— Chapter 5: Choices —
The hum and sizzle of lightsabers clashing filled the training halls of the Jedi Temple. Ryden and Meetra had woken earlier than usual to take advantage of the day, both energised by the previous days of practice.
Despite this, Ryden's thoughts were still clouded. He swung his lightsaber at Meetra with a restrained vigour, trying to distract himself from his last exchange with Master Lamar. 'How could he just stand by and let the war claim entire planets,' he thought before striking it from his mind. To be a Knight passing judgement on a member of the Council was against the Jedi way. He had to be patient and find meaning behind the decision. 'Perhaps the Republic has things under control' he mentally reasoned, but quickly thought back to the vision he had experienced when Serroco was attacked. There was no way he could think that the Republic could successfully face an army as barbaric as the Mandalorians while also protecting their systems. Calming himself, he tried to remain balanced and neutral again. He needed to have faith that Master Tokare would come to the right decision about the war. 'The right decision is just a point of view, though.' Something told him in the back of his mind. Trying to maintain the Jedi's level-headedness, he struggled to shake away the thought that he already had a strong point of view on the matter.
"Are you going to start fighting back?" Meetra teased. Ryden realised that in his contemplation, he had subconsciously resorted to half-heartedly blocking Meetra's attacks.
"Sorry." He muttered. "I'm just distracted." He extinguished his blue blade and made his way over to the benches on one side of the room, tightening his boots to give himself something else to do.
"It's alright. I need a break too." Meetra remarked, clipping her lightsaber hilt to her belt and leaning against one of the stone columns. For a few moments, nobody said anything. Ryden's mind was wandering, still deep in thought.
"You didn't tell anyone what I told you yesterday, right?" Meetra asked nervously.
"No." Ryden quickly lied.
"I can't stop thinking about it. I mean, I never thought something like that could happen in our lifetime."
Ryden stayed quiet, sensing his own feelings in her words.
"My old Masters taught me about the Sith Wars. About how the dark side could poison the energy around planets, manipulate people into madness…" She trailed off but her face remained neutral, clearly masking fear. "But for something so similar to happen now, with nobody talking about it…"
Begrudgingly, Ryden unclipped his weapon from his belt and channelled his inner Jedi Master.
"Your mind is clouded." He stated calmly. "Jedi must be selfless and consider those in danger, but not at the expense of one's own inner balance."
Meetra inhaled before igniting her own blade. "Ready."
The two lightsabers clashed again, and the Jedi circled each other, blades locked. Meetra quickly slid her saber away from her opponent and struck forward in a stabbing motion. Ryden redirected the attack, causing Meetra to stumble in towards him, where he kicked one of her legs out from under her. Meetra quickly caught herself, spinning around to block Ryden's next swing. She countered with three consecutive attacks, all of which Ryden blocked before partying the last and sending Meetra off to the side to keep her body covered and not vulnerable to her opponent's blade.
'Better,' Ryden thought. He had noticed a significant improvement in Meetra's fighting ability over the last few days. He had surmised that it was a mental barrier that had prevented her development in the Temple, something which had been overlooked or ignored by anyone who had previously trained her. Fear or self-doubt were perhaps the causes, though he was not sure. All that Ryden knew was that he recognised the same imbalance and inner struggle that Kreia had to force out of him.
As if on cue, Meetra suddenly stepped away from the duel.
"What were your old Masters like?" She asked quickly. Ryden was so taken aback at the question, he could barely form an answer before she piped up again. "It's just that not many other Jedi had more than one Master, but I did, so it got me thinking about… I mean… How is it that someone like you had so many?"
Ryden hesitated before shaking his head and raising his lightsaber against Meetra. They locked blades and exchanged swings for a few moments before Ryden began to respond.
"My first Master was Master Zhar Lestin. He was one of the wisest Jedi I knew, especially at the age I was." Ryden began, still duelling. "But he was rigid, committed fully to the Council, and was sent to the Dantooine enclave as soon as he realised he couldn't control my stubbornness."
"I wouldn't know what that's like." Meetra chuckled.
