LordDarthYoda - I have an unlimited imagination, thats how I create these fun characters :p. Some of these characters will be back, for sure. Oh, I'm sure it was recorded on the Holonet too and I'm sure Tiplee and Aurine will get a copy of it...

Tristin- Yeah, I wanted to do a mission where that didn't end in blasterfire or fighting. It won't always be like this, but after doing a book where it was basically war, I wanted to do something more peaceful.

SpeechBubbleMe- Vacation was not as fun as I hoped. Oh well. Thanks for your comments as always :).

ColdOnePaul- Yes, there was a lot of foreshadowing of how the Republic eventually shrugged as the Jedi Order was eliminated. Even Sascha and Nara, who are the heroes, aren't always 'correct' about things. And yes lightsabers xD.

A/N - Okay, this kind of an 'reset' chapter. We'll be at the Jedi Temple for a bit, but we are going to see some major characters, Obi-wan, Anakin, Palpatine, Dooku...they'll all be here :). I have some fun stuff planned for that and then well go out on the final mission of the book.

As always, Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 15: Wrapping Up

Sascha and Nara spent more time then they had wanted in the auditorium that day, answering questions from the students that had attended the impromptu 'debate.' Whenever they thought that might be done with questions from the students, in came a few more questions. Rather than appear rude, he and Nara hid their annoyance and played the role of the infinitely patient Jedi. It was an old adage of the Jedi Order was that you could only get people to forget one negative interaction with a Jedi, by having that same person have two positive interactions with a Jedi. And considering that most people didn't get to have one interaction with a Jedi, let alone three, it had always been stressed at the Temple that it was always important to be polite in public.

"I thought it was never going to end," commented Nara on the way back to their apartment. "The questions about sex were a bit much, weren't they?"

Sascha winced, "Always fun being asked if you have ever had sex before, and even if you are allowed to have it."

"The life of a celebrity," Nara said lightly, "The public always want to know who you are sleeping with."

"Well I'm currently sleeping with a cute Togruta," Sascha said with a smirk.

"That's the last time you are going to mention that," Nara deadpanned. "Or else."

He couldn't find another good joke to follow up, so he simply nodded, "Sorry, the joke was right there, I had to take it. But we agree we aren't telling our Masters about sharing the same bed, right?"

"I don't know, it might be fun to see our Master's reactions. Aurine might have a heart attack."

"I'd be fun for about three seconds, I think," he said.

"Something like that." Nara slowed her pace, "How do you think that who thing went?"

"It went about as well as could be expected. We were lucky that Quetziel was there, I think. If it was just Zven we were debating against it would have been harder because Zven is so logical and well-spoken. Quetziel is just...a wildcard. He weakened their case."

"Our arguments were strong though," said Nara. "And we were able to bring emotion behind us, which was good. Logic plus emotion equals a powerful argument. Besides, we didn't need to convince people that they need to love the Jedi or everything we do. We just needed to convince them not to join up with Zven and their crew. They've been weakened badly, because we discredited Zven and his ideals in public. And it's hard to claim that the Jedi Order doesn't care about its citizens when the two of us showed up here." Nara pushed him with her left hand, "Good job, Sascha. This was a good idea."

"Couldn't have done it without you."

"I thought that went without saying," laughed Nara.

Sascha smiled at his friend. As he had observed on many different occasions, the pairing of the two of them together just...worked. Their comfort as friends certainly helped things, but as partners they were a perfect team. Sometimes he wondered if facing Nara in the second round of the Apprentice Tournament had been a fluke, or if it had been someone's plan to push the two of them together. Certainly, their chance encounter had changed both of them for the better. He had proved that he could compete with a talented Jedi like Nara, and Nara had gotten a dose of humility from him.

"Do you ever think back to it?" he asked.

Nara's wide blue eyes frowned at him, "Can I get a Sascha Whitestar to basic translation, please? Think back to what?"

"The time we first met?"

Nara looked skyward for a moment, "Yeah, occasionally. Why?"

"Was it luck, or the Force that we faced each other on that day?"

