7
Corellia
The steady hum beneath him made Zeph want to just fall asleep. He hadn't slept much the night before. He was tired and on his way to Corellia with Master Moltes. He really wanted to do well. He wanted to impress Master Moltes, who seemed to either never notice Zeph, or notice just his flaws.
They were aboard an Academy ship. They weren't the best ships in the galaxy, but they weren't bad either. Just not the smoothest ride. But on the bright side, they would be there soon.
Zeph had been briefed on the mission after takeoff. It sounded like it should be easy. But harder missions weren't usually given to students of his age. Master Moltes didn't seem like he could be very useful in a fight. Maybe easy missions were reserved for him as well.
The ship neared Corellia and began to slow down. A few minutes later, the landing pad came into view. The ship landed with a slight bump and the two Jedi walked down the ramp and onto the landing pad. Master Moltes began to walk briskly towards the center of the city. A large building stood there. Probably the Corellian government compound.
The Jedi arrived at the front entrance where two guards stood at the door. "We are here under the request of Governor Crail." Master Moltes begun. The left guard nodded and turned. He punched in a command on a keypad implanted on the wall and the door slid open. The Jedi stepped inside and were greeted by a Rodian. The Rodian spoke a few words in Huttese. Master Moltes nodded and followed the Rodian down a corridor with Zeph right behind him. The Rodian led them to a large door and stepped aside, ushering them in. They walked inside and the door slid silently closed behind them.
A short man sat waiting at a desk at the back of the room. He was probably in his mid-forties, balding, and wore what seemed to be blaster resistant armor.
"I assume you are the Jedi that were sent?"
"Yes." Master Moltes answered the governor.
"Good. Well let's cut to the chase. I hate small talk and hate this gang even more. The last time we saw them, about three days ago, they robbed a shop selling speeders and killed every employee. They headed toward what we think is their hideout. An abandoned housing compound that we have seen them enter. You should look for them there. I want all of them dead no exceptions. Every last one! They are ruining my city, and losing me money. Do I make myself clear? Good. Now get out of here. I hate lightsabers almost as much as I hate low level personnel. Speaking of which, I haven't fired anyone today. Get out of here I have work to do!"
The Jedi bowed and left the room quickly. When they were out of the building, Master Moltes turned back towards the ship.
Zeph wondered Master Moltes's opinion on the governor. "He wasn't too friendly was he Master?" he asked.
"No, I'm afraid not. But most people aren't these days. We'll head back to the ship and land closer to the housing compound."
Master Moltes's reply was quick and mission centered but Zeph was glad he was talking to him. Except for the briefing, he hadn't spoken a word to Zeph the entire trip. They reached the ship and took off. Master Moltes flew calmly east and landed after a few minutes. They were in a dark part of the city. A lone dug stood asleep a few yards away. He leaned against the compound entrance holding a gun in his feet. Zeph was still confused about the Jedi Master's plan.
"Master Moltes, the governor told us to kill them all. Are we going to do that?"
"Of course not. We will merely render them incapable of fighting and take them to Coruscant, were they will be locked up."
Zeph felt stupid. A Jedi wouldn't go on a killing spree because some cranky old man told him too. They approached the dug and Master Moltes pulled the gun out of his hands. He awoke with a start and froze. He had seen the lightsaber dangling from Master Moltes's belt. Master Moltes took a pair of binders from his belt and placed them around the dug's ankles. He then walked behind the dug and hit him hard with the butt of his lightsaber.
"So he can't alert the others." Master Moltes explained. The dug fell on the ground limp. The Jedi walked past him and entered the complex.
"We need to search every house." Said Master Moltes. The complex was one huge building, made up of doors placed next to and on top of each other. There were about two hundred doors; each to it's own home. Master Moltes walked to the far right door. He used the Force and the lock on the door was instantly disabled and the door slid opened. The one room home was dark and empty. They moved on to they next door and repeated the process. Again the room was empty.
They continued this way until for about seventy houses, jumping to the next level at the end of rows since the lifts were not working. Master Moltes unlocked the next door but it did not open. Zeph felt the Force and saw a second lock on the door. It seemed to be and interior addition to the door. The second lock was disabled and the door opened. The room was dimly lit. It had a large hole in the ceiling with a steel ladder coming from it. They began to climb and ended up in the next home up. There were large holes in the walls as well. They led to the next homes. Zeph turned into one of the homes and looked around. There were stolen goods all over the place. Piled into corners, thrown on furniture and just scattered on the floor. The rest of the little hideout was the same. But there was no gang.
Then they heard laughing. And footsteps. It sounded like ten to twenty people. Master Moltes jumped down the hole to the lower house. Zeph followed suit. They each took a side at the door. The door slid open. The gang was made up of humans, dugs, rodians and two, tall, six armed beings Zeph didn't recognize. They all entered the room and started climbing the ladder, not noticing the Jedi. Master Moltes stepped in front of the door and ignited his lightsaber. Its bright blue glow caught the attention of the gang. Zeph ignited his yellow lightsaber and stood next to Master Moltes.
