Chapter 15

Coal was completely confused and disorganized. A moment ago he'd been on a Klingon ship surrounded by familiar faces, and the next he was out in the open with lots of commotion and cheering people holding glowing swords. It didn't help to have some boy staring at him.

"Hello, I'm Jasper... you must be Kett's brother, you two look enough alike, but very distinctly different."

"I... Kett was here?" Coal asked, his head still swimming.

"Yep, he just vanished and you were standing there," Jasper explained.

"I'm not even surprised anymore," Coal said kind of flatly. "I'm Coal by the way."

Jasper nodded, "That name really makes sense, you almost smell of fire," he smiled.

Coal started to actually size up Jasper, curious on that last statement. "I do? No one else really thinks that... Except when I'm actually on fire, I'm not, am I?"

Jasper laughed, it was a low easy going laugh, even though Coal had noticed that he had a gash in his head.

"No, you're not on fire... You're not likely to do so any time soon are you?"

Coal shook his head, "Well, unless you get irksome soon.. What's going on here?"

"A war." Jasper shrugged.

"I seem to be going from one to another." Coal blanched.

"Haha, maybe we should start a club. With T-shirts," Jasper said. He talked as funny as Dustin had.

"This battle is mostly over though, so maybe now wasn't the worst time to show up."

"Lucky me, Huh?" Coal asked sarcastically.

"Yep... Are you wearing a Star Trek shirt?" Jasper asked surprised, after looking Coal over again.

Jasper really sounded like Dustin. Coal shrugged, "Probably. That sounds like what Dustin said."

"What who said?" Jasper asked, but his tone was one of disbelief, not curiosity.

"Dustin," Coal repeated. On prompt from Jasper, Coal began to describe him. It didn't take long before Jasper nodded. "You know him?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"He's been my best friend since we were in diapers."

"So, you were here with my brother, and I was who knows where with your friend..." Coal shook his head. "I don't think I like what's going on here."

Jasper shrugged, "I dunno, this place is pretty cool. There's light sabers, and this thing called the Force, which basically means that here you can move things with your mind."

"Telekinesis?" Coal looked confused.

"If you want to use big words then yes, telekinesis. It is pretty sweet. Just saying, but then again I guess what you can do is pretty sweet as well. Oh yeah, by the way, I'm a "reader". I can "read" people's auras. It's not overly exciting. But, I should probably clear that up," Jasper could really talk fast.

"So, you can read auras, and here everyone is telekinetic?" Coal asked.

"Well, not everyone, but I have the feeling you could do it."

"I never could before." This kid was starting to irk Coal. Could he never slow down?!

"You know what I said about not catching on fire unless you got irksome?" Coal asked. "You're starting to do that."

"Sorry," Jasper apologized. "I guess I'm trying to overcompensate for not really knowing what's going on myself. You know, I was at home getting out of the shower when the next second I was here."

Coal couldn't help but laugh. "Fair enough. Before ending up here I was in med bay."

"What happened?"

"I went into a... Radioactive area to fix the warp core."

Jasper looked rather flabbergasted, "Why?... Okay, sorry for talking so much, are you sure you're okay?"

"Okay? Yeah." Coal nodded, "But also really tired."

Jasper smiled ruefully, "Honestly, so am I. We should probably start making our way back to the Jedi camp."

"Jedi?" Coal stifled a yawn.

"Yeah, they're the guys in the white robes... I really need a change in clothes, as do you. But they're the good guys, believe me," Jasper replied.

"I believe you." Coal nodded, "but do they have beds? At this point, I'd take the floor, if I felt that it was safe enough, ... But nothing is these days."

"Yes they have beds, I'm sure you can have Kett's, come on." Jasper led Coal, and Coal followed, but he was too tired to pay any attention to where they were going. He really was ready to collapse on the ground.

"Master Stone!" A young man with longish dirty blonde hair and sharp brown eyes ran up, favoring his left leg and still holding his glowing sword. "My father ..."

"Master Jellint didn't make it." Jasper looked at the ground, his eyes wet.

"That can't be, he's-" the words got caught in the boy's throat. "Where did he fall?"

Jasper solemnly pointed to a body not too far from where they were standing.

