Hm, but, just in case I meet any… “Uh, Charge?”

“Yeah?”

I glance away, trying to hide my growing fear. “Wh-, what kind of powers did the Jedi have? Like, from what I’ve heard, they could lift heavy things with magic, but…”

“Ahh, that… Well, General Secura was only a Knight, but even then, the things she could do were quite startling. Being able to lift massive contraptions with your mind is just the tip of the iceberg.” Wh-, what? “Let me think here… Yes, more than that, she was quite proficient in Force persuasion.”

“Force what-now?” Oh boy, I do not like the sound of that.

He nods deeply. “Mind control.” I freeze in place. “Rudimentary, at least. I’ve heard some more experienced Jedi could easily make a man reconsider his entire life, or renounce his allegiance, or even believe that black was white.” My mouth flounders open.

M-, mind control??

Okay, yeah, Typhin was right, Jedi are evil. Hooooo, boy. I don’t think anybody who uses mind control to get what they want can be anything but evil… Like, bro. Let people think what they wanna.

“I see that look in your eye. Pretty frightening, I agree. At the end of the war, I hear some Jedi were able to manipulate the minds of certain clones to make them obedient. To help their escape, even at the cost of their lives.” A shudder runs down my back. Terrifying. “Furthermore, they are also able to directly communicate with the minds of animals. If they’re able to overpower them, the animal becomes fully enslaved.”

Man… That’s scar-,

Wait. Hang on. Question. What counts as an “animal”? I may have a humanoid form, but out in space, I’m just a big octopus! What if a Jedi overpowered my mind?? I may be sentient but my will really isn’t all that strong!

“Uaaaa, I’d better make sure never to meet a Jedi…!”

Again, somehow, Charge seems conflicted. Oh, yeah, trauma. “The Force isn’t purely a destructive power, you know.” It isn’t? “Why, I even remember... I was once struck by a stray blaster bolt, and General Secura healed it.” Huh? H-, healing? “You look disbelieving but, indeed. The Force can be used for healing. Some Jedi were better at it than others, and General Secura was pretty good at it.”

Huh… Healing isn’t too bad. Hrmm.

So, then it’s back to the theory that Jedi are mostly bad with a little good?

Or are we continuing with the theory that the Empire is lying about the Jedi and they’re actually good?

Or do I just not have enough information to make any solid conclusions?...

Aaargh, this is too hard! This is just-,

“They also had future sight.” Eh? “Yeah, General Secura had a vision once. I’ve forgotten what it was, but even if she knew what was coming, it still happened regardless. And she really tried to change it, too. But, apparently, no matter how much you work against it, you cannot go against a vision.”

...Future vision?

So, telekinesis, mind control, animal subservience, and… And future vision. Uhuh. Uhuh.

Future vision that doesn’t actually help since it’ll still happen regardless. Seems a bit cruel to me.

Okay, you know what? This tells me very little. Really, all it does is tell me Jedi have a very broad number of powers. Whatever their actual moral inclinations are: I don’t know! I really don’t!

But, since I’d rather be safe than sorry, I’ll just try to avoid them. And also the Sith. Not that there are any Sith still alive, that is.

...Okay, in all honesty, learning about the Jedi just makes me feel stressed, so I think I’m going to change the topic, especially since it’s also making Charge stressed. Poor guy. Maybe one day he’ll come to terms with the fact that Secura just wasn’t a good person and never was. Then he can move on and heal for realsies.

“Uh, you can keep a secret, right?” At my words, Charge seems to grow a bit cautious. “It-, it’s just, well, I have a few questions about some other things, and it’s not like I’m trying to be disloyal to the Empire, but some might see it as a little…”

Charge shakes his head. “Don’t worry, what’s discussed between us will stay this way. Have no fear.”

“Oh, alright!” I knew Charge could be trusted. He’s nice! “So, uh… What do you know about the Emperor? Uh, Emperor Palpatine?”

He stiffens. Then, slowly, he leans forward. “That’s… quite the question.” For a second, I panic that I might have gone too far; asked one question too many. But then, his face twists into mild confusion. “What’s there to say? He’s the Emperor. He handled the war with grace and deserves his position. No question about that.”

“Well, sure, but… I just-, well, you know how towards the end of the Clone Wars the Jedi turned against the Republic?” He nods at me. “And so a couple of Jedi masters went to Palpat-,”

“The Emperor.”

“S-, sorry, yes, The Emperor’s office? And-, and tried to arrest him or something? Well, either that or they wanted to take a hostage, I’m not sure, but…” Charge motions for me to continue. “I’m just really not sure how he survived it? There were four masters, Charge. They’re not weak, are they?”

Taking a gentle hold of his chin, Charge begins thinking in silence. Apparently, the question isn’t quite as easily answered as I had hoped.

Finally, after a minute or so, he looks back up at me, eyes hard and stern. “I don’t think you should ask anyone else that question, Mort. I’m sure someone out there has a perfectly logical explanation, but asking too many questions like that isn’t healthy for you. It isn’t that the Empire has anything to hide or that the Emperor is a bad man, but in these short years past the Empire’s founding, it is very adamant about keeping order. You understand, don’t you?”

I see…

I frown deeply. In the darkness of the room, it is invisible. “Yeah. Okay. I won’t ask anyone else.”

Charge sighs deeply. “I think you’d better be off to sleep, Mort. And don’t wake me up like this again. I haven’t got any more to tell you.”

I guess he’s right. I’ve got lots of questions to ask, about how it was like in the first years of the Empire, why the Empire stopped using clones, what happened to the Jedi who escaped and the like, but it seems Charge doesn’t exactly want to talk any more. I can understand that.

Whether he has an accurate view of the Empire’s austerity or if he’s just being too paranoid; I can’t know. I really can’t.

There is so much I don’t know. The more I learn, the more obvious this fact becomes.

So, I just need to keep digging! Secretly, of course. In this case, it’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission. I hope. I hate the thought, but it’s not like me and the Emperor can exactly afford to become enemies. It’ll hurt us both. On that note, it’s not like he won’t be reading up on me either. There’s already a report written on me. It’s only obvious that Typhin and everyone else on board this ship will tell him everything they know about me.

Tit for tat. I learn about him, he learns about me.

It’ll be fine. I hope.

...Probably.