Note: I don't own Star Wars or the character Caleb Dume. Since we don't know much about Kanan besides other than he used to be known as Caleb Dume and was Padawan to Master Depa Billaba I made a short story on what his past would be like in my mind.
"Hi there future Padawans, I'm Caryn!"
"And I'm Caleb!"
"We're here to talk to you about all the wonderful things you will be learning at the Jedi Academy like training, everyday life, and-"
"What pranks you should and shouldn't play on the Masters here at the temple."
"Caleb! Master Yoda is going to watch this!"
"Oh yeah, let's start with him. A bad idea to mimic Master Yoda it is."
"Caleb, focus, or at least try to."
"Do or do not, there is no try."
"Caleb…"
"Fine, Fi-"
"Caleb… What was that?"
"I don't know, you go back to Master Adriana, I need to get something from the classroom."
…
"Caleb, NO!"
Caryn jerked awake for the second time that night, escaping that horrible nightmare. "Blasted dream…" she muttered. It was the sixth night that day had come back to haunt her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget the death of her friend and the destruction or the Jedi Order ten years ago. Knowing that trying to go back to sleep would be futile she got dressed, it would be dawn soon anyway. Better she got a head start on the busy day ahead of her.
She crept outside into the dusty Capital City. It was a big city, but since the Empire arrived in the Outer Rim most of its inhabitants left or were enslaved. The planet Lothal was mainly used for farming back in the Republic days, but, again the Empire drove out most of the farmers and used the land for strip mining.
Caryn tiptoed her way across the rooftops and took position of a hidden ledge, looking down on one of the busier street markets. The sun was already starting to creep over the horizon. Then from the end of the street she saw a group of storm troopers flying in on Speeders. "It's about time bucket heads." She whispered. Soon citizens would wake to start their miserable day of work.
Just on time the streets started to fill with drowsy people stumbling through their jobs. With the streets busy and Storm Troopers distracted, she decided it was a good a time as any to start her distraction. She quietly leapt off her ledge and casually walked over to the speeders. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a thermal detonator and tossed it on an Imperial speeder. A Trooper noticed and started to walk her way, but she quickly dodged behind a building as a small explosion went off behind her.
Caleb, NO!
Caryn shivered even though it was the middle of a warm Lothal summer. She pushed the past behind her, and even though she despised using bombs she knew it was necessary to survive. Since she had been a padawan at the time of Order 66 the Imperials would find and kill her easily if she had a job. So she would steal from the Imperials to live.
As the commotion rapidly rose, Caryn jumped up to the flat roofed houses. A speeder with a lone Storm Trooper was flying her way, trying to escape the scene. Caryn quickly made the calculations and leapt onto the crate behind him. Before the Trooper could process what was happening, she stunned him with her blaster and pushed him aside.
She flew back to her shack on the edge of the city and made sure that no one had followed. Caryn brought the crates into the dim lit room and pried the lid off. It held more blasters. Caryn already had a surplus of them so she decided to sell or trade them on the Black Market later that day. But right now she deserved some breakfast.
As she walked over to the café Caryn thought about her life back at the temple was still standing, when Master Adriana and Caleb were alive. They ate Gartro Egg Omelets, Bacon, and drank Malu Run Juice. The memory made tears well up in her eyes, and she blinked them and the thought away. I have to move on… She miserably thought. Sure, her Master had left her with a handful of skills that helped with everyday life, but her training was cut off really early. She also didn't believe that Caleb was really dead. He could have survived the explosion.
Caryn strode into the café and took a seat near a window overlooking the boring plains. A Togrota woman who must be the waitress walked up to her. "What can I get you today?" The woman asked. She had a thick Corellian accent. "Can I have a Zucca fruit pastry and a glass of Jawa juice?" Caryn boredly inquired "Sure, I'll be right back with that." The waitress walked away to help another customer.
Caryn stare off into the horizon until something caught her eye. A hooded figure walked in and sat down across the room. As if the figure knew they were being watched, it looked her way. Caryn quickly looked back down at the Menu, letting her choppy brown hair cover her eyes. For some odd reason the presence of this stranger felt familiar but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Caryn tried to act casual as she looked back up from the Menu and glanced the figure's way. It was watching her to. Nervous, Caryn looked for the waitress; she was coming with the food. "There you go miss, that'll be twenty-five credits." Caryn fished through her pocket for the money and dropped them in the expectant hand.
Caryn anxiously ate her food, but just as she was about to get up the figure started towards her. Panic swelled up in Caryn's chest and she quickly ran out the café's door. She looked back to find the dark stranger following her from a distance. She wove through the crowds of people and ducked into an alley with a dead end. The person appeared around the corner and stopped twenty feet in front of her.
"What do you want?!" Caryn furiously shouted, preparing herself for a fight. The hooded figure laughed, it was a female, and it sounded familiar. "Why! You've certainly grown fiercer since I last saw you!" The woman laughed, but the laughs slowed "But I suppose Order 66 would do that to anyone…" She quietly trailed off. She flipped her hood back, revealing her face. Alliah.
With a sad smile she looked just the same as she had ten years ago, same straight black hair and warm brown eyes. Caryn's friend from the Jedi Academy still lived.
