Chapter 53: Laying Foundations
Summary: Librarians, Skywalkers. Both of them can get you stuck if you're not careful.
*Warning* Chapters 52-55 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you catch them all!
Chapter 53: Laying Foundations
Aayla hadn't escaped the grip of the archivists and Council of First knowledge after all. Mostly, it had to be said, because it had turned out that Anakin Skywalker wasn't currently at the Temple. Instead, he'd been out on a mission with his master when Aayla first arrived. That was sort of understandable, given the kid was 14 now. It wasn't unusual for padawans of that age to go with their Master on simpler missions, though rarely for any that were expected to be truly dangerous. She'd admittedly been a tad surprised by it, given that the kid would have needed to make up for years of ordinary education and Force training alike before being allowed to leave the Temple. Was he just that talented that he'd already caught up to where he would have been if he'd joined the Temple earlier? Or was Kenobi being reckless with the kid?
Well, whichever was the case, it had meant that Aayla was stuck on Coruscant until the two made it back, thankfully from a mission that wasn't intended to run terribly long. In turn, being stuck there for a couple of weeks had been both good and bad. Bad because the archivists and First Knowledge people had gotten their hands on her and asked her several thousand questions, some of which she was fairly certain had gotten her a little too much attention as she had to dance around how she'd actually gotten to Tython in the first place. She'd refused to explain the how, instead stating only that the method was repeatable if they decided to launch an expedition. But that she wouldn't share the method unless it was actually needed, as it was potentially dangerous information to be shared.
Frankly, that firm statement hadn't done her any favors, and she was very glad that Kenobi and Skywalker were due back in a few days. The longer she stayed, the more likely someone was to push the High Council into ordering her to share the information. Which would be…problematic. Something she was only more aware of when Master Windu began looking at her with consternation whenever they crossed paths. She was virtually certain he was seeing a Shatterpoint evolving around her presence here, and that the longer she stayed the larger and more probable it was growing.
On the flip side, being around the Temple had done her some good to offset the bad. She'd gotten in some excellent spars, been able to research some information in depth in the archives, and reconnected with a number of old friends and acquaintances. That last one was the most…complicated. She was fully aware now, in a way she couldn't deny due to the vision on Tatooine, that she had a part to play on a larger stage in the future. With that understanding, Aayla had thrown herself into being sociable with more than the usual reasons in mind. She was a natural extrovert, so it was hardly a trial to chat up and hang out with a number of other Knights, Masters and Padawans. Yet, the fact that she knew she was doing so in part to feel out their thoughts on certain subjects and solidify slightly frayed bonds of friendship for ulterior reasons left her feeling just a tiny bit guilty.
Only a little, mind you. The time spent here at the Main Temple was also reminding her just how far her perception on what made a proper Jedi had deviated from the normal mold. That deviation had begun with Master Vos, who hadn't been a traditional Jedi by any measure. Masters Ood Bnar, Fay, Morne and Tholme had all only solidified and farther shaped the differences as they each exposed her to radically different views and thoughts. Exposure to the Almas Jedi hadn't helped, nor to the various non-Jedi Force Traditions she'd encountered in her travels. Add in her relationship with Izuku to the mix, and Aayla honestly felt like a bit of an imposter moving among the more traditional Jedi of the Temple.
Or she had at first.
As her first week had stretched into a second, her reconnections with others were beginning to reveal a nuance to the Jedi Order that she'd never realized was present. With Master Vos not liking Coruscant at all, Aayla had spent a lot of time away from the Temple even as a young Padawan, and it was as such that only now was she beginning to see the fracture lines she'd missed as an Initiate. There were factions in the Order, both large and small. Some were fairly marginal splinter groups. One example being the odd bunch that were the Grey Paladins. That group remained technically a part of the Jedi Order but specifically (and near heretically!) insisted on minimizing reliance on the Force. They hadn't outright left the Order like the Altisian Jedi or the Iron Knights, both of whom were additional interesting groups that Aayla had noted down. But the Paladins were small in number and had little impact on the Order as a whole.
Others, however, were of more significance.
