Revenge of the Jedi/Part 9

When Tirien had seen the chairs facing the holoprojector in the darkened room the Kaivalts used for their offworld transmissions, he had feared the time the Tapani would waste squabbling over who sat where, but they surprised him by clearing the seats away. The baron stood off to the back and one side; he insisted on participating in the call, yet he left no one under the delusion that he considered himself part of the group answering to the Council. Yan was the senior Republic Knight, but she waved Tirien forward. "You're the diplomat, you diplomatize."

And so he waited while the communications system worked with his beacon transceiver, flanked by the Kaivalt twins on one side and Narasi and Yan on the other, trying to organize his scattered thoughts. He needed the conversation to keep him focused, to drive from his mind's eye the image of fire and shrapnel ripping through Ayson Sokos's little body…of the way Dorje Sokos had looked at him when he had handed over his only child…

The projector hummed to life and rendered a blue hologram of a young Bimm, whose eyes widened. "Uh…hi."

Dorje's imagined gaze, full of anguish at the news of his son's death, sharpened Tirien's voice. "This is Tirien Kal-Di, calling for the Jedi Council. Who are you?"

The girl jumped. "Master Kal-Di! Um…the Council's not here, sir.  They're meeting with the Chancellor."

"Even better. Relay us there."

"Yes sir…hang on…"

They waited, watching the holo of the Bimm Padawan working the controls until she realized she had left it on and derezzed. A moment later a new holo appeared, presenting a very different scene. Master Nulu Thini, Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, was rising from behind a desk, and Masters Tem-Fol-Rytil and Nawsa Arodion turned in their chairs to face Tirien. The other Council Masters were strewn around the room, though Elata Cazars, Kussam Bnodd, and Gavhys Narfulk were absent. Tirien tried not to let that concern him, though they were the Council's preeminent Guardians and the most vocal advocates for a militant response to the Sith.

Tirien bowed, and the others followed suit, apart from the baron. "Your Excellency. Masters."

"Tirien!" Tem-Fol-Rytil said, standing as well. "Narasi, Yan. We feared you'd been lost at Eriadu."

"Narasi and I were away, Master, and Yan survived the battle."

"But I'm only here because of Tirien and Narasi," Yan added.

"Reports have been scattered and confused, Yan," Chancellor Thini said. "Tell us what happened."

Tirien heard the weariness and anger in her voice as she told the story yet again. By the time she had finished, the Chancellor had sunk back into his chair. "So it's true. Darshkére and Gasald united…"

He trailed off, apparently too horrified by the prospect to continue, and Mon Calamari Master Mar Towla asked, "Did any other Jedi survive?"

Tirien hesitated—he had hardly been in the best state at the time to judge the matter—but Narasi saved him. "If they did, Master, we didn't see any sign of them."

"A lesser Jedi than Yan would have died," Tirien added; he was confident of that much.

"Your resilience does you credit, Jedi Razam," Master Towla gargled. "Do you concur that—"

"I can't rule out anybody being captured," Yan said; reliving the Battle of Eriadu had tightened her voice and narrowed her eyes. "But the Crescentia exploded, and if anybody else had crashed on Docharvee, I would've found them. I only saw Driphan, and…and…"

Tirien saw her shaking; he laid a hand on her shoulder, but she flinched away from his touch. Master Tairni Tre'go said, "You did the right thing, Yan. And Tirien, Narasi, it took great courage to go to Eriadu."

"We had help," Tirien said, and he tried for a brief summary of their missions to Circumtore and Guudria, though it was still nearly fifteen minutes later by the time he and Narasi had answered all the Council's questions.

"This Jirdo Yushari…he's not familiar to me," Tem-Fol-Rytil said; he glanced at the other Masters, but they all shook their heads. "You have him and this girl Zaella with you on Pelagon?"

"Yes, Master," Tirien said. Great as his respect was for the High Council's Masters, he remembered in that moment why he had hoped to present Zaella and Jirdo to the Crescentia ' s Praxeum Council instead. Master La'altac had been a gentler soul than any being on the High Council; if anyone would have been willing to give them a second chance, it would have been him. But now that chance, like so many other possibilities, was gone. "Baron Kaivalt has been kind enough to offer us all sanctuary here."

The Cerean Grand Master's eyes shifted to the edge of the holofield. "Baron, you have the gratitude of the Jedi Order."

"Not at all, Your Grace," Miklato replied. "We are all Jedi, in the end."

Before the Council Masters or the Chancellor could reply, Yan asked, "So what do we do now, Masters?"

