"A New Journey to Come"

Log Date:
	4/17, 4/19, 4/26/00

Log Cast:
	Jairen, Shenner, Webb, Sargent

Log Intro:
	It hasn't been too terribly long since someone out of one of the most
traumatic portions of Shenner's past showed up on Caspar: Dane Noth, one of
the Mandalorians who accompanied her and Paul Nighman on the expedition 
through the jungles of Mandalore. Dane is the warrior with whom Shenner got 
along the best, a man who came to see her almost as an adopted daughter, 
and who thought well enough of her to compliment her music and even remove 
his helmet in her presence. He's come to find her on Caspar to see if she is
well, and Shen has not been able to resist the opportunity to ask him point
blank what he can tell her about the end of the Mandalore expedition--for 
she has never been able to remember what happened, even with the help of 
Sinjon Teague and Luke Skywalker.
	But much to Shenner's shock, Dane's also brought her a possible 
explanation for her memory loss, something that has never occurred to her:
the idea that she might have been vulnerable to manipulation by the Sith
ghost that haunted the crypt they'd infiltrated because she herself is 
sensitive to the Force.
	Shen hasn't been able to shake the idea, especially since it's also 
not been too long since she was given a set of five purple gems intended to
be none other than components for a lightsaber. Her attempt to give the gems
back to Poguala Dawntreader merely got the young musician the cryptic 
prediction that she would know who to give them to when the time comes.
	And although her every instinct revolts at the idea that she might be
a budding Jedi--for Shen has witnessed very little but angst and grief in 
the lives of the Jedi she knows--Dane has told her something else she cannot
shake, and that is the fact that she will not be able to rest until she knows
for certain. Thus Shenner resolves to seek out Luke and ask his advice. But
before she goes, she must also seek out her sword-teacher Jairen, for she 
is loath to leave Caspar without him and without Webb at her side unless she
has no other choice....

----------
Jairen is about 5 meters off the ground, sitting on a large branch in a 
  particularly old and large tree, leaning against the trunk. His blue eyes 
  glow eerily in the darkness of the forest as he sits there and listens. The 
  forest is never truely quiet.

Webb leaves the clearing.
Webb has arrived.

It's a forest, it's green, and it's full of the fragrances of foliage that's 
  sprung to life with a vengeance ever since the ending of the winter season 
  and has been growing like mad ever since. Usually Shenner is a city girl -- 
  but if extended exposure to Jairen has accomplished anything with the young 
  singer, it's instilled in her an appreciation for green growing places. Of 
  course, it helps a lot that she's dragged Webb out with her tonight too, 
  driven by the impulse of a moonlight picnic. She's got a large backpack in 
  place upon her slim back, loaded with a suitable cloth upon which to eat, 
  suitably portable food, and a suitably portable instrument. Can't have 
  dinner without music, after all.

Dragged out? Those are funny words to describe the situation. After all, Webb 
  might've been born a city slicker, but the last 10 years have been pretty 
  good for changing that. These woods are quite familiar to him... including 
  the locales that can be quite well off of the beaten path. So he certainly 
  doesn't /look/ like he's being dragged along by his russet-haired companion. 
  In fact, he seems quite... self-motivated. "You sure you don't want me to 
  carry that pack?" he inquires, for he's looking rather lightly loaded at the 
  moment.

Jairen's eyes have closed as he listens to the song of the forest around him. 
  Suddenly, however, they snap open at the sounds of voices and foot falls. He 
  stands on his branch and looks around to find the intruders into the grove 
  that he took under his protection during the recent Imperial invasion. Upon 
  spying the two, he smiles to himself and steps back onto another branch to 
  avoid detection, moving into thicker cover.

"I've carried it this far," Shenner returns cheerfully as she broaches the 
  outer edge of the grove towards which she and the Lieutenant have been 
  hiking for the last few hours. "I think I can manage a few more meters!" 
  Over her shoulder she grins at her companion, before pausing to sweep a 
  glance around the clearing and to pull a deep breath into her lungs.

