"I don't like it Captain, it almost seems too easy that we got this information, not to mention the fact that while I have been doing my usual meditations with no access to the Force it's not our usual meditation, though it does help sooth us we get no answer from the Force having been cut off, I am officially going by my feelings at this point, feelings that aren't Force influenced"

"Would it help if you had outside information?"

"Possibly, it's not that I don't trust Master Stalin it's just..."

"Everyone is supposed to be dead and suddenly here he is alive"

"Exactly, and it's not just that, as a point of trust he showed me his scars and something seems off about them, I don't know what but there's just something not right it's almost as if..."

She doesn't say anything else simply shakes her head in deep thought

"Anyways the advanced scouts and us at our borders should give us ample warning in case we need to move to a new location"

"Well you're in charge of your fellow Jedi so you should be involved in their placement"

"I might have good locations but I'm still worried, considering just how much we've argued since this whole mess started, even when they heard from Master Skywalker himself placing them under my command as he has to stay in the Republic"

"Speaking of, before we were cut off do you know if they sent any more forces? I also want to know if you've heard about our refugees we brought with us"

"The refugees are fine and have settled into their temporary homes fine, the day before this mess started he said that the Republic was sending six more ships to our aid. I also heard that the Federation representatives have been a huge blessing in regards to the refugees"

"Cultural differences?"

"Not just that which the Republic could handle easily but also dietary differences which are pretty severe in some cases and you managed to bring over some telepaths, that would take some explaining and rules for both sides"

"Well for now we have people to put on patrol and on guard"

"Yes but still I can't help but think that...oh no, I know what's wrong, get everyone out of here now!"

"Sentinel what..."

"He's a drone! Master Stalin is a drone meant to counter-act Force inhibitors, these guys must have managed to get their hands on some and managed to counter-act the drugs, I just sensed a disturbance in the Force which I haven't until today"

The evacuation order is quickly given and Ashland uses her real authorization code to blow the place up because this code could not be heard by the drone and thus could not be discovered by the enemy

"Computer activate self destruct authorization Portland 7 Alpha 2 Omega Omega 9 destroy"

They all escape except the drone and quickly move to a nearby cave system that would work temporarily until they could think of something better

"Sentinel do our punishment's still stand since they were given by an imposter?"

"No they don't, but I still need to punish you for arguing with me up to this point, which I have a feeling you'll stop arguing with me about seeing as how you've just seen first hand just how dangerous it is without the Force inhibitors"

"Yes...unfortunately we now see why we need those blasted things, at least until we get reinforcements and no artifacts that can affect us, but still did you have to kill Master Stalin?"

"Unfortunately Master Stalin was already dead, what we had was just a drone, a dead drone meant only for our destruction"

"And the others, why didn't they try anything with the others?"

"I don't know, for now though once we have a new location I have decided your punishment the three extra hours of training is actually a good idea and I'm keeping that, but instead of extra meditation which really isn't doing much for us right now in the first place instead of taking your Force inhibitors every forty-eight hours you'll be taking them every twenty-four hours for the six days you're on punishment is that understood?"

"But you'll kill us with an overdose like that"

"No we won't, Starfleet and I tested those inhibitors extensively because you never know when you might forget the last time you've taken the inhibitor, when the leader of the planet will require it of you even if it's supposed to last the full forty-eight hours, even your commanding officers might require it of you if you've taken it and you've been transferred and they don't know you've already had your required dose"

"When did you test this then?"

"In my second year of the Academy, and let me tell you several of my fellow cadets thought I was getting special treatment from the teachers either that or something was wrong with me because there were a few times I was called to medical for the tests. The reason why the testing wasn't done in the summer was because it had been finished just as the academy started up again and trust me those Force inhibitors were a life saver once even before these guys showed up"

"How so?"

"Simple, during a training mission I ran across a race that didn't like empaths very much and that wasn't known at the time. I stayed with the rest of my group but due to the fact that I had Force inhibitors I didn't initially get any vibes except for those one would expect of a new cadet, when I had access to the Force again I alerted my teacher to the potential danger we were all in especially me. As it turned out if I hadn't had the Force inhibitors we would have been discovered immediately after I accidentally bumped into one of the members of the delegation, they would have demanded satisfaction of having an empath immediately and it could have resulted in my death or serious injury. We managed to avoid any serious incidents because of that and the race was denied access to the Federation until they could handle their prejudice much better, as for Starfleet and I we discovered yet another benefit to the inhibitors that was unexpected and very much appreciated"

"I heard of that incident, but I had no idea that you were the one involved Sentinel why not?"

