This just gets better and better.

I'm following it avidly here because KFM updates too slowly. :) More!

^
That's because I didn't consider submitting there for quite some time (not that there's anything wrong with KFM, the thought just hadn't occurred to me, and then I wanted to lurk a bit). I don't want to upload a ton of chapters all at one time, so it's quite a bit farther behind than here. :)
I can totally understand their submit policy since they handle more edgy stories.

Back on topic...thanks! Ch 18 is already being thought out. I'm going out of town this coming weekend with a long flight so I may get some solid work done while on the plane. :)

Every thread has more views than replies. Another Jae-licious chapter, keep it up! BTW cutting the branch seems like something Talin would do, not Jolee. IMO a 'Jolee thing' would have been cutting down the tree. :xp:

Woohoo! (My signature glee)
Yeah I was wondering where those who have read it have gone. I understand the whole concept of LIFE. Still I wait for another Bindo moment. :D

@Hall--Jolee cutting down the tree-- :lol:
@JM12--I think mine has roughly a 5-10% reply rate (out of views). That doesn't really bother me. Some people just want to read it and not necessarily say much if anything, and that's fine. I'll view a thread more than once sometimes without making a reply, either because I don't have time to reply right then (like when I'm at work and have a few minutes to breeze through a thread or because I don't have anything significant to contribute at that time. Other times I'll read a thread (in any forum) because certain people have replied, and I want to see what they have to say about the topic, or because I'm interested in seeing where the discussion is going.

Heh, Jimbo saw the tornado in this chapter, shook his head, and sighed, "That's my wife...." :D

So... what is it with you and tornadoes, anyway?

^
I've been fascinated with them ever since I saw "The Wizard of Oz" as a kid. In 4th grade, I wanted to be a meteorologist when all my other girl friends wanted to be homemakers (nothing wrong with that, btw), teachers, or nurses--the 'traditional' women's occupations. I actually wrote a fan letter to the local TV meteorologist (who took the time to write me back!). When the tornado sirens go off, that's my cue to go outside, not to the basement. I'd like to go on a tornado chase vacation, although I've been informed it'd be over my husband's dead body, so I guess that probably will never happen. He said something about worrying to death about me getting injured or killed while going on The Great Hunt for Twisters and I don't want that to happen. You learn to make these compromises in marriage. ;)

However, given the unusually severe weather that Li'adin experiences, an F5 tornado would not be an unusual occurrence, and I thought it'd be something different from dodging asteroids. I didn't create the planet's weather problems to specifically include tornadoes, however. I don't mind the dodging asteroids thing, I just don't want to see the concept made stereotypical by doing it into the ground. The fact that I like these storms made it even better. :)

The last two chapters were amazing Jae. I really liked the reference to KOTOR I as well. Where Jolee said he hung out with some trees and walking carpets for awhile. Keep up the great work, I can't wait for Jae to save the universe! :)

I like your tornadoes Jae. It does make a difference from the dodging proton torpedoes and asteroids, though the odds of surviving an asteroid field is approximately 3,527: 1 :lol:
I wonder what are the odds for surviving a Liardin tornado? :lol:

I wonder what are the odds for surviving a Liardin tornado? :lol:

I don't know. I'm making this up as I go along. :D And I'm betting Jolee's one of those 'Never tell me the odds!' kind of people. :)

Seriously, it depends on how strong the tornado is and if it hits you directly or not. Since F1 tornadoes can overturn mobile homes, it has enough strength to do some serious damage if you happen to be in the center of it.
The F5 tornado I have above can have winds over 300 mph and throw cars about 1/15th of a mile (or 100meters)

The Storm Prediction Center has some great info:
Online Tornado FAQ (http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/index.html)

Or do really wierd stuff like knock down a store wall, but leave the canned goods and shelves standing against the wall undisturbed. Or pick someone up bodily, strip off all his clothing besides his boots, and set him down completely unharmed. Or pick up five horses hitched to a railing and deposit them a quarter mile away, also completely unharmed. Or drive wooden splinters into an iron fire hydrant, or a pine plank through an iron girder. Or send a brick through two rooms of a house to embed itself in the back wall without even chipping one of its corners. Or my favorite, embed a piece of straw in a car's windshield like a spear.

Tornadoes are fascinating.

My favorites are flying cows that land uninjured and the piece of hay stuck in the side of a tree.
The best story (on Weather Channel's storm stories) was when a toddler got blown away from her mother in a tornado and was found without serious injuries and rescued by a sheriff to get reunited with her mother.

(Thanks to Jiara and Emperor Devon--your help with the beta-reading is much appreciated.)

Chapter 18: Tornado

“Hang on; it’s going to get rough. This tornado’s right on top of us and I don’t have enough room to maneuver. We have to get above the storm to escape,” Jolee said.

The winds grabbed hold and rocked the ship. Jolee’s hands gripped the controls, fighting to keep us airborne as the furious gales slammed us up and down. My fingernails bit through fabric where I grabbed the armrests too tightly, and I breathed deep to fight back the fear as the ship bucked again. I shouldn’t have stayed out so long. I shouldn’t have risked our lives for a couple of pieces of a broken starfighter.

“Jae, block those emotions. I can’t afford the distraction,” Jolee growled over all the noise of debris peppering the ship. He hit another control when the ship started to roll violently. It corkscrewed a few more times before Jolee could slow it down to shaking turns.

I compressed the terror into a tiny nugget and hoped it would be enough to allow Jolee to concentrate. His eyes were riveted to the displays, and he said nothing. An alarm sounded, warning of extreme structural stress, and I felt the vibrations down to my bones. I fought to press the fear back down again and block the adrenaline surge.

The ship shuddered. One of the compartment latches broke free, and tools flew out into the cockpit like miniature missiles. I froze them all in mid-air. One hovered a few centimeters from Jolee’s head, and I held on tight through all the shaking. Please, let this end soon….

The skies lightened abruptly. We broke through the top of the storm into the clear stratosphere where all weather stopped. I looked at the cloud deck below us, its puffy white innocence belying the deadly winds that roiled below.

“Heh, good girl! Knew you could do it,” Jolee said to the ship, patting the edge of the instrument panel. Then he looked up and saw the hydrospanner suspended just above him. “Jae, were you planning on whacking me with that thing if we crashed?”

I giggled and breathed the rest of the anxiety away. I used the Force to fly everything back to the compartment, then locked the latch down tight.

“Show-off,” Jolee snorted. “And make sure it’s latched tight this time.”

I grinned and then scanned the instrument readouts. “Ship integrity looks OK.”

He studied his readouts and nodded agreement, then looked at me. “What do you think the odds are of surviving a Class five tornado like that one?”

“After what we just went through, I’m betting it’s less than flying through an asteroid field.”

“The answer is it doesn’t matter as long as you survive.”

“Oh, Jolee…” I just shook my head in amazement.

“Let’s get back to the capitol. I’ll contact the Li’adans and give them the short story on what happened. And for Force’s sake, go get some dry clothes on before you leave a giant puddle all over and catch cold or something like that.”

* * *

We landed, and the emergency teams scrambled around the ship, searching for any danger. Finding none, they released the Accipiter to the repair crew. Kiol’ad and Tarm’ad came aboard to evaluate Dycen’a and get more information. Jolee spoke with Kiol’ad while I took Tarm’ad to see Dycen’a.

“The injuries are pretty extensive. Jolee and I agreed we don’t have enough power to prevent multiple organ failure during healing. It’ll take a couple of Masters to heal him properly.” I sighed. “I wish he’d surrendered instead.”

“I don’t believe it was in his nature. He needed to be stopped. We found his base, and there were tens of Singles there, some severely injured or damaged in some way by Dycen’a. We think it took a remarkable restraint to keep him alive, actually,” Tarm’ad said, peering at one of the wounds and then looking at the monitors. “Looks like a very stable stasis field. This should hold him well as long as you leave soon for Coruscant.”

“We’ll have to leave Talin here, then.”

“He’s healed enough to go with you,” Tarm’ad said. When I raised my eyebrows in surprise, the Triad continued, “He was the model patient while you were gone. We were able to free up a kolto tank, and he didn’t even complain when we put him in it for awhile.”

Jolee overheard us as Kiol’ad and he came to see Dycen’a. “Will wonders never cease. The boy actually listened to reason, then.”

Tarm’ad smiled. “He is rather strong-willed, but he did well.”

“‘Strong-willed’ is not the description I’d use,” said Jolee.

Tarm’ad’s smile broadened. “We’ll send him to you shortly, along with your belongings, so that you can be on your way.”

After Tarm’ad debarked, Jolee said, “Jae, show Kiol’ad what you found running around in that damn storm that nearly killed us.”

Kiol’ad’s eyes widened. “That was one of the worst storms we’ve had in years. You were out in it? You’re lucky you weren’t killed.”

“I had to go out. It was the only way to find out where Dycen’a had been. I found the navicomputer, and this object. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” I handed him a slim metal cylinder.

Kiol’ad pressed a tiny button, and a display flashed to life. “Ah, good, it works. This is a timestreamer. It maps out time with great precision. All events are referenced to these instruments.”

“That’s a pretty fancy chronometer,” Jolee said.

“Rather like that, yes, but far more detailed, and it works in multiple dimensions. Our species has the ability to make limited transfers extra-dimensionally in time. The timestreamers prevent the formation of time paradoxes. We know exactly when we leave a particular dimension and exactly what time we return. Most curious that he would have one of these on a ship. We’ll have Aklar’an process both instruments for data.”

“Can non-Li’adans use it?” Jolee asked.

“No, only those who can make the transfers in time.”

“So we have to worry not only where Dycen’a went, but when he went.”

“Precisely. We’ll contact you shortly,” Kiol’ad said, and then left the ship.

I watched various thoughts play across Jolee’s face. “So, what are you thinking?”

“A lot of things. Let’s get Talin settled, and once we get going we’ll all talk to see if any of my ideas make any sense.”

