If you have registered to study this course, come here with your acceptance slip and wait for approval.

Jin-ho wandered through the halls, only managing to get lost once or twice before finding the route again -- generally thanks to a helpful fellow Student that was passing by. When she eventually reached her destination, she took the acceptance slip out of her pocket, and looked around for the person she'd be supposed to give it to.

A man dressed as a guard took the slip from her and studied it carefully.

"Jin-Ho...... You wish to study protection. Good....... But which line would you care to follow? You can train to be a Handmaiden for the Queen, which could open possibilities to become a Royal yourself with hard work. You can train as a personal bodyguard, which means you can have work with any person. What do you have in mind?"

Jin-ho thought about it for a moment, weighing the options that were in front of her... She knew precious little about the Handmaidens, at least not enough to decide to turn it into her career...

- "Umm... Could you explain what a Handmaiden does, exactly? Except just be bodyguards to the Royal Family, that is... All i've heard so far are rumors."

Well, that certainly was the truth. They were rumored to be everything ranging from Royal Guards to body doubles for Family members to decoys in case things got dangerous... She suspected at least half of those things to be exaggerated stories, but she wanted to be sure just in case.

"A handmaiden position requires that you learn everything from politics, diplomacy, design, dress making, styling, combat..... In all forms. It is one of the most varied positions in the line of protection. If you are ever selected to be a handmaiden for a Royal, then you will be given a wage, and you will accompany the Queen, Princess and occasionally Senator, wherever they go. And help them with their duties, and more importantly, secure their safety."

He offered Jin-Ho a seat.

"If you have proven yourself to be a great asset, you can be promoted as a decoy. A physical similarity to your employer is beneficial but not essential. However, you must learn the act of mimicary. The voice will always give you away, master the voice of the Queen, and anyone will believe you to be her. This of course requires that you place yourself in mortal danger. A decoy, most of the time acts as a handmaiden, although a superior one. But in times of crisis, you will act as the Queen's double to ensure her safety......

Once you have proven yourself in this area, you can then leave the handmaiden profession and look to more aspiring work. Many former decoys went on to be Royals and Politicans themselves. It is probably the most reward giving occupation there is in the protection service"

Jin-ho took the offered seat, and when the man told her about the risks involved, she was suddenly glad she had accepted the offer. She took a deep breath, only now noticing she had been holding her breath during most of the speech.

- "Whoa... Sounds like there's a lot of risk involved too..." o.O

She thought on it for a while. Gathering from what she heard, career choices probably didn't get more versatile that that. Add in the prospect of being well trained in personal combat, which was what she'd liked about Protection Services, and her mind was pretty much set... Though she'd be lying if she claimed to be perfectly calm about the matter, but her voice managed to catch her nervousness just fine anyway.

- "Well... Handmaiden it is then. When do i... you know... start?" ^^;

"Straight away..... Of course you can not be promoted to being a handmaiden persé, until you have graduated, but you are now a handmaiden in training. Please proceed to the Royal Palace, guards will meet you, simply say who you are, that you are a student with us, probably best to show your acceptance slip again like with me, security is very tight at the moment. Ask to speak with Saiya, she is a handmaiden of Queen Breha, she will be your tutor. If you need any more assistance, please do not be afraid to contact me again. I am Captain Antilles."


OOC: Because you are now training, I've changed your title from Rogue to Handmaiden. So congrats, you are the first we have had ;)

OOC: YAY Thanks ^_^.

IC:

Jin-ho, not exactly knowing how to reply to an officer, simply made a slight bow as she thanked him. Meanwhile, she made an effort to remember the names... Captain Antilles. Saiya. She repeated the two names like a mantra, trying not to freak out in the process. If she'd end up forgetting something as simple as that... Well, she suspected it wouldn't be looking good as a first impression...

- "Yes sir, thank you sir. On my way now, sir." o.O

Nerves as tight as a spring, she walked out of the building as fast as she could, just barely able to keep from running... at least while she was still in Captain Antilles' sight. The young girl decided to walk over to the Palace: she felt like she could really use some fresh air at that time.

