Rating: PG
Feedback: It makes my heart sing!
Summary: Jedi Search. The relationship between a master and his apprentice.
Notes: In TMP, Qui-Gon states that had Anakin been born in the Republic he would have been found early. Therefore, I am concluding that there must have been Jedi out looking for these Force-senstive children.
Disclaimer: How can an entire galaxy belong to one man?
"Foster Child you are clear to land on Pad 34B."
Cutting the ion-drive engines of the small ship, its young pilot eased it down until the landing gear gently made contact with the pad. Cutting the repulsorlift coils, he opened the hatch and lowered the rampway.
His older companion was already giving last minute instructions to their R2 astromech droid by the time the pilot had left the cockpit. " . . . And see if you can do something with the environmental systems while we're gone. It smells stale in here."
Its round dome, painted in rectangles of all seven colors of the visible light spectrum, emitted a short beep and a whistle.
"Roy, I don't care what you think. I say it smells stale in here. Fix it."
Originally, the R2 unit hadn't been painted that color scheme, but for some reason he had insisted that he be repainted. To make him happy, they obliged. When asked why he wanted this, he never did give a satisfactory answer. The pair thought he looked ridiculous and were certain that they had the only rainbow-colored astromech droid in the galaxy. Therefore, they nicknamed him Roy G. Biv. Roy for short.
"And don't get your wheels stuck again."
The pair strode down the rampway and exited the ship. Looking back at it, the young pilot silently wished that it was something faster and more exciting, like a starfighter. He felt he wasn't getting his fair share of flight time in them and compensated with as much simulation training as he could to improve his skills.
In his mind, he didn't call it the Foster Child or even something generic like The Ship. No, to him it was The Barge.
The older man liked the Foster Child. It wasn't for the ship's lack of speed though. he shared his friend's feeling there. It was for its roominess. He liked to have a large area surrounding him, not because he was claustrophobic, but because it held breathable atmosphere. He was very cautious in that regard. For in his mind, if something should go wrong with the environmental systems, already having a large supply of air could mean all the difference.
"Ouch," the older man said as he kicked with the toe of his boot at the scorch marks on the ferroconcrete surface of Pad 34B to indicate what he was referring to.
"That must have been some fireball," the younger man said.
The Cornet City Spacepaort officer at the Customs desk didn't even look up at the pair.
Trying to make sense of the new datapad in front of him, he was frustrated. Corellian Security Force was trying its hardest to stem the flow of contraband in and out of the system, but the smugglers usually stayed one step ahead. This latest attempt at reform, complete with new computer systems for the Spaceport Customs, had the old officer confused. He was used to the old ones and had liked it that way. He wished the CorSec would leave him alone.
"Names."
"Parkin Nebenkern." Odd, the older of the pair thought, he didn't ask for our identification cards first.
"Rath Hollerith," said the young pilot.
"Um, point of origin?"
"Coruscant."
"Um, occupation?"
The pair looked at each other through the hoods of their brown cloaks. They had never been asked that question before. The younger one shrugged his shoulders.
"Jedi."
The paperwork preoccupied officer looked up, stunned. "Um, sorry. Anything to declare?"
"No," said Parkin, as he handed the man their cards to help the man out.
"Purpose of visit. Um, no, wait . . . sorry," the man apologized.
"That's okay, we can tell you this time. Jedi search."
Leaving Customs, the pair of Jedi walked for a while until the younger one was sure they were out of the officer's earshot.
"Um, employer?" said Rath imitating the man's voice.
"The Force," laughed the Jedi Knight.
***
Parkin Nebenkern liked his new assignment. He had been a search Jedi before and had a talent for it. However, for the past few years, ever since he had taken on Rath Hollerith as his apprentice, his Padawan learner, he had been given missions that mainly entailed checking up on outpost colonies. Usually, it was uneventful, but occasionally he and his Padawan had to put their skills to work ensuring the peace and that justice was served.
That had been a change of pace, but he was elated when he was told by the Jedi Council that he was to once again seek out Force-sensitive children for training at the Temple. Parkin Nebenkern loved babies. He especially loved to hold them. He was a beefy, burly man with a barrel chest. Dark complexioned with yet darker hair. But the hair didn´t stop there, for it covered his face in a large bushy beard. He looked like the type you didn´t want to meet in some dark alley, but inside he had a heart that melted at the sight of children.
Which was the reason, well *one* of the reasons, he always said when asked, why he had so many children of his own. For he and his wife had produced nine offspring already. And they weren´t done yet. "Three boys and six girls, with one on the way!" was his latest version to the question of how many. It had to be frequently updated, however, " one on the way!" was a constant.
Rath Hollerith, his Padawan, was of a different opinion of their new missions, he preferred the others. He was sure this was going to bore him to death.
Seventeen-years-old, he was exiting that gangly look of the early teen years and was starting to fill out. He was just as tall as his Master topping him by a centimeter and perhaps by two when he finally reached full adulthood. With hair just as dark as his Master´s, his head would have sported soft curls if not for the short cut of his hair. Excepting his Padawan´s braid, his hirsuteness ended there for which he was grateful. For even though he wished to emulate his Master since he respected and liked him, he was thankful that in the past he had not been one of Nebenkern´s "one on the way!" For underneath Parkin Nebenkern´s clothes, hidden by the layered tunics, was a chest and back covered with hair.
