A New Life
Seth N Jones
*
Prologue
Jedi Knight Kates Zecli is the great, great grandmother of Katie Zecli. Katie Zecli was put into suspended animation, by her father at the age of nineteen, to save her life.
Katie has the red stone of fire on her forehead that also gives her the power to morph (from her father's side), just like Kates Zecli. She also has the ability to use the Force, a trait she got from her Force strong mother and father.
People that have Antooannaian blood have the glittery skin and an Antooannaian stone which is connect (though very weakly and it would only take away some power but not all if the Force was disrupted) to the Force.
The planet of Antooanna was destroyed in a great battle and many of it's residents died with the planet well before the Empire.
On her nineteenth birthday, Katie's father gave her a red stone necklace and Kates lightsaber. That night, when Katie was asleep, her father took her from her bed, put her into suspended animation, and ejected it into space. Fifteen minutes later her father was killed by the Empire. This was at the time when the Empire were killing all of the Jedi.
Twenty-five years after the Battle of Endor, twenty year old Jacen Solo, son of Han Solo, found Katie on the way back to Coruscant. This is their story.
Chapter 1
*You will fall in love with a powerful Jedi and with your help, you both will bring balance to the Force.
What?
But her life will be threaten, and you will be the only one able to save her.
WHAT?!* Twenty years old Jacen Solo sat straight up in his bed on his ship, the *Star Search*. He checked the chrono beside him and saw that it was in the middle of the night. Jacen had just finished one of many missions as a Jedi Knight. He went into hyperspace a few hours back to go to Coruscant and went to his quarters to rest. What was with that dream? he thought. Now he was awaken by a disturbance in the Force.
He got up and walked to the cockpit. He sat down in his pilot chair, then pulled back the levers and reentered normal space. He was practically in the middle of nowhere! Then he saw it.
It looked like a long metal tube, slightly longer than he is tall, but he still can't tell what it was. He moved the *Star Search* and opened the docking bay hatch so that he can pick up whatever it was. As soon he was sure that it was securely in and that the hatch was closed tight, he reentered hyperspace to go back to Coruscant.
He got back to the docking bay to see what it was. He was amazed to see a suspended animation tube. He immediately set it to wake.
He test the Force and was amazed to feel the creature's Force grasp. It was as strong as he was in the Force, but even stronger than that. And about as much experience using it.
Suddenly, the top of the tube slid open, revealing the last thing Jacen expected to find stranded in outer space. Laying in front of him was a human girl. *But no*, he thought, *not a girl. She looks more around the age of twenty*. She wore a long gold night gown, on her glittery, slim body. He looked at her strangely beautiful face that was framed by her long brown hair, striped with gold hair. He noticed that she also had one single brown braided hair laced with gold going down the right side of her face. Her left hand was tattooed all over with symbols in ink that changed colors with every move. But what really caught his eyes was the red stone that was in the middle of her forehead.
He expected for her to wake up and be scared out of her wits. But she didn't. She seemed to be in a Jedi hibernation. Jacen didn't feel right leaving her where she was. Before a second thought, he put one arm under her knees and one under her neck and carried her to the medical part of the Star Search. There, he laid the young woman on her back on a bed, covered her with a blanket, then hook her up to a monitor that will read her vital signs and that will alert him if any thing happens to her.
Jacen went back to his quarters and went to sleep. Now that he had a passenger, he can't go into a Jedi hibernation as planned. And it was a long way back to Coruscant. But he was grateful that now he had company.
*
Jacen checked on the young woman every day till he came out of hyperspace near Coruscant, but she didn't wake up. But every once in a while, she would mumble in her sleep about some planet Jacen was unable to find on the ship's navigational computer, or the red stone on her forehead will glow brighter only to dim a few minutes later.
"Coruscant Control, this is the ship *Star Search*, requesting permission to land," Jacen said to the intercom as soon as he was in range.
