Thank you for choosing to read this, I'm really happy you did and I hope you enjoy. Before I get started here is the full summary that I couldn't fit above
Two young Jedi knights survive the purge and make a life for themselves on Tatooine. Their son becomes the most powerful Jedi of his day and saves the Galaxy but makes enemies on the Jedi Council. His children follow in his footsteps and create a dynasty that is shunned by a Galaxy that is indebted to them. Can these descendants of Azarp and Mihra Bark accept their new life and can the Galaxy survive without them? Beginning with the Jedi Purge and running for over a hundred years.
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Brought to you by EzioAuditore1459
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Anything you recognize belongs to Disney, anything you don't is probably mine
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And now, I proudly present:
THE STORY OF THE BARK FAMILY
PART I: A New Life
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Chapter 1: On the Run
Mihra
Mihra was still trying to process the events of the last several hours. She and her best friend Dotina Heyorr had been assigned to a medical station for a short respite from the war. One day they had just retired to their quarters for the night when Mihra got an odd sensation in the Force, something was amiss. She decided to go over to Dotina's room to see if she had sensed anything when she was attacked by a dozen Clone Troopers. Dotina had heard the fighting and she and Mihra had dispatched of the clones while killing as few as possible. They decided to go up to the command center to see if any other clones were revolting. On their way the two young Jedi Knights met one of the medical staff officers who frantically informed them that the clones were rampaging through the station, killing the healers and anyone who tried to stop them.
Mihra and Dotina gathered up as many doctors as they could find and headed for the hangar. Mihra found a ship that would hold them all and Dotina began getting everyone inside. As the last of the healers were entering the ship over a hundred clones burst into the hangar and began targeting the escape ship with heavy weapons. Dotina, realizing that they would never be able to make it out without a diversion, told Mihra to get the civilians out on the ship and that she would distract the clones. Mihra remembered what her former master, Teuch Neuko, had said on this matter, "If, in desperate circumstances, a fellow Jedi is willing to sacrifice themselves to save you or for the sake of a mission, especially if innocent lives will be spared by this act, you must allow them to follow through. If you waste time in trying to convince them against their resolution then you waste their sacrifice. Even if it is your closest friend, you must let them go but always be ready to do the same if there is no other option." With those words in her mind, Mihra, filled with regret, flew the ship out of the hangar to safety. As she was preparing to jump to Hyperspace she felt Dotina's death in the Force.
It was the hardest decision Mihra had ever made and for the rest of the journey she second-guessed her actions. If she had joined Dotina could they both have survived? Should she have taken Dotina's place? Is this really what Teuch would have wanted her to do? Mihra didn't know but she could not reverse the past and Master Neuko always said that one should not dwell on their actions that they cannot change. Her mind was taken off the despair of losing Dotina when she began noticing other deaths, at least that's what it felt like but maybe it was just aftereffects of Dotina's loss. Mihra had almost reached this conclusion when she felt another death, far more powerful than the others, the demise of her former master, Teuch Neuko. What was going on? Why were more Jedi dying? Had the entire Clone Army turned against the Jedi? Why would they suddenly murder their leaders? More questions that Mihra could not answer.
Mihra had set her course to Tatooine, the only place she knew that she would be safe. She would have to find Azarp, she knew that after he was expelled by the Jedi, Azarp had found refuge among the tribe of Tusken Raiders that his parents were a part of. Mihra thought about Azarp, it was partly her fault the Jedi Council had kicked him out of the Order. She and Azarp had been in a relationship against the Jedi Code. It had began on a mission to Bakura and they started meeting each other at the Jedi Temple between missions. Because both of their masters were on the Council they stayed on Coruscant for a large portion of the War. Dotina had known about the relationship and was, of course, strongly against it, even besides the fact that romance was forbidden to the Jedi Dotina said that Azarp wasn't the type that a young lady should hang around. Mihra knew that Azarp's friends also thought it was ridiculous that Azarp should like someone like Mihra, who they called a "perfect, law-abiding padawan". Mihra had even been confronted by Teuch, who, though Mihra had not confided in him about Azarp, suspected what was going on between them, said that Mihra should not become friends with Azarp and that he would be a bad influence on her as she reached Knighthood.
