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Chapter Text

Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi walked into the Naboo offices.  He had an astromech at his heels and no one noticed, because there was something -an intensity- about the man that sucked the air out of the room.  Kenobi appeared to be his usual humble, pleasant, understated self.  It was a lie.  It was exploring the peaceful oceans, the swimming bays of home with a sando aqua monster stalking you.  It was the sudden silence of the birds and nary a ripple on the surface of the waters.

“Senator Amidala, may I have a word with you.  In private?”

It was something touching your feet in dark waters.

“Of course, Sabé please bring flimsi to take notes.”

Kenobi didn’t shift or argue and Padmé didn’t know if she had materialized a life raft or a bigger meal for the predator.

“Of course,” Sabé said, ever the loyal bodyguard.  “This way.”

Padmé and Kenobi followed her to the private conference room.

“Listening devices?” Kenobi asked Sabé.

“None,” she answered truthfully.

Kenobi nodded once and said to Padmé, most solemnly.  “Padmé Naberrie Amidala, you are in legal trouble.”

Sabé blinked, surprised that Kenobi even knew Padmé’s legal name. 

Kenobi continued.  “You married a minor without his guardian’s consent.”  And by his tone, Kenobi was not about to offer his consent after the fact.

Obviously, the secret was out.  “Anakin is nineteen.  That’s above the age of consent on both Coruscant and Naboo.”

“He is still a padawan.  And according to the law -that you voted for- all padawans are considered minors in all legal matters until knighting.”

Padmé remembered that law.  It was to prevent padawans, especially the very young ones, from being forced into too much responsibility by the Senate for the brewing war.  A padawan that could not order requisitions could not be a general or separated from their Master.  Padmé didn’t want padawans on the field of battle at all, especially at the age of ten or eleven, but Anakin was sure that he was months, if not weeks from knighting.  She understood some of Kenobi’s quiet fury now.  By her -the older participant who had voted for the law- legally marrying a padawan, she was undermining the whole law and that could force a re-vote if the secret became public.

“The solution is simple.  Knight him!”  Padmé didn’t understand the problem.  So she and Anakin jumped the gun a couple of months….

“I would rather shove my lit saber through my brother’s heart then have him speak the Knight’s vows.”

… Padmé stared.  Sabé stared.  That was… emphatic.

Kenobi seemed to realize that and backtracked.  “Right now.  Having him speak the Knight’s vows as things stand would be disastrous.” 

The silence stretched.

“Why?” Sabé finally asked.  “What would be so horrible about Padawan Skywalker speaking the Knight’s vows?”

Kenobi hesitated, searching for the words.  “We vow to the Force in all things.  If we vow contradictory words, we tear our souls apart as the Force pulls us in the direction of both vows at the same time.”

Padmé looked at Sabé and saw the same lack of understanding in her face.

“Why?” Padmé.

The astromech beeped and Padmé safe enough to pull her concentration away from the jedi to look at it.  “R2!” she exclaimed.  “Why are you not with Anakin?”

“Because R2D2 and Anakin would be back on planet and in trouble within a standard week,” said Kenobi. “I kept him.”

“R2 is a gift to Anakin, you can’t just take someone else’s gift.”

“Would you like to reclaim the gift,” Kenobi taunted.

Yes, yes she would but she remembered the sando aqua monster that had walked into her Senatorial offices and was wary.  There was a trap here, under the deep dark waters.

Sabé, as always, saved her.  “What does R2 mean?  ‘Listen to the teacher’?”

“Ah,” Kenobi nodded, all the wise Jedi Master.  “Yes, R2 accompanied Anakin to his Knight-prep classes and listened when Anakin clearly did not.  That is a good plan, R2D2.  Thank you.  If you would project the class for the Senator and Madam Sabé, I will throw myself at the mercy of their staff and beg for tea.”

R2D2 beeped, rolled toward the two women and projected a male Twi’leki in Jedi robes onto the floor between them.  Padmé and Sabé sat and listened to the man drone (there was no other description for his monotone) about vows and example after example of Jedi that made two contradictory vows and then the death and chaos that inevitably followed.  Padmé couldn’t follow the theory, and the cause-and-effect seemed suspect, but the case studies were varied enough to suggest that Kenobi might have a reason to be worried about Anakin.  The recording continued and while the words were still heard, R2D2 had scanned the classroom.  She saw Anakin staring off into the distance, smiling softly.  Padmé smiled softly as well.  Thinking of their vows.  It was fairly obvious that Anakin had not paying any attention to the teacher's words or how they and the consequences might apply to himself.

Master Kenobi let himself back into the private room with a teacup and saucer.  He was in no way smug, but he was relaxed in 'knowing' that he was going to be his way.

Boy, was he in for a surprise.

"I know this is your religion, Master Kenobi," Padmé tried to be polite, "But what I heard was a lot of correlation not causation."

Sabé tilted her head, her way of silently declaring not total agreement with the statement.

Padmé addressed her.  "Really?"

Sabé made a slight face of discomfort.  "There was a lot of theory," she said.  "Did you understand it?  I didn't."

"Well, no, but..."

"If you don't understand the theory, all of life is correlation and nothing one does has consequences."

"That's a rather broad statement, Master Kenobi," Padmé hated dealing with religious orders.

"Then let's talk biology," he said.  "Anakin is going to outlive you by a minimum of a hundred years.  Are you ready for that?  Is he?  Did he warn you that when he was sixty, he would still look like he was thirty?  At a hundred, he'd appear to be a spry fifty-year-old?"

That was a bit disturbing, and Anakin hadn't said anything.  But Padmé was certain.  "Anakin will still love me when I'm hundred and looking it."

"Yes, he will," Kenobi agreed.  "But will you not resent him for it?”

Perhaps a little, but not as much as if she was unwarned of the eventuality.  After all, she did knowingly marry a man younger than herself.

“And pregnancy?  I hope the two of you are planning adoption.  Force Pregnancies are notoriously hard on the body.  It’s half the reason Force sensitive younglings are given to the crèche.  Their parents are often in too poor health to care for them.  It sometimes leads to death of carrier, which is why Force sensitive children are feared.”

Anakin had mentioned something along those lines, so Padmé repeated the words she had said to her husband, “I have access to the best medical care in the galaxy.  So much better than the vast majority of the Mid-Rim.”  Anakin had been easily convinced.  Neither Kenobi nor Sabé were.  Kenobi didn’t want to be convinced and it was Sabé’s job to check every possible risk, no matter how miniscule.

“So where is Anakin now?  Where is my husband, Obi-wan Kenobi?”

“On the Outer Rim.  Freeing slaves and tracking down the Sith through the slavers.”

“Oh? Because of his promise?”  Well, if they were going to hold him to his promises for whatever reason at least the Jedi started with the oldest one, and one that was very worthwhile.

Kenobi was wary, truly wary for the first time she had ever witnessed.  “What promise?”

“When I first met him, he said he was going to become a Jedi and free all the slaves.”

Kenobi stared.  “He said that?”

“Yes.”  Didn’t Kenobi know?  Did they just make up the excuse to get Anakin out of the Core?  How insensitive, just after his mother was killed.

“To whom?”

“His mother.”

“All?”

“Pardon?”

“All the slaves.  All?  His wording is very important.”

Padmé thought hard.  It was a decade ago.  “I believe so.  All the slaves.”

Kenobi pressed his knuckles to his forehead and sighed.  He might have sworn, but Padmé wasn’t familiar with whatever language he used.  She looked at Sabé and Sabé looked back with a raised eyebrow.  What?

“You missed that part of the lecture, didn’t you?” her best friend asked.

Padmé shook her head.  Nothing of the lecture had anything to do with her or Anakin.  Not really.

“It was while R2D2 was focused on Padawan Skywalker.  The lecturer mentioned, obviously a reiteration of a previous lecture,” And Padmé pitied Anakin if he had years of listening to that teacher.

“…Padmé?”

“Yes?”

Kenobi leaned forward, frowning.  “Did you hear Sabé’s full comment?”

“Of course.”  Both waited.  Padmé sighed and searched her memory for the words she hadn’t totally been absorbing.  It was a trick that then-Senator Palpatine had taught her over a decade ago.  “Jedi are never to use the words ‘all’ or ‘forever’ or other absolutes due to the binding of the Force to an impossible reality.”  She blinked.  “So your religion is why Jedi so often refrain from making promises and sound like politicians?” 

Sabé and Kenobi exchanged a look and that?  That was not permissible.  Kenobi had shown zero evidence that her marriage to Anakin was a concern.  Sabé was never one to be persuaded by religious rhetoric.  Why now? 

“Have you been meditating, like you should, Sabé?”  Could Kenobi be influencing her?  Are her shields in good shape?

“Yes,” Sabé answered, and it was no lie.  “Have you?”

“Yes.”  Sabé caught Padmé’s stretching of the truth.  “Don’t scold.  I don’t have to as much since Anakin and I bonded.”

“On purpose?” asked Kenobi.

“Yes.  Anakin said that it’d be better on purpose before sex than accidently during because it could cause pain if it was not directed.”

“It’s like that boy absorbed exactly the wrong lessons from his classes,” Kenobi muttered.

“Oh, come now.  It’s romantic!” Padmé told the two worrywarts.  “Anakin said that he fit through my shields perfectly, like a key to a lock.  He could now keep everyone else out.”

“And that was good?”

“Well, it’s certainly not bad.  He said that the bond could sometimes cause pain- even when guided, but we were so perfectly matched there was zero pain.”

“There was no discomfort?” Kenobi confirmed.

“None,” Padmé told him brightly, truthfully.  Her marriage was not a mistake.  If she could just convince him…

“And Anakin didn’t find that odd?  That two people who hadn’t seen each other in a decade were a perfect match in the Force?”

“Why would he?”

Kenobi obviously bit back his initial answer.  He stroked his beard, and his eyes lost their focus.  “That’s incredibly rare, but I have read it…somewhere.  I need to do some research.”

“Don’t take too much time, Master Kenobi,” Padmé was both teasing and warning.  “I wish to see my husband sometime this year.”

Master Kenobi raised an eyebrow.  “You would risk the padawans for your powerplay?”

Padmé opened her mouth and then closed it at Sabé’s look of horror.  Sabé, of course, was correct.  She wouldn’t.

Master Kenobi stood and bowed, clearly ready to leave.  “I must ask: how compatible are your wedding vows to the vows you swore to your Queen when taking the Senate seat?”

Padmé would not let him get the last word.  “The entire galaxy apparently can balance several different vows at the same time better than the Jedi.  She would not be worried.”

Kenobi raised another disappointed eyebrow at the jab but bowed again and left.  R2D2 followed.  The door closed behind the pair.

“She would be worried,” Sabé hissed.  “It’s a clear conflict of interest if the Jedi are to Generals and the Senate is to be giving them orders.  And you didn’t tell her.”

“The war is not going to last that long,” Padmé consoled her friend.  “And if Master Kenobi proves stubborn, Anakin won’t have any position that the Senate orders.  Anakin is planning on leaving the Order after he is Knighted.  No conflict of interest.  No reason to tell her.  I’m allowed to have a private life.”

Sabé weighed her words before saying, “Nubian Senators are traditionally single to solely serve during their time in office.  It’s been that way for hundreds of years.”

Such a weak argument was easily countered, “Tradition doesn’t mean law.  It can be done, successfully, even if it is not easy.”

Sabé was not convinced but she was silent.  Padmé had work to do.  She needed to end this war as soon as possible, for multiple reasons.

She had vanquished the sando aqua monster, so why did she still feel stalked?

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

Obi-wan rubbed his sternum where he felt the pull of the Force and the weight of his Vows.  He tried to imagine not feeling the Force tie him to ceremonial Words.  Did Anakin not feel this?  How could Anakin not feel this?  Had he zoned out of every single Force Theory class he ever took?  The boy had passed all of them, some barely, but the teachers never noted a lack of understanding on the major themes.

For Force Sake, it was half the reason that Jedi were called to administer so many weddings!  The Jedi natural tied Vows into the Force and the Force made it easier to follow Vows so long as one wasn’t tied to multiple, divergent vows.  Force Vows for arranged marriages, especially those ending wars had to be administered by a trained Force Sensitive.  Conducting marriages made up most of the duties of the monks at Jedha, and was the reason for nearly half the pilgrimages to Jedha.

He rubbed his sternum again, but the weight of the Master-Padawan Vow was lessening.  He had made the correct decision, possibly for the first time in years.  Sending Anakin to the Outer Rim, to Garen and to hunt slavers was obviously the best thing for the boy.  Now, knowing about Anakin’s childhood vow, it made sense.  His attitude would improve if he was fulfilling a Vow.  Though that naïve child, promising to free all the slaves?  The Force was going to push until that was his sole focus, how could he balance it with anything else?

Juggling the Nubian marriage vow (Vow?) was going to be difficult.  Padmé had been surprisingly difficult, but Obi-wan had gained an ally in Sabé.  He needed Padmé to break the vow, but her reasoning was defensive, and her attention scattered.  Her insistence that things Obi-wan knew was only religious orthodoxy was disappointing but expected and common.  Obi-wan was worried that Anakin had done something to her mental shields.  She had been a Queen; she was a Senator.  She had been trained to have the best kind of mental shields available to a non-sensitive.  Naboo was among the best for that training, as evidenced by the current Chancellor.  She should not have any hole in her shields, let alone one that Anakin fit perfectly?  Not possible.  But Padmé had not been lying about the lack of pain and discomfort.  How had that happened?

Obi-wan remembered the two-day migraine of bonding to his padawan.  Several masters had suggested to the Healers to let Obi-wan suffer for his folly.  He had been the one to choose a padawan outside of the order, let him reap the pain from two very different upbringings combining into a bond.  And if Obi-wan -a Force sensitive who had spent time as a slave- and Anakin could not connect without pain, how could Anakin -born a slave on a world with limited resources- connect painlessly to Padmé, a non-Force sensitive born to an upper-class family on a peaceful, abundant world?  Obi-wan wasn’t sure if she had ever had to follow an order in her life.  She certainly didn’t understand the hopelessness of time in slavery, or the hunger because of an owner’s pettiness.  The more Obi-wan thought about the background mismatch the less sense could be made of a painless mental bond.

Whatever did Padmé see in his padawan?  She was obviously a willing participant but why?  He was younger and had the lack of maturity to match.  Obi-wan trusted the boy with his life and was sure that with a couple more years under his obi, he’d have the maturity to match Padmé, but currently?  Not in any galaxy.  He was a fumbling boy compared to her.  How was that attractive?  His honesty, perhaps?  Anakin was so painful obvious when he lied.  Anakin cut an attractive figure in Nubian terms, but that was awfully shallow of Padmé, especially to marry him.  Did they have a single hobby or interest in common? 

Obi-wan was missing a large portion of the puzzle and he didn’t have time to investigate.  Amidst getting ready to ship out with the newly named 212th, Obi-wan needed to gather and send Garen all Anakin’s homework for Force Theory (with a complete review of the basics), Force Vows and Force, Sexuality and Biology.  (Why couldn’t Anakin just stayed with the asexual/aromantic track he had started on?  Too late now.)  He also needed to research Force bonds, specifically between Force users and non-Force users.  Obi-wan had read about one and only one painless example, and he truly, truly hoped he was remembering it wrong.

The only example Obi-wan knew had been between Darth Raven (before he fell) and his wife.

It couldn’t be that, Obi-wan consoled himself.  Darth Raven had been patient and subtle, two characteristics that one would never call Anakin.  Raven had planned and set up for the bond for -he couldn’t remember- a year? two? before creating a bond that would not even discomfort his wife.  Anakin didn’t have that kind of access to Padmé nor the education to use the Grey technique.

“To the Archives,” Obi-Wan told R2.  “Thank you again for showing me Anakin’s wedding.”

The sassy droid beeped at him. 

“I know that I’m not your normal companion, but I will endeavor to work with you.  While we’re there, please download the binary language classwork so that I can understand you fully.”

R2 beeped affirmative.  He really was an expressive droid and currently, Obi-wan’s most useful ally.

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

Master Jocasta Nu’s fury battered his shields.   She was beyond busy gathering information for the various Knights and Masters about to ship out to the corners of the galaxy, but she still found time to corner Obi-wan to express her displeasure.

“You might have removed your padawan from the war, but others are still readying for duty,” she hissed.

Obi-wan folded his hands into the sleeves of his robes and raised an eyebrow.  He should not have to defend such a choice, such a success.  Every master should have attempted the same.  Padawan Obi-wan had led during a war, but it should not have happened.  War should not be happening now.  There should be teams leaving for negotiations, not battle, not yet.  The Senate should not be forcing this issue and Master Nu should not be attacking him.

Obi-wan remained calm and, as such, gained the upper hand in the discussion in a way that Anakin had never understood nor could emulate.  Master Nu retreated in her Force Presence.

Obi-wan needed her assistance and offered a partial truth: “During Padawan Skywalker’s Knight-prep Force Vows classwork, it was… remembered that he once promised to free all the slaves.”

Eyes wide, Master Nu breathed in through clenched teeth.  She breathed out slower and more controlled.  “Obviously an unwise vow made by a non-initiate, but it has no bearing on…”

“The clones, Jocasta,” Obi-wan cut her off, quietly, calmly but as unrelenting as beskar.

Master Nu was too intelligent to argue.  She knew and acknowledged the truth.  The clones were sentient beings bought solely for war.  And Jedi – Jedi were going to have to order them to their deaths.  Master Nu thought through the problem and Obi-wan waited.  He needed another opinion, even one partially informed.  “Did he make a similar promise to never be a ‘Master’?” she asked, considering.

Obi-wan blinked.  “Oh, Force.”  It was likely.  “Hopefully not in Basic.  R2D2, please add that question to the other homework we’ll be sending Knight Muln.  In nearly any language Anakin knew, such a promise would be problematic.”  In a slave language, such a Vow would conflict with leading the clones and would rend his soul.

R2 beeped in agreement.

“I’ll put a note in his file,” Jocasta offered.

Obi-wan bowed in thanks.

“So what do you need from the Archives today?”

Obi-wan offered a wry smile, knowing the list was extensive and he would have to be very careful asking.

Jocasta sighed but pulled out her PADD to take notes.

“All the normal classwork, from the beginning on Force Vows and the associated theory.  I have reason to believe that Padawan Skywalker did not understand the very basics of Vows and aim to correct that.  Meditations for remembering all made Vows and what language used.  Force Bonds and how they interact with Force Vows.”

