Zan Jonas sat in the passenger compartment of the small shuttle and dozed. He wasn't at all happy. Master Yoda had insisted that he take along an armed escort. The little green Jedi Master had explained that the war between the Republic and the Trade Federation led Confederation of Independent Systems had spread far beyond imaginable reach, and a lone Jedi on a planet in hostile territory was not safe, no matter how remote the world was, or how peaceful the mission of the Jedi was.
Who knew that collecting some rare herb samples for scientific study could turn out to be such a hassle?
Jonas sighed to himself and absentmindedly fingered the metal cylinder clipped to his belt. It had been years since he'd activated the standard weapon of the Jedi, and he'd never killed anyone with it. It wasn't that he'd been inept, although at times he wished he had been, he'd just spent most of his time with his nose in the books, studying. Had his lightsaber skills been deemed "lacking," he would have been delegated to the Jedi Service Corps or Educational Corps by the Council of Reassignment, which was really what he had hoped might happen.
Still, his role was a useful one. Often, as was the case now, samples needed to be collected from some remote, yet dangerous world and those in the Educational Corps would come to him for an escort, or to go retrieve the items or specimens himself.
Normally he liked to bring the academics along for some intelligent conversation, but this time all he had was a clone trooper. Jonas couldn't remember exactly what his designation was. CC15 something or other. The clone was a corporal in rank, so that's what Jonas had been calling him.
He had tried to talk to the... being (he wasn't sure a clone classified as a person)... in the beginning of the trip, but the clone wasn't inclined to idle chit chat, and even when Jonas had gotten him to open up, all he talked about was field stripping his DC-15S and other mundane military topics. The Jedi soon stopped trying to engage him in any meaningful conversation.
Jonas looked down at the lightsaber again. He tried to think back to the last time he'd even turned it on. One of these days he'd have to practice with it... on the off chance he actually needed to use it.
Of course, he doubted he'd need it on this mission. All he had to do was capture several insect specimens that were only found in the tropical forests on SaDarval, a remote world which was about half water and half land, and had a vast array of climates and terrain, ranging from dry and rocky to wet and icy, from flatlands to tropics, to mountains, to deserts.
He'd have to put them into the cryostasis containers that he had brought along and stored in the cargo bay as nobody had successfully transported live specimens off planet, as far as anyone knew anyway.
He still didn't understand why he needed a clone trooper. There was nothing on SaDarval that was particularly dangerous. Most of the native species of plant and animal life were no more dangerous than anywhere else. There were no gundarks or rancors to watch out for, and as long as he stayed away from the human settlers, he should have no trouble at all.
The comm crackled to life bringing the Jedi's thoughts to the present and the corporal's voice came across. "Sir, we've just exited hyperspace."
"Thankyou Corporal. I'll be right up," Jonas replied. He shut off the comm and sighed as he got out of his seat. He looked down at the paunch that had accumulated around his mid-section and decided that maybe he should attempt to lose that one of these days.
Yoda as well as his old Master had always stressed that being physically fit directly correlated to one's mental capabilities. Jonas always meant to exercise, but somehow seemed to be too busy doing other things all the time.
He pushed the button on the door and entered the cockpit. He slid into the co-pilot's couch wordlessly and pulled up a surface map of SaDarval without even glancing at the bluish-green orb hanging in the blackness ahead.
Finally Jonas found what he was looking for: a remote tropical forest, big enough to possibly contain the insect specimens he was looking for, but far enough away from any settlements so as to avoid any contact with locals who might take a disliking to a Republic shuttle landing on their CIS affiliated world. He transferred the coordinates to the navcomp, and pointed it out to the clone trooper.
"Here's a good spot," he said. "See if you can find a decent place to put down around there, Corporal."
"Roger that, sir," the trooper responded.
Zan Jonas sighed.
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