Oh dear, oh dear, it appears that I haven't updated any of my stories in a long time ... a long time.
After returning from the Polis Messa Medical Facility, (Kaliida Shaols was far too imperial for my taste) I discovered that the Force was still with me, but if I didn't write something soon, disaster would strike, (at my stats page at least). I got back to writing as soon as I could, and here I have the longest chapter in my entire life, over 5500 words in the actual chapter! I can not vouch for the regularity of any future updates for the tme being but, I asure you that I have not forgotten Skyfighter: The Ones and my resolve is stronger than ever! The remaining plots will be hunted down and posted! Enough with the Palpatine theatrics, I'm just so glad to be back!
Chapter 3 – Mistrust, Mistakes, Misdirection and a partial beginning
From the outside, the Jedi's ship appeared to me to be a Personal Luxury Yacht-200, however when we boarded, I quickly realized that most of the fancy trappings were removed in favour of a more practical layout. Obi-wan pointed us in the direction of our quarters with a distracted nod, as he headed toward the flight deck.
As soon as the door hissed shut behind us, Aeren rounded on me,
"What in the nine proverbial Sith heals do you think you are doing? Did you realize that we are on a ship with a thirteen-year-old Darth Vader? And if you haven't noticed, we are heading towards an arrogant, stuck-up and self-flattering bunch of Nerf-Herders who call themselves a Jedi Council!"
By the time my friend's outburst subsided, I could not withhold my own laughter.
"Wow, calm down, 'a Jedi is always calm' remember?" I managed to say between un-Jedi like giggles. He had a point though, having seen RotS was not in itself a guarantee for our success in preventing Vader and Sidious from rising to power, if indeed that was what we wanted to do. As if reading my thoughts – which he just might have been, as I wasn't shielding – Halcyon asked me worriedly,
"We are going to stop old wrinkle-face, aren't we?" And indeed it was a good question. For all the stuff the Movies made him out to be, Palpatine could just be a lonely Chancellor serving the Galaxy – not that I believed that for a second, but still…. And in any case I always wanted to command a Star Destroyer. Even if I didn't want Alderaan to get vaporized, or the youngest Solo to die above Myrkr some quarter of a century later, I sure wasn't gonna embark on some 'Dumb-Fool idealistic crusade' as Han might've put it. My musings were interrupted by the shrill tones of the cabin's intercom signalling an incoming message. I dropped my hand from the vague beginnings of a beard – Kenobi I hate you for infecting me with that habit of yours – and walked over to the wall-mounted repeater displays and control panels.
"Hey you back there," came the kiddy voice from the speaker as soon as I accepted the communication, "we're more likely to reach home in one piece if you get on the quad laser!" I just had to grin, Anakin was his innocent boyish self, well not really but who cares about Krayn or the Blood-Carver.
I looked at Aeren with a questioning gaze, "I never was good on the Falcon Gunner games, but I don't feel like getting vaped by some Trade Fed hotshots…" He understood my query and after a moment of indecision nodded and slapped the door release.
As it turned out, the refitted yacht had a dedicated fire-control centre located off the starboard corridor just behind the bridge – which, incidentally, was extremely lucky for us. On our way to make fools of ourselves in front of the Jedi and ask for directions, we noticed a door marked "GUNNERY OPS". The Force must have been with us, as I don't quite know how I would've explained my ignorance of standard ship layout at this point in time.
The room had several repeater displays mounted on the walls and four duty stations formed a semicircle around a large tactical hologram which was projected into the space left by them. Giving the consoles a cursory glance, my better-sighted companion waved a hand to one of the chairs.
"That's the CO's station, the one we don't need. Pick any other one and you should be fine." he turned, and following his own advice, walked in a different direction.
The controls were simple, a 40 by 50 centimetre touch screen, a joystick and an intercom headset. Donning the latter, I called the cockpit.
