The Force's Balance

By Kassien

Chapter 12: Telos; AgriCorps

"Greetings Captain Harry," came the smooth baritone voice of the older of the two gentlemen awaiting us in Hangar Bay D-37, when TC-7H and I disembarked the Marauder in Telos IV to see the pair in their Jedi robes.

"Greetings to you as well Master Jedi," I replied evenly, even if I was a little nervous about the level of involvement the Jedi Order still had over Telos and the AgriCorps in general, which is why my students were all safely inside the Marauder. If this Jedi Master knew of me from my time in Coruscant or was simply using the name registered to my ship that just received permission to land here, I didn't know but was hopefully ready for anything.

"What brings you to Telos?" came his calm and unassuming question, and the lack of familiarity made me think he didn't know me personally, which I hoped was a good sign for my plans here to bear fruit.

"I am here to purchase and transport food to a growing mining settlement near Kashyyyk," I answered knowing that the Wookies would always back me up if asked about me, and not wanting to give them any way to track me back to Atlantis.

"Ah yes, the Wookies have been growing much larger and more powerful lately," came the fishing response based on his expressive face, hoping probably to learn more about what the Wookies were in fact up to, as most of the news on the Galaxy's HoloNet was concerning their recent attempts to enter the political world of the Senate to increase their own standing and representation.

"They just hired me to buy the food Master Jedi," I replied nonchalantly, hoping to not get involved in a long discussion that would force me to lie to the Jedi too much.

"Yes, of course," he answered with a seemingly sad shrug at not getting any actual information out of me before I could feel a small build up in the Force around the older Jedi, before he made a motion with his hands, "but you must know something of the Wookies' goals or plans?"

And there it was, the feeling of being Force compelled to answer the Jedi's question that had me incredulous at his audacity, and somewhat offended that he thought I would cave so easily, but at the same time didn't want to let on that I recognized what he was doing or that I could shrug it off so easily. Instead I played a long for a bit, and spoke in a slight monotone voice that I hoped portrayed the usual response to being Force compelled to answer any question.

"They are expanding their industries, and have a need of more food to feed their growing population and efforts," came my flat response that didn't really give away anything, which I could see from the tightening of the older Jedi's eyes as he listened to my words and learned nothing of interest.

"Very well," came his somewhat clipped response, before gesturing to the younger man probably in his early twenties that stood somewhat uncomfortably in Jedi robes next to him, but didn't seem to have any of his level of power or control of the Force. "This is the Jedi Polus Rectwen, he is a member of the ArgriCorps Council of Masters, though is not a Jedi Master himself. He will assist you with your transaction while I return to the other members of the Council."

"Thank you Master Jedi," I spoke evenly and gave a slight bow to the older man, who simply gave a slight nod and turned and left us with the younger man and two of the accompanying droids who did not follow the older Jedi.

"Right this way Captain," came the soft voice of the remaining Jedi Council Member, as he motioned for us to follow him to a nearby lift that would seemingly take us down to the surface of the planet, and thankfully away from where the Jedi Master just went.

"Thank you Master Jedi ...after you," I replied, knowing he wasn't a Master but trying to get a read on his personality and thoughts with my address, and also hoping to learn more about those here.

"I'm not a Jedi Master," came his quick and somewhat clipped response.

"You are on their Council, but they didn't give you the rank? That seems kind of petty," I answered, hoping to see if he divulged more information about himself and how things really ran here.

"I was never even selected as a Padawan," came his somewhat bitter response. "It would be hard to elevate me to Master just because I've worked here for over ten years."

"Are there a lot of Jedi working here that were never selected as Padawans?" came my inquisitive reply, wondering how many Force sensitives were actually involved in AgriCorps.

"Most of the workers here never reached Padawan status, the ones that did could probably be counted in the single digits," he answered matter of factly. "We'll occasionally get a Padawan, Knight or Master coming for a temporary assignment ...but they are rare and usually keep to themselves."

"So just how many Jedi workers are there here?" I asked genuinely curious.

"Close to two-thousand," he answered without hesitation as we finally reached the bottom of the lift and were lead into a medium sized reception room with several desks spread out, each with a Jedi in brown robes sitting at work stations, while a few had customers across the desks from them apparently writing up orders. "Here, my desk is over here."

