In Our Defense You Did Send US

[Adrian Lynd]

There was a long pause as some of the details of the mission came to light, one of the senior Jedi looked at across the room and shook his head in utter dismay. The younger and newest Knight of the order was a force of nature to be reckoned with. He was not a Jedi to be taken likely nor was he a Jedi that one would send in that required diplomatic excellence. In fact he was the type of Jedi you sent in on mission that required stealth and lethal precision. Partnering him with Arty Orspach was a combination that wound in general make any advisory back out of a fight quickly out of nothing more than their instinct for self preservation. While Adrian was lethally precise instrument that could be used in a variety of situations, Arty was equally lethal but much more of blunt instrument. Adrian was the stealthy and sometimes frighteningly pragmatic and cool Jedi. Whereas Arty was the person you sent when might just need to kick the door down and potentially take out everyone in the room without much stealth and was fantastic when the carefully laid out plans went completely off the rails. In theory at least their different skills complimented each other quite well in most situations that required Guardians.

"So you and Orspach despite being vastly outnumbered and in virtually a no win situation decided to go in anyway and now he's in the infirmary for how long did you say?"

The young man with the familiar face and nearly unfamiliar clothing in dark brown robes, two sabers hung from his belt, he may have renounced the Sith, but his combat style was definitely something to be feared as he got better and better at light side fighting, he got more dangerous until he surpassed where he was as a Sith duelist. He stood tall, his hair had grown out since his Padawan braid was cut about six months ago, more to the style he was accustomed to growing up. He didn't need to change everything about himself, just the way he did things. His face was bruised and there was a poorly stitched cut over this left eye that needed to be tended to, but he hadn't had time yet to stop by the infirmary for any real work to be done for him, he wasn't concerned about himself anyway. Besides, he was to report to the council upon his return and that's what he did...after dropping Arty off at the infirmary that is.

"Yes, we knew they wouldn't be a huge problem, an annoying one but not a massive one. Oh...Luka and Master Erril said about a week and a half, maybe less."

The young knight said more or less nonchalantly, casually looking for a reaction from the the council

The elder Jedi master sighed heavily and started questioning his choice for the types of Jedi he sent on this particular mission.

"Dare I ask about the casualties Adrian?"

The young Knight shrugged sheepishly and looked down and to his left for a moment before returning his eyes back to the council. He hadn't done anything wrong at all, but things had not even remotely gone according to plan either and as a result there may have been a bit more casualties than they thought there would be..

"Well Master, they were more or less what we expected going in give or take a few..."

Adrian said confidently hoping to avoid answering the question entirely. He knew the casualties were a tad higher than had initially been estimated but those estimates were done under the pretense that the facility holding the senator hostage was a small group of environmental protestors having a tantrum about the mining practices on Bespin and their danger to the natural environment. What the briefing had failed to mention is that it was in fact a giant temper tantrum by militant environmental protestors armed to the teeth.

Give or take.......?

The Jedi Master folded his arms and stared directly at the younger Knight.

Adrian nodded.

"Oh, you know a few, maybe by five or ten...."

Adrian bit the inside of his lip for a moment, he hadn't outright lied but he had omitted something, maybe not something a Jedi Knight should do, he'd correct it.

"....maybe a factor of five or ten. And the senator took a blaster bolt to the side, he'll be fine though."

The elder Jedi's eyes widened.

"How did you let that happen and what was that first part you muttered?"

Adrian sighed, but tried to remain respectful.

"Okay well, it's less of us letting it happen and more of him being an idiot. I TOLD him to stay put and when the shooting started he started running around the room like a child who just snorted a bag of sugar and drank six cups of black caff. Between him and the forty plus soldiers we had closing in on us he sort of tripped over one of the dead bodies on the floor, struggled like an idiot again...and the dead soldier's blaster went off and shot him in the side...hitting mostly fat but still causing him to pass out and Arty had to carry him until he woke up, then he proceeded go...pardon the language, but kriffing nuts again and grabbed Arty's lightsaber and stabbed him through the shoulder...on the entrance ramp to the ship. Again, because he....is with the most respect possible, a total idiot."

