Kowani felt the ship lurch physically and her nervousness kicked in. Explaining T’zar was going to be a treat she knew. Mere seconds later she saw Ahsoka descending the ramp and the pit of her stomach almost betrayed her. ‘Why am I ashamed’ she thought.
“Because she isn’t going to like our arrangement one bit and may just eject us both into the vacuum of space, ending your life and creating one hell of a paradox for my own existence.” T’zar spoke into her mind.
“That’s a little drastic don’t you think?” Kowani voiced audibly.
“What?” Ahsoka said.
“Huh?” Kowani responded.
“Stop talking out loud or she will immediately think your insane and end you right here.” T’zar said.
“E Chu Ta!” Kowani said aloud again, followed by a slap to her own forehead. “Karking thoughts.” again out loud, followed by another look of admonishment.
“Ani did you inhale something?” Ahsoka said, lifting a hand toward the Mirialan out of genuine concern.
‘T’zar just shut up’ Kowani thought, “No, but I do have something to tell you.” She spoke.
“I’m listening.” Ahsoka responded, her hand retreating to meet the other as they crossed her chest, and she tilted her body to the left resting on that foot.
“Well, um…. I am not quite sure how to tell you.”
“Out with-it Ani.”
“So, I found T’zar again, or he found me might be more appropriate and we melded...sort of...to help each other...kind of...you know…. through a shared bond of mind and body.” Kowani began, stuttering her way through what she thought was the worst explanation in the history of them.
“What are you doing?” T’zar insisted.
‘Shut up and let me do this my way. Unless of course you’re going to commandeer my mouth and vocal abilities...wait, can you do that?...never mind. Just let me talk to her.’
“For the love of…. that’s it she’s going to kill us both!” T’zar said frantically.
“No, she’s not dammit, now shut the hell up and let me explain it to her.” Kowani shouted into the cargo bay.
“You forgot to ‘think’ that last remark.” T’zar reminded her.
“Poodoo.” Kowani said with a tear in her eye, and from Ahsoka’s estimation a great deal of unwanted stress. She extinguished the blade.
“Thank you again for not decapitating us.” T’zar snuck in
“You’re welcome.” Kowani responded.
“Ani your talking nonsense and I am genuinely concerned.” Ahsoka added.
Kowani tossed the saber hilt into her unoccupied acceleration chair and placed her hands on her hips. Spinning in a tight circle she blew out a deep breath and opted to start over.
“Ahsoka, when you ‘delt’ with T’zar all you did was mobilize his curiosity. He has been lingering with us since well before we touched down on Dagobah and has expressed an interest in learning from you.” Kowani said as smoothly as she could muster, the confusion in her own head wavering and stuttering some of the words, yet she was mostly secure in the knowledge that the message was received. The look on Ahsoka’s face told her that it had indeed which bolstered her confidence to delve further into the truth.
“Kowani...Ani, his time has come and gone, what happens now is not meant for him to experience or affect.” Ahsoka said slowly and carefully measured.
“Then why is he here Ahsoka? If he can’t be removed from this reality, then by what power do we have to say those things?” The words were coming easier to Kowani now and she was speaking from the heart.
Ahsoka opened her mouth as if to speak then slowly closed it again. She lifted her index finger to her chin and spun slowly in thought. “Ani, I can’t argue your point. I thought I was helping him to be honest, and in so doing ended up performing something that should have also been impossible…. perhaps there is merit to what you’re saying.”
“Really? I mean, well of course there could be.” Kowani said, rolling her eyes in mock sarcasm.
“You’re not getting off that easy Ani.” Ahsoka informed her. “What did you mean by bond?”
“Well, he is here.” She patted her chest.
“That’s disturbing as hell Ani.” Ahsoka gave the impression she was going to get sick.
“I don’t know how else to describe it Ahsoka.” Kowani said with her hands open. “I mean, it’s not like he’s physically within me, it’s a spiritual connection for lack of a better term.”
Ahsoka was quickly reminded of the errant tie pilots while escaping Tatooine. “That is not how I would have explained what I saw at all from past experience.”
