the apprentice surprise

by julia bebop

luke and ben are on a self discover of what a father and son are like. plus there are a few surprises from a long and distance past

1. Chapter 1

The apprentice surprise.

By Julia Macgregor

The X-wing fighter had stop for a refuel before going off to the next star system. The pilot looked at the Navi-computer to see how further he had to go on. A R2 unit droid whistled a replay to the pilot. The pilot said, "We have enough…R-two?"

The droid whistled back.

Then, a formal sounding voice said over the ship's comlink, "Are thinking about stopping…because I am!"

The pilot glanced over to his left to see a familiar sight of the Millennium Flacon zipping past the small X-wing. The pilot checked his flight course for the last time. He sighed as he thought of seeing his wife, "I'll here for you!"

"Oh?" a voice said in the pilot's mind.

Grinning, a little as he knew his wife, Mara Skywalker stretched out her force to meet up with his force through the vastness of space. The pilot knew who was also on the Flacon. His twin sister Leia Solo and her husband Han were following the pilot of the X-wing, Luke Skywalker to a small, remote uncovered part of the galaxy.

Han's voice came from the comlink, "I hope Mara took the kids on a sight seeing trip…"

"Han!" Leia's scolded her husband.

Luke giggled a little, "I'm sure she and Three-P-O are fine. Ben had been excited about seeing a new golden spore mine for weeks now!"

R2 whistled excitedly as well. R2 loved to be around Luke's son and Leia's three children. The little droid hoped to see all four children soon.

Mara and the protocol droid C-three-P-O were trying to make a late lunch for her son, Ben and her two nephews, Jacen and Anakin and her niece Janna. It was the first time that Mara or Leia had cooking staff make up a meal for their families. It was the first time in a long while for Mara to be standing in front of a large pot and fire pit. It was the custom on the planet Acfim to be cooking over fire pits for generations. The local people were fishers, miners and farmers. There was only one large urban complex on the north east part of the planet called Sinmdak. The planet was so remote; the Empire had long forgotten it.

Ben was playing a large wooden ball. He was trying to make it fly. He was still learning how to use the force. Jason was helping out his sister with the preparing of the different vegetables for the stew their aunt was cooking. Anakin was studying his flight Sims. He sat at a large table near the kitchen area. He had to really clamp down with this new flight introducing droid. He didn't want to be left behind by his three cousins. He was a Skywalker.

C-Three-P-O was entering the cooking area with an armful of long spiky greens. A local grower of herbs was trying to extend a friendly hand to the visitors from the Republic. He said in a whinny voice, "Lady…Mara…"

Mara knew C-Three-P-O was getting use to the newness of the planet and growing tried of local merchants giving out gifts to them. "What is it, Three-P-O?" Then, she told Janna to stir the stew for a little while.

"There was another seller at our door!" Three-P-O sighed holding out the green spikes. He waited for Mara or one of the children to take the green spikes off of his hands. He wondered why the local inhabitances of the planet were so excited about new comers. He said, "If you please, ma'am…I will help Master Anakin with his studies!"

"If that's O.K. with Annie!" Mara said. She turned to see her nephew hard at work.

"I am not Annie any more, Aunt Mara!" Anakin sighed as he glanced at the monitor. He didn't move away from his computer-link. "I am Anakin!" he said with a sort of posh air in his voice. He was growing up a little too fast even for Han.

"What's that old saying…" Mara thought to herself, smiling. "…fourteen going on forty!" she reassumed her stance. She had a large cooking laser posed over a large tubular root vegetable. She was going to chop it up before putting it in the pot. Then, she heard a sound of a large ship, flying over head. She said, "Janna, Jacen…Anakin, your mom and dad are here!"

Ben was a little curious about his own father. When was Luke coming to see Ben? Ben let the wooden ball drop to the floor. With a loud crack, the ball split in two. Mara knew what had happened and sighed, "What happened?"

Ben went over to his mother, forcing a grin on his lips, said, "Nothing!"

"Nothing?" Mara shook her head. She wondered if Ben was using his force a little strongly as he practiced the skills in his apprenticeship. He was a fast learner like Luke. She had to ask Luke on what to do with Ben's sudden shift in the force. She hoped Ben was going to turn in another Vader want to be. Then, she thought, "Ben's just excited to see Luke. He misses his father like I miss Luke!"

