Yay!! Now we get to the good stuff. Not that the other stuff was not good. But that's up to you. This chapter will have more to do with the actual episode. The other stuff was just to get into the new characters and such. Ok. Enough chit chat. Please read and review!
Chapter 3
It was now the 8th hour of their flight. The flight had been uneventful, maybe even a bit boring. The four passengers occupied their time with talking, wandering the relatively large ship, and playing a variety of games and other activates. At that point in time Dia-Aron and Deo-Onna stood in the passenger seating area. Deo-Onna was blindfolded and was deflecting shots from a gray probe that was floating about her head and shot small laser beams that stung bad on contact. It was one of Deo-Onna's favorite training exercises. It gave her practice in falling into the force and letting it guide her movements.
"Predict, don't react," Dai-Aron said to her patawan. "Relax." Deo-Onna visibly relaxed and blocked a shot at the same time. Dai-Aron smiled at her patawan's progress. It was a little surprising at the young girl's abilities. It probably came from having Yoda as a father. Dai-Aron knew that she was able to do so well at the trials because of Mace's training. "Do you want to try two probes?" Dai-Aron asked Deo-Onna. With out braking concentration, Deo-Onna nodded. Dai-Aron set the second probe to a low setting and let it go. It also began floating about Deo-Onna's head. For a few seconds she was distracted.
"Feel, don't think," Dai-Aron said, "Let the Force guide you." She sat down on a counter with one foot on the ground. The other one leaned against the doors of the slide-open cupboards. She crossed her arms as she watched her padawan. She could see how hard Deo-Onna tried and this made her smile, for it reminded Dai-Aron so much of when she was that age.
Dai-Aron watched the two probs. She could tell by her patawan's movements that Deo-Onna was starting to get tiered. Her movements where more drastic and she started to take more time deflecting shots. Dai-Aron brought a hand up to her face, wondering how long Deo-Onna would last this way.
One shot came from below, one above. Now one shot from behind and in front. They seemed to come from everywhere. Dai-Aron's keen eyes picked up Deo-Onna's sudden falter. She had slowed down greatly and it was obvious that when both probes shot, Deo-Onna would not block both of them. Dai-Aron leapt up from her spot and ignited her lightsaber. She blocked the shot that her apprentice was sure to miss. It bounced off of her turquoise colored blade and struck the probe, bursting the underside. It fell to the ground, electricity snapped out from the severed wires. Still watching it, Dai-Aron put her lightsaber out and came out of her fighting stance. She turned her head and looked at her apprentice when Deo-Onna growled in frustration.
"If only I had tried harder, I would not have missed it!" she shouted, stomping her foot. She pulled off the blindfold and threw it wildly. Dai-Aron caught it with the force before it knocked a lamp over. She pulled it to her. Then brought the annoyed Deo-Onna into her arms.
"I know it's frustrating when you mess up," Dai-Aron said. She had her hands on Deo-Onna's shoulders and her arms where stretched out. Deo-Onna did not look her master in the face. She had turned red with anger and was much redder then her hair. "But this could not be helped. Your body is very tired. Only once you learn to fall totally into the Force will you be able to fully physically rely on it." Deo-Onna looked up at her master, the redness starting to fad away.
"When will I know how to fall totally into the Force?" She asked. Dai-Aron smiled.
"With time, my young padawan, with time," she smiled. "Even I can't totally fall in touch with the Force. It is a lot of work and takes a lot of energy. But you will learn." She stood up and patted her apprentice on the shoulder. Deo-Onna looked up at her master and smiled a bit. "Now is time to rest," Dai-Aron continued. Deo-Onna, who suddenly noticed just how tired she was, nodded her head and lay down on a bench seat that surrounded a table in the passenger area, She was almost instantly asleep. Dai-Aron sat down in a chair, not to far away, with a great sigh. It had been a long flight and all were tired of being cooped up. She propped her lags up on another chair and closed her eyes. She then probed about the ship with the Force, sensing where others were and what they were doing and after a bit, Dai-Aron found Obi-Wan. He was walking toward the passenger area now. She smiled as he stopped walking for a moment. Then she felt his touch though the Force and he continued.
Soon he was in the room. Dai-Aron did not open her eyes as Obi-Wan pulled up a chair quietly next to her and he put his hand on her face and gently kissed her. He pulled away and Dai-Aron opened her eyes.
"Hello," She said.
"Hi," Obi-Wan responded, smiling. "How did things go with the probes?" he asked. Dai-Aron looked at the smashed probe on the floor. Obi-Wan looked at it too.
"Not too good I take it," he said.
"Oh, no," Dai-Aron said lightly. "It went well. We just had to have a lesson in human weakness is all."
