Disclaimer: Usual Disclaimers Apply
A/N: Finally finished another chapter. I know I said I'd publish more but I've been busy moving into uni. Anyway here's the next chapter just so you know I've not forgotten about it. I would also just like to assure those who are still enjoying it this far, as long as one person is still reading I will continue writing. Anyway enough from me, enjoy.
Now that I was a Padawan there are a few things that I have to do before Falcon and I can get our first assignment from the Council. First and foremost I have to make sure I look the part. The majority of my hair is cut short apart from my padawan braid which hangs behind my right ear (I'm less than impressed by this part, I've been growing my hair for as long as I can remember). I also get given a brown jedi robe, to protect me from any harsh conditions that we encounter on our travels, and a utility belt containing many useful items including rations, a comlink, a grapple and a holoprojector, among other things.
After getting my new equipment and haircut I then have to make my way to the temple's chapel and meditate. To be honest I was expecting visions and the like but I am disappointed and it passes uneventfully.
Leaving the chapel, I meet up with Falcon and we head back to the council. I swear an oath to protect and serve the Order and then finally, we are ready to receive our first mission.
"Liking the new style Katja" Master Shan says with a small smile.
"Thank you master, I am looking forward to beginning my service to the Order."
"That's good to know. Then you'll be glad to know that we have a mission for the two of you. Do you remember Master Kahn?" she asks Falcon, when he nods she continues. "We sent him on a mission to settle a dispute on Dantooine. The two biggest families were involved in some kind of feud that threatened to disrupt the economy of the entire planet. We deemed that to be unacceptable and sent Master Kahn to settle the issue, that was almost a year ago. However he must have run into some sort of trouble. He has yet to return, he has not even made a report."
"That is unusual." Falcon agrees "But if you don't mind me saying so masters, why have you waited nearly a year to look into it."
"Master Kahn has been part of the Order for nearly 35 years, he is one of the most respected and skilled Jedi Masters we have. We merely assumed that he was unlikely to run into any issues, and his lack of contact was simply down to him being busy. It wouldn't be the first time that he had momentarily forgotten his duties, but it has never been this long before he checked in. We would like you and your apprentice to travel to Dantooine and investigate the matter."
"Understood Master Shan." Falcon says with a bow, I follow his example. "We shall get right on it."
We leave the council chambers and go to the hangar where the Nalod Swan was docked. On our way we run into Aria. She greets us both with her usual cheery demeanour as she wipes her hands on her trouser legs.
"Hey Falcon, you leaving already?" she asks and I don't need force powers to sense the disappointment in her voice. If Falcon noticed though he didn't say anything, only shook his head ruefully.
"I'm afraid so Aria, the Council is sending me halfway across the galaxy on what will probably end up being a wild bantha chase." He shrugs helplessly. "On the bright side though, I will have company this time. Aria I believe that you already know my new padawan, Katja Dilana."
I wince as my eardrums are almost burst by the high pitch squeal from Aria.
"Kat that's great news! I'm so happy for you, at this rate you'll be Jedi Grand Master before you know it." She stops and blushes when she notices that everyone else nearby has stopped what they're doing to watch her highly energetic show.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Falcon laughs "she has to survive my training first."
"True," she turns to be her face solemn "it was nice knowing you Kat. I'll be sure to say something at your funeral, maybe some moving poetry."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Falcon says softly, his face suddenly serious. My guess is that he's thinking of Luna, his lost master. Even after all these years I know he still misses her. "Come on Kat, we'd best be getting a move on. We've a long way to travel."
Aria embraces me before we leave.
"You'd best take care of him Katja." She whispers in my ear. "It'll do him good having some company for once." I smile and nod before hurrying after Falcon who's already halfway across the hanger to the Nalod Swan.
I haven't been on the Swan since the trip from Corellia all those years ago, but as I walk up the boarding ramp I am immediately met with a sense a comfort and familiarity. I reach the cockpit just as Falcon finishes warming the engines. I sit in the co-pilots chair filled with excitement, feeling tremors of anticipation flow through my body as the Nalod Swan rumbles to life, slowly lifts off the ground and exits the hangar with a roar from her engines.
