“Can you see the Jedi?” asked the Duros, as he adjusted the grip on his blaster.

He and five others lay on a small hill overlooking the staging area for their operations as the gentle rumble of thunder echoed across the sky. Their attention was focused on a small vessel that had just landed in said staging area.

“No, but the ramp is lowering. We’ll have a shot in a moment,” replied a Weequay as he stared through the sights of a large rifle that he was aiming towards the landed ship. Three others next to him were doing the same while the fifth was aiming a large object, probably some kind of rocket launcher, at the ship as well.

“I always wanted to kill a Jedi,” the Human with the tube stated with a chuckle as he fiddled with a small console on the side of the launcher.

“Perhaps I can help with that,” I said as I dropped Force Camouflage and ignited my lightsaber from a few metres behind them. “Though I doubt you’ll succeed.”

My blade hissed as a few drops of rain hit the now-ignited blade.

As they rolled, sat and turned to face me, I noted that they all stared at me with wide eyes as the two lacking heavy weapons pulled blaster pistols from their belts.

With a flick of my finger and all of the weapons were wrenched from their grasp and sent tumbling down the other side of the hill. The action caused most of them to lose their balance and fall or stumble.

Several of them called out in panic and shock even as I smirked.

“Surrender. You are already beaten,” I said, probably taking a bit too much enjoyment in seeing their reactions.

“There’s six of us,” the one who kept his balance snarled as his eyes narrowed and he pulled a pair of knives from his belt. “And only one of you, brat.”

“True enough,” I replied, as my smirk grew, as I shifted into a Soresu opening stance. “Luckily for you, my master asked me to try and take you alive.”

Admittedly, I could have just used TK or Stun to take them out without alerting them to my presence, but I wanted to see how easily I could handle a small group of combatants in melee combat.

While this increased the risk to me, with my massively increased boost to FP regen I could run Precog and Bullet-Time for over twenty minutes before I’d have to worry about low FP.

And that was after Teleporting here from the ship, then using Force Camouflage for a full minute until I was in position behind the slavers and Detection running constantly since we’d begun landing procedures.

The knife-wielder stepped forward, answering the challenge, even as the others began to pull out their secondary weapons.

“Jedi really are stoopa,” he chuckled before attacking me with an exploratory thrust.

I easily evaded the probe and grazed his forearm with my lightsaber, making sure to not sever it. Merely, doing just enough damage to force him to drop that knife.

“Sadly, some of them are, yes,” I replied, taking probably a touch too much enjoyment in what I was doing for most Jedi’s tastes. I brought my blade up and removed his other hand before casually deflecting away a blast from one of the other slavers who had unclipped a pistol from their belt. “I’m not.”

The now one-armed man was sent tumbling backwards into two of his fellows with a gentle Force Blast. I activated Force Speed and moved forward before any of them could react and sliced through two of the blaster pistols that were aimed at me, then drove an elbow into the throat of the last slaver, who was still kneeling on the ground.

“Again, surrender,” I snarled after moving back to restore the distance between us and deactivating Force Speed. “For your own sakes.”

“ARAGH!” one-hand man, his jaw tense and his eyes wild, roared as he stood and charged at me.

I side-stepped his wild haymaker and drove my elbow into the side of his head before bringing my foot down on the back of his knee, sending him crumbling to the ground.

Showing a level of stupidity that I hadn’t expected, two of the others dual-charged me while unarmed.

A few twists and turns later, they joined one-hand on the ground and out of the fight, though they at least, managed to keep all their extremities.

“We give up!” One of the others called out as I turned to face them.

“Good choice,” I stated as I lowered, but did not depower, my lightsaber. “Here, each of you cuff yourselves to one of them,” I added as I tossed three sets of restraining cuffs that I’d clipped to my belt before leaving the raider.

I could have pulled three sets from my inventory but doing that would have aroused Dooku’s curiosity as to where they had come from. Thus, before we had left the temple-ship, I had placed a pile of a dozen or so cuffs on the raider.

Dooku hadn’t said anything about the pile, but since he’d asked me to secure these six without killing them, I believed he was satisfied with my foresight.

Or he simply wished to see if I could deal with simple opponents like these without resorting to killing. Sometimes it was hard to tell with him as he could be very uncaring to those that he felt were beneath him.

“Now what?” the Duros asked, having been one of the three who chose to surrender. He was currently cuffed to the one-handed man; thankfully to the arm that had still a hand.

“Now we walk back to your base,” I replied, pointing in that direction with my lightsaber.

“But they’re out of it.” Complained a pale-skinned Human, tugging his cuffed arm and making the Weequay he was cuffed to shake around like a rag doll.

“Well, you can either carry or drag them. However, if they get injured because of your dragging, they might have some choice words for you when they come to,” I replied with a smile that exposed my teeth. “Now get going.”

The three grumbled but moved. The Duros heaved one-hand onto his shoulders while the two Humans dragged the two Weequays they were linked to.

It took us about twenty minutes to make it back to the base camp, where we found Dooku standing guard over eight slavers. While they all appeared in good condition – save the two missing parts of an arm, or the one lacking a leg below the knee – four bodies were piled against a crate. Given the fact none were moving – and had rather obvious lightsaber marks on their chests – it was easy to tell that they hadn’t been smart or quick enough to surrender.

“Hmm, you managed to take them all alive,” Dooku commented as I directed my prisoners to join the others. One-hand snarled at me even as the Duros pulled him along. “And with only one missing an extremity. Satisfactory.”

I took the praise as I pulled one of the two daggers used by one-hand and passed it to Dooku.