"Master Kenobi, this is Padawan Sunrider in Weapons Control, what are the access codes to this thing?" it was Anakin who answered me,
"Walker to Rider, code is—" before he could give it to me, another – exasperated – voice cut in, "A-na-kin! Your flying is bad enough as it is! Let me look up the blasteeeeeed c-c-oooodes! Phewf! Fly strait it's hard to rea…" At that moment I zoned off. Attempting to cast my awareness out to read Aeren's mood, I wasn't too surprised to feel a great deal of amusement. Before I could get lost in the contemplation of my new-found Force abilities – more like inabilities – the headset chirped, and Obi-Wan came on again.
"Padawans, the Gunnery code is: Jenth, Esk, Dorn, Isk, zero, Besh, one." Trying to supress my giggles I clicked my mic twice in the galactic standard comm code for 'acknowledged' and punched in the words "JEDI 0B1", all the while snorting at the antics of the not-yet famous Kenobi and Skywalker duo, be'tchya that's Kenny's doing….
The ship shook, jolting me out of my reverie. I guess our assailants got into firing range and started pummelling our stern deflectors. This wasn't good. Sure Anakin was a great pilot, but this was a one-hundred-plus meter yacht, no matter how modified, not a nimble interceptor. This meant that we had to hold off the pursuing spacecraft long enough to clear the planet's gravity well and jump into hyperspace. There was only one problem with that – or only one that I was aware of – mainly the fact that I lost in each and every space shooter game back home. Trench Run, Falcon Gunnery, you name it, I've played it, and failed it. If I couldn't rely on my vision, and I didn't have any, let alone enough, training to use the Force to shoot accurately, well I really wasn't sure what I'd do. According to Master Yoda, my options where: do; do not; and to make things worse, there was no try.
Two minutes into the fight it was beginning to look like 'do not' was my path of choice. As I jammed my thumb down on the trigger, I checked my display, once again I missed. The blip representing a Trade Federation Vulture droid starfighter performed a ridiculously simple evasive manoeuvre and dodged away from the stream of lasers which I was pouring in its vague direction.
"Osik!" I cursed for the tenth time, I really wasn't kidding when I said I was a terrible gunner, suddenly the possibility of getting vaporised didn't seem so remote.
"Hey! Cut the gloom and use the boom! Keep on blastin' you're bound to hit something eventually!" Aeren's encouragement was just what I needed. I couldn't outshoot a starfighter with my reaction time as it was, but I could outsmart a droid-brain, any day – hopefully.
Tossing a brief "Aeren, you're a genius!" over my shoulder, and ignoring his bewildered queries, I began frantically typing commands into my console.
As the Vulture Droids came about for another pass, this time along our starboard flank, I dropped the targeting brackets on a fighter just behind the leader. I didn't shoot, I would've probably missed anyway, but the Droid Brain didn't have to know that. As I predicted, my target jerked to the side, and directly into the preprogramed sights of a secondary laser cannon.
"Great shot!" My left ear temporarily went deaf from the sheer volume of Anakin's exuberant congratulatory whoop. "The shrapnel from the last one took out the leader! That's why you always keep your distance while going in for a strafing run at a larger ship with active weapons." I nearly laughed out loud, but then I remembered that Jedi were supposed to be calmer and more collected than that. Instead I simply tapped in a request for the tactical display to show the positions of the remaining fighters, there were only two of them left.
Aeren's pair of laser cannons tracked one of the fighters as it tried to come about for another run and hee would have gotten the craft were it not for Anakin choosing that exact moment to perform a drop-roll to avoid the other Vulture's missile. If our pilot had rolled port instead of starboard, the missile would've missed us, but we didn't, and the warhead clipped my friend's primary gun emplacement.
"Oh this is shabla perfect!" Aeren slapped his console, "Nik, you'll have to take over primary lasers!"
