- The light at the end of the tunnel. Even after fully committing to his fellow alliance members, Jedi Padawan Oswald Menson still has doubts on the way to achieve his, in accordance – their victory. Mysteries surrounding the War start creeping up on him. A simple a wave to them will not make them disappear. -
Chapter 14. Snaking around the obstacles
19:00.
"I appreciate your fast … speed, Master Ti." – said with compassion Master Tera Sinube.
"Don't think too much of it, Sinube. I didn't have anything important on my mind when you called me."
"Very good."
He smiles. Both Jedi Masters were within the ward of Jedi Youngling Katooni at the Temple's Med Bay, Youngling Pedro was nowhere in sight. Quite understandably, the bed's body hadn't changed from yesterday, or the four lights assembled in a square. Master Shaak Ti did ask the nurse to change the tholotian girl's sheet; the nurse didn't ask any questions, now most of her body was covered up in a lemon yellow sheet. The youngest Force sensitive within the room was in a good condition, if we were to compare it to the time, when Kelan came in the ward. The Force knock-out of Palapatine's dark side surge had mostly been extinguished. Her eyes were fully opened now, psychologically she was in a far better place, but physiologically still lacked strength to get back on her own feet and leave the Med Bay. Jedi Master Tera Sinube was her lightsaber fighting instructor, after hearing news of Katooni's stable state the cosian male finished his class with the other Younglings, Pedro included, and arrived at one of his student's side. He and Shaak had a conversation about Katooni, Sinube felt precarious in response to his student's incident's reason. She was sent into a dream state through the Force as it panned out. This made not a lot of sense to the Jedi Master and he would be determined to get the truth of what really happened. This is where the Jedi Masters agreed. Luckily, Katooni just woke up about 30 minutes ago. Sinube immediately called the togrutan female and here the three of them were right now.
"It is good to see recover from your 'accident', Katooni."
"Thank you, Master Ti."
She breathed deeply, slowly.
"Now that you're awake, young one …" – Sinube started, stood up from his chair and walked closer to end of Katooni's bed.
"… Could you please explain to us, how you ended up like this?"
Katooni swiftly put together a plan, which was true to her intentions and commitments.
"You mean how I ended up in the Med Bay?"
"If that's what helps you." – Shaak Ti interjects with an answer.
"Well … I was walking … with Youngling Pedro on the trapeze of the Temple …"
"Go on."
"Then, at one moment, I felt … a freezing wave through the Force."
Shaak Ti's interest shot up to a new level.
"Was it … the dark side?"
"As much as I could gather, yes, Master Sinube."
"What was your reaction?"
"Investigate it through the Force."
"Quite a daunting task for such a young age, Katooni."
"You might be right, Master."
"So …"
The togrutan female takes walks to a position, where her right thigh is scraping the bed.
"… This investigation of yours led to you being at the Med Bay?"
"With huge sorrow I am sorry for that."
"No need to be extremely sad, Katooni. You are alive and looks like will have a change to leave the Med Bay tomorrow morning."
"Good to hear."
The tholotian girl smiles, Shaak still wanted one thing figured out.
"How strong was the origin?"
"Pretty strong, Master, but later … if I remember … Pedro attributed it to a Padawan possibly being tormented by negative emotions."
"You both came to this conclusion?"
"No, it was only Pedro. I did not leave the presence alone, wanted to know more and collapsed for being too curious for my own good."
"That you might have, Katooni."
"Now with all due respect Masters, I do want to rest and eat my soup in quiet."
"Of course, Katooni. I'll be back in a half an hour. Sounds good?"
"Just great, Master Sinube. Farewell."
Quickly the ward becomes void of any beings, except the 12 year old Force sensitive. The other two not only leave the ward, but go out into the halls of the Temple. One of them really hadn't completely eradicated previous suspicions of the event.
"I sense something bothering you, Shaak."
The more laid-back Force wielder tilts his head a little bit.
"Tell me, what is it?"
"My suspicions on the matter have grown even stronger than before. This makes me … really distasteful."
"How so?"
"Through the conversation, I sensed that Katooni was sending waves of uncertainty, ambiguity through the Force."
"Probably just a natural reaction to such questioning. She didn't want to be taken as a criminal per say."
