Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 149, Page 151 - Right and Wrong!
Ahsoka desperately searched her memory, pleading with the Force to give her any more clues about the attack she had just suffered.

She saw herself being suppressed again, that arm... bronze... armor?!

Wait, armor?!

“Uh… Master?” Ahsoka’s voice carried a hint of uncertainty and doubt. “This area… is patrolled by the Royal Army of Ondron, right?”

"what happened?"

How did these two people get into the restricted area?

“Because we grew up in this city,” Dono squinted, his tone tinged with stubbornness. “We know every street and every alleyway here like the back of our hand.”

Ahsoka pursed his lips, his sharp gaze sweeping over the two men. "More familiar with them than the soldiers of the Royal Army of Ondron?"

These words struck Anakin like a bolt of lightning.

"Oh no!" He realized instantly and immediately turned around. "Paris, what's going on outside?"

“Yes, Master,” Paris’s voice was calm and composed, her gaze still fixed on the other side of the street, “there’s a soldier on the street corner, looking this way.”

"How long have you been watching?"

“I think he’s been watching us ever since we entered the alley, but it’s hard to be sure if he’s watching us or keeping an eye on the prisoners who are passing by.”

A hint of helplessness flashed across Anakin's face, as if saying, "Why didn't you say so sooner?" He then decisively turned off his lightsaber. "Before I change my mind, you two get out of here."

"What!?" Dono almost roared, "But..."

Stella grabbed her shoulders and shook her head vigorously. "Let's go, Dono, So is right... Thank you for listening to us, Jedi Master."

Her voice was filled with disappointment.

The master and apprentice watched as the two rebel soldiers hurriedly turned around and stumbled as they ran deeper into the alley.

The hurried footsteps echoed a frantic rhythm on the cobblestone pavement.

The shadows above the alley were heavy, and the eaves pressed down on both sides, as if they might swallow everything at any moment.

In that deep darkness, something seemed to be moving.

Alarm bells rang in Ahsoka's mind, and he blurted out, "Watch out! Above!"

Stella looked up sharply at the sound, but it was too late!
They were still a few steps away from the safe zone at the other end of the alley when the air above them was suddenly torn apart by the sound of metal boots hitting the tiles!

Several figures swooped down silently from above like ghosts, the faint light coming through the closed window reflecting off their shoulder armor for a moment before disappearing.

Two soldiers landed precisely behind the rebels, their movements swift and lightning-fast, instantly pinning Stella and Dono to the ground!
Their heads were slammed roughly onto the cold stone with a dull thud.

Anakin and Ahsokar ignited their lightsabers almost simultaneously, instinctively thrusting their blue blades forward to illuminate the dim alley.

The third soldier calmly stood up, dusted off his hands, and walked towards them.

“I am Lieutenant Slen of the Royal Army.” His tone was calm and emotionless. “Thank you, Jedi Master, for helping us capture these terrorists.”

“Assist?” Anakin scoffed, his tone sarcastic. “It seems to me that we’ve been used as bait.”

“The time you held them back was enough for my men to get into position.” Slen gestured to the two soldiers who were roughly dragging Stella and Dono to their feet. “You’ve helped us close the net.”

Ahsoka suddenly understood.

If Lieutenant Slen wanted to cause trouble, he could accuse the Jedi of secretly talking with terrorists, thus triggering a diplomatic incident.

But he didn't.

The so-called "assistance" is more like a well-intentioned way out, a reason that both parties can justify when reporting back afterwards.

"You're testing us!" Ahsoka glared at Slen, his tone accusatory. "You just want to see what happens if they actually get close to us?!"

“From now on, the Royal Army will handle this matter, Jedi Master.” Lieutenant Slen’s voice was flat and indifferent, carrying a businesslike detachment. “If you encounter these terrorists again, please notify us immediately.”

Anakin frowned, as if he wanted to explode, but in the end he suppressed his impulse.

Lieutenant Slen did not take the opportunity to cause trouble, just as Anakin was about to sheathe his lightsaber—

“Wait…wait!” Dono struggled to lift his head, his voice hoarse with fear and despair. “Please, help us! They’ll kill us!” “Is that so?” Anakin’s lightsaber gleamed again, the blue light illuminating his grim face as he pointed it at Slen. “Will you kill them?”

“Treason against the monarchy deserves death!” Stella spat, her voice filled with deep-seated hatred. “Right, Tinhead?”

“Public execution,” Slen confirmed coldly. “Save your revolutionary manifesto for Valhalla, you rebels.”

