Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 1 Day Later
The Initiate I was following this morning, a Teevan (species) youth perhaps eleven or twelve years old was silent and composed. He was curious about the Trials I was undergoing, but had no intention of giving in to his curiosity. I could admire that, as I knew Jedi Knights whose minds didn't feel so ordered and under the control as this Initiate's. When we turned down the longer passageway leading down to the Trials Chamber from a T-intersection I recognized from yesterday, I broke the silence.
"The Trials are the most difficult challenges I have ever encountered. Yesterday's Test of Skill vigorously examined a great many aspects of my physical capabilities. Placing an emphasis on how precisely I could control my body and mind" I quietly explained in as warm and engaging a manner as I could manage under the circumstances.
Flushing until he was a pewter color, the Initiate whose name I surprisingly couldn't skim from his surface thoughts bobbed his head once, then flashed me the ghost of a smile. It seemed for a moment he might reply, but he remained silent, and I soon saw why. About ten meters further on down the hallway beside the doorway to the Trials Chamber stood a Lannik as familiar as he was prominently scarred. Despite his normal stance, the one-eyed Jedi Master somehow gave the impression of a soldier standing vigilantly at attention, but his often scowling visage was as impassive as one of the bust's in the Hall of the Lost this morning.
Reaching the door in step with me, the tall, rail-thin Teevan student bowed fully but as quickly as possible to the "Disciplinarian of First Knowledge" before offering me the much shallow and optional bow that quirked my lips into a momentary smile. He was ten paces away pretty much the instant the fearsome Jedi Master inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement of the boy. Leaving me alone with the man who'd made his feelings concerning my membership in the Jedi Order abundantly clear.
For once, I didn't bother with the Thought Shield. I didn't have the energy to waste today. Not if it was going to be anything like yesterday, anyways. If the Jedi Master was so inclined, he'd be able to find my indignation at his judgmental and unfair treatment of me, but it wouldn't be easy. Feelings like that were presently buried beneath my determination and focus on what I needed to do today, and/or my uncertainty as to which Test I'd face next.
Even Piell looked up at me from his 4'6 height. He was exceptionally tall for one of his race, and as muscular as any Lannik. His scars were his most prominent feature, but it was his stoicism and the air of self-control that jumped out at you when he was close. Something I'd always found ironic, given our troubled history. His one good eye seemed to see all the way through me, but today he wasn't wearing the scowl of disdain I was most familiar with.
"The High Council of the Jedi Order wishes the Aspirant to know it is their unanimous decision the events which transpired during his rescue of Knight Swan were a more suitable Trial of Courage than anything which can be generated under controlled conditions. Having twice proven a willingness to risk his life while engaged in the aforementioned rescue, it would be redundant to place before the Aspirant a lesser challenge than facing the fear engendered by actual mortal peril. The Aspirant will therefore be facing the challenges of his third Trial today, rather than his second. Congratulations, Aspirant Skywalker" Master Piell explained without greeting or preamble. His voice was flat and matter-of-fact, but I detected no trace of hostility or discontent with the decision he was communicating.
Still, it was quite the surprise, and he must have detected that in me, because he quietly continued after a moment. "Truth is the only viable basis for just laws and a healthy society, Skywalker, and the truth is you were as courageous as any Jedi on Tynna."
I found myself wondering where this concern for just rules had been during his dealings with me in his capacity as a figure of authority, but I remained silent. If I had anything to say about it, I wouldn't make this meeting about anger and recriminations. The Trials were something I respected too much to approach with anger and bitterness.
Instead, I bowed as deeply as I would to any Jedi Master. "Thank you for conveying the will of the High Council, Master Piell. Was there anything more, or anything I can do for you?" I inquired after a moment in a reserved, neutral tone.
Looking at me in a searching manner, the scarred, pink-skinned Jedi only shook his head in silence. Turning away, he moved off deeper into the Temple's heart with a sure gait that increased in speed as he continued to move. Where, I didn't know, but I guessed it was to wherever the Trials were observed from.
I waited until the Jedi Master was completely out of sight, then turned toward the door I remembered from yesterday and quickly entered. It occurred to me to wonder why the High Council would have wanted Even Piell of all it's members to convey their decision, but I didn't have time for extraneous thoughts right now. If it wasn't to be the Trial of Courage, the other options were even more formidable.
