009. ENEMY SPACE

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"RAXUS?"

Jacen lifted his head from his holobook at the mention of the word. Matias Pellian deflected another blow from Arimiya's saber. Although he didn't try to eavesdrop on their conversation, it was usually inevitable.

"Are you sure you heard them right?" Matias added on to his last question in confirmation. "You do realize that Raxus is located deep in Separatist space, right?"

Arimiya shot him a look that warned him to be careful of his next choice of words or the consequences may be far worse than the bruise that overshadowed his right eye. A small smile pulled at Jacen's mouth, but he did his best to hide it.

"I'm just telling you what the council told me," she retorted and swung her saber again. Matias barely deflected it, but he did only have one good eye, so it was difficult to entirely blame his form.

"I also find it a bit questionable that the council would be willing to send so many of us to the capital planet," Jacen interjected with his own opinion.

"No one asked you, Plutarch," she snapped and glared over in his direction. He frowned, she stuck out her tongue. Matias was quick to take advantage as she was distracted and regained his ground on the offensive. She released an indignant shout and her face scrunched up in frustration.

"They did say they were breaking us up into groups," Caleb pointed out and then added with a sly grin, "You're not scared of the fight, are you, Pellian?"

"No!" Matias protested adamantly as he shook his head, now distracted as his masculinity was thrown into question.

Jacen scoffed and picked his holobook back up. "You should be."

"Is that a confession, Plutarch?" Arimiya asked, clearly amused. The sparring had ceased at this point as all focus was now on their conversation.

Jacen sighed, knowing that he would regret admitting to it, but he nodded his head. "Frankly, I'm concerned if you aren't scared. This is a war. There's a chance that some of us don't come back... or any of us."

Zeraphina whimpered and Arimiya shot him a look that he knew meant 'shut up'. "Thank you for that, Plutarch, maybe next time you'll remember that some haven't experienced the field yet."

"I'm not going to sugar-coat it." Jacen rolled his eyes. "War is ugly and it's better to prepare her beforehand."

"You could be a little less blunt about it."

"I'm fine," Zeraphina timidly insisted, "I'll admit that I'm a bit nervous since this is my first off-world mission that I'll be joining Master Plo on... I'm sure we'll all be fine though."

Caleb and Matias glanced at one another as if unconvinced. But Caleb's inquisitive nature didn't let the silence linger for long. "So... who's the new master?"

Arimiya frowned. Matias failed to conceal his laughter at her sudden change in demeanor. "It can't be that bad."

Jacen chuckled under his breath and a look of realization dawned on her face. "You knew?!"

Jacen shrugged. "Master Kyd confides in me quite often."

"And you didn't tell me?" She crossed her arms.

"That is correct."

She took a step closer to him and pointed a finger at him as if it were a warning. "I will get back at you for this."

"Calm down." He rolled his eyes. "I wasn't the one in charge of reassigning you."

"Doesn't matter."

Caleb again broke the tense silence. "So, who's your master?"

"Kenobi will be training me," Arimiya said between grit teeth, but her eyes didn't leave his. Jacen maintained eye contact and the tense silence returned as their staring contest continued.

Matias clapped his hands together, clearly uncomfortable. "Well, I think that's Master Cors calling-"

"I don't hear her?" Zeraphina tilted her head in confusion.

Matias immediately shushed her. "No, no, I definitely hear her calling. She says that we need to finish up some preparations for the trip... so I best be going."

Caleb caught on and quickly nodded his head in agreement before inching backward beside Matias. "Yeah, I think Master Billaba called too."

The two each grabbed one of Zeraphina's arms and took her with them as they inched out of the room. Jacen internally realized how pointless their staring contest had become, but at this point it was a matter of pride. His colorless eyes stared into her electric blue pair. He could feel them drying out with each passing second; however, hers glistened. A second later, she directed her gaze toward the ground and turned her back to him.

"Arimiya—"

She lifted her hand to silence him and shook her head. "Just go. I don't want your pity, Plutarch."

He didn't push any further and did as she had requested. He left the room, grabbing his holobook on the way out. He muttered incoherently under his breath as he walked down the halls. He was snapped out of his thoughts as he collided with his master.

"Woah," Davin chuckled, caught off guard. "What did I say about continuing your studies out into the hall—" He stopped as he noticed the pained look that was painted onto his padawan's face. He lowered himself to the same level and placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Jacen shrugged and refused to look his master in the eye.