"Father!" The young man ran over to the body with Jasper following, and Coal stumbling behind,

"Jellint? Whoozat?"

"I'm sorry," Jasper said quietly.

"Help me carry him," the boy ordered.

"I hate war." Coal muttered, bending down and doing his best to help lift the older man.

"But sometimes it is necessary if you do not wish the evil to win," the boy replied.

"I still hate it." Coal helped as they began carrying the body back to camp.

"Good men should," was the reply. Coal was getting frustrated, but he couldn't argue with that. "It would be a sad world indeed if there was no one to hate war," the boy continued.

"Amen to that," the corners of Jasper's mouth rose slightly, but not much.

"Why are you at war?" Coal finally asked the question that had been nagging him as they entered camp grounds. The young man looked back at him quizzically, then glanced at Jasper,

"The Sith are evil, and are trying to take our homeland, ... Are you new?"

"Uh, yeah." Coal was so tired he could barely form the words, let alone the thoughts as he stumbled past ragtag Jedis that were caring for the wounded or dead, yet still celebrating.

"From where do you hail?" The young Jedi was very inquisitive.

"The, uh, Enterprise just dropped me off."

"Enterprise? Is that the name of a ship?"

Luckily for Coal Jasper answered for him, "Yeah, it's the name of a ship."

"What planet are you from?"

"I think Coal would be better suited to answer your questions after he's had a night's rest," Jasper said.

Coal wasn't quite sure of what happened, but the next thing he knew he was lying on a bed. Jasper had left the room. Gratefully Coal fell asleep.


Coal woke to the quiet voices of Jasper and the young man conversing near his bedside.
He was feeling a lot better, but he was still drowsy, so he kept his eyes closed and listened to them talk. It was apparent that Jasper had told the boy what had happened on the battlefield, and the boy was now telling him a bit about his father. He choked up a few times, but Jasper was a patient and understanding listener.

The conversation changed to the details and the reasons of the war before Coal decided to open his eyes.

"The Sith have been pushing to get past Venturn for a while. It's a key planet if they want to take over the galaxy." The young man explained.

"Is that where we are?" Coal asked groggily.

"Yes." The young man turned, "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better, thank you," Coal replied. "How are you?"

"Better too, I guess. We're holding ceremony for father in a few hours."

"From what I gather, he did his part." Was all that Coal said.

"He did, he was a Jedi trainer since before I was born."

"He trained Kett and I as well." Jasper put in.

The boy sighed, and Coal realized that he still didn't know his name, "So, uh ..." He licked his lips rather uncertainly, "I never caught your name?"

"Sorry, I am Pender," the boy smiled sadly, "Son of Jellint."

"Ah." Was all Coal could think to reply with.

"And you are Coal Cassell, brother of Kett, who Jasper told me disappeared, yes?"

"Yes," Coal replied, wondering how much they discussed while he was asleep.

"We have pushed them back far. The death of Darth Kale at the hands of Jasper and your brother have done much for the war effort, and yet, they will be back." The boy nodded respectfully at Jasper, "I hope you are as willing to fight as your brother, we will need all the help we can get to finally eradicate them from this planet.

"That sounds kind of extreme," Coal noted. He sighed, "So, how bad are they?"

"Very." Pender frowned, "They are winning on the planet Fentara, so it's pivotal that we defeat them here, so we can send reinforcements there as soon as possible."

"Fentara," Jasper looked confused, "isn't that the biggest war front?"

"Yes," Pender nodded, "and they are in dire need of assistance."

Coal groaned. He hated war, but he figured that Pender was right, that sometimes it's necessary. "Yeah, I'll help," he said grudgingly. "What can we do?"

"We just won the deciding battle for this planet, from here on out, things could either be simpler or harder, as our enemy has two choices, to pull out, or to fight harder to regain ground. The saying goes after all, 'the most dangerous animals are the injured ones.'" Pender looked thoughtful, "and yet, if they choose to fight harder, we will probably be forced to stay, whereas, if they are pulling out, we're going to be on our way to Fentara."

"How exactly do we go to Fentara? " Coal asked. He had a feeling that it was a little different here than where he came from.

"On a space shuttle, of course!" Pender laughed at his incredulous look of bewilderment.

