A/N: "Endurance" is the fourth story in our Drex and Kaden saga. The first is called: "A Padawan, a Master and a Matchmaker." The second, "The Generation Gap," and the third, "Patience." All of them can be found in our author profile.
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.
Chapter One.
It was late on a Thursday afternoon when fourteen-year-old Kaden Lightbane entered their quarters after having spent the evening at the padawans' lounge. "I'm back," he called as he always did, offering a curt nod of his head, the gesture no doubt lost on his blind Hrakian master. He had been apprenticed to Drex Zaryth for well over a year now and had made progress, morphing from a boy of few words, serious aggression issues and little control over his emotions to a being who was far more at peace with both himself and his role. Still, the teen was far from perfect. He often felt frustration over the restrictions Drex imposed on his training, not to mention the fact that he was fourteen-and-a-half years old and had yet to build his own lightsaber.
The latter was a cause of constant contention between the two, especially so after Kaden had returned from a mission preparation class to Manchana a few months ago where he had met the much younger Karn. He and Karn had gotten along well, the quiet-natured Zabrak boy's demeanour meshing well with Kaden's equally quiet side. Karn, at only twelve years of age, had already built his own lightsaber. The two had been caught swapping weapons during the very end of said mission by none other than Eeth Koth. Both boys had their asses well and truly handed to them that afternoon, Kaden again when he returned to the Temple. Apparently, Karn had not fared much better, but as this was a first offence, he had not been completely hauled over the coals. Kaden, on the other hand, had so many weapon infractions up his sleeve that he had known exactly what to expect should he be caught, and it was only the hope that he wouldn't actually get caught that had him accepting the saber that day.
Thankfully for him, the measures Drex put in place to help him deal with his frustrations worked well for the most part. Meditations kept him from bottling up his emotions, as did the time Drex spent coaching him both physically and mentally, always urging him to achieve more without pushing too hard. Then there were the consequences of disobedience… Yeah. At fourteen years of age, the boy stood 175cm tall and was as solid as a stone shithouse. Not that this ever stopped his master from upending him over his lap when he deserved it, much to Kaden's horror. Luckily for him, it had been over a month since his last encounter of that kind, and it had been mild as such things went, meaning that no hairbrush, paddle or, Force help him, tawse had made an appearance.
Yawning, he crashed into the sofa and began pulling off his boots. "Did you hear back from the Council about that mission? Are we going?" he asked Drex, tossing off first one boot and then the other before levitating them to sit neatly by the door next to Drex's. Everything from the tea canister to their toothbrushes had a place in their quarters. It had to, lest life for his blind master become tiresome. Kaden didn't know anything about the mission, just that they might be going on one and to make sure he was packed in case. He was, of course, curious about where they'd be going and what they'd be doing, but so far had managed to restrict his questions to the basics. After all, they might not be going at all.
Drex raised his hand in a bid for Kaden to wait and be silent; he was listening to a message on the com and had not quite finished. Kaden could not have known this; the earplugs all but disappeared under his mane of hair.
About twenty seconds later, he was done, put down his headphones and smiled at Kaden.
"I suppose so," he said. "Judging from the fact that we are required to attend a meeting tomorrow morning, we will almost certainly be going somewhere. I would wager it's the mission I have applied for. Do you want to know details?"
Drex had not taken Kaden on any missions so far, at least not ones that would have taken them away from Coruscant. He had always believed it would be better to take his time with such things and give his padawans a proper understanding of life on Coruscant before taking them out into the galaxy. They had explored the city planet a lot and had taken part in quite a number of Senate functions. However, Drex made a point of not torturing his padawans with diplomatic functions and boring conferences during their very first off-planet missions. Unlike many other masters, he waited with such things until his padawans were older, more mature and had more knowledge of politics. The problem was that few of the more action-packed missions were suitable for junior padawans. Drex had been waiting for a while to find one that matched his expectations. Consequently, he had seized the opportunity when a rather interesting mission that had been long planned was suddenly one mission team short due to an unexpected illness. Upon hearing this, Drex had immediately volunteered their services. The Council had taken a while to deliberate whether Kaden was old enough for this, but apparently, they had come to a favourable decision.
"Yes, I want to know the details!" Kaden said in a tone that suggested Drex might very well have lost his mind asking such a thing. He doubted it was going to be anything political. Drex had explained a while ago that he preferred to wait until he was older for such missions, and his reasons for that decision. Naturally, this went over well with Kaden who, much like many of the temples young teenagers, could think of better ways to spend his time on missions than sitting in a conference hall. He had gone to a full senate meeting on legislations when they had teamed up with Eeth Koth and his padawan Raven for a short while. To say that it had been horrifyingly boring would be a gross understatement. Kaden and Raven had both gotten into trouble thanks to their lack of self-discipline, himself more so than Raven.