“That one was armed with these,” I said as he took the weapon from me, hilt first, and turned it over in his grip. “Something feels different about the blades.”

I knew exactly what that was, as thanks to using Observe on the two daggers, I knew they were coated in phrik. This made them extremely durable and, most intriguingly, lightsaber resistant.

If possible, I planned to keep the blades as having a pair of daggers that were so durable, and lightsaber resistant, available would help in the event I was ever forced to work without my lightsaber. Or for dealing with a certain Sith during the invasion of Naboo.

“Hmm.” Dooku ignited his lightsaber and placed the blade of the knife against the energy blade. His eyebrow quirked slightly in surprise as the knife didn’t melt when the lightsaber touched it.

Dooku depowered his lightsaber. “That is because it is either coated in or entirely made, from phrik; A rare and expensive metal that, among its other properties, can stand up to strikes from a lightsaber.” He explained as he handed the knife back to me and clipped his lightsaber back onto his belt.

“Why would a slaver have such weapons?” I asked as I clipped the knife back to my belt.

Provided I could explain away their disappearance, those knives were going into my Inventory. The potential usefulness of a regular blade that could deflect a lightsaber could not be understated.

“An excellent question and one this group were more than happy to answer after some persuasion,” Dooku replied as we turned away from the restrained slavers. “It appears that this planet is a source phrikite, the main ore from which phrik is processed.”

“Ah. That explains the mining operation then. Phrik must be valuable, especially to those who would expect to oppose the Jedi.”

Dooku nodded and the corner of his lips twitched upwards. “Indeed. The momentary confusion of why a blade could block a lightsaber has been the downfall of many Jedi and Sith over the millennia.”

I glanced at the fourteen cuffed slavers. “If their leader told the truth, there are a further seven in the mine.” I paused and reached out fully with Detection.

I then rotated the minimap to try to work out the exact locations below us.

“I’ve got a group of three perhaps five hundred metres inside the mine. The rest, slavers and slaves, have split into two groups of about a hundred each, though I am unable to tell which are which, nor how to reach them.”

“I imagine that building would contain a map of the mine,” Dooku said, indicating the largest of four buildings that stood around the entrance to the mine. While his face did not show any emotion, I thought I could see amusement in his eyes as he spoke.

Three of the buildings looked capable of providing shelter, though minimal at best, while the fourth was nothing more than a roof that held a few crates and had a track that led into the mine, which meant it was used as a store for whatever came out of the mine.

I jogged to the main building, which given to the large satellite dish on the roof, probably served as the control and communication centre for the camp.

It didn’t take me long to reach the command centre in the building, or to access the data from the main computer.

I copied the rough map of the mine to a datapad that was lying on a table, while also making a mental note of the layout, before adding a sixteen-digit security code to the computer. Honestly, having Eidetic Memory made creating long random codes so much more useful than in real life.

As I stepped back from the computer, I wondered just why computer security seemed so lax in this galaxy. Oh sure, I had to slice my way into many computers that I needed access to, but it seemed far, far too easy to do with a skill that was only in the mid-Professional range. Though I always did boost it with Enhance Skill, which granted about a twenty-five per cent boost to any given skill.

Perhaps the reason it seemed easy to slice was that I’d only been doing so on pirate/slaver and non-secure systems. I hadn’t yet risked attempting to slice my way into a secure system like the Jedi Temple or Senate, though not for lack of thinking about it.

However, there was always the chance that security was lax in general in the Republic due to the lack of major conflict over the last millennium.

Still, that was a train of thought for another time, and I quickly left the command centre, datapad in hand, and returned to Dooku.

“Keep it,” he said after I explained what was on the pad and moved to hand it to him. “As I have already stated, your ability to sense others with the Force far surpasses my own. To not let you guide us would be a foolish waste of that ability.”

“Yes, master,” I replied, just about managing to keep a smile from my face. “What about the prisoners? Should we move them onto the raider?”

“Sleep,” Dooku said as he waved his arm towards the group and I chuckled once as they all slumped. “That will keep them docile until we return.”

“I installed a passcode on the computer as well on the off chance that one manages to wake and escape the restraints, it is unlikely they would be able to overcome it before we return,” I added as we moved towards the mine entrance.

I wasn’t looking for praise, merely informing him of the information. It did, however, bring another twitch to his lower lip.

“Indeed. Excellent thinking.”

Any further conversation was cut off as we stepped into the mine. While there were lights down the side of the wall, they were very dim, and it made the path hard to see.

Before I could activate Force Sight, Dooku solved the light problem by igniting his lightsaber.

“The first group should be just up ahead and around a turn,” I stated as I glanced down at the datapad and the contained map of the mine. Though that was just for show, as the map was now superimposed on my minimap Still, I had to keep up the pretence of needing the pad.

“Very well. Wait here while I subdue them,” Dooku ordered as we reached the turn and he disappeared from visual sight. That just meant I would have to track his progress via my Detection-enhanced minimap.

“Your fellow slavers have been subdued. Surrender now if you wish to live.” Dooku’s threat echoed from around the corner.

“Why? We’ve got nearly two hundred hostages here. If you don’t leave, we’ll kill them.” Came the voice of one of the slavers in response. While his words sounded strong, I thought I sensed fear and concern coming from all three slavers.

“A foolish threat. If you kill the slaves, there will be nothing preventing me from permanently disabling you. Nor turning you over to the freed prisoners upon the station in orbit of the planet.”

Dooku’s retort had been cold – I could hear the menace in his tone from here – but if it convinced them to surrender, I had no issues with it. Other Jedi probably would though.

“You’re lying!” the slaver screeched back. “You’re a Jedi and are sworn to follow the rules of the Republic.”

