Disclaimer: The Star Wars universe belongs to Lucusfilm, Ltd. I don't own any of Lucus's character, but I (and two friends) do own the original characters, so please don't borrow them without asking. (Not that anybody would ^.^)
Author's Note: This is a joint work. Co-authored by DawnRising and Regeane, in the sense that they helped build the story outline. Thanks so much you guys for using me in slave labour to write this fic.
This is a multipart story of three Jedi students and their trials. I know you read that and you think, 'AHHHH, Mary-Sues!' But our characters are not going to save the universe; this is simply a story of friendship and life while learning at the Jedi Academy. I realize that not a lot of people will read this simply because it involves original characters. But those of you that do I hope you enjoy it and I would love to hear your comments.
Becoming Jedi
The Beginning
It was mass chaos, the blond haired girl noticed, as she tried to find docking bay 68. The station air felt dry and uncomfortable, nothing like gentle humid air of the Domed City of Aquarius. Regeane sighed, and pulled up the hood of her cloak, the soft fabric reminding her of home. She found herself wondering what was happening there at this very moment. If her mother was out, searching for new species in the deep oceans, or if the sun was shining lighting up the bright blue waters.
She was still unsure if her decision to go to the Jedi Academy was the right one to make. She truly wanted to learn about the Force and find that link to all life, but she wasn't a people person and at home her friends had been the deep ocean, and the life that swam among it.
The crowd opened up before her and she spotted the entrance to docking bay 68. She shifted her bag and hurried towards it.
When she stepped inside the first thing she noticed was that it was surprisingly empty of people. She guessed that not that many people were chosen to learn at the Academy. There were four other people waiting in the docking bay, two men, and two women. The men were standing together; Regeane noticed a similarity between their features and guessed they were brothers. One was about 20 to 25 standard years, and the other was a few years younger, more around Regeane's own age. By the way they stood she could see that they had already formed their own group, and she was okay with that. After all she didn't need anybody.
Her attention turned to the two other girls standing around. They stood apart, each one holding themselves aloof, they had the look of loners. Much like herself, she mused.
The taller girl had short cropped dark blond hair, and blue eyes, something about those eyes reminded Regeane of the clostore, a predator who waited for an unsuspecting prey to come within its reach before snapping shut. She had on a cream colored cloak that hung open to revealed a matching cream shirt, and gray pants. A large satchel sat on the ground at her side, and looked about ready to burst.
Regeane turned away from the blond girl and looked over towards the other. This girl had long brown hair held back in a ponytail. Her eyes were a soft hazel, and her skin had a tanned look to it. She made Regeane think of the forests she had often seen in vids. She was dressed in a green shirt, with brown pants. In truth, her whole ensemble looked like it made to blend in with the forest. The only exception was the dark blue elastic that bound up her hair. Her bag was slung over her shoulder, and it looked like it had been made from some type of leather, Regeane thought that she could see a few data pads peaking out of the slightly open zipper.
Regeane swallowed a sigh, and turned to look towards the shuttle to wait for the call to board. She hoped she had made the right decision.
Savanna waited patiently, she had heard earlier that there was only one more person to arrive and she assumed that meant the girl that had just walked in. Savanna took the time to look the girl over. She had shoulder length blond hair that curled wildly, but not in a frizzy way, peeking out from her hood. She wore a grayish-blue cloak that effectively covered everything but her feet.
Savanna was a bit unused to seeing so much diversity in people. Her home planet, Fualra, was a bit off the beaten path and most people living there were born and raised there. Fualra was a forested planet, and all who lived on it lived within the forest, preferring the trees to towering buildings. All the big business took place at the space station in orbit, meaning that not many people came to Fualra, so the ones whose families had lived there for centuries tended towards a dark coloring to match the habitat. Savanna was dragged out of internal mussing by a voice calling them from the entrance of the shuttle.
"Please board the ship now," a small woman said from the top of the ramp. Savanna caught a glimpse of the saber on her belt and realized that this was one of the famous Jedi Knights. She felt a spark of excitement; Savanna had never believed that she would be discovered as having such a talent; she had expected to live out her life in the forest of Fualra. Her family still lived there, but her older brother and sister had never been close and her other sister and her meshed like oil and water. She had spent most of her time alone in the ancient forests. Her mother would miss her she knew, but she was also intensly proud that her daughter had been chosen for such an honor.
