━━━━━━ ༻ 🌄 ༺ ━━━━━━
" as above, so below "
...
━━━ ༻ CHAPTER EIGHTEEN ༺ ━━━
"THE HYPERDRIVE'S SUFFERED a malfunction," Obi-Wan Kenobi reported bluntly into the scanner of the ship's droid, an R-series with red accents to its paint. "We've been sent into the Decont System's asteroid belt and have been forced to land on one of the more civilized moons of Chophn."
Beneath his robe's sleeves, his completely concealed arms were crossed over his chest. With thumbs digging pressure into his skin, it was truly too obvious he was trying to mask his own tension. Paranoia was choking him out and it was not even entirely improper of him to give into such unsteady emotions. The political climate was largely unfavorable following Eden's out-of-the-blue promotion to such an influential and new position in the Jedi Order, despite however not being granted an actual Jedi rank, as one would expect.
Righteously so, being given no context as to what an Emissary is or where she came from, the idea of a young girl influencing the High Council into adopting reforms overnight was strange to the Senate, even downright outrageous. Even the Supreme Chancellor has expressed concern towards just how much can a young mind be trusted, though after seeing the fruitful result of the first reform adopted after merely one month of it being into effect, his comments have quietened down to a mere looming disapproval of it, albeit no longer propagating as his stance in the Senate.
Eden proposed many methods by which the Jedi Order may strengthen its overall connection with the Force, some more radical than others, but all of them ultimately anchored in a distant past of a more educated and strengthened peace. The first of her advice to actually pass the stage of discussions in the Council happened a mere week after her trial's verdict has been pronounced: she ought to teach the Emissary approach to utilizing the energy of the Force to Jedi Masters and occasionally Jedi Knights, by joining their battle efforts on field and guiding them in the practice.
Within these two months, Eden has only really had the time to join two official missions in her Advisor rank, with this one being her third.
"R4 will send you the new coordinates," Obi-Wan nodded down at his droid. "We've been sent off course by about six light years and have sustained damage to some of the outer parts of the ship while traversing the asteroid belt. However, the estimate is that we should be back on track for timely arrival to our destination as soon as the hyperdrive's factory reset is complete." Dott, currently in the cockpit, was taking care of that part and by the looks of it, since Obi-Wan spared the clone a glance, it seemed they truly should be off in a matter of minutes.
A faint grimace shadowed Obi-Wan's expression. At last he could no longer resist giving voice to his worries. "How could the hyperdrive have had such a malfunction in the first place, Master Yoda?" he inquired. "The programming itself couldn't have caused such a significant error in coordinating the jump to light speed, far less so to planning the trajectory of our journey. It is very unlikely... A little too unlikely, in fact, which could only mean that the system was compromised manually, saving a preset of this destination before we even boarded the ship."
"When the change accepted we have, the risks we knew," Yoda murmured, nodding.
The change. Surely, Master Yoda could only be referring to the second reform advised by Eden that the Jedi Order has approved only a month ago. While the first reform was subtle and only mildly concerning to the Senate through Eden's youthful nature, this second reform awakened absolute disagreement in wildly contested debates and quarrels. Master Windu himself has reported even an attempt at a bill being passed to cancel the Council's decision and therefore snuff out their choice's ramifications.
At the core of Eden's advice stood a justification which had earned an unanimous agreement from the High Council almost immediately: 'If we condemn deception, then we should be the conduits of its absence. We have nothing to hide and the Galaxy would benefit from knowing that.'
What she advocated for was something which had once been the very founding stone of what it meant to be part of the Jedi Order: an openness and transparency towards the inhabitants of the Galaxy. Obi-Wan recalled vividly that she had made a note of the grandeur of their Temple and how inaccessible it may seem to the people of Coruscant, those who live forced to only look up at it and the whole district reserved for politicians. She called that a 'wall' and claimed it will separate the Jedi from the civilians until the latter will no longer be able to distinguish between a Jedi and a Senator.
Given his personal distaste for the political inclinations the Order has had in the last decade, Obi-Wan was one of the first Masters on the Council to approve this reform, but only a month ago had the vote counted towards action: the Jedi Order had opened the doors to the Coruscant Temple to everyone, encouraging even those with no sense of the Force to attend organized tours and lessons to understand the Order's principles and the Force itself.
