"D0-1T says we should be in sight of the city soon."

"We're six kilometers out," Jon replied. "That thing doesn't know how human eyes work."

Thayla quickly muted the series of angry bleeps coming from inside her cockpit. "Teller, how are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm fine," he responded, suddenly snapping out of his daze.

"You've been quiet ever since we left the temple."

"I just didn't expect to be feeling that." As the young Jedi tried to articulate his feelings, a sense of looming dread washed over him. "It was a lot to take in."

"The galaxy is a rough place. You just have to get used to it."

"Don't talk like that," Thayla told Jon. "We are Jedi. Our job is to keep hope alive, in even the darkest of times."

"Are we even Jedi?"

Teller and Thayla both stared out their cockpits at Jon, but he just looked straight ahead.

"We're all criminals anyway. We've all done things that are far outside their precious code. Maybe we would be better off just accepting that the idea of the Jedi is dead."

Teller was surprised when Thayla didn't answer him, but instead remained painfully silent.

Suddenly, the droid spoke up, sending a message to each of their screens.

Teller looked out of the cockpit and saw that they had finally arrived.

The city of Shilrakaen was a single massive disk, almost five kilometers across and packed from end to end with lit structures and bustling streets.

Buildings rose from top of the disk and stretched from the bottom, down toward the planet's surface. Cables and wires also hung from the underside of the city, some as thick as a human arm and some wider than a house. Teller couldn't see how far they fell from up in the clouds, but he imagined they must have been what left the drag marks in the dust.

Dozens of massive turrets lined the circular structure and every one of them was currently pointing straight up. Smaller anti-aircraft cannons were on rooftops of almost every building and crews of expensive droids moved from building to building providing maintenance.

As they came closer, a voice crackled over their comlinks. "This is Jack Orin. confirming your entry. These are the Jedi Ahor told us about, correct?"

"Correct," Thayla replied.

"Excellent. You have been cleared to land at bay E-14. Please stand by and you will be tractored in."

Before any of them could respond, all three fighters suddenly stopped moving. Moments later they began gently floating forward at a snail's pace, no matter how hard Jon gunned his engine.

"Give it a rest."

"I don't like this. Something is wrong."

Thayla rolled her eyes. "Stop being dramatic. Ahor said he would put in a good word."

"Sure. Right."

He didn't get any happier, but he did finally give up on escape.

They hovered even closer to street level and Teller could see individual citizens walking freely through the streets, but no soldiers, guards or police. After spending weeks in Nordic, it almost seemed odd to see a city without a military presence.

However, he did notice a few domed structures lying right next to the regular shops and apartment buildings, which were probably the gravity well projectors now reeling them in.

The three bright orange fighters were slowly brought into an empty hangar, void of even mechanics or technicians, which was instantly odd.

"I'm starting to get a bad feeling," Teller admitted, but moments later a pair of men did come running in to manually guide the ships into place and keep them from crashing into one another as they landed simultaneously.

The cockpits swung open and though her face betrayed no suspicion, Thayla had tucked both of her lightsabers into the loose sleeves of her Jedi robes, keeping them hidden, but easily accessible.

"You were supposed to have a droid, right?" asked one of the techs. Thayla gestured to her cockpit and the two men quickly got to work disentangling D0-1T.

"Well, I suppose we should plan out what we're going to say."

"I'll just let you do the talking," Jon told her, just before the outer doors to the hangar slid open.

"Hello esteemed guests," said a man in his mid forties, with a very fake-looking smile plastered onto his face. "Jedi, we are glad to have you here in Shilrakaen."

An entourage of almost twenty other men and women followed behind him, wearing an assortment of uniforms and expensive outfits. Some looked like fashionable garb one would expect to see in a posh neighborhood and some was clearly military dress.

"Ahor didn't bother to let us know you would be coming so soon, but luckily another of our esteemed guests let us know."

Jon drew his pistol and Thayla's jaw dropped as a Blood Battalion officer stepped out from the crowd.

However, the man in the lead didn't seem at all worried. "Jedi, this is-"

"Jack Orin," he interjected. "Blood Battalion Officer Third Brass. It's good to finally meet you in person."