Chapter 1: The Old Order
A faint green light slightly illuminates the dark room as nothing but a vague humming is heard in its deathly silence, the light shifts constantly here and there sometimes calmly with ease other times with post haste but never does it stay in one location. The squeaking sound of well kept boots upon a clean marble floor are also heard every so often with in the room but once it settles down the eerie silence returns defied only but the humming sound which remains ever constant. Looking at the source of the dim light most sentient beings would think it a strangely elongated green lantern that gave off a feeble illumination, those more educated or better informed would recognize it for what it was, a lightsaber. Within the pitch black darkness of the room the lightsaber seemed to be floating in the air moving with grace like the wind, free of any control, only when moving throughout its surroundings in the water like flow of Form 1: Shii-cho would it reveal that it does indeed have a wielder since its light would illuminate a limb like an arm or a leg.
Suddenly a barrage of shots erupt from the darkness and like water hardening upon a forced impact the saber wielder quickly transitions to the stalwart Form 3: Soresu to deflect them. Brisk flashes of light soon follow as the lightsaber deflects the shots expeditiously showing its wielder to be a young human woman in typical Jedi apparel. The combination of poor lighting and near total darkness made it hard to completely discern the young woman's facial features but what could be seen clearly enough was her eyes being blindfolded. Silence soon returns as the shooting stops, the young Jedi counted 5 shots that had been fired, 3 had been aimed at her chest, one on her left leg and a final one on her right shoulder, the last one she had to dodge because she couldn't bring her lightsaber up fast enough from deflecting the 4th shot on her left leg.
Knowing how close she had come to being hit the young Jedi entrenches herself in Form 3 holding the hilt of her lightsaber tightly with both hands and keeping the weapon close to her body in anticipation of another barrage of shots. By now she figured that the droid hovering somewhere in the darkness had analyzed a reoccurring pattern in her movements where she would adopt Form 3 when attacked and Form 1 in between assaults to keep her lightsaber moving throughout her surroundings to better deflect when the time called for it. She had adopted this pattern deliberately to get the droid itself to fall into a pattern since the way it analyzed movements had reoccurring elements where it would prod and measure responses to better calculate effective attacks. The young Jedi hoped for as much wherein she would change Forms unexpectedly from the simple Form 1 or defensive Form 3( depending on which Form she was using at the time she springs her trap) to the more offensive Form 4: Ataru to strike down the droid before it had time to react.
But even with her plan set she knew she had to be careful given the fact that the droid she was facing off against wasn't the standard training variety that made an audible Pffffft sound when it moved, this droid was completely silent as it flew through the darkness like a ghost. Some masters could detect the silent droid if they wished but she wasn't a master, she wasn't even a Jedi knight yet, she was still merely a padawan learner and knowing that fact all to well she knew she had to be smart with the way she handled this engagement. The blindfold she had on as well as the nearly complete darkness surrounding her combined with the nature of the droid she was facing made her normal visual and hearing sense useless, all she could trust in and rely on right now was the Force.
And luckily for her she was quite adapt in this field being a Jedi Consular which was one of the 3 schools of thought in the order that focused on studying the mysteries of the Force among other things. Though technically speaking the young padawan wasn't officially a Consular because it was only after achieving the rank of Jedi knight that an individual was allowed to choose between one of the 3 schools, the other 2 being Jedi Guardian and Jedi Sentinel. But be that as it may the young padawan leaned heavily into the study of the Force and made it clear to everyone which school she would choose after achieving the rank of knight.
Having waited for another barrage that never materialized the young Jedi moves her lightsaber away from her body to begin a cautious transition to Form 1. Not being molested by fire during the process she felt a ping of disappointment that the droid hadn't taken the bait but a moment not too soon 2 shots rang out from the darkness and the young padawan slapped them aside almost contemptuously. 'Ahh there you are' she thought, now knowing the general direction of the droid which was floating somewhere in front of her she predicted that it would flank to either her extreme left or her extreme right. So she kept her blade centered to be able to quickly move it to either side when the next attack came. She also retreated a couple of steps to draw the droid in before stopping and standing her ground, silence was all there was after that, no other shots came as the padawan waited, the humming of her lightsaber was all she heard for a while.
