This isn't exactly Tosche Station, huh?

JORUS C'BAOTH. HUMAN. BORN IN REITECAS, ON BORTRAS, ON 4\3\112. PRE-EMPIRE DATE.

Luke made a face as he watched the words scroll up the Old Senate Library computer screen. What was it about new regimes, he wondered, that one of their first official acts always seemed to be the creation of a new dating system, which they then went and applied to all existing historical records? The Galactic Empire had done that, as had the Old Republic before it. He could only hope that the New Republic wouldn't follow suit. History was hard enough to keep track of as it was.        

ATTENDED MIRNIC UNIVERSITY 6\4\95 TO 4\32\90 PE. ATTENDED JEDI TRAINING CENTER ON KAMPARAS 2\15\90 TO 8\33\8 PE. PRIVATE JEDI TRAINING BEGUN 9\88 PE; INSTRUCTOR UNKNOWN. GRANTED TITLE OF JEDI KNIGHT 3\6\86 PE. OFFICIALLY ASSUMED TITLE OF JEDI MASTER 4\3\74 PE. SUMMARY ENDS FURTHER DETAILS OF SCHOOLING AND TRAINING?        

"No," Luke said, frowning. C'baoth had assumed the title of Jedi Master? He'd always been under the impression that that title, like the rank of Jedi Knight itself, was something that was granted by the rest of the Jedi community and not simply self-proclaimed. "Give me the highlights of his record as a Jedi."        

MEMBER OF ANDO DEMILITARIZATION OBSERVATION GROUP 8\82 TO 7\81 PE. MEMBER OF SENATE INTERSPECIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE 9\81 TO 6\79 PE. PERSONAL JEDI ADVISER TO SENATOR PALPATINE 6\79 TO's\77—        

"Stop," Luke ordered, a sudden shiver running up his back. Jedi adviser to Senator Palpatine? "Detail C'baoth's service to Senator Palpatine."  

The computer seemed to consider the request. UNAVAILABLE, the answer came at last.

"Unavailable, or just classified?" Luke countered. UNAVAILABLE, the computer repeated.        

Luke grimaced. But there was little he could do about it for the moment. "Continue."        

MEMBER OF JEDI FORCE ASSEMBLED TO OPPOSE THE DARK JEDI INSURRECTION ON BPFASSH 7\77 TO 1\74 PE. ASSISTED IN RESOLVING ALDERAAN ASCENDANCY CONTENTION 11\7O PE. ASSISTED JEDI MASTER TRA'S M'INS IN MEDIATION OF DUINUOGWUIN-GOTAL CONFLICT l\68 TO 4\66 PE. NAMED AMBASSADOR AT LARGE TO XAPPYH SECTOR 8\21\62 PE BY SENATE. HIGHLY INSTRUMENTAL IN CONVINCING SENATE TO AUTHORIZE AND FUND OUTBOUND FLIGHT PROJECT. ONE OF SIX JEDI MASTERS ATTACHED TO PROJECT 7\7\65 PE. NO RECORD EXISTS AFTER PROJECT DEPARTURE FROM YAGA MINOR, 4\1\64.

Luke leaned back in his chair, gazing at the display and chewing at the inside of his cheek. So not only had C'baoth once been an adviser to the man who would someday declare himself Emperor, but he'd also been part of the attack against those Dark Jedi from the Sluis sector that Leia had told him about. One of whom had survived long enough to face Master Yoda on Dagobah.

He reached for his comlink, hoping it wasn't too late (or early, or something) in Georgetown. "Hey, Dad? It's me. I have a few questions about a Jedi named Jorus C'baoth..."

The trilling code, coming from somewhere far behind him, startled Luke up out of his dreamless sleep. "Okay, Artoo, I'm awake," he said groggily, rubbing at his eyes. His knuckles bumped up against the visor of his flight helmet, reminding him of what the circumstances of his hibernation exercise had been.

Dead hyperdrives. No power. Great.

"Is anything wrong?" he asked, then ignored Artoo's anxious warble as he saw what had gotten the droid to wake him: another ship bearing down on them. From a first impression of the ship--a slightly dilapidated Corellian cruiser--Luke didn't think it was anything Imperial. But there wasn't much of a chance this was a random encounter, either.

The flashing radio signal on his console indicated he was being hailed. "--need assistance?" a slightly familiar female voice was asking. "Repeating: unidentified starfighter, this is the freighter Wild Karrde. Do you need assistance?"

It would take fifteen minutes for the X-Wing to power up, let alone actually move anywhere, so Luke told the truth. "As a matter of fact, yes, I could use some help."

( Where Luke meets Talon Karrde, smuggler of awesome. )

"Yes, really," Luke was saying to his father over the comlink. "Leia and the babies are both doing fine, according to the meddroid, and they'll be born in a few months."

There was a pause.

"No, I'm not going to tell Han you said that."

Another pause.

"Or that."

And another pause.

"And that's not even physically possible--" he went pale as the voice on the other end continued, "all right, so it is, but you're not going to do that to your son-in-law."

