momslilassassin | Caves of the Hidden One, Dorshin [Galaxy Far, Far, Away, Wednesday Fandom Time] (Reply)

They'd been down in the caverns for more than a week now, and other than a rather awkward meeting with the Hidden One and a really small hole in the wall, had very little to show for their time.

Ben swung his pickaxe at a particularly stubborn bit of stone and imagined it was the Hidden One's face, a fantasy that gave him some satisfaction as he worked. "We need to get out of here," he declared, and not for the first time.

Or the hundredth.

Ben	Luke gave them both an enigmatic "you're so young" smile. "Is that our objective here?"
Ender	Luke's enigmatic 'you're so young' smiles were starting to remind Ender of the more annoying admirals he'd known back on Eros. He had learned to ignore them and find other, subtler ways to get his points across, because getting things done was more important than having people treat him like a grown-up. But here, where he was making a point of getting people to treat him as an annoyance for his own purposes (because while he didn't think anyone would give him pertinent answers, making sure people were glad to see the back of him made it easier to snoop around, and the teenage routine meant they underestimated him)... nevermind keeping Luke somewhat in the dark on what he was capable of... he went the opposite route. "Yes," he said, and channeled his very real annoyance at the situation. "And we're about five minutes late to getting it done, too."
Luke	"So it's our immediate goal, then?" Luke replied. He turned to his son. "Ben, what's our purpose as Jedi?"
Ben	Ben sighed and put down his pickaxe. This was going to be one of those conversations. "To keep the Force in balance and help people stay in balance with the Force," he began. "To detect wrongs and make them right. To serve as models for a very attractive line of boots."
Ender	And if Ender had been Peter, this would have been the point where he might have lost it and laid all the cards out in front of Luke and quite possibly blew the lid on the questionably-legal things he'd been doing through Jane lately. But he wasn't, and he wasn't planning to push the 'annoyance' thing so far it skipped over the border into being a liability instead of a minor asset. (Nevermind that Ben would've noticed if he went that far.) "Your opinion of your boots is highly inflated," he threw in, as an offhand comment.
Luke	"I have to agree with Ender on that last part," Luke said. "Now go back one. Is there a wrongness going on here?"
Ben	"Absolutely," Ben said. "They've kidnapped people." Namely them. Ben was skipping over the part where they'd voluntarily launched themselves into the little coffins. "We can right that by escaping."
Ender	Wrongness? Well, the Baran Do were paranoid, mostly unjustly. And scared. And making something of a tactical error, because if they were putting everyone important here to preserve their knowledge in case of an attack-- well, it would only take one person slipping a smart bomb down the trench, or hitting the area with the Little Doctor, and it would all be for naught. But two out of three were symptoms of their culture, and they wouldn't listen to the third one anyway. You couldn't change people, not really - they changed themselves, if they saw a reason to. He sighed internally. It didn't take a genius to see most of that. Ender didn't repress his impatience this time because it would help him. "Seconded."
Luke	"But it's not the only wrong, is it?" Luke asked, looking at Ben.
Ben	Ben used the excuse of lifting his air mask and wiping the sweat from his face to roll his eyes at Ender. "No," he admitted. "The Baran Do are wronging themselves by following a paranoid down into this hole, pretending to be dead--"
Luke	"There you go," Luke said, nodding. "The Force is an energy of life. These Kel Dors, in pretending to be dead are rejecting life. They're unwittingly becoming dead. How much happiness have either of you seen down here? Or enthusiasm?"
Ender	You can't police the bodies, hearts and minds of the whole universe, Luke, Ender thought. You won't make it all right, and they'll resent you for it. But points for the creative interpretation of Jedi doctrine. For a moment, Ender was actually tempted to say something about it. "I think I've seen one or two of them twitch," Ender offered instead.
Ben	Ben nodded. "I'd say the enthusiasm is pretty far in the negative numbers. If we escape now, they'll continue to live their nasty little lives and nothing gets better." He leaned against the rock wall and glanced sourly at the ceiling. "They brought it on themselves."
Luke	"Spoken with all the sympathy and altruism of a teenager who'd rather be doing something else."
Ender	Ender shut his eyes briefly while Luke's attention was on Ben, then opened them up again. "That'll be right on the money," he said, to Luke. "Us being teenagers and all." There was the tiniest bit of irony in his voice during that last statement, but you'd have to be paying attention to notice it.