"Easy those files were sealed levels above yours Captain and for the simple reason that they could start war if we're not careful, as it is I'm afraid if they've allied themselves against our current enemies"

"If they have no one is safe, especially those that have empathic abilities"

"Which means Troi and the rest of the Betazed's are in danger, as potentially are the Vulcans and Romulans and whatever race is empathic/telepathic that we're not aware of"

"So you truly believe those Jedi originally sent to join the academy are dead"

"Yes, unless they are also regularly taking Force inhibitors, but even then if they were captured they would have been quickly discovered"

"Unless they had a more permanent version on their wrists"

"What do you mean Commander?"

"Well, while you were in a coma Starfleet realized there might be enemies after Jedi so they developed Force inhibitors that looked like bracelets, but couldn't be taken off without a special code that only the Jedi and the one who put it on knows. The Jedi council approved of this by the way but unfortunately you were never given the device by the Republic and we never had one on any of our ships to give to you so that's why none of you have one"

"Can one be built?"

"Yes but we don't have the materials needed to do so"

"Very well we'll keep taking the injections then until those bracelets become available somehow"

"Well I think we have our new base so what's the plan Captain?"

"Easy Commander we continue what we were going to start from our previous location"

"In that case, starting tomorrow I want all Jedi to follow my punishment is that clear?"

"Yes Sentinel"

"Good, I'm going to get in some phaser practice then, lightsaber practice is still banned until we can access the Force, staffs will have to work for that, oh and so is blindfolded practice as well, at least until I am comfortable that you know what you're doing with the weapons"

For the next six days the Jedi obeyed their punishment without question. Once that was done they started fighting back whenever possible

"So when are you going to sector twelve?"

"In three hours, but for now I need to do some meditation"

"But you've already meditated for the day haven't you?"

"Yes but I just feel the need to meditate is all"

Finally they attacked sector twelve and came back safely. This continued for three weeks when one day two officers and one Jedi sent just to see how things were in town came back very excited and with important information considering the fact that they were running

"What's going on Knight?"

"We're going to be getting help, rumor has it that Republic and Federation forces are headed our way"

"Great, do we know who?"

"No we don't, but isn't there only one Starfleet vessel currently available?"

"Yes but they might have managed to get others seeing as how long we've been stuck on this planet"

"Okay you win that point Captain, but for now I think we need to start planning on working with the group that arrives"

"Very well in the meantime have you done your daily meditation yet? I haven't but that's because of just how busy I've been"

"Yes Sentinel I have, hopefully once our allies are here we can actually stop using those blasted Force inhibitors that everyone hates so much"

"Yes, but you know as well as I do that we might have to use them again at some point"

"Yes I do, but even a temporary break from those inhibitors will be great"

Eventually three weeks had passed and they were actually fighting the enemy with the town people's help when suddenly a fellow Jedi took up conversation

"Hey Sentinel I think you should look over the horizon behind you"

"Now's not particularly a good time to talk right now Knight"

She says that while knocking out an enemy with the only weapon she had left, a pole acting like a bo staff

"But Sentinel..."

"Later Knight, oh and behind you"

Suddenly though she hears the sounds of phasers and blasters working together and actually has a brief moment to look behind her to see allies

"Great we have reinforcements, I presume that was what you were trying to tell me Knight?"

"Yes indeed that was"

"Well let's get back to the battle for now and then explain why they can't feel our Force signatures"

They quickly end the battle and then their fellow Jedi ask why their Force signatures weren't there

"We took Force inhibitors mine will dissipate in twelve hours the rest will dissipate in twenty-four hours, it was the only way to survive"

"Understood Sentinel, so what are your orders now regarding the whole thing?"

"We keep doing what we're doing, we free planets and systems whenever possible though I will admit it will not be easy, and there may come a time when we will have to use Force inhibitors again, but this time I am hoping to use the bracelet version where as soon as the bracelet is off we can access the Force again"

"Fine, though I am curious as to why yours will dissipate before theirs by twelve hours"

"It took twelve hours to find and rescue them after we were all separated during our last communication with you guys and had that battle"

"That would do it, now then how out of practice is everyone in regards to the lightsabers?"

"Pretty much since we found each other due to the fact that we've been taking Force inhibitors every forty-eight hours and seeing as how it's been about three weeks since that day we've not practiced for three weeks, though I did insist on weapons training seeing as how we no longer had access to the Force I knew we would need to have other means of fighting"

"Did you have weapons at least a similar weight to an activated lightsaber?"

