"You cant just USE the jedi at your convenience. The Jedi Order is a Seperate and unbias organization that keeps the peace. Not an ace in the hole that you can use on whatever situation you cannot control. Hutt space, Spice trading, these things are for the Empire to worry about, not the jedi. Misleading, and Misteaching, is what i meant before, my initial thoughts overcame me."

General Ahem turned back to Xenn, eyed him steadily.

"Are you saying that your order is the 'end say-all,' so to speak, of what is right and what is wrong in the galaxy? By what right do you have to take this power upon yourselves... alone? To choose at your discretion? To designate what is good, what is evil?

"Do you fear to relinquish some of the... obvious control you either do have in this regard, or at the very least feel you do, to join with another with like interest? Is not what is of greatest importance here the end result, the maintenance of peace and order in the galaxy?

"Yet by your own words you dismiss offhandedly the spice runners and Hutts and smugglers as 'worries of the Empire.' Something you apparently are too high and mighty to soil yourselves with."

Now a small thundercloud began growing in his eyes.

"By what right do you give yourselves this selective vision, to pick and choose who to defend and who not? We at least, who although are really something more of a Federation than this 'empire' you insist upon calling us, do see the larger picture at hand.

"I have stated not once but several times the mandate set forth by Admiral Actar, supported by his command, and maintained by troops: within the galaxy, there are both predators and prey. We hunt the predators, to place the protectorate governments in asylum with us, that in the long run all may live together harmoniously."

He nosed up even closer to Xenn.

...which didn't take all that long, as Shawn had already surmised. As the proximity warning began to blare insistently, Dat brought the ship smoothly back into realspace...

...and not very far from an impressive Imperial blockade. Shawn didn't hesitate, but opened a general comm frequency. "This is Jedi Shawn Petrolu, requesting docking priveleges aboard the Sormontato. My presence was requested by General Ahem."

Sending the message at that, Shawn waited for the reply that he knew would be forthcoming from the SSD.

--------------------

Ensign duPritt sat at his post aboard the battle cruiser, staring down at the comm panel in front of him as if it was going to bite him.

Which it might, if I'm not careful... he thought as he cast another furtive glance about him.

All others were busy maintaining their stations, all focus on the monstrous blockade which prevented them, or any other ship of theirs, from getting any closer to Tatooine.

He glanced down again, then shifted in his seat. Making certain that to all others he appeared as yet another crew member attending to his duties, he hid the finger that crept to a switch sitting off to one side.

Touched it, innocently enough...

The carefully encrypted, encoded, and zipped message he had prepared earlier squirted out from the cruiser, piggybacked atop yet another scan another group was in the process of implementing upon the SSD which led the blockade, searching futilely for any weakness.

There, he told himself with satisfaction.

Now we're getting someplace....

He returned to his duties, dreams of his commission within the Empire a living entity before his eyes.

--------------------

"Sir," came a professional voice.

"Petrolu has arrived. And-- Sir, we have received a message marked Command Eyes Only; shall I send it on to you now, Sir?"

A frown flickered across Ahem's grizzled features.

"Allow Petrolu docking privileges, his usual spot, and please escort him to my ready room asap.

"As for the message, yes. Please do so now.

"Ahem, out."

He turned back to the others, the thundercloud diminishing from his gaze.

"Jedi Knight Shawn Petrolu will be joining us directly; I hope you find your conversation with him to be more enlightening than the one we have shared between us.

"If you will excuse me now..."

He nodded to the guards, who stiffened, then ushered the three to the anteroom, where comfortable couches and seats and yet more refreshments awaited them.

Once alone, Ahem opened the message the Sormontato had picked up as coming from the battle cruiser.

"With respect, this is Major Jalthor du Pritt aboard the vessel Flower of Carnage... in reality, the stolen Imperial cruiser Tolerancia.

"I have been stationed here for several years, being one of the few who was allowed to seek asylum among the traitors who overran the ship. At that time, most of our crew was either killed or sent off who knows where, forgive me that I do not know the specifics. But there are at least 75 of us who were offerred the chance to come to their cause, so to speak. These cruisers aren't run as easily as they expected.

