Inheritance of the Old Republic (Chapter 15)

“So why do you want to talk to me about this?”  Kyle Katarn asked.

“Process of elimination, mostly, ” Kyp replied.  “Luke’s busy talking to Strachan getting his opinion about his new Jedi Order.”

“And hoping that Strachan’s advice will help him solve his own problems, ” Kyle added.  “Some of them caused by you.”

Kyp winced.  “You didn’t need to remind me of that, ” he accused.

Kyle shrugged.  “If you wanted a counselor, you should have asked Cilghal for a recommendation, ” he replied.

“Anyway, I can’t go to Corran because, well, he’s the one who’s been helping me cause all the problems for Luke, and he has his own issues to deal with, ” Kyp continued.

“Sure.  But you didn’t answer the question:  why me?” Kyle asked.

“Because you’re one of the few Jedi at my level who might … be able to understand what I’ve gone through.”

“Because of the Dark Side?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah.  I know that this isn’t the first time that I’ve, uh, gone Dark …”

Kyle raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

“But this time is different.  I thought I’d managed to keep it under control but it was so … easy for me to fall this time, ” Kyp continued.

“But from what Strachan told us, she had the ability to create Force Bonds that directly influenced the people around her to conform to her alignment, ” Kyle noted.  “This would be one of the few times when you’ve … ‘Gone Dark’ that it really wasn’t your fault.”

“But then why did she pick me?” Kyp demanded.

Kyle raised an eyebrow again.  “Excuse me?” he asked.

“She could have picked any Master, or even a Knight or Padawan.  They should have been easier to influence anyway.  All she needed was a meat shield, really, and not any skills I had.  At least Corran’s needed his detective skills and influence.  So why me?” Kyp replied.

“Why do you think she picked you?” Kyle asked.

“I think she picked me because she knew that I could be influenced to the Dark Side, that I had that in me and she could use it to exploit me, ” Kyp replied.

“All before she met you?” Kyle asked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kyp demanded.

“Well, unless she had extremely good Force visions, for the most part she’d be choosing who to approach based on the information that’s out in public, right?” Kyle asked.

“Well, I guess … ” Kyp replied.

“So, what’s out there about you is that you’re one of the most powerful Jedi Masters … ” Kyle continued.

“Sure, ” Kyp acknowledged.

“… and that you’re at least seen to be something of a ladies man, ” Kyle finished.

“And?” Kyp asked, puzzled.

“Well, she’d want to get as powerful a Jedi as she could since she didn’t know exactly what she was going to face, correct?” Kyle asked.

“I’ll buy that, ” Kyp replied.

“And there’s a good reason for her to think that you being a ladies man would work for her, ” Kyle continued.

“Which is?” Kyp asked.

“That a Force Bond isn’t primarily about alignment, but is mostly about affection and attachment, ” Kyle explained.

A look of sudden realization came across Kyp’s face.

Kyle noted it and continued, “And it would be easier for her to convince you that you were interested in her than to convince you that going to the Dark Side was the right way to go.”

“Plus, it would be easy for me to fall into the trap of thinking that I was manipulating her while she was actually manipulating me, ” Kyp added.

“Makes sense, ” Kyle commented.

Kyp thought for a minute.  “So she picked me not because I’m prone to the Dark Side, but instead because I’m a bit of a cad?”

Kyle nodded.

“I’m not sure that makes me feel that much better, ” Kyp said.

Kyle shrugged. “If you wanted a counselor …” he said, smiling.

****************************************************

Corran stood looking out over the cityscape of Coruscant, brooding, when his wife came up to him.

“Here you are, ” she said.

“Here I am, ” Corran replied.

“People have been looking for you, ” she said.  “They want to congratulate the hero of the hour.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to get away from, ” Corran commented dryly.

“Do you want to be alone?” she asked.

“No, I just don’t really feel like celebrating, ” Corran replied.  “I feel more like a failure than a hero.”

Mirax looked at him sympathetically.  “Because of Alana?” she asked.

“Yeah, ” Corran replied.

She came up and tucked herself into the crook of his arm, but didn’t say anything.

“It’s just … I spent a lot of time with her, ” Corran said.  “And even though I figured out pretty quickly that she was Dark, she was … well, she was just a young girl, like any other.  She talked like one.  She got excited over the sorts of things that they get excited over.  She … well, she could have been a younger sister …”

“Or a daughter?” Mirax asked.

Corran nodded.  “Or a daughter.  I really thought that I’d be able to sway her back to the Light.  So when I had to kill her …”

“You felt like you failed her, ” Mirax finished.

Corran nodded again.

Mirax looked him straight in the eye.  “Corran, despite what Luke sometimes seems to think, not everyone can be saved.  Maybe at a different time, in different circumstances, maybe you could have saved her.  But remember that even her grandfather, with his visions, didn’t think she could be saved.  You did all you could, you made the offer, she rejected it and you had to kill her to save the lives of a lot of people … including Luke … and me”

Corran sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I know you’re right. ” he said.  “But, well …”

“But it still sucks, ” she said.

“Yeah, it still sucks, ” he agreed.

They just stood there for a while.  Finally, Mirax asked, “Want to join the others?”

“Let’s just stay here a little longer, ” he replied.

