Jedi's Digest/story

The sound of fading footsteps echoed in her ears. The bounty hunter was fleeing, taking the youngling with him. Could she catch him? Would she be able? As she emerged into the hallway, she heard a clicking noise, and turned to see a bright flash. She deflected the blaster bolt, along with several other, but Cad Bane ran away again. She chased him outside to the landing platform, and strained to catch up. Bane ran into his ship, and she went to follow. When she got in, she heard a click, and turned to see what it was. Bane was holding a large, odd-looking gun in his hand. “You really thought you could catch me, couldn’t you, Jedi? I should have killed you years ago, when I had the chance.” “What are you talking about?” replied Master Page. “Say goodnight, Gungan.” With that, he pulled the trigger. Master Roo-Roo lifted her lightsaber to block it, but it went right past her blade. With a flash, her world faded, into the shadows.

It felt as though she had been sleeping for hours, no, days when she finally awoke. Her Padawan learner, Vectee Onuu, a little Twi’Lek kid, about ten years old, was fast asleep on a chair in the darkened room. She tried to speak to him, to ask him what was going on, but her words came out in a mumbled whisper. She searched her mind for any recollection of previous events, but all she recalled was a scream, an Iktotchi youngling being carried off by a Duros bounty hunter, a bounty hunter that seemed, strangely, vaguely familiar, and him shooting her. He must have thrown her off the ship before he took off. She tried to go back further, and all she knew before that was her name and the name of her Padawan, and the name of the youngling, and the name of the bounty hunter. Suddenly, a harsh light blinked on, and her Padawan gave a start and awoke as a medical droid rolled into the room.

“How are you feeling, Master Jedi?” asked the droid, whose Aurebesh nameplate read 2V-443. More mumbling came from her mouth, and then she realized why. She had an oxygen mask on. The droid removed it, apologizing. “Terribly sorry, Master Page, I had forgotten your mask. Now then, how are you feeling?” “I can’t remember much.” She replied “Those are the drugs. They will wear off in time. Now, does anything hurt?” “Tell me, doctor” the Gungan in the hospital bed said weakly. “Have you ever been to Naboo?” “No, ma’am I haven’t, but I hear it’s beautiful.” “Yes, it is. But, what I’m getting at, my people, the Gungans, play a traditional game called nuna ball. A nuna is a small, flightless bird that inflates itself like a ball when it is agitated. Gungans then kick it around like a ball, hence the name. Can you imagine what that poor little nuna feels like? “Ouch” “Now you’re getting it. I feel a little worse than that.” “Well, no wonder. You got hit with a plasma stun-pulse. You’re lucky you awoke today.” “Speaking of which, how long was I out?” “About three days or so.” “I suppose there’s no hope of capturing Cad Bane now?” Her Padawan spoke up just then. “Why would we want to capture him when he’s in prison?” “You wouldn’t have anything to do with that, would you, little Vectee?” The little Twi’Lek kicked at the ground and looked a little sheepish “Not much, Master. Only chasing him down, tackling him, and holding him at blade-point like the hero I am until Captain Oneera could come and take him away like the hero he is. Other than that, it was all the troops’ doing.” Roo-Roo Page looked at the med droid and said “He’s so humble, isn’t he”. The droid’s digital voice crackled a bit, as though she were laughing, and then said, “Isn’t he though?” The little boy said “Yeah, isn’t I though?”, and they all giggled, but Roo-Roo winced. “You’d better take it easy, Master. I wouldn’t want to tell Master Leia that you’re too infirm to chase down them Killiks” “Who? What? And who was that Captain Oneera you mentioned earlier?” “You know, Master, the Killiks. Big bugs. Ugly. Talk like this” he said, and then went off into clicking and chirping noises. “And you know who Captain Oneera is. He’s the funny guy who always gives me candy when we go… oops. I wasn’t supposed to tell you that much. But you know, your captain! And Leia… the Grand Master of the Jedi Order after Master Hamner died?” “Well, I’ll have to thank the good captain for helping me with your insatiable sweet tooth, as soon as I remember who he is.” she said dryly. The droid piped up “Pardon me, but could I have a word with you, Youngling? Outside?” “I’m no youngling, I’m a Jedi!” he said, then took out his lightsaber and swung it around a bit, but it hit one of the droid’s instruments, spilling chemicals all over the floor, and then caught her in the face, knicking one of her photoreceptors and her vocoder. “Vectee! How many times have I told you not to use your lightsaber unless someone tells you!” Roo-Roo was startled at the strength of her own voice and so, apparently, was Vectee. He sniffled a bit, and then ran out of the room, crying and saying “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to!” “Vectee. Vectee! Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do with that boy. Are you okay, Doctor? Should I call a doctor for you?” A viewscreen popped out of the droid, and the words appeared “I am fine. You need to lie quiet for a while. I will talk to Vectee, as soon as I get a new photoreceptor and vocoder” The droid then spun on her wheel and rolled out… or at least, tried to, but she slammed into the wall. The viewscreen popped back up and said “Perhaps I could use a little assistance” The Gungan got up and hobbled over to the droid, and lead her out of the room to the droid repair bay.