"You are all under arrest. You will come quietly and no one will be harmed. Drop your weapons and start towards the door." Said Master Moltes. Zeph thought this was an idiotic thing to say. Surely the gang would not give up that easily?
The members of the gang began to drop their blasters. They began to line up and head for the door. Zeph was amazed. Why would they just end their campaign of robbery that quickly?
The force suddenly surged with warning. Zeph jumped to the side; Master Moltes to the other. A human jumped down through the hole and started shooting. He had two blasters and fired at both Zeph and Master Moltes. This distraction gave the other members of the gang time to grab their weapons and run out of the hideout. The two Jedi deflected blaster bolts as a rodian jumped down through the hole and helped his comrade.
"Zeph, take care of them catch up to me when you get done! Aim only for the hands and feet!" And Master Moltes backed out of the door.
Zeph kept deflecting blaster fire back towards his enemies, trying to knock their guns out of their hands. He began to creep closer and closer to them. He jumped forward and deflected a bolt in mid air. He landed and rolled towards the human and slashed. The human screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. The dug stopped shooting to look at his friend. The human's foot was severed and laying on the floor. He rolled around grasping his ankle, screaming. Zeph took the dug's pause to kick at the blaster rifle in his feet. It flew to the side crashed into the wall.
The dug held its feet in the air as a surrendering gesture. Zeph took out the binders and attached them to the dug's feet at the human's hands. He used a tow cable on his belt to tie them both to the ladder so the couldn't get away. Zeph turned and ran out of the door.
Zeph followed the force and searched for Master Moltes. He ran through the complex and out of the exit. He continued on down the street. A few minutes later he saw a heap on the ground. He stopped and turned it over. A rodian wore a pair of binders and a rather large bump on his head. Master Moltes had already gotten him.
Zeph heard blaster fire a good distance from him. He began running towards it. Along the way he came across the limp but living bodies of the gang. Only two had binders, Master Moltes must have run out, but all had bumps on their heads.
Zeph rounded a corner into an alley and saw Master Moltes. The two tall aliens were firing at him. Each of there combined twelve arms held a blaster aimed at Master Moltes. He moved like lightning, dodging and deflecting fire so fast that Zeph could barely see him.
Zeph leaped to Master Moltes's side and joined the fight. Master Moltes seemed relieved for the slightest second before again concentrating on the enemy. Zeph realized how these aliens had a severe advantage. Each shot was paired. So Zeph had to dodge both blasts, deflect both blasts, or dodge one and deflect one. And he had barely a split second to decide in between each pair of attacks. These unknown aliens knew what they were doing.
Master Moltes deflected almost every blast back towards the enemies. But they were quick and kept moving to avoid getting hit themselves. There was a small rock on the ground next to Master Moltes. Zeph saw the rock shoot up from the corner of his eye. Master Moltes grabbed it in his left hand. The Force began to swell in him as he threw the rock.
The rock was propelled by the Force. It flew so quickly, it seemed that the alien's gun turned on it's own. The alien didn't realize that his weapon turned to his side. He noticed and looked to the right. His friend had fallen. A hole in his temple marked where the rock-turned gun had shot him.
He was on his own now, against two Jedi. He stopped firing. He bowed his head and dropped all of his guns. His head was still down as Master Moltes approached.
"The New Republic has sent us to arrest the gang of Corellia. Will you come willingly?" Master Moltes asked almost breathlessly.
The alien nodded slightly. Master Moltes deactivated his lightsaber and began to lead the man towards the ship. Zeph deactivated his lightsaber as well and followed.
When they reached the ship, they locked the alien in a holding cell. They returned to each knocked out body and placed them in the cell. The last place they stopped at before leaving to city was at the governor's office. They told him of their success and left the planet.
"So Mr. Mardone, did you learn anything from this mission?" asked Master Moltes on the way to Coruscant.
"Yes, sir. The first thing I learned is that people are not always going to accept or like me as a Jedi. I know that I will probably live a life hated by a lot of people. And I may not always be welcome everywhere. I learned that from the governor. Secondly, I learned to never underestimate the power of the Force. I learned that from you. And thirdly, I learned that a lightsaber could stop a situation from occurring even when deactivated. I learned that from the first dug we encountered."
Master Moltes pondered for a moment. Zeph expected him to nod or turn away like always. He was surprised when Master Moltes smiled.
"I always knew you were a bright student. I knew you would be helpful during this mission. And you were. That's why I requested you come with me on this mission. Master Skywalker seemed to know why I did so as well."
Zeph was speechless. This from the Calamarian who usually never noticed him. Maybe he was going to be a good Jedi. He heard approval from to different Jedi masters in one day.
They dropped the prisoners off with a Coruscant security team. Then they started the return journey home.
Zeph realized how tired he still was. But his excitement kept it from getting to him.
Penguin Monk-The Masters List is not something to show who is better than who. It is something to aspire for. It motivates the students to have a deeper connection with the force. And they improve their lightsaber skills also. As to your other question, I wrote the academy classes according to how I recieved them when I read the books. You may be right. I wrote what I think is right. Thanks fork reading.
all-thanks for your reviews. keep them coming. sorry for the wait on this chapter. I will get 8 up soon. hope you enjoy it.