Another ship, sounding lighter than its companion zipped over head of the living quarters. Both Ben and Mara knew it was Luke coming in for a landing at the launching pad on the other side of the living quarters. Ben jumped up before reaching the door, "Its dad!"

"Slow down…Ben!" Mara warned gently. She placed the knife on the cutting board. Then, she walked over to where Ben was standing. "Your father has to be debriefed after the mission is considered over!"

"Aww…mom, I wanna see dad. I wanna know how the meeting about keeping Yavin-four going went!" he whined, letting his arms shake a little loosely.

"My padawan…your father is very busy…yet," Mara sighed, placing a hand up to her right eye. Feeling the tension moving away after giving it a small rub, Mara said, "…you are so concerned about the others…you are sounding like your father everyday!"

"Awe…mom," Ben blushed as he turned his face away from his mother's sight. He was starting to be like Luke in his ways of thinking and of using the force.

"Look!" Jacen cooed in a silly tone of voice. He placed a hand up to his chin in the same way as Han did. "Benny is blushing!"

Feeling his agitation grow, Ben snapped a little, "I'll get you, Solo."

Jacen had a little on going test of who was the best at getting back at his fellow students. He knew Ben had a great deal of strength and promise. He tried to smooth things over with his cousin. He smiled, placing his hands up to his chest in a sort of protective action. He said, "Sorry, ol' buddy. I was just fooling around!"

"Listen laser brains. I will not have you calling me Benny!" Ben groused. He was going to calm down. He knew his father was going to step into the living quarters. The life force was very strong as it flowed into the room. Ben stood up straighter as he said in an excited tone, "Dad?"

Han stepped into the living area. He said with a slight grin, "Nope!"

"Aww…man!" Ben sighed, rolling his eyes. He was hoping to see Luke. It was a long while since Ben saw his father. He had a Skywalker understanding of being the best. Yet, the other side of his family tree was a little on the impatient streak.

"Just wait Ben…you have to be patient. Your dad is being questioned by Ol' Golden Rod!" Han shrugged.

"Aww…Three-p-o takes forever to get done!"

"Yea…Ben…" Han said as he and the others over heard a formal metallic sounding voice of a certain protocol droid.

"Master Luke…what else did you find sir?" C-three-p-o asked in his usually nosy tone of voice.

Luke was carefully thinking on trying to avoid any further discussions with the protocol droid. He really wanted to see Ben and Mara for a long while. He was going to always talk to Leia about any few remaining Jedi that had not been found. It was many years since the initial findings of Jedi. Luke was the very last hope of the long line of the noble knights of the force. He said to Three-P-O, "Nothing yet…I have been trying to figure out why Master Yoda picked out Dagobah for his training grounds!"

C-Three-P-O was in a muffled mix up as he tried to figure out what was Luke driving at. He managed to squeak out, "Sir?"

"Where is Ben?" was Luke's next question.

"Dad?" Ben's voice was filled with excitement, yet he did not want to make his father up set. Ben could tell that Luke had a trying time. The natives were very a quiet and shy people. They could not open up to new comers easily because of the Old Republic shut out a few planets during the many take over of power.

"I need to talk to you, son!" Luke said. His voice seemed very calming to his young son's anxious tone. He wanted to catch up with Ben and figure out what was making Ben grow up too fast in his training. Luke had figured on Ben's linage of being two Jedi warriors off spring. Yet, there was a few things more to the young man's grasp of learning.

"About what, Dad?" the young Skywalker asked, his eyes widen just a little with his heart beating from the excitement.

Luke said as he slightly pursed his lips, "It's about your training…"

"My training…" Ben asked. His heart sank a little. He wondered if his dad was upset at the results of his training.

"Don't worry about it too much Ben!" was Luke's reply. Luke had given a worn smile to his son. Thing were going too fast for the youngest of the new generation of Jedi.

