight Feemor, Knight Aveross did not deal very well with Padawan Pim death, never taking another padawan after his first, and enrolling in undercover missions.
Then came the problem of Initiate Kenobi, whom the Force clearly wanted taught and also clearly wanted him taught by Qui-Gon Jinn. By then, some years had passed since Xanathos fell and the Council believed Master Jinn ready to take another padawan. Knight Feemor was not yet dead and carefully hiding the sliding pent he was on. The Council could not order point-blank a Jedi to take a padawan lest the padawan suffer the repercussions of this action, but they heavily pressured Master Jinn into considering young Kenobi, in vain. As such, the Council was already quite irritated when news came Obi-Wan Kenobi had vanished from Bandomeer, and properly miffed when the investigation clarified the circumstances of his disappearance. An official reprimand was issued, with an incentive to therapy who was once again ignored. The first round of therapy had not been very efficient, but Master Jinn proved a blatant unwillingness to deal with his baggage. Following the news of Feemor death, a Councilor disliking Jinn tendencies broached the subject and the Council in near-unanimity accepted to not entrust another padawan to Qui-Gon Jinn. At the time, the news did not seem to ruffle Master Jinn, which was why Mace was strongly offended by his current gall, pulling a too-old Force-sensitive from his home world and family, having already promised him he would become a Jedi, and only asking as an afterthought the Council to acknowledge he was taking the boy as his padawan. To top it all, the would-be padawan belonged to the same species and had the same age than Xanathos when Jinn selected him as his padawan. Which implied further drama coming from this corner.
Mace was so occupied gearing himself up for the scolding he would give Master Jinn in private that the following event blindsided him. Sifo-Dyas, rather than focusing on Jinn, had instead taken note of the lad name, surmised a link with Han Solo then, while Mace was busy scolding Jinn, accompanied young Skywalker out after his testing, asked some questions about his background and settled on a plan on his own. "They were ready to hear about the Sith, Mace" Sifo-Dyas told him later "for four years we danced around the subject, barely daring to tell the name, all aware of what we were speaking nevertheless. It could have become a ghost story if it had lasted longer. Han Solo is not the best source to tell them, but for them it is a supplementary source which should have been unable to know what he told Yan. Now, we have the same information purported by three different unrelated sources, one of whom had near no contacts with the others. We also have a testimony acknowledging the current existence of a Sith, rather than in a nebulous future. But I admit, I did not expect Yan to twist again the elements to create a… fifth version, I believe we are at. Worrying he managed it without lying".