Nuru Kungurama landed his ship in an area specially reserved for the Jedi Order. Nuru said goodbye to Breaker and to the other clone troopers and led Marasha to a glider that would take her to the heart of the Jedi Order. The closer she got to the temple, the calmer her heart became. There had always been a certain tension in the air aboard the Vagaari ships, as they had to be prepared for any eventuality as the fleet entered or exited hyperspace. Here, however, time seemed to have no meaning. Or so it seemed to Marasha as she and Nuru walked past the masked temple guards into the interior of the temple complex. Jedi walked past them at a measured pace. Apparently non-Force-sensitive people who provided technical or other services were much busier. Just like the slaves at home, while the Vagaari demonstrated their sovereignty with the same superior calm as the Jedi here.
"Why do young Jedi have pigtails?" Marasha asked.
"These are the Jedi who have been appointed padawans and are trained to become knights by a master. Everyone else has normal hairstyles," Nuru explained.
"But you're not a knight yet," she wondered.
"But I'm no one's padawan anymore either. At some point I will take my exams to become a knight - maybe after the war, when things have calmed down."
They walked through the halls and the peace and serenity unfolded around them in full force. She was overwhelmed by the feeling of so many other Force sensitives around her. No wonder she had sensed such power aboard the Outbound Flight Project ... would she have to create such a wave with other Jedi at some point? They came to a turbolift that took them up. The elevator opened and they walked down a short hallway that took them to the council chamber.
Marasha's heart pounded as she and Nuru entered. In the circular hall, sitting among the other council members present, was the small, green man whom she already knew from the holo-transmission. Only now did she see how small Master Yoda really was. He was much smaller than her, even smaller than the Geroons she had seen so far. She smiled inwardly at the thought of a Geroon as Grand Master of the Jedi Order. Sitting next to Yoda was a man with skin a little darker than her own who looked very stern. She also saw two other people, one with also dark skin, horns and similar but much thinner tattoos than the assassin who had chased her the day before, a tall woman with head tails just like Kuvuta Pindi had.
However, the lekkus of this Jedi were striped blue and white and ended in two majestic horns of the same color on her red head. Her eyes, however, were purple like Marasha's.
"To see you back and in nature, young Nuru – happy I'm! Introduce your companion to me - you would like?" Yoda began.
"This is Marasha. She was a singer at the court of Noggox and is the only survivor of the massacre."
"What weapons did the warrior who carried out this massacre use?" the human, dark brown Jedi asked her.
"It was a large halberd," she answered the question. "It had two blades and was about five feet long."
"And the Hutt left him the weapon during the audience?"
"The warrior gave it to the majordomo before entering the audience hall, before having his hands tied," reported Marasha. "It was unusual for a visitor to be brought before Noggox tied up, but the way he looked, it seemed only appropriate to me."
"How did he get his weapon back?" the brown man continued to ask.
"At that time I was already outside the throne room, but through the crack in the still-open door I saw the blade suddenly fly through the air. And at the same time I heard the chains around his wrists snap. And to do that, I'm sure he used the Jedi Force. It was like a wave that spread out from him in all directions."
The Jedi asked Marasha a few more questions and her answers seemed to satisfy him. "Thank you very much, Marasha." He looked at Master Yoda, and he touched his chin. "Hmmm, anyone like you before, Marasha – never seen I've. What species from – you do come?"
"Forgive me, Master Yoda, but I'm not allowed to say that. There are probably only a few of my species left and I have to protect them and myself as we have enemies that are out to kill us."
"Marasha, how old are you?" the brown human asked in a tone that suggested reproach.
"I'm seventeen."
Yoda stood and pulled a syringe from the pocket of his small robe. Marasha held out her arm and the Grandmaster took her blood. He handed the syringe to the person next to him, who fed the new contents into a device. One pointer swung and reached a value of about two-thirds of the entire scale.
"Hmmm, strong in the Force – you are, young Marasha. Great courage, shown on Affa - you have. Someone like you – of use for us is. The question is – wanting that – you do?"
"Very much," she replied.
"With all due respect, Master Yoda, but she is almost twice as old as Skywalker was back then!" mocked the tall person as he put the measuring device away. "And she refuses to tell us, the Jedi, the name of her species. That's suspicious!"
"Suspicious – a strong word that is, Master Windu," Yoda said soothingly. "Forgotten – you have that the name and planet of my species - secret I also keep. Who we are, asking others to reveal, what not ourselves revealing - we are? Noble of young Marasha it is - to protect her people. No guile in her - I sense. A Jedi – from now on – she shall be!"
Master Windu strained his eyes out the window for a moment, then looked at the new arrival. "Well then, you've been given a chance, Marasha. Use it!"
She bowed slightly and placed her hand on her heart. "Thank you, Master Windu." She slightly changed the angle of her bow, "and Master Yoda."
Nuru went with her to the quartermaster to have her assigned a room.
"It's all alone for me?" she asked in disbelief as she looked at her room.
"What did you think?" Nuru asked back.
"At our house I shared a room with Por… with my younger sister. And the two youngest slept in the parents' room."
"Must be comfortable," Nuru said. "But I guess if you had grown up you would have had your own room."
She laughed. "Only when I get married. And then we'll sleep together again until the children come."
