Chapter 70

Repair

The next several days were long. The three Jedi managed to use the Force to lift the Whipclaw up out of the swamp, and set it down gently on more solid, although still damp ground. Both of the ships required extensive repairs, although the handful of military grade power converters that hadn't fallen out of the Talus Twin's hold allowed Ahsoka to bypass a few non-critical systems that had been damaged.

Master Yoda had spent much of his time in the swamps discovering what plants were good to eat, and which ones weren't. He made simple, albeit somewhat pungent stews from various roots and vegetables. Master It'kla, with his strong Caamasi sense of smell, preferred to eat shipboard rations. Ahsoka found it edible, but needed more meat in her diet. The three Jedi would eat together, the smallest member of the order eating most of the stew, and Ahsoka using the stew as a garnish for the nerf jerky that Master It'kla wouldn't eat in the shipboard ration packs.

Ahsoka found several nutrient injections in the medical bay of the Talus Twin, and used them on the unconscious Human to keep his nutrient levels stable while he was in his healing trance. Unfortunately, she found that all of the others on the ship had either been killed by the mad clone, or had perished in the crash landing.

On the third day, while doing some repairs, she found a hidden compartment in the ship.

"His name in the crew listing on the ship's computer is Jorj Car'das," she told the other two over dinner at Yoda's small hut, "But look at these."

She tossed a stack of cards onto the table. They were identification cards from numerous worlds, each with a picture and bioscan information for the unconscious man lying in the corner of the room. But the name, information, and planet of origin on each was different."

"They had a dozen fake IDs for each of the crew. And I found a hidden chip in the transponder array that lets it change to any of a dozen pre-programmed fake identities for the ship."

"Hard to imagine, it is, that bought by smugglers, technology like this could be," Master Yoda said.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Ahsoka replied. "Something tells me that the only thing about those IDs that's true is the high-level Imperial code in the transponder."

"You believe that he's a high ranking Imperial?" Ylenic asked.

Ahsoka tilted her head to the side. "Well, I was thinking a spy or an Intelligence officer. The kind of person that needs a dozen fake IDs like this."

"Troubling, this information is. Find a way to deal with it, I will," Yoda said. "But for safety's sake, perhaps, finish the repairs and leave before he wakes, you should."

"Are you sure you won't go with us?" Ahsoka asked. "You could just leave him on his ship, let him wonder what happened when he wakes up."

"Afraid, I am, that I cannot. My home this is now. Masked from the Force I am by the dark side energy in the cave nearby. And a duty I will have here in the future. Clouded my vision was before. Now that revealed the Emperor is, seen his end, I have."

The repairs were slow. Without access to machinery, there were several times when Ahsoka and Ylenic were forced to improvise. Several times one of them would use the Force to lift a damaged part that weighed hundreds of pounds into the air, while the other would frantically fix the damaged parts. After avoiding using the Force for anything that large for so long, Ahsoka was out of practice. But it didn't take long for her to find herself falling back into her old comfort zone.

Working so closely with other Jedi again after so long, being around two older Masters, was reminding her of how much she had left behind when she left the order. She didn't miss the politics, and the death. But she missed the people.

She missed her troops. But most of all, she missed Anakin.

Anakin Skywalker, who was like a big brother, a teacher, and a friend to her. Someone who she could trust to watch her back in battle, and to help her through the hard times when the battle wore on her too much.

On the third day, after juggling a dozen smaller components in the air with the Force, then reassembling them inside a cavity just under the nose of the Whipclaw that even her slender arms couldn't fit into, she felt a familiar presence behind her.

"I thought you were looking after that Human," she said.

"Rather boring company, he was," Yoda said from behind her. "With you, I much prefer speaking."

"Thanks, I, ugh," she grunted as she used the Force to jam the last two pieces together. She reached into the mechanism and flipped the bypass switch. "Now let's see if I did this right."

The mechanism, which regulated power flow through the front repulsor, as well as the primary weapon sensor array, hummed to life. A shower of fat sparks were kicked out of a vent on the side, and they sizzled against the damp ground.

"Phew. Looks all right," Ahsoka said. She turned towards Yoda. "Is he going to be all right by himself?"

"Attracts small lizards, his body heat does. Harmless, they are."

Ahsoka laughed. She had noticed a few small lizards creeping around the corner of the room where Car'das had been in his Force-induced healing trance. It hadn't occurred to her that they were cold blooded, or that they would find an unconscious Human to be a safe place to bask.

"Steal a moment of your time, I would," the tiny green Jedi said.

Ahsoka shrugged, and looked up at the top of the Whipclaw. Ylenic was up above, using a fusioncutter to remove some fused components in the shield and long range sensor subsystems. There was nothing there that would require heavy lifting or a second set of hands.

The furry Jedi looked a bit funny, with welding goggles protecting his eyes, and a breathing mask over his furry snout. Having a sensitive nose and using high heat to cut through damaged metal didn't work out for him any better than sitting in an enclosed hut with Yoda's root stew.

She waited for him to turn off the fusioncutter, and she said, "I'm taking a quick break."

Master It'kla nodded to her and waved. He looked like he didn't want to take the mask off long enough to respond, and from what she could smell of the wisps of acrid smoke rising from section of hull that he'd pulled aside, she didn't blame him.

"Too bad, it is, that know how to reassemble a complex capacitance conduit Master It'kla does not," Yoda said, as he led her away from the ship.

"Yeah," Ahsoka replied, "I can do it all myself. But it'll take a lot longer."

"For the greater good, Master It'kla sacrifices his tender nose."

"That's what we Jedi do, isn't it?" Ahsoka asked.

Master Yoda responded with his funny little laugh. "Many things, we Jedi do. Much you have done. A Jedi Padawan you are no longer."

She nodded. "I gave up that title almost a year ago."

"But a Jedi you have become, regardless of title."

Ahsoka realized where Master Yoda was leading her. They were heading back towards the gnarled tree that radiated dark side Force energy. "Where are we going?" she asked cautiously.

"A test," Yoda replied. "Forged by the fires of the Clone Wars you were. Turned into a weapon, an army, the Jedi were. But now, something else we must become. The dark side has turned the galaxy we know into something else. One last pass through the fire you must do. Then, a Jedi Knight you will be."

He led her to the base of the tree, and she could see the entrance to a cave beneath its roots.

"What will I find inside there?" she asked.

"Only what you take with you," he replied.

Author's note: Someone pointed out to me that ship names are supposed to be italicized. So every now and then for the next... however long it will take, I'll probably be going back and editing every chapter, finding every ship name, and formatting it correctly. Because I am that much of a Grammar Imperial. :P So far there were about 110 mentions of the Whipclaw, and about 50 or so of the Drexl. Not to mention the various other ships. I'm very glad that Word lets you do font changes when you do a Find and Replace. :)