Coruscant, The Works, Abandoned power-grid sub-station (90 minutes later)
Standing in stark contrast to the rest of the two-story, eight hundred meter by two hundred meter rectangular station's other dust and defunct machinery filled chambers, the office which had once belonged to the station supervisor was completely pristine. The original dry-rotted, corroded, or simply superfluous contents of the twelve meter square room having long since been dispensed with. Replaced by an entirely utilitarian square gray table large enough to seat four, four equally bland straight-backed chairs, and an equally modest seeming holo-comm unit sitting atop said table. Only close scrutiny by an expert familiar with such devices would reveal said comm unit contained state of the art, military-grade technology designed to prevent any signals the unit sent or received from being traced, by anyone. A single glow-fixture hung from the ceiling above the door, but it's illumination was insufficient to brighten the entirety of the room. With no windows, it gave the prepared meeting-place the air of a recently opened tomb.
It was the kind of place people paid a significant sum to rent from the underworld interest which happened to preside over the area, because it was the elements of the room which weren't readily apparent that made it such a desirable place for a clandestine meeting. The sound-proofing, the perfectly calibrated ion disruptor cells buried in the walls to disable any recording devices without interfering with the comm, and the concealed security-shield designed to defeat any external surveillance devices capable of besting the conventional sound-proofing. All of it exactly what one might expect in a room where secrets were traded, illicit bargains struck, and shadowy accords were reached by nefarious individuals.
Individuals like the two now occupying the austere, medium-sized room. The first of these being an exceptionally tall, whip-thin male. Dressed in garments similar in cut to those favored by Jedi, but dyed an unrelieved black, the hood of an equally dark cloak was presently thrown back to reveal light gray skin, and a broad nose at odds with an otherwise fine but very pronounced bone structure. Long, gleaming night-black hair had been gathered up into a tightly bound pony-tail at the nape of his neck, but it was the eyes most onlookers would find themselves returning to again and again. A glittering glacier blue, they were eyes which possessed depths matched only by their coldly calculating glint. Two traits that seemed entirely out of place in a face appearing to belong to one no older than his early twenties. The sort of observer who could resist the pull of those icy blue orbs would immediately notice the man's most distinctive accoutrements. A pair of straight silver lightsaber hilts hanging from a simple black belt blending into the rest of the figure's garments. A more knowledgeable watcher would note the lightsaber clipped to the left side of that belt hung much too far back to make drawing the weapon with any kind of ease or alacrity impossible. A fact which suggested the weapon was carried for a reason other than attack or defense. Although utterly motionless as he stared unblinking at the presently inactive comm-unit on the table before them, there was a subtle menace communicated by his complete lack of movement. Like that of a predator laying in wait for prey.
It was a sense of restrained threat obvious to the room's other occupant, because the short, bronze-skinned woman's hands never strayed far from her holstered weapons. Particularly the sonic blaster on her right hip. Her entirely russet colored armor weave outfit, steel-toed boots, and reinforced silver helmet combining to give one the impression this was someone who was constantly expecting trouble. The weapons both apparent and likely concealed about her person silently declaring the slim figure was quite prepared to deal with whatever trouble she anticipated.
From time to time, the woman's dark eyes flicked ever so swiftly to the currently inert comm, then to the room's single entrance and exit, but not even her well-practiced nonchalance could conceal the fact the bulk of her attention was being consumed by her continued study of the room's other occupant for any physical cues which might provide a hint as to his intentions. Whenever her dark brown eyes completed their momentary visual circuit, then returned to her "companion", however, she found those strange blue eyes turned her way. A frustrated glower as fleeting as it was distinct crossing the man's fine-boned face. Incrementally increasing the tension in a room whose atmosphere was already filled with it like a combustible gas.
