"We have been sitting tight for quite a while. The order, to me is slowly receeding from the galactic stage..." Vodo acknowledged, deep in thought.



<i>[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....]</i>


"But we simply cannot pass up the oppertunity to recover the library, if only part of it." Vodo said, looking up at Leia. Most of his face was hidden by the hood draped heavily over his mantis-like head, but the slight eagerness in his eyes shone through.


It dismayed him that his emotions were such readily apparent through the Force. He didn't want to seem like your stereotypical overeager padawan... he favored a more quiet, contemplative apperance.


But this was a discovery that was worthy of such excitement.. and if he could be part of it...


Leia remained silent for a moment, allowing him to speak again, "But there is a danger. The Empire controls the Core, and some Mid-Rim worlds as well. Perhaps a small team could penetrate the city. I know that area well, although it has been several years since I was there last..."


He didn't want to press it, but he did want to be included on any trip, if Leia decided it was worth the risk.

"I think..."

Pausing, Leia cautiously fingered the datachips in front of her.

"If we don't do something about this... we will simply be handing over a gift wrapped asset to the Empire. I mean, the Sith reportedly don't even have a presence in the sector, and if we were quiet about it as Jedi we would have no problem infiltrating even Coruscant. I've uh, done it before..."

She shook her head, not really believing the words that rolled off of her tongue next.

The Jedi were going to infiltrate Coruscant!

"My gut instinct is to go for it. But if we are going to do this, we need to be quick about it. I'd say no more than two days to make proper arrangements and get on our way...."

She eyed Vodo.

He's been here a long time, worked so hard... and has come so far. He's ready to....

"Do you think you are up to being part of something like this, as a... Jedi Knight?"

Vodo inclined his head slightly at her words.



He had worked steadily for quite some time. After being accepted into the Jedi Order, he had trained with Kahn for a while, learning the basics of fighting and using the Force.


After Kahn left, the Jedi Master Cole had taken up his training, and Vodo learned more. He remembered getting done with his training lesson, and then retreating to the archives and working with the holocron that had been passed down to him from his parents.


Cole taught him everything he could, and then sent Vodo off to track down a pirate who was attacking the local Nabbo merchants. Vodo tracked the man to Coruscant and cornered him, until He appeared.


Silus wasn't your stereotypical Sith. Of course he dressed in all black and carried multiple lightsabers... but he employed different tactics.

He tried to get into your head.


That was when Vodo learned about the Dark Side. He had felt it then, that mysterious, evil side of the Force... it had seen it...


He had paid his dues and worked hard. In his heart he knew he was a Jedi Knight. And Leia just confirmed it.

Still... it was nice to hear it...



"I am." He said gravely, "I will do whatever is required of me, Master."

Vodo's reaction made Leia smile. He was indeed ready, and it was time he carried the official rank of Jedi Knight to signify it to others.

"Usually there would be a little ceremony to commemorate you and everything, but unfortunately we won't have the time if we are leaving for Coruscant in a day or two. Now that you're officially a Jedi Knight, I can officially ask you to help me lead this mission."

Leia rose from her chair, to begin pacing the confines of the room.

"We're going to need the help of other Jedi, so I suppose we should deal with that first. Then we can figure out how to pull this stunt off...."

Leia trailed off as she reached out through the Force to locate the nearest Jedi. The familiar presence of Frakutsk was the closest, and she was pretty sure she sensed the Wookiee with him. Convenient....

"We'll start by recruiting Fraktusk, come on."

Leia lead Vodo down a floor, to where she sensed Faktusk and Azakhaban were. As they came into sight, she saw that they appeared to be having some sort of silent conversation that involved Fraktusk staring fixedly at Azakhaban in concentration while the wookiee reguarded him with a puzzled expression.

Leia and Vodo entered earshot range just in time to hear the Wookiee rumble to Fraktusk, [I understand basic when it is spoken to me too, you know....]

For some reason Leia found this rather humorous, and she chuckled. This caught the attention of both the Gungan and the Wookiee, and they turned in unison to greet Leia and Vodo. Leia nodded in greeting.

"Hope we're not interrupting anything, but we were wondering if we could talk with... well, the both of you. So if you wouldn't mind stepping this way..."

Fraktusk did not object, and so Leia led the group to a nearby empty lounge. When everyone had taken a seat at the table within and Leia had checked to see that there were no errant eavesdroppers nearby in the halls, she turned to the Gungan and offered a half smile.

"Fraktusk. I know we haven't spoken in a while and I would love to catch up, but... it appears we have larger things to attend to. Do you feel you are ready for your first real mission assignment as a Jedi?"

Frakutsk raised a suprised eyebrow... and then two suprised eyebrows. Then, after a moment's pause, Frakutsk smiled, and nodded.

