A Young Girl’s War Between the Stars

  04

  Coruscant, 43 BBY.

  “You’ll need to wait out here, I’m afraid,” Dooku said, as we reached a waiting room below the Jedi Council chambers. “I must give my report on the results of our negotiations with Zeltros first. I expect it shouldn’t be long.”

  “That’s fine,” I nodded, moving over and taking a seat on one of the couches there after dropping my bag down on top of it. The older man smiled and gave me a nod, before striding through the doors and into an elevator.

  Taking out my tablet, I connected to the local network and began working to pass the time. I started with a search of the Jedi and who I was likely dealing with. That took some time, because the Jedi were apparently pretty secretive and didn’t like to advertise. There were accounts, however. News articles. They couldn’t hide everything, and a bit of digging had me a group of names and faces to go along with them. Of those, I narrowed it down to who I suspected I would actually need to convince.

  Grand Master Yoda was at the top of the list. Tiny. Green. Old. Not human, but humanoid. ‘Enigmatic’ or ‘cryptic’ according to interviews of those who had worked with him.

  Master Ki-Adi-Mundi was just below him. A member of a near-human species. His head… looked like a penis, if I’m being honest. He was regarded as intelligent, wise, possessed of ‘noble thinking,’ logical, and stoic. Reading between the lines and listening to the man’s own words, he was full of himself, quick to leap to a conclusion, and stubborn once he made up his mind about something. The sort to make a grave error, then later act as though he had no hand in it. From everything I saw, I knew his type well. He was a middle manager who had ascended to the level of his incompetence as upper management, given more power and authority than he deserved, and it had only further over inflated his sense of self worth.

  Master Mace Windu. Human, male, age thirty. Black.

  It was still a mystery how this galaxy, which had never heard of Earth, had Earth human phenotypes that had taken hundreds of thousands of years of divergent evolution to develop spread across it. It honestly left me wondering if there might be a grain of truth to the stories of those people accused of wearing tinfoil hats and claiming to have been probed, or abducted. Regardless of the mystery, as curious as it was, it mattered little overall and less at the moment.

  Windu was… a curious case. On the one hand, everything I read, all of the holovid and audio clips, painted the man as an asshole if I’m being blunt. On the other hand, the things he said, his opinions on certain topics regarding corruption, civil unrest within the Republic, the Senate and their relationship with the order—they were either similar to conclusions I had come to already, or sounded like I would agree with them with more information on the subject. He seemed like a very by the book kind of person. A traditionalist within a very traditional order. Digging deeper however, the man was a bit of a contradiction—as the traditionalist had developed his own lightsaber style, of which not much was known to the public, save for a few recordings of him in combat. Watching those compared to other recorded instances of Jedi lightsaber combat, I could only conclude that it was much more aggressive, unpredictable, and ferocious. Savage, really.

  There were others, of course. Twelve in total, from what I could gather. Of those, few were as pivotal in making decisions as those three and Dooku himself—and most of them could be considered to fall into faction lines behind one of the primary three on my list. That, or they picked and chose who to support depending on the issue.

  Master Dooku appeared to be generally aligned with Grand Master Yoda and Master Windu. Sifo-Dyas was another human male whose views I found to align him mostly in Windu’s faction. Coleman Trebor, Saesee Tinn, and Plo Koon all tended to align with either Mundi or Yoda.

  It was, in short, a convoluted mess of bureaucratic hell the likes of which wouldn’t be out of place in a board of directors back on Earth. And just like home, all I needed to do was convince a few key voices and the rest would fall in line. I’d done similar countless times across two previous lifetimes; this was nothing new to me.

  Be confident and show it. Look into their eyes. Answer questions directly and concisely, and don’t give anything extra. If given an opportunity, contradict at least one of them, preferably someone who already seemed to be leaning against me, and use simple logic to demonstrate why they’re wrong while not making them out to be a fool. And finally, remember that in any interview you are interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing you. Don’t come hat in hand begging for a job. You have the power to walk away and that gives you leverage.

  At this point, I was as forearmed as I was going to get. I didn’t see much of a point doing more research on the council. Dooku had already been in there over an hour, so at a guess, they weren’t just here to discuss his visit to Zeltros and taking me on as a student. If that was the case, it could be a while longer before I was called in.

