Their thoughts were mirroring each other on the challenges ahead.  It was clear to him that Alethea understood the grimness of the situation.  The future was created by the past...an excellent way to put it, and if someone desired to change the past...so changed the future with it.  He had the distinct feeling they were racing against the clock, but they could do very little without first arriving at their destination...from which they were some time away from arriving at.  Impatience would do them no good.<br/><br/>"Yes, we must arrive there as soon as we can, and immediately investigate this problem.  I do not trust this whole thing, but until we arrive...I see little we can do.  The moment we arrive; we may not be greeted very nicely.  I doubt anyone on that station wants two Jedi snooping around to uncover their plans.  Perhaps we should jump out of hyperspace a bit earlier, and proceed from the other side of the storm...using it as cover.  I can only imagine how much energy the storm is putting out, and thus likely would shield us from being detected.  In this way, we may gain some small measure of surprise over whoever is running this operation, and may even allow us to get some readings on the storm before we have to deal with the station," the young Sentinel thought aloud to his companion.  "We will need rest as well, I think, before our arrival.  I doubt very much we are going get any once we get there."<br/><br/>This was very likely going to be the case.  Just from the images he had seen so far; rest was not going to be in high supply.  He paced away from Alethea for a moment, and back again...his keen young mind wandering over the possibilities they were soon to be faced with.  A glance up at her showed the determination in her eyes that had come into her tone earlier.  Thal-ion knew without a shadow of doubt that this was just the beginning for the two of them.  Challenges were ahead...perhaps some unlike any Jedi had ever faced before.  He wondered what to say next, but nothing came to his mind.  Already it was so full of the things he was working on...tactics to deal with the station, examining the problem of the battleships blockading Naboo in the past, the whys and whos of the situation, and Alethea - herself - were all on his mind.<br/><br/>Oh, he could not have denied even if he had wanted to.  Alethea was on his mind...mostly in his subconscious thoughts, but there all the same.  She was there, because of the new sensations he had no experience with coming from her...and from himself towards her.  She was there for the troubles they would soon face together.  She was there from the recent practice duel they had engaged in...in the  brief touches they had shared...in the way she had helped him remember the battleships of the Trade Federation.  Alethea was very much in his thoughts.<br/><br/>Short of Master Tionne - no other person had taken up so much of his thoughts than the woman he now gazed back at.  Not Master Kirana Ti, not Lady Skywalker, not Jaina Solo...no one had ever had so much of his thoughts until this moment.  Why did not matter to the young Sentinel.  What mattered was they were going to be doing a lot together...even facing life and death together.<br/><br/>"Have you ever seen Lady Skywalker talking to her husband?" he asked out of curiosity.  It was, perhaps, a rather strange question considering all they were already dealing with, and yet he felt it somehow important.  "I was just wondering," he added, "because they are so close when one is able to see them.  I saw them one time...just once, actually, in this particular fashion.  She came over to him," Thal-ion continued a bit haltingly.  "He seemed faraway...pondering something at the top of the Temple spire....just gazing out over the sky.  The moment she came to him...he was instantly lighter...as if she had chased his shadows away with her mere presence.  In the Force, they radiated energy such as I had never....well...never experienced before.  It was so powerful....yet gentle...strong, but tender...it was....incredible!"  Thal-ion's voice had grown softer...more thoughtful and tender...his eyes showing how much this particular moment he had witnessed had his curiosity.