[Royal Palace]

After hearing the transmission Elan made his way down the corridor slip in hand. He kept an eye out for anyone that looked like they'd be able to help him. Through one of the open doors Elan saw a man dressed as a guard, he seemed to have a stack of slips on the table in front of him and was reading a pad.

Elan walked over to him noticing the placard with the name 'Captain Antilless' on the desk.

'Greetings Captain' Elan said as he handed over the slip waiting for the man to reply.

"A pleasure..... You must be Elan.... You have been with us for a short while havent you..... Well, I now have something important for you to participate in...... Queen Breha will be travelling to Naboo to visit with Queen Kylantha. Security will have ot be top notch, we would like you to accompany with us and ensure the Queen's safety...... Would you be prepared for this mission?"

Elan was taken a little aback. He had only been at the university for a short time and apart from finding his way around and getting used to the new world in which he found himself he had not done any noticeable training.

'Are you sure sir?' he asked cautiously. 'I'd be happy to do anything I can do to help but I'm sure there are officers who are more capable, more talented than myself'. He let the sentence linger in the air. 'What will I be able to do that others can't?'

"You will accompany me with the Queen, her daughter the Senator, and their handmaidens. It is a fairly straight forward affair, but I'd appreciate you helping us with this" Antilles nodded to him

Jin-ho waited anxiously at the Protection Services Training area, resisting the urge to take the gun out to look it over. She had been fifteen minutes early -- which proved her unease -- and kept looking at the various places Captain Antilles could enter the area, keeping an eye out for the first sign of the one that would be teaching her how to use her gun.

She noticed movement in the corner of her eye, and quickly spun around to see who it was. Much to both her relief and her irritation, it was a 'regular' officer that had come for some practise himself. Recognising the Handmaiden uniform, he gave her a brief salute, which she absentmindedly returned, nodding at the man as he passed her, her eyes already scanning the entrances again.

Captain Antilles walked over to her,

"Well young lady, how can we help you today? Luckily it's not as busy as usual around here today, so we will be able to train intensively if you wish....."

Jin-ho nodded at the Captain. She was still feeling a bit nervous, but there was something about the officer that made her feel more at ease... Probably his far greater experience at both training new recruits as well as handling firearms.

- "Ah, thanks sir... To be honest, i'll be glad if i even get to master the basics of this... thing."

She honestly didn't like the idea of carrying a blaster, much less one without a proper safety setting. On the other hand, it was a gift from Saiya, so...

GAH! Just... [i]master the bloody thing already so you won't shoot yourself in the foot with it![/i] >_<

And with this mental shove, she tyook a few steps closer to Antilles, waiting for the man to tell her where she'd need to go now...

They began to walk to the shooting range for practice. Along the back of the wall were rows upon rows of moving hologram targets. Some of people, animals, droids and so on. A wide range of opponents.

"Now..... This works very simply. Depending on where you shoot the hologram, the program will respond to what would happen if the object were in fact real..... So if you shoot that Bounty Hunter over there in the knee caps, he will fall down, he will limp, his armour will be broken..... But it is just a hologram........ So Jin-Ho...... Set yourself some targets. The best thing to do is dive right in........ 3 minutes..... Shoot as many as you can.... Eliminate them as fast as you can...... Now...... Go!"

The objects began to run around the range, some of them shooting in Jin-Ho's direction with fake fire. Antilles stood and watched to see how Jin-Ho would perform.

Jin-ho looked from the holograms to Captain Antilles and back to the holograms again as he explained about them. The way in which he finished his speech however caught the Handmaiden completely by surprise.

"...Eliminate them as fast as you can...... Now...... Go!"

- "Wait-- What?!? Where's that..."

She searched her pockets, pulling out the blaster. A fake laser beam streaked right past her face, startling her enough to drop the weapon, this time causing a rather real looking laser blast to burn itself into the door. Freezing for a second, Jin-ho looked at the weapon before diving on it, holding it rather cramped up and awkwardly with both hands.

