Private A Snake in the Grass

[Maeve Linahan]

The gardens of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant were usually like a sensory deprivation tank. The babbling brook that ran through the central garden drowned out the noise from the outside, and the life flowing out of the trees taken from all corners of the galaxy, and the flowers that bloomed on and under them, soothed the turmoil of the skylanes outside. Maeve came here when she needed to forget the galaxy for a while. To contemplate, to meditate. To think.

Maeve stood before the wooden statue of an old Jedi. Master Severin. He had been an old friend of hers, a hero and a shining example of the Light, but most of all, he had been her master.

His visage was only a recent addition to the temple gardens. He had lost his life during the defense of Tython, killed while fighting against the onslaught of the Maw. She hadn't been there to battle alongside him, and she hadn't been there when he'd spent his last breath protecting those left in the ruined temple. It was a regret she would carry for the rest of her life.

She lowered her head and whispered a few soft words in Firrerreo. Blessings, to honor the dead. Maeve might have brought incense and flowers to add to his gravemarker, but enough roses were already budding around him, bright vines and ivy curling at his feet. It was nice to know even on a world like Coruscant, in a temple plagued with such a dark history, that nature could thrive.

Maeve knew she should have been working. In the aftermath of the bombing on Coruscant, she should've been investigating leads, trying to pinpoint New Way hideouts, not mourning long dead allies. But she couldn't help it. Here, at the Jedi Temple, she had to visit and pay tribute to Master Severin at least once.

It was the least he deserved. It was the least all these lost souls deserved.

Jasper Kai'el​

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[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Maeve Linahan

Jasper didn't often visit the memorials in the Temple Gardens. Too gloomy for his liking, but he had been thinking about Ilum recently, how the Empire had torn the planet apart. He had become a knight, but not all of his generation made it. Jasper saw them that day, their lifeless bodies lining the ice caverns as they crumbled down around them. A memorial was fine, but a pang of guilt always filled his soul when he thought about that day. So many bodies, and he brought back none. They should've been sent home.

But there was no use dwelling on the regret of that day. He could only honor the fallen. Jasper didn't know these kids, but they were like him in a way. Scared padawans running off into the unknown, never to return. The only difference is that he made it back. Why had he made it back? Even as he tried to ignore it, the guilt crept back in. Still, he had brought a bundle of flowers for a reason. One by one, he began to lay a flower before each headstone, till none remained. Iris Arani had been right. They were all that was left for the next generation to look up to. The rest had been lost. But why had he been spared? What value did the force see in him? Perhaps he would never really know.

The hushed muttering of prayers caught his ear. A woman was paying respects to a headstone, one with the memorial for the battle of Tython, another event he felt guilt for, though this time it was hiding while the battle happened.

"Come to pay respects?" Jasper asked, still looking down at the grave marker of a lost padawan. "I don't often... but I felt moved today."

 

[Maeve Linahan]

The Knight's presence should have startled Maeve, but he was not an unfamiliar face. She knew him, Jasper Kai'el. Although the two had never personally met, she'd been in the background during his knighting ceremony, when the Sword of the Jedi herself anointed him before dozens. If she remembered, he'd been crying. But now? Looking at him, he seemed a little more hollowed out, sedated, like he'd already done enough of shedding tears for one day.

She felt the same.

"I understand," Maeve replied. "Every time I visit this temple, I can't help but have to come here. It's like a pull. A weight." She turned and offered Jasper a weak smile. "Maybe that's why I almost never find myself visiting Coruscant."

It was the truth. Maeve spent the majority of her work in the Rim, or the Colonies, beyond the scarred worlds of Tython or Ilum, battling against forces of the Dark Side. Typical work for a Jedi. The only reason she'd come to this gray-choked planet in the first place was on business, at the Council's request, to hunt and investigate the New Way's increasing attacks. Every day, more lives were lost to their nonsense. More Jedi.

She cast a glance down to the padawan's grave marker Jasper stood in front of, taking note of the flower resting against their statue. "Did you know them?" she asked.

Maeve had seen Jasper presenting flowers to each of the headstones throughout the courtyard gardens—camellias so white they looked like scattered bones in the grass. It was hard to believe he might've known them all, but what did she know? She had only ever worked alongside her master while in training, far away from the temple. She did not know his experiences or his past.

But if there was one thing they had in common, it was loss. Loss and grief.

Jasper Kai'el​

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[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Maeve Linahan

"Did you know them?"