"We have some time yet before they´re awake, want to catch a holodrama?" Parkin asked his apprentice.
"Sounds good," his apprentice said wondering who would be still asleep this late in the day, it being nearly noon.
***
Rath had felt a bittersweet happiness when his previous Padawan become a Knight, having passed the trials. They were still good friends, yet the relationship had changed as they were now equals. But he missed having an apprentice, the one-on-one teacher/student relationship. He liked teaching the young, but not classes of them. Just one at a time. He felt it kept him young. Not that he needed any help, since he was the type of man who had never really grown up.
Parkin had sensed that the Force had meant for him to take Rath on as his apprentice the moment he had seen him. He had intended to take a young apprentice, a fresh, clean slate upon which to work, but taking Rath couldn´t have felt more right. Parkin was not Rath´s first Master. The young Jedi´s first Master had died before Rath´s training had been completed. Parkin knew that he was the one to finish it.
Rath was far from a clean slate. In fact, there was so much writing on it little remained blank. For Rath was the kind of man that would have little regrets later in life over having a misspent youth. If not a man in years, he was one mentally. He had gone straight from childhood to middle-age. Rath was set in his ways, not having bothered to experiment with the crazy things those his age usually engage in.
The pair, therefore, had met in the middle. While their chronological age gap was several decades, they shared the same mental plane.
"Want to see something else?" Parkin asked his apprentice, while looking at the marquee.
"Do you?"
"No."
"Well then, Episode 9 it is!"
"I think this will make it our 9th time, too."
"8th."
"Are you sure?"
"8th."
***
The pair shared a passion for the series of Jedi holodramas, "Galaxy Knights" and watched them whenever they had the chance. The other brethren of the order thought that it was silly for them to watch Jedi in a holodrama when they were Jedi themselves.
They didn't care, they loved them. They had seen them so many times in fact, they knew the dialog by heart which they would say along with the characters as the holodrama enfolded. They tried to do his as quietly as possible so that only they themselves could hear, so as not to disturb the other patrons. It *was* embarrassing to have someone turn around and tell you to be quiet and *then* have that person nudge his seat mate and whisper, "Behind us, real Jedi!"
The pair were also experts on the minutia of details in the holodramas, often playing a game of one-ups-manship by quizzing each other on obscure facts. Rath had even purchased a small figurine of the lead character and had attached it to the control panel in the cockpit of the Foster Child. As the small statue's lightsaber was red in color and Rath's was a yellow, the young Jedi had tried to paint over its blade to match his own. It looked fine, until he had turned the cockpit's lights out and the tiny lightsaber replica glowed - orange.
***
The pair stayed, as usual, to read the credits at the end and, as usual, to point out flaws.
"A lightsaber can't do that."
"Yes, it can."
"It can?'
"I'll show you, later today."
"You can't hear explosions in space. I wish they'd stop doing that."
"Then it would be boring."
"Yeah, I guess so. At least they fixed that part about parsecs in this one."
"Yeah, everybody knows it's a unit of distance, not a unit of time."
"Know anyone who grips a lightsaber like that?"
"Qui-Gon Jinn does."
"Any good?"
"Fair."
"Ready?"
"Yeah, let´s go."
***
Cornet, the capital of Corellia, was a large, prosperous city. A center of trade, it offered goods and services from the far-flung reaches of the galaxy. It was a dizzy and exiting city, but nothing compared to its vortex. For at the center of all the activity was Treasure Ship Row. It was there that Parkin Nebenkern, Jedi Knight, told the driver of the hovercab to go.
"Which number?" the taxi driver had asked.
When told, the driver arched an eyebrow and looked over the pair of Jedi once more. "Are you sure? It's a bit early for them."
*Again with this early stuff,* Rath thought to himself, *What are they - nocturnal?*
Traffic was backed up to a crawl due to an accident up ahead but, this didn't bother the pair.
Both of their heads turned quickly as if they were connected, their eyes following intently at the object of their interest.
"Nice."
"Yeah."
Just then the traffic cleared up and the new PL-90T Lightstar landspeeder sped out of sight.
"I wonder how fast it can go?"
"Don't know, but I like it better than last year's model."
Handing the driver a few credits for the fare, Parkin announced to his Padawan, "This is it. Higher end, not the classiest in town, but not seedy. Has a good reputation, discreet. Keeps CorSec happy, rarely raided."
All Rath could see was an unmarked door with an unlit lamp by it.
Rath put two and two together and came up with . . . his Master was taking him into a *brothel.*
Rath was flabbergasted. He had thought that his Master was happily married. Parkin's wife, Mayvin, he judged a wonderful person, kind and generous and pretty. Rath thought that Parkin "one on the way!" Nebenkern would be the last man in the galaxy to visit one of *these* places. He was also sure that he wouldn't either. He was confident that the services they provided were those that he would never have to pay for.
Parkin approached the door to press the call button when he noticed that his apprentice had frozen in his tracks and sensed his disturbed emotions in the Force. *This is too good,* he thought, *I wonder how far I can take this?*
Before he could press the button, Rath decided to dissuade his Master from proceeding. "Master, don't," he plead. "Don't go in *there*."
