After a bit of a wait, Meku's shuttle took off, leaving Coruscant and her old life behind. As it climbed, she looked down, seeing the buildings grow smaller. Jedi talked in the cramped passenger compartment while the pilots worked the controls. Many were meeting one another for the first time; she forgot how big the Temple was. Eventually, the ecumenopolis became a round bronze dish in the window as the shuttle made its way into orbit.

Meku could see the ships of the Coruscant Defense Fleet. They almost looked like dull stars, small points on the sky that didn't glitter. As they approached, she could make out the shapes. All were painted brick-red on white.

Most of them were Hammerhead-class cruisers, the workhorse of the Republic Navy. Their namesake heads had several turbolaser batteries on the sides, top, and bottom. Their angled bridge windows gave a look of a predator focusing on its prey. There were also smaller Foray-class corvettes; their long, cylindrical bodies punctuated by a massive engine block. The Hammerheads and Forays were accompanied by other ship designs Meku didn't even recognize. They all circled around a massive, H-shaped space station.

A voice piped in from the cockpit. "Shuttle 528TD-39 hailing Cruiser Redemption. Do you read?"

"Loud and clear, 528."

"Requesting permission to board," the excitement was palpable, her voice was lilting as she spoke, "carrying a full load of Jedi here!"

"Landing code?"

"Wroshyr Tree 3939."

"Permission granted. Welcome, Jedi."

The transport landed in the hangar bay of the Redemption, and the crowd of nearly 40 Jedi spilled out. Republic soldiers were working, moving things around or repairing starfighters. The inside was painted the same red-on-white as the outside of the ship. One soldier stopped in his tracks upon seeing the group of Jedi, and yelped for joy. "Look man, Jedis! How wizard is that?"

Another yelped, "Wohoo! Those bucketheads won't know what hit 'em!"

"We gonna kill some Mandos now, ain't we?"

"No-one will stop us!"

Other soldiers joined in, shouting encouragement or simply cheering in excitement. Meku could feel all of them, this was the most hopeful they'd been in months. Many of the Jedi responded by waving or saying things back. Meku just watched, taking everything in.

This continued until the ship's Captain walked onto the deck. "Back to work, you lazy jawas!"

A chorus of "yes, sir" followed before the soldiers returned to their duties. The Captain was less starstruck by the Jedi; perhaps he'd worked with them before. He gave off that comfortable familiarity one does with an old coworker.

"Welcome aboard, Masters Jedi. You sure took your time, eh?" He cracked a wide smile.

A confident Jedi Knight stepped forward extending his hand to shake with the Captain. "We're here now, and ready to serve. What can we do for you?"

"Oh," he shook the Knight's hand, "You aren't fighting anyone yet. We gotta process you first."

"Process?" another voice asked.

"Oh yeah. Welcome to the Navy, where bureaucracy is king and the war doesn't matter. You're gonna go over there," he pointed to a door which read 'QUARTERMASTER.' The door was huge, probably meant to take in vehicles full of cargo. "They're gonna ask you some standard questions and take your biometrics. That way, we can accomodate you properly. They'll check your bags; any items you aren't allowed can be sold, mailed somewhere, or donated to charity. They'll issue you some equipment and things, and you'll stay in a room until we figure out where best to send you. You'll await your orders then. Understood?"

The Jedi responded with a few yeses or mmhms.

"Oh, and by the way, you stand at attention and say 'Yes, sir,' to all superior officers. Understand?

Many of the Jedi, Meku included, stood up a little straighter and answered "Yes, sir." They were all out of sync.

"That'll do for now. Well, war's not gonna win itself. Don't wait around here, go ahead." He walked off to address the next shuttle that came in, and the group of Jedi made their way to the Quartermaster Depot.

Inside lay a long desk with four crewmen sitting behind it. They all had datapads in front of them. Behind this desk was a massive store the size of a warehouse. It was stocked with everything the ship needed; from blasters to clothes to food to spare parts. To the right of the desk, a few more crewmen stood around, waiting. Meku's group was the first on this ship, and she could see the soldiers' eyes light up when they arrived.

One of them spoke up, "Alright, attention everybody!" He tried to keep his voice professional, but Meku could sense his excitement. His heart raced and there were butterflies in his stomach. It was the same feeling one got when they finally met a childhood hero. "Please form four orderly lines in front of each of us at this desk. We will ask everyone a series of standard questions.

After the questions, we check your bag and take your biometrics. After that, we print you an ID card." Then, you go over to one of those runners." He pointed to the group of soldiers standing. "Give 'em your ID card and they'll give you a few things. Everyone understand?"

