JEDI

- A Star Wars Story -

Or

Jedi: Dual Identities

by Maru Tamehana (First Draft, Christmas 2018)

(8/1/2019)

.


CHAPTER ONE

Double Identities


Alone. He was alone.

Packing his light-saber through the feral jungle of Naftar IV, his eyes scanned the brush for his followers, the dark shapes that had stalked him from the citadel.

The hairs on the back of his neck bristled with Force sensitivity, sensing trouble.

He ducked just as the first energy bolt ripped overhead.

Tiny though they were, his attackers were packing energy weapons, heavy cross-bows they had obviously purloined from some Wookie stock-pile somewhere. They were not easy for anyone but Wookies to use, but these little critters seemed to have a handle on it well enough to cause him trouble.

Just as well the Wookies didn't join the Empire, those giant furballs are dangerous.

He hummed to himself, darting back and forth in his movements, looking for an easy escape, quickly at hand for any Jedi. And he was leaping over them, sweeping his suddenly lit light-saber back and forth to intercept some few thrown metal weapon, leaving them hissing, slashed, with heat. They scurried away from him.

And then he was gone, running into the brush, he doubted they'd be able to follow him easily over the incline. They were, in fact, quite a good deal shorter than he was. Still, he hoped they were well deterred, he had no wish to slay them.

If only Luke was here – his master and trainer. They had learned much, but there was yet so much to learn – the temple had been a wonder, the Force could be felt everywhere there – the air and the novices, the burgeoning wakening of a new Jedi Order, it had been exciting for all.

He, not least of all, had taken to the teachings with great eagerness. But now he was on the run, both thrilled at the adventure, and longing for past ones instead.

A hissing astcat stalked past, its eyes glowing in fear response at him until it had gone.

Luke had told many tales, and he had wanted one of his own as well.

Brash, Luke had said, but he said it in a way without scorn. He was doubtless right.

Several minutes later he had managed to lose his pursuers entirely, and was now coming upon his target.

The huge thermite converters were guarded by many men, armoured, and on hover speeders.

They would not be easy to get past, but Luke was relying on his intelligence. One of the first duties of the Jedi was to know what was going on, and there was only so much one could determine from the holy confines of a temple. Unless you were Luke Skywalker, of course, but his own training had just begun, and his master had great duties beyond simply scanning the universe with the Force like an ordinary com-bank. The marvels Skywalker was witness to must be something incredible, however, he wondered – it went far beyond the bounds of ordinary technology.

He himself felt the tremor. It had lured him out here.

Past stars and sorrow.

Jedi were cautioned against love of adventure, but it seemed that somehow, regardless, they had a nose for it. It wasn't considered wrong to do so, but the love of the thrill that blinded one to the consequences was a richness that all Jedi were not to indulge in. It made them little better than the bounty-hunter and scum.

He had a partner, a soldier called Kell, but he had been waylaid in prison, and he had not yet determined a way to free him.

He moved closer, using the cover of brush and keep out of their direct line of sight, his sight and sense attuned to his surroundings, sensing that their attention was at an all-time low. Jedi were able to disguise themselves against most things, and a remote post like this wouldn't be equipped with very sophisticated surveillance.

He had seen a lot of the galaxy at this point, and this wasn't unusual to him. He'd been in situations like this before.

He made it to the south entrance, one of the guards had rounded the corner and lost sight of him. The surveillance monitors were easy to avoid. But he thought he had a good position to hold them off if they were alerted to his presence, but he didn't want to be discovered before gaining what he wanted.

On the inside, he gained access to a security panel with his ak-key. It kept him alerted to security detection, but so far either they hadn't bothered with more than a detachment of troops on such a primitive world, or they were too sophisticated to detect. Either way, he'd find out soon, but this would be an awkward place to be caught in a cross-fire.

(*)

The officer entered. "We have the prisoner in custody as you requested. Are you sure this is a wise course of action?"

There was no response, and he felt uneasiness creep upon him as the seconds passed.