Nuru looked at the floor embarrassed. "Well, you don't have to worry about the latter now."
"Why not?"
"Because Jedi don't establish families. They serve the Order alone."
Her eyes widened. "No one ever told me about that."
He looked at her in surprise. "You didn't know that?"
"I had talked to a few people about the Jedi before. But no one mentioned anything about it."
"Because the family and relationship ban for Jedi is actually common knowledge. I hope you don't regret it?," he asked and she could feel his concern at his words.
"No, no," she reassured him. "Who should I start families with when I'm probably the last of my people anyway?"
"Tomorrow Master Fisto will be here again and he will lead the training group of the younglings," Nuru announced. "This is a good start for you and then you get the rest of the training plan for newbies like you."
"I'll be there," she promised.
"See you tomorrow then," said young Chiss, briefly touching her hand in farewell.
The next morning, Marasha put on the Jedi garb that had been prepared for her. It was beige and she thought it suited her well.
When she came to the training hall after breakfast in the cantina, three young people were already there - a green, scaled girl with large black eyes and a humanoid with many white head tentacles and a human.
"Hi, I'm Ganodi!" introduced the green-scaled girl, who must have been the age at which Marasha lost her home.
"And I am Marasha."
"What species are you from?" Ganodi asked.
"Um, I can't say that to protect my people."
"What happened?" asked the girl with the white head tentacles.
"It's a long story. My people have been destroyed..."
Meanwhile, other young people arrived. The door opened and Master Fisto entered the room.
"Good morning, younglings!" said the Nautolan friendly. "We are now taking the basic position!"
The youths lined up and Marasha followed suit. Actually, it was the same as before a lesson began on school ship No. 5.
"And now let's run out to the exercise course!"
The group of perhaps fifty young people ran in front of the temple to a training area where some sports equipment and storm tracks were set up. Marasha estimated that the storm tracks were about two meters high and difficult for small people without Force knowledge to climb.
"Stop!" called Master Fisto.
Immediately all the youths stood as one.
"Now everyone over there!" the Nautolan continued to command.
All the youths jumped over the high wall. Although Marasha could not yet specifically use the Force like other youths, she did have enough jumping power in her strong legs to catapult herself high and gain hold on the top of the wall. The next exercise was to throw egg balls at specific targets. And here Marasha excelled with particular accuracy. Between the exercises, Master Fisto repeatedly interspersed running exercises, which were interrupted by military commands, which were immediately followed by all padawans, apart from a few who reacted too late, which did not include the young Vagaari.
"And now in a block of four!" Kit Fisto commanded and all the young people lined up in a square.
"Assume battle formation!"
The front row, in which Marasha was running, knelt to give the others freedom to enable a field of fire.
"Very good," Kit Fisto said in Marasha's direction. "And now … relaxation meditation!"
All the youths sat cross-legged to meditate. And that was the first time that day that Marasha didn't really know what to do other than imitate the sitting position of the other young men.
"Stand up! Done!" Kit Fisto said after ten minutes had passed.
Now, as she stood up, Marasha saw that Master Windu was standing at the edge of the training grounds, watching them. Kit Fisto went to him.
"Our new addition is doing really well," the Nautolan said to the human, then waved Marasha over to them.
"That was really impressive for a start," Master Windu told her.
"As if she had always been here," Fisto agreed. "Marasha, where did you learn all this?"
"That's what we learned at school," she replied innocently. "Every morning half an hour before class started."
"It's a shame there aren't more young, powerful people like you," said Kit Fisto regretfully. "Your mysterious species would indeed be an asset to the Order."
Mace Windu looked down at her. "Well, your debut was very remarkable indeed, Marasha. But we Jedi strike just the right balance between fighting and peace. And if you practice meditation a little more, you will understand why. Good luck with that too!"
Mace Windu left the training grounds and Marasha looked at the Nautolan.
"I have asked the Council for permission to make you my new padawan. Do you want that too, Marasha?"
Her purple eyes shone. "Yes, very much, Master Fisto!"
"If you don't mind, I would like to add Nuru to some of the exercises," Fisto came to his next request. "You know he has already lost his second master and it would be a shame to neglect his training. Technically a Master is only allowed to have one Padawan, but in these times of war it is difficult to maintain that standard."
"No problem," she replied, tilting her head. "Have you actually caught Dool Pundar?" Marasha asked her new master.
The Nautolan smiled. "And how! He was observed peeling himself out of his escape pod on Fondor. It took about an hour before we were able to arrest him and take him away."
"Where is he now?"
The Nautolan briefly considered what she meant with this question. Then he decided that it would show up. "For now he is in custody here, but in a specially secured cell where he cannot escape."
Her expression showed concern. "Here on Coruscant?"
"You're not afraid that he'll do something to you, are you? Coruscant's maximum security prison is completely escape-proof. Even a Hutt is stuck here without being able to escape yet."
"Which Hutt?" Marasha asked interestedly.
"Ziro. He ran a nightclub here on Coruscant and wanted to have a senator murdered there."
Her left mouth smiled. "I even know him. I would also think of another reason to arrest him, given the way he behaved towards me on Affa."
Fisto laughed. "You're definitely not the only one. Ziro has a bit of a reputation, even for a Hutt."