"Permission granted *Star Search*."
"Will you please connect me to Han Solo if your not to busy?"
"Sure. One moment please."
There was a moment of silence, then Jacen's father's familiar voice came in. "Hi kid. How have you been this past three weeks?"
"Three weeks? I've only been gone for two weeks and six days."
"My mistake. Hey, is there someone you want to tell us about?"
"Huh?"
"Well, Leia here says that you're not alone on the *Star Search*."
*Leave it to Mom to figure out that I have someone with me*. "Yeah. Will you meet me at the *Star Search*'s landing pad with a medic?"
"A medic?! Are you hurt?"
"No. It's for my passenger. I'll tell you how I found her as soon as I land."
"Her?!"
"See you in a minute, Dad." With that, Jacen turned off the intercom before his dad could reply. Jacen smiled at the image of his father at that moment.
Five minutes later, Jacen set down the *Star Search* on his personal landing pad, right next to the *Millennium Falcon*'s landing pad. He walked to the hatch and opened it. Immediately, two medics rushed up and asked where the young woman was. Jacen told them how to get to the medical bay on the ship, then went out to talk to his parents.
"So how did you find her?" Han asked as soon as Jacen got to him. Leia gave her son a look that asked the same thing.
But before Jacen could reply, the medics came out of the *Star Search*, carrying the young woman on a hover platform. "I'll explain when I find out that she'll be all right," Jacen said when the medics disappeared into a doorway and ran after them with Han and Leia at his heals.
Chapter 2
"How in the Universe did she end up in the middle of space?!" Han's voice rose as he spoke to Jacen and began to pace while he son was sitting calmly. The young woman was now lying on a bed in her own quarters, between the father and son. Leia was leaning up against the wall behind Han.
"How am I suppose to know?" Jacen replied back. "I mean, I was on my way back when I felt her presence through the Force. She's really strong, physical and Force wise. It's like she has as much training as me."
"So she's a Jedi?" Leia asked, speaking up for the first time.
"I don't think so. That animation tube she was in looked over thirty-five years old. Too-Onebee said that she's nineteen. Though he can't identify her native planet."
"Over thirty-five?" Leia asked. "That would be the time the Empire took over and started to kill the Jedi."
"You know that your not suppose to pick up strangers," Han said to his son, trying to change the subject.
"Dad! You know that I wouldn't leave some one stranded out in space," Jacen said. "And it seems like I know her," he said to himself softly.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just talking to myself. Um, if you don't mind, I would like to be here when she wakes up."
"Oh, all right," Han said, giving up practically all hope on his son.
"Come on," Leia said, pulling Han out into the hall. "We need to leave him alone to figure things out."
Jacen was left alone with the unnamed one to figure out who she was and why he was so closely connected to her.
*
It was many days and many nights with that same dream before the unnamed woman woke up in the Coruscant evening. In a heart beat, Jacen was by her side when she opened her gold-laced brown eyes.
She looked around for a moment before her eyes found Jacen. "Yxohac?! Where am I and who are you?" she asked him in a voice that cracked because she hasn't used it in such a long time.
Jacen didn't know the first word she said, but decided to answer the first question first. "You're on Coruscant."
"WHAT?! Why did you bring me here?!" The stone on her forehead glowed brighter with an alarming red than Jacen has ever seen. "The Empire will kill me!"
"Whoa! Wait a minute. This is not the time you think it is. The Empire has been over thrown about twenty-five years back. I found you in a suspended animation tube a few weeks ago. Coruscant is actually the home base of the New Republic."
"But it was only yesterday when I turned nineteen! My father gave me a necklace and a lightsaber! My father can't be dead!" She turned away from Jacen. He saw her shoulders shake from her sobbing. "Why should I believe you?"
"I'm sorry," Jacen said sadly, touching her shoulder, trying to calm her a little.
"WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOU!?" she asked again, her voice still cracking.
