LordDarthYoda - I think there are a lot of red and black Zabrak's in the galaxy. So I wouldn't read too much into it.

Speechbubbleme - The best part about writing science fiction is that you can touch on issues like free speech on campuses and current issues like those without having to come out and say that you are doing it. The best Sci-fi presents a world that is alien, but touches on issues that we deal with in everyday life. I always think about Padme's line in EP 3, "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause," and how true that line is. But you can't really get offended by it because it takes place in a world that doesn't really exist.

A/N - I don't know how many of you reading this are also writers, but this next little section of the story really was supposed to be shorter. Then I started writing and adding on new sections and having different things happen. So now this next chapter is a two part chapter! Funny how things work sometimes...

As always, Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 9: Acting in Concert, Part One

"How goes things with Zven Hitplik, Miss Nalto?" Sascha asked sarcastically. The two Jedi were doing a stretching routine in their apartment, and with nothing better to do, they were swapping information in their usual adversarial manner.

"He's invited me to a party in a couple of days," replied Nara. "I continue to chat with him on a daily basis, where I'm letting him slowly convince me about the evils of the Jedi."

Sascha moved into a new pose, feeling his muscles straining slightly against the exertion, "So do you know if he's the leader of this anti-Jedi movement or if he's just a devoted follower?"

Nara balanced herself on the toes of her left foot, showing off her excellent balance, "Zven seems like he would be the type to be in the upper leadership. He's smart, driven, and he seems to know what he's doing. But I don't know for sure."

"That hunch you had really paid off, Nara."

"It hasn't paid off with anything, yet. Plus, we still haven't answered the question of what we are going to do with these people? Just arrest the leaders? Arrest them all?"

"I suggest rounding them up, putting them on a starship and then launching them into the sun," Sascha said sarcastically.

"You have a weird sense of humor sometimes, Sascha."

Sascha shook out of his stretch and shook out his limbs, "I never claimed otherwise."

Nara likewise ended her stretching routine, "I haven't come up with a good solution yet," she admitted. "We could message our Masters and ask them for advice?"

He shook his head as he walked into the kitchen to get a bottle of water, "We aren't supposed to contact them unless its an emergency."

"But we could create and emergency if we don't handle this situation correctly."

That was true, nothing would create headlines across the sector like 'Jedi Padawans overstepping their bounds and arresting a bunch of innocent students.' "If you think we need help, I could relay our situation to Doro or Trigg and they could ask their Masters."

Nara rested her head lightly against the doorway, "I still think we should be doing this on our own, but right now I don't feel like there is an obvious solution that we can work towards. I hate it when things aren't obvious."

"We're still in the fact finding stage of the mission. Let's stay patient."

Nara hesitated and then nodded. "How are you finding the classes at school?"

"Stupifeyingly easy. I heard some students complaining about the amount of work today...but its all laid out in the syllabus. It's not like there is some sort of mystery going on."

Nara smiled, "How long do you think any of these students would last at the Temple?"

"Some of them would make it. Others would never get over the fact that we don't have 'weekends' at the Temple, we train and learn every day and we don't get a day off."

"It's easier not to get days off, I think," said Nara. "I mean we have rest days and days where we don't have as much work to do, but we never really leave 'work mode.'"

"You know, Nara. I just think we are from a completely different world from these people."

"These people?" Nara laughed lightly, "You make them sound like they are aliens. We're the odd ones, Sascha. They are the normal ones."

"If there's one thing I learned, its that no one is normal. Normal is just a strange idea that everyone strives for."

"Normal sounds boring," said Nara flippantly.

Sascha smiled at his friend, "I think you are right. So, any plans for tonight? I've got some little report due for my Jedi History class due next week and it might be good if I get ahead on the work."

Nara peered at him, "You aren't going to the concert?"

"Concert?"

"Ezah Reisel? Playing the Student Amphitheater at Apren Polytechnic tonight?"

"Ezah? Ezah is having a concert tonight…here? In person?"

"That's how concerts usually work, Sascha Whitestar," Nara said patronizingly.

Sascha blinked, "How did I not know this was happening?"

