Force Exile III: Liberator/Part 5

10
Sarth Kraen awoke from a deep dreamless sleep to find their common sleeping room still lit in the muted fashion that they preferred for their unconscious hours. Some twitch of his subconscious had roused him from his rest, and he looked blearily around the room in an attempt to determine its cause. Rubbing his hand across his eyes, he noticed that the other four were still sleeping, except for Cassi. Glancing at her bed, he saw that while the blankets were still askance from where she had been sleeping, she was no longer there.

Having made that observation, he rose from his bed, glancing at his chrono as he did so. It was approximately three hours before they usually arose. Sliding his bare feet into his boots, Sarth eased his way quietly across the room, wondering where Cassi was. The privacy screens in the refresher were all open, and she was not anywhere to be seen inside there, eliminating his first guess as to where she was. Then, Sarth stretched out with his newly acquired sixth sense, the arcane energy field known as the Force, searching for Cassi. It was not hard to find her presence; to Sarth’s senses, she shone like a luminescent being. Sarth noted that she was downstairs, so he padded out of their sleeping room towards where his senses indicated she was. Concentrating a little more, he detected that she wasn’t scared or threatened, just focused and anxious. Wandering through the stone-carved, frescoed passages and down the curved stairs of one of the tower’s numerous shafts, he made his way to a small chamber tucked away in a side corridor.

Peeking inside, Sarth saw Cassi seated with her back to him at a sizable stone desk lit by her glowrod, with small pieces of metal and machinery scattered in front of her, along with a set of tools, some of which Sarth recognized as being from his utility belt. She looked intent and focused, still wearing her nightrobe, but utterly focused on what she was doing. Sarth stepped into her alcove to examine what she was working on. He noticed that some of the components she was working on were from the Hawk-bat. His eyes ran over them, identifying each piece in turn as power cells, emitter matrices, power conduits, lens assemblies, recharge sockets and other items that she had raided from the freighter’s supply of spare parts. At the moment, Cassi was focusing on trying to persuade a spare ship’s datapad to release its recharger port. She was focused on applying the bit of her multitool to pry the recharger port out of its housing, and Sarth could sense her exertion through the Force. Quietly, he walked up and sat down next to her, saying nothing as she continued to work at the prying loose the stubborn recharger port. However, it ultimately resisted all her efforts to detach it, and she stared at the datapad and its open back panel in frustration, rubbing her hand from where she had been gripping the multitool.
 * “Love, what are you doing?” he asked, reaching out to take her sore hand to gently massage it.
 * “Ooh, that feels good, Sarth,” she said, not answering the question at first.

Sarth didn’t pursue the matter, instead focusing his efforts on smooth, soft palm that he held in his hands. He sensed her apply the Force to the tender appendage, focusing the Force into somehow persuading her nociceptors to relax and calming her nerves while causing her cells to regenerate from any microscopic damage or strain they had sustained. It was an area of the Force that Sarth did not understand well, having only learned a basic technique for briefly shunting aside discomfort or pain. It was simply something she was good at doing.
 * “Thanks, I’m fine now,” she said.
 * “Okay. What were you doing?” he asked.
 * “Oh, just working on something. Jolee got me thinking about this the last time we were training with the lightsabers.”
 * “What’s that?”

She turned to look at him for the first time, and Sarth couldn’t help but notice how beautiful her blue eyes were to him.
 * “We’re all going to need lightsabers, right? To become Jedi?”
 * “Us becoming Jedi is something that is a long way off, according to Selu. We have much training to do.”
 * “Maybe so. But it doesn’t hurt to at least have some things ready.”
 * “Like what?”
 * “I’ve been working on collecting the necessary parts that Mical said went into a lightsaber. Most of them are already here, but I can’t just seem to get these recharge ports out of the datapads. I’ve already broken one.”
 * “Can I see?”
 * “Sure.”

Cassi passed him the partially disassembled datapad, much of its rear paneling and several internal segments removed. Sarth fiddled with it for a bit, focusing his own mental senses on examining the datapad’s construction. While Cassi had a gift for healing and a natural empathy with others, Sarth’s talents in the Force were more in the area of understanding mechanical and electrical constructions. On one occasion, he had even been able to override the programming of the astromech T3-M4. In many ways, Sarth’s and Cassi’s strengths in the Force were natural extensions of the talents that they had grown up developing, but allowing them to gain a more instinctual, indescribable aptitude in their disciplines. However, while Cassi had always been one of the better traveled members of the Hawk-bat’s crew, she had never displayed such an affinity for healing or empathy on the level that she now did. Sarth, while a talented engineer, had never been able to decipher complex puzzles so easily or innately understand the reason for the failure of a piece of equipment to function as it should. The prophecy that Revan told them they were a part of was coming true, and Sarth theorized that, just as he and Cassi were transformed into a better thinker and healer respectively by gaining access to the Force, the others were affected in similar ways.
 * “Here it is. This lever has to be held down, or else this latch tries to keep the recharger port in place. I suspect the designer did this intentionally to prevent the port from jostling while still allowing access for repairs.”

Sarth held down the switch and pushed on one end of the recharger port with his other hand. The port popped out of the place, only a few wires holding it in place. After clipping and crimping the wires with the multitool, Sarth had the recharger port free.
 * “I believe you wanted this,” he said gallantly.
 * “Thank you, Sarth,” she beamed.
 * “How many more of these do you have?”
 * “I figured I’d get six of them out. That way we would have spares if we need them.”
 * “Would you like me to get the rest of them out for you?”
 * “I’d love for you do that.”
 * “Sure thing.”

Sarth sat there, intent on the datapads, as he deftly laid bare the inner workings of each component to retrieve the recharger ports from their housings. His natural skill and years of experience with machinery made the work appear effortless, though Cassi could attest that it had taken her considerably longer to accomplish similar tasks. In less than a standard hour, Sarth had laid all the ports on the desk in front of her.
 * “Is there anything else?” he asked with a smile.
 * “No, that’s it,” she said, yawning. “But I’m awfully tired.”
 * “It is fairly early,” he said.
 * “Want to walk me back up to the sleeping room?”
 * “My pleasure.”

Putting her arm around him, Cassi walked dozily back through the passages and up the stairs with Sarth to the sleeping area. Though she only stood perhaps four centimeters below him, Sarth noted how much smaller she seemed compared to him, or at least more delicate.
 * “What woke you up?” she asked.
 * “I don’t know. Something just clicked in my mind, telling me that I was needed.”
 * “Maybe it was because of how close we are.”
 * “That is intriguing. That means our minds move at the same pace, on the same frequency. In a sense, we’re attuned to each other.”
 * “Attuned to each other? I kind of like the sound of that. Are there any other benefits to this?”
 * “Well, by all reason, you should be able to really get an idea of what I feel when I say ‘I love you,’” Sarth said, turning to regard her seriously. “And Cassi, I deeply love you.”
 * “Mmm, you’re right,” she said, feeling the warmth in his statement like a soft, fleecy blanket wrapped around her. “I love you too.”

He kissed her briefly, as they entered the room, before she released him to walk back towards her bed. As Cassi did likewise, Sarth slipped off his boots and rolled back into his bed. He fell asleep quickly, dreaming of Cassi’s face and her bright blue eyes as he stroked her soft skin with one hand.

The morning found all of the Hawk-bat crew assembled out in front of the tower, having been called there by Selu. They stood around, unsure of the purpose for the meeting and the breaking of their typical routine. Finally, Revan’s spirit, as well as the Force ghosts of the other ten Jedi that inhabited the tower, appeared to them.
 * “I come to you with tidings,” said Revan. “I have asked Selusda to call all of you here for a purpose.”
 * “Your training here is nearly at an end,” Srynassa said.
 * “Now, only one thing remains,” said Bastila, stifling any protests with a subtle wave of her hand.
 * “You are all now at the point where you are ready to construct a lightsaber,” said Revan. “A lightsaber is a weapon and a tool, a symbol of your training and commitment.”
 * “Be slow to draw it,” said Srynassa. “Not all situations require force. Urgency without panic, action without thoughtlessness.”
 * “I know that it might seem that you are not yet prepared for this rite at your current level of training, but in need, plans must be altered,” said Bastila.
 * “You have each been given the instruction on how to construct your lightsaber,” said the apparition of Bao-Dur, the technically minded Zabrak. “It will serve you well, but make each weapon your own.”
 * “In ordinary times, lightsabers require weeks to construct, but each of you must complete yours in three days,” said Revan.
 * “There is need for urgency,” said Bastila. “The forces of darkness have not been idle while you have trained and grown here. The pieces are moving that will soon dictate the fate of many.”
 * “We have no time to waste,” said Srynassa. “You will be led to chambers that have been prepared for you. T3-M4 has already moved components for your lightsabers to each room, and you all have crystals with which to focus the blade.”
 * “May the Force be with you,” said Revan.

Sarth and Milya looked as if they wished to speak, but a look from Selu forestalled any speech. Silently, they followed the apparitions who had guided and trained them in separate directions. Selu followed Revan, Bastila, and Srynassa to one chamber, while Sarth followed Bao-Dur and Mira, Cassi was accompanied by Jolee and Mical, Spectre was led by Juhani and Atton Rand, and Brianna and Visas escorted Milya out. In their private rooms, completely isolated from everything but themselves, the lightsaber parts, and the Force, each crewmember of the Hawk-bat was free to fully focus on their lightsaber. They did not mark the passage of time, nor seek food or drink. There was nothing else in the universe. No distractions were present, and nothing interrupted their worlds, and it seemed like they were living and moving in a dreamworld.

Every piece was laid out before them, and, one by one, they connected them together. In a meditative state, they all assembled their weapons, aspects of their personalities being undeniably present in the construction. Each component was bathed in the Force by the maker as it was slid into place. Each motion was carefully controlled and guided with the utmost precision. As the lightsabers came together, they were bathed in the Force to strengthen molecular bonds and bind the parts to one another to create the truly super-efficient conducting loop of energy that gave the lightsaber its distinctive blade. Melded together, the internal components that comprised their lightsabers fused to one another, and the creators felt that a part of them was joined to the weapon also. Last of all, the focusing crystals that imbued each weapon and gave the blade its individual color were inserted into the hilt and similarly bonded together with layers of Force energy. As the final component slid into place, each crewmember completed the final wave of subatomic transformations in a climactic rush of the Force. Its currents soared through all of them as they had never experienced, even Selu, who had previously built two sabers.

