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Before - Legends Certainty - OC, Obi-Wan mostly alone, a little Qui-Gon -- COMPLETE - 12-July-2009

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by ardavenport, Jun 30, 2009.

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  1. ardavenport

    ardavenport Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2004
    Title: Certainty
    Author: ardavenport
    Timeframe: pre-Episode I, pre-TPM
    Genre: drama, action
    Characters: OC's, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn
    Keywords: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi, the Force, engineer
    Summary: Obi-Wan and an Engineer kill some time while waiting for ship repairs. Technology and the Force meet.
    Notes: Typo is my middle name, with missing words and errors that spell checkers do not catch being my speciality - if you see any, just post a reply or send a PM with the what and where and I will kill them with no mercy.
    Disclaimer: All characters and the Star Wars universe belong to George and Lucasfilm; I am just playing in their sandbox.



    "Could you pass me the hydrospanner, please?"

    "Um, what size?"

    "Oh, ah. . . . the small one, I think."

    The young Jedi handed Engineer Topo Klatmin the requested tool. She clicked to it's widest setting, placed the head of it over the release socket of the damaged junction cover and tightened the clamp. The top plate came off right away and she handed it and the hydrospanner to the Jedi.

    She pushed aside the coils of wires inside to reveal the scorched transducer box underneath. She smelled the burnt plastoids and insulation, the kind of scent that would filter down into her fur and stay there until her next thorough washing. The air inside the access panel tasted of singed metaloids. The blue fur of her arms looked gray in the shadows. Curling her blunt fingers under the edge of the box, she tugged on it. It didn't budge. Bracing herself against the outside she tried again, but it stubbornly remained fixed in place. She wondered if it might be partially welded in.

    "May I?"

    Topo looked at her helper, Jedi Apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, his large blue-gray eyes eager. She stepped away and he pushed back the wide sleeves of his white tunic and reached inside. His tight inner sleeves covered his arms which was a relief to her; she did not like seeing too much bare skin.. Hairlessness was a symptom of ill-health. But not in Humans, she reminded herself. With all that naked flesh, she supposed that was why the Humans were so covered with only their heads, necks and hands exposed.

    He was young, but only a modestly-sized adult and like most Humans he had skinny arms, more bone than muscle, so there was no reason why he could move the damaged component when she couldn't.

    With a loud snap from the back of the compartment, he brought the transducer box out and held it up for her. As she had thought, the blackened metaloid on the base of it had been partially melted in place.

    "Thank-you," she said, her tone flattened with surprise at his unexpected strength. Or disappointment at her weakness. "Put it over there with the others."

    While he did that, she went back into the compartment and tested the contacts for the transducer. They were singed, but still working. She bent down and collected Professor Trechmin's improvised connection cables and attached them to all the transducer sockets. She sat back and ruffled the fur on the back of her head. There was no way to close the compartment with the mass off wiring hanging out of it, but it didn't have to look pretty. It just had to work long enough to get their ship into orbit. And safely back down to the other side of the planet.

    She turned and found Jedi Obi-Wan already holding the testing meter for her, his gray-blue eyes wide in the Human expression of perpetual child-like surprise, accented by the dark thin lines of fur over them. He hardly needed to move his head at all for her to read his meaning. Expression came from the mobile parts of his face; up, down, stretching out, wrinkling up. In contrast, the short gold-tinted brown fur on the top of his head was completely frozen, standing up in place on the tight skin of his skull.

    She thanked him and checked all the cables and connections. Twice.

    "Well, that's about all we can do with this," Topo finally announced putting the meter aside. She straightened her long yellow body-ve
     
  2. Valairy Scot

    Valairy Scot Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 16, 2005
    Hoo boy another fine mess you've got Obi-Wan into and such a unique supporting cast, as well. Flying Jedi! [face_laugh]
     
  3. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    Another nice story with exiting characters to begin. And you can put me on the PM list for this one:)
     
  4. VaderLVR64

    VaderLVR64 Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2004
    I read this earlier and didn't get a chance to leave a reply (a dog needed out, NOW, thank you very much!). But I love it! Please add me to your PM list.

