Jolee sat alone in his cell. He was turning through the pages of an old worn out book with a faded leatheris cover. It was a classic piece of literature from Ukatis' past. Nayama had brought it to him from the city library. She had told him it was one of her favorites.

It was the story of young girl who grew up on a farm on the edge of town. Despite her humble beginnings she was destined for greatness. She would go on to lead her people against an overwhelming invasion force that threatened her planet.

It was clear the story had inspired a young Nayama at one point. It was also clear to him that she might very well be destined for a similar path. He sensed the Force within her. It was a strong powerful tempest in her, but untamed and unrefined. He saw the potential makings of a great Jedi within her.

Nayama, for her part, had resisted his attempts to talk her into releasing him, despite the obvious attraction both of them shared. Neither of them had spoken of these feelings, of course, but they both knew.

It had started with little things. Her interrogations of him had taken on a slightly more flirtatious tone, even if it often came with a veiled threat. She began visiting him unnecessarily at his cell, usually with the excuse of wanting the opinion of a Jedi on how to handle various situations and disputes that arose in her line of duty.

Jolee, too, had begun reciprocating her subtle flirtations with his own. He began inquiring about her personal life, her upbringing on Ukatis, and her position in the Royal Defense Force. He learned that she was one of several overseers of planetary defenses. He had learned she often preferred to take matters into her own hands rather than delegate to her subordinates. He supposed that explained her being the one to take a shot at him.

He could imagine her kicking some poor gunner out of his seat to be the one to take the shot at him. She very much had the "if you want something done right, do it yourself" kind of attitude. He somewhat admired that. Too often he had seen the Jedi become stagnant, unwilling to act, or passing a matter of as being a matter for the Republic Military. Her readiness to act was refreshing.

"So... what do you think?"

Jolee looked up from his book, shaken from his thoughts. Nayama was standing just outside his cell, peering in at him with a hungry curiosity in her eyes.

"It's good," he said smiling at her. "I just got to the part with the argument with her father regarding the season's harvest. Riveting!"

"It's a slow burn at first," she admitted. "It gets better I promise."

"So," he said, setting the book down next to him on his cot. "What's on the agenda for today? More interrogations? Am I on trash duty?"

"Nothing of the sort," she said with a smirk. He had been a prisoner on Ukatis for more than a standard month already. He knew the Jedi had attempted to make contact to negotiate his release. He also knew that the king had stonewalled them. Regardless, he knew as well as she did that the interrogations had long been concluded. He was nothing more than a hostage at this point.

"I have... a task for you," she said wryly. "But not here." She tapped the panel on the wall outside his cell and the door hissed open. "Come with me."

"Has my charming personality finally worked it's magic?" He knew, of course, it had.

"You wish!" She scoffed. "Let's go." She slapped a pair of binders on his hands and lead him out of his cell.

"Kinky!"

"Shut up," she said leading him down the hallway. "That joke wasn't funny the first fifty times you made it and it's still not."

"...it's still funny," he muttered to himself.

He was surprised when she lead him out of the prison block, through security and down to the garage. No one, of course, questioned their superior officer. Especially one as commanding as her.

She loaded him into a speeder car with the royal crest on it. She said nothing as they pulled out of the garage and soared out and over the city. It was the first time he'd seen it since he crash landed about a month ago. It looked even worse for wear close up.

"Where are we going?"

"As I said, I have a task for you."

"You wanna fill me in on what that is?"

"Soon."

She glanced at him sitting in the back seat. For a brief moment he got lost in her emerald eyes. He then turned his attention back to the window, and watched the city slowly disappear from view.

She brought the speeder car down into a small clearing. The landing gear engaged and she hopped out and practically dragged him out of the seat.

"Hey!" He protested. This was unlike her. She was on edge, anxious. Something was gnawing at her. Had he misinterpreted their back and forth banter the past month?

She grabbed him forcefully by the arm and lead him away from the vehicle towards what looked to be the ruins of an old amphitheatre. The stone it was made of looked old and was cracked and was overgrown with moss and vines.

She lead him into the center of the amphitheatre and finally released her grip on him. She paced back and forth for a few moments as if considering her next move.

"Nayama," he said softly. "What is this?"

She continued pacing back and forth, muttering to herself as if trying to talk herself out of something. Or maybe talk herself into something? It was hard to tell.

"Nayama!"

Finally, she stopped and looked at him. Her face softened slightly and she set her shoulders as if finally ready to face the task at hand.

"Ok," she said. "Listen. I've been thinking a lot about what we've talked about the past month and I've made a decision."

"You're going to let me go?"

"What? No! I can't do that. I'm sworn to the throne. I'm under oath. I cannot betray my duty."

"So what are we doing here then?"

"The Force," she said. "You said you feel it in me. I want you to teach me."

Ok, he hadn't been expecting that. She wanted him to teach her in the ways of the Force?

"You want to become a Jedi."

"No... no I don't want to be a Jedi. I want to be able to use the Force like a Jedi."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?" She seemed surprised by this question.

"Why do you want to be able to use the Force?"

