Myst in DC part 38 (Patreon)

Myst twitched as the ship that Anakin was crash landing clipped one of the control towers, destroying half its base and causing it to list to one side until it snapped off completely and crashed to the ground in an explosion of metal and fire.

Sabrina giggled as the ship came to a halt. “Any landing you can walk away from is a good one.”

“Beats any landing you can’t,” Anakin said as he relaxed against his chair, happy that they’d managed to survive the crash without getting hurt.

Obi-Wan took a breath and tried to get his breathing under control. “This is why I dislike flying with him.”

“That was awesome, can we do it again?” Dawn asked, hiding her smirk. 

“No!” Obi-Wan snapped out, before taking a deep breath and centering himself.

“We survived, I’m counting that as a win,” Anakin said. “Besides, it was half a ship when I got it.”

“It’s only a third of a ship now,” Obi-Wan grumbled.

“At least it’s on the ground,” Anakin replied with amusement.

“Speaking of ships, do you have any idea where we can get a decent ship, preferably one that won’t explode?” Myst asked, figuring they’d have some ideas.

“Yes, I do, the Jedi Temple, after you give Yoda your report,” Obi-wan said, seeing an opportunity to avoid having to lie to the council.

“I was hoping to avoid that,” Myst said as he stretched his arms above his head.

“I was unconscious for most of the fight, which means someone else needs to give the report,” Obi-Wan argued.

Myst pointed at Anakin. “Anakin is still a Jedi, he can give his ‘I quit’ speech at the same time.”

“Sorry, that lightning must have scrambled my brain a bit, I find my memory of recent events a tad foggy,” Anakin joked as he stood up and headed for the door. “We should probably get out of here in case the ship explodes.”

Dawn snickered as she looked at the destruction, a touch surprised that Myst didn’t just teleport everyone out but figuring he wanted to keep some tricks in reserve.

“Is that a fancy way of saying no?” Myst asked with amusement as he followed Anakin and R2D2 out of the observation area.

“Basically,” Anakin replied. “Besides, I’m going to have enough trouble quitting without figuring out how to explain things in such a way that they don’t kick me out before I finish.”

“We could make R2 do it,” Myst suggested then laughed as the droid beeped and whistled, telling him to fuck off. “I’ll take that for a no.”

Kes glanced between the droid and Anakin. “What did he say?”

“He said ‘not a chance’, only less polite,” Myst explained as they headed down the hallway. 

“It’s going to be a long flight to the temple,” Obi-Wan muttered, half hoping for a force vision to tell him to resign from the order as well, it’d certainly be less stressful than addressing the council.

0o0o0

Obi-Wan pulled his attention away from the cockpit where Anakin was giving Dawn and Kes a crash course on flying the ship. “I don’t suppose you’re willing to share any interesting tricks?”

“Which tricks are you referring to?” Myst asked with amusement.

“Let’s start with your ability to make people vanish and I’m curious about the strange portal you used to get onto the ship,” Obi-Wan said, fairly sure he wouldn’t get a straight answer.

Myst conjured a chocolate milkshake in a large glass. “I have the ability to store things using magic and retrieve them at a later point in time. As for the portal, I used a magical device to generate it.”

“Where did you find that?” Obi-Wan asked, curious where he’d picked up such an artifact and which ancient race had created it.

“There are a lot of interesting artifacts scattered around the galaxy.”

“What are you going to tell the Jedi Council?” Obi-Wan asked.

“I’m going to tell them that we couldn’t save the Chancellor and that Dooku won’t be a problem anymore, which has the benefit of being the truth. Beyond that, the Republic is deeply flawed and probably should be dismantled, but that’s not really my problem.”

“Do you have a better suggestion for managing the galaxy?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Nope, which is why I’m leaving as soon as I collect the bounty on Dooku and get a ship,” Myst replied with a grin. “I don’t know how to fix things, I just know the Republic is like a rotten tree, about ready to fall. I’m not a Jedi, I’m not a servant of the galaxy or anything of the sort, it is not my responsibility to fix things.”