It might be a pleasant night, but old habits die hard. Webb is alert, to put 
  things mildly, to the point where he often seems to be looking for things 
  which aren't really there. Sometimes, his steps even become downright 
  cautious, before silently reminding himself that this isn't a war zone. To 
  Shenner's answer, he nods, but passes a water bottle over to her, as he's 
  done at fairly regular intrevals since this journey began, "Drink..."

The young soldier may be alert, but this is Jairen in his natural habitat. 
  Well, almost. He moves across the branches, making little noise that could 
  most likely be written off as wind rustling the leaves a little. He follows 
  the pair, some 40 feet off the ground via tree branch, listening for a 
  moment.

Her Ilharn doesn't _seem_ to be anywhere in sight -- but then again, Shenner's 
  come to know Jairen well enough to suspect him of lurking behind any number 
  of the trees in immediate range. And if he isn't, it seems to her that he'll 
  figure out they're there soon enough. This, you see, is why Shen brought 
  enough food for three; as long as she's going to be venturing into her 
  teacher's territory, after all, the least she can do is share some of the 
  goodies she's been toting along in that big pack of hers. For now, though, 
  she turns back to Webb with a grin and accepts that water bottle gratefully. 
  She's borne that backpack well, but that doesn't mean it isn't _heavy_, and 
  there's a flush of exertion still lingering in her cheeks. She tilts the 
  bottle up and sucks down a great draught of water, letting it hit her system.

"Just a little... don't drown yourself," reminds Webb, as he's done fairly 
  regularly, nearly every time he's passed the water in Shenner's direction. 
  After all, it's best not to consume too much of it at one time when one is 
  still moving. Then, he recalls that he's given Shenner this reminder each 
  and /every/ time he's given her the bottle during this trip, and is prompted 
  to flash a sheepish grin.

Lowering the water bottle down again, Shenner wipes her other hand across her 
  mouth and then snickers. "Yeah, I know, that's a rich instruction to a girl 
  who can barely swim," she rejoins. And with that, she passes the bottle back 
  and swings her attention to getting that pack off her back. "So whaddya 
  think? We can see the stars from here and I bet I could holler for Jairen -- 
  if he ain't watchin' us already." Shenner's mouth curls up on one end as she 
  drops the pack carefully down to the ground and kneels beside it.

Jairen also smiles at Webb's comment, being quite familiar with wilderness 
  suvival himself. He does not, however, reveal himself at this time, still 
  moving along the branches. However, he is actually about 10 feet closer to 
  the ground now.

Webb slides the water bottle back into its holder which hangs from his belt, 
  and casts his gaze up to the trees at Shenner's comments about being within 
  Jairen's 'territory'. "Alright," answers Webb, before quipping quietly, "But 
  I'm carrying that pack on the way home." He grins lopsidedly as he searches 
  through the tree-tops, attempting to apply the tricks that he's learned in 
  the last ten years to the task of picking out the swordsman's location. He 
  might not be gifted with super-human senses, but Webb does pretty well at 
  such things by the standards of his species... certainly better than a 
  stormtrooper would.

Shenner points out wryly, "It's gonna be _lighter_ on the way home." With 
  that, she starts pulling forth the items within the backpack: the rolled-up 
  blanket slated to do tablecloth duty tonight. The small packets of juice, 
  the containers (with heat seals) of rich flavorful broth, bread, cheese. 
  Chocolate. And, nestled at the very bottom of the pack and padded in layers 
  of cloth to protect them, a small bottle of the same vintage Jairen drinks 
  every time he sets foot in the Sandbar, and a tiny bottle of the marnya that 
  Shen's taken to drinking as of late. "Easier to carry."

Truely, stormtroopers indeed are fools when it comes to travel in the forest. 
  More than one found this out during the invasion when entire teams would 
  enter this area of the forest and be found in pieces in strings from here to 
  half-way to town. Webb may indeed catch a glimpse of not-quite-right 
  movement in the shadows of the treetops as Jairen continues to follow them 
  for a bit longer before suddenly making his presence known in front of them 
  on a branch about 3 meters off the ground. "A good eve to you two." his 
  tale-tell voice is heard. "How fair you this fine eve?"

