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Jedi Temple, Wadarae, 2nd Galactic Empire
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A pale varactyl reared up on its hind legs a mere meter in front of her. Its chirps threatened to permanently deafen her. Blackened smoke poured from its mouth and the ground seemed to catch fire wherever the beast stomped its paws. The ashen reptavian was covered in blackened armor and atop its saddle rode a warrior covered in armor darker than the Void itself.
The rider looked down upon her through a tiny vision slit in her helmet. Yellow eyes could be seen on the other side of the visor. The Jedi could feel the hate pouring from the rider as she removed a gruesome morning star from her belt. The rider lifted the hilt above her head and spun the spiked ball.
As the varactyl crashed down on its fore-legs the riders swung the weapon downwards as well. The ball rapidly closed with the Jedi's head and she found herself unable to move or defend herself from the blow. She watched as the spikes raced down upon her forehead just as . . .
Just as a voice called out her name...
"Mom!" B'asia Ti called out as she bolted upright in her bed. The young Jedi winced at the sudden motion as she felt a sharp jab of pain in her shoulder. The only response to her call was the steady beep of life support machinery around her. B'asia glanced quickly about the room as the memory of the vision she'd just experienced receded, taking in her surroundings. She was lying on a bed in a small, cream colored room that smelled of sterile antiseptics. To her right were two chairs and a small table for visitors. To her left, a large viewport gave her an unobstructed view of the outside world. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the fields of Earth transplanted cherry blossoms swaying in the breeze.
She was home, at the Temple on Wadarae, in the Temple's infirmary. The last thing she remembered was an explosion inside the Confederate APC she had been trying to free herself from. How long had she been out of action?
B'asia decided then and there that it didn't matter. She threw back the small sheet she had been covered in, revealing that she was wearing a blue medical gown. She swung her feet out of the bed and onto the floor, but as she attempted to get up her leg muscles threatened to give out. B'asia gripped the railing on the side of the bed to steady herself. She winced again at the pain she was feeling. Her head was pounding. Her leg muscles were buckling, and her shoulders and shins ached. She called on the flow of the Living Force to give her body strength, and slowly the pain gave way to a dull throb.
B'asia gritted her teeth as she made her way to the door on the far side of the room. To her, pain was just weakness leaving the body. She looked around briefly, and realized that her robes, and more importantly, her lightsaber, were nowhere to be found. The only thing she still had that was hers was the kyber crystal pendant she wore as a necklace. She clutched the pendant in her left hand and drew comfort from the familiar memories and energy the kyber shard channeled through the Force. Her first objective now was to retrieve her lightsaber. A Jedi's lightsaber was her life. Few believed that more than B'asia Ti.
Next to the door there was another viewport that allowed B'asia to see into the medical ward beyond. She paused to look out the viewport as she saw a rush of activity outside, which caught her attention.
Though the Jedi Order in the Milky Way only had less than two dozen members at the present time, the Temple had been built to accommodate the thousands of Jedi who would one day comprise the Order. The Temple's medical wing, as such, had been built to help thousands of patients, if necessary. B'asia had always found the place to be quite gloomy, as it was a very expansive area that was nearly completely deserted.
And so it came as a surprise to her to see that the ward outside her room was at full capacity. Beings of all species could be seen floating in Bacta tanks or lying in beds throughout the ward as droids and doctors from the Imperial Medical Corps bustled about.
B'asia realized that she was quickly losing strength. She needed to get out of here and find out what was going on, so she could get back into the action. As she moved away from the viewport towards the exit, the door slid open. Master Tenel Hja burst through, her comlink raised to her mouth as she spoke into it. "Yes Masters. Knight Ti is indeed awake. I suggest you both come quickly."
Before B'asia could say anything Master Hja planted herself firmly in the doorway, preventing the younger Knight from leaving. "And where did you think you were going?" The Jedi Master asked as she raised an arced brow.
"I, well," B'asia began, but found that there was nothing she could really say. She had simply wanted to leave the room and get her lightsaber back. She hadn't had a plan beyond that.
Tenel Hja shook her head and smiled gently as she placed her hand on B'asia's back and began to guide her gently back towards the bed. "I never thought I'd live to see the day when the Order's most outspoken Knight was speechless."
B'asia scowled, but offered no resistance as she was led back to the bed. She didn't care much for the idea that she was considered 'outspoken'. She was a plain, blunt woman and preferred to call matters as she saw them. She had little patience for excessive pleasantry. But outspoken, to her, felt like it had negative connotations.
She decided, however, that now was not the time to pick a fight on word usage. There were bigger issues at hand. "How long was I out?" B'asia asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
"About a month." Master Hja admitted.
"A month?!" B'asia exclaimed. Tenel Hja winced, causing B'asia to pause. The Jedi Master, B'asia realized, was exhausted. The Dathomiri Jedi's eyes were bloodshot, and her posture was not as straight as it usually was. Strands of her hair had fallen from the bun she usually kept her hair in and brushed across her face. Her robes were wrinkled and her breathing was heavier than normal. She was, on the whole, much different from the immaculate and composed Jedi Master B'asia had known her whole life.
"Yes, a month." Tenel answered. "You've been in a self-induced Healing Trance as you recovered from your wounds."
B'asia might have asked more, but at the moment it seemed that, of the two of them, Master Hja was the worst for ware at the moment. "Are you alright, Master?" She asked, concerned. "You look like you just got finished wrestling a Mudhorn."
Tenel smiled weakly and shook her head as she took a seat in one of the chairs next to the bed. "I've just been busy, is all. The Grand Master opened the Temple up to wounded troopers and sailors of the Imperial Military. We even have a few civilian refugees down in recovery. I've been in charge of the Temple's infirmary. It's been rather...hectic."
B'asia nodded her head in approval. She had always believed that the Jedi should be of more service to the beings of the Empire. "At least we're finally putting this medical ward to use. But why was I out so long?"
