CHAPTER ONE: A NEW MISSION OF THE JEDI (Part 1 of 2 to 3)
Bastila Shan paced nervously outside of the medical bay of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. Much rode on the outcome of the patient within its walls. The situation had been discussed with Coruscant and the High Council there. All parties had determined that the procedure must be done in the strictest of secrecy. The Republic could not discover what they were doing, nor could any within the Order outside of the Council Members and those who had been involved directly in the event. Bastila had been one of the latter.
The success of the operation depended largely upon its secrecy. It was for this reason that the patient had been brought to Dantooine rather than Coruscant. On Coruscant, there were too many eyes. People would begin to question. Somebody would be bound to find out. Even here the risk existed, but it was far less great.
The procedure was a risky one even when removing the factor of everything that was at stake if it should fail. The process would take at least a month total, possibly longer before completion, and it was important for Bastila to remain there while it happened. After all, her relationship to the patient was one of the things they needed to be mindful of while operating. For the moment, the patient was still unconscious. She could sense that much.
The moral grounds regarding the procedure itself were questionable. The potential existed to completely destroy the patient should it go wrong. While this may have been a preferable outcome to those who were not allowed to know of its occurrence, it was not the one that they hoped for. It was why they needed to ensure the patient lived, even if it meant the extended length of time it would take. The fate of the Republic and of the galaxy depended upon it.
Every so often, they would call Bastila into the room to allow her to visit and to test the results so far. They needed her to ensure that the most important information regarding the patient in question remained intact.
Suddenly Bastila felt a sharp disturbance in the Force. The patient was stirring. Bastila could sense a whirlwind of emotions flow from them. Fear, confusion, pain, betrayal… but mostly fear. Bastila found this somewhat difficult to comprehend. Fear was the last thing she would have expected given the patient’s reputation. And yet, such a primal, almost animalistic instinct had taken over. They were afraid.
A sharp scream of agony came from within the medical bay, and Bastila was forced to brace herself against the wall, clutching the side of her head as she braced herself against the patient’s suffering. It was so much that it was overwhelming. She’d never felt anything so strongly in the Force before in her entire life… and yet this was only a taste of what was surely yet to come were the operation successful.
As suddenly as it had started, the disturbance stopped. The patient had been sedated again and was once more unconscious. Bastila panted, catching her breath. She wasn’t certain that she was ready to take on this mission, but she didn’t have any choice in the matter. After all, she was the only one who could accept it under the given circumstances. While it was unintentional at the time, she’d bound herself to the fate of the human who laid on the operation table now. It was because of this that the Council was willing to even attempt the operation at all. Otherwise, the more likely situation would have been stasis.
It was unclear to Bastila, however, whether the procedure they now attempted was any more merciful than letting the patient live out the rest of their days and die within a stasis pod. The longer the procedure lasted, the more questions she found herself asking… questions which she regretted having. The Council was far wiser and more experienced than her. What authority did she have to even consider questioning their judgement? Even so, it troubled her, so much so that she felt she needed to address them regarding the patient. After all, it was her own future which was in question here as well…
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The Council Chamber in the Dantooine Enclave was far different than the High Council Chamber located in the Temple on Coruscant. It was far smaller and less grandiose. Where Coruscant’s Council Chamber stood gleaming in white, Dantooine’s was more earthen. Grays and browns made up the floor and the walls, and a great Blba tree grew inside, stretching its branches over the Chamber Seats. A circular skylight was in the center of the ceiling allowing the natural light of Dantooine’s sun to shine inside. Directly adjacent to the Council Chamber was the Padawan training room, so the Council could easily watch over the developing Jedi’s progress.
Padawan Bastila Shan entered the Chamber approaching the four Jedi Masters within who comprised the Dantooine Council: Master Vrook Lamar (who also sat on the High Council and served as Dantooine’s liaison on Coruscant), Master Vandar Tokare, Master Zhar Lestin, and Master Dorak (the chronicler of the Enclave). Two months of the procedure had already passed and Bastila had begun to worry about the patient. The thoughts she could sense from the patient had grown more vague, distant… and it was this she wished to speak to them about.
“Troubled you are, Padawan Bastila,” Master Vandar commented as she approached. “A question you have for the Council?”
“Yes, Masters,” Bastila said, kneeling before them. “I am concerned about the operations regarding the prisoner. I can sense that their consciousness is… failing.”
