A Jedi Does Not Know Fear
A Jedi Does Not Know Anger
A Jedi Does Not Know Love
Jedi Knight Naes Nemelc was walking through the marketplace of Theed on the planet Naboo. This was his first independent assignment as a Knight; he was all of twenty years of age and already was a Knight. Not really that surprising considering that Naes was one of the best pilots the Jedi had and was a skilled swordsman who could rival Master Kenobi, as well as the fact that he was such an expert slicer, Republic computer systems were like putty in his hands, he could access networks that were supposedly locked down and secure, retrieve any information and add any phony data that he wanted to, of course the only Jedi that knew of this particular talent was his former master Lemor Salgoud, besides the only other Jedi with a higher midichlorian count was Master Yoda and the young boy that Obi-Wan Kenobi had taken as his Padawan shortly after the death of Master Jinn. Those events were four years ago, Naes was sent to Naboo by the council to investigate rumors of a Neimodian plot to discredit the ruler of Naboo, Queen Amidala. It was Naes's guess that Nute Gunray had never forgiven her for his humiliation during the Blockade and Battle of Naboo. Even though the Queen had good relations with the Jedi Council, Naes was sent here without her knowledge and undercover. His job was to look like any other tourist and hopefully foil the plot without it all becoming public knowledge, the Trade Federation was already on the verge of throwing its support behind Dooku and the Separatists movement.
Just then, Naes felt a tingling in the back of his head, a warning signal from the Force. The Force was telling him to jump. He reacted to the warning in his head and jumped and twisted and grabbing his lightsaber out of a hidden pocket in his jacket. When he landed, he landed facing the way he had come with his saber raised en guard. At that point, blaster bolts were heading his way, somehow someone had recognized him as not being a tourist, of course with someone shooting at him, Naes did not have time to think on that very hard. He was more occupied with deflecting the blaster fire, away from any innocents between him and his attackers and not letting any blaster fire get by him that might harm those innocents that were behind him. Fortunately those between him and his attackers got out of the way fairly quickly, giving Naes some breathing space, he could tell that it was three men attacking him, they appeared to be human as well. With the innocents out of the way in front of him and with those behind him either under cover or gone, Naes began to advance on his attackers and deflect their shots back at them. With him doing that, they were more occupied with trying to stay under cover and not at shooting him. Naes finally decided that it was time to end this, with two of his attackers, he deflected their fire right back at them, taking them both out, leaving one attacker to deal with. Naes advanced on him, knocking aside any fire that came his way until he was nearly on top of the attacker and with a swift downward stroke of his lightsaber, he disarmed his opponent. Now then it was time to begin questioning his suspect.
"Tell me, who sent you and why?" Naes asked, his prisoner just glared at him and then Naes caught a warning in the force as his prisoner bit down on a dummy tooth and Naes knew what he had planned. He immediately began running away from the prisoner and shouting at everyone to get away. Just then he saw a young woman who appeared to be in her late teens walking across the market, he knew that if she did not get behind cover that she would be severely injured. He angled towards her, ran into her and scooped her into his arms, then flung himself and her behind the nearest table. Naes barely had time to create a force cushion around them when the explosion occurred. Naes thought to himself that particular prisoner would not be answering any questions ever again. He stood up, and then helped the young woman up as well. Standing up he could see that she stood approximately 1.6meters tall with hazel eyes and light brown hair; he himself was 1.8 meters tall.
"I want to apologize for the abrupt introduction" he said.
"That is alright" she said, eyeing him carefully, "Who are you?"
Naes gave a polite half bow and introduced himself "Jedi Knight Naes Nemelc at your service my lady. And you are?" he asked.
"My name is Astra, Astra Marn" she said. "Thank you for saving my life, what was all the commotion about, if I may ask?"
"Let's just say that troublemaker will not be a bother anyone else ever again."
"Aren't you a little young to be a Jedi Knight, if I may say so. You can't be much older than I am, and I am 18, the same age as the queen, I am starting my educational courses to become an assistant healer at Theed University in a couple of months. I am hoping to eventually go the Coruscant School of Healers in a couple of years. If you want to be a healer that is the place to go." she said with a smile.
Naes began to think that she might be interested in him in a somewhat more personal nature, but he answered her anyway, after all the Jedi had taught him to be polite so he answered "You are correct, I am 20 years old, this is actually my first solo assignment since my knighting a few weeks ago. I hear nothing but good things about the CSH; if you are ever on Coruscant, be sure and look me up, provided that I am not away on assignment. The life of a Jedi can be rather strenuous; we serve the Republic and thus may be called upon to travel quite often and at the last minute."
