Star Wars
Reincarnated as a Tooka
A Star Wars Isekai story
Part 4 – Reunion
I never expected Undryl to survive such a fatal cut. But once I sensed her coming closer to me I knew it was her, I could feel it. The Force never lead me wrong, I am glad I was right to follow its will.
- Master Stardrifter, Kuat 19 days before battle of Geonosis
It didnt take long for Tooge to be ready for liftoff. Once Tobias had been informed of a possible lead that needed a fourth pair of eyes they had to pick up. Tobias knew he had to wait to hold the funeral for his daughter. But pressing concerns at Coruscant were also not helping him any as he too had to leave, leaving his beloved wife and his daughters pet Nexu, Tapia on Corellia, he was hoping that the Jedi being there could be of help.
But once Baozi reassured Tobias that they'd only be gone a few hours to just overnight at the very most, with the speed of Tooge's hyperdrive they'd be at Kuat and back to Corellia before the day was out as it was! So once Baozi had convinced Undryls father not to hold the funeral until a fourth pair of eyes could examine the body, the three of them couldnt do it and Tooge didnt want to leave his ship. So that left only one other person who could either confirm or deny certain critical things.
So with Tobias now off to Coruscant for an emergency debate, that left Baozi and his Padawan, Nyxia, and their friend, Master Vanvaris, who was really Undryl reborn on Tooge's ship. Tooge gained clearance for liftoff even before the three had arrived, and was already done with his preflight. So he was really just waiting for them to get onboard and shut the main door at the time.
Within twenty minutes they were in orbit and had clearance from BoSS verified foir Kuat, and then they took off into hyperspace. According to Tooge they'd be only about two hours to Kuat due to the recent heavy traffic in some of the spacelanes. But Undryl wasnt concerned about that as she meditated in the conference room, Tooge had slaveriged most of his controls into a single station on the bridge, as well as a backup control station near the engine controls.
So as Undryl meditated, and the ship safely in hyperspace for the extended jump before having to briefly drop out and recalc a path. Undryl was simply seated on a chair, floating before her was the forcesaber hilt, its technolgies gone, it was for all appearances, worthless, and yet somehow it was still a noble weapon of some kind. As Undryl meditated the weapon floated and danced before her in the air.
"Worried ?" Baozi asked
"Somehow, no" Undryl replied. Once she found Bodgey she was pretty sure that Bodgey could infact explain what happened once Undryl explained what happened. At least Undryls mother believed in reincarnation, but this was insane.
"Care to explain ?" Baozi asked
"At this moment, I feel an odd sense of calm, as if all hell is about to break loose" Undryl said simply. Somehow, Baozi did not like the sound of such a revelation. But then it kind of made sense, Undryl had been killed, only three days before, and yet, she was sitting directly before him, meditating, and a Forcesaber, ages old, floated between them. "Something tells me you are on edge Master Vanvaris"
"I am indeed" Baozi said, he held a datapad and was going through the files carefully on it. Everything complied through the last day of Undryls human life he was going through, typical work of a Jedi Investigator. There was not a lot they could go on, but somehow, Master Stardrifter could shed light on the events surrounding Undryls death and rebirth.
Maybe
"Care to talk about it ?" Undryl used his own words against him, which made Baozi smirk. A beady eye opened as Undryl poked, almost kitten like, at the floating Forcesaber in front of her. She was already trying to think up what kinds of technology she could put into it, mostly a powercell, a reflection glass, and maybe a proper crystal ? Wait no there was already a crystal in the Forcesaber's hilt, plus she knew where to find more on Corellia
"Yes" Baozi replied, eyeing her carefully. "I have many questions, possibly too many to count. So I will start with the simple ones. Since you can remember everything of the day of your death, what was the vote about ?"
"I explained it once, but I might as well tell you, I was the key vote in deciding of what Corellian Engineering Corporation would do, would they remain in the civilan market, or would they become nationalised and go full military ? I chose to keep us firmly in the civilian market. It worked, for the moment at least. It was raining later in the afternoon when it was all over. Since the vote was private we didnt have press or holonet recording the event" Undryl explained. She pointed at herself, knowing, somehow, that Baozi was going to ask about her outfit. "When I was human, you saw my outfit in that room, I wore this exactly as you see it, minus the sheer parts at least. Shenniah also had one made, the tailors worked nice and fast"
"That does not explain how you have it as... well, as you are now" Baozi said simply
Undryl smirked at him, "You are going to think I am crazy, but I told Shenniah to keep her set while I was dying, the one I had the tailor make for her. Apparently when I was dying I heard a voice, it was calm, melodic, soothing really, it said something about not having the right items needed and so it made a copy, somehow, of my outfit, exact as I wore as a human too, aside from the minor differences of more sheer looking at the very least."