Ben	Ben caught it and gave Ender the tiniest of smiles. "We're going exploring," he told Luke, heading off in the direction of the largest hall.
Ender	Ender shot Luke one more glance, careful to hide any hint of scrutiny. Then he slipped after Ben, stuffing his hands in his pockets where he could feel Jane's dead earpiece.
Ben	"Thank you for being here," Ben said quietly. "It'd be more tempting to hit him with a rock if I was by myself."
Ender	Ender blew out a long breath. "He means well," he said, feeling immediately lighter now that he could drop most of his pretense. "I understand that."
Ben	Ben nudged his shoulder into Ender's as they walked, then gave him a smile, hoping it was visible through the mask. "Doesn't make it easier when he straps his Jedi Master on," he commented, glancing at the ceiling. "Now if I was paranoid, where would I have planted explosives?" he murmured.
Ender	"The trigger?" Ender asked, following his train of thought without any effort. "In a multitude of places, that aren't easily found, but easy to access for anyone using the Force if they know where it is." He glanced aside at Ben, vaguely grateful for the practicality. "I think I have most of the Baran Do aching to ignore me if I come in at this point, so looking around shouldn't be that difficult."
Ben	Ben nodded. "Start with the Hidden One's throne anyway?" he replied. "The main chamber should be empty this time of night."
Ender	"Might as well cover all of our bases," Ender said, glancing at Ben himself.
Ben	Ben closed his eyes briefly, extending himself into the Force. "Room's clear," he said, opening up the doors. "How much you want to bet the throne's rigged to blow if anyone else sits in it?"
Ender	"That might be just a little conspicuous," Ender commented, looking at the item in question. "Of course, no one here is likely to ask questions."
Ben	"Ever," Ben commented with a little eye roll, moving closer to the throne. It looked at first glance to be carved from a single block of white stone, but was really several pieces, matched so well that you wouldn't notice more than a few centimeters away. The right armrest lifted outward on hinges, revealing a round, black button underneath. "Well that was way too predictable," Ben commented.
Ender	"And sloppy," Ender said, with just a hint of professional annoyance. "It wouldn't take too much effort to set them off if you really wanted to - and had even an inch of curiosity. But you can't tell me that's the only one. He'll have failsafes."
Ben	Ben nodded, sitting on the throne's platform and staring up at the ceiling four meters above them. His eyes narrowed. "Be right back," he said, springing up to...yeah, cling to the ceiling. Jedi.
Ender	"Jedi, monkey..." Ender mused, quietly, as if he'd heard the narrative. And peered up.
Ben	Ben waited for his eyes to adjust to the dimness, then focused on what was inside the hole his fingers were using as a handhold: 20 a polished durasteel cylinder protruding out 20 centimeters from the rock. He concentrated through the Force and could feel the thing continuing for another meter inside the stone with machinery above it--but not connected. He grunted. Great. Drive the cylinder home, like a plunger, and it would relay the signal to the entry tunnel. And without digging into the ceiling, Ben had no idea how to disable it. He dropped back down to land next to Ender. "At least every room isn't rigged to explode?" he offered. "I think it's just rock slides."
Ender	"Ah, so we won't be risking suicide after all." Ender nodded once, thoughtfully. "Think there's one in every room?"
Ben	"I think it's really likely," Ben said, "but we should probably check anyway."
Ender	"All right." Ender shot a glance towards the passageway into the next room. "What doesn't make sense," he said, conversationally, "Is for someone that paranoid to leave himself only one route of escape. If survival - as metaphorically dead or otherwise - is the idea, at least. Sure, they might be able to communicate with the outside world anyway, if we buy that. But that's not an exit strategy."
Ben	"Not at all," Ben agreed. "There has to be something else the Hidden One isn't telling the rest of the Baran Do Sages."
Ender	"Paranoid men always prepare for everything, and they always have an exit strategy," Ender said, walking into the next room. "Considering most of my friends are paranoid men, you can even quote me on that." He glanced up at the ceiling.
Ben	Ben was looking thoughtful. "We should check the food supplies," he said.
Ender	Ender looked back at him. The food supplies -- if the Hidden One ever stranded everyone down here, they'd either have to have a sizable store of non-perishables, or have to be able to produce enough food to sustain themselves. He nodded once, and clacked his tongue. "Good thinking," he said.