They had been in the Force trance that apprentices lowered themselves into to create the weapon for three days, but while inside it, time was irrelevant. The vibrant power of the Force filled them to the brink of their being and overflowed until they focused it into the effort of constructing the lightsaber. At long last, they were finished. Each member instinctively knew when the weapon was finished and a silvery hilt lay in front of them, though they could not fully remember the process of building it. Even Selu, Sarth, and Spectre, gifted with high memory retention rates, or Milya, talented in the areas of sight and vision, could not describe to another what being in the trance was like, only that it was beyond anything they had experienced previously. The experience had blurred together, just as time had blurred, until the three days were a nondescript haze, but still a memorable event. As they finished their weapons, they assembled in the Room of the Crystal Heart, the place where the Force had first been revealed them, except for Selu. Most of them had finished within twenty minutes of each other, but Selu was taking a considerably longer time to complete his lightsaber. So they the rest of the crew had waited quietly for him. Words were insufficient to describe the construction of the lightsabers, and they gave up at all attempts at explanation after the first hour. By late in the third day, Selu finally emerged and walked into the room.
 * “Welcome back, Jedi brat,” said Spectre. “Took you long enough.”
 * “Thanks, Spectre,” said Selu, carefully concealing the rankling that accompanied the off the cuff remark.
 * “Let’s try them out,” said Cassi.

Each member of the Hawk-bat’s crew detached the cylindrical handles from their belts and activated them in turn. Selu was first, his new lightsaber still the same brilliant green color that had characterized his first blade, but with a new focusing crystal stored into it. Revan had passed on an ancient crystal of great renown that had been imbued with the light side of the Force, the solari crystal, to Selu, warning him that such a blade could not be used by a dark side user. Selu had accepted the gem readily, telling Revan that he no longer wanted to be able to use a lightsaber if he was not walking in the light. Additionally, his new weapon had a smoother and more complex hilt, with intricate tracery inlaid into the hilt and a lower-powered training mode built into it. The blade lit up the room, and Selu also drew his shorter-bladed shoto, so that two emerald-colored beams of light were present.

The next person to activate his blade was Spectre, and his blade flared golden in the dimly lit chamber. His lightsaber, larger and built with durability in mind, was powered through a sigil crystal, a brownish-yellow jewel that Juhani had informed Spectre would make the lightsaber blade even more effective at cutting through objects by raising the temperature at the points contact. The blade, while slightly larger and longer than the one favored by Selu, was still mobile and Spectre worked it through an infinity loop, the blade humming gently through the motion.

As Spectre finished with his flourish, Sarth’s blade lit up with a snap-hiss as a blue blade shimmered into existence. The blade had been built with a ruusan crystal given to him by Bao-Dur. Ruusan crystals were a relic of millennia earlier, having functioned as meditative aids for Jedi Masters. Bao-Dur had explained that when used in a lightsaber, the calming and focusing effect exhibited by the gemstone could still be felt, and as he held the blade, Sarth knew that the Zabrak had spoken correctly. Even though he was far from a master at any form of combat, he felt at ease holding the lightsaber.

Not far behind him was Cassi’s blade, the same blue color as Sarth’s. While their focusing crystals were different minerals, the secondary crystals that gave the blades their sheen had been painstakingly cut from the same stone, and their blades matched each other just as their owners did. Set in series with the blue gem, Cassi had been given a jenruax crystal that gave her blade more agility in its motion. The ancient Jedi Jolee Bindo and Mical had informed her that such crystals were often helpful in defending one from blaster bolts, as the blade could whip around to deflect the deadly blasts with increased dexterity.

Finally, Milya pulled her weapon from inside her robe, and both Selu and Spectre watched her intently, wondering which crystal she had chosen to power her lightsaber. To their surprise, her weapon’s hilt was longer than they had expected it to be. She gravely lit the weapon, and blades of coherent light flared from both ends of the hilt. While difficult and unorthodox, Milya had constructed a double-bladed lightsaber, and its blades were neither white nor silver, but somewhere in between. She had chosen to place both the diamond from Spectre and Selu’s durindfire jewel into her blade as the secondary crystals, while a pair of ultima-pearls mined from the depths of some watery world focused the beam from the energy cells. While their combined length gave her lightsaber more of a staff-like appearance, Selu noted that each of her blades were shorter than the ones emitted by the others’ weapons. The six blades hummed gently as they were borne by each of their makers. Acting on impulse, Selu reached out and crossed his blades together in front of him. One by one, the others followed suit, their lightsabers joining his in a crackle of light until the many colors of the blades crossed each in a radiant nexus of light. A smile broke across each of their faces as they realized the milestone they had just passed in their study of the Force.
 * “Well, shall we try them out?” asked Selu.
 * “Sounds good,” said Spectre.

When they had been taught how to build their blades, Selu had instructed them on how to create a lower-powered setting that would reduce the lightsaber’s intensity to cause a numbing sting or a minor burn when one was struck with the weapon instead of cleaving through flesh. While separate weapons had been utilized by the Jedi Order, Selu and Sarth had hit upon a way to bypass the main focusing gem of the saber while reducing the output of the power cell to a fraction of its usual strength. As they anticipated needing to train further with the weapons without fear of injury, each individual had incorporated the feature into their weapons.
 * “Okay, what are the teams?” asked Milya. “We haven’t had more than three combatants at a time before.”
 * “True,” said Sarth. “We didn’t have enough lightsabers.”
 * “Simple,” said Selu. “Everyone against me.”
 * “If you insist,” said Cassi. “Isn’t that a little unfair? I mean, Spectre and Milya together have beaten you before, and now you want two more against you.”
 * “It’s fine,” said Selu. “Just remember your forms and make sure you’re set to the training setting.”

Making his actions follow his words, Selu switched both his weapons over to their less powerful setting and assumed the double-bladed guard of Ataru, with his shorter blade held horizontally in front of his torso while his long blade was held back behind his torso angled forward and down. The others slowly squared off, gradually encircled him, the stances of their weapons reflecting the different forms that each of them had learned. While there hadn’t been nearly enough time to even master Form I combat, they had all seen the different forms demonstrated by the eleven spirits and chosen their own preferred method of combat.

In front of him, Sarth and Cassi approached him, blades at the ready. Sarth, with a fencing background from his schooling in Commenor, had relied upon Shii-Cho, the first form and which heavily incorporated moves based on ancient swordwork. Cassi’s stance was reminiscent of Niman, a versatile form that was typically practiced by diplomats. It was perhaps less intense and demanding than some of the others, but Selu recalled that a lightsaber instructor at the Jedi Temple, Cin Drallig, had easily defeated him years ago using Niman. Meanwhile, Milya and Spectre slowly flanked him. Selu knew that Spectre preferred to use a more aggressive, strength-intensive form of combat referred to as the fifth form. His former master Plo Koon, as well as Anakin Skywalker, had employed Form V to great effect, and Selu knew that Spectre’s muscled physique lent itself well to it. Milya, on the other hand, was something of a mystery. Selu had never fought against a double-bladed weapon before, and they were considered almost legendary. Given that she had grown up training with both single and double-bladed vibroblades, her choice of weapon made fairly good sense, but Selu did not have a clue as to her preferred style of combat. It would be like her to have been practicing one form all along just to have been secretly followed a different form to switch to after her lightsaber was built.

Rather than wait for the other four to encircle him, Selu lunged at Sarth and Cassi, striking with his blades as he whirled in between them and then leapt over a low strike from Sarth, turning it into a Force-assisted leap that landed him behind them. While they both had parried his strikes, Selu could tell that his explosion of movement had caught them off guard. His blades flashed and whirled in green ribbons of light as they intersected with the others’ weapons. Selu rolled inside an overhead chop by Spectre, bringing him inside the ARC’s guard. While a swing by Sarth forced him to scissor both his blades behind his back to block the strike, Spectre’s own swing blocked Cassi from stabbing him. Driving an elbow into Spectre’s chin, Selu bore him to the ground and flipped over him, smiling.

His friends, while they had learned well, were not used to fighting as a group. Just as quickly as he had jumped, Selu reversed the motion, flipping back through the air to land with both blades ready in front of Sarth and Cassi. As talented as they were in some areas of the Force, neither was well suited for lightsaber combat. Selu knew that he needed to press the attack quickly; Spectre would be up in another second and striking at his back. Selu batted Cassi’s saber away with a swing and was preparing to drive his shoto into her side when his danger sense prickled. Reacting instantly, he reversed his grip on the shoto just in time to block one of Milya’s strikes. Her twin blades hammered at him like a buzzsaw of light, and only by ducking under one blow and between Sarth and Cassi was he able to escape her. The onslaught had come almost as a surprise, and Selu realized that she would not be easy prey. It was time to cheat. As Sarth and Cassi whirled to again face him, Selu swung with his lightsaber in an impressive, almost grandiose arc that was lazily predictable to someone with Force-enhanced reflexes. As expected, Sarth brought his blade up to block the swing, but suddenly it wasn’t there. In a flash, Selu had deactivated his blade in mid-swing, causing Sarth to fumble with his own blade, caught off-balance. That left him open for a quick stab with the shoto that, if it had been a real battle, would have left him with a fatal abdominal wound. Instead, it merely left a pink welt on his stomach. Sarth yelped in surprise, then deactivated his weapon and returned to the side of the room, out of the fight. Selu felt Cassi’s surprise and had an opportunity to similarly take her out of the fight with his freshly relit saber, but didn’t. Were Spectre and Milya left to duel against him alone, he knew that their teamwork would give them an advantage, so he held back.

