Hello! First Star Wars fanfic so please be gentle, and I am not abandoning my other stories. Hope you like my first OC, he's going to become an important character later. Also, I actually sorta have a plan for this one (at least the ending) so chapters are going to be longer. Please leave a review so I know how the story is going ~Venus Luxia.
A tremor in the Force jolted Luke awake in his bed, and gripping panic suddenly overcame him until calmed himself with the reassurance that he was safely in the old repurposed base on Dantooine. What was that? he asked himself. He immediately sat upright on his bed and reached out into the Force only to find it … anxious. Confused, Luke once again reached out with his feelings and it felt like the Force itself was anxious and anticipating whatever was to happen in the future.
He was interrupted in his musings by a knock on the door. Sighing, he got up and answered it. On the other side, Wedge was standing there, looking concerned. Luke absentmindedly checked the time and saw that he was late to hand-to-hand combat practice. It was something that Leia had insisted (forced) him to start practicing after he had lost his lightsaber.
"Hey Boss, are you doing OK?" Wedge asked his commanding officer. Luke closed his eyes for a second. In his mind, he knew that it would be a long while before he accepted the truth about his heritage. It was still a gaping wound in his soul that only increased in intensity with the fact that both Ben and Yoda had kept the truth from him. Luke opened his eyes and forced a pleasant smile on his face.
"I'm fine Wedge," Luke told his wing man. Wedge looked at him in suspicion as they both left Luke's room down to the training. They both walked in silence for a few minutes before Wedge suddenly stopped. Luke, startled, halted his walk and looked questionly at his friend. Wedge seemed to gather himself for a moment before speaking.
"What's really bothering you, Luke?" the Corellian demanded, "You've been different since Bespin. Normally you wouldn't let a loss get you this down; but, for the past few weeks, you've almost seemed … depressed." Wedge looked him right in the eye as he continued, "Whatever the Empire did … whatever Vader did, you know you can tell us, right? We … we won't think any less of you." Wedge finished, looking at Luke with a serious, morose expression.
Luke bit his lower lip. But you would think less of me if you knew the truth, being the son of a monster Luke thought to himself. He kept silent, thinking of a way to get Wedge to let the matter go. The truth, Luke decided, or at least part of the truth.
"I'm sorry Wedge, but I'm not ready to tell you what he told me." Luke began, "The fact of the matter is, you would hate me if you knew."
"Luke, nothing could-" Wedge started before Luke cut him off.
"Wedge, please, just drop it." Wedge looked positively defiant for a second before barely relenting. He stomped forward towards the gym with a half-trained Jedi trailing behind him. Wedge opened the door to reveal a relatively large gym that was packed with rebels running or practicing their combat skills. Once in the gym, Wedge and Luke silently waved goodbye to each other. Wedge, still angry that Luke did not confide in him, immediately went to run laps while Luke headed towards the center of the gym where his hand-to-hand combat instructor was waiting for him. The man was a humanoid with a snow white bushy tail, long white fur on his head and along his forearms. The parts of his skin that were not covered by fur were human-like, but pale. His ears were tall, triangular, and started near the top of his head with a light pink visible inside them. On each of his cheeks were three bright red markings that resembled claw marks. They complimented his large, ruby red eyes that seemed to blaze in fury as he spotted Luke approaching him.
"Care to explain to me why you're an hour late to my very important lesson?" the non-human demanded, his tail swaying in irritation. Luke sheepishly smiled while scratching the back his head.
"Sorry Kai, I overslept." Luke told him. Kai narrowed his eyes with a look of disbelief.
"Luke, I only fall for that excuse the first five times, not the sixth." The young Jedi was disappointed. The one time that he actually overslept is the time Kai doesn't believe his excuse, "Don't give me that pathetic look. Hand-to-hand is very important, especially if you lose your weapon." Luke flinched as Kai lectured him. Eyes narrowed even further, Kai paused his chiding and they both stood in silence for a few seconds.