"Aside from the shrapnel you took to the shoulder and the shin, you also suffered a concussion, a broken ankle and a broken arm." Master Hja explained. "It took nearly a week for the Agen's Light to bypass the Confederate blockade and avoid Confederate patrols in order to make it here to Wadarae safely. Unfortunately Captain Rana's first aid kit only had enough supplies to stabilize you, not heal you completely. It appears that your body responded to the trauma by placing you in a healing trance. We've been wondering when you'd wake up."
B'asia was about to respond when the door to her room opened. Master Gap Ido came bounding into the room, followed closely by a young, pale, blue skinned Gossam male, who B'asia recognized as Caldur Zarroc, one of the Temple's Initiates.
"B'asia!" Master Ido exclaimed as a broad smile lit up his face. "It does my two hearts well to see you awake and on the mend. And I know the Grand Master will be just as pleased. She's on her way from a meeting with the Empress."
"Your exploits on Mars were the talk of the Temple, Knight Ti." Caldur Zarroc interjected. "They say you wounded the Supreme Leader of the First Order and took out a whole battalion of Legionnaires up on Olympus Mons all by yourself."
B'asia couldn't help but smile. She had long wanted to be recognized for her talents, even if the stories being told about her were being blown out of proportion. It felt good to be appreciated for her efforts. "Well, maybe not a battalion." She admitted. "But I did give the Solars a good bloody nose with the help of our Stormtroopers."
B'asia looked to her former Master, and noted that Gap Ido's smile had vanished. Her own smile faltered. Jedi were not meant to revel in war.
"I wish I could have done more." B'asia admitted as she looked away from her former Master. "We lost good soldiers on Mars."
"You went above and beyond the call of service, my old Padawan." Said Gap Ido as he placed his good hand atop hers and gave it a light squeeze.
"The mission was successful then?" B'asia inquired. "Moff Hinter is..."
Tenel Hja rolled her eyes. "Alive, well, and full of bluster, as ever. Thanks to you and the Irregulars."
"What else have I missed?" B'asia asked.
"You've actually woken up at the perfect time." Gap Ido said. "The Imperial Navy won a great victory against the First Order and the Confederates at New Thyfeeria. Imperial Intelligence is claiming that anywhere between three and seven of the enemy's main battleships were lost. Padawan Teshlo is being considered for the Medal of the Empress's Fist for her use of Battle Meditation during the conflict."
B'asia clenched her teeth in annoyance at the mention of her mother's apprentice. Sylphanie Teshlo had always been an annoyance, but a medal from the Empress would only make her worse to deal with.
"What else is going on?" B'asia asked.
Zarroc shrugged his soldiers. "What isn't going on? The Holo-News is awash with all the good news that's been developing. The new AT-ST Mark III's are rolling off the assembly lines on Next-1, the Navy is launching a new Raider-class Corvette, and rumor has it that the 1st Legion will be finishing up its training soon. It's only a matter of time until we put the Confeds and those Sith-lovers in the First Order on the defense."
"Please check your enthusiasm, my apprentice." Gap Ido gently admonished the young Gossam. B'asia's eyes widened as she looked from Caldur Zarroc to Gap Ido. So he finally took on another apprentice after all, she thought to herself.
"It is good to be optimistic." Gap Ido continued. "But do not underestimate the resolve of our enemy. I fear this war is far from over. The Battle of New Thyfeeria was a great blow to the alliance forged against us, but the acolytes of the Sith are nothing if not relentless. I suspect they will continue to throw themselves at us."
"All the more reason for me to get back into the fight." B'asia reasoned with grim determination as she pushed herself again off of the bed. As she forced herself to stand she felt her head grow cloudy and her knees buckle. She fell back onto the bed. Gap moved forward and placed his good hand on her shoulder to keep her from getting up.
"Rest, my old apprentice, rest." He insisted. "You still need time to recover."
B'asia frowned. "I'll recover by getting myself back into shape. You said it yourself once, Master; flesh is transitory. Luminous beings are we. And flesh will do as the spirit commands." B'asia tried to get up again, but was pushed down again by the older Cerean Jedi.
"B'asia, recovery takes time!" Gap Ido thundered suddenly, and for a moment B'asia recoiled from him as though she were a freshly minted Padawan caught in some act of disobedience.
"I will not see you injure yourself further because you are too proud to recuperate properly." Gap Ido continued. "You will return to full strength, but only after following the physical and mental therapy prescribed by Master Hja and the other healers."
"You don't need to worry for my sake, I'm telling you all I'm fine! I'm..." B'asia would have said more, but suddenly she heard a distant popping noise that caused her to fall silent. She jerked backwards onto the bed, turned, and placed her hands and face to the transparisteel of the viewport by the bed. She was no longer on Wadarae. Instead her mind was back on distant Mars.
"Is that blasterfire?" She asked, unable to keep the panic from her voice. "It sounds like slugthrowers! By the Force how did they get here? How did they get past the Temple's ion cannons? We have to evacuate, where's my lightsaber?! Someone get me my damn lightsaber!"
A pair of strong hands pulled her from the viewport. Master Ido was holding her with his good hand and his crippled hand with the aid of the Force, his eyes locked onto hers.
"Be calm, B'asia, it isn't blasterfire, it's fireworks. Only fireworks." He insisted as he sent her pulses of soothing energy through the Force bond they had forged together as master and apprentice. B'asia took a series of shuddering breaths as her mind returned to the present, her master's presence in the Force soothing her frayed nerves.
The fireworks continued to pop outside. B'asia clutched at her montrals. "Make it stop." She pleaded. "Please, just make it stop."
Gap Ido turned his head towards his new apprentice. "Caldur! Go outside and find whoever is setting those fireworks off. Tell them to stop immediately and report back to me when its done!"
"Yes Master!" Said the young Gossam as he ran from the room.
Gap Ido turned back to B'asia. "Focus on the Cosmic Force, my apprentice. Focus on our bond." He said with strong urgency. "Let it give you peace. Repeat after me now: I am one with the Force and the Force is with me."
