Chapter 6: Shadows of The Future
Deep in the Inner Core
The Millennium Falcon came out of hyperspace above the planet Ben knew as Tython, believed in legends to be the home world of the Jedi. Ben knew that wasn't true. Ach-To was, in fact, the original home of the Jedi Order. The myths and stories about this planet were legion. The Jedi scholars of his time were confused as to the origin of the myths and stories that surrounded the planet. Ben thought about the story Grogu once told him of his adventures with the Mandalorian warrior on this planet. His father had heard his call for help and had barely been in time to rescue the youngling from Moff Gideon's Dark Troopers. His father had trained him several months, long enough to grasp his powers. Grogu had then returned to journey with the Mandalorian, promising to come back one day.
This proved fortuitous as the first Thrawn crisis hit about this time, and it would not have been a good thing for Luke to have to carry the tiny Grogu around the jungles of Myrrk with Ben's mother Mara holding them prisoner. Ben smiled at the image as the the ship came above the scenery. Instead of the ancient ruins of the temple, they were going to a lessor known site next to an ocean on the planet's southern hemisphere. It was here that Ahsoka had stayed during the previous months after getting her hands on the Falcon.
Vestara had questioned her about the ship and discovered Ahsoka had bought it off a dealer in Nal Hutta where it had been adrift after a crash. (Why she was out there and not in the inner core, they would have to ask later.) The planet's crime lords had planned for it to have the best in all things smuggler, including the illegal .5 hyperspace drive. Ahsoka managed to purchase it with a generous portion of credits. She learned the ship's name from Ben, who told her he knew one of its owners but had assured her that he would not mind them borrowing it for the foreseeable future. Ahsoka landed alongside a small uninhabited village that was in remarkably good condition, despite not having been inhabited for the previous millennium.
The group scattered to find the best lodging places, with Ben and Vestara choosing to reside in one of the Falcon's rooms. Ahsoka chose a cabin at the top of the village overlooking the ocean. Obi-Wan chose the accompanying cabin while Padme and Anakin secretly took the cabin on the other end of the village, the furthest one from the ship. The Clones decided to rough it. What had once been the common house in the center was chosen as the site for meals and training sessions.
Hilltop over the Village- Tython
Obi-Wan Kenobi sat down beside Ahsoka to gaze over the ocean. It was the first time he had spoken to her since she left the Order. "This planet is an amazing place," he said. "It's so peaceful. I'm amazed the Order doesn't have a presence here."
Ahsoka looked at him. "Don't you know where we are?"
Obi-Wan nodded in the negative.
"We are on the planet Tython," Ahsoka explained.
Obi-Wan's eyes went wide. "How did you find this planet? It was said that the hyperspace lanes had become unstable, and the Order lost it a millennium ago."
"When Master Solo knighted me, he gave me the coordinates to a stable hyperspace lane that could access the planet," Ahsoka answered.
Kenobi blinked at that. "I was under the impression that you were knighted by a pair of shadows."
Ahsoka looked at the couple in the distance."Is that not what they are?" she asked. "Granted they never told me they were, but it seemed a safe guess at the time."
Kenobi relaxed at the answer. "No, they are from a separate Jedi Order, deep in the unknown regions. It is said only a few can travel the distance at any given time. But based on what you say, they apparently have knights occasionally running around even in the deep core."
Ahsoka looked out at the ship. "How has another Order avoided the notice of the Council for so long?"
Kenobi shrugged "Apparently, they were established just after the Purges. Maybe they believed isolation would keep them safe. In a galaxy with trillions of people, the sight of two Jedi running around wouldn't necessarily be a cause to report, especially if they kept a low profile." He looked out over the ocean. "Ahsoka, I want to say I'm sorry for what happened and that I didn't do enough to help you."
Ahsoka shook her head. "There's no need to apologize. The Sith targeted me to get to Anakin. From what Master Solo said, the timing of my trial so soon after what happened on Mandalore was no coincidence. It was timed so you couldn't help me."