"Of course," Coal muttered.

"You seem unsure." Pender grinned again.

"I'm new to all this space travel," Coal grumbled. He figured he would figure it out soon.

"So when do we find out whether or not they're retreating?" Jasper moved quickly back to the subject at hand.

"We should be informed of their movements any moment now, our spies have been working hard." For some reason, Jasper chuckled at that.

"So... If they don't run, how soon are we going to fight?" Coal asked.

"We'll probably be back at it tomorrow in that case." Pender's eyes darkened in disapproval.

"Tomorrow morning?" Coal asked.

Pender nodded, "Yes, so we should probably get started on training you."

"I know how to fight!" Coal was, to say the least, offended.

"I would hope so," Pender smiled, "because there isn't close to enough time to teach you how to fight. But there is enough to show you how a light saber works and see if you have any talent with the force."

"Oh." Coal suddenly understood, "Well I could imagine that a saber is an awful lot like a sword, isn't it?"

"Yes," Jasper grinned. He pulled out a silver cylinder and soon a stream of red energy came out of it in the shape of a sword. It made a cackling sound, and when Jasper swing it, it made a very satisfying whoosh sound. "Simple enough."

"And the force?" Coal wasn't sure what to think.

"Deceptively simple." Jasper gave a wry smile, "Just don't try. Feel."

"What?" Coal was ready to go back to sleep, his dreams made more sense than that.

"He means, the trick is to not think about what you're about to do," Pender explained. "It's hard at first, but after a while you get the hang of it. I'll show you, follow me." Pender stood, and left the room.

"Ooookay?" Coal pulled himself to his feet followed Pender and Jasper out of the room.

"You'll love it." Jasper glanced back at him sheepishly.

"I'd better." Coal shook his head, following them down a stone hallway, wondering at everything.

He was even more bewildered when they lead him to a large room full of rocks. He stared at them. He had the feeling this was a training room, but rocks? His doubts flew away though when a large rock flew by his face. Several rocks actually were flying around Pender, without him having touched a single rock. They wanted him to do that?!

"How?! I can't do that!" he exclaimed. The rocks fell to the ground.

"Yes, you probably can. From what I've gathered, Jasper and your brother didn't think they could either."

Jasper frowned slightly, "Well we can't where we're from." There was a touch of bitterness in that statement, just enough to relay that he wished he could do it where he was from.

"Well let me see you do it then," Coal folded his arms.

Jasper nodded, and a rock went flying. He looked extremely satisfied.

Coal nodded slowly, "All right, so what are you supposed to do?"

"Will the rock to move. Just picture it doing what you want it to do, and let it do it," Pender instructed.

So Coal looked at a rock and tried to will it to move. Obviously he wasn't paying too much attention earlier, because he was trying too hard. Instead of moving the rock started to glow with heat. Coal quit with a sigh.

"That's... Different." Pender remarked, "I haven't seen that before."

"Yeah." Coal nudged it with his Starfleet standard issue boot, leaving a dent in it, "I don't think I'm cut out for this."

Jasper shrugged, "You can still catch things on fire though... Maybe you don't need to be cut out for this."

"I will admit that it does come in handy." Coal gave a slightly diabolical smile. Pender wasn't giving up though.

"No, no! Try again!" He pointed at the stone.

Coal groaned but nodded. He turned to another rock envisioning it flying across the room. It flew all right, speeding across the room and embedding itself into the wall. Coal could only stare, then he sighed. At least he knew how that other rock had gotten stuck in the ceiling.

Jasper laughed, "Nevermind... You send the Sith running, and on fire!"

"Why can't I do that all of the time?" Coal questioned at the same time that Pender gasped,

"Well done!"

"Hey, you can light stuff on fire normally. You'll live," Jasper interjected. "I can't do anything nearly as cool... well, I'm ambidextrous with a sword, but other than that."

"Are you trying to rub it in?" Coal ignored Pender, turning a skeptical eye on Jasper instead.

"Rub in what?" Jasper asked. "I'm sorry, I've been told I'm kind of arrogant, but I don't understand what in that sounded like I was trying to rub it in." Jasper chuckled."That phrase sounds amusing when you think about it. Not amusing when it's literal though, then it really hurts."

