PART 2 - The Shadows, Three Jedi, Two Minbari Warrior Caste, and a Wormhole
by Sunraven, Oct 1999
Obi-Wan got them to agree to let him walk in front of his two Masters as they left the ship as a kind of honor guard.
Yoda saw him fondling his light saber and said testily, "Need that you will not, Obi-Wan."
"It's better to be ready, Master Yoda."
"Difference there is between preparedness and belligerence, Padawan. Learn to tell the difference between them. Important, it is during a first contact situation."
"Yes Master Yoda." But he still led the way with his jaw jutting and his hand on his light saber.
Qui-Gon looked at his master and said sotto voice, "He is trustworthy, my Master, even if he seems a bit excitable. He won't cause an incident."
"Remember, I do, when you were that age, Qui-Gon. Terrified was I that an interstellar war would be started a few times because of your fondness for your light saber." He whispered back.
Misunderstanding him, Qui-Gon replied, "I told you, Master Yoda, it was the daughter of the Pasha of Kerine who seduced me, not the other way around!"
"Your other light saber, my apprentice."
Qui-Gon eyed his master thoughtfully. Was the overly serious Dagoban Jedi actually making a joke? He sighed. No matter how many times he was promoted, he would still be "my apprentice" to Master Yoda.
"Time to go out, it is."
They walked out into an enormous bay. The people waiting for them were all dressed in black with shell-like coverings over their heads. The one in front of the rest appeared to be the leader. He had on metal and cloth armor which looked quite heavy. He stood there caressing something cylindrical that looked like a weapon and regarded them suspiciously.
Obi-Wan came up to him first. His body stance had changed from belligerence to respect and wariness. This quickly changed to defensiveness after the first words that left the alien's lips.
"Do you allow children to protect your leaders, then?"
If Qui-Gon had not stepped up and answered for his Padawan, the peace might have been very short lived.
"He is my apprentice, and he was granted the honor of first contact. May I have your name?"
"Why would you want my name? Don't you have one of your own?"
Hold on to your temper Qui-Gon. They don't know what Jedi are here, where ever this is, he told himself. "My apologies. That is a phrase in our language asking to be informed of a person's name. It was not supposed to be taken literally."
Suddenly a sad shadow quickly passed over the warrior's face, and then was gone so fast that Qui-Gon thought he might have imagined it. One thing was for sure, though. This was undoubtedly a very experienced warrior, with the stain of many deaths in his eyes.
"I once knew one of your race who said phrases much the same as that." Then his eyes hardened. "Surrender your weapons for inspection!" He looked pointedly at the light sabers on the two Humans' belts.
Obi-Wan looked at Qui-Gon with concern. The Master held out his hand and said, "Obi-Wan?"
"But Master..."
"Now, my Padawan." He said firmly.
Obi-Wan was trained too well to disobey that tone of voice. "Yes, sir." He reluctantly handed it to him, then Qui-Gon handed them both to the warrior. The warrior looked down at Master Yoda and asked, "Are you weaponless then? Why? Are you some kind of Priest?" He said the word "priest" like it was an obscenity.
Master Yoda hobbled up to the warrior and looked him in the eyes. Neroon was the first to look away, to his annoyance.
"To assume defenselessness because of no external weapons is unwise. Protect myself I can."
Instead of answering, Neroon looked Obi-Wan's light saber over. "These are energy propellant devices? How are they activated?"
Qui-Gon reached out his hand. "They are laser swords, not blasters. I will show you if you like. Do not be afraid."
That got a major bristle out him. Neroon was very good at bristling. "I'm Warrior Caste. Fear is not something that concerns me."
Qui-Gon only answered serenely, "Then someday I hope you will learn wisdom. Shall I show you how that works?"
Neroon looked at the Human for a moment. There should be no danger in having him demonstrate the weapon. There were eight warriors here to their three. And the Shi-Alyt did tell him to be courteous to their guests. He finally handed it back to the tall Human. He was almost as tall as War Leader Shakiri. "Show me, Human. But do not try anything."
Qui-Gon activated the light saber suddenly. Almost instantaneously and simultaneously eight denn'boks were uncompressed in startled response. Slowly the Jedi Master deactivated the light saber and handed it back to the warrior.
"That is how it works." Fortunately for Qui-Gon, he kept his expression totally serious.
A bit more respect showing in his eyes, Neroon said, "Come with me and I will show you to temporary quarters."
