The Force Wills - Chapter 42 (Patreon)

Ventress stood there looking rather more stately than the last time I saw her. She was wearing a full dress of pure black, with an integrated light brown patterning that flowed from around her neck, crossed under her bust and separated towards her feet. The whole number was completely sleeveless, but she also had arm gloves that left her shoulders bare. Her naturally severe look emphasized by her facial tattoos on her natural alabaster white skin was twisted into a smirk as she stared in our direction.

She also saw fit to no longer hide her presence in the Force, a skill that I could immediately tell had undergone some refinement. Her curved lightsaber blade hilts were in hand and ready.

I held up a fist to signal the squads to hold, nor did I take a single step to move into Ventress’ line of sight.

“Hello Asajj,” I said, infusing my voice with the Force, casting my Farsight as well not only into the entrance hall, but around the temple. “I must say, you’re looking somewhat better, stronger, though still steeped in the Dark Side. How did Count Dooku spin it this time?”

“Don’t think your amateurish Dun Möch can work on me, child,” she hissed.

“There is no such thing, Asajj. It works or it doesn’t,” I pointed out in a disappointed, lecturing tone, that nicely hit the mark on her. “So he didn’t need to lift a finger, you’ve done it to yourself. Lied to yourself about Ky Narec. It is after all…”

“Don’t speak his name!” she shouted and I felt her anger take a nice spike.

“... much better than accepting the alternative. That you were wrong in your motives to join Dooku.”

“Enough! We are not talking about me, child! You will stop or I will kill the last surviving Jedi of this place.”

Another BX droid stepped forward, holding the captive Jedi in question. She was a rather short human, wearing the typical brown robes of a Knight, but with striped adornments that I recognized as belonging to an Alderaanian House, but couldn’t remember exactly which. It was an outfit that was singed and torn in places. Her long brown hair spilling out of the typical circular braids her people were known for The woman who looked in her late twenties, desperately needed a bacta tank dunk; a broken arm, blood from a nasty headwound steadily dripping down her forehead, swollen mouth and right eye. She was cuffed around the neck and wrists with flowing energy binders.

Ventress calmly stepped next to the Jedi woman and rested her hand in an almost friendly fashion on her shoulder, minus the fact that the business end of a deactivated lightsaber was pointed at her neck.

Her name clicked in my head, Saro Brassint - the only Alderaanian among the Jedi here. She wasn’t from a noble house, but it was a relatively prominent family.

“Why are we here, Asajj?” I asked, not entirely faking my weary tone, though I had a good idea already.

“Very simple, little Tano. This temple holds somewhere within it a map.”

“Which you naturally want, of course.”

“To get this map, it’s not just a matter of typing up a terminal search,” she continued. “There is a secret chamber in this Temple, one that I am unable to enter. I tried using the other Jedi Knights to open the way after killing the master and the other one, but rather irritatingly, he refused and sacrificed himself rather than open the chamber. I tried using this one,” she jerked a thumb at Saro, “but the systems in this Temple are surprisingly smart. It somehow knew she was working under threat of death and refused to open for her.”

“So you reactivated the chapterhouse distress beacon after subverting it, using your BX droids to create enough of a local info blackout, luring the closest Jedi in.”

“Cleverly reasoned, Tano. Then who should fate be so kind as to drop in my lap, but you… with no Skywalker, Kenobi or other master to hide behind. A little padawan, who the temple will surely judge as being light enough to enter.”

“And so you will use the threat of killing the last Jedi of this chapterhouse to get me to cooperate,” I sighed. It was the typical trick that was used in the past and would see a resurgence during the time of Empire and the Inquisitors, that would lure Jedi out of hiding, exploiting the protective instinct that Jedi ascribed to all life.

“Precisely,” Ventress nodded with a cruel smile.

I held out my left hand to Ursa, who was crouched right behind me. She frowned, not understanding at first what I wanted. Then I pointed a finger at the WESTAR-35 blaster in her left hand, and made a hither gesture with two fingers.

I naturally would never ask any Mandalorian vassal of mine to do something as culturally taboo and ghastly as disarm, she still had her other blaster.

Ursa reluctantly handed it over after a moment.

I settled the blaster in my hand. It was slightly too big in grip for my hand to be supremely comfortable with it, but I didn’t need to physically pull the trigger when I had TK.

