Reaching Through Darkness

[JediKaren]

Ch 12
Mirmo

The meeting room was dominated by massive heavy wooden table, darkly stained and reeked of stale beer among other smells I did not want to describe. The air was fogged with a dense cloud of a grayish blue smoke that hung around eye level when standing. The source of light was two light fixtures, naked and dim, barely able to shine through the layer of smoke. Around the table were eleven men. Some of these men were dressed in rags, who had not groomed themselves for weeks, with fierce, dangerous looks in their dark, untrusting eyes. The other men spoke of riches and lives of luxury. They were heavy, dressed in bright colors, covered in jewelry, beards trimmed, and seemingly cheerful and caring. All, I was sure, had guns, even if not displayed. I would have not trusted either group with my life.

Our presence was unannounced and few men bothered to glance at us. I ushered my apprentice to two chairs at the far end of the room, where the light was dimmest. The talk was low and decentralized. Each man had at least one mug, most taking a sip every few seconds, others simply held onto their mug while nodding at the talker. I reached out into the Force to test the mood of the crowd. Feelings of seriousness, worry, and greed came through. This was not just another meeting, but one meant to get something done. I just hoped the plan went with my own plan.

My thoughts were interrupted when the heavy duracrete door opened and two men stepped in. These were important, powerful men. I could tell because the room went instantly dead silent and eyes flew from their mug or listener to the two men. In truth, all eyes skipped over the first man to the second in the back. In my experience, the taller, heavier, meaner man always entered second and always was the more important one. The first man was small, slim, fast and strong. I ventured a guess that the first man acted as a body guard and a personal assistant. The two men stepped forward, with the little man standing to the right, near the table, giving the big guy some room.

“Thank you, gentlemen for gathering here tonight.”

The big man’s voice was loud, booming with confidence and power. He clearly was the leader of some large gang. He was covered in expensive jewelry and had silk, purple robes for clothing.

“I am sure you all are well aware that I only invite leaders of gangs, so let us all understand we are equal under my eyes”

Ah, so the men at the table were under his power, which suddenly increased his power and respect by ten

“Let us all free ourselves of possible advantages over others and surrender our egos to my assistant here.”

This phrase generally meant give up your weapons so you can not start a problem and I do not have to kill you first. Any man who refused to give up his weapon or tried to conceal a suspected weapon would be at best hurting for a long time. At worst, dead and no one would say a word about it. The short assistant made his round with a crate, being filled with an assortment of the usual weapons as well as gas containers and small tubes of clear liquid. When he came to us I looked at Karen to warn her to not fret, but to be cooperative.

“Hand it over Missy.”

I looked at the assistant to attract his attention. Once he looked at me, I gathered the Force and focused a stream of the limitless energy dead on his mind, surrounding his brain with my will, and firmly suggesting to him to accept the girl was harmless and pretty as a feather. I extended my awareness to the rest of the men and convinced them of the same thing as well that we were not Jedi. The assistant took the suggestion well without resistant and spoke to her in a quiet, polite tone.

“Miss, sorry I had not noticed your gorgeous glowing beauty there. I’ll move on if you’ll excuse me.”

My blushing apprentice said nothing as instructed, but silently nodded. I let go my grip on his weak mind. I pulled back my cloak to reveal to two lightsabers we were carrying and gave them to the short man. Normally, I would have used the Force again to bypass this procedure, but tonight was one were earning the trust and respect of other gangs was more important than holding onto a lightsaber that could easily be retained with a bit of telekinesis. To my relief, no one had said anything about the lightsabers, and only a few eye brows had gone up. The boss had a look of mild inquisitiveness and suspicion, but I sensed to urgent threat from him.

The man finished his duty without another word and stored the crate by a corner where he stood guard over them. He mutely stood in the left hand corner by the door, mindlessly staring at us. I noticed he had not collected any weapons from his boss or had put any weapons of his own in. This further proved the bigger man was far more powerful than the group combined.

“Now on to business. We are here today to discuss the downfall of the black-market’s economy. Ever since that new law has been passed by Senator Delila why’tul it has become harder and harder to ship, deliver and sell our goods as we all know too well. Profit decrease has been seen world wide as well as our suppliers. I have asked you all to be patient and bare this short term problem out, but it seems that why’tul is stronger than we thought. So today I hold a meeting to talk about what course of actions we leaders of the underworld should take to keep our buyers happy.”

His voice was calm and reasonable, opening the door for anyone to freely speak their mind, but the room stayed silent. Men sat there, starting at the table or the walls, unwilling to make eye contact with the boss, sipping their mugs to excuse themselves from talking. Strange, how these men were so silent and obedient under this one man’s eye. I studied the boss in further detail to try to understand who he was, but the Force had nothing more to say on the subject. The boss noticed my attention, but did nothing. I started to suspect he knew who I was, but decided to keep it to himself.

“Drec, you are the leader of the Dark Prey and my resources tell me you have taken a serious hit in your profits when before the law you were doing quite well. Surely, you have had time to mull over the situation and have come up with a few ideas of your own.”

By the look on his face, Drec was not very happy to be called on. He reminded me of a student who had forgotten to do their homework and had hoped they could get away with this when they had no idea what the teacher was talking about.

“Well sir. Uhh I, I mean Dark Prey have been trying to work with the police you see-”

The boss sighed and interrupted him.

“I do see. I do all too well. We all know bribery of the police forces does no good unless you are inserting your own police members. It just encourages the upper level police to become corrupt and bring government attention to us. No, this is not a good answer. Zek of the Red Claws, your gang has done fairly well in coping with the new law. What is your secret to success?”

Zak was one of the richer looking men and did not look happy to give out his secret. He hesitated before speak as if to balance his options and their rewards.

“A few months before the law was passed, we had decided to donate some of our profits to some of the schools in the area. We then made a big deal about it, dressing up nice and appearing in public about it. We got some hungry news reporters who were dying to report anything to make a deal about this. So the police had decided to back off on watching our activities as long as we keep donating to schools.”

The boss nodded in approval.

“I like that idea, but we can not all use it. Lenoky of Pink Death, what is your idea?”

The meeting went on for another hour like this. The boss commented on each idea, but in the end, liked none of them. I noticed many of the men had run out of drink and were getting antsy to leave. Everyone had been called except for us. The boss made eye contact with me.

“I have called on everyone that I know, but you sire, I do not. Tell me, who are you and what leader of what group?”

I told him that I was the original leader of the Dawners, a group made up of petty thieves and drug dealers that banned together to restore peace and economic prosperity to my home planet. The official group leader of the Dawners as now Ven and the group was connected to Nea.

“Yes, yes, I know these names you mention. You are the famous Mirmo. Also, a Jedi I see. Oh, yes I knew from the moment I set yes on you. You had that all calm look that the Jedi are famous for. And what man brings his sweet, pretty daughter to a meet like this? No, I knew this was not your daughter and since you were a Jedi, this was your apprentice. So Master Mirmo, what do you, with all your precious Force and wisdom, propose we should do?”

Had I not had the experience in dealing with these types of egoist people, I would have found the man highly annoying and rude. Yet, I did not because I knew this was all a show of power over another person. I drew on my years of meditation and patience to keep a level, calm voice, replicating his.