Nara sighed in a mocking, playful, fashion, "I don't know Sascha. If you wanted to know, why don't you ask?"

"You're a genius, Nara."

"You know, if you keep saying that, even sarcastically, it will start becoming true."

Sascha laughed. He changed the subject, "You think we'll still be doing missions together in ten years?"

The Togruta shook her head as she stepped into the lobby of their apartment, "I don't think that far ahead. Honestly, the minute we think that we made it, or that we are guaranteed something, that's when you get complacent. We can't let that happen."

Sascha waited until the elevator door opened before speaking next, "Your right. This was just a fun mission, Nara. Despite that whole thing with Ezah, I didn't get shot at once, and I felt like I was enjoying myself most of the time. That's a nice change of pace these days." The elevator doors closed. The elevator itself started whirring slightly as it rapidly ascended.

"Me too," said Nara. "It was a nice reminder of what our lives might have been like if we had not grown up to be Jedi. Thank the Force I am a Jedi, because this is all so dreadfully boring."

The elevator door opened and the two Jedi stepped out, "I thought you might like it," he said. "You always struck me as one of the Jedi that would find it easy to just slip into being 'normal.'"

Nara opened the door to their apartment with the keycard, she kicked off her boots, sending them flying deeper into the apartment and then sunk into the couch, "Sorry, I stood for too long during the debate, my feet are tired."

"That's not a problem a Jedi should probably have," he replied.

"And yet, here we are." Nara leaned back into the couch, fully relaxed, "We should call our Masters. They're probably out of contact, but we can let them know we are available to talk."

"Didn't they not want to be contacted?" Sascha went into the kitchen and filled two glasses with water, then he handed one to Nara.

"Force bless you, Sascha. My throat is parched from all that talking."

"Sore feet, dry throat. Any more ailments to disclose?"

"No, but I'm about to have sore knuckles from punching you in the nose," Nara retorted, making absolutely no move to get off the couch or threaten him in any way. What a lazy predator.

Sascha continued, "Anyway. Our Masters. I thought we'd contact them and say that we feel the mission is completed...as much as possible at least."

Nara waved a hand lazily in his direction, "Do the honours, Padawan Whitestar."

Sascha rolled his eyes and got to work in setting up the communications station in their apartment to transmit on a specific, Jedi only, encryption and frequency. After that was done, he sent a quick message to his Master, telling her that their mission had seemingly reached its endpoint and they were requesting further instructions.

"Where do you think they are?" asked Nara.

He shrugged, "No idea. If this was a bad holomovie, we'd hear a knock on the door and they'd walk in, revealing that they'd been monitoring us the whole time."

Nara groaned, "Your imagination knows no bounds, Sascha."

"You say that like its a bad thing," he teased.

After about twenty minutes, during which the two Jedi changed into more comfortable clothes and ate some light snacks, the Padawans received their response. A curt, text only message that simply read 'Busy. Contact your mission handler at the Temple.'

After Nara read it, she made a pouty face, "Our Masters have no time for us anymore."

"Looks that way. Want to stay here on vacation?" he asked half-seriously.

"Nah, this planet is boring. I'd rather be at the Temple, if possible. I haven't been back in months."

"Me too. Let me just figure out what time it is on Courscant before I call the Temple in the dead of night."

Sascha manually ran the calculations in his head, while Nara simply pulled out her datapad. In a race between mind and machine, machine usually won, and this case was no different. Nara got the answer first, "It's evening on Coruscant, so its a good time to call. Do you know who our mission supervisor is?"

"It's probably Luminara," he said. Aurine's good friend Luminara was preparing to take on Bariss Offee as her Padawan and that entailed being at the Temple more often then usual while she trained up her new apprentice. Sascha had only met Bariss briefly, and she had struck him as a nice but very shy girl. Luminara would have a bit of a task in getting the younger Miralian to become more confident.

Sascha contacted the Temple through the usual, low-priority channel and informed the young Initiate that was currently on communications duty (a very boring task that was often used as a quasi-punishment) that he wanted to speak to whoever was in change of handling their mission. But when that person popped up in tiny Holographic form, Sascha was surprised to see who it was.