Whilst we're leaving the atmosphere Falcon enters the co-ordinates for Dantooine. Once we've escaped the pull of Coruscant's gravity and got permission from Coruscant Control to leave the system, Falcon turns to me.
"Want to activate the hyperdrive?"
"What do I have to do?" I ask eagerly. He shows me what to do and when he gives the order, I
push the button and the Naold Swan enters lightspeed, carrying me away from Coruscant and towards my destiny.
Dantooine is located in the Outer Rim so the journey there will take several hours. The first thing I do whilst waiting is to send a holomessage to Vaas to let him know that I was finally a padawan. I'm not exactly sure where he is so I can't establish a direct link to him. But I record a message for him and ask him to get back to be as soon as he can.
After that there's little else to do but wait so I decide to find Falcon and question him on the mission, and being a padawan in general. I found him in the engine room, tinkering with the sublight drive.
"What ya doing?" I asked sitting on the floor next to him.
"Just trying to see if I can get a little extra juice out of the sublight drive, you never know when it might be useful to have a little extra kick in the engines. Could mean the difference between life and death in a dogfight. Can you pass me that hydrospanner over there?" He replies without looking up. I hand it to him and he thanks me before continuing. "So, what brings you round my neck of the woods?"
"I was hoping to find out a bit more about the mission. What can you tell me of Dantooine, and Master Kahn?" At this he looks at me, an almost proud look on his face.
"It's good to see you taking an active interest Kat, enthusiasm like that will serve you well in the future. Anyway, back to your question; Dantooine is a relatively small farm world, in the Raioballo sector of the Outer Rim. The population is small and it has very little in the ways of infrastructure or technology well, in comparison to a metropolis like Coruscant that is."
"But if it's so insignificant," I interrupt "why are we bothering with them at all. No matter what happens there, it's hardly going to affect the galaxy as a whole."
"It's not quite as simple as that," Falcon looks at me sharply and I feel a pang of guilt. "it would appear that you still have much to learn my young padawan. As Jedi we are sworn to protect all denizens of the republic. That includes even the smallest colony on the obscurest of worlds. No matter who or where, we must strive to prolong life in all its forms. Do you understand Kat?"
"Yes Master, forgive my outburst." I bow my head in shame.
"There's nothing to forgive Padawan. You must remember that being a padawan is a learning experience. Just next time be more mindful of your words."
"Of course Master." I nod.
"As for Master Kahn," Falcon continues "he is a great master in the order, a Zabrak in his mid-thirties. A child prodigy, he practically flew through training and become one of the youngest and most respected Jedi Masters in the history of the order."
"If he's so great, why do we have to traipse halfway across the galaxy to rescue him?"
"I'm not sure rescue is the right word. All we're doing is finding out what happened to him, why he hasn't checked in with the council. Although I am tempted to agree with you, it does seem a bit pointless. However it is not our place to question the will of the Council."
"So even if the Council tells us to do something that seems wrong, we're still expected to go through with it just because the Council told us to?"
"That's right." He nods "It may seem odd but we must trust in the will of the Force. Oh, and the same goes for me. I am your master now, and whilst I like to think myself as fairly fun and easy going, I do expect you to do as I ask without question."
"Yes Master." I sigh softly. Why do I get the feeling that I'll be saying that a lot over the next few years? I decide not to let it bother me and instead focus on the perks of being a padawan. Speaking of perks….
"When do I get a lightsaber?" I ask suddenly. "I've been reading up how to build one and believe I'm ready."
"I'll be the judge of that my padawan. Crafting a lightsaber is more than just knowing the method. It is an art, an art in which the Force will guide you. Over the next few months I will teach you what I can and, when I feel you're ready we shall go to the crystal caves of Illum where you will craft your lightsaber."
"When can we start training?" I ask impatiently
"Not now if that's what you're thinking. We will train when I decide the time is right, and until that point you must exercise patience."