“While that is correct, if you are dead, who is there to challenge any report I submit to the Senate?” I laughed quietly at Dooku’s words, knowing that in his place, I’d probably have said something similar. “The choice is yours.”

A mumbled garble of voices echoed to me, but it was too quiet for me to detect.

The silence stretched on for almost a minute before the slaver called out.

“Fine. We give up, but we want assurances.”

“You have my word that your former slaves will not be allowed to judge you. That is all I will grant you.” Dooku replied, in no mood to mince his words. “And what about your fellows who are with the two groups of prisoners further within this mine?”

“Wha… How?” The slaver stumbled over his words and I allowed myself a grin. Dooku had used my ability to sense others with Detection to drive home just how outmatched the remained slavers were.

“Will they surrender as well?” Dooku asked, cutting off the slaver, and exploiting his confusion and panic.

“Um, yeah, yeah. Just give me a minute.”

The voices again became mumbled.

“I’ve called them,” the slavers shouted out after a few minutes had passed. “They’re coming to join us.”

“And your prisoners?”

“Th-they’ll stay where they are. Once here, we’ll give you the control devices for their collars.” The slaver replied though he didn’t sound confident.

[Padawan, please inform me if that is true.] Dooku asked telepathically through our bond.

[Yes, master.]

It was a good thing we could use our Force Bond to communicate telepathically at range as otherwise, I’d require a direct line of sight to use Force Telepathy. I hoped the restriction would be removed as the power levelled up.

[Master, ten beings are leaving the slave groups.] I said as my minimap showed me that. [Based on the numbers we learnt from the Bothan, there should only be four more in the mine.]

“How many of your fellow slavers are down below?” Dooku asked.

“Four,” the lead slaver replied quickly. “They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

[I suspect they are bringing hostages to try to force our hand. Is it safe for you to travel there, and see?] Dooku asked.

[Using the map, and where they are walking, I believe I can appear behind both groups safely.] I replied as I glanced at the interface and saw I had about seventy per cent of my FP.

[Then do so. And do not worry about disabling them cleanly. Dishonestly is an undesirable trait in a beaten foe.]

I activated Force Sight as I imagined the tunnels further down were not much better lit that here, and mentally calculated I had no more than ten minutes to take out the slavers in the tunnels before the group that Dooku was dealing with began to wonder where their companions were.

As I emerged from the first teleport, I found myself near a corner in the tunnels with a group of three just around the corner.

A few seconds of reviewing the Detection-boosted minimap confirmed they hadn’t reacted to the light given off by my teleport – a small tactical problem with the ability – and I moved quickly towards them.

Thanks to Force Sight, the moment I moved around the corner, I could easily see that the two slavers were behind the two slaves: using them as shields. Each held a small pistol that was aimed at the back of one of the slaves.

I hit them with a Stun and then caught the bodies with TK to prevent the sounds of them crashing to the floor from reverberating through the tunnels.

“Stay here and secure him,” I said to the two bewildered slaves as I tossed them a set of restraining cuffs and took the pistols. Hopefully, that would prevent them from killing the slaver in retribution or at least limit their ease to do so.

“I’m a Jedi,” I added as I quickly lit my lightsaber.

“What about the others?” a human male asked as he took the cuffs, his hands trembling as he spoke.

“We’re working to secure the mine. After they’re secure, head back to your fellow prisoners and lead them out of the mine.”

Before he could reply, I teleported away.

Sadly, the arrival this time wasn’t as successful.

I stumbled as I appeared about ten centimetres above the ground and ended up kicking a large rock.

“Huh, where did you come from?” A Klatooinian snapped as he and the other slaver – a human – turned and pointed their blasters at me.

I didn’t respond verbally. Instead, I used the Force to pull their blasters from their grips even as I stunned them both.

As they crumpled to the ground, I slid the two blasters into my belt and pulled out another set of cuffs.

“Wh-who are you?” A brown-skinned Twi’lek male tremored as I knelt next to the two stunned slavers.

“A Jedi,” I replied as I cuffed the pair together. “We’ve already secured the station and the base camp.”

“Bu… how, when?” the human asked as his eyes darted between me and his former captors.

“Just today,” I answered as I stood and swatted my padawan braid out of my face. “Look, I’ll explain everything later, but I need you to head back to the others and lead them to the surface.”

“I’ll be heading to the surface with these two,” I added as I floated the pair of slavers into the air – ignoring the way both freed slaves stared at me with open mouths – and lifted the other two slavers from distance.

[Slavers secured.] I sent over the Force Bond as I began to walk. [And the slaves should be on their way to the surface soon.] I added as Detection showed the other group of slaves were beginning to move on mass.

[Good. I will have the entrance secured by the time you arrive.] Dooku replied.

When I reached the entrance, I found he had been true to his word. The three slavers who had blocked the mine shaft were all slumped with the others, though none were missing any appendages.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Did they provide any trouble?” Dooku asked as I placed the three that I had captured with the rest.

“No. Honestly, I doubt any expected a Jedi to just appear behind them,” I answered with a wide grin, proud of how this had gone.

“Yes, it is an unusual ability you have. One of many. Still, do not become overconfident Padawan, Dooku warned. “No matter how powerful you become, you can still die as easily as anyone.”

There went my grin. “Yes, Master.”

He gave me a single nod and then moved to the entrance of the mine as the first of the freed slaves began to emerge.

As he dealt with them and directed them to the barracks where the food stores were located, I noted that all the slaves in the mine were male. It seemed that the slavers had preferred to keep the females on the ship serving them while using the threat against the females and younglings as a further control method for the males. Effective, if disgusting.