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The chamber I'd just entered was more box than room. Only a couple of meters long on each side, the ceiling of the tiny square was only a meter higher than my head. After a moment, I notice the walls are pitted with hundreds of circular holes perhaps as big around as the pad of my thumb. While I was noticing this, a woman's voice I didn't recognize spoke from all around me in that flatly neutral manner from yesterday.
"Aspirant, all that is required of you is your conscious awareness and continued composure. There is no riddle or hidden portion of this Trial. Just your ongoing self-control while under stress. The Trial of the Flesh begins now." The voice told in that remote manner, and as it did so, water began pouring into the room from all of these holes in the wall.
My mind whirled through a couple of calculations as I eyed the rate at which water was entering the tiny chamber. It was only an estimate, but my best guess was a constant flow of water at this rate would fill a box this size in less than five minutes with this many "spigots."
It was ridiculous, but as the water began to rise over the toes of my boots, a bit of paranoia flitted through my head. "Wouldn't this be the perfect no win scenario? Either I freak out when I'm finally on the point of drowning and fail, or... They simply take too long to drain the water, and I actually do end up drowning."
The thought was so patently ridiculous, my mind should have dismissed it before it ever became fully formed. It didn't just disappear like an idle bit of nonsense, however. Instead, another thought about Master Piell being more civil and decent than he'd ever before been to me popped into my head as the water came up over my ankles.
"The worst asshole could probably muster thirty seconds of being fair and reasonable to their worst enemy, if they knew that enemy was about to die a horrible death. It would certainly explain why the one person who's always wanted me out of the Jedi Order actually praised me, just now."
I shook my head briskly to clear these thought away. Feeling cool water begin to rush down the inside of my boots as the water-flow surged over my boot-tops. I couldn't believe I was essentially entertaining the notion the Jedi Order's governing body would countenance the cold-blooded murder of an innocent young man.
Water was halfway to my knees now, but I'd managed to keep this inner turmoil off my face as the next bit of insanity upped the ante.
"Yoda just returned to the Temple for only the second or third time since claiming the Kaiburr Crystal. What if long-term precognitive visions confused me and Canon-Anakin? I assumed it was the Force which was responsible for my taking over Anakin's life, but what if it wasn't? If it wasn't the Force's doing, what if Yoda saw "me" turning and becoming the reason the Sith extinguish the Jedi and dominate the galaxy? He wouldn't countenance killing me for something I haven't done, and may never do, but I don't know that Yoda's still on Coruscant. Mace Windu has never been willing to step in when Piell, Rancisis, and Drallig were way out of line, and besides. What if Master Windu is on Mimban right now with Yoda? Master Yaddle is away on Kuat right now. Is it really so impossible that Master Piell might bully the rest of them into doing something horrible with Yoda, Windu, and Yaddle all away?"
Yes, yes that was impossible. This series of thoughts as the water over-topped my thighs was so outlandish, so patently ridiculous, that my something-isn't-right sense pinged. Something in my head tried to distract me from that something-isn't-right feeling, but I had too tight a grip on my awareness of the sensation.
I felt fairly stupid it had taken me this long to catch on. Opening myself to the Force, I breathed in and out slowly and deeply. Releasing the building anxieties and fear into the Force as I listened to it's steady song. They'd just conned me with a damned near perfect Force Illusion yesterday. Why was I shocked a group of Jedi Masters could manage something like Force Persuasion strong enough a Force-sensitive might prove susceptible to it?
New fears and scenarios began trying to find purchase in my mind, but I was sinking deeper and deeper into the Force now. Steadily working my way toward becoming each of the channels by which water was entering the box-like chamber I was in. Water was up to my abdomen now, but as it reached my lowest ribs another concerning thought occurred to me.
"Fending off injected terrors is (reasonably) easy while I'm otherwise calm. How sanguine am I going to be when I can't breathe?" I silently considered as water rose over my pectoral muscles.
Finally, the exact nature of the Trial had come into view. Distantly, I felt alarm trying to find purchase in my consciousness. Where it could fuel the sparks of thoughts shooting through my mind's eye rapidly now. All of it passed through my mind like light passing through a pane of glass, but a shadow of "What's it going to be like when the air is gone?" kept recurring again and again.
Passivity wasn't going to be sufficient. This is a matter of commitment. What can I take for the chance to save my heroes and prevent the galaxy from burning?
