Star Wars Equilibrium Ch. 09

Chapter 09: Before the Council

Ye sat in the pilot's chair as she and Tian, who was seated in the co-pilot's chair flipped a series of switches before gradually pulling the ship out of hyper-speed. As she did, the blur of stars they had been watching focused into individual stars in the sky with Coruscant resting before them.

"Coruscant flight control, this is the Scarlet Raptor requesting permission to land. And we would also like to request a landing pad as close as possible to the Jedi temple." Ye said into her headset.

A voice replied through the main speaker on the bridge, "Scarlet Raptor this is Coruscant flight control, you have been given special permission to land at the Jedi temple."

Ye grinned and replied, "Coruscant control the Scarlet Raptor is a Corvette class ship and is too large to fit on the Jedi temple's landing pads. Unless they have expanded the small transport landing area since I was last here."

The voice returned, "Scarlet Raptor we are aware of your size, and who you are. After you made contact with them, the Jedi council made us aware of your imminent arrival and made arrangements for you. You are to land at the main entrance to the temple."

"I wasn't aware there was a landing pad at the main entrance." Ye replied.

"There isn't, you are to land on the large opening before the steps up to the temple." Explained the traffic controller.

"Understood, and thank you for your help." Ye said before pulling her headset off resting them on her neck as she turned to face her twin sister and asked, "Have you ever heard of such a thing?"

"It's rarely done." Explained Tian, "The council reserves such a landing for extremely special occasions, expect a rather large welcoming party, if possible land so that the main ramp faces the steps to the temple. The Jedi do love their grand entrances."

The engines of the Scarlet Raptor spooled down as the ramp lowered allowing everyone to step off the ship. Zaldun and Vardisperi walked side by side followed by Ye who was followed by Ensis and Tian, the rest of the freed Jedi followed side by side. Once his vision was clear of the ship, Zaldun saw that the entire council had come to meet this rag tag group.

The council had arranged themselves on either side of the steps to the temple with Grand Master Zym in the center. As everyone stepped down the ramp of the Scarlet Raptor, the Grand Master walked down the steps and met them at the foot of the stairs clasping hands with Zaldun and Vardisperi.

"Zaldun, it is wonderful to see you. When we received the transmission that you were coming and were joined by a group of lost Jedi we could hardly believe it." Master Zym stated and turning to Vardisperi he said, "We were all saddened to hear of Master Faiaoga's passing, but rejoice that he is now one with the force." Facing the remainder of the group he said in a loud voice, "When you have all had some time to rest the council would like to meet with all of you."

"Actually sir, we have had plenty of rest on board the ship and would like to meet as soon as possible. We have learned much and the news is urgent." Zaldun replied.

Everyone was filling the council chambers, the council members were seated in their chairs, behind them stood the rescued Jedi, in the gap between chairs stood Zaldun, Vardisperi, and Ye. They were sharing their accounts of all they had been through. Ye shared her account first but stopped at her first meeting with Zaldun, Vardisperi then shared her story also stopping at the point of when she had been reunited with Zaldun.

Zaldun left no detail out in sharing his account with the council. He started at the very beginning with the fact that he had long had issues with the Jedi code's denial of emotion, a problem he struggled with as he grew to love his roommate Vardisperi. He shared the tragedy that struck him and Master Guru on Tython, where he had learned from the ancient datacrons and what he had learned from them. The teaching of a balanced force brought many questions from the council as they probed this concept.

The council asked so many questions about this teaching that in exasperation Zaldun said, "If you wish to learn more about this balance, you can go to the cave on Tython and learn from them yourself. What I have to share is too important to spend time on these details."

After that the council didn't interrupt again as he continued to share his story. Of how he met Darth Heres and learned about the dark side. Zaldun was completely transparent with the council and even shared that he and Vardisperi made love when they were reunited which caused some eyebrows to raise, but the council didn't interrupt.

Smiles spread across the faces of the council when Zaldun shared that he and Vardisperi were able to defeat Darth Heres together. All the council member's smiles, but one, faded when he shared that they were married and that at the wedding feast they met up with Ye. Without going into great detail he shared that he was able to develop an antidote to the force blocking serum and with Ye and Vardisperi, they were able to free the captured Jedi. Zaldun then shared what he had learned about the Sith infiltrators. He concluded by saying "I know of six Sith Lords that have wormed their way into the Republic, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were other infiltrators."

When he had finished sharing, the council asked many questions and shared that they were upset that Vardisperi and Zaldun had married without permission from the council. They asked for a demonstration of some of their new abilities, and so Impinda and Fùzhì were formed in the center of the council circle.

After the inquiry the council asked everyone to leave the chambers as they discussed the situation. The entire group waited outside of the council chambers while the council met, several hours passed before they were called back into the chambers.

