After the chancellors speech and a following discussion about what to do as war preperation, we jedi left the chancellor and his advisors their privacy as we returned to the temple, the council and Yoda to the councilchambers and I to my private quarters in order to sleep. Though first I sent a message to my parents about my return. A real reunion would have to wait.

When I entered Luna’s house that night, I was not surprised to see Bob lounging in the armchair, to be honest I had expected him to show up earlier, because…

„And there she is, finally my favorite Mario kart opponent is back!“ he loudly exclaimed and without even having the opportunity to blink he sat me in the chair beside his, the game started, though he hadn’t chosen a track yet.

It had been a real surprise that he hadn’t come the first night, when I reunited with Luna, though that probably showed that there was more to him than just the goofy old oddball he could normally be portrayed as…not. I had asked Luna a few days ago and she had told me that she had denied her father access to her house.

Normally that wouldn’t work - he is the personification of existence after all -, but after she threatened to ignore him for the next twenty millenia he had consented to not meet me until I made it back to the temple, a real relief, I wasn’t sure if I would have been able to endure such cheerful company so soon.

Now though I could handle a little fun, being with Luna had calmed me down quite a bit during the last few days.

„Nice to see you again, Bob“ I only spoke quietly, without expression and I could see the massive grin he had worn on his face fade into a more serious expression.

„So it’s true, you have changed. I had hoped we could have as much fun as before“ He looked a bit saddened, with a pitiful face that made you want to comfort him.

 „Can you expect anything different? I won’t be goofing around like before, but I will still be able to destroy you on the screen, how many wins are you behind now? Twenty?“

We had played the game almost every night for four years. In that time I had first caught up to him in skill and then surpassed him. Though I was still uncertain if he ever gave it his all or not.

He chuckled, still a little sadly, but his face began to light up again: „We will see, but first I must give out a few rewards. Could you wake up those ghosts snoozing away in your head?“

((I didn’t sleep, I rested my eyes)) exclaimed Midone as she shot out of my chest, more or less directly into Bob’s face.

((Could you for once not be loud, little sister? Trying to sleep.)) Unlike her twin, Midome lazily floated out of my body, eyes half closed.

((Could you for once not be lazy, little sister?)) With that the sisters began to bicker again, completely unconcerned with our presence.

((Here we go again, even when facing the mightiest being they still argue)) Ashara looked really exasperated as she appeared with a hand holding her forehead.

((A great lesson of our masters: Always be yourself, no matter the circumstances)) Jaesa seemed to almost have sparkles in her eyes as her gaze wandered between her master and Bob.

„Could I have your attention, ladies?“ Bob’s voice was jovial and the twins stopped their bickering. Bob’s jovial voice stopped a force of nature. Really impressive.

„Thank you. Now as reward for saving my favorite gaming friend, I will give each of you one wish.“

((A wish? What can we wish for?))

„Anything, but it really only can be one wish, so no writing things down and wish for everything you wrote down. Oh, and you can’t wish me gone or replace me and won’t be allowed to return back to live in your oiginal dimension.“

The four ghosts looked at each other. Not for long, only a few seconds, but in those seconds all of their mouths turned into a big smile, even the stoic expression of Midome became joyful.

As the four turned to Bob, Midome spoke in a tender voice: ((We would like to live a normal, happy life in a peaceful world. Nothing more, just be rid of our former lives of violence and suffering, though if possible we would like to wait until the coming war over the galaxy is over, so we can help Shira and the Republic win this.))

„If that is your wish…“

„No need.“ I decided to interrupt Bob, „you don’t have to be considerate of us, time to think of yourselves for once.“

Besides, they were the only thing constantly reminding me of the past two years. As much as I liked them, I remembered that time everytime I saw them or spoke to them. Of course I would never tell them that.

It may have been a bit selfish, but the other major reason for me to want them gone was simply that I didn’t want them to have to live through another war. They had lived through war literally since childhood, one of them enslaved since birth, one of them brutally trained and fed braindead ideologies of superiority despite her gentle personality, one told to erase her feelings and stay passive, even though she wanted to help all those suffering around her and one tought and betrayed by a highly hypocritical master, before all of them had to fight through dozens of battles and traumatizing missions, giving their all to better the environment for those around them, only to be betrayed by those working closest with them…

Not to mention their millenia of imprisonment in small, dark tombs with nothing but insane ghosts keeping them company.

I thought they really deserved a fresh start, with nothing to remind them of their lives of suffering.

((Are you sure? With our help you could probably end this war much faster, we wouldn’t mind helping out.))

„I’m sure, Ashara. With your help I may be able to change a few things in the war, but we are talking about battles between hundreds of millions, maybe billions of spaceships and trillions, maybe quadrillions of soldiers and machines. Oh, with your help I could probably do a lot of damage, but it wouldn’t really put a dent into forces with such numbers. We can’t be everywhere at the same time, besides I don’t know if I will be fighting in the war. It’s not like the Republic to send teenage girls to the frontlines and since you are bound to me you can’t move around independently.

