A Venomous Galaxy (Crossover) Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Chapter 10: Venom's Discovery and Yoda's Decision

The next morning was a tumultous one. The entire temple from younglings to the older padawans and their masters had been woken up long before the Coruscanti sunrise. By the time the real morning set over the horizon, Ahsoka had been brought before the council and asked to explain the situation several times. They still couldn't believe their ears.

At that point Anakin and Obi-Wan had also arrived at the temple. The duo were always so different from each other from Anakin's earliest days upon arrival to Obi-Wan's first hours as a knight and that was no less true either. But right now they couldn't be more similar.

“This situation vexes me,” Yoda said. He rubbed his brow. “I have heard your story several times and I still cannot believe my ears. Nor am I able to think straight or even speak sensibly. I only pray that I am making sense to the other people around me.”

“I think I understand you more plainly than ever Master Yoda,” Anakin said.

“You seem to be in a good mood,” Obi-Wan said. He looked closer at his neck and saw bite marks. “I say, did you run into some wild animal on that planet while I wasn't looking?”

“Oh uh, it must be a residual mark from our fight with Dooku.”

“Right...” Obi-Wan said, his voice trailing off.

“How's Duchess Satine doing by the way?”

Obi-Wan didn't have a quip ready for that one. Anakin had long neglected the more mystic nature of the force in favor of practical applications and the way of the sword. But he had learned to read situations very well.

“Please tell me there's a way to get this thing off me!” Ahsoka said.

How ungrateful, it said to her. I gave you the power to save your master's life and you wish to be rid of me?

“Did you hear that? Please tell me somebody heard that!”

“Yes,” Anakin said. “Loud and clear.” Even after having the comfort of resting in Padme's arms for so many nights, that slithery and strangely seductive voice was very familiar to his ears.

“Vaguely,” Plo Koon said. “But it was barely more than a whisper.”

“I did indeed hear it,” Pong Krell said. “I have the reports from the other masters. It is regrettable that such a wretched thing stowed away onto a vessel and accosted a Jedi. Clearly the clones have failed in that regard.”

“It was the clones who kept us alive!” Ahsoka said. “If it wasn't for them fighting off those droids, we would have been dead!”

“Dead? Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress alone gave you that much of a fight?”

“In case you hadn't heard Master Krell, I almost died,” Anakin said. “And I could still be doing better.”

“Well met General Skywalker. There is a reason we Jedi were chosen to lead the republic's new army. We are all commanding officers under the new law. Yet I suppose it is to be expected. You and your master needed more backup than a mere padawan. And now look at what has happened to her.”

“A mere padawan?” Ahsoka said.

“Does that anger you? Then I would urge you to be silent. You are in no position to be taking a tone with a master!”

“And she is my padawan,” Anakin said, moving forward. “I will decide who speaks to her as such.”

“Anakin...” Obi-Wan started.

“I can feel your power in the force Chosen One,” he said, looking right at Anakin. “You have performed greatly in this war and you have the admiration of your men under you. But I realize it is as the high council believes. You still have so very much to learn. You are a true warrior, but clearly your talents as an instructor are lacking. If you wish to be a master, you must be more strict with your padawan and harsher still with those clones. We are Jedi! Have pride, General! Or else I may come to wonder what you were chosen for. Of course,” he said, looking at Obi-Wan, “you oversaw his journey to knighthood. Perhaps the real fault lies with this master.”

He folded both sets of his arms across his chest. Anakin and Ahsoka glared at him but his smug grin only widened and a Besalisk like him with his species' natural tendences for wide smiles only made his scorn for her plain to see. Of all the similar people of his species they had seen across the galaxy, only his face ever dripped with such smug condescension.

“I have taught Anakin the blade and the force,” Obi-Wan said. “Nothing more. I have learned long ago that his journey is his path to walk.”

“With all due respect Master Kenobi. But you have a funny way with words. Look! Your pupils now struggle to even walk! And they are too proud to admit when they are defeated.” He shook his head. “It's a shame. Even Master Windu the creator of Vaapad, recognizes you as the master of the defensive style Soresu, Master Kenobi. But you must know,” he said, walking forward so that he was right in front of Obi-Wan, “defense can only get you so far. They have tasted the fruits of your labor,” he said, gesturing at Anakin and Ahsoka with two of his four arms, “and now they are too weak to make nothing but excuses. From what I heard you barely survived that last battle yourself! Perhaps you should take a new approach. You do them no good refusing to teach them the might of the force and the art of war. I know it was not defense that helped you avenge your master.”

Yoda looked up, ready to say something. Krell was a master but not a member of the high council like Kenobi. He was overstepping his bounds. As Grandmaster, he had something to say himself. But the next words changed everything.