While Sarth was out of the duel, Selu soon found himself losing ground to a three-pronged assault from Spectre, Cassi, and Milya. Taking the central position, Milya occupied his attention with her whirling, spinning saberstaff, while Spectre and Cassi harried his flanks. Selu attempted to trick Spectre into accidentally striking at Milya, but the former ARC was wise to the trap and nearly scorched Selu’s arm for his trouble. After retreating a dozen more meters and exchanging several dozen more blows, Selu, sweat soaking his clothes, tried the same trick again, but this time on Cassi. His ruse was successful, and Milya’s relentless barrage of whirling blades was momentarily diverted to block Cassi’s inadvertent swing at her shoulder. Seizing the moment, Selu locked his lightsaber against Spectre’s, pinning it in place while scoring him across the throat with his shoto. Spectre relaxed and backed off, withdrawing his blade and running one hand across his now scorched neck. That left two against one. Both Milya and Cassi continued the assault, and Selu could tell they were as sweat-soaked as he was. The Force rippling from the power the combatants were summoning, Selu knew it was time to reduce the numbers and concentrated his limited offense on Cassi. All three of them knew what he was trying to do; it was up to Milya and Cassi to stop him. However, Selu was on fire, his bladework dazzling as it had never been. Releasing his doubt had helped his confidence and proficiency, and now he forced them back.

Diving in the middle of Milya and Cassi, Selu ducked a vicious horizontal swing of Milya’s staff and kicked her backwards with his left foot in a high side kick. His foot caught her in the stomach and drove her back, though she turned the fall into a Force-assisted somersault, guarding against a follow-up strike that never came. Instead, Selu drove at Cassi, twirling his blades. In seven strikes, he broke through her guard. Rather than use one of his blades, he threw his lightsaber back at Milya to stall her and whirled inside Cassi’s guard, his shoto holding her blade out wide. While pushing her back with his right hand, his right foot came forward in a reaping motion, taking her leg out from under her. As she fell, Selu spun and snatched her lightsaber from her hand. Nodding to acknowledge she was out of the fight, she crawled back to where Sarth and Spectre were quietly observing. That left Selu against Milya. She had easily batted his thrown lightsaber away, but Selu mentally called it back to his hand as he tossed Cassi’s lightsaber back to her over his shoulder. The green blades met silver-white again and again, and Selu was surprised to find that he could not penetrate her defenses, regardless of which combination of blows he used. Recognizing her tactic, Selu saw that Milya’s relentless defense was apparently a double-bladed version of Soresu, the most defensive form known to the Jedi Order. She appeared less winded than he did simply because she was exerting less effort than he was with each blow. Her twin blades were spinning an impenetrable defensive shield that would transform into a swift attack should he falter or tire. So Selu changed tactics, knowing that while he might eventually break through her guard, success was less than guaranteed. Masters of Soresu were nearly invincible unless the tables were turned to take them off balance.

Selu gathered the Force to himself, and Milya’s eyes widened as she sensed his concentration. Coolly, she increased the speed of her strikes, but it was not enough to forestall Selu. Unleashing a blast of telekinesis at Milya, he blew through the weak Force shield she had generated in an attempt to block his attack. She went flying backwards, and Selu lunged forward like a hungry predator. He was upon her before she even landed, and a pair of precise blows twisted the saberstaff out of her loosened grip and sent it spinning off across the room, the blades automatically deactivated. She landed hard on the ground and slid backward, disoriented by her flight and the blurs of light that had ripped her weapon from her hand. When she came to a stop, she could scarcely see from the green blade held before her throat. Selu stood there, an implacable figure wielding a sword of judgment, and she braced for the burning mark of pain that his blade would trace across her body. Then Selu’s expression softened and he deactivated both his blades, reaching down to help her up.
 * “Nice job,” he said simply.
 * “Thank you,” she replied.
 * “Selu, that was impressive,” said Sarth. “You were amazing.”
 * “How come you usually don’t fight that well?” asked Milya.
 * “A number of reasons,” said Selu, shrugging. “Mostly because I don’t have to.”
 * “Still, defeating four other combatants doesn’t sound easy,” said Cassi.
 * “It’s not as hard as you might think,” said Selu. “You all made it easier by not fighting as a team.”
 * “What?” said Sarth.
 * “He’s right,” said Spectre. “We were in each other’s way instead of working together.”
 * “You still looked brilliant,” said Milya. “But we need to work as a team.”
 * “That was the point behind the whole duel,” said Selu. “If we don’t work together, we won’t be nearly as effective.”

They all straightened up their robes and returned the lightsabers to their belts, for the first time since beginning construction of the weapons feeling their hunger and weariness. Just as they started to walk towards the hall that led to their room, a flash of blue light stopped them. As if on cue, the eleven Force spirits that had taught, trained, and guided them shimmered back into the visible realm.
 * “Well done,” said Revan. “You have constructed your weapons. Now the next phase of your journey begins.”
 * “Right now?” asked Cassi.
 * “Milya, stretch out your vision,” said the blind Miraluka Visas Marr who had guided her in training these past months. “What do you see?”

Milya closed her eyes and a frown worked its way across her face as she concentrated. She stood there quietly for several seconds, trying to use the Force to see across time and space, and then her eyes slowly opened.
 * “I’m not quite sure,” she said. “It’s so hard to concentrate.”
 * “Let go of your emotions. Feel, don’t think,” said Bastila.

In response, Milya tried again, taking a deep breath as she once again closed her eyes. This time, her eyes moved even as they were closed, and the others sensed the Force flowing through her. When she opened her eyes, they knew she had seen something.
 * “What did you see?” asked Spectre.
 * “I saw a ship,” said Milya. “It wasn’t very big, but it was Imperial.”
 * “All the way out here? Are you sure?” asked Sarth.

She nodded.
 * “I’m certain. It was looking for something.”
 * “Probably a scout,” said Spectre.
 * “If it finds us . . . ,” she said, trailing off as her tone filled with worry, “I saw a wave of darkness consume this valley.”
 * “How soon?” asked Spectre.
 * “Less than one standard hour before they arrive,” she said.
 * “Now, the time draws near for your departure,” said Revan. “You cannot linger here any longer, or the grim fate that Milya saw will indeed come to pass.”
 * “Before you leave, we have some last words of encouragement and guidance for you,” said Bastila.
 * “You have been well-trained in the Force and prepared for each of your callings,” said Srynassa calmly. “Trust each other, work together. The Force will be with you, binding you to your companions.”
 * “Even if this threat is stopped, you cannot return here,” said Revan. “For the arrival of this ship is merely the first stone in a coming storm of meteors. It is time to unite the Force exiles.”
 * “What do you mean?” asked Selu.
 * “There are other peoples who follow the ways of the Force besides the Jedi and Sith,” said Mical.
 * “And other groups of Jedi might still be alive,” said Bastila.
 * “There are three groups who soon will face extinction if you do not intervene,” said Visas Marr. “The Jal Shey, the Matukai, and the Zeison Sha. Selusda, you may have heard of them. They are independent, having never sworn allegiance to the Jedi or Sith, but the Empire will soon seek to destroy them. They have already destroyed another group.”
 * “Speed is of the essence,” said Revan. “For in losing an hour, a hundred Force-sensitives may die. Only by uniting them together under a common banner can they be saved. Selusda, this is your destiny and the destiny of your crew.”
 * “I see,” said Selu. “You have obviously foreseen this chain of events in great detail. What else can you tell me?”
 * “You have the means to succeed in this quest,” said Revan. “But you will face terrible obstacles and trials.”
 * “Even if you succeed in convincing all three groups to unite, there is one other choice you must make,” said Visas. “If you choose the ill-seeming path, you will aid in bringing down the darkness that is spreading across the galaxy, though you may not survive. However, if you decide on the path that your heart desires-,”
 * “Wait,” said Selu. “I desire to end the rule of the Sith on the galaxy. How are those different?”
 * “Do you really mean that?” asked Srynassa. “You need not reply, but your heart will tell you when the time is right.”
 * “Should you choose this other path,” Visas continued, her tone darkening. “You and all you have strived to create will be destroyed if any confrontation with the Sith occurs.”
 * “The future is in motion,” Selu countered, but his face was ashen.
 * “Be that as it may be,” said Bastila. “Should you doubt our wisdom, merely ask the seer among you. I warn you, though, that disregarding us will only hasten your downfall faster than almost anything else.”
 * “Lovely,” said Selu, aghast.
 * “Don’t let doubt get the better of you,” intoned the grizzled voice of Jolee Bindo. :“You have enough to worry about as it is.”
 * “No kidding,” said Milya.
 * “You would not have been brought here if you had no chance of succeeding,” said Mical. “You are gifted and strong, and while not trained like it was in the old days, those days are gone.”
 * “Training did not save the Jedi from the purge of the Sith,” said Bastila. “Not in my age, not in yours. It was the choices of individuals that have and will continue to alter the course of history.”
 * “She’s right; training is only useful if you’re preparing properly,” said Brianna.
 * “Remember that just as a lightsaber isn’t the only way to end a conflict, neither are the ways of the Jedi the only way to access the Force,” said Srynassa.
 * “This from a Jedi Master,” remarked Spectre dryly.
 * “Even Jedi Masters know that there’s often more than one way to approach a situation. Keep an open mind, all of you,” said Srynassa.
 * “I thought you were training us to be Jedi,” said Sarth. “To carry on the old legacy.”
 * “The old ways may never return,” said Bastila. “Better that you consider yourselves ambassadors of the Force, not as Jedi.”
 * “Let go of the labels,” offered Jolee. “While you may have been in trained in some of the Jedi ways, don’t let that ideal limit you from others who took a different path to the light.”
 * “The Force will be with all of you,” said Revan. “Go now, and leave with our blessing.”

With that, the spirits dematerialized into nothing, leaving the crew of the Hawk-bat standing there in shock. Finally, Selu broke them out of their stupor.
 * “You heard Revan,” he said. “We’ve got a job to do.”
 * “Right,” said Spectre. “Everyone get back up to the quarters and retrieve everything.”
 * “But what about the ship?” asked Cassi. “It’s going to take us a lot longer to get back to the Hawk-bat, even with the Force.”
 * “Let me worry about that,” said Selu. “Do what Spectre said; get everything you need from the rooms and prepare to leave.”

