Robert Meta
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Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage - Chapter 194
🕑 Added 2025-01-06 17:03:15 +0000 UTCYoda was at the same meditation park as he had been before we left, which was unsurprising considering it was the only one that was even close to being complete. The Uneti tree at its heart was impossible to miss, but the rows and beds filled with plants made the whole thing look like a flower garden park. I had to assume that the plants were transplanted from the forests around us because they were already grown and flourishing. It looked substantially more luscious and grown than it had just a week or so ago, and I could see a pair of B1s painted green and unarmed, walking around, tending to the plants.
Yoda was sitting not too far from the Uneti tree, overlooking a few other padawans as they meditated, slowly floating blocks and other things around in circles. As we approached, Yoda raised his hand, the padawans pausing in their practice.
"Underestimate the struggle, you must not," he explained. "Hard work, control is, exercise in patience it must be. For precision, a clear, methodical mind, you must keep."
The Padawans nodded and, as if sensing the end of the lesson, stood from their spots, bowed to Yoda, and spread out around the park, bringing their learning aides with them. Once everyone had cleared out, I finally approached Yoda, the old man gesturing for me to join him.
"Deacon, good to see you, it is," The little green gremlin said, settled into a comfy-looking chair.
"It's good to see you as well," I said with a smile. "How's basic civilization treating you?"
"For luxuries, Jedi have no need," He assured me before letting out a laugh. "Nice, it is, to sleep in a real bed. Miss being truly clean, I did."
"I'll bet," I agreed with a chuckle. "How has working with Padawans been?"
"...A pleasure I thought long lost to me, it is," He admitted, casting a look back over the Padawans, who were now in more secluded areas of the park. "Owe you much, for this I do. A dream, you have made come true."
"I'm glad I could help," I responded. "It's not like I did much, I just brought you here."
"Invest thousands of credits into building a city, you have. A home you are creating, for the remaining Jedi of this galaxy," He said, giving be a bow, leaning on his cane. "I thank you, again, Deacon Roy."
This time, I said nothing, chewing my lip. I could feel that just brushing this off would be rude, so I did my best to accept his words with a smile and an understanding nod. After a long moment of silence, Yoda eventually spoke up, seeming to lean back in his chair.
"Your mission, go wrong it did," He said. "Glad to see you are well, I am."
"Yeah, you could say that," I said with a snort, chuckling at his understatement. "We got lucky and managed to come out on top, somehow. Though… I am concerned about how high up on Vader's personal hit list I might have jumped up in the process."
"On his hit list, all of us are," Yoda pointed out. "Spiraling in the dark side, he is. Stop when we stop him, he will. Not a moment before, will that be."
"Yeah…" I agreed… trailing off and looking around the park. Malua Var'Samallo was sitting nearby, paying attention but letting us talk in private. "So what is this about a more urgent mission?"
"Hmmm, yes. Much more urgent, it is," He agreed, nodding his head. "Meditate, I have, on the survival of Knight Amescoll and his Padawans. Another possibility, I have recalled."
"More survivors?" I asked, perking up. "Who?"
In truth, while I knew a few Jedi who might have survived, the list I had was actually pretty short. I knew one or two groups, but I also knew they were safe for the moment, so there was no reason to hunt them down just yet. But if Yoda had an idea of someone who might have survived, I was more than willing to investigate.
"Soaring Hawkbat Clan was one of our youngling clans during the Clone Wars," He explained. "Off-world, they were when the Order was given, stationed on Bogden 3. A guard of clone soldiers they had, but minor it was."
"So you think they might have survived the purge."
"Possible, it is. Hope, I must."
"Okay, so a big group of Jedi younglings, I assume some older Jedi as well?" I asked, nodding as Yoda confirmed it. "Well, I need pictures of at least one of them, preferably multiple of them."
"Have that, I do not," Yoda responded, shaking his head. "No alternatives, do your abilities offer?"
"Depends. Do you think you could draw them, or describe them well enough to be almost as good as a picture?" I asked, frowning when Yoda shook his head. "Then not really… unless…"
My frown deepened as I contemplated the idea that popped into my head. For a moment, I simply stared at Yoda, who patiently remained quiet.
"How well do you think you could push a memory of them into my mind?" I asked, getting a surprised look from Yoda. "It doesn't have to be long, just a split-second view of them, as long as it's a solid memory."
"Do this, I could," Yoda confirmed. "Trust me, you would, to do so?"
"... I think I can, if for no other reason than Ahsoka would notice if you tried to go rooting around too deep in my brain, mixing things up," I pointed out. "Not that I think you would."