Gotal Master Nishric Suftig crossed his arms. "The loss of the Seventy-Second has destabilized the balance of power in the region. This alliance between Gasald and Darshkére imperils the Republic."

"Give us a day to rest and patch ourselves up, Masters, and we'll be ready to participate in the counterattack," Tirien vowed.

The pause that followed stretched just long enough for Tirien to realize something was wrong. After a moment, Ithorian Master Dubb asked, "The counterattack, Tirien?"

Tirien felt Yan and Narasi's eyes on him, and he found them wearing the baffled expression he felt on his own face; when he turned, the Kaivalts looked the same. "Against Gasald, Masters."

"Our defeat at Eriadu hamstrung our military presence in the region," the Chancellor said. "We didn't have the forces to confront Gasald head-on even with the Seventy-Second; without it, the overwhelming likelihood is that any direct counterattack will end in another disaster and cost us more ships and lives."

"And more Jedi," Loworr Dubb added.

Tirien did not have to look this time to imagine the disbelief on the faces around him. "Masters, this is our best chance to strike. Gasald will never be weaker than she is now."

"She just destroyed an entire battle group!" said Master Maktan.

"But now she has Allanteen and Eriadu," Raven reminded them. "The battle's been over for more than a week; I'm very much mistaken if she isn't already funneling Eriadu's resources into the shipyards at Allanteen."

"She's strong, but she's only going to get stronger," Yan added. "And she won't expect it now. We have to pull together a fleet, now, before she can prepare for it!"

"From where?" the Chancellor sighed, laying his long-fingered hands on his holographic desk. "Master Cazars came to us more than half a year ago patronizing Mali Darakhan's own plan, and we didn't have the forces to spare then—when we still had the Seventy-Second."

"Your Excellency, General Darakhan assembled that fleet to liberate Milagro," Raina reminded him. "If Gasald controls the Hydian south of Denon—and she must, if she can travel to and from Eriadu—Milagro will be cut off now. Under siege."

"If we don't break the siege, she'll starve Milagro's fleet into submission and retake the planet," Raven complemented her. "And then everyone who died there, all the Republic's promises of protection, everything Mali and Raina and I fought for…it will all be for nothing."

"Don't be ruled by attachment, Raven," Master Sorfuless counseled; a Duros, he towered over even Tem-Fol-Rytil's conical head.

Raven put a hand over his mouth, clearly restraining himself with difficulty, but Nishric Suftig barked, "Doellin save us, they're twenty-something Knights and they can all see it! Why can't we?"

Even by hologram, Tirien could see the Jedi Masters' sudden tension, the way their billowing robes abruptly hung still. His eyes raced over the images before he even understood why; only when those faces smoothed into Jedi calm did he understand his own instincts. Even when caught off guard, Jedi Masters would never betray their true emotions for long; he'd had just enough time to see Tem-Fol-Rytil's ambivalence, Nawsa Arodion's doubt and frustration, Tairni Tre'go's annoyance, and Maktan's disapproval. The rest passed too quickly, or appeared on too alien of faces to interpret, but Tirien understood.

"Surely Master Cazars or Master Bnodd thought of a counterattack?" he asked.

"Or Master Narfulk," Yan added.

"The Council has considered all possible responses," Tem-Fol-Rytil said after a moment. Nishric Suftig stirred, but Tem-Fol-Rytil raised a hand; the gesture was subtle, but the caution was clear.

"The Council?" Miklato called. "Surely the Office of the Supreme Chancellor decides military policy still?"

Some of the Jedi Masters shifted, but Chancellor Thini said, "Yes, and my office has devoted its full attention to this situation since the battle. Do not imagine that we intend to stand idle while Gasald prepares to destroy us."

"So what's the plan, Master?" Narasi asked.

The Chancellor and Tem-Fol-Rytil traded a glance before the Chancellor said, "We intend to fortify Denon, and take and fortify Chardaan. Between Milagro and Chardaan, we can cut Gasald off from Darshkére and Eriadu."

Tirien opened his mouth, but the Force flowed between him and Raina, and she was already moving by the time he laid eyes on her. She adjusted the holoprojector's controls and called up a galactic map. Widening it from its default view of the Tapani sector, she tapped the two systems to highlight them.

"What's to stop Gasald from smashing either of them?" Yan asked.

"They're close enough to reinforce one another."

"If we don't already have Chardaan, it'll take time to seize and fortify," Raven pointed out.

"Time Gasald can use to bulk up her fleet," Raina added.

"We're moving as swiftly as—"

"What about Milagro?" Yan interrupted. Tapping another system with one claw, she said, "Even if we have Chardaan, Darshkére can still blockade Pax and starve the Milagroans."