Thankfully her wait wasn't long, a single shot flashed from somewhere in the darkness to her exact left which was aimed at her side just below the arm pit. She deflects it just barely then dashes with all her might to the direction the shot came from , the room was full of noise now as the beating of the young padawan's boots echoed throughout the chamber and the droid started firing shots rapidly to get her off balance. She deflects the shots coming at her, high then low then center running all the while fast approaching her target, she senses something ahead and also notices the shots are starting to come from a higher angle. Feeling victory to be close she leaps high aided by the Force on an intercept course with fast ascending droid, she swings her lightsaber in a wide horizontal arch like she was hitting someone on the head with a pipe. But all she felt was air 'Blast' she thinks as she starts to swing her saber vertically then wildly in every direction hoping to get lucky, she does though not in the way she expected.
As gravity started to take hold of her she felt her ankle graze something spherical on her way down, it was the droid, it had halted its ascent the moment she jumped. This confused her since she still sensed through the Force that there was still something ahead of her, which she felt more clearly now as being large, solid and stationary. A wall, it was a wall and she was going to slam right into it, fast like she orients herself for a landing and pulls herself down with the Force. Her efforts combined with that of gravity earned her a quick if unceremonious landing where her boots made a very load squeaking sound as she slide through the floor and hit her shoulder on the wall causing her lightsaber scorch marks into it during impact.
Seeing its target disoriented and stemming with frustration at her plan going awry the droid chooses this moment to attack and starts raining down fire on the young padawan from its elevated position. The first shots she dodges with difficulty then rolls to her side before going to one knee to make herself a smaller target and brings up her lightsaber to block the incoming blasts. This however was not ideal, the droid had anticipated her trap and laid a trap for her in turn but neither her's nor the droid's worked so they were now at risk of returning to their previous stalemate. The young padawan was already feeling a tad embarrassed at how long this session had gotten and wanted to end it.
An idea comes to her, it was a risky idea but at this point in the fight she decides to take the gamble, she hadn't fully fallen into Form 3's defensive posture so taking advantage of that fact she deflects one of the bolts shot at her back at the droid who naturally dodges it. The brief let up in the fire afforded to her by this maneuver was paltry but it was all she needed, surrendering what light remained in the room by turning off her lightsaber the young padawan runs parallel to the wall, the Force giving power to her legs allowed her to run at faster speeds than her body would usually allow. The droid momentarily analyses this change in behavior but only momentarily, it gives chase soon after firing at the padawan's exposed back. Doing her best to keep upright while also dodging shots the young padawan also resisted the urge to reignite her lightsaber to deflects the incoming shot since she found it disconcerting that the droid was aiming primarily at the back of her head.
Still running parallel to the wall the young Jedi knew she had to keep the droid meshed as not to loss it again in the dark silence of the room hence why she was running with her back exposed to it and her lightsaber off, she was taking advantage of its programming which given the circumstances was incline to press the attack. But in her haste to end the fight she didn't think much about what she would do after she had gotten the droid to chase her. As a result of this she found herself practically playing a game of catch if you can with a deadly silent droid in a dark room while blindfolded and just as she started to realize this and felt the beginning symptoms of panic surging in her the droid got smart and started aiming for her legs.
She sighs internally 'Just one thing after another' she thinks then starts to skip and jump on the floor like it was lava, this state of affairs could not last, she knew it, so she formulates a new plan, another gamble really but there was again nothing to do but gamble at this point. She runs away from the wall to get better room for movement and switches hold of her lightsaber from her left and to her right hand in the process praying to the Force that the droid hadn't seen her do it. Weather or not it did however was yet to be seen as the droid followed her, its rapid fire shots the only thing resembling light in the room. The young padawan runs faster and faster to the center of the room thinking on her plan, she wishes she could hold the droid in place when she finally counter attacked but that would violate the rules of this particular challenge which stipulated that she could only use the Force to enhance her own abilities.
As she sensed herself approaching the center of the room, she thought it fitting this fight was going to end where it started, be it the droid or her one of them was going to win here. So she breaths in deeply then suddenly slows down and stops rigid, using the droid's own momentum against it before it could readjust the young padawan ignites her lightsaber and swings it backward one handed as the droid vainly attempts to slow down. Again however her saber feels nothing but air, though this time due to proximity she sensed the droid dodge low and exults in this as she brings her other hand to her sabers hilt for a heavy over head blow, swinging downward with whatever might she had to spare the young padawan finally feels the satisfying resistance of the energy shield protecting the droid. She also hers the droid crush to the ground then bounce off somewhere soon after, the lights of the room click back to life as the victor was determined.