She leaned over a nearby barricade, holding her arms straight as boards as she pointed at the nearest hologram. She squeezed the trigger as fast and often as she could, the recoil from the small weapon throwing off her already poor aim. Nevertheless, due to the sheer range -- or lack of it -- she managed to score quite a number of hits. On a nearby screen, red dots lit up on a model on the left leg, right arm and shoulder, two in the intestinal area and a lucky shot in the left eye.

Unfortunately, due to the cramped up way she was holding the blaster, the recoil hurt her wrists, causing her to lower herself behind the barricade again, rubbing the painful limbs as she looked at Captain Antilles apologetically, almost sad. From what she could tell, her wrist was a bit sprained, but the feeling that she was wasting Captain Antilles' time seemed to hurt even more.

- "I'm sorry... I'm wasting your time with this, aren't i?" ._.

He laughed a little, "No you're not. This was your first try, and to be injured doesn't mean failure. I can't list the number of times I have been wounded...... Yes even during training...... Let me see you wrist...."

He had a little look at it, trying his best not to hurt her,

"It should be alright..... Just take it easy with it...... Well, I think it's best to call it a day with the blaster training..... For just now anyway...... Instead, we can teach you about stealth....... And yes it is neccessary in protection...... Any questions?"

Despite her wrist not feeling all too great, Jin-ho found it a relief to hear that at least she wasn't... well... worse than usual. Suppressing a slight wince as Captain Antilles examined her wrist, she managed to turn it into a weak smile (hopefully) before the senior officer would notice.

- "Umm... yeah. Stealth sounds like fun. Some of the crew on dad's ship used to be mercenaries, and they seemed to enjoy teaching me stuff like that." ^_^

"Well it is a very important skill to master..... And Yes, also fun. What have you been taught previously? It could come in useful"

Jin-ho thought for a moment, trying to recall what some of the crew members had taught her. She still remembered what she had learned from experience, though it was just a bit hard to think back on what the lessons themselves had been.

- "Umm... lesseee... you walk on the balls of your feet, moving as if you're trying to walk on a wave... Then another was minding your surroundings to not stand out. Lighting, clothing, whatever you're walking on... Oh, and acting naturally will cause people to not notice you either if they think you're supposed to be there, though that's a different approach than just trying to be undetected. Managing to be ignored by being loud is fun too, though not very common. There were others, but those are the ones i can recall right now..."

She looked back at the older man in front of her, still racking her brain on what else she had been taught. She didn't know if she managed to get the wording right, but the young redhead believed she got most of the message across correctly.

"Very good" Antilles said. Suddenly his com-link went off. He whispered,

"All right....yes....Okay...understood....."

He looked back at Jin ho. Well training is over for now, your presence is request back at the palace. Someone wants to see you at the grand reception room....I would hurry if I were you. I have to go now. I'll see you at the next training session!"

Antilles turned around and returned to his duties.

- "Yes sir! Thank you sir!" ^_^

Having gotten over the disappointment of her own first laser target practise, Jin-ho had already cheered up a good deal, mostly due to thinking back about the fun she had sneaking up on people back where she grew up. Still, a summons was a summons, and she was a Handmaiden after all now.

She hastily made her way back to the palace, already practising what she had once learned about running stealthily, mumbling out what she recalled as if trying to teach herself.

- "It's not running... Imagine yourself gliding on air. You move on your toes, yet do not land on them..."

The red headed girl stealthily ran on to the palace, silently whispering to herself as she passed others in the palace halls. In her mind, all that was heard was the rushing of wind past her body, and truth be said, anyone else would have a hard time hearing more than that.

[Grand Reception Hall]

OOC: Please proceed to the Grand Reception Room thread:)

[Grand Reception Hall]

Jin-ho sighed, weighing the heavier weapon in her hand until she had found a grip she felt comfortable with. Though the weapon was considerably more powerful than her former one, she felt better about having it since unlike the latter, the DL-44 came with a built-in safety mechanism.

- "Okay, now what did Amy tell me again... Loose grip, don't tense up..."