The others left, leaving Selu alone in the room. Closing his eyes, Selu gritted his teeth and focused on the Force, stretching his arms above his head. He deliberately ignored his own tiredness, his lack of food, and his own doubts. His senses left the tower and soared out to where the Hawk-bat was resting gently several kilometers away. He took a deep breath and then closed his eyes as he summoned the Force into an enormous telekinetic effort. A massive wave of energy rolled away from him to form a cushion around the Hawk-bat. Envisioning the freighter in his mind’s eye, he gently lifted the ship off the surface and began drawing it towards the concealed crater. The Force swirled around through his mind as he acted as a conduit for it, funneling it through his arms to act like a repulsorfield for the ship. Size matters not, he had been taught, but his arms and head ached with the effort required to bring the ship forward. However, he smiled slightly as the Hawk-bat floated through the invisible Force illusion concealing Revan’s tower and drifted down towards the crater floor. His senses detected NineSee’s programmed consternation as the ship inexplicably lowered itself without engine power. He saw the ship as clearly as if he was floating next to it, despite being insulated from it by a dozen meters of stone. Slowing its velocity further, he brought the ship down for a smooth landing on the floor of the crater in an open area and slowly relaxed from the colossal reservoir of Force energy he had been channeling.

Exhaling in relief, he headed up to the sleeping area at a quick jog. Despite the nagging misgivings that would always be there and the imminent threat of the Imperial ship, Selu was ready for it. Lifting the Hawk-bat and winning the duel had buoyed his confidence, despite Revan’s and Visas’s grave warnings about the future. Master Koon surely would have been proud of what he had done, and Selu exuded confidence in the midst of his urgency. The future would wait, at least for now, because he had to focus on the job at hand. They had an Imperial vessel to handle.

11
Doriana was just digging into his first bite of airy citros snow cake and savoring the combination of sweet and tangy flavors infused in the fluffy dessert when the alarm went off. Frowning in exasperation, he glared at the door, not wanting to leave the dessert, but knowing that was not the smartest course of action. Sparing the citros snow cake one last regretful glance, he ended up choosing duty over his stomach. It had been the perfect end to a meal composed of what appeared to be reconstituted chili dumplings, and the sweet lightness of the cake had helped counter the heaviness of the spicy breaded dumplings. He had been looking forward to sampling the cake since he overheard another crewmember talking about it, but now he was going to have to rush to the bridge without finishing it, more than likely to have the confection disappear courtesy of some cleaning droid. Well, there was nothing for it. Striding briskly down the largely deserted corridors with his robe flapping behind him, Doriana made his way to the bridge of the ship. The lighting was dimmed, as power was being diverted elsewhere, and Doriana wondered what in the name of the Emperor was going on, as well as if the alarm that continuously blared through the hallways could possibly be any more irritating. As he walked, his stomach reminded him that rapid motion so soon after eating was not the most prudent choice, but Doriana paid it no heed, hoping that the chili dumplings would not bother him later. Bursting through the doors into the dimly lit bridge, he made his over to the command console where Trip and a naval officer were standing beside a sensor display in hushed conversation
 * “What is the meaning of this, Commander?” demanded Doriana irritably.
 * “Isn’t it obvious, Advisor Doriana?” replied the grizzled Commander Hemfel, the nominal captain of the Griffin, with just a trace of impudence.

Hemfel had been in the navy for some time, the faint hint of salt-and-pepper hair visible behind his cap a testament to his age. Doriana knew little else about the man, other than the fact that he had experience with sizable vessels, reputedly bulk cruisers, during the war. His pale skin and gray eyes gave him a ghostly appearance in the faint blue glow of the sensor skin, a marked contrast to the taller and broader Trip’s dark hair, skin, and eyes.
 * “We’re under attack,” said Trip calmly.

As if to mark his words, the Imperial ship shuddered faintly as its shields were hit.
 * “Attack? That’s preposterous!” exclaimed Doriana. “We’re still in orbit about Cato Neimoidia. What fool would attack an armed Imperial ship this size when there are starfighters on the planet?”
 * “A foolish one, Advisor,” said Hemfel. “They barely could take us if they had forever.”
 * “Let me see,” said Doriana, peering at the sensor board and trying to calm his restless stomach down.

To his surprise, there were only seven ships attacking them, and none of them were of particularly large displacement. Five of them were smaller, agile craft and were pressing the attack, while the other two fired potshots from range. The Griffin suffered light damage to the shields, but its own weapons poured out damage in the form of ion cannon volleys, turbolaser salvoes, and spreads of proton torpedoes. Smaller point-defense cannons engaged enemy vessels who ventured too close, but none of them appeared to be larger than a small corvette or gunship.
 * “Have you called for help?” asked Doriana.
 * “Already on its way,” said Hemfel. “Three squadrons of ARC-170s are on their way now.”

Doriana relaxed some. Providing that this wasn’t a sham attack to draw attention elsewhere, the three squadrons of the rugged, heavily armed ARC-170 starfighters would easily beat off the attackers, assuming they got here soon. However, the seven vessels didn’t appear to be inflicting significant damage on the Griffin anyway.
 * “They’ll be here in ten minutes,” remarked Trip. “If those ships stick around for too much longer after that, they’ll be space dust.”
 * “It’s either a trip, or some freebooter captain is in the mood for a mass suicide,” said Hemfel. “If this ship was fully manned, they’d already be running for hyperspace with their laser cannons in between their thrusters.”
 * “My troopers are helping,” assured Trip.
 * “This doesn’t make sense,” said Hemfel. “Why would seven outgunned ships attack a larger, heavily armored target?”

No one ventured an answer and Hemfel focused on directing the firing crews. Doriana and Trip contented themselves with letting Hemfel conduct the ship, knowing that the Griffin would fight more efficiently for his efforts. With their fire coordinated, the Imperial ship’s weapons fire began concentrating on one or two targets while the attacking ships’ fire remained as sporadic as ever.

Two well-placed salvoes of green turbolaser fire lanced out from the Griffin and hit one of the gunships, blowing off what appeared to be a quad-mounted laser cannon turret entirely. Another attacker took some damage to their sensor and fire control arrays, as their fire became more spasmodic and even less accurate than before. Trip suspected that the only reason that most of the weapons fire aimed at the Griffin had hit was because of the relative difficulty in missing such a large target, as well as the fact that the ship had been in orbit rather than maneuvering.

In return, the marauders broke off their attack runs and turned on outbound courses. A few parting shots were exchanged, but neither side delivered significant damage. Instead, the seven ships grouped back up and flew off into the vast expanses of space away from the planet. Several minutes later, Doriana, Trip, and Hemfel saw the ships disappear off of the sensor board as they made the jump to lightspeed as the cloud of friendly starfighters encircled around the Griffin.
 * “Well, that’s the end of that,” said Doriana.
 * “That attack made no sense,” Trip replied.
 * “He’s right,” said Hemfel. “Unless they just wanted to thumb their noses at us, that was pointless. If they were trying to get us to chase them to lure us into a trap, it’s not going to work. Those starfighters aren’t going anywhere.”
 * “Maybe they were after something,” said Trip. “Could they have known about our cargo?”
 * “You tell me,” said Doriana. “You were in charge of the transfer.”
 * “There weren’t any leaks from my people,” said Trip.
 * “Fair enough,” said Hemfel. “But that doesn’t explain why we were attacked in the first place.”
 * “Did we even take any hits?” broke in Doriana.
 * “A couple missiles got through before we raised shields,” reported Hemfel. “Minor damage and one injured crewer. We have crews working on it. The missiles did manage to blow out some power conduits connected to the hyperdrive.”
 * “Is that so?” asked Doriana irritably.
 * “Perhaps they were trying to test us, see how vulnerable the ship was,” commented Trip.
 * “Possibly,” said Hemfel, noting Doriana’s displeased expression. “Don’t worry, Advisor, I’ll ensure the safety of this vessel. I’m going to request that we keep one squadron of those ARC-170 fighters onboard the Griffin. We can store them in the hangar, along with their support staff.”
 * “Good thinking,” Doriana replied begrudgingly. “How long until we can be underway with the delay?”

Trip thought about it for a minute.
 * “We were scheduled to leave within ten hours or so,” he said. “But counting repairing the hyperdrive and getting the starfighters loaded, you’ll probably have to add another day or so.”
 * “Very well,” he said, grinding his teeth in silent fury. “Commander Hemfel, you will supervise the repairs and the transfer of a squadron of those starfighters to the Griffin for its defense. Commander Trip, I’d like you to speak with someone down on the planet and get this . . . incident looked into.”

Both of the other men nodded in response to Doriana’s statement, though both had misgivings about arbitrarily accepting orders from the civilian. The command structure had been somewhat nebulous on the Griffin as of late, as both Trip and Hemfel held the same rank, albeit in different services, but with Doriana usually having a say in decision-making while lacking a distinct rank. As such, Trip had generally been left in charge of his small contingent of troopers and internal security of the ship’s Xi Charrian passengers, while Hemfel managed the day-to-day running of the Griffin, as was his duty. Doriana had been consulted on occasion over various matters, but he had more or less been aloof. The last day, though, buoyed by impatience, the special advisor had made his presence felt more deeply on the bridge.
 * “I’ll take care of it,” said Trip, his eyes glinting just a bit.
 * “I need to get back to work,” said Hemfel, turning back to the rest of the bridge.

Doriana didn’t quite like the response he received from either of the two military men, but he decided not to press the issue, knowing how much he was stretching his very tenuous authority. His impatience and vexation upon learning about the delay were affecting his thinking, as was his rumbling stomach. He stood on the bridge for several more moments, but the rest of the crew was too busy to pay him any notice. With nothing to do, Doriana looked around awkwardly before deciding that his presence was no longer needed on the rather crowded bridge, which was only just now being fully restored to normal lighting.

Instead, Doriana stalked back to the mess hall, only to find that, sure enough, the citros snow cake had disappeared. Lacking the appetite or will to pursue the matter, he returned to his stateroom, sipping on a small bottle of some foul-tasting liquid that the medical database on the ship claimed would settle his digestive system down in hour. Finding one of the chairs littered across the moderately-sized stateroom to suit his preferences than one of the sleep couches, Doriana pulled off his boots and reclined in the steel-gray but nevertheless padded chair to rest. While he had only intended to remain there until his stomach had settled down some, he drifted off to a doze. The next thing he knew, his eyes had completely closed.