"Ah," Obi-Wan responded, nodding knowingly. "I see." There was a small pause. "You look tired," Obi-Wan said.
"I feel tired." Dai-Aron responded. "How are we doing on time?" She asked.
"Right on time. Which means that we only have twelve or so hours left," Obi-Wan answered. He had spent most of the time in the cockpit with Qui-Gon and knew most of what was going on about the ship.
"Well I bet we will have a lot to do when we get there. I think I'm going to try to get some sleep."
"Sounds good to me," Obi-Wan agreed. They both picked places to sleep around the passenger area and soon where asleep. Dai-Aron slept close to her padawan and Obi-Wan not too far from them. None of them heard Qui-Gon enter a few minutes later and also find a place to sleep.
Dai-Aron awoke 7 hours later to the sound of light movement next to her. She rolled over and opened her eyes. Deo-Onna's face was right next to hers and she was staring right into her master's eyes, startling Dai-Aron, causing her to sit up.
"Deo-Onna, you startled me!"
"Sorry Master. I didn't mean to."
"How long have you been awake?" Dai-Aron asked. Deo-Onna shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know, thirty minutes or so," she responded. Dai-Aron shook her head and looked about the room. Obi-Wan was still asleep; Qui-Gon was nowhere in sight. Sighing, Dai-Aron got up and started walking toward the door.
"Where are you going Master?" Deo-Onna asked getting up to follow her master.
"I'm going to go find Qui-Gon. Why don't you set Coruscant Chartierise and try your staring tactic on Obi-Wan. See if it wakes him up. If he is awake when I get back, then he can play a few games with us."
Deo-Onna smiled, "Ok." She went to the table and started setting up the pieces from where they were from the last game. Dai-Aron left and headed for the Bridge. She thought that this was most likely where she would find Qui-Gon. Upon entering, she found him standing by the door covered in shadows from the darkness of space. Dai-Aron yawned as she went to stand on Qui-Gon's left side.
"Sleep well?" He asked without looking at her. This caused Dai-Aron to smile. He knew she had been coming.
"I believe so," she responded. "Did you get any?" she asked. A small smile crossed Qui-Gon's lips, amusement resonated from him, but he quickly masked it with the Force.
"Yes I got five or six hours."
"That's good," Dai-Aron responded. "How are we doing on time?"
"Well. We should be there in the time predicted."
"How much time till we arrive?"
"Oh, I'd say four maybe five hours."
Dai-Aron smiled. "Good. That should give us enough time for a few games of Coruscant Chartierise," she said, looking out the front view port. She turned her head and looked at Qui-Gon. "Care to join?" She asked the older man with a smile. "It is the most fun with four players." Qui-Gon thought for a moment.
"Maybe in a bit," he said after a slight pause. Dai-Aron shrugged her shoulders.
"Your loss," she stated. Then she turned and walked back out the cockpit door. Qui-Gon smiled after her, shaking his head.
When Dai-Aron walked back into the passenger area, she saw
Obi-Wan sit up, rubbing his eyes, and Deo-Onna smiling triumphantly as she went to where the board was set up. She looked up as Dai-Aron walked in.
"It worked, Master! I stared at him long enough and he woke up," she yelled. Obi-Wan winced a bit at the loudness of her voice.
"Yes and it was kind of startling to wake up to someone's face right next to yours," he stated groggily. Dai-Aron did her best not to smile.
"Don't worry. She did the same thing to me."
"That's where she got the idea from," Obi-Wan said sarcastically. Dai-Aron smiled openly.
"Well sense your up, why don't you join us for a few rounds of Coruscant Chartierise. Qui-Gon said that we have four or five hours until we arrive at Naboo," she suggested. Obi-Wan groaned a bit as he stood up.
"Fine." He moved over to the table and sat on the opposite side of Deo-Onna. Dai-Aron sat next to Deo-Onna, both taking the two corners of the board on that side.
Coruscant Chartierise was a mix of two very old games, one of which is Chess, and is still played regularly through out the galaxy, the other was known as Chinese Checkers. That game has unfortunately been lost, except for the special few that still remember the rules.
Coruscant Chartierise consists of a square board split into four different sections and four different sets of colored pieces, each set of pieces is set up on a different square of the board. The sets consist of ten different pieces. This allows you to play with four different people at one time.
There are two different ways to play. You can either team up with another person beside you or have a free-for-all. The object of the game is to capture the other players' pieces using different moves. Here is where Chess really comes in. Each piece of the sets has a different move. Allowing you to defeat your opponent/s in different ways.
Dai-Aron would have loved to have a team battle but sense there was only three of them, she would have to settle for a free-for-all.
"But I must warn you," Obi-wan said, "I am pretty good. So I'll probably beat both of you no problem." Dai-Aron smiled at his pride.
