Taivas- Wednesday

[notconflicted]

When Sia had allowed Cade and his friends to leave Bastion, she'd had every intention of keeping an eye on him, and Fandom's Cade and literally told her where to find him. Roan had dispatch a certain Imperial Knight to find him, and Sia, Ganner and Antares were tasked with following her, and then backing her up.

Where it got tricky was that Cade and his crew were going to a supposed hidden Jedi temple, at which point the mission changed, and it was probably going to be a very good thing Sia was here for this one.

They got to the temple about a minute before the Mynock did, and by the time that crew descended from the ramp, they were greeted by Master Sazen, and by Shado, who had ignited his lightsaber already.

"What the-" Cade said, clearly surprised by this.

"Told you the Jedi couldn't be trusted!" Syn said accusingly.

"Hello, Cade," said Shado. "I see you brought… friends."

It was then that Cade looked over and saw the trio of Imperial Knights disembarking from their ship, Ganner and Antares already having their weapons drawn. "Son of a murglak!"

There were, perhaps, better ways for this to start, Sia decided. "In the name of the true Emperor, Roan Fel, we come bearing greetings to our Jedi cousins."

Cade was angrier about this than expected, and pulled his own lightsaber free. When did he get that? "Ride my tail down in a cloaked ship like a snarking bunch of thieves? Put my ship and my crew in that kind of danger? Karking Imps! You're going down!"

"Protect her Imperial majesty!" Antares demanded, and Sia did her absolute best not to roll her eyes, though she absolutely wanted to.

"She wasn't invited, and you Imperial Knights ain't wanted! This is what you get for crashing my party!" Cade said, over lightsaber clashes.

Ganner, meanwhile, was actually fighting with Shado, because everything was stupid and boys were especially stupid, and Sia unhooked her own lightsaber in case it was needed in this situation. "Is this how you welcome all visitors, Jedi?" Ganner asked.

"Uninvited visitors who arrive with lightsabers in hand, yes!" Shado answered.

"Enough!" Cade yelled, shoving both Ganner and Antares away with the Force and sending them flying.

"How dare you!" Sia said, stalking towards him. "We are on a mission of peace!"

"The act peaceably," Sazen said calmly. "You will all put away your lightsabers. Princess Marasiah, this location is meant to be secret. We will require you to explain how you came to be here."

"Already got that figured," Cade growled at his new companion, a young redheaded woman in armor befitting a bounty hunter.

"No way they came on it by accident," Cade said, circling Azlyn. "No way they simply followed us in. Someone guided them in. Homing beacon, I'm guessing. Means someone on the Mynock. Wasn't Bantha. Wasn't Blue. Wasn't Syn… That leaves you, Azlyn! You got me- all of us- to trust you and then betrayed us! You used me! How many creds did the Imps pay you to sell us out, huh?"

Azlyn looked ashamed by this, which was… interesting. "It wasn't about credits, Cade-"

"It was duty," Sia said, tired of the outbursts when they'd only just gotten here. "Azlyn Rae is an Imperial Knight, working undercover. Her mission was to locate you and convince you to return to Bastion. But her discovery of your journey here altered that. I now place her within the mantle of safe conduct for this diplomatic mission, with all the protection that implies."

Cade tried to launch himself at Sia, held back by his older companion- Bantha- while Sia regarded him with vague disinterest. "Diplomatic mission? You're filthy Imperial spies!"

"You cannot grant diplomatic status to someone when it has not been granted to you, Princess," Sazen pointed out, also ignoring Cade.

"I am here on behalf of my father, the rightful Imperial emperor, to open discussions regarding a possible alliance between our forces and the Jedi of the temple," Sia stated, trying to restore some sanity to this.

"Your father knows of the temple's existence?" Sazen frowned.

"Yes, and its location," Antares confirmed. "You can't think we would take the princess into unknown territory without first relaying our coordinates to Bastion."

Now Sazen looked tired of them. "Negotiations involve trust, Princess. Compromising our existence is a poor place to begin."

"You have nothing to fear from my father, Master Sazen," Sia insisted.

"And less reason to trust him," Shado pointed out.

"The Jedi Council will decide that when they convene this evening," Sazen said, barely holding in an exasperated sigh. "Until then, you and your companions should consider yourselves our… guests."

