Feel free to join my Discord server: . disc ord. gg /3b3B xdHQKG (delete the spaces). You can talk about whatever you want in there. SW and RDR channels are in there as well.
Chapter 11
"This is why you lost the examinations of Queen." Rabé pointed out with a mockery groan.
"What if I'm glad I did?" Eirtaé bit back, smirking. "Who says it's a bad thing?"
"You used to be bossy until I-" Rabé started with force nastiness.
"Until you pinned my arms behind my back in front of everyone, I know!" Eirtaé pouted. "My arms were tender for a week because of that!"
"You were driving everyone crazy." Rabé pointed out, shrugging.
Eirtaé scoffed. "You forget I am particularly excelled in dealing with protocol and spotting treachery."
"However, you are less skilled in martial arts than the other Handmaidens."
"Well, I am the only applicant for the Queen's Handmaidens who has blond hair and blue eyes in contrast to Amidala's brown hair and brown eyes."
"Luke, why don't you give her your lightsaber?" Rabé remarked sarcastically, turning her attention to the Jedi.
Luke chuckled. "She does have a point..."
Eirtaé scoffed. "What do you excel at, Your Majesty?"
"I excel with physical combat weapons as well as more subtle forms of persuasion, and have a lot of patience and am able to soothe the Queen's nerves. I am also bilingual and is able to speak Basic and Sullustese."
The blond woman rolled her eyes. "Arrogant ass."
Rabé laughed, "Blond bitch."
Sabé grinned. "You two are embarrassing."
"What?! She started it!" Eirtaé shouted.
Rabé smacked Eirtaé in the back of the head. Padmé shook her head. So much for professionalism and maturity.
On the other hand, Luke had a hand on the small boy's head. Shmi Skywalker was already at the ship with Lieutenant Jerus Jannick and his platoon of guards. It was obvious that Luke had earned her trust.
"Nice to know you all have a cheery demeanor."
"You know, you Jedi are creepy," Eirtaé said.
Luke looked at her, dawning an eyebrow.
"Eirtaé..." Sabé scolded through gritted teeth, giving the blond Handmaiden a stare. Padmé and Rabé did too.
Eirtaé shrugged. "What? I'm just saying what everyone is thinking."
"Clarify," he allowed.
Boy, this could go wrong in many ways. Great move, Eirtaé...
The Handmaiden continued to speak, ever the bold and confident. "This is not the first time that the Jedi take their obligation carelessly and do not care about the risk."
"Ah yes, Jedi just playing with lives so casually is part of why we seem so removed from the average person in the galaxy," he admitted. "But if I was being truthful, you would never have to leave Naboo."
All of them blinked.
"Why wouldn't we?" Sabé inquired.
"Because I would have already sent Jedi to arrest Nute Gunray and bring him in front of the Republic for a trial, no matter the circumstances." He declared truthfully.
"Forgive her, she's a little blunt."
"Yes, I'm pretty sure they are, but they have good reasons to be," he smiled knowingly.
Padmé looked at him for a long moment. So did Sabé, Rabé, and Eirtaé.
"You knew... this entire time." Sabé said more than asked, though she wasn't alarmed. None of them were.
"Yes, when I first saw you, I immediately knew who you were," he confirmed, staring at the real Queen Amidala.
"And you went along with it," Rabé laughed, "sounds like something I would do."
He chuckled, "In my defense, I imagine you each would be alarmed if I informed you that I knew, so I decided to keep quiet."
Padmé nodded in understanding. "Fortunately, that might not be necessary soon."
"Oh no, I'd seen that look in your eyes before," Sabé said, skepticism slipping in. "What are you planning?"
"Don't worry about it," Padmé laughed. "Ms. Always Complaining About The Makeup."
"Don't change the subject, Padmé Naberrie Amidala."
"You'll see, mom," Padmé giggled.
Sabé was glaring at her as they landed. Padmé wasn't in the mood to tell her because for one it would lead to another long argument. She loved the woman like a sister, but Sabé sometimes was deathly overprotective over her.
When they arrived, there were ships positioned around, Jedi Starfighters, she concluded from the distance.