I told him that because I am a Jedi, I had power. I power not earned through fear or through battle, but through respect. I had the power of Luke Skywalker and Leia Solo, thus having the power of the government itself. There were many way in which I could use this power, but as a Jedi, I chose to use this power to help others. I was not some high class, rich sob, who looked down on the poor or spent my time thinking of ways to screw over the poor. I saw the gaps between the poor and the rich. I understood that drugs and crime are as much of part of life as breathing is. I proposed to use my power to help the poor, who were be suppressed by the rich through this new law, having a harder time finding the goods they needed to live with. If the group would allow it, I would go to the senator and convince her to change the law if possible. I could make no promises, but I was more than willing to try.

“Hmm, peaceful, honest negotiation by a Jedi, representing us. Very interesting. Men, what do we think?”

The room was silent. Some men shrugged their shoulders. Others continued to stare, dazed, at the walls. The rest mourned their empty mugs.

“If there is no argument against this idea, then I rule we let this Jedi go ahead with this idea. There is one thing though. If you use this position to take advantage of us or to misrepresent us, I will personally have you hunted and killed as long as it takes. I will swear to the black code of the ancient thieves to destroy your order of Jedi and I will rape, torture, and slowly kill your apprentice. Do I make myself clear?”

His eyes had narrowed. His body had stiffened with power and anger. His voice was cold and hard as durasteel. I nodded calmly, accepting his threat. I had no intentions of hurting his gang of gangs.

“Very well. Good luck and as you Jedi say, may the Force be with you.”

He turned around and left. The rest of us got up and walked over to the crate of weapons, slowly claim our own. Karen as silent and pale. I wondered if she was bothered by that threat. There was no need to be upset, but Karen was new to all of this and would need guidance and talks. Only if there was time to talk. This mission was a busy, fast pace one, with no time for decent, meaningful talks. I felt bad, but there was nothing to be done. She would just have to manage until the moment came.

I took our lighsabers and clipped them to my belt and walked out of the room. Karen spotted Nea and I signaled to him it was time to leave. He put down his beer and walked a bit uncertain to us. I sighed and knew I would have to drive back tonight. Nea led us slowly in his semi drunken way back to the car and took the passenger seat. Karen climbed in the back and I took the controls. The ride was silent back. Each person was alone in their thoughts. Even through our bond, I sensed Karen withdrawn. I told myself she was tired and would be ok in the morning. She would have to be. When we got back to the apartment I sent Karen to bed and I took a seat in Nea’s living room. I wanted to meditate and plan out tomorrow’s events.

[snowind]

Very cool as always... For a moment I thought Mirmo would say "I'll make you an offer you can't refuse..."

[JediKaren]

Ch13
Karen

I went straight to bed, not pausing to wish anyone good night or the Force be with them, but straight to my room, where I undressed and climbed into bed. I shook my head on the pillow, trying to block out any thoughts about the meeting. Yes, the meeting was disturbing, as well as education and interesting, but tonight I needed to focus with a clear, calm mind. Tonight was the night I teach and help Luke Skywalker project out of his body.

I already knew that around this time Master Skywalker would have crawled into bed and if the Force was with me, he would be in a light sleep, perfect for what needed to be done. I also took the time before we left for the trip to peek into his bedroom so to have no trouble projecting myself into his room. I settled done in my bed, stilling my body into a peaceful sleep, but kept my mind alert. I took a deep breath shook out the restless energy residing in my mind and body.

Projecting out of your body, even for an experienced practitioner like me, is not easy, even if I perform it most anywhere and anytime. To me, I have found the key to projection is knowing yourself, not what people think of you or your image in the mirror, but the true you. You need to know your soul, your spirit. Only then, can one achieve unity and then separation from the body. That is the part most people struggle with. It’s strange because I have spent so much time trying to run away from myself, yet I still could find my soul.

I allowed the image of Master Skywalker’s sparse room fill my mind. At least that’s not hard. I have a wide, active imagination and can easily picture anything. If I have already seen an object, like a bed, it is even easier. His bedroom was simple. There was a low bed, a light standing in a corner, a book self, and a dark wooden night table. The room would be dark and quiet. I pictured myself standing at the doorway, what view I would have and then stopped day dreaming. I focused on my soul leaving my body, sort of peeling away and then standing in the spot I had conjured up.

There are times that I question if I ever daydream this and how to tell if what I am doing is real. When I project and truly leave my body, I know. It is the difference of imagining a room and standing in the room. One instantly and instinctly knows the difference, even half asleep and drugged. It is like asking how to tell the difference between the dark side and the light. It is fairly obvious which is which when presented with one or the other. If I must be pinned to more solid reasons why I know these projects are real is because they aren’t dreams. The content of all my dreams that I have ever had never ever come close to the events that happen while projecting. The scenes, the detail, people, the movements, and the dialog are nothing at all like my dreams. Furthermore when I project, I can still be conscious aware of my body and my surroundings in ways I never have or will be in my dreams. There may be times that I question, but I always come back to the same fact. These projects are more real than what human kind foolishly calls reality.

Through closed eyes, almost displayed like a hologram, I saw the room Master Skywalker slept in. I took a step forward and looked down at my feet, covered in my normal boots the Jedi had given me. It was good to be back in Jedi clothing and not be displayed like a fancy, eye catching doll. The change in clothing did not bother me because when projecting anything and everything was possible, even stuff you didn’t know could or believed could happen, did. This project should be fairly simple and ordinary. My job was to help another person come out of their body. Nothing weird was to be expected, but I also had been through enough to know nothing was ever straight forward. I walked over to Master Skywalker’s bed, staring at his peaceful sleeping figure. His eyes were relaxed and not moving, meaning he had not fallen into REM sleep. While one can project through REM sleep, it would be better for me if he hadn’t gotten to that sleep stage.

Watching him sleep was strangely addicting, but a nagging voice wouldn’t let me relax. I knew I was stalling. I knew I wasn’t sure what next to do. The trouble was, I never had helped someone project this way. I always told someone over a computer what to do, not project to them and then guide them through. My mind turned back to why I was chosen and not someone else. True, I had years of experience of projecting and giving advice, but I still couldn’t understand why me. I had been given this task by the dead, with the Force, Jedi and had to wonder why they didn’t do themselves. What did I have that they didn’t? Was it simply because I was alive? Perhaps it was easier for someone alive to help another alive being project? Maybe the first timer would incur less shock? I scolded myself for getting off track again.

The main problem was I wasn’t sure how to reach the soul of Luke. I didn’t know how to awake his soul and make his soul aware of me. I reached out to the Force, for the Force always had an answer if you knew what question to ask and how to interpret the answer. I scanned the Jedi in front of me, being careful to probe lightly into him as to not wake up him. The sleeping person before me felt alive and awake in a sense. I could tell he was aware of me on some level of his conscious. Carefully, I probed closer to his mind, looking for a response from his soul. I felt something, something I could not explain fully, but like when a person first opens their eyes to realize they are awake and don’t know where they are. I tentatively stood next to the sleeping, still body and put an astral hand on his lay which lay on top of the sheets. The physical hand was still, yet another hand, more like an image of a hand appeared. My eyes widen in shock. He was becoming aware of his soul and thus his astral body was coming out of his “real” body.

The urge to pull him out was great, but had to be resisted. My research that was comprised of talking to various projectors from my home planet told me I should never pull anyone out when they don’t know what is going on or are ready to leave their body. If I did try to pull Master Skywalker out right now, I could do serious damage to his soul. I would just have to encourage him to leave his body and be patient. Patience, in my opinion, was overrated, but a must in a situation like this.

