"Major, Denon to Major Tahiri, come in please."
Tahiri felt herself snap out of the trance and look around the table at the old and new Wraith; all of them had various looks from concern to boredom. Most of the bored looking Wraiths were Kell, Uhilka, and Piggy while the medics and Cindy, their newest Wraith, looked the most concerned.
"Oh sorry about that I was just a little spacey for a few minutes, wasn't I?"
"So you weren't having another vision?" Elassar asked from his seat three down on the right with an annoyed toned in his gravel voice and a scanner already pointing at her.
"No, not really it was just a feeling that's all." Tahiri said as she picked up her data pad to do a quick review of her notes and hoping to avoid those kinds of questions.
"Maybe she is still feeling the effects from the other night," Jake said, spinning a knife on the tabletop.
"I know I am," Cindy said in a pained voice. Tahiri shot her an amused but sympathetic smile. After Tahiri had interviewed Cindy, Cathy and the rest of the Wraiths help initiate Cindy in to the group. The Abyss was a low level, dark, and rowdy bar that was on the other side of Denon, far from the normal nightclubs that the military visit. Cindy made a good showing of herself but then again no one could keep up with Tahiri. Somehow, either her unique body chemistry or something in the Force, Tahiri's body was able to process alcohol at a great rate then anyone else. Then again, she did eat enough for three people. Plus, since they are military personal being on leave, they had to initiate Cindy several times just to make sure they did a proper job.
"Can we get back to work now," Tahiri said as the rest if the team made rude noises and faces at the whole idea. Letting out a small smile, Tahiri turned to team one that was Kell, Piggy, Elassar, and Tyria, and asked them for their report.
"Sure," Elassar said stretching, "Tyria did you feel anything a few moments ago?"
"I felt something," Tyria said looking blank as she reached out with the Force. "But I'm not sure what it was."
""It just felt like a … a door closing," Tahiri said sighing, laying down her pad, and admitting defeat. Ever since Elassar had found out about her visions any reaction she had to the Force caused him to investigate even though she was, somewhat, sure it was not directly connected to their missions.
"A what?" Sorr asked. "You mean like 'swoosh' closing?"
"No, like a heavy door …"
"Like an old fashion door on a castle, type close," Piggy asked.
"Yes," Tyria said suddenly with a smile, "just like that castle we went into on Hurran 3. The one with the arms dealer/warlord/stain on the wall had set up shop in." Tyria offered an amused smile at Tahiri and the 'kid' Wraiths, as she called them, and explained. "During on of our early intel missions we were tracking a real gem of a human being. He was a small, squirrelly guy who had the morals of a slash rat and the manners of a rancor but had a bankroll that could buy a small moon."
"And enough ordinances to blow up one as well," Piggy said humorous tone, "Anyways he found some old castle which had an interesting security system."
"Mostly old fashion heavy wooden doors with manual locks," Kell said in a musing tone. "You can't open them quietly, at least not without a key. The wood was so thick that even a light saber had difficulty cutting into it. And we were under a time limit."
"Right so you blew them up," Killjoy said with a grin and stabbing the table.
"Well, yea after Piggy tried to open the one to get to the worm, remember we had to grab the guy before he destroyed all the evidence. It was locked up pretty tight and even with his strength he couldn't do any more damage then what Tyria had done so Face though I might have better luck."
"Too bad the rest of the building was as strong as the doors," Tyria said giggling, while playfully slapping Kell in the head.
"So they are all like that," Kic said looking at Killjoy who just shrugged sheepishly.
"They never said not to bring down those other 6 buildings."
"So something happened somewhere that caused this 'door' to close," Cathy said rolling her eyes at Jake. "But you don't know what, where or who is involved?"
"No," Tahiri said looking over at Tyria for confirmation. After the master nodded, Tahiri looked over at Elassar who had been playing with one of his scanners. "If it will make you feel better Master Sarkin can call Grand Master Skywalker and see what he knows."
"Did I say anything," Elassar said so innocently that Tahiri knew he was lying but if he was willing to drop it so was she.
"Ok so what have you guys dug up," And started the meeting that last well into the night.
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"I'm still not sure this thing around my neck is necessary," Little Brother all but ignored the fleshy as he performed his pre hyperspace duties. Their first three phases of their mission has gone with maximum efficiency, due to his excellent slicing. "I think you just want to set me up."
NEGATIVE FLIGHT OFFICER HIGH, Little Brother replied as he monitored the ship and pilot conditions.
"Sure," Flight Officer High twisted to glare, if Little Brother was judging his facial clues correctly, at him. "How is a shock collar going to save me?"