“And yet, you stopped the Chancellor,” Obi-Wan said.

“I just fix things when I run into them. Besides, you have countless worlds in the galaxy, one man’s fix is another man’s failure. My solution would be messy and involve mind reading the various senators and making sure they weren’t excessively corrupt.”

“Which would lead to complaints of corruption against the Jedi Order,” Obi-Wan argued.

“Which is why fixing the Republic isn’t my problem. I’m going to let the diplomats deal with it because diplomacy tends to work better in the long run than killing most of whatever faction you’re dealing with.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Obi-Wan agreed, glad that the stranger wasn’t in charge because even if it would solve some issues, it would create a great deal more issues for the Order.

“On that note, I’m going to enjoy my chocolate shake then I’m going to grab some sleep as I expect the council will have a lot of questions and dealing with people while tired never ends well.” Myst worked on enjoying his milkshake as he tried to figure out how he was going to deal with the council.

0o0o0

Myst glanced up from the card game he was playing with Dawn as Anakin walked into the ship’s small lounge looking troubled and practically vibrating with rage and guilt. “Something on your mind?”

“I’m having trouble meditating,” Anakin admitted as he walked over and sat down on the couch next to Dawn and across from Myst. “Do you have any tricks that help?”

“Let me guess, Obi-Wan wasn’t much help?” Myst asked, catching the general direction of Anakin’s thoughts and emotions.

“No, he thinks I should let go of my anger.”

Dawn shook her head. “Best of luck, that never works.”

“That’s it?” Anakin asked in disbelief.

Myst shrugged. “Dawn has a point, the man arranged the death of your mother and tried to kill your wife, you’re allowed to be angry. What you’re not allowed to do is use that anger to fuel your magic or project that anger against people that don’t deserve it.”

“Jedi aren’t supposed to get angry, there is no emotion, there is peace,” Anakin grumbled.

“I like the older version of the Jedi oaths, emotion, yet peace but either way, you’re human and humans have emotions barring certain types of brain damage.”

Dawn shook her head. “Yeah, we don’t need sociopathic magic users running around.”

“Do you have any tricks for dealing with anger?” Anakin asked, still angry with the chancellor and himself for falling for his lies.

“Generally speaking, I try to figure out why I’m angry,” Dawn offered. “Once I’ve figured out why I’m angry, I try to deal with the cause of the anger. If it’s my fault, I try to figure out how to avoid making the mistake next time, if it’s someone else’s fault, I try to understand why they did what they did, generally while breaking a foot off in their ass.”

“That sounds like a good place to start, or it would be if I didn’t blame myself for believing the Chancellor,” Anakin grumbled.

“Would you blame a child for being conned by a professional con artist?” Myst asked.

“I’m not a child!” Anakin snapped.

“You’re right, you’re not, but you were a child when you met the Chancellor and he was very good at manipulating people and knowing where to push. He managed to fool a bunch of politicians and Jedi Masters.”

“He didn’t fool you,” Anakin argued.

“I’m a telepath and he wasn’t being nearly as guarded as he should have been because he got impatient. Either way, you managed to avoid compromising your principles which means you did better than most,” Myst offered.

“I lost my mind with the Tusken Raiders,” Anakin admitted, thinking about the events around his mother’s death.

“You stopped with the tribe responsible, I’m not sure I would have,” Myst admitted. “Either way, the Tusken Raiders weren’t innocent, they gleefully murder people and their entire society is built around being pieces of shit toward outsiders. Take some time and learn from your loss of control so that you don’t hurt someone that doesn’t deserve it next time. Besides, it doesn’t do you any good to hate the dead, they’re dead and, generally speaking, can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

“Surprisingly enough, that helps a bit more than Obi-Wan’s reminder to let go of my anger,” Anakin admitted.