“The art of war, you say?” Obi-Wan said, arching an eyebrow. “You have a bit of reputation on the battlefield yourself so I know you are a man of pride Master Krell. But perhaps you can learn something of humility too. That Sith Lord who slew Master Qui-Gon Jinn used double-bladed lightsabers as much as you do. Perhaps he was just a warm up. One day we should have our esteemed battlemaster Drallig watch over us for a controlled sparring session. Then you will see just how fast I will break your four swords with my one before the tip of my blade is at your throat.”

“Truly!” he said leaning forward so that his face was inches away from Kenobi's. He was stroking his bulbous amphibian neck. Plo Koon was on alarm. There had been tenser confrontations even in this monastic order and it was not uncommon for members to have far more vicious disagreements one day and chat normally the next like nothing had happened. But he would not ignore what was going down before his eyes either.

“Consider it a promise,” Obi-Wan said. “I am getting old in years so my memory isn't what it used to be.” He stretched out and let out a fake whimper from what was presumed to be his bones cracking. “But I believed you said my pupils now struggle to walk and cannot admit defeat? By the time I'm through with you, even vermin will crawl better than you so humbled on your knees before me, and in one way or another, the temple will bear witness to your disgrace.”

Yoda and Plo Koon looked at each other, both of them searching for the right words. If ever there was a statement to start a fight, that would be it. Obi-Wan's finisher brought a smile even to Vokara Che's face. Anakin and Ahsoka looked at each other and snickered too. They had long gotten used to Mace Windu's harsh tone, had to, he was a part of the Jedi High Council, and as much as they didn't always like him, they did respect him. However this new Jedi Master was making him look a loving father by comparison. Yet Obi-Wan's vicious tongue was a thing of legend within the order. Anakin didn't always like it. But he loved seeing others feel the power of it's fury.

Pong Krell looked away from him. “Enough,” he said. “I must remind you that we are still in a state of war and you fought on an ancient Sith world we have no record of in your most recent battle. Criticism from one's peers should never be met with such scorn and hostility. I thought a man on the high council would not be so temperamental.”

The corners of Obi-Wan's mouth were still curled up in a slight smile. “We made it back alive. I never dwell too long on recent losses. Especially not when those I care about are still here,” he said, looking in Anakin and Ahsoka's direction.

Pong Krell didn't answer. As a master he did have privileges and had gotten word about the developments at the temple. The presence of such a thing found on a planet belonging to the ancient Sith only piqued his already considerable curiosity in the dark side. It's voice tempted him with forbidden power.

This man of war was not a member of the high council and far more comfortable on the battlefield than the temple, but he had just arrived back from a particularly grueling tour of duty that morning. He could not resist the opportunity to see this thing in person. He was about as out of place in this serious gathering as some overly curious padawan who had made a step in the wrong direction. But no one would refuse a master's presence. And like Sidious, he too was taking a new interest in Skywalker, now an accomplished war hero himself.

But then the thing itself laughed right at him. It's voice was harsh and loud. The entire council looked up. His smile melted right off his face. Even in her current position, Ahsoka smirked back at Pong Krell in that little victory. Anakin chuckled to himself too.

“I definitely heard that one,” Plo Koon said. Obi-Wan just nodded with a light smile.

“You have had your fun,” Yoda said, massaging his temple and looking straight at Pong Krell and Anakin. “Now let us return to business. Master Che,” he said, turning to the Twi'lek woman, “what is your reading of the situation?”

“It resists all my attempts to pry it off,” Vokara Che said, ignoring them.

“Master Che, can you actually do it?” Anakin said. There was no intent of condescension, but he should have known better how to speak to the Chief Healer of the temple.

She looked at him sternly. “With all due respect young Skywalker, I am a healer and whether I can do it is not the issue. I have only just begun to analyze it. Now please, allow me to look and study it and make more conclusions as I am still just starting. Or do you have anymore burning questions for me?”

“But...”

“But what? If you have something to say, speak up.”

“It reminds me of the thing that we encountered at that temple,” Anakin said.

“You said in your report that it had a face and a smile lined with teeth,” Vokara Che said.

“Yes, but that voice just now was exactly what I heard on the planet. And the substance of it's skin is almost the same too.”

“Then clearly they are the same thing. And while I am thankful for your contribution good knight, it does nothing to help me actually understand it or better yet, remove it from Miss Tano. Now I ask you again, do you have anything relevant to say? I think we are both quite aware that while your questions and commentary are great at highlighting your limited understanding of the situation, they do me no good in actually helping your quite distraught padawan. Please tell me the whole lot of you have more to offer than more barbs today,” she said, looking solely at Pong Krell.

It shut Anakin up too. Obi-Wan and Plo Koon looked at each other and chuckled. As much as they had grown used to the infamous Chosen One's brash nature and while it certainly helped him on the battlefield, it was still a trying thing to be around sometimes. Rare was it for someone to so effortlessly put him in his place.

