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Post by Eth Erzin on Aug 4, 2008 7:42:20 GMT -8
Day 1
Lents awoke that morning with fire in his eyes and determination in his heart. He slid off of his cot and threw on his breastplate and cloak. He didn't even know why he had the breastplate. It didn't have any Mandalorian weapons implanted, and restricted his preferred Form IV lightsaber combat. Regardless, he had learned to live with it and took a familiar comfort in the weight on his torso. He adjusted the straps, then when finished, tried to use the force to bring his lightsaber through the air to him from the desk across the room. It quivered and rolled off the desk, falling to the ground with a loud clatter. Annoyed, Lents reached down and snatched the lightsaber up and into his hand. He left this room and walked over to where he knew Master Beckoaret would be at this time of morning, meditating in a spot where the sun broke through the city above and graced the lower city with a few relatively strong rays of sunlight in the otherwise-darkened realm.
"Excuse me, Master Beckoaret?" Lents interrupted the Jedi Master's meditation.
"Yes, Padawan Terria?" He answered, not opening his eyes.
"I--I think that I'm going to... well, um, Master Beckoaret?" Lents stammered over the words, determination from just a few minutes before dying away like heat in deep space.
"Speak, young one." Beckoaret commanded, wordlessly scolding Lents' stuttering.
Lents once again summoned his determination. "Master, I have to leave the camp."
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Post by Eth Erzin on Aug 4, 2008 17:27:19 GMT -8
Master Beckoaret seemed genuinely surprised by this and opened his eyes, concern showing on his face. "What makes you say this, young one?"
"Master, I'm nineteen now, but that's beside the--"
"Age does not determine title." Master Beckoaret said sternly. His voice softened just a little bit. "Why do you say you need to leave the camp?
"Well it's that I think I can take care of myself now, and I'm feeling restless in this camp. We cannot just stay here and hide while the Emperor continues to keep his tyrannical grip on the galaxy! I need to go, to see the rest of the galaxy myself, and to see what I can to to unite the Jedi to resist the Emperor's reign once and for all. It's been four hundred years! Isn't that a little too long? And the galactic rebellion five hundred and fifty years ago managed to defeat the empire with only one Jedi to their name. Imagine what we could do with all of the Jedi spread dangerously thin across the stars!"
Master Beckoaret only listened as Lents spilled out everything on his mind. When Lents finished, he pondered for a few agonizing minutes. As the seconds ticket by, Lents fidgeted more and more until he could take it no longer, and then some. Finally Master Beckoaret spoke.
"I understand your sentiments, Padawan Terria, but you must understand, the Emperor is a very powerful person, and if word spread of exactly how many Jedi do exist, then it will only make it that much harder to fight back against the Emperor, as you suggest. We need to wait until our strength is unmatchable before catching the Empire off guard with one swift movement."
"But how long must we wait, Master Beckoaret?" Lents' voice betrayed his frustration at the Empire. "We've had four hundred years to grow strong, don't you think it's time? I know I'm just a Padawan, but I did manage to find my way here from Omwat, halfway across the galaxy. I believe I can take care of myself, but will gladly let a stronger, more qualified Jedi undertake this mission. However, if none is to be found... Master Beckoaret, this is something I have to do! I still have much to learn from you, but in the Ancient Republic, Padawans learned from many Masters did they not? I hope I will still be accepted here after I leave, because despite my desire to travel, I will always remember this as my home. Master Beckoaret?"
Once again the Jedi Master took an agonizingly long pause. "Actually, Padawans were taught by one Master until their Knightship, but I understand your pain, and your will. If it were anyone else, I would refuse to let him leave, but you have shown that your heart can overcome obstacles far greater than any other Padawan traditionally would be able to. Go, Young Padawan, and may the Force be with you, but always remember: you still have a long way to go, so never overestimate your own strength. That being said, never underestimate yourself either, because confidence and determination are as important as skill and power in all ventures." Master Beckoaret closed his eyes and resumed meditating.
Lents was silent, then quietly spoke. "Thank you, Master," then turned and sprinted to the turbolift to the upper city.
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Post by Darth Jeluvitas on Aug 4, 2008 17:40:17 GMT -8
Darth Jeluvitas' b-wing reverted to realspace. he was now orbiting above the imperial city. after examining his artifact for the days that it took to return to the capital, he discovered how to deactivate it. He would need to if he wanted to hide it from his master and any other force sensitive person in the galaxy. he carefully remembered how to reactivate it and sealed the info in an empty section of his mind that he could disconnect and reconnect at will, making it impossible for someone to force him to reveal it. after landing, he searched through the crowds until he found someone who he knew he could trust to underestimate the object. It was a small Omwatti teenager. He strided quickly towards him and made his presence aware to the boy.
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Post by Eth Erzin on Aug 5, 2008 7:03:58 GMT -8
"Yes?" Lents asked the strangely tall and foreboding Chiss approaching him. He could sense something strange about it. The dark side? No, the dark side would be much more tangible. Unless he was a master Sith and hid his alignment, but then why would he want to talk to Lents? Could he have found out about the Jedi camp? Then why would he come after Lents and not Master Beckoaret himself? Unless he didn't know where the camp was and wanted to pry the information out of Lents' mind. Lents vowed to not let that happen, so he practiced one of the first Jedi techniques Master Beckoaret had taught him, and cleared his upper mind of all Jedi- and Force-related thoughts and memories. In under two seconds he appeared as a regular force-blind Omwati. "Can I help you?" he asked the Chiss.