Doriana woke with a start, looking over to where the small cylinder of his comlink was demanding his attention. Scowling at it, he realized that he had accidentally fallen asleep. He rubbed his eyes blearily and patted his thinning black hair down from where it had been mussed. Picking up the comlink, he activated the device.
 * “Doriana here,” he mumbled.
 * “This is Trip,” came the voice across the comlink, the clone trooper’s distinct vocal inflections easily apparent.
 * “Yes, what is it?” asked Doriana.
 * “I think I’ve found the identity of our attackers,” the trooper answered.
 * “Who was it?”
 * “Pirates. A sizable nest of them, in fact.”
 * “Sizable? Commander, you know full well that seven pathetic ships do not equal a sizable group of pirates,” Doriana said, a bit bewildered at Trip’s speculation.
 * “I should say formerly sizable. I analyzed their attack patterns and markings and ran them against data in the ship’s considerable databases and I think I found a match.”
 * “That’s quite impressive, Commander.”
 * “It’s all in knowing what to look for,” Trip said lightly, and Doriana pictured the ever-so-subtle shrug that would have likely accompanied the words were he talking directly to the trooper.
 * “There is just one thing, though. The databases on this ship are highly sensitive, so please contact me before you dig too deeply into them.”

That was a slight understatement on Doriana’s part. Among the Griffin’s highly sensitive cargo manifest was a sizable set of data cores that were duplicates of nearly all of the Jedi archives that had been seized after the Jedi rebellion years earlier. The Emperor, seeing the opportunity to ferry a number of items over to his private storehouse, had had the data cores secretly hard-wired into the ship’s systems to be removed upon arrival at Wayland. While Doriana didn’t think that Trip would be able to penetrate too deeply into them without raising an alarm, a large number of Separatist generals had perished during the Clone Wars for underestimating clone commanders, and he was not about to repeat their folly.
 * “As you wish.”
 * “So, who are they?” asked Doriana.
 * “They appear to be a particularly loathsome group of scum known as the Blood Neks, captained by a Devaronian named Sulan’bask. They recently ran afoul of the Imperial Navy, who apparently ran them out of their home base and took out their largest ship.”
 * “Where did you find all that out?”
 * “I checked the HoloNet. There was a report from a Captain Nebulax describing the engagement which matched the few pirate ships who escaped fairly closely with the profiles of the ships that attacked us.”

Doriana listened intently as the clone trooper explained, once again impressed with his inventiveness and efficiency. If nothing else, Trip knew how to get a problem solved.
 * “Well, good work. I thought it would take much longer than this," Doriana said, but a niggling doubt refused to vacate his mind. “You are sure of this, aren’t you?”
 * “I wouldn’t have come to you if I wasn’t,” Trip replied simply. “I also broke the code on their ship-to-ship communications.”
 * “You could have mentioned that before,” said Doriana, a bit of an edge creeping into his voice.
 * “I wasn’t given the chance. Their transmissions mentioned a Captain Sulan’bask, which is what confirmed my deduction.”
 * “So all that attacked us was a group of ragtag pirates out to avenge their bloody nose?” asked Doriana.
 * “Right, unless the Blood Neks are a lot larger than we suspected.”
 * “Now there’s a cheering thought.”

Trip gave no reply to that comment, and Doriana figured that the tactiturn trooper probably wouldn’t see the need to.
 * “Was there anything else, Commander?”
 * “That was it.”
 * “Thank you, then,” said Doriana. “Keep me posted, and you should probably pass this information onto Commander Hemfel; keep him from getting his collar too tight around the neck.”
 * “Of course. Trip out.”

The comlink clicked off and Doriana set it back down on the low table where it, along with his feet, had been resting earlier, pondering the information he had received from Trip. That a group of pirates who had already been mauled by the Imperial Navy would dare to attack a larger ship was consistent with the legendary kamikaze courage and stupidity exhibited by the less canny freebooters. Still, it didn’t bode well for the mission to have them already attacked. The Emperor might be displeased if he heard about the attack, but Doriana figured that, as long as the overall objectives were completed, he would overlook this hopefully minor and isolated incident. As with every assignment he was given, Doriana knew that a lot was weighing on his actions and with the successful completion of the mission. Besides the terrifying prospect of the Emperor’s wrath in the case of failure, Doriana couldn’t even begin to fathom the value of the information stored on the Griffin, not to mention the Xi Charrian internees that were being held in the ship’s hold and what its loss would mean to the Empire. The idea of failure and its consequences was even less appealing than potentially being consumed in the fiery explosion of the Griffin’s destruction, so Doriana pushed the thought out of his head and lay down in his rather uncomfortable bed, seeking to find drift back to sleep over the objections of his still unsettled stomach.
 * Scout ship Observant

An incessant buzzing brought her out of her unconscious state slowly, her mind slowly realizing that something was deliberately disturbing her slumber. Blearily, she opened her eyes and discovered the source of the disturbance was literally glaring right at her. Hauling herself to a halfway sitting position, Warrant Officer Terena Jasnan reached over and deactivated the alarm on her chrono. She had half a standard hour to return to duty before the Observant was scheduled to drop out of hyperspace into the next system. Smiling slightly, she looked over at the bed she had recently vacated and noted bemusedly that Lieutenant Terthbak was still snoring heavily, not bothered by the alarm in the least. Finally consigning herself to returning to duty, Jasnan slid completely out of the bed’s all-too-uncomfortable Imperial Navy-issue sheets and found her uniform in a wrinkled pile on the floor where she had left it.

Running a hand through her tousled brown hair, she dressed quickly and exited Terthbak’s quarters as quickly as possible, pulling her hair behind her head into a regulation bun as she walked back to the quarters shared by herself and Gillam, the reticent engineer. Finding that Gillam was still on duty, she had time to grab a quick sonic shower in the crew refresher station and a fresh uniform out of her locker. She enjoyed the brief experience of the sonic waves vibrating the sweat and dirt off of her skin. Jasnan smiled at the thought of how easily Terthbak had fallen into her trap. Now that she had him ensnared in her guiles, she knew that Terthbak would be more prone to providing her with concessions, and Jasnan figured that manipulating the officious, banal Terthbak would be easy.

As she fastened the tabs on her coveralls, she walked briskly down the corridors up towards the ship’s bridge. On a ship as small as the Observant, privacy was hard to come by, and she knew that her activities had been duly discussed and speculated over by the other crewmembers. The idea that consternation about her proclivities had no doubt filled their conversation amused her. Men were so stupid, so willing to take what a woman had to offer without seeing what she demanded or took from them in return. Quite honestly, Jasnan didn’t care how the others thought of her anyway. She barely made conversation with the others aside from a cursory greeting to Neach and Royner as she gulped down a prepackaged ration tube that was unfortunately not tasteless. With the Observant on such an extended cruise, they had not been re-supplied in some time, and the foul-tasting nutrient tubes were about all that remained in the galley. By the time Terthbak finally emerged from his quarters like a pampered monarch, the Observant was within five minutes of emerging from hyperspace. Jasnan watched the others snicker, as Terthbak was known for hawkishly pacing the bridge starting at least an hour before their reversion into realspace. She caught the sidelong glances and could tell that they were speculating on the reasons for his late appearance. More than likely, they were correct.
 * “Preparing for drop out of hyperspace in two minutes, sir,” Jasnan said smoothly as Terthbak finally took his chair facing the forward viewport.
 * “Very well, Warrant Officer,” said Terthbak somewhat absentmindedly.

As the reversion timer counted down, Jasnan threw the lever and the swirling vortex of hyperspace resolved itself into first starlines, then individual stars. Ahead of them, consuming most of the forward viewport, was a sizable nebula. Its magnificent colors, dominated by tawny, crimson, teals, and viridians, sprawled across the space before them, pockmarked by brilliant orbs of light that were fledgling stars absorbing gas and dust from the nebula.
 * “Impressive,” said Neach. “Fleet Command sends us to somewhere pretty for a change.”
 * “Pipe down, Warrant Officer,” said Terthbak. “Looks can be deceiving. Prepare primary scanning sequence of the nebula.”
 * “Aye, sir,” said Neach, activating the various sensor arrays.
 * “She sure is pretty,” said Royner wistfully from the turret while they waited for the scan results.

Terthbak turned to glare at the gunner, but Royner didn’t notice, his eyes deliberately focused on the view from his turret. The officer started to admonish Royner for his use of personification, but was distracted by Neach.
 * “Sir, primary sequence is inconclusive.”
 * “What do you mean, Warrant Officer Neach?” demanded Terthbak, his attention diverted from Royner.
 * “The nebula’s material and radiation are steaming up the sensors, sir. We won’t be able to fully get on top of the situation unless we go further in, maybe all the way into her- erm, it, sir,” said Neach.

Terthbak turned back to fix a stern gaze on Royner in the turret as the gunner failed to suppress a guffaw of laughter at Neach’s very carefully chosen innuendo.
 * “Such noises are not appropriate for the bridge of an Imperial vessel,” snapped Terthbak, a twinge of red rising to his face. “Refrain from them or you will be punished. Do I make myself clear, Crewman Royner?”
 * “Yes, sir,” said Royner insincerely.

Looks like Jasnan had been wrong about softening up the lieutenant, Royner thought, so he refrained from making a smart comment about appropriate actions for an Imperial officer regarding female members of the crew.
 * “Bring the ship deeper into the nebula, Warrant Officer,” said Terthbak to Jasnan.
 * “Yes, sir,” said Jasnan.

The Observant flitted further into the cloud of the nebula as Neach peered intently at the sensor screens, alert for any possible contacts.
 * “I thought I saw something on the electromagnetic screen, but it disappeared,” he said. “Must have been interference from the nebula.”

Neach adjusted several more settings on the board, attempting to filter out the effects of the nebula’s radiation-saturated environment.
 * “How about the black box?” asked Terthbak.
 * “There’s a nebulous contact-pardon the pun-that I’m trying to pin down, sir,” said Neach. “It could be the nebula karking with our sensors again, but it might not be.”
 * “Keep working on it, Warrant Officer.”

