Chapter Text
Master Windu seemed troubled as he entered our master-padawan apartment. It was very sudden, one day his master was his old nice if slightly cold self the next day he was walking around with his hand always hovering close to his distinct purple sabre. It would have profusely confused any other padawan as the galaxy seemed to be at peace and stable, yet Odik knew better.
From the age of 6 until 10 visions and later memories would come, not of this galaxy nor his current life but rather one of a distant world. A world that he may once have called home yet now was nothing more than a faraway memory. Of those the ones he remembered clearly were obviously the ones that centred around his survival, that being what he once considered fiction and nothing more.
From the start he had known the dangers that would lie in front of him, and he had prepared accordingly. Born in 36BBY as he had calculated it as or 1BRS shorthand for before the Great Resynchronization. With the personality change that would be expected of such an influx of memories came a drive for knowledge.
Odik would admit himself that he may have gone overboard early on but his utter dedication to lightsabre combat showed. It was his dedication in both the use of a sabre and the force as well as his constant debates with his philosophy teacher on the code that made Mace Windu pick him as his padawan. He was a great master despite what many would have thought. He pushed Odik hard but only for the case of protection and excellence.
In a childish fit Odik had remarked to his master that Mace viewed him more as a clone to train and lead than a living human being. The response from his master had seen an end to such outburst.
“No man becomes a master of protecting himself and others by doing as he pleases. All improvement stem from competition and if you do not compete with your past self willingly then I will force you to do so. I do not wish to see your potential wasted, you are perhaps the most gifted padawan I have trained and the sheer amount of shatterpoints around you point to a great destiny. To let your potential rot and stagnate is not something I will allow. If you cannot accept that then I cannot and will not continue to train you.” Mace Windu said. His eyes focused and righteous determination burning through.
After a long pause Odik nodded. “I understand master, I am sorry for my outburst.” He paused slightly and with a mischievous look said. “Are there more shatterpoints around me than Skywalker?” With that the seriousness of the situation melted and Mace’s lips twitched slightly into a ghost of a smile. “Perhaps. Now, you have said you want to focus on Makashi and Shien. Go through the first kata set of each and we will continue from there.”
If Odik had to guess why his master was in such a wary state, he would wage that something big would happen and he could either sense it or perhaps even see it with his shatterpoints. He was proven correct as mere hours later during a sparring session of theirs the news of Padme Amidala’s shuttle exploding came.
After that his master quickly left for the Jedi Council room. Odik however stayed behind intent on continuing his training. He activated two duelling droids that he had made and programmed himself. Each equipped with a training lightsabre.
“Activation code London.” Sentimentality and attachments were not something the Jedi were supposed to have but his sentimentality towards his home planet was inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, and it gave him purpose and security. No matter what happened here in this galaxy his people back home would live on.
“Training level and style?” The lead droid asked. It was sleek in a way not many droids in the entire Star Wars universe were. Its proportions were humanoid in nature with a little twist. He had made the face be like Grand Master Yoda. Something he had found hilarious when he designed it many years ago and even now it brought out a small snort every time, he really thought about it. The funniest part was that his design had been taken and manufactured by the Order to be their standard duelling bot and every single one of them bore the head of Yoda.
He focused back on the question and quickly answered. “Early Knighthood and randomized style. Switch timer set to 5 minutes.”
They accepted the orders, and the battle began. Droid 1 settled into the familiar Soresu opening whilst Droid 2 went with Djem So. He himself activated his lightsaber and it literally roared to life revealing a deep green blade. settled into the defensive opening of Shien and allowed the droids to attack first.
Number 2 lunged forward and started attacking in wide strong slashed all aimed at battering down his defences until he collapsed. He did not allow it and deflected every single attack. This continued until he noticed what he was waiting for. A small misstep. He took the opening and easily switched to makashi, his forest green blade swiftly advancing forwards. He never allowed 2 any opportunity of attack and forced the Djem So user -a particularly offensive form- to stay on the defensive.
At that point the Droid 1 had had enough of circling and went to the attack despite employing Soresu the defensive form. The introduction of yet another combatant forced him to be more conservative in his offense and split his focus.
In an instant Droid 2 attacked once more almost hitting Odik straight in the ribs as he barely managed to dodge. He was drenched in sweat and needed an advantage. Facing two opponents simply did not work with Makashi. As Droid 2 swung at him he ducked down and activated the second blade of his lightsabre.
In an instant a second blade emerged from beneath and both blades became a lighter coloured green and they crackled much more than usual as if the blades could barely contain the energy. Now double bladed he could more easily fight against multiple opponents.
