#to travel far away and meet unknown jedi masters

[cienie-isengardu]

[Star Wars: Episode I - Obi Wan Kenobi]

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

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Sending a follower rec for WIP week! It's a star wars au where the author writes each chapter as if it's the next installment in a saga. It's got a lot of angst and worldbuilding and if you like star wars or sci-fi in general I would highly recommend it!

Duel of the Twins

by Theladyofravenclaw

T, WIP, 71k, Wangxian

Summary: A long time ago in a galaxy far far away... After growing up together at the Jedi temple on Coruscant Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng venture out on their own for the adventure of a lifetime. However, when an unknown threat and raging war looms overhead, the paths that they must take to protect those that they love will change the course of the galaxy forever. A tale of two brothers, bound by fate, to discover who they are and what destiny awaits. (or the "Wei Wuxian as a sith lord" fic that I've been craving for a while.)

@theladyofravenclaw

~*~

Hi. I would like to Follower Rec two stories for WIP week. The first is the unfished fourth story in a wonderful series. Glitterbombshell does an incredible job with characterisation and I who doesn't love teacher!WWX? @immoralq

Youth Is Sweet and They Are Growing

by Glitterbombshell

Not rated, WIP, 4k, Wangxian

Summary: It is not the first discussion conference that has been held since Jin Guangyao’s downfall, but it is the largest so far. And the first one since Wei Wuxian officially started teaching the Lan clan’s novices. In an effort to encourage inter-sect alliances and friendships among even the youngest disciples,a series of friendly skill demonstrations and competitions are held, with events for all ages to participate in. To the surprise of literally no one, the Jin sect children seem to come out of the womb puffed up on pride and thinking they’re at least a little bit better than everyone. Their novice disciples are no exception. The Jin novices’ first mistake was underestimating the Lan class because most of them are a few years younger than them. Their worst mistake was making disparaging remarks about their beloved Master Wei where Lan Xin could hear them.

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This is the second rec. I love the idea of LWJ being forced into seclustion and then being rescued by A-Yuan, and it's written so well. Thank you! @immoralq

flower of justice

by neoncoin

T, WIP, 18k, Wangxian

Summary: Convinced his brother won't survive the punishment for disobeying the elders after Nightless City, Lan Xichen intervenes, and pleads insanity on Lan Wangji's behalf. A few years later, little A-Yuan makes friends with a strange man who lives in the Gentian House. (And a few years after that, Sizhui helps plot an escape attempt.)

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One of time travel fic that i like. I like the interaction between WWX and other character and how WWX managed to make a new talisman by accident when he is blind

The Darkness Before Dawn

by PsycheStellata707

M, WIP, 113k, Wangxian

Summary: Wei Ying remembers falling and a voice. “The price of seeing the future Is the ability to see the present” ... Or, another time travel-fix it where Wei Ying is given another chance to change destinies; but nothing comes free.

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Also!

Modern Cultivation AU. Wei Ying gets tossed out of the Jiang sect after a night hunt goes bad. Cue Yu Ziyuan's terrible decisions. He lands with the Wen who of course are like ... No wait. Shit. He's a fucking genius!!

It's still in the ramp up but it has so much potential and I love a Meet Ugly. This has some top quality high grade LWJ sass, and classic WY and his absolute inability to see his own value.

The modern AU translation feels very plausible as well. Of course there'd be social channels dedicated to the wild stuff cultivators can do.

Anyway. Highly recommend! [I second this rec! It's a 💙 ~Mod Kay.]

Truth Will Out (when caught on video)

by KizuKatana

E, WIP, 63k, Wangxian

Summary: A night-hunt goes wrong, and Wei Wuxian is scapegoated for the death of the Jiang Sect Leader and the destroyed core of the Jiang Sect Heir. As punishment, his core is taken and given to Jiang Cheng, and he is stripped of his cultivation credentials and expelled from the sect. What everyone forgot was that Wei Wuxian was wearing the standard issue body camera that each cultivator wore on training missions and high-risk night-hunts. Struggling to make ends meet, Wei Wuxian finds his way to Caiyi Town with the doctor who performed the surgery, a partial core still secretly in place. His application to work at Cloud Recesses is summarily rejected by the hard-edged Second Jade of Lan after an unfortunate initial encounter. But things change when someone hacks into the Jiang systems and releases the footage of what happened. [First part of the title is a quote from Shakespeare, but this story is not based on that one!]

@kizukatana

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(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for these hard-working authors if you like – or think others might like – these stories)

[kittystargen3]

Story Summary: A time traveling Grandmaster, to the Prequel Era, trying to fix the mistakes the Jedi made, and get rid of a certain Sith too. Only Time Travel is not that easy, as Yoda will soon learn.

I've posted a new chapter to Time Travel: To the Past Yoda Goes. Below is a small selection. Go to the links above to read more.

Chapter 65- Breaking Down Walls

“YOUNGLING, put down that box.” Dooku ordered.  He looked down at a time piece. It had only been an hour. ‘How in the force has it only been an hour? Qui-gon was never this much trouble,’ The old master grumbled.  When Yoda left to go meet Jango and his Mandalorian clan, he’d decided to take the two Jedi shadows with him.  It was logical, after all.  They were a lot younger than he was.  And then Tol, his eldest, volunteered to go with them.  Dooku was proud of him, and grateful the others welcomed his help.  The only hiccup was that left one possible youngling sitter among them, and he’d apparently drawn that straw before he’d even realized it. 

“But GrandMaster,”  Anakin whined.  

“No Buts.  This is a storage shed filled with unknown cargo.  There could be a Blaster in that box.”  Dooku lectured.  And it was true.  A lot of worse items could be found in transport cargo, especially in the section pulled by scanners as being potentially illegal cargo.  As it was for the items in the hold they were hiding in now.  Sure, with the Force he could settle that worry, but then with the sheer number of boxes in the storage compartment they were hiding in, it was far easier to command the younglings not to touch anything.  He’d forgotten how helpful having his older apprentice, and a palace filled with servants was.  It was something to consider if he ever gets to apprentice any other fallen jedi.  

“B… I was trying to get to your comm.  It fell back there, and it's been going off.” the youngling explained.  

Dooku looked around in confusion, and felt for his comlink in his pocket.  It wasn’t there.  Then he remembered checking it earlier when one of the younglings came in squealing about something.  ‘Where did I put it?’ He went over and bent down to look behind the box Anakin was trying to move.  ‘There it is.’  He used the Force to pick up the comlink, then activated it to read a message from Yoda.  

“With us, Jango Fett is.  Outside of the hangar, meet us.”

Dooku sighed, “Alright everybody, it’s time to go.” 

Youngling Anakin reached out again to a box.  Dooku gave him a very firm eye and growled at him, “Mmmmmmm.”  The youngling backed away, and Dooku used the Force to gently restack it with the other boxes in the shed.  “Line up, by the door.  There ya go.”  Dooku counted the younglings, all eight were there, and in one piece.  And so he opened the door.  “Follow me now.”

[nevertheless-moving]

thanks again to @dykerory and @willowcrowned for this genius au. this is an incomplete collection of very specific set of headcanons/daydreams i had about a tangential version of your au that made me emotional in the middle of the woods. whenever you feel the time is right, i’m very eager to hear your og version on the ‘but obi-wan, tho!’, because i admittedly pushed this one’s resolution really far chronologically because i wanted batman to be involved.

continuation from here

note: my understanding of dcu is as sporadically informed as my understanding of the gffa. 

newly graduated clark kent gets his first journalism job and starts settling more and more into the superman thing. the rest of the justice league has been around but his entrance onto the scene is the one that really inspires the various heroes to actually start coordinating to deal with the weirdness magnet that is dcu Earth. Clark is in his early 20s. Anakin is in his late 30s.

He’s been living on Earth, without the force, for nearly 2/3rds of his life. He has a close knit circle of friends who were kind to him even when they thought he was just a weird and crazy emo cult victim (the gradual increase of public encounters with aliens and superpowers sparks some awkward apologies, Anakin at 38 just waves his friends off, smiling and changing the subject, neither confirming nor denying his high school ramblings of spaceships and magic. it doesn’t really change anything).

He lives an hour’s drive from smallville, and runs a successful auto shop. people travel from pretty far to check out some of his more wild and specialized motorcycle abominations. makes enough money selling them to rich idiots to fund his free auto-class and auto-repair programs for impoverished communities.

It took a while but he eventually came around to the idea of helping people without physical force (ironically, this is happening around the same time Clark is coming to the realization that he can help people with physical force). Generally respected as a pillar of the community. When people start to realize how profoundly weird he is as a person in a number of inexplicable ways, someone will generally pull them aside and quietly whisper that he was in a cult at a child, no one really knows much about it except that it’s what inspired his anti-modern-slavery work, which is a little telling. Not married. Was in a long-term relationship for like 9 years. It didn’t end well but no-one knows the details.

Has several cats. 

He’s- wistful but settled. He’s been through a lot of therapy. He meditates every morning and night, clearing his mind and examining his emotions in the way Obi-Wan taught him. He thinks Obi-Wan would be proud of him. He know his Mom would be.

Once he gets used to the idea, he never really stops loving the concept of learning just because. Duel bachelors degree in in african american history and american literature, masters in engineering, masters in astrophysics a phd in theoretical physics, another phd in medieval folklore. He’s worked a lot of jobs. 

He was already pretty well versed in astronavigation back at the temple. Over the course of his time on earth, he gets more educated in earth astronomy and physics. With is increased knowledge, his theory for ‘how did i get here’ shifts from slight hyperdrive miscalculation, to big hyperdrive miscalculation, to some sort of hyperlane incident. he realizes that none of the stars he knows are familiar in any NASA database. He must be beyond wildspace, which helps him let go of the last bit of hurt he felt that Obi-Wan never found him.

Then he really learns physics- and- light doesn’t exactly work like that right? He thought it was just primitive Earth understanding but... he gets a phd more or less accidentally, trying and failing to disprove that the speed of life is constant constant.

Get’s another even more accidentally, explaining how alternate universes might form if we assume slightly different universal constants. He publishes his thesis anonymously around the same time metas are becoming a household term, and at least one science journalist speculates on it and how alternate universes might explain the increasing prevalence of wildly different superpowers. He doesn’t claim credit for the honorary diploma awarded to the unknown theorist- he doesn’t want to risk drawing any attention to him and by extension Clark, who’s alien differences are far more of the ‘military experiment interesting’ variety then his.

He stops tinkering with Clark’s ship. He finally gets how it works. Now that he realizes how FTL travel has to work in this universe, tinkering with the mechanical generation and harnessing of the massive quantities of energy necessary to do is startlingly familiar. But it doesn’t matter. No matter how far and fast he travels, he’s never going to be able to get back to the life he used to know. 

Perhaps this is what being the chosen one actually means- he’s meant to live a life without the force, so that when he returns to it in death he’ll be able to somehow...educate? the force? maybe?

Ok, he’s not great at the metaphysical spiritual side of things, but he does accept that going back is out of his control, and he’s doing good here, even if it’s not galaxy altering.

Despite all the therapy, he never doubts that his early life was real. He has his saber and deep, deep down he can feel a spark in the kyber. He can’t do anything with it, but it’s there. There’s also pieces of the utter wreck that was his ship in the cellar, next to the sleek unblemished pod that Clark arrived in. Shortly before Clark becomes Superman, he asks for his help in melting down his old ship to make unearthly alloys. 

He’s not surprised when Clark tells him he met a ���real’ ‘magic’ user- it stands to reason that considering how relatively easy it is to convert energy from one form to another in this universe (Clark can fly), at least one kind would bend to sentient willpower in a similar way as the force does.

It’s still a little nervewracking showing his lightsaber to someone new for the first time in a decade. Zantana scrutinizes, bewildered. 

“There is some sort of power locked within, but it’s unfamiliar to me,” she admits finally. “I could probably brute force it and force the energy to release itself, but it would likely destroy the container.” Anakin politely refuses. 

Later, after the justice league’s formation, Clark mentions to J’onn that he has a friend who might be able to work on his ship. J’onn is extremely doubtful when he’s brought to a bizarre autoshop in the midwest that looks half-like a roadside attraction. Anakin sighs and digs his hands into the guts of the craft, muttering incomprehensibly and yelling at clark to melt down some pieces from the special scrap pile. A few days later he explains the patches he’s done to an impressed J’onn. When he asks how a human came to learn such things, he’s absently informed that,

“I used to work in a junkshop in Tatooine. All sorts of ship parts came through.”

“I’m unfamiliar with this world.”

“Tell you what, if you ever meet anyone who’s heard it of it, send them my way, and I’ll make your next repair free.”

“Oh! I’m afraid I don’t have any earth money...”

“Ugh, of course you don’t. it’s cool, capitalism sucks anyway and everyone’s entitled to free transportation, regardless of the area they happen to live. I do ask that if you can’t pay for the repairs that you spend an equivalent number of hours either attending one of my free auto classes, or volunteer at a community-led charities of your choice, here I’ll get you a pamphlet-”

So the Martian Manhunter becomes a weekly volunteer at a Midwestern Food Waste Reclamation Facility. J’onn J’onzz ends up becoming Anakin Skywalker’s friend well before he becomes comes truly comfortable around Kal-El. For a telepath, 39 year old Anakin’s Jedi orderly mind is a soothing relief.

(again, Anakin has spent far more time meditating on Earth then he ever did at the temple. Before all this, spent five years dutifully memorizing the Jedi way even as he struggled to live up it’s basic practices. For the first few years on earth, religiously practicing every meditation technique Obi-Wan ever taught him, thinking obsessively about the philosophies he never had time to really process, is just a desperate attempt to reconnect with the force, prove himself worthy of it. But even after he gives up on ever touching the force again, he keeps up the practice, he can’t release his emotions exactly, but he does find peace. The tendency to stop mid-rant to earnestly pronounce made up zen bullshit and then sit quietly for an hour before picking up on his tirade again as though there was no interruption is one of the things many things people find profoundly weird about him)

Kal-El doesn’t stop asking new aliens and dimensional travelers if they’ve ever heard of Coruscant, or Hutts, or the Jedi Order. Anakin might have given up, but Superman remembers his older brother scrubbing away his own tears to focus on helping Clark calm down enough to touch the floor again. The more the Kryptonian’s powers developed in alarming ways, the more Anakin set aside talk of missing his home galaxy. Anakin might have claimed it wasn’t like that, but Clark was determined to take every chance his increasingly weird life threw at him, no matter how vanishingly small.

In the middle of his first battle with Braniac, Clark starts insulting his incomplete database. The world collector pauses, demanding a more precise explanation. Clark complies, giving his best technical description of Coruscant’s cityscape, Tatooine’s binary star system, and so on. Braniac is so distracted that Superman recovers completely from his kryptonite poisoning and easily saves the day.

Neither the lantern corp or the denizens of the neutral zone have the answers. Superman doesn’t mention it it Anakin, but he never stops looking and listening.

“How did you even meet that guy?” Flash asks curiously after stopping to say hello on one of their after work laps of the country. 

“Aliens among us support group,” Kal-El responds deadpan. 

“Oh. Wait, what? He’s an alien? I thought he was from the future or something! You’re messing with me. No way that’s a thing. How many people are in the support group? This is a joke, right?”

“Sorry, most of them aren’t out and I don’t want to violate their privacy- a lot of them have high profile jobs. How do you think I met J’onn?”

“SUPES I’M FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW YOU’VE GOTTA STOP”

Anakin is just sort of vaguely known by a solid chunk of the super community as ‘that one midwestern zen space mechanic’ and no one really questions it because everyone’s life has just gotten so goddamn weird. A few of them know he used to be a space wizard of some kind. Space wizards now being a regular hazard of life on earth, no one has reason to doubt this, and it’s as good an explanation as any for Anakin’s general vibe.

well. almost no one doubts this. Batman does not simply accept Anakin’s general bullshittery without carefully investigating and drawing his own conclusions. He does not share these with anyone.

But one day Clark- this is well after Superman became Kal-El to him, and not long after Kal-El tells him to call him Clark- comes up to him and asks for his help finding about an alternate universe. Knowing and dreading where this is going, Batman stalls,

“Shouldn’t you be asking one of the league members who regularly travels between universes?”

“I have, over the years,” Clark admits, awkwardly scuffing a boot on the floor of the cave. “But no one’s familiar with the exact one I’m looking for, and I thought since you’re a detective, and also one of the smartest people I know, you might be able to help me...”

“You’re an investigator yourself, and you can survive the vacuum of space,” Bruce shoots back flatly. “I’ve told you before Gotham is my priority, and this has ‘personal project’ all over it.”

“Come on, B, please,” Superman pleads, trailing Batman around the cave like an overgrown puppy. “In a few months it will have been 30 years! He’s my brother! Just let me see the research you’ve already done!”

“Who says I’ve already done research on your brother?”

Clark shoots him a look. And Bruce concedes the point with a grunt.

“I’ll need need to talk with him first,” Bruce finally concedes. “Bring him by the cave. Take the-”

“Take the tunnel entrance, I know, I know,” Clark agrees with a grin. “This doesn’t mean he’s authorized to know your secret identity. Thanks Bruce, this means a lot. I’ll ask him tomorrow about his schedule.”

Superman flies off and Batman scrubs his face with a gloved hand. After a moment he pulls up Anakin’s file on the main monitor. Bruce honestly respects and likes the man, as much as he respects and likes anyone who’s not family. He admires his sense his style, appreciates his upgrades to the batmobile, and is impressed by both this civil rights work and his additions to the scientific community.

That doesn’t mean he’s not convinced that Anakin’s brother is a bit insane. Again, he’s not judging! He dresses like a bat to scare random henchmen and beat up actual demigods! He wishes his rogues gallery was as capable of directing their ptsd-inspired delusions and staggering intellects towards such productive pursuits!

Bruce was already in quiet awe of the Kent’s ability to raise an outrageously superpowered being without blowing up a chunk of the country; their success in derailing a supervillian origin story just puts him over the edge. He stares at the three most likely profiles he’s pulled together. Christen Jones, from a negligent family, death certificate filled out suspicously sloppily at age 3. Earl Lucas, went missing at age 9, both parents dead in a violent assault. And Jake Hayden, who at age 5 disappeared along with the rest of his family in a seismic accident later linked to Luthercorp.

Anyone of them could have suffered on the streets for years and coped by establishing an elaborate fantasy world, aided by self medication, only to eventually be picked up by the Kent’s and start healing. Certainly Anakin had the intellect to create worlds in his mind. All his rogues were smart enough to create their own little realities in their heads- it doesn’t mean they were actually reachable. 