"Padawan, remember your place." Parkin pressed the button.
Rath said nothing, it would exceed his bounds as a Padawan, but thought *that's the problem - this place."
The 3PO protocol droid who responded at the door first looked at the lamp to assure himself that it was indeed off before addressing the pair. "Kind sirs, perhaps it escaped your notice, but I regret to inform you that my mistress is not prepared to receive visitors at this hour."
"Tell your mistress that Parkin Nebenkern is here."
"I'm sorry sirs but, I will gladly announce your presence later this evening!"
"From the Jedi Temple."
"Oh! My apologizes Sir Jedi Knight. I will announce your presence immediately! Please, step in. I will return with my mistress shortly."
Parkin stepped in, but his apprentice hesitated. "Padawan? Are you going to wait outside?"
Rath stepped in immediately, the thought of him being seen outside this door, waiting, was not something he wished to contemplate.
As the pair stood waiting, Rath decided to try again and to make it his best shot. "Master, please, don't," he plead. "Your wife . . . if she found out you came *here* . . . "
"She knows already."
At that, Rath didn´t know what to say.
The 3PO's mistress was a blue humanoid with long braintails draped behind her back, a Twi'lek. She smiled broadly as she approached them. "Parkin! It's been too long!"
Parkin replied in the Twi'lek's language, knowing that his apprentice could not understand it. (Yes, it has been too long, Tir'shaw. I need you to play along with me, here. My apprentice, Rath Hollerith, thinks we´re here for your, uh, services. What does the baby look like?)
As the only words Rath could understand were those of his name, he thought he was being introduced and gave a small bow.
*Good,* thought Parkin, *he bought it.*
Tir'shaw described the child to Parkin in Twi'lek. Switching back to Basic, Tir'shaw asked, "So, Parkin, how many are we up to now?"
"Three boys and six girls, with . . ."
Before he could finish, she completed his sentence for him, "one on the way!"
"Ah, Tir'shaw, you know me too well."
"At what number will the Nebenkern clan be complete? A sabacc?"
"23? No, not *that* many, just until we produce one that fits the name."
"What name?" she asked.
"You already know."
She thought for a moment with her braintails, properly known as lekku, twitching, and then smiled at his joke. "One on the way?"
He smiled back in confirmation.
The pair followed the Twi'lek and her protocol droid into a reception room where Parkin sat down on the couch completely at ease. Rath hung back until his Master beckoned him over with a wave of his hand and patted the couch next to him.
Rath sat down uneasily on the edge looking like he was ready to bolt at any moment.
Parkin was enjoying every moment of it knowing Rath would pay him back someday.
"The usual or are you drinking something else these days?" she inquired.
"The same."
The Twi'lek looked questioning at the young apprentice and then at Parkin.
Parkin nodded.
"Three glasses of Alderaan wine," she ordered her 3PO droid.
"Yes, mistress, right away, mistress."
When the droid had left the room, Tir'shaw turned to Parkin. "So, what else can we do for you today? The usual or have your tastes changed there?" she asked grinning deviously.
"Yes, slightly. I want one with a tail. A nice, long tail," Parkin said without a hint of apprehension.
"Do you still like them small?" she asked.
"Yes, small, petite."
"Well, I think I've got the girl for you. Cute, absolutely adorable."
This was getting too much for Rath who wanted to scream at his Master that this was wrong! wrong! wrong! He was indignant. *He* would certainly not do this to his wife when he got married. Especially, with "one on the way!" They were *supposed* to be on a search for Force-sensitive children. Not *whoring* around. He thought he had known his Master, but obviously not. He decided to ask the Jedi council when they got back to Coruscant to break his apprenticeship with Parkin.
The 3PO droid returned with the drinks on a tray. "G-3PO, go get Flarron," the Twi'lek said.
"Have you got two?" Parkin asked as he winked at Rath.
Rath stared hard at the floor and firmly said between clenched teeth, "No!"
"Don't like tails?" the Jedi Knight asked him.
Rath broke. He was going give him a piece of his mind. A big piece. "No! I think that you are the biggest piece of bantha . . ."
Just then a woman walked in the room carrying a baby. The woman was fully human, but the baby was a hybrid. For curled around the woman's arm was its long prehensile tail that ended in a tuft of hair.
The Padawan´s tirade stopped for his jaw dropped.
Parkin thought he was going to burst his sides laughing. When he composed himself, he asked his apprentice, "Now, what were you saying?"
Red-faced, Rath knew he had been had. "Nothing."
"No, you said, 'I think that you are the biggest piece of bantha...' what? I heard him, didn't you Tir'shaw?"
"I will keep my opinion to myself," he said quickly before she could answer. "But my opinion hasn´t changed and you will pay."
Parkin rose to greet the woman with arms extended. She hesitantly handed the baby to the Jedi Knight and sat down in the chair next to Tir'shaw who patted her hand. Parkin sat back down with the baby in his arms.
Rath looked at the child. She had in addition to the tail, two opposable thumbs on each hand and small pointed ears that also ended in a tuft of hair. She was about eight months old. She was half-human and half-Kebos, a sub-species of humans that was very rare. And looked *very* familiar.
