Zach's letter to Zane

[[2.6.22ABA_transmit.True]]

In this year after the seventh battle of Ruusan One Thousand and Four, on Firstday of Sevenmonth, I your friend Zach Ouichee mark and proclaim this record. I know you read my journals, so I write this in High Galactic for you.

It is wonderful to hear from you again! I know I've been gone longer than I intended. This old Consular cruiser is no Wayfarer, and I've been to the outermost edges of the Rim. I'm on my way home, though, at last. I kept going after Taryn departed, heading straight away from the Core. She journeyed back as she must, and I am glad for that time we had wandering; it did the both of us good. She is in my thoughts, and I am glad that Pel is near her.

Where is Jolee? Has anyone had word? Let us hope she finds peace. Talia and Pel, I am sure, are fulfilling every duty they can lay hands on. Are they well? I confess could not forsee their paths, and I am curious.

It was wearying to be so recognized, so preconceived, so focused upon. We have found some few dozens of Omwati refugees here and there, and you have probably met some of them by now. I spent as long as I could in the more established settlements, but the rim called me outwards.

I wandered into Mina on Dantooine while I was on my way to Muunilist, and she has found secrets and treasures. Most of them treasures are secrets, of course. We spoke long about the Force, amongst other things. I have found a new and potent technique. Go to the space between galactic arms, far away from any space lanes. Stock an exosuit with several hours of air, and maroon yourself with your ship set to come back in a day or two, and enter a trance. If you can do it properly, you can feel the Force more clearly than I had imagined. I have met someone named Qui-Gon in that deep trance. I wish I could introduce him to you.

Joy of joys! We may have a new and honored resident at one of our academies. Bowana has seedlings. Do not tell Rolana, for I would surprise her. Bowana says that groves can become force-sensitive. It is difficult to be patient, and I find myself constructing planters in my mind.

I have attached an account of the Battle of Yavin for your sister’s book. This is for you. Share it if you like, but I trust you will understand it better than most.

It was on that rocky planet in the Core that the Battle of Yavin starts, and it is there that my perspective diverges from the others'. We were all sick then, with the taint of the Dark Side, with the radiation, with the war, and with how close we were on Naboo to losing millions. I'll try to explain now what I couldn't explain then. Perhaps I cannot fully explain it now.

It is worth remembering that the Sith weren't always all monsters. When there were more, when they were a movement instead of a conspiracy, most of them were just confused and scared and hurt. It was only their elite who posed a threat to the galaxy, and it was only ever their titans who could touch the Force directly, as our masters can. What distinguishes those few, what defines a Sith Lord is a rejection of peace, of compromise. Consuming only makes them hunger more - a Sith Lord strives to make his core a pearl of greed or anger or simple want. That is their essence, that is their truest name. To learn their tongue is to have to learn that name. Do not learn it unless you are willing to learn something profane that you can never unlearn.

What we've oft seen from the Sith is a regular sort of evil. Anyone could do as much, perhaps not as well, but the same in kind. Conquest, murder, genocide, these are the crimes that for all their suffering and danger that most sapients could commit were they swept along with a great current. With attempted mastery of the Force and with their dedication, the Sith Lords can commit blasphemies that none others can.

I only realized it in that Alchemical temple in the core. The Emperor was the purest Sith, and he would commit violence against the very Living Force. Remember everything I have said about the Living Force, that joyous union of all things. Realize that the Emperor would have violated that union, not for any goal, but to feed the demon he had become. That temple was a wrought testament to that, and I am not sure the Living Force did not bid us cleanse it with fire.

That is what we walked into. I argued for bringing Anakin because I could not conceive of two such beasts living without killing each other, so he must be in some part a man. Anakin was no beast at all in the end, but had at his core a pearl of another sort. He was a Jedi Master and a loving father like Master Se’ol.

When we landed, I went to the children. That fight was my test that day and the closest I have ever come to the Dark Side. The Force knows what they mean to me and why I reach out to them each day. Peace be in their thoughts and Force be with them.

The fight against the Emperor was easier and harder than I had forseen. He had no cunning words for us or subtle tricks to cloud our minds. He simply had raw power and desperation, but he had those in plenty.

As you will no doubt be shocked to hear, I pressed on, using my saber. If Ataru can be attained when one recognizes the Force as an ally and accepts help and Juyo comes when one recognizes the Force as master and does as it bids, Vapaad is that certainty that we are already one with the Force. Words cannot teach it, but if you still intend to be a Master and a swordsman, you will know that with all your being.