"I thought so," Drex said, amused. "Sit down, then."
He motioned towards the chair opposite and waited for Kaden to comply.
The boy sat where bade and met Drex with an expectant expression.
"Tnangan-at-Val," Drex began, "is a small planet in an isolated system between the Mid-Rim and the Outer Rim. It has been known for a while, but has been left alone since its population is fairly primitive, never having developed interstellar space travel. The planet has few natural resources, so there has never been an interest in conquering it either. However, one of the planet's peoples has made a big technological leap in past decades and has developed space technology. This has brought them into contact with the Republic. Whether this contact is desirable seems to be a point of contention among the peoples of the planet, though. The Jedi's interest lies in the fact that the population produces a fair number of Force-sensitives; in that regard, their species is similar to Zabrak and humans. So far, they have no formal way of training these people, or at least most of the cultures on this planet don't, especially the more technologically developed ones. Many from among the political leaders recognise that this might be a problem because occasionally, Force-sensitives turn to the Dark Side and cause havoc. The Jedi have therefore obtained the consent of at least some regional governments to send teams that are supposed to conduct research and negotiate potential solutions. We need several teams because the planet's population is fairly big, spread across several continents and, above all, rather diverse, even divided. The mission has been planned for a long time, of course, and the teams that are supposed to take part in it have been assigned weeks ago. But since one of the masters fell ill this week, there was an opening and I volunteered for it. From the fact that we have been invited to a meeting tomorrow morning, I deduce that my request has been granted. That is all I know at this point."
Scenes of red lightsabers clashing with his own pastel blade whilst dangling over lava pits immediately sprang to Kaden's mind, closely followed by several other scenarios that might be possible on a planet with any number of primitive, untrained dark Jedi running around. Perhaps they were remaining hidden from the main populace until their plans of planetary domination could be actioned? The possibilities were endless, at least in Kade's mind because his imagination had momentarily gone crazy. This probably would have made his master laugh or in the very least roll his eyes, had he been privy to it. As it was, the boy kept such thoughts to himself and tried to concentrate on the more feasible scenario Drex was suggesting. "Do they speak Basic on Tnangan-at-Val?" he asked, keeping any mention of chasing down rogue Sith from his comments. He wasn't sure if Drex would know this yet or if they'd have to wait to find out.
If Drex had been privy to Kaden's thoughts, he would have laughed indeed. From what little he knew about Tnangan-at-Val, there were currently no Force-sensitives turned Dark around. Those did not tend to live long unless properly trained. And even if there were, they certainly did not have lightsabers, nor was there an overabundance of lava pits on the planet.
"No, unfortunately not," said Drex. "And the whole thing is made more complex by the fact that the planet has thousands of languages, not just one. I suspect we will take protocol droids. The most recent models know the planet's major twelve languages or so, at least, from what I could find in the archives. We might also use the trip to learn the basics of one of those, but that will probably not get us far beyond polite greetings. I cannot tell you much more than that; we'll have to wait for the meeting tomorrow to see what our exact task is and who the other teams are."
"Thousands of languages… Great, that will make communicating with the locals interesting. So, as far as we know, our job is to look around the planet and find Force-sensitives. Sounds easy enough. What are we meant to do with the ones that are too old? What if they turn to the Dark Side?" Kaden had no idea what the temple did, if anything? with older Force-sensitives that they came across in their dealings.
"We will learn more tomorrow," Drex said patiently. "But from what I gathered, it's not our job to look for individual Force sensitive beings as much as to find out how various cultures deal with them and to negotiate with local authorities about the option to take them to the Temple for training. If this planet is anything like other worlds that have no way of training Force sensitives, those who do occur - and these would be relatively rare cases - will mostly not develop their abilities to any great extent. Those who do might be considered disturbing by others and end up in a mental asylum or, if they act on their aggressions and hurt or kill others, will be killed themselves in the end. This is only guesswork, though. There is no point in pursuing speculations based on what little we know. We will learn more tomorrow. You will be excused from classes; the meeting starts at nine."
A mental asylum!? Drex's comments set the boy wondering. But it was short-lived. At fourteen years of age, he was still a little egocentric; thus, his attention quickly shifted to the parts that affected him personally. "That's the best news I've heard all day. Does that mean I don't have to do my homework? Oh, wait, please tell me I don't have to take it with me?" he asked, his tone just on the plus side of hopeful. Kaden didn't care much for classes. He did them, of course, and passed well enough, but he was neither outstanding nor lacking.
