"That should keep the Jedi under control"

The Naboo could tell that Portland was in pain due to the collar, but they also knew that they couldn't do much to help the captured Jedi but they did whatever they could

"Do you need food Jedi?"

"Yes pilot I do, jeez this collar hurts from being on too tight, I hate Force inhibitors and this collar is worse because I think it's set to detonate if messed with"

"Why did your comrades leave you here yet freed the other Jedi?"

"Well part of that is they probably think me dead now seeing as how I was right were the explosion was when they were forced to retreat, this Force inhibitor means that my fellow Jedi can't feel me in the Force and also probably think me dead"

"Maybe another attempt to free us will be made and then we can get that collar off of you safely, the Jedi would be able to do that wouldn't they?"

"Yes, but for now we obey and wait, we'll also be looking for opportunities to escape on our own"

"What about the fact that they took your weapons away from you?"

"Oh once the planet is free I will get my weapons back, besides all Jedi make sure to have a back up plan and I actually have another lightsaber at the camp we set up, unless they decide to burn it"

It took a month but finally another group made up of Gungans freed the camp Portland was at and took them to an underwater Gungan city that was deemed to be a refugee camp for displaced and freed Naboo citizens

"Who is this person though, they don't look like the Naboo and they have a weird collar on them"

The one Gungan tried to touch the collar on Portland when she spoke up

"Wait! I don't want you touching this collar for even a moment"

"What for?"

"I think it might be designed to explode if it's messed with, until we can figure out how to safely remove this thing I don't want anyone to accidentally do something to set it off"

"How do you sleep then?"

"Oh it's designed so that sleeping won't do anything, it's tampering that might set it off I was hoping to have a Jedi here as they might know how to deactivate the device but I'm not complaining about getting out of that camp"

"The Jedi and their allies with weird clothing are actually coming to this camp tomorrow"

"What for?"

"They do that whenever we manage to free a camp, they want to make sure that everyone has the proper medical attention and also checks to see if they have any fighting capabilities. If they do they are either asked to join the resistance on land or asked to stay put to be part of the cities defenses, some people decide not to choose either way but also promise to think about taking up arms should the need arrive. I think they might be able to get that collar off seeing as how I heard they came across one that was similar recently, but don't quote me on that because I'm not really sure"

"Don't worry I won't" (thinks) "I can't wait to see everyone again, even though I know they'll have questions about my survival"

The next day the Jedi and two Starfleet officers did indeed come to see the newest rescues from the camp, and Ashland didn't realize it but she had changed so much in just one month that no one recognized her initially

"So these are the people you guys rescued from the camps?"

"Almost all of them, one person is actually with a human medic right now getting treatment for some burns she received this morning"

"Burns? I would think there was nothing dangerous that they would be around"

"She apparently was in the mechanical bay when an engine caught on fire, she managed to save everyone and get the fire out but unfortunately she burned herself in the process. According to the medic they're minor burns though and she should be here shortly"

Ashland enters right at that moment and apologizes for being late

"It's okay the leader of the city explained what happened already, but what I'm wanting to know is why you're wearing that collar"

"It was put on me when I was captured, actually seeing as how I don't know anything about this collar I would prefer you talk to me last so that you have all the time you need to deal with this thing and any booby traps it might have"

It took two hours but finally they made it to Ashland and it was decided they would test her skills and see how she was fairing physically before they did anything to remove that collar

"Well you seem to know combat really well but we're worried about your physical state"

"I know, I am malnourished and quite frankly I also have scars all over my back from severe beatings"

"Let's not forget slightly dehydrated and general weakness, though honestly you're stronger than many of your fellow prisoners"

"Oh that's easily explained actually, whenever we were allowed any time of good exercise I would do multiple different exercises that kept up my strength yet didn't look like that was what I was doing"

"Were you actually preparing for being freed?"

"Not necessarily, but I wanted to be ready should the opportunity arise"

"Well are you ready to get this collar off?"