  With that in mind, I pulled up my information on the potential war brewing and began fleshing things out a bit more. Now that I was on Coruscant, I had access to much more up to date records, without the interstellar lag of waiting on information to update between planets, as this was the information hub of the universe in addition to the financial hub.

  I was deep into updating my stock charts and adding new entries for more companies under the umbrella of the IBC and starting to get hungry and irritable several hours later when the elevator door finally opened. Looking up, I saw it was Dooku, who waved for me to join him. Saving my updates, I tucked the tablet away into a pocket and made my way over to stand beside him.

  “They’re in a poor mood,” he murmured as the doors closed.

  “Didn’t take Zeltros remaining neutral and unaligned well, did they?” I asked, and he shook his head.

  “They did not. The senate will see it as a slight. And due to how closely the senate and the Council work, some among the Council also see it as such.”

  “What did they expect? The planet makes more money by maintaining its neutrality and skirting several laws of the Republic—mostly those about the use of recreational drugs and prostitution. Joining would mean they’d have to implement those laws and potentially lose money, clients, and business, along with increased taxes to pay for planetary and galactic defense fleets that would never actually show up. Their choices were either keep your sovereignty and keep making money as you have been or lose your sovereignty, lose half your income, and pay for fleets to protect the Core. Even a child could see that’s a bad deal.”

  Before we could continue, the elevator opened, depositing us at the top of one of the Jedi Temple’s towers. I followed Dooku inside, moving to stand in the center of a group of chairs as he took his own seat to my left. I took a moment to take in the view of my first sunset on Coruscant from this height. Buildings were lit up as far as the eye could see, creating great canyons of steel and glass—or whatever they used here—that led down to the dark below. Air cars zipped by in orderly lines, long strings of headlights and tail lights marking out traffic jams in the sky.

  “Beautiful, is it not?” an older sounding voice asked, and I turned to find a short, old, green alien sending me a smile.

  Recognizing him as Yoda from the photos and videos I’d studied, I shook my head. “No.”

  “No?” Mundi asked, drawing my gaze to the left. I kept my eyes on him and not the giant penis that was his head—even more penis-like in real life than in the vids.

  “Impressive? Yes, certainly. Beautiful? No. It’s not natural. No trees, no grass, no water. Just mile after endless mile of city, and who knows how many people pressed in shoulder to shoulder. It’s cold, impersonal, and stripped of everything that would give it life.”

  “Mm. I see,” the green man murmured, before looking to his left. “Let us proceed.”

  Windu cleared his throat and took out a tablet of his own. “I’m going to view a series of images and I want you to give your best guess as to what each one is.”

  Remote viewing? That’s a thing the Force can do? I wondered, raising an eyebrow even as I nodded. Interesting. I’ll need to practice that later! It could be very useful.

  “Begin.”

  Reaching out with the Force, I felt the Jedi around me, the temple and the concentrated Force energy flowing within it, the city around us and its people— Frowning, I narrowed the scope of my senses, focusing on just the room. Reaching across the space between me and Windu, to the tablet. As I did, I felt the Jedi around me reaching out, attempting to probe my mind, only to come up against my mental shield. Many of them stopped at that, but a few persisted, feeling around it for weaknesses.

  “It’s a blaster. Model… DL-44.”

  DL-44 my beloved~! A pistol that looks like a Mauser with some scifi junk slapped on, that can convert into a sniper with just a few attachments? Beautiful! Truly, this new galaxy is better than any so-called heaven for a true military otaku!

  The slide advanced silently and I considered it for a moment. “Star ship. YT-1300 freighter.”

  Another slide. “Sphere.”

  And so it went for about ten minutes, before they were finally satisfied. With that result, at least. Many of them radiated dissatisfaction and even frustration at their attempts being blocked, but none of them had tried to force the issue. I wasn’t entirely certain that I had enough power to keep out a concerted effort, or if it being my mind gave me any sort of advantage over intrusion attempts.

  “How feel you?” Yoda finally asked.