They continued in silence for several tense minutes, each crew member fully alert and vigilant. Nebulae could be dangerous phenomena, and almost anything could be hiding within the murky stellar soup they were flying through.
 * “Sir! Something is wrong with the port docking station!” called out Jasnan, her hands flying across her console.
 * “What is it?” Terthbak asked.
 * “I’m not sure, sir, but some of the systems are activating!”
 * “How is shield integrity?”
 * “Shields are holding, except on the port side, but the airlock is cycling. I can’t explain it; running a diagnostic now, sir.”
 * “I want answers!” demanded Terthbak.

The crew all focused their attention to their consoles, engrossed in determining the cause for the docking station malfunction, or scanning the surrounding space for hostile craft.
 * “It might be an exotic form of radiation triggering the circuits. Prepare to seal off the bridge,” said Terthbak.
 * “Yes, sir!” Jasnan responded.
 * “Don’t worry, it’s not a radiation breach,” said a calm voice.

Every member of the crew save Terthbak turned from their stations at the sound of the voice; it was not one they were familiar with. To their astonishment, two figures in hoods and masks were pointing blasters at them, while a third marauder was covering Royner with a vibroblade. Their faces were covered, save for the eyes, and while the crew of the Observant could tell that their assailants were humanoid, their species was hidden from view by the hoods and masks that they wore. However, the blasters that were pointed at them spoke volumes. Terthbak, however, did not budge a centimeter, paralyzed with fear from the blaster barrel lodged firmly against his temple.
 * “Hands up,” said the fourth figure, an armored and cloaked being who was holding the blaster to Terthbak’s head.

Neach and Jasnan quickly complied. In the background, Neach noted that his sensor trace had finally come through, and the black box had definitely picked up something.
 * “Get up slowly, and unbuckle the blaster belts,” said the armored individual. “Make a false move and you’re dead. You too, Lieutenant. Nice and easy.”

Again, Neach and Jasnan complied, with Terthbak following suit as well. The utility belts clattered on the deck, along with the blasters.
 * “Take them to the cargo hold and lock them up,” ordered the armored one. “If they give you any trouble, shoot them.”

His accomplices acknowledged him silently and marched the Imperials back to the cargo hold, blasters at the ready. None of the Imperials dared try anything against three opponents. While they might have had a chance against one or two, they would certainly be burned down by the third, especially if the boarders knew what they were doing. From all indications so far, they did. Paraded into the cargo hold, Neach, Jasnan, Terthbak and Royner found Gillam was already sitting on the scuffed metal deck inside the dimly lit hold, a growing bruise evident on his head but otherwise unharmed. Their captors silently sealed them inside the hold after searching them for weapons with gloved hands. Terthbak had attempted to resist the insult to his dignity, but having a blaster barrel pressed firmly into his chest had convinced him otherwise, and he had seethed silently while he was patted down and his comlink and multitool confiscated. As soon as the lock cycled, he immediately got up and tried to deactivate it, but no response came from the door.
 * “Did you honestly think that would work?” asked Royner.
 * “It might have, Crewman. And you will address me as ‘sir,’” said Terthbak, glowering.
 * “Or what? You’ll drag me back to Imperial Center in binders?” said Royner, laughing. :“That’s not the most intimidating of threats at the moment.”
 * “Doesn’t matter,” said Neach. “What would you have done if you did get out? Charged four people with blasters unarmed?”
 * “Actually, I think there are five,” said Gillam from his position propped against the wall. “One of them hit me and dragged me in here.”

Terthbak gave no response to Neach’s question. His temper threatened to explode into a violent rage, but his rational mind recognized the uselessness of the effort and he managed to compose himself.
 * “First things first,” he said. “How did these intruders get onto the Observant?”
 * “Don’t look at me,” said Neach. “I would have told you if I had seen them on the sensor board.”
 * “Do I seem to be having fun?” asked Royner. “Their ship came out of nowhere.”
 * “At least we know why the airlock was malfunctioning,” said Jasnan.
 * “Well, we don’t know who they are, why they’re here, or what they’re going to do with us. Sounds like a fix to me,” said Neach.
 * “Excellent points, Warrant Officer,” said Terthbak, attempting to reassert himself. “Do you have any suggestions on what to do?”
 * “I do have one idea,” said Neach. “Anyone up for sabacc?”
 * “What?!” Terthbak nearly exploded.
 * “They didn’t take my deck of cards,” said Neach, showing Terthbak the stack.
 * “Are you insane? We need to be working on a way to escape. This is an Imperial vessel! We cannot just simply allow these mysterious intruders to abscond with it!”
 * “If you find a benefit out of escaping, you let me know,” said Neach. “I personally am glad that I’m not experiencing space without a vacsuit or enjoying the distinct pleasures of being shot at point-blank range, which is what most pirates would do.”
 * “Is that insubordination?” Terthbak asked menacingly.
 * “Oh, save it, Terthbak,” said Royner flippantly. “You want us to charge four or five armed people and you’re griping about insubordination. That doesn’t sound like a good way to motivate us to do anything.”
 * “Well, I’m in,” said Jasnan.
 * “Really?” asked Terthbak, somewhat incredulous. “Let’s get to it then. Certainly we can hit upon a way to-,”
 * “No, no,” said Jasnan. “I’m in for sabacc. Deal me in, Neach.”
 * “Sure thing, Jas.”

Terthbak groaned and slumped to the deck in despondence, softly banging his head against the wall of the hold.

Selusda Kraen sat down in the Imperial captain’s former chair as he looked around the bridge. Like the other members of the Hawk-bat ' s crew, he had taken great care to disguise his appearance. While the rest of them, aside from Spectre in his katarn-class commando armor, had donned cloth masks and robes, Selu had been given a set of armor once worn by Revan. It didn’t fit all that well, but the concealing helmet with its T-shaped visor covered his face and gave him an intimidating countenance. Furthermore, it also helped disguise his vocal inflections. From the little he had observed of the Imperials, Selu didn’t think they had too much to worry about from them, but there was no harm in being cautious. Then again, the fact that Selu had managed to dock the Hawk-bat with their ship without raising an alarm spoke to their general incompetence.

Selu had once again surprised the others by casting a Force illusion-something Revan and Srynassa had shown him-over the Hawk-bat to conceal its approach, planning on boarding the Imperial vessel rather than simply destroying it. While the scout ship was certainly larger than the Hawk-bat, it was much more lightly armed, and Selu had figured that between the Force illusion and the concealment of the nebula, they had a good chance of boarding the ship without detection. When they had burst into the airlock, they had been prepared for a firefight, lightsabers held at the ready. However, no one had been wise to their approach, so Selu had changed tactics, sending Spectre to secure the aft compartments while he, Milya, Sarth, and Cassi dealt with the bridge crew and gunner. They had been instructed not to hurt the Imperials if at all possible; aside from a bruise on the engineer’s head from the butt of Spectre’s blaster rifle, they had achieved that goal.

Looking over, he saw Sarth poring through the ship’s computer, trying to pull information from it. Milya and Spectre were scouring the ship for any further crewmembers or security systems. Cassi, with little else to do, had taken control over the pilot’s station and sent them on a course that lazily looped them around the nebula while the new crewmembers examined the prize.
 * “Find anything, Sarth?” he asked.
 * “Mmhmm,” mumbled Sarth, not bothering to look up from the computer.
 * “What did you find?” Selu repeated.

However, his comments, addressed to a thoroughly engrossed Sarth, failed to evoke a response and Selu waited several more moments for Sarth to finish with what he was doing. There was simply no point in trying to get his attention or speed him along when he was concentrating on something.
 * “Hey Sarth, care to share?” asked Cassi finally.
 * “Hmm? Oh, sure,” said Sarth. “The ship we’re on is called the Observant. It’s a specially modified scout vessel on a secret mission from Imperial Command, Lieutenant Almos Terthbak commanding.”
 * “What kind of mission?” asked Selu.
 * “Well, I’m working on that,” said Sarth. “Some things are more difficult to slice into than others, and that-,” he indicated the screen, “-happens to be one of them.”
 * “Fair enough,” said Selu. “By the way, good work on the takeover, you two.”
 * “Thanks,” said Cassi. “I’m glad it didn’t take very long; it was nerve-wracking. I mean, piracy isn’t our usual job description.”
 * “Not just piracy,” Selu reminded her lightly. “We’ve also stolen Imperial property.”
 * “Albeit ugly, worn-out property. This ship has been flying for at least six months.”
 * “How do you know that?”
 * “Just smell the air,” Cassi said, wrinkling her nose. “It has that stale, recycled smell that you get when the ship has been journeying for awhile.”

Selu couldn’t find anything to dispute her reasoning, so he left it at that. He found it unusual that he hadn’t noticed the smell of the ship until Cassi had made her remark, but now the sour odor was quite noticeable.
 * “Got it!” said Sarth suddenly.
 * “What did you get?” Cassi asked.
 * “The mission log,” said Sarth. “Well, sort of. I cracked the lieutenant’s personal log, which is about the same thing.”
 * “Let me see,” said Selu, rising from his seat to stand behind Sarth and peer down at the screen.
 * “It was pretty easy. His password was ‘Admiral Terthbak,’” said Sarth. “And the encryption was rudimentary at best.”
 * “Well, at least he can dream big,” remarked Selu dryly.

Selu read the screen for several minutes before giving Sarth a bewildered look.
 * “This is some of the worst writing I have ever seen,” he said.
 * “I never said it wasn’t,” Sarth replied lightly, shrugging.

Shaking his head, Selu returned to reading. As he forced his eyes to read the egotistical mental meanderings of the mind of Almos Terthbak, an idea began coalescing in his head. As it did, a slow smile began creeping across his face. He slowly reached for his comlink as he finished up reading the log.
 * “Come in, Spectre,” he said, thumbing the device on.
 * “Spectre here,” the ex-ARC replied curtly.
 * “Bring Lieutenant Terthbak to the bridge,” said Selu. “I’d like to have a little chat with him.”
 * “Is that so?” said Spectre, a bemused tone creeping into his voice as he quickly deduced Selu’s plan. “That should be most enjoyable.”
 * “Probably not, but it has to be done.”
 * “Sarth, Cassi, you might want to leave for awhile.”
 * “Why?” Sarth asked.
 * “It’s going to be a bit intense in here, and I’ll need to focus.”
 * “Okay,” Cassi said. “If that’s what you want. Come on, Sarth.”