Nara grinned, clearly she was enjoying that he was clueless, "Sascha, don't take this the wrong way, but sometimes you are pretty damn oblivious. There have been signs advertising this concert everywhere on campus. I assumed you knew."

"Well you assumed wrong. We should certainly go though."

Nara hesitated, seeming uncomfortable, "I wasn't going to go."

"Why not?"

"Because Ezah is your friend, not mine."

Sascha shook his head, "I mean if you don't want to go, that's fine, Nara. But I'd want you to come, you are my friend, and I like spending time with you."

Nara smiled, "Thanks, Sascha." She headed back to the bedroom, "I have class soon. Just for an hour though. You going to be hanging around here?"

"Yeah. I'm going to meditate for a while."

Nara picked up her school bag and headed for the door, offering him a quite salute, "Okay. See you in a bit, Sascha."

Sascha did some school work before settling in for his meditation, assuming that Nara might want to join him in meditation after she got back from her class. His solo meditations were usually pretty calm. This one wasn't.

Once his meditation started, he got a deep sense of unease, of impending danger. He concentrated, trying to find out the source of this unease. Instead of fighting the Force, Sascha let it show him what it intended to show.

Sascha was bombarded by a quick collage of memories, almost all of them painful. There was a quick glimpse of him failing during his first attempt at the Apprentice Tournament, back when he was just a Jedi Initiate. Then there was another brief glimpse at the time on Ubrora where he and Nara had fought and lost against the Mandalorian Coren Vox and his allies. It was like being forced to watch a montage of all the times that he had been in physical or emotional peril.

It was a deeply disturbing experience, but at least it wasn't showing him anything new. These were all memories that he had dealt with, and conquered. Still, reliving them in brief snippets wasn't exactly what he had meant to do this afternoon.

The last thing this vision showed him was the times where he had been unable to save people from harm. Watching Aurine be wounded by those battle droids on his very first mission. Watching the troopers that he had fought along side in Ubrora be killed. And last but not least, watching Weliss taking off Tyra's hand at the wrist.

Painful memories. But ones he had held on to, because he needed to remember that he was not all powerful, and that sometimes, he had to make the tough decisions. But part of making that tough decision was not forgetting who and what he had lost.

When the vision finally ended he returned to full awareness of himself. He was physically in the same place as he had been, before he had started to meditate, only much more tired. Sascha tried to sit up, but was too dizzy to do even that. "Force visions always take so much out of me," he said to no one in particular. He'd recover quickly enough, but he would probably be out of it for a few more moments.

Sascha heard the front door quietly open, and a concerned looking Nara Nalto rushed in. "Sascha, you're all right?"

"Nara...did you go to class?" he said, disorientated. How much time had passed since he had started meditating? It hadn't seemed like a long time, but now Nara was back?

Nara knelt in front of him, still looking very concerned, "I just got back. I ran back here because I thought you were in trouble."

"Sorry, I just had a very strange meditation session," he said as he wiped his forehead with his hand. His hand came away slick with sweat.

"What did you see?"

"Pain...suffering...loss...anger. There was a...song that was playing on repeat. Just a few chords that I kept hearing." He shook his head and closed his eyes, willing himself to remember the song that had been playing on repeat. That was a strange thing to remember, but maybe it was important. His eyes widened when he figured out what the song was, "It was...Jedi Boy...Ezah's song." That was weird. But that was what he had heard, like a soundtrack to his vision.

"You think this vision meant something?"

He nodded, "You know I don't get visions very often, but when they are like this...they tend to mean something."

Nara stood and paced in silence for a few moments, "So, if we assume that the Force isn't just being random, that leaves two people your unease could be about. Ezah or you."

He shook his head and rose on shaky legs, "I'm confident that it wasn't about me. It must be about Ezah."

Nara's face showed concern, "You okay, Sascha? You don't look so hot."

"I'm going to go sit on the couch, but please don't take that as a sign of weakness," he smiled slightly at Nara.

"Of course not. So if I go to the fridge and get a bottle of water for you, I also don't want you to think I'm doing it because of some perceived weakness," Nara replied sarcastically.

Sascha chuckled as he sat down on the couch. His strength was coming back to him, but whatever he had experienced had really taken it out of him, momentarily. Nara returned a moment later with the aforementioned water. "Thanks, my friend."