She knew that if she, as a newly minted Jedi, attempted to meet with a pirate in custody, it would be difficult and subject her to extreme suspicion. She couldn't think of a solution as to who she could hire for this task. She didn't know the people here enough to trust any of them in such a delicate matter. Still, every now and then the thought crossed her mind that Bearsh had left a message for her with the Neimoidian and was waiting for a sign from her.
When Marasha came to the training room the next day, Nuru was the first person she saw there.
"Good morning," she greeted the Chiss.
Nuru stared at her and Marasha grinned. She had used the late evening hours of yesterday to cut off her long braids of foreign hair - except for one at the nape of her neck - her padawan braid; and she had even shortened it to chest height so that she would not have any disadvantages in possible fights later. But Nuru couldn't see this braid from his position.
"Was it hard for you to cut off your long braids?" Nuru asked and Marasha wondered if he was asking to show sympathy or because he might have liked her previous hairstyle better.
"It wasn't my own hair anyway," she replied, pulling out her Padawan braid from behind. "Even this one isn't, but what are the padawans of hairless species supposed to do here?"
"This," a girl chimed in from the side, showing off the pearl necklace she wore between her two lekkus instead of a braid of hair.
Marasha studied the other padawan. She had two blue and white striped lekkus, but instead of sticking out like Twi'leks, they went straight down her head – like those of the Jedi she had seen in the Council chamber. At the top they ended in two pointed horns. The girl had an orange complexion with white tattoos and bright blue eyes.
Marasha held out her hand. "May I?"
The Padawan smiled. "Naturally."
Marasha fingered the beads on the necklace. They were normal pearls, the kind you would find at markets. And they ran behind the horns at the top of the head, to be attached to one of them. "Very nice," said Marasha. "And I thought that was a part of you where the color fits so well."
The orange girl laughed. "Other people thought so too." Her tone became mocking. "Especially those who didn't immediately recognize me as a Jedi because I'm still so young. But I'm so rude, you must be new here in the temple not knowing this stuff. I am Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker's padawan."
"And my name is Marasha."
"Just Marasha?" Ahsoka wondered.
The Vagaari nodded.
Ahsoka's comlink buzzed. "It was nice meeting you, Marasha. Unfortunately I have to go now; My master needs me. She already turned around. See you."
At that moment, Marasha realized that Ahsoka actually had three lekkus. She turned to Nuru. "What species is she?" she asked, fiddling with her Padawan braid.
"Ahsoka is a Togruta. And once you become a knight, you will give up this braid again."
"So I'm going back to the origins," she mused. "I used to only walk around with short hair anyway. Our hair only grows to neck length at most."
His red eyes studied her. "The short hair emphasizes your facial profile very nicely, Marasha."
"Thank you," she replied, smiling flirtatiously.
Gunji, a young Wookiee, came in to bleat something. Other young people followed him and then Master Cin Drallig, a dark-blond man, appeared who was supposed to go through the forms of lightsaber combat with them today.
༺༻
The next day Marasha went to the room where the youths were learning meditation. Most of the children in that room were much younger than her and that made Marasha a little embarrassed.
"Why are you so old already?" asked a little Twi'lek girl unabashedly. "Have you been demoted?"
"Surely she has to serve some punishment here," a small human boy chimed in.
Marasha didn't answer. She had come here to meditate, not to explain herself or take insults from kids like these. So she ignored the other children and sat cross-legged at the back, just like she had seen on the training ground the day before. That worked.
The children left her alone and Marasha looked relaxed at the green border that spanned the whitewashed walls of the room at a height of about two meters.
The teacher entered the room, a very tall Quermian with a long neck and red eyes.
"It's nice to have you here, young Jedi." He looked at Marasha. "So you're Marasha, the new addition. I am Master Yarael Poof." He looked back at the group of his pupils. "You must now completely empty yourselves of all thoughts and feelings."
Marasha tried. At first her thoughts flew in this direction and then in that direction, then she became very tired.
"Don't fall asleep!" Yarael Poof warned her with a raised finger.
Marasha raised her eyes and looked through him. Yarael Poof twisted the left corner of his mouth into a hint of a smile. "Other teachers would see this as disrespect, but for a meditation exercise, looking through someone is a really good start."
The young Vagaari ignored these words too and tried... no, she didn't try, just let go.
Just at the moment when she thought she could now drift into deeper spheres of herself, the door opened behind her. She instinctively turned around - and felt Yarael Poof's disapproving stare on her neck. So this already works.
"Don't let it bother you, Mashi," Ahsoka greeted her and sat down cross-legged next to her.
From ahead, Marasha heard two children whispering something about detention - and smiled at the Togruta before diving back into her meditation - at least she tried to, but now that there was another older Jedi in the room, her heart was so happy that contemplative self-knowledge was no longer possible.
After class, Marasha went to the temple cantina for lunch with Ahsoka. As they sat down with their trays, Marasha's gaze rested on Ahsoka's hip, where her lightsaber sat.
"I wish I already had a real lightsaber, just like you. Not just some yellow training blade."
"I will soon have two of them," the Togruta declared proudly. "In two weeks I will fly with some of the young people to the cave of Ilum to look for new crystals there. I guess if you continue to set this pace in your training, you'll be in next year."