The Temple Guard were perhaps the smallest, but most formal, of the groups that really mattered to the Jedi Order's internal numbers and politics. Even a brief overview of their beliefs caused Aayla outright alarm, as they actually matched a bit too closely with the utterly detached automatons that outsiders sometimes thought Jedi were. But they were a formal division in the Order, much like the Circle of Healers or the Archivists. Aayla had known about them and understood how their differing priorities influenced the Order, at least in an intellectual way.
What she hadn't known about was the less formal factions. The ones that had both quiet and not-so-quiet disagreements over how the Jedi Order did business. About the Code, about their connection to an increasingly corrupt Senate, about the High Councils sometimes inscrutable choices. These factions, informal as they were, were so loose and overlapping that from a distance it might look like unity, of a sort. But up close? Up close Aayla was seeing some alarming fracture lines she hadn't realized existed. There were a lot of Knights, in particular, who were getting increasingly frustrated with their inability to act against the corruption in the Senate. And among the Masters, Aayla was fairly certain she'd discovered at least nine long-term relationships of a romantic nature that were either unknown or being ignored.
By the end of the second week, there was a sinking feeling in her gut that, even if she did nothing, it might be inevitable at this point that the Order fractured. After all, in a way, it already had. The Altisian Jedi, Iron Knights, and Lost Twenty had already left. The Grey Paladins had one foot out the door, and the Corellian Jedi Order barely spoke to the Main Temple. The Almas Jedi would have been yet another oddity, if they weren't an even greater oddity for their entire star system up and vanishing. More, there were plenty of Jedi who seemed to be a lot like Aayla herself, barely giving lip service to the Council and ignoring any attempts to assign them to something. Usually by the simple virtue of fucking off somewhere and doing something productive that the Council couldn't truly complain about.
Even as she returned from a spar and chat with Xiaan, a fellow Twi'lek around her age that she'd been relatively close to when she was younger, Aayla couldn't help but worry a bit about just what the future had in store…
... ...
"Thanks you, Mr. Midoriya! I promise you won't regret giving me the chance~."
Izuku twitched just slightly at the 'Mr. Midoriya' bit. Even as he internally screamed, just a little, he politely shook the hand of his new personal assistant. The woman was a Mirialan, with skin on the darker shade of green for the species. She also had a remarkable number of the geometric, repeating tattoos across her face for her age common to the species. He knew, from reading up about Mirilians prior to meeting her, that each of those marks represented a significant life achievement. Not casual achievements, or indications of maturity, but substantial markers of personal accomplishment. Skills mastered, major life goals or tasks accomplished, etcetera.
The fact that, despite having been a slave for several years, the twenty-seven-year-old had over a dozen of those markings? That showed that she was seriously talented. Something backed up entirely by her resume and the background checking he'd done on her. Background checking that had been easy because he'd kept the seeking of his personal assistant in house to their own operations. The position would have too much access to sensitive information to risk hiring an outsider. Besides, between Tythe, the Shattered Shackle, and their now-sprawling business empire, it was still a fairly deep pool of candidates to pick from.
"I'm sure I won't, Ms. Tuzm. Honestly, I'm surprised you were interested, given what a stellar job you were doing at the Lucky Rabbit. Though I am glad for it. All the coursework you decided to pursue while working there means you're uniquely qualified as an assistant for me, given the wide variety of things I deal with."
Asora Tuzm's smile was happy at the compliment.
"I liked working at the Rabbit. But after all the chances you gave me to learn? I think I can do more. I don't have the ambition to shift the galaxy, I lack that sort of drive despite loving to learn. But I can absolutely help you organize kicking the galaxy's ass into shape, boss~!"
Izuku couldn't help but chuckle at that, even as he ushered his soon-to-be assistant on her way. They'd be meeting a lot over the next months as he brought her on board with her duties, taking some of the mundane load off his shoulders slowly but surely. For now, she needed to arrange to get her new quarters arranged here at Tythe Central, the main orbital command and control center of the star system. He really did think she'd be a fantastic asset in helping him get things more streamlined.