“Force Bonds?” Of course, Master Nu zeroed in on the only part Obi-wan wanted her to ignore.

“How will my padawan’s ill-conceived vows affect me?”

Master Nu considered this.

Obi-wan prompted.  “I seem to partly remember a story of Darth Raven -before he fell, of course- and his Vows affecting his wife?”

Master Nu spoke slowly and carefully.  “I wasn’t aware of you having clearance for that document.”

Obi-wan had been fabricating a story, but now, he recalled harsh words hissed while he had been dozing…. “There was… a conversation, I think, between Master Jinn and Master Dooku?”

“Ahhh.”  Master Nu waited politely as Obi-wan wrestled memories of Master Jinn into their box.  And Master Jinn’s ill-conceived Vows.  And Master Yoda’s ill-conceived meddling.  Master Jinn had Vowed no more padawans and Master Yoda had manipulated him to break that Vow, even as it was a better path for Jinn.  Obi-wan, as the padawan in question, had born the brunt of the Vow rending.

“I do have clearance for that document now, do I not?” he asked.

“I believe so.”  She paused.  “Yan always believed that you naturally absorb the some of the consequences of others’ broken Vows due to your Bonds.”

That was unfortunate.  And explained so much of why other Masters let Yoda’s meddling continue.  Obi-wan had accidently kept Qui-gun Jinn sane.  Obi-wan breathed with the Force.  He would have to meditate and search his psyche for evidence of damage from Anakin’s Broken Vows.  Master Nu waited for him to speak.  “I believe I have a right to know and to prevent any rents in my soul as I take custody of a battalion of clones.”

She had softened towards him.  “You do.  Anything else?”

R2 beeped.

“Oh yes.  A binary learning course work.  This astromech will be at my side for this war.  It’d be impolite to not be able to communicate.”

The edges of Master Nu’s lips curled up.  “Impolite indeed.  I’ll add it to the list.”

Obi-wan bowed.  “As always, Master Nu, your assistance is without peer.”

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

“So what is my actual reason to be here?” Anakin asked Knight Garen Muln as he stepped out of his Aethersprite into the hanger bay of Garen’s more nondescript spacecraft.  Obi-wan would be horrified that those were his first words before even bowing but… “Obi-wan was deliberately being vague.”

Garen held out a hand.  “Comm.”

Anakin scowled but handed it over.  Garen turned it off and pocketed it.  He walked out of the hanger, and they were almost immediately in the cockpit, Garen’s craft was so small.  “We are running dark until we have intelligence that the Republic must have immediately.”

“We’re not Shadows,” Anakin pointed out.

“Quinlan is out here too.  Our job is to hit hard and fast.  Give the slaves as much help to escape as possible and hit another.  We’re hotwiring ships and preprogramming navigation for the escapees.  We know that the Sith work hand-in-hand with slavers.  We’re here to put the biggest dent in slavery as possible and slice every network looking for intelligence on the Sith.  Our goal is to get to the Sith before the war really starts to ramp up.”

“If only Obi-wan had done something like this earlier than my mom would be free,” Anakin grumbled.

There was complete static in the Force, he had upset Garen so much.

“What did you say?” Garen finally asked.

Anakin set his chin and repeated himself.  “If only Obi-wan had done something like this earlier so that my mom could be free.”

“Your mom was freed,” Garen answered.  “Nine years ago.”

“She was bought to be a wife.  How is that a choice?  How free was she, really?”

“Anakin,” Garen said softly.  “Where did the Lars get enough money to buy your mother?  She wasn’t cheap, especially after you won the Bonta Classic.  Watto was turning away people who wanted to breed her.”

Anakin was horrified.  He didn’t… no, how could he have not… his mom!  She suffered for him winning.  She sent him away knowing the consequences to his actions.  How many times had she paid for his actions?  His mom had always wanted a daughter but wouldn’t have dared with all the eyes on Anakin.

“Anakin?  Anakin.” Garen pulled him out of his spiral.  “You never answered my question, how did the Lars raise the money for such an expensive slave?”

Anakin remembered the moisture farm.  It had been in decent shape, but much of that had been his mother’s work.  The Lars didn’t have much surplus… How had the Lars afforded Shmi Skywalker?  How had the Lars afforded Shmi Skywalker?

Garen winked at him.

Anakin stared.  “No.”

Garen shrugged.  “Obi and Quin went on a gambling/cheating spree.  They both got censured for it, but the kind of slap on the wrist that meant that no one was truly mad.  I’m sure Master Plo and Koth contributed some of the first credits.”

“No!”

“Obi kept you very distracted.  Quin had been on Tatooine the same time as Jinn, so he knew the Flight Paths.  He gave me the name of the nearest Flight Pilot and Obi gave me the money.  I gave the Pilot the money, knowing that he’d not steal it.  Your mom was bought and freed.  I saw her chip removed and offered her a choice of several planets.”

“Why did she stay?”

“Do you think you’re the only Skywalker who wants to free the slaves?”

Anakin stared at Garen as his whole worldview shifted.  “The Lars are a Landing Pad on the Flight Paths.  Why did Obi-wan never tell me?”

Garen shrugged.  “I’m not sure.  I thought he had?  I do know that you stopped having nightmares about your mother within twenty-four hours of her being freed.  I figured the two were linked.  Obi thought the two were linked.”

“He didn’t tell me,” Anakin denied.  “I would have remembered that.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

Garen leaned back in the pilot’s chair and waited for Anakin to calm down.  He poked at his comm.

Anakin was not ready to calm down.  “You were never a slave,” he hissed.  “You don’t understand how important it is.  I would not have been able to forget something that important.”

Garen threw a ball of wires and metal at his head.

Anakin caught it, of course.  “What is this?”

“The guts to a slave chip detector,” Garen told him.  “We need working ones to pass out.  Get to it.”

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Pilot: this is bigger than an inattentive kid.  He did not hear me -COULD not hear me- say that the Senate intentionally blocked us from freeing slaves.  IT went static around him.  He lost time.  I’ve never seen the like.  He didn’t remember being told that his mother had been freed.

Shadow: I TOLD YOU THERE WAS SOMETHING WEIRD GOING ON WHEN YOU TOLD HIM ABOUT HIS MOTHER

Haggler: Not surprised.  There’s a painless Bond in the mix.

Shadow: those dont exist

Haggler: Not without Grey techniques, time and patience.

Haggler: I’m sending you the Bonds homework with the Vows.

Pilot: recd.  Send Healing homework.

Haggler: Will do.  Take care of my boy, Please.

Pilot: Done.

Shadow: I’ll be arriving at the planet in a week. Info to follow.

~dt~

The Force would never hide something from a Jedi.  Someone must direct the Force for such an omission.   Only someone strong and trained could make it go static.  Anakin must have crossed the Sith in the Senate.  Padmé had been touched by the Sith in the Senate.  But who could possibly gain from a romantic relationship between a padawan and a senator?  Was someone planning to leak the information and discredit Padmé?  Obi-wan feared for the padawans in this war.  They would be the first sacrifice and the clones right behind them.

Dooku had been telling the truth.  There was a Sith in the Senate, that had many Senators under his control.  Padmé  was under his control and didn’t even know it.  Sabé knew there were problems now.  She would be on high alert.

The trail of the Sith was always slave shackles.  Especially in a place where slavery ‘didn’t’ exist, like the Republic.

Obi-wan sent a high priority message to Bail Organa asking for all the minutes to any meeting that resulted in less power to the Jedi to fight slavery, removed protections on sex workers, legalized indentured servants and work camps for prisoners.

Obi-wan would find the Sith Master that dared to touch his child.

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

(For yulerule who mentioned that Anakin would likely forget again)

.

Anakin stumbled out of his bunk and to the tiny table bolted in the corner of the kitchen.  He had stayed up late last night completing the chip detectors.  He had three finished.  He knew that slaves were frugal and smart.  Three might be enough to free an entire planet if they were careful.  Still, more was better.  Anakin had to write up the blueprints of the scanners, full of options for replacement parts.  He could spread the blueprints throughout the slave quarters for others to make them.  It would be even harder for the Depur to catch the blueprints than a premade scanner.

Garen was already eating his breakfast.  Thankfully, Garen preferred caff to tea and there was a pot made.  Anakin poured himself a cup and nursed it.

“Anakin,” Garen said.  “How was your mother freed?”

“The Lars bought her,” Anakin muttered, unsure and unwelcoming of the sudden conversation.  He had had another nightmare about his mother’s death and the… Tuskens.  His mother shouldn’t have been on Tatooine to be targeted.  If she had been truly free, she would have left the hellhole.

Garen waited; Anakin didn’t know why.  There was a whisper of worry in the Force.  Anakin sighed and looked at the pilot.  “What?” he demanded.  It was too early for Jedi meta-physical nonsense.  It was one part of being a Jedi that he had never adapted to.  Obi-wan also liked starting the morning by asking questions before Anakin was awake.

“How did the Lars buy Shmi?”

It was Garen using his mother’s name that kick-started Anakin’s brain.  “You delivered money.”

“From…” was Garen’s leading retort.

“Vos and Obi-wan went gambling.”

“Obi and Quin cheated several Hutts’ gambling dens,” Garen clarified.  “Two High Councilors supplied the first moneys.”

Anakin sat up, suddenly interested.  “You didn’t say that before.”  He grinned at the irony.  “Vos cheated Hutts to free a slave.”

“To free your mom,” Garen said pointedly.  His eyes grew distant.  “Not just your mom, I don’t think.  Obi went overboard, of course.  Wanted to ensure that there was enough money for her.  With the extra, I bought… two? little boys that your mom pointed out at the same time.”

“Kistler?!” Anakin jerked upright.  “You freed Kistler as well?”

“Probably,” Garen shrugged.

“How do you not know?” Anakin was aghast.

“If I’m not sure, then I’m not lying when asked.”

“Who would you have to lie to about freeing slaves?”

The question so upset Garen that the Force around him distorted again.  Anakin might need to tell Obi-wan that his friend was having problems in the Force.  But then again, Garen was being helpful and actually telling Anakin things, unlike Obi-wan.  Anakin didn’t want to humiliate him by pointing out a fritzing Force connection to the Knight’s friends.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Pilot: This is worrying.  I had to prompt his memory of how his mom was freed, again, this morning.  And there was a weird disconnect between the act of freeing her and Obi masterminding it. 

Pilot: Again, he didn’t HEAR that Plo and Koth funded it all.  Or about the laws handed down from on high blocking it.

Sage-femme: Keep reminding him.  Sustained repetition can create the pathways in his brain.  If he’s not naturally remembering, you can smooth the way with recurring conversation.

Haggler: There is something decidedly unnatural about his memory, Bantling.

Pilot: And his emotions.  He had more positive emotions about cheating the Depur and about his childhood friend being freed than his mother’s freedom.  How is that natural?

Sage-femme: Let’s focus on the memory.  Auditory is insufficient.  Suggest he write thank you notes?

Pilot: … I have no idea how to suggest that ten years after the event.

Sage-femme: I always give you the easy jobs.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Sage-femme: So I was thinking…

Shadow: Always more dangerous than the Masters realized.

Pilot: Oh no.  They always knew where the most dangerous ideas came from.

Sage-femme: Obi.

Shadow: Obi!

Pilot: Obi.

Haggler: I’m feeling besieged, and I’m not surrounded by clankers at the moment.  Bant, you had thoughts to share?  Intelligent conversation and discussion to be had among peers?

Sage-femme: You said that your kid ‘initiated’ a painless bond, and we all agree that he doesn’t have the patience or the skill for such an endeavor.  So, someone else was definitely involved.

Sage-femme: Someone knowledgeable, talented, skilled, patient, sneaky and Force sensitive.  Very, very likely Sid himself.

Haggler: Agreed.  As much as I hate it.

Pilot: Seconded.

Shadow: Thirded!

Sage-femme: Pain is how the body knows danger.  Pain = awareness

Sage-femme: No pain = no awareness

Sage-femme: One painless bond opens the possibility for a second.

Sage-femme: A potential second bond of which he is not aware… that only the other person in the bond knows exists.

Sage-femme: We know that bonds can easily help retain memories.  It’s one of the basic meditations pair-bonded practice to write reports.  Though we don’t practice memory erasure through bonds, why can’t it be possible?

Pilot: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shadow: Bant, that might be the scariest thought you’ve ever had. 

Sage-femme: I’ve got a scarier one.

Shadow: Oh no.

Sage-femme: We know that bonds are used to level and direct emotions to positive outcomes.  It’s part of how our padawans seem so mature to the rest of the galaxy.  Both individuals must work hard to prevent feedback of negative emotions between bonded.  Mind Healing has a technique to distance a patient from the emotions of a traumatic event so that it can be processed.  But one must be aware and monitoring the bond to start and stop the emotional flow.

Shadow: Oh.  No. 

Shadow: Obi?

Pilot: Obi?  Are you ok?

Haggler: Pardon me, I must go apologize to my troopers for uncouth language.

Haggler has logged off

Shadow: I’m not apologizing for my language.  It’s deserved.

Pilot: Seconded.

Sage-femme: He’s not ok.

Pilot: I’m not ok!  The kid has someone filtering? pushing? diverting? negative emotions into his psyche?  How is he supposed to deal with that?  How am I supposed to deal with that?

Sage-femme: Meditation is your friend.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Haggler has joined the chat 04.05 hr Coruscant Senate Time

Haggler: No one’s online.  Good.  There is a part of this discussion of which very few are aware.  It’s even incomplete in the archives.

Haggler: Vows -and their affects- transverse Bonds.  Confirmed.

Haggler has logged off

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Haggler: Vows -and their affects- transverse Bonds.  Confirmed.

Haggler has logged off

Sage-femme has joined the chat 24.05 hr Coruscant Senate Time

Sage-femme: That makes a horrible amount of sense.  Has anyone checked the senator for effects?

Haggler: You’ll be closest.  Go through the handmaidens.  She’s… illogical about him.

Pilot: It’s mutual.

Shadow: Or is it cause and effect?  Because if it is, we all know which came first.. the avian, not the egg.

Haggler: I hate this chat.

Sage-femme: By the time the war is done and we’ve caught Sid, I’ll be able to write an extensive article on the affects and effects of Vows, Bonds and Emotions.

Shadow: Don’t forget memories!

Pilot: Ha.  Ha.

Haggler: I hope someday I can laugh at this.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Sage-femme: Bad news: there is definitely spillover of Vows over the Bond.

Sage-femme: Good news:  The senator is currently trying to free every slave in sight.  Or out of sight.

Sage-femme: Bad news: the aggression spillover is so bad, she nearly bit Orn Free Taa.

Shadow: He deserved it.

Sage-femme: Yes.  Besides the point.

Sage-femme: Garen, try being sneaky on your missions.  We’ll see if you are sneaky on your end, then maybe we’ll see the same here.

Shadow: Being sneaky’s my job.

Sage-femme: You want the kid?

Shadow: He’s not sneaky.

Pilot: I know!

Sage-femme: He needs to be sneaky, so she’ll be sneaky.  Or….

Haggler has joined the chat 18.56 hr Coruscant Senate Time

Haggler: I had a bad feeling about you guys.

Shadow: It’s Bant’s fault!

Sage-femme: So emotional spillover.  Def happening.  The question is: can we (and by we I mean you) push the opposite.  You are bonded to him and through him to her.  Can you intentionally spill calm and sneaky into the lovebirds?

Haggler: Bant.  I don’t have enough calm for myself in the middle of a war.  How am I supposed to have enough calm to push on to two crazy, extremely headstrong kids?

Pilot: Good point.  So we know that… Sid is sneaky and neither of the lovebirds are -AT ALL.  Is Sid keeping all the sneaky to himself and… IDK pushing all the impulses that don’t benefit him onto the kids.  Like a dam overflow?

Sage-femme: That’s logical.

Shadow: That’s horrifying.

Haggler: that’s NOT MAKING ME CALM

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

Master Kenobi (please call me Obi-wan if we are in this mess together) had promised Sabé back-up today in dealing with Padmé’s unusual mental issues, but he had not given Sabé a hint as to whom in their short text chat.  She had been hyperaware of all strangers in and around the Nubian offices.  So when Jar-Jar glided in, followed by a female Mon Calamari Jedi Master, Sabé was not as distracted by his newfound gracefulness as the rest of the handmaidens.

Even Padmé was complimenting Jar-Jar when Sabé bowed to the Mon Calamari.  “Master Jedi, welcome.”

“Knight, or Healer Bant Eerin,” she corrected.

Sabé felt stress melt from her shoulders.  Obi-wan had sent her a Jedi Healer.  “A friend of Master Kenobi, I presume?”

“Crèche mate,” Healer Eerin offered.

Sabé nodded and then motioned to Jar-Jar.  “How did you manage that in less than a day?  We’ve been trying for years.”

Sabé wasn’t as good at reading Mon Calamari faces as Padmé but she was pretty sure Eerin was disappointed in her.  “You were trying to teach him to walk against his very biology.  His hips and knees don’t bend similar to yours, why force him to walk as you do?”

That was just embarrassing.  Why hadn’t they thought of that?  “My apologies,” Sabé offered.

“It is not me to whom you owe the apology,” Eerin chided and Sabé was absolutely sure that this female had managed to keep Obi-wan and his cohorts out of trouble purely through the strength of her disapproval.  “You also have no chairs in the foyer to accommodate him.  Do you force him to work at a desk designed for a human?  In the dry humidity for a human?”

“I will personally see that is corrected.”

Eerin hmmed and Sabé knew that she would return with the excuse of checking.

“But the lack of clumsiness?”

“Ahh, that required a knowledge of water species biological specializations,” Eerin admitted.  “Our eyes dilate when in water and then shift on land.  Some can’t shift properly on land.”

Jar-Jar was now showing off his rimless glasses, very carefully.

“He couldn’t see.” Sabé realized.

“He could see,” Eerin corrected, “but he had little to no depth perception.  Gungan medics apparently don’t screen for it and when the resulting clumsiness causes structural damage or accidental injury, but before fatalities, the communities exile them out of the gene pool, so it is rare.  Since Gungans have never been to the Core before, the human physician you took him to was guessing.”

Sabé hid her grimace.  “He was highly recommended for multiple species.”

“By whom? A human?”