He spun around creating some distance and more importantly; room to breathe. He took a breath and lunged forward his blade elegantly moving through the air putting both droids on their back feet. Odik in a mix of makashi and shien dove to the ground into a roll and emerged behind the droids giving each a swift slash to the knee servos.
That was what he attempted but they managed to dodge in time and now both attacked him with a newfound ferocity. Both droids had switched forms into Shi-Cho and Juyo respectively.
2 was like a miniature storm battering down on him one ferocious slice at a time. He got no reprieve from 1 either as that droid attacked him the with the energy of a waterfall. No breathing room and a continuous powerful advance.
It happened in the blink of an eye. Droid 1 managed to knock his sword arm out to the side and 2 seized the opportunity by slamming the training blade into his chest.
He landed on his back both bruised and beaten. “Good job, recharge and deactivate.” They nodded and went back to the duelling hall supply ‘closet’. That was a bit of a misnomer as it was a rather large room full of various machines ranging from antigrav generators to floating blocks to murderbots ready to beat any arrogant Guardian to a pulp. A very painful pulp as he could still feel the phantom pains from 2 years ago when he genuinely thought he could defeat them.
“8 minutes, that’s a new record Odik. You are getting better.” A voice called from the sides. He turned and smiled.
“Hello Qel. I still struggle with Shi-Cho for some reason. Even defending against Juyo is easier. I just don’t understand.” He said raising his hands in frustration. “Every time its Shi-Cho and I know for a fact the droids specifically change into that to trip me up.”
“Well, it makes sense for you to be good against Juyo, Windu is a Master of It, perhaps you should talk to Master Fisto? He may know some tips and tricks.”
“Maybe I will Qel but for now let’s eat, I’m starving.”
Qel nodded and they made their way towards the main eating hall. It was there that the majority of jedi ate although some species’ like the Kel Dor had their own much smaller areas to eat. “Hopefully it’s something good today. I’m sick of erak soup.” Odik commented earning a light chuckle from Qel.
“Me too, hopefully its nerfsteak although I’m not betting on that.” Qel said and after a brief pause continued. “Speaking of betting, what do you think has got the Council in such a fuss?” And it was true, Mace Windu was not the only one. Every single one of the councillors were more sombre than usual and people like Plo Koon who always stopped to chat with the younglings, didn’t.
“Change.” Odik stated simply. After a raised eyebrow or the nautoal equivalent from Qel he continued. “Change, they can feel it. I know that Mace can sense it and surely Yoda as well. Couple that with the recent bombing of Senator Amidala’s shuttle and it makes sense for them to behave differently. Frankly I’m worried as well.” What Odik did not say was that he knew the direct reason for the council’s worry. He had tried to tell but the force denied him, and he would oblige however much it irked him, he was after all a follower of the force.
“The bombing right. Quite suspicious, isn’t it? Only a week ago and we saw perhaps the biggest fire in twenty years a few levels down, also caused by another bomb. Something which diverted a lot of Coruscanti law enforcement craft down and lowered the general security of the upper levels. It feels connected.” Qel speculated aloud. They had no way of knowing nor did they have the access to the bombing reports, not the current one nor the one a week earlier.
“Perhaps, although I wouldn’t draw any conclusions until we have evidence. For now all we can know is that something will change. On a lighter note, have you seen Feemor today?” Odik asked.
“No. Are you still discussing the code?” Qel asked. Odik had sought Feemor out for further discussions after Feemor had been a substitute for jedi philosophy class once. Their discussions had ranged from lightsabre theory to the sith and currently interpretations of the code.
“We are, although less than before and we are moving onto the force itself now. He obviously prefers the Living Force but I’m not sure yet which I would put as the superior side if any at all.”
The comms unit at Qel’s belt started blinking. He quickly picked it up and read the message. “You’ll have to fill me in later I got a new mission. Hm. Briefer than usual ‘Investigation of potential galactic separatist group’ that sounds interesting.”
“Good luck then and may the force be with you.” Odik said. He truly meant it as well. Whilst Odik’s missions with his master had been conventionally dangerous he could always guess from who the danger would come. Qel on the other hand as a future jedi Shadow would be alone bar his master behind enemy lines, potentially surrounded by unknown dangers.
“I don’t need luck Odik; I have my master. I do need the force though.” He said with a grin. A good quality for sure and something Odik appreciated, a near constant light optimism that made any bad moment slightly less bad. “I’m sure you’ll go on another mission soon enough with your previous one ending so fabulously.”