Their golden light bathed the brown skin of the young padawan as she removed her blindfold and her dark hazel eyes twinkled with pride upon seeing the black painted spherical droid sparking from its damaged parts, she twirls her saber as its light zips back to the hilt when she turns it off. A smile starting to show on her ovular face she outstretches her arms and asks aloud "Well? How did I do?", a familiar yet distorted voice of a friend is heard through the room's speakers in answer "Not bad, not bad at all." it says. "That last hit though felt like it was a little personal, need I remind you that revenge is not the Jedi way Cisiri?" said the voice playfully. "I am quite familiar with the Jedi way Paylin more so than you in fact and my actions were more in evidence of impatience than revenge." responded Cisiri, "Ahh but it was the droid that made you impatient causing you to despatch it with undue force. And that I am afraid looks very much like revenge." challenged Paylin through the speakers.
Cisiri sighed in annoyance "Paylin we can either go round in circles arguing about the nature of vengeance or you could just tell me how I did and end this all here.", "Alright, alright just give me a minute.". Cisiri went to collect the droid as Paylin got the results of the session, she tried to take it in hand and inspect the damages but she got burned by the heat emitting from its surface. Shaking off the sudden burn from her hand Cisiri opted to use the Force instead, lifting up the droid with a gesture of her hand she had it flout in front of her to be examined, the protective shell she saw had a dent in it exposing a bit of the circuitry. There was also a trail of smoke that followed the droid up into the air as it was levitated upward making it look a dark balloon tied to the floor, Cisiri guessed that the shield generator inside the droid had overloaded when she hit it. This made her wonder if there was some truth to what Paylin said about her having a vengeful outburst, it was as she thought this that Paylin's voice made its return.
"Well the tally is in my fellow padawan, with the amount of shots you deflected and dodged along with the time it took you to take out the droid that puts you at exactly 9th place in the rankings.", "That sounds about right for me but where are you on the board?", "16th this semester, Form 3 was never my strong suit.". "You should practice it more then, with the state the galaxy is in right now you are going to need it.", "I know, I know, my master said as much but I had just started perfecting my Form 2 techniques and it is going to be a hassle trying to adapt to the Soresu psyche.". Cisiri gave a sympathetic nod understanding that studying multiple lightsaber Forms was quite difficult especially if those Forms are as contrasting to each other as Form 2 and 3. Since Form 2: Makashi was more duel-centric and used to fight opponents who wield some manner of blade where its emphasizes on fluid motion, anticipation of the swings and uniformity of movement between body and blade could shine.
Trying to learn Soresu which was mostly used to counter blaster wielding opponents after perfecting Form 2 would be a challenge and this was not lost on Cisiri. It was also not lost on her that Makashi was the favored Form used by Count Dooku, this reminder brought back a galaxy's worth of worries to Cisiri's mind. Her expression became solemn as she remembered the reality the galaxy was facing, a splintered republic brought about by the hand of a former Jedi. The Separatist Crisis had been going on for nearly 2 years now ever since Dooku made the Raxus Address. She had been able to forget about all these troubles for a time in the simplicity of a familiar exercise, reality however could seldom be kept at bay for long.
Paylin sensed his friend's growing solemnity, "Is something wrong Cisiri?" he asked with concern, "Not more than usual, you just reminded me that Makashi is Count Dooku's favorite Form." answered Cisiri. "Ahh," he said understanding the sudden shift in her emotions "It is quite the elegant Form you have to admit, I for one have come to understand why Dooku took a liking to it. Though it is a bit old like the Count himself and I occasionally find myself wanting to transition to Form 4, it is everything Form 2 is but much faster and more aggressive, I wonder what the result would be when a Master of Form 4 fights a Master of Form 2.". Cisiri appreciated Paylin's attempt to change the subject but her mind couldn't be swayed from what she was already thinking, she and her Master along with many others from the order were sent on diplomatic missions throughout the outer rim trying to convince the systems there not to secede from the Republic.
The results couldn't even be called mixed, the receptions they got upon those worlds that would even see them were all either hostile or coldly dismissive. Some worlds received them solely for the purpose of listing to them their many grievances with the Republic and told them that these many injustices were the cause of their secession after which they would then hurry off them to Coruscant to inform the Senate/Jedi council and begin their worlds formal withdrawal from the Republic. It was these worlds that Cisiri hated the most because their leaders would make a big show of 'telling off the Jedi' bringing holocams to record the whole thing and broadcast it throughout their respective systems. On one particular world Cisiri and her Master were preparing to leave on their ship after another failed bit of negotiating when the natives of the planet surrounded their ship and started pelting it with all manner of things as they chanted Dooku's name, 'DOOKU, DOOKU, DOOKU' she can still hear their chants even now.