    =D=
     
  5. nada_smith

    nada_smith Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 2006
    Oh, I was so happy to see a new story from you! Your stories are always such a treat.

    I really like Topo--she's a character. It's quite interesting to see human traits and facial expressions through the eyes of another species. I quite enjoyed your descriptions of Topo's observations of Obi-wan's eyes, eyebrows, etc.

    Then Topo remembered that Humans, especially males, were always in season. She turned the music down.

    "You do know that our species are completely incompatible for sex? I mean physically. Completely incompatible," she tried to reassure him with a waving hand gesture. He practically jumped back.
    Poor, jumpy Obi-wan. [face_laugh] I wonder whether Qui-Gon wants him to stay in the ship to learn something about the living force from his companions.[face_thinking]

    Lovely start! As always, you create such a rich, realistic feeling situation in a completely other-um-galaxy setting.
     
  6. ardavenport

    ardavenport Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2004

    Valairy_Scot: Ah, yes, well meaning Obi-Wan got himself into trouble again. [face_mischief] Thanks for the reply!

    earlybird-obi-wan: Thank-you!

    VaderLVR64: Thanks! And who let the dogs out??? ;)

    nada_smith: Thank-you! It's the characters who really fill out a story. And normally, it's repetitive to describe a canon character, but seen from the POV from someone who just met them or who isn't human.....that really brings out some details.

     
  7. ardavenport

    ardavenport Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2004
    ***ooo***ooo***ooo***ooo*** - - - Part 2



    Topo turned the music off.

    Jedi Obi-Wan straightened and tugged on his tunic and sleeves, his big eyes sadly chastised.

    "She doesn't like Jedi," he explained.

    "She doesn't really like anybody. But she usually doesn't throw things even when she's in this foul a mood. What did you do?"

    "I offered my assistance. But. . . . " He closed his mouth, looking a bit helpless.

    "What did you do?"

    "She dropped a micro-probe and it rolled under the shield generator. And I retrieved it for her," he explained. After her silent disbelieving look, he extended his hand before him. The silver micro-probe bumped up out of the seats before flying up in the air and landing in his palm, his small, slender pale fingers closing around the shaft of the tool.

    "Trechmin wouldn't be happy to see that," she commented.

    "Why would it bother her?"

    She sat down and he did as well, leaning toward her, his arms resting on his skinny knees.

    "There are two kinds of Engineers. Those who don't worry about the unexplainable. And those who think that everything can and should be explained; they just don't have time to do it all; and that anyone who insists otherwise is a evil liar and a fraud. I'm the former. And Trechmin is the later.

    "Do you know what they teach about Jedi energies to Engineers?"

    He shook his head, his eyes large and inquisitive.

    "They can't be explained. Nobody in the history of the galaxy has ever been able to account for them. Everywhere else, energy and mass follow rules. Except for the Jedi, who seem to pull whatever they want out of hyperspace. It doesn't fit any of the equations that everyone else has to answer to for time or place or probabilities."

    "And that bothers her?"

    "She doesn't like anything around her to be out of her control. Especially when," she lifted her hands, her head looking from one end of the ship's main cabin to the other, "everything really is out of her control whether she wants to admit it or not."

    He nodded.

    "And you?" he asked.

    "Me? I already know that practically everything around me is out of my control all the time. What difference does one or two more things make?"

    Jedi Obi-Wan grinned and Topo held out her hand.

    "Here, I'll give Trechmin back her micro-probe. After that we'll watch a holo."

    He nodded.

    She went back to the rear and touched the door release.

    "You missed," she announced, holding the probe out. Her fellow Engineer snatched it back.

