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It had been a while since Shaak Ti had deemed a Council meeting important enough to attend in person, but well, a lot had happened. She had just got the comm about the Chancellor being kidnapped, only to arrive at Coruscant when the news of his safe return broke. She spent the brief amount of time she had before the Council meeting started getting the run down of the whole thing from Masters Windu and Yoda.
Apparently, Obi-Wan and his former padawan had been the ones to take on the mission. Everything had gone about as well as one could expect when that was how a mission summary started. They had safely returned the Chancellor, however they had also crashed a Separatist cruiser onto Coruscant. More distressingly, former Master Dooku had been slain in the process of the mission. Shaak Ti knew it was silly, but she had been holding out hope that he would return to the Jedi Order once the war was over. To find out that he was struck down by Anakin Skywalker didn’t disturb her as much as it did confirm some of her fears about the young knight.
Before she could bring the topic of Knight Skywalker up with the other Masters they decided to call the Council Meeting to order. Master Ti’s eyes glanced over to the seat that belonged to her former padawan. It was empty, which confused Shaak Ti, Fox was rather punctual, even if he was only joining via holo. As if on cue, a young man in Temple Guard garb, minus the mask, rushed through the door with his face buried in a datapad. He took his seat and gave a small nod of greeting to the rest of the Council, not wanting to interrupt more than he already had. It didn’t escape Shaak Ti’s notice how the young man’s face pulled into a slight smile when he gave her a nod from across the room.
The meeting was a rather important one, and Master Ti was glad she had made the trip, not that it was the outcome she was hoping for. Apparently, Chancellor Palpatine felt he wasn’t involved enough with the Jedi Order, which was by design, but he had requested to have Anakin Skywalker appointed to the Council as his representative. Shaak Ti had expressed her distaste for this, but it became clear it wasn’t really up for debate. Especially with Knight Skywalker being allowed to be in the room for the decision, meaning he would loudly gripe about anyone who thought he shouldn’t join the Council. At least they didn’t grant him the rank of Master just because some politician was twisting their arms. The whole thing made Shaak Ti think back on when her padawan had joined the Council, and how different it had been.
Though he was no longer her padawan, Master Ti had a hard time with viewing the young man who she had only met a little over a year ago as a Jedi Knight. He had passed the trials only one week earlier, and now he stood before the Council, not to be evaluated, but with a request. That gave Shaak Ti a sense of pride in her former student, it had taken quite a bit of work to get Fox to accept he was allowed to have things, never mind him asking for something. He seemed to be calm, cool, and collected as he stood before the High Masters, but Shaak Ti could feel that he was just as nervous as the first time he had stood in this room.
Nevertheless, he spoke, “Thank you for listening to me today.”
“If the head of our Temple Guard has a concern, it likely is worth hearing.” responded Mace Windu.
“Right,” Fox stumbled to regain his courage at that statement, and he shifted his weight from foot to foot nearly imperceptibly. He nervously glanced towards his former Master, and Shaak Ti gave him an encouraging smile and a nod. He took a breath and continued, “Well, it doesn’t exactly pertain to the Temple Guard, sirs.”
Master Ti picked up on the nervous habit Fox had of slipping back to his training.
“Alright, that is,” assured Master Yoda, “Something that troubles you, it is, so something we will hear, it is.”
Fox nodded and once again tried to swallow down his nerves, “I’m sure much of the Council already knows, but I work with the Coruscant Guard in my spare time.”
The Council members mumbled in understanding, “They are a clone force the size of a system army, which I’m sure you already know, but, um…”
He trailed off, Shaak Ti was used to this. Whenever Fox got to the part of a request where he actually had to ask for something he always froze up. Master Ti knew how to help with this, so she helped to reframe the situation, “What is it that the Coruscant Guard needs Fox?”
Separating Fox from the request usually helped him to push through. He was so selfless, of course his request was going to be something for his brothers.