"You are right Tir'shaw, absolutely adorable," Parkin said smiling broadly at the child.
Without thinking Rath started to say, "There's a Kebos at the Jedi . . ."
Parkin cut him off immediately and firmly, "Keep your promise of keeping your opinions to yourself, Padawan."
The Jedi Knight placed a hand on the child's head and probed the child's brain with his, past the cerebral cortex and into the child's unconscious brain, the deep primitive brain. The child pushed back strongly forcing Parkin out and physically pushing him into the back of the sofa.
"Good sign," he said.
As the child had her tail wrapped securely around his arm, he leaned over and asked his apprentice to retrieve the blood sampler and analyzer from his belt.
"Now this won't hurt a bit," Parkin assured the child.
As Parkin's arms were engulfed in the baby, Rath took the small sample of blood and ran it through the blood analyzer for a midi-chlorian count.
"Just under 10,000!" he announced.
"What is the child's name?" Parkin asked the child's mother.
"Aurum Narang."
"Well, little Aurum Narang, welcome to the Jedi order," the dark beefy Jedi cooed as he tickled the end of her nose.
As Rath completed the documentation on his datapad, Flarron worked up the nerve to speak. "Sir Jedi, how does my other daughter fare?" Flarron asked Parkin.
Concentrating on entering the data, the thought that there had been another flashed across Rath's mind in surprise.
"You know I'm not allowed to tell you anything."
"Please, Sir Jedi, any news," she begged.
Parkin paused a moment before answering, "She grows strong in the Force. She is a fine girl. She is happy and content. More than that I cannot tell you."
Rath silently wondered to himself who it was, as he rose to get her thumb print to complete the agreement.
*And now for the hard part,* Parkin thought.
And cry Flarron did, as they left.
Once outside, a relieved Rath pulled out his comlink to hail a hovercab. He sneered, "I hope we won´t have to visit many of these places in the future."
Parkin turned from looking at the baby with pleasure to a cold hard stare at his apprentice. "Pride? Pride is of the dark side. It is not a Jedi trait."
"Yes, Master."
"Besides, Padawan, where do you think *I found you*?"
Rath did not know which stunned him more, that *his* Master was the search Jedi that found him or *where* he was found.
Returning back to the spaceport, with the newest addition to the Jedi protectively enveloped in the Jedi Knight's arms, Rath mused on the revelations of his origins, but he stalled for a while. "Think he's stuck?"
"Who?"
"Roy."
"He's stuck," the older Jedi said with confidence.
"Think he fixed the environmental systems yet?"
"Not if he's stuck."
The pair did not have much confidence in their eccentric droid.
"Master, I need to meditate," the young Jedi stated coming to terms that he needed the guidance of the Force.
"Go ahead, Padawan," the older Jedi Knight said giving him his permission.
Even though he knew the reason for his apprentice's need for mediation, he sensed that the Padawan needed to verbalize them first. "May I ask what you are seeking?" his Master asked, for the Jedi respected the privacy of one's own thoughts.
"I know pride is wrong Master, but I do not understand how my opinion was prideful. That's my main goal, there is another."
"May the Force be with you, Padawan."
"Thank you, Master."
When the hovercab reached its destination of the spaceport, Parkin Nebenkern's apprentice was still deep in meditation. Rath had a such a serene look, so peaceful and tranquil that his Master was loathe to disturb him. But the driver was of a different opinion.
"Hey, wake him up already. I´ve got other fares to catch."
"Padawan?" Parkin intruded gently into the young man's contemplation.
Rath slowly came to full awareness. "Master I need more time," Rath beseeched his Master.
"Yes, Padawan," the Jedi Knight said. "I understand. You can finish once we get to the Foster Child."
"No, Master," the apprentice begged. "The Force was revealing something to me. I do not wish to lose the moment."
As the Force was the Master of both, Parkin did not supersede its wishes. "Come, then, we´ll find a place for you to finish."
Exiting the taxi, the trio entered the spaceport building, as Parkin scanned the concourse. Eying seating for those waiting for departing flights, he motioned for Rath to follow.
Amid the hubbub of the busy spaceport, Rath and Parkin with Aurum in his arms sat down. "It's not the best place to meditate," Parkin apologized to his Padawan.
"This will be fine," Rath assured his Master. "The Force is so beautiful, so comforting. Please join me."
The pair, Master and Padawan, spent much time in meditation together, exploring the Force, seeking guidance and solace. It drew the pair closer together and strengthened their bonds.
"Yes, I know Padawan," the Jedi Knight stated. "But, you go ahead. Lose yourself in the Force. Find the guidance you seek. I'll follow, but not deeply. The newest Jedi needs to be minded. May the Force be with you."
Rath immediately fell into the rapture of the Force. Joining it, it flowed over him and around him. In ecstasy, he followed it where it led.
The Jedi Knight, holding the latest addition to the Jedi family seated next to his Padawan, blissfully seeking direction from the Force amidst the tumult of the spaceport concourse, was happily content.
***
After a long time, his Padawan finally emerged from his meditation.
"Did you find the answers you sought?" Parkin asked.