With the planet now secured, that left only the slavers who sold the ore and slaves in Hutt Space to deal with. From what Dooku had discovered, the freighter was due back in two to three days.

Before then, however, we would have to transport all the freed slaves from the planet to the station and determine what they wished to do.

Though I did note that there wasn’t a single Zabrak among the freed males. Combined with not finding Tedra’s mother on the temple-ship, I was concerned that her parents were now gone.

I needed to speak with Dooku about her. However, that, like most other things related to today, would have to wait until we returned to the temple-ship.

... …

----------------------------------------

… …

“This is stupid!” Tedra snapped, as she slapped away the cup that rested between us, sending it clattering across the floor, until it came to rest against the wall of the room where we were.

It was the day after securing the base camp and shuttling everyone up to the temple-ship; with Dooku delegating me to ferry them from the planet. I’d grumbled and muttered about not being a taxi driver but had done as he’d ordered.

After that, I had sought out Tedra and told her there was no sign of her mother or any other Zabrak on the surface.

She hadn’t taken it well, and I’d held her and spoken softly as she cried, offering what comfort I could.

Once the crying had turned into sniffles, I had explained that I sensed a potential to use the Force within her, but I needed to do a blood check first.

After her tear-stained eyes snapped open, she had all but dragged me to the spartan medical bay the slavers had set up and thrust her arm towards me.

Dooku, who had followed us after spotting Tedra yanking me down a corridor, had used a device he had to read her midi-chlorian count.

He had confirmed that her count was high, just over twelve thousand, though he had tempered her joy – she’d grinned madly at hearing that and leapt down from the bed – by explaining that she was, perhaps, too old to be taken in by the Jedi.

While that had deflated her mood, he had suggested that I could explain some of the basics of the Jedi Order to her and explained to me telepathically that if she was not taken, having someone outside the order who was trained in the Force was potentially useful for our plans for the future.

That was why I found myself the following day sitting in one of the hastily arranged sleeping areas on the temple-ship attempting to have her lift a cup.

“How so?” I asked.

“What good is moving a cup?” She shot back. “I want a lightsaber!” Her eyes brightened as they darted to my belt.

I chuckled and shook my head. “First, the ability to move an object with the Force is one of the most basic abilities used by any Force-wielder. It was that very ability that helped me when Master Dooku and I arrived on this station.”

“How so?” Asked Reithe from one of the bunks where he sat with a few of the other freed slaves.

He, like them, had been interested in what Jedi training was, and I saw no problem with them watching my session with Tedra. Demystifying the Jedi, and the stories surrounding them, while also earning the trust and respect of the freed slaves felt like the right thing to do.

“When we landed, I used telekinesis to disarm the slavers. While they still had backup weapons, the confusion allowed Masker Dooku and me to assess the situation and subdue everyone.” That was the story Dooku and I had agreed upon, not just for telling the freed slaves, but for the Jedi Council as well.

It seemed that Dooku was well-versed in spinning a tale to satisfy their questions without revealing details that would raise a ruckus.

“It’s too hard!” Tedra fumed, crossing her arms as her eyes narrowed and bore into the cup.

I grasped the cup with TK and lifted it back to us, letting it rotate a few times as it did. “Patience, grasshopper,” I said as I brought it to rest in its original position. “If this was easy, everyone could do it. And once you have mastered the basics, we can move on to more advanced uses of the power.”

“Whoa!” Tedra screamed out as slowly, carefully, I lifted her and the other dozen or so children in the room.

They all called out, their eyes enlarging in surprise before most started to laugh and smile as I floated them around for a minute before lowering them down to where they started.

“Now, do you want to be able to do that?” I asked Tedra.

She nodded so rapidly I was worried it would fall off, only to stop and frown. “What’s a grasshopper?”

I laughed hard for a moment before pointing at the cup. “I’ll tell you once you lift that.”

… …

“What have you managed to learn from the ship’s databanks?” Dooku asked that evening as we met in a small room near the command centre of the temple-ship.

I sighed. “Not much. The computers – like much of the ship – are ancient, and the slavers were clearly not concerned about the original programming when they took the place over. However, I did determine that the ship was launched during the reign of Supreme Chancellor Contispex the Nineteenth. I don’t recognize the name.” I finished with a frown.

From those computers, I had also learnt that the various large prayer rooms on the ship had been covered in ostentatious decorations. However, like with their general treatment of the ship, the slavers had shown little concern for anything of historical value. After stripping and selling almost everything that had monetary value, it had left the interior a husk pock-marked where decorations, trapping and even light fittings were missing.

That took away from any majesty the vessel might have had, just as the damage – from age and battle – had done to the various large, dominant temple spires and towers done to the exterior.

Where once I could imagine large, brightly lit corridors and extravagant rooms, there now were dark, foreboding caverns linked by narrow-feeling tunnels with little to no light.

Dooku rubbed his beard. “Hmm. If that is genuine, then it confirms my suspicion about this vessel.” He paused and lazily waved his hand, making the door close.

“The Contispex dynasty ruled the Republic, or a precursor to the current one, around eleven thousand years ago.”

I wasn’t able to stop myself from gawking at hearing that, even as he continued.

“While the technology of the ship is unlikely to be of any value, the cultural significance of discovering such a vessel is impressive. I will need to consult with the Council of First Knowledge and Master Nu in the archives to decide how we handle this.”

“Will that involve revealing this system to the Republic?” I asked, getting a hold on my shock at discovering the age of the vessel, and marvelling at the quality of the construction that had gone into making something that could still be space-worthy millennia later.

“That is highly likely.” No question was asked, but his brow rose a fraction.