B'asia focused on her breathing, and repeated the old Mantra again and again as she delved into the currents of the Force and the outside world fell away. When she finally pulled herself from the Light Side's embrace, she felt worn out. Thankfully, all was now silent in the infirmary. She looked about and saw that Master Hja had left the room, in addition to Caldur Zarroc.
B'asia placed her hands to her temple and rubbed them. "I'm sorry, I don't..."
"You have nothing to apologize for my Padawan. Nothing at all. "Gap Ido said soothingly."All is well."
The door to the room opened and Tenel Hja re-entered. "Thank the Force that most of our patients didn't hear that." She exclaimed as she clenched her fists in rarely expressed anger. "We could have had the entire infirmary suffering from blaster shock if we hadn't had most of it sound proofed. Who would be stupid enough to be setting off fireworks at a time like this?"
As though the Force were answering her question, Gap Ido's comlink started beeping.
"Master, I found the source of the fireworks." Caldur Zarroc reported. "A group of Initiates led by Cale Hja decided they wanted to celebrate the victory at New Thyfeeria with a little light show."
Tenel closed her eyes and grimaced. "Cale. How did he even get his hands on fireworks?" She grimaced as she tapped a code into her own comm unit. "Initiate Hja, report to our quarters immediately and stay there until I come to speak to you."
Tenel Hja sighed as she put her comm device away. "If you'll excuse me, I need to complete my rounds before I handle the Initiates punishment. Be well, Knight Ti." And with that, she left.
B'asia watched her go before looking over to her old Master.
"Is Tenel going to be alright?" She asked.
Gap Ido looked to the door before looking back to B'asia. "The Force is with her. She will manage. As a healer, she is feeling the strain of this war as much as any of us."
B'asia's thoughts again drifted back to Olympus Mons, when she had healed two prisoners with the Force, and how physically drained she had felt after it. Force healing was a miraculous, but dangerous, power. One was effectively ceding a part of one's life force to another to heal them. If a healer gave too much of themselves too quickly, without rest, then they ran the risk of giving up their own life to heal someone. And even then, there were no guarantees that what they gave would be enough. B'asia found herself with a new appreciation of Tenel Hja.
"It seems we are all being tested." B'asia finally admitted. She fell silent for a moment as she considered the turns her life had taken in the months since the start of the war.
"So..." She said finally. "You've taken on another apprentice."
Gap Ido nodded. "It was time." He said simply.
"Indeed." Said B'asia. "Part of me wondered when you'd finally take another apprentice. I imagine you're as pressed for time as Master Hja was. Don't let me keep you."
"What sort of Master would I be if I did not attend to a Knight in need? Especially one who was once my Padawan."
"I'm alright." B'asia insisted weakly.
"For now. But I will not be with you long. I will be departing the Temple soon."
"For the front?" B'asia asked. She didn't like the idea of her Master in the middle of the war. He was a capable swordsman, and his mastery of the Force had allowed him to overcome the limitations of his withered arm, which for reasons she could never understand he had refused to replace with a prosthetic. But she had never thought of him as a warrior. Steeped in the more mystical ascetic of the Jedi tradition as he was, Gap Ido simply was not the fighter B'asia's mother was.
"For Kazoook." Gap said.
B'asia's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Where?" She asked.
"You have heard perhaps of the Wookiee castaways and their Earth-born allies who appeared at Jastawui?"
"Mom mentioned them briefly in one of our communiques back on Mars." B'asia said, referring to the brief meetings she'd been able to have with her mother over the hyperwave before all transmissions with the rest of the Empire had been blocked. She had been able to confer with the Grand Master about the strange Mirialan Sith woman and her apprentice, while Ashla had explained some of the goings on in the Empire, including the arrival of the Wookiees and their Terran friends.
"Kazoook is the world from which they came." Gap Ido explained. "It is located deep within the Sagittarius Arm, and they too were attacked by the First Order. Chieftain Feyyr and Captain Vaspar, the leaders of the Kazoookians here in the Empire, have agreed to return to Kazoook with a small Imperial diplomatic team to open relations with their planet."
"Do you think that they will join the Empire?" B'asia asked.
"The Minister for Diplomatic Services has hopes of that, but I rather doubt it." Gap Ido said. "The Wookiees were scarred deeply by the memory of Palpatine's enslavement of Kashyyyk. The Earther colonists are even more vehement in their distrust. There was apparently a fierce argument amongst the Kazookian expatriates on Nal Kuat over whether the keeper of the coordinates to Kazoook, Commandar Wrroloch, should make their planet's location available to Imperial diplomats or maintain their planet's secrecy. A great many Kazoookians can't help but fear that the Empire will turn on them once the threat posed by the First Order and the Confederacy is vanquished."
"Surely they must realize that their friends in the Sagittarius Arm cannot remain in isolation forever." B'asia reasoned. "Should we lose this war, the First Order will return to this Kazoook place to finish what they started. The Empire and Kazoook can only survive if we stand together."
"That is the argument which ultimately won the majority over." Said Gap Ido. "However, I fear that they will keep us at arm's length, as the New Mandalorians have kept us at a distance. They value their own autonomy too much to cede it to us, and there is just too much bad history between us. They will never join an Empire, no matter how reformed it is. That much Vaspar and Feyyr have made clear. But they might be willing to enter into a coalition against the First Order. That is why I am being sent. The Wookiees have always been firm friends of the Jedi. It is hoped that sending a member of the Jedi Council will convince them that the 2nd Galactic Empire has changed for the better."
"What are you hoping to get out of such a coalition?" B'asia wondered.
"The Empire is hoping for more manpower." Gap Ido explained. "Preferably warriors or technicians. The Wookiees are as superb craftsmen as they are soldiers, and we are still in need of both. I personally am hoping to find a few Force Sensitive's amongst their ranks."
"Do you really think they'd let their own citizens join an Order that is sworn to the Empire?" B'asia asked.
