Chapter Two
What It Takes

"Who are you?" Aaryn asked, keeping his lightsaber posed and ready.

The Zabrak woman sneered showing her jagged teeth illuminated by the yellow of her lightsaber. "You are no Jedi, boy! You are still a Padawan, according to that braid of yours."

"Look, I don't have any trouble with you. I have to take Mesco in for questioning. He has been in league with the Mandalorians. He may know something about a possible invasion." Aaryn tried to put some influence in his words but quickly found that she was guarding herself from such attempts.

" The Republic and the Jedi you serve are weak! They do not have the strength it acquires to survive in such a harsh galaxy. This Republic will fall when the Mandalorians burn Coruscant-" She continued her speech but Aaryn stopped listening.

Is there a manual somewhere stating that villains are required to give their view on things just before a fight? He thought.

"Alright," Aaryn cut her off. "I get it, you are here to protect Mesco because both of you are rooting for the Mandalorians to win. I get that. It would be much easier for me if you just put your lightsaber down and walked away."

"Arrogant human," She hissed. She jumped towards him and landed right in front of him. She swung towards his head, beginning the duel. Aaryn easily blocked it. She slashed at him repeatedly trying to find a weakness in his defense.

With every blow, Aaryn managed to block it. This made the Zabrak angrier. Suddenly she lashed out with Force lightening, catching the Padawan off guard. The electrical currents ran through his body, almost causing him to cruel up. Aaryn fought off the sensation and brought his lightsaber up to block the strands of lightening emitted from her fingers.

With her other hand she pushed at him with the Force. Aaryn flew back into the side of the building. The Zabrak female snatched Mesco into her arms with amazing speed, using the Force to propel herself up. She kicked into the sides of the buildings until she made her way to the top and out of sight.

Aaryn slowly stood up, feeling the back of his head for any injury. He was relieved to find none. This situation just got a lot more complicated. The fact that a Force user, a dark Force user had stepped in to save that vile, little Mesco showed Aaryn a lot. It showed that Mesco's dealing were bigger than he'd originally thought and it also meant that someone was trying to protect that information.

"So, the obvious question is who?" Aaryn said aloud.

* * *

Aaryn Karsa, Jedi Padawan, made his way through the tough streets of Nar Shadda with a lot on his mind. Not only was this his first mission alone, but it was also his Trial to become a full-fledged Jedi Knight. He wasn't use to doing things alone. His whole life he had been use to doing things with people, from the Temple to with his Master on missions.

He always wanted to go off on his own, be a legendary Jedi that could do everything on his own. Oddly enough, he felt alone.

Your only companion on this mission will be the Force, his Master had said before his departure.

This mission was simple until now. Now it appeared that there was a much larger operation here on Nar Shadda than anyone knew. Aaryn looked down at the datapad he had picked up from Mesco. For some reason he couldn't seem to focus on it. His mind kept wondering.

* * *

"What are you going to do about it? Bring it, kid!" The swoop gang goaded. The mixture of species that were apart of the swoop gang seemed to let their human leader speak for all of them. A younger, fourteen year old Aaryn clenches his jaw to try and suppress the rising anger.

"Aaryn, just calm down. Remember our teachings." His female friend warned.

"See, your good for nothing kid. What are you? Some kind of temple brat out on break? I didn't think those Jedi let you freaks out into Coruscant." He laughed, his gang joining in. Aaryn clinched his fist.

The young duo had come up upon this swoop gang relentlessly beating an old man for his credits to the point of blood. Aaryn yelled for them to stop, and now they were in this situation. Neither him or, Kaylee, his friend, had created their lightsabers yet. They did know some Force tricks though.

Kaylee felt the Force surging through Aaryn.

"Don't," She whispered.

Aaryn pushed his hand forward, thrusting the swoop leader to the ground with the Force. Before he even had a chance to follow up the rest of the group charged Aaryn. One Cathar punched the young man in the chin, causing him to become unfocused. Fear quickly crept into Aaryn, realizing what he had just got himself into. He tried calling on the Force, but he could not even see straight let alone call upon the Force.

"Stay-" Aaryn mumbled towards Kaylee. "-stay back!"

"I want you to watch this, girl. Tell your Masters that this is our land, not theres!" The clearly drunk leader said as he stood back to his feet. As his gang held Aaryn in place, the leader began to repeatedly punch Aaryn with no mercy.

* * *

Aaryn looked up from the datapad, his hazel eyes searching the area around him. The twenty two year old man was leaning across a balcony at one of the docking sectors. Ships were arriving and leaving for their visits constantly here.

"I'm in over my head," Aaryn said to himself. He looked over the content of the datapad, trying to make something out of it. Some of it seemed to be coded messages, other parts of it were obvious.