Fox relaxed a bit before he continued, “Well, every other system army has a Jedi general, or some battalions even have them, but the Coruscant Guard reports directly to the Chancellor.” The Council members nodded along as Fox laid out the situation. Shaak Ti couldn’t speak for the others, but the information did give her pause. She had never really considered the Coruscant Guard, but even she had a legion under her, did they really not have a Jedi general? Master Ti was suddenly very interested in Fox’s request. “If it’s not too much to ask, I believe they should have a Jedi general.”
There was mumbled discussion between the Jedi Masters, but Shaak Ti was more focused on Fox. He was shifting on his feet again and wouldn’t meet her, or anyone’s, eyes, anxiously waiting for someone to respond to his request. Master Windu, who was often the one to speak on placement for the war, commanded the room as he directed his choice towards the nervous young man in the middle of the room.
“I don’t believe we really have the Jedi to spare for a non-front battalion like the Coruscant Guard,” the man was very matter of fact. Fox’s face fell slightly at the corners of his mouth. This was clearly something important to her former padawan, Shaak Ti would have to contribute to the discussion, even if most Council members considered Mace Windu’s opinion near final. Fox had opened his mouth to accept the answer, but Master Ti cut him off.
“I don’t think it has to be anything too strenuous. There are several Jedi who remain on Coruscant, surely one of them could at least hold the title?”
Fox snapped his attention to his master, he was shocked for a moment, and then a slight smile pulled at his worried face. In an instant Fox schooled his face back to neutral. Master Ti speaking up for him seemed to give the young Jedi the courage to ask for what he had clearly been meaning to ask in the first place.
“Not that I at all wish to impose my will on the Council, but I believe I could take up the title. I already work with the Guard, and it would really just be a title.”
“Your request is reasonable,” Master Obi-Wan mused, stroking his beard, “but as was pointed out earlier, the Coruscant Guard is nearly the size of a whole system army, should we really ask a newly appointed knight to be over all those troops?”
“What an ironic point coming from the Jedi whose padawan only recently passed his knight trials before assuming control of a company.” Master Ti defended. She did somewhat agree that she didn’t want to press more responsibility to her recently graduated student, but if this was what Fox had decided he wanted, she would not hold him back.
“The 501st legion is barely comparable to a system army.” Master Kenobi countered, before adding, “Other than in the amount of paperwork their approach to missions generate.”
“I believe I am on the side of the young knight here.” Master Ki-Mundi said, entering the debate, “He is already making contact with the Coruscant Guard on a regular basis, why not allow him to be a go to for them if they have any issues.”
There was once again murmurs and side conversations between council members as they discussed the points made so far and their own thoughts on the matter. Master Ti chose to focus on her former padawan in the center of the room however. Though most would miss it, he had started shifting on his feet again, seeming to accept that despite the support, he would still not have his request granted. They made brief eye contact as Shaak Ti reached out to Fox through their Force connection; he seemed to relax a bit as she wordlessly reassured him, until a voice spoke over the murmurs.
“If that is the situation,” Master Windu commanded the room once again, “I second the notion to grant Knight Fox the title of General of the Coruscant Guard.”
Shaak Ti couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she had been ready to level down every master on this council to help her little Fox and his brothers, but here was, what many referred to as, the voice of the Council already on her side. She felt the relief wash over her former student as well.
“Have a seat on the Council, he should.” Almost every head in the room snapped to the oldest master. Master Ti was half convinced Fox was about to pass out from shock at the words. It wasn’t often they added new members to the Council, and never would they even consider someone so young.
“Valuable, it would be,” Master Yoda supplied to the stunned room, “to have insight into our forces here, on this planet.”
“I agree with Master Yoda,” Mace Windu was about the only calm person left in the room, “if he is to be granted the title of General over what is essentially a system army, he should be privy to our military strategies. In addition, Knight Fox is the head of the Temple Guard. Him sitting on the Council would give the best line of communication about those forces as well.”
And that had been that, of course some council members had voiced their thoughts at the strange situation, but when the two highest ranking members of the Council had already been in agreement about it there wasn’t much discussion to be had. Although, like Knight Skywalker, Fox had not been given the rank of Master with his council seat; he had been elevated to the title of General, which is how most of the Council would address him out of respect for all the titles he held.
