AU: Not Milliways continuity: The Foundry -Reprise

[last_kallig]

Ibani is at a corner booth in Milliways, examining a tactical map of the Kurost sector of the Mid-Rim, specifically the Nanth'ri system.

She's half in, half out of armor, a look worn by many commanders in many worlds and many times. A look that suggests that the Commander was either interrupted en route to sleep or has given up on it entirely.

She has a small stack of holopads set out on the table, listing various groups and their locations, most of them are crossed out. The two on top are for a Major Bessiker and the Sith Hiran Bessiker, his son.

She'd hoped she would never need to enter the Foundry again, but events have conspired against her.

Her stomach sinks as she recalls what she's fairly sure will be Major Bessiker's last message to her or to anyone, that a group of fanatical Jedi had taken the Foundry. She's checked again and again, and there is no one she can send, no one she can spare.

If she can't find an answer here, she'll be going alone into what the data tells her MUST be a trap.

(OOC: dialogue in italics is taken from/adapted from Ibani's canon.)

Comments

[acertainpov]

Ben stands steady, his eyes on her filled with all the warmth and compassion in the Galaxy, his hands folded in front of him.

"Is she lying?" he asks with the rhetorical tone of a Master talking to his own Padawan. "Would they be telling the truth if they denied it?"

She's strong in the Force: she can reach these conclusions on her own.

[last_kallig]

"She didn't feel like she was lying," Ashara says after a moment. "But that doesn't mean she couldn't be mistaken."

But that begs the question of why the Jedi didn't correct her, doesn't it? "But if it was a mistake, they should have said so."

She swallows hard, draws up her courage. "Please, Master. Can you, can you keep the Sith occupied for a while? Master Ryen, Master Ocera, I'm their Padawan. They might not listen to a Sith, or, or a stranger, but they'll listen to me!"

The Force is full of determination, the drive to do the right thing, to save everyone. To be what a Jedi SHOULD be.

They have to listen to her, surely?

[acertainpov]

Ben considers his options - realizes that he can’t kidnap her, can’t force her to go with him to safety. She’s right, it would be against their role as peacekeepers not to try.

But his hope for her success is slim.

He nods once.

“You must be prepared for failure,” he advises. “Know that when a heart is lost sometimes the wisest course is your own survival.

“I can hold her off long enough for you to try, but when I say to leave, you listen.”

He places a hand on her shoulder, reassuring and warm.

“Trust in the Force, Young One. Listen to what it tells you.”

Then he steps back, and before he opens the door he increases his presence in the Force. It’s like knocking, in a way.

Eyes on the child’s, he holds his lightsaber, unactivated, in one hand and invites her to come forward, to stand in front of him.

Then he opens the door back into the control center.

[last_kallig]

Ashara nods in agreement, then moves to stand in front of Ben before he opens the door. Unsurprisingly, all three Force users are looking their way when they enter. Lightsabers were clearly drawn before they entered, but no one appears to have been stabbed yet, hooray!

"Ashara!" the Cathar Jedi snaps, concerned. "You should not be here, this foe is beyond you!" Which is an accurate assessment, honestly, if Ibani had any intention of fighting the girl.

Ibani backs up to the far wall, keeping an eye on the enemy human Jedi as she moves away. She sends Ben a sense of questioning, but she trusts whatever his plan is.

"I'm not here to fight, Master Ryen," Ashara replies. Then she steps forward, moving toward Master Ryen, hands raised palm out. "Please don't do this, Master!" she begs. "Even if you win, we will have lost, don't you understand?"

The other Jedi, who must be Master Ocera, moves to keep his position and distance from Ibani the same.

"You're too young to understand, Ashara," Master Ryen replies. "Sometimes we must make terrible sacrifices for the good of the people of the Republic." There is a tinge of sorrow in the Force from him.

[acertainpov]

Ben stays by the door, but he raises a hand to stay Ibani, his lightsaber hilt in it adding a threat to that, as if either were needed.

His glance though carries a helpless tolerance. He thinks it’s amusing she even thinks he has a plan to trust in.

The thrust of his attention is on the growing tension between Jedi and Padawan, and his usually genial face develops a deep furrow at Ryan’s words.

[last_kallig]

Ashara moves closer to Ryen. "No, Master. Not, not like this. If we do things like the Sith, how are we any different than them?"

Ibani starts to raise a hand to object to this comparison, but changes her mind. She'll take whatever argument gets them to back down, honestly!

