Lok was racing the conference delegates through a dark forest. The trees were growing progressively denser, and there was only one path. His master, Jerad, had told him he'd intercept the delegates. He needed to appear from between the trees any moment. He had to; Lok's legs were growing heavier and heavier, and he was losing sight of the delegates who had seemed to sprout wings and…
"Lok! Wake up!" someone called, shaking his shoulder.
"Hrrr?" he muttered, turning away from the insistent hand and pulling his pillow over his head. It was yanked away firmly.
"Lok," said his master's voice again; Eeth's voice, not Jerad's. "You need to wake up."
Lok groaned and rolled around. Blinking, he saw Eeth's silhouette standing in front of his bed, illuminated by the light from the common room. Eeth was wearing his full Jedi attire.
"What time is it?" he asked groggily. "Don't tell me it's six already."
"Three thirty," replied Eeth.
Alright, so something was wrong. Even Eeth was not dressed in full Jedi robes at three thirty in the morning unless there was an emergency.
Sitting up, Lok asked: "What's up? Have we been assigned a mission?" He could not resist adding: "Or do you want to throw me out of our quarters again?"
There was a reason for him to ask that question. Just last night, after dinner, Eeth had very firmly told his padawan that he needed to get back among people and that he was not going to spend the evening in their quarters like he had done for the past seven weeks or so. He was free to do whatever he wanted, as long as it was within the Temple and not against any rules, but he was not going to do it in their quarters. Lok had briefly pondered staging a sit-in in the corridor, in front of their door, but at second thought that idea had seemed rather silly to him. He had wandered about aimlessly for a while and had somehow wound up in the padawan lounge where he had spent a surprisingly good evening with a number of friends who were all genuinely glad to see him. It would have felt great if it had not been for the lingering guilt about the fact that he was daring to enjoy himself.
When he had returned home, right on time, Eeth had not even asked what he had done, which had been slightly irritating although Lok had had no particular desire to admit that Eeth had managed to make him go to the padawan lounge quite that easily. It was all very confusing and annoying. Even more annoyingly, Eeth now simply ignored Lok's jab. He merely said: "We have not been assigned a mission. I have."
"WHAT?" yelled Lok and jumped up. Unfortunately, he was not yet fully awake and his feet were entangled in his blanket, with the result that he fell onto the floor with a loud crash and banged his left kneecap against his night table in the process. The pain was blinding; Lok suppressed the howl that was threatening to emerge, but rolled onto his back, white-faced and grimacing in pain, clutching his knee. Eeth was at his side in a flash. He laid a hand on Lok's head, sending him a brief surge of calming energy through their bond, then cupped Lok's knee in both hands, using the Force to soothe the pain. Slowly, the pain ebbed away and Lok's head cleared.
"Sorry, master," he said sheepishly, sitting up and leaning against the bed. He drew a deep and shaking breath in an effort to calm himself.
"There is nothing to be sorry for," replied Eeth, sitting back against the wall. "Are you ready to listen now?"
Lok nodded quietly although he dreaded what Eeth was going to tell him. If his master had been assigned a mission, and not both of them, that probably meant he would have to leave Lok behind. Sure, Lok supposed he could stay with Gwened, or Lakhri and Flynt, but he honestly had no idea whether he could cope without the safety that being with Eeth provided. Would they be able to deal with his nightmares and coach him through his homework the way Eeth did? He had no idea, and no desire to find out. Looking at Eeth with large, pleading eyes, he hoped with all his might that this was all a misunderstanding; that Eeth had told the Council to just bugger off and let him stay here.
"Last year, I have spend several months on the planet of Mahau, trying to negotiate a truce in a bloody civil war between rebels from a suppressed species and a government consisting of supremacists of their own species," Eeth said. "Despite the war's huge blood toll, I was eventually unsuccessful because the resistance on both sides against any kind of compromise was just too high. Now the rebels have managed to seize the capital city's Upper House and have taken the members of the current government as hostages. They refuse to negotiate with the government directly and have asked for a Jedi mediator. Since I am the only person at the Temple who is familiar with the conflict, I need to leave, and fast."
"I'm not staying behind," Lok said immediately. "I'm coming with you."
"That," said Eeth reprovingly, "is not up to you to decide."
Lok opened his mouth in protest, but Eeth held up his hand, silencing him.
"Nevertheless," he continued, "the Council is aware how difficult it would be for you to be left behind without me, and I am aware of it as well. We also know that you are not entirely inexperienced. With Jerad, you were close to receiving an upgrade on your mission status. However, this mission is potentially dangerous. Very dangerous. Even with the upgrade, it would not be a mission of a type that a thirteen-year-old padawan would be assigned. Perhaps even more importantly, there are psychological issues at stake. Can you honestly tell me that you could cope with watching me risk my life?"
