The Mission Series
It was a long and boring mission…starring Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The pair endure a mission they'd rather forget...if it ever ends.
Authors Note:
I wrote this story back in 2007 (as Obi the Kid). I recently re-discovered it and made a few minor edits and decided to delete the old and re-post the new, in hopes of adding some new chapters soon. If anyone out there still remembers this one, thanks for reading!
The Mission Series - Day One: Settling In
"Galos. It's a beautiful planet, Master. The mountains in the distance are spectacular. I'm pleased that the Council finally gave us a mission that we might consider easy, and in such a location too. I'll have to remember to thank Master Windu."
Obi-Wan Kenobi stood on the balcony of the spacious suite that he and Qui-Gon had been presented upon their arrival. They'd just come from their first meeting with Governor Palto and Mayor Surratto, both men seemed willing and eager to finally work to settle the planet's long fought political battles between the two major parties. Both Jedi felt good about the mission. Excited to be able to help make a difference after their more recent missions in which only failure had prevailed.
"Don't thank him just yet, my young Padawan." Qui-Gon Jinn said as he came to stand next to his student. "I agree this looks to be a simple enough mission. But looks can be deceiving. Certainly is a beautiful view though. I suspect we'll be taking great advantage of the balcony while we are here."
"Do you think Palto and Surratto are as willing as they appear regarding negotiations? They seem awfully enthusiastic about having Jedi on their planet. Too much so almost. And I do hope they don't ask us to use the Force to do tricks. The last time that happened, was it two years ago? I felt like a circus performer from Pellos 3."
"Yes, the sight of you playing with the Force to lift livestock animals off the ground as quite ah…pathetic. Why did you agree to do it?"
"I was young and stupid?" Obi-Wan smirked.
"And you're older and wiser now?"
"I hope so. Haven't you ever used the Force to appease political types?"
"Well…"
The hesitation made Obi-Wan laugh. "So then you can't criticize me for it."
"I am your master. I can criticize anything I choose. Remember that." He winked at the boy before the door chime got their attention. They walked inside and pressed the lock code to slide the door open. A tall, extremely thin blue-skinned being held out a tray of food for them and spoke with a formal yet friendly voice.
"From Governor Palto. Please accept these refreshments and delicacies of our planet. Everything here is home grown. He hopes you enjoy."
Qui-Gon took the tray, thanked the tall creature and closed the door. Before he could even set the tray down, Obi-Wan was grabbing at the food.
"Patience, Obi-Wan. You act as if you haven't eaten in a week." He placed the tray in the kitchen.
"It looks good, Master." The young Jedi picked up a small cake covered with bright red berries. It did look tasty. He took a bite. And...then he spit it out. "Blech! Gah! That's horrible. Tastes like Master Yoda's stewed mush. Only worse."
"I told you that looks can be deceiving. So, I'll avoid the red berry cake thing. How about this purple fruit? At least I think it's a fruit." Qui-Gon held it out to his apprentice. "Try it."
"Oh no. You try it first. I've already been the guinea pig."
"You brought that on yourself." Qui-Gon took a bite of the soft purple skin, made several odd faces as he was chewing then turned and fled into the bathroom.
Obi-Wan yelled to him as he ran. "Not too tasty is it, Master?"
When Qui-Gon emerged several minutes later, he was not pleased to see the smug look on the face of his learner. "Don't say anything. I mean it. We've got to find some different food. Or hope that this mission doesn't go any longer than a couple of days."
"This juice is good," the boy was steadily gulping down a large glass of a bright pink liquid. "Smells like bantha droppings, but tastes like a pala sweet cake from home. Just hold your nose when you drink it."
The master Jedi leaned in to smell the liquid and jerked his head away immediately. "That's horrid, Obi-Wan. How can you drink that?"
"Hold your nose. Trust me. You'll like it."
Taking a chance, Qui-Gon held the glass in one hand and his nose with the other. He was pleasantly surprised. "Hmm…very good. We'll need more of that. It could become quite addictive. I'll need to make a call to...oh we didn't get that person's name. We will need to sample a few food items to figure out what will actually be edible for us here."
"Master, there's a data reader here with a comm number for the Governor's aide. Maybe that's who that skinny thing was that brought the food."
"He was rather slim, wasn't he?"
"Legs the diameter of Yoda's gimmer stick. How do you know it's a him?"
"Guessing. It sounded like a male."
"Yes, but Mayor Surratto is most obviously a male and he sounds like a woman."
"Only when he was disagreeing with Palto and raised his voice. Come to think of it, we were in their presence for only ten minutes, but they seemed to disagree a lot in that short time. Perhaps this might be a bit more difficult than we've imagined, Obi-Wan."
Taking another glass of the pink juice, Obi-Wan took a seat on the couch in the main room. "They're fighting over pettiness, Master. How bad can this be? I mean, how long can something like this really take?"
Qui-Gon took a seat next to the boy. "I'm not certain, but I am beginning to get a bad feeling that we'll need more than this fruit juice to get us through this mission. We shall see, Obi-Wan."
…the beginning of the mission; the end…of this chapter…