Star Wars: A New Dawn

"One was a woman locked up and in pain... I don't know her though. The other woman however was here. The one cloaked in red. She gave me food and water. But she's now hurt, I saw her fighting my Jedi friends. She stabbed my master through the shoulder and as a result master luke took her arm off."

Ena and Tamil entered the operations room off to the side of the hanger bay, where Master Skywalker waited for them. The human Master leaned against the wall farthest from the door, staring quietly out the viewport at Hyperspace whipping past the ship. "Rowena, Tamil. Thanks for coming so quickly."

Tamil bowed and Ena nodded, but neither made a sarcastic quip about how they'd had nothing else to do; they'd caught on to their leader's more subdued air. "What can we do for you, Master Skywalker?" Tamil asked professionally.

Luke sighed, then straightened up and turned to look directly at them. "I've decided that it's high time you moved on, Rowena. As soon as we have enough Jedi Knights for a quorum, we'll hold your Knighting Ceremony."

Ena's eyes grew huge, and she almost spluttered in her haste to speak. "B-but Master Skywalker, I'm not ready!"

"I disagree-"

Tamil cut in. "Much as I'd usually try to get Ena to acknowledge the implied praise, she's right," he said firmly, if a tad uncomfortably. "She has passed four of the five Trials, but she's never faced the most important one."

Luke turned to the Zabrak, eyeing him critically, but not judgmentally. "You'll forgive me if I need a refresher on that," he said, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a smile.

Tamil would normally have joked back, but his tattooed face was grave. "Ena's insight has never been in question. She's seen past the sturdiest of masks on other people. The Trial of Insight would have been waived regardless. She passed the Trial of the Flesh during our first mission together, on Telos, when she was wounded by the explosions caused by the terrorist attack on the spaceport. The Trial of Courage, she passed during the Battle of Coruscant, when she led our ships in the attack run on Darth Angalacon's cruiser. And she passed her Trial of Skill fighting off the cadre of Sith Warriors under the leadership of Lord Alturian when they attempted to board the Home One." His lips pressed firmly together in displeasure, but he continued speaking. "However, she has never faced the mirror."

"The Trial of the Spirit," Luke muttered, eyes misted over in remembrance.

"Precisely. Facing the mirror is the most important test a Jedi can undertake. To find the darkness or potential darkness in one's heart, recognize it, and face it down. Becoming a Jedi without that step is... dangerous."

"I recognize the risks, Master Sazen," Luke said, jaw set in a firm expression. "However, I believe Rowena is qualified, and capable of moving forward despite that. She has faced the direct persuasion of a Dark Lord who was once her Master and turned away from it. Her devotion to the health and happiness of others is also above and beyond what is expected of a Jedi. She'll be a fine Knight, Tamil. Have faith in her."

Tamil grimaced, but he could come up with no real argument for that. "...I understand, Master Skywalker."

"I- I also accept," Ena said, bowing. "If you both have faith in me, then I won't let you down." She stood up straight, her face locked into a stoic mask. "If I my be excused, Masters?"

Luke nodded. "Of course, Rowena."

Not waiting for anything else, the Nalroni spun on her heel and practically ran from the room.

Zora makes her way to the observation deck, staring through the window at the passing of of the empty void. She crosses her arms, breathing heavily to collect herself. Then she sits, back to the window, and closes her eyes. "For once you will be useful," she says to herself as she drifts into a meditative state, only to be interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

She opens one eye and glances up to find Leia standing in the doorway across from her. "Minister Organa!" she says, springing to her feet and bowing her head. "Please. I ask your forgiveness for my failure to protect you on Coruscant as Davik requested of me. My mind was clouded with grief. I-..."

---

Tsuni wanders to the Inflictor's armaments, where she finds Cairn working some calibrations. "Gunslinger," she says.

"Sniper," Cairn says, not looking up from his station. "Kitty says ya handled the Raptor's arms like a pro."

"It is a unique setup."

Cairn nods. "That, she is. Way I see it, if it ain't built like a gun, it wasn't made for shootin', it was made for show."

"So you had her arrange to make the targeting system more accommodating for you. It was very useful."

"Good to here. You got a reason to be down here, darlin'?"

"I had planned on sharing a few techniques with with the crew, here, to maximize efficiency. Imperial ship or not, we're all aboard it for the time being. If the Sith attacked, it wouldn't do for them to be operating on 'good enough'. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Great minds. Well, pull up a seat. The way these boys set up, this'll take a while."