"It does not mean anything of that kind," said Drex mildly. "You will do your homework and you will receive classwork from your teachers to work on during our trip. While we're on the planet, we might not have time for much of the sort, but we'll spend at least two weeks on a spaceship, and there is no reason to miss out on school work during that time. Besides, we don't know when we're going to leave yet. It might be as late as some time next week, until which point you will still go to school. Come on, get it over with."
"The Jedi Order can be such a drag sometimes," Kade huffed.
Five minutes later the boy had his homework out and was working away quietly at their kitchen table, munching on some leftovers that he'd shoved into a sandwich. It wasn't the best food combination but, meh, it was edible. At least he hoped it was…
That evening, Drex took him to the gym for a workout. Most of the time they focused on Soresu, but given that they were about to go on a mission, Kaden had high hopes that tonight would be different. He fingered at the hilt of his weapon as they entered the gym, his feelings inadvertently telegraphing through their bond. "Sooo," he hedged, circling the man and moving to stand in front of him. "Two weeks on a spaceship. That's a long time." He pulled his saber from his belt and swung it in a circle. "What are the chances that we can, you know, blow off the cobwebs and practice some Ataru?"
"None whatsoever," Drex said solemnly. "At least not on our way there. I hope there will be no need for attacking anyone and, therefore, no need for Ataru. More importantly, I do want you to be in the right frame of mind for such a mission. If you behave yourself, I might loosen up your restrictions after the mission has been successfully completed."
The teen blew out a long, pained sigh. He had expected as much but that didn't mean he had to like it, and like it he did not. "Behave? I always behave." Although that comment was a bit of a stretch, it had not been completely false. Kaden rarely had problems obeying his master over things that were not related to his use of a weapon, patience and controlling his emotions. One such issue was asking to build his lightsaber. He had asked several times since his mission preparation class on Manchana to build his own saber, each time getting the same frustrating response, being: 'No'.
Thankfully for all involved Kaden had learnt the hard way that sarcasm, defiance and complaining over the way Drex ordered his training always ended quickly and painfully. The last couple of times he had bucked the man over this, he had been hauled to the bench and walloped within an inch of his life! (or so he would tell you), after which he had spent the session doing muscle building exercises. He had only made that mistake twice. Not again.
As a matter of fact, Drex was contemplating letting Kaden build his lightsaber after the completion of this mission – if, again, the boy behaved himself. And that remained to be seen. For now, he focussed on providing Kaden with a thorough workout.
By the time they were done, Kade was glad for the reprieve stopping provided. His strength and endurance had improved considerably since becoming an apprentice. Drex might be old but that didn't make him any less capable when it came to the intensity and effectiveness of his training.
The next morning Drex and Kaden entered a meeting room where six other persons were already waiting. Two were senior Jedi masters, a male Iktotchi and a female human. The other four were master-padawan teams, one consisting of a teenage male Chalactan and a fairly young female Zabrak master and the other one consisting of a male Ithorian who looked about old enough to be knighted and his middle-aged male human master.
They made introductions; Drex knew most of them already, except for the Chalactan padawan, but of course the same was not true for Kaden. The senior masters were Naee Tiis and Devra Macken. The Chalactan padawan was Brill and his Zabrak master was Triz Vandab; the Ithorian senior padawan was Angkat Badd and his human master was called Hennar Gale.
There wasn't a single person in the room whom Kaden recognised. He knew there were ten of them going all up, so that two were still missing when they entered meant that they had not been last to arrive which, for reasons he couldn't explain, made him relax a little more.
Since this was his very first mission the boy had no idea what to expect, not that he was showing any signs of feeling like a fish out of water. In fact, he followed his masters lead flawlessly as the introductions were made and quietly listened.
While they were taking seats, a fourth pair came hurrying in: an irritated-looking female Twi'lek master with soft green skin followed by a slightly subdued-looking female human padawan who was not much older than Kaden. Nafanda's skin was jet-black; her hair was done in a multitude of braids that were flopping behind her, and she was broad-shouldered and sturdy.
"My apologies," said her master. "We were… delayed a little."
Kaden nodded in greeting. From the fact that the Twi'lek master looked slightly irritated and her darkly skinned human apprentice, sheepish, his mind drew a logical conclusion that turned out to be quite different from the actual reason they were late.
"It was my fault," Nafanda admitted. "I toppled over the milk jug and both of us had to get changed."
She dropped into a chair next to Kaden and told him in a stage whisper: "I'm dead clumsy."