Savanna moved towards the entrance, and found herself side by side with the other two girls, the men having gone on ahead. She cast a sideways glance at them; the tall blond girl was walking on her right, while the shorter one was on her left. She had an odd felling that their closeness should bother her but it didn't. For a millisecond she thought she saw three lines bisect and join together but it was gone before she could even blink. She shrugged it off, and continued on her way into the shuttle, the two girls walking with her.
Dawn was surprised; somehow as she had gone to enter the ship she had found her self beside the two other girls. It wasn't like her to get so close; life in the Trading Ports of Commenor had taught her that the best person to trust is yourself. Her mother had often taken her on business deals and she had learned that ties to other people could cause problems; in a way they were like a rope around your neck. But something about these two girls made her want to be close by, it was confusing.
Dawn entered the shuttle still walking at the side of the two girls, her bag felt like it weighed a hundred tons and she silently berated herself for packing so much.
Dawn had jumped at the chance to train as a Jedi, her mother had been sad to see her go but she wanted the best for her daughter and the Trading Ports were not a place to spend your whole life, so she had let her only daughter go willingly but not without packing her bag to the point of explosion. Every time Dawn had turned her back, her mother had shoved something else that she felt Dawn would desperately need; it was sweet in an extremely annoying way.
The corridor the three girls were walking down opened into a large room with a few couches and chairs, doors branched off, leading to personal quarters. Dawn couldn't spot the woman who had called them on board as she looked over the room, unconsciously taking note of the materials present.
It was a good shuttle, well made but not over opulent, Dawn approved. The glance also yielded the observation that the other people who had boarded before them were also gone, probably went to find their quarters, she assumed. Without a thought she walked over to one of the chairs and dropped down into, dropping her satchel down on the floor.
Savanna watched the girl plop down into the chair and let out a hearty sigh, she walked over to a nearby chair and sank into it. She glanced over at the cloaked girl, as she pulled down her hood and joined them, grabbing her own chair.
The three cast glances around them, none sure whether or not to break the silence. They started when the shuttled engines sounded, sending a low hum throughout the ship as it took off.
Still the silence dragged on.
Then without any warning three voices spoke out at the same time.
"I just…"
"I'm…
"So…"
They all trailed off as they looked at each other with surprise, Savanna was the first to speak.
"Hello, I'm Savanna Moon, from Fualra." She offered her hand out to shake and it was grasped my Dawn and Regeane, in turn.
"My name is Regeane Kelan, from the Domed City of Aquarius."
"I'm Dawn Rising, and I'm not from anywhere special. Just around the trading ports of Commenor."
Silence once more rang out as the three loners watched each other. Finally, Regeane stumbled upon an idea as she spotted the table nearby.
"Anybody up for a friendly game of Sabacc?"
The grin that lit up Dawn's face made Savanna think that a friendly game in Dawn's mind meant something quite different then what it meant in her own, but she wasn't one to back down from a challenge, and the three girls walked over to the table.
Dawn whipped out a packet of cards, but before they could be seated the women from earlier entered the room.
The women was slim, her hair a shimmer of blue that cascaded down her back like a waterfall, but other then that one feature she resembled must humanoids. For some reason when she spotted the girls standing together she smiled a soft mysterious smile that made them all shift uncomfortably.
"I hope I'm not interrupting but I was going to lead you to your rooms, if you wish. It could wait."
For some reason the girls glanced at each other, and then quickly looked away when they realized what they were doing. Then as one they shrugged, causing them to stare at each other in surprise.
The Jedi smiled once more, her eyes held laughter as she turned and led them silently down the hallway. The girls hurried to catch up, grabbing their bags and tossing them over their shoulders.
The walk was a relatively short one, the ship was not very large and they reached a group of doors within a minute. The Jedi pointed to one door on the left side of the hall and then to two more which were just across from it, they were the only doors in the area.
"These will be your rooms. The trip to Yavin should only take about two days." She turned and smiled at the girls were they stood grouped together. "I hope you will be comfortable, if you need anything I can be found up in the cockpit most likely. I'm pleased to see that you are all becoming friends so quickly." With that she turned and quickly walked off down the corridor.