"You heard a voice as you were dying ?" Baozi mused, the way she described the voice, soothing, melodic, almost like a choir.
"Yes, it said something about having some skills and gifts or something, calling me a Jedi Master or some such" Undryl replied
"You heard the Voice of the Force is my only guess. Its possible the Force intervined, because of your mothers beliefs, and you being her only child and all" Baozi surmised
"Yeah, but why a Tooka ? Why couldnt I just wake up in the medical center ?" Undryl asked him. "I mean look at me, I am still Undryl, I told Jedi Master that, and so far she agrees to let me use my old name, at least until my body is buried."
"Why a Tooka indeed. I think the Force has something in store for you, but what I do not know" Baozi said
"For now, I am a Jedi Master apparently, in the body of a Tooka, able to speak Basic, and other languages with ease. It also said something of some universal force abilities, but, I'm honestly scared, if I can speak with... Master Stardrifter, maybe my fear will abate. But I need to know further of things."
"There would only be one maybe two people then for you to speak to" Baozi said simply. The ship dropped out of hypersace as they came upon a checkpoint. "The first person is Jostca Nu, shes currently the Records Keeper at the Temple on Coruscant, the only other person I can think of to speak to is Master Yoda"
"At this moment, let us find Master Stardrifter" Undryl replied, the sooner she spoke with Bodgey the better. She turned on the holonet, the news went from the assassination of another senator, which made Undryul smirk and then cut back to the investigation into Undryls own death. Shanniah was being grilled for it. All sorts of holonet interviews, interogrums and worse, pending lax of duty and full dismissal from Cronet's Heros alone!
Undryl turned the holonet off. She was upset. Shanniah helped keep her wits about her during the vote when Bodgey wasnt there, she had nothing to do with her death! "Something on your mind ?" Baozi asked her
"Yes" Undryl replied "I am worried for Major Twang, she helped me the time of the vote, but was called away by her boss, apparently under threat of dismissal if she didnt arrive at the site of the meeting she was to go to. So I insisted she go. So she did, shortly after, well, the rest happened" Undryl was indeed upset over how things currently were going.
Baozi stood, "When we get to Kuat, you can find Master Stardrifter, I have a few things I need to do there on Kuat anyhow, hopefully the lady of House Kuat will allow us to land, if not, I might have to pull a few favors." he just hoped he was still welcomed on Kuat.
He was.
A good twenty minutes later and they were once more in hyperspace
-8-8-8-
On Kuat, Master Stardrifter had just finished a meeting with an old friend. "Thank you, Cynthiana, this will come in handy. But you're sure about those crystals ?"
"I am sure" Cynthiana had been allowed by Master Yoda to take a brief leave of the Order to attend to some family issues at home mostly at request of her mother. Yoda felt that it was important that Cynthiana return home and aid whatever she was to do before returning to the Order after everything was settled.
But Cynthiana had found some crystals, both kyber and otherwise, all of them at random locations, but each one useful. And filled with color. "After all, I made a promise to a friend and fellow Padawan at the Order, the first crystals we find, even if its a bunch at the time, we trade to the other. These crystals arent for me, they're for her." Her, meaning the student that everyone rarely had met or seen. The Student of the Jedi Exile, a Cathar woman of some form. The two had met as children on Taris during missions. But they never remained out of contact when it was possible they'd meet up at locations.
"I understand, Thank you for allowing me to stay over, it helped after..." Bodgey falthered.
"The loss of your friend ?" Cynthiana said, Bodgey nodded, "its alright Master, the loss of a friend is not an easy thing to go through. I am glad the sancutary was of use to you while you were here though." Kuat had a old Jedi Temple, that for many generations during the Cold War, and the major conflicts that surrounded it was used to train many jedi. All before Yodas time, and yet somehow, it felt like Bodgey herself had been there.
"Yes, It still hurts, yet somehow I feel as if Undryl isnt really gone. It is as if her spirit is somewhere, and the Force is holding onto her to keep her at peace or something, I cannot for the life of me figure it out, but somehow, I am peaceful with her passing" Bodgey replied
"You think it might be possible that Undryl is still alive somewhere ? Maybe reborn or something ?" Cynthiana wasnt exactly one to believe in reincarnation and rebirth, but with the Will of the Force guiding her every step, if the Force wanted her to do a certain deed, and she died doing it, the Force might bring her right back. If it wanted,
"Possible, with the Force anything is possible, Master Yoda always said that the Force was his ally, and it is a powerful ally." Boidgey replied. She turned and made to return into the temple to meditate in one of the many private rooms.
