28 - Performance review

<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="position: fixed; z-index: 1499; width: 0px; height: 0px;"><div data-reactroot="" class="resolved" style="all: initial;"></div></div>The Jedi Temple is one of the oldest structures on Coruscant. Especially when you consider that the foundations are in fact the old Jedi Temple. There's some evidence to suggest that it is temples all the way down. In any case, it is a place of peace and sanctuary for members of the Jedi Order.

The woman marching towards me with a set expression indicates I have been wise in seeking solace elsewhere.

"Coruscant! You dare to show your face here." shouts Hera as she pushes me.

"Good day to you too, Hera. Can I ask what it is I have done this time?" I ask.

You would think with my being rather unorthodox and Hera belonging to an actually unorthodox sect that we would get on like a house on fire. Actually we do. Ever been in a burning house?

"You knew. You knew. You knew and you did nothing!" says Hera, prodding me with each statement.

I look about the hall. There are several people looking on. Perhaps this is not the best place to bring up one of the biggest secrets in the order.

"Hera, there are extenuating circumstances. Which are best explained in private." says Mace, stepping forward.

"Oh are there? Just what would those be? Being left alone with Coruscant for ten minutes? Whatever happened to that pig headed stubbornness of yours?" says Hera as she turns on Mace.

Behind me Anakin and Yoda watch the escalating drama.

"Is this why I never got to come here before?" he asks Yoda.

"Some of it. yes. For your safety, it was judged necessary." the goblin replies.

"Palpatine. Damn. He seemed so nice. He always sent me and mom presents on our birthdays and Freytana." said Anakin.

The rest of their discussion is drowned out by the nearby shouting match. Hera and Mace are intent on each other, faces only a few centimetres apart.

"You knew as well? Was that not something I needed to know?" yells Hera.

"I can explain further. In private." growls Mace.

They then both turn to me.

"Come with us." they say in unison.

As I am led to the Council chamber Hera looks back at me and frowns.

"Can you at least explain why he is not in binders?" she asks her companion.

Mace puts one hand to his head and grimaces.

"No." is all he says.

"No?"

"Trust me on this. It is beyond explanation."

-----

We get almost all the way to the Council chamber before I clutch at my head and fall over.

An incandescent and thoroughly pissed off entity looms over me in the void.

"You snivelling coward! I offer you power, anything you want, anything you desire. Yet all that wench has to do is snivel and you run." screams Abby as she picks my form up. "What does she have that I do not?"

"A regular physical form? Quite a nice one too." I say. Not the most brilliant answer, but the best I can do in the face of an angry cosmic horror.

"Is that all?" yells Abby as she flings me away. She looks about to add something but there is a flash of light behind her and then there is a hole. Abby screams and is dragged towards the hole.

I leap forwards and I lock arms preventing Abby being drawn into the hole. Well, I prevent her arms, head and torso from doing so. The rest of her form begins elongating and stretching.

"Hold on!" I call out.

"I, I can't" screams Abby.

While I now have insight as to why summoned beings are normally depicted as being very cranky that's not very informative as to how you stop a summoning. Especially from the non-material side.

"Change into a form!" I shout.

"Like what?" yells Abby.

"Now is not the time to be creatively challenged! Anything, anyone." I implore.

I am suddenly holding onto Shayla's form. Which means I should learn to set conditions. Still I hang on. Obeying some rules for physicality, Abby's new form stays at under two metres and is no longer stretching. I hang onto her, preventing her fall into the hole which is currently 'down' for her. I manage to brace myself, not sure against what and get hold of her with both arms locked tight.

"Coruscant!" the voice piercing through to me. I feel myself losing my grip as I return to my body.

"Oh for goodness sake. Not now!" I scream as I try to hang on.

"Help me!" calls out Abby as her arm starts to slip through mine.

There are things you should never, ever do. No matter the circumstances. No ifs, no buts, no special cases. It's a fairly simple rule. Do not voluntarily kiss eldritch abominations. I mean it's right up there with not licking power sockets. For much the same reason. I am completely out of options. The kiss completes a psychic link. I gain a glimpse into what for want of a better word is her mind. Compassion, not passion is the key here. Hope it confounds and confuses whatever is summoning her.