As it turned out, Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Qui-Gon Jinn were accompanied by the Masters of the Jedi Order. There was the face of a Jedi Master she'd only heard in Legends. The others were unfamiliar to her if she was being truthful, but seeing Grandmaster Yoda himself, the small green Jedi, the leader of the Jedi Order, was surreal.
The Queen and Handmaidens disembarked. Meanwhile, Luke collected the boy in his arms and walked over, keeping both hands wrapped around his back protectively. The reception surrounding the scene was mixed. While a few Jedi glared at the man as if the affectionate scene displeased them, a few of them smiled, disproving the myth that all of the Jedi were cold and careless.
"Greetings, Queen Amidala, a moment of Skywalker's time, may we borrow?" Yoda asked.
Padmé turned to Luke and he nodded. "Of course."
"Luke Skywalker, go to Naboo with the Queen, I take you are."
A hint of a smile played across Luke's face at that. Nostalgia, if Padmé did say so herself.
"Amuse you, I do?" the small green Jedi questioned.
"You remind me of a mentor of my time," he replied.
"More of my kind experienced with the Force as I am, there is?" A brief surprise crossed the Grandmaster's face. "Expect that, I did not."
"From a certain point of view," Luke answered ominously, his smile becoming more devilish now.
"Hmm. Rude it is, to not introduce ourselves," said the tiny green Jedi after a moment, "Master Yoda, I am."
One by one, the Jedi Council introduced themselves. A female Tholothian named Adi Gallia. A human female named Depa Billaba. A male Iridonian Zabrak named Eeth Koth. A male Lannik named Even Piell. A Cerean male named Ki-Adi-Mundi. A male Thisspiasian named Oppo Rancisis. A male Kel Dor named Plo Koon. A male Ikototchi named Saesee Tiin. A female of Yoda's kind named Yaddle. A male Quermian named Yarael Poof. The final one to introduce himself was a Korunian male named Mace Windu.
Master Windu cleared his throat. "You have our appreciation for helping two Jedi of our Order. However, we will like to know what sect you came from."
"None. I learned the Force in a different galaxy."
"May we ask how?" Koon asked.
Luke answered, "Jedi Holocrons."
"Impossible. We have all in our Vault," Mundi declared.
"Not all of them." He dismissed.
They exchanged stares. "Well, did you bring any along with you by chance?" Billaba asked. "Surely, countless Jedi can benefit from those."
"I wasn't able to recover them. Truthfully, I can't remember all of the details of how I ended up on Naboo," Luke replied sincerely.
Another silence.
"Master Jinn informed us of disturbing information that you've faced followers of the Dark Side. Apparently, you have felt a disturbance in the Force centered around this Invasion." Windu stated.
"I have," Luke stated honestly.
The Jedi exchanged troubled glances. The reactions were different. Some were eyeing Luke like he was mad. Others in horror. Others were in disbelief.
"The Ruusan Reformation-" Rancisis began slowly, peering at Luke. Padmé had the distinct feeling that he didn't like Luke for some reason. She didn't understand, given they'd just met.
"The Ruusan Reformation is a mistake," Luke interrupted with only a level of flatness in his tone. Always be prepared for war, because complacency can kill your nation."
The Jedi's disapproval of that settlement was clear.
Even Padmé didn't agree with him this time, what she thought about that morphing her lips up into a frown. The Ruusan Reformation was a new Era of the Republic. It signified the end of the wanton destruction and wars in the galaxy. It didn't ensure perfection, but nothing did.
Qui-Gon Jinn was the only one who voiced this. "If Sith never went extinct, they could've exploited a standing army. Firstly, by an old-fashioned military led coup. With an established officer corps and the right - or more correctly wrong - ethos, the military could easily have been susceptible to that type of takeover. Secondly, and more insidiously, militaries are expensive. Any threat could easily have funneled more and more money to military build-up to a perceived threat, and in the process have made the Republic cash-strapped and unable to assist citizens in other ways. The disaffection with the Republic, the perception that it can't do anything, that it's in the thrall of the "military-industrial complex," would've totally been an avenue for the Sith to weaken and topple the whole system."