"Would you believe a Jedi?"
"They're all dead."
"See that candle in front of you?"
When she lifted her head to look, Jacen used his Force ability, lifted the candle into air, then lit. She gasped when he did this. From the surge in the Force, or her fire power, he couldn't tell. He slowly let the candle down.
"But, the Jedi are all. . ."
"Remember, it's a different time than you think."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm not usually like this. This just all to much to handle," she said, turning back to face Jacen, wiping away the last of her tears, her eyes full of sorrow. She pulled her knees to her chin, wrapped her arms around her legs, then rested her chin on her knees.
"It's all right."
"Now may I ask who you are?"
"I'm Jacen Solo, son of Han Solo."
"Han Solo," she said to herself, trying to remember the name.
"And Leia Organa."
"WHAT?! Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan?!"
"Yeah?"
"The last time I checked, Leia was about ten. I went Alderaan once with my father. We lived most of our life in deserts or other extreme climates so my powers can grow."
"Now, who are you?"
"I'm Katie Zecli," she said, her mind going to the past. "I'm from Antooanna. Well, almost. The planet was destroyed a long time ago and the Empire killed the last of the remaining residents. Any one that had an Antooannaian parent is considered from Antooanna. The stone and the skin is part of my heritage. The glitter in my skin protects me against harsh sun or climate. Our stone gives us a weak link to the Force. That's why the Empire destroyed us. Red stones controls fire, dark blue controls water, and so on. The dark blue is third rarest, my red is second rarest, and white is the most rarest."
"Because it's all of the colors and powers combined?"
"Right. And I also have the rare ability to change my shape to any animal I can think of." And to show him, her right arm suddenly grew feathers, then the feathers disappeared. Jacen looked at Katie's face and noticed her red stone dim.
Now Jacen was interested, for he had a special connection to creatures through the Force.
"But that's all of my powers," she finished, looking into Jacen's eyes.
"No," Jacen said. "It isn't."
"What?"
"You also have the ability to use the Force."
"I do not," Katie said, surprised. "It's just my Antooannaian powers you're detecting with your Force powers."
"You said that you had a lightsaber."
"My dad gave it to me. He said that it belonged to my great, great grandmother, Kates Zecli. She had the same powers as I do now, except she was a Jedi."
"But you also have the power to control the Force," Jacen replied.
"I do not."
"You do to."
"I do not."
*You do to*, Jacen thought to Katie, Force-amplifying his message directly to her mind.
"I do not," Katie protested. Then it just hit her what Jacen did. "Did you just. . ?"
"Only a Force strong person would get that message. That just proves that you can use the Force."
"That might explain something."
"What?"
"Well, on my nineteenth birthday, it seemed that a shadow followed me around," she started. "About five minutes later, my father came into my room. He gave me Kates lightsaber and my necklace. He said that he got it from his mother when he got married, and she got it when she was married. I asked him why he was giving it to me now, and he said, 'I just want to give it to you before I lose you.' I never knew what he meant. I went to bed later on and woke up in the middle of the night, out of my bed, with my father standing over me. I asked him what's going on and he told me to go back to sleep. That was the last time I saw him." She quickly ducked her head to hide the tears that threatened to show, but Jacen already saw them.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up," Jacen apologized. Katie looked back at Jacen and he wiped a tear away from her cheek. "It's all right. I'll be here for you."
She let go of her feelings and started to cried on Jacen's shoulder. Jacen didn't mind. He loved her in the short time he knew her. He'll always be there for her.
She eventually fell asleep crying on his shoulder. He laid her back down on the bed and was about to blow out the candle when he stopped short of breath.
With in the flame, Jacen saw what could have been a lightsaber handle. Then there was a streak of blue as the flame got hotter in one part. When looked at the whole flame again, it looked like a lit lightsaber. He looked back at Katie and her red stone glowed bright in the dim light. He left the candle lit so that Katie could practice her skills while she slept. He sat back in a chair beside her bed, listening to her rhythmic breathing and eventually fell asleep.