"As unfortunate as—"

"If we leave Darshkére alone, Gasald will control the whole southern galaxy!" Narasi protested. "From Bespin to Christophsis!"

Trying not to think about a Sith onslaught against his homeworld, Tirien added, "And Darshkére will be able to take the supply lines there. Narasi and I spent months on Darkknell—we and those people sacrificed a great deal—but all of it will be for nothing if Darshkére brings his war fleet down on them."

Yan pounded one fist into her other hand. "We can't just sit around playing defense while—"

"Enough!" Mar Towla barked, loud enough that the Kaivalt twins and Master Dubb all started. "Do you think you possess some special vision, that you see something the Council and the Admiralty have all missed? We've been over these points for days already!"

Master Suftig had squeezed his big hands into fists so tight Tirien feared the bones would burst out of his knuckles, but he turned his face away and said nothing. In a tone of strained conciliation, the Chancellor said, "Our plan is imperfect; I recognize that, and no being here will tell you otherwise. No plan under such circumstances will be ideal.  We can only make do with what we're given and trust in the Force."

On the Pelagon side, there was no sound but the hum of the holoprojector; Tirien sensed they, like he, were all grappling with the enormity of their disappointment. Eventually he heard his own voice say, "What would you have us do?"

"Stand by for further instructions," Tem-Fol-Rytil commanded. "When we establish the forward base at Denon, we may direct you there to shore up the defense."

"That bomb of yours will need to be dismantled," Tairni Tre'go said. "We can get the necessary specialists to Denon, but until then…"

The Chancellor stood. "Baron Kaivalt, on behalf of the Republic, I'm directing Pelagon to host this device until Tirien and Narasi transport it offworld."

Miklato bowed from the neck. "I'll inform Lord Brascel of your instructions, Supreme Chancellor."

"Masters," Yan blurted out. "We're all here—four Knights, plus Narasi, who's a better swordsbeing than some Knights. We're within striking distance of Darshkére or Gasald.  Or both!  We still have time to—"

"The matter is closed, Jedi Razam," Maktan growled.

Tirien sensed Yan simmering at his side and held up a hand to still her. Narasi caught his eye, but he shook his head, and she held her tongue. Tem-Fol-Rytil watched them for a few seconds, then held up a hand. "Remain on Pelagon. May the Force be with you."

"And also with you, Master," Raven said. Tirien was grateful; had he opened his own mouth, he was not sure what would have come out.

Once the hologram had faded, they all stood in silence before Yan waved open the door and stormed from the room. Raven sat in one of the chairs and put his head in his hands; Raina sat on the arm of the neighboring chair, rubbing her brother's back, but Tirien saw her expression of deep disquiet. Narasi drifted closer to him, her ears lowered and her eyes uncertain. "Master…what now?"

"How can this be the answer?" Raven asked. "All those people on Milagro…"

"We can't save everyone," Raina said quietly.

"We can't sacrifice everyone either, or eventually there will be no one left to save."

Miklato Kaivalt stirred at the back of the room; Tirien had momentarily forgotten his presence. "I sense you all need some time to process and master your emotions on this turn of events. I'm going to speak to Lord Brascel.  Tirien, if it's all the same to you, I'd prefer your bomb remain aboard the Second Chance rather than coming inside the manor."

Tirien nodded vaguely, but Raven raised his head. "Father, you can't possibly endorse this?"

Miklato paused beside the door. "There are times, my son, when I wonder whether I erred in not becoming a Knight of the Republic myself. This is not one of them."

When he was gone, Narasi took one of the remaining chairs, but Tirien was too agitated to sit. "The Council must have split on the question, and narrowly."

"The three most proactive Guardian Masters were all absent," Raven noted.

"Master Suftig was against this plan too," said Narasi.

Tirien nodded. "At a guess, I'd say Master Arodion as well, and maybe Master Tre'go."

"Wouldn't that make it a tie?" Narasi asked.

"If they tie, the Grand Master's vote controls. And, as Baron Kaivalt pointed out, in the end it's the Supreme Chancellor's decision, though I'm sure he doesn't make strategic decisions alone."

"But what then?" Raina asked. "Whether it was six and six or twelve to none, the Council's made its decision."

Narasi crossed her arms. "What if the decision is wrong?"

"That's not the way the Jedi work," Raina said. "We have to trust in the Council's wisdom."

Tirien remembered making that same point to Karr Shadeez; it had not even been four years ago, though it felt like a lifetime. And he remembered the arguments Shadeez had raised in answer. "We trust the Council to interpret the will of the Force, but if the Council is divided against itself…"

"That sentence is heading in a dangerous direction," Raina cautioned.

