Star Wars Jedi Knight IV: Sith Empire

Chapter 2: The Counsel

"A communications disruption can mean only one thing—invasion."

―Sio Bibble

"That's so bad!" Jaina squealed between giggles.

"What's up Jaina?" Ben Skywalker asked as he walked through the doorway to the Fel quarters. Jaina wasn't a giggler. At all. What was even stranger was seeing Kyp Durron and Zekk in his married cousin's quarters.

"Oh, come here Ben," Jaina said, wiping a tear from her face and motioning him in. She still had a huge grin on her face. Why did he have such a bad feeling about this? "Where's his?" Jaina asked Kyp, who reached into a container, pulled out a small toy and handed it to Ben. It looked like a Jedi action figure. He studied it for a second and noticed that it looked a bit like his dad, only stubbier and with black hair. Though most of it was black, he looked at the face. It was slathered with skin-toned paint and had two large blue blobs for eyes. He turned it over and looked at the bottom of its circular base. Emblazoned cheaply on the bottom was BEN SKYWALKER.

"That's not even close!" Ben snorted and looked at the toy in disgust and ran a hand through his fiery red hair. Everybody laughed, including Ben. "That's just pathetic."

"At least they got the lightsaber kind of right." Zekk remarked. Ben looked ruefully on the plasteel figure and observed the crooked blue rod coming out of what was supposed to be his right hand. Ben just snorted and shook his head. "Uh, Jaina, Master Katarn is holding a Council meeting. He wants you."

"Why didn't he just comm me?" Jaina asked, perplexed.

"He said he tried several times but you never responded."

"That's strange." Jaina checked her comlink. "No, I didn't get anything. Maybe his comlink is on the fritz."

"Maybe. But he does want you."

"Okay, I'll be right there," Jaina dug in the container for a second and pulled out an Imperial looking figure holding a large blaster. Ben could only guess was her husband, Jagged Fel. A wide grin once again on her face, she set the figure prominently on a table before leaving with the rest of the Jedi.

***

Kyle Katarn set a stack of datapads on the conference table and sighed. As much as he hated formality he missed the Jedi Temple. This deteriorating office building used by a mining company long ago here on Shedu Maad was quickly becoming outgrown and was in constant need of repair.

Compounding that irritant, Grand Master Luke Skywalker had gone on an indefinite hiatus. He claimed he needed rest after recent events and wanted to lead a simpler life for a while. As much as he generally trusted Luke, Kyle didn't buy it. Skywalker always put the Order first. The only reason Kyle could think of for Luke leaving was that he wanted to teach the Order he so carefully founded to stand on its own two feet without him so that when the time came for the Order to face Abeloth or the Sith again, they would be stronger than they were before. And if Skywalker was telling the truth about needing a break from the madness, Kyle agreed wholeheartedly.

And before he left, Luke had made Kyle the Grand Master in his place, with the stipulation that as soon as Ben made the rank of Master, that he would automatically take up the title. Kyle had no problem with this. He didn't particularly care for being Grand Master.

The door to the conference room opened and the Masters started filing in. Kyle took a seat at the end of the table. Almost three years later and it still felt wrong.

"Okay, everyone here? Where's Jaina?" Kyle asked as the door hissed open, and Jaina sheepishly took a seat, trying but failing to stifle her grin. Kyle merely ignored it.

"Okay, I've got good news and bad news," Kyle said. "I'll start with the good. One of the Quest Knights thinks he may have a lead on the location of the Dagger of Mortis." He let the statement sink in on the Masters.

"Where?" Corran asked.

"Korriban," Kyle said. That got a reaction from the Masters.

"You're kidding. There's no way." Octa Ramis put her head in her hands.

"I wish I was, Master Ramis. I hate sand." Kyle said, trying to lighten the mood. It elicited a few chuckles but nothing more. "But I am serious. Jedi Soroc's theory is solid. Anakin Skywalker was the last one to see the Dagger that we know of. He was with Obi-Wan on the Mortis Monolith and from what Luke tells us, it sounds like he took it. It's gone and has been long before the Qrephs could lay their dirty little hands on it. When Anakin turned into Darth Vader, he likely took it with him. If that's the case it definitely ended up in the hands of the Emperor, and ended up on Korriban during one of his trips there."

"That's a bit of a stretch," Corran remarked.

"Maybe but its what we've got. It's a lead." Kyle said. "All we need now are some volunteers. Who's up for going to Korriban?" Nobody seemed interested.

"I thought you said we'd have some good news. I'm still waiting." Kyp piped in.

Saba started sissing, the Barabel equivalent of a laugh. "This one agreez Master Katarn."

"Okay, fine, let's think about that and get to the bad news. The bad news is that the Imperial Remnant has been acting strange lately. We haven't heard from Head of State Reige in a long time, and Star Destroyers have been sighted all over in non-Imperial territory behaving very strangely. GA intelligence fears the worst: that Vitor Reige was assassinated by the Moffs and quietly replaced...or worse, not replaced. Either way, it's bad news and we need to investigate it. We were influential in putting those Moffs in place, and I feel partially responsible for keeping an eye on those monkey lizards."

"Who did you have in mind?" Kyp asked.

"Jaina, do you think you and Jag can handle this? He's got experience with that bunch and you can back him up if things get wily." Kyle asked the Master.

"I think so," Jaina said.

"Good. Now, back to Korriban." Kyle said. "Any thoughts?"

"Honestly I think Jedi Korr would be the wisest choice," Cilghal said. "He's got some solid experience on Korriban."

"What about Ben?" Jaina asked. "He's been there more recently."

"How about Jaden and Ben," Kyle suggested. "I don't see any reason why they can't work together." The Masters seemed to agree. "Alright, that's settled. May the Force be with you, you are dismissed."

The Jedi started getting up and filing out. All, except for Jaina, who reached into her robe and withdrew a light brown painted action figure. As she got up she slid it across the conference table to Kyle.

Kyle picked the figure up and raised an eyebrow. Jaina giggled on her way out of the room. The action figure was horrible. The paint from his hair covered what should have been his eyes, and his pants were blue. Kyle distinctly remembered what pair of pants they were trying to replicate there, and they weren't blue. They were brown. His beard was greatly exaggerated, reaching down to his chest.

Kyle just shook his head. Kids these days... He thought to himself. He set the figure down upright on its base so he could pack away the datapads. The figure promptly fell over, revealing KYLE KATRAN scrawled on the warped bottom.

They can't even get my name right. Kyle took his datapads and left the figure there.