Snapping back to the present, Shaak Ti noticed that the council chamber had started to clear out as she sat lost in shock and reminiscence. As she glanced around she couldn’t find her former student. Which made sense, he had come into the council meeting with his nose in other work, but Master Ti had been hoping to spend some time with her little Fox while she was on Coruscant.
Exiting the chamber it didn’t take long to find Fox. It seemed he had barely managed to make it ten steps from the council chamber before Knight Skywalker had pulled him aside for a conversation. From what Shaak Ti could tell Fox was only half engaging with the man in front of him and focusing his other half of attention onto, no doubt, multiple tabs on his datapad. Though she didn’t need to get any closer to hear the whiney knight’s side of the conversation, as she approached she could start to hear her former padawan’s much more level responses.
“I wasn’t hiding anything from you, Knight Skywalker.” Fox said with a sigh, finally turning his gaze up from his pad, “I have been present for many Council meetings you have been at. It’s not on me that you didn’t notice me there.”
“What next?” Skywalker demanded, “You’re gonna tell me they gave you the rank of master!?!” He accented his point by crossing his arms and leaning into the younger man's personal space.
“Heh,” Fox let out a weak laugh, “That wouldn’t have made any sense, I was barely a knight when I joined the Council.”
“That can’t be true!?!” Knight Skywalker was full on yelling now. Shaak Ti flicked her gaze to the Temple Guard who inclined their heads towards the situation, but they made no movements other than that.
As Master Ti returned her attention to the pair she noticed Fox had gone starkly still as the enraged newly appointed council member seemed ready to strike. With that, Shaak Ti made her presence more known. Despite her standing in Knight Skywalker’s line of sight the entire time, the younger man still seemed surprised when she addressed him.
“Forgive the interruption,” Shaak Ti liked to think that her distaste for Skywalker did not reach her voice, “but I was hoping to talk with Fox if your business isn’t too pressing.” She punctuated it with a smile, but it did not carry its usual warmth. This seemed to fly right over the head of the young knight.
“Ah, Master Ti,” Knight Skywalker made an effort to school his face to a more neutral look and unclenched his fist, “I was just discussing with Fox here how long he’s been on the Council.”
In the corner of her vision Shaak Ti noticed Fox lightly brace against the wall next to him. She moved to place a strengthening hand onto his shoulder and fed what little force healing she knew how to do into their force bond. Once her former student seemed more stable she turned back to Knight Skywalker.
“I’m surprised with how often you are in the council chambers you did not notice his presence sooner.” She once again pulled a tight smile across her face.
“I guess he was just on the other side of the room from where I’m normally looking, heh heh.” The younger man’s flat laugh made it clear he was now trying to get out of this situation as soon as possible. This worked for Shaak Ti, she had never much cared for the man, especially around her little Fox.
“If that is all,” Shaak Ti spoke in a rather firm tone, “I would like to catch up with my former padawan.”
“Ah, right,” Knight Skywalker was already turning to leave, apparently not needing to be told twice, “I have other things to do anyway. I guess I’ll see you at the next Council meeting, Master.”
With that he was gone. Shaak Ti had somewhat hoped to get an apology from the young man, but knowing Knight Skywalker’s track record she knew it was a pretty mute point. With the situation as settled as it was going to get, she turned her attention back to Fox, only to find that he was no longer by her side. He must have slipped away while she was finishing her conversation. Master Ti was a little upset by this, but Fox had been busy, and it wasn’t uncommon for him to just vanish.
Fortunately, Shaak Ti was an expert at tracking down the elusive head of the Temple Guard. While her former padawan had found a way to nearly disappear into the Force, she still knew how to find his faint signature. As she reached out she found he had already made it half way across the Temple. She was always surprised at Fox’s speed, even for the average Jedi, he really knew how to get around. Based on his movement and also the datapad he had walked into the council chamber with, Shaak Ti had a pretty good idea of where Fox was heading. So, she figured she’d just meet her former student there.