Unfortunately Anakin had a Kryptonian younger brother who was determined to actually find the space wizard knight homeworld, even as the 'Jedi’ in question had slowly moved away his reliance on the delusion as an adult. Batman really didn’t see any way bringing up his conclusions to Anakin or Clark could possibly be helpful, and so many alien allies had a ‘If you find about the Jedi please contact Kal-El of Krypton on Earth’ pamphlet that it would be excruciatingly awkward to try and discretely correct anyone.

Bruce was not looking forward to this conversation.

[the-last-kenobi]

Distress Call with Obi-wan?

coalmine you are such an angst enabler 😏

For my @badthingshappenbingo board

SF-1521 in need of immediate assistance.

Location unknown. Approximate: Alderaanian sector.

SF-1521 in need of immediate assistance.

One passenger.

SF-1521 in need of immediate assistance...

Obi-Wan sat with his head in his hands, trying to regulate his breathing.

To be sparing in his use of oxygen.

He had run out of rations a day before. Water would be next. Followed by heat and air.

He had sacrificed the lights within the first hour of the crash to put more energy into heat conservation and into the emergency beacon, that last desperate hope of the lost space pilot.

Obi-Wan could still remember the frightening tales the crèche children had told one another in whispers in the dark, when the Masters weren’t listening. Tales about pilots who were spaced, who froze or combusted or burned, depending. Tales about lost ships haunting the Outer Rim.

And tales about missing pilots, all alone in the vastness of space. No more interesting or easy to find than a speck in the limitless blackness.

Lost.

Forgotten.

Abandoned, till their last breath.

Obi-Wan had not put much stock in the stories. He knew the risks of space travel and accepted them as much as he did the risks of being a Jedi, or a General.

But now, confronted with the reality of it, he felt a cold core of fear inside his chest that just would not go, could not be willed away.

Tired fingers ran through lank russet hair and the Jedi gripped his skull to the point of pain, trying to focus, trying desperately not to be afraid. Fear was not useful. Fear would only ruin what little time he may have left. Fear would cause natural reactions in his behavior that would eat up air.

He could not afford to panic.

He must not lose control.

SF-1521 in need of immediate assistance.

Location unknown. Approximate: Alderaanian sector...

But every time he thought of escaping the cold jaws of death closing in around him, he could only picture Anakin coming to his rescue.

And he was not sure Anakin would come.

Not anymore.

After the Hardeen Operation, Anakin’s mistrust had driven a hot and violent wedge between them.

And after Ahsoka had left...

Anakin had not been able to separate military operations from the man selected to carry them out, not even in defense of a man Anakin personally considered a friend, a man who led the Republic they stood for.

And he had not been able to separate the decision of the whole Council — under heavy pressure from the Senate as well — from one of its members.

Obi-Wan had been to blame, and Anakin could not be persuaded otherwise.

His anger and his pain were too comforting.

He enjoyed them too much to let them go.

And before this mission — before Obi-Wan’s starfighter had been trapped aboard a Separatist warship when it jumped into hyperspace, before he had made a desperate bid for escape that left his tiny starfighter adrift in the void — before all that —

Obi-Wan squeezed his eyes tightly shut and fought again to suppress a gasp, or perhaps a sob, as he remembered.

“Anakin—” Obi-Wan caught the automatic door with the Force and held it open before it could shut behind the younger man’s retreating back. “Anakin, wait. We need to discuss that. What was that back there?”

“A strategy meeting, I thought,” Anakin said sneeringly, not even looking around at him. He kept walking quickly, and Obi-Wan had to stride to keep up. “Or was I somehow wrong?”

“You know what I mean,” Obi-Wan sighed. “Why did you counter my plan in such a way? This new plan is far too risky—”

“Oh?” Anakin stopped suddenly and turned to look over his shoulder, his eyes burning with resentment. “Too risky for who? Just you, really. And I don’t think a single Jedi is more important than procedure, as you’ve proven again and again. You beat that lesson into me. Into us. Honestly, Master Kenobi. It’s not the Jedi way to be so selfish.”

“It’s not just me,” Obi-Wan said, sucking in a startled breath. “Listen, please, we need to...”

But his former Padawan had gone, slamming the next door shut behind him, and leaving the High Jedi General once again backed into a corner between what he believed in and had sworn to, and what his best friend demanded of him.

It was an impossible balancing act.

Perhaps Anakin deserved better.

But could Obi-Wan in good conscience risk the Republic, his men, his own core beliefs for Anakin? Could he undo who he was to satisfy his friend, someone dearer than a brother, something both less and more than a son?

And the answer to that had to be no.

Obi-Wan argued against the new plan that rerouted his own troops out from under him thrice more, but Anakin shouted him down, and Rex, still bitter over Ahsoka, supported him. Cody, trapped in the medbay with burns and contusions after their last skirmish, had no support to offer anyone.

And so despite rank, Obi-Wan was outvoted.

He wondered now — did Anakin know?

Had he known he was arranging a victory that might cost Obi-Wan his life?

He couldn’t have.

He would never do such a thing.

Never.

Emotional he may be, but cruel? A murderer?

Never.

(Never?) questioned Obi-Wan’s innermost heart.

Never, he insisted.

He wouldn’t.

Anakin was hurting. But he loved his former Master, and what he loved he held on to. Obi-Wan knew that much.

He would not be cowed by fear and lack of oxygen.

Obi-Wan would not betray his friend by doubting him, not now, not like this.

Anakin would come for Obi-Wan. He was already searching.

Whether he would find him... that was up to the Force.

But Anakin Skywalker would never abandon Obi-Wan Kenobi, would tire himself to the ends of endurance trying to find him, to save him. Just as Obi-Wan would do for Anakin.

They were a team. The Team, Anakin always said.

SF-1521 in need of immediate assistance.

One passenger.

SF-1521 in need of immediate assistance. Please respond.

The beacon was still going.

All Obi-Wan needed to do was breathe, just breathe, and Anakin would come for him.

Safe in that knowledge, a soothing peace washed over him, chasing fear to the shadows — at least temporarily.

*******

SF-1521 in need of immediate assistance.

Location unknown. Approximate: Alderaanian sector.

“General,” Rex said, his throat dry. “General, isn’t that — isn’t that General Kenobi’s starfighter? We’ve got a general lock on the beacon, we can track him to within a—”

“Rex, I’m in the middle of something here,” Anakin said shortly, studying his mechanical arm with intense focus, a wire clamp in his flesh hand.

“General,” Rex said more urgently. “I don’t think you heard me. General Kenobi, we’ve found him, the nav-com can trace him!”

Anakin’s head tilted slightly to the side.

With a soft, mechanical screech, the series of coded distress signals sputtered out and died. The small circle on the glowing map that outlined a region where the missing ship might be faded away like a dying ember.

Rex’s heart contracted to the point of physical pain as he slowly looked from the computer to his General, his friend.

“I think we’ve had a computer malfunction, Rex,” Anakin said seriously. “No need to mention it to the others, I’ll take care of it. Tell the men it was a blip. Oh, and...” he flexed his mechanical hand, smiling slightly as the powerful grip hummed to life. “...I need to get in touch with the Council. We have an honorary funeral to hold, remembrances to be said.”

He stood up and brushed past his Captain casually, straightening his tabards as he did. “And a new High General to promote, I’m sure. I should contact Senator Amidala. I’m sure she’ll be pleased to hear the news.”

And with a dazzling warm smile, Anakin clapped Rex on the shoulder and walked away.

Somewhere out in space, a man drifted off to sleep, his lips beginning to turn blue.

And still, resounding into the emptiness:

SF-1521 in need of immediate assistance.

One passenger.

SF-1521 in need of immediate assistance.

Please respond.

*******

[subbing-for-clones]

The New Apprentice Part 4

Maul x sith!reader 

Word Count: 3k

WARNINGS: Fear, graphic depictions of death and fire, slight gore. Mentions of slavery again, being tortured. Thoughts of suicide. But I promise it's also fluffy.

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       Without a sun to draw you from your slumber this ‘morning’ you were not the first one to wake. When you opened your eyes there was a dim light from a data pad a few inches from your face. Headlining something about a new attack against the Duchess of Mandalore by a terrorist group. Your head was too fuzzy to make the words out so you simply closed them again. Bringing you back into the world were two realizations. One, your head was gently rising and falling. Two, you felt warm fingers drawing light, rhythmic circles on your lower back. If you weren't slightly hung over you would have sworn that you heard a gentle purr beneath your ear.

    You caressed your cheek on whatever you were laying on. "Are you awake dear?" That low velvety voice you recognized asked you. Opening your eyes again, fighting through the daze you took in the details around you. Your arm was wrapped around Maul’s waist while your leg lay over the top of his thighs supporting the back of the data-pad. His lovely red and tattooed fingers brushed against your thigh as he held the device in place and slowly scrolled through the article. You tilted your head up to your master quickly realizing how close your faces were. He smirked down at your heavily lidded eyes. "How's your head?"

"Not as bad as I would've guessed if I'm being honest."

"Good." He stated turning his attention back to the news article. "I would've made some caf but as you can see you've kept me pinned to this spot all morning." Redirecting your eyes to the story he was reading you stated simply, "eh I'm not sorry. If you wanted your caf that bad you would have just moved me or woken me up for that matter." You felt the rumble in his chest as he chuckled.

"You're not wrong."

    A few more minutes passed in a comfortable silence; you hadn't moved. Maul made a mental note of your comfortability as well as his own. You didn't know this but you were the first living thing to touch him so gently and for so long. Every time your skin came into contact with his made him feel like it was a first and every time you parted, he feared it would be the last. You yourself hadn't been touched kindly in quite a long time either and relished in the contact. Grateful for now that it wasn't talked about. It just happened.

"Do you think this Mandalorian Duchess will be assassinated?" You asked.

"Not if the Death Watch wish to seize power. The people of the planet wouldn't support them. She has the love of her citizens for now and that I believe is what's keeping her in her station." You hummed in agreement at his statement.

    Maul sighed and put the data-pad on the table next to the bed and ran his fingers through your hair absent-mindedly. You looked up at him. He ran his thumb across your cheek and gazed into the eclipse of your eyes. His own pupils dilated just slightly before he blinked and looked away.

"Come, as comfortable as this is, we should both get some food in our systems." Your stomach rumbled just as he said this causing him to smirk. "It seems as though my timing, as usual, is perfect."

    Reluctantly you rolled over and stretched, causing the tunic you wore to rise dangerously high. Maul noticed this. The two of you made your way to the common area. He made the caf and you fried up some large mystery eggs you found in the cooler after verifying with him that they were in fact food.

"So master, what's on the schedule today?" You asked before stuffing your mouth greedily with the hot breakfast.

"You're going to practice your patience. Meditation. I was lax with you yesterday but were going to be traveling quite a bit and we can't play sabacc constantly."

"Anything I should focus on?"

"Well albeit odd, you made quite the connection with that rancor. See if you can't reach out and keep tabs on him. Or something else of your choosing. Try to reach out as far as you possibly can. I'm interested in your limits." You nodded your head and drank your caf.

    You spent some time stretching before sitting down back-to-back with your master on the floor. You closed your eyes and allowed the heavy blanket of the force to swallow you up until you no longer felt the metal floor beneath you.

    Images of the forest on Dathomir became clear. The swaying of the surroundings as if you were looking through Angel's eyes. You were glad he was okay. Then something else tried to take over. You let it happen. The old man who taught you sabacc appeared. "There's no need to hide little one. I won't sell you off or hurt you. You look hungry. Here.... where are your parents?"

    The vision changed and you were standing in the center of your village. The jedi that came to test you spoke without feeling, without caring, "no we can't take her. She’s far too emotional, chaotic even. If we teach her to use the force she will only be consumed by hatred, evil and darkness." Tears fell from your small eyes, only three or four years old. "I'm not evil..." Then everything was burning, your friends were screaming and you ran. You ran to your home which was overwhelmed by the inferno. Your mother was crawling out of the front door on her belly completely engulfed in the flames. Her skin half burned away and eyes melting. She tried to say something to you but the only sound she could muster was a throaty gurgle of blood before her life rattled away.

    You turned to run, your mother's gurgling screaming in your ears. You kept sprinting until you were older, chasing a small prey animal in the wilds of an unknown planet you had traveled to while stowed away on a transport. Catching it in your hands, you were so hungry you tore into the crying creature, blood dripping down your chin.

    More fire blazed around you. Mountains of scrap. Again, you were eating live vermin but your legs didn't feel like yours. You couldn't feel them at all. Eight spindly legs of scrap clumsily carried you down a hole. You screamed a name that felt foreign on your tongue until your throat burned.

    Your arms were chained to a ceiling, dangling you so your toes just brushed the dirt floor. You won't submit. He whipped you until you were drenched in your own blood, convulsing from the electricity but you didn't scream. You didn't cry. You felt your savior's presence like the shadow on a wall. You knew he'd come for you... eventually. All you had to do was hold on. To wait for him.

    There he knelt in front of you. While you were bound in the market place. The Zygerrian removed your blindfold, your eyes cold as he looked into them but your mind screaming "PLEASE. PLEASE TAKE ME. GET ME OUT OF HERE. I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE ANYMORE. I DONT WANT TO BE ANYMORE! IT’D NOT FUCKING WORTH IT!”

    Your eyes shot open. Utterly blown in fear, in rage, in torment. Once again, your master knelt in front of you but it was different this time. His eyes were soft, worried. He wanted to touch you; his hand outstretched but he didn't know if you wanted to be touched. Instinct made you shrink away and bare your teeth, eyes darting rapidly around the ship. Quickly accounting every detail to ensure this wasn't a vision. Once you were almost convinced you crawled back to your master and with a shaky hand you reached and touched his face. You felt him, he was real. Only then did you settle, pushing the beast back down inside you.

    Maul's nails dug into his thighs as he went over in his mind everything he had seen. He looked to you again, you wouldn't meet his gaze.

"Please know I didn't try to go inside your mind Y/N.." he used your name and spoke softly.

"A door appeared in front of me, I didn't know what lay beyond so I opened it and I saw... everything, felt what you felt." He paused "I know you saw one of my memories, before Savage found me."

Only then did you look at him, apologetically. "I'm sorry master I don't know what happened."

"Were you going to kill yourself if I didn't take you from that slaving scum?" Genuine concern shown in his eyes and shame flickered across yours. You sighed a single "yes." He nodded in understanding. He inched a little closer to you. "Do you still think about doing that?"

"Master... it's been 20 years since I lost my family, my village.. and 15 years since that man taught me to play the cards... it had been 15 years since someone cared that I ate or didn't outright try to harm me or kill me. Until you and Savage came along. No, I don't want that anymore." He lunged towards to and pulled you tightly into a fierce embrace. One hand gripping your back and the other woven in your hair.

"Please know my life is better with you in it little one." You inhaled deeply with your face nestled in his neck. Taking in his scent like you'd never smell him again, your arms firm around him as well.

    Without thinking you glanced at the chronometer within your view. "Thirteen hours?!" You exclaimed. "It felt like ten minutes." Maul pulled away from you. "Nothing kills time like sleep or meditation."

"Well now I feel like I need the former." You pinched the bridge of your nose and rubbed one of your temples.

"That’s fine but.... I'm not going to dance around it tonight. You're coming with me again."

"Oh you'll find no argument here." You tried to smile but it twitched.

    You opted to shower before going to sleep. Clean body clean mind, or so you tried to convince yourself. Maul was waiting for you in his bed, chest bare to you and his back leaning up against the wall. The reflection of the data-pad shining across the lenses of his reading glasses. It would have been a sinful sight if your mind hadn’t been otherwise occupied. He looked up at you, sheepishly standing at the foot of his bed. Setting the device down on his bedside table along with his glasses he leaned forward and stretched his hand out to you. Slowly you crawled up and over to him. He pulled you onto his chest and wrapped you up tightly with the soft fabric. Thrumming of his twin hearts easing the anxiety in your belly.

"We will reach our destination tomorrow."

"I've never been to Corellia before. What’s it like.”

“The inhabitants of Corellia have always been known for an insatiable wanderlust which led to a booming ship building economy. It exports talented pilots and ships while importing just about everything. As far as core worlds go, they don’t ask questions other than ‘what are you buying’.”

You replied with a hum and closed your eyes, allowing his hearts beats to lull you to sleep.

    Thinking for just a moment before stifling his worry, Maul brushed his lips lightly to the temple you had rubbed earlier. Feeling a deeper kinship with you after what he had seen and realizing you had a past that wasn’t unlike him own in many ways. He wondered if you found these tender moments with him as intoxicating as he found them? Nothing you had faced in your life stopped you from having fun, finding amusement, allowing yourself to be soft when the opportunity arose. You were stronger than he was in that regard and he admired you for that. He only wanted you to feel kindness from him. He wondered what further depths he would've sunk to if Savage hadn't revived him. He wouldn't have ever known moments like these, where you clung to him in your sleep. He decided he would thank his brother again later.

    Corellia was like nothing you had ever seen before. Tall towers reached for the atmosphere itself but without the insufferable heat and dryness of Zygerria. Beings of every species chattered happily in the streets. The city of Coronet 'the Jewel of Corellia' as many of the lit signs read, was nestled against an expanse of water. Your master had given you a heavy purse of credits and sent you on your way to shop and enjoy the city. Saying only that'd he'd find you when he was done refueling and stocking up on the more boring items needed for your travels. One of the locals pointed you in the direction of Treasure Ship Row. A bazaar that you could supposedly find anything anyone could ever look for; at least, according to the Twi’lek who pointed you in its direction.

    You had never held even a fraction of the money Maul had given you, you felt like a Queen passing through the many shops and held your head high. You had all but forgotten you didn't even have shoes until you found a little shop with lovely dresses in the window.

    The shop girl was kind and inviting despite your disheveled appearance. Sure that she had taken note of the large purse that hung from your hip. She aided in your search until you had a nice stack of both appealing and practical clothing.

    You allowed yourself to be pampered at a nearby day spa the clerk had recommended to you so that you didn’t get your new clothes and shoes dirty so quickly. Utterly famished after your day you found a relatively clean little bar deeper inside the Blue Sector.

    Taking a seat at the counter it didn't take long before a deep voiced Kel Dor took your order. Flashing a grateful smile, you dug into your fried Nuna Legs and sipped from a glass of red wine. A handsome Chiss, you assumed was a mechanic by his dress, took the seat next to you at the counter and gave you a wanting side eye.

"No." You stated curtly not looking up from your glass.