"A possible outcome."
The Jedi Master reeled back her emotions into their cage.
"Just calm down, Shaak. The most important thing is that she is okay and we have survived another travesty in consequent days."
"When you put it that way, I believe it's my time to leave."
"Your move."
They bow to each other and go their separate ways. The togrutan had gotten another variable out of the way of this incident. That was a positive, yet it was at once countered with a negative.
"Definitely feels like someone's hiding something. Hey, it could be more than one person."
If the case was transformed into a gigantic puzzle, it felt like it was missing several dozen pieces. She had interviewed in a way 4 beings – Oswald, Kelan, Pedro and Katooni. All 4 stories should exist cohesively, quite remarkably or unremarkably, this was proven to be false. Oswald stated to her that there was a lack of important information, Katooni just wanted his presence nearby, and Kelan went instead of him on a favor. A Force sensitive, detective or interrogator could conjoin these two facts without much explanation. Pedro said that she went after the cold Force pulse, not only for a short time, which is what Katooni stated. By her, Pedro attributed it to a Padawan's emotional balance.
"Possible."
Then the question arises – was it truly nothing important that Katooni said or she came across something very blasphemous to most Force sensitives that only Oswald seemed to be capable of handling it? The latter question seemed to be more likely, not just by a few percentages. If you want someone to take your theory seriously, Padawan Menson really seemed the best answer, according to Master Ti. At the end of all of this deep, scrutinizing, exhausting thinking, she did end up with one conclusion. It did send a shot of skepticism to her well-being.
"Someone's lying."
20:00. The most vacant of all the Jedi Temple's towers was the perfect stage for the hazy, cryptic discussers.
"It is truly a sad thing to hear."
A man gasps.
"A remarkably talented Force user is framed by a close friend for treasonous crimes against the Jedi Order and, likely, the Galactic Republic." – stated the Temple Guard.
"That is now the past, my friend."
"By which it becomes part of this Order's recent history."
"Indeed." – Oswald added.
The blue eyed human felt tired, unable to pick out a single reason for it he attributed this to everything that happened today. Among the two discussers a positive outlook of the world was nowhere to be found. Menson's well-being was in a 'tornado' type state, emotions were going in each direction, often locking together and quickly going back to singular entities. The older Force user made this entire thing out without much effort. Maybe Mundi's Padawan was sick of concealing his true feelings. A fair distance separated them, their heads were aimed through the side windows of a transparent line of the Tower, looking from the center of the room at the line, Oswald was at the left corner one, while Hector – at the right corner. The room's background resembled ginger orange.
"What is your strategy moving forward, Oswald?"
"That is where … things … get trickier."
"As you probably foresaw before your declaration to the leader of the Senators, this will not be an easy road, lots of obstacles can … appear on it very quickly."
"Especially when you're going against two of the highest authorities in the Galaxy."
The Temple guard pierces into the Force to sense any uncertainty coming from the Jedi Padawan. This procedure interjects a minute of silence within the conversation.
"I don't sense you regretting your decisions."
The 19 year old smirks.
"I fear that I had my last chance to walk away this evening."
"And you chose not to. This means you are fully aware of what are we facing in case of failure."
"Most likely – death, Hector."
"Precisely."
Oswald narrows his eyes towards the sunset.
"A sunset is strangely accurate for the situation, in which we find ourselves in. The Date has been set, and then the fate of the whole Galaxy will be decided."
"It is when we will find out, will freedom survive or will tyranny consume everything?"
"Will you inform the members of the FSL of this crucial development?"
"I will, Oswald."
"Thanks. Then only the EML are left in the unknown."
"I assume you know of a way to contact them."
"You mean, a way that doesn't involve me getting caught and charged with treason?"
"Pretty much."
"I have two options in mind."
"Wouldn't be you if you didn't."
The blonde haired human smiles.
"Fair enough, my friend. All the pieces will soon be in place. The only thing I must treat as a factor is a dark side presence on Coruscant, of all places."
"Wise move, my friend. If there is a Sith-adjacent being on the planet, he cannot be overlooked."
"Agreed."
Mundi's Padawan nods to the Temple guard, turns around starts making his departure from the least visited tower of the Jedi Temple.
