Chapter 10 An Unexpected Meeting

Tython; Skywalker Cabin

Padme Amidala was bored. Because she was pregnant, Vestara had flat out refused to allow her to join Rex and Kenobi in weapons training. Unfortunately, she was a lousy cook and C3PO, whose assistance was invaluable in the kitchen, had to be left on Coruscant to give the illusion that she was still there. So, she was busy rearranging the furniture in the cabin for the 100th time. Their location was beautiful, although not as beautiful as her home on Naboo. The ocean provided a different form of beauty and she hoped she and Anakin could come back by themselves to enjoy the scenery. She was appreciative of the fact that the two odd Jedi were married. Ben and Vestara made sure they had time in the day to just go explore by themselves.

She was thinking these things when a piece of flimsi dropped from the pocket of one of Anakin's identical Jedi robes. She picked it up and saw Obi-Wan's free-flowing script. "I wonder if this is that letter that Anakin mentioned," she wondered to herself. Bored anyway, she opened it and started to read.

Coruscant; 1 hour after Kenobi's "death" at the hands of Hardeen.

Ahsoka was crying in the corner of the room the three had shared since she had been accepted as Anakin's padawan. Anakin himself was at a loss and completely numb, sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. They had been here waiting for any kind of news for the last half hour since the medical staff had declared Obi-Wan dead. Dead. A word Anakin couldn't believe. Taken down by a lucky shot by a second-rate assassin. The doorbell on the apartment rang and Anakin dashed to the door. When he opened it, a messenger bot was outside.

"My apologies, Master Skywalker. This message was delayed." The robot handed him a letter and turned away.

Anakin closed the door and walked back inside.

"Is that news, Master?" Ahsoka said, jumping up from where she had been sitting, ready to spring out the door.

"I don't know Ahsoka," Anakin said as he opened the letter and scanned the first few lines.

Ahsoka watched as he went from upset to confused to relieved as he started pacing the floor. Finally he sat down and let out a long sigh of relief.

"What is it?" Ahsoka said

"Good news, Snips. Hang on. Let me read this in full before I say anything further," Anakin said. He took in a deep breath and started reading the letter slowly from the beginning.

Dear Anakin,

If this letter has not gone astray, it should find you shortly after your return from the temple after my "death" at the hand's of the bounty hunter Hardeen. Rest assured, it was a setup job so I can take Hardeen's place on an undercover mission where GAR intelligence believes Dooku is planning an assassination of the Chancellor at the Naboo festival of lights. I do apologize for not informing you beforehand, but your initial reaction, it was believed, would be critical to selling the story and keeping anyone from being suspicious of me as I try to infiltrate Dooku's plot. Unfortunately, I will be beyond the ability to receive backup on this mission until we reach Naboo. If you could water the plants while I'm gone, I would appreciate it.

On a more serious note, Anakin, you and I both know the dangers of undercover missions. We both know it is possible that I may not return. As such there are a few things I would like to tell you that I have never been sure how to bring up. By now you know I would have left the Jedi order if Satine had asked me to, all those years ago on Mandalore. That, my friend, is still true to this day if she were to ever ask. I know you and Padme have been married since at least the beginning of the war. Congratulations on that. I'm assuming my invitation got lost in the mail. Both of you have been amazing in your ability to have a committed relationship and still conduct your duties in your respective positions. How she does that is beyond me, but then she was always a remarkable person. If something happens to me know I would support you in anything you choose to do in life, as I told you before our Carnelion IV mission, even if it means leaving the Jedi order or at least the Jedi order on Coruscant. While I believe you are a great Jedi and will become an even greater one, many other options lay available to you. There are many things I wish I had done differently with teaching you. Perhaps I should have taken us to join the Green Jedi, but then we would have been stuck on one system.

