Chapter 9
The elders of the council studied Ranzel tiredly. Sitting in their chairs in the spacious room, they seemed to surround him with their power, watching him intensely. They were waiting for the answer to one of the Master's questions; which he had asked sharply the moment Ranzel had arrived.
"Well," Counsellor Azwey pushed, his sharp, black eyes fixed on him. "When do you intend to take another Padawan?"
Ranzel straightened up a little and met the other's gaze. "I fully intend to take another Padawan, but I have not yet seen one at the Academy that I am willing to trust my life with."
"Perhaps you are being a little unfair," another interrupted. This was a golden skinned woman who sat in the corner; Counsellor Wei. She looked over him in a way that seemed to be looking through him.
"It is only my responsibility as Jedi to consider taking a Padawan. It is not a necessity."
"But you will consider visiting the Academy again, won't you? Perhaps on the way to your next destination..?" Wei suggested, with a sly look in his direction.
"I will certainly stop on my way, if it is the decision of the council."
"It is," Azwey agreed, looking over at him in turn.
"Very well," Ranzel said coolly. "Would the council agree to hear my report?"
"That is, of course why you're here," another Counsellor suggested – this one non-humanoid, it's dark green face moving with great effort to form the words in Ranzel's language.
Ranzel nodded and looked silently upwards, beginning with the words he had been working on since he'd left.
"I spent a long time on the outskirts of our territory, as you can imagine. I also visited an old friend, who entrusted me to provide transport for his son to a safer place."
It was a lie. He hadn't visited an old friend, and Leo, who he had brought back with him, was certainly not the son of any old friend Ranzel had.
"On the return, we came into contact with…with Sith fighters. My computer caught them just in time. Any longer, and there would have been a collision, I'm sure of it. That is…if it was the work of my computer, and not…" he trailed off here.
"Then you are lucky, twice lucky considering you returned at all."
"It would have been simple to escape them in normal circumstances but…" Ranzel shook his head slowly. "They were new fighters. Their weapons…and their tactics…"
"What about them?"
"Their canons pierced my shields. The leader was attempting to bring his guns to bear on my engines when the good aim of my counterpart destroyed him. A second later…and we would have been dead to their attacks. We would have been captured."
"And taken to Darth Braxta I imagine. He does still seek your blood, does he not?"
"I imagine he does," Ranzel said coolly, looking to the dark cloaked figure who had spoken from the corner of the room. "And tell me, Eroth, does the Bounty Hunters Syndicate know you're still alive?"
"They have their suspicions, D'Kar." Eroth said, drawing back his hood and stepping forwards. His thick black hair was bound tightly behind his head, so that the long pony tail fell around his waist. His jaw was covered with the workings of a short beard, which had never changed much since Eroth had decided on the style. They had been in the Temple together – and it had been Eroth that Ranzel was fighting when Jara Melamatar chose him as Padawan.
They had been rivals since, in subtle ways.
"I'm sure they do, but you are far too clever for a mere bounty hunter."
"Yes…they certainly don't make them like they used to," Eroth remarked, smoothly.
"Your obsession for Bounty Hunter lore, Eroth, is beyond even me."
"Ladies," Wei interrupted, calling Ranzel's attention back to the room, "if I could call your attention from the obvious importance of your reunion to that of the Council meeting currently in session? Eroth Ra, as you are not a Council member yourself, I would suggest you not interrupt again."
Eroth nodded and pulled his hood up again, taking his seat by the great arched window in the darkness where he had been sitting before.
"Very well… Now, Ranzel, we will rely on you to find more information about those fighters you found. Who flew them? Who developed the ships?"
"They were definitely Sith." Ranzel replied softly. "I could feel the Dark Side flowing off them." Ranzel replied, interrupting Wei tenderly.
"None the less, I should like to know anything more you can find out." Wei insisted. Ranzel nodded obediently and Wei glanced at the other members, who were nodding their heads in agreement with her course of actions. "So be it… You know where to go?"
"Pentusar Spaceport," Ranzel said, feeling a knot grow momentarily in his throat. Leo would be thrown in with the worst of the galaxy at Pentusar. He would have to learn quickly if they were to survive their mission there.
"You will visit Cantauri on the way. I will personally inform the Masters there that you intend to examine their initiates." Wei paused and then looked down. "A visit to Pentusar would be the best way to introduce a new Padawan to their training," she said, encouragingly. If Ranzel didn't know she was trying to get him to take a new Apprentice from the Temple on Cantauri, he would have been sure she could see through him, and knew about Leo.
"I will do as the council wishes," Ranzel said, calmly.
"Then may the Force be with you, Ranzel D'Kar."
Ranzel bowed again, then turned on his heel and departed, watched by Eroth from the darkness under his hood. Only when Ranzel was gone did Eroth come to his feet.
"You know what it is you have to do?" Azwey said coolly as Eroth stepped once more before the council.