Sabé would have to investigate.  Who told them to use that physician for Jar-Jar?  She couldn’t remember.

Eerin continued.  “Representative Binks is now a patient of the Mon Cala embassy physician.  They are used to treating both Mon Calamari and Quarren patients.  The lack of eye dilatation and the corresponding ear sea-to-land imbalance is a somewhat common Mon Calamari ailment, and they can supply any replacement glasses and the prescription ear drops as well.”

Sabé nodded.  “May I have their contact information so that we may be billed appropriately?”

Eerin nodded and the two exchanged comm codes.  Eerin also sent the comm code for the Mon Calamari physician.  Then the Nautolan embassy physician.

Sabé looked to Eerin for an explanation.

“Representative Binks has an appointment for next week.  I don’t believe his pheromone receptors are working properly.  They’ll be able to check, but any chemical correction will be a bit of trial and error.”

“We can’t thank you enough, Master Jedi,” Padmé said from over Sabé’s shoulder.  “Sagé-Femmé?” she read Eerin’s text handle on Sabé’s comm.

“Sage-femme,” Eerin corrected.  “Direct translation is ‘wise female,’ it is also another name for a mid-wife.”  She bowed, “I am Jedi Knight Healer Bant Eerin.”

Sabé noticed that Eerin didn’t say from which language/culture her comm handle originated.

“How can we repay you for,” Padmé turned and waved at a much more confident and comfortable Jar-Jar Binks. 

“This morning, there is a committee meeting on the oncoming deluge of war refugees, predicted problems and solutions.  I cannot attend without a Senator’s invite.”

“Knight Eerin can take my spot,” Moteé offered immediately.

“Absolutely,” Padmé agreed.  “Let me get my notes and we’ll be off.”  Moteé followed her.  Jar-Jar glided (and Sabé was thrilled with the Gungan’s newfound composure) into his office (that Sabé needed to refurbish).  “The Jedi can’t go to meetings about refuges?” Sabé asked.

“The Senate wants the Jedi to focus on the war, though many of us would be of more use elsewhere.”

Sabé didn’t know what to do with that information.  She would absorb and discuss it with Padmé and the others when they had more time.  “Does Representative Binks have daily exercises?”

“Yes.  And he now has entry into the Nautolan embassy pool.  It’ll fit his needs more than a human or Mon Calamari pool.”

Sabé felt the Jedi’s disapproval again.  Really, she needed to think these through.  She and Knight Eerin walked to the far wall of the conference room and stood with the rest of the aides at the Refuge Resettlement Committee.  They took notes as the meeting progressed and chatted a bit through the comms.

LeftHand has reopened Chat 656491222

LeftHand: I’m surprised that the senator didn’t make a fuss about a jedi needing to be invited.

Sage-femme: She didn’t hear it.

LeftHand: She should have.

Sage-femme: Left hand? As in the queen’s left hand? For Justice or espionage?

LeftHand: for Justice, of course.

And then a while later…

LeftHand: did that senator just ask for a twi’lek for the night from Orn Free Taa?

Sage-femme: Orn Free Taa trades his interns for votes.  We can’t get them to admit it because we can’t pay for their university classes if they lose their ‘job.’  He ‘lets’ them move on to a job of their choice when they have a diploma.  We treat them at the Medi-corps clinic too often.  We find places for them out of his reach when they’re ‘done.’  He used to try to hold on to them.

LeftHand: Padmé just figured it out and she’s pissed.

Sage-femme: if she can come up with a plan, we’d help.  He’s vindictive -and successful at it- against the Jedi for what we have accomplished.

LeftHand: a plan is in the works, I’m sure.

Sage-femme: She looks mad enough to bite.

LeftHand: She does.  If Orn Free Taa puts that hand on her shoulder, she will.

Sage-femme: He didn’t.  He looked scared though.

LeftHand: Rodents always have some sort of self-preservation instinct.

Sage-femme has renamed Chat 656491222 as FIX ALL THE THINGS in the Senate

LeftHand: we are 1-going to need A LOT more help if that’s the name of our chat

LeftHand: 2- this chat will never end if that’s our purpose

Sage-femme: Do you want to change the name?

LeftHand: sigh. No.

Sage-femme has added Haggler to FIX ALL THE THINGS in the Senate Chat

LeftHand has added RightHand to FIX ALL THE THINGS in the Senate Chat

Sage-femme: Is that Moteé?

LeftHand: No. Dormé.

LeftHand has added ThirdHand to FIX ALL THE THINGS in the Senate Chat

LeftHand: Now we have Moteé.

RightHand: -points at chat name-  The Jedi picked it?  I need to have a drink with you.

Sage-femme: I’m free at 1800.

~dt~

LeftHand: Your friend has weaponized her disapproval.  Right Hand came back from her drink with her looking like she had earned four demerits and was determined to fix all her faults by daybreak.

Haggler: Wonderful, I’ll tell the council that she’s ready for a little one to train.  It’s a requirement.

LeftHand: … I can’t tell if that’s a joke or not

Haggler: Good to know.

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

Private Chat is open

No1Pod-racer: you there?

Haggler: Ani, why did you change your handle?  If Pilot is letting you race again, we’re going to have words.

No1Pod-racer: we haven’t

Haggler: why do I get the feeling that the ‘yet’ is unspoken?

No1Pod-racer: Hey, it worked for Qui-gun, why not us?

Haggler: because the risk of death cannot be mitigated.  Find some other way.

No1Pod-racer: I can handle it.  I’m better now than I was at 9

Haggler:  I can’t believe I’m saying this but: that had better be pride talking, young man, and not experience

No1Pod-racer has left the chat

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Pilot: @Haggler he was trying to thank you for saving his mother, you nuna!

Haggler: Pod-racing?!? Pod-racing!?!  I sent him to you so he’d be safer than commanding a war!  Pod-racing is not safer.

Pilot: Calm down, we haven’t even sourced a pod yet.

Haggler: YET!!!  I sent him to you because you wouldn’t be ‘influenced’ by him.

Pilot: Youre overreacting.

Haggler: I am not

Shadow: Having hacked your conversation with the kid, I have to agree with Pilot.

Haggler: @Sage-femme, they want to let mt human teenager pod-race!

Sage-femme: I agree it’s dangerous

Haggler: Thank you!

Sage-femme: I also agree that you are overreacting.

Haggler: Bant!

Sage-femme: Go sit in the corner and meditate on your fear.

Haggler: Bant!

Sage-femme: Obi.  Corner.  Now.

Haggler: Bant!

Sage-femme: I’m waiting.  I can feel your rebellion and fear across the galaxy.  Calm down.  Meditate and then we’ll see about mitigating risks.

Haggler: fine.

Sage-femme: @Pilot also meditate on your shields.  What you believe vs what the kid wants.  There’s no harm in taking a step back and checking that you are not being influenced.

Pilot: eh. Ok.

Haggler: Thank you @Sage-femme

Sage-femme: Go.  Corner.

Haggler: Going

Haggler has left the chat

Pilot has left the chat

Shadow: Is it the negotiator training that makes him always have the last word?

Sage-femme: it’s the Jinn asshole training that does that

Shadow: lol

~dt~

Private Chat is open

Haggler: @No1Pod-racer I’m sorry.  I overreacted

Haggler: @No1Pod-racer I overreacted, and I have no excuse.

Haggler:  @No1Pod-racer I have concerns but the way that I expressed them was completely out of bounds.

Haggler: @ No1Pod-racer I was so in the wrong that Sage-femme sent me to the corner to meditate.

No1Pod-racer: Bantha shit.  Bant would never.

Haggler: lol

Haggler: posted chain-breakingchatscreenshot.jpg

No1Pod-racer: Just so you know, I saved that to my comm and I’m saving a screen shot of this conversation too.  As proof of the Negotiator apologizing to me.

Haggler: I’ve apologized to you many times.

No1Pod-racer: name once

Haggler: I apologized so many times that first year I was afraid you’d lose respect for me, but I made SO MANY MISTAKES that first year, I needed you to know that each time, I would DO BETTER

No1Pod-racer: oh . I had totally forgotten. 

Haggler: hmmm how weird.  But you remember now?

No1Pod-racer: Yeah.  It had felt weird.  No one had ever apologized to me before  Not even my mom.  And that made me feel…

No1Pod-racer is writing.

No1Pod-racer is idle.

Haggler: I’m still here and I’m listening to you whenever you figure out how you felt/feel.  But Young One, the point of apologizing is to RECOGNIZE that you did something wrong and to COMMIT to doing better next time.  I’m sure that your mother did the best she could under her circumstances.  But it is an empty apology if you cannot change.  Your mother had very little under her control that she COULD change.

Haggler: We can talk more after you cover it in your Vows homework.

 No1Pod-racer: you took a vow to do better.

Haggler: Yes, of course, I Committed to several Vows concerning your upbringing.  To do the Best within my capabilities.  To protect you, even from yourself.

No1Pod-racer: thanks

Haggler: You are very welcome, Dear One.

No1Pod-racer: is that part of your problem with me pod-racing? Your vow to protect me from myself?

Haggler: it most assuredly is connected.

No1Pod-racer: oh

No1Pod-racer is writing.

No1Pod-racer is idle.

No1Pod-racer is writing.

No1Pod-racer: Can you tell me about your part of freeing my mother?

Haggler: Of course, my dearest.  The night you told me that your mother was still a slave, I put you to bed and then immediately hunted down Plo Koon.  He is well liked by his homeworld clan and they send him money for such mercy missions.  Not only did he give me quite a bit of cash, but he also saw to it that my next mission was near a Hutt casino….

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Pilot: So, @Haggler text comm-ing the kid his part of the Flight Path seemed to make it stick in his head.  Reading the whole story.  He’s pretty happy that Obi raised the money to free his mom.  And he acknowledged Koon’s part for the first time.

Shadow:  I’ll do the same when he reaches out to me.

Haggler: He was never one for reading much.  I had to read most of the Force Theory to him.  Thus, it didn’t stick.

Shadow: But he was never without his comm and he did read that.  Who was comm-ing him?

Haggler: IDK. I was trying to respect his privacy.  I had assumed peers.

Sage-femme: @Pilot control of that comm is VITAL.  Do not let him have unrestricted access for quite some time.

Pilot: Roger.

Sage-femme:  Also, @Pilot write out your part of the Flight Path for him to read at his leisure when you give back the comm.  You’ll have to give it back for the missions you’ll be running anyways.  Treat it as a surprise gift when you give back the comm.  Make it detailed and a narrative, not a report.

Shadow: Haggler might have respected his privacy, but I don’t have to.  I’m hacking his comm and not giving him access to any message I don’t approve.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Pilot: @Haggler SOS

Pilot: @Haggler SOS

Pilot: @Haggler SOS

Pilot: @Haggler SOS

Haggler: In battle

Pilot: can confirm that he Vowed to not be Depur, but he also knew someone else who did the same thing: Knight Pong Krell.

Haggler: Someone get me Krell battalion No and location

Shadow: it’ll be on your comm before you can disengage yourself from battle.

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

CC-5873 had no idea where the other Jedi general had come from, but he had appeared with his little astromech, stopped the troopers’ forward march and then…

General Krell had collapsed.  The two Jedi had been talking and General Krell had just collapsed!

The human general had hurried forward and used a series of hyposprays on the Besalisk Jedi.

“Sir?” CT-3359 stepped forward.  He was their Chief Medical Officer.  “How can I assist?”

The human general finished laying a hand on the Besalisk’s forehead.  He straightened and looked around.  “I am High General Obi-wan Kenobi and I apologize for the unexpectedness of my arrival.  And who are all you?”

CC-5873 snapped to attention and rattled off his designation.  CT-3359 did the same.

General Kenobi looked…  sad, but nodded.  “I was asking for your names, but if you are not comfortable sharing, that is acceptable.  Alpha-17 condescends to allow me to shorten his designation to Alpha and Captain Gregor, Waxer and Boil have no problem with me using their names, but not all are comfortable and that is, as I said, perfectly acceptable.”

CC-5873 and the others didn’t know what to say.  Finally, he ventured, “General Krell insisted…”

General Kenobi cut him off.  “Yes, yes, I heard that utter tripe spilling from his mouth.  Knight Krell has Rent a Vow and suffered a psychotic break.  I’m not sure a single word out of his mouth has been correct since he assumed control of the 295^th.”

CC-5873 had to defend his general.  “We would have won the battle.”

“At the cost of 93% of the 295^th and obviously at the cost of Krell’s sanity.”

CT-5873 blinked.  “93%, sir?”

General Kenobi motioned to his astromech, “R2D2 calculated the odds for me.”

“Ah.”  What could he say to that?

“He also scanned the terrain and found a path that we can use ambush the clankers.  R2?”

The droid rolled forward and projected the local terrain in front of them.  A path was delineated for them. 

“CT-3359, if you would escort Krell to the ship in orbit.  Keep him highly sedated.  CC-5873, please choose fifty of your best scouts to accompany me on this mission.  You will wait here, giving the appearance of preparing the battalion to march across the field as Krell had planned.  You are the distraction for approximately an hour.  You are too valuable as sentients to waste in an actual march.”

CC-5873 blinked once at the general and then at his former -a currently unconscious- general.  General Krell had recognized him and had submitted to his judgement and High General Kenobi was the only conscious Jedi on the field of battle, so of course he had command.  CC-5873 saluted and started yelling out orders to various troopers.

CT-3359 paused and asked a question that he never would have ventured to ask Krell (and CC-5873 eavesdropped), “Sir, what is going on?”

“I will explain after the battle, but we must first win it.”

“Yessir.”

CC-5973’s next hour was nerve wracking.  He was in command of organizing the battalion into attack formation.  His troopers were as efficient as trained and thus were in squads well before the hour was up.  CC-5873 had needed to invent problems for the squads as an excuse for not moving out; an ATAT with ‘bad’ programming, and a number of blasters caked with this world’s dust.  He was sure the squads thought him insane.

Finally, one of the scouts he had sent with the new general reported back that they had caused a rockslide demolishing the clankers.  Of the twenty-five troopers that accompanied the general to infiltrating the Separatist Command Post, twenty-two were returning.

Three clones dead instead of ninety-three percent.  High General Kenobi was officially CC-5873’s favorite Jedi.  Unfortunately, he was already in command of the 212^th and couldn’t just assume command of the 295^th as well.

CC-5873 and CT-3359 managed to get a moment alone with General Kenobi before the Jedi flew back to the 212^th. 

“CT-3359, keep General Krell under sedation the entire way to Coruscant.  I’ve already told Knight Healer Eerin to expect the patient transfer.  Do not let Krell awaken.  His psychosis will be especially dangerous to you and to himself.”

“What am I treating him for?”

“The problem is not medical that you can find and fix, lieutenant.  It is in the Force.”  The general looked stumped.  “I’m trying for an analogy and coming up blank.”

“Perhaps explain it how you understand it, sir.”

General Kenobi rubbed his sternum with a knuckle.  “We are connected to the Force, mind, body and soul.  We swear Vows to the Force as a part of being a Jedi and a Knight and then as a Master.  Healers have more, but every Vow we swear, we swear to the Force, even the innocuous ones, like swearing to never be like our Masters or to learn a new language.  And then Force makes it so.  If we -for whatever reason- break those Vows, we break.  Our connection to the Force breaks, we Fall.  Our minds break, we twist our reasoning into something untrue to make the illogical logical.  Our bodies break.  But like the Force, such breakage is invisible to most.”

“What did General Krell swear?”  CC-5873 asked.

“To never be a Depur.”

The commander and the medic looked at each other blankly.  “I’m not familiar with the word,” CT-3359 finally said.

“It is a word in the slave language that means a slaver.  A slave master.”

“Vowing not to be Depur seems like it would be a good thing.  Obviously, you haven’t,” CC-5873 noted.

“Ah.  My position in the community is that of Haggler.”

The medic gave him a skeptical look.

“I cheat Depur out of their slaves, right to their face.  I buy one and walk off with seven.  I never lose a sabbac final pot if there are slaves in there.”  The general offered a sly smile.  “I sell Depur chains with broken locks.”

“So you have owned a number of slaves.”

“Technically, I still own some.”

“We are not your slaves, sir.  The Senate bought us and are killing us.  They are using you.”

“Aside from you.  There are two that were broken in their chains.  Being free is scarier than being my slave.  One, I will be able to free soon.  They work in the Archives on another planet; found freedom in reading.  The other one works in the gardens and had a nervous breakdown the last time I brought up the subject of being free.”

When CC-5873 and CT-3359 were still not understanding, General Kenobi continued.  “The Flight Paths are dangerous, and anonymity is necessary.  Names are never used, only job titles.  Before this, I believe that Krell was a Shadow.  In the slave language freedom and death are the same word and the shadows bring both.  His job was making slaves appear dead and spiriting them away to the Path.  One shadow I know once engineered a mine cave in and escorted several miners through a secret second exit long before the owners even thought about excavating the mine.  To this day, the owners don’t know that only one body was retrieved when the mine was re-dug.”

CC-5873 worried.  “Are there shadows working the battlefields?”

“Only a handful.  And not this one.  There are far too many battlefields now and not enough shadows.  And anyone on the Flight Paths that knew his other job would assume that Krell was leaving behind clones to the Paths.”

CT-3359 lifted his chin.  “I will be a shadow, sir.”

General Kenobi accepted the declaration calmly.  “I’ll get you a contact for the next jump on the Flight Paths.”

“I can’t,” CC-5873 breathed.

“Understood and there are many Jedi in the same position.  They are called the Blind Ones.  They turn their back on any movement in the Flight Paths and answer those higher up with the truth that they’ve seen no slaves fleeing and thus it can’t be happening.”

CC-5873 relaxed.

“I must return to my battalion,” said the general.  “CC-5873, you have command of this field of battle until the Council tells you otherwise.  CT-3359, you have your orders to return General Krell to the Healing Halls.”

The two clones saluted.

“May the Force be with both.”

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Pilot: Hit our first port city, freed ~ 200.  Dropped off two chip scanners.  No1Pod-racer hacked several databases.  We have our next target. 

Haggler: How’s my boy?

Pilot: Glowing.  Like LITERALLY GLOWING.  We’re not going to be able to stop anywhere until he STOPS GLOWING.  This boy is the opposite of subtle.

Shadow: lol.  I haven’t heard anything about your strike.  So good job.  No bounty on you yet.

Pilot:  Have the databases.  Who gets them?

