TheSagaContinues

The a five are silent for several moments, letting the calming noises of the chamber reflect their expressions. Master Zunn is the first the break the silence.

"Master Sandar, correct?" He spoke with softly. "Your concerns are not unjustified."

Arun-Fol spoke next. "The council is aware of the threat that this...phenomenon...presents. It IS saturated in the dark side, and that thought has weighed on the Council for some time. Even we cannot explain every manifestation of the Force in the galaxy. Though it presents a grave threat...it has remained, to this day, passive problem at best."

Several member nodded. Then Master Rolsh added to the conversation. "Unlike the Senate, we were not quick to sweep its existence under the rug after the disappearance of the initial expedition. Numerous Jedi accompanied the Republic scouting parties and colony ships into its depths. The Nebula sealed itself away, and with it out brothers and sisters, for one hundred and thirty eight years. We have monitored it ever since-"

"Through the Council of First Knowledge." Master Shaak'tik added.

"Quite so," Master Rolsh nodded toward her. "We have monitored it and we have been awaiting for any opportunity to discover the fates of those Jedi believed lost."

"Diviner Sandar," Master Nozho spoke after another pause, "Your experience is not unexpected, and very welcome. We know, even after all this time, so little about the Nebula. However...This is an opportunity we cannot allow to pass us by." The other masters nodded in agreement. "The Republic assures us it is now able to maintain an opening into the nebula, so the mistakes of the past shall not be repeated."

"While your concerns are indeed important -and we shall report them to the council immediately- would you have us abandon this opportunity to discover the fate of that first expeditionary fleet, simply because the dark side is present?"

"No such team will be sent, Sandar." Zunn countered. "The Chancellor tied our hands this time."

Before Sachdev could reply the twi'lek master spoke again, cutting him off with a wave. "The council expressed these precise concerns and wanted to accomplish an advanced scouting mission as well. The Chancellor took a very hard stance against the council. We either go all in or fold out of the game entirely, as the Sabaac players say."

This was unusual for the Chancellor but not unheard of. Since his election, a lot of conservative and hard line stances had been made concerning the Jedi Order. Many still felt the sting of Coruscant's sacking and the apparent inability of the Order to prevent such massive losses. Apparently this was one battle they would have lost either way if they protested too greatly.

"To your credit, the Council did not grant its approval and dispatch so many Service Corps' resources without proof that the technology for this mission would not fail. A test was conducted before official plans for the expedition were released to the public. The council's representative approved of the results. The same mistakes will not be made again by the Republuic and the Coun-"

"It doesn't matter," Master Rolsh interrupted, locking eyes with Sachdev, "This is our only legitimate option to protect these people and investigate the nebula. If the council decided to go along with the Republic and it assures us that we won't be making the same mistakes twice, it is good enough for us -and for you." He cleared his throat and continued. "We do not shudder away from the dark side, Diviner. The Force will guide us and, if it is within our power to do something about this nebula from within, we shall. Otherwise, our top priority is to protect the lives of these people and discover the fate of our predecessors."

The rest of the masters sat quietly. Despite its bluntness, the point was well made and could not be argued. Eventually master Nozho spoke up again.

"Your concerns are noted. In fact, I require you to make a report and forward it to the Council of First knowledge, as well as the High Council. They will be the judges of what to do with your experience."

Askrik was dreaming: It was a strange dream, no doubt brought about by the radiation leaking on this station and the filth remaining in the medical bay. It was dark although that didn't bother him, yet he was fighting a jedi. Or was it a dark jedi? No matter they were all the same. The lightsaber his opponent held changed colours repeatedly: Red, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Violet, Cyan, Silver, Black. No true pattern although it didn't seem to phase the Twi'lek. He knew it was a dream because he too held a lightsaber: the blade nearly as green as his scales. He had never held a lightsaber and yet in the dream knew how to use it. Although it seemed his introspection during the dream was interfering with the dream: His opponent had just driven the blade through his chest. The pain blossomed in his head though not in his chest....

Askrik jumped awake with the smack. His eyes narrowed and his hands flew to his ripper, stopping just millimeters from pulling the gun all the way from the holster. He stared at the bothan, seemingly unconcerned by the sour look on her face. 'Now thiss was an unexpected surprise' he thought.

"Hello Esshra, a pleassure to ssee you again. I can't descide what iss more ssurprising: the fact that you found me here or the fact that you are ssober. That musst be a mighty rare occurrencse of late."

In truth he was very concerned by the sour look on her face. The last time that he had woken up to that expression, it cost him six months wages and a wild goose chase half way across the galaxy looking for some rare liquor. 'Hopefully I sstill have a bottle or two on my sship. That could go a long way towardss calming her down.'

Without waiting for her to reply he continued, "It'ss been a long time...what two yearss or so? I haven't sseen or heard from you ssince that asssignment on Dantooine. I am ssure you remember that one: the one where you ssabotaged my hyperdrive because I acscidentally sspilled that bottle of liquor. Wait or was that the asssignment where you left me for dead in the ruinss with the Laigrekss? Nope ssame asssignment. Hard to remember which asssignment it was when you kept leaving me in bad positionss."