Luke’s body slowly became visible to my astral eyes. I took several steps back to give him space. His emotional response was not what I thought it would be. He seemed confused and curious about this new state he was in. I expected him to be scared and try to go back into his physical body. It was impossible to give a numerical measurement of how long he laid in his body for there is no concept of time in the astral plane. A person can claim they only spent ten minutes why projecting, but in reality, they spent an hour. The concept of time is something the mind has created, but has no meaning in the astral plane.

I decided Master Skywalker had enough time and needed to be introduced to a new property of the astral plane which was communication. I called out his name, not formal Jedi name, but his birth name. He turned his head to the direction of my name and blinked. He stared at the spot I was stand at, but made no sign of recognizing me. Perhaps he couldn’t see me. Some people when first projecting had problems with seeing because they want to use their physical eyes and have to learn to see through their astral eyes. This was a problem I couldn’t help him with. I had the same problem and through practice, got better at seeing.

I called his name again and I saw he became more aware of himself. His right arm moved a bit. I gave a word of encouragement. He lowered the arm back down and pushed his head beyond his physical body. He pushed more and soon half his body was out. He was doing well and I told him to keep going. He did so, slowly, leg by leg and was standing on his bed. I walked over with a grin on my face and welcomed him to a new world. He stepped off his bed, to the ground and looked around. I felt something, possible the Force swirl around the room. He was probably sensing his surroundings. That was the same action I took when I couldn’t see. He walked around his room and stopped at his sleeping body. Master Skywalker reached out and touched his body. Something weird happened when he did that. He disappeared and I heard a gasp. His physical body jerked straight up to a sitting position. Luke looked around and then shook his head. Of course, I couldn’t be seen. He might have been able to sense me, but I was pretty sure he was in too much shock to do so.

He gave the room was last look before settling down into the covers and drifted off to sleep. It was time for me to go back, back to my own body so I could get my sleep. I opened my physical eyes and felt the slight jolt as soul and body became one again. I stared into the darkness of my room and noted Master Mirmo had not come back. I bet he was going to sleep in that chair again. I turned over to my side and cuddled in the warmth of the smelly blankets. I smiled to myself, knowing I had done my job and had done it well. Maybe that’s why I was picked for this assignment.

[snowind]

Really good J.K., no need for more words. Liked the whole Astral experience.

[JediKaren]

Ch14
Mirmo


I walked through the messy, narrow, and short hall of the dingy apartment to the room where my apprentice was sleeping. The door was shut. That was strange. She had kept it open last night. The door opened, and closed a thought of worry within me. Inside was the ever still lump of quiet and peaceful looking young woman. The blanket was half off her body and her hair was its normal disaster. I called out to her in a not-so-quiet voice to wake up and eat her breakfast. She grunted, telling me she was awake before I had opened the door and was now testing me to see if I would give her five more minutes. This was a game I allowed to go on at the temple because there was time to be lazy, but not now, not on this trip. I sternly told her to get up, have a quick shower and put on the new set of clothes that Nea provided again. That man sorely needed a woman in the most desperate way.

I closed the door to give her privacy, but did not come back into the common room until I heard large amounts of grunting, moaning, and things falling over, being followed with curses. Twenty minutes later she came out with wet hair, tight dark blue pants, a deep "V" cut, red silk shirt with long expanding sleeves, with a black glossy belt made out of real reptile skin. Her hair was pulled back simply and she wore the black boots from yesterday’s outfit. She was not quite sexy looking or beautiful, but came off as classic, rich, screaming powerful and knowledge. Truth be told, it was the perfect outfit for today’s events, but Nea did not need to be informed of that information.

Nea gave her breakfast and I reviewed the day’s events so she would know exactly what was going to happen. She nodded every so often and to my surprise came up with a few modification of her own. For all the immaturity she can display at the worst times, she has a strong, confident mature side of her that reminds me why she will make a great Jedi-knight. When she was done eating, we gathered our few supplies needed for the trip and headed off with Nea to his cloud car.

We took our time driving around the city, slowly heading up. I wanted Karen to see more of the city and understand what life is like here at the center of the galaxy. By now, some of the glamour was wearing off, though Karen still could not get enough of it. What was even stranger is she was clearly a nature lover and despised large concentrations of human contact. To distract myself from the boredom of our surroundings, I focused within myself and evaluate through a meditation process my current emotions and control over my mind and body. By doing the meditation, I can discover any cold developing in my system and become aware of hiding stress, fear, or anger. I have tried to get my apprentice to do this, but the attempts are merely attempts with little success. I put that thought out of my mind and solely focused on myself. My stress levels were doing well as well as my emotions, but the deeper I looked, the more of a feeling I got. Focusing on that feeling brought out a feeling of worry about the future. I labeled this as a warning provided by the Force, telling me there was danger near by in my future. The danger did not center on me, but someone close. There was no name or image to go along with the warning, leaving me mystified and thoughtful.

“Hey Mir, waking up from that nap of yours would be good, at any time now.”

Nea’s commanding voice drew me out of my meditation and to my surroundings. The vehicle was parked in a lot, in what I came to realize a government building. I stepped out of the car and looked around to gain a sense of perspective and bearings.

“Ah, do not even worry about it, buddy. I have us covered. I have been here so many times, I could walk to any senator’s office with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back. Come on, follow me, Lady Nightingstar, if you will?”

Nea took Karen’s arm and I saw in a glare, a glance of disapproval on her face. The look lasted for about a second as she jumped into character. I walked behind them with my head down, studying a data pad I brought along as part of my character. We walked through a maze of hall ways, taking various lifts until we reached Senator Delila why’tul’s office. A busy woman sat in front of a metal table, busily talking into her comn link, sounding harassed.

“No, she can not see you right now. No, not in an hour either. I can squeeze you in between her meeting with the off planet taxing proposal and her lunch with the local school district eleven. I am sorry, but that is the best I can do. At best, you are looking at fifteen minutes. I am sorry sir, but she is a busy woman. Now, if you will excuse me, I have another call coming in. Bye.”

The lady put down the comn unit and rubbed her eyes, clearly showing how stressed and over worked she was. I waited for about a minute for her to acknowledge our presence and gave a loud cough.

“Oh, what? Yes? She is busy right now. She will be busy all day. Can I leave a message?”

Her sharp, quick words slapped me in the face and left me wordless. Nea grunted and took over.

“Yes, we are, uh, from the poor worker union and would like to arrange a meeting with the senator.”

It was clear she had never heard of this made up union and did not buy it either.

“Really, now? Well, the best I can do is in a week and there is no promise she will accept your request for the meeting. Would you care to still try?”

Nea narrowed his large, dark eyes at her and drew to his full volume, a sight that would impress anyone.

“I--, we, are a powerful group and too, are busy. It is most important we see her today. We traveled half way across the galaxy to talk to her and it would be a shame if word got out to the public.”

The lady was not showing any signs of being intimidated by his size, or suggestion of a threat.

“I truly am sorry you traveled so far, but there is just no time in her schedule for your group until next week. Perhaps you could meet with a subcommittee leader if you are so pressed for time?”

While I was impressed with her nerves of dura-steel, she was not going to refuse us. I stepped forward. I put my hands on the table and leaned forward. I explained to her that I was an under cover Jedi, trained and loyal to the Jedi Order and therefore a servant of the New Republic. It would look very bad on the senator if she refused the request of a meeting from a Jedi and if she did, I would go straight to Chancellor Leia Organa Solo to obtain the meeting. The lady’s eyes widen with the realization of who I was and what would happen to her and the senator if she did not comply with my wishes.

