Because of some stuff I've got going on, I'm going to accelerate this story and move it along. Still, I kinda like the way I'm planning to do it. I'll explain at the bottom.
"Sooooo…Not the best start to our little adventure." Mission leaned back in one of the vacant command chairs on the bridge of the Shield. Her clothes were filthy from their excursion and fight on the surface. "We go to sight see, and end up nearly getting speared, eaten, and burned to dust by turbolaser fire." She glanced up at Zaalbar. "Sure you don't want to go home?"
Zaalbar howled affirmative sounding huff.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Mission turned to Mira, whose rapidly swelling head was being attended by several medics. "So, what next?"
"Aside from gutting Mothma?" Mira jerked her head back, snarling a warning at one of the medics.
Admiral Halsey frowned. The girl was angrier than a bantha with a backache, but she needed to have her head checked for concussion or internal bleeding. And then there was the issue of Mothma. Halsey trusted the old soldier with his life, so he must have had a good reason for knocking the girl out. On the other hand, Mira was livid.
"Jedi Mira, is there any chance you could let that go? Mothma merely wanted to ensure that you didn't try anything stupid." Halsey winced as Mira's scowl deepened. Girls were so volatile sometimes, but Mira multiplied that by a hundred.
"Remember that you are our only link to the Exile, and your ability to track people through the Force is our only compass." Halsey tried to draw up as much confidence and command as he could. "In other words, you-can't-die!"
Mira glared angrily at him for a second, but then stared at the ceiling as the medics finished patching up her forehead. Halsey was right of course. She had been about to stay behind and hold off that rancor alone, which would have almost certainly killed her. From now on though, it seemed Mira would need to be protected, rather than protecting. It was irksome for Mira. She'd become a Jedi to help protect lives, not be put on some pedestal to point people around.
"Fine." She murmured reluctantly. "I'll be more careful. Can we go now?"
"Go?" Mission looked startled. "Where? Do we even know where the Exile has gone?"
"No, but Admiral Halsey had an idea." She glanced at the young commander, a hard glint in her eyes. "I don't suppose I can tell them, oh glorious leader?"
Halsey ignored the sarcasm and nodded.
"We think the Exile came here to see the wreckage of the Star Forge and follow in Revan's footsteps. That means-"
Mission jerked to her feet, snapping her fingers. "It means Revan must have left some clue for the Exile to follow. That's why he came here!"
"Yes, and sense Mira didn't sense anything on the planet, we think whatever clue we're looking for might be hidden amongst the wreckage of the Star Forge." Halsey glanced at the wreckage trapped in the orbit of the planet. It was like a thick and deadly cloud of shrapnel gradually forming an asteroid field. "And only a Jedi could find a needle in that proverbial haystack."
"So what?" Mira shrugged her shoulders. "We take a starfighter and search for it?"
"Exactly."
"Sounds safe."
"Which is why we'll send our best pilot." Halsey grinned. "Me."
Silence on the bridge. Then…
"So, let me get this straight." Mission rubbed her temple, annoyed. "We're sending a Jedi and an Admiral into a deadly asteroid field, essentially leaving this ship without its two commanders, all so we can chase a mystical clue that may or may not even exist."
An ensign manning the navigation station turned. "When you say it like that, it does sound kinda stupid."
"Don't you have something to do…like steering the ship?" The admiral snapped.
The ensign turned back to his consol sheepishly. "Yes sir."
"Now," The Admiral turned back to Mira and the rest of their companions, "I'll need you to help me search the rubble for whatever clue you suspect the Exile left behind."
"Of course." Mira nodded. She chewed her lip thoughtfully. "But won't it be a tight fit?"
It was, indeed, a tight fit.
"Ow!" Mira growled, jamming an elbow back at into Admiral Halsey's gut. He grunted and bent over, sending the ship into an upward spiral towards another piece of rubble. Only a desperate roll saved them from becoming another piece of the remains of the old battle.
"Are you trying to get me killed!?" Halsey exclaimed, slowing the ship back to its previous slug like pace. "And would you quit squirming so much! You keep knocking the stick around."
"Just keep your kriffin' hands where I can see them." Mira warned with a wave of her index finger. "Look but don't touch."