The Twi'lek gave her a half-stern, half-exasperated look and introduced herself as Eleena Vao; her padawan was called Nafanda K'Nama.
Clumsy? Kade knew a few apprentices like that; Obi-Wan Kenobi was one that came to mind. The boy was a senior padawan now and hardly ever in the Temple, but his master, Qui-Gon Jinn, was almost as famous as his own, if for different reasons.
Naee Tiis rapped his knuckles onto the table startly and everyone immediately turned to him and Devra Macken, those two quite obviously acting as the heads of this mission.
"I'll start with the most important practical information," said Devra. "We'll be leaving on Sunday at 10 am. Please pack full mission gear and clothing for all climates. We might travel in ice-cold, temperate and hot regions, as well as in dry and humid ones. All our mission will take place above-ground. The planet does not have intelligent underwater life; as you can see, our mission team has been assembled accordingly, with no Ishi Tib or Mon Calamari involved. All of you will receive mission preparation files with all the available information on the planet that we currently possess. You may use them to prepare yourselves today and tomorrow; we will have time for further preparation during our trip. Any questions so far?"
"Yes, what's the food like?" Nafanda asked cheekily and immediately.
Her master rolled her eyes and gave her a light cuff to the back of her head.
"That information," Naee Tiis said solemnly, but with a slight twinkle in his eye, "is in your mission preparation file. In short, the food on the planet is as diverse as its peoples and climates."
Kaden grinned widely at Nafanda's contribution because he was thinking exactly the same thing himself; being a fourteen-year-old boy who was growing up faster than he could fill out, food was of the utmost importance!
"Diverse is good if you have an iron stomach, not that I won't give anything a try," he commented bravely. This was mostly talk since, after their disastrous trip to Anchanang where he had drunk X'Atlix, Kaden didn't think he really would try anything. Force, he had been so sick that he had thought he would never be the same again. It also had the side effect of permanently curing the boy of is curiosity regarding alcohol; he didn't care if his peers experimented, he wasn't touching the stuff for as long as he lived. It had been an exciting adventure getting to Anchanang, though! They'd had to take the XG line to Coruscant's larges transport hub, from which they had to locate level 139 and buy tickets on the shuttle to Demisset. From there, they again needed to negotiate an incredibly crowded station and find the ticket station and correct shuttle to take them into Anchanang. They had travelled through levels of the city that were so old that they had actually become solid. It had been fascinating.
For a moment, Kaden looked as though he was a million light years away as the memories of that trip consumed his thoughts, only to be brought back to the present by Brill, the young Chalactan teen. "I assume once we split up, we'll be taking all sorts of different transports and won't have the services of the protocol droids to help with language. Do you have any idea how many different languages are spoken on Tnangan-at-Val?"
"And," Kaden added, "whether or not they have any unusual customs like, I don't know, shoes are offensive or talking on a weekday between the hours of 1400-1415 is considered an insult."
"Speaking of offense, do we know anything about their religious beliefs?" This from Angkat Badd, the Ithorian padawan who looked as if he were the oldest apprentice.
Naee Tiis raised his hand in a bid not to ask more than one question at a time.
"There is only one spaceport," he said. "The one in Mashen, which is where we will land. After that, yes, we will have to use various kinds of terrestrial transport and we will take the protocol droids, of course, else there would be no hope of communicating. There is only a handful of people on the planet who speak Basic, and 90% of those are based in Mashen. There are several thousand languages currently spoken on Tnangan-at-Val. We will not need all of those, since some of them only have small communities of speakers and those usually know at least one of the more widespread languages, too; but we will need several languages in any case. The protocol droids have been programmed to speak those."
"The religious beliefs on Tnangan-at-Val," said Devra Macken, "are as diverse as its languages. What is holy to some peoples is sacrilegious to others. There are also peoples who are hardly religious at all. You have to keep in mind that this is a planet that has only recently entered space travel. For the most part, they still rely on slow means of transport which means that there has been no time for differences between continents and regions to have evened out. We do not nearly have sufficient information on most of the cultures on Tnangan-at-Val to give you much to go by. The good news is that the planet is technologically advanced enough to have experienced a certain degree of globalisation, which means that, while cultures are diverse, people are generally used to strangers who are unfamiliar with their particular ways. Most people will recognise you as strangers and be tolerant with you."
"One thing that you need to be aware of, however," added Naee Tiis, "is that there is at least one major culture, the Ha'en-Shin, that is relatively isolationist and pacifist. They are the most populous and the most technologically advanced, which makes it possible for them to sustain this way of life. Their capital is Mashen which is where we will go first. Details about them are in your mission files and it is particularly important for us to peruse them. Acts that are perceived as aggressive are punished strongly. Whoever kills another person is subject to the death penalty. No exceptions, not even for cases of self-defense."