Kenobi paled visibly. This was news to him. "You're saying they targeted you and Satine to get to Anakin?"
"I'm not sure if the Temple bombing was simply taking advantage of the situation or whether Maul's attack was coordinated with the bombing," Ahsoka said. "Either way, you paid more than I did."
"I believe I will be having a chat with Master Solo about his knowledge," Kenobi said, visibly shaken by what he had heard.
Ahsoka nodded and looked at the ship. "Perhaps we should learn more about our new friends. It would appear they have secrets."
The Skywalker cabin -Tython
"I got to admit, this is a nice-looking place," Padme said as she looked out the window. "Is this where we will be staying for the duration of your trip?"
"I'm not sure but given where we are, we can reach decent medical centers within a few hours, given the hyperdrive that ship has," Anakin said, placing the bags around the room. "I would love to know how Snips got a ship with a .5 hyperdrive. The Twilight is only rated to 1.2." Anakin geeked out over the ship's engines. "She can make it to most of the outer rim in probably a mere 3 days.
"I noticed that the Jedi with us are married. Are they from the Correlian Temple?" Padme asked.
"No, I believe they are from much further away," Anakin said.
For some time, the pair had discussed Anakin switching over to the other group after the Clone Wars, due to their allowance of marriage amongst their members. The primary issue with green Jedi - other than their Correlian daredevil attitude, which was the opposite of what Anakin needed- was that they never went out of the system, working mainly with Cor Sec and dealing with crimes and smugglers. For a couple living either on Naboo or Coruscant, Correllia wasn't exactly close enough to commute. Anakin was friends with several Correlian Jedi who had joined the main Order for the duration of the Clone Wars.
"So, no chance of a transfer," Padme said ruefully.
"Don't know. Maybe if they allow people to work within the core worlds. Maybe as a liaison with the Coruscant Order," Anakin replied thoughtfully.
The couple continued the chat, wondering what the end of the war would be like.
Millenium Falcon
Lounging on the couch in the main room, Vestara waited while her husband did his bout of ADHD pacing of the floors. Generally, boredom took hold of Ben if he was neither actively researching, reading a book, or sparring. This, though, was his thinking pacing, trying to work out a puzzle. Vestara knew what was likely on his mind.
"Your grandfather's not as dark as we expected," Vestara said.
"Yes," Ben answered,"there are certainly some dark patches, but, frankly, they're little different than one sees on any Jedi who has been in conflict for a long time. How did he go from this point to a full blown Sith Lord that killed every Jedi in the galaxy in the matter of a few weeks?"
"Perhaps the changes we made have had more effect than we anticipated," Vestara mused. "We delivered the letter and got Ahsoka back in the order 30 years earlier than in our timeline."
Ben paced thoughtfully. "Perhaps. Though, those are rather small things in the long term. Kenobi said in his journal that by Mustafar Anakin had fallen hard- harder than he had been on Mortis, and he couldn't talk him out of it. On Mortis Kenobi said that he was still thinking rationally even if his conclusions were sorely lacking, but on Mustafar he was hysterical and arrogant."
"The power rush would have had him very off balance on Mustafar, with his conscious being eaten away as they fought each other," Vestara said. "The darkness would have made him think he was invincible. I'm still surprised the Emperor let him go out like that without knocking him down a peg or two first, like the teachers at home did."
"The Emperor was likely riding a high himself, having executed Order 66 and his plans coming to fruition, and he thought himself invincible," Ben stated. "Yoda's journal indicated he was cocky with him at the beginning of their fight until he threw him against the wall. Father said Palpatine's weakness was his arrogance in believing he had everything planned out."
"Hence our plan to come in and ruin his perfect plan at the last second before he could plan a contingency," Vestara pointed out. "Hence the blackout so there are no 'distress signals' conveniently sent to draw us back in. Pity we have to leave Mandalore in Maul's hands, though."
Ben shrugged. "The Emperor will not allow Mandalore to remain in Maul's hands long. He will order troops to Mandalore, probably before the week's out, with a Jedi at the head- hoping to take both permanently out of commission. What do you think about Anakin's current power levels?"