“Let me look at Dilela’s schedule. Well, if you can be here after lunch, I will give you thirty minutes maximum with her. Will this do?”

I nodded and slightly bowed to her. The lady picked up her comn unit and furiously started talking into it. I turned around and lead the group out of the office and to a quiet, empty hall.

“Well Mirmo, I have to say that was smooth.”

I nodded.

“Master, are you sure you didn’t use the Force there?”

I smiled at Karen and told her I was sure. Sometimes the power of identifying yourself was more useful and easier than trying to bend the will of someone as stubborn and strong as that lady. I changed the topic to doing a bit of shopping and touring the government center to get the buzz of the latest new and possible some lunch afterwards. Karen’s eyes lit up at the mention of food. I swore to myself that girl could eat a whole hut and still be thinking of dessert.

[JediKaren]

Ch 15
Karen

This was another one of those boring, slow parts of adventure. The tour of the government building was boring as anything. I really have no interest in government. Sure, the building itself was impressive and the feeling of being surrounded by rich, famous, and darn smart people was stronger than the Force, but that still didn’t make the feeling of boredom go away. We walked down another boring hallway. My thoughts drifted off to other things. I decided to test the Force, figuring only my master would notice and he shouldn’t have cared if I did or didn’t.

If I thought I was bored, the Force here was far more boring than I was. The feeling I got from the building was a mindless droning of not quite paid enough employees slaving away for spoiled rich senators whose ego were far too big. The building seemed to be purely drama, emotions flying over all with little swirls of activity centered in different areas of the building. Well, that was the best way I could explain it to someone who wasn’t experiencing the feeling for themselves. I dug further into the Force, looking for something to distract me while I stared mindlessly at meaningless, non offensive “art” on the white or gray walls.

There seemed to be a feeling of faint worry or danger. I questioned this feeling. The more I looked, the more I got a feeling of danger centered near by in the future and close to our group. It was a feeling of dark, unthinkable horror and desperate panic. I knew this feeling to be a warning from the Force. I had experienced the feeling several times before and each one was generally as vague as this one was. What was worse was in the past these feelings had one strong, common theme and that was death. Whether it is the dead of a family member or a mass death of population, I had felt the event coming sometimes months before hand and each one haunted me. Was this warning the death of Nea or me, or even while I shuddered thinking about it, the death of Mirmo? The precognitive feeling was too vague to answer that question. I sighed in frustration.

“Something wrong, apprentice?”

I looked up suddenly at Mirmo who came near me. I quietly told him I sensed something in the Force. His eye-brows went up a bit, but not as high as I expected.

“Yes, I felt something too. It felt like a warning of some sort, but the feeling was too vague to understand what. Did you get anything better?”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to tell him about my past with such feelings and how death was the ending of them.

“We should be cautious then until we have more proof. Keep yourself open to the Force and look out for sudden hints of anything.”

Again, I nodded and we kept on walking. I tried to think of something else. I tried to think of lunch, wondering what we would eat. I asked Nea what his plans were.

“Well darling, I was thinking the all popular Macpalps and let you try a classic cheese nerf burger.”

I stared at him in shock. He was feeding me junk food, and probably, junk food I knew so well on my home planet. The galaxy suddenly shrunk in my mind.

“What, you have never heard of Macpalps? It was a joke on the emperor and it was a miracle that the chain survived when so many other similar jokes did not. Perhaps it was because they gave a free nerf burger to any imperial officer who came in.”

I laughed silently, refusing to openly show that I was amused by the drug seller. Mirmo smiled and said that he wanted us to eat in a private spot so we could talk and not have to worry about being overheard. We ordered our mid day meal, or lunch in my mind, at the loud, crowded junk food court and headed for a peaceful corner, surrounded by huge leafy plants where we could view the whole eating lounge. Nea and Mirmo sat between me, but both towered over my head, talking to another.

“Buddy, I hope you know what you are doing. This senator is tough. Maybe the Force is with you and all, but you are entering a nasty, complex arena of politics.”

“Nea, I know she is tough, but you forget I am a Jedi. We are trained on how to handle tough senators. Besides, if I have to, I can use my connection to the Chancellor to get the senator to cooperate.”

“Maybe you can, but I would not advise it.”

“Why not? The senator should know better than the refuse a Jedi.”

“But that is the thing. Pal, you are not representing the Jedi here, but the criminal underworld. Do you really want her to associate Jedi with criminals?”

“The Jedi sever and defend the people. Criminals are part of the people. Her law has harmed the people. Therefore, as a Jedi, I must defend the underworld.”

“You are basing your agreement on what the criminal lords said. I would not trust them, seeing all I know about their misfortune is that some senator was busted and new laws were passed to stop the access to the drugs. The meeting last night claimed these laws are harming them, yet somehow that does not add up. If anything, the law should help them again more money. I know one thing about drugs and that is when the access gets cut off, the price rises, and the spice dealers get richer. No, somewhere down the line of this logic, there is a flaw. I suspect there is some foul deal made between the drug suppliers and this senator.”

Mirmo went quiet for a minute and I sensed the Force stirring around him.

“Nea, I suspect you are right. I had not noticed the difference in stories and I am glad you pointed that out. Well now we have discovered that important fact, I say we head back to her office. Karen, are you done eating?”

I had been done eating fifteen minutes ago. I never wasted time eating food.

“Right. Remind me not to ask such a dumb question again.”

Both Nea and I broke out in loud laughs. I stopped quickly, slightly mad at myself for my lack of control. We gathered the trash left over and threw it away in a waste bin, then started heading back through the maze of incredibly boring halls and bad art.

[The Adfeng]

Pretty good. Maybe some grammatical errors, but everything else was good. And a nice chapters these were!

[JediKaren]

Ch16
Mirmo

“Alright gentlemen, you have my full attention for thirty minutes. Hurry up because there is a meeting I have to go to after this.”

Nea righteously warned me this senator was going to be tough. She was a tall figure, skinny, with dark hair pinned up tightly against her head and flashing eyes. Her skin in contrast was a shiny pale. Right now her dark, serious eyes were centered on me. I suspected this was to show me who was in power, yet the effectiveness of the gesture was lost on years of thorough training provided by the Jedi path. I calmly told her we from the Dawners.

“Oh, good, another new street gang and let me guess, full of lies right?”

For a second a gritted my teeth. I started telling her what the mission the Dawners when she interrupted me.

“Yes, I know who they are. They were gang of thieves and striving drug addicts who overtook a perfectly good government all in the name of promoting peace. The poor will always think they can run governments better the poor and they are always wrong. Those with money and power should and will run those without. I am sorry gentlemen, but this meeting is over. I will not be associated with your low class type.”

With that, she walked pass us, to the door. She was about one step away when I told her I would then take this issue to the Chancellor. My words did their magic. The senator paused in mid step, having gone stiff and cold in manner. She turned around and stared cold, narrow, dangerous eyes, with an undercurrent of fear in them. She knew all too well we were not bluffing.

“You would not dare!”

On the contrary we would. I pulled out my comm link to show I was not insincere. She took two long strides in her high heels and had an unused look similar to begging.

“Ok, let us not bother our dear Chancellor with such trivial matters. Tell me, what are these matters you wish to discuss with me?”

Surrender spoke in every feature of her. It was clear to both of us she was not on such great terms with the Chancellor. I could use this to my advantage. I mentally told myself to focus. This would be the hard part. The sell pitch had to be perfect. I told her about the law that had been passes and what was going on with the lower classes. She did not seem to care about starving children or murder happening every hour in the chaotic conditions the government had created.

