Mission Report

[Dylan Farlander]

As always Dylan Farlander was quite pleased to see his wife's yacht, Falyn Star, landing safely once again in the Jedi Temple hanger. Whenever she left Dylan never knew when he'd see her again, and he missed the "old" days when they'd worked together as partners. The old days...all of a year ago.

That's what you get for marrying someone a decade younger. Dylan mused as the hatched opened. At some point you can't keep up.

He squelched his discontent down, and turned a smiling face to his wife. It wasn't Syn's fault she was singularly suited to being a Shadow -- and he was singularly not. In fact, he had no desire to be a Jedi Shadow, ever. He was for the most part content with his role these days. He just missed his wife.

Evidently she missed him too. At the sight of him, Syn dashed down the ramp towards him. Dylan was well used to this form of greeting and he was braced for it -- which was a good thing; being unprepared got the wind knocked out of you. This time the only side affect for Dylan was one of laughter; at her presence, at her happy greeting, at the fact that she would never acquire proper Jedi decorum...and he didn't want her too.

But all good things come to an end and after a thoroughly affectionate embrace, Syn pulled back, and Dylan saw that look on her face.

"I take it the private reunion will have to take place later?" He asked.

"I need to report to the Council." Syn replied as she wrinkled her forehead. It wasn't quite worry, but whatever it was, it was bothering her.

Dylan nodded and refrained from asking her about it. He was on the council. He would find out soon enough.

[Synlah Falyn]

Dylan didn't quite have the nerve to make his wife stand in front of him to deliver a report and Synlah knew it. Naturally, she took advantage of it. That was also aided by the fact that the Temple's council chambers had been totally trashed by the One Sith -- along with pretty much everything else in the Temple. The first order of business had been making the Temple livable again, and the formal High Council chamber was low on the list of priorities (the Room of a Thousand Fountains, on the other hand, was a big favorite). This also made the business of reporting to the council not such a formal business. It was Syn's personal opinion that particular formality need to fall by the wayside and never be picked up again. These days the Jedi Order was much more egalitarian, and she thought the Order was better for it. But whatever happened in the long run, the current state of things meant she was presently sitting rather informally at an oval conference table ready to deliver her report.

Two Sith down, never to bother the galaxy again -- check.

Sith temple; Dromund Kaas -- check but too dangerous for a single Shadow. The GFT would have to take care of that one. Syn suggested orbital bombardment just to be on the safe side.

Now for the rest of her report and the Council was not going to be happy about this.

"You're aware that recently several new warlords have arisen in various sectors throughout the galaxy." Syn began as a preamble. Naturally they were aware; they had informants throughout the galaxy. "Recently they convened a meeting on Eriadu. I was able to get close to them, and discover an important fact about the Warlords. They're Sith...at least three of them are. I only got close enough to sense them and eavesdrop. I didn't see them but I heard enough to know they're headquartered somewhere in the Unknown Regions, and then...it was time for this Jedi Shadow to get out of there."

"That is a problem." Shado Vao commented. "I suppose these warlords have armies."�

"Well, they wouldn't be warlords if they didn't." Syn dryly replied stating the obvious, and Dylan looked down at the table, hiding his expression.

"As I said, a problem."� Shado good-naturedly smiled; he was used to Syn. "We certainly cannot take on entire armies and this is not GFT jurisdiction. I cannot see them engaging the warlords until it does fall under their jurisdiction. By the time that happens, the warlords will be a much greater problem, stronger and darker."

"It isn't a GFT issue and we don't want it to become one."� Dylan agreed. "But I do know who would accept that the warlords fall under their jurisdiction -- in the Unknown Regions."

"The Chiss do not engage in preemptive strikes."� Shado reminded everyone present.

"The Chiss don't."� Synlah spoke up. "But the Olari do."

[Naxus Ordo]

Naxus leaned back on the bench. Here in the Jedi Temple, things were peaceful and quiet. Closing his eyes, he let the sound of the water flowing in the fountains sooth his weary mind.

Cas kicked him.

"Don't go snoozing on me, Nax."

The Dashade cocked one of hairless eyebrows at the human. "And why not? You know good and well that when Jedi talk, they take their time. We could be here for hours. And you couldn't ask for a better place to take a nap."

Cas sat down on a nearby stone ledge, the fountains flowing behind him. "True. This room of a 100 fountains is pretty nice...could use some more attractive Jedi though." His eyes began to wander.

Nax chuckled. "Room of a Thousand Fountains." He corrected.

Cas looked back at the fountains and the numerous spurts and streams of water. "You think anyone ever counted them to see if there really are a thousand." Doing a quick estimation, Cas had his doubts. "I think the Jedi architects used some slick promoting and broad definitions. A hundred fountains is closer to the..."