I nodded, all the while trying to supress my delight. Aeren was always more knowledgeable about the more technical and scientific aspects of Star Wars while I was better at history, names and unique terminology. It took me half a year to get my friend to learn Mando'a curses.
I dialled down the power on both my cannons, true if I managed to hit the fighters my shots wouldn't get past the shields, but it would maximise the amount of rounds I could fire. I targeted a starfighter and began a herding volley. I've read about this technique in some book or another, or maybe I invented it in a daydream, no matter, it worked. The limited droid intelligence recognised that several shots were being fired at it, predictably it accelerated and changed vector by twenty degrees – right into the path of a barrage of mid-strength lasers from Aeren's secondary weapon.
Halcyon's fire penetrated the Vulture's shields and clipped off the top starboard wing. The sudden imbalance in thrust output caused the droid to veer to the right and collide with its counterpart. Just as the fireball expanded I felt the deck lurch in a different way, and I knew we were safely in hyperspace.
As Aeren and I powered down our weapons and terminals Master Kenobi – gotta remember he's still a knight – strolled past the open doors. Ducking his head in, he told us in an unnecessarily gruff voice to go to our quarters and await him there. With a polite bow I distractedly mumbled something along the lines of, "Understood Master Kenobi..." and lead the way back to our room.
As soon as the door hissed shut behind us Halcyon lost all semblance of calm.
"Fierfek! He can't be onto us so quickly! Have you any idea how we are going to explain all this?" he shook his lightsaber in my face for emphasis.
Before he could rant any more, I told him to shut up, confirm my story, and attempt to raise up mental shields – or more precisely, whatever felt like mental shields. With no training in the ways of the Force we could not hope to withstand even a Padawan's scrutiny, but I wasn't getting blamed for not giving it my best shot.
I managed to assemble my face into what I hoped was a neutral Jedi façade – I could never tell, I couldn't quite see the details of my reflection in a mirror – and folded my arms into opposing cloak sleeves just as there was a knock on our door.
"Come in!" I invited in false cheerfulness. The panel slid open to reveal Obi-Wan Kenobi standing there, what I could see of his appearance suggesting that he meant business and that stalling wouldn't work here. "Master Kenobi, come inside, take a seat. This conversation is likely to last a lengthy period of time." The Jedi walked in and sat down on one of the sleep couches. Deciding to test a conversation tactic I've read about I inquired, "Master Kenobi, I presume you are here to discuss my friend and I. But tell me, shouldn't your Padawan be present for this discussion? I understand that he is the only other ranking Jedi aboard this vessel?" The technique I planned to use was meant to allow me to control the conversation, and to appear cooperative while at the same time giving me an outward illusion of being in control. It was bound to fail on Kenobi, he earned his title as the "Negotiator" for a reason.
"I did, and no, Anakin needs to monitor the ship. However I would greatly appreciate if you could tell me who you are, why you are impersonating Jedi and how you got functioning lightsabers?"
"Well Master Kenobi, I can answer those questions, but I've got two of my own first. After I get those answers I will endeavour to tell you all I can and all I know." Master Kenobi nodded agreeably if a tad-bit curiously and so I proceeded. "Master Kenobi, what is the current year, I assume it is somewhere around the 970th year post the Ruusan Reformation?"
Obi-Wan looked at me like I'd grown three montrals and turned pink, but he answered nonetheless, "It is the year 7rS if that's what you mean?"
I nodded, "As I expected, 972aRR or 28BBY. And my second question, has Padawan Skywalker already been to Zonama Sekot?"
That got a reaction out of Kenobi alright, he jerked up and almost fell off his perch, "H-how did you know about that? It was supposed to be a secret Jedi mission. And what does this have to do with you?" I noticed that his hand was hovering near his lightsaber, not good.
"Have you ever heard of the Order of the Whills?" that one got me two reactions, both of shock. Aeren quickly covered his up by hissing in my ear,
"How can you tell him that? The Jedi'll find out!" I hushed my friend in what I hoped was a concerned manner and made a mental note to either berate him for his slip of composure or to congratulate him on an effective save.