As we embrace Abby's sense of down matches my own and despite the pleas I remain in this reality hanging on. Despite the pull on her I hold her fast, reminding myself I don't actually breathe here.

'What are you doing?' comes her voice in my mind.

We don't have to bang air molecules together to communicate here either.

'Saving someone.' I say.

'Me?'

'You.'

'Why?'

The pull is ebbing, subsiding. The hole is closing. We pull apart slightly.

"It's a Jedi thing. No matter what you say, you are still a person." I say.

"Coruscant!" comes the call.

"I have to go now. Will you be okay?" I say.

Abby just keeps holding on to me.

"What about when they try again?" she asks.

"Then call me back." I say.

"No. I want you here." she says.

Now it is her keeping me in this realm.

"You have to let me go. You have to trust someone." I say.

"No! you will just betray me. Like all the others!" shouts Abby, her form shifting back to that of humanoid star field.

"Coruscant!"

"Dee-Jay!"

That was Anakin. The pull on me intensifies as does Abby's grip.

"If you don't trust me then this goes nowhere, together we can end this."

"No!"

"Please."

"Dee-Jay!"

Now the forces are intense. I am going to be torn in two. That would be, bad here.

"Let me go!" I scream as the pain, real pain this time increases.

"I won't"

"Trust me!"

"No!"

I break the really important rule again and lean in to kiss Abby on what might be her forehead. The brief moment of surprise is enough for me to be pulled free, Abby fades, her eyespots flaring like novae.

"Traitor!" she screams.

"I promise, I will return." I say as she vanishes screaming.

I awaken. I am lying on the floor. I am in the Council Room and there are several people looking down in concern.

"Dee-Jay. Are you alright?" asks Anakin.

"No. I think I may have a problem." I say.

-----

I am helped to a chair and I collapse into it. I feel like I have been through the wringer. I look at the others. My original conspirators, Mace, Mundi and Yoda, plus Hera and Anakin.

"Dee-Jay. What just happened." asks Mace.

"Something truly strange, I think first however we let these two in on the truth." I say indicating Hera and Anakin.

"Yes, the truth, help us it will." says Yoda. The other two masters nod.

"More secrets?" says Hera folding her arms.

"You're going to come clean and admit you're not from this Galaxy." says Anakin.

"What!" says almost everyone else.

"You knew! How?" I say.

"That's true?" says Hera.

"Well, I suspected. You're always referencing things no-one else does. Now that could be you just being from an isolated system, but then there's all the things which you only get partly right. Like things in your Galaxy are similar but not always a one hundred percent match. I think you might be from a pre-flight world as well. Nothing in your memories suggests spaceflight is common." explains Anakin.

"My memories? How? Oh wait. Galaxy's most powerful telepath. Never mind." I say.

"There's other things. You have never got used to space travel, you're always staring at hyperspace, you can't use a spoink." says Anakin.

"Okay, okay. Enough, did you tell anyone?" I say.

"Nah. Not really. I mean I talked about it with Grete a bit, because she likes those stories. She was the one who gave me a few things to check, to see if someone I knew was a changeling, or from another Galaxy. Once I knew though, I figured it was personal and that you would tell me when you were ready. I didn't know for sure until you told me you were keeping me away from Palpatine." says Anakin.

In hindsight, keeping any sort of secret from Anakin when he is also your apprentice was a lost cause.

"Yes Anakin, you are correct. I wondered why you didn't have any questions." I say.

"Well, yeah. Then we got busy. So, we're going to hunt him and Dooku down?"

"That all depends on them." I say indicating the Jedi Masters.

Master Mundi is the first to speak.

"Yes, you are quite perceptive Skywalker. Years ago, Yoda brought Dee-Jay before us. You were in shock..." he begins

-----

I am standing in the Jedi Council Chamber from the prequel movies with Yoda, Samuel L Jackson and a conehead alien. Does he even have a name?

"Master Dee-Jay. Is something the matter? I can sense you are distressed." says Jackson.