Water's up to my neck now, but it's only one of the factors in my awareness. I'm each of the two thousand one hundred channels through which water flows, the four hole-riddled walls, and the featureless floor, as well as the ceiling all this water is creeping upward towards. The water feels colder than it has all along, but I'm calm despite the swirl of doubtful and increasingly grim eventualities trailing through the forefront of my mind like the cold fingers you sometimes fancy reaching for the back of your neck in a dark and empty room late at night.
When the water rises up to just beneath my lower lip, I manage to push my heart-rate as low as it will go without my being in a light trance-state and thus cheating. The water feels like ice now, but I furrow my brow as I perceive something isn't right. The feeling of wrongness as I tilt my head back to keep my nostrils above the water level is becoming overpowering. It's worse than the Dark Side contamination within the Temple of Pomojema. Worse even than being in close proximity to the Force-presences of three Dark Side adepts all freely using the corruption. It's an outright violation of everything right, good, and natural. Clashing with, crashing into, and screeching across my awareness like a half-dozen rusty and broken razor-blades being dragged back and forth over a steel plate with great pressure, then pulled across my brain.
I was treading water because it was higher than my nose even with my head tilted back, but the pure wrongness is slicing divots from my calm and connection to my surroundings with effortless ease. The panic is trying to rise in my head like a flock of formless terror-horrors all with buffeting black wings. The water's maybe an inch from the ceiling, so I take one last deep breath and reach for a thought which served as a buttress of will in one life, as it will again.
There are people counting on me. People I admire, people I care about, people I love. People who are going to be killed in the destruction, misery, and privation the Sith intensify the spread of wherever they go.
I can do nothing to protect them. Not if I crack here.
The reality corroding sense of contamination tries to infect my train of thought, but I've always been stronger on behalf of others than for my own sake. My lungs have just begun to burn a little bit, and I can feel the corruption-wrongness trying to rouse and inflame the fears of my deepest mind like a hunting dog trying to flush quail.
Palpatine just freed a hundred Dark Side adepts. Any of whom could be sent to murder Dark Woman, Yaddle, Qui Gon, Master Vilbum, Tutso, Bultar, or Obi-Wan. An apprentice can do nothing to stop that from happening. A Padawan can do nothing to address the source of the evil threatening those loved by everyone else.
My chest is a burning vise, and the black wings of panic are doing all in their power to convince me those testing me might drown me on accident if they won't do it on purpose.
I want to fly to pieces, circle round, and begin pounding on where I knew the door was. A tiny splinter of me wants me to take my lightsaber and cut my way out of this death-trap. The black wings of panic are stronger and more numerous without air in my lungs, but I hurt worse when my Master taught me to make agonies most people can't remain conscious through, let alone functional, go away. I can handle this awful burning.
Can't I?
Can't I?
Can't...
C...
No, I can't. I'm sucking in water now, as I'm gagging and trying to hack it up. My chest is a convulsing mess, but I can't help my body's reaction to my dying. Can't help the despair creeping in as my body almost reflexively spins. My lightsaber's suddenly in my hand, and...
Blackness.
I come awake with someone holding something over my face, and self-preservation instincts make me try to buck my body to get away from whoever is trying to smother me to finish the job the drowning-room apparently didn't. Far more slowly than I'm accustomed to moving, my form twitches feebly.
"The Force Stun was too strong with him in such great distress!" A familiar voice is chastising someone, but that isn't right. I'm the one that voice criticizes.
"It wasn't readily apparent how bad off the Aspirant was. His composure was total until well after the completion-mark. It seemed like he'd simply exceeded his ability to suppress the impulse to breathe. No one could have anticipated him causing this degree of psychic shock by taking his resistance to such an extreme!" This was a more defensive sounding, masculine voice.
"I told you, I trained him to ignore pain and physical privation many Jedi Masters couldn't remain conscious, let alone composed through. That's why I pushed so hard for the placement of a medical sensor on him!" Dark Woman, that was my Master giving someone hell.
"You mean the reason he stayed so calm is because you've progressively stressed him until you normalized this kind of acute distress in your apprentice's mind? That's barbaric!" Depa Billaba exclaimed in a voice equal parts scandalized and horrified.
