"Not bad for cafeteria chow." In front of the mess hall's buffet line, Max said as he loaded food onto his tray.
"Of course."
"Whoa—there's even drinks. One cup of Photon Fizzles, please. Thanks."
"And another, thanks." As she picked out her own food, Aayla Secura explained to Max, "No hard liquor, but the mess hall provides all kinds of soft drinks. We're Jedi, not ascetic monks. As long as you don't indulge your desires, Jedi have almost no dietary taboos."
Carrying his tray toward a table, Max asked as he walked, "What counts as 'indulging desires'?"
"Binge-eating, drinking yourself senseless—things like that." Aayla glanced at Christopher Rane, who sat down beside Max, then chose the seat across from Max. "What about Mandalorians—any food taboos?"
"I don't know whether the New Mandalorians have developed some special food culture these days. We sure haven't—if it's edible, we eat it." Max raised his cup. "Cheers."
"Cheers." // "Cheers."
"Eh? Mr. Rane doesn't drink?" The Jedi flower asked curiously, looking at the orange juice in Christopher's cup.
"I don't drink."
"Chris is completely alcohol-free," Max explained. "He's worried alcohol will affect his judgment and reaction time. Once his Force sensitivity fully awakens, you can teach him to use the Force to sober up. Next time, he'll be able to drink with us." 1
"Mhm." Aayla took a sip and agreed readily. "Sure."
"Next time, for sure." Christopher Rane lifted his orange juice in a toast.
("Perfect. If Force 'sobering up' is teachable, why not other skills? Start with the edge cases—step by step.")
The talks on the afternoon of Galactic Standard Year 4, November 14, weren't nearly as twisty as the morning session. Both sides smoothly reached multiple points of consensus and signed formal agreements or memoranda.
Representing the Jedi Order, the Jedi High Council promised that in the New Year address on Galactic Standard Year 5, January 1, they would issue a statement to the entire galaxy, publicly apologizing for the Jedi Order's wrongdoing in the humanitarian disaster known as the "Mandalorian Excision."
That morning, the Jedi Order would hold a ceremony in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, formally transferring the original beskar armor relic of the Mandalorian Jedi Master Tarre Vizsla to his descendant—Max Vizsla. In the same ceremony, Max Vizsla would present the Jedi Temple Museum with replicas of the armor he currently wore and his blade.
After the exchange of gifts, Max Vizsla would sign a strategic cooperation agreement with the Jedi Order on behalf of the Bespin Autonomous Dominion.
The agreement stipulated that starting in the New Year, the Bespin Autonomous Dominion would permit and cooperate with the Jedi Order in conducting midichlorian concentration blood tests on newborns within its territory. For Force-sensitive newborns who met the Jedi youngling recruitment standard, the Bespin Autonomous Dominion government would work with parents and actively assist the Jedi Order's recruitment process. 1
However, unlike elsewhere, the agreement also stipulated that if the parents of a Force-sensitive newborn did not consent, the Jedi Order could not violate the parents' wishes and forcibly take the child.
For Bespin Force-sensitive newborns who were not sent to the Jedi Order for training, the Bespin Autonomous Dominion government would cooperate with the Jedi Temple's resident representative on Bespin to maintain continuous tracking and observation. Those who did not manifest the Force would remain under observation. Those who later manifested the Force would periodically report to the Jedi Temple's Bespin office to receive light-side Force meditation instruction.
On the evening of Galactic Standard Year 4, November 14, after concluding a full day of talks, Max and Christopher Rane took their leave of the Jedi Masters, departed the Jedi Temple, and returned to the Republic Executive Building.
The moment he left the Jedi Temple, Max felt far more relaxed. Whether he truly had unusually sharp perception of the Force's dark side, or whether it was just a psychological suggestion from reading setting material before his transmigration, he couldn't say—but while inside the Jedi Temple, Max constantly felt the dark side clawing and baring fangs beneath the ground.
I should use Aayla Secura to give the Temple a few sideways hints, Max thought. He had no intention of stopping Order 66 or preventing the fall of the Jedi Order—but he hoped there would be more survivors when it happened.
("If you don't fall, how am I supposed to inherit your legacy?")
Of course, Order 66 and the Jedi Order's collapse were still far away. It wasn't time to plan any "inheritance" yet. The urgent concern right now was that negotiations had gone a little too smoothly.
Smooth talks were good—too smooth, and it might not be. According to the original plan, Max and his people were supposed to cover for Lord Figg's activities on Corellia and buy him time.
If there's nothing to stall us, we'll make something to stall us, Max decided. He opened his comm:
"Mentor, this is your student Max Vizsla. I have some private business and I'd like to ask for your help—could I trouble you to come over?"
...
"Go with you to the underworld?"
"Yes." Max nodded. "The Force is guiding me—something is waiting for me in Coruscant's underworld. So I want to investigate. If I go in armor, it'll draw too much attention. If I don't go in armor… I've heard Coruscant's underworld is chaotic, and I'm worried about running into danger. So I want your help—come with me."
Take a stroll through Coruscant's underworld, grab some sketchy street-side undercity food, then claim his stomach hurts and he needs a medical check. Whatever the results, he'd just say he wasn't feeling well and needed rest. Easy—lie in a medical center for two or three days. Flawless plan!
Adaptation note: the original used a Chinese internet meme meaning "the plan works perfectly," adapted here as "Flawless plan" to avoid a clearly Chinese cultural reference.
Please let it be gentle, considerate, beautiful human nurse staff—not the Twi'lek rainbow idol troupe again, Max prayed to himself.
PS: Photon Fizzles is the most famous fruit cocktail in the Star Wars universe, first appearing in the 1985 animated series Droids.
In the 2019 canon cookbook Galaxy's Edge: The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook, an official recipe was published for it.
It also appears in Season 3 of The Mandalorian.
PPS: Jedi younglings are generally identified and sent to the Jedi Temple sometime between infancy and early childhood; the exact age varies by species. For human Force-sensitive infants and toddlers who meet the aptitude standard, they are generally sent to the Jedi Temple at two standard years old.
PPPS: The Jedi Temple on Coruscant was originally built atop an ancient Sith shrine, which itself was constructed on a natural mountain peak called the Sacred Spire. The Sacred Spire is also a powerful Force nexus.
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