"Wedge wasn't able to get you to talk, was he?" Kai demanded.
"So, you asked him to interrogate me on the way here." Luke playfully accused his instructor.
"It wasn't that hard to convince him. We're all worried about you, Luke. A depressed hero is a dead hero." Kai's tail twitched in irritation, "I won't push you to tell me what's bothering you, but you have to tell someone before whatever secret you're keeping starts to eat at you."
Luke told Kai that he would tell Leia his secret later on that day. They both knew that this was a bold faced lie, but Kai let is go as shook his head in disbelief.
"You're so stubborn, " Kai smiled fondly, "let's get started then, seeing as how you happen to be an hour late!" The feral man swiftly sent a punch towards Luke's face. He clumsily dodged, feeling a slight breeze kiss his skin, and sent his own attack directed at Kai. The man grinned as he caught Luke's fist in his much larger hand.
"I thought we were supposed to stretch before we spared, or maybe, I don't know, teach me a new technique!" Luke practically yelled at Kai, sending a kick towards his stomach. Kai grunted slightly, let go of Luke's hand and returned the favor by sending his own kick to the side of Luke's abdomen.
"If you came here an hour earlier, we would have time to do that, but since I need to leave in half an hour, I figured I could test your skills." Luke managed to block a second kick, immediately afterward he sent a punch aimed for Kai's face. The punch whizzed past Kai when he moved slightly to the side to avoid it. Their "spare" went on for five minute before an alarm rang through the gym, and sent the rebels training there into an organized panic. Luke recognized the alarm. It was the standby alarm for combat.
"Agent Kai," an Alliance officer ran up to the two of them, stopping to catch his breath, "you're needed down in communications."
Kai nodded and then glared at Luke. He demanded that Luke actually be on time for his practice while he left the gym. Luke reluctantly agreed as he headed to the hangar with Wedge to be on stand-bye incase command decided to scramble the fighters. As they were running to the hangar, Luke was hit with a sudden realization that caused him to stumble slightly. Wedge looked at him questioningly, but the rebel hero ignored him. Was this the cause of the disturbance in the Force Luke asked himself. It made him feel more comfortable as the disturbance did not feel negative, only uncertain. However, Luke hoped desperately that the disturbance and the alarm in the base had nothing in common. While the disturbance did not feel negative, it was now revealed to him that whatever caused the disturbance would mean trouble for him in the future.
*LINEBREAK*
Kai ran down to communications like there was fire licking at his feet, and for all he knew, there was going to be one. The only reason for them to be calling for his help was if whatever had triggered the proximity alarm was claiming to be something of the …. strange variety. After joining the rebellion, Kai specialized in the bizarre and weird, which was probably why he got along with Luke very well. Although, more often than not, he ended up cleaning whatever insane mess had occurred as a result of the presence of a certain half trained Jedi and his squadron of miscreants. It was never boring with the young Jedi around. Kai smiled at the thought of the wonderful destruction that was caused when they first met, but then quickly frowned as he reached the communications area. He slowed down to a quick walk as he went to the commanding officer.
"So where's the fire?" Kai asked him. The man bit his lip and looked pale, for a human.
"A battle cruiser just suddenly appeared in our proximity, they've made no move to attack …" the human officer paused and bit his lip again, "we've intercepted their messages, but their claiming to be …" The officer paused again, as if he couldn't believe what he was about to say.
"What are they claiming to be, it can't be that unbelievable." Kai demanded impatiently as the man stalled. Time was not something the Rebellion had very often.
"They claim to be a Republic battlecruiser." the man finally said. Kai's mouth dropped. He really should not underestimate the pure absurdity that his job could put him through.
"Does it-" Kai began with a dry throat.