  Fighting down a yawn, I smiled. “Tired. Hungry. A bit irritable because I’ve had perhaps six hours of sleep over the last three days while I crammed in as much study and work as I could. I’m running on caff fumes and those are about to run out.”

  “A distraction. Dissembling,” Mundi frowned, and I raised an eyebrow. He was one of the ones most frustrated at being unable to get through.

  “Master Yoda asked a question, I answered truthfully. If that wasn’t the answer you want, perhaps you aren’t asking the right question, master Mundi.”

  The alien man leaned forward in his seat slightly. “Why do you shield your mind from us?”

  “I’d like the answer to that as well,” Windu murmured, glancing to Dooku, who leaned back in his seat and smiled.

  A quiet cough came from behind me and I glanced backwards, to see a younger human man wearing an amused look—Sifo-Dyas, I recalled from my research. “Gentlemen, there is a rather… obvious answer.” The other Jedi turned to look at him and he looked a bit embarrassed. “She’s a Zeltron.”

  “Yes. And?” one of the others asked.

  Dyas sighed. “They’ve all got the ah, empathic thing. Naturally. They’re also, you know… a party planet.”

  “What are you saying?”

  The man gestured at me. “She’s a child. Why wouldn’t she learn to shut that out, to the point where she just does it full time now?”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  There were some mutterings among the other Jedi and, from everything I heard, no one could contradict him because none of them had any experience with Zeltron children. Clearing my throat, I spoke up. “It is as master Dyas says. Although, to my knowledge, I’m not typical of Zeltron children in that way. However, due to that experience, I typically guard my mind closely. And while not as… uncomfortable as Zeltros, Coruscant is quite ‘loud’ and chaotic compared to Zeltros. On Zeltros, it was a constant barrage of a few simple emotions—happiness, arousal, and sometimes other things mixed in. It was easy to tune out. Here, it’s a never ending barrage of a million conflicting emotions. Completely discordant. So, my apologies, but I won’t be opening myself up any time soon. At least, not until I’ve had time to adjust to the noise.”

  There were looks and a few murmurs, before eventually the green grandmaster cut in. “Allow it, we shall. Deliberate, this council must. Please wait outside.”

  I nodded and turned for the elevator, only for Dooku to speak up. “Master Yoda, if I may?”

  “Hoh? Something to say, have you?” the old alien radiated amusement for some reason. “Very well.”

  “Not I,” Dooku chuckled. “No, it’s best to hear it from her own lips.” Turning a look on me, he nodded. “Tell the council what you told me.”

  Nodding, I pulled my tablet from my pocket. “I’ve updated a few things and revised some estimates since we landed, thanks to the lack of lag on interstellar data requests. Some things have also advanced,” I murmured, shaking my head. Looking up, I swept my gaze over the eyes of the three men who had proved to be mostly in charge. Then, I gave the same report I had given twice now, with the most recent updates—updates which moved the timetable up and expanded the scale of the coming conflict, and more thoroughly and clearly outlined the IBC’s involvement and their goals.

  As I spoke, I watched them, listening to their emotions while keeping my own sealed inside behind a one-way wall while I filtered out everything from beyond the room—a little trick I didn’t intend to let them know I was capable of. At first, I was met with skepticism and amusement in equal parts from different members of the council. Only a few people actually took interest at first. Dooku, of course. Yoda, as he eyed me with a focus that would have unnerved me if I were an actual child. And, strangely enough, Dyas for some reason—the man practically perked up and sat on the edge of his seat.

  Then, I got to the meat of the report. The amusement dropped away immediately. People like Windu actually started taking it seriously. A wave of alarm rippled through the council, though skeptics remained—like Mundi. That is, until I decided to handle him personally.

  Walking up, I handed him the tablet. “These are the most up to date charts and graphs, along with the intergalactic stock market graph for the last hundred years, with the period of time where these troubles began highlighted.”

  Mundi looked it over and, as he did, I felt his skepticism fade. Slowly, the man nodded as a frown worked its way onto his face. Eventually, he passed it to Yoda and the tablet began to make its way around the group.

  “In conclusion, masters,” I returned to the center of the circle, “the banking clan is preparing for a war. Not today or tomorrow, but ten years from now—with a margin of error of two years to either side, though most likely on the side of waiting and building their forces a bit more.”