Though the Senate would moan about the security risks of their decision, Obi-Wan was aware they have also taken it into consideration before going through with the reform, hence its one month delay before implementation. They've repurposed an entire clone battalion for permanent service on Temple premises, as well as the presence of two Jedi Masters of the High Council at all times in vigil. Their realism and pragmatism could never deny that amongst the Temple visitors might always be some which take advantage of progress with ill intent, however, Obi-Wan believed strongly that their security was strong and their Force sense getting better, at least until... just then.
Obi-Wan's suspicion was obviously that an enemy had managed to sneak past their defenses and senses, right into their hangar bay. Such an assumption could only mean that they have winded up where the enemy wanted them to be and with a sense of uneasiness, he had to admit the enemy was most likely not there for him.
"I'm worried we have been compromised, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan said.
"Hmm. Feel threatened, do you?" Master Yoda inquired in what Obi-Wan could hope only sounded like sarcasm. "With intimidation the Dark Side works. Strong in front of it we must remain."
"I fear for her safety, not mine," Obi-Wan leant his head to the side but so no reason still. "She's more important to the Jedi Order than this mission. We must at least take into consideration that the Dark Side will eventually become aware of her significance to us." He listened to Yoda's frown, transmitted as an answer to his distress. Though Obi-Wan knew better than most not to underestimate how aware Master Yoda has always been of Eden's potential, he had his doubts that the gravity of this particular situation was being understood.
Prior to the trial's verdict, though he did not necessarily find himself adhering to those beliefs, the majority of the High Council had voiced not the prophecy of the corrupt Seer, but instead that regarding the Chosen One and the balance of the Force returning once more for a lengthy peace.
Even without the possibility of prophecy having a play in it, Obi-Wan agreed that Eden was important should their Order hope to grow stronger and prevail against the darkness each and every one of the Masters on the Council have felt growing in influence.
Chophn was a huge planet, holding one of the most busy and popular markets in the center of the galaxy, despite the tough path through the asteroid belt in order to get to it. Given the massive scale of the planet, its moons were significantly large as well, holding a few that sported life of their own, albeit not necessarily sentient. They've landed on one of its green moons during a season when the possibility of an asteroid smashing into it was so high that its touristic attributes have been reduced to no visitors at all.
Expecting to spend very little time on the surface of the moon did not stop the clones from building a little fire to keep at bay any of the possible non-sentient predators lurking in the dark, through the trees around the crater where they landed. It was just a handful of them anyway, so the fire did not have to be big so everyone could fit around them.
This was the 212th Battalion's first run with Emissary Eden as their accompaniment, making quite her have quite a reputation already amongst clones when it came to her incredible stories of absolutely fantastic element, at least to the ears of a soldier whose eyes accept miracles early on as the abilities of a Jedi General, nothing more and nothing less than a mere tool.
Given their central role to play in the war and in the defense of the Jedi Temple itself, the clones have sadly not been given the chance to actually take advantage of any of the tours and lessons opened to the public by the most recent reform. It came as no real surprise that whenever Eden was allocated to such a team and there was time to kill, she would gladly indulge all their questions in a wonder-filled moment for them to forget their duties and just dream. Eden did not mind talking about the Force, even if she had to explain the same definitions over and over again, each time she joined a different field crew.
Seeing her constant enthusiasm, the 27th Squadron didn't tire from hearing her perpetual explanations either, instead taking immense pride in learning her view of the Force by heart already, though this would be merely the third time she dived right into the passion of it, upon inquiry from Commander Cody himself, the second in charge in General Kenobi's attack battalion.
"... it surrounds us, penetrates us and it binds the galaxy together," Eden explained gesturing with only her left hand as her right was being tinkered on by Clue, trying to get her device from Kamino to work. "It's everywhere, all the time."
"Everywhere a Jedi is?"
"No, by everywhere I mean everywhere," Eden accentuated on the absolute factor of the word in order to properly correct the clone's perception. "One could say the Force is everything we see, as well as everything we do not. It is the invisible hand spinning the galaxy, threading day to night and life to death, only for the cycle to start over again by its will experienced through time. The Force is quite frankly the only truly impartial sentience."
"It's sentient?!" One of the clones exclaimed.
"Not as any organic being." Her chuckled explanation seemed to have diluted in no way whatsoever the little strand of panic in that particular clone soldier from the 212th Battalion.