The minute shift of the tall, cloaked figure's shoulders signaled a disturbance in this tension to the vigilant woman. Eyes so brown they seemed to be all pupil were beginning another quick scan of the room and it's contents, when the comm-unit on the table came to life. Displaying the blue-white image of a middle-aged man whose features were as raw-boned as they were craggy. His straight hair only a few centimeters long, and so pale the holo-comm made it appear snowy white. The man was dressed in simple robes that were deep blue or dark purple. His only ornament a single fine chain of some silver or white metal stretched across a powerfully built chest to end in a small circular pendant covered in intricate knot-work designs. The man's elegantly understated manner of dress coupled with his broad shoulders, powerful arms, and the scarred hands clasped loosely before him to create an eye-catching dichotomy of physical form and class function.
Currently, the robed pale-haired figure's craggy, tanned, and weathered features were composed into an impassive mask. While the silence stretched to fill the room, his blue or green eyes studied both figures intently. When the man finally spoke several long moments later, his voice was as clipped, flat, and passionless as any droid's. "Master Tyris, Mistress Wesell, a report on the evening's progress, if you would?"
Looking in the tall, almost gaunt figure's direction for a moment, the female bounty-hunter took a step back and turned so she could see both figures at once. In a quiet and matter of fact way, she began reporting "I can tell you that phases one and two were completed without incident, Intermediary."
Clearing her throat, the Changeling provided the details. "My droid deposited the nightspider as planned into one of 500 Republica's environmental control service ports. Where ASN-121 used your spike to persuade the security system's bio-form detection protocols to consider the spider nothing more than an example of harmless vermin to be ionized by the exterminator-droids. Once that was accomplished, I turned matters over to Tyris, so he could guide that nasty piece of work on it's convoluted path through the ducts, and into Senator Iblis's apartment. From there, I got into position to activate the "bug" I bribed Senator Robb's aircar driver to plant last night. I was concerned his genuine distress over betraying his employer might cause him to confess his crime, but he obviously decided he preferred being free of Ziro's debt-collectors to a clear conscience and shattered kneecaps. Once he picked his employer up, and the vehicle was fully a part of the traffic pattern, I set off the ion charge. When the repulsor lifts failed, the aircar slammed into a commercial hauler coming from the other direction in a lower lane. I confirmed there were no survivors from the "accident", then met back up with Tyris for the commencement of phase three."
Having provided her perspective on the evening's events up to the point where things began to go wrong, Zam's mask of professionalism was firmly in place when she continued flatly "If you want to know what went wrong there, you should ask Tyris."
Before the slight frown now turning down the corners of a thin-lipped mouth could become a follow-up question, Nikko Tyris chose to offer an explanation. His smooth voice was quiet, but it possessed all the sharpness of a garotte being snatched taut, as he responded "It wasn't Kenobi protecting Senator Amidala, as your information insisted would be the case. I repeatedly made myself clear on this point. I could only give you a third dead Senator, plus one berserk Jedi caught on camera slaughtering his charge, and guardsmen who would later turn out to be innocent victims of dark side mind-control, if you first accurately identified for me who that Jedi would be."
Intermediary's frown became a hard scowl, but before he could reply, Tyris was speaking again, his voice a cracking whip. "You agreed to a no-fault clause in our contract. One holding me blameless in case of faulty intelligence. That clause requires you pay, in the event the failure to complete the contract is directly attributable to bad information. That's exactly what ended up happening, just as I warned you it would, if you failed to give me the one tool required to make a success of this operation. Now, I want my credits, and my letter of introduction to the Kaminoans."
Showing more animation than he had at any time since the holo-comm had become active, the robed man's scowl melted away. Replaced by a conciliatory smile, as he spread his hands, then answered genially "It appears you're absolutely correct, Master Tyris. My employer will of course make good upon the terms of our agreement. The money will be transferred to your designated account, and the introduction declaring you a trusted potential client will be transmitted to Kamino shortly thereafter."
Pausing a moment, as if for effect, Intermediary's attempt at a sympathetic smile looked alien on his hard-bitten face, as he conceded "You'll have everything you need to see to it your wife gets the cloned skin grafts she requires to truly recover from the terrible burns she received as a result of the callous barbarism perpetrated against your fledgling sect by the Jedi. I can certainly understand both of you wanting to put these tragic events behind you, as you try and forget all the pain and heartache recent events have brought you. All the dead friends you've buried. Your dream of a more enlightened path for Force-sensitives to walk guttering and on the verge of extinction. Yes, I can definitely understand, if not actually respect, your desire to put all of that behind you both. The Jedi took so much from the two of you. Why risk what remains, when the promise of your wife's restoration is about to be realized?"
