While the chief of emergency services for the capitol city of Lutris reported as to the current extent of the stone mite infestation throughout the Government Building's superstructure, Director Razelfiin visibly fumed as she stormed angrily up and down the corridor. Her actions forcing the harried male to hurry along beside her, as her long thick tail swished furiously from side to side. Coming to a stop so suddenly the man beside her stumbled trying to stop short, the lottery-selected leader of the planet exploded into a tirade as sudden as it was vicious and exasperated "We, I opened our home to the Republic's quarreling factions in the name of peace, but how are we repaid for our commitment to civic virtue? With an obvious act of terrorism! What did the Republic do to stop this? Where are our Jedi? That's-"
Given the importance and magnitude of the summit going on in the Tynna Government Building's main receiving-hall, Razelfiin had come running when word that a small portion of the outer wall connected to a corridor only three passageways south of the receiving-hall had begun to collapse. The minute by minute reports had been slow in reaching her office due to the capitol building's still-ongoing comm blackout, and the demand upon the lifts by the various sprayer-teams. Leaving her question as to whether or not the oxidizing foam the emergency services and maintenance teams were spraying was capable of stopping the spread of the mites unanswered. The preliminary briefing by the emergency services chief had concisely conveyed the necessity of a multi-floor cordon free of stone mites. Otherwise, she would have to break up the Reconciliation Summit by announcing the beginning of an emergency evacuation. The reports she'd received so far indicated that as yet, no load-bearing supports lacking redundant coverage had been compromised, but that wouldn't matter if the mites spread to the very walls presently inhabited by planetary representatives from across the galaxy. The loss of face if even cosmetic elements of the Summit's immediate area became affected would be something Tynna would spend decades recovering from.
All of this meant the tirade which stopped her storming about like a furious madwoman had brought Razelfiin, one stressed and anxious chief of emergency services, plus (standing at the ready a discreet five or six meters back) her eight-strong squad of heavily armed Protective Service agents all to a halt directly in front of the main ground-floor pneumatic lift to the lower levels of the capitol building. It had been the very loud DING-DING-DING which announced the engaging of the lift's emergency floor call-bypass function that had interrupted the outraged politician's rant. While her protection-detail suddenly crowded forward to interpose themselves between the planetary leader and any danger which might try to disembark from the lift, Razelfiin's whiskers twitched curiously as she tried to get a glimpse of what was happening through a gap in her guards.
The lift's doors opened to reveal a filthy, bleeding human male in the tunic and robes of a Jedi. The long and presently tatty braid down the side of his head denoting his rank as an apprentice, but his bearing despite the ragged appearance screaming "dangerous" to the trained security officers. In the Jedi's arms was a deathly pale human woman not much older than he was, and also wearing the garb of a Jedi. One of her arms was obviously missing, with it's stump having been hastily bandaged, and there was a vicious gash as much burn as laceration traversing most of her left leg. This too had been crudely bandaged, but any onlooker could tell at a glance the extent of the injury went far beyond the treatment as yet provided. That the female Jedi's life hung by a fraying thread was obvious to the trained Tynnan soldiers. Veterans who also noticed the numerous contusions and the puddle of blood still growing beneath the male Jedi's now-bare right foot, but such details escaped the Director from her obscured vantage.
Until the young Jedi snapped "Knight Swan needs medical attention now!"
Credit where it was due, the most senior of the Director's guards instantly clicked his fore and thumb-claws together twice. Prompting a younger-looking, slightly shorter Tynnan male wearing a bulky pack over his otherwise simply fur-covered body to rush forward and offer a corded telephone like speaking implement to the graying-furred chief of the protection detail. Snatching the implement, he snapped a short series of what were obviously code-phrases followed by floor and position coordinates to whoever was on the other end of the device, then tossed it back to the communications-gear equipped subordinate and addressed the Jedi respectfully "Emergency services are en route, Jedi. Please, follow my men. They'll take you to the lift where the medics will be coming down from above. You can get your own wounds seen to, as well."
