Chapter 28: Unexpected Tagalong

Summary: A peek at Izuku's thinking...

Warning! Chapters 24-28 were all released back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any!

Chapter 28: Unexpected Tagalong

... ...

The grey-haired man's wry smile made it apparent that Aayla's attempt at calm hadn't fooled him. Thankfully, his first words were a reassurance that calmed her internal panicking, at least a little.

"Hello again, Aayla. You can relax. Master Fay has already informed me of your situation. Both the initial loss of your memories, and her helping you to heal for these past few weeks." He bowed lightly, but with sincerity in Izuku's direction. "As well as about the young man who recused you. You have my thanks, Mr. Midoriya. I am Master Tholme, Quinlin Voss's former Master. When he went missing, I was the logical one to track down both him and his Padawan."

Aayla's emotions turned solemn at her former Master's name.

"Master Tholme…Master Voss…he…"

Tholme raised his hand to quiet her, sadness openly apparently on his face.

"I know, Padawan. I was able to track…what happened to him. As well as what happened to you. It took quite a bit longer to follow you, he clearly taught you well how to move around the underworld, even with half your memories missing. We can talk more about that later, however. For now, Master Fay has advised me to keep the details of what is going on to myself until I have the full story. While she will be moving on, I will be returning with you to Ossus to get that story. I must admit I look forward to meeting Master Bnar. You certainly seem to have picked up Quinlin's penchant for stumbling into unusual situations."

His smile at that was just as wry as before, though there was a certain fondness in the words. That, more than anything, seemed to set Aayla more at ease. Though Izuku was less sanguine about the situation. Without Master Fay to weigh in on their side directly, the next week while they traveled to Ossus could be…prickly.

... ...

Master Tholme had appeared to be more than a little bemused at the sheer amount of hardware that they had needed to pack into the Wandering Fate before leaving. He'd also been shocked to be introduced to Celeste Morne, whose presence Fay had apparently not hinted at until said introduction. It was only after vouching for Morne's story that Fay herself separated from them, stopping only for a brief conversation with Izuku and Aayla. She had encouraged them to be honest with Tholme, saying she had a feeling he was a part of what they were being called together for. That little detail had helped set them a bit more at ease, at least while they had the distraction of the loading to see too. Though the uncertainty had returned now that they were seated across from the older man in the lounge of the Wandering Fate, already in hyperspace for the first jump back toward Ossus.

Aayla had started the story, at Master Tholme's surprisingly gentle prompting…and a lot had come spilling out once she started. It was clear to Izuku that Aayla actually knew this Jedi, unlike Fay who she'd only known by reputation. Something which he probably should have realized when she greeted Tholme, or after he'd defined their connection. Though, in his defense, he still didn't really understand how the Jedi Order as a whole worked. Still, whatever her reasons, Aayla's story left very little out. In fact, the only thing she refrained from mentioning was their relationship and the rather embarrassing nature of the restraints she'd been trapped in for months. Izuku took his cue from her and freely shared his own observations, to help flesh out and complete the story. When they were finally finished, the older Jedi leaned back with a look of mixed resignation and incredulity on his face.

"You might actually be worse at stumbling into these things than Quinlin was. I didn't think that was even possible."

He sighed and rubbed at his temple with one hand, in a gesture that seemed halfway between warding off a migraine and simply thinking. Eventually, after several minutes to process, he nodded and gestured toward Aayla.

"Okay. While I want to ask a few questions of both the two of you and Master Bnar, I can see where his evaluation of the situation is coming from. Particularly as I know more about the situation with the Sith than any of you did. When we leave the Perlemian, I'll send a quick update back to the Temple. I won't tell them where we are going, only that I've located you and that you've been in the care of Master Fay. Her reputation will buy us a fair bit of time. So long as I don't mention that she's moved on, they will assume you're still being helped by her. With her being one of the top, if not the top, healers in the Order, no one will think twice about you getting some extended treatment from her."

When they sighed in relief, he grinned…but then pinned them with a more serious stare.

"Don't think I missed the part where you left out your relationship."

They both flinched at that…only to shift to confusion as he laughed instead of starting to lecture.

"You two clearly have the Force's own luck, or at least its favor. Nearly any other Jedi would have been trouble for you, if they found out. I, however, happen to be a firm believer in the older ways of the Jedi. Which is most likely a strong part of why Quinlin turned out the way he did." He pinned them with a look and added, "Not that I won't bring it to the Council if you two prove it to be a problem. But I will give you the chance to prove you can handle it, before doing anything of the sort."

