Chapter 20
Hello humans! Many, many thanks to CardiacCane, palermoj, and ColdOnePaul for your reviews! No docket today, thankfully. If you have any questions, feel free to message me! Trust me, I don't bite, but I have been known to bark at squirrels and chase cats….
And without further ado, to the chapter! Disclaimer: Although the Gods of Star Wars to deign to visit me occasionally, I do not own the wonderful universe of Star Wars!
"I… want to keep trying, Master," she said, nodding, "I don't want the visions to control me and my actions."
"Good," Yoda croaked, smiling proudly at his apprentice. "Help you, I will, to overcome them. More still, have you to learn about the ways of the Force." Without warning, the grizzled old Jedi thrust his gimer across his padawan's knees. Rhys – unsuccessfully – tried to dodge the blow.
"Ow!" she cried rubbing her knee where the tough wood had made contact, "What was that for!?"
"Learn to sense it coming, you must," Yoda said making his way to the door, "Until then, train we will. Come, Padawan."
Rhys couldn't contain her smile at the familiar words as she followed her Master.
One year later…
"Concentrate, you must, Padawan."
Master Yoda sat opposite his padawan as she attempted to levitate several stones in the air at once. The maneuver was by no means advanced, but after a year of honing her strength Rhys was able to use the Force to some degree without suffering massive mental aftershocks. The fourteen-year-old padawan had spent countless hours of meditation and training with her Master to reach that goal.
"Good…. Let the Force flow through you."
Rhys closed her eyes and let her mind open to the river of the Force. Her mental prowess was far beyond what it had been a year previously, but not yet to its original state. Some scars would never truly heal while others faded away. She had learned through lengthy trial and error that the path to healing was often slow and tedious, and couldn't be rushed in any form.
"Now let it go, slowly…" Rhys tapered off the stream of the Force, lowering the stones to their original resting places. Once all of the stones were motionless, Rhys allowed herself to open her eyes. Yoda smiled proudly at her.
"Far, you have come, Padawan."
"There was no pain this time!" Rhys remarked, giving a small smile. Yoda nodded serenely.
"Progressing greatly, you are. Ready for more, I think, hrmm?"
Rhys stared at her Master quizzically, "Like what?"
"Time to visit the Council, it is."
"Padawan Talik, your abilities have improved greatly over the past year," Mace Windu stated as Rhys stood in front of the Council, "We believe that you should resume your Shadow training with Master Maw and Padawan Damsin."
"Thank you, Masters," Rhys said, bowing slightly.
"We also believe that you are long overdue for a mission," Windu said, gazing intently at the padawan, "Master Yoda suggested that you be sent because of your familiarity with the family involved and your knowledge of their planet."
Rhys tried to repress a mental groan. Not Mygeeto again, she thought, remembering the mission she and Depa Billaba had been assigned to protect the irritable senator that required them to be in close contact with him for several months on the cold urban planet of Mygeeto. Anything but Senator Maven…
"The Council has decided to send you and Padawan Kenobi on a joint mission to Naboo to provide protective detail for one of King Veruna's aides that has received several threats over the past few weeks. You will leave after Padawan Kenobi is briefed. More information will be sent to your datapad. May the Force be with you."
"Yes, Masters," Rhys replied, bowing quickly to hide her surprise at being sent to her home world. It was rare for a Jedi to be sent on a mission to their home planets, but not entirely unheard of. Sensing the dismissal, she quickly exited the Council chambers. To her surprise, Obi-Wan was waiting outside.
The seventeen-year-old padawan had grown tall and lanky over the past year, nearly catching up to Qui-Gon's immense height and towering over the rest of his friends. In all the times she had seen him in the past year, Rhys had never seen him more nervous. Clearly, this was to be his first mission without the companionship of his Master.
"Good luck," she said as she passed him. He gave a nervous nod, straightening his tunic before entering the Council Chambers.
Rhys couldn't stop the shocked gasp that escaped her when she read the datapad left for her by the Council. Ruwee and Jobal Naberrie…. Their two daughters Sola and Padmé… faces that she saw every year on her birthday over holos. For the first time in the six years since she became Master Yoda's padawan, she would finally see her parents and sisters face-to-face on her beautiful home world. Her thoughts were interrupted by a call on her comm unit.
"Talik," she answered.
"You knew about the mission and you didn't tell me?" Obi-Wan asked frantically. Rhys smiled at the mental image of her friend pacing around his room as he flung things into a travelling bag.
"Obi-Wan, you already know the answer to that question," she reminded him as she began packing the small bag she used for missions, "It was better that the Council brief you with the full information rather than me tell you with only part of it."
"I know," he admitted, "But it would have made me feel better. I was scared for my life going before the Council for who-knows-what!"
"Don't center on your anxieties, Obi-Wan," she chided mirthfully. Qui-Gon often reminded his apprentice to focus on the present and not on worries about the future. Needless to say, the rest of Obi-Wan's friends had also picked up on the phrase.
"Not you too!" Obi-Wan groaned. Rhys chuckled.
"Meet me in the hanger in twenty minutes," she said, stowing her datapad in her bag. She had one more stop to make before she left…
"Master?"
Master Yoda opened his eyes to see his padawan sitting before him. She was dressed in a standard gray tunic favored by many padawans, her thick, dark hair tamed into a bun laced with braids on her neck.
"Prepared, you are, for the mission?" Rhys nodded in agreement, then gazed at him intently.
"This is a test, isn't it, Master?" she asked bluntly. Yoda sighed heavily.
"Perceptive, you are, Padawan," he replied, "Correct, you are." Rhys' shoulders seemed to be relieved of a heavy weight.
"And Obi-Wan, are they testing him too?"
Yoda thought serenely for a while before answering, "Concerned about attachment, the Council is. Wish to test you, they do."
"I understand, Master," she answered fervently, standing up, "I won't fail you."
"May the Force be with you, Padawan," Yoda said, bowing his head.
"May the Force be with you, Master," Rhys replied, grabbing her bag, "I'll contact you after we speak with the King."
"Please tell me that we're not flying this to Naboo."
Rhys grinned at Obi-Wan staring at the beat-up freighter in front of them. The gray ship in question was a small Corellian light freighter that was one of the few ships in the Jedi Fleet casually labelled for "nondescript transport". Named the StarRover by previous Jedi, the battered ship had quickly became one of Rhys' favorite ships to use on missions and to tinker with during her spare time. In the past year, she had made special modifications to the StarRover that made it faster, more agile, and easier to pilot than others of its kind.
"We're not," she happily corrected, "I'm flying this to Naboo. You don't even have to copilot if you don't want to. Now hurry up!"
Rhys could hear Obi-Wan grumbling as she ran up the ship's ramp. After hastily throwing her bag in the passenger's bay, she ran up to the cockpit and brought the Rover to life. After nearly a decade of Jedi missions, the StarRover had seen a lot of wear and tear, but was still as reliable as the day it was made. Smiling at the smooth purr of the engine, she ran through all of the pre-flight checks and brought the ship out of the main hangar with ease. Obi-Wan looked around in amazement as he sat down in the copilot's seat.
"How many modifications does this ship have?!" he asked incredulously. Rhys smiled and shrugged.
"A fair few, but most weren't made by me."
"And how many illegal modifications does this ship have?" Obi-Wan teased in reply. Rhys stuck her tongue out.
"A fair few, I'd expect. This used to be a smuggling ship, you know, and smugglers are rather fond of making their own modifications." Obi-Wan merely rolled his eyes and set the coordinates for the jump to lightspeed.