A/N: "Goyts" is, in part, a continuation of our Drex and Kaden saga, the four previous parts of which are "A Padawan, a Master and a Matchmaker," "The Generation Gap," "Patience" and "Endurance". It is also a continuation of another storyline we've been role-playing extensively for years, with Jedi master Eeth Koth and his second padawan, Raven Trebeck, as the main characters. Eeth's former padawan Lakhri Tumuel and Lakhri's padawan Flynt are also featuring prominently. We intend to post further stories involving Eeth, Raven, Lakhri and Flynt soon. For now, "Goyts" brings those four together with Drex and Kaden for an unusual type of mission. We hope you have as much fun reading it as we had writing it!

Although it might be a better reading experience if you have read our prequels, it is not critical as each story can stand alone. We'd like to thank all of those who have given us feedback and stayed with us. We hope you're going to enjoy this one as well. Like its prequels, this story emerged from online role-playing, so it involves alternating points of view that we will edit into story format. It contains some coarse language, and many scenes of discipline, including – sometimes severe – spanking of a non-sexual nature, meted out by adults to children. If this bothers you, don't read it. Very simple. We're neither intending this to be parenting advice literature nor a realistic description of childhood; it's fiction, and a type of fiction we happen to enjoy writing and hope some of you enjoy reading


Jedi master Eeth Koth frowned in thought as he and his padawan Raven made their way from the Council chamber. Being a member of the Jedi High Council himself, he had summoned her out of a workout she had been engaged in when the need arose. And that need had to do with the fact that Raven was among the very few Jedi who had a particular gift of connecting with animals through the Force, and had been trained to make use of it. At nineteen years of age, she had become quite accomplished at this. She was at a stage of her training where being called out of a training session was not exactly an unusual occurrence. Eeth and Raven were on missions more often than not these days, and a prolonged stay at the Temple was unlikely.

The Council had explained the basics of their upcoming mission to Raven but kept the briefing to a minimum since the pair would have little time to pack. The other Council members relied on Eeth to provide the details of what had been discussed before Raven's arrival, and that was what he started to do now.

"The first thing I want you to do once we are back at our quarters," he said, "is to look at the available teams and appoint two of them to our mission. As you have been told, we need to save a Force-sensitive species that we know little about from extinction. The species is called 'goyts' and there are at least a couple of hundred of them left that we have to rescue. The two of us simply will not be enough to deal with such a number, even with your level of skill. We have determined that six persons ought to be the minimum number we need. Now, I would have gladly asked for the support of other Jedi who are specialists in working with animals, such as Master Drkai Luthan, but none of them can be spared right now. Most of them are not even at the Temple. Nor will it be feasible to ask for the assignment of master-padawan teams with padawans who are as advanced as you are. With the constant crises going on in the Antar and Pherebes systems, the most experienced teams currently need to be reserved for critical missions. Thus, we are looking for masters whose padawans are around fifteen to seventeen years of age. Those are not skilled enough to be sent into war zones yet, but advanced enough to leave on missions that might take significantly longer than a few days. They should have some mission experience and be strong enough to help with the physical work that will doubtlessly be involved in rescuing a whole population of goyts from their collapsing ecosystem. The Council have put together a list of eight teams that fulfill these requirements. We will have to leave in two hours, so the choice and notification of our support teams is the most urgent item on our agenda. And since you are the expert on working with animals, it should be your choice to make. Most other things we will be able to take care of on our flight to Barslaa, which will take four days. The ship is currently being stocked with everything we might need; anything else, we will be able to procure on Barslaa."

"A couple hundred! That's a lot, considering we know little or nothing about them," Raven remarked as they entered the hall that would take them to their quarters. They walked in silence for another minute or so. The tall, dark Zabrak and the petite, blonde human were quite a striking pair, not that they took much notice. While they walked, Raven quietly absorbed all that Eeth had told her. She was glad they'd have at least another two teams at their disposal as she suspected they were going to need the help!

Once at their quarters, Eeth brought up the list of potential support teams for Raven's perusal. As a matter of fact, he knew that the list contained two teams that he and his padawan were highly familiar with and that might be a good choice. He was going to leave the decision to her, though. She was old enough to learn how to make such decisions. And how else could she gain leadership experience?