“There is a problem, Asajj, with your ultimatum.”

“Oh? And what’s that little Tano?”

My left hand snaked around the corner and with a twist of will, the trigger was pulled.

The whine of the blaster shot echoed through the corridor.

The bolt shot forth through the air straight and true on target.

Ventress’ lightsaber snapped into life in an instant, deflecting the shot up into the cavernous ceiling.

“What?! You… you… that’s…”

“Akul got your tongue, Asajj?” I smirked. “Or did the shot I just fired straight for my fellow Jedi’s chest muddy things a bit. It’s rather odd that you defended her life… or is it the instinctual realization that without her there, nothing is stopping me and my two squads of Mandalorians and Recon Troopers from utterly stomping you and your droids into the dirt.”

“You’re delusional, brat, if you think you can possibly match me!”

I began signing instructions to my squads and handed Ursa her blaster back. “And you must think I’m stupid, because even if I came out, disarmed and surrendered myself to you to ostensibly save the life of Jedi Brassint, the instant you have access to this map room, you’d just as well kill me and her afterward.”

My mind pinged the nascent Force Bond I had formed with Brassint. It was the dirtiest yet quickest method of bonding that I’d yet tried.

Yes, I had shot her with intent to kill. Her life in the see-saw of probability was hanging by the thinnest of threads. Whether Ventress did it in the next few seconds by throwing caution to the wind and retreating or she was killed in the crossfire of the upcoming firefight, the odds were not in her favor at all. I had shot at her out of cold blooded calculation, to insert doubt into Ventress’ mind, continuing my Dun Möch assault, but also because it was infinitely more survivable with me on hand to provide healing, than what could happen with a lightsaber through the chest or loosing a head.

That was enough for a bond to at least begin.

Knight Brassint, you must drop to the floor the instant I give a signal over this bond, do you understand?

Are- Are- you… the padawan? Tano?... Who just shot at me?

The bond was very rough… her emotions were dull, her focus almost overwhelmed by pain, but she was not a knight for nothing. She might be no Guardian who chewed on battle, bubblegum and spit it out, but her spirit and skill in the Force was still there.

For which I sincerely apologize. I’ll explain if we all make it out of this alive, which is not a sure thing at the moment. I need you to focus and fall to the floor when I tell you. Understand?

Y- y- yes. Fall to floor… when signal…

I gave a last second look behind to confirm my troops were ready.

Ventress spoke in a mocking, cutesy tone. “What if I gave you my word?”

“No problem,” I smiled, injecting levity into my voice.

In the instant, I propelled eight flashbangs high into the entrance hall with TK.

A moment later, six Droid poppers also shotgunned into the room.

I charged in with all my sabers lit and fully in the embrace of the Force, the world around me tunneled as my visual perception distorted by the speed but I wasn’t using my eyes to see at this point. My poor legs were straining from both the Force and raw physical force.

NOW! I screamed into the nascent bond.

Ventress threw a Force Push at the flashbangs, thinking they were Droid poppers, missing the actual threat to her backup.

They burst uselessly high above us into a cacophony of light and sound.

I took my second step in the throws of the Force Speed technique, bringing my focus to fully supporting my weight within the Force, and partially negating my own mass.

Brassint purposely collapsed her legs.

Behind me Ursa and two other Mandalorians pushed forward, raising their arms and firing off their Whistling Birds. They had reacted as quickly as possible, but it still felt like it had taken forever.

One of my lightsabers surged forward in a spinning fan directly towards Ventress’ head.

My third step hit the floor of the entrance hall and I lifted my sabers up and overhead.

The droid poppers went off just as the BX droids fired off a volley.

Naturally, I was the first target, as were the Mandos coming up behind me.

My left saber had to deflect two shots arcing into my chest as I took a fourth step and pushed off into the Falling Avalanche.

Ventress, even though she was the only one keeping up in all this burst of near simultaneous events, was nevertheless surprised when Brassint suddenly wasn’t doing what she was supposed to and my spinning saber had done enough to save the knight’s life. The assassin was forced to use her own right crimson blade to stop her head from being crowned, the TK’d blade bounced off hers and tried to stab into her left side, which occupied her left blade.

Finally I had arrived, covering the distance in less than four seconds roughly.

My sabers crashed onto Ventress with such force that it sent her to single knee in order to cope and defend with her blades held parallel.