"You sure you want to stay here ? Mother was upset when you insisted on sleeping and living in this old place. She is scared it might come down on you in your sleep" Cynthiana said, looking to the old temple front doorway alone.
"If it is the will of the Force that I should die here, so be it. But something in my heart says I should be here" Bodgey replied. She gave Cynthiana a soft smile, the teenage woman was tall and thin, and by Kuat standards a bombshell model, one who could model off starships if one wanted such a job.
At that moment Cynthiana was dressed in a simple black dress that contrasted her near dead white skin due to its color, Cynthiana needed to get out more it seemed, a long pair of leather and cloth boots adorned her legs as the dress only stretched to cover just to above her knees, it looked like incredibly fragile cloth, yet Bodgey could see it was also woven of something else. Upon Cynthianas belt was a seemingly normal looking dualsaber, it wasnt evil in design by any standards, but it was rather uncommon in the Order.
Odd as some Jedi found it, Cynthiana, even as a child ten years before, had been facinated by the idea of a dualsaber. So as soon as she was able, she took up training with a Force imbued quarterstaff. And then her first master Reyic Thantos, took her on, he too used a dualsaber, and the two of them could spar together for longer periods. The training droids were one thing, but this was more fun. But now, Cynthiana was stuck on Kuat, with her parents and brother. At the request of her mother.
Mostly because of her brother. But she wasnt one to hold a grudge, her brother, occasionally, Cynthiana feared he wanted to split the family apart, her mother did not approve of his choice of a harem. Nor did Cynthiana but thats another story for another time. Cynthiana was at Kuat, to be with her family, at her mothers request alone. Her father never knew of it, and had welcomed her home, but Kuat himself was livid she was present.
It was as if she was a thorn in his side.
It was the look that she was giving to Bodgey however that made the Miralukan smile, the eyeless woman spoke, her soft voice seemed to calm the thicker then duracrete tension in Cynthiana like a beachside at sunset. "I will be alright, I sense we will have guests soon. Can you see to them when they arrive ?"
"Sure, so long as I wont be needing to attend two funerals I guess so." The last thing Cynthiana wanted was her mother getting killed, and also her father. But that she felt was a long way off. The two women parted ways then and Cynthiana left Bodgey to her own thing once sure that Bodgey had the food and drink needed to survive a week in the temple alone.
A good two hours later however and things changed from peaceful to overly active at the old Jedi Temple training grounds. Because as Bodgey meditated, she felt the most strange feeling of life nearby, and coming closer.
The strange part was that she could swear it was her friend Undryl, but was she a Force Ghost ? Was she actually reborn ? Bodgey cvould feel that Undryl was nearby, because Undryl had just dropped from hyperspace in orbit of Kuat and her pilot, the Rishii native, Tooge, was already hamemring out code after code in order to land as close to the old Jedi Temple on Kuat as possible.
Undryl was alive ? The code came through, it was Undryls personal code, but it hadnt been used since Undryl had died three days before! So it mneant that either Undryl was alive, and using her code to gain landing permissions, followed by a pair of Jedi codes that Bodgey didnt recognise whatsoever but because they were Jedi they got clearance to begin with.
Cynthiana had seen the two Jedi codes, and the request of where to land, at the old temple, to Cynthiana, they must have been searching for Master Stardrifter. But then, she didnt really have to wonder, if a Jedi wanted to land somewhere important on a planet, who was she to stop them ?
Twenty minutes later and Bodgey stood outside on the landing platform as Tooge guided his CR90 in to land, nice and smoothly the vessel softly made landfall. Small pops and thuds rattled on the ground yet the vessel was so skillefully constructed it gave nary a shudder as it settled on its landing space.
Bodgey felt Undryl even closer. Was Undryl posessing a ship ? The boarding ramp lowered and three people stepped off the ship down the ramp, one a human, another a near human and the last one looked like Yoda on some form of really hairy issues.
But the feeling of Undreyl being so close was nearly unbearable for Bodgey. But she recognised Baozi. "Master Vanvaris, what brings you to Kuat ?"