"Yeah, yeah…" Halsey swung the ship about, again avoiding a messy death by mere centimeters. "Says the woman dressed in black leather and-"
He never finished his sentence, as Mira had grabbed a handful of his blond hair and yanked-hard!
"What were you saying?"
"You heard me." Halsey's eyes were wide, still trying to fly as Mira pulled his scalp from his head. "If you're going to dress like that, don't do the whole tease and kill thing!"
Mira tilted her head thoughtfully. One thing she could say for the admiral; he wasn't short on guts. And she had to admit, he was rather good looking…In a youthful sorta way.
"Fine." She relented. "But start heading out to the left a little."
"Hmmm," Halsey squinted at his radar monitor. "Why? My instruments aren't picking anything up."
"Who's the Jedi here?"
"Okay, okay." Halsey turned the ship up and into an arch around the orbital ellipse of the orbit of the rubble. Their arch brought them back down into the deadly cloud moments later.
Mira could feel the Force pulling her through the nebulous cloud. Smaller pieces of debris merely bounced off the armor of the Aurek-class fighter, but the larger would only require a scrape to wipe them into space dust.
Then, a sudden realization. A gift from the Force.
"That way." Mira pointing towards a cluster of the deadly rubble. Halsey nodded, pulling the fighter closer and closer, weaving and dipping. Once they were closer, Mire reached out to the powerful nexus of Force energy radiating from the rubble. Mira extended a tendril of Force energy; enveloping and grabbing the energy up like a scoop, and pulling it closer. She dragged it closer and closer until she managed to separate it from the rest of the rubble.
"There!" She shouted, pointing out the small rectangular shard of rubble. Mira turned her pointing finger into an outstretched palm, pulling the rectangle closer and closer. It appeared to be plain durasteel, reinforced against the vacuum of space to protect whatever was inside from the randomly crushing stones and cataclysmic events that seemed so prevalent in space.
Using the Force, Mira held the box tight to the hull of their small starfighter.
"You know," Mira commented as Halsey turned their starfighter in a slow arc away and out from the rubble field, "It's nice to have a mission that doesn't end with us screaming and running for our lives."
Back on the Shield, several republic tech officers, explosive experts, and weapons experts were gathered around the box in the hanger. Despite their best efforts (which consisted of several volleys of blaster rifles, a blaster cannon, several tons of explosives, and a particularly stubborn wookie with a sledgehammer) the box's secrets had eluded them.
"It must have some type of secret trigger that we can't see." One of the technicians murmured. Mira agreed, though she kept her thoughts to herself. The box was unmarred by any imperfections. No knobs, creases, or openings. Just a perfect durasteel container.
"Maybe…" Mira murmured, feeling along the sides. Then, struck by a sudden inspiration, she grinned and reached out with the Force.
No ship big enough to carry a tractor beam could have entered that asteroid field and held still long enough to capture the box, which meant that whoever had left that box behind had expected whoever found it to grab it using an alternative means…such as the Force. Perhaps they meant for the person to open the box the same way.
Mira concentrated on the box, letting the Force feel about the inside of the box until…
"There it is." Mira said aloud, earning her curious looks from Halsey and Mothma. She just grinned at them and, with a gentle nudge of the Force, pressed the trigger deep inside the box that, to her Force abilities, was highlighted by almost an impossibly bright aura. Something deep in the box whirred and whined, before the walls of the box fell apart and its contents were exposed to the bright light.
"What is it?" Mission asked excitedly, craning her head for a view. "Huh!?"
Mira reached down, pulling the simple contents from the pile. It was a meager thing. There were two small, palm sized cubes with ornate writings and glyphs inscribed on it, and a small armband stamped with a very familiar symbol on it.
"This is the armband the Exile used to wear when I traveled with her." Mira held it up, rolling it in between her fingers. His presence in the Force radiated from it, a strong reminder of her old friend. "As for these…"
Mira held the twin cubes in her hands for the rest of the group to see.
"They're holocrons." Mothma explained quickly, snatching one of them from her hands and holding it up to the light. "When I served under Revan, he used holocrons to record his thoughts."
"A Holocron?" Mission looked at Mothma quizzically. "I don't remember Revan ever using something like that?"
