The comlink beeped and a text message was sent. Please report to Master Ulric at your earliest convenience.

Master Ulric was one of the most prominent and well known Masters on the Master's Council. He oversees the day-to-day business of the Jedi Temple.  The last time Cloud had seen him was at the Knighting ceremony. If Master Ulric himself is requesting a meeting, then it must be important.

After the message came through, the com went silent again. The small interruption was lost in the sounds and sights of the famous Fountain Room. There were jedi of all ranks meditating, conversing, and moving about the room. Droids and non-jedi made their way to various locations. And near the main pool Senator Sala of Kuat was talking with Master Utala, a Ho'Din.

"Wow!! Master Ulric!! He must have an important mission for you!! I would be honored if he requested my presence. Maybe he will send you somewhere interesting. Or maybe someone is in trouble and needs saving. Or maybe you are needed to negotiate with some planet. Or maybe..." The Mon Calamari padawn kept excitedly listing ideas for the meeting. Norretel had a tendency to get overly excited about everything and ramble on endlessly about whatever excited him.

Cloud smiled.

"Patience. Calm yourself. Deep breaths."

He remembered his master telling him that so many times when he was the padawan. But now the cycle moved forward, and he's the Knight training someone else.

Hopefully he could encourage him to be at least slightly calm inside. Master Ulric's been at this too long to expect Padawans to NOT be excited, but he'd probably at least like them to be working on being calm.

Norretel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I am trying to calm. And I will calm. It is just really exciting, no? Your first assignment since you graduated. And your meeting with Master Ulric himself. I mean, wow! I cannot imagine!! What could he have you doing?!?"

Norretel failed to remain calm as he began to get excited again. This was  common problem for him, and one that has held him back over the years. And one of the reasons he was not invited to this meeting.

Cloud really felt the cycle turning. Was he like this once?

...Well, maybe not that extreme, but...

"You can do what you set your mind to. The Force will be your guide...even something you 'cannot' do can become possible. The peace within the Force is there for all of us. Just reach for it."

Norretel listed to the advice, and tried to internalize it.  His thoughts quickly turned back to the meeting with Master Ulric.

"You need to hurry and see what Master Ulric wants! He might give you your first mission! Or maybe even your own padawan to train!! Think of all the exciting things he could have in mind for you!"

Cloud nodded. That was also true.

The padawan would keep trying at least.

Anyways, Cloud headed for Master Ullic now.

The temple corridors seemed to grow larger as Cloud headed up towards Master Ulric's office. The flow of individuals slowed as one reached the higher levels of the temple.  These levels were reserved for the masters and other senior members of the Order. As Cloud walked off the turbolift on Master Ulric's level, he almost ran into another Jedi as he rounded the corner.  The human Jedi was moving in a hurry and almost ran into Cloud as he turned the corner to enter the turbolift.  He muttered a "sorry" as he quickly entered the now vacant turbolift.

Master Ulric's door was open, and his receptionist droid stood behind the desk inside.  "Welcome to Master Ulric's office, Knight Earthrender.  Master Ulric is with another Jedi at the moment, but will be with you as soon as he is done. Feel free to take a seat on the couch along the far wall."

Cloud nodded, and took the waiting time to meditate and clear his head. There were usually good reasons to find one's inner peace before meeting the Master.

After about ten minutes, the inner office door opened. An Ithorian Jedi walked out, and noded to Cloud as he passed.  Master Ulric walked over to the door and looked over at Cloud.  "Knight Earthrender, please join me in my office."

Cloud entered.

"How may I be of assistance, Master Ullic?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:57, Mon 27 July 2015.

Master Ulric walked over to his desk and pressed a button.  The holo-images of 3 other Council Masters snapped into place on the wall behind him.  Each looked to be on a different planet or ship at the moment.

"Knight Earthrender, congratulations again on your promotion to Jedi Knight. Now that you have had a few weeks to settle into your new position, we are ready to assign your first mission. As you know, there have been increasing and disturbing reports of a rise in Sith activity on many worlds.  So far we have been unable to find definitive proof of a new Sith regime, but that is always possible.

One of our Knights was investigating a possible Sith sighting on the planet Rishii.  We lost contact with her about 2 weeks ago.  Repeated attempts to contact her have failed, and our outside contacts have reported no sightings since we lost communication."

He paused for a moment, and one of the holo-images began speaking. It showed the image of an elderly Cerean Master, Master Dhervall.  "We would like you to travel to Rishii and investigate the last known location of our missing Knight. You should use extreme caution as their is a high potential of Sith involvement."

Another of the Masters, a Nautolan Master, spoke next. "We are also assigning one of our higher-level padawans as your partner. He has never had a long term master before and we feel it is time for him to have some outside experience.  He is currently in the archives awaiting your arrival."

Master Ulric spoke again after letting that information set in for a moment. "Do you have any questions for us, Knight Earthrender?"

Cloud nodded.

"Understood. What kind of planet is Rishi? Are there environmental factors we'll need to be aware of?"

Master Ulric responded. "Rishii is a jungle planet. It has many oceans and small continents, mostly filled with jungle.  If you require more details, you can pull the planet file from the archives."

Cloud nodded again. No need to bother the Master with such questions.

"Was she able to give a description of the Sith she thought she saw? Or did she just sense the Dark Side?"

Master Dhervall spoke next. "She was not able to get a visual on the possible Sith. She tagged and interrogated some of the Sith's agents in the city, but we did not receive any information beyond that."

"Understood. Did she leave any of the names or contact information of her informants?"

Also important to know.

Master Ulric spoke again.  "I personally am not sure.  All the datafiles, records, and holo-calls we received will be at your disposal. They are all logged in the system and have been released to your clearance."

Cloud nodded.

"Understood, Master. I shall research the matter and depart."

Most of what he wants to know seems to be on file.

"Very well. Knight Earthrender, you are dismissed."

Master Ulric motions that he is free to leave and begin his mission.