    "I'm doing some delicate work here." She pointed at the rickety black fixture, the Jedi power cell visible in the middle, amidst the cross-work of struts and wires. RT-37 clicked and beeped, one long probe extending from the squat astromech's body to the transducer connection to the power cell.

    "I don't have any time for Jedi tricks."

    Topo leaned on a bulkhead. "Jedi are full of tricks. They come that way. You shouldn't let it bother you."

    Trechmin turned away from her work, her eyes narrowed to indentations in the green-tinted blue of the short fur of her face.

    "It. Doesn't. Bother me."

    Topo nodded her head.

    "Well, we'll wait out there waiting for you. We're going to watch a holo."

    Trechmin turned back to her power monitors and Topo left her to it.

    "Now let's see what we've got."

    She passed Jedi Obi-Wan on her way up to the front of the ship. At the co-pilot's seat she clicked through Chemi's collection while he moved to a more forward seat.

    "How about a crime drama?" She looked back toward Jedi Obi-Wan. The lines over his eyes lifted, his wide-eyed expression blank.

    "Maybe not. . . . . space farce?"

    His shoulders rose and fell in a quick motion.

    "Historical?"

    Blank stare.

    "Tragedy?"

    "Whatever you would like would be fine," he finally said agreeably.

    "Well, what do you like? What do you watch for fun?"

    "I don't really watch many holos."

    "When was the last time you saw one?"

    He paused to think. "Last year. My Master an I were protecting a dignitary from the Dremotak Consortium."

    "When was the last time you saw a holo for yourself? Just
     
  8. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    Nice to see the crew describing the Jedi and great humor in that dialogue.

    Great update=D==D=
     
  9. Valairy Scot

    Valairy Scot Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 16, 2005
    So well done that I'm not sure what I liked best - I liked -everything! I just love the way you have "others" see our Jedi.
     
  10. nada_smith

    nada_smith Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 2006
    "There are two kinds of Engineers. Those who don't worry about the unexplainable. And those who think that everything can and should be explained; they just don't have time to do it all; and that anyone who insists otherwise is a evil liar and a fraud. I'm the former. And Trechmin is the later.

    "Do you know what they teach about Jedi energies to Engineers?"

    He shook his head, his eyes large and inquisitive.

    "They can't be explained. Nobody in the history of the galaxy has ever been able to account for them. Everywhere else, energy and mass follow rules. Except for the Jedi, who seem to pull whatever they want out of hyperspace. It doesn't fit any of the equations that everyone else has to answer to for time or place or probabilities."

    "And that bothers her?"

    "She doesn't like anything around her to be out of her control. Especially when," she lifted her hands, her head looking from one end of the ship's main cabin to the other, "everything really is out of her control whether she wants to admit it or not."

    He nodded.

    "And you?" he asked.

    "Me? I already know that practically everything around me is out of my control all the time. What difference does one or two more things make?"


    I love that whole exchange! I may have finally come to Topo's obvious realization that I have very little control and understand very little about the world. But that doesn't mean I always like it. :p I'm working on that acceptance thing. ;)

    Jedi Obi-Wan was still standing after they were gone. He looked almost disappointed as he sat down and faced the holo again.

    I'm wondering if Obi-Wan is feeling a bit out of control without something productive to do. He's disappointed he has to go back to watching the holo? [face_laugh]
    ****

    "I am always a Jedi. Being a Jedi is not an occupation like being an Engineer. It is a calling."

    Topo thought he sounded so innocent and earnest and certain when he said that.


    I'm glad you gave Topo's interpretation of that remark, because it could have been interpreted as pretentious or arrogant also. I sort of cringed wondering if Topo would take it that way. I'm glad she didn't.
    ****

    Topo had to hold in her laugh. Jedi Obi-Wan could not have looked more offended than if he had just been offered a steaming bag of Razkak poodoo. But one pleading look to the senior Jedi got him only a tiny nod for him to accept the weapon. [face_laugh] So uncivilized, eh?
    ****

    Great post! I'm stilll loving Topo!
     