“So what if some nowhere man gets shot? People die every day and there is nothing we can do no matter how many units of law upholders we send down there. Frankly sir, I do not know you or why you even care, but I can tell you should stop. It is a waste of time and money. The poor will always be poor with murderers and starving children. As long as they do not come to the higher levels of civilization, I see no reason why I or anyone with money and power should care.”

This lady was not just tough, but had a cold, empty heart. In order to persuade her, I realized I would have to put terms in way she would understand. I painted a picture for her full of mass murder, weapons in the hands of the lower classes, and the government in ruins. Her job, her power, and her money would be gone. She would be living in a shabby shack, with ragged clothes, being ignored as the poor ruled the rich. This was the picture she would live in if something was not done soon for the poor.

“Clearly you do not have all your facts straight. Let me educate your wild imagination. There was a scandal in the senate and several senators were caught making some deals with a major gang. You can imagine the fun the holo news had with this. The rest of the senators moved quickly to cover up this disarray and talked to the guilty gang. A private deal was made between the gang and senate. If the gang would keep their hands clean of the senate for a period of time, the senate would pass a law that would restrict the flow of drugs being transported, so only that gang would have free access and the rest of the gangs would suffer. Does not surprise me that now there are gang fights, but that was the request of that gang. So you see, I will have nothing to do with this. If the lower classes want more peace, they can control their gangs better.”

I thought for a minute. The gang lords obviously were unaware of this information. Should I try to work out a deal with this senator without consulting them again?

“Excuse, but your time is up. I have an important meeting and after that I must get ready for the yearly Chancellor's ball. All the senators will be there and my presence has been more favored.”

I thanked her and bowed. I had hardly straightened up before she quickly left the room. I stood for a moment, letting the Force fill me. I straighten up and walked out of her office to join Nea and Karen who I asked to wait out this meeting. Karen looked bored out of her mind and Nea was reading a pamphlet about the benefits of spice, probably working up a new angle to sell his homemade stuff. I motioned them to follow me.

“So my Force using friend, how was your mighty battle with the steel hard mind of a politician? I saw her walk out rather angry and strangely with an air of defeat. What did you do? Pull out your lightsaber as a threat or did you convince her of the wonders of dull, useless meditation?”

Karen snickered behind Nea’s back. Maybe she was never going to admit it, but she had come to like Nea with all his faults. I told Karen she had earned herself an hour of meditation when we got back to Nea’s apartment. Her bright, shining eyes closed with a moan of complain and boredom.

“Ouch Mir. Must you be so hard on someone so beautiful?”

I stopped in the middle of the hall having not heard of what Nea said. I felt a flare in the Force. The flare was a warning, the strong feeling of danger near by. Muscles tensed and my hand went close to where the lightsabers were underneath my long tunic. I looked around, but all there was to see were senator aids and government workers hurrying around. Nea abruptly tripped and bumped into me. I felt a smug smile form on my apprentice's face. Mentally, I upped her punishment to two hours of meditation. A flash of annoyance and worrisome passed through me as the feeling of danger left. This was the second feeling I got from the Force, yet I knew nothing more. I decided there was no point in telling the others, but to keep a closer eye on the people around us and keep the group more together. I wait until we were settled in Nea’s car to explain to the group what had happened. Both of them stayed mercifully silence for several blocks.

“Hmm, well that is interesting. I think there is more than what she told you pal. Someone had to uncover this scandal and who ever did it had a reason better than to embarrass some rich snobby senators. Still, we should relay this information to Ven and let him decide on what to do next.”

I agree with Nea and said there was one more thing we should do.

“And what in the seven Sith lords is that?”

We needed more information. First hand accounts and interviews always helps gain more information. In order to do that we needed to meet with the senators those were involved. We were going to attend the Chancellor's ball.

[JediKaren]

Ch17
Karen

I hate high heels. I hate the fact that I can barely balance while taking pain- staking tiny steps, while trying to act the role of someone rich and graceful all at the same time. Meanwhile, my feet have been forced into way-too narrow shoes with all the weight and pressure being centered on the front pad of my feet. Then there is the silent game between females of who can stand and dance in their heels the longest before giving in, sitting down and taking off the accursed things. What is worse is we go to all this trouble and suck up so much pain, yet the males never noticed or care about the shoes or understand the pain. It is another blasted part of being a female and society expects us to participate in the game no matter what the cost is.

The rest of my outfit I loved. I had spent half an hour in the shower while the men figured out what to do about Mirmo’s lack of ball-going clothes. I spent another twenty minutes straitening, gathering, curling, and spraying my hair into artistic perfection. Then I slipped into a borrowed evening dress. I did not want to know how Nea got his hands on to it. My face was touched up with what I thought was the right amount of makeup. And finally came the matching high heels and much cursing out of my inability to walk.

The most fun I had that night was enjoying the stunned look on my master’s face. The men were busy talking boring politics and when they heard the loud thump of my gangly feet, they both turned towards me, gaping, and mouths wide open in pure shock, amazement, and disbelief. A smirk of a proud smile grew on my face. I didn’t dress up much, but when I did, I went all out.

“Karen…you… you are...”

I wanted to laugh so hard at Mirmo’s failure to depict me.

“Oh my sweet, sweet, beautiful, gorgeous-”

I gave a small cough to stop Nea right there. He knew all too well what I would look like when he got a hold of these clothes and I didn’t want any more flatter from him. I took a step and nearly fell on my feet. Mirmo rushed forward and lend me a hand. I angrily refused it. I was not some frail sweet young thing that needed male protection at all times. If Mirmo had unconscious fell into that typical stereotypic male role, I was going to force him out of it. I softly snarled and pushed his hand away, which he quickly retracted. Our eyes met and I silently told him not to ever do that again. Through The Force, I knew he understood my feelings towards the role I would have to play and accepted my dislike. I hated the upper middle class, wanting to act rich, family and people that I had grown up in and this was a bad reminder of who I once was.

“Nea, I think you have said enough about my apprentice. Karen, you look great, but your shoes are a serious problem. You can not run in to, not to mention walk fast and there still is some danger in the Force. I sense whatever is coming, is speeding towards us faster than I would like to think about. I need you to be able to protect yourself and these shoes are not going to allow that.”

Nea brought up the idea about caring my Jedi boots in a bag that he would bring as well as some clothes more appropriate for moving quickly in. Mirmo uneasily agreed to the idea, but I could tell he was still worried. In my opinion he was being overly worried, a bit reminding me like my father who drove me crazy with rage. I wasn’t give time to be frustrated with Mirmo because Nea hurried us out to his car. We flew into the night car light up by a billion sparkling lights created by light up buildings, millions of flashing signs, spot lights to attract wondering eyes, and the head lights of cloud cars zooming by. The night seemed more like the temple’s dusk time rather than the pure black sky that came later on in the evenings.

The ball was held at one of the most impressive buildings. I have little interest for buildings, but this managed to grab my attention. It helped that most of the lights around the building was directed at the off color white stone that gave off a silver gleam. The soaring walls made of solid, unbreakable stone gave a sense of strength and pride. The curves of the arches and the carving hidden in surprising places left me with a feeling of beauty and grace. This was the Chancellor’s home. This was where the ball was being held.