A great feeling of anger started to bubble within her accompanied by hatred for those sanctimonious pricks that dragging her and her master around like show pieces for their own self aggrandizement, the irony of this was of course the fact that the Jedi order was by far the most Sanctimonious organization in Galactic history and as is characteristic of Jedi Cisiri didn't realize her own hypocrisy. Paylin felt the seismic reverberations of anger emanate from Cisiri, this would be cause for concern under normal circumstances but the times were by no means normal, these emotions came to manifest in Jedi as they grew more and more engrossed in Galactic politics. Not even the legendary patience of Jedi it would seem could withstand the slog that was politics.
So Paylin made an innocent suggestion "Do you wish to meditate with me Cisiri? I sense you making waves in the Force with your less than kind feelings so it probably will help you gain your balance again.", Cisiri considered this but thought no she didn't need to meditate, she composed herself and said as much. The flow of the Force around her once more at peace flowed like a calm wind as she made her way to the room's exit a trail of smoke following in the wake of the droid levitating just above her hand. Impressed with how quickly Cisiri reigned in her emotions and admiring her for more than just that Paylin opened the door for her from the controls on his panel and greeted her at the entrance.
Paylin was about the same age as Cisiri and also shared her black hair, padawan braid and attire, his skin was much paler than hers while his eyes were the light green color of lush forest leafs. "You know I should start taking lessons from you as my new master, with how well you control yourself one might think you are already a knight." he said jokingly, "Having you as a padawan would bring me no end of trouble, I will probably get the rank of master simply for taking you on under me.", Paylin giggled like mad at this which confused Cisiri until she realized the unintended innuendo in her own words. "You are an absolute child you know that Paylin?" she said, "Yes, yes I am, its part of my charm. Any who give that droid here let me see what you did to the poor thing.", "The shield generator overloaded so you can't just hold it unless you want to get burned.". "I figured as much when you levitated it in here now give."
Cisiri Force pushed the droid gently to Paylin who took it, first trying to keep it afloat with one hand then doing it with two, he turned it around in the air assessing it and came to the same conclusion as she had come to before. Taking it with him further into the chamber control room he placed it on a standard repair table, there were similar models of the damaged droid as well as the normal training variety placed in rows around the table. Paylin pressed a couple of buttons on the repair table specifying the nature of the damages sustained, he was enough of mechanic himself to fix the droid but at the moment didn't feel like doing repairs. Metallic arms came up from underneath the table to start the repairs, spraying cooling chemicals to stop any further deterioration in the droid's functions.
Paylin then turned to Cisiri "That should about do it," he said "the main power cells got overloaded by the force of the impact and melted some of the circuits within.", "I didn't know I had hit it that hard, I didn't even know lightsabers could cause a shield to overload, isn't it continuous shots of blaster fire that usually do that?" responded Cisiri, "Yes but under certain circumstances an energy shield can be overloaded by almost anything, most of the time physical based attacks with swords, spears and hammers etc wouldn't be able to overload an energy shield unless sustained for a very long time but a lightsaber isn't a normal sword it is more a current of energy shaped into something that resembles a sword. I thought you would have already known this since you are more well read than I am.".
"There is a difference between being well read and being all knowing Paylin, you can't expect me to know every technical detail about this and that now can you?.", "Of course I can't but still such details are elementary, I would have expected you to know them. Anyways though the battery for the shield generator didn't have enough power to withstand the Force enhanced hit you gave it, since some of its power is also used to make it faster and silent.", "Did I damage it that badly?"asked Cisiri in a tone that suggested she was more impressed with her own strength than she was sorry about the damage she caused. She immediately realized this and felt ashamed, forcefully humbling herself as Paylin answered her "Kind of, it is quite damaged yes but it can be fixed. I have to say this again however lightsabers don't need to be wielded with much force to be effective, you in this case hit this droid with the power of a swing used mostly to smith steel and then some.", "OK, OK, I get it I lost myself to anger for a moment there I admit it alright, happy?", "Very", Cisiri confirmed as much when she sensed his emotions 'Prick' she thought. Him pestering her over this incident was as much revenge against her as it was typical Jedi caution, Cisiri often had told him to balance his emotions more, so now he was using this to get one over her. She sighed "So are you going to do another run with new droid or what?"she asked, "No, I am fine, watching you run around in there was fun enough for me." he concluded and left the chamber with her to walk the halls of the Jedi temple.