Seeing the way the Dark Jedi simultaneously stiffened at hearing how much his present employer really knew, and the wary nod of agreement Tyris offered a moment later. The stocky robed figure seemed resigned, as he finished with calm composure "I regret this will mark the end of an otherwise productive partnership, Master Tyris. Seeing as how I recently came into possession of a recording I thought you might find extremely interesting."
It was so obviously a baited hook, even a young child could have seen as much. Despite his every instinct, not to mention the Force, telling him to quit while he was ahead. Nikko still found himself asking "What kind of recording, Intermediary? Tell me, what could you possibly know which would interest me, when you can't determine which Jedi is guarding which Senator?"
"I have the complete after-action report tendered by the leader of the Jedi strike-team who murdered your comrades. It contains the names of the six people responsible for your wife being burned." The enigmatic figure's answer was simple and to the point. All the false geniality draining from his face like a switch being flipped as he said as much.
Tyris's reaction was immediate, his expression fierce as it was focused. The barely restrained fury could be heard in his voice when he hissed "I sent the anguish-wracked souls of a half-dozen murderers and rapists to the netherworld. Focused through the lens of their helpless rage, and their collective hunger for vengeance as they died, my telepathic attack would have sent many senior Jedi Masters on a blood-soaked rampage through the streets of Coruscant."
Collecting himself enough for his voice to regain an icy calm, Nikko finished "My fury-filled shadow crashed over the Jedi deceiver like the breaking of a terrible black wave, and for a few moments, his flame wavered. In the end, though, it only made him blaze like a star in the dark of night. If you're planning on asking me to try and break that one's will again, or attempt another piece of convoluted political theater involving him, the answer is an emphatic no. I can end the Senator, and her protector with her, but it would have to be on my terms."
For the first time, the look on that lined and craggy blue-white face seemed genuine, as the emissary replied with a driven determination that chilled the bounty-hunter looking on "Under the circumstances, I believe my employer could content themselves with such an outcome."
Nikko nodded shortly, answering in a terse manner "I think we have an accord, then. Unless I'm very much mistaken, however, Wesell wishes to conclude her part in this affair."
With both men looking her way now, the slender shapeshifter shrugged, then nodded her agreement. "It's one thing to ambush an unsuspecting Jedi, but quite another to press on after kicking the nest of fire-wasps as thoroughly as we just did. You both know I'm a professional. One who understands a sense of discretion is part and parcel of a functioning instinct for self-preservation. That instinct is telling me spending the next few months in one of my hideaways would be an excellent idea, so pay me my money and I'm gone."
When another look passed between the two men, Zam pointed out dryly "If, on the other hand, you're thinking my unwillingness to proceed further is an excellent reason to have Tyris persuade me to jump head-first off the roof, I'd have to advise against such a course. Your choice of marks makes your employer one of three people, Intermediary. All of whom I've prepared to cast a great deal of suspicion upon. Using means which will require significant memory, initiative, and complex acts of volition on my part to prevent that from happening."
Glancing at Nikko for a moment, Zam answered the unspoken question "You aren't the first mind-bender I've worked with. I learned a few things from that very farked up mess."
Intermediary looked meaningfully at the Dark Jedi for a moment. Once he'd nodded his confirmation that the bounty-hunter had spoken truthfully. The burly holographic representation looked at something out of view for several moments, his scarred hands typing on something which didn't appear in the hologram, then returned his attention to the Clawdite. "One hundred and seventy thousand credits, deposited in the account you designated. I believe that concludes our business, Mistress Wesell."
Backing out of the room so smoothly it was obviously a practiced maneuver, the Clawdite was gone in seconds without a reply. She paused to presumably check her account balance once beyond the signal jamming of the chamber, then her lightly running steps began fading into the distance almost immediately.
Behind her, a pair of men driven by very different things went back to plotting as if there had been no interruption.
