Destinies: Messages [Figrin]

[James Prent]

When Figrin returned to his room after a long day of meetings and training sessions, his comm was blinking with a text message. When he opened it he saw it was from the Padawan James Prent.


Master D'an - I just wanted to let you know that I did try seeking a vision. I didn't enter into it lightly, but took a few days to think over the prospect and prepare myself.

I asked Aaron Belargic (another padawan here, but you know that) to be there while I did it. So, this afternoon we met and I entered a Jedi meditative trance. And, the long and short of it is that it worked. I was going to call you right away, but I needed some time to think over what I saw in the vision.

I saw the woman from my dreams, who I now believe with all my heart is my birth mother. She was feeding a baby, who I know was me. I don't know how I know, I just do. She was sitting in a cell, like a detention cell, and a stormtrooper came in and took me away. My mother cried, but an interrogation droid was brought in. She resisted, and was shot by the stormtrooper.

Then they brought in a man, who must have been my father. He cried when he saw her body. I tried to stay with the vision, but it was over. The more I tried to force it, the quicker it slipped away.

Watching my birth mother die was pretty unsettling, but I just have a feeling like there's worse to come. I mean, not like my parents being killed again, but there's more coming. I've never had a strong danger sense in the Force, but there's something niggling at my mind, and it's getting stronger as more time passes.

Well, I don't want to worry you, but I did want to let you know that there is definete Imperial influence on my beginnings. Please contact me if you have any more information to give me.

Through the Force-
James Prent, Padawan

The message ended. The prompt came, asking Figrin if he wanted to save, return, or delete the message.

[Figrin D'an]

After reading it over twice, thoroughly, the Jedi Master saved the message to his encrypted personal archive. This would certainly take his search efforts in a new direction.

He sat down at his desk terminal and authored a reply.



James,

I know it must have been difficult to seek that vision. Under normal circumstances, I would never consider asking anyone to willingly relive such an event. However, I believe that this will bring us closer to finding the truth about your birth parents. We can narrow our search now. I have some contacts within the various Imperial factions who may be able to help us. I will contact you when I get any information.

Until then, I would recommend to not force this vision upon yourself again. I know the draw to it may be strong now, and that you may feel you can learn even more if you dig deeper. I fear it may do more harm than good to subject yourself to it repeatedly. The danger you feel in the Force may be a residual effect of the vision, caused by something that touched your mind during the trance.

I must admit that of late, I too have felt strangely uneasy about this venture. I have no doubt that we will find the answers we seek, but I feel there is something more to this to which we are still blind. I hesitate to call it a disturbance in the Force. Perhaps an unusual intuition is a better way to phrase it.

Keep me informed if you experience any more visions. They could prove to be important to seeing this through.


Master Figrin D'an



He sent the message off, then sat back in his chair. It would take time for his contacts to scrounge for any leads and slice the old Imperial databases. There was a sense of urgency now that seemed to push Figrin towards one particular choice for the task, but he wanted to avoid making decisions too rashly. He would wait until the morning to take decisive action.

Even as he went through his typical slate of evening activites, Figrin found himself preoccupied. He was beginning to understand what James had meant by "something niggling at my mind," because his own instincts were telling him that there was something not quite right. Only when he finally drifted off to sleep did he have any respite from its strange influence.

[James Prent]

James didn't have an opportunity to check her messages until late that night after an extensive training session in the combat rooms. Wiping sweat from her brow, she read over Master D'an's reply, and typed one in return.


Master D'an,

Thank you for your willingness to help. It's been nice to know that I'm not alone in this. About any residual affect of the vision, if that were indeed the case I can't help thinking that the sense would be fading away. Not... growing stronger.

Whatever the visions of my death portray, I do believe that the circumstances surrounding the events are falling into place. I can't help feeling scared, but I will trust in my training and in the Force.

James

James sent the message with a push of a button, and stripped off her robes and stood in the sonic shower for a few minutes. Ions bombarded her body, leaving her with a tingly clean feeling as she stepped out and prepared for bed.

Sleep was long in coming.

