Comrade Jedi V: Part 1

[hk47fan]

Jacen

I deactivated my lightsaber and nodded. Ben dropped clear and I followed.

I saw Ben drop into the back of a groundspeeder, bounce out of it as though it was a tranmpoline, angle over to bounce onto one end of a dinner table on a streetside second-story balcony-the spray of food dishes catipulting off the table was quite impressive- and then drop down to street level.

I contented myself with one bounce from a heavy transport soeeder and a tuck-and-roll as he rached the sidewalk beside Ben. The Admumari's did not pay much attention, most of them watching the fighter plow through the cable wires.

Ben had a well cooked leg of some avian in one hand. He'd already taken a bite out of it and was chewing furiously.

"What, don't you get enough food at the Temple to eat?" I commented with a smirk

[Force_Flow]

"If I did," Ben said through a mouthful of cooked meat, "Would I be eating this? What's next?"

"Tranmit," Jaing said, coming up from behind him.

"Don't you want to do that? You're the Jedi Knight."

"I'm not the one who needs to learn how to do it," Jaing said dryly. "And wipe your hands. Not that I mind, but you'll drop your lightsaber. Then I'll mind."

With a long-suffering sigh, Ben discarded his improvised meal and pulled out the little holocamm, a datapad, and a comlink from pouches on his belt. Awkwardly, he started conencting wire and pressing buttons. "All right, the data package is compressed and encrypted."

"While it's doing that, check and see if the shuttle's holocomm is still live. Remotly activate it and bounce a comm echo off the old lunar New Republic sstation."

"Yes, sir," Ben replied. "Holocomm is... live."

Kilometers away, Jaing's starship, a sleek X1-40, activated from it's power-down sleep. "Successful echo, message encrypted."

"Transmit it," Jaing said. "Await comfirmation of reception. Request comformation of desription."

"Yes, sir." Ben typing in another set of commands, then tucked them all back in the appropriate areas. "So how do we get offworld. Your ship?"

"Yup."

"But the planet's full of starfighters!"

[hk47fan]

COPOST WITH HK AND FF

Jacen

"Correct. But why would they attack us?" I asked, intervening

"To keep--to keep.." Understanding dawkned on his face. "To keep us from getting offworld."

"Correct." I replied to his last statement

"But we've already holocast it: it's too late," he said. "But what if the Adumari attack us for revenge?"

"Think it through, Ben. Take your time." I urged him as we reached a large plaza, Ben may not be my padawan, but this was something I felt he needed to understand and know, and I was sure Jaing felt the same way

We started to head for the proper hangars, which was only kilometers distant. "If the package decrypts, and the spies see, then they'll have a talk with the government," Ben said.

"Military Intelligence. Not spies." I corrected

"Oh, they're spies," Ben said. "Mara's a spy. What we did just made us spies."

"Mara's a Jedi. We're Jedi." I told him

"Jedi spies," Ben said. The datapad beeped, and Ben looked at it again. "The message decrypted. Our 'spy bosses' say 'good job.' Who knwos what'll happen to us? The Adumari are in trouble."

"Correct." I said, partially acting like his master now

Ben and I entered a discussion about how we can go on leave and go on our next assignment, and I said there would be alot. Soon enough, we arrived at Jaing's shuttle, a armoured variant of the old Lambda-class model, fitted with a turreted laser cannon and holocomm-unit.

[hk47fan]

Leia Organa Solo, once the Princess of Aldeeran, former Cheif of State of the New Republic, former Senator, co-pilot of the Millenium Falcon, and a Jedi Knight, stood dressed in all-white robes, suitable to either a Jedi or polotician in informal surroundings, before the portal. It was no ordinary door; though in appearance it was identical to billions of dwelling exterior doors found on the world of Coruscant, in reality it was not. In the recent pat, the original low-cost, composite material door had been replaced with what was before Leia Organa today.