Lok stared at Eeth. The idea that once again he might lose a master who was growing dear to him was too dreadful to consider.
"No," he whispered, pulling his knees back into his chest. "No. But I couldn't cope with staying back here and knowing that you are out there risking your life either."
"I know," said Eeth matter-of-factly," and I told the Council as much. That is why we are going for a third option. I give you twenty minutes to get dressed and pack your things. You will come with me, but you are not going to assist me in the mission. A second master-padawan team will have been asked to join us by now. One of them will assist me while the other one will stay at the starship with you, ready to take off at the slightest sign of danger."
"What?" Lok asked indignantly, his head snapping up so he could glare at Eeth. "No way! I don't need a freaking babysitter!"
"Listen to me," Eeth said in a low, stern voice that had Lok know instantly how deadly serious his master was. "Lives are at stake here. I have no time to lose; I need to be at the hangar in half an hour. This mission is going to be dangerous, and the most sensible option by far would be to leave you here. Taking into account your psychological situation, I am willing to let you accompany me, but only on my terms. If you do not like them, you may stay behind. Your choice. You have…" He glanced at the chrono. "…eighteen minutes left to make it. I am not going to discuss this, I need to pack my things."
Without further ado, he rose and made for his room.
Lok scowled and thumped his night stand in frustration. Was the whole world bent on annoying him?
However, since from among the two unsatisfactory options he had, staying back at the Temple was decidedly the more unsatisfactory one, he needed to get dressed and pack, and do it fast. Lok had never had to pack fast; all the missions he had been to with his former master had allowed them at least a day or so to prepare. Lok quickly pulled off his pajamas and dumped them down the laundry chute, got dressed into a set of comfortable workout clothes, threw multiple sets of clothes and most of the items in his refresher into the two large bags he owned and considered the job done. On second thought, he packed a few data pads; Eeth might want to torture him with school work. He was just about to leave his room when it occurred to him that he might need a pair of pajamas as well. Finally, he emerged into the common room at the same time as Eeth who was carrying one bag only.
Eeth gave him a brief nod.
"Alright, let's go," he said simply and took off. Lok struggled to keep up with him as they made their way to the hangar; it was only four in the morning, after all, and he was weighed down by two rather heavy bags. He resolved to ask Eeth to teach him to pack more efficiently at some point.
"How long is the flight going to take?" he asked Eeth as they entered the turbolift. He had never heard of Mahau and had no clue where the place might be.
"Two days," replied Eeth. "And that is with the fastest ship the Temple can offer us. I sincerely hope that by the time we arrive, there will still be someone left to rescue."
"Do you reckon you'll be able to talk the rebels into releasing their hostages?" asked Lok. "Or will you have to rescue them the hard way?"
"Unfortunately, I am not endowed with the gift of foresight," Eeth answered drily. "I will do what I have to do, and I will also have to take the possibility of failure into account."
Lok could not quite imagine Eeth failing at anything, but he had enough experience to know that every Jedi encountered failure at some point.
The turbo lift doors swished open. Lok hoisted up his bags and made his way into the hangar, following Eeth to a small light starship that looked rather battered; but Lok knew enough of starships to see that it was bound to be fast.
"It will be a bit cramped, with four of us," said Eeth, palming the door release and stepping aside as the ramp came down, "but it will get us to Mahau faster than any other means of transportation. I will prepare the ship for take-off immediately. Please take our luggage to one of the cabins and wait for the rest of the team. I have no idea who they are, but they should be here any moment."
Lok watched Eeth disappear behind the door to the bridge, then, with a sigh, picked up all three bags and struggled to carry them to where he hoped the cabins were. They were not hard to find; the ship was really very small. There were two of them, holding two bunk beds each, and a refresher in the middle; he dropped Eeth's and his bags in the right one and went back to the ramp. Peeking out, he saw a strange pair hurry into the hangar, consisting of a very small and a very tall and lanky person. He knew immediately who they were and had to grin despite himself.
"So, you are the rest of our team?" he greeted Lakhri and Flynt who looked as if the Council's call had torn them right out of their sleep, which it probably had.
"We are," said Lakhri. "I guess we were the obvious choice. We were available, both of us speak Bocce, and Flynt was just looking for the one last mission that will allow him to gain experience before his knighting. That, and you'll at least know the person who's looking after you. Come on, let's get in. I bet Eeth is in a hurry to depart."
Barely ten minutes later, they were strapped into their seats in the cockpit as the ship took off into space. Lok was sitting next to Lakhri and behind Eeth who, he noticed, was acting as a co-pilot to Flynt. A stab of jealousy shot through him. The general feeling of annoyance that had accompanied him since last night arose again, and the fact that he was lacking several hours' worth of sleep did not help.