* * *

Talin eased his tall frame down onto the sofa with a sigh. “It’s good to get out of that infirmary bed. I don’t know what it is about those things, but they’re never comfortable.”

“You look a lot better. The kolto did you good,” I observed, handing both Jolee and Talin some mugs of caffa before sitting down on the sofa with a cup of my own.

“I hate the taste of that stuff. No matter how tight a mask they put on, somehow it always works its way in.”

“It’s awful, I know. I’m glad I don’t have to do that again.”

“Why would you have to do that again….just how did you get hurt?” Talin’s eyes narrowed as he frowned at me.

“I’m fine, it was all minor. You can’t even tell where I healed. Your fighting tips were very helpful, by the way.”

“Yes indeed, the fighting tips were quite useful. However, Dycen’a wasn’t the main problem, was he, Jae?” Jolee said.

“What’s worse than a Sith apprentice, except maybe his master?” Talin looked back and forth at Jolee and me.

Jolee replied, “She ran out into a Class five tornado looking for little souvenirs in the wreckage of Dycen’a’s ship. Thank goodness it was actually something important instead of a caffa-maker.”

“Great, Jolee. I’m glad you broke it to him gently.”

“When we get back to Coruscant, I’m going to ask the other Masters if impudence was added to the Padawan curriculum recently. I think I missed that somewhere in Jedi Master training.”

Talin looked at both of us in disbelief, then concern. “Why would you do anything so insane? You could have been killed! Didn’t I tell you to come back safe?”

“Talin, we’re both fine, and you need to stay calm right now.” I put a hand on top of his briefly to transmit tranquility and pointedly ignored Jolee’s amused look. “Going after those instruments was our only chance to get some answers on Dycen’a’s whereabouts. Kiol’ad has Aklar’an reviewing the information in both the navcomputer and the timestreamer.”

We filled him in on the rest of the events.

Talin brought out a datapad. “While I was stuck in bed, I looked over the data that Kiol’ad gave us at our first meeting. The vortices have been appearing in this system and near Ossus. That has to be connected to what you’ve found.”

“Why go back in time to Ossus?” I asked. “Oh, wait. The Scourge defense holocron was from the Jedi Library there, wasn’t it?”

“The Jedi managed to get some materials out of the Library before the stars exploded, but we still lost a lot of items,” Talin said.

Jolee sat back in his chair, stroking his chin in thought. “That holocron was supposed to have been one of those lost items. Here’s my theory. Dycen’a was apprenticed to a Sith Master and went traveling around in time to steal items for him. Somehow, he was able to slip in and out of the Jedi Library, though we’ll probably never learn how.”

“Dycen’a and his Sith Lord had to meet up from time to time so he could deliver whatever he got from Ossus and get his training,” I said. “If we can find out where he’s been going, we may be able to narrow down the location of his master.”

Jolee nodded. “Now you’re using that brain of yours. When we get to Coruscant, we’ll check with the Master Archivist to see if any other items were missing instead of confirmed destroyed at Ossus. If Dycen’a has been time-hopping for this Sith and stealing holocrons, we may be up against something far more dangerous than we anticipated.”

A good Chapter as normal.

Welcome back, Jae Onasi!

Tornadoes are awesome weather events. I think they're cool to watch but not so cool if I happen to be in one's path. :smirk2:

So the sparks between Jae and Talin are really starting to fly now, eh?

And a Bindo moment! Another great chapter Jae. The crash landing scene sounded vaguely familiar like from a movie :D
Meesa likes it.

Thanks folks! I love writing Bindoisms. Sometimes even I don't know what he's going to say next. :D

I especially look forward to a kiss or two between Talin and Jae :D

I especially look forward to a kiss or two between Talin and Jae :D

No worries! ;)

Thanks to Emperor Devon and Jiara for the betas.

--------



Chapter 19: The Xi-ro Form

“We have the data from the navcomputer and the timestreamer, and we’re sending you the information as we speak,” Kiol’ad informed us the next day. “It appears Dycen’a has made frequent trips, though why he has gone to Telos, Ossus, and Nar Shaddaa, we don’t know.”

Jolee cocked his head slightly. “Telos and Ossus make sense. But Nar Shaddaa?”

“We were curious about that as well, and thought you might have some thoughts on that.”

“Hmm, none at the moment, but when we find something out we’ll make sure to contact you. Was there anything from the timestreamer?”

“There are frequent instances of travels in time, and they coincide with the vortices. Dycen’a was the only one who could have done this. Since he can no longer cause these swirls, the gravitophoton count should drop and our planet’s weather system will hopefully return to a more normal state.”

“We were happy to help with that mission,” Talin said.

Kiol’ad nodded. “We’re happy to have that help. We gave you all the data on his travels. We’re not entirely sure what to make of the rest of the information. Perhaps you’ll have some insight.”

“We think Dycen’a was working with an Exchange boss on Telos. The travel information might give us some clues on where to find him,” I said.

“Good. If we find out anything more here on Li’adin, we’ll make sure to forward the information to you.”

Talin added, “We’re very grateful for your help. If there’s anything we can do, please ask.”

“Just look in on Dycen’a for us when you get to Coruscant. The Jedi Masters believe he will live. Any information we can learn about his activities will be very helpful.”

“We’ll do that,” Jolee said.

“We have found your visit both enlightening and enjoyable, in spite of the difficult circumstances. We hope you will return to us soon, as we now consider you part of the Li’adin family. May your time and travel be enjoyable,” Kiol’ad said, bowing slightly as the holovid image faded.

Talin downloaded the information onto several datapads. “I’d like to evaluate the data from Aklar’an right away.”

“That’s a good plan. We’ve got a couple of days before getting to Coruscant. No sense wasting it playing Pazaak,” Jolee said.

“I’ll miss out on practicing my Pazaak face, you know,” I said.

Jolee snorted as he handed me a datapad. “You’ll need a lot more practice than one or two evenings.”

Talin raised an eyebrow. “Do I even want to know what this is about?”

“Ask Jae sometime. Less play. More study. It’s been a long few days already playing in a couple bad storms, fighting a Sith a couple times, mending you, and getting the ship repairs finished. I’d like to get something constructive done on this before my eyelids get other ideas.”

We spent several hours poring over the data before Jolee called us all back together. “Let’s do a quick review and then call it a night.”

I pulled up a holomap of the region. “This point in Li’adin space is the planet itself. This spot over here in space is where the vortices always appear.”

Talin furrowed his brow, studying the datapad. He added his information to the map. “I’m starting to see a pattern in his travels. He occasionally went to Nar Shaddaa, but most of the time he went from Telos to the vortices and back. He started to return to Li’adin itself more frequently starting about three months ago, probably for recruiting Singles.”

“Can we find out how far back in time he went? Did he go back in time to Ossus, too?” I asked.

Talin scrolled through the timestreamer information. “Those are very interesting questions. Ah, here it is. He did go back in time about 45 years. We can double check in the archives for any reported anomalies around Ossus and the other planets then.”

“I wonder just what he was doing on Telos for Norelden. We need to find this crime lord,” mused Jolee, looking from the datapad to the map and back.

“Aklar’an gave us his ship registry. Maybe we can see when and where he stopped. That might give us some idea,” I said.

“We also need to find out what he was doing on Nar Shaddaa. By the way, is that registry a legit number?” Talin asked.

“I doubt it. We’ll search through the normal channels of course, but I’d be surprised if he was using the same number once he left the Li’adin system. If it’s not the same, we can ask Mik’oth to help us track it down,” said Jolee. Then he grinned. “I’m quite sure he’ll be delighted to see you again, Jae.”

“No doubt. Maybe I should tell him I bought a dancer outfit. Do you think he’ll prefer something with sparkly blue sequins or a rainbow one with strategically placed flashing lights?”

“I don’t think anyone will care what it looks like as long as the coverage is the bare minimum,” Talin smirked.

Jolee chuckled. “Talin, you’ve obviously recovered completely.”

“You men….” I rolled my eyes, and then smiled slyly. “You know, Talin, Mik’oth does have a Ladies’ Lounge. With your manly physical charms, I’m sure he’d find a place for you with no trouble.”

“I have an out. I’m a terrible cantina dancer.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I never meant to imply you’d be dancing.” I got up from the table and gave him a wink.

Talin blinked, opened his mouth, and then closed it again.

Jolee burst out laughing. “You walked right into that one, lad.”

“Goodnight, boys,” I called out as I headed to my room for the night.

***

The Sith Lord sneered, “You’re not strong enough to kill me, Jae. And I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to turn you.” Jolee was lying on the ground motionless, eyes closed. Talin, wracked with pain, was moaning weakly on the ground, twisted with the horrible plague. The Sith Lord drove his blade down for the attack, and we began our duel. He matched my blows, our lightsabers whirling furiously, blades snapping together. He feinted a blow to my leg, and when I moved to defend, he raised his saber high to bring it down on my head. Too late to block!

My heart raced as I awoke with a gasp. A few deep breaths did nothing to restore calm, so I went to the galley for some tea. I sank down into the common room sofa with the hot drink, hoping my shaking would abate quickly.

Talin padded silently out of his quarters. “You OK?” he asked.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t. I was meditating and felt the emotion wave. Was it that dream again?”

“Yes. Jolee’s still asleep?”

“Snoring away. Do you want me to wake him?”

I nodded no as a violent shiver overcame me.

He caught my mug of tea as it slipped. “Your hands are ice cold,” he noted, trying to warm them in his for a moment. “Let me go get a blanket.” He returned and placed it around my shoulders, then sat down next to me on the couch.

“We’re not supposed to fear,” I said in a tight voice, huddling under the cover.

“No, we’re not supposed to allow fear to control us. No one said being a Jedi made us immune to feeling it.”

I shivered again at the vivid images. Talin frowned in concentration for a moment, and I wondered if I had somehow done something wrong.

“Come here,” he said as he put an arm over my shoulders, drawing me in close. I had another spasm of shaking as I laid my head on his shoulder. He adjusted the blanket and then held me tight to calm some of the trembling.