“You can say it ended horribly; I won’t be offended. Frankly crashing a speeder bike into the Undori capital palace whilst escaping form a swarm of sentient wasps was the least of our issues, it was the coolest though. Honestly, who knew trying to negotiate peace between two semi hive minds could be so difficult.”
“Well, you did say you had fun even if in your words ‘It feels like trying to appease two baby siblings’.”
“They were siblings! Both from the same previous hive queen.” Odik replied chuckling. “Comm me when you can, and you should go now so you won’t be late. Master Dewarook won’t appreciate lateness.”
“You’re right about that. Well then this is goodbye for now, hopefully we see each other in a few months.” Qel said with sincerity. Odik could hope but he knew that it would be unlikely, with the war coming any semblance of peace would collapse and both of them would serve on the frontline.
After eating he had given up on finding Feemor and instead went to the archives to study. There were various things drawing his attention especially historical chronicles. Although for now he had to shelf his love for history and instead focus on something that could benefit him much more in the long run. He loaded up a datacrystal into an archive terminal and started reading. He had not gotten far when he felt a familiar presence stand behind him.
“Hello master, how long did you stand there for?” Odik said as he turned around to full look at Windu. He stood imposing yet calm; his aura was not one for the weak minded. When he did not shroud his presence as he seldom did inside the temple then he would often feel like a force of nature. At one moment perfectly calm, the next a maelstrom ready to unleash itself upon any enemies of the jedi and more importantly for Windu any enemies of the republic.
“3 minutes padawan, better than last time.” Training was never truly over, whilst the active part of his tutelage happened in the training halls and the field Windu never stopped testing and pushing Odik no matter where or when. “Finish your starfighter, I feel there may be a use for it in the coming weeks.”
“A new mission?” Odik asked.
“Maybe, it remains to be seen but the force is in turmoil. Be ready as quick as possible and meet me in the room of a thousand fountains, an hour of meditation is in order, if only for my own sake.”
It was not long until it started. Hundreds of jedi all assembled and ready to save Kenobi, Skywalker and Amidala. From the outside it would seem overkill but Odik knew and Windu probably sensed that 200 would be the minimum if they even wanted a chance of success. Odik took one last look at his fighter and jumped in.
He had ‘gotten’ it half a year ago on a very precarious mission. A mission that had involved rescuing slaves from Hutt space and a crash landing in the desert of Tattooine and a heavily hurt Windu. From all of that however he had managed to secure a rusty old z-95, whilst he would prefer a small gunship a z-95 was quite a good fighter all things considered. He did not leave it as it was, however. Odik upgraded it beyond what should have been possible, only able to do it due to the force. Quadrupled shield strength, quad fusion engines, twin laser repeaters and two concussion missile launchers with a class 1 hyperdrive integrated.
In short it was a masterpiece of a ship only challenged by Anakin’s personal starfighter and Saesee Tiin’s Sharp Spiral.
He flicked on the power and watched in satisfaction as it smoothly went into combat readiness, with all readouts showing green he engaged the engines and exited a secondary Jedi hangar. The reasons he did not use the main hangar was that it was smaller and much more importantly, it was closer to where he and Windu lived.
“Jedi Command this is the Apollo speaking permission to leave temple airspace?” He asked over comms using the name of his starfighter. He had picked it both because it was a cool name but also because of the distinctive shots fired by his lasers. Heavily refined blaster gas and his modified weapons system produced shining golden bolts much faster than any normal blasterbolt and whilst less explosive did melt through much more armour.
“This is Jedi Command you are cleared to leave, follow the navigation points transmitted and make your way to the orbital rendezvous point swiftly.” The air control answered after a brief crackle. He steered his ship onto the directed path and sat back to admire the Coruscanti cityscape. No matter how many times he flew over it he was still in awe every time. A whole planet covered in citysprawl with only a few minor exceptions like the last mountain and lake, other than that it was skyscrapers as long as the eye could see.
Many Jedi he had talked to had sometimes commented that Coruscant was not a good place for the jedi, it lacked the living force. Whilst he agreed that the Jedi should not have their main base on Coruscant he also disagreed with Feemor’s reasoning. Coruscant, a planet of trillions was so drenched in the living force that it could be almost intoxicating if focused on too much. Meditating and focussing on the sheer sprawl of Coruscant felt like being an amoeba on an ant standing at the top of the anthill and knowing that underneath laid hundreds of layers all filled with life.