"Yes, it matches the ship type used by the Republic during the Clone Wars." Well, Kai looked at the screen with the Republic ship on it, this was a bit of a problem, "There's more sir," Kai swirled his head back at the officer with his tail swaying in anxiety, "They claim to the the Clone Wars ship the Negotiator." Kai rubbed his temples with his hands, his ears twitching. He may not know that much about the Clone Wars due to Imperial censorship, but everyone and their mother has heard of the ship commanded by Obi Wan Kenobi.
"Put me in communication with the vessel." Kai finally commanded with his hands still at his temple, "Hopefully, the commanding officer is a human and I'll be able to tell if he is lying. If they are telling the truth, we'll have to ask High Command how to proceed." After all, it wouldn't look good if the Rebellion to Restore the Republic destroyed such a famous Republic cruiser. Kai walked into the pick up for the hologram. Hopefully, the connection would be good enough to allow him to read the body language of the "Republic" officer, if not, then they would have to get Luke to tell them if was safe. It was something that Kai wanted to avoid. For whatever reason, Luke was very … touchy about the Jedi right now, and the last thing Kai wanted was a confrontation with the young Force-user.
"Let's get this over with." the humanoid muttered under his breath as the communication line was opened.
*LINEBREAK*
Anakin Skywalker was not in a good mood. Not only did the good count get away, but hyperspace decided to turn into a bright virage of colors from all over the rainbow. Obi Wan was off to his side, trying to get some semblance of normalcy in the panicked room with the help of the ever faithful Commander Cody. Anakin groaned in frustration at while trying to figure out why hyperspace was no longer just blue. As far as he knew, no one had ever documented this ever happening. The Chosen One hoped that whatever nest of gundarks they were about to kick up had a normal solution. Yeah, like that would ever happend his brain unhelpfully pointed at. Anakin had no other choice but to agree, normal solutions and him never went hand-to-hand very often.
Luckily for Anakin's mood and Obi Wan's sanity, they were suddenly jolted out of the strange hyperspace back into real space. They remained silent until Cody ordered an update on their location and Obi Wan looked over at his former Padawan.
"What did you do to hyperdrive, Anakin?" Obi Wan asked with the exasperation of a man having to deal with the living disaster known as Anakin Skywalker.
"Nothing!" Anakin responded, offended that his former Master would even consider he would done such a dangerous prank. Ahsoka, who had arrived on the bridge just before they entered hyperspace, joined Obi Wan in looking speculatively at her Master. "I didn't!" Anakin added on at the looks his two companions were giving him. At these words, Obi Wan sighed dramatically and then stroked his bread at the contemplation at what just happened.
"So if it wasn't Skyguy, then what exactly happened?" Ahsoka asked the Knight and Master. The two exchanged a look.
"That I do not know," Obi Wan began with his usual form of calmness, "I have never heard or read about anything like this happening."
"Neither have I." Anakin added when Ahsoka looked expectantly at him. At his negative answer, she bit the bottom of her lip before asking about what they were going to do. Obi Wan opened his mouth to answer as he was interrupted by Commander Cody.
"Sir, we have confirmation that we are currently in orbit around Dantooine." Cody reported to his superior.
"Dantooine?" Obi Wan questioned, "How did we get all the way to Dantooine?" Dear Force, we were heading back to Coruscant for leave. How did we end up in the Outer Rim? Anakin thought to himself. They were all brought out of their shock when they all heard the doors to the bridge open. The durasteel opened up to reveal Captain Rex, with his helmet in his hand on the side, looking very irritated.
"Sir, please tell me that the rumors I heard about hyperspace aren't true." Rex demanded while looking annoyed. The clone rumor mill is most impressive Anakin thought to himself, already thinking of ways to cause Obi Wan grief with this fact.
"Unfortunately it is Rex, in fact, we're floating right above Dantooine right now." Ahsoka informed Rex cheerfully.
"You're joking, right Commander."
"Sorry Rex, but it looks like we're stuck with another adventure." Anakin joined his Padawan in antagonizing his Captain.