Kenobi didn't seem to read through the deception and in fact, contrary to my expectations, he answered earnestly, "The Jedi have long told myths of the ancient Whills and their journal, but to this day, there was no substantial proof."
"Oh I assure you, they do exist – or at least they did exist. Among various works of fiction back home, there is a series of books, films and other material called the Star Wars Franchise. Until the day before yesterday I would've believed those items to be like any other – products of someone's imagination – but I changed my mind after finding myself on a planet with a green sky and holding a lightsaber – something that only existed in those trivial stories." I believe I did quite well, only thing was to see if Obi-Wan bought it.
Oh well, I guess he didn't. "Preposterous! The Journal of the Whills was an invaluable artefact! No-one would just leave it to me turned into a mere entertainment project. And that still doesn't answer why you are impersonating Jedi and where you come from!"
"Okay then, I'll give you proof. I know the original Jedi code, I know the Sith Code," woops, wrong thing to say, "I know the current Code. I know that Knight Tachi was on a secret undercover mission to gather evidence against Krayn. I know that you fought a Sith Apprentice on Naboo four years ago by the name of Darth Maul. By the way, next time you go up against him, bisect him vertically, hopefully you'll kill him then."
"What! Did you say Maul was alive? Who do you know that?"
"Master Kenobi," I sighed theatrically, "Those stories deal with the future, not just the past. How would you like to know that there will be a galactic war in six years' time? Or that you'll sit on the High Council in seven?"
Obi-Wan's jaw fell open, and who can blame the man, especially when the Jedi are so dead-set on avoiding all knowledge of the future? It was a shock for him, just as I wanted, or maybe not as he couldn't stop stuttering for a sentence or two. "I-I-I s-sit o-on th-the C-Council? The-re wi-ill be a war?" he managed to compose himself, "I must bring you before the Council. They must here of this. And will you tell me, why you are wearing Jedi robes and carrying lightsabers?"
Finally, I got what I wanted, an audience with the Council. Though, seeing how they were so stagnant and arrogant, I wasn't sure what I could accomplish. "Oh that's a long story Master Kenobi. First let me explain that our civilisation has just discovered space travel. So far no manned ships have gone further than our moon or orbital space station. So, naturally people like to fantasise about space, and aliens, and galactic adventures, and so on. My friend and I were rather interested in Star Wars you see. So when we got hold of a camera and some props, we wanted to film a home-made movie. While rehearsing with sticks – we don't have lightsabers on Earth – we were acting out a simultaneous Force-push scene as a tribute to something we see you do in the future. We were going to pretend to push each other away, jump back, and then edit the footage to make it look like we actually flew back. Great was our surprise when an orb began to grow between our palms…."
Obi-Wan managed to control his astonishment and withhold any undignified response. I paused to get my breath back and Aeren took over the conversation. "We had no idea as to what it might be, nor did we know how to stop it. We chose to run as far away as possible fearing a shockwave. Before we could get far though, it began drawing us in. It was about twice my height last I remember. I don't know how long we spent in the orb, nor do I know what exactly occurred but I remember tumbling down a hill. When I came to a rest, I noticed that Nik was lying in a similar position about five meters above me. He climbed to his feet and looked rather bewildered. I don't blame him, we don't get green skies on Earth. He was also in some confusion as to what he was wearing, when I looked at myself I discovered why. We were wearing costumes back while rehearsing, but these clothes are of a much higher quality." My friend looked over at Obi-Wan to see if he was following, and apparently the Jedi was. "When Nik realised what was on his belt he was rather shocked. Our props had meter long aluminium sticks and stylised lightsaber handles, they however could not be separated. Nik drew his saberstaff like he would in a practice shoot and activated one end. You see, the films showed how to do certain things, that's how I was able to shoot back during the battle. Well, when the lightsaber emitted a blade, my friend was so shocked that he actually dropped it. That pretty much sold it for us, we were no longer on Earth."