Raven looked at her. "But what then? What if the Council was split six and six?  Do we believe that Master Tem-Fol-Rytil knows the Force's will better than the others?  Do you believe that?"

When Raina hesitated, Raven pressed, "If he does, what's the point of having a vote? Or a Council, for that matter?  Why not a single Grand Master to rule the Order?"

Raina shook her head. "We're getting off track. We've all sworn to serve the Order and obey the High Council.  It's not obedience when we want to do it anyway; it's only a virtue when it's difficult."

"Is it a virtue if it's wrong?" Narasi asked.

Raina pinched the bridge of her nose, and Raven stood. "I think my father's right—we should all take some time to meditate on this…to seek the Force's guidance."

Raina nodded and slipped out, and Raven followed, but not before exchanging a guarded look with Tirien, who wondered how closely the other Knight's thoughts tracked his own. A Force pull tugged his beacon transceiver free from the communications system and into his hand; following the twins out, blinking against the brightness of the manor, Tirien told Narasi, "Go check on Zaella and Jirdo. Introduce yourself to Raina's Padawan if you get a chance.  I'll bring your things in from the ship."

"I can help you," she offered.

Tirien closed his eyes and took a calming breath; with everything else going on, he could not afford a quarrel with her now. "Please do as I asked."

He opened his eyes to find surprise and concern on her face, but to his relief she just bowed. "Of course, Master. I'm on it."

He followed her back to the hall, past the statue of Donarius Kaivalt, and headed out into the afternoon. The salty breeze wafted through the trees, but the wind grew stronger as he broke the tree line, rustling his hair and billowing his tunic around his chest. Gizmo croaked as he ascended the Second Chance ' s ramp, but Tirien made straight for the cockpit and plugged his beacon into the comms suite. It took a few minutes, relaying the signal through the Temple to the northern galaxy, but at last the new display system rendered a crisp holo of Mali Darakhan.

"Tirien!" Mali's jaw dropped for a second. "I thought you were—"

"—dead," Tirien finished. "Yes, there's a lot of that going around."

"Oh, Force be good, brother, I've never been so happy to be wrong! And Narasi?"

"She's here too. We're both safe for the moment; we're with the Kaivalts on Pelagon."

"How'd you wind up there? Were you in the battle?"

"No." Having cut his rhetorical teeth on the High Council, Tirien summarized his and Narasi's exploits more quickly this time, concluding, "We're here on Pelagon now with the bomb."

Mali looked stunned—not as though Tirien had omitted key details, but like he had understood everything perfectly and just could not believe it. When he finally found speech, he shook his head and said, "That's amazing. And I'm so glad you got Yan out; when I heard about Eriadu, I was afraid it had been a clean sweep."

"Apart from Yan, it was." Tirien imagined the flash-fire pursuing the oxygen from room to room as the Crescentia died, catching gentle Master La'altac and igniting his fur, chasing the air down his throat and into his lungs as he tried to scream…he squeezed his hands into fists, choking on rage. "Are you coming back?"

Mali winced. "I would, brother, but I have to be here. I have to.  I can't give up now."

"Give up?"

"Did…did Raven and Raina not tell you?"

How much more bad news could he get in one day? Tirien asked through his teeth, "Tell me what?"

"I sent Aldayr back while I was on Milagro—"

"I remember," Tirien said, horror dawning at the possible ends to this story. "He earned his Corellian Bloodstripes."

"Yeah, he did. But a few days later, there was a battle at Garqi…"  Mali swallowed. "It was like Eriadu, Tirien—an ambush and a slaughter. A handful of ships managed to escape, and from what they've said, Aresh was there himself.  The Guardian—that's Aldayr's ship—got caught in the upper atmosphere, and when the shields and the stabilizers failed…"

He trailed off; Tirien could see that the intervening weeks and the many times he had doubtless told this story already had not blunted the razor's edge of the words. He tried to imagine what it would be like, telling friends and comrades one at a time that Narasi had died, over and over for a month. In the gentlest tone he could manage, he asked, "Did the Guardian explode in atmosphere, or…?"

Mali snapped back to himself. "No—it crashed. They couldn't spare any ships for rescue during the battle.  Even before I got back to the theater, Master Cazars mounted a counter mission with her own fleet, but of course Aresh was long gone by then.  Our people picked through the wreckage for a day or two, but they only found a handful of survivors, and Aldayr wasn't one of them."

"Did they find his body?"

"No."

"Then he could still be alive." Slim the hope might be, but Tirien found himself in need of some just as badly as Mali seemed to be.