Webb grins lopsidedly as Jairen finally makes an appearance... wether or not 
  he could actually tell that the ancient swordsman was really there will 
  remain a bit of a mystery for the moment. He was, at least, looking in the 
  right direction. Satisfied that this little hide and seek phase is over, he 
  peers down at the pack that Shenner has brought, and inquires, "Just how 
  much alcohol do you have in there anyways? That pack might be lighter, but 
  if I have to carry you home too..." This is, of course, affectionate teasing.

"Hi Jair!" pipes Shen, looking entirely unsurprised as his silvered accents 
  drift down from above. She casts a thoroughly comfortable glance upward, 
  holding up the small thermos -- this one cold-sealed, just enough to keep 
  the contents suitably chilled -- of wine with one hand and gesturing with 
  the other at the impromptu repast she's producing. "Join us for dinner? 
  Thought we'd come out to say hi and bring somethin' to eat while we were at 
  it. And drink." She adds in a drawl to Webb, "You only wish I'd get that 
  drunk."

Jairen nods slightly, climbing down seemingly without effort to the ground. 
  Could just be lots and lots of practice. "It would be my honor." Moves 
  forward to give his student a small hug, then nods to Webb. "It is good to 
  see you again Lieutenant." he states, taking another step back. "What 
  exactly is for dinner?"

Webb murmurs aside to Shenner, "Yeah, maybe I'll carry you home anyways..." 
  and punctuates the comment with a sly wink, before he peers into the 
  contents of the pack curiously, and offers forth a greeting to Jairen as he 
  attempts to identify the contents of several of the mysterious containers 
  that Shen has brought along, "Evening Windchaser."

"I got some hot broth, bread, cheese, and chocolate," Shenner announces to her 
  teacher with satisfaction, "along with your favorite vintage from the 
  Sandbar. And although _somebody_ is laborin' under the delusion that I might 
  actually get a little tipsy" -- this is delivered with a sly wink right back 
  at Webb -- "I've brought some marnya too. It's nummy. Tastes like orange and 
  chocolate." The contents of her pack thusly outlined, as well as thusly 
  pulled forth from the depths of said pack, Shenner surveys her impromptu 
  dinner contentedly.

Jairen hmms with a small smile. "The wine is appreciated, as is the bread, 
  broth, and cheese. However, I think I shall dine without the sweets." Moves 
  over to a more flat spot in the grove a few meters away and sits down 
  underneath another rather large tree.

Webb grins lopsidedly to Shenner and says in conspiratory tones, "Yeah, I'm 
  kinda familiar with how the stuff tastes," on the subject of the marnya. If 
  one didn't know any better, one might almost think he was blushing for a 
  moment there.

My, what an impish gleam in Shen's eye. But there's a touch of fondness, too, 
  as she gives the Lieutenant a lingering and tender glance. Then she returns 
  her attention to Jairen, nodding amiably at his expressed preferences, and 
  as he makes himself comfortable she starts fetching out portions of the 
  foodstuffs she's brought to pass around. "Thought we'd bring you news, too," 
  she tells the swordsman as she does. "This and that thing's come up I 
  figured you might wanna hear about."

Jairen cocks his head as Shenner takes the items out of the sack and sets them 
  up. "What news would that be?"

Webb settles himself down onto a reasonably comfortable patch of grass and 
  quips, "I'm sure that you must be absolutely dying to know how the senate 
  races are going." It's the sort of wry remark that implies that he wishes 
  that he didn't know about it himself.

Shen snorts lightly, but rather than elaborating upon the state of Caspian 
  politics, she starts off instead with, "Well, for starters... sometime soon 
  I gotta go to Tatooine..."

Jairen lets out his musical chuckle at the dry comment by Webb. "Indeed, the 
  petty political details of an abitrarily established body of governers does 
  not interest me that greatly." Looks over at Shen. "for what purpose must 
  you return to that... wasteland?

Webb unclips his own kit, which is mostly water bottles and basic survival 
  gear hooked to his load-bearing gear. "Least it's sparsely populated and 
  fairly uh... natural."