"Master Kenobi?"

"The very same," Obi-wan said dryly.

Even in reduced size, Obi-wan's usual wry expression was evident on his face...along with tired looking eyes. That was probably Anakin Skywalker's fault. The Jedi Order's latest and greatest prodigy, Anakin Skywalker's potential was talked about in way that made it clear to everyone that he was not only going to become a powerful Jedi, but that he might be the most powerful Jedi of his generation. Given the way that he had arrived at the Temple, at the almost unheard of age of 9, Skywalker was always going to get a fair amount of scrutiny. Unfortunately, Anakin was seen by many as something of a sullen, moody brat, which was an attitude that only seemed to be growing stronger over the years, despite being the Padawan of one of the leading lights of the Jedi Order in Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"We're...uh...done our mission...we think," he stammered.

Obi-wan's eyebrows lifted, "Why don't you let me be the judge of that."

He and Nara quickly filled in Obi-wan on what they had found and what they had done during their time on Estimar. When they were done, Obi-wan asked a few questions, which they answered. The older Jedi then scratched at his chin, "Is there anything else you think that you could do to alleviate this situation further?"

Sascha shook his head, "I think further action would be counterproductive. If we were seen hanging around for much longer on the planet, people would start to wonder why we were paying so much attention to this planet and this particular group of dissidents."

"A fair point," admitted Kenobi. "Well, it seems that the best thing to do is to make your way back to the Temple. I assume you are comfortable in...acquiring transport to return."

"You mean hitchhiking," commented Nara dryly.

"It's a Jedi tradition," said Obi-wan. "And its not hitchhiking if you pay a fair rate for your passage."

"We'll start heading back to Coruscant tomorrow," he said.

"Good. I might have something for the two of you when you return," said Obi-wan as he stroked what was the rough beginnings of a beard.

"A mission?" asked Nara.

"Not quite..."

Mysterious, thought Sascha.

"What about our Masters, any word from them?" pressed Nara.

Obi-wan smiled, "Yes, they checked in yesterday. They have...acquired their bounty hunter and are personally escorting him to LaForage prison on Develi. They said that they might do some interrogation of the bounty hunter there, so they may still be a week or so before they head back to the Temple."

"That's good," said Nara. "Both Sascha and I need time at the Temple, both of us are behind on our studies."

Obi-wan sighed, "That is becoming common, and not because of the laziness of the Padawans, but because we receive more and more mission requests. In times past, there might have been months between missions. Now we are lucky if it is weeks between missions." Obi-wan shook his head, "But that is neither here, nor there. Return to the Temple at your earliest convenience, your mission is over. Job well done."

"Thank you, Master Kenobi," said both Padawans in unison.

"See you, Padawans." Kenobi's image blinked away.

Nara let out a long, tired sigh, "Lets have a quiet evening. Dinner, mediation and maybe some more episodes of The Masterless Jedi?"

"Only if you make dinner," he replied.

"Actually, I think we should eat out. Enjoy the cuisine and free time now that we have it, for once."

"Free...time?" Sascha said, as if he was struggling with the very concept of the words.

Nara rolled her eyes, "Such a comedian."

"Well, you said I had free time, I was working on my comedy act,"

"Someone please shoot me," groaned Nara.

The next day Nara Nalto packed up her belongings. She wistfully packed the clothes that Sascha had bought for her at Calvais Station in a separate bag, she would bring to a clothes donation facility. The clothes looked so nice on her, and she liked wearing them...and it was for that reason that they had to go. There was no such thing as attachments in a Jedi's life. Even to clothes. So even though she could logically make the case that she might have need of her clothes again one day, she knew by getting rid of these clothes she was reaffirming herself to the Jedi.

It still rankled though.

But dressing as a Jedi always felt right. Her robe, while homespun and rough, fit her perfectly. It was like returning to a comfortable old skin. "That's not a great mental image," she muttered to herself.

