Chapter 15: A Lull in the Journey

The Galaxy, as I have come to discover, does not wait for you, you wait for it, and then when something happens, no matter whether you are on your feet or off them, you must respond to the best of your abilities. That, in short, was what I was doing this lovely day. At least I hoped it was a day, the muted lights and hushed whirring of medical equipment only served to provide me with a location, not time, and certainly not date.

"Awake Padawan?" came a gentle query, one unnecessary for Jedi, yet comforting and welcome all the same.

"Awake and with a clear head too… hey Master, how've you been?"

"A more appropriate question would be 'how've you been?'." The reply came in a tone of wry amusement, and turning my head in its direction, I saw Master Adi rise from her seat next to my medical gurney and walk over to the water dispenser near the entry bulkhead. "And the answer to that would be that you have been better." I accepted the proffered cup of cold water with silent gratitude. As my throat was otherwise occupied, it fell to my Force Presence and left eyebrow to express a sarcastic query. "Minor concussion, a blaster graze to your humerus bone, electrical burns on your legs and lower torso, several severe lacerations, laserfire burns, at least three deep penetrations by flechette rounds, a case of Force Exhaustion, fatigue, and, not surprisingly, mental stress."

Nice. Real nice. Talk about a crummy weekend. Vandelhelm was meant to be a nice, run-of-the-mill Escort & Protect mission, not a let's throw the new guy neck-deep in excrement, start up the ventilator and see how he does clambake. At Least, I consoled myself, I'm alive, which means that I succeeded in my mission.

Perhaps in answer to my thoughts, Master Adi softened her voice and said something that made me really happy with myself, "Nevertheless, I am proud of you, Padawan." That, for me, meant far more than any accolade I could have ever gotten from the Republic or the Council. Call me old-fashioned, but I always valued words as the best praise. Material recognition was fine and dandy, but harder to judge sincerity by.

"You have learned well and taken to heart the lessons I have taught you – especially the hallmark of all Jedi – how to charge headlong towards danger in defence of one cause or another. I, however, think that it is time you learned a more important skill; that of self-preservation."

Feeling much better both physically and emotionally, and sensing the cloud of seriousness lift from our conversation, I felt I would try my hand at my usual humour, "But Master, if half the Jedi in history practiced that skill, imagine where we would be now?"

All possible traces of solemnity evaporated with Master Adi's warm chuckle and a snorted reply of, "Either under control of the Sith, destroyed outright by some malevolent species, or riding around on basilisk war droids, wearing Mandalorian armour and using the Force to hurl drunks out of cantinas."

That image made be join in the laughter and for the moment forget about the grim and distant future, the convoluted and near one, and the stinking shadows of the recent past that really had no business breaking my good mood. All that was only for a moment though, and all too soon I returned back to reality, worries, and duty. "Speaking of Mandos, there's a thing I really should discuss, but first, can you tell me what it was I got myself shot up over?"

"Someone's poor attempt at a power-grab it seems. Apparently, one of the Board members from Subterral Mining died under possibly suspicious circumstances in the Core Worlds. The Authorities concluded that it was nothing more sinister than a speeder accident, but the replacement member chose to disagree. He seems to be more politically-aggressive than his predecessor, and though I have no solid proof to that effect, he appears to have organised a rather convoluted scheme to amass more support."

Making myself comfortable, this would be a long story, I nodded, added something along the lines of "Convoluted, you bet..." and let Master Adi proceed with her narrative. I really wanted to hear this.

"This Individual appears to have planned a corporate takeover scheme, with RimRoutes, Edge's Edge and a handful of smaller enterprises as his prime focus. Having ownership of these companies should give him enough clout to dissolve his own company's Board. A rather inventive scheme, as such things go, but He overplayed his hand. He originally meant to keep this operation clean, instigating a rivalry between two of the bigger players to act as a smokescreen. He failed to anticipate the scale of the dispute and how fast it would grow. Eventually, the Jedi were called in. This wreaked havoc with his carefully laid planes, and there was no time to re-strategize. The conference on the near horizon, He chose the easy path: eliminate the Jedi. Unforeseen interference gone, everything would proceed along a carefully scripted plan once again. Through intermediaries, he sought out an individual disgruntled with the Jedi. Your Iktotchi friend seemed to fit the role."

Master Adi taking a brief break in her narrative gave me the opening to insert my signature sarcastic line, "I guess it wasn't that hard to find a willing conspirator. What with us Jedi tearing up nefarious projects on a weekly basis and all."