Aayla sighed in relief, reaching over to openly squeeze Izuku's hand with hers.

"That's all we could ever ask for, Master Tholme. Rest assured that Master Fay has spoken to us about it at length, both separately and together."

The older man nodded, obviously having expected that much, but still clearly pleased by the confirmation. A moment later, he turned to Izuku.

"With that said, something tells me you have more planned for all that hardware than your companions have realized just yet. So tell me, oh potential Battle Master, just what are you thinking?"

Izuku blinked, even as he felt Aayla glance his way in confusion. He did have…maybe 12% of a plan. But he hadn't brought it up yet, since he didn't have any idea if it was even practical. How had the man even guessed? Master Tholme grinned and answered that much a second later.

"Don't be too surprised, kid. Aayla just spilled the guts about your little operation on The Wheel. While you two might have been out of touch with the rest of the galaxy, I haven't been. Ask Aak was arrested almost a week ago, on several dozen different charges. The investigation of which began when an anonymously delivered data chip arrived at the Jedi Temple, complete with an older code phrase used by undercover Jedi. The information on that chip was a fantastic starting point, which broke open a dozen other violations in the not-so-good senator's past. Even with the courts as much of a corrupt mess as they are, the evidence is sufficiently overwhelming that he'll likely be facing at least a moderate prison term. Not to mention that he already lost his Senate seat when the Protectorate threw him under the speeder to save face for themselves."

Aayla and Izuku both gaped. Events since then had nearly made them forget about that part of their little plan. Heck, Izuku had been less than convinced, even then, that it would actually work! Tholme laughed at their expressions, before gesturing at Izuku.

"That was good work. Enough so I wish you were younger, so I could convince the Order to let you in. It also, however, tells me that you're the type to plan things out and work around any legal issues, as it were. I don't believe for a minute you haven't been giving some thought to the problem since Master Bnar brought it up. So, let's have it."

Slowly, uncertainly, Izuku started trying to put the pieces of his plan into something like a coherent structure to share. He really only had pieces and a general outline, so far.

"I…haven't said anything because I don't even know if it will work. It's barely a small part of the start of a plan, anyway."

Tholme cheerfully nodded acknowledgement of that, but gestured for him to get on with it. Well, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to have the opinion of somewhat else with more experience in the galaxy at large…

"The biggest issue is the idea that we're going to need people. The Infinite Engine seeds can be leveraged to take care of a lot of material issues. That's a whole other issue on its own, but one I intend to set Mei loose on. If anyone can figure out how to get the most use out of them, it's her. The real bottleneck is, as I said, people. And I think the key to solving the issue is the slave trade. Both the illegal trade and the legal trade. The fact that solving our manpower issue will let us put a crimp in another long-term galactic problem is just a bonus."

Now he had both Aayla and Tholme's undivided attention. Not that he didn't understand why. But it was more than a bit unnerving.

"Parts of this I'd already sort of worked out before Ossus, because human trafficking is one of the crimes that I was specifically trained to put a stop to. I was never going to leave it alone once I realized it existed here. The trouble is the sheer scale of it. Free a dozen slaves? It's a start but the market won't even notice. Free a thousand? Only the local crime scene will notice. No, you need to free millions across the Republic in order to seriously impact the trade as a whole. Right?"

Aayla was frowning, but Tholme was nodding seriously, a curious light in his eyes.

"That is the issue, yes. The Jedi have never been able to do all that much about the slave trade for exactly that reason. There's too few of us to free enough of them to really hurt the practice."

Izuku nodded. He'd assumed from the start that was one of the major problems. The laws that made a lot of slavery entirely too legal were the other half of the issue, of course, but he wasn't going to bring that up just now. Baby steps. Particularly when those laws weren't something he had any idea how to deal with on the galactic scale. They were old, entrenched, and he wasn't a politician.

"Right. So, even more than how to free that many people, there's the issue of what to do with them afterward. There are worlds like Kashyyyk or Alderaan that would happily take in a few thousand slaves. Likewise, the underground hyperlane would take as many as they could. But millions? Most of whom have nothing to go back to once freed? Many of whom are going to need expensive support structures to get over their trauma? How do you provide for that…and how do you make all these needs work together to counter each other as problems?"

Tholme looked like he had some idea where this was going, and his next comment revealed he certainly had a hint of Izuku's plan.

"I've had some experiences with the underground. I suppose you intend, in part, to use their method, of getting ex-slaves to help more ex-slaves. That has limits, though."