Just then, the Naboo security service showed up. Naes did not need the Force to tell him that they were not happy. Of course he did not blame them, if he were a member of security, he would not be happy if there was blaster play in the market on his watch. Naes excused himself from Astra and began walking toward the guards. At the same time Astra went to assist the arriving medical personnel with those that were injured from the recent event. There was a definite sign of anger in the security forces eyes; that is until their eyes lit upon his lightsaber dangling from his belt in plain sight now. Naes introduced himself and requested a meeting with the Queen, to give her his full report on his activities and the reason that he was on Naboo.
An hour later, Naes stood before Queen Amidala giving her his report and explaining why the Jedi Council did not consult with her.
"Your highness; first let me apologize to you for not informing you of my mission to Naboo. The Jedi Council had heard rumors of a Neimodian plot to discredit you and sow discord on Naboo. I was asked to go undercover and make contact with a group of supposed rebels. They were told to be on the look out for someone looking like an innocent tourist matching my description; that I was supposed to provide expert support and advice for computer slicing. Once contact had been made I would join the group and collect as much intelligence as I could on their membership and activities. Having access to their computers would have made all of that extremely easy. Obviously with that as a cover, I could not first go to the castle and have an audience with you and due to the paranoia that currently is gripping the galaxy, the Council did not trust the normal comm channels not to be bugged. Unfortunately somehow they must have learned my true mission and who I was. All of my intelligence thus far indicated a very small group. My suggestion is to check into the known associates of those that tried to kill me this afternoon. I will turn over to you all information collected in my investigation."
"Jedi Nemelc, how long is your assignment to last," asked the queen.
"I am not due back to Council for two weeks your highness. My assignment is nearly complete; the unfortunate death of my last suspect limits the investigation. I have a little more computer investigation to do; and then my assignment will be complete."
"Then Jedi Nemelc, may I suggest that you take about a week and spend in the Lake Country? I can have one of my handmaidens show you around and keep you company while you are there."
"Thank you very much your highness I would appreciate it, even Jedi on occasion need to take time and relax."
"Then it is settled, my handmaiden will meet you at the main gate tomorrow afternoon two hours before dusk."
When the appointed time arrived for Naes to meet the queen's handmaiden the next day he caught sight of a petite brunette that only stood approximately 1.6 meters (5'3") for a moment, she took his breath away. Immediately he began a Jedi calming technique. As he drew closer and got a stronger bead on her Force signature, Naes realized that this was no handmaiden, the girl before him had the same Force signature as Queen Amidala. Naes decided that if she wanted to play coy for now and not let him in on the fact that she was the queen and not just a handmaiden that was fine with him, he would play along. He approached her and gave a polite bow and said "Ma'am, I am Naes Nemelc, are you Queen Amidala's handmaiden?"
"Yes Knight Nemelc, I am Padme Naberrie. I am your guide and escort."
"Then let's go; I could use some rest and relaxation."
With that the duo headed for the docks and the Lake Country, a beautiful and isolated area of Naboo.
Two Days Later.
Naes awoke that morning to the sound of birds singing and the lap of the lake against the shore. It was so beautiful here in the Lake Country, so full of life. He could feel the Force flowing through this region especially strongly. He could feel Padme in the other room still sleeping. She was an especially strong willed individual; she would never be the kind of person happy with someone normal, she would prefer someone that was her match and equal, someone with the same drive and strength, but not ambition, like Jedi she only wished to serve. That thought was somewhat amusing; she would make the perfect wife to a Jedi, if Jedi were allowed to marry. With that, he decided to get up, and headed to the balcony with his lightsaber to practice his kata's.
Naes opted for a more strenuous workout this morning; he needed to get his mind off of Padme. There was something about her that clouded his thinking. And a Jedi could not ever afford to have a clouded mind; their minds had to always be alert and focused. As he focused on the moves of his kata, his mind began to clear and his focus returned. About that time, he could feel her presence behind him watching his morning workout. From her general demeanor through the Force, he could tell that she was enjoying the spectacle just a bit. With that, Naes began to improvise in the moves of his kata, an extra flourish with his lightsaber; he threw in a few extra flips and jumps and other assorted acrobatic moves. As a rule Naes eschewed moves from Ataru, he didn't need all that extra flash in his lightsaber combat. Naes even at his young age had already begun to develop his own personal style, a combination of Soresu and Djem So. He would start off on the defensive of Soresu but he could switch to the offense of Djem So at any time in a duel and he had no problems bringing his strength and power into play to finish an opponent. Master Drallig had complimented him on his unique style that fit his personality and abilities. He preferred to negotiate but if he had to, he would resort to "aggressive negotiations". His former master had always made the comment that he was one of the more proactive Jedi around. By the time he was done, he was winded and his upper body was covered in a sheen of sweat. He turned around to face Padme, "Good morning my lady, I hope that I did not disturb you."