Neroon led them to the VIP guest quarters and showed them in. "You may refresh yourselves here, and I will have food suitable to your species brought to you as well. The Shi-Alyt will see you after you are refreshed. The repairs on your ship were begun as soon as we left."
He turned to leave, though he felt strangely reluctant to. He hadn't seen a Human since leaving the peace talks. Terra, I miss you! The thought and the inner hurt that accompanied it came, unbidden and unwelcome as usual, to his mind. As he neared the door, he stopped and turned toward the "guests". "I am Alyt Neroon of the Star Riders Clan."
Qui-Gon picked up on the complement Alyt Neroon was paying them by sharing his name. "I am Master Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn. This is my Master, Senior Master Jedi Yoda, and the youthful one here is my apprentice, Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Neroon gave a brief nod to them.
Yoda decided to find out more about their "hosts". He waddled up to Neroon and asked, "Curious about your weapon, am I. Examine it, may I?"
Neroon looked down at the small being suspiciously. Then his visage relaxed. "You are very small to handle a denn'bok. They can be dangerous if not properly handled. The last non-Minbari I showed one to nearly pierced my stomach by accident. And she was at least two feet taller than you."
Oh, oh! Obi-Wan looked at Qui-Gon for a second. The stranger was in trouble now. Nobody got away with commenting on Master Yoda's size.
Master Yoda pulled himself up to his entire three feet height. "Judge me by my size do you? That is unwise, for my ally is the Force!" And suddenly he seemed to grow huge.
Startled, Neroon willed himself not to step back, but he added with a little more respect, "You may inspect my denn'bok if you wish, old one (the translation of a younger Minbari respectfully addressing an older one.) However I will instruct you on its safe use first. I have no wish to have the breath knocked out of me twice in one lifetime through carelessness."
Yoda, back to his normal self, answered, "Wise that probably is. Please show us all, Alyt Neroon."
Neroon blinked. How did this tiny being turn the situation around so that he was giving the orders? And without Neroon even noticing it was happening? And how had he changed like that right in front of him? "Would you like to sit down, old one?"
"No. Stand I will. But you may. All of you."
And despite himself, the Star Rider found himself sitting down on the ground next to the two Humans. It somehow seemed right and respectful to do so, so as not to tower over the old one. He took out his denn'bok with one practiced motion and decompressed it. "This is a denn'bok. It is the traditional weapon of the Minbari Warrior Caste."
Yoda walked over and took the pike. He looked it over closely, compressed it, then decompressed it again. Even though it looked rather odd in his small hands, the tiny being had no trouble handling it. "Very beautiful workmanship, this is. And elegant. Very skilled must your weapons makers be."
"The Minbari have three castes in our society. The Worker Caste, the Religious Caste, and the Warrior Caste. They build, the others pray, and we fight. This was my fathers denn'bok. It was made by one of the most skilled denn'bok makers of his time."
"Correct, you were, though impertinent." The Jedi eyed Neroon, who suddenly felt like he was back in the Warrior Caste Academy being chastised by Sech Durhan again. "More suited this weapon is to one Qui-Gon's or Obi-Wan's size." He handed it to Qui-Gon to look at.
Qui-Gon decompressed it, swung it in a few quick and apparently expert swings, and said, "It has wonderful balance. Almost like an extension of your hand." He then handed it to his apprentice, who swung it a bit also, then returned it to the Warrior Caste. They all seemed quite familiar with the pike, from the ease with which they handled it.
Yoda came up to Neroon and unhooked Qui-Gon's light saber from Neroon's belt and handed it to Qui-Gon. Neroon was surprised by the quickness of the move, but also wasn't alarmed for some reason. It was hard not to trust the small being. "Warriors are the Jedi, Alyt, but much, much more. Make these ourselves, do each of us, as part of our apprentice training."
"You build them yourselves?" Neroon asked, the distaste showing strong in his beautiful voice. "My caste would feel demeaned to be required to make something like a mere craftsman."
Qui-Gon took over from his master. "It is part of our training in using the Force, Alyt Neroon."
"What is this force of which you speak?"
"It is the energy of life that surrounds us, is in us, and connects us all to each other and to every living thing. It is the Force that gives a Jedi his power."
"You sound like one of the Religious Caste!" Neroon growled. He was definitely not pleased with the Religious Caste, and his tone showed it.
"In a way, it is like a religion." Put in Obi-Wan, who then blushed as all eyes turned to him.