“Emotion yet serenity, is about the only bit the old Jedi got right as far as I’m concerned.”

“Have you figured out what you’re going to do once you’re not a Jedi?” Dawn asked, curious if Anakin had given it any thought.

“I’m going to keep Padme safe and try to bring an end to the war, beyond that, I don’t know,” Anakin admitted.

“Speaking of keeping Padme safe, remind me after we’re done talking to the Jedi Council to give her some magical defenses to help keep her alive.” Myst was figured giving her immunity to heat and lightning and one of the re’em’s blood Cokes would make it nearly impossible for most of her political rivals to arrange her death, short of blowing up whatever ship she was on and a force field ring would fix even that.

“I don’t suppose you can teach me any of your tricks?” Anakin asked.

Myst shook his head. “Sorry, I won’t teach Jedi, ask me again after you’ve quit.”

“Fair enough,” Anakin said as he turned and headed for his bunk, wanting to catch some sleep and try to straighten out his head a bit before he had to deal with the council.

“Where are we going after we deal with the council?” Dawn asked once Anakin had closed the door to his cabin.

“I want to take a look at the Sith shrine under the temple and see if I can do something about it before we wander off hunting relics or recruiting interesting people.” Myst wanted to collect Palpatine’s various holocrons before some fallen Jedi found them and restarted the Sith.

0o0o0

“Come in, you may,” Yoda said as Obi-Wan and the group of strangers approached the door to the council chambers.

Myst glanced around the circular room at the various empty chairs as they followed Obi-Wan and Anakin into the council chambers. He glanced at the window overlooking the surrounding area before focusing on the ancient looking Jedi Master. “Greetings.”

“Master Yoda, may I present Myst, Dawn, Sabrina, and Kes,” Obi-Wan said as he gestured to each of the group.

“Dealt with Count Dooku, you have?” Yoda asked as he studied the group.

Myst gestured toward Anakin. “Most of the credit goes to Knight Skywalker, but Dooku won’t be a problem anymore.”

“Sorry to hear of the Chancellor’s death, I am,” Yoda offered as he looked at Anakin.

“This mission has put certain things in perspective.” Anakin took a breath and let it out, trying to stay calm despite knowing that the next words out of his mouth would change everything. “I find myself more troubled by recent events than a Jedi should be, which is why I’m leaving the order.”

“Thought about this, you have,” Yoda stated, feeling Anakin’s certainty. “Grief, this is not.”

“No, when Master Qui-Gon freed me, I placed all of my hopes and dreams on becoming a Jedi and repaying him. I never stopped to consider if I wanted anything else out of life, I find myself questioning a lot of choices I made in the past and while I’ll always be grateful for everything the Order has done for me, I feel my path leads me elsewhere.”

“Sorry to see you leave, the Order will be,” Yoda said.

Anakin nodded.

Yoda glanced between Myst, Dawn and Sabrina. “Curious about your abilities, I am.”

“What do you want to know?” Sabrina asked with amusement.

“Where learn to use the Force, did you?” Yoda asked.

“Technically I use internal magic, not the Force, but to answer your question, you can find interesting tricks all over,” Sabrina replied.

“Truth that is, but answer my question it does not,” Yoda replied.

“We are from a long ways away, none of the names of the places would really tell you anything of value,” Sabrina explained.

“Why not share a few so we can decide that for ourselves?” Obi-Wan asked curiously.

“Sure, I believe the name of the planet is translated into most languages as dirt, but I’m sure that’s rather common,” Myst said with a grin.

“Terra is what’s used in common parlance,” Dawn added.

“It’s the third planet out from the star, named Sol, or Sun in common parlance. We do not excel in naming things. Western edge of a spiral galaxy,” Myst offered.

“Quite a way from home, you are,” Yoda said with a nod.

“In time and space,” Myst agreed. “We kinda got off track, so we are probably going to get even further lost before we find our way home.”