Shadow: send them to both @Haggler and me.

Pilot: It’s in our drop box.  @Sage-femme there’s a number of Coruscanti bank accounts in there.

Sage-femme: I’ll pass them to a shadow on the hunt for Sid.

Pilot: @Shadow @Haggler do you have the bandwidth to download the data?  I want to delete it from the dropbox ASAP.

Shadow: I’ll have a clean and fast enough connection in twelve hours.

Haggler: Currently not on my ship.  I won’t know for a bit.

Pilot: @Haggler delete it out of the drop box when you’re done.

Haggler: Roger

 ~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Sage-femme: So I’m outlining what we know about Bonds, Vows, Memories and Emotions and I have a horrible question that needs to be asked: What has Sid Vowed that’s affecting the kids?

Haggler: Sid is def in the senate.  How many broken promises and Vows happen daily there?  We know that the Rending of a Vow transverses a Bond.  We’re pretty sure that Sid is pushing anything and everything that is not helpful to him to my kid.  Vow Rending must be included.

Shadow: Sith. Hells.

Haggler: Yes, let’s send him there.

Shadow: @Pilot finding and breaking Sid’s bond needs to be your #1 priority.

Pilot: How do I get him to sit still long enough to do that!  I’ve barely gotten anywhere on his Bond Theory homework.

Haggler: You don’t keep him stationary.  It’s called moving meditation.

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

The arrival of a Jedi Knight in the midst of a Vow Rending and possible Fall was always horrifying and chaotic.  That was the excuse Mace gave himself for not noticing the non-Jedi persons on the landing platform.  Mace hadn’t even noticed them until after the clone medic had handed Krell over to Master Che.  The pair discussed the Besalisk’s current health and drugs and the CMO was dismissed.  The clone nodded to the Mon Calamari healer knight on his way back to the transport.  Knight Eerin was with another -male- Mon Calamari, a Nautolan of indeterminate gender and two human females.  They were well dressed and unfamiliar.  The one of the females appeared to be a Nubian handmaiden.  They were all senatorial aides, he surmised, and the Force agreed.  They could not be here, at this time, at this place, without a bit of organizing.  That group was purposeful.

Mace motioned Knight Eerin away from her little group of unwelcome beings.  “Why did you invite them?”

“I am an Avowed Healer Knight.  We need the Senate to stop forcing Knights into roles against their Vows.  We need parts of the Senate to see the damage of a Vow Rending.”

Mace glanced at Master Che.  “How many of the Healers would find their Vows contrary to leading troopers?”

“Almost all of them, especially the young.”

“The new knights?”

“No.  The padawans.”

“They don’t have Healer Vows.”

Both Vokara Che and Knight Eerin looked at Mace with contempt.  “I spoke the Vows after my first successful surgery at fourteen,” said Master Che.

Knight Eerin tilted her head and admitted, “I was a senior padawan.”

Mace hated that so many young ones were at risk.  “We can recall the padawan healers, at least, for training.”

Master Che nodded.  “I’ll send out the order, especially to those I suspect have already spoken the Vows.  I also need to see Krell settled in his room.”

Mace waited until Che was out of hearing, as well as the senatorial aids.  “Kenobi told you Krell was on the way and his condition, not the High Council until it was too late.  How did he know that Krell was in such a situation?  And who gave him authority to abandon his own troops?”

“Knight Muln has been leading Padawan Skywalker through all his Vows.  Padawan Skywalker has Vowed to never be Depur.  He knew that Krell had Vowed the same.  The information was relayed through the creche channels.  Master Kenobi was the closest with the authority to confront Knight Krell.”

That… made sense and was observing the security regulations being developed.  But still, “Master Kenobi used Knight Krell’s Vow as a weapon against him.  That’s unbecoming of a Jedi.”

Knight Eerin nearly scowled.  She projected the feeling in the Force and did not let it show on her face so that the senatorial aides were unaware.  “Knight Krell, in following his Vows, would have sacrificed 93% of the clones in his battalion in this battle alone.  And the Senate and the Jedi High Council would have congratulated him on winning a battle and would have given him more lives to waste.  Are those thousands of lives and a couple of battles won worth more than a knight whose ego wouldn’t let them confess that they were not eligible to be a general of slaves?”

“You speak and Kenobi’s words tumble out of your mouth.”

“Thank you.”

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Blind-one: @Haggler I owe you a massive apology.  I’m sorry for what I said when you successfully sent your boy to the outer rim because of his Vows.

Shadow: Nara?

Pilot: Lumi?  What are you doing on this chat?

Blind-one: asking for suggestions to change my role in the Flight Paths.  Since I’m going to be knighting a sage-femme, I refuse to be blind to my girl’s accomplishments even if it would be a good cover for her.

Shadow: You sent your girl to @Sage-femme?  Why?

Sage-femme:  She did because like most of that age, in the Healer field, she spoke the Vows of knighthood much younger.  And @Blind-one is not going to knight a sage-femme.  She’s going to be a surgeon.  She does not have the mental fortitude to treat slaves and leave them there.  She won’t be able to take a newborn away from family and leave the rest.

Blind-one: So how can I be involved?  I’m dropping the plausible deniability completely.

Haggler: It doesn’t have to be completely.  Builders are not told where their clients come from, if they even meet them.

Blind-one: I’m not familiar with the job.

Sage-femme: It’s less flashy than the others, it’s making a space for them at the end of the Flight Path.   Legally.  Physically.  Educationally.  Depending on what you focus on, you might never talk with a Passenger.

Shadow: It’s absolutely needed, so that they can make their way out of poverty and not get sucked back into chains.

Blind-one is writing.

Blind-one has changed their handle to Builder.

Builder: Challenge accepted.

Haggler: Welcome to this side of the silent curtain.

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Sage-femme: @Builder your girl is learning her job at a fantastic rate.  Practiced finding chips on the troops even though we said that there weren’t any.

Sage-femme: she proved us wrong so @Baby-surgeon, welcome to the sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Haggler: !!! go back to the chips in the troopers!

Builder: Agreed!

Baby-surgeon has joined the chat

Baby-surgeon: @Sage-femme pointed out the drop box associated with this chat.  I’ve already dropped the surgical procedure for extraction.

Sage-femme: There is something Dark about these chips it can’t be found by a regular scanner unless one of us is in meditation and finds it first to direct the scanner.  A level 5 can get to it -after a number of errors- without one of us.

Shadow: How is that possible?

Haggler: To quote the troopers: F- Osik, but I didn’t detect a single User -Light or Dark- on the planet when I found the troopers.  I don’t believe they have the capacity to mass produce that.  Where was it manufactured?  HOW does one mass produce Dark?

Shadow: I haven’t made it to the desert planet yet, I guess I’ll go to the water planet first.

Haggler: I hope you’re practiced at keeping the rain off you.  Leaving wet footsteps would be counterproductive.

Shadow: I’m insulted that you think I would do something so amateur as leaving footsteps!

Haggler: @Sage-femme you need to tell Baby-surgeon the story about the fountain, the glitter, and the soap.

Pilot: Agreed!  Who got us in trouble then?

Shadow: that story is not needed!

Builder: @Baby-surgeon, I am so very proud of you.

Baby-surgeon: Thank you, teacher.

~dt~

The civilian was carrying a crate much too heavy for them through the middle of the GAR camp.  Captain Gregor stepped forward to assist and was disappointed when the civilian just…. expected it.  With a wink, the civilian disappeared into a group of refugees.  Gregor was left holding a suddenly suspicious crate.  He ordered all troopers away from himself and the crate and summoned Alpha-17.

General Kenobi appeared with the Captain.  He looked through the crate, as Force users tend to do.  “It’s not dangerous.” A beat.  “In the conventional sense.”

“General,” Alpha growled.

“Relax, my dear Alpha.”  The general approached the crate and through some Force shenanigans pulled a flimsi from a seemingly normal seam.  He read the note and then passed it to Alpha-17 who then passed it to Gregor.

-OWK

You take too much upon yourself.  If you gave us guidelines, we could do the search for you.

-BAO

PS: Enjoy the tea

“It was expected,” The general explained.  “I was not expecting this method of delivery though.  You can open it, Gregor.”  Gregor obeyed.  The general looked about as worried about the many PADDs stacked within as he got when an unexpected battalion of clankers were spotted.  The tins of tea were just an afterthought.

“What is it?” Alpha-17 snapped.

The general tilted his head in the same ‘searching for danger’ pose used on the field of battle.  Alpha flicked his fingers to get the potentially eavesdropping troopers even further away from the impromptu meeting.  “You are aware… that slavery is outlawed.  And yet.”

And yet the clones existed and were not paid.  And yet, there was the newly-discovered microchip in their brain that the general was very quietly having removed from each trooper.

The general nodded, as if they had said the thoughts out loud.  “We have been pushing for citizenship laws pertaining to… and are being blocked.”

Gregor was surprised and he didn’t know why he was surprised.  He wasn’t even sure which part of the statement surprised him.

“So I’m going to apply some strategy and investigate the enemy.”  The general waved at the piles of PADDs within the crate.  “This is finding the enemy.”

“I’ll order several of the injured clones to report to you for intelligence work.”

“That’s not necessary,” the general demurred.

“You don’t have time.  I don’t have time.  They will.  If they’re occupied in beds, the medics will be happy.”

The general paused.  “The conference room near the lower-level barracks has not seen much use.”  And the nat-borns were never down that far.

Alpha-17 agreed.

“Captain Gregor,” the general ordered.  “The security of this crate is now your responsibility.”

Gregor saluted.  He understood the importance of the crate now.  He would guard it with his life.  It was the key to his freedom and that of his brothers.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Pilot: Good news:  no sexual fidelity in any of the vows that he’s admitted to thus far

Pilot: Bad news: complete revulsion at the idea of sex with a twi’lek, deeply tied to his time in chains

Shadow: Kriffing hell.  My girl would have been good for a romp and proper sexuality without bonding homework.  They are friends.

Pilot:  Not happening, so we need to find someone else.  @Sage-femme?

Sage-femme: well, that’s a challenging task, but I do have the most time and access to the right sort of people.  I’ll see what I can find.  Do we want to encourage the senator to multiple sexual partners?

Pilot: No

Haggler: no.  He has always been the jealous sort.

Pilot: He is -IN NO WAY- mentally stable enough to hear of that.

Haggler: And he would consider it a betrayal that we encouraged it.

Sage-femme: We’ll table that plan for after he’s done his homework.

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Pilot: so slavers pulled us out of our hyperlane.  We won, of course and freed everyone (the boy is glowing again, FML).  We have more intelligence.  Who gets it?

Haggler: the drop box is still secure.  Also, I have been given help in the form of injured soldiers.  They’ll analyze.

Haggler: I need a pic of my boy glowing.

Pilot: I dropped a pic of him working on the slaver ship in the drop box.  It’s a very nice ship.  We’ll be able to do good work with it.

Haggler: thx

Shadow: I can hear you cooing at it from across the galaxy.

Sage-femme: … Are you implying that Pilot is cooing at the ship or that Haggler is cooing at the picture?

Shadow: Yes.  Embrace the power of AND.

~dt~

Sabé knew that Healer Bant had a friend’s padawan, in a situation similar to Anakin being sent to the Outer Rim with one of Kenobi’s friends.  She hadn’t thought that Jedi passed their children around so easily.  Barriss explained that her chosen field of study was healing, and her master’s was not.  Kenobi’s friend, Garen, was a pilot.  It made sense to switch padawan’s as they concentrated on an area of study.

Barriss was helping adjust Jar-Jar’s prescriptions, as a result of his pheromone receptors being chemically corrected, the Gungan’s anxiety and memory problems reduced. He became more confident and challenged Padmé in Republic laws that were problematic for non-humans.  Padmé welcomed every challenge.  The laws being submitted by the Nubian office were of the highest quality.

Even with the regular Jedi visits, Sabé was surprised to walk into the Nubian offices to find Bant and Barriss conversing with Jar-Jar in his native tongue.  The three were seated on the floor, knees touching, obviously ending a meditation session that Sabé was disappointed to miss.  Sabé invited the three into the main chamber for some chatting and snacks.  She left the main office to bring Bant and Jar-Jar the pescatarian foods first.

She returned to the middle of a spirited debate.

“Yessa I learn Bas-y for Core, but why you no learn Gungan language as representy?” Jar-Jar demanded of Padmé.  “Why Nuboo schools not teach Gungan language and holidassa?  Why no one ask about Gungan special daysa?  Gungan know yousas.”

Padmé looked at the wall of clocks and noted that the Nubian Palace was in daylight hours.  “Dormé, call the palace and ask for an audience with the queen.”

Sabé rubbed her forehead.  “Jar-Jar, why did you not mention this before?”

“Boss Nass issa more stop fish scrappy dumped in ambassady water entrance and stop fishy in tadpole waterssa.”

“The commercial fishers are still trolling in the designated tadpole waters?!  We wrote a law to prevent that!” Padmé was horrified and turned to Dormé.  “Do not let anyone delay a meeting for today.”

Dormé nodded and hurried off.  Sabé anticipated a long evening as the Coruscant politicians negotiated with the Queen and her people back on Naboo.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Shadow: what about sending @Baby-surgeon out to @Pilot for the Bonding homework.

Builder: she’s ace, so she’s had the same classes, but they were more focused on how the biology works, why other beings do un-rational things and less on how to recognize the unrational in oneself.  And the whole reason for the ace/aro track is to NOT traumatize the kids with info that icks them.

Pilot: also, the kid has an attraction to older human females.  Dark hair.  Only time I’ve seen him look twice.

Haggler: I don’t know how I missed the signs of a latent sexual maturity.  I was SURE he was ace.  Trauma induced mostly but still, ace.

Baby-surgeon: I was in class with him.  I… and nearly everyone else in the class discussions were sure that he was in the right track.

Sage-femme:… with everything else we’ve learned about Bonds… were you wrong?  Or were you right and Sid used the painless Bond to… idk rewire his brain?

Haggler: I think I’m going to be sick.

Baby-surgeon: I am sick.

Builder: !!!

Sage-femme: Mediation time @baby-surgeon.  Meet me in the normal spot.

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

Barriss and Bant came out of meditation with a sigh.

“Better?” Bant murmured.

“Yes.  It’s still horrifying how…” the Mirialan Padawan answered and trailed off.

“Easy it would be to influence Anakin’s affections?” Bant answered.  The Healer mourned.  “The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  All emotions are chemical reactions.  And your brain creates shortcuts to makes certain chemical reactions happen faster each time.  How many chemical reactions do we teach our initiates and padawans to influence?  How to filter alcohol and poisons.  How to heal faster.  How to grow planets faster.  How to release emotions into the Force is even, at its base, a chemical reaction in the brain.  The Force simply allows us access to chemical reactions that others need medication to influence.”

Barriss added, “And arousal is a biochem-feedback reaction that builds on itself.  There are any number of ways to start it with a Force Touch, no mental bond needed.”

“And is love more than a dopamine hit when you think of a certain person?”  Bant countered.

Barriss scoffed, “Maybe if you were a teenage boy.”

Bant was silent long enough for Barriss to regret her snark.  A green flush heated the padawan’s cheeks.  She dared a glance at her temporary Master and was relieved to see amusement on the Mon Calamari’s face.  She reached out to Bant’s Force Presence and even felt pride.  Oh, it was a test that Barriss had passed.

“If love isn’t a dopamine hit, what is it?” asked Bant.

Barriss straightened.  She started her answer slow.  “A dopamine hit has no substance.  No anchor.  No action.  Love is calling your creche sister who has been… out of contact and warning her that her padawan has done something foolish.  Love is sending away your padawan for the sake of her mental health.  Love is taking said padawan into your home to save her from her own folly.  Love is installing the padawan in your rooms instead of the initiate that does give you a dopamine hit.”

“Who told you about Allanaris?”

Barriss only shrugged in the Force and not in body.  “Initiate Sethel approached me and told me we were going to be lineage siblings.”

Bant burbled her humor.  “That boy.”

“I would not be averse to switching to bunkbeds in the padawan room so that you can take up Initiate Sethel.  Or I could move to the padawan dorms.”

“Perhaps, in time,” Bant allowed.  “For now, Allanaris is content in the initiate dorms and being educated well.  You have my focus.  And if the Senate mandates that I be sent to a battlefield, Allanaris would be safe left behind.”

Barriss wanted to drop the conversation, she really did, but, “Master Kenobi…”

Bant sighed, “What did Obi say now….”

“That the Order would have to change after the war,” Barriss blurted out, rushed.  “That you fostering one padawan and taking up your chosen initiate at the same time would be a precedent in the necessary path of Masters taking two padawans at the same time.  He wanted to make sure that my mental health was ready for such a scandal.”

Bant sighed again.  “That boy.”  When Barriss didn’t respond, she continued.  “That is something to consider.  In time.  When we are not discovering new and horrible ways the Sith use the Force.  Grey learnings that could definitively be used for the Dark.”

“I don’t know if you should record these findings,” Barriss whispered.

Bant leaned back on her hands and seriously considered her borrowed padawan.  “Do you distrust your Jedi Elders that much?”

Barriss was scandalized.  “Of course not!”

“I do,” Bant was frank.  “How many Masters struggling with a hormonal padawan would like to… evaporate the emotions with a single joint mediation?”

“How many padawans feeling guilty or struggling would do it to themselves?”

“Good point,” Bant conceded.  “So how do we report this data without opening the door to mental abuse.”

Barriss thought through her anatomy and physiology classes.  “Though arousal is not necessary for mental maturity, the same chemicals in different formations are vital to maturing into a grounded adult.  Some of the same chemicals are released when one has hard, effective exercise.  And facilitating early chemical breakdown of dopamine in our bodies would be opening ourselves up to depression and apathy.”

“Very good,” Bant said proudly.

Barriss considered all they had talked about and the meditation.  Bant waited.  Finally, the padawan asked, “Do you think Anakin did this to Senator Amidala accidentally?  He changed her brain’s chemical structure and that’s why she thinks she’s so in love with him?”

“Oh Force,” Bant breathed.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Pilot: Have you gotten to meditate with the Sen yet?  I’m just starting with Haggler’s boy.  Obviously, he won’t let me in.  The therapy books @Sage-femme sent have been useful, though.

Sage-femme:  Sr Sen?  No.  She’s been dodging us.  Jr Sen and all the help?  Yes.

