"Disengaging in five," Raven announced over the comm, poised to pull them from hyperspace, and waited for Eeth or Lakhri to veto. They did not, and the padawan smiled. YES! She thought; they were letting her do this alone. Well almost alone…
"Transmission pending," her co-pilot, Flynt, said barely a second after they had entered the Ashpah system.
"Well?" Raven prompted when Flynt seemed to be taking too long to reply.
"Unidentified craft, identify," he finally said. It had been hard for him to make out the words over the din of the hyperdrive winding down.
Raven engaged their thrusters and set them on an orbit pattern around Ashpah I's moon.
"We are Jedi here upon request of leader Marc," Flynt stated. Leader Marc was the leader of Ashpah III and the person who had started communications with the Jedi.
"Cleared. Proceed and couple at 56," said their hosts, and Raven did so, taking them out of orbit and towards the domes below.
"Wait, back it up. That's an old system, we might not fit," Flynt said. He knew a lot about spaceship design and mechanics and this was not going to be easy.
"It sure is," Raven agreed, "but I can make us fit. It's a busted ass Corellian design. Non-Force-sensitives make for bad designers." As she spoke, she did not take her senses off the task; still, it was a difficult landing. Raven tried to dock once, and twice, but it turned out that she was not yet a skilled enough pilot to pull this off, at least not without making multiple further attempts, which Eeth decided might embarrass them in front of their hosts. This was not the time to give his padawan a training opportunity.
"Lakhri, can you dock us?" he asked. Lakhri nodded. Much to Raven's horror, she had to concede that she probably needed Lakhri to do this for her. She made to change seats. Eeth, however, had other ideas. Once Raven had stood up, he beckoned her out into the corridor.
"Lose the derogatory attitude towards non-Force-sensitive beings," he said quietly when the door to the cockpit had closed. "It can easily cost us the success of this mission and others."
Raven looked away from Eeth, her arms folded but not defensively so. What was she meant to do if she believed it was true even if it wasn't polite of her to say as much? Thus, she said the only thing she could, namely, "Yes, master."
Eeth was not quite convinced that Raven was being sincere, but they had more pressing concerns, such as their imminent arrival, and therefore he let the matter rest.
"It's an old system," Flynt reiterated to Lakhri who had now taken Raven's place as pilot.
"Yes, so what?" Lakhri asked a little absent-mindedly. He closed his eyes and followed his sense of the Force. Since his Force control was extremely good and he had never had any problem relying on it, he had always been an excellent pilot and today was no exception.
"Done," he said a moment later.
"Show-off," said Raven, having returned into the cockpit just as they'd landed.
"Not my fault I'm naturally good at everything, except reaching the kitchen shelves without climbing on a stool," said Lakhri stoically, rising from his seat, and ignoring Raven's eye roll. "Seems like a delegation is waiting for us outside. Ready?"
"Yes," said Eeth. They had already changed into Jedi attire. Their luggage was going to stay in the ship since it was not clear whether they were going to remain on this moon for any length of time. Thus, they were free to make their way to the ramp.
Eeth led the way down the ramp where a dozen beings were waiting for them, in three groups of four, two of which were keeping their distance from the third. It was not hard to guess that the group that was singled out was the one from Ashpah III. The Ashpans looked like slender, dark-skinned humans at first sight, but they were completely hairless and androgynous.
Eeth stopped at an equal distance from the three groups in order to avoid the impression that they were preferencing one of them over the others, and bowed.
"Jedi Master Eeth Koth, at your service," he said politely. "This is Jedi Master Lakhri Tumuel."
He nodded at Lakhri who stepped up beside him and bowed as well.
"And these are our padawans, Raven Trebeck and Flynt," Eeth concluded the introduction as both apprentices bowed, too. He noticed that one of the beings in the group at the centre was looking him over and giving him an inviting grin, wriggling their hip. That must be the group from Ashpah II, then; and the neighbouring group, who looked a tad disdainful, were probably from Ashpah I. The Jedi could see that they were going to have their work cut out for them.