Gap Ido shrugged. "Perhaps, perhaps not. Force sensitive Wookiees were a rarity even in the Home Galaxy. It is the will of the Force either way. It would be nice though. We are in need of new Jedi, now more than ever, especially considering our losses."
"Losses?" B'asia asked.
Gap Ido grimaced. "El-Les Nein and Rajine Qiyn. They both gave their lives to save the Empress from a First Order assassination attempt."
B'asia's eyes grew moist as she felt a weight press against her chest. El-Les Nein and Rajine Qiyn had been like brothers to her. The entire Order was like an extended family, in many ways. She allowed herself to feel the loss, and then let it go with a promise. You are one with the Force, but you did not die in vain. She promised the Force and herself.
"The Sith will pay for their crimes." B'asia vowed.
"Would-be Sith, if recent revelations are to be taken into account." Said Gap Ido cryptically.
"Whatever they are," B'asia insisted. "They are strong enough in the Force to pose a threat to everything we hold dear. And they're only going to get stronger every day they're allowed to operate freely." B'asia turned to look again out the viewport to her left. Outside all was calm as the suns of the Cygnus System began to set. Palpatine Prime loomed large and imposing above them, taking up most of the sky.
"You weren't there, Master." B'asia insisted. "I wounded the Sith, and it just made her angrier. She and her apprentice will throw themselves into training harder to make up for the loss. They aren't going to rest on their laurels."
Gap Ido rubbed his chin in contemplation. "And that is why you insist on getting back into the fray."
"I suppose." B'asia said. "We can't let these Darksiders grow stronger."
"Nor can we afford to burn ourselves out in a futile effort to match power for power." Gap Ido admonished. "Remember that raw strength is never the single factor that defines a fight. There are a thousand and one variables that can alter the outcome of a duel. And because of that, less experienced fighters have managed to defeat those who are stronger than them. Vala Ren and her apprentice can wait."
"So that's her name." B'asia muttered as she thought about the vicious Knight of Ren she had fought on Mars.
"There is much that you have missed, B'asia. While you were in your trance we learned a great deal about the First Order and its Supreme Leader; how they came to be in the Home Galaxy, and what their goals may be here in the Milky Way." Master Ido told her.
"So they are from the long lost Home Galaxy." B'asia chuckled darkly as she leaned her back against the wall. "The Empire, the Wookiees, this First Order. What is it about the Milky Way that is attracting all this flotsam from the Home Galaxy? Perhaps when I'm out of here I can have Papa give me a debriefing on what you've learned. I imagine he's been pestering mom for every detail since he got back." He was such a nerd, after all.
Gap Ido didn't respond, but B'asia suddenly sensed as her Master raised his own mental barriers, so that she could not feel any of his thoughts or feelings through the Force. Why he would do such a thing, she wondered? He had never had the need to hide his feelings from her before.
Something had happened, she realized. Something he didn't know how to break to her just yet. B'asia felt a knot form in the pit of her stomach.
"Papa hasn't come over yet." She realized. "If he were in the Temple he would have been here by now. Where is he? Is he safe? Is he alright? Is he..."
"He's on Mars." Gap Ido said abruptly as he leaned back in his chair, likely because he had already anticipated what was about to come next.
"On Mars?!" B'asia bellowed as she leaned forward, her right hand gripping the railing on her bed so hard that her hand was turning a darker shade of red. "Why in the nine hells is he still on Mars?"
"The Agen's Light was under heavy fire from Confederate fighters." Gap Ido said bluntly. "There was only enough time to get you and Moff Hinter aboard. Had they stayed and waited it's likely they would have been destroyed."
"But is he..." B'asia began to ask, but Gap Ido held up his good hand to silence her. "Both Ashlei and Captain Rana swear that they saw your father and the rest of the Irregulars make a safe getaway." Gap Ido sighed and pulled the chair he was in closer to her bedside. "I'm sure he's alright, B'asia."
"But how do we know if he is alright?" B'asia persisted.
"Because I would have sensed his passing." A voice called out, drawing the attention of both B'asia and Gap Ido.
Ashla Ti was lingering in the doorway, oddly hesitant in a manner that B'asia had rarely seen from her mother. The Grand Master of the Jedi Order awkwardly raised up her left arm as she approached, as though she momentarily hoped to reach out to her estranged daughter. B'asia made no move to reciprocate the gesture, and so Ashla's arm fell somewhat limply to her side as she entered into the room.
"B'asia, I am so glad to see that you're awake and alright..." Her mother began to speak, but B'asia shook her head in dismissal.
"Of course I'm alright, I'm a Jedi." B'asia retorted sharply. "The Force is with me. The same cannot be said for my father, your husband, who your friends, no less, abandoned behind enemy lines. What are we doing to get him back?"
Ashla flinched at the young Knight's barbed retort, which both surprised and pleased B'asia. Her mother had become so stoic and distant in the last few years that it seemed almost impossible these days to provoke an emotional reaction from her.
Her mother's expression quickly shifted from dismay and relief to a grimace of annoyance. "Rana and Ashlei put the mission and the good of the Empire ahead of their personal feelings." Ashla replied, scowling. "I would think you'd know more about personal duty than they would."
"Spare me the lecture, mother." B'asia retorted as she pushed herself to the edge of the bed. Gap Ido looked on helplessly as he found himself caught between the two.
"What are we doing to get him back?" B'asia asked again.
"We can do nothing for him right now." Ashla said curtly. "We must wait until Mars is liberated before we can intercede to help him."
"Why?" B'asia demanded. "All I need is one T-6 shuttle. I can zip down the Bloodstripe Run, extract him, and be out of there before anyone notices."
"The burnt wreckage of the last T-6 shuttle I let you take is evidence enough that such a plan won't work." Ashla retorted, and this time it was B'asia who winced at the stinging rhetoric that was being exchanged. "Moff Hinter's extraction and the Roblin Raid on Earth have put the Confederates on high alert for any intruders entering into the Sol System. They will intercept you and shoot you down before you ever hit the planet's ionosphere. And even if you did make it to the surface, you'd be facing off against the entire Confederate occupation, an occupation with standing orders to capture or kill any Jedi they come across, regardless of the cost."
