There are some ways you never want to be woken up.
Massive structural damage to the building you were sleeping in, for instance, was one.
The impact was enough to shake the walls of the room Jedi Master Kyp Durron was sleeping in. Immediately, he rolled away from his bed and leapt to his feet. He blinked his eyes in the darkness. His lightsaber was in hand before he even fully oriented himself.
I'm in the Jedi Temple, his sleep-laden brain recalled with some effort. And I'm still exhausted, his mind finished. He felt like he had barely even fallen asleep before the rude awakening. His X-wing was probably still cooling in the docking bay from his mission in the mid-rim. He called on the Force to refresh himself and the weariness in his body relented.
Kyp released a sigh of frustration before running a hand through his dark hair and slipping on his robes and boots. Slapping the door release, the warm lights of the temple hall flooded his room. The hallway lights were still muted, indicating it was the middle of the night. Several young Jedi trainees had also left their rooms to see what had happened. They stood in the hallway, looking bewildered.
"Master Durron," one young teenage trainee called out. "What's happened?" She stood nearby in the hallway, still in her sleeping attire. Her eyes were wide and startled. Her long hair was still knotted and angled strangely, styled by her pillow. In any other circumstance, her appearance would have been comical.
Kyp turned to answer her, but raised his voice loud enough to be heard by all of the young students in the hall. "Stay here. Go back to your rooms. I'll go investigate. Comm either me or one of the other masters if you hear anything else."
Without waiting for them to respond, Kyp turned down the hall and sprinted towards the turbolift.
It was unusual for a Jedi Master to stay in one of the rooms on the residence wings, but after his mission and long flight back to Coruscant, Kyp had simply wanted a nearby place to rest. Now, he was glad he had opted not to go back to his apartment. Using the Force, he reached out and sensed several beings in distress in the upper levels of the temple. There was anger, fear…. Embarrassment? Unusual, but surely that was the source of the trouble.
The turbolift opened on one of the upper levels, near the base of the spires. In the days of the Old Republic, this would have been the roof of the temple. Now, this area lay under the transparisteel pyramid that enveloped the entire structure. Lush gardens that relied on the sunlight thrived here and provided food for the Jedi.
Currently, there was a flaming speeder half buried amongst the vegetables. Black smoke rose up and through the hole that had been torn through the pyramid above.
Kyle Katarn was already on the scene. A singed and highly apologetic human woman looked like she was trying to explain. Her hands made animated gestures in the air in front of her.
Kyp had to hear this. He ran forward, avoiding the debris that covered the walkway and slid to a stop next to Katarn. Several other Jedi Knights had responded to the incident, but the ones that weren't putting out the fire in the speeder stood aside respectfully as Master Katarn spoke to the woman.
"Who is this and why is she in our yard?" Kyp asked Katarn dryly as he positioned himself next to the other Master to face the intruder.
"An aspiring holofilm actress with an increasingly large bill to pay," remarked Katarn in the same tone.
The woman in front of them shifted uncomfortably. "As I said, I'm really, really sorry about this. And my name, by the way, is Myril. We'll pay for it, I promise." Her lovely face was dirtied from the crash but seemed sincere.
"We?" asked Kyp. As if on cue, the turbolift Kyp had emerged from opened again. A tall, frenzied human male still holding a holorecorder ran towards the scene with a panicked padawan trailing him.
"I… I tried to stop him…I'm sorry, Masters. He said he owns the speeder," puffed the young Rodian padawan.
"It's okay, Tophe," soothed Katarn.
The tall man came forward and hugged the woman, lifting her off the ground. "Myr! I'm so glad you're okay! We were so scared you had shot your last scene when the speeder hit. What a stunt!"
The woman howled. "Gah! You hug like a Wookiee, Cam! Knock it off! If I don't already have a broken rib, I do now!" He released Myril and she staggered to regain her footing. The tall man was grinning, pleased. He had handsome, sculpted features and a demeanor that suggested he could be a fellow actor.
"Myril and… Cam, was it?" asked Kyp. "So glad you're reunited. Now please explain why there's a speeder sized hold in our roof."
Myril cleared her throat. "As I was explaining," she said, glancing at Katarn, "We're making a holofilm. We were filming a chase scene where I was supposed to skim the surface of the pyramid. I uh… well, I lost control. I didn't so much skim as… well, plummet. Again, I'm sorry about that." Myril paused for a moment before a thought dawned on her. She turned to Cam and whispered hurriedly, "Did you at least get it all recorded?"
Before Cam could answer, Katarn interrupted their private conversation, irritated. ""one here is completely irresponsible... security "to skim the surface of the pyramind ng, pleased. He had sculpted features rtoWhat you've done here is completely irresponsible. Someone could have been injured, including yourselves. We should turn you two over to Coruscant security…"
"No no no no no no!" the two filmmakers said in union, panicked. The Jedi Masters regarded them with raised eyebrows at their outburst.
Cam and Myril looked at each other nervously. "Coruscant security didn't, uh… look kindly on our scene with the loose gundark in the park," Cam explained.
"The scene turned out great, though," Myril added. "And no one ended up getting hurt there, either," she finished quickly. She offered the Jedi Masters a nervous smile.
Kyle looked at them in stunned disbelief. "Where did you even get a gundark?" Kyp's put his hand to his face and rubbed his eyes. Adrenaline and Force-focused awareness was quickly being replaced with an annoyed weariness. These two had no idea what they were doing or how much trouble they were in.
Myril saw the Jedi become increasingly frustrated and opted to not answer the question. "We… could give you guys free copies of the film when we're done," she offered tentatively, trying to smooth over the situation.
That was the last straw. Katarn shook his head and grabbed hold of Myril's arm. "C'mon, you two are staying here for the night. We'll question you more in the morning." He looked back over his shoulder at young Tophe. "How many others of this group are downstairs?"
"Just two more, Master," he responded.
"Good," remarked Katarn. He turned to address the assembled Jedi Knights. "The rest of you gather the other two and bring them to the holding cells as well. They get a complimentary stay tonight."
Kyp reached out and grabbed a hold of Cam, ushering him towards the turbolift as well. "Wait!" Cam protested. "Who is going to feed my pet nerf?"
Kyp looked at Cam bewildered. "You have a pet nerf on Coruscant?"
Cam shrugged in Kyp's grip. "I had a big extra room to fill."
A big extra room to fill. On Coruscant, home of the highest priced real estate in the galaxy. "I take it you're funding this film project then?" asked Kyp dryly.
Cam turned awkwardly to face him, oblivious. "Yeah, how'd you know?"
TBC