"Yes, Master," Rath said. "I understand much, but things were revealed to me that I do not yet understand. I was seeking guidance on my pride, yet additional things were shown to me."
"The Force has many levels and is interconnected, what effects one thing has many ramifications. Understanding the Force is a lifetime's journey," his Master offered. "A difficult path is often placed before us, but the rewards are manifold."
Parkin and Rath found their R2 droid waiting for them at the end of the rampway, unstuck and adjustments to the environmental systems complete.
"Well, Roy, there's hope for you yet," Parkin said.
Entering the ship, Rath made his way toward the cockpit, past the main hold that had been modified for its special purpose. He found himself looking forward to piloting the ship with its precious cargo aboard.
*There´s not too many like this ship.* He caught himself. *I thought, this ship, not The Barge.*
As this surprised himself, his thoughts were broadcast to be heard by his Master who had known all along his Padawan's feelings towards it. "She´s a special ship, isn't she?" he said.
"I guess so," Rath responded not quite ready to concede fully.
***
In preparation for power up, while Rath was going over the checklist his attention kept being drawn to his little figurine attached to the control panel.
Parkin's attention was wrapped up in his arms.
"Master?"
"Yes, Padawan."
"I want to make another lightsaber."
"Why?"
"I don´t know. Maybe a spare?"
"Planning to lose yours?"
"No. But a spare would be nice."
"You have a spare."
Rath said nothing for a while. "That one is not a spare."
"I am sorry. I did not intend to demean his memory," Parkin stated softly.
The spare lightsaber that Parkin had been referring to was the one bequeathed to Rath upon his former Master's death. Rath still grieved over his loss.
"I know."
"Is this something the Force wants you to do?"
"I think so."
"Think, or feel?"
"Feel."
An image came to Parkin's mind. "There are no orange lightsaber gemstones," he said.
"I know."
"What did you have in mind?"
"I was thinking of having two crystals, one red and one yellow.'
"A dual-phase lightsaber?"
"No. I was thinking of putting them *into* phase."
"That will be difficult."
"But the rewards are manifold."
"Couldn´t have said it better myself."
***
Following the magnetic guidance lines directing traffic on Coruscant, the Foster Child glided toward the landing platform of the Jedi Temple.
"Foster Child you are clear to land," a voice came over the comm system. "Any cargo?"
Rath opened the channel to respond, however little Aurum Narang decided to announce herself with a loud wail.
"Good job, Foster Child !" the voice said delightedly. "Looking forward to seeing you."
Disembarking from the ship, the trio was met by a grim-faced man.
Tall and blonde, he was clean shaven and couldn't have looked more different from Parkin Nebenkern than day was from night. Khana-Haik Dard was Parkin's former Padawan, now Jedi Knight.
Parkin knew in an instant that something was wrong.
As he and his former apprentice were close, so close that their minds were open to each other reading each other's thoughts freely without hesitation. But today, Khana-Haik's mind was closed shut as if behind a wall of permacrete.
The arrival of a new Jedi was a joyous occasion for the Temple, met with much happiness, however, for Aurum Narang there was little.
"Welcome, little one," Khana-Haik addressed the child.
For Parkin bringing the Force-sensitive children to the Temple was even better than finding them, but today he could not enjoy it .
"Master," the former apprentice addressed him with respect. "There's something I need to tell you."
Fear raced through the older Jedi's body as he tried to subdue it. "What's wrong?" he said as he handed the child over to a young woman he knew was from the Temple's creche. Her presence with Khana-Haik had been additional reason for Parkin's dread, as he usually, triumphantly, presented the child to the creche himself.
"Let's go to the gardens," Khana-Haik said quietly.
As the two Jedi Knights started towards the greenhouse, Rath Hollerith stood uncertain. He had not been given his leave and he had not been instructed to follow, so he stayed where he was.
It was Khana-Haik who spoke to him. "Padawan, know you not your place?"
Rath trotted over to Parkin's side.
The Room of a Thousand Fountains was an immense greenhouse in the Jedi Temple. Lush and verdant, it was a oasis within the sanctuary. The emerald shades of the foliage was luxuriant. The running waters made a pleasurable sound as they maneuvered from one level to the next and the smell of life itself permeated the air in a dance.
But to Parkin, they might as well been within the core of blue-white star. For Parkin Nebenkern´s latest "one on the way!" was dead and his wife with the Temple healers was now barren.
***
*Snap!*
The blade of the lightsaber extended, buzzing with life. Over a meter long, it crackled with energy and held.
One second, two, three . . .
The young Jedi grew hopeful as its orange flame lasted.
Four, five, six . . .
*Maybe this one is it . This one will work.*
Seven, eight, nine . . .
And the ray of orange died as one of its crystals shattered - again.
"Want to try again?" Tzu-Jang Tachai asked Rath.
Intrigued by Rath's quest, the Jedi Weapons Master had been assisting him in solving his problem. The shattered crystals were becoming a problem as they were expensive and Rath had already destroyed quite a few. Tzu-Jang was not sure that there would be a solution, but he more than anyone else understood a Jedi's need to have a lightsaber that felt right to its owner.
"No, not today."