"What are you doing?" the officer asked. For a moment he didn't turn around, but then he answered.

"Trying to make this... thing... of the Force exist."

"Rumours, shadows, wonders. It's been asked, it's been a... thing... of the Force. Few allow the experiment, even the masters of the Dark Side are careful. But I... I alone am wise. I shall be its first voice, and thus I shall be the one to name it."

There was a glow inside the chamber.

"So many secrets of the Force, it will not reveal to me, and yet I must know. I must delve into that darkness and bring forth its birth. Nothing new occurs lest one delves the well. We would perish of thirst."

Haggard and hunched, his form gave the officer chills, his rags falling above him in a disturbing way that seemed barely humanoid. Barely creature.

"I shall name it after me."

And he whispered the word, and the Force whispered with him. Dark, roiling, a vast cloud.

Insidious...

(*)

Per'l paused for a moment, wondering at the odd sensation, but quickly shrugged it off.

He accessed the security grid, and soon he had their command protocols. Quickly he foujnd what he was looking for. Their command centre was 2 klicks to the east of his position.

Kell would be held there. It was risky, but using his remote access he granted himself access to their monitors. After several minutes, tense in the chill humidity, the processors whirring around him, he found what he was looking for.

The familiar figure of his friend popped up on the feed.

He sighed. He had used a workaround so he wouldn't trip their security alerts, but he wasn't going to push his luck. He knew where Kell was now, so at least he could form a plan if he acted on it quickly.

Per'l had taken a moment to put some of the local berries in his food tester. The bar-shaped device beeped green lights to indicate it was edible. He didn't feel the need to test it on his digestion yet, however.

Checking the feed on the ex-Imperials, Per'l could see what they were doing, and he packed up quickly. He would never have a better opportunity. If they were keeping anyone on this planet, it would be there.

They already knew rogue agents were about, they just didn't know how many unless Kell blabbed, and Kell was not the type to blab. But Per'l didn't want to wait until they started interrogating him with more drastic measures. If they were following the old imperial protocols they were trained with, he would still have a few minutes at least before they started thinking about that, but these weren't like the old days, you couldn't predict. Still, they might still rely on their training even out here. Things to cling to, when your entire belief system crashed around your ears.

He wanted to find a transport, to make his way inside their prison compound where they were keeping him. The less attention he aroused the better, but something told him that might not be an option.

Moving outside, among the supply crates and eluding watchful eyes, he found a convenient way. One of their trooper transports, doubtless it was primarily to transport munitions but there would be plenty of room for him.

Soon, it was indeed on its way eastward. Not quickly, but reliably.

He wondered, often, at all the things that their mentor Skywalker, hadn't told him. There was always this slight air of irony around him, a mystery that seemed to come out in an odd humour from time to time, as if there was so much to tell, but no-one could ever hear it.

They were all insatiably curious about the Jedi. The first of the new order – the warrior who had struck down Darth Vader and the Emperor, and with the Rebellion overthrew the Empire. There were no words sufficient to convey the greatness of such a person, or their own honour, or the greatness of this new destiny. He had returned hope to the universe in a way none had thought possible. And although it didn't seem to please Luke very much, they, each and every one, would die for him.

He did wonder sometimes, what one would do if placed between that and their own family – but many had given up their families in order to join the new order. To fulfil their own destinies, to be a part of a new peace and order for justice in the galaxy. Their families were doubtless very proud though, it promised to be an integral locus in the future. Luke Skywalker was a hero. He had proved there was still a place for the Jedi in the galaxy.

Darth Vader and the Emperor had been a shadow over all free-thinking people. Luke had offered the galaxy something it never had, under their black boot-heels. Freedom.

Empire City, Teleron, not a particularly creative name, but the Empire hadn't been known for its love of the unconventional. It was, however, known for its organisation for such a vast military and political force.

But something so large could not be without its inevitable fall, as Luke demonstrated. But it had seemed the Empire would endure forever before Luke was known – and perhaps it would have been, there had never been anything like it before.