"After him I had Master Dorak, but not for long. He was strong and well-learned in the Jedi way, but had very little patience for my constant questions and arguments. I never liked the way I was trained, but he saw that only as an attitude to be corrected rather than be understood. He was also sent off to Dantooine, and I was taken up by Master Arren Kae." At the mention of her name, memories came flooding back to Ryden and he fumbled his next swing, giving Meetra an opportunity to strike him.
Holding back from winning the duel, Meetra frowned before inquiring further.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Ryden quickly lied. "Kae was my Master for the longest. She taught me most of what I know about saber combat." His mind began to drift and his fighting slowed.
He had no intention of sharing the details of their relationship to Meetra. Most of him felt ashamed of how attached he had become to his former Master. With the Council having constantly reminded him of the violent warzone he had been abandoned in as a child, it seemed only inevitable that eventually, he would subconsciously view someone as filling a parental role in his life. Attachment of any kind was strictly forbidden by the Order, but even they should have known that someone as caring and patient as Master Kae would fall into an involuntarily maternal position of sorts.
"But she left years ago." Ryden continued, bitterly. "Nobody knew where she went. Masters Tokare and Lamar went searching for her, but after a while they gave up and left me with my final Master; Kreia."
Ryden always tried to bury his connection to Kae, as well as the emptiness that had gripped him when she left, but he knew that he owed much of who he was to Kreia. Perhaps it was her fault that he felt so disconnected from the Council - at least as far as they were concerned. Her unorthodox teachings and views on the force had pushed him to question the authority that had presided over him his whole life.
Ryden remembered with a pang what she had told him the last time they spoke. The Council had given him a chance to prove himself as a teacher, but they still did not trust him. Lamar would never listen to a word that came from his mouth, and Ryden felt confident that he would at the very least protest any positive decision or remark that the rest of the Council would ever make regarding him.
'But surely they don't fear me.' Ryden thought. 'I've done nothing to warrant it. They couldn't fear me…'
Confusion was a feeling that he was used to, but something he found infuriating. Drowning himself in research from the Archives or combat techniques in the training halls against remotes was the only way he knew how to brush his confusion aside, but he still held on helplessly to the past. Kreia was a calming force in his life, but she did not have the same connection to him that Kae did so long ago. He remembered how free he felt to talk to her about what few concerns he had as a child, and suddenly yearned for that feeling to return.
For just a second, the emptiness, loss and sadness he had pushed down since after Kae left returned. His stomach knotted and twisted, and his footing became unbalanced as his arms and legs stopped responding to his command. Meetra brought her blade across his chest, the training blade stinging him slightly but leaving no mark.
"I win." She scoffed, before realising that something was wrong. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah… Yeah." Ryden muttered.
"Perhaps Master Kildar needs a break." The voice of Vrook Lamar spoke from the entrance of the room.
His heart still racing, Ryden looked up at Lamar with an apparent frustration. He could feel the Master's eyes penetrating him, sensing the unbalance in his mind. Ryden felt bitter and ashamed to have been caught at such a vulnerable moment.
"Padawan Surik, the Council wishes to speak with you immediately. That is, unless I am interrupting anything important?"
"No… I-" Meetra trailed off, looking at Ryden for permission to leave. He nodded and the two shared a slightly bewildered look. Ryden could sense some concern for him behind her eyes.
"Good." Lamar said, before leading Meetra out of the training room.
Once he was alone, Ryden let out a deep breath, his heart continuing to beat at a quick pace. As per the Jedi custom of foregoing attachments, Ryden had refused to let himself feel any of the negative emotions surrounding Arren Kae for years. His confusion was inherent and strong as he stood, all alone, wondering why he had been caught so off-guard by his feelings.
.
.
Meetra followed Vrook silently up to the Council Chambers, her mind reeling. She had only been spoken to by the Council a small number of times and it was never a positive experience - they usually just lectured her for yet another Master failing to instil the Jedi way into her.
Lamar's face wore a stony expression that unnerved Meetra. His face never bore the warmth of other Jedi in the Temple, but now he looked somehow more frustrated than usual.
.