"My master has already taught me some starship navigation," he told Eeth as he watched Flynt handle the controls.
"Yes, and I will continue teaching you," Eeth said a little absent-mindedly while entering the coordinates for entry into hyperspace, "but not when we are pressed for time."
"I'm not all that useless, you know," Lok retorted, an edge of irritation creeping into his voice.
"And I did not say you were," Eeth said sternly. "Now kindly let Flynt and me focus on getting us on our way. Atmospheric traffic is dense tonight."
Lok scowled, his annoyance rising at what he perceived of as Eeth treating him like a toddler. However, he did keep his mouth shut, partly because Lakhri had placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, smiled at him and mouthed: „Careful – Eeth is in mission mode." Lok really liked Lakhri, and he knew that, as far as babysitters went, he could have fared much worse than Lakhri and Flynt.
When they had finally reached lightspeed and the stars around them had turned into stripes, Eeth turned around on his chair.
„Lok, go to our cabin and try to get some more sleep," he said, not unkindly. „You need it."
"What, and you don't?" asked Lok indignantly. "If you can stay up, I will stay up as well." Besides his general discomfort with being treated like a child, he had the vague feeling that Eeth might want to Lakhri and Flynt about him while he wasn't around, and that would just not do.
The scowl that Eeth directed at him clearly told him that his master was unimpressed with his response.
"You," said Eeth, "are going to bed. If nothing else, it might help improve your mood."
"There's nothing wrong with my mood!" Lok all but yelled.
Eeth rose, a grim expression on his face.
"Excuse me for a moment," he said to Lakhri and Flynt, then grabbed the base of Lok's padawan braid and pulled him upwards.
"Padawan, we need to talk," he snapped. "In our cabin. Now. And I am not interested in any of your objections."
Alright, so that was unambiguous, not to speak of the fact that it hurt. Scowling fiercely, Lok gave a curt nod and, when Eeth had released his hold on his braid, turned on his heels and made for their cabin. As soon as they arrived there, he turned on his master.
"So now you're going to put me to bed like a toddler?" he snapped in a tone of voice that was remarkably like Eeth's when the man was displeased. "Are you going to spoon-feed me next?"
Eeth looked at him with narrowed eyes. "No, but I am going to put you across my knee and spank some sense into you unless you lose the attitude right now," he replied sharply. "Now you listen to me, and listen well because I am not going to repeat myself. You are not a part of this mission team. You are my padawan who, for exceptional reasons, is allowed to accompany me. That might not be a comfortable position for you to be in, but you will need to get used to it, and get used to it fast, or you will complicate things needlessly, and that is something we cannot afford. This mission is both critical and dangerous and therefore, my orders are not to be trifled with. When I tell you, or any member of my mission team, to do something, you do it. Should you feel a need to voice objections, think carefully about whether they are valid and important objections and whether it is the the appropriate moment to voice them. If the answer to any of these questions is 'no', you had better drop them. Now, I told you to go back to sleep. Both of us know that you are tired. The only reason for you to protest was that you did not feel like obeying my orders and wanted to stay up with the adults. And that is unacceptable."
"Maybe I would have an easier time obeying your orders if you weren't so damn condescending," Lok burst out. "Staying up with the adults, my arse!"
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew that he had made a mistake, but it was too late. In a flash, he found himself braced against his master's hip, staring at the ugly duraplast floor, and a hard hand exploding against his backside. He tried to take it as stoically as he could in order to minimize his embarrassment, but Eeth did not let up on him as fast as Lok would have hoped; by the time his master was done, he was sniffling and his bottom was burning.
"Are you going to bed, or shall we continue?" Eeth asked evenly without releasing his hold on his padawan.
Lok still felt angry, but he was smart enough to see that this was getting him nowhere.
"I'm going to bed," he ground out.
"Alright," said Eeth, releasing his hold on his padawan. "Do you want to get changed or sleep like you are?"
Lok was wearing workout clothes, and he did not intend to sleep anyway, so he wordlessly lay down on his bed just as he was. To his surprise, Eeth knelt down next to his bunk.
"Padawan, you will feel better after a couple more hours' sleep," he said softly. "And then we will meditate together to help you deal with your anger. But tired or not, meditation or not, you need to learn to pull yourself together better than you have done now if you want to take Flynt's place in the foreseeable future."
Lok's face flushed in shame. He had not seen it like that, of course; and he suddenly realized how childishly he had behaved.
"Yes, master," he said in a small voice. "Sorry."
"Apology accepted," said Eeth gently. "Shall I help you fall asleep?"
After a moment's hesitation, Lok nodded.
"Yes, please," he said quietly. Eeth rested a hand on the boy's forehead and sent him a sleep compulsion through their bond. Two minutes later, Lok was fast asleep.