"You're strange, and that's saying something, Kett's my brother." Coal just shook his head.

Jasper frowned, then argued, "I do not think I'm as strange as Kett, he's a compulsive thief!"

Coal smiled, "That he is. But you're still strange yourself. Just a nicer strange. One that you don't have to keep your hands in your pockets around."

"Well that's a small comfort at least." Jasper rolled his eyes.

Coal smiled, "Yes, it definitely is."

"My Lord Pender!" A flustered man entered the room, and Jasper groaned in a barely audible voice,

"Oh, not again!"

"The Sith are mounting an attack on our northern and southern fronts!" The man didn't even acknowledge Jasper's irritation.

Pender nodded, "Similtanious, organized attacks, I wonder who is in charge now that Darth Kale is dead. Yes, I'll be with you shortly."

"Here we go again." Jasper moaned.

"It would appear so. I'm sorry, I must send out scouts. I would have thought that we would have a longer break now that the enemy is disorganized here. This attack is too soon and too planned out, I must find out who is in charge." Pender began calling in several people and sending out messages. He smiled sadly, "They must also know that we've experienced a shift in power ourselves. I'll send someone to help get you ready, see you in an hour."

"Oh great. More war." Coal sighed with exasperation.

Jasper finally shrugged, "I suppose I just hope for peace when I'm old and can't fight any more."

"Hope is all I've got in that respect." Coal frowned.

Jasper looked over, "What's it like where you're from?"

"There's been a war in my country for the past 200 years, and some madman used me to continue it. He wants to rule my world, and so he started the war, and has kept it going. He started another war across the sea, it's only been going for 100 years. He's a powerful sorcerer, and has used me, my brothers and others�"also royalty�" as pawns to get what he wants. He's slowly having our countries decimate each other, then he's going to come in as our 'savior'. We've been striving to stop it for at least two years now." Coal spoke bitterly, "It's because of him that I didn't meet my brothers until three years ago. Also because of him that my brothers feuded for most of their childhood until Kett ran away and Cort followed him ..." He forced his tone to lighten, "We're going to win though. We will win." His tone had quickly grown darker than before, but now he pulled the shadow off of his face, smiling tightly, "What about you?"

Jasper was finally at a loss for words, "Not much compared to that..."

"I'm sure that's not true if you're ambidextrous with a sword." Coal spoke knowingly.

"Oh," Jasper looked at the ground. "Yeah there's a story behind that. I accidentally broke all of my fingers on my right hand, and my arm, in two places."

"How?!"

"Well, someone took a hammer and methodically smashed each of my fingers and then broke my arm..."

"And how is that an accident?"

Jasper grinned, "I've gotten used to having to explain it at school. They all just think I'm a clutz."

"I have no words to describe my sympathy for you." Coal spoke honestly, "But if it makes you feel better, I got this ugly scar on the side of my face because of torture. Slowly burned, ironically. So I do understand where you're coming from."

Jasper laughed, "A few years ago I never thought that I would be having conversations like this."

A man entered the room, "Master Pender asked me to get you ready for the upcoming battle."

"I'm ready." Coal hated being waited on, it made him feel too important, and if there was anything he wanted, it was to be unimportant.

"Um," the man looked him over, "Your clothes and a lack of saber would suggest otherwise." He turned an abhorred eye on Jasper, "And you young man, what are you wearing?"

"Guess!" Jasper grinned, then stopped at the man's look, "Sorry, this is my Sith disguise."

"I'm not changing, and I don't own a saber." Coal glared at the man, feeling his temper flare, and in reply to the the man's expected glare, he made his flaming long sword appear in his hand, glowing white hot fire.

The man held up his hands, "All right. And I guess you two think that you can find your way yourselves, and find a map and fly yourselves to the battle as well?"

"Yes!" Coal started, and he felt his eyes spark.

"No! No!" Jasper held up his own hands placatingly, "We would love some guidance!"

"Then follow me," the man led them out of the room. "Are you certain you do not wish to change?"

"Positive." Coal growled.

Jasper smiled, "You know red shirts are supposed to be bad luck?... There was an Confederate general who wore red shirts into battle, apparently... He died in battle."