He let that thought echo for a moment as he positioned himself to be better able to react to her next move. "Hmmm though we have only ever worked together on an asssignment oncse so all of thosse must happened at the ssame time."

He shook his head then glared at the bothan. "What do you want now Esshra? What bringss you to thiss sstation and more importantly what bringss you to me?"

Hando woke with a start and sat upright in his bunk, almost hitting his head on the ceiling! He looked around, trying to figure out where he was, what this dark, small chamber was. Slowly, it came back to him. I'm in my bunk in my room at Koda Station, I am not at the Jedi Temple, I am not a murderer, I am not decapitated. The faintest of smiles crossed his face at that last thought. He was shaking, badly, and not jsut from the damp cold in the chamber. Damp cold? Here? He realized that the damp came from him being covered in cold sweats and the cold from... well, who cares. He shook his head, violently, trying to sort his head out. He'd killed Sasee. What's worse, he'd wanted to eat her. Cathar eating other sentient species was heard of, if very uncommon, but Hando had never even contemplated the notion before. He'd actually killed Sasee: his new, he hoped, friend. His shaking intensified and he buried his head in his arms, trying to keep his sobbing quiet enough to not wake the other padawans still sleeping soundly in their bunks. The sobbing soon turned to full-out crying and Hando let the tears come. He was a jedi, but the dream, and the actions he clearly was capable of, had completely overwhelmed him. He sat there for a long while and simply waited for the crying to stop, and eventually it did, and Hando could start feeling better.

He took a quick gander at the chronometer set into the wall of his bunk and realized that it was still hours until he'd have to go up. Sleeping was out of the question, he felt wide awake, still shaking a bit and very cold. He needed to calm himself, to sort out and file away all these emotions and fears, and he needed to get warm. For an instance, he considered dressing and heading over to the Court and meditate, but quickly came up with another idea: he jumped quietly from his bed, picked up his pack and headed for the refresher.

The water set to scalding and with a locked door, Hando stood in the shower, letting the water slowly heat him up, while he gathered his thoughts. The Cathar was, by nature, a passionate and ferocious species and Hando himself had come close to falling once. He would have to be careful not to come that close again, or that dream may very well come true. He closed his eyes, the water washing over his face and mane. His fear of his own darkness was still with him, every minute of every day and while he could push it to the back of his mind most of the time, it still haunted him.

Half an hour later, or maybe a whole hour, Hando turned off the refresher and stepped out. His mind a lot clearer, his body a lot warmer and his shaking all but gone, he felt like a new person. Sleep was still out of the question, but he felt a lot better. He got out his travelling gear: brown, rough-fabric pants, white v-neck tunic, and a grey hooded shirt. He strapped the holster belt on his hips, hooked the lightsaber in its clip and grabbed his comlink from the utility belt and hooked it to the holster belt. The rest of his gear still in the bag, he put it back on the foot locker as he exited the sleeping quarters and headed over to the corridor of the Jedi Hall.

With a clear idea of what he wanted to do, Hando located an information kiosk, traced the route to the nearest view port and headed off. It was still an hour or so before the main populace of the station would wake and Hando felt like being alone with the stars, as he'd been on numerous occasions during his travels. He made his way to the viewing chamber, a big oval room with reclining chairs and a domed view port looking out over the stars. He sat down in one of the chairs, leaned back and took a deep, calming breath. Looking out into the vast darkness with its twinkling stars did give him a sense of calm and with that view fixed in his mind, he began meditating, contemplating. With each passing minute, he became more relaxed, more hopeful that his nightmare would remain just that, and by the time his comlink sputtered to life, he was serene, composed.
"Diviner Sandar, Good morning." He said, hoping that his voice wouldn't reveal the experiences of the night. "Breakfast in fifteen minutes sounds delightful, I'll be there." He hung up the comlink and stood up. Straightening out his clothes and gathering most of his mane into a string, he took off towards the food court.

Diviner Sandar awaited him in the same booth they'd had the previous night. I hope this encounter will be less... confrontational. Hando mused, as he walked over, grabbing a waitress and ordering the largest cup of coffee they could muster, before he sat down. He looked up at the Diviner and a mental image of his dream flashed before his eyes and he quickly blinked before flashing a smile at Sandar. "Master Sandar. How are you?" His voice was steady, but an attentive person could notice a hint of roughness caused by lack of sleep and, if they looked him in the face, a slight trace of the harrowed expression he'd worn most of the night.

...Elyane's expression grew somewhat more worried however she did not speak until it was clear that Sachdev was finished. It sounds as though being vigilant is the best we can do right now. I will go and prepare my supplies, make sure they are ready for a long journey. With Sachdev's nod of approval Elyane stood and left...                                   

