Chapter Text
Jay stumbles, his legs too short when the long twig-like legs of a battle droid steps in his path on the way to support Aunt Bo in the active war zone. He raises his lightsaber and deflects the shots back at it, but he gets caught off guard when a super battle droid appears and shoots at his feet.
With a cry, he falls backward on his bum, feeling undignified and scared, the emotionless sensors the droid locking in on him as his back hits a rocky outcropping unearthed during the battle. Jay wonders if this is the moment where his life should flash before his eyes, and my, that wouldn’t take long, cause he’s only turning 12 in a few short days. Still, he sees nothing, but the glint of droid armor bearing down on him.
I want my dad, Jay thinks, for not the first time in the past couple of months. It may just be that last though.
In the dust and pandemonium of the battlefield, the droid prepares to fire again, and Jay raises his saber, unwilling to go down without at least trying to survive.
Then, his ears pop as pressure drops, and BOOM—dust burst into the air and light barely filters through enough to see (and Jay really wants to see because that was totally wicked) the super battle droid bursting apart with satisfying crunch at the sheer strength of the force push, and it flies so far into the battle fog that Jay loses sight of it. He squints through the newly risen dust, hand shielding his eyes from the light as he looks for it. He lets his hand drop when it’s clear that it’s not coming back.
He starts to wonder if that was a fluke as he stands there waiting, for just a moment, to see who saved him. With the battle around him, he can’t hear anything significantly telling, and he most certainly can’t see anything either, but the force hums in some sort of anxious anticipation.
And Jay can relate.
In the back of his mind, he can feel some strange wiggling, trying to come forth but Jay still can’t quite reach it since being on those force suppressants.
But no one comes claiming hero, and briefly, Jay is disappointed. He frowns and shoves that aside, as there is a battle to win, or else beautiful Serenno is lost for really no good reason.
The force screams and he screams and scrambles to the side, just missing the Magna guard that drives its electro staff down right where he was standing. Standing dumbly, like an idiot, right in the perfect spot to be killed.
It’s just him and the Magna guard, which thank Grievous, for bringing those to the table. But Jay wonders where everybody went. He couldn’t see anybody, not Uncle Cody, or Auntie Soka, and he lost Aunt Bo while panicking with the super battle droid. There was too much fog, and too much Magna droid, in his opinion. He hops and dodges and deflects, looking for an opening, when, wouldn’t you believe it, a second Magna guard comes strolling into the party.
Jay despairs. He does not have enough training for this. But, then again, he didn’t have enough training for anything that happened over the course of the last few months.
Adapt. That’s what Dad always says.
He prepares to block on two sides, using some of the new moves he learned and widens his stance. But then it hardly matters.
Not two successful blocks in and the second guard sweeps his legs out from under him. He falls harshly on his side, the side that had been shot by that one Death Watch Mando, and he sucks in a breath and looks his executioner in the eyes.
The Magna guard raises its staff, ready to impale him when the air compresses one more time. The dust freezes around him, time grows sluggish, and light beams through the particles. The staff begins to lower, and a shadow descends upon them all. The graceful falling of a defensive angel, the form strikes, blue saber sweeping clean through both Magna guards, the strength and speed and precision of the blow launching them far away from Jay and his savior. Time speeds up again, and Jay looks up and feels relief like he’s never felt before, like he’s been saved in more than one life.
With sheer joy, Jay smiles for what feels like the first time in many cycles.
Dad.
21 years ago.
Sidious realized his mistake, probably about five minutes too late. Following Skywalker’s aghast expression, he fidgeted endlessly in his chair and nodded way too politely, where he thought appropriate. Sidious thought Skywalker would get over it, and that his plan was, in fact moving forward, but alas, five minutes later Kenobi comes barging in, lightsaber ignited, looking like he ran over in a speeder and was run over by said speeder.
And Skywalker leapt to his feet, pointing very impolitely and is only able to articulate one word, which was “Sith!”, and then the greatest Sith lord to ever grace the galaxy was assaulted by the Chosen One, the Negotiator, and the few council members that happened to be on the planet. Which was that troll and Mace Windu.
Sidious didn’t stand a chance. The last thing he saw was Skywalker’s beautiful and well-crafted rage separating his head from his body.
