randomplaces | Wanderers 1. First Awakening. Chapter 3

"I assure you, Master Mundi, these people are no threat," said Mace evenly, biting back a smile as he felt Zipporah move against his chest and heard the faint smacking as she sucked on her fist.

"Still," Mundi replied, "it is entirely abnormal for people to appear in the Temple, claiming to be from other worlds. How do we know that they are no threat?" He folded his arms.

Mace sighed. "Have we forgotten how to use the Force in this time of war? All it would take would be one look at them and it would be clear that they present no danger to us."

"When bring an infant with them visitors do, clear it is that hostile, their intentions are not," noted Yoda, giving the dark-skinned Jedi a knowing look from under his eyelids. "Doubtful it is, that a threat they present."

"True," noted Adi Gallia softly, her piercing blue eyes thoughtful.

"But none of us can sense the one," noted another Jedi, his bearded face creased in an uneasy frown.

Mace looked down at the floor as he remembered the prickling sensation he'd felt more than once the day before, and the skill of the tiny girl with the lilac hair. "Mykayla is the least likely to be a threat of all of them, Master Kenobi."

"It doesn't make sense, Mace," Depa Billaba ventured, her voice serene. "Why would we not see her in the Force?"

"She's not invisible," Mace said. "Sadri has come close to sensing her, and claims that Mykayla is being shielded by a Power that is even beyond that of the Force."

"Great power there is, yes," noted Yoda softly, his ears twitching. "But compassion as great as well. Sensed it, I have. A friend, He is. To fear Him we need not."

"He?" Obi-Wan turned to him sharply.

"Mykayla calls this Power her Master." Mace shifted in his chair with a slight grunt as Zipporah headbutted him in the chest hard enough to knock the breath out of his lungs.

Kit Fisto spoke up. "It sounds like the religion of the Zasfin on Alderaan. At least that is the closest analogue I can think of for it."

Mace nodded again, breathing carefully and resisting the urge to rub the baby's back. "That is as far as our knowledge can go to explain it."

"From here, they are not," Yoda insisted. "To assume that everything about them we understand is foolish. Analogous to that of the Zasfin Mykayla's beliefs may be, but identical to them they are not."

"Then where are they from?" asked Ki-Adi Mundi, cocking his domed head toward the little green being.

"Another galaxy, at least," Yoda intoned. "Attest to being from another universe, they all do. Believe them, I do on this matter."

"And Mykayla's Master brought them here?" asked Obi-Wan Kenobi, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, eyes intent.

"Yes," rumbled Mace softly, remembering the story that the girl had told.

"Why?" asked Plo Koon unexpectedly.

"Know, they do not," said Yoda, looking toward the ceiling, then glancing at Mace as the Korun gave a nearly invisable twitch. "But for learning, Mykayla has suggested."

"Learning what?" asked Obi-Wan.

"What they need to survive in this place?" suggested Jai Maruk, quirking an eyebrow.

"We are to learn from them, perhaps," said Yoda. "Until the reason for their arrival becomes clear, assume we will that these wanderers pose no threat. Concluded this meeting is. May the Force be with us all."

Mace remained seated as the other council members filed out of the room, then sighed in relief and rubbed the bump under his robes. "Thank you, my friend."

"Welcome, you are." Yoda smiled, his ears twitching as he turned his attention to something outside the room. Then he eyed Mace, who seemed oddly distracted. "Master Windu. Sense something I do in the courtyard."

"Oh?" The Korun Jedi looked up, then stirred as a squeak came from under his robe. "What is it?"

Yoda shook his head, silently admonishing him for his distraction. "Perhaps investigate it, you should. A matter that requires your attention, it is."

"I was aware of everything in the council room," said Mace easily, getting to his feet and wondering what he was going to have to reprove Sadri for this time. "I'll see you at Dinner."

"Rest assured you must be that concern Knight Oboa, this matter does not." Yoda chuckled heartily, then smiled and nodded farewell.

Mace paused to quirk an eyebrow at him, but then turned and strode from the room.

"They're human, aren't they?" asked Obi-Wan, falling into step with him.

"Yes," said Mace absently, reaching out with his senses and speeding up slightly as he felt his arms prickle. "Though different from the ones we know."

"Are any of them Force sensitive?"

Mace paused and gave him a bemused look. "I'm afraid that I have to attend to something at the moment. Could we continue this conversation later?"