Giving my friend a grateful nod I took over once again, "My friend spotted your little fight with the Droidekas and Collicoids." Kenobi gave a start at this, "We decided to help out in hopes of getting a ride off that planet. But then those vulture droids decided to drop in. It took us five minutes to find the gunnery centre in the first place!" I gave a nervous laugh, "And when we found the shabla room, I couldn't hit the most primitive fighters in the galaxy as of this day and age! The matter was that I have a vision impairment and thus have large limitations as to what I could do, and I was never trained in the ways of the Force. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I had the Force before this incident." I cupped my chin in thought and stared out the viewport at the blue skies of hyperspace in deep contemplation.
As I was looking away, I didn't see the amused smirk that Obi-Wan shot at me as I unconsciously copied one of his famous gestures.
"How are you so sure that you are Force Sensitive?"
The question took me of guard, wasn't Obi-Wan supposed to feel my presence or something? Or maybe he just didn't trust his feelings? Or, more likely than not, the Jedi Order – like so many other organisations both here and at home – was a giant quagmire of bureaucracy. Well, I thought I'd give him my answer anyway. I unclipped my saberstaff and tossed it on the sleep couch beside Kenobi. Now this part was going to be tricky, closing my eyes I visualised the lightsaber float up a few centimetres and move to the right, I attempted to remember those raspy words of a green-eared troll that I'd heard so many times. "…Size matters not… …My ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is…" Unbidden, a few lines of the Old Code popped into mind, "Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge…. Chaos, yet harmony…" I didn't realise that I was actually whispering aloud, nor did I realise that at some point in time, my hand raised itself up and gestured. And I certainly didn't realise that my weapon was floating a decimetre above, and thrice that to the side of its point of origin. Or at least I didn't realise it until Aeren decided to give an exultant whoop. My concentration broken, the saber fell out of my mental grip and tumbled end over end onto the deck. "Control! Control! You must learn control!" I reprimanded myself in a mild Yoda imitation.
Obi-Wan stared at me dumbstruck for a few seconds, then he blinked a few times and burst into laughter. "Don't tell me that that green imp haunts even other galaxies?"
I laughed too, "I guess so!" then I grew more serious, "But Master Kenobi, what is going to happen next, I mean with the High Council? I mean, how much trouble are we in?"
"Good question, ah Padawan Sunrider," Kenobi seemed rather unsure how to address us, I guess there were no protocols for that in the Jedi Diplomacy And Negotiation Manual for Ambassadors, version 113-8. "You must be taken to the Council who will decide where to assign you as you are not of legal age according to Galactic Republic law."
"Where to assign us? You mean the Agri-Corp? Man I know why the Jedi Order got wiped out. I'm so not blaming Vader…." That got Obi-Wan all cranky and riled up.
"The Jedi Order gets wiped out! But that's impossible! Master Yoda hasn't foreseen anything to that affect!" Seriously, I'm so feeling sorry for Obi-Wan about now. It must have been horrifying to see the image of the all-mighty Council being shattered like a pane of mere glass right before his eyes. Evidently he sensed at least some of my feelings. "You pity me, why? Even if there is such a future – which is in grave doubt, for how could the demise of all that is Light be the will of the Force? If there is such a future, the Jedi Order has many talented Knights and Masters Indeed many are some of the most powerful Jedi in history. Master Windu for example, or Master Yoda, or even my own apprentice, if I can be so presumptuous. How?"