Chapter 3
Jacen woke up early the next morning, just as the sun was rising. He looked over where Katie was suppose to be, but she wasn't there. His hand automatically went for the lightsaber on his belt, all of his senses reaching out to find her when she called to him.
"I'm over here," her voice coming from behind him. He turned around and saw her standing at the window, watching the sun come over the horizon. Jacen got up from the chair and walked over to stand by her.
"I always watch the sun rise whenever I can," she said, turning to face Jacen. "It always helps the bad dreams go away."
"What is your dream?" Jacen asked suddenly.
"My dream? What do you mean?" she asked, walking stiffly away from the window because her muscle haven't been used for such a long time.
"What do you wish to always do?"
That caught her off guard. "Well, I always wanted to pilot a star fighter. On my dad's ship, I was the one to repair what ever was broken. I always loved to work with my hands."
"You would love to meet my sister Jaina. She's the best starfighter pilot I know. And always looking for an excuse to work with mechanics."
Katie smiled. Then a thought hit her. "Do you still have that animation tube I was in?"
"Yeah. It's in my ship. Why?"
"Would you please see if you can find a box of some kind, like near the bottom?" she asked.
"Sure. I'll be right back." He headed to the door.
"Um, I'm just wondering, where will I be staying?" Katie asked before Jacen left.
"Oh. This is your quarters. I'll show you around when I come back," and with that, he disappeared out the door.
*
Jacen returned an hour later, carrying a box with some kind of a hand lock on it. He set it down on a table, and looked toward Katie. "What do you expect to find?"
"Well, knowing my father," she said as she place her right hand on the lock, "he probably left some things for me." Her stone glowed brighter and brighter, then the lock clicked open.
She looked inside, pulled out two blue earrings, put them in her ears, and pulled out a necklace with a dark red stone on it and a ring. She took the ring off, put it on her left middle finger and put the necklace around her neck.
"What are those?" Jacen asked, looking at the jewelry.
"Oh. My dad said that this stone belonged to Kates Zecli and my ring has three stones that would have been Antooannaian birth stones. The red is mine, the light blue is my mom's, and the purple is my dad's." Katie looked at Jacen and thought for a moment. "Yours would a deep blue."
"Do you know what happened to your mom?"
"She died shortly after I was born," Katie said, looking sadly at the box.
"I'm sorry," Jacen said.
"It's all right. Dad said that I reminded him of my mom because she was a Firrerreo and we both basically looked the same with the striped hair," she said, reaching back into the box and pulled out a lightsaber and set it down on the table. Her hand reached back in the box and pulled out some clothes. "Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, disappearing behind a door
She appeared a minute later wearing a white shirt and cream colored pants, setting off her hair and red stone. She walked over to the table, picked up her lightsaber and hooked it on her belt. She picked a skrunchi from the box then quickly put the rest of the clothes in a dresser and turned to face Jacen. Then she pulled back all of her hair except for the braid and put it in a long ponytail.
"Do you always wear your hair like that?" Jacen asked.
"Well, that sort of depends. I where it in a ponytail when I work or just when I want my hair out of my face. On special occasions, I find some way to put it back. But I always wear a braid on my right side."
"Oh." Then Jacen got an idea. "How would you like to practice your lightsaber?"
"Practice my lightsaber? How would I practice? Where would I practice?"
"At the Jedi Academy. We're right above one. They have remote seekers there for lightsabers. All you do is deflect stun beams the remote shoots at you. It might take you a few tries, though." Jacen looked at Katie again. "Come to think of it, that's all you need."
"What do you mean?" Katie asked, giving Jacen a curios look.
"What I mean is that you had so much training with your fire powers, all you need to do is expand that power to include everything else. That's all you need to do to use the Force."
"Well, I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Katie answered, determination on her face.