Staying with me would cause you to suffer and nothing else.“

((You’re so awesome, Shira!)) exclaimed Midone, as she rushed towards me with her arms extended, only to float right through me. A relief, she still had her armor on, if ghosts had had collision I would have suffered from an armor-to-my-face induced headache.

My statement had ended the discussion and after a tearful goodbye – no tears from me, sorry, the tears came mostly from Midone - Bob used his ‚super-duper-magic-reincarnation powers‘ – instead of just sending them off to their new lives he had donned a feathered mask and conjured a tribal staff with a skull on the tip in order to perform a ‚highly complex‘ (read: extremely weird looking) ritual dance – to vanish them in an explosion of light in all colours of the rainbow, unneccessarily fancy, but it did look really beautiful.

After admiring the spectacle a little, Bob and I began to play, not as exubertant as in the past, but we still had fun. A few minutes later Luna showed up too, she had been attending a gathering of all lunar deities, which had lasted longer than anticipated and joined us. It was really nostalgic, just us three playing mario kart, like the first time I had met Bob…though I didn’t think the other two noticed it.

The only thing missing right then was Ces, Luna told me he had been devastated when I hadn’t shown up one day and after a while only came once a month to the deity plane, the last time had been a few days before my regain of freedom, so I would have to wait a few weeks to see him again.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The effect of the chancellors speech was massive. Due to the fact that he was one of the most loved chancellors the Republic had ever seen, what would out of the mouth of anyone else have sounded like warmongering and demonization of another faction, coming from him inspired the people to do their best to help the war effort.

Companies began manufacturing spaceships, weapons and armor for the soldiers, factories constructed mechanic- and battledroids, the people donated money to help the war effort, young men and women, those without work and many devoted others volunteered for the army and began their military training, all in all the whole galaxy prepared for the war and for the first time the Republic could show the magnitude of it’s power.

The war this time didn’t come surprising, the Republic’s companies, splinter cells and even the members of opposing parties in the senate pulled on one rope. For maybe the first time in it’s millenia of existence the Republic had the time to fully prepare for a large scale conflict, not try to fend off a well planned and prepared attack with just it’s standing forces, armies which didn’t even begin to present it’s full military potential. One could only imagine the power this superstate had with six years time for preperation.

Just a week after the conference in the chancellors chambers I found myself in the chambers of the high council for two reasons, one my own and the second a matter the council wished to discuss with me, though I didn’t know what that was, I just concluded they wanted something from me by the fact that it was them who called me to the room, without me requesting an audience.

The first to speak was Master Skywalker, I wondered why it was commonly only him that spoke for the council, did they have a mental conference while guests were there or something? No matter, it was less confusing if only one of the masters spoke at a time.

„Padawan Shira, do you know why we called you here?“

„No master.“

I didn’t have an answer for everything. If I put a little effort into my thoughts maybe I would have been able to make a close guess, but I didn’t feel like putting an effort into it, so I just said I didn’t have an idea, besides why guess if he was going to tell me anyway?

„We called you here to discuss the matter of your master.“

„I will never accept a new master, master.“ 

Maybe that was rude, but I couldn’t hold myself at that moment. I had lost my master, who I had trusted with all my secrets, even though I hadn’t known her for long, after barely two days. How could they ever expect me to be able to study under a different master? I would never be able to connect to another master on the same level as I did to Vo’Tann, even though I hadn’t had a a long time to grief, the loss had hit me deeply.

„We never expected you to be able to accept another master. We discussed in length and came to a conclusion. A padawan is not a padawan without a jedi master training them.“ Here he stopped for a moment and stood up before declaring festively: „Padawan Shira, you have not been a Padawan for long, but your skills and abilities, as well as your connection to the force qualify you to ascend to the rank of jedi knight, you have braved hardships beyond any trials and come out of the worst of times with wisdom, compassion and knowledge of the force any jedi should aim for, I see no reason to test you further.

You have suffered for two years under great pain, defeated two sith lords and despite all still hold close to a jedi’s mindset and morals, you have faced your inner darkness and insanity and come out whole. As I see it, you have therefor passed the trials of skill, courage, flesh and spirit.

The trial of insight you have already passed years ago, thanks to your unprecedented skills in sensing and manipulating your mind an the minds of others.

As my position as grandmaster of the jedi order allows me, I ask you: do you swear to uphold the rules of our order, to honor the wisdom of our code, always be considerate, compassionate and fair to those around you and those you decide over and always keep the peace in this galaxy as far as your abilities allow you to?“

A little overwhelmed, though it didn’t show on my face, I quickly bowed onto one knee in front of the grandmaster: „I swear.“

Master Skywalker drew his lightsaber and activated it, swiftly holding it shortly over each of my shoulder and then cutting off my padawan braid – which I wore rather uniquely, since I really liked my long hair and had only about half the length of a strand of hair coming down over my left shoulder and commonly at the front of my hip (I had cut my hair to it’s normal waist length during my flight to Coruscant) -, while proclaiming: „Then I proclaim you, Shira Drayen, a knight of the jedi order and guardian of the Republic.“

I stood up with a smile. It was totally unexpected. I had no doubt I would become a knight rather early, but I never thought I would be one before turning ten. It had never happened, a knight with only eight years of age was absolutely unprecedented. But I was really happy. It had been my dream upon first discovering I had been reborn into star wars to become a jedi knight and it had been fulfilled so fast, my joy was enough to show on my face.