Waiting for the protection-detail to make a hole so he could exit the lift and get moving. The dirty and bleeding Jedi ignored the security officer's suggestion about his seeking medical attention himself. Instead, he answered Director Razelfiin as if the two of them had been in the middle of a conversation others had interrupted.
"You asked where the Jedi were, Director. It's a fair question, so it deserves a fair answer. Jedi Knight Nacanas Tassu was just killed in the line of duty. Protecting Tynnan sovereignty, as he and Knight Swan fought side by side with sixteen of your fearless Tynnan patriots. All of whom took on a Sith Assassin, her two Dark Side Adept minions, and at least six droids designed to kill Jedi. Jedi Knight Bultar Swan, as you can see, may yet die in the line of duty doing the same. I honestly can't tell you if Master Yaddle is alive or dead. She insisted on continuing with her efforts to combat the spread of the stone mites despite my having to leave to see to Knight Swan. This despite the continued presence of said Sith assassin and an unknown surviving number of Jedi-killer droids. That's where we were, Director Razelfiin. Fighting and dying to protect the people of Tynna. Doing our duty to the Republic" Anakin proclaimed in a flat, deadly serious tone. Striding between the now-parting detail, and followed by a hulking droid carrying an inoperative droid of the same make in a fireman's carry. A menacing looking implement in the construct's other hand.
The politician and her guards watched the young Jedi go with their mouths agape. He was vanishing around the corner with his burden and strange entourage by the time Razelfiin recovered from her stunned surprise. The young Jedi had answered her angry questions as if he'd been standing opposite her when they'd been uttered, and not confined to a lift multiple floors away at the time. Dread coiled in the young politician's guts, as she was suddenly given good reason to wonder if it was possible the Jedi also knew about her secret hyper-comm conversations with Sora Bulq.
It slowly began to dawn on the neophyte world leader that if any of the rumors floating around about the Jedi these days were true, it might well be a (unofficial, of course) death sentence to have permitted Jedi to die while presenting your planet as a loyal member of the Republic. Only to lead a defection to the Coalition of Independent Systems the moment this hopeless summit concluded, and the surviving Jedi left her world with the politicians. Despite being quite young by her people's standards, Razelfiin was quite intelligent. More than smart enough to realize it was quite possible she'd been hasty in making certain decisions.
"Bulq just seemed so charismatic, so utterly persuasive each time we spoke about the possibility of Tynna's secession. Yet if he was so convincing during our clandestine conversations, why can't I remember the basis of an argument for secession I found compelling enough to risk the Jedi potentially releasing a deadly virus on Tynna?" The Director of Tynna silently asked herself. A growing uneasiness causing her slowly building anger to once more set her tail to swishing. The building emotion pushing her to whirl about without a word of explanation to the harried chief of emergency services waiting all this time, or to her Protective Services detachment. Heading for her office to release a worm into her private hyper-comm system and computer terminal.
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(Two days later)
"Master Yaddle and Padawan Skywalker were able to eliminate enough of the released stone mites for the Tynnans to exterminate those remaining with oxidizing foam. The Tynna Government Building suffered significant, but ultimately non-critical damage as a result of C.I.S sabotage. Knight Tassu was mortally wounded by the trio of Dark Side adepts. He became one with the Force after giving the last of his strength to stabilize Knight Swan's healing trance. Her injuries were themselves nearly fatal, but she's healing in a bacta tank and will recover. Though she will need to spend some time in the Halls of Healing. Receiving and growing acclimated to a prosthetic for her severed right arm" Dark Woman reported tersely to the blue-white hologram of Mace Windu.