Haggler: I’ve seen the work coming out of that office.  The quality has improved and it’s less human-centric.

Shadow: But you need to focus on the Dark trail.

Sage-femme:  So interesting fact.  Jr Sen has a Dark spot in his head.  ~15yrs old +/- 3 years.

Haggler: Pardon!?  That’s older than anything we’ve seen.  He could have only gotten that on his home planet.

Shadow:  That’s a lot of data points from a single planet.  Both Sen, the Zabrak apprentice that Haggler killed.  Even the boy spent time there.

Haggler:  I cut in half.  Technically didn’t kill.

Shadow:  Quit being humble, just because you hate your nickname.  It’s not as if a Force-using Zabrak can survive being cut in half.

Sage-femme:  So interesting fact…. 

Shadow: !?!?!!

Shadow: Why am I the only one reacting? 

Haggler:  My bad feeling gave me a nosebleed.  Had to calm down the troopers.

Builder:  The Council will never trust that.

Pilot: I could fake a sighting out here?

Haggler:  My nosebleed just got worse.  I don’t think you’re going to have to fake anything.  He’s coming for my boy.  You’re going to have be wary.  Eyes in the back of your head.  @Shadow?  Can you check out the last place we saw him?  Get a bead on him?

Shadow:  yeah.  Can do.  Some seppie intelligence is being filtered through there.  I can multi-task.

Builder: That’s another data point.

Haggler:  Does anyone else worry about the other MAJOR data point from that planet?

Builder: All of the Council and even you have met that data point.  Wouldn’t you notice Dark or even power usage?

Shadow: His padawan has a painless bond and he -and the rest of the Council- didn’t notice.

Haggler has logged off.

Pilot:  Could you have phrased that WORSE!?

Shadow: yes,  easily.  But he argued with the Council all the time against letting his boy meet with that data point.  He has no reason to be upset with himself.

Sage-femme:  This is @Haggler.  He blames himself much more than he should.

Builder: Won’t he read this?

Sage-femme:  I’m hoping that a different avenue of the truth will make it penetrate that thick head.  He and his boy are more alike than he’d prefer to admit.

Sage-femme:  @Pilot have you found the painless bond yet?  You’ve been meditating with the boy.

Pilot: I’ve felt the edges of something that I think is the bond.  It’s like slime that you can’t hold in your hand.  It just slides through your fingers.

Sage-femme:  See @Haggler?  Pilot is looking and still can’t find it.  The boy having a painless bond is not your fault!!!!!!

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

Sabé was feeling smug.  Healer Knight Eerin would be proud of her.  She and Dormé had negotiated the lease of an embassy pool from the Nautolan Senatorial staff.  They had full permission to change the chemical composition of the water to match their home waters of Naboo.  They could even add plants, crustations and raise edible fish to reduce Jar-Jar’s supplement intake. 

And while improving Jar-Jar’s quality of life was the overarching goal of the lease agreement, the friendly communications with the Mon Calamari, the Nautolans, the Quarren and a handful of other non-human representatives could not be underappreciated.  Everyone agreed to a nice dinner hosted by the Naboo when the ingredients were more readily available.

After pushing Queen Apailana to uphold the treaty that the Nubian humans and Gungans had signed, Boss Nass readily agreed to package the live plants and animals to propagate the native habitat away from home.

Jar-Jar had gotten a personal message from Boss Nass congratulating him on his accomplishments.  The message had the poor Gungan in a tizzy.  Boss Nass had decided that Jar-Jar was doing enough good to have apprentices.  A young male and female.  Boss Nass was sending them with the Nubian fauna and flora.  Jar-Jar had no idea what to do with them and had confessed as much to Sabé.

Sabé had given him a scathing look and, as Chief of Staff, took care of all the particulars such as office space (with Gungan appropriate seating), housing, and scheduled medical care and tailors.  Sabé had Padawan Barriss check that the rules of the Senate and the policies of the Nubian office were correctly translated into Gungan.  She and the other handmaidens gratefully off-loaded some of their duties to the new apprentices.  Sabé wrote up a detailed job description for them.  She also scheduled several meetings to discuss what the new workers could and could not say outside of the offices.

All was in order when the Nubian ship arrived with its passengers and cargo.  Padmé had a meeting and Dormé was at her side.  So only Jar-Jar, the rest of the handmaidens and the now familiar Jedi were waiting at the docks.  The two Gungans walked off the gangplank first and bowed to Jar-Jar. 

“Ambassador Jar Binks,” the female greeted the junior senator.

Both Padawan Barriss and Knight Eerin lit up.  “Congratulations,” Knight Eerin said to Jar-Jar.  Sabé was confused and the junior senator was looking faint.

Then faster than Sabé could blink, Knight Eerin was ushering the female Gungan away and Padawan Barriss was positioned protectively in front of Jar-Jar, one hand on her lightsaber hilt.  Sabé had never seen either female ever reach for their saber before.

“What just happened,” Dormé asked.

The padawan relaxed the slightest bit.  “Well, Jar Binks is officially an elder in the Gungan community.”

“Wortha learnin’ from,” the male trainee Gungan agreed, his accent thick.  “Bossa Nass even senda mystic to learnin’.”

“And then what happened,” Sabé asked.

The padawan’s mien darkened.  “She very rudely poked Jar in the Force.  She could have done damage!”

Knight Eerin brought back a now chastised young Gungan mystic.  “We have had a discussion about proper Force greetings to non-Force users and informed consent to mental observation and healing of Dark force influences.  We shouldn’t have any more problems.”

“Efficient as always, Knight Eerin,” Sabé said.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Sage-femme: Learned so. Much. Today.

Haggler: I’m sure the Archives were as lovely as always.

Shadow: Nerds.

Sage-femme: did you know that sentients like Jr Sen have traditions like Korun?  That everyone is a tiny bit connected?

Haggler: Noooo.  But they lean more to my side of the powers instead of the Living side, don’t they?

Sage-femme: Eh.  They mostly ignore the Living.  Or it’s expected that everyone can grow a garden?  They call the powerful ones on the other end of the spectrum mystics.  Highly trained.  Highly respected.  High positions in the government.  And Boss sent one to apprentice to Jar.

Haggler: Are you being circumspect with names on this chat?  Or did someone graduate to the next level of adulthood?

Sage-femme: the second option.

Haggler: then please pass on my congratulations to him.  I’ve been admiring the work coming out of that office and can recognize his maturity.

Sage-femme: Will do.

Shadow: lol. That’s the best kark you to the republic I’ve seen… they expect so little out of the republic that they sent an adolescent to represent them.  It does double in getting a klutz out of their city.

Sage-femme: but back to the mystics…

Haggler: the reason that they had a fully trained and equipped army when the droids dropped?

Shadow: this story sounds familiar….

Sage-femme: well, the smart bosses listen to the mystics and gain the cooperation of the whole community.  They are very respected in the cities.

Haggler: That’s different.

Sage-femme: so are their meditations.  I’ve sent them to you to try.  I’m sending baby surgeon to the creche to introduce the idea to the younglings and study the responses.

Sage-femme: and back to the mystics and their powers. So Quit interrupting.  This is important.

Sage-femme: They can identify Dark in minds and in the seas.

Haggler: It’s incredibly hard to find Dark in tidal waters!

Sage-femme: well, they have pinpointed it so well that they declared a certain part of the planet off limits, call it the Dead Waters.  The punishment for trespassing is death.  But they couldn’t prove that the source of the Dark in Jar’s head was from disobeying the rule (and he wasn’t admitting) and so Jar got exile and not execution.  They were very surprised that baby-surgeon and I could heal the Dark.

Haggler: did you get Jar to confess to you?

Sage-femme: of course I did.  Have a location.  It’s in the dropbox for @Shadow.

Shadow: why is @Haggler allowed to interrupt and not the rest of us?

Sage-femme: because he asks for relevant clarification and not pointless asides.

Sage-femme: ANYWAYS back to the mystics.

….Sage-femme is idle.

Haggler: @Sage-femme?

Sage-femme: I forgot what else I wanted to say.  I have greatly improved the Archive planetary entry.  And @Baby-surgeon is meeting with the mystic twice a week to gain a deeper understanding of their Training and Education.  She’ll take extensive notes.

Haggler: Thank you.  I look forward to reading it.

Pilot: @Shadow, did you forget that @Haggler is Sage-femme’s favorite?

Shadow: I’ve been reminded.

Sage-femme: you wouldn’t have to be reminded if you didn’t forget.

 ~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Haggler: So I’ve fed all the recent intelligence into the Sen’s droid.  He has several avenues for us to follow.  I’ve also upgraded his encryption and put an ID lock on his memory banks.  It’ll all be wiped if anyone tries to hack him.  For being a Sen droid, his informational security was strangely weak.

Shadow: Overconfidence?  Or interference?  Or both?

Haggler: Unknown at this time.  But this droid is such an asset, we’ve added him to the battalion network.  He sends messages to whoever is closest to squads in trouble, often myself.  He can direct troopers to the highest concentration of CIS and where powerbanks/information centers are for intelligence. He loves hacking, possibly the fastest hacker I ever seen and it’s not even his primary purpose.

Haggler: this droid fills out requisitions!!!  Also any numeric part of reports! And leaves them for me and my captain to sign.  It says that less time with paperwork means more time for exciting things.  He also says that the requisitions are illogical and redundant.  Which… point.  I have learned more binary swears in the last month than in the rest of my life.

Sage-femme:  A droid with an adrenaline addiction?  How is that possible?  He doesn’t have the needed chemical reactions in his ‘brain’.

Haggler:  He’s got a personality and he’s helpful.  I’ll take it.

Shadow:  Like a true Haggler, you relocated valuable cargo.

~dt~

Alpha-17 approached his general on the catwalk overlooking the starfighter bay.  They shouldn’t be overheard here.  “You know that trooper gossip is…”

Wry and amused, General Kenobi grinned and offered, “Effective?  Swift?  Superior?”

“Accurate,” Alpha-17 decided.  The general knew too much about trooper gossip.  The general probably knew that Alpha had heard the stories straight from CC-5873 and CT-3359, now named Shadow.  “The stories you told of the Shadows have travelled and you gave hints as to what a Haggler does but didn’t talk about your… largest cargo on the Paths.”

The general’s countenance turned to sorrow.  He pointedly glanced over the many troopers working in the bay and then back to Alpha-17.  “My dear Alpha, my greatest heist is yet to come.”

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Haggler: I just got ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ from my captain

Shadow: LOL

Sage-femme: Did he say why he asked for a transfer?

Haggler: He said that I was fighting war on too many fronts, and I needed a commander that could be my right hand on all four fronts.  He handpicked his successor.

Sage-femme: What are the 4 fronts?

Haggler:  The boots on the ground and the battalions in the sky.

Haggler: The Flight Paths (which I have not been populating as much as normal)

Haggler: The intelligence finding enemies in the senate.

Haggler: and all the war intelligence that comes from R2 and @Pilot and @Shadow now, because we are NOT sending that to the senate after what we’ve discovered on Front 3.

Haggler: I have 2 full squads of disabled troopers for each of the intelligence units.  I wish they could cash out, but for now, they’re safer with me than elsewhere even if they are trapped on the ship.

Sage-femme: I’m sure they are.

Haggler: I had to get stern with several Nat-borns.  They wanted to ‘offload’ the ‘refuse.’

Shadow: Is there video?  I’d love to see you ‘get stern’

Haggler: sigh

Builder: sigh

Sage-femme: sigh

Pilot: sigh

Shadow: 4 x sigh!  HIGH SCORE

Shadow: and the 5x sigh is my next goal

Haggler:  I did off load the refuse.  I transferred almost all the nat-borns off the ship.

Shadow: LOL

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Sage-femme: @Pilot!  WTH!!

Pilot: So I was right?

Shadow: OOOooooOOO.  @Sage-femme is yelling at @Pilot and there is no repentance in sight!  Where’s my bangcorn?

Sage-femme: You could have broached the subject with me!

Pilot: I’ve been dealing with unreasonable anger when pointing out problems. 

Shadow: Point to Pilot!

Sage-femme: But you didn’t even try before going around me.

Pilot: And once the problem is spoken in the patient’s presence, it’s nearly impossible to spot in one’s mental landscape.

Shadow: 2 points to Pilot.

Pilot: I’ve been using drifting off in conversations as a warning sign for months.

Shadow: 3 points to Pilot!

Haggler: What’s going on?

Pilot: You remember @Sage-femme drifting off in conversation during the info dump on mystics?

Haggler: Yes.

Pilot: I asked for the mystic’s comm # and an intro.

Haggler: …because she can spot Dark in minds quickly?

Pilot: Yes, but mostly because she is new to the Senate.

Builder: What did she find?

Sage-femme: Don’t overreact, @Builder

Builder: What happened to my @baby-surgeon?!?

Sage-femme: She’s fine.

Haggler: and you?

Sage-femme: I’m fine.  Baby-surgeon is fine.  Egos are bruised.  The mystics don’t teach humility or approaching innocents caught in trouble with gentleness and mercy.  And she had a bit of a grudge from my scolding when she Poked Jar within seconds of meeting him.

Shadow: their solution to straying into Dead Waters is immediate execution.  Not surprised.

Pilot: So Dark spot found and removed?

Sage-femme: Yes, in both of us.  And no painless bond, we searched hard for that.  We do have the start of a padawan-master bond though.  It’s just a whisp.

Sage-femme: New meditations for all three of us here.  Alternating shielding techniques.  Weekly mind checks.

Haggler: Can you add all your methods to the dropbox?

Sage-femme: Consider it done.

Builder: I want to talk to my @baby-surgeon.

Baby-Surgeon: The secure comm center is empty if you want to chat?

Builder: I’d love to chat with you.  It’ll take me ten minutes to get to my base’s comm center.

Shadow: Pilot 100% won that one.

Haggler: But more importantly, Sid is 100% in the Senate.

Haggler: @ Sage-femme how…. ?purposeful? were the Dark spots?  Is Sid targeting you?!?  Does he know that you’re looking for him?

Sage-femme: That’s a good question.  They didn’t feel purposeful, at all.

Sage-femme: More ambient?

Sage-femme: Something for Baby-Surgeon and me to meditate on.

Sage-femme: I really don’t think it’s something to worry about.

Pilot: Yeah, I’m going to worry about it until I get confirmation one way or another.  Can you ask the mystic for her opinion? 

Builder: Seconded!

Shadow: Thirded!

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

CC-2224, otherwise known as Commander Cody, arrived on the Negotiator with little fanfare, though General Kenobi made it a point to personally welcome him onboard.  At the general’s side was a blue R2 Astro droid unit.

“Welcome,” General Kenobi smiled and offered an arm Mandalorian style.  Never had Cody been treated as a Mando.  The general passed him some small bottle hidden during the greeting.  “Lieutenant Waxer and Scout Boil will introduce you to all the major players.  My personal astromech, R2D2, here, is assigned to you today to get you to every section of the ship, as you deem fit.  We were not sure as to the exact time of your arrival, and as such, our daily briefing with all the squads is scheduled for 2000hrs CST in the Navigation Center.”

“Very good, sir.”

“I hope it won’t be too big of a change from Master Windu and the 91^st to our humble selves.”  The general stepped back, and Cody felt his shoulders untense with the added space.

“I’m sure to be up to date within twenty-four hours, sir.”

“Well, we have fifty-five hours until we’re at our first battle as a team.”

“Yes, sir.”

There was a beep, in the sub-harmonic range that was not normally heard by unenhanced humans, but the general looked at vambrace immediately.  “Pardon me, Commander, but I simply must take this.  You’ll be in good hands with Waxer and Boil.  And R2.” 

Cody blinked and Kenobi was already gone from the landing bay.  Cody was a little worried that Kenobi was going to keep him out of the info loop.  He turned to ask his guides, Lieutenant Waxer gave him a battlefield halt.  Cody was silent as Waxer and Boil led him away from the landing bays.  The two troopers were in full armor, but carried their buckets easily.  R2D2 followed with a series of beeps that Cody was sure was binary swears.

In the first hallway, Cody peeked at the mystery bottle in his hands.  It was unfamiliar writing, the enclosed sauce as red.  Waxer looked over, curiously.  “Nice,” said the lieutenant, “a whole bottle of Mando hot sauce to yourself.  That’s a nice gift. Two to three drops on a ration bar makes it almost palatable.   A full 95% of us clones like that.  Unfortunately, 78% of us hate the general’s teas.  He keeps trying different varieties on us during the briefings.  He’s sure that once his order of shig gets here that we can all enjoy that.  He’s not a fan of caff, but he’ll consume it if needed.  But several of us know how to make his teas, which he appreciates.”

Cody made a mental note to learn how to make the general’s various teas.

“How many nat-borns on the ship?”  He hadn’t seen a single one, other than the general, in the landing bay.

“We get an occasional transfer but that never lasts more than a ten-day.  Admiral Block is the only permanent nat-born we need to deal with.  He keeps to the bridge.”

Cody blinked.  “I thought Kenobi was a permanent fixture to the 212^th.”

“The general doesn’t count,” Waxer said firmly.  Boil nodded at his side.

Cody highly respected General Windu, but he would never had considered him not a nat-born.  Cody mulled the idea as he followed the two troopers into the bowels of the Negotiator.  They led him to a large room that was a recc room for the clones on Windu’s ship.  The door was guarded by two troopers.  Cody and his guides’ IDs had to be scanned prior to admittance.

Once inside, Cody was not surprised at the walls of computers.  It was jerry-rigged together, but there were no wires on the floor.  All the wires were suspended from the ceiling.  Only two chairs had wheels.  The others were bolted into place.  A number of droids hovered above certain workstations.  Every single vod was missing a limb, most more than one.

“This is the Intel Room,” Waxer said needlessly.  “It is highly shielded from all electronic eavesdropping.  We can talk freer here.  No mention of the General’s creche comm or the chips in general areas.”

“You know what I’m talking about?  You got rid of your chip,” the lieutenant asked further, a bit worried.  “Right?”

Cody took off his helmet and pointed to his scar.  “My batchmate is commander to the commander that figured out that it existed.  I probably had mine out before you did.”

Boil wavered a hand.  “Maybe.  But our general is batchmate to both your batchmate’s general and the non-general healer – Eerin- that is now teaching Commander Offee.  And they are all on a comm together. That was why Kenobi had to run off.  He gets a good portion of our intelligence -outside of battlefront- from them.  Both the GAR comm and his creche comm are embedded into his vambrace.  But he doesn’t answer the creche comm out in the open.  He will if it’s GAR.”