Tsuni nods and proceeds to another of the panels.

---

"How good is this crate's stealth system?" Nix asks from the back of the bridge.

---

Jil wanders around the Inflictor, searching for an information hub or communications room of some sort. "No. Nothing down here," she says to herself, looking around.

Angalacon nodded. "And what you want to clarify? That this vision was real?"

-----

Jarik looked back at Nix. "This crate is an Imperial Escort Carrier, it has better stealth systems than any other ship class in the Republic or Imperial fleet. We wanna hide ain't no one finding us."

Nix stares at Jarik flatly. "Strike a nerve, did I, cheerleader?" she ways, wholly unamused. "Anyway. That good, huh? Right. I wanna take a look. Where is it?"

---

"You did what you could," Leia says, placing a hand on her shoulder. "And you helped in the rescue. I-"

"I did not do what I could, Minister! I could have gotten there sooner. If I'd been faster I could have helped him stop that Sith and keep you safe! I-"

"You aren't responsible for everything that happens, Zora."

"What good are these visions if I can do nothing about them? Do they exist solely to mock me? To dangle the future before me as if... as if..."

Leia gives Zora a hug and allows her to take some time to collect herself.

"Behind locked doors you don't have authorization to get inside of." Jarik said turning back to his station.

-----

Ford meditated in the training center of the ship, trying to clear his mind. Flashes of his training with Davik, time with Talia, and an old friend lost what seemed like ages ago. He clenched his fist as a swelling of emotion began to rise. His eyes shot open as he pushed it back down.

He laid back looking up at the ceiling. "Falling apart..." He whispered to himself.

"I know that look" Qui Gon said looking down on Ford "Thinking something a Jedi shouldn't be?"

Ford glanced over at him. "Just the past." He said sitting up.

"Thinking of the past can be dangerous to a Jedi" Qui Gon said "it has a tendency to bring up emotions which we know can lead to the dark side if you let them. Personally, I think there should a balance between light and dark in every force user."

"You have to keep the Dark Side in check." Ford said. "Every Jedi does that."

"Yet the bounty hunter and the republic commando have authorization to fiddle with your ship's pretty little gun system and the Rodian and stoic Mirialan can camp out and screw around in engineering," Nix says. "Funny." She kicks off of the wall and heads out. "I'll find it myself. Maybe have a trooper give me a tour of this crate while I'm on it. See ya, Cheerleader. Chat with you later, when you work that pole outta your ass." The door shuts behind her.

Several hands on the bridge all glance back at Jarik a bit awkwardly. When Jarik's eyes return to his station, one of them clears his throat and they all get back to what they're doing.

---

Unable to find the comm room or info hub, Jil finds the med bay and settles in there. She wanders a bit, surprised at the size of it, and approaches one of the medics. "Uh... excuse me," she says. "I know there don't tend to be a lot of flesh wounds when fighting Sith, but how are things, here? I could lend a hand."

---

"Stop that," Hsien says flatly as Jaxie hops and jumps around the large engineering corridor, using the railings and such as a gym.

"Hey. Training room's too small and flat. Gotta practice somewhere," Jaxie says.

<You could at least practice on the other side of the corridor. This area of the ship is huge!> Borduu grumbles.

"Don't speak Rodese!" Jaxie says as she zips by.

---

Kitty pokes around in the mess hall, looking through food options. "Ick," she says. "Slop. Slop. Slop. Are you Troopers Hutts under those helmets? What is this?"

"Maybe that needs to change" Qui Gon shrugged

Ford looked at him. "Maybe I should stop keeping a check on the Dark Side? Yeah that'll solve everything."

----

Jarik shook his head. Because I'm totally going to let you look at the classified parts of the ship. Yeah okay. He got up and headed out to the armory.

----

"Halt!" A Storm Commando said entering the engineering room with a couple engineers. "No running in here!"

----

"Well you're looking at the organic paste we feed the Ysalamirs." A Officer said before pointing across the mess hall. "We get our food from over there, serving Bantha steaks today."

Ena waited next to the wall after Nix left, then fell into step with the assassin. She responded to Nix's side-eye with a shrug. "You need to find the stealth generator. I need the information center. Might as well badger the first qualified trooper we find to save some time."

She was still uneasy, after having dashed away from anything to do with the Jedi after her unwanted promotion, but she was slowly pulling herself back together. A Jedi's life is sacrifice. Remember what Master told you.