For the rest of it, I played my smaller part. The facts of what happened are laid out, and I fell into a kind of meditation during the battle that makes me a poor witness. I have only one more insight: the Sith will be back. The Force has seen fit to tolerate their perversion for millennia and there is one who still knows their teachings. They rise from the ashes just as the Jedi do, and they will be back. Remember these things, and if you find truth pass it on when I am gone. They will be back.

The Force has seen fit to guide me towards some Miraluka at last. It has been so long and I have changed so much that I do not know if it will be a joy or an empty gesture. We had something, once, to give the Galaxy, and I would that the last of us did not have a life of blood and yearning to offer as a last story.  Is that selfish?  I do not know.

I do not mind telling you in confidence that it has been rather more thousands of years than I would prefer since I have felt a woman of Miraluk perceive me in my fullness.

At last, I have a small request. Please send a fast ship with several guns to the planet Dreau, just a few dozen parsecs spinward of Bespin. Dreau is a hiveworld where I found a Bothan claiming to know how to find dozens of Miraluka, and I found him enslaved in a pirate’s camp. I am leading many slaves through the undercity, but the pirates will find us soon and I risk terrible losses were I to confront them without air support.  I have perhaps three weeks that we can hold out, after which I will have to strike.

Force willing, I will see you on Life Day. I miss you all and look forward to living simply as a friend and teacher.  Give my love to those around you, and Force be with you, Zane.  I am proud of you.

[[2.6.22ABA_transmit.False]]

From the Journal of Zach Ouichee

[[19.7.1ABA_crypt.R075ZE187True]]

In this year after the seventh battle of Ruusan One Thousand and Three, on Ninteenday of Thirdmonth, I Jedi Master Zach Ouichee mark and proclaim this record. In Basic, even though it feels like talking with a mouth full of Gup Tubers. I wonder if they still have Gup Tubers.

Jedi Master. It is a wry joke. The humility of my masters was never feigned, I now know. Master Tikal always said that he knew he was only a student, and now that I understand, I know that I too am a student, least of all. What I thought was humility was a masquerade. Our bright sabers and calm hearts mean only that the Force speaks to us slowly, as to a dim child.

I have slept four hours in three days. First there is a remote garrison of stormtroopers refusing to surrender, then a dispute between landholders and farmers, both in the right, then there is a mob becoming a riot that seeks comfort through violence. All are quelled, all come to peace, but I can never make it right for them. It is not that there is more suffering, for it was there all along, but rather that I feel it more keenly, am aware that there is so much more that is mercifully held from me. The Force lives and moves and speaks more than I ever knew. Through the battle I could feel sapients falling like hail on my skin, and I am grateful that the Force holds my fear from me. If it were close, I would be terrified of rejoining the force and feeling every hailstone with no mask of flesh to blind me.

Dori is a blur of motion. She moves so that it will not all sink in, and I hope that she handles it well when she does. Rolana keeps well; for all her sensitivity, this all somehow still abstract to her. She is lucky. Zane, who can tell? He will avoid at least some of my mistakes. Quan Hu is best of all the students (ha!) who came with us. He has had little enough inward gazing to blind him to the Force as it lives around us.

For my companions, things are better. Mina does as she always does, creating calm center through whatever storm. Jolee is in the turmoil that is the only home she knows. Pel creates himself to be the man he needs to be. Taryn does her work and never lets on that she has never surrendered a secret part of herself unscarred from war. Talia carries her burdens well; I do not know if she knows how heavy they are that she should not have something incorruptible and joyous to protect. Perhaps she does. I do not know, and it would be foolish to say.

To practicalities! Fleets move, and earnest young sapients land to make things better. Some stand silent and respectful before me, and I do not laugh until they leave the room. Jolee's Duchess-harlot is a surprisingly useful catspaw, and the tailor of Theed knows everyone with power. He is a good fellow, to boot. Details are dealt with and things go better than expected, a sure sign that we are entirely out of our depth. The Nabooians are starting to realize that the Rebellion and the Jedi have pledged ourselves with our very lives. We cannot abandon them without destroying ourselves.

The Sith lord is gone away now, and he has some grand plot, I ween. Let him. He cannot plot against the Force, no matter how subtle he is. Every Sith dashes against the rock of himself. Just like every Jedi. The fruit is delicious, I love my companions, and I am here now.

WANTED--ZACH OUICHEE

ZACH OUICHEE is guilty of numerous and violent crimes against the Empire, the Imperial Military, property, and Imperial citizenry.