"Not at all Naes; I was actually rather enjoying myself, you appear to be a master swordsman."
"No my lady, no master, at least not yet, I have some talent, but compared to Master's Yoda, Windu, and Drallig I am rather ordinary. Though, when I get back I want Master Windu to give me some pointers and possibly a few lessons. I am young still and there is a great deal of improvement that I can make. As it is, the council will not be pleased that I was discovered so quickly, for my mission I was supposed to remain incognito and not draw any attention to my self. As part of my tying up loose ends I checked the financial records of the men that ambushed me at the market. I could find nothing conclusive, whoever paid them covered their tracks extremely well, to cover tracks that well you have to be a top consultant for the Interstellar Banking Clan or the Trade Federation; which in itself is fishy in my opinion."
"Wait a minute, how did you get that detailed a look at the financial records? Those sort of things are supposed to be sealed, and cannot be opened without a court order."
"Let's just say that I 'persuaded' the Republic data network to give me a peek at them, my Queen."
With that Padme's face flushed, "You knew, how long did you know?"
"As soon as I met you at the hanger and you introduced yourself, I knew you were actually the queen. One of my better developed Force talents is getting a read on someone's Force aura; each aura is unique and different, yours is a soothing turquoise color. Master Yoda's is a brilliant white and he has told me that mine is a bright green. As for not saying anything about you being the queen, I could tell that you were in need of a vacation yourself, that being why you came, but you did not want it common knowledge that you were gone. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to get cleaned up from my workout. Perhaps afterwards, you can show me the lake and that cove you told me about yesterday and we can take a swim and relax."
Later That Night
Naes was meditating in his room; especially after the events of this morning and the day in general he needed to clear his head. As he cleared his head and opened himself to the Force, he hoped that it would calm and soothe him. Everything about Padme threw his thought processes for a loop, being near her caused uncomfortable feelings to appear. Feelings of desire and forming an attachment to her welled up in his heart; and attachment was definitely forbidden under the Jedi Code. While he was meditating, he could feel her presence in the next room. Her presence was very soothing and at times could be intoxicating, too bad that kind of soothing was forbidden. For the first time Naes contemplated life outside of the Jedi Order. But he knew that being a Jedi was his calling, he truly wanted to help people, and the best way to do that was as a Jedi. He could also feel the stain of the Dark Side upon the galaxy, the blockade four years ago was just the opening salvo, he could feel that the Sith were on the ascendancy once more. In his heart he was certain that the Sith that Kenobi had killed here on Naboo four years ago was the apprentice and not the Master; which meant that the Master was out there somewhere planning and plotting his next move. That night, as Naes slept it was a restless and fitful sleep, one full premonitions and bad dreams.
When Naes awoke the next morning it was with the knowledge that as much as he might wish to stay on Naboo for a few more days that the Force was telling him that it was time to return to Coruscant and resume his duties as a Jedi. When he awoke, he opted to forego his morning kata and pack his few belongings and catch the first available transport to Theed and then onto Coruscant. First though, he had to go and say good-bye to Padme. He could feel her soothing presence in breakfast area, so he got up and put his bag next to the front door and walked over to Padme. He could see her sitting on a stool next to the counter top reading the morning print. He walked up behind her and leaned his right hand on the back of the stool behind her. He leaned over to whisper bye in her left ear. She picked up his left hand with her right hand and brought it up close to her heart and then wrapped her left hand around them both as she looked up into his eyes and she could see the sadness and sense of duty that he held there and understood. "Good-bye Naes, will I see you again."
He stopped and searched the Force for a moment and then said "Yes, the Force tells me so. Remember, you have a friend among the Jedi. Part of me remains with you. I sense you feel it. I must return to my duties but know you are in my thoughts. If you ever need anything, just let me know."
"Thank you my heroic Jedi Knight; until we meet again."
After a few lingering moments, Naes said his farewells and left the Lake Country on Naboo. His duties as a Jedi Knight were first in his young life and that meant his quick return to Coruscant.