Chapter 4

Obi-Wan's mind spun with all of the information he had been given. Thoughts collided and rebounded off of each other as he tried to organize them into a reasonable order. The datacard in his hand said to be ready to leave that evening, so he turned right from the cafeteria and headed for his quarters. Taking swift strides down the hallway, his cloak billowed behind him as he tried not to think of what the other Jedi had said may be the cause of the problems. As he turned the corner to another hallway, he heard the rapid approach of footsteps behind him. He turned around with his arms in front of him, just managing to cushion most of the blow as Anakin careened around the corner and crashed into him.

Anakin let out a slight oomph as he landed in Obi-Wan's arms. After regaining his balance, he quickly stood up and straightened his sand-colored tunic. "What happened, Master?" he eagerly questioned, his eyes wide and sparkling with curiosity. "What did they say to you?"

"They said you should go pack your things," Obi-Wan answered.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that in about one standard time part we'll be leaving for the planet Alonia."

"We're actually going somewhere? Wizard! . . Oh, uh . . . not that my lessons are boring or anything," Anakin tried to recover.

Laughing out loud, Obi-Wan patted the boy on the shoulder. "That's all right. Just go and pack what you need."

"Alright!" Anakin cheered, and raced ahead to his room.

Obi-Wan smiled and walked down the hallway for the Jedi Knights. All of the hallways were divided up, with different hallways for different levels of Jedi. If a Knight had a Padawan learner, then their rooms were usually on the same floor. Obi-Wan thought about Anakin's response to their mission and found himself smiling at the boy's enthusiasm. He and Cort will probably get along just fine.

Cort Raifen was the type of person that was impossible to forget. He loved a good adventure, and due to his mischievous nature, he usually found one to occupy himself with. He was a Force adept and had received lessons from Qui-Gon Jinn whenever he and Obi-Wan visited. He was a gifted learner and a spirited fighter. Qui-Gon had allowed Obi-Wan and Cort to duel with each other, and Obi-Wan still had yet to see someone who could handle a lightsaber as well as Cort. He remembered Qui-Gon saying that he had never seen anyone with such skill for saber dueling. I wonder if he's learned anything else since Qui-Gon's lessons?

It was because of Cort's free-spirited nature, though, that Obi-Wan could not imagine him as the leader of a planet. "If I had only one wish in the whole universe," Cort had once said, "I'd use it to wish that I could fly. And I don't mean with wings, Ben. I'd want to be able to just jump off a cliff and soar through the sky. Wouldn't that be great?" Cort had smiled and stretched out his arms, as if he wanted to grab a cloud and pull it out of the sky. Obi-Wan hadn't known what he would have wished for then. I don't think I know now, either, he smiled.

Upon reaching his door, Obi-Wan keyed in his identification and entered as the metal door slid to the side. Walking in, he took of his brown Jedi cloak and threw it on his bed. Outside his window, the sun was setting on Coruscant. He had a small balcony, and liked to walk out on it to simply view the day as it was winding down. Come to think of it, though, he thought to himself, the day never really winds down on Coruscant. People just keep on coming and going. It's no wonder that the airbuses are manned by droids. Lights all over the massive city were coming on as their sensors detected that dusk was settling. Obi-Wan stretched out his arms and then walked back inside as the residents of Coruscant continued to bustle around through the crowded airways outside.

Obi-Wan reached into his small closet and pulled out a simple, gray satchel. He never needed to pack much. He really did not have many possessions, but then most Jedi living quarters were pretty sparse, with the occasional few personal objects here or there. Into his satchel, he put an extra cloak, some extra power cells for his lightsaber, a comlink, Republic credits, some reading material on Jedi exercises for Cort, and a few other small necessities. The datacard from Mace Windu he pocketed. After taking one last look around his room to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, he put his cloak back on, shouldered the satchel, and walked out the door.

Looking up to check the chronometer in the hallway, he walked towards Anakin's room, hoping that the boy was ready by now. When he entered the young Padawan's room however, he was dismayed to find that Anakin was anything but ready. Unlike other Jedi's quarters, Anakin's room had crates stacked here and there, filled with wiring, bolts, and other mechanical or machine-related objects. Anakin was dashing around his room throwing things into a bag, stopping momentarily to throw a slightly embarrassed grin at his teacher. A stout, cylindrical, little droid trailed after the boy, and swiveled his dome to chirp a hello at Obi-Wan as well.

Obi-Wan nodded his head at Anakin's droid companion and then turned his attention toward his student. "Anakin, what exactly are you bringing?" he inquired.

"Well, I thought I might need my hydrospanner and I just got this really neat book on how to build a swoop bike. And I thought that I should bring . . ."

"Whoa!" Obi-Wan said, holding up his hands with a smile. "You're not going to have time for all of that. Bring only what you need." He lifted up his satchel to demonstrate.

"That's all you're bringing?" Anakin asked in astonishment. Then he looked at the mess on his bed and sighed. "All right, give me a second and I'll be ready." R2-D2 beeped at Anakin as if wanting to know how he could help.

"That's all right, Artoo. You better just stay put. You can't come along this time," Anakin explained to his small friend with a pat on the top of his dome.

"Actually," Obi-Wan said after thinking about their resources for a minute, "he can come. We might be able to use him. Finish packing and meet me at the northern docking bay."

"Alright, I'll be right there!" Anakin called after Obi-Wan as his Master turned and exited the boy's room.

Walking down the hall towards the lift, Obi-Wan smiled and thought to himself again that yes, Cort and Anakin would get along just fine.