"You don't even know what I was going to ask." He smiled and ordered a malt liquor while the Kel Dor poured you a second.

"The nature of your question doesn't matter. The answer is no." You hadn't turned to him until he chuckled. You raised your brow.

"I was going to ask what a lovely flower like you was doing here. That's not a yes or no question." Sighing you turned to him realizing that you weren't going to get rid of him so easily. You eyed him slowly, he really was handsome despite the streak of grease across his cheek. He flashed you a charming smile you were sure he had rehearsed.

"I can see you've enjoyed the market."

"I have. And although I must say I appreciate the red of your eyes, this lovely flower prefers her companions to have thorns rather than grease stains." You turned back towards your drink sensing your master before you saw him.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" The Chiss asked genuinely confused. You smirked into your drink when you heard Maul clear his throat. The stranger looked back vaguely frustrated and widened his eyes as your master removed his hood revealing his crown of ivory horns.

"Oh, don't be frightened on my account. You're doing wonderfully."

The Chiss quickly left the seat and your master called out to him with a complete lack of tone or emotion. "No, don't go. I'd hate to take your seat."

Both you and the Kel Dorrian bar keep chuckled at his candor as Maul took the newly freed seat swinging back the drink the stranger had left. He smirked at you, noting your black cotton romper, keeping the style of a plunging neckline but now your arms bare and your legs covered. He also noticed your newly painted red nails and ruby studs in your ears.

"Wealth looks good on you."

"Wealth looks good on anyone who knows how to spend it." you quirked the corner of your mouth up and tossed the purse back to your master keeping a small handful.

"Is the ship ready?"

"Ah yes, your destiny awaits little one."

    You gestured to the man behind the bar and settled your tab, giving him a generous tip. He flustered at the gesture, only answering him with beaming smile. Maul stood and offered you his elbow which you gladly accepted and the two of you sauntered out of the bar, not before blowing a kiss towards the irritated Chiss.

    Maul liked the idea of men trying to woo you only to be met with rejection much more than he thought he would. He liked having the eyes of men who wanted you on him as he led you out of the establishment. He had appreciated your looks before, albeit a wild kind of beauty. He had never imagined you to clean up so well though, adorning his colors of black and red. He allowed his mind to drift to the thought of ruling with you by his side, with your chin held high and the power emanating from your soul, you looked incredibly regal with this newfound confidence. Was this your standard demeanor when you weren’t in the role of a student with her master?

    You boarded your ship and sat next to your master in the co-pilot’s chair your eyes lit with excitement. "To Malachor?"

"Yes my dear, to Malachor."

[jasontoddiefor]

Chapter 7 of As Lightning to the Children eased or as I like to call it: Dooku gets his shit together.

Dooku didn't know how, but Shmi Skywalker had known that something had happened to her child before the call of the Council had even reached them. She had looked up in the middle of her katas, paling rapidly. Dooku had heard of Masters sensing their Padawans' distress before, had experienced such with his own reckless students, but never with such intensity and days' travel in hyperspace away from his children. Still, Shmi continued with her tasks with the same dedication as before her foreboding and did not panic when they got the actual notification two weeks later, telling them that Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Qui-Gon Jinn were already back on Coruscant, apparently all in a miserable condition.

Padawan Skywalker the elder's stance on the whole situation caused Dooku to reconsider his rude behavior during their first meeting. She had known that something was terribly wrong, had felt it deep in her bones when no one else had, and yet she had endured, done her Master proud, and fulfilled their mission first. When they arrived back at the temple, a place Dooku had been away from for too long as he had forgotten the warmth of its embrace, she dutifully made her report to the Council, under the many concerned eyes of the assembled Masters. And only when she had finished her statement, answered all questions, she excused herself and left to visit her son.

If anyone still doubted her place in their order after these actions, Dooku wouldn't hesitate to challenge them himself for her honor, though given her quick wit and skill with the blade, she'd hardly need anyone to fight her battles.

Shmi didn't ask him if he wanted to come with her, but she also didn't stop him when he fell into step with her. She smiled at him, kindly as if she were his Crèchemaster, ready to console him, and not a Padawan as they silently walked to the halls of healing.

Dooku hadn't been there when the Skywalkers had joined the temple, but he had heard of the impossible terror that was Shmi's child.

Yet, somehow, all those rumors couldn't compare to meeting him in person. He looked innocent and human enough, sleeping in his Master's arms, a small togruta child stretched across the both of them. Then, suddenly, he woke and within the blink of an eye, Dooku found himself pinned against a wall, electric blue eyes focused on him with previously unknown intensity.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan was awake a second later, holding down his student's arm as if that could lessen the pressure on Dooku's chest. "Anakin, stop it, we're home, it's alright."

Disorientated, the child blinked at Dooku, curiosity and confusion entering his gaze as if he were seeing Dooku for the first time. Then whatever might have kept him in a chokehold, stopped and the boy fell back into his Master's arms.

"Obi-Wan?" Anakin sounded puzzled when he spoke up. His voice was rough as if he hadn't spoken in days.

"Hello, Anakin." Though Dooku knew that his grandpadawan was hardly older than twenty-five, the exhaustion wearing him down made him look decades older. "Are you awake now?"

Anakin tilted his head. "Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

A shadow passed over Obi-Wan's face. "No reason. Do you know who is visiting us?"

More hastily than before, Anakin's head whipped around and turned into the direction Shmi was standing in. "Mom!" he exclaimed and, after carefully pushing the third child off his lap, he jumped out of bed to rush to his mother. He hugged her tightly, burying his face in her robes. "Mom, I missed you."

Shmi Skywalker, showing no sign of fear, worry, confusion or anything such as that about her son's earlier actions, only embraced him just as tightly.

"I missed you too, Anakin," Shmi said and kissed the top of his head.

Anakin didn't let go of her, but his eyes drifted to the lightsaber clipped to her belt. Without another word, Shmi took it from the belt and handed Anakin the blade. Anakin examined it closely, ran his fingers across the metal hilt before handing it back to his mother. "Your crystals sound nice. I like them."

"I'm glad."

As mother and son continued talking, Dooku managed to get to his feet, still shaken by the assault the others pointedly ignored. He crossed the distance to the bed Obi-Wan and the now yawning youngling were lying on and sat down on it. He disliked showing such weakness, but he couldn't exclude the possibility that his legs might not hold him upright should he continue to stand.

"What was that?" he asked.

Obi-Wan sighed and the youngling whose presence Dooku could not quite explain sat up and gently patted his cheeks, making the young man smile.

"It's a reflex, mostly," Obi-Wan explained. "Anakin isn't quite over what happened yet and lashes out when he thinks we are threatened by something or someone he doesn't recognize."

Obi-Wan's elaboration failed to clear anything up and if the boy didn't look like he hadn't slept in a week, Dooku would claim he was purposefully misdirecting. "We are in the Jedi temple. What is there here that he fears?"

What had Dooku done that Anakin assumed his own lineage would attack him?

The look Obi-Wan was giving him was downright chilling, damning, before it slowly turned into incredulity. "I thought that was why Shmi— You don't sense it, do you?"

He sounded flabbergasted.

"No," Dooku said. "What is there to sense?"

Discomfort and wariness settled in the air, so heavy that Dooku was reminded of the invisible hands around his neck.

"The taint, the poison, the rot clinging to your light," Obi-Wan said slowly. "The darkness."

It sounded like judgement.

X

The first thing Qui-Gon recognized was noise.

It was loud around him, familiar voices speaking out. When he tried to open his eyes, he found the task impossibly challenging. He fought against the voice telling him to rest a little longer, that he didn't have to wake quite yet, but Qui-Gon had always been a stubborn one, unwilling to follow orders he deemed unnecessary.

"Master!"

When light began to fill his vision, Qui-Gon looked into the face of his worried Padawan, missing his braid and looking as distraught as Qui-Gon had seldom seen him before.

"Obi-Wan?" he tried to say, but his voice wasn't cooperating, so whatever left his mouth, it couldn't have been his apprentice's name.

"It's me, Master, yes." Obi-Wan understood him anyway, clever and wise as he was. Qui-Gon had given his Padawan a much too difficult time when he had still been his student and not a Knight of his own regard. He could hardly imagine being any prouder of Obi-Wan than he already was

"Master Qui-Gon!"

His vision became clearer and allowed for him to see Anakin and Ahsoka sitting just beside him on the bed, Shmi behind them and there, right next to her—

"Master."

"Save your strength, Qui-Gon," his Master urged him. If Obi-Wan had looked distressed, Dooku appeared downright hysterical. Qui-Gon was quite ready to believe this was all a hallucination now. As far as he knew, his Master had sworn off returning to the temple for at least another decade and even if he were here, he certainly wouldn't seek out Qui-Gon, no matter how injured.

"Rest some more," the imitation of his Master said. For just the shortest of moments, Qui-Gon was reminded of the time he had been a youngling just a few months older than Anakin and Dooku, not even quite Obi-Wan's age then, had panicked over his sickness. It had only been a mild cold, not the blinding hot pain chaining him to the bed now, but Dooku had told him to rest then with just the same cadence and care.

"Everything will be better after you've slept."

The illusion said the same words as his Master had then and just for that alone, Qui-Gon was inclined to believe him, even if he couldn't sense him, sense any of them properly.

Qui-Gon didn't know how much time passed between the intervals he was actually closer to consciousness and those he was inaccessible to the world. It felt like centuries passed within the blink of an eye. Regardless, whenever he woke, Dooku was there, dutifully sitting at his side as if Qui-Gon were still a child. It was reassuring anyhow.

The morning Qui-Gon woke and didn't feel like he needed to drop right back to sleep, he was greeted by the image of Dooku reading while the children were playing some board games on the bed next to his.

Qui-Gon decided to observe them just a minute longer before he spoke up.

"Am I dreaming, Master?"

Dooku immediately dropped the datapad and the others stopped their game, Qui-Gon's voice breaking this strange atmosphere.

"Qui-Gon!" it came from all sides. "Are you alright?"

He felt half-blind as if he had lost a sense he had always taken for granted, but, staring into the guilt-ridden expression of Anakin, he realized that lying had never been easier. "Yes, of course. What did I miss?"

From the look his lineage was giving him, quite a lot.

X

Ahsoka was young, but she wasn't stupid.

"What happened?" she asked Obi-Wan. The real adults wouldn't tell her anything for sure, but Obi-Wan just might because he was Anakin's the same way she was Anakin's, and he was theirs, and that was all that mattered. "Anakin is different."

He was hurting, though he tried to hide it. His pain and his fear scared him, which in turn only upset Ahsoka. She wanted everyone to be happy and healthy, but the world had shifted when she hadn't been there and it hurt.

"I—" Obi-Wan hesitated, so Ahsoka crossed her arms in front of her chest like she had seen Shmi do when she wanted to know something and nobody was willing to tell her. It made Ahsoka feel taller and more grown-up. Obi-Wan would have to tell her the truth.

"I want to know," she repeated. "Now."

Obi-Wan studied her for a few moments longer, then he sighed. "Anakin did something very foolish and difficult and Qui-Gon did something just as stupid and now everything is a mess."

Ahsoka could tell that he was trying not to use big words with her, but it only felt like he was attempting to get away with saying less.

"What did they do?" Ahsoka asked. "I want to know."

The need was pulsating under her skin, edging her on, licking at her arms like hot flames, urging to demand and not stop until she had forced the truth from his mouth, the ugly thing that was closing his throat.

"Anakin saw something really, really bad and dark," Obi-Wan said. "So Qui-Gon helped him forget that."

"But isn't that good?"

Ahsoka thought it was. It should be. If Qui-Gon took away what had hurt Anakin, then Anakin was going to be better now. That was how helping others worked. The others always said so; Shmi did too. The more you helped, the more did the galaxy heal.

"Yes, technically speaking, but… You know how the Force gives us warnings?"

Yes, of course, she did. Everyone always said to listen to the Force for their knowledge, but the Force had never warned her before she had stubbed her toe, so she wasn't entirely sold on that yet.

"The memories Qui-Gon hid from Anakin were such a warning, so now we don't know what the Force was warning us from and since they are so well hidden to protect him, Anakin won't be able to recognize the danger again when he sees it."

Oh. That really did sound bad. "Did he anything do something stupid then to get back the memories?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, Anakin decided to break the Force a little to keep Qui-Gon here longer."

Ahsoka wondered whether that was the reason Qui-Gon's wound was healing so slowly and no pain medication truly helped. He tried to hide it, but Ahsoka's nose and eyes were better than humans'. She saw him tense, could smell the sickness. Ahsoka bit her lip. "Is that why Qui-Gon's Force is all messed up?"

She didn't know how to describe it in a better way. It felt a little as if Qui-Gon was made up out of strings and someone had cut them and then tied the ropes back together clumsily in haste, leaving a net that could catch his soul, but was incredibly messy.

"A little. There's no telling what messing around with the Force like Anakin did."

(And they wouldn't know for a long while what it meant to force something to live. No matter how good the intentions at that moment, the residue of his actions left Maul awake, alive, alight in the dark side, and screaming.)

"Is he going to be okay again?" Ahsoka asked.

When Obi-Wan didn't reply immediately, she climbed back into his lap and let him wrap his arms around her. Jedi were the happiest when they weren't cold, and her family felt as if they needed a lot of warmth.

"I hope so," Obi-Wan replied. "I really do hope so."

X

For the first time since he had gotten his first gray hair, Qui-Gon actually felt old. He was tired all the time and his control over the Force was atrocious and depended on the time of day, what he had eaten for breakfast, the weather, and whether somewhere halfway across Coruscant somebody had totaled their Speeder, or so it felt to him at least. There was no rhyme or rhythm to whether he could use the Force at all and what his control over it was, not even as his body recovered.

His gut wound hadn't healed entirely yet, and he continued to be haunted by its phantom pains. He knew that it hurt Anakin, that he felt guilty, so Qui-Gon tried to avoid showing any of these weaknesses around the boy, but Anakin was an intelligent child and he noticed it anyway. Qui-Gon wondered if Anakin's sudden clinginess and paranoia resulted from his actions, actions he now had to justify himself for.

"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to sit?" Plo asked.

Qui-Gon wanted to reply with words as sharp as the edge of a knife, but he shouldn't. Plo was asking him out of worry and because they were friends, not to belittle him or point out his discomfort to him.

"I'm quite sick of sitting and lying down," Qui-Gon confessed. It hurt to admit this weakness, was he fully his Master's Padawan in this aspect, and against what his heart was telling him, he forced himself to say it out loud. "But a chair would be appreciated."

They got a chair for him and so Qui-Gon sat in front of the assembled Council, laying his mind bare for them to see and judge.

"Obi-Wan's report states that Padawan Skywalker had a breakdown as you boarded the ship to Naboo again. Is this correct?"

"Yes."

"And following this breakdown, you put a heavy mind block on him. Is this true as well?"

"Yes," Qui-Go replied, or maybe it would be more correct to claim he apologized.

He didn't regret saving Anakin then. It had come at a high price, his own mind still bleeding where he had cut himself on the kyber crystals of Anakin's soul, but he regretted that it had come to this at all. Trifling with a mind like this was nothing that could be taken lightly, and had the Council not asked to see him, Qui-Gon would have accused them of negligence. "I saw no other choice."

"What did you saw in his mind that forced you to act like this?" Mace asked.

"I saw a reflection of his own state of being, I suppose." His words sounded stuporous, too carelessly chosen, but he didn't know how else to describe this feeling. The more he attempted to elaborate on what he had seen, the more he realized that their language lacked the terms he needed

"I don't think the Force was meant to be anything more than something that binds the world together," Qui-Gon declared. "But Anakin… His existence defies that. He is the Force incarnate and it hurts him, subconsciously. The Force is endless and in Anakin, they have to constrain themself to a body with mortal limits, a fact which unsettles him down to his core when he becomes aware of it. From my observations, which I fail to describe accurately here and I fear to share with the state of my own mind and control, merely having consciousness is unsuitable for a being such as Anakin. We have all heard the voice of the Force, its call and its will, but it doesn't want as we do, as mortals might."

"But Anakin does," Plo continued his thought. "So you have the Force turned sentient, which goes against everything they ever were before, and suddenly they have to deal with the fact that Anakin has wants and needs that go beyond that of his parent."

"Yes," Qui-Gon agreed. "I think – or at least the way Anakin perceived it – the Force is shackling themself with his existence, in his existence. He became aware of it through a factor I have not yet determined, and that resulted in his breakdown."

"And so you decided to cover up these shackles."

"I did."

It was the only way he could have stopped Anakin from self-destructing.

X

The Force had shifted for the third time in less than a decade after so many years of slowly eroding away.

It was strange. Where once it was clouded, twisted, and shadowed as his Master and his Master's Master had crafted it, there was a rift now, a clearing.

It was shedding light on objects that should not be seen.

Darth Sidious pulled the shadows closer around himself and, throwing one last glance at his Master's dead body, decided to investigate.

He had need for an apprentice.

[squishneedsahero]

The Crash

Trust and Emotions 

Part 1 of 2

Word Count: 3487

I'm on both a starwars and marvel kick so like.... Peter Parker x Reader

So... things weren't going very well. There were many reasons for this but the largest was probably the fact that you were in a malfunctioning escape pod, hurtling across space at close to light speed. How you were going so fast, you had not a single clue though.

Lower on your list of problems, but not much lower, was the fact that you had kind of sort of just run away from the clones. They were your friends, hell you'd practically grown up with them. The war was won and the next moment you and your master were being shot at by the clones you had thought to be friends.

The final of the big three problems on your list was the one that was causing you the most grief. Your master, the one person in the galaxy you were closest too, the closest thing you had to a parent was now dead. They had sacrificed themselves to shove you into this escape pod and make sure you got out alive.

Okay, maybe those weren't your biggest problems, though they were all related. Your biggest problem was that you had no idea how many rotations you'd been stuck in this pod with very little food and water, but even more limited air. It had to have been at least 7 rotations at this point, you'd spend a ton of time trying to fix the pod. More time sleeping and even more crying over your lost master.

You were probably going to die stuck here in this pod, which was an alright way to go you supposed but honestly it's probably more painful than being shot in the face by your friends. At this point most of the air was gone, leaving you fading in and out of sleep as you struggled to survive. Hopefully you'd be asleep when the air finally ran out but with your luck probably not. This was your plan, to die in your sleep as peacefully as possible, but as a Jedi since when did things go to plan?

