Captain Moklam was already over the tech's shoulder at the data, not that he understood any of it. He grinned. "Can I get a status, please?"
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. Monitoring the static burst and decoding it has shown that it now has us jumping half a system from where we were. With a bit of pre-planning, we could even make it seem as though we were jumping in from an entirely different direction."
"Good. Work on that, and make sure you have it figured out properly." The Captain patted the young tech on the back. "And you're positive that the previous test showed no 'burst' at all?"
"None, sir." The man beamed at his superior.
"Perfect. We now have them where..." The captain trailed off as he watched his Jedi envoy of two walk onto the bridge. He turned to address them. "Ah... excellent timing. I was just saying that while I'm not sure how he did it, but that geek civilian managed to crack our problem and turn it into a tool. We now have the outlaws where we want them. I know you are planning to strike out on your own for a bit, but you'll be more than welcome to join us after our... other mission. I know I haven't always been the most gracious host, but I have you two to thank for this turn of events as well."
The tall Chiss male nodded in response to the gratitude. "It is actually your mission that has caused us to come and speak with you."
"I can't give you any details on the mission. I've told you that."
"Yes, we know dis." The Nataulan said. "Howeva, Val has reminded me that we must follow da will of da Force. Even when it is suggesting patience."
"Especially when it preaches patience." Val reminded her. "In all honesty Captain, I've been getting the vague feeling that we should go with you. The fact that we have no other leads as of yet regarding our Sith counterparts merely reinforces that feeling. I think we may be most helpful with you."
The Captain made his way back to his chair at the center of the room. "Well, as I said you are welcome here. The mission we're headed on though is of vital importance, and as with the majority of the Fleet's vital duties it will be boring, routine, and have little need for the Jedi. No offense. We'll be going back after your friends shortly thereafter. You can spend that time with us or out on your own. It doesn't really matter much to me."
Nal did her best to ignore the subtle shot at the Jedi's usefulness. "Tank you, Captain. We do tink that we will stay wit you."
"Whatever you think is best, Jedi. Now, if you'll excuse me I do need to get back to preparations."
The Jedi both gave the Captain courteous nods and headed back to the gravlift as the Republic officer got to work.
"Actually," Moklam called out to them casually "You may want to see this." He tapped a few buttons on his console and the holo-image that was on his screen popped out for the whole crew to see. "This just came in from Corellia. It was flagged due to the possible unauthorized involvement of lightsabers in a security training exercise."
The clip turned out to be less than a minute long in all, not including some time and data clipped at the end. The 'possible unauthorized involvement' of lightsabers in a 'security training exercise' turned out to be two cloaked men in an alley throwing what were very obviously three lightsabers at a large security vehicle, annihilating it. It was undoubtedly labeled a training exercise error to cover up their embarrassment.
The silence was broken by the Captain. "Probably a poor choice of words on their part." Referring needlessly to the Corellian Security's insistence that the men toss their weapons.
"Captain, we must go to Corellia." Nal insisted. "Dat's dem. Dere is no doubt."
"Yes, you probably should. It looks like your Force didn't require you to be patient for too long. We will join you after our mission. Not until then though."
The young Jedi fought her urge to argue the point, knowing that the Republic cruiser would be better suited to taking down the Sith than off on some routine run. Val spoke for her. "We understand of course. This is not something we can ignore, however."
The small group exchanged well wishes and goodbyes right there on the command deck, and the Jedi headed off.
-----------------
As they prepared their ships to take off from The Unity, Val had to remind Nal for the third time to slow down and be thorough.
"Jedi Talla... this battle will not be won or lost in a matter of standard time units. Take the time to be properly prepared." He chided her for skipping a step in her examination of their crafts.
"Even you don't know dat for sure. We have no idea where dey may be, or how much time we have." She shot back, clearly irritated as she went back to check the fuselage again.
The Chiss closed up his diagnostic. "True, I cannot sense things in such a distinct manner. However, I do know that if we do not arrive there safely we will not be of much use to the Corellians at all."
Nal did her last check. "I know you are right. It's just dat we must catch dem and dis could be our best shot. Patience nearly caught us in a routine mission for da Republic where we would have been of no help when we need to be hunting dose evil men. If dat report had come in any later, dat's exactly what would have happened."
"The will of the Force will give us justice."
"Da will of the Force just allowed da deaths of more innocents. It's time for da instruments of da Force to stop dis insanity once and for all."
With her final words, the Jedi turned for the hatch of her ship and boarded. She was not going to miss her chance.
Her companion followed suit. While he had done everything he could to mitigate her haste, Val couldn't help but feel as though he was forgetting something. As though he was leaving something very important behind, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
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