But Luke had demonstrated its weakness, and that, perhaps was more powerful than anything. If a farm-boy in an X-Wing could destroy its greatest weapon in its greatest battle, then perhaps they could win their battles too.

Of course, none saw him that way now, but it was a powerful legend. That had been his beginning, and he had become the greatest Jedi Knight the universe had ever seen.

It was one of the last places in the universe that still didn't accept the New Republic, and until then, he doubted the name would change.

He checked his nav-map, it contained all the co-ordinates scouted so far – he hadn't had time for a good survey before he landed, forced to avoid as much attention as possible.

He entered their command centre - he had ditched the transport shortly before it reached its checkpoint and he would likely be discovered. He found another way inside. It required the use of his lightsaber and some agility, but that was something a Jedi had in abundance.

There was a small squad of white-armoured storm-troopers on guard in the clearing, they had been easy to get around. Their visors didn't do much for these kind of environments.

Behind the city, buildings clusters in twos and threes among parts of the jungle not cleared for development, was the command sphere.

The orbital command sphere was easily a mile wide, it reminded him uneasily of the Death Star.

These might have been defunct control ports for the original, or the original design, perhaps just for the construction, a planet in proximity made a lot of construction more efficient, although the gravity could cause problems.

It would take a bit of work to get inside without running into any patrols, but he was well used to it, and had every confidence in his ability.

If you can't get your way through the big things, wiggle through the little things. He didn't think that was a Jedi saying, but it might be if it worked. Be just like them to take a good saying.

Us, I guess.

Later, he had made it through the security walls. A few close calls, but he had succeeded. They were certainly on the look for spies, but he didn't think they had expected a Jedi.

Slipping down from the vent, it wasn't difficult for him to gain access to the systems again.

"Ah there you are, old friend," he said, looking at the security monitor. He was clearly held in holding cell B. It wouldn't be difficult to reach, but the best way would be through the vents and droid access tunnels as usual. A station like this always required large ducts, and as long as they weren't security gridded, they'd be much easier than the corridors.

Soldiers had a long-time habit of ignoring such things, because very few could use them without discovery.

It weighed heavily on Luke sometimes, Per'l knew – not that Luke had asked his opinion. But they all knew it. He had been single-handedly responsible for the death of millions of lives, in order to save the galaxy. Alderaan would have simply been the first to be claimed by the Death Star, and the rest of the galaxy crushed in the iron grip of fear.

It may be that not everyone on that station were truly evil, perhaps even victims in their own way, but they had died for their cause just the same. It wasn't entirely an ignoble end. One could not pick the straw from a pile of manure and expect it to be clean.

Sometimes there seemed a dark burden on the Jedi, the brightest of them all. Everywhere he went he was like a star, but always one felt like one of his friends. He was an inspiration in the true sense, he made people feel like they could be and do more, and he resonated with those who believed. No burden was too heavy when one shared it with a companion.

He had found holding cell B.

Carefully, he searched along the wall – and he felt something, a slightly almost imperceptible difference beneath his hand. He stood back and waved his hand at the wall, and heard something click.

The door slid open.

"You took your time," was the first thing Kell said, when Per'l had entered and freed him.

"Yeah, took me a while to find out where they were holding you. Come on, buddy, we got to move. We happen to be in the exact right spot."

They made it to a radio station. "Do you know how to use this?"

"The problem with you my friend, is you never took the time to learn more practical things."

"Yeah, yeah, just hurry up, will you?"

"Hold up, it's not as simple as that, it'll take me some time."

He pulled out a tool, and soon he had the chassis of the communication computer open. "I'll have to rig it for a secure communication, too easy to pick up a signal from the wrong people out here."

Wrong people? Hmm. Maybe I can find a few of those around here.

Intending to interrogate someone, he snuck along the corridors, leaving Kell with a blaster. He avoided enemy sight, slipping behind at their backs and ducking the monitor cameras. It was said there was a Jedi trick to fool electronics, but he didn't know it, he had to rely on plain ol' subterfuge, which had served him well even before joining the Order.