  The three Jedi I was focusing on exchanged looks, before Windu gestured towards the elevator. “You said you were hungry. The cafeteria should be serving dinner about now. Take the elevator down and help yourself.”

  “Where—” I began to ask, and the man’s lips quirked up into an amused smile. “Use the Force to find it. Understood.” I glanced at Dooku and added, “I’ll return to the waiting room when I finish.”

  With that, I made my way to the elevator.

  Dooku sat back and crossed his arms, stifling his smile as the council erupted the moment the girl left. Nearby, Yoda watched him, meeting his eyes with a knowing look. After a few minutes of pandemonium and arguing, the old grandmaster clacked his walking stick on the floor twice. The room fell silent.

  “Right you were, to bring her before us,” Yoda nodded.“As I said, I have reason to believe the Force itself brought her to me,” Dooku reiterated what he had said in their earlier meeting. “This is where she belongs.”

  “We don’t have time for this now. We need to act on this information immediately—” Windu began, only for Dooku to interrupt.

  “We have plenty of time. Eight to twelve years worth of time,” the older man’s tone was firm. “What is an extra hour to decide the fate of the one who brought us this warning going to cost us, when as we all well know that it’s past the end of the business day and many of those whom we would contact about this matter will not pick up outside of those hours, even for us? No. Best to decide now, then begin discussions as to how best to handle it.”

  Windu and several others all clamored to speak at the same time, only for another clack of Yoda’s staff on the floor to silence them. “Correct, Dooku is. Time, we have. A decision must be made. Put it to a vote, we shall. Master Mundi?”

  The Cerean reached up and stroked his beard. “I don’t like that her mind is hidden from us,” he frowned. “That being said, her work stands for itself. It’s thorough. Meticulous. She spent the time waiting researching us and further fleshing out the information she gathered. We could use a mind like that.”

  Yoda turned and looked to Windu. The human considered for a moment. “She’s stubborn. I suspect we’re going to have another Qui-Gon Jinn on our hands.”

  “Need that, we do not,” Yoda murmured.

  “Perhaps not in the same way. I get the feeling she’ll follow the letter of any order she disagrees with, or find ways to creatively misinterpret them,” Windu continued. “You saw it in the way she answered.” Steepling his fingers, his gaze shifted between Yoda and Dooku as he thought. Finally, he nodded. “As Mundi said, she could be useful in any sort of intelligence gathering, research, or analytical role. However, as master Dyas pointed out, she is a natural empath due to being a Zeltron, and more sensitive to that sort of thing than your average Jedi. Yes, she shields her mind, and while that unknown is somewhat worrying, we can determine her intent through her actions—which, so far, have been to pass what she knew along to us. Be that through her own design or the will of the Force. It also seems to allow her greater control over her emotions than some who have attained the rank of master themselves. She’s intelligent, mature, driven, and aware of the Force. She’ll find a way to train herself if we don’t. Better we take her in where we can keep an eye on her and influence her training and education, than leaving her to her own devices, perhaps to come back and bite us later. I say fast track her for a role as a Consular.”

  “There is a darkness within her. Far more than would be acceptable for an adult Jedi, let alone a child, and we cannot account for it. Cannot explain why that is. I vote against.”

  And so it went, as opinions were voiced around the circle as Dooku watched and listened, and made note of who leaned which way and their reasons for doing so. The vote was close—too close for his liking. The more pragmatic minds wanted to bring her in, either to use her or as Windu had said, to tie down a potential loose cannon. Unfortunately, several of their number were entirely against the idea, for one reason or another—the black box that was the girl’s mind, her rebellious streak, or more likely as he suspected it was the very same thing about her that had him fighting off the reflex to reach for his lightsaber from time to time.

  Finally, the discussion came back to his own former master, Yoda. The old alien hummed for a moment before nodding. “Decided by majority, it is. Train her, we will not.”

  Dooku nodded and stood. “Very well. Thank you for your time, councilors. Then effective immediately, I hereby tender my resignation from this council and the Jedi order.” The room erupted into noise and Dooku raised his voice. “I will take young Tanya with me and train her myself, to make sure that she doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. We wouldn’t want the banking clan getting their hands on her. Or the Hutts.”

