New Korriban, part one : Where the Jedi Order labels Tatooine as the new Korriban and another Skywalker brings havoc and unnecessary misunderstandings – as the Jedi did not need help in drawing hasty conclusions
Mace did not pinch his nose, because serene Jedi did not have pounding headache. What a lie, Yoda was maybe the only one not sharing his pain. He glanced towards his fellow Councilors all releasing their irritation through the Force as Cheni Skywalker spoke riddle with the riddle master. Jocasta Nu report came with eleven new theories in need to be checked, some of which were sufficiently alarming for experts to be sent on Korriban and Tatooine both. They came back three months ago, reporting they indeed found matching remanent of the Dark Side on both planets. Exactly the same signature, henceforth the same origin from those signatures. The sole reason Tatooine did not reek as much as a Sith space planet was because no one built innumerate Sith Lords tombs here. Meaning that a Force-sensitive society on Tatooine would turn exactly like the Sith did and needed to be put in check beforehand. Hence the group of Seekers directed towards Tatooine which came back with a child in tow, Cheni Skywalker, Sharad Hett and another alarming report.
At first the child presence surprised Mace, because a Force-sensitive born in a generation in a planet was already rare, but two unrelated in a generation had really low odds, especially considering Tatooine was scarcely populated. Then he heard the report from the Seekers and doubted no more because the Tatooinians were already breeding Force-sensitivity. Less in the spaceports where off-worlders mingled and added to the genetical pool, but increasingly more the further inside the desert. Spaceport population had a count around three thousands midichlorians, moisture farmers climbed between five hundred and a thousand more, and Tuskens were routinely at five thousands. In the middle of his report, the head of the expedition presented the child, a girl of two, daughter of a rape by Tusken on a farmer daughter, count nine thousands and quickly admitted inside the Order.
It was then Mace headache started because Knight Hett, standing awkwardly on the side, had apparently spent the last decade and a half singing along the wind and making ritualistic force-fueled dances and did not see fit to report it. Awareness of emerging Force-based culture was amongst the requirement of his post as Master of Order and Hett, instead of reporting, had rather someway, not on purpose, couldn't refuse and it was to keep the peace with the moisture farmers, became the chief of the majority of the Tusken population. And had a kid stashed back on Tatooine. Mace nearly accepted his resignation here and now, but Yoda beat him to the spot and said a decision would be taken later. Having cooled down a little and reigned his impulse, Mace revised his opinion: he'll rather have a Jedi as the leader of a new maybe-Sith-like culture than an expulsed Jedi. That did not end well last time. The sole problem was that while Knight Hett, by all reports, assuaged some of the tension between the two communities, he adapted a lot more to Tusken culture than he adapted Tusken culture to peaceful coexistence.
Then his headache came back in form of the Skywalker problem. While Tatooinans rise in midichlorian counts could be attributed to evolutive advantage and partner selection, the Skywalkers seemed to be cultivating their Force-sensitivity from generation to generation. Solo tale did not accredit this but Mace had his own guesses on the spouses selected. Vader's wife came from the same breeding pool and chances were her Force potential was above the norm, while not as exceptional as her husband. Luke Skywalker wife was a Sith Lord daughter with high odds of being a Force-sensitive herself. And while Dooku accredited nothing exceptional in Han Solo Force signature he did not check his midichlorian count as he saw no need. On the other hand, Solo joined a family talented in Force-shielding and according to Knight Kenobi followed a morning routine disturbingly akin to the conditioning trance aged Jedi used to keep fit, because he felt it was effective. Mace would not have been surprised to find a count higher than the norm if a test had been made before Solo death. These apparently random spouses did not seem as devoid of Force-sensitivity as first assumed. On this, Mace joined Jocasta third and tenth hypothesis. The Skywalker name was most probably given to Force-sensitive individuals amongst a family close-knitted enough that Force-sensitivity echoed and increased rather than be diluted. And Palpy only stumbled on a preexisting practice. Which would mean the high midichlorian counts of Vader, Luke or Leia were common amongst those called Skywalker.
Hence the need for a list of Skywalkers and their kin. Shmi chart followed her own ascendency, but outshoots emerged to be ended in question marks a few generations later, meaning potential unreferenced Skywalkers. Or, more accurately, potential individuals bearing another name but having a Skywalker close enough in the family tree that Force-sensitivity was not too improbable. Which, considering Tatooine birth records, were simply impossible to track down. The Seekers were informed that nearly all moisture farmers families had a Skywalker ascendant close enough they could remember it, and the fact was apparently something to take pride in. The moisture farmers were persuaded the Skywalkers, in particular the women, were priestesses of sort, able to commune with the desert, skilled healers, sometimes able to glimpse in the future, and people to go when confused. A textbook definition of the grasp of pre-spaceflight populations on Force-sensitives, truly. Enquiring in the possibility to meet Skywalkers, the Seekers were then directed toward Cheni Skywalker. Sharad Hett had less luck as he found hearsay of a Skywalker amongst the Tusken, only to learn he died less than a year prior at an advanced age.
The Seekers, sadly, could not compile all the kindred because, according to Shmi spotty chart and Master Nu analysis, all native Tatooinans were, one way of the other, descendants of the First Skywalker. It opened the way to other branches of the Skywalkers boasting the same potential in the Force, but if so they remained undiscovered. The odds were slims, but the Skywalkers the Dark Sider found were already against the odds and the Force had a strange way of screwing mathematical calculus. Mace would not be surprised to unearth another Skywalker family briming with Force potential. In fact, it seemed he had a representative before his very eyes.
Cheni Skywalker was by her own words the daughter of Allorey Skywalker. When asked if she was Shmi sister, she refuted the notion after the initial confusion due to Cheni effectively having as sister named Shmi, but another Shmi who disappeared at eight of age after Allorey death. In fact, Shmi supposed midichlorian count and Cheni were so far removed they could not be siblings, as Cheni own count was only of seven thousand while Shmi was believed to be over sixteen thousands as a minimum. Enquiries led to the revelation Cheni had three off-worlder grandparents, explaining a count lower than the rest of the current Skywalker. She had, however, a thing in common with Shmi other than her name: her way of speech reflected closely the one Shmi had addressed him with when Mace visited her. Excepted Shmi was positively understandable when compared to her far cousin. At least Mace could ascertain her tapping into her Force potential by her tales of visions and the soothing flickering in the Force as she exchanged banter with Yoda.
But Yoda seemed to be the only one finding a great interest in her words judging by his curious queries, other than Master Nu whose Force signature spiked now and then.
On Tatooine link to the Dark Side: I took the idea from the fanfiction "Wilhuff Tarkin: hero of the Rebellion" where Tatooine was once subjected to a massive attack from the Rattatak empire. I do not know whether it is canon of not. The Rattatak built early in the galaxy history an empire based on Dark Side fueled weapons and attempted to invade Korriban. The Sith, then but a nomad specie with Force-sensitive members, pushed them back but learnt from them how to make holochrons amongst other things. I guess it must not have been bloodlessly, so the weapon taint on both planets, far enough in the history the Jedi have no clue which event they shared.
Cheni is not Shmi sister: she is Allorey (Shmi mother) student and successor as priestess. But the "sister" she refers to is indeed Shmi, due to Cheni being her mother student.