„Thank you, grandmaster Skywalker, I vow to uphold the principals of our order and to strife for eternal peace within myself and in the galaxy. In order to do so I have a request to make of the high council.

I have been a Padawan for only a short time and had no opporunity to gather experience on one of the jedi’s most important skills: diplomacy. I ask the council for permission to travel to the planet Dubrillion and learn under the guidance of my father, King Marcus Drayen. Further I ask you to allow me to remove some items from the archives and bring them with me on my travels.“

The temple was just a little too crowded for me right then, I had decided to rest for a while in the big and empty grounds of my families home.

There was a short silence, judging by the slightly, really slightly, shifting expressions of the council members my former guess on mental discussions between the masters had been correct, before the grandmaster spoke again: „You are allowed to take absence from the temple whenever and however long you wish, as do all jedi knights and masters, unless they are needed in times of crisis.

 Judging by the fact that all of the works in the archives are digitalized you want to take one or multiple of the holocrons stored there. The council will decide whether to accept or decline your request after you tell us, which holocrons you wish to remove from the archives.“

That confirmed my guess that the storage of ancient human culture I had discovered there hadn’t been known to the rest of the order.

„I wish to borrow and learn from the Holocron of Master Remus, famed jedi swordmaster, rumored to be the greatest swordmaster of his time, in order to sharpen my skills with the blade. I further wish to borrow multiple instruments, recordings and books from the storage of ancient human culture, a secret vault hidden deep in the archives.“

A look of shock appeared on the faces of all the masters. No surprise, these were some of the most knowledgable masters in the order and they had spent years in the archives. It would seem impossible for them that someone as young as I would have found something in there all of them hadn’t.

„You can take the Holocron if you wish, though it is very unlikely to get a reaction from it. Many have tried to access it’s knowledge, but none have succeeded as far as this council is aware. Regarding this vault you speak of, we will decide once we have seen it ourselves. Could you lead us there?“

„Of course, master.“

Without further delay I lead them down to the archives and to the unassuming wall, where the secret entrance was concealed, while explaining: „When I wandered through the archives years ago, contemplating the unsatisfactory music in our galaxy, I felt a whisper in the force, which led me to this wall. When I opened it, I came upon a storage filled with very many machines, artworks, as well as a very high number of musical instruments, like those owned as relics by some rich people, but that wasn’t the most interesting thing in there. There was something I hadn’t seen in my life: books.

Written pages of ancient paper, perfectly preserved historical and cultural records and literal works, lying here since the first landing of humans on Coruscant, brought from their birthplanet: A now uninhabital world in the mid rim, they called it ‚Earth‘. It’s called the storage of ancient human culture because the only sentient species on that planet were humans.

Please try to not be too overwhelmed by it’s size, these are physical records and originals of a timeframe of about sixthousand years, from a planet with thousands of different cultures. It is quite astonishing.“

Without looking at them I opened the secret door and walked in, leading them through the short corridor and through the airtight electronic doors, before stepping to the side.

The next few seconds where filled with twelve seperate gasps, I turned around and giggled. I hadn’t thought it was possible for me to giggle like that anymore, but I couldn’t hold it in.

There stood the twelve members of the jedi high council, the most revered people in this galaxy, always stoic and in control of their expressions, all of them with a jaw dropped as far as their anatomy allowed.

It was quite the comical sight and I couldn’t help but cheer a little at the fact that I was probably the first one to ever see all members of a jedi council slackjawed.

I was lucky that a camera was lying just a few meters away, which was immediately used by me to make a picture.

I would never show this picture to anyone. I promise.

Not.

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Here's the next chapter, hope you like it.

I'm sorry for the slight delay, I decided to start another playthrough of Skyrim and regretfully didn't have enough time to finish this chapter on schedule.

IMPORTANT

Holocrons, for those who don't know, are storages with nearly infinite dataspace, created by a jedi master or a stih lord with the help of the force.

I know the numbers I thought up for the size of the armies may seem way too big, but with a little research it is possible to determine them as more or less accurate. The galaxy of star wars has between twelve and sixtynine million inhabitated worlds, even if most of them are colonies and the total population is estimated to be around a hundredquadrillion sentient creatures (I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I made the army size with these numbers in mind).

In other words: Any and all star wars productions I know have been far, faaaaar too small scaled.

Is Shira too young to be a jedi knight? Maybe, but she already finished all the trials, the only thing missing is experience, add to that, noone would be able to accept another master after what happened to the last one, so why not just make her a knight?

NOT IMPORTANT

Bob is back! The mask and ritual was inspired by the great Schaman of Dwem from Andur's 'Beyond?', I hope it isn't insulting to that great character to give Bob some similar mask and ritual.

I don't have anything else to write here right now, so could you just imagine I wrote something funny and laugh about it? Thanks

See you in the comments.

Bye