They all listened as their questions were answered, but it was Triz, the young Zabrak master who spoke next. "Some pacifists can be downright 'un-passive' when you rub them the wrong way. Best we be careful here," she said, earning herself a nod from Devra.
"Isolationist, oh great," Kaden mumbled sarcastically, but otherwise did not comment on what was being said. He did not have enough experience to be of much use here.
"There is really not much that we can tell you that is not in your mission files," said Devra. "What all of us really need to learn, however, is who we are going to be working with. It would be good if each of you could tell us a bit about your level of experience and areas of particular expertise - or restrictions, of course. This might be obvious to some of us, but it would help if we were all on the same level here."
Her eyes fell on Kaden.
"You are the youngest, I think," she said with a smile. "Why don't you start?"
"I'm the youngest," Kaden agreed, knowing that he wouldn't have much to offer in the way of experience, "so shouldn't that mean I get to go last?"
Drex nudged him firmly with his elbow, coupled with a surge of disapproval through their bond, which had the boy on his feet within seconds.
"Alright," he acquiesced. "I haven't been on an official off-planet mission yet, but I did attend a mission prep class on Manchana and have seen a bit of Coruscant. I've been to quite a number of Senate sessions. The last one was to debate Yamett's bid for membership with the republic. Before that, I was teamed up with Eeth Koth and his apprentice for a little while to investigate the illegal weapons trade. That was mainly in the Tchennik sector, although we did also attend a Senate session on weapons legislation during that investigation. Then there was a trip to Anchanang as well as a handful of other places around Coruscant," he explained, and had to admit that in stating all of that it did sound more impressive than what many of his padawan friends had to offer. He wasn't sure what to say about restrictions; he really didn't want to bring up the fact that he wasn't allowed to spar or perform Ataru without permission, or that he had yet to build his lightsaber. He cleared his throat and glanced at Drex. Sure, the man couldn't see him but it was clear he was about to sit down unless he was prompted to say more.
"My padawan is very able with a saber," Drex added because this was relevant information. However, he did not want to embarrass Kaden unduly by spelling out his restrictions, so he simply added: "Still, given the relative small amount of experience he has and the fact that he has not built his own saber yet, it might be better to leave tasks that might involve fighting – in case those ever arise – to others."
Kaden swelled with pride at Drex's compliment, only to shrink down at hearing the fighting would most likely be left to the others. That grated on the boy, it really did, but he hid it well.
"Thank you," said Naee Tiis drily. "Nafanda, what about you?"
Nafanda got to her feet.
"Well, I have built my lightsaber and I think I'm decent with it," she said, "but as far as I understood, this mission is not so much about fighting. So… What else? I have been on a few missions and my master tells me I'm a good observer of cultural habits and the like. I'm interested in that stuff, too. Ummm… One thing I'm not that good at is knowing when to keep my mouth shut, I guess. I've been told I need some practice at that."
She shot her master a cheeky grin. Eleena pursed her lips in response; their senses of humour matched, which was a blessing, she knew.
The Twi'lek agreed with her apprentice's contribution and inclined her head almost imperceptibly as the girl sat down. "Right. I believe Nafanda will do well with the anthropology and ethnographic areas of this mission, especially when no homework will be assigned." Herself, Eleena was particularly good with Force suggestions.
The Chalactan padawan stood next, offering the room a tiny bow. "I have been on one mission before this one. It was to moderate the annual hyperspace communications frequencies conference last year on Borleias. It wasn't the most energetic of missions but interesting all the same. I've concentrated on mission prep classes since then, mainly stuff like diplomacy, first aid, astrophysics, interstellar communications and a few hand to hand combat. I really liked the hand to hand classes, although I'm not that great with a lightsaber and I," he lowered his gaze but only for a second, "I lose my temper easily," the latter was added with a slight smile as he sat down.
"I am relatively new to my role as Brill's master," Triz supplemented. "I was knighted two years ago." She looked to Brill briefly and smiled. "The Force drew me to Brill barely a month after this. We have been learning together. My strengths are in engineering and mechanics, weaknesses being that I am young, and don't have a lot of experience as a field Jedi yet."
Kaden glanced at the Chalactan. They were about the same height, and he was clearly muscular but he couldn't weigh more than 50kg soaking wet! Well, size mattered not.
