Foraging for Padawan

[Jsc]

​Voss
Silver Jedi Space


Just outside the public terminal of the Spaceport was an argument. Three Jedi Masters, all women, were losing their tempers and shouting loudly about someone having lost another Padawan. Yes. Not just one Padawan. But "another" Padawan too. Truly a heavenly disgrace.

Jessica Matthews stood with a deep sigh nearer the curb. Waiting. Sighing. Wishing. That her peers would please just calm down. Garbed in her teal space-outfit of clever adventure, she looked over to the silver-and-black Protocol Droid next to her. Watching as the robot threw up it's arms with wild abandon.

"Madam please. We must stop this ruckus. The Masters are disturbing the entire terminal with their tirade."

Jess shrugged and shifted her stance, "Oh. Sure. By all means C-Ten. Go over there and make them hush. I'm sure they won't tear you apart with space magic or spin your voice actuator into a musical instrument just for kicks and giggles. They're in the mood for it. That's for sure. Hmph."

"Madam, ?!"

Yet, the droid stopped for a moment to consider his suggestion in a new light.

"...Ahem. On second thought. Perhaps you should stop them. As, I just remembered. I very much dislike magical confrontation."

Jessica just smiled and nodded, "Yeah. I thought so too C-Ten. I thought so too."

Quietly returning to their sighing composures. Our two heroic and misplaced onlookers continued to watch the wild scene unfolding before them. Indeed. The strange soiree of arguing Jedi women across the terminal did, alas, continue unabated.

What a mess.

___

@ [member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

Voss. It had been a long time since she visited here. It was once her home, when she was still a member of Silver Jedi, before a few Jedi decided to stab her in the stomach for being a Dark Sider. Since then her new home has become Tygara. She wondered what happened to Master Krook,who Nima, possessed by her mother's spirit, beat up pretty badly after she lost consciousness as a result of the stabbing, and his Padawan Tara, a Togruta who was kinda the reason why she got stabbed. The girl seemed like a good person, a bit influenced by people around her but still.

Anyway, moving on to why she was here today, there was a distress call. According to the briefing, some Masters have lost their Padawans, and there was quite a ruckus. Apparently, it had been going on for a while. Well, the one thing she knew was, people suddenly disappearing was not a good thing, and it was certainly worth investigating if it continued happening. She also brought her horse sized mutated wolf Ice too, who also was just a puppy back then. Nostalgia, consisted of mixed feelings.

Lost in thoughts, it seemed that they arrived to the Spaceport. Same old Voss, she thought with a sigh, as she left the ship with her excited companion.

"Ice, I know you are excited, but don't jump on anyone, okay? People will be tense." She said, smiling as she looked at his goofy face.

Ice responded with an annoyed whine, but then barked in an acknowledging manner. Nima was sure he was going to get in trouble, as his puppy instincts never left him even though his size. So, just to be sure.

"I'm serious." She commented. "No jumping."

The voices were getting higher and angrier as they approached the scene and unsurprisingly Ice started to run somewhere, seemed like something caught his attention. Nima, of course, followed her, telling him to stop but failing miserably. Ice stopped in front of a woman and her droid companion, sniffing the droid crazily with a wagging tail. Nima caught up not so long afterwards.

"Ice! I told you not to disturb people." She said, her tone was strict this time, which Ice also noticed and stopped what he was doing.

"I'm sorry." She turned to the woman and said, "He's just very excited." Looking at the woman, she didn't seem like the others in the room. She looked calm, more like someone who was just watching the scene. Perhaps she knew something about the Padawans, and she seemed like the only person that Nima could have a conversation with at the moment.

"I'm Nima Tann, from Fire Order, here to investigate the missing Padawans. Do you know anything about the situation by chance?" She asked.

[member="Jessica Matthews"]

 

[Jsc]

"We're doomed." C-10 muttered at the arrival of Ice. A, horse-sized, wolf puppy. "...Help! Jessica! I think it's going to eat me!?"

Matthews remained calm and unconcerned,

"It's just a dog C. Seriously. Chill out dude."

She turned to smile at [member="Nima Tann"] 's introduction.

"Welcome to Voss, Nima Tann of the Fire Order. I'm Jess. Erm... Master Jessica Matthews of the Silver Jedi. And this is... Good heavens C-ten? Knock it off."

The droid was now visably cowering from Ice's labored affections. Almost laying down. Umph. Jessica sighed and continued,

"And that's C-Ten. Your host and the central attendant to our missing Padawan problem. Because... Le sigh. Somehow he got put in charge of this whole charade. Just, magnificent."

Her shrug was overpowered by the other Jedi Masters still yelling at each other.

"...And that mess over there. Is Master Ken, Master Le Tanpi, and Master Victoria. Our illustrious Jedi Masters who have all lost their Padawans this week. Blaming each other about some forbidden love tryst between their students and what-not. It's too confusing for me. I stopped listening hours ago."

C-10 was now crawling across the ground trying to get away from Ice. Leaving Jessica and Nima to just sigh again and listen to his bemoaning pleas,

"Madam please! Call off this savage creature! I swear I'll let you join our investigation, I will! ...Ooohhh!?"

 

[Nima Tann]

"Nima's fine. I'm sorry, still working on introductions." She put up a smile. No I'm totally not an awkward alien trying to talk to someone that I don't know. Ahem... Moving on. "Nice to meet you!" She added afterwards. Her attention turned to C-Ten as it was introduced, the poor droid who was suffering through a mutant wolf's love. She couldn't help but giggle.

"Well, these two already became friends, as it seems." Nima commented. At some point, she had to save the droid before it broke from having a mental breakdown, but that would have to wait for a little while. The voices got louder for a second, as the three Jedi masters were yelling at each other about something. Meanwhile, Nima learned from Jessica that there was a possible love tryst between the students, and that could be the reason why they went missing. Huh...

