Two days is a long time.

Ok, so in the grand scheme of things, two days is practically nothing.

But when you are trapped inside a 'flying nerf',

Two days is a long time.


Admittedly, Frakutsk spent half the time sleeping, but thats still a good 24 hours to be bored in.

Leia spent alot of time in the cockpit, tending to the nerf. So did the wookie. Frakutsk, however, only spen his watch turns up there. Which, of course, still left alot of time to be bored in.

To occupy himself, Frakutsk rummaged through his luggage. In the bottom of one bit of luggage, Frakutsk found a very interesting thing. An old flopknights board...

Flopknights... Frakutsk was remininded of the last time he played. Which, interestingly enough, was against an oversised bug, with the anti of Frakutsk's life, versus some sacred hedgehog.

...

Speaking of hedgehogs... Frakutsk pulled his little 'sacred' hedgehog from his luggage.

"Hey, little guy!"

The hedgehog gave him a look. A look that distinctly said "You filthy gungan, I have been in here for a very long time. If i wasn't so frelling special, I would be dead by now."

"Er... mesa sorry. Cookie?"

The hedgehog shrugged (yes, the hedgehog shrugged, you have a problem with that?).

Frakutsk gave the hedgehog a cookie.

"Flopsaknights?"

The hedge hog nodded.

And thus, Frakutsk spent most of his time on the flying nerf playing flopknights with a hedgehog.

Day Two - Cargo Holds


shwoosh!

The little hovering sphere rotated itself properly, bringing one of it's little cannons to bear. A few meters away, Vodo stood ready, his walking stick no where to be seen. Laying on the floor in front of him was Leia's lightsaber.

When he had finished his watch in the cockpit a few hours earlier she had replaced him, and he had asked for it to train with the remote.

shwoosh!

The remote darted to the side, and then up, then back down, then up, then to the side again. Vodo simply stared at it, waiting patiently.

The remote moved to the side again, and Vodo felt the familiar surge in the Force as one of it's little cannons lit up and a small bolt of light shot out from the sphere.

Vodo brought his empty hands up, as if to shield himself. As he did so, the lightsaber on the ground ignited and the blade moved itself into line with the bolt, intercepting it.

The sphere moved to the side, and fired again, the blade flashed, intercepting the bolt, the remote fired again and again, the blade got the first one, but Vodo wasn't fast enough with it to block the second, it struck him in the arm.

He felt the spike of pain, but ignored it as he deactivated the blade and the remote.

The swishing of the remote stopped, plunging the empty cargo hold into silence.

Day Three


On Capricia, Leia had learned a few shocking facts about the history of the Force.

Most importantly, she had been informed of the existence of midichlorians. Or the nephys virus, as the Capricians (who had good reason to despise the existence of these organisms) called it...

A type of microscopic symbotic organism, midichlorians apparently could be found in all life, and were responsible for the connection between life and the Force, and also for a Jedi's ability to sense and manipulate the Force. Midichlorians were the missing piece in what for Leia, had been the puzzle of the Force. Now aware of their existence, she found she was able to better theorize how Force sensetivity was passed down genetically, and how each Force user possessed specific strengths and weaknesses. But perhaps most importantly, there was now a true biological explanation for how a Jedi was capable of interacting with and manipulating the Force.... some of the mystique had been taken out of the Force.

But one had to wonder, was that a good thing?

Despite the significance of the find, Leia had refrained from sharing the newfound knowledge... with anyone. The time had just not been right yet. Besides, what happened if somehow, someone found a way to manipulate such knowledge to suit their own, cruel agenda?

Perhaps the group would find material related to midichlorians in the ruins. Did the old Jedi council know about midichlorians? Did they know how to detect force sensetive individuals using this knowledge?


Leia was very curious to find out.

But before she began speculating as to what they might possibly get out of the mission, perhaps it was best that she gathered everyone and explained how they were going to get onplanet first...

She knew everyone was currently up and about, she could hear the sounds of Vodo practicing with her lightsaber in the hold even from the cockpit, as he had seemed to have taken a liking to doing, and she had briefly encountered Fraktusk earlier...

Leia rose from her chair in the cockpit, and headed back to the common area. Fraktusk was easy enough to find, as he was seated at the table playing some sort of board game. Azak was rewiring a console nearby, and Vodo emerged from the cargo bay as if sensing that his presence was about to be required. Leia smiled to them all, and without further ado got right to business.

"We are near the end of our journey to Coruscant, and it's high time we went over our plans for getting onplanet."