He exited the atmosphere gracefully and increased the engine power. He arrived near the hyperlane entrance point only a minute later, half of the taskforce already there. Most of them knights and some masters yet he was the only padawan. A very scary prospect but also one of great pride, his master considered him capable enough for this very dangerous mission. Speaking of his master, Windu was coming him. “Odik, I can sense your worry. Listen to the force and you will be fine I promise.”
Odik forced himself to calm down. “Yes master. I’m ready.”
Windu switched to the ‘fleet’ wide comms. “There is no time for speeches, two members of the Order are captured and about to be executed together with a republic senator. We will not let them succeed, use the route transmitted and may the force be with you.” Windu signed off and his fighter streaked into hyperspace. Soon more on and more ships jumped until only he was left. He took a deep breath and pulled the lever. The stars became longer until all he could see was a tunnel of blue.
The route between Coruscant and Geonosis would usually take 6 days with a class 1 hyperdrive but a combination of hidden Jedi routes and force navigation, a trick taught to all Knights and something his master had quickly taught him shaved the time down to 2 days.
With a long trip ahead Odik settled into a deep meditation trance and waited.
Odik was disturbed from his meditation by his ship exiting hyperspace. The stars returned to normal and the dusty orange-brown planet of Geonosis filled his view. He followed the plan and quickly activated stealth mode, not true invisibility but enough to fool passive scanners. With his ship invisible to the passive scanners of any orbital ships he passed right through and into the atmosphere.
He homed in on the force signature of his master and let it guide his ship. He arrived to a plateau a kilometre or so away from petrinaki arena. The place of the execution. He jumped out of the ship and landed a few meters behind it. “Master, how many have arrived?”
“Not enough.” Windu responded; his gaze firmly settled on the arena. His brows were tight, and his face was drawn up into one of silent determination. “This will be dangerous and more challenging than anything you have done before my padawan. I cannot protect you. Listen to the force, let it guide you.”
Odik nodded and they remained in silence as more and more Jedi starfighters arrived. Their distinctive Pizza slice shape glinting in the air. Possible due to the force or simply the efficiency of the stealth systems but none were seen and soon enough all 213 of them were there.
There was no grand speech simply a determination to end this execution before it could complete. Odik could sense that many were wary as they had seen the grounded Lucrehulk Core ships on their way through the atmosphere- it betrayed the scale of the situation. This was no simple rescue mission but rather what could be classified as a planetary raid to not only rescue prisoners but also to destroy any groundside resources.
They soon split up and all made their way in small groups into the arena, using the force to shroud their presences and hide among the crowd ready to engage at a moment’s notice. Odik himself stood in waiting in the shadows of a small alcove not far from where Count Dooku and his ilk stood. From here he could see the moment Windu acted. He emerged from the tunnel and ignited his distinct purple lightsabre directly in front of Jango Fett. A twitch and Jango would be dead.
From here he could not hear the exchange between his master and Dooku but he knew that it was time to act. Odik stepped forward and ignited his lightsabre. The two sides emerged with a deafening roar as the green blades crackled to life.
In two quick flicks he disabled the one of the geonosian cannons which he had positioned himself behind. The bugs themselves spun around in surprise and met a similar end to their weapon with two precise cuts through their throats.
Odik moved forward and jumped down into the arena settling into Shien as it was much more suited for blaster deflection. He slowly made his way through hoards of droids and towards the centre. He knew they were loosing but salvation was at hand fi they only lasted a bit longer. He could feel jedi lives being extinguished in seconds. A true wakeup call to the Order that times had changed.
Change, he located his master and sprinted towards him. Windu was engaged in a dizzying fight with Jango Fett his lightsabre moving so fast it seemed as if a wall of purple ahd been ejected around him. He could not count how many shots were fired nor how many of those were deflected back at the Mandalorian but it looked like a maelstrom of bolts thundering down on an impenetrable purple force field.
The bolts themselves often went straight back at Jango and onto his distinctive beskar armour. The metal itself reflected the bolts away.
Those bolts that Mace did not deflect back were reflected down into the ground between them creating a scorched patch of broken glass created by the superheated blasterbolts.
Odik had to intervene. He threw his lightsabre using the force to assist him. It spun around like a disc of death flying straight for Jango’s neck; one of the places that lacked beskar plates instead having only fabric. The bounty hunter attempted to fly backwards with his jetpack but noticed almost too late its destroyed state and barely managed to dodge the lightsabre. He landed roughly in the sand.
Odik ground to a halt next to his master deflecting some stray bolts into the surrounding droid horde downing a few B1’s and even a B2 that was about to kill a jedi, the knight in question looked at him briefly and nodded in thanks before going back to fighting. “Don’t kill him.”