AS I REPORTED EARLIER FLESHY, MY RESEARCH HAS INDICATED THAT PAIN CAN INTERRUPT A JEDI'S HOLD ON AN INDIVIDUAL. IF MY MONITORING SENSORS INDICATE THAT YOU HAVE OR ARE BEING SUBJECT TO A CONTROLLING FORCE OUTSIDE YOUR BODY THEN I WILL ADMINISTER A SMALL SHOCK. THAT SHOCK SHOULD, TEMPORARILY, RELEASE YOU FORM THE CONTROLLING FORCE.
"And you know this how?"
MAJOR TAHIRI HAD TOLD RATNENA BORA AND MYSELF ABOUT A MISSION SHE HAD COMPLETED AFTER THE YUUZHAN VONG CONQUERED AND OCCUPIED CORUSCANT. THE DARK JEDI AS KNOWN AS Lord Nynex ATTEMPTED TO CONTROL MAJOR TAHIRI, GRAND MASTER SKYWALKER AND MASTER SKYWALKER HOWEVER HE MISCALCULATED WHEN HE USED PAIN TO EXERT CONTROL. MAJOR TAHIRI WAS ABLE TO BREAK HIS CONTROL BECAUSE OF THE PAIN.
"Hello trash can I am not a spoon bender, ah Fas." The fleshy jumped as Little Brother gave him a small zap.
TEST COMPLETED, TEST SATISFACTORY
"I am going to melt you down you little … frak! Stop zapping me!"
AS I HAD INFORMED YOU EARLIER, YOU CANNOT REMOVE THE SHOCK DEVICE WITHOUT MY ASSISTANCE. ANY ATTEMPT BY YOU OR ANYONE WITHOUT MY ASSISTANCE WILL ADMINISTER AN INCREASING RATE OF ELECTRICAL SHOCK. Little Brother turned his dome to look at Flight Officer High with his optical sensor.
Even though he had limited room to maneuver inside the cockpit of the StealthX, the fleshy was giving him what Ratnena Bore had classified as the 'look of death'. Little Bother was unconcern, after all he could survive the vacuum of space where as the fleshy need air to maintain his functional state. Also at the speeds they were traveling if he did open the cockpit and attempted to crawl back to Little Brother he would be pull to pieces by the forces of acceleration. However, Little Brother concluded that he would have to explain the plan to the fleshy, again.
CORRECT YOU ARE NOT CLASSIFIED AS A JEDI, NOR CAN YOU ACCESS THE SO-CALLED POWER SOURCE KNOWN AS THE FORCE. FROM THE INFORMATION, I HAVE ACCESSED AND FROM MAJOR TAHIRI, THE JEDI CAN INFLUENCE THE ACTIONS OF THE NON-JEDI THROUGH THIS POWER SOURCE. IF I OBSERVE THAT, YOU ACTIONS ARE NOT WITHIN THE NORMAL OPERATING PARAMETERS I CAN ADMINISTER A SHOCK TO ALLOW YOU TO BREAK THE CONTROL. ONCE THE THREAT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED WE CAN DEVELOP COUNTER-MEASURES TO RESIST THE CONTROL.
"Look trash can I can take care of any problems there is no way a spoon bender can control me."
THE MISSION IS TO LOCATE A JEDI WITH THE ABILITIES TO AFFECT EVENTS MANY LIGHT YEARS AWAY, FLIGHT OFFICER HIGH, ALL VARIABLES MUST BE CONTROLLED TO INSURE THAT WE RETURN WITH THE PROPER INTEL FOR THE WRAITHS AND COMMAND TO ACT UPON. Little Brother once again wondered just how R2-D2 has been able to deal with humans for so long with out short-circuiting.
"And how do you know you won't be effected," the fleshy asked Turing back around to prepare for their last hyperspace jump before they deviated from their flight plan.
IMPROBABLE, MOST JEDI CANNOT EFFECT MACHINE LIFE AS THEY CAN WITH FLESH.
"Importable but not impossible."
THE ONLY JEDI THAT COULD AFFECT MACHINES WAS LORD NYNEX AND HIS LIFE FUNCTIONS HAVE BEEN TERMINATED ON CORUSCANT. Little Bother replied as Flight Officer High made the transition into hyperspace.
"So, isn't this Jedi supposed to be even more powerful then that … whatever he was?"
Little Brother automatically ran that theory through his processors and had to be realistic and sadly confronted with the real possibility that the fleshy was correct. Ratnena would have teased him saying that he was annoyed, which was impossible he was not a fleshy but Major Tahiri would have been disappointed that the fleshy had pointed out a flaw in his plan. With what could be described as annoyance, if he was capable of it, he asked the fleshy what they should do about, knowing that the fleshy was going to enjoy being smug for a while. BE SMUG UNTIL THE LAST STAR SHINES was the exact phrase going through his processors.