After the greetings were over, Eeth tried to find out what the delegations' plans for them were. From their long-winded responses to his questions, he understood that they had not been able to agree on the question of which planet should be the first to receive the Jedi visitors. The Jedi and the delegations were therefore going to remain at the spaceport until such an agreement could be reached, which was a situation they had anticipated and planned for.
The Jedi were shepherded towards a meeting room. Set out on the table were pitchers of water and small bowls containing brownish pills. Having sat down, several of the delegates tossed a pill into a jug each, poured water on it and downed the result without any apparent enjoyment or disgust.
"Please, help yourselves to some food," the chief delegate from Ashpah I said, gesturing towards the bowls and pitchers. There was nothing for it. Eeth prepared himself a jug of the solution and drank it. It was practically tasteless, but it did seem to have a nourishing effect. With a doubtful look on his face, Lakhri followed suit. Flynt shrugged, took a pill and downed it as Lakhri and Eeth had. Raven watched them do this. Baulked… Watched for a little longer…. And then, upon seeing the expression on Eeth's face, followed suit. Well, at least it was tasteless, she thought, placing her empty glass aside and trying not to think about what was in it.
As they had planned during their long mission preparation sessions on the spaceship, Eeth now gave the word to Lakhri, who immediately set about presenting several immensely complex and confusing proposals for how their visit might be scheduled, some of which would require the Jedi to split up. The goal was to baffle the delegations to an extent where they would jump on the easiest option, which was to first visit Ashpah III because it was a member of the Republic, had issued the invitation to the Jedi and also because it was the planet whose laws had created the conflict in the first place. After that, in order of size, Ashpah I and Ashpah II would follow. Of course, depending on how complicated the interaction between the Ashpan delegations turned out to be, they might be unlucky and end up with one of the hugely complex schedules instead. But Lakhri was a skilled negotiator, and they had all agreed that if anyone could pull this off, it would be him.
Raven listened to Lakhri as he delivered their cleverly thought-out presentation, her gaze shifting slowly from Ashpan to Ashpan as he stated the options. She added in a relevant comment here and there to bolster their case until eventually, after much coaxing, the Ashpans agreed to the lesser of the evils. Ergo, they were to leave for Ashpah III at their earliest convenience.
"Smooth," Flynt complimented, slapping his master on the shoulder as they boarded their ship once again.
"Yeah, you really pulled that off well. Good job," Raven added. She had known her Jedi brother had a silver tongue, but this was the first time she had really seen him working at it. She was proud of him.
"It was," Eeth agreed. "I do not think I could have done it."
"I'm going to blush if you go on like this," said Lakhri. "Of course you could have. You got an entire Senate committee to agree to the new taxation law, and that was not merely by force of your logical arguments, from what I heard."
"No, it was because I had some leverage on them and used it," said Eeth. "Here, I did not. Will you just accept the compliment? I, for one, am more than glad not to be stuck on this space station for any longer than necessary although I highly doubt the food down on Ashpah III will be any better."
"Probably not," said Lakhri. "They mostly use algae, so their pills should be green. Or maybe it's a mush, rather than pills. These ones were from Ashpah I. They contain minerals and the proteins extracted from grains, plus some chemical carbohydrates. The pills they take in the morning contain some fat as well."
"Well, at least we will not starve," Eeth said.
Their trip took a couple of hours. They were tailed by the delegates from Ashpah III, who were apparently keen to get off the moon's spaceport and back into their breathable atmosphere. Despite the fact that Ashpah III knew they were coming, they were subjected to rather stringent security checks. "Apparently they're serious about keeping people out," Flynt observed as he was forced to request clearance and bear a security check from the second of three security portals.
"Paranoid much," Raven commented as she docked their cruiser in the designated hangar. Unlike the spaceport on the moon, the coupling system on this planet hadn't been around since the dawn of time and she was able to land without having to ask for help.
They were greeted by another team of delegates who led them to their guest quarters.