*****

Cade's group was, of course, a little late to the Council meeting. It was small, with only three members left on the Council, and then Sia and her two Knights, and Cade with Shado and Sazen. On one hand, this left fewer people for Sia to have to convince. On the other, most of these people had gotten into a fight earlier today.

The leader of the meeting was a tree-like Neti who had been around since the time of the Clone Wars. She greeted Cade with a kind, "Welcome, Cade Skywalker, son of Kol. Welcome to the hidden temple of the Jedi. I am Master T'ra Saa. This is Master Tili Qua, and you know Master K'kruhk."

"Nice temple you got here, Master Saa," Cade said. "Hope you're planning to take out the trash soon, though. The stink of crimson armor always makes me gag."

Sia reminded herself that she'd saved Cade's life on purpose.

"The Council feels that the Force has allowed the Imperial delegation here for a reason," said Master Saa. "It is for this Council to determine if we can trust an alliance with an enemy."

Sia was careful not to allow the frustration she felt show on her face or in her Force sense. This was, essentially, the same sort of thing she'd been doing with potential allies across the galaxy for the last few years. "The Jedi have nothing to fear from my father," she said. "Roan Fel is not your enemy. He never truly was."

"History disagrees, Princess," said Master Qua. "Was Roan Fel not Emperor when the Empire declared war on the Galactic Alliance? Did he not continue as Emperor during that war? Did the Sith not enter the war on the Empire's side while Roan Fel sat on the throne? Was he not still the Emperor during the massacre at Ossus?"

"Yeah, Princess," Cade said, taking a seat. "Explain to us how we got nothing to fear from your murderous old daddy."

Sia deeply resented that she had to spend so much of her life explaining away the actions of other people, most of which had occurred before she was too young to really understand it all. "Before the war, we were all allies under the Treaty of Anaxes, pledged to each other's mutual defense in case of an attack by such as the Yuuzhan Vong. Jedi were not unknown at my father's palace on Bastion. After the Vong biotech disaster, my father met with Kol Skywalker. He was willing to stay the Empire's hand while Master Skywalker proved that someone had sabotaged the Ossus Project. But no emperor has ruled absolutely since the Empire was re-formed. The Moff Council ached for war. The Treaty of Anaxes was invoked. My father was overruled. We all know now that Kol Skywalker was right, the Sith secretly sabotaged the Ossus Project, destroying worlds and murdering millions. It was the Sith, secretly allied with members of the Moff Council, who usurped my father's authority and ordered the massacre on Ossus. It was the Sith who attempted the assassination of my father during their takeover of the Empire, when Darth Krayt seized the throne. It is the Sith who are our common enemy."

The Council remained annoyingly impassive.

"It was my father's explicit order that the Jedi be allowed to withdraw to Ossus and remain there unarmed. That is why they tried to kill him," she continued. "Roan Fel remains an implacable foe of the Sith, and that alone should make him and the Jedi, if not friends, at least allies. Admiral Gar Stazi of the Galactic Alliance Remnant has opened talks for an alliance. Should the Jedi do less?"

"I sense the truth in your words, Princess Marasiah," Master Saa said finally. "Here is our truth. Sadly, the Sith are many and highly organized. Since Ossus, the Jedi are scattered and are still hunted. Jedi return to the hidden temple as we find them out among the stars. It may require several generations of recovery before the Jedi have sufficient numbers to oppose the Sith."

"Yeah, let's all hide in a burrow like a bunch of scared womp rats for the next forty years, Master Saa," said Cade. "I've been Krayt's 'guest' at the Sith temple, so I know a couple things you don't. One, he used to be a Jedi called A'sharad Hett. Two, he's dying."

Sia tilted her head slightly at him. Seriously, what had he been doing in these few weeks?

"No! I don't believe it!" Master Saa said. "A'sharad Hett was human. He could not have lived this long! Even if he still lived- no, A'sharad Hett was a good man, a good Jedi!"

"The Clone Wars changed us all, T'ra Saa," said K'kruhk. "There was always a darkness in Hett. Perhaps we failed him."