"Yes, sir." The group said, all incoherent and in different tones. The soldier cracked a smile at this. The Jedi broke off into four lines as ordered. Many were talking excitedly among themselves.

Meku kept to herself, wondering what the future had in store. She didn't get too much of a chance to think before reaching the front of the line. A friendly, tired-looking Quartermaster looked up at her.

"Name and spelling?"

"Mekumi Sakaroto. M-E-K-U-M-I S-A-K-A-R-O-T-O."

"Rank?"

"Padawan."

"Species."

"Uh… human?" "I don't have horns sticking out of my eyes or anything. What else could I be?"

"Look," he sighed, "I gotta fill out this form, so I gotta ask these dumb questions. Bear with me, yeah?"

"Sorry," she blushed a bit.

"Sub-race, if any?"

"Echani."

"Age? In standard years."

"Nineteen standard."

"Gender?"

"Female."

"Any allergies or medical conditions?"

"Yeah! Uh, slight allergy to Java." He made a few extra keystrokes before continuing.

"Any major surgeries?"

"No."

"Any special skills or talents beyond standard Jedi training and Force ability?"

"Special talents?"

"Like, are you a good pilot? Can you hack computers, reprogram droids?"

"I have some medical training." She rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed. "I'm no surgeon or anything though."

"Okay." He filled out the form, mouthing to himself as he typed, "ba-sic medi-cal trai-ning." He looked up at her again. "Master or apprentice joining you? Part of any group?"

Meku sighed and looked to the floor with a pained expression. "No."

The soldier gestured to a square just in front of him, where she was standing. "Please stand with both feet in that square."

"Got it. I, I mean, sir, yes. Uh, yes, sir."

He smiled and rolled his eyes. "Relax, kid. Just stand." Meku did her best impression of standing at attention. From behind the desk, a small floating droid came out, its repulsor making a soft whoob sound, along with the buzz of the several conversations in the depot. It was fitted with cameras, needles, and claws. "Keep that straight pose," the quartermaster ordered, looking at his screen.

The droid floated all around her. She could feel the circuits working, the droid dutifully doing its job, ignorant of the situation. It emitted an invisible wave which scanned her body completely. "Scan complete," its synthetic voice said.

"Arm straight out in front of you, palm up, like this," the Quartermaster said, demonstrating. Meku did as told. "Hold it still, he's gonna draw your blood." One arm of the droid dabbed a bit of disinfectant on her inside elbow, while a claw grabbed her arm, clamping down tight. She looked down, confused. "That's normal. Tryna make your veins pop."

"Oh. I got it, yes. Uh, sir." After a few minutes, the droid had withdrawn a vial of Meku's blood.

"Blood draw complete." The droid applied a spray formula to close the wound, then floated directly in front of Meku's face.

"Look straight forward and don't smile." came the voice behind the desk. She looked ahead and kept her face straight. The droid clicked.

"Photograph complete," the droid said.

"And, uh, you can put your arm down now." Meku didn't realize her arm was still up, and it shot down to her side.

"Aaaaaagh, c'mon Meku, you're making a fool of yourself."

The quartermaster gave a little chortle. A device on the desk printed out a datacard with her photo and information on it. "This is your identification card. Do not lose this, okay?"

"Yes, sir. I won't." She took it.

"Do you want a blaster?"

"I don't get to keep my lightsaber?"

"You do! Jedi can elect to have a blaster, too."

"Uh, no, I'm alright." She'd never even fired one before, so she figured it'd be a waste to take one.

"Lemme see your bag." She lay her duffel bag on the desk. He rifled through its sparse contents. "Wow. You're good. You actually have the right stuff." Meku tilted her head, confused. "Some recruits try to take their whole house with them. You can't imagine the look on their face when we charge 'em to mail all that junk home." He gave a big grin. "You prolly foresaw all this anyways, right?"

"No, just read a recruitment pamphlet. Sir."

"Oh!" He let out a surprised laugh. "Right, you got me there. Now I feel bad for assuming! Well, you're all set. Go ahead and give the runners your ID, okay? Welcome to the Republic Navy, Private First Class Sakaroto."

"First class? What does that mean?"

He gave a short smile before returning his face to its tired, blank, resting expression. "Next!"

Meku walked to the runners and handed them her ID. Within a few minutes, they had returned with a backpack full of things. "Your room is on deck M1. There's a datacard in there. It's an instructional video for Jedi. You need to watch it ASAP. Since they're not putting you guys through blaster camp."