"He is powerful," Vestara said, going into her analytic mode. "Probably about the same power level as you when I met you. I guess I thought he would be as strong as your father is, but that was dreaming, as your family typically gets more powerful the older they get."
"As Vader, he was never as strong as the Emperor, probably a result of Mustafar, or he would have overthrown him once he found he lied about his family. Father said Vader believed he needed his help to overthrow him," Ben said. "But we should not underestimate the Sith Lord's powers. He had father completely incapacitated and it cost my grandfather his life to save him. Can I help you, Master Kenobi?"
Vestara looked back to see the Jedi master at the doorway. It was a common Jedi problem. While a Jedi can feel presences, the Force doesn't always send an alert when the person isn't a threat.
Obi-Wan walked into the room. "My apologies for intruding, but I believe you may have answered some of my questions. I couldn't help but overhearing that your father fought this Sith Lord."
"Yes," Ben said, "He was just a student at the time, but he had just defeated the Sith apprentice when the master incapacitated him. My grandfather, a powerful Jedi knight, intervened and saved him but died of his injuries."
"My condolences. My own master was killed by a Sith Lord," Obi-Wan said, sitting down. "Does your Order know the identity of this Darth Sidious?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, we cannot move against him. He is too established in the Republic hierarchy to arrest him without him proof, and even if we did, he would have his armies crush the Republic and the Jedi," Ben said solemnly. "We gave Yoda the information we could, so we hope he can use it to his advantage. However, am I correct in believing the Council thinks he is playing both sides?"
Kenobi nodded grimly. "Indeed, we had hoped that was a false trail to follow but evidence we found proved conclusively that Dooku was, indeed, the apprentice."
"Whatever you are thinking, I can assure you it isn't bad enough. We believe he will soon openly proclaim himself as Emperor of the galaxy if perhaps not as a Sith Lord," Vestara said.
"The coup d'etat you alluded to," Kenobi said. "Any proof you can provide?"
"None that will hold a candle in court," Ben said.
"That's too bad," Anakin said, walking in. "It would be nice to arrest him and have this war over. Would you care to let us in on the secret?"
Ben and Vestara looked at each other.
"No, you wouldn't believe us if we told you," Ben said slowly "He will reveal himself shortly. I will say you will be in for a nasty shock. I will ask you to remember that this is the individual that ordered Senator Amidala's death several times over, ordered the Naboo invasion, and started and prolonged the Clone Wars for his sole benefit."
"How about a clue to let us figure it out?" Anakin pressed.
A quick glance from Ben, and Vestara answered, "Very well, but this is all you're getting."
Kenobi and Skywalker leaned forward expectantly.
Vestara leaned in and whispered, "The Sith Lord still gained his ultimate objective in the Naboo crisis, despite losing the battle and his apprentice."
Kenobi and Skywalker blinked, confused.
"Are you sure?" Kenobi asked.
"Positive," Ben answered. "Remember, we know who he is."
"The Sith control everything, you just don't know it." The words of Count Dooku in his hideout on Naboo came to Anakin. Three times during the Clone wars, the Jedi had to stop the CIS forces from some form of intrigue on the planet.
"Either way, we gave Yoda everything we could, so the ball is in his court. Hopefully, he can do something. For now, you guys need to be concerned about your training," Vestara said.
"Great." Anakin jumped from his seat and pulled out his lightsaber. "Let's go."
"Not so fast," Ben said, amused. "Lightsaber training will indeed be a part of what we do but first, meditation."
Anakin's face fell at that while Obi-Wan chuckled.
Vestara looked at Anakin. "I would have thought you would enjoy it."
Anakin looked at her. "It's so boring."
Ves and Ben looked at each other. "You won't think that by the time we're done with you."
"If you can do that, you're a better teacher than me," Obi-Wan said.
"We will see first thing in the morning," Ben said. "Training begins at sunrise on top of the hill."