Adrian paused but remembered there was one question he hadn't answered.

"The casualties were....a factor of five or ten....but in fairness, you did not tell us we were basically going up against a tree hugging version of the 501st Master. Our plan didn't involve fighting elite soldiers, it involved rescuing a prima donna senator being held hostage by spice smoking environmentalists."

The elder Jedi rubbed his temples and covered his face for a long moment after Adrian was done speaking.

"A factor of five or ten?! Okay Adrian. I understand that there were much more of them and that they were much more heavily armed than you thought...."

Adrian raised a hand and interrupted quickly, no way he was going to be blamed for the bad intelligence that they were provided.

"Than YOU told us so..........Master."

"Be quiet."

He looked over at the table to see that his mug was empty and shook his head.

"Fine....than we told you so, but can you please explain one last thing to me so that I understand?"

Adrian nodded quietly knowing where the question was going, but not really wanting to answer what he was sure was going to come next, but that was part of being a Jedi he supposed.

"Yes Master?"

"Good...good. Now, please tell me. The Senator said you.....punched him in the head repeatedly and then dragged him to a sleeping berth, and cuffed him to the bed where you forced him to stay for the rest of the trip. If that is true...why in the name of the Force did you do that?

Adrian's upper lip disappeared and he started nodding quietly.

"Well, if twice is repeatedly yes I did punch him repeatedly. I'm surprised it took twice to knock him out, thick skull small brain I guess...Anyway, after he accidentally stabbed Arty I had to tend to Arty and get the ship off the planet. I did not have time for that wildcard idiot getting us all killed. He had demonstrated repeatedly as I mentioned a moment ago that in any remotely stressful situation his first instinct was to panic. The first time he almost got himself killed, then he almost killed Arty. I did what was necessary to protect his life, honestly I'm starting to think the senate could do without him...but my mission was my mission and throwing him out the airlock wasn't an option. So I did the next best thing and took his behavior out of the equation thus eliminating a potentially deadly variable that could have....and likely would have resulted in the failure of the mission and all of our deaths. I made the only decision I could under the circumstances and if the end result was the senator got a concussion then I'd make the same decision again. I bet he didn't mention how after I was done tending to Arty I dressed his wound ten times better than I stitched up my own forehead..."

Adrian was confident in his words and stood upright, his features strong and determined that he had said the right things, if maybe not exactly in the right way. Whatever. He was a new Knight and an ex Sith, if they didn't want him to do what he had done then they probably should have sent someone else. You don't send Arty Orspach and Adrian Lynd on a mission and not expect things to go a bit sideways. In fact that's the reason they were sent. The council knew that of the Jedi they had, Adrian and Arty wore some of the most skilled swordsmen among the Guardians in the entire Jedi order, sending them into a situation that didn't require lightsabers was like using a tank as a school bus.

"I...also, don't think you need to worry about those environmentalists anymore, I don't think any of them lived...unfortunately, but that was their choice."

He breathed out his nose and looked at the twenty three year old Jedi, he could stand to work on his presentation but he wasn't entirely wrong. Maybe the council should have sent a sentinel or a consular with them to be the voice of reason and perhaps calm the senator down but that was in the past...

"I see........Adrian please....just...go check on Arty or something away from here for now. I need to smooth this over with the senate and the senator himself."

Adrian nodded quietly and bowed respectfully before stopping on the way out. He had to admit he felt a bit guilty about giving the council more work even if it was decidedly NOT his fault and was in fact theirs. Nevertheless he wondered if there was something he could do to make their lives just a touch easier.

"Master?"

"...Yes Adrian?"

"I could speak with the Senator if you like?"

The young Jedi Knight said with the utmost sincerity with a helpful look on his face.

"NO! Go. NOW. Please."

Adrian shrugged nonchalantly at least he asked. He didn't have to ask, but he did and that had to stand for something, the Council did not look particularly thrilled with the situation but he and they both knew damn well that there was nothing they could have done much differently if they wanted it done much differently then maybe they shouldn't have sent Arty and him. The new Knight bowed once more before he exited the council chambers and headed towards the infirmary.