Master Adi gave a sardonic chuckle, "It would surprise you how many problems the Jedi could have avoided if we just killed off all survivors during a bust. Actually, I don't think it would, now that I think on it."

"Politicians should be the first to go…" I added darkly, playing along. I might have continued, but my curiosity was strangely peaked, "So what did the Jedi do to him?"

"Your acquaintance had a master-plan to hire the Jedi on as bounty hunters to off his cousin – under the pretence of rescuing a relative. In fact there was no distressed relative, just a family feud between rival drug cartels. Needless to say, when the Jedi team learned the truth, they were quite displeased and tore up his entire base and operation. Those moderately low on the food chain inevitably get themselves indebted to the big players, and Hutts really dislike people not paying up. Needless to say, he hadn't been quite himself for half a decade, and when an opportunity for revenge arose, he took it greedily.

This project too, escalated beyond what the Subterral Executive bargained for originally. I am not fully sure, but I suspect that the Iktotchi received additional backing from a different source. Otherwise I find myself hard-pressed to explain the entire sequence of events…."

"Could the Epicans have been involved?" I wanted to know, "We suspected them when the shooting first started. They would have the most to gain from a Jedi disappearance of all the present parties."

"They were certainly involved," Master Adi began to explain, "being one of the two major rival factions, the other being of course, the Javin group. Neither party however had any interests outside their internal squabble."

"Who bought the droids then?" I enquired, "IG-86s don't seem like what a down-on-his-luck cartel boss would afford. Not to mention the cryseefa and baradium. Nerve agents and explosives don't come cheap. And whatever you say about the tech, the execution was horrible. What was the grand purpose of all that if the plan was to send two lone Jedi into orbit with a bomb?"

"There was no bomb." Master Adi spoke so levelly that I almost thought I misheard. I asked her to repeat, only to be greeted by the same four words: "There was no bomb."

Did this mean, then, that I, a Padawan but two months into Jedi training, charged into a storm of blasterfire and danger, in the idealistic desire to be a hero, when being a hero was not even required! Talk about self-preservation… and a crummy weekend. "Does this mean," I began slowly, dangerously, "that I risked life, health and limb for a fake? Worse, does this mean I just shot someone who held an inert trigger?"

"The bomb was fake," Master Adi gently reiterated, "but the trigger was very much real. The assembly was a diversion. Had you not been there, we might never have discovered the real threat until it was too late. As it was, you handled the situation to the best of your ability as a Jedi, and that is all the Order – or anyone – can ask of you. Were it not for your decidedly reckless intervention, the fate of at least a hundred people would have been much different."

I felt reassured, and very pleased. My efforts were not wasted, and that meant a big deal to me. Just as did Master Adi's approval. There was just one slight problem… "Why did you leave it to me?" Master didn't seem to have understood my question, judging by her inquisitive 'khm?' Well either that or she wanted me to ask the full question that was on my mind. "You were there before anything happened. You could have stopped the Iktotchi yourself, probably in a non-lethal way. Why did you leave it to me?"

I felt sadness roll of Master Adi in the Force as I finished my answer, when she spoke, it was a tone that I have only heard her use once, when I shared the details of my past with her. "Every Jedi has to take a life at some point. Only healers escape that burden, but they bear another; the bodies of those that could not be saved. It is better to go through this when you have others to rely on then go through it alone, on some solo mission in the backwater of the Galaxy. It is a Master's duty to guide her apprentice through such an event, and impart a simple lesson. 'You either kill or be killed. That is the truth of battle. It is only when killing becomes easy – a nonissue – when you are lost.' Remember, a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence, never for attack."

When I awoke on next day's morning, I did so with a significantly clearer head. Also significant were the aches and pains now not dulled by medication. We had talked long into the night, revisiting the final confrontation several times at my request. By the end of our discussions, I felt moderately better, which according to Master Adi, was how it had happened with her first Padawan too. Honestly, both Adi and I would have been rather worried for my mental state had I taken the situation any other way. As it was, such unpleasantness was in the Jedi's line of duty, and upon reflection, there was no better way for me to experience this.

Aside from hearing rousing tales from both Master Adi's early knighthood and her missions with Siri, I had learned what exactly transpired on Vandelhelm while I was on my hero quest.