"That's a fair point. The Jedi treating their Army of Light by shunning them is just distasteful. They risked their lives to save the Republic and the Jedi from the Sith, and they were received poorly. Let's not forget a definite side effect of the Ruusan Reformation, especially the military-gutting bit, is places like Tatooine having slavery rather openly due to the Hutts taking advantage of the relative lack of Republic presence. Don't forget that Arkanis and Chommell, the star sectors for Tatooine and Naboo, respectively, to say very little about the two themselves, are close enough in distance that a ship can go between the two places without using a Hyperdrive. And since Naboo is clearly a part of the Republic, that will necessarily mean that Tatooine will also implicitly be in Republic borders. And the only reason why they have no presence is if they had no standing military, aka, the military-gutting of the Ruusan Reformation, even if stripping the Jedi of their rank was necessary: getting rid of the entire military apparatus altogether was and still is not, and if anything, is FAR more damaging overall. I might add, it's not like we can't just have the Senators run the military. The Golden Age also resulted in a high level of tolerance to piracy."
Padmé couldn't argue that either. Hell, she looked like a complete idiot when she wondered why the Republic wasn't capable of doing anything about slavery on Tatooine.
"Let us focus on the more important matter," Billaba declared, "if what you proclaim is the truth, you have experience in fighting Dark Side Adepts. While we don't want to dismiss this, that is a bold statement. Are you certain that this vergence is a Sith?"
"Yes," Luke grimaced, "though my experiences are not as orthodox as you may like to believe. The Sith didn't go extinct. They have decided to adapt."
"Unlikely. The Dark Side is too addictive."
"The Rule of Two was created for two main reasons; 1. So the Sith will be considered extinct from the galaxy and could operate from the shadows. 2. The Rule of Two ensures that the Apprentice will have to kill his or her Master in order to become The Dark Lord of The Sith. This ensures that the Apprentice is strong enough to defeat the Master and therefore worthy of the title. It also forbids the Master from training more than one Apprentice at a time, this is to ensure that a group of Apprentices, who alone wouldn't be a match for the Master, did not consolidate and kill the Master. If this would've happened it would mean that instead of having two extremely powerful individuals, there would be a much less powerful group of Appprentices with no obvious leader, less knowledge of the Force, and they would provide a much bigger target for anyone looking for them."
It was... perfect.
It was also completely horrifying.
Oh kriff...
Windu added, "It doesn't make any sense for them to suddenly announce their presence if this is the truth."
"I believe that the Sith are finally initiating the Grand Plan," Luke declared, his blue eyes lost.
"Two against what? Ten thousand? I imagine that wouldn't bode well." Poof spoke up in amusement and levity. Windu looked seconds away from rolling his eyes. Definitely the clown of the Jedi Council.
"Who says they aren't operating from the shadows?" Luke suggested. "It is possible instead of being warlords or invaders, they're daggers. The Sith of say Revan or Exar Kun's time are excellent warriors. But the Sith of now are better Saboteurs and Infiltrators. A Sith of the Old Republic would never be able to have the influence and reach with the Dark Side that the Sith now had."
"...Point taken," Windu acknowledged.
"For someone who knows so much, how do we know that you aren't this Sith fanatic?" Tiin asked sharply. Seriously, what was the guy's problem-acting like he had a stick up... No, such thoughts were rude and unbecoming for a Queen of Naboo.
"Because I am not manipulating the Queen," Luke replied simply. "Nor do I legally have to comply with your wishes without cause. Instead, I am here, attempting to warn you as to what the Sith are planning."
Tiin glared, "All Force users in Republic's space is the Jedi's responsibility. We thus have the right to question you, forcibly if we must. What gives you immunity from the Dark Side?"
It felt almost like the air around them had dropped in degrees in temperature, and based on the look on Luke's face, she would almost say he was the cause of it.
"If you must know," he somehow sounded more terrifying without shouting, "I lost a relative to the Dark Side. I barely knew him. But I know the cautionary tale he'd left behind. Know that the Dark Side is not the resolution to problems. However, while we're on this topic, why don't we discuss how YOU lead students down the path of the Dark Side?"
