Takadona
Kit Fisto was used to dealing with smuggler hangouts. It had been a long time, however, since he had taken a youngling with him on one of these expeditions. Katoonie had been in several such hangouts, most prominently, Hondo Ohnaka's old fortress on Florrum before it had gotten ravaged by General Grievous. Looking around, Kit sighed. He would have likely have picked another day if he had known who would be in this place today.
"I tell you I get no respect! All I ask for in this life is to create and make a fortune on a fine beachfront 5-star luxury hotel and buffet, but, no, my cousin says I got to mine asteroids for a few more centuries," said the voice of Graballa the Hutt from around a corner. "I tell you, family means nothing these days except to boss everyone around if you're younger. Plus, I'm stuck with the second-rate bounty hunter Dengar, who, let me tell you, is no Boba Fett."
"Graballa, my friend, if you think that is trouble, my entire crew abandoned me when this new Empire formed, saying they didn't believe my leadership skills would suffice for these uncertain times."
Katoonie let out a low gasp at the familiar voice of Hondo Ohnaka.
Kit whispered in her ear, "Try not to let Hondo see you. As loud as he is, he would let everyone in here know we are here. I especially suspect that Graballa would sell us out pretty quickly."
Graballa the Hutt was a relatively harmless character, as Hutts went, and one of the few who just spoke basic. Kit was fairly familiar with his reputation. Graballa's problem was that he was always trying to find enough money to start a legitimate luxury resort and get out from under the thumb of his cousin Jabba who had him stuck on an asteroid overseeing a mining operation for the last 4 centuries due to a minor slight when he was a huttling. If one had credits it was easy to get in Graballa's favor, especially if one feigned interest in his business ideas. Kit certainly had enough credits, the Grandmaster having secretly transferred the bulk of the Order's assets into untraceable accounts across the Galaxy in the days prior to Order 66, but he didn't want to risk Graballa going the easy way and just selling them out to the new Empire to curry favor with them.
With their hoods raised, Kit led Katoonie into a corner booth to wait on his contact.
"Are you sure your friend will show?" Katoonie asked.
Kit smiled. "Of course. She owns this place."
On cue, Maz Katana, the owner of this private vacation spot for smugglers arrived at the table. Taking a glance at the two, she simply said, "Follow me."
Kit and Katoonie followed Maz into the backroom where they could have a more private conversation.
Maz sat across from Kit and said, "Kit Fisto, my friend, you have no idea how happy I am that you are alive."
"Thank you, Maz. I was fortunate enough to be with the younglings off planet when the tragedy struck. I am still not exactly sure what happened," Kit said.
Maz shook her head. "The official story is that the Jedi launched a coup d'etat against the Chancellor. Perhaps it's even true if the new Emperor is indeed a Sith Lord like I now suspect."
"He is," Fisto said grimly. "The Grandmaster sent a warning out shortly before the killing started, implying as much. Do you know of any other survivors?"
"None have come through here, but rumor is half the Order got away before their troops turned on them. I had one person who came in from Coruscant saying he personally saw that the Temple was largely evacuated before the army attacked," Maz said. "If that is true, there are still thousands of Jedi in the galaxy." She looked at Katoonie. "So you want my help in finding a safe place for the children?"
Kit nodded."For all I am familiar with the galaxy, I must admit my places are all far to close to where we could be discovered or too close to the Core. The Jedi were knights of the Republic, few of us worked outside of Republic space because it was feared our presence would start unnecessary wars or conflicts."
Maz sighed. "Unfortunately, I have been here for several hundred years so my personal knowledge may be outdated, but perhaps amongst my clientele I may know someone who can help you."
Kit nodded in appreciation. "Whatever you can do, Maz. The further from the Core, the better."
Maz nodded and walked out into the bar.
Kit couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this.
Dagobah
Yoda sighed as he finished building a hut with the Force. It was a very good thing he had taken those survival classes all those hundred years ago after he had first wound up on this planet, so he knew how to make use of the local shrubbery to make a nutritious, if not at first appetizing, stew. That kept him from having to leave the planet for supplies; however, a part of him knew that he would not remain on this planet long. He sensed, though, that was a result of the changes that the young Skywalkers were causing. Much of the Order had fallen but many were still alive due to Grandmaster Luke Skywalkers interference in time. He sat back and closed his eyes. Yes, this was one of the many paths possible for the future, even if he sensed this was one of the least likely to have happened. He smiled. Perhaps he could live long enough to see Master Skywalker's Jedi Order.