Very conscious that I was now literally standing over the helpless form of Knight Brassint, I released a Force Push directly into the assassin’s face.

Ventress was just that moment too late to defend, as I was again not fighting to any typical combat pacing. The Djem So form did not call for a Force Push after a Falling Avalanche.

She was blasted backward into the air and forced to do all manner of twirling to bleed off the momentum and managed to gain some control, landing cat-like on her feet nearly eight meters away.

I stepped over my rescuee and rushed Ventress again.

Blaster fire now began resounding throughout as the full might of Mandalorians and Recon troopers were inside and firing on the surviving BX droids. Droid poppers had taken care of four of them, whilst the Whistling Birds had managed to disable three and damage others somewhat.

I sensed it building and just before we could connect blades again, Ventress shot a stream of Force Lightning from her right hand with a savage glee.

The Darksaber was raised and I focused every sense I had on the technique…

The lightning was pulled and practically hoovered up by the black and white blade to my right, whilst I shot forward to stab directly into Ventress’ right hip.

The satisfaction from seeing that glee turn to astonishment as a ‘mere padawan’ deflected Force Lightning was just pure gold, as she frantically defended herself from the stab and had to abandon the lightning to defend herself as things got close quarters again.

Her blades swung for my face, but I took a tactical step back and let her weapons miss me, before mine came up and smacked them out of the way.

My blades stabbed forward again in a lunge.

She managed to bring her blades back in defense, sealing up her guard quickly, deflecting my blades to the side.

I twirled my blades up and over with my wrists onto her head, stepping into her.

We traded cuts, slashes and lunges in a blur of movement.

The Darksaber managed to singe her whirling dress as she was forced to take two steps back and we reset our stances as we walked in a circle, always facing each other.

I lanced my blades forward threateningly as if I was going to charge again.

She swung, but I stepped back, pulling my blades back and cut rapidly in a strike to the right side of her head.

She only had time to bring one of her blades back in defense, but it was enough and then we were trading rapid cuts and slashes, our momentum carrying us back and forth.

I broke the impasse with my third blade under TK control, trying to literally stab her in the back.

She rather impressively whirled around, breaking contact and the circle of our fight, using one blade to shield her back and bat away my blade, whilst keeping her forward guard up with her right blade.

I now gathered all my blades and fell into my modified Djem So, with the Darksaber in a reversed grip, my green blade pointing directly at her, whilst the third blade hovered, to my right, as if I had a third arm.

She studied my form with narrowed eyes and gritted teeth, before attacking with a high yell.

I managed to block her blades with just my left weapon, before lunging forward on one knee, swiping at her legs with the reversed Darksaber, whilst my third blade swiped for her head.

This forced her into a rear somersault to dodge with her typical quick movements.

I disrupted that by releasing a Force Push from my foot in a brief kick.

The Push sent her sprawling to the hard floor again, but she controlled her fall and rolled with it.

It brought her to her feet and she stabbed forward with her blades to interrupt my follow-up charge.

I gave an expansive forward slash that threatened to completely bisect her from left shoulder to right hip with my left blade.

She parried with her own left blade, whilst attacking me with an upward slash between my legs.

I brought the Darksaber down in a defensive attack that stopped that cold, pushing the offending weapon back down and to the right, keeping the blade locked and pushing into her.

“Ha!” I screamed, sending an armored knee directly into Ventress’ ribs.

I heard and felt the air leaving her lungs, including the crack of a rib as she launched herself backwards in a retreating Force Leap, including a few cartwheels to get some more distance.

The instant she had a vertical base again she brandished both her hands at me and tried to nail me with Force Lightning again.

I held up the Darksaber and my left blade.

The lightning crackled and at first threatened to escape my control, but I just managed to wrench it in and hoovered the threatening energy.

“You’re welcome,” the Darksaber sentience whispered in my mind.

I was suddenly flush and overloaded with the Force in a way that could only be explained by…

My hands shot forward and I released something that had to be bordering close to a Force Wave.

It attenuated into the visible spectrum, condensing air and shot forward in an instant.

Ventress’ Force Lightning winked out as she was bowled over and carried over fifteen meters through the air, to land rather painfully on the hard stone. Her cries of pain heralding more broken ribs, the overpressure had also done a number on the soft tissues of her face, as blood leaked from her nose and ears.