Some surprises initiate a reaction of joy; some initiate a reaction of concern. The latter got the jump on Oswald. While carrying a blue ball in his right arm's embrace and making a turn to the left, he runs into his friends.
"Oswald."
He is surprised at this turn of events; hence the blue ball drops to the ground. It doesn't enjoy the pleasure of being on the ground for a long period of time, Zane dashes closer to Oswald and grabs the object.
"Caught you in deep thought?"
"Oh yeah, Kelan."
The twi'lek smiles at the seemingly joyous reaction of her friend.
"Where you were going with this ball?" – asks Zane.
The trio soon arranges their postures in a mostly vertical way, form a triangle closer to one side wall of the hall than the other.
"You want to know, was I done playing with it?"
"That would be nice."
"Yeah, I was." – Menson fires back instantaneously.
"It's good to see you having some fun after the …, let's say, debacle."
"Now that is a word you picked up from Master Yoda."
"Can't tell you, Zane."
Oswald was witnessing a bit of flirty banter between his two friends.
"Anyway, Kelan. You were looking for me?"
"We both were."
"Why?"
"You remember when I told you that I have a meeting with my Master in the War room."
The human male stays silent.
"Well … it looks like the Jedi Council is already sending us on a new mission."
"No rest for the weary, right?"
"Aha."
"Since she is leaving in an hour, we thought it would be nice for you to attend her departure from the Jedi Temple to her flagship Venator class ship." – Zane says.
"I will take you up on that offer. My 'deep thinking' can take a rest for a short while."
"Glad to hear it, Oswald."
"Which hangar is the designated one?"
She tells him the exact place of departure.
"Great. I'll put my blue ball back in my chambers and arrive on time."
"Just don't be late, Oswald."
"Yeah, yeah …"
The balls owner takes it back from the catcher.
"… I know, Zane."
"Ey, I got to be persistent in order to avoid you slipping up."
"Keep it up."
"I just might."
The white chocolate skinned human smiles, soon the trio disbands.
30 minutes later. Jedi Younglings were not permitted to leave the Temple's area, so this fact helped Oswald narrow down the place, where the 'accident' happened. There was a slight difficulty in finding the exact location due to the fact that he didn't hear from Kelan about the place, where it occurred. The sunset was just past the half-way point, the absence of light seemed noticeable to most outside the walls of the Temple. Through some deduction, Padawan Menson did bet on the trapeze of the Temple as the most probable location.
"To sense a Force presence with such an impact from within the building would be a stretch like no other. If it was Master Yoda conducting a similar action, no doubt, then the outcome would have been different."
So the young member of the Jedi Order went back to his quarters, left the ball at its designated place and went off to the trapeze. While slowly walking on the polished stone, he couldn't manage to identify anything that had any substantial feeling of the dark side of the Force.
"Hmmm. It is possible … that … the dark side user did not count on anybody identifying his existence. Therefore, Katooni's find might have been just accidental … and nothing else."
After thinking for a minute about such a variant of what happened, the human male did bet on its occurrence. Although, this in turn brought out another idea from his mind. It did frighten him a bit.
"If you're that confident to risk exposure to your mortal enemy, you are … not … a weakling."
Being tired of walking for some time, the being acknowledges the situation as being quiet distraught. A natural change in tactics comes into fruition. Oswald looks around, doesn't see anybody around.
"Good. The method might give me victory."
He squats down not far from the edge of the trapeze, shakes his grey cloak for a few seconds and extends his right arm out.
"Let me see what I'm dealing with."
His eyes close, the mind shuts out the entire material world. Now it is just his mind & well-being against the unseen forces of the Universe. Several minutes don't produce anything worth pursuing forward, yet Mundi's Padawan doesn't lose faith, continues searching for the dark side user. Suddenly, an unrecognizable thicket of the Force is found. Its dimensions were quite ambiguous; Oswald couldn't really sense the size of it (whether it be length, width, height).
"Well, well, well."