"That's a risk I'm willing to take." B'asia said through clenched teeth.
"Thankfully it is not your decision to make." Ashla announced, her red face growing redder with rarely expressed exasperation.
"How can you be so callous, mother?" B'asia asked, aghast at the notion of leaving her father to fend for himself. "That man is always defending you. He practically worships the ground you stand on. He'd do anything for you. Don't you care about him?"
The Grand Master didn't say anything for a time. She just stared at the fuming young knight before her. Ashla's wide eyes glistened with a growing moistness, and suddenly B'asia felt a pang of guilt.
"He means more to me than you could ever possibly imagine." Ashla admitted quietly. "If I could I would reach across time and space itself to bring him home to us. But I can't. There are nearly five million Imperial citizens on Mars suffering under Confederate oppression, B'asia. We are not the only ones who have loved ones in danger. It would be the height of selfishness to ignore all those millions just to try and rescue one man."
"He's in more danger than they are!" B'asia argued. "If the Solars recognize him as their former ambassador..." B'asia turned her head away as she felt her own eyes grow damp. "They can't stand the idea of a Terran who's sympathetic to non-Terrans. They'll denounce him as a traitor. They'll bring all of their resources to bear to hunt him down. They won't just kill him. They'll torture him. They'll humiliate him and break him and make him crave death before they finally let him die."
"Jason Bogan is the Scourge of the North." Said Ashla with forced calmness. "He has been placed in terrible situations before, and he has always pulled through. He is not alone. He will survive this war, B'asia, as he survived the last."
"He had allies and supporters in the last war." B'asia snapped. "An army of eight million loyal followers to protect him. The partisans in Sarge's Irregulars don't know who he really is. If they were to find out he was the infamous General Boston they'd probably shoot him."
Ashla closed her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath. "You have a remarkably pessimistic view of your fellow being, my daughter." She said.
"You'd be pessimistic as well if your mother had told you to leave your father's fate to chance." B'asia exclaimed as she began to once again push herself out of bed. Gap Ido began to stand again, his expression one of resigned exhaustion.
"B'asia, please, I told you that you need time to recover." Gap Ido said, only for the young Knight to wave him off.
"I will recover," B'asia declared. "And when I do I will go to Mars. So what if I do get shot down and can't make it back to Imperial space? Someone has to watch Papa's back. Someone who will never turn on him. Besides, the Irregulars could probably use another commando."
"Think B'asia, think!" Ashla demanded. "Your father's greatest asset right now is his anonymity. You're so obsessed with what may happen, that you're ignoring what will happen if you go back. Your presence as a Jedi in the heart of Confederate occupied territory would attract Vala Ren's attention. She would send everything she has to destroy you and anyone who helps you should you go back. Your presence on Mars, without backup from other Jedi or the Empire, would only increase the likelihood of the Irregulars being destroyed before they can do any lasting damage."
"You underestimate my power, Mother." B'asia asserted. "I'm the one who fought Vala Ren and lived to tell of it. I can handle her and whatever the First Order and the Confederacy have waiting for me."
The Grand Master folded her arms across her chest as her scowl deepened. "You overestimate yourself." Ashla admonished. "Besides, there are too few Jedi for you to slip away without being noticed. It is our duty to support the Empire in this time of crisis, not run off because of emotional attachment. The Empress would never approve the deployment of a Jedi so far behind enemy lines with such a high risk of capture and low chances of success. She would see it as a waste of talent on a strategically insignificant target. "
"What good is our loyalty to the Imperial government if it stops us from giving justice to the people?" B'asia asked. "So many are suffering right now. I have the power to stop that suffering. We all do, and yet we are taking half measures."
"I heard such arguments before, in the Temple on Coruscant during the Clone Wars, and even before it." Ashla intoned morosely. "That the Jedi had shackled themselves to bureaucracy. That justice was taking a backseat to politics. That we should free ourselves of the oversight of the Galactic Senate and dispense justice as we saw fit. It was a poorly thought out argument then and it is a poorly thought out argument now."
The Grand Master strode over to the foot of the bed and glanced out the viewport at the darkening sky, pinpricked with the dull glow of thousands of stars.
"What would you have us be, daughter? Would you have the Jedi act as a roving band of vigilantes, arbitrarily lashing out at whatever offends our moral sensibilities? Our legitimacy as peacekeepers comes from our allegiance to the government. Without oversight, without restraint, without some mechanism of government to keep us in check, it would be easy for a Jedi Order of well-intentioned extremists to upend the galaxy. To impose our idea of order arbitrarily, to act as judge, jury, and executioner, without any consideration for the preexisting legal system would make us no better than the Sith. To be truly effective we have to work in the system."
"I'd argue it's better to try and fail to do something good than to sit idly by while others are suffering." B'asia argued. "What you and all the others call careful planning I call timidity. If going back to Mars attracts Vala Ren's attention, so much the better. I'll end her reign before it's properly begun."
"Knight Ti!" Ashla said sharply as she turned from the viewport. "You are expressly forbidden from going to Mars unless authorized by myself or the Empress."
"And should I find myself unable to comply with such a directive?" B'asia asked.
Ashla stared stonily at her daughter. "Then you will be expelled from the Jedi Order." She announced.
B'asia leaned back as though she had been slapped. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Ashla said, anger breaking into her voice. "The Council would expel you from the Order. You would be cut off from any and all access to the resources of the Temple and the Imperial Military, and you would be blacklisted from front line service."
Gap Ido leaned forward and lightly touched B'asia's shoulder. "The chances of you making it to Mars successfully in a top of the line ship are low enough as is." He interceded gently. "You'd have no chance whatsoever if you were restricted to what could be scrounged for in the civilian market. B'asia, please, don't do this."
B'asia found herself shaking in both rage and shock. All her life she had wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps. To be a great Jedi and save the galaxy. To make a difference. She'd never realized how easy it would be to lose that.