The two of them reached the top of the long staircase that spiralled up the central spire of the Temple, stepping into the Chambers where the rest of the Jedi Council sat - minus Tokare, whose seat was noticeably empty.
"Thank you for giving up valuable training time for this, Padawan Surik." Master Zez-Kai Ell smiled, his smile succeeding in making Meetra feel more welcomed. She bowed as she made her way to the middle of the floor. Lamar took his seat and wasted no time in getting to the topic of discussion.
"By now you are aware that Master Vandar Tokare and your friend Bastila Shan have been sent to inspect the military situation on Wayland?"
Meetra nodded silently.
"Well, before he left, Master Tokare made it known that - should he need extra support from the Jedi - you were his top pick for that role."
Meetra had no idea how to respond. She had to stop her jaw from opening wide in shock.
"Perhaps he felt as though some outside experience would build upon your burgeoning skill." Lamar continued. "Which is why I will be finishing your training on Wayland personally."
Meetra nodded again. "Yes, Master."
"I will depart immediately, and you will be taken by shuttle tonight, once you have collected your belongings. We will be there to observe and learn, but it is imperative that we do not become involved in military matters beyond minor assistance."
"Yes Master." Meetra repeated. She hesitated suddenly. "But.. Why are we going? What support does Master Tokare need?"
"There has been an attack." Lamar said, bluntly. "Not to worry, our Jedi delegates have survived - but while they recover, help is needed in the overseeing of the evacuation."
Meetra said nothing, shock continuing to wash over her.
"Admiral Saul Karath feels that the planet is safe for the time being." Zez-Kai Ell reassured Meetra, sensing her great unease. "We aren't sending you into anything you won't be ready for."
The final moments of the meeting passed by like a strange dream; hazily and quietly. Meetra was eventually dismissed, and made her way out of the Chambers and down the stairs as though she were sleepwalking.
'My training isn't even over, and I'm being sent for something greater than most Jedi will ever see.' She thought with discomfort. She felt as though she had just barely grasped the concept of lightsaber proficiency with Ryden before she was suddenly being ripped away to another planet with one of the most skilled and knowledgeable Jedi in the Order.
In the few days she had known him, Ryden seemed like someone who genuinely grasped her mindset and failures. Someone who knew how to get through to her like so many Jedi before him - especially Bastila.
Naturally, she did not want to go to war. Her heart panged even at the thought of a real fight outside of her training room. Despite this, Ryden's words echoed in her mind. "What if simply peacekeeping goes wrong? What do you do if someone decides that 'enough is enough'?"
This was a responsibility that she could not dodge, but that did nothing to sway her discomfort. Surely the Republic could win the war without her life having to be put at stake? Was getting entangled in the military effort even the right thing to do? Ryden's sentiments were the only nagging thought in her mind that indicated that this war might be worth facing.
But then, as she continued to aimlessly walk down the carpeted, stone floors of the Jedi Temple, she snapped out of her daze and realised the further implications of Master Lamar's words.
'An attack,' she recalled. All Lamar had said was that the Jedi had 'survived'. Was Bastila okay? Knowing that she was alive was relieving, but hardly of great comfort given the total lack of information given to her.
'If there's already been an attack,' Meetra thought, 'what's to stop the Mandalorians from striking again? What if I have to face them?'
As Meetra's heart rate rose uncontrollably, she found herself outside in one of the lush courtyards. She half-collapsed onto a metal bench that ran along an elevated patch of grass, under the shade of the looming Great Uneti Tree. Being one of the few remaining instances of plant life on Coruscant, the tree radiated with serene force energy that brought a sense of calm to Meetra.
But only the force knew how long that calmness would last.
.
.
Ryden had made his way up to one of the many meditation chambers in the Temple once he figured that Meetra was unlikely to return to her training session. Still shaken from his earlier experience, he had knelt down in the centre of the circular, red floor in an attempt to push the immoral and wrong thoughts of attachment and loss from his mind regarding Arren Kae.