Snapping out of her shock Caryn cried "Ali!" The two friends rushed forward and embraced each other. "You survived!" Caryn exclaimed, pulling away. "Well of course!" Alliah laughed, "What, you thought I was a goner?" she asked, clearly amused. "Well you never know with you." Caryn joked. "So where's Caleb?" Alliah asked, smiling. Caryn stopped laughing and her gaze dropped to her boots."Oh no…"Alliah whispered, smile gone. "Caryn what happened?" Caryn forced herself to look into her friend's eyes. "There was an explosion…" Caryn emotionlessly stated. Although on the outside to Alliah, Caryn's face probably looked blank, on the inside she was breaking. "And what about your Master?" Alliah softly asked. "She died saving me from the Fallen One's wrath." Caryn guiltily whispered, tears streaming like rivers down her face. "I know they wouldn't want you to feel guilty about this." Alliah said, tears glistened in her eyes. "But I don't think Caleb is dead." Caryn said defiantly. "What? How?" Alliah was perplexed. "I don't know I just sense that he is still alive." Caryn winced, looking to her friend for a clue on her thoughts. Alliah just gave her an empty stare.
"Well we can talk about this later, but now I have important news!" Alliah excitedly stated "There are rumors among the shadows that there is a new Jedi Temple on Corellia! I was on my way there but lucky for you, I stopped here for fuel and a bite to eat. Would you like to come along?" Caryn's friend hopefully questioned. Caryn thought for a minute. If this was true they could have a home again, but if it was just a trap set up by Imperials… Well she had nothing to lose anymore. "I'm in." A wide grin broke across Alliah's face. "Great!" she shouted. "Let's head out now while the Imperials are trying to find someone who stole their crate this morning." Alliah said, already walking back to the street. Caryn laughed, it felt so good to laugh again; she would never take it for granted again. "What?" Alliah stopped turning suspiciously. "It was me who confused the Bucket Heads and ran off with their supplies this morning." Alliah rolled her eyes, smiled, and tossed Caryn the cloak she had worn. Caryn remembered the cloak her Master had given her when she became a Padawan. She sighed and followed Alliah down the street.
Caryn followed Alliah in silence until they reached the ship yard. They approached an old Corellian freighter. "It may not be much," Alliah started "But she'll get us where we need to go." The identification marker read The Scavenger. The rear hatch opened with a hiss and the two women boarded. It was an okay ship Caryn guessed. It had two rooms with two bunks in each. The sitting room and kitchen were dusty, coolers empty. Caryn took a seat on the passenger side of the cockpit, next to Alliah.
Alliah flipped a bunch of un-known switches and The Scavenger hummed to life. Once they passed the Imperial blockade, Alliah started to enter the coordinates for Corellia. Soon the stars became a blur as the ship entered hyperspace.
"So, you really think there is a new temple?" Caryn was concerned. "I believe so; have trust in the Force, right?" Alliah answered reassuringly. "Yeah." Caryn smiled. They ship left hyperspace and approached the planet Corellia.
It looked the same as when Caryn had last seen it, but the difference was that Master Adriana and Caleb had been there and now they were both gone. Caryn and Caleb would always play harmless jokes on the Clones when they were fighting with the Jedi, not against them. They would watch and play with the Ewoks while their Masters were out making negotiations with the enemy. Caryn smiled at the memory.
When they landed in the clearing where the Temple was supposed to be they found nothing but a gigantic mountain. "I don't see anything." Alliah called, after searching for a while. "Me neith-"Caryn yelled in surprise when a square patch of ground sunk down as she stepped on it. There was a loud hiss from the mountain and it split straight down the middle. A narrow walkway led across a gorge. Caryn and Alliah exchanged glances and started to walk across. When they were halfway across the mountain slid shut again. "Well no going back now." Alliah muttered.
They reached the other end and gasped. An enormous ten story stone building stood proud before them. Alliah reached out her hand to knock on the bronze doors but they swung open. In the doorway stood a man wearing Jedi robes "Hello," he smiled kindly "Welcome back home."
The tour with the man they later found out was named Marcus was a hazy dream. It was a small replica of the old temple that once appeared in Coruscant. It held a grand training room, a welcoming cafeteria with pleasant smells wafting from it, classrooms to teach eager younglings, cozy dorms, a library, a ship hangar, and even and new council room.
Marcus stopped at one last metal door. "Finally we conclude our tour at our Search and Rescue room." He opened the door. Long rows of computers and scanners filled the room, and in the center was a huge holographic map of a planet. Jedi were hustling around, working on finding captured Jedi and Order 66 survivors. "Can I work here?" Caryn asked Marcus, amazed at all the effort everyone was putting in to find people. "Of course! Please report to Tony over there tomorrow to start your training."
Later that evening while Alliah and Caryn were getting ready for bed in their shared dorm Caryn paced the floor. She couldn't wait to start work tomorrow! Depending on whether or not they were assigned to people, she would start searching for Caleb.
The next few weeks rushed by and Caryn was where she was most of the time, in the Search and Rescue room searching for Caleb. On her computer she taped a photograph of her and Caleb laughing with their Masters and the Temple.
Friends forever, right Caleb?
Of course Caryn…
She smiled, I will find you Caleb, I promise. "Are you ready to go train Caryn?" Alliah asked. "Yep!" Caryn shut off the computer, smiled at the photo, and walked off to the training room with Alliah.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you guys think (please be honest), and based off the reviews I will decide whether or not to make a chapter based on Kanan/Caleb's point of view. I have also started making a bigger story that I will post based on reviews. Thanks!