Mesco seemed to be apart of a much larger network of people that had been feeding the Mandalorians information. Aaryn figured that the crime syndicates just wanted to be ahead of the game, and did not have much faith in the Republic winning the inevitable war. One name in particular stuck out to him. Yevu Wenassa, a Zabrak female, and a former Padawan! It was Yevu that had attacked him in the alley.

He didn't remember her from the temple on Coruscant, but she could have been stationed on a different planet. Aaryn needed to know why and how Yevu had come under the employee of this organization simply named the Exchange.
Aaryn pocketed the datapad in the front of his robes, deciding he needed to start off with information about Yevu. Suddenly his awareness in the Force spiked. He instantly reached for his hidden lightsaber.

He turned, looking all around him but found nothing out of the ordinary. Where was it coming from?! He looked at the ships docked, his senses resting on an old freighter docked. Aaryn jogged to it's entrance.

"Please don't!" Someone from the inside said.

* * *

Aaryn slowly finished putting on his fresh robes provided by the academy. Spending a whole day meditating and applying kolto seemed to heal his wounds, but he still felt a bit sore from the violent beating he had received from the swoop gang. The doors to his private quarters in the temple slid open, revealing his good friend Kaylee.

She gave Aaryn a bright smile, making it hard for Aaryn to accept the "no attachment" rule. With her strawberry blonde hair barely touched her shoulders, and her big brown eyes it was hard for Aaryn not to smile back.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Eh, like a swarm of chuttaks stung me all over. But other than that, I think I'll be fine."

There was a moment of silence, neither of them sure what to say or do.

"What you did out there," Kaylee started. "It was brave. You only did what we have been taught since before we could speak. I'm wanted to tell you that I'm glad your my friend, Aaryn."

They locked eyes for a moment before she turned to leave. Aaryn smiled as she left, the doors opening for her as she left. Standing at the door was his Master. Jedi Master Cruuso, a towering Arkanian. His white eyes were aimed right at his Padawan.

"Master," Kaylee bowed as she encountered him. Cruuso made no acknowledgment of her. He walked in, his hand clasped behind his back.

"So, would you like to tell me what happened?" Cruuso began.

"This swoop gang was attacking an old man." Aaryn explained.

"Yes, so you did what any good Jedi would do. Correct?" Cruuso moved across the room, turning his back to Aaryn.

"I...yes." Aaryn was unsure how to answer.

"I was once in a situation such as yours. This group of space pirates had taken a family out into the middle of the streets, wanting to make an example of them. I was undercover, so they thought I was just a traveling Arkanian. It was vital to the mission that I maintain the illusion that I was not a Jedi. If they would have found out..." He paused.

"There was nothing I could have done to stop them from killing that family out in the street. I was able to go about the rest of my mission, the rest of my life for that matter unaffected by it. How could I do that, Aaryn?" Cruuso asked as he slightly turned his head towards the young boy.

"Even when I failed to save that family, how could I go on unaffected? Because I have what it takes, Aaryn. Sometimes you must pick and choose your battles for the greater good of the mission. You do not want to be the hero, you do not want to try and save everyone because when you fail...you just don't have what it takes."

* * *

Aaryn slowly peeked around the corner of the entrance, his hand on his lightsaber. This ship was definitely old, but there was a good smell that filled the air. It smelled like a very good restaurant with a different mix of herbs and spices. It struck him as odd that he would be thinking of something like food at a time like this, but he hadn't ate in a while.

"It's time to pay up, sssslimo!"

To Aaryn it sounded like a Transdoshin.

"What are you talking about? I already payed the docking authority." The other voice said.

"We acquire an exxxtra fee." Another Transdoshin replied.

"Sssshall we cut of a hand to ssshow you how ssssserious we are?" A third, more husky Trandoshin hissed.

"No! No, that won't be necessary. Ha, you see I wasn't aware of this...uh, rule that you fine gentlemen have set up." The other voice said.

"Get out of his ship." Aaryn said, walking into the cabin area of the ship.

The three Transdoshins turned at the sound of his voice, bringing up their vibroblades. They had a green skinned Ho'din tied to a chair, looking very scared.

"Who are you?" One of them asked.

Aaryn ignited his green lightsaber, letting it answer instead. The three of them exchange glances and then quickly ran towards the exit of the ship. Aaryn thought about chasing them but decided against it.

"Are you okay?" Aaryn asked as he put away his lightsaber and untied the Ho'din.

Yes, yes, thank you so much." He said standing up.

"Of course, my name is Aaryn Karsa." He extended his hand.

"Ta'sa." The green Ho'din shook his hand.

"No last name?"

"Perhaps we should just leave it at my first name." Ta'sa replied.

"Boy, I guess you got lucky. Huh?" Aaryn laughed.

"There is no such thing as luck." Ta'sa walked past him.

"Wait, why does it smell so good on this ship?" Aaryn asked. Ta'sa stopped in his tracks and turned around smiling.

"Would you like some food?" Ta'sa asked.