He led us to a small door in the back left corner of the office, one of several that ran around the larger open space in the reception room and to a clean spartan office with a desk, a mounted datapad acting as a computer, and a pair of visitor chairs. I motioned for TC-7H to stand behind me as I took one of the visitors chairs as Jedi Polus Rectwen seated himself behind said desk where he could access the computer and hopefully input our order. He seemed quite fit if a little slender, with dark brown hair kept relatively short, kind light brown eyes that spoke of intelligence and carried himself very well, and I wondered how far he got in his Jedi training before being assigned to the AgriCorps.

I didn't want to risk a direct legilimens spell on a Force sensitive just in case it backfired on me, but I was able to scan his surface thoughts as we placed our order and I continued to ask random questions about his skills and training trying to get a read from his thoughts as they encountered the different questions and stimuli. It turned out that he was relatively happy with his life here, as he enjoyed working with his hands and the relationships he had made and the progression through the ranks and into the Council. He had never really taken to lightsaber combat and some of the more combative ideals of the Jedi and Force training, and this way he could still help the galaxy though he knew his contentment was not the norm among the Jedi workers in the fields.

As our order was almost done being written up, and his surprise at the total size of the order was somewhat clear to see, I finally got the question that had his mind thinking about what I was really looking for. Those not content with the way things were, were numerous and were often led by one Jedi named Srat-Difo Dustark, who had tried numerous times to flee the AgriCorps and even tried to start a rebellion two years ago. He had been in AgriCorps for more than a decade, and was resentful and bitter towards the Jedi Order as a whole, and often had to be punished and isolated from others to avoid bigger problems.

"And that completes your order Captain," spoke Polus after some time keying everything into their system, "it will take about an hour until we can pull and have everything brought to your hangar bay D-37. Would you prefer to wait with your ship or wait here?"

"We'll wait with my ship if that's agreeable to you, Jedi Polus?" I answered, glad for the chance to get on my ship away from the cameras and eyes of the various Jedi, so I might be able to explore and locate a certain unsatisfied Jedi.

"Of course Captain Harry," he replied easily, "we will notify you through your ship's comm channel when your order is being brought up to the hangar."

"Thank you," I replied easily and led my droid back out of the office, up the elevator, and into my waiting ship.

Once onboard the Marauder, I quickly transfigured three cloaks for my students into a matching version I saw on all the other Jedi in the AgriCorps and left TC-7H to man the comm channel and alert me when I was needed to accept the delivery. I grabbed my students and apparated them to one of the few higher ground locations I was able to see out of Jedi Polus' window, and provided a great view of the vast fields that spread in every direction filled with countless others in brown robes working away. Pulling out my wand for this, I asked my magic to point me to Jedi Srat-Difo Durstark and then disillusioned everyone and led my group on another apparition to as far as I could see in that direction and performed the spell again.

It took a few more point me spells to narrow down and locate Srat-Difo, and once I managed to recognize him from Jedi Polus' memories, I undid the disillusionment spell and sent my students out around me to try and convince as many others as they could that wanted more Force training to head towards Srat-Difo's location. I told them to tell the others that Srat-Difo was being helped by a former Jedi friend into organizing more training for those interested in something more than the AgriCorps had to offer, and didn't mention the "trust me" runes I put into each of their cloaks. Hopefully they would be able to convince some Force sensitives to join our cause without any help, and I could just worry about how to hide their escape from the other Jedi.

"Srat-Difo," I called out, as I neared the large burly black haired man with the thick beard and chest that was currently bent over a small plant on his knees in the midst of the large field.

"Yeah, that's me," he called out, looking up at me with sharp dark brown eyes that conveyed his weariness, and a bit of curiosity at who I was and why I was seeking him out.

"My name is Captain Harry Potter," I started, being completely honest with the man I was trying to recruit to my side. "I was recently asked to leave the Jedi Temple on Coruscant after the Council deemed me too old and set in my ways to train in the ways of the Jedi. I have since, along with my older brother started colonizing an old abandoned planet in the Outer Rim, and started training in the ways of the Force along with a small handful of young Force sensitive students we recovered from slavery and wanted to invite you to join us. We have plenty of money and resources for training, and are hoping to offer an alternative to the strictness of the Jedi Code and their limited understanding of the Force."

"Why me?" he asked gruffly, though I could see the desire in his eyes when I mentioned Force training, though he tried to hide it well under a strict facade.

"One of my own unique skills is reading the surface thoughts of others," I started and paused a moment to let that sink in, "and after coming here to purchase food for our new planet ...I discovered that several Force sensitives such as yourself where not entirely happy with how the Jedi abandoned you here in the AgriCorps."

"If you are Force sensitive," he replied to my pitch, "why can't I sense you at all?"

"I am currently suppressing my Force presence, so as not to alert the Jedi here of who and what exactly I am," I responded.