Obi-Wan and Anakin both left the ship.
"What do you think of the fact they have secrets?" Anakin asked.
Obi-Wan sighed. "There is more about them than we know, but Master Yoda seemed to know more about them and trusted them."
"Still for a group that's located deep in the unknown regions, they seem to know an awful lot about what's going on," Anakin said.
"True, but based on your adventures in wild space didn't you say another group out there was interested in the Clone Wars?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin thought back to his and Padme's adventures with the Chiss commander Thrawn. "Yes, and he was aware of stories about Jedi and Sith. Perhaps this group is where the tales come from," he said thoughtfully.
"Then perhaps it makes sense for these Jedi to also keep a closer tab on the core with the Clone Wars ongoing, if they believe the Sith are involved," Obi-Wan mused. "As to why not reveal the identity to us, I don't know, we already know it's someone with a lot of power in the Senate and who likely resides in the Senate's apartments. But they don't seem to think we would believe them."
"It could even be Mas Amedda, perhaps," Anakin said.
"Perhaps. I personally suspect someone close to the Chancellor," Obi-Wan said. "Someone could even be influencing him to increase the power of the Chancellor's office so that person can take the reins of power."
"If the Chancellor dies, doesn't the chancellorship revert to Amedda?" Anakin.
"Usually, but it sometimes falls to the Chancellor's council, in which you have characters like Presage and Doriana," Kenobi said. "And I'm not sure if any of the emergency measures haven't placed the election of a new Chancellor into the hands of that council instead of the Senate."
Kenobi didn't mention that he suspected the Chancellor went along with these war time measures because he enjoyed power way too much and based on what they were hearing, it might cost him.
"At least Yoda was informed," Anakin said. "I imagine he could take the Sith Lord down alone if needed."
"I had heard you had a brief match in the training center. How did that go?" Obi-Wan asked.
"It was very enlightening, my old Master. I'm hoping to convince him to show me some of his tricks," Anakin said.
"So, you were beaten out of sight, in other words," Obi-Wan said.
"Basically." Anakin replied.
Kenobi laughed as he headed towards his hut. "Good night, my former padawan."
3 Hours later
Anakin stirred in his sleep, troubled by seeing the visions he had been seeing for some time. Padme was first to stir and noticed he was having trouble. Across the camp in the Millennium Falcon, Vestara, the former Sith, sensed darkness and rapidly awakened her husband, who sensed something was off.
"The Sith," Vestara spat as they dived out of bed towards the door.
Obi-Wan could sense something was troubling his padawan and decided since they were going to have the conversation about Padme anyway, it might as well be now. Ahsoka also sensed her master having trouble and headed down the hill, meeting Kenobi coming out of his door.
"Ahh, Ahsoka, I guess we might as well make this a group effort," Kenobi said, trying to not show his concern.
Ahsoka nodded and sighed as they continued. They, however, grew alarmed when they saw the strange Jedi couple with lit lightsabers, racing for Anakin's cabin.
"Are we under attack?" Ahsoka asked.
"Don't know, let's find out.' Kenobi lit his saber and started running down the hill with Ahsoka right behind him. Anakin had awoken, feeling disturbed, despite the dreams not being as vivid as they had been and had just sat up when the door to the hut flew open with the Force. To his surprise, the married Jedi dashed in, looking around with lightsabers drawn.
"Clear," Vestara said.
Ben nodded and shut down his saber. Anakin and Padme were now seriously confused and tongue-tied, but thankful their pajamas were decent.
"Is the presence gone?" Ben asked.
Vestara walked around. "I still feel a trace. But perhaps it wasn't from an intruder."
Kenobi and Ahsoka dashed in about this time, furthering the busted couple's silence.
"What's happening?" Kenobi asked.
"The presence of darkness.," Vestara responded. "It was very strong for about 40 seconds, and it came from in here."
"I didn't sense darkness, but I knew Anakin was disturbed by something," Kenobi said with Ahsoka nodding in agreement.
All eyes turned to the couple sitting awkwardly on the edge of their bed.