"You're concerned about the mission."

Jacen shrugged again, but after a beat of silence, nodded his head in agreement. "Half of those assigned the mission are inexperienced with this extent of the war and some of the others..."

"Ah." A sly smile formed on Davin's face as he rose to his feet. "This is about Padawan Delaway and her inner turmoil."

Jacen fervently shook his head to contradict his master. "Don't be foolish, Master. I just don't think that her confliction will be beneficial as I've seen how distracted she is."

"I understand." Davin nodded his head. He began to walk back down the hall, his padawan close on his heels. "You care for the well-being of your friend."

Jacen rolled his eyes. "Arimiya and I are not friends. We tolerate one another. And that's only because of the missions that we've been paired up together on when we used to accompany Master T'arcona."

"Uh huh." Davin remained unconvinced but didn't contradict the boy.

The rest of their walk toward the hangar was silent. Unlike the other padawans, Jacen had packed any necessary additional supplies hours earlier. Although most would have assumed that Davin Kyd was fairly laid back as a Jedi Master, he'd quickly taught the boy to prepare himself for almost any given situation. Unfortunately, the lesson had been taken almost too far as the boy became stiff and at times paranoid in nature.

"If you're done flirting, Diesel," Davin broke the silence as he approached the clone mechanic, "Have the final preparations been made?"

Diesel sighed with disappointment as his conversation with the pair Twi'leks had been cut short. They giggled to themselves and looked once more over their shoulders to catch Diesel give them a short wave. The mechanic called after them with hopes that they wouldn't forget him. "We'll have to catch up when I return, ladies!"

"Diesel."

"Okay, okay." The mechanic raised his hands in defense before walking back toward the ship. "Yeah, preparations have been made. Just waiting on the passengers now."

Davin nodded his head in acknowledgement. "And the rest of the squadron?"

Diesel counted each member on his fingers. "Gunnar is in the cockpit; Trigger, Brick, and Axl are in the medbay; Fang is probably off in some dark corner sharpening his vibroknives—or brooding; and Champ and Marcher are awaiting orders in the communications room... Already quite crowded if you ask me, how many others are we still waiting on?"

"Too many," Jacen muttered under his breath.

Davin opened his mouth to correct his padawan; however, he was stripped of the chance as Diesel's mouth gaped open. The mechanic shook his head almost with disbelief. "Cripes! That's a lot of Jedi."

Jacen turned his head. He was used to being surrounded by the Jedi in just about every aspect of his life; however, he could understand Diesel's surprise as the clones themselves were only introduced to two or three Jedi at a time.

The Jedi Masters walked past and boarded the ship without a glance in their direction; however, Matias leaned in close to him. He spoke in a harsh whisper, "What did you say to, Ari?"

Jacen raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"She hasn't spoken a word since we left the two of you together," Matias explained, "So, what did you say to her?"

If he hadn't been paying close enough attention, Jacen might have missed the hostility in his tone. He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say anything to her. You left and then I left maybe a minute or two later."

"I don't believe you." Matias shook his head. "You never give up the chance to say something degrading."

Jacen frowned. "I can read a situation enough to know when I should hold my tongue."

As if he had sensed the tension between the two boys, Caleb slung his arms over their shoulders and pulled them close as he walked toward the ship. "Who else is excited?!"

"To possibly be digging our own graves?"

"Ah, glad to see you packed your endless supply of optimism, Jacen," Caleb joked sarcastically. "No, I meant excited to be exploring uncharted space."

"You and your inquisitive nature." Matias shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Well, there's also bound to be some action."

"It's a recon assignment," Jacen interjected to correct Caleb, "Not some joyride through enemy territory."

Diesel scoffed as he walked by the boys. "Might want to rethink that since the unlucky-o-seventh are joining us." He immediately tripped as the words left his mouth.

Arimiya stormed past and Jacen had a feeling that she may have had something to do with why the clone had tripped over air. Zeraphina bounced on her toes either from excitement, nervousness, or an extreme combination of both and followed closely at Arimiya's side. Moments later, the five of them joined the other Jedi within the communications room.

Commander Champion, of his own Phoenix Squadron, 336th battalion, stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Now that we're all present, I suppose it would be best to delve straight into our strategy."

The ship's engine roared to life and seemed to agree with the clone commander as the course was set for deep in Separatist space.