"Are you Sith?" he spat out as he eyed me a little more warily.

"No," I replied quickly, "I do have access though to Sith as well as Jedi holocrons and teachings, and am not so short sighted to believe that everything the Sith did was inherently evil, just as I don't believe the Jedi are inherently good. The Force is nothing more than a tool, it is up to the individual and their choices on how that tool is used and applied."

"And you would train me?" he asked with hope clearly coming through his voice, "what do you get out of it?"

"Another student," I replied honestly and after a moment where he just continued to look at me I continued a bit. "My brother and I come from a planet that practiced magic ...and yes I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is the truth. My magic acts differently from the Force, but I also have access to those Force powers as well, one of the reasons I was able to stay in the Jedi Temple for two months as they debated on teaching me. I wasn't a fan of the strictness of the social aspects and lack of relationships, and even less thrilled with the Good Guy Image they tried a little too hard to portray themselves as and their involvement with the Galactic Government was equally troubling. Throw in their blindness when it came to anything they didn't immediately understand and quickness to label something dark and therefore forbidden, the Jedi Council would always rub me the wrong way and be stifling. I want to study everything, and not limit myself to what someone else deems 'safe' for me, and want others to have that same opportunity. Especially those of you who were promised to become Jedi, only to be abandoned as slaves in the Mid Rim after removing you all from your families and any lives you could have returned to without you really having a say. We have already started a school for Magic and the Force to be taught to any and all that want to learn, and I hoped you might want a chance to be a part of it?"

"I am very interested," replied Srat-Difo seriously, and I could tell he was, "but ...I am unable to leave the AgriCorps."

"I think I can help you with that," I smirked as I built up a spell in the palm of my hand that was visible to the now wide eyed man, before releasing an EMP type pulse that spread for a few miles in every direction, and instantly knocked out any of the nearby cameras or technology they used to keep track of things in this area, and sent a tingle of power through every Force sensitive within range.

"What was that?" came his hasty question as he jumped up and instantly started frantically looking around for any changes.

"A magical pulse that should have shorted out all the technology and monitoring equipment in the area," I answered with a wide grin, while his face went through cycles of shock and awe until settling on a wide smile that matched my own. "Here come my students now," I continued as I gestured around us at the three groups of people slowly approaching our position that could now be clearly seen.

Zanih had the largest group with just over twenty people, while my youngest two each had over a dozen at least following in their wake as they all quickly approached our position. I noticed that most were still relatively young and in their teens, while a few were a bit older, though none as old as Srat-Difo who was easily over thirty and all seemed to be excited as they approached us. I turned to Srat-Difo and asked him if there was anyone specifically that he knew would want to join us that wasn't in the approaching groups as we were running out of time to hide our escape.

He provided three names that he knew of that were in different, but at least neighboring fields and as he spoke I took a quick look at his surface thoughts to try and get a better picture of each of them to help out my magic a bit. I then told everyone to be prepared to leave shortly, as what I was about to do would probably be noticed by everyone else on the planet, and wanted to use that power to cover their escape, by creating a small explosion once we were gone. The explosion I had planned would hopefully account for all the nearby people no longer being on the planet, so the Jedi wouldn't think they defected but in fact died and would hopefully much more easily cover our tracks.

"Accio Jedi Etio Raniere, accio Jedi Hoskyl, accio Jedi Selvinne Jackba," I intonned loudly and everyone present felt the large wave of magic that exploded out of me in every direction, causing all the newcomers to comically widen their eyes in shock, and many of them to start asking if that was what they felt a few minutes earlier when I was knocking out the electrical monitoring equipment.

That excited shock changed to stunned disbelief moments later when they heard the first yells of three approaching figures being pulled towards me at speeds only a Jedi Knight could probably attain as they scrambled out of the way of the three incoming missiles. I decided to try something I had only recently read about during my own studies, and tried to grab hold of the active magic of the accio charm and twist it non-verbally into three petrification spells. Turns out, it was insanely hard, and probably would have been a lot easier if I had practiced on one person instead of jumping right to three, but luckily I persevered ….barely.

The Elder Wand probably played a large part in not ripping all three people apart as my twisting of the spell hadn't accounted much for the momentum of the flying beings, and put a large strain on my magic and mental focus trying to keep them all alive and like this was commonplace. Gratefully they were only wide eyed and scared shitless when they came to an immediate and probably somewhat rough stop directly in front of me and Srat-Difo who was staring at them with the largest eyes I had ever seen on a human outside of Luna. There were many shouts now from all the gathered wide eyed AgriCorps members for Srat-Difo to explain what the hell was going on, from both those who walked here and those who flew magically, but I interrupted them all before they got talking too long.

