Disclaimer: I do not own any of Star Wars, the right of ownership of Star Wars belong to Lucasfilm and I guess Disney too. The only thing I own is the characters you do not notice and the plot.
Chapter 21: Studying Droid & Trip
Amelia has been staying with Padme to protect her from anymore danger. In for protection the Senate granted that they should also be cover by troops that the Jedi selected. They got a group of 3rd Legion troops prowling the grounds of the 500 Republica and other buildings that houses Senators on Coruscant.
Even through Padme and her twins are fine, she is still weak from the attempted on her life. The door slides open to reveal a clone trooper in white armor with a red X on it. "Senators, just making my rounds, are everything is okay?" say Captain Kia.
Mark had wanted Captain Kia to protect them, because he is the most trustworthy clone there is and he is very skilled at fighting. "We are perfectly fine, Captain. Just Padme is slightly in pain, but besides that everything is going okay." say Amelia.
"If you need me, just ring my Comlink, I will be up here as fast as possible. Please do contact me if you are leaving the building, so that you both may have protection to wherever you want to head to." say Captain Kia to the two Senators before walking out the door once more.
"So where is Mark anyways?" ask Padme as she apply another Bacta patch over her wound that Mark and Rachelle manage to heal almost all the way with the Force. Even through they done this, she is still very weak, which Rachelle did warn that it was a possibility that she might be weak for awhile since how close the brush of death was.
"He saying he is taking Rachelle somewhere to train a few days. If you ask me, I think he deserves a break from this war and just to train his Padawan." say Amelia. "You are right, he have been working his tail off since he got here. He was already involved in many battles. There was the battle at Mandalore, The Prime Minister try to kill him on Kamino, his mission to Tatooine and Bakura." say Padme.
Amelia did not realize how busy that Mark was. He seems not to have a lot of time to rest. He just came from a war and thrust into a similar war. It is amazing how he can keep his sanity throughout all the action he has to go through.
Then again she always knows that if her son manages to become a knight within the Jed Order his life is going to be busy. Even through his life was going to be difficult and busy, she was proud of the achievements. Even if the son she give birth to is actually dead, but she can already tell her son from a different universe have many great achievements.
Padme slowly got up from her seat on the couch and look through the parts of the disassembly Holodroid that had taken her place slightly before Mark ended its life with a thrust of a plasma blade through its chest piece.
Amelia falls quickly behind her just so she would not fall. They sat down at the table with the droid parts. "Wait a minute there is a recording feed." say Amelia as she pick through the stuff.
Padme looks at Amelia with her eyes widen. She may not be smart with technology as her Bakuran friend, but she knows what that mean. That Holodroid was recording something and sending somewhere else.
"The thing is the feed look like it was damage, and had a delay to it. Which that means that whatever was recording the conversation we had at the time most likely did not got send through the system, before Mark killed it." say Amelia as she looks at her Senator friend.
"Could we trace the signal." say Padme. "That depends. With that delay action, it only sends feeds after the delay is over and cut connection. Therefore the only way to trace the signal is when it went off. Unless it has a backup feed, which will be a very weak coded signal." say Amelia.
Padme just shakes her head, how could Amelia knows all of that information. It seem like she have first hand experiences at making those machines and know how they operate. "How in the world you know all this stuff?" ask Padme.
"Ah, my family runs a business on Bakura that sells and makes droids and other equipment. I basically have first hand experience with this stuff. When I am at Bakura I will help them out during my stays." say Amelia as she looks through the other part of the droid. She snaps open a hatch in the arm and found a knife with dried blood on it.
"I am guessing that is what tried to kill you, all we have to do is link this droid to someone and that owner will face punishment of attempted murder. Thanks to the Droid Statutes that is in place in the Constitution." say Amelia.
That got both Senators smiling. If they can make a connection with this droid and Palpatine then they got him real good. The smiles faded, if they cannot link it to him then there is not point. If the manage to find who owns the droid it might not be under Palpatine name. That is what they have to be careful of, because Palpatine could have someone else get the droid.
They have been more and more attempts on the lives of the Senators who stand strong with Mark and in his plan to take down Palpatine. They are getting more and more dangerous, personally Mark made sure they are well protected. He has groups of the best Clone Troopers in the 3rd Legion go with them. Some Jedi Knights stand guard over them.