Wearing a grimmer expression than the old, silver haired and blue eyed Jedi had seen on the dark-skinned Jedi Master's strong-featured face in decades, the image of Mace Windu steepled his fingers, then replied with deliberate calm "Yes, Master Yaddle's report to the High Council was full of praise for your apprentice. She credits him with the defeat of both the lesser Dark Side adepts. Saying her assistance with the second one only expedited the matter. She described in detail his returning to support her efforts against the stone mites, rather than retiring to accept any but the most cursory medical attention until the crisis's end. Yet it was his single-handed rescue of Knight Swan she focused on the most. Skywalker's successful recharge and reprogramming of a completely unknown type of droid to aid him was an inspired bit of business. His risking his life by twice traversing an extremely unstable passageway to retrieve Swan was in keeping with our highest traditions of courage and self-sacrifice."
With a slight inclination of her head and a smile, the venerable Jedi Master seemed to grow a bit less stern as she accepted this praise of her Padawan. Suddenly looking rather more casual than at any other point in the hyper-comm call, the Korunnai Master's image leaned back, then inquired in an off-handed manner "I haven't heard an update from you concerning Skywalker's progress since we spoke several months ago about the possibility of adding his name to the candidates-list for the Council's accelerated promotion initiative. Is there still more he can learn from you?"
"I already told him there's nothing more I can teach him, Mace. Not unless you're willing to give me the proscription-exemption you refused me before? This blanket prohibition against passing on Alter skills to our best and brightest as apprentices hurts more than it helps. It's exactly the sort of thing the judgment of a Master who knows their Padawan intimately is for!" Dark Woman began by way of reply to the question. Her bright blue eyes growing intent as she prepared to say more, but Windu's upraised hand stopped her.
"I told you before, and I'm telling you now, Dee. There is no chance of your gaining a unanimous vote for a teaching-exemption from either the Council of First Knowledge, or during an appeal of their decision before the High Council. This is simply not the time for that sort of deviation from a practice dating back to the time of the Code's revision. Especially in the immediate wake of the raid upon The Prism . A hundred of the most dangerous Dark Side adepts to have ever lived. All loosed at the worst possible time" Mace's answer was delivered in a low and urgent manner, but his expression was an uncharacteristic plea for understanding.
For a moment, Dark Woman's eyes darkened and flashed dangerously. The possibility that she might at last have reached the end of her willingness to tolerate everything she considered short-sighted, overly controlling, and outright wrong with the mainline Order hanging heavy in the air between the two old friends. At long last, she very quietly stated "Anakin has been ready for most of a year. I'll transmit my official recommendation once we're done."
Windu nodded in response to this answer from his old friend, but didn't immediately reply. When he did begin to speak once more, it was obvious he was choosing his words carefully. "I hope your apprentice proves worthy of your confidence in him. For a great many reasons." The other Jedi Master opened her mouth to request he elaborate, but a subtle shake of the Korunnai Weaponmaster's head told her Mace Windu had no intention of expounding on his comment at present.
Instead, he completely changed the subject. Face tightening, his previously steepled fingers began drumming against a surface not visible in the hologram. While it was apparent the imposing Jedi Master wasn't at ease, only one who knew him as well as the old friend he spoke to would have realized just how deep the man's disquiet now ran. "Master Yaddle was only present for the summit's opening minutes. You've sat through two days of the proceedings, and had the chance to read all the representatives once they'd heard about the R.A.L claiming responsibility for the raid on the Prism. What's your take on the summit's chance of success?"
Rather than answer the question put to her, the weathered Jedi Master remarked rather too calmly "It was wise of you and the rest of the Council to send Yaddle. If the C.I.S sabotage of the government building had gone unchecked, the Republic could have lost Tynna to the Secessionists. Which would have cost us among the still undecided worlds. There's also Swan's much improved prognosis to take into account. Becoming acclimated to a cybernetic right arm is enough to ask of a twenty-five year old woman. I wouldn't have believed a single practitioner of Force Healing could take a leg so ravaged it was going to require an exoskeletal support-frame, and reduce the damage to something two weeks in a bacta tank and some physical therapy can mend. Not if I hadn't seen it for myself."