"No problem. So do you still think that Ezah is in trouble?"

He nodded, "I'll call her right now, and warn her."

"You'll do no such thing," said Nara sternly.

Words failed Sascha, "Huh?"

Nara sat beside him on the couch, "We have no idea what the threat towards Ezah is. If we tell her she's in danger, she might end up running right into it."

That was a valid point. "Okay...so what do we do?"

Nara smirked, "It's time that we surprised your friend backstage at her concert."

The two Padawans took an airspeeder to the auditorium that was putting on the concert tonight. As they stepped out of the speeder the saw the huge lineup that was waiting outside to get in. The line was orderly and made up of just about every species that might enjoy a music concert.

Sascha still had an uneasy feeling that seemed to surround him. That's why he was letting Nara take the lead. Maybe his emotions were compromised. Ezah was his friend after all. But he trusted that Nara would make the right decisions. For his friend, the mission came first, and everything else was secondary. It was that kind of determination that Sascha had come to trust over the years.

Nara thrust her datapad into her hands, "Look at this."

"Can't you just tell me what it is?"

Nara rolled her eyes and grabbed the datapad back from his hands, "It's a message from our good friend Zven Hitplik. He asks if I'm going to the concert, and when I tell him no, he's says that it's a shame because it will be a quote 'interesting night.'

"That sounds auspicious."

"Right." Nara hesitated, "Can I say the obvious? If there's someone that's planning an attack or whatever on Ezah, its not going to be Zven. He's an academic, a politically minded person. He's not the type to hire a bunch of goons to attack a celebrity."

"We don't know him very well, Nara. And even if we admit that he's not hiring an assassin, its his rhetoric that might be causing this. By making the Jedi seem 'evil' he and whoever is with him is making us targets. Their making us the 'other.' It works like xenophobia, same concept. Demonize a group and then hold your hands up and say 'Oh, I never said actually attack these people...I just said that they were destroying the Republic.'"

Nara nodded along with him, "I get you. I'm just pointing out that Zven seems clean to me."

"Okay, on to more pertinent matters – can I call Ezah now?"

"We should try to snoop around a bit, and I think we can get backstage without alerting her."

"How, exactly?"

Nara grinned, "Just look like we belong. And if someone catches us, just use a mind trick on them."

He scratched at his head, "Sometimes, I hate you confident you are, Nara."

Nara started walking for a moment before pausing, cocking her head inquisitively, "Do you hear that?"

Sascha concentrated, but could hear nothing that wasn't totally ordinary, "No, I don't."

His fellow Padawan turned and started off in the other direction, "I hear shouting. Let's check it out."

He still didn't hear anything, but he trusted that Nara's superior Togruta senses weren't leading her astray. Walking back towards where the lineup was still waiting patiently for the doors to open, Sascha also began to be aware of something that was making noise in the distance. And that noise was coming closer, gaining in strength. "What is it?" he asked Nara.

Nara's expression turned into a snarl, "Protesters."

"Let me guess, anti-Jedi protesters?"

"Yep. Chanting about how the Jedi need to go." Nara put a hand on his shoulder, "Come on, we need to get out of here."

Sascha knocked Nara's hand off his shoulder, "Wait, what? Shouldn't we investigate?"

"No. We're currently here to protect Ezah." Nara started walking back in the previous direction, "Plus, Zven might be a part of the protest and he'll certainly recognize me. It could lead to...complications, since I've already told him that I'm staying at home tonight."

"I could monitor the protest while you protected Ezah," he suggested.

Nara whirled on him, "In what galaxy does that make sense, Sascha? Ezah doesn't know who I am. I can't just waltz in on her and tell her that I'm a Jedi here to protect her! We're here to help someone who might be in trouble, Everything else takes a back seat for the moment. Or are you suggesting our priorities should be otherwise?"

Surprised by the forceful speech from Nara, Sascha merely bowed his head, acknowledging that Nara was correct.

The two Padawans left the approaching storm of the protest behind, looking instead for a way to get into the back of the auditorium without being noticed. After a short walk, the two Padawans found where supplies were being brought into the auditorium. There were a couple of larger speeders that were usually used to haul supplies outside of a loading dock. But there didn't seem to be an obvious entrance, especially one that was unguarded. In fact, the only entrance that Sascha could see was guarded by a bored but competent looking Miralian security guard, who was checking the credentials of each person as they went in.