"Correct, Obi-Wan is. Though worship the Force we do not. Respect it and use it, yes. And control it as well a bit. Use it to attack without first being attacked, we do not. For that leads to the Dark side of the Force." He turned to Qui-Gon. "Explain the use of the light saber to him, my apprentice."
Suddenly Neroon looked puzzled. "I thought you were a Master of your discipline, Qui-Gon."
The Human smiled. "I am, Alyt Neroon. I've been a Jedi for almost forty years. But Master Yoda was my master when I was an apprentice. To him, every apprentice of his is "my apprentice", no matter how many times they're promoted. There are about ten of us around now, and who knows how many before that who have already returned to the Force. And it takes about fifteen years or more to train a Jedi, since we're trained from young childhood on."
Neroon stared at the ancient tiny being with undisguised awe in his face, until, of course, he realized he was doing so. Then he frowned like a good Warrior Caste.
But Master Yoda, who never missed anything, saw his first look and said impatiently, "Look I so ancient to young eyes?" He poked the Alyt with his cane, causing him to sit straighter suddenly, and continued, "Not look as good, will you, when almost nine hundred years you reach!"
The surprise on Neroon's face would have been seen as funny by anyone who knew him. Whether the surprise came from a three-foot tall green being poking a Warrior Caste Alyt irritably as though he was a humble student, or at the being's professed age, was anyone's guess.
Yoda turned to Qui-Gon. "The light saber, explain, Qui-Gon!"
"Yes, my Master." He turned to Neroon and twisted the hilt with his wrist. This allowed the casing that covered the working mechanisms of the light saber to slide off. He then handed it back to the Minbari.
"You can see the light refracting focus which creates the laser blade here. Here is the power magnifier, which takes a stream of power and expands it to create the light for the laser."
Neroon studied the innards of the weapon. "Very ingenious. However, I see no power supply. The aliens in this universe who use energy weapons have to have some source of power." He looked up to Qui-Gon. "How is it powered?"
"It is powered by the Force which is channeled to it by the Jedi who is holding it. A Jedi is his or her own power source."
Right then, Sub-Alyt Sorat came in to the room. "Excuse me for interrupting, Alyt Neroon, the Shi-Alyt wishes to speak with you before he comes to see our guests."
Neroon got up in one smooth move, thought for a second, then handed the stripped light saber back to the Jedi. He also handed Obi-Wan's to him. "We will talk further later. I will get a progress report on the repair of your ship for you." Then he left with Sorat.
* * * * * * *
Branmer turned from watching the starscape to look at his aide.
"You stayed with the strangers for a long time, Neroon."
Neroon answered. "I was attempting to learn more about them and their culture, Shi-Alyt. I was not aware that you wanted my presence so quickly after I escorted them."
"I was commenting, Neroon, not criticizing. Your curiosity about our guests does you credit. So, tell me of what you learned." Neroon definitely had the spark back in his eye, thought Branmer with satisfaction.
Neroon spent a moment gathering his thoughts. "They appear to belong to a warrior group called Jedi. It is not a clan, though in some ways they seem almost closer to each other than clansmen. From how they describe it, this order they belong to reminds me of the Anla'shok, with all of their mystic ways. But my overall instinct is that they are not a danger to us. I believe they could be dangerous to their enemies, though, and I would like to assess how much of one they would present to us." The light in his eyes flared up into a bonfire that was quite familiar, and at this point, very welcome, to Branmer.
The Shi-Alyt laughed out loud. "You are as transparent as one of Satai Relinn's fancy pieces of glass, Neroon! You want to devise some competitions with these Jedi, don't you? Am I wrong in thinking that you will want to take a very direct role in them, as well?"
Neroon broke into a grin. The feral grin of a born predator. "Of course, Shi-Alyt. I always like to be an inspiration to my warriors by taking the lead in everything."
"Will there be time for this? How long will the repairs to their ship take?"
"I have just received a report from the mechs, and they say it will take at least eight hours to repair. The passage through the wormhole apparently damaged it quite badly."
"Will there be a problem for them to find the wormhole again? It doesn't read on any of our scanners."
"Apparently it does on theirs. If they found it once, they can find it again."
Branmer had to laugh again at Neroon's air of distraction. His mind was on the competitions to come. "Come and let us go meet these mystical Anla'Shok-like Jedi of yours." He lead him out of the room and towards the VIP quarters.
Part 3: Jedi Zen Master vs. Priest/Warrior Caste