Captain Jobal Tarwin looked out at the ships surrounding the Katana. What in the world possessed him to take this command? A bunch of blue painted ships, in fact two hundred of them. How was this fleet going to manage all the maintenance a ship of this class required? This ship class normally carried 19000 personal from the 3000 troops to nearly half the rest just dedicated to maintenance. The only smart thing about the ship was that the CIC bridge was set in the center of the most heavily armored portion of the ship. He guess he couldn't complain, this was going to be one of the biggest fleets, even if they were all Rendili Stardrive Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, to roam the galaxy. He guessed he could take some pride in that.
"Helm prepare the fleet for hyperspace. We will jump in ten minutes." Captain Tarwin ordered.
"Prepare all ships for hyperspace, link each ship in sequence." Commander Naren Sal stated. "You have five minutes to show me a green board." The bridge crew got to work checking and rechecking ship links in the slave circuit holo. The fleet was ready in four minutes and the fleet jumped to the Corellian Run from the planet Rendili from there they would travel the entire length of the run before turning around, heading back up and the down the Corellian Trade Spine and at Terminus traveling the entire length of the Hydian Way. This would be the longest cruise of his career guaranteed to pass the five year mark. "All ships have made the jump, Captain."
"Good work, Commander, you have the con." Tarwin stated. He got up and headed out to his cabin. The amount of work he had to do would not get done if he spent it all on the bridge. It would be two hours before they arrive at the turn point on the Corellian Run. He woke up his personal comp and got to work. "Ding." He raised his head as the door opened.
"Captain, may I have a word with you?" A jedi by the name of Fain Green requested. The captain looked at his face and frowned. He was sure he didn't want to hear what he was going to say.
"Very well Master Green, I seem to not have enough work as it is." Tarwin replied.
"I am a long way from being a master, Captain, I just became a knight. What I have to say may not require much work on your part. I over heard a few crewmen talking about Carsunum spice and I was wondering if you would allow me to investigate?" Green explained.
Carsunum spice that is not good and I wonder why my security team hasn't brought this to my attention?" Tarwin questioned.
"Well it was not like they knew I was listening, but they didn't figure in that a jedi could hear them from fifty meters away." Green answered. "They seemed to be very aware of who was near them at the time and when I followed them."
"You can investigate, but bring this to the attention of my security chief. I heard some nasty rumors about that drug some even linked to hive viruses. I can't have that junk killing my crew." the captain stated.
"I will do what I can." Green replied. "I will go inform the chief. The jedi nodded and quickly left his office. The captain leaned back and rubbed his eyes. Every fleet had a number of drugs running through the crew and it was a never ending battle to stop it. Maybe it was a wise decision to include a jedi on every ship at least they might become more than just a diplomatic tool. Knight Green wondered about this fleet. He had been having strange dreams about just being on this ship, ones that didn't bode well. Master Doosa Lare, a female Nautolan, and up until recently had been his master. It would be a few hours before she would be up, but he so much wanted to ask her a few questions. This spice business was something he was uncomfortable with investigating alone. He sighed as he approached Mikal the security chief.
"Don't tell me, you want to bring down the ship drug ring." he stated. "Won't be the first jedi to try to do it."
"I was told to inform you, but since you already know then I can be on my way." Green replied and turned to walk away.
"Wait I didn't mean to drive you away, but to cut out the excess. Why don't we sit down and you can show me who you over heard." Mikal offered Green a seat. "Tell me the time and the location when you over heard them speaking and if we can ID them we can bring them in." By going over the security sensors they soon had who was in the group. "This is good we will keep an eye on these few and see if we can root out the rest. Until then just keep you eyes and ears open."
"You believe there are more?" Green asked.
"Of course, these few from what you reported are just a small part of the whole network." Mikal replied. "I expect this to cover the fleet so it will take some time to round up all the suspects."