Frustrated, Rath Hollerith placed the silver and black cylinder down on the work bench and left the room. Knowing he needed a spirit calm and unperturbed to continue with his delicate work, he headed towards his source of renewal of late.
After the death of his Master's unborn child, the two had grown apart. The Jedi Knight had retreated, withdrawing within himself. Rath tried to keep the lines of communication open between the two of them, but as he was engulfed himself, distracted by where the Force was leading him, it was difficult. He missed their closeness.
"Rath!" the dark-eyed girl greeted him. "Come to see Aurum again?"
Beja was a petite girl, one year younger than Rath, with dark hair cut short, Padawan style. At the onset, Beja had thought that it was strange when Rath had started to visit the creche. Seventeen-year-old boys *never* passed through its door. But Rath had almost become a fixture here with Aurum, when not engaged in meditation or working on his new lightsaber. Beja couldn't have been more elated, for as delightful as she found the children to be, she found Rath to be an even more pleasing sight. She hoped his interest in Aurum would extend to her direction.
Rath walked over to where Aurum was and lifted the now nearly one-year-old out of her crib. She was developing quickly due to her mixed parentage and squirmed in Rath's arm wishing to be let down and explore the room.
"Okay, okay," Rath laughed. "I'll let you down."
The toddler quickly proceeded from one end of the room to the other with no apparent rhyme or reason to where she was going next.
"How goes the new lightsaber?" Beja inquired.
"Another failure," Rath sighed. "I'm not getting anywhere, every combination I try ends in a shattered crystal. I'm afraid the Weapons Master is going to bar me from his work room."
"No, he won't," she assured him.
"I'm beginning to think it can't be done."
"I wish I could help," she offered.
Aurum toddled past, lost her balance and started to fall backward. Rath reached out with the Force and caught her, preventing from falling.
"Don't do that," Beja said.
"She was going to fall," he explained.
"I know."
"You would have let her fall? Why?"
"Because she has to learn from her mistakes, if I'm there to catch her every time she falls how is she going to learn to keep her balance?"
"I guess you're right."
"I am right. I'm here to protect and guide her, not *do* everything for her. Just like your Master does for you."
*Except, he's not doing that right now,* Rath thought.
Rath's room was anything but that - roomy. As an apprentice, he was given separate quarters unlike the younger students who lived in dorms. As fitted his station, it was small, almost a cubical, but the Jedi order was one of quiet contemplation and austerity was the norm. Privacy was also highly regarded and had he wished to sit and think almost anywhere within the Temple of the Jedi, he would have been left alone to his thoughts. But he was thankful for his spartan room, wishing to be out of sight as well. A small bed, a desk to study at, and room in the center just enough for a meditation rug, were about all it held.
Rath lay stretched out on the bed, his arms behind his head supporting it.
*Master, why did you have to die? I need you now.*
Rath got up and removed his old Master's lightsaber, now his, from where it hung on the wall. *It's been a long time since you've been used.*
He ignited the weapon and it came to life, humming with power and casting a red glow in the room. A flood of memories drenched his mind as he assumed a pose of readiness. This was the blade of his first Master, the blade he had found so quick in practice to respond to his inexperience and equally immediate in its education of retaliation to those who wished to test its owner's determination to keep breathing. Rath drew an infinity loop in the air, relishing the sight of the red rod, as regal as a scepter. Quenching its vermilion blade, the young Jedi returned it to its place of honor on the wall.
Rath stared at the static hologram pinned on the wall. Two pairs of eyes looked back at him, both once so alive. One pair, the young boy's, had departed by the passage of time to give way to the man he had become. The other pair, its spark of life had extinguished forever. The sole image he had of his old Master, other than the ones in his mind, it had been taken the day he had become his apprentice.
Rath recalled how he had felt that day, drawing himself up to make his physical appearance match his inner pride, as he had done that day. The man he had become now more closely resembled the image he had wished to project, bridging the gap in the elevation that the representation of what had been illustrated. Rath fought back tears imagining another picture yet to be taken in the future of that past, one of an equally proud day ending the beginning started there. A picture of the future that the past now prevented.
*If you were alive, Master, I wouldn't have this problem.*
There was a knock on the door. He wanted to be left alone and would have told the person to go away had it not been Parkin Nebenkern, his Master.
"Rath?"
The young Jedi winced at the sound of his name. Parkin no longer called him "Padawan" just Rath and it stung the young apprentice to be put at a distance, called by his name universally used, rather than the sole designation Parkin alone was rightfully entitled to employ.
Opening the door to admit Parkin, he said without feeling, "Yes, Master?"
Parkin straddled the chair of the desk as Rath stood uncomfortable. "Rath, sit." The Jedi Knight indicated the only option, the bed. Rath sat, still uncomfortable.
"How goes the new lightsaber?" Parkin inquired.
"Not well." Rath stared at the small space of the floor.
"Well, maybe the next one will work."
"If there is a next one."
"Are you quitting already?" Parkin asked.
"You have," Rath said icily.
Rath's comment cut the Jedi Knight deeply. In his pain, he had not meant to hurt his apprentice. "Rath, something other than the lightsaber bothers you."
Rath sat silent.
"I'm here to help you," the older man offered.
"Then tell me who my father is." Rath looked at his Master's face intent to gain the knowledge from his visage if not from his voice.