Seth N Jones
*
Prologue
Jedi Knight Kates Zecli is the great, great grandmother of Katie Zecli. Katie Zecli was put into suspended animation, by her father at the age of nineteen, to save her life.
Katie has the red stone of fire on her forehead that also gives her the power to morph (from her father's side), just like Kates Zecli. She also has the ability to use the Force, a trait she got from her Force strong mother and father.
People that have Antooannaian blood have the glittery skin and an Antooannaian stone which is connect (though very weakly and it would only take away some power but not all if the Force was disrupted) to the Force.
The planet of Antooanna was destroyed in a great battle and many of it's residents died with the planet well before the Empire.
On her nineteenth birthday, Katie's father gave her a red stone necklace and Kates lightsaber. That night, when Katie was asleep, her father took her from her bed, put her into suspended animation, and ejected it into space. Fifteen minutes later her father was killed by the Empire. This was at the time when the Empire were killing all of the Jedi.
Twenty-five years after the Battle of Endor, twenty year old Jacen Solo, son of Han Solo, found Katie on the way back to Coruscant. This is their story.
Chapter 1
*You will fall in love with a powerful Jedi and with your help, you both will bring balance to the Force.
What?
But her life will be threaten, and you will be the only one able to save her.
WHAT?!* Twenty years old Jacen Solo sat straight up in his bed on his ship, the *Star Search*. He checked the chrono beside him and saw that it was in the middle of the night. Jacen had just finished one of many missions as a Jedi Knight. He went into hyperspace a few hours back to go to Coruscant and went to his quarters to rest. What was with that dream? he thought. Now he was awaken by a disturbance in the Force.
He got up and walked to the cockpit. He sat down in his pilot chair, then pulled back the levers and reentered normal space. He was practically in the middle of nowhere! Then he saw it.
It looked like a long metal tube, slightly longer than he is tall, but he still can't tell what it was. He moved the *Star Search* and opened the docking bay hatch so that he can pick up whatever it was. As soon he was sure that it was securely in and that the hatch was closed tight, he reentered hyperspace to go back to Coruscant.
He got back to the docking bay to see what it was. He was amazed to see a suspended animation tube. He immediately set it to wake.
He test the Force and was amazed to feel the creature's Force grasp. It was as strong as he was in the Force, but even stronger than that. And about as much experience using it.
Suddenly, the top of the tube slid open, revealing the last thing Jacen expected to find stranded in outer space. Laying in front of him was a human girl. *But no*, he thought, *not a girl. She looks more around the age of twenty*. She wore a long gold night gown, on her glittery, slim body. He looked at her strangely beautiful face that was framed by her long brown hair, striped with gold hair. He noticed that she also had one single brown braided hair laced with gold going down the right side of her face. Her left hand was tattooed all over with symbols in ink that changed colors with every move. But what really caught his eyes was the red stone that was in the middle of her forehead.
He expected for her to wake up and be scared out of her wits. But she didn't. She seemed to be in a Jedi hibernation. Jacen didn't feel right leaving her where she was. Before a second thought, he put one arm under her knees and one under her neck and carried her to the medical part of the Star Search. There, he laid the young woman on her back on a bed, covered her with a blanket, then hook her up to a monitor that will read her vital signs and that will alert him if any thing happens to her.
Jacen went back to his quarters and went to sleep. Now that he had a passenger, he can't go into a Jedi hibernation as planned. And it was a long way back to Coruscant. But he was grateful that now he had company.
*
Jacen checked on the young woman every day till he came out of hyperspace near Coruscant, but she didn't wake up. But every once in a while, she would mumble in her sleep about some planet Jacen was unable to find on the ship's navigational computer, or the red stone on her forehead will glow brighter only to dim a few minutes later.
"Coruscant Control, this is the ship *Star Search*, requesting permission to land," Jacen said to the intercom as soon as he was in range.