Cody nodded to accept the information.

“Also, in that batch is Commander Bly’s general’s Master.  Vos doesn’t have any troopers.  He’s mobile and, outside of our general cursing his name as one does a vod or a batchmate, Commander Bly’s troopers are our best source for what’s going on with Vos.”

Cody made a mental note to grill Bly directly for information.

“The last person in the batch is a pilot, Muln.  A good one according to rumor and he’s the one training our jedi commander.  They don’t have any troopers near them.  Kenobi’s keeping his commander in the Outer Rim chasing slavers because of the kid’s Vows.  You familiar with what happens to a Jedi if they break a vow?”

“The Force itself punishes them with destruction.”

Both clones blinked. “That’s not how the general describes it.  I’m not sure any Jedi would describe it that way.”

Cody gave them an annoyed stare.  His summary was based on first-hand experience of following Windu to inspect the vow-breaking Krell.

“So,” Waxer hurried to explain, “the general describes the Force as a current, like a river.  On a normal day, it’s a gentle current and a Jedi is wading ankle deep.  It tugs them this way and that.  Some people have deeper currents but when a jedi Vows, the current gets stronger and deeper.  When a Jedi breaks that Vow, they are going upstream against a current that gets stronger as the water gets deeper.  Something has to give.  And it’s not going to be the Force.  A Jedi will go under the water if they keep forcing themselves upstream.  The effect of breaking a Vow is a consequence, not a punishment.”

“You walk across a speeder lane, you get hurt,” Boil said succinctly.  “A Jedi walks counter to their Vows, they drown.”

Cody rubbed a knuckle against his breastplate, where his sternum was, like he had seen Windu do when faced with an enraged Pong Krell. 

Waxer motioned to Cody’s hand.  “Yeah, that’s our general’s tell as well.”

“Do we know our general’s vows?  Any that affect us?” Cody asked.  If General Kenobi was sharing such intimate intelligence with his troopers, there was no reason for Cody to retread that battle.

“Well, he’s vowed to get as many of us through this war as possible.”

Cody blinked and blinked again.  That was exceedingly and unexpectedly kind.

“Anyways,” Waxer waved at an approaching vod missing an arm and a leg.  He was in a wheelchair with no arms.  “Captain Tally is in charge here.”

“I’m not a captain anymore,” the vod protested.

“According to GAR yes, but the general disagrees, and I don’t argue with my general,” Waxer shot back.

Again, evidence of Kenobi’s kindness and Cody was not going to let some nat-born be kinder to his vod’e than he was.

“Captain,” Cody nodded to the man.  “Tell me about your command.”

Tally straightened.  “So closest to the door is always the current battle.  Always our as it occurs but it could be any one of the Fleet when we are in route.  Alpha-17 would transmit any vital intel to the relevant commanders.”

“Alpha-17 left me his entire contact list and an encrypted comm,” Cody confirmed.  As a recipient of Alpha-17’s midnight intelligence comms, Cody was familiar with the process from the other side of the equation.

“Very good, sir.  R2 is our most likely courier in the halls of the Negotiator.”

Cody looked down at the droid who beeped in response to its abbreviated designation.  That was perhaps its name.  Cody had no fondness for droids, but obviously this one was highly trusted within the 212 battalion network.

“Our other droids are from the jedi cadets.”  Tally waved at a number of non-reg droids, highly decorated by non-gold paint.

“General Vos delivered all of them and he obviously added encryption and intelligence gathering algorithms during the trip.  The Helper Droids are HD1, HD2, HD3, HD4, HD6.”  Tally pointed at each one in turn.  “They mainly assist with information sifting and grabbing and delivering anything the troopers might need in their duty.  HD3 is the only other droid that I would send to you with intel.”

“They won’t tell us what happened to HD5,” Waxer teased in a soto voice behind Cody.

Tally ignored the Lieutenant.  “Our Medical Droids all have prosthetic knowledge.  They are MD213, MD214, MD5.”

Cody glanced at Waxer, “HD5 became a medical droid.”  The droid in question beeped in affirmative surprise and the eavesdropping vod’e all laughed.

Tally ignored them too.  “HD1 is in charge of the helper droids, including the intelligence sifting.  MD213 is in charge of all the medical droids.  The others are allowed to go to MedBay after action for medical monitoring, but MD213 will always stay here.  Alpha-17 was often trading after-action intelligence for the MDs.”

Cody understood that task would now be his job or something to delegate.

Tally reached into a pocket on his chair and pulled out, “Hack plugs from Vos, with the three most common CIS connections.”

Cody accepted the plugs and examined them, closely.  They looked like they were rather intuitive to work.

“They work with all the droid models and pretty much every CIS database thus far,” Tally continued.  “Even getting one into a droid squad leader early in a battle campaign can give us the location of all the droid bases or landing zones.  It has given us ambush locations, several times. Makes for a more decisive and quicker victory.”

“All hand offs outside of this room happen without looking at our hands,” Waxer added.  Cody could understand the wisdom of not letting his helmet record a intelligence hand-off.

Tally pointed at an isolated computer.  “Everything is scanned and checked on that computer first.  It is unconnected to the network in all ways, and we’ve stopped a number of viruses with our process.”

Waxer stepped forward now.  “Often, during clean up, strangers will approach officers with deliveries of intel.  The call-and-response changes each time.  Kenobi will let select troopers know what that will be.  The general knows all kinds of people from all walks of life.  We’ve had pirates and farmers both drop off intelligence.  Not to mention bounty hunters and senatorial aides.  Pretty much everyone is smart enough to get an officer, and they know better than to be spotted with Kenobi.  There is a repeat bounty hunter, seems familiar.  Could be a trainer, but no armor?   Whoever it is, none of the troopers are a fan.”

Tally took back the briefing, “Kenobi either brings or sends down the information he’s given from Muln and Vos.  Intelligence from Eerin is more helpful than expected.  And all Senate intel is on that back computer bank.  Gives us a heads up on double crosses, who is being courted by CIS and factions within the planet or system’s government that might be against us.”

“And finally,” Tally said, “in addition to the guards at the door, the Intel center has explosives in the walls in case of boarding.  You, the general and Admiral Block are the only ones with the detonator.”

“Understood,” Cody said, knowing that someday, he might be forced to blow up these men in this room.  He looked around and met the eyes of each and every vod that looked his way.  “I look forward to getting to know and work with all of you.”

The other vod in a wheelchair came forward.  “I’m Medic Mesh.”

Cody shook his arm mando-style.

Medic Mesh didn’t have anything past his knees.  His thighs were strapped tight to his chair.  He had a band around his head that sent messages to direct his chair, so his hands were always free.  He had bags all around his chair with medical supplies.

“My main job is daily medical treatment with a focus on being healed enough for prosthetics.  We have four troopers who have had successful prosthetic surgeries and are now serving on the bridge.”

“Good to know.”

“You know what to do when the general gets a vision?” The medic changed the subject firmly.

Cody nodded.  “Windu would get hit by the Force mid-battle too.  Cover fire, retreat with Jedi, exfil from field if it lasts for more than two minutes.  If anything more than his nose bleeds, immediate exfil to med tent.”

Waxer nodded.  “Kenobi gets visions instead of shatterpoints and they take longer.  So it’s five minutes for exfil and seizure symptoms for medtent.  He’s never bled from the eyes or ears, thank the Force.”

The medic waved to the lone door other than the entrance.  “Through the door is the battle barracks.” The light was off as Cody poked his head in. 

The troopers were packed in there even tighter than the regular barracks.  Waxer whispered behind him, “They joke that it’s a good thing so many of them are amputees; there isn’t leg room to be had.  There’s an adopt a trooper program.  So that they have a place to sleep and stretch out a bit and get out of these four walls.  They double bunk here during battles.  But squads can come get their vod’e during hyperspace jumps.”

Cody understood the additional kindness of a policy that got these injured vod’e outside two rooms.  He suspected that the Adopt a Vod program was Kenobi’s idea.  A trooper would have never suggested something so frivolous.

“Oh,” Waxer said suddenly, “We need you to pick either the intel Room or the Path if injured beyond battlefield readiness.”

“Path?”

“Flight Path?”

“Like marching away,” Cody guessed.  He was confused.  He knew the medics performed mercy killings to prevent the long-necks from doing it unmercifully.

“Well, according to GAR, yes.  Do you not know about the Flight Paths?”

“No.”

“Pay up,” Boil told his friend.  “I told you Windu was a Blind One.”

“Windu sees everything,” Cody assured the troopers.

Waxer and Boil laughed a bit.  “We’re familiar with Jedi who know more than they should, but we’re talking about the slave escape routes -The Flight Path- and the personnel manning it.  Their titles match their positions.  They never use names when coordinating Flight Paths.”

Cody mulled over the information.  Deserters (were they really deserters if the Republic would only decommission them? And they had a slave chip?) would have made Alpha-17… deeply annoyed, uneasy, feeling too close to treason.  Alpha-17 cared for his vod’e and his vod’ika but he firmly believed in his duty and loyalty to the Republic.  By transferring out of the 212^th, he would be turning a blind eye to any of the troopers taking the Flight Paths.

Cody suddenly knew that Windu was the same, and would likely be considered a Blind One to let the rest of the Jedi smuggle injured troopers to safety.  In the same instant, Cody could put into context the conversation between Windu and Krell.  “A shadow is a position, isn’t it?

“A shadow is one who gives the appearance of death of the slave while spiriting them away.”

Cody nodded at the confirmation.  Windu had been upset that the Jedi Council had missed Krell’s Fall and killing of troopers.  The Council had expected Krell to have higher casualty numbers, but they had expected those numbers to be false and the troopers to be free and off the battlefield.

“What is Kenobi’s roll?”

“He calls himself a Haggler.  He cheats the Depur -the slave word for owner is Depur- out of their slaves, right to their face.  He would buy one and walk off with seven.  He never loses a sabbac final pot if there are slaves in it.  He sells Depur chains with broken locks.”

Those were not trooper words.  “He described his position as such?” Cody surmised.

Waxer and Boil nodded.  Cody returned the nod with his comprehension. 

“There are other roles?”

Waxer and Boil exchanged a glance.  “The general doesn’t like talking about them.  Secrets that aren’t his,” Waxer said hesitantly, “but he did tell our medics when they mentioned a lack of resources that Surgeons are the ones that take out slave chips in notoriously high stress situations and often in sub-par facilities and sanitation.”

“General Eerin?”

Waxer shook his head.  “We know she’s involved and though she can do the job if needed, it’s not her role.  Also, not a general, she’s a knight healer and will likely never be a general because of her Vows.”

“Commander Offee?”

“Very likely.”

Cody would have to warn Gree as soon as they could be face to face, but then it made sense.  Offee had been sent to Triple Zero due to her Vows.  Gree wanted her back, but ithe command structure would not occur in the same manner as before.  Cody would keep an eye out and continue to gather information concerning the Flight Paths. 

But for now, he had fifty three hours and an entire battalion -and a general- to learn.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Builder: @Haggler, you gave your new commander mando hot sauce?

Haggler: I did.  I felt a little bad about giving a welcome gift that nearly every one of my troopers had sampled, but it was the last bottle of the previous shipment on board, and it was something novel.  And it adds taste to rations.

Builder: I need to know how you got it to your ship.  My commander is asking if it’s possible to sample it, and so are my captains.

Shadow: This sounds like a Dex job.

Haggler: Exactly.

Sage-femme: Oh, @Baby-surgeon and I would be delighted to go to Dex’s and arrange a shipment for both of you.

Baby-surgeon: Indeed, I would be delighted to facilitate a shipment to my battalion.

Haggler: @Sage-femme, take your little one out too.  Dex would love to meet him and @Baby-surgeon.

Sage-femme: I don’t know about that.

Shadow: Come on, give the kid a little excitement.

Pilot: Dex’s been missing his visitors from our home.  He messaged Pod-racer about it.

Sage-femme: I’ll meditate on it, and we’ll see.

Shadow: Do it, Do it!

~dt~

Anonymous Chat

CC2224: You there, Fox?

CC1010: What do you want now?  After ignoring us for months?

CC2224: I never ignored you!  I commed you multiple times.  So did Gree and Ponds.  But you never answered.  I have Alpha’s comm now and hey, you answered.

CC1010: Oh.  So it’s true.  We’re being blocked here at 000.  You have a comm that gets through.   We have thirty secs until I have to end and delete this conversation.  So that in an emergency, it can happen again.

CC2224: You know Knight Eerin?

CC1010: Unlike the rest of the nat-born trash, when she shoves us into closets, it’s for healing.

CC2224:?!?!

CC1010: 10 secs

CC2224: Talk to her in a ten-day for a comm that gets through.

Connection Lost

The conversation you are searching for does not exist.

~dt~

After all the trial and errors of getting Jar-Jar up to acceptable (with excellence only occurring after the involvement of the Jedi), Sabé was expecting an extended time of transition with the new Gungan apprentices.  There was an early incident where Cli-Cli sharply called Lun-Lun’s name as he entered the offices with a large, flat, sealed food crate and he swung the crate into an antique vase.  Sabé knew the others were waiting for other catastrophes but considering Sabé and Cli-Cli had previously discussed the vase (providence? the Chancelor, did Sabé like it? hell no, had Jar ever damaged it? oddly not) Sabé was not expecting any more decorative destruction.

Sabé spent the first weeks emphasizing what they were and were not allowed to say and which Senate offices were safer.  Neither teen made a single mistake outside of the offices.  They picked up the etiquette and graceful gestures from the Jedi immediately.  They were religious in attending the daily office mediations – with and without the Jedi.  They both could cook rather well and conducted themselves admirably during the Nubian dinner with senatorial allies.

Lun-Lun Yiars was quiet and preferred to do all his work next to the Gungan pool.  Sabé had thought that he might have been sent solely to tend to the pool, that he quickly turned into a beautiful and thriving underwater garden, but that assumption was devastated the first time Lun-Lun submitted a prospective bill review.  Lun-Lun’s understanding of written Basic and all its potential loopholes was better than most native speakers.  Padmé immediately put him to work to find loopholes in existing legislation that would assist with her anti-slavery efforts.  Lun-Lun complied and had a new law that could be exploited at every weekly meeting.  He also found for her the loopholes that others were using to propagate slavery in the Core.  Knight Eerin asked for a copy of all of Lun-Lun’s work for the Jedi Archive.

The mystic, Cli-Cli Hebbud, had near perfect recall, acceptable verbal Basic and the foresight to know who was going to vote how and sometimes why.  She knew the end result of every vote.  She could give Padmé and Jar a warning of which senators could be convinced.  She was too brisk and condescending to be a future senator.  She couldn’t fake attention to the hobbies of various peers to gain common ground.

Jar was not surprised at the plasma mine of the two apprentices.  Now that Boss Nass was seeing results from the Nubian Senatorial Office, he was investing high quality personnel.  Neither one was intended to replace Jar, near or far future.  Both were intended to be long-term team members of the Naboo Senatorial Office.  Jar was expected to return to Naboo and personally select his replacement trainee.  Jar would have to nominate the pair for maturity recognition when it was time and expected it to happen in two to three years.

After all the embarrassment and retractions Jar-Jar had caused the Nubian office, Sabé was constantly surprised by the pair’s competency.  She had to reassess her opinion -and bias- of Gungans in general.

In the end, Sabé readjusted her low expectations, realized how much Boss Nass revealed his hatred of the Republic by sending Jar-Jar originally and genuinely welcomed the talented help into the Nubian Senatorial Office.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Sage-femme: You know, trying to find a girl the kid would be attracted to with one data point is near impossible.

Pilot: not a twi’lek.  That’s two data points.

Sage-femme: You are not being helpful.

Sage-femme: but I might have someone.  Human, female, pretty, older than him.  Medi Corps so she’s done all the Bond and Vow class work AND she’d be useful on your mission.  Experience with slaves.

Pilot: my craft is too small as it is with just me and the kid.

Pilot: send her my way.  We’ll make it work.

Sage-femme: I save all the easy jobs for you, remember.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Pilot: So that was the quickest friend-zoning I’ve seen in my life

Sage-femme: She knew what the assignment was, why in the galaxy would she friend-zone him?

Shadow: that doesn’t mean they couldn’t still have fun times.  Might even make it better.

Pilot: nope.  HE friend-zoned HER.

Shadow: huh.  Did not see that coming.

Haggler: I’m just happy he has a friend.

Sage-femme: She is also a crack shot with a slug thrower.  For when that ½ of a Dark apprentice shows his face.

Haggler: @Sage-femme you are my favorite.

Sage-femme: I know.  @Pilot, she is mid-way through therapy certs for Freed Peoples.  So, if they are friends, she might be able to take him as a patient?

Pilot: I think I’m leaving her as his friend, an emotionally intelligent friend.  He doesn’t have many.

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

Cody answered the knock on the with a firm visage, that broke into a grin at Rex’s face.  Cody pulled Rex into a backslapping hug and into his room. 

“Sorry I couldn’t meet you at the landing bay,” Rex apologized as his sat on Cody’s footlocker.

“The general would have noticed.”  The general probably would have noticed Cody’s focus on his vod’ika.  Cody didn’t know how long his favorite brother would be kept private or if it even needed to be.

Rex chuckled.  “If I had said that you were my vod, he would have let me switch chores to meet you.”

Cody was pleased to hear that.  “I have a rather large favor to ask of him.  How do I go about doing it?”

“In private and straight ask,” Rex answered easily.  “I’m sure that you’re going to have free reign of his office.”  Rex paused and thought about it.  Slowly, he asked, “what kind of favor are we talking about?”

“Fox needs an untraceable comm.  And I promised that I’d get him one.”

“Oh,” Rex relaxed.  “That’s nothing.”

Cody raised an eyebrow.

Rex grinned.  “You’ve met Intel’s droids?”

Cody nodded.

“The creche makes the droids, but the Jedi elders make the comms.  Each one is individual, untraceable and highly encrypted.  And according to the general, Jedi of all ages want to be useful.  Seriously, just ask for Healer Eerin to deliver one to Fox.”

~dt~

Cody knocked and walked into the general’s office at the soft, “Come in.”  He looked up from his flimsi-work with a small, welcoming smile and gestured to the guest chair.  “Have a seat, Commander.”