"Well, at least it's clean," Raven told Eeth, having inspected the bathroom of the suite they had been assigned. "The layout is quite clever. I'd guess they recruited off-world, they don't appear to possess much in the way of ingenuity. Not to mention they're entirely non-Force-sensitive, did you notice?" she asked, her expression almost aloof, but not quite.
"Padawan, will you lose the condescending attitude?" Eeth asked in exasperation. "I have no idea how you came to the conclusion that people have to be Force-sensitive in order to be good architects, but it is nonsense. Much of the Jedi Temple was designed by people who were not Force-sensitive. If we all thought as little of these people as you do, our mission would be doomed from the outset."
"But, we ARE better at things! It is a gift to be Force-sensitive. Why does stating that annoy you?" Raven asked. Eeth had been cracking down on her over this lately and it was bugging her, possibly as much as it was bugging him.
"Because it is not true, as I have told you time and again," snapped Eeth. "We are nor better at everything. We have excellent instincts and reflexes and we can sense things that others cannot, but the Force does not make us more intelligent than others, it does not give us a better sense for aesthetics, and it certainly does not replace years of study or practical experience. It is perfectly possible to be an excellent designer without having any Force awareness whatsoever. There are many talents, and Force awareness is merely one of them. And besides, even when we do have an advantage in some areas, it is imperative not to become arrogant because we will never get along with people that way and consequently not achieve any of our objectives. I had a hard time learning that lesson myself, but I did eventually learn it and I am all the more aware of how important a lesson it is."
Eeth could see that Raven was not convinced. He was not impressed with her stubbornness and was about to tell her so when his comlink beeped.
"How much time do you need to unpack?" asked Lakhri. "I thought we could meet in the mess area and discuss how to proceed from here before we all turn in. I guess all of us are tired."
Eeth was, but it was only just nearing sunset on Ashpah III, and all Jedi had learned to adapt to local time as fast as possible. Therefore, he decided that Lakhri's suggestion was sensible, and cut short his discussion with Raven to meet Lakhri and Flynt.
They found that the mess area was equipped with water fountains and food supplies. On Ashpah III, food was not in the form of pills, but in the form of tubes containing a greenish mush that tasted slightly salty, but otherwise quite bland.
"These people seem to have no taste buds," Lakhri said in discontent.
"Yes," Raven agreed, scrunching her nose and turning towards Eeth. "It's almost as bad as that junk you made us eat on the way to Nar Shaddaa."
"Oh quit your whining, it tastes just fine to me," chimed in Flynt. This earned him a pointed glare from both Lakhri and Raven. "What…. what?" he asked.
"Just 'eat'," said Lakhri in resignation.
An hour later two very tired, not to mention culinary jaded, teams retired to their individual quarters. The sun had gone down but none of them had gotten much sleep over the last 24 hours. Raven flopped onto her bunk, boots and all. "I don't care," she said, pulling the pillow over her head.
"But I do," Eeth said sternly. "Pull off your boots and brush your teeth, at the very least. You will be able to catch up on your sleep after that. Since you set so much store by being a Jedi, you might consider drawing on the Force to deal with your fatigue."
"I'm legally an adult," Raven replied, getting to her feet, her chin jutting out. "Shouldn't you be leaving these decisions up to me?"
"No," said Eeth flatly, pulling off his cloak and hanging it onto a hook.
Raven pursed her lips. "Why not?" She already had some idea of how he was going to answer that, but she was annoyed enough to persist regardless.
"Padawan, the argument stops here," said Eeth in a tone of absolute finality. "Unless you want to find out how I deal with matters of discipline where my eighteen-year-old padawans are concerned. Which is exactly the same way I did when they were seventeen."
Raven had expected him to say something about him being the master and her the padawan or words to that effect. She raised a brow at his threat. He was treating her like a child and Raven wasn't even allowed to complain about it! Well, irked she may be, but crazy she wasn't and so she complied without comment.
The following morning, Flynt was up before Lakhri as was typical for him; he didn't seem to need as much sleep as others. He had, however, learned to respect the needs of those around him and thus forbore to wake Lakhri as he opened the door quietly and stepped outside.