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Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Waiting area outside the High Council's chamber (Three hours after the assassination attempts)
For one of the few times I could easily recall offhand, the Temple unquestionably felt like the haven for Jedi it was meant to be. It's tranquil environs, plus the simple presence of so many calm and peaceful minds helped me shed the lingering remnants of darker impulses still clinging to me as I meditated. It hadn't been immediately obvious even in the aftermath of the attempt on Padme's life, but as I'd driven Qui Gon's rented airspeeder farther from the site of the assassination attempt, the truth concerning what had just happened to me grew more and more apparent.
I'd been the intended victim of a telepathic attack as insidious as it was powerful. It was embarrassing that I was more than halfway to the Temple, before I was able to piece that much together. Even though my head had still felt muzzy, and continued to ache something fierce, that hadn't felt like sufficient excuse for failing to see what was right in front of me. For what I hadn't seen in it's entirety until I was back in the Temple. It wasn't until I'd been given the opportunity to shower, change, then make my way to the waiting area outside the Council chamber, that I'd really begun to see the entirety of the scheme as I settled into my meditations.
"The guardsmen being compelled to act as distractions. The shooter with the sniper rifle. The follow-up attack by the guards. Simultaneously a feint, within a feint, within a feint, the intended pyre upon which that darksider tried to cremate my sanity, and multiple redundant methods with which to seek Padme's death. It's the kind of plan one would expect a quasi-immortal vampire to come up with." Despite the soothing strain of the Force's serene song here in the heart of Jedi power, I felt uneasy as my silent reflecting upon recent events bore fruit.
Knowing it was only my "paranoid" habit of maintaining mental shielding I constantly worked to strengthen which had stopped that plan from succeeding? Uneasiness was simply what remained after I'd run the emotional gamut. Beginning with my being outraged someone had attempted to warp my will to their own ends. On through to embarrassment and frustration I hadn't perceived and put a stop to their attempt immediately. Before finally ending up seething with an icy resolve to see this mind-rapist stopped. It revolved me to my core, how they'd used their power to murder innocent people. How they'd tried to make me just like them. Unlike during my days as an apprentice, I didn't try to deny these feelings by using the Force as a crutch to immediately release them. Here and now, where I had the time to handle my feelings properly, I let the ugly emotions run their course naturally, then called on the Force's peace as I sought to rebuild and regain my emotional equilibrium.
Calmed by the soothing strains of the Force, I found myself finally slipping into a deeper, sharper state of meditative focus. I was just finishing the process of setting my thoughts in order for my now significantly overdue audience with the Council, when I found my awareness drawn gently yet inexorably elsewhere. It had been so long since my Farsight decided to make a genuine appearance, as opposed to my continually lying about it having done so behind the safety of mental fortifications which made challenging my accurate assertions problematic, that I found my thought-processes wrenched from thoughts of pointed Council questioning and the threat posed to Padme by an as yet nameless darksider assassin.
This was the very first time my spirit had decided to actually leave my body and travel elsewhere, so it was challenging to remain detached enough that my essence didn't snap back to my corporeal form. I had to give up any pretense of control, and simply allow the Force to carry me where it would. Important as whatever sight it wished me to see undoubtedly was, I also knew that fortuitous manifestations like this one were the initial key required before one could learn how to do this at will. Spirit projection had been one of the more devastating tools in Sidious's hands during the Imperial Era, so I found myself understandably keen to see if I could master the capability myself. Given the fact we Jedi seemed set to become spooks and special forces rather than commanding officers in the coming war, the acquisition of controlled clairvoyance could potentially save an incalculable number of innocent lives down the line.
I soon recognized the Force wasn't taking me far, as I was tugged through a number of the Temple's walls and ceilings to drift into one of the Initiate dormitories. Where I glimpsed a pair of older female Initiates sitting on one bed, and a third teen with a distinctive apprentice braid in her black hair seated upon the other, I prepared to pull my consciousness away by main force if any of them were in a state of undress. Fortunately, and despite the fact it was at least an hour after lights out, all three were fully clothed in fresh tunics and leggings. Likely having just finished cleaning up after the evening training segment, if the damp brown hair of the human girl, the subtle gleam of the blue-white lekku belonging to the Togruta, and the freshly polished horns of the reddish orange-skinned Zabrak Padawan facing the other two girls was anything to go by.