She abruptly snarled and launched herself to her feet, very eager to resume the fight but stopped immediately when she took in the situation.

Such as staring down the aimed blaster pistols and rifles of multiple Mandos and Recon troopers, who had successfully finished off the BX droids. A number of the Mandos also had their arms raised, where numerous Whistling Birds were whining, ready to fire.

“Fire,” I ordered over the radio.

Scores of blue stun rings shot out towards Ventress.

Her blades began smoothly deflecting the shots away as she was forced to steadily retreat towards the main entrance of the temple. Whistling Bird volleys were blasted apart by small rapid Force Pushes, that could almost be termed ‘Force Slaps’.

The volume of fire quickly grew overwhelming and I felt the Force flex around her.

A large slab of the floor broke off, shot into the air and began aiding her in resisting the onslaught.

I poured my will into the ground below and ripped out four thick sections of flooring, then sent one hurtling towards her stone shield.

My projectile broke on her shield in an explosion of stone and dust, but its larger mass held.

I sent the remaining three shooting towards her and the entire line of troopers and Mandos advanced on either side of me, continuing to pour stun shots at her.

My kinetic attacks finally shattered the shield and the explosion of rock and dust was the last straw as Ventress blurred with speed out the door.

“Hold,” I ordered.

“Manda’lor?” Ursa asked in confusion at the order.

“While I would like nothing more than to pursue and kill her, that is not why we are here,” I slowly let go and worked on stabilizing my equilibrium in the Force. Ventress had a huge part to play in the future, especially in her interactions with Dooku, then on Dathomir and among the Nightsisters. “She has little but a few BX droids left and her cloaked ship, which is parked a few hundred meters away in the jungle. She has already disappeared to my senses and we have no hope of intercepting her with the Resolute or the Phantom, and unless you can run as fast as a Jedi, you have no hope of catching her on foot.”

I hooked my weapons to my belt, “Besides, I have an apology to give and healing to do. Secure the temple.”

“Yes, Manda’lor.”

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Brassint was already back on her feet by the time I approached her but she was not in any condition to walk, as she had a nasty broken ankle as well in addition to her other internal injuries I could sense. She was rightfully giving me the Jedi equivalent of a cold shoulder and I could sense her fear of me clearly, despite her efforts to bury it behind her Thought Shield. She nevertheless allowed me to sling her arm around my shoulders to help her into the chapterhouse medical bay.

The bay’s lights and various systems, including the resident 2-1B medical droid came to life the instant I slapped the big red emergency button near the door.

“Please place the patient on the biobed,” it droned immediately.

I helped Brassint onto the bed in question and carefully lowered her back to lie down. “Getting these restraints off is the first order of business,” I told her softly.

“Please,” she emphasized.

They were a rather sophisticated model and it was no surprise that Ventress had access to it. It monitored neural activity and generally the moment a Jedi tried anything, such as using TK, it gave a nasty shock. It didn’t prevent passive abilities though and I could sense she was already using the Force to begin healing herself.

The restraints weren’t the type to feature anti-tampering features though and generally assumed that the prisoner was already in a controlled environment and wouldn’t have friendly help on hand.

I yanked a small laser scalpel from a nearby surgical tray with a bit of TK, pulled a backless chair to sit on and carefully got to work.

She visibly swallowed as she heard the scalpel activate and was casting off a large amount of fear into the Force. I could also sense her own anger at herself for feeling that fear. Then came the self-recrimination for doing this in front of a padawan. She was almost literally trapped in a nasty psychological loop because of this trauma.

“Do you usually heal in full armor, padawan?” she asked. Her voice betrayed none of the battle that was going on inside.

“No, not much chance to heal on a battlefield,” I answered as the tiny laser began chewing away at the flexible steel. Merely two seconds later the restraint around her neck was loose and I chucked it away. “Believe me, I’d love to get this helmet off, but until my 2IC tells me the temple complex is secure, it stays on.”

She held up her wrists for me to begin cutting the cuffs. “You and your master fight on the front lines then.”

“Correct.”

Brassint sighed and looked up blankly into the ceiling. “You are as if an ancient Jedi just walked off the pages of the archives, padawan.”

“Perhaps I am,” I nodded in agreement.

“You are called Manda’lor by militant Mandalorians.”

