Returning alone

[Tellis Draan]

Tellis paused just in front of the Jedi Temple, as if seeing it for the first time. How often had he and Master Inshu walked this same path over the years? The memories came swiftly back to him, and he felt his eyes well up with tears. Fighting them back, he resumed his pace.

How would he explain the death of his Master? Would he even be welcome back to the Jedi Order, or would he simply be expelled?

He turned now, overwhelmed with grief and uncertainty, and the young Padawan was powerless to control these feelings. His face held in his hand, he exhaled slowly, regaining his composure, turned again, and continued on.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Grief was a power emotion. During their training, Jedi were taught to be susceptible to emotions, to feel them and sense them at all times. As a would-be empathy, Dasquian Belargic focused much of his training on this small niche of Force use. When a man in robes paced through the chamber doors, weary and drained, this training came into its element. The Knight could feel the confusion and sadness in the man, and turned to attend to him immediately.

“Is everything alright, sir?”

[Tellis Draan]

He sighed. "I don't know," he replied.

"I am Tellis Draan. Two years ago Master Inshu and I were dispatched to Eltair III when it was discovered that the planet's Governor was the target of an assassination plot. When our transport entered the system, we were fired upon. As far as I know, I was the only one to make it to one of the escape pods before our ship was destroyed."

He gave another exhausted sigh.

"It's taken me the better part of two years to return here."

[Dasquian Belargic]

A look of muted surprise came over the Jedi Knight, “Oh.” The Jedi’s story reminded Dasquian of the tragedy of the Outbound Flight Project, of which he and his brother had been members. He sighed slightly, now understanding the cause of the Padawan’s sadness.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Tellis… but your Master is part of the greater ether now, one with the Force.”

For a moment, he paused in silence, paying respect to the departed Jedi.

“Your dedication in returning here leads me to believe that you wish to rejoin the Order, in spite of your Masters fate. Is this the case?” Dasquian asked, knowing full well that the loss of a mentor was a difficult experience to deal with. There was a chance that, although it had been two years since the incident, Tellis was still grieving the loss, although Dasquian hoped that was not so – for him to dwell on these thoughts could lead him down a dangerous path.

[Tellis Draan]

He nodded. "If the Order will have me back."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“I can see no reason why they would not… although, if you would tell it, I would like to hear what you have undergone on your return to the Order.”

Dasquian could not feel any trace of the Dark side within the man, but he knew too well that an unguided Padawan could easily stray off their path. He did not think that this man had done so, but it was best of him to ask be safe now rather than sorry later.

[Tellis Draan]

He had retold the story to himself so frequently in the last 20 days in order to keep it clear in his mind, and so he immediately started, gesticulating emphatically as he went.

"The escape pod shot out of the transport, and I angled it away from the larger craft in order to avoid being caught in the wake of the explosion that would surely occur once the ship's reactor went critical. I was almost clear of what I judged would be the blast radius when I felt the pod shudder. I looked out of the transparisteel viewport and saw blaster bolts flying by on either side, detonating just ahead.

"I immediately looked over the sensor readings. The Zekotis belt was nearby, so I fired the pod's maneuvering thrusters and aimed the pod at it. As the belt loomed closer, the little droid brain built into the pod chirped - on the readout, I could see the droid was pleading to me to consider the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid belt. I told the droid to switch off, and focused on avoiding the countless asteroids in my way. Behind me, my pursuers, lacking my own superior adeptness at piloting," he winked now, "were being pummeled, and so they turned away to finish off the transport. I thought I was home free until I heard a loud bang!, which a readout indicated was a micrometeorite impacting against the starboard side of the pod, and suddenly the emergency beacon went offline.

"Well soon after navigating the asteroid field, the maneuvering thrusters ran out of fuel, and the only thing keeping me going was momentum. The sensor displays were out of power and I didn't know where I was headed, so I began to resign myself to perishing in this floating tomb. I reckoned that I had a 2 day supply of emergency rations in the pod, after which I would surely succumb to starvation and dehydration and any number of other equally unpalatable afflictions. My days were quite literally numbered, and I would come to quite an unceremonious end floating in an escape pod some 80,000 light years from home. What I did not know was that fate had something entirely different in store for me!

"After 3 days of floating in space, drifting between sleep and a sort of sensory deprivation that was my life as I lay in this oblivionic, unlit pod waiting to die, I looked out the viewport and what did I see but a bright orange planet coming closer by the minute! In my mind I immediately went back over the star systems that neighbored Eltair, and looking again out the viewport I was overcome with the realization that in my 3 days of floating along on momentum, my escape pod had wandered right into the Draktis system, and here was Draktis II right in front of me. Now Draktis II is a poor, barren, sparsely inhabited world, but I was glad to have it.

"Well as luck would have it, my pod landed just outside the main settlement on Draktis II. After asking around a bit, I found the main administrative building and identified myself to Baron-Administrator Hillston, a stocky fellow with a round, pink face who was always finishing up a cigar. I asked him for transportation back to Coruscant, but sadly he informed me that the last starship on the planet had long since decayed into uselessness. Then, as I was making arrangements for a place to sleep and some foodstuffs, I made the unhappy discovery that Republic Daktaris were useless on Draktis II, what with the absence of an intersector bank which could exchange them for local currency and all. I was destitute.

"But that wouldn't stop me, no sir. What with my impressive knowledge of all things pertaining to mechanology, I soon found employment maintaining a cluster of deep-core extractors just outside of the settlement, and so I earned enough money to rent a small house and purchase essentials, including the parts I would need to begin repairing the pod's emergency beacon in order to one day call for help.

"Now the locals were mining a substance known as Polygathiirim to cool their extractors during the summer season. Apparently word spread that the substance could theoretically be used as a super-efficient coolant for hyperdrives, but the locals, being in possession of not a single starship, were unable to test that theory. Someone must have eventually spread the word a bit too far however, because just 3 weeks ago a small group of pirates set down in the settlement. They had learned of the Polygathiirim, and they wanted all that could be had. They forced their way into the administrative building, took Baron-Administrator Hillston hostage, and flat-out demanded the settlement's entire supply of it in exchange for his life.

"The settlers were somewhat less than willing to part with their (they imagined) highly valuable Polygathiirim, and so they decided against meeting the Pirates' demands, and overwhelmingly elected me to convey to them their decision, and so I dutifully obeyed. As I performed my office, the Pirate Leader drew his blaster and pointed it at the Baron-Administrator, but he wasn't quick enough, for just as he was about to depress the trigger I drew my lightsaber (which I had kept in pristine order for just such an occassion) and relieved him of his right arm. The remaining pirates fired and fired and fired, but to no avail, as it takes more than just a blaster to defeat someone who has the force as his ally, and I struck them down. Victorious, I untied Baron-Administrator Hillston and walked down the steps of the administrative building (to the delight of the settlers, who applauded at the sight of Hillston unbound), got in the pirates' ship, and came straight here."

[Dasquian Belargic]

As Dasquian listened to the recounting of the tale he saw a change in the man before him. His earlier subdued attitude seemed to be pushed away during the course of the story, leaving him quite upbeat at its conclusion. At this, Dasquian smiled.

“That certainly it quite a story. It sounds as though you must be exhausted from your travels, you should get some rest… due to your absence, your old quarters here will have no doubt been reassigned, but your possessions should be in storage – if any were left here – and there will be another room free for you to occupy.”

[Tellis Draan]

Tellis bowed deeply before the far more senior Jedi, and continued on his way. It would be good to eat a proper meal again, and sleep in a comfortable bed. Both things had been scarce on Draktis II.