The introductions continued. Angkat and Hennar were united by a common gift for stealth and Force-aided concealment. Hennar was currently hardly able to use a saber after a neurological disease had disabled his right arm. Naee was an accomplished healer, and Devra was very good and experienced at working with animals. Finally, Drex, being the oldest, introduced himself as experienced in all activities of a field knight with a special focus on diplomacy, his obvious disadvantage being his blindness which could be a hindrance in unknown surroundings.
"Therefore, I would prefer it if I was not separated from my padawan unless absolutely necessary," said Drex. "I do get by without a second person, but most things go faster when one is with me, and my padawan and I work well together."
"Of course," Devra said in response to Drex's request. "Is there anything else of importance you would like to know before we call this meeting to an end?" she asked, glancing around the room at each of them.
"Yes, how long are we gonna stay?" asked Nafanda, hoping secretly that it was long enough to miss the hand-to-hand class her master was going to make her do. She was quite definitely better with a saber than she was fighting with her hands, and besides, Master Rool was known to be one strict bastard.
"For the moment, a stay of eight weeks is scheduled," said Naee. "That will give us enough time to visit the major populations and establish contacts with a few other governments. It appears that they all have embassies in each other's territories. However, depending on how the mission goes, we might extend it. Hopefully, we will not have to cut it short but we would if there was an emergency. Does that about answer your question?"
"Yes, thank you," said Nafanda politely.
As they all left the room, she gave Kaden a grin. "Did they threaten you with school work during our trip, too?" she asked.
"Yeah. Sucks to be us," Kade replied. "But it has to be better than sitting in a classroom. I guess we'll find out. Have you been on a spaceship for a week before?" he asked curiously. He was hoping that perhaps the girl could shed some light on the experience from a padawan's point of view.
Nafanda shook her head, making her braids fly.
"No," she said. "I've been on... let's see... four off-planet missions so far. The longest trip I had was four and a half days, which sucked. But then, I was alone with my master during that trip."
She gave her master an apologetic look. "Sorry, I didn't mean it the way it sounded," she said a little sheepishly. "It's just... I was studying a lot and it was... not THAT thrilling. This time at least, there will be other padawans around."
"Who will also have to study," Drex interjected with a grin. "But we get your meaning. Masters can be boring."
"Yes, I remember feeling the same," Eleena said, aiming a knowing look at the older master who was wearing a similar expression himself.
"A week's a long time to be studying, I'm sure we'll get to do other things, too, right?" Kaden looked from Eleena to Drex. His tone had sounded hopeful and his expression was the same.
"Sure you will. A lot will depend on the sort of ship we are assigned. Some are more impressive than others," Eleena said.
"I think it will be a reasonably large ship," said Drex. "We are ten persons, after all. We will be sure to create opportunities for workouts and the like; we will spend time on mission preparation, and there will also be time for you to socialise, play hologames or whatever it is you enjoy doing. It will not be such an ordeal; after all, the two of you and Brill are roughly the same age."
Nafanda and Brill were a tad older than Kaden, to be exact, but not much. Nafanda beckoned Kaden away from their masters for a moment and whispered into his ear: "I know Brill from class. He's a bore. And if ever we get into trouble, he'll tell tales. Be warned."
"Thanks, I'll remember that," Kaden whispered back, but did not say anymore on that; Drex's hearing was impeccable thanks to his lack of sight. It never ceased to amaze the boy what that man could hear!
"Is your master very strict?" he asked curiously, keeping his voice low but not at a whisper. She didn't look all that terrifying, but then again, looks could be deceiving. One look at the seemingly innocuous, elderly Drex was a case in point.
Nafanda shrugged.
"She's pretty cool about most stuff," she said in a low voice. "And in the beginning she was pretty cool about the bigger stuff as well. That was until her former master had a talk with her because I kept getting into trouble in classes about making smart remarks that my teachers found insolent; and I was not all that diligent either. Unfortunately for me, she really learned to put her foot down with such things. How about yours?"
Kaden listened with interest, occasionally glancing over at the woman in question but not making it obvious. She really did seem pretty cool, but he guessed he'd find out soon enough. "Yeah, Drex can be a real hardass about certain things; my lightsaber being the main one. You see, he practices Soresu and I love to fight Ataru. We clash sometimes. That said, he can also be pretty cool. He's taken me all over Coruscant and doesn't jump on me for every little thing like some other masters."
While the padawans chatted, Drex talked to Eleena. The woman was likeable and had a quick wit that he liked. Her padawan seemed nice enough, too; he hoped she would get along well with Kaden.
When they had returned to their quarters, Drex found the mission briefing on his console. It was a fairly large document, containing sections about all aspects of life on Tnangan-at-Val, or at least life in those societies that had had some contact with the Republic.