"Will you lead this trip too?" Marasha wanted to know.
Ahsoka cradled her montral-crowned head. "Who can know at a time like this."
༺༻
Marasha had been in the Jedi Temple for half a year now. She had finally made up for so much of the schooling she had been deprived of on Jedha. Her Training with the Force also progressed well.
She had just finished the meditation class, in which Ahsoka Tano was taking part again this time, when she took courage and asked the Togruta: "Say, this is the third time you've been here when I'm here too; Is it actually true what the young people say, that you often have to serve punishment here because you have done something wrong?"
Ahsoka frowned. "That's correct. My master sometimes sends me here because I rush forward on missions too eagerly, but today is different."
Marasha was all ears. "So an award?"
Ahsoka laughed. "I don't think you can get a course like that as an award unless it's from Master Yoda himself. No, today I'm here because of you."
Marasha's eyes widened. "Because of me?"
"I had a mission on Lola Sayu a week ago, which means I invited myself on this mission."
"Something like that works? What did your master and the others say?"
"Well, let's say I convinced everyone there." Her tone went from confident to sad. "I saw Master Even Piell die there. Before he died, he gave me important information for the Council that he had collected about the Separatists in the citadel." She reached into her bag. "And this."
Marasha stared at the lightsaber hilt. "Master Piell was quite short, wasn't he?"
Ahsoka grinned. "I see you get my point. He told me it would be a shame to leave it in the lava in front of Lola Sayu's citadel. He asked me to give it to the one who deserves it and to whom it might suit."
Marasha held out her hand. "And that's where I come in, I guess."
"It's my decision," Ahsoka said solemnly. "And hereby I give it to you."
The young Vagaari turned dark red. "Thanks. I guess I need extra training sessions for that now. Does Master Fisto already know about it?"
The padawan, who was a year younger, narrowed her eyes mischievously. "You can tell him."
"Well…" Marasha hesitated, "…what about the next trip to Ilum? I think Master Fisto will want me to get a crystal there..."
"The trip to Ilum cannot take place this year," Ahsoka informed her. "Too many other missions. And I won't be able to do that anymore. That's why you're lucky to get an out-of-order lightsaber now. Jedi must also be able to fight with other people's lightsabers. Just imagine if Obi-Wan Kenobi hadn't had the lightsaber of his slain Jedi sister Adi Gallia on Florrum. The two Zabraks would have easily cashed it in."
Marasha nodded. "I heard about the matter," she said quietly. "I'm really lucky that I was able to escape Savage Opress on Affa."
Ahsoka twisted her mouth. "I hate to say it, but sometimes even for Jedi the only option is to run or die." She handed Marasha the lightsaber hilt into her outstretched hand. "And you can take your time telling Master Fisto. At least until I teach you how to do it."
Marasha's eyes shone. "You have time for this?"
Ahsoka smiled widely. "Master Skywalker is busy elsewhere today… all day long. And that's how long I have to show you everything that makes a training lightsaber different from this one."
"Thank you, Ahsoka. I am honored."
Ahsoka turned to leave and motioned to follow her. "Honor Master Piell's memory by using it and using it well."
It took Marasha about a week before she could safely fight with Even Piell's green lightsaber. Only then did she gather the courage and speak to her master about her new weapon. This was done by coming to training with two blades attached to her waist belt.
"You want to fight with two training lightsabers today?" the Nautolan asked in surprise, then his eyes fell on the new lightsaber hilt. "Where did you get Master Even Piell's lightsaber from?"
"Ahsoka gave it to me after Even Piell gave it to her before he died on Lola Sayu," Marasha said in a solemn voice, then smiled. "I trained with it for a week before I got the nerve to bring it with me today."
Kit Fisto touched her shoulder. "Marasha, you don't need to be afraid and hide anything from me. I forgive you for this because you may not know any different and you did not grow up in the Jedi Temple. But fear is a poor companion and an even worse advisor; so please come straight to me next time something serious like this happens, okay?"
"I will, Master."
The Nautolan smiled. "Then let's forget about this secrecy now and show me what Ahsoka taught you."
She tugged sheepishly at her belt. "You knew I trained with her for this?"
Kit Fisto nodded knowingly. "Come on, let's get started!"
༺༻
A week later
Master Fisto summoned Marasha to the cartographic room of the Jedi Temple early in the morning. Anakin Skywalker stood next to him and his Togruta padawan Ahsoka Tano stood next to the tall human.
"Hello Marasha," Kit Fisto greeted her. "The four of us will leave for the planet Berchest tomorrow. There is the city of Calius saj Leeloo, which was carved from a single crystal. There was a big earthquake there a year and a half ago."
"Calius saj Leeloo is one of the twenty wonders of the galaxy," Marasha said what she knew from lessons in the temple.
"Right," Kit Fisto confirmed. "We have information that Nute Gunray is there to damage the giant crystal and transport the carved pieces away en masse. The people of Berchest have turned to the Jedi for help in putting an end to the crystal theft."
"A Neimoidian. It's going to be a tough nut to crack," said Marasha.