Now, if only she hadn't previously been one of the main managers of the strip club and casino he technically owned. One who had started there as a dancer when they first opened it. And who very much still had the figure that implied. There was absolutely no way Aayla was going to let him live this down, or ever give up the number of sexy secretary jokes that he could already sense coming. Somehow, the fact that Asora herself kept flipping between bouncy and seductive whenever the mood suited her didn't fill him with confidence that she wouldn't play along with his lover, either…
... ...
Aayla swept into Knight Kenobi's quarters with a mix of a tiny bit of mischief and a little bit of wariness. Kenobi had been a very odd friend for her first Master to have. The straight man to Quinlan's chaos that made everyone wonder how the two had ever become friends at all. Personally, Aayla suspected Master Vos had just declared it would be so one day, then annoyed Kenobi constantly until the at-the-time-still-a-padawan Kenobi had given in and accepted his fate. Her first Master has sort of had that effect on a lot of people, come to think of it. Which had been a source of constant amusement for her, as her empathy had let her feel how fond of but utterly exasperated that most of his acquaintances had always been with him.
"Hello, Knight Secura. I admit I was a bit surprised to get your message that you wanted to meet with both myself and my Padawan as soon as we felt we'd recovered from our trip."
Aayla suppressed a grin as she felt just a little of that same exasperation from Kenobi, as she'd copied Master Vos's sweeping entrance the moment he'd open the door, tossing him a causal hello even as she slipped passed him. She'd done it on purpose of course, to see how he'd react. Thankfully, it seemed he still had fond memories of Master Vos doing the same, her fellow Knight actually untensing a little at the half-familiar routine.
"Mostly your Padawan, actually! I've got good news for him! I've corrected an utterly moronic oversight that occurred when he first joined the Order. Ah…fair warning, you're probably going to get pulled in for a lecture by the Seekers about how to properly handle new Initiates. You aren't in trouble, given that you couldn't have been expected to know the proper procedures with you literally becoming a Knight the same day you took Anakin on. But they are going to insist you do a course, I think, since it contributed to the clusterfuck a bit!"
Knight Kenobi blinked, even as Padawan Skywalker, who had been tinkering with what looked like a repulsor module, looked at her with confusion. Clearly, the kid had expected that she was here for Kenobi, not him.
"Uh…I'm not in trouble, am I?"
Aayla snorted, something about the way he said that making her think he usually was in trouble when someone sought him out.
"Nope! Told you, it's good news. You'll want to put the tools down and pay attention though, since it's also pretty big news. At least for you personally."
She'd started out cheerful, but leveled out to seriousness, even if she kept her smile. Making it clear it was a serious topic, but not a bad one. The Padawan's confusion only increased, and she felt him jolt as he sent out a probe in the Force only to feel it practically singing with happiness. That had started happening a lot more even when she was away from Izuku, the Force being more expressive around her. She had no idea what it meant, but it was amusing to watch people react to it. Anakin handled it better than most, recovering after a moment of shock and carefully putting down the tools he'd been using to give her his full attention.
"Alright kid, no other way to say this. The Council screwed up by the numbers. There are certain things that are supposed to be done when someone comes in from a situation like yours. Hell, I was in a similar position myself, having been a slave on Ryloth before I was brought to the Temple. I was furious when I found out about the screw up and might have verbally tore the council a few new orifices when I got back."
Padawan Skywalker's expression was a hilarious mix of shock at how casually she'd talked about chewing out the Council, and dislike for being reminded of his past. She understood that, but it was too relevant to pussyfoot around. Kenobi made an interesting noise behind her, and she was fairly sure she wasn't supposed to hear his 'Oh Force, not another one.' But it made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside when as she did.
"Anyway, the colossal karking screwup was the fact that any family for people like us, if we have any, is supposed to be quietly removed from harms way. Leaving issues like that out there while teaching someone to connect to the Force is moronic, so it's policy take care of it, even if it requires bending laws until they scream uncle. Your mother should have been freed, likely would have been if not for Master Jinn's death before he could report the situation properly. Thankfully, due to my ending up on Tattoine and realizing she hadn't been, she is now! Got a message straight from Shmi for you here!"