I spend the rest of the trip in the cockpit, trying to figure out how the blasted thing works but for the life of me I can't figure it out. Maybe one day I could learn to be a half decent pilot but for now I'll take datapads and archives any day over technology.
Eventually we arrive at Dantooine. Falcon pilots the ship to Garang, the planet's capital and docks at the spaceport. If you could call it that. The entire thing is barely bigger than the Temple. But I suppose that after living on Coruscant for so long everything is gonna seem small.
"So what's the plan?" I ask Falcon as we make our way through the crowded spaceport.
"We need to do some reconnaissance, see if anyone remembers Master Kahn being here; maybe they could give us an idea of his whereabouts."
"But that was nearly a year ago, will anyone really remember him?"
"Oh you'd be surprised, a jedi visiting a planet like this is quite a rarity. It tends to stick in people's minds. Especially when the Jedi has horns and a face covered in tattoos. After that we'll probably talk to the two families that were having the dispute, Mastigar and Talzuk I believe their names are but that's about all I know about them. Not sure what to do after that, we'll see where our initial investigation leads us."
"Okay, so we talk to the locals. Where do we start?" I ask
"The best place to hear any local gossip would be the cantinas."
"Gossip?" I reply dubiously
"Every piece of gossip has a nugget of truth to it, and tongues tend to be a bit looser when plied with alcohol."
I shake my head in disbelief at my master's unorthodox techniques.
"Do you really think that your old master would have approved of your methods?"
"Believe it or not, it was Master Rosa who taught me that." He replies with a grin before taking me to find a local cantina.
We managed to find one that served out needs not far from the spaceport. When we first enter, I can barely see anything in the dimply lit room but eventually my eyes adjust to the gloom and I could see what awaits us inside. I'm actually surprised by what I see, unlike the cantinas that I've read about which are supposedly crowded and noisy, this one had no more than fifteen patrons and none of them were being particularly loud.
"I'm not sure what we're going to get here Master, there's barely anybody here."
"I wouldn't worry about that too much Kat. We'd be incredibly lucky if we struck gold first time but we can't ignore the possibility that someone here knows something."
We go to the bar and are met by a friendly-looking barmaid whose stomach appeared heavy with child.
"Good afternoon what can I get for you today?" she asks in a cheerful voice
"Ale for me, a juice for a girl and some information please." Falcon says, I look indignantly at him for ordering me a juice but say nothing.
"I can do the drinks no problem but I'm not sure what help I'll be on the information side of things. Not much really happens here." the woman replies.
"You never know, you might be more help than you realise." Falcon smiles charmingly. "We're looking for a man, a jedi. He should have passed through here about a year ago." Her eyes widened slightly when Falcon mentioned that he was a jedi but I expect that on a planet like this jedi have an almost mythic status.
"I'm not sure you'll find anyone round here that can help you with that sir. A year is a very long time, some people I know can barely remember a week ago. Is there anything else that would make them stand out?"
"Well the jedi in question is an Iridonian. I can't imagine you get many round here, and the horns and tattoos would be fairly memorable. If you saw him you'd remember him." The woman thinks for a while, most likely searching her memory for any recollection of the Jedi. Much to my disappointment she eventually shakes her head.
"No, I'm sorry but I don't remember seeing this Jedi. Now if you don't mind I have work to do."
I don't see anyone else waiting to be served; I think she's just bored of talking to us, but Falcon smiles genially and pays for the drinks. We spend a bit more time talking to other patrons in the cantina but the response is anything less than reassuring. Not a single one of them remembered seeing anything of the missing jedi.
I tried not to feel disappointed as we left the cantina no closer to finding Master Kahn than we were an hour ago. The rest of the day passes much in the same way. We travel from place to place trying to find someone, anyone, who knew something about Master Kahn.
Eventually, after many hours of questioning with no success, Falcon decides to pack it in for the day and start up again tomorrow. I tried convincing Falcon to get us some hotel rooms to stay in but he insists in sleeping in the Nalod Swan. I swear he's in love with that ship.
Anyway we are walking through the darkened streets back to the spaceport when I feel something jabbing me in the small of my back, and a cold voice saying.