Drifting closer, I noticed a table that normally functioned as a joint nightstand had been pushed down into a position between both beds. Currently covered in pieces of flimsi and a couple of active data-pads, all three teens were leaning forward to scrutinize the table's contents, but it was the Padawan whose name I felt I should know who was obviously leading this endeavor that Ahsoka and Bene were defying curfew to take part in.
My curiosity as to what was occurring seemed to act as a magnet. Pulling me near enough, I could see one data-pad was highlighting the academic marks and showings of both Initiates in the Apprentice Tournament. The page-counter at the bottom of the data-pad indicated it was currently displaying page two of twelve. Telling me this was a fairly in-depth assessment of the two teens, if the remainder of the pages also dealt with them, as seemed quite likely.
The other data-pad proved even more illuminating. It was presently listing a number of Jedi Knights and Masters, with brief bios and general areas of interest itemized beneath each name. Taken together with the contents of the previous pad, it was enough to answer the riddle of what I was being shown. My nonexistent lips wanted to twitch into a smile, because why wouldn't some of the bolder and more driven individuals from the current crop of Initiates scout their prospective Masters, as those potential Masters themselves scouted potential apprentices?
The lightest of psychic touches brushed my awareness just as my attention was returning to the three teens themselves. Triggering a reflex born of long and grueling training, my mind snapped shut like a trap, then my shields came up, and the world became an incomprehensible whorl of colors and indistinct shapes a split-second later. Leaving me back in my body. Gasping like I'd just run ten kilometers at a dead sprint, with my heart hammering, and my stomach roiling in momentary protest of the vertigo like sensation. The physical aftereffects of my Force-fueled jaunt through the ether being brought to an abrupt end began subsiding as soon as I opened my eyes, but my irritation over the interloper's interruption was taking a little longer to fade.
It helped that Master Tiin was wearing what I needed a moment to recognize as an apologetic expression, as he explained in his very direct manner "I regret disturbing what I now realize was a moment of deep communion with the Force, Anakin. Your mental presence seemed so attenuated when I found you, I began to share Master Jinn's concern that the darksider responsible for the attempt upon Senator Amidala's life might have injured you in a manner not readily apparent."
Rising from the meditation cushion, I decided to provide the explanation the Iktotchi Jedi Master seemed to be looking for. "I think the Force was showing me a next possible step on my path as a Jedi. I was meditating to regain my equilibrium after the dark side adept's attack, then I found myself slipping into a highly focused state, before my awareness was suddenly drawn elsewhere. It seemed similar to Farsight, but viscerally comprehensive in a manner I'd never experienced before."
Another Jedi might have inquired what I meant by that, but Saesee Tiin only replied "Something you should discuss with Master Yoda, perhaps."
Sensing there was more reason for the Jedi Master's presence than him being the one selected to inform me the High Council was finally ready for me to attend them, I simply nodded my silent agreement with his suggestion, then waited patiently for the Iktotchi to reveal his real reason for being here.
For the first time I could recall, Master Tiin seemed hesitant and uncomfortable, as he eventually began to explain "The initial findings of the Sentinels sent to investigate the dark side manifestation still permeating the speeder annex seem to confirm Master Jinn's theory that it was an attack targeting you specifically. One designed to fill you with an ungovernable rage, at the very least."
Looking at me steadily, his thin lips were pursed with distaste, as he finished "The other members of the Council are concerned you may have been adversely affected by this attack, and don't even know it. There is also some question as to how you managed to resist such a powerful and insidious form of psychic assault, if indeed you were completely successful in fending off the assassin. Which is why the other members of the Council requested I use my abilities to carry out an examination which will hopefully allay those concerns, and perhaps answer some of the questions which have been raised. If you would lower your shields, please, we can conclude this unpleasantly intrusive business as swiftly as possible."
