Chapter 28
The Restored Triumph
As the Restored Triumph climbed above Pantora, Riyo strained to stare out to viewports embedded in the wall across from her. Most of her fellow aides were sitting in the central kitchen area, strapped to the walls in crash harnesses. Why, Riyo had no idea. Artificial gravity seemed to be keeping them grounded. She and Miriam were leaning against the wall of the central corridor, an oblong passage that went from the forward bridge to the airlocks, then continued through to the engine room. The Kitchen filled the space between the two passages. Miriam had suggested sitting here instead of in the kitchen. She claimed that Riyo would enjoy the view. She had been right.
Pantora was beautiful. Against the white backdrop of the planet Orto Plutonia, it seemed like a paradise. Blue, green and brown blurred together and made the marble that was her home. As she watched, the two spheres grew smaller and smaller, until she realised that they had to be near the edge of their system. Were they travelling at sublight to Coruscant? That didn't sound right. It would take eons to get there.
The ship rumbled beneath her, a vibration that came from the engines and moved towards the bridge. It chilled her to the bones. She watched as the stars, all those hundreds of stars, stretched towards the left, then they blurred into a cascade of blue and black. She whirled around to look at Miriam. "Are we in hyperspace?"
Her friend nodded, clearly amused by Riyo's grin. "Indeed we are, Riyo. Isn't it beautiful?"
Riyo looked back out at the tunnel. It seemed more dangerous than beautiful. It was something completely foreign to her, to be hurtling through space faster than the speed of light. The practice was barely understood, but she understood enough to not be terrified beyond belief. To her, it just seemed like a lot of blue. A mysterious blue just waiting for her to understand it.
"Yeah.", she replied, "Beautiful."
As the ship lurched into hyperspace, Stass lead Caloc to the front of the ship, to a viewing deck only named so because it allowed passengers to stare into the void of space and watch as they went in and out of hyperspace. She placed a bowl of water on the ground in front of them and sat, knees bent beneath her. Caloc sat cross-legged beside her and stared uncomfortably at the water. He knew this exercise. A Jedi needed to focus on the water and hold it in the air while focussing on their surroundings. Caloc outstretched his hand and focussed on the bowl and the liquid.
"Don't.", Stass said.
He opened his eyes and stared up at her in curiosity, his right eyebrow raising.
She smiled at him, "We have done this exercise before. You have not grasped the ideas. Today I wanted to try something different."
He looked down at the liquid again. "Different how?"
"Tell me about the water, Caloc.", she smiled deviously at him. "Where did it come from?"
Caloc looked down at the water, stretching out with the Force. The Force could sense life, and more importantly, death. Both of those factors could be helpful in investigations. The water hadn't come from the ship's tanks. That much he knew. It had too much bacteria swimming in it. The ship's water was quarantined, filtered through so many chemicals that it tasted… off.
"I know that it hasn't come from the ship.", he told her, "But there is no way to tell where exactly it has come from."
She continued to stare at him, waiting for him to realise the solution. He turned and again focussed on the glass. Stass had taught him the preliminaries of investigative Force techniques. He just needed to try and focus on the smallest details of the water. It was fresh water. Wait… there was something more. He looked deeper into the Force. The water had a slick of fuel in it, nearly diluted. "It was from a river near the city, used by floatation vehicles."
"Where abouts in the city?", Stass asked, her smirk widening.
Caloc huffed out a breath of frustration, then focussed again. But he could not feel anything. He looked up at his Master, "No, Master. I cannot find anything more."
Stass' smirk faded, then twisted into a grimace. "Can you sense the oil?"
"I can.", Caloc nodded, "It floats across the surface, but is nearly depleted."
"Then you know that it came from the city?"
Caloc frowned, then tried to remember the map of Fortress. The nearest river was about two kilometres from the city borders. They had passed it as they travelled to Dunlain. If he remembered correctly, the main rail line crossed the river three times. "It came from the conveyex that crosses the river."
"You tried to look at the Force and put the pieces together in a way that makes sense to you.", Stass replied, "But to properly investigate, a Jedi must be prepared to find the story that the Force shows you and place it into the real world. We are still people. The Force assists, but if it could solve everything…"
"The galaxy wouldn't need Jedi.", Caloc finished.
She studied him for a moment, eyes narrowed and eyebrows scrunched inwards. Most people might see that as discerning, but Caloc knew that it was his Master's biggest sign of respect. Whether that respect was for him finishing her sentence or for him getting her point, he didn't know.
Stass nodded at him, "Get some rest, my padawan. We will try again later with something else."
Caloc bowed his head as she left him. Then he turned and headed back towards his temporary quarters. He was not going to rest. He was going to train. But as he left the viewing deck, Stass spoke one last time.
"Caloc, I know that we have had a few tough assignments. I want you to know that just because this one is simpler, it will not be easier. Trust in the Force, but trust in yourself as well only together can you succeed."