The three Jedi and the wookiee seated themselves at the table, and Leia outlined in detail each of their prescribed disguises and roles... it was Fraktusk's disguise that drew the most attention, and Leia soon found herself attempting to explain valid reasons for the decision.

"I'm sorry Fraktusk, but nobody could seem to come up with a better reason for a Gungan to be on Coruscant..."

Leia shrugged helplessly and the wookiee chuckled softly to himself, but suddenly yowled loudly in pain, and jumped up from his seat. It seemed as though he had just been bitten in the rear end by.... a hedgehog!?

Vodo stared balefully at Fraktusk as the Gungan gathered his little pet.

He sighed to himself slightly as he pulled his hood over his head after handing Leia's lightsaber back to her. He had been practicing with it virtually the whole time they had been traveling. He had become very adept at using the Force to move inanimate objects, but he was looking forward to utilizing the rest of his skills during the mission.


He picked up his walking stick and leaned heavily on it, more than usual. Leia explained that his role was to seem like an old, crippled alien refugee. Over the course of his training, he had realized the best way to win any fight was to make your enemy underestimate you. So he always hobbled around with his stick, pretending to need it. He had become very good at it, so it seemed natural that he would do it now.

He waiting quietly for the others.

Frakutsk snickered at the other's reactions to his hedgehog, apologizing to the wookie for his hedgehog's... er... misbehaviour.

Frakutsk thought it was fairly humorous, also, that leia was apologizing for his disguise. On the contrary, Frakutsk thought that it was rather ingenous idea. He himself would not have thought of it, even if that was mainly because he had been brought up in a non-gungan society and thus knew little of strange gungan custums.

"Soundsa good to mesa... Itsa good disguise, nosa need to apologize."

Frakutsk specialty, though he did not know it, was rather the oposite of Vodo's. He specialized in mental probing and manipulation. It fact, that was a huge majority of his board game, Frakutsk practiced his mental skills by attepting to find the hedgehog's strategy through complicated force probing.

Which, of course, may not sound like much until you remember that the hedgehog was essentially a bucket of force power (midichlorines...) and, though he had no way to manifest his power other than being overall inteligent, the hedgehog was a wonderful opponent in this game due to being a practically inpenatrable fortress. Sure, it was humiliating to lose to a hedgehog, but, hey, take the bad with the good!

Alone in the cockpit, Azak rumbled a sigh. The Jedi were in back catching up on some last minute sleep, leaving him to his own devices while he kept an eye on the ship during the final leg of their journey.

Despite the fact that the Jedi were among the most famed warriors in the galaxy, Azak still found himself having second thoughts about the situation he had put himself in. He had risked everything in leaving Coruscant for Naboo, and had essentially left his future in the hands of three Jedi, whose only credentials that were of any significance to him were the fact that they were Jedi.

And for what, exactly? The whole mission was highly secretive, it wasn?t for glory. The Jedi had little to compensate him with for his troubles, so it definitely wasn't for the money. That left honor and morals... Azak had lived so quietly under Imperial rule for so long, that the prospect of such qualities still existing somewhere within him actually surprised the wookiee.

But they were still there. At first Azak had thought that what he had done had been out of anger, a lust for revenge against an oppressive master. But as he thought about it, he had an opportunity to do so much more here. This was his chance to prove his honor was still intact, that he was more than just a cowardly servant to an evil, corrupt Empire.

A high pitched alarm sounded from the direction of the nav computer, and a 60 minute timer began counting down on the display in front of him. The Wookiee rose stiffly from the confines of the small pilot's seat, stretched, and lumbered off to rouse the sleeping Jedi.

They had nearly reached Coruscant.

Leia woke to a face full of coarse wookiee fur from the large paw resting on her shoulder, and a horrible kink in her neck.

[You asked to be woken an hour before we arrived.]

The paw was removed, and Leia opened her eyes to find herself staring up at the familiar tall form of a wookiee.

"ugh... I must have slept wrong."

Leia sat up and tried to massage the pain out of her neck, and soon found herself blinking against a sudden barrage of bright light as Azakhaban turned the cargo hold lights on.

"The others awake yet?"

Azak shook his head, and reached down to help Leia up off of the low cot.

"We have an hour?"

Azak grunted affirmatively.

"Well, then we better get started...."


***

Leia cinched a strap on the torso of her armor tighter, and then turned to see how the others were doing with their own disguises. Perhaps the most startling change was in Azakhaban, who had bleached his fur white and then added grey highlights back in. Fraktusk had changed into attire more becoming a servant, and Vodo had merely changed robe styles.

Not too bad...

Another high pitched alarm sounded from the cockpit, catching everyone's attention.

