Igniting the Stars/Part 9

Tirien had set aside Master Fane's holocron for a time and was engrossed in a data book when he sensed his apprentice approaching at a run, filled with excitement. He raised a hand without looking up, opening the door to give her a clean line. She ran until she was almost on top of him, braking hard and grinning. "It's up, Master."

Tirien sat up and laid his data book aside, drawing out his personal datapad and tapping into Aldera Palace's HoloNet grid. After a moment he pulled up the news he knew Narasi had seen. "You read this already?"

"Yeah."

Reading each line carefully, Tirien leaned back against the cushion of his parlor divan, gesturing Narasi into a chair without looking at her; she waved the door shut and sat, almost bouncing in place. When he got to the end Tirien re-read several lines with a frown, then sat back, deep in thought.

"So?!"

Blinking, he looked at Narasi. "Sorry, so what?"

"So the preliminary reports were right—he's dead! They killed Vandak!" She stared at him. "You look…unhappy."

"I'm relieved that the danger is gone, and I'm certainly happy he won't hurt anyone else." Tirien made a face. He did feel great relief at Vandak's demise, but he couldn't deny having mixed emotions. Narasi, however, had to come first. "But a Jedi should never be happy about another thinking being's death."

Narasi frowned too. "Master, I know killing without need wounds the Force, but this totally needed to happen."

"And you'll never hear me say otherwise," Tirien agreed. "There was no other way, Vandak needed to die, and the galaxy is a safer and better place without him. But he can recognize that without celebrating it.  There will be parties for this, parades, fireworks—people will be celebrating his death, and no moralizing of mine will put a stop to that.  Just don't let me catch you participating in them."

Narasi rolled her eyes, but said, "Of course not. But what about the rest of the story?  Two Padawans!"

Tirien narrowed his eyes. "Yes, I noticed that too."

"Embarrassed that you and Mali got scooped by a couple rookies?" Narasi teased.

Tirien gave her a look. "I hope I'm not yet that prideful, thank you. No, it isn't that.  There's something wrong with this story."

"What do you mean, wrong?"

Tirien scanned the article again. "Two Padawans killed Vandak…multiple civilian casualties…massive property damage…hailed as heroes…commendation from the Chancellor…"

"Well…don't they deserve it?" Narasi asked. "I know we don't do these things to be heroes, but you have to admit, this is pretty heroic. And it's like Pantora—people need heroes, especially with people like Vandak on the loose."

Tirien handed her the datapad. "You're not wrong, Narasi, but that isn't what worries me. Read the article again and tell me what's wrong."

He watched her big blue eyes rove over the datapad, then rise to his face again. "I don't get it."

"Narasi, I know you plan to be a Guardian someday, and if you do you'll be a great one. But Master Z'dar, Master Cazars, even Mali would agree with me, the best warriors are wise, not just powerful.  No matter what kind of Jedi you become, in a war like this, you need to be able to think critically, to analyze the evidence before you not just for what's there, but what isn't there."

She cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

Determined not to hand it to her, he said, "Picture yourself and Aldayr in place of Bekli and Elmir. You're in this fight with Darth Vandak.  What's missing from that picture?"

Narasi worried the inside of her lip with one fang as she thought about it, and Tirien could almost see the lightsaber ignite behind her widening eyes. "I'd wonder where you and Mali were."

Tirien nodded. "Good."

Narasi reread the report, brows furrowed together so they almost met her buzzed widow's peak. "It doesn't mention any other Jedi. Maybe they were just assigned alone, in the area?  Don't senior Padawans sometimes get sent off to handle stuff for their masters?"

"They do, but I don't believe that's the case here." Tirien shook his head. "Don't take this as pride for Mali and me, because it's not. I fought Darth Vandak once, Narasi.  Mali fought him twice.  We compared notes afterward on Corellia, and we're of one mind: he's—he was, now—probably the deadliest swordsman in the galaxy, and incredibly strong in the Force too."

He gestured vaguely. "Maybe Master Z'dar could've taken Vandak one-on-one. Maybe Master Kadych, in his prime.  But I think that's it."

"This was two-on-one…" Narasi said, but Tirien could hear the reluctance in her voice; she no longer believed it herself. "Unless it was more than two-on-one?"

"Exactly. With a rallying call to the entire Jedi Order, with Gyndine where it is in the middle of the Expansion Region where three Sith Overlords could prey on it at will, I can not accept that only two Jedi—and Padawans at that—answered the call."

Narasi swallowed. "You think their masters died?"

"At the very least. I'd expect at least six Jedi were involved in this, and that's if they were all very skillful; it might have been more."

Narasi sat back, looking dazed. "So the report…lied?"

"No, I don't think so," Tirien said. "I think it was just worded very carefully. '…Darth Vandak was defeated by two Jedi Padawans'…yes, I'm sure they were there to strike the coup de grace."

She winced, looking hurt. "And so it just makes them out like they're heroes, when all they did was pick him off?"

Tirien shook his head. "Don't misunderstand me—I think these Padawans are heroes. It would take immense courage to battle on against an enemy like Vandak, having watched him slay their masters and friends before them.  Only fully trained Jedi, with the Force as their ally, could conquer Darth Vandak, no matter how injured he was."

"Then why not just tell the whole story? Doesn't that make them more heroic to…like you said, battle on and be brave and everything?"

"But what makes a more reassuring story for the galaxy—two Padawans finally summoned the strength to bring down Darth Vandak after he murdered multiple Jedi Knights, or two Padawans defeated the mighty Darth Vandak with no mention of any other Jedi?"

He could feel her mind grappling with it. "So…with the second one people get the impression that the big, bad Sith Lord got taken down by a couple trainees, and with the first one they just focus on more Jedi Knights getting killed by a Sith Lord."

Tirien nodded, and Narasi sat forward, her elbows on her knees, a look of deep struggle contorting her features. Tirien hated putting that expression there, but he owed it to her not to let her live in illusion. More troubling was the crafting of the illusion itself, but—

"It said Elmir's a Drall, right?"

"Yes. Do you know him?"

"Nah, I don't remember him, but…do you think Mali can get more information for us? Drall's one of the Five Brothers, right?  And all the Corellian Jedi know each other?"

Impressed, Tirien said, "Quite possibly. I can ask.  But why?"

She looked up, and her face was hard. "You said that we do stuff without looking for praise, Master, but I think the other side of that is that it isn't any less heroic just because nobody knows your name. If other Jedi died fighting him…even if they didn't finish him, I still that's heroic.  I want to know who they were—somebody should remember their names."

A hero's heart, Tirien thought. "I'll make the call."