Forbidden Hero: A Star Wars Tragedy

Chapter 7

~ your focus determines your reality ~

Walking through the halls of the ISB headquarters, my head throbbed. Miss San Tekka walked swiftly, followed by a large flask of Jogan palp juice. According to her, it was a sure-fire way to cure my hangover.

Sitting at my desk, I flipped through the morning reports as usual when I heard the woosh of the door opening. "I thought I would hand-deliver my last reports, ma'am," Pratta said with a salute.

"Pratta, I hope you are just as hungover as me," I replied, returning the salute.

"I see you're also on the Jogan palp train." He remarked with a laugh.

"When are you out of here?"

"As soon as I hand my weapons in."

Standing, I reached out a hand. "Safe journey." May the force be with you. I mouthed with a smile.

"Thank you."

Watching him leave felt like part of my own life was over. I needed to re-staff a lot of the personnel on the Crusader. Flipping through the officers available for requests, I made a shortlist. Quinton Laymar - First Class Imperial Academy. "Hirsi, do you know a Laymar?"

Looking up, she nodded. "Yes, he was the class above me—a stickler for the handbook. But also a quick mind. Can think on his toes."

Just what I was looking for. "Make an appointment. I want to make sure he is the right fit for Crusader.

"Of course, ma'am."

~~~

It had been a long day. Sitting on my favourite sofa, I noticed something missing. The fruit bowl that had been full that morning was utterly empty, or I imagined it. Maybe I just had too much on my mind. Opening the medic draw, I soon realised it wasn't just in my mind. 

I decided to follow my aid on her evening walk late the following evening. Descending to the lower levels of Coruscant, the smell was like rotten bantha meat. Yet, Hirsi opened a seemingly inconspicuous door to a room filled with light in all this darkness and filth. As discreetly as she opened the door, I did the same, but my reception was a complete surprise.

Hirsi stood still with her hands raised as she was surrounded by very trigger happy -- congregants -- What was this place?

"You let an Imperial tail you? Hirsi, you're gettin' sloppy." A small human woman said as she ushered calm.

"She's my employer. Lower your weapons."

"No way, we have the chance to ...."

Without waiting for what he would say, I pulled out Ifonia's lightsaber. I wasn't planning on using it when I decided to follow my aid down 400 levels. Igniting the bright emerald blade, I felt myself move into a stance I had seen Ifona take many times.

"Soresu?" Said another voice from beyond my vision. "A Jedi stance. But you are no Jedi or Sith." As she stepped out of the shadows, I saw a woman dressed in the robes of a Jedi, albeit significantly worn.

Switching off the blade. I gave a deep bow. "Forgive me; I shouldn't have followed."

"All is like The Force wills it." She added as she moved closer. "Miss San Tekka has a lot to tell you."

As Hirsi San Tekka walked through the door, I saw the look she gave me. It wasn't shaming; it was just knowledge. "I know what you've been doing?" I said in my Imperial voice. I mean, I didn't exactly know what she was doing. "I have placed so much trust in you, Hirsi. And this whole time, you have been stealing from me."

"It's not like that," Hirsi replied calmly.

"Because if it weren't for my splitting alcohol-induced headache, I wouldn't have even looked for a stim. I would never have known someone was stealing the medical draw. By The Force, why do you even need it? You could have asked."

"I didn't trust you."

Her words were so sharp that they cut deep. "Why would that be an issue, Hirsi?" Pausing, I looked back at her. "Who are the stims for?" 

"For these people, for survivors of the purge." This time her eyes wanted desperately for me to understand. "I couldn't ask; you are not just Imperial, your Imperial High Command. I couldn't risk their lives. But after seeing you speak with Senator Organa, I gathered it may be safe when you'd figure out what I was doing."

"You let me follow you."

"Yes."

Shaking my head, I shouldn't have come. He would find this place in my memories. Was that even how a Sith Lord worked? I wasn't entirely sure. "What is this place?"

"The church of The Force." Pausing, she looked at my still quizzical face. "We believe in the ideals of the Jedi Order. We believe that the light of the Jedi would one day return to the galaxy."

"You're a part of all this?" Turning to the woman who stood on the other side of the glass door. "Is she a Jedi?"

"That blade you have, it was once a Jedi's. It was Bouvardia's."

"Her name was Ifonia." What was I doing? I shouldn't have said anything. I was thinking over things again. I knew only one outcome. "These people need to flee. It isn't safe on Coruscant."

"They know."

~~~

After talking for what seemed like hours, we emerged from that small room. The woman was not a Jedi Knight but had worked in the temple, had lived with them and learnt with them. She was the leader of the small congregation. She was force sensitive but in a minimal sense, according to her. She called herself Mistress Nina Soh. I watched as she conducted the service. This was something like home, the way she conducted herself reminded me of the priestesses in our temple on Mizra. Perhaps that is why I felt myself let go of my cynicism.

"I sense a great sorrow in you," Soh said as she looked into my eyes.

"I lost someone very precious to me," I confessed as she held my hands.

"If you could connect with her, would you take that chance?"

~~~

Looking at the Imperial Palace, I thought over the idea. "Hirsi, could it work? I don't want to be in a spice haze." I asked as she hovered at the door.

We didn't talk about the ride back to the apartment. She had found a speeder and took me home. It all seemed like a haze anyway. All I could think about was what might happen if they were found. Suppose anyone saw us go down what the Emperor might say. Then, standing, I turned to face her. "You've gotten into something you know nothing about. The man who is our Emperor, who is not a mear man, but rather a Sith Lord. Ifonia knew of only one who had ever defeated a Sith Lord; now, two of them and servants do their bidding. If this solution has any way of creating a connection to the cosmic force I must know."

The look on her face was one of determination. "Of course."

"Then tell..." My voice trembled as I spoke. "Are you a separatist?" I had deactivated the security feed in case she confessed to me. "Are you? I need the truth!"

"A separatist? No, a believer in a democratic republic, yes." Hirsi replied; her voice was calm without a hint of fear. "Now, what will you do?"

"I'm an ISB Officer; keeping secrets is part of the job."