The trap had been very elaborate, I would say masterfully done, if all the variables were considered. Whoever planned it knew that Master Adi would naturally try to get me out of harm's way, while going off to protect the delegates on her own. As soon as she entered the conference chamber, the lobby had been filled with cryseefa. Unlike a more-or-less run-of-the-mill toxin such as dioxis – which a Jedi Master could easily get around by holding her breath – cryseefa was acidic, which would have required her to devote extra concentration to shield against contact with the skin. So distracted, even a Jedi would have been easy pickings for IG-86 Sentinel security droids, them being top of the field for this day and age.

A resourceful Jedi Padawan, whose role I was playing in this op, would have balked at discovering his way barred by such adversaries and sought another – creative – solution to whatever problem he was beset with. Creative Jedi, as every crook knows, are the worst kind, so the lure had to be something not easily refused – in this case a bomb – and the opposition had to be relatively light. Much like Luke's journey through Cloud City, I had mused to myself.

The next stage of the enemy's plan counted on Master Adi being too busy at her end to assist me while the Iktotchi and his men wore me down enough that the more specialised weapons would surprise me, and I would, hopefully, not be able to counter them. It was a sound divide-and-conquer strategy which would have worked if not for the hovergurney I used as a battering ram earlier on in the fight to even the odds.

As it was, the plot nearly succeeded. Our engagements had prevented both me and my Master from sensing – and responding to – the third team, that using the general confusion, carried three canisters past security and planted them in the air filtration system. If breached, those canisters would have released a lethal dose of Agent Ro throughout the building, aided by the industrial air cyclers. Everyone inside the building would have been dead in less than twenty-three seconds.

The only hiccup not anticipated by the Iktotchi was the arrival of Kast Fulier, surprising, given that the former had kidnapped the latter's Padawan not more than a few hours before the operation. It was a stupid move, but one that likely solved a lot of problems when Kast came in search of his apprentice and met Master Adi in the conference room lobby.

The rest, as it is said, is history.

I groaned as forgetting myself, I tried to shift to a more comfortable position, and ended up jostling my rather unhealed shoulder. Moving it seemed, was a very unwise idea. That did not at all bode well for my short-term plans. If what Qui-Gon and the Force were telling me was right, then I had to pay a visit to a certain rainy planet, very, very, soon. I just hope three days will be enough for the Healers to restore me to working order.

"And where will you be off to then?" came a rather unexpected query; I had not seen nor heard Master Adi enter the room in my muddled state of mind.

Helped along by that same state of mind, the first thing out of my mouth was, "On a holiday…" an improper, albeit humorous response.

"Ah yes, you told me yesterday that you needed to talk …something about Mandalorians?" Master Adi settled herself down on the bedside chair and continued in a concerned voice? "…It wouldn't by chance have anything to do with … rain … white-armoured troops marching scores of battlefields?"

Now that was a new variable. "My shielding's shot, isn't it?" Not all that surprising, if I think on it.

"Not while you are awake, it isn't." she sighed, "But it's hard to miss when you are projecting like HNE on Malachr Day…."

Oh, so that is what happened… thank the Force for small favours. I didn't even know I dreamt of anything, let alone the clone wars. "What did you see?" I asked, wanting to know how big the hole was, out of which I would need to climb.

"A sandy arena… droids marching, shots flying… Jedi… lit sabers… a battle… no, not a battle, a war." I heard Master Adi exhale again, this time as if under a heavy burden, "Who are they Padawan? What role do they play? What have you seen?"

Looks like, Palpatine impression please, 'I must accelerate my plans'. The Force moves in mysterious ways, and they are not often favourable to those at the centre. "Many things… some true, others not. Things that are, things that were, and things that yet well may be." I sighed in recollection of the vast amount of knowledge I had obtained over the years, some useful, like how to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius and back, and other, not so, such as who was the first Sith Emperor or how the Impellor Drive worked. "Master Yoda is right; always in motion is the future, and many possible futures there are…."

Master Adi smiled at my unwitting Yoda imitation, all thanks to a lingering rasp in my throat. She handed me a glass of water and let me proceed. "What you saw was the Battle of Geonosis, it should occur roughly five and a half years from now. The Force will see it fit that Anakin, Master Obi-Wan and the future Senator for the Chommel Sector will find themselves awaiting execution on the planet. Master Windu will lead a taskforce of two-hundred and twelve Jedi to rescue them. Only thirty-three will make it out. The battle will be won, but ere its ending, the Clone Wars will begin…."

"These clones," Master Adi began, "Who will they fight with?"