"So, Padawans get into trouble because of their emotions. Same, old Voss." It happened a lot in her time with the Silver Jedi as well. Some people even turned Sith because of their repressed emotions. Hopefully, that wasn't the case this time, because dealing with emo teenagers wasn't on her list today.

Her thoughts were distracted by the droid once again, acting like Ice was destroying its limbs with the shouting. Well, time to save the droid.

"Okay, Ice. Just leave the poor droid alone." She said strictly, and called him to her side. Surprisingly, Ice listened. Probably because he also realised the droid wasn't going to play with him.

"You okay?" She asked C-Ten.

[member="Jessica Matthews"]

 

[Jsc]

C-Ten quickly stood up and pretended to brush himself off,

"Oh, thank you madam! Thank you. I fear my animal friendship software is woefully behind on updates. Dear me. Dear me."

Jessica shrugged. Letting the droid continue,

"Well then. Anyway, now that I can finally think. Welcome. Welcome. I am C-Ten. Your host and foremost investigator on our missing Padawan problem. Welcome to the team Master Tann. ...Ahem. Now. To get to business. As you can see Master Ken, Master Le Tanpi, and Master Victoria have all lost their students this month. Students, yes yes, who appear to have all had close ties and attended group classes together."

Jess nodded,

"By close ties, he means possible a love connection. Pfft. I know right?"

C-Ten would have frowned if he could,

"Now now Master Matthews. We must not jump to conclusions. Ahem... As I was saying. All of these Padawans were close friends. Perhaps that is best place to begin then? Asking among their other close friends about what happened?"

Jess nodded,

"Or, we could ask their Jedi Masters about what happened? They probably know their students better than anybody."

C-Ten waved his arms about in electronic frustration.

"Well. Fine. Fine. But what do you think Master Tann?"

.

[member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

Now that C-Ten was free, which she still thought was over-reaction as Ice's only intention was to play but could understand that it would be terrifying since he was the size of a horse, the business talk began. She noticed the droid and the woman didn't agree on that well. From the first impressions, Jessica seemed to have a sarcastic personality and C-Ten was the more logical one.

A Jedi with sense of humour was a rare thing these days, as they choose to spend so much time grandstanding and speechifying about their beliefs. Anyway, she listened to C-Ten and Jessica have their banter, and tried to get some information.

So, to sum up both interpretations of the story, the Masters arguing were the Masters of the missing Padawans. The Padawans vanished within a week, the reason would be either a love triangle or totally different, and there wasn't a solid clue about where they could be. So they needed more information.

"Hmm..." Nima started, considering both options. "Well, I don't think the Masters are in a condition to speak right now. So let's start with the friends."

[member="Jessica Matthews"]

 

[Jsc]

C-Ten raised a finger and nodded with delight,

"See. I knew I'd like you."

Jess could only smile. Gesturing towards the terminal,

"Fair enough. Lead on C-Ten. The other Padawans are by the food court."

"Indeedy! I shall! ...This way, Jedi. This way. I know the way!"

The protocol droid hobbled off back towards the starport. Finally giving Jessica some alone time with Nima and Ice. She stepped up closer to the pair and nodded,

"So. Come all this way to just help out with a few lost students eh? Bravo. Master Ken mentioned you were the helpful type. Now I see what he means."

She smiled and extended a handshake.

"I also heard you were at Tartarus when the Contingency tried to blow up the universe. HK mentioned you helped him fight the golem creature. That true?"

[member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

Well, it seemed her decision made the droid quite happy. Nima could only laugh to its overraction, not so loudly to prevent sounding rude. The students seemed to be by the food court, which was concerning since bringing Ice there would cause some problems. Hopefully he would manage to behave well and not cause destruction, his caretaker was already not in very good terms with the Jedi after the incident a few years ago. Anyway, so the excited droid moved quickly towards the starport, leaving the three behind.

Jessica moved closer to the two with a smile, and Ice immediately followed her, wagging his tail, thinking that perhaps she would like to be his friend. It wouldn’t take long before the huge wolf would try to grab her attention, but for now, Jessica seemed to be more interested in talking to his caretaker. “Oh, he did?” Nima said, a bit surprised by a Jedi speaking well of her. “Uhm, thank you. I... uhh... try to help people as much as I can, the galaxy is a big and scary place after all.” She smiled, a bit embarrassed.

When Jessica talked about Tartarus, Nima couldn’t help but sigh. That was... an experience, to say the least. There were a lot of buttons, glitter, she was electrocuted by tentacles, then her group fought with a giant robot and then she met Sio’s clone, [member="Enyo Typhos"].

“Oh yeah, I was there. The giant gave us a hard time, but we managed to destroy it. To be honest with you, the whole situation was a bit weird, it all looked like a joke to me at first even. ” Then she added. “Were you there as well?”

[member="Jessica Matthews"]

 

[Jsc]

Jessica knelled down and held out a hand to pet Ice. She seemed comfortable around him. Even despite his large size.

"Me? Yes. I was there. Just... Different hallways, I suppose."

Despite her firm memory of the event, Matthews found it hard to describe much of anything. I mean? Fighting terrible Bright Machines in zero gravity assisted by a Mando, a pilot, and a space elf. Gosh. Who would even believe such a tale? Then the black hole that swallowed everything. It felt like such a bad dream.

"I don't know if we saved the galaxy that day? But. I do know we made a difference."

She smiled at Ice. Wondering just how different things would be today if the Shards had won.

"Anyway..."

Jessica stood up.

"Thanks for coming."

C-Ten was over by the Food Court doors. Jumping up and down for the ladies to follow him. Jess shrugged,

"Shall we?"

[member="Nima Tann"]