"Morning," he greeted Eeth, his hand moving from scratching his junk up to smoothing over his hair at record speed. Eeth looked like he was about to meditate or start a kata; which, he wasn't sure.
"Good morning," Eeth said quietly. In contrast to Flynt, he looked immaculate. He had decided to let Raven sleep a little longer, given how tired she had been yesterday.
"I was just going to perform a moving meditation," he told Flynt. "Would you like to join?"
He knew that Flynt had felt very uncomfortable around him at the outset of his padawanhood; but by now, his grandpadawan had got used to him and loosened up considerably. Eeth liked the boy and was pleased to see him grow into a young Jedi under Lakhri's guidance. They rarely got to spend time together without Raven and Lakhri present, though. Right now was a rare exception.
"I will," Flynt replied, moving to stand a step behind on Eeth's left side. When he announced the fourth, Flynt closed his eyes and reached out across the Force. His link with Eeth was not as strong as the training bond he shared with Lakhri, but it was still comfortable and it allowed them to perform the moving meditation with a modicum of precision.
Meanwhile Raven had gotten up to go to the bathroom and, unsurprisingly, noticed Eeth's absence. She stretched out her senses automatically, only to smile and move to their window. It wasn't the perfection that was expected of a seasoned team, but Eeth and Flynt moved with a precision that was indicative of Jedi well acquainted. She watched until they had finished, smiling as Flynt threw a comradely arm around Eeth.
The gesture was both brief and reciprocated. "I'll go and toss socks at Lakhri," Flynt said, breaking the comfortable silence.
"You go and do that," Eeth said, giving him a quick smile. "Tell him if he does not get up, I will come and fetch him myself. I will look after Raven in the meanwhile. Let us meet here in half an hour. I assume there will not be much in the way of breakfast, other than water and green mush, but at least we can eat and drink together."
He returned to their room and found Raven already up.
Meanwhile, Flynt felt refreshed, relaxed and calm as he reentered the quarters he shared with his now semi-awake master; apparently he wasn't as diligent at being silent as he had been when he'd left.
"Eeth says if you don't get up, he's coming after you," he reiterated. "Hate to be you." The corner of his mouth pulled into a crooked smile as the man rolled to face him.
"Alright, alright," Lakhri said around a yawn, glancing at his chrono. "I'm surprised he hasn't already thrown a fit over me still being in bed," he added, sitting up. "Maybe that's because eating is going to take no time at all. This is really weird. I mean, I've been to any number of places where we were short on food, of course. But that didn't mean they didn't value food, it was just that they didn't have enough of it. What I haven't seen yet is a society where food, or meals, are unimportant. I find that hard to get used to."
"Yeah, you're right, it's totally weird," Flynt agreed. Their food 'crisis' didn't really bother him, not really, hell, he'd eat anything, but the concept was new to him, too.
Lakhri rose and stretched. "Have you been up long?" he asked.
"A bit," said Flynt. "I went out for what passes as fresh air here and ran into Eeth doing moving meditation, so he invited me to join him. You know, he didn't even scold me for looking like this." Flynt ran a hand through his scruffy hair. "He must be going soft in his old age."
"He didn't?" Lakhri asked. "Lucky you. I doubt he'd grant me the same privilege. In your case, he might have thought that you'd take a shower after the meditation anyway. We'd better get ready for the day, then, and make ourselves presentable."
Half an hour later, the four Jedi helped themselves to a few tubes of green mush each. It was definitely nourishing, but decidedly unsatisfactory, especially for Eeth and Lakhri. Eeth had valued good and wholesome food very much ever since the Jedi had rescued him from Nar Shaddaa where he had grown up an orphan. And Lakhri simply had hollow legs; he was nearly always hungry. Alright, so the local food was enough to stave his hunger, but he would have much preferred to eat something that actually had a taste. Or drink something other than water.
"Did you bring your tea, by any chance?" he asked Eeth.