  11. VaderLVR64

    VaderLVR64 Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2004
    It's great to see an "outsider's" view of the Jedi! :D

    "There are two kinds of Engineers. Those who don't worry about the unexplainable. And those who think that everything can and should be explained; they just don't have time to do it all; and that anyone who insists otherwise is a evil liar and a fraud. I'm the former. And Trechmin is the later.

    "Do you know what they teach about Jedi energies to Engineers?"

    He shook his head, his eyes large and inquisitive.

    "They can't be explained. Nobody in the history of the galaxy has ever been able to account for them. Everywhere else, energy and mass follow rules. Except for the Jedi, who seem to pull whatever they want out of hyperspace. It doesn't fit any of the equations that everyone else has to answer to for time or place or probabilities."

    "And that bothers her?"

    "She doesn't like anything around her to be out of her control. Especially when," she lifted her hands, her head looking from one end of the ship's main cabin to the other, "everything really is out of her control whether she wants to admit it or not."


    Wonderful!!! =D=
     
  12. ardavenport

    ardavenport Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2004

    earlybird-obi-wan: Thanks! :)

    Valairy_Scot: Thank-you. It is always the 'others' who see new things in our Jedi. :)

    nada_smith: Poor Obi-Wan is really out of his depth with a holo-drama to face. ;) He doesn't like things out of his control either, but he's learning. Thanks for reading!

    VaderLVR64: Thank-you!

     
  13. ardavenport

    ardavenport Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2004
    ***ooo***ooo***ooo***ooo*** - - - Part 3



    "I'm no fighter," Chemi announced, hands up, as the Security and Jedi rushed out, leaving them behind. The airlock hatch slid closed.

    "What?" Trechmin demanded. "There isn't any fight. Where is everyone?" She half rose from her seat, looking down through the viewport while Topo slunk down lower in hers. She really did not feel like explaining anything to her. Topo was no fighter either and she did not know any more about it than her fellow Engineer did, except when to keep her head low.

    "What's that?" Trechmin demanded, pointing, leaning forward over the controls.

    "Oooh." Chemi rose as well.

    "Maybe we should stay away from the ports?" Topo suggested, scrunched down even lower in her seat.

    "That's Impossible!"

    Her comrade's outburst jolted Topo.

    "Ooooooh!" Chemi rose from his seat, too. "Look at that!"

    "They can't do that!" Trechmin turned around, gesturing frantically. "Come look at this! It's impossible!!" Snarling, she dove down on Topo.

    "Aaaauuuufffff!!" She resisted, but Trechmin got her by the roll of loose skin and fur at the base of her neck and dragged her up.

    "Look!!" Trechmin commanded.

    Still cringing, Topo saw flashes of orange blaster fire zipping over the ground between the buildings, the low structures on the ground and their ship.

    And two bright lines of plasma light. One blue. One green. Blaster bolts deflecting away from them.

    The Jedi, their pale body coverings flapping behind them, swinging their lightsabers, ran into the command center building and disappeared. The beautiful bright plasma light vanished into the dark opening.

    The blaster fire stopped.

    "That's IMPOSSIBLE!!"

    Trechmin released Topo's scruff and shook her fists at the buildings.

    "They CAN'T DO THAT! I DRAINED EVERY DROCHET FROM THOSE POWER CELLS! THOSE THINGS WOULDN'T EVEN IGNITE!!!"

    The frenzied Engineer turned around, pushing past Topo in the tight space between the seats.

    "Aaay!" Chemi complained.

    Trechmin stumbled toward the airlock. Horrified, Topo went after her, throwing her arms around her maddened comrade's middle. They both went down, their bodies solidly impacting and rolling on the deck.

    "Don't go out there! You'll get shot!"