With that said, I would ask your patience for one word of warning to you that Qui Gon once gave me. Qui Gon himself was in love with a woman who I looked up to as a mother. She died on a mission, and it left Qui Gon adrift for quite some time. It occurred before our year long mission on Mandalore and Master Qui Gon told me something when I was trying to make a decision. "Obi-Wan, it is not wrong to love or to be loved. It is when we care so much about a person we would sell our souls for them that is wrong."

Anakin, you are my brother in all but blood. Please listen to me when I ask- no beg- this of you. Padme is a sensible woman. If she ever feels that it is necessary and tells you that you are in over your head, and she pleads with you to run away with her: DO IT! RUN away! Please. Even if you have to choose Padme over saving the Chancellor, get away from any situation where the Sith have you attempting to compromise. I speak, I believe, for myself, Ahsoka, and Padme. Do not turn to the dark to save us. Even were you to succeed, I don't know that we could pull you back. If Ahsoka and I are ever in that situation, take Padme and run for the Rim- get away. If Padme is in that situation, find Yoda or me and we will go rescue her and then I want you to run away with her.

Time, unfortunately, is short as I write this letter. There are many things I wish I could tell you, but know I am proud of you. You have become an amazing person. You are my brother, Anakin, and I love you. Keep Ahsoka and Padme safe and listen to Padme's advice. She didn't rule a planet because of her looks.

Love,

Your Brother, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

P.S. I will deny any knowledge of this letter if I make it back.

P.P.S. You really didn't think you could get away without me knowing you were married, did you? I practically raised you, and you two are not as subtle as you think you are.

P.P.P.S. You better at least get a grandchild named after me.

Anakin blinked back tears as he finished it. So Obi-Wan had known the whole time he was married and here he had thought his Master was unaware of what was going on. But the important part was that his brother was alive.

"Master, is everything alright?" Ahsoka said, worried.

Anakin hugged his apprentice. "Yes, everything is going to be alright."

Tython, Skywalker Cabin

Padme finished the letter with tears in her eyes. So Kenobi had probably known since the beginning and had done nothing to hurt Anakin. Not that she believed he would. Anakin had always been worried about it although Padme was curious as to why Anakin always said he would get thrown out of the Order

Nighttime, Tython

At the brother's campfire Ben regaled the Clone Troopers with tales and myths of the planet Tython and what the ancient legends said about the moons, Ashla and Bogan. Jesse and Rex had read some and had believed that the Jedi originated on Tython, a point which Ben had to let them down on.

"So, your telling me all those stories of the Jedi and Tython were myths?" Jesse exclaimed, mortified.

Ben laughed. "I'm sorry. We believe those were actually ancient versions of holovids. The Jedi Order may have had an ancient copyright law not allowing them to appear on screen."

"So was any of it true?" Jesse asked, crestfallen that some of his favorite reading material was all fake.

"The Rakkattans were real. We know they were darksiders," Ben said, "but the Jedi order actually started in the unknown regions on the planet Ach-to. The Sith Order began on Exegol and Drommand Kaas, though I'm not sure which of those came first. Places like Morriband, or as it was known in the old Sith wars, Korriban, came later when the first Sith empires rose in the downfall of the Rakkattan empire."

"Did the Sith cause the empire to fall?" Rex asked

Ben looked thoughtful. "Perhaps. It is actually my personal hypothesis that the first Jedi and Sith were runaways from the Rakkattans, either former slaves or refugees. The Sith code heavily leans on the line of broken chains, so it's not without basis that one could draw the idea they were originally former slaves. They obviously got so caught up in revenge and darkness that they emulated their former masters though and attempted to enslave the galaxy, but the Jedi stopped them time and time again."

Ben gazed into the campfire. His thoughts drifted back to the day his old master died. Ben had been on Ach-to overseeing the reconstruction of the old temple, when he had felt his master die across the galaxy. Jacen Solo, he found out later, had been trying to get his wife, Tenal Ka, and his daughter, Amelia, to the Millennium Falcon. He had succeeded but had to cover the ship's departure. Ben was there when the Falcon had arrived on Ach-to, carrying the students of the Jedi Praxeum and his cousins Tenal Ka Solo and Amelia. He had never seen his Uncle Han look so devastated. Losing the twins had aged the man considerably from the last time Ben had seen him. Ben had taken on his cousin's last name on this mission in honor of him, instead of the usual Skywalker alias of Lars.