"You'd really expel me, wouldn't you?" B'asia asked, unable to keep the hurt from her voice as she felt her heart break.
Ashla opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She tried again, and the only sound she was able to make was a choking rasp. She tried again a third time, and this time the words came out, shaky and brittle though they were. "You are a Knight. I am the Grand Master. I cannot have you running off on your own in defiance of the Order. We all have a responsibility to the greater good. You took an oath of service, and I made sure you knew the consequences of that oath before you took it. You will do more good for the Empire here than on Mars."
B'asia fell back onto the bed in resignation, her eyes focused on the far wall, unable to even look at her mother anymore. "When will I be cleared for front line service?" She asked, her voice a flat monotone.
"In two or three weeks, once the healers are sure you are physically and emotionally recovered." Gap Ido said softly.
"I'm fine." B'asia insisted. "Mother's made her point that I'm needed more here anyways. So put me to use. We've wasted enough time as is."
"B'asia, you're not fine." Gap Ido said. "Have you forgotten what just happened before the Grand Master arrived? You've suffered from a severely traumatic episode. You need time to meditate and process what you've been through."
"I don't have blaster shock." B'asia said with a defensive huff.
"I could sense your anguish from the shuttle as I was returning to the Temple." Ashla muttered. "You will be cleared to return to whatever duty the Empire sees fit to require of you once it has been established by a licensed telepath that you are not emotionally compromised."
"As the Grand Master wills it, so it shall be done." B'asia said sullenly, unwilling to even look at her mother. If the Grand Master had sensed her overreaction to the Initiates' fireworks then it was likely the entire Temple was aware of it. No doubt rumors were already spreading like wildfire. B'asia felt her cheeks burn with shame at the thought of it.
The room lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, broken only by the whir of medical machinery and the shuffling of doctors in the ward beyond as they went about their evening rounds.
"Basia, I..." Ashla began quietly, her tone melancholy. But her voice trailed off as what she wanted to say wouldn't materialize. B'asia still refused to look at the Grand Master, preferring instead to continue to glare at the cream colored wall in front of her.
The chime of a comlink began to ring. B'asia knew immediately that it was her mother's, as she recognized the ring tone as the opening notes of the song Mars Needs Women. Her father Jason had picked the ring tone when he had gotten the comlink for his wife for Life Day five years ago.
That had been the year he'd gotten B'asia her Kyber necklace. She hadn't taken it off since then.
B'asia heard her mother take the call, and she heard the voice of her fellow Jedi Knight, the serpentine Hysalrian N'raxis Vul Omreh.
"Forgive the intrusion, Grand Master," N'raxis hissed. "But I'm in the Temple's communication center. I have Moff Durant trying to make contact with us from Arde World. Knight Galerha was able to break up Crimson Dawn's smuggling operation on the colony. Both the Governor and Knight Galerha would like to debrief you on the details of the mission. The Governor claims some of the information they have is time sensitive, pertaining to the syndicate's activities on Muunilinst Secundus and Anax."
"I'll be there...momentarily." Ashla said, distracted. She stood there in the center of the room for a moment after she turned off her comlink. B'asia could feel her mother looking at her through the Force, but even then she still refused to return her gaze. After a moment's hesitation, the Grand Master turned on her heel, nodded briefly to Gap Ido, and then went to leave. She paused briefly in the open doorway, and looked over her shoulder. She said nothing, and then she left, with the door clanging shut behind her with finality.
B'asia and Gap Ido sat alone together in silence. B'asia allowed her head to drop into her hands.
"Damn it!" She snarled as she curled her left hand into a fist and smacked the side of her head.
"Fucking damn it!" She yelled, borrowing some of the Terran swear words she had managed to pick up from her father over the years when he thought she hadn't been around to hear him. "Why is everything always so hard with her?"
Gap Ido didn't answer.
"I know what you're thinking Master." B'asia said before the Cerean Jedi could say anything. "You're going to tell me that I should be able to let my personal feelings go. That I should have stronger control over my emotions. That I let my personal life interfere with my duties as a Jedi. I know that. I've always known that. But it's hard. I can't just shut my emotions off like Mom can. And it's a lot harder when she's bending over backwards to shoot down every single idea I've ever had since I was Knighted."
"Is that what you think?" Gap Ido asked quietly. B'asia looked up and over at her former Master. He always had a strange ability to attract attention to himself without raising his voice. The Jedi Master rose from his chair and moved to sit on the bed next to his former apprentice.
"If you honestly believe she is trying to sabotage you B'asia, then you are truly lost." Gap sighed. "When the Agen's Light returned to Wadarae from Mars, the Grand Master was there, waiting for you. She refused to leave your side. For 72 hours the affairs of the Order were conducted from this hospital room. She took her meals here, held meetings of the Council here, assigned missions and received reports from here!"
The normally soft spoken Jedi's voice grew louder and more indignant as he continued to speak, his index finger jabbing into the air with each point made. "And when she wasn't doing all of that she was pouring what strength she had into you, hoping that it would help you to heal faster."
"She wasn't here when I woke up." B'asia said, somewhat lost and dumbfounded.
Gap Ido pointed to himself. "She only left because I insisted on it. Don't you understand B'asia? She would have stayed here until you woke up unless Tenel and I all but forced her to leave."
"Why?"
"Why?" Gap Ido asked incredulously. "Because between running the Order from an infirmary ward and spending all her spare time trying to Force Heal you, she was running herself ragged. If I hadn't pulled her from this room she would have collapsed from stress and exhaustion. Medically speaking you were already recovering and weren't in any immediate danger. The Jedi needed their Grand Master to lead them. So I insisted that she leave."
"Funny how she can only express concern for me when I'm unconscious." B'asia remarked, unable to keep the bitterness out of her expression. Gap Ido's eyes hardened as he shot her a withering look. What had gotten into him, she wondered? Gap Ido was a soft spoken mystic, his rebukes, few though they were, were always gentle. Now though he seemed legitimately upset with her.