Skywalker laughed. "I'm sorry, what? This is the most cowardly species that exists in the galaxy. And the most cowardly of all is Nute Gunray, their viceroy. If it was just the Neimoidian, then I would have sent Ahsoka off alone. You've already dealt with him, haven't you Snips?"
"Unfortunately, this coward always has many battle droids around him to escort him," Ahsoka said to Marasha.
"If he is so cowardly, how could he rise so high?" Marasha wondered.
"He's very sneaky. And he's in cahoots with Lord Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith, who no one knows except with his hood down," Anakin explained mysteriously. "Well, maybe Dooku, his aprentice, still knows him."
"How do you know Dooku is the apprentice?" Ahsoka asked aggressively.
Anakin Skywalker smiled enigmatically. "You know, on my homeworld of Tatooine there is a saying that says: A wise Hutt always sends someone else to lure the Sarlacc out of its pit."
"Maybe Dooku's master is a Hutt," Marasha said.
Anakin furrowed his brows. "If Sidious were a Hutt, I would smell his stench all the way here, but Hutts are about as Force sensitive as droids." He waved his hand dismissively. "So we don't have to worry about Jabba the Hutt plotting sinister plots against the Republic on Tatooine."
Kit Fisto laughed, flashing his white teeth. "When we get to Berchest, we can ask Nute Gunray who it is."
Marasha's purple eyes glittered. "If we interrogate him properly, he'll definitely come clean."
Anakin waved his hand dismissively. "If you only knew everything we've tried. But Gunray only knows what Sidious reveals on his own initiative."
"Maybe he knows what happened to Siv Kav."
"Who is that?" asked Kit Fisto.
Marasha hesitated to answer. Had she just revealed something she should have kept to herself? "A Neimoidian who was once sent into the Unknown Regions with a fleet of droids, but never returned."
"How do you know about this?"
"Noggox knew him. He told me about it," Marasha blatantly lied to the model Jedi, imagining how Noggox had really told her that.
To her satisfaction, Skywalker swallowed the lie. Apparently humans found it more difficult to read non-humans than their fellow species. Or maybe she was that good.
"No wonder one scoundrel knows another," Skywalker said with a derogatory upper lip.
༺༻
The planet Berchest was not only worth a visit at dusk. At that time of evening, however, the Leefari Sea shimmered particularly red and the equally red sun bathed the city of Calius Sai Leeloo in a shimmer of the same color, which made the diverse buildings of the city carved from a single crystal shine with many highlights and rainbows.
The left side of the city was flanked by smaller buildings, as was common with expanding cities. To the right of the city center, however, there was an unmistakable circular plasma shield that protected the droids and workers of the Trade Federation so that they could continue their crystal heist undisturbed.
As Anakin, Ahsoka, Kit Fisto, Nuru and Marasha got out of the cruiser, they were greeted by a Gotal with two horns on its head.
"I am Governor Sajoo," he introduced himself. "It's nice that you Jedi came."
A few onlookers had already gathered around the red and white painted Jedi cruiser, in addition to humans there were also some yellow Bimms, Gotals and a few green Rodians who inhabited this planet together.
Some children had made flower necklaces to put around the Jedi's necks. Marasha, the smallest of the Jedi, received most of the colorful chains due to her small size. Although she knew that the Jedi were generally well-off in the galaxy, the friendly reception still made her a little embarrassed, as she had previously felt a completely different wind when the Vagaari had visited a planet.
"Thanks," she replied, blinking awkwardly.
"Let's go then," said Skywalker and they started moving.
The clone troopers, led by Commander Rex, first fanned out to position themselves near the shield while the Jedi took action.
A box, like the one the invaders used to transport their treasure, was prepared with an open bottom in such a way that Marasha could squeeze under it and thus pass under the plasma shield in peace and quiet. Meanwhile, Rex and Breaker launched a diversionary maneuver at the edge of the shield, keeping most of the battle droids from guarding the shield generator. Kit Fisto gave Marasha instructions via comlink on when to move and where, and after about twenty minutes the young Vagaari had reached the shield generator. She slowly and carefully lifted the crate and placed the round explosives against the dark metal of the generator, then waited for Kit Fisto to tell her she could retreat. A few times she had to wait with the box because battle droids crossed her path, but once they passed, they were no longer aware of them and she was able to crawl back further.
Her master's presence became stronger and stronger until she felt that he was next to her. The box above her was lifted and Marasha looked into Ahsoka's big blue eyes.
"Good job, Marasha," the Togruta said with a smile as she lifted the box away from the smaller girl and set it aside.
"And because you did it so well, you can now press the button," said Master Fisto, who was standing on Marasha's other side, and handed her the detonator.
Marasha looked at the round can with the red button in the middle. Then she pressed it. There was a muffled bang that grew louder as the plasma shield collapsed.
"Rex, Breaker - attack!" Skywalker commanded.
"Gunray is somewhere under the shield or nearby. By now he'll be running around like a frightened chicken!" the human Jedi sneered.
"We're already searching the area for fleeing Neimoidians," Rex reported from his Delta-7B Aethersprite.
"We Jedi are splitting up," Kit Fisto announced. "I, Master Skywalker and Ahsoka will engage the enemies from our ETA-2 Actis Fighters. You and Nuru will stay in the ship and with the remaining crew, search and fire the area we will assign to you."