He wasn't particularly practiced in the field of identifying a suppressed Force presence. He and Ki-Adi-Mundi were Master and Padawan, so the natural agreement of the bond erased any requirement for that practice there. When it came down to what Kelan called as 'anti-Jedi Order settlement', it was usually him that concealed his true intentions, emotions from Jedi Masters or even the Jedi Council, when his foresight would dictate a catastrophic future in case of inactivity. A change in sides had occurred.
"I'm not going anywhere."
He pours more effort into identifying the mysterious Force thicket. Soon a response comes in that maintains the mysterious origin. It seems to be a mixture of light and dark, but that thought is almost at once followed up by an illusion of duality.
"What? What does it all mean?"
He bets on the second idea and strikes at the unknown. The illusion is broken and at full force a dark side presence erupts onto his mental plane like a volcano. Immediately he opens his eyes and tumbles to the ground.
"Hah! Hah! Hah!"
The blue eyed human breathes heavily, while his palms are touching the polished stone. A realization of what he just found deeply concerned the foresighted one.
"The quantity of the dark side is of a … incomprehensible … number." – He says silently.
When you think something is deadly enough as it is and the world ads another layer to it making it more gigantic. Emotions started to stir, but Oswald managed to real them back into the pot. He did have a meeting with his friends at one of the hangars to get to.
"Relax, Kelan. This will do your health a world of good. You are finally going back to the front."
"I don't think it is as good as you make it out to be, Zane. It is, after all, a battlefield. Everyday might be the last day."
"No debate there, friend. I merely believe that it will be beneficial for you to get away from the Temple."
"There are benefits to that."
A door opens, Zane, Kelan swiftly identify the entered person.
"You're on time." – says Zane.
"Why thank you, Master Time." – replies Oswald.
The trio giggles a bit. They are standing about 10 meters from the object, which will be the transporter of two Force sensitives to their wanted location. One of the clone pilots was standing near the descending platform.
"How will the two of you cope without me?"
"What do you think, Zane? Will we struggle?"
"Eh, I think we can handle it."
"Confidence is good, just don't be overconfident, my friends."
"It is a blurry line between those two states."
"That is the norm with emotions, hard to get the balance right." – Zane states confidently.
The orange skinned twi'lek takes a glimpse of her belt, specifically, the place, where her blue lightsaber was attached. The males note that.
"It will once again be used on a frequent basis."
"I have no doubt, Oswald. The Separatist Alliance isn't just going to lay down their weapons."
"No way."
Another being appears in the hangar, comes up to the backs of Oswald & Zane.
"Good evening, Padawan Farnos, Padawan Menson."
They turn around to the newly appeared person.
"Greeting, Master Bangad."
They bow simultaneously to higher ranked Force user within the Jedi Order.
"I'm guessing you are here to see off my Padawan on her mission."
"Good guess, Master." – states Oswald.
"Are you ready, Elanesquil?"
"Yes, Master. I just have one sentence to my peers and we can depart."
"Splendid. I'm going to the shuttle."
The older Force sensitive pierces through the space between the human males and starts a slow paced walk to their vehicle.
"So?" – Mundi's Padawan asks.
"Let's just promise each other that we will meet again someday."
"We cannot be certain of the future, Kelan. You know that."
"True, but we must keep the hope of returning from the War alive."
"A nice thing to do."
Realizing it is 2 against 1 in this topic, the minority concedes.
"Alright."
The trio come closer and stretches out their right arms, form their hands into fists and connect. Then the incentive organizer says:
"May we meet again someday."
They smile to each other and rapidly severe their skin connections to each other. Very quickly Kelan turns around and walks towards the Nu-class attack shuttle's platform. The two watch as their friend becomes invisible behind the sheets of metal. The face-to-face experience of the last couple of days had ended. Both waited in silence until the ship was nowhere in their line of sight. Menson did feel that the settlement was also a good ending to their secret investigation. His friends input of the salvation of Ahsoka Tano was not to be diminished. Now the future was a whole other story. With the frightening find of a powerful dark side user on the Galactic Republic's capital and the Date's inevitable arrival, coupled with some forces that still needed to be included into it, a seriously difficult week was on the horizon. How would everything pan out? An answer to that question varied, embraced different levels of curiosity, anxiety, fear, displeasure. Someone may say that today's sunset symbolized a coming of both heart-worming & heart-chilling days to come.