"I don't know," she said. "Deo-Onna's gotten pretty good."
"I've had enough!" Obi-Wan shouted. He stood up from the table as Deo-Onna made the finishing move on Obi-Wan and eliminated him from the game. Dai-Aron smiled.
"You seemed to be doing well when Qui-Gon was in here playing on your team. Oh, wait. He was the one that always won it for you."
Obi-Wan frowned and crossed his arms. "You don't have to rub it in." He then walked away toward another part of the room. Deo-Onna looked up at her master.
"Now look what you did," She said. "He won't play with us now." Dai-Aron just smiled.
"Oh, come on Obi. Just one more game," She begged. Obi-Wan frowned.
"No. You just want to beat me again." He then turned and walked out the door.
"Spoil sport!" Deo-Onna said to Obi-Wan's back. The girls then laughed.
"Oh well. I'll teach you a new game," Dai-Aron said.
"Really, what game is that?" Deo-Onna asked.
"Its called Slap Jack."
"Interesting, how do you play?" Deo-Onna looked at her master with a curious look. Dai-Aron got a deck of playing cards out and began shuffling them.
"Well the point is to get the whole deck in your hand. The deck is split between the people that are playing." Dai-Aron dealt the cards. "Now you hold all your cards face down in your hand. Then you flip the top card over and lay it down in the center in turns, but you must do this fast or the game is not fair. So let's try that."
The two began flipping the cards one on top of the other. Suddenly Deo-Onna flipped the jack of spades. "Now stop," Dai-Aron said. "This is where the game gets its name. When some one flips a jack you slap it and who ever slaps it first gets the pile of cards. Let's try that again." Dai-Aron picked up all the cards and then redealt them. They laid down the cards. Suddenly Dai-Aron laid down the jack of hearts. They both slapped at it but Dai-Aron got the pile.
"Good job!" she said smiling. "There is one more aspect to this game. You can also slap doubles."
"Meaning..." Deo-Onna said.
"Meaning that if I laid down a two and then you laid down a two you could slap it and get the pile. You can do that with any card. Oh and if someone lays down a jack but the other person lays down a card on top of it before it is slapped, then the jack is lost and you continue play."
"I see. So you continue doing this until the whole pile is in your or your opponent's hand."
"Yes, that is absolutely right. Shale we try from the beginning?" Deo-Onna nodded her head. Dai-Aron picked up the cards and dealt them again. Then they began to play. They played for the hour or so that it took them to arrive at the Naboo blockade and dock. They did not look up from their game until they felt the ship bump slightly, indicating that they had landed. Dai-Aron looked up from their game and looked out one of the small view ports.
"It seems we have docked in one of the Trade Federation's docking bays," she commented. Just then, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon came into the room. They crossed the room as the exit ramp descended. Dai-Aron walked to Obi-Wan's side, Deo-Onna not far behind.
Dai-Aron then did something strange. Standing on her tiptoes, She kissed Obi-Wan on the cheek.
"Good luck with the negotiations," she said. Deo-Onna looked confused. As did Obi-Wan. He turned to his master.
"They are not going with us?" he asked. Qui-Gon turned and looked at him, giving Dai-Aron a quick glance.
"No. Dai-Aron and I talked about this before we boarded the ship on Coruscant," He said. Obi-Wan looked at Dai-Aron a bit sadly. He wanted her to be by his side while they went through this mission together. It was the first one that they had ever done as true partners. Yet he understood why it could not be. If the three of them went, Deo-Onna had to as well, and a girl so young being an ambassador would be a little suspicious. They could not leave her by herself on the ship and Dai-Aron was her master. Obi-Wan looked back a Qui-Gon.
"I understand Master," he said and the two of them exited the ship. A protocol droid was waiting for them. Qui-Gon turned and looked at the two girls over his shoulder.
"Don't worry," He said. "This will not take long. I'm sure the negotiations will be short." Then he followed after Obi-Wan.
Deo-Onna sat back down in her chair, crossing her arms, the door shut.
"It's not fair, just because I'm too young to watch myself. You could have gone, Master!" she said, pouting.
"I'm sure I could have, but Qui-Gon and I decided this as a safety precaution incase anything happens," Dai-Aron paused and looked out one of the view ports at Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's backs. "Besides, I have this strange feeling that something is not right here." Deo-Onna looked at her master curiously and reached out with the Force. She sensed nothing.
"What is it, Master?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," Dai-Aron responded, deep in thought. She shook her head and grabbed the pile of playing cards and started dealing another game of SlapJack. "Well, we have to do something to pass the time," she said, smiling, as she picked up her cards. Deo-Onna did the same and they began to play.