With that, the two of them rose and left, leaving Selu sitting alone in the captain’s chair. A few minutes later, Terthbak was half-walked, half-dragged into the bridge of the Observant by Spectre, who deposited him in a heap at the foot of the commander’s chair occupied by the still-armored Selu. Then, the ARC took up station behind the petrified Terthbak, towering ominously over him in stony vigil. Selu silently regarded Terthbak for several moments, letting the silence sink in and the fear build in Terthbak’s eyes. With the Force, reading the flow of Terthbak’s emotions was easy as reading a screen of text, and Selu wanted to let the maximum amount of terror settle into Terthbak’s psyche to make him more likely to slip up. The officer was clearly weak-minded, and most Jedi would have had no difficulty in applying a simple mind trick to persuade Terthbak into spilling all he knew.

Unfortunately for Selu, he had never been able to successfully mind trick anyone. His natural lack of aptitude for the skill, along with the forced needs of training during wartime had prevented him from developing the ability, and his tutelage under Revan had done little to help him directly influence minds. Instead, Selu resorted to more conventional means of interrogation.
 * “What is your name, Almos Terthbak?” Selu said, making his voice into the same resonant, intimidating bass rumble he had used earlier.
 * “My-my name is Lieutenant Almos Terth-hey, uh,” Terthbak stammered, not realizing what Selu had said until nearly finished with the sentence.
 * “Well Lieutenant, why don’t you start by telling me the details of your mission?” Selu inquired, leaning towards Terthbak slightly, his tone dripping with disdain.

Terthbak stared in stark terror at the enigmatic armored and cloaked figure seated in front of him. The negligent ease with which they had seized the Observant, coupled with the fact that they had not bothered to bind his hands, spoke to their utter contempt for him as a threat. Still, he was an Imperial officer, and there were specific protocols for behavior in the event of capture by a hostile force, which this most certainly was. Swallowing hard, he looked at the visor of the being in front of him, doing his best to sound defiant.
 * “I am Lieu-Lieutenant Almos Terthbak, operating number Tee Kay One One Three Eight Four Two One,” he said.
 * “Oh really?” replied his questioner, sounding vaguely amused. “I’ll ask you one more time, Lieutenant, but don’t try my patience. What is your mission?”
 * “Lieutenant Almos Terthbak, Imperial Navy, operating number Tee Kay One One Three Eight Four Two One,” Terthbak replied, injecting as much disgust and anger into his voice as he dared.
 * “Don’t play games, Terthbak,” Selu replied forcefully. “If you persist in being uncooperative, I will be forced to take it out on your crew.”
 * “We are . . . members of the Imperial Navy. You won’t find persuading us easy,” said Terthbak haughtily.
 * “We’ll see about that,” Selu replied. “Sergeant Gold, bring me one of the crew.”
 * “Which one?” asked Spectre.
 * “Bring me Warrant Officer Jasnan,” instructed Selu, and by the way Terthbak’s eyes widened, he knew he had hit his mark. “And tell Sergeant Gray to report to the bridge.”

It had not been a blind guess. Terthbak’s puerile and vapidly written memoirs had indicated his feelings towards Jasnan and armed with that information, Selu had figured that using her as leverage would be the easiest way to obtain information out of Terthbak.
 * “As ordered,” Spectre said.

A few minutes later, Spectre returned with a struggling Jasnan and accompanied by Milya. Each of them had a code name according to the color of their lightsaber, except Cassi, meaning that Spectre was Sergeant Gold, Milya was Sergeant Gray, Sarth was Sergeant Blue, Selu was Captain Green, but Cassi went by Sergeant Cyan since her lightsaber was also blue. The ranks were largely meaningless, except for Selu’s, as it indicated his leadership position.
 * “Bring her closer,” said Selu. “I want the lieutenant here to see the pain his actions have caused.”

At that point, Jasnan wrenched free of Spectre, leaving most of her coverall sleeve in his grasp and lunged at Selu with a makeshift knife that she had concealed in her belt and improvised out of a broken glowpanel cover in the hold. However, Milya was too fast for her, and Jasnan soon found herself lying on the worn metal deck gasping for breath from a kick to the ribs and while Milya held her arm twisted behind her back in a rather painful hold, the makeshift knife having fallen from her fingers. Selu turned to regard her ever so slightly, his voice laced with mockery.
 * “Brave, but extremely foolish,” said Selu. “Now, Lieutenant Terthbak, your crewman here will pay for your stubbornness.”
 * “She will do her duty,” said Terthbak, but there was no sincerity in his voice and the way he and Jasnan exchanged a quick glance was a dead giveaway.
 * “Since she means nothing to you,” said Selu, trying to imbue wicked glee into his voice. “Sergeant Gray, remove something from the prisoner. Do you hear that, Warrant Officer Jasnan? You’re going to do your duty and die painfully, thanks to the lieutenant there. Sergeant, perhaps you should start with a finger, or maybe an ear. Make it slow so she feels it, but just be sure she doesn’t bleed too much.”

Milya slowly drew a short vibrodagger from a waist sheath, making sure to draw out the motion to prolong the rasping sound of the blade against the metal of the sheath, and then dramatically activating the vibroblade so that its characteristic hum filled the bridge. Jasnan frantically tried to struggle, but Milya simply applied more pressure to her still twisted arm and placed her knee on Jasnan’s back, ending any more resistance as the Warrant Officer gasped in pain. Terthbak made as if about to leap at Milya, but the cold metal of a blaster barrel at the back of his head courtesy of Spectre forestalled any rash heroics on his part. Bending down, Milya brought the humming dagger next to Jasnan’s right hand, preparing to sever one of the digits.
 * “No! Wait!” Terthbak said. “Don’t hurt her.”
 * “Why not?” asked Selu coldly. “I thought you didn’t care about her.”
 * “No, don’t hurt her,” said Terthbak, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “I’ll tell you everything.”

Beneath the helmet, Selu smiled broadly.
 * “Put the dagger away,” Selu indicated to Milya. “Wouldn’t want you to cut Jasnan here on accident.”

Milya complied, and Selu returned his attention to Terthbak.
 * “Now, what were you saying, Lieutenant?”

A half hour later, Selu had obtained all the information he need from the lieutenant, who had caved like a folded sheet of flimsiplast. Spectre and Milya had returned the two Imperials to the hold, sealing it tightly behind them, and gathered Sarth and Cassi back into the bridge for a brief conference. With all five of them in the ship’s bridge, it was rather crowded, but there was no helping that; the scout ship clearly wasn’t built for comfort.
 * “Whew,” Selu said, pulling off the ancient helmet to reveal his face, glistening from perspiration. “Spectre, I know your armor is like a second skin to you, but this stuff is comfortable.”

Spectre shrugged in response.
 * “What did the lieutenant tell you?” asked Cassi.
 * “Plenty,” said Milya. “All it took was the proper application of pressure.”
 * “Speaking of that,” said Selu. “You know I was bluffing about cutting her off finger.”
 * “Cutting off her what?!” Cassi exclaimed.
 * “You were? Oh, my mistake,” said Milya. “I thought you actually wanted me to slice it off if Terthbak didn’t cooperate.”
 * “We need to work on this idea of respecting life,” said Selu. “Couldn’t you pick that up through reading my emotions, though?”
 * “It’s not as easy to use the Force out here.”

Selu gave her a rueful chuckle.
 * “The rest of the galaxy is pretty much like that. If you want to keep using the Force, you’ll have to learn to focus it a little more.”
 * “All of that aside, what did this Terthbak tell you?” asked Sarth.
 * “As Milya said, the lieutenant was very forthcoming after some initial difficulties. First off, this ship’s mission is nothing less than pinpointing Jedi hideouts so the Empire can destroy them.”
 * “Well, that changes things a bit,” said Sarth.
 * “They’ve been at it for several months, and thankfully haven’t been very successful. They have three or four more destinations left on their scouting run before they finished, but they already found one location.”
 * “Where?” asked Cassi.
 * “Planet called Belsavis,” said Selu. “I suspect that any Jedi there have already come under attack or have fled already.”
 * “No, not yet,” broke in Milya in a peculiar tone. “They’re still alive.”
 * “This having a seer business could be handy,” remarked Spectre wryly.
 * “I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Milya.
 * “In that case, we should go to Belsavis and help those Jedi,” said Sarth.
 * “Perhaps,” said Selu. “But Revan mentioned other groups also. The Zeison Sha, the Matukai, and the Jal Shey. Milya, can you tell if any of them are at the locations the Observant was supposed to investigate?”
 * “You mean by trying to see it? I’ll give it a try,” she said, somewhat nervously.
 * “No,” Selu said firmly. “There is no try, do or do not.”
 * “Of course, Master,” she said.
 * “Just relax,” Spectre said reassuringly. “You’ll be fine.”

Milya read over the destination list and then closed her eyes, and Selu sensed that she was falling into a meditative stance as her mind wandered across the timeless expanses of the Force, seeking information. At first, all she saw were the random splotches of color that marked her vision when she closed her eyes, then, as she became more attuned to the currents of the Force, she received a second sight beyond normal ocular perception. Her mind left her body and launched through many parsecs, leaving her sitting there motionless, barely breathing.

She saw a harsh, desertish world, alternately baked by a scorching heat and drenched by furious thunderstorms that scoured the plains and hills. There were people there; living in scattered settlements, some of them armed with small, round, blade-shaped objects. They were independent and stubborn, fighting the land to eke out an existence, but the Force ran strong in them. There was strength and gentleness, determination and desperation intermingled as they struggled daily to survive.

Then her vision blurred and darkened, and she was catapulted off through unknown dimensions to another place. It was humid and misty, filled with chaotic tangles of living things engaged in the frantic cycles of life and death, growth and decay. The world was tumultuous, and the sentients that lived there were in as much conflict with each other, if not more, than the flora and fauna were. Yet, hidden in the swamps, was an enclave of people who were different. They were harmonious and focused, with strict discipline and long polearm weapons. Milya found herself impressed by their balance and focus even as they subsisted in their sparse setting. Even as she tried to get a better sense of them, she could sense her perception fading away from the world. Like the other one, this vision didn’t last either, and soon she found herself looking at one last place.