"It isn't like you to avoid an issue, Dee" Windu softly prompted. The look on his face more appropriate for the funeral of a dear friend than a conversation with one.
"All my life, I have done my very best to discover and serve the will of the Force. In a month, it will be forty-nine years since my Knighting. Counting my years in the Outer Rim and Wild Space with my Master, that's fifty-eight years I have served the people and the peace. After all that, you'll just have to pardon me if it takes a minute for me to work up to conveying that all of that has gone for naught!" Dark Woman suddenly snapped. There was such vehemence, such a loss of self-control from a woman widely admired even by other Jedi Masters for her unflappable poise and genuine serenity that the Master of the Order was taken completely aback.
"There is no chance of the summit succeeding, and there never was! Standing in that room is very nearly as bad as standing in the heart of a Dark Side nexus, Mace. I can count on my fingers the number of representatives who aren't overtly aware this farce is nothing but a means to slow the full acceptance of war's inevitability by those elements of the Core and Inner Rim desperate to maintain the peace! We are standing on the verge of the most destructive war in millennia, and there's nothing we can do to stop it!" Quickly as the eruption had begun, the woman sagged and fell silent with it's completion. Eyes normally filled with fire and determination staring dully at the hologram of the man gripped by consternation himself.
Eventually, Mace Windu simply nodded and quietly replied "I have to assign replacements for Swan and Tassu anyways, so I'm going to simply rotate all of you out. Spending some time helping Skywalker find the right frame of mind for his upcoming Trials is exactly what you need to remind you none of it has gone for naught. I'll see you when you return. We'll talk more then, my friend."
When the other Jedi Master only lifted a hand in a wordless gesture of farewell, Windu looked worriedly at the woman a moment longer, then cut the transmission's connection.
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(9 Days Later)
Failure of Reconciliation Summit anticipated to result in Mid & Outer Rim signatories to the Articles of Secession reaching 5000 member-worlds by end of month!
Political science experts and military analysts from Anaxes speaking on condition of anonymity warn the Secessionist Crisis has reached critical mass. "The complete failure of the Supreme Chancellor's summit to achieve any of it's stated objectives was not only predictable, it was inevitable. The Rim has tragically misconstrued our willingness to provide them with the freedom to find their own way as a sign of weakness. It's been millennia since these terrorist-sponsoring, disloyal malcontents have witnessed the full mobilization of the Core, Colonies, Inner Rim and the Expansion Region. Making their error an understandable yet devastating one. It's unfortunate so many planetary leaders have decided to abandon efforts to redress their respective grievances via due process and the rule of law, but expecting civil behavior from the fundamentally uncivilized is always a fool's errand. I feel compassion for the many, many innocents who are going to die as a result of the poor judgment exhibited by their leaders, but that compassion won't prevent me from seeing through my duty to our great Republic. If it's a fight these barbaric traitors want, it's a fight they'll get! " said one Judicial Fleet Vice-Admiral.
Similar sentiments prevailed throughout the constantly expanding ranks of the Judicial Forces. Once considered a proportional response to the egregious violations of the Ruusan Precepts carried out by the Geonosians, the Muun (Of Gwori Revolutionary Industries infamy), the Colicoids of Colla IV and many others, the Military Mirror Sanctions Act, or the M.M.S.A has become what some consider the acid which is dissolving centuries of demilitarization on the part of our ancestors after the last great conflict to set the galaxy afire.
"Nonsense! The M.M.S.A is the only real hope we have of convincing the angry, misguided, and admittedly disenfranchised peoples of the Mid and Outer Rim they're making a terrible mistake. The Senate's passage of the eleventh rider to the M.M.S.A was an absolute game-changer. It allowed for sanction points to be rolled over into a complete removal of capital ship tonnage and armament restrictions until sanction-point levels were expended quickly enough to drop below the cutoff mark. When that happened, we saw a thirteen point five percent slowdown in the median monthly rate of new signatories to those vile Articles of Secession" Professor Tahli Assadi of the Shili think-tank Critical Solutions began.