Izuku nodded, both in acknowledgement of that part of the plan, and of the limits.

"It had limits. Until you add the Infinite Engine into the picture. That changes the equation, letting you play some of the problems off against each other. The Engine produces legitimate trade goods, like those we sold here. But sell too many of them with a single ship, and without an obvious origin point for the goods, and someone will eventually notice. Make many ships, crew them with the rescued slaves that have the right skills, and set them up as a legitimate transport business? A lot less noticeable. Buy up or take over legitimate factories that produce similar products? Less noticeable still as the 'excess' created by the Engine fades into the background of the legitimately manufactured goods."

Tholme had sat up straighter, clearly having followed the chain of logic all the way out already.

"Turn around and spend the money made on supporting the slaves without the right skills. Wash, rinse, repeat."

Izuku grinned and nodded, but took it two steps farther.

"Yes. Better yet, build schools to teach any rescued slave whatever skill they want, within reason. Then recruit from the schools into businesses you create or invest in. Use excess money to start buying legal slaves from places like Ryloth, free them and funnel them through the same schools. Dump them back onto Ryloth with the money for big business ventures of their own, until they control the economy of the planet. Then choke that particular branch of the slave trade off at the root by using their economic control to make it illegal planet wide."

Aayla's eyes gleamed at that idea. She also quickly caught onto the component that could be added to all of this with their more recently considered needs.

"All the way along you recruit more people that want to free slaves. Give them the skills, the weapons, and ships. Use them to tackle the slave trade galaxy wide. So long as you target the illegal trade only, and don't break the armament laws, there's nothing the Republic can do about it, legally. Hell, they'd even have to pay up bounties on the slaver and pirate groups you take down. Eventually, you'll end up with a sizable fleet of small ships."

Izuku nodded…and hesitated for a moment over the next reveal. Shrugging, he took the plunge.

"Not just small ships. You missed one loophole, though I understand why you did since you effectively have a Core education. The armament laws only apply to ships operating in Republic space. And the largest slavery operations in the galaxy are all outside Republic Space. Such as the Hutts."

Tholme and Aayla stared at him, their own Republic-centric view of the galaxy fighting with the obvious mental leap. They were getting it, but it was rearranging their mental framework in the process. He put it into clearer words for them, just to help it along.

"If we set up a base on a world outside Republic Space, and don't ever use the ships we build to cross over into Republic territory…we can build as many capital ships as we want. Completely legally."

The two Jedis straining worldviews were not helped by the Force feeling suspiciously like it was humming Ride of the Valkyries at the edge of their perceptions…

... ... ...

A/N 1: Okay, to clear something up real quick, since I know it will bother SOMEONE. Ride of the Valkyries was only how Izuku related the feel of the Force humming. An equivalent song that Tholme or Aayla knew would have been felt by them.

A/N 2: Even more importantly than that, since I know someone will likely bring it up. NO, the Force itself doesn't actually care that they are going to go on an anti-slavery Crusade. The Light Side probably does care, somewhat. But the Force as a whole normally would not. The Cosmic Force as a whole is (as I see it) too detached for such specific morality. However, it is aware enough (I think) to rebel against Palpatine's future of mass-destruction. Kill too many things and you literally wound the Force. Like at Malachor V in the Kotor series. Alderaan nearly certainly would have created a similar wound in the Force. Even the Cosmic Force isn't going to take kindly to actions that manage to actually hurt it in a meaningful way. Thus, the Force here isn't happy about the Specific action they are taking. Rather, it's positively cheerful at the idea of completely derailing a future that would result in its personal equivalent of stab wounds. It doesn't want stab wounds. It will cheerfully beat drums of war for someone it feels will help it avoid stab wounds. With Izuku's relatively direct connection to it, they can all therefore feel it when it's cheerfully encouraging someone to prevent egotistical Sith assholes from giving it stab wounds...

A/N 3: I only mention this once per release, but my stories have a  Page where some early access content is available. In example, I just released chapters 29-32 of Displaced Hero there, giving it just over another 14,000 more words which will remain in early access until next month. Similarly, there are at least a few Early Access chapters there for ALL of my stories, though NONE of them are ever permanently paywalled. All fanfiction content I make ends up here (or on Fanfiction.net) eventually, as new content for each story is released. I've recently quit a side-gig job that was draining my soul out one metaphorical papercut at a time, and I'm putting the time I was using for it toward releasing a lot more content, more quickly. If you'd like to support me continuing to be able to do so (instead of having to find another side gig to keep eating), I'd appreciate your support :-).