32 BBY, Coruscant
"What do you think happened?"
As Starlet began groggily coming back to consciousness, she heard the unmistakable voice of Master Siri Tachi. She began slowly opening her eyes, her vision blurry from being closed for a long time. The light was blinding, so she quickly squinted her eyes shut again. She slowly raised her left arm to cover her eyes.
"We don't know, but it was definitely a lightsaber wound." There was another Jedi in the room. Adi Gallia's voice was just as unmistakable to Starlet as Siri's. Master Gallia noticed the stirring Initiate. "Oh, look! She's waking up!" Both Masters approached Starlet's bedside. "Well, good morning, sleepyhead!" Adi chirped playfully.
Starlet's left hand met the side of her head. "Morning?" she asked, her voice scratchy from disuse. "Where am I? What happened?" Her head felt extremely hazy. She was a bit confused as to where she was, and her foggy memory wasn't helping very much.
Siri prepared to answer all of the girl's questions at once. "You've been out for nearly three days, you're in the medical wing, and you tell us," she finished while bringing attention to Starlet's right arm.
"I…" Starlet's gaze fell on what had become of her arm. Constructed mostly out of black and brass metal with wires and gears carefully placed inside, it was painfully obvious that the arm was entirely artificial. It had a full range of motion while being stronger than her old arm would have been. The cybernetic arm met what was left of the real one a few inches away from her shoulder, right where Dooku's lightsaber had… Starlet raised both hands to her temples. "My head hurts. My arm…" She trailed off, her mind not quite ready for full sentences. At least she was more awake now.
"Your cybernetic arm was installed yesterday," Master Tachi explained. "You… missed Qui-Gon's funeral, by the way." Siri knew Qui-Gon had meant a lot to Starlet, and was sure she would've liked to be there to show her respect. To say goodbye.
"It's okay. I don't know if I would've been able to handle it," Starlet admitted. Her emotions had been getting the best of her lately, something she was supposed to train herself out of. Her thoughts were interrupted by a looming sense that Master Gallia had a reason to be there other than watching over an injured Jedi Initiate. "There's something else, isn't there?" Starlet asked nervously.
The Masters looked equally as nervous. The Councilmember among them spoke up. "The Council is curious about what happened to you. We would like you to report to us when you're ready." Master Gallia watched Starlet closely for her reaction.
With that revelation, Starlet's mind cleared. "I'm ready now," she said with determination in her voice.
Master Gallia nodded, recognizing the shift in the girl's energy. "Then start getting ready. Familiarize yourself with your new arm." The Tholothian reached into a bag she had with her and pulled out a small metal object. "Here is a new training lightsaber. Try not to lose it. I will go ahead of you." Adi bowed to Starlet and Master Tachi in respect, then departed from the room to let the rest of the Council know that the Initiate was coming.
"...It wasn't my fault…" Starlet said in a whispery voice, offended by the well-meaning Master. She looked down at her hands. One, the same dark brown skin she'd had her whole life. The other, dominant hand, now a mixture of metal and wires, controlled by electrical impulses sent by her brain and converted into mechanical motion. With every movement there was an almost imperceptible whirring noise, constant testimony to its artificial nature.
Master Tachi sensed the girl's rising discomfort, choosing to take a seat next to her. She took Starlet's hand into her own. Starlet's cold, metallic hand. "I know it wasn't," she began, her voice carefully controlled. "You can tell the Council what happened. I'll be meeting you there, but I have to get something ready first. Can you get to the Council chambers by yourself?" Siri looked into Starlet's eyes, seeing the light return to them. Her hunch was right; all she needed to do was show that she trusted the girl. Trusted that she could do things on her own, even if she still needed a little direction now and then.
"I should be able to," Starlet replied with a smile. "See you later, Master Tachi."
Siri smiled warmly, slowly stepping backward out of the room. "Looking forward to it, Starlet."
Starlet walked into the Jedi Council chambers, still experimentally clenching and unclenching her mechanical fist. It was pretty easy to use, but she certainly wished she hadn't lost her real arm. She took her place in the middle of the room, in the center of the eleven present Masters, Ki-Adi Mundi notably being absent.
"Greetings, young Starlet," Master Yoda greeted warmly. "Feeling better, you are?"
"Still a little bit in shock," Starlet began sheepishly, "but otherwise better. Thank you for asking, Master," she added with a bow.
"Now, to business." Master Windu's sudden, forceful shift in the atmosphere of the room was startling even to the other Masters, let alone the girl standing among them. "Master Gallia told us you were on your way to speak to former Jedi Master Dooku. Is this true?" Mace's tone had absolutely no semblance of warmth, and it immediately made Starlet nervous. Was she in trouble somehow? Mace was certainly making it seem that way.