She went on to say "Being flown out to view a task-group of C.I.S vessels could persuade any monarch from a provincial, backwater agri-world to supply the Coalition's population. Until you show that monarch the simulations of how that task-group fares against even two or three squadrons of the Judicial Forces new Venators, all being lead into the fight by one of Kuat's new or refitted battleships. At that point, even Rim-world chieftains and high priestesses can do the arithmetic. They understand that if or when the day comes that the Republic loses a battle, we'll simply build more ships and train more men. We can absorb losses which would quickly bankrupt the far less robust economy the C.I.S is trying to knit together, because we possess the nearly bottomless industrial might to make that happen. When the C.I.S loses a battle, however, that lost tonnage and manpower won't be so easily replaced. It's a numbers game at this point, and the M.M.S.A will be what teaches those worlds considering making the worst of all mistakes the all-important lesson. You can't win a war against an enemy with a deeper war-chest, superior industrial base, and vastly greater population."
Others aren't so sanguine about the outcome of a war between the Republic and the so-called Coalition of Independent Systems. More than one historian this reporter spoke to pointed out the pivotal roles of trained Force-sensitives in nearly every major conflict of the past twenty-five millennia. In several instances, they (correctly) attribute victory to the side whose Force-wielders were capable of liquidating the executive authority of the opposing polity. Since the Rim Autonomy League's raid on what they referred to as an "Extra-judicial detention center funded and maintained by a Jedi Order dedicated to maintaining it's monopoly on the training and subsequent allegiance of Force-sensitives." The Holo-Net has been full of speculation concerning the R.A.L's motives for the raid, as well as the Jedi Order's reasons for creating a prison. HoloNet News reached out to the Jedi Order for comment, but at the time of this publication, the Order had declined to offer any response concerning the so-called Ghost Prison whatsoever.
Unlike past wars in which the Jedi featured prominently, the conflict potentially brewing between the Republic and the C.I.S lacks the critical component which has traditionally galvanized the Jedi Order into war participation. The polity opposing the Republic being lead by their ancient enemies, the Sith. With the Chief Executive of the Coalition of Independent Systems himself a former Jedi, it's difficult to say whether the Jedi will even fight on the Republic's behalf. Those who believe the Jedi will fight point to their many dangerous reconnaissance missions to C.I.S worlds to gather evidence of Precept-violations. Correctly characterizing the Jedi Order as a de facto intelligence-gathering service for the Senate and the Republic's burgeoning Judicial Forces. While Jedi detractors point to the fact it was only those Jedi who overtly defied their own High Council that chose to defend the Republic during it's conflict with the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. "The Mandalorian Wars might have been more than three millennia ago, but they do represent the last time a major interstellar war was precipitated by something other than the Jedi-Sith conflicts of old" said one reputable historian. With all the rumors floating around concerning former Chancellor Palpatine, it's difficult to know which side of the issue the Jedi Order will come down on this time.
When asked for a comment on where the Order stood with regards to conflict between the Republic and the C.I.S, all Master of the Order Mace Windu would say when he caught up to him leaving a meeting with Chancellor Organa and Vice-Chair Ashgad was "No one wins an interstellar war, ever. The reactive nature of such conflicts guarantees the cost in innocent lives, destroyed infrastructure, and the damage to fragile trade-based economies is always immense. No government proving capable of fielding fleets enough to both protect it's every member star system and prosecute a war, plus communication signals from a system under attack traveling no faster than warships, equals one ravaged star system after another. That's why we only see one such conflict occur every few millennia. Quite simply, it takes the galaxy that long to recover from each such conflict!"