"If you could move past your own self-righteousness for a moment, Padawan mine, you'd have realized that your mom was overjoyed that you were awake. She was in the middle of trying to say it when you interrupted her and all but accused her of leaving your father to die."
B'asia replayed the conversation in her own mind and, loathe though she was to admit, she realized that her former Master was correct. B'asia let out a defeated groan as she slumped against the wall.
"Why have things gotten so complicated between us?" She asked.
"The two of you were rather close for the longest of times." Gap Ido noted. "I don't recall confrontations like these until late in your apprenticeship."
B'asia felt her cheeks burn as the familiar post-argument guilt swept through her body and threatened to overwhelm her. "We were...happy." She admitted.
And they had been. She had had what she considered to be a normal, happy childhood. She had understood early on that she did not have a normal family, but that hadn't bothered her. She remembered training with her fellow Initiates, and how proud her mom had looked when she had first been able to levitate a stone. She remembered how her mom's eyes had sparkled when B'asia had presented her with the hilt of her newly constructed lightsaber following her return from the Gathering. Ashla had held it in her hands for nearly a half an hour, extolling the virtues of the saber's craftsmanship. She remembered trips to the Yos Ocean in the northern reaches of Mars and all the various mischief which children could get into at the beach, regardless of how cold it could sometimes get that far north. She remembered survival training trips out into the wilderness on the various newly established colony worlds that had felt to her like great camping adventures.
And the one constant throughout it all had been her mom. This titanic super-woman had been B'asia's inspiration. The Grand Master had been a font of wisdom, a confidant, and a caring influence throughout her early life.
The one blemish to this otherwise idyllic childhood had been her father's absence. She had never blamed him. Her mom had explained early on that her father had a difficult, thankless job that kept him away from his family, but that he had kept it in order to prevent another terrible war from starting. She had never fully understood the horrors of war then, but she had grown up around enough survivors of the Empire-Earth War to realize it had been something they all desperately hoped to avoid.
That wasn't to say that Jason had been entirely absent from her childhood. The Earth's ambassador had used any and all excuses to visit with his family under the guise of "trade talks" and "diplomatic missions". Once B'asia had been able to push her senses past the odd, sickly, strangulating feel her father's people had in the Force, she had found that her father's feelings were completely unguarded towards her. She knew instinctively, from the first time she'd met him, that he wanted nothing more than to be with her and Mom.
His decision to go into hiding and live with them had been the greatest surprise of her life up to that point. Jason had been desperate to "make up for lost time" as he put it, and for several years they had been together, and they had been happy. And when she had struggled with her Jedi studies, her parents had been nothing but encouraging.
But as she grew older and her apprenticeship to Gap Ido continued, B'asia had found Ashla Ti slowly drawing away from her. She had grown increasingly stoic and authoritative as she progressed closer and closer to Knighthood, and the warm moments when they could commiserate together became fewer and fewer. They had finally taken to arguing with one another in the months prior to her Knighthood, and then well after. Had B'asia not measured up to her mom's standards? Was she a disappointment? She'd pushed herself harder and harder, to prove that she had the makings of a true Jedi. She found herself increasingly stuck in the shadow of the woman she'd used to admire, desperate to prove that she was more than just the child of Ashla Ti and Jason Bogan. That she had earned her position as a Knight of the Jedi Order.
To earn her mother's approval, she thought bitterly.
"Where did it all go wrong?" B'asia asked forlornly.
"You look outwards to answer that question, when the answer lies within." Gap Ido replied.
B'asia blinked. "Excuse me?" She asked.
Gap Ido closed his eyes and exhaled before looking at her. "I always knew that you were in a difficult situation, B'asia. You've always felt that you have to constantly prove yourself to all the other Initiates. You were always so worried that you were not good enough in your training, and constantly compared yourself to your fellow Jedi. I decided that you were hard enough on yourself already, so I decided to be gentle with you in some areas, in the hopes that perhaps you'd stumble upon the answer yourself. Perhaps that was a mistake."
B'asia leaned forward. "I'm not a youngling, Master. If you have something to say, you're free to say it. I can handle it."
"Can you?" Gap Ido asked pointedly. "You are a great warrior, my old apprentice, and while you understand the philosophies I have taught, you have never fully embraced some of them."
The young Jedi frowned in confusion. "Then why did you Knight me, if I haven't embraced what your teachings?" B'asia asked.
"Because to be a Jedi is to never stop learning." Explained Gap Ido. "We are seekers of truth, whether that truth is out there," He gestured towards the night sky outside the viewport. "Or in here." He gestured towards his chest. "These lessons are learned over the course of a lifetime. But one particular lesson has yet to sink in for you."
"And that lesson would be?" B'asia asked.
"To let go." Gap Ido said emphatically. "To be blunt, B'asia, you take everything personally. When your fellow Initiates were doing better than you in a certain field of study, you took it to mean that you weren't as good as them. You assume they think less of you when you aren't dominating whatever you apply yourself to. Your mother's status as the founder of our Order here in the Milky Way meant that you had so somehow outshine her. Your father's status as the savior of 8 million slaves meant that you had to save even more people. And you assume your mom is uncaring when she treats you as a Knight."
Gap Ido paused, and winced, as though he found what he had to say particularly unpleasant. "I say this because I care about you, and want you to grow, both as a Jedi and as a being. Please understand that when I tell you that you have been grossly unprofessional in the time since you were knighted."
B'asia resisted the urge to let her jaw drop open in shock. "Unprofessional?" She asked.
Gap Ido nodded. "You have been unprofessional. And self centered. In your eagerness to prove yourself you come across to many as arrogant. You argue with the Grand Master and undermine her authority, in public, in front of other Jedi. People do not think of your arguments with Ashla Ti as a debate between mother and child, they see it as a newly minted Knight questioning the wisdom of the Order's leadership. The Grand Master cannot afford to accommodate such behavior from anyone. That is why she is so cold towards you."