“They…” Kowani’s hand flitted upward “Didn’t have the ability to observe the Force at work...of weak mind as T’zar put it. Ahsoka, you’re the one that told me to be aware of the will of the Force, and some things require faith not proof.”
“When did I say that?” Ahsoka looked confused.
“Well, you didn’t. But it is most definitely something you WOULD say.” Kowani retorted.
Ahsoka rolled her eyes then remembered what brought her down here in the first place. “Ani, how were you able to disassemble the saber’s hilt?” She paused for a moment, “With T’zar’s help?”
“Yes.” Which was true although Kowani couldn’t explain ‘how.’
“As well as the prelude to forms I take it?”
“Again, yes.” Kowani answered.
“I am not upset one bit Ani, so please don’t assume that I am. This is a lot to take in and I’m trying to work this through.”
‘You are?’ she thought, “I do understand Ahsoka.” She said.
“He used to be Sith Ani.” Ahsoka said after a few moments.
“Here comes the airlock…” T’zar said to Kowani.
‘Shut up,’ she thought rolling her eyes.
“And half the Rebellion is comprised of ex Empire. T’zar made a choice that cost him his mortality. If we stop believing a thing or person has no redeeming qualities, we are on the path to losing sight of what we are fighting for to begin with.” Kowani spoke casting her view downward. Her words even surprised her. ‘That wasn’t you was it,’ she asked T’zar.
“Nope, that was all you.” He responded.
Ahsoka lifted an eyebrow toward Kowani.
“And yes Ahsoka, that includes Anakin.” She finished her unintended statement with the fully intended flourish, raising her eyes to meet Ahsoka’s gaze.
Again, Ahsoka opened her mouth and closed it, her words completely escaping her. Kowani was right, dead right, unequivocally right and there was no reply that could deny it.
Kowani wasn’t precisely sure where that last statement had come from, only that any more time with Yoda and she would have given up her worldly possessions for a cloak and a mission to spread wisdom across the galaxy.
“I didn’t mean to open any wounds Ahsoka….” Kowani trailed off an apology.
“You didn’t Ani, I’ve just been really confused about his place along my path and if I should focus any time or energy to that end. Master Yoda felt his defeat would be imminent at my hand but also that it wasn’t my destiny, that I had done already all that I could for him, and myself.”
“She speaks of the Jedi prophecy.” T’zar said.
‘I don’t know anything about that.’ Kowani responded.
“Ah, but I do. Lore is what brought me to my current state if you take my meaning.”
‘I don’t…...at all’
“This Skywalker is meant to bring a balance to the Force, if indeed he is the prophetic son.” T’zar quickly explained.
‘Balance what, there’s nothing wrong with the Force T’zar’ Kowani said.
“Now? Perhaps. But what brought us to this point I ask.”
“Ahsoka, I need to hear it from you. What happened to him?” Kowani asked outright.
“It is a long story Ani.” Ahsoka said with a tinge of remorse.
“I am not in a rush.” Kowani said.
“I am!” T’zar almost demanded.
‘Shut up. We’ll get there.’
Ahsoka turned to make her way back up the ramp. “By the way Ani, was that jump I saw earlier the Liberator?” she asked, turning her head slightly.
“Ah, yup. Came prepared for your ultimatum denying my coming with you because you weren’t sure what we’d encounter, that it was too dangerous or that I am not prepared…. Consider it a small gift.”
“A gift?” Ahsoka turned fully around.
“Yup, now you don't have to worry about how you’re going to word your warnings or find a way for me NOT to come along.” Kowani said with a smile. Turning her attention from Ahsoka, she extended her hand and just as quickly the saber hilt fired right into her open palm. She ignited the blade and returned to practicing the first form sequence.
Ahsoka could not help but feel relief, she had to be honest with herself, minor annoyance at being read like a book, but also a deepening peace, joy, and calm because of those feelings. Continuing her trek back up the ramp in full, she almost tripped over her own feet when the clamoring noise of Kowani’s ‘music’ returned to consume the ship.
✦
The holoimage flickered again, driving Sidious’ anger ever further into an inescapable realm from which it would be used to prove a point.