Obi-Wan chuckled and turned to walk away. "Sure, Master Windu. Go distract her before she gets into trouble again."

Mace quirked an eyebrow and continued toward the courtyard, his gaze going automatically toward the bench near the door as he entered.

Sadri looked back at him questioningly, then scooped another spoonful of pie into the little boy who'd appeared the night before-Zach-'s mouth. "Come for the show?"

"Show?" Mace regestered the sudden ring of metal on metal and turned toward it, then started and stared.

Ramada and Mykayla were locked in a battle that was several times more heated than the one he'd watched the day before. The dark-skinned woman was brandishing a long, slightly curved sword as though she'd been born with it in hand. Mykayla had her crutches out again, using them to deflect Ramada's barrage of attacks.

The lilac-haired girl was exceptional, but viewing Ramada at work was like a blow to the head. He watched them bounce all about the courtyard, weapons moving with blinding speed. And then suddenly the two of them were locked in a parry. Ramada's sword groaned under the pressure put on it, but she simply planted her back foot and leaned into the direction of the blade, effectively creating a stalemate.

Mace almost cried out to warn her when Mykayla's second crutch came around to hit her in the side, but he was struck speechless. For Ramada changed. Her midsection became vaguely transparent and the crutch simply sailed through her.

Her instinct, her reflexes.

He remembered Obi-Wan asking if any of them were Force-sensitive. He'd felt it in Ramada, but wasn't certain to what degree. The scope of her power was now painfully obvious, though he still couldn't fully read it past the aura of Mykayla's Master that reached out from her to envelope her friend.

He started as Zipporah stirred, then shuffled over and sat beside Sadri without taking his eyes off the battle.

"...Yeah," he managed to say.

Sadri smiled. "She's better than we thought she'd be, isn't she?" She nodded her head in Ramada's general direction. "I've never seen something like that before. It's amazing."

"But she's out of control...." stammered Mace. To him, someone with Force sensitivity that was not trained as a Jedi was something to be feared.

"She is most definitely not out of control," countered Sadri, spooning more pie into Zach's mouth. "Look at her. She knows exactly what she's doing. Her mind is clear and focused. That is the best example of control I've seen in anyone. Jedi or no Jedi."

Mace watched with a silent frown of wonder as he absently soothed the baby in his robe. Then his eyes widened as Ramada's whole form went nebulous and reformed, his teeth smashing down on his lower lip as the dark woman swung what should have been a killing blow at Mykayla's back.

His mouth fell open as laughter rang through the courtyard. "She's laughing?"

"Uh huh. She does it a lot." Sadri shook her head and blinked, then gave a chortle of her own. "Look at that."

"I...am...." Mace felt a thrill go down his back. "Learning...."

"Eh?" Sadri cocked an eye at him.

"Some of the council members were wondering what these wanderers had come to learn," he said absently. "Master Yoda suggested that perhaps we were to learn from them...." His mouth fell open as Mykayla executed a complicated, twisting series of somersaults without ever touching her feet or hands to the ground. He could see that it was only the effort of a well-trained body, but still, the deadly grace of it took his breath away. And Ramada....

"Breath." Sadri offered him a spoonful of pie.

Mace ignored it. "I've never seen a human do such things, mutant or not. I think we need to understand this 'X gene' a little better."

"I got one of them," Zach piped up, grinning toothlessly. "God used it to fix me when I was dead."

The dark Korun Master cocked an eye at him, then glanced down at the baby in his robe before a shout of triumph from Ramada snapped his gaze back to the battle in time to see the taller girl envaloping her tiny friend in a bear hug as Mykayla's clear laughter rang out again.

Sadri looked down at the spoonful of pie she'd offered Mace and shrugged, then ate it herself before spooning some more for Zach. "Mykayla said it caused unusual and unexpected characteristics." The little boy's comment didn't faze her much; after all that she had seen in these two very busy days, more people coming back to life after being well and thoroughly dead wasn't worth a gasp over. She smiled to herself as Mykayla and Ramada wrapped up their fight with good-natured banter and moveded toward the bench where she, Mace, and Zach were sitting. Zach ambled down from the bench and made a beeline for Mykayla, but Sadri's attention was focused on Ramada.

"Very good," the Jedi said. "That phase change. Is that your...ability?"

