Karen Kenobi
Early Life
The curly-haired cherub of a child raced through a clean white corridor followed by three other younglings of purely Human stock. It was rare to see even a slightly non-human or demi-human race among the people of the Empire, especially here in the command center of a major population zone.
Karen didn't know where she was, and didn't much care. She only cared at the moment that she'd gotten into trouble with these bullies and wasn't enjoying their little race.
She huffed and puffed, running in her little cloth dress until she reached a corner, then skidded around it and ran smack into a tall, gaunt middle-aged man. His eyebrow went up sharply, and then he looked up, deftly picking Karen off the floor and sidestepping as the trio of her pursuers scampered around the corner.
They came to a skudding halt, bumping into each other and narrowly missing the Imperial guardsman who attended the Moff.
"And what is this about?" He said, curt but with a faint smile. He wasn't much for children, but he found this one girl to be intriguing. Almost as much as his other charge...
The trio, a boy and two girls, immediately backed off and tried to calm themselves in the face of the Moff. He was intimidating, scary even. He was on Karen's side - he always seemed to be that way!
Instead of stammering or stalling, the boy stood up straighter and said, "she stole a chip from our 'droid project!"
Karen stiffened and gripped her hands into fists. "I did not! You took that whole piece from mine! I was getting it back!"
The Moff coughed, and stared down at Karen who slowly looked up. Though he was not the friendliest of people, she respected him, almost looked up to him as a father-figure since none of the children here had parents.
She put her hand into her pocket, and drew out a small droid controller chip, and held it out as if it were a dead mouse. "Take it then. I'll make another one." She said.
The three went their own way back to the creche chambers where they hadn't really been working on their droid. They were really more interested in taking parts from other kids' projects and seeing if they could get them all to work together in their own.
Karen's project would have to wait, though. She wasn't about to head back to the creche rooms with them. She stood rather angry beside the Moff watching them leave.
"Karen, you don't have to put up with them. They know the rules as well as you do. Without rules to guide us what do we have?"
"Chaos," Karen intoned by rote. She knew the meaning of the word Chaos, though. She believed that it was embodied in the form of three bullies...
"Correct," the Moff said, his 'r' trilling slightly. "Our young Lord is waiting for you in his chambers. If you can make it there without further incident you will obviously be rewarded."
Karen respectfully nodded, and said, "I'm sorry for making you late," she looked at the guard beyond and knew that he was on his way somewhere important. Maybe even for a meeting with one of the Senators or ...
"Never you mind," he said. Almost with a pained sound, he added, "be good."
He really wasn't all that good with children. But Karen never noticed.
Instead, she walked at a quick pace that only a child could muster - arms stiffly swinging at her sides, and her pace almost a flat-out run, except that it was 'walkwalkwalk' down the halls. No running in the halls. Don't interrupt the Senators. Don't ever - ever- play in the power dome. And don't insult anyone.
She made it to the Dark Lord's chamber, buzzed herself in with a code that he'd entrusted to her, and waited her lessons for the day.
***
"The Kenobi girl is certainly showing her heritage," Lord Vader muttered. His lean companion the Moff nodded.
"Can you keep her controlled?" He asked, darkly.
"Of course. Her will is strong, but her desire is stronger, and that has led her to me. Though it is not yet her time to become an apprentice, she will some day become versed in the ways of the Jedi."
Moff Tarkin glanced at him, suspicious. "You are no longer a Jedi, my young friend. They are no more. I'll not have you teaching her their ways."
"Only so as to teach her the Sith," Vader admitted.
They watched as an almost-teenaged Karen stood on her toes, bare feet gripping a wire as she balanced with a training staff. Swinging objects came through her path, narrowly above the taut wire, and she dodged them as she ran across the room.
She exerted an almost impossible flip. Impossible to those only trained in physical means. Ideal and easy for those like herself to whom the Force was like her own breath. She half-levitated in the air for a moment, turning her body to face the men below, and while bowing to them with a half-grin on her face, she ducked the last obsticle and rolled - on the wire - up to the completion platform.
"You do not need to show off for us," Vader told her, as she climbed down from the 5 foot high wire platform. "Merely complete your training exersize."
"I'd have done it sooner if you weren't in the room," She said, still smiling. She knew there were boundaries of politeness or respect she had to maintain - for all but these two. Though she knew her training was only going to get more intense from here on out, she still felt a strong attachment to both unusual Imperials.