"On the ship," said Eeth. "And we have no means to boil water here. It seems that these people do not cook."
"They don't, they throw a bunch of crap into a processor and, voilà, you have all the green goop you can handle," Flynt commented, emptying his third tube. He could sympathise with his master and Eeth, though, as he knew how they felt about good food.
"It wouldn't surprise me if that turned out to be a literal truth," said Raven. "Then again, if they actually put crap in this, it would at least constitute some taste." She put down her tube, entirely disinclined to pick up a second. "I wonder how long before this change to a liquid diet makes itself known," she thought aloud, massaging her temples with her fingers.
Flynt looked at her. "Huh?"
"Think about it."
Again, Flynt just looked at her, and then it dawned: they might end up shitting through the eye of a needle. "Great…"
"Take one more," Eeth advised Raven. "I have examined the composition this morning. It provides you with a balanced supply of nutrients, the content of fat and acids is low, and it contains fibres. As such, I doubt that it will give us diarrhoea. We will just have to accept that eating and drinking are not important activities here. The Ashpans will not be likely to organise dinner receptions for us."
"Small mercies," said Raven.
It was an unusual experience for the Jedi, neither of whom have ever encountered a society where food was not given some sort of reverence or ritual. Even the mess hall here was not really designed for sitting around and eating food; it was more a place to gather and socialise.
Their comm unit announced an incoming message, and soon they had a schedule for the day that made Raven inwardly groan. They were spending most of the morning talking with the delegates about the treaty. They didn't really break to eat here, but they did break to rest from their tasks. How their morning discussions went would determine how they spent their afternoon.
Raven knew how these things worked and it really wasn't her favourite type of missions. In fact, she hated diplomacy. Still, she knew the dance well, so it was clear to her that, once they had all the facts from the three planets, they'd schedule a plenary session to discuss terms and hopefully come to an agreement that could be implemented. Blah Blah Blah. The girl didn't realise her thoughts had caused her to frown. Then again, her expression could just as easily be due to their less than savoury food – at least that was the impression Flynt and Lakhri gained. Eeth was not as easily fooled. He threw her a look that clearly told her to pull herself together. However, he also knew that Raven was generally mature enough to behave herself these days. She would doubtlessly manage to get through this, much as she disliked long-winded negotiations.
They had just enough time to don their formal Jedi attire before they were picked up by a rather large and luxurious speeder. The backseat was easily broad enough for all four of them. Eeth's forehead was marred by a slight frown at what he considered an extravaganza.
"Come now, master, don't be like this. There is nothing wrong with a little opulence here and there. It won't kill you, I promise," said Raven.
"It might," Flynt chimed in upon seeing the expression on Eeth's face.
"Just enjoy it," said Lakhri, leaning back into the cushions. "There's precious little to enjoy here, after all."
This certainly turned out to be true. The Ashpan driver took them across wide stretches of country that was nearly all city, with few fields and woods in between. The view was not very good because the light was hazy; the air quality was low. It was quite evident that the planet was severely overpopulated.
Given this planet had an eighteen hour rotation, and it was moving into their cold season, the daylight was not going to last long. According to their driver, it would be dark around four in the afternoon, after which the temperature would drop a little.
When they arrived they were greeted by an Ashpan who ushered them into a large conference room on the top floor of a high-rise building.
"Welcome, Jedi," said the Ashpan who was seated at the head of the table. "I am Marc, leader of Ashpah III. Please sit."
As they took their seats, the Jedi noticed that there were several pitches of water on the table and a large bowl filled with pills of various colours. A pair of serving tongs sat beside them. Flynt picked it up and helped himself, which was met with approval by all twelve members of the Ashpah delegations.
At Eeth's request, Marc started explaining what Ashpah III was trying to achieve and why. "The reason for our immigration laws should be self-explanatory," they said. "Our planet cannot support immigrants in addition to our own growing populace. My concern is this. In the past, our sister planets have disagreed with our choices and way of life. They are jealous of our breathable atmosphere. We are the same people but the similarities end there. Our three cultures are different, which has caused friction to slowly build over the centuries. Completely denying them permission to set foot on our planet has created an anger that we suspect could become dangerous to our planet." Their eyes met first Eeth's and then Lakhri's gaze. "We do not want a war," they concluded. "It will destroy us all."