Ramada smiled. "Of course. We all have a different one. I shapeshift, David is a walking lighter and...how'd you describe what it is you do, Mykey?"

"Zap," said the girl softly from where she sat on the floor holding Zach and untying her lavender boots. "I arrest the cellular processes till the subject is rendered weak or unconcious."

"Wow! You sound as nerdy as Aunty Mady!" said Zach approvingly.

Sadri raised an eyebrow. "That's neat. And what's this about you being a nerd, Ramada?"

The Indian woman was laughing. "Well, back...where we came from, I was a biochemist."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Biochemistry...." Sadri grinned. "Does that have anything to do with genetics?"

"Sometimes." Ramada shrugged. "Why?"

"I wasn't on a drunkin' blender...BENDER!" David's voice drowned out the blond Jedi's reply. "I was on a FACT FINDING mission.... Wow, that was some burp, Leeroy."

"Thanks, his name was Joey."

"You name your freaking burps?"

"Sure. A guy can't have too many friends."

"Looked like a drunken bender to me."

"I was gathering information!"

"So were we."

"You're as #$+&faced as me."

"No...I can stand straighter."

"You're leaning on Ven."

"Tell me some information you gathered, Davie."

"Sadri wears a 32B.... Leeroy, why the #$+& did you tell me that?"

"Oh no..." groaned Mace softly, hiding his face with one hand.

"We've been pied," said Sadri under her breath, rolling her eyes.

"Pied?" asked Ramada cautiously, eyeing her fiancé as he took a swing at the head of one of his companions and nearly wound up on the ground.

"Good save, Scrat!" The one name Leeroy burped again. "Oh, there was Mace."

Mace growled.

"Of all the people he could have found...." Sadri sighed. "Okay, Ramada. Crash course in scientific ethics in this particular galaxy. Are you familiar with cloning at all?"

"Yeah, we cloned a sheep. Some cows. Few pigs.... Why?" Ramada eyeballed the newcomers, each of whom were dressed in identical suits of armour, complete with full-face helmets.

"Okay," Sadri chewed on her bottom lip. "We took the next step. We cloned a man."

"You did what?" Ramada's eyes went wide and her voice fell to a monotone.

"And then we cloned him a few miliion times. These four idiots are...what the #$+& were you doing?!" Sadri left the sputtering biochemist and walked over to rap firmly on the helmet of one of the four.

"You know, that hurts!" a voice from within it complained.

"Be #$+&ing glad I don't hit you somewhere else! Let me guess, the Chancellor got weirded out by our visitors and demanded that you fools check them out." Sadri was just as tall as all four of them, and seemed to know exactly what to do to make them cower.

"That's...accurate." David raised a finger. "They found me in a bar."

"Which bar?"

"The Seven something somethings."

Sadri groaned. "A Corellian bar. Oh joy. Alright. Let's everyone remove our headgear and sit down and talk about what we've learned then. And Leeroy - I'm NOT a 32B. Sorry to burst your bubble."

"But...Ven said..." Leeroy was promptly put into a headlock by one of his comrades.

"I said nothing." Ven shrugged and took off his helmet.

Ramada, still struggling with Sadri's earlier proclamation, now found herself staring at four identical looking, but clearly very different men. "Clones?" she whispered. "How the &#+$ did they do that?"

"I don't know, but they did, and now here they are." Sadri pointed firmly to a spot on the courtyard cobbles.

"Hi," was all Ramada could say as she moved over to sit obediently.

"Hey...lady." Leeroy grinned at her, then wobbled as David punched him in the head. "Hey! That was too hard!"

"That's my wife to be, you #$+&," growled the Jewish man, eyes narrowed dangerously as he swayed from side to side.

Leeroy looked at Sadri, who was giving him a carefully calculated death glare. "Ah, uh...sorry." He looked at the floor, clearly embarrased.

"My name's Ramada," said the Indian woman, finding her voice as Mykayla settled next to her. "David, there's really no need. So. What's going on?"

"I think we'd all like to know," muttered Sadri, settling down on the floor. "Basically these guys are part of the army, and they're theoretically under my command - although this certainly didn't happen because I said so." She sighed. "Mykayla, Ramada, Zach, meet Pi Squad."

"Oh crud, don't start giggling," growled David, his swaying growing more pronounced.

Mykayla frowned at him, then went back to grinning from ear to ear as she glanced from Ven to Sadri.