"Oh, he's alive," Mali said. "I can feel it. I'd know if he died."

Would he? Tirien had no frame of reference; he had witnessed Suwo's death with his own eyes. He imagined he would know if Narasi died, but since Taanab, he had always imagined them especially bonded. Good and bad, thick and thin, Core or Rim—we're a team. Was it arrogance to think another Jedi and his Padawan might not share such a bond? "If he's alive, then there's hope."

Mali answered with a hollow smile. "Such as it is. If he's alive and we didn't find him—"

"—then Aresh has him," Tirien realized. It was the second time he had completed Mali's thought in one conversation, but he thought his friend was relieved not to have to say the words himself; even with Tirien voicing them, his whole face hardened. "We'll get him back, Mali."

That stone visage softened to flesh again, and desperation crept into Mali's eyes. "Will you help me, brother? I really need somebody I can count on up here."

"As soon as I'm able," Tirien vowed.

"How soon can you leave?"

Tirien hesitated. "The situation down here is…a complete fiasco, candidly."

"Yeah, I'll bet it is…"

"The Council isn't planning to retaliate. Their strategy is to fortify Denon and Chardaan and…well, to be frank, from all I can tell, 'and hope for the best'."

"Yeah, that's about what I got from Master Cazars."

"Has she briefed you on all this?"

"When we got word of the defeat, she asked me and my staff to come up with some tactical proposals for a retaliatory action. She didn't tell me what the Council and the Chancellor decided, but her expression kind of said it all.  Just so you know, 'fortify Denon and Chardaan' wasn't any part of my strategy."

So Master Cazars had opposed the defensive strategy—in truth, Tirien had never doubted it. Elata Cazars had earned her Jedi Mastery and her seat on the Council both for her tactical brilliance and her achievements in war; she would never have hunkered down and let Vedya Gasald build up her power unchallenged. Yet for all her tactical insights—and those of Narfulk, Bnodd, and the rest—she had been unable to sway the Council. Why?

"If we follow through on this strategy, Gasald may become too powerful to be opposed," Tirien said. "And either way we'll wind up sacrificing Milagro."

"That was my conclusion too." Mali's face betrayed his emotions, but Tirien could not blame him; he had sent his apprentice away to war and lost him to a Sith Lord, and now the High Council might throw away the victory he had been trying to win.

Tirien hesitated. The notion had been growing since the Council cut its transmission, and he thought he had seen a reflection of it in Raven's eyes, but voicing it was something else entirely. But if he could not trust Mali, he could not trust anyone. "We have to do something. I have to do something."

Mali's frown was more uncertain than disapproving. "Remember what happened the last time we decided to do something about Gasald because the Council wouldn't get its act together?"

Tirien combed a hand through his hair. He had let it grow long over the past month rather than trusting it to a Guudrian barber; he would need to deal with that, but he had far more pressing concerns now. "What would you do?"

"Me? I'd put together the biggest fleet I could, from every source I could squeeze until it bled, and I'd hit Allanteen with everything we had." Mali crossed his arms and shook his head. "But everywhere we pull ships is a place we leave exposed. Aresh is all over us here, Gasald has other forces down the Run, Saleej is expanding off the Perlemian, Nicodeme on the north Hydian…hell, give him an open enough target and even Trayvin Osydro might get off his ass and do something.  And now you've got Darshkére to contend with too, without the Seventy-Second to keep him in check."

"The fact that there's no viable military solution doesn't mean there are no options."

Mali took a long moment to answer.

"I won't tell you what to do, Tirien," he said, his voice slow and cautious. "But you were the one reining me in the first time I went to Milagro; if you're thinking what I think you're thinking now…you wouldn't be in that place if we weren't in dire straits."

"The Jedi on the Crescentia…" Tirien trailed off, struggling to focus past Ayson Sokos's happy face, excited for the Jedi Knighthood he would never receive. "If I stay and follow the Council's plan, and Gasald runs over the south, it's the Council's fault…except…if I could have stopped her, and I didn't, then it's my fault. And even one death is too many laid at my feet.  No more.  The Jedi on the Crescentia and everyone in the battle group deserve justice."

"And the people of Milagro deserve to live," Mali said. "I'd tell you to meditate on it, but we both know you're already going to do that."

He chuckled; Tirien put on an expression he hoped resembled a smile.

"You're the most powerful Jedi Knight I know—and that's including Kenza, and she's doing things up here I've never even heard of. If anybody can make a difference, it's you.  When you've got the read of the Force, though…a Jedi doesn't hesitate when his course is clear, Tirien.  Do what you have to do."