The petitely built woman standing before Azak gazed up at him levelly, as if measuring him up. He felt oddly insecure; even though this woman was half his size, she exuded the power and confidence of a being much more powerful than himself. As she looked him over, it was as if her gaze could see right through him. This, and the the way that the figure with the stick bowed in deference to this woman lead Azak to conclude that she was a Jedi... perhaps even of a high rank. Azak endured an uncomfortably long silence before she finally spoke.

"mmm.... well, why don't we go in here and sort this out...."

The woman lead Azak and the figure with a stick down the hallway a fair distance, and into an office room. Azak looked around for some sort of nameplate or sign of whose office this was, but there was none to be found. The woman slid into her seat behind the large desk that dominated the center of the room, and gestured for them to have a seat in the chairs before the desk.

Azak awkwardly lowered himself into the standard humanoid sized chair, feeling the anxiety continue to build in the pit of his stomach. This was it, he had come all this way and now it was time... The woman met his gaze directly, and addressed him in a slightly more authoritive voice than when she had spoken before.

"I am Jedi Master Leia Organa Solo, I guess you could say I head this Academy. Vodo here says that you wished to seek us out?"

Azak did not answer immediately, unsure if a long tirade in shyriiwook would make any sense to them. His questions were soon answered as the Jedi Master spoke again.

"Feel free to speak your mind... I can understand your language for the most part, so don't concern yourself with that."

Unsure of where to begin his story, Azak simply started at the beginning....

[I am Azakhaban, and I have traveled here from Coruscant seeking the Jedi. I think I have some information that you might find interesting.....

On Coruscant, I recently worked for a construction firm that had been tasked with remodeling the lower levels of Imperial City, so that they could once again be used for higher level functions involving the Imperial Government. The work mostly involved running the scum out of their holes, and then completely rebuilding the towers from the frames out. But on one of our jobs near the grand senate chambers, we discovered something.... awe inspiring. Deep down in the bowls of the city, we discovered what looked like some surprisingly intact remains of the fabled Jedi Council of the Old Republic. We weren't sure quite what to do or who to tell, so we pretended to have not found it yet, until we decided what the best course of action was. Some of the team was in favor of telling the Imperials about our find, but a few others including myself.... thought it would be better to bring this information to the Jedi first. So, I took leave from my job to seek you out here. No doubt the others have informed the Imperial government of our find by now, but I was hoping that maybe I could find you in time to.... well, give you time to do something about it, should you so wish. It is the history of your kind]

Azak reached down into his sidebag and removed a few datachips. These he slowly placed on the desk in front of the Jedi Master.

[Diagrams of that sector of the city.... should you wish to look into the matter,] he supplied in a soft growl.

For a long time Leia simply stared at the Wookiee, slowly digesting the information that he had just laid out before her. She did not reach out and take the datacards, instead opting to leave them untouched; a sign that she had not accepted anything just yet.

If the wookiee was telling the truth and she decided to act upon it, the vast amount of knowledge the Jedi stood to gain from such a find was nothing short of priceless!

But what if he was lying? What if he had been sent to lure the Jedi into a trap? After all, Coruscant was one of the gems of The New Order, which in Leia's eyes was nothing more than the modern day version of the Empire. If the Jedi fell to The New Order on Coruscant..... then what?

Leia narrowed her eyes and allowed her gaze to bore into Azakhaban. Simultaneously she reached out through the Force, searching hard for any signs of betrayal in the Wookiee.

Vodo sat patiently nearby, content in the knowledge that he would most likely be enlightened soon enough.

Leia leaned forward in her chair. A part of her wanted so badly to just believe the wookiee and dash out the door on a daring mission against impossible odds deep in enemy space, like... old times. However, years of Jedi training and learning things the hard way had long ago taught her to quickly bring such foolhardy impulses under control. Not that from time to time she still didn't take chances that even a clinically insane person would balk at... Like that time she'd charged a whole army of Yuzzhan Vong head on, alone... hadn't that turned out nice? (*cough* hardly.)