The pod around you shuddered, a sensation you'd felt a million times, you were entering an atmosphere. The pod slowed significantly from how fast it had been traveling, causing you to slide off the seat and across the floor, into the opposite wall. You struggled to keep yourself awake, but ended up passing out again before you could hit the planet's surface. It was probably good that you did, so you wouldn't have to face your death as you crashed into the ground at terminal velocity.

Once again things don't go as planned. You wake up in what has to be a med bay, attached to machines beeping and making a million other various sounds. You're familiar with med bays, you had ended up in one many a time, you aren't worried until you try to sit up and find yourself strapped to the bed.

The restraints cause instant panic to swell up inside you. Where were you and why did they need to keep you there- In your panic you struggle to free yourself, trying to get a hand free to be able to get out without alerting anyone or anything thing.

"Ma'am," your thoughts are interrupted, not by a medical droid as you had thought but by a person, a tall man with an eyepatch. "I'm afraid you're going to have to stay there until you explain yourself and how you crashed on our planet."

You can only stare at him in shock. What did he mean explain yourself- you couldn't do that, you'd just be killed if they knew you were a Jedi- SHIT- your lightsaber where was it, in your panic you feel for your hip- nothing.

The man notices, "I assume you're looking for this," he holds up your lightsaber, "don't worry we'll give it back to you- we just need to know you aren't a threat first."

He was holding your lightsaber and had no idea what it was or who you are. This calmed your nerves some, but you still couldn't bring yourself to tell him everything, so you start with a name, "my name is y/n l/n. What's yours?" You ask, possibly using the force to get him to answer easier.

"Nicholas Fury, you can just call me Fury." He pauses before continuing, "so, y/n why are you here?"

You pause, staring at him confused, how dense was this guy- "I crashed here, wherever here is," you answer shortly, trying to keep your patience with his questioning. You needed to know where you were before you tried to get out of here.

"This is earth, in the case you really do not know. How is it you crashed here?"

"I..." you pause deciding how much of the truth to tell.

"I suggest you tell the truth. Things will go much smoother for all of us that way."

"I was in a malfunctioning escape pod. Couldn't control it. In fact I was about to die from lack of air when I entered earth's atmosphere." The man stares at you, judging what you had shared, then he just- leaves the room the door closing behind him and he doesn't even say goodbye.

Once again you felt anger racing through you and you forced yourself to relax. Strong emotions were not the way of the Jedi. You let your head flop back onto the pillow and you close your eyes. You didn't need to rush, you'd figure out how to get out eventually, you weren't in any immediate danger.

You must have fallen asleep yet again as you lay there because you jump awake at the sound of your door opening and people entering. "She says her name is y/n l/n, female, human and about 17 years old. As far as we can tell she is not a threat but feel it would be best if you all kept an eye on her while she finished recovering from her injuries received in the crash."

You sit your head up and look to the voices. It was that Fury man once again, but this time he had three other people with him, two men and one woman. That's when he turns back to face you, "ah, you're awake very good. This is Steve, Tony and Natasha, they will be keeping an eye on you while you recover along with some others."

You wanted to protest you were fine, but somehow you thought that would be fruitless so you just nod and look at the three. They were strong, probably hard to escape from, but you'd escaped worse. Granted those were all with the aid of your master, this time you were on your own. That was fine, you'd take your time with it unless there was any sign of real danger from them.

"Do I have to stay restrained on this bed or can I be let go?" At their suspicious looks you come up with an excuse, "I was nearly dead when I crashed, that was before the impact. I have no idea how long I've been here, but I'd like to stretch my legs before they disappear."

Fury looks at the three and they seem to shrug, though Steve nods, "she hasn't done anything for you to be suspicious of has she? I mean besides being an unknown who crashed on earth."

"Not yet," Fury says begrudgingly before moving over to loosen the restraints an let you up.

You ignore the hand offered in help, sliding off the bed and carefully steadying yourself. Your legs were weak, but you could manage to hold yourself up. You look once again at the adults, feeling as though you were surrounded by the Jedi council. "So, what were you talking about? With them watching me while I recover?"

"They have a large secure place you can stay as you finish recovering. You have yet to do anything to prove that you need to be kept in a cell, but you also have yet to prove you aren't a danger so you'll be watched," Fury explains.

You nod, you could live with that. "One thing- could I have," you pause, unsure what to call it, "the thing you showed me the last time you came in that you took from me?"

Fury nods, but hands your lightsaber over to Tony, "we've yet to figure out what this is but it's obviously important to her. You take a look at it, and you decide when she gets it back."

Later that rotation you arrive on the landing platform of a tall building. "This is Avengers tower," the one named Tony says, "you'll be staying in here with us until Fury decides otherwise."

"Alright," you purse your lips and shrug your shoulders. This was fine, the place was similar to many places in Coruscant, though this also seemed to be the high tech place on this planet. That was fine, it was similar enough to the temple that you were comfortable in the room that you were shown too.

"We will have dinner in an hour and you can meet the others then," you can only nod as the door closes behind you. How long an hour is and what dinner was eluded you but you would try and be there on time.

It seemed you finally had a moment to yourself so you found a comfortable spot on the floor to meditate. You get settled and begin to get in the zone when there is a knock on your door. "Come in," you call as you stand and go to open the door for the visitor.

To your surprise it's a young man close to your own age, "uh- hi," he offers a smile, "I'm Peter, Mr.Stark said you'd be staying here and that you were close to my age... so he thought I could help you adjust a bit since I'm his intern and am here a lot."

You look at him, quietly and using the force to poke and prod, figuring out that he had no ill intentions even if he had some sort of secret. "Very well," you say and move aside so he can enter your room.

He comes in and hesitates before taking a seat on the edge of your bed. "So, where are you from? All they told me was they you were from out of town."

You go and take a seat on the bed near him, deciding it would be harmless to answer his questions even if he's reporting back to Fury. You tell him the name of the planet you were born on and he tries to figure out where that is until you finally just have to explain that it's another planet all together.

"Wait- so you're an alien?! That's awesome! How's you get here? Are you like the Asgardians where you look human but have super strength and magical powers?"

You're bombarded with questions and you only answer some of them, "I suppose you could call me an alien." "What is an Asgardian?" And so forth.

Despite him asking most of the questions you're able to learn quite a bit from him. And even though you don't really trust anyone here you feel that Peter is the most trustworthy, freely offering you information in exchange for information. Your conversation is interrupted sooner than you'd like with a knock on the door and Steve sticking his head in to let you both know it's time for dinner.

Your brow furrowed in confusion for the millionth time but you get up and follow Steve and Peter to whatever this dinner was. It was food. And good food at that, not the normal military rations you'd get stuck with on missions or the simple food they served at the temple.

You take the seat next to Peter's and look at the other adults you hadn't met yet. They were all wary of you but that was fine. They introduce themselves, Thor, Clint, Bruce, Wanda and Vision. Six men, and three women including yourself.

This was everyone, Clint, Natasha, Steve and Thor posed the most obvious threat to you. Wanda seemed to just be a normal civilian who was here for some reason, as did Tony and Bruce. But Tony had to be a threat of some sort considering he was one of the three sent to get you. Bruce on the other hand if anything seemed scared of you and that was alright.

"Hey Mr.Stark, is y/n going to school while she stays with you guys?" Peter speaks up.

"No kid, y/n will just be staying here. I'm assuming that you've figured out that we don't know who she is or where she's from considering that Steve found you in her room just now," Tony says.

Peter's face reddens and he stutters for a response, "you're the- the one who told me to go talk to her!"

Clint joins in, "wow, Pete, you're already sneaking into her room? Tsk tsk I expected more of you."

Whatever the hell they're on about eludes you so you continue eating as they banter. "So- y/n," Natasha interrupts, "seeing as you don't have any clothes with you, Wanda, Vision and I will be taking you shopping tomorrow to get you something to wear other than that ill fitting SHIELD uniform they gave you."

You looked down realizing for the first time what it was you were wearing. All black just a long sleeve shirt and pants, it wasn't bad but it wasn't what you liked. "Okay," you respond, it would be nice to get a better look around this place called earth.

The next day goes smoothly, the three help you find clothes that will allow you to blend in, jeans and tshirts and shorts. They were all brightly colored, hardly any greys and nothing brown, and just a few black items. When you had spotted a robe in one of the stores and grabbed it they let you, saying something about Tony paying for it and if it'll help them get on your good side.

That light grey robe becomes your constant companion. They are surprised when you wear it absolutely everywhere and over any of your outfits, you had a strange sense of style but it was fine it wasn't like you left the tower.

When what they call a month passes you realize that you had only gotten closer to Peter, not any closer to escaping this place. But overall it wasn't bad, no clones had shown up to hunt you down and the others living there seemed to be the protectors of this planet, similar to the Jedi over the galaxy. So you were actually kind of content, despite being restless after exploring every inch of the tower with Peter.

Sure they had tons of books and other scripts to read, but you were used to always going never stopping. Now you were stuck, not even able to train thanks to Tony still holding your lightsaber hostage somewhere.

Other than that it was fine though, Peter had asked if you wanted to watch a movie with him, some form of entertainment. Seeing as you had nothing better to do you accepted. As he showed you how to make popcorn and got to the television room he was blabbering on and on about what was apparently his favorite movie series. It was something called Starwars and he was so excited to show it to you sure that you would love it.

A New Hope is the first that you start with and it held your attention from the moment it started. Peter doesn't think anything of your fixated silence, thinking you to just be enjoying the movie. At least until you stand up when something familiar comes on screen. "What is this?!" You demand almost angrily.

"What's what?" Peter asks, nearly terrified as you glowered at him.

"That!" You point once again at the screen, more specifically the lightsaber.

"It's a lightsaber-"

A million things rush through your mind and you grasp the sides of your head, "how do you know about lightsabers?! We are no where near Coruscant and only the Jedi can have them! How do you have record of them here- here on earth?"

Peter is flabbergasted by your outburst, normally quiet, almost stoic, here you were shouting at him over a movie. A movie you claimed to have never seen before and yet here you were knowing stuff about the prequels when he'd started you on Episode 4.

"I- I- I don't know what you're talking about y/n it's just a movie! I thought you hadn't seen them before?!"

It's at this long you relax enough to realize how scared he truly is and you calm yourself down. You look at him and he truly is clueless as to what you're on about. You take a breath and calm yourself before taking his hand, "we need to talk, somewhere private-"

He grabs onto that, you calming down and just talking it out with him, "follow me," he says taking you along by the hand to a closet, one of the few spaces in the tower without a camera. Once the two of you are in there you're standing nearly nose to nose and Peter's face reddens yet again at being close to you, why he did that you didn't know and right now you didn't care. "What are you talking about y/n?"

You take a breath, "those movies- how do you have them? All that information about the Jedi and the Sith- Tatooine and R2 droids-"

You could keep going but he cuts you off, "it's all made up y/n, a guy named George Lucas, he made up those stories they aren't real. He went and made some movies for fun, that's all those are, stories, made up stories."

You throw your hands up in the air, you'd gone backwards in your progress of not showing emotion since being here, "Peter- no, you don't understand- those things, they aren't made up." You pause and grab his shoulders, looking in his eyes, "I'm a Jedi- I'm a padawan. That's why I haven't told any of you anything about me. The clones killed my master while they saved me. They shoved me into an escape pod and launched it- it malfunctioned and I crashed here then I've been here ever sense. But somehow you know about the Jedi and lightsabers and think it's all made up-"

You finally let go of him and let yourself fall to the floor, grasping your head. This was madness. What in all the known systems is a movie and how is there one having all the secrets of the Jedi on a planet that doesn't know you even truly exist.

You're snapped out of it when Peter kneels in front of you and takes your hands so you stop pulling at your hair. "Okay, okay- we can figure this out y/n, we'll go and talk to Tony, figure out why you think all of this is real."

As soon as he mentions Tony you're crawling away from him, muttering, "no no no no no no no no," as you struggle to get the door open.

"Y/n, it's okay I promise, trust me- no one here wants to hurt you, let's figure this out together-" he tries to stop you in your panic. But nothing he says helps, it's only when he does something, something that shocks you out of it that you stop to listen to him.

His hands cup your cheeks and his lips crash against yours. You don't respond for a moment, until you pull away and look at him in shock. What was that? You think but no, you can't get distracted by strange earth customs.

You relax and close your eyes, when Peter tries to remove his hands from your cheeks you hold them there with your own. It's a minute before you open your eyes and look at Peter again, "okay... we can figure this out..." you say gently, "I just- not the others- not yet. I'm still not sure I can trust them... but you- I feel safe with you," you admit.

Peter's face reddens again but he nods, slowly removing his hands from your cheeks to wrap you in a hug. You can't help but lean into it, putting your arms around him in return, "we'll figure it out. Just us, no Tony, no one else, promise."

For as long as you don't let go of him he doesn't let go of you. But eventually you do move, you don't know what it is but there's something different about Peter, something different from any other life form you had met. The two of you move together, getting up from the floor of the storage closet, then go back to your room.

[dalekofchaos]

If Ben Solo never turned

My little au where Luke never ignited the lightsaber and Ben never turned 

Luke senses the darkness within Ben, but seeks guidance from Anakin and Obi-Wan before resorting to anything rash

Obi-Wan would suggest he take Ben into isolation. Somewhere where the light side is strong and allowing Ben to express his feelings to Luke

Anakin, who has been down the path of darkness himself, suggests Luke show Ben the benefits of the light and the negatives of the dark. Upon hearing this, Luke would tell Ben the true story of his grandfather. How the dark side wasn’t the solution to his worries. In the end he could not save the one he loved and spent 20 years entombed in suffering and misery as he was consumed by Darth Vader.

The next morning, when Ben arrived at the Jedi Temple with his fellow Padawans, he would be greeted by Luke. Luke would ultimately decide to take the advice of his father, over Obi-Wan's, opting to show Ben the power of the light side and corruption of the dark.

Just as Luke did in the Rise Of Kylo Ren comics, he would take Ben to various Jedi outposts and artifacts around the galaxy, in search of the lost knowledge of the Light Side of the Force.

They would fight numerous battles, shoulder to shoulder, against the Knights Of Ren, ALways coming out on top. Ren would still offer Ben to join their ranks as in canon, but with the guidance of Luke would cast off his pull to the dark and leading him to decline the offer.

Palpatine would still be speaking to Ben through Snoke, but once again, Ben would not engage with Snoke, as the guidance and love of Luke would give Ben no reason to seek the dark.

Continuing to follow his father's advice, Luke would move on from demonstrating the benefits of the light side, into showing the pain and suffering of the dark. They would explore many dark side shrines like Fortress Vader on Mustafar and the former Imperial Palace on Coruscant. 

Luke's confidence in his students allowed him to show off these dark side locations, without fear of them being corrupted. Because Luke realized the failure of the Republic era Jedi laid within their arrogance and closed mindedness, he didn't want his students to fall into the same trap. He firmly believed that while only the Light Side should be utilized, all aspects of the force should be recognized.

As they became closer, Ben opened up to Luke about Snoke. Ben explains that ever since he could remember, Snoke has been by his side as “a friend” when his parents became distant towards him, Snoke was there. When Luke was focusing on more than himself, Snoke was there. But because Luke has shown the love and affection he’s always craved from his family, he no longer feels the need to seek Snoke out. 

Because Snoke's attempts to turn Ben to the dark side were now known to Luke, Ben was able to talk about it and release his frustrations. This allowed Luke to make adjustments to his teaching style and repair the shortcomings of the previous Jedi Code.

Luke would take the time to set up a meeting between Ben, Han and Leia. Ben would express how much it hurt that they sent him away. Han and Leia explains they genuinely thought sending him to Luke was the best way to help him. Leia felt Snoke from the moment Ben was born and when he came of age, knew Luke would be able to train and protect Ben. Leia would tell Ben. “Your father and I loved you so much. We were so caught up in our work that we couldn’t be there as much as we wanted to. Sending you away was our biggest mistake as parents. We are so sorry.” and then Ben would hug his parents showing that he’s forgiven them and moves on with Luke and the Jedi. Leia and Han would be permitted to send holovids to communicate with Luke and Ben.

Before Ben could move on, he would need to apologize and make up with his fellow Jedi Tai, Hennix and Voe. Ben would apologize for his arrogance/superiority complex and would from now on view his fellow Padawans as his friends. This is a fresh start for the group.

Luke would be using his outings to these dark side locations with Ben as a means to find the Sith Wayfinders, believing they would lead back to the origin of Snoke. Although this was unknown to Ben. Luke hoped to find the true identity of Snoke and eliminate him before he had the chance to turn Ben or any of his students.

Ben decided that the Knights Of Ren must be stopped once and for all. Ben gets together Tai, Voe and Hennix together. The mission in ending the Knights Of Ren was a success. The Padawans would now be Knighted as Jedi Knights

Luke decides to take only Ben with him on this extremely important mission. Although he believes the other students would be capable facing Snoke together, this was a job for Luke and Ben alone.

Ben uses his contact with Snoke to gain access to the second Sith Wayfinder, manipulating him into giving more information about his origin. 

The pair travel across the galaxy until they are forced to stop on Naboo because of damage to their ship. Upon their arrival, they are greeted by the Queen Of Naboo and sent to their quarters while repairs are made on their ship. Luke and Ben both sense a significant dark side presence on the planet, drawing them towards a small home in the capital city of Theed. Although the pair are reluctant, they have no choice but to investigate this dark side presence 

Feint howls could be heard and a cool chill swept across the street they were walking on. They knew they were at the right location, despite it looking like a completely normal house, the same as any other on the street, it was ravaged by the presence of the dark side of the force, radiating pain through the bodies of Luke and Ben. Ben proceeds to destroy the door with a swift kick, unleashing a scream from the rear of the house. This scream didn't come from a person, but a disturbance in the force. As the pair meandered around the house, they were bathed in the dark side. A familiar voice filled Luke's head, bringing back painful memories of his past. This was the home of the most powerful Sith Lord of all time, Darth Sidious.

Emperor Palpatine's home was left untouched from the moment he left, after killing his parents and taking the apprenticeship of Darth Plagueis. Ben was unaware of the true wickedness of Palpatine in his prime, but could recognize the shocked look on Luke's face. For a Jedi Master of such power to be left stunned meant this man had to have had some extreme significance in his life.

The pair quickly break open the basement door with their lightsabers, entering the smoky room. A bright red light emanates from the far corner, giving off a dark side hum. It was the final Sith Wayfinder they needed to find and confront Snoke himself.

With the Wayfinder in hand, they rushed outside the gloomy dwelling, returning to their quarters, awaiting their ship's repair. Although Luke was very concerned that the path to Snoke was contained within the former house of the Emperor, he did not yet realize that it was Palpatine pulling the strings. He thought his encounter with Palpatine on the second Death Star was the end of his story.

