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The first thing that met Jedi Knight Nejaa Halcyon as he made his way down the transport's ramp was a gust of the acrid smoke that hung thick in the air. The scents of fire and burned flesh carried on the breeze was almost more than he could stomach. Nothing he had ever encountered in his years of being a Padawan learner and months of Jedi Knighthood had prepared him for the horror he faced at that moment as he surveyed the wholesale destruction caused by the impact of the luxury space-liner on one of Corellia's southern continents.
Pieces of the liner's hull plating littered the landscape for kilometers in every direction. The dead, hundreds of them, were being collected and placed in rows here at the central staging area for identification. The loss of life was catastrophic, as he had been warned, when the Corellian authorities contacted him and other Jedi living in the Corellian star system. The authorities needed all the help they could get to deal with the tragedy.
Nejaa blinked back tears. The memory of what he felt in the Force at the moment of the crash was like a raw, open wound inside him. It started as panic, then sheer animal terror, and then nothing. A great silence in the Living Force that would haunt him for the rest of his days.
A hand rested on his arm. Nejaa looked up into the compassionate brown eyes of Aven Brice, his Master, or more accurately, his former master, now that he was a full fledged Knight.
"A terrible tragedy for the people of Corellia," Brice said quietly.
They turned and walked together across the scorched soil toward a group of parked land-speeders. Nejaa nodded at his master's assessment. "The officials said they had enough warning for the children to be rushed into escape pods before the last repulsors gave out." As was his nature, Nejaa felt the need to center himself on something, any bright spot in this blackest of horrors. Many praised that optimistic quality in him.
"Yes, my friend, I believe they are retrieving the children from the escape pods as we speak." He turned to their left, his eyes scanning the horizon. "About eight kilometers to the west."
His eyes followed his master's gaze. "I would like to assist with identifying the children."
"A good plan. At times like this, it is important to focus on the Living Force, and the living."
Nejaa nodded. "Yes, Master." The reply was so automatic that he didn't realize he'd said it, until his former master chuckled softly. He winced, scolding himself for falling into the well worn pattern that no longer fit them.
"Nejaa, my dear friend, you will always be my Padawan. I will always think of you in that way. If you wish to continue to call me Master, you may do so without causing yourself shame." Brice sighed. "This is not the best time, perhaps, for this discussion, but I want you to know that I do not plan to take another Padawan."
"So, guiding me to Knighthood has exhausted you completely, Master?" Nejaa couldn't keep the tinge of hurt from coming across beneath his words. Images floated before his eyes of all the times he had gone and bitten off more than he could chew, more often than not requiring a timely rescue by his Master. He knew he tried Aven's patience, at times, but surely he had more to give a young Jedi.
Aven laid a gentle hand on Nejaa's shoulder. "Not at all, not at all. You were more than any Master has the right to hope for. That is my point. I do not believe I have ever told you of this, but there is a tradition among Corellian Masters. When a Master is particularly pleased with the way his Padawan has turned out, out of respect for that Padawan, and all Padawans, he will not take another. This ensures that no Corellian Padawan will ever have to train in the shadow of another. Each Padawan is special, precious, and rare, like a flawless gemstone. It is too easy for a Master to ruin a good student by having preconceived expectations."
"I understand," Nejaa grinned, "Master."
"Just so long as your perfection doesn't lead you to conceit, Padawan. We Corellians are already credited with having that in staves. Though we both know it is only a malicious rumor, started by those who are jealous of us."
Upon reaching the vehicle pool, they were assigned one of the speeders. Traveling west over the debris field, it did not take long for them to find the escape pods and the flurry of activity that surrounded them. A Selonian Jedi met them as they climbed out of the speeder and explained that they would be needed to help with gathering and identifying the youngest children.
For a moment, Nejaa was hesitant. His experience with children was limited, to say the least. But, to make it easier on the rescue workers, the frightened, crying children were divided into small groups of three or four and then transported to the main staging area for identification.
On the first return trip, Master Brice showed him how to use a gentle caress of the Force to soothe the anxiety in the toddlers cradled in his arms. It proved surprisingly effective as the little ones promptly fell into a sound sleep. It was a simple thing from that point to do a DNA scan and come up with the identity of each child and a list of kin. From that point, the children were turned over to other rescue personnel, whose responsibility was to see that they were fed and laid to nap in tents while their kin were notified. By the second trip out to the escape pods, Nejaa was relaxed into his role, and things moved along smoothly.
