Undertaken (#Wattys2015) (Star Wars)

Chapter 18 -Unexpected Call

Dedicated to my amazing "mentor" Ashi.

The early sunrise brightened the previous dark skyline, providing the landscape with colors as many as a natural sight such as Dagobah can gain. The soft wind gave movements to millions of leaves which were sitting on uncountable tree branches, letting them rise and fall gently, travel as far as their stems let them. The rising sun sent small rays of sunshine beneath the canopies, giving a chance for the ground to warm up from the rather cold night.

Other than catching loose leaves, the gentle wind also played around with black locks of hair that belonged to a certain earlybird. Despite the fact he fell asleep relatively late, Bost Highhold sat awake, staring at the landscape like he always would.

Day two with the Jedi was about to begin. Technically day three, but that short night when the Republicans crashed their doomed ship doesn't count.

He had left them in the tree house. They were sound asleep when he had tiptoed out of the wooden base, and he let them stay that way. Yesterday was a long day, he thought, let them rest for as long as they wish to. He didn't go far though, just sat on a tree branch somewhat below the entrance of the house to be there when they would rise. Although, the Jedi and Alpha were in such deep sleep Bost could bet they needed a few more hours to restore their energy. As for Bost... he got used to early mornings already.

The surroundings were all covered in deep silence, only the reckless wind disturbed their act every now and then. It never whistled, just made the green leaves rustle, or seldom tore a fruit off from a tree nearby. Bost would always take his chance on rare occasions like that, he would reach out with the Force to catch a falling fruit before it hits the ground. Today was no exception.

He was enjoying his juicy breakfast, taking bite after bite from the fruit, when it happened. A beeping sound caught his attention, coming from nearby. This wasn't a track he was familiar with, which led him to the lucky conclusion it wasn't a Separatist act. Only when he payed more attention did he realize it was coming from indoors, so he got on his feet to balance back inside the tree house.

To his suspision, a comlink came in sight, a red light was flickering on and off on it's side. The device happened to be the source of noise as well. Someone was calling.

It didn't occur to Bost to pick it up until he noticed Alpha's break in his continuous snoring. The beeps predictably chased away his dreams, which made Bost's tense up. The noise was breaking the silence absurdly. To prevent the tired team from waking up, the boy had no choice but to leave them behind and take the loud device a bit further away where it wouldn't alert their peaceful sleeping. He reached out and picked it up from the wooden table, then made his way back to the tree branch that he previously sat on.

He wasn't supposed to answer. Obviously, this was Obi-Wan's device, the call was addressed to him. But of course, it was hard to resist when it was making all those series of beeps...

And so a shaky blue hologram emerged from the comlink shortly after Bost pressed the button. The bright rays took only seconds to take up the shape of a certain Jedi Master, who was undoubtedly surprised by what he saw.

"Exceptional!"

Here came the regret. This was definitely not his call.

"Master Windu... My apologies, I shouldn't have picked it up, it's just that none of the others have woken up yet, and I didn't wish to disturb their sleeping..."

Windu coughed before forming his words, a careful smile was placed on his face, "I take that as good news. I just happened to be looking for you."

Now that had shaken him up a bit. Why would a member of the High Jedi Council be looking for him?

"Oh... Perhaps you'd like me to report the status?" He attempted to ask the first thing that came to his mind. Didn't win.

"Not exactly." The Jedi master faced the boy, "But tell me, are there any droids near by?" Windu's expression was unreadable. His face was narrow, but had a strange glittering in his eyes, and a small smirk in the corner of his mouth.

"Well, undoubtedly there are..." Bost trailed off.

"Great. In what formation?"

"Formation?"

"Crowded together, small standalone groups, scouts, workers?"

"Oh, right!" He nodded, "All of those mentioned. May I ask for... the reason of your question?" He asked nervously. He didn't realize his voice was shaking until the master smiled amusedly, "I though about some... peace-breaking."

The credit dropped.

"You want me to fight them?"

"I'd rather call it practicing."

"Oh. Alright then... I know the whereabouts of a smaller scouting group, if that would work...?"

"Perfect." Mace's hologram shone, "Let's get going."

Bost got on his feet uncertainly, grabbing a tree branch with his left hand. He gazed at the hologram, "I might have to put the comm device in my pocket for a while..."

"Not neccesarily. You can just hold it with the Force while you climb down." The master stated it as an obvious answer to the problem. Bost's face flinched at the though, handling the Force still wasn't his speciality, but he didn't dare to dissapprove the solution. He placed Mace on the branch and closed his eyes to focus on the device. His slowly extending hand could feel the Force, it was all around. He reached out for this power to give a gentle lift towards the object.... but it turned out a lot more like an agressive push.

"I'M SORRY!" He shouted as his eyes followed the path of the commlink. Mace was falling down from the huge tree. Although the hologram was way too small to spy the master's expression, he could bet he wasn't too enthused about the failed flight. Bost himself had a rather agonized expression, and began to race against time to reach the lower ground.

He caught branches after branches, jumping down as fast as possible. Once nearly down, he locked his eyes on the device to see it falling somewhat above him. Without second thoughts, he called the Force and slowly grabbed hold of it.

Opening his eyes, he realized Mace Windu's shaky hologram was floating right before him, the master glancing at his face, as if he was trying to decide if he should be dissaproving or pleased. "Nice catch." He finally stated, "We'll work on things, don't worry. It might take time, but..." He sighed, "We'll work it out."