"Ahem."

Caslet looked up at whoever was clearing their throat. A Jedi stood before him.

"I assure you, there are precisely one thousand fountains in the display, of various sizes, but one thousand nonetheless. I've counted them."

"Well good for you." Cas wasn't sure what to make of this Jedi yet.

The man was young and human. His brown and tan robes blended in with just about everyone else.

"You ever heard of a Jedi called Bondar?" Cas asked.

"Why he's a hero. Everyone in the temple knows about the great Iron Knight."

Cas let loose with a big friendly grin. "Glad to hear it, friend. My name's Cas." He held out a hand and the Jedi shook it.

"Brimer." The Jedi replied.

"That there is Nax." He nudged the Dashade who was once again trying to nap. "Say hi, Nax."

Naxus didn't even bother to open his eyes. "Hi."

"Don't mind him. It's a long flight to Coruscant from Rannon."

"Rannon?" The Jedi paused in thought. "I've never heard of the planet. What were you doing out there?"

"Hunting Sith. Or ex-Sith. One holed up there and was pestering the locals. Me and Nax took care of 'em."

"Hmph."

Cas turned an eye to Nax. "What you gruntin' about, sleepy. I helped."

"Helped." Nax emphasized. "If I remember correctly, I was the one who fought hand to hand with that Sith and managed to run him through with his own lightsaber while you were wrestling with some girl."

"Apprentice."

"So you say." Nax's tone was one of doubt. "Next time I want to wrestle the pretty looking girl while you slay the murderous master."

The Jedi interrupted their repartee. "On you here on a Jedi mission?"

"Maybe." Cas shrugged. "Our Jedi friends are discussing the matter now. We'll be finding out once they're done."

"Well I hope everything goes well. I have some things to take care of. Pleasant travels, and may the Force be with you."

Brimer walked off into the foot traffic and quickly blended in. Cas wondered if the Jedi was a spook.

"May the Force be with you."

"Whatcha goin' on about now?" Cas whined as he leaned back...then quickly lunged forward, realizing that his seat didn't have a back rest.

"The Jedi. Every time they part company it's the same old thing 'May the Force be with you', wish they'd come up with something new."

Cas eyed the comfort of a far off bench. It had a back rest, and more enticing, a beautiful blond. Distractedly he quipped, "Better than re'turcye mhi."

"You don't like mando'a?"

"I like cussing in mando'a. Not much good for talking in it." Cas rose up to his feet. "Think I'm going for a stroll."

"Don't let the blond bruise your shebs."

"Ha ha."

[Synlah Falyn]

Kieron Farlander rounded a corner on the path and promptly bounced off of something hard. It knocked him back on his rump, and when he looked up he was staring up a sight that had sent a chill down more than one Jedi's spine. Being a rather young Jedi he made the wisest choice under the circumstances. He opened his mouth and yelled.

"Mom! Mandos in the Temple!"

Behind him on the path and having stifled her laughter, Synlah only slightly hurried her pace.

"It's alright, Kieron." She said as she reached down, picked her son up and dusted him off. "These Mandos are supposed to be here."

With a glance at the very attractive blond on the bench, Synlah firmly took Cas by the arm and turned him back in the direction of Naxus.

"Hello, you two. "She said. "I don't think you've met my son, Kieron."

Collecting himself and remembering to do the Jedi proud, Kieron gave the Mandalorians a polite bow -- but he was still very glad his mother was standing right behind him. The one she called Naxus was huge.

"Go tell your father we're on our way." Synlah said and Kieron gratefully scampered off. "You've made an impression." She laughed and led the way out of the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

"We're rather informal these days here in the temple so we'll be meeting in a conference room instead of the High Council Chambers. They're still a bit of a shambles." She chatted as she led the Mandos through the temple.

It was a bit of trek through the Temple and indications of the Sith occupation were still evident in places, but Synlah finally paused before a door.

"You'll find some more friendly faces inside."

With a wave of her hand, Synlah opened the door and gestured for Naxus and Cas to go on in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We have a bit of a problem that requires going outside the GFT's jurisdiction." Dylan opened once Cas and Naxus had seated themselves.

"A problem as in Sith warlords somewhere in the Unknown Regions." Danyel picked up. "And they happen to be Sith. Seems not everyone agreed with the new regime. We realize there are a bunch of petty warlords out there now, but these four are banding together. We want to cut them off before they become stronger and become a problem for the GFT. We realize they have armies at their disposal and we're working on getting a force to deal with that, but in the meantime we need more intelligence."

"We consider the best way to achieve that is to go in with a smuggler." Ara continued the narrative. "Garen is on Point Nadir right now. He'll acquire the smuggler. Danyel and I will take care of acquiring a force to deal with the warlords' armies."