Ben	Ben smiled and pressed the button to open the heavy blast doors. "Sometimes I do that," he agreed.
Ender	Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Ender almost said, but he pushed the banter out of his mind because it was asinine and pointless at the moment. The last thing they needed was to make more noise than they had to. Instead, he pushed past Ben and into the storage area, running some quick math in the back of his head to match the conclusion his gut wanted to come to.
Ben	Ben was examining the hydroponic operation and running the same sort of calculations. He glanced over at Ender to see if he'd come to the same thought: there wasn't enough here for the Baran Do sages to be self-sufficient.
Ender	Ender caught his eyes, and shook his head slowly. He didn't think he'd need to say anything else. It was obvious: this wasn't sustainable, ergo there was another way out-- and in. Charsae Saal's way of responding to his questions when they'd just gotten here had made it fairly clear most-- or none-- of the others knew about it. So it was well hidden. He walked back towards Ben quickly. "Searching might take a while."
Ben	"Beats wielding a pickaxe," Ben said, leaning up against the blast door, "but I don't know how big a thing we're looking for."
Ender	"At least big enough to run supplies to. I think 'size of an adult Kel-Dor male' would be the minimum." Ender leaned against the blast door on the other side, unconsciously mirroring Ben. "It'd be easier if we got someone in the know to give up the information, but I don't know how many of them would. Charsae Saal seemed ignorant when we got here." Though Luke's interference had kept him from being able to needle the Kel-Dor enough to really be sure.
Ben	"I'm not sure the Hidden One would have shared this with anyone else," Ben mused, "being King Paranoid and all."
Ender	"But what if he dies?" Ender asked, looking at Ben. His eyes slid over the surface of the blast doors as his thoughts drew inwards and his shoulder impacted against the solid metal. ... Solid. He righted himself. "Now here's a question for you," he said. "The way we came in was designed for an adult Kel-Dor lying prone, right?" He rapped on the door with his knuckles. "How many Kel-Dor do you think would fit in this door at the same time?"
Ben	"Good catch," Ben murmured with a little smile. "At least four. We should check the foundry, too, but I don't think it can handle something this big. It's more of a recycling center."
Ender	"Sometimes I do that," Ender echoed with a murmur. He looked at the door again. "So in all likelihood we're looking for an entrance at least as large as this thing."
Ben	Ben nodded. "That has to be a little tough to hide, right?"
Ender	"Nothing is tough to hide if you put it somewhere you know people aren't interested in looking," Ender commented. "Not that any of these people are very interested in general."
Ben	"'As in life, so in death,'" Ben quoted, recalling the saying one of the Kel Dors in the training arena used so often.
Ender	"It's ironic, isn't it," Ender mused, "That a people so focused on survival keeps fixating on the concept of being dead." Unlike Luke's lectures about this kind of life not being the will of the Force, which almost made Ender nostalgic for Mazer.
Ben	Ben nodded, looking thoughtful. "When Dad and I met with the Hidden One about Jacen the other day, he told us that we're the ones being naive. He thinks another Jedi purge is on the way."
Ender	"I don't think we're going there yet," Ender said, pressing his back against the wall and glancing up at the ceiling. "But I can't really blame him for thinking it."
Ben	"I think Daala is frustrated, and it certainly doesn't hurt her negotiating position with the Remnant and the Corellians to say the Jedi are contained," Ben said slowly, "but I can't see her wanting to kill us."
Ender	Ender sighed, rubbing at his temple before settling his fingers over his eyes. "This isn't about Daala," he said. "It's never really been. Daala took advantage of the situation, that's all. Listen to what you're saying - it's a positive thing for the Remnant and the Corellians to know the Jedi are contained. And listen to what your father was saying just now about why we should interfere here." He glanced towards Ben. "Just listen."
Ben	Ben looked confused. "What am I listening for?"
Ender	"What the people who aren't Jedi are saying, and what the Jedi are saying about them," Ender said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Nevermind. It's not important right now. We should start searching." He pulled away from the door.
Ben	"Okay," Ben agreed, opening up the blast doors and heading toward the foundry. "I'll pay more attention," he added.
Ender	Ender didn't say anything. He just followed, and checked the evidence against their theory. It was still holding.