SW System 4: The Three Years (Patreon)

The closing ceremony was brief; the younglings who participated were lined up and approached by their Masters. For some, this was due to perceived compatibility, whether in fighting style or temperament. However, for Iggios, a Master he didn’t expect approached him.

Master Coleman Trebor was well known in the Jedi Order; even without the memories of his past life, he would have recognized his name. This Jedi Master commanded respect as a peacekeeper and negotiator, rarely ever drawing his blade.

It wasn’t that Coleman Trebor was a terrible duelist; he wasn’t. But the tall Jedi was effective enough with words that he rarely had to resort to a fight. Such an attitude was admirable but clashed quite heavily with Iggios's more direct nature.

“Master Trebor, can I ask... why pick me?” The question dripped with doubt. There should have been no way someone so different would have chosen him on his own accord.

“To make sure your aggression is tempered, young Padawan,” the tall Vurk answered calmly, not breaking his stride as he led Iggios to his new quarters. “Your lightsaber form and the casual offensive use of the Force have some Masters... concerned.” He elaborated, delivering the news with calm voice that seemingly stilled the nerves in Iggios’ body.

Iggios raised an eyebrow but kept walking; openly questioning the High Council's decision would likely not end well for him.

Once he was left alone in his new room, Iggios sighed. The system did not show up, not even a ding of acknowledgment. Was the system even present still? Or had Iggios missed his chance to survive this unfortunate time period? Getting chosen as a Padawan this early was apparently not impressive enough, but he couldn’t give up; not until he at least got something out of the sleeping cheat code.

At least he found solace in the fact that he won the tournament with relative ease. His swordsmanship was shaping up nicely, and his experimentation with the Force yielded good results. Now, as a Padawan, he would be able to delve deeper into the archives to study, maybe figure out how messed up this timeline truly was.

Information was his main concern, along with the fact that the High Council apparently had their eyes on him already. He wondered if he should have held back a little, but the promise of a system was just too enticing. Well, it was no use crying over past choices; he couldn’t reload his life like a Knights of the Old Republic game... unfortunately. Save scumming would certainly be a useful ability to have.

Thinking about it, his winning the tournament probably contributed to the apprehension some of the Jedi felt about him. Anakin had to deal with a similar situation when he joined the Order, if his memory served correctly. Some Jedi were appalled by the speed of his progress, and it seemed the same applied to Iggios.

He groaned in annoyance; his knowledge of this universe was undoubtedly lacking from his old life. He had no idea how old a Padawan was supposed to be. From what he gathered, the appropriate age in this version of the Star Wars universe was approximately sixteen.

As a twelve-year-old, he stuck out like a sore thumb, much like Skywalker did a few years ago when he finished his Initiate training in just three years and became a Padawan at twelve. That parallel was clear, if unintentional.

Iggios inhaled sharply and facepalmed. He truly hoped the Jedi wouldn’t start viewing him as a potential Chosen One. He'd gladly leave that burden to Anakin and avoid diving into all that religious nonsense.

The Force may be mystical, but even if the prophecy turned out to be accurate to some extent, Iggios couldn’t be sure what the so-called “balance of the Force” actually meant. He remembered people arguing about it incessantly in his past life, and if they ever reached a consensus, he wasn’t aware of it.

In his opinion, there was a need for both light and dark sides—not necessarily Jedi and Sith, but the Force needed to exist and be represented in its full extent. He vaguely recalled that in some Legends books, Luke's new Jedi Order was limited in number and practiced both the light and dark sides, but that was only a vague memory. Iggios couldn’t even be sure if such a thing was possible.

The System granted him a Trait that allowed him to use Dark Side powers without consequences. Did that imply that the more one used the Dark Side, the harder it was to pull away from it? Was the Dark Side addictive like crack or some other hard drug? It certainly appeared so in some of the media, but less so in others. He truly needed to research this topic before he made any plans.

The news of a very young person being taken as a Padawan spread quickly, much to Iggios's annoyance. Thankfully, he took full advantage of his new, slightly deeper access to the Jedi Archives and made sure to read as much as possible. The history section was of limited use, primarily because of Iggios's own restricted knowledge.

He recognized some fan-favorite names from the texts but couldn't be sure if the events associated with them were accurate. Most of his recollections were vague, and he wasn't even certain if Revan was considered a canon character or if he was still relegated to the Legends category. Iggios dimly remembered Revan being mentioned in the last Sequel Trilogy movie, but to his knowledge, the events of the ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ games were never part of the Disney canon.

Exar Kun was another name Iggios recognized, as he was one of the most famous ancient Sith. There were many other names as well; for instance, Satele Shan appeared as a past Grandmaster of the Order, but once again, Iggios couldn't be sure if she had ever been canonized—he only knew her from the Old Republic MMO.