"Well. What do we do?" he asked Nara.

Nara surveyed the scene for a moment, "How do you feel about playing the young, innocent, possibly drunk, couple?"

"I hate you Nara," he said playfully as he took her hand.

The two Padawans waited for a few moments, waiting for there to be less foot traffic around the back entrance. Then, when the coast was relatively clear, the two Jedi staggered into the open, laughing loudly. This was a gambit that, sadly, he and Nara had attempted more than once. And it was usually very effective. Which was amazing, because Sascha wasn't sure if he'd ever even been drunk. But he was good at faking it.

As the two Padawans approached the security guard, Sascha could see the man sigh slightly. Nara shoved him lightly and Sascha, playing drunk, stumbled and nearly fell down, "Nara!"

Nara, her eyes half-closed, laughed loudly, "Oh come on, boyfriend, you gotta be strong on your feet!"

Sascha staggered back over to Nara and swept her off her feet, stumbled for a few steps and put her back down, "Be strong on your feet, Togruta!"

"Oh come on, I like being swept off my feet!"

"Excuse me. Are you two lost?" asked the Miralian security guard. The Miralian was clearly both amused and not in the mood to deal with two drunk students.

Sascha waved at the building, "Yeah, this is where the concert is, right? Do we give you our tickets?" Sascha made a show of checking his pockets, trying to find his tickets.

Nara giggled drunkenly, "They are on your datapad, silly."

Sascha stumbled slightly, "Yeah, of course. I'm so stupid."

"That's why I like you. You don't challenge my intellect."

The security guard was clearly losing his patience with the two of them, "This is not the entrance for the concert. The entrance is over in that direction," the guard pointed at where they had come from. "Now you...miss Togruta..."

Nara waved her hand in front of the Miralian in a whimsical gesture, "You will let us past." No longer acting inebriated, Nara's voice was no longer the slurred speech of a drunk, but the calm, strong voice that compelled results.

The Miralian blinked a couple of times, struggling against the mental command issued by Nara. Nara continued staring intently at the Miralian, "You will let us inside," she repeated.

Nara's mind was strong enough that when they practiced together she could overwhelm his mental defenses. It took her some effort, but she could. By comparison, the Miralian security guard stood no chance.

"I will let you inside," the Miralian repeated distantly.

"You will forget we were here," Nara said.

"I will forget you were here," the security guard said.

Nara and Sascha slipped past the temporarily bewildered guard and into the building past him. The hallways here were mostly filled with various audio equipment, and lots and lots of wires. Though doing things wirelessly was the way of things these days, music snobs insisted that some of the 'magic' and quality of music was lost when it was transmitted wirelessly. Thus, the wires. And the old fashioned speakers. The two Jedi got a few odd looks, but generally tried to look like they belonged, keeping their heads held high, walking quickly as if they had somewhere to be, and engaging in brief chatter.

"Okay Sascha, where's Ezah?"

"Uh, I'm trying to figure it out. She's close though."

"Well that's a relief."

"Just let me concentrate, Nara."

It was going to be hard for him to locate Ezah. For one, it was hard to locate non-Jedi in an area with a multitude of people around. For another, he wasn't really that close with Ezah. He'd only seen her on a handful of occasions and in all honesty while he considered her to be a friend, their friendship was one that had flourished over long distances.

But when he cleared his mind from all the hustle and bustle around him, he could still picture Ezah, picture the way her smile could light up the room... Goodness...he was fantasizing about her, wasn't he? So juvenile. But amazingly...it worked. He could sense her faintly in the Force. "Take the next right."

"As you command, navigator," Nara commented dryly.

Sascha pointed out a few more twists and turns as they navigated ever deeper into the auditorium. Then after one turn, they were finally facing an isolated hallway with a door at the end of it. Outside of the door stood a tall human, one that looked like he ate weights for breakfast, and enjoyed it. Oh, and for lunch, steroids. Lots of steroids.

The guard instantly noticed that there were two young people gawking down the hallway and he marched towards them, "Hey, you! You aren't supposed to be here!"