"He was having nightmares," Padme said quietly.
"How long has this been happening?" Vestara asked, perhaps a bit more harshly than she meant.
"A week or so," Anakin said. "What does darkness have to do with this?"
"Perhaps everything. Sit," Vestara ordered.
Realizing there was no way to recover the situation, Anakin sat as commanded.
Vestara put her hands on him and closed her eyes.
How long she did that was anyone's guess, but she reopened them slowly and sighed.
"You have been under mental attack by the Dark Lord of the Sith," Vestara said.
Padme, Kenobi, and Ahsoka tensed at the comment.
"Does he know where we are?" Ben asked.
Vestara shook her head. "I don't think so. This was not as bad as previous dreams, was it?"
Anakin nodded in affirmation.
"I thought as much. This was a residual imprint left by his previous attacks. I can fix it so the next few nights are not a problem, though. It should disappear completely within a day or two, as long as he is not near," Vestara said calmly. "May I ask what he had you dreaming?"
Anakin looked shaken. "I saw Padme dying."
Ben and Vestara looked at each other as if a final puzzle piece had been placed.
"The Force shows us only possibilities, not certainties. Even the Dark Lord of the Sith cannot make it lie, but it can be twisted to show only the possibilities of how our greatest fears may happen," Vestara said more gently than she had previously."We will need to discuss this in the morning before we begin our training," she added. "For now, everyone get some more sleep."
Kenobi was the last out the door but tried to lighten the mood. "By the way, how am I supposed to get the proper gift as a uncle, if I haven't been told what the baby is yet?"
With that Parthian shot, he closed the door behind him.
"I guess he sensed the baby. I hadn't had a chance to tell him yet," Anakin mused.
"Yes," Padme said. "How long did you say he had known for?"
"Since before he went under cover with the Hardeen incident. His letter, which I still have, said as much," Anakin said, yawning. "Maybe with what she did, I can get a decent night sleep."
"It doesn't seem they were surprised," Padme mused. "I wonder if Yoda picked them because they are married."
"Yoda knows?" Anakin asked, looking at her wide-eyed.
"He heavily implied it, as well as the fact that I'm expecting," Padme said.
Anakin thought back to the moment Yoda had lifted everything inside the Temple. "Its difficult to say what all he knows, I recently discovered he is far more powerful than I believed him to be. He lifted every object inside the Temple that wasn't bolted down, even the starships. There's no telling what all he can sense."
Padme nodded as they tabled the elephant in the room until morning.
Millennium Falcon
"Ok, so I believe we now know the answer to our questions," Ben said, sitting at the holochess table and absently moving a character.
"Yes, he has been targeting Anakin's fears," Vestara replied, moving her own character to block Ben's check.
"How does it work exactly?"
"It targets the subject's fears and shows them only the possibilities of how that event might happen. The sender is largely unaware of the images but often can know the subject matter, say wife or children."
Ben moved a piece. "I wonder why it wasn't used more often by the One Sith in our battles with them."
"Because only the most powerful of Sith are capable of doing it, also it generally requires some form of bond between the parties. The Emperor has likely formed a bond with Anakin in their years of knowing each other but not one strong or dark enough for another Jedi even as powerful as Yoda or even Anakin himself to be aware of. Just strong enough to filter a tiny bit of darkness into," Vestara said, bringing the game into checkmate."Which also will keep him from knowing where we are."
Ben started another game. "That's a lot of dark influence to filter out, especially from one believed to be a friend. The bond with the Emperor will have to be broken. That will have to be priority one."
Vestara nodded. "We may still have to take Anakin to Ahsoka's contact."
Ben grimaced. "Yes, I suspect this makes that more certain. Getting his balance back will be a much more long-term process than I had hoped for, given I had believed he wasn't as much in danger as we thought. Though, we need to get him back firmly on the light end of the spectrum before showing our faces around that planet. I have absolutely no desire to get lightning thrown in my face because my grandfather can't keep his temper in check."