Some of the Jedi that went to protect them is end up dying sometimes. It was like chaos has open up around Mark. Lives of those he swore to protect in this universe are getting destroyed. He knows the Senators are putting on a brave face, but deep down he knows that they are beginning to fear for their lives. Even that fear was not enough to break away from him. They still want to do what is best for the Republic.
The attempts on their lives have been on the Holonet News. They did hammer down on the fact that it happen during Jedi watching over them. Mark have seen this game played before, Palpatine is trying to turn the public against the Jedi, so when he disband the Jedi Order, even if he does not manage to get Anakin, they will be wanted.
There have been some protest at the Jedi Temple, but that is no surprise. There are bunch of people within the Republic protesting that Jedi is going out of their ways during the war, and that they suppose to be peacekeepers now warriors.
Mark approaches the temple. As he walks through the crowd of protesters, he ignores them. Then when one of them grabs him Mark knock their hand off his shoulder and turn around. "Don't you people have anything to do? This temple is a place for learning the Force. How do you expect the younglings within the temple to study! Come shoo! I know you guys have jobs, now let us do ours." say Mark.
"No, we have a right to protest! It is because of you Jedi that this war is going on! You shouldn't even be involved with the war. You guys always say your are peacekeepers, how is this keeping peace! Some of our homes on other planets were destroyed by the war!" say a female Togruta. Mark sighs as he looks at her. "You are only protesting because your homes were destroyed by the war. Please do explain how that is the Jedi fault. If anything you guys should be protesting at the Chancellor. The government is in charge of that. They should have something going on that will help you out." say Mark.
"What about the rest of the war!" snaps a male human behind the Togruta. "Sometime in order to keep peace we must fight. In order for the peace to live on, it must be fought for. As Jedi, we are peacekeepers, but to keep that peace we must defend that peace. We are only fighting this war for that reason. You should also be protesting to the Chancellor about that. As the leader of the Republic he should be having talks with the leader of the Separatist movement try to stop the war. He is not trying hard enough. The Jedi are not to be blame for everything." say Mark before walking away from the protesters. He knows he got some of them thinking.
Through the Force Mark have found where Rachelle was. She was in the Jedi Archives. Mark walks through the halls. When he enters the Archives he notices Jocasta Nu, cleaning some of the shelf. Right then a vision flashes through his mind of what had happen in the Archives back in his universe during Order 66.
In the vision he sees Darth Vader, also known as Anakin Skywalker, demanding Master Jocasta to open the temple beacon so that he can plant the message for all Jedi to return to the temple, because the Clone Wars is over. Being the Jedi she was, Master Jocasta refused to do is and Vader lifted her with the Force and send his light saber through her heart. That was when all the other Jedi studying in the Archive activates their Lightsabers, and the fight within the Archives had begun.
Mark shakes his head to clear his thoughts about that vision. He walks and finds Rachelle on a computer. Mark walks pass the bronze busts of the Lost 20. Which are busts of Jedi who left the Jedi Order. Dooku's bust is the latest to join it, making the Lost 19 into the Lost 20.
"Rachelle, we are going on a little trip. Just you and me to a place that I was trained by my mentor, Master Kota." say Mark lightly as he looks at his Padawan. "Master, we cannot just get up and leave what about the plan and this war?" ask Rachelle.
"It not going to hurt it. Still, you are a Padawan; I must train you rather of my plan or this war. A few days would not harm. Plus the Council agrees that it is a good idea. So get ready." say Mark before walking out of the Archives. Walking out of the Archives, Mark runs into someone by accident. Mark stumbles backwards a bit and looks at who he runs into.
Standing there with powerful brown eyes and gray hair was Master Rahm Kota. "So the stories are true. You are back." say Kota as he looks at Mark. "Something like that Master." say Mark with a slight smile on his face. "Thought I would never see you again. Let me guess Parallel Dimension?" ask Kota. Mark was floored when he hears this. "I thought you never believe in that stuff." say Mark.
"Well, it is the only possible explanation. You cannot come back from the dead, and plus it is impossible to Clone a Jedi." say Kota. "Most would believe that the theory of Parallel Dimension is impossible." say Mark as he looks away.
"I sense you are face with a difficult plan that can go wrong in so many ways. You are not here just to help out in this war are you? There something more sinister being play in this war is it?" say Kota as he looks at the person who is exactly like the person he trained. He is willing to bet that in the other universe, he trained Mark too. As he waits for an answer, he cannot help but think of the times they spent training.