"I offered to teach my apprentice everything I'd learned about controlling pain and maintaining his composure under any amount of pressure. After first making it abundantly clear it was completely elective beyond the basics required to gain a proficiency with the Control Pain technique. Anakin made the decision after his eighteenth life-day to proceed with acquiring the highest degree of control over the skill possible. I don't know how you train an apprentice, but I provide my Padawans with my very best. When they outgrow me and pass the Trials, I want to know I've given them their very, very best chance of survival in an exceptionally dangerous vocation. If someone thinks ramming a couple of stun-batons or agony-rods into Anakin is going to render him helpless due to the pain they're inflicting, they'll learn otherwise to their cost" Dark Woman coolly responded. Her voice had taken on the detached, clinical manner which told anyone who knew her she was working extremely hard to remain calm.
Weakly, I batted at the arm holding the unknown thing over my face. The blackness was creeping back until I could see what was directly above me, but the sucking at my mouth, and the pinching-pulling sensation in my chest was so strange I tried to sit up in the hopes it would go away.
Strong hands were suddenly gripping both of my shoulders, as an unfamiliar woman spoke to me in low, comforting tones "Hey, none of that now. You're breathing a mist containing a bacta derivative to make sure you don't come down with a respiratory infection a couple of days from now. Even hard-light "water" can cause complications if we're not careful. Just lay there and keep breathing evenly. There's an anti-inflammatory in the mist too, so your throat won't feel like you've been vomiting up glass later."
I wanted to know what had happened, but the pretty blonde Jedi Knight leaning over me seemed insensitive to my wishes. Fortunately, my Master either knew me well enough to know what would be on my mind, or she picked the burning question out of the forefront of my thoughts.
"Of course you passed the Trial of Flesh, Anakin. You just took things about ninety seconds further than what our...more civilized comrades consider a sufficient amount of self-control in the face of one's unpleasantly imminent demise." Dark Woman reported with comforting surety. There was a definite tint of pride in her voice which went a long way toward making up for being drowned.
"He's actually recovered enough to already be conscious and following all of this?" Another masculine voice asked. I was still more than a little fuzzy, and this one wasn't so familiar as to be immediately obvious, but I sensed more than heard others agreeing with him and moving off some distance.
"It would probably be better if he got several hours rest" said the blond Knight tending me. She was talking to someone out of my field of vision. Someone who didn't answer her verbally, but must have nodded or something, because faster than I could object, something was hissing against my neck. Blackness found me again, but it was a warmer, more comfortable darkness this time.
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Light shining on my eyelids brought me slowly around, but I quickly realized it was the Coruscant morning streaming through windows set high on blue-green walls. My eyes had only just opened, but the uncomfortable stone bed I was lying on immediately informed me I was in the Halls of Healing. Sitting up slowly, I was surprised to find I felt completely normal. Well, my throat was a little sore, but certainly nothing like you'd expect after being drowned like a whole bag of rats. I took physical stock, and quickly discovered the rest of me seemed to be fine as well, so that left looking for my lightsaber. My clothes were dry, but so replaceable as to not be worth more than the tiniest amount of consideration. I looked to the foot of the bed, off to the right, then to the left where I found a small night-table like stand, and on it, my lightsaber.
"Felt you wake up" Dark Woman called out to me. She was immediately shushed by three different Healers as I spotted her gliding in my direction, but didn't seem perturbed by that as she made her way to my bedside as quickly as that unhurried-looking, yet somehow ground devouring glide of hers permitted.
She did seem a little more conscious of the need for quiet here in the main portion of the infirmary, however. Folding herself into the seat beside my bed, she began looking me over with a proprietary care. Overtly, her expression and demeanor were no different than usual, but I could feel her concern. Not to mention a lingering exasperation bordering on anger which was slowly but steadily diminishing. Unsure of where to begin, I waited for my Master to say something.
"Are you feeling fully recovered, Anakin?" Her question is asked in a considerate way, but there was a diffuse sort of frustration underlying the inquiry I can't find an obvious cause for.
"Other than a little soreness in my throat, I'm in perfect health, Master." I reply with a smile and as relaxed a demeanor as I can manage. Which is likely the case, as far as my body goes. The fact I'll almost certainly be having nightmares about being trapped in a box as icy water slowly rises around me for awhile is neither here nor there. I didn't think my Master needed to hear about that right now, anyways.