Zach retrieved the pie from the bench next to Mace, then came and plopped himself in the blond Jedi's lap, twisting to look up at her.

"Are you gonna marry him?" he whispered, so softly that she more read than heard the words.

"Not sure yet," Sadri said in the same way, concealing her sudden embarrassment with a broad grin. Then she turned to the others. "Yep. Good ol' commandos. In theory, they have designations but those are stupid so we've got Jav, Ven, Leeroy, and Scrat." Each of the men nodded in turn as they sat down.

"So what exactly were you sent to find out?" Ramada asked.

"Who you were, and why you were here." Ven shrugged.

"You know, typical stuff," added Leeroy, looking a lot more stable now that he was sitting on the ground. "Ow!"

"Armor pinched?" Jav didn't look at him.

"When doesn't it?" Leeroy scowled, then turned a hopeful grin toward Mykayla. "Are you marrying anyone?"

She looked at him blankly, then pushed to her feet and crutched over to sit beside Mace, holding out her arms for the now whimpering Zipporah.

"Burn!" chortled David.

"Bite me, lush."

"Who you callin' a lush?"

"Sheesh, you bantha brains." Sadri shook her head apologetically. "Sorry about that, Mykayla.... So the Chancellor wanted to know about these guys?"

"Yep." Jav nodded.

"And you're going to tell him...."

"There's no threat." The soldier rolled his eyes. "Clearly."

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded David, scowling.

"Relax," said Sadri. "It's just that you aren't terrorists or Seps or whatever. But I have to ask why it necessitated Leeroy getting loaded?"

"It wasn't supposed to," said Ven.

"It was only one drink!" David snorted.

"Well, when you don't drink, one drink can do enough." Sadri shook her head.

"What's a bantha brain?" asked Zach, sticking his finger into the pie.

"Never mind," said Ven quickly, looking embarrassed.

"More like Bantha gut, the way Leeroy eats," said Jav, smirking.

Sadri slapped him in the back of the head without looking, then glanced over at Mykayla in time to see the girl take a bottle from the flat rectangular disk that hung at her belt and put it to Zipporah's mouth. Making a note to herself to investigate the disk as soon as possible, she turned back to Ramada. "Any more questions?"

The dark woman shifted nervously, looking at each member of the squad in turn. For some reason, these men and their clear individuality made the scientist in her quiet down. "I'm sorry if this is rude," she said, "but I have to know. How'd they do it?"

"You mean us?" Scrat looked up, speaking for the first time since the meeting had begun. "Somatic cell nuclear transfer."

Ramada smiled at him, and he blushed and looked away. "That's incredible. And all of you, the same way?"

"They altered the genetic information, but more or less, yeah, that's how it's done."

"Impressive." She chuckled.

Zach considered the pie, then flipped a glob of the fluffy pink topping onto David's jacket and got up to transfer himself to Scrat's lap. "Can I wear your helmet?"

"You little..." David caught Ramada's eye and broke off. "Um...good aim?"

Scrat looked completely confused to find a little boy sitting on him. He looked to Sadri for guidance.

She grinned. "Go ahead. Just don't let it fall on his head."

"Okay, kid," the clone said quietly, lifting his helmet so that Zach could see inside.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the toddler, his voice sounding distant. "This is awesome!" Scrat grinned and leaned over, whispering to him about the various controls and displays that it offered.

"What does he see in there?" Ramada asked Ven.

"Just about everything. System readouts, temperature controls. You can access various bits of data within it. It's useful, but does lose its novelty after awhile."

Zach giggled suddenly at something Scrat had said and leaned out from under the helmet, having had his adventure. "Everyone was red!" Then he put his hands over his mouth. "Look, Mr. Scrat, your brother went to sleep, 'n he's droolin'!"

David turned to look, then blinked from where he suddenly lay with his head in Ramada's lap. "Um...?"

"It's alright, dear. But you really should get some sleep." She looked down at him with a bemused expression on her face.

An awkward silence fell over the group as everyone tried not to look.

Then Zach gave a gleeful crow and one of his flying leaps, landing square in the center of David's stomach.

The Jewish man folded up like a shrimp, blistering the air with invective, then pulled himself to his feet and wobbled out of the courtyard.

"Wow, that was great!" Zach chortled and returned to his spot on Scrat.