Resorting to forgetting about the past was all he had ever tried to do when it came to dealing with his issues. A part of his mind knew that it was useless to try and think that it would solve the anguish he had often felt, but he would not allow himself to properly embrace his feelings. As far as he had been taught, strong emotion was a distraction, and the suffering that he felt could be the summit of a slippery slope that would lead to the dark side. His pain had to be left behind and forgotten so that he could find inner peace and use it for the good of others.
'The good of others,' he thought. 'What good?' Just as quickly as the thought had entered his mind, he struck it away and inhaled deeply. He had spent so much of his life questioning the Jedi Council, but he knew that this habit had to be left behind, like so much else he could not stand about himself. His stubbornness, his desire for action, all things that had to be pushed away.
There were no windows in the chamber, so Ryden had to imagine the interweaving lines of air traffic beyond the stony walls. In his mind's eye, he could see shuttles and haulers zipping across the skyline. He could feel their engines carrying him away. Away from the Temple, from the Council. Away from his struggling, his anguish, and away from the memories of Master Kae.
But where to? He had wanted to escape his whole life, but he had never truly imagined a precise destination. Perhaps he could visit the sacred sands of Jedha, or the wild grass of Ossus. And what would he do with the rest of his life? Would he settle down and find a family? No. Attachment was forbidden for all Jedi. He could not give in to a weakness which could cost him his connection to the light.
Once again, as they often did, his thoughts wandered back to the Mandalorian war. He felt his knuckles clench slightly at the thought of the bloodshed. His anger rose even more remembering Master Lamar's dismissal of the conflict, before trying to push it back down and continue meditating.
It was in this newly achieved calmness that he felt the warm presence of Alek affect the energy around him as he slowly approached.
"It's been a while since I last found you meditating." Alek remarked, smiling. Ryden could not help but sense a hint of concern beneath the joviality.
"I lost it today." Ryden began, after a moment of silence.
"What do you mean?"
"I was with Meetra, and I brought up Master Kae. I don't know what happened, I just lost it."
Alek hesitated. "Do you miss her?"
"She left me behind."
"Doesn't mean you can't miss her."
"Kreia was a perfectly good Master. She taught me almost everything I know."
"I know that." Alek responded. He did not need to have heightened senses to feel that Ryden was clumsily dodging his initial question.
"I just want people to listen to me." Ryden sighed, deflated.
"I listen."
The two friends looked at each other.
"I know that. Of course you do." Ryden reassured Alek, realising his insensitivity. "I just mean the Jedi Council. They won't hear what I have to say. Not about wanting to help, to be better, and not about the war. I know it's wrong, but it feels like I'm on my own in wanting to go out there and do more." Ryden felt smothered. The Temple walls which he had known his entire life seemed so much smaller and more claustrophobic as he spoke.
"Don't think I don't have a stake in this conflict, either." Alek said, darkly.
"Of course not." Ryden said, realising with a jolt what his friend meant.
Years ago, Alek had opened up about his past - about how, when he was a young child, invaders had attacked his home planet and killed its inhabitants. It was confirmed long after that the attackers had been none other than the burgeoning Neo-Crusader movement establishing their might to the galaxy. Nobody knew for certain, but Alek felt that among the casualties were his family. He had been forced to flee with a group of survivors and ended up on Coruscant, alone and afraid, some time later. Though Alek could hardly remember the details, the fear and emptiness he had experienced remained etched onto his brain ever since. Ryden had never forgotten this story, but it had barely occurred to him just how afraid Alek might be feeling now that the Mandalorians had spread their plague of bloodshed across the Outer Rim.
"I'm sorry," Ryden began. "I didn't think-"
"-It's okay. I understand why you feel the way you do. I never really got why we would always go out to the streets and stop criminals, but thinking about this war… I get it now. Maybe it's just the scared kid in me talking, wanting to get his revenge, but I understand wanting to travel away and fight." He paused, thinking. "I can't think of a reason to really do it. Revenge isn't what I stand for. What we stand for. If we were to fight, it would have to be as Jedi, or else what values would we be fighting for?"
Ryden nodded, not knowing what to say.
