A Father's Blade: Chapter Four

Noelani steps on board their transport, the Stolen Star - a Nubian J-type star skiff which Tahiri purchased on their last mission. Its giant wing shape, allows for more room than is usually expected on a craft of this size, which means it works perfectly as a smuggler's vessel or a ship for Jedi who could potentially be away from the Temple for a while so they need extra supplies.

Plus Noelani just likes the ship, she likes the way it looks, the sounds it makes, even the way it smells.

But above all those things, she likes to tinker with it the most.

Much to the chagrin of her Master.

Noelani bounces back towards her quarters and tosses her travel bag on the bed. It settles on the bed and she spins around, heading towards the bridge, her steps light and cheery. She almost feels like whistling.

She bounds into the bridge, to find her Master, Tahiri, already situated at the pilot's station. Her hands sliding over the control board as she performs her preflight checklist. Noelani plops into her chair, buckling the belt over her waist, and then pulls her knees up, so that her feet are situated at the edge of the seat. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she rests her chin against the top of her knees.

"So," she begins. "When do I get to take that piloting course?"

Tahiri glances at her for a second, and then turns back towards her checklist. "When do I get a ship that I can be assured will launch when I need it to?"

"Hey, that was just one time. And you didn't really need the ship at that second. You could have taken one of the others."

"Olis needed the medicine. The Stolen Star was the fastest ship on Ossus at the time, yet her hyperdrive was in about a hundred pieces."

Noelani sulks, shifting slightly slightly lower in her chair, her lower lip pushing out slightly. She gives Tahiri a sideways glance and says, "Well, she's even faster now."

"That's not the point."

Tahiri finishes her checklist, and throws a few switches and the Stolen Star rumbles into life. Noelani watches as Tahiri's hand moves over to the repulsor control and slowly edges it forward, and then she turns forward, looking out the viewport as the ship lifts from the ground. A few hundred meters away is the Jedi Temple. Its ivory-colored walls gleam in the sunlight, and Noelani's sulking is forgotten. As she watches, Noelani imagines what those behind the darkened windows are doing, some are meditating, others training, and maybe even others are building their very own lightsabers. And she frowns as she remembers that that was what she was going to be doing.

"So," she begins as she turns once more towards her Master. "What about building my lightsaber?"

Tahiri lets out a slight chuckle. "Later, Noelani. For now we're still in the process of launching."

"Yes, Master."

Noelani turns back towards the viewport as the ship breaks into a thunderhead. She grins slightly as the rain pelts the transparisteel, a light drumming sound. In the depths of the clouds she can see the flickering white-blue glow of lightning. Then the clouds part and they continue their climb, the clear blue of the sky giving way to indigo and the first of the stars become visible. Then even the deep purplish-blue of the upper atmosphere fades away, leaving only the deep black of space, the stars losing their glitter to become cold pinpricks of light.

And all of Noelani's concerns and thoughts are burned away in the view of that cold, beautiful vista. Something about space, about those empty stretches of nothingness calls to her, they almost remind her of the vast emptiness of the Dune Sea or the desolate beauty of the Juudland Wastes. To her, it is all those things and so much more. Something that speaks to the very heart of who she is - as intrinsic to her sense of self as the Force is.

And for a moment, she wonders which of those bright sparks of light she was born on. Which one of them is the one where her parents were born at, whether her birth family is out there, or were they just some of the trillions that died in the war against the Yuuzahn Vong. Her father, her adopted father, she corrects in her thoughts, never hid the fact that she wasn't born on Tatooine. That it was a trusted friend of the Darklighter family that brought her to them to raise - telling Huff that her parents were victims of the Yuuzhan Vong war, and that she was a Force sensitive. Yet beyond that, Noelani knows nothing of her family - nothing of her history, nothing of who she is, or was, beyond her Force sensitivity.

And for a moment, she wonders why that bothers her now. She glances at her Master, noting the intense look on Tahiri face as she is bent over the navicomputer, feeding in the coordinates for their journey to Ambria. She turns back towards the viewport, and the expanse of stars, and considers once more what the thought of her family bothers her so much now; where before her lack of history was just something she accepted without qualms or question.

She screws her face up in thought, her nose twisting slightly as she chews on her lower lip. Finally, she turns back towards Tahiri and asks, "Master?"