There was much work still be done in a new mining planet that Lando Calrissian had inquired about. He had been watching power point summaries for the last two days. He had been trying to take notes about every last detail here was in the mine. He felt like if there was any more to be discovered, let someone else do it. He wanted to take a break. He had been on the former Imperil ship, the Prince's heart. He realized as a captured ship that was meant for a high rank officer of the emperor, the Prince's heart was still state of the art. He was very impressed in a rather hurried way. He knew a few lower ranking officers of the old imperil guard were trying to scrap up a few extra credits after the fall of the Empire.

Lando was sitting at the comlink station near the captain's chair. He had a small computerized note book with him. He had been very careful as he took notes about everything on this trip. He had always a string of mixed luck. Han had been joking with Lando since the early days of two being smugglers.

A gangly orange creature with a large and high forehead strolled over to Lando and asked in a fluty tone of voice, "Are you comfortable Mister Calrissian?"

Lando paused for a minute of note taking to reply with his usually charm, "Never better!"

Flashing a pleased grin, Lando went back to his final note taking. The orange alien was called a Nax. Naxes were a primary group of workers mined for spice and other rare metals in hard to reach area in high ceilinged caves. This patent Nax was called Gemt. He had worked his way from clean up crew to the high ranking officer off the sweeping crews. The sweeping crews were used in the finding of explosives after the mines were tunneled out.

Lando checked out his work as his view the screen on the e-notebook. He said, "What else do I need to look at?"

Gemt placed a hand up to his right check. He drummed his long tear drop fingers on the cheek. "Sir…I think that's it for today…Tomorrow there is a history of the mining company at the visitor's center."

"Oh?" Lando asked, feeling a tourist instead of a possible buyer of mining stock. "What is the tour like?"

Gemt nodded for a second before saying, "It's just the history of the local area. The mine itself is a wonder to behold."

Trying to stop a wincing smile from his lips, Lando had heard the same shtick as before when he had tried to invest his money into dozen of so called great idea and mines of wonders to behold. He didn't want to go bankrupted in the middle of a so called holiday. He nodded with a fake smile before watching Gemt thanked him for listening. Then, Gemt turned to leave for pilot's area of the ship.

Lando's eyes rolled as he sighed. "What did I get myself into this time!" he thought. Then, he heard the notebook pager going off. He opened it to see a holo-image of Han standing at a public Holo-call center.

Han said, "What are you doing?"

Lando placed a hand up to his right cheek and pursed his lips to the same side. He sighed, "Maybe getting into a huge scrape with the money!"

"What…" Han groaned in a mock wince. He knew Lando was getting in and out of wild ideas with money. He said, "What's it this time?"

"Nothing yet!" Lando said, trying to stay calm. He knew of thinking things out was the only way to go on this job. Then, he asked, "What's up with you and Leia?"

"We are supposed to be on some sort of mission that Mon Mothma had given us before you took off for your trip!" Han pointed out a Lando trade mark at times when money was concern.

"About what?" Lando asked with his curiosity peeked and his left eyebrow rose. What was Han thinking about?

"There is a possible trade war with the locals…" Han said before a short blast of static blacked out the screen for a few seconds.

"What?" Lando asked. Something was making the bottom of Lando's lower lip itchy. He rubbed it trying to figure out why the transmission was being blocked. Then, the screen flickered back to life. He asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know…" Han shook his head a little. He asked Three-p-o if an outside force was trying to halt the com-link transmission.

The golden droid said, "There is a possibility of a large storm approaching the living quarters."

"This is going to be bad!" Han sighed, rolling his eyes. He could hear the large drops of raining hitting the rooftops. He told Lando to hang tight for a little while longer. He was going to be flying over to see what going on outside of the planet. There were a few pilots who could be a local flying about, causing trouble.

Lando had to make a decision based on what was going to happen within the next forty-eight hours from the time he was now speaking to Han. It wasn't going to be easy. Yet, leaving a possible war wasn't easy either.

In the dark of the night, Ben was sleeping in an unfit swirl of past memories and future vision. It made him quite sick with fear when he had dreams where he had no control over them. He noticed a tall figure standing on the edge of his dream world. Who was this dark man? Ben had a hard time finding out what this stranger looked like. He needed his light saber. He glanced down for just a second to see if his light saber was hanging from his belt. His fingers did not rest easy when they did not trace the slender, long tube which was the hilt of the light saber. He did not want to look down in case this stranger was going to spring a sneak attack on him. He remained calm as his father instructed him to do after the long hours of training he had all ready been through. He had to confront this stranger in short order for his own survival. He asked coldly, "Who are you?"

