Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the planet’s name.
‘blah’ means thoughts.
/blah/ means bond talking.
It was six in the morning and Qui-Gon had been awake for awhile. He decided that his apprentice needed to get up as well. He called out, “Padawan, wake-up!”
No answer. Qui-Gon frowned and contacted his apprentice through their Bond. /Obi-Wan, wake-up!/
/Master, can you come here, please?/ Obi-Wan’s voice was muted a little.
Curious as to why, Qui-Gon did as the boy asked. Obi-Wan was sitting on his bed, already dressed, when his master entered his room. “Obi-Wan, what’s wrong?” Qui-Gon was very concerned. His padawan was usually a chatterbox. He couldn’t get him to be quiet! So when Obi-Wan didn’t say anything, Qui-Gon KNEW something was wrong. Obi-Wan tapped his throat lightly. “Does your throat hurt?”
The apprentice nodded. Then, he whispered, “I can’t talk, Master.”
It was a raspy sound, which almost made Qui-Gon cringe. “Come on, Padawan. Let’s take you to the healers. They’ll tell us what’s exactly wrong.”
The Master Jedi led his apprentice to the Healers’ Wing. One of them approached the Master and Apprentice. “Master Jinn, Apprentice Kenobi; May I help you with anything?”
“My padawan needs a check-up.”
“All right. Follow me, Apprentice Kenobi.” The healer led Obi-Wan into an examination room. She ran many tests on Obi-Wan. When she found out what was wrong, she came up to Qui-Gon. “Your apprentice has a mild case of laryngitis.”
Qui-Gon smiled. He would finally have silence. “Thank you. May he leave? We have a meeting with the council.”
“Yes, he can leave. I strongly recommend that Apprentice Kenobi not be allowed to talk for at least three days.”
“Be sure to tell him that,” Qui-Gon said.
The healer nodded and went in the same direction she had come in. Distress slammed into Qui-Gon through the Bond he has with his apprentice. He smiled. The next three days would be interesting. Obi-Wan walked out of the examination room and toward his master.
Qui-Gon patted his padawan on the shoulder. “Come on, Obi-Wan. There’s a meeting with the council that we have to attend.”
/But, Master-/ Obi-Wan began.
“No buts, Obi-Wan. We BOTH are required to attend this meeting,” Qui-Gon interrupted his apprentice’s excuse as he led him into the Council Chamber.
When they reached the center of the room, both Jedi bowed.
“Masters,” they chorused, though only Qui-Gon was heard.
“Apprentice Kenobi, speak up. We cannot hear you,” Windu said.
“Yes, Padawan. You should speak up,” Qui-Gon said. After a second and a death glare from Obi-Wan, he added, “Oh, that’s right. You have laryngitis, and you’re not supposed to talk for three days.”
Obi-Wan glared at his smirking master. Mace Windu smiled at hid friend. Qui-Gon was sure making the most of his padawan’s predicament.
“A mission for you we have,” Yoda said.
“A planet, Tellon, needs to be surveyed. It needs to be decided if its people are peaceful or war-like,” clarified Windu.
‘A boring surveillance mission? Why couldn’t it be something more exciting?’ Obi-Wan half-whined.
/Because, Padawan, the surveillance mission is just as important/
/Master! You were reading my thoughts!/
/No. You were just thinking too loud/ Qui-Gon turned to the Council. “We accept, Master.”
Both master and apprentice bowed and exited the room, after receiving a padd on the mission.
/What’s it say, Master?/
“It says that it’ll take one day to get there, we are to do twenty-four hours of surveillance, and report back.”
/So, it’ll take three days/
“Yes. Three days.”
EN ROUTE
Qui-Gon had put the ship on autopilot and was in a meditative state. He was just thinking that it would be a quiet flight when…
/So, Master. Do we have a map of the planet?/
/No/
/The council didn’t give us a map? How are we supposed to map the area without a map? On a surveillance mission, we’re supposed to survey the planet and to survey the planet we need strategic locations to survey from but we need a map to locate the towns from and we don’t have a map. We’re on a surveillance mission without a map!/
Each word Obi-Wan ‘spoke’ widdled down Qui-Gon’s patience until…
“Padawan, I need quiet!”
/Yes, Master/ Five minutes passed before Qui-Gon’s peace was interrupted again. /Master…/
/PADAWAN!/
Obi-Wan flinched at the level of anger in his master’s voice.
/Sorry/ Obi-Wan decided to not bother Qui-Gon for the rest of the trip.
Before entering the planet’s atmosphere, Qui-Gon (having come out of his meditative state) said, “Obi-Wan, we’re going to enter the planet.”
/Yes, Master/ Obi-Wan sat down next to his master in the navigator’s seat. They began entering procedures and the ship entered the atmosphere. Their craft suddenly veered to one side, which made the ship off-balance.
“Obi-Wan!”
Obi-Wan rubbed the back of his neck. /Now, how did that happen?/ He punched a few buttons and the ship leveled out.