"What makes you think I know that?" Parkin stared hard into his eyes.
"You know." Rath stared back defying him to deny it.
It was Parkin this time who sat silent.
"I have my suspicions," the older Jedi said slowly and then changed his mind. "No. . . I know."
The burly, dark Jedi stroked the beard on his face as he exhaled in contemplation. "It is against the code, but the harm has already been done," he decided. "Yes, I know who your father was."
"Was?" Rath asked at the use of the past tense.
"Yes, he died. He has gone to be one with the Force."
"Who . . ." Rath started to ask.
"Who was he? He was a good man. A very good man. He was kind and gentle and strong with the Force. I knew him well, but friends were were not. I brought to light the cause of his indebtedness."
"*Who was he!?*" Rath hissed.
"He knew you well and loved you much. He was a man who for the price of a few dataries took a moment´s pleasure and broke his vows. However, that was only a down payment, for his transgression yielded fruit that demanded payment. Payment that bankrupted his honor," Parkin said softly.
"Why did he deny me?!" Rath demanded with the tears he had fought now running down his cheeks.
Swinging a leg over the back of the student's chair, the Jedi Knight walked the few steps to stand in front of Rath's wall of honor. "Deny you?" Parkin touched the lightsaber with his fingertips. "Rath, he never denied you."
"Why didn´t he ever tell me?"
"That I do not know. Perhaps it was his shame. Maybe one day he would have told you."
"But, my name . . ."
"Hollerith?" The Jedi Knight turned and looked at his apprentice with affection. "*I* gave you that name."
The Jedi Knight's apprentice gave him with a questioning look.
"Why Hollerith?" Parkin answered the unspoken question with a laugh. "Because, Padawan, you did not look like a 'one on the way!' "
The gulf between the two had narrowed.
***
*Snap!*
The blade of the lightsaber extended, buzzing with life. Over a meter long, it crackled with energy and held.
One second, two, three . . .
The young Jedi grew hopeful as its orange flame lasted.
Four, five, six . . .
*Maybe this one is it . This one will work.*
Seven, eight, nine . . .
And the ray of orange exploded sending shards of its silver hilt flying across the room.
"Doesn't look like that combination works," Tzu-Jang understated the situation.
"Nothing will work," Rath said sadly.
Entering the Temple's creche, Rath found Aurum investigating the room once again. He sat down on the floor to play with her.
Sitting down across from him, Beja, leaned over and picked a lightsaber shard out of his tunic making sure her hand not only touched the shard, but his chest as well.
She held it up for inspection. "Doesn't look like your latest attempt was successful."
He laughed. "You mean lightsabers *aren't * supposed to explode?" He hit his palm to his forehead.
"Perhaps the cut of the stones needs to different."
"What do you mean?"
"That maybe the gemstones need to be in phase to start with rather than *p utting* them into phase later."
Rath mused at that for a while, thinking, as he watched Aurum make her way around the room with a toy held in the air firmly gripped by the end of her tail.
"Thanks, Beja!" Rath suddenly announced grabbing her by the arms and planting an enthusiastic kiss on her cheek.
As he rushed to his feet and from the room, she called, "Where are you going?"
"To the lapidarist!" he yelled back.
Touching her cheek, Beja promised herself to learn all she could about lightsaber gemstones to be of further help in the future.
***
The gem cutter shook his head. "No, it can't be done."
"Why?" Rath asked.
"No, they still would have to be put into phase after. Two separate stones would *still * be two separate stones. They can't be cut like that it *has* to be one stone."
Sitting in the lapidarist's work room amid the tools of his trade, Rath's heart sank. Rath had traveled to the Jedi's supplier of lightsaber gemstones to request a special cut of two gemstones, one red and one yellow to produce the orange lightsaber he sought.
The man rose and pulled a drawer of a cabinet. Pulling out a rough uncut mineral he walked back to Rath.
"It has to be one stone like this one." Rath´s heart leapt in his chest, for in the gem cutter's hand was a large crystal that started crimson, but ended in a clear, bright yellow.
***
"Master?" Roth approached his Master.
"Yes, Padawan."
"Master, I've come to collect my payment."
"Payment?" the Jedi Knight asked.
"Yes, from Corellia," Rath stated.
"Padawan, the idea of a practical joke is for the victim to be unaware."
"I ask for a different type of payment. I want your name."
"Parkin Nebenkern?" the Jedi Knight said not understanding.
"No, Master," his apprentice explained. "I want rights to *the* name."
The Jedi Knight thought silently for a while.
"I guess I'll have no use for it now," Parkin said sadly. "It's yours."
Parkin wondered what Rath was going to name 'one on the way!' as it was an odd name for a lightsaber.
Standing in his small room the young Padawan looked at his father's lightsaber hanging on the wall. Removing it he held it reverently, caressing the silver cylinder in his hands. He walked to his desk and sat down. In the privacy of his room, he laid down the cylinder on the desk and opened a small tool kit. Opening the lightsaber, he dislodged its scarlet crystal and held it up to the light. It sparkled, sending light skittering across the room. He placed the gem into a pouch on his belt and removed another crystal.