During the conversation with her cousin, she had asked the older girl for pointers on blaster combat. With her going into her fourth year as a security guard, as well as her team reaching the Blaster League quarterfinals, she had hoped her far greater familiarity with blasters could prevent the disaster that had taken place during her last attempt.

Setting the blaster to its lowest setting, she aimed at the back wall a few times, trying to get the hang of steadying her aim without getting shot at -- even it it was by holographic projections. She went to the console, setting the difficulty to 'level 0', after which a projection of a crash test dummy appeared, standing still, with a scoreboard hovering over him.

Steadying her aim again, she started shooting at it, the struck areas lighting up on the board along with the score for hitting that particular area of the human body. She'd move on to moving targets later on, when she could hit stationary ones with any semblance of regularity.

After a number of tries, not all of them successful, Jin-ho believed it was time she moved on to the next level. After recharging the power pack of her new weapon, a few quick taps on the terminal quickly made the holographic target dummy fade away to that of the arena she had seen before.

A timer appeared, counting down from 5 to allow the trainee in question to get into position before the carnage would get started. As she got into position, she tried to recall what this level had looked like the previous -- and only -- time she had gone through it, the blaster more comfortable in her hands now.

One minute and a violent shootout later, a score of 24 appeared on the screen. Jin-ho was happy at the results, believing them to be quite good for a first (real) attempt. Still, Captain Antilles had said fifty, yet considering the sheer amount of shots that had gone wide, she figured it wouldn't be too hard.

Noticing her blaster's energy meter back in the red again, she recharged it while replaying the 'battle' in her head. There was no real pattern in the enemy movemments that she could see, but she did notice having gradually improved as the round progressed.

Several tries later, a score of 56 had appeared on the screen. The cadets that had grinned at her at first were now cheering her on, humored by her tenacity to beat the first stage of training they themselves had had to pass back when they had first joined the Guards.

Wiping some sweat off of her brow, she grinned at them, doing a small exaggerated victory pose for fun as she loaded the results into the datapad. She had the results she needed for Captain Antilles, but decided to take a small walk to get the adrenaline out of her system. The blaster was recharged again, of course, like it had been after every round. It was quite an energy guzzler...

[Exploration]

Taves walked into the training facility. He had knocked out a trainee, and stolen his clothes as well as his form. He walked to the main computer terminal and looked through the files. He knew that if Jin-Ho had gotten to be a corporal of the Royal Guard, then she would have had to stopped through here.

(OOC: REALLY AWKWARD GRAMMAR)

He approached the profiling computer and checked to make sure that no one was around. He typed in 'Jin-Ho' at the terminal. The computer brought up her current profile for the guard. Taves looked it over then printed out a copy. He was slightly dissapointed by the fact that what he needed to know about her he mostly knew. He returned the trainees clothes to the closet he had stored him in. He could tell the kid was coming to. "My suggestion to you" said Taves "dump this place and become a bounty hunter."

[The Thranta]

Jin-ho walked through the training area for the Royal Guard again, keeping an eye out for Captain Antilles. As a precaution, she had decided to keep wearing her disguise -- as well as the blast armor under it -- until Kalin would have gotten the bounty on her head lifted. She took a deep breath, watching the newer recruits fire at their targets much like she had, and continued to wait.

Antilles walked over to her,

"Jin-Ho...... Are you alright? I'm sorry all of this had to happen, but perhaps in the end it was the best thing that could have happened for you...... The bounty that was on your head will soon be gone, and also once again..... You will be dead...... After some arrangements we managed to find a near copy of yourself, and after some modifications, it was hard to tell the both of you apart....... The young man and girl you came here with have taken the body, and he claims he will present it to Lord Vader as proof of your death....... It has been a messy business all of this...... However, once it has been clarified that the bounty is gone and that the Empire also believes you to be dead, you will have more freedom...... No one will be looking for you anymore, however, I would still consider using a fake name, at least for a time until all of this as blown over......... But now you have more options..... So what do you wish to do? Return to Yavin IV and continue your training there? Or remain here, hidden for a time and continue training in protection services?...."