"So if it's impartial, it's neither good nor bad?"
Eden shook her head, "The Force, in its natural and original state, is what one would wrongly call the 'light side'. The Dark Side is a corruptive imbalance in the Force. Because of its impartial nature, the Force cannot defend itself from the darkness, thus entrust that task its agents, the Jedi. As representatives of the will of Force, they ought to defend it and strive to maintain balance, thus also peace. Does it mean that once balance is restored, all crime will suddenly stop in the whole galaxy?" She inquired rhetorically what she was usually being asked at that point. "Absolutely not, not immediately," her smile marked that her words were filled with belief, "but it would be a first step towards a better world for everyone."
"How does the Force feel?" one of the clones asked them, marveled enough by the concept that once he heard his own tone's dreaminess, he had to cough, straighten up and continue with a much more anchored justification. "We are not made Force-sensitive, but I suppose you people do feel the Force if it really is everywhere."
She nodded, "We do. However, I do not think I am qualified to give an explanation to how the Force feels in general, since my experience of it differs from that of most Jedi. In fact, everyone probably feels it differently-"
"Then allow me to rephrase that question for Famax, ma'am," Commander Cody raised his hand towards the fellow clone who had raised the question to begin with then leant forward, a calm smile brightening his features. 212th Battalion, unlike the 27th Squadron, were comfortable with their helmets off as well. "How does the Force feel to you?"
Eden's eyes unfocused just briefly, not too flustered anymore about how the attention of everyone around the fire had moved to her entirely. After that short stop of thought she blinked herself back to a more anchored presence and returned Cody's smile, "It feels like breathing. It's always there and it never goes away. Occasionally I catch a spot of truly fresh air and then it feels like I am stardust, floating near the stars, at the hidden pulse of celestial bodies. Sometimes the scent is fowl and then it makes me physically sick..."
"That's the Dark Side, isn't it?" Famax inquired, once again forgetting himself in absolute wonder. No one around the fire had the heart to actually tell him to calm down since they were all rather curious of Eden's words. There was most definitely something about her voice luring one in to listen; even the fire itself was being dim, albeit warm, keeping itself quiet so that the conversation was not interrupted.
The bitterness of memory played on her expression as it did on her mind. Life had been so generous with her these past two months and yet, the 'but' which followed such a statement tormented her relentlessly, even as she tried her hardest to ignore the night terrors and the constant fear that she wasn't safe. Eden counted on those moments with Anakin to shield her from the shadows which she quietly accepted will always haunt her sleep when they are apart and she is away from Anope.
"Thankfully," her smile twitched, "I haven't sensed it enough to be able to tell the particularities of its presence."
"And let us hope it remains that way," Crusher frowned. "Heard those Dark Side followers are in no way pleasant, my lady."
"You met one, didn't you?" Captain Bryyk gave Commander Cody a nudge.
"Yes," Cody nodded briefly, obviously taking no pleasure in holding such a reputation, nor even information. He would have lived a much better life knowing nothing of such a greatly dark power being held by the enemy. "The Separatists appear to have one General... you do not want to cross them in battle-"
"Eden may be a brilliant Force user and a great spiritual advisor," Obi-Wan's voice, with its palpable strength, had no issue in sneaking itself within their conversation, though he remained a good couple of steps behind the group. Attention turned to him, so he continued, "Warfare and politics remain beyond her area of influence though, Commander, so let us trouble her no further with our battle concerns."
Dott appeared beside Obi-Wan, locking eyes with Captain Bryyk to deliver a nod. Taking that sign, Captain Bryyk stood up first and announced, "Alright, we are good to go." Though he showed it rarely compared to the rest of the 27th Squadron, he took his orders very seriously in regards to protecting Eden, thus it came as natural to see him mobilize his team and even Eden so they may assume a safe formation for moving.
Eden learnt to appreciate the protection and even more so to give it the respect that it too bestowed upon her. That respect alone made her stand up at once, with the wish to make haste for the ship similarly to her crew; only as soon as she stood up, she didn't even get the chance to properly straighten up that a sting to the back of her neck made her wince and falter her balance, momentarily too stunned by pain to comprehend anything more than bringing a hand up to stop whatever was hurting her.