I buried my face in my hands and gave off such an aura of dejection that even Kenobi faltered. "Obi-Wan," I moaned with a deep sigh, "That's the very reason the Jedi Order fell. Because of their arrogance! They had the Sith Lords under their noses, but still Master Mundi thought that Count Dooku was a harmless political idealist not some bloke called Darth Tyranus until Anakin lost a forearm to his blade!" I forestalled any exclamation of dismay on Kenobi's part by gabbing a finger in his chest. "And you know what, you aren't the perfect Jedi you thought you were. Why? I'll tell you why! Because you've already broken one of the most central tenants of the Jedi Code! You are waaay too attached to your shabla Code and to the misguided notion that the blasted Council is always right! You've fallen so far as to blame yourself for everything that goes on in the universe! Fierfek, you'd probably blame yourself if it rained on Tatooine, obstinately certain that it was against the Will of the Force as, if it wasn't, the dust-ball would not be a desert in the first place – never mind the ancient Rakata that bombed the poodoo out of it so long before Yoda's time that even I can't remember the date! And what's more, you're a hypocrite! Whenever Anakin does something that is slightly non-Jedi, you lecture him until he manages to play five mental games of dejarick. Even – or especially – if you did that same thing yourself! You lecture him for being reckless, well look at your self! Unless you want to see your world crumble down before your own eyes. Unless you want to spend nineteen years in exile, worrying about your imaginary faults and remain blind to your real ones. Unless you want all that, you will: grow a backbone, grow some attitude and rebelliousness, some common sense and free will, and above all, you will find the people you care about, and you are going to tell them so. You are going to raise Anakin like Qui-Gon raised you, only you will actually tell him how much he means to you. Do you understand what I just said, Obi-Wan Kenobi?" He nodded wordlessly. "Now go!" I ordered, igniting one of my saberstaff's blades and pointing it in his face, "Go and meditate on what I've said, or just think about it. Don't come out of your quarters for forty-eight hours or until summoned. Go!"
Somehow my voice acquired an unmistakable edge of authority, and it was either that or the saber in his face that made him bow and back hurriedly out. When the door slid shut my upright posture faded, my weapon shut off and clattered to the deck. I slumped down on the now-vacated sleep couch and groaned. Aeren looked at me in utter astonishment. "Is it just me or did you just give the Negotiator a lecture worthy of Master Vrook and ordered him to 'go home and rethink his life' just with a lightsaber instead of a mind trick?"
"Yeah, pretty much. What?" I quipped when I felt his dismay at my casual answer. "It was the infamous Will of the Force, what did you want me to do? He needed it though. And unless I'm much mistaken I've just guaranteed that he'll come back to us, not to mention a meeting with the Council."
"And why do we need a meeting with the Council anyway? We could just go to Nar Shadaa, sell our sabers, get some blasters and go to live somewhere where the Empire didn't get to? Like Hapes or Belkadan?"
My friend had a good point, but I had an even better answer, "Because there are about to be four galactic wars over the next seventy-or-so years. Try hiding from that. And do you want Sidious to find and train us? Sure I'd love to be a Sith Lord, buut, ya know, the training isn't exactly student-friendly." That got through to him, but he wasn't yet convinced.
"But is terrorising the very Knight that found us such a good way to get trained? How will you deal with the Council?"
"Keep your mind on the present moment, the Force shall bring us the answer…." I chorused with another, ghostly, voice. Aeren looked thoroughly creped out.
"No that's just creepy!"
Almost two days had passed and neither of us caught sight nor sound of Obi-Wan, apparently he was obeying my directive. This development was rather surprising – though I wouldn't say unpleasant – as despite my bluster to Aeren, I actually didn't know what I was doing when I pulled a 'Jinn' and lectured Kenobi. As in, I really wasn't sure if he'd just bat my blade away and knock me unconscious. I really wasn't expecting him to listen.