Ashara keeps moving closer. Master Ryen sighs, lowers his lightsaber slightly, then shuts his eyes for a moment. Suddenly the Force is full of a deep well of grief and guilt, a whirlpool of it.

"Damn, I honestly wasn't expecting that to work," Ibani says, beginning to feel hopeful about this after all!

Ashara smiles brightly at Master Ryen, turns to approach Master Ocera, who has never taken his attention off of Ibani.

And that's when it happens. Neither Ashara nor Ibani reached the correct conclusions about what those emotions from Master Ryen meant, you see. It wasn't guilt and grief over what he HAD done, but what he was ABOUT to do.

Master Ryen moves his lightsaber toward Ashara, to give her the same blow, the same quick, clean death that Ben gave Kell Daree earlier.

Ben's the only one in the right position to both see what's happening and react to it in time, IF he's fast enough...

[acertainpov]

The Force hits Ashara like a Jawa sandcruiser, sending her flying across the room to the far wall.

Where she had been standing a millisecond ago stands an old Jedi hermit, his lightsaber blocking the clean path of her Master’s, his gaze determined, unflinching, locked on the Cathar.

Open as he is to the Force even now there’s no anger. Just disappointment.

[last_kallig]

Ashara is surprised by being hit by the Force, but that has nothing on the surprise when she looks back and sees the way her Master and Ben are standing.

She knows, then, what was supposed to happen. She freezes, and her careful control shatters, flooding the Force with fear, horror, and betrayal.

Master Ryen holds Ben's gaze, equally determined and unflinching. "You'll pay for that, traitor."

Ibani knows what it's like to break and to be on the very edge of breaking. She's been broken before, and if things had gone only slightly differently she would have found her Death on Korriban when she was seeking it. The last thing this poor child needs is any more trauma today. Trauma like feeling her Masters die.

"I will hold them until you return," she promises Ben. So much is unsaid along with that statement, but open to the Force as he is right now, Ben will likely sense it anyway. That Ibani understands how fragile Ashara is right now, that she knows what it's like to be broken, that she wishes she had had someone, ANYONE, in those terrible days after A'Tema's murder to help her put herself back together.

Master Ryen growls as Ibani reaches out with the Force to yank him toward herself. To give Ben space to act with regard to Ashara.

[acertainpov]

“Ashara.”

When the pressure of Ryen’s lightsaber pressing down on Ben’s is relieved, Ben stands. He keeps his back to Ibani, Ryen and Ocera, but the set in his shoulders is clear. He can feel you and you’d be a fool to think a turned back is a target.

He also puts himself between the three of them and a clear route from where the Padawan is just standing up, to the door and the way off this station.

“Come, young one, it’s time to go.”

[last_kallig]

Ibani 'helps' by moving to attack both of the Jedi Masters, which ought to keep them plenty distracted!

Ashara doesn't respond at first, and she's shaking slightly when she finally moves toward Ben.

She's repeating the Jedi Code out loud to herself over and over again, like a mantra, the words running together. It doesn't seem to be helping her calm down, much.

[acertainpov]

Ben’s hardly surprised; those words seem so meaningless now. And false, to boot.

He reaches out a hand for her again as she nears, places it on her shoulder, and steers her firmly towards the door, his arm around her.

He still doesn’t look at Ibani even on his way out - she’s doing her part by giving them this space.

As the door shuts behind them he continues on down the corridor, but adapts his pace to Ashara's, his presence serene.

“You were right to try,” he says.

[last_kallig]

Ashara leans into Ben's arm around her, unaware that she's doing it.

She's still saying the Jedi Code to herself when Ben tells her she was right to try and the word 'peace' sticks in her throat like something barbed and sharp.

Then she starts to sob uncontrollably. She'll be horribly embarrassed later, this is not the sort of thing Jedi should do, but she hurts SO MUCH! (And Un-Jedi like behavior seems to be happening a LOT today on this station)

[acertainpov]

They're just about far enough away from the battle that Ben stops, turns her towards him and tilts her head up to look directly into her eyes, ignoring the sobs.

"Emotion," he says quietly, "yet peace. Don't be afraid to feel, Ashara."

Then both his hands are on her shoulders, pulling her to him.

[last_kallig]

Ashara wraps her arms around him and clings, still sobbing.

"Emotion, yet peace," she manages eventually. It's not a version that she knows, but it FEELS right, like nothing else has felt today.

She lets go of Ben, eyes red. "I'm crying all over you and I don't even know your name." She flushes at that.