Luckily, given how famously damaging falls were to her, Clue had not yet entirely released his hold on her hand, thus he supported Eden's weight effortlessly. Ratchet rushed in a matter of seconds to move her hair aside and see what had hurt her, but around the three of them, not only the 27th Squadron, but Obi-Wan and his crew had also mobilized with checking the perimeter around, either through the scope of a blaster rifle or by the sense of the Force, focused on where the ignited saber's light could not reach.
"It's a bug sting," Ratchet announced, relieved sighs commencing all around to join his.
"Felt like one giant bug there," Eden sighed, being helped to her feet by Clue.
"Are you allergic to any insects?" Ratchet inquired.
"Let's move this inside," Obi-Wan interrupted Eden from answering. Sharing a single look with Commander Cody while saying that made it clear to his crew that something was wrong and he did not like the idea of remaining in the open any longer. "We'll get you patched up once inside, Eden, don't worry," Obi-Wan switched his saber off and extended his arm for Eden to hold on to.
Moments after their departure from the moon, a transmission from the surface got sent on a private frequency towards a Coruscant receiver: "The tracker has been planted. I will be following the target to the next location and begin preparation for interception. She'll be on the radar for up to a month, so you can close the contract 'cause she's ain't getting away from me."
Anakin didn't even realize his left hand lingered on the back of his neck in a nervous rub until Ahsoka quietly pointed it out through a worried question, "Are you alright?"
Something felt awfully wrong, but no matter how deep his frown, Anakin couldn't quite understand what exactly chilled him such; it was the sort of unnatural sense that took the heart off guard whenever a ship would dive into a freefall, a sensation of gaping emptiness where plentiful once pulsed. He had to take his hand away, let it lower down and narrow his gaze away at the busy city in which they were carrying out the tracking. A single moment of concentration was enough to steal his attention and hook his acute senses on a different thread to follow to its end, one promising him a much easier journey than that of tracking obscure little feelings drenched in dread.
"Stay here and wait for any extraction calls," Anakin ordered, unclogging himself in seriousness to turn his gaze to his apprentice with a just a nuance softer advice. "Try to blend in."
Ahsoka wanted to argue that her involvement in the mission should have been more significant than that, but if the rumors she heard were true and Emissary Eden's advice would soon convince the Order to forbid padawans from being trained on the battlefield, her days in such politically tied action were numbered anyway. More so than the adrenaline, she knew she'd miss the clones, so for now, she didn't mind to stand back, given that she would remain with them.
Even while focused and in pursuit of the trail he sensed through the Force, the looming terror of the bad feeling burned on the back of Anakin's neck. It dazed him at time just how fragrant it got without however being something clear enough for him to read, distinguish and vanquish. A numbness constantly tried to veil him to a stop, but he marched forward, determination glaring across his features and bringing forth a sort of automation to his presence.
He passed through streets so busy there was no room to walk normally and no hope to hurrying against the stream of the crowd, made abrupt turns through passageways between buildings so tall they made the paths look like tunnels instead of what they truly were. He marched past shops with neons and through streets of depravity without really absorbing anything of what happened around him. There was no scent, no other sense but the Force and that morbid warmth on the back of his neck.
"There," Ratchet moved his hands away from Eden's neck, on the back of which he stuck a bandage as comfortable as he possibly could after treating the sting wound with a cream. "No needle inside and your vitals are looking good too, so it's safe to believe the bug was not poisonous either, my lady. The cream should help with the burn sensation in a couple of minutes-!" Standing up half distracted by Eden's weak smile had Ratchet's knee hit the small table beside her. The single glass of water, left unfinished after she swallowed a painkiller he had started carrying for her two months ago, was knocked over and the liquid spilled over the Kamino-built device still around her wrist.
"Oh, screws," Eden mumbled, looking down at her hand rather defeated. "Clue had hopes to get it fixed..." Attempting to brush it dry, she activated the device and just as she had managed to wipe all the dampness off and into her sleeve, the red screen turned green.
From the verge of wanting to apologize, Ratchet relaxed into a chuckle, "With all the rain on Kamino... this is quite ironic, isn't it?"
"It rains on Kamino?" Eden looked up in wander. "You know, it never really rains on my planet and there's been no rain on Coruscant."
"How about we try to get you to our home for a change one of these days?" Ratchet's tone held the smile that she could not see the radiance of through his helmet. "Something tells me Master Shaak Ti would love to shake your hand in person anyway..."
