Chapter 12

When the security force had heard what Master Windu had said they wanted to drop their weapons but they also knew that until they could verify what they had been told they would have to remain in place until their commanding officer had checked the ships records to see where it had come and gone from. The wait had been quite awhile until a security forces' sergeant had arrived and was told the situation first hand by the leading officer who was given the order which upon further discovery had been issued by someone from the senate but the identity seemed to be concealed due to not having the right security clearance which the Jedi found to be strange but allowed the security team to continue with its check on the ships travel history which when it was checked lined up with the story that had been provided by the Jedi.

Once the security sergeant had done all his checks he told the jedi that they were allowed to go and that further investigation would be done as to who ordered this stop since this had been a clear abuse of power, and so Jedi Master Windu called for a lift and waited for it to arrive which the wait was short and then the trip back to the temple was short and nothing was said till they had all arrived at the High Councils chambers. Once the Jedi Masters had settled into their seats Thann and Quinlan gave their full report as to what had happened on Kashyyyk and what they had discovered after rescuing the Wookie family, after completing their report and turning over the data chit that Thann had concealed the Jedi Masters listening were greatly disturbed to hear that there was a group out there using the darkside and blatantly attacking members of the Jedi Order without any hesitation.

The Council members were quite for a few moments until Master Yoda finally spoke " Disturbing this news is, greatly the force has been clouded by the darkside unable to see this we are." Yoda was the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order and the wisest and most powerful person in the force and if he couldn't see what was going on then things must truly be bad. After a few more hours of deliberation and coming to a decision on what to do Master Windu decided to make the final statement " My fellow Council members with all that we have heard there we must consider all options the first and foremost being that we must investigate from where do these darkside users come from and who is leading them," after speaking most of the council members nodded in agreement but their were those who were still not sure on what they should do so they stayed silent till they had time to meditate and think. Once everything had calmed down Thann made his move and made his request to the council " Masters I would like to request some down time and do some traveling around the galaxy." the request startled both Master Yoda and Windu who thought that they might be able to recruit Thann and Quinlan to lead the investigation but with all that he had already been through it might be wise and so they granted his request and he departed as Quinlan stayed behind to have his own conversation.

Thann made his way to Cin Drallig since the last time he was here at the temple he had just barely learned enough about form seven that he was still barely combined with his form six which he felt was more offensive than it used to be but still he wanted to refine it and knew that Cin Drallig would be the one to guide him. While deep in his thoughts Thann didn't notice that he was being followed by one of his fellow Jedi Knights, finally Thann and his shadow arrived at the battlemasters quarters and knocked on the door waiting for a response, the wait was only few minutes and then the door opened and Cin Drallig walked out of his room and greeted Thann and then noticed his shadow watching him. Aayla Secura wasn't sure as to why she was following Thann Oteros but when the council ask you to do something you do it no questions asked and that in of itself was pretty disturbing since she'd never heard of the council spying on their fellow jedi especially of someone who is considered to be a hero of the order but still orders where orders and so she watched as Thann practiced and did his best to combine the styles with what appeared to be more successful than the last time she watched him train with Cin Drallig.

Thann pushed himself to mix the forms together seeking that perfect blend which would allowed for a more versatile style but it seemed to come undone when the blade work became unconnected in its sequence and made it hard to link but he was coming up with a formula to answer that when he noticed that form five had similar aspects and would most likely help in linking the blade works sequence and that's when it all fell into place and the sequence began to fit together perfectly, Cin Drallig watched in amazement as the boy he was tutoring took apart and put together a form that for the most part had been taboo amongst the majority of the Jedi Order and yet the youngest Jedi Knight in the past century had reconstructed one of the hardest styles and made it more efficient than it had been originally. Cin Drallig used the force to project his voice since he knew that Thann was in deep concentration as he practiced his defense and offense both being nailed so perfectly, " Thann, why don't you stop now and meditate for a bit and let what you've done sink in." Thann did as he was instructed and sat down in a meditative position and began to draw on the force and meditate on the moves he had just practiced began to practice them in his mind looking for any imperfections and would restart the sequence if he saw anything that he knew might be off and so he tried to fit what would work going through all of the sequences taking apart and reconstructing both styles the process felt long and arduous.

Thirty minutes had passed when Cin Drallig had finally decided break Thanns meditative state and gently grabbed his shoulder and called his name " Thann wake up your being summoned by the council." Thann jumped from his meditative position and placed his lightsaber which had been sitting in his lap back on his belt and began to make his way to the nearest turbo lift which would lead to the councils chambers which when he arrived he was told to wait, a few moments later Thann was let into the chambers and now stood before only two Jedi Masters Yoda and Windu who both waited for the attendant to leave and then Yoda spoke first " Young one you've grown in the force." A statement the young Jedi did not expect to hear but was humbled by it coming from the senior Jedi Master though Master Windu seemed less impressed and was giving the younger Jedi the death stare though when he finally spoke his face softened as he began to speak " Thann I know that you just lost your master not that long ago and you have gone from being a Padawan to a full fledged Jedi Knight and as Master Yoda has said you have grown stronger but from what Master Vos has told us in his last report you seem to be losing yourself in battle taking unnecessary risk that could've cost you turning to the darkside." Hearing this caused Thann to think about his actions on Kashyyyk when he faced those assassins and how he had showed no hesitation in striking down his adversaries the second time he'd encountered them and knew that he and Quinlan were going to talk about what happened but the chance never came and so the senior Jedi Master brought his concerns before the Council hoping that someone would talk to his young counterpart and make sure that he was ok which Yoda and Mace took it upon themselves to do so.

Thann listened to what the Jedi Master was saying and knew that he was speaking out of concern but he also felt that Quinlan could've waited to talk to him on their next outing instead of pushing him under the speeder bike then again what had happened would never have take place if his master was the one there with him and maybe he needed more time to heal from that loss and so he finally said was in his heart " Master what I did was wrong and for that I am sorry I could have handled the situation better and maybe I do need to heal more from the loss of my master, I still feel the loss of his passing." Both Yoda and Mace could tell that Thann was honest in his apology and that his actions might have been influenced by the passing of his master and so they reconsidered his request for leave.