Dim light shone through the thick canopy above Shen as he slowly crept along the forest floor. The quietness of the old wood was serene and peaceful, but it made being unheard more trouble than the young Jedi cared for. Making his way in between huge knotted tree roots protruding from the ground, and careful not to rustle the under-growth, he approached a slight opening where the tree line gave way to a field ahead. The patch of wild saw-grass swayed in the slight wind that blew across the pasture. Shen narrowed his eyes, searching carefully for his target. As he scanned the top of the meter-high grass, his gaze finally fixed on a point in the distance about two hundred feet away from his vantage point. He could make out something slowly bobbing above the edge of the grass, something so subtle that anyone not trained in the Jedi arts may not have even realized it was there. Getting tired of wasting time scouting, Shen silently rolled over the fallen trunk he had been crouched behind and slid into the tall grass. Remaining low to the ground, he slid through rough yellow stalks, keeping his movement slow and in synch with the wind. If the plants around him swayed oddly, he feared he would be prematurely caught. And being a mission of stealth, he did not want to repeat it once again.
Finally he had closed enough ground to where he could make out the full form of his target. From what he could figure, it seemed like a T7 Imperial sentinel. A heavily-armored standard issue watch dog that the Empire strew on the perimeter of forward encampments to warn of enemy attacks. It's conical outer shell was perfect at deflecting blaster fire and its swiveling sensor array at the top meant to detect even the slightest movement sound. Normally they would be equipped with high-grade thermal detection as well. Luckily for Shen, today's mission had been on moderate difficulty. Knowing now that all he had to do was wait until the sensor turned in the opposite direction of where he lay and quickly lash out at the drone's exposed underbelly, he breathed a sigh of relief.
But the second it left his lips the drone suddenly whirred to life, spinning its forward facing defense turrets to Shen's hiding spot. The machine unleashed a quick round of blaster fire as the Jedi leapt to his right. The ground where was a split second before was ripped apart. Sensing that the droid had missed its mark, it quickly spun to where Shen now stood. Before another volley of shots fired, Shen drew his lightsaber from his waistband and charged. The sapphire blue blade came to life with a sharp screech, illuminating the grass around him. With a spin of his weapon he expertly deflected every shot in wild directions and slid foot-first underneath the droid. As he came underneath, Shen violently stabbed up into weak area of unarmored metal. Using the momentum of the slide, he rolled to his left as the steel-beast was rendered lifeless and slammed to the ground.
Then, as soon as he laid back to catch his breath, the drone disappeared. Followed by the grass, the trees, the blue sky overhead. All gave way to the steel room he was actually sat in as the training mission booted down, the realistic holo-projections vanished and a loud buzz indicating a failure rang out. After the noised settled, all Shen heard was the quiet laughter of his long time friend Reynan Moxla from the viewing deck. Shen closed his eyes and sighed. The laugh was something that he, and just about everyone else who studied in the temple, could pick out immediately. Shen just kept his head laid back and muttered out a string of curses. through the ever-growing laughter Reynan managed to squeak out "Come on up here buddy, I've got news!"
"What kind of news?" Shen replied through gritted teeth, knowing this was going to be another lame joke.
"No seriously, run up here. This is important!"
"Important enough to make me redo this entire exercise?" Shen yelled back, annoyed.
"Oh come on, you were on easy anyways," Moderate
"and yes, even important enough to make you replay your game." Reynan called back with a final chuckle, wiping away the tears from his eyes as the hilarity of his genius prank faded away. Even though all he had done was raise the difficulty of the exercise to hard.
Fine, better be good Shen thought to himself as he brought himself to his feet. The teenager walked briskly to the training room's exit door and put his hand to the scanner. The panel glowed green as the locking system recognized his identity with both a picture of his face and his name, Shen Nalyd flashed onto the screen. Striding forward as the automated doors slid open, Shen turned to his right and continued up the stairs, two at a time. Reaching level three where the viewing deck was located, he again operated the security system to grant him access to where his friend had been watching. As he entered, Reynan turned quickly to the door and an enormous grin crossed his face. The familiar black tattoos that stretched across the Kiffar's face made the smile look almost sinister in a way. But Shen new he was completely harmless. Well, not completely.
"yeah, yeah, you're hilario-"
"No! That was funny," Reynan interrupted, "but thats not why I'm happy."
"Well come on then, spit it out. Whats going on?" His annoyance suddenly turning into curiosity.
"We've been summoned." he said vaguely.
"By?"
"Master Leigh!"
Shen stood with a confused look adorning his face. The pair had been brought in to see the High Council member on numerous occasions. The most recent being due to the duo commandeering a set of military police issue speeders to race around the air lanes of Coruscant on. But they hadn't got into any trouble lately, At least none that had gotten them caught, so why would they be summoned? But the unusual grin that Reynanstill wore on his face gave Shen another idea.