Yes, Frakutsk was indeed ready for his first assignment. A nervous exitment rose within him, this was quite a moment. You see, Frakutsk had been through alot. Everything from settling jungles to the semicataclysmic escapade with the late Outer-Rim Sovreignity. However, In all of these things, his, shall we say, Jediness, had been but a useful tool. Now, he would finnally get a chance for a real mission. He would be alongside other Jedi, training his powers, accomplishing things for the order.

"Yesa Leia, mesa is ready.", said Frakutsk simply and, due to his Gungan speech, slightly comically.

Of course, this raised a question within Frakutsk. What on earth was he ready for? Sure, a 'mission', but what mission? Frakutsk realized that he had no idea what he had just agreed to. Somehow, that seemed appropriate to Frakutsk...

Now that he had agreed, Frakutsk figured he had better ask what he had agreed to.

"What isa disa mission, though?"

Vodo rose heavily as Leia headed out the door. Grasping his walking stick, he slowly made his way out the door to follow her.


"We'll start by recruiting Fraktusk, come on." She said.


<i>Fraktusk?</i>


Vodo had been away to Coruscant for some time, and upon his return he had spent most of his time in a bacta tank, recuperating from his encounter with Silus. He hadn't got around to venturing about, meeting new people. Most of the students, he had not met.


He followed Leia down a small side corridor and then down a turbolift. Vodo could see two figures up ahead. One was Azakhaban, he knew from the Force signature, the other was the Gungan he had seen earlier.


"Hope we're not interrupting anything, but we were wondering if we could talk with... well, the both of you. So if you wouldn't mind stepping this way..." Leia said. Vodo followed silently untill they came to the small room where Leia began the breifing. Vodo listened silently as Fraktusk asked a question in his broken basic. Azakhaban stood nearby.


Vodo looked up at Leia, waiting for her to outline the plan.

"To catch you up on things Fraktusk, earlier today Azakhaban here came to us with some very valuable information.... he claims that remnants of the library of the Jedi Council of the Old Republic have been uncovered on Coruscant, and that we are among the first to recieve this information. I hope I don't have to tell you just how great a find this is...."

Leia paused and Fraktusk slowly shook his head. He knew as well as the other two Jedi just how great a find this was.

"Anyways, after some discussion on the matter it has been decided that it would be prudent for us to... travel to Coruscant, and recover these remnants before The New Order gets it's hands on it."

Leia looked around again, as if looking for eavesdroppers.

"Hopefully as soon as late tomorrow we will be setting out on a mission to recover whatever valuable remains we can find. This means we will have to disguise ourselves, and infiltrate the Imperial stronghold of Coruscant. It won't be easy, but I am sure that there are no Sith on Coruscant, which would make our mission much easier. Azak... you are welcome to join us. You have earned my trust at least, and we will need a guide. I haven't been on Coruscant in years and I don't know my way around very well."

The wookiee growled a response acknowledging that he would be happy to go, and Leia turned back to Fraktusk.

"We have the information and resources that we need... but we will not be able to pull it off without your help. Will you join us?"

"Yesa, mesa will join yousa."

Said Frakutsk, thinking that he was repeating himself, but not actually doing so.

When would they start? Tommorow? Wow... Frakutsk was suprised that Leia would plan it for so soon. Of course, why not? Why wait?

Frakutsk thought over what he would need to do to get ready... and nothing much came to mind. He had his lightsaber, his Jedi robes, and that was about all that was needed.

Indubitably Leia would have some other things to finish up before they could go... but perhaps most of tomorow could be spent formulating a percise strategy on how to retrieve these remnents.

"Wellsa... What are wesa waiting heresa for?"

Later, after the meeting ended, Vodo sat on his small cot, which was enough to accomodate his tall, oddly-shaped form. His walking stick leaned up against a corner on the other side of his room.

The room itself was small, and sparse... just like just about every other Jedi's room he had seen. He kept no "momentos" or anything else like that. Just a small wardrobe with a few spare brown hooded robes, his holocron...

And his walking stick. Which was very special to him. It was made from baffor wood from Ithor, one of the strongest types of wood in the galaxy. He had made a trek to the planet of Ithor some years before, before he came to Naboo to begin his training.

Now he was a Jedi Knight.

As much as he wanted to celebrate, he kept those feelings in the back of his mind. He shouldn't be worrying about that. he should be thinking of the mission...

He was happy to just be included in this mission. Finally, he could do something meaningful with his powers...

He drifted off as these thoughts swirled through his mind.

Milkshake and Vodo had departed to see to their own last minute affairs, leaving Leia alone with the Wookiee.

Azak rumbled something about being hungry, and Leia consented to keep him company in the dining hall.

It was not long after that, that Leia found herself seated at a table in the dining hall with a Wookiee who was hungrily slurping down sizeable slabs of meat. The sight wasn't really all that appetizing, so Leia focused most of her attention on her datapad. The Wookiee was more intent on eating than conversation anyways....