"I managed to dump all insignia and was thus able to remain aboard. The others and I await further orders, Sir, as this is the closest this vessel has come to home ships, and it is assumed you wish to re-acquire Tolerancia.

"I am standing by on this frequency--"

A brief string of values followed.

"--and await the time of your choosing to put this possibility into action.

"I remain respectfully under your command, Sir.

"du Pritt, out."

Ahem raised his head, looked off into middle space.

How convenient. A mole. Perhaps it won't be quite as difficult a thing to re-acquire that which was stolen from us, those many years ago...

Nodding to himself, he called his Second to his ready room, that they could begin to plan the strategy they would use when the opportunity presented itself to do so.

...but they don't necessarily know of the presence of either the two of you. I will inform them of your presence, but let them know you will wait for me abaord the ship unless this takes longer than I am hoping. Because it is a possibility you may need to get off this ship, I advise," he continued, looking at Dat's Royal Gaurd Uniform, "That you consider not wearing that attire aboard this ship. It will raise many questions."

Saying no more than that, Shawn stood from where he had taken a seat at the copilot's station, and headed towards the hatch of the ship. Once the hatch was lowered he stepped out, finding a waiting Imperial escort already in place. "I have two other parties aboard my ship," he opened with, "They wish to wait until I return aboard our ship...we were enroute to a mission at the time I received the General's request."

Falling silent at that, Shawn nodded to the escort, indicating that he was ready to prceed. The escort wasted no time then in directing him to the General's ready room and leading him inside...

...where Shawn was overwhelmed with a wealth of negative emotions from the parties within the moment he was stepped in the room.

Shawn cocked a curious brow at Ahem, who turned his way as he entered. "General?" he queried simply, saying nothing more.

[ 09-22-2005 03:51 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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His eyes flicked back to them; nodding their understanding, the other brass merely settled into their seats, striking up a low conversation with themselves, but keeping one ear ever alert upon the Jedi and General Ahem.

The latter now rose to his own feet, coming around the desk to meet Shawn, hands outstretched.

"Ahh Shawn, good of you to come," he opened, his two hoary hands engulfing one of the Jedi's in a handshake. Then wasting no further time on pleasantries he got to the topic at hand.

"Shawn, I assume you noticed our-- guests out there?" he said, nodding toward the door leading into the antechamber. Ever succinct in his own manner, the Jedi nodded in return, waiting.

General Ahem allowed himself the luxury of a sigh.

"My friend, I hope you can come to my assistance. Those waiting in the antechamber are, by their own free admission, Force users and Jedi who state further that they have come to Tatooine to attend to the opening of the Praxeum. Apparently they were not aware that we have had this built, to your specifications, I might add; we hope the structure was to your liking--

"--but now are extremely resistant to the idea of Jedi and our New Order working together, in any manner. No matter what I stated, I remain highly mistrusted, which I suppose is expected after Actar's methodology..."

He paused a moment, his expression growing even more serious.

"Shawn, you know that outside of the fiasco in the Senate chambers, we have bent over backwards to preserve and protect the lives of our galactic citizenry. You also are, I trust, fully aware that sometimes in the creation of an omelette, one must break a few eggs.

"We have broken all the eggs we desire to, Shawn, you know that. Yet there are others in the galaxy who do not, and who view us with continued fear. As long as this occurs, we shall never be able to obtain the true peace and order that we all desire, according to the mandate we contracted with you Jedi in the Praxeum below."

He paused again, his eyes growing dark with meaning.

"We need every Jedi we can find to help us, Shawn; the fact that the Hutt's stranglehold on this world having already been broken is but one small step toward that ultimate goal. Let me once again thank you and the Order on behalf of Admiral Actar, we could not have succeeded so efficiently and with such little loss of life without your assistance."

Now he turned away and walked to the viewport.

"Screen," he commanded, and watched as the duraglass polarized to black, smoothly sequeing into a gigantic monitor. He reached out to touch a button on his desk; a starfield immediately filled the bulkhead behind his desk, one in which a 600-meter-long battle cruiser lurked.

"This ship is supposedly Jedi property."