"I didn't," Jasper admitted, "But it feels like I did. They were from my generation. I probably saw plenty of them before in passing. They fell on Ilum. It was supposed to be a simple training mission. I remember it all so vividly... Non of us expected to be caught in a warzone that day. Not many made it back. They all belong to Ilum now..."

Jasper let out a faint sigh, casually tucking his hands into his pockets. The war had changed him, both physically and mentally, but he was still him in the end of the day. Jasper didn't forget. He never could.

"That was a while ago now," he shrugged, "I don't tend to get sentimental like this. I prefer to live in the moment... but sometimes memories creep in and get the better of me, so here I am."

The young knight fixed his eyes on the wooden statue of a fallen Jedi that she had been paying respects too. This seemed far more personal than his respects. It was probably a friend of some kind.

"Seems like you knew him," Jasper guessed. "Friend of yours?"

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"I'm sorry," she said, because that was all that could be said. Death was not an easy subject to talk about, no less in a graveyard memorial, but she supposed Jasper would understand. Words weren't needed to convey sympathy. Sometimes, words didn't even help. It certainly hadn't for Maeve, hearing one master after another offer their condolences to her when Master Severin had died. If they wanted to help, then they should be out in the field, fighting those responsible.

It was what she'd done, and Maeve had been fighting all her life.

"I understand," she replied to Jasper's next words, nodding sagely. "I don't like to dwell on the past, either. I find that all it ever brings now is pain." She folded her arms over her chest. "Even the good memories."

She glanced up at her master's visage again. Whoever had carved his statue, they'd done a remarkable job capturing his likeness, down to the cut on his jaw and the creases beneath his eyes. Maybe that was why she visited his grave when she did. It was like seeing him in person one more time, only he was made eternally to stand watch over the temple gardens, hands resting on the hilt of his blade.

A protector, just like he was then.

"Calling him 'friend' wouldn't do him justice," she said with the softest smile. "He was my guide, my mentor. The one person in my life I could trust. My master."

"Tython took him. Now, he guards this temple, and everyone else who remains here." She made an airy gesture down the garden paths. "It is very kind what you do for them, though—the padawans. Not just leaving them flowers, but by not forgetting. That's what matters. It's making sure their sacrifices were not in vain."

After a long pause, Maeve turned to him next. "Is your master still with you, Jasper Kai'el?"

Jasper Kai'el​

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[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Maeve Linahan

"Is your master still with you, Jasper Kai'el?"

"You were at my ceremony?" he reasoned. They hadn't met before, and a new knight being ushered in was a big deal at the temple, even if Jasper didn't see it that way. He wasn't a hero after all. Not like Iris. "I'm afraid I didn't have a master. Aside from guidance from the council, I never received personal training. The war's claimed a lot of people. Sometimes there aren't any masters left to teach. Maybe my knighting was as much of a surprise to them as it was to me."

It didn't bother him very much these days. He had always been the odd one out. Jasper knew it all too well. He was a clone of some dead Jedi, a weaker force user, and had been and still sort of was socially awkward. What he struggled with now was that people looked up to him. It started with Calix of Thyrsus. Then it was his brother. Now he was the role model for an entire generation of padawans, an honor bestowed upon him by Iris Arani , probably so she could branch off and do her Jedi Shadow duties. Jasper was stepping up to the plate, but he couldn't help but wonder what it was that people saw in him. What made him so special?

Maybe he'd never know. Perhaps what he needed was time. It was hard to say.

"Here to meet with the council?" Jasper finally asked. "Sounds like you came back to the temple for something important."

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"I'm afraid I couldn't make it to your ceremony," she confessed. "But I heard. Your reputation precedes you. Empress Teta? Ilum? You've done fine work, even as a padawan, and the fact you didn't even have a master throughout only proves that you were meant to be a Knight of the Order." Perhaps she was talking him up, but it was the truth.

"Here to meet with the council? Sounds like you came back to the temple for something important."

Maeve shook her head. "Not just the council. I came to Coruscant to investigate The New Way. Someone has to, before they kill any more innocent people after last week's bombing."

"I just thought for one evening, one night, I might come to visit my old master. See if he had any more advice for me." She chanced a look at Master Severin's statue. Although she smiled, it felt hollow on her lips. "Of course, nothing. But I expected as much." She turned to Jasper. "We're Knights now. It's up to us to lead the Jedi. Alone, if we have to."