I look about for this other Master person, get distracted by all the flying cars outside and look dumbfounded at them.

"Master Dee-Jay!" stresses Jackson.

It occurs to me that is who they think I am.

"Something the matter? Yes. Um what year is it?" I say.

"Thirty six twenty one." says Conehead which is both informative and completely useless. Of course, what did I expect? 'Why, it is thirty something years before the Battle of Yavin.' Then again even that would be only marginally useful. Let's see, Luke is the same age as the Empire, but damn it. No good either. Only bright spot is that this is the Prequels and everyone was kind of nice as opposed to ending up during the reign of the Empire.

I really don't have a lot to go on. That's the problem with a setting where everything happened 'A long time ago.'. Exact dates are not really needed. Until you are dropped into it all and need some frame of reference.

"Thank you." I say. How do all those clever buggers do it? Aside from being superfans and probably being able to tell exactly when they are by, I don't know, the shade of these orange chairs, their arrangement or something. Wait, there is a name that can tell me sort of when I am.

"Have you heard of Anakin Skywalker?" I say.

Jackson, Yoda and Conehead look at one another.

"No, should we have?" says Jackson.

"Skywalker. That sounds like a slave name. From Hutt Space?" says Conehead.

Slave name? Hutt Space? What?

"Okay, you have not found him yet. It's going to involve a mission to a place called Naboo."

-----

That got me sent to the Healers Ward and my head examined by some serious Jedi Healers convinced I was suffering some trauma. They were very kind, understanding and completely unwilling to lose sight of me until they worked out what was going on inside my noggin. Yoda came to visit a few times and seemed to be the only one taking my story seriously. A few weeks later they summoned me again.

"What did you say that person's name was?" asked Mace Windu.

"Anakin. Anakin Skywalker." I said.

The Jedi Masters looked at one another.

"You found him? Great! Get him trained, only not by Kenobi, send a dozen Jedi to Naboo to get Maul while the rest do for Palpy." I said.

"Why should we do that? Master Jin and his apprentice can handle whatever threat lies on Naboo, Palpatine has done nothing wrong and we did sense danger in the boy Skywalker, thank you for your warning." said Conehead.

"You are being overly alarmist, Master Dee-Jay. Perhaps some more healing is required." said Mace.

Did I just cause the end of Phantom Menace? Did they not take this threat seriously because they believe me mad?

"Overly alarmist? The Republic has just elected a Sith Lord as Chancellor, Qui-Gon is going to die, Kenobi will be promoted to Knight and set to teaching Anakin after the kid single handedly destroys the blockading battleship." I said.

That got me sent back for more therapy. The next day however.

"Come to pass, everything you predicted it has. Qui-Gon dead, Naboo saved, Kenobi promoted and trained the Council urging the boy should be." said Yoda.

"Great, now you listen." I groused.

"You have to understand how unbelievable your story sounded." said Conehead.

"Yeah, alright. It does sound crazy." I admitted.

"So. What do we do now?" said Mace.

"Palpatine. Lightsabre enema. Now." I said.

"Very hasty. Caution, I suggest." advised Yoda.

"I concur. One does not casually assassinate the Head of the Republic." said Conehead.

"We would have a revolution on our hands. With the Jedi seen as the enemy." said Mace.

"What? You're going to wait while that bastard gets more secure and powerful? Wait till he has an army of clones and the entire Republic singing his praises?"

"No. we will act cautiously." said Conehead.

"We will investigate." said Mace.

"The right time to act, decide ourselves we shall." said Yoda.

"Well, at least tell me you're not going to hand Anakin over to Kenobi."

The masters looked at one another.

"No. We have someone else in mind." they all say looking at me.

Oh shit.

-----

"And so the plan was put in motion. Yoda and I would work to subvert Palpatine's powerbase and organise support against him in the Senate. Mace agreed to 'forget' all that had transpired since he would be dealing with the Chancellor directly and we could allow no hint of suspicion. Dee-Jay was chosen to train Anakin and keep him away from the suspected Sith Lord." completed Mundi.

"I. See." is all Hera says.

