Work Text:
10 years after Palpatine’s demise
The day was a long time coming. Mostly that was because even clones who had been genetically engineered to learn at twice the speed of a natborn human needed a fair bit of time to adjust to entirely new worldviews and skillsets.
That wasn’t the only reason, though. Somehow, even the most basic logistics of the day had ended up requiring months of debate in and of themselves.
Between their training and the war, the vode had developed a pragmatism so strong as to frequently be considered quite ruthless. That was one of the many worldview issues they had been working on.
Not that pragmatism didn’t have its place among the Jedi. Far too many situations had no good answer, with the Jedi on the ground forced to choose the least awful of bad options. Jedi frequently had to weigh the possibilities and dispassionately choose whichever path forward provided the greatest benefit (or the least harm) to the greatest number of people.
And yet, among the Jedi, that pragmatism was always tempered by compassion. Their beliefs were not purely utilitarian. The Jedi knew that sometimes they had to take a leap of faith in the Force, or choose the kindest option rather than the most sensible one. One of the biggest reasons the Jedi had been universally assigned higher ranks than the clones during the war - besides anti-clone prejudice and Palpatine’s schemes, that is - was because the public trusted them to make moral choices, rather than just expedient ones, when it came to issues like civilian casualties or treatment of prisoners.
So that was one of many new ways of looking at the galaxy that the vode had spent the last decade attempting to internalize.
For this particular debate, however, Cody and all of his brothers had been of the firm opinion that pragmatism was the way to go.
“Tradition is all well and good,” he had finally argued, exasperated, “but if you’re worried we won’t feel like you’re making the ceremony special enough for us if we go through it in a group, don’t be. For one thing, if we attempt to do this one by one you’ll be running ceremonies night and day for the rest of Master Yoda’s life. For another, every one of us would actually rather do this in a group, together with all our siblings who’ve taken this journey with us. So doing it in groups is both practical and compassionate.”
The Council had smiled ruefully and accepted his argument, and the first of the joint ceremonies had been scheduled for a week hence.
And now the day had arrived and Cody stood, tall and proud, in the Hall of Knighthood.
To his right stood Ganodi, the only natborn in their padawan squad. To his left was Rex, and beyond him, over a dozen more of his brothers - all the rest of his squad. Except another ten minutes, and he wouldn’t be able to call them that any more.
As one, the line of them knelt, and around them a dozen lightsabers burst to brilliant life, lighting up the darkened chamber and illuminating the circle of Knights and Masters surrounding them, supporting them, ready to welcome them all as full-fledged members of the Order.
Master Windu stepped forward, brilliant purple blade still raised, to ask them the traditional questions.
There had been a part of Cody, back when they were first learning about how padawanships worked, which had desperately wanted to study under Master Obi-Wan. Who else would he have trusted as much to teach him about the Force?
But Obi-Wan had gently refused. “While I’m flattered by your request, Cody, let me ask you this: do you think you’ve learned anything from watching me about how to be a Jedi - negotiate, resolve disputes, take on enemies, and so forth?”
“Of course!” Cody had answered, not sure why that even needed to be asked.
“Then this is your chance,” Obi-Wan had pointed out with a fond smile, “to learn how other Jedi do things. Consider: the Kaminoans wanted you and all your brothers to be as identical as possible, and to do things as identically as possible. Obviously, despite their best attempts, you all grew far beyond that. But the Jedi have never valued conformity. Everyone has their own path to walk in the Force, and their own way to walk it. And the best way to determine what methods and approaches work best for you is to observe and experience as many as you can from other Masters. It’s why Ahsoka learned not just from Anakin and Plo, but also myself, Aayla, Yoda, Tera, Luminara, and so many others. You’ve had a chance to learn from me, and I’m honored by it, and I’ll always do my best to be available for you and all of the 212th for advice, or support, or just a friendly ear. But now’s your chance to see who else in the Order the Force suggests you learn from.”
It hadn’t been the answer Cody had wanted to hear at the time, but it had made enough sense for him to grudgingly agree, and by the time Master Windu had asked Cody to be one of his padawans, Cody had jumped at the chance.
(And truly, Cody thought, Obi-Wan had turned out to be just what Fox and the other former officers of the Coruscant Guard needed for their own Master.)
And so, as both their Master and the Master of the Order, Master Windu would be the one asking Cody’s squad their Knighting questions. He stepped forward to Ganodi, and began the ritual.
Growing up in the Order, Ganodi had never expected to share her Knighting - or her padawanship, for that matter - with over a dozen others. She had accepted the change with equanimity, even when the rest of the squad had asked if she’d prefer her own, individual ceremony, but they’d unanimously agreed that if she was going to join them in a joint ceremony then at least she could go first.
Cody waited patiently, letting the Force flow in and around him as Ganodi gave her answers to the questions. As Ganodi’s beaded cord fell to her lap and Mace stepped down the line to stand in front of Cody, Cody looked up and met his eyes.
“Cody,” Mace began, a proud smile on his face, “do you forswear all prior oaths and allegiances to follow the Force wherever it may lead you?”