[Figrin D'an]

The next day came seemingly all too early, and Figrin found that the same troublesome thoughts remained with him. He was fortunate to have most of the morning free, as he spent it in a semi-conscious haze, singularly focused on how the whole situation just didn't feel right. More so than before, he was inclined to believe that the quicker he found something... anything... about James parents, the better armed they would be for whatever danger it was she was perceiving.

With that premise governing his actions, he sat down at his desk, much as he had the night before. This time, however, he established an encrypted communication channel, set the destination, and hoped his contact was around.

A few minutes later, the terminal blinked that it was ready. The connection was accepted, and the recipient was waiting for the channel to open. With a few keystrokes, Figrin transferred the channel for audio and visual onto the main screen in his office. The face that appeared was that of a man, rather unassuming and casual, perhaps in his late 40s. His voice was equally ordinary, well spoken yet indistinct. Just one of many qualities that made him the perfect person for covert operations.


"Well, well," the man said mildly surprised. "I thought that, after what happened on Muunilinst, I would never hear from you again."

"Ha ha," Figrin rebutted sarcastically. "You're almost funny enough to make it onto a Wookie comedy circuit."

The man cracked a smiled. "Sarcasm always did suit you. And, I suppose not all was lost, considering that both of us are still alive."

"That's true, I'll give you that much," Figrin nodded, give a half smile. As much as catching up with an old cohort was fun, he had business to discuss.

"I need your help again, Arturo. But, nothing nearly as dangerous this time. I hope, at any rate."

"Oh?" Arturo raised an eyebrow. "And what is it that may or may not be so dangerous?"

"I need information from the old Imperial databases," Figrin explained. "I don't know if it is something that would have been classified or not. I have a friend who is searching for her birth parents. We have little information about them, other than they were likely incarcerated by the Empire. My friend also has reason to believe that she was born while her parents were in Imperial custody, and that she was taken from them by the Empire and placed anonymously into the adoption system on Coruscant."

Arturo could be seen drumming his hands on his on the desk at which he sat. "What species?" he asked at last.

"Human. Beyond that, I'm afraid we know nothing about them," the Jedi Master conceded.

The conversation went silent for a moment, as Arturo, a man Figrin had known for many years, tapped away at his console. The man was clearly thinking hard about all the possibilities.

"Base search of public records isn't showing much," he finally responded. "If it was the Imperials who threw them in the slammer, it was probably without a trial. Political dissidents, terrorists, confessed murders... the Empire would just toss them away, interrogate them and execute them once they talked."

"This is going to take some work," Arturo said grimly, looking up from his terminal screen. "I'm going to have to slice into one of the old regional archives, just to find out where the files on these people might be. And that could be the easy part. If the Imps were intent on keeping the names of these people a secret, it'll probably mean a lot of encryption to bypass once I actually find the right database."

"I never said it would be easy," Figrin said plainly, looking directly at the screen. "I just need to know if you can do it. This is important, Arturo. I saved your skin once before by getting that Hutt bounty against you rescinded. If you get this done, we'll call it even."

"Alright, alright," Arturo backed down, waving his hands. "I'll find a way to get the information."

"Thank you," Figrin replied sincerely. "I'm sending a file that details everything I know. As I said, it's not much, but hopefully it'll be enough."

"Gee, it's nice to know you have such confidence in me," Arturo tossed back, laying the jovial sarcasm on thick.

"Well, every Bothan spy in the sector was busy, so you were the only option left," Figrin shot back. There was no way he wouldn't be the one tossing out the last barb.

Arturo shook his head. "You're lucky I put up with that stuff. A lot of others in the business don't."

"Maybe so," Figrin admitted. "But a lot of others also couldn't survive what you and I did on Muunilinst."

"Yeah, I suppose so," Arturo said reflectively. "I'll contact you when I have something."

The screen zipped to black, and the Jedi turned back to his terminal to send off the data file. Once it had gone through, he terminated the connection and sat back in his chair. He was a bit less troubled knowing that the search was in good hands. There's no one he would rather have on the case. All he could do was wait, and hope that he could soon provide James with some of the answers she had been waiting her entire life to know.