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Post by Darth Jeluvitas on Aug 5, 2008 9:34:07 GMT -8
Darth Jeluvitas noticed what the kid was trying to do. Fortunately for the boy, he didn't care about the jedi and their little rebellions. Just to add to his effect, he made his eyes glow brighter. "I have a task for you." He reached inside his robe and pulled out a small grey cube. "I need you to protect this with your life, or it will cost you yours. It should not be difficult, because no one is looking for it." As he spoke, he gently placed a suggestion that this cube was important and that something bad would happen if it fell into the wrong hands using the force. With that, he left, leaving Lents with such little information.
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Post by Eth Erzin on Aug 5, 2008 12:21:35 GMT -8
Surprised, Lents fumbled with the small cube before catching a solid grip. In his clumsiness, he accidentally dropped his lightsaber, realizing it almost before it was too late, he reached down with the force and tried to keep the lightsaber from hitting the ground and making a loud clank. Powered by his desperation, the force successfully held the lightsaber up, shaking slightly but hidden beneath Lents' baggy Jedi garments. Realizing with horror that if the Chiss in fact was a Sith, then he would have sensed Lents using the force. Either way, he was doomed.
He swiftly bent down and yanked the lightsaber up from midair and held it unactivated in an inconspicuous Form II opening stance under his sleeve. He preferred Form IV but would be easily noticed in the vast but crowded city. Prepared to fight for his life, Lents suddenly realized that the Chiss had left, either not having noticed or not having cared about Lents' lightsaber or ability to use the force.
Relieved but very confused, Lents hurried over to a map of the area shining from a holoprojector on a street corner. Finding what he was looking for, he made his way to the Trade District of the area. Scanning the shops, he found a starship dealership advertising their low prices. Peeking at his funds, Lents realized he would have to choose that store as opposed to one of the dealerships that sold fancier or newer ships. He made his way inside and approached the one man sitting at a desk, watching a holovid mounted on the ceiling to his right.
"Excuse me..." Lents said.
"Yeah?" asked the man, eyes darting from the holovid to Lents, then back to the holovid, then Lents again, finally settling on the Padawan.
Lents explained his desire to buy a ship, and the man immediately warmed up and showed Lents the yard, filled with ships of all shapes and sizes, from the old and rusty to the old and battered. Lents looked at each one and finally decided on a dirt-cheap Y-wing, salvaged from the New Republic during its short hundred-year reign.
"It won't help you against an Imperial dreadnaught." the man chuckled, "But it'll get you around."
Lents purchased the ship, then thanked the man and boarded the vessel, settling into the worn pilot's seat. Master Beckoaret had given him basic flight training, and everything in the Y-wing seemed to be standard. Lents pulled on the accelerator and jerked haphazardly out of the hangar and into the Coruscant air. Requesting liftoff under the guise that he was an independent trader, Lents received permission to depart and escaped the atmosphere of the Empire's Main Planet, wiping the sweat from his brow and thanking his lucky stars that it was easy as it had been. He punched in the coordinates of another planet where Master Beckoaret had told him another Jedi Enclave was situated and watched in astonishment as the stars around him all of a sudden blurred into lines as he exited realspace and entered into the surreal realm of hyperspace.
'Now time to see what this cube could possibly be...' Lents thought as he pulled his eyes away from the mesmering starlines and back into the cockpit, turning the cube around in his hands, pondering its untold mysteries.
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Post by Eth Erzin on Aug 6, 2008 8:10:59 GMT -8
Lents continued to wonder at the cube. He had no idea what it could be, but he realized that if someone singled him out for the cube, then he might be being followed. Maybe it was a tracker. Or the Chiss could have chosen him at random, then maybe it's a bomb. Maybe that Chiss was a terrorist. But then, it wouldn't do much damage if he were alone in space in an old cheap Y-wing. Unless it was some sort of new superweapon, but even then in hyperspace it wouldn't do anything. Maybe the Chiss already knew where he was going and wanted to blow up one of the Enclaves. That seemed more likely. The Chiss did have that weird aura about him. Maybe he was a Sith master and the reason he didn't kill or torture Lents was because he wanted to destroy a different camp. But what if the Chiss thought that Lents was going back to the camp on Coruscant? That would mean that the Jedi there were still hidden, which was good. But what to do with the cube? Is it in fact a bomb at all?
Lents decided that the best thing to do would be to hide the cube in a place where if it in fact was a bomb, it wouldn't do much damage if and when it detonated. If it were a proximity bomb, then hopefully it wouldn't go off, but why would the Chiss want to blow up someplace where there are no people? Lents laughed aloud, and decided the best thing to do would be to hide the cube on a remote and uninhabited planet. There he could study it in relative safety. Whether it was a bomb or anything else...
He punched in some new coordinates and programmed the Y-wing's computer to take off to the new destination as soon as it entered realspace, with as little delay as possible.
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