The three girls threw startled glances at each other, each one thinking the same thing. Friends, what does she mean friends, we just met, I don't need a friend. But for some reason none of them voiced these silent comments, and the voices faded like smoke and the three soon-to-be-jedi smiled a little nervously.
They each faced a door, and entered, feeling shaken. They had never had real friends, but where the thought had once before been greeted with distain it was now bringing a pleasant warm glow.
Dawn tossed her bag down on the floor beside the small bed in the room. The room was small, containing only a small bed and a bathroom. It wasn't much, but they would only be on the ship for a few days, and Dawn had been in worse places, of course she had also been in better. Her mother was one of the best traders on Commenor.
Dawn dropped down on the bed and without even realizing it her thoughts turned to the two girls she had just met. She relaxed on the bed, her arms under her head. What was that all about? Her thoughts ran over the meeting.
Throughout her life, she had never made many friends. The trading ports were not a place to make friends, but she had never felt a need for companionship. She learned from the best there was and her childhood could hardly have been called bad, it just wasn't very childlike. She remembered days spent in smoky taverns listening to the captains' talk, watching them play Sabacc and other games. But she couldn't remember ever wishing for a friend. But then these two girls walk into her life and she knows nothing about them and suddenly she finds herself wishing that she did. That she knew their likes and dislikes, how they handled themselves, what would happen when she kicked their butts in Sabacc.
A slow smile spread across her face and she closed her eyes. She supposed that she'd just have to take this friend thing in stride; she wasn't one to let something new pass her by.
Regeane stepped into her room, taking in the small size and letting out a sigh. She missed her home, and her room with its view of the deep ocean. Her mom's status with the ecology community gave her access to one of the few homes that had views into the ocean.
Regeane dropped her stuff, and sat on the bed, leaning back against the wall. She supposed that in time she would be come used to the homesickness, but until then she would just have to keep her mind occupied. And about the only thing she could think off without bringing up more memories of home were the two girls she had just met.
The girl named Dawn seemed to have no problem dealing with people but she didn't seem like the type to open up right away, but something about her made Regeane curious. She wanted to find out more about her, learn about her life. Regeane wasn't the type to pry, and she was never a people person. But she found herself liking this girl.
Savanna was another puzzle. Regeane had never met anybody who seems to remind her so much of the forest she'd never seen. And she was quiet, but she looked like she had an inner energy just waiting for the chance to get out.
For all that they seemed so different Regeane felt a connection with them. With a shrug, she decided that she would just go with the flow; it was better to go with the current than against it. Beside friendship sounded like the type of thing one wouldn't want to miss out on.
Savanna tossed her head back, her long brown ponytail whipping around. She glanced at the closed door out of the corner of her eye, and then turned to face the rest of the room. She took in the metallic walls and sighed. All this metal and synthetic materials were so different then what she was used to. Fualra, with its towering trees and majestic forest, held none of the sterile environment that was so common on these stations. The peace that she had always felt being surrounded by nature was conspicuously absent here.
But there was something new in the air. Savanna had always had a feel for what was going to happen, knowing when storms would appear, or where danger was, and that special sense was working now. It had begun tingling with her very first glimpse of the two girls and had steady grown stronger.
She tossed her bag down and belly flopped onto her bed. A smile spread across her face and she let out a low laugh. She wasn't a people person, and her friends back home could have been counted on one hand without using all the fingers, and none of them had been that close, but what she felt now was more intense then what she had felt with any of those other people, and she found herself liking it. It gave her a 'at home' feeling that had been missing since she first stepped on the ship that would take her from her home planet. It was… nice.
But that wasn't all. The little tingling told her that their being together would lead to so much more, and since Savanna was never one to balk at adventure she would be ready and waiting for whatever would come.
The three girls, their thoughts turned inwards, slowly closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep. Small smiles lingered on their faces and their last thoughts were filled with images of two shadowy companions. Loners all their lives they were feeling the security of having a friend nearby. Thier sleep was peaceful and just before Savanna dropped off into sleep she saw those three beams of light mesh together forming a beautiful helical shape as the three strands twined. Then she was asleep and the vision was promptly forgotten as she fell into her dreams. Knowing, but not knowing that the two girls nearby could feel the closeness and that their minds were filled with a beautiful three strand helix that brought warmth to their souls.