“And I am a Jedi, a rather odd dichotomy, I know.”

After four careful cuts the cuffs fell off.

“Diagnostic complete, I am ready to begin,” the med droid droned, having equipped itself with all the necessary tools, devices and healing stims required.

I pushed my chair out of the way and settled myself near the head of the biobed. Then placed a hand on the injured Jedi’s forehead and began working with the Force on her.

Her senses closely watched my actions.

“You’re skilled,” she declared with some surprise, as the droid began steadily cutting her clothes off, leaving her only wearing chest supports and a modest panty.

“I spent a few years in the Halls of Healing in the Coruscant Temple.”

She winced as the droid got to work with the nasty business of repairing her ankle and affixing a localized bacta immersion boot.

My comlink chirped for attention. “Commander Tano. I’ve been updated on the situation by Captain Rex, do you wish the Resolute closer?”

Velos clearly didn’t relish sitting out in the Oort cloud waiting.

“Bring her into a high orbit, Captain. Launch a ground company to investigate the local capital city. There might be a BX droid squad that’s taken hostages to keep things quiet.”

“Understood, commander.”

Brassint closed her eyes as the med droid began applying salve to her bruised face. I felt her begin the process to enter a healing trance, but quickly she thought better of it and backed off.

I understood her hesitancy. She was far from feeling safe, so I set about doing the healing the hard way.

“Did you even give a second thought about doing it?” she asked abruptly. “That assassin could’ve…”

“I know Asajj Ventress, Brassint. My master and I have crossed blades with her before. Your life was hers in that moment. She wanted to be the one that killed you. You were her bargaining chip and therefore she would defend you from my shot. What I did was the only way to save your life.”

She shook her head, screwing her eyes shut even harder. The emotional impact of the trauma was rearing its ugly head, now that she was coming down from the adrenaline high. There was also the grief for her fellow chapterhouse Jedi that was welling up.

This was a battle I could not truly help her with. I stood, removed my hand from her forehead then bowed to her. “I humbly seek your pardon, Knight Brassint, for the attack upon your person by my hand to facilitate the quick creation of a Force Bond. Whether you grant that forgiveness is entirely up to you. If you call for censure from the High Council, I will accept it without contest. I will leave you to your privacy.”

I stepped out of the med bay, inwardly cursing stupid Jedi dogma and Asajj Ventress.

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The communication room of the chapterhouse was a small area with barely nine square meters allocated to it. The holotank was a slightly older model but it still did the job of projecting Master Koon and Yoda, if with a slight distortion that seemed to give a ghost effect to the holoforms.

“After the Soulsaber, Ventress is.”

“Interesting, and not her master?” Plo Koon queried.

“Dooku needs it not to turn others or kill.” Yoda rested both clawed hands on his gimer stick. “More ability than corruption of others, does the Soulsaber have. Battlemind, it also confers.”

That was essentially the ability of ‘fighting spirit’, to ignore the material constraints of one’s own physical and metaphysical limits. It ‘overclocked’ everything, so to speak. Naturally, the further and longer you used it, the more dangerous it became.

“Facing a stamina juggernaut Asajj Ventress is not an appealing prospect, masters,” I stated wryly.

“Are you certain she did not breach the map room, Soka?”

“Yes master, I double checked when we found the body of Knight Hiremu outside the room.”

“Determined have you, how Ventress succeeded in killing two knights and a master, padawan?”

“I’ve reviewed the security holos of the temples and can only conclude that Hiremu went on a supply run with the chapterhouse shuttle to Shibric. It was there that he was captured by Ventress. From that point he became her means to subvert any security. She killed Knight Salis in his sleep and Master Los in a nasty close quarters duel in the main kitchen, which she only won by the narrowest of margins. The BX droids then captured any tourists that were on site and transported them as hostages back to the local capital. However, when the ancient kyber based protections on the map room denied her access even with Hiremu’s help, she killed him then activated the local distress beacon to potentially draw more Jedi in, using Knight Brassint as a hostage to convince anyone coming to cooperate.”

Yoda sighed heavily and fixed me with a laser eyed stare. “Opinion of her condition, you have?”

“Ventress brutalized her. She clearly felt the deaths of her fellows. She was fully prepared to accept death to protect the secrets of this temple. I shot at her during my use of Dun Möch against Ventress. She’s the sole survivor of this attack. I have a nascent bond with her and I can tell you, she is an emotional wreck at the moment.”