"Of course, Master Fisto," Nuru said and Marasha nodded.
The hunters mounted and spread out in a circle around the area that was no longer protected by the shield. Soon, under the concentrated fire of the Jedi and the cruiser, the resistance was dissipated and the droids ran in specific directions with the Jedi and clone troopers following them.
"Over there!" Anakin called out to Ahsoka on his speakerphone from his Actis fighter.
"You're right," Ahsoka called back as she also saw the Neimoidian trying to escape down there, flanked by several dark gray super battle droids.
"If Nute Gunray is supposed to be so important, why is he walking around here by the battlefield instead of sitting up in his control ship?" Anakin wondered.
Ahsoka's mouth twisted mockingly. "Maybe he's into crystals and can't get his hands off them down there."
"Well, are you bored?" Nuru asked Marasha from inside the ship.
"That's just how it is in war," the person addressed replied. "Everyone has their job to do and sometimes that just means standing by. Besides, our own cannons are too inaccurate to take out the super battle droids at this range without hitting the Viceroy."
Nuru smiled. "You recognized that well."
The Young Chiss looked outside at his Jedi brothers and one sister, agile and skilled enough in their ETA-2 Actis fighters to do the impossible.
Skywalker and Fisto covered the droids on the ground with scattered fire from above and since the yellow fellows marched quite close together, the Jedi caught quite a few of them until someone on the enemy side realized the mistake and the formation was spread out further. Surface-to-air missiles rose to strike the Jedi in their fighters flying in wild zigzag patterns across the plateau; However, Ahsoka, who was flying behind them, gave her Jedi brothers the necessary cover and deflected the missiles into space as they approached.
"Now they have him," Nuru said, anticipating the end of the mission.
Nuru's comlink buzzed and he picked up the link to speak to Master Fisto.
"Time to abandon ship," the Chiss said to the Vagaari. "You go join the others while I prepare the field elsewhere."
Nute Gunray was only twenty meters away from his ship. The pockets of his robe were full of crystals picked up from the floor of Berchest. He figured the Jedi wouldn't kill him. It's a good thing that the droids inside his ship thought along and opened the access hatch precisely to enable him to escape quickly. The door closed behind him, as soon as the Neimoidian with the characteristic high miter on his head had entered his shuttle when he saw the battle droids that had provided the ship's crew lying neatly divided on the floor.
He rushed into the cockpit to see a young Jedi there, the drawn lightsaber blade activated in front of his also light blue face, making his red eyes shine even more than they already did. No doubt the light blue Jedi wouldn't let him get to the shuttle's control panel.
The access hatch opened behind him again and Skywalker, Fisto and Ahsoka and Marasha entered. "The sector is secured," they heard Rex calling from behind.
"Thanks Rex," Skywalker said. "Then we can now deal with our familiar enemy. So Viceroy: What are you doing with the crystals?"
"I won't tell you!" Gunray snapped. "Soon I will be free again, but you will die!"
"Nananana, no one is dying here for now," replied Kit Fisto.
"At most, someone will suffer!" Skywalker announced in a meaningful voice. "Someone who absolutely doesn't want to unpack!"
"Anakin, if you don't mind, I would like to show my padawan how to interrogate prisoners," the Nautolan asked the human.
Anakin grinned. "What then, Master Fisto? Are you afraid I might hurt him too much?"
"I think Marasha should first learn the standard procedure before moving on to the finer points of interrogation techniques," the green man said.
"I know the standard interrogation procedure," Marasha replied, her purple eyes glittering. "My mother used to often interrogate people in our house. I was there."
Startled, Kit Fisto took a step back. "You never told me that."
She smiled with her left mouth. "Nobody asked me about it either."
Anakin smiled back. "Honestly, I'd love to see how your padawan does."
"Yes! Give it to him, Mashi!" Ahsoka trilled. "Show us what you're made of!"
"First of all, I need handcuffs and ankle cuffs," Marasha said to Anakin.
He grinned. "That's what I call a good start."
"Here you go," Ahsoka said, willingly holding out two pairs of bondage tools to Marasha.
Marasha scanned the space of the shuttle. Various weapons were attached to a wall. A number of these weapons hung from a crossbar placed at a height of almost five feet; the second weapon rail below was almost half a meter above the ground. Marasha took the weapons down from there and threw them in a pile nearby where they would be out of reach of the prisoner.
"Come on, over there!" Marasha commanded, pointing the hilt of her unactivated lightsaber in the direction of the now weaponless wall.
Once there, she first tied Gunray's arms to the upper rail and then his feet to the lower one. Because she was so small and the Neimoidian was so tall, Nute Gunray could no longer stand up straight in this position.
"He should at least be able to stand up straight," objected Kit Fisto.
"Exactly not, because the more uncomfortable it is for him, the faster he will unpack," his padawan explained to him.
"Where she's right, she's right," Ahsoka agreed. "This isn't going to be a spa treatment after all!"
Marasha laughed. "No, not at all."
The young Vagaari reached into her pocket and took out a lighter in order to demonstratively test it, let some flames escape from it and then put it back into her pocket. Then, with a lightning-quick movement, she pulled a short stiletto from her belt and held it in front of one of Gunray's red eyes. The abrupt change of instruments did not fail to have an effect. Gunray's nictitating membranes twitched and he instinctively turned his head aside.