Putting her lightsaber on her utility belt as she and Paylin left the control room of the training chamber they both noticed a curious thing that being the halls sparse population at first neither thought much of it and just went on without comment, but as they walked on those few Jedi be they Masters, knights or padawans that they saw seemed to all be in a rush to get some where. Seeing these several times over Paylin finally got curious enough to grab hold of one Jedi as he was about to run past and asked"Sorry for taking you so unexpectedly friend, I just wanted to ask if you know the reason for all the excitement me and my friend here are seeing.", "The senate just called for an emergency session." answered the knight. "The senate has been calling emergency sessions for months now, what is so important about this one?" inquired Cisiri. The knight answered her "The stand in representative senator Binks took the floor on behalf of senator Amidala, everyone thought he was simply going to tout her stance on the armed defense bill but he didn't instead he is going one step further than even the militarist factions. He is still speaking to the senate even now, that is why everyone is in a hurry to get to a holopad or holonet devices."
Paylin and Cisiri received this news with a bit of disbelief, senator Amidala from Naboo was always an ardent opponent to the bill citing her own experience with the Trade Federation to argue against it. That a being trusted by her to speak on her behalf in the senate would do such a thing was a definite surprise. Paylin thanked the knight and let him go then walked along with Cisiri to the wider halls of the temple complex, both of their minds turning vigorously in deep thought their previous care free banter all but forgotten. If what they heard was true then it could only mean one thing, the desolation of the Ruusan Reformation which all but dissolved the republic's military during the old Republic. It could also mean the Jedi order's full mobilization since they were under the Judicial Department of the Republic but this could only happen if the Jedi council chooses to side with the Republic.
Being more familiar with politics then she had been most of her life Cisiri came up with a theory, everyone knew that there had been an attempt on senator Amidala's life when she came to vote on the armed defense bill some cycles back and that the nature of her new security detail was being kept strictly confidential. These new security measures clearly hindered her movements enough for her to feel it necessary to choose a stand in for herself in the senate just for said stand in to pull a 180 and support the bill. What this concluded at least for Cisiri was that the stand in senator Binks was either paid off, black mailed, intimidated or manipulated into signing off on the bill.
Cisiri didn't know what to feel about this theory of hers, Jedi were meant to keep peace in the galaxy and stay above such politics but now they were getting all to familiar with such underhand tactics as the order got increasingly involved in the affairs of the Republic so much so that it became a political entity in all but name. Padawans like her and Paylin grew up in an increasingly polarized galaxy teetering on the edge of fracture and things got more difficult for the Jedi because of the awkward position they were in. This being the fact that the Separatist movement was being lead by a former Jedi, there were no shortage of politicians who pointed out this fact questioning the Jedi's loyalties. 'How can we trust these monks who say they are sworn to defend the Republic when it is one of there own that threatens to ripe it in two?' was something these so called representatives liked to say only to then immediately turn around and demand the order's protection at the slightest hint of danger.
She and Paylin made it to one of the many high walkways of the temple that crisscrossed throughout its many sections, people outside the order usually voiced concerns at the lack of railings on these walkways. Of course this was of little concern to Jedi since the absence of railings was a deliberate design choice by the temple's architect to better suit Force sensitives. It made it less tedious for them to Force jump from platform to platform, this was what most shocked outsiders about Jedi, their ridiculous agility. Coming out of the halls into the walkway Paylin and Cisiri saw that from the higher walkways above to the ground floor below there were Jedi huddled together watching a holopad one of them held or watched on other devices. Looking at her fellow Jedi from where she stood Cisiri thought they looked like moths attracted to light with their robes on among the gold decorated high pillars and ceiling, there were even some civilian maintenance workers that had stopped what ever they were doing to looking at the holonet devices.
Paylin tapped her on the shoulder and when she turned indicated to her a not so crowded group of Jedi looking at the holopad just ahead of them on the walkway. They both made for the group and saw the knight they had encountered before looking intently at the holopad, Paylin and Cisiri join him in his observation. The pad volume had been increased to the max so that all those in the group could hear, the image on the pad shimmered for but a moment then came back into focus showing the rows upon rows of senators sitting in their hover platforms their attention focused intently on Senator Binks. The Gungan senator was dressed resplendently in flowing robes of red and gold, he spoke in heavily accented Galactic standard so there were subtitles shown blow the main feed for those who may not understand him.