For long, agonizing moments, she could see it fail to process. Then Skywalker's back went rigid as his eyes snapped wide open, his Force Presence running wild in a way that battered at her emotional shields. Holy fuck, kid was strong! Still, Aayla had expected it, and reached out the instant before he lost control of his Force Presence to shield the entire room from the outside. Her natural gift of Force Empathy meant she was very good at emotional shielding, and despite his strength, she was able to keep his emotional explosion from leaking past the walls. Better no one had reason to investigate.
For long, heart-wrenching moments, Anakin stared at the dataslate she was holding out. It was a high end, holographic model, rather than a standard issue slate. With a soft smile, Aayla tapped a key to show the first frame of the message it contained, Shmi's smiling face popping up in still frame over the slate. Anakin lurched forward, trembling hands grasping, and she let him take it. She reached out to steady him as he seemed unsure what to do with it.
"Probably best you take it to your room, yeah? I'll keep up the shielding around your room so you can listen in private. Come back out when you're ready and I can answer any questions. I also have something else for you from her, so don't take too long, hmm?"
Jerkily, the kid nodded and stumbled to his feet. Jedi with Padawans were given rooms that had a small extra bedroom for their trainee, and Anakin fumbled the controls for it, disappearing into his little nook for privacy. Aayla adjusted the shielding, laying it mostly around the kid's room and tripling down on the smaller space, so he'd mostly have privacy with his emotions even from her and Kenobi. Speaking of whom, she turned to assess him. He looked…shocked. Shocked and guilty. Well, she couldn't have that.
"Don't. Don't beat yourself up over it. I said it before. You couldn't possibly have known the correct procedures. The High Council, after I chewed them out for the whole thing, outright admitted it was their screw up, not yours. That all of them knew the situation, knew you were too new to know what the policies were, but all assumed that someone else was handling it. Heck, if Skywalker had gone into a normal Initiate position, it would have been handled when a file was opened for him with the Council of Reassignment. It was only the incredibly specific set of circumstances which allowed this to fall through gaps no one had ever even considered existed before."
Her words were at least enough to get the older Knight to refocus a bit, reaching out to the Force for calm. He clearly didn't quite agree with her. But he'd be getting his own talking to from the Acquisition Division and the Council. Not to mention the Mind Healers that she's signed them both up for, with a countersigned order from Vokara Che to keep them away from missions until they attended sessions and were properly cleared. Since the Council, Acquisitions Division, and Mind Healers should all tell him the same thing, hopefully hearing it from that many mouths would help. For now, well, he was a Knight. He'd deal with it better than the kid was going to be managing, most likely. Hmmm, better strike while the iron was got, though.
"If you really feel guilty, though…then I'd suggest the best way to make up for it would be to not report the little gift I have for your Padawan. The Council agreed to me giving Anakin that message…but they sort of don't know I also have this."
Kenobi's focus shifted to the bulky comm device in Aayla's hands. Despite how hefty it was, it was quite new looking. As it should be, considering that it was personally worked up by Mei while they were on Hosk Station. How her new sister-in-sexy-Izuku-time had managed to cram an encryption/scrambler module, one that would probably take even a Jedi slicer weeks or months to crack, into something only a bit over twice the size of a regular comm, Aayla didn't know. She'd done it, though. Even if someone knew to look for the signal, it would be a nightmare to actually break into it. Since it routed through several high-security relays used by the Shattered Shackle, it would also be nearly impossible to follow the signal through the Hypercomm network to Shmi.
"A custom commlink?"
Kenobi was obviously confused, but that was understandable.
"Only sort of. It's encrypted as heck and only connects to a single other comm, after routing through some high-security relays. Specifically, it can connect him to the other half of the pair, in Shmi's possession. I…know the usual policy on contact with family. But in this case I think the only way to undo the damage of the Order having left her in danger is to actually let them talk every once in a while. It will help him come to terms with the fact she's okay."
Kenobi's expression shifted as he tried to sort through what he felt about that. Aayla shrugged and laid out her reasoning a bit more.