The singer girl nibbles down a small hunk of cheese, then casts a slightly 
  sheepish glance at Webb again before telling Jairen, "Well, it's like 
  this... I, uh, gotta see if I can track down Luke." She doesn't specify 
  which Luke she means -- but then again, there's only one Luke in Shenner's 
  circle of acquaintances. Her easy demeanor changes ever so slightly, 
  admitting just a tiny fraction of nervousness to reflect itself in her 
  bearing. "I gotta ask him somethin', fairly important. You, uh, remember I 
  told ya... I went to Mandalore?"

Jairen reaches for a piece of bread and a small piece of cheeze, wrapping the 
  cheese in the bread. "Yes... I remember." The swordsman says carefully. 
  "What of it?" He seems a tad aprehensive.

Webb takes a quick sip from his water bottle to replenish fluids lost on the 
  hike up. All the while he keeps his gaze partly on Shen, and an ear open to 
  the conversation. But really, at this moment the serene environs have so 
  much more of his attention, particularly the starlight filtering through the 
  forest canopy above. On the subject of Tatooine, he gestures towards a 
  corner of the night sky, "Looks pretty innocuous from here."

A small husky chuckle is Webb's answer to his observation, at least from Shen; 
  most of the singer's attention is upon her silver-haired sword-teacher, 
  though. To Jairen, Shenner blows out a breath and then says, "Well -- a few 
  weeks back I bumped into one of the guys I was on Mandalore with and we had 
  ourselves a little talk 'cause... I wanted to know from him if he could tell 
  me what the hell happened..." Disconcerted by having to admit to the hole in 
  her memory even in this safe environment, the young woman makes a face at 
  herself. "Dane thinks... there's a chance I might be sensitive to the 
  Force." These last few words come out of her even more gruffly, and her 
  grimace grows more apparent.

Jairen furrows his brow. "The Force... That which grants the Jedi their powers 
  correct?" He doesn't quite seem sure of that. "I have two questions. One, 
  what does this mean exactly, and two why would this concern a.... 
  Mandalorian." The last word is obviously said with a great amount of 
  distaste.

Footsteps are heard crunching along the twigs and leaves of the path that 
  leads into the clearing. From the long, heavy, bounding strides, it sounds 
  like the arrival is running. Shortly thereafter, Sargent becomes visible 
  among the trees. She is in fact jogging, springing over the uneven turf. 
  There is a large patch of sweat on the front of her tank top and a water 
  bottle strapped to her waist. The air freshens sweetly in the clearing, and 
  she drinks it in, slowing to a hiking pace. She gulps down some water. 
  Spotting a familiar CDU Marine, she stops to assess whether it would be 
  appropriate to approach him.

Jairen, unfortunately, is denied a prompt answer to his question -- for the 
  running footsteps hit Shen's ear quite abruptly, making her hand flash to 
  the blaster strapped to her thigh and her head swivel in the direction of 
  the stranger who's just burst into the clearing. _Who the hell--_ she 
  thinks, and then, _Followed--?_ Only the fact that Sargent's clearly in the 
  middle of a jog keeps the redheaded bard from surging to her feet.

Alerted by the sounds of approaching foot-steps, Webb has calmly brought 
  himself to a ready crouch. Habitual reflex it might be, Webb is just a touch 
  calmer to react than Shenner is. He doesn't seem startled, nor even edgy, 
  though for a moment, his hand drifted a touch close to his weapon. But after 
  Webb has had the opportunity to actually see the source of the noise, Webb 
  comments aside to Shenner, "It's safe," with some level of confidence.

Footsteps, an unknown figure, and not in the observational safty of the trees. 
  These three things make Jairen a tad bit more jumpy then he normally is as 
  Sargent approaches. As soon as his ears dectect the noise and eyes spot the 
  figure, the blue orbs flash brightly and he is instantly to his feet. His 
  cloak is thown back over his shoulders and his hand is on his blade. 
  However, he does relax slightly when Webb gives the ok. "You know her?" he 
  asks, not having nearly as much trouble making out features of Sargent's 
  figure in the dark as the two humans would.

The effect of her arrival is not what Sargent could hope for. The telltale 
  flash of weapons in the starlight and the hurried rustle of clothing fabric 
  tells her that she has caused alarm. But in a way, she isn't surprised. 
  Anything could be expected on this planet. She takes a couple of steps back, 
  dropping her shoulders and looking even smaller than her adolescent-like 
  size. If she blushes, it's difficult to tell underneath the flush of her 
  warm cheeks in the darkness. "Forgive me," she calls out. "I mean no 
  offense."