Nea flew up to one landing outcrops and stopped the car. A servant looking, greenish brown alien walked up to Nea. Nea handed the being a data-pad. The servant glanced at it and nodded with a wave on his hand. Nea came back into the car and told us he would go park it and meet up with us later. Mirmo got out, now in his fancy deep red and black silk tunic and pants with a pure black cloak. He opened my door like a gentlemen and helped me out. My dark red, nearly the color of deep blood dress trailed off the seat. I took a moment to steady myself on my stupid heels. Mirmo smiled in a way that made me want to smack him as he took my arm and we proceeded into the grand building.

If the outside was impressive, there was no word to describe the inside. Perhaps I had gotten to use to the dim hallways of the temple, of the lack of art and culture at the dinning hall. The jungle surrounding the temple had seemed wordless with wonder, yet this place was a whole new wonder of its own. I could have attempted to describe what I saw, but my vocabulary seemed to be too limited. What did stand out most in my mind were the people, and more clearly, the masses and variety of people. There were humans, Wookies with their height and fur, Sullustan, Tammarian, Bothan, Fosh, fish like Mon Calamari, Barabel, blue, twin tailed Twi’lek, and others that Mirmo’s zoology lessons hadn’t taught me to recognize. There were as many species as there were humans at the party.

I have never been much of a partier, though I have been to many parties. In proper, high class, social parties one introduced themselves to millions of people and talked of food, other people in a correct fashion, and present and future plans. The food at these parties was never good and non alcohol consumers, like me, had problems getting something besides water. At school- hosted parties, the party was the warm up to sex later on at the hotel. The dancing was a way to get body closer to lover body and to make everyone sweat to death just by standing in the dancing floor. The food and drinks were good, but being single and unattractive there could be suicidal. As Mirmo lead me through the tables above the dancing and socializing level, I saw a mixture of both types of parties.

We were seated at a table covered with fine light blue silk with crystal wine glasses. A waiter droid came by and put a bottle of imported red wine between us. Mirmo poured some in each of our glasses.

“You do not have to drink it, but considering the role you are playing tonight, you best at least look like you drink wine. Remember, proper lady.”

I made a face at him and remained quiet. I took the wine in my hand and sniffed at it. Yuck. Mirmo shot me a look. I sighed and straighten up my back as was as my dress.

“We are going downstairs to introduce ourselves to the Chancellor and then I will turn you loose. I need to dig around and see what information I can pick up on this deal made by the senators and the gang lords. Be on the look out for Nea and tell him to come. me when you find him. I trust that you can behave yourself?”

I dutifully told him he could and he nodded with approval. He took my hand again and we slowly went down stairs because that was as fast as I could walk. Master Mirmo found the eloquent Chancellor Leia talking to some aliens, a species I didn’t recognize. Mirmo introduced us as our actor’s names and when Leia hugged Mirmo, I heard him whispered something. She straightened and studied us a bit more. I felt a light touch of the Force pass through me. I smiled a bit and sent a similar touch to her.

“Thank you Master Mirmo for identifying yourself. I will keep it to myself and contact my brother to let him know how your mission is going. If you have time later, I would like to talk to you about your mission and see if I can help you in any way I can.”

Mirmo thanked her profoundly and excused us. He stopped half way through the huge room and let go of my hand. Then he walked to a near by group, leaving me to find someone to talk to. I gulped, gathered my nerves and plunged into the world of high society.

[JediKaren]

Ch 18
Mirmo

I watched my apprentice edge into a group of high class, eloquently dressed group of humans and other species out of the corner of my eye. She would do fine, I told myself. Over the course of six months at the temple, training, she had learned to be social and how keep up a conversation, despite her handicap of not being from this galactic system. I focused my attention to my personal mission which was find information about the scandal. I tried various tactics to get into different groups which I spotted senators in such as telling a joke, or loudly commenting on a female’s dress. I earned their trust and approval, pretending to be a high class social worker, one who worked for society by sitting back in a high tech chair, listening to my employees about their problems and doing nothing. I kept my tone low and boring. My words were few, but describing and my body language was relaxed, yet bored of going to dinner parties like this one. I wore my barrowed tunic like my daily wear, turning down comments as anyone in my position would have done so. In short, I was fitting in with the rest of the crowd.

Once I had won the attention and favor of the senator in a group, I hinted more serious matters needed to be discussed with them privately. If the senator was smart, and most was, they excused themselves from the group and walked some paces from the mass of people. I offered them a drink and a seat and then questioned them about the incident. From the eight senators I had managed to pry away from the ball, none of them were willing to furnish any more information than I had been told. It seemed the senator was immensely embarrassed by the topic and bluntly refused to go further without angrily demanding why I interviewing them. Why they were so embarrassed was a question I had yet to figure out. I fervently hoped Chancellor Leia could provide me something more substantial to take back to Ven and the gang leaders.

Half way through the party I met up with Nea and reported my failure. He was unhappy, but commented it could not be helped. He went on saying he would try a few of his tricks to pick up any more clues. Half an hour before the end of the party I gave up on the social aspect of the party after checking up on Karen. She was happily dancing with some young man, dark brown hair swept back with glowing dark eyes that made me think of Roan again. I gathered the Force and spread my awareness of the living Force to the corners of the room and then doubled back again to the center, searching for formally Princess Leia. To my surprised, I got an answer through the Force from her and sensed she was coming towards me. I checked my location to ensure we would have privacy. We were alone on the third floor. Most of the guests were centered in the first floor, dancing the last of the night away or drinking the last drops of rare wines.

“We meet again Master Mirmo.”

I bowed to her as a Jedi does to another Jedi. She slightly bowed back, conscious of the holo cams that were zooming past us. This was not something either one of us wanted the press to get their hands onto.

“So what brings you to the center of the galaxy and away from my brother’s temple?”

I briefly told her of the gang leader’s meeting, the conversation at the senator’s office, and what I had not learned at the party.

“I had a report of this on my desk today. The report mentioned the lowest classes were getting unhappy about the new law that was passed for the locals. I had no idea it was this bad. Thank you for bring this to my attention.”

I asked her why the senators had remained so silent about the matter.

“I imagine they are facing pressure from their home worlds to cover this up. No one wants to be from a planet who’s senator was publicly corrupt. Therefore I doubt any of them would provide you information unless you told them you were Jedi on a mission, backed by my word.”

That was the whole problem. I feared that even with the word of the Chancellor, the senators would be slow to give out anything. I asked Chancellor Leia what was her feelings on what was going on. She hesitated before saying anything.

“I have no proof of this, but I feel the darkside is at play. This feels a bit too much like something Emperor Palatine did while he ruled. It is sneaky and quiet. It would just be like him to go for a group no one cares about to raise trouble. If you want, I can ask my brother for more help.”

I told her that would not be necessary. I had handled just as troubling problems before, just nothing quite like this. Nea joined our private conversation. I introduced him as a friend of mine who was helping us with the investigation. The former Princess eyed him with caution, much like Karen did when first introduced. It seemed women did not feel much towards my spicer friend. I could not really understand why. Sure, Nea looked a bit slimy, but beyond the surface he was one of the best friends a man could have. It helped that Nea had saved me from starvation and help me in straight as I tried desperately to keep a planet straight. He was a man I would die for and I knew the same of him.

It was time to leave the Chancellor to bid the guests goodbye and find Karen. She was found in a dark corner, arched back, trusting the young man to not drop her, deep in a kiss that he had started. I stood there for a moment, unsure what to think. Who was I to barge into their passionate moment? There was no law or part of the Jedi code about kissing, yet we all knew love was a two edged sword when mixed with the Force. The couple seemed to sense my presence and broke off the kiss. Two pairs of startled eyes met mine. Their bodies separated in a hurry. Karen was scared and the man was angry. I could hardly blame either one of them. The silence stretched for a moment before the man collected his wits and emotional control.