The answer seems to cause the venerable Jedi to relax somewhat. Dark Woman leans back to rest against her chair, then responds "Good, it's tradition so strong it borders on a proscription that there be no more than twenty-four hours between the conclusion of one Trial and the beginning of the next." Her explanation helps to explain the stress and tension she was still working to eliminate on her way in. Which in turn helps my own peace of mind.
"It being morning already, I'm guessing you're here rather than an Initiate being sent to collect me?" The question leaves my mouth with an outwardly detached calm any Jedi would be proud of, but inside there's some trepidation trying to find traction. Opening myself to the Force, I listen to it's soothing song in this place where nearly a hundred generations of Jedi Healers have worked to give the rebuilt Halls of Healing a peaceful air so profound it bolsters the spirit in it's own right.
I climbed out of bed, and felt relieved to be experiencing no dizziness or weakness. Giving my Master a warm smile when I see her watching me like a hawk. I scooped up my lightsaber, gave it a once over which confirmed it was OK, then made an "After you" gesture to Dark Woman before bowing respectfully to her. She glanced at me for a few more seconds, then turned and began gliding toward the door at the far end of the infirmary. I fell into step beside her, but made no effort to restart the conversation.
What was there to say? The Trial of the Flesh was traditionally tough, but it was nothing when compared to the most harrowing of the lot.
The Trial of the Spirit, or as it was more commonly known, Facing the Mirror. It explained Dark Woman's presence instead of an Initiate, of course. What with the Trial requiring an accomplished Jedi Master who knew me quite well. One willing and capable of pushing me.
Our steps were nearly silent as we padded deeper into the Temple. I was opening myself to the Force and letting it's soothing peaceful currents wash over my awareness. Doing my utmost to remain centered and relaxed, because I knew I was going to need every bit of wherewithal and mental strength I possessed for the apex of the Trials of Knighthood. Oh, sure, there was still the Trial of Insight after this, but it was difficult to even think of the two Trials in the same league. One could leave you a screaming broken mess, the other was essentially a basic proof you weren't going to get conned into helping the first shady character with a silver tongue you encountered after being Knighted.
This was the make or break moment, and we both knew it. Just as we each knew there really wasn't much to be said about the Trial. It was like the Crystal Caves on Ilum, only exponentially more intense.
"I have every confidence in you, my apprentice. Your sense of conviction has carried you this far. It will serve to carry you the rest of the way. Personally, I'm already looking forward to your Trials of Mastery in a few years" Dark Woman stated with quiet confidence. The unshakable certainty in the woman's voice causing me to flash her an appreciative smile. The gesture of support meant a lot to me, so I made sure she knew that.
"Master, I will never be able to fully encapsulate with words everything your teachings and training mean to me. If I possessed the secret of time-travel, and could thereby manage to become the apprentice of any Jedi who's ever lived, I would change nothing. The Force saw fit to give me the mentor I needed. Something I am ever so grateful for." I made these statements with the surety of someone communicating facts which were self-evident, but underlying each was a great deal of otherwise unexpressed emotion.
Laughing softly at me to diffuse the overtly emotional overtones connected to my statements, the weathered yet handsome Jedi Master's tone was filled with wry humor, but her aura communicated how touched she was, as she joked "Either my coverage of the Order's storied history was more deficient than I thought, or I fear I've taught you to accept a low standard of excellence. I'd like to think I'm a serviceable Jedi, but certainly nothing when compared to the likes of Satele Shan, Nomi Sunrider, Fae Coven, or our own Grandmaster. You flatter an old woman, Padawan."
We were coming to the T-intersection I was beginning to have a negative association with, as I replied in a low and intense tone "Many of them might have been more powerful than you, Master, but I very much doubt I would have come so far, so fast under anyone else's tutelage. You've been firm, stern, and sometimes quite harsh with me, but never once did you treat me like something second rate because of my background, or an unstable catastrophe in the making because of the rate at which my power grows. You were never afraid of me, and that went a long way in helping me deal with being afraid of myself."
The two of us were at the door to the Trials Chamber now, as she turned quickly quickly enough away from me for a moment her silver bob-cut whipped across the side of her face. I thought I'd seen a shiny streak of moisture on her cheek, but it could have been a trick of the light, as it was gone when she turned back.
"Shall we?" Dark Woman asked in a simple, steady manner that had touched off our response to conflicts in a couple dozen points throughout the galaxy.