As the pair awoke the next morning, they were ready to finally face their dark opponent. With their ship repaired and the Sith Wayfinder complete, a course was set for the Unknown Regions world of Exegol.

Luke had only heard rumors of there being a Sith homeworld in the Unknown Regions, but this confirms it. Ben meditated on the journey, hoping to further strengthen his connection to the light side, in preparation for their battle with Snoke. 

As their ship moves into the nebulous atmosphere of Exegol, they struggle to land on the treacherous planet, as their navigation systems and rear engines are fried by the electromagnetic pulses. They enter the Sith temple, the same way Kylo Ren did in the original timeline.

To their shock and surprise, the two are greeted by Snoke. But not in the way that they were expecting. They were met by 500 Snokes. Each one in separate jars, the same ones we see in the original timeline. 

The realization sweeps over Luke, as he now accepts that Snoke was simply a clone being controlled by Emperor Palpatine. 

Ben and Luke rush through the laboratory, shattering every single jar that contained a clone of Snoke. The room was quickly bathed in an increasingly red mist. 

Many questions flooded over Luke about how this could be possible. How did Palpatine survive? How is he able to Clone Force Sensitive beings? Why has he chosen Exegol over Morraband? During the process of destroying these jars, Sith Eternal cultists, each with their own shade of Red Lightsaber, surround Luke and Ben. They valiantly fight the cultists, eventually coming back to finish off the leader.

The Leader of the Sith Eternal Cultists would reveal himself as the Snoke who had been in contact with Ben from the moment he was born. Snoke takes out a Black Lightsaber. Ben and Luke combine their strength to fight Snoke.  Snoke is powerful, but is taken down to the combined might of master and student. 

An ominous cackle can be heard from the shadows. Luke knows this laughter.  He knows the person waiting in the shadows to take his revenge for the events that occurred on the second Death Star. The Stage has now been set for the duel that was always meant to be.

Palpatine drains what’s left of the Sith Eternal and the Snoke clones to revitalizes himself. This is enough to contend with Luke and Ben

Luke and Palpatine are evenly matched, but Luke cannot continuing countering his SIth Lightning.

Palpatine has Luke at his mercy and has full intention of finishing what he started 30 years ago. What Palpatine did not count on was Ben. The boy he thought was a lost cause and thought Snoke killed him, rises and stabs Palpatine in the back. Ben grabs Luke’s Lightsaber and uses both lightsabers to finish Palpatine once and for all. Finally, the voices have stopped.

“Uncle, it’s over.” “I’m proud of you Ben.”

The First Order is still a thing. With no Snoke or Palpatine, Rae Sloane is in control of The First Order.

With Luke learning from the mistakes from the old Jedi Order, The Jedi Order is detached from the New Republic. Leia can use this since The New Republic still refuse to do anything about The First Order

The Jedi will be there for any reports or rumors about The First Order. Any raids to abduct children is prevented. Project Resurrection is an absolute failure.

Tai and Voe rescues Finn just in time, but are unable to save his family. Finn is taken in and becomes a Jedi. Voe is Finn’s master

Ben is called by the force to go to Jakku. There he finds Rey. Ben convinces Rey to leave with him and become a Jedi. Ben takes it upon himself to take Rey as his apprentice. Rey and Ben would’ve been bonded by the force through training and even find love with each other.

Palpatine and Snoke are no more and so is the dark hold that almost consumed Ben Solo. The First Order never become anything more than a fringe terrorist movement. Ben never turns. Han and Leia never break up. The Jedi and New Republic stand triumphant. Ben, Rey, Finn, Tai and Voe all rise as Jedi Knights!

This is what I think could’ve been if Ben never turned 

[gabriel4sam]

For your celebration of "And then he wakes up...", could you write something on either Jangobi + tooka, or a Ventrobi timeloop, please?

Under the cut, a small Obi-Wan/Asajj Ventress fic, with time travel fix-it!

Asajj is busy inside the motors of her ship when it happens. The little beast roars like no other and can outlast the most determined other bounty hunter, or idiotic imperial, but fickle is a too nice word for it. Half of her money is spent on pieces.

So, here she is, oil on her arms and a swear on her lips when something explodes in the Force. It’s so ferocious and intense that she bashes her head on metal so hard she probably gives herself a concussion, then only has the time to reach for the bucket full of oil she just used to bath a recalcitrant butterfly valve and she’s violently ill.

She reaches into the Force with wobbly intent and is meet with weeping and distress. Something monstrous just happened.

Once before, once only, Asajj sensed such lament, just after Order 66, when the Force mourned Its children. Only, there are no more Jedi to genocide, the Inquisitors, Vader and bounty hunters took care of it. But not Asajj, never Asajj, those bounties, she never took, even if she refused to examine the reason why. But today, the Force had been shaken in a very similar way. What sort of horrors could have been so terrible to be felt this way?

The answer is on the Holonet only minutes after. The Empire really wants people to know about its new toy, this planet killer born of a nightmare.

A whole world. Alderaan is no more, Alderaan of the shining culture, of the precious beauty, Alderaan with its poetry, with its literature, its theatre and songs and food, with its ideas and its history. Alderaan, the world who fought so hard, always, for the disenfranchised, for the slaves, for the forgotten. Alderaan, who always opened its doors to refugee and voted following its heart in the Senate, its Senators the last bastions of resistance in a sea of sycophants.

Alderaan and its millions of sentients, and its billions of life force.

Asajj feels very old and very tired. If she was the sort of self-righteous idiot prone to this sort of gesture, she would probably search and join for the Rebel Alliance on the spot, but she’s smarter than that.

That night, she still buys herself a very, very nice vintage, quite decided to drink herself into stupor. Sometimes, that’s the only thing to do, if not done too often. She’s in that dangerous state for a Force User, not passed out but drunk enough her control on her powers is not the same, her shields not so tights, when she feels the Light flares. She reaches out, more reflex than decision.

“Ventress!” Someone calls in the void, surprised to feel someone reaching out, and the voice brings back memories of a taunting smile and grey eye and then it’s snuffed out.

Asajj sits up, terribly sober. Wherever he was, Obi-Wan Kenobi just died. In any other time, she wouldn’t have feel it, but tonight, drunk and tired, and with so little Force sensitive beings left. She never liked the guy but to her surprise, she feels a wave of grief. She almost reaches for the bottle again, but decides against it. This night, her dreams are plagued by memories and she sleeps so poorly that the next morning, she doesn’t question it when the ship’s hyper drive acts out again. Exasperated, she opens the compartment, searches for the reason of the problem….By the Force, how much did the resonance in the Force of Alderaan’s blowing up affect her? She would have sworn she had done a better job than that, it’s exactly like…. She needs a holiday. Something safe and quiet and far, very far away from the Empire blowing up entire worlds and killing old enemies who were of the last people in the whole galaxy who knew, really knew Asajj. Because it was certainly the Empire: Obi-Wan Kenobi wasn’t exactly the style to die from anything else than a full legion, or at least a full Sith. She’s there in her memories, thinking of that time on Drall when she had tried to cut him in two with an ancient Sith Weapon, and that time on Selonia when Kenobi had foiled her whole plan by, she was quite sure of it, seducing the twin ambassadors… Strangely; all those occasions who had infuriated her at the time are now bringing a half-smile on her pale lips. He had been a ferocious adversary, but a fun one. And it would be a lie to pretend, but only now, now that he was dead, that she had never imagined what sort of adversary he would have made on another battlefield, one of linen and pillows. She’s there, working on the butterfly valve and thinking of twinkling grey eyes, when the Force explodes in pain. Asajj bashes her head on metal, again.

What the…. This time, she doesn’t throw up, breathing careful, sending her pain into the Force.

Not even ten minutes after, the fate of Alderaan is on the holonet again.

Asajj needs to sit down. Didn’t she live that already? A vision, perhaps? No, her visions are rare, fragmented, honestly not very useful, her talents in the Force residing elsewhere. Quickly, she puts her motor in order and starts her ship.

Asajj Ventress is a lot of things but indecisive is not one of them. Run away? Where? If it’s the will of the Force, running away in the Unknown regions themselves would be useless. The Force can’t be outrun and if Its paths can be mysterious, they are stubborn.

Direction Alderaan, or whatever is left of it. Here, perhaps she will find answers. She’s just leaving hyperspace when she feels the Light flares up, once again. Much more closely, she can almost taste the last breath of Kenobi, feel the lightsaber and something…something strange and powerful and like a note in the music of the universe she never heard before.

Even dying, Kenobi can’t do it simply, the overachiever flirt that he is.

This time, it isn’t sleep which makes Asajj leaves this day. This time, it’s the Empire which destroy her little ship, because she had no chance against a Star Destroyer.

The next day, Asajj doesn’t bash her head on metal hull. That day, her ship is already in the system when the Death Star arrives and here she waits, almost in ambush except she has no intention to reveal her presence, all the powers on her ship on shielding it, and too small fry to interest them , ready to collect all information she can.

She sees the destruction of Alderaan in direct and it’s even more terrible on her nerves like that, the Force howling.

And then…then, she feels Kenobi, in a garbage ship. Kneeling on her bunk, she shields herself and she follows him, letting the all she can collect itself in her mind, the useful and the useless, letting it settle, like organic matter in a swamp. When he dies, again, she reaches for him, letting her presence be a last comfort to his light.

Seven days, Asajj does nothing more than arrive before the Death Star, shudder in deep horror for Alderaan and let the fate of Kenobi, every step he takes on that damn space station, enlighten her about the forces in presence.

Before, when she was the Count’s apprentice, she never would have found the patience. She would have raged and yelled and stormed, and probably died even before Kenobi! Now, she knows better. Sometimes, she would swear she can see, at the corner of her vision, her former Master, the first one, the dead one, the Jedi, almost there, almost real, but when she turns, it’s always empty. But she feels it, as she kneels for the entire day, deep in meditation, learning that horrible space station, feeling the lives on board, she feels her dead Master, right there, and he’s so proud a younger Asajj would cry.

So, Asajj learns and Asajj plans, and Asajj thinks to run, but never does. Whatever the Force wants of her, it’s important, too important. Every morning, she jumps from her bunk and goes to repair her motor; to arrive on in the Alderaan system first. She never even checks the date. Now that the Force had put things in motion, It wouldn’t stupidly let time pass normally for Asajj.

Seven days, she waits. She learns. She meditates. Seven days, she reaches for a dying man, and feels him reaching out, sending him comfort. She never need to send peace. Obi-Wan Kenobi dies in peace, like only a Jedi could.

The eighth day, she strikes.

*************************************************************************

When Obi-Wan, Luke, and their pilots arrive on Alderaan, the whole planet is quite busy panicking, in the very polite way they have about it on this world. The old Jedi find Bail and Breha waiting for him the moment he put foot on their soil, and a monstrous blasphemy in the Force high in their sky.

“It arrived hours before you,” the Vice-Roy explains, “and no tentative of contact of our part has been successful. We have been prepping evacuation, but how be sure that any ship leaving the planet won’t be attacked? And there will never be enough ships” At this moment, a technician calls for them and at they move to the holotransmetter, Bail adds quietly, just for Obi-Wan “And we lost contact with Leia’s ship almost three days ago.”

Obi-Wan’s hand claps on his old friend’ shoulder: “She’s alive,” he swears, “I would have felt it in the Force.”

They meet around the holotransmitter and that’s the moment the whole galaxy flickers, like a flame hesitating before going out and continuing….and then it changes and takes a better path. If not an easier one, perhaps simply one with less death. And that’s how it starts, with two scoundrels, one of them quite hairy, one Jedi, two royals and a moisture farmer powerful in the Force, congregating around a blue image of a former Sith, who looks exhausted and a little manic.

“They’re quite busy with me,” she says, “And I have made as much damages to important electronical stuff as I could, so it’s time to board this horror while they’re busy trying to open the command control room to kill me”.

“Ventress?” Obi-Wan asks, after a second of silence.

“Yeah, yeah, Ventress. Don’t tell me I have changed so much, I would be crossed with you, I mean, have you seen yourself? If I hadn’t feel you in the Force, I would never have recognized you. Why have you aged forty years in twenty?”

“Is this a dead body?” Breha interrupted, her gaze fixated on something at Ventress’s feet.

“I have decapitated a Grand Moff,” Ventress admitted, like she was saying space was cold and water wet, “And honestly, someone should have done it long ago.” Her attention was taken by something outside the view of the holotransmitter. “I barricaded myself into Tarkin’s central command, I think it was made in case the space station was boarded by hostiles. But Vader is there, so, you have thirty minutes to help, or it will have all been for nothing, for me and for the young princess in the cells.”

“We’re losing communication,” the Alderaani technician intervened, “someone in the space station understood she was talking to us.”

“I will guide y-“ Ventress had the time to say, then nothing more.

Chewbacca had just the time to extend his arm to stop Obi-Wan from falling.

“Oh.” The Jedi simply said, “Oh. That’s what she meant.”

For the old man, the sensation of Ventress reaching out in the Force was like something long forgotten. Like they had done that already, before, at their most dire times. He was pretty sure he had never reached out into the Force to her, but in that moment…in that moment, it was like coming home, their two Force presences responding to each other, and here, in his mind, Ventress knew just how take the abomination in the sky with minimal blood loss, like she had studied the plans of the Death Star quite extensively, like she understood the thing in and out, and knew what a small determined commando could do, now that she had temporarily blinded the Death Star.  

The rest was quite a busy day. The rest, as Han Solo would say later, was history and he would always be proud to have been there, to the first Death Star battle, when the Alderaan security forces had crept into the Death Star, using the mess Ventress had made. Honestly, he probably wouldn’t have been, if Chewie hadn’t insisted. But he saw history, that day, he saw what a small, determined group of people could do, he saw the impossible fight between Vader, Kenobi and Ventress, and the fall of a giant in the Force.

At the end of the day, Alderaan had won a moon, who would stay there, manned by the Rebel Alliance, as a warning to Star Destroyers who would come knocking. They would never use it on a planet, of course, but the Empire would never win it back and the Rebel Alliance had a new base.

At the end of the day, Asajj Ventress and Obi-Wan Kenobi would try to unravel their Force presences, with no success. “I suppose I could do worse than you,” Asajj would admit, when their third try had sent them directly to bed, because there was a limit of the closeness in the Force two Force sensistives could feel before things started to get physical.

At the end of the day, once all was done, which meant it was closer to the dawn of the next day, Asajj would finally meet the Princess, the one who had started everything, and that she had only peripherally felt in the Force before. She would understand, then, the feeling of her dead Jedi Master in the Force, this sort of giddy joy. “Well met, Padawan”, were the first words of Asajj to the young woman.

[missizzy]

New Fic: All Five, Part 16(Star Wars)

(Read entire fic on AO3)

The rest of that day was dull, and therefore, long.  In the Temple, Qui-Gon spent most of it trying to find out all he could about the current traffic around the Chancellor's office, while Obi-Wan and Anakin were mostly caught up in other tasks, ones their Master feared wouldn't keep them distracted, knowing them both as well as he did.  Over on Avvarbor Prime, Mace spent it traveling to where his Padawan waited with her pair of charges, and the three of them apparently spent a quiet day in relative safety.

Qui-Gon and Anakin took their lastmeal that night in their quarters. Of course as soon as Qui-Gon said they were going to, Anakin must have guessed what he wanted to talk about.  He was mildly surprised his Padawan didn't launch right into it as soon as they had sat down with their greens and loaf.  Maybe he was finally learning patience.  Or maybe he wanted to not talk about it that badly.

He waited until both their plates were half cleared, before he said, "I know something happened yesterday which you remain troubled about, my Padawan.  What about it is most on your mind?"

"The girl, of course!" It burst out from him, just as Qui-Gon had expected; the question had just been to get him talking.  "I'm wondering where she is right now, if she's even alive...yeah, we can't even know that, can we?  Look, I know we had to walk away, didn't even need Obi-Wan to explain, not really, but..."  He sighed.

"Of course this has brought you pain," said Qui-Gon.  "You would not be a good person if it did not.  This is one of the prices of being a Jedi they don't tell you about until you're paying it.  The guilt, especially when we are aware it is the system that is stopping us, the rules set for us by the Senate, rather than the Force."

"And you object to those, Master?"  Anakin asked, with a hint of a smile.

"Certainly not in their entirety," Qui-Gon had to admit.  "We do want to be of service to the people, after all.  Indeed, if the Senate was a bit more of a reflection of their true will...but it may be the closest we can get."

Anakin hid his disappointment well; Qui-Gon could only faintly sense it.  "There are no easy answers to any of your questions, Padawan," he said to him.  "The best I can tell you is to try to figure out what is right, and to know there may be times when that will not be what you were told to do.  You knew what the right thing to do was yesterday, after all, much as it was a terrible thing to do as well."

A nod from Anakin.  He was now old enough to understand why that wasn't a contradiction in terms, and regret it.  "We shall meditate further on this tonight," he finished.  "I hope that will help you find peace with it."

But they ultimately wouldn't get the chance to.  They were just gathering up the dishes when the comm chimed, and Master Yoda's voice came out, "Master Jinn?  Padawan Skywalker?"

"That's us," said Anakin, with just a little cheek.  Qui-Gon felt oddly proud.  

"See you, I must, right away," and there was something odd about his voice.  A line from Master Dooku ran through the head of his former apprentice: "On those occasions when he's obliged to do something he doesn't think is the best idea, he'll sound as impatient as he accuses us of being."

Anakin probably hadn't noticed.  He was at the door even as Qui-Gon said, "We're on our way.  Your interview chamber?"

They did indeed meet Yoda there, sitting next to the far wall so as not to have the ceiling lurking right behind and over Qui-Gon's head, waiting for him to bump into if he tried to move without paying attention.  That at least got him a little more relaxed than his poor Padawan, and he tried to sound casual, as he asked, "So, Master Yoda, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Pleasure this may be, or may not be," was the reply, as Yoda turned towards Anakin.  "Word, I have just received, from Chancellor Palpatine.  He wishes to meet with you, Padawan Skywalker.  Alone."

That was a very great demand to make at Anakin's age, even for the Supreme Chancellor.   "What for?" he asked.  "Did he say?"

"Say, he did not, only that he would like if within the next few days, this meeting would be."

"Right now, my schedule's open?"  Anakin asked his Master.

"It can be very easily," Qui-Gon confirmed, but he knew they both would sense his displeasure and wariness.