"Easy, Master Windu," chided Master Billaba, sensing the quickly rising tension in the room, particularly from Starlet. "She is still mentally a child, regardless of her true age," she reminded Mace.
Master Windu smirked in a failed attempt to hide his embarrassment. With Starlet's maturity and chronological age, it was easy to forget that everything she thought and felt was being filtered through a brain that was physically only four years old. "Forgive me, Starlet," he conceded with a slight bow of his head. He then carefully shifted his tone. She had been through enough lately; she didn't need to be frightened of a Jedi Master as well. "What can you tell us about what happened three days ago?"
Starlet took a deep breath. Master Windu's shift in tone made her feel better about this exchange, but she was still nervous. "I wanted to check on Master Dooku after Qui-Gon's death," she began softly, her voice gaining strength as she continued speaking. "We talked for a little while, then my telepathic abilities ran wild again. I learned that he was behind Master Yaddle's disappearance, then he pulled his lightsaber on me. He almost killed me. I barely got out with my life. I believe it is through the will of the Force that I'm standing before you now."
"You believe Dooku killed Yaddle?" asked Shaak Ti, the Togruta woman who had already taken Yaddle's seat on the Council. "That is quite the accusation." Starlet had been afraid of this. She was accusing a former Jedi Master of murder, something that would likely seem preposterous to anyone she told. Truthfully, she had been considering not mentioning it at all, but she felt it was important to say.
"Yaddle's body was found with lightsaber wounds," Master Eeth Koth offered. There were nods around the room.
"And Starlet here came back from a meeting with Dooku with a lightsaber wound herself." Oppo Rancisis' statement was met with more nodding, as well as quiet murmurs of agreement.
"Not to mention the fact that Dooku left Coruscant less than a day after Starlet's encounter." Even Piell's addition was the smoking gun. Everything lined up perfectly to corroborate Starlet's story.
Unfortunately, they didn't really have a smoking gun. All they had was circumstantial evidence, hardly enough to try Dooku in court. "We will have to conduct our own investigation," Mace Windu admitted. He sensed that Starlet was absolutely telling them what she believed; he just hoped that they could find concrete evidence. "But thank you for telling us what you know, Starlet. You've been very brave." Starlet's beaming put a smile on the faces of all twelve Masters in the room, including a certain new arrival.
"Greetings, Master Tachi," Yoda said to the newly-arrived Jedi. "Something to say, have you?"
"As a matter of fact, I do, Masters." Siri Tachi knew that the time had come. Here she was, standing only a few paces behind the very girl she had seen in her vision. A girl with dark skin, blue eyes, silver hair, and a cybernetic arm. "I have been watching Starlet's progress for nearly a year, and I've seen her advance far beyond her peers. Not only that, she has taken on a former Jedi Master and lived to tell the tale. I believe she should be rewarded for her skill and bravery in the face of insurmountable odds. Masters of the Jedi Council," she started, standing straighter and taller than she had been before, "I ask for permission to take young Starlet as my Padawan learner."
The Council took in the entirely expected request from the Jedi. They all knew this was coming, and they were all in agreement. However, there was one person whose opinion was still unknown. "What say you, Starlet?" Yoda asked, already seeing a look on the girl's face that immediately gave away her answer.
"I would be honored to learn under Master Tachi's supervision," Starlet replied with a wide smile and a deep, respectful, thankful bow. Master Windu noted that she hid her excitement well.
"Then you are no longer a Jedi Initiate," Master Gallia announced in a congratulatory tone. "From now on, you are Padawan Starlet. Congratulations!" There was a round of respectful applause, and the grin on the newly-pronounced Padawan's face couldn't possibly get any wider. Any lingering thoughts about how odd her new arm was, or the disastrous encounter with Dooku, or her own grief from the loss of Qui-Gon… All were forgotten in that moment.
"Be sure to tell little 'Soka the news," Master Plo Koon suggested, knowing of Starlet and Ahsoka's strong friendship. Ahsoka wasn't the type to get jealous, and the little Togruta was smart enough to know that Starlet's older age made her old enough to become a Padawan, while Ahsoka was still years away.
"I sure will, Master Plo!" Starlet chirped, having already decided that telling Ahsoka would be the first thing on her to-do list.
Master Tachi laid her hand on her new apprentice's shoulder. "Come, my Padawan," she began warmly. "There is much to be done."
Moving her hand to her Padawan's back, Siri led Starlet out of the Council chambers. The girl looked up with a smile at her new Master, and found that Siri's smile matched her own. Finally, she looked forward, ready to embrace her new future.