He turned back to Shawn.

"Inconceivable, is it not? But no matter; the point is that our visitors out there originally came into our space via that ship, from whence they departed in the attempt to land on Tatooine. I brought them aboardship, purely for our agreed upon record maintenance, and found them highly resistant to what I had to say.

"Shawn, where they won't listen to me, at least not now, perhaps they will listen to another Jedi. I hope you yet remain friend enough to do this favor for me."

He paused, sending a genuine look deep into Shawn's eyes, letting him know by his body language that he was being as open and honest as he could be. For like the others, Shawn had no use of his Force abilities aboard the Sormontato, thanks to the ysalamiri placed strategically about the great SSD.

Seeing what he believed to be compliance in the body language of the Jedi, General Ahem raised a hand toward the door.

"In there," he repeated unnecessarily, inviting Shawn to join Xenn and Sarisa Ker and Kitiana at his own disposal.

"And please, come back when you have finished. There is another little matter I would like to discuss with you, if I may prevail upon you further."

He nodded to Ahem. "I would be glad to help you in whatever way I can, and I'm hoping you will likewise be able to assist me in an important mission of my own. But then, we can discuss this when I return."

Nodding politely once more to Ahem, Shawn returned back to the antechamber, where the others waited tensely, suspiciously.

Shawn spread out his arms, his palms up in a motion of clear openess and invitation. "My name is Jedi Master Shawn Petrolu. I understand you have some very real concerns, and I would like to hear them out. Please, ask me whatever questions you feel are necessary, and I will answer them."

Falling silent at that Shawn waited, his greeny-blue eyes scanning the others in the room calmly and evenly.

[ 09-22-2005 05:57 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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Bowing in respect ,having only head of actual Jedi Masters, she introduced herself in return.

"Jedi Master Shawn Petrolu my name is Sarisa Ker..." Using an open palm turned up she directs The Masters attention to the others. "and this is Xenn and Kitiana."

She regains her posture and keeps herself calm as her eyes give a sincere look of honesty.

"Master Petrolu please forgive me for being direct but I have never met a true Jedi Master and I hope you may clarify something. I don't understand how the Jedi and the Empire have joined forces. I know I probably gave the General a bad impression as I gave off an air of distrust. For that I appologize, but I hope you may help us to understand better."

She stopped and waited patiently for a response or for Xenn or Kitiana to speak up as well.

--------------------

Plus, getting chewed out by General Ahem was no fun at all.
Maybe if Xenn still walked on the dark path, Ahem would not be amungnst the living at this very moment.

Jedi- he finds that hard to belive, no real Jedi would allign themselves with the Empire! These are just a shadow of what the real Jedi were like, so long ago.

--------------------

He knew precisely the sort of feelings each one of them were having regarding this situation, regardless of the ysalamiri. At least one of them was more than just a touch readable. Shawn didn't bat an eye though, and his expression never changed from that of utter serenity.

Totally unrattled. Totally unreadable.

"If it's that you believe this New Empire is the same as the old, then take a look at the majority of what has taken place since its return to power. Please, if you have concerns about a particular situation with this new Empire, elaborate. And be aware that this is not the first instance where the Jedi have aligned themselves with the government. The Jedi of old supported and fought for the Old Republic until its fall. Their mistake was not looking for corruption within it when things began to go awry...

...however, that mistake does not mean that the Jedi cannot have a peaceful relationship with the government any longer. In fact, I believe it makes our relationship with the government even more important. To alienate ourselves from a government which has maintained peace throughout the galaxy would be to alienate the people in the galaxy themselves.

The people we are supposed to be serving and helping."

Pausing at that, he was quiet a moment, hoping his words and their meaning would sink in to the minds of the three parties present. Then, as a thought occurred to him, he finished with. "I believe your real trouble with all of this is that the Jedi have aligned themselves with the Empire. I caution you...

...do not judge the book by its cover. You can't truly understand these people and their ways unless you take the time to get to know them. And only when you know them could you truly claim there is any corruption or evilness in their ways at all. Being nonjudgemental and observant are the most important attributes of a Jedi, after all."