Raven's lip pulled into a grin, and then it morphed into a full smile as she came across the familiar names in the file Eeth had supplied. "Lakhri and Flynt, Drex and Kayden," she spoke loudly enough so that Eeth could hear her from his room where he was busy packing.

The door to Eeth's room was open so she entered, data pad still in hand. "We've worked with all of them before which will be an advantage over choosing one of the other teams," she clarified lest Eeth think her choice purely selfish. Well, there was an element of that; Raven liked the four Jedi she had chosen and would be lying if she said that having them around would not be fun.

"True," said Eeth curtly. "Is that your only reason for choosing them?" He hoped not. Granted, they had to make this decision fast but that did not mean it was impossible to put some thought into it.

"No, Master," Raven replied. When Eeth failed to answer that, merely giving her a deadpan expression instead, she elaborated. "Drex's decades of experience and heightened senses are an asset to any mission. He'll be useful given that we have no idea what to expect from the goyts, and," she paused for effect, "have you seen Kaden lately? He's turning into a tank. He'll be a huge help with the manual labor side. Flynt's a master at fire manipulation and Lakhri's overall prowess with Force work will add significantly to the success of our mission. Plus, he's conveniently travel-sized and I like it when he teases you."

Eeth had to smile at the comment on Lakhri's size; his former padawan was growth-restricted. "The only drawback to taking Lakhri," he said with a rather unusual degree of humour, which showed that he was pleased with Raven's choice, "is that we will need to replenish our food stores a lot more often than we would otherwise have to. But, yes, I agree with you. These two teams will be a good choice. Please call them and ask them to be at hangar two at 1:00, bringing full mission gear."

This was a first. Normally, Eeth had been the one to take care of such things. But Raven had reached a point in her training where he thought she should be entrusted with more responsibility and opportunities to assert her authority. She needed to make the transition to knighthood within the next few years, after all.

It did not occur to Raven that this was the first time she'd been given this responsibility until she had actually punched in Drex's comm code and was waiting for him to answer. When he did, she had a big, slightly nervous, smile on her face, not that the blind Hrakian could see it. "Master Zaryth," she greeted him, forbearing to bow given that this, too, would be lost on the sightless Jedi. "Master and I have been called to Barslaa in order to rescue a large animal population from a crumbling ecosystem. We've been given two teams to help us. Master Tumuel and his padawan Flynt are one of them; yourself and Kaden are the other one. Please pack full mission gear and be at hangar bay 2L by 1:00. We'll fill you in on the details then." Raven had heard Eeth deliver this message a million times during her apprenticeship. He was always polite, succinct and formal.

"Thank you," Drex replied simply. "We will be there on time." He would need to find Kaden and get him to come home from classes immediately so they could pack their mission gear. There was no time for pleasantries; those could wait until they were on board the ship.

Raven's second call was made with a lot less formality. Sure, she knew Drex well, but Lakhri and Flynt were the closest thing she had to a family at the Temple. "Flynnnttt! You still fit in the one holoprojection today. Can I assume that upon reaching 2.15m you've finally stopped growing?"

"Watch it, squirtling, or I'll sit on you again," Flynt replied, pointing a robotic finger at his Jedi aunt.

"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that. You're not still dark over that last sparring session, are you? You know I can always let you win if it bugs you that much."

Flynt was about to give some smart-ass retort when a much smaller figure entered the projection beside him.

Raven bowed low. "Heya, Lakhri! I have news that unfortunately doesn't involve kicking Flynt all over the aerials gym again," the teen quipped and repeated what she had told Drex earlier, adding a few details. "They're called goyts, a relatively unknown species. So I expect we will have our hands full."