He had been one of the late arrivals. Luke, it seemed, didn't adher to all the old rules he spoke of, or he had changed a few to meet these perilous times – in a time when the Old Republic had long since passed, and the Jedi with them. That is, until Luke, of course.

He dropped down to his knee behind a crate, breathing through his nose suddenly with long, heavy draws, trying to remember his Jedi training. He had just seen a Mantilore!

The huge heavy brutes were a strange species, their facial tusks some sort of highly sensitive sense organ, and they were rumoured to have mental powers of the sort that had otherwise been only Jedi legend. They were minor legends in themselves in this, the H'nbaran sector for much the same reason.

Fortunately it didn't seem to have seen him, he had kept his Force power suppressed, although he didn't know if they had true Force sensitivity, but he would be a fool not to assume the worst.

And the worst was... it had seen him...

He returned to rejoin with Kell, to make their escape.

When they rounded a corridor, Kell halted him.

"Wait a second, as soon as we trip off one of their access alarms, their stormtroopers will come swarming back here. Their personnel is at an all time low, but not that much."

Per'l winked at him. "That's why I made a stop before I came here." He clicked a button on his belt com-pad. There was nothing for a moment, and then a sudden shocking sound of explosion! Something huge had just gone up miles away, and hit their position with the shockwave.

Kell can more than hold his own, but we'll need the distraction for both of us. There's quite a distance between here and our way off this planet. I just hope the shuttle's ready. It's only a matter of time before the stormtroopers start checking every unclassified transport.

"That should draw them off. They'll think their power generator's being sabotaged for an assault. They'll rush troops out there to defend it, giving us a wide space."

"Did you?"

"Just a few of the tertiary and secondary ones. We still need the main ones providing power to this building, or the computer main-frame will shut itself down and we'll never be able to access it. I couldn't do everything by remote."

"Good thinking, friend. Alright, lead the way. I wasn't looking forward to getting tortured, I can tell you."

They stumbled across an officer.

He blasted the man's belt before he could use the device to call for help, and with the use of the Force, threw him into the wall so he was rendered unconscious from the shock, in well applied martial discipline. Jedi trained night and day to hone their bodies and their skills, it was often the only thing between them and certain death with only a hair to escape. A hair that a Jedi could find in a criss-cross of deadly lasers.

If there was no use for physical training, there would be no use for Jedi. It was drilled into them again and again – and weirdly enough, their trainer often wasn't even Jedi. Some strange hyper-martial alien they had recruited off one of the sympathetic worlds. Occasionally spoke of being both envious and admiring of the Jedi, but seemed to glow as if with a destiny of its own – such was the light that such callings gave them. Luke had been wise to remind them that the Force was a force to bind all living things together. It was an easy belief that became easier to forget, the more proficient with the Force you became, and you became trained at sensing other Force users. Easy to lose others in the flotsam.

For the Sith, they had lost them entirely, including their own souls. It was a very real spiritual danger, but fortunately not a very serious one among good folks.

He believed that true masters were able to sense all things. The destiny of things even so small as a microbe, but it was mere legend to him yet. But he liked to believe, because it was a good belief. Someone so attuned to the Force must be the greatest master.

He wished he had met Luke's master, but he himself was little more than a shadow and rumour, and Luke didn't speak of him often – not to anyone it appeared.

Friendly and jovial though he often seemed, with a heart full of light, he was still somehow reserved and alone, master of a sanctorum that few others could pierce.

If only Per'l knew how strange it was, that a man who fled the empty solitude of Tatooine, should seek out yet more empty solitude of a Jedi temple, where comforts were the thoughts you brought with you.

(*)

Something... a shadow... stalked along the corridors. Just a darkness, but with intelligence.

It stopped and inspected the canisters, touching them one after another, the first was hot, the second was cold, and so forth...

(*)

On the satellite above, Per'l's team was at work, hacking into the encrypted com channels that controlled the transmission traffic for the entire system. He could boost the signal straight to them. They both had to work together to make it work.