“Master, do you really think it's that?” Ahsoka said.

Vokara Che sighed. “Honestly Tano, I haven't the slightest idea. I only agreed with your master so that I could better focus on doing this job without him yammering on as he is wont to do. May I ask if you're feeling anything peculiar at the moment?”

“I feel strange. That's the best way I can put it.”

“You should have said something,” Anakin said.

“Master with all due respect we were close to losing you! I was just happy to have you back!”

“After I had recovered from my injuries I had voiced my concerns about Dooku being this Sidious we've been searching for to the council. Why didn't you say anything to them yourself about how you were feeling?”

“What could I say? As soon as we landed on a dark side planet none of us knew about, I felt strange from all the force power on it, I felt like I was going to burn in my skin on that hike, and then I felt a fever coming on as soon as we started walking up that mountain, you almost died, and I had saved your life! Please master tell me, what should I have said?” She was so angry that her voice was cracking in your throat. Vokara Che was feeling a headache coming on and massaged her temple to soothe herself.

“There's no use in pointing fingers you two,” Obi-Wan said. “Right now we must focus on removing it from Lady Tano.”

“Thank you Master Kenobi,” Vokara Che said without looking at him. “Your words bring me no closer to the solution, but it is good to have a man of reason speak up from time to time.”

Obi-Wan couldn't tell if that was sarcasm but would not dare ask her. This woman's acerbic wit would sometimes make those whose lives she had saved wish they had died.

“Well...” Ahsoka started.

“Yes?”

“Do we really have to remove it?”

This time she did look up from the thing and looked her right in the eyes. “I beg your pardon? It was you who woke the whole temple up screaming about how you were dealing with a pervert. The Temple Guards were so shocked they actually thought you were talking about them. And as much as they are trained to deal with threats to the temple, they are not prepared for dealing with an adolescent girl crying about perverts.”

“I don't know but...something about it makes me feel stronger.”

That was partly true. Ahsoka couldn't deny the thrill of crawling up and down the walls of the temple on all fours like she was some sort of animal. Nor was she particularly skilled in the arts of Jedi healing like the current Chief Healer attending to her or even her friend Barriss Offee. Yet she had brought her master back from the dead. The medical personnel on Muunilinst had simply said it was a miracle, and even Obi-Wan himself and Anakin's most vicious skeptics in the order had believed it was something related to his raw power in the force and the prophecy of the Chosen One though the latter group would never admit it.

And then of course there was the thing currently yet unsaid which was that she was naked underneath.

“Please wait,” Vokara Che said. She took some tweazers and took a small sliver of the slick dark substance covering Ahsoka. It was all she could take, the thing was so thick and slippery that everytime she tried to take a larger sample it slipped from the iron tool. She put what she had acquired in a vial and capped it shut. “I have to analyze it.” That was true but she was also glad to take a break from her current company.

Everyone there fell silent. They were all waiting for the more detailed analysis to come back. They all had their reasons for being there, and had to know more. It had been an hour when Che returned, but it had felt far longer.

“So first, we have made many conclusions,” she said. “First, it is not harmful to Tano. It has no acidic properties and we tested it on every material we could find. From hard substances to flesh, it did not deteriorate anything one bit.” Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief. “Secondly, we have discovered what it is. It is a symbiote. It requires a living host in order to survive.”

“You mean a parasite,” Plo Koon said. Ever a scientist in this sect of mystics, his rational curiosity was piqued.

“A symbiote,” she continued. “Similar but very different.”

“Hasty to destroy it we may have been,” Yoda said. They all looked in his direction.

“I assume you're feeling better master,” Obi-Wan said. “You're speaking far more clearly now.”

“Better I am feeling, no. But this knowledge given me time to contemplate on the current situation it has. A living thing this symbiote is. Understand only it's base nature we do, and should we destroy it, lose a potential source of knowledge. The ancient Sith holocrons we keep. So too must we pay heed to this creature. But more than that, the duty we swore to uphold now lingers in my mind. Responsibility to all living things, we do. Jedi we are. Are we not?” Pong Krell laughed silently at those last two sentences.

Obi-Wan and Plo Koon looked at each other warily. They didn't need to say anything for that look said it all. The idea of caring for this thing appalled them. But Yoda was Grandmaster of the order for a reason.

“Fine,” Plo Koon said.

“Yes master,” Obi-Wan said.

Ahsoka's mood seemed to improve a bit. She didn't understand why it she was so compelled to keep it. Perhaps it was the notion that this thing might have helped her save her master's life. But there was a deeper attachment too. As much as she felt it's presence on her bare skin, she felt joined with it. If it was torn off her, she felt as if her very skin would have been flayed from her bones.