She had a bad feeling. As her master would say, she "felt a disturbance in the Force." She was still getting attuned to her senses; she did not have the same clarity as most Knights and Masters had. But this was a great enough disturbance that even Mekumi Sakaroto, the Padawan that she was, could feel it.

It felt like despair. It was the sinking feeling in one's gut when they walked into the front door to find a beloved family member dead. It felt like the shattering of security one got after their house gets burgled, that they are no longer safe even in their castle. Before she could speculate about what happened, she sensed a presence enter into the room and slink up behind her.

"Meku, you're gonna wanna see this." His familiar voice was like a comforting hand on her shoulder, calming her senses.

"Can it wait? I'm in the middle of some meditation." Meku was kneeled on the floor, hands clasped in the traditional Jedi stance. Her answer was only half-true; she didn't want to confront the evidence. She hoped maybe whatever it was would be handled by someone more powerful or talented than she.

Sakett Jonen was her best friend, and could see right through her. "Trust me on this. I've felt it too. You need to see what's going on."

Meku sighed and muttered, "alright." He was right; she was a Jedi, sworn to protect peace and justice in the galaxy. She may as well quit the Order if she didn't want to confront problems. Meku leaned on her arm and stood up to face her best friend.

Mekumi was a short and slender human. She had pale skin broken up by a few dark freckles. Her long, neat hair was white. It was straightened and combed neatly all the way down to her mid-back, except for the traditional Padawan's braid. Her wide doe-eyes were an icy gray-blue.

She stood in stark contrast to her best friend. Sakett was also human, but he was tall and gangly. Meku's robes fit snug over her skin, while Sakett's seemed to hang off of him. His skin was brown and earthy. His hair was cropped short, with the exception of his braid.

Sakett generally radiated an energy of good-natured awkwardness. Not today. Meku could feel fear on him as they walked down the hallway. It was an echo of the disturbance, and she could hear this echo radiating throughout the massive Jedi temple on Coruscant. Her home. She whispered part of the Jedi Code to calm herself. "There is no chaos, there is harmony, there is no chaos, there is harmony, there is no chaos, there is harmony." She took a deep breath to center herself. Sakett's easygoing presence usually comforted her, but his worry put her even more on edge.

They approached the door leading to the auditorium, where Padawans would be lectured en masse by Masters, or would get together to watch HoloVids. Meku could feel the fear amplified beyond this door. It wrenched her gut. She took a deep breath. The door opened.

The auditorium was a massive, round room bordered by windows showing Coruscant's hectic sky traffic. There were no seats; Jedi preferred to sit on the ground. The room was packed with Padawans, no Knights or Masters were around yet. The windows were darkened, and one was replaced with a screen showing a newscast. This was the first amplifier of the Force's disturbance, and this is what brought it here, from thousands of light-years away, echoing into the Temple.

The headline simply read "VANQUO INVADED." The screen was showing a shaky, blurry video. The cameraman must've been holding the camera with no stability equipment. But certain sounds were unmistakable. Blaster fire. Landers touching down, the hiss of their airlocks opening doors to release troops. Explosions. Screams. Soldiers barking out orders and positions. War cries.

The fatherly news anchor narrated everything he knew. Trained to have a calm, professional voice at all times, he acted completely out of character. Patches of sweat showed through his formal clothes and shone on his forehead. He had to keep his voice from shaking and peppered his phrases with "ums" and "uhs," finding words difficult.

". . . it's confirmed that this, uh, this attack happened less than half an hour ago. Um, ah, the Republic, um, flotilla above the planet was, it, it was… it was destroyed.

The…" Meku could sense the anchor's difficulty with the word, like cursing in front of one's mother, "the... Mandalorians began landing troops. Our forces on the planet are fighting bravely, uh, they, um. They're requesting reinforcements, and we believe…"

The Mandalorians. Meku's heart sank. It was happening. Over the last eight years, the race of warriors had been raiding and conquering worlds in the outer rim. They had been very careful not to target Republic member-worlds. But most recently, the attacks began getting closer and closer to the Republic's border.

The Republic did nothing. The last Chancellor took the advice of the Jedi Council and did not intervene. The final nail in his coffin was to rush the distant world of Taris into Republic membership and move a massive fleet into Tarisian space when the Mandalorians got close. Why? Many big business interests lay in Taris.

This was an election year. He was voted out by an outraged public, and decried as a corrupt hypocrite who only protected these outer rim planets when it benefitted his pockets. He was replaced with an impassioned, charismatic leader who promised action against the Mandalorians, and who promised to defend any world from them, rich or poor. She was sworn in only a few months ago.

She responded to the Mandalorian threat by sending a small flotilla to the planet Flashpoint, which lay just outside the borders of Republic space. This fleet was engaged and defeated, and the Mandalorians took the barren world. Smaller Republic and Mandalorian fleets engaged over Suurja, an outer rim world, for a few months, but the fighting was inconclusive.

Afterwards, the Mandalorian advance cooled, and the public believed they'd been intimidated by this new Chancellor. But it all became clear today. They had been building their strength to attack the Republic. To call their bluff.

The Mandalorians' wars were almost unreal to Meku, the Jedi, and most people living in the Republic. It was like something that happened in a HoloVid, almost a legend. The Mandalorians seemed like someone else's problem, and the Republic always felt like a safe haven. And over eight years, while people fought and died, the Republic's people had become used to it. Even bored by it.

This pathetic dream was shattered today. For eight years, the Republic treated the Mandalorian threat like they would a newscast about a string of violent burglaries several cities away. No big deal. Today, the Republic awoke in the middle of the night to find the door kicked in and the armed burglar in the living room. Vanquo was a Republic world.

A Padawan on the far edge of the room was sobbing hysterically. Meku recognized him; a stocky Twi-Lek. Vanquo was his homeworld. His family was still there, working in its mines. Despite being raised in the Temple since infancy, the connection of blood was still strong. His friends were crowded around him, trying to reassure him with the Jedi Code. "There is no emotion, there is peace. Please, relax." His sobbing only grew louder.

Meku ran a hand over her scalp in disbelief, causing a few strands to stand up on her otherwise immaculate hair. Confusion and fear controlled the atmosphere. Meku looked up to Sakett. "What do we do?" His hand rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ionno." he paused. "Hey, the Council will know. They always know. I trust them."

"You… you think they'll send us out to fight them?" Meku sounded nervous. She feared being shipped out to the front line.

"We're guardians of peace and justice in this Republic, right? Seems like a no-brainer."

"Hm." She watched the Mandalorians advance on the holoscreen. They seemed unstoppable, like a force of nature. The garrison troops might as well be trying to stop a tidal wave. A rocket was fired towards the camera, and the feed was replaced with static. Without even thinking, she spoke. "This changes everything."