“I’d rather stand, sir.”

“Oh.”  The general put down his work and leaned back in his chair, giving Cody his full and complete attention. 

“I have a request, sir.”

“I’m listening,” the general said calmly.

Cody’s shoulders loosened.  “Off the books, sir.”

Kenobi simply nodded.  “My quarters are the only other place on this ship safe to discuss everything.”

Cody lifted his chin and looked straight at this nat-born.  “My vod is CC-1010, Commander Fox, on Triple Zero.  Regular comms are not connecting to the troopers stationed there.  Alpha’s comm went through, but we couldn’t leave evidence, so the conversation was deleted, and I can’t contact him again using it unless it’s an emergency.”

“I see.”

“I understand that your vod is also stationed at the Senate and has access to comm units that can…”

“Circumvent the GAR illegal restrictions?” Kenobi finished for him.  “Honestly, how does the GAR think it can function if all the commanders can’t communicate?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, when Alpha said that you would be my right hand on all my battlefronts, he was not exaggerating.”

Cody did not blush because, “Alpha doesn’t exaggerate.”

“He exaggerates how much he hates me.”  Then the general said, apropos to nothing, “I’m promoting you to Marshal Commander.”

Cody was gob smacked.  “Sir!  We’ve only had one battle!”

“Which you won handily.”

“That was as much your effort as mine, if not more.”

“And you were timely with all the intel communications, even to other battalions.”

“The 212^th is loyal, well-trained, efficient and hard-working.”

“They are that.”  The general agreed.  “There were the four on the Flight Paths.”

Cody refused to be surprised that the general knew about the deserters freed.  “It was their choice, sir.”

“As it should be.”

“And now you are asking for an encrypted comm to your vod on Triple Zero.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You mean to tell me that you contacted your vod in the Senate to not ask for him to add to our Senate intelligence?”  The know-it-all smile on the general’s face was one that -if it had been on a vod’s- Cody would have been putting that face through a sparring mat.  The general’s grin only widened as if he could feel Cody’s ire.  He couldn’t, Cody’s mental shields were rock solid.

“That was my goal for comm-ing him,” Cody admitted.

“See,” Cody’s smug general said.  “My right hand on all four battlefronts.”

“At least wait until we’ve won five battles, it’ll be easier to push through the GAR bureaucracy.”

“If you insist, Marshal Commander Cody.”

~dt~

Barriss was sometimes in awe at how much she was learning about the Jedi and their rolls at Master Bant’s side.  Here she was having tea with a Jedi elder, and retired Shadow, Bentar Juno, debating how many untraceable comms he could make in the next ten-day.

The conversation paused and Barriss followed the masters’ eyes to the door and the excited younglings bubbling behind it.  She could feel several familiar Force signatures.  This was the same creche group that had helped with the helper and med droids for the 212^th.  They bubbled with enthusiasm and trepidation.

Master Juno looked amused, Master Bant exasperated. 

“Do you think Initiate Tano is following your Force signature, Barriss, or Initiate Allanaris followed mine,” asked Master Bant

“Both,” declared Elder Juno.  “Both.”

“They just want to help the war effort,” Barriss defended them.

“There shouldn’t be a war.  The Jedi shouldn’t be such a major part of the war.  We shouldn’t have been drafted.  We should have already evacuated the Temple and be gone,” Master Bant lamented again.

Elder Juno shook his head.  “The time for following young Kenobi’s visions expired years ago.  We will either survive to revive the Rim Temples or we will all perish.”  The revered Jedi Master lived with one foot in the Unifying Force and his words were often terrifying.

“You should have been Obi’s Master,” Master Bant… grumped.  Barriss was a bit horrified that her temporary Master was being so petulant in the face of Master Juno’s words.

Elder Juno just took another sip of his tea.  “You have legitimate complaints about Obi-wan’s padawanship, but my dear, if I had not caved to the grandmaster’s plans then, today the Jedi as a whole would be in much worse shape without Obi-wan’s military knowledge keeping us one step ahead.”

Ahsoka’s Force signature firmed and then there was a knock on the door.  Master Bant sighed but put down her teacup and went to the door.

As expected, Ahsoka and the rest of the initiates that had assisted before were peeking in the open doorway.

“Master Bant,” Allanaris greeted her cheerfully, first.  The rest just bowed in greeting.

“Master Bant,” Ahsoka took over.  “We heard that you might have another task to help the war effort, and we wanted to come volunteer.”  The assorted species of initiates all nodded in agreement.

 “Oh, let them in, Master Healer.” Elder Juno called.  “Your creche group hasn’t diverted the Sith’s plan yet.  This might keep them alive if the Sith’s plan comes to fruition.”

Terrifying.  Barriss hurried to release her fear into the Force, to be a good example.

Master Bant didn’t flick an eyelash at his words.  Sometimes , Barriss wondered at the things Master Obi-wan must have said as a child to inoculate the Mon Calamari to such terrible futures.  The master in the doorway gave each child a serious look.  “Elder Juno has weak shields.  You must all shield extra well.”

The initiates nodded enthusiastically, and they all tried to comply immediately.  They were… moderately successful, but not enough to leave them alone with the Elder.

“I’ll stay,” Barriss volunteer.

Master Bant eyed her.  “We have surgeries this afternoon,” she reminded.  “Do not exhaust yourself beforehand.”

“Yes, Master Bant.”

The Healer looked at the children.  “And you will not delay or grumble when Padawan Barriss ends this session.”

“Yes, Master Bant,” they chorused.

Master Bant sighed again.  “Very well.  Elder Juno, they are all yours.”

“Gather around children.  We are making highly encrypted comm units.”

~dt~

Knight Bant was watching the Senatorial debate with narrow eyes.  Very obvious on her species.  Sabé was just pleased that she was getting better at reading the Jedi’s tells.  Padmé started out strong and persuasive in her rhetoric for peace but was lagging now, hours into the debate.

Sabé kept a close eye on Knight Bant, after on the walk back to the office.  Bant asked quietly, “Does that happen a lot?  Padmé gets momentum and then gets physically tired as she starts winning?”

Sabé was startled at the thought.  At the pattern.  Only one person had a Force bond with Her Lady.  “Is he drawing energy from the Senator?”  Suddenly an unadvised marriage was an unacceptable health risk to Her Lady.  It violated her oaths of office to do her best for her people.  Sabé hadn’t known that stealing energy was something that a Jedi could do.

Knight Bant shook her head.  “Something happened and I don’t know who or what.  I don’t think the culprit is who you think it is.  He’s too far away to follow any sort of pattern.”

Sabé didn’t like that answer but the Healer’s eyes followed a limping clone trooper, who was valiantly attempting do their duties while hiding the hitch in their step.  “Pardon me, Sabé.  Duty calls.”

“Of course, Healer.”

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Sage-Femme: Did anything happen to the boy?  Or You @Pilot in the last three hours?

Pilot: Boy got hit by a blaster, but it’s healing up fine.  Another couple hundred freed and sent on the Paths.  His glow is only seen if you’re looking close.

Sage-femme: It’s healing up fine because he’s drawing energy from the Sr Sen.  We all forgot that energy exchange is commonplace with bonded.

Haggler: She’s not shielding!?!?!?!

Sage-femme: Not against him.  I was worried that Sid was pulling her energy because the timing was really convenient for him, but -and this is total supposition-I think he knew it was Ani.  And he can pull her energy whenever she annoys him.  He’s definitely watching/part of the Senate.  And he doesn’t want peace.

Haggler: I have to shield CONSTANTLY to prevent being pulled into a star.

Sage-femme: She’s not sensitive enough for that.  Nor convinced that it’s necessary.

Sage-femme: @Pilot, can you use this to convince the boy to put up his own walls?

Pilot: might be able to do that

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Haggler: @Pilot, WHAT DID YOU SAY TO MY BOY!?!  HE PUSHED ENOUGH ENEREGY TO ME TO TAKE OUT AN ARMY

Shadow: Lol, I’m guessing that’s not much of an exaggeration?

Haggler: Not as much as I would like.  I’m BUZZING WITH ENERGY.  Still.  I won’t be able to sleep for days.  And I don’t have any more droids to dismantle.  My Commander and my medic will be upset.

Pilot: I think it was a kinda apology?  And it was supposed to go to Sr Sen.

Sage-femme: HE WAS SUPPOSED TO PUT UP WALLS TO PREVENT ANYONE FROM TAKING HIS ENERGY AND hopefully to keep Sid from using him as a spillover.  Putting up shields would be a sneaky way to block ALL his bonds, both ways, whether he knows they exist or not!

Sage-femme: He nearly gave the Sr Sen a heart attack.  It’s a good thing that baby-surgeon was already in the office.

Pilot: Ouch.  I’ll let him know.  There’s likely a vow ?of protection? Between him and her.  There was a not quite Rending, but some sort of backlash involved.  I thought it was bouncing off of @Haggler.

Sage-femme: Let me tell you about a backlash.  The handmaidens are out for blood.  They’re pissed.

Haggler: I don’t think he’ll take that as seriously as he should.

Shadow: lol.  He’ll live and learn, or he won’t.

Haggler: I hope @Pilot has better luck teaching him wariness than I did.

Pilot: I do have the advantage of already helping him fulfill a vow and keeping him away from bad distractions. 

Shadow: also Pilot is a better example than you are about being properly wary.

Haggler: @Shadow, shut up

Haggler: @Pilot Thanks again.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Shadow: @Sage-femme thank you for the mystic contact.  Met me on arrival on planet.  Escorted me to the Dead Waters.  And we only skirted the edges but that execution punishment for sentients that travel in it?

Shadow: Not so excessive.

Shadow: this dark is INVASIVE.  The fact that Jar is as sane and SAFE as he is the scary thing.  It’s like a current that drowns anyone that’s touched it in the Dark.  If you’re not paying attention, down you go.

Haggler: Makes a person wonder what Jar’s done that’s benefited the Dark.  There’s got to be a reason that he survived that.  Sentients normally have to bargain to escape that kind of Trap in Dark Temples.  What did Jar trade?

Shadow: ….you’ll figure it out by the end of this conversation.  Or at least the obvious help he’s given the Dark.

Shadow: So… since the waters are impassible, mystic and I went on land.  Scariest karking thing in my life.

Shadow: under the water, it’s all darkdeathdarkdeathdarkdarkdeathdeath.  But you get out of the water?  NOTHING.

Shadow: it feels normal.  Birds singing, trees rustling

Shadow: evidence of fauna being extra vicious and hunting for sport and not eating prey that is fatally wounded.  But only if you are looking.

Shadow: So does anyone want to guess whose summer house is leaking Dark into the waters of the planet like raw sewage?

Haggler is idle…

Sage-femme is idle…

Pilot is idle…

Builder is idle…

Shadow: anyone?

Pilot: That MAJOR data point that we all dismissed before, that who, isn’t it?

Shadow: yep.  Creche clan, we found Sid.

Haggler: Grandfather told the truth.  There’s a Dark lord on both sides of the war.

Shadow: Nothing is more deceitful as the truth that one KNOWS is false.

Sage-femme: The master and your grandfather are… what? Playing Dejarik across the galaxy?

Haggler: No, they are taking turns removing future rebellions in their empire.  They are destroying any armies, or strong leaders, or co-opting them into their own.

Builder: Also impoverishing EVERYONE.  Both sides are deep in debt.  It’s not sustainable.  There are no credits for the poor, or even the middle class.  I’ve been looking for building projects.

Pilot: This is above the creche clan purview.  We’re going to have to bump it up the ladder.

Haggler: @Sage-femme can you recruit help?  Or do you need me to find someone and send them into the Core?

Sage-femme: I can do it.  I will need an update to all the research that your troopers have done about allies and enemies in the Senate.

Haggler: Done.  We’re going to have to destroy the DATA POINT in public opinion before we get to the courts.  We need help that way.  The mystics know and have known for years, I bet.  But they didn’t tell anyone for a reason.  Because no one -especially humans- would believe them.  Even our family would have ignored them.  Would the queen be on our side?  Can we get the queen on our side with evidence?

Shadow: I’ll sniff around for people with a spine of durasteel.  And a well shielded mind.

Haggler: or better yet, Beskar

Haggler: Now that I think about it….

Haggler: @Sage-femme there are records in the archives for how to make protection against Dark mental influences.  I found some beskar in an enemy storehouse.  Ok, R2 found the beskar.  I’ve got clones that need medical attention that can smuggle it into the Core.  You’ll have to go to the Kih’dabe Goran to have circlets of beskar made, so that everyone who needs mental protection can wear one on their head.

Sage-femme: on it

Haggler: Take my research on the outside influences on the Mando system with you.  Thinking on it, once you know about the DATA POINT, the why and the depth of the meddling makes so much sense.  You’ll need a damn convincing reason for the Goran to 1. Make what we need and 2. Let us walk off with forged beskar.

Haggler: Gorans trade in knowledge almost more than credits.

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

The Goran turned around from hammering a chest plate and startled.  There were three robed figures kneeling in the Forge.  She had no idea how they entered without her being warned.  They had to be ka’ra touched, to hide themselves.  The Goran reached within the Manda to know these visitors.  The three looked up.  The oldest was an adult female Mon Calamari in Jedi robes, the middle was a female teen Mirialan with a Jedi training braid attached to her head covering and the youngest was human male, no braid… yet.  All three were burdened with packs.

“You’re a Force User,” the eldest Jedi exclaimed. 

“Most Goran are.”

The boy was vibrating with excitement.  “I have so many questions,” he breathed.

The Goran was feeling generous.  “You may ask one.”

The boy nodded, bit his lip and thought hard.  The Goran waited, as did the other Jedi.  The boy waved his hand.  “Master, you say what you need to say so I have time to narrow it down to a single really good question.”

Wise child.

“I’m asking us to be narudar,” the Mon Calamari said firmly, accent only slightly off.

“Who are you to ask to be temporary allies?”

“I am vod to Ben of House Vhonte.”

Ah.  That made sense.  Three jedi, informed by Ben-who went by that horrible Stewjoni name Kenobi- could have been able to enter her forge, if needed.  It had never been needed before.  Ben must have kept the secret of ka’ra touched Goran from his vod’e as promised, even as he had sent them.

“Ben found beskar during a battle clean up and…. Ensured that it was delivered without paperwork.  He asked me to get it to you.”  Each of them set down a set of heavy packs that jingled.  Then they stood.  The Goran reached through the Manda and found beskar as stated.  Some of the beskar was unrefined -bought or stolen from the mines- but some of it had been armor simply melted down with no concept of preserving the heritage.  Ben had known that he was returning some verd’e to the Forge.

“As was his duty.”

The Mon Calamari disagreed but didn’t say as much.  “We are asking for 1kg to be forged for our use.  We can’t promise a full return of the kilogram, but we would attempt.”

The Goran’s first instinct was to refuse, but Ben had enough knowledge to do it himself, even if it would be an inelegant working.  “What do you need?”

“Mental protection against the Sith, specifically for non-Force users, in the form of thin circlets, pressed with these four markings.”  She handed over a datapad opened to an image file.

The Goran was surprised to recognize the symbols that the Jedi wanted pressed into the beskar.  Or mostly.  “This is wrong,” the Goran said, pointing to the symbol that she had never used.

“I assure you that it is correct.  I was an archivist’s padawan.  I found three sources to confirm what was needed and one of them was on flimsi, unhackable.”

“Besides,” the boy child said.  “It’s all written in Dai Bendu.”

“What is Dai Bendu?”

“The Jedi cradle language,” answered the adult.

The Goran absorbed that knowledge.  “It should be words?  Not symbols of protection?”

The Mon Calamari gave a wry grin.  “What is a written language but symbols that convey messages?”

“What do the words mean?”

“Can I touch some section of your skin?  I don’t have Ben’s talent for working around the effects of beskar and the Jedi language is half in the Force.”

The Goran stripped off a glove and offered a clawed hand to the Jedi.  The Mon Calamari gently folded her fingers over the Goran’s, callouses meeting callouses.  She pointed to the first symbol and said, “Endurance,” but in the Ka’ra, sent the idea of an approaching enemy, something worth protecting behind and being in the best physical shape of one’s life and the coming battle will be long, but being ready and trained to step toward danger.

“High walls,” but the feeling was of a complete dome, without cracks or weaknesses.

“Good foundation.”  The feeling conveyed was of an old tree with a taproot to the center of a planet (or self), and roots spread the breadth of an entire continent.

“This one,” the completely unfamiliar symbol to the Goran, “Is an old word for ‘Moat,’ and the feeling was one of traps and obstacles, both obvious and hidden, that kept an invader out.  The fact that the gorans didn’t use moat worried her.

“You are familiar with this concept,” stated the Jedi adult.  “How?”

The Goran told Ben’s vod the truth.  “The Sith gave us the way to protect ourselves from the mental treacheries of the Jedi.  I press four symbols to the inside of every helmet.  Three of the symbols match yours.”

All three Jedi, oldest to youngest, were extremely dubious of the assertion of Sith’s gifts.  And when heard by an outsider, separated from the teachings of the Goran’s Goran, she could see the loopholes the Sith promise.

“What’s the fourth symbol you use?” the adult asked.

The Goran pulled out the beskar stamp she used to create the correct impression in molten beskar.  The three jedi gathered around, looking and not touching.

The boy tilted his head.  “That’s not Dai Bendu.”

“It’s not,” the adult agreed.  “That’s the Sith language.”  The teenager took a step back, not even wanting to be in the vicinity of it.  She took the boy with her.  The Goran approved.

“What does it say?”

The adult shook her head.  “I don’t know.  I’d have to do research.  In the restricted section of the archives.”

The Goran accepted that answer and turned to the young Jedi.  “Very well, child, your question?”

The initiate nodded and straightened.  “How does you being Ka’ra-touched affect the Mandalorian culture, as vow driven as it is, given the importance of armor?”

The Goran blinked and blinked again.  “That’s an insightful question.”

The older Jedi looked very proud of the boy.  “It is,” the adult agreed, “but Allanaris, you should ask your question, not mine.”

“But your research is very important.  We need information from outside Force sects to build a better picture of what -and how- the Sith are doing and the Gungan mystics barely use Force vows.  Padawan Barriss told me.”

The Goran was a Mandalorian, and one that had just learned that the Sith had been manipulating her kind for centuries, if not a millennium.  The Sith had been using the Gorans to leave an opening for themselves in Mando’ad’e minds.  To know that there was an active Sith?  “There is a Sith?”