I indicated the closed door before I spoke. “From what I’ve heard, most of the freed slaves do not wish to return to the Republic. They want to keep the mine running and set up a small colony on the planet instead of going back to their ruined lives. I was also thinking that as it is off most maps, this system has possible usages for our plans.”

“Continue.”

“While the planet is far too close to Hutt Space to serve as a haven for Jedi, perhaps it could instead be used as a staging ground for operations against the Hutts and other slavers. I mean, there’s no point in us talking about fixing the failings of the Order and the Republic if we continue to allow slavery to exist.” I said calmly.

Going after the Hutts/slavers was an easy way to create the basis of a combat group and provide training for if/when I managed to convince others to follow me.

That it would also help ingratiate myself with Anakin was a nice bonus.

“And you expect these freed slaves to be the first of this group?” Dooku asked, only to shake his head. “Somehow, I sense that this is linked to your insistence regarding the Mandalorians.”

Had I kept subtly pushing Mandalore as a place to visit? Maybe. But I had my reasons.

Even if the Republic and the New Mandalorians liked to believe that they had convinced the people to embrace peace, the fact the Death Watch would still exist by the time of the Clone Wars proved that assertion was not entirely true.

That willingness to fight, if it was still as fearsome as claimed by Canderous in KOTOR, could be harnessed for the core of a new force I could build to oppose Sidious.

And having a group of soldiers at my side would help prepare me, and the Jedi around me, for the war to come. Though before I could harness that reputation and ability, I had to deal with convincing the New Mandalorians that I wasn’t a threat to their ideals and neutralising the leader of the Death Watch.

Pre Vizsla was on my list of people to remove/convince to my side and given the willingness he had shown to lord it over villagers in the TCW series, I suspected he would have to be removed.

And in no way was the idea of wielding the Darksaber along with my lightsaber influencing my reasoning.

I did hope, however, to convince Vizsla’s second, Bo-Katan. Apart from being Satine’s sister, she wanted to fight but did not become a criminal or allow someone like Maul to take over Death Watch and Mandalore.

That meant she wasn’t just interested in being a thug, but in restoring Mandalore to its warrior past. That sense of honour, however, misplaced it was in Death Watch, was something I felt I could use to convince her to see things my way and prepare for the war to come.

About the only issue regarding her, and many others, was their indeterminate age as I suspected many would chafe at following me if I was a decade, or more, younger than them.

“No, master,” I replied with a partial smirk at him thinking I was trying to use this situation to bring up Mandalore again. “More than the anger shown by those freed here has to be controlled.

Harnessed. I know it isn’t the Jedi way, but we can’t expect them to simply forget about what has happened and let go of their anger and resentment.”

“Indeed. The incident this morning is likely the first of many.” Dooku added, referring to an attempt by Baalta and four others to gain access to the cargo holds where the captured slavers were being held.

“Plus, we still don’t know exactly when the last of the slavers will return. Or if they will come alone. There will come a time when these people need to learn to defend themselves without our help.” I added, hoping to push him into allowing me to carry out my plan.

“And if they then use these newly learnt skills to attempt to free more slaves, then that is their choice,” he finished, giving me a slight nod. “Your thinking, while not in keeping with expected Jedi methods, has potential. However, we cannot force these people to learn to fight, or engage other slavers.”

“I understand master. Though I’ve already had several people ask me about what training and/or weaponry we are willing to give them.” This group was being led by Pad Keba, an older Twi’lek male who had been enslaved for at least five years and had learnt that his wife and daughter had been sold to the Hutts.

The anger he felt was understandable and useable. But I had to be careful as Observe suggested he was little more than a rabid Gutkurr. Whatever that was it didn’t sound good, though I suspected it was a local variant of the rabid dog analogy.

“Yes, I have also been approached.” He leaned back in his chair and stroked his beard.

After nearly a minute of silence, during which I had begun to fidget just a touch under his firm gaze, he spoke again.

“For now, they do need to be armed and minimally trained, as the remaining slavers are due back tomorrow or the day after,” he finally allowed. “And we cannot discount the possibility that they will return with reinforcements. Many of the prisoners have hinted at them having support from someone in power in Hutt space, perhaps even one of the dominant kajidics. If that is the case, we should expect a brutal reprisal.”

“Then how do we go about training them?” I asked.

Sure, I had methods that would work from my past life, but I couldn’t just come out and suggest them here. At least, not until the basis of a plan was prepared.

Again, he stroked his beard before he replied. “I believe we first need to see whom in the group is willing to learn to fight, then once we have that group, determine which will only fight in defence. Those that wish to strike out against the Hutts will require further training, and probably flight training in the raiders, though only once we can be certain that the remaining slavers have been dealt with.”

“That leaves us two locations to fight from: here or the planet.” I began as he stopped.

“While this ship has narrow corridors and works to funnel opponents into traps and choke points, there is nothing from stopping an attacking force from boarding through one of the currently sealed landing bays. Or anywhere around the hull as there are large areas that are open to space and the internal bulkheads would be easier to breach than the outer hull. The planet, while lacking those natural choke points and traps, helps to control the direction the attackers would come from. They either must land as we did in the camp, or in a clearing several kilometres away. However, the exposed nature of the camp makes it likely they would conduct strafing runs on the camp and surrounding area before landing. We could counter that by stripping a raider or two for laser cannons and shields, but in the time that we have that is unlikely to work.”

I stopped there as I realised that I’d let my thoughts slip out and been more detailed than I probably should have.

I looked at Dooku who had tilted his head a fraction to the right as he watched me.

