Chapter 41: ED : Chapter 39: Convenient Timing II
A growing uneasiness causing her slowly building anger to once more set her tail to swishing.
The building emotion pushing her to whirl about without a word of explanation to the harried chief of emergency services waiting all this time, or to her Protective Services detachment. Heading for her office to release a worm into her private hyper-comm system and computer terminal.
...
(Two days later)
"Master Yaddle and Padawan Skywalker were able to eliminate enough of the released stone mites for the Tynnans to exterminate those remaining with oxidizing foam. The Tynna Government Building suffered significant, but ultimately non-critical damage as a result of C.I.S sabotage. Knight Tassu was mortally wounded by the trio of Dark Side adepts. He became one with the Force after giving the last of his strength to stabilize Knight Swan's healing trance. Her injuries were themselves nearly fatal, but she's healing in a bacta tank and will recover. Though she will need to spend some time in the Halls of Healing. Receiving and growing acclimated to a prosthetic for her severed right arm" Dark Woman reported tersely to the blue-white hologram of Mace Windu.
Wearing a grimmer expression than the old, silver haired and blue eyed Jedi had seen on the dark-skinned Jedi Master's strong-featured face in decades, the image of Mace Windu steepled his fingers, then replied with deliberate calm "Yes, Master Yaddle's report to the High Council was full of praise for your apprentice. She credits him with the defeat of both the lesser Dark Side adepts. Saying her assistance with the second one only expedited the matter. She described in detail his returning to support her efforts against the stone mites, rather than retiring to accept any but the most cursory medical attention until the crisis's end. Yet it was his single-handed rescue of Knight Swan she focused on the most. Skywalker's successful recharge and reprogramming of a completely unknown type of droid to aid him was an inspired bit of business. His risking his life by twice traversing an extremely unstable passageway to retrieve Swan was in keeping with our highest traditions of courage and self-sacrifice."
With a slight inclination of her head and a smile, the venerable Jedi Master seemed to grow a bit less stern as she accepted this praise of her Padawan. Suddenly looking rather more casual than at any other point in the hyper-comm call, the Korunnai Master's image leaned back, then inquired in an off-handed manner "I haven't heard an update from you concerning Skywalker's progress since we spoke several months ago about the possibility of adding his name to the candidates-list for the Council's accelerated promotion initiative. Is there still more he can learn from you?"
"I already told him there's nothing more I can teach him, Mace. Not unless you're willing to give me the proscription-exemption you refused me before? This blanket prohibition against passing on Alter skills to our best and brightest as apprentices hurts more than it helps. It's exactly the sort of thing the judgment of a Master who knows their Padawan intimately is for!" Dark Woman began by way of reply to the question. Her bright blue eyes growing intent as she prepared to say more, but Windu's upraised hand stopped her.
"I told you before, and I'm telling you now, Dee. There is no chance of your gaining a unanimous vote for a teaching-exemption from either the Council of First Knowledge, or during an appeal of their decision before the High Council. This is simply not the time for that sort of deviation from a practice dating back to the time of the Code's revision. Especially in the immediate wake of the raid upon The Prism . A hundred of the most dangerous Dark Side adepts to have ever lived. All loosed at the worst possible time" Mace's answer was delivered in a low and urgent manner, but his expression was an uncharacteristic plea for understanding.
For a moment, Dark Woman's eyes darkened and flashed dangerously. The possibility that she might at last have reached the end of her willingness to tolerate everything she considered short-sighted, overly controlling, and outright wrong with the mainline Order hanging heavy in the air between the two old friends. At long last, she very quietly stated "Anakin has been ready for most of a year. I'll transmit my official recommendation once we're done."
Windu nodded in response to this answer from his old friend, but didn't immediately reply. When he did begin to speak once more, it was obvious he was choosing his words carefully. "I hope your apprentice proves worthy of your confidence in him. For a great many reasons." The other Jedi Master opened her mouth to request he elaborate, but a subtle shake of the Korunnai Weaponmaster's head told her Mace Windu had no intention of expounding on his comment at present.
Instead, he completely changed the subject. Face tightening, his previously steepled fingers began drumming against a surface not visible in the hologram. While it was apparent the imposing Jedi Master wasn't at ease, only one who knew him as well as the old friend he spoke to would have realized just how deep the man's disquiet now ran. "Master Yaddle was only present for the summit's opening minutes. You've sat through two days of the proceedings, and had the chance to read all the representatives once they'd heard about the R.A.L claiming responsibility for the raid on the Prism. What's your take on the summit's chance of success?"
