Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt
Nevan watched the stars turn into what always looked like a giant blue tunnel to him. Slowly he turned away from his instruments and sighed as another frequent shudder ran through the ship. Flying like this made Nevan incredibly nervous, in this condition it was dangerous enough but if they ran into hostiles again they wouldn't stand a chance.
Giving a mental sigh Nevan made his way back to the main cabin. When he arrived he found Aida reading a small red book.
Aida looked up at him and smiled "I found this wedged under the deck plates when I was fixing the life support, it looks like a mission log from when you were still with the Jedi Order."
Using the force Nevan ripped it from her grip and into his waiting hand, tucking it into his tunic quickly "It's private." He said gruffly.
He sat down next to her and his face changed from anger to a look Aida couldn't quite interpret and then into a look of guilt at the treatment of his Apprentice.
"I'm sorry, I'll explain it to you if you ask me again later ok?"
"Ok."
The two sat in an uncomfortable silence for the next few minutes until Aida found it unbearable.
"Master?"
"Yes."
"Tell me a story of when you were with the Jedi." It seemed like the perfect discussion, something that was alway in her thoughts, what would it have been like being a Jedi, what would it be like not having to be constantly buried in secrecy.
"Ok." He paused momentarily as he thought up something to talk about, as much as he disliked it his mind kept bringing him back to the journal "You know I've been to Cerallis once before, there were six of us sent in two groups and I was to lead the overall mission as we were all Knights, no Masters, and for reasons I still can't fathom they chose me to lead."
I stepped off of the transport and almost immediately it hit me, a feeling that something very bad was on the horizon. I turned to view the two other Jedi with me, Qui-Gon Jinn, a Jedi I trained with and had known almost as long as life itself, had an ever serious expression on his face. The other was Kaitlyn Hayes, in the brief time I had known her she had become something special.
"Have the others arrived?" I directed the question at Qui-Gon.
"They left a day before us, they should be here somewhere." Qui-Gon said as he stretched out his senses to see if he could find the other three Jedi.
"If we don't find them in an hour we'll have to go ahead and meet with the governor." I said, trying to mask my unease, the others were supposed to have met us when we arrived.
Taking a step forward I took a look at my surroundings. Cerallis was an Outer Rim planet, but it was a fairly advanced place, many important products were manufactured there and it had a bustling commerce center.
The second we left the docking port several different people of many races, some I didn't even recognize were all over us, pushing merchandise in our faces, selling products that no one in their right mind would actually buy, and several looking to sell us the whereabouts of artifacts that were almost definitely fake.
We quickly pushed our way through the crowd, being as polite as possible. I almost felt sorry for anybody who inhabited the planet if they had to go through this every time they stepped into a busy public area.
Kaitlyn frowned "There are too many people around, even if they're here we won't be able to
sense them."
I nodded "Ok then let's just head straight to the governors office."
I flagged down the nearest transport and we were on our way.
"Sorry to stop here but I should probably go check on how the ships doing." He said, fully knowing it was only a stall tactic and wouldn't last forever but he couldn't go on right now, maybe it hadn't been the best topic to discuss but even now so many years since the incident he found it to be as painful as a fresh wound.
"But nothing has even happened yet, you haven't even gotten to a good part." Aida knew full well that the ship wasn't in danger she could sense the hurt coming of her Master in waves and as futile as pushing for him to continue was she had to try for the sake of her Master.
Nevan smiled "Well then you shouldn't be as disappointed as you would be if I left off at a good part" he said, putting distinct emphasis on good.
Aida watched as her Master left frowning at the look of sorrow on his face as he cut off the story and left. She decided that it all might have something to do with the mission log and resolved to get it from her Master at the soonest possible time.
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He couldn't have time it perfectly even if he had expected it. The moment Nevan entered the cockpit a loud warning signal went off and the next thing he knew main power was gone. Very little lighting, minimal life support, and no engines. The ship bucked as it dropped out of hyperspace and seconds later the ship was dead in space.
He let out a sigh, closed the hatch to the cockpit and sealed it. He walked over to the pilots seat and dropped down into it, rubbing one hand against his head.
"Really wish that had just stayed buried." He mumbled to no one in particular.
He leaned back and went over the events of the past few days, only a short time ago he was meditating back at the Temple. The sound of the nearby waterfall soon filled his mind, the smell of the different plants soon joined and shortly after along with a simple calming technique taught to all Jedi at an early age helped to ease the throbbing pain in his head.
After the next few minutes Nevan reluctantly brought himself back to reality and once again began to think about the situation at hand. To anyone, even if someone knew him inside and out and was trained to look for signs in body language or even through the force, he had been a picture of calm, someone who was simply out to do a job. In all reality the picture of their quarry was one that was not unfamiliar to him. On the contrary it was a face he knew all to well, a face he had hoped would stay away.
Master Orinis, was his name as listed in the Council datapad. True he had left the Shadow Jedi before Nevan had even joined, but Nevan did know who he was. The face of a man he had met on one of his last official missions for the Jedi Order, and in the time frame the council gave him it showed Orinis had left the Shadow Order two years prior to Nevan joining it, two years prior to Nevan leaving the Jedi, all because of one mission.
The face in the council datapad stared back at him, it was a face he would never forget. The completely silver eyes of an Aranis, the eyes that Nevan knew all to well, and the eyes of the only other Aranis Nevan had ever met.
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The moment the ship dropped out of hyperspace Aida headed to the cockpit. Lifting her arm to the door she was about to knock and ask what had happened and stopped right before she made contact. From inside she sensed a whirlwind of emotions, and through their bond knew that her Master had to work it out for himself.
With nothing else worthwhile left to do she decided to work on fixing the ship however she could from outside the cockpit and she made her way towards the engine room.
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She thought he hadn't noticed, but he felt it. The feeling of concern drifting in from outside the cockpit would have been hard to not notice for any Jedi, but for a Master with a very strong bond to his Apprentice it came across loud and clear.
This feeling allowed Nevan to break free of his thoughts and he quickly went to work on fixing the ship.
The combined effort of the two allowed them to easily locate the problem and fix it. Once again the Demons Foe was on it's way.
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A/N: Sorry this was just a little shorter than usual but anything else I could add to this would pretty much just be padding, once again any help would be appreciated and please review doesn't matter if its good or bad.
See ya next time