"I guess it is a small blessing that we are still in Republic space," Obi Wan added in his own thoughts before turning to Cody, "let's contact the Dantooinians to see if anything substantial has happened. I have a feeling that it is not a coincidence that we have landed here." He crossed his arms while looking at the planet below. Communications quickly responded to the orders. The three Jedi and two clones started debating on possibilities on what could have happened to them as they waited for an update from communications.
"Sirs," one of the clones interrupted their debate, "we are receiving a communication from an unknown source."
"Originating from where?" Obi Wan asked.
"We don't know sir," the clone sighed, "The message is scrambled, but they want to talk with you over hologram."
Anakin and Obi Wan exchanged a look before Obi Wan agreed. They opened up the line and Obi Wan stepped into the pick up for the ships holocom. Soon, a blue tinted figure fizzled into view. Ahsoka nearly gasped and Anakin stared in confusion. They had never seen or heard of this humanoid's species before.
"Please state your reasons for being in this sector." the humanoid began the conversation with that demand. His face was impassive and Anakin would believe that he wasn't nervous at all if it weren't for his tail fidgeting in the background.
"We mean no disrespect to you or the people you represent." the Negotiator began, "The fact that we are in this system is pure coincidence as we had no intentions of arriving at Dantooine. In fact, we were just on our way to Coruscant." The humanoid studied Obi Wan intensely before responding.
"Regardless, please state your allegiance. Are you truly Republic?" the man inquiried, the swaying in his tail becoming more pronounced.
"Yes, we are the Republic ship the Negotiator and I am Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi." At Obi Wan's words, the humanoid's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
Looks like you have a fan, Master Anakin teased Obi Wan as he sent that thought along their bond. He felt Obi Wan's slight annoyance and Anakin could almost picture him rolling his eyes.
"That's i-impossible… that's….you can't be….," the unknown man stuttered for a moment before composing himself, "I must speak with my superiors about this. I will comune with you again when I have heard from them." The communication cut off and all of the Republic's soldiers were left feeling confused at the man's reaction.
"Why would it be impossible for Obi Wan to be Obi Wan?" Ahsoka spoke up first.
"It is very strange." Anakin added while crossing his arms. Obi Wan stroked his beard in deep thought.
"I suppose the best course of action would be to wait for him to communicate with us again. In the meantime, we should try to contact the council and tell them what happened." Anakin grunted in annoyance as Obi Wan mentioned the Jedi Council. The only respectable member on the council, in his opinion, was Obi Wan. He hoped that the humanoid would get back to them soon so he wouldn't have listen to the drivel of the Jedi Council.
*LINEBREAK*
Kai stared ahead of him where the man that claimed to be Obi Wan Kenobi just vanished. There was no way. It couldn't be. He had to be lying. However, nothing in the man's body language revealed that he was.
"Sir, was he telling the truth?" the communications officer behind him asked faintly. Kai finally looked around him to see all of the people present, no matter the species, had equal magnitudes of shock on their faces. Kai searched for words to respond to the officer.
"I … I don't know. He was very difficult to read." Kai paused before realizing what he had to do, "Contact High Command and Commander Skywalker. I think it would be best if they had a hand in how to deal with this."
"You don't think it's a trap do you, sir?" Kai sighed and shook his head.
"If it was a trap from the Empire, it's a pretty bizarre one." Kai paused for a moment, "For now we'll just tell High Command and see what they want to do about it."
*LINEBREAK*
Luke Skywalker ran into the hangar bay with the alarm still blaring in his ears and Wedge right on his heels. When they arrived, they saw the rest of Rogue Squadron preparing to enter their X-wings.
"Hey Boss," Janson yelled jovially, somehow being louder than the sirens, "You gonna join up as Rogue Leader again."
"Just for a little bit Wes," Luke responded as he climbed into his X-Wing, "Afterall, I am a full time Jedi now."