ZACH OUICHEE is to be considered armed and extremely dangerous. He is highly proficient in the use of the banned lightsaber and possesses treasonous Jedi knowledge and ability. DO NOT APPROACH OR NEEDLESSLY ANTAGONIZE He associates with other dangerous criminals and is often in the company of members of the terrorist “Rebel Alliance” A reward of up to 1,000,000 credits and conditional amnesty for crimes committed during arrest is offered for the apprehension, termination or information leading to the arrest of this felon.

TREASON
KIDNAPPING
ASSAULT (LIGHTSABER)
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT (LIGHTSABER)
ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON (LIGHTSABER)
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON (LIGHTSABER)
MURDER (LIGHTSABER)
POSSESSION OF ILLEGAL WEAPON (LIGHTSABER)
ASSAULT ON IMPERIAL TROOP
ASSAULT ON IMPERIAL OFFICER
SABOTAGE
DESTRUCTION OF IMPERIAL PROPERTY
FAILURE TO REGISTER RESTRICTED SPECIES

From the journal of Zane Tardith

This update is from a little bit in the future, but I don't think I'm speculating too much on future events.

From the journal of Zane Tardith -

I found this datapad in the garden and the writing was all weird and loopy like in a historical holo. i asked Quan Hu for a translation program and he was like for what and i didnt want to say so i said I wanted to teach myself hi galactic and he laughed and he loaned me a datapad with a translation program so heres the output. Zach doesnt talk like this but hes been weird since they got back you know always humming or dancing and going for runs in the jungle at night. I dont want to tell Dory everything in here because she'll run and tell Quan Hu i read this and then she'll go on about how smart and kind Quan Hu is and how Jolee isnt so brave and she could go out and rescue people if they would let her.

[BEGIN AUTOTRANSLATION CODEX OUT OF DATE APPROXIMATE TRANSLATION BEGUN]

In this year after the seventh battle of Ruusan One Thousand and Two, on Seventhday of Eighthmonth, I Jedi Knight Zach Ouichee mark and proclaim this record.

It is odd to have another student and odder still one with more than passing likeness to Nalara. Rolana beseems kind and clever, yet still I fear for how the other students will treat her. They have goode hearts for the most part but that whoreson pirate worries me. Perhaps I will ask Pell to talk to him for me; Pell has a sweet tongue and knowes the pirate better than I. Odak is no foole so I think he will know better than to harm Rolana. I must bend my mind towards creating a curriculum as best I can.

My companions are odd but good. I cannot tell if they are oftimes strange of if the death of Aegon has made them so but we all have our strangeness. Taryn and Talia seem heartsick with anxiety sometimes and I know no words to counsel them. I only hope they both will detonate something big enough to shake their fears away. I do not thing Talia knowes what to make of me but she seems stalwart and will see. She strikes me as passing similar to General Onasi only female and not whiney. Taryn was shocked by my taking the glitteringstim but I will be a mare to Mosh the Rancor before I take that again. That hang-over was worse than Sith lightning. She has cared for me in my long sleep and I will watch over her and aid her quest for her people however I am able, for her and in memory of my kinfolk.

Pel has a good heart but I feel that something great or terrible still lies in his future. Jolee vexes my mind, for she is true to herself and at the very center of things yet I have no idea what she feels about those around her. I only hope she will not join those red knights as this new order needs her. Meena I have not sensed for a while now. She is a master as good as cloaking herself as any I have met and with her healing and counsel she is like a Force ghost cloaked in flesh. When she rejoins the force it will be as gentle a change as any who do not fade directly into it.

My hearts worry is dwarfed by my hearts hope though and the stars are alight again with promise and wonder. I have landed in a dark time in desperate need of help but the storm has an eye filled with able fellowes and new worlds to tread. I have a new student who will understand the glory and beauty of the force and I hope to teach another the sabres subtlety. I am hale as ever I was and so I finally feel that I can embark on mastering Vapaad. Mayhaps the less morose and stupid of those red Knights could learn and force be willing the children Tardith will ask me for help with Ataru.

Now I go for to cleanse my mind and work my body. I will need to be my keenest for Vapaad for teaching and for stopping the Sith. I have good work and tools to do it.

May the Force be with us all Jedi Knight Zach Ouichee

[END AUTOTRANSLATION]

Recovered from Jedi Archives

2 ABR - Order of the Jedi Archives - Liber Jedorum 20238-1A - Supplicant Thesis - Zach Ouichi

A Introduction to Sun-chii, for Padwan and Knights Unfamiliar with the Tradition

Within the splintered and searching Jedi Order, we struggle to redefine the Order and with it, ourselves. We must abandon or redefine many of our traditions, especially our martial mores. When the current conflict is over, we may disband our armies, decomission our navies, and sunder our armor. With the tools of supremacy, bureaucracy, and control we put both ourselves and the Galaxy at risk. We risk the temptations that the Sith embrace.