Leia's husband, Han Solo, one of the most famous men in the Galaxy, moved up beside her. He was wearing his favorite clothes, what he war years ago when he rescued her on the Death Star: dark military trousers with red Corellian Bloodstripes he earned when he was young. He had a white shirt, with a black vest, and black boots. The tender lines on his face and gray in his hair was the only thing that made him different from what he was fourty years ago.

Leia's spirit lifted and she gave a smile. No matter how bad things ever were, they were better with Han at her side. But she wouldn't tell him that little piece of information, his ego hadn't diminished in all these years.

Han looked at the door, with a grave look on his face "You figure that's how they're going to come at us?" he asked in his usual tone

Leia nodded "That's the only approach that makes any since, and you know it."

"Well the only strategy that makes any sense is for us to just open the door for them. They're less likely to attempt some sneaky side entry if the front is open. We can pick them off as they're framed in the doorway. Once their numbers become too great for us, we can managed a staged retreat through the inner chambers." Han told her

Leia thought for a moment and said "I don't know. Mabye I should be up front and center to bat back their blaster assauslts while you fire on them from the side."

"Oh my!" a high-pitched voice said with alarm in it, which was one the pair were used to with this voice, even though Han got sick of it often but learned to deal with it after fourty years of listening to it, Leia was half and half about it "If I may ask, has there been some change of plans?"

Han and Leia both turned. Leia heard Han let out a small sigh as C-3PO entered the outerchamber, he was the droid that had served them for four decades, usually getting into some kind of trouble. For Han he was just a plain hassle.

Threepio got closer to them, his every action accompanied by the barely audible sounds of whining servos, and added "I thought that the plan was admit to them, then feed them the appetizers I have labored so hard to assemble! It would be just dreadful for them to go to waste, and they are laid out neatly in the kitchen. Was I wrong? Will there be shooting? Oh Master Han, Mistress-"

Threepio began to battle and Han interrupted him "Appetizers would be easier."

"Fewer blaster bolts hitting the wall, fewer repairs," Leia said with a nod "We could do it that way."

"Oh I am so pleased you have-" Threepio said but Han clamped a heand on his shoulder and interrupted again

"All right, Goldilocks" he said "We'll do it your way. This time..."

"Oh dear, your're toying with me again, aren't you sir?" Threepio said with an audobile sigh

Han nodded "It's more fun and far less destructive than hanging meet around your neck and letting the war dogs loose on you, though that does tempt me."

"Humphf!" Threepio said and turned back towards the door he entered through "Not very sporting, I must say."

A chime filled the air- the first, delicate five notes of "Path to the Sky", a ballad from Leia's adopted homeworld of Aldeeran.

Han heaved a heavy sigh "Not too late to change your mind. We could hold them off for days."

Leia smiled at him "Hush." she said

[butter]

Mike Fletcher

I groaned softly, turning over in my bed. I was in my bedroom, and I had just been awakened not by the alarm, but by the insistent sound of someone knocking on my door. Or perhaps I should say, pounding.

I buried my head under my pillow, pressing it against my ears, hoping in vain that whoever it was would just go away, and that sleep would reclaim me. I'd had trouble sleeping last night, and it had been a particularly rough night for me, because...

I sighed inwardly. Because yesterday was the day that Rachel, exactly two years ago, had broken off our engagement. I still didn't know the full story of why she broke it off, or why it had been so sudden. Part of me wondered, as I always had ever since it happened, if I had done something terribly wrong, or if I'd said something that offended her or hurt her so deeply. But I could never think of anything I might have done to drive her away...

And it left me wondering, as it always did whenever that date on the calender rolled around again... did she really love me at all, in the first place? I suppose, I will never truly know. Honestly, I thought I had gotten over it, and perhaps in a way, I had. I'd reached the point where I could go an entire year without thinking of her much, or at least I could say her name without my heart aching. But whenever that day came around... the day when she had broken off our engagement... it almost felt like it had happened just yesterday.