The warm sensation dissipated from the back of Anakin's neck just in time to be replaced with goosebumps. He reached for his saber strapped to his side, but did not actually switch it on before turning around. The Force had brought him to a quieter bottom region of the busy steamed city, a place where humidity dripped down in a not too salubrious fashion, all the while the tightness of the space to move played as both an incommodity and an advantage.
Turning around, Anakin smashed the end of his saber's handle in the face of someone he did not have to see in any sort of obscure flashing light from the advertising panels decorating the whole peak of a building towering far beyond what they could see past the steam above. The light pulses fragmented a rather quick altercation: Anakin hit his mark and though the hooded man was staggered a single step back, his swayed movement clashed almost immediately forward, bumping into his side. The shivering wind of the Force passed by Anakin's ear as a far too slow heads-up before the stranger had moved open one of the ventilation pipes above, raining hot steam down on their little corner of the alley.
Like a fog, the steam spread all around them. Another fast sense gave Anakin too little of a warning: a metallic object dropped and the sound deceived him such that he stepped back and tripped over the bar that had been pushed over by the Force user he now knew all too well was Cay Lanshee.
No Force user with such a considerable energy signature would be so docile in their fighting style, clearly avoiding lethal powers.
Just as that though flashed through Anakin's mind, a more significant tug from his senses made him step aside and thus dodge a falling trash container. All inside had been spread around and at that fowl scent, he finally decided he had had enough of the games; after all, he felt Cay would make a run for it in this fogged mess.
Closing his eyes, Anakin followed the state of the fog and accelerated its natural dissipation to an almost immediate disappearance from the alley. Bringing his right hand forward, despite holding the lightsaber, Anakin collapsed the unstable walls of the abandoned buildings further narrowing the alley into an escape for Cay Lanshee. Only then, he finally switched on his saber, pointing it ahead and opening his eyes.
With victory twisting pride into his gaze, Anakin lifted his chin and watched Cay Lanshee's shoulders drop in a sigh as he measured his choices in turning around.
"You know," Anakin teased, "if you wanted to really hide from the Order, you should have chosen a planet that's not so close to Coruscant."
"I would have stayed on Coruscant if I was certain I could escape Order," Cay Lanshee responded, finally turning around. "Lowering your weapon, boy. I am not your enemy."
Anakin's stance asserting dominance over the face off did not falter, not as he stepped closer and not even as he spoke, nonchalance attempting to make room into his tone, "Running from justice is a pretty 'enemy' thing to do, sir."
"Not this time," Cay Lanshee shook his head ever so lightly and in a flash of neon light Anakin could finally pick up on the nuance that he was scared, shivering; both things he never thought he would have seen on the Emissary and definitely no trait he could have picked up before during their fogged altercation.
"Why did you leave?" Though he had sworn to himself to wait for a more formal interrogation of the man in the transport back to Coruscant, he couldn't help his curiosity now that he noticed something was wrong.
"Eden," Cay Lanshee breathed out. To Anakin's paralyzing dismay, he did not sound like a madman trying to blame her for everything, if such madness could even exist. "I needed to stay close to her. For her. She's..."
Anakin couldn't tell if Cay had lost his mind and these were the words on the edge of delirium or he was as sane as ever and scared to his very core by an impending doom similar to the one that had taunted the Skywalker on the way there. Torn in that conflict of ideas, Anakin glared and raised his voice, giving in to anger, rather than the fear Cay's speech tried to elicit, "What? What of Eden-?"
"She's in danger!" Cay shouted back with a flinch. His wide eyes lowered to the ground and Anakin's soul dropped somewhere deep beneath the rotten crust of the planet too. "In great danger..."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
& no, Cay Lanshee is not talking about the bounty hunter who placed a tracker on Eden 👀👀👀
Anyway, I don't know how to feel about this chapter just yet.
I've stressed about it for far too long to know how I feel about it more than just that I am glad that I pulled through and managed to finish it... So feedback if very much welcomed and encouraged for this one y'all 🙏😭💖
The only thing I am genuinely proud of including and deciding on is those reforms that Eden is advising the Jedi Order to approve && how their inner changes reveal the Senate liked to have them under their thumb this whole time and hate it that they are becoming separate from the politics once more. ( For short: I could write a whole essay on the political aspects of this arc — )