Jin-ho thought on that for a moment, before replying.

- "Umm... I think it would be better if i went back to Yavin for a while longer. If the Empire would notice me walking around here right after they've gotten the body, it'll just get everyone involved into trouble. I could always come back later, right?" ^_^

She grinned at Captain Antilles, before a sudden thought hit her, and she slammed a fist into her open palm as she remembered.

- "Oh dammit! I forgot my family will have heard i've died as well, is there some way to let them know about me?" :o

"If you wish you can visit them, but I would travel incognito, but the same would apply if you go to Yavin IV also...... But travel under a false name also, no one can know your real name..... Perhaps in a few months you will be free to use it again.... But I would still remain cautious in whom you entrust with your real name...... people are still looking for you, and until they we hear back of Lord Vader's response, you are still in danger...... So travel with care Jin-Ho..... You know you are always welcome here, and are an asset to the Rebel Alliance....... Take care of yourself....."

He turned and made his way back to the Palace, he could not help but worry of what Vader's response would be. If he did not believe that she was truly dead, it could result in horrific times.......

- "Thanks, i will... Oh, and did Leia give you that holodisc with my test results? I gave it to her before leaving." ^_^

Jin-ho grinned, at the meantime knowing she'd be 'Christine Aren' for a bit longer now. In the light of things, travelling under a false name for a month or so wasn't really all that bad. All that would be needed was some time before the Bounty was lifted, and the Hunters that were after the massive amount of cash on her head focused their attention on other profitable targets.

She sighed, running over the events of the past few weeks. She felt like a Sith magnet, meeting no less than three of them within a week. Still, she mused that if the Sith were numerous enough to pop up like weeds lately, the Jedi wouldn't be as rare as she originally thought they'd be. She recalled when she had held Kalin's lightsaber on the Thranta, amased at the balance and weight of the weapon. It really was nothing like anything she'd ever seen before.

Transmission coming from Coruscant

Suddenly in Jin-Ho's pocket a device was making noise. It was a holo-projector that Kalin secretly hid for some last measurements.

"Hey girl! This is Kalin...probably though you were already rid of me, did ya?! Sorry, but the party isn't over yet...I'm about to contact Vader and hand over your 'corpse' to an imperial outpost for investigation. "

Now Kalin wanted to present the catch in this investigation.

"Now of course they'll be asking question about the body that was cremated there on Alderaan. Senator Organa herself testified for that. So I want you to contact Captain Antilles and the Princess that I had their full cooperation in tracking you down and killing you, otherwise they'll come back for more questions and their suspicion will just rise towards her, if she doesn't confirm my story."

The transmission stayed open, Kalin was waiting for a confirmation.

Jin-ho looked at the holo-projector for a while. It felt odd to talk about her corpse like that, as if she were some kind of ghost, but then again, she thought Kalin would try to attack her when they first met after all. She smiled, and winked back at him.

- "Heh, sure thing. Don't spend my Bounty all in one place, okay?" ;)

Finishing up the transmission, she took a sprint after Captain Antilles to relay Kalin's message to him. She decided to keep a hold of the projector though, in case she might get to return it one day. After that though, she had a long overdue piloting lesson on Yavin to take care of...

"Yes Jin-Ho.... Everything has now been settled........ But I would keep your head down for a time.... Focus on your training...... And learn to protect yourself from any who would be of threat..... Especially in these dark times......."

He gave one final look and continued back to the palace

Giving him an understanding nod, Jin-ho turned around to leave the Protection Services compound through another exit. One that would take her to the city's Spaceport. While she wasn't exactly eager to leave the planet as fast as she could, she didn't feel like sticking around until the second group of Imperial representatives decided to pay the Palace a visit. There were limits to her luck, after all...

[Aldera -- Departures]

Taves walked into the protection center. He hoped he would have more hope here than at the palace. He walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me" he politely said. "I need to speak to Captain Antilles. Could you tell him I know the whereabouts of a certain Jin-Ho and just want to talk?"