“Confident you are, good to see it is,” Yoda said. “So powers you use, not Force in training?

“Most of our abilities are magical in nature but we don’t reach out to the field that surrounds everything, so I’d have to say we’re not trained in using the Force.” Myst conjured a chocolate chip cookie that would give flight and held it out toward Anakin. “If you’d like to fly, eat the cookie.”

Anakin reached and grabbed the cookie and took a bite, causing Obi-Wan to shake his head.

“You don’t even know what’s in that,” Obi-Wan complained.

“Chocolate chips,” Anakin said after swallowing the first bite. “Besides I’m willing to extend some trust. Remember fear leads to anger.” He smirked before he began to float up off the floor with a look of wonder on his face. “I… How did I not see this before? Flying is simple, takes even less energy than a light Force push.”

“Every trick is merely a trick once you understand it, before that it’s magic,” Myst said with amusement.

“No longer clouded is my sight, seeing the future, easier it has become,” Yoda said as he floated up off his chair, figuring out the trick with a startling amount of ease. “Easier still, seeing the present.”

“Cupcake?” Myst asked as he conjured cupcake of eternal youth.

“What trick is this?” Yoda asked as he took the cupcake. He took a bite and blinked as over half a millennium of age faded to nothing in an instant, restoring his health and vigor. “Delicious this is, but seeing this I did not.” He finished the cupcake, restoring him to his prime.

“Does that work for anyone and at what cost?” Obi-Wan asked cautiously.

“I haven’t found anyone it doesn’t work on.” Myst created another cupcake and tossed it to Obi-Wan. “It takes a certain amount of energy to create the cupcake but other than that, there isn’t a cost.”

“Do you have any spares?” Obi-Wan asked, thinking about his various friends in the Order and knowing some of them would appreciate a present that restored their youth.

“Sure, I can help you out,” Myst agreed, seeing no reason not to help.

“Not too old to learn I find myself,” Yoda said thoughtfully.

Myst grinned as he conjured a cookie that would protect formerly ancient muppet from lightning, fire and cold. “I have a few tricks. This cookie offers protection from fire, lighting and cold, it should help.”

“Does your order focus on baking?” Obi-Wan asked.

“We could make awful tasting potions but what’s the point in that, I like cookies,” Myst said as he handed the cookie to Yoda.

Dawn nodded, fairly sure that most people would rather have cookies than foul tasting potions.

“Thank you,” Yoda said and ate the cookie, curious how the cookie was created and how many of the stranger’s tricks he could learn.

“You’re welcome,” Myst assured him, rather happy about the fact that Yoda would be around if the Yuuzhan Vong or various other threats showed up.

Kes turned to look as the doors opened and a dark skinned man walked into the room. “Hello.”

Mace Windu glanced at the new people then focused on Yoda. “Yoda?”

“Look young, I do,” Yoda said, feeling more amusement about his friend’s reaction than he should. “Curious about Dooku’s fate, you are?”

Myst studied the man that looked like a younger and more fit version of a certain actor. ‘I wonder if I can duplicate his lightsaber crystal without him noticing.’

“Yes.” Mace glanced between Anakin and focused on Obi-Wan. “What happened?”

“It was a trap,” Obi-Wan said. “We were unable to save the Chancellor but Anakin and Myst were able to defeat Dooku after I was knocked out.”

Mace glanced between Anakin and Myst. “Dooku was an expert duelist.”

“He was distracted by Myst’s arrival, I took advantage,” Anakin admitted thinking about how he’d used the man’s distraction to kick him. ‘Technically that counts.’

“At which point I finished off the Sith Lord and we left before the ship exploded,” Myst offered, wanting to stick to the truth without explaining that the Chancellor was a Sith as everything became rather messy at that point.

“Sense there is more to the story, I do,” Yoda said as he glanced between Myst and Anakin.