She stepped away from the statue and trailed towards the other Knight.

"I'm Maeve, by the way. Maeve Linahan." Although she knew Jasper, neither of them had personally seen the other beyond these gardens, and she doubted he'd heard of her until now. "It was nice to meet you though, Jasper. You're taller than how I'd imagined you be." A little more life bled into her smile as she nodded. "But if you might excuse me, it's probably best if I return to my work."

She knew the goodbye was sudden, and especially for a meeting so brief, but Maeve had never been particularly good at making friends—or keeping them. Most found her too serious and methodical. Others, too blunt. And what could she say? She'd dedicated her life to fighting the Sith, and nowhere in her vow had she been required to warm herself to every Jedi in her sector.

Maeve was perfectly content with the pleasure of her own company.

She turned to leave, putting Jasper behind her, when suddenly she felt it. A warning, slashing through her mind like a knife. She pressed a hand to her temple.

Something was not right.

Jasper Kai'el​

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[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Maeve Linahan

"Not just the council. I came to Coruscant to investigate The New Way. Someone has to, before they kill any more innocent people after last week's bombing."

Jasper's ears perked up a little at that. The New Way terrorist attack was pretty shocking to a lot of people, and downright devastating. Of course, he always hated whenever harm came to his people, or any people for that matter. It was good that someone was looking into the matter.

"I'm glad someone's looking into it," Jasper sighed. "It's awful. The presence of Jedi shouldn't bring terror. Not like that."

She introduced herself as Maeve, giving some more context for her visit and passing on some kind words about his reputation. Jasper could feel a slight hint of anxiety welling up in his chest. He didn't even know he had a reputation. Well, that was a lie. He was trying to pretend that he didn't, but he seemed to be drawing more eyes these days.

"Right then," the young knight nodded. "I'll let you return to your business then."

As Maeve departed, she froze, reaching for her temple. Jasper was no precog, not in the slightest, so all he felt was the wave of emotion coming off of... whatever it was the Jedi Shadow had felt.

"Is something wrong?"

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"I don't know," Maeve whispered in answer. All she felt was a stabbing pain behind her eyes, like a heavy migraine. It was not as strong as the one she'd experienced back on Hapes, but the sensation was closer, a buzzing from behind. She turned to face Jasper. "Do you not feel it?"

Maybe it was only her, but Maeve had always maintained a strong connection to the Force as it moved through the world around them. Sometimes, when she closed her eyes, she could hear the heartbeats of Jedi touring the gardens, or hear the rustle of leaves against the artificial wind, but if she were to reach out now, she would sense nothing. No peculiar sounds. No alarms.

No heartbeats.

Maeve spun on her heels and marched down the garden paths. It shouldn't have bothered her, not when she was in a graveyard alone with Jasper and surrounded by the dead, and yet it did. She could not explain it. She didn't even bother trying to explain to the other Knight either, instead moving past the rows of memorial gravestones like a hound who'd picked up a scent. Whether or not he'd follow after her was completely up to him.

The path was winding, willow trees bent over her like widows in mourning, ivy climbing the walls. She thought she might find peace in this place, and instead she was back on the hunt, a Jedi searching for a snake before it could strike. Why she felt it here, in the temple on Coruscant, in one of the most secure places in the Core Worlds, was baffling.

But then she saw it. The body.

By the garden's edge, at the doors leading back into the temple, a guard laid motionless in the grass, a knife lodged in his side. One look and Maeve knew he was dead.

Jasper Kai'el​

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[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Maeve Linahan

"Do you not feel it?"

"...No," he responded honestly, a tinge of guilt in his voice.

He very much struggled with his senses. Jasper could practice and even improve his force abilities, but that didn't stop them from being slightly weaker than average. There were just some things he simply couldn't do. Not yet. It didn't take long for it to set in what it was that she had felt. Jasper tailed Maeve out of the gardens to find one of the temple guard dead, a dagger driven into the side of their body.

"Someone's in here with us," Jasper finally stated after a moment of silence. That was more for himself than anything. "We need to alert the rest of the guard. Make sure all the younglings get back to their rooms safely."

Rather instinctively, he went for his lightsaber, though he didn't ignite it just yet. Now came time to do something he did know. Almost immediately, he began to scan the surrounding area.

"We need to look for something we can follow," he continued. "Scuff marks in the floor, bits of dirt... anything that might help us gauge where this guy is going."