It seemed that any plans would need to wait until the Clone Wars broke out; he knew enough about that period to more accurately determine whether it aligned closer to the TV show and canon or to the Legends timeline. For now, he decided to act as if the timeline he was in was a peculiar amalgamation of both canon and Legends.

Fortunately, Master Trebor pulled Iggios out of the archives before he could go insane over his lack of findings. However, it turned out to be a ploy to get Iggios to accompany him on missions, which usually involved aiding negotiations.

Iggios understood that the Jedi were meant to be peacekeepers, so mediating disputes between planets or corporations made a lot of sense. However, the politics behind it made his head hurt. He had always despised politicians in his past life—and he felt the same way in this one.

This was compounded by the fact that he knew many of these politicians would willingly fund corporations that, in turn, would support the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Whether knowingly or not, people in the Republic Senate were providing money and resources directly to those who would attempt to destroy the Republic in just a few short years.

Still, Iggios learned a lot from Master Trebor; there was no doubt about that. It was a shame that much of what he learned seemed useless for his survival in the upcoming conflict.

Sure, knowing how to negotiate a peaceful transfer of power within a corporation in the galaxy was a valuable skill, but Iggios doubted such knowledge would save him from being blown up. Perhaps it might come in handy after the war is over or in a tactical sense if some of the leaders of the CIS-backed corporations were to lose their head Oligarch.

———

Three years. It has truly been three years since Iggios was taken as an apprentice by one Coleman Trebor.

While Iggios never stopped honing his lightsaber skills with Master Drallig whenever he was available, his time under Master Trebor proved to be quite fruitful, particularly for Iggios's attunement to the Force.

Now fifteen years old, Iggios believed himself to be a more capable duelist than any knight in the Order. This was largely due to his hybrid fighting style, which he had developed to be as effective in combat as possible.

Over the years, he had even revisited Form Six and incorporated elements of its philosophy into his own style. He felt somewhat disheartened that no Jedi were heavily training in this form these days; having an opponent skilled in it would have been a welcome challenge.

Instead, he found himself sparring against Masters Trebor and Drallig or engaging with Ahsoka whenever she joined him. The snippy Togruta was still eager to get one-up over Iggios. So far, her success had been limited, but her talent was both apparent and undeniable.

To Iggios, her insistence on using the reverse grip was a significant hindrance. Even so, she was already a better duelist than many padawans, and she would need every ounce of skill she could muster soon enough.

Iggios had heard whispers of an attempted assassination against a Naboo senator. He could only speculate that this senator was Padmé, and his best guess was that he only had a few weeks left before the war broke out, he hoped this mission would be the last one; another escort for a politician.

Master Trebor seemed to genuinely enjoy the roundabout talking and the backhanded compliments that politicians exchanged, and as always, a new senator would be escorted by Jedi to ensure there was no foul play along the way.

The Republic world of Pantora was assigning a new representative to the Galactic stage, and Iggios was prepared to meet yet another elderly man or an ambitious woman. Instead, a rather nervous teenager boarded the vessel.

She was barely taller than Iggios, and he suspected that was only due to her hair's styling. Like all Pantorans he had seen, she had blue skin and golden tattoos, though hers were on the more minimalistic side, confined to her cheeks.

Her eyes matched her tattoos in color, being just as golden, and her hair was a very light shade of purple. At most, she could only have been eighteen or nineteen years old, yet somehow, she had managed to get elected to the Republic Senate. Although, to be fair, Padmé had been elected Queen of Naboo at fourteen, so young people in such positions were not entirely unheard of, but it was still a strange sight.

While Master Trebor was taken away with the other Pantoran senators he had apparently worked with before, Iggios found himself tasked with protecting the new senator.

"You must be quite the politician to be elected at such a young age," Iggios remarked, hoping to stave off boredom.

"Oh, um. Thank you," she replied, jumping a little. "I'm not sure why I was elected, to be completely honest..." she murmured, but Iggios heard her clearly.

His eyebrow raised, as she didn't appear to embody the typical politician. There was no false bravado or flowery language; she seemed more like a nervous student preparing for finals than someone about to represent her entire planet.

"Well, there has to be a reason. Though I admit, I'm not brave enough for politics, so my opinion might not carry much weight," he said with a shrug, dismissing the notion as ridiculous. Planet-level politics were already complicated enough, but galactic-level politics were far worse.

A small smile tugged at her lips in response to his light joke.

"I was told that the Jedi are among the bravest people in the galaxy; are the stories wrong?" she asked, and Iggios couldn't tell if she was being fully serious.