The alarm rang throughout the corridors, and the ship lurched suddenly. Savanna let out a shriek as she hit the floor hard. With a moan she climbed to her feet, rubbing her head. The sound of the alarm wasn't helping any and she glared angrily at nothing.
A yell rang out in the corridor and Savanna ran for the door, pulled it open and ran into the hall just in time to crash into Dawn and Regeane. With a yelp, she tumbled to the floor, closely followed by the two other girls.
Sprawled out on the ground, alarm buzzing like mad, the three girls stared at each other. A shout rang out from much farther down the hall, and the girls jumped to there feet.
"What's going on?" Regeane asked her eyes wide and startled.
Dawn tilted her head to the side listening to the alarm, before she nodded sharply. "We're under attack."
"What!!"
"How?"
Dawn shook her head, "Probably raiders, bet they knocked the ship out of hyperspace."
"What are we going to do?" Savanna asked, her face serious.
Once again the girls stared at each other until almost simultaneously they reached out their hands and placed them together.
"Safety in numbers, right?" Regeane said.
Savanna smiled, and Dawn gave a big grin as she said, "Yep, you got it Reg." Regeane looked startled at the nickname but soon she was smiling as well. Then a blaster went off somewhere.
Dawn, Regeane and Savanna all jumped and whirled to look in the direction the sound had come from.
"Umm I take it that's not a good sound, is it?" Regeane said with a gulp.
Dawn shook her head, "No." Her eyes lit up suddenly. "Wait here," she said, and bolted back into her room. Regeane and Savanna glanced at each other and shrugged, but Dawn was back out in a few seconds. And in her hands she held three tiny tasers.
"What are those for?" Regeane asked, staring at the small, palm size devices.
Dawn raised one of the tasers, showing the small button on the side. "You press this button here and it sends out a low level beam that's enough to render a person unconscious for a little while."
"Neat, but why do you have three?" Savanna said.
Dawn shrugged. "My mother tends to over pack." Another blast sounded from down the hallway, only it seemed to be getting closer. The three girls cast worried looks at each other. But neither of them were cowards; their backs straightened and they nodded to each other. Dawn tossed Savanna and Regeane a taser and listening carefully they set off down the hallway, keeping close to the wall.
The room that they had met the Jedi in was empty when they entered, but the sound of blaster fire was much closer and much more rapid. Without saying a word, Savanna pointed to a different corridor branching off. The sounds were definitely coming from there, and the three girls moved carefully towards it.
Only to jump with shock as a man dressed in leather entered. His face was hard, and a scar ran across his cheek, he also carried a large blaster.
The man and the girls stared for half a second before the man jerked up the blaster to take aim. He seemed to move in slow motion and then suddenly his body jerked sharply and he dropped to the ground, his blaster tumbling away. Dawn, Savanna and Regeane glanced at each other in surprise but none could be sure whose shot it was that had taken the raider out.
Dawn shook off the shock first and crouched down next to the raider, a quick glance was all it took for her to recognized the symbol on his sleeve. "Nova's," she said.
"What?"
"It's a group of raiders." She shrugged, her lips quirking, "And not a very good group. Which explains why they attacked a transport carrying Jedi students. See this symbol on his sleeve, that's the sign of his group. But if they have fallen on hard times it's going to make them more desperate to succeed, and gaining this ship would most defiantly be counted as a success."
"What can we do?" Reg asked. Dawn stood, glancing at the blaster before reaching down to pick it up, at the same time deactivating her taser and slipping it into her pocket.
"I think we should help fight."
The two other girls turned startled glances at Savanna. Her face was tense and her taser was clenched in her hand. Regeane and Dawn were silent for a moment, their thoughts similar. They weren't sure how much help they could be but they couldn't very well just go back and sit in their rooms.
"Well, I'm sure that other Jedi could use a hand," Reg pointed out thoughtfully.
"True. Besides, who would suspect a couple of Jedi trainees with no training of fighting back?" Dawn mused. The three girls grinned. They knew the situation was serious but at the same time it seemed so natural to be going into battle with somebody at their sides.