"Going away isn't an option." He began, trying to sound reasonable even if his thoughts wavered slightly. "I have a responsibility here now. Meetra isn't my Padawan, but she's already been through so many Masters. When I was in her position, all I needed was someone to stay beside me." This line of thought brought Ryden right back to Master Kae and her abandoning him. The scars had remained, no matter what Kreia had tried to do.
"But I had you." Ryden finished. "My old training partner."
Alek grinned. "And I'm still the better duellist."
"Turn your saber off training mode next time, let's see who gets cut first." Ryden laughed.
"Careful, you might lose your head first. Not that it does you any good beyond kissing your own butt."
.
.
Night had fallen on Coruscant when Meetra knocked on Ryden's door. The Jedi Knight was folding up his brown outer robes when he clicked the panel that slid the door open with a mechanical whir.
"Hey." Ryden muttered, moving back to his wardrobe. Meetra stayed by the doorway.
"Sorry for not coming back to training. I, uh…" Thinking back to her episode in the courtyard, she did not feel like sharing any details. "Well, some stuff came up."
"It's alright." Ryden shrugged. "I was thinking tomorrow we can work on saber locks. Get you more used to footwork and quick-thinking-"
"Well," Meetra interjected. "I don't know if I'm going to be practising with you anymore."
"What do you mean?" Ryden frowned.
"When I spoke to the Council earlier, Master Lamar told me that he was going to finish my training himself." She paused. "I'm going to Wayland."
"Oh. I see." Ryden nodded, looking down at his half-folded robes.
"I'm sorry." Meetra sheepishly said.
"It's okay, you haven't done anything." This was the truth and Ryden knew it; The Council had finally given him a responsibility, just for it to be ripped away days later. "Hey, you'll finally be able to take the trials."
"Yeah." Meetra sighed. Ryden could sense fear in her.
"You'll do well."
"You think?"
"Of course. You're far more talented than you think you are."
Meetra nodded, unsure of what to say.
"I thought a lot about what you said." She began. "About the war. About being peacekeepers."
"Yeah?"
"I keep wondering why, if we're just peacekeepers, am I being sent there? Master Lamar said that we're aiding in the evacuation, but that doesn't make any sense."
"You think there's more to it?"
"I don't know what I think. All I do know is that if we are being sent to war, somebody else should be going instead of me. Somebody more qualified, like you."
"Me?" Ryden scoffed. "Not likely. The Council would sooner send the Younglings."
"I mean it, I've seen you fight up close, you're better than anyone I've ever trained with."
"Thank you." Ryden chuckled. "But I think it's best that the more trustworthy Jedi be sent. And today, they've deemed you appropriate for that role."
Meetra grinned shyly with gratitude.
"Did you hear anything about Master Tokare and your friend?"
"There was an attack. The Council didn't tell me much but they're in recovery."
Ryden took a moment to process the information. An attack involving Jedi was a massive development in the war, and something that Ryden could scarcely imagine the consequences of.
"So the Jedi have been drawn into the conflict? That means they have to join the fight. We have to do something."
"Ryden." Meetra gasped. "My friend just got attacked. We don't have to do anything."
"I'm sorry." Ryden muttered, looking down at his feet. "I just think that the Council has waited far too long to get involved. Now, they might reconsider-"
"No. You just want to go out there and do something. You can't just throw away decades of peace and put thousands of lives at risk for the pursuit of whatever blind justice you think is right!"
"Last I checked, the Mandalorians made that choice for us." Ryden stated, gravely. "And I'm sick of standing around and waiting for the Council to realise that."
"You may be sick of doing nothing, but I'm the one whose life is being put on the line tonight. What if I get killed before I even make it past my trials?"
"Master Lamar won't let that happen."
"I wouldn't think Master Tokare would have let anything touch Bastila, but here we are."
The two Jedi stood facing each other in silence for a few moments, both frustrated.
"I'll see you when I get back, I guess." Meetra said bluntly, before turning around and leaving.
"Yeah." Ryden mumbled after her.
.
He hated himself for starting the fight between them, but he could not help but continue to feel a deep anger towards the Jedi Council. They had given him something to do in helping to train Meetra before ruining that completely and casting him aside. They would not listen to him about joining the war until the war came to find Master Tokare, in response to which Lamar immediately left for Wayland.