Grand Master Zym spoke to the group but directed his words to Zaldun, "We have reached a decision. Your teaching is close to those of the recently exiled Tasiele Shan and those of Revan who returned to us after having turned to the dark side. We will not be exiling you as a way of showing our appreciation for your rescuing of these Jedi who had been captured." Master Zym motioned toward the Jedi that had been rescued.

"While we aren't exiling you, we want you to not share your teachings with any others until we can learn more from you and the datacrons. We have sent a recovery team to Tython to retrieve the datacrons and we will be giving you the opportunity to show your new abilities further. The council is assigning you the task of hunting down these six Sith Lords, and to learn about your new teaching we have assigned Master Vates to join you on this mission. "

Master Zym directed to his left and a dark skinned human stood, the white of his goatee contrasting his skin. The reflection of light on Master Vates shaved head moved as he gave a short bow before sitting down.

When Master Vates returned to his seat, Master Zym directed a statement to Vardisperi and Zaldun, "About your marriage, while you did not seek council permission for it, we can sense a strong force bond between you and will allow it to continue."

Zaldun looked each council member in the eyes before staring into Master Zym's eyes and said, "Even if you didn't allow it, I am completely dedicated to Vardisperi and she to me. Our marriage is forever."

An intense silence followed Zaldun' statement, a silence that was finally broken when Ensis spoke up and said, "With all respect due to the council, but I understand where Zaldun is coming from. I have formed a force bond as strong as the one he shares with Vardisperi. I love Jedi Knight Tian, and desire to marry her." He turned to Tian, who was standing beside him and said, "If you'll have me that is."

"Of course, Of course" Tian gushed as she threw her arms around Ensis' neck and kissed him.

Master Zym smiled as he said, "The council thought that we sensed another force bond in the room, the bond you share is strong and we have already discussed the matter although we didn't know exactly who the bond was between we reached a decision and you have the approval of the council."

Everyone present at the meeting shared their congratulations with Ensis and Tian before the meeting was restarted. "Everyone present may join the mission that Zaldun has been given if they wish, but they must do so now." Grand Master Zym stated.

"Before you make a decision just know that I won't hold it against anyone that doesn't want to join us." Zaldun stated, "It will be a long and dangerous mission, I don't know when or if we will return."

Vardisperi walked over to him and said, "Where you go I go, I'm in."

Ensis and Tian walked over showing their agreement to join the mission. They were quickly joined by Ye who said, "You're going to need a ship for a mission like this, and mine is the best there is, I'm in."

Master Vates walked over to the group and said, "I may have been assigned to this mission, but I would have volunteered anyway. I once had to push love away and desire to learn more about this ancient teaching, but I also know that if we don't do something about these Sith the Republic will be weak."

As everyone was being dismissed Zaldun addressed the council saying, "I will share my teachings with anyone who asks. And I will begin the Sith hunt as soon as I can."

"That will be acceptable." Replied the Grand Master, "I fear though that this new teaching is only a path to the Dark side though."

Zaldun replied, "You claim you want balance, but I stand here presenting a balance to the force and you reject it. Sure you said that you will consider the teachings and that you will seek the datacrons, but I know what that truly means. The datacrons will get locked away and you will continue in the same pattern you always have. "

"Mark my words, one day someone will bring balance to the force, if you continue in your extreme of one side of the force it will take a great darkness to bring that balance. If you truly desire a balance to the force follow through on what I have taught, if you don't I fear for the galaxy."

After finishing his statement Zaldun spun around and walked out of the council chambers with his new crew following him. Those who had recently been living in the Jedi temple went to their quarters to retrieve what few belongings they had. Tian and Ensis walked together and helped one another in their rooms, Master Vates was joined by Ye, and Zaldun joined Vardisperi and together they went to her place. The plan was to meet back at the Scarlet Raptor which would become their new home and headquarters.

Zaldun said little on the walk to Vardisperi's quarters, but from the pace of his walk and the look in his eyes she could tell he was upset. So as they entered her small studio apartment she turned to him, placing her hands on each of his shoulders, kissed him and said, "Let it out, you'll feel better if you do."

Anger flashed for a moment in his eyes before Zaldun took a deep breath and said, "The fools on the council will ignore everything I said as long as I don't make waves, and the force will be out of balance constantly shifting from one extreme to another until a great darkness clouds the galaxy. But I plan to make waves."

Noticing a look of concern in Vardisperi's eyes he explained, "I plan to let the galaxy see what I am capable of now that I have my balance, my actions will make such an impact that even though we hunt those who hide in the darkness, the ripples will be seen and felt everywhere."

"Now that's what I call a man who knows what he's doing and is passionate about." Vardisperi stated as she ran her hands down his arms before turning to gather her few belongings from her apartment.

