-0000-
Caty turned off the holoprojector and stared at the floor in silence.
She looked around the bridge and caught the eye of Peter, her second in command. "Can you hold down the fort for a bit?" she asked. "I need a quick rest."
"Sure thing," he said, happy for the excuse to be in charge.
Caty got out of her seat and made her way to the lift, taking it down from the bridge until she reached the upper level dorms. She went down the hall until she reached her room, which was towards the middle, and went inside.
Her room was sparsely decorated. Her diploma was on the wall, as well as a picture of her and her younger brother. Another picture was on the wall of her, her brother, and her parents, smiling happily at the camera. On the cabinet, she had a replica Star Destroyer and a gymnastics medal. She smiled slightly.
Her eyes traveled to her nightstand, and to the small pair of carved, wooden wings on her nightstand. She grabbed the wings and examined them. They were neatly carved, and looked very much like the authentic wings that were given to Grand Admirals of the Order.
When Darin had given her this, she was unsure of what it meant.
That hadn't changed. She still didn't know how to feel about the wings.
Darin had given them to her after he confronted her outside of the med bay. Back then, she was quite sure that Darin was a danger to everybody on the ship.
But now, she didn't feel sure at all.
Darin had risked his life multiple times now for the good of other people. He wasn't other Jedi. He didn't act like he was superior to others, and he made sure that that mindset permeated the whole ship. Not a single discriminatory complaint had been filed, unlike in the ships she trained on or, to a much lesser degree, the ship when Fral was in charge. The mood on the ship was high, regardless of the fact that they had no backing and could die at any time.
She always assumed the Order was correct because it was the side she was trained by. But with distance, and perspective, she had noticed the glaring flaws in the system. The discrimination, the racist social hierarchy, the devaluing of life, the suppression of individualism, and the ridiculous level of control all became very clear. She no longer felt like she knew what side was the right side.
-0000-
Lysis walked calmly through the wreckage on Tatooine. The attack on Tatooine was not his plan. Lord Terrias, although giving him command of the search, had been tipped off to their presence and had mounted the assault. Without ever telling Lysis.
He gritted his teeth. He couldn't account for variables he had no knowledge of. Lord Terrias had become more erratic and emotional in recent times. His instability was becoming a hindrance.
He walked to a clear explosion site. The trajectory of the debris depicted the origin, and he sighed.
Hyperfuel stores. They weren't very well guarded, judging from the few bodies he found. He suspected this of being the first thing that happened.
As he circled around, he noticed some curious marks on one of the crates.
Blood. A quick examination of the sand around the debris showed a trail of blood.
Somebody survived the explosion. Not without being severely wounded, but survived nonetheless.
As he followed, he noticed the clear signs of lightsaber scores on the bodies.
A Force-user. Must be quite powerful to survive the explosion.
He followed the blood trail until he reached a point where the trail of bodies branched. The blood trail continued straight, towards the debris that they were all laying siege to. Feeling that that would be the end point, he decided to take the branching path of bodies. He would return to the main path, but he wanted to see this one.
As he followed down this path, he noticed that the bodies here were either full of blaster scores or had suffered blunt trauma to the body. An odd combination, as he had only seen this sort of combination from Junel. He followed this path all the way to the wall of the canyon and looked up. That must be where this individual came from.
He returned back to the path of blood, and noticed that some of the bodies now also had blaster scoring or suffered blunt trauma. A joining of forces, most likely.
As he followed the path, he noticed something he had been told would be present, but was surprising nonetheless. A few Junel were encased in ice, and the sand and surrounding items were covered in frost.
He glanced at the suns and frowned. Some form of cryogenic weapon or attack was being utilized in the middle of the blazing desert. Lysis touched the ice, and felt the cold on his fingers. This was unprecedented. Curiously, the trail of blood stopped. The path to the siege, now outlined in frost, was an easy one to follow. As he got to the turrets and examined them, he noted the large amount of ice still encasing quite a few of them.
The trail of ice stopped, and he noticed a large amount of blood in the sand.
He noticed that about two thirds of the turrets had been blown up, and he went to examine them. As he walked over, he saw a few dead imps laying in the sand, as well as two dead Maleko. An examination of the imps showed that they got their armor from the Order, but they were unlike any others. Their armor had purposeful marks that distinguished them.
A unique brand, and not one accepted by the Order.
He strolled to the wreckage, noticing the pile of bodies that were laying around.
A multi-layered attack plan. Interesting.
This was not the Order. His gut told him it was related to the individuals Lord Terrias had wanted him to hunt down. The rogue Jedi and his crew.
He mulled over the scene before him. These individuals were extremely dangerous. More so now that they had the Vindicator and the Specs.