“Always two,” the teen and adult Jedi chorused.

After a considering look, the adult added, “Count Dooku is the apprentice.”

The apprentice?  So old?  The Goran was surprised.  “What about Ventress?”

The adult radiated the feeling of a shrug.  “An acolyte or an assassin.  There is a historical precedent of such becoming an apprentice or master Sith, but they are normally blocked from increasing their knowledge.  Ventress is sent on too many missions and is not well trained enough to be in the Sith lineage.”

“Who is the Master?”

The jedi judged the Goran.  The Goran waited for her decision.  Finally, the adult turned to the minors and raised the equivalent of an eyebrow.

The teen asked the Goran, “May we investigate the Forge?”

The Goran inclined her helmet and watched the younglings scamper away, out of hearing range.

The adult stepped close.  “A trade of the circlets for information?”

The Goran considered.  “Very likely.  If the information is solid.”

“The Chancellor,” was whispered more through the Ka’ra than through the air but blocked from the ad’e.  The Ka’ra whispered truth and warning to the Goran.  “Now will you make the circlets for us?”

“Why should I?”

“Because he has been behind every strengthening of both the New Mandalorians and Death Watch.  He also led the intelligence committee that sent the Jedi into conflict with Mandos all over the galaxy on false knowledge.  Then he buried the very evidence that he gave to the Jedi, blamed us and prevented reparations.  He destroyed the strength and chance for unity of the Mandalorians before starting this war to destroy the strength of both the Jedi and any strongholds in the galaxy.  It is going to take a concerted and cleared headed effort of many to win against such a highly placed Sith Master and his many plans.”

“You have proof.”  A statement and not a question.

The Jedi handed over a datapad.  “This is Ben’s research into Republic interference in the Mando system.  One name shows up time and time again.  We just found irrefutable evidence that he is the Sith, but we have to collect it without being corrupted ourselves.  Then push it through the courts.  We have the people to push a vote of non-confidence, but we need to publish some of our findings.  At least two of those circlets will be going to reporters.”

The Goran was dismissive of the Republic courts and justice and news companies.  She much preferred Mandalorian justice.

Hmmm.

“I will make you the circlets you need.”

“I am in your debt,” the Jedi promised.

“You are,” the Goran agreed.  “You may also tell the child that in answer to his question: Mando’ad’e carry our vows in our beskar’gam.”

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Sage-femme: So, Gorans are normally F Sensitive.

Pilot: That’s interesting, I guess?

Sage-femme: They press the ‘ka’ra’ into every piece of armor.

Shadow: You’re leading somewhere

Shadow: and @Haggler is being suspiciously quiet

Builder: We don’t need another problem.

Sage-femme: I don’t think this one is going to be a problem.  The Goran agreed to create the circlets, expedited.  She was familiar with the idea.  She pressed something similar into every helmet she makes.

Shadow: Similar but not exact?

Sage-femme: No. Instead of Moat, is a Dark writing.

Sage-femme: Part of my payment is finding what that Dark translates to.  So @Haggler, where is that research?  I don’t have time to redo something that I’m sure you’ve already discovered.  And I’m making waves in the Temple as is, I can’t get caught in the restricted section.

Pilot: Why are you so sure @Haggler knows?

Sage-femme: Because I dug out ‘Ben’s’ armor and the helmet only had the three Dai Bendu words.  The Dark word had been melted off.  It was not a professional job.  Also, why is there a second set of armor in your closet?  I noticed that you melted off the Dark word in that as well.

Haggler: How much am I allowed to tell you?

Sage-femme: The Goran agreed that I needed to broaden my horizons concerning Vows from other cultures.  And that my vod was the one who should teach me.

Haggler: Oh good.

Pilot: That’s an old vow.  Are you allowed to share it with the chat?  Or do you two need to go to a private chat?

Sage-femme: The Goran knows that it’s a group of us working against Sid and she supports our intel gathering.

Haggler: The datapad is between my headboard and the wall in my room.  You’ll have to pull the bed completely out to see the hidden drawer.  I have a bunch of research in there.

Sage-femme: The Dark word?

Haggler: Treachery.  In a way, the Sith told the truth to the Gorans.  It would keep Jedi out.

Shadow: But the S masters have had a backdoor into the head of every armored warrior for how long?

Sage-femme: A millennium.

Haggler: So, do we want to talk about how the ways that the Gorans process the metals in the iron skins compel the wearer to follow their vows beyond logic, narrowing or removing completely, any loopholes?  And how unwise vows are definitely the reasons behind the clan wars and the most recent civil war?  One group of people vowed to follow the wielder of the Dark saber, and didn’t give themselves an out even when that person was dar’manda, a vow-breaker themselves.  One group vowed to follow an elected man and followed him into dar’manda territory in the training of slave children and one group -housed and protected under a dome held up by Goran-forged beskar- vowed pacifism.

Haggler: And a Vow Rending is probably why Mandos sometimes are insane.  And why the New are so unyielding and uncompromising in their understanding of pacifism.  I’ve wondered if the Goran the forged the beskar dome safety struts did so to intentionally push the pacifism in extremis, but the other Gorans killed him before I could ask.  (So that’s why the New doesn’t have more domes, they don’t know how to forge Beskar and the Goran will kill anyone who does it for them.)

Shadow: you have thought about this for over a decade, but your vow meant that you couldn’t share any of your thoughts.  And you have many thoughts about this.  First, second set of armor?

Haggler: That is from the one who adopted me.  She followed her vows to the Long Neck world and became dar’manda.  She asked me to hang on to it as she earns it back.  I assigned her to intelligence work on the other side of the war to redeem herself for what she did to the troops.  I already cleansed it, @Sage-femme if I die before she, you can give it back.

Sage-femme: Her contact information is in the Mando Vow datapad?

Haggler: Yes.

Haggler: Can we talk about Mandos now?  And how they make Vows unwisely?

Pilot: Go on, @Haggler, impress us with all your thoughts on mandos and vows.

Sage-femme: @Baby-surgeon and I are here taking notes.  Share your conclusions.

Haggler: First, each Mando’s armor reinforces all vows with the Manda, which is why Mandalorians don’t need to adopt in front of a Goran, but the adoption vow is binding in the F.  Which is why the Goran accepts me as Ben of House Vhonte, even though no Goran reaffirmed the adoption, especially after it got out that I was… of our Family.

Haggler: the amount of Beskar in the armor alloy does influence how much of all vows are binding, but it’s the inverse of how it would affect our Family.  The more beskar, the more binding the vows.  Which is another reason for all the clan wars.  They reuse the beskar and I believe that the vows become generational.  They’re bound by the vows of the family members that once wore their beskar.  (If one Elder vows a blood feud against another clan and then dies and their armor is distributed to all their children, each of the inheritors have part of that blood feud welded onto their armor.)  I have proven that a cleansing of those vows on the armor is possible (I had problems with the DW armor that I stole until I did a cleansing like we used to have to do in the creche, but I had enough awareness, training and strength to resist someone else’s vow in the meantime.)

~dt~

Chapter Text

~dt~

Mystic Tha Mirt was an elder Gungan, still strong physically and powerhouse in the Force.  His Basic was highly accented and he was skinny, all knees and elbows, but never clumsy.  He was possibly the most grounded Unifying Force user Quinlan had ever met.  A lifetime of Obi-wan had taught Quin to roll with anything Tha said or did.

Tha approached Quin and introduced himself at the spaceport, immediately upon the Jedi’s arrival.  Quin didn’t know if the Force or Cli-Cli had warned him of Quin’s travel.  Quin didn’t ask.  The pair avoided all humans on land and along the shoreline as they made their way to the seas. Tha was never in a hurry, never paused, but not a single guard spotted them. Tha puttered around the docked, private Bongo as they set course for the Dead Waters.  Once on their way, the Gungan mystic only had one eye on the path through the waters; his hands were busy fixing some part of the sensor in the walls of the ship.  It was akin to flying with Anakin at slow speeds. 

Then Tha stopped the Bongo and let Quinlan feel the Dead Waters.  It was ahead, invisible to the naked eye, black as night in Force Sight.  It twisted and decayed everything as it drifted in the sea, idly malevolent.  Quin watched and holo-recorded as plants died and marine wildlife fled from the spread.  Even predatory fish would not eat the dead floating out of the Dark.  Or if they did, the larger fish would choke on the smaller and die.  Mentally, the Dark drifted closer than Force Sight could Perceive, whispering of death and destruction and hopelessness.  Quin found himself humming creche songs to counter the Dark.  Tha listened intently, both with his ears and with the Force, and by the second repeat, joined in.  The Dark shied away then.

Quinlan needed to investigate the Dead Waters to find the source.  Tha warned that, even with the creche songs, insanity and suicide were the most common results of drifting in the Dead Waters, but if Quin insisted, they would try to find the circumference of the Dark.  Quin agreed.  Knowing the edges of the Dead Waters would be informational and easier on the mental shields.  Theoretically the source should be directly in the center of the danger.

Quin offered to help Tha’s mental shields.  Quinlan’s were solid and strong from a career as a Jedi Investigator.  A slight, temporary bond would protect them both.  Tha spent a long moment in meditation, considering the offer before accepting.  Quin linked them up and could feel the bonded net of other mystics in the back of Tha’s head, keeping him grounded in the here and now.  Quin knew that the other mystics were behind some sort of protection (a Light Force Nexus, perhaps, maybe a holy area, Quin didn’t know). 

So Quin and Tha investigated. 

Tha wasn’t pleased to be as physically close as Quinlan pushed, but he didn’t argue.  He did agree with the decision to dock the bongo and track the Dark on land.  Tha observed Quin closely as they followed nearly indiscernible Dark tendrils on land, to the isolated mansion.  Tha was pleased to leave the area and even to return to Theed and the land deed office.  He led Quin to the correct section of the offices, to the correct computer terminal and watched as Quin searched land records and found the undisputed and sole owner of the Dark lands. 

Quin’s quiet, “Well, kark,” when finding Sheev Palpatine’s name amused the elder mystic.  Quin realized that Tha was expecting denial and forgetfulness concerning the Sith Lord.  Instead, Quinlan promptly informed the creche group so that if anything happened to him on the Sith Lord’s home planet, the information would not die with him.  Quin’s calm acceptance -and immediate sharing of the intelligence- relieved the mystic and Boss Nass when Tha Mirt reported to him.

Boss Nass had been their next stop because Mystic Tha Mirt had arranged a meeting with the Boss before Quinlan could ask for one.  Both males were pleased with the few spoken words of Gunganese that Bant had shared with the chat and Quin managed to finagle into the conversation.  Quin might not be Obi-wan’s level of polyglot, but he knew the importance of meeting people in their own language.

Quinlan asked for their opinion of the humans, which surprised the attending Gungans.  Who in power were honest with their dealings with the Gungans, who lied and cheated, who were speciest?  Would the queen work with the Jedi?  Did the queen work with the mystics? 

The Jedi found out that the mystics were still not discussed with the humans.  Even the Jedi shouldn’t know about them.  Quin had to explain about Mystic Hebbud’s lack of subtlety at her Coruscant arrival in front of Quin’s Jedi sibling and how the secret spilled.  He explained that the Jedi Healers regularly cleansed the returning Jedi knights of Darkness.  He also volunteered some Healers to share the techniques.  Quinlan also offered the comm codes for the archivists to see if they could find some way to hold back and/or reverse the spread of the Dark in the Gungans’ oceans.  Over the mystics’ protests, Boss Nass was extremely interested in recovering the Dark territory.

When Quin asked about how the mystics were protected when Tha had explored the Dark Waters, he was informed that the mystic quarters had basic 4-word protection in written Gunganese.  Quin realized almost immediately that it was the same basic 4-word idea of what the Goran was going to stamp on the beskar circlets.  The Gungans swapped Moat with Swamp (carefully weaving through the dangerous terrain with the path sometimes becoming quicksand), and foundation became bedrock.  High walls instead became the entire oceans that hid the Gungans from all approaches and Mystic Bond Training matched Endurance.  Quinlan was absolutely honored to be invited to rest overnight within the mystic section of the underwater cities.  Once he was sure that no one held bitterness with the offer, he eagerly accepted the protection.  He slept well under the waters, almost as well as when he slept at the Jedi Temple.

The next morning, Quin chatted with the mystics during first meal of a type of seaweed and a cold salted fish.  He focused the conversations on the great improvements the Gungan mystic meditations were for those Jedi connected to the Unifying Force.  He asked why Cli-Cli Hebbud hadn’t emphasized mental bonds seeing as the group used the bonds to keep Tha safe during their trip.  Tha Mirt was down-right pissed that Cli-Cli taught the Unifying Force meditations and not that bonds were necessary. 

The conversation meandered into the extreme example of Jar-Jar Binks.  The young male had been exiled from the community Force bonds as well as physically.  The community had to break the bonds as a part of Jar-Jar’s exile because they couldn’t have the Dark infecting the entire race through a rebellious youth.  Now, all the chemical and physical medical assistance helped, but the mystics believed that the Jedi Force-bonding with Jar had leveled him out.  Then Cli-Cli and Lun-Lun bonding with him, leveled him out more.  Certain mystics firmly believed that execution would have been a kinder punishment than cutting Jar-Jar off from the mental community. Since Quin knew Jar’s midichlorian count was much too low to even be considered for Jedi training and low compared to the Gungan average, he didn’t believe that the cutting of the community mental bonds had affected the male much.  Would any Gungan mystic suffer if removed from the mental community?  Undoubtably.  Did Jar suffer from the lack of mental bonds? Debatable.

Quin asked if they had attempted to hold back the Dead Waters, had they tried to prevent it from growing?  No, the mystics didn’t understand even the concept of holding back the Dark.  It was as incomprehensible as the idea of controlling the currents of the sea, or the Currents of the Force.  Did they want some research on ways the Jedi and others put up barriers to stop the spread of the Dark and/or erased and healed from it?  Quin shared how Bant and Barriss had healed the Dark in Jar and the mystics had reports from Cli-Cli Hebbud as to effectiveness of their healing.  The mystic group was split on their opinions.  They knew that Boss Nass wanted to reverse the Dark.  Even so, only half were interested in the healing methods and whatever research the Jedi could dig up to cleanse their home waters.  The other half still believed that Jar should be executed for trespassing into the Dead Waters and that fixing the Dead Waters in any manner was impossible and deadly to all who tried or associated with those who tried.  The two-decade old history of Jar-Jar’s two closest friends dying in mysterious circumstances was brought up.  Many believed that Jar-Jar’s flirting with the edge of the Dead Waters was the cause and though Jar-Jar hadn’t even been in the city when the two had died, he was universally blamed. 

As the discussion between the two camps grew heated and more in Gunganese than Basic, Quin slid out the door. 

That was none of his business.  Tha watched him go and nodded in appreciation.  Tha stayed behind to argue for any information that the Jedi was willing to give.  Tha also sent a very young mystic, Ra-Ra Teetiawn, to be Quin’s guide and escort in the underwater city.

Ra-Ra took Quin to explore the underwater gardens, complete with sculptures.  Some of the sculptures were glass bubbles of various colors and textures tied to and bobbing above anchors.  Some of the bubbles were shaped as gluttonous fish.  Quin told Ra-Ra that a particular yellow one, about a decameter in diameter, with a funny face was his favorite.  Ra-Ra pointed out his favorite, a shy looking hidden smaller blue fish whose anchor was surrounded by vegetation.

The next stop on Quinlan’s tour was the underwater medical gardens.  These were segregated, with filtered and purified water and careful distribution of the needed minerals needed for growing.  Some of the plants were taken to research stations for further rendering of their medicinal properties.  Others could be used as is.  Entire tanks were filled with a broadleaf plant, ten-meters deep.  Each leaf of the plant was approximately 1-meter long and 6-centimeters wide.  Ra-Ra told him how the Gungans used the plant for bandages, akin to how low-grade version bacta worked.  Instead of needing to keep wounds dry, the Shozbeed kelp worked best while moist.  Its anti bacterial and fungal properties were excessive.  Quin, of course, had sat through enough rants from Bant to be immediately interested.

Ra-Ra introduced Quin to the head gardener for the Shozbeed Kelp bed.  Fro Poown, the gardener, didn’t understand why Quin was so interested in something that worked much better for aquatic species than for humans and near humans.  After a few frustrating minutes, Quin commed Bant and asked her to send a picture of them and their teaching masters.  Finally, after seeing a picture of Quin with a Nautalean and a Mon Calamari, Poown relented.  Quin managed to finagle a packet of Shozbeed kelp seeds and a full description on how to grow it.

Mar-mar Ja was another medicinal plant for stimulating appetite, reducing pain and increasing drowsiness.  It was often given to patients recovering from surgeries.  It was safe for humans and most near-humans though they tended to treat it as a recreational drug more than a medicinal one.  The mushrooms Gungans used were more likely to be poisonous to humans and had even been used in several high-profile royal assassinations over the years.  Quin asked for samples of those as well.  Gardener Poown straight up refused.  Quin was forced to comm Tha and explain that he needed samples of the mushrooms to compare against the autopsies of those who had died under mysterious circumstances in Palpatine’s circle.  Tha approved the transfer.

Quin warned Tha that next the Jedi would be investigating the humans, looking for allies above the surface of the water.

Tha wished that for him the Currents of Knowledge would flow Strongly.

Tha also informed Quin that he was welcome use Tha’s Bongo and to return nightly for the mental safety of the mystic lodges.  Quin accepted the boarding accommodations readily.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Shadow: @Haggler, tighten up on the creche bonds.  Mystics use the Bonds as a net, to catch anyone drifting in the Currents.

Haggler: @Safe-femme, check on the creche you’ve been teaching.

Sage-femme: @Baby-surgeon and I are on our way.

Pilot: I’ll have No1Podracer tighten his bond with you.

Haggler: Oh, you don’t have to do that.  I’m pretty sure that I haven’t drifted far because he DOES have a tight hold on me.  Just have him check on me every once in a while?

Pilot: It’ll be a reason for meditation multiple times a day.

~dt~

sid chasing – chain breaking Chat

Sage-femme: The younglings are fine.  The Creche master is a bit peeved with us.

Baby-surgeon: It was my fault; I was panicking a bit.

Builder: To be a student, is to make mistakes.

Haggler: And broadcasting fear into the creche is mild compared to some of ours.

~dt~