Chapter 1

The Jedi Master sat in her quarters aboard the transport and gazed into the mottled blue of hyperspace throught her transparisteel viewport. The time had come to make a decision. In reality, it was thrust upon her by the council. She would have put this off forever if it had been up to her. She reviewed the events of the previous day.

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The day before, in the chambers of the Jedi High Council.

She stood in the center of the ring of seats, conscious of the 11 pairs of eyes trained on her, scrutinizing her feelings and intents. She had long ago learned to conceal those, or she wouldn't be a Jedi Master.

She never felt she deserved the rank, but she had never discussed her misgivings about it before, and had no intentions of doing so now.

"Honored Masters, I am honored that you feel I am worthy of a seat on this council, but I must take some time, to meditate and determine for myself if accepting this position is truely the destiny that the Force has in store for me."

She bowed slightly as she ended her speech.

"Go then, Master XXXXXXXXXX. When you return from your mission to Reytha, we will have your decision."

She bowed her head again, "Thank you, Master."

With that, she turned and exited the High Council Chambers, brown robes flowing behind her.

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XXXX brushed out her long brown hair. She found it helped her to think and relax better than meditation some times. She looked into the mirror and studied the face that looked back at her. Not all that pretty, but far from ugly. The nose was a little big and slightly crooked from battles, the lips were too thin, and the brown eyes set too close by just that much.

It had been a blessing, or so she told herself. All the pretty Jedi females constantly seemed to either have men chasing them or even dropping out of the Jedi Order. Long ago she had decided that looks were nothing but a distraction.

She had passed her tests and been granted the rank of knight at the age of 15 early by many standards, and had become a Master by the age of 26, also a surprise to the status quo. She had trained four padawans in her 20 years since passing the trials. A feat almost unheard of as most Jedi spent anywhere between six to ten years as a padawan.

During the last 20 years, her primary area of expertise had been the aquistion of candidates for the Jedi Order. Nearly all of the 74 younglings which she had brought in had stayed. Most were still younglings being trained at the Temple on Coruscant, although some had become padawans, and 2 were even knights already.

Right from the start it had been apparent that she had a calming presence on children, making her a natural choice when going to persuade parents of Force sensitive children.

But she was anything but a babysitter and negotiator. Her skill with the lightsaber and knowledge of the Force was known and respected throughout the Order, and some of the main reasons they were asking her to fill the seat on the Council despite only being 35.

She could tell that many Jedi were confused as to why she hesitated to accept the appointment. Even her partner on this mission, Jedi Knight Jaron, had asked her about it already.

But unlike Jaron, XXXXXXXXX was able to bury her secrets deep down inside of her.