“We must ensure any possible threat from the prisoner is dead, Padawan Bastila,” Master Vrook replied to her. “You know better than anyone the risks we all face if too much remains of what once was…”
“Yes, but how much longer must this go on? I can feel the patient’s suffering…”
“You are not the only one with reservations,” spoke the Twi’lek, Master Zhar, “however, we all agree that there is no alternative in this. This is our only hope of being able to stop the war… You’ve done a great thing, Padawan Bastila Shan. Without you, there would only be death… But you have given them a second chance. If the Republic knew that they lived, do you think they would have offered so much?”
“Consider this, Padawan Bastila,” Master Dorak began, “You have not only saved their life, but also countless others if this operation should succeed. You need not pity their fate. This is for the better.”
“Besides,” Master Vrook interjected, “This one was always quite stubborn and resilient. I don’t think you need to worry as to whether their physical body will survive or not. It is because of this resilience that the procedure has taken so long. We’ve asked that extra…
precautions be made.”
“What sort of precautions?” Bastila asked. “Is the procedure itself not enough?”
“A severance to the Force may be necessary,” Master Dorak explained. “It’s a severe punishment that hasn’t been used since Ulic Qel-Droma, but… the Council has agreed that it is for the better. The patient’s command of the Force is not necessity in order for the rest of the mission to work. That is why we need you, Miss Shan. You are to be the vessel of the Force necessary to filter the information we need to save the Republic.”
“As it was stated before,” said Master Vrook, “we cannot risk any part of what the patient once was to remain alive other than the information we need. They are too much of a risk not only to the Jedi Order but to the entire galaxy.”
“Go, Padawan Bastila,” Master Vandar said to her. “Unnecessary your worry is. Vital it is now that you focus on preparing for your mission. The time is almost at hand.”
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After three months, the process had been completed. Bastila was asked to enter the medical bay where the patient was being held one last time. As she entered, several of the Jedi specialists involved were clearing the room of any evidence of the procedure having taken place. The head specialist, a Mirialan by the name of Tiva Koq, greeted her.
“Padawan Bastila,” Tiva said, greeting the other female in a polite bowing gesture. “I trust you are here to see the final results of the patient?”
“I am, Bastila said, nodding and stepping forward toward the operation table. The patient was unconscious. It seemed as though they had been given heavy sedatives to avoid coming to too soon. If that happened, then they would need to begin a portion of the process over again. Bastila looked down at the woman laying on the operation table. She seemed so normal. So peaceful. There wasn’t a trace left of the one she had faced aboard the
Vindicator.
“Here,” the Mirialan said, handing Bastila a datapad. “We’ve programmed the patient with a new identity. We’ve chosen to keep parallels to the patient’s original background wherever safely possible. The mind is better able to grasp and to retain the new memories when there is less conflict with the ones that were extracted. We’ve gone ahead and put together service records for the patient also, so they might accompany you in your mission without question from the Republic fleet.”
Bastila Shan scrolled through the information regarding the records of the patient’s new identity.
NAME: GWENEVERE DAKAAL
SPECIES IDENTIFIER: HUMAN FEMALE
AGE: 34 YEARS, CORUSCANTI STANDARD
PLANET OF ORIGIN: DERALIA, DERALIA SYSTEM, TAMMUZ SECTOR, GRID T-15
LANGUAGES: GALACTIC BASIC, DERALIAN, BINARY, BOCCE, DOSH, SELKATH, CATHARESE, BOTHESE, DURESE, GAMORRESE, HUTTESE, JAWAESE, KALEESH, MANDO’A, CORELLISI, RODESE, SNIVVIAN, TOGRUTI, TWI’LEKI, ABYSSIN, AQUALISH, FALLEEN, GALACTIC SIGN LANGUAGE, KEL DOR, CORUSCANTI, QUARRENESE, SAVRIP, SOCORRAN, MIRALUKESE, SMUGGLER CANT, STEREB, SHYRIIWOOK, HIGH SITH…“So many?” Bastila said frowning and looking up from the datapad.
“Yes,” the Mirialan. “The patient appears to have had quite a love for languages and was rather adept at them, no doubt partially due to her command of the Force. We were able to keep nearly all of the language-dominant areas of the cerebral cortex intact. There were some languages the patient understands that we were unable to identify even within our database, so they have been left off of the records accordingly. No doubt it will come in handy convincing the fleet of her recruitment and transfer, yes?”
“I suppose,” Bastila said. The list went on with at least a hundred different alien languages, but she’d stopped reading when she had reached ‘High Sith.’ “I think it would be better to leave this one off of the record.”
The Mirialan glanced at the datapad to see where Bastila had been indicating. “Ah yes,” Tiva Koq said. “I could see where that might prove problematic… It must have been overlooked when the file was created. We’ll delete it at once.”
“Good,” Bastila said, continuing past the languages as reading through the rest of the patient’s created service records.
BLOOD RELATIONS:
- HERCARL DAKAAL, FATHER, DECEASED
- VIVISHEA LUKLEE-DAKAAL, MOTHER, DECEASED
BLOOD TYPE: HUMAN, O POSITIVE
DESIGNATION: SPECIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CODE BREAKING
RELATED BACKGROUND: RECRUIT HAS PAST EXPERIENCE AS SMUGGLER WORKING THE CORRELLIAN RUN. BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF STEALTH, COMPUTERS, SECURITY AND DEMOLITIONS. BASIC PILOTING SKILLS. RECRUIT UNDERSTANDS A LARGE NUMBER OF ALIEN LANGUAGES. SUGGESTED DESIGNATION CODE BREAKING AND DEVELOPMENT BASED ON EXISTING SKILLS.Bastila handed the datapad back to the Mirialan and looked at the patient again. The time and severance from the Force had lifted all traces of the minor Dark Side degradation she had shown previously. The color had returned to her previously death-pale flesh and Bastila could not help but to notice a series of scars running down the side of her body. Bastila frowned and turned back to the specialist.
“Old injuries,” the Mirialan assured her. “Not caused by our operations, but they do not match those described on her records from the previous war either. We’re not certain where they came from. But rest assured, we have inserted appropriate memories to explain them. Gwenevere Dakaal is a fully fleshed Republic citizen. I’ll admit, the primary behavioral core was quite difficult to reprogram, and so we were forced to leave many fundamental personality traits… but without the corresponding memories and without command of the Force, it should be of little to no threat.”
“And what if something should go wrong and the one from before should try to break through? I was informed that certain information from the previous mind would be retained for the sake of my own mission. Would these latent memories be enough to elicit such a response?”
“We have ensured that the latent memory can only be accessed while the patient is in a state of REM sleep. The memories will appear as no more than dreams to the patient, but the link between the two of you should allow you to view them simultaneously to the patient experiencing them. You can go ahead and test if you would like…”
The Mirialan then showed Bastila a small brassy cube with an intricate design, radiating a faint blueish light from within. It was a holocron. “We’ve recorded the full entirety of what we were able to recover here in case something should go wrong. The designation we’ve assigned the patient should keep them away from combat, but this is a war, Miss Shan. Accidents happen. We needed to be certain there could be a backup of the information should the patient be lost for whatever reason. The holocron of the patient’s full memories and personality is being sent to the Coruscanti archives for safe-keeping.”
“If there is holocron recording, then why do we not simply access it directly rather than using the subject?”
“We did consider the possibility. However, the personality within the holocron has proven to be quite rebellious and uncooperative. Beyond that, within the memories it is technically possible that there are certain portions which may only be accessed by the subject herself. All things considered, using the patient directly was decided to be the more ideal means of access.”
Bastila Shan looked back down at the patient and gently pressed her fingers to the woman’s temples before closing her eyes. Hazy images appeared. Herself, the
Vindicator, a battle… Bastila opened her eyes and looked at the woman’s face. Some memories certainly remained. She only hoped that the ones that would bring an end to the Sith reign of terror were among them.
“We should leave as soon as possible,” Bastila said to the specialist. “We’ll need to be certain she remains sedated until we’re able to meet with the Republic fleet around Alderaan and introduce her into the crew. From there we’ll start along the Hydian Way Hyperspace Route and begin passing through the planets Revan and Malak visited starting from the Mandalorian Wars. There has to be
something there that can give us a clue to what happened and how to stop it…”
“I’ll ensure that personnel remain with the patient until the integration had been made in case additional sedatives need to be administered. May the Force be with you, Padawan Bastila Shan. With any luck, this experiment will mean an end to the war.”
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