"Keep an eye on him. Yes, I think I can fathom the Council's commands. He won't be hard to track."
"Of course not," Wei said, softly. "Make sure that you are not seen. The Jedi Council will not be responsible if you make a mistake."
"I will not fail you," Eroth said, before turning into the darkness and disappearing himself.
Ranzel leant back, watching Leo over the top of his nose. He was relying on the youth to take off, as his first real bit of piloting. He'd help, if Leo got into trouble – but he was perfectly sure of Leo's capabilities.
So far, Leo had managed to do small jobs like setting the navi computer and controlling the amount of thrust the engine had. He had a good judge of speed, which was the important part.
It was all very well having the ship on its lowest power, but if you didn't know how much you could turn in comparison with the accumulated forwards motion, then there was no point taking off at all; you'd hit a building before you left the city.
So far Ranzel had directed Leo in the right way to start the ship, and slowly the upwards thrusters were beginning to push her away from the landing platform. A slight error in the exact angle of the accent made the ship begin to turn on its axis, but Leo compensated without Ranzel needing to say a word.
The trilobite shaped ship climbed up slowly into the air, and Leo began to increase the speed to tackle the atmosphere. They plunged upwards in a forty degree climb, hitting the atmosphere in a flash of light, and moments later found themselves propelled into the black vacuum of space.
Leo brought the ship out of orbit, with Ranzel's advice, bringing it into position pointing away from the surface as soon as they escaped the gravitational grip. Now he could set off the navi-computer, since they were far enough away. The computer was made unreliable by high gravity, and the closeness of the planet would have skewed its results.
With a little more coercion from Ranzel, Leo finally activated the hyper-drive, sending the stars into a sudden blur around them.
"Well done," Ranzel said with warm appreciation. "Nobody would suspect you'd only been in the wider Universe for two days."
Leo shook his head and rose to his feet. "It's not much harder than driving that ambulance," he said softly. "Besides, I was reading more than just histories last night."
Ranzel smiled proudly and turned his eyes back to the screen for a moment. There was silence between them, and then he asked. "What troubles you?"
Keeping his eyes on the door, Leo said. "I'm worried about leaving my mother on that planet…"
"They will look after her," Ranzel intoned. The question of Leo's mother was a difficult one. He had suggested that if she woke, she was to be resettled on a quiet planet, but that was all he could do.
"I suppose they will," Leo said tiredly. "But who do you trust more? Alien robots or NHS doctors…"
Ranzel decided that this topic would need to be ended swiftly. He had to think of something quickly to distract the youth. When he did get an idea, he was swift to offer it.
"Would you like to learn to use a lightsaber?"
"That thing...?" Leo asked; turning ever so slightly to look at the unlit weapon that hung at Ranzel's hip.
"Yes; this. Would you like to?"
"I…well, yes…" Leo said, breathlessly. "Now…?"
"In the hold, of course; it's much too dangerous to try it in here, but I think we can afford an hour or two's simple practice while we're at this speed."
Ranzel rose to his feet and passed the stunned Leo, who followed with his breath caught in his throat.
An hour later, Leo had mastered the very basics. He could hold the lightsaber, and he could take up attack or defence stances based on Ranzel's quick fire direction. Now it was time for some serious training.
"In real life you will be fighting real opponents, who have been using this method of fighting since they were born," Ranzel said softly. "You don't have that kind of privilege. Normally, a student wouldn't reach the point of fighting opponents which can actually hurt you until they were five years into their training. You however must be able to handle it, and now."
Leo looked at him with wide eyes. "But I…"
"You'll be fine," Ranzel offered, confidently. "You might get a bit battered though,"
He didn't have a chance to argue with that, because Ranzel had activated a holo-emitter, and a large, ugly beast was suddenly ambling towards him with a great axe swung up on its shoulder.
"Just how dangerous is this thing?" Leo asked, shakily, taking a step away from it.
"It's dangerous enough." Ranzel insisted, and then the beast moved slowly on its feet, lowering its weapon from its shoulder and then slamming its great axe towards Leo.
Leo brought his lightsaber up in defence. It was slow enough to pre-empt what the axe was going to do, but the blow was more powerful than he'd expected, and it almost knocked him off his feet entirely.
"Slow, but powerful," Ranzel said, with an amused tone in his voice.
"If that got me," Leo said, ducking around the great creature and blocking another shattering blow, "It'd take my arm off!"
"So don't let it get you. Mandorcs are powerful, but they tire easily. Keep moving around him, exhaust him. You do not have to strike down an enemy to destroy him."
Leo ducked around another blow and began in the other direction. The creature seemed to be right handed, and he could dodge more of the blow by staying on the weakest end of his swing.
"Very good," Ranzel applauded, keeping discreet so as not to distract Leo.
"This is only the first stage. When you can fight him well enough, you'll do the same blindfolded." Leo wheeled on Ranzel, and barely missed a blow to the head from the Mandorc, ducking under it instinctively and twirling under his arm. "What kind of crazy idea is that?"