“I can’t sleep. That awful vision will return.”

“You have to sleep sometime. I’ll stay so you don’t have to worry about those nightmares.”

“I’d be keeping you up too late. You won’t be able to rest yourself.”

“I spent way too much time resting last week. Besides, you saved my life. At least let me repay the favor a little by sitting here.”

“What would the Council say about this?”

“Have you ever seen them complain about a Jedi helping someone? Besides, I’m not worried about the Council, I’m worried about Jolee. He’d shove me out the airlock if I left you alone shaking like this.”

“We wouldn’t want Jolee to do that.”

“No, we wouldn’t. You’re almost doing me a favor by letting me sit here.”

I gave him a half-smile at that ridiculous logic and settled against him. We lapsed into a comfortable silence, and the trembling started to calm down.

“I’m glad you decided to stay,” I said after awhile.

He gave my shoulders a little squeeze. The shivers stopped, and I was finally able to slip into a deep sleep, free of the visions.

***

“Caffa’s hot,” Talin said as I walked into the galley that morning. I poured a mug and joined the two men sitting at the small table.

Jolee looked up at me from his breakfast. “Something wrong with your room? You like hanging out on the sofa a lot lately.”

“My room’s fine. I had the vision again,” I replied, sipping slowly on some of the steaming liquid. The heat counteracted the chill from the memory.

“I know this isn’t your idea of a good time, but describe it again for me,” Jolee said, sitting back in the chair. “Give us every detail you can see this time, even the tiniest ones. I’m missing something in the other descriptions, and it’s sitting in the back of my head nipping at my brain like an irritated oller. Ever been nipped by an irritated oller? Those pointy little teeth aren’t dangerous, but they’re sharp enough to be really annoying.”

I sat back and closed my eyes, visualizing the scene. “I can’t see any room details. Everything looks dark and foggy around us. Jolee is lying on the ground, still. Talin is on the ground in severe pain, twisted up from the Scourge, blisters everywhere. Then the Sith Lord appears. He’s human, but it’s too dark to make out his features very well. All I can see is dark hair, a pale face, and eyes glowing with hate.”

“What is it about these Sith and glowing eyes? It’s like a bad holovid,” Jolee said.

I grinned and continued, “Then the battle starts, and the Sith Lord and I trade blows. After awhile he feints for my leg, I go for the block, and he comes at me from above. Since my blade is down, I can’t defend myself. It stops just as I realize he’s going to slice me in two.”

“Hmm. Go through the battle sequence move-by-move if you can. I think there’s something more there,” Jolee said.

“Let’s see…” I pictured the vision in slow motion. “The sequence is rather long.” I went through the set of attacks and defenses.

Talin copied down every move on a datapad as I called them out. He took a few moments to review the entire sequence. “I think I see the pattern. You said in this section here that he’s striking at your head. Show me how he’s doing that.”

Standing up, I pantomimed the moves.

Talin looked back at the datapad again, and pointed to a different sequence. “Here, on this attack. Show me that one.”

He watched closely as I stepped through the stances, mimicking that series of blows. Talin’s eyes widened in surprise as he and Jolee looked at each other. “That’s the Xi-ro form he’s using.”

“Looks like it to me, too.”

“What’s the Xi-ro form? I’ve never heard of it,” I asked.

Jolee said, “It’s a rare form. Doesn’t surprise me you haven’t heard of it.”

“Master Vrook’s the only expert in it. Not very many other Jedi know it.”

“Why would this Sith Lord use an obscure form?” I asked.

“Could be any number of reasons—his master was an expert in it, he wanted to use a form few others have seen to gain an advantage, maybe he just likes the name. However, it narrows the field of people considerably for us. Now we know he’s had Jedi training along with his Sith teaching, and he’s part of a select group. That is, unless Vrook’s started teaching a bunch of students that form,” said Jolee.

“He only teaches it to the lightsaber specialists,” Talin said.

“Then add Master Vrook to the list of people we need to talk to on Coruscant,” I said.

Jolee ticked off the list of people on his fingers. “Yes, Vrook. Then Supat to check on Dycen’a and you two. After that, Telos port authorities and possibly Mik’oth. Finally, Vandar about the information we’ve found and those visions.”

“Oh, not the visions again,” I groaned.

“I’m glad to see you’re cultivating a mature attitude about this. I can’t begin to tell you how much I love listening to complaining. Let’s add it to the Padawan curriculum and have more of it.”

I smiled slightly and then sighed. “All right then, let’s see if we can get an appointment with him first and get it over with quickly.”

“That’s better.”

Eventhough we have different writting styles, I still like the way you think. I like the technobale talk, and your action sequence was very entertaining and well developed... I can't wait to read more. :)

Another great chapter Jae. I like where the budding love is heading. My favorite part is where Jae makes a comeback at Talin. I was laughing aloud and still am :lol: :rofl:

A good Chapter. I wonder how many visions Jae has had of the Sith Lord.

I can technobabble with some of the best. I knew all that money I spent on college might some day come in handy: I learned big words to use in fanfiction. :D
Doctor might have me beat in the technobabble vocabulary, though. :)

The 'sparring' terms are taken straight out of the sword-fighting that takes place in our history re-enactment group mixed with a smattering of fencing/rapier and a sprinkle of martial arts. It's how the sword-fighting community describes the blows they give or take (side/offside head, etc) when they discuss the individual fights or rounds of a tourney with each other, since the fighting is not choreographed. Hubby fights, so I get to see the sequences up close (or can ask him if I don't know something).
The whole fic is meant to be more light-hearted than some fare. That's not because I don't want to do something more serious. However, I write chart notes all day and nearly daily email for my volunteer post. In both situations, I have to be very careful about how I communicate so that nothing gets misconstrued/misunderstood, and it takes a lot of energy for me. Dealing with something in a light-hearted matter means I don't have to take it too seriously, and I can just relax and have fun with it. This means the writing style is adjusted accordingly. Of course, since this is only about the second or third piece of fiction I've written since high school creative writing (a long time ago in a galaxy not so far away), it's equally possible (and very likely greater in probability) that it's just frank inexperience talking. :D
But the only way to learn to write is to 'just do it'.
:)

Edit--one of the things I did in a grad history course was this exercise where the prof gave us a pile of data and facts, and the 20 or so of us in the class had to take that info and write a 5 page paper on it. The results were very interesting. We all had the same starting info, but we all wrote 20 very different papers based on that. The differences in writing styles and how we each even perceived and approached all that data was fascinating. We had to read them out loud, and we all learned something different from everyone else's papers.

Edit--@Mac--yep, we do have different writing styles--mine's probably more 'social/conversation' oriented than yours and yours is a bit more action/activity and even thematic oriented. Nothing wrong with that, btw! I just happen to enjoy the people stories/witty repartee of the movies and games just as much as the action, and maybe leaning more towards the conversation than action stuff in my case. Just different ways of looking at the SW universe. :)

@Pottsie: 3 visions so far.
@JM12: When I was running through that part today on my lunchbreak while doing some editing, I had to make sure I wiped the smirk off my face before I left my little office, lest eveyone wonder just what good drugs I was on. I think the staff wondered what the heck I was doing there that made me laugh out loud to myself. :giggle1:

And yet again Ladies and Gentelmen, Jae amazes us with two more awe inspiring chapters! Great job JO, keep it up!

^

The flight home was long (4 hours on 1 leg, 1 on another), so I had plenty of time to get that last chapter done right after the previous. At least until the laptop battery died, at which time I had to switch to writing notes on my boarding passes because the muse didn't care one iota that the battery died. :)

Teehee. I guess that means we will be seeing another chapter soon. This...good...thing...co...WE ARE SORRY YOUR CONNECTION HAS BEEN SEVERED DUE TO THE BATTERY DYING :lol:

@Jae - Very true... Very true.

I was in a romantic mood, since today is Jimbo's and my 16th anniversary. :3heart:

Edit: This is a revision of the original chapter 20. Enjoy. Thanks to Emperor Devon and Jiara for the betas. I appreciate it!

If you can't stand romance, skip the section from the asterisks until the second to last paragraph. :) (and Hallucination, no hunky chests in this revision. :D )

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 20: Healing

“He will recover,” Master Supat stated as we watched Dycen’a float unconscious in the kolto tank several days later. The Ithorian Master adjusted some of the settings on the tank and then swiveled his head around to us. “The only reason he survived your attack was your immediate stasis field. It took five master healers to stabilize him. He’ll likely have some permanent damage, but it shouldn’t be too debilitating.”

“When will he able to tell you anything?” asked Jolee.

“A few more days, and then we’ll be able to question him.”

“He was apprenticed to a Sith Lord. He’s bound to know something. Let us know when you find out anything, Supat. I need to go talk to Vandar a bit, so I won’t hold you up any longer. I know you wanted to see Talin and Jae as well,” Jolee said.

“I did. Come with me, please,” Master Supat motioned to us to follow him.

“Meet me in my quarters in three hours,” Jolee instructed us, and we nodded.

Master Supat evaluated me briefly and declared, “All minor injuries, which you healed well.”

Talin was leaning against the wall waiting to see the Master healer next. He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “Master Supat should know that you acquired those injuries in a Class fifty tornado.”

“The scale only goes up to five, Talin,” I laughed.

“Li’adin’s a special case. Their tornadoes start at five and go up from there. Were you planning on letting him know any time soon?”

“Sure, when he asked.”

“Is he supposed to divine that through the Force? He can’t help you properly if you don’t tell him anything.”

Master Supat turned to look at Talin, lifting an eye ridge wryly. “I didn’t need to ask. Jolee already gave me a report of what happened on Li’adin. He knows that Padawans have a tendency to understate their injuries.”

“He knows this, eh? How well?” I asked.

“Quite well. I saw him often enough here when he was a Padawan. He tried to tell me one time that his rib fractures were ‘just a couple bruises’ and that he could go back and finish his lightsaber practice with one of the other Padawans—Andor I think.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Talin shook his head slightly.