"Permission granted *Star Search*."
"Will you please connect me to Han Solo if your not to busy?"
"Sure. One moment please."
There was a moment of silence, then Jacen's father's familiar voice came in. "Hi kid. How have you been this past three weeks?"
"Three weeks? I've only been gone for two weeks and six days."
"My mistake. Hey, is there someone you want to tell us about?"
"Huh?"
"Well, Leia here says that you're not alone on the *Star Search*."
*Leave it to Mom to figure out that I have someone with me*. "Yeah. Will you meet me at the *Star Search*'s landing pad with a medic?"
"A medic?! Are you hurt?"
"No. It's for my passenger. I'll tell you how I found her as soon as I land."
"Her?!"
"See you in a minute, Dad." With that, Jacen turned off the intercom before his dad could reply. Jacen smiled at the image of his father at that moment.
Five minutes later, Jacen set down the *Star Search* on his personal landing pad, right next to the *Millennium Falcon*'s landing pad. He walked to the hatch and opened it. Immediately, two medics rushed up and asked where the young woman was. Jacen told them how to get to the medical bay on the ship, then went out to talk to his parents.
"So how did you find her?" Han asked as soon as Jacen got to him. Leia gave her son a look that asked the same thing.
But before Jacen could reply, the medics came out of the *Star Search*, carrying the young woman on a hover platform. "I'll explain when I find out that she'll be all right," Jacen said when the medics disappeared into a doorway and ran after them with Han and Leia at his heals.
Chapter 2
"How in the Universe did she end up in the middle of space?!" Han's voice rose as he spoke to Jacen and began to pace while he son was sitting calmly. The young woman was now lying on a bed in her own quarters, between the father and son. Leia was leaning up against the wall behind Han.
"How am I suppose to know?" Jacen replied back. "I mean, I was on my way back when I felt her presence through the Force. She's really strong, physical and Force wise. It's like she has as much training as me."
"So she's a Jedi?" Leia asked, speaking up for the first time.
"I don't think so. That animation tube she was in looked over thirty-five years old. Too-Onebee said that she's nineteen. Though he can't identify her native planet."
"Over thirty-five?" Leia asked. "That would be the time the Empire took over and started to kill the Jedi."
"You know that your not suppose to pick up strangers," Han said to his son, trying to change the subject.
"Dad! You know that I wouldn't leave some one stranded out in space," Jacen said. "And it seems like I know her," he said to himself softly.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just talking to myself. Um, if you don't mind, I would like to be here when she wakes up."
"Oh, all right," Han said, giving up practically all hope on his son.
"Come on," Leia said, pulling Han out into the hall. "We need to leave him alone to figure things out."
Jacen was left alone with the unnamed one to figure out who she was and why he was so closely connected to her.
*
It was many days and many nights with that same dream before the unnamed woman woke up in the Coruscant evening. In a heart beat, Jacen was by her side when she opened her gold-laced brown eyes.
She looked around for a moment before her eyes found Jacen. "Yxohac?! Where am I and who are you?" she asked him in a voice that cracked because she hasn't used it in such a long time.
Jacen didn't know the first word she said, but decided to answer the first question first. "You're on Coruscant."
"WHAT?! Why did you bring me here?!" The stone on her forehead glowed brighter with an alarming red than Jacen has ever seen. "The Empire will kill me!"
"Whoa! Wait a minute. This is not the time you think it is. The Empire has been over thrown about twenty-five years back. I found you in a suspended animation tube a few weeks ago. Coruscant is actually the home base of the New Republic."
"But it was only yesterday when I turned nineteen! My father gave me a necklace and a lightsaber! My father can't be dead!" She turned away from Jacen. He saw her shoulders shake from her sobbing. "Why should I believe you?"
"I'm sorry," Jacen said sadly, touching her shoulder, trying to calm her a little.
"WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOU!?" she asked again, her voice still cracking.