On the third trip, a precocious toddler managed to slip away from him and disappear with surprising speed into an escape pod. Nejaa had to bend practically in half to get into the pod, and then once inside, maneuvering space was uncomfortably tight. While he struggled to follow, the child climbed on the bench at the back of the shuttle and sat up on her knees, banging chubby little fists on the control panel. "Buh bye... bye..." she howled at the darkened display.
Nejaa smiled at the baby-like almost words. "You will have a difficult time leaving in this." He told her, and she looked up at him with solemn, dark eyes. "Pah pa..." she pointed at the open hatch and her pudgy lower lip trembled. "Pah pa." Tears welled in those innocent eyes, and Nejaa had to swallow a sudden lump in his throat. He felt the sting of tears in his own eyes as he fought for the words to make such a small child understand the gravity of what had happened to her father.
Wiping at his eyes, Nejaa went to her and pulled the toddler into a fierce hug. There was no resistance as she wrapped her chubby, baby arms around his neck. He held her for a long moment while he struggled to compose himself. He sent a comforting tendril of the Force into the baby's mind, and she pulled back to look at his face. Her own little face wore a frown of concentration. Her right hand patted his cheek where the tears had run into his short beard, and she whispered, "gone way," nodding her head and making her blonde curls bounce.
It was almost as much of a relief as it was a shock as Nejaa realized that he wouldn't need to explain to the child that her father was gone. She already knew. In her touch he had felt something else, and he jerked in surprise. The child's touch had been on his cheek, AND there had been a light touch inside his mind. It was the same sort of reassuring Force caress he had given her a few heartbeats before. The only difference was the intensity. Her touch had been tentative, childlike.
Nejaa stared hard into the child's eyes, not able to completely believe what he had felt. He had never spent much time at the temple with the Force sensitive children once he was out of the creche himself. Was it possible that they could all do such things? Her ability to make her presence felt in his mind was remarkable, and more than a little unnerving. With a sigh, he moved her arms back up around his neck and carried her to the hatchway. Once outside, he heard Aven call to him. "Nejaa, is everything alright?"
Nejaa strode quickly to the speeder. He handed the child to Aven and climbed over the side into his seat. Once in place, he took the controls and piloted them back to the staging zone. He said nothing during the trip to the tents, but his mind continued to puzzle over the child. When the time came for her to go into the tent with the others, Nejaa was more than a little reluctant to hand the little one, his special little one, over to the other workers. In the end, he let her go, but she remained at the front of his thoughts.
"Nejaa?" Aven asked, quietly, as he gave his friend a worried glance. He knew something had happened in the escape pod, but Nejaa hadn't come out and spoken of it. He knew the younger Jedi well enough to know that he would speak when he felt it was the proper time. "We should rest for a few minutes..."
"Fine." Nejaa replied, still half lost in his thoughts. He sat down on a bench under the shade of a large tarp and Aven poured them each a cup of water. It was a warm day, not unbearable, but the breeze had died away. That left the air warm and still, tinged with a smoky haze.
"Is something wrong, my friend?"
Nejaa looked up with a sigh. "Master, is it possible for a child to use the Force to touch the mind of an adult?"
"That is an interesting question, Nejaa, and the answer to your question is yes and no. It is possible for a child who is strong in the Force to reach out to a parent or sibling in the way you describe, but I do not believe casual contact with a stranger is very likely. Do you think you felt such a touch from one of the children here today?"
"I believe so. In the escape pod, I held the child and she touched my cheek. For a fraction of an instant I felt contact. That is the only word suitable to describe it. Contact with her mind. It may seem outrageous,but I believe she was trying to comfort me the way you taught me to comfort the children." Nejaa waited patiently, while the master poured himself more water and took a generous sip.
"Did you touch her mind first?"
"Yes, I did."
"Your mental abilities have always been one of your greatest strengths, Nejaa. It is possible that the child is Force sensitive. She felt your touch and mimicked it." Brice's eyes gleamed in a way Nejaa knew meant that his Master planned mischief. "Perhaps the child's records could stand a more thorough examination."
"And a midichlorian count." Nejaa added, nodding.
Aven laughed. "That shouldn't be difficult. Shall we go?"
The men stood and made their way back to the tent where their last batch of charges had been laid down to nap. Nejaa threw the flap back and scanned the rows of sleeping children for the curly blonde head he remembered from the escape pod. He found her in the last row near the back. He was surprised to find her dark brown eyes staring up at him. "Hello, again, little one," he whispered.