The two masters looked at each other briefly.

“How long until she is at least fit to take a call from us?” Koon asked gravely.

“She finally managed to fall into a healing trance a few hours ago. She also needs a complete bacta immersion, so at best, twenty standard hours.”

“Very well. A final decision will be made then, but it’s more than likely you will need to seal the chapterhouse and transport Knight Brassint back to Coruscant for long term recovery.”

“The procedures for that are somewhere around here?” I asked, feeling slightly lost.

“Brassint knows, little Soka.”

“Good, another question, any ideas of just how Ventress could’ve known about the map to the Soulsaber being in the Temples of Vormijj in the first place?”

“It’s entirely possible that Master Narec could’ve at least told her of the weapon during her time under his tutelage on Rattatak, perhaps as a lesson on dark side artifacts,” Master Koon theorized. “Then when she fell under Dooku’s sway, she might’ve been able to gain further information from him. It wouldn’t surprise me if that man is sitting on an extensive copy of the Jedi Archives on Serreno.”

“Indeed, very resourceful and cunning, my old padawan is,” Yoda grumbled.

I nodded in agreement, “If that is all, masters, I need to sort out the local situation on Pamorjal. They’re not exactly comfortable with a Venator hanging over their heads, not to mention the commando droids taking so many hostages. The war has always been far away in the local populace’s minds.”

“Send our commendations to your troops for resolving that with so few casualties, Soka.”

“I’ll be sure to do that, masters.”

Master Koon folded his hands together solemnly, “However, there is one further matter that you must attend to before you leave the planet.”

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For the next day I handled matters with the local governor and his council via holo, whilst keeping the Blades and the full company of troopers to essentially garrison the temples. There was a chance that Ventress was simply waiting for my guard to lower in a cloaked ship nearby.

I also had to deal with the duty of the Jedi funerals.

This meant a traditional cremation via wood pyre. There was no dry wood nearby in the jungles to gather, so I had to actually order some to be transported from the capital. Word of this naturally got to the governor and then I suddenly had to manage a considerable guest list where everyone with a bit of clout on the planet wanted to attend.

Thankfully, I had all the manpower needed to keep things orderly and civilized, including the ability to seal off the airspace for speeders or shuttles.

I let R3 hold a random lottery for people to fill a set number of seats, whilst I sprinkled the ‘upper strata’ guest seating amongst them. There would be no politicians or elites hogging the front row whilst I had power over things. This was not Coruscant.

By the time Brassint was finished with her bacta tank session, the entire thing was mostly organized, with only minor details left, which needed her input on. She, for example, would need to lead the ceremony - a padawan could do it in a pinch, but this was something that truly needed a more senior Jedi to preside over.

She had used her time in the tank rather well and was in a much better emotional state. I sensed she had resolved the worst of it, but there was no way she was ready to be alone with the ‘ghosts’ of her colleagues in the chapterhouse. That would probably take months, years or maybe never.

“I can do it, if you really don’t feel up to it, Knight Brassint.”

We were standing outside the chapterhouse not a few feet away from the newly assembled wooden pyres on the upper stairs of the temple, where they would be in full view of the funeral attendees.

She was rather blankly reading a datapad with all the details, whilst idly combing her still wet hair, having just come from a shower to rinse off the accumulated bacta gunk. Without a braid, her hair tumbled down to a length just short of her waist and now that her face was healed, I could see her features were sharp, which gave her a permanently ‘severe’ natural expression.

“No, thank you for the offer and your… consideration, padawan. It’s my duty to perform. You’ve done well in organizing this so quickly.” I only bowed silently in response. “The Council no doubt wants to speak with me.”

“They wish you to contact them as soon as possible,” I confirmed.

She gave me an evaluating stare with a raised eyebrow. “Very well. I’d only ask that you trim down the numbers of GAR in attendance slightly. This is not a military funeral.”

“That can be done. They’re here mostly for security and as ushers. If Ventress and squads of BX droids can penetrate this far into Republic space with cloaked ships, then it’s prudent to maintain a high level of readiness.”

She closed her eyes and I sensed she was fighting another battle within herself at hearing that fact. After a few moments she asked, “Out of curiosity, how do Mandalorians handle death and funerals?”