"Oh I've been ready for that"

The Jedi take a closer look at the collar and with the Force's help they quickly figured out how to deactivate the device, which they did and got it off of her. Once the collar was off of her she accessed the Force for the first time in a month which surprised the Jedi only momentarily

"How can this be? We saw you die"

"No Knight Korran I wasn't killed in the explosion, I was captured and had a Force inhibitor put on me and have been waiting for you guys to free me ever since"

That's when the Starfleet officers recognize her and are very glad

"Sentinel, do you want to get back to the camp you started or stay here?"

"Stay here Lt. at least for now, but I will come back soon enough, I just want to make sure this group is protected first, tell the Commander about me being alive and the new weapon before I get there"

"Don't worry we will, we'll also try and make contact with Coruscant and our ship naturally"

"Oh naturally I can't wait to hear the results of those attempts"

"Well so far nothing, but by now they had to have made it back to Coruscant and are gearing up to free Naboo with the Senate's help"

"I'll see you guys soon enough, oh did you guys burn my spare lightsaber that I made just in case something happened to the one I had on me initially?"

"No none of us could bare to destroy it seeing as how it was a part of you even though it wasn't your primary lightsaber"

"Okay then I will need my lightsaber when you get the chance"

"I understand and will do so, oh you should also know that our phasers work against the enemy now"

"How? I thought that there wasn't a way to do so"

"Thank your fellow Jedi, they managed to figure out our weapons and the way to modify them to be useful against the enemy"

Two weeks later Ashland was back with the rest of the group on the surface and had her lightsaber back. Two weeks after that the Texas and Republic fleet were back at Naboo and started fighting both in space and on the ground and with the resistance group already in place they freed Naboo relatively quickly. When the Starfleet officers were reunited the Naboo and Gungans were amazed at how coordinated their attacks were, in fact it was almost as if some of them being forced to stay on the planet was part of the ultimate plan seeing as how they didn't understand this was all Starfleet training. Once the fighting was over both sides gave the other major debriefs that were needed

"So you were captured and had a Force inhibitor collar forced on you Sentinel?"

"Yes I did, it wasn't something I enjoyed and of course I figured they would think me dead but it was what it was, have you guys found my original lightsaber and phaser yet?"

"Well, we did find them but um Portland they're useless, they were being melted as we got there and there isn't anything we can do to salvage them"

(sighs) "I have a lightsaber at least so I'm not completely defenseless but I can't wait until I can get a new phaser as well"

"We also haven't had any luck finding out when our replacements will be, Command called us while doing a training exercise telling us that they're doing what they can to get proper representatives here in a relatively quick time but even with you telling them how long you took to get there Portland the engines are still giving them trouble"

"What about the rogue Dominion soldiers, has anyone heard about or from them since our encounter?"

"Yes there has been several attacks on bases since we were separated by the space anomaly"

"Are they okay?"

"Yes fortunately several starships were available for each attack so there was very minor damage but our relationship with the Dominion is getting strained"

"What about Odo? I thought he would be able to mediate peace between the two groups"

"He's trying his hardest but quite frankly the rogues aren't making his job easy, there's also the fact that the Dominion isn't too happy with our proposals at the moment to deal with the rogues"

"All of this while we not only have our own problems but also are too far away to be any good"

"What about your warp power how long would it take you to reach your part of the galaxy?"

"At maximum warp it would still take us a year and four months and while we'd have the food needed we could do irreparable damage to our engines with no means to fix them"

"We'll simply have to wait then and ask for regular updates so that we know how they're fairing"

"Exactly, plus it might just be advantageous that we're stuck here all the way in the Republic because if people are captured the Texas can be a backup plan and the means to rebuild the Federation, with the Senates help of course"

"We'd be quite willing to help rebuild the Federation if need be after all we are officially allies now"

"Thanks Master Skywalker, but for the moment I think it best if we simply figure out how to rebuild Naboo and also maybe do some more integration training for the crew"

"What do we need integration training for Sentinel?"