Ach -To
Anakin walked out of the door and found himself back in the cave. He was about to return towards the entrance when he sensed a tug of the Force pointing him another way. Anakin reached out to sense better what he felt and shuddered. It came from the dark side nexus on the island. He recalled his speech with Qui-Gon on Mortis telling him to go to the one there, but it had obviously been a disaster since he couldn't remember what happened other than waking up to Obi-Wan helping him. He decided it probably wasn't the galaxy's greatest idea to go and turned around and headed for the entrance.
Ben and Obi-Wan were waiting on him when he came out of the cave the suns were setting behind them. Ben and Obi-Wan both sat up straighter when he came out.
"Well?" Obi-Wan asked him.
Anakin shrugged and took a seat next to him. "That was certainly enlightening if nothing else."
"That seems a bit of an understatement. Your disposition is certainly lighter than when you went in," Ben said.
"I had some very interesting revelations about my family, Master Skywalker," Anakin said with a smirk.
"Now that's cheating," Ben said. "How much do you know and how?"
"My father told me you were a Skywalker," Anakin said.
Kenobi chuckled "I had suspected the relation for some time, even if you're far calmer than Anakin. But Anakin you said you met your father?"
Anakin nodded. "Yes, indeed. Like we met Master Qui-Gon on Mortis."
"A Jedi. That makes sense I guess," Ben muttered to himself.
"Interesting," Kenobi said stroking his beard. "I guess age-wise he would have been in Qui-Gon's generation."
"Actually, no. He was born in the Old Republic," Anakin said.
Obi-Wan and Ben both looked at him with open mouths at that statement.
"Just exactly how is that possible?" Obi-Wan said.
Anakin shrugged. "Apparently some cloner had some old, yet well preserved, genetic material and put it in my mom under the guise of medical research."
"This Jedi didn't happen to have a name did he? We have access to the Jedi Temples archives and can look him up," Ben said.
"Yeah, his birth name was Evan Starkiller but he was better known as Revan," Anakin said.
Ben's mouth dropped and eyes went wide at that revelation. Obi-Wan was also surprised.
"Oh and, Ben, he said to say hello," Anakin said.
"Wow, you never do anything by halves, my old padawan." Kenobi said smiling. "I guess it makes sense that your father was one of the most powerful Force users in history- that clears up the mystery of your power level."
Ben was, meanwhile, too busy geeking out at the implications to be paying attention.
"I guess we can put that whole prophecy stuff behind us once and for all," Kenobi said, "I know you will be glad of that."
Anakin nodded. "Yeah. That will be a relief. I'm only the son of one of the most notorious Sith Lords in history. Wait til the rest of the Council hears that."
Kenobi died laughing at that statement. "I think they can handle that."
Takadona
"Katoonie, my friend, have you decided to join me and be a Jedi pirate?" The loud voice of Hondo Ohnaka rang out through the thankfully soundproof walls of Maz's backroom.
Kit was meanwhile groaning internally. Of all the people Maz had to choose it would be the rather loud and obnoxious Hondo Ohnaka.
"No, Master Fisto has graciously accepted me as his apprentice, but it is good to see you," Katoonie said.
"I'm glad to hear you escaped from those crazies." Hondo said flinging his arms. "Bad for business this empire."
"Thank you, Hondo. Right now we need a place to stay safely," Katoonie said.
"You and the other younglings?" Hondo asked.
"Yes," was the reply.
"Well, everyone knows I love children. I just so happen to know the best place in the galaxy," Hondo exclaimed.
"Really?" Kit said, hiding his skepticism.
"Oh yes! Only I know the location and it's a lovely place to boot," Hondo exclaimed. "A final gift from my dear mother."
Coruscant
Sidious had just finished frying his lackey with lightning. In truth it wasn't really his fault but Sidious needed to let out some growing anger at the way that the situation had continued to slip through his fingers and his Grand Inquisitor was just very convenient. Sidious was staring out a window in the former Jedi Temple as the still-smoking form of his lackey struggled to regain his full senses.
"Rise. Your failure to notice that Jocasta Nu had removed the great holocron amongst the other artifacts is perhaps not completely your fault, given Jocasta's distrust of you. However, as a Temple Guard you should have been aware of her and the younglings' departure on the same night and informed me of such. At least you were somewhat successful in preventing the entire temple from evacuation with the death of Kollama Ree; however, it cannot be called a complete success given only a few decrepid individuals and the Temple Guards were the only ones left. Still it was not exactly a complete failure, as you were successful in bringing some of your former Jedi to the cause of the new order. Your loyalty will be rewarded with the title of Grand Inquisitor." Sidious's face turned grim. "But in the future your position will be based on your continuing merit. Is that clear?"