Additionally, some experts pointed to the droid-based forces the Coalition of Independent Systems continue to assemble as reason for concern. Jett Farran, a former Captain in the Judicial Forces who is now employed as a senior design consultant for Rothana Heavy Engineering expressed this worry. "It takes time and credits to train, outfit, and maintain a soldier. This is before the soldier's side derives any actual benefit from the fighting man, you understand. Droids have very little of that front-loaded expense apart from their actual fabrication and comparatively little maintenance costs. They're inferior to soldiers in many respects, sure, but just how inferior? Quantity has a certain quality all it's own, as they say. You can't mass-produce fighting men like you can droids. Even these clone troops the Senate's been arguing over for years take half as long as real troops to ready for the fight. A long campaign might well favor the C.I.S. I mean, I doubt they could hold out long enough for attrition to become a major worry for the Republic, but it's something it wouldn't pay to forget, either."
All of this is set against the backdrop of a pivotal vote in the Senate concerning whether or not the government of the Republic will once more contain a Minister of Defense set to occur early next week. Derided by the coalition formed from the shrinking yet outspoken Reconciliation-Faction lead by Naboo Senator Padme Amidala, and the Pacifist Faction represented by Senator Kim Robb as a foot-in-the-door tactic intended to advance the prospects of the twice voted-down Military Creation Act. The M.C.A, currently languishing in a limbo of parliamentary procedure due to Robb's preternatural ability to discover and utilize ancient Senate practices overlooked for centuries, yet never removed from the books, would enjoy increased viability after a revival of the Minister of Defense position.
"Much of the Reconciliation/Pacifist success in stalling the M.C.A has come down to two points. Their ability to court votes among Rim-Faction Senators whose worlds would, despite their refusal to sign the C.I.S Articles of Secession, undoubtedly be harshly affected by a conflict anticipated to occur mainly in their part of the galaxy, and their subsequent ability to send the M.C.A to chair-moderated debate. With no specific government body to speak for the M.C.A in such a proceeding, Senate procedure causes any bill so treated to return to the floor for a general continuance vote after a period of (30) Coruscanti days has elapsed. Obviously, the existence of a Minister of Defense would close this procedural loophole and send the M.C.A back to the Senate floor for a consideration, rejection, or adoption vote on the merits. In such an eventuality, you can expect the M.C.A to enjoy considerably more support in the wake of the failed summit and increased R.A.L attacks" said Tomas Vilbryte, head of the Shili think-tank.
"The people who identify themselves as loyal to the Republic are becoming less and less willing to believe there's any difference whatsoever between the so-called Rim Autonomy League and the Coalition of Independent Systems. In a recent Holo-Net poll with a sample size of a two hundred randomly selected worlds from the Core to the Expansion Region, an overwhelming 79.5% of the five hundred million respondents believe the C.I.S and R.A.L leadership are one and the same. We're tabulating the votes and finalizing counts on a poll with more detailed questions and a far larger sample size of two thousands worlds and twenty billion respondents right now, but I haven't seen anything yet to convince me the results are going to be any different this time around. Given the R.A.L raid on the Prism Citadel hadn't yet occurred during the first poll, it's quite possible the numbers will be skewed even more in favor of those demanding less talking and more action concerning an opposition government which seems to grow more violent by the day" Vilbryte concluded after a long swallow of Corellian whiskey.
With the much watched Defense Minister vote looming, and the potential consequences for the hotly debated Military Creation Act alternately overshadowing and inflaming the ongoing tensions, it's difficult to say what the next few weeks hold. This reporter prays that cooler heads on both sides will prevail, but fears we may already have missed that turn-off. All that is certain at present, is that the fate of the galaxy at large is still uncertain.
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HoloNet News Publication: 531st Volume.
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Coruscant, Jedi Temple 22 BBY
16 Days since the stone mite infestation.
The Halls of Healing were one of the most peaceful, soothing locales I'd ever visited. Which was saying something, when you considered places like the Room of a Thousand Fountains. The bright Coruscant daylight entering from the high windows to glimmer gently off the soft blue-green floor and walls gave the place a warm and welcoming ambience. The light glinted off thousands of tiny crystals embedded in the rosy pink columns rising from floor to ceiling, and these helped break up sight-lines between the four rows of beds in the main infirmary. Presumably to give recovering patients an illusion of privacy, because many Jedi seemed to become introspective for a time after being seriously injured.