“Because it’s Jolee,” I grinned.

“Master Supat, is there a cure for ornery old Jedi?”

He snorted in amusement. “There is no cure for Jolee. He is terminally ornery. Now come, Talin, let me take a look at you.” Talin sat down for the evaluation. “A good healing, Jae. Usually I find something that needs adjusting, but not today.”

“Jolee did a lot of it.”

Talin captured my gaze. “Jolee’s not the one who rescued me from becoming one with the Force. You did.”

“Hmm, Jolee was not very descriptive about that. Please tell me what happened,” Master Supat said.

I stood there until Talin looked away to Master Supat, then I found my voice. “When Talin’s vitals crashed, Jolee and I could feel the ebb in the Force. He told me ‘go get that boy’, so I went. I found him wandering, and I told him it was not his time yet. We cared about him and wanted him to come back. He decided to return.”

“That was all that happened?”

“Yes.”

“That was extraordinarily risky. The two of you already share a small connection because of your injury, and that connection likely grew stronger with this incident. If Talin decided not to come back and you couldn’t break the link, you would both have been lost to us.”

“There was no acceptable alternative, Master Supat. He would have died if I hadn’t gone, and he is too important to the Order--” I stopped. Talin arched one eyebrow. “—and to Jolee and me.”

He smiled slightly in satisfaction.

Master Supat said, “Indeed. Every Jedi is important. Such powerful experiences can create Force bonds. Has that happened?”

“A bond has formed to some degree. We haven’t fully explored the extent,” Talin replied, looking over at me.

“What do you think, Jae?”

I regarded Talin for a long moment. So many different feelings! “I can feel the link, but I’m unsure what to do.”

He acknowledged that with a fractional tilt of his head.

“Hmm. Well, it’s not like you’ve had much time to assess it. While you’re in your meeting with the other Masters, I’ll find some data on Force bonds for you. How is your study of the Scourge defense going?”

“Slowly. Too slowly. I’m concerned that I won’t master it in time.”

“Let the Force guide your learning and it will come more easily. We are researching the Scourge itself, and we might learn something more once Dycen’a has recovered enough to speak. With all of us working together, we will stop it. Now, I declare both of you healthy. Do try to stay out of harm’s way, though that is rather like asking a Selkath to stay out of water.”

We both replied, “Thank you, Master Supat,” then gave him a slight bow as he waved us kindly from the room. We walked out of the Jedi Temple’s infirmary, away from the clinical scents and bustling activity.

“We have some time before meeting Jolee. Do you want to go anywhere?” I asked. The vague feeling of being watched crept through my consciousness. I looked around quickly and saw nothing unusual.

“What’s wrong?” Talin said, eyes darting around, searching for trouble.

“I don’t know. I just had a sudden feeling that someone’s watching us, but I can’t find the source.”

“I didn’t sense it. Maybe it was someone in the infirmary.”

“I don’t know. I only felt it for a brief moment.”

“We’ve been dealing with some very dangerous people. Do you want to go to Jolee’s quarters to wait? It might be safer.”

I glanced around another time and reached out with the Force to find the source, but the feeling was gone. “I’m not sensing anything now. I’d like to see a little of Coruscant. There’s so much to do here, and never any time to do any of it during the apprenticeship. I’ll keep an eye out, though.”

“Let me show you the public gardens at my family’s compound, then. A couple hours’ tour won’t do it justice, but it’ll get us away from anything remotely medical. Especially the smell.” Talin wrinkled his nose so dramatically in distaste that I laughed. He grinned. “Come. It’ll only take a couple minutes to get there.”

* * *

I gazed at the profusion of colorful blooms, breathing in the aroma of moist earth and perfumed flowers. “This is exquisite.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that look of amazement on you before.”

“It’s an Ithorian masterwork. I’ve never seen so many different varieties from so many different planets.”

“I think the gardener studied on Ithoria for awhile.”

“Beautiful.”

“Yes.”

A breathy quality in his voice made me look up at him. His eyes were on me, softness in the blue. I couldn’t breathe--the desire to care battled the fear and the old ache. We stood like that for a long moment.

His quiet voice broke the spell so I could breathe again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“I’m just not sure how to handle all these emotions.”

“The Council’s stance?”

“That’s part of it.”

“Neither of us can deny the bond that formed, nor can the Council.”

“No, we can’t,” I said, giving him a small smile that he returned.

“I won’t ask for any more than you want to give.”

“I appreciate that.” We walked in silence for a bit.

“Do you want to see if there’s anything from Onderon?”

“I’d like that, yes.”

We followed a tiny stream through the various displays until he found the right section.

“Oh, my…” I said as I caught sight of the Onderon blooms, one with perfectly transparent red petals. Roben loved these, too…I pushed the pain away.

“What is it?”

“A glassflower. The petals become clear as they mature. They’re very difficult to grow off Onderon, and here there are so many.”

“You should have it, then.” He reached down to pluck one.

I held a hand out to forestall him. “Talin, I don’t think--”

“Hush. I’m family. I’m allowed to pick a flower at least once a year, particularly if it’s for someone special.” He grinned for a moment as he handed the glassflower to me.

“Thank you. It was—is—a favorite.” I looked down at it, swallowing hard against the lump that formed in my throat.

“Talin tipped his head slightly, looking confused. “Was? Ah, Roben.”

I nodded, watching the clear flower petals rotate as I turned it in my hand. The trickling of the little stream filled the silence. My vision blurred as the tears started to well.

“There was nothing you could have done differently. Master Kavar couldn’t save him, either.”

“I know. It was his time.”

“Look at me. Oh, Jae,” He gently brushed away the tear that escaped. “Why do you do this to yourself? If Roben was the kind of man you’ve described, I know he wouldn’t want this.”

“You’re right, he wouldn’t.”

“What would he want?”

I turned to watch the water bubble over the rocks. Talin put an arm around my shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. “He’d want me to stop pushing people away because I was scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“Scared of getting too close and then losing them.”

“Them?”

“Jolee…” I took a deep breath. “You.”

He drew me in closer. “I can’t promise I’ll be alive in fifty years. I can’t even promise five minutes. I do know that some things are worth the risk of that pain of loss, and I know I’d like to spend time with you, know you better, make you happy. Tell me, would you rather have had time with Roben or no pain?”

“Roben, of course.”

“So, you’d do it all over again?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t miss the joys in life because you fear the pain.”

I watched the light glint off the glassflower petals. I buried my nose in the blossom and inhaled the sweet scent, then lowered the flower into the stream. It bobbed up and down as the water carried it away out of sight. My hands trembled as I wiped the last of the tears away. I exhaled away the emotions except one. “Do something for me, Talin,” I whispered.

“What’s that?”

I looked up at him. “What you’ve been dying to for the longest time. Kiss me.”

Hope and uncertainty flashed across his face. “Jae, are you sure--”

I brushed my fingertips against his lips to silence him. “I’m sure.”

His mind touched mine and the wave of warmth washed over me. He leaned closer for the kiss, and my heartbeat quickened.

The scent of the garden changed abruptly. It was that ozone smell that follows on the heels of lightning strike, the smell of the superheated air around a lightsaber, and it filled the area. The hair on the back of my neck rose. “Talin, down!” I grabbed him by the back of the head to pull him out of the way. A blade of angry red light slashed through the now-empty space. I dodged to the side and ignited my lightsaber. “He’s Sith!” I whipped my blade around, catching his. Talin ducked and rolled, then came up with his saber lit.

The Sith and I locked gazes, blades crackling as we pushed against each other. His eyes sparked his hatred. “My master doesn’t like what you did to Dycen’a.”

He removed his shirt
I thought you were gonna try to avoid Memoirs of a Lusty Jedi. :tsk: :xp:

Another Jae-arrific chapter, and happy anniversary. :)

He was taking off his shirt for a medical exam. ;P

Thank you!

There is a fine line between a clinical admiration of well-designed anatomy and frank appreciation of a physique. I didn’t even realize I’d crossed that line until Talin looked up and saw my eyes unconsciously evaluating his chest.
That says otherwise. ;)

^
[gag warning for those not into mushy stuff]

What can I say. Hubby, great love of my life, inspired me today. :D

Ewww.........
Come for the check-up, stay for the Male Jedi Strippers!

Talin’s mind touched mine through the Force, and the wave of warmth and caring washed over me. My heart started to beat faster as he leaned over, inching his lips closer to mine, prepared to back up and give me time if I hesitated.

The scent of the gardens changed in an instant. An ozone smell, that smell that follows on the heels of a lightning strike, filled the area, and the hair on the back of my neck raised as I sensed the danger.

“Talin, down!” I yelled, grabbing the back of his head and pulling him down out of the way. :freakout: Oh so close. So painfully, agonizingly close. Blasted Dark Jedi getting in the way of some good lip lock. :firemad: I hope Jae and Talin quickly slay his butt and get back to more important matters. :D

Oh yes, Jae Onasi, :bday2: happy belated 16th anniversary to you and the one with the well-muscled upper body that inspires your writing. ;)

@ JediMaster12 - please correct me if I'm wrong but you are a female, yes?

@Hallucination-- Oh, my, goodness! The Jedi Med Centre "Quote" was hilarious, especially ironic with your signature on Puritanism.... :lol: And that's why I gave the gag warning. :D I guarantee there will be no naked people here! Besides, bare male chests are rated PG or G. :)

@Cutmeister--Thank you and I'll pass on your wishes to Jimbo. :)

Yes, there's nothing worse than a Dark Jedi ruining that special 'Moment'.

And good luck on finals, if they're not already done!

As always, I am grateful for betas from Emperor Devon and Jiara. :)

--------------------------------------------------

Chapter 21: The Chase

“Your master is going to be very disappointed,” I said, stepping out and shoving the Sith's crimson blade to the side. It melted through one of the metal rails and sliced effortlessly through some of the shrubs. The superheated wood smoked and burst into flames. Sentients screamed and scattered in all directions.