"That is what I must ascertain…" I could sense that my response was not what Master wanted to hear, frankly, it did not sit well with me either. In truth, there was no easy answer, the future was always in motion, and it was up to Anakin whether Order Sixty-Six would be given. But also, up to the clones whether it would be obeyed….

My Master was not on the High Council for nothing, "This war is coming no matter what anyone does, isn't it? We cannot win it without the clones, can we? Yet I sense your apprehension…. Something dark stirs in the Force, that I can feel…. It has been a long time since the Republic was last gravely threatened. The Jedi are keepers of the peace, not soldiers…."

"Well they better become soldiers!" the fire in my words was a surprise even for me, the one who uttered them. "Do you know what the casualties, in the futures that I have seen, are? A tenth of our knights in the first two months… all because we never learn…. The Force Wars, the Hundred-Year Darkness, the Hyperspace War, the Great, Old and New Sith Wars, the Mandalorian and the two Great Galactic Wars. What have the Jedi done after each one, but retreated to our Temples and sworn to never fight again, only to defend the Republic. Every time a new war has come, we were the first to be called, and the last line of defence, the last hope for freedom… yet we always suffered … because … we … never … were … prepared."

"It is a Jedi trait, to seek peace. Granted, sometimes Councils are overzealous in pursuit of that purpose. The Unifying Force has long gone eschewed by the current Order, it will not be easy to prepare for a war yet to come."

"Yet prepare we must, Master Adi. Prepare we must…."

"What is your plan then, Nik?"

I snorted, "Plan?" what plan? "With the Future so unstable, I cannot plan further than next week, and even that's a stretch." I sighed, "You know, I was never one of those hero types, never had the saviour complex or anything, I am just a strategist and negotiator. Though I may, on a time, charge into one battle or another, I am best at getting results, at getting people to work together, and giving the enemy hell while I steal their positions from under them, and that … is precisely … what I intend to do."

I sensed Master Adi smile and nod in approval, "Then, how can I help?"

Though discussing serious matters, the mood turned to a much lighter one after Master Adi's offer of help. Enraptured with matters of logistics, assignments and, of course, banter, I did not even notice the time pass as Coruscant grew nearer and nearer.

In fact, the first I knew of our arrival on the Galactic Capital, was the slight shudder of the ship as we settled into our bay in the Temple docks.

This being an internal Jedi affair, customs could easily be dispensed with and before long I found myself being carted across the bustling hangar complex, through several hallways and passages, and into an awaiting turbolift.

"Padawan Sunrider?" came a rather timid and unexpected query. From my current position, I had not seen Kast Fulier or his Padawan enter the turbolift.

"Ahem…" I replied, not knowing what this was – or could be – about.

"Sorry if I got in the way on Vandelhelm…"

Really? This? "Got in my way? I think you helped…"

"Well," I felt a little nervous amusement echo in the Force, "Glad to do my duty as a Jedi, but next time, could you not through me around so much, I was conscience for some of it…"

After the unpleasantness of the previous week, a round of hearty laughter was appreciated by all involved, by me, by Etain, by Master Adi and by Master Kast Fulier. The lift came to a halt and the doors slid open, allowing Master Adi to disembark, my gurney in tow. As we made our way toward the Halls of Healing, and despite the lift having departed, I could hear the traditional Jedi farewell trickle in the Force.

I replied in kind, "May the Force be with us, all."

And I'm back. It took me long enough... I seem to like unscheduled breaks, don't I?

Apart from branching out into other fandoms - the Honorverse in this case - I have also spent the winter (it was winter in the South hemisphere) reading some self inserts. That put me into a very bad mood... re-reading the earlier parts of this story - that made my mood even worse. When I started writing, I was so naive, it's even painful. When I finish this story (probably six or so chapters) I will totally re-write everthing up-to and including the first Interlude, because, frankly, they make me feel like a fifth grader. Far from the Tolkien, Zahn and Stover quality that I so admire and aspire to.

Also, in case anyone's not heard and interested, the TCW bonus content will come out in early 2014, DF confirmed they finished production. Also, there exists a video, (unfinished) where Ahsoka - at the end of Season Five - says, "They should not have asked me to leave..." and with that, I must agree.

This, in part, is what makes SIs so difficult to write; the fact that there is so much contridictory material about character and personality that it's hard to establish with what to go. Hopefully I'll avoid the Dark Side of the Fiction!

Speaking of, May the Fiction Be With YOU!

Clean Word Count: 3,560 | Posted 1232 hours GST. (Not the Goods and Services Tax! The Daylight Savings Time!)