At the same time, he could make copy of their command records.

They made it to the control tower, where they could see the storm-troopers with their own eyes, as well as several TIE fighters swooping overhead. The officers had been slain too quickly to raise the alarm, but they kept out of sight so as not to present a tempting target to any sharp eyes. It didn't take long to go about their business there either.

At last he had his information. Several of the Remnant outposts were in these sectors, and the New Republic (erstwhile Rebellion) knew they had to be getting supplies to them somehow. These readings contained information on all interstellar traffic in the region, as well as several other things which he personally suspected would be more likely. It wasn't easy to disguise a light-drive signature, but it was possible.

Personally, he would have liked to do more digging, but he did have a mission, and time was always a factor.

He would have liked to rendezvous with some of the other Jedi on the matter, but there wasn't one around for light-years, save for him and his rambunctious partner. They were useful to have. Rescued him from a prison death sentence in one of the Imperial compounds and they had been good friends ever since. Seemed to be a habit, though, but Kell was one of the most intelligent and experienced wise guys one could have on their team.

He uploaded it to his cortical recorder.

And true enough, there was a minimum of resistance, two stormtroopers were on guard to one of the rooms, but they went down quickly to blaster fire. Kell had obtained himself a blaster from the security hold – his own one. They checked the feeds to see again, the majority of troops moving out on speeder bikes, leaving behind just a few defensive detachments, who he knew would soon be searching the command centre.

Splitting up their forces under these conditions were the best he could hope for, even after the fall of the Empire, they were still excellently trained in these manoeuvres, if predictable.

It was fortunate that a lightsaber afforded one many exits and entrances from a place.

They were ambushed in one of the corridors. A security droid with an E-22 opened fire, and sent them rolling for cover, barely deflecting each shot.

Even machines had trouble out-predicting the deflection frequency of a positronic shield modulator. Storm-troopers generally overcame this with wide-frequency pulse blasts, dispersing the force equilaterally over an area – much harder to deflect. Unless you were a Jedi with a light-saber of course.

That's torn it, they'll definitely be on the look-out for intruders. They'll probably notice their missing prisoner too. But this command centre is so large, we might still be able to evade them.

A couple of return swipes of the light-saber and he had crashed out all the light circuitry in the corridor, the droid had no light amplification circuitry, immediately obvious by the way it changed behaviour. But a Jedi had no need of it, he could "feel" the droid moving, in a way that didn't make sense to ordinary matter, man or machine.

He checked his pieces. He drew his macro blaster – at a fire-fight of this range it was more useful than a light-saber, unless he could close the distance quickly. Heavy pistols with quad outputs, the droid was shortly blasted to pieces.

They weren't easy to aim, but they hit like a hammer.

"Nice work!" Kell complimented him. "I thought that droid had us dead to rights! Must be an older model. I've never seen one taken in a fight before."

"Glad I could impress you, it's what I'm here for."

"Well naturally – let's get a move on."

The next room had nothing in it save for some weather computer predictors and lonely little droid. He looked at the droid sceptically. It blinked back.

"Stop flirting with the machinery, we have to keep moving."

And they did.

Unlike humans, droid battalions were built to take losses – each engagement was a pure calculation of cost, in return for fearless soldiers of unflinching loyalty. It was a big galaxy, and there were a thousand things to tear down the morale of a sentient, corporeal being. It took either a strong heart, tough hide, or cold logical processor of a machine to deal with them.

It took a good crew to deal with the dangers of the galaxy, and he planned to assemble one. Jedi were a solitary breed, but he couldn't do it alone.

In the birth of the New Republic, this was the right time.

They weren't a common soldier, since the Trade Federation, but you still found them around.

He hadn't told Kell about the shadow. Hadn't told the other Jedi. He hadn't been sure what it meant. He knew he should of, it was the unity of the brotherhood of light that had joined them - but every time, something seemed to restrain him.