He wheeled around and charged with a flurry of blows, pressing me back away from Talin, who had rolled away to escape. Our sabers blurred into circles of light, humming a lethal cadence. So fast! Focus, focus.... He swiped at me and the tip of his blade nearly grazed my hip as I twisted away. The Force became a flood, slowing my racing heart, pushing away the wave of fear. I countered his blow, circling my blade down to trap his. We strained against each other's strength, our sabers moving back and forth as we fought for control. My arms shook with the effort.

He narrowed his eyes, a predator smiling over his prey. “You're wearing down. I'll have you in a moment.”

Talin ran to us and drove his blade down toward the Sith, who stopped it just before it sliced into his head. Their sabers crackled together. Talin whipped his blade down for another attack. I slashed my lightsaber around, snapping through the rain of attacks. We pressed him, and he retreated, sweat breaking out on his forehead.

Two more focused on us! “Talin, duck!” I jumped away, rolling as blaster bolts peppered the ground where we were standing, making plumes of dirt and plants. “Snipers!” I shouted over all the noise.

“Stay with me on the one with the saber. We'll take them all together,” Talin called back.

The Sith leaped at me. I jumped up and ran to put him between the shooters and me. Talin deflected the rain of blaster fire with small arcs of his lightsaber and dashed to my side. He launched a hail of blindingly fast blows. The Sith took quick angry breaths as he struggled to keep pace with both of us. Talin attacked his head, drawing his guard up. I slashed at his side, making a surgically clean cut completely through. His eyes widened in shock and then rolled back as he dropped to the ground in two halves. The shooters backed away, still spraying us with red bolts. I threw my lightsaber after them, dropping one. The surviving sniper turned and ran.

“Nice throw!”

“Better be. Jolee made me practice it enough.”

Talin grinned back and we sprinted off after the gunner. I turned the corner and ducked back as a blaster bolt hit the wall above my head, showering me with chunks of debris. I felt for him with the Force. “He's running again, Talin.”

“Let's go! Keep your guard up in case he does something funny.”

I took a quick look around the corner and saw him running away. We followed him to the end of a landing pad. He stopped short and looked over the edge at the chasm below, eyes darting about.

“There's no escape,” I said to him.

“We don't want to hurt you. Just drop the blaster and we'll take you in safely,” Talin added.

“Look, it's a long drop from here,” I said.

“You're old enough to have heard of jetpacks, sweetheart.”

“You jump from here and you'll be jumping into all that speeder traffic. It'll be suicide. Let's stop all this right now. We can protect you,” I urged him.

He laughed. “Sure. Like I'm supposed to believe anything a Jedi says.” He activated his pack and shot off a line of cover fire. Talin and I snapped our sabers around to deflect the bolts. One of the energy rounds ricocheted and hit his pack, sending him spinning down, away from the platform.

I sucked in my breath in fear. “He's going to get killed in all that traffic!”

“Jae, don't--” Talin held out a restraining hand.

I jumped, using every bit of Force power to span the distance. Time slowed as I flew through the air reaching out for him. I caught him around the neck. He grunted at the impact as we twisted wildly through the air, and then he blinked. “What? How? Damn Jedi.” The shocked look lasted a moment before he grinned. “Any other time, sweetheart, you could be my wildest fantasy.”

“Any other time, you still wouldn't be my type.”

His eyes widened and he inhaled sharply. I looked back. A speeder raced towards us, lights flashing in warning. I twisted to the side to shift our weight, and the pack turned. A line of speeders screamed by. I pulled down on the pack to dodge more aircars.

“Land this thing! Now!” I shouted over the wind.

More speeders flew towards us, and I leaned against him to tilt us away. One of the vehicles grazed the back of the pack and sent us spinning across the lanes of traffic, speeders beeping and dodging around us, creating chaotic swirls. My stomach lurched, and I fought to regain control and slow the spinning.

“How about I kill you first?” His free arm reached for the lightsaber I'd clipped to my belt.

I concentrated, feeling the Force rush out towards him. I worked through the dark recesses in his brain and found the right center. His body went limp and his head lolled as the Force knocked him unconscious. “How about 'no'?” I muttered, reaching for the controls. The button was melted where the blaster bolt had hit the pack. It jerked again as I tapped my comlink, and it nearly slid out of my hand. “Jolee! I have a little problem here....”

Jolee's voice crackled from the tiny speaker. “Let's see. The scenery's not romantic enough. No, wait. Talin's terrible at smooching. Remind me to give him some pointers later.”

“Jolee, I'm hanging on to a merc strapped to an out-of-control jet pack! I need some help here!”

“You know, that's not one of your brighter ideas.”

“Come on! We're in the middle of traffic and we're about to crash into a building....Oh geez, it's the Senate!” I twisted again to avoid another speeder.

“That'll make their day more exciting. Don't worry, you can't hurt it.”

I leaned back to slow the dizzying spin. “Jolee! How do you stop a jet pack with broken controls?”

“Can you open the panel above the controls?”

I looked at the side of the pack and pulled up the plastic door. “Got it. I see a couple power chips—one of them is shorting—it comes on and off.”

“There's a spare chip at the very top. Pull the bad one out and put the spare in.”

“Great, so I can have no control instead of partial control while the chip's out?”

Jolee snorted. “Where'd you learn to be sassy like that?”

“You.”

“Hehe, you have a good teacher. Just trust your old master and do what I say.”

I pulled on the shorting chip. It broke off in my hand. The pack went out, and the sniper and I plummeted down. “I have a BIG problem. The chip broke off in the socket. I can't get the new one in!”

“Well, use the Force, dammit. It's not there just for you to throw things at Talin's head. Feel the air around you, just like Reeca did. Imagine decreasing gravity and making the air thick so it slows you down and acts like a pillow.”

I closed my eyes and felt the air rushing past me, wind whipping my hair on my face. The molecules seemed to rush in under us, cradling us as we fell. Our descent slowed. We fell hard to the ground in a graceless heap. I blew out the breath I'd been holding and wiped the sweat streaming down my face.

“You know, an update would be nice so I don't worry that you're a messy splatter on the ground,” Jolee called over the comlink a few moments later.

“Sorry, Jolee. I had to catch my breath. We're down. We missed the building, and the sniper's out cold.”

“Congratulations on surviving Coruscant traffic. I'll come with help.”

After assessing the soldier for injuries and finding nothing serious, I sat down to regain my spent energy. Jolee and the emergency transports arrived at the same time.

“You made it down in one piece. Good job,” Jolee said.

“It wasn't a pretty landing.”

“You're alive. What more do you want? You're not hurt, though, right?”

I nodded no. “I'm fine, but I had more close calls than I like.” I tilted my head towards the soldier, now surrounded by medical and security personnel. “He'll be out for awhile. I stunned him hard.” Jolee raised an eyebrow. “Well, he compared me to his greatest fantasy. What was I supposed to do?”

Jolee chuckled, then glanced away for a moment. “Look, Talin's coming. I'll let you two chit-chat. I'm sure he'll want to convince himself that you're not imminently dying. Then let's grab Handsome here and get him back to the Temple.” Jolee walked over to the emergency team to give them some instructions.

Talin hurried to me. “You okay?” He held out a hand to help me up off the ground.

I took it, giving it a subtle squeeze. “I'm fine. It was scary, but we're all in one piece.”

He kept possession of my hand as he looked me up and down, then nodded relieved agreement. “You don't look hurt, thank the Force.” Then he smiled. “I'd hate it if I never had the opportunity to fulfill your request.”

I grinned up at him and pushed the damp hair back out of my face. “I'll need a good cleaning, first.” I glanced over at Jolee, who I caught looking at us, amusement dancing in his eyes. I gave Talin's hand one last squeeze before slowly pulling away. “We don't need any prying eyes, either,” I said, tilting my head a fraction towards Jolee. “I hope he won't be mad.”

Talin looked over at Jolee, who had looked away and made himself busy with the sniper again. “I have a feeling he's not going to mind too much.”

“I don't know how he's going to react to the news. This affects so many things.”

“I wouldn't wait too long. He's not an idiot, and it won't take him long to figure it out.”

“I'll tell him soon, don't worry,” I sighed, and we followed Jolee back to the Temple.

* * *

We stopped at the medical facility briefly to discuss the shooter and his injuries and report on the Sith and the merc. Master Supat absorbed all the information and returned to his work, but not before cheerfully needling us with a comment about how quickly those Selkath got back into the water. We walked to Jolee's quarters to await the call to meet with the Masters.

His window offered a view of the courtyard of the fountains. I gazed down at all the water making airy dances, trying to center myself.

“You're going to wear out your collar pulling on it like that,” Jolee said.

I glanced down at my hand and let go of my robe, then turned to the two men. Jolee sat back, making himself comfortable on the soft couch. Talin sat straight in a chair, legs crossed, hands draped elegantly over one knee. “I'm just concerned about what they're going to say about the vision. I imagine they'll want to know what happened in the Kayl Gardens, too.”

“Is that all?” Jolee asked. “You seem kind of nervous for someone who's just had a bad dream and a little scuffle with a Sith.”

I glanced at Talin, who gave me a tiny nod.

Jolee lifted an eyebrow at him and looked back at me. “You know, if there's something you need to tell me, now would be a very good time.”

The door chime rang. I answered it and motioned in a fidgeting youngling gripping a holodisk in both hands. “Master Jolee! A messenger brought this to the temple for your padawan. He said it was urgent.”

“Come in, son. Jae, let's see that disk.”

“What is it?” Talin asked.

“Someone sent me a message. I hope it's good news,” I said, putting the disk into the player. I clicked it on and inhaled sharply. It was the black-robed figure of my nightmares. My stomach roiled.

Jolee asked the young boy, “Son, is the messenger still here?”

“No, Master Jolee. He delivered it, said it was urgent, and left immediately.”

“Did you notice anything else, son?” Jolee asked.