Following the unforeseen death of the Chancellor (who would’ve thought that commando droids could get so close to the senate?), the clone wars came to a rather dull end. The newly elected Chancellor Organa was very supportive, of ending a war, starting a peace treaty, and trusting the Jedi. Although the news he received from them about Chancellor Palpatine’s death was very different from what was reported, he knew the reasons for such discretion, especially when Padme made some very explicit threats about the implications of charging her husband with assassination.
Thus, the Republic continued, but the war opened up some issues that Organa wanted addressed. First, the corruption was to be weeded out, through real justice, and not that fake justice. And then, everything else would fall into place.
The Separatists (not the evil ones, but the ones that just wanted to be separate from the Republic), formed an official council that was formally acknowledged by the Republic, from which treaties stemmed. Peace was achieved, and formal trade was beginning negotiations. They rallied behind the name the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
The evil Separatists, who kept the name, banded behind Grievous, and formed a terrorist organization that would come into fruition in later years. It was hardly anything at the moment, but the GAR couldn’t find it and therefore, couldn’t nip it in the bud.
And, surprising everyone, Count Dooku backed down calmly and went home to retire. Really, he was biding his time to see if there was anything to get worked up about, but after a while, it wasn’t worth the effort. Most of the things he had argued for were implemented, by who he was claiming as his grandpadawan, ever the proud Count of his legacy. He sits comfortably on Serenno, for now.
While the galaxy was going through renovations, the Jedi Order was going through an existential crisis. The council met for eight days straight, trying to balance wrapping up the war and re-evaluating what it means to be a jedi. And even after those eight days, they kept meeting obsessively for the next fifteen days before they came to a conclusion, the most unexpected conclusion since Yoda was born.
Obi-wan Kenobi himself was a mess. When after Palpatine was killed by “droids”, Anakin came sobbing into his room while he was taking a tea break, blubbering about “Padme” and “marriage”, two words Obi-wan really wasn’t prepared to hear together.
Needless to say, one shattered tea cup later, Obi-wan sat sweating in his council seat on day two of meetings, wondering how he ends it in these situations, if it’s the will of the force for him to suffer between his angsty former padawan and the council. Just when he thought he was going to burst, they took another break, and Obi-wan grabbed his former padawan by the ear and dragged him to Padme’s apartment for a good long chat.
He brought up two points. What it means to be a Jedi and what it means to trust your best friend.
“Did anyone else know?” Obi-wan asked them.
“Palpatine did,” Anakin mumbled, eyes downcast and stormy. Padme pursed her lips.
Obi-wan looked to the sky, thinking, force did we dodge a blaster bolt.
And then he started to cry. Anakin, not really knowing what to do when Obi-wan cries, since that just plain never happens, awkwardly wrapped an arm around his master and held him until it was time for Obi-wan to return the council.
The next day Obi-wan returned to their apartment to discuss an idea. Anakin was suddenly filled with the concept of hope. This could work.
Thus, the meetings in the council chamber took a drastic turn.
What does it mean to be a Jedi? Peace? War? Love? Certainly not hate.
This was the beginning of what Padawan Tano calls the Jedi Order Lite.
After twenty-three days of Council meetings, Yoda moved to the creche, and will remain there, for advice and for raising children.
The death on Chancellor Palpatine was particularly hard on Yoda. He felt he failed to notice the changes in the force. He didn’t approve of all of the changes the council was considered, but he chose to let them go through with it and retired to raise younglings, letting Mace and Plo run the show. He decided the sudden happiness in the force was more important than his traditional ideals.
Tradition was scrapped. Well, that was an exaggeration. The new Jedi Order Lite was equipped with the old code, emotion, yet peace, which was what they taught in the creches anyway. The Jedi stepped apart from the senate and rearranged how they received senate missions. They got a representative to mediate between the senate and jedi, and wouldn’t ya know it, Senator Amidala volunteered.
The jedi also added the Peacekeeper initiative. People need help all over the galaxy, and they can’t always get through to the senate for help. So, the Jedi set up the beginnings of the Peacekeeper Core, jedi knights that explore the galaxy looking for those in need and spreading the means to get in communication with the Jedi. Hence, the new phrase, “Call the Peacekeepers.”
