Chapter 9
Coruscant, One Week Later
"Captain's Log: Ship's date, April 16th, 2158. I've decided to keep updating this log with the date our ship's clocks keep telling us. We'll have to straighten it out later if and when we ever get back to our own time and space. We've been in orbit around the planet Coruscant, which is the capitol world of the Galactic Alliance, the federal government which oversees pretty much this entire galaxy. Due to the tens of thousands of years of advanced, space faring civilization, the whole planet has been urbanized to the point where it looks like New York City or San Francisco on a massive planet-wide scale, and I'm told it runs several kilometers from the troposphere all the way down into the crust. Lieutenant Hoshi Sato and Commander T'Pol have spent the last week in the Temple archives translating and sifting through the massive amounts of information stored there. After the first day of searching the archive records for some indication of what happened and how to get home they've told me it would likely be a while before they had anything useful. As a result, I've gone ahead and authorized a rotating forty-eight hour shore leave for a third of the crew at a time. I'm told it should be perfectly safe, and there are plenty of sites to see. There's just no reason to keep everyone cooped up on board while we sit on our hands and wait for news. We haven't heard from our unseen intruder for some time now, and without the Jedi on board, we won't be able to detect him ourselves anyway. After discovering that he has an aptitude as a Jedi, Lieutenant Travis Mayweather is studying with Jedi Masters down in the temple complex. He's hoping to learn how to use this aptitude to help us see our way through Hyperspace. Right now, any advantage we can get is a bonus."
Travis was perched on one hand upside down with his eyes closed trying to focus on the room around him. He had hardly gotten a bit of sleep all week. He had thought Starfleet training was hard, but his physical instructors had nothing on these Jedi Masters. He'd been told to jump ten meters onto a ledge out of reach, lift three hundred kilo objects, and then report what someone in the next room was feeling. Before he had come here, he would have thought what they expected him to perform was completely impossible. But as he came to understand, that was the point. It was impossible if he tried to accomplish it with his own abilities.
"Good." Master Eddal, standing nearby observing, told him. "Feel the Force around you and flowing through you. Draw from it and let it replenish your own energy."
Travis realized it was the Force keeping him stable and focused, not his own muscles. If he shifted his focus towards whether or not he could do it, then he would fall, but if he concentrated on listening to those little microbes in his cells and feeling the Force flowing through him he could rest in it and not feel drained or stressed at all. The trick to it was letting go of himself and surrendering himself to it.
"Now, lift those storage boxes there." Master Eddal didn't bother pointing out which storage boxes he wanted Travis to lift, and his pupil's eyes were closed in concentration anyway. It didn't matter, he expected his ebony skinned apprentice to learn from the Force which ones.
In the far corner of the room three storage boxes began to levitate gently in the air. "Good. Very good." The master encouraged him.
"Now, tell me, what is your captain feeling right now? Reach out to him in the Force." The Twi'lek master instructed.
Travis pushed to expand his awareness in the Force. It was an exercise Master Eddal had him doing frequently. What am I feeling? He would ask. Who is in the corridor beyond? How many people are in the Senate building right now? How many ships are in orbit around Coruscant? The information was always there in the Force if he just concentrated and reached out for it. The hard part was keeping his thoughts and doubts from intruding and taking his attention away from the Force. He learned quickly that what he was capable of in the Force was only limited by his own self-doubts. If he believed something was impossible for him, then it was. It was when he let go of his own self-limits and opened up to the possibilities of the Force that the seemingly impossible became possible. It wasn't about what he could do. It was about what the Force could do through him. He had learned to stop saying, "no, that's too far for me," or "I can't."
"He's feeling frustrated. He doesn't like to have to just sit around and wait." Travis said. He didn't need the Force to tell him that. After seven years, he knew his captain pretty well.
"Well done, Padawan." Now, let's see how your lightsaber skills have sharpened up since yesterday.
Travis heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber being ignited and a split second before it happened he knew that he was going to be sliced in two if he didn't move. With one hand he vaulted from his single hand standing position, somersaulting up and over his master's head. In mid air he reached out with his other hand and called the extra lightsaber at Eddal's belt through the Force igniting it as he landed in what felt like a natural stance, his guard up ready to receive the overhand blow Eddal gave him. It wasn't a matter of thinking, or even physical conditioning. He just felt through the Force what he needed to do and where he needed to be and he followed its lead. It was a cooperation between himself and the Force. It wasn't a tool or a magic trick, but a partner and an ally.