  That silenced the chamber. Leaning forward, Mundi asked, “You would leave the order over one girl? Why?”

  “…Is it the prophecy?” Windu asked, drawing the eyes of the room to himself.

  “I can’t be certain,” Dooku shook his head. “She fits several of the criteria. Strong in the Force. As some have argued, there is a darkness within her, but where you see darkness I see a balance of the Force.” Meeting Windu’s eyes, he continued, “And as you especially well know, an inner darkness does not necessarily mean evil.”

  “You can’t know that for certain,” Windu argued, and Dooku nodded.

  “That is true. I sense much fear in you, in this council.” Several of them looked upset at being called out, but he continued. “We can only trust in the Force. The only way to know for sure is with time, and allowing her to learn. Teach her to harness it in ways that aren’t destructive to herself and those around her. Or would you have me do nothing? Send her on her way and see where fate sends her? No. I can’t, in good conscience, allow that to happen.”

  “Much is shrouded about her future,” Yoda hummed. “But right you are, perhaps. Better we keep her close, than others with more nefarious goals we allow to claim her.” Looking towards those who had voted nay, he continued, “Urge you to reconsider, I do.”

  A moment later, one of the few women on the council, Jocasta Nu, sighed. “Perhaps Dooku is correct. For what is balance without the presence of opposing forces? I’ll change my vote. Bring her in. Send her to me. If she wishes to learn, there is a place for her in the library.”

  Nodding, Yoda tapped his cane on the ground. “Settled, the matter is. She will be taught. Reconvene tomorrow, we shall, to speak of this news. Until then, tread carefully we must. Warn the banking clan and their allies, we must not. Meditate upon this, I will. Recommend you do the same.”

  With that, the old master stood and started for the elevator, the meeting over. Dooku stood and joined him as others began breaking off into groups to talk. Windu followed and, as the elevator was about to close, Dyas squeezed in.

  The younger man grinned as the elevator began to descend the tower. “I’d like to speak with her more, once she’s settled in.”

  Humming, Yoda turned a look up at him. “A vision of the future, you have had?”

  Dyas nodded. “Last night, in fact. I foresaw a war. Not with whom specifically, or when exactly, but a war. Lots of droids. Lots of human troops. And a great many Jedi casualties.”

  “And you think this is related to the girl?” Windu asked, and Dyas nodded.

  “Absolutely. The droids, weapons, and ships in her report were the ones from my vision. Without a doubt.” A determined look crossed his face. “If master Dooku is too busy or changes his mind, I’ll take her on as an apprentice myself, in a few years.”

  Dooku chuckled. “I doubt you’ll get the chance.”

  “What have you done?” Yoda asked, narrowing his eyes at his former apprentice.

  The human smiled. “Nothing much. I just gave her some preliminary training, to pass the time on the journey here from Zeltros. I set her against a pair of training drones.”

  Curious, Windu asked, “How did she do?”

  “I think I’ll let you see that for yourselves. Seeing is believing, after all. I will say that her dedication is remarkable. She has that rare combination of being a natural talent and the sort of work ethic to take advantage of it. She spent no less than twelve hours a day with the drones, broken up by time spent studying flight manuals so she could better understand what the Force was guiding her to do when I had her fly the ship.”

  “That’s insane,” Dyas muttered. “She’s, what? Six? Seven?”

  “Six,” Dooku confirmed.

  “Not normal. Are you thinking she’ll blow through the usual training?”

  “I believe she will complete it exactly as instructed,” Dooku shook his head, then smiled and added, “And then find other ways to occupy herself.”

  “Another Qui-gon,” Yoda muttered as the elevator came to a stop. “See for ourselves, we shall. Her training, I will begin tomorrow, with the other younglings.”

  “In that case, I’ll get her settled into quarters.” Starting for the cafeteria, Dooku paused, “I believe it would be best to keep her separate from the other younglings. Give her a room to herself, as we do for older padawans. When I spoke with the matron of the orphanage where she had been living, that was how things were arranged for everyone’s mutual comfort.”

  “Right, the Zeltron thing,” Dyas mused.

