9.112 A Refurbished Jedi Returns to a New Jedi Order.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei, for the first time in a long time, felt completely at peace.

"It's a good day, R4" he said to the little droid who had been his companion for so long. "And there it is. The place Master Fisto told us. Did you ever see so many ships?"

The astromech's dome swiveled, orienting the little droid's photoreceptor. Hailing the Whaladon. Asking permission to board.

"Do you think they'll let us on? We're kind of an odd thing out here."

Perhaps. Perhaps not. But an antique ship and astromech should at least be interesting. Especially since I still contain all the data stored in my memory since the Clone Wars when I served Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Do you miss him?"

Sometimes I used to think about the work we did during the Clone Wars and wondered if I would ever be so useful again. But now that I am in your service, I don't worry about that anymore. R4 punctuated the text with a happy chirrup.

"I'm glad you feel that way, R4. Let's go meet our fellow Jedi!"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Captain, we've got a realspace contact at two-seven-nine mark zero-three-zero."

Captain Raurrssatta sat up at that bit of information from Mallin, and leaned forward in his seat.

"Come about."

Novgorod began a tight radius maneuver, swinging around to approach the unidentified vessel that had come out of light speed at their location. Cirr had been briefed on heightened security concerns by the council, and he wasn't taking things for granted in light of recent attacks on the Wheel. This wasn't an Alliance mandate, it was his own personal interpretation of his mandates.

"Gunnerry, lock trractorr beams on that shjip and arrm torrpedo bays. Malljin, gjive demands forr surrrenderr and boarrdjing."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei could see the Novgorod turn and come towards his little fighter tucked away in its hyperspace ring.

"Well, look at that. I wonder where it's going?" Wei asked.

R4's text was accompanied by a low-pitched tooting sound. They're coming for us. They want us to surrender to them.

Wei scratched his chin, then let the motion carry up the side of his face and to the back of his head as he thought it over. "Well, I say surrender!"

?

"Well, yeah! We want to get access to the fleet to meet the other Jedi, right? Let's surrender! If they want to put us in binders and restraining bolts, then they can for now. Sooner or later as prisoners or guests, they'll want to talk to us."

Wei felt the little ship shudder as it fell under the control of the tractor. "Look, they're bringing us in! How kind! We won't have to do the flying ourselves!"

You are much too excited about this. What if they kill us?

"Kill us before they find out why we're here in the first place? I think curiosity will be on our side. Let's just wait and see. We can't do anything by now, so we just let them tell us what they want. No big deal."

Wei leaned forward in the cockpit and tried to get a good look at what was inside the Novgorod's landing bay.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Well, that was easy. Engines cut, no shields raised, no weapons armed.

"Stand down, Gunnerry."

"Standing down, Aye."

Cirr looked at the design of the ship, knowing it was a bit of an heirloom model of Jedi starfighter. So far, this intruder was at least doing the right things. He tapped his comm.

"Captajin Tallen. Rready a squad of marrjines and meet me at the bay."

Cirr rose to his feet, looking toward the E-WAR terminal.

"You too."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei felt gravity engage when his ship clanged onto the durasteel floor of the hangar bay.

"Well, we want to cooperate. Whoever they send will want to make sure we're not dangerous."

What are you suggesting?

Wei pulled the lightsabers out of his sleeves. "Well, I need to put these where they can see them, but don't think I'm likely to use them."

Wei looked around in the cockpit for a a few seconds, shrugged, and laid them on top of the displays near the front of the canopy.

"They can see them from there, don't you think? I can't reach them without leaning forward to get them."

I still think this is crazy. Your processor is malfunctioning.

"It is not. If I want them to accept me as a good person, then I need to show them that I'm a good person. If I step out of the cockpit holding a weapon in my hands, they'll think I'm going to attack them."

Wei put his hands behind his head. "Oh, look! There they are up on the landing. Just relax, R4. This will be just fine."

[Mara Tallen]

"Yes, sir."

Mara arched a brow and got to her feet as she flicked the comlink off, and gave it a moment's thought. The Alphas were just going off-duty, which meant the Betas were up and about.

"Tallen to Barker."

"Yes ma'am.."

"I need eight of you armed and ready at the bay per the request of Captain Raurrssatta. I'll meet you there. Tallen out."

She clipped the comm to her belt and tucked the earpiece in place, boots making solid sounds against the decking as she walked out of her quarters. It didn't take long to make her way down to the bay, arriving just as the squad did, the lot of them offering Cirr a quick salute.

