Before - Legends They Also Serve (Temple vignette -one post)

Well, this has been sitting on the floppy for over a year and it's not going to make its way into a story anytime soon. So here is just a little vignette about life behind the scenes...

* * *

Ulumkile punched up the message. External, external frequency, uncoded, no priority.

"Um, hi? Um, my family is going to be visiting Coruscant next month, and um, we were wondering if there was any way to arrange a tour of the Jedi Temple? I've got two little boys, they're both fascinated by Jedi history, they're seven and five, and they-"

Transfer message to Autoresponse. "We are very sorry, the Temple is not open to outside visitors. However, if you are interested in Jedi history, you may wish to consult the holodisks on the bibliography attached to this message. Also, if you are visiting Coruscant, there is an excellent exhibit at the Coruscant Museum of the Republic. We are sorry we are unable to accommodate your request, but we thank you for your interest."

Ulumkile looked longingly at the door. Five more minutes of Comm Center, and he'd be free to go. And his first stop would be the giant dining hall. Matt would be coming to relieve him soon. New message incoming.

External, external frequency. Coded Republic 12, priority green.

"Viceroy I'llugahil of Rathara is standing by to speak with Master T'al-ma'as Sho." Autotransfer, Sho external buffer, priority signal. New message incoming.

External, Jedi frequency9, coded, priority blue3. Knight Kassanay to Master Sarros. Autotransfer, Sarros internal buffer, priority signal.

External, external frequency, uncoded, no priority. Three girls, all human.

"*giggle*, um, hi, my name's, uh, Krissa? And, um, I wanted to talk to, uh, Obi-Wan Kenobi? If he's there?" More giggles, a shush. "Like, we met him when he was on Bataros, and he's like, a really, really good friend of mine?" Transfer message, Kenobi external buffer. Force, what IS it about that guy?

Ulumkile sighed. Thankfully, he didn't have to keep tabs on interior communications. He just had to lend a hand if something broke down. Which didn't happen very often. Most external communications on the Jedi frequencies didn't really get monitored, they were automatically routed to the internal network. But the hundreds of thousands of external queries needed to be monitored, and occasionally evaluated, especially the non-priority ones. Like the one incoming now.

External, external frequency, uncoded, no priority. A humanoid female, with wide, vacant eyes.

"The midichlorians," she said. "They keep speaking to me. It's because of the implant that the Sith put into me. When is the Council going to send me the lightsaber? I need to destroy the Sith." Ulumkile frowned, and quickly put a trace on the transmission. Then he bounced it back to the origin point, routing to the local division of the Medicorps. The poor thing needed help all right, but not from the Jedi.

Ulumkile suddenly frowned. Something new on the panel, overriding all the other messages in the queue. Puzzled, the young Initiate glanced over his shoulder. Mistress Veera was buried deep in the guts of some equipment. "Mistress Veera? There's something-"

She'd already overheard the shrill sound, and punched something to mute it.

"What-" began Ulumkile.

"Distress signal. It's built into your commlink, and it means someone somewhere needs help fast." She patched a transfer through to the central Holomap monitor. "We need to stand by," she explained, "it's going to be sent right back out again."

In the Holomap room, Keeval Sorrinis punched a decryption code, and the Knights in the room paused as a pinpoint of red light appeared on the map of the galaxy.

"Sector 23, Inner Rim," he said. A switch shot it through the internal Temple network to the Jedi Monitor room covering the Inner Rim. The Knights there amplified the signal.

"Colony 569," said N'xxyt. He began to pull up local maps, trying to pinpoint the signal further.

Next to him, Jake Niall split the message. "Transmit copy to Chapter House on Ikiria, copy t

 

I get first reply? I feel so honored.

This may be a simple look at "boring" temple workings, but you have a way of making even the routine entertaining.

 

Ack, Renata! Now you've got me wondering all kinds of things, such as, did the Jedi from the chapter house get to the distress signal in time, and what is happening on Colony 569? Also if Obi-Wan actually looked at that particular message? And how many of those he gets every month? That was funny! I also liked the way that Ulumkire was thinking that his next stop after his shift was going to be the great dining hall, and the way the mood in the vignette changed from silly to serious and thoughtful. Well done! Too bad you think you'll never get around to developing this.

Thanks for the heads up, by the way, and sorry about my delay in answering.

 

I really enjoyed that look at the mundane workings of the Temple. The kinds of calls that came in was an interesting taste of what they face daily. Did anyone get that emergency message on time?

 

Thank you, everyone! Alas, Rose and Jane, I have no idea how it turns out. Maybe someday the bunnies will get busy.

Personally, I think there is a story in the poor delusional lady, myself...someday, maybe...

 

I really enjoyed this one. It was off-beat, inventive and odd enough (in a very good way) to really pique my interest. I, too, would like to have found out if Colony 569's call was ever answered. But, like one of life's mysteries, I assume that we will never know...

 

Only you, Renata, could tackle an afternoon at the Temple message-routing station, turn it into a vignette, and have it come out so absorbing! In fact, I think only you would try. Describing the ordinary of the Star Wars world seems to be your particular trademark...

Okay, in short? I thought that was great! In long? I liked how you managed to show a little bit of each of the characters, even in just a single post. Your description was once again excellent, especially on such finer points as Veera being lost in cables. The few messages you showed were hilarious for being exactly the sort of thing one would expect at a place like the Temple; and the proof of Obi-Wan's attraction problems was just priceless! Poor guy.

So you had ordinary life, you had humor, and best of all (from a writing stand-point): you managed drama as well there at the end. Funny how knowing almost nothing about the signal made it seem all the more urgent, isn't it? And the last touch of them all going back to work hit dead center. There was nothing they could do, so you didn't have them try.

Good job on all the technical lingo too; where do you learn all this??

Lucy wants to know if the Temple cats have their own extension?

Kudos on a lovely little postie! Any chance of us seeing Arwen and Trett in the near future?

Sarah >^,,^<

 

Thank you, dianethx! I enjoy your posts so much in the Lab & the over 30s, I am very flattered that you enjoyed this.

And I'm glad you & Lucy liked it too, Sarah_K, even though there weren't cats. You'll be happy to know that Jane Jinn & I are collaborating on a story that started off being a short story, turned into a long story and is well on it's way to epic length. I'm also working on the "Trett as Bantha Feed" story, of his misadventures as a Padawan. If the thundershowers ever stop, I'll get more done. As it is, I'm typing with one nervous eye on the window, waiting to dive for the power off button at the first rumble.

Cats don't NEED to the Temple message system; they have their own methods of communication that they'd rather not discuss...

 

*bounces in her chair* Oh, really? Epic did you say? Trett as Bantha Feed did I hear? It all sounds great! You post, we'll read (just so long as you don't start at a time when we're out of town... *shudders at the thought*).

Cats have their own ways? *glances with raised eyebrows at her bland-faced feline* Lucy, you didn't tell me about *that* little detail. Are you trying to make me look like I don't know my own pet? Never mind, we'll talk about this when I'm done posting.

Lucy says you're too well-informed by half, but not to worry: such qualities are valued in felines.

Sarah >^,,^<

 

That was fabulous!! But, you can't just stop there! I want more. I want to know what happens to the Jedi whose com-link went off. And to the poor confused lady. And especially what happens with the workers. How they would handle the stress of not knowing what happened with the distress call.

I worked as an operator at a medical answering service for a very brief period. And the reason it was a very brief period is that I could not deal with the stress of trying to triage over the phone. We were supposed to figure out how serious it was and then either call the doctor, take a message for when they called in, or tell the caller to call 911. It was too stressfull for a teenager.

KD