"I'm sorry to cut you all short," I started loudly overriding everyone's questions and exclamations of surprise and bringing everyones' attention onto me, "but if you truly want to escape the AgriCorps for a chance to learn more about your Force powers we need to move quickly. I can already sense that my little stunt here has alerted the AgriCorps Council that something is amiss in this blacked out sector of the fields. It will be only minutes until they arrive here, and we need to be gone by then."

"How can we trust you?" came one question.

"How can we just leave the Jedi?" came another, and made me realize many of them had similar questions, and that I was going to have to give them all my spiel as well.

"I know you all have a lot of questions," I spoke up loudly to get everyone to stop asking more questions, and to hopefully get this moving along, "but our time is limited so I will just say this ...my name is Harry Potter and I too have Force powers and was sent out from the Jedi Temple for being too old to train, but I am also resourceful and wealthy, and am continuing my Force education at the Marauder Institute of Magic and the Force ...and am offering all of you a place at my school and a chance to continue your Force training, as well as a chance for a real life."

"What's the Marauder Institute?" came a question that seemed to be shared by many as the nods of several heads moved in sync.

"A school pretty far away, that will allow you all to continue learning about your Force powers and train to do whatever you want," I answered and gave a quick look around at all the considering faces, and felt pretty happy to have this much interest.

"Are you all ready?" I asked, focusing mostly on Srat-Difo as the leader and eldest of the group as I pulled a ring out of my pocket and enlarged it before everyones' wide eyes. "If you want a different life, the choice has to be made now. Everyone that wants to come has to grab onto this ring and not let go until I tell you or you will be left behind forever ...this is a one time deal."

As I pulled out my wand and chanted the portkey spell underneath my breath, causing the now large brass ring to glow an electric blue that had those reaching out for to hesitate for a moment before Srat-Difo stepped forward and confidently grabbed the ring and was soon followed over the next few seconds by every single one present.

"I'll follow right behind you," I spoke confidently to the now gathered crowd who were all looking at me like I was the second coming of Jesus ...or Harry Potter in the Leaky Cauldron. "Activate."

The large flash and pulse of magic would also be felt by those now approaching this sector of the fields, and I was running out of time to cover our tracks. I cast a quick and powerful 'homenum revelio' spell hoping it caught any non-human being still in the blast radius and when it came back negative, I spiked my power for a brief moment and cast a large blasting curse at the ground in front of my feet that seemed to cause a great deal of visible damage and a long growing trench was opened on the ground, as I disapparated back to the Marauder to the distant rumbling sounds of a large earthquake seemingly going off over the fields of Telos our group just departed from. Quickly making my way to my ship's storage room, I found a tangle of limbs and bodies as everyone fell to the ground upon arrival from the disorienting portkey trip but quickly quieted when I spoke out to them all.

"I just exploded a large part of the fields we just left to hopefully cover the tracks of everyone who will hopefully now be considered deceased by the Jedi Order after they investigate the blast," I spoke loudly and quickly over the den of noise as people tried righting themselves and standing up. "I am going to go out into the hangar bay and inquire what just happened, as it would look suspicious otherwise. Hopefully within the next dozen minutes or so, our food order will arrive and we can be on our way. In the meantime, I am sorry for the cramped quarters, but please bear with me and I will get everyone sorted out and more comfortable very shortly."

"Yes sir," came the response from my three young students, who had separated themselves from the group and stood off to the side looking a little rumpled but otherwise fine.

"These are three of my students," I motioned to the three youngsters who all lowered their hoods as the many gathered faces turned to look at them and was grateful that nobody expressed any shock or discomfort with the two young half-Red Sith boys and the slightly older Zabrak, "they can answer your questions while I'm gone ...but please be patient, they can't answer everything."

With that, I turned and left the storage room and headed out of the ship and down the ramp to the hangar bay, where a lot more activity than earlier was present. I tried asking a passing Jedi in a brown robe, but was ignored as he rushed to the lift to get down to the surface along with several others who had already crowded around the area. My calls for what happened were only answered with a "we don't know ...some kind of explosion on the planet" and left it at that until I heard anything else.