"You hit the fighter without seeing it. What's so different about the Mandorc?"
"That was a lucky shot," Leo insisted coldly as he caught another attack from the Mandorc with the stronger part of the lightsaber.
"It was the Force, Leo," Ranzel said determinedly. "And it would be the Force that aids your fighting the Mandorc. You should be able to feel him – see him without your eyes and just know what he is going to do."
"I don't believe it…" Leo said, and then stumbled under the weight of another blow from the heavy holographic alien.
"You do," Ranzel said, without showing any sign of anger. "Pay attention to what you're doing."
Leo stepped aside just to dodge a surprise blow from the Mandorc, and turned against it, just as the simulation began to speed up. Where it had taken a few seconds between each clumsy attack, it was now much faster. The Mandorc stepped, and attacked, and then attacked again. It began to change its methods.
"Don't exhaust yourself. Exhaust him." Ranzel insisted as Leo dodged around another blow and then stumbled under the power of one of the projection's powerful thrusts. He caught it with his lightsaber, letting the blow send him rolling forwards, and then came back to his feet to parry another attack.
"You're a crazy man!" Leo hissed through his teeth as he fought back against the massive form of the Mandorc. "I don't believe in your stories."
"But you have the power in you. Look at what you've achieved since you left Earth."
"Luck! Aptitude!" Leo insisted, catching another blow against the base of the lightsaber. He pushed back against the equal force of the Mandorc.
"Trust in the Force," Ranzel said again, stepping a little closer still to the fighting pair. "Use it to help you."
"I…" Leo said, his shoulders shaking with effort and strain. "I can't hold him back…"
"Forget how strong he is…it's unimportant. Trust in the Force within you, let it flow - form into a power that goes beyond strength and size. Throw him away from you!"
Leo spent all his energy trying to throw the Mandorc away from him, but he couldn't overpower him. He was too big – too strong. Ranzel couldn't expect him to do this, it was impossible!
His muscles complained and, unable to hold the Mandorc off any longer, he fell beneath its crushing power, skittering to a landing at Ranzel's feet. Ranzel stepped away from him and the Mandorc came forwards, sending down a blow that would have cracked Leo's head open if it hadn't stopped just between his eyes.
"I don't believe in it." Leo said firmly, again.
"You will before you leave our next destination," Ranzel insisted, glancing upwards. "But you must learn what I am to tell you. The Masters at the Academy are not stupid. They will know you are not fully trained."
Leo shook his head and slid out from underneath the axe's blade. "How do you expect me to blend in?"
"You will pretend to be a Padawan from another Galaxy. They all tend to follow ever so slightly different rules, you ought to be okay. I will try not to put you in too extreme a position. It is my existence after all that depends on you being discreet."
Leo sighed, turning off the lightsaber and handing it back to its true owner. "You certainly don't know how to do things discreetly in space. Is there nothing else you can do?"
"Nothing. Besides, it may do you some good to see how the young use the Force." Ranzel studied the lightsaber in his hands, turning it over slowly. "I want you to have this," he said after a moment, before handing it out again.
Leo didn't think he'd heard what he had, he was studying the ugly lines of the Mandorc again, and he had to be called again by Ranzel to actually hear the offer.
"Your lightsaber? I couldn't…"
"You could," Ranzel insisted softly, lifting his head a little. "It belonged to my Master, and I would like to hand it down to you. I've been working on building a new one for a while. It ought to be finished before we get to our final destination."
Ranzel set the lightsaber down in Leo's hand, and closed his fingers around it. "This is yours, Leonard. If you had joined the Temple as an initiate, it is the same as they would have given you. You did not…but you are still my Padawan. In time…in time you will begin to understand."
Leo looked down at the lightsaber, surprised at Ranzel's tone and his dedication. This was a representation of just how much Ranzel trusted Leo to become what he expected. It was wonderful, to have someone place so much trust in him – but a burden too. Leo was admittedly, a little nervous that he would fail Ranzel's expectations. That he wouldn't be as good a Jedi as Ranzel expected him to be.
And he also felt a grave disadvantage. He hadn't grown up in the same way that the other Jedi had. He knew nothing about their way of life – nothing about the Force, more than what he had read, and even that much he hadn't believed.
But perhaps he ought to believe it. If Ranzel believed that he was capable of such things then perhaps he could at least try to believe him. Was it possible? An all encompassing power that could be tapped – that Leo could tap?
He looked at Ranzel. He wanted Ranzel to demonstrate – to show him the possibilities of the Force. But he suspected the old Jedi was right – he would learn far more by trial and error, by actually forcing himself to believe in it, and accept it – than he would from watching someone else doing it.
Leo turned the lightsaber over in his hands a few more times, looking at it in quiet contemplation. Yes…he would certainly try to believe in the Force, and if he could believe in it - that would certainly be a successful first step.