"Let's" I responded just as simply, with a confident smile thrown in to bolster my own spirits as much as my Master's. I followed her quickly through the door she'd just opened. Wondering if I was really ready for this as I did so.
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The floor, walls, and ceiling were all the polished black of obsidian. There was an extremely diffuse light whose source I couldn't pin down with Force-enhanced senses giving the entire eight or nine meter on a side box a feel like a candlelit mausoleum. It definitely gave the place a weird vibe which might have made me edgy much earlier in this life. Now, I more curious than anything.
Dark Woman crossed the room until she was nearing the far wall, then turned back to face in my direction and dropped smoothly into a cross-legged seated position on the black floor with a fluid grace that belied her age completely. Once she'd done so, she motioned to me to join her. Which I did, after a split-second's hesitation to try and wrap my mind about what was going to happen.
I failed, of course, as my expectations came up with nothing to ground a reasonable prediction in. I mirrored my Master's cross-legged seated position opposite her, then waited.
"I want you to sink as deep into meditation as you can, Anakin. You'll eventually feel an external mental pressure. One which I need you to do your best not to resist. Your mind will create a narrative to incarnate the conflict between light and darkness within you. Resolve the conflict, and you'll have faced the mirror" Dark Woman quietly related in a respectfully subdued manner. The look on her lined and weathered face as serious as I had ever seen as she communicated this.
Closing my eyes, I focused on the steady beat of the Force's song. It was slow and subdued in this place, but no less beautiful for the lack of vibrancy. I gave myself up to the almost wave-like advance and withdrawal of the harmony. Systematically blotting out first my awareness of my Master's Force-presence and emotions, then her physical presence. Drawing in further, I began with more effort to do the same to myself. My heartbeat drumming ever more faintly in my ears was the last thing I was concretely aware of for some time.
Suddenly, a downward push like someone placing one hand on the crown of my head and the other about the nape of my neck to shove my face underwater hit me. It was powerful, and momentarily unexpected, but I remembered what my Master had said before I began to fight. It wasn't effortless by any means, but I allowed my essential self to go slack as the gripping pressure pushed me deeper and deeper into something.
I couldn't feel my body. I couldn't even feel the Force, and I was always aware of the Force on some level. It was frightening as this drop into nothingness as nothing but a point of awareness continued, yet I drew on my training and composed my mind. It was easier than I'd expected. Even easier than it had been only yesterday, in point of fact. The pressure continued to increase, and with it the speed of my drop into the blackness.
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[Having no recollection of what he'd just been about, or any suspicion this was a mind-scape.]
Opening my eyes, I immediately quelled a tiny pulse of alarm after glancing out a window at a unique skyline vantage to discover I was standing within the highest point of the Republic Executive Building . The location more commonly known as Chancellor's Suite . Studying my surroundings more closely after this snap assessment, I realized this was all wrong. The red and black decor had vanished years ago, as had the bronzium statues of Four Sages of Dwartii/Legends , and the huge rectangular bas-relief of Jedi and Sith doing battle during the Great Hyperspace War.
Everywhere I looked, I saw signs of Sheev Palpatine's habitation of these suites. It should have chilled me to the bone, because my first thought was I'd somehow been thrust backward in time. I knew this was all wrong. Knew I'd been a part of plans which had resulted in the monster Darth Sidious being driven from these halls of power. Yet I remained calm in the face of these impossibilities. It wasn't the most abiding calm I'd ever experienced, but I was balanced and in control of myself.
"I say, I object to being denied my essential humanity in your eyes. Must I be an inhuman thing from the blackest crevice of the netherworld to prioritize galactic order above a few banal existences which would have ended soon enough in any case? I thought you Jedi styled yourselves guardians of the truth." It was a cultured, urbane voice I'd heard in person once before. One lodging a civil protest as if claiming a point of order in a Senate committee meeting. There was no heat in that voice. Just a mild, slightly injured and faintly chiding overtone to the words.
I spun, my lightsaber already in hand and igniting, but Darth Sidious was simply standing in the doorway leading from this anteroom into "his" office proper. The sight of the ignited lightsaber bringing a smile rather than any concern to his faintly lined, aristocratically patrician features. In a mild tone, he commented "Good, let your desire for a simple and conclusive end to a conflict which has never been simple or conclusive drive you. Allow the wickedness you perceive in me to serve as justification for taking the law into your own hands."