I returned to the cockpit of the Marauder, just as a general comm announcement came over it from the port controller that all ships are currently grounded as they discover and investigate the explosion on Telos, but that all orders will be fulfilled as they can, but were at present stretched thin in manpower to deliver the orders. With that message, I asked TC-7H to continue monitoring the situation and alert me the moment we were given more information and went to Sirius' old room to greet and tell our other three guests what was happening and get started on expanding the ship for our new passengers. I decided to bring all the females into the spare tent in Sirius' old room and move the men over to Kenroo's suite, and asked Jeana, Gred and Forge if they wanted to be grouped with the others or in spare rooms made available inside my own tent.

Luckily, neither of them minded sharing with others and I had the twins grab their stuff and wait, while I organized the tent a bit and started partitioning off spaces for all the probably ten females to share the space together giving Jeana first pick as our longest resident. I then brought the twins over to Kenroo's suite and totally expanded it again in the Living Area, Bedroom, and Bath until it could probably fit the other forty or so males in the group even if it was dorm style living conditions for now. I then conjured dozens of cots and hammocks until I had 40 beds, and again let the twins get first pick before I returned to the cockpit to see if there had been any updates.

My timing was pretty good, as after only a few seconds of arriving and filling TC-7H in on our new passengers, the comm dinged and we were being told that our order was slightly delayed but would be arriving via droid delivery within the next twenty minutes and they apologized for any inconvenience. With that out of the way, I went back to the storage room and announced that we would be leaving Telos in the next half an hour and that I had managed to create enough beds for everyone and would give them all a quick tour of the ship. I showed off the medical center, gym and training room, and then the cafeteria before leading them to the rooms they were staying in and letting them all pick their own beds and to let me know if there weren't enough.

Several of them asked what kind of ship we were on with this much residential space as the layout threw many of them off, but I mostly ignored their questions with the standard "it's a custom ship" and left it at that. I was rather shocked to learn that of the 48 new passengers only three of them weren't at least partial humans, and wondered if there was some anti-human bias among the Jedi if this many human learners were never paired with Knights or Masters, but would wonder about that another time. With enough beds for the 38 new males and 10 new females, I introduced everyone to Jeana, Graldesh and Frodesh, as fellow passengers recently rescued from slavery and looking to start new lives in Atlantis, and then spoke briefly about our ultimate destination in Atlantis and how far we still had to go to reach it.

At that point, TC-7H came over the ship's intercom to let me know the food delivery was making its way up and would be here shortly, and I quickly told everyone that we would be on our way soon enough, and we had plenty of time to get to know one another and ask any questions they had. The acceptance of the delivery went smoothly, primarily because it was delivered completely by droids who didn't question how I was going to fit so much food into my small freighter, and I quickly signed off on the datapad provided and loaded my cargo into the cargo hold before requesting permission to leave the spaceport, firing up the engines and taking off, without thinking twice about what my actions may have started.

"Yes, I've heard the new Jedi Code," I responded to Srat-Difo with an acknowledging nod of my head, looking around me at the eager faces staring back at me, and knew this discussion and the others like it would be instrumental in getting the former Jedi AgriCorps members on my side, "personally ...I liked the old one I heard much better."

"Emotion, yet peace.

Ignorance, yet knowledge.

Passion, yet serenity.

Chaos, yet harmony.

Death, yet the Force."

I let the words resonate a moment to let the others really think on those words, knowing from earlier conversations that most of the former AgriCorp members had only known of the new Jedi Code. I slowly continued speaking, knowing I had everyone's attention on me as we sat around the cafeteria having another talk about the Force and philosophies.

"The new version many of you grew up with, would have you believe there were no emotions ...which is total bullshit. Anyone who tells you NOT to feel things and have emotions is trying to brainwash you and put you against the natural order. For humans, having emotions is a guarantee, just as it is with many other beings throughout the galaxy, it is scientific fact. No amount of communing with the Force or blocking yourself off from a part of yourself is ever a good idea, so I am going to start working with you the same way I started with our other former students ...and that is understanding and learning healthy ways to deal with your emotions."

Those first few days on board the Marauder with now fifty-five people total including myself, was a bit hectic and insane as there was literally no real room for everyone to have their own space though everyone made due as best they could. The hardest part for me was answering hours of questions after we left Telos about nearly everything from my own powers, thoughts on Jedi and Sith doctrine and teachings, my new school and planet, my older brother Sirius and our family on Atlantis. The most asked about however, were the inquiries into my ship's capabilities and specs, since it seemed to be continually expanding or adding more things into it every time they requested something new or looked around.