We will not, of course, abandon all of them. Our lightsabers are badges of station and our final appeal to peace. Our Order teaches and guides us when the force is unclear. Our tradition of Sun-chii joins them, as a valuable component to the Jedi Way.

Few Jedi still practice Sun-chii, old as it is, and many do not even know of it. Here I will explain it for you, for your edification and consideration.

Sun-chii is a contradiction, a compassionate way of making war. Two Jedi form a long term bond, the Sun-ro. The Sun-ro consists of a consular, the more skilled Jedi. That Jedi is the better arbiter and diplomat, and she focuses her lightsaber training on defensive abilities, frequently excelling in the trick of redirecting blaster fire and warding away explosives with the Force. The lesser Jedi is not encouraged, of course, to neglect training, but it is that lesser guardian who hones abilities in offensive lightsaber combat and pure Force use. The Sun-chii consular is worldly and weathered, a friend who can program a navcomputer and navigate a difficult moral quandry. The Sun-chii guardian is a faithful companion who basks in the consular's direction and wisdom, taking the opportunity that surety and security provides to hone himself to a bright edge, moving in and with the force and piercing through complexity and foe alike.

I am part of a Sun-ro, and I would recommend it heartily. I am that lesser, the guardian, and with that I know absolutely my place in the Order and the Galaxy. My consular knows that she will always have a companion and friend, one who will trust and accompany her until his death. Our Padawan have flourished and before we depart on a long journey, I write this to help preserve this sweet fellowship and the tradition that has nurtured it. My consular Knight, Nalara, is too overcome with characteristic Ithorian modesty to pen this.

-- rest of document continues in Liber Jedorum 20238-1B --

Zach Ouichee

Zach Ouichee is, by about two centuries, the oldest Jedi in the galaxy. As the Ruusan Reformation took place after the New Sith War in 1,000 BBA, the Jedi order changed. The Jedi laid down their militarism, disbanded their army and navy, forsook armor, and placed themselves under the supervision of the Supreme Chancellor. All of these suited Zach splendidly; he had no taste for war. What disturbed him were the strictest controls placed on the Jedi - the training only from early childhood, the centralization and standardization, and the strict limits on exploration and learning.

Zach loved the wandering in being a Jedi Knight. He loved the exploration, the learning, the richness of life it offered. Balking at the new dogma and rigidity being forced on the Jedi, Zach took a surplus tender ship and started wandering the Galaxy with a few fellowminded Knights and their Padawan. On Ziost, a planet only mentioned in the oldest of archives, Zach and his companions stumbled across Darth Bane, the secretly surviving Sith Lord. Bane cut down some of the fleeing Jedi and pursued the rest when they took off. With a destroyed hyperdrive and shield generator, Zach set a sublight course to the nearby Alderaan system, vented the reactive tibanna gas and fuel rods, and froze the three remaining survivors in carbonite. Zach alone (to his knowledge) survived the process, but he also survived the final torpedo run that shattered his ship.

Drifting through deep and then interstellar space, Zach was picked up by an Imperial survey ship in 5BBA. The captain noticed that Zach was a Miraluka, a now-rare species. Transferred first to the sector Moff's office and then to Grand Moff Tarkin's care, Imperial scientists under the direction of an enslaved Omwati savant found dim life signs and the possibility of ressucitation. Owing to the dangerous and potent nature of the find, Tarkin had Zach and the research team relocated to the newly operation Death Star. The Omwati researcher escaped from the Death Star with Zach's carbonite prison shortly before its destruction.

The Cast

Pel Vandred, young Jedi Knight. Likes: Lying, flirting with princesses. Dislikes: Sith, birthday parties.











Talia Renn, ex- Imperial Officer. Likes: heavy blaster rifles, giving orders. Dislikes: Impetuous young Jedi, training new recruits.

Taryn, Omwati technician. Likes: blowing things up, fixing droids. Dislikes: being an Imperial slave, molting.









Jolee Se'ol, Jedi gunslinger. Likes: co-opting Luke's destiny, swoop bikes. Dislikes: the old Jedi code, taking orders.







Rafe Starkiller, Alderaanian security. Likes: his family, Alderaan. Dislikes: Death Stars, slavers.



















Zach Ouichee, ancient Jedi. Likes: exploring, being alive. Dislikes: Sith, newfangled technology.











(not pictured)

Meena, Jedi ninja. Likes: not being noticed, being a secret crime lord. Dislikes: cameras, being a secret crime lord.