"I could have just snuck it to him. Frankly, if I thought you were the stick-in-the-mud by-the-books type entirely, I probably would have. But between who your former Master was and your friendship with my former Master, I figure you've got to have a better head on your shoulders than that. There's an admittedly sort of understandable reason why contact isn't normally encouraged…but you have to admit that him being as old as he was, plus the karking mess of us not doing this sooner, is going to leave some baggage. Better he be able to check in with her for a while, reassure himself she's doing well. Maybe even visit if you can swing it. But I still also felt it was better you know, so you can keep an eye on his emotional state."
Kenobi's nod was slow, the feeling of uncertainty in his Force presence not entirely gone. But it was enough she figured he'd at least leave the comm's existence out of any official notice for the time being. Which would have to be good enough for now. Certainly, better than Anakin being forced to hide something like it from his Master when his faith in the Order was already likely to take a bit of a blow from this. Even if it had been fixed, the knowledge it should have been fixed years ago was going to be a bit rough on him for a while, she was sure…
... ...
Izuku looked around the not-so-modest conference room. He had, with a slight amount of reluctance, let Mei loose with a not insignificant budget, telling her to design him an 'impressive' command center. The result had, as he had known it would be with asking Mei of all people to do it, been very…Plus Ultra. They weren't in the most impressive room of Command Central now. That was reserved for the War Room, where Mei had reproduced a variant of Melissa Sheild's nanotech that wasn't quite so 'nano.' An entire room made of tens of thousands of micro-bots, each one barely 5 millimeters in size. Capable of reconfiguring to virtually any need, forming consoles, seats, holoprojectors and terrain maps.
The conference room they were currently in wasn't quite that ridiculously over-the-top. But it was still far from a modest affair. Sinfully comfortable leather chairs that were designed to mold to virtually any body. A table that appeared to be nothing but a full-color hologram until you touched it and realized Mei had somehow created a type of hard-light construct. Which wasn't quite true, given that it was actually some unholy combination of holograms and micro-repulsor fields that only created the 'illusion' of physical feedback. Something which Mei was particular about, but almost no one else understood the nuance of, given that you could set down a cup or dataslate on it just find and it would seem to be perfectly solid.
The result of that bit of tech wizardry, with touchscreen displays that could be summoned and dismissed at will, either onto or projected above the circular 'conference table,' would have been eye-catching enough on its own. Mei, being Mei, had gone the additional couple of lightyears, however. The entire room appeared to be hovering in the void of space over Tythe, only the reassuringly solid feel of the floor truly breaking the illusion. The entire thing was, of course, just more showmanship with incredibly high-resolution displays fed by cameras out on one of the Orbital Defense Platforms. Instead, if you'd stripped away the illusion, you'd find phrik-plated armored walls a meter thick. The room, already deep inside the Orbital Station, would be easily able to tank multiple direct hits from a heavy turbolaser battery. As would the rest of the rooms in the Command area.
Mei had a flair for showmanship which Izuku couldn't deny, and in this case he admitted it gave this first meeting of their…High Officals? Command team? Council? He supposed knowing what to call the group as a whole was going to be another question they had to add to the docket to deal with. It was the first meeting of the group he'd gathered to lead their finally-fully-coalescing faction, at any rate. And Mei's over-the-top flair for showmanship had certainly given them a proper setting to hold their little meeting in. Even if it was also visibly distracting everyone at the moment, as they took it all in and played with the touchscreen holograms.
It did, at least, give him a chance to look them all over.
He knew many of them decently well already. Knight Tresten Agai'i was here, officially representing the 'Force user' element of their group, which Izuku had been a bit surprised to discover had grown a fair bit when he wasn't looking. Previously that group had been less than a dozen. The handful of remaining Almas Jedi, Celeste and her apprentice, Master Ood Bnar, and himself and Aayla had really been it. Masters Fay and Tholme could have been called part of their group only at a stretch, as both of them mostly did their own thing in their own ways. At some point, however, Master Nico Diath and several acolytes of his, all Jedi Knights, had connected to the Shattered Shackle.
Well known for his exploits against slavery in the Outer Rim, it even made a sort of sense. But the fact that he'd elected to simply join up with the Shackles and add his own group in as infiltration experts with barely a whisper? That had shocked Izuku when he'd discovered it. As had the fact that Master Tholme had gently directed nine other Jedi that were discontent with the Order and had mostly been mavericks doing their own thing, toward the group. In total it meant that Knight Agai'i was now, much to the human woman's own surprise and chagrin, somehow the spokeswoman for a group of over two dozen Jedi.