Ryden remained restless as he tried to sleep. Becoming increasingly annoyed at his sleeplessness, he sat up and quickly became aware of a soft calling in the back of his mind. Something familiar and comforting ushered him out of his quarters.
.
The presence in the force led Ryden through the Temple and out to one of the many balconies that overlooked the dazzling city outside.
Kreia stood against the railing, her face tilted upwards, taking in the ambience.
"You want to talk?" Ryden asked.
"Only if you have something to talk about."
"I could feel you beckoning me here through the force."
"Logic would lead me to believe that you are aware of your friend Meetra's situation?"
"How do you know about that?" Ryden frowned.
"I may not be able to see, but my ears are more than capable of hearing the whispers of these walls."
"Right. Well yes, I am aware of what's going on."
"Then perhaps you are beginning to understand what I have already told you?"
"What, that the Council fears me?" He sighed. "They don't fear me, Master."
"I am not your Master, but I trained you better than to sit idly by and allow yourself to be pushed down by those who seek not to understand you but to limit you."
Ryden could not respond. He felt ashamed, like a child whose mother was telling them off.
"I'm nobody." He shrugged. "Nobody knows who I am. Nobody notices me, what can I do?"
"What you have proven to be frustratingly skilled at. Break the rules."
Ryden looked into Kreia's cloudy eyes as she continued to speak.
"The second the Council needed a new proxy, they went not to you - the one who has voiced appropriate points time and time again - but to a Jedi whose body and mind is not yet fully trained. One who would not question their authority, no matter their errors; Your Padawan."
"She's not my Padawan. She's just a friend." Ryden interjected.
"Regardless," Kreia snapped. "You still think that it is not fear that guides their decisions?"
"Fear of what? Judgement? Fear of me betraying them? I doubt that the Jedi Council fears one Jedi's disagreement."
"It may only take one drop to break the flood of dissent. But no, that is not why they fear you."
"Then why? What is it about me that they could be so scared of?"
"The day is approaching that you will learn the truth. But when it does come, I want you to hear it from the Council. Then, you will understand."
"Fine." Ryden rolled his eyes, knowing that Kreia could not see him. "But I still don't know what rules you want me to break."
"I remember the breaks you used to take in training. Moments where the force slowed down around you, and whispered the melody of hope in my ears. It was in those seconds, every day, that I knew your wishes. You would stand there, gazing out at the city - hoping to be taken away. Hoping to escape. And now here you are, a Knight. All grown up, and you have not changed one bit. I know what it is you want above all else. You want to go far away, use what you have been taught for good."
"What's the point of my powers without a use?"
"Exactly. Why wake up here every morning, when there are so many lives to save?"
"You want me to go out there and fight, don't you?" Ryden slowly surmised.
"What I want is irrelevant. I would ask what it is you want, but I believe that I have already correctly told you."
"But how do I go? How do I just leave here and travel away?"
"I am but a humble Jedi Master. I'm sure I would not know. Perhaps, upon looking within, you will find your answer. Of course, considering that we never shared this conversation, should the Council go looking for you, I simply would have no way of telling where it is you went." Her slyness was apparent, but her stony, grey face bore no smirk. If her eyes were capable of sight, they would have been staring knowingly into Ryden's.
"Thank you, Kreia."
"Now go, Ryden. You have much to see, and so much more to do."
.
.
Coruscant had only just begun to be touched by the golden veil of dawn when Ryden made his way down to the grand stairs outside of the colossal entrance gates.
At the top of the steps, Alek stood waiting. Ryden had contacted him before falling asleep the previous night asking him to meet at sunrise. Though he did not reveal why, his tone of voice left an indelible concern on Alek's pale-white face.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Remember yesterday, when you said that if you were to fight, you'd do it as a Jedi, and I said we couldn't because I had a responsibility here?" Ryden stammered, trying to quickly convey everything to Alek.
"Woah, slow down. Yes, I remember. And?"
"Well, the Council sent Meetra to Wayland. She's gone, and they completely ignored me. So I want to leave, see what's going on out there."