"You should still be a pilot, being a Jedi sounds so boring with all the meditation and wise old sage sayings." Wes teased as he lowered himself into his cockpit. Rather than taking up on the bait, Luke remained silent as he ran threw the pre-checks before telling the squadron to not take off until the command for evacuation/battle was given. The legendary pilots of the Rogue Squadron entertained themselves by telling crude jokes that would have given any upstanding citizen a heart attack. Luke listened to his squadron's childish antics with a smile on his face. He was happy to see that despite the loss on Hoth, the rebel squadron was still in such high spirits. R2 tweeted at him after a short while.
"Don't worry, R2, I'm sure everything is going to be fine." The little droid's response was a definitive bleep of disbelief.
"I do not cause trouble R2!" Luke exclaimed as he read he datapad that translated the droids binary into Basic. R2 bleeped again.
"It's not my fault we crashed there," another beep, "it's not!" R2 blooped, "OK, how about I give an oil bath after this is done?" R2 sounded positively pleased at that prospect. Whoever had said that droids don't feel anything was clearly a moron. R2 had told him repeatedly to never bring him back to Dagobah. The astromech was very displeased with the events that transpired there. Which was fine by Luke because he wasn't ready to have the truth confirmed to him by Yoda. He still had a small amount of hope that Vader was lying to him. He was interrupted in his thoughts by his comlink beeping incessantly at him.
"Commander Skywalker here." Luke answered.
"Commander, you're needed with High Command." the communication cut off abruptly with no explanation.
"I guess I have no choice," Luke mumbled under his breath, "Wedge, you're Rogue Leader for now." He informed his friend before running out of his X-Wing with R2 beeping behind him. He ran down to the meeting room. The durasteel doors opened up, and he stepped in with trepidation. Leia was sitting near Mon Mothma, and she smiled at him as he walked into the room. She looked as pristine and regal as always, but Luke noticed slight bags under her eyes conveying her worry for Han. Swallowing down a sudden rush of guilt, Luke stood before the leaders of the rebellion. Mon Mothma sat at the head of the conference table being flanked by Leia and Admiral Ackbar. Next to Ackbar sat Generals Madine and Cracken, the later of which was glaring at the young Jedi. General Reikan sat next to Leia with his face portraying his exhaustion which never seemed to disappear.
"Commander Skywalker, please have a seat." Mon Mothma gestured to the seat in front of Luke facing her, "We of High Command would like your opinion as a Jedi on a recent event. General Cracken, if you would?" she kindly asked the leader of Rebel Intelligence. Cracken grunted and began his debrief.
"Fifteen minutes ago, Agent Kai made contact with a vessel that suddenly appeared in the Dantooine system. This vessel appears to be of the Clone Wars era and claims to have allegiance to the Republic." the General stopped with an infuriated look on his face, "The commander of the ship claims to be General Obi Wan Kenobi." At that Luke let out a cry of disbelief, and then quickly blushed as Cracken glared at him for the interruption, "Agent Kai was unable to ascertain the legitimacy of this claim. We are only considering it because the communication codes the ship is using to try and establish contact with allies were codes only used by the Jedi of the Old Republic." Luke's mind was racing, could this be the source of the disturbance? He was brought out of his thoughts as Mon Mothma spoke up.
"We would like to know whether the Force has anything to say about this predicament. I'm sorry to ask this of you Commander, but you are the only Force sensitive within the Alliance. We would greatly value your input." Mon waited patiently for Luke to answer. Luke bit his lip, it was clear to him that not everyone put as much stock in the Force as Mothma, but it wouldn't hurt to just tell him what the Force was practically screaming at him.
"This morning, I woke up to a disturbance in the Force." Luke began and immediately grabbed the attention of everyone in the room, "It … alarmed me at first, but it didn't feel malicious. It felt … like… it couldn't wait for something to happen. Excited and anxious at the same time. Nothing harmful, just …," Luke shook his head as he struggled to put what the Force was telling him in Basic, "I think that whatever will come from that ship appearing here has changed the outcome of this war." It was a bold statement, but Luke couldn't help it. That was what the Force has been trying to tell him. He could feel the Force's happiness and relief as he finally understood what it was trying to tell him. He looked around at the members of High Command to see their reactions. Leia looked troubled along with Reikan and Mothma. Madine and Cracken revealed a speculative and cautious response, while Ackbar remained unreadable.