The last place was more peaceful and tranquil than the others had been. Milya saw broad forests stretching on from lighter colored, broad-leafed trees in the lowlands into species with darker and narrower foliage as the elevation increased. Rather than a standard green, though, Milya saw a variety of colors, ranging from rust brown to tawny gold, to a deep red in the lowlands. Higher up, the plants were more evergreen. The riotous tangle of color and life caught her eye and the sheer bliss of the scene sent a pang of longing through her heart. However, her vision was drawn beyond the forests. One mountain range in particular caught her perception’s interest, and she was drawn to it like a piece of durasteel to a magnet. The trees gave way to outcroppings of boulder and lichen as she reached the summit, only to find a snowy enclave where it appeared several dozen people lived in caves hollowed out of the mountain slopes. Though they bore no lightsabers, Milya sensed the Force flowing through them, guiding them as they studied and learned of it. Then, her mind’s eye began clouding over again, bringing her back again slowly to the realm of what most humans referred to as the six senses, which she had not left so much as ignored during her vision.
 * “What did you see?” asked Selu as her eyes opened.
 * “All three of these places have Force-sensitives on them,” she said firmly.
 * “Good thing we got to this scout ship first,” said Sarth.
 * “More like the will of the Force, Sarth,” Milya reproved gently.
 * “Could you tell anything about them?” Selu asked.
 * “I saw three worlds,” she said. “The first was harsh, a planet of extremes, with people as equally hardened and strong to stand against such an environment.”
 * “That’s probably Yanibar,” said Cassi.
 * “What were the people there like?” asked Spectre.
 * “They were warriors, with shiny metal blades that they threw and guided with the Force, but they also prized their families,” said Milya, recalling how she had seen one man hurling his weapons with great strength only to later gently put his arm around a woman, his wife, cradling a newborn that had to be their daughter.
 * “Those are the Zeison Sha,” said Selu. “Revan told me about them. They have a long and unpleasant history of disliking Jedi.”
 * “And the second planet?”
 * “It was darker, more conflicted,” said Milya. “Swampy and humid, but with an aura of conflict and struggle about it.”
 * “If we go by this schedule, that has to be Darlyn Boda,” said Cassi. “It’s fairly lawless, and it has plenty of wetlands.”
 * “There was a group there, living mostly on the edges of the city. They were different, more balanced, more focused. They knew how to harness their bodies and minds with the Force.”
 * “What kind of weapons did they bear?” asked Selu.
 * “Polearms of some type,” Milya replied.
 * “That confirms it; they’re Matukai. Another group long estranged from the Jedi,” said Selu, drawing on his conversations with Revan.
 * “So how about that last planet?” asked Cassi.
 * “It was more peaceful, and more beautiful, even if it was remote. There were lots of forests, and a mountain range. At the top, there was an enclave, a place of learning.”
 * “That makes them the Jal Shey by default, and the world is Tokmia, if Revan and this ship’s itinerary are believable,” noted Spectre.
 * “Were they armed?” Selu asked.
 * “No,” said Milya. “I didn’t sense any hostility in them at all.”
 * “Then they do sound like the Jal Shey,” Selu affirmed.
 * “So, who do we visit first?” asked Cassi. “Tokmia sounds good so far.”
 * “It’s not simply a matter of who do we visit first,” said Spectre. “There have to be priorities. And whoever we do go to, what are we going to say?”
 * “The man has a point,” said Sarth. “What are we going to say? Selu?”
 * “They have to know the truth,” said Selu. “About the danger they face, about our purpose, and about the need to join together.”
 * “But where?” asked Milya. “I doubt they’re just going to uproot everything and pile onto the Hawk-bat.”
 * “I’m still working on that,” said Selu. “But I’ve seen things of my own, and one of them is that Revan was right; only by setting aside their differences and uniting can any of them be saved.”
 * “Too bad we couldn’t just take them to the Room of the Crystal Heart and show them that we’re not lying,” said Cassi.
 * “It would take more than that to convince them,” said Selu.
 * “Well, we can work on that on the way,” said Cassi. “So, who do we visit first?”
 * “All of them,” said Spectre.
 * “What?” Sarth said, surprised. “That’s physically impossible.”
 * “Why all of them, Spectre?” asked Selu.
 * “Revan mentioned the need for haste,” said Spectre. “Traveling to each of these worlds, even if they’re all in the Outer Rim, will take time. And I suspect that we don’t have that time.”
 * “He’s right; we don’t,” said Milya.
 * “You’ve seen something?” Selu asked.
 * “When I sleep, I . . . occasionally have dreams. I can’t explain it, but I know that there’s not much time before the Empire attacks,” said Milya haltingly, at a loss to explain the abnormal experiences she had been having.
 * “So you’re suggesting we split up?” Cassi said. “What about ships? We only have one.”
 * “Two,” corrected Spectre.
 * “Actually, three,” Selu added. “The ship’s log revealed that they happen to have a hyperdrive-equipped starfighter that they salvaged.”
 * “Three ships. Three planets. You’d think the Force was at work or something,” said Milya facetiously.
 * “After all we’ve seen, nothing surprises me any more,” said Cassi with a droll smile.
 * “So, if we’re actually considering splitting up, who goes where?” asked Sarth.

They all looked to Selu, but he was lost in thought, so Sarth spoke up. “I’ve also studied a little bit about these groups that we’re supposed to contact. Logically, we all have strengths that will help us relate to certain aspects of their group personalities.”
 * “Care to share?” asked Cassi.
 * “Well, for my part, I think I’d be better suited to talk to the Jal Shey than you would be, Spectre. They’re diplomats and intellectuals, and you’re, well-,”
 * “Neither diplomatic nor intellectual?” said Spectre, chuckling. “I’d agree with that.”
 * “Only because you haven’t seen his charming gentle side,” teased Milya.
 * “If you’re going to the Jal Shey, then I’m going with you,” said Cassi. “You get into too much trouble on your own.”
 * “I was hoping you would say something like that,” said Sarth.
 * “Well, then logically, Milya and I should go to the Zeison Sha,” said Spectre. “We both have backgrounds as warriors. They’ll appreciate that, and Selu shouldn’t come if they dislike Jedi.”

To say the least, Selu, who had been largely silent during this part of the conversation, was displeased by that suggestion, and for reasons that he did not care to admit. The idea of Milya and Spectre gallivanting off together, as much as he tried to deny it, did not sit well with him, and it had nothing to do with the logic behind Spectre’s suggestion and everything to do with the dull ache in his chest. Such was not his path though, and he forced the thought from his mind with considerable vehemence.
 * “That would leave you with the Matukai, Selu,” said Spectre.
 * “But they don’t like Jedi either,” noted Cassi.
 * “No plan is perfect,” said Spectre, shrugging.
 * “What does the seer say?” asked Sarth.
 * “Cassi and Sarth should be the messengers to the Jal Shey,” said Milya slowly. “But I’m less certain about you and me going to the Zeison Sha, Spectre. I keep getting a bad feeling about it.”

Thank the Force for small miracles, thought Selu’s more rebellious side, before his disciplined mind clamped down on that notion.
 * “Then who?” asked Spectre.
 * “I need to go to the Zeison Sha,” said Selu. “It’s time someone from the Jedi Order tried to redress the wrongs that have been between us and them.”
 * “So Milya and I will be going to the Matukai,” said Spectre. “That works, too.”
 * “No, it doesn’t,” said Milya. “Selu will need help on Yanibar. It’s a harsh world, and the Empire has a foothold there already.”
 * “So you’re going with him?” asked Spectre, the faintest hint of suspicion and jealous creeping into his tone.
 * “No, you’re going with him,” corrected Milya. “You two have fought together before. It makes sense, especially if Yanibar has Imperials crawling all over it. I can handle going to the Matukai alone, trust me.”
 * “Are you sure about that?” asked Spectre.
 * “I’m sure,” she said. “I am a big girl. And you’re not exactly an inconspicuous partner.”
 * “So now we get to choose which ships we take,” said Sarth. “Dibs on the Hawk-bat.”
 * “That won’t be necessary,” Selu interrupted. “There’s only one way to divide up the ships.”
 * “How’s that?” Spectre inquired.
 * “Milya has to take the starfighter, because that’s the only one-person vehicle. Spectre and I should fly the Observant, since there’s already an Imperial presence on Yanibar, and we can disguise ourselves as the crew if need be. That leaves the Hawk-bat to Sarth and Cassi.”
 * “The man speaks truth,” said Cassi.
 * “Well, let’s get a move on, then,” said Spectre. “Draw provisions from the Hawk-bat. I figure we can be in hyperspace within an hour.”
 * “That fast?” asked Sarth. “What about planning?”
 * “We’ve done it,” said Spectre. “And we’re in a bit of a hurry, in case you didn’t notice.”
 * “But what about what to say? How to best approach them? When are we going to meet back up? What if something goes wrong.”
 * “The Observant and the starfighter have long-range communications,” noted Spectre.
 * “Sarth, you might want to take a look at the starfighter before we go,” said Selu. “Try and get it working again; it doesn’t look like a hard fix.”
 * “Good point,” said Milya.
 * “Don’t worry,” said Cassi to Sarth. “I’ll pack for you.”
 * “Look, Sarth, I know you’re concerned,” said Selu. “It’ll work out, though. The Force will be with us. There’s no way of exactly knowing the best way to approach these people. All we can do is hope for the best.”
 * “Unless you hear from us, meet back here when you’re done. Get the coordinates into the navicomputer,” said Milya. “Or try and contact us.”
 * “May the Force be with us,” Selu said.

Sarth looked unhappy and as if he was about to continue arguing, but Cassi gently laid an arm on his shoulder and led him away. With the conversation finished for all practical purposes, the other three left also, heading back to the Hawk-bat to gather needed supplies and equipment. Each of their minds was filled with anticipation, worry, and especially excitement. The knowledge of the surpassingly long odds they faced raced through their minds, but they were secure in the knowledge that the Force was a powerful ally. Recent events had inspired them to have confidence in their purpose, and while the idea of failure existed, it did not dominate their thinking, even Sarth’s. The culmination of their training had arrived; they were embarking on a voyage to unite the Force exiles.