"Maintaining an active shield against a Sith Lord known for launching surprise attacks with Force Lightning is more than justifiable, Your Would-be Highness" I replied in an even tone. Careful to keep the energy shroud of my lightsaber aligned exactly up and down between us. I'd watched this murderer take advantage of Force Lightning over-saturating one specific portion of a blade held at an angle by a soon-to-be victim too many times to make the same mistake.
"Fair enough, but surely you can sense we're within the uttermost deeps of the Force. Somewhere that words and belief are given considerably more weight than they are in...some other places. You don't need me to convince you that if I were to swear there won't be any of the usual overt struggles between Jedi and Sith here and now, in this place or any other we might visit as guests of the Force, that the Force would hold me to that" Palpatine went on after a moment. His tone making it clear he did think I needed him to explain as much, but that he was too cultured and urbane to pointedly declare as much.
A splinter of my attention somehow confirmed he spoke the truth. My brow furrowed in momentary confusion over this. Which seemed to amuse him immensely, if his expression were anything to go by. Yet I was certain in the same way I understood gravity was a constant, that a promise here would be binding for the duration of a stay here. Wherever "here" was, if it wasn't actually Coruscant, as it seemed not to be by the overwhelming intensity of the Force in this place.
What he suggested was not only reasonable, it was likely my only chance at survival. I was eleven to fifteen years from an outside chance at taking this horror's head alone. That wasn't a reason to compromise with evil, but not pushing this into an overt conflict I couldn't hope to win seemed to offer more hope of finding some means to defeat him. After all, Luke hadn't gotten it done with a lightsaber or Force-techniques.
"Do you make such a promise? Not some vague, legalistic thing with a convenient panoply of loopholes. A straight out, explicit pledge not to turn this encounter into violent conflict?" I probed after a moment.
"I will offer the most binding of pledges to do you no physical harm, and work no wicked Force-wiles upon you, but I retain the right to advocate for my position" Palpatine immediately retorted. Making me even more cautious, because I knew the most dangerous part of this man was often his tongue.
"Why should I even keep talking to you if I can't bring you to justice? It seems like your being given a free shot to talk me into turning. Something I damned well happen to know you're incredibly good at. It seems to me I would be just as well served withdrawing and trying to find my way out of the Deeps of the Force" I answered in a cautious manner. I didn't know what was going on, but thought I made an excellent point.
"Light or Dark, the Force is never a thing of lies. I'll freely grant you that it's power can be used to make otherwise unsupportable lies viable, and it can be used to make something seem to be other than it is, but information remains accurate when speaking of things like Far-sight and precognition. Even when a vision seems not to have come true, that's because other factors occurring after the vision changed circumstances enough to invalidate what was foreseen. Here in the heart of the Force, you might well discover truths I would rather you not know. I'd even say with binding certainty that somewhere in this mysterious locale is information which might cast down my current plans as effectively as Iteration A of the Grand Plan was overthrown. Certainly you have a duty to investigate such truths?" Palpatine slyly retorted in the manner of a certain snake in a certain garden.
I sighed, thinking I was likely making a mistake, but the Force itself seemed to be pushing me in this direction every time I reached out to it. "Let's hear that binding truce of a promise, Prince of Lies."
"Oh, I must say, I do like that. You wouldn't mind if I used that, would you?" Palpatine taunted in a playfully cultured manner which was deeply disturbing, before finally getting around to a flat-out promise I was satisfied would forestall any overt and epic clashes of Light Vs. Dark.
"Aren't you concerned I haven't promised anything similar in kind?" I asked after he'd finally finished swearing. The Force had seemed to press closer around the room for a minute, as if it had been witnessing his promise. Now, everything seemed normal again.
Palpatine smirked at me in that "I have an evil plan" manner. "I would love nothing more than for you to cut me down while I am helpless to resist you. You think you've done so much to prevent the reality of Darth Vader, but the reality is what distance you've gained on him in some respects, you've narrowed in others. Cold-blooded murder would be the beginning of the end of your time as a Jedi. I'm quite prepared to die, if it means unleashing the most powerful Sith the galaxy has ever known" he said simply. A smile turning up the corners of his mouth in a sinister manner.
Just because promises were binding in this strange place, it didn't necessarily follow the Sith couldn't lie. Besides, he was the last person in the galaxy whose estimate of my soul I'd accept.