"Oh joy," Lakhri said wryly. "Well, at least I've got Eeth to drag me out of bed at six, so that will be something to look forward to. Or not." He was not entirely serious, of course; he was rather fond of his former master even though he must be the strictest Jedi master in the Temple. When he heard that the third team were Drex and Kaden, he fleetingly wondered whether there had been a mistake. Just how unlikely was it that Eeth and Raven got to work with the two teams in the Temple that they were closest to? On second thought, Eeth was not known to make mistakes, so this was probably legit. And it was not that Lakhri was against it. He knew Drex and Kaden only fleetingly, but Drex had a reputation of being extremely competent, despite his old age, and a rather nice person, too.

None of the four Jedi in question had a lot of time to prepare themselves, but that was part of their lives; all of them were used to it except, maybe, for Kaden who had comparatively less mission experience. Drex and Kaden arrived a few minutes early and were met by Eeth at the ramp. Lakhri hurried into the hangar at exactly one o'clock (or possibly a few seconds later), his gangly seventeen-year-old padawan in tow.

"There you are," said Eeth, throwing his former padawan a half-stern look. But even Eeth was not going to raise a fuss over a few seconds. "Let us go inside. Raven is already preparing the ship for take-off."

Once the group was inside, Flynt turned to face Eeth. "Grandmaster, I do hope you have eaten your one padawan for the day," he said in a jovial tone and offered the man a formal bow. He had started a rumour when he was eleven that Eeth actually ate apprentices, subsequently terrifying half the younglings in the Temple. He hadn't expected it to take off so well. He coughed once, trying to cover a slight chuckle at that memory.

"Master Zaryth, Kaden, it's good to meet you." Again, he offered the two a bow and then fell silent.

Kaden recalled that rumour although he'd still been in the junior crèche at the time. "Master Eeth, Flynt. Likewise," he replied and offered the pair a curt bow. Eeth returned the bow, ignoring Flynt's remark with supreme dignity.

Meanwhile, Raven was in her personal version of heaven. She was kicked back in the pilot's seat, one foot tucked up under her butt and the other tapping at the base of her chair as she worked. Lights, switches, dials and a plethora of beeps and tones were sounded as the teen went about setting their course. By this stage, her interest in flying had led her to become quite a good pilot, and it didn't take her long to have them off out of the hangar and into the traffic lane that would take them up to the jump point. Traffic was heavy around this time of day, but it was of no consequence to Raven. She used the Force to augment her instruments which meant they hit the stratosphere fast. "Jumping in five," she said over the comm unit, warning everyone that they were about to make the leap to hyperspace. It also gave Eeth a chance to come and check her work should he feel the need, not that he had done this in a while.

Eeth was busy with some last-minute communication with the Council, so Lakhri briefly glanced into the cockpit to see whether Raven needed help, which she didn't. Then, together with Drex, he sorted out who was to move into which room. The ship was only equipped with two-bunk cabins, but those were relatively spacious, at least. Each cabin had a private refresher in deference to the fact that they would have to make quite some trip to bring the goyts to their new destination - which, in fact, would yet have to be determined from among several possible habitats that had been proposed by the Temple's science department. There was simply not enough information on the goyts and their habits as yet.

When Eeth was done with his call, he came to collect Lakhri, Drex and their padawans. "Let us sit in the galley and discuss our mission objectives. Raven is about to take us into hyperspace and will join us shortly," he said.

"Why does she get to do all the flying? You do know that I'm seventeen now, right?" Flynt commented.

"What, that old already?" said Lakhri mock-innocently, rolling his eyes. "Has it been that many years?" He had never been particularly patient with jealousy, and when he was impatient, sarcasm was usually his way of showing it.

"Honestly, Flynt," he continued more seriously, "you know perfectly well that I know how old you are. You also know that Raven is two years older than you. She's been cleared to pilot without supervision, you haven't. So having her fly saved us all a lot of time, and apparently, we're in a rush for reasons that I'm sure Eeth will inform us of shortly."

Despite feeling a little hard done-by at missing out, Flynt didn't continue to gripe and nodded his head once at Lakhri's sarcasm; he was right even if the teen didn't like it.

Kaden, too, had felt a pang of jealousy at hearing Raven was piloting, but given that he had just turned fifteen years old, being denied such things was something of a common occurrence. Thus, he said nothing despite having two years of flight training under his belt.