"Remember, I served with Revan during the War girl, far before you ever met him." He ponedered the small cube in his hand returning it to Mira with a shrug. "It's essentially a recording device that uses a special Force powered crystal to capture the author's persona and imprint it on the holocron." He gave Mira a meaningful look. "As far as I know, only a Jedi can open it."
An hour later, after much argument with Mothma, Mira was settled into her room, the two holocrons arrayed before her.
Mothma had wanted to be there for when the holocron was opened, as had Halsey. But something told Mira that this was something she needed to do alone. Mothma had tried to insist, but Mission, Zaalbar, and, surprisingly enough, Halsey had all talked him down.
"He's all right. At least he can hold his own."
Taking a deep breath, Mira reached out with the Force again to open the holocron the way he had with the durasteel box. As usual, thanks to her ability to find things with the Force, it was not long before she found the desired trigger for the holocron. There was a hiss, and the holocron opened, rearranging itself until, finally, it projected the image of the Exile.
Mira gasped, surprised by the image before her. The Exile…was older. Of course, the Exile had always seemed older than she appeared, and everyone would grey eventually…but to see the once beautiful Exile like that.
Mira realized that the Exile was not actually that old, but the hardships of wandering the Outer Rim and Wild Space seemed to have taken a toll on her body, but she still had the appearance of the general and Jedi she'd once been. Her saber was clipped to her belt beneath her robes, and beneath the outer robes, Mira glimpsed what looked like some type of armor padding. The Exile was obviously prepared for battle, as Mira remembered her.
"Hello Mira." The Exile spoke calmly, her holographic smile drawing her lips back. "I can't say I'm surprised you were the one to find this, considering your unique ability with the Force."
"My unique ability?"
The Exile nodded. "In fact, I was somewhat counting on your skill in tracking Force signatures to find this amongst the rubble of the Star Forge. A dangerous gamble on my part I suppose."
Mira nodded before settling down into a meditative stance before the cube and her former master. "So, what do you want me to do?"
The gatekeeper of the holocron was silent for several long moments, looking disturbed and reluctant to continue, as though she were embarrassed.
"I of course have no idea where I am now, as this holocron was left behind no doubt some time ago. Yet, I think I can give you some clues from what I knew at the time." The holographic Exile hitched her thumbs into her belt, fingering her lightsaber. "More importantly, I fear I will need your help by the time you get this."
"What do you mean?"
"Somewhere out there," the Exile continued, waving a hand behind her. As she did, a visual representation of the Unknown Regions rose behind her. "The Sith are lying in wait. They fled years ago, and have built their Empire out there; creating an entity that can challenge the Republic." The Exile's image flickered for a moment, as though the connection were poor. "This Empire cannot be allowed to find the Republic."
"Thanks, we've figured that much out ourselves." Mira spoke dryly, annoyed by getting obvious advice from a device she'd risked her life for. "It'd be nice if you could tell us WHERE the Empire is though."
"That, not even I know. At least," The Exile grinned, "Not when I made this holocron. However, you should have also received my old armband as well, correct?"
As an answer, Mira presented the armband.
"I've worn that since the old wars, even before our little adventures. You should be able to use that to help quickly track my presence across the Unknown Regions."
Mira nodded, pocketing the armband for later. She would meditate, imprint the Force signature in her mind, and use it to track the Exile to the Empire…or her master's burial site.
"And the other holocron?" Mira plucked the holocron from the ground, again showing it to the Exile.
"That," the Exile said with a smile, "is your own holocron."
"My own?"
"The odds of any of us coming back from this adventure are lower than even a Corellian would take, and if we die, I'd like us to be able to leave behind something for the Jedi who will take up the standard after us."
Mira nodded, accepting the grimness of the situation without faltering. She'd grown up fighting for survival as a Mandalorian slave, or a child bounty hunter. For her, this was just an inevitability she'd seen coming forever.
"I will Master."
"I look forward to seeing you again Mira." The ghost of her master bowed. "May the Force be with you."
"And you Master.
So, basically I'm going to present the next couple months (or years) as Mira's entrys in her holocron. I like the idea quite a bit, and it'll probably help me push the story forward. Please enjoy, and remember to check out the companion story. The two are about to entwine.