Not beta'd and very short, but enjoy!

Scott officially hated his mission. Master Derek was as scary as all the rumors made him out to be and Scott found himself scared to breathe too loudly for fear of upsetting the unnerving presence next to him. It didn't help that they were the only two people on the starship and were headed towards the outer rim. Needless to say, it was going to be a very long mission.

Even though Scott was terrified, he spent the first half of the flight in deep contemplation. Their mission was to investigate a desert planet by the name of Geonosis on the outer rim for any suspicious activity. The mission itself was vague and random, two qualities that Scott found himself mulling over.

The outer rim always had suspicious activity: the 26 planets that comprised the outer rim were known to be ports for smugglers and criminals. Looking for suspicious activity would be like looking for water in an ocean, it was everywhere. It also made almost no sense to Scott that there were only two Jedi, one still being a Padawan, assigned to such a vast mission. The planet would takes weeks, if not months, to fully investigate and since it was a reconissence mission, the two Jedi were not supposed to engage in any sort of conflict.

"Stop thinking so hard, you're going to made your brain explode." Scott looked up form the controls, startled at the interruption. Derek still looked emotionless, staring forward into the galaxy but his weird teasing made Scott a little less terrified.

"Sorry Master Derek," Scott stated, feeling very much like a child being scolded by a teacher.

"Just Derek please," the older man replied, "At least for the duration of this mission. I feel old when a twenty-three-year-old calls me Master. I'm only twenty-eight you know, we're basically peers."

"You're only five years older than me?" Scott questioned incredulously, "When did you go through the Jedi Trials?"

"I was around sixteen when I was promoted to knighthood," Derek replied, "I was the last Jedi to get promoted at such a young age. My uncle, Peter, was a knight by the time he was fifteen. We both became Masters when we were around twenty-three." Scott clenched his fists in frustration, almost no one had passed the Jedi Trials in years. Scott couldn't help but feel left out; why was it that Derek, a Jedi excellent on the battlefeild but also a Jedi who struggled with his inner balance, had passed so easily?

"No offense, but almost no padawan passes the trials anymore, so why did you pass so young with such ease?" Scott cautiously questioned again. Derek was silent a few minutes, his eyebrows furrowing in thought.

"I know that everyone in the Order has heard the rumors about my struggles with the darkside so I understand why you may feel like it's unfair that I passed so early. My bloodline, the Hale bloodline, has been force sensitive for thousands of years. From the day I was born, I was put into training. Although I wasn't sent to the Jedi Academy until I was five years old, I had already mastered techniques that even Knights in their twenties struggled with. The order has also changed since I've been in. Deucalion is a great Jedi, but many things have shifted since he has gained high power in the Order."

"What has changed?"

"I don't know exactly," Derek admitted, "Padawans are not passing their exams and unrest is always prevalent in the galaxy. This whole mission and state of emergency isn't supposed to happen. Plus my past few missions have been…"

"I just was actually just thinking about the mission. Doesn't it seem a bit odd?" Scott chimed in.

"Odd?" Derek echoed, interest evident in his voice.

"It's vague, investigate a planet? What for? And why only two Jedi? The outer rim is huge and we get assigned to one planet while the rest are just left alone?" Scott felt better voicing his suspicions. If he had been with Stiles, they would have already been arguing about their worries. However, if he had been with Stiles, they probably would have argued with Derek before leaving Corusant.

"You're right," Derek stated, still not looking at the Padawan next to him, "This mission is weird. Reconnaissance like this is usually done with a purpose. Find this criminal, look for something. However, we were just assigned to suspicious activity on a planet that almost started a war a few decades ago."

"So why are we going there?' Scott asked.

"Look kid, I don't make the orders. I just get what I get and go do it. I told you though, my past few missions have been weird." Derek supplied, his eyes narrowing in thought.

Scott stayed silent as Derek seemed to mentally fight with himself. A little after the conversation, Scott began to relax. Derek was unapproachable, but he was also smart enough to see that this mission was weird and he was interesting to talk to.

Derek Hale was one of the best Jedi the order had. He was smart, agile and did what had to be done with no qualms. He was from the Hale family, a prestigious clan that was known for being force compatible. The Hale children always became prestigious and well known Jedi. Scott on the other hand, was from a poorer family. He had stayed with his small family until his father had disappeared, leaving Scott and his mom without money. His mom worked at a hospital in the inner city and when the crime rate started to pick up, she sent him to the Academy to give him a better future. Scott remembered meeting Allison his first day in the Academy and losing to her in a game of tag. Stiles had come in a few years later and quickly rose to the top of the class, beating out Allison for first place.

"If I'm correct, which I usually am," Derek began, "This mission is either a way for us to be out of the way, a suicide mission, or a filler." Scott sat up straighter in his chair waiting for an explanation.

Derek was rarely wrong about anything. He was the one who had figured out there was a bomb planted in one of the starships earlier this year and he was the one who found a Sith in the Order over a decade ago. His only downfall was that he struggled with the dark inside of himself.

"The Order sends vague missions sometimes, but this makes no sense. If the Order is really in such a state of emergency, why send one of it's best Jedi on such a mission? You being sent is understandable-"

"Hey!" Scott interupted.

"I'm right," Derek replied, "Padawan are usually sent on stuff like this. It's not uncommon for you guys to collect information. However, Jedi Masters are never sent on missions like this."

"So what is going on?" Scott asked, a chill going up his spine.

"I think that there is something else going on here. Something bigger than us and that whatever is going on, they don't want us to figure it out."

"We were sent here so that we would be out of the way," Scott supplied remembering how Derek had been one of the top Jedi for the past few years. He was terrifying, but smart. He saw through mind tricks and deceptions.

"The only question now is why us and what we do now," Derek finished.

"Is that it? Geonosis?" Scott asked as a planet came into view. Derek nodded his head in reply as the starship began to descend.

"We need to spend a week here. If there is something going on, maybe we can gather some clues from this rotten planet. While we are here I want you to leave your comlink here. I know you want to warn your friend, but comlinks can be hacked and this is all speculation." Derek got up from his chair and unclipped his own comlink.

"Do you really believe that-"

"I don't believe anything," Derek supplied, cutting off Scott, "but better safe than sorry. The mission is our top priority just like keeping the peace is our duty to the galaxy. While we are here, be on guard at all times and do not get comfortable. Like I said, this planet is rotten from the inside out."