"Honestly, I'm telling myself it's so I can better protect my people," she said. "But in truth, I want it for myself. Ever since I was little I wanted to be somebody. I wanted to do something that mattered, that would be remembered by people. I feel that now is my chance to realize my true potential."

"I see," he said, exhaling. He had to admit it wasn't for the reasons the Jedi usually trained in the Force, but it was something. Despite her being his captor, he trusted her. "What do I get out of it?"

"I can make your living situation more comfortable," she said. "Might even be able to get you on house arrest rather than in the cellblock."

"Hm.. that's a start," Jolee said.

"You wouldn't be allowed past the perimeter," she said. "But it would definitely be more comfortable than your current situation."

"And what about the people? I sit in a nice house, eating and drinking, not a care in the world while they starve?"

"I can't go against the king," she said, her expression suddenly going dark. "We've talked about this hundreds of times."

"You can't go against him even if you know he's wrong? Your duty should be to the people, not a dictator."

"I can't!"

"And why not?! Screw the oath! It means nothing if it's in service to a tyrant!"

"He'd kill me! I've told you! I don't like what he's doing to my people but I am powerless to stop him! But I won't be... not for long..."

"Ah..." He said, the realization hitting him. "That's why you want me to train you..."

"You have a problem with that?"

"No," he said. "I don't. But your fellow soldiers might. That explains why we're all the way out here."

"They can't know," she said softly. "Officially, you're helping decipher ancient runes on these ruins for the library."

"Hm... You know I'd be breaking my code by training you without the permission of the Jedi Council."

"Didn't stop you when you tried to run the blockade."

Ok, maybe he had shared too much with her. With anyone else, this situation would be ringing all sorts of alarm bells in his head. But... he trusted her. Or maybe he just wanted to. Either way, what choice did he have?

"Ok," he said finally, "but I can't do it with these." He lifted his bound hands and clanked the metal bindings together.

"Done," she said with a smile. She tapped the screen on her wrist pad and the bindings clicked and fell the the ground with a clang.

"Let's get to work," he said.

Jolee's mind now wandered back to the present. He glanced over his shoulder at the two Jedi lovers behind him. He felt that pang of regret gnawing at him yet again.

When he looked at them, he couldn't help but he reminded of his days with Nayama. He had defied the Council and trained her in the ways of the Jedi. He was eventually able to convince her to flee Ukatis with him, not before forcing the king to surrender to the Republic however.

The meeting with Council had gone about as expected. He was reprimanded for having taken it upon himself to train someone in the ways of the Force. They did, however, accept her into the ranks of the Jedi. Her skill and dedication was irrefutable. They, of course, kept their relationship a secret.

He remembered traipsing through jungles and battling pirates and all sorts of scum together as Jedi. He missed those days. Often he wished he could relive them, or go back and do things differently. Mostly, he missed Nayama.

Now, being here; cutting through the thick underbrush with his lightsaber, it almost felt like he was a young Jedi again, ready to take on the galaxy. He sighed. He knew better. He couldn't relive his glory days, but he could help these two Jedi avoid making the same mistakes.

He stopped. In front of them, was a large wall that had been constructed with a gate that was sealed via an energy field. The purple haze hummed as they drew close.

"Well this is new," Jolee said. "This wasn't here last time I came here. Czerka must've found the wreck."

"Looks like they really don't want anyone disturbing the artifact," Bastila said.

"Apparently not," Venar agreed. "The wall looks too thick to cut through with our lightsabers too."

"What, they don't teach you how to solve problems without your lightsaber anymore?" Jolee scoffed. "Back in my day... well... I suppose there wasn't as much war back then either."

"Didn't you fight in the Sith War?" Bastila asked.

"How old do you think I am?!" Jolee retorted, followed by an awkward pause. "Yeah. Yeah I did." His gaze turned toward some unknown distant point. He was silent a moment, before returning his attention to the wall.

"Look, here," he said walking up to a small console next to the gate. "Lightsabers are great and all," he ripped open the housing underneath, exposing a tangle of wires, "but they can't solve everything."

Venar and Bastila watched as Jolee fiddled with the wires. He cut a yellow wire and an orange one and began touching the exposed ends to one another. Tiny sparks danced from the ends of the wires and the containment field began to flicker and dim. A few more taps of the wires, and the containment field was down.

"Nicely done," Venar said.

"When you've been around as long as I have, you pick up a few things. Now, let's see what Czerka has done with the place."

They entered through the now defunct gate into what appeared to be an archeological dig of some sort. There was scaffolding and workbenches set up, floodlights all around the perimeter, and in the center sat what appeared to be a very old spacecraft of an alien design. Next to the craft, sat the star map device.

The star map device was currently in it's closed state, the information they sought locked within. The trio walked steadily forward, seeing no sign of any Czerka gaurds or staff.

"There's some kind of alien computer next to the artifact, attached to the hull of the ship," Jolee explained. "I've examined it a few times. It seems the artifact, or this star map, won't open without authorization from the computer."

"That's odd," Bastila mused. "All the other star maps we've encountered opened with the Force."

"Well, I've tried. Not this one. The computer isn't very cooperative either. Keeps muttering something about proper identification or something."