"Why are you telling me this Azakhaban, why have you gone to the trouble to quit your job, journey here undetected, and deliver precious intelligence from the New Order directly into the hands of their enemies?"

As the two were talking, Vodo was listening quietly, off to the side. Although he could not understand the Wookie word for word, he could find the meaning behind them.

And the meaning was quite shocking.

[Diagrams of that sector of the city.... should you wish to look into the matter.], Azakhaban paused for a moment, allowing his message to sink in. Vodo retreated within himself and touched the Force, allowing it to flow over the Wookie to try and find any deception within him. He instantly could tell Leia was doing the same.

They both found none. Vodo detected just pure, simply honesty. Of one trying to do good. But the information he brought with him was a very serious matter. Vodo had studied, extensively, the Jedi Order of the past. He had dug up every last scrap of information he could find on the subject, taking it all in as a part of his Jedi training.

He knew that, along with most of the old Order, the Jedi Council had vanished, all of it's members killed or in hiding. He had read that the records contained in the old Jedi Temple Library had been destroyed... So how could pieces of it exist?

Perhaps someone made a copy...

Possibilities swirled through Vodo's mind. If they could find the information before anyone else did, perhaps it would lead to more discoveries.

This had the potential to be the greatest single Jedi-related discovery in the recent past...

Along with the hopeful possibilities also came other, more darker ones. Perhaps this was an elaborate illusion designed to ensnare vunerable Jedi. Vodo found no trace of deception within Azakhaban, but someone could easily be using him as well.

Vodo pushed all those thoughts aside as Leia spoke, "Why are you telling me this Azakhaban, why have you gone to the trouble to quit your job, journey here undetected, and deliver precious intelligence from the New Order directly into the hands of their enemies?"

Vodo was wondering the same. He looked up at the tall Wookie, awaiting his response.

[I want to do the right thing...] Azak rumbled softly, and shifted uncomfortably in the confines of the small chair. While what he said was true, he realized he was only saying what the Jedi wanted to hear.

There was more to it than that...

The Jedi could probably see right through him. It would be best to tell them everything...

[I seek vengence as well. You must be aware that the Imperials do not take as kindly to aliens as they could... they once had my species enslaved, and often on Coruscant I was treated as though I were a slave like so many others of my species. That is how I got my job as a construction worker... a low paying job that nobody else was willing to work because of the filth, hard labor and long hours: a job fit for slaves.

But I have never been a slave, I moved to Coruscant while it was under the control of the New Republic, and was not fortunate enough to escape the planet before the Imperials took it. I've resented being forced to live the life of a lesser being since the day the Imperials took over the planet and imposed that life on me. When I saw my chance to spite those who treated me so unjustly, I grabbed it and ran. I want... revenge. I will help you in any way that I can.]

Azak looked back and forth between the two silent Jedi hopefully. It would be a terrible waste if they did not believe him, and did not act on this information...

<i>A Sad story</i>

Vodo knew the type well. He thought back to his own past...

His first memories was growing up in a small orphanage on Coruscant. He had been told his parents had left him there when he was a very small child. He grew up in that little place with perhaps fifteen other small children.

When he was old enough, they let him go, but before they did they gave him a small package left for him by his parents with instructions not to give it to him until he was old enough. Inside was a small pyrimidal device he later discovered to be a Jedi Holocron.

He had assumed it was a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation. He had promptly given it to Kahn upon his arrival to the Jedi Academy. It was now safe inside the Jedi Archives within the Temple.


His thoughts snapped back to the moment at hand. He looked up at Leia, raising his hand slightly, "If I may interject, Master."

She nodded slightly to him and he continued, "I grew up in Coruscant's slums, near the old senate building. I did hear of things being found, pertaining to the Jedi now and then." He turned to Azak, "Does the Empire know of your findings?" He asked.

Azak shook his head, and found himself comforted by the fact that he could identify with the Jedi Padawan....