[ 09-23-2005 07:20 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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In fact? It had been a very little amount of time. But to him, this wait was unbearable. "If they come back while I'm away tell them I'll be back soon enough."

He drew his cloak of shadows and gas over his head and closed it around his body to cover his horrific form, and strode down the ramp.

He watched as the guards about raised rifles in his direction, but he spoke. "Take me to Jedi Master Petrolu, I grow tired of waiting and wish to speak with him."

--------------------

She pauses for a moment to look at Xenn and Kitiana. Her beautiful blue eyes return back to Master Petrolu with a mixture of a childs innocense and a curiousity that seems to always be present.

"Master Petrolu I believe we need to take time to interact with the Imperials in order to get to know them better. I also would like to help keep the peace in the galaxy and if that means joining forces with the Empire then I will do what I must."

Just before anyone else can speak Sarisa pipes up once more.

"I have a couple of requests. First I would very much like to have my ship brought over from the Flower of Carnage. Secondly I request to become your padawan learner so that I may better myself and in turn better serve the galaxy."

Her eyes watch his as that last question seemed to shock him.

--------------------

Shawn does have a sense of rightness about him, But, just like he himself said, you cannot judge a book by its cover, Xenn would remain cautious...

Xenn had been thinking about the days of the old, the Republic.

"Maybe Im oldschool... Being frozen for a couple decades could do that to you, although i know that the Jedi should always remain a neutral factor. True, during the time of the republic the Jedi alligned themselves, but it was after meditation, and due process. This allignment almost seems forced."

Shawn's tone was even, unoffended.

Then he looked to Serisa Ker. "As for your request that I take you on as a Padawan, your friend here is correct. You have just met me, and I have just met you...

...and at the moment neither of us have our Force-abilities to guide us in such a matter. Such things should not be rushed into. As for your ship, you will have to discuss that with General Ahem."

Saying nothing further than that, Shawn's greeny-blue eyes returned to Xenn, waiting for his response to all that had been spoken.

[ 09-24-2005 09:12 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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"You are both correct. Please forgive me."

SHe looks back to Shawn.

"Would I be able to speak with the General soon? I would very much like to have my ship returned to me."

--------------------

Pausing at that, Shawn let his greeny-blue rest on Serisa another moment longer, the look in them almost penetrating.

Then he looked back to Xenn, still waiting for his response to the question that had been asked.

--------------------

She pauses trying to think of how to express herself.

"I guess I like the thought of having my own freedom and being stuck aboard the SSD. You know what I mean?"

--------------------

Keeping his manner casual, he strode to assist the young officer.

"Is there some difficulty?" he asked, letting his eyes flick from the ensign to rest levelly upon Nefrai.

--------------------

"I grow tired of waiting for him, sadly I am not known as a very patient sort, especially when we have... other pressing matters to attend too."

--------------------

"Perhaps you might enlighten me as to this matter which presses you so," he said smoothly as he moved to a nearby comm and opened a channel to the General.

"We might be able to offer you our assistance."

The General's voice abruptly chirruped at him, and he turned to speak with his Commander, keeping his voice low enough that no one else would overhear their conversation. At length he closed the connection and turned back to Nefrai.

"Unfortunately, I am unable to comply with your request at the moment," he said calmly. "The Jedi Master is currently engaged in Imperial matters, and unable to be disturbed.

"Perhaps you wish to be escorted to one of our lounges nearby his location, where you might wait until he his finished and able to speak in turn with you?"

--------------------

...they do not exist on every world. They are here on Tatooine to help stave off the Hutts from trying to regain control of the world; they exist on Coruscant because it is the government's capital.

I sitll believe you judge this government based on the fact that it is the "Empire" in name, and by that alone. As for your ship and your freedom..."

Shawn paused a moment, looking now to Serisa, "You do realize that, as a Jedi, you would have to give up your possession of it anyway? Attachment to such objects is not fitting for a Jedi. Granted, some Jedi own ships...

..but they understand that those ships come and go. But please, as I would like to understand your concern better...

...please tell me why it is you feel your freedom is being threatened here? If the Empire had a desire to imprison you for any reason, would they not already have done so?"

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