She looked up at him with a surprisingly stern expression on her little face. She touched a chubby finger to her lips. "Shhh, Neecha, sleepie..."
Nejaa heard Aven at his shoulder snicker softly at the child's scolding, and he shot the older Jedi a look that turned the snicker into a chuckle. With a sigh, he scooped the child into his arms and carried her out of the tent. There was an attractive young woman monitoring the entrance to the tent, and she gave him a questioning look.
"Do you have the records on the children in this tent?" Nejaa asked, flashing his most disarming smile.
She met his smile with a frown. The woman picked up a datapad and offered it to them. "Is something wrong with her?"
With his arms full, Nejaa was relieved when Aven stepped up and took the datapad. He spoke softly. "Not at all. In fact, we have a suspicion this little sweetheart may be a great Corellian Jedi someday." He gave the baby a light kiss on the top of her head. Her blonde curls felt like silk against his lips.
Her eyes widened. "Really? How can you tell?"
Nejaa felt a rising interest in the woman. "Well, first, we look into her family history to see if she is related to any current or past Jedi."
A shadow crossed the woman's features as she looked at the little girl. "I feel terrible for this one. Her only living kin was her father and he died in the crash." She reached up and caressed the child's cheek. "He was one of the main reasons there are any survivors at all. He managed to get the others organized enough to get the children collected and put into the escape pods. He was able to do this, knowing that he was going to die and his baby would be orphaned." She looked away, blinking back tears.
Aven scanned the file contained on the datapad and a slow smile spread across his face. "Well, it is said that the Jedi traditions run strongest in families, and it appears that this one's grandfather was indeed a Jedi. Not a Corellian himself, but he settled here and married a Corellian woman."
"Her father was not a Jedi, as well?"
Aven shrugged. "He may have been tested, but did not have a high enough count. It is possible for midichlorians to skip whole generations."
"Midichlorians?" The young woman asked, skeptically.
"A midichlorian is a special type of cell that interacts with the Force. A high count is one of the ways we determine if someone has the potential to be a Jedi." Brice sighed, "Clearly, this one's father had the courage to be a Jedi. It is a shame that he was not able to walk another path."
"He died a hero." The woman agreed. "Can you do a midichlorian count on the baby?"
"I believe we can. We need to find someone with a scanner, but the test itself takes only a minute or two. You don't mind?"
"Galiena has no next of kin." The woman tousled the child's hair affectionately. "They are looking for a spot for her in an orphanage in Coronet City. I can't imagine a worse place for a child. Can you?"
Nejaa blinked. "Galiena?"
"That's her name. Why?"
Nejaa smiled at her. "Galien is an ancient Jedi word for serenity. Or perhaps, more closely translated to tranquility."
Their eyes turned to look at the child in Nejaa's arms. She looked back at them placidly. Aven patted the child's chubby arm. "I've seen Padawans that can't sit for this long and not make a fuss. Tranquility seems appropriate."
The results of the midichlorian count left Nejaa's mouth hanging open in surprise. Her count was over one hundred points higher than his own, and she was little more than a baby. Galiena did have the potential to be a powerful Jedi.
"Nejaa? Did you get the results?"
Nejaa winced over his shoulder at Aven. "Her count is higher than mine."
The older man threw his head back and laughed. "Don't take it too hard. That is a good thing for her. We should speak to the Corellian authorities as soon as possible about taking her to the Temple."
"The Temple?" Nejaa felt a twinge of disappointment. It was traditional that Corellian parents were more than a little reluctant to send a baby to the Temple. They preferred to care for their own children until the time came for the child to go to the Temple and be trained by the Masters. The basics could be taught just as well at home.
"Nejaa, do you have any experience with children?"
Nejaa frowned. "No."
"Well, neither do I. I have always wanted children of my own, and perhaps I will think more seriously of starting a family now that you are to be on missions of your own. I will miss your companionship, but I am not equipped to raise Galiena as she deserves to be raised. She should be raised surrounded by loving caregivers, teachers and friends... She would get lonely tagging along with a grumpy old Knight."
"You're right, Aven, I didn't think of it in those terms." Nejaa sighed. "Although, I would like to take her to the Temple myself. I feel responsible for her. Her parents were Corellian, she is one of ours."
Aven smiled. "We take care of our own. Let's see about booking your passage to Coruscant."