“He was from Coruscant Messengers, least that's what his uniform said. His badge said his name was Im'ran. But that was odd, Master Jolee.”

“Why was that?”

“It is a Twi'leki name, but he's human. He didn't speak like a Coruscanti, either,” the youngling replied.

“Very good observations, son. Run and tell security we'll need the vids from his stop here to see if we can find any other clues,” Jolee instructed.

“Yes, Master!” The boy scampered out, closing the door behind him.

Jolee stood and walked over to me. “Jae, how about you quit staring at that thing like it's about to bite you, and play the transmission?”

I pressed the play button. The shrouded figure's voice was grainy. “Good day, Padawan. I see you met my minions. I'll get down to business. You've taken something of mine, and I was rather fond of it. I'm quite angry about that, but I've decided to show you some mercy. Bring the holocron to Telos Citadel Station, and I'll allow you to continue your pitiful existence.” The shrouded figure's grainy voice had a sinister softness that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Jolee snorted. “Oh sure. We believe that.”

I managed a tight smile at his quip and glanced at Talin. He frowned in concentration at the tall image.

The Sith Lord continued, “If you try to chase me, I will hunt you, and when I capture you, I assure you that you will wish you were dead. Instructions are on the datacard. My agent will contact you in two weeks. Don't keep me waiting.” The image faded out.

Jolee rubbed his chin, then said, “My, he's cocky. This guy must be nuts if he thinks we're just going to go to Telos with our hands in the air saying 'Hey, Mr. Sith Lord, come and get your toy, we trust you.'”

Talin grinned, but a shiver rippled down my spine.

Jolee looked at me and put a hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Jae, take a deep breath. A little fear is healthy—helps us keep our edge. A lot of fear's no good. Makes you stand there paralyzed like an Ithorian on spice. Trying to get a spiced Ithorian to do anything but stand around staring into space is about as easy as convincing a Cathar to go vegetarian. You just have to accept the fear's there and let it flow out. Focus on what your next action should be, not the fear. The Force will tell you what to do and when to do it.”

I nodded and took a deep breath.

The comm beeped. “Master Jolee, Talin, Jae--the Council would like to see you in a few minutes.”

Jolee said to us, “About time. They've been missing all the fun discussing some useless mumbo-jumbo, no doubt. Let's go.”

At the High Council doors, I adjusted my robe once more, smoothing the folds in place.

Jolee leaned over and said quietly as we entered the chambers, “Don't forget to play it up for Vrook.” He winked and I grinned in return as we went in to meet the Masters.

What's this? Writing on Mother's Day, Jae Onasi? I thought you would be surrounded by adoring husband and children catering to your every whim. You know, breakfast in bed, foot massages, flowers, songs, cooking all the meals and cleaning the whole house, stuff like that. :D

Oh well, so Jae and Talin didn't get an opportunity for smoochin'. There is still hope...

So none of the dark side force adepts Jae and company have encountered thus far have proven to be very skilled. I'm thinking their dark master isn't training them too well, heh-heh-heh. Another reason to join the Jedi instead of the dark side. ;)

^
Heh, Mother's Day, with my dear adoring husband and children spoiling me rotten, is why I had time after church to lay in bed either napping or with my laptop cheerfully typing away.
In fact, bless their hearts, they are making dinner right now.
It was too rainy this week/weekend to plant any flowers, which is my usual Mother's Day activity. There is nothing like roses, heliotrope and salvia sylvestris (the big huge one) to perfume the air on a warm summer night. Hopefully later this week I'll get to go play in the dirt.

The Big Bad Boss has not revealed himself yet, and is sending out what he has. One dark Jedi is never good odds against a skilled lightsaberist, a master, and an older Padawan combined.

Talin and Jae will find their moment. ;)

Great Chapter for yesterday.

Two marvelous chapters Jae. I can see cutmeister is really holding on to the thought of a good kiss. :D
I thought Chapter 20 was nice and a bit romantic or leading up to an eventual kiss or two. Jolee as always made me chuckle at his personality. Terrific job Jae and happy belate anniversary :)

@ cutmeister: yes I am a female. Can't you tell I am a sucker for good romance? :lol:

I can see cutmeister is really holding on to the thought of a good kiss. :D

;) I think a few others are, too. :D


happy belate anniversary :)


Thank you! We had a nice dinner out to celebrate (with kids because both of us forgot to call a babysitter! But it's ok, we like to spend time with them, too.). The rest of the evening we just vegetated, because sitting around doing nothing more important than just being together is actually a luxury at this point in our lives. :)

A little longer than the usual, but I think you'll enjoy the extra length anyway.
[Force Persaude] @ Hallucination: Just skip those last 10 paragraphs. Nothing for you to see there.... ;)

Edit: Thanks for the betas, Jiara and Emperor Devon!

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Chapter 22: The Meetings

“Come, please,” Master Vandar motioned to the three of us. Masters Vrook, Kavar, Vash, and Supat sat in their customary places in the circle of chairs. Sunlight streamed through the lofty windows that soared to the top of the spire. The rays glinted off metal, warming the amber carpet and ivory colored furnishings, lighting up everyone except Vrook. Jolee strode past the tall white center stone and we followed, stopping in the center of the group of Jedi. We all bowed slightly to them.

“Happy to see you, too,” Jolee quipped at the stern Master.

Vrook waved a hand irritably. “Let's get to business. Master Jolee informed us of the visions you've been having, Jae, and Talin's claim that this Sith Lord is using the Xi-ro form.” Vrook scowled at Talin. “Any good student of mine would remember how little it's used, and how very unlikely it is that any Jedi is still using it, much less a Sith Lord.”

“I understand your concerns, Master, but it's the only possible conclusion I can make for that particular pattern of moves,” Talin said.

Kavar noted, “Enough Jedi fell to the dark side in the last forty years that it's entirely possible that form has been passed on. Not that many have ever learned it, however. We might be able to track the Sith Lord this way.”

Vrook snorted. “We'll see. Show me this form, Jae.” I wove through the complex pattern, lightsaber whirling. I stopped and repeated moves as Master Vrook directed. He rubbed his chin in thought, then said, “Well, it is Xi-ro as you thought, Talin.”

Jolee said, “I don't like this one bit. Xi-ro's a dangerous form. Nasty, nasty moves. Hard to defend against, too, since the high-powered strikes come so fast.”

“Jae's form is terrible, too, though to be fair, she's only learned it through a vision. Jae, you'll work with me on it, then.”

“I'm not sure how long we're staying, Vrook. We just got a summons from our nemesis to return his toys.” Jolee held up the holodisk with the message.

Vandar pressed a button on his chair and a holoreader appeared. “Let's see this message, please.”

Jolee walked over to the reader and inserted the disk. The faceless black-shrouded figure appeared. He laughed low, oozing evil. A chill ran down my spine. “Really, Jolee, I would have expected you to remember such a simple message....”

Images flashed before me. The Sith Lord laughing low. Toying with parts of the disk. White flash!

I ran to the holoreader and slapped the control to eject the holodisk. I grabbed it and dashed to the window, holding my hand up and sending a wave of the Force out. The tall window shattered, and I threw the disk away as hard as I could. It exploded in a brilliant white light. The sonic force rattled the windows and pounded through us as I ducked. Then there was silence, and I opened my eyes again and saw only a large cloud of smoke. There was no damage to any other structures. I let out a deep breath in relief and turned back to the other Jedi. Worry flickered momentarily through Talin's eyes as they met mine. I smiled slightly at him and looked over to Jolee. He walked over to me, looking me up and down.

“I'm fine,” I assured him.

“Quick thinking, there. I could kick myself for not anticipating a trap like that,” Jolee said.

Vrook got up and joined me on my other side. The breeze fluttered our robes as he squinted up into the sky and then peered at the courtyard below. “Hmph. Looks like everyone is safe and there's no other damage. Next time, Padawan, just open the window.” He walked back to his seat, sitting down and arranging his robes around him while.

Jolee rolled his eyes. “Vrook, you have a funny way of saying thank you to someone who just saved you from a butt full of shrapnel.”

I choked back a laugh and grinned at Jolee, who grinned back. “Actually, Jolee, I 'saw' the Sith doing something to the disk and then the explosion. I thought I'd better get rid of it before it blew.”

“Well, the message he sent on the holodisk told us he wanted us to meet him on Telos. Obviously the real message is 'I want you dead,'” Jolee told the group as we returned to the center of the room. “We know he's working out of Telos. We need to fly out there and see what we can find.”

“I'm sure my uncle would like to help, too,” I said.

Jolee quipped, “I'm sure Carth will want to lock you up in a stateroom to keep you out of harm's way, too.”

Kavar sat still, frowning thoughtfully before looking at me. “This Sith Lord is aggressive. He acts and uses Xi-ro aggressively. Defense is often lacking when someone is constantly on the attack —use that to your advantage.”

Vash nodded agreement. “You need to go quickly to Telos and take him out before he can gain do any more damage.”

“I have a contingent from Dantooine arriving in a couple days, so I can't go to Telos to fine-tune Xi-ro with you,” Vrook said. “Talin will go with you then. His skills in Xi-ro are adequate enough to teach you. However, you will have to work hard with him to learn it well, Jae.”

“Yes, Master Vrook. I have plenty of incentive, believe me.”

“I'm sure you do,” Jolee drawled. I shot him a sideways look which he ignored.

Vandar turned to the Ithorian healer. “Master Supat, any information from your patients?”

He slowly shook his large head. “No, not much. Dycen'a will be in kolto for several more days. The only thing we could get from the mercenary, even after his mind was opened, was that he'd been hired by Norelden and the Exchange on Telos.”

“That meshes with the information our science team has gleaned from the data you brought from Li'adin,” Vash said to us. “Dycen'a made jumps in time to just before the Ossus supernova. He also made stops at Li'adin, naturally, as well as Coruscant, Nar Shaddaa, and Telos. We sorted the data and cross-checked it with all ship dockings to see if there were any other ships coming in at the same time--he had to have met with this Sith Lord. We didn't find any matches, but there were about 20 suspicious registries. You should be able to find more about the Telosian ones, at least, when you meet with Captain Onasi.”