"I think we're being put on an assignment!" he finally exclaimed.
Shen's face turned to shock. Neither one of the Jedi had been sent off coruscant to help the war effort since being promoted to Jedi Knights the year before. In fact they were the last remaining Knights of their graduating class to still have not been put on assignment. To be frank, Shen didn't think it would ever happen. The higher ups in the Jedi order, in a way, looked down on both Shen and Reynan. Just because we like to have fun, Shen thought. But fun wasn't 'the way of the Jedi'. They were expected to mind their p's and q's to the tee. Follow orders with no question. Something both of them had a slight difficulty in doing.
"How do you know?"
"Well I don't know for sure, but look at this message I was sent an hour ago." Reynan replied, tossing Shen a holo-recorder. A memo addressing both Shen and his friend read across the flat screen:
FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERLY TO:
REYNAN MOXLA
SHEN NALYD
REPORT TO MY PRIVATE CHAMBER AT 0900 THIS MORNING FOR BRIEFING. ARRIVE PUNCTUALLY.
- JEDI MASTER VALLINA LEIGH
JEDI HIGH COUNCIL
Shen read the message aloud. The words of a true Jedi, short and to the point. "Well that was uninteresting."
"Uninteresting?" Reynan shouted out, "Brother, when was the last time you read something like that? And meant for us no less!"
Shen had to admit it, usually these types of things included a long list of condescending remarks about how disappointed the Jedi order was in what ever actions they had undertaken to piss off the higher-ups. But this was different. The only feeling he got from the words on the screen was that of official business. Maybe Reynan was right. Hopefully, Reynan was right. Shen was tired of Coruscant. He was tired of the boring day to day draw of training, meditating, preforming daily duties around the temple. He was ready to see some action.
"Well, Oh-nine hundred? Thats in fifteen minutes. we should get going."
"Yes we should my friend. I have a feeling that big things are coming our way." Reynan said gleefully as he slapped Shen's shoulder.
Jedi master Vallina Leigh sat behind her desk in her secluded private quarters, eyes transfixed on the screen in front of her. Although the Togruta woman had an intense control over her emotions, as was the Jedi way, a feeling that wavered between anxiety and dread floated over her like a storm cloud. She lets her close briefly to collect herself through a quick mediation. The Jedi mantra that had been one of the backbones of her life came across her lips silently; There is not emotion, only peace. Her gaze returned to the monitor, where she had the personnel records of two young Jedi knights pulled from the Temple data base. The first, Reynan Moxla, was a young Kiffar male. His long brown hair and soft face made for a handsome man, but Vallina always found the black angular tattoos that adorned every member of the Moxla clan a tad intense. Almost dark, for a Jedi. If it had been the first time seeing Reynan, she might have thought that he looked like sweet and pleasant person. Vallina did in fact know him though. Over the years he had given her unending grief. Not that his practical jokes were meant with ill intent, they were just unbefitting of a Jedi. In fact the tom-foolish behavior most likely would have been enough for expulsion from the academy if not for Reynan's surprisingly intriguing connection to the force. Especially the abilities of his clan. Below his demeanor of childish antics, he had scored very well in every force-sensitive test that the academy had given him.
To the right, the profile of Shen Nalyd. Vallina's distaste rose to the surface as he brought her index fingers to her temples.
"Oh, Shen."
She still couldn't believe he had actually graduated from the academy. The decision was not hers. The entirety of the high council decided whether or not a padawan had surpassed the level of experience to graduate and become a knight of the Jedi order. Shen's skill in combat was almost unmatched among his peers. He had a knack for fighting, and according to his instructors he thoroughly enjoyed it. Villina greatly hoped that the enjoyment would be that of fun, and not something that may tempt him down the path of darkness.
Unfortunately the thing that Villina didn't like about Shen was his unwillingness to further his connection with the force. In her opinion that was the most important duty of their order. From what she knew of Shen, he had met all base level prerequisites in his force sensitive exams as a youngling at the temple, and even on into is padawan training under the late Master Voc'o Hote. Poor Voc'o She thought.
After the Jedi master's unfortunate death on Ziost, Shen had apparently focused solely on honing the art of the blade. One of her colleagues had mentioned that he felt personally responsible for his master's demise. But that was the way of the Jedi, they lived and died to serve the republic. Especially in this time of war. Villina did feel empathy for the young man, but that did not cure her resignation for him. To be quite honest she had always suspected that Shen had, in a way, cheated his way through to knighthood. Not in any means in tests at the academy or his aptitudes. Rather through indirect bribery.
It was well known that Shen, unlike almost every other member of the Jedi order was still close with his biological family. A biological family, who happened to be very influential in the Republic Senate. Large donors to the Jedi Temple as well. And even within the holy sanctity of the Jedi high council, influence and funding stretched a long way. Especially in this time of war.