They followed Eeth into the galley without a word. Drex was drawing on his sense of the Force to familiarise himself with the ship and where everything was. That way, he wouldn't need to constantly concentrate to keep from falling over things. When they reached the galley Kaden pulled out two stools, one for Drex and one for himself, and sat. Eeth, Lakhri and Flynt also found themselves spots at the large round table just as the subtle jolt signalled that their ship had entered hyperspace. Eeth lost no time in starting to summarise the objectives of this mission, briefly and succinctly.

Through the cockpit windows, Raven could watch the stars turning to stripes outside. It was a sight she would never tire of seeing. She set about inputting the autopilot settings, checked the readouts and instruments and exited the cockpit to find the others. Eeth had just finished his first, brief summary and looked up at his padawan.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

Raven nodded. "There is an asteroid belt at 45,08,36," she said. "We'll need to disengage and manually navigate. It's only a small section, so I deemed the minor disruption worth the time it would have taken to detour around it." Raven hugged Lakhri from behind and gave her 'nephew' a bump with her hip. Then she sat down on the only vacant stool and pulled out her data pad.

"If Eeth or I have time to supervise, you can do that, Flynt," said Lakhri. Eeth gave a curt nod of consent.

Hearing that he'd be allowed to navigate the asteroid belt bought a smile to the tall, scruffy-haired teen's face. "Sweet! The dream team will be in tha house," Flynt said, clearly pleased with this turn of events. Flynt had always been a smart-ass with a well-developed sense of humour that complimented Lakhri's perfectly. The two bantered and bounced off each other with an ease that went beyond simple friendship; their pairing had, of course, been Force-willed, but the bonds they had formed in their roles as master and apprentice, father and son, friend to friend were what made that connection all the stronger.

"Before Eeth tells us more about the details of the mission," Drex said calmly, "I would like to make something clear, just so there are no misunderstandings. Each of the masters who are part of this mission team has the right to give orders to any padawan, and we will expect these orders to be obeyed."

"Indeed," said Eeth. "I should add that, once we have arrived at our destination, I will expect everyone to listen to Raven because she is the only expert we have got on our team. This goes for Kaden and Flynt in particular, but also for us masters as long as Raven's instructions are not obviously implausible."

Lakhri and Drex nodded. Lakhri was thankful to Drex for having brought this up. He frequently was forced to assert his authority to padawans who did not know him. He was well capable of doing so if necessary, but he much preferred it if the hierarchy was clear from the outset.

Kaden and Raven nodded as well. Not only had they worked together in the past but they had also encountered this very issue during that work. Raven had not thought much of the golden-skinned, blind Hrakian and his then thirteen-year-old apprentice with anger issues. To be precise, she had thought them to be more trouble than they were worth. She hadn't wanted to babysit this team. They had a job to do! As it turned out, Drex had proved more than competent, a point that he'd driven home when he and Eeth switched places to discipline their wards. Raven had been utterly horrified. That memory flitted through both Raven's and Kaden's minds, causing the two to exchange knowing glances and, in Raven's case, a very slight smile.

"So, Raven's in charge? Shall I address thee as 'Master Trebeck'?" Flynt quipped, hoping to lighten the mood. He had noticed the exchange between the two and added a mental note to find out the details later. Of course, he himself had made his experiences; when he had become Lakhri's padawan and Lakhri had had to leave him in Eeth's care for a few days, Flynt had been quite indignant at being told what to do by his new grandmaster. Eeth had quickly and effectively cured him of that indignation!

"You may," Raven replied, her nose in the air, "although I don't want to go making the masters jealous. You know how they can get." The latter was added in a stage whisper, but the smile on the petite blonde's face was unmistakably cheeky.

Eeth gave her a LOOK. "Do not get big-headed," he said rather matter-of-factly. He just hoped for Raven's sake that she would not start exploiting the authority he had given her. At the same time, he needed for Kaden and Flynt to know that Raven was in charge where the goyts were concerned.

Raven ignored his mild rebuke; she was used to Eeth's lack of humour by now.