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"We need to alert the rest of the guard. Make sure all the younglings get back to their rooms safely."

"On it."

Maeve reached for her comlink. "Temple Security, come in. We have a perimeter breach in the memorial gardens. I repeat—" She paused. Only static answered her, and she realized then what was happening. "Shit," she cursed. "My comms are jammed. Are yours working?"

The question was futile. Whoever was responsible for the murder, they'd clearly set up a frequency jammer to keep them and the rest of the temple security in the dark. But why? Who would be so brazen as to sneak in and attack one of the most heavily-guarded buildings on the planet? The New Way made for an immediate suspect, but they had never struck this close to the Jedi before, nor this unexpectedly.

Maeve bit her lip. Forget about why. The important thing was where.

She knelt beside the body and examined their surroundings. Scuff marks, bits of dirt. Like Jasper said, she searched for something, anything, that might reveal where the intruder had gone, and while she could have easily relied on the Force to guide her, they didn't have time to think on feeling and gut instinct. They needed cold, hard evidence.

"There," she said, pointing to the barely seen scuff of a boot, then two, and then three. She could only discern them at a certain angle in the light, and by the specks of dirt they left from the garden flower beds, impossible to see by the normal human eye.

Good thing she was not just human.

Maeve followed the direction of the imprints. They led through the doors and down a drowsy corridor, where she and Jasper were greeted with an eerie silence. No alarms. No further signs of an attack. She followed the marks until they reached an intersecting hall, just before the trail went cold. But it didn't matter. Maeve already had a general idea of where they were going.

"The training rooms," she whispered. "They're headed for the younglings."

Jasper Kai'el​

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[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Maeve Linahan

"My comms are jammed. Are yours working?"

"Nothing, they've got a jammer," Jasper sighed. "I can try to find a work around, but that will take too much time. We need to move."

Fortunately, Maeve seemed to pick up on some tracks pretty quickly. Strange. Jasper was a good tracker himself, but even he wasn't that fast. Perhaps it was a species trait? Regardless, they had little time to discuss. Before long, they were at the training halls. He didn't need the Shadow to spell it out for him. They were after the younglings.

"Alright... give me a minute..."

What could be done? The infiltrators would surely be moving quickly. He needed something that could stall them, or at least get the younglings moving in a different direction. Then it hit him. Jasper drew his old bryar pistol, firing at the ceiling. Within a few seconds, the emergency sprinkler system went off, followed by the fire alarm.

"That'll get traffic flowing outside," he reasoned. "Let's take care of these guys as quickly as we can before there's another tragedy. We've had too many of those."

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"Good thinking!"

Maeve had appreciate Jasper's quick judgment. While the jammers would prevent them from relaying a message to rest of the temple, activating the built-in fire alarm wouldn't, and while Maeve would have preferred an idea that did not involve getting soaking wet, she couldn't complain. If they were lucky, the alarm might even persuade the assailant to turn tail and run.

But she knew better than to believe that.

The attacker clearly had been determined enough to break into the memorial gardens and kill a guard. Whatever it was they wanted, the sprinkler system wouldn't stop them. Of course, neither would it stop Maeve, as she pushed through the spray of mist at a running pace. Forget ruining her hair. There were younglings at risk, and they hadn't time to spare.

Maeve sped through one corridor after the next, alarms blaring in her ears. She kept a hand hovering over the hilt of her lightsaber, knowing that at any moment, she might have to use it. It was only when a pair of temple guards, blasters slung over their shoulders, rounded the corner that she came to a stop. "Knight Linahan!" one of the men said with a flash of surprise, offering a slight bow. "Apologies. Are you on your way out to evacuate?"

"No," she said curtly. "And Knight Jasper and I have no time to explain. We need you to come with us. The younglings are in danger."

That was all either guard needed to hear. With a nod, they followed her and Jasper down the raining corridor, closer and closer to the training rooms.

Little did they know the danger that would be waiting for them there.

Jasper Kai'el​

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[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Maeve Linahan

It was relieving to have some backup, but it wasn't going to be straight forward. The younglings were on the move, perhaps, but now the enemy was aware of them as well. This would need to be fast. The last thing they needed was any more casualties today. As the approached the training rooms, Jasper loaded the crossbow on his arm before drawing his energy bow and checking the power supply. It was in perfect condition, as to be expected of his gear, but he had to be sure. There would be no slip ups. Not today.