The stations supply depot and mercantile quarter were packed. Every last crewman in the station, Republic, Jedi, Corporate or volunteer, seemed to remember something that they’d forgotten on their homeworld, or needed to replace now that they’d reached the final day of preparation. Merchants shouted about droid parts, rifles, blasters and machinery equipment. It looked and sounded like a mad house, or something from one of the Hutt cartel markets. Luckily. The entire stretch was patrolled heavily by Republic and Jedi forces in order to keep the peace. The roamed up and down the rows, between levels and into backrooms whenever possible. It kept order in place even if peace was out of the question.

Elyane moved through the crowd swiftly, jumping from spot to spot in order to peruse the wares. Supply had reached an all-time high now that the fleet’s ship out date had arrived and prices had sky rocketed. As she moved through the waves of bodies, her keen ears pick up snippets of conversation.

“…have a new posting on the station…”

“…advanced party took off early this morning…”

 “…meat is spoiled! You have to go get…”

“…doesn’t mean a deployment is coming…”

“…sensors didn’t pick up anything unusual…”

“…many damned aliens. I’m going to throw…”

“…contingency units? Seems smart, but what…”

“…Republic and Empire are always at each other’s…”

“…old reports from the first expedition say its…”

“…without hyper drive we can’t travel quickly…”

“…of Jedi will be left here for the Order…”

“…-nomalies! It’s like an astrophysicist’s dream to…”

“…couldn’t we bring pixel, father? You brought that…”

“…plenty of formula. Hells If we forget anything that…”

“…expect me to pay? Look at the state its in! You can’t…”

“…Native? Hardly. I can’t think of any reason they…”

“…lot of shady characters. I swear, the Empire must…”

“…decontaminate the unit. I mean it! One hour…”

“…about fuel cells? We have three now, so…”

“…it doesn’t make sense. It never did. That’s why…”

“…no solid numbers. It fluctuates between 70 and 95 ships…”

Sandar's story was certainly a compelling one, and highly disturbing. That nebula radiating such darkness. Hando gave a quick shudder at the thought and then shook his head slightly. He was suddenly VERY glad that he hadn't managed to trace and follow the force energy. He was not nearly as skilled ad Sachdev in dealing with the Dark and given the described intensity of it, it was one of the most frightening things Hando could think of. He shuddered again: that darkness would most likely have swallowed him, warped and twisted him into something unrecognisable, something... awful. He took a deep breath, followed by a big gulp of coffee, finishing off the cup.

As Sandar finished his story, Hando nodded slowly, focusing on controlling the dread that was gathering in his stomach. Revan... Hando had, of course, read and heard a lot about Revan throughout his studies and while he was indeed considered a Hero now, he had fallen prey to the Dark side and become one of the most feared Siths of his time. It had taken the combined effort of several jedi, not to mention a mind wipe, to turn Revan into the Hero he was now considered. Not the perfect role model for a Cathar with a troubled past, but I guess it fits. He mused as he looked up and met the Diviner's gaze. The Diviner had spoken true: if the nebula was that infested with the Dark Side, Hando was in real trouble. He let out a sigh and shook his head. Maybe he shouldn't be on this mission. Sure, all Knighthood trials were hard, dangerous, but this was some thing Master Ordin had not known and could therefore not have considered. Surely, he wouldn't have sent me here, had he known. Hando nodded again. He would stay, he would complete his mission and he would become a jedi. He would prove, to himself, to his master and to the council that he could overcome his fear of the Dark.

"Thank you, Master Sandar." he said, his voice quiet, but thankful. "Thank you for sharing this information with me. And thank you for not coddling me. I need the truth if I am to become a Knight." He nodded again, absent-mindedly. "I will take extra care throughout this mission, I will ensure to take every precaution I can to decrease the risk of coming in contact with this... Malice, was the term you used, right?" He was quiet for a little while. "I just hope that I am prepared for what will happen if and when I come into contact with it."

       Sachdev looked at Hando, he might have been young but if he survived this trip he would not be a boy. It takes courage to admit that your own weakness and face them. Perhaps he is already not a boy. Sachdev spoke, his voice was cold but now he made it sympathetic, Many do not know this, but I know what it is like to deal with personal demons. It is a long and hard road. I didn't realize it till the end but, it is a road we do not have to walk alone. Sachdev waited a moment to let Hando think before continuing. We fear that by airing out our troubles that we display weakness, our own insufficiency. However that is not true. We are all imperfect, we all have struggles that we bear. We are Jedi, a community of brothers and sisters although none of it blood. We where never meant to carry our burdens alone. If you ever need to talk, I am here.

   Sachdev smiled, A long journey indeed. We can speak of it then, I do have things which need doing before the mission leaves. Needing to speak of dreams is something I understand. If you only knew how much I understand. Sachdev had by now finished the plate of food in front of him, and the waitress had come and taken it away. That was another reason Sachdev liked the restaurant, so many try to kick you out right after you finish the meal, this place let you sit and talk a while after. He took one long gulp of the raktajino finishing it off and stood, Hando followed suit. They went and payed and walked a short way out of the restaurant. I have business to attend to in the other direction. I look forward to our talk later. May the Force be with you. With that Sachdev felt the force for a moment to find Elyane walked off to find her.