"Easy, you guys may have fought well as a team, and worked well with the Republic soldiers but quite frankly you guys still don't know how to fight along side a Jedi and seeing as how I'm on your crew for the foreseeable future you guys need to work on that. The only reason I fought so well alongside you was because of my Starfleet training, that meant that I could compensate for your tactics and also managed to keep you guys alive with all those lightsabers swinging and blasters blasting by Force pushing the robots and tuning into the Force to make all the Jedi hyper aware of your locations at all times. I think Master Skywalker will agree with me that if there were any other Jedi with you guys you would be dead by now"

"She's right, the only reason you guys are alive is because of Sentinel Portland, the group that was stuck here for two months did better than those that trained with the Republic but I believe they would agree that they need some training still"

"Master Skywalker is right, we that were stuck here do have an advantage but we do still need to train alongside Jedi to perfect our techniques"

"Very well, but we'll do this in the holodeck on the Texas which has safety features so that no one can get seriously hurt"

"And all Jedi will be relegated to training sabers whenever in the holodeck, they act just like real lightsabers except the worst thing that can happen is you get a saber burn at the highest level and at the lower level you feel a stinging sensation"

"I think there's also the fact that quite frankly I know something else we need to do Captain, and it's not going to be easy"

"What are you talking about Sentinel?"

(Sighs) "I need everyone who works with me to forgo the training manual in regards to our current situation and let us Jedi dampen their senses"

"What for Sentinel?"

"Simple, everyone may have agreed to the rules and the new situation but they don't fully understand just what I am capable of now that I no longer have to hold back any of my abilities. Once their senses are dampened we put them through a rigorous training facility within the holodeck"

"What's the point in that?"

"Easy, that ways they get a true understanding of what I am capable of when I'm not holding back, they'll also learn the consequences of not obeying the rules because I'm also going to test them with the training saber to see who obeys the rule of no one touches the saber without permission and who's foolish enough to think they can handle the weapon even without any formal training"

"And permission is only given in two extreme circumstances"

"Yes, though now that I think about it there is a third circumstance that will allow officers to have a lightsaber on their person"

"And just what circumstance is that?"

"The Jedi starting giving the officer the weapon for whatever reason but is interrupted, either to keep it safe so as to not identify the person as a Jedi, or if the Jedi is using themselves as bait and they want the officer to do what they think is right and trust them to use the weapon responsibly"

"Well, I agree and seeing as how I'm the Captain they will obey orders, but honestly I can't wait to hear the rogue Dominion soldiers are under control and engines have been modified so that we can get home a whole lot faster than right now"

"Yeah, until then we're stuck here no offense Sentinel but this really isn't our place right now, there's just too much to adapt to at once which makes me uncomfortable"

"I know Commander, it was basically the same for me except in reverse and I had to adjust to Starfleet at the same time, what you have is what I refer to as location displacement overload. I know that you've been here for two months but those two months have been spent essentially preparing to free Naboo, for all future Officers they'll have an easier time adjusting due to the fact that we'll already have an established presence with our representatives. All future Officers are also going to be able to fully read about the location they're going to instead of just being dropped into an unfamiliar space like you were"

"So you don't blame us for having a hard time adjusting?"

"No I don't, after all I also had a hard time adjusting to my new situation, in fact it got so bad that the main reason the debriefs took the entire school year and part of summer was because the teachers noticed about half way through the school year that I was getting overwhelmed by all the changes. They put a halt on the debriefs and for the next three months I simply met with my teachers and those higher up in the chain of command to decompress and simply talk about how I felt and how I was adjusting to my new surroundings, they also allowed me to teach them my meditation techniques to keep me calm and gave me the time to really meditate in their presence"

"What do you mean they gave you the time to really meditate in their presence?"

"Easy, I was given three hours of meditation every other day and then on the weekends I was allowed to meditate as long as I needed under observation so that I still ate food, the rest of the time I was still lucky to simply get fifteen minutes of meditation, but for those three months the deep meditations allowed me to fully adjust to Starfleet and my new home. By the start of the new school year the teachers were no longer worried about me but did occasionally check to make sure that I was doing okay and not getting overwhelmed again"

"So they looked out for you like they would any other cadet how were you found out in the first place Sentinel?"