Mara took point and stepped through the door first, her KX-80 raised, while the others fanned out in formation around her. Up on the landing, she made a quick hand hand motion to have four remain there, while she and the rest flanked Cirr as they made their way down to where the antiquated fighter had been brought in to land.

[Morgan Evanar]

While some of the Marines were physically impressive, it was the two figures of Cirr and Morgan that loomed most. The fellinoid Captain and Jedi were simply larger than everyone else. Cirr had his hands behind his back in a very traditional officer position, and Morgan had his arms crossed over his chest, which made grabbing any of the various weapons underneath his jacket a trivial task.

"Looks like an old Jedi starfighter. This should be interesting." Morgan remarked. They weren't common even during the Civil War, at least not in any scale compared to Y-Wings or Droid Fighters.

The astromech onboard warbled low, and the Marines' finger's crept a little further off the trigger guards.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Already with his hands on his head? This was bizarre. He glanced to Morgan to see if his Jedi companion had any inkling on this. His face was inscrutable, so he turned to his second option.

"Captajin Tallen, get hjim down frrom therre."

Weapons remained trained on the strange pilot, and Cirr almost wished the guy was resisting at least a little. This all seemed so polite.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei watched the troopers of Novgorod surround his starship.

"Those two people are really tall," Wei mentioned, jerking his head at Cirrsseeto and Morgan. "Oh, wait, they're getting stuff set up to come get me. I expect they'll be getting you out of that--that--where it is you plug in."

Wei didn't get a chance to see the screen, but R4's low warble got the point across We're dead.

"Hi there!" Wei said jovially. "I put my weapons on the control panel there. Those are my lightsabers."

The soldier took the pair of weapons while another two situated Wei between them. Wei was escorted to where Cirrsseeto stood waiting. "Hello," Wei said.

The Jedi looked up into the Cizerack's face with an expression that showed little more than detached amusement at what was going on around him. He was comfortable so far. He wasn't dead, tortured or maimed. It was good to know not all military vessels played by Empire rules.

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan knew that sort of calm. Jedi, or a great Sabaac player. He had clear visibility of the pilot, and so did all of the Marines.

He moved up for a closer view. Lightsabers, sure enough. Mara grabbed the two cylinders without missing a beat. The big KX never left it's target.

"Astromech, you too." The droid let out a slow, mournful warble. A series of metallic clicks and it was free of the socket. The last thing they needed was the little droid getting out of sorts and going weapons free in the Novgorod's small hangar.

"I'm Morgan." He said, friendly but cautious. After the mess from a week ago, no one dared take a chance with unexpected traffic. He gave the Marines a wave, and the blasters slowly lowered.

"I'm going to go on a limb and guess from the lightsabers and starfighter that you're a Jedi." Morgan was playing stupid. He knew full well Wei was a Jedi.

"You'll have to excuse us, we've had a recent incident. Everyone is a little on edge."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Okay then, so they were cool? Well, Jedi do make the best peacemakers after all. Cirr kept his slightly aloof posture, but he allowed a smile when Mara brought back the lightsabers.

"jI'll go jinforrm the Councjil, then?"

Why was he asking? That's what he was doing. Argh, Jedi! He paused before leaving, giving a shrug to Mara.

"Prrobably won't kjill us, but keep yourr eyes open jI guess?"

[Mara Tallen]

A smile tried tugging up the corners of her lips, but she managed to keep it tamped down. She nodded to Cirr in lieu of a salute as her hands were occupied, then cast a glance up at the landing.

"Serek, Logiss, escort the Captain back to the bridge and then report back to Barker. Rollens, hallway, Lockhart, where you are." Mara said crisply, pleased that the Marines obeyed with alacrity. Not that she expected otherwise with this small, handpicked crew, but it was still nice to see.

Her attention returned to Morgan and their new guest, the barrel of her KX lowered, but her tight grip unaltered. The four remaining Marines remained nearby, weapons also lowered, watching and waiting.

[Wei Wu Wei]

He waited patiently for Cirrsseeto, Morgan, and Mara to finish their small discussion.

"The caution is understandable. I am given to believe that the Jedi Order uses these ships because it has to move around to stay out of reach of the Empire."

Wei's eyes turned to the lightsabers and the ship, but otherwise did not move. "It's true," he said. "I am a Jedi Knight. My name is Wei Wu Wei. Nice to meet you, Morgan. Most people don't figure out I'm a Jedi until later. I have a sort of condition, you see so my presence can only be felt when certain conditions are met. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm sure you all more interested in how I got here or possibly how I came to own this ship."