It was about this time that Ben sensed on the edge of his mind's eye a delved deep into the Force as he had with Anakin and to his surprise arrived at the campfire. He felt a nudge and followed it for awhile away from the camp. How long he walked, he was uncertain before he arrived at another campfire on the other side of the hills. He approached the fire at the nudging of the Force despite his personal doubts that this was a smart thing to do. A figure in a hood with gloved hands was sitting by the fire appearing to be in meditation.

"Good evening. It's a chilly night; do I you mind if I sit by the fire for a few minutes?" Ben asked the figure.

The stranger looked up surprised at being disturbed and nodded. Ben could not make out any features of the person beyond the fact it was a human. After a moment of silence the stranger spoke.

"It is strange to meet a Jedi here. I had come to this place to find a Jedi," he said in a very upper-crust accent.

"Found one you have," Ben answered.

"Indeed. Though you are not the one I am looking for; how you got into my meditation, I am unsure."

"Lucky, I guess," Ben said, not offering any information. He was not a fan of the predatory gleam of the stranger and was certain this was a foe. Thankfully, where they were no one could truly harm another, so any fight would be short.

"I imagine you will think otherwise shortly. But I believe you are with the one I am searching for, and I cannot have you returning to warn him," the stranger said, rising to his feet.

"Really, who are you looking for?" Ben asked

"Skywalker." The voice was almost a stranger took off his hood and revealed an older man, who Ben recognized, to his shock, as Count Dooku of Serenno.

Ben instantly rose to his feet. "How are you still alive?"

Dooku's eyes took on a red glare as he stared at him. "Skywalker didn't finish me, though he took my hands and my future. I plan on returning the favor. As for you how you got to this place, I don't know. You probably think this is a dream. I will leave you spinning in a nightmare!"

With that the Count took on a bat-like form and hundreds of dark bats surrounded the pair, all with red eyes and big teeth. The Count, who had had nobody to unleash his pent-up rage for days over his betrayal at the hands of his master, took it out on the pitiful weak Jedi who had blundered into this world. With a hand motion from Dooku, the shadow creatures surrounded the powerless Jedi who had put up a hand in defense. The creatures covered the Jedi until the swirling bats appeared like a black hole in the Force. The Count laughed at the predicament of the weakling, knowing that Skywalker and crew would not move until this Jedi had come back to consciousness, which would only happen when ever he chose to let him out of the abyss of flying bats.

"ENOUGH!" the Jedi yelled from the center of the dark hole and a supernova of light exploded from the center, disintegrating the bats and sending the Count flying backwards.

Stunned, the Count tried to shield his eyes from the light but was unable to move as he felt the heat start to burn his body. He watched in detached horror as the Jedi emerged as a figure of light from what was once shadow and approached him.

"Your thoughts betray you, Count, if you think the light is weak, I will personally show you how weak the darkness is and that all who use it are cowards! Now stay away from me and my friends. This is your only warning: begone and take your bats with you," the Jedi said.

At that moment, the light exploded again. The Count screamed as the light burned his body away. He awoke next to his own campfire in a cold sweat and for the second time in as many weeks feeling the strange sensation of fear.

Ben awoke from the meditation in a rush, panting. Vestara had come over, sensing an issue, as had the other Jedi. The Clones were looking at him.

Ben took a deep breath and looked at Anakin. "I thought you killed Dooku."

Vestara's eyes opened wide as Obi-Wan and Ahsoka looked at Anakin.

Anakin looked at Ben a bit sheepishly. "No, I mean, I didn't save him from the Invisible Hand. I picked up Obi-Wan and carried him away, but I couldn't kill an unarmed man in cold blood."