Tiin blinked, abashed.
"HOW DARE-" Obi-Wan began.
"I'm not finished." Luke snapped, and everyone looked at him, their eyes widened. Padmé was afraid all of a sudden. "I lost my wife, my sister, my son, my nephew, niece, my brother-in-law, and so many of my friends all in a span of a day so I will so appreciate if you didn't act like you know me-" Luke cut himself off, throat clenching agonizingly with a sharp, sudden grief. She was gripped by the impulse to hug him at that moment. "You want to know what I have to live with. Watching your best friend and youngest nephew die. Watching your sister and brother-in-law lose their youngest son. Watching your uncle and aunt get burnt alive." The words came calmly but through gritted teeth.
Anakin shifted slightly in his arms as if disturbed, but Luke had the rational of mind to rub circles into his back, allowing him to fall back asleep.
"This is why you should avoid attachments," Tiin said, frustratingly impassive.
The darkness on Luke's face increased. It did not look so safe on his usually tranquil face. Uh oh, Luke was angry. It was fortunate that the boy was still in his hands. Because that lightsaber hilt seemed to have shaken a little.
"Master Tiin, I don't need your advice. Don't misunderstand my next words, I don't say this lightly at all, kriff you. You want to control me? You won't. How dare you? How dare you?" He growled. It was an understatement to refer to the emotion in the atmosphere as shock. "This is why Anakin Skywalker must not become a Jedi."
"Regardless of how you feel, you access the Force. I advise you to thread carefully here. You are not part of our Jedi Order, but we will take action against anyone who is a threat against the Republic." Tiin swallowed, eyeing Luke like he was a time bomb.
"The Force is not only restricted to you. I will not throw myself to my knees and bow like another indoctrinated student of yours. The Jedi and Sith only sees good and evil, heroes and villains, black and white; but the Outer Rim shows why that altruistic interpretation fall apart."
"Slavery is abhorrent," Tiin admitted bitingly, "but natural balance is brought in the Outer Rim as amoral as it is. If we wipe them out, the system will fall into chaos and civil wars. There are ecosystems everywhere, and the Jedi are meant to maintain balance with them. Violence leads to a disrupt of that balance."
Luke let out an exaggerated sigh, looking at Masters Windu, Yaddle, and Yoda; and the Queen had the feeling that he was about to-
"Why is this moron on the Council?"
There, he'd done it.
Back to Tiin...
"You are an imbecile. A bumptious, vainglorious, sanctimonious imbecile. Ignoring slavery is not balance and harmony, for the Dark Side feeds off suffering and that's what all slaves endure. That's ignorance. Balance is understanding the Dark and accepting the Dark but choosing to remain in the Light. The Jedi are wrong to fear the Dark Side because it'll always exist. But the divide in the Force isn't quite moral absolutism.
The primary reason why you will not act against the Hutts is because they have so many politicians in their pockets. The Senate will not allow you to touch them, or the politicians' corruption will be exposed. Most politicians even engage in the art itself." He was staring at Yoda now. "Should I mention Galidraan and Baltizaar? All the other times? The Force continuously remind you of what is important, and yet you never listen. You have a choice, the power to make a change, to do better, but you choose not to. By ignoring the people, slavery, you ignore the Will of the Force-for the Dark Side feeds off everything, making all of your victories short-term. Your gullibility is going to destroy the Jedi Order and the galaxy."
Time after time, again and again, you chose the quick and easy path as the Sith did."
A lengthy silence passed, but Luke wasn't done.
"What the Force considers isn't necessarily tied to human morality. Your apathy is dooming the galaxy. So, Masters, unless I'm confused, and I have been sheltered from the realities of the galaxy with a cult and you were the ones who went through all of that, not even ever meeting my parents or encountering familial love, don't ask why I am angry."
Most Jedi blinked in surprise yet again. Padmé did too. Wow, this made Tatooine like a typical Naboo's rainstorm compared to the tropical hurricane and tornado that was being released now.
"The Jedi are not a cult," Piell defended, the opinion shared by all Jedi. "We're a proud culture. A cult would be the Sith. We don't steal children from their parents. We have plenty of Jedi with trauma and they recover from it. We can help him."