“Uh, sorry. I’ve just been giving this some thought.” I said, pulling my head back into my shoulders.

“Indeed. I am most impressed with the way you identified the two possible battlefields and assessed their strengths and weaknesses,” he paused and picked up a datapad. “However, before we can consider our choice of battlefield, we must determine who is willing to fight, and who is not and must be placed in as safe a location as we can manage.”

As he slid the datapad over to me, I sighed. “And I’ve been picked to ask everyone. Wonderful.” I drawled, making his lips twitch.

“This is your plan, and while I cautiously agree with everything you have said, I wish to examine how you handle yourself when placed in a position of command.” He replied as I stood. “And before you suggest you are too young for such an assignment, don’t. Neither Master Fay nor I would be taken in by such a weak argument. You are far beyond others your age in both your prowess with the Force and the capacity for intelligent, rational decisions.”

“Yes, master,” I said, one corner of my mouth pressing tight, as I turned and left the room.

This was the only downside of showing myself to be more competent that even an average Jedi Padawan. Having to follow through on my ideas.

Though I suspected that even if I was just a normal Padawan, Dooku would still have tasked me with getting the lists of who would fight and who wouldn’t/couldn’t. Even so, however, I doubted whether he would have allowed me to voice my plans and ideas so freely.

... …

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… …

Just shy of two weeks later, there was still no sign of the missing slavers. Either just the freighter that was meant to be out, or an assault force to retake the operation.

In that time, I had determined that a little over two hundred of the almost three hundred slaves were willing to fight to defend the system and claim it as their own. The only ones who didn’t want to, or wouldn’t be allowed to, were those wishing to return to the Republic or those too old or young to fight.

Several of the teenagers, led by Reithe, had pushed that if I was allowed to fight, they should be allowed also. Dooku and the elder former slaves had explained that I wasn’t like them, and as such was trained to fight, unlike them.

In the end, the teenagers had been allowed to train, but would only serve as relay runners around the temple-ship, which Dooku and I had decided offered the best chance of success at driving back a slaver attack.

Now, with no sign of the slavers returning, Dooku had arranged to take two of the raiders and the children with no parents to Coruscant.

He planned to place those returning with the Refugee Relief Movement and divert some of the credits I’d arranged from The Fellowship of the Ring to be granted to them to give them a chance to start again.

I had countered that idea by giving him the next novel in the series, ‘The Two Towers’.

I’d done this as I wanted a fresh revenue stream to access without diverting anything from helping the Shadda-Bi-Borans resettlement efforts. While this was influenced heavily by the quest linked to helping as many of the people survive as possible, it wasn’t the only reason.

A fresh revenue stream would be useful in not just helping the Lokella secure their hold on this system – which still lacked a proper name – but it would allow me to begin acquiring capital for other plans that would need to be enacted for the future.

I hadn’t revealed the second part of that to Dooku when explaining my reasoning, but the way he held my gaze for over a minute before replying suggested he suspected I had ulterior motives.

The children were to stay in the care of the Jedi until new homes and families could be arranged for them.

I had been insistent on that as I didn’t want them just dumped by Dooku or the Order as the PR damage from such a thing would destroy whatever goodwill we generated from freeing the slaves.

When Dooku took Tedra to the Temple for testing, he would assemble a group to return that would firstly, examine the Pius Dea cathedral ship and secondly, continue the training of the Lokella; a word from Togruti that meant reborn.

The second group would be drawn from only the coalition we were forming, or those Dooku and the other members of our coalition felt would be willing to train the slaves to fight and had the potential to see things from our perspective.

While that would leave me alone for perhaps two weeks, it was the only way we could approach this.

If I returned alone to the Jedi Temple, then there was a fair to strong chance the High Council would outright deny the request for help in defending the Lokella, probably by citing that the system was under the nominal control of the Hutts and thus outside Republic jurisdiction.

While leaving me to continue training the slaves would also be problematic when the reprisal attack came, there was more chance that the freed slaves would listen to me than the High Council. Mainly as Dooku had been actively pointing out that it was my actions that took out most of the raiders while also allowing me to handle the training of the Lokella who did not want to return to the Republic.

As the doors to the landing bay hissed open, I turned to see Dooku walk in with Tedra and the others that would be returning to Coruscant with him.

While taking four dozen people on one raider, and the prisoners on the other, would mean doubling up on bunks, Dooku had been clear that those that wanted or needed to leave did so while not reducing the already meagre defences those staying had fully.

Now one repurposed raider was all that existed for defence/scouting, with the vessel almost always on patrol with crews of ten rotating between it to ensure it was always on patrol, save for maintenance work and crew changes.

Everyone else, when not eating or sleeping, was busy preparing the station for an assault that had not arrived but, given the images that I was seeing when I meditated, I was certain was on its way.

Now we would just have to hope that it did not arrive before Dooku returned with support. I suspected that the leaders of the Lokella would attempt to ignore me if the reprisal attack occurred before then, which meant that not only was I having to help plan out the defence strategy for the station, but I also had to come up with additional contingencies for if/when I was forced to act outside the nominal chain of command.

Any further thoughts drifted away as Tedra leapt and wrapped her arms around me in a fierce hug.

“I want to stay!” Her words were muffled by the fact her face was buried into my chest and I was thankful her head horns were not that large or sharp as she held on tight.

“I know you do, but you need to go to the Jedi Temple for training,” I replied as soothingly as I could even as I gently stroked her hair-free head.

“Why can’t you train me?” She asked as she pulled back enough that I could see her face and easily make out the signs of tears welling up in her eyes.