Eeth proceeded to provide more details on their assignment. The last existing population of goyts – probably no more than a couple of hundred – was living in the last remaining swamp lands on Barslaa. There must have been hundreds of thousands of them, at some point, in the vast swamps that used to cover the planet before the colonists arrived. The species had been discovered by a travelling Jedi who had some business with the colonists on Barslaa and had noticed that the goyts were extremely Force-sensitive. Unfortunately, there were few of them left, partly due to the fact that hunting colonists liked their meat and partly due to the irrigation systems that were destroying all the swamps. The Jedi had reported the situation to the Temple, but had not been able to do anything about it. The colonists, were unwilling to give up their hunting habits, and they were equally unwilling to protect the swamps from being turned into farmland. This would certainly prove fatal to the Force-sensitive creatures in the very near future. Moving them was the only option to prevent their extinction and it had to happen fast. They could only hope that the species would prove able to adapt to a new environment.

"We know hardly anything about the ways in which they are Force-sensitive, about their needs and habits," Eeth said, projecting a hologram of a goyt into the space above the centre of the table. It was a small animal with white fur and horns. Where one might expect hooves, they had flat, disk-shaped feet with webbed toes, probably to allow them to navigate the swamps without sinking.

"They have a luminous glow at times," Eeth said, "but apparently they can turn that on and off at will in order to protect themselves from predators. There are no predators left on Barslaa, but there must have been some in the not-so-distant past, which is good because the environment that we will transfer them to will certainly have predators and they will need to protect themselves. Now, we do not know yet where we will bring them. We have a list of possible planets that host suitable, protected environments. Which one we choose – and I will leave that choice largely to Raven – will depend on what we can find out about the goyts' needs and preferences while on Barslaa. A detailed description of all options is contained in our mission briefing which all of us have received on their terminals and which we will all study closely during this trip. You will also find information about Barslaa and the colonists there, but practically nothing about the goyts since we simply do not know much. Raven, can you give us an overview of the types of Force-related traits that are known to exist in animal species so that we have an idea what to expect?"

The girl had made notes as Eeth spoke, jotting down the points of interest and things she might need to look into. She looked up at Eeth's question and tapped her stylus on the pad thoughtfully. "It's hard to say," she said after a moment's contemplation. "The most well-known is the Ysalamiri."

"A Yasla-mir-what-now?" Kaden asked.

"They're a lizard-like tree-dweller native to Myrkr. Quite amazing, really. They repel the Force by creating a Force-neutral bubble."

"Yeah," Flynt cut in. "Get enough of those together and they can void the Force for kilometres."

Raven nodded, and when it was clear Kaden planned to say nothing else, continued. "A little less popular, but no less impressive are the Hssiss, or 'dark side dragons'. Again, they're reptiles. Rather than repel the Force, they have the ability to influence Force-sensitive beings. They can also conceal themselves with uncanny efficiency. It hasn't been proven that the latter is Force-related, though."

Raven continued to rattle off species and their abilities and by the time she had exhausted her memory they had added: horns that channel a Force-push so strong it could flatten large areas of vegetation; a Force-manipulated whistle that had a soothing effect; skeletal systems impervious to lightsaber strikes; both telekinetic and telekinesis abilities; and finally, sensitivity to Force wielders.

"The latter would be handy for obvious reasons," Raven explained. "There are more, and I can come up with a complete list of all the possibilities later. It's unlikely the goyts will be anything like silan or sith hounds."

"I don't think I want to know what a sith hound or silan is," Flynt commented, scratching at some chin stubble that he'd been forced to shave off. "Let's hope they aren't territorial. That will make transporting them a pain in the ass."

"From what Knight Oynn told us during the Council meeting," Eeth said, "they are herd animals. They used to roam huge swamp lands before the planet was colonised, following the growth seasons. One of the reasons for which they are hunted is the fact that they eat the colonists' crops. None of these crops, however, are plants that are endemic to Barslaa. Still, the goyts have no trouble eating them. This made the Council hopeful that it will be possible to transfer them."

"Judging from common sense, it should be," said Drex. "Of course, though, every species is unique. We will just have to find out."

"Well, if letting them stay on Barslaa means they are going to be extinct soon," said Lakhri, "it's not as if we can do much harm, is it?" He was very practical that way. Seeing the expression on Eeth's face, he grinned.