“The Sith Lord probably changed his ship registry,” Jolee mused. “Mik'oth might be able to help with that, too”

“For a price, no doubt,” growled Vrook.

“I'll tell him to send you the bill,” Jolee retorted, and Vrook rolled his eyes.

Vandar said, “We'll interview Dycen'a as soon as we can, but don't delay leaving for Telos for that. Jae, you'll study Xi-ro with Vrook while here the next couple days, and then with Talin on your journey. All three of you must concentrate on the Scourge defense. We'll contact you with any additional information the moment we have it. All of us sense great danger with this Sith Lord, but everything is still shrouded in darkness and the future is very unclear. Use great care when you contact him. May the Force be with you all.”

We bowed and left the Council chambers.

Jolee rubbed his belly. “I'm starving. I think we ought to take a little trip over to the Eloni Cantina.”

“Talin's in for a treat,” I grinned.

Talin lifted an eyebrow. “Oh? Should I be concerned?”

I grinned even wider. “You'll see.”

“I think I should be scared now.”

“Fear leads to the dark side, Talin,” I said.

Talin shook his head before smiling. “It's never a dull moment with you two.”

* * *

As Jolee opened the doors of the Eloni Cantina, the music pounded and the laughing chatter rushed past us. The gem-colored lights whirled and flashed as we stepped into the warm, night-dimmed main room and searched through the crush of sentients for Mik'oth. We found him and waved when we caught his eye. He waved back, then pressed his way past the patrons of many different species. There were Zeltrons in neon colors, brightly-dressed humans and Arkanians, and the sensual Twi'leks in glittering outfits as they all danced on the dance floor or moved around their tables or the main bar. He smiled and said a few words to many of them before he finally reached us.

“Ah! Lekku-less wonder! How wonderful you're here! What kind of trouble do I need to extricate you from this time?” Mik'oth exclaimed over all the noise.

“Ha! I'd have to rescue you!” Jolee retorted, giving the blue Twi'lek a bear hug.

Mik'oth looked over at me and his face lit up. “My favorite Padawan! Come, let me greet you properly!” He took both my hands and made a great show of kissing both cheeks loudly. “My cantina is blessed with your beauty. I hope you're staying for awhile, though I might have to beef up security to keep your many admirers at bay.” Talin looked at me in amusement and I just shook my head at Mik'oth, smiling broadly.

Jolee said, “Mik'oth, this is Jedi Knight Talin Kayl. Talin, Mik'oth.”

Talin bowed slightly to the Twi'lek. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“My pleasure, to be sure. Friends of the Lekku-less wonder are always welcome here.”

Jolee looked Mik'oth up and down. He was wearing a shiny navy suit with glowing green stripes, and sported fluorescent green rings, vest, and a silk tie to match. Jolee said to him, “You're dressed sedately today.”

Talin coughed back a laugh.

Mik'oth gave him an airy wave. “Well, you know, when the tax man comes, you have to dress conservatively to make a good impression. I decided to turn off the dancing light feature on the stripes and just go for a solid glow to avoid looking gaudy. But you didn't come here to admire my superb taste in clothing.”

“I never underestimate your ability to make an impression with your wardrobe,” Jolee grinned.

Mik'oth tucked my arm under his, patting my hand. “Come, my dear, only the best table for you. Everyone should see how blessed we are with your presence.” He started to weave his way through the brightly-dressed crowd of sentients who were laughing, drinking, or dancing to the fast-paced music.

“Mik'oth, a more secluded table might be in order. I have some business for you.” Jolee sniffed the air and closed his eyes in appreciation. “A little of whatever that amazing food is that I'm smelling would be terrific, too.”

Mik'oth was the master of the Twi'lek pout. He sighed dramatically. “All right, if I have to squirrel you away, we'll use my office suite. You know the way, Jolee. I'll go find us some dinner.”

Jolee led us up to the far more sedate office seating area, done in deep, understated tones and rich fabrics. A large, extravagant desk filled one corner with only a few datapads breaking the smooth surface. The darkened mirrored windows lining one wall allowed a discreet view of the main room below while maintaining privacy. Brightly colored Twi'lek art hung on the other walls, preventing the room from being somber. Jolee sat down on one of the small dark leather couches. I sat across from him on another, and Talin slid into the space next to me. “Mik'oth will just have to settle for sitting with Jolee,” he said to me.

“He'll be disappointed,” I smiled.

“No doubt he will.”

Mik'oth walked briskly into the office, closed the door, then perched on the sofa next to Jolee, fingers laced over a crossed knee. Jolee settled back into the couch, an arm draped over the back, and looked back and forth at Talin and me. “So, what really happened? I've been around the galaxy enough times to know that when a man and a woman go walking around in romantic gardens, it's not generally to study pollen measurements.”

I put my head down in my hand. “Nothing happened,” I groaned.

“Nothing?” Mik'oth asked incredulously, eyes wide.

After I shook my head, Jolee sighed. “Talin, you take my Padawan into a beautiful garden and nothing happens? What is wrong with you, boy? Are you waiting for Hoth to thaw or something?”

Talin flushed and cleared his throat. “Well, the Sith happened before anything else could.”

Mik'oth had a confused look on his face, so I explained the events at the garden.

Jolee said, “I suppose that does put a bit of a damper on things. Then we had the meeting with the Jedi Masters.”

“Oh, they're just beyond stuffy with their silly rules that suck the joy out of life,” Mik'oth replied. Then he looked over at the Talin and me for a long moment. We glanced at each other and looked back at him. Mik'oth rolled his eyes. “Oh, for heaven's sake.” He got up and walked over to us. “Give me that hand, Talin,” he commanded, holding out his. Talin slowly raised his hand and Mik'oth grabbed it. He pointed at me next and waggled his finger for me to give him my hand as well. He made a great show of putting our hands together. “Now, stay that way,” he ordered. He returned to his perch on the couch.

I felt the warm flush creep across my cheeks and looked at Talin, who returned my gaze with a small smile.

Mik'oth sighed to Jolee, “Ah, young love. It's a beautiful thing.”

“Maybe it will be, some time this millennium,” Jolee snorted.

“Well, now, you didn't come to my humble cantina for me to solve Jedi love problems, Jolee. Tell me why you're here.”

“I have something for you, Mik'oth,” Jolee said, pulling out a datacard and handing it to him. “We can't get any information through official channels. The ship registries don't match anything in the government records, and we have about 20 each to go through from Coruscant, Nar Shaddaa, and Telos.”

Mik'oth slipped the card into a datapad. “Obviously they're not going to match anything. You avoid 'official' entanglements by using a false registry. The Senate could clamp down on this kind of thing. Of course, then our good galactic citizens would learn about their little jaunts to their mistresses or spice resorts. So, they'll never enforce the rules. All the better for us, then!” Mik'oth skimmed the data. “Most sentients make the mistake of only using one fake registry. It makes them very easy to track. The true professionals have multiple registries and change them often. I'll have my contacts nose around and see what they can find out. Let's enjoy dinner in the meantime.”

Later, one of the well-built, scantily clad serving girls brought us all caffa and handed a datapad to Mik'oth. He waggled his eyebrows at her as he thanked the green Twi'lek girl, and she winked as she left the office. Mik'oth reviewed the data. “Well, aren't you lucky. Three ships fit the data best.”

“That's lucky?” I asked.

Mik'oth peered over at me. “You're lucky that it's only three. Two are from Telos, one from Nar Shaddaa. Looks like the Telosian ships have docked at Norelden's base several times. The Nar Shaddaan ship is part of Vogga the Hutt's 'unofficial' fleet.” Mik'oth handed the datapad to Jolee.

I nodded understanding. “Ah, stolen.”

Mik'oth poked Jolee in the ribs. “She learns fast, in spite of having you for a master.”

“Hilarious, Mik'oth. It's a wonder you never survived stand-up comedy.”

Mik'oth made an obscene hand gesture at him. “How was I supposed to know those Rodians had no sense of humor after their credit clips disappeared? I ran out of jokes to tell them.”

Jolee chuckled. “On that note, we need to get going. We have a lot to do before leaving for Telos. We appreciate the help very much.”

Talin and I got up, fingertips lingering together a moment longer before we reluctantly dropped hands.

“Sometime you'll have to come in just for pleasure rather than business, you know.” Mik'oth turned to me, took my hand, and kissed my cheeks once more. “As always, my dear, you are welcome here. Talin, you'd better watch out for her. I get very upset if any of my ladies are treated poorly.”

Jolee nodded his head gravely. “Trust me, Talin. You never want to see an angry Mik'oth.”

Talin gave the Twi'lek an indulgent smile before looking at me. “I assure you, I'll give you no reasons to be concerned.”

* * *

Jolee slipped the Accipiter out of Coruscant's orbit and turned it over to autopilot for the duration of the hyperspace jump.

“I need to meditate some on the Scourge defense, and you two need to work on Xi-ro. I’ll leave you to the sparring for now and join you later.”

Jolee went to his room to relax, and Talin and I went to the sparring room.

“All right, let’s work out the sequence slowly,” he instructed. “It starts with defending the left side head, then circle the blade over and attack the leg, then thrust to the chest....”

We worked on the sequences over and over until each move burned itself into the muscle memory.

“There are still a few rough spots as we get farther into the form.”

“I'm trying not to miss that one block.”

“Trying won't do any good if you miss that block with the Sith Lord, damn it. Let’s work on those in particular, full speed.”

Once again the lightsabers glowed, swinging around with loud hums, crackling with an electric hiss as they came in contact with each other. Talin attacked relentlessly with fierce quick slashes. As fast as the Sith Lord.

“You're slowing down. Move it, Jae! I know you can do better than that!”

I grit my teeth and increased my speed again to keep pace as we repeated the form over and over, lightsabers making fiery arcs of light. The image of the Sith Lord striking down on me flashed through my memory, and I turned the wrong way, missing a block. I ducked instinctively.