"Five minutes..." Leia announced mostly to herself, and she unscrewed the top off of one of the air tanks that fit onto the back of her armor. She slid a carefully wrapped bundle that contained her saber and a small blaster into the empty tank, being careful to make sure that they were packed snugly. All would not be well if they clunked around and gave the Imperials reason to be suspicious....

She noticed the two younger Jedi watching her curiously.

"I don't want to risk the sabers being found on the ship when it is searched," she explained as she resealed the tank and hoisted the breathing unit onto her back. "The tanks are metal, and should be enough to fool any rudimentary scan, at least. I'm the one they are least likely to search very thoroughly anyways, my ID lists me as being a methane breathing species, and they won't go to the trouble to accomodate me unless something goes wrong.

Now, go strap in... I don't think it'll get very bumpy, but you never know."

Leia sealed her helmet over her head, and grimaced at the musty odor inside the helmet. Her presence was now characterized by an eerie mechanical hissing sound that occurred with every breath she drew. The gear was old, but it still worked....

The jump timer was down to only 20 seconds when Leia entered the cockpit and seated herself next to Azakhaban. She had to rush to strap herself in and prepare for the reversion in time.

3...2...1...

Azak's paw had been resting on the hyperdrive controls, and as the timer reached zero he pulled the throttles back to the 'off' position. The turmoil of hyperspace faded into starlines, which rapidly faded into small white pinpricks.

Before them hung the bright crescent of Coruscant, still far enough away that it was no larger than Leia's thumb.

"Set a direct course for the planet." The voice scrambler in Leia's helmet reduced her voice to a low, grating, inhuman noise that made even Azak shiver.

The ship changed vector towards the planet. It was only a short matter of time now...


***


Leia watched Coruscant grow in the viewport. Despite the fact that she had been expecting to be intercepted by an Imperial patrol ship, she still jumped when the proximity alarm went off. A quick look down at her display informed her that an Imperial Cruiser was approaching them from the side.

it wouldn't be long now until...

The comm crackled to life.

"Unidentified transport, transmit your identification code and stand down for boarding."

Leia's heart leapt up into her throat, and she glanced over quickly at Azakhaban.

"Boarding? They don't even know who we are yet! That's not proper procedure last time I checked, maybe..."

Azak cut her off and rumbled something about her being right, but Leia's mind was already focused elsewhere. They had to keep their wits about them, or the risk of them doing something stupid and getting discovered would be even greater.

"Hold on, I'll handle it..." Leia opened a comm channel back to the cruiser, and launched a string of angry sounding Ubese back at the officer who had hailed them, including a few well placed curses and insults. There was a pause as the officer presumably summoned an interpreter, and a different voice (this one female) soon replied.

"Your appointments on-planet can wait, you will stand down for boarding or we will assume you are attempting to smuggle illegal goods on-planet, and you will be apprehended with Force if necessary."

"Smuggling...?"

Leia's churning stomach settled, a little. There were no illegal goods on the ship.... well, besides three Jedi who intended to break and enter one of the strongest Imperial strongholds in the galaxy.

"Azak, slow down and lower our shields. We should be fine if we play it cool..."

Leia wished she felt even half as confident as she sounded. She reached for the ship's internal comm to notify the two unsuspecting Jedi.

"We're being boarded, be ready for anything..."

The ship shuddered as a tractor beam roughly grabbed hold of it. Leia watched apprehensively as they were drug ever closer to the Imperial Cruiser, and eventually it's wide girth filled the entire viewport. Various clatters and whines sounded as the larger ship docked with the Nerf.

Leia unstrapped herself and headed towards the back to meet the boarding party. She felt maddeningly defenseless without even a blaster at her side.

They would get though it fine... they had to.



(Feel free to take control of the story now. This is a freestyle RP, I can't be the only one making major plot decisions :))

Vodo hunched near the main entry hatch to the vessel, calm and patient. He initially felt fear when Leia informed them of the impending Imperial boarding party, but his Jedi instincts took over and he let the Force wash over him, calming him down.

He reached for his own comlink, "I will be the greeting party." Vodo said in his grating, harsh voice.

He didn't know where Fraktusk was, probably playing with his hedgehog. Leia and Azak were in the cockpit, which left him alone to deal with the new arrivals.

<i>Clang!</i>

He heard the artight seals snap closed and the door promptly slid open, revealing six stormtroopers and one man in a uniform.

Vodo was clothed in his standard hooded robe, but instead of it being the traditional brown Jedi robe, it was black, and looked worn, but it fit him, and shrouded his face nicely.