"Have you received specific threats?" Raven asked. And so it began…
Lakhri and Eeth were somewhat sceptical of Leader Marc's motives from the outset, and that feeling strengthened as the morning wore on. Of course, Marc was doing his utmost to depict Ashpah III as the good guys, and he was doing a credible job of it. However, after some discussion and some specific and well-placed questions from Lakhri and Eeth, a more complex picture started to emerge; one where Ashpah III had insisted on executing Ashpah I and II citizens without mercy, instead of extraditing them to their home planets. This had worsened relations considerably, but apparently, the laws and judicial system of Ashpah III was not open to debate, which was not well received by the delegates from Ashpah I and II. In fact, given Ashpah III's intransigence, it was somewhat surprising how calm the delegates from their sister planets remained.
So surprising as to be suspicious, thought Lakhri as he saw the delegates smile politely at Leader Marc's insistence on the death penalty. As the morning progressed, he had felt himself overcome by an increasing feeling of unease. He had no idea how and why, but something was going to happen. He glanced at Eeth and caught his eye; from the look on the man's face, he was feeling it, too. As were Raven and Flynt who, to a lesser degree, both sensed something pending and an increasing amount of unease from their masters. Raven looked to Eeth and sent him her concerns across their bond. It wasn't her place to disrupt the meeting but she thought they ought to say something, especially as she noticed Flynt now looking from Jedi to Jedi with an equally concerned expression.
Eeth gave Raven a slight nod and rose from his chair, interrupting another long-winded statement from Leader Marc.
"Excuse me," he said politely, "but we are positive that something is going to happen and it is not going to be anything good. I suggest we adjourn the meeting until we have had a chance to clarify the situation."
The delegates' reaction was all-telling. The delegates from from Ashpah I and II did a rather bad job at faking surprise whereas the delegates from Ashpah III exchanged confused and puzzled looks, except for Leader Marc, who was angry at being interrupted.
"This is absurd!" he declared. "We are in the capital city of Ashpah III and if you are not safe here, you are not safe anywhere in the galaxy. Are you trying to undermine these negotiations by cutting short my statement?"
"Leader Marc is right," said the leader of Ashpah I's delegation, dishonesty radiating off him. "I have no idea what you are alluding to, but–"
At this moment, an explosion could be heard somewhere in the city, a blaster shot rang out in the building and shouting could be heard from the corridor.
"Leave!" shouted Lakhri, jumping up from his seat and pointing everyone to the door. The delegation from Ashpah II was now blocking it, however, pushing the delegates from Ashpah III back into the room. Leader Marc looked on, confused but clearly unwilling to budge. The Jedi could sense that a large group of people was coming up the stairs towards the top floor, which did not bode well for them.
More explosions could be heard in the city. Eeth made a decision quickly. "Lakhri, Flynt, go and get the ship before it's destroyed or taken over," he ordered.
"Come," said Lakhri to Flynt, Force-pushing the delegation from Ashpah II out of the doorway.
They used the Force to conceal their presence which turned out to be a good thing because as soon as they had rounded the corner to the staircase, they had to flatten themselves against the wall to keep themselves from being trampled by a group of armed attackers. Leaving it to Eeth to deal with them, they made their way downstairs and took off at Force-enhanced speed towards their ship the moment they were clear of the building.
Meanwhile, Raven flanked Eeth as they tried to subdue the delegates from Ashpah I and II so the delegates from Ashpah III could leave. They were prevented from reaching that goal by a group of heavily armed soldiers who burst inside.
"Get out!" their leader barked at the delegations from Ashpah I and II, and they were happy to oblige. That left the soldiers with the Jedi and the five representatives of Ashpah III, whom the soldiers had clearly been instructed to take hostage.