"Nope, we couldn't though I will admit the bo staff is very close to a lightsaber it's too long, unless one uses a double hilted lightsaber"

They quickly get back to base and once the planet side group is able to access the Force again it is quickly obvious they were a little rusty, but the weapons practice meant they weren't as rusty as they could have been, it was mainly a weight issue they had to deal with

"Oh by the way you guys who have been planet side the entire time can now fight blindfolded"

"But why now? I don't want it to simply be because we have access to the Force again"

"Actually that's exactly why you are allowed to be blindfolded again, I'm sorry if you don't like that but it really was simply too dangerous for you to fight with the blindfolds, three weeks simply isn't enough to truly learn how to fight without the Force, especially without the Force and unable to see at the same time"

"Then how come you do it all the time?"

"Because I can! I can fight without my sight and without the use of the Force because I have been trained to be able to do that, Starfleet made sure of that because you never know what you might come across, I have already mentioned reasons why you might not be able to access the Force, but what I have not explained is that there may also be situations where you are literally blind and if you don't know how to fight in that condition you are at a serious disadvantage especially as a Jedi because we depend on the Force for a lot of things, so once the inhibitors were made once a month I practiced how to fight without access to the Force and without my ability to see. I keep that practice up actually so that my skills are kept honed"

"There's also the fact that since she is part of Starfleet and a Jedi at that, they would have had to put her through multiple situations that combine the two different scenarios so that she would know how to cope if something were to happen in real life. Starfleet doesn't just put you into a situation you might not be able to handle right from graduation, instead while they are teaching you they have tests on a regular basis so that once you are out in the field you have a basic idea of what to do in a similar situation thanks to the training you received at the academy"

"Once during a simulation I was put in with others was so realistic that I almost forgot that it was a test, I had taken the Force inhibitors just hours before and we were now in a simulation that was to test how I reacted to a situation I had no idea was coming or no feelings about due to the fact that I no longer had access to the Force, this was agreed upon by everyone beforehand just so the Jedi know that Starfleet does not force us to take the inhibitors we have to agree to them except in emergency situations or situations that it's called for. As I was saying I had no idea of what was coming thanks to the Force inhibitors and everything seemed fine when suddenly things fell to pieces, I was separated from the rest of the group yet again, and I was fighting when suddenly they sprayed water into my eyes, but the water simulated acid which meant I was now blind. I panicked for several moments until I remembered the training I had been getting for the past several months now and acted on instinct, I used audible clues to figure out where my opponents were and then I communicated to the rest of my group that I was blind and needed to be picked up seeing as how we had lost comms with the 'ship' but we still had comms with each other so that was a huge help. The 'battle' quickly ended and I was reunited with the rest of the away team, once the simulation was over with the teachers told me in private that they were impressed at how quickly I adapted to being blind and that they were thinking that if there were ever any other Jedi that joined that they should be put through the same training I was undergoing just in case"

"But it wasn't just her that gained valuable experience that day, you see I was an observer that day and we found out that others who were blinded struggled to cope with the loss of sight and couldn't fight as effectively as they would have if they were able to see, we knew that without the Force Portland was truly blind, but we also tested her in private whenever she did have access to the Force to see just how quickly she adapted to the loss of sight and we were amazed at the results. We quickly realized that everyone needed to be taught how to fight without sight so that if something happened in real life they would be able to cope and so we implemented those changes as quickly as possible, all without revealing the fact that Portland was different from the rest of the academy"

"I didn't know that, though I had noticed we were tested a lot more frequently on how we use our senses for the next six months, but since I was hiding at the time I couldn't reveal my use of the Force as a sense so I was partially lying...at least when it came to verbally explaining things, fortunately I could always write down how I used the Force whenever we had written reports but still I hated not being able to truly be myself"

"Yes your written reports were very interesting considering none of us has access to the Force so you had to do your best to explain it, very badly I might add and we also had to use generalities to extrapolate what you were saying"

"Not my fault, I have done my best and I'm sure my fellow Jedi who had joined were doing so as well but you have to be a Jedi to truly understand the Force and even then I don't think every mystery can be explained without years of simply studying and being one with the Force"

"Yes well, you shocked your instructors once during one of your private simulations seeing as how you couldn't act like a Jedi except during those times"

"Ah yes, the sudden drop into a chasm after being chased by enemies, it is what it is"