The kneeling depiction of his apprentice had just finished accepting responsibility for the destruction of Alderaan, the planet he had hoped to wipe from the galaxy long ago. The knowledge that the meddlesome Senator had been present was even better news in his opinion.
“How is it that you claim this responsibility when Moff Tarkin has already done so?” He cackled at the bowed figure.
“Forgive me my Master, it was implied…” Vader spoke, almost choking on the words. It had indeed been the Moff’s responsibility, and decision for that matter.
“It is of no consequence.” Sidious interrupted, annoyed with the response he knew would be coming, more so that it came ‘after’ Moff Tarkin’s. “The fate of that system was a trivial matter of time in any event. What is of consequence however is the status on the stolen plans Lord Vader.”
“We will have them back in due course Master, we have just intercepted the freighter that blasted its way out of the Tatooine system. The plans are within my grasp…” Vader trailed off.
“More to say on the matter Lord Vader?” Sidious’s response was calculating, exact and swift, missing nothing of Vader’s pause.
“A presence, one I have not felt since Vanqor Master.” The words were icy, deep, and filled with hate.
“Obi-wan Kenobi? There?” Sidious was genuinely surprised. How had he not foreseen this?
“Vanqor was a tragic defeat Lord Vader, one from which lessons have not been learned, I fear. If he is on the battle station, then he must be found Lord Vader….and he must be destroyed. That conflict needs resolution so we may be free to pursue our own agenda. Do not fail me.” Sidious responded with a returned inflection of cold directness, leaving Vader no choice but to bow to fate.
“What of Skywalker’s padawan Master?” Vader inquired with a measure of defiance.
Sidious let the question hang between them and watched as the wavering lines of resolution wafted from top to bottom. “Ahh, I see then. Your motive is revealed.” He began, letting Vader ponder the lack of wisdom in asking such a foolish question. Although his anger roiled from the cascade of malfeasance, he found himself surrounded by, now was not the time to stir the ire between he and his apprentice.
“Of no importance to you, apprentice. Keep your focus where it belongs and find those plans.” He finally uttered.
“Yes...my...Master.” Vader replied after a few long moments, his own anger at being dismissed so casually rising dramatically.
“Now now apprentice, your emotions betray you. Firm your resolve and speak your mind.” Sidious could all but taste the concerted effort Vader was making to withhold something.
Vader composed as best he could the miasma his mind had become of late “Master...I sense a…. vergence within the Force. I cannot place its origins, but it is a sense I have not felt in some time.” Unsure if those were the words, he ‘should’ have spoken, they were the best way to describe the scattered visions and recent nonsensical rebel activity. He knew something was coming, and only hoped that his master had felt it too.
Sidious did not respond, only lamented within his own thoughts knowing full well he had heard that very phrase spoken of the man represented in the image before him. Laborious efforts to retrieve, analyze and catalog the entirety of information within the former Jedi temple had yielded a great deal of interesting proclamations at an almost entertaining level. But then, his apprentice had exhibited an almost maniacal drive to face his former padawan, to what purpose he could only speculate.
“A vergence you say. Odd that I have not felt it. Perhaps your judgment in the matter is clouded by many things Lord Vader. Vengeance? Ambition? Hate?” The words spoken with very direct emphasis. Indeed, he had felt…. something, and had dispatched the fifth fleet to satiate his own curiosity in the matter. “If this is concerning Tano yet again….”
“No.” Came an immediate response, deep, guttural, and booming, the holoimage flickering erratically with wild static patterns. Sidious could see various data screens and terminals sparking wildly behind the Dark Lord. A cold wave spun up his spine as he momentarily lost some of the feeling in his own fingers.
“Then what Lord Vader?” Sidious asked, giving no indication of his surprise at what Vader had just done. “Perhaps you are more finely attuned to the Force than your Master?” He needed to regain control of this conversation.
Vader did not respond immediately. He knew he needed to respond with some semblance of diplomacy, but Darth Sidious was beginning to become something else entirely to him and he wasn’t sure he even cared anymore about what the old man would do or say. “Perhaps the apprentice can view matters free of distraction in ways the Master cannot.” Damn the consequences he thought, the man needed to be brought down a level or two.