It seemed to Cisiri that she and Paylin arrived to see the proceedings just as the Senator was coming to the end of his address, "It is clear," he said making Cisiri appreciate the subtitles, "that the Separatist made a pact with the Trade Federation, Techno Union and others like them to form a large droid army to coerce the Senate.". The Gungan senator paused briefly before speaking up again "Fellow delegates, in response to this direct threat to the Republic, I propose that the Senate give immediate emergency powers to the Supreme Chancellor.", the senate chamber erupted in cheers, different beings from across the Republic showed their affirmation by clapping if they had hands while those with different appendages adopted their own ways of showing assent that were to numerous to count. A chant began to form that echoed throughout the chamber that grew louder and louder as more senators joined in, 'PALPATINE!, PALPATINE!, PALPATINE!' they all chanted.
"ORDER," shouts Mas Amedda the Chagrian currently serving as the Vice Chair of the senate "WE SHALL HAVE ORDER.", dressed similarly in red and black robes like senator Binks, he quiets down the jubilant senators enough for the Chancellor Palpatine to speak. The old Chancellor gets up from his seat that was positioned in the middle of the senate, the man looked very wary and tired which was to be expected, he had been jumping through all kinds of hoops to keep the negotiations with the Separatists open only for all that to come to naught. Now he finds himself facing a senate that insisted he take charge and fix all their problems for them, problems which they themselves created, it was problematic enough for Palpatine that his assent to the Chancellorship was constantly under scrutiny because it came about through a vote of no confidence against the previous Chancellor.
For all the powers he had just received no one envied him for it, Palpatine himself confirmed his own displeasure at the situation with his opening words to the assembled senators "It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling,"he says his voice wary with fatigue"I love democracy, I love the Republic, the power you give me I will lay down when this crises has abated.", more cheers and applause came from the seated senators. He continues saying "And as my first act with this new authority, I shall create a grand army of the Republic to counter the increasing threats of the Separatists." after this barely any words of his were heard and that is if he spoke any words at all since the senate was clambering with noises of approval.
The feed on the holopad then switched from a visual of the senate to an image of a human woman seated behind a desk. Dressed in professional gray attire the fair skinned human woman begun to talk "And with that the emergency senate assembly ends on a historical note."she said, "The Republic is to have an army once more, the question now on everyone's minds is what form will this grand army of the Republic take? Will it be a volunteer force like in the times of the Old Republic or will mass conscription be introduced and what role would the Jedi play in this new army?These questions and many others were left unanswered by the chancellor's Spartan address.". The Jedi who had been looking at the holopad now looked to one another wondering to themselves what indeed would their role be in this new grand army of the Republic. There was a bit of an awkward pause too as they all stood looking at each other demonstrating one of the hazards of being a Jedi, that being all those in the order can know what their fellows are feeling to an extent based on their level of skill in the Force.
Cisiri being of those in the order more attuned in the Force felt a confusing jumble of emotions coming from her current company, there was excitement, uncertainty, dread, worry and surprisingly fear. Though its presence was slight Cisiri sensed fear coming from an unknown Jedi close by. The closeness of other Force sensitives made it difficult for her to pinned down who exactly it was, they would all have to spread themselves out for their emotions to be read individually. The other Jedi knew this and were still sentient beings regardless of the order's teaching so naturally they wouldn't be too thrilled about strangers feeling their emotions through the Force. In silent agreement they all drift away from each other, Cisiri felt the different currents of emotion fade away as she walked with Paylin. All she sensed now was his emotions, Paylin from what she could sense was both excited and worried, she pried into his mind some more trying to understand definitively what he felt.
Paylin for his part walked on obliviously on the high walkway, sometime passed as he was lost in contemplation while his feet merely continued on without guidance from his mind which was otherwise engaged. Not being as skilled with the Force Paylin didn't feel the intrusion his mind was being subjected to until after he and Cisiri reached the end of the walkway. When he finally felt something that wasn't suppose to be there within him he simply smiled and turned to his companion. He let go of the Jedi discipline he had been taught and let all his feelings be sensed, Cisiri probing deeper into his mind backfired when she was suddenly overwhelmed with a tide of emotion and made a slight recoil.
One particular emotion was quite prominent in the flood she felt coming off Paylin, it was a rather indecent emotion given the fact she herself was the subject of it. Unadulterated lust was what she sensed her friend feeling for her, she couldn't help blushing for a moment which made Paylin smile. Jedi weren't required to be celibate so any of them could if they wanted have sex with the understanding that they don't form attachments to their partners. These sexual interactions the Jedi had were usually in the 'one night stand' or 'friends with benefits' category. The latter category was quite common among members of the order especially among padawans, Paylin had on more than one occasion suggested such a relationship to Cisiri but she politely declined. This wasn't for any lack of attraction to Paylin, he was charming........ I am sorry I mean "charming", reasonably handsome and like all trained Jedi was in peak physical form.