The insistent pounding did not let up. I groaned, then threw aside the pillow and the covers, knowing that I was apparently not going to get any more sleep. Not this morning, anyway. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up, scratching the back of my head irritably. Even after all these years, after that crazed lunatic had sliced off my lekku, sometimes the scars still itched.

"I'm coming!" I shouted as I stamped out of my bedroom toward the apartment door, muttering under my breath. If this was anything less than an emergency, I was gonna.....

I paused at the door just long enough to smooth some of the wrinkles out of my pajamas, then I opened it. To my surprise, I saw my sister standing there.

"Electra?" I exclaimed. "What in the world are you doing here?" I was still irritated, especially since it was my sister that had interrupted my sleep. Surely she of all people should have known what yesterday was, and how it had effected me.

"Mike," she said, in that tone she always used whenever she was confronting someone who had either offended her, or had done something she didn't like. I moaned inwardly. If there was one thing in the galaxy I didn't want to deal with right now, it was my sister, when she got into one of her moods. I was tempted to close the apartment door in her face, but I didn't.

"What?" I finally said, in an almost acid tone.

She looked slightly taken aback by the harshness of my voice, but that didn't stop her from stating the reason she'd came, although her tone had softened a little, at least. "Mike, when you decide to borrow something from my quarters, especially when you said you'd give it back in three days, I really wish you would keep your promise."

Was that what she was all upset about? I didn't even try to stop myself from rolling my eyes. "What didn't I return?" I asked bluntly.

"You took my hydrospanner, and you never returned it. You said you would give it back in three days, Mike! This is the third time you've borrowed something, and you didn't return it. First it was the energy lamp, then it was my favorite pen, now it's--"

I threw my hands into the air. "First off," I snapped, "when I borrowed your energy lamp, it was because the power had gone out in my apartment, and they said that they'd have it fixed in two days, so that's why I said I'd give you your lamp back in two days. But for some reason, they didn't get it fixed for three days. That is why you didn't get it back--I tried to tell you, but you were busy that day, so you didn't my message.

"Secondly," I continued, "when I borrowed your pen--I had no idea it was your favorite pen. And it looked like you had plenty of pens, so I thought you'd given it to me to keep. It wasn't until you came pounding on my door that--"

"Okay," Electra said, holding up her hands. "Mike, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make such a big fuss over everything, and I'm sorry if it bothered you. It's just..." She trailed off, as though she couldn't think of anything to add.

I glared at her. "Thirdly," I continued, just to get it all out of my system while I was speaking, "I simply forgot to return your hydrospanner. Why? Because last night was--"

"Yes, I know, Mike," Electra said, looking flushed. "Mike, I'm so sorry, what I said to you was unfair, it's just..." She swallowed. "I had a fight with... Ailyn this morning."

I raised my eyebrows. "You had a fight with Ailyn?" I repeated. "What was it about?"

"Nothing," Electra said, a little too quickly, and a bit defensively. "Anyway, you know Mike, you get like this whenever the big anniversary date of your and Rachel's breakup comes around--maybe you should... put it behind you. It's been two years, after all."

I clenched my fists at my sides. Did she have to turn the discussion around to be about me whenever she didn't want to talk about something? And it wasn't just that annoying habit she had that made me angry right now... her words seemed so... cold. As if she thought this was easy for me.

"You've never been in love," I told her icily. "Perhaps one day, when you are, you will understand." I turned on my heel, walked over to my desk, and grabbed the hydrospanner. Then I walked back over to the door and practically tossed it at her. "There you are," I said. "I hope you and it have a happy reuinion."

Before she could answer, I closed the door in her face. Right at the moment, I honestly didn't care if I'd hurt her feelings or not.

Electra Fletcher

I turned and walked away from Mike's quarters, knowing that it would be useless now to try and talk to him now. Yep, you've gone and blown it again, Electra, I thought to myself, shaking my head. I sighed inwardly. I knew I had a temper, and oftentimes it probably meant I wasn't the easiest person in the galaxy to get along with. But when, when, would I learn not to speak before thinking things through first? And when would I learn not to go and put my foot in my mouth?