Sargent
You see a young human woman in her mid 20's. Her frame is slender and compact, 
  and her body has a vertical extent of no more than 1.5 meters. She has a 
  well-cropped mop of short curly brown hair that is a little longer on top 
  than on the sides. Her hair has gold highlights wherever it catches the 
  light. Beneath her narrow eyebrows are expressive deep brown eyes.
She is dressed all in dark gray. On top, she wears a snugly fitting tank top 
  made of some light synthetic fabric. Underneath the shirt, her thin torso 
  meets a flat, toned abdomen. Finely sculpted muscular arms are bare except 
  for a small computer strapped to her right wrist. Her muscles are not bulky, 
  but appear quite capable. The shirt precisely meets the top of stretch pants 
  that hug athletic legs.

Shen eases down -- but only after she notes that Webb is apparently entirely 
  unruffled. If Jon is unconcerned, instinct tells her, it's okay. Her hand 
  moves off her gun, but still her stance remains a little wary. _She couldn't 
  have been that far behind us,_ she scolds herself. _Why the kark didn't I 
  hear her...?_ Trying not to scowl -- much -- Shenner gruffly calls out, "You 
  lost?"

One corner of Webb's mouth pulls up slightly. Yeah, he doesn't quite have 
  Jairen's acuity of night vision (though such a thing would doubtlessly come 
  in handy), he does pretty well with what he's been given, particularly once 
  freed from the nuisance of city lights. "Yeah," Webb finally responds to 
  Jairen's inquiry, "Besides, if she were stalking us, she could've done a 
  better job at it." This last comment is tinted with a note of humour.

Jairen hmmms, regarding the person one more time. "This is true." he admits to 
  Webb, perhaps a little annoyed he let someone sneak up on him like this when 
  they weren't even trying. "However, a stalker was not my primary concern." 
  Sits back down. "I must be getting old..." he comments to himself.

In between deep breaths, Sargent responds to the query. Her voice cracks. 
  "No." She swallows to clear her throat. "The path is clear enough to 
  follow." She decides to say what she wanted to say. Directed to Webb, she 
  says, "I should be starting back. I just want to take this opportunity to 
  thank you for your assistance. It was much appreciated." She takes a deep 
  breath after this speech. With a quick "Good evening," she quickly turns 
  toward the city and is gone.
Sargent leaves the clearing.
Sargent has left.

Wait a minute... she jogged after them, just to say _thank you_? Out here? 
  "Ain't she ever heard of the Holonet?" Shenner mutters bemusedly, not 
  shifting position until the stranger has taken her leave. Nor does the 
  singer seem to really relax until the sound of her departing footsteps 
  blends in against the background noises of the night.

At this, Webb arches his eyebrows slowly, showing perhaps the first sign of 
  surprise that he has for the whole encounter. He even misses the opportunity 
  to make a clever remark about Jairen's comment about getting old (after all, 
  he's only been kicking around for a couple of centuries or something like 
  that, right). "That was... interesting."

Jairen looks from one of his companions to the other. "I assume you know that 
  woman." he says to Webb. It's not really a question. Then to Shenner, "We 
  are loosing our touch it would seem Dalathir. But back to the point at hand. 
  You are planning a trip to Tatooine to find the Master Skywalker to inquire 
  about the... Force."

Almost as if she's a little wary of further unexpected strangers erupting out 
  of the greenery, Shen swings a narrow-eyed gaze around the entire clearing, 
  turning herself this way and that so that she can look over the full circle 
  of her surroundings. Only then does she nod grudgingly towards Jairen, 
  frowning at herself. "Drill. Gotta drill. But yeah, well." What had he asked 
  about, before that strange interruption? Half her attention settles on Webb, 
  to see if he'll provide a bit of illumination as to who exactly that woman 
  was, but in the meantime she picks up where she'd left off. "Some... stuff 
  happened to me on Mandalore, Ilharn. Pretty... weird stuff. I ain't never 
  remembered the end of it, either. What Dane's got to do with it... well, 
  he's probably the only Mandalorian I really trust. He treated me like a 
  friend. And he's an honorable warrior." Those words might sound strange 
  coming out of her normally, but here and now she uses them with apparent 
  ease. "He couldn't... tell me what I've forgotten. Says we got separated. 
  But he also thinks some of the weird stuff that happened mighta been 
  because... there was a Sith ghost in the crypt we were lookin' through, and 
  it mighta been messin' around with me." As she finishes, Shenner's grimace 
  returns.