Despite making multiple visits to the Coruscant Guard base, Shaak Ti still almost missed the entrance. Her attention was only drawn by a disgruntled being leaving. They seemed to be a senate aid of some kind, probably upset about a lack of guards for a party. Fox was always complaining Senators asked for more men than were necessary for the task. Entering the lobby it was bustling with activity. Groups of red clad clones marched by on their way to or from patrols, all navigating around a large crowd of messily queued people. Five clones at the desk were doing their best to get through the sea of more senate aids, or sometimes even Senators themselves, all seeming to question what was being done about the ship that had crashed onto the landing pad. Some were saying it was a safety concern and others just complaining that it had inconvenienced traffic routes and parking. Master Ti thought that most of the Senate safety questions should have been directed towards the Coruscant Security Force, but maybe they were busy too and these people just want to be heard by someone.
Before Shaak Ti could begin to navigate the chaos of the room someone called out to her.
“General!” Came a voice just loud enough to be heard over the noise of the crowd.
Master Ti turned to greet the approaching commander. She recognized the force signature before she saw the distinct armor. He felt like a nice warm cup of sweetened tea on a rainy afternoon.
“Commander Thire.” Her warm smile was met with a swift salute.
“If you’d follow me sir, we can talk somewhere we don’t have to shout.” The clone commander’s voice was the picture of professionalism. He moved with practice drill steps, somehow managing to dodge the rouge people without missing a beat. Down quieter corridors Shaak Ti followed the young commander, if she remembered her previous visits correctly they were heading towards a common room. The further they got from the lobby the more relaxed Thire’s steps and stance became; the real Thire, not the show he had to put on for entitled Senators.
“It’s been quite a while since you’ve been planet side General Ti.” As they rounded the next corner Thire removed his helmet. Shaak Ti couldn’t help but notice how his hair seemed to be missing its usual mismatch of braids or the heavy sigh before he spoke again, “Can’t tell ya how welcomed a presence you are.”
“Yes, this war has been hard on all of us. And that was before everything that happened in just the past few days.” Although she didn’t see much of the war, she had seen the clones on Kamino having to be shipped out younger and younger just to keep up with the opposing forces. It was a welcomed break to see older clones so well adjusted.
“Yeah,” Thire rubbed the back of his neck and slightly slowed his pace, “all that has Ori’Fox tied up for a while. I know that’s mainly why you’re here.”
“Thir’ika, I enjoy visiting all of you. Of course I want to catch up with my former padawan, but I am also interested in how things are going with you.”
“Oh, well,” the commander shifted his gaze to the ceiling as they continued, “I mean, like you said, a lots happened…”
Shaak Ti made a noise of acknowledgement, hinting for the young commander to continue. His force signature had felt much heavier with the last statement and she was hoping to not have to pry as to why. Before Thire had to respond they reached their destination.
“Let’s just say a morale boost is desperately needed…” A strained smile pulled onto the commander's face as he at last turned to Shaak Ti.
“Understood.” she responded with a small nod.
At that, Thire put a more convincing smile on and opened the door to the Coruscant Guard common room. There was a range of reactions; some newer recruits went to attention at the site of the commander, some even saluting, while clearly older clones gave lazy waves if they even bothered to turn from their card game. Once Master Ti walked through the door the energy in the room spiked. The shinies were still confused, but happy to see her, and the veterans rushed to greet her, practically bouncing while telling her about all the cool arrests they pulled off or the assassinations they averted. The younger clones quickly overcame their shyness and also started telling stories of their escapades since shipping out.
With all of the commotion Master Ti didn’t notice when Commander Thire slipped out of the room; it was fine, this was the drill when Fox was busy. She would wait with the other guards and she would be placed as Fox’s last meeting of the day. Today was quite the revolving door of troops as shift change after shift change past, all with fun stories of their successes and brothers quick to fact check when others exaggerated their involvement. It was well into the evening when Garden popped into the room and informed Master Ti that Fox was just about to finish up his last meeting. With many complaints of not getting to tell her about their heroism and many loud goodbyes she left the lounge.
As she walked with Garden, who had a rather pronounced limp, she prodded him about the happenings of the Guard and was once again met with answers that danced around the heart of the problem. Although, he mostly spoke of how rude people could be at the front desk as that was his posting. Shaak Ti had noticed him at the center position of the desk when she entered and she wondered how long of a shift he had spent assuaging Senators of their safety concerns.