It was the most I'd ever heard the normally terse and taciturn Jedi say at one time, but his clear unhappiness with the prospect of a mandatory mind-reading procedure did little to quell my own displeasure with the situation.
Keeping my tone respectful, I replied with all the diplomacy I could muster "You know me well enough to understand the premium I place on my privacy and sense of personal agency, because I remember what it was like to live without either. It's my hope, Master Tiin, that you'll keep this in mind while perusing my thoughts." I could have said more, but most of what I might have stated would have made me sound like someone with something to hide.
"Given that I am someone with quite a few things to hide from most of the Order, that would be more than a little problematic" I found myself thinking.
It was difficult to tell with the thick reddish-orange skin, and the subtle differences in facial musculature normal for his species, but I thought the tall, cranial-horned telepath looked rather sympathetic, as he answered directly "I'm only interested in your emotional state from the time of the attempted assassination up to the present, and those memories which pertain to the event in question. Once I've examined these things, I'll ask you to slowly return your shields to the condition they were in while you were escorting the Senator. Anything else would fall beyond the scope of what I agreed to determine."
He paused a moment, and I could see the curved creases arcing downward across his cheeks grow deeper, before he very quietly finished "I have some familiarity with what it's like to be singled out and looked on with suspicion for one's abilities." It was a rare admission concerning the personal life of one Saesee Tiin, and the closest thing to an acknowledgement that all was not what it should be with the High Council I was going to get from the fiercely dedicated Jedi Master.
With a resigned sigh, I dropped the outermost layer of my shields, then the inner layer. Finally willing the mirror-walled fortress about the wellspring of my volition and innermost thought-processes to dissolve. My teacher had taught me how to take my mental defenses to the next level when she'd realized how committed I was to the idea of protecting my mind and will, but I'd simply accepted this development as another example of her extreme thoroughness as a mentor, when compared to more "traditional" Masters. It was something I was grateful for, of course, but nothing I considered especially remarkable. Not when I considered some of her more grueling and harrowing training methods.
I knew what request was coming next, so I spared my instructor in starfighter combat the trouble. Meeting his yellow eyed gaze, I facilitated the telepathic Councilor's ability to read me. It was a stressful, intensely uncomfortable experience. Knowing I was so completely exposed to someone who was so dedicated to the Order, he really might consider my opinion of it's present state the worst sort of heresy and disloyalty. Still, I was a Jedi Knight, not some wet-behind-the-ears youngling. I'd faced the Crystal Caves, survived being Dark Woman's apprentice, and overcome the Trials. I could, albeit with effort, meet the scrutiny of one mind-reader with the calm balance befitting a Jedi.
"You experienced an intense desire to torture and kill the suborned guardsmen. The rage you experienced latched on to a preexisting loathing for traitors, and your impulse to protect Senator Amidala. I can see threads of fabricated thought wound about and through your thoughts during the assassination attempt. The torture-murder imperatives were insinuated using the rage as the vector of infection, but the provoked emotions and imperative were dulled and partially fragmented. Like a semi-solid strained through a fine mesh under extreme pressure. It was this phenomena which robbed them of a significant portion of their capacity to impel you along the desired course. Along with your natural resistance to taking an action you found morally repugnant due to the treachery-aspect, of course. Interesting" Tiin assessed in a distant and detached voice.
I was lingering over this part of the event deliberately. Jumping back and forth between the actual assassination attempt's lead-up, commission, and my interactions with the dying loyal guardsman. Particularly that last part, because of the likelihood that Saesee Tiin would, as a member of the High Council, know the identity of the Anzat Dark Jedi assassin. There was no way to stop the powerful and skilled mind-reader from digging for what he liked, but readily providing him with extremely relevant information stood a fair chance of dividing his attention somewhat. From there I let my thoughts travel the path of realizations I'd come to on the drive back to the Temple, and what I'd done to rid myself of the remnant of tarry, clinging anger which had dogged me until shortly before his approach had interrupted my journey via the Force.