The figure remained still in unspoken ambiguousness. The only response that Ben had was of a mechanical breathing noise. It was cold and distance as the figure raised its gloved right hand up toward its chest. Then, in a deep voice, the figure pondered in a straight forward tone of voice, "Looking for this?"

Ben was floored at the long hilt of a familiar object. Cold sweat started to bead up on Ben's forehead. It was his light saber in that creature's hand. He wanted to run up at the figure and snatch up his light saber. That was a well earned prize from his father. Luke had taught him on how to use the light saber carefully. There were still lots to learn from the students at the academy. To be a son of Luke Skywalker meant so much to Ben. Furthermore, he was named after the teacher who both taught Luke and Anakin. Ben had regrets on not spotting the hidden dangers in teaching the one was going to bring balance to the force. Instead Ben Kenobi lost his life to the creature named Darth Vader. The monster that once was Anakin skywalker was now haunting Luke's own son. Luke was nearly twisted to the Sith on more than one occasion.

The figure could feel the fear coming from Ben. Ben was starting to get nervous. There was no way of fighting without his light saber. He knew some of the mind training of the Force.

"What is the problem?" the figure asked coldly.

Ben tried to reason with everything going in his mind. He wanted to scream, if he did scream maybe he would wake up from this strangely dark world in which he had found himself in. He was felt the figure anger begin to new at him. Why was he here for anyways? He remained quiet as he stood.

"I can understand your fear, your hate and your loss!" the figure said. There was a slight breath of sadness and bitterness in the figure's tone. Yet, was this a ploy on toying with Ben's strength. How far was this figure going to stretch the young son of Luke Skywalker?

Ben pushed a little too far with the teasing. He named at his lower lip for a just a second or two. Then, he snapped coldly, "Why are you doing this to me?"

"To see if you are worthy of calling yourself a Jedi!" the figure chided at Ben. It began to move forward in a stream of light in the middle of a vortex in the dream cloud. Ben shook his head a little at the figure. He had never seen a person or a droid like this before. It was covered entirely in black armor. Then, a long, black cloak draped around the back of its shoulders. The face was covered in a dark mask which appeared skull like.

At first, Ben was surprised at the figure's appearance. It was shocking to see this creature the way he had first appeared to Leia so many years ago. Ben had felt his aunt's presence in his mind. He knew about the feeling of this sort. Luke and the other Jedi Masters had taught him about the connection from other Jedi through the use of the Force. He felt little better at this outcome.

"I didn't want to test you if something would have happened!" the figure said as it walked towards the young man. Both light sabers hummed with an intense noise. It seemed like they were more like a set of highly charged magnets instead of a deadly weapons.

"Just stay calm, Ben!" Leia's voice said, quietly. There was a great deal of comfort coming from Leia's presents.

Ben had to remain focused on what he was going to do with this dark figure. He asked for a second time, "Are you Darth Vader?"

Without even an extra glance at the young man who was completely defenseless, the figure said, "I was once Ankin Skywalker. Now, I am just a nightmare!" then, the figure lunged at Ben with no warning. Ben had to get out of this monster's line of fire or end up as just another pile of dust when the fighting was all say and done.

Ben caught his breath in his throat and...

...woke in cold sweat.

Ben's eyes snapped open when he breathed so hard that it hurt him to take another breath. He scanned nervously around the room. He wanted to scream to protect himself from the evil in which had just awoke from. Then, a noise of a small droid quietly humming in the hallway nearly made Ben jump out of bed with fear.

"Calm...yourself!" a gentle formal voice said in the room.

He noticed another figure in his room. This time the figure was very warm and soothing.

"Dad?" Ben asked as he calmed his breathing down.

"Yes…" Luke's voice was trying to sound a little more concern than more. He knew about all the nightmares that Ben had as a child. He had the same kind of night mares as a young boy growing up on Tatoenne. Why was Vader haunting them in their dreams? Luke had to brush it aside when he was growing up. When he was student of Yoda, he had long hours of thinking and talking to his Jedi master who was there with his father. "Did you have a nightmare, son?" he asked as he walked over to the bed.