"Many people die in battle, I don't see how it makes the color unlucky."

"No, no, red's my favorite. It's the particular shirt you're wearing." Coal didn't understand what Jasper found so amusing.

"I haven't died yet." Coal observed skeptically.

"Are you sure?" Jasper asked with mock solemnity, reaching out a hand and sweeping it in front of him.

Coal knocked it away with a smile. "Quite."

"Just checking." Jasper shrugged, then leaned in and whispered, "You never know." He looked around, as if afraid someone was eavesdropping, "the apocalypse could occur at any time!"

"What?" Coal asked utterly confused, chuckling slightly.

"The zombie apocalypse," Jasper grinned.

"Well I'm glad that you two are enjoying yourselves," their guide said rudely.

"There's no point in being serious right before a battle. When there's nothing you can do at the moment but wait and think on it, there's no point in being serious and in a foul mood. There will be time enough for that later. I never much agreed with "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die", but there is something to it right before a fight, and I refuse to go into battle depressed!" Jasper's tone was only patronizing, Coal didn't quite expect that from him. "So no offense, but just lead the way."

"None taken," the mans lip curled, and he turned with a sweeping of his cloak, once again leading the way.

"I just decided that I hate him." Coal hissed, some smoke going up.

Jasper laughed, "I think your hate is misdirected," he was loud enough for the man to hear him. "He's just depressed and angry, you would be mad at us too... I'm sorry for your loss, sir."

The man didn't turn back around, but his shoulders sagged a little. They walked the rest of the way in silence until they reached a large chamber filled mostly with a long map table, and the rest of the way with people. "Pender stated that he would like you in conference," the man explained, looking them over again, "I do wish that you had decided to change and clean up, but no matter."

"Masters, come in! Have a seat, I pray you!" Pender stood in his own seat, nodding at them in turn, their guide last of all, "Godfrey, we have still not found her body, but I assure you, we are looking."

He nodded and left, Jasper cast Coal a glance "Fine, I see what you meant." Coal grumbled.

"Master Carlin was saying that he thinks the attack to the south it's a decoy because it took more of their resources to get men o the north, and that's what they've been after," Pender began to fill them in.

"Ah, but do we want to take that chance?" Coal inquired, forcing himself to look as diplomatic as possible in his slightly charred Starfleet uniform.

Pender sighed, "I think we may have no choice."

"That isn't necessarily true," Jasper spoke, his face thoughtful, "Coal and I could check, we are very capable of holding anything that may be there if it doesn't turn out to be a hoax ..."

Coal glanced at Jasper, thinking that they probably weren't the best suited to go scouting out alone do to their unfamiliarity with the land, but he nodded anyway.

"If you so choose than I readily accept your offer of help." Pender nodded, "But we must make Venturn secure as soon as possible, for as you know, Fentara is in need of aid, so if there turns out to be nothing, make haste for the real battlefront, as we could always use more willing and powerful assistance, agreed?"

"Agreed." Jasper nodded.

"Lieutenant Kasparov will take you there, and stay with you. Should it turn out to be a ruse, he will take you to the battlefront, should it turn out to be the truth, he will call upon reinforcements." Pender gestured, and a spiky white haired, pitch black skinned, extremely thin humanoid rose from the table, nodding at them. They rose and followed him in reply, politely nodding at Pender.

Coal decided against saying anything about their guide and was instead contemplating the ease in which they had gotten themselves entangled in the middle of all of this. His thoughts were interrupted when Jasper came to an abrupt stop, causing Coal to bump into him. "Hey, w-" He followed Jasper's gaze to find that he was staring at a man. He was pretty nondescript, middle ages, thinning hair, wearing the same robes as everyone else, yet he managed to be immaculately clean for the circumstances. Coal was about to question Jasper when he heard,

'I look forward to watching you on the battlefield. True leaders, both of you.' Coal glanced around a bit. It couldn't have been the man who said it, his mouth hadn't moved, yet it couldn't have been any one else.

Coal was about to speak when the man turned dramatically away, his robe sweeping down the hallway. "That was..."

"Not good." Jasper gave him a look of warning, "I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again soon."

Author's Note

That was medium. Wow. There really is a trend.