Cody allowed himself a single breath before he answered. He hadn’t, technically, been Marshal Commander of the 212th and the Third Systems Army since he and the rest of the GAR had resigned that fateful day so long ago. But that hadn’t stopped him from still feeling responsible towards the troops of his former command. The ones who had left the Order he had kept tabs on, following their progress across the galaxy. He had celebrated their successes and encouraged them in their occasional failures. Those who had stayed in the Order he had kept an even closer eye on - organizing study sessions, adjudicating disagreements, and deciding which of their supply requests actually counted as reasonable. (No, two tons of glitter most assuredly did not count.)
Now that was about to change. His position as former marshal commander might not be an official oath or allegiance, but emotionally it still very much was, and now he was going to swear to give that commitment up.
Oh, he didn’t have to. Even now he could back out. But from the moment he had taken the first steps down this path he had known he wouldn’t, and his night spent in meditation before the ceremony had only solidified that decision.
Being a Jedi might not be the only way to make a difference in the galaxy, but it was one of the most significant ways to do so, and even more, it was the path the Force seemed to be calling him to take.
The troops of the 212th knew what this decision meant. They knew it would mean him making a commitment to the entire Republic - the entire galaxy - rather than them alone. And truthfully, they didn’t need him anymore. (Hadn’t for a while, if he were honest.) They had settled into their new lives quite thoroughly by now. If something did come up, they had the well-earned confidence that they could call on the Jedi Order as a whole for aid, and while Cody himself might easily be halfway across the galaxy dealing with some finicky negotiation, both he and they could trust that the entire rest of the Order, vod and natborn alike, would step in to help.
It was time for Cody to lay down that responsibility so he could pick up a new one.
“I do,” he answered Master Windu’s question, voice firm and clear.
“Do you swear to reject the Dark, and walk only in the Light?” came the next question.
This one didn’t require even a moment’s thought. Cody had seen the Dark far closer than he had ever wanted to. He had seen the damage Ventress and Dooku could do, both on individual battlefields and to the galaxy as a whole. He had been nearly face-to-face with the former chancellor when he had revealed himself as Darth Sidious. And he had seen the effects on Skywalker when the mere presence of the Vergence had caused the Darkness within the young man to reveal itself.
There was nothing that would ever attract Cody about the Dark.
“I do,” Cody answered again.
“Then do you swear to uphold the Jedi Code, serve the people of the Republic, and follow the guidance of the Force wherever it may take you, all the days of your life?”
“I do.”
“Then, Cody, by the right of the Council, by the will of the Force, I dub thee Jedi, Knight of the Republic."
The purple blade of Mace’s lightsaber hovered briefly over Cody’s left shoulder, then his right. Then it twitched minutely, and Cody’s padawan braid dropped into his lap.
“Cody, you may rise.”
Cody stood, his heart too full to even smile but his Force presence no doubt glowing incandescently, and was vaguely grateful that he didn’t have to do anything more complicated for the moment than drop into parade rest and watch with ever-growing joy as the rest of the squad went through the ceremony.
He could hardly believe it: Ten years of training on Kamino, told he barely qualified as something sapient whose only purpose was to die in battle. Then a year of battles more intense than even Kamino had fully prepared him for. Then the Temple, and the Vergence, and discovering he was not only a person, he was Force Sensitive, and that was enough to set him and all his brothers free! And then ten more years of training, but this time with a teacher who actually wanted what was best for him. And now the culmination of all of it.
Cody, Jedi Knight. A title which back on Kamino would have been just as unthinkable as Chancellor - if not even more so.
One by one, each of the rest of his padawan squad took their oaths and had their braid cut, and Cody realized he couldn’t be prouder. His brothers were alive and free and Jedi Knights!
Cody discovered he was beaming after all, and his eyes were starting to get suspiciously damp, too.
Once the last vod in line was Knighted, the ceremony was concluded. The Masters standing around the edge of the room extinguished their sabers, and the entire group of new Knights swarmed Mace, the assembled Masters, and each other, offering hugs with abandon. Each braid was carefully laid in Mace’s hand, thanking him for his training.
Tomorrow, Cody knew, he’d get his very first assignment as a new Knight. Most likely it would be with another vod - the Jedi Council had taken to heart Master Ti’s warning that the vode hadn’t been designed to function entirely isolated from each other. For that matter, most Jedi missions actually did need a couple of Jedi to properly do them justice. It was only in the last century or two of declining numbers that the Order had had to resort to more and more solo missions. With another dozen padawan squads mere weeks away from their own Knightings, and dozens more beginning to work their way through the Trials, the Order was extremely excited to finally end most of their emergency measures and return to more normal procedures - including multi-Jedi missions.
So tomorrow, Cody and his first partner - Rex, the Force whispered playfully, making Cody grin - would receive their first assignment and immediately begin pouring over every background detail they could get their hands on, to make sure they’d be able to serve the people they were being sent to the absolute best that they could.
That was for tomorrow, though.
Tonight was for celebrating. Cody grabbed as many people as he could wrap his arms around in the tightest hug he could manage, and simply basked in the overwhelming joy of himself, his siblings, his fellow Jedi, and the Force itself.
“Congratulations, Knight Cody, of the Jedi Order. Your adventures are only beginning.”