Chapter 14: Forms and Tactics
Jedi Temple, Coruscant, 28 BBY
As Mace entered the Room of A Thousand Fountains, he realized to his surprise that he was looking forward to this encounter. Jedi Council meetings had been extremely tense over the past few weeks, as his fellow Masters struggled to integrate the information Leia Organa had brought from the future into their vision of the present. Not only had Master Organa's blood sample proven that she was indeed the daughter of Padawan Skywalker, but Master Kenobi had doggedly pursued her information about Kamino until it finally led him to a shrouded water planet filled with infant clones, supposedly bought and paid for by one of their own, the lost Jedi Syfo-Dyas. Given what Organa had claimed about Palpatine, notifying the Senate of the situation seemed like an enormous risk, yet not informing them could easily lead to accusations of treason against the Republic.
Both Shaak Ti and Yarael Poof had taken time to visit the Alderaanian Jedi, and each had returned to report that the small group, recently joined by a young Twi'lek girl who had, apparently, attempted to steal the set of moss paintings that Leia's family had donated to the Order. Most of their time appeared to be spent retrofitting the building they'd purchased and practicing cooking, cleaning and meditation, though the Corellian "companion" living with them was heard to complain about the unarmed defense classes that Master Organa was requiring everyone on site to attend.
Thus, the odd jedi's request to meet with him, specifically, came as a bit of a surprise, as Mace had been quite certain of their mutual dislike.
"This is stunning," a low female voice said softly, as he moved into the large chamber, "absolutely stunning."
Mace walked toward the slate bench where Leia Organa sat gazing at the series of fountains and running streams that meandered throughout the room. He paused. Was it possible that she had grown a bit in the last month? She seemed slightly taller or perhaps more muscular, as she rose to greet him.
"Thank you for meeting with me, Master Windu. I won't waste your time with trivialities, although…" again she looked around the room, "I don't suppose beauty like this is really trivial."
"I had the impression," Mace told her, "that you had been to the Temple in your future. Was this room destroyed?"
"Not destroyed, exactly. The pools were still here as well as the streambeds, but the water was gone when a friend and I tested our nascient skills at breaking and entering on the locks to find out what was concealed here." She shrugged. "It was just a large, empty room, dark and a bit haunted. Amilyn was very disappointed."
Leia moved back to the bench, where she settled herself and picked up a pad and stylus. "I have been able to negotiate partial access to the Jedi Archives. One of the things I've been researching is lightsaber training. Master Nu has allowed me to read descriptions of the seven forms and quite a bit about their history. She said that the Council would have to approve any actual training, but that I was free to read the introductory textbook." Leia smiled. "She claimed that even the most impulsive seven-year old youngling had not been able to do much damage with that particular volume."
Mace took a seat on a bench across from her. Was she going to ask him to train her or her students? Surely not! "Go on," he told her warily.
"Based on what I've been reading, I think that my brother was trained mostly in Forms 2 and 4, at least initially, which makes sense if he was being sent to defeat a single opponent, especially one thought to be a great deal more powerful than he was. He also used elements of Form 6, um," she looked at her notes, "Niman, tossing around objects and pushing and pulling at his opponents with the Force." Leia tapped at the pad. "He taught me that style as well, though with some modifications to suit my own abilities. I was trained in hand-to-hand combat growing up, so I was relatively graceful and accustomed to using whatever happened to be in my environment as a weapon."
"That seems reasonable," Mace told her. "Form 6 has become the most popular of the combat forms, one which some feel makes the greatest use of force abilities while fighting."
"But you disagree with that assessment," Leia observed.
Mace frowned. "It is somewhat less demanding than most other lightsaber forms, requiring less training and discipline."
"My notes," Leia continued, "claim that you are a master, one of the only masters, of Form 7. That you are able to use anger and other passions to channel the Force without falling to the Dark Side. The textbook says that only the Council can give permission for a jedi to learn Form 7; to all others, it is forbidden."
"Master Organa, surely you are not asking me to teach you Vaapad combat techniques!" If she were, he would refuse her, he thought. She was far too volatile for such instruction.
"I am not. In fact," Leia sighed, "I'm not certain that any of the seven forms really fit my aptitude. Frankly, I am not a duelist at all." She leaned towards him. "You must understand: I spent many years fighting, first for the Rebellion and later for the Resistance, but in both instances I was fighting an asymmetrical war using guerrilla tactics. We were always a small group struggling against a larger, better resourced opponent. One-on-one duels are folly under such circumstances. When you are outnumbered a thousand to one, you simply cannot fight that way and survive, no matter how skilled your individual soldiers."
"In that case, I do not see how I can help you," Mace told her.
"I came to you because, though you are reluctant to admit it, we are very much alike," Leia explained. "When you developed Vaapad, you were taking an enormous risk, were you not? You were breaking tradition and experimenting with a dangerous combat form used primarily by the Sith."
Mace shifted, "I was. Yet I had to follow the will of the Force and believe that it was leading me down that path for a purpose."
Leia nodded. "Yes, exactly. That is the position I find myself in as well. I have been thinking about why the Force chose me to send on this journey. There were better choices, not only my brother, but my own apprentice or, well, a few others who were very skilled and experienced. It seems to me that I must follow my own path here, even if it seems…dubious by the standards of traditional Jedi."
"Master Organa, what exactly is it you want to know? What are you planning?"
"I would like to permission to go to Ilum and find a second kyber crystal so that I can build a double bladed lightsaber," she told him.
"You wish to learn Jar-Kai? That is not a technique for beginners," he warned.
"Not Jar-Kai. Tràgata."
"Tràgata is for Sith!" Mace objected.
"So is form 7," she shot back. "Look, I am not a duelist; I am a rebel and a spy, and I need a technique that will let me kill a Sith Lord, possibly more than one. Or more than once. I understand that Tràgata is deceptive and unsporting. It only works by taking your opponent by surprise, by using their strength in the Force against them, and if it doesn't work, you die. Immediately."
Leia gazed at him intently. "Master Windu, a double-bladed lightsaber only looks double-bladed when both sides are activated. And I have a ghostfire crystal."
Finally, Mace understood what the woman was planning. "A ghostfire crystal to produce an invisible blade at one end. So that when you seem to be disarmed…"
"There is a little creature on the planet Tatooine called a profogg. They are quick and small and mostly run from the desert carnivores. But during mating season, they become desperate to protect and feed their young, so when they cannot escape a predator, they fall over and play dead, stopping their own hearts until the pursuing beast leans over to scoop them up. That's when they open their venom sacs and spray the larger animal. If they hit their enemy in the eyes, the venom kills in seconds. If they miss, they die." Leia paused. "If the Force had wanted to send you a Loth-wolf or a Krayt dragon, it could have done so. Instead, you got me."
"An Alderaanian profogg who plans to use the Force as…venom?"
Leia nodded. "Yes. So, how do I get permission for the voyage to Ilum?"
Mace felt the familiar headache coming on. "I will have to introduce you to Professor Huyang," he told her. "I hope you can tolerate instruction from an extremely unusual and candid droid."
Master Organa grinned. "I never underestimate a droid. And since we're going to be friends, I think you should call me Leia, don't you?"
"Friends? I don't have friends, Master Organa."
"Leia," the girl insisted, "and you have one now."