******************************************

“So tell me more about how the Council worked in those days, ” Luke asked.

Strachan raised an eyebrow.  “Do you want to know the details so that you know how to build your Council … or avoid the problems that brought their Council down?” he asked.

“A little bit of both, to be honest, ” Luke replied.

“Well, let me answer the last part, then.  See, the issue for the Council in those days was that it became more of status symbol than a working Council.  Getting on the Council proved that you were strong, powerful, wise and one of the leading lights of the Council.  That meant that the powerful were appointed to the Council instead of those who really should be there, ” Strachan replied.

“Some of the Council members shouldn’t have been there?” Luke asked, puzzled.  “I mean, with the ability to see in the future, shouldn’t they have been able to weed them out?”

“I think you might be thinking of things at too grand a scale, ” Strachan chided him.  “It’s not that they shouldn’t have been there because they were going to fall to the Dark Side or cause major galactic issues.  It’s just that they weren’t suited for the role they needed to play.  Take, for example, Mace Windu …”

“He’s one of the most respected Jedi from the Clone Wars, ” Luke commented, puzzled.

“Yeah, and he was a powerful Jedi and a strong combatant.  What he wasn’t was particularly wise or, well, patient.  He could cut a dashing authority figure, and so he worked as a figurehead when more sensible Jedi like Yoda were around …”

“… a figurehead on the Jedi Council?” Luke exploded, aghast.

Strachan shook his head.  “Not in the official sense.  But he was strong and powerful and charismatic and people rallied around him, but he relied on the words of Jedi like Yoda to ensure that the right actions were taken.  When the Jedi spread out to deal with the Clone Wars and he was left in charge, he took direct action, since that’s what he was good at.  And that … didn’t work out so well for him, and the galaxy.”

“I see, ” Luke commented.

“That attitude of the Council indicating power was also partly responsible for your father’s fall, ” Strachan continued.

“Go on, ” Luke encouraged, greatly interested.

“Well, your father was a very proud man.  He reacted … badly to any hint that he wasn’t as powerful as he thought he was, or being denied anything that he felt was due him because of his power level.  So he desperately wanted to become a Master and wanted to be on the Council because it would prove how powerful he was.  And since only Masters made it onto the Council, it was seen as the achievement for the elite Jedi, which he saw himself as.  When they made him a member of the Council but didn’t make him a Master, he saw that as an explicit rebuke to him and his power, ” Strachan explained.

“Why did they do that?” Luke asked.

“Ironically, as a rebuke to Palpatine, ” Strachan replied.  “He wanted Anakin on the Council, and so to avoid clashing with the government they put him there … but in a way that flat-out told Palpatine that what he asked for was invalid.  And Anakin got caught in the middle.”

“Which left Anakin vulnerable to Palpatine, ” Luke added.

“Adding in that both Palpatine and the Council were asking him to spy on the other, and it was only natural that Anakin would see that they weren’t all that different … but Palpatine clearly respected him and his abilities, and it wasn’t clear that the Jedi did, ” Strachan finished.

Luke thought for a while.  “So how can I avoid doing the same thing?” Luke said.  “Surely it only makes sense to have Masters on the Council, doesn’t it?  And that risks people seeing it as a status symbol, which from what you say is the problem.”

“Remember, I’ve had access to the entire Jedi archives.  There have been lots of times when someone who was a mere Knight was put on the Council if they had abilities that it needed.  So if you needed a diplomat, for example, appointing your sister would be a good choice, ” Strachan replied.

“But … she’s barely a Knight!” Luke exclaimed.

Strachan shrugged.  “Again, it’s not time in service or Force abilities that make a good Council member, but what role they can fill, ” he explained.  “So far, your Council, out of necessity, seems fine because it’s all the people with all the different experiences after the Purge that create a good Council.  As long as you don’t let it be a status symbol, something to aspire to, you’ll be okay.”

“You aren’t staying around, though, are you?” Luke asked.

Strachan smiled.  “I was never around much in the old days because my power’s too hard to control, and I don’t see any reason to change that now, ” he replied.

**************************************

“So, Strachan’s gone, but he’s left us access to the full set of Jedi archives that he’d rescued when he went into hiding, ” Luke was saying.

“That should give us enough to comb through for years, ” Kam Solusar commented.

“Should we be worried that he’ll use his powers like Shanna used hers?” Kyle Katarn commented.

“I don’t think so, ” Corran commented.  “From his history, if he’d wanted to do that he’d have done that a long time ago.  It really seems like he wants to go off on his own and be away from people.”

“And do research, ” Luke commented.  “He left a comm channel where we can contact him if we need to, and where he’ll drop messages every so often telling us what, if anything, he’s learned.”

“So, from this little adventure, we’ve found out the history of the Star Forge and the Exile and what happened to their abilities, received a copy of the Jedi Archives, and have a new experienced source of advice?” Cilghal noted.  “Seems like a fairly efficient use of resources.”

“You probably wouldn’t think that if you’d been there, ” Corran commented.  Kyp just looked glum.

“Anyway, “ Luke broke in.  “What we really have is a host of resources that we haven’t had before, a host of resources where we can learn from the past what went right … and how to stop things from going wrong.  All we need to do is listen.”

All of the other members of the Jedi Council nodded solemnly.