At fifteen, Mihra had been one of the youngest Jedi Knights ever named by the Council. She and Dotina had been knighted together by Master Windu. While Mihra was overjoyed by her promotion it meant that she would rarely ever return to Coruscant or see Azarp. It was months before they met again, though they spoke often by hologram. She, like many other knights in the area, had been called to Telmaros where the main base of Darth Nihalis, a powerful piarate who had once been on the Jedi Council, had been discovered. When she arrived many members of the Jedi Council were there, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Shaak Ti, Teuch, and Plo Koon, the master of Azarp. Mihra never discovered how but, after the mission succeeded, the Council learned of her and Azarp's relationship. Azarp, who had just been knighted, was promptly expelled while Mihra was given a warning by the Council. When she questioned Teuch over why Azarp had been expelled and she hadn't her master told her that Azarp already had a record of disrespect and disobedience to the Council while Mihra had been an exemplary Jedi Knight up unto that point.
Azarp had told Mihra that he was going to live with his family on Tatooine and asked her to come along but she refused, her life ultimately laid with the Jedi and not with Azarp. The next several months were difficult for Mihra as she could not contact Azarp and felt that she may have betrayed him by refusing to go with him to Tatooine. She often wondered if, after the War, she would go and live with him, at least she would be able to visit, though she doubted that the Council would approve.
Now she had nowhere else to go. She figured that she could get the healers a ride off the planet at one of Tatooine's spaceports, if not, this ship should have enough fuel to get them to somewhere that they could. Besides giving their condolences to Mihra for the death of Dotina, the doctors had not spoken at all since leaving the medical station and had retired to another part of the ship.
Mihra thought about Master Neuko. She had hardly spoken to him after Azarp was expelled. He had, more than ever, been immersed in his duties with the Council and she had thrown herself into mission after mission, keeping her mind off of Azarp. She had wondered if Teuch was distancing himself from her, wondering if he now looked down on her for her relationship with Azarp. Now she realized that she had made no attempt to speak with him after Telmaros. She had been furious with the Council and worried that speaking with her former master might cause an estrangement between them. She had worried that she would end up revealing too much and Teuch would realize how irresistibly in love she was with Azarp and that the Council would reconsider its decision on her expulsion. Azarp had coped with it. Well, he had not let it ruin his life but made such a show of defiance to the Council, insulting the masters to their faces. Mihra would not have acted so disrespectfully but how would she really handle it if she was expelled? She didn't have to worry about that now. For all she knew everyone on the Council was dead. Had any Jedi made it out? Some had to have, no action could possibly be efficient enough to wipe out all of the thousands of Jedi in the Galaxy. and the ever-recurring question: Why? Why had the Jedi been targeted? Who could possibly cause the Clones to turn on them? Had it been planned all along? Had the whole war been a trap? Mihra wondered if she would ever get answers for these questions. She wondered if she would ever know the reason for the deaths of nearly everyone she had cared about. Everyone except Azarp.
Mihra was aroused from her brooding by the voice of the autopilot announced that she had arrived at Tatooine. Was it that time already? How long had she been flying? She had been so immersed in her doubts that she had been completely unaware of the passing of time. She should have checked on the healers, made sure that they were still alright and didn't need anything. How long did it take to travel from the med station, which had been orbiting Saleucami dealing with the, still, colossal number of wounded from the battle against the Morgukai Clones there, to Tatooine. A couple hours, ten, a day. A week could have passed by and she would not have known.
Mihra had made it to Tatooine but now she needed to find Azarp. She didn't have the slightest clue where on the planet his Tusken tribe resided. Mihra reached out with her mind as Master Neuko had taught her, probing for Azarp's Force-presence. It took far longer than it should have but eventually she had pinned his location down enough to fly her ship in the right direction. She dropped the healers off at the friendliest spaceport she could find with all the Republic credits she had on her and departed for the dunes where she had sensed Azarp.
She flew the ship to the closest area to where she thought she had felt Azarp's presence. Nothing. Sand, endless hills of sand. How could she not sense him? Was her connection to the Force that bad? Then she realized that Azarp was probably doing what he could to hide his presence so that the Jedi wouldn't be able to find him here.
Really? Mihra thought, he can't have gotten so good that he can hide himself from me when I'm on the same planet.