"On your knees!" the padawan ordered.
With a clumsy falling motion, the Neimoidian obeyed. Marasha smiled to herself. Skywalker had been right. This Neimoidian was truly a cowardly example of his species.
She could clearly smell his fear of her, the much smaller Jedi. What a shame that Dool Pundar, in his own bravery, had to suffer so badly from the reputation of his fellow species. But now Nute Gunray was captured - and he would suffer.
Her brown, forceful hand grabbed hold and turned the viceroy's chin toward her. Then the stiletto slowly approached his jagged, slack-looking mouth. Nute Gunray clenched his teeth to keep from shaking, but out of the corner of her eye, Marasha saw that his hands were doing so. The stiletto reached his mouth to let one edge of the triangular knife cut into his bottom lip. A drop of green blood gushed out. The man who had been so mistreated opened his red eyes and fixed his tormentor's padawan braid.
"You're a Jedi, little one!" he blurted out in his nasal accent. "You're not allowed to do that!"
Marasha tore the tall miter from his head with her free hand, exposing his bald green skull, and carelessly threw it to the ground. Then she slashed his bald head with the hilt of her lightsaber with full force.
"And you are not allowed to speak until you are asked to do so!" she shouted at the prisoners.
How good it felt to talk to Nute Gunray like that. In the same way, her father should have tortured Car'das in the throne room before killing him, without caring about the battle droids or the Chiss base.
The Miskara had already known why he had been avoiding the blue people so far. Until greed won and swept away all concerns.
She slowly moved the flat side of her knife along Gunray's lower lip. As expected, the mouth opened slightly to allow room for the knife. Marasha waited a few seconds, then turned the knife thirty degrees and another cut, equally surprising to Nute Gunray, made another notch in Gunray's lower lip. The Viceroy yelped.
In the background she heard Anakin whispering to Kit Fisto, but no one interrupted the procedure. She withdrew the knife from his mouth.
"You may speak now. What are you doing with the crystals?" Marasha asked quietly, accentuating every word.
Nute Gunray's mouth trembled but couldn't utter a word. The knife approached his mouth again, went in. The Neimoidian opened his lips obediently. The knife drove a little further into the green maw.
"Well, if you don't want to talk anyway, then this shouldn't be of much use either," she said coldly and touched something soft with the tip of the steel blade, which she strongly assumed was his tongue. Gunray's head tipped back, a gurgle erupted from his throat - and Marasha withdrew the knife.
"You can gargle, but can you also talk?" she asked.
He stared at his torturer, then his gaze turned inward. She wondered if he was just calculating whether and how long it would take for the cuts in his lips to heal. With Bacta and the necessary suturing technology, everything would be back on track after two weeks if the Neimoidians healed as quickly as Vagaari.
"You obviously can't," she said and gave him a resounding slap in the face, which left welts on his left cheek.
She heard Ahsoka giggling quietly in the background, earning a reprimand from Master Fisto. Skywalker, however, said nothing about it.
"Well," said Marasha in a more conciliatory tone, "then maybe this will help you."
She reached into her bag again and calmly lit her lighter. Then she held the blade of the stiletto over the flame until it blackened. Marasha slowly approached Gunray's neck with the lighter under her blade. In the background she heard Ahsoka panting heavily. Apparently the Togruta no longer felt like giggling as the torture continued.
The heated tip had just reached the Neimoidian's larynx when Nute Gunray let out a shrill scream. In a panic, he threw his head back, only to bang it painfully against the hard wall. Marasha waited until he regained control of his head, then moved the heated blade to his larynx again.
"We need the crystals for synthetic lightsabers," the tortured man shrieked.
Marasha took a step back from him, the lighter and the blade stained with green blood and black soot still in her hands. "Now the rest of the story, if that's okay."
"The crystals are being taken to Dorvalla. There is a factory where the crystals are heated and compressed until they are ready to be used in lightsabers."
"Where exactly is this factory located?" Marasha asked in a threatening tone.
Nute Gunray gave her the coordinates. Marasha glanced at her master and the Nautolan dug out a pen and a small notepad to jot down this important information.
"I hope for your sake that everything is okay," Marasha said to the tortured man.
"But why do you need so many lightsabers?" Anakin wondered. "We Jedi don't need synthetic crystals. And there are only ever two Sith."
"Perhaps the Sith break their swords so often that they need a constant supply of crystals," Ahsoka suggested.
"No, there's something bigger going on," Kit Fisto said. "Perhaps the Sith are planning an army of adepts - with many people of the caliber of an Asajj Ventress."
"One Asajj Ventress was enough for me, but just as many of them are scary!" said Ahsoka.
"Dooku's former assassin is already out of the woods," Anakin said. "And I don't think Dooku will have clones made of her now after her failure over Sullust."
"I think we should not regale our prisoner with these stories," Marasha burst into the conjecture, "but rather put him in a cell where he can think."
"Your Padawan is right, Master Fisto," Anakin agreed. "We've been hanging around here for far too long anyway."
Marasha freed Nute Gunray from his bonds. First she loosened his handcuffs, only to immediately put them on his back without being attached to the wall. She handed the shackles back to Ahsoka, who seemed relieved that the questioning was over.