It went without saying I was using all the training which provided a foundation for the Thought Shield technique to keep thoughts of Padme out of my surface-level thinking. I couldn't do anything for the burned-in surge of relief when I saw she'd only been lightly grazed, because all of that was a germane part of the assassination attempt the Jedi Master was specifically looking for, but that by itself wasn't likely to make him jump to any Jedi Code violating assumptions. At least I didn't think it would. Which I wasn't actually thinking about now.
Looking at me intently after his gray rimmed yellow eyes refocused, I had the immediate sense the Iktotchi had seen more than I would have liked, because he was radiating that vague, diffuse sort of disapproval I had long suspected Jedi Masters actually trained to project at the rest of us when they weren't prepared to call someone out on an element of specific wrongdoing.
Rather than walk into the trap which had been catching Initiates, Padawans, and Knights slow on the uptake since the Order's days on Ossus, if not long before, I calmly pretended not to notice said disapproval, then inquired levelly "Would you like me to begin putting my shielding back in order, as it was during the assassination attempt, Master Tiin?"
We studied each other in silence for several long moments more, before he simply nodded. It took more time to run through the long-internalized steps to refashion my defenses than it had taken to dismantle them, but in less than a minute, I was once more a walking cypher to my fellows. I took a moment to wonder what exactly my elected inquisitor had glimpsed in my thoughts, but ultimately decided it didn't matter. Sooner or later, one way or another, the truth would come out. I wasn't going to live my life increasing the angst-density of the universe, as so many of my attachment-possessing brothers and sisters were intent on doing while they remained "in the closet."
Not that I considered Saesee Tiin of all people a likely tale-bearer. Not when it was the unique telepathic abilities which had so ostracized him from his peers for the first three-quarters of his time within the Order which would be at issue. I wouldn't put it past the man to try and "develop" non-telepathic proof of my indiscretion, if indeed he'd even seen enough to know what was going on, but triggering the likely expulsion of a Jedi Knight solely on the basis of information gleaned during a mind-scan ostensibly done to ensure that Jedi's well-being?
Faced with the choice of being decapitated by Sidious's saber, or being branded Captain of the Council's Thought-Police? I knew which one he'd choose every time.
The gifted mind-reader mmm'd underneath his breath. Once more possessed of that thousand meter stare, as he continued to consider the mental defenses he'd just watched me raise.
Eventually, the powerfully built alien provided his verdict. "Was it your Master who trained you to fuse the Thought Shield and Force Guard techniques together, or is this an example of the sort of idiotic experimentation which regularly kills young Jedi Knights?" His frown as he asked the question was deep, and there was the promise of considerably more concentrated disapproval in the Jedi Master's creased features.
I rifled through my memories of my lessons, then honestly replied "It's just the way Master Dark Woman taught me to protect my mind. I remember her saying something about my having enough strength to put the shield-constructs together in one block, but I had no idea they were two separate techniques. I mean, I know what Force Immunity is, but I always thought there was a big difference between that, and what I was taught. That it was something the Sentinels, particularly the Shadows, trained their own in."
Tiin shook his head, then explained "It's one of those techniques which has different degrees of mastery, like Tutaminis. I would have thought your Master would know better than to experiment with the Force, but folly can find us at any age, it seems."
He looked at me very intently, then went on very firmly "You should most certainly not consider your teacher's exceptionally ill-advised experimentation something to emulate! Am I making myself absolutely clear on this point, Jedi Skywalker?"
This was another one of those things I thought the Order crazy for embracing, but I nodded obediently. Well aware I didn't (yet) have the reputation and support necessary to change "heresy" into "doctrine."
The Jedi Master studied me for a few more moments, then said "At least that explains how you escaped unscathed. Now that this unpleasantness is out of the way, you just have to answer for everything which happened on Cato Neimoidia. A great deal has happened in a very short while, after all."
Beckoning for me to follow, he spun in place, then stalked back through the Council chamber doors which had just hissed open.
Sighing under my breath, I followed along after him.
A/N: It's been a MURDEROUS couple weeks, all. Sorry the chapter once AGAIN didn't make it to the actual meeting, but I thought this was some really relevant material. Also had to take care of some things pointed out after the last chapter. Will try to get the next chapter out ASAP. As always, constructive criticism is welcome