"While I have no doubt many Jedi got trauma over the years and during missions, Anakin's experience is extremely contradictory to what you are used to. Of course, this leaves you without many tools to try to recognize what can be happening with Anakin, let alone heal him, because you'll expect Anakin to go along with your way of life, not you trying to understand where he is coming from.
I believe Anakin's time in the Jedi Order will be damaging to his development because he is already used to living among a family. His mother, or any other family, will be the best place for him in his earlier years, just like it was for me."
"We're a family," Yaddle argued. "Communication, amalgamation, and the bond between instructor and student is permitted."
Luke looked at her now, "You are used to treat different species but this doesn't mean you are experts at handling trauma. You proselytize children young enough not to remember their family, parents, sisters or brothers because you believed that make easier their training. They don't have any baggage to deal with, that way the Jedi's way of life is all they understand and so didn't have convoluted emotions about their place in the world or on Coruscant."
"It's not that simple," Windu replied vigorously. "While it is true none are entailed to special treatment in our Order, we have guidelines in place for the most extreme circumstances."
"My point is, Master Windu, you may claim to be trauma experts. But you're not. Most of you have never struggled with the worst of trauma, and have literally no idea what you are talking about. Everything you "know" about therapy is based on your own fallacy. Case being-mind healers and therapists are supposed to be neutral. The Jedi are anything but. Second: childhood trauma is actually worse because children are still developing, emotionally and psychologically. For children, trauma can and will have a pernicious impact on their progress. Ask any that work in the field, and they'll tell you this. If a person is traumatized during their formative years, it will almost always impact them for the rest of their life. For example, conditions like narcissistic personality disorder, bipolar, and others originates in trauma. Adults deal better with trauma than children do-its just a simple fact."
Wow, Padmé had... never considered this before. She should do more research on the topic.
And well, it would seem that Luke had defeated the Jedi verbally speaking. Always so astute, she thought and was unable to stop a sudden burst of pride.
"Let's... alter the subject, shall we? Is there any information about this supposed Sith?" Jinn inquired now.
They were clearly alarmed.
"Yes, the Sith Master is here, on this planet."
"Ex squeezee mesa," Jar Jar interrupted the conversation, pushing past them to the entrance of the ship.
Everyone froze and stared at the Gungan, but allowed him access.
"Is it him?" Yarael Poof recommended with a slight smirk, motioning to the Gungan-who tripped over his own two feet and crashed into one of the guards' crates, earning unimpressed stares by the Nabooian party.
All Jedi gave Poof various looks at that. Even Luke snorted. Personally, Padmé almost could see it. After all, in the Holofilms, there was the ancient mythological story-telling tradition-in which the "master wizard" was someone least expected.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity," Qui-Gon Jinn answered wisely.
"We're going to assume you know a name of this supposed Sith?" Windu inquired, interested.
"...Yes, he goes by the name of Darth Sidious," Luke responded.
Sidious.
Sidious.
The name alone sent a shiver down the Queen's spine.
"For eons the Sith have been in hiding because of the Jedi. They waited biding their time. Each generation they grew stronger in secret. Sidious is the most recent Sith Lord of many. As you stagnate, the Sith Order allows you to rule in bliss. The Jedi present themselves as the bastion of strength in the galaxy. This is a lie."
All of the Masters looked at him now, despair, denial, and all of such...
"The plan is cruel and calculated, and he showed every one how much of a lie it was. The Sith put every weakness you had on display and cut through them." Luke paused. "The Sith have influential allies. This is not the start of the plan but the beginning of the end. The culmination of a thousand years old Sith plan. This move herald that the Sith are finally ready to execute their plan. There's absolutely nothing you can do for the Republic."
"Barring gathering actual evidence, we can demonstrate our case to the Senate and defeat this Sidious..." Jinn suggested, seeming to believe him.
Luke laughed, and it wasn't a kind one. "Do you really believe you can take over the Senate and boss over thousands of corrupt politicians AFTER killing a legally elected official (who's also very likely beloved) and that won't be just seen as an attempt by the crazy monks trying to take over the Republic?"