"It was mostly successful. Alas, we did not predict Palpatine's reaction to being removed from office. We did leave him some resources. One does not back a Varg into a corner and poke it." said Mundi.

"Yes. Why did he do that?" says Mace.

"Destructive, the ways of the Sith, also treacherous. Perhaps he was unaware of the avenues out left for him, or by the Dark Side, blinded he was." mused Yoda.

"Yeah, I think I know who may of done that." I say.

Everyone looks at me.

"Okay I have some problems. Number one is the ancient cosmic horror who has been a constant companion in my mind tempting me to the Dark Side." I say.

"Does this entity have a name?" asks Mace.

I consider lying and saying I do not know. After all, the answer will likely get me locked up and the key destroyed. Then again, these are some of the most bodacious telepaths about.

"Well?" says Hera.

"She is known in your records as Abeloth, although I suspect she is far older than what even the legends allude to. I think she is some ancient leftover from the formation of the universe and, what she really needs is a hug. She also successfully tempted me to use the Dark Side." I say.

Oh, this time they pay attention.

"Go on." says Mace.

-----

After a quick recount of events to date Anakin and myself are requested to wait outside. I find somewhere to sit and meditate. Anakin does likewise.

"Dee-Jay?" he says after some time.

"Yes Anakin?"

"What do you think will happen? They won't split us up, will they?" he asks worriedly.

"I feel I will have to abide by their decision. As for you, promise me you will not drive your new master insane." I say.

"Insane?"

"My hair was all brown before we met." I say with a grin.

"Come now. You had grey hairs enough when we met." snorts Anakin.

"I have a lot more now. Joking aside Anakin. You have been an excellent student. It has been a pleasure to be your teacher."

"I don't regret having been your student. I feel I have so much more to learn."

"We all do Anakin. We all do."

-----

The deliberations take some days. We are given accomodation and I spend most of my time in the Fountain Room meditating until called back to face judgement. Inside I face the Masters once more.

"We have come to a decision. Master Dee-Jay. In light of these developments it has been decided that you will be placed in seclusion and observation until we have determined if the Dark Side or this entity have any hold upon you." says Mace.

"Punishment, this is not. Rather a treatment it is." adds Yoda reassuringly.

I look at them. Well, they're not throwing away the key at least.

"I accept." I say.

"Something to add Master Dee-Jay?" asks Mundi.

"Yes. What will happen to Anakin?" I ask.

Mace frowns.

"At Knight Captain Koll's, insistence, it has been decided that Anakin Skywalker will remain your padawan learner. After all we want to keep your heresies contained."

I think I heard a muttered 'Self righteous ass.' from where Hera was standing, but I could be wrong.

"Anakin will remain here until you are judged fit to leave or too afflicted to be ever be released." continues Mace.

"Do not despair, either of you. I feel there is still a part for both of you." counsels Mundi.

I bow.

"Fine. Take me to my cell."

-----

I am led to a simple cell. Bed. shelf, fresher, chair. There is little to do. I sit on the bed and meditate. Clear my mind. Relax. Envisage the Galaxy spinning slowly beneath me.

The terrible cosmic horror looks up and floats over.

"You returned! Why?" she says.

I hold up a hand.

"I said I would help and I shall. First however, we are going to have some ground rules and boundaries." I say.

"Very well, I am listening." says Abby.

Maybe you can negotiate with ancient evil after all.

-----

In the end it is only a matter of a few months. Progress with Abby is slow and I keep Yoda, who visits regularly, informed of the progress. He also seems grudgingly pleased with my lack of Dark Side influence.

"Learned your lessons, have you?" he asks one day.

"Some of them. There are others though. Always something new under the suns." I say.

"Hmm. Well, there is a task awaiting your attention." says Yoda.

"Yes, Master Yoda?"

"Seceded officially and violently the Separatist Alliance has. Led by my old padawan, Dooku they are. Your help and that of Skywalker I forsee the Republic will need." says Yoda and hands me a small metal cylinder. It is my lightsabre. I take the weapon. "A saying, your people have. The time is upon us to kick ass and take names. A crude saying, it is I feel."

"As do I. Still appropriate." I say with a grin.

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