She finished packing her bag and went into the main room where Sascha was looking around to see if he could spot anything that they'd left behind. He searched for a few more moments before he turned and faced her, "I think we have everything. Time to go?"

"I have one last thing I want to do," she said suddenly as an idea popped into her head.

"Right now?"

"Before we leave," she said. She slung her bag over her shoulder, "I'll meet you at the spaceport?"

"Do you want to tell me where you are going?" asked Sascha.

"I'm going to talk to Zven."

He frowned, "I feel like I'll ask the obvious question...why?"

"I'm going to confess that I love him," she replied sardonically.

Sascha took the joke/non-answer in stride, "Okay, tell him that I love him too."

The two Jedi exited their former apartment and went their separate ways. Sascha took an airspeeder to the spaceport, while she walked to the campus of Apren Polytechnic for the last time. If she knew Zven's schedule well, he would just be exiting in his fourth year class in Advanced Hyperspace Functions in a few minutes. That would be the best time to talk to him because it would be in public and he would probably not try to strangle the life from her body in public. Probably.

But luck or fate was on her side today as she arrived outside of the classroom just to see Zven and a few of his friends walking out the door.

Zven spotted her incoming and froze in his tracks. "You!" said Zven venomously.

"Me," she replied agreeably. "May I speak to you in private?"

The Zabrak glared at her and for a second she thought that Zven was trying to summon laser beams from the top of his horns. If he was, he failed miserably at doing so. She could absorb his glares. She had be stared at by much more intimidating beings then Zven Hitplik. Zven eventually turned to his friends and said, "Leave us, I'll catch up."

As his friends walked away Zven turned his fiery gaze on her, "What more do you want from me? Is there something else you want to take from me, Jedi?"

Nara held her hands up in a placating gesture, "I don't want to take anything from you. I'm here to talk for a moment."

"Make it quick."

Nara expected that Zven would be angry with her and expected such a rebuke, "I wanted to apologize for deceiving you. It was necessary, but I know how much it probably hurt you on a personal level."

Zven looked skyward and laughed, "You're here to apologize. For hurting my feelings. Do you know how ludicrous that is?"

"You can think its ludicrous, you can think of me...whatever or however you want. I don't care. But I came back here to see you to apologize. That should mean something to you."

"You mean nothing to me, Jedi," Zven snarled, his nostrils flaring in anger. "Your words mean nothing to me."

Nara really wanted to grab Zven by the collar and throttle him, but she refrained from doing anything so stupid, even though it might be the best thing for him. "What if I told you that the galaxy needs people like you?"

"I would tell you I don't need wisdom from a Jedi." Zven turned and started walking away.

This wasn't going the way that Nara had wanted, but she was a stubborn Togruta, and was not about to give up so easily, "Zven, can you just give me a kriffing moment?" When Zven didn't slow down, she decided it was time to take the nuclear option, "Zven, Quetziel is not who he says he is."

Zven paused in his tracks and then turned and faced her, "You have one moment to explain."

"Ever wonder why Quetziel is a bit...unhinged when he talks about the Jedi?"

Zven's eyes clouded over with a small amount of doubt, "He's very passionate about the corruption of the Jedi Order," he said uncertainly.

"He is indeed. But the reason why he's like that. Do some research into a Jedi Padawan named Doro Roa. Sascha and I are very confident in saying that Doro and Quetziel are related. Probably brothers, given how alike they look."

Zven closed his eyes for a moment, "That would explain some things. You have proof?"

"No," she admitted. "Personally, I feel it is true, but I have no evidence to prove it. I encourage you to do your own research, though."

"Thank you," Zven said sarcastically.

"Quetziel's also been arrested before. I think he's got some ties to some dangerous people." Nara paused, "You don't know this because it wasn't reported in the news, but Ezah Reisel was attacked after her concert. It was only stopped because Sascha and I happened to be in the right place at the right time."

"I hope you are not accusing me of such a thing. We were outside, protesting," Zven said, frowning.

"No," she replied quickly. "I know that you were not involved. But was Quetziel? Again, I have no hard evidence, but to me he seems like the most likely suspect."

