Hey all! Wow it's been a long time. Gosh, so much has been going on, and I finally got time to write.. Hooray! Apologies for this being so short and the bump in the road it may seem to be. It is in fact by request, sort of. Thought I'd throw a curve into the story. Hope you find it interesting and it may whet your no-doubt parched whistles, as it were. With luck I'm going to try to get back into writing more frequently and get more chapters done for you. As always, Thanks for your time and interest, and please Read/Review.. Enjoy.
The room was darkened, despite being the middle of the day. Autoshaders dimmed the light that otherwise would've shone right through the transparisteel. All was silent shy of the steady inhale and exhale of its several occupants. The room was relatively small by some standards but large enough to hold twelve seperate seats arranged in a wide diameter semi-circle. A gap existed at one point that only spanned a fifth or sixth of the completion of a circle. Each seat sat less than a full meter from each of its nearest neighbors, and contained either a living being or a glowing blue recreation of a being absent from the gathering.
At the center of the room, floating above an intricate floral patterned synthstone floor, was yet another glowing recreation. This one, of a complicated space battle from recent memory. Numerous glowing marks and designations darted through the air. One recreation, of a large capital ship, floated near the center. A small and sudden flash erupted from one of the smaller marks as it vanished from the display. Within mere moments another small mark darted out of the cluster as the large capital ship experienced a small but impactful explosion of its own, causing it to list to one side as its shields vanished and the glow from its rear engines faded.
The image froze in place as a deep voice echoed out of silence, "And that, is the best information we have from the battle. That flash a moment ago, we have determined, was a Jedi Starfighter, Master Faerin Xonn's to be precise."
"So, Master Xonn was killed in battle", another deep voice surmised.
"One with the Force, he has become. Mourn for him, do not", replied another.
"Go back a bit and focus on that capital ship. What caused that explosion?", the first observer asked.
The image reverted as the capital ship suddenly enlarged to nearly fill the space in the center of the room. The hologram resumed its motion as a small blast near the rear of the ship caused the shields to distort slightly. Almost simultaneously, two small specks entered the image and passed through the distortion just as the shields rebalanced themselves. The specks seperated slightly, one striking a shield generator as the second passed through a narrow gap barely larger than itself and blossomed into an explosion at the centre of the primary drives.
"That's impossible! Those looked to be proton torpedoes. There's no way they could have passed through the shields." the inital voice exclaimed.
"Looks to me like there was a momentary breach in the shields from that blast", suggested another observer, one with a rather conical cranial structure.
"But that would require the torpedoes to pass through the exact same pinpoint center of the initial distortion. It's not possible to hit that small a spot within that short of a time. The shield would have only fluxed for a mere second, if that."
"Underestimate, you do, the power of the Force."
"Can you track back those torpedoes to see who fired them?" asked the first observer.
The image again reversed, this time tracking back slowly, following the torpedoes as they traced back to their point of origin, another Jedi Starfighter.
"There. Stop. Now keep on that fighter and get the ship I.D."
The ships I.D. appeard over it as it turned away from the battle, "JXT173: Jayden Sorne". Just as the name registered in the minds of all the rooms occupants, the ship darted out of view and vanished.
"It would seem, he entered hyperspace."
"Explain, this does, their disappearances."
"So, Master Xonn was killed and Knight Sorne, what? Ran off? Deserted?"
"After firing the shots that turned the tide of the battle?"
"Made the jump, he did, before they hit their mark."
"Can you tell by the trajectory, where he may have headed?"
"Open space. Nothing much in that direction at all."
"Troubling, this is. Hm. Meditate on this, I must."
"Then this meeting is adjourned." the first observer stated, as the holographic image vanished and the autoshaders shifted to let in the light of the sun high over Coruscant.
A short while later, in another darkened room...
A diminuitive green skinned being sat alone in a meditative pose, eyes closed, breathing slow and steady. Though the room was small in comparison to the Council Chamber, Master Yoda didn't feel at all claustrophobic. His mind wandered through the ebb and flow of Force energies. A whooshing sound that was both close and distant drifted into his ears. An old and familiar presence brushed against his as the newcomer took a seat.
In time, the eight hundred and seventy-five year old Jedi opened his eyes to see Master Windu sitting across from him.
"Anything?"
"Hm." the old Master shook his head slowly, causing his large ears to twitch slightly. "Alive, he is. Nothing more, do I know. Too faint, his presence is."
"Jayden Sorne never had a strong Force presence. If it hadn't been for his Lightsaber skills, I'm not sure he would've become a Jedi."
"Hm. Hard to see, an underground river is. But flow with the same strength, it does. No, far away, young Jayden is, very far."
"Do you think he ran away? or deserted?"
"Doubtful, I am. But troubled, he might be, at Faerin's death. Felt it, he must have."
"Hm, agreed. Do you think he may return?"
"Clouded, the future is, uncertain. But may the Force be with him."
"Wherever he is.", Master Windu added.
A short time earlier, on a backwater no-name planet, as far from the core worlds as one could be...
A group of four friends rode through the clouds on the back of a great white beast, that greatly resembled a six-legged bantha. Jokes were being told, though some were better than others, and all was well for the moment, when out of the blue, the tallest member of the group stopped laughing altogether.
A dark haired boy, who wore equally dark clothing, got the most unusual sensation that brought a confused expression to his face. He sat up a little straighter and glanced around a bit before looking straight up into the bright sky.
Katara, the only girl in the group, noticed his odd behaviour and reached out to give him a gently nudge, "Hey, Jayden, everything alright?"
"Of course he's alright. He just doesn't get my humor." Sokka said rather boisterously, jabbing himself in the chest with his thumb.
"Ugh, whatever Sokka. Jayden?!" Katara shouted as she shook the poor boy out of his thoughts.
"What?" he asked, coming back to his senses.
"I said, 'is everything alright?' You had me worried."
"Yes, fine. I just had the strangest feeling. I sensed a presence I haven't felt in quite a while now."
"Who's that?" Aang asked.
"Master Yoda, the Grand Master of my Order, but he's got to be millions of miles from here."
"Maybe it's the high altitude," Sokka suggested, "thinner air is messin with your brain."
"Heh, maybe," Jayden chuckled, "may-be." Nevertheless the young Jedi looked toward the sky again and smiled. May the Force be with you, Master.
Well that was short.. apologies again. But here's hoping I will have time to write more material and get it posted soon. May the Force be with you, Always.