    They were only the technical inspectors. The fighting was for the security people. And there wasn't supposed to be any fighting anyway; this last confirmation was just a formality before the final treaty in-signations. If Trechmin got shot, Topo did not know how she could explain it to their department head.

    Trechmin struggled, but Topo had her from behind, arms pressed into her fur and the blubbery flesh at the waist. Neither of them got enough exercise, but near madness and panic gave them both strength. Trechmin tried kicking back, but Topo was heavier and weighed her down close to the deck.

    "I'm no fighter!" Chemi said uselessly from his seat in front.

    "You can't go out there!" Topo yelled, getting mad at her comrade's single-minded stupidity.

    "They are NOT getting away with this! Those Jedi were hiding spare power cells! After I TOLD them that we needed everything they had! WE BARELY HAD ENOUGH TO GET HERE!!"

    "The power wasn't that low," Chemi's voice said.

    "That's NOT THE POINT!" Trechmin shouted back furiously, her flesh still flexing and struggling in Topo's tight and frantic embrace. "I told them we needed as much power as they had on them and they held back! Those GREEDY SELF-RIGHTEOUS SLIMO!"

    "They didn't have any spare power cells!" Topo argued, trying to pull her arms even tighter around the Trechmin's trunk of flesh and fur. "Where would they put them?"

    "They were hiding them in those robes! They could have smuggled a whole case of power cells in those things!"

    "Those robes are right here! Why don't you check!"

    Trechmin stopped thrashing. They were both on their sides, Trechmin partially on top of Topo. Next to them, long folds of brown fabric hung off of the two rear seats of the cabin.

    Grunting, Trechmin struggled up and Topo let go. She pushed herself up, supporting h
     
  14. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    A great ending to yet one more of your very funny stories and with great characters

    Loved it=D==D==D=

    And their comments on the Jedi[face_laugh] and the large cloaks:)
     
  15. Valairy Scot

    Valairy Scot Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 16, 2005

    The three of them stayed frozen in the ship's cabin of gray and white bulkheads and empty seats. Topo glimpsed movement through the forward viewport. Chemi's fluffed up head kept shifting her view between the two Engineers. But Trechmin's hair flattened on the top of her head with vexation.

    Hissing, the airlock door rose.

    Jedi Obi-Wan took a step and froze, his mouth open, the red inside and the bottom row of his hard white teeth exposed.

    Trechmin turned her vexed expression on him.

    "I came to tell you that it was safe." His mobile blue-grey eyes scanned the whole cabin. He didn't move his head at all.

    "Outside," Jedi Obi-Wan finished, his breather mask still hanging around his neck.


    =D= Great ending to a great story. Bet they didn't get Obi's humor there; I did.
     
  16. VaderLVR64

    VaderLVR64 Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2004
    "You want to get rid of that? Since you obviously don't need it," Trechmin suggested.

    Jedi Obi-Wan seemed baffled for a moment until he looked down at where she pointed.

    "Oh yes, please," he agreed enthusiastically, removing Maedae's blaster belt and handing it over. She tossed it back into the weapons compartment.

    "So, Jedi Qui-Gon was just humoring Sargent Maedae back there," she commented, turning back to him.

    "He does do that sometimes. He believes that cooperation is always better than confrontation."

    "You don't think he could teach that to Trechmin, do you?" He lifted and dropped his narrow shoulders back at her, his face scrunching in an odd unreadable way. Topo thought that meant, 'no.'

    She and Chemi each took a breather from the rack and put them on, the flexible material along the edges making a tight seal over their faces down to their under fur. Jedi Obi-Wan put his on and activated the airlock hatch. The left the ship together.


    What a perfect ending to this delightful story! Loved it! =D=
     
  17. ardavenport

    ardavenport Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2004
    earlybird-obi-wan, Valairy_Scot, VaderLVR64: Thanks! I'm glad you liked the ending. I wanted Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to be dealing with someone who could not accept that Jedi do impossible things, and with someone who can.
     
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