"And are the police investigating him? Investigating us?"

Nara shook her head, "I have no knowledge of any investigations into you, your group or even Quetziel."

Zven appraised her for a moment, then he blew out a long breath, "I suppose I should thank you."

Nara bowed her head respectfully, "You are welcome."

"Why did you do this? Why did you come seek me out?" asked Zven.

Nara shrugged, "Because I care. I could have been on my way home by now, but I thought that you should know."

"But...I'm your enemy."

She laughed, "No, you aren't. The Jedi Order's enemies are far more nefarious then you, Zven Hitplik."

Zven grunted, "That's not a very flattering thing to say to someone."

She shrugged, "I wasn't intending on flattering you."

"You are something, Nara Nalto. There's so much arrogance in you."

"But humility and grace as well," she said.

"I am yet to be convinced by that."

"Fair enough." She bowed to Zven, "I must go now. I wish you all the best, Zven Hitplik. You are a young man of uncommon intelligence and skill. The Republic needs more people like you."

"Hmph," grunted Zven. "Goodbye, Padawan Nalto." The Zabrak pivoted on his heel and walked quickly in the direction of his friends.

Nara waited until he was gone and then looked skyward, "That could have gone better, I suppose. It could have gone worse too..."

She shrugged to herself and hoped that maybe she had accomplished something worthwhile with Zven. She then made her way to one of the main thoroughfares to flag down an airtaxi. Hopefully Sascha had secured a decent ride for them to take back to Coruscant.

Sascha Whitestar, Jedi Padawan, hero of the conflict on Ubrora, celebrated son of Sluis Van, walked nervously around the local spaceport in Apren. If there was one thing that he hated to do it was beg. And that what was essentially what he needed to do here.

Dressed in full Jedi regalia (and feeling very comfortable being back in his usual clothes) Sascha was in the unenviable position of finding transport that would take he and Nara back home. He had hoped that Nara would be here with him, but she had run off to do 'something important.' Whatever that was. So that meant that he would have to go hunting for a ride for he and Nara on his own.

Sascha decided that instead of trying to find a captain that was heading to Coruscant he'd wander around the spaceport, hoping to find someone that was going there. He wasn't going to take a passenger liner (too expensive), he was hoping for someone going on a cargo run to the Galactic Capital. Unfortunately, they didn't really advertise where they were going.

Sascha wandered up to a booth that was manned by an extremely bored looking young woman, who was tapping away on her datapad. He approached her with a friendly smile and waited for her to see him. After a couple of moments where she continued to stare at her datapad, she looked up and addressed him, "You some kind of Jedi?"

He shrugged, "On my better days."

The young woman rolled her eyes, "How can I help you?"

"I'd like to know if there are any freighters going directly to Coruscant leaving in the next few hours."

A sigh escaped from the woman, "I'll check. Hold on one minute."

"Thank you."

After about thirty seconds of waiting, the young woman, who had an elaborate nose-piercing that Sascha thought looked more painful then attractive finally responded, "There's two ships leaving this afternoon for Coruscant."

"And what landing bays are they located in?"

"19 and 77."

"Thanks."

The young woman gave him a dismissive wave and returned her attention back to her datapad. Sascha, on the other hand now had to convince a starship captain to take on two additional passengers on a cut-rate fare. Some captains were happy to have a Jedi aboard their ship, considering that if their ship got attacked by pirates, there would be a Jedi onboard to defend them. Other captains thought of the Jedi as bad luck. Sascha had to hope that there was a captain that wanted he and Nara around.

Sascha decided that he would try Bay 77 first. Inside the slightly decrepit looking bay was an old looking freighter that was of Corelian design. From a quick glance it looked like it was in decent enough shape. The gray paint was rusting slightly in places, which showed that the ship wasn't kept in perfect shape, but as Sascha walked around the ship, he saw that in the places where it really mattered, like the engine, the parts appeared to be in good shape.

"Can I help you?" The voice is male and cautious, though Sascha can't see where it came from.

"I'm looking for the captain of this ship," Sascha replied.