"I know," he said cheerfully. "Failure is not among your mission objectives. Nor is it among mine, don't worry. You know we'll all give our best, you needn't remind us."

"Indeed," said Eeth calmly. "The fact that Raven is the only animal specialist notwithstanding, we have a team of highly accomplished Jedi here. I am confident that we will find a solution to prevent the goyts' extinction."

"So we have a bunch of mini Force-sensitive banthas to wrangle, cool," Flynt commented, earning a very slight smile from Kaden.

The boy suspected he would be doing a lot of grunt work on this mission and hoped that Raven's skills would save him from busting his ass each day.

"It would be good if that were the case," Raven commented. "Bantha are entirely manageable. I'm not so sure the goyts will be that easy." She eyed the projection Eeth had put up with skepticism. They looked agile, and who knew what their Force abilities would turn out to be.

"Can we eat?" Kaden asked, hoping that they could supplement this meeting with food.

Eeth frowned.

Lakhri threw him a grin and said: "Great idea. Knowing that we would have to live off spaceship food, I packed a huge box of sandwiches."

"Good planning," Drex said with a smile. Raven had once mentioned that Lakhri's appetite was nearly or fully equal to Kaden's. And that was saying something because Kaden was currently putting in several growth spurts at once.

Raven rolled her eyes at Lakhri and Kaden. She had never been a big eater unless, of course, they were on a mission where food was scarce. Then the teen could eat with the best of them.

"Alright," said Eeth, relenting. "In any case, it would be best if we all read the mission briefing before we talk further."

"And let's look at the ship and see where we're supposed to put the goyts," Lakhri said. "While we're at it, we can have a workout."

"Allow me," Flynt stated, getting up from his chair and opening the cooler. "We got pickles and meat, egg lettuce and mayo, meat cheese and tomato and –" He looked at Raven and tossed a plain salad her way – "plain salad. Who wants what?" he asked. All the sandwiches were wrapped so he planned to toss them up upon request.

Raven caught it easily, smiling a bit at Flynt's antics. He and Lakhri might be laid back, but they got the job done.

"Pickles and meat times two," Kade requested, deftly snagging them as they came his way. He was attempting to be polite about this, which was the only reason he did not ask for more.

"I made the pickle ones, I'm sure they'll taste the best," Flynt boasted, shooting Lakhri a shit-eating grin. He was teasing, of course. When he had first met Lakhri, the boy had zero culinary skills. His master had taught him all he knew about making food. It was a skill he was happy he had.

Lakhri had, in turn, learned all he knew about cooking from Eeth who was easily the best cook of them all. Eeth now accepted a sandwich with a very slight air of impatience about him, while Lakhri took four.

Having unwrapped her sandwich, Raven put an arm around Flynt. It had been a while since Raven had seen the boy. No, not a boy, not anymore. He was full grown now, she thought, noting the well-developed muscles in his upper arm and torso as she enveloped him in a one armed hug. Flynt had changed a lot in the last six years. For starters, the arm that had been burned beyond repair thanks to his early untrained ability with fire had since been removed and replaced with robotics. This had been done recently, as the healers had not been willing to perform the procedure until he'd stopped growing. His tall ectomorph frame had filled out a bit, but he would always be gangly-looking considering he now stood just shy of two meters tall.

Eeth finished his own pickles-and-meat sandwich and sat straight. Despite the fact that he did not say a word, he managed to project a strong sense of 'Hurry up already, everyone!'

"Eeth, we have four days to spend in this spaceship," Drex told the Zabrak in a low voice, leaning back in his chair. "There is no need to hurry. The mission briefing cannot possibly consume all our time."

"I know that," Eeth replied with dignity.

"Good," said Drex and smiled. Eeth was surprised to discover that he felt very slightly chastened. That was a feeling he had not known since his master had died. Well, he thought philosophically, maybe it will do me some good.

The exchange between Drex and Eeth made Raven grin. It wasn't often that she saw someone tell her master to 'chill out' in such a way. This might turn out to be an interesting mission!