***
*Snap!*
The blade of the lightsaber extended, buzzing with life. Over a meter long, it crackled with energy and held.
One second, two, three . . .
The young Jedi grew hopeful as its orange flame lasted.
Four, five, six . . .
*Maybe this one is it . This one will work.*
Seven, eight, nine . . .
Ten, eleven, twelve . . .
And the ray of orange light stayed, glowing powerfully.
***
"Rath!" the dark-eyed girl greeted him. "Come to see Aurum again?"
"No," the young Jedi admitted. 'Would you like to see a holodrama with me?"
"You know," Rath said sheepishly. "I don't even know your last name?"
"Narang. Beja Narang."
Rath shot a look at little Aurum.
Beja shrugged her shoulders. "It's a common name."
Rath Hollerith had his suspicions, but he kept his opinion to himself.
***
The navicomputer counted down the time left until reentry into real space.
Three, two, one . . .
The ship's young pilot worked his hands over the controls, bringing the ship out of hyperspace as the starlines outside the cockpit's plastisteel view port became single pinpricks of stars. Engaging the ship's ion-drive engines for entry into the planet's gravitional field, the young pilot called over his shoulder to his older companion.
"Master, can you take her down? I've, uh, got to use the refresher station."
*All that time in hyperspace and now he decides he has to go,* Parkin groused to himself.
Parkin Nebenkern slid into the pilot's seat now vacated by his apprentice, Rath Hollerith. "Have we made contact with Spaceport Control yet?" he queried his bladder-challenged apprentice.
"Not yet," Rath said as he made his way toward the back.
The Jedi Knight looked at the figurine attached to the ship's control panel. The small lightsaber it held in its two-handed grip ready to defend itself against miniature opponents glowed orange in the dimmed light of the cockpit. The same color as Rath's own newly made lightsaber. Parkin was certain that his Padawan had the only orange lightsaber in the galaxy.
*That boy is as strange as the droid.*
Parkin flipped a switch opening a channel. "Corellia Spaceport Control, this is the Foster Child requesting landing instructions."
"*Who* is this?" crackled the reply over the comm.
"This is the Foster Child."
There was a pause before another reply came. "Your identification beacon does not match."
*Why can't Roy fix anything?* "Sorry, Spaceport Control. It must be a malfunction. Hold on."
"Roy?" the Jedi Knight yelled at the R2 astromech droid. "What are we broadcasting on our identification beacon?"
Roy emitted a long whistle and a series of beeps in explanation.
Stunned, Parkin hesitated a moment before hailing Corellia Spaceport Control again. "Spaceport Control, this is One on the Way, requesting landing instructions."
"One on the Way, you are clear to land on Pad 56C."
Cutting the ion-drive engines of the small ship, its pilot eased it down until the landing gear gently made contact with the pad. Cutting the repulsorlift coils, he opened the hatch and lowered the rampway.
He had tears in his eyes by the time he had left the cockpit. "You had the ship renamed?"
"She's a special ship, she deserves a special name."
***
"It's too late, want to catch a holodrama?" Parkin said to his apprentice.
"Sounds good," said Rath.
Rath gave last minute instructions to their spectrum-painted droid. ". . . And see if you can do something with the environmental systems while we're gone. The oxygen percentage is low."
Its round dome emitted a few long beeps and a whistle.
"Roy, I don't care what you think. I say the oxygen is low. Fix it. And don't get stuck again."
***
"Want to see something else?" Parkin asked his apprentice, while looking at the marquee.
"Do you?"
"No."
"Well then, Episode 9 it is!"
"I think this will make it our 9th time, too."
"My 10th."
"Your 10th?"
"My 10th, your 9th."
***
As the credits rolled by, the two Jedi sat in the emptying holodrama theater.
"Ever notice that they never double hit the button to turn off their lightsabers?" said Rath.
"No."
"They don't."
"She has sharp eyes," Parkin stated.
"Who?"
"Beja."
//And pretty,too,// thought Rath.
//Yeah, they are.//
//Quit reading my thoughts.//
//Quit broadcasting them.//
//I am?//
//You are.//
//Ready?//
//Yeah, let's go.//
//Think he's stuck?//
//Who?//
//Roy.//
//No,// the older Jedi thought with surprise.
//Think he fixed the environmental systems yet?//
//No,// Parkin thought with confidence.
Back in the hold of the One on the Way, the pair arranged themselves on the deck, cross legged facing each other preparing to meditate before retiring for the night.
//Master how did you know she was the one?//
//She was assigned to me.//
//Your wife was assigned to you?//
//Mayvin? Not the ship?//
//Yes.//
//A strong, powerful voice told me.//
//The Force?//
//No, Mayvin.//
//Padawan, you never told me what the Force showed you that day.//
//Iwas shown that my pride prevented me from seeing that I was casting aspersion on the child. As we are all interconnected, this was wrong. The dark side is hard to see, but I was shown that the two sides coexist. Even though her origins, and mine, are of the dark side, the light's rewards are manifold.//
As the two Jedi lost themselves in the bliss of the Force, in the city of Cornet, on the planet of Corellia, next to a unmarked door, was a lamp. A lamp the pair would never see in the dark of the night. A lamp that glowed orange.
The End.