Even now, Wei kept his hands behind his head. "May I take my hands down?"

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan paused. The sight of Wei with his hands in the air was a bit comical.

"Sure." he said and watched Wei lower his hands slowly.

"Relax. I've got some good news. I'm a Jedi Knight too." He added with a half-smile.

"I'm sure your story is about as strange as everyone else's here, which is to say, very."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Back on the bridge, Cirr still felt about as awkward as ever. I mean, who does that? There was friendly, and then there was I'm probably on mood enhancers friendly. Either way, not his problem. As long as Morgan vouched for the guy and he didn't try to blow up the ship, he'd happily pass the buck to the Jedi.

"Malljin, get me Whaladon."

"Comms patched, aye."

"Whaladon, thjis jis Novgorrod. We've pjicked up the unjidentjifjied crraft. Pjilot mjight be a Jedji. Please advjise."

Cirr killed the comm, waiting for someone from the Jedi ship to respond.

[Wei Wu Wei]

"That is good news," Wei said. "I'm interested in meeting all the Jedi of the new Order. I am especially interested in meeting the Council to offer my services as a teacher. With their permission, I would also like to take steps to bring an end to the Imperial Inquisitoriate."

Wei took a big breath. "I have spent so much time in that fighter cockpit, I was worried I'd end up living in there for the rest of my life!" Wei stretched, but slowly. Without his lightsabers he couldn't risk someone getting jittery and pulling the trigger on him.

Wei looked at Mara. "Am I correct in thinking that the Jedi have sought refuge with the Rebel Alliance?"

It was probably a poor way to phrase the question, since the phrase 'rebel alliance' was more Imperial jargon than anything else. Still, he couldn't think of anything better to call the forces fighting to overthrow the tyrannical Imperial regime.

"If so, it sure is kind of them to take us under their wing."

[Zem Vymes]

The message went direct to one of the Council members, and Zem clicked the line open again.

"I read you, Novgorod. If our guest is under control, we're ready to meet him. Please send a shuttle at once. Vymes out."

The elder Jedi looked out the viewport at the Marauder Corvette. The force worked in strange ways, and the arrival of new Jedi was always a bit of a damned peculiar thing. Still, you didn't look cross at the will of the force. He was interested in meeting this wayfarer.

[Morgan Evanar]

He motioned the guard to stand down. Blaster rifles dropped from ready to standby, but it was clear the Marines would be ready a moment's notice.

Morgan raised an eyebrow at Wei's first comment about the Inquisoriate. He had a personal interest in getting rid of them, and was curious to know how. They were deeply entrenched in the Imperial machine. They were well funded, well trained, and were in a "any means" kind of mindset. It was a dangerous combination. Morgan could wait to find out. Cirr and the Rebellion genuinely needed a good E-war expert right now, and Morgan was among the best.

"The Rebellion has been as generous as it can be, given it's limited resources. We were hiding on Vortex, but the Imperials decided to make a surprise visit before the winds could build up enough to make it a temporary safe haven." Morgan said with a shrug.

"Being this mobile has a numerous advantages. We've grown a lot since Endor." He smiled. In his estimation, the Jedi were doing exceptionally well given their dire circumstances.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Alrighty then.

Cirr tapped the voxcomm, patching into the flight deck.

"Chjief, prrep the Jammerr forr a rrun to Whaladon. jI'll be escorrtjing ourr...frrjiend."

He killed the line, gave Glayde a look as the marine was (once again) given the conn, which always seemed to elicit an expression of pain from the human. Cirr shrugged, and took the lift back down from where he came. When the doors opened, he headed towards the ugly box-shaped dropship on the left, already being attended to by his chief and the pilot.

"Councjil wants to meet wjith ourr vjisjitorr, no surrprrjise therre."

He gave the strange person who was possibly a Jedi a nod, and gestured for him to follow.

"Morrgan, Marra."

The added muscle in case things got weird probably wasn't needed, but never hurt.

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Considering the last time I heard of the Jedi, they were wiped from the face of the galaxy, I would say the fact that the Jedi exist at all is miraculous. Perhaps these hardships will allow the new Jedi Order to build a stronger foundation, so we won't get caught off guard like we were in the Clone Wars."

Wei and his escort joined Cirr across the bay at the drop ship. "So, I suppose it is time to meet the Council, then? Is there anything I should know?"