"Excellent." Master Eddal said as he pressed his attack. The first time they had sparred at the beginning of the week it had been with practice lightsabers, and he had gotten a nasty shock more than once, but Eddal thought the real lightsabers would be a more efficient training tool to keep Travis from getting too comfortable. Travis had been confused about why Eddal insisted on lightsaber training when he had told the Council he really wasn't interested in being a fighter. But after several days he realized it was all the same lesson born out in different arenas or modes of activity. Give yourself over to the Force. Don't think, feel. Trust the Force. Stretch out your feelings.
"Control your fear, Padawan." Eddal warned him. "I can feel it. Don't let it guide your way in the Force. That is a dark, dark road you don't want to go down."
Travis checked himself. "Yes, Master." He had been a little afraid, sparring with the real lightsabers was enough to give anyone pause, he thought.
"Remember, fear, anger, hatred, your aggressive emotions may make you temporarily powerful in the Force, but they will consume you with the dark side and destroy you. Watch yourself. Never act in the Force through anger or fear." Eddal instructed him. It wasn't the first time he said it, and it likely wouldn't be his last either.
This was the other lesson of lightsaber training, Travis began to understand. How to maintain calm, peaceful focus in a life threatening situation when your brain is going into a fight or flight response. It wasn't easy either. The dark side really called out to be used then.
Travis maintained his guard and met his master blow for blow then thrusting out his free hand he sent Master Eddal flying towards the back of the room in surprise where he would have landed on his backside if he hadn't caught himself in mid air and somersaulted back into position.
"Very well done." Eddal said, his voice full of pride for his student. He hadn't taught him how to do that, it just came naturally to the younger man. Eddal switched off his lightsaber and Travis did the same. "Now, calm your mind. Feel the Force around you."
Travis had a disturbing thought as he tried to clear his mind. "Master, if a person's aggressive emotions make them more powerful in the Force, how would you counter that? Then it really would seem like the dark side was stronger."
"No. It only seems that way." Eddal said. Then seeing the look of confusion on Travis's face he asked, "What is the most powerful emotion? The most powerful of feelings?"
Travis didn't think, he felt for the answer. It was there in front of him. "Love. It's love, isn't it?" He answered.
"Exactly." Eddal said.
"But I thought attachments to people could lead one into the dark side." Travis said, a little more confused than when he started.
"Attachments yes." Eddal explained. "But attachments and love are not the same thing. We become attached to people, places, and possessions because we believe that these will make us happy, or give us pleasure. This isn't love, but desire. Think about your own experiences. A mother with a rebellious child will continue to care for and defend that child regardless of how that child will make her feel, correct?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Travis said. There were times in his own youth when he had been that rebellious child with his mother.
"She does so, not because the child will make her happy, but because she loves the child. There is no dark emotion which can come close to the power of love for another. This is the true focus of the Jedi. We focus on love and compassion for one another, and for all other living beings. This is what fuels us in the Force. The dark side can never overcome this. It is through love we are even able to redeem some Jedi who have fallen to the dark side." Eddal said.
"Yeah, I think I get it." Travis said.
"Good. This is the most important lesson I can teach you. Remember it and it will guard you well." Master Eddal said. He then called Travis' lightsaber back to his own hand. "Come," he said. "Let's go get some lunch, shall we?"
"To the cafeteria, then, Master?" Travis asked.
"No, I think you've been cooped up in the Temple enough. I know of a nice restaurant not far from here. It's on me. Your time with us will be drawing to a close shortly and it would be a shame if all you saw of Coruscant were the walls of this temple." Eddal said, smiling.
"This is it?" Archer asked, incredulously. "After a week of searching this is all you found?" T'Pol and Hoshi had reported back to him aboard the Enterprise.
"As I told you before, their records are extensive, and there were certain subjects which were restricted to study by only those of Jedi Master rank. We could only get access to those files which were publicly available." T'Pol said.
"Captain, we cross referenced and analyzed every scrap of minute data we could get our hands on, and this was the only reference to time-travel they had. Maybe there was something in the more restricted sections, but that was information they really didn't want anyone to have. When I asked the librarian, she said a lot of it had to do with Sith practices and teachings." Lieutenant Sato told him.