To the ovations of the local population, clone troopers and Jedi returned to the cruiser with the valuable prisoner. Marasha enjoyed the demonstrations of loyalty. She had done what she had learned at home. And she had been praised for it. She couldn't have wished for a better end to the day.
When the Jedi cruiser took off from Berchest, it was already deep night on the side of the planet where the capital, Calius Saj Leeloo, lay. The red Leefari Sea had turned black and lights glowed from the houses of the city to send a dull glow into the night.
"Well, then the next mission has been decided," said Anakin to Kit Fisto. "And your Padawan did well."
"Well, I really didn't expect that," said the Nautolan in a rather neutral tone.
"Were all of your women able to interrogate prisoners so effectively," Ahsoka asked the Vagaari.
"Many do," Marasha replied. "We also took turns doing it, so many women learned how to do it. You can't take it every day."
Ahsoka wrinkled her nose. "I'm beginning to understand why your mysterious people had such stubborn enemies."
Marasha turned away from her to look through the window of the cruiser as it ascended into Berchest's orbit at the moon of the planet called Terhaari, its light making the salty sands of the Leefari Sea coast glitter silver. She didn't immediately notice that Nuru stood next to her to look at her thoughtfully.
༺༻
Two days later, Marasha accompanied Ahsoka and her master to the Senate building.
"Anakin is meeting with Chancellor Palpatine again today. It's rather boring here," Ahsoka explained to the other padawan. "They usually talk for quite a long time. But afterwards we'll take a little stroll through the city before we prepare the mission for Dorvalla."
"You've got company now too, so don't complain, Snips," Anakin said, giving his padawan a pat on the neck. They walked through the entrance hall of the Senate building, whose many columns made the creatures that walked past them seem small and insignificant. The group of three entered the building itself and Anakin headed unerringly for the wing in which the Chancellor of the Republic had his rooms. The antechamber was empty when they entered, but Anakin braced himself because he seemed to sense something. So the padawans turned toward the door.
A human entered the antechamber of the Chancellor's office — not just any human — and Marasha froze. She had seen this man before - back on board the flagship of the lost Vagaari fleet - above the transparent rescue orb with the traitor inside. The person who entered had the same fair skin, the same green eyes - and now without the protective helmet he had at the time, Marasha could also see a half-bald head bordered by a fringe of brown hair.
"Skywalker. What brings you here with the… padawans?" the green-eyed man asked with a searching look at Ahsoka before he stopped at Marasha.
Now Marasha recognized the voice. She looked as uninvolved as possible back at Anakin, who had finally brought her here.
"I have an appointment with the Chancellor," the Jedi replied. "And since I'm doing something with the two Padawans later, I took them with me so they could get a taste of the Senate atmosphere."
"If you don't mind, I'll tell him you're already here," the other human offered.
"That's very kind, but Palpatine doesn't keep me waiting long anyway," Skywalker replied.
The human indicated a bow to say goodbye appropriately. "Well then, have a pleasant stay in the Senate, Master Skywalker... Padawans."
"Who is that?" Marasha asked Anakin after his species mate had left the anteroom towards the Chancellor's office.
"This is Kinman Doriana, one of the Supreme Chancellor's closest aides," the Jedi replied, proud of his knowledge.
Her hand inadvertently slid to the diamond-shaped Vagaari comlink that she wore around her neck as an apparent piece of jewelry that day without a mission. This was something that Bearsh would be interested in, passionately interested in.
༺༻
"What is it, Doriana?" Palpatine asked his almost friend with raised eyebrows.
The Naboo in question knew that his long-time employer knew him well enough to suspect that he would't personally bother the Chancellor in such an unplanned manner over unimportant matters. So he started.
"Anakin Skywalker is here. With him he has Ahsoka and another padawan who belongs to a species that is completely atypical for the order."
The Chancellor smiled. "Toydarian or Hutt?"
Doriana folded his hands under his chest. "The Jedi is a specimen of a species that our mutual friend, the then Commander Thrawn, believed to have wiped out six years ago."
Palpatine's expression indicated full interest, but also that the Chancellor still didn't quite understand.
"That was in connection with the extinction of Outbound Flight Project," Doriana continued. "The Jedi is a member of the nomadic predatory Vagaari species!"
Palpatine rubbed his hands together. "Now I remember. How young is this child?"
Doriana considered. "Maybe seventeen, eighteen. We didn't speak to each other."
"That wasn't necessary," Palpatine said with devious kindness. "This is truly a gift to the Jedi Order! I think it would be good to introduce her to a special friend who can take care of her without the Jedi becoming suspicious or even able to do anything about it. And since you already know him, you can be the messenger."
"It's an honor, Chancellor!", Kinman Doriana reciproked, placing his hand over his heart and bowing - considerably deeper than he had done to Skywalker only moments before.
Author's note: Ganodi and the other younglings are known from TCW, Season 5, Episode 6 (The Gathering).
The planet Berchest appears at the very beginning of the third part of the Thrawn trilogy "The Last Command" by Timothy Zahn (1993). I find the crystal city of Calius Saj Leeloo far too beautiful to let it disappear into obscurity in the EU after this trilogy of novels.