Mace frowned. “He’s a bounty hunter.” He said with derision insinuating what he thought of them; vigilantes taking the law into their own hands undermining the order of the Republic.
“He is clearly important to Dooku.” Odik pointed out whilst ducking under a stray bolt.
“I will not hesitate to kill him.” Mace finally stated.
“We’ll take him together.” Odik said and turned off one of his blades, the colur went back to a forrest green and the crackiling disappeared leaving only the iconic hum and elegance of the lightsabre. Windu twirled his purple lightsabre once making it briefly reflect in his stone cold determined eyes. He settled into his personalized Vapaad stance, and they turned in unison towards their enemy.
Fett had just managed to throw off his jetpack and began shooting at them with his sniper like precision making every shot a matter of life and death. Odik advanced first. He deflected another few stray bolts straight at Jango who used his beskar vambraces to block. As Odik neared Jango jumped forward with surprising speed.His hand jabbed forward at Odik with a previously hidden vibroblade. It cut straight through the fabric of Odik’s light brown robes.
With a flourish Odik immediately riposted and sliced into the fabric between Jango’s shoulder and arm disabling the limb. To his credit the bounty hunter did not cry out in pain and immediately jumped down into a roll. He emerged with a handful of the superheated glass throwing it right at Odik’s face. He managed to dodge most of it, but two particularly large fragments sliced across his cheek leaving two big angry red lines. His face screamed out in pain, and he briefly used the force to stay calm.
He hit the ground hard his hand clutching his face. He could hear the sound of blasterbolts and the familiar hum of a lightsabre in the background. He fliched slightly as he felt yet another Jedi die. He grit his teeth and sat up using the force to focus. The fight between Jango and his master was still ongoing, with only one capable arm the bounty hunter was cleasrly on the back foot but he still fought with an admirable ferocity. He dared not interrupt and simply waited for an opportunity to help his master.
Mace lunged forcing Jango to jump to the side into a roll. Jango came up with his functioning arm pointed at Windu. He flicked his wrist and shot a blazing hot stream of fire at Mace.
Windu held out his hand and seemed to capture all the fire drawing it into a telekinetic ball and letting it loose into a sky. Now that he knew about the flamethrower it had not taken him by surprise and it showed as Windu was barely winded from the awe inspiring use of Force.
The flaming ball flew up and exploded into a wave of superheated energy melting multiple droids and distracting yet more. Odik looked down at his lightsabre for a moment, the explosion had sounded quite like the roar of a Kray Dragon.
Odik tried to ignore the searing pain and looked for an opening. Finding it he thrust his arm forward and sent a wave of telekinetic power straight into Jango. He flew and crashed into the arena wall with a sickening crack. Both Odik and Mace held out their hand and pulled down. The entire balcony above Jango came crashing down burying him under tons of rock. He would survive thanks to his beskar but he would be completely immobilized.
The battle had been going on far longer than it expected and when they focused back on the larger battle it seemed almost lost. From 200 jedi there were now only a few dozen with thousand of destroyed droid on the opposing side yet they just kept on coming. “Look!” Amidala shouted. Down from the sky like true Guardian angles the clones descended. Their Laat’s melting through the hordes with impunity and allowing Odik and the other remaining jedi to escape. He approached the main gunship together with Windu.
His master had arrived a bit before him and was already talking with Yoda. As he got in Yoda extended his arm and pulled. From behind them an unconscious man in shining soot covered armour soared in and landed roughly inside the gunship. He slumped to the ground resting his back against the gunship wall. He was completely exhausted, through the entire fight he had to immerse himself in the force to even have a chance at deflecting the blasters.
“Sir, do you require medical assistance?” A clone asked, his armour still as white as all the others leaving nothing to individualize him.
Odik smiled in gratitude but shook his head. “Spare it for those truly wounded but thank you for asking. What’s your name?”
“A-13666. Arc trooper from the 113th Legion.” The clone answered with a measure of pride.
“You have a name? I don’t find the idea of using numbers particularly pleasing.” Odik drawled.
“Uh yes sir, Noble.” The clone now identified as Noble answered with a hint of surprise in his tone, as if he had expected the jedi to be so heartless as to use numerical designations.
“Good, survive Noble.” Odik said simply and stood up. He made his way to the front and signalled for the pilot to open the side door. The clone in question did so without pause. Odik breathed in and jumped out. He soared through the sky like a dart slowly flattening out and using the force to land gracefully. He turned around with a grin and right in front of him stood his prized fighter, Apollo.