The reason for Cisiri's refusal stemmed from the fact that she knew herself too well, she was sure that if she partook in something as intimate as sex she would undoubtedly form an attachment. And that by extension would jeopardize her ambition of being a Jedi consular and studying the mysteries of the Force. Unfortunately for her Paylin was skilled enough in the Force to know about her repressed desires, "So how did it feel inside me?" he said with a smirk, Cisiri sighs "As empty as all ways." she replies. "Well yes but you do seem to like its wide curving corridors.", "That is because I can fill it with actually useful things.", "Such as?", "My lightsaber", "Oh? Which one?". Cisiri got confused with the direction their conversation had taken and asked "Aren't I suppose to be the woman in this conversation?", "You are, I am just open to new experiences.". Cisiri paused taking in that statement, she kept on walking in step with Paylin but her face had froze in a single bemused expression.
"Word by word, deed by deed you inch closer to falling to the darkness my friend. You really need to rein yourself in before you get expelled from the order." said Cisiri finally. Paylin giggled for a moment "Telling jokes isn't exactly a path to the dark side now is it?" he said, " It is not but with you it just might be" replied Cisiri. Rolling his eyes at her, he begun with some effort to inhale his emotion back into him clearing the currents of the Force around him. Cisiri felt the lustfully sensation slowly dissipate from her immediate vicinity though hypocritically her own remained. Her cheeks were still flushing red when they got to the elevator, it was when Paylin pressed the button that Cisiri begun to ask "Wait where are we going?". Paylin shrugged, exasperated now Cisiri said"I was following you thinking you were going to your master.", "Ha, there is a thought, OK lets go to her then.". They both entered the elevator together when the doors finally opened.
As they listened to the hum of the elevator during decent another question came into Cisiri's mind, "Paylin?" she said slowly, he turned to her and she asked him "Do you know where your master is right now?". Paylin simply looked at her in silence for a half minute then turned back to the door "No but we are going to find out." he answered, saving herself the inevitable sigh Cisiri Force pushed the button for the floor of the Jedi archives. "We will go to my master instead then." she said. They both kept silent in the elevator as their minds lingered on the senate assembly, Cisiri hoped the Jedi would be neutral if it came to war and so did her master. It worried her that Paylin didn't share this opinion, a Jedi was what he was to be, what she was to be and Jedi always tried to deescalate mounting tensions not add fuel to the fire. She wasn't so sure that was what the order was doing right now, simply going on those diplomatic missions the chancellor gave them made the order look like it sided with the Republic wholeheartedly making their judgement look bias.
And it wasn't like the Separatists demands were unreasonable, it was clear for all to see how unfairly the outer rim planets were treated, Cisiri herself didn't know how bad it was until she had gone to those planets herself with her master. There were always 2 sides to every story, she knew that and so did Paylin yet that didn't stop him from getting excited at the thought of battling the droid armies of the corporate alliance like Skywalker did at Naboo. The thought of the chosen one made her pause, too many padawans and younglings looked up to that rouge which was rather ironic since not many people liked him when he first joined the order. He was rash, impulsive, headstrong and prideful, he was the most unJedi like Jedi she had ever seen and Paylin looked up to him like so many others in the order. But how couldn't they? He was the chosen one after all and if that was how the chosen one acted then Cisiri feared for the future of the order.
The elevator doors opened as she was thinking about Skywalker's lack of discipline, Paylin had walked out then looked back at her when he didn't hear any foot steps following him. He raised an eyebrow at her and she gave him wave of the hand to say she was fine, she got out of the elevator and followed Paylin to the archives which was only a short walk away. The archive had the normal structural format of a library with rows upon rows of glowing light blue data shimmering throughout the whole inner workings of the chamber. There were many Jedi both young and old in the Archives no doubt having seen the senate address on the holonet devices present within. The jumble of different emotions came back at Cisiri now as she walked by them with Paylin, she focused herself on her master feeling that he is near. Their bond was a rather tame one but was quite valuable in such cases where one could focus on his/her bond to shut out outside distractions.
She sensed her master feeling distraught and she followed that sensation like a compass through the Archives Paylin following quickly in her wake. The agitation she sensed from her master got stronger as she came closer to his location, at the end of the trail Cisiri caught sight of him seating before a holodesk picking at his beard and drumming a finger on his chair's handle. She came right up to him and he greeted her with out turning from what the holo he was watching "I had come here to learn about the history of the 3rd Corellia shipyard uprising," he said his voice sounding tempered "Only to see history itself play live before my eyes!". Cisiri now looked at the holo her master was watching, it was the senate address of the chancellor on repeat, this was what seemed to be agitating her master.