"Refuse this, you can, Master Qui-Gon," Yoda reminded him.  "He is your Padawan, and even the Chancellor of the Republic cannot meet him, or just cannot meet him alone, if nay, you tell him."

Qui-Gon had never forbidden any of his Padawans to meet with anyone, or even restricted the conditions under which they could.  It went against most of what he believed in in life.  But now he was besieged by a feeling he had never had before, a fear of what would happen to Anakin if he didn't step forward to protect him from those too powerful.

It was because Anakin couldn't get away with refusing himself, he told himself firmly.  That didn't mean the decision couldn't still be his.  Yet he still felt the vague dread as he asked, "What you do want to do, Anakin?  It�s not right that you should need me to say no in your stead, but if you don't want this I'll do it."

Anakin didn't answer right away, but just sat there, his uncertainty strong enough for anyone to sense.  After a minute or so, he asked, "What do you think would happen if Master Jinn insisted on coming with me?  Would he agree, or refuse to meet with me at all?"

Yoda closed his eyes, and they could tell he was reaching into the Force, seeing if it would tell him.  Finally he said, "Tricky, Chancellor Palpatine seems.  Possible, it is it, that he will say yes, then attempt to separate you when you arrive."

Master and Padawan then needed only a quick glance at each other to confirm they were both thinking the same thing.  "Tell him I insist on being present," said Qui-Gon.

"Tell him that, I shall," said Master Yoda, and he bowed.  "May the Force be with you two.  Need it, you may."

"Maybe this will even be fun," Anakin commented as they walked back to their own quarters.  "I mean, if we're trying to get the better of the Supreme Chancellor."  It was a weak echo of his younger self, and in spite of everything, Qui-Gon had to smile a little.  They would, at least, feel some very real satisfaction if they pulled it off.

"We shall have to begin preparing for it immediately," he said.   "It is a safe assumption that the exact meeting time will be at the Chancellor's pleasure rather than ours; we might even find ourselves roused for it early tomorrow morning.  Tonight will we have to study the layout of his office and surrounding quarters.  Also, I have a friend there who we'll contact; he may be willing to help, although he will likely ask for favors in returns, ones we may or may not be able to grant."

He also thought that so long as they were going to be in the Chancellor's suite, they might also do some investigating of the other goings-on there, at least if the opportunity provided itself.  It would for him, perhaps, if Palpatine did succeed in separating them.  Although if that was a back-up plan of action, it was probably smarter not to mention to his Padawan that he had it.  There was still too much chance of him taking that the wrong way, hard as Qui-Gon had worked to get him to overcome his insecurities.

Rozitti didn't answer when Qui-Gon first commed him, in his bedroom, while Anakin waited outside.  He was a very busy man.  Anakin looked very curiously at his Master when he came out, but when Qui-Gon said, "He wasn't home," he didn't ask any questions.  The two of them spent two hours going over everything they knew about the entire building, right down to what Anakin happened to know about the electrical system.  ("I got curious about how they worked here on Coruscant after that adventure I went on in the Temple," he explained.) The two of them did meditate a little before Qui-Gon sent Anakin to bed, with him directing his Padawan to focus on what he could do in the immediate future, and let go of what he couldn't do.

A lesson he could've learned better himself, of course.  Obi-Wan was busy that night, helping tutor a young knight of a more nocturnal species, so Qui-Gon could have no companion except his own all too agitated thoughts.  He couldn't let Anakin know how much he, too, had been disturbed and deeply distressed by the thought of that poor woman they couldn't help, much as he had known countless people like her in his life.  He spent extra time in meditation, keeping his mental state through several exhausting katas, which at least allowed him to drift off for a few hours.  But his dreams that night were painful, and when he woke too early, it was just as well, since he needed more meditation to resettle his mind.

By the time Anakin woke, however, Qui-Gon, was more mentally composed.  It helped that they took their first meal with Obi-Wan that morning, though the talk between the three of them that morning was entirely commonplaces.  It was a busy day for both him and Anakin, the one still teaching lessons, and the other still learning them.  Qui-Gon envied them that, wished the Council would let him take on some classes, though he supposed if he couldn't anyway if they did let them go to the Avvarbor System now.  

He instead spent the morning doing more research.  There was only so much more left to read about Palpatine and the goings-on of his circle and surroundings.  With that subject exhausted, he went back to reading about dark objects.  He'd found a book about experiments done by now-unknown practitioners, possibly Sith-affiliated, experimenting with ways to travel tens of thousands of light-years within moments by bending and twisting the Force.  They knew it hadn't ended well for most of them, but there were a handful where their exact fate was unknown.   Obviously if any of them had succeeded, the Sith hadn't received their knowledge then, but it was just possible they had somehow come to it, or part of it, now.

When just before lunch he got a comm from Master Yoda, he was pretty sure what it was about even before he answered, "Master?" and got the response:

"Agreed, the Chancellor has.  To meet you both tonight, he wants.  At 2000, or 2100."

"2000, then," said Qui-Gon.  The sooner this all was over with, the better.

2000 Hours Both Master and Padawan were the epitome of proper decorum for the first ten minutes or so they were in the Executive Building.  Master Jinn had made Anakin spend much of the afternoon reviewing all the rules, and Anakin had done it very thoroughly.  He knew how important this all was, after all.

Then they got a few minutes by themselves, when they were left to wait to be called into the Chancellor's office.  Obviously they had to be on camera at that point, so there was only so much they could even say to each other, but Master Jinn still leaned down and said to him, "Remember, Chancellor Palpatine is a very powerful man with maybe more responsibilities than anyone else in the galaxy.  But he is also just another person in the end, to be respected as much as any other, but not seen as all powerful or more than that."

It wasn't Anakin's first time meeting a Supreme Chancellor.   Master Jinn had a couple of times had cause to meet with Valorum, and Anakin had come with him once, when he'd been eight.  Palpatine he'd seen images of, and his main thought had always been that he and Valoum didn't look all that unalike.

He still thought that now, but when Chancellor Palpatine actually stepped out of his office to greet them-which Anakin didn't think Supreme Chancellors usually did-Anakin did note they felt pretty different in the Force.  It wasn't a difference he could even really put words to, but if he'd tried to, he probably would've said it was like Palpatine was just more there.  He could've just been strong in the Force; politicians often were, though thankfully they usually weren't actually Force-sensitive.  But Anakin also had the feeling that there was something important there too he couldn't identify.  He hoped Master Jinn could figure that one out.

Whatever it was, he wasn't sure he liked it.  But that could just be his already being suspicious of the Chancellor and the people around him.  He wasn't even sure how much that was them, and how much that was his being suspicious of everybody nowadays.

"Padawan Anakin Skywalker."  Palpatine's voice was warm and paternal.  "Thank you for coming to see me, and on such short notice.   And you, too, Master Jinn.  I've heard so much about you both.  I suppose you will insist on coming in?"  He didn't sound entirely friendly there.

"I assume you must have something very important to tell my Padawan," said Master Jinn, perfectly placid.  "Something I'll need to know anyway.  This should be easier for both of us if we can just hear it together."

"It's not exactly that," said the Chancellor as he stepped into the audience, but made no further protest when Master and Padawan followed him shoulder to shoulder.  "And in truth, Master Jinn, what I've got to talk about today is something the Jedi Council will be hearing about sooner or later.  I suppose you two might feel the need to tell them about it now, but...I think I will leave that up to your discretion."

Did he know, about Master Jinn and the Council?  Anakin wasn't sure how many people outside the Temple knew about that.  Though if there was any kind of Sith influence in this place, they'd probably be spying on the Council as much as they could.

One way or another, he didn't like the way Palpatine was looking at Master Jinn, like he thought he could get something out of him.    It made Anakin wonder a lot what he might want.  They none of them had time to get tangled up in stupid politics, if it was just that, and if it was worse...well.

"To be honest, this is something I'm very worried to tell the Council about, especially as I fear they may take offense...or worse.   You see, I am starting to think someone in the Order is plotting against me, the Republic's government in general, or both."

He looked at them as if he expected this news to send them both reeling.  To be fair, it would have, if they hadn't already thought far worse could exist within the Temple.

Though Master Jinn probably would have remained easily neutral anyway, as he calmly asked, "And what makes you think that, Chancellor?"

"Call it a combination of whispers I've heard and circumstantial evidence I've seen piling up.  I am aware, of course, of these Sith Lords that have done the Order such damage and even put you in dire conditions once or twice, and I would not expect you to do as much as you did before all that started.  But suddenly I'm finding strange failures on some of my vital diplomatic missions.  Just last week, for instance.  Kit Fisto has always been exemplary in his negotiations with the Dac, but this time he suddenly couldn't get them to stay seated for five minutes even after he spent three weeks trying."

Well, that could potentially be caused by the Sith sabotaging Knight Fisto somehow.  Anakin wished he could ask someone what missions Master Dooku had been even somewhat connected to.

"And after that mission, you see," Palpatine continued, "I found myself with five Senators, two of whom had never showed any sign of caring in the least, coming after me, three of them on the floor of the Senate itself, attacking my very capacity to serve as Chancellor.  And when I looked into them, they all had ties to the Jedi Order somehow."

"Who were they, and how so?"  Master Jinn asked.  "Were all the ties all that significant?"

"Well, one of them, Senator Merks from Duzzkem, is actually married to a failed Initiate, which seems pretty significant to me.  Two more, Senator Larkin Buffe and Avos Fullan, have distant cousins in the Order, though I admit I don't know if they�ve ever actually had much to do with them.  The last two, Sborowsky Glitz and Ken-Oilt-Feras Gu, have worked with the Jedi multiple times on various diplomatic matters over the years."

"If their behavior is a coordinated effort against you," said Master Jinn, "then those Jedi and those Senators, or at least their staff, would have to be in a good deal of contact with each other.  How much do you think they could conceal?"

"You would be amazed, Master Jinn.  I know the Senate preaches transparency and letting the people know all we do.  And yes, a good deal of spying and other dodgy monitoring goes on too.  But I'm afraid it's all been going on so long that any Senator who's been on Corurscant for more than a few months has learned how much to let themselves be recorded and how to make sure, for an hour or so at least, that noone will ever watch what they are doing and who they are doing it with.

Of course, I don't pretend to fully know what kind of supervision the Jedi Order puts its members under, or even how much you people tend to just know about each other."  A pause, and maybe all that work Anakin had done trying to learn how to read people was finally paying off, because it hit him that the Chancellor was silently suggesting Master Jinn tell him exactly what supervision there was.  

Master Jinn, however, remained silent at first, then asked, "What do you know about their activities?  Quite frankly, Chancellor, if you claimed not to be monitoring them as much as you are allowed, at least these past few weeks..."

"I can give you detailed records on that if you like.  I will note immediately that Senators Fullan and Glitz have found themselves in the Temple District surprisingly often, though only Glitz has actually set foot in it in the past two months-to my knowledge, anyway."

"I'm willing to take that back to the Temple with me.  Of course the moment the Council hears about it, they will want to see everything."  When, of course, there was still the possibility one of them was working for the Sith.

Which was probably why Master Jinn kept a game expression when Palpatine kind of crooned, "Do they really need to hear about it, Master Jedi?  I have heard that you and they have not always agreed on how to handle certain affairs, especially ones that might require a more unorthodox solution."

Yet he responded, "I shall have to tell someone, Chancellor.  A matter such as this I cannot keep to myself.  Not with the implications it has for the entire Order."

Palpatine looked gravely as him, then said, "If you feel you must, I suppose you must."

"Is this why you only wanted to talk to me about this?"  Anakin asked.  And now that he'd had that thought, well, he really hoped it wasn't true.

But Palpatine replied, "I did want to restrict this information as much as possible, yes, though I know we could never have kept you in the dark entirely, Master Jinn.  You see, I was wondering if young Anakin would be willing to get just a little more information for me.   Nothing secret, even, just...hard to obtain if you're not a Jedi.  About the Jedi who have interacted with the Senate recently, and maybe which missions they were sent on, that sort of thing."

"That sounds like a lot of information," said Anakin, to quell his real reaction.  "Don't Jedi and the Senate interact a lot?"

"Indirectly, more often than not.  And I don't necessarily care about every routine diplomatic assignment request, especially ones that were denied anyway.  I think if you start looking over everything, you'll be quick to spot where the more significant interactions are."

"That is no small task you are asking of one Padawan," observed Master Jinn.  "Even if I aid him, it would consume much time for the both of us.  If we were to do this, we would need further help.  How would you feel about potentially bringing in my former Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi into this?  Or Padawan Padme Naberrie?  She's a good friend of Anakin's."

"Hmmmm."  The Chancellor's face didn't say much, so Anakin looked at his Master's instead.  Master Jinn shook his head only slightly, just enough to convey his opinion to his Padawan.  "Naberrie is apprenticed to Master Windu, I believe?"  A stronger shake of the head from Master Jinn.

Anakin decided to ask it:  "Do you not want Master Windu to know?"

"I would think that would be obvious," he chuckled.  "Not that I even suspect him of anything, mind you.  But you must know how he is, especially if you're friends with his Padawan.  Has she not told you how he berated her when she went and offended some Lord on Falsine while exposing two of his manservants for secretly working for his longtime rival, and when as I understand it, there's a chance that this saved the negotiations to end the civil war.  He wasn't happy with her the time she ran out on a meeting to help put out a building on fire on Morgos Prime either.  And then there was the time..."

"We get the point," said Master Jinn, and he was now sounding openly displeased, but meanwhile Anakin was reeling, because no, Padm� hadn't told him about any of that.  "But I still do not think it likely the two of us could do this alone.  At the very least, I know Obi-Wan to be free of any overbearing influences; even I haven't been one in his life for years now.  If I was to tell anyone other than my current Padawan here, it would be him."

"If you feel you must, then," sighed Palpatine.  "Shall we nonetheless keep this to the four of us for the time being?"

"Very well," said Master Jinn, and Anakin nodded too.  

They didn't get the chance to do any real snooping.  Barely had they stepped out the office when the guards were right there, making it clear they were to remove themselves immediately.  Honestly, Anakin was a little relieved.  He was still thinking more about what he'd just learned about Master Windu and Padme.

It was still the main thing occupying his mind as he and his Master headed back for the Temple.  He didn't even pay much attention to his surroundings as they went, at least until they were nearly there, and Master Jinn commented, "You look at the Temple from the outside, you really don't see that much of it, all things considered.  You see an outward structure, spires that have relatively little happen in them, a grand entrance, and a few more ways in if you look closely enough, and walls that go down far lower than most of this planet's inhabitants will ever travel.

I don't think most of the inhabitants will ever have any idea that we're having any special trouble right now either," he continued, as they disembarked and headed up the steps inside.  "They never know all the trouble and complications the Jedi Order suffers from.  They don't want to, and the Order doesn't want them to either.  Of course there's no keeping it from the galaxy when we get openly attacked, but I don't know how much of the Order, even, knows of the rest of it.  Even rumors only get out about so much, and then of course they're not always believed."

"That sounds like it's all true all the time," Anakin couldn't help but remark.  "And not just about big scary things that where Jedi who do know about them know they have to put a stop to them, but also things where nobody does anything."

"You're right about that, Ani," said Master Jinn.  "I daresay there are even many things even each of us hasn't noticed, much as we know about these big important things currently going on.  We should keep that in mind."

Not too long ago, the thought of Master Jinn being oblivious to anything would've seemed absurd to his Padawan.  But he was pretty sure he'd missed the obvious possibility of his own Master being the Sith, because surely if he had seen it, he would've also realized that Anakin, too, had seen it, and thus sat him down to discuss it by now.  It left Anakin both thinking he really needed to point it out, and feeling like he just couldn't, though he supposed if Obi-Wan or Padme said they should do it, he would.

And now he had to think he might have missed a thing or two about his longtime friend Mace Windu, that his good opinion didn't necessarily mean there wasn't anything seriously wrong with him.  That he didn't really know how he truly treated Padme.  Maybe nobody really knew how a Master treated a Padawan besides the Master and Padawan themselves.  Though he now wanted to talk to Padme about it, at least a little.

[aion-rsa]

How Star Wars: Visions’ Lop Was Inspired by a Classic Marvel Character

https://ift.tt/3AtNyP7

This Star Wars: Visions article contains spoilers.

Star Wars: Visions brings the galaxy far, far away closer to its Japanese roots with nine anime shorts that introduce plenty of new characters to the saga. There’s Ronin, a lone wanderer with a mysterious past who gets stuck in the middle of a Sith invasion; Karre and Am, twins raised from birth to be powerful in the ways of the dark side; Kara, the daughter of a legendary sword smith who may be the only hope for a new generation of Jedi Knights; and the Elder, an aging master swordsman who travels the galaxy looking for worthy challengers.

But there’s one character in particular who seems to be a standout with fans, and it’s for good reason. After all, she’s the only character in Visions who’s also a humanoid rabbit with a lightsaber. We’re of course talking about Lop, who is voiced by Anna Cathcart in the heart-wrenching “Lop and Ocho,” the Geno Studio short about a family divided by opposing ideologies.

Stream your Star Wars favorites right here!

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We first meet Lop as she’s escaping a life of slavery under the Empire, who have occupied the resource-rich planet of Tao and are using Lop’s people as forced laborers. It’s during this escape that Lop meets young Ocho (Hiromi Dames) and her father Yasaburo (Paul Nakauchi), the planet’s leader, who begrudgingly takes her in at first but later accepts her as his true Jedi heir after Ocho betrays her clan and joins the Empire. The eventual showdown between Lop and Ocho leads to a bittersweet ending, with Lop unable to save the sister who once saved her. Despite its colorful 2D animation style and cute characters, this tale of found family turns out to be a sad one.

Fortunately, it gives us a memorable hero in Lop, a character who seems destined to jump out of Visions and into her own adventures, just like Ronin, who is the focus of a Star Wars novel out in October. And just like Ronin is heavily inspired by the samurai of Akira Kurosawa movies like Yojimbo and The Hidden Fortress, Lop has her own inspiration that dates all the way back to 1977 and Marvel Comics.

As confirmed by director Yuki Igarashi, Lop is inspired by Jaxxon, the smuggler first introduced in Marvel’s classic comic book, Star Wars #8. If you’re familiar with the book, you likely remember Jax as the ferocious green rabbit (a species called “Lepi”) pointing dual blasters at an unknown enemy on the cover of the issue. But Jaxxon’s no joke.

Read more

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While he was created by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin as an homage to Bugs Bunny, Jaxxon is actually a tough-as-nails smuggler who is recruited by Han Solo and Chewbacca to help defend a village on the planet Aduba-3 from bandits in what’s basically a re-telling of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Jaxxon decides to join Solo’s gang of scoundrels (known as the “Star-Hoppers of Aduba-3”) in order to earn enough credits to fix his ship, the Rabbit’s Foot (no I’m not making that up).