"You can say so." say Mark as he begins to walk away. "Boy, I know there more to that then what you are telling me." say Kota. "Trust me Master, it going to be mind blowing. Let just say if I fails at my mission, you can kiss this life good by. I did some major planning to decrease the possibility. The best thing to do is stay out of my way and watch the show proceeds as it should. I am sorry Master, but that is all I can tell. It is great to see you again. May the Force be with you." say Mark as he walks away.
"I think whatever you have plan, the Force needs to be with you more than it does with me, my friend." say Kota as he watches as Mark walks away from him. He walks into the Archives just as Rachelle was walking out.
Kota stops and watches her walk by him. So that is whole Rachelle's new mentor is. Why is he not surprised, that his former Padawan will get a Padawan that has been difficult for all the Jedi that have trained her.
An Eta-class shuttle awaits Mark in one of the Hangers of the Jedi Temple. Mark crosses his arms as he waits for his Padawan to arrive. When Rachelle arrives they got on the shuttle. The hanger doors open as Mark starts the shuttle up. Then they were off flying through Coruscant traffic and out into space.
Once they were a safe distance from Coruscant they went into Hyperspace to their designation, which is not that far from Coruscant, they are still in the Core of the galaxy. Mark refuse to tell Rachelle where they were going so she started to be annoying and begin to ask the most annoying traveling question that there is. "Are we almost there yet?" say Rachelle for only the Force knows how many times. Mark had lost count of the numbers, not that he really cared for the numbers anyway about this subject.
Mark is glad that he has more patient then most of the best Jedi in the order. That is most likely the only reason why he could do a plan to take down Sidious that takes great deal of time to do. Plus that patient helps him deal with Rachelle greatly.
"I still do not think it is a good idea to go on this trip." say Rachelle as she crosses her arms after finding out that her mentor is not getting annoyed with her childish traveling antics. "Do not worry about it. As long as the Jedi Order still standing, I am going to train you as if I train all my other Padawans, rather you like it or not." say Mark.
Rachelle sighs as she lay back into her seat and look at her mentor. She was trying to help out his plan the best she can. She really does not want the Jedi Order to fall. It hurt her that her mentor has to live through the suffering of sensing deaths of many people he consider friends and ally throughout his life.
It amazes her how he can function so good even after what he experiences. She heard that Bakurans are tough, but no one could be that tough, and she senses that he is still bother by the fact, but he does not let it prevent him doing what he needs to be done.
She smiles at this thought as she looks down to the metal flooring of the shuttle that they were in. She has to admit that there is no other Jedi like her mentor. That strange emotion that she only felt once before appear in her. It seems that this emotion only happens when she is thinking about her mentor or around him sometimes. For some strange reason it feel like something that the Jedi Order would forbid. Why could she not place it?
She bites her lip as she tries to figure out what this new emotion is all about. It was like an intense liking, was the only thing she describes about it. It annoys her like crazy that she cannot pinpoint what this emotion is all about.
Mark was getting a bit worry; his Padawan is being so quiet. "Rachelle are you okay?" ask Mark lightly. "Huh… what?" say Rachelle startled she was so focus on her whole thoughts that when her mentor speak it spoke her. Mark laughs a bit at the confused expression on his Padawan's face.
"What do you want, Master?" ask Rachelle overcoming her confusion. "I was asking if something is wrong. You are being very quiet lately, and you were talkative so far of the trip." say Mark. Rachelle laughs slightly as she look up at her mentor with a smile on her face. "I was just thinking, Master. I must have got lost in my thoughts. Sorry if that disturb you." say Rachelle as she looks back down at the floorboards.
"Do not get to comfortable, the planet we go to have no modern technology. It basically wilderness with tribes of people." say Mark as he points to the camping supplies back in the shuttle. "What? I thought you are going to train me." say Rachelle. "I am." say Mark.
"So where exactly are we heading." ask Rachelle. "Fine, we are heading to Ragoon 6, it is a planet that the Jedi got permission to use as a training ground for practice in the field. We are going to spend some days there to fine tone your skills. The Force is already strong with you, but you are not capable to use it well." say Mark.
"If it helps with the plan and any other problems that threaten the order, I will welcome it." say Rachelle with a smile on her face as she looks back up at Mark and begins to feel that feeling she could not place once more.
That Droid Statutes is actual thing in the Star Wars Universe for more information about that look it up on Wookiepedia.
I also want to thank all the people who have been giving me great reviews for this story. I am glad to those who like this story. I write to give people something good to read.
Until next time, enjoy.