"We're being followed," is all he said. He had never caught more than a glimpse, but he knew it. He didn't think it was the Mantilore, but it certainly hadn't helped. He had been seeing shadows, but he had kept it to himself.

They took cover in one of the storage areas leading and winding through the central processor units.

He paused. He wasn't quite sure what area of the station it was, but this was a cargo area of some kind, and it had several living creatures in cages. This must have been what drew him here, his instinct told him he could make something from this situation.

He drew something like a water sampler, from one of his many belt compartments. He held it up from a moment, and then approached one of the animals. He injected it and was soon extracting genetic material from one of the little mammals, which appeared as blue liquid in the casing.

"What are you doing?" Kell said, watching him, although he was supposed to be watching for stormtroopers approaching down the corridor.

"It's called a quantum choroidal processor." Per'l answered. "It's based on the fact that most living entities have what's called left-leaning amino acids, which produces a subatomic elective charge that is virtually infinitesimally tiny in energy, yet DNA requires it to be fully active."

He held it up, satisfied at its glow.

"With this we can decoy the enemy."

Placed it on a shelf. "It's producing the signature of a living being."

Should have done this before – but I didn't see the need, even if it had occurred to me. It's mainly useful against the Force sensitive, but the only Force users left in the galaxy are supposed to be the Jedi! Good thing I never trusted it. Of course, almost anyone would detect it, but there's only one thing I'm worried about.

At that moment elsewhere in the station. "Sir! We have something!" The officer pointed eagerly at his monitor.

"We may not be entirely practical people, like you say, but we Jedi are survivalists." Back where Per'l and Kell were, they exchanged this pleased response.

"Why aren't there any Jedi left then?" Kell muttered in response to himself. Per'l just smiled at that, with his korta-like ears. (Which is to say he had excellent hearing, not that he resembled the animal in any way.)

"This way," Per'l said, and motioned.

The mass-net entertainment feed was still broad-casting. It seemed even the stormtroopers wanted to keep up to day on what was happening in the New Republic. He had to say, it didn't look bad.

"Thank you," he said, saluting the entertainment feed arbitrarily. And moved on.

Kell had collected his gear. Per'l noticed he kept his shield deflector hanging loose off his belt like a light-saber – perhaps he just liked the affectation. It was a common enough misdress, comfortable to just hook one of those on your utility belt and keep active. Not much use for civilian formalities in these sectors.

A small detachment of stormtroopers entered the bay, one leading with a hand-held device which was beginning to bleep alarmingly. Then they knocked aside the crates that had been placed suspiciously, and then they found it.

He held it up, a glowing blue cylinder.

The delta stormtrooper glanced down. He barely had time to say "uh oh", before it was triggered.

A remote mine. The explosion took out that entire section of the station.

After making one last stop to copy files, Per'l and Kell escaped the command centre.

(***)

The officer clicked off. "There's no sign of them now. Our patrols failed to catch them. Do you wish to pursue?"

"I shall reserve my own advice. But return to your duties, commander, you have nothing to fear. Your chariots once again shall be seen in your skies. This "New Republic" will not dare strike at you. I have my own devices with which to pursue their... spies..."

The commander shivered somewhere in his spine, involuntarily, and hoped the creature didn't pick up on it. The voice was a hoarse sound. Suddenly vibrant and challenging and then rough and whispering. The commander did not think he was the Emperor. Everyone knew he had perished with the Death Star. But he seemed to have some semblance of that chilling command. Some thermal accident or plasma burn might have taken his throat and left him with that voice, but the commander couldn't speculate. He only knew that the creature had an uncanny knack and power, and they couldn't afford to turn away aid in these times, no matter their form. He was not as easily disturbed as his fellow Imperials, Remnants, he reminded himself – but a spectre was an ill presence.

(***)

Somewhere else in that city at that time.

They sat around in the domicile, watching the holo move silently. They didn't have much, but at a time like this, they were thankful for what they had. Comfort and warmth, while the tri-fire place blazed, and the refrigeration unit blinked.

Suddenly there was an explosion, and the wall exploded in, in stone and rubble.