"Flow-walking." He said. "What exactly is flow-walking?"
"The only reference to it was a historical note about Grandmaster Luke Skywalker and Master Ben Skywalker traveling to a remote planet to learn the technique. It's supposed to allow a Jedi to see into the past or possible futures." Hoshi told him.
"Well, at least it's something." He said, exasperated. "So, Master Skywalker knows something about it, then?"
"According to the records, yes." T'Pol said.
"Ok, well, let's go talk to him." Archer said.
"It's a dangerous Force technique, Captain." Ben told him. "I've only known of one other Jedi to perform it, and he turned to the dark side."
Not an encouraging start to the conversation, Archer thought. He had taken a shuttlepod with T'Pol back down to the temple to speak with the Jedi and check up on his helmsman, whom he hadn't seen in seven days. "What makes it so dangerous?" Archer asked.
"If one isn't careful, he can fall prey to the temptation of trying to change the past or being caught in it." Ben explained.
"So it is possible to use the Force to relocate yourself physically through time?" T'Pol asked.
"What if you didn't want to travel to the past, but to the future?" Archer questioned.
"That is difficult. The future isn't set in stone yet, and so there are myriads of possible futures you might travel to. You would need to know exactly which one." Ben said. He then added, "It may not help you in the way you want it to anyway, Captain. It can only move you through time. It cannot move you through space. You would already have to be in the location in space where the event you wanted to observe happened or will happen."
Well, it's a start anyway, Archer thought. "Could you teach this technique to Lieutenant Mayweather?" He asked the Jedi Master.
Ben struggled with it. He knew the request was a reasonable one under the circumstances, but he was still hesitant. He had never used the technique himself. He had only learned it. And it was a teaching which fell into the shades of gray or "rainbow" philosophy of the Force to which his cousin had subscribed before he became a Dark Lord of the Sith, rather than the more "orthodox" view of a light and a dark side. It was a perspective which he had disavowed many years ago because of all the pain it had caused his family.
"I am... not sure it would be wise to teach anyone this technique." Master Skywalker said. "Much less a learner so new to the Force, regardless of the great strides he's made."
Seeing it wouldn't be best to push the subject with him right now, Archer seized the opportunity to inquire after Travis. "So, he's doing well?" He asked.
"I am told he has made great progress in his training. Master Eddal believes it a shame that he must leave us so soon. He has the potential and the disposition to be a very great Jedi if he had more time and training." The Jedi Master told him.
Wow. Travis must really have impressed them. Archer thought. Then again, that shouldn't have been such a surprise. He's never ceased to impress me since he came on board the Enterprise.
"So when do we get him back?" Archer asked.
"He goes before the Council to be examined and evaluated this afternoon." Master Skywalker said.
"Jedi final exams?" Archer asked, amused.
"In a manner of speaking, I suppose." Master Skywalker said.
T'Pol jumped into the conversation again, "may we at least ask you to consider teaching Lieutenant Mayweather how to 'flow-walk'? It may be key to our returning to our own time."
He looked put off at her attempt to sway him again, but then finally relented, "I will discuss the matter with the Council, and make my decision then."
"Thank you, Master Skywalker." Archer said. "I'll take whatever I can get."
"Of course." He said. He then added, "Please don't misunderstand my hesitancy and caution about this matter. I do understand the seriousness of your situation and the potential solution which it might bring. But there are other, larger implications which must be considered with consequences which could be wide and far ranging. The risk to the entire galaxy must be considered as more important than your own problem, severe though it may be."
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." T'Pol said, understanding.
"Exactly." The Jedi agreed.
The restaurant turned out to be a little cafe housed in the top corner of a skyscraper connected to the Temple by a series of narrow bridges that seemed to fan out and criss-cross all over the city. The view of the Coruscanti skyline was magnificent.
The cafe was filled with beings of every possible kind of species and description. He wondered if once the coalition treaty was worked out if Earth would become as cosmopolitan as Coruscant had. Travis had no idea what to order when the Twi'lek waitress came over to their table and asked, so he followed Master Eddal's example and went with something that sounded like it was some kind of soup.
"Do you eat here often, Master?" Travis asked.
"I try to visit at least once and a while when my responsibilities call me back to the Temple." Eddal said.