"Would you believe a Jedi?"
"They're all dead."
"See that candle in front of you?"
When she lifted her head to look, Jacen used his Force ability, lifted the candle into air, then lit. She gasped when he did this. From the surge in the Force, or her fire power, he couldn't tell. He slowly let the candle down.
"But, the Jedi are all. . ."
"Remember, it's a different time than you think."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm not usually like this. This just all to much to handle," she said, turning back to face Jacen, wiping away the last of her tears, her eyes full of sorrow. She pulled her knees to her chin, wrapped her arms around her legs, then rested her chin on her knees.
"It's all right."
"Now may I ask who you are?"
"I'm Jacen Solo, son of Han Solo."
"Han Solo," she said to herself, trying to remember the name.
"And Leia Organa."
"WHAT?! Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan?!"
"Yeah?"
"The last time I checked, Leia was about ten. I went Alderaan once with my father. We lived most of our life in deserts or other extreme climates so my powers can grow."
"Now, who are you?"
"I'm Katie Zecli," she said, her mind going to the past. "I'm from Antooanna. Well, almost. The planet was destroyed a long time ago and the Empire killed the last of the remaining residents. Any one that had an Antooannaian parent is considered from Antooanna. The stone and the skin is part of my heritage. The glitter in my skin protects me against harsh sun or climate. Our stone gives us a weak link to the Force. That's why the Empire destroyed us. Red stones controls fire, dark blue controls water, and so on. The dark blue is third rarest, my red is second rarest, and white is the most rarest."
"Because it's all of the colors and powers combined?"
"Right. And I also have the rare ability to change my shape to any animal I can think of." And to show him, her right arm suddenly grew feathers, then the feathers disappeared. Jacen looked at Katie's face and noticed her red stone dim.
Now Jacen was interested, for he had a special connection to creatures through the Force.
"But that's all of my powers," she finished, looking into Jacen's eyes.
"No," Jacen said. "It isn't."
"What?"
"You also have the ability to use the Force."
"I do not," Katie said, surprised. "It's just my Antooannaian powers you're detecting with your Force powers."
"You said that you had a lightsaber."
"My dad gave it to me. He said that it belonged to my great, great grandmother, Kates Zecli. She had the same powers as I do now, except she was a Jedi."
"But you also have the power to control the Force," Jacen replied.
"I do not."
"You do to."
"I do not."
*You do to*, Jacen thought to Katie, Force-amplifying his message directly to her mind.
"I do not," Katie protested. Then it just hit her what Jacen did. "Did you just. . ?"
"Only a Force strong person would get that message. That just proves that you can use the Force."
"That might explain something."
"What?"
"Well, on my nineteenth birthday, it seemed that a shadow followed me around," she started. "About five minutes later, my father came into my room. He gave me Kates lightsaber and my necklace. He said that he got it from his mother when he got married, and she got it when she was married. I asked him why he was giving it to me now, and he said, 'I just want to give it to you before I lose you.' I never knew what he meant. I went to bed later on and woke up in the middle of the night, out of my bed, with my father standing over me. I asked him what's going on and he told me to go back to sleep. That was the last time I saw him." She quickly ducked her head to hide the tears that threatened to show, but Jacen already saw them.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up," Jacen apologized. Katie looked back at Jacen and he wiped a tear away from her cheek. "It's all right. I'll be here for you."
She let go of her feelings and started to cried on Jacen's shoulder. Jacen didn't mind. He loved her in the short time he knew her. He'll always be there for her.
She eventually fell asleep crying on his shoulder. He laid her back down on the bed and was about to blow out the candle when he stopped short of breath.
With in the flame, Jacen saw what could have been a lightsaber handle. Then there was a streak of blue as the flame got hotter in one part. When looked at the whole flame again, it looked like a lit lightsaber. He looked back at Katie and her red stone glowed bright in the dim light. He left the candle lit so that Katie could practice her skills while she slept. He sat back in a chair beside her bed, listening to her rhythmic breathing and eventually fell asleep.