"Failed him?" Cade said, standing. "Who cares? He's dying he's desperate to see his grancha vision for the galaxy complete. Except… his Sith order is already splintering inside. I've seen some who are getting real twitchy under Krayt's One Sith rule. They're just waiting for an opportunity. Why don't we give it to them? The Jedi don't have to wait to raise an army. The Sith can be broken and their control shattered by a handful of Jedi Knights. That's why I'm here. I say we put together a kill squad and assassinate Darth Krayt. Who's with me?"

The impassiveness from Saa was gone now. "Assassination!"

"It's the only way," Cade shrugged. "Krayt has no heir. With him dead, his Sith order will fall in upon itself."

"Jedi respect life, young Skywalker," Master Saa admonished. "All life. The Force connects everything in the cycle of death and renewal. Even the Sith. Jedi may take lives if there is no other choice, but to deliberately search out one to kill? This is not the Jedi way."

Having to search out a Sith tyrant and assassinate him was why the Imperial Knights were structured the way they were, so Sia was not going to argue against Cade's point here.

"Not the Jedi way? Krayt was once a Jedi, and it's his way. How many has he already murdered so he can impose his vision of the galaxy? Even way out here you must have heard what he's done on Dac? I'm sure Master Sazen has told you about this crazy healing thing I've got going on. Says it's dark side, but it works. Wanna give it a try, Master K'kruhk? Krayt does. Wants me to heal him from whatever Vong parasites are chewin' on him. I don't even know if I can, but if Krayt gets a hold of me again I'm not sure I won't be forced to. Maybe it's the will of the Force that the Jedi destroy this monster who was once one of their own, before it destroys them. Maybe it's time assassination was the Jedi way!"

The room fell into silence, taking that in.

"You have given us much to consider, young Skywalker," Master Saa said. "Along with much that troubles us. We will meditate on this matter, and on your offer as well, Princess. For tonight, we are done."

Both parties had exited the chamber and gone their separate ways before Antares spoke. "This plan to assassinate Krayt may the first thing that Skywalker has ever said that I like. With Krayt dead, the throne would be empty. There is no one else with a true claim on it other than Roan Fel."

"If the Sith did fall upon themselves, an alliance between our emperor, Gar Stazi's forces and the Jedi could end the Sith, and the nest of traitors that is the Moff Council," Ganner added.

"His plan has merit," Sia allowed. "With or without the Jedi, we may be able to make use of it, and Cade's knowledge of the Sith. Perhaps even convince him to join with us. If not for honor, then for someone like him, there are always credits."

*****

The Imperial delegation was given quarters in the temple, and when Sia returned with Ganner and Antares, Azlyn was still gone. The trio talked over the plan and their chances, sent a secure report back to Roan, and finally the boys had both retired to their beds while Sia decided to wait up.

Azlyn got back late, and found Sia sitting at the console table. "Master Rae. You've been missed. Where have you been?" Sia asked, like she didn't know.

"With Master Rasi Tuum," Azlyn answered, taking a seat near her. "I was his apprentice when I was training to be a Jedi. We thought one another dead since…"

"I know. Since Ossus," Sia finished, and paused. "I'm sensing some ambivalence in you, Azlyn. Finding the hidden temple, seeing your Jedi friends again must stir old feelings."

"Some, Master Fel," Azlyn admitted. "Your Highness… I find it… strange. After all, the Empire took me in to finish my training and when I became a Knight I swore the oaths and yet…"

"I understand what you're feeling. I've been through something similar recently," Sia admitted, and added carefully. She could relate but would not share. “But those oaths were for life, Master Rae. There is no walking away from that." They weren't the Jedi. You didn't just go into hiding or decide you'd rather do something else whenever the whim hit you.

"I am aware of that, Master Fel. I know the commitment I made," Azlyn said, but added, a bit more tentatively, "But has no Imperial Knight ever walked away?"

"Only one," Sia said. It had been part of the Sith takeover. "His oaths were also for life, and his life proved short. One way or another, his oaths were honored. You'd do well to think on that, Master Rae."

And with that, Sia stood and retreated to her own room, leaving Azlyn alone with that. She'd feel worse about it, but she was only preaching what she had to practice herself.

[NFB, NFI, I kinda love Cade a lot. From Legacy #24-26.]