Nara startled and threw up a fake smile, "We were just looking for..."

"This is a restricted area. I'm going to ask you to leave, immediately." The guard's hand dropped threateningly towards a stun baton, a common weapon used by security forces to subdue potential threats.

"We're going, we're going," said Sascha, stepping back from the advancing guard. "Could you just tell us where the front stage is? We're doing a final sound check."

The guard, his pale skin only seeming to be barely able to conceal all his muscles underneath the dark suit he was wearing, gestured in the opposite direction, "It's down there somewhere. Now scram."

Sascha put on a cheerful smile, "Okay, thanks."

Nara, off to his side, was concentrating. As she had done before, she waved her hand in front of the guard's face, "You will let us past."

Unlike the Miralian security guard, this guard was very focused on his task. That made it much harder for Nara to convince him to step aside. But in a battle of wills, he would always back Nara.

After a couple of nervous moments, the guard suddenly straightened, swaying lightly on his feet, "I will let you past."

Nara grabbed his hand, "I don't think that's going to last long, Sascha, let's hustle." The two Padawans jogged quickly to the end of the hall and knocked on the door.

After a few moments the door swung open to reveal a distracted looking Ezah Reisel, dressed in a plain tunic and pants. When she saw who was on the other side of the door, her eyes widened, "Sascha!?"

"Hi Ezah. Can we come in?"

"Yes, yes, yes, of course, come on in."

The two Jedi scurried inside and closed the door behind them. Ezah's dressing room was a room of a fair size that was painted a dull gray. The holoprojector on the wall was showing the nightly news from Coruscant while there was some soft instrumental music playing in the distant background.

Once the Jedi were inside, Ezah threw her arms around him and enveloped him in a hug, "It's so good to see you, Sascha. But why are you here? And why did you just show up?"

Sascha returned the hug, and noticed Nara's little smile as he did. "We think that you might be in danger."

Nara nodded, crossing her arms across her chest, "In fact now that I'm around you, I sense that there is danger approaching as well."

Ezah stepped back and appraised Nara, "You must be Nara Nalto, Sascha's friend. Greetings, Master Jedi."

Nara smiled faintly, "Just call me Nara, please."

"Right. Nara." Ezah went and sat on a luxurious looking couch, "How did I get in trouble this time?"

The two Padawans shared a glance, "We're not really sure," Nara finally said. "We have...theories though."

Ezah looked at the ceiling, "This is a Jedi thing, isn't it. Another disturbance in the Force around Ezah Reisel?"

"It's pretty much like that," he said, sitting next to her. "Look, it's like the first time we met. We'll protect you, and everything will come out fine."

Ezah smiled faintly, "I'm happy to see you, honestly. But you are like one of those friends that always brings drama when they are around."

To Sascha, Ezah looked the same as ever, an effortlessly beautiful, radiant, blue Twi'lek with a soft, supple frame and an air of quiet vulnerability that she always seemed to carry. He could see that Nara was still wary of his friend, not quite sure what to make of her.

"Sorry Ezah. But if you wanted a more normal friend, you shouldn't have become friends with a Jedi."

Ezah smirked, her familiar spirit finally returning to her, "I'll celebrate my friend being here after you tell me why there are two Jedi hanging around one of the quietest planets in the galaxy. You here on vacation?"

"Jedi don't exactly get vacations. We're here on a mission," said Nara.

"We're here investigating anti-Jedi sentiment," he added.

Nara glared at him, obviously unhappy that he had told Ezah the real reasoning behind why they were on Estimar.

Ezah obviously didn't catch Nara's look. "Really, anti-Jedi sentiment? I guess that explains why I might be in trouble today then."

He frowned, "Why would you say that?"

Ezah slapped at her head, "Because like every two-bit celebrity these days, I get death threats. That security guard out there that I assume you beat unconscious or turned invisible to avoid? I didn't want to hire him. My insurance company hired him." Ezah blew out a long breath, "I get threats, but the past few months more of the threats have turned from 'Twi'lek's shouldn't sing' to 'You should stop being a shill for the Jedi Order.'"

"And why didn't you bring this to my attention, Ezah?" he asked.