"I will keep my eyes open, but I have a bad feeling we need to move quickly." Green stated. Mikal nodded. Fain left the security team to their work and went back to his quarters. He thought it would be best to meditate further on this as he now had a direction for his misgivings. The quarters at least on these ship were very large compared to other dreadnaughts with only 5200 beings on board instead of 19000 he was able to have his own cabin. Other judicial fleet berths he had in the past put him with his master and several other junior officers. Where normally there were ten to a cabin, now it would be surprising to see more than three, though he had heard the troops tended to stay to their berths and they were not allowed to spread out. This allowed every officer to claim their own cabin. He knew that future plans called for most of those cabins to be removed for increased storage and cargo space. He knew a little about ship construction and these ships could use more weapons and bigger engines. He sighed and settled down to meditate.
Time goes slowly for him or is it quickly which ever it is he is lost quickly in a dream. A strange yet familiar place, a world like no other he has seen or witnessed before. A blue green world with jungles, forests, deserts and cities that are vast and packed full of people. He finds the planet odd and spends a long time wondering why until it dawns on him that the planet has just humans on it. There something else strange about the planet like it is very young, but at the same time just about to die. From what he was seeing how could it be about to die? He searches for the answer, but finds nothing the dream tells him nothing. It shows him a young woman, she is also meditating. She is in a garden made of rock and sand, with strange designs carved in the sand patterns like ripples go out from the stone as if the sand was water. She is in the middle sitting on one of the rocks she begins to glow and she smiles as she raises up in the air. The view changes as another woman enters wearing strange robes and she looks ill and vomits up blood suddenly on the white sand of the garden. The girl screams breaking contact and his dream spins out of control as he jerks suddenly back to himself.
Sara Finn jerks awake. She desperately tries to hold onto her dream, but it is slippery and elusive. She sighs and gets up from the pad that she has been sleeping on for the last six months. Her grandmother's ancestral home in Japan more than an hour south of Tokyo, right next to Mitsuike Park and next to an all girls school or was that the school that was a bit farther south? It really didn't matter as much to her as her dream if only she could remember. She might as well stay up as she looks at her watch. In an hour her uncle will be getting up and her day would begin. She went out into the garden and started her morning kata. It seemed to relax her more than sleep ever did. For a sixteen year old girl she was not normal. At the age of three she had seen here first kung fu movie and she copied nearly every move in the movie even some of the impossible moves from there her brother showed her every movie he could find and her father became involved finding even more and then one teacher after another. As the years went by she had traveled all over going from teacher to teacher from some of the worst to world champions to the ones who taught even them. She knew nearly thirty different forms of martial arts, but only really practiced one a combination of all of them and it look very much like Tai Chi. At the age of twelve she seen nearly fifty countries and spent the last four years in China learning every form of Kung fu that she was shown. Now for the last six months she had been in Japan learning the art of Bushido and the code of honor they followed.
"Gi yū jin rei makoto meiyo chūgi jisei chi." (Righteousness, Courage, Benevolence, Respect, Sincerity, Honor, Loyalty, and Wisdom.) She whispered to herself as she went from one move to the other. She understood each word to the fullest and what it meant to the samurai and to modern Japan she didn't just learn their ways of fighting, but their way of life.
"You are up much too early, Deshi. (student)" her teacher stated.
"I beg your pardon, Hanshi (Master teacher)." Sara replied. "I have been trouble with dreams."
"Hmm, by the sound of it you are troubled. Can you speak of these dreams?" her teacher asked.
"No, I can not the dream flees at the first sign of consciousness all I remember is the dreadful feeling of loss." Sara replied. "I fear something terrible is coming."
"Yes, such a dream would be bothersome. Better to accept the dream as just a dream and if it has true meaning then and only then could you do something or even remember." he explained. "You have learned everything I can teach you only further study and practice will bring mastery. I think you should take a vacation from martial arts visit your family."
"Hanshi, you are family and I visited my father six months ago." Sara countered.
"It is time you join the rest of the world. Go shopping, go swimming, date a boy, see a movie that has no fighting in it, things normal people do. Life is more than just the art of war. You must also learn the art of peace, so to avoid war." her great uncle explained. "Be a child for awhile." Sara blushed when he mentioned dating, but other than that she didn't say a word. Maybe it was time to relax for awhile, but she really didn't want to.