"She's the New Republic's latest ambassador to Caspar... Name's Eva Sargent," 
  Webb interjects as he gazes towards the path through which the recent 
  company arrived, then just as promptly vanished. "Does a fairly good job, 
  near as I can tell... offends Captain Hormone a little, but then any 
  offworlder does that, unless it's a humanoid female that's willing to give 
  him a bit of nookie."

Jairen flicks his eyes to Webb and nods a small nod as he acknowledges Webb's 
  identification, though he is unfamiliar with this... Captain Hormone person. 
  Turning back to Shenner and sitting down against the tree again. "I see. I 
  know not this Sith, but spirits can indeed be a troublesome influence upon 
  the living. I will go to the Wasteland planet with you. The native warriors 
  there know me and may not attack if I am in the desert with you."

Shenner makes a startled little choking noise at the sobriquet 'Captain 
  Hormone', shooting Webb a wide-eyed, agog look that's clearly in reaction to 
  _that_ rather than to his identification of the New Republic ambassador. 
  Then she manages to smile, looking back to Jairen even as she unwraps some 
  of the chocolate truffles she's squirrelled away in that big pack of hers. 
  "Thank you," she says gratefully to the swordsman. "If I have to go back to 
  that dustball I can't think of anyone I'd rather have with me, except of 
  course--" And she pokes Webb now, adding, "You gonna be able to come with, 
  Jon, if we maybe borrow the _Fancy_ again from Miz Laarken?"

Webb peers upwards contemplatively for a moment, "Gotta see what I can do to 
  swing some time off. Not exactly in the 'come as you feel like' part of the 
  military," making a quick jibe about the poor attendance of many members of 
  certain aspects of the so-called regular forces, "On the other hand, I'm 
  about due for a bit of leave. I'll see what I can do."

Shen nods, blowing out a breath and then popping one of the truffles into her 
  mouth. After she swallows it down -- the redheaded bard demonstrating, as 
  seems to be her frequent wont, her ability to practically inhale fine 
  tidbits of chocolate -- she says relievedly, "Great. If you guys can both 
  come along I'll feel better about marchin' up to Luke and goin' 'okay, pal, 
  you get to tell me I'm not a Jedi now, all right?'" Though her hands are 
  firm and her expression is rock-steady, still there's a hint of nervousness 
  lurking somewhere within her husky voice, and somewhere behind her eyes.

Jairen furrows his brow slightly. "Are you a Jedi?" he seems a bit confused.

Webb observes with quiet amusement as the fine chocolate is engulfed by 
  Shenner, despite the seriousness of the topic. "It's what she wants to find 
  out," Webb informs, while contemplating the various potential ramnifications 
  of Shenner's taste for chocolate.

Chocolate and brandy: these seem to be make up two of the essential Food 
  Groups That Fuel Redheaded Bards. To be sure, Shen hasn't ever appeared to 
  gain an ounce from it -- probably due to her penchant for regularly swinging 
  around her sword on a daily basis, either with the silver-haired Jaer who 
  teaches her, or with the remote she's programmed with various practice 
  routines. But her snack food of choice is doubtless responsible for a lot of 
  her energy, if not for the vaguely unsettled look she's wearing now as she 
  grumbles uncomfortably to Jairen, "I sure the hell hope not. Dane... thinks 
  I might be sensitive to the Force, see... 'cause of... what happened on 
  Mandalore." There. It's said, reasonably calmly, but Shen does belt back a 
  gulp of her maryna with a bit more haste than truly necessary.

Jairen looks even more confused. "How would one know if one is or is not a 
  Jedi? Could you not feel it yourself?"

