Shortly before her alarm was set to go off she was woken to the sound of someone pounding on her door and yelling, "Solasta! Wake up!"
Climbing out of bed she opened her door slightly and peeked out to see Daira Ciran, a tall thin Togruta girl who she had been rotated into a squad with several times standing in the hallway.
"You're Mantellian right?" she asked.
"Yeah..." but before Solasta could continue, Daira pushed the door open and grabbed her hand saying, "You need to see this." Pulling Solasta into the hallway they off they ran towards the stairs in their nightclothes.
"What's wrong?" Solasta asked as they ran.
"You need to see this," Daira repeated, as they burst into stairwell and started descending the levels.
When they had gotten to the Common Area on the Main Level there was a small crowd of recruits, most of them also dressed in nightclothes, gathered around the large monitor on the wall that the HoloNet News was now redirected to. The news anchor onscreen was in the middle of reporting on what he called, "the largest series of coordinated separatist attacks in the civil war that has plagued Ord Mantell for several decades."
Standing with her eyes fixed on the HoloNet, Solasta's heart was pounding as the holographic globe of Ord Mantell that rotated next to the anchor would zoom in and show map views of the various regions affected, live images of houses and businesses in flames, or small blaster skirmishes. She watched intently until the globe zoomed in and she could make out the familiar shape of the coastline near her home and Avilitan Island. Solasta's heart sank and stomached knotted at the sight of her region dotted with red, Tasa's region shaded completely red and listed as a 'High Activity' zone. Grasping absently in front of her she found a chair and sat without taking her eyes from the images of the familiar streets from home displayed onscreen .
The voice of the news anchor cut in and was saying, "We now go live to Ord Mantell, where the Jedi Council have redirected one of their nearby Consular's to negotiate a truce so that both sides can exchange prisoners, wounded, or dead."
The image onscreen changed to show a frigate bearing the Jedi Council's insignia berthed at a Republic Base, and as the doors opened out stepped a Jedi, followed by her Trandoshan bodyguard as they walked down the ramp. Not having seen a Trandoshan outside of the holo records, Solasta was struck at the sheer size of him. He easily stood as tall as a Wookie but was covered in deep green scales and was solid muscle from head to toe. In comparison, the Jedi looked tiny next to him and was wearing the usual flowing brown robe with the hood pulled low to hide their face, but there wasn't any mistaking the female form and long silver hair that spilled out.
As the Jedi and her escort neared the small group of reporters, one shouted out "Is it true that the Jedi are just carrying out a Republic agenda with your presence here?"
Without breaking stride the Jedi turned her head slightly to look at the reporter briefly before returning her gaze forward and stepping inside the Republic Base to board the transport that would take them to the neutral location where a ceasefire would be negotiated.
Solasta had read about the Jedi Order and the seemingly mystical nature of their ability to manipulate people or objects, and their devotion to excising all emotion, but in that brief moment behind the tassels of silver hair blowing in the wind obscuring her face, there was no misinterpreting the message those vibrant emerald green eyes conveyed to that reporter, even through a holo cast.
Solasta's Drill Sergeant had quietly drifted in and was standing at the back of the room and spoke up, "Ok Grunts, there's nothing more to see, so get ready for your morning run." Standing, she stretched and tried to work the knots out of her legs as she returned to her level to wash up and get dressed for the day. Several times through the morning she was called out and yelled at for slacking as her mind drifted and she worried about those back home. Her Instructor could see the worry and did his best to keep her focused on giving her best.
Hours later as they were finishing their run, her Sergeant informed them that, "we have received a report that the Jedi had secured a cease fire between the Ord Mantel Government and Separatist Leaders. An exchange of prisoners, wounded, and deceased will be begin in a few hours," before sending them to the Battle Simulators.
When they were dismissed for lunch, instead of changing from her armor Solasta ran towards the barracks to check on the HoloNet updates, and bursting through the doors she slowed her pace and joined the other recruits that had gotten there ahead of her.