[I don't know for sure. As I said, a few of my colleagues who also knew about our find wanted to tell the Empire, and chances are they went to the Empire shortly after my departure. They don't know that I left to come here and give the information to you. I told them I was in favor of giving the information to the Empire so that I could get offplanet without bringing any trouble along with my message, and everyone thinks I returned home to Kashyyk....]

Vodo nodded, again going silent.

He reflected on everything he had learned about the current situation thus far. It all seemed somewhat odd, like a freak chance.

The Jedi were almost completely destroyed, and the Emperor was known for his fanaticism concerning the destruction of the Order. The Temple had been all but demolished, and Vodo had thought all records had been destroyed.


He raised his hand again, "What exactly did you find?" He asked quietly, "I know you said something about the old Jedi Council, but what exactly is it?"

Azak hesitated, unsure of whether or not the Master Jedi wanted him to give up all of his information in the presence of the Padawan. When he glanced questioningly at Leia she only nodded for him to continue...

[The building was in pretty bad shape, but from what we were able to get to we think we uncovered part of the fabled Jedi libraries....]

The Wookiee trailed off as Leia suddenly reached forward and plucked one of the datacards from the desk. She slid it into her reader, and a bright blue schematic of the building popped up over her desk; a section outlined in red indicated the location of the construction worker's find. He could see her jaw working as she fell into deep thought, and for a long moment silence filled the air.

The holographic schematic rotated slowly as the three studied it, and finally Leia broke the silence.

"From what little I've seen and heard of the Old Republic's layout, I think you might just be right... I don't think we should get our hopes up, but this may very well be the greatest find this Order has ever had the opportunity of making."

Leia flicked the display off and gestured to Azakhaban.

"You are probably tired and weary from travel, the services of the Academy are at your disposal, if you will accept them. I am trusting that you will not betray us now, after all the trouble you went to just in getting this information to us safely. If you would leave us now... I'll have someone take care of whatever you might need for the time being, while we look into this matter in more detail. I will make sure you stay informed.... I can't even begin to thank you for your services, especially if everything you have told us is true..."

Azak climbed to his feet and bowed to the two Jedi.

[It is my pleasurrrre] he rumbled, and took his leave as Leia paged for someone to come take care of him.


***


After Azakhaban had departed, Leia switched back on the hologram and let it hang in the air once again, rotating slowly before them. The hologram separated Leia and Vodo, and neither could see the other's composure through it. But then, Jedi didn't necessarily need to see each other to know the thoughts and feelings of their companions....

Leia could feel Vodo's excitement, as well as her own (though more subdued, she was partially holding it back in favor of remaining the professional Jedi Master) through the Force.

Again it was Leia who spoke first.

"We've never been presented with this kind of opportunity before. It's a big one, Vodo...."

Leia steepled her fingers and leaned forward on her elbows on the desk. She took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for what she was about to say next.

"For a while now we've lived in relative peace: studying, practicing, relaxing.... no wars, no major disputes or attacks.... but now we have the opportunity to make a difference. If we were to.... infiltrate Coruscant, and somehow recover those records, who knows what might happen? Supposedly the Jedi archives were some of the most complete historical archives of their time, if a vast wealth of knowledge like that fell into the wrong hands...."

She paused.

"We've been presented with a big opportunity, one that I think we should take...."

Frakutsk the Gungan Jedi was happily wandering the halls of the Jedi Order, as he found himself doing so very often, when he noticed a wookie being taken somewhere by a droid.

Frakutsk snickered. Obviously, this wookie was going where he wanted too, because if he wasnt, he could probably smash the little droid into pieces with one swoop of his hairy arm.

Frakutsk began to approach the wookie, but then realized that he didnt know the wookie language. Fortunatly, the more subtle parts of the force, such as 'mind-reading' and force-messaging, were indubitably Frakutsk specialty. He didn't think he would have a problem communicating.

As the wookie neared Frakutsk, Frakutsk sent him a Greetings in the force.

Again, Frakutsk wondered if his Gungan-speech showed up in his force-messages, but was to intent on catching the wookie's responce to pay it a second thought.