“Are you her Master?”

My eyes narrowed and Karen looked guiltily down at the wooden floor. She knew we were supposed to be under cover. I told the man yes and if he would let me have my apprentice back. My voice may have been a tad harder than I wished it, but there was a stir of anger and fear with in me.

With a gentle bow and a soft word, the young man wished his dance partner good bye and a good evening. Karen mutely came to my side, blushing heavily. With a stiff voice, I wished him goodnight in a clear manner to stay away from my apprentice. He smiled at me and bowed again.

“Same you to, my good sir. It is always an honor to meet a Jedi and a lovely apprentice such as yourself, M’lady.”

Something close to a giggle could be heard from Karen’s covered mouth. My frown deepened. Something about this man set me off in all the wrong ways. He was no innocent Roan back in the temple, but a man that set a feeling of uneasy with his wide smile and easy words. I watched him carefully walk away.

“Master…”

Karen seemed to search for something to say, but found nothing to ease the situation. I raised a hand to silence her and said it was alright. With that, she fell again quiet. We found Nea, who had the car ready at the landing strip. We rode back home in silence and I sent Karen straight to bed. I received no argument which was strange for her. Perhaps I had been overly harsh with her.

[JediKaren]

Ch19
Karen

The kiss wasn’t suppose to happen. He, with is catching eyes and sweeping looks, took me in his arms and before I knew it, bent my head back into a romantic, passionate kiss that stole my breath away and stopped the inner workings of my mind. He mouth worked with such lust and need for me, I was lost in the feeling of being wanted, or being needed. No one, not the two boys I had dated years back, ever made me feel that way. In truth, I had never been much of dating material due to my strong tom-boyish personality and dress code.

The ride back was a nightmare. The silence in the cloud car was murderous. I wanted to say something. I needed to explain what had happened at the dance, but I sensed Mirmo was not in the mood to talk. When I sensed a presence near by me and my future lover, I looked up and froze. I had seen my father instead of Mirmo. I froze because that was a reaction I developed with my father. I always feared my father and when I did something I knew he would at least be unhappy about, I freaked out.

Going to bed this night took longer than usual. Getting out of the tight-fitting dress was hard. Then I had to scrub my face clean, knowing it was useless. I would break out later on no matter what I did. Finally, I crawled into bed, but did not go to sleep. There was another training session to be done with Master Skywalker.

Now that he had found his astral body and come out of his physical body it was time to take him to the next step. The goal of this session was to show him some of the different astral properties. But first, I had to make sure he knew how to get out of his body again. As they say at the temple, there is no such thing as too much practice.

I imagined myself at Master Skywalker’s room, standing right next to his body, hopefully him there, lightly sleeping. I then disconnected myself from my body and focused on bringing out my astral body and to that spot I had in my head. I felt the change happen and knew I had done it. I was now in Luke’s room. My hope came true. Luke was on his back, asleep. I called out his first name. His physical head turned to his left. Well, at least he was in a light sleep. I called his name again, being quieter. There was no response. I wondered what to do. Perhaps he still didn’t get how to leave his body? How was I going to get him out? I couldn’t pull him, nor did I want to call his name until he woke up.

His eyes opened and for a second I was cursing the world out until I looked more closely at his eyes. I realized his physically eyes were still closed, but his astral eyes had opened. I breathed a sigh of relief. I called his name one more time and his eyes spotted me. They grew wide in expected shock for a second, but after recognizing me, they relaxed. I stayed quiet, waiting for him to separate from his body. I wanted to see him do it on his own without any guidance from me. He took my silence as cue to get up. His astral body rose through his and floated above. He awkwardly straightened his body so he was vertically and descended to the ground. He opened his mouth to talk and something that sounded close to our language came out, but I still couldn’t understand it. I told him to think what he wanted to say for communication. He tried it and managed a thank you to me. I heard him mutter something about this being so strange. I asked him what did he meant by that. I knew what he meant, but he didn’t know that I could hear his thoughts. He gave me a look and asked if I heard him think that. I said yes. I also told him that he would have to mind his thoughts better because there was very little privacy in the astral plane.

I then started my lecture about the Ethereal plane. The astral plane is a collection of planes, some lower and some higher, and the plane that we were projecting to was called the Ethereal plane. The Ethereal plane was a slightly low plane that anyone who could find their soul, could project to. The plane took on the formation of whatever the projected lived. The plane also had many different properties that did not exist on the physical plane where we walked, breathed, and ate. The next plane up was called the astral plane where spirits of Jedi who had become one with the Force upon dying resided.

With that piece of information I jumped up, back flipped, and remained floating in the air. Luke looked at my jump in mild shock. I smiled at him and asked him to join me in my lofty perch. He asked how. How was a good question for someone who was brand new to projecting. I thought about it for a minute and told him just do it. I got another, not quite so mild look of surprise from him. I refused to go into more detail. The astral plane was one of the few things I had the most trouble teaching and Luke was the master of the Force here, not me. He should have known what I meant. With some obvious pondering, he finally decided to take my word and found himself half a meter above the ground. I told him that gravity, weight, and physical strength means nothing here. He nodded and I sensed that he was catching on. I turned to the wall and started walking towards it. When I got to the wall, I didn’t stop, but proceeded to walk through the wall if nothing happened. Internally I shuddered. I couldn’t feel anything, but the idea still disturbed me even after numerous years of practicing it. I turned back and went into Luke’s bedroom.

The look on his face wasn’t so surprising now that he understood anything is possible on the astral plane. I gestured for him to do the same. Master Skywalker walked up to the wall and hesitantly stuck a hand into the solid looking wall. He pulled the hand back and examined it. I saw a tiny shrug and his body passed through the wall. I followed him into a short hallway that lead to a chamber empty except with one lone Jedi knight standing alone, staring at the wall. I smiled and saw another property to demonstrate to Master Skywalker.

I went up to the knight, bent down, showing my bottom to the knight and then flashed my underwear at him. I was careful not to touch the knight, worried that the knight might sense my presence. This was highly rude and should have been shocking to the knight. Yet the knight continued to stare blankly at the wall. I straightened up and looked at Luke. He did not seem too bothered by the gross gesture, but seemed thoughtful. He asked me if Jedi could detect an astral presence through the Force. I told him yes, but you would have to be attuned to the feeling of a presence and hope the presence wanted to be sensed and wasn’t shielding themselves. I shouted as loud as I could at the knight that should have startled the Jedi out of his meditative boring stare, but again the man did not respond. I told Master Skywalker that we could hear him, but he could not hear us. Only those who had become one with the Force could communicate with those who were living.

There was one last property that I wanted to show him that would truly should him anything could be done while projecting. I thought of his bedroom, where I projected to and then transported my astral body to that spot. I waited a moment before teleporting myself back to the chamber where Luke was. I explained there was a short to getting from one place to another when projecting. One merely had to think of the location and then project oneself there without all the walking involved. He nodded and gave it a try. I saw him disappear and joined him standing next to his sleeping body. I told him that was all for this night and I should be back if nothing happens. There were many more properties to show, but this was enough for him to practice with for some time. He nodded and thanked me. I told him it was all part of the job. He smiled and floated his astral body up over his physical body and then suddenly his astral body disappeared. He opened his physical eyes, blinked the dizzying feeling of snapping back into his body, and looked at the spot where I was standing. Of course he couldn’t see me, but I felt the Force touch me. He bowed his head again and lay back down to sleep. I whispered a good night and returned to my body to dream about my daring, handsome kisser.

