.5 Anduil Siron was fiddling with the lightsaber he was trying to create when a shock hit the shuttle as if it had been hit. Anduil’s eyes darted toward the cabin in front of the shuttle but he felt the furry wookie hand of Jedi Master Beserek on his shoulder. "Calm yourself, Anduil. We just came out of Hyperspace." Anduil nodded and returned his dead down to look at his lightsaber. He couldn’t bear to bring his face to look on Ikeeriot. He was angry with Anduil for some reason, and sarcastic remarks aside, Ikeeriot rarely let his anger go past petty annoyance. He’s going to be a Knight soon enough. I don’t know what he’s so angry about. Maybe it’s just that he’s worried about Master Uban. Anduil rolled his eyes at himself. He’s just mad at me. I have to focus on this though, or the only thing I’ll manage to do is cut my fingers off with the blade. The hilt of the lightsaber was metallic gray and when he sat with it on his leg, it stretched from his waist to his knee. "You plan to wield a double-sided lightsaber?" Jedi Master Orsin Beserek asked, astonished. "Are you sure you should be doing this so . .early in your Knighthood?" "When did you decide to use two lightsabers in battle, Master Beserek?" Anduil counted calmly. He tweaked the focusing crystal just a bit . . and there! "Point taken." Beserek grumbled in his trademark wookie growl. Anduil stood up and looked around the shuttle before he decided to press the ignite button on his lightsaber. A few Rodians, a Twi’lek and a padawan Human looking at him. Ikeeriot watched his friend’s lightsaber carefully and hoped for the best. Anduil pressed both the buttons on his lightsaber. Two green blades splashed out of the gray cylinder, equal in length from the hilt’s opening. Beserek was clapping lightly and the rest of the people in the shuttle watched with frightened curiosity, suddenly wondering if they’d done something wrong. "Do you think this situation might be dangerous enough for Master Uban to call in the Paladins in for help?" Ikeeriot asked Beserek. Beserek shrugged his hairy shoulders. "Perhaps you should meditate on it, if you feel that strongly of the situation." Ikeeriot cast a glance back at his friend’s ignited lightsaber. "I’m just saying, he might foresee something else that could be happening if he wanted all of us there on Xolatis." Beserek nodded slowly and thoughtfully. "Perhaps that is the case." "So why not call more of the Order to our aid? Why not send for a Councilman?" Ikeeriot asked. Beserek shook his head. "Ordinarily I’m sure such a Master’s requests would be deemed neccassary, but since the war we cannot spare any more of our Order’s Masters then we need to. The war with the Mandalorians is hurting our numbers, and if there isn’t a decisive victory soon, I fear there never will be." Ikeeriot cocked his head in fascination. "Have you communed with the Force on this?" Beserek nodded silently. "Why haven’t you alerted the council then?" Ikeeriot asked. Anduil shut off his lightsaber and sat down next to Beserek and started to fiddle with the instruments inside his lightsaber again. "My vision was very clouded, young Ikeeriot. I’m not sure what it meant. All I know is that something is coming. Something . ." He decided not to finished his statement. Another day, he thought cautiously. "In any event, if the Paladins step in, that will undoubtedly mean half of the JWJ will too. They are always a joint venture, as far as I know." "Aren’t the Paladins already supposed to be stepping in with something like forty-five local systems outside of the Core that are in political conflict? How could they spare more soldiers?" "They are Jedi like any of us, Anduil. There’s no need to tarnish that title by giving them another . .they’re not soldiers." Beserek growled back. "Master, they’re the Jedi that we can’t control and the whole Order knows this." Anduil replied evenly. "No, Anduil." Beserek said. His voice was a durosteel wall that slammed right into his former apprentice. "They are the most oriented to combat. We do not control anyone." "Perhaps I exaggerated, but those who join the Paladins or JWJ must have some similar reasons for leaving the Order and pursuing . .a more combat oriented way of life." The wookie named Orsin nodded. "You are correct, but if the Force calls to them in that way . .so be it." "What of the Sith then?" Ikeeriot spoke up. Beserek and Anduil turned their heads to regard him in unison. "What of them?" Beserek replied. "If the Paladins are to take a more aggressive form of the Jedi way, then what’s to stop them from learning the ways of the old Sith and taking up their torch? They could provoke civil war within our ranks easily." Beserek looked both surprised and relieved. "You are smarter then you look, Padawan Ikeeriot." "Thanks." Ikeeriot said dryly, rolling his eyes. "Truly, I do not mean to offend you. I hadn’t thought that they might tip into the Dark Side of the Force if left untended, but perhaps that is why my thoughts are clouded lately. Perhaps the Dark Side is growing once more." "You’re not serious?" Anduil asked, narrowing his eyes. Beserek nodded. "It could be. We should be watchful in any event." "It’s not like people haven’t questioned the Paladin and their allies in JWJ before now!" Anduil exclaimed, exhausted with the conversation. "Patience." Ikeeriot said calmly, taking an odd day to quote a Jedi maxim. "Obviously we’re not here to solve any problems we might have with the Paladins or any other segment of the Order." Beserek noted. "We’re here to help Lord Darchind and the dispute he has with some revolutionaries." Anduil and Ikeeriot agreed with nods. The shuttle was landing, the underbelly of the thing was shuddering as the landing claws extended outward to connect with the ground of Xolatis.