She reached out with her mind like she had practiced all those times as a padawan Azarp, I know you can hear me. It's me, Mihra. Come on, Azarp, I don't want to spend the rest of my life searching these dunes for you. I know you're here, you can't hide from me. Look, I wasn't sent by the Council or anything. The Jedi have been betrayed, most of us are dead and I need a place to hide.
Finally, What? Mihra, is that you?
Seriously? Is it me? Have you not been listening for the past half-hour?
How'd you get here? and how can you project your thoughts so well?
Everyone who knows you knows that you're here on Tatooine and if you had spent more time enhancing your connection to the Force instead of goofing around with your friends this wouldn't be so hard.
You sound...ster Plo.
I didn't quite catch all of that, but if you're comparing me to your master-
Just come down here and we can talk like normal people. I can't keep up concentration like you can.
Fine, just lower whatever blocks that are preventing me from finding you.
Okay, fine. You can shut up now.
Well that was Azarp. He did often come across as rude, part of why many of the older Jedi disliked him, but Mihra knew he didn't mean anything by it. Azarp was often moody but Mihra had grown to deal with it, she came to understand him more, something she felt the rest of the Jedi should have put a little more effort into doing. Even Azarp's former master Plo Koon, whom she knew he had respected immensely, even if he didn't say it, never truly understood Azarp. He had tried to care and was never openly hostile but when it came down to it Master Koon hadn't defended Azarp. Or at least he hadn't done enough, Mihra couldn't really know that.
Now that Azarp had lowered the shields that masked his presence Mihra was able to locate him. She decided to land a distance away as she knew the Tusken Raiders that Azarp was now living with would not take kindly to a ship landing in their midst. Yes, the Tusken Raiders that were so famous on Tatooine. Mihra had never really known what to think of them. Most of the galaxy considered them as brutal and unfeeling animals but Azarp had told her there was so much that outsiders didn't know. He said that since the only people who actually had any experience with the Tuskens were their victims that naturally they would come across that way. They were violent and took at least some pleasure in what they did but Azarp always said that that they were much more similar to humans than people realized. He had said that taking what they needed from the spaceports and moisture farmers of Tatooine was the only way they could survive. It was a harsh way of life, though one they had come to enjoy too much for Mihra's tastes. Still, she had to admit she was curious to see what the Tuskens were actually like. Everything she had heard was from wild rumors or Azarp's defensive view so it would be fascinating to see firsthand what they were like.
Mihra touched down below a small rock outcropping, hoping that would keep her ship out of sight of any Tuskens. She had barely made it, the ship was completely out of fuel by the time she landed. Looks like she wouldn't be using it anymore. Hopefully she wouldn't need to. She had no idea what she was going to do with her life now but she didn't think she and Azarp would be travelling anywhere. In fact, with whatever crazy stuff was going on they might not even be able to go anywhere without being attacked. Not that that would be anything new, with the war it seemed Mihra was putting her life in danger every day. She often wondered why the Jedi, supposed guardians of peace, would consent to lead such a war but now that didn't matter, whatever had happened any Jedi that were still alive wouldn't be acting as generals anymore, that was for certain.
She saw a figure racing towards her over the dunes and instinctively reached for her lightsaber before realizing it was Azarp. It was then that she realized just how happy she was to be seeing him. The war and now losing Dotina had taken so much out of her and it was such a relief to see a friendly face after all the worrying she had done and all the uncertainty she had faced after the day's events. She would finally be able to talk to someone without having to constantly check herself to make sure she didn't say the wrong things. Finally she could really talk to Azarp without always looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening or having to check to be sure they were on a secure channel. He was the love of her life and, even though Jedi weren't supposed to have feelings like that, he meant everything to her. More, even, than she had realized until this very moment and it felt so good to be back with him. They could move on together past all the trials the had faced, all the people they had lost, they could forge a new life together and right now, that's all that mattered to Mihra.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading, please leave a review and tell me what you think. I have another story that dominates most of my time but if people like this I will update it occasionally. The more reviews I get the faster I'll update.
Also, if you do not know me I, obviously, am EzioAuditore1459, I work closely with Candace Marie, also on this site. Her stories are really good so feel free to check those out. We also have a community where our stories as well as some others are located so please check those out. There is also a forum set up where readers can discuss anything involving our stories with us.
Link for the forum: forum/Discussion-for-the-world-of-Different-Destiny-and-related-stories/149145/
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Thanks so much for reading!