"Make one more move and this blaster will tear you in half." I freeze in fear, fighting the urge to turn around and face my attacker. Falcon on the other hand remains calm and collected, simply raises his hand in submission. To my dismay, we are frisked and Falcon's lightsaber is taken.
We are then allowed to turn round and see who's taken us captive. I am surprised to see the barmaid from the first cantina. In normal circumstances I might've found the image of a heavily pregnant woman carrying a blaster quite comical. But when I'm staring down the barrel of that blaster, it loses its humour.
"You. Want. To. Put. The. Weapon. down." Falcon says slowing, waving his hand at the woman.
"No, I don't." she replies to my astonishment. "You're feeble mind-tricks won't work on me. I have been trained to resist them. Now get moving you two, we have a long way to go."
The woman makes us walk to the outskirts of the city where a landspeeder is parked.
"Either of you drive one of these things?" The woman asks sharply.
"I can do it." Falcon replies.
She makes him drive and me sit next to him. She sits in the back, the blaster carefully trained on the back of my head.
"Just drive where I tell you," she tells Falcon. "So much as scratch your nose without my say so and your little friend here will find herself without a face."
If it was just him, I think that Falcon might have tried something but I don't think he wants to risk me getting hurt. It's frustrating to feel so useless.
It's hard to keep track of time, but we must have been travelling for a good couple of hours when the woman tells Falcon to stop. By this time the sun had set completely and the surrounding area was pitch-black. The only light was coming from the headlights of the landspeeder, and that barely illuminated more than a few meters in front of it. There could have been all sorts of creatures hiding out there in the dark and we wouldn't even know.
"What are we doing out here?" I growl "We're in the middle of nowhere."
"Settle down Padawan, I don't believe we're in any danger." Falcon says calmly.
"Are you insane?" I cry "We're in the middle of nowhere, with no weapons and a madwoman is pointing a weapon at us." There's a sudden sharp intake of breath from Falcon when I way this.
"You shouldn't have said that about her." Falcon says shaking his head with a small smile on his face.
"What's she going to do? Kill us twice? I hardly think I can make things worse for us."
"It wasn't her I was worried about. It's her husband who's waiting in the shadows that you don't want to make angry. Isn't that right Master Kahn?" Falcon calls out loudly.
There's a deep rumbling laugh from out somewhere in the impenetrable darkness.
"So, she didn't keep you fooled for long then. I'm not surprised that a fully-fledged Jedi Knight figured it out but your Padawan still seems thoroughly confused." The voice laughs. "But please, call me Aget. I haven't been called Master for a very long time.
With that a man steps into the light from the speeders. He is tall and heavily muscled with pale brown skin and a circle of horns sprouting from his skull. It is of course Master Kahn, our missing Jedi Master. I am still confused as to what's going on though.
"When did you figure out who she was?" Master Kahn asks Falcon nodding towards the pregnant woman who's still pointing a blaster at me.
"When we first mentioned you to her I saw a jolt of recognition in her eyes and her entire personality changed. She knew something; I just didn't put together who she was till she resisted my mind-trick. That being said I would still like to hear the full story from you."
Master Kahn nods in agreement. "Very well, I shall tell you all you need to know. But not here, let's go back to my place. It's nothing fancy but it's a lot warmer than out here."
Master Kahn lights a lamp and leads us across some fields for about maybe half an hour. Eventually we come to a small but comfortable looking cottage. Master Kahn stops and looks at it fondly.
"Home." He says softly.
"Why do you live all the way out here?" I ask
"To stop people like you bothering us." The woman hisses.
"Now, now, settle down Lena." Master Kahn hushes her gently. "For the time being these people are our guests and they should be treated as such."
He leads us inside, to a cosy lounge with a fire burning merrily in the corner.
"Welcome to my humble abode." Master Kahn says proudly. "It's not much, but it's home."
He invites us to sit down on a large sofa and offers us drinks. Falcon politely declines for both of us. Master Kahn sits down on an armchair opposite the two of us whilst Lena sits on his knee.
"So, you want to know my story. Very well, I shall begin at the start…"