Soon they arrived at the commanders’ office just in time to catch Senator Orn Free Taa leaving. Garden snapped to attention and gave a salute and Master Ti gave him a polite nod. Thankfully he did not stop to talk as Shaak Ti was not in the mood for an empty conversation with a man she didn’t really care for.
Finally she would get to speak with her Fox’ika. As she entered the office she noticed Fox was wearing his striking red armor. When had he changed? He was distracted with fixing a few things on his desk and hadn’t looked up before greeting,
“What can I do for yo-” he cut himself off as he finally saw who his last appointment was, “oh. Hello Master.”
“Good evening, Fox’ika.” Shaak Ti greeted with a warm smile.
“Maybe I should read my meeting memos every now and then.” The commander popped his helmet off and shot a sheepish look toward the desk.
“Surprises can be quite fun though.”
“Not on Coruscant.”
A dark look flashed across Fox’s deeply etched features, but just as quickly as it appeared it was gone. Her student’s force signature was masked by living force and so gave no indication of how deep that emotion went. A beat of silence followed before Fox perked back up.
“But, of course it’s always a pleasant surprise when you’re involved, Master.” The smile her young former padawan wore didn’t seem to reach his eyes as thick dark circles blocked its path.
“Well, since I’m your last meeting, would you like to grab something to eat?” It was a common offer between them and one that was never turned down.
“I’d love to, but,” there had never been a but, “I don’t have the time.” His smile fell a bit.
“But you have no more meetings, how could you not have time?” Shaak Ti was caught off guard by that response and probably had not kept the shock off her features.
“This was a 30 minute meeting block, then I have Senate patrol right after.” He seemed tired already, “We had to double up tonight to put everyone’s mind at ease.”
“Surely you can get a little something before then?” she tried again.
“I’m not hungry…” the smile had fallen completely off his face and he was looking everywhere but at her, “I had a ration bar between some of my meetings.”
It felt like a lie to Master Ti, but she didn’t want to upset her former student by pressing the issue. She shifted to other things that they usually did together.
“How about I braid your hair then?”
“I’d rather not…it’s not super comfortable to sit in this armor, and I wouldn’t want to accidentally have it dig into you…Also, my hair has been in my helmet all day, it’s a mess…”
The excuses would have landed better if Fox were not currently sitting in his armor, as he had assumedly been doing for all of his meetings that day. The idea of Fox not wanting to have his hair braided was off putting. He always enjoyed their little tradition. At least, Shaak Ti had thought so. He always relaxed as she worked and she had been hoping to use that to her advantage. The commander already seemed so tired, if she could get him to relax he would likely pass out.
“Very well,” Shaak Ti hid the hurt from her response, “I’ll just settle for walking with you to your rounds. How about that?”
“Sure…” Fox once again brought his eye back to his Master, “Not that it’s that interesting…or far.”
“That’s fine. I just want to spend some time with you. We don’t even have to talk.”
Fox seemed to perk up at that and relaxed the most since Master Ti had entered the office. And so they stayed in silence, Fox working on his data pad or filmsi on his desk and Shaak Ti watching him, trying to figure out why her Fox’ika was so distant. When the time came for Fox to head to the Senate they walked mostly in silence until they were just outside the building.
“I think this is as far as I’ll go.” Master Ti stopped short of the stairs.
“Alright,” Fox had replaced his helmet and so it was a little harder to pick up on his mannerisms, “guess I’ll see you, then.” He started to leave.
“Before you speed off,” her words stopped him in his tracks and he turned to face her, “I have a feeling this war will be over very soon, so take heart in that. When next I see you there will be much less conflict in this galaxy, and when that happens, I hope to have a moment of your time.”
“Of course, I’ll always make time for you, Master.”
With that Fox disappeared up the stairs for a patrol shift that was going to run too long, but there wasn’t anything for Shaak Ti to do about it. She watched him go and stared after him long after he was gone from view praying, that their next meeting would be better.