"Understand, I do. Appreciate your trust, I do," He said before gesturing for me to come closer. "Kneel, if you would, and open your mind."
Shoving down the massive wave of anxiety and nerves about what I was about to do, I stepped closer and kneeled down in front of the old Jedi Master. When I was ready, I nodded, and he reached out, putting his hand on my forehead. I closed my eyes and waited.
At first, I was tempted to crack a joke, maybe ask if he wasn't getting any service or something, but then I could feel it. A wave of pressure, not heavy but gentle, like a wave of mist flowing out over my face and mind. I could feel the slow, methodical pace in which he reached out, until finally, after a few more minutes, the memory started to come through.
It was strange, muted, but for a moment, it was as if I was recalling my own memory. A decent-sized group of younglings, all lowering their heads as they said goodbye to the Jedi Masters of the Coruscant Temple. It would likely be several months before they returned, and I could feel Yoda's melancholy approval that, while they would be away from their peers and teachers, they would also have more peaceful surroundings, somewhere away from the heavy presence of Coruscant.
Their faces weren't exactly clear, but it was enough of an emotional connection that I knew them. Names, general outlooks, how they were doing. Say what you will about Yoda's part in the decline of the Order, but the poor man clearly cared about the younglings.
When Yoda pulled his hand away, it took me a moment or two to adjust, shaking off the dissonance of the strange memory I now held in my mind. Quickly, before any of the details I did have faded even more, I cast Clairvoyance, focusing on the Jedi Master, who I now knew was Master Du Mahn. She was the Caretaker of the Soaring Hawkbat Clan and should have been with them.
The spell failed.
Biting back a curse, I switched to the children, picking one at random. I smiled when it locked on, the arrow pointing down through the planet, no doubt locking on to a distant person. This time, I smiled, and before, I quickly cycled through every face and person I could "remember." It painted a bleak picture, but not exactly hopeless.
"First, some of the Hawkbat Clan did survive," I finally said after checking for everyone. "From what I can tell, nine of the younglings survived, as did Padawan Chase Piru. However, Master Du Mahn, as well as the other younglings… I could not find them."
Yoda bowed his head, his eyes closed in a silent prayer to the Force. I remained silent, waiting for him to eventually respond.
"Happy, we should be, to know of survivors," The small Jedi said, looking up at me. "Mourn those we have lost, I will. What will you do?"
"Well, our first stop will be Bogden 3," I responded. "If they aren't there, and I can't imagine they are since it's where Palpy would be looking for them, we will start trying to triangulate them. Once we have a general area, we can start searching for planets. With any luck it shouldn't take us too long. If it does… Well, I can stay in contact with the Chariot, so it shouldn't be a problem. I'll leave most of the 1st group here since I can't exactly travel inconspicuously with that many ships."
"Thank you, I must, for all you have done," Yoda said, now bowing to me.
"I'm just trying to help," I assured him, a bit embarrassed to be praised by someone who was a childhood hero. "There is one issue. With Ahsoka busy trying to root out the spy that almost got us killed, I don't have a Jedi contact. If I just show up, claiming to be there to rescue them…I could use a mediator familiar with the Jedi."
"Predicted this, I did," Yoda admitted with a smirk. "Volunteered, Malua Var'Samallo has, to fill that role."
The ancient Jedio gestured to the Force Sensitive who had found me in the first place. She had stood from her waiting place and was now approaching us.
"Given her a holo recording, I have, explaining the situation," he explained. "Between her presence in the Force, and the recording itself, fine you will be."
"Great, sounds good. Happy to have you on board," I said, before reaching over to shake her hand, which she happily accepted. "I'll probably be bringing at least a few members of my crew, just in case."
We discussed the mission for a while longer, before eventually Malua Var'Samallo, or Malua as she asked to be called, split off from the meditation park. I headed off to talk to my crew, specifically Tatnia since I was once again going off on another Jedi Adventure™. It took a while for me to get to everyone, but both Nal and Julus agreed to come with me on the journey, While Tatnia was going to stay behind. As I said, we would be able to stay in contact, so it wasn't like she was being put in complete charge, but she did grumble about me taking her boyfriend out when they had finally gotten some time off.
It was the following morning that we finally all met at the landing pad where the Talos Chariot was stationed. It was just the four of us, plus Calima as the pilot, but that was fine. With any luck, we will have a full ship on the way back. We also had Lefty and the BX remnants because Tatnia wanted us to have as much backup as possible. I had very seriously considered just cramming them into a few storage crates to avoid traumatizing a bunch of Jedi who lived through Clone Wars with droids that were widely considered to be Jedi killers. Then I remembered all of the crew were naval droids, and we also had a large ground force of B2s lined up and ready to activate.
