I closed my eyes and blotted out Gregar's growl of protest as he noticed me doing so. Allowing my awareness of the Force to blossom outward as far as I possibly could, my hands began to fly over the navigation console.
I hesitated a moment as what I perceived as a dark blot on my consciousness momentarily fouled where and when we needed to be. Sighing in relief a moment later, as that blot abruptly vanished.
...
"Hold onto your seats!" I suddenly warned in a voice tight with concentration. Inputting the last series of numbers the Force provided me with, as a viable pathway through a maze of mass finally finished making itself known.
The skiff shuddered around us, then the stars streaked in a bizarrely curving manner. For one heart-stopping instant as the forming blue-white tunnel seemed to weirdly distend outward, I was sure I'd killed us all.
Then space resolved into the familiar circular passage of hyperspace a split-second later. Seeing it, I suddenly sagged in my seat. Feeling the strain of the last few minutes acutely.
"Are all Jedi as mad as you, or are you a special case?" Gregar's voice sounded half-bemused, half ready to throttle me. I noticed a distinct lack of courtesy toward the Jedi present in his tone, but decided under the circumstances it would be undiplomatic to point that out.
Streaks of light resolved back into a field of stars several hours later. Looking at the navigation readout, I saw we were as anticipated in the Commenor System. Yet there was no possibility of my relaxing as yet. Not until I knew my teacher and Seraph had likewise made their escape.
Seeing the readout himself, I felt Gregar's surprise over our location. "Commenor? Why in the name of all that's sane and rational would you run closer to the Neimoidians? Their homeworld is one kriffing jump away!" He'd gone from wanting to half-throttle me, all the way to desiring his hands around my neck as a more than passing fancy.
In his mind, I continued to be incredibly reckless with the life of the woman who'd put the stars in the sky as far as he was concerned. If I didn't provide an excellent rationale for our proximity to Neimoidia, I wasn't willing to bet against the chances of his taking a swing at me.
Fortunately, I had just such an answer. "There were only two systems we could have run for, Captain. The Quellor System is the way most people would have gone, because it's further from any Neimoidian systems.
It's also an isolated backwater without a significant planetary defense force to patrol the system. It's the kind of system where anything could happen, and the locals would go along with the account of events preferred by the people who ship in their food and hold the markers on their debts.
Our other choice was an extremely affluent system no more beholden to the Trade Federation or IG.BC than anyone else. Somewhere with a very robust planetary defense force that patrols the system regularly. One which would at least report any untoward happenings."
Gregar seemed to be mulling that over, so I added "Besides, we'll only be staying long enough to- Oh, thank the Force!" I cut across myself, as I noticed a familiar sensor return resolve within a hundred and seventy-five thousand kilometers. Almost immediately, the comm system began blinking to indicate an incoming message.
Toggling the comm, I gave my mentor a relieved smile, then said "I don't believe I've ever been more glad to see you, Master. Please tell me Seraph's not too badly injured."
Smiling faintly herself, Dark Woman's nod loosened a knot in my chest. "The barrels of two of her lava-cannons suffered some damage due to exceeding her normal rate of fire for such a protracted period of time, but the injuries are well within her ability to heal.
Provided she's afforded time to do so in peace, that is." Her voice was it's usual quintessential calm, but I knew her well enough to detect a significant amount of relief concealed beneath all the poise.
Finally, I could settle back in my chair and begin to accept that, against all the odds, we'd actually succeeded.
My silver-haired mentor's blue eyes sparkled intently despite presently being a hologram. She seemed to be able to read me like a book (as always), so it was no surprise to me when she said "You've had your few seconds to rest, Anakin. Now, get that ship moving in Coruscant's direction."
She paused for a few moments then. Seeming to weigh her words even more carefully than usual while doing so. When she spoke up at last, her voice sounded strange to me.
"While meditating among the asteroids, I had a vision. The first which proved to be more than a few semi-coherent fragments strung together in many years."