"Get the Ashpans out the door," Eeth told Raven, moving fast to keep the soldiers from getting hold of their targets or coming after them. It was fairly chaotic and not made easier by the fact that Leader Marc, of all people, was refusing to budge.
"I am the leader of this planet!" he shouted. "You are breaking our laws! This is a capital offence!"
His attackers would probably have burst out laughing if they hadn't been so busy fighting off Eeth. Suddenly, one of them received a signal on his comm, said something to the others and they all turned and ran. There was a moment's silence, until the Jedi could make out an ominous humming noise approaching from the distance.
Raven stilled and looked at Eeth.
"Fighter jets," said Eeth. "They're going to bomb the building. Run, everyone! Padawan, use Force-enhanced speed and find Lakhri. NOW!"
He unceremoniously picked up Leader Marc, who had made no move to follow the other delegates, flung him over his shoulder and headed for the staircase. He knew the added weight would slow him down and he wanted Raven out of the building as fast as she could make it.
Raven obeyed reflexively, grabbing an Ashpan and blurring towards the exit.
"Well, you're welcome," said Raven, when the person she had rescued ran without a word.
That was when she realised that there were still four Ashpan delegates inside who weren't as fast as her, and Eeth could only save so many even if he doubled back. Raven deliberated for a moment and then flashed back inside to help with the evacuation. Even if she only saved one more, it was worth the small risk.
Eeth did not realise that Raven had headed inside the building because he had his hands full with the struggling Leader Marc who, unbelievably, was still shouting about the planet's laws. For an Ashpan, he was surprisingly strong, and therefore they were still on the second floor landing when Eeth's sense of the Force told him that they needed to get out immediately. He dragged Marc into the adjacent corridor, used his saber to cut out the window, grabbed Marc around the chest and jumped, using the Force to cushion their fall. They had barely landed when fighter jets swooped down and the top level of the building was hit with a bomb. He ran, dragging Marc with him to a parking lot where most of the Ashpans who had left the building seemed to have looked for shelter, and not a moment too soon, because large sections of duracrete came crashing down onto the plaza in front of the building.
Raven had to use the Force in order to avoid the duracrete, and even then it was a close call as the Ashpan she was dragging out was heavy and she was moving at Force-enhanced speed. By now the Ashpan was terrified of being crushed and was struggling in her hold which forced Raven to subdue them in order to reach safety before the rest of the building collapsed on top of them. Raven looked up just in time to see Eeth releasing Marc but as he sensed her and turned, a slab of durocrete came between them and she was forced to jump on top of it, practically throwing the Ashpan up with her, to avoid being crushed.
"Padawan, take cover!" yelled Eeth, whose heart had just about stopped at witnessing this scene. He was completely taken by surprise by the fact that Raven was still here, given that he had clearly told her to run and find Lakhri, and he had certainly not expected her to come out of the collapsing building after him and be nearly hit by parts of it!
Raven frowned at what she considered a stupid order; of course she was going to take cover! The Ashpan was heavy, though, and so with a last burst of the Force she leapt from the durocrete slab just in time to avoid another and rushed to Eeth's side where she finally let the Ashpan flop to the ground. It was convenient that she now had to work on reviving her Ashpan baggage so she did not have to make eye contact with Eeth; Raven had both sensed and seen the fright she had given.
Eeth left her to it because Leader Marc was now demanding his attention. "Those are ships from both Ashpah I and Ashpah II. This was exactly what we were trying to avoid," Marc said in an accusatory tone of voice, pointing at the squadrons of warships that were dropping bombs all over the city centre now. Just then a large slab of durocrete came crashing down twenty metres away, taking out two parked speeders, and several of the delegates yelled in fear.
Eeth said, "This has escalated to an all-out war before we had any chance of preventing it. Plans for this were obviously already underway before we even arrived. All I can offer now is to escort you to a safe place of your choosing and reunite with the rest of my team, whereupon I will inform the Jedi High Council and the Senate of the situation. You will have to decide whether to request formal military assistance from the Republic. A team of four Jedi will be of no help to your planet against an invasion."