Webb's comments grow a little sparse at this point, though he's not exactly 
  ignoring the conversation. But at the moment, he's rummaging through the 
  various containers of food that Shenner has brought along with her, 
  searching for something that won't give him a chocolate induced siezure of 
  some kind. Not that such things have ever happened to him before, but it 
  might be best to start this little meal with something other than chocolate.

Jairen has leaned back against the tree again, hands folded before his face as 
  he also contemplates things and waits for an answer to his last question. 
  His food and drink seem to be forgotten, at least for the moment. Then 
  again, with Shenner knowing at least some of how Jairen regards Jedi, his 
  sudden switch of mood may be appropriate.

There _are_ non-chocolate edibles in there: bread and cheese and a few packets 
  of thinly sliced meat, the makings of impromptu sandwiches. Shen, however, 
  seems to forget about the food she's brought with her, at least for the time 
  being. Mostly looking towards Jairen, now, her expression setting itself in 
  reflective and perhaps a trifle plaintive lines, she admits, "I'm... not 
  exactly an expert on the topic, Jair, so I know I'm sayin' some of this 
  wrong... but the way I understand it... 'Jedi' is like, a title, see? You 
  have to _become_ a Jedi. I met Jessalyn before she started learnin' from 
  Luke, and he had to tell her she had the Force. Turns out somebody else I 
  knew in the New Republic's gone and turned Jedi, too. So yeah... it seems 
  like you can have... the talent, the ability, the Force, whatever the hell 
  you wanna call it... and not know it."

Webb quietly starts assembling himself a sandwich as he listens with keen 
  interest to Shenner's explanation of the Force and Jedi. Ever since the 
  Battle of Olumekar, it's always been a subject of curiousity among a certain 
  circle of the Marines. What is it, how do you counter it... how do you use 
  it.

Jairen is quiet for a while still. He reaches down and picks up the thermos 
  containing his chilled wine and sips it a few times. "So, is it your desire 
  to become a... Jedi?" he asks. He's clearly still a little unsure or 
  uncomfortable with the word. "Or are you simply attempting to solve a 
  personal mystery?"

"Holy suns, no..." Shenner blurts this out swiftly upon the tail end of 
  Jairen's queries, shaking her head vehemently back and forth. Her maryna 
  bottle is set aside, and because she's here in the safety and privacy of 
  this forest glade with the two beings she trusts the most on this planet, 
  she lets herself slump forward with her elbows on her knees and her head 
  sagging into her hands. "I wanted to be a Jedi when I was a kid," she 
  mumbles. "But not now. No way. Not now."

Webb arches his eyebrows faintly as he peers at Shenner with a little bit of 
  concern starting to show in his eyes. "Sometimes, just because you can do 
  something," Webb murmurs at this point, having assembled himself a sandwich 
  of meat and cheese, "It doesn't mean that you have to, or that you should."

Jairen looks over at Webb, then nods. "I agree. Potential for does not 
  necessarily coincide with reason for. If you find out you have the gift to 
  become a Jedi and do not wish so, then do not. However, if not knowing if 
  this potential exists or not troubles you, then you should indeed move to 
  discover if you have it or not."

Uneasily Shenner nods; she knows this. She's told herself this before. But 
  still it takes her a moment to rally her composure and steady her voice 
  before she can tell you both, "It's... like this, guys... I just wanna know 
  if... the reason Mandalore karked me over so badly... if the reason some 
  Sith ghost found me a nummy crunchy treat is because I might..." Frustrated, 
  restless, she gestures tautly through the air for a moment, fingers flexing 
  out and then curling into a fist she drums against her thigh. Her next words 
  are uttered with the sort of sardonic drawl she might use to describe 
  herself engaged in performing arias upon an opera stage: "... might have the 
  Force or somethin'... I probably oughtta know." Then she goes still, eyes 
  dark, a frown tugging at her expressive mouth. "But I don't want to be a 
  Jedi. The Force karks your life up. It happened to me, it happened to Jessa, 
  and it sure as hell happens to Luke. The man can't go anywhere without 
  people attacking him. Or killing people he cares about."

[This scene was never finished, unfortunately. End log.]