Gliding quietly through the infirmary after securing permission from Chief Healer Vokara Che only by promising not to disturb any of her patients who were resting, I wondered if that trend toward introspection represented a temporary disruption of belief in Jedi near-invincibility. The Force knew I'd met enough Jedi like Ferus Olin. Beings who moved through life as if nothing could touch them without their leave. It made no sense to me given how often Jedi pyres were lit, but some things about human nature not even the Force could grant insight into.
A patient whose stay was to be measured in weeks rather than days, Bultar had been given a private room on the far side of the Halls in its furthest right corner. Approaching the door to her room, I could sense two familiar presences inside. Their emotional states giving me reason to believe they would not wish to be surprised by a senior Jedi Healer who considered knocking in "their" Halls redundant, so I knocked loudly and waited patiently. A few moments later Tutso's broad-shouldered and muscular form appeared at the door. His pale, handsome features quickly suffused with a warm smile that touched his hazel eyes as he recognized me. Throwing open the door, he ushered me inside and quickly closed it once more. Only to enfold me in a bear hug which was very much not the smiling and easygoing, yet not physically affectionate older apprentice's style. It was so unexpected that even with the pulse of extreme gratitude and abiding regard I'd sensed preceding the gesture, I was still caught off-guard by the unanticipated display of affection.
Awkwardly patting my friend's back until he released me a few moments later, I waited for him to step back and say his piece, because I could sense it was coming. Which it did, but not before another wave of gratitude washed over my awareness as our eyes met. It made me feel a little uncomfortable, actually, because I'd only done what any real friend should have done in my place.
"Master Yaddle told Bultar what you did during one of the healing-sessions. I, I don't know how to thank you, Sp-, Anakin. If you hadn't figured out how to move enough of that duracrete, then been willing to risk getting crushed flat several times, Swan would be, uhh, yeah" Tutso began with a smile. Normally quite focused and organized, his thoughts and feelings were all over the place at present. His happiness that his love was alive sloshing together with a restless sort of anxiety, as thoughts of what had nearly happened obviously continued to trouble him.
I wasn't a mind-healer, and certainly hadn't been a shrink in my first life. Meaning all I had to go with was the truth. "It's nothing that either of you wouldn't have done for me, right? One of my friends was in physical danger, and the other in, well, emotional peril, so I did what they trained us to do. I mean, Jedi do amazing and heroic things all the time, right? How's this any different?"
Bultar was the one who answered the question I'd put to her boyfriend. Sitting up without using the slender silver-toned cybernetic replacement for her right arm, the five foot five, hundred forty pound's Jedi's extremely fine boned "asian" (Kuati) features were touched by a somber look as she answered "It isn't often the apprentice cuts down two of the three Dark Siders who themselves cut down two Jedi Knights with extensive local reinforcements. To go on from there to the devising of a means to clear such an extensive collapse and risk their life twice more in rescuing one of those Jedi? It's a very noteworthy achievement, Anakin. One for which you have my, our, abiding thanks. I only wish that-" Her voice had been growing quieter as she'd gone along, and now she trailed off entirely as her left hand crossed her body to briefly touch the metal of her new limb.
Despite the gesture, I was certain that Bultar wasn't complaining, wasn't even thinking about the limb she'd lost. I knew what the reserved and always soft-spoken young woman was thinking despite it having taken several years to even begin getting to know her. It was a thought I'd had myself many times in the last couple of weeks, so I completed the thought she hadn't.
"That there had been a way to save Knight Tassu, I know" I quietly confirmed in an equally somber voice. There was so much more I felt and thought about Tassu's sacrifice, but little I was willing to say until I knew how Bultar was handling his having given her what remained of his life-force. If it had been up to me, I'm not sure I would have ever thought she needed to know about that.