Chapter 3
Jacen woke up early the next morning, just as the sun was rising. He looked over where Katie was suppose to be, but she wasn't there. His hand automatically went for the lightsaber on his belt, all of his senses reaching out to find her when she called to him.
"I'm over here," her voice coming from behind him. He turned around and saw her standing at the window, watching the sun come over the horizon. Jacen got up from the chair and walked over to stand by her.
"I always watch the sun rise whenever I can," she said, turning to face Jacen. "It always helps the bad dreams go away."
"What is your dream?" Jacen asked suddenly.
"My dream? What do you mean?" she asked, walking stiffly away from the window because her muscle haven't been used for such a long time.
"What do you wish to always do?"
That caught her off guard. "Well, I always wanted to pilot a star fighter. On my dad's ship, I was the one to repair what ever was broken. I always loved to work with my hands."
"You would love to meet my sister Jaina. She's the best starfighter pilot I know. And always looking for an excuse to work with mechanics."
Katie smiled. Then a thought hit her. "Do you still have that animation tube I was in?"
"Yeah. It's in my ship. Why?"
"Would you please see if you can find a box of some kind, like near the bottom?" she asked.
"Sure. I'll be right back." He headed to the door.
"Um, I'm just wondering, where will I be staying?" Katie asked before Jacen left.
"Oh. This is your quarters. I'll show you around when I come back," and with that, he disappeared out the door.
*
Jacen returned an hour later, carrying a box with some kind of a hand lock on it. He set it down on a table, and looked toward Katie. "What do you expect to find?"
"Well, knowing my father," she said as she place her right hand on the lock, "he probably left some things for me." Her stone glowed brighter and brighter, then the lock clicked open.
She looked inside, pulled out two blue earrings, put them in her ears, and pulled out a necklace with a dark red stone on it and a ring. She took the ring off, put it on her left middle finger and put the necklace around her neck.
"What are those?" Jacen asked, looking at the jewelry.
"Oh. My dad said that this stone belonged to Kates Zecli and my ring has three stones that would have been Antooannaian birth stones. The red is mine, the light blue is my mom's, and the purple is my dad's." Katie looked at Jacen and thought for a moment. "Yours would a deep blue."
"Do you know what happened to your mom?"
"She died shortly after I was born," Katie said, looking sadly at the box.
"I'm sorry," Jacen said.
"It's all right. Dad said that I reminded him of my mom because she was a Firrerreo and we both basically looked the same with the striped hair," she said, reaching back into the box and pulled out a lightsaber and set it down on the table. Her hand reached back in the box and pulled out some clothes. "Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, disappearing behind a door
She appeared a minute later wearing a white shirt and cream colored pants, setting off her hair and red stone. She walked over to the table, picked up her lightsaber and hooked it on her belt. She picked a skrunchi from the box then quickly put the rest of the clothes in a dresser and turned to face Jacen. Then she pulled back all of her hair except for the braid and put it in a long ponytail.
"Do you always wear your hair like that?" Jacen asked.
"Well, that sort of depends. I where it in a ponytail when I work or just when I want my hair out of my face. On special occasions, I find some way to put it back. But I always wear a braid on my right side."
"Oh." Then Jacen got an idea. "How would you like to practice your lightsaber?"
"Practice my lightsaber? How would I practice? Where would I practice?"
"At the Jedi Academy. We're right above one. They have remote seekers there for lightsabers. All you do is deflect stun beams the remote shoots at you. It might take you a few tries, though." Jacen looked at Katie again. "Come to think of it, that's all you need."
"What do you mean?" Katie asked, giving Jacen a curios look.
"What I mean is that you had so much training with your fire powers, all you need to do is expand that power to include everything else. That's all you need to do to use the Force."
"Well, I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Katie answered, determination on her face.