Ben took in the unexpected news and nodded. "Good. That tells me a lot about you. Perhaps the galaxy will be reliant on that mercy."

"He's alive," Ahsoka said.

Ben nodded. "And he is on Tython. We need to leave immediately."

Anakin nodded and Force-dashed back towards his cottage to get Padme and get ready to leave. The rest also ran to get their stuff, with the brothers going to assist Padme and Anakin.

Vestara looked at her husband. "Are you all right? You're not usually this shaken when you encounter a Sith lord."

"Bats," was Ben's short reply

"Ahh," Vestara said. "What did he do, pull the old Sith lord Vampire trick?"

"Yes, the cliché bats and black hole of darkness," Ben answered, not amused.

"It's a classic," Ves said

"Classically annoying. I hate bats and spiders, and, of course, we have to be headed towards a planet full of those," Ben said, still panting a bit as he stood.

"Did you do the tornado trick?" Ves asked.

"No, fountain of light," Ben said. "I was in no mood to play and just let him have it."

"Oh, yes, like that's any better. A cliched trick pulled from a cheap holofilm," Vestara said.

"Hey, that signed holofilm was Jacen's most treasured possession other than his family," Ben said. "Uncle Han let me bring it to remember what we were saving."

"I seem to recall your father saying that it was one of the worst holofilms ever," Vestara said.

"Yeah, well it wasn't very accurate and Dad, at the time, thought the investigator was going to charge him with war crimes, not figure out the events and sell it as a movie with Dad as the hero," Ben said grinning. "That incident, though, was the reason he gave up his military commission."

Ben and Ves had made it back to the Falcon at this point. They immediately went to the cockpit to get the ship warmed up and ready to go.

"Anakin didn't kill Dooku. I wasn't expecting that," Vestara said.

"No, it was a surprise for me as well. That means we have another foe to deal with eventually, unless he takes my warning to heart," Ben said.

"I'm surprised by how much of a difference it made just knighting Ahsoka and making sure that letter got delivered," Vestara mused. "I wonder what other changes we are going to find."

"Hopefully not too many other than Yoda being able to do something about Order 66," Ben replied.

"What if we went after Dooku?" Ves asked.

"I don't see how that would do anything. Handing him to a republic that's going to be an empire very rapidly wouldn't do any good. But it does mean we have another psychopathic Sith lord to watch our backs over. I figure he won't be in any condition to fight if we did find him but keeping him a prisoner ourselves around Padme probably isn't a good idea," Ben answered.

The others were packed and on board within a few minutes and Ben took the Millennium Falcon off like a shot from Tython. Within a few minutes, they were safely in hyperspace.

Author's Note:

I assume most of you have realized by now that Ben and Vestara got the letter delivered to Anakin. ("One more thing to do" in the World Between Worlds.) For the purposes of this story, the letter was truly written by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke found it in his journal on Tatooine and whether the letter was written before the Hardeen incident and Kenobi failed to send it or whether it was written during his long exile on Tatooine. I decided to leave up to my readers feel free to discuss in the comments.

I have strived to make sure all these flashbacks could have happened in Canon and are just unknown because they werent written thus if my readers like my changes to the galaxy far far away they can adopt as canon.

Like last week's Palace of Light which was inspired by Yodas season 6 arc. I fleshed out the back story to Darth Gravid which has only ever been a throw away line in the books.

To the private message that accused my story of being AI it took me 3 years to write this. The only AI in this story was my book cover because my artistic abilities are limited. The palace of light sequence was to teach anakin that the dark isn't stronger and watching one of the most powerful Sith Lords in history turn to the light would reinforce that belief.

EU clarification for those of you that never read the post ROTJ EU, the Green Jedi do exist. Think Han Solo with force powers and that's the Green jedi in a nutshell.

As always thanks for the support follows comments and favorites.