Gungan's poodoo, that sounded as bad as it sounds when he put it that way.
"So you would have us surrender the Republic?!" Windu snapped.
"We swore an oath to the people and Force, not the Republic," Luke replied uncouthly.
"Why are you doing this?! What is the point of all this?!" Mundi started. "Do you have a rationalization for everything?!"
He picked his face back up, a frustrated glint passing through his eyes. "I apologize if my absence of tongue-tied deference to your supreme disconnection from how the galaxy works and how the Sith is taking advantage of your inadequacy is a disappointment, Master Mundi."
"It just isn't possible," Kenobi mumbled.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Luke landed the Grandmaster squarely with a pointed stare. "But around six hundred years ago or so, fallen Jedi Knight Allya was banished to Dathomir, where she became the founder of the Witches of Dathomir. Over a hundred years ago, a Dark Jedi conflict occurred on Genarius, led by fallen Padawan Kibh Jeen. These are some of the major cases where it was shown how treacherous the Dark Side is."
Yoda grimaced and fell back, looking down in a mixture of shame and sadness.
"But how can you be sure that this is a Sith and not a Dark Jedi?" Koon inquired.
"Are you familiar with the ability of masking oneself with the Force?" Luke asked. "How long it takes to master it?"
"Yes, an ability to cloud oneself to the..." He trailed off, clearly getting the implication.
"Exactly."
"No, the Sith would strike with an army, not in a patient and calculated plan like this," Mundi argued vehemently in his defense. "The Dark Side aches for battle, death, blood. One of us would have felt it by now." If Padmé was being truthful, that felt like a denial.
"You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not adapt, you will meet your destiny."
Oppo Rancisis frowned. "But surely-"
"Lana Beniko, Darth Marr, the Emperor's Wrath, Revan," Luke asserted. "They were the perfect example of contradictory from narcissistic megalomaniac Sith. Pragmatic and open minded. If all the other Sith were like them, the Republic would have been defeated already. One can even argue if the other Sith were like them, they wouldn't have started a war with the Republic or even bother to build an Empire, they would have spent all their time exploring the galaxy and learning new Force techniques. You have to acclimatize with the times, to be prepare for sacrifice of the Order is to survive. There is no great revelation, no great secret, it is only you."
"So you hate the Jedi?" Eeth Koth asked, seeming neutral on the whole case.
"No, but I hate what you represent. I hate that you choose cowardice instead of realism. I hate that you ignore the Will of the Force, that you shed independence and free will which the Force encourages, that you believe yourselves the Masters of it and miscomprehend what is needed to achieve balance, when countless lives are lost." Luke stared down regretfully. "However, I am not above helping the Jedi Order in their time of peril. I will be an ally to the Jedi if you so accept."
"...We will consider your ultimatum," Windu declared, dare she say distant respect in his tone now, as he began to turn around, "and get back with you when a vote is decided." He looked at her. "Thank you, Your Highness."
They all bowed before they disembarked, save one.
Adi Gallia.
"Your Majesty, it is our pleasure to continue to serve and protect," Qui-Gon Jinn persisted. "Via your concerns, additional support has been assigned. May I properly introduce Jedi Master Adi Gallia and her Padawan Siri Tachi? Master Gallia is one of the leaders of the Starfighter Corps, and Padawan Tachi is soon to follow. Their skills with piloting is beyond prestigious."
And only then did Padmé notice the young woman behind Gallia. The woman was a blonde human female with blue eyes and fair skin. Behind the Queen, Luke frowned as he spotted the two youngest Jedi's eyes shifted to one another and away, obviously uncomfortable.
"We will do our utmost best to break this blockade free, Your Highness." Gallia promised curtly. Padmé just realized that she had remained quiet throughout this meeting.
Disregarding this thought, Queen Amidala nodded, "The fleet have been our biggest concerns, Master Jedi, and I am pleased to see that the Jedi Council is taking this matter seriously. It is a relief to have renowned pilots accompanying us."
"Wesa going homeeeee!" Jar Jar howled.
Padmé almost jumped.
That Gungan...