Rana Lin, now the Fleet Admiral representing the entire spaceborne portion of their military assets was another familiar face. As was Borgan Trillian, who Izuku had needed to visit personally to very carefully assess, as the man had been previously mostly kept away from their more militaristic operations. The man was sharp, very sharp, enough so that he'd mostly put together the pieces on his own. Thankfully, the reason the Force had pulled them to him specifically became obvious when he'd simply asked Izuku why the hell he'd waited so long to 'ask me if I wanted off the crazy hover train before it set the galaxy on fire.' The Chagrian's joking tone had been underlain with a hammered-iron will that had been forged from hearing all the stories of the people they'd helped, and despite his businessman origins he hadn't hesitated to sign on.
Others in this group were newer. A Shistavanen named Viflen T'san represented the now-officially-separate Ground Forces, both those that were part of the Shackles and those that were part of the relatively new Tythe Guard. Though Izuku was fairly certain that ground command would split again, once the Guard had enough experienced people to form up a command staff that was fully independent and specific to the star system.
A female Besalisk named Lal Graliik was next. She had been recruited, along with her husband, for their expertise in industrial chemicals. Lal had proven too good to leave stuck managing a series of industrial complexes on Tythe itself, quickly rising instead to be one of the prime logistics people for the entire planet. Slightly more calculating than many of the others, she still had a good heart, but was very clearly choosing to hitch her and her husband's star to Izuku's insanity as a way to get ahead. Acceptable, so long as she did her job. A job he was confident she'd do extremely well at.
Also present was Daru'Dokura, a male Twi'lek engineer whose family had worked for the Allanteen VI shipyards for the last few generations, but never risen as high as their talent deserved on account of being poor at playing politics. He had done extremely well at handling the construction of the orbital industry of Tythe, and had been elected from among his own fellows to represent the various shipyards and other manufacturers. Technically here as an assistant to Lal Graliik, he was more genuinely altruistic and rounded out her administration skills with an equally excellent feel for the growing space-borne portion of their industrial base.
Finally, at least for now and excluding his own new assistant, was a male Bith, Figrun Aharo. Aharo was now the official head of their various more clandestine operations, including their growing spy network. He'd originally been recruited from the Underground Hyperlane as a liaison between their operations and the Hyperlane. He'd been snatched away, thankfully without upsetting anyone, and was slowly transitioning to a position setting up much broader spy networks than had been possible before. Technically, he was still their liaison at the moment, but he was looking for someone to replace him in that spot as he was now fully committed to what he saw as the best chance of seeing freedom spread through the dark parts of the galaxy.
It was a good team, though one he wished Aayla could be here to help him corral. For now, he'd just have to make do. They were all finally starting to focus again after playing with all the new 'toys' present, which meant it was time to get started. This first meeting was for something that should technically be easy, but would likely end up taking all day, if they finished the debate at all. Much to his chagrin.
"Alright, everyone. First order of business! Just…what the hell are we actually going to be calling ourselves? It's seriously getting awkward not to have a proper name at this point!"
That got more than a few chuckles, as Izuku had intended it to. Of course, it also started an irritatingly passionate debate moments later…
... ... ... ... ... ...
A/N 1: Jedi Factions. This is a thing I actually liked about the EU novels and games, as they made it clear that the Jedi Order isn't entirely monolithic. That, as with ANY organization that gets big enough, they have factions and internal politics. The Grey Paladins, Altisian Jedi, and Iron Knights are all Legends groups, I didn't just make them up. I'm making use of them and others to show the fracture lines and internal points of contention within the Order.
A/N 2: So, this isn't a fix-it fic. Anakin isn't going to suddenly be all rainbows and puppies. He's still got ISSUES, and in some ways this might actually have made them WORSE, since he now has a reason to blame the Jedi for fucking up. Not to mention specifically blaming his Master for not doing things right. That said, I've set him up with the CHANCE to get better. Knocking one major crisis point out of whack, then insuring he gets at least some help from a qualified psychologist equivalent.