Shadows of the Republic: Spoils of War

[Remon Jore]

Prologue


Coruscant. Dusk. Jedi Council Chamber. Reporting to the Council.
~ 5 days since the Battle of Geonosis.

The dying rays of sunlight on the darkening horizon were bathing the stone floor at his feet in a haze of blood red. The crimson glare lay on his face like a second skin, but whatever warmth the waning light could still have given didn't reach him; the thick transparisteel viewscreens filtered out anything that would alter the chamber's carefully controlled climate. It somehow turned his insides cold and his mind apprehensive. So he looked into the ebbing orb and followed it on its course towards the dark, until it dipped behind the shadows of the buildings on the horizon. At the moment of its disappearance the outline changed, the shadows turned light as their own illumination came to life.

The voices set in the same debate faded away into a mere whisper at the edge of his consciousness. The dusky tableau outside recalled in him the first time he had stood in this same spot, more than sixty years ago now. How simple and noble had his life and the way ahead felt at the age of eleven! He remembered feeling awed of standing in the presence of so many wise beings, and the deep sense of duty and dedication, of responsibility, that presence had imbued him with. A first understanding of his true purpose had settled on him like a mantle. All because he - or rather his master and he with him - had been given a task, and he had truly stepped onto the path of a Jedi.

"Master Jore?"

His attention abruptly returned to the here and now. He found Master Yoda looking at him with as wistful a smile as he knew his own face was wearing; the wizened grand master of the Jedi order most likely had seen right into his heart. Yoda hadn't changed over the years. He had, however, and he found - somewhat to his own shock at this realisation - that the admiration he had held for the council had somehow been washed away over the years, turned into something else. Something yet undefinable.

"Master Yoda?" he politely returned, indicating that he was very much back in the present. He wondered what they would do with him now - make him a general and put him on the front lines in this terrible war? He was too old for that - fierfek, he felt too old for that. "The situation on Kerlssst is not without hope," he said, returning to the final analysis of the report they had briefed him on. "They, however, need to learn the finer points of diplomacy now, and I am ill-suited for that... As you well know," he added, and inclined his head towards Master Windu.

"No more concern yourself with Kerlassi politics, Master Jore. A more suitable mission, we have, for you. Less pleasant, it may be, perhaps. But want it, you will, once you hear."

That sounded ominous. Especially coming from Yoda, and uttered in a strange mix of pathos and amusement.

"Yes?" was all he managed to say, then a premonition washed over him through the Force. And a second later ---

"Jedi knight Fionn Halcyon, your padawan was once. Left the order, he has. To look for his dead love, he has gone. To Geonosis."

Premonition or not, nothing could have prepared him for this! The shock hit him like a physical blow, and he involuntarily took a step back.

Mace Windu took over from Yoda, who rose from his seat and hobbled over to the viewscreen and leaned against the transparisteel in an odd manner of defeat. "Halcyon defied the council by marrying and fathering a child. His wife was amongst the lives we lost on Geonosis. When he received the news, he became a victim of his emotions; he believes his wife is not dead, and left for Geonosis against our wishes. Yesterday, in the early morning hours, I received a transmission from him announcing his decision to leave the order completely."

Yoda turned around then, and looked sorrowfully at the Corellian standing rooted to the spot in the middle of the Council chamber. "Go you must, to talk him out of this foolish notion! His wife, dead she is. Accept this, he must. Help him find this acceptance, you need."

Remon found himself staring at the floor again, now devoid of the red haze. The shock was settling into his limbs and turning them numb. It wasn't just his former padawan's action, but also the as-yet unspoken implication that hung in the air nevertheless. Tonelessly, he finally uttered it.

"Or he will be lost to the dark side."

Yoda nodded. The council was silent. Nothing else needed to be said.