Once they landed the ship, Qui-Gon turned to his apprentice. “Padawan, are you all right?”
/I’m fine, Master, aside from the laryngitis. Why do you ask?/
“You normally don’t make mistakes like this,” Qui-Gon motioned to the controls.
/My mind was on our mission/
“I have had thoughts about our mission, too.”
/Master, aren’t you surprised? My mind was on the here and now. You’re always teaching me about that/
“Oh.” Both master and apprentice climbed out of their ship and headed out to survey the planet. They walked to a section of trees. “We’ll begin our survey here tomorrow morning. Then, we’ll go to the plains I saw on our descent. The mountain chain would be after that, followed by the cliffs. Going underwater will be last.”
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan headed back to their ship. /Underwater? Do we have to, Master?/
“If we want a full survey of the planet, yes. Now, get some sleep.”
/Yes, Master/
Chapter Two
THE NEXT MORNING
“Padawan, wake up.” Qui-Gon gently shook his apprentice awake.
/Good morning, Master/ Obi-Wan said through their bond. He also mouthed the words.
“Get up, Padawan. We need to survey the planet.”
/I’m up/
Minutes later, both Jedi were out of the ship and had reached their first survey point.
/What do you expect we’ll see, Master/
“I expect the people to be peaceful, judging by the terrain.”
/Master, look. I see something/ Obi-Wan pointed.
Master and apprentice both looked to where the latter was pointing. Coming from behind one of the trees was an animal that slightly resembled a Trandoshan. This animal was about half the size and walked on all fours.
“Just an animal, Obi-Wan.”
Obi-Wan blushed at his mistake.
In the four hours that they observed the forest, all they saw were the Trandoshan-like creatures and what could pass for a small ear-less Gungan that crawled on all fours.
/What’s next, Master/
“I saw some mountains just beyond this plain.”
As they crossed the plain, the saw creatures that had the head of a Thakwaash and a body of a Pegasus (without the wings). After two hours of walking across the plain and seeing nothing but the Thakwaash-like creatures, Obi-Wan started complaining. /Master, we’ve been walking for hours. How much further are the mountains/
“Padawan, we will get there when we get there.”
After another hour, the complaining turned into whining. /Master, my feet are killing me/
“Well, I have good news, Obi-Wan. We’re here.”
/Good. Can we sit down now/
“Look, Padawan.” Qui-Gon directed Obi-Wan’s attention to a creature that looked like a Bothan. “Let’s go.”
/Go? Go where/
“Up the mountain.”
/Up the mountain/ Fear accompanied these words.
“Why, Padawan, are you afraid of heights?” Obi-Wan just glared at his master. Qui-Gon just laughed. “All right, Obi-Wan. We won’t go up the mountain.”
They walked along the mountain base, scanning the rocky face carefully for any sign of life.
/Master, can you see it? It looks like a Wookie/
“It certainly does, Padawan.” They kept walking along slowly until they came to a rocky cliff. There were large carrion birds flying about the face of the cliff. “Well, this will make it difficult.”
/Make what difficult, Master/
“Diving into the water.” Qui-Gon took out his breathing apparatus from his robe.
/Diving/
“Yes, Padawan. Diving. Follow me.” The Jedi Master put his breathing apparatus in his mouth and dove off the cliff, executing a perfect swan dive, which resulted in a little splash. Obi-Wan shook his head, took out his breathing apparatus, and put it in his mouth. He tied to copy his master’s dive, but couldn’t quite do it. He ended up breaking the water’s surface with his back, which resulted in a big loud splash.
/Very graceful, Padawan/
/I try, Master/
The two Jedi swam underwater, searching for signs of life. They searched the water for four hours and they only found two animals. One looked like the head of the Mon Calamari and the other looked like the head of the Feeorin. Both had longer tentacles. After seeing the Feeorin-like one, Obi-Wan asked/Master, isn’t this one just like the other one we just saw/
/Yes/
/Than why are you making note of it again/
/They are similar but yet different/
/What/
/You will learn, my young Apprentice/
They left the water after their four hour search. As they headed for their craft, Obi-Wan said/You were right about one thing, Master. The inhabitants were peaceful/
“Yes but there are no humanoid life-forms.” They reached their ship and laid down for some rest before their journey back.
THE NEXT MORNING
“Master! Wake up!”
Qui-Gon was shaken awake by a very excited padawan. “Obi-Wan? What?”
“I can talk again, Master! Isn’t that great?”
“Just wonderful.”
“Well, let’s go back to the Temple, Master.”
The Jedi both piloted their ship back to the Temple. As they entered the Temple, Obi-Wan started talking again. “That mission was interesting, Master. All those creatures we saw were weird, but not a single one spoke. Plus there weren’t any humanoid life-forms. The Council thought there would be. That’s pretty funny, Master. The Council was wrong. How often does that happen?”
“Padawan, what did the healers say caused the laryngitis?”
“Talking too much.”
“Think about that.”
Obi-Wan thought about what his master said. “Oh.”
Fin