He smiled. "No, no one thinks you're old." Mostly because they thought Anakin was dead, but details. "You're just going to be a grandfather. Okay, okay. Give Juliet and Rory my love. Bye, Dad."

Luke disconnected the call and shook his head, Surprisingly, that had gone better than he'd expected.

[OOC: Open for calls, sure.]

In retrospect, Luke should have anticipated this, he decided as he sat in a Provisional Council meeting and tried not to fuss with the ridiculously complicated braids on his head. (How did Leia deal with these all day long?) She and Han had been complaining for months about how they never had time to themselves any more--every spare moment she wasn't being shuttled to and from systems thinking of joining the New Republic she was locked into Council meetings and trying not to throttle a Bothan or three.

So when Luke had called her in a panic yesterday, in desperate need of someone to commiserate with (and borrow a dress from, yes, yes), Leia saw this as a wonderful opportunity for her and Han to get some time to themselves.

And like the sucker loyal brother he was, he'd agreed.

Twenty seven hours of meetings (and five moments when Borsk Fey'lya and Admiral Ackbar had almost come to blows) later and he was idly wondering if maybe he should have taken Anakin up on his offer to rule the galaxy as father and son. This ruling by committee thing was clearly not working.

The only thing that had caught his attention at all was the news of a potential new Grand Admiral popping up near the Unknown Regions. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about that...

Luke had arrived at Leia's wedding an hour early, in part because he had this niggling fear he'd be dropped off at the Aldereenian consulate or something equally insane (he blamed that on pre-wedding jitters) and in part because he was afraid his father would do something stupid reckless and actually try to show up at this event today.

And an event it was. Thousands of people were jammed into the largest room the consulate possessed--Luke counted himself fortunate to recognize more than fifty of the faces--and the entire ceremony was being broadcast live across the galaxy.

Luke was serving as best man, Threepio as the ringbearer (because Leia had a sense of humor), and the entire ceremony was presided over by Mon Mothma herself. Luke had kept his lightsaber strapped securely to his belt--he'd half-expected someone to do something stupid--but the entire ceremony went off without a hitch, and Leia looked radiantly happy (or at least the portions of her Luke could see through her elaborate headdress).

And Anakin hadn't been there. Luke reminded himself to send Rory something nice. He was sure she'd talked him out of being stupid.

It turned out that the clan of Dathomiri witches Luke and Isolder were taken to was the same one that had offered sanctuary to Han and Leia a few days earlier (Luke would've had Threepio run the odds on the likelihood of that happening, but 1) he didn't care that much and 2) he was avoiding Threepio for as long as possible after the droid performed "The Virtues of King Han Solo", his incredibly earwormy pop song (complete with back-up singers who sounded like Leia and by the stars, Luke wished he was kidding), for him). The problems with the seven of them leaving the planet were several-fold:

( If this reads like badfic, it is not my fault. )

[OOC: I hate this book.]

"As stars live and die! I didn't think you'd be here, Luke!"

Luke grinned across the crowded reception room and made his way over to Wedge, pulling his friend into a backslapping hug. "I wouldn't have missed it for all the Tibanna gas on Bespin. I was a bit late because, quite frankly, the Jedi exhibits your man found in the Galactic Museum are, well, absorbing," he replied. And creepy. He was going to have to talk to his father about some of the exhibits. "I've been chasing all over trying to locate traces of other Jedi, then it turns out a repository of a lot of stuff is on the planet I've been basing my searches out of. While very little of it deals with training, there's a lot of material that lets me piece together some history."

( Where Luke makes an offer he doesn't think can be refused. )

[OOC: Yay, back to canon! Dialogue tweaked from the X-Wing novel The Krytos Trap, by Michael Stackpole. Open for phone calls if you want Luke or want him to track down Rogue Squadron members for you to talk to. There's a Mirax running around here somewhere too...]

Fresh from his mission to Hanoon (and really, getting instructions from random dead Jedi Masters was never going to be less strange), Luke took a very long shower and decided to check his email.

It had, after all, been a few months. He hoped it wasn't all spam and fanmail based on that stupid holothriller about the battle of Mindor.

[OOC: So very open. Communication from Jaina comes first chronologically!]

Well, crashing into a planet and losing most of his crew had definitely not been on Luke's list of things to do before homecoming (not dead losing, either. Sucked through the floor and disappeared losing. Luke had no idea how that was even possible), and he'd sat around for a little while feeling heartily sorry for himself and out of his depth before remembering he was a Jedi.

( Where Luke meets a seriously teal deer baddie. )

[OOC: Did I mention this book is kind of cracky? Dialogue snurched from Matthew Stover's Shadows of Mindor. NFB, NFI, OOC is love.]

Luke sat as his desk staring at the holoprojection of Mindor, then down at the battle plan Lando had left for him.

He sighed and scrubbed his fingers through his hair. "This is going to get messy," he said to the empty room.

[OOC: Open for emails or phone calls. Shake up the Jedi general before I send him off on plot next week!]