"And Synlah and I will accompany you along with Garen and the smuggler -- if you agree to this mission that is." Dylan finished up.

Four pairs of Jedi eyes focused unblinkingly on the Mandos and waited.

[Naxus Ordo]

Nax waited for the Jedi to continue, but obviously they were waiting for him to accept the mission or not. It felt a little uncomfortable having three Jedi staring him down, and the Mando part of him was tempted to engage them in a staring contest to see who would blink first.

But Cas beat him to it. "Ease up will you? It's almost like they're trying to...wait a minute, you're not doing a Jedi mind trick here are you? All silent and intense with this unified Jedi glare." He quickly glanced over at Nax. "New Jedi Force trick, Nax, don't let them influence your weak mind."

Synlah couldn't help but laugh and the mock tension in the room quickly shattered.

Nax on the other hand threatened to slap Cas on the head. "The penalty for insubordination is obeying my orders, you know?"

Cas' smile disappeared. "You wouldn't?"

"I would." The Dashade gave an evil grin as he returned his attention to the Jedi. "Sounds like fun. We're in." He jabbed Cas in the side. "Just as soon as Cas get's done cleaning the fresher in my ship."

Cas snarled some nasty Mandalorian curse. Meanwhile Dylan seemed pleased. "Good, will fill you in on the details as we go. How soon will you be ready?"

Nax eyed Cas. "Two hours should do it."

Dylan flashed a conspiratorial smile. "Excellent."

Nax and Cas excused themselves and sauntered there way out of the Temple. Cas' attention didn't waver to any of the beautiful Jedi passing by, and Nax began to worry that he'd stepped too far.

"You alright?"

Cas, startled, snapped awake from his daze. "Yeah. Fine."

Nax almost didn't pry, but changed his mind. "What's wrong?"

A slight pause. "Just thinking. A lots happened in the last few years, Nax. The war..."

"Lotus." Nax offered.

"It's been weighing on me."

For a while there, Lotus and Caslet had been spending some time together only to break up again. Munyip had stayed around a while but they eventually dropped him off on Endor for an Ewok festival. Since then, neither he nor Cas had seen or heard from either one.

"You still miss her?"

Cas shook his head no. "Bit different than that, Nax. The hole that used to be there ain't there no more. My mind is wandering a bit more afield than that."

"Meesha?" Naxus noticed that Cas kept his gaze staring straight ahead, almost as if he didn't want to make eye contact. A spark of understanding was beginning to appear. "She want's to marry, doesn't she?"

Meesha aka Meesharael, was a Noghri whom Caslet had a long relationship with. Naxus was actually the one who had introduced them to each other many years ago in a swanky joint called the Toydarian Temptress.

"Shebs backward."

Nax cocked a hairless eyebrow. "Your thinking about marriage?"

"Don't sound so surprised."

Naxus chuckled. "Well I guess we'll have plenty of time to talk about this on the trip then won't we?"

"Yeah, whatever."

Something was still nagging at him, but Naxus figured he'd learn about it later. Right now he wanted to get his gear prepped for the mission.

[Dylan Farlander]

The two hours had long passed and at least two mandos were bored out of their minds. The Jedi, on the other hand, having long cultivated the practice of patience, were fairing a lot better -- except for Syn. Patience wasn't always her strong suit, and when the transmission came in, she slapped the holocom on. Garen's miniature figure materialized instantly.

We're good to go. Meet me on Ord Mantell. The miniature reported and before anyone could ask a single question, the transmission cut out
.
Dylan stared at the holocom. The transmission hadn't been interrupted. Garen had ended it. Dylan closed his eyes and mumbled.

"Sometimes he is so like his father."

"Don't look at me." Synlah laughed. "You were Danyel's master; you only have yourself to blame for how he turned out."

Thumbing her comlink on, she spoke what she could guess would be a welcoming order.

"Fire up the ship, Naxus, we're on our way."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I agree, Cas, a Mandalorian army would be great for this, but the Jedi Order cannot afford to hire them." Dylan explained for what seemed like the tenth time, his patience wearing thin as his head began to throb.

First Garen and now Cas. The Force was trying to teach him something, but if he'd had his druthers, Dylan could have just as well dispensed with this lesson. Dylan could not remember Cas being this persistent when they'd all been in Shadowmoth together.

"Want me to Force choke him?" Synlah suggested intentionally loud enough for Cas to hear.

Cas looked from Syn to a glowering Dylan and abruptly got up.

"Food." he muttered and headed in the direction of the galley.

Synlah wickedly snickered. His headache suddenly cure, Dylan smiled at her.

"You do have your uses."