Jedi knight Balic Ceibwast pale features were given an eerie blue look by the holo when he turned to look at his padawan, strands of his beard's black hair poked out where he had picked at them showing a rough contrast to the well kept black hair on his head that was combed back. "Hope against hope padawan, this whatever it is will not end well for anyone.", "Hope against hope Master Ceibwast?" asked Paylin being confused by the words. "He means hope for there to be peace even though it seems unlikely." answered Cisiri, "Exactly that my padawan, it is all we can wish for now.", "You seem so sure it will come to war Master, why?", "War is all that comes from the mustering of armies Cisiri.". "There might be a battle or 2 Master Ceibwast but I doubt there will be a war."interjected Paylin, Balic turned to him "There will be war I assure you young one and the Jedi will be to blame. The council's inaction will only make things worse, all those small injustices the order had so far ignored have built up to a point they can no longer be left unaddressed.", Cisiri couldn't help but raise an eyebrow 'Young one?' she thought 'Why is he acting the master sage?'
"The Jedi will be to blame?" said Paylin now truly confused "What did we do?", "Indeed young one what did we do? Nothing, that is what we did, absolutely nothing. I pray to Lucas that the council won't be as hesitant with this as they had been during the blocked of Naboo." responed Balic. 'Ah Naboo' thought Cisiri 'The domino that caused all the other pieces to fall', the current chancellor was from Naboo, the senator that had opposed the military defense bill was from Naboo, the stand in senator that gave the Chancellor unprecedented emergency powers was from Naboo and it was the blocked of Naboo that was used as a rallying cry for the Separatist movement. It all fit in so neatly that Cisiri wonder if it was a grand conspiracy made by the ruling class of the planet, it was either that or the will of the Force. She wonder what the people of Naboo felt about their planet going from a barely recognized mid rim world to being the center of Galaxy shaking events.
"The worst thing the council could probably do at the moment is seat idly by. The Republic will see it as betrayal, the Separatists will see it as weakness and everyone in between will simply role their eye/eyes thinking 'Typical Jedi as indecisive as every'" said Cisiri even as she hoped they do exactly that and stay neutral. "Right again Padawan, we will know the councils decision soon enough once Masters Windu and Yoda return from the senate.", "That is where the Masters went?" asked Paylin, "Yes, you can see for yourself right here." said Balic as he pressed the controls on his holodesk and brought up the holochannel of the gray dressed human woman seated behind a desk they had seen before. "Our holocams have just caught sight of Masters Yoda and Mace Windu observing the senate proceedings from a highly placed senatorial hovercraft junction." said the woman with a tone a person uses when they learn of a new development, an image of robed Masters takes a quarter of the holo screen from the woman showing the aged, short and green skinned Master Yode leaning on his usual walking stick with the tall,imposing, dark skinned Master Windu standing beside him.
"For those of our viewers not familiar with the workings of the enigmatic Jedi order I shall explain briefly the importance of these 2 beings. Both of these Masters serve on the Jedi high council holding the positions of Grand Master and council Master/Master of the council respectively. The overall leader of the order is Master Yoda who acts as a sort of Chancellor while Mace Windu operates in the same manner a vice chair of the senate would, mind you dear viewers these are merely examples to help you better understand the standing of these Masters with the order and may not accurately reflect the powers they may or may not wield with the Jedi high council.", the woman gave as faithful an explanation as someone outside the order could and if it wasn't for her recent experiences Cisiri would have found the statement about the Jedi being enigmatic to be strange if not inaccurate.
Back before the Separatist crisis she had though that there was no simpler organization to understand than the Jedi order, they were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, followers of the light, the ever vigilant protectors of the Republic. But a couple of diplomatic missions to the outer rim quickly shattered these illusions, the Jedi order as it stood now was basically a police force that was spread dangerously thin. From the histories stored within this very archive Cisiri learned the Jedi had once had a bark as strong as their bite. Now however they were only capable of doing the every present diplomatic missions and what was essentially guarding duty for this world or that senator or these rich person etc. The stagnancy of the order had let a lot of crimes go on unpunished Cisiri knew this and felt a tremendous guilt for being fine with it because it allowed her to spend more time swimming in the ocean that was the Force. Looking at the holo with her Master and Paylin she knew that sooner or later the council would make a decision that was guaranteed to keep them all busy for months. Yet she still hoped, she still hoped they would do nothing and she hated herself for it.