"Alright," he said to Kaden, handing him a data chip that contained the file. "I give you one hour to get an overview of the topics this document covers and pick three that you would be most interested in studying in depth. Afterwards, we will divide up tasks. This afternoon, we will go to the gym and review some Force work and defensive techniques that might come in handy. Tomorrow, we will buy whatever we will need for our mission gear, and we will pack. Any questions so far?"
"Yeah, do you want a cup of tea? I'm thirsty, I don't feel like water and we don't get juice for another..." Kade glanced at his watch, "two days! That sucks, I'll just miss out. Maybe the council will stock the ship with lots of good stuff."
"Yes, thank you, I'd like some tea," said Drex, smiling. "And I daresay the ship will be equipped with enough food for the trip, though I have to warn you. Spaceship food is rarely satisfying. We will just have to hope that the food on Tnangan-at-Val is good. As far as I know, the locals have a rather similar digestive system to humans. Most of their food should be edible for you." Drex was not that concerned about himself since Hrakians could stomach most everything.
Bad food was not something Kaden had associated with spaceship travel up to now although now that it was pointed out to him, he could see why it might be. "I guess there is only so much that will keep fresh before you have to start on vacuum packs," he commented while flicking the water to boil and pulling their teapot down from the cupboard.
A few minutes later, he exited the kitchen, teapot and cups in hand. He spent the first half hour sitting at the table going through the file and sipping tea, while the second half an hour was shared between the couch, floor and eventually the table again. "Can I take military and defence, education and primary production?" he asked. At least two of those three topics he had some experience with. As for the military and defence, well, that one sounded like the most fun in his opinion.
Drex nodded. "Alright," he agreed. "Start with primary production. And keep in mind that this planet holds many vastly different cultures and economic systems and that your information probably only covers a few of them. My impression is that the file mainly provides information on the Ha'en-Shin and a bit of what they think about the second-biggest culture, the Toykin, who are also their main rival. Naturally, their opinion of the Toykin is rather derogatory. We should not accept it as fact. Anyway, I'll start with religion and values. That way, we will have the major topics covered by tomorrow night."
Kade yawned and leaned his chair back onto two legs. "Alright," he agreed, and started reading. Naturally he'd much rather be out exploring Coruscant, but the truth was he didn't find this as boring as homework would have been.
An hour or so later, he had a file full of notes and stood to stretch. "It seems as if their primary production is as diverse as their culture. Some areas are rich in mineral deposits, others are mainly crops and animal production. There's quite a large number of forests, and their fishing industry is huge. Both the Ha'en-Shin and Toykin produce just about everything themselves. Neither faction relies on the other for anything, at least as far as this report states. Anything interesting about religion and values?" he asked, curious to know if they had any weird and wonderful customs that he would no doubt find entertaining.
"Oh, lots," replied Drex, "but it's all rather vague, especially with respect to the Toykin whom the Ha'en-Shin consider to be outrageously aggressive. They value peacefulness themselves, despite the fact that they're quick to apply the death penalty. They also dislike weapons."
"They dislike weapons? Honestly, what sort of people are they anyway!" Kade guffawed, but was soon back reading when this garnered no more than a snort from his master.
Several hours later, they had lunch then went to the gym where Drex planned to review Kaden's Force work abilities. They started with cushioning falls, which Kaden found difficult but could manage at an acceptable level. Then there was levitation which he enjoyed, and Force pushes which they had just started.
"You're doing well," Drex told Kaden. "Maybe there will be some opportunity during the mission to teach you Force-enhanced running. Open spaces are always good for that. The planet even has desert regions."
"For real? You'd really teach me Force-enhanced running?" Kaden said in a surprised tone of voice. The idea of Force-enhanced running was enticing. It required a lot of physical and mental control, but it would be fun! "If you trust me to learn Force-enhanced running," he could not help but add, "why won't you let me build my lightsaber? You do know that I'm the only Jedi on this mission still carrying a toy for a weapon, right?" He allowed a hint of indignation to creep into his tone, but only a hint since complaining about this rarely went over well.
"You," said Drex mildly, "are very close to being marched to the bench. Cut down on the whining immediately. And be glad I'm feeling lenient enough to give you a warning."
Kade fell silent at that response, the only sound being that of his booted toe scuffing the floor as he continued to silently pout. "Sorry," he managed after a moment, yet he was not feeling at all placated. In fact, he felt frustrated. Thankfully for him, he was well able to put a lid on it as he knew that if he did not, Drex would make him meditate. And he was enjoying practicing Force pushes!
They spent the next half hour pushing a decoy, and occasionally each other, around the gym. It wasn't the most physically taxing of workouts but it was enjoyable.