I sat up straight at this news. Immediately opening my mouth to ask what she'd foreseen. Only for the Jedi Master to shake her head firmly and say "Now isn't the time to get into it. We need to return to the Temple, and the sooner, the better."
The hologram disappeared a moment later to punctuate her statement. Leaving me wondering what exactly she'd seen, and how serious it must be if the normally fiercely independent Jedi Master's first thought was to notify the High Council.
I turned to my companions and, injecting all the "The Jedi knows what's going on, and everything is under control" poise I'd actually been trained to project into my voice, asked "Everyone ready to get back to somewhere where our enemies use subtler methods than concussion-missiles?"
Neither Gregar or Padme looked amused by my question. While R2-D2 emitted a snarky beep-beep-zing-zzzt. Letting me know he didn't appreciate my effort to cut the tension, either.
"No credit for orchestrating a miraculous escape from a near-perfect trap, I see" I muttered just loudly enough to be heard.
Punching in nav-coordinates for our next jump terminating in the Brentaal system, I transmitted our transponder-code to the hailing patrol craft out from Commenor.
Giving the next system along our planned route as the bare-minimum response to a request-for-itinerary the defense-force ship was entitled to inquire about, before indicating our next jump was imminent.
I was glad to handle the affair without verbal communication, because customs and patrol officials were always nosier when they didn't have to deal with either typing their own queries, or waiting for such to be done before receiving what was relayed to them.
Finally, the Sphyrna-class Corvette wished us an uneventful journey and quickly moved off far enough to avoid being a navigational hazard as they continued on with their circuit.
I was glad there hadn't been any physical contact between our skiff and Seraph, because that would have screamed "nefarious dealings" to a patrol which dealt with smugglers, pirates, and roaming fences dealing in the wares of both as their primary reasons for being.
Though I did wonder what they were making of my darling's unique sensor-returns.
Shrugging off the encounter, I throttled up the hyper-drive. Watching as the star field streaked and turned into a hyper-space corridor once more, I turned over the cockpit to Captain Typho. Unclipping my harness, then going aft to check on the sub-light engines.
We'd pushed them more than was wise, so I wanted to make sure there was no unpleasant surprises in our future.
...
Several minutes later, I heard a light tread on the deck-plating, then heard Padme's melodically resonant voice. "I want to apologize if we seemed ungrateful, Jedi Skywalker. You've done everything in your power to keep us, keep me, safe, and you not only did so under exceptionally trying circumstances.
You avoided killing or even seriously injuring anyone. I'm sure Master Dark Woman is exceptionally proud of the Jedi Knight you've become."
I turned away from the sub-light engine diagnostic panel I'd been studying, and said in a quiet way "Thank you for that, but I'm the one who should be apologizing, Senator. I told myself you probably hadn't even noticed my avoiding you, but that was a lie.
You've been nothing but courteous and cordial, while I've been distant to the point of projecting hostility up until this mission. I'm sorry for making my problems yours."
Inclining her head slightly in acknowledgement of what I'd said, she observed "There's no reason we can't start over, if you aren't simply being diplomatic because you're trapped in close proximity to me for most of a day. You could try using my given name, rather than remaining so formal every time we interact."
I winced a little at the hint of suspicion in her voice, but forced myself to meet her gaze directly as I replied "I'm not really one for diplomatic gestures, and I truly didn't mean to cause you any distress, S-, Padme. You can call me Anakin, if you like."
She seemed to consider what I'd said for a few seconds. Cocking her head slightly, there was an expression of clear curiosity on her heart shaped face, as she belatedly inquired about my earlier comment "If it wouldn't be prying too much, would you mind my asking what the personal problems of a Jedi look like?
I would have thought holding yourselves separate from a society whose people you're forbidden to become personally involved with would prevent many of the issues which are a struggle for the rest of us.
Especially when you have so many older and more experienced Jedi Masters to help you find the niche where you'll thrive."
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