"Where...where do I GO? I've never been away from Master Ocera and Master Ryen."

[acertainpov]

He gives her a warm smile, using his thumb to wipe away a tear from her cheek and turns back the way they were going towards the hangar. At least now no droids are attacking them.

"I am Ben Kenobi," he says. "I'm not a Jedi of your Order," which is true, "but I know the corruption that can seep into our hears during times of war." Yes, he definitely knows that.

"Go back to your Order, Ashara, if you think it's safe. But remember who sent you here, and what was planned."

[last_kallig]

Ashara is surprised when he says he's not a Jedi of her Order. "Oh, that would explain why, why the Sith didn't attack you." Her voice trembles a little at the end. Look, Ibani is SCARY, OK? At least if you don't know her.

"I'll remember," she says solemnly. They're near the hanger now. "But I don't know if anyone will believe me. It feels like a nightmare, but I'm already awake."

[acertainpov]

"She didn't attack us," he says, a slight emphasis to include her, "because we're not a part of this. If she could stop this without bloodshed I believe she would."

The passage way to the hangar is blocked by a heps of charred droid carcasses. Ben stops just before it and looks at Ashara. "Your fellow Barriss has left already - I know he had doubts. If no one believes you, remind him of the Code.

"Now help me," he says, and holds a hand out towards the blockade, fingers spread, palm out. They'll have to move the bodies together.

[last_kallig]

"Really?" The Sith have the reputation that they have for a reason, after all.

She nods when he mentions Barriss. "Having a Knight agree with me would help."

She reaches out with the Force and her hands toward the bodies to clear the doorway.

It takes a little while to clear the way, even with two of them doing the work.

Ashara makes a small gasping noise when she sees the bodies of Kell Daree and Nomar Organa.

[acertainpov]

"There are as many different Sith as there are different Jedi," Ben says. His hand is on her shoulder again and he steers her gently but firmly to a starfighter away from both bodies. "We're all just people, and the Force flows through us all.

"Ashara, you must be prepared in case they don't believe you. It's going to be a hard thing to hear, and even Jedi can have our minds clouded at times."

For example: this entire mess.

[last_kallig]

"We're all just people," Ashara echos. "They forgot that, Master Ryen and Master Ocera."

She knows what has to happen, that they must be stopped, but the thought of their deaths still hurts, even after what they did.

"I feel like I should have known, that things were going rotten," she adds as they reach the fighter. Her hands automatically go to open the cockpit.

"Would you tell the Sith that I'm sorry, for, for all of this?" It's not much, but at least it's an apology from a Jedi?

[acertainpov]

Ben nods assent - he will pass that on - and puts both hands on her waist to lift her up into the cockpit.

"Learn from it," he says and when she's in, he places a hand on his chest over his heart. "Listen to your feelings, Ashara. The Force will be with you, always."

[last_kallig]

"May the Force be with you too, Ben Kenobi," Ashara replies, hand over her own heart.

Ashara starts the starfighter, then waves one final time before she starts to make her way out of the hanger bay.

By the time Ben gets back to the control room, Ashara will be out of range to feel anything that happens here in the Force. Between the two of them, they've bought her that peace.

Ibani's payment is clear when Ben makes it back to the control room. Ibani's armor is covered in deep, nasty, gashes from lightsabers, several of which look like they could have been fatal without the armor. Ibani has been fighting entirely defensively, not even trying to HURT two Jedi Masters who are both very intent on killing her. It was just about the worst possible handicap she could have given herself, in this situation.

[acertainpov]

Ben jogged all the way from the hangar, unchallenged by droids thanks to appearing Jedi, and makes it to the control room in fairly quick time, although by the look of it, not a second too soon.

He built his shield back up on the way from saying goodbye to Ashara, so it’s the ignition of his lightsaber that announces his presence in the doorway of the control room.

“Well you look terrible,” he tells Ibani. “These two proving too much for you?”

[last_kallig]

Ibani makes a rude hand gesture in Ben's direction, but she's amused at his comment despite herself. "Only because I was treating these two with velvet gloves," she snarks. "Time to finish this dance, I take it?"

Please let it be time to stab these karking Jedi, Ben. Please?

[acertainpov]

“If you’re done leading your dance partners around,” says Ben. He hasn’t moved, aggressively or defensively, from the door, just letting his presence be threat enough, challenging the Jedi to turn to him rather than Ibani.

“I think they’re getting sore feet.”