  “We shouldn’t give her preferential treatment,” Windu shook his head.

  Dyas chuckled. “Sure. Let’s not take her race and circumstances into consideration. While you’re at it, why don’t you go tell those Jedi we’re making the exceptions on marriage for that they’re no longer allowed?”

  Windu frowned but said nothing. It was well known that he didn’t like there being any exceptions, special consideration, or anything that remotely looked like favoritism among their ranks. Yoda cut off the argument with a nod. “Do as you must.”

  With that, they went their separate ways. Dooku found the cafeteria only a few minutes later. Looking over it, he raised an eyebrow at what he found.

  It seems she’s made a friend.

  The cafeteria was like any number of cafeterias I had been in across two lifetimes. The line was long and slower than it needed to be. The atmosphere was chaotic and noisy. The whole place was divided up into groups and cliques that I didn’t understand beyond being able to separate them by age and sometimes race, as some species tended to group together.

  At least the food looks good. Smells good, too, I mused as I selected protein that looked vaguely beef-like covered in some kind of sticky sauce, some vegetables, and a few other things. The offers on drinks varied between water, tea, different fruit juices, and several different types of milk. I didn’t want to imagine the animal that was sourced from, so I reached out with the Force and a desire to find the one I’d like best and ended up with a glass of red-orange juice.

  As the only one not wearing robes, I stood out. Between the Force and my empathic sense, I could literally feel every set of eyes watching me and the air of curiosity filling the room. There was also something else.

  Glancing around, I spotted the tables on the far end, where older padawans were sitting. A few of them were looking my way and smiling, occasionally joking with their friends. Given the feelings of amusement and arousal—the second thankfully not specifically directed at me—it wasn’t hard to guess what they were talking about.

  My people’s reputation precedes me. Great. This is going to be a thing going forward, isn’t it? Now that I’m off Zeltros, I’ll have to deal with the assumption that ‘Zeltron equals easy lay/party favor.’ Damn! …Well, it’s better than the alternative of being stuck there.

  Shaking my head, I made my way to an empty table and took a seat. Taking up the two-pronged fork, I began to methodically destroy my meal. The meat tasted like beef with the consistency of veal and the sauce turned out to be something tangy and a bit spicy. The fruits and vegetables were all a new experience, but good—save for some bits of something the Force warned me off of and I shoved to the side of my plate. The drink tasted like nothing I’d ever had before—sweet and light, and left me wanting more.

  “First day?”

  I looked up as someone put a plate down across from me and plopped down in the seat. It was a human girl of perhaps thirteen or fourteen, with light brown hair, blue-gray eyes, and wearing the same robes as everyone else—save that she had a brown over-robe on. There was a lightsaber similar to the ones I’d seen Dooku and the council members wearing attached to her side. That and the over-robe told me she was probably not a student here, but actually some Jedi master’s apprentice.

  She radiated curiosity, amusement, and patience as she waited, starting to eat her own meal that looked and smelled like chicken and salad. Finally, I nodded. “Tanya,” I introduced myself, holding out my hand.

  The girl beamed. “Obi-wan Kenobi. So~,” she leaned in and grinned. “I’ve heard Zeltros is a pretty fun place to visit…”

  I let out a disgusted sigh. At the same time, her emotions shifted to teasing and more amusement, even as her eyes slid towards the older students at the end of the hall.

  This Onee-san Kenobi is going to give me a headache.

  “I’d rather not talk about it.”

  “Mm,” she nodded. “What would you like to talk about, Tanya?”

  Considering her for a moment, I nodded towards the lightsaber at her side. “Where do I get one of those?”

  The girl beamed. “You’ll need to go through the Gathering. If you’ve just come, then you will likely have to wait a while for a few more initiates—enough to bother making a trip to a planet to collect a kyber crystal. I was sent to Ilum, but there are a few others. There, you’ll undergo a trial and pass through the labyrinth before finding your crystal. When you get back, you’ll construct your first lightsaber.”

  “I see,” I murmured. “Can you tell me about the construction process?”

  “Of course!” she agreed, and I listened intently as she went on to describe the individual parts that went into creating a lightsaber and the entire process of using the Force to put them together.