“While Cameron has done a remarkable job teaching you several basic Force abilities over the last week, he is still a Padawan learner, and unable to formally instruct you in the ways of the Jedi,” Dooku explained calmly, though the way his eyes focused on me suggested that he wanted this to end quickly.

“Tedra,” I began as I slowly eased her arms from around my waist, “at the Jedi Temple there are lots of beings like us that are strong in the Force. Many of whom will be your age.”

“But I don’t want to go!” She shouted as she stamped her foot.

“I know, but you need proper training in how to use your gifts,” I said with a smile as I held her arms with my hands, preventing her from re-hugging me. “Then, once you are old enough, a Jedi Knight or Master will take you as a Padawan. Just as Jedi Master Dooku has done for me.” I only referred to Dooku as a Jedi Master to help explain that he was not a master in the slaver sense.

While I now understood that lesson and Dooku did as well – and boy, did my early feelings on the usage of the title ‘Master’ seem stupid in retrospect – I was concerned that many in the Order did not.

If they were not careful around freed slaves such as those here, it could lead to misunderstandings which could be exploited to further damage the reputation of the Jedi Order. Then again, from what little I had seen on my travels over the last few years, said reputation wasn’t that impressive in the Outer Rim, to begin with.

“So, if I train hard, I could become your Padawan?” She asked with wide eyes and a wide-open mouth.

“It’s possible, but for that to happen I’d have to become one of the youngest Jedi Knights in history,” I replied slowly.

While I was working towards becoming a Jedi Knight before the invasion of Naboo – and had a quest to one before Padme became Queen – I was heavily leaning towards removing Anakin from Tatooine before then and taking him as my Padawan.

Yet, there was still the chance that I would allow Qui-Gon to train the boy, with me taking on the role of an older brother. Though that all depended on how integrated Qui-Gon became in the coalition, and if I was able to prevent his death during the invasion.

The less said about my stupidity in taking such an open-ended quest regarding changing Qui-Gon’s fate, the better. But I regretted taking it, along with those for Dooku and Anakin. Honestly, I’d been far too overzealous in taking such quests in my first few years in this life and was now wondering just how things could go wrong with them to royally screw me, and the galaxy, over; even worse than in canon.

“Even if it’s not, I can help you to pick someone else to train you,” I added on just as slowly. “I’m sure Jedi Master Dooku would also be willing to help with that.”

Dooku’s eyes narrowed for a split-second before Tedra turned his way and he gave a single nod. “There are a few Jedi whom I feel are capable of teaching but are currently free of a Padawan.” He said neutrally.

“But I want you!” Tedra stated as she turned back to me, her chin quivering.

I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile, as I slowly released my hold on her arms.

“And I’d like to teach you. However, the Force often guides us to where we need to be, and who we need to be with when we least expect it. After all, it led us here, to you and the others.”

Up until arriving in this system, I hadn’t been willing to believe that but given that the golden halo-ed ships had been why we were on the transport that was attacked, I suspected that the Force did try to subtly push/guide those sensitive to it towards situations/events it felt helped bring balance.

Throw in the fact that the Heart of the Force perk-player power combo was available due to the Force working out a role for me in its desire for balance and that it was now willing to offer me suggestions, and I was more open to the idea of the Force guiding me. Though I still had misgivings about following those hints as I doubted all would work out as this one had, so far.

The whole concept that the Force was able to influence my interface – I hadn't received any message from TPTB to confirm or deny this – was a little terrifying. But if Revan, a Force ghost was able to access the interface to grant me a quest, it stood to reason that the Force would hint at directions for me from time to time.

“That’s not fair!” Her head horns seemed to shake as she spoke, the tears beginning to form again.

“Life seldom is,” I replied calmly. “I lost my grandfather to the Sith then became trapped on a starship. When I finally emerged at the Jedi Temple, I learnt that everyone I ever knew, ever cared for, had been dead for millennia. Yet, if that had not happened, I might never have become a Jedi, been taken as the learner of Jedi Master Dooku, or met you.” I finished with a smile and lightly tapped one of her head horns.

“Cameron is correct,” Dooku added and I looked up to see that everyone except for him and Tedra had boarded the raiders. “The Force has guided us to meet here, and once at the Temple, it will be easier for you to meet with Cameron again.”

Tedra nodded slowly, rubbed her eyes with the back of her sleeve, and looked into my eyes. “You will visit?”

I nodded and smiled. “Of course. And if the Force wishes it, we will train together again.”

“OK,” She returned my smile, but the sadness behind it was easy to see.

She slowly moved to the ramp, stopping once at the bottom to look back at me, before waving and stepping on.

“And another falls into your orbit.”

I turned at Dooku’s statement. “What?”

Dooku turned his gaze to me and gave me a rare, proper smile. “A private joke, Padawan. One Master Fay and I will explain once you are ready.” He walked in his normal regal manner to the ramp before turning back to face me. “May the Force be with you.”

“And with you, Master,” I replied fighting off a sudden strange urge to add in a Vulcan salute before he entered the raider.

I stood and watched until it had left the bay before I two left the bay.

... …

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… …

It had been just over a week since Dooku had left, and there still had not been a retaliatory strike by the slavers.

To say that left the station on edge would be an understatement, but unlike everyone else, I knew how to handle this. Serving in the military in my old life had taught me to be patient, and to almost cherish this time to prepare as it gave us time to consider as many eventualities as possible.

Though currently, that wasn’t what I was doing.

I was currently focusing on a sealed cylinder of nitrogen as I used my latest, and possibly most insane, Force Power, Inanimate Conversion.