"Thank you, I will." Meku walked away, realizing she forgot to say "sir." "Who am I supposed to call sir again? Superior officers? How do I tell who a superior is? Big hat, maybe? Shouldn't I be fighting Mandalorians now?" She looked inside as she walked to the nearest elevator.

The bag was thick and heavy, designed to be durable and last forever. In it were several things. There was the standard-issue black and red uniform of the Republic Soldier, only missing the red and gold helmet and armor plating that she'd seen others wearing. Black combat boots. A utility belt with various things on it. A basic first-aid kit. A flashlight. A folding vibro-knife. An in-ear portable comm unit. And, of course, the datacard with the basic instructions on it.

As Meku made her way to her room, her mind was swirling with thoughts. She had never worked with the military before, and now she was going to be a full-on soldier. How long would she have to wait before actually being shipped out to the front lines? What was there to eat? Was she supposed to stop wearing her robes? Was that what the uniform was for? Would she work with other Jedi? What was her job going to be?

The thing that plagued her the most was her doubt. "Can I even do this?" Meku had never even killed someone before. She'd helped her Master catch criminals and even stop a pirate raid once, but never killed anyone. Sure, she'd injured people. She'd deflected blaster bolts at pirates and cut a would-be kidnapper's hand off. But she'd never had to take someone's life. Now, she was expected to.

"Do I have the strength for this? Maybe I should've stayed on the temple. Am I the right person for this job? Oh man, what if I mess this up, what if…"

"No."

She thought of Jurtha again, her boys, and all those cheering crowds. The gem of hope she'd seen in all those people. "I am their hope. I can't let them down. I have to do this."

With a sigh, she entered her room. It was tiny, cramped up by five beds and footlockers. There was a refresher in the back of the room, and not much else. It was also empty; she seemed the first Jedi to arrive. No worries. She dropped her bags nonchalantly by a bed and sat down on it. She pulled her datapad out, booted it up, and put her headphones on. She plugged the datacard into it, and a holo-movie loaded up.

REPUBLIC MILITARY BRIEFING FOR ENLISTED JEDI. She put the movie on, and a handsome Republic officer filled the screen, talking about various things.

Before she got too far into the video, the door opened again, and three more Jedi came in. She looked up and acknowledged them with only a nod before darting her eyes back to her 'pad. She'd never seen these Jedi before, another reminder of both the size of the temple, the popularity of the Revanchists, and how little she spoke to anyone beside Sakett.

She could hear muffled voices over her earphones, and could sense these people trying to get her attention. She sighed, paused the video, and pulled the headphones out so she could listen.

"Hey there, I don't believe we've met!" A Knight gave her a friendly smile and told her his name, along with the names of his two friends. She forgot their names as he said them; she'd really have to work on that. "What's your name, Padawan?"

"Meku Sakaroto."

"Are you feeling okay?" His tone and aura conveyed genuine concern.

"I… I'm fine. I just… been through a lot."

"We all have. But we did the right thing, you know?" She gave him a nod. "Well, the three of us are hungry. We're gonna head to the mess hall and catch some grub. Wanna come with, maybe the four of us can get to know each other?" Meku knew they were just trying to reach out to her, but she just wanted to watch this video and retreat into her own head. She didn't have the energy to be social with these people.

"Uh, I'm really tired right now. But thanks for the offer."

"Oh, okay, no worries."

With that, she put her headphones back in while the three Jedi talked. When the final recruit came in, the four of them left for the Mess Hall, while Meku paid attention to the video. It was hours long, and covered a variety of topics.

It talked about how to properly wear and clean one's uniform. Jedi were allowed to choose between their robes or their uniforms. How to determine someone's rank. What rank the recruit was. Meku, like all Padawans, was a Private First Class, the lowest rank of all. How to stand at attention, what the pose looked like. How to say commands and the like over the comm system.

And, most frighteningly, a briefing on the enemy. It showed a multitude of different Mandalorian ships, including the infamous Basilisk. It talked about their Beskar armor, AKA "Mandalorian Iron." Some of the heaviest, most impenetrable armor in the galaxy. It was even resistant to lightsabers. The video advised, "apply heavy pressure with lightsaber to cut through this armor. Imagine it like a knife cutting through a big block of cheese. Either that, or aim for the joints between armor plates. Approach with extreme caution."

Meku tried as best she could to pay attention, but her mind kept drifting away, overthinking. Past, present, and future were examined by her conscious. She was so antsy, wondering when she would start. The long day she had, plus her lightspeed thoughts exhausted her. After a few hours of this, she passed out, asleep, in her full clothes.