"So, you're offworld a lot then?" Travis inquired.
"Far too often, it seems sometimes. It's our responsibility as Jedi now to protect the Alliance just as it was the responsibility of Jedi in ages past to protect the Republic. Sometimes that includes protecting it from itself. Threats to democracy and freedom tend to crop up in the unlikeliest of places all across space." Eddal said, taking a sip of water. "You never know when the Force will prompt you to take action, or what action you will be forced to take until it is called for."
Travis meditated on that silently, taking sips from his own water. His attention drifted to the view outside, and all the airspeeder traffic which zipped by and weaved in and out of the endless buildings. Their talk then turned to lighter matters of where either were from, what Eddal's home planets was like, what it was like for Travis to grow up on a low speed cargo ship, and other things of that nature. They had been chatting about the different planets that each had been to in their lives when their food came. Two bowls of steaming, seasoned greenish liquid with some kind of meat floating around in it. It didn't smell unappetizing, and Travis began to sample it.
Master Eddal then stood up and said, "If you'll excuse me, I need to use the refresher." Curiously he left the lightsaber Travis used during practice on the table.
"What, oh, of course." Travis said. It amazed him how alien and yet how so very much like Earth this world could be. He was lost in this train of thought when he sensed a disturbance in the Force followed by yelling outside the doors of the restaurant. He turned his focus that way and sensed someone was in danger.
"Stupid whore!" He heard, and that was all he needed to hear. He grabbed the lightsaber, jumped up and ran for the restaurant doors.
Outside, a huge green troll with big ugly tusks and beady little yellow eyes was holding his Twi'lek waitress by the throat with massive muscular fingers that Travis was pretty sure were capable of crushing the woman's windpipe with only a flex of his fingers.
"Hey, let the lady go big fella!" Travis shouted at him. "Let's try to talk this out, okay?" His pulse was up, and his heart was racing. This guy could do some serious damage to this girl. A crowd was beginning to form, and someone yelled for security. Someone else shouted, "Wait the Jedi's got it under control!"
Travis turned his head trying to see if Master Eddal had made his way back from relieving himself, but the Jedi Master was nowhere to be found. "What Jedi?" Travis said, then looked down at himself. "Oh. Wait a min..." He started to say. "I'm not a..."
"You! Jedi poodoo, stay out of this! None of your business!" The troll yelled at him, then began swearing at the woman again, his fingers looking like he was getting ready to squeeze the life out of her.
"Do something!" Someone else in the crowd yelled. "Are you a Jedi or aren't you?"
Travis thought, and then realized that was his problem, he was trying to think through the situation. Feel, don't think his Master had said. Use the Force, listen to it. He closed his eyes and opened himself up to the Force. "Yeah, I'm a Jedi." He said as he ignited the lightsaber. Immediately he was flooded with the feelings and images of the people around him as he focused on the troll and the struggling waitress. Something didn't feel right. The troll felt cheated somehow.
"Hey, big fella, listen, I'm going to give you one more chance to talk it out, but I promise you you'll lose that arm if you hurt her." Travis warned him in no uncertain terms. "Whatever way she cheated you, we'll get it fixed without harming her." Travis brandished the lightsaber with a few menacing waves.
"Tried to steal from Balrek! Stupid waitress not give him back money she owed him!" The troll roared.
"That's what this is about? She didn't give you the right change?" Travis asked, dumbfounded. "Man, let her go and I swear I'll fix it." Travis promised.
"Jedi swears?" The troll asked. "Okay. Balrek not crush thieving waitress' neck." The troll released the Twi'lek woman and she dropped to the ground gasping for breath and clutching her throat. "I'm... sorry..." she gasped. "I thought... you handed me... a twenty credit credcard... instead of a hundred credit... credcard." She gasped breathlessly.
Travis went over to help her up. He felt her energy through the Force. She would be ok. The troll was still waiting for his correct change. "Jedi swore." He said.
"Yeah, I did. Give me a minute." Travis said, annoyed as he helped the poor waitress back into the restaurant. He set her down and he felt through the Force for the troll's impression on the scattered cards near the server's computers. He found it. The troll was right. It was a hundred credits. The lady owed him eighty five and she only gave him five credits back. Yeah, he'd be upset too, he thought, as he showed it to her.
The troll followed them back into the restaurant. Travis could feel his anger and impatience rolling through the Force towards him.