Finally, after stepping around a corner of the ship, he saw a male Togruta, dressed in a high-collared shirt. An orange-skinned Togruta, he was a little bit taller then him with strong looking arms. The Togruta was wiping what appeared to be grease off of his hands, "You've found him. How can I help you?"

Here came the uncomfortable part, "My name is Sascha Whitestar, Jedi Padawan. I heard that you were going to Coruscant. My fellow Padawan and I would like to purchase passage on board your ship."

The Togruta captain looked unimpressed, "Padawan, eh? You do look the part at least."

Sascha mentally sighed, "I have proof, if you'd like."

The captain chuckled slightly, "I would like some proof."

Sascha took his datapad out, pressed a few buttons and then tossed it casually towards the Togruta. Then, halfway before it would have reached him, Sascha extended an arm and used the Force to 'catch' the datapad. Then he gently floated it into the Togruta's extended hands.

"I...see..." said the stunned Togruta. He casually glanced at the datapad, "Well, I have room for a couple of extra crew. Not fancy rooms, or particularly comfortable, but serviceable enough."

"Thank you. I'm willing to pay."

The Togruta looked stunned, "I couldn't possibly charge a Jedi for transport."

"How about if I put it this way, I'd prefer if I paid you something for the expense."

The captain hesitated, "Ah, well, if you put it that way. I'll accept what you think is fair price. Welcome to the Calculated Risk. I'm Aarvo Iloma. Captain Iloma if you want to be formal."

"Thank you, Captain Iloma." Sascha replied, breathing out a sigh of relief. That whole thing had gone pretty smoothly, all things considered. Why had he been so nervous beforehand?

Aarvo waved him inside, "My two sons are out getting supplies for our trip back, so it might be a few hours before we lift off. Are you okay with that?"

"Not a problem."

Aarvo gave him a small tour of the ship, apparently the ship was carrying some exotic fruits native to Estimar all the way to Coruscant. But the ship was pretty much a standard freighter, nothing to get overly excited about. Aarvo showed him to a small room that had probably started off as a storage closet – the bed itself was attached to the wall. But he'd slept in worse places. He thanked Aarvo and messaged Nara that their transportation could be found at bay 77 of the spaceport.

He met Nara at the entrance ramp of the ship some moments later, "Welcome to the Calculated Risk, my friend."

"I like the name," said Nara.

She froze when two new figures entered the bay area, "Hey! What are you doing here?"

Captain Iloma marched down the ramp and smiled at the two newcomers, who Sascha soon realized were the Captain's own sons. Nara's expression didn't change much, but in the Force, he could tell that she was pleased by the new arrivals. Sascha only now realized that there would be four Togruta and only one human on the ship. For once, he'd be the odd (hu)man out.

Captain Iloma spoke, "These two Jedi will be joining us on our trip."

The two younger Togruta males looked gobsmacked, "Jedi?"

Aarvo grinned, "Our luck is getting better these days. This is Jedi Padawan Sascha Whitestar and...I don't know your name..."

"Jedi Padawan Nara Nalto," said Nara. "Pleased to meet all of you."

Captain Iloma smiled broadly, showing off pointed teeth, "Nice to meet you as well. Boys, pack the supplies." Aarvo turned to them, "I believe Sascha can show you to your room."

He bowed slightly, "Of course."

Sascha led Nara into the crew section of the Calculated Risk and showed Nara to her room. Like his it was bassically just the definition of functional. A bed. A sink. A small nightstand. That was it.

"Spartan," observed Nara, after it was just the two of them in the room. "I appreciate you picking out the ship with the nice looking crew," Nara said with a devilish smile on her face.

"No touching," Sascha replied lightheartedly.

"Aww...Maybe just a kiss...from both of them?"

He laughed, "You're so greedy Nara, you can't even decide between two brothers."

"But they're both so cute!"

Sascha rolled his eyes, "Please think of the reputation of the Jedi Order, Nara Nalto."

Nara pouted, "You're no fun, Sascha."

He rolled his eyes, "Let's go home, Nara."