"Let's do this," they said as one. Still smiling but their eyes serious they turned and ran down the hallway that the raider had come from.
The shots of blaster fire got louder and louder until Savanna, who was in the front, put out a hand to stop them. "I think they're in the docking bay."
Dawn nodded. "They're probably loading more men on. The one we ran into must have been a scout."
"What about the Jedi? Do you think they got her?" Regeane asked quietly.
They shrugged, their faces worried. "I don't think so. I don't think it's that easy to catch a Jedi," Dawn said.
"We need a plan." Savanna said.
Leaning close together the three girls talked quietly and quickly and soon they had a plan ready.
"Ok, let's get moving before those raiders leave the bay and we have to flush them out of the ship," Reg stated. Eyes sparkling with excitement the girls headed towards the open docking bay door, shooting around the corner and taking out the guards at the door and running into the room all in a matter of seconds.
Seconds went by like hours as the raiders and the Jedi students faced each other, the raiders were clustered all on one side of the bay and were unloading weapons. But the girls had their plan firmly in mind and before the raiders could so much as lift one weapon Dawn glanced at Reg and Savanna and got a nod and she raised the blaster and shot. But the shot wasn't toward the raiders but overhead at one of the many conduit pipes running along the wall. The beam hit the pipe and a white smoke began to pour out covering the raiders and obscuring their vision. Already the cloud was almost at the girls and as one they moved into action, tracking the outraged cries from the raiders.
They raised their weapons and took aim working with the memory of where the raiders had been. But already the smoke was blocking their view and they stood close to each other, shoulders touching trying to move as quietly as possible. But their bombardment wasn't going unnoticed, and soon return blaster fire headed their way. The shots were poorly aimed but unlike the girls weapons the raider's blaster would kill.
Cries rang out in the docking bay but Savanna was pleased to note that the amount of voices was much smaller then it had been. Dawn took aim once more shooting towards the sound of some man yelling for the men to get to the ship. Regeane joined in as well and the cries cut off abruptly.
None of the women knew how long they'd been in the docking bay when their good luck ran out. The smoke, still as dense as ever, blocked their view and out of nowhere a foot kicked Dawn's blaster from her hand. Before Reg or Savanna could respond their own tasers were removed. They spun, feeling a wall at their backs they felt for sure that this was the end. The shadowy form of the raider moved closer and they saw him raise his blaster. Then there was a flash of dark green light, a sizzle and a shocked scream as the raider was thrown back.
Out of the smoke stepped the blue haired Jedi. The girls realized for the first time that the sounds had died down and that in fact the docking bay was almost silent except for the slight hissing from the pipe as the smoke escaped.
"Nice work, jedi." The Jedi said and extended a hand, and Savanna and Regeane quickly took the two tasers that were there. They glanced at Dawn and she reached in her pocket and pulled out her own taser. The Jedi turned without another word and run back into the mist.
The silence was unnerving after so much noise. The girls all jumped when a faint hiss sounded and the mist started to slowly drain form the room. Within minutes the bay was clear again.
Silence descended as the girls stared at the chaos before them. Unconscious raiders were scattered about, the walls had blaster scars on them and a light white dust from the mist was scattered everywhere.
A loud voice came over the intercom system, the girls jumped.
"All able hands report to the bay 2. All passengers please head to the lounge. I repeat, all able hands report to bay 2. All passengers please head to the lounge."
The girls glanced at each other then at the mess lying about them and shrugged. Slowly, like movement was foreign to them they walked towards the door, still silent. They had just reached it when Dawn glanced over at them and said, "We never got to have our game of sabacc. You two up for it." Her gaze was faintly challenging.
Savanna looked over at Reg, who looked right back. Then, large grins appeared on their faces as they turned to Dawn and said in unison "You bet we're up for it!"
They all knew they weren't talking about sabacc.
Friendship can be a wild and crazy thing, but it's a great thing.
******
There's more to come. Like I said this is the story of these girls time as Jedi. Some parts of the fic will be short little interludes while others will be more serious with actual plots. Most of the parts are being written by me, but a few will be done by Regeane or Dawnrising. (HI!) I'd really like to hear anybody's opinion, bad or good. Tell me what you liked and didn't like so I'll have an idea of what I should change next time. Thanks for reading! ^.^