"Alright, we need to be prepared for a hostage situation," Jasper concluded. "If we give them any time to think, more lives may be lost. We'll need to move quickly."

Before long, they were at the door to the training hall. Jasper got down on his right knee and knocked an energy arrow, readying it to take out the head of whatever hostile was on the other side.

"On your mark," he told Maeve.

From there, he just waited.

 

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve was surprised to see Jasper pull out an energy bow rather than a blade. She knew Jedi who employed blasters and other unique tech, but she personally had only ever relied on her lightsaber for use. Now, she had to wonder if she should've brought a spare pistol herself. If they were dealing with hostages, a lightsaber was not exactly the safest weapon to work with.

She bit her lip. No matter. She would have to make do with what she had, and a blade had never failed her before. She prayed it wouldn't now.

"Ready," said Maeve as they halted by the door. The two temple guards accompanying them took position behind them. Drawing a breath, water still misting around them, she nodded once. "Go!"

Maeve lunged through the door. Lightsaber raised high, she expected to walk immediately into a firefight. What she found instead struck her like a sideways punch.

At least a half dozen younglings sat in a circle in the center of the main training hall. Some were shivering, others silently crying. Their training helms and sabers had been cast aside, thrown in a pile in the corner of the room, along with the body of a Jedi Knight. A trainer.

Dead.

A hundred thoughts leapt to mind. Questions, fears, and a wave of righteous fury. Maeve didn't know what had happened, but she knew they'd walked into something far worse than imagined. Instantly, she searched for the culprit, the one responsible for all this death, but only one unfamiliar face stood in the chamber. A man, wearing a jackal mask and a set of clammy Jedi robes. As if expecting them, the stranger bowed.

"More Knights," he said. "How delightful."

The stranger flaunted his own lightsaber, a gray hilt with a sharp point at the bottom. He ignited it, and to Maeve's shock, the color came out a shining yellow, light enough to pass for a Jedi's.

Jasper Kai'el​

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[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant​

, Jedi Temple
Tags: Maeve Linahan

"More Knights," he said. "How delightful."

Jasper spared no time humoring the stranger. The situation was very clear. Younglings rounded up to lure in knights to feed this lunatic's... whatever it was. There were no words from his mouth that the masked man deserved. All that mattered was keeping the children safe.

"Alright," Jasper muttered, "Here we go."

He didn't let his arrow fly, in fear of the man parrying it into a youngling. Instead, he dropped the bow and sprinted at the man with force speed, quick to draw his lightsaber. Maybe his force abilities were sub-par, but dueling was his real expertise. Jasper clasped his lightsaber with both hands, the hydraulic piston in his mechanical arm roaring to life. The strength enhancement it gave him was considerable. In his own testing, he had damaged durasteel, and he had accidentally split open the skull of a strangely immortal canine drug dealer on Denon. Needless to say, the jackal-mask fellow needed to be ready to be hit by a speeder. Hopefully Maeve could roll with some intensity...

Cause Jasper wasn't holding himself back.

 

[Maeve Linahan]

The jackal-masked man let him come. Yellow lightsaber tight in both hands, he took several paces back while Jasper closed the space between them in a blink, then swung his blade around to the Jedi's side. He intended the cut Jasper clean through the abdomen before he could get a lick or two in. The first strike had been made. Now, the duel began in earnest.

Maeve would have joined. She was going to, already brandishing her lightsaber and searching for an opening in the assailant's guard, but he kept his moves tight and with the younglings to consider, she knew attacking was not the best route. So, instead, while the stranger was distracted, she moved toward the huddle of children in the center of the room, a hand outstretched. She needed to get them out of here first.

"Come on," she told them. "You need to come with me."

The closest youngling, a little girl with eyes like pools of ink, looked up at her with fear and uncertainty. She hated to see that look. It was one she'd once shared: when her family had died, when Master Severin had been killed. It was the face of someone who had lost so much, and had no idea if the path was worth continuing.

But it was. It always was.

Maeve stretched her hand, beckoning, but then she felt it. A tingling sensation from behind, the hairs on the back of her neck rising. She couldn't explain what it was, but without thinking, she turned, glancing back to the two temple guards that had been accompanying them.

They both had their blasters unholstered. Raised. Aimed.

"Jasper!" she shouted, whirling to him as he was busy fighting the jackal-masked intruder. But it was too late. The guards fired right at him.

Jasper Kai'el​

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