"How did I make that mistake? I could have sworn it was only a twenty. I'm so sorry." She said, rubbing her neck as she quickly fixed the troll's change and gave him back his credcard. The troll took it roughly and then stormed off. Travis called out, "You're welcome." As he watched the troll push his way through the gathered crowd and disappear.
"Thank you, Jedi." The waitress said. She then added, "Don't worry about your own bill. I'll cover it."
"You don't need to do that ma'am. I just did what anyone would have done." Travis said humbly.
"But not what just anyone could have done." Travis heard the voice of Master Eddal say behind him. Travis turned to face him. "There are even some Knights who have passed their own trials who would have struck the Gammorean's arm off first and only tried to understand his problem as a last resort."
Travis looked at him and said, "I didn't really understand what being a Jedi meant before now." He gestured towards the now dispersing crowd. "They didn't even call the security personnel because I was there with a lightsaber in hand. If I had been forced to make the call to lop off his arm or even take his life, I could have and people would have accepted it, wouldn't they have? Being a Jedi can mean the responsibility of judge, jury, and executioner, can't it?"
"You have learned much. Yes, a wise master Jedi once said, 'with great power comes great responsibility.' You have proven your ability to accept and handle that responsibility today. You did very well, Jedi Travis Mayweather." Putting his hand on Travis' shoulder, he then added, "Congratulations. You passed your trial."
Travis appeared one more time before the Jedi Council as Master Eddal reported his actions at the restaurant and how his charge had handled the situation. The masters present listened with rapt interest and once again nodded approvingly.
"You have learned much in the short time you have been with us, Travis Mayweather." Master Solo told him. "There are Jedi who train since they can walk who do not progress as far as you have in such a short time."
"I don't understand, Master." Travis said, "I've only been here a week. How can you believe me to be ready for a Jedi trial?"
Master Skywalker spoke up. "My father only trained with Grandmaster Yoda for as long as you have been here, and his instruction with Master Kenobi was even more brief than that. The length of time one trains often has no bearing on when he understands what it really means to be a Jedi. When you are ready, you are ready."
"But I didn't want to be a full Jedi." Travis protested. "I'm just a pilot."
"That is not your decision any more than it was ours." Master Solo said. "This is what you were born to just as much as we were. It is the Force which calls us to it, and it is the Force which guides and shapes our destinies. How and in what way you choose to use the knowledge and understanding we have provided for you is up to you. We can only open the door for you, you must choose to walk through it, and by choosing to accept responsibility for the Gammorean and the Twi'lek woman's fates you did that. This is what it means to be a Jedi Knight." She then said, "you may now return to your ship and your people with our blessing, Jedi Knight Mayweather."
Observing the scene were Jedi Masters long since having shed their corporeal natures. "Too short. His training was too short." One complained.
"Mine wasn't so different." Another one said. "And I had to rebuild the order on that short amount of time. He'll do well."
One stood apart from the others, watching the scene as the Lieutenant was given back his blue Starfleet jumpsuit to change into. After he was back in his usual uniform, the master who trained him also presented him with the lightsaber he had trained with saying, "this belongs to you, I believe. I already have one." The younger man took it, bowing at the waist and saying, "thank you, Master."
"Don't forget these." Eddal also said, pointing at the Jedi training clothes Travis had just changed out of. "Take them and remember us, even if you never wear them again."
Travis smiled, and then said, "Yes, Master Eddal."
The tiny green Master moved closer to the one apart from the others. "Solution, you have found yet?" He asked.
"I'm not sure. I know how we got here. I also know that getting back to our own galaxy will involve both the warp engines and the hyperdrive again. But I still don't know how to bring them back into the proper time."
"Solution, there is." Yoda said, pointing a small clawed finger towards Master Ben Skywalker who looked pensive, and somewhat resigned as he approached the Lieutenant. "May I speak with you, Jedi Mayweather?" Ben asked Travis.
"Of course, Master." Travis responded.
"Your captain and first officer have asked me to teach you a technique which may aid you in getting home. Please come with me." He led him away from the Council chamber.
Daniel followed them through the halls and into the side chamber where Ben began to explain more thoroughly.
"Go with him, you must. Have need of your counsel, they will." Yoda's wizened voice told a fellow ascended being.
"Yes, Master." He responded.