First she would have to procure a generic transport ship... her own ship had an Imperial warrant on it, and the rest of the ships typically used or owned by the Jedi would easily be picked out. Then there was the matter of disguises.... as a human she was easy enough to disguise, but how did one disguise a gungan, for instance...?

Leia frowned in thought, and lost herself in her work....


***

Day One

It was late afternoon the next day, and the three Jedi and one Wookiee stood in one of the many docking bays of the Theed spaceport, reguarding a middle class transport ship. All three Jedi were hooded and cloaked in non descript robes; Leia hoped to avoid any and all attention to their departure if possible.

The ship was ugly and blocky, and a dull metallic grey in color... nothing like what Leia would have chosen if she were actually looking for a ship of her own. Leia glanced sidelong at Fraktusk and Vodo, to guage their reactions to their new ride. They didn't seem too impressed....

"Well," Leia started, "doesn't look like much, but this is exactly what we need for the job. Nice, generic, and most importantly quite harmless looking. Remember, we're not looking to stage a battle here..."

They collected their personal things and what little gear Leia had not had loaded overnight, and boarded the ship. The entrance ramp lead right into a small common area, to which was connected an even smaller bunk room and passages leading to the cockpit and cargo holds.

"This ship was designed for only a 2 or 3 person crew and a lot of cargo, so I apologize in advance for the cramped quarters we'll be dealing with. It shouldn't be that bad, Azak and I can just make beds back in the free space in the cargo hold... one of us will always have to be up with the ship anyways, it'll work out. So, welcome to the Flying Nerf, guys."

Leia shed the robe that had been concealing her identity, to reveal a well worn flight suit. She reached over and hit the hatch release, and the hatch slid shut with a hiss, locking them in. A long grinding whine sounded as the ramp retracted, and as she listened to it's struggle Leia tried to not have second thoughts about choosing the older ship to make their freelance spacer visage all the more convincing....

Perhaps the easiest way to put everyone more at ease was to get the old bucket off of the ground and into the air....

"Well, there's really no point in messing around with anything until we get into hyperspace. Come on, let's get going."

Leia assumed the pilot's chair in the cockpit, and Azak the copilot's chair. Leia glanced over at the Wookiee next to her and was briefly reminded of the memories she had shared with Han and Chewie in the Falcon... They had all lived life on the edge then, and damned if she still didn't choose to be there now. In a way, she lived for it...

Leia shook her head to clear her thoughts, drawing curious stares from the other three occupants of the cockpit, and wordlessly fell into the start up routine. The power up process was fairly straight forward, and it ran surprisingly smooth considering that the crew handling the ship had never worked with it before.

Within the hour, they had successfully taken off and were plotting the coordinates for a series of jumps that would make them look like nothing more than a trading ship out looking for work. As the bright pinpricks of light that were stars faded into lines and then the turmoil of hyperspace, Leia turned to glance over her shoulder at the other two Jedi.

"Well, we're on our way..."


Day Two

It wasn't until her watch shift on the second night that Leia decided she really didn't mind the quiet time alone during such lonely and monotonous watch shifts, and she lazily propped her feet up on the console before her. Outside the viewport the turmoil of hyperspace whirled around her, and inside there was no sound save the soft hum of the ship working around her. Well, that and someone snoring rather loudly in back, but anyways....

Leia produced a small holocube from one of the pockets of her flight suit, and thumbed it on. The now familiar schematic that Azakhaban had given her of the discovered remains of the old Temple flickered into existence before her, and once again she traced every line, reassuring that she had committed every part of the schematic to memory...

The plan was about as simple as they came. Disguised, they would go through customs like any regular traveler, and continue freely from there. The only solution Leia had come up with for disguising Fraktusk had been to not disguise him at all, and instead declare him a life debt servant to herself. Unfortunately for Fraktusk she hadn't broken the news to him yet, because she wasn't quite sure how she was going to do it with any degree of sensetivity. Poor Fraktusk. The rest of the disguises had been somewhat easier.... Azakhaban required no disguise, and Vodo would be fine in his regular hooded and cloaked form, with a few modifications. He was not known to the Empire.... yet. And for herself Leia had simply picked out a random suit of concealing body armor with a full helmet and fake methane tanks. It had worked before, she doubted it would fail this time around. The New Order was just too.... confident in it's own power and security to be pessimistic enough to strip search all of even such an influential planet as Coruscant's visitors.

Getting onplanet would be a challenge, but not overwhelmingly so. Once they were there, they would be free to seek out the remnants of the temple at their own leisure, the hardest part of the mission would be smuggling whatever they might possibly find, especially if it was anything large, back to the ship ad escaping with it off of the planet....

Leia grinned, at nothing and to nobody in particular.

This would be.... fun!