Privately he thought that, much as Ashpah III might have "tried to avoid this," they had certainly not done as much as they could have to prevent it, starting with a little more flexibility in the application of their overly strict laws against citizens of their sister planets. Leader Marc's unperturbed reaction to the bombings, which must be causing the death of hundreds of civilians, was not exactly endearing them to Eeth either. Nevertheless, he did not expect to have his offer to escort him to safety firmly rejected.
"You assaulted me," Leader Marc intoned, quite oblivious to the fact that new squadrons of fighter jets were appearing on the horizon. "This is in clear violation of §98 of our penal code. Were I in any position to do so, I would have you arrested. I will not accept any further 'assistance' of that kind."
Eeth raised his eyebrows, but did not deign to comment. It was not that he expected an abundance of gratitude for having saved the leader's life, but being threatened with arrest did not seem like an appropriate response to this either. If the representatives of Ashpah III behaved like this all the time, he could easily see why its sister plants were so disgruntled.
"Come, padawan," he said, his voice more impassive than he felt. "Let us rejoin the rest of our team. You follow my lead and do not stray from my side." The look he gave her told her quite clearly that she was not off the hook, and Raven knew it.
"Fuck!" Flynt swore under his breath as he and Lakhri took in the smouldering remains of their spaceship. Hangars were typically the first places most attackers targeted, which was why Eeth had sent them there in hopes that they'd get lucky. They had not. The two exchanged a look but didn't need to verbalise their next move; they needed to find another transport, and fast!
They concealed themselves and ran through the city, Lakhri leading and keeping Flynt close. They found a ship alright. Unfortunately, it was not from here. "It's either from Ashpah I or II," Flynt commented as they silently crept to the open hatch. The ship was standing in front of the Presidential Palace; it might have carried members of special forces tasked with kidnapping someone or taking over a key installation, the Jedi assumed
"Yes, and the three pilots are still on board, unsurprisingly," Lakhri said quietly. "I'll take over the cockpit. You secure the hatch and close it when I give you my signal."
"You got it," Flynt said in response as the two Jedi ran up the ramp at blinding speed, Flynt stopping by the hatch to guard and wait for the signal while Lakhri carried through into the cockpit.
Less than five minutes later they were airborne, Flynt in the co-pilot's seat and the restrained delegates being jostled around as they swerved between buildings at an inhuman speed. "90° 89.9672'E," Flynt announced, feeding Lakhri the coordinates from his comlink that was tracking Eeth's signal. At least they were unhampered by attacks from the invading planets. Their hijacked ship was seeing to that, and there were no ships from Ashpah III in the air.
The matter was complicated by the fact that Eeth and Raven had to keep moving. One squadron of fighter jets after the other came screeching overhead and bombarded the buildings around them. They were in the middle of the government district, and this was obviously not a good place to be right now.
"Lakhri won't be able to pick us up here," Eeth said, pulling Raven into a subway entry where scores of people were cowering in terror. When the jets were gone for the moment and the noise had abated a little, he commed Lakhri.
"Did you get the ship?" he asked.
"No, I got a ship," replied Lakhri. "Not ours. That was destroyed. This one hasn't got a hyperspace drive, but at least it can get us off of Ashpah III. We're heading towards you."
"Not a good idea," said Eeth. "The district is being bombed non-stop. Direct us to the nearest place adjacent to it where you can land. We'll have to hurry. Ashpah III is going to mobilise their defences soon, and they have quite a big airforce. Things will become really unpleasant then."
"Flynt, give him coordinates," Lakhri said, trusting his padawan to have already found an answer to Eeth's question.
"Already on it," said Flynt, punching in the coordinates and sending them to Eeth's comlink. He read them out while inputting them into their ship's navigation while Lakhri dodged in and out of hazards. They should be there in less than ten minutes and it would be a good thing, too, as a few fighters from Ashpah III had started appearing. Apparently, their military base was large and their underground hangars had not been hit. Eeth had been correct: things were about to become a whole lot more unpleasant.