Sidious was a roiling mass of rage. He hadn’t been spoken to like that since...well, since he was an apprentice himself. Reason found a path through the rage as he pondered Vader’s words. This would require a tactical solution not an aggressive one he knew, yet he could not fully decide whether to berate the apprentice for his insolence or congratulate him for being so direct. He opted for a more political angle. “To what are you referring Lord Vader?”
Vader was silent, not expecting this course of dialogue at all, but quickly got his proverbial feet under him. “Master, this station, although impressive, will not suffice in hunting down the Rebel fleet. They do not operate from a solitary refuge, but rather as a scattered collective that can amass in a moment’s notice from anywhere in the galaxy. This station is only going to drive more to their cause. Allow me to deploy the fleets with more tactical control and we will make shorter work of them.” It was not all he had wanted to say but the rare opportunity to freely speak his mind to his master had fostered the importance of regaining more control over the endeavor.
Not at all what Sidious was expecting but pleasing to hear nonetheless, he, too, understood this. When fighting insurgency, one needed to employ more aggressive plans of action. His apprentice had been feared for his naval tactics in the Clone Wars, it was time to utilize that knowledge again. How this related to a vergence he had yet to glean from his apprentice, however. “The second and third fleets will be at your disposal, with the Executor I will also commission the Ravager and your personal guard. Find and destroy Kenobi Lord Vader, then hunt the rebels to your content.”
“Thank you Master.” Vader replied quickly, wasting no time, and feeling empowered by the promise.
“What of this...vergence...Lord Vader. I have yet to remove that shroud it seems.” Sidious inserted, placating at least one of the Dark Lord’s concerns yet needing clarification. Yes, he had sensed a disturbance, many of them as of late but would never have gone so far as to claim they were on the brink of a vergence.
“I am sure it is centered around the re-emergence of Kenobi Master.” Vader said, retaining a majority of his insight to himself.
“Perhaps, but a vergence would foretell of some significance…. if it is indeed his doing then why now?”
Vader pondered it, ignoring the question within. “Maybe more Jedi are stepping from the shadows. A concerted effort is perhaps possible.”
Sidious considered it, “Now that would be significant indeed.” That his apprentice divined the possible scenario was both admirable and surprising. “We will revisit the topic presently apprentice, for the time being learn what you can from Kenobi, then destroy the Jedi.”
Vader inclined his head to venture another opinion, but the image was already dissolving as the holo emitter powered down.
Sidious knew his apprentice had more on his mind. That confrontation would be forthcoming, he also knew. Darth Vader was nearing his own flash point and would soon turn on him. He could sense the anger within him, it flowed as easily as the Force throughout him, had consumed him fully. His anger, channeled properly, will make him extremely dangerous. He couldn’t decide if that was either a benefit or a detriment, however. Placating the Dark Lord would only vent the savagery within him temporarily, finding a long-term solution was becoming paramount.
Vader stared at his own holo emitter long after the equipment had powered down and returned the room to darkness. A somber visage was gazing back at him, reflections from the Tac screen opposing the holotable that he was viewing but not seeing. Staring but perceiving nothing. He knew exactly what his ‘vergence’ pertained to and Obi-wan was just it’s beginning. His explanation to his master was only partially true as it was phrased as speculation. He knew there were many more participants involved. He was sensing Kenobi yes, but also that of grand master Yoda, his former apprentice, grand master Windu and faceless Jedi from his distant past. What it all meant he had no idea but he was certain his master did, and was keeping it from him. He clenched his fists and looked back at the reflection more fervently. Red and green lights adorning a midnight black suit, his only means of survival outside his chamber. Echoes forever ringing throughout his very being from the regulated breathing his suit maintained. Then the contents of the suit itself, cybernetic appendages, destroyed nervous system and obliterated heart. They had all taken everything from him, how could there be nothing but hate remaining...hate and memory. He would retake all he had lost, beginning with Kenobi.