That was mostly explained by me giving an entire ship wide lesson on my magic and the incredible and dangerous things it could do and create, or transform and destroy. I really made that point stick when I brought everyone over to the cargo hold they all originally arrived in and before their disbelieving eyes, transfigured a large pool size hot tub for anyone to enjoy, complete with separate gender specific bathrooms with more showers and toilets, as that was the biggest complaint from that first day on board. After that demonstration, everyone looked at me with a lot more awe and excitement, that magic instruction was also going to be included and available for everyone who proved capable of performing it, had already won over many of the former AgriCorp Jedi.

The other big thing that happened after that first day was a demonstration on what I had been teaching my three current students in the way of lightsaber combat and Force techniques, which had most of the gathered former Jedi younglings salivating at finally being allowed to learn beyond what most were taught in the Academies. I also stressed that these teachings were all second to our first and most important teaching in Occlumency, which I explained with the help of my three students as the control and protection of your own mind, memories, and emotions which started the long debate on the Jedi Code and my stance on emotions. I continued to argue that having emotions was completely natural, and to deny that was fundamentally damaging to oneself, and therefore encouraged Occlumency which helped us understand and process our emotions in a healthy way that led to better control and decisions in our lives.

One of the many discussions on emotions ultimately led to one on relationships, and I again had to argue that healthy relationships were a good thing and would not hinder anyone's ability to do anything as long as they maintained a good emotional control and not let their emotions control them. I added that I was currently in a relationship, but due to issues from my past I was unable to have children, not that I was unwilling, and added that my older brother was recently married and expecting their first child and had no problems with either. I mentioned the Golden Rule of "doing to others what you would want them to do to you" as the basic philosophy behind everything I believed in, which to me was so fundamentally important and how I hoped to live my life.

I could tell in those first few days many of the new recruits were somewhat skeptical of everything I was showing and teaching them, but hoped in their own time they would come to understand what I was trying to do and join us. I didn't force anyone to listen to only me, and engaged in good healthy debates on a variety of philosophical and practical ideals, and considered everyone's point of view and circumstances to be different and shape the way they thought about a subject and didn't try to control them. I remarked often that I was not a Jedi or a Sith, not brought up drinking either of their coolaids, and basically being brainwashed into believing they were the sole arm of good or evil in the entire Galaxy. I didn't see the galaxy, sentient beings, magic, or the Force in strictly black and white terms, and I was fundamentally opposed to others telling me how to live my life or behave.

I gave everyone on board the choice to at any time be let off the ship to go their own way in life, and that I would wish them well and give them a little something to hopefully make those lives a little better, but wasn't here to force them into my way of thinking. I wasn't a Jedi or Sith, I was just a man who had seen and learned so much that I felt I owed it to others to teach them and give them the tools to make their own lives better, and that was how I hoped to continue my life. No one so far had taken me up on leaving though, so for now I continued on as I had been getting to know one another, and mostly letting them all get to know me.

Everyday for those who wanted to begin training, I would sit with them and begin the long process of meditation and calming the mind to prepare them for Occlumency, usually taking place in the large community hot tub. While I taught the newcomers, I allowed my three youngest students to continue with their lightsaber practice in the now partitioned off training area, and left the gym area open for everyone to use if they needed to burn some energy. By the end of the first week, every single newcomer was attending these beginning Occlumency lessons in the pool sized hot tub and progress was actually starting to be made.

The Jedi's Force training for young students required a lot of meditation, so that aspect was much more easily picked up for these newcomers who had all experienced meditating in their past and were quick to want to get to the rest of the Force training. I reminded them all that this step was not to be rushed or half-assed, as Occlumency was the foundation for having a healthy understanding of emotions and in having control of your own mind. I passed out datapads with the textbooks that everyone of my students and myself had read on the mental discipline, and some were slowly starting to find their inner minds and advance past the first stage of meditating.

It wasn't all work though, and every evening I would make people take breaks so as to not overwork themselves or put too much stress on their minds and instead allowed them to play with restoring droids, taking turns learning about and using blasters in the training room, and even put up a small obstacle course to ensure they were constantly pushing themselves physically as well as mentally. I also sat down in smaller groups and individually with some and simply talked, learning of their history and things they enjoyed and in turn wanted to learn either in the world or in relation to their Force powers. Many of them did actually enjoy the farming they did on Telos in smaller increments, but disliked that they were given no real choice once they were deemed too old by the Jedi Council and not selected as Padawans, and practically made slaves to the AgriCorps with little to no further instructions with the Force.