“That is the nice simple version, it’s even true.” Myst sighed as he realized Mace wasn’t going to stop pestering Obi-Wan until he got the truth. “However if you would like to hear a story, I can tell you a more interesting tale. It is a story filled with lies, half truths and dreams of what might have been.”

“In other words, you’re going to lie,” Mace said with disapproval.

“There are three sides to every circular coin and one man’s truth is another man’s lie. Do you want to hear my story?” Myst asked, trying not to laugh at the glare Mace was sending him.

“Hear the story, I will,” Yoda said, understanding that there was sometimes truth in lies.

Myst nodded. “In a distant land, on a world long forgotten, there was a Sith Alchemist of amazing skill, the type of skill that can be respected, even if the man himself had issues.”

Mace scowled. “The dark side corrupts.”

“He was well aware of that and had taken steps to deal with it, which was his undoing.”

“How?” Anakin asked.

“He misread his apprentice. He’d assumed that the leash his apprentice had on his anger and hate was control when he was merely riding the Rancor. You can only ride a wild beast for so long until you hit the ground.”

“Stabbed in the back, he was?” Yoda asked.

“While he was sleeping. Now the apprentice had become the ‘master’ or at least he would’ve liked to think so but he wasn’t an exceptional alchemist or even a particularly skilled sorcerer which means that he had to fall back on what he knew, politics. One of the first things he does is pick up a thug of an apprentice, we’ll call him Hammer.”

Obi-Wan shook his head.

Myst shrugged. “He brutally trains his apprentice because he’s not right in the head then sends him to deal with various issues. Hammer, runs into a knight in the process of trying to kill the princess and the knight breaks the hammer which means the so called Sith Master needs another apprentice. We’ll call this new apprentice, Count Grumpypants.”

Dawn shook her finger at Myst. “You are no longer allowed to name things.”

Sabrina cut in before any of the Jedi could interrupt, “Count Grumypants is far more political than Mr. Hammer which means he can operate in a political arena which means it’s time to spark a war and run both sides.”

“Because really the only way to win is to play both sides,” Myst added.

Mace winced. “The chancellor.”

“Sure, we could call the Sith Lord in the story a chancellor or regent. Either way, the man was doing fine until he staged his own kidnapping and got himself killed by a foreign knight because he overplayed his hand.”

“Are you saying Palpatine was a Sith Lord?” Mace demanded.

Myst grinned at Mace. “Of course not, the story is filled with half truths and lies, it’s easier that way.” He turned to look at Obi-Wan. “Do you know who Anakin and I talk to about the reward for dealing with Dooku? I need a ship if I’m going relic hunting.”

“Polish, your story needs,” Yoda said, understanding why they’d phrased the second story as lies and half truths, it let them know what happened without pulling the entire Order into a mess they wouldn’t escape unscathed.

“Maybe next time I’ll tell you a story about biological control chips in your clone army that can be used to make sure they kill any Jedi they get near,” Myst offered. “Of course, that’s a bit of a nasty story, so I’d rather avoid telling it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a ship.”

“I want the actual…” Mace trailed off as Myst vanished from his senses and view. “That’s annoying.”

‘Phasing for the win,’ Myst sent the mental message to Sabrina as he glanced down at his stealth ring.

“I’ll show you,” Anakin offered as he turned and headed for the door, wanting to be gone before they started demanding a straight answer.

“You’re not dismissed!” Mace snapped.

“I’m not a Jedi anymore,” Anakin replied as he walked out of the council chambers, rather happy about not having to take orders anymore.

Sabrina nodded toward Yoda then followed Anakin with Kes and Dawn quickly following the former Jedi.

“I’ll go keep an eye on them,” Obi-Wan said as he quickly followed Anakin, not wanting to have to explain until Yoda had a chance to discuss things with Windu.

Myst grinned as he followed the group out of the chambers, fairly sure they’d just changed things for the better.