Deactivating my lightsaber and returning it to my belt, I spread my hands. "Well? You're the one who styles himself the cleverest man in the galaxy. Let's hear the justification for all your innumerable atrocities past, present, and future. I'm not the terribly traumatized and isolated young man crippled by a desperate need to protect the one person who gave his life meaning. I hear you making arguments about galactic order. Let's hear you justify the Empire being on point to collapse before the Rebellion ever found any traction" I declared with passion. Deciding I would be best served by going on the offensive to see if any low-hanging fruit could be shaken free.
Palpatine didn't look the least little bit perturbed, however. Instead, he gave me a pitying look, and replied in that speaking-to-a-slow-child voice I seemed to hear more than my fair share of. "Isn't it so obvious as to go without saying? You know I was going to destroy the Outbound Flight. Were you truly so blinkered by your Palpatine's-the-villain blinders that you were unable to perceive I might have had reasons to destroy an extra-galactic foray which had nothing to do with killing vulnerable Jedi or suborning Rim faction Senators? Is there no other basis I might have had for such a decision? A decision in line with my intentions to nationalize many key industries throughout the Empire required to build a massive military not really optimized to face asymmetrical conflict with the Rebels? Nothing comes to mind, truly?"
Ugh, I hated the "The Empire was necessary, or the Yuuzhan Vong would have devoured the galaxy whole" argument, because it required one to argue one of several counter-factual positions if you were interested in refuting the theory. Unless you took the position I was about to take.
"I will go so far as to concede the fact that you triggering the conflict representative of long-brewing resentments among the Rim world for the Core which has so long exploited them under the controlled conditions allowed by your playing both sides was necessary, if some other factor didn't trigger the inevitable war. I'll even concede that the militarization and rapid increases in many technologies prompted by the Clone Wars would prove useful in a subsequent war against the Vong. I'll even allow that a less fractious government would stand a better chance of leading the galaxy to victory during the Yuuzhan Vong War" I began after a moment to collect my thoughts.
My words brought a smile to Darth Sidious's thin lipped mouth, but then I continued "None of which requires the death of the Republic. Galactic history has proven again and again that a common enemy will bring about great unity and commitment to a common goal. A common enemy tends to make any squabbling family turn and present a united front to an external aggressor. Triggering a conflict like the Clone Wars would have been quite enough. That's why I'm not trying to stop this war. Even though I know it's going to be more destructive than the Clone Wars. The Ruusan Reformation was a mistake which has needed correcting for the longest time. Just like the Republic's lack of government control over currency, banking, and inter-system credit, the fielding and maintenance of a Republic Navy and Army are necessary for the defense of it's member-worlds. If the Republic had already possessed such things, yours and Plagueis's takeover would have been considerably more difficult.
Looking like he'd bitten into something sour for a moment, Palpatine quickly rallied. "Generalities! The Republic's often fractious nature has cost it dearly against foes not half so deadly as the Yuuvhan Vong. Vitiate didn't possess three quarters the strength of the Yuuzhan Vong, but look at what it took to end him and cast down his works! It's not just a matter of having all the right puzzle-pieces. You need someone with the vision to assemble the puzzle in the time and with the resources allotted."
"You mean like someone willing to take the C.I.S's obsession with super-weapons to the most insane degree possible? Don't try to sell me on your qualifications as a war-leader, Palpatine. You're a gifted politician, a masterful manipulator, and one of the greatest deceivers the galaxy has ever seen, but I have a better military mind than you. That's why you had Tarkin, Dooku, Grievous, and all the others. That's why you wanted me so badly. You're making the error most geniuses do if they achieve enough. Thinking you're capable of anything, and can therefore do all things better than others" I retorted with a sarcastic snort and a few shakes of my head..
A flash of rage flickered across Palpatine's visage. Yet that was nothing compared to the shaking overtaking the building, or the hair-fine glowing red cracks now covering almost the entirety of my surroundings like I was trapped within one great and badly cracked egg.
"Sadly, young Skywalker, it seems I will not be chief among your concerns today. You lack the necessary vision for my words to find fertile soil at this juncture, so I must cede my remaining time to another speaker" I heard Palpatine say.
Right before the floor collapsed beneath me. Sending me tumbling into darkness blacker than black.