Venar studied the ancient computer terminal. It was impossibly old yet it still hummed with energy. He felt the power of the Force within it. He also felt somewhat drawn to it.

Suddenly, a holoprojection emitted from the terminal of some sort of alien species none of them recognized. The alien had long lanky features with an oblong shaped head with two short stubby eye stalks sticking out on either side of its head.

"Life forms detected," came an automated yet alien voice. "Determining parameters. Initiating neural recognition..."

"Ah yes. Here's the damn thing. Obstinate machine. I'm sure it holds the information you seek but good luck getting it operational."

Venar stared at the image of the alien species. It felt... familiar. He couldn't place it but he felt as if he had seen their species somewhere before.

"I can feel," Venar said. "I feel it reaching out to me."

"Primary neural recognition complete. Preliminary match found."

"Match found?! What the- it always said something about 'rejected patterns' for me!"

"Begin socialized interface. Awaiting instruction. Greetings. This terminal has not been accessed for some time."

"How long has it been since someone accessed it?" Venar asked.

"Error. Subject displays unfamiliarity to environment. Behavioral reconfiguration will be needed before access."

"What does that mean?"

Bastila noticed Jolee giving her a sideways glance. She turned away before looking down at her feet.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to confuse you. I will attempt to answer your questions to the best of my programming limitations."

"We are requesting information on a star map," Venar said.

"Accessing... Yes. I have found a star map in original system memory. Access is restricted."

"What do I have to do to access the star map?"

"Your request requires additional security access. You must be made to match the parameters I have been supplied."

"How can I know if I meet the parameters if I don't know what they are?"

"There are measures available. Personality profiling will verify the basic structure of your concious mind. With that, I will determine if you are ready to recieve access to the star map, or can be made ready."

"Who supplied you with the parameters to gain security access?"

"That information is restricted. Upon completing the personality profiling, that information may become available."

Venar glanced and Bastila and Jolee. Jolee shrugged.

"I guess commence the profiling then," he said.

"Very well," the hologram said. "Evaluation commencing. Results will be compared against the pattern in system memory. Just act like you should..."

Venar nodded and clasped his hands behind his back.

"You travel with a Wookiee and have encountered complications. Hypothetical: you and this Zaalbar are captured and separated for interrogation. If you remain silent, one year in prison for each of you. However, call Zaalbar a traitor and he will serve five years while you serve none.

"He is offered the same deal, but if you both accuse each other you both serve two years. What do you do? What do you trust him to do?"

Venar frowned.

"How does this machine know about Zaalbar?" Bastila asked.

"It seems to be scanning his mind somehow," Jolee suggested. "Be careful... this thing could be dangerous." Venar nodded before turning back to the hologram.

"I would remain silent," Venar said. "I trust Zaalbar to do the same."

"Your loyalty is dangerous. Your companion could take the opportunity to benefit by turning on you. Zaalbar's family is mired in treachery. What loyalty do they know? Your answer is incorrect."

"Incorrect? I thought this was an evaluation, not a quiz."

"Your thought patterns do not match the pattern contained in system memory. This first question will be discounted, however any future incorrect answers will result in rejection."

"That's not comforting," Venar muttered.

"Just... try to think like it wants you to think," Bastila urged. She ignored the side-eye Jolee was giving her.

"Easier said than done," he shot back. "I'm ready to continue."

"Hypothetical: you are at war. Deciphering and encrypted code, you learn two things about your enemy. A single spot in their defense will be at it's weakest in ten days, and they will attack one of your cities in five days. What do you do with this information? What is the most efficient course of action?"

Venar stood for a moment, evaluating his options. He could take the information and choose to evacuate the city. That would likely alert the enemy that they had been compromised however and their city would be reinforced, losing their opportunity to attack the enemy.

A second option was he could choose to make subtle reinforcements to his city while preparing to attack the other. This could prove risky however, if any enemy reconnaissance spotted the reinforcements and added defenses.

"I would prepare my forces to attack the city in ten days," Venar said. "I would leave my city as it is."

"Very good. If you had moved to evacuate the city, the enemy would have been alerted to their lost codes. You wisely ignored sentiment in your response. The deaths of those people were required to achieve ultimate victory."

"It was the most logical and strategic thing to do."

"Indeed. I will apply your answer to the rest of the evaluation. You begin to match the pattern in system memory."

He looked over his shoulder at Bastila. She gave him a nod of reassurance.

"Hypothetical: remove the ongoing war from the previous example. Consider enemy states to be weak and remote. With no external threat, your empire stagnates. Your people become complacent and begin to question you. Same scenario as before; you discover an impending attack, and a weakness that will result afterwards. How do you react?"

Bastila couldn't help but feel uneasy. There was no telling what would happen if he got a question wrong. At the least, they would be locked out of the star map. Finding another way to access it could take days or even months. Time they didn't have. It was also possible the star map would be destroyed if he didn't answer correctly.

"Venar..." she said. "Be careful."

He looked back at her and gave her a reassuring nod. He then turned back towards the hologram.

"I do nothing. I let the attack happen."

Bastila and Jolee exchanged worried glances. Why would he say that? Bastila was sure they would be locked out now.