The uniformed officer strode up to Vodo, who leaned heavily on his walking stick, doing a very good job of pretending to need it, "Indentification please." The officer said, trying very hard to sound important.

Vodo waved his hand slightly, "You don't need to see it." He said flatly.

The officer stared at him, at first saying nothing, his eyes unfocused, then refocused on the shrouded alien in front of him.

"Uhh... I really don't need it... I guess..." He stammered, then visibly regained his composure, "I wish to see the captain."

"You are looking at him." Vodo replied calmly, mantaining his hold on the officer's mind. The stormtroopers stood at rigid attention.

"And just who are you?" The officer asked.

"My name is Idanian," Vodo lied, using the Force to emphasize his name on the officer's mind, "And this is the merchant vessel, <i>Nerf Herder</i>, out of Corellia. We are delivering replacement communication transponders to the Imperial fuel depot on Coruscant."

The officer stared at him, and Vodo felt him trying to fight his mental hold. he felt his grip weakening and appealed to Fraktusk, through the Force, to help.

Frakutsk immediatly recieved the message from Vodo... He snapped to attention, feeling toward Vodo with the force... He felt the others there, and he felt the one that Vodo was trying to control.

This mental control was Frakutsk's personal specialty in the force. Frakutsk tapped into the officer's mind and strengthened what Vodo was doing.

The officer was no match for the two strong Jedi, and his mind was now dominated.

"Ah, I see. The Nerf Herder, out of Corellia, delivering replacement communication transponders to the Imperial fuel depot on Coruscant."

The storm troopers may have been suspicious, they not have, but their training was enough to tell them never to question the officer in charge.

Frakutsk then gently suggested, through the force, that the officer leave now... there was nothing more that he needed from them.

"Alright then, there is nothing more that I need from you. Carry on."

The officer then returned to his ship, the storm troopers lingered for a nervous moment before returning also.

Frakutsk had wandered closer to the room where Vodo had been, now he stepped into the room to talk to Vodo...

Frakutsk snickered, "Haha, weaksa minded foolses... wesa shouldsa be getting on da planet any timesa now."

When Leia finally reached the corridor leading to the airlock, she found Fraktusk and Vodo standing together in the middle of the room, silently watching an Imperial officer and several stormtroopers disappear back into their ship. Confused, she turned to look at Vodo. It had been his voice whom had volunteered to be the "greeting party"...

"You... took care of the problem already?"

The hooded figure nodded in confirmation, and Leia turned to watch as the Imperial ship's hatch slid shut and it prepared to detach from the Nerf.

"Huh..."

Leia's helmet hid her questioning expression. Though she was rather curious to know how the two Jedi had taken care of the matter, she did not voice her curiosity.

"Well, good then...."

Without further comment the Jedi Master turned, and headed back to the cockpit. The ship creaked and vibrated as the Imperial ship detached, and as Leia seated herself next to Azakhaban they were already on their way to Coruscant again.

The wookiee turned and rumbled a question to Leia.

"It's been taken care of."

That prompted another long series of growls from the wookiee.

"I'm not sure.... Jedi stuff. They shouldn't have any reason to be suspicious of us... I hope."

Leia glanced down at her displays. The Imperial ship showed no signs of pursuit; it was in fact cruising steadily away from them.

"Don't worry about it. Let's just land so we can get this over with."

Their descent into the atmosphere of Coruscant was unhindered, save by a short inquiry and a set of landing directions from planetary traffic control.

Leia brought up their assigned landing platform on the vidscreen and groaned, drawing a questioning look from her wookiee copilot.

"I had hoped we would be able to avoid it, since they don't screen everyone... but our little entangle with that patrol ship must have put us on the list to get screened by customs before we are allowed onplanet. Seems like a waste of resources to me, they've already screened us once... well, supposedly. Why would they do it again? Unless..."

Leia glanced nervously around the cockpit. "You don't think they intend to detain us, do you? They might..."

Azak interrupted her with an offhand comment about Imperial beaurocracy that silenced her, and they gently set the ship down on their assigned landing platform.

“I’m sure that they’ll send us an escort, to make sure we go where we are supposed to.”

Even as Leia spoke, out the viewscreen they watched a pair of stormtroopers emerge from the nearby building and approach the ship. Leia reached over and briefly gripped Azak’s furry grey arm.

“Make sure all of our papers are in order and that we have them when we leave… ‘Jedi stuff’ won’t get us out of this one.”

The wookiee grunted in understanding, and Leia disappeared into the back to help Fraktusk and Vodo pack the items that they would need while onplanet.