But despite being a major character in Star Wars #8-10, and one of the very first original creations for the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Jax unfortunately fell into obscurity after his stint with the Star-Hoppers, although he does appear in a later issue from 1978 where he takes down cyborg bounty hunter Beilert Valance, who is currently enjoying a run as the star of Marvel’s new Bounty Hunters comic book series.

No such luck for the bunny, though. Forty-five years later and there’s still no justice for Jaxxon, who’s only really appeared in a couple of IDW’s Star Wars Adventures annuals and Star Wars #108, a special issue published in 2019 that pays homage to the original Marvel run from the ’70s, since his debut. While this badass bunny gunslinger briefly commanded the attention of the Star Wars fandom post-A New Hope, poor Jax is now largely treated like a space oddity from another era of movie tie-ins.

Luckily, there’s now a new Lepi hero to keep Jaxxon’s legacy alive. A thousand generations of humanoid rabbits live in Lop now.

Star Wars: Visions is streaming now on Disney+.

The post How Star Wars: Visions’ Lop Was Inspired by a Classic Marvel Character appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3EKh1qE

[cienie-isengardu]

Satine Kryze & Pre Vizsla: Servants and Guards (part I)

Previous parts: political & social position < • > Wealth: clothes < • > paintings seen in their residences < • > living conditions < • > personal ships < • >

Servants and Guards are two groups that take care of needs and protect the richest and/or most significant people. It’s no wonder then that Satine Kryze, as a ruler of Mandalore, and Pre Vizsla, as once governor of Concordia & then current leader of Death Watch, were seen in their company over the course of animated series. At the same time, The Clone Wars and additional sources present both similarities and differences between how representatives of these groups served Satine and Pre.

The first part will be focused at servants.

On Coronet, during the travel from Mandalore to Coruscant [s02e13], Satine tried to pursue other republic senators to her cause / ideal of pacifism. On her luxury spaceship, no human servants (beside the Royal Guards & ship personnel) were seen.

The group of politicians were served by, most likely BD-3000 luxury droids who were responsible for providing beverages

while other servant (and protocol) droids were serving Satine and her guests during dinner:

The additional informations about Voyage of Temptation states that

The use of droids isn’t anything new - droids have always been a cheap workforce while at the same time their programming made them suitable for working with a diverse mass of people. Serving droids may work for many hours, don’t complain, always are nice to the guests/travelers, can comunicate in many languages, the ideal service for such prestige - and political important - ship. During Voyage of Temptation the luxury Coronet could be reserved only for Satine and her guests (thus lack of human servants and other travelers), nevertheless the droids are, if not the main then at least the visible group of servants on the ship.

Droids as much as are useful, aren’t the most liked or appreciated group:

Droids are intelligent mechanical contraptions that are vital to the smooth operation of galactic society. Every day, millions of subservient automatons negotiate treaties, repair hyperdrives, cure plagues, incinerate garbage, nurse children, haul cargo, deliver messages, cook meals, and kill enemies. At the same time, droids are often ignored and unappraciated, treated as chattel by many owners and looked at with outright hostility by others (by The Essential Guide to Droids)

Now, this is something to think about, because on one hand, Satine hopes that Coronet’s trips to Coruscant would help to change republic citizens’ idea about Mandalore and its people, an idea based more on “lurid holodramas about ancient warriors” than current reality. But at the same time, so far there was no native Mandalorian (either as someone born on Mandalore-planet or Mandalore-system/sector) working on Coronet as servant to attend the needs - or curosity - of travelers. I mean, the chance to meet and talk with living New Mandalorian could be an interesting cultural experience, right? Yet the serving role is, as far as TCW showed, reserved for droids alone.

There are two interesting aspects of that situation:

from what I remember, droids were rarely seen / used on Mandalore (and Concordia) through the course of TCW. Yet, there is plenty of them on Coronet; some are luxury models, some more common types. The ship was a tool of Satine's intergalactic politics AND tool of propaganda / cultural exchange between New Mandalorians and outsiders (Republic citizens). This makes me wonder if New Mandalorians are too proud (or disliking the idea) to serve as servants on such ship? Or if they are so pro-technology and/or use of droids, why droids aren’t common sight on Mandalore (and Concordia)?

The events of Voyage of Temptation episode happened in Clone Wars, when droids are even less liked, trusted or tolerated than before. What once again comes down to why Satine (and in general, New Mandalorians society) is using droids on such scale on one ship, yet not on Mandalore?

Beside those few thoughts, the most eye-catching thing is Satine’s lack of handmaiden who would help her get ready for the meeting (and dinner) with important senators or support her in any other means. No human (or alien) trusted servant [beside Royal Guards] around her, just politicans, ex-beloved and mass of droids.

The second example happened during Padme’s visit on Mandalore [s03e05]. When women have dinner, there are two Mandalorian servants who pour wine into their glasses:

This short scene shows that Satine did have human (female) servants yet there is little to none hints those women have any special, closer bond with their ruler. We can’t be sure about that of course due to limited sources and all, but so far, Satine seems to be a lone (female) figure at her own court. In contrast, Padme’s handmaidens played much more prominent role (especially in movies) than just being a nice background. Even though the social class difference, Padme and her haindmaidens interacted with each other and seemed to have good (warm) relationship and were adressed by their names while Satine most likely saw her Royal Guards as the only people she could trust.

Before I’m gonna talk about Royal Guards, let’s look at Pre and his servants through three examples: meeting with Satine & Obi-Wan on Concordia, enslaved women of Carlac and talk with Maul.

During first, Pre was still seen as trustworth ally of Satine and as governor of Concordia, was in position of great power. As politician, Pre most likely met and interacted with many people of similar position. The visit of Satine and Obi-Wan (representing Jedi Council / Republic) was unexcepted due to tragic event on Mandalore. It’s understable then Duchess Satine and her guest weren’t welcomed by big party (like Padme was by Satine much later, for example). We didn’t have a chance to see the three of heroes dinning together, but I find it really interesting that Pre was making drinks for Satine and pouring their glasses himself. On one hand, it makes the scene less formal, showing those two characters feel at easy around each other and drop the “diplomatic protocol” act. On another, Pre is “alone”, not supported by any of his human servants or droids, while Satine has her Royal Guards standing on watch. Of course, maybe he is following Mandalorian (Concordian?) etiquette and plays the good host, at least until the supposed dinner was to be served.

Before I’m gonna talk about second example, I need to say one thing: The A Friend in Need episode iirritated my pretty much. Not the violence itself, because Mandalorians are capable of terryfing things, but the lack of explanation why Death Watch decided to stay on Carlacc, why they took hostages instead of just took control over village and live in more comfortable way, what was the deal between DW and native people and why Death Watch from the secret army changed into “motocycle gang” for one episode (beside that Lucas wanted them feel like such group). I have a lot problems with A Friend in Need due to some senseless elements (the whole arresting Lux on neutral ground, Mandalorian misogyny that is not part of their Legends!culture) especially since the whole episode feels like made to just kill some poor girl so Ahsoka can have supposed cool moment.

That said, we didn’t see Pre acting violent against the captured women until the burning village scene, but he was responsible for what happened to them and at least one of his men acted aggressively against hostages. Killing those poor women may not be an option back then, but it doesn’t seem like Pre cared for their fate beyond their usefulness. Here comes a bit of the senseless moments, like A) sending Ahsoka to captured women, even though she was introduced as Lux’s fiancee and the boy was close to become part of Death Watch B) assuming that woman should be sent away (and then taken to those serving women) so the men could talk is nonsense/hypocrisy since Death Watch have female warriors and Bo was Pre’s second in command and C) which such treating of those women I’m surprised Pre & DW are so trusting to eat what they served them. I know I would worry if food was poisoned or if the women spit inside the soup. Like, we didn’t see any Death Watch soldier forcing women to test if the food is edible, why they are so trusting morons...? Sorry for the last part.

The women not only cooked the food, but were also forced to serve the warriors at the table. For unknown reason (beside the needs of plot), Ahsoka served with them. The presence of serving women this time do not encourages warriors to taunt or torment the poor servants. Maybe Pre made sure his men behave, or maybe what happend before was an isolated incident. Albeit Tryla warned Ahsoka “You don't want to make them angry. They are far from rational.” so it’s hard to tell for sure how often - and how much - Mandalorians were violent against them. For sure women weren’t there on their own will, nor feel safe around their captors.

During the feast, kidnapped women served warriors food albeit we didn’t see them starting from Pre, the leader (or serving him at all, although he had his bowl in later scene), not from Lux, the honor guest. Pre and Bo-Katan and other warriors didn’t seem to mind or care.

Later, when the chief of village came and demanded Death Watch to leave his people in peace, Pre agreed and the next day killed Tryla and ordered to burn village. All just to prove who is the stronger and that Death Watch is not taking orders from weakling.

There is not much to tell how Pre treats (human) servants - he is willing to capture people and force them into servitude, something that ancient Taungs/Mandalorians did on many occassion and kill them as punishment / show who is stronger (the master) but at the same time he alone did not torment kidnapped women (or the droids, as far as we could see), did not care he get his meal as the last one. I’m really wondering what kind of deal Death Watch had with villagers / chief and why they kidnapped women in the first place. Was that a need for servants alone or was that a way to test the chief when he is gonna show some guts? The lazinnes of warriors and their feeling like Death Watch could torment people for fun may be true but then why they:

didn’t just take the control over village and resident there in much more comfortable conditions? Also

The Death Watch camp on Zunbar moon didn’t have any additional (forced) servants and warriors were doing just fine, so it’s not like they needed outsiders to serve them.

Keeping people against their will is inconvenience since the hostages must be supervised all the time, to make sure they don’t run away or worse, don’t try fight back or sabotage warriors in other means (like poising food).

It would really help, if the episode give more informations about what happened between Death Watch and the village chief instead of generic explanation. But that is common problem with The Clone Wars, unfortunately.

The third example once again shows Pre acting as the good host who himself serves the "guest” [s05e14]. What is important, Death Watch found injured Maul and Savage and the previous scene of “interrogation“ in which Bo was ready to shoot unconscious Savage to keep Maul in check proves the Zabrak brothers were more prisoners than a real guests. Yet Pre treated Maul as equal, sharing his tea and serving him personally (the way he treated once Satine) before their talk get serious for good.

The other Mandalorians did not play the role of servants (one warrior was simply eating his own food the whole time Pre talked to Maul), even though they were Vizsla’s own men. Most likely their presence was additional security for the leader of Death Watch, since Pre already had (not the best) experiences with force sensitive people thus troubles were to be expected.

Once again, Pre did not rely on people/droids and took himself the role of good host while no other Mandalorian was seen in role of servant. The warriors most likely were there to guard Pre, yet the way they act is far from Royal Guards of Satine, who usually were shown as just standing in the background and waiting whereas we could see Pre’s men talk between each other, eat together, enjoy each company or spar.

So far, nor Satine nor Pre have any significant relationship with servants. The Duchess rely on droids and people to serve her and her guests/friends, but she doesn’t put any special trust or focus at them. Pre is willing to capture and force people into servitude to test village chief and/or to prove his point (not taking orders from weakling) but he doesn’t paid them much attention, nor doesn’t do anything when he, as Death Watch leader, isn’t treated with special honors. In contrast to Satine, we could see him twice serving personally his guests and he doesn’t seem to be bothered by that either. At the same time, despite having hierarchy, Death Watch members aren’t forced into serving role - they may act as additional security, like during meeting with Maul, but they feel pretty at easy around their leader and do their own things (talking with each other, eating, sitting on special seat). In contrast, through TCW we don’t see Satine sitting with her servants at the same table, nor even talking directly or indirectly to them at all. Both in movies and TCW, we could see Padme taking advice or adressing her handmaides. Even though we didn’t see Pre talking one on one with other DW members (beside Bo?), he did adress his men while having “official meeting” with village chief and Maul.

In makes me feel like Death Watch is more closely related to each other as opposed to Satine’s New Mandalorians, in which the social duties (commanding vs serving) is much more strictly followed.

Part II about Guards is coming soon.

[jadedjo]

Obi-wan Kenobi Time Travel Drabble

I had this idea for a time travel fic. There is nothing else other than this one scene. I just so rarely see time-travel done where characters go into the future. I’m sure they are out there but as I don’t often read time travel this idea wouldn't leave me.

The stars spun dizzyingly as Obi-Wan tried to get his starfighter under control. The Separatists had ambushed his squadron as they had been exploring the Dubani Nebula for enemy activity. They found it. Now all of his clone pilots where destroyed and he was hit. If he could just make it back to his jump engines he could warn Anakin and the fleet of the Separatists hiding out in the nebula. “Never around when I need you,” he said to himself about his former padawan. This should have been Anakin’s mission. He was the one who loved flying while Obi-wan only tolerated it.

Finally getting the spin under control Obi-wan had R4 put all power to the engines. It was going to be close. He only had a few seconds lead on the pursuing Vulture Droids. “R4, are those jump coordinates complete?” he shouted as the Force warned him of a missile approaching. He swerved at the last moment and fired as the missile passed and turned to track him. It exploded just as his astromech beeped confirmation that the course was laid in.

“Get ready R4, as soon as we are attached jump!”

The ship was spinning again, this time a controlled spin as he took evasive maneuvers from the vulture droids still gaining on him. But he could see the jump engines now. If the Force would just allow him to connect…

He straightened out and hit the reverse thrusters as his ships hyperdrive engines came within range. With a lot of help from the Force, he’d timed his reverse just right so that the ship was at a complete stop as he settled the ship within the jump ring. The sound of the engines attaching was nearly drowned out as the ship took a hit. But it was too late for the separatist’s droids. The next instant the Jedi starfighter jumped into hyperspace. Right through the heart of the Dubani Nebula.

“R4! You can’t jump through a nebula!”

The droid’s reply was less than reassuring.

“You’ve been spending far too much time with R2-D2. Just because he thinks it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s safe.”

The droid beeped a short reply.

“Yes, I realize we are not dead, but that’s beside the point.”

Before Obi-wan could say anything else the blue-white maelstrom of hyperspace gave way to star-studded sky. He would be having a talk with Anakin about his droid corrupting the circuits of other droids as soon as he landed.

But looking out the viewport showed not the Republic fleet but an orange gas giant.

“I told you traveling through a nebula was dangerous, R4,” Obi-wan admonished the droid. “Do you even know where we are?”

The droid was silent as he analyzed the star patterns in relation to an orange gas giant. While the astromech did that Obi-wan scanned the local frequencies hoping to pick up a Republic transmission and hoping even harder there where no Separatists hiding on the other side of the planet.

R4 was still processing the data when he picked up what sounded like freighter traffic.

“New Republic freighter Lightning Rod hailing Yavin 4,” said an older male voice.

“This is Yavin 4, we read you Lightning Rod. Permission to land in front of the main Temple complex. And not a moment too soon. We thought we were going to have to break out the ration bars if you were delayed much longer,” A younger female voice replied.

“Understood Yavin 4. Glad we made it before it became that dire. Lightning Rod Out.”

“Did you get that R4?” Obi-wan asked. “They said they were on Yavin 4.”

The R4 unit beeped in acknowledgment and showed a star map of the Yavin system. Yavin 4 being one of 3 habitual moons orbiting the gas giant. He didn’t know what the ‘New Republic’ was but it didn’t sound like they were Separatists. Perhaps colonist trying to escape the war? And since he needed fuel and repairs before he could jump back to the feet, they would have to be good enough.

Setting a course for the 4th moon, Obi-wan limped his starfighter closer. The lush blue and green moon was just coming into visual range when they hailed him.

“Yavin 4 to unidentified starfighter. You have entered Jedi airspace. Please state your intentions,” the same young female voiced said. Jedi airspace! There were no Jedi bases in the Gordian Reach that he knew of. No Jedi bases period. Could this be one of the Jedi Corps projects?

He was silent too long, trying to puzzle this mystery out when the voice was back. “Unidentified starfighter, respond. Failure to respond will mean we will launch our own fighters.”

Not only a Jedi base but an armed one. He needed to get to the bottom of this. “This is Jedi Master Kenobi of the Republic Fleet. I am requesting assistance. My fighter was damaged and in need of repairs. With your permission, I would like to land.”

It was their turn to go silent for too long. “Yavin 4, did you read me? Over.”

Another few seconds ticked by and Obi-wan was about to hail them again when a new voice said, this one a deep male, over the line, “Master Kenobi, you have permission to land. Please follow the beacon and it will guide you in. Yavin 4 our.” The line abruptly cut off.

Well that was rude, Obi-wan thought. Usually the Jedi Corps was more welcoming than that. Especially to a Member of the Jedi High Council.

But he dutifully followed the beacon. After leaving his jump engines in orbit he descended through the atmosphere until he could see that the beacon led to a cluster of grey stoned ziggurats. The largest of them had a battered old freighter of unknown origin parked right out front of what looked like an underground hanger.

He landed as gracefully as he could next to the freighter. Telling R4 to wait with the ship he popped his canopy and jumped to the ground. A tall, white-haired man was waiting for him. No not white, Obi-wan noted as he approached. Just so light blond it appeared white in the sun. He was dressed in a dark sleeveless tunic and pants, a lightsaber hung on his belt.

As Obi-wan neared, the man bowed and said, “Master Kenobi, my name is Jedi Kam Solusar. I have been instructed to take you to my Master’s office until he can meet with you.”

Bowing back, Obi-wan asked, still completely perplexed, “And just who is your Master?”

“If you will follow me?” Solusar said ignoring the question as he gestured for Obi-wan to preceded him.

Obi-wan sighed. “Fine, play coy, but can you at least explain why the Jedi Corps is on this moon?”

“I’m afraid all question must wait for my Master,” Solusar said and led him into the ziggurat.

Solusar said no more and Obi-wan contented himself with studying the building they traveled through. It was a large structure but he could sense only a few dozen beings throughout the complex. Nearly all Force sensitive to some degree. But they met know one when finally, Solusar stopped in front of a simple nondescript door. It opened revealing an equally nondescript office with just a visitor’s chairs, desk with its own chair, and computer terminal.

“Master Kenobi, if you would be so good as to wait here,” the Jedi said. “My Master is in a meeting and will be with you as soon as he can.”

Obi-wan entered, sitting at one of the chairs before the desk as Solusar closed the door and left.