A few of the newcomers also were fascinated by spaceships and piloting, and were told that the opportunities to follow what you yourself wanted was going to be available to all of them, as I wasn't recruiting them to join my Order or police the galaxy for me, but to give them the tools to make their own ways in the world. Did I hope that most of them would stay in Atlantis or somewhere within our growing Empire? ...Sure, but I wouldn't force anyone to do something they opposed and actually wanted them to find their own niche and if that helped Atlantis down the road, then all the better.

I also freely admitted that I didn't know everything or always have an answer, and was willing to learn myself if something interested me. Like their ability to manipulate plant life and soil with certain Force techniques that were commonplace on Telos, but I was interested in learning myself, and allowed them to demonstrate and teach me as well, which went a long way to gaining their acceptance. I tried to stay open and approachable if anyone was having troubles understanding something or needed anything to make their stay easier, and never held it against someone if they wanted time off for themselves or wanted to skip a lesson.

"Um Harry?" came the quiet voice of Selvine Jackba, as the large hot tub discussion group was just finishing a long discussion of the Force and how I wanted to help find a good balance that works for every individual. Catered directly to them and their own needs and desires, and not those of some larger entity or quasi-religious Order. "What do I do about a bad memory I encountered?"

My sad smile as I watched her almost shut down emotionally, obviously somewhat reliving the newly awakened bad memory, had me reach out to take her hand in mind and give it a reassuring squeeze as she continued.

"I had almost forgotten about it after repressing it for so long," she went on, with wet eyes as I steered her over to the side of the room away from the others staying to relax in the hot tub now that the morning discussions were over and most people would move on to lunch and more afternoon lessons, "but those mental exercises we are doing before bed woke something up last night and made me realize that the forgotten memory is still there as part of it was in my dreams last night."

"The sorting and storing of memories is one of the most personal and intimate things a person can do within their own mind," I replied evenly, although I did lower my voice so as not to project our discussion to everyone, even if there were probably others who would need similar help, this was a very personal and private thing. "There are a few techniques and even a potion you can take to help deal with repressed memories, to help them come to the surface and be dealt with. I can show you some books and techniques, or give you a potion for tonight to help bring the memory all the way back ...or, I can join you inside your mind and help you find and deal with the repressed memory."

"Is there a way to forget the memory?" she asked in a small voice, and I could just tell from the cracking sound of her voice that it would be very painful for her to continue experiencing it based on her outward reaction, and made me speculate on what had happened and not liking the most likely explanation of a Force technique being used on her to hide someone's sinful actions.

"Yes," I answered with a sad sigh, "I can magically remove the memory ...but it has it's own drawbacks, and usually has a detrimental effect on a person's long term memory, and I wouldn't recommend it.

Selvinne started crying a little bit, and I knew that I would need to deal with this immediately, and asked her to accompany me to my tent's Living Room where we could have some privacy to work on her fractured and repressed memory. I had her sit down and given a calming drought to help her settle a bit, and then started talking through the process of my mental avatar linking with her mind and own avatar and helping her navigate her own mind and the repressed memory. It took a minute for her to get into her meditation, before I could cast a Legilimency spell and enter her mindscape, and was happy to see her mental image was very similar to her reality, and the very slow progress in creating her mindscape had already begun.

My mental avatar was quick to give my hand to Selvinne's avatar, and begin to lead her through her own mindscape, pointing out things I could recognize, and showing the orbiting memories that flew all around the mindscape in no particular pattern, and described what some Occlumens did to help them sort and store those memories, showing her an example of several different style I had encountered until she found something she liked. I explained that most of the Occlumency process was the sorting and storing of these loose memories, and removing the emotional attachments tied to the memory, while building up the mindscape itself into an internal representation of you.

It took a little while of pushing and sifting memories out of the way, until I discovered the slowly rotting tree off in the distance, and brought my charge out to it. I was pretty sure we had found the memory in question, as Selvinne's avatar had no desire to go anywhere near that tree, and only clammed up whenever she got too close. I had to give her some comfort and encourage her that I was here to help and wouldn't allow her to do this alone, and that we needed to view the memory and start on the tedious and painful process of pulling out the emotions associated with the memory so Selvinne could advance and thrive going forward, and reached out with our joined hands to touch the tree and get pulled into the probably seven or eight year old memory based on Selvinne's young age of 13 in the scene.

Selvinne was working with her advanced class of mostly other 11-13 year olds in their final section dealing with controlling their growing Force powers, where they would hopefully be pulled to become Padawans before they got too old. She had already seen one of her former classmates, having turned 14 last year and not having been selected as a Padawan, was sent to the AgriCorps on Telos and she was now only a week away from her own 14th birthday and afraid the same fate awaited her. She had been working so hard for so long to become a real Jedi Padawan, and she felt her chances growing smaller every day she wasn't asked to meet with a Jedi Knight or Master.