It did what the name implied and allowed me to alter a substance at a rate of a hundred grams or millilitres per second. The starting downsides, however, were high. It cost me 5000FP per hundred grams/millilitres to use – though that would drop over time like the cost of all Force Powers – and I could only use it currently on gases of less than three atoms.

Which was why I was focusing on a sealed cylinder of nitrogen.

To make it even more tedious, I had to convert two hundred grams of gas a total of twelve times to level once. Adding in the fact I had to meditate to regenerate my FP after every two hundred grams, and it took over an hour of constant training just to get a single level up. Still, the potential for the power was immense.

The description stated that I’d be able to eventually turn any substance into another, provided that they were both inorganic. That suggested that I could maybe learn to do the same for organic matter, but I was certain that such an ability would be against the laws of nature/The Force.

Heck, Inanimate Conversion was classified as a dark-side ability according to the interface, though that was probably because it could lead to something like organic matter rearrangement.

Still, I now had an insane power which, once levelled up, would be almost ridiculous in how useful it would be. Transmutation.

Though it wasn’t what I’d been trying for.

I had attempted to pull apart a rock of phrikite into its base minerals/metals, figuring it would be possible with the Force. However, the interface told me what I was attempting wasn’t something I could currently achieve.

Instead, it granted me Inanimate Conversion while stating that the power was the basic principle of Force Alchemy and that with the right preparation or rituals, I could lower the cost even further.

Though since all Force alchemy was classified as dark and banned by the Council of First Knowledge as well as the High Council, it was unlikely I’d be learning those rituals any time soon, if at all.

Since I was uncertain if I should mention this ability to Dooku and Fay, I figured I’d make the most of my time alone to level it up. Which was why I had spent every free moment or two over the last few weeks training the power.

As I finished the latest shift from nitrogen to oxygen, I leaned back and prepared to meditate, only for the door to chime.

I sighed and slowly stood, hoping this was not another pointless disagreement about my methods for training the Lokella. Or about shift rotations, or any of the other hundred little stupid, irritating problems that they always seemed to bring to me when they didn’t want to take the responsibility for the decision or couldn’t reach a consensus.

I knew I should be happy that they kept involving me in the decision-making, as it meant that when the reprisal came, they would be more likely to listen to me. But if I had to settle one more argument about what ration packs should be opened, or who should be paired with who, I was probably going to fry someone with lightning.

I took a deep breath and reached out with the Force. Given my time with the leadership, I knew it was Baalta outside, and she was anxious about something.

Thanks to Empathy now being in the Master range, I was now able to sense the general feeling of everyone discovered by Detection, and there was a growing sense of unease/worry spreading through the ship. “Yes?”

The door opened with a pained hiss, meaning I’d have to fix the mechanism again, and the attractive purple-skinned Togruta stood there, her arms crossed under her ample chest – which I did my best to not look at – and her fingers were tapping against her arms.

“They’re here.” She said in a voice that was barely above a whisper, and if not for the fact we were less than a few metres apart, I doubted I’d have heard.

“Who… Ah. Right.” I moved forward and she turned to allow me to pass.

“Where and how many?” I asked as we began to walk.

“They’re on the edge of the system,” she began to reply, her arms still tightly wrapped around her stomach, “and there’s four ships.”

I didn’t bother reaching out fully with the Force as sensing life across a whole star system was beyond me, even with Detection now being into the Savant strata.

“What type of ships and how large?”

She shook her head. “I, I don’t know. I left as soon as the report came in, I left to get you.” She replied before glancing down at the deck.

I stopped and placed my hands on hers. “Hey, we’re going to be alright. You all trained for this and everyone knows what to do.”

“But four ships?!”

I smirked up at her. “Well, that’s why you’ve got me. Kicking pirates twice my size and ten times as badly smelling.”

She chuckled once and seemed to stand just a little taller.

The rest of the short walk to the command centre was done in silence, but I noted that Baalta’s anxiety had lessened considerably.

As I entered the command centre, I noted the way everyone was moving around. There was a nervous tension in the air, confirming what I had sensed with the Force. The voices were loud and most of the crew were unable to sit still.

I clapped my hands together. “So, what’s the hubbub, bub?” I shouted, making everyone stop and focus on me. I had hoped the brief levity would lift the mood a touch, but it failed and most gave me strange/worried looks while a few glared at me for attempting to joke around in a serious situation.

“They’re here,” Pad replied with a snarl before glaring at the monitors. “Five vessels, two escorts like the ones we captured and three transports. One looks to be the missing freighter, but the other two are bigger. Over a hundred metres in length. Each.”

“And our escort?” I asked, ignoring that he was trying to take credit for the slaves being free. It had been a recurring theme ever since Dooku had left. Thankfully, most of the Lokella weren’t listening to his revisionist history. Probably because it was still too fresh, and they’d all been expecting the retaliation that was now upon us.

“I told them to stay out of range and track the incoming ships.”

“Then all we can do is wait,” I stated, again ignoring that the idea for our only starship to pull back and just observe had been my idea, not his.

According to the display that dominated the room, the attack force would be in weapons range of the temple-ship in about ten minutes. And it would be another ten minutes before they could begin to dock or breach.

With that in mind, and noting my FP was low from using Inanimate Conversion, I moved to a corner table and climbed on top of it.

“What the kriff are you doing?” Pad demanded as I crossed my legs.

“Meditating,” I replied as I closed my eyes. “There is nothing we can do until they reach weapons range. Until then, we need to be patient and stay calm.”

I ignored the spike in anger I sensed from him, mainly because he didn’t rate as a threat in any sense of the word. I did, however, note that the feeling in the room became less repressive as I began to meditate to restore my FP.

I had a feeling that I would need it full for the battle to come.

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