"Oh that's easy Captain, do you remember the debrief I did where I explained that Starfleet wanted Jedi fully trained in their abilities so that there are no accidents Master Skywalker?"

"I remember, wait is that what happened to you?"

"Yes, during a test in the holodeck they put me in a typical first year cadet situation where I am suddenly separated from the group and can't communicate or use the tricorder. I was then overwhelmed by angry 'civilians'. Unfortunately for me everything had been building up over the past several months, the debriefs, the new location, the new way of fighting, the inability to really meditate to deal with all of the emotions that came with the package, the loneliness of being the only Jedi, and now I was suddenly truly alone and I had a flashback where I was on a mission for the Republic where I was separated and alone due to being thought dead due to an explosion. I Force pushed and 'stunned' all of my captures and then broke down crying and saying that I was just ready to end it all and simply let myself be killed the next time I was attacked being that I was only one person separated from the group and no idea what to do next. The simulation ended right then and there and I was sent to a councilor who had the security clearance to know about me, those meetings combined with the meetings with the teachers and higher command structure in meditation periods allowed me to get myself back in order and ready to continue my mission for the Republic. The councilor and I actually had some deep discussions after I was released from his care seeing as how he was a Betazed and could hear my thoughts on occasion when I actually let him and according to him those discussions actually helped him to understand others in similar situations. The councilor and I actually had to have professional meetings over the next three years due to the fact that I occasionally had need to simply talk to someone when meditation didn't work out"

"Can you give us an example?"

"Oh yeah, do the Starfleet officers remember hearing about the training exercise that went majorly wrong and we lost fifty cadets and seventy others were injured in varying degrees?"

"Oh that accident, you were there?"

"Yep, and there wasn't anything I could do to help except with the clean up, and that was ignoring my own injuries which included let's see...oh yes I remember a dislocated shoulder, two cracked ribs, a broken wrist, a broken knee, a sprained ankle and bruising all over my body, oh yeah can't forget the black eye swollen shut and broken jaw"

"Any other injuries while you're at it Sentinel?"

"No Captain, the doctor said I was lucky I wasn't dead or have internal bleeding. After I was released to light duty I had several sessions with the councilor to cope with what had happened to a third of the sophomore class and half the junior class. It was the senior class that came to the rescue seeing as how some of them were on a survival exercise of their own not two planets away from us, they relayed the situation to the Academy and then made a plan of action and rescue in the meantime getting there three hours before the Academy. Both our teachers and the Academy credit the Senior class for the fact that we didn't lose any more lives than what had been lost because they employed advanced techniques for field medicine and coordinated a safe means of clearing the debris that was there. And Captain the reason why they were in charge was because our teachers were either trapped or unconscious so we Sophomores and Juniors followed the orders of the highest ranking officer available which was the Seniors that arrived on scene first"

"What about the officers in charge of the Seniors?"

"They decided they would only step in if the Seniors got in over their heads, it was decided that the Seniors would be tested on how to take control of a severe situation as Starfleet officers would be forced to in a terrorist attack or natural disaster that had the planet request Federation assistance"

"So you did see a councilor for that and other issues, any how I think the idea does have merit now that you explained some of your issues in a way we can understand, but Portland just how long did it ultimately take you to truly adjust?"

"A year and a half, that's how long it took me to truly balance my new life enough to be able to do everything I needed to remain balanced especially in regards to my emotions. And of course now that I'm in the open the Academy themselves will help the new cadets balance their schedules as well so that they don't have to deal with the backlash that I had at the beginning"

"How so?"

"Easy, when I first explained how important my lightsaber was I was given access to the holodeck at times when cadets normally didn't so that I could retain my lightsaber skills. After my emotional breakdown I was kind of forced to explain how meditation helps Jedi"