Chapter Twenty-Two: A Friend Behind Enemy Lines
As soon as River closed the door Z10 came in whistling and beeping to let her know he was back.
"Alright, alright, I heard you," said River semi laughing to herself.
She unwrapped the towel and brushed out her still damp hair and went outside on the balcony to eat, and Z10 came out to join her.
After River closed the door to the secret passage Grievous made his way back to his ship which was a safe distance from petrol's and close enough that if River needed him he would be there. Once he got back he picked up a keypad and screen and started pushing buttons. He was hacking into River's little astromech unit Z10 so that he could keep an eye on her without actually being there.
Once he had hacked into the unit he look around for River to discover that she was out on the balcony eating her dinner. He rolled the unit out the door and watched her intently. She was so beautiful, so fragile and so strong at the same time not to mention trusting. In fact a little too trusting for her own good.
There was a nice breeze out on the balcony and River found it soothing and comforting. It reminded her of the breeze that back on Kalee would always have, even though this one was not as sweet it still counted for something. She stood there with her eyes closed facing the setting sun thinking over what she planned to find out on her mission.
She knew that she needed to find out weakness' of the Jedi and that would be easy enough because some of the major weakness' of Jedi were common in all. But to find individual weakness' from the most powerful would be the difficult part especially Master Windu and Master Yoda.
But she would soon find out that it wouldn't be extremely difficult for she was going to make some "friends".
After the sun went down River washed her face and got Z10 settled down then went to bed herself. She drifted into a sleep that was filled with worry and she kept waking up on the hour and did not get a good night sleep.
When River woke up she brushed her hair back into a ponytail and put on one of the Jedi jacket/cloaks and put her double bladed lightsaber within the thing and went exploring. She didn't take Z10 because he was still charging.
She wandered throughout the Jedi Temple often stopping to introduce herself and answer a few questions to the ones who were out and about. She had been wandering for about an hour when Master Yoda called to her. She spun around to see the little alien walking towards her slowly but surely.
She smiled a greeting "Good morning master." she said as she swept downward in a bow of respect.
"Hmmmm." he chuckled "Good morning it is!" he said in a very cheerful manner walking up beside her.
They wandered around Yoda telling her about the history of the building and some interesting things about the Jedi.
"Master now knowing that I'm force sensitive and if I do learn to use it even at my age what weakness' should I be aware of?"
Yoda was thoughtful for a moment.
"This good question you ask. Weakness found in most Jedi are connected but there can also be individual weakness' also." he paused as if trying how to put what he was about to say.
"Pride... a major weakness the Jedi has."
"Why do you say that?"
"We are prideful due to the abilities with saber and force we have."
"Oh."
"Weakness of an individual varies much. Such like anger, and hate which will lead to the dark side of the force."
"How?"
"As I say to all younglings and Jedi alike: Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."
River pondered this for some time.
"So your saying that if you hide fear inside you that will lead to anger of other beings and that anger will turn into hate for them and then you break and turn to the darkside?"
"Yes." he said glad that she had understood what most Jedi didn't in the span of their entire life.
They walked up to a window ledge and Yoda asked if she could sit him up on it, she did. He sat there looking at her with great thought.
"Today with Obi-wan and his apprentice train you shall."
"I don't know much about the force but I do know a great amount with sabers, I built my own."
"Mmm let me see this saber."
She pulled her saber out and ignited both ends. Yoda's face clearly showed that he was deep in thought.
"Go you shall with them to train with lightsabers you will. When return you do, me you must find and teach you in the ways of the force I shall."
She bowed "Thank you master," she said with a smile and left.
When she got back to her room she saw that Z10 was up and about and she could see a form of a man on her balcony. She walked out to see Obi-wan Kenobi standing with his back to the door, when she came out he turned around and smiled.
"Good morning Miss Sha'ke." She put her hands up for him to stop. "River... just River no Miss Sha'ke or Miss River, just River."
"Okay River."
"Good morning-"
"Obi-wan... just Obi-wan no Master Kenobi or Master Obi-wan, just Obi-wan."
She smiled "Good morning Obi-wan."
The door was left open and Z10 came rolling out and rolled up to Obi-wan and shocked him. Obi-wan yelped and lost his balance and almost fell over if it had not been for River's fast reflex's.
"Your little unit is being really strange."
"What do you mean?" she said clearly showing that she was clueless.
"Well when I got here he was being strange and bumping into me and making these weird noise's and now he shocked me."
"I'm sorry, he's probably being protective because I just got here and he's been programmed to make sure that I'm alright. I'll turn him off."
She walked over to Z10 and switched him off.
General Grievous was on the shuttle and was working on hacking into the little unit that River had. Once he was into its system he scanned the room. He didn't see River, five minutes later a man that looked to be in his late thirties walked in. He didn't like the look of him so he bumped into him. The man lost his balance and fell onto the bed. He looked at the unit with a curious look in his eyes.
"Why did you do that?"
He just beeped.
The man walked out onto the balcony and stood there. About ten minutes later River walked in. She had a smile on her face as if she was pleased with herself. She noticed that the man was on the balcony and she walked out, they greeted each other.
He rolled out onto the balcony and rolled up in between them and he shocked the man. The man yelped and almost fell over except River used her fast reflex's to save him from more humiliation. Grievous growled at the screen. The man said something about the unit acting strange and River apologized and switched him off.
The screen went blank. He sat back in a fowl mood, River was going to hear about that, but should he let her know that he was spying on her?
"Nah! Because if I do she will tell me to stop and I wouldn't be able to refuse her request," he said aloud to himself.
But I will keep a close eye on her no matter what it takes.