"Its more our fellow Jedi having an important issue she wants you to look into, a fourth pair of eyes so to speak" Boazi replied
"Do tell" Bodgey replied, her 'gaze' then turned towards the four foot tall furball standing next to Nyxia as the Padawan simply nodded in greeting to the other Master.
"This,... Tooka, might be someone you know. At least, if she is who she says she is, I feel that you can provide some truth to the matter" Baozi explained as best he could what Undryl told him. He himself believed that Undryl had been reborn, but he wanted to be sure someone Undryl herself trusted could confirm it too
Bodgey smirked. "I can feel her spirit in the Force." She said simply
"Of course you can, just like I can feel yours, and Baozi's, and Nyxia, and Tooge, and Cynthiana... wait how do I know a woman named Cynthiana ?" Undryl asked out of nowhere. The Tooka smacked herself in the face with a paw "Wake up Undryl, you're in front of Bodgey again after so long!" Even though it was only a week since Bodgey had left for her mission to Felucia.
"So it is you!" Bodgey then said after a good two seconds dead quiet as she dropped to a knee, looking into Undrys beady eyes. In Bogdeys force aided vision, she was looking at Undryl, but where everyone else saw a four foot tall Tooka woman, Bodsgey 'saw' a four foot tall version of Undryl herself as a human. With out thinking of what she was doing, Bodgey reached out both arms and enveloped Undryl into a tight hug. "How ?"
"When I died I heard a melodic, almost choir like voice" Undryl explained as she nuzzled Bodgey, the two friends reunited. "It it said something of being a Jedi Master, I think I was really just in the throes of death that I might have imagined it, I then told Shenniah to keep her version of the same dress I had on when I was killed and the voice basically made me this copy. Look, you can see even where I was struck as a human. Tooka cats do not have a long red stripe on their spine do they ?"
"They do not, so I can see exactly what you mean, even without seeing" Bodgey then stood up, still holding Undryl, who somehow started purring in her arms like a common Tooka would. Somehow being in Bodgeys arms made Undryl relax. She felt safer then she had in weeks. It made Undrylk blush under her fur as Bodgey turned to Baozi, "Aside from bringing my best friend to visit. What brings you here Master Vanvaris ?"
"We need your help back on Corellia, A fourth pair of eyes, and someone also to confirm with Undryls mother that her daughter was reborn. If we can safely convince Madiem Stathe to hold the funeral, afterwards we can reintroduce her to her daughter." Baozi said, though he looked worried
"Something wrong ?" Bodgey asked
"Yes, its possible that Undryls parents will refuse to believ their daughter was reborn." Baozi admitted he was worried. For a Jedi to admit such fears was a good first step quite honestly.
"Undryl, your parents trust me still, do they not ?" Bodgey then asked after a moment of quiet thought.
"Mother does, Father trusts Baozi's judgement, and if Baozi needs a fourth pair of eyes to handle who killed me and why, the only person I could think of was you. Plus we need to get Shenniah out from under the Senate Hearings committees as well, the poor woman must have lost a lot of sleep as it is the past four days alone!" Undryl sounded worried as she spoke, the first thing on her mind was the Forcesaber, making sure it got to Bodgey, but then she went and got it herself and now wore it on her hip, but the technology in it aside from the crystal was useless. "Bodgey ?" The Tooka in the Miralukans arms then asked
"Yes ?" Bodgey replied
"Do you know where I can get some parts, for this ?" Undryl revealed the hilt to her friend. For a brief instant Bodgey could feel the crystal in the hilt. So she knew that her friend held an old weapon of some kind. "I know there's a crystal in it, but I have some apparently Universal Force abilities, and some minor force powers, but no real training, but somehow I have memories of training in force abiltiies, and I am somehow a Jedi Master just like you" Undryl had explained the melodic choirlike soft almost motherly voice she heard when dying.
"The Voice of the Force gifted you skills and abilities of a Jedi and a Sith, and maybe even some other traditions, You also have a lightsaber hilt. I think you can find some parts here somewhere. Feel free to explore ?" Bodgey then asked "How much time do you need ?" How much time did they actually have ?
"An hour ?" Boazi said, they had promised Madiem Stathe, Undryls mother, they'd be back to Corellia by morning on Corellia, and it was already near midnight there from what Baozi could recall.
"An hour is all I need" Undryl said, Bodgey gently set her friend back on the ground on her own two feet, and catlight, Undryl sprang away deeper into the old temple. She had an hour to find the parts she needed for this venture of her life.
A little over an hour later, and they were once more underway, heading back to Corellia, and somehow, Undryl felt, they were headed back into danger.