Alek frowned, deep in thought. To Ryden's surprise, he seemed to be immediately considering it.
"I also said that if we were to fight, it wouldn't be out of revenge."
"This isn't revenge."
"Then what is it?"
"I really tried to get the Council to trust me. To see me and hear me. But I'm done waiting now."
"But you want to go to war?"
"I don't know. I just want to feel like I'm doing something and not just sitting around and wasting my skills."
"What if the Council finds out?"
"Two members are already there. More help can hardly hurt."
Alek paused, thinking. After a few moments of silence, he looked back into Ryden's eyes, dead serious.
"Okay. I'll go with you." He smiled. "Stop you from doing anything stupid."
"What would I do without you?"
"Seriously though, how are we getting there?"
"Well, I had one idea." Ryden said, slowly.
.
.
The two Jedi slipped silently into the Jedi Temple Hangar. At such an early hour, it was empty except for a few engineers moving about in some of the adjacent storage rooms.
The massive area bore the same architecture of the Jedi Temple. Beige columns held up the space, the precise brickwork forming up the perfectly measured walls. Bronzium plaques on the walls highlighted directions for the various Hangar sections.
Following the aurebesh signs, Alek and Ryden made their way over to a lone Ministry-Class Orbital Shuttle. The bulky ship was larger than the Jedi had hoped, but otherwise perfect for a short journey to Wayland.
"This is not what I thought you had in mind." Alek remarked as his friend began to inspect the boarding ramp. It was locked, and according to an electronic panel to the side, needed a passcode.
"Not to worry." Ryden said, reaching out his hand. He closed his eyes and felt his mind slip between the cracks of the ramp and into the mechanisms. He mentally unravelled the gears and manipulated the circuits, bypassing the locks and pulling the ramp open.
"I can't believe we're doing this." Alek muttered.
"We'll be back before you know it. Are you worried?"
"No… No. It feels right, what we're doing."
"Yeah, it does." Ryden nodded before entering the shuttle.
Sitting down inside the small cockpit, he ran his eyes over the controls before using his instincts to guide him through the process of activating the shuttle. Through his training, he had worked with technical equipment that had given him a good basis of understanding the general workings of starships. It was his desire for visiting the wider galaxy that had pushed him to read hundreds of manuals on ship design and piloting. He was far from an expert, but he was confident that his knowledge would get them to Wayland - especially since the navi-computer would handle the bulk of the journey.
Flicking the right switches, Ryden activated the shuttle's engine and a steady rumble shook the floor beneath them.
"You ready?" He asked, looking up at his lifelong friend.
"Yep." Alek smiled, his excitement outweighing any nervousness.
Ryden lifted the ship from the Hangar floor before any of the engineers could notice the unscheduled - and rather illegal - departure. The throttle was let loose and the ship buzzed out of the Temple walls, and everything that Ryden knew rushed away. Buildings blurred into streaks of colour, and soon the shuttle had joined one of the thousands of traffic lanes. He looked around him, taking the magic in.
Finally, he was among the many pilots he had stared up to from his quarters every morning. Only moments later, the clouds and the blue sky had faded away beneath them.
All of a sudden, the ghostly blue figure of a Jedi engineer appeared above the holocom in front of Ryden.
"Come in Shuttle-4, this is the Jedi Temple. We demand that you turn around immediately and return to the Hangar. There are no sanctioned departures this morning. Repeat, we demand-"
Alek flicked the holocom off with a grin as the ship breached the atmosphere, and the two Jedi were faced with the infinite black canvas of space.
.
"Flick those three switches." Ryden said, indicating their position on Alek's side. Alek complied, and they could feel the ship shudder and jolt as the hyperdrive became active. "You might want to take a seat." Ryden suggested.
As Alek strapped himself in, Ryden gently pushed forward on the nearest lever.
Without a word, the friends watched the stars stretch as light began to bend around them. The steadily increasing hum of the engine reached its crescendo as the shuttle launched into hyperspace, the sheer speed being felt by every fibre in Ryden's body.
And with that, they were gone. Away from Coruscant, from the Jedi Temple, and off into the great unknown.
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