"It will help him, though," Vestara pointed out.
"Oh, I have no doubt, but we will have to wait before we can do that. These dreams have obviously left him unstable and from what Ahsoka indicated of this individual's concept of 'psych treatment'," Ben signaled in air quotes, "his therapy sessions are just as likely to throw grandfather off the edge the wrong way. Especially if he puts Padme in what appears to be danger.
"True, which is why we decided on Tython as our first stop, but we cannot remain here long," Vestara said.
Ben sighed. "I know. It is perhaps fortunate that Ahsoka decided to buy supplies in the Outer Rim when she could have easily bought from Coruscant itself or another core world. If our plan worked the Emperor will think we are in the outer rim on some mission. Few Jedi masters knew of our mission and only Yoda knows our real objective is to stymie the Sith Lord."
"I can feel the Emperor's anger and his haste from even here," Vestara said. "Perhaps it is a side effect of his bond with Anakin, but I believe it is the darkness realizing the Sith grand plan has an unforeseen fatal flaw."
A side effect of her upbringing left Vestara still vulnerable to the darkness, but it also made her more aware of it. She, for example, could sense the Dark Lord's presence on Coruscant where the shroud of the dark side prevented even Yoda from sensing his presence.
"Tomorrow I guess we can start to see what problems have been caused by Anakin's long-term exposure to the Sith," Ben said. "His meditation comment tonight is suggestive that perhaps his connection to the Force has been damaged."
"Indeed, so no teaching advanced topics like flow walking or electric judgment," Vestara warned.
Ben shuddered. "No, not unless I'm sure he will never be Darth Vader. Still, how long do you think the Emperor will take before looking into the deep core for us?" Ben asked. "I would hate to run into his agents looking for us when we do head for the Rim. At the same time, we don't want to get bottle-necked here."
"After Order 66," Vestara said. "We know the Emperor found Tython, probably looking for hidden Jedi, and he made sure all navicomputers in the galaxy knew the secret location of the Jedi. For now, I would imagine he believes we are going after Maul. Ahsoka did indicate this was the time frame of the siege of Mandalore."
"Perhaps he will actually do us a favor and remove Maul from the picture," Ben stated. "You know he caught up to Kenobi years later. We certainly don't need him after us since he could just as easily turn us over to the Empire."
"All the same, while we can't predict when the Emperor will trigger Order 66, we probably shouldn't be here when it occurs. We are still less than a day from Coruscant. The last thing we want is Kenobi or Skywalker getting any ideas of heroics or going after the Emperor," Vestara stated.
"The Emperor's spies will probably be primarily located on places they expect us to be, but it's a big galaxy after all. And even at the height of its power, the Rebel Alliance was still able to operate, despite Naval Intelligence and the ISB. Don't forget the phantom group that ran out of Lothal, despite heavy Imperial attempts to catch them," Ben said. "But for now, we should probably be aware of any assassins. Odds are, Sidious may decide to take Padme out of the picture."Us hiding the inner rim for a week or two should stymie most would be pursuers and bounty hunters. By the time we do head out that way most should have decided it's not worth the credits looking for us."
"Do you want to stay awake the rest of the night or go back to bed?" Vestara asked, yawning.
Ben smiled. "A full cycle on Tython is 28 hours. We have 9 left to go before sunrise."
Vestara looked at him, unimpressed. "You knew that when you picked sunrise as our starting point?"
"What can I say? I enjoy my beauty sleep," Ben said, as he shut off the chess table, "especially after time traveling and skydiving."
Ves rolled her eyes smirked and headed back to bed.
Author's Note:
Early posting this week my weekend schedule probably would not allow posting tomorrow. Next week back to regular schedule.
This portion of the story was written before The Book of Boba Fett. Ironically. Grogu's decision matched up with what I needed it to be for this universe's canon. In this universe, we head down the original EU with the events of Heir to Empire starting 6-8 months after the end of Mandalorian season two. Thus, Grogu's decision makes Luke and Mara's trek across Myrrk much less awkward than it would have been.