I tilted my head as I looked down at the human in front of me "Jedi Dooku." I said, without folding back the helmet of my armor.
Until his fall he wasn't technically a dick. Rash and somewhat inexperienced at the moment, yes, but not evil. If I remember it right, he even left the Jedi when he felt they fell into a trap and was manipulated to kill somebody.
So no...I didn't dislike him for turning to The Dark Side in the end.
I dislike him because he blew up my ship. I understand why he did it...which is the reason he didn't join his lightsaber in going over the edge of the Nar Shaddaa landing platform, but still.
"Captain Atreus." He said, bowing slightly "First of all, I wish to both thank you for answering our distress call and apologize for my actions regarding your old ship. I was wrong and acted rashly."
I regarded him for a moment. I needed his help on this matter.
"Accepted." I finally said before I turned to give his apprentice a nod as well "Jedi Jinn."
The padawan bowed as well "Captain Atreus."
"We received your transmission." Dooku then said "We had failed to locate any concrete trace of the organization before this latest evidence. While we have been unable to find out the true identity of this Krayt, there are some clues."
"His eyes, clothes and accent. All of which might be faked. Everything about him might be fake, even the species. He might simply be an underling or even a complete holographic fabrication." I answered.
The Jedi sighed but nodded "True, but if we go at it from that angle, we might as well give up now. We can simply not assume everything we know is false. We have to question our evidence, not reject it out of hand."
Qui-Gon frowned and crossed his arms, looking thoughtful "But we do know a place to start searching at. Tatooine."
His teacher shook his head "Not necessarily. They might simply send a message with coordinates to him when he arrives in orbit."
I nodded "That is how I would do it. But tracking the money will not be the biggest problem. The problem is what to do when we find their base."
"I wouldn't worry about that, Captain." Dooku said, crossing his arms "I believe we will be able to handle that. Our mission is to arrest the leader of The Glass Hand, not take out their entire base."
"I don't have spare ships to throw at it, Jedi Dooku. I would prefer if we had a backup plan better than 'lightsaber!'." I said and shifted my wings, my armored claws scraping slightly against the hardened stone floor of the temple "Preferably something involving orbital bombardment. Because of this fail, it will be my people it will hurt."
XXXXXXXXXX
I stopped at the entrance of the room, a group of younglings handling short training sabers were spread out around the room while wearing helmets. They each had a small remote shooting low power blasts for them to deflect.
I tilted my head as I watched Yoda hobble around the room, helping and instructing the group. They looked young, the oldest was maybe seven. I guess it does help to start early to make it second nature.
Laying down on the floor I simply waited. I was hardly in a hurry so there was no need to interrupt them so I spent the time switching between watching and idly playing a game of Sabacc against the suit computer to pass the time.
"Join in, you could." Yoda said as he finally made his way over to me.
I snorted and raised my head, flicking my head to fold the mask of the helmet away "You know my feelings on the matter, Master Yoda. A proper blaster in the right hands is more than a match for any close combat weapon."
The small green alien hmmmed, shaking his head slightly "A point, you have...but underestimate the ability of a Jedi with a lightsaber, you do."
"I seem to remember a sith ghost getting his arse handed to him by the proper application of high power energy blasts." I said before I shook my head "I bow to your point though. A blaster is only superior as long as you stay out of reach of the Jedi."
Then the beak mounted plasma flamethrower I have stored in my quarters become king instead, but there was no need to mention that. To conspicuous and feminine looking to carry around at all times, but I still built one as something told me I would need one sooner or later.
Yoda smiled and turned to the group "Younglings! Time for food, it is. Put the sabers away, you will."
I moved slightly to the side to let them file out of the room, one of them stopping by us "Master Yoda, can I try again after dinner? I felt I could do it at the end." the dark-skinned youngling with the long hair asked.
Yoda smiled at him, the five-year-old taller than the old Jedi master "Enough for today, it is, Mace. Master Yusi in history, I believe you have after dinner. Practice more tomorrow, you can."
The young Mace Windu pouted but nodded "Yes Master." before he walked away, but not before giving me a curious look.
I turned my head, looking after him for a moment. Now that was strange. Not seeing a tiny Windu, but seeing Windu with hair.
I turned back to Yoda "Nicola Mara." I said, "She is on my ship."
Yoda sighed and leaned against his cane "Left the order, she did. Mistake to offer her the trials, it was."
"A week after he brought her dead master back? What in the force were you thinking?" I asked in annoyance.
Seriously.
He shook his head "Uncommon, it is not. Finish the mission, she did. Of sufficient skill, she was. Ready...it turned out she was not." he said before he tapped his finger against his cane "Perfect, the Jedi are not. Make mistakes, we do."
I stayed quiet as he continued "Too old, she was. Training her...mistake it might have been." he finally said.
I blinked at that "Really? I was an adult when you helped train me."
Yoda shook his head "Her situation, similar to yours, it was. Already able to use The Force when discovered, she did. Dangerous, not to train her, it would have been. Dangerous to train her, it was. Difficult decision, it is. Just below the age line, she was."
It seems that not even Yoda is above the slight arrogance of the Jedi order. Even when they had clearly failed one of their own, that former member was also at fault in their eyes.
"And I? I was an adult when I fell from the skies. Clearly above the cutoff age." I asked, "By those rules, I should not have been trained."
"Be trained as a Jedi, to old for you were." Yoda said with a smile "Unknown to give force sensitives basic training when discovered as adults though...it is not. Rare yes, unprecedented it is not."
I regarded him for a moment and hmmed as I shifted my wings "To tie me to the Jedi order. Make it less likely for me to fall...and make it easier to take me out in case I do."
The old Jedi master sighed and looked down at his cane "Perfect, it is not. Do the best we can, we do. Doing well, Padawan Mara is?"
I nodded "She is starting to fit into the crew. She is doing as well as can be expected."
"Good. Good." Yoda said with a nod as he started to hobble past me, leaning on his cane "Come. Time for lunch, it is."
I looked after him, letting him get out of the way before I turned to follow him. As I reached him again I picked him up and putting him on my back between my wings before I started to make my way towards the closest food court.
The ancient Jedi master chuckled and made himself comfortable, leaning back against the shield generator between my wings.