He yelled “No!” as he pulled up his saber to keep from slicing across my back. It skimmed just above my head and shoulders, then there was silence. I reached for the back of my neck, feeling the fire of the burned skin.

“Oh Force! Are you okay? Let me see!” he exclaimed. He dropped his lightsaber, grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled the neck down and away, then shoved my hand aside to look at the injury.

“Talin! You're choking me!” I gurgled, trying to pull the neck of my shirt off my throat.

“Oh! Sorry!” He gave it some slack and I could breathe again.

I'm fine, Talin. You didn't hit me.”

“I pulled up as soon as I saw you missed the block, but I almost didn't make it in time. You've got some pretty good burns just the same. I’ll go get Jolee,” he said, turning to leave the room.

“No! I’ll be fine in a bit. As long as I'm not dying, all he’ll do is give me guff about learning the hard way and tell me to heal it myself.”

Talin chuckled, relieved. “That he would. At least let me help. I can’t heal like you or Jolee but I might be able to take away some of the pain.”

I nodded, and his hands cooled the fire in my skin. “You have more skill than you give yourself credit for,” I sighed in relief and reached back. The blistered skin had smoothed out and returned to normal. “I think you've healed it completely.” I put my hand on top of his.

He turned me around and gathered me into his arms tightly. His voice was roughened with emotion, “You have no idea how close I came to hurting you badly. Maybe even killing you.”

Circling my arms around his waist, I returned the embrace. “I know how close it was, but we powered down our sabers for sparring.” I looked up at him and saw his anguish. I assured him, “I’m all right, now. So are you.”

His blue eyes, darkened with emotion, held mine. The worry in them gave way to a longing look. He brushed a stray lock of hair off the side of my cheekbone with the back of his hand, and I closed my eyes, savoring the gentle touch. He leaned down, and with a gossamer touch his lips met mine for a brief kiss. My heart beat faster and I sighed deeply as the pleasure shivered through me. He kissed again, this time with an insistent passion that made it hard to breathe.

“Jae, I have a thought on this Scou--” Jolee walked into the room, looking down at a datapad.

Talin and I both stopped and looked over at Jolee. When I made a move to break away, he tightened his arms around me, saying softly in my ear, “Please, stay.”

I relaxed in his arms as Talin cleared his throat.

Jolee looked up. Open-mouthed surprise was followed by a knowing half-grin, half-smirk. He snorted, “About damn time. Carry on!” He turned on his heel and quickly left the room.

I laid my head down on Talin’s shoulder and dissolved into laughter. Talin chuckled, arms still around me.

“I’ve never seen that particular look on his face before,” I said once I caught my breath.

“You know, I was thinking that we should really follow his instructions.” He tipped up my chin with his hand and captured my mouth with his once more, holding me close.

The noise made Jolee look up. The look on his face was priceless—open-mouthed surprise, a re-evaluation that yes, he was seeing what he thought he saw, and then a knowing smile that was half-grin and half-smirk. He snorted, “About damn time. Carry on!” He turned on his heel and walked back out of the room. Yes, by all means, carry on!

:sbdance WOO-HOO!!!:emodanc:

Nicely done, Jae Onasi. A masterful job at creating another opportunity for Jae and Talin to connect, albeit an alarmingly dangerous one. It just makes it more exciting though. :) The long-awaited liplock has finally occurred and isn't it cool that Jae has a master who isn't stuck on the "no emotional attachments for Jedi" dogma. The Force is sometimes kind. ;)

EDIT:
@ cutmeister: yes I am a female. Can't you tell I am a sucker for good romance? :lol: Why yes, I can. :D I don't remember where exactly but it was some other thread where I remembered thinking that you must be a woman based off what you posted. But due to the nature of the forums one can never be sure... ;)

Yes, by all means, carry on!

:sbdance WOO-HOO!!!:emodanc:


:rofl:


Nicely done, Jae Onasi. A masterful job at creating another opportunity for Jae and Talin to connect, albeit an alarmingly dangerous one. It just makes it more exciting though. :) The long-awaited liplock has finally occurred and isn't it cool that Jae has a master who isn't stuck on the "no emotional attachments for Jedi" dogma. The Force is sometimes kind. ;)

If you practice any kind of martial art long enough, you're going to get hurt.
Anybody who says otherwise either is lying or isn't teaching it right. It's just a matter of when and how bad.
I had to go to the ER to get an x-ray of my arm because I thought I might have had a minor fracture--poor technique when trying to break a board on my black belt test, though I did break the darn thing on the next try. Anyway, I had to tell my little story 4 or 5 different times (...I hit the corner of the board first instead of center...), because the ER staff a. could not quite believe a woman of my ample size could have earned a black belt (especially with a bad knee) and b. were very suspicious of abuse due to the location of the bruise. My doctor just shakes his head every time I call and say "You see, I was in taekwondo class, and I got hurt....

I've had the 'About damn time. Carry on!' Jolee quote sitting in my head for the last 4 or 5 chapters, just waiting to come out at the right time. Drives me crazy when a great quote pops into my head and I can't use it for awhile. :)
Heh, the Force does move in mysterious ways, doesn't it. :D

I knew it! I knew Jae was related to Carth in some way, I just didn't know how. Good Chapter as always. And Jae is being a bit bad. Falling in love with Talin. Tsk-tsk-tsk.

Can't wait to see more. You should PM Mach for a Review.

“Talin, you take a beautiful woman into the most amazing gardens in the galaxy and nothing happens? What is wrong with you, boy? Are you waiting for Hoth to thaw or something?”

LOL LOL LOL!!!! I laughed so hard at that statement! The last 4 chapters have been great Jae. I am so glad that Jae and Talin have finally jumped in with both feet. The kiss was very well done.

On a different not, I have a theory about your plot. Dycena was traveling back in time about 40 to 50 years. I am going to go out on a limb and say that The Sith Lord in this story is actually Exar Kun himself. I am thinking Dycena started going back in time for his own interest, met up with Kun, Kun corrupted him, Dycena brought him back to this time and walla! Instant Sith Lord using an Old lightsaber form. :)

I know that you won't say wether this is the plot or not, as we will have to wait and see, but that is my "out there" theory for now. Keep up the great work Jae!

Yes another great chapter Jae. Finally the big kiss. I kind of think the garden scene would have been a lot better for a kiss but this was good. It was another Bindo moment as well.
I catch your drift on injuries. I suffer from tendonitis but I have to engage in physical work that is detrimental to my hands. My hands have been cut, stabbed and nearly crushed. I still have the scars from my last encounter with sharp objects. My knee is like crap because I had a wipe out on a scooter. I know what it's like :D
I have to admit that I was laughing at Mi'koth's dialogue. He is so funnyand I am glad I wasn't drinking milk. It would have been coming out of my nose. I think I might do a sketch of him in his pimp daddy navy blue suit and green lining. What do you think?

Yes, I laughed at Jolee asking 'what are you waiting for?' And no, I won't give the plot away. Mainly because I'm not 100% sure of all the details myself yet. :D

The garden certainly would have been a more romantic setting, but I wouldn't have been able to have Jolee walk in on them and tell them to 'Carry on!' , then. :D

"Pimp Daddy outfit" :lol: Too funny! Yes, I'd love to see a sketch. He likes expensive, well tailored clothes that go well with his blue skin. If they happen to be bright, even better. :)

When I started writing this, Mik'oth wasn't even a thought. For ch. 6 I needed someone that Jolee could go to 'out of the regulation loop' for underworld info, and I had a vision of something along the lines of Quark from DS9, but a bit less cynical and a little more lighthearted, but definitely just as smarmy. Up popped Mik'oth, who has taken on a life completely of his own. All I have to do is follow him along and write down what he says to put it in the story.... :)
I may write the Ukatis adventures when I finally finish this one (which is at 115 pages and 62,000 words--never thought I'd be able to write that much!). I'm betting that when Jolee and Mik'oth are actually teamed up together, they're going to make huge amounts of trouble (and laughs). :D

The 'put the hands together and tell them to stay that way' actually happened to Jimbo and me. :) Jimbo's mother, some of our friends, and we were eating dinner at a pizza joint one night when Jimbo and I were in college. Jimbo and I had been writing and calling each other for about 2 months (we lived about an hour apart at that point), and we were definitely 'in cute.' He wanted to introduce me to his mom (who told him later that night she thought I'd make a terrific daughter-in-law!), so she came over for the pizza dinner. Jimbo and I sat next to each other, and across from us sat his mom and our mutual friend Claudia. Claudia, a drama major who was one of my classmates at college, had heard me talk about Jimbo's letters, so she (and the rest of our friends) knew where this was going probably long before Jimbo and I did. About 4 other of our friends sat farther down the table, and all of us were talking and laughing and having a good time. His mom beamed at us, we beamed back at her, we beamed at each other with cutesy eyes, and finally Claudia just couldn't stand it anymore. She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and said "Oh, for God's sake!" She got up, came around the table, stood behind the two of us, grabbed my hand, grabbed his hand, held them up for everyone to see, made quite the show of putting the two together, and pointed at us and commanded, "Now stay that way!!" loud enough for the entire table to hear, if not the whole pizza joint. Then she walked back around to her seat and sat down with a very self-satisfied smirk at her success at making us actually touch. His mom laughed, Jimbo made cutesy side glances at me, and I blushed furiously and made cutesy little side glances back at him. And we held hands the rest of the night. :)
Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.


Edit--if you all could say a little prayer/have good thoughts--my dad had to go in for emergency surgery today for in intestinal obstruction. The surgery itself is usually relatively easy (compared to other surgeries, that is), but he has a bad heart, so general anesthesia's always dicey. He's in surgery now so I won't know anything for a while yet.
Thanks!

My dad is out of surgery and doing much better. If they hadn't done the surgery today, they would have had to do a much more serious surgery tomorrow. He's in ICU tonight.