14 Satele's Role

I sit in the seat next to Satele and mess with my lightsaber hilt. I float it in my hand and disassemble it. She clears her throat, and I reassemble it and put it on my belt. "So what are we going to be doing once we reach the republic fleet? I know you are a part of the emergency response team, but you never shared more than that with me in the past." She turns in her seat and looks directly at me. She has a serious look on her face, and I straighten up immediately, noting how important she is making this seem.

She interlocks her fingers and places them in her lap. "My role is to direct republic forces with the chancellor and many generals of the republic army. However, I'm often deployed on the most dangerous worlds ravaged by war. You will be accompanying me on all my missions, Nate. So your training will be tougher than it's ever been before." I nod my head listening to every word she says. With the galaxy's cold war state, I'm surprised she has time to pick me up and take me to Ilum.

I lean back in my chair and look at the blue hue of hyperspace. "I'm going, to be honest, Master, I'm nervous about running into sith. I've never fought someone who has immersed themselves in the dark side. I'm not overconfident to think that with the little training I've had, I'm now ready for full-blown sith lords and darths." I was taught early on in my training that just because I have a strong connection to the force doesn't mean I'm invincible. I took that to heart and trained even harder.

She looks at me with pride and understanding. "That's a good thing, Nate. I'll prepare you for anything, but it takes time to improve. Just so you know, I was nervous fighting my first sith too. You are entering with the right mindset because you aren't ready for a sith. However, until you are ready, I'll be with you. So trust in me, I'm not the Grandmaster of our order for no reason." I smile at her words. The Jedi code forbids a lot, but many Jedi break it every day. Satele is one of them. While it's not a malicious break, it's more like showing emotion and not being the machine Jedi are believed to be.

I close my eyes and steady my breathing. Now sounds like a good time to do some meditation. Soon I hear nothing, and I'm immersed in a deeply calm state. Meditation is one of my favorite things because it helps ease any stress. I come out of my meditation and notice that Satele is doing the same. I stand up and exit the cockpit. I want to use the bathroom. I walk down the hall and turn right into the onboard levorotary.

I take off my youngling robes and hop into the sonic shower. It cleans me in seconds, and I'm now fully free of any odor or gunk. I exit the sonic shower and re robe. I should get my Jedi robes after Ilum. She must be saving those somewhere until I find my kyber crystal. I exit the levorotary and make my way to the booth in the common area of our ship. I don't want to disturb Master when she is meditating.

I enter many commands on the holo-terminal, and a Jedi pops up. He begins making a speech and talking about victory. This holo was from a very long time ago. I want to study the history before the sith were created, and this is where I was told to start. Apparently, this speech was made just days before the first Jedi, and sith war broke out. I hear the sliding door open, and in walks Satele. She sees what I'm watching and comes to join me.

She knows way more than I do about this particular event. "I see you are studying the ancient history of our war with the sith. A long time ago, there were religions separate from each other. Some still exist today. The first organization of force sensitives was called the Je'daii, and Jedi didn't exist yet. It was all about learning and keeping in balance with the force. This all occurred on Tython thousands of years ago. The Ashla was considered the light, and Bogan was considered the dark. They are natural satellites that orbit Tython. There is also Bendu which was considered balance." This is all new information to me. As younglings, we didn't get much access to the Jedi archives.

So that was the ancient order of the force users. "What caused the separation between sith and Jedi? It almost sounds like a system that can't really fail." In all honesty, it does. Although how am I supposed to know? It happened for a reason, it seems.

Satele enters new commands on the holo-terminal, and a new person shows up. This is just a picture though. "The creation of the Sith'ari is what changed the Je'daii Order. A group of force sensitives wanted to study only the Bogan or dark. Once this happened, a civil war occurred, and several years later, many new forms of study were born. The evolution of our Jedi Order started here." Talk about a history that really says a lot. I guess the seductive lulls of the dark led to the creation of the sith at this time.

I wonder what else occurred during the times of the Je'daii Order. "Is there anything else that I should learn about the subject at hand, Master? This seems like an important subject to learn about." She smiles gently and turns off the holo-terminal.

She stands up, and I follow her out of the booth. "That can be something we talk about another time Nate. We should be getting close to Ilum, and the sooner we get your kyber crystal, the sooner you get your Jedi robes." I give a slightly bashful smile at her tone of voice. We reenter the cockpit and sit down in the seats.

I help input commands and do what the co-pilot supposed to do. The console chirps, notifying us we are getting close to our destination. I help Master power down the hyperdrive, and we exit hyperspace. I look at the snowy ice world of Ilum. There are some republic cruisers in its atmosphere. "This is where every Jedi in the galaxy comes for their first kyber crystal. We will likely be running into other Masters and apprentices at the caves." That would be nice. I hope to see Keilara and Dorwill one last time before we all go on separate journeys.

Satele enters the final commands, and she takes care of the descant. We approach the world fast and head for a republic base. She lands the ship and gets up from her seat. I follow suit and get up myself. I follow at her side to the ramp as I hear it lower. Once down, I see other jedis and republic troopers. Some have padawans, and others don't. "Grandmaster Satele." The Jedi takes a slight bow and lifts her head. "Welcome back to Ilum. When I heard that you had taken an apprentice, I knew that you would be here pretty quick." This woman sure is nice. I can't tell if it's brown-nosing, though.

I take a look at the padawans around, and I see Leshal. Her Master's ship must have a better hyperdrive if she got here first. I take a slight bow in greeting to everyone here. Satele puts her hand on my shoulder, and I raise my head. "Looks like you won't be going into the caves alone, Nate. You will have a group to traverse the caves with." I look at Leshal and give a bow and smile. She does the same, but I can sense slight bitterness in her. "Let's head to the caves. It's a 20-minute landspeeder ride there." I nod my head and walk at the side of my master as she takes me to the landspeeders.

[A/N: I have 14 chapters stockpiled. I'll release 1 chapter every 3 days. That way, I don't have to write any chapters for 42 days. Once My stockpile hits 0, I'll go on another 7-day break to stockpile again. Thanks for reading, everyone!]