She had almost given up completely on ever being selected when she was sent a short note to meet with Jedi Knight Rolf Demeter after her last class of the day, and couldn't contain her excitement that she was finally going to be selected as a Padawan and raced through the rest of her day. When the time came, she practically ran to the room listed on the short note, and was overjoyed to see a real Jedi Knight standing there tall and powerful. She didn't think anything of meeting in his spartan quarters, and quickly answered his basic questions about her age and studies, asking her opinion on a few topics, and getting her assessment of her fellow students or the other teachers she most interacted with at the Jedi Temple, and all seemed perfect.

I noticed the moment the memory turned, as the Selvinne representation next to me had stiffened immediately when her younger self was touched by the older man, and almost collapsed in on herself as the memory continued to play out in a sick fashion. What happened next had me immediately hugging the sobbing girl next to me as she finally relived the full memory of the night she was raped and passed over as a Padawan by a fellow Jedi. After he had finished the deplorable act, we watched as he tried to twist the Force to compel the memory to be repressed, which had a detrimental affect on her Force powers, as most of her own powers were now feeding the repressing Force power, and making her weaker at the same time.

I tried to remember as many details as I could about the rapist, as I would definitely be searching him out in the future, and also thought about the best way to store this memory and remove the emotions and Selvinne's own Force powers that were tied up in repressing it. I spent several hours inside her mind helping her fix the damage, showing her how to remove the emotions, and store that memory away so it wouldn't continue to affect and hurt the 22 year old former Jedi. By the time we were done, and I retreated from her mind, Selvinne was well on her way to being the most advanced of all the new students in the Mind Arts, and very thankful and grateful to the help I provided with her memory, and the help I was providing now by giving them all a chance at a new life filled with the Force.

"I can't believe that utter asshole," came her angered shout after I gave her a butterbeer and sat across from her with one of my own, knowing she probably needed to talk and normalize herself again after such a long time spent inside her mindscape. "I wonder if he is still a Jedi?"

"I can find out if you want?" I replied with a bloodthirsty grin of my own, that was soon matched by one on Selvinne's younger and prettier face.

"How?" she asked in wonder and excitement.

"I may or may not have copied the Jedi Archives when I was staying at the Temple," I responded with a deadpan delivery that had her staring at me with wide, unbelieving eyes.

"You have access to the Jedi Archives?" she almost whispered reverently, to which I could only chuckle and wink, not wanting to incriminate myself.

"That was my dream ...to work in the Archives," she responded with a wistful sigh of her own.

"If that's what you want, and you aren't hurting yourself or others to make it happen, than you can be our first Force Researcher or teacher, and help us grow our teachings and techniques," I replied with a kind smile to the oldest and only female in the group past her teenage years, as she was quite smart, and had been picking up what I was trying to teach them all about how important these early steps of Occlumency would help them in getting control of their emotions, and was a quick study of everything she saw today.

From that point, Selvinne made sure to be at every class, discussion, or lesson I had, and encouraged the others to take this seriously as it really did work, and even provided a lot of help with getting her fellow former AgriCorps Jedi to buy in as well. With endorsements from one of their own, the lessons all saw a larger daily turnout of former AgriCorps members, and soon everyone was participating and learning to their heart's content. The ship was still crazy crowded though and everyone was really busy and working hard, which made for some arguments and general unpleasantness with some of the passengers, as they were all on top of each other as well as dealing with memories and emotions for the first time.

By the end of the second week on board, people were starting to get a little restless with being cooped up in the ship with so many others for so long, most not used to prolonged space travel, and I realized where we were on our journey back towards Atlantis. I decided to make a small stop on the planet Korphir, as we needed to change hyperspace lanes their anyway, and figured I could stop in and visit the recently freed Captain Fuidis who mentioned Telos to me as a destination when I rescued him from Lord Ghorhan on the planet Feena. It was a highly populated planet with plenty of entertainment options including a very popular Circus that I thought would give my passengers a chance to see something neat and give them a bit of a break from the cramped quarters of the Marauder.

If nothing else, it would break up the monotony of countless days onboard a cramped spaceship, and give us all a chance to get out and spread our legs a bit.

AN: Thanks for all the reviews so far, this has been one of the more enjoyable stories to write for me, even if I do a lot of telling ...I am trying to constantly add dialogue and other scenes to help break up the large info dumps. Till next time ...Enjoy!