Reaching Through Darkness

Karen

This was another one of those boring, slow parts of adventure. The tour of the government building was boring as anything. I really have no interest in government. Sure, the building itself was impressive and the feeling of being surrounded by rich, famous, and darn smart people was stronger than the Force, but that still didn’t make the feeling of boredom go away. We walked down another boring hallway. My thoughts drifted off to other things. I decided to test the Force, figuring only my master would notice and he shouldn’t of cared if I did or didn’t.

If I thought I was bored, the Force here was far more boring than I was. The feeling I got from the building was mindless droning of not quite paid enough employs slaving away for spoiled rich senators whose ego were far too big. The building seemed to be purely drama, emotions flying all over with little swirls of activity centered in different areas of the building. Well, that was the best way I could explain it to someone who wasn’t experiencing the feeling for themselves. I dug further into the Force, looking for something to distract me while I stared mindlessly at meaningless, non offensive “art” on the white or gray walls.

There seemed to be a feeling of faint worry or danger. I questioned this feeling. The more I looked, the more I got a feeling of danger centered near by in the future and close to our group. It was a feeling of dark, unthinkable horror and desperate panic. I knew this feeling to be a warning from the Force. I had experienced the feeling several times before and each one was generally as vague as this one was. What was worse was in the past these feelings had one strong, common theme and that was death. Whether it is the dead of a family member or a mass death of population, I had felt the event coming sometimes months before hand and each one haunted me. Was this warning the death of Nea or me, or even while I shuddered thinking about it, the death of Mirmo? The precognitive feeling was too vague to answer that question. I sighed in frustration.

“Something wrong, apprentice?”

I looked up suddenly at Mirmo who came near me. I quietly told him I sensed something in the Force. His eye brows went up a bit, but not as high as I expected.

“Yes, I felt something too. It felt like a warning of some sort, but the feeling was too vague to understand what. Did you get anything better?”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to tell him about my past with such feelings and how death was the ending of them.

“We should be cautious then until we have more proof. Keep yourself open to the Force and look out for sudden hints of anything.”

Again, I nodded and we kept on walking. I tried to think of something else. I tried to think of lunch, wondering what we would eat. I asked Nea what were his plans.

“Well darling, I was thinking the all popular Macpalps and let you try a classic cheese nerf burger.”

I stared at him in shock. He was feeding me junk food, and probably, junk food I knew so well on my home planet. The galaxy suddenly shrunk in my mind.

“What, you have never heard of Macpalps? It was a joke on the emperor and it was a miracle that the chain survived when so many other similar jokes did not. Perhaps it was because they gave a free nerf burger to any imperial officer who came in.”

I laughed silently, refusing to openly show that I was amused by the drug seller. Mirmo smiled and said that he wanted us to eat in a private spot so we could talk and not have to worry about being overheard. We ordered our mid day meal, or lunch in my mind, at the loud, crowded junk food court and headed for a peaceful corner, surrounded by huge leafy plants where we could view the whole eating lounge. Nea and Mirmo sat between me, but both towered over my head, talking to another.

“Buddy, I hope you know what you are doing. This senator is tough. Maybe the Force is with you and all, but you are entering a nasty, complex arena of politics.”

“Nea, I know she is tough, but you forget I am a Jedi. We are trained on how to handle tough senators. Besides, if I have to, I can use my connection to the Chancellor to get the senator to cooperate.”

“Maybe you can, but I would not advise it.”

“Why not? The senator should know better than the refuse a Jedi.”

“But that is the thing. Pal, you are not representing the Jedi here, but the criminal underworld. Do you really want her to associate Jedi with criminals?”

“The Jedi sever and defend the people. Criminals are part of the people. Her law has harmed the people. Therefore, as a Jedi, I must defend the underworld.”

“You are basing your agreement on what the criminal lords said. I would not trust them, seeing all I know about their misfortunate is that some senator was busted and new laws were passed to stop the access to the drugs. The meeting last night claimed these laws are harming them, yet somehow that does not add up. If anything, the law should help them again more money. I know one thing about drugs and that is when the access gets cut off, the price rises, and the spicer dealers get richer. No, somewhere down the line of this logic, there is a flaw. I suspect there is some foul deal made between the drug suppliers and this senator.”

Mirmo went quiet for a minute and I sensed the Force stirring around him.

“Nea, I suspect you are right. I had not noticed the difference in stories and I am glad you pointed that out. Well now we have discovered that important fact, I say we head back to her office. Karen, are you done eating?”

I had been done eating fifteen minutes ago. I never wasted time eating food.

“Right. Remind me not to ask such a dumb question again.”

Both Nea and I broke out in loud laughs. I stopped quickly, slightly mad at myself for my lack of control. We gathered the trash left over and threw it away in a waste bin, then started heading back through the maze of incredibly boring halls and bad art.