I was so preoccupied with these thoughts that I actually bumped into someone in the corridor, without really seeing them. "Oh--sorry!" I exclaimed apologetically. "I wasn't watching where I was go--"

Then I suddenly realized who it was. I narrowed my eyes immediately. Ailyn. I was still mad at her. I didn't want to talk to her right now.

The argument we'd just had was still fresh in my mind. She was seriously thinking of going back to being a Bounty Hunter. Frankly, after everything our family had been through, the last thing my father needed was to have his wife go off and get herself into things that could very well get her killed, or could cripple her at least. And... well, okay so maybe I still hadn't completely accepted the fact that my dad had remarried, but in my own way, I had accepted it all the same. I would never think of this woman as a mother, not even a substitute mother. I would never even think of her as an aunt, or anything close to that. But she was... like a friend, and to me, she was like part of the family, too. If that made sense.

I just... I know she helped my father a lot, when he was grieving the loss of... my mother. Just like we all were. So if Dad saw something special in her, then... that was good enough for me. It meant that I would accept his being married to her, and I would accept her presence in our family, so to speak, but that was all.

Mike on the other hand... I know he doesn't hate her, I thought distractedly, but... it's like he feels as though Dad betrayed Mom by marrying someone else...

I snapped out of that thought. "Excuse me," I said coldly, attempting to move past her--but she blocked my way. I sighed. Of course she would want to try and talk... I rolled my eyes inwardly.

[tallboydave]

JOHN CAPLIN

Brigadier John Caplin (Retired) stared moodily out of the viewport of his apartment, servoes in his droid body whirring softly as he shifted his feet. I can feel it in my bones... he thought silently, as his hands tugged at the waistband of his jumper. Something is not right....

Retired from the Marines he may have been, but as was his right as a General he still recieved weekly intelligence briefings, and something in those recent dossiers had him on edge.

His thoughts were interrupted by a pair of arms threading between his and around his waist, as Mara Jade cuddled up to him from behind. He sighed softly and leaned back int her. She'd been his pillar of strength now for many years now, and even saved his mind from oblivion when he'd been mortally wounded on that Vong warship years ago.

[butter]

Mara Jade

I put my arms around John, and felt him relax into my embrace. I smiled, resting my cheek against his shoulder, holding him close. We'd both been through so much, and yet it seemed as though no matter what happened, all we did was grow closer together, in one way or another.

I heard a soft noise behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder at the droids. T3 was roaming about, tending to things around the apartment, but for some reason he had stopped in the middle of the floor to watch us. HK-100 was right behind me, off to the side, alert and ready for anything.

I turned away from them, ignoring them for the moment, and ran a finger along the edge of John's cheek. "Is something troubling you?" I asked him.

[tallboydave]

John Caplin

I nodded slowly. "I was just going over the Intel Reports I've recieved he last few weeks... Something feels.... I don't know, off kilter about this business on Corellia." I said. "I hope I'm not jumping at shadows or anything..." I trailed off, looking pensively out over Earth.

[butter]

Mara Jade

I gazed out the window at the beautiful sight outside, and nodded slowly. From what I'd heard, I didn't exactly like what I was hearing about some of the things involving Corellia, either.

"Only time will tell, I guess," I said, shrugging my shoulders a little. I was about to add something else, but whatever I had been about to say was instantly forgotten when I heard a noise behind me, followed by an exclaimation from T3.

I turned quickly, and I saw T3 and bumped into the table. My mouth quirked in amusement. Perhaps it's time for some maintainence, I thought off-handedly.

[tallboydave]

John Caplin

I looked at T3 in puzzlement, blushing slightly at his ripe language. "Something wrong, Teethree?" I asked in machine code. Being a mechanical man had its' advantages, I chuckled dolefully.