Looking from one somber face to another, Tutso rose from where he'd moved to sit and lay a comforting hand very deliberately on his lady's new arm, stepped over to me, then nudged me in the ribs with one elbow and favored me with a smile I don't know how he managed to make genuine in the pall Swan and I were creating. "Hey, your Master and the High Council decided you're ready for the Trials, Spooky. That's something that not only we can smile about, but something I am positive Jedi Tassu would be incredibly pleased to know he played a part in. You know what Master Jinn always says while helping you work on those new bridge-velocities for your Djem So-Ataru hybridization. The Force moves in cycles, because life is a matter of cycles. One Jedi Knight falls, so a new Jedi Knight rises not to replace but to succeed the old. We all wish Knight Tassu had gotten a great deal more of the former before the latter, but he was fortunate enough to be able to make his death serve his principles. I hope I'm that fortunate, when it's my time to go."
I'd begun to smile as Tutso's easy, engaging way of conveying an idea made me feel like less of a ghoul for essentially profiting from the death of the fallen Jedi Knight, but my friend's final statement hit me with such unexpected force it forced my mouth to open. Only for me to clamp it shut a moment later, as it occurred to me; idiot that I was, that one who was training to be both a Jedi Guardian and an Ace couldn't possibly stay out of the Temple hangar.
Tutso, his smile eventually faltering beneath the weight of an intent stare I hadn't even been truly conscious of as my mind had raced, asked a little hesitantly "Everything all right with you, Skywalker? You had this really intense look for a moment, and I thought I felt-"
I was quiet for several seconds as the expression of concern now adorning Bultar's face in addition to Tutso's made me feel like shit. I'd come here to support and reassure them. Not bleed them for emotional strength on my own behalf already being taxed by the adversity of the present circumstances. I was one microsecond from curling my lips into a reassuring smile, then begin raising my Thought Shield slowly and deftly enough I could probably con them into believing the emotion had simply passed, when I just...stopped.
"It suddenly really hit me all of a sudden that any of the people I care about could die as easily as Nacanas Tassu did. That should be so self-evident as to go unmentioned, given the dangerous nature of our shared vocation. Guess it was simply not driven home for me, before. I, I came to terms with my own mortality a long time ago, but I suppose we're never quite as far along as we might wish to be" I explained simply and evenly. It was strange, but simply speaking my fear aloud dramatically weakened it's group, and therefore starved the corresponding anger for fuel. I wasn't "all better" just like that, but the lessening of the concern on my friend's faces was mirrored by my own diminishing concern. Working my issues was something I could do, so long as I could face them, at least.
Getting off the distressing topic of my emotions for a moment, I finally got around to acting like a friend and asking one of the questions I'd come to ask. "Tutso, it, it doesn't trouble you that they're saying I'm ready for the Trials and I'm not even twenty, but you're nearly twenty-four and the High Council hasn't nudged your Master to put your name forward for the accelerated promotion initiative? If it's bugging you even a little, that is totally something we can talk about, spar over, or anything you want."
My friend gave me a very strange, quizzical look, then replied in the tone you used for a slow child. "Anakin, I would need to be out of my bleeding mind to use you as my standard of readiness. You're lucky you're a monster with a lightsaber and a sage with the Force, because sometimes, my friend, you exhibit some of the largest, weirdest blind-spots. It's nice of you to worry, and I guess I can see how you might with Bultar a Knight, and you about to take your Trials at nineteen like some kind of Cloner-designed super-Jedi, but I'm just fine. My path is unfurling before me just as it should."
Chagrin filled me, so I hardly looked at either of them as I said my goodbyes. They were O.K, they had each other, and my best friend wasn't going to suddenly turn into Ferus Olin because I was taking my Trials.
Things could be a lot worse. I thought as I left the Halls behind and went in search of my Master. After all, I still needed to have a frank conversation with her.
Edit: I tweaked the ending just the slightest bit. It didn't "click" for me as it was. Let me know what you all think.