“Bodies of the fallen and their armor are returned to their clans, each clan then has their own traditions that are observed. This can range from entombment if the person who died achieved something truly noteworthy. Otherwise cremation is common, but the ashes are gathered and preserved in the clan’s hall of the dead.”

Brassint nodded before handing my datapad back and walking back into the temple.

I suppose this was inevitable.

I knew I would one day experience the ‘bad side’ of my Force Bonding affinity.

It had been done to save her life, but there was only so far you could stretch that justification. I would do it again, no one would convince me otherwise that it would’ve been better that she died with her fellows. The level of friendship and camaraderie that they had shared beforehand was obvious to sense in her. It happened naturally in remote chapterhouses and was generally encouraged, as more often than not, the only help that was in range was from the chapterhouse - not from distant Coruscant.

Now she was torn from those bonds and the gaps in her heart were bleeding badly.

A cloistered Coruscanti master would waggle fingers and start a lecture on the dangers of such attachment. That was honestly the last thing Brassint needed to hear at this point.

Master Koon would hopefully manage to bring her into the modernized Jedi movement and the right healers to see her. Otherwise, I held grave concerns about her future.

I resolved to send him a private note, just to make sure.

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Roughly under a thousand humans, ithorians and sprinklings of other species, stood under the twinkling stars in front of the Temple of Knowledge. They were all dressed in their own sense of formal wear and remained absolutely silent to pay their respects to the fallen Jedi that had called their world home.

Many who stood here had their lives changed as a result of the works and outreach done by the chapterhouse. The workings of the Jedi Order on the ground level was little known, because those who were most impacted were the ‘little people’, who weren’t galactic movers or shakers. As I walked amongst them, so were there Jedi like Brassint who moved among the ordinary, mundane spheres of civilization.

As presider of the funeral, she was in full formal Jedi robes, with the hood plunging her face into shadow. Only flame torches were used to light the area, giving everything a very surreal yet primal feel. For this event, I had pulled out my own Jedi outer robes, and wore them over my Aegis armor, completely covering it.

Clone troopers stood in single rank file down the sides, standing at attention in parade, with their long blaster rifles held at port arms. The Blades stood similarly but were flanking me at my position near the side of the onlooking attendees and mourners.

Brassint stepped towards the pyres, now holding the bodies of the fallen Jedi, redressed perfectly, looking almost as if they could be just sleeping.

“For many of you, this is the first Jedi funeral you will have ever witnessed,” she began, her voice being carried naturally by both the architecture of the building and with the aid of the Force, to every ear. “Perhaps you may have read something about it. There is little fanfare or ceremony. Just a gathering and silence. The only one who speaks is the Jedi who presides over it. It acknowledges that one element of death, when there is no more sound, no more life from those who departed.”

“But we Jedi also rejoice, because we understand that in death, more life can be fueled and flourish. It is a return to the Force. This can be a difficult concept for many to understand or even accept, especially if the loss is of those we hold close and dear. Water does not vanish when the sun scolds the earth, it merely changes, so too does life.”

She lifted a brightly burning torch and approached the pyre of Master Los, and gently placed the flame into the base.

“My fellow Jedi, from this moment I step into my next. From this place, I step into my next. From this life I step into my next. For I am one with the Force, forever and forever.”*

The sound of flames igniting tore through the air as it quickly and efficiently spread throughout the entire pyre within moments.

“My fellow Jedi, from this moment I step into my next. From this place, I step into my next. From this life I step into my next. For I am one with the Force, forever and forever.”

She approached and lit the pyre of Knight Hiremu.

She repeated the Coxixian Prayer for the Departed that the Jedi Order had adopted from the Guardians of the Whills, then finally lit the pyre of Knight Salis.

Her duty performed, she threw the torch into the final pyre and stepped up five of the expansive stairs to overlook the pyres and everyone, then bowed her head.

In a moment of unspoken agreement and solemnity that resounded through everyone, we all bowed our heads and waited for the pyres to burn completely down.

The time it took, I couldn’t begin to guess.

It felt like I had inadvertently entered into a Force communion just standing there.

Brassint finally raised her head, “Thank you for coming. Return to your homes, take this event and words into your heart and spirit. We will all one day take this journey.”