"Mercy," commented Mykayla softly from the bench.

Scrat was frozen, a look of incredulity on his face as the toddler sat down again. Then a quiet chuckle of laughter escaped him. It grew in volume until the soldier was laughing almost hysterically.

"Silly," said Sadri, smiling at Zach. "Anyway, Force knows that if they find out you're having a social circle here, they'll boot your butts into next year...."

"Aw, we were just getting started," said Jav with a wink. "It doesn't matter anyway, we're actually starting our R and R tomorrow."

"They gave you guys a break?"

"Sal asked them to, and they said we get three days." Ven shrugged. "She's strange like that."

"Wait - Sal's a girl?" Sadri made a face. "The way you talked about her, I always thought she was a guy."

"A pretty girl." Jav grinned evilly. "Long black hair, bright blue eyes, and the weirdest accent you ever heard."

Ramada and Mykayla shared glances.

"Is she short?" asked Ramada. "Like, only just about five feet tall?"

"Oh, she's short." Jav nodded. "But loud. And she's beat the snot out of every one of us at least three times. She made us who we are, basically."

Ramada laughed. "If she made you guys into who you are.... I think I just might know her."

"I'd forgotten her," breathed Mykayla, tucking Zipporah into her sling and crutching over to sit next to her friend. "She's been going from place to place longer than we have, Mady!"

Ramada blinked, her red-white-and-blue eyes widening as she realized the truth of the shorter girl's words. "Me too. I wonder if David remembers the night she got he and Bran roaring drunk and burned down the old stables?"

Mykayla blinked, then shook her head. "I don't think so. Oh, I wonder how she is?"

"Where is she now, Jav?" Ramada turned to the clone.

He shrugged. "Somewhere around Coruscant, I hear. But I'm not entirely sure."

"Any way you could find out?" Ramada and Mykayla exchanged excited glances. "I mean, if you don't mind...."

Jav grinned. "Sure, I can do that. It's no problem. But I think we've got to be heading out now...." He watched Ven helping a semiconscious Leeroy to his feet and sighed. "We're going to get in trouble for this...."

Mykayla giggled suddenly and got to her knees to put a hand on the drooping soldier's forehead. "In the name of Jesus, be healed."

Sadri meeped and fell over, and Ven glanced toward her with wide eyes, then looked down as his brother shook his head and pushed him away irritably.

"I can stand up without you treating me like a sack of bantha fodder!" he growled.

Ramada looked from Sadri to Ven, and back again. Oh. A lot of things make sense all of a sudden. Suddenly feeling very old, she chuckled to herself and then decided that it was high time to leave.

"You know," she said suddenly. "Maybe we should head back and give Zach a bath or something? He's wearing half of that cherry pie."

"What... was that?" asked Jav, clearly on the defensive, his hand on the gun at his hip.

"It's fine," said Ramada, squelching her grin at the alarm in the man's dark eyes.

"Hey, where's Master Window going?" wondered Leeroy, absently rubbing his arms.

"What did you do?" asked Ven softly.

"Nothing," said Mykayla serenely. "My Master did it. He won't hurt you."

"He's good!" crowed Zach from where he sat on Scrat's hip, his grin matching the quiet clone's.

"You do need a bath." Mykayla wrinkled her nose at him.

He grinned adorably and wriggled free, then grabbed her arm and tugged gently. "Let's hug Mr. Scrat, Mykey."

Mykayla shook her head at him, then got up and crutched over to wrap her arms gently around the tall soldier's armored form, her smile suddenly fading as she caught a sad note from God. -Oh dear. What's wrong?-

Ramada smiled as she got to her feet and watched the siblings embrace Scrat. For some reason it made her sad to see it. Sadri's remarks about ethics gave her the impression that these men were not free citizens. She sighed and decided to ask her about it.

She leaned over to Jav and whispered, "I feel that it's necessary to say thanks."

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Why?"

Ramada wasn't smiling. "Somehow I get the impression that nobody's ever thanked you before."

He didn't reply, only touched his fingers to his head in a salute and joined the rest of his group.

Mykayla crutched slowly to Ramada's side. "It's not right," she said softly, watching the four men take their leave of the courtyard.

"No, it's not," said Sadri as she got to her feet and lifted Zach into her arms, her eyes lingering on the spot on the pavement where one of the dark-haired soldiers had sat.