Than Valum's survival catalyzed the problems. It was bad enough that Lord Terrias often refused to tell him about problems until it was too late and drastic measures had to be taken. Now with his increased volatility, he was worse than ever. Lord Terrias may need these individuals to be found, and he may need the Specs and the Vindicator eliminated, but he also needed to be dealt with.
-0000-
Bool Ansi stared in silence as he watched the young Togrutan female before him. She was a light red color and had three white lekku, or head-tails, with dark blue stripes adorning them. Her montrals, which still hadn't grown to full size, had thinner blue stripes on them. Her skin had light white stripes on it, and her lips were a pale gray color. Around her neck was an akul-tooth necklace.
He groaned at her rookie mistakes and adjusted his respirator. He, being a Gand, was incapable of breathing the air of most planets.
"I thought Togrutan's were hunters," he called to the female as she made one misstep and was spotted by the practice droid, which began blasting at her. She nimbly avoided getting hit and took cover behind the rock.
"You know, if you would let me use the Force I'd be through without a problem," she called back to him.
"Then you'd miss the point," he said, waving the droid to turn off and walking towards her. "You are Kerlah Min first, and Padawan second."
"You know, you also tell me that the Force is part of me. So there really shouldn't be a difference."
Bool huffed her way and said "Again."
-Kerlah-
I fumed as I walked back to the start of the course Bool had made. He had a gym on his capital ship in which he created practice environments for him to simulate hunting and tracking sessions. He was the best tracker in the Order, and as such was provided one of the best practice facilities in the Order.
The course he was making me run mimicked the slums of Corbalant. I had to get through stealthily and quietly, determine the randomized location of a picture of Bool at university while he was drunk, get a clear picture of it, and escape the area, all without getting caught. There weren't patrols, but random individuals living in the area.
I stretched my back, feeling my vertebrae pop, and closed my eyes. Every instinct of mine wanted to switch to the Force, to use the strongest weapon in my toolbag, but I wasn't supposed to. Bool wouldn't allow it. The training had a purpose apparently, and I needed to succeed. I watched the droids, who were acting as lowly citizens, complete with wearing drab brown cloaks. I walked over casually, making sure to avoid prying eyes, and darted from shadow to shadow. I was almost caught a few times, but was able to barely avoid breaking cover as I would quickly dart to one side or another to keep out of sight.
I found an entry point in the first house, determined that it was empty, and quickly slipped inside. I rifled through the desk documents, looked at the pictures on the walls, and checked in many of the hiding places I could think of. My search revealed nothing.
The next two houses were similarly useless to my search. As I exited the second house, I heard some droids coming near. They were behind the corner, but there was no question that I would be seen. I had moments.
My mind raced. I could try to climb up to the roof, but without using the Force there wouldn't be time. I'd also make quite a bit of sound and alert others. As I panicked, something caught my eye. It was a drab cloak that was normally worn by the people of the slums, and that each of the droids was wearing. Feeling a flash of inspiration, I decided to throw it on and lay on the ground, concealing myself and pretending like I was passed out drunk.
The droids reached the alley, jabbering some random dialogue to make them seem more believable. The conversation paused as they examined me. I heard "useless drunk" and then footsteps as they kept on their way. My heart raced with excitement. Once I was sure that they passed, I got up and walked out into the open towards the third house. Keeping my head down, I walked by a few droids, but none commented on me. I made my way to the alley by the house and, when I made sure nobody was looking, I snuck my way into the home. I rifled through documents and, to my surprise, I found the picture. I pulled out my communicator, snapped a quick picture of the picture, checked it to make sure it was clear, and put it back before slipping out of the house and making my way to the main path. Once I was on the main path, I steadied myself, knowing that rushing would draw attention to myself. After what felt like an agonizingly long time, I finally made it out. I threw the dirty garb off of myself and sighed.
"Very good," Bool said, a smile on his insectoid face.
"Thank you, Master," I said with a smile of my own.
"Does it make sense now why you couldn't use the Force?" he asked me.
"No."
"You needed to think differently," he said. "The Force would have been a crutch here. You need to learn to think without it. If you can think without it, you can adapt it in much more creative, complex, and useful ways."
"I guess," I said. "I just don't know how often I'll be using those types of things."
"Oh, more than you think, young one. Trust me. I've been doing this long before you were even a twinkle in your mother's eye."
"That's a really strange saying."
Bool laughed. "My own father used to say that to me."
"You knew your parents?" I asked.
He nodded. "For a short time. I was a decade old when I was found by the Jedi. Almost didn't make it in. Grand Master Sorsee saw that I was strong in the Force, and made an exception." He looked at me and said "Either way, you are the only family I have now."
"Me too," I said with a smile.
"Come on," he said. "You need to work on stalking prey in a swamp."
I groaned, and Bool laughed.