"Isn't this...is the punishment too harsh?" Ahsoka felt a tightness in his throat and sweat on his palms. "They don't seem to have done anything substantial yet, do they?"

"This is none of your business, Jedi."

Their mission is to assist local security and maintain order at the summit.

But for Jedi, isn't protecting life the most fundamental tenet?

Do these people really deserve to die?

Is this the kind of "evil law" that Master Obi-Wan Kenobi spoke of?
Jedi need to uphold the law and order, but when the law itself becomes cruel and inhumane, don't they have a higher moral responsibility to stop it?

"Sir," a soldier urged, "we should go."

Slen's gaze was fixed on the buzzing lightsabers in the hands of the master and apprentice. "Are you going to stop us from enforcing the law, Jedi?"

"Please..." Dono's voice had turned into a desperate sob.

All eyes, including those of the soldiers, were focused on Anakin Skywalker.

It was only then that Asoka noticed that Paris had finally turned around, looking at the stalemate in the alley with a hint of confusion on her face.

“Do you know…” Anakin began slowly, his voice low, as if he were digging into a deeply buried memory, “Before becoming a Jedi, I was a slave on Tatooine. My master rescued me when I was a child and brought me into the Jedi Order.”

"Why are you saying all this?" Lieutenant Slen frowned and asked impatiently.

Ahsoka was completely stunned.

She had never heard of such a past for the "chosen one".

Her master never talked about his past, and she could understand his desire to forget it.

So at this moment, she was particularly puzzled as to why he had brought it up now.

“But…” Anakin’s voice carried an indescribable heaviness, “They didn’t save my mother, nor did they save the hundreds and thousands of other slaves of Mos Esper. I was young then and didn’t think much of it; I was just happy to be able to leave. But later, when I began to learn how to be a true Jedi, I asked my master Obi-Wan: Why didn’t he liberate all the slaves of Tatooine? Why did he tolerate that evil? The Hutts, the Zijrians… they practiced slavery and other atrocities with impunity, but the Jedi Order never intervened.”

With a low hum, Anakin deactivated the lightsaber again and put it back into his robes.

“The answer is,” he said, looking directly at Ahsoka, as if addressing everyone, “we cannot fall into the trap of thinking that just because we are Jedi, we understand better than everyone else what is right. We cannot impose our moral standards on the entire culture. If every Jedi in the galaxy acted according to their own definition of 'justice' and fought against what they perceived as 'evil,' we would be facing not just one Count Dooku, but a hundred.”

“But…don’t you want to help them?” Ahsoka’s voice trembled as he pointed at Dono and Stella, who were pinned to the ground, and then seemed to see the unseen slaves of Tatooine. “Those slaves! And these people! I don’t want to see them die!”

“I understood long ago, Ahsoka,” Anakin’s voice was tinged with deep weariness and a cruel clarity as he glanced at Dono’s face, contorted with despair. “As Jedi, an individual’s ‘want’ or ‘don’t want’ is often the least important thing. Obi-Wan taught me that being a Jedi is about much more than strength, lightsabers, or the skill of manipulating the Force. It’s about ‘connection,’ about being part of something greater than ourselves, and we have a sacred responsibility to that connection. That means we can’t always do whatever we want; we can only do what the rules allow, and as much as we can…do good.”

“I’m sorry,” Anakin finally turned away from the two rebels, his voice low and resolute, “this time, we can’t help you.”

When Ahsoka heard Lieutenant Slen visibly relieved, he immediately gave a stern order to his soldiers to escort the rebels to the palace dungeon.

The footsteps and sounds of struggling gradually faded into the depths of the alley.

Paris silently followed them back into the sunlight, her gaze sweeping over the now empty streets as the prisoner procession moved on.

From the direction of the distant square, a man's voice, speaking through a loudspeaker, came through faintly, broken by the distance.

“Master Skywalker,” Baris walked up to them, her voice so soft it was almost a whisper, breaking the heavy silence, “Do you think what Master Kenobi said back then… was true? Or was it just… a consolation in the face of helplessness?”

Anakin Skywalker fell silent.

Time seemed to stand still, and the wind blowing from the alley entrance carried a hint of coolness.

The silence lasted a long time, so long that Asoka felt suffocated.

“As far as I’m concerned,” Anakin finally spoke, his voice filled with an indescribable complexity, his gaze fixed on the distance, “I have no right to judge whether it was right or wrong.”

(End of this chapter)