Obi-wan’s favorite new change was the Initiate Initiative. Initiates aging out was scrapped, especially if they needed to rejuvenate the order and support the Corps and the Peacekeeper Core. If not chosen as padawans, they could still train in group orientations for becoming a Peacekeeper Knight. Obi-wan felt that was very promising.
There was also the addition of Guided Force training. Families that didn’t want to give up their child for Jedi training could opt to allow their child enough force training to not be dangerous. Untrained force sensitives had a habit of becoming troublesome, so some Jedi guidance wouldn’t be remiss.
Anakin’s favorite new change was the Jedi Family addition. Jedi who opted to have families did not have to leave the order, but they would be implemented as auxiliary members. They can have a family, live with them, request missions, and will be required to show up for service when called to duty. However, they aren’t allowed to have padawans, because having a family and training a padawan is just not fair to the padawan. Unless, of course the padawan is accepted as an honorary member of the family.
Anakin smirked when he found out he was the exception, until Obi-wan pointed out that was because he already had a family when was training Ashoka and technically broke the code.
But after Ahsoka was knighted, no more padawans for the chosen one. Unless, of course, he kept adding padawans to the family.
Jedi families also had options. Obi-wan wanted to ensure they hammered out these details now, before Anakin has chance to break anything else, and the council spent dawn till dusk with one point. Should the jedi family have force sensitive kids, whether they wanted to be Jedi or not, the parents can do some basic training. Should the younglings want to be jedi, the parents can do training at home, and/or opt for a Master to take care of their training at the temple. Anakin was so excited.
Anakin was having the time of his life. He wanted a family so badly, now that he was allowed to have one, and his joy was radiating all over the temple. Obi-wan was so happy and relieved, that his brother was happy. That didn’t stop Obi-wan from choking on a tuber when Anakin told him he was going to try for kids with Padme. Ahsoka choked too, from laughing so hard at Master Obi-wan.
Still, after all of this, there were some more things to be solved.
The clones, for example. You know, there are a lot of them. Almost enough for their own planet.
They got a moon.
They got a lot of options. The Senate gave them citizenship and actual rights, some Republic planets offered them sanctuary for war veterans, like Naboo and Alderaan. And then some unnamed pirate (Hondo), found an inhabitable moon off of a mining planet in the mid rim, and there the clones can make a home for themselves. This was an option many clones chose.
Not all of them wanted to leave service, it’s sometimes hard to stop being a soldier. Reconstruction was necessary all over the Republic and so those that remained on duty, with actual sentient rights, were on relief, helping those hurt from the war. They spread the new Peacekeeper communication web, along with the rest of the GAR.
Now that they got actual medical care and health insurance, they had some interesting brain scans. Fives was livid.
Obi-wan tried not to enjoy watching the last remnants of respect Anakin had for Palpatine dissipate into the ether.
But, in all seriousness, Palpatine was a terrible man. Those orders would have been holocaust and Obi-wan was this close, with Anakin, to gathering the clones around him like a mother hen. The council knows that Plo did.
The 501st and the 212th, who argued to remain together, were on reconstruction on Ryloth for now, making Numa very happy. They want to remain in service in case of resurface of war, or in case Grievous played his hand, or just in case their generals needed them for duty. They still salute when Obi-wan, Anakin and Ahsoka come out to help, and Rex still doesn’t quite know what to do with a hug, just as Cody still doesn’t quite know what to do with a friendly clasp on the shoulder. Ahsoka lives to watch them try to figure it out.
So, perhaps after all, balance was achieved. The chosen one had, inevitably, brought balance to force. The Jedi Order Lite, most councilors believed, had gone a bit gray. But the force was steadier than any of them could remember it being, so a little bit of gray was ignored for the better.
“Proud, Qui-gon is.” Yoda told Obi-wan on the twenty-fifth day. Obi-wan cried for the second time in twenty-three days.
Anakin was happy living with Padme, reeling for a family. Ahsoka was a hop skip and a jump away from being knighted. And Obi-wan sat alone in his room holding Qui-gon’s saber.
Obi-wan dialed his com.
“Obi?”
“Hello, Satine.”
Padme told Sabe their wedding on Mandalore was beautiful.
And here, some twenty years later, we begin the story.
This is about Jaytin. This is about how half the Galaxy went crazy looking for him.