"Get yourself cleaned up and dressed," Tarkin said, "we are expecting some Senators for a meeting, and you should come to the meal. I expect you to be on your best behavior."
Karen straightened, and nodded again. "Yes sir. Are these important Senators, or just Senators?"
Tarkin didn't hide the bemusement that welled up onto his thin face. "Important ones, dear girl. So do actually perform as though they meant something to you."
She bowed again, and turned to leave. She heard every word they'd said while she was up on the wire, but wasn't sure what to make of it. Jedi or Sith, they were the same thing to her: embodied in the dark cloaked shape of her instructor, and in no other way.
The other children from the Creche had been either dispersed to outposts as observers or given over as adopted children of Senators, Moffs or other such highly placed members of the Imperial council. But Karen had been requested to remain. Her powers over the Force were substantial - and Lord Vader knew exactly why. He would not underestimate the girl.
Nor would he let her get out of his control. The Moff's careful plan to groom her for the Imperial Council was working nicely. She could already hold her own in conversations among Senators and their well-bred children. She was eleven, almost twelve, and she was ready to be a Jedi though she didn't know it.
***
"But Senator I'm sure that you realize your economy will be impacted by your decision to retract from the moons." Karen said, holding a glass of wine in one hand. Her dress was a snug one, which fit her sixteen-year old body as though it wanted her to grow up faster. Its shimmering green-grey color shifted when she moved. The senator watched it, rather intensely.
"Economy, yes. Yes." He shook his eyes off the young Imperial's pale skin, and brought them back to her own greenish-brown eyes. "Of course I realize it. But the colony moons have done nothing but complain about self-governing since they were established, and frankly I'm tired of hearing it. They might be best left on their own."
"Until they come to realize that their livelyhood is dependant upon their homeworld," Karen added for him, carefully. She sipped her wine, and didn't much like it. It was a clear amber color, not like the red wines she preferred to drink at social functions. "After all, if you allow colonies to become sovereign so soon after their establishment, how can you keep their growth under enough control to benefit from them?"
At that, the Senator tilted his head and furrowed his thick eyebrows. "... Yes." He blinked. "Yes, you're right. Why... I suppose I've been so used to hearing nothing but talk of independance from them and their lawyers, I've never even considered the impact properly."
I didn't think so, Karen thought to herself. You bulbous fool...
He wandered off to have another talk with his own set of lawyers. Karen felt a presence behind her, and glanced back slightly over her shoulder without really moving.
"He's going to make it harder for the Moons of Galn to become independant," she commented.
Moff Tarkin smiled broadly, an expression which was oddly echoed on the smooth curved face of the young woman beside him.
"Perfect work, dear girl." He told her. "Perfect work."
***
"The blade must be light in your hands," Vader told Karen, "if you are to use it properly."
Karen nodded, holding the metal hilt of a practice blade in her hands. Not so firmly that she couldn't gently spin it around, knowing where the blade was going to be when she had a real light sabre in her hands. She was better at it with one hand, Vader noticed that at once. Perhaps she ought to have two beams? No, just the one.
And all in good time.
They sparred, not-quite-gently, with traditional metal swords. Their blades crossed and clanged loudly, and Karen felt the hilt sting in her hands. With another hour of exhaustive work, the sting was her friend and companion - her hands rang with numb pain, pain that thrilled her.
She spun into the air, leaping to the side of one well-aimed blow. Vader knew the move well enough - he'd taught it to her. But instead of taking advantage of his knowledge and swinging his own blade to intercept her and cut her leg, he spun around himself, and they locked swords again.
"That was stylish," she panted.
"You waste your energy with speech," Vader told her.
Karen then launched a sideways feint, and while her mentor was busy blocking it she used a strong Force blast with her left hand to knock him off balance. He recovered with a graceful cloak-tossing roll, landing on his feet but standing in a tall and familiar way.
Their exersize was over.
"Good. Your mastery over your Force powers is growing. And your use of distraction is admirable."
"You just wanted to end the fight early," Karen quipped. Though she was panting and grinning slightly, she knew that he was going to get all serious on her. So she returned to her 'ready' stance and bowed to him.
"You are almost ready to advance to your next level of training," the Dark Lord asserted, "but you must be willing to put aside ... silliness such as that."
Karen lowered her eyes. "If that is what it takes."