"Yes, my Emperor," the Inquisitor said as he was finally able to rise.
It was about this time that the electronic books on the shelves of the great Coruscant archive went blank.
"No!" the Inquisitor yelled.
Darth Sidious' hands went tight. Jocasta Nu had once again struck.
"My Lord, I will find whoever is responsible and they will pay," the Inquisitor said.
"No. you won't," the Emperor said philosophically. "Your efforts will be futile. Jocasta Nu has very middling Force powers, but I can tell you she is not present in the Temple. No, she has done this remotely."
The Emperor turned and walked down the hall without another word. The Inquisitor breathed a mental sigh of relief. Now he had to figure out the next step. At that moment he found himself flying into a shelf which fell over over with the force of the blow. As he raised his head, he heard the echoing laughter of the Emperor, who called out, "Have your sources searching for Jocasta Nu and bring her to me alive, and Skywalker, as well. If either of them have so much as a bruise, well, what you just experienced will be looked back at with fond memories."
The laughter continued to echo through the halls as the Inquisitor shuddered at the power this Sith had.
The Emperor walked back to his office. He felt he should try to control his impulses a little more, but it had all been in his pocket until Dooku died then the treacherous ilk had the gall to backstab him while he backstabbed Dooku. His mental bond with Skywalker showed he was still alive, but he had never risked increasing it in case he was discovered by Kenobi or Yoda. As such, he could not influence him from afar, nor did he have a decent sense in what direction of the galaxy he was even in. The bond had also gotten weaker recently- probably Skywalker putting two and two together and subconsciously or consciously closing his end of the link. Dooku was dead and Maul was dead. Order 66 had had to go down too quickly for him to reconsider whether Maul would have been a useful hunting dog.
Now he wished he had played straight with Dooku. In keeping him alive this disaster wouldn't have happened. Now he was stuck with a bunch of low Force level dark side assassins that needed training and he didn't even have an apprentice to teach them. Oh, they would be useful for his purposes, but none possessed the strength to ever become a Sith. It galled his ego that his chess board had been set up perfectly but instead of his opponent going for a last-minute "Hail Mary" pass, Yoda had gone for stalemate. That was unforeseen. He had always suspected that the Jedi Grandmaster would attempt to go for broke, but, no, when the troll had, finally, seen through all his deceptions he opted for survival and came after the newly installed Emperor himself. He wondered why Yoda had been willing to sacrifice Mace and the council members who had come with him. Perhaps he figured if Mace couldn't beat him no one else would have had a shot.
These thoughts and others plagued him. His vision had been dimmed as of late. He was certain the balance of the Force had turned against him. It was almost as if some Jedi had pierced the shroud of the darkness. But he would have to make do. The Jedi were still outnumbered by Clone Troopers 200-1, but he felt a sinking feeling as he stared into the Coruscant sky. Perhaps his old teacher had been right in one regard. Perhaps it would have been better if the rule of two had of been extinguished, because right now the treachery of the rule could be their undoing. This war was going to last a long time. His final blow had failed in its purpose. All he had succeeded in doing was driving his enemy underground. The revenge of the Sith had been completed. The Sith ruled the galaxy once more, but its arm was shortened. Travelling from Coruscant could be dangerous. There were more than enough powerful Jedi masters left to form a strike team and someone might get lucky. His anger rose at the thought that his Empire was not safe for him. Even the ultimate weapon would be rather useless for this threat- sure, taking out a planet could eliminate a few Jedi, but not all of them. He was not used to feeling the emotion of fear.
Author's note:
Early posting this week due to the holidays. You guys didn't think I had forgotten Kit and the gang did you?
To some who may think the Emperor's OOC, remember in the Clone Wars he most feared the Jedi discovering Order 66 because it "could ruin all his plans." That's exactly what has happened. Had Ben or Vestara acted earlier, he could have used the droid army to crush the Republic. The Order has been beaten but not destroyed. He has lost the war he fears or it will go on for years. Acting when they did, they did not give Sidious enough time to come up with any last second contingencies. The only contingency he had left was Order 66. Yoda allowing Mace and crew to go in was a last shot to try to keep him from winning but Yoda didn't bet the farm on it and moved the Order to run for cover. The Emperor is no idiot and will not be standing still but time travel is not going to ever be anything he considers; he believes Ben and Ves are Green Jedi. Also reaching into the Force to contact all Jedi was used by Grandmaster Luke Skywalker in legends to summon all Jedi to Ossus.
Until next week. Thanks for the continuing support. Let me know what you all thought about last week's reveal it will be important in future flashback arcs.
Ben