That evening, they ate at the dining hall. They were just returning to their quarters when Kade had an idea. "Shouldn't a Jedi get to practice building their lightsaber before building their own for real?" he asked as they entered their quarters that evening. He had been pondering ways to talk his master into allowing him to build his lightsaber since returning from Manchana. This was the first time he'd tried this particular angle, though. It was quite clever, he thought.
"No," said Drex; and that was all the reply he gave. He hung his cloak onto its hook, pulled off his boots and made his way to the table at his usual, unhurried pace. They were going to put in another hour of mission preparation now and Kaden knew it.
"Well, it stands to reason that if I have to practice everything else, I should practice building my saber also," Kade pressed, following Drex to their table where he pulled out his chair and sat, a rather smug expression on his face. This was a solid argument, the boy was sure of it.
Drex did not happen to agree, though. He rose, rounded the table, pulled Kaden up by the scruff of his neck, pushed him forward across the table and delivered a swat to his bottom that was as hard as he could make it.
Kaden didn't struggle when Drex grabbed him; the boy had known that he was pushing it, and for reasons that had made sense at the time, he had deemed the satisfaction of such a good argument worth the risk. "AHhh!" Force! It was not. "AHH'Owwchh!" Holy shit! He thought, bracing himself as best he could.
"No more of this," Drex said firmly, letting a second, equally hard swat follow. "You know I will let you build your saber when I think you are ready, not before."
He dealt out a third swat and continued: "Whining will get you nowhere but into the exact position you're in right now."
A fourth blow connected with the undercurve of Kaden's bottom, causing the boy to yell out and start struggling.
"And do not believe for a moment that I will hesitate to do this during our mission when I feel it is warranted," Drex added, just to make sure Kaden got the message. He really did not fancy the idea of having to keep discussing this topic with his impatient padawan throughout their mission. He thought it better to be clear about this before they took off for Tnangan-at-Val, and therefore he dealt out two more resounding swats before asking: "Are you ready to let this topic drop?"
Kaden swore that he felt his teeth actually rattle in his head at those last few swats, and despite desperately wanting to respond to the lecture with something that would placate the man, he simply couldn't. When Drex asked if he was willing to drop the subject, the shamelessly bellowed: "Yes, Master!" was blurted immediately. As far as Kaden was concerned, he was not going to mention this again until he was knighted! His ass was not cut out for this shit!
"Good," said Drex calmly, releasing his hold on Kaden. "Now sit down. Yes, I know this will hurt. I also happen to think that this lesson needs some reinforcement."
He folded his arms across his chest and stood, waiting for Kaden to comply with his order.
Sit down? He had to be joking… He was joking, right? Fuck, he wasn't joking! Kaden swiped at his eyes with a sleeve; he was NOT crying! Especially not over a mere six swats. Sure, said swats had been spectacular as such things went. Still… Suppressing a grimace the boy slowly lowered his backside into the chair, picked up his data reader and started up where he left off. To say that this was uncomfortable was an understatement. His backside had its very own heartbeat. Kaden could be stubborn, though, and right now he was giving Drex the silent treatment.
Drex was not usually impressed by silent treatments and today was no exception. He picked up his own data reader and started to read up on higher education; Kaden was currently working on the school system so this would be a good fit.
After a full hour, he finally put his reader down and said: "Alright, padawan. Let's meditate together. After that, we will discuss our reading, and then, it is bedtime for you."
He thought it would be a good idea to have that discussion after meditation; that would make it harder for Kaden to continue sulking. Drex was not exactly bent on inciting further trouble.
The hour spent trying to hide his discomfort at having to sit had done little to improve Kaden's mood. Still sulking, he got to his feet and moved to kneel on his mat where he waited for Drex to join him. He wasn't angry, not really, he was just frustrated.
As was typical, their meditation helped him release that frustration and by the time they were done, he was feeling far less hard-done-by. It also helped that his ass had started to forgive him, the pain having by now been reduced to little more than a dull ache. He gave that portion of anatomy a cursory rub as he stood, and then turned a sheepish expression at his master that was lost on the man. "I'm sorry," was all he said. But after their meditation, no explanation would be necessary for Drex to know what he was apologising for.
Drex gave Kaden a brief, reassuring hug; not long enough to be embarrassing, but enough to let him know he was forgiven.
"It's alright, padawan," he said lightly. "Lie down on the couch if you like; we can talk about our findings then."
They discussed what they found out until Kaden's eyes began to get heavy and Drex told him to get ready for bed. Not that he could actually sleep; this mission was going to be exciting!