"I thought you taught me that questioning our leader's was a good thing." B'asia asked.
"It is." Gap Ido responded. "But you are not questioning your mother to keep her honest, or to get her to reconsider a great moral question. You are trying to strongarm her into getting your own way, and belittling her when she refuses to concede to you. You're lucky that you chose to be a Jedi. Were you to seek employment anywhere else you would have been fired the first time you disparaged your employer."
B'asia took her master's criticisms and tried to keep her expression neutral, even as she felt her chest tighten. "That was never my intention." She said quietly.
"I know."
"I feel like a fool." B'asia admitted. "Maybe I'm not cut out to be a Jedi."
"Never say such things, B'asia!" Gap Ido exclaimed. He took her hand in his own. "I would never have recommended you for Knighthood if I had any doubts about your potential. You have all the makings of a great Jedi! But you must internalize what you've been taught. There is a time and a place for your emotions, and there are, unfortunately, times when they must be put aside. You cannot save the galaxy on your own, so don't even try. The greatest heroes of the Jedi Order were never alone when they helped to save the galaxy. Revan had Bastila Shan, Carth Onasi, and Canderous Ordo at his side to help him. Ulic Qel-Droma had Nomi Sunrider." Gap Ido chuckled as he looked away. "Even Luke Skywalker had help from his friends, just as his father had help from his."
"Who?" B'asia asked. She'd heard once or twice of an Anakin Skywalker, but never a Luke.
Gap Ido chuckled and shook his head as he stood up. "A story for another time perhaps. As I said before, we've learned much about the fate of the Home Galaxy from the First Order, and my ghostly acquaintances have been willing to fill in some of the gaps here and there since then. When they're not being cryptic of course."
B'asia shook her head and grinned, despite herself. That her Master communed with spirits was something that struck her as fundamentally odd. "Some day you're going to have to invite me to one of those conversations. I have to see this for myself." She said.
Gap Ido shrugged in mock helplessness. "They only ever seem to show up when no one else is around."
B'asia Ti's melancholy grin faded as she remembered something. "Master, when you do see them again, can you ask them something for me?"
Gap Ido's eyes narrowed as he looked at his apprentice. "Something else troubles you, B'asia?" He asked.
"Before I woke up, I had the same vision I had before I left for the mission to the Temple on Mars. Can they interpret what it means?" B'asia explained.
Gap Ido closed his eyes and grimaced. When he opened his eyes again he didn't even bother to hide his worry from her.
"It was exactly the same?" He inquired.
"It was just the ending of my first vision. The part with Vala Ren on the Varactyl." Confirmed B'asia. "But towards the end, I heard a voice call out my name. I...I think it was Mom. What does this mean, Master Ido?"
Gap Ido leaned against the wall and stared blankly up at the ceiling. She'd have thought he was spacing out, but she could feel that he was reaching out to the Force in search of some clarity.
"The future is constantly in motion." Gap Ido finally said. "What could be and what should be wax and wane as a million billion different factors cause probabilities to shift. Farsight is notoriously unreliable. Sometimes the visions are steeped in metaphor, other times they are quite literal. That the same vision has repeated itself however, can mean only one thing."
Gap Ido looked at his old apprentice sadly. "Sometimes we choose our own fate. And sometimes fate chooses us. I'm afraid it is inescapable. You will confront Vala Ren again. And your mom may well be caught between you."
"When?" B'asia asked. "Why? Why has Vala Ren singled us out?"
"I cannot say." Gap Ido said. "I wish now that I was not going to Kazoook. So much is in motion at present. But I will meditate on it, and if any revelations come to me, I will reach out to you.
"I thank you Master, for everything." B'asia said warmly as some of her doubts faded away. Some, but unfortunately, not all.
"Be of good cheer, old friend." Said Gap Ido as he made his way to the door. "Your problems will not resolve themselves all at once, but you are on the right path. And you are moving forward. Remember that the brightest candle shines all the brighter in the deepest darkness. Be that candle, B'asia Ti, and the Darkside shall have no dominion here."
And with that, her Master left.
B'asia fell back into her bed, her mind awash as she processed what she had gone through. It might be wise, she thought, to give her mom some space. There was so much to say, so much to do, and she did not know where to begin. She tossed and turned on her bed as she ran through her thoughts time and again as the hours slowly ticked by. Eventually a medical droid came into the room to check on her, and offered her a heavy sedative to help her sleep. Reluctantly she accepted.
As she took the sedative she felt her mind finally begin to grow cloudy as she drifted towards sleep. She tried to find comfort in what Gap Ido had said.
"Comfort? Is that what you seek, little Togruta?" A scratchy voice asked. B'asia looked about lethargically as the sedatives willed her deeper into sleep. She saw no one. She reached out with the Force weakly, and it confirmed what she saw. She was alone.
"Comfort is an illusion sought by the weak to shield them from reality." The voice continued. B'asia's vision grew hazier still, and suddenly began to change. She was no longer looking at the small, cream colored hospital room she was lying in.
Instead, she beheld a dark, gray landing bay. Great racks of gray and red TIE Fighters lined the walls of the bay. Outside, a howling vortex of nitrogen, methane and hydrogen whipped soil against a crackling blue ray shield. The ray shield at the end of the bay was all that kept the oxygen from being sucked into the great miasma beyond. Beyond the ray shield B'asia saw a vast, broad region of bright and dark terrain pockmarked with deep chasms and sharp mountains. Above them hung a great gas giant with massive rings.
The bay was deserted, save for one figure. Standing centimeters from the ray shield was Vala Ren. She turned, and her yellow eyes smoldered as she took in the sight of the Jedi who had wounded her.
"You will find no comfort from my wrath." The Supreme Leader spat as B'asia finally succumbed to sleep. "New Thyfeeria was not even a pinprick to my plans. I am still coming for all of you."
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Up Next -Titan
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And another thanks to His Majesty the Emperor for a fantastical chapter into the mind of a Jedi