Villina took her hands from her head and closed the files. Whatever previous withholdings that she had over these two did not matter. The Jedi order was spread thin over the galaxy. Very thin. There were too many warfronts that needed attending. She had no other available asset to see to the matter at hand. And this matter needed tending to immediately. She looked at the time-readout on her desk. 0858.
They had better not be late.
"Come on man! We've got two minutes!" Reynan yelled over his shoulder as he raced down the pristine hallways of the temple. The beautiful architecture stunned him every time he saw it, which had been every day for the past thirteen years. He shook the thought away, now was not the time appreciate pretty things. He set his gaze back to the end of the hall.
"Brother, I am sprinting." Shen called back.
It took every bit of willpower to not leave his friend in the dust. Shen wasn't the slowest man Reynan had ever seen, but it wouldn't hurt the guy to lay of the junk food when he went out in the city. He laughed to himself. He was basically jogging. They rounded the corner heading right and could finally see Master Leigh's chamber door.
"One minute!"
They bolted. Running harder than they had maybe their entire lives. This was something to run for.
Finally they reached the end of the long corridor, Reynan stopped so quick that he swore that he was almost skidding while Shen caught up to him promptly after, gasping for breath. He turned to look at his pal, gave him a smile, then pushed the wooden door in front of them open. As the two stepped in, Reynan had to relish at the grandeur of the apartment. The entire room filled with exotic furnishings. Obviously the high council members enjoyed amenities that Jedi knights did not. To the left side of the room sat a living area with long couches, obviously made of expensive Corellian leather, a large fireplace and countless artifacts that lined the shelves. Probably souvenirs from Master Leigh's travels around the galaxy. The right side looked to be her sleeping quarters. An incredibly large bed with the whitest sheets he had ever seen. Amenities indeed. And right in center of the room sat the Jedi master herself. Master Leigh peered up from behind her monitors and gave him an interesting look. Something that looked like she was dreading this conversation, or maybe anxious about it.
"Gentlemen," Master Leigh called across the room to where they were still standing, "have a seat."
Reynan briskly walked over to the set of chairs on his side of the desk and sat down with Shen following closely behind. As he made himself comfortable, he couldn't help but think to himself how flawless the Jedi master was. She was a Togruta, which Reynan already found exotically beautiful, but her odd skin tone was especially interesting. Her face and body were a rusty red hue, while her lekku was teal complimented by white stripes that matched the patterns around her eyes and mouth. Fascinating.
"Master Leigh, a pleasure as always."
"Yes, as always." she replied with a nod.
"And a pleasure for me as well." Shen added on with a smirk.
The Jedi master glance at Shen through slitted eyes, "Yes, well on to business. Thank you both for being on time. I expected to be waiting."
Reynan thought he could sense a bit of humor in the remark, but just passed it off as sarcasm.
"I have summoned you here today to discuss a situation that has come to my attention. Something that must be taken care of immediately." She began as she pulled out a holo-recorder and powered it on. Beams of light shot out of the top of the small black cube forming an image of a female Rodian wearing a long white robe. The words underneath the image reading 'Doctor Vaheem Aldu'.
"Do either of you know who this is?" Master Leigh asked.
"Not a clue." Shen answered curtly, while Reynan just shook his head.
"Good, because you shouldn't. We've tried to keep her identity concealed for a very long while, and for good reason. The doctor has been in our safekeeping for the better part of the decade due to her, exclusive, knowledge and research."
"What kind of research are we talking about, if you don't mind me asking?" Reynan questioned.
Master Leigh gave him a stern look.
"Actually that particular bit of information is highly classified. All you need to know, is that it is highly classified." She finished with an emphasis on 'highly', "The doctor is currently being held aboard a republic cruiser in orbit around Taris."
"Taris?" Shen interjected, "Thats in the outer rim, if she's being held in safekeeping, why is she out there?"
"Actually, a good question. One I can not reply to, as that is highly classified. But, that is exactly why you both are here. You are to travel to Taris and escort her back to Coruscant. I do not expect that you will have trouble in doing this."
Reynan listened intently, nothing out of the ordinary about it. Sounded like a quick jump out and jump back. Although it wasn't as exciting a mission as he was hoping for, something was better than nothing in his book.
"We can handle it, Master."
"I would hope you could. I'll have a shuttle prepared for your journey."
Shen leaned forward sticking his hand out, "Actually ma'm, we could use my personal ship, the Seraph,"
Master Leigh tilted her head slightly, disapprovingly.
"Don't worry, its republic-issue. Top of the line. Promise."
"Very well. You leave tomorrow morning. You are dismissed."
They both stood, gave the council member a respectful bow, and left for the door. Just as they reached it, Master Leigh spoke up one last time.
"Gentlemen, this assignment will define your futures here at the temple. Do not let me down."
And at that, they left, closing the door behind them.