Rather than answer the question put to her, the weathered Jedi Master remarked rather too calmly "It was wise of you and the rest of the Council to send Yaddle. If the C.I.S sabotage of the government building had gone unchecked, the Republic could have lost Tynna to the Secessionists. Which would have cost us among the still undecided worlds. There's also Swan's much improved prognosis to take into account. Becoming acclimated to a cybernetic right arm is enough to ask of a twenty-five year old woman. I wouldn't have believed a single practitioner of Force Healing could take a leg so ravaged it was going to require an exoskeletal support-frame, and reduce the damage to something two weeks in a bacta tank and some physical therapy can mend. Not if I hadn't seen it for myself."
"It isn't like you to avoid an issue, Dee" Windu softly prompted. The look on his face more appropriate for the funeral of a dear friend than a conversation with one.
"All my life, I have done my very best to discover and serve the will of the Force. In a month, it will be forty-nine years since my Knighting. Counting my years in the Outer Rim and Wild Space with my Master, that's fifty-eight years I have served the people and the peace. After all that, you'll just have to pardon me if it takes a minute for me to work up to conveying that all of that has gone for naught!" Dark Woman suddenly snapped. There was such vehemence, such a loss of self-control from a woman widely admired even by other Jedi Masters for her unflappable poise and genuine serenity that the Master of the Order was taken completely aback.
"There is no chance of the summit succeeding, and there never was! Standing in that room is very nearly as bad as standing in the heart of a Dark Side nexus, Mace. I can count on my fingers the number of representatives who aren't overtly aware this farce is nothing but a means to slow the full acceptance of war's inevitability by those elements of the Core and Inner Rim desperate to maintain the peace! We are standing on the verge of the most destructive war in millennia, and there's nothing we can do to stop it!" Quickly as the eruption had begun, the woman sagged and fell silent with it's completion. Eyes normally filled with fire and determination staring dully at the hologram of the man gripped by consternation himself.
Eventually, Mace Windu simply nodded and quietly replied "I have to assign replacements for Swan and Tassu anyways, so I'm going to simply rotate all of you out. Spending some time helping Skywalker find the right frame of mind for his upcoming Trials is exactly what you need to remind you none of it has gone for naught. I'll see you when you return. We'll talk more then, my friend."
When the other Jedi Master only lifted a hand in a wordless gesture of farewell, Windu looked worriedly at the woman a moment longer, then cut the transmission's connection.
...
(9 Days Later)
Failure of Reconciliation Summit anticipated to result in Mid & Outer Rim signatories to the Articles of Secession reaching 5000 member-worlds by end of month!
Political science experts and military analysts from Anaxes speaking on condition of anonymity warn the Secessionist Crisis has reached critical mass.
"The complete failure of the Supreme Chancellor's summit to achieve any of it's stated objectives was not only predictable, it was inevitable.
The Rim has tragically misconstrued our willingness to provide them with the freedom to find their own way as a sign of weakness.
It's been millennia since these terrorist-sponsoring, disloyal malcontents have witnessed the full mobilization of the Core, Colonies, Inner Rim and the Expansion Region. Making their error an understandable yet devastating one.
It's unfortunate so many planetary leaders have decided to abandon efforts to redress their respective grievances via due process and the rule of law, but expecting civil behavior from the fundamentally uncivilized is always a fool's errand.
I feel compassion for the many, many innocents who are going to die as a result of the poor judgment exhibited by their leaders, but that compassion won't prevent me from seeing through my duty to our great Republic.
If it's a fight these barbaric traitors want, it's a fight they'll get! " said one Judicial Fleet Vice-Admiral.
Similar sentiments prevailed throughout the constantly expanding ranks of the Judicial Forces. Once considered a proportional response to the egregious violations of the Ruusan Precepts carried out by the Geonosians, the Muun (Of Gwori Revolutionary Industries infamy), the Colicoids of Colla IV and many others, the Military Mirror Sanctions Act.
Or the M.M.S.A has become what some consider the acid which is dissolving centuries of demilitarization on the part of our ancestors after the last great conflict to set the galaxy afire.
"Nonsense! The M.M.S.A is the only real hope we have of convincing the angry, misguided, and admittedly disenfranchised peoples of the Mid and Outer Rim they're making a terrible mistake. The Senate's passage of the eleventh rider to the M.M.S.A was an absolute game-changer.
It allowed for sanction points to be rolled over into a complete removal of capital ship tonnage and armament restrictions until sanction-point levels were expended quickly enough to drop below the cutoff mark.
When that happened, we saw a thirteen point five percent slowdown in the median monthly rate of new signatories to those vile Articles of Secession" Professor Tahli Assadi of the Shili think-tank Critical Solutions began.
...
Hey guys can you throw some power stones to Elevate the ranking.
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