He was only there for a few minutes, trying to get some sense from what the Force was telling him when the door opened and a girl of no more than 10 - 12 entered. She had honey blond hair the curled naturally, light green eyes, light skin, and she was barefoot.

“Hello little one,” he greeted as she brought in a tray with a cup and pitcher on it. “I take it you’re not the Jedi Master I am waiting for.”

“Hi,” she greeted informally and giggled. “No of course not. I’m Tahiri Veila. Master Skywalker thought you might be thirsty and asked if I might bring you something to drink.”

Master Skywalker?! Just what was this all about? Anakin had a wicked sense of humor but large elaborate practical jokes were not something the Jedi engaged in. Their humor was more of subtle, or in Anakin’s case, not so subtle whit. With a war on Obi-wan didn’t even know why someone would go to such lengths.

The girl was oblivious to her slip of the tongue as she chatted away, asking finally if he needed anything else.

“No that’s alright. I’ll just wait for your Master.”

“Oh, Master Skywalker isn’t my master, not really. My Master is Master Ikrit. Though, he is kind of everyone’s Master. Master Skywalker, not Master Ikrit. Master Ikrit is just Anakin’s and my Master. But I’ve got to get back. Anakin will want to ask me all about you. Bye!”

She left just as suddenly as she entered and leaving Obi-wan even more confused. She spoke of Master Skywalker and Anakin as if they were two separate people. What in the Force was going on!

He drank what turned out to be a soothing iced tea from the pitcher as he tried once again to make sense of what was happening to him. Looking at the desk showed the usual assortment of datapad, some flimsi sheets, and a holo of what looked like a family photo of a mother, father, and 3 children.

The holo had just cycled to what looked like a wedding photo when a powerful presence could be felt coming towards the office he was in. It was a bright beacon amongst all the other Force users. That fact that Obi-wan hadn’t felt it till now must mean the presence was powerful enough to dampen his Force presence to the point where even a Jedi Master hadn’t felt it. He didn’t know of many within the Jedi who could do that and where not on the Jedi Council. Anakin could, but this presence didn’t feel like his former apprentice. And yet…it did.

Obi-wan was already standing facing the door when it opened. A sandy-haired man not much younger the Obi-wan himself entered. Attired in a more traditional Jedi garb of a tunic, tan pants and tabard, and dark obi underneath a belt from which a lightsaber hung. But it was the man’s blue eyes that struck Obi-wan the most. They were Anakin’s eyes.

“Hello Ben,” the man said and at Obi-wan’s confused look, corrected himself. “Or should I say General Kenobi?”

“Who are you?” he asked, not wanting to believe what the Force was screaming at him.

“I’m Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker’s son,” the other Jedi said. “Welcome to the future.”

Part II - Luke

Part III - Mara

[jasontoddiefor]

Title: the kind that was burned first [chapters 1 & 2] Summary: The Chancellor was revealed to be a Sith Lord orchestrating the war and had been taken down by an unknown assailant. As far as Ahsoka was concerned, mysteries should start unraveling now, not start accumulating, but then Obi-Wan had to return to the temple with a stranger and refused to let go of him. AN: Or the one where Obi-Wan and Anakin kind of traveled back in time and now refuse to tell anyone what’s actually going on ft. baby Luke and Leia.

#1 - Ahsoka Tano

Ahsoka was the first to know when her Master returned to the Temple. He’d been gone for a whole month at that point. A lot of Jedi had returned to the Temple after the Chancellor- no, Darth Sidious, had been killed and his machinations revealed. It had blown up all over the holonet that the Republic and Separatists had been forced into this war. Of course, there were plenty who wanted the war to continue. War was lucrative, it filled the pockets of the rich and emptied out the wallets of the poor. During her years fighting, Ahsoka had been unfortunate enough to see the reality of war and how painful it was. She was glad for the experience, seeing the new Padawans and Initiates made it startling obvious how innocent she had been once. She was a better Jedi because of her experiences. She knew now that the Republic had been far from perfect and would need a lot of support to get back up on its feet. Her Master had always been very outspoken about it. Obi-Wan Kenobi, for all that he would have made a brilliant Senator, hated politicians with a passion. He had made sure to show her how the system actually worked as opposed to how it was supposed to work.

She had honestly expected him to stick around after Sidious’s death. In fact, she had expected him not to move even a foot away from the Council. Instead, Obi-Wan had disappeared. He had been acting strangely even before the war had come to a sudden halt, as if he had been disorientated entirely, trying to find his rhythm again. He had been acting similarly after the Hardeen mission. Ahsoka disliked thinking back to that time and she doubted she’d ever fully forgive him for it, but she’d seen how much it had thrown him off-balance. It had been unsettling to witness. She had contemplated confronting him with his behavior a couple times when she’d noticed his mood shift again, but she had always backed down.

It had been a mistake.

She wouldn’t make it another time.

When she felt Obi-Wan step into the Temple, Ahsoka abandoned her class with a rushed excuse and leaped into a sprint. She ran through the halls, evading the other Jedi with jumps and one particularly impressive spin. Quickly, she reached the entrance of the Temple where already a small crowd had been assembled.

“Master!” Ahsoka shouted and made her way through the people.

Obi-Wan looked up when he heard her call and smiled, brightly and happy Ahsoka hadn’t seen in ages. She wasn’t sure if she had ever seen him so relaxed. Objectively speaking, of course, he looked kind of terrible. He wasn’t well-rested, but he’d hardly ever been in the past years, and he was favoring his left side again. His old injuries must be acting up again and hopefully he hadn’t earned any new ones. What surprised Ahsoka though, was that her Master wasn’t alone.

Next to him stood another man, taller than him with dark blond hair and sky-blue eyes. He felt strangely in the Force, powerful and yet well-rested and content in the same way her Master felt to her. Ahsoka didn’t even notice it at first glance, but the man was holding a sleeping baby. A second look, directed at her Master again, revealed that he too was holding a child.

“Hello, Ahsoka,” Obi-Wan greeted her. “I hope you’ve kept up with your studies.”

Ahsoka sputtered.

“Of course, I have! But where have you been!”

It was supposed to sound like a question, but it probably came out sounding more like an accusation. Obi-Wan didn’t seem to mind, he only grinned and playfully knocked his elbow into the other man’s side. The man rolled his eyes fondly and adjusted his hold on the baby. A whole conversation seemed to pass between the two. Who was this man? Obi-Wan had a surprisingly large amount of random acquaintances all over the galaxy in all kinds of establishments, but none had ever seemed so close to him.

And Ahsoka didn’t know him so surely he couldn’t be a new friend, could he?

“Around,” Obi-Wan replied. “I had to go pick up a very dear friend. Ahsoka, I’d like you to meet Anakin Skywalker and his children, Luke and Leia. Anakin, meet Ahsoka.”

The newly introduced Anakin looked at Ahsoka like he was seeing a ghost. Ahsoka doubted anybody else would have caught it, but Togruta had heightened senses and she didn’t miss out on even the tiniest microexpression.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Ahsoka. Obi-Wan has told me a lot about you.”

“He has?” Ahsoka knew her Master was pleased with her, they wouldn’t be such a good team otherwise, but to think he spoke of her to a stranger.

“Yes, he has,” Anakin replied, grinning cheerily. “He’s quite proud of you, Snips.”

Obi-Wan’s eyes flickered to Anakin and his expression fell for a second, but he quickly caught himself. “I’m sure you’ll be a great Jedi, Padawan Tano.”

Ahsoka bowed quickly. “Thank you, Mister Skywalker.”

Anakin hummed and once more adjusted his hold on the baby who was yawning by now, slowly waking up.

“Guess nap time is over,” he said, mostly to himself. “Obi-Wan, room’s still-“

“The same, yes,” Obi-Wan finished his sentence. The whole exchange was utterly bizarre to Ahsoka. “Go ahead. I believe I have a Council session waiting for me.”

Obi-Wan turned to Ahsoka as if waiting for her to reaffirm his statement. She hadn’t known of any sessions being today, but they had also stopped asking her about her Master’s whereabouts after the first week. Obi-Wan’s guess likely wasn’t off though.

“They have been asking for you,” Ahsoka simply stated.

Obi-Wan sighed and gave Anakin the second child. “I’ll try to be quick.”

“You always do and then you’re gone for hours,” Anakin said good-naturedly. “I’ll see if I can get some formula from the kitchens and get the twins settled in.”

“You do that. Let’s go, Ahsoka.”

“Yes, Master.”

Ahsoka watched as Anakin turned to walk in the directions of the kitchens as if he’d done it a thousand times. Now that Ahsoka took a closer look at him, he did remind her a little of a Jedi. Well, those Jedi that hadn’t been at the temple in a long while. His clothes were civilian clothes, but their cut resembled that of Jedi robes and he had this aura about him. The way he walked, his control of the Force also was distinctly Jedi like, only a little off. Maybe he was a Jedi, but Obi-Wan had called the children his and Jedi didn’t have families-

“Ahsoka!” Obi-Wan called.

Right, Council meeting. “Coming, Master,” she replied and hurried after him.

#2 - Mace Windu

Obi-Wan’s guest was strange in a way that put Mace on edge and forced him to pay attention to Anakin Skywalker. The young man fit in too well at the temple while at the same time being obviously an outsider. Mace had assumed that the man had come with Obi-Wan to inspect the temple before he left his children there, that he was a stranger to the force, but that obviously wasn’t the case.

His control was too good, his signature too distinct.

Skywalker didn’t feel exactly dark, but he also wasn’t light. He reminded Mace of a canvas that had been painted over. The fact that he had Jedi training, but he was not in their registry also disturbed Mace. Mace had checked the databases of all other temples as well and none of them knew an Anakin Skywalker or had any knowledge of a human male with a midichlorian count of over 20.000. Mace had thought the number was a joke, a mistake of the machine, but Obi-Wan and Skywalker hadn’t been surprised at all. If anything, they appeared to have been joking about it as much as one could without opening their mouth. Given that they were both Force-users, there were quite a lot of options.

If Mace were to guess, he’d say that Skywalker had been trained by a rogue Jedi gone missing in the same way Asajj Ventress had been. Unlike her though, his training had been completed. Mace could read it in the way Skywalker carried himself, and crashed against Obi-Wan’s blade.

He didn’t know why the two had settled on sparring this morning, in the open training halls of all places as well, but news had quickly traveled through the temple. Obi-Wan’s guest was certainly a novelty. Obi-Wan had justified his disappearance with a hand wave and something about following the Force. The Master had never acted more like Qui-Gon Jinn than he had at that moment. Sometimes it seemed impossible that Obi-Wan was of Qui-Gon’s lineage, but right then and there nobody had been able to deny it.

The entire situation was highly unusual. Skywalker had pretty much moved himself and his children – both already so strong in the Force, frighteningly similar to their father really – into Obi-Wan and Padawan Tano’s apartment. The Padawan wasn’t complaining about it. In fact, she seemed to be quite taken with the twins. She grumbled about being woken up at night sometimes, but all in all, she seemed to be satisfied and happy.

Mace had decided not to think too much about where Skywalker was sleeping in the two-bedroom apartment since it very obviously was not the sofa.

So here he was observing Obi-Wan and Skywalker spar, hoping to gain some insight into their arrangement, instead of dealing with cleaning up after Sidious. Mace had never regretted being on the Council more than he had in the past weeks. The next time the Sith decided to rise, it better be when he had already passed into the Force so he wouldn’t have to personally sign off another investigation.

Skywalker spun his training saber and frowned at it unhappily. The man hadn’t come with a lightsaber, his possessions could be reduced to the clothes on his back in fact, but it was obvious that he used to have his own ‘saber. Not just one he found somewhere, but one he had crafted. He fought well with Obi-Wan’s, there was an ease to it like you’d expect a Master to have when handling their Padawan’s ‘saber, but he was annoyed with the training ‘saber he was stuck with. Mace should know. Even when he didn’t outwardly show it, he also disliked using the training blades when instructing a younger class.

“Ready?” Obi-Wan asked half a second before Skywalker was already attacking him.

Skywalker was a good- no, he was an excellent fighter. He had definitely mastered Djem So and appeared to be proficient in the other forms as well. Here and there he was missing a step like he was relearning how to execute already mastered moves. It was reminiscent of somebody who had been banned from training for a longer period of time due to an injury. Sometimes Skywalker expected his reach to be wider, his blows to hit harder, but with every second he was adjusting more and more. Sometimes he executed a move that reminded Mace hauntingly of Vapaad, but worse. Even more aggressive, requiring not just control of those emotions, but a complete submersion that ended with coming out on top again. Skywalker fought like he had drowned and was relearning how to breathe.

However, Skywalker was not the only surprise. Mace hadn’t seen Obi-Wan fight in a while, but he was sure the last time he had gone all out, his fighting style wasn’t so Soresu heavy. He usually still incorporated Qui-Gon’s Ataru, but that appeared to have vanished entirely out of his repertoire, replaced with rougher moves, reminiscent of an actual lightsaber form that wasn’t quite refined yet.

“Stop,” Obi-Wan said, frowning.

His saber was almost at Skywalker’s throat. He took a few steps back.

“Again?” Skywalker asked. “That last swing-“

“-out of synch-“

“Think if we-“

“Yes, but only-“

“-go up, yeah.”

Then the exchange was over and Obi-Wan was attacking. He aimed higher than before and Skywalker spun around him. The two of them had obviously achieved what they were aiming for, indistinguishable as it was, and continued on, grinning half-madly.

If Mace didn’t know better, he’d say that Obi-Wan was either trying to achieve something completely new or relearning something very old. There had been a lot of different lightsaber forms over the centuries. The seven the Order had restricted itself to had been chosen because they were the best in each aspect. It meant that they provided the least risks with maximum protection. They weren’t raising their younglings to throw away their lives with risky maneuvers. What Obi-Wan way attempting to discover here was definitely dangerous, and Mace doubted that anyone else would be able to pull it off. There was just something this battle required, he couldn’t put his fingers on it.

“Go beat him, Skyguy!” Padawan Tano cheered from the side.

The twins were lying next to her in their crib, sleeping gently. It was a surprise they hadn’t woken up from all the noise surrounding them. Then again, the Force was quite steady and loaded with happiness here. Perhaps they were dreaming sweetly.

“Whose side are you on, Padawan mine?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Mine of course,” Skywalker replied cheekily. “She always has been.”

Obi-Wan smirked and tripped Skywalker with his foot, causing the man to fall. Skywalker noticed it quick enough that he reached for Obi-Wan’s shirt and pulled him down with him. They both crashed to the ground spectacularly, but it didn’t seem to bother either.

Skywalker only smiled and the Force replied for him in kind, calling back with all the warmth it could measure up without burning.

Connection, Mace thought. What Obi-Wan’s developing fighting style needed was a connection between himself and his opponent. This went far beyond attachment, every hit displayed how dangerous it was and yet, Mace couldn’t find the energy in himself to object. Not when the Force was so very obviously approving of it.

Maybe it was time someone else became the head of the Order. Mace had led them through the war and he was tired of it. Somebody else should be made responsible for Obi-Wan’s silent revolution.

[dekko-61]

STAR WARS THE GRAND REPUBLIC BOOK 1 LEGACY OF THE FORCE

This is my version of the high republic & the old republic with what I think should be done in order to create an interesting new book series...

INT. KENOBI'S DWELLING

Ben gets up and goes to a chest where he rummages around. As Luke finishes

repairing Threepio and starts to fit the restraining bolt back on, Threepio

looks at him nervously. Luke thinks about the bolt for a moment then puts it on

the table. Ben shuffles up and presents Luke with a short handle with several

electronic gadgets attached to it.

BEN

I have something here for you.

Your father wanted you to have

this when you were old enough,

but your uncle wouldn't allow it.

He feared you might follow old

Obi-Wan on some damned-fool

idealistic crusade like your

father did.

THREEPIO

Sir, if you'll not be needing me,

I'll close down for awhile.

LUKE

Sure, go ahead.

Ben hands Luke the saber.

LUKE

What is it?

BEN

Your fathers lightsaber. This

is the weapon of a Jedi Knight.

Not as clumsy or as random as a

blaster.

Luke pushes a button on the handle. A long beam shoots out about four feet and

flickers there. The light plays across the ceiling.

BEN

An elegant weapon for a more

civilized time. For over a

thousand generations the Jedi

Knights were the guardians of

peace and justice in the Old

Republic. Before the dark times,

before the Empire.

Cut to black.

A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Far Away...

STAR

WARS

THE GRAND REPUBLIC

In a Galaxy of confusion, The Republic plans to unite the people’s problems through a stable democracy. They’re Marshall’s The Jedi travel across the Galaxy to answer the plights of all The Republic systems...

CHAPTER ONE

THE GUARDIANS OF PEACE & JUSTICE

On the planet Tarshen, Jedi Knight Gavin is meditating on a solid marble disk. His Padawan , sits behind him huffing in annoyance.

Padawan Avon’s brow starts to sweat as he notices his master is sensing his conflict. “Master, how long must we wait?”, Avon asks impatiently.

“It’s The Princess. Her people voted for protection, if we are to gain they’re trust, we must await her transport”, Gavin breathes slowly as he stands from the marble disk.

He turns to his impatient Padawan. “That’s why we’re out here, if she needs protection we should just go after the attackers, problem solved”,Avon confidently smiles to himself.

“Bad plan, Avon we can’t be to hasty when The attackers are still unknown”,Gavin walks over to a small bunker beneath them and pulls a signal communicator.

Avon looks down angry and disappointed at his master’s response. “Alright fine then master, what shall we do to protect The Princess if going after her attackers is a bad plan.” Gavin activated the signal.

“We wait, use patience to our advantage, I can feel the fear growing from the mysterious killers, they don’t have anywhere to hide once we move with the plan.” Gavin sits back on The Marble disk.

“How can we get to them if we don’t know where they are master?”,asks Avon curiously. “After the princess arrives with her guards , tomorrow we are heading to a market in the local town. There will be a sprung attack according to the merchants, we will catch the attackers and find out everything”,Master Gavin gets into a meditative position.

“Genius master!, I like the sound of that plan already!”,Avon says confidently. Gavin smiles as her focus’s on the force.

Meanwhile The Planet Tarshen’s kingdom awaits a meeting with the citizens. The Princess sits with The King & Queen above The people on The High Seats of Power. “We once again request your findings”,asks Queen Harmena.

The King boldly glares down at The Citizens. “If you have nothing for us on our daughters ‘s attackers, you will be relinquished of all food!”,he yells at the citizens. A loud barrage of complaints rise from the citizens.

The Queen yells “SILENCE!” She grabs out her staff and hovers it over the people. They all back away from fear.