"Thank you for your input Luke." Leia smiled at him, trying to banish away her worry. Mothma was in deep thought for a few seconds before coming to a decision.
"General Cracken," Cracken sat straighter as Mothma addressed him, "Have Agent Kai establish contact with the ship and ask them to meet him in person on Dantooine by the temple ruins. Make sure he does not reveal the entrance to our base here." Mothma turned to Luke, "Commander, I would like you to accompany him to see if they really are Jedi." While Luke doubted he'd be able to tell a Jedi from a non-Jedi, he agreed nonetheless, "Does anyone disagree with this course of action?" Mothma paused, nobody spoke up, "Meeting adjourned, and may the Force be with us."
*LINEBREAK*
"What do you mean we can't contact the Council?" Anakin Skywalker asked as Obi Wan just told him that they were unable to establish a connection, "Are we being blocked or jammed?" At this Obi Wan took on a thoughtful expression.
"No, it's as if there is simply no one there to answer." Obi Wan told his former Padawan. Anakin dramatically sighed as Ahsoka put in her own input.
"Is it possible that the Council is just ignoring us over something Skyguy did?" Anakin shook his head at his Padawan.
"Nah, they're too proud to do something like that, Snips." Cody came up behind them to add more information to the conversation.
"Sir, we are also unable to contact the Chancellor or anyone on Coruscant. Unlike the communication to the temple, we seemed to be blocked anytime we try to contact them." Cody said with a troubled look on his face. Obi Wan stroked his beard.
"Curious and curiouser. It appears this little detour may be more trouble than we realized." Obi Wan mused out loud. Although he didn't want to admit it, Anakin agreed with him. It was a very strange situation.
"Sir, we are receiving a communication again from the same unknown source." one of the clones on the bridge reported. Obi Wan ordered for it to be put up on the holocom again as he stepped into the pickup. The same figure as before fizzled into existence in a tint of blue.
"Hello again, I believe you have something to tell us?" Obi Wan started the conversation. The humanoid narrowed his eyes before answering.
"I have talked to my superiors. They have requested that we meet face to face with at least two participants for each party, no more than four. We ask to meet at these coordinates on the planet of Dantooine." the man ended his repetition of orders with a swish of his tail. Obi Wan paused before responding. It sounded awfully like a trap, and the blocked communications made him more cautious.
"What does my ship have to gain if you follow through with your request? We could leave the system at any moment we wished." Obi Wan studied the being as he finished his statement. The man almost looked panicked when he suggested the Republic ship could just leave.
"It is in both of our best interests if you would meet with us. You will need our assistance if you are truly who you say. Things have changed." the humanoid responded, his tail fidgeting even more. Obi Wan paused to consider, the pros and cons weighing in his mind.
Go on Master, Anakin thought along their bond, if it is a trap, we can make it out fine. We bust Separatist traps all the time. Obi Wan sighed, they were getting nowhere. He had to agree with his Padawan, if they were good at anything, it would have to be ruining traps.
"We agree to all of your terms of the meeting. May we be permitted in bringing along some weapons for basic protection?" The humanoid nodded at Obi Wan's question.
"I hope we're not getting into another impossible situation." Obi Wan mumbled to himself. One can only hope Anakin thought to himself.
*LINEBREAK/TIMESKIP*
Luke nervously turned his head to the sky as the party from the Republic ship exited their shuttle. Two of them were definitely Force sensitive and it put him on edge. The last time he encountered a Force sensitive didn't turn out so well. He nearly jumped out of his boots when Kai put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Force, Luke you need to calