Star Wars : Tanya

"It's one thing to touch the Dark Side, but when you've bathed in it, gloried in it, drunk it unto yourself then, well, you just can't help someone who doesn't even realize that they need help. Especially not when they're so dangerous."

...

"...Did you know someone who fell to the Dark Side?" Tan'ya asked.

"No, no one." He looked at her and smiled, though to Tan'ya it looked forced. Likely, he wasn't willing to talk to a child about it. Whatever it was, it was likely a private affair. If some prior apprentice or friend of his had fallen, then surely he wouldn't want to talk about it.

Picking up on his social cue, Tan'ya decided to leave that one alone. "How do you fight people who use the Dark Side, if they're so powerful?"

"That's something you'll learn as you get older, right now you're a little too young to start lightsaber practice."

Tan'ya almost rolled her eyes at that.

"Why don't I go ahead and ask you some questions?" Sifo turned to look back at his student. "What are you using the local holonet uplink for? I can see that you've accessed it every night you've been here, even after I've told you to go to bed."

Looking down sheepishly, Tan'ya murmured. "I've been researching."

"Researching what?"

"History, mostly. But also different worlds, astrography, um… that sort of thing."

"You didn't mention weapons and starship manufacturing." Sifo crossed his arms.

"I… I mean, that's part of it."

"Tan'ya, I have administrator access to the uplink. I know what you've been reading."

"It's just… I'm curious, I guess." Tan'ya shrugged. "When I become Count one day, shouldn't I know these things?"

"The Jedi Lords really are being resurrected." Sifo sighed with a shake of his head and turned away.

"...What are the Jedi Lords?"

"A controversial topic." Sifo said after a moment, possibly realizing he shouldn't have mentioned it at all. "One that you can learn about when you're older."

Oh, more of this? Tan'ya rolled her eyes. "You and father always say that, 'When you're older', but I already have my own compad. I'm reading after action reports from the Stark Hyperspace War right now, lots of things get published on the holonet, you know. I could easily search up the Jedi Lords if I wanted to. But I won't."

Sifo raised an eyebrow. "And why won't you?"

"Because I want you and Father to realize that I can be trusted." Tan'ya drew herself up, standing as tall as she could be, but still only coming to Sifo's waist. "I want to learn everything you have to teach me, I want to learn it as fast as I can, and I'm not going to cheat."

He regarded her for a long time. "Okay, Tan'ya. I'll talk to your father. He's made me promise not to tell you some things, but I'll see if he doesn't mind me going into the Jedi Lords. And other things as well."

"Thank you, Master." Tan'ya bowed her head. She was an expert at pushing boundaries, but she didn't want to upset Sifo or Father by doing so. If she could just push the line a little bit at a time, eventually the two of them would let her get away with anything and never realize that they'd done so.

"Don't be so smug." Sifo chided. "I notice that in all your time on the holonet you still haven't called your Mother."

Tan'ya froze.

"See? You've let your mental wall down. Now I can feel you panicking."

...

That evening, Sifo-Dyas retired to his own personal office cabin and kicked off his muddy shoes. After pouring himself a stiff drink of Corellian Brandy he sunk into his rugged old sofa chair with a relieved sigh.

The Jedi Master was nearly seventy. Some days he felt his age more than others, and having a new student to teach was only reminding him of his years.

Often he wondered how Dooku did it. There wasn't even a year between them. They had been friends as younglings, and somehow Dooku had as much energy and vitality now as when they were boys. Sifo could almost imagine his old friend running around at ninety with that old fashioned lightsaber of his and still somehow defeating men decades younger than himself in battle. It was like Dooku didn't even notice time passing, like it was beneath him.

Years ago, when Dooku had been appointed to the Jedi Council, Sifo had known it was a bad idea. No matter his wisdom or skill in the force, there was no way that he could ever be content to sit on a council that at its core was entirely focussed on preserving the status quo.

Sifo scowled and sighed, swirling the brandy in his glass before taking another sip. Not that his stint on the Council had fared much better.

Sifo had always been more patient than Dooku, but that was like saying that a Hutt was slimier than a Senator; definitely true, but not by much. The key difference between Dooku and himself was that he was a patriot, while the Count was a perfectionist. One saw a broken galaxy, and needed to fix it because he couldn't stand anything less. The other saw a broken Republic, and swore to defend it even from itself.

The story of the Republic was a long one, and Sifo couldn't bear to imagine it ending any time soon. Created to defend the core against the Sith twenty five thousand years ago, it rose and fell, rising again several times over. When the Republic was weak, the Galaxy descended into chaos, and when it was strong, peace reigned.

History fascinated Sifo. Ancient tales of flawed heroes like Lord Hoth, tragic fallen champions like Revan, and sinister villains like Naga Sadow had enraptured him ever since he'd broken into the holocron vault as a youth. If he hadn't been busy with his duties as a Jedi, Sifo could easily have spent his entire career chasing ancient legends, unearthing forgotten tombs, and writing books.

He still had a long list of unused sources on his compad for his unfinished work, 'A Complete History of the Republic', a lengthy project that he'd always dreamed of finishing. Sifo had even completed a course by distance through the University of Empress Teta, paid for with credits that he liberated from a large spice dealer's ring on that same world. Those were stolen credits that had to be returned, but even so he couldn't help himself. The chance to study history in a formal capacity was just too strong a temptation to pass up.

He studied hard whenever he had a chance, in between his other duties, and thoroughly enjoyed working on his doctoral thesis, 'Hyperspace Capable Organisms and their effects on Early Human Migration Patterns: the flaws in the Sleeper Ship Hypothesis.' It took ten years of irregular study, but eventually 'Dr Difo-Syas' had graduated without ever setting foot on campus.

He'd be continuing his studies right now, if he hadn't been distracted for so long by his… other project. Things were going well on that front. The Kaminoans had just about finished construction on the facility, and the project was only a few years from the point where they could begin mass cloning, then it would just be a matter of finding the right genetic template. It took decades to build the infrastructure necessary to outfit and recruit a million units.

Just finding manufacturers for the blasters and plastoid plates that wouldn't be detected by the Senate's bean counters had not been easy. It saddened him that he had to do this.

Blastoid-Industries was the quintessential example of everything wrong with the current republic, a galactic corporation with questionable practices protected from repercussions by friends in high places.

They were also the only company that would manufacture billions of blasters quietly without asking too many questions. The same qualities that made them such a stain on the Republic were what made them suitable for this role.

Sifo sighed, draining the last of his brandy and pouring himself another cup.

Would history remember him? Would they care? Future generations would find out about his role in creating the clone army, it couldn't stay hidden forever. Would they see it as a necessary act, or just more evidence of corruption?

The Galaxy had lots of armies. The Trade Federation, the Hutt Cartel's mercenary outfits, the Techno Union, the Thyrsian Sunguard and Emberlene Shadowguard, more and more every day.

The entire Mandalore sector was one unifying leader away from having the most elite army in the galaxy. Central authority was breaking down, the Republic wasn't respected, loved, or feared. At the end of the day, the first duty of any government was to maintain order, and the Republic wasn't doing that.

Through sheer corruption and inertia, they had somehow forgotten that the orders issued by the Senate only carried weight if they had the force to back them up.

Maybe a hundred years ago, ten thousand Jedi might have been enough to maintain peace in the Galaxy, but not anymore. The Jedi were outnumbered by a ratio of billions, and without an army of their own to call upon they were doomed to fail.

...

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