Even if you don't know who he is? the traitorous voice in her thoughts whispered again, and Ena grimaced before banishing it. She had enough insecurities to deal with at the moment.

"If you ask me that is the problem" Qui Gon said "it's the constant struggle to keep the dark side 'in check' that eventually drives you to the dark side. At some point we all reach a breaking point where we say that's enough and give in. But imagine if we're not told we need to keep the dark side in check, that it's okay to go dark sometimes. How many lives would've been saved if Vader hadn't been told to keep his emotions under control, to not give in to the dark side when he was still a Jedi?"

"You act as if Darth Sidious had nothing to do with his fall." Ford said. "Anakin Skywalker fell because he was manipulated by the most powerful Sith. Master Luke knows there was flaws in the order and we've worked to correct them, but you have to check the Dark Side or it will consume, you have to disciplined or you will turn Dark."

-----

Darren walked down the ramp of Désir's ship once it had landed in the hangar.

Désir smiled a little walking down the ramp seeing the Lethan Twi'lek Talia Ven awaiting them.

"Darth Maeror has requested we meet him on Byss." Talia said. "Lady Cervana allowed Luke Skywalker and a group of Jedi and commandos to recapture Leia."

Désir sighed and nodded. "Then we'll have to please him with our find." She said holding up the holocron. She tossed it to Darren. "You give it to him."

With that Désir and Talia walked off together.

"Yes he was manipulated but he did not do anything he was not already willing to do. I get that going full dark is a bad thing but what I don't see a problem with stepping in the shadows from time to time. "

Darren caught the holocron in his hand. He stares at it for a brief moment before putting it away under his robe, following the two.

"Because once you make that step, coming back is nearly impossible." Ford said. "The Dark Side consumes people, look what it did to Anakin Skywalker, look what it did to Quinlan Vos. Davik often spoke about how it tempted Master Windu and he was once the best of the old order."

-----

Désir looked back at Darren. "Why don't you go set our course. Talia and I are going to go spar."

"Halt? Who still says 'Halt'?" Jaxie says, hanging upside-down by her knees on one of the catwalks. "Why not? This place is big 'n' sturdy. Not like I can break anything in here without taking a saber to it."

<The annoying thing about that is she has a point.> Borduu grumbles to Hsien.

---

Nix nods. "Right," she says. "You know he's gonna try getting in the way."

---

Siha, passing by the training room, pauses. She backs up, turning to the door at the sensation of elevated stress. She walks in to find Ford in it with Qui-Gon... again. She approaches Ford and puts a hand on his shoulder, lightly shaking him before keying in on something else. A much different sensation. What he'd been feeling earlier. During his meditation. She freezes a moment then shakes it off and looks back between him and Qui-Gon. "Ford," she says. Then she shakes her head. A clear vibe of 'Not now' emanating from her.

Ford grimaced and turned back the other way. "I'm not your damned errand boy.", he muttered under his breath as he left to have the bridge set a course for Byss.

"The old order is dead, destroyed by their stubborn refusal to change and failure to see what was right beneath their noses. Even with the changes master Luke has made to the new order I don't see it lasting long. I see it falling the same as the Old order and once again the Sith will come out on top with a handful of Jedi hiding, if we're lucky this time."

Ford clenched his fist and then felt Siha's hand on his shoulder. He sighed and looked to Qui-Gon. "Then why don't you just go run off and hide again, because all I've seen you do is talk about how flawed the Jedi are." He said. "Step up and do something or shut up." He said before walking off, leaving the training room.

----

"So?" The Soldier said over hearing Borduu. "This is engineering, not the training center. Accidents happen even to Jedi so stop and do this elsewhere the engineers would like to work in peace."

----

Jarik sighed, relieved when he felt the ship drop out of hyperpace, but then the alarms sounded.

They'd dropped right into a battle, Dac was under attack. An attack that was well under way, the Republic fleet in orbit was caught off guard the few combat ready ships were trying to hold off the Sith raid, the shipyards in orbit were crashing down towards the planets surface. A Dozen Leviathan-Class Sith Star Destroyers had raided the world striking the shipyards.

"In coming attack fighters, all hands to battle stations!" The executive officer of the Inflictor said over the PA. Pilots and gunners scrambled to their stations and fighters.

----

Désir chuckled to herself as she and Talia entered the elevator and headed to the observation deck to spar.