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It took a further two days to get everything squared away to seal up and secure the chapterhouse. Not everything would remain in it though and we had to spend a number of hours packing, loading and transporting holo slates filled with more sensitive knowledge as well as a number of artifacts that the chapterhouse had collected over centuries, which would find a new home in the Coruscant Temple archives.

The tourist company that operated tours to the temples pledged to invest in the active monitoring and security of the chapterhouse, which was a nice gesture. It wasn’t technically needed as the temple’s own inbuilt security was now fully active, which would be a nasty surprise to any would-be looters or even Ventress, should she decide for another shot. These defenses were generally kept off because it would’ve disrupted the chapterhouse’s function as a place to actually live in.

The Resolute broke orbit and plunged into hyper for eleven hours and then rejoined the Hydian Way northward, resuming the journey to Coruscant.

It remained in the Hydian for another one and a half days before leaving hyper in the very busy Denon system - the major interchange that allowed ships to switch onto the Corellian Run and head further northward towards Corellia itself and onward towards Coruscant.

Life aboard Resolute resumed, only now I had a rather fresh and direct awareness of where Brassint was in the back of my mind. The bond would either strengthen or wither depending on our respective intent and feelings towards each other. Eventually it would die off, but that would take time. Things were rather complicated in the Force in this respect.

It did surprise me that she would eventually find her way to the forward hangar and visit the Zillo beast corpse. She was utterly fascinated by the thing, but I could sense a heavy decision weighing on her.

It was enough that I decided I had to impose my presence on her, if only to satisfy my own honest curiosity on her feelings.

She stood in her Jedi tunic, pants and boots, minus the outer robe and was honestly gaping as her eyes studied the massive form of the Zillo. In her right hand, she was idly twirling her own lightsaber hilt, deftly spinning it through her fingers with the help of minor bits of TK, almost imitating prestidigitation.

“I see you’ve found the Zillo,” I smiled mildly at her.

“It’s amazing,” she said distantly. “It’s truly one of a kind?”

“As far as can be determined, the Dugs hunted them to extinction in a domination contest for their planet. This one remained underground in a truly stupendous hibernation period - initial analysis of local geology where it emerged, estimates thousands of years at least.”

She shook her head in amazement, “The biology it must have… to last that long.” Then she coughed slightly and her embarrassment was clear. “Apologies padawan, my emotions distracted you.”

“A welcome one,” I wiped off the sweat from my brow and montrals. “You haven’t trained until you have an insistent Mandalorian as a taskmaster. So, you have an interest in biology?”

“More than that, my primary research assignment at the chapterhouse was in stellar biology. Studying the plant and animal life of the sector.”

If the Force was someone I could look at, I’d be giving them a deadpan stare.

“Then I take it, you'd be interested in studying it.”

“Of course,” she said with an air that it should’ve been obvious. “Though that is not something that could happen for at least six months. I- I’m taking an extended meditative retreat.”

“Those can be good, I hear. Never needed one myself.”

“A bit too early in your career for that, padawan,” she pointed out, then sighed, staring down at her lightsaber. “I spent seventeen years at the chapterhouse. I did the work, did a couple of foundling missions, traveled, and did research. Master Los kept our bladework up to scratch.” She thumbed the activation switch and a long emerald blade ignited into being. “All that work and training throughout my childhood and further career… gaining my knighthood and the day that it should’ve mattered, I couldn’t cross blades with Ventress. She had already taken Hiremu hostage and I had no choice but to drop my lightsaber to the ground or else she would…”

Brassint closed her eyes and took a deep breath, working through her anger. She did it rather well, though naturally not in the way I would’ve done it.

“I could tell I wouldn’t win if it came down to a contest in the Force directly, her darkness was just too much and so I became another hostage.”

“If you had fought anyway, forced the contest, what would’ve happened?” I pointed out.

She considered that for a moment, “She would’ve killed me.”

“Then you did the right thing in the moment.”

“The right thing,” she said softly. “I can just hear Master Los clipping me upside the head for being so foolish, for feeling this way.” She extinguished her lightsaber and looked at me. “You up for a spar, padawan?”

I could sense she definitely needed a good workout, if only to regain some confidence in herself again.

“I’m a bit tapped, but mastery is a never ending journey. I’ll show you to the Danger Room.”

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A/N: *Prayer quoted from the novel ‘Guardian of the Whills’ by Greg Rucka.  Hope you enjoyed.