Tahiri looks up from the navicomputer. "Yes?" Then she turns her attention back to the machine, waiting for it to chime acceptance of the parameters which Tahiri had entered.

"Do you think we could visit Tatooine after this mission?"

Tahiri's head bolts around and Noelani can feel the surprise in the Force. "Can I ask why?"

Noelani blushes slightly, and looks down at the console in front of her, not certain on how to tell Tahiri of her concerns. Finally, she decides to just blurt it out. "I want to ask Papa about my family, ask him again if he knows who my parents were. See if he will tell me who dropped me off with him, how they knew I was a Force sensitive when they did so. I… I just want to know who I am."

Tahiri watches her, ignoring the navicomputer as it chimes. She nods her head. "I can understand that. Growing up, I always wanted to know about my family as well. We'll see what we can do about going on a little trip out there."

Noelani smiles at her Master, feeling her spirits lift. "Thanks!"

Tahiri returns her smile, and turns back to her control station, reaching forward to the hyperspace levers on the console between them. She pulls them toward her, and Noelani looks up from what Tahiri's doing to watch space once again. Her grin grows wider, as the stars elongate, stretching towards them and away from them - towards infinity, and then they rocket forward. With a flash of light the stars vanish, replaced by the swirls of blue which is hyperspace.

"That's so lubed."

Tahiri barks a short, sharp laugh. "You know, I'm supposed to correct you when you use that type of language."

"I know. Doesn't mean I'm not going to use it though."

Tahiri's laughter is slightly longer this time, and then she replies, "Just don't let any of the Council hear you."

---------------------------------------

Rand Shepherd is seated in a Corellian diner, a plate of spiceloaf before him. He takes a bite, and grimaces, as there's not quite enough heat in it for his tastes. He gives an internal shrug as he decides that it's probably the best that he will be able to get while away from Corellia. He sighs, hoping that the items that he had shipped from here back to Corellia will help with the war effort, and he hopes that the blockade is broken soon, as there is nothing he wants more than to go back home and have a decent meal of spiceloaf.

There is a chime as the door opens, and Rand looks up from his food to see a large, lanky Wookiee amble in. Rand recognizes the ginger-furred Wookiee from the BioTech Industries.

The Wookiee barks at the server droid, which dips its head and rushes towards the back. The gangly being walks forward, and woofs a greeting at Rand. He waves his hand slightly, and hurries up to swallow.

He gestures towards the empty side of the booth. "Please, join me."

The young Wookie, and Rand would estimate that he was less than a hundred, but more than thirty, slide into the booth. The Wookiee barks a thank you and grins for him, a wide-open thing of long fangs.

"So what can I do for you, Waroo was it?"

Waroo requests more information about why Corellia is revolting against the Alliance.

Rand leans forward, his meal forgotten. "It's not so much a revolt as a desire for self-sufficiency. We believe that Coruscant, and the Alliance in general, has become a bloated, federalized government, which serves only to serve itself. In effect, the Alliance has just become a slightly milder form of the Empire."

Rand leans back as the server droid delivers a plate filled with meats and some type of leafy vegetable that smelled of grakkyn nectar. Rand eyes the Wookiee's food suspiciously, and then points towards it with his fork. "What is that?"

Waroo barks a short name for the dish and then continues with a description of its ingredients.

Rand takes another bite of his spiceloaf. "So, why exactly were you asking about it?"

Rand has been an intelligence agent for his entire adult life. He entered the service right at the outbreak of the Vong War when he turned sixteen. He retired to the Corellian Intelligence Service right after the reorganization due to the Killik fiasco. So he has heard a lot of things, from a lot of different beings.

Yet what the Wookiee says shakes him. It takes all his training, all the skills he has learned not only in intelligence, but also through thousands of games of Paazak and sabacc, to not have his face drop open in surprise.

For before him, is the first Wookiee who has turned his back on the New Republic and the government that came afterwards

"Let me get this right. You want to join the Corellians? What about the life-debt that your people swore to the New Republic?"

Waroo chuckles slightly, a deep, almost woofing sound. Then he lets out a short speech in growls and barks. The New Republic is dead. If the Honored Han Solo believes in Corellia, then I do as well.

Rand allows a big grin to spread on his face. "Well Waroo, it looks like you and me might just get to be real good friends."