[snowind]

Hey Karen really good! I was a bit behind but catched up now, I liked how you brought Leia to the story, and the parts with training luke are always good , keep it good

[The Adfeng]

Nice chapter! I would edit it, because I saw a few, but I've been so busy these past few days, I will try to edit them in a few.

[JediKaren]

Ch20
Mirmo

Nea had just finished with the back hawk scrambled eggs when I knocked on Karen’s door. There was no response from her so I presumed she was pretending to be asleep in order to gain a few more minutes. At the temple I would have given her those minutes, but not on a mission and not on a day with so much to do. I loudly told her to get up and get dressed quickly. There was a sound between a grunt and a moan muffled by covers and a door. I turned around and went back to the armchair that had served as my bed for the duration of the mission.

“Hey Mir. I got a personal message from my comn a minutes ago from the Chancellor herself, saying she has put together a report on the scandal and left it at the senate for us to pick up.”

I nodded as Nea handled me a plate of white scrambled bat hawk eggs and a cup of steaming stim cafe. The smell of the dark brown cafe was enough to shoo away the gray, muddy grogginess of my mind. I got one bite in before an extremely sleepy young woman with chaotic hair and slumped shoulders walked in. Her eyes glanced around the room before she located the smell of breakfast and stared, nearly drooling at Nea. I had learned if poking, bugging, and threatening could not get her up, the smell of food would.

“Whoa, looks like someone has not had their shower yet. Mir, you should not let her be seen in public like this.”

If Karen was capable of Force shoving things, I am positive a large, heavy object would have been shoved hard in the direction of Nea. I knew this to be a fact after several hundred pillows being thrown at me. Lucky for Nea, she was not or awake enough to summon the energy required. Instead, my sleepy apprentice sat down on an armchair and stared at the floor until a cup of hot tea was handed to her. When I observed her eyes grow wider in wakefulness, I briefed her on the day’s plan. She nodded once or twice, but had no comments. I completely lost her attention when Nea handed her a plate of food. She hungrily woofed down her eggs and bread then handed back a clean plate back to Nea. Nea looked at the plate, her, and then me, shaking his head sadly. I threw up my hands, accusing him what I had done. He laughed a booming laugh that caused the dusty curtains on his one fifthly window to shake. Karen sneezed and glared at him at the same time.

“Do not worry darling. Go you take your shower and try on the pretty clothes I left by the door. Hurry up because I think your master has inherited your impatience he keeps complaining about.”

Another deep, dark glare was aimed at me before she walked off for her shower. Twenty minutes later she came out in black pants and a tight fitting medium blue shirt with her hair braided and ankle leather shoes. There was a lighter blue sash around her waist and I noticed a bow made out of the same material at the end of her braid. To top it all off she had on a dim black cloak with a hood that hung off on her back that wrapped around her body. She was cute, sexy, and stylish all at the same time. Nea did wonders to highlight the unknown beauty in that girl. There was a bit of an eye catching swing in her hips and carefully placed feet. I saw Nea watch her make her ever so slow way to the door. She then looked back at Nea with innocent eyes as if questioning him what he was doing. Nea grinned and muttered something about serves him right.

We piled into Nea’s cloud car and headed up. The glory of the several hundred story tall buildings had rubbed off a long time ago and now I found myself wishing for the lush green wetness of the temple. I could handle simple villages or a largish city or two, but this was getting to be too much. The crowds of people pressed on my mind. There was too much talk within the Force. The sound and smell of living beings could not just be sought out by the five normal senses, but heard and felt through the Force as a constant pounding pulse of life. I knew Karen was far more sensitive to this feeling and wondered out loud how she was handling the city.

“It’s alright. I’m kinda getting sick of all these people. There’s too many of them. They’re too busy ya' know? They think too fast. They feel too fast and too much. It’s like there’s nothing to focus on in the Force. Like, even the Force feels busy.”

I understood her completely. She had said it perfectly. During my nightly meditation I found the Force busy and unfocused. At the temple it was easy to feel the Force and find the center of focus, that being the temple with all the Jedi there. The Force had a calm, slow sense while here in the city, the Force felt like it was running as fast as it could to keep up with the billions of lives.

“Oh you Jedi and your Force. You act as if it is alive and I know it is not. Why worry about how ‘busy’ the Force feels? The Force will do what it wants. Anyhow we are here.”

Karen opened her door before Nea could come over and opened her mouth to argue. I shot her a warning to keep silent. We did not need bystanders catching our conversation about the Force or about Jedi.

We passed through security easily because Chancellor Leia had notified the guards of our arrival. We were lead by one of the guards to a special room that required a card and eye scan. The room was small and only contained a cabinet full of data pads. The guard went to the cabinet and pulled out a data pad and handed it to me. I thanked the guard and hid the data pad in my cloak. We were led out of the room by the guard and he would have escorted us to the door, but I told him I would like to show my niece around the senate. He nodded and left us. I asked Nea if he knew where we could view the information in private.

“Ol’ buddy, I could walk myself around here at night and drunk and still get where I needed to be. I had done a bit of law pushing myself in the older days.”

Nea quickly lead us to a tinted glass room that had a card swipe devise as security.

“How are you going to get in if you don’t have the key?”

Nea smiled at Karen and pulled out the guard’s card.

“I also have had to break into a few of these rooms before.”

Karen’s mouth went thin with disapproval.

Once we were safely inside, cameras had been spotted and fidgeted until they were programmed not to show us, then we settled down by a table and I pulled out the data pad to begin reading. The information Leia had provided for us was boring and did not seem to help us much. Most of it was facts we already had uncovered. In the report, I read about the scandal, which senators had been involved, where they had been during the time of the crime. Who they had been talking to and what other boring and unrelated laws they had been pushing. None of it was very interesting or made much sense. There was one strange fact that stood out in the information. They had all been seen on camera talking to a young man with dark-brown hair, tall, thin, well dressed, and brown eyes. I joked he sounded a lot like Karen’s kisser. Karen blushed and stared at the ground. There was nothing about the man, where he came from, or who he was working for. He talked to each senator on a different matter, but hinted something about a law he wanted passed, but no reason could be found on why or what law. Every time police tried to find him, he disappeared out of thin air, or so the police claimed. Sadly, he was the only interesting information, but he made less sense than the rest of the report.

“Well that was helpful.”

I sighed and understood how Karen felt. We got up, fixed the cameras, left the room, and walked through the hallways. There was silence amongst us. Each person contemplating the boring report, wondering what was going on. I asked Nea what should we do. Should we go to Ven and see if he could make sense of the report or should we go to the crime lords before they get angry with our lack of communication.

“I say we go to Ven and see what he thinks. It will only take an hour or two. We could comn the gang lords from there if you are so worried about them.”

I nodded and wondered if I could have the Dawners do some digging that I could not do. The thought of the Dawners made me think of Karen and if she was going to become their leader some day. I looked over my shoulder to see what Karen was thinking. She had been quiet too, probably thinking about last night. I looked over, but saw no one behind us. I reached out into the Force, but could not find her presence anywhere near. I stopped walking and turned around with a pounding heart. There was no one around us.

[snowind]

Lol I'm amazed no matter how complex a door gets people can still pick it open