I would just have to make it clear that they were repurposed assets before they got on board.
When our gear and personal packs were loaded up and ready to go, the living crew crashed in the lounge, while Calima did the final checks in the cockpit. After a few minutes, I stood up, went behind the bar and food prep space, grabbed some drinks, and passed them to Nal, Julus, and Malua. We needed a bit of an icebreaker, and having something to drink and do with your hands always helped with that.
"So, I know these two chuckleheads just like jump feet first into the crazy I get into," I said, leaning back in my chair after handing out the drinks. "But what got you interested in this? Did Yoda ask you to come, or did you volunteer?"
"I volunteered when I heard what was happening from Knight Amescoll," She responded easily. "I don't think it is a surprise that some of us… are looking forward to stretching our legs. Finding more of our family is a better reason than we could have hoped for to do that."
"I suppose that's fair. I did get that feeling when you cornered me last time we met," I said with a smirk, the serious-faced woman nodding. "We should start talking to you guys and Amescoll about what you would like to do. We talked about finding you places where you would be happy and could help, but we haven't made much progress."
"The excitement of finally having modern facilities has made waiting easy," she admitted. "As has the progress we have made building Vercopa."
"Should be proud of what you have achieved," Nal commented. "It is a sight to behold."
"Thank you," She responded, nodding her head towards the Duros. "In truth, between the knowledgeable minds you have found, and everyone's dedication, progress has felt easy. It does not hurt that most of the challenging work is done by droid labor."
We chatted for a bit longer, even as Calima lifted off from the mesa and up into space. As we broke through the atmosphere, Malua joined Calima and me in the cockpit. She watched as we passed by our fleet, almost all of our ships gathered around or inside the Boxi's Fury. It was one hell of a view, especially with Nirn's moon passing behind them, highlighting the smaller ships passing around them. Malua watched all of this with wide eyes that showed her relatively young age, the wonder and interest shining through.
"We never saw combat, but we did learn about the enemy we would likely be facing," She explained as we flew past the massive Lucrehulk. "To think you managed to capture such a behemoth..."
"To be fair, we had a little help," I reminded. "Whoever had set up the off-the-books repair yard had clearly been greedy and controlling. Without that, we would likely not have this conversation."
"Did you have a backup plan?" She asked, turning to look at me. "If the fleet hadn't been under your control, what would you have done?"
"I didn't have any plans, never mind a backup. I was coming up with all of it as I went along," I admitted, rubbing the back of my head. "If we didn't have the fleet...? I would have likely ordered everyone to the hangars to look for a way off the ship, then ordered the droids to plow the Fury into the Executor. Past that... well, it would have been up to luck. Judging how the mission was going already, you can pretty much already imagine how that would have gone."
"You don't think they would have been enough?" She asked.
"I don't know, but the idea was to not be around and find out," I responded. "It might have worked, but the Interdictors could have probably finished us off if our ship couldn't outrun them. Lots of ifs, a lot more than I would like to bet on.
She nodded in understanding, all of us going silent as Calima finally jumped us into lightspeed. We had a few days before we arrived at our first destination, so there would be plenty of time for questions later.
Comments
SwiftFate
Considering he has had very limited encounters with the Inquisitors so far as well, that doesn't surprise me. They play a big role when it comes to force users in the galaxy during this period, so chances of him running into them more as he gets more involved is high 🤣🤣🤣
Robert Meta
Deacon is real shakey on Disney cannon, especially when you start getting to more recent stuff. He knows what role the inquisitors play, but he doesn't know some of their specific backstories
Dominic French
Does Deacon have any defense against just getting ragdolled by a Jedi?
Duke of Coffee
Some grammar mistakes. Anyway rescue what is left of the Younglings...
Nicholas Rambusch
Thanks for the chapter
DrettTheBaron
I'm glad we're gonna see more of Malua
Freya
Tyftc
SwiftFate
Deacon does remember that many younglings and padawans were uh..Not necessarily killed right? Right...? As in, if they could be broken and turned, they may well be inquisitors. Hell, even full Jedi gave in and became hunters for Palpy. Some of those that 'live' may not necessarily be what he is looking for hahahaha
Cole Deucalion
After a long moment of silence, Yoda eventually spoke up, seeming to lean back in his chair. "Your mission, go wrong it did," I said. "Glad to see you are well, I am." --- I think that was supposed to be Yoda saying that.