As Anakin prepared the ship – oh yes, Anakin. Skywalker was a whole different story on his own. After Aeren and I rested for a few hours, we decided to meet with the others. The five civilians were actually two technicians, a scientist and two CSF officers from the Undercover Investigation Unit. They were apparently captured and required extraction from an unknown droid production facility on Nanth'ri which warranted the assistance of the Jedi. Though the group had never seen us before, they thanked us profusely, calling us "Master Jedi" and saying things like, "Your timely intervention"-blah-blah. As my friend and I tried to gracefully extricate ourselves out of the situation, Anakin literally dropped in on us from a ceiling access hatch and requested some help or another, something about a hydrospanner I believe. Beating a hasty retreat, and mumbling something along the lines of helping out with a critical problem with the ship, we eagerly rushed to the access port and clambered in.
Anakin had been rather amused with our situation and I remember him agreeing with me that he hated public relations, and he preferred to handle them with a lightsaber. He of course was curious as to who we were and where we came from. Having spent a good part of the last four years at the Temple, Anakin was confident that he knew all the current Padawans by sight if not name, and obviously he never saw us there. I debated for a few seconds what to tell Anakin, and decided to tell him the truth – the full truth, not a truth from some twisted point of view. He had enough of those in Clones and Sith and that's partly what made him turn.
So far our honesty seems to have paid off. Anakin accepted us and our story much quicker than Obi-Wan did. In turn Skywalker has shared some information with us, information that all my knowledge of the EU couldn't help with, like for instance, how to better shield our thoughts. That would be rather crucial during the Council meeting I believe.
Now I found myself standing in the cockpit, watching as Anakin took us off the Hydian Way and sent our ship back into hyperspace along the Perlemian Trade Route. We would be at Coruscant in around six hours.
As the Luminous-II – for that was the name of the modified Yacht – approached Coruscant's atmosphere, Obi-Wan entered the bridge. I heard his footsteps falter, no doubt as he noticed who was in the co-pilot's seat – me. Acting oblivious, Anakin turned to me, "The Jedi have a private corridor of airspace reserved especially for their use so you can fly us it toward the Temple, no problem. I'll take over when it's time to land in the hangar. Just do what feels right and it'll be wizard!"
"Anakin, are you going to infect these poor, unsuspecting and innocent Padawans with your flying techniques?" barely had Obi-Wan uttered the first few words when I spotted the change, he spoke more freely, more jokingly, and he certainly didn't reprimand anyone for anything. Maybe he was taking my advice to heart, I hoped so.
"Hey Master, but they aren't Padawans yet, they told me so themselves?" I just had to grin at Anakin's response, it was carefree and light. If things went according to my plan then that tone would stay with him.
"They aren't, but they will be," Kenobi declared solemnly, "They will be…."
Listening to Anakin's, and the Force's, guidance, I managed to safely pilot the ship into the atmosphere and guide it towards the Temple. I was rather surprised how easy it seemed, or maybe that was because this was a non-lethal situation and I had proper coaching. I really don't know.
When the Temple came into visual range, Anakin took over the controls and in a matter of two and a half minutes the ship was docked. Following his instructions we shut off all the systems and walked back to the cargo hold and ramp. The whole group was assembled, there was Aeren standing next to Obi-Wan, the CSF officers by the ramp, and the other three just lifting up their packs.
"Alright," Master Kenobi addressed the group, "Lieutenant Kirthon, a CSF speeder is awaiting your team near the exit doors over there…" he indicated the general direction with a wave of his hand, "Padawans Sunrider and Halcyon, put up your hoods before you leave the ship, we don't want a mob of younglings asking questions on the way to the Council briefing, do we?" With that he gestured and the access ramp lowered to the permacrete floor.
Obi-Wan's suggestion seemed to work as no-one payed any attention to our little party as we strolled through the cavernous halls of the Temple in a military diamond formation. We reached the south-eastern atrium and boarded a turbolift car.
As the doors slid shut behind us, Obi-Wan turned to give one final brief. "When we enter, stay in formation. Let me deal with the explanations until I signal you or the Council directly demands it."
We nodded, we were ready.
I guess this is it, for now. Tell you what, I've got a one-shot in the works that I'll post as a bonus for this disasterous drought.
May the non-existant Force Be With You