She was stopped in her tracks when Zaldun grabbed her from behind, spinning her into his arms. "That's not all I'm passionate about." He said as he filled his fist with her hair and pulled her head back so that he could lean in and kiss her. His grip on her hair held fast keeping her head tilted back and he kissed and nibbled down her neck while his free hand groped at her right breast.

When his lips met the edge of her top he released his grip on her hair and used both hands to rip open her robe letting it drop to the ground. Zaldun then grabbed the neckline of her shirt and tore it down the middle of her chest. The remains of her shirt he only slid down to her wrists before spinning her around and using the torn shirt to tie her hands behind her back.

From behind Vardisperi, he wrapped his arms around her cupping each breast in a hand rubbing them through the fabric of her bra. "This won't do." he growled as he slipped his hands into the cups of her bra and pulled her breasts over the top exposing her bare breast over the edge of the bra. His fingers pulled and squeezed her tits as he used his teeth to pull the straps of her bra off her shoulders, easing the weight off of them.

Zaldun' left hand continued to play with Vardisperi's breast as he ran his right hand down her stomach and into her pants. One hand on her breasts and one hand playing with her pussy through her panties and Vardisperi was panting with desire, but unable to do anything with her hands as they were bound behind her between her and her love.

A couch sat on one edge of the room and Zaldun drove Vardisperi to its armrest bending her over it, her bare breast resting on the couch and her ass sticking up in the air. With deft hands Zaldun loosened her pants and pulled them off leaving her in only her panties and what little she wore on her upper body.

Vardisperi heard Zaldun' pants open and felt her wet panties pulled to the side before the soft tip of his hard cock pierced her welcoming pussy. In and out of her he slammed, taking her like he owned her. The intensity of all that was happening pushed her over the edge and she cried out, "Zal, I'm cuming!" As her pussy squeezed his cock in its convulsions Zaldun filled her with his hot seed only slowing in his pounding when he could give no more.

His cock was glistened from their combined cum as he pulled out of her. Zaldun united Vardisperi's hands, dropping the torn shirt onto the floor before lifting her into his arms and sitting on the couch with her on his lap resting her head on his shoulder. When she had recovered, Vardisperi lifted her head to his and kissed him.

When they finally arrived at the Scarlet Raptor Vardisperi had put on a new shirt from her apartment, one of the few things she had to pack up. Ye, Vates, and a strange young Nautolan woman had been waiting for a while but Tian and Ensis had only arrived a few minutes before they did. Knowing looks were exchanged by the women and the men only smiled.

Master Vates introduced the young woman as Lingaheen, his twenty year old padawan. The length of the lightsaber hilt that hung at her waist indicated that she wielded a double bladed saber. Paelia's head tendrils were all decorated with wraps, all but two falling behind her head, the other two resting in front of her shoulders laying on her chest. Master Vates had explained everything to her and she had asked to join the mission. Lingaheen was welcomed to the crew before they all sat around the table for an evening meal.

As they dined the conversation flowed from what their next move would be to learning more about each other's pasts. Vates and Lingaheen were keen to learn more about what Zaldun went through on Tython, old news to the others so they had a separate conversation. As dinner ended Ensis spoke up, "While we were packing up our belongings, Tian and I talked."

Ye interrupted with a quick, "And I'm sure that's all you did."

Ensis grinned as he continued, "As I said we did talk, and we would like to ask Vardisperi and Zaldun to serve as our best man and matron of honor at our wedding."

Vardisperi turned to Zaldun with a smile and answered for them both, "Zal and I would love to."

Ensis' smile broadened for a moment to show his joy at their response, and then raised his voice so that he could be heard over Vardisperi and Tian's rapid chatter, "Also we would like to ask you to officiate the wedding Master Vates."

Vates replied, "Jedi weddings are so rare that a member of the council usually does fill the position, and as our lives are following the same path I believe it's the best thing to do. Do you have any idea of when you would like to have the wedding so that I can book a place large enough?"

Tian answered, "We were thinking a couple of weeks, but just a simple ceremony with a small group is all we figured on."

With a laugh in his voice Master Vates explained, "Like I said Jedi weddings are rare. So rare that dignitaries from all over will want to be present, I wouldn't be surprised if the supreme chancellor himself will want to be there."

Zaldun spoke up, "I look forward to it, in the meantime we can search Coruscant for any of these infiltrators, there has to be at least one here."

A puzzled look crossed Master Vates' face, "I've never sensed any, but if the sith have entered the galaxy and we didn't sense it, it is entirely possible there is one here we don't know about. While we remain on Coruscant I've arranged for a hangar to park in. Tian has the location and will be moving the ship there."