Explosions rocked me in my ship and the space around me erupted in fire and turmoil. My astromech whirred and beeped its high pitched warnings and pleas from its post on the nose of my sunburnt colored star fighter, but I ignored it and just continued zipping faster and faster through the formations of the Hutt pirates in their fighters and towards their capital about two hundred kilometers out with my cannons locked and loaded.

The blackness of space had been converted into a theatre of chaos. This epic battle swayed back and forth with momentum rushing from side to side like the ocean, each ship was a note in a much larger symphony that drowned out all the sounds of the universe. I wiped the sweat from my brow and targeted one fighter who'd been circling me like a bird of prey waiting for the right moment to swoop down at me and knock me out of the sky. I could sense his eagerness to close the gap from his position high above, but I did not waver, I wanted him to make the first move. I kept a steady procession of movement weaving a design throughout the dark sky giving my antagonist a false sense of security while his laser cannons finally started to bite at me. Suddenly, he nosed dived down towards me his speed picking up immensely, but I saw it coming and already I backflipped my fighter and had him in a position of vulnerability as I was now no where near where he thought I would be. It took barely a second from the time I shot my lasers till this space hawk exploded and became debris.

I started my attack run towards the command bridge from the nose of the lead frigate while the ship's auto-turrets turned to face me and unleash a typhoon of laser fire upon my hull. I swung my ship this way and that way letting instinct and the force direct my movements, the insanity of battle being left behind in the background of my focus. Close now I pulled the trigger and my missiles departed my fighter and pierced the frigate's shields and explosions engulfed the bridge. I surged with confidence, but my own fighter shook violently and my astromech screamed in detail of all the damage we we're taking from the auto turrets and a new squadron of Hutt fighters that had crisscrossed from across the sky to give us pursuit and chase us off the faltering ship and back into the mad scramble of ships and laser fire.

"Teej! What are you doing?"

"Pirates Master Windu!" I yelled, "They're all over!"

"Teej" I felt a swift kick to my boot and I jerked up in my seat, suddenly I realized I was not in space, nor in any fighter, nor was I surrounded by Hutt fighters and laser fire. Instead I was surrounded by the marble walls and climbing columns of the Jedi Temple, the small wooden desks filled with my classmates and the wide open of space was actually the youngling lecture room and the rest of Turtle Clan was staring and laughing at me and a very angry Jedi Master stood over me. My green face morphed into a bright red and I burned with embarrassment, I can't believe I fell asleep during one of Master Windu's lessons. I looked up at him trying to shrink away. "I'm sorry Master, I must've fallen asleep."

"This much is obvious youngling, but unless there are some pirates here in the temple I don't know about. Please. Pay attention." His tone was frightening and that was no request, the ice in his voice gave me a chill and I nodded looking up at him. He peered down at me for a good fifteen seconds before he circled back around to the front of the room.

The other initiates around me continued to giggled, but I let out a deep breath and sank deep into my desk, trying to hide as Master Windu continued his long diatribe on the different rulers in Alderaan's storied history. No wonder I had fallen asleep, I cared about the lesson and did find it more than a little interesting. Mace Windu however, seemed to only be able to be either the most boring person in the room or the scariest. He absolutely wasn't the same speaker as Master Yoda or one of the other masters, he just went on and on and only stopped if he thought one of the students needed to be reminded why he was the most feared Jedi in the temple.

Somehow it seemed I was always the youngling who needed the reminder, I never meant any disrespect, I just spent too much time thinking about what I'd be doing when I didn't have to sit through lectures anymore. Some teachers didn't mind, but Windu knew I was about to daze off before I did most of the time and let me know that he knew.

As he listed fact after fact, I could only listen so intently for so long before restlessness came back to me and I stared up at the clock on the far wall of the temple lecture room, relieved to see that it was about time for him to finish up and for me and the rest of Turtle Clan to get lunch at the cafeteria. A lunch that for me would probably consist of sneaking fruit into the archives library like I did most days, the books in there were what inspired my day dreams. A Jedi, and especially a youngling weren't supposed to crave adventure, but according to the library all the greatest adventures were had by the most heroic and brave Jedi knights, who wouldn't want to be like one of them?

"And that leads us to the present day, where Alderaan is a flagship member of the republic, much like Corellia. That's about all the time that we have for today." Master Windu said, but no one moved. We all knew better than to start leaving our seats until he explicitly said so.

Several seconds of anticipation and of Master Windu ruffling papers on his desk, before he looked back up at us, scanned the room and said, "Alright younglings. You are dismissed." In one wave all of my peers began to stand, but I wasn't in a rush I could sense that I wasn't about to go anywhere. His eyes met mine and he let everyone else know what I already knew. "Except for you Teej, we need to talk." The master said in his angry whisper of a voice. The air around me got tighter as my mates nervously left left for lunch some giving me small glances of encouragement. I wanted to give into my anxiety and be afraid of what he would say, but I let time slow down and I breathed slowly to try and relax and to become ready for another lecture.

I stood up, sliding out from under my desk and took two giant sized steps toward the great Master as he let his rigid body relax and he showed how tired he was and how large his disdain for teaching really was and he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"Teej, Teej, Teej, what are we going to do with you?" He dropped his hands from his face on to the antique desk of the empty lecture hall. His eyelids opened up to show his stoic anger had returned. "I don't know if you're extremely lazy or just extremely rude." His words stung, but I didn't sense real rage, instead, oddly I felt he was filled with disappointment and that actually made me feel worse.

"I am sorry Master, I've never intended to be rude and I do always try my best in class and push myself as hard as I can during athletic training so I don't think I am lazy. I guess I'm just tired somehow, but I am really, really sorry and I don't know how I fell asleep, but it won't happen again." My throat was going dry and my tongue was getting rough and scratchy.

"I think there's more than a fair chance then, that you are incredibly irresponsible and even simple minded, this is not the first time you have gotten into trouble this week and you are old enough to where your fate could be decided upon any day. All your actions are being judged Teejon. I hate to say it, but its hard for me to imagine a future where you do not serve as a member of the Agri-Corps."

I felt ashamed and angry at myself. Nothing would be worse than joining that group of would be Jedi Knights. Members of the Agri-Corps didn't go on adventures, they watered plants, some of them didn't even own lightsabers.

Things didn't seem as bad as Master Windu had said, but maybe he was right if I kept making mistakes and acting foolish, like falling asleep in a class taught by a council member, what kind of Jedi would want me to be their apprentice. Panic started to swirl around my thoughts.

"I am truly sorry about this Master Windu, please let me make this up to you somehow to show

you that I am not as irresponsible or lazy as I seem, I am good enough to be anyone's apprentice and I'll work harder to prove it." His dark eyes bore into my own, but they suddenly started to soften.

"I know you have what it takes Teej, I know that being a Jedi is your goal, but to attract a Jedi to be your master you must at least act like you want it. Every action you make has consequences." He let out a deep sigh and rubbed his eyes. "You can go, but I want to see you at saber practice later."

I bowed my head deeply in respect, his words echoing in my head "Thank you, Master."