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"So what we have is a Force user that can project his, her or its will across the galaxy," Cathy watched as Major Tahiri reviewed all their different conclusions after the grueling 12-hour session. Tahiri was sitting at the head of the table with a galactic map projecting on the wall behind her showing all the areas with strange anomalies that had occurred since Tahiri left Sekot. She was leaning against the table flipping a data card between her fingers, her eyes staring at the chip but not seeing it. "And we know it is a strong possibility it is the Force since we nor anyone else can recorded it but no Jedi seems able to sense this in the Force either."
"And we know that is true since at several incidents we have had numerous Jedi on the scene and none of them reported anything strange," Jedi Master Sarkin said sounding as tired as Cathy felt.
"And two Jedi who aren't showing up medical scanners, one who is an insane pain and the other one is just a pain." Elessar said around a yawn. Since the rescue mission he has mentioned to Cathy on several occasions that Jacen Solo actions did not fit what he had assumed a child of the Solo's would act, given the stories Tahiri had shared with him back when she first joined. Cathy had suggested that Tahiri's memories may have been colored due to her merging, since it was another Tahiri Veila' memories and not hers. Elassar didn't buy it since many of her memories were more accurate. He also pointed out that as a child growing up around diplomats and world leaders he should have some minor skills at diplomacy. Especially if said child was trying to convince Tahiri to do something that, for some reason only known to the Jedi Warrior, had her running scare.
"Don't forget one of the pains also is trying to get fleets from around the galaxy to help him destroy the Yuuzhan Vong," Sorr said getting up to get a fresh cup of cafe for herself and Uhilka.
"Which one is which again," Jake said from his seat next to her. Cathy would have elbowed him but he was leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on the table. To far away to elbow and she was too tired to lean back and try, so she just pushed his feet off the table.
"Rar is still running around lose with a nice ship even if no one has heard a peep from her in days." Cathy said ignoring the pained look from Jake. "And she was major player in the Bliss trade, which caused the addict to 'hear' voices."
"We also have the unexplained destruction of Coruscant," Kell said holding his wife's hand. Again, Cathy felt a momentary pang of loneliness and from the way Jake adverte his eyes, she wondered if he felt the same way. Life in the military since the Yuuzhan Vong war has not left much time for romance for many of the veterans. "I have heard that they had already succeeded in bring in flora and micro-life in to replaced the oxygen that was lost."
"True," Piggy said sadly, "and it isn't really tying up any more resources then before, just the opposite since they don't have to worry about civilians or that World Brian."
"So who ever did it, and speaking for myself I don't believe the Empire had the resources or skill to pull it off, did they succeed or fail?" Kic said from the other end from Tahiri.
"Yes," Uhilka said with a smile to Sorr as she handed him his cup, "if they wanted to find the most effective means to rid the galaxy of a planet of Yuuzhan Vong."
"No, if they wanted to tie up our resources," Piggy said stretching and looking around the room. "Do I have to say it or are we all agree that at the center of all this there is one thing that might be the cause."
"Zonama Sekot," Tahiri said quietly not stopping her flipping or taking her eyes off the chip.
Cathy looked around the room and saw many reluctant nods as the other members agreed with Tahiri. She had the feeling that some in the room had always wondered about that planet but afraid of saying anything.
"Yes," Elassar said as quietly, "but why?"
"My visions," the major said, even thought she never moved or stopped that damn tapping she made everyone sit up and pay attention.
"Those same visions you keep, conveniently I might add, forgetting to share with us." Piggy said without rancor or malice but gently as if he sense she would break if he pushed it.
Cathy and the rest waited as Tahiri kept tapping that stupid card. For weeks now, they have been waiting Tahiri to explain what happened before they went to Hapes. Being their commanding officer the new Wraiths couldn't just demand an explanation and the older Wraiths seemed content to wait her out. Now suddenly it seemed very important, "ma'am what about your visions?" Again, Tahiri just kept flipping and tapping, which was starting to annoy Cathy. Finally, Cindy, who sat between her and Tahiri leaned over a whispered a question.
"What's a vision?"
"A Jedi can, through the Force, can glimpses into events that have yet to happen," Tyria said after letting out a long sigh, as if she had been holding her breath.
"You guys can see in to the future," Cindy asked wide-eyed.
"A possible future," Tyria corrected. "It can be changed or altered due to interference by the parties involved. And they have to be held with a grain of salt, after all, they are very small glimpses and their true nature may not be full understood until after the events. It can be very disastrous to act on a vision without proper understanding as to what the Force is trying to tell you." Cathy hid her smile as Cindy mouth the words 'wow' and Tyria just nodded her head, she suddenly stopped, gave Tahiri a very piercing stare of her own. "I have had Doran researching the archives and no where is it suggested what happened to you on the Falcon has happened before."
"That because mine aren't normal," Tahiri said still taping the card, Cathy had to stop herself from reaching over and grabbing the chip. "Mine are like visions inside visions."