"Yea…dad," he shook his head to get the feeling out from his mind.

"What was it about… you want to talk?" Luke was now standing over the bedside. He sat at the foot of Ben's bed. "You are so young and still have nightmares?"

"Dad?" the younger Skywalker mumbled in his half sleep state. He sat in bed, rubbing his eyes to get something focused in his mind.

"It's all right…I'm not going to tell mom on your. I have still bad dreams. We all do and there is nothing to be ashamed about it!" Like smiled. His gentle demeanor was trying to break down his son's fears.

"Wha?" Ben sighed. He tried to sit up in bed.

"Nothing...I hope you can come to me with any problem...my door is always open for you!" Luke smiled. He reached out to take Ben's hands into his. He knew his son was special. Mara was a good woman and a wonderful mother to Ben.

Ben looked away from Luke. He had something to hide with his feelings. Feelings were going be to the hardest thing for the young Skywalker to figure out. Then, he heard his mother's voice.

"Did you wake up your father, Ben?" she asked gently. With her own senses, Mara stretched out to feel Ben's mixed feelings. There was fear in the middle of the core. She walked up to the bed. She hoped Luke was aiding his son to calm the troubles inside.

"Sorry...ma!" Ben smiled sadly with a touch of shyness. He knew that he was a becoming a pain to his own family. He had to be strong in order to learn and grow with the force.

"That's all right, Ben..." Mara forced a smile on her lips. She walked up to the other side of the bed. She bent down to look at both important men in her life. She had a great deal to learn still about Luke. Luke was hiding the little of the pain from his past. It seemed like Vader still had still left a large black cloud in Luke's life. Luke did not want to share in the pain on having to learn he was the son of a great monster like Vader. There were touches of being ashamed with his knowledge. There was a larger picture of being Leila's younger brother. It comforted him with the use of force. She had aided him on many instants in where the Sith had popped up. Mara was still using her own power of the force to make Luke open up just a little more his feelings of the past, then Mara and Ben could help. It was going to take time.

Luke and Mara had taken steps in comforting their son, Ben. They stayed with him until he had fallen asleep. They walked back to their room slowly, letting the soft glow lamps aid their way back to the guest bedroom that was set up for them. Luke watched as Mara climbed into bed. He had been thinking of Ben and Han's three. Jacen was in need of more training and less boy watching. Leia had made the commit about Jaen's latest crush. Luke wondered if Leia was like that at Jacen's age. She was a girl who was breed into a strong woman. Things could have been different if Luke's father would not come to the dark side and his mother would be still alive.

"Wow! What thought?" Luke whispered softly to himself as he climbed into bed. He heard Mara wishing him a good night sleep. Then, he got himself comfortable for his own sleep. As he closed his eyes, Luke thought of Ben his old teacher. He needed to talk, yet this was not the time. Time was not a factor in the ways of the Jedi. Ben Kenobi could show up in Luke's dreams as easily as if Luke were awake. The threads of sleep were drawing close to Luke. Luke told Mara to have a good sleep. That was last thing he even thought before drifting off.

The next morning, Luke had awake before the sun had risen. He felt a little chilled. He realized that the room was cooled down for the evening.

He carefully got out of bed and placed his robe on. He did not want to wake up Mara. He heard a few birds singing in the distance. He scanned over the darkened room. There was nothing out of the normal with this room.

He sighed as he padded towards the door. He hoped that Mara and Ben were safe. He waited for the door open when something made Luke stop. He could hear a noise so faintly in background; he had a hard time figuring out what it was.

The machinelike breathing of a person on a life-support deceive was growing in sound. Luke watched as the door open to a semi-bright hall. He padded down the hall towards the outside courtyard. He knew he needed to train if only for a little bit.

When Luke reached the door, he noticed nothing out of the norm. He knew C3-po was working on the early morning news bites that he had to give to Leia while she breakfasted with Han in their private quarters. He heard a cleaning droid in the back ground scrubbing the flooring down the hall. He was going to grab a quick bite before changing into a flight uniform. He had to see the last of a long line of warriors who were supposed to be a distance relative of Ben Kenobi's teacher, Qui-Gon Jinn.