"Because I didn't think it was serious! I thought that anyone who was stupid enough to threaten my life because I was some sort of paid Jedi spokeswoman wouldn't have the brains to actually hurt me! But once again, Ezah Reisel has to get bailed out by her Jedi friends! Maybe these people are right. Maybe I am nothing without the Jedi."

Nara shot him a look. Clearly this was not the sort of reaction she had been expecting. And to be honest, it was not exactly the reaction that he had expected. Ezah seemed exhausted. Beaten down. Ready to give up. She had expressed to him at times that life on the road was hard, she was always travelling from planet to planet, performing a few shows on each one and then it was off to another planet to repeat the process.

"Ezah are you okay?"

Ezah jumped up from the couch, "No, I'm NOT okay! I can't escape craziness in my life! I can't go anywhere without reporters asking me which Jedi I wrote Jedi Boy about! My last boyfriend broke up with me because he thought that I wasn't fully committed to him because I was writing these songs about a Jedi! He thought I was seeing a Jedi on the side!"

Sascha stood and spoke calmly, "Ezah, I'm sorry to hear all of that. If you'd like Nara and I to leave right now, just say the word."

"Sascha?" said Nara, obviously not sure where he was going with this.

He just bowled over his friend, continuing to speak as if she hadn't interrupted. "But you know Ezah, that I wouldn't be here if I didn't think you were seriously under threat. So whatever other issues you might be having, I can see how I can help you with those later, but right now we need to worry about what is happening right now. Is there anyone else here that you trust with your life?"

Ezah stared at him for a long moment, then her shoulders drooped, "My manager, Hatara. She should know your here...because if she walks in and finds two strangers in my room, she'll call the police and that will make things super awkward."

"Okay, bring her in. We need to discuss our next moves."

While Ezah was taking her comlink and calling her manager, Nara subtly pulled him aside, "Are you sure you know what you are doing, Sascha? Ezah seems...off. It might be best just to get her out of here."

"Ezah's tougher than she seems right now. She'll come around."

Nara bit her lip, "I'll trust you for now, but I want you to be aware that I think this could all go really badly for us."

"Noted."

Ezah, finished with her call, looked at the two Jedi, "What were you two talking about?"

"We were just discussing what our next move was going to be," said Nara, slipping in a white lie easily.

"Okay. Can I tell my manager that you are both Jedi Padawans? I could say that you were winners of a fan contest who won a meet and greet."

"No. You can tell her who we are. There's no sense in hiding it," he said.

"If she blows our cover I'm going to be very, very annoyed," Nara said quietly.

"Hatara won't blow your cover...but I have to warn you she isn't as friendly to the Jedi as I am. She's a Jedi skeptic."

Sascha was about to inquire as to what Ezah meant by 'Jedi skeptic,' when the door swung open revealing a young human woman in her late twenties who was obviously Hatara. She was petite with short blonde hair, wearing a stylish shirt and pants combination that showed off a small amount of skin. From a quick glance at Nara, Sascha could tell that the Togruta was not a fan of this person.

Hatara's eyes widened one she saw that Ezah was not alone in her room, "Ezah...?"

Ezah held out her arms in a placating fashion, "They are with me. Lock the door, though would you?"

"Uh, okay," replied Hatara, hitting a button on the keypad behind her.

Ezah pointed at the two Jedi, "Hatara I want you to meet Nara Nalto and Sascha Whitestar, Jedi Padawans."

Hatara's mouth dropped open, "Jedi Padawans?!"

"That's us," he said, putting on his best smile, "It's nice to meet you Hatara."

"It's nice to meet such honourable guests...but if I may ask the obvious question...why are you here?"

"We believe that Ezah is in danger," he said simply.

"Oh. Oh."

"So we decided that we had to warn Ezah, personally," chimed in Nara.

"Do you think think that has anything to do with the anti-Jedi protesters that have set up outside?"

Nara winced, "Oh, you saw that? How many people are there?"

"It's not how many people there are, its what they are doing." Hatara turned to Ezah, "I was just going to tell you, I think we should seriously consider postponing this concert. I don't think it's safe."

Ezah frowned, "Hatara, what is going on out there?"

Hatara hesitated, "I think you Jedi should see for yourselves."