"Not wrong... but some of us would rather bring criminals to justice or help people in the Outer Rim. Guarding senators takes up too many Jedi, if you ask me," he replied honestly. "I'd prefer to face a Hutt gang or confront a bounty hunter to save someone's life... but politics is beyond what my feeble mind can handle." A soft laugh escaped him.

"Truly? Your Master seems to enjoy it," she inquired, earning a nod from the younger human.

"The council was afraid I would do something reckless if not looked after. So, I was assigned to one of the best negotiators in the galaxy," Iggios confessed, pleased to see her nervousness slowly dissipating as their conversation continued.

"Master Trebor has worked with the Pantoran Senate before. He is well-known to us... There has to be more than that if he took you on as an apprentice." She pondered, resting her cheek on her palm.

"I can only speculate, I'm afraid. I definitely learned a lot from him about negotiating before resorting to violence." Iggios leaned back in his chair, actually reflecting on his time with his Master.

He was sure he would perform better under the tutelage of someone like Cin Drallig or even Mace Windu. However, in terms of learning about the wider galaxy and meeting important people, no Jedi was as well-connected as Master Trebor.

Unfortunately, many of those important people were painfully dull.

Then there was the free time he had when his Master wasn’t needed for something essential. One downside was the lack of sparring partners for the manuals he had purchased on the lower levels of Coruscant.

Teräs Käsi was a potent martial art, as rare as it was deadly in the right hands. Sadly, it was only a recent acquisition. Iggios could barely be called an Initiate in the art, but he had a feeling that would change quickly once the war began.

"I doubt I'll ever be as good a negotiator as my Master... But I can do things he can't." Iggios concluded his thoughts, though his mind was racing in many directions.

"That's a shame. I believe the galaxy needs more people like Master Trebor," she said quietly, her eyes darting around.

"No need to be nervous," he waved her off. "I agree... but sometimes, even Master Trebor can't make people see reason. That’s where I come in." Iggios smiled fondly.

Beating up a cocky politician was one of his favorite pastimes. He only wished Master Trebor wouldn’t stop him from figting unless the politician attacked first. Few were foolish enough to attack a Jedi, but some were more arrogant than intelligent.

Mostly, if someone was really butthurt, a bounty hunter would be hired to eliminate the Jedi. As far as Iggios was concerned, the galaxy wouldn’t miss a bounty hunter who was stupid enough to accept such a contract.

"So, are you more of a muscle or a bodyguard?" she asked, leaning forward slightly. Her nervousness was almost gone, though her fingers still fidgeted.

"Not necessarily. But for missions like this, yes. My Master gets to negotiate and talk to his old friends, while I can let loose if anything goes wrong. It works surprisingly well for us." Iggios grinned widely, nearly splitting his face with enthusiasm.

This mission was better than he had expected. At the very least, he got to talk to a pretty young woman.

He paused for a moment as that thought crossed his mind and quickly shook his head to dispel it. There were already too many similarities between him and Anakin. He didn't need to add a secret relationship with a senator to that list.

"What do you hope to accomplish in that house of horrors?" Iggios asked, hoping his change of subject wouldn't be taken the wrong way.

"Oh! I - well, I hope to do what’s best for Pantora and for the galaxy at large." She stumbled over her words a little, but there was a genuine passion Iggios could sense.

She was an idealist—maybe a little naive, but the world needed people like her to remind those like him that there was a better way to do things, at least in theory.

"Good luck with that... You'll probably have to use those good looks of yours to charm a few senators," Iggios joked, bursting into laughter as she blushed. At least he thought she did; her cheeks turned more purple than blue, which was her usual color.

Finally, he was able to tease someone properly. Most of his innuendos went right over Ahsoka's head when he tried to be funny. He blamed it on her sheltered life in the Jedi Temple.

"I won’t... seduce my way to votes," she huffed and pouted, genuinely puted, her face bearing uncanny resemblance to an offended child. She understood that it was a joke based on her still darkened face, though.

"I never said you should. But keep in mind that people generally listen better when the presenter is either well-known and respected or attractive," he explained. The joke had a basis in reality, at least partially.

"And you're not well-known yet to be respect... so use what you already have," he added casually as the ship hit turbulence. It seemed they were landing already.

"But whatever you choose to do... good luck with the vultures. You'll need all the charm and courage you can muster." Iggios smiled at her before looking for his Master, who appeared to be finishing his own conversation.

Only as he was dropping off the Pantoran delegation at the Senate building did Iggios realize that neither he nor the young senator had even introduced themselves. That was probably for the best; it lowered the chance of him accidentally seducing a senator. He really needed to stop with all the Anakin parallels or he might end up burning at the edge of a lava river one day.