Later, with Roo-Roo Page back in her room, 2V-443 went looking for Vectee, and found him sniffling in a corner, mumbling the words “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to”. She knew she could not cheer him up, so she went to the animal therapy bay and took a trained therapy hawkbat out of its cage, and told him where to find Vectee. The hawkbat soared around the corner, landing right in front of Vectee, who looked up blankly, with a tear-stained face, and then screamed and leaped back when he saw the hawkbat standing in front of him. “Get him away from me, get him away from me. Help!!!!!!!” he screamed, cowering away from the creature, but the creature seemed more afraid of him screaming. It fell on its rump, wide-eyed, and squawked. Vectee cocked his head, and the bird did likewise. Just then, about thirty medical droids rounded the corner. The one in front stopped short, which caused a major pile up. The pile slid toward Vectee and the hawkbat, backing them up against the wall and stopping inches from crushing them. The hawkbat attached a strange device to its collar, and then words came out of it. “Cleanup, aisle thirteen. We’re stuck between a wall and a droid place. This is Fluffy von Hoogowitz reporting for channel seven news. Major pile up on Recovery Road. Best to avoid that section of town until cleanup crews can assess and clear the damage. Detour through Therapy Lane.” “AAAAHH!” screamed Vectee. “AAAAHH!” screamed Fluffy. “You can talk?!?!” asked a very bewildered Vectee. “Of course not. That’s just my translator. SQUAWK!!!!! Sorry about that. Sometimes I just gotta let it go with a SQUAWK!!!!!!!!!” “Uuuuuhhh… right. I’ll let you do just that. Now I gotta get out of here.” Vectee said. He then used the force to move the droids off of them, and then he ran away, to his master’s room, the hawkbat trailing behind. “Wait! We just met! SQUAWK!!!!!! Sorry about that. Sometime I just gotta…” Vectee didn’t hear the rest. All he heard were the voices of several doctor droids, and when he rounded the corner, he knew why. His master was in a coma.

“NOOOOO!!!!!” screamed Vectee. “Keep your voice down, child. What are you doing in here?” said a doctor droid, not 2V-443. “That’s my master! I’m her Padawan!” Vectee said. “I’m sorry. Only family members are allowed to be in here. Take him away”. Said the same droid. Two droids went forward to get Vectee, and they took him by the arms, but not before he saw his master’s face. “Good grief, look at the boy. He’s pale blue”. Said another droid. “I’m always that color” Vectee said. “Always that pale?” the droid asked. Vectee looked in the mirror, and shook his head. “Take him to a child care facility and see that he gets hydrated” the droid instructed. “No, not until you tell me what happened to my master!” Vectee snapped back. “I’m sorry” the droid said, before closing the door. Vectee felt a sharp pain in his arm, went limp, and let the droids carry him off…

“SQUAWK!!!!!!!!!!!! Wakey, wakey. The sun is shinin’ this morning!!! Time for little boys to wake up.” Vectee slowly opened his eyes, then closed them again. “SQUAWK!!!! Rise and shine, little tailhead.” “Go away, you birdbrain”. Vectee mumbled back. “Birdbrain? This SQUAWK!!!!!! From the boy whose brain is outside his skull? Really.” “How’d you get in here, anyways? The door is locked.” “Same way I always SQUAWK!!!! Get into any other room. Through the vents.” “Think I could fit?” Vectee asked, eyeing the grille in the wall. “Oh, surely, surely SQUAWK!!!!!!!” “Could you show me how to get into my master’s room through those?” “I SQUAWK!!! Don’t know… You’re not supposed to be in the vents.” “And you are?” “Point taken. Well, get your little keester up there, kid SQUAWK!!!!!!! Say, what SQUAWK!!!!! Is your name, anyway?” “Vectee, And quit doing that.” “Doing what SQUAWK!!!!!!!!!?” “Yes, that” “Yes, SQUAWK what?” “Stop squawking, already.” “I can’t help it. I do it every time I talk SQUAWK!!!!!” “The don’t talk” “SQUAWK! Ok.”

A few minutes later, Vectee was looking through the grille in the ceiling of his master’s room, Fluffy mumbling and quietly squawking to himself. “Give me that scalpel. I’ll make the incision myself” “Did you hear that, Fluffy? They’re gonna cut on my master! I can’t let them do that!” Vectee whispered. “And just squawk!!! What do you intend to do?” whispered the hawkbat. “I don’t know, I’ll think of…” The rest was cut short by a sudden crack. The grate gave way, and he tumbled into the room. Several startled heads popped up from over their patient. Vectee cowered as the droids rolled over to him. One threw him out and then slammed the door. A grating sound came from above his head, and when he looked up, something dark slammed into his head. When he pulled it off, he found it was a grate, and there was Fluffy, sitting, big as you please, right on Vectee’s stomach. “Just what do you think you’re doing, Fluffy?!” Vectee asked. “SQUAWK!!! Just telling you that I don’t think those are normal medical droids. They wouldn’t have thrown you like that. Their purpose is to heal, not to harm. I think those are Killiks in disguise as droids SQUAWK!!!!!!!” the bird responded. “hmmm… good point. I think we’d better listen to hear what they’re doing.” The Twi’Lek said. “Good SQUAWK!!!! Idea”. Vectee Onuu and Fluffy von Hoogowitz listened carefully at the door, trying to find out just what was going on in that room. “Hand me that scalpel, again. I see the artery. As soon as it’s cut, she’ll go into respiratory arrest. Then, whoopsie, the droids goofed up and couldn’t save her in time. Now, for the incision.” Came a voice from inside the room, but it sounded… strange. Not like a med droid. Like a Killik speaking Basic When Vectee heard this, he knew he had to do something. He took out his purple lightsaber, and said “I know I wasn’t told to use this, but I think I better.” And he cut through the door. When the Killiks heard and saw the blade, they looked at each other, puzzled. When Vectee stepped through, the leader said “We aren’t afraid of younglings” “I’m no youngling.” Vectee said, and then he sliced through the first two droids. “I’m a Jedi” The next few minutes were a blur to Vectee, but when he woke up a couple minutes later, he saw his master was alive, and the seven droids were in pieces. When he heard a muffled SQUAWK!!!!!!!!, he jerked his head up, and saw Fluffy running around with a large bottle on his head. Vectee lifted it off with the force, and Fluffy said “Thanks. That bottle was very SQUAWK!!!!! Unbecoming of me.” “No problem, Fluffy. Friends do that for pest- I mean, friends.” ‘I should SQUAWK!!!! Say so.” “Hey. Is this a private party, or can anyone crash?” a feminine voice asked. They looked up to see Mrs. Princess Senator Jedi Grand Master Leia Amidala Skywalker Organa Solo standing in the door. Vectee stood up and bowed a greeting, and Leia asked “How’s Roo-Roo doing? You know, my father saved her when she was just an infant from the very same bounty hunter that took that Iktotchi baby, Horororib. He also took a Rodian and a Nautolan baby.” “Speak of the devil” another voice said. They looked up to see a Nautolan come in, holding a baby Iktotchi in his arms. “Master Zinn Toa, meet Padawan Vectee Onuu.” Master Leia said. “Pleased to meet you, Master Toa.” Said Vectee. “Likewise, I’m sure.” Replied Zinn Toa. “Hello, everybody!” said yet another voice. “Wee Dunn! Well, this is a day for re-making old acquaintances” said a weak voice from the bed. Everyone walked over to see how the newly re-awakened Roo-Roo was doing. “How are you?” Leia asked. “They didn’t rough you up too much, did they?” asked Master Toa. “Is hospital food as bad as I’ve heard?” Master Dunn asked. “Did the Killiks do anything to you?” piped up Vectee Onuu. “Killiks? Here? When? How?” asked Leia. “Oh, boy, do I have a story for you!” said Vectee. “I’ll SQUAWK!!!! Say” said Fluffy. When he said that, four Jedi Masters, taken aback, gaped at the bird. Just then, 2V-443 rolled in, new photoreceptor and vocoder installed “This is Fluffy von Hoogowitz. He’s a therapy bird here. His translator lets him talk. We hide it from him, but he always seems to find it… oh well.” sighed the droid. “Anyways, it was all Fluffy’s doing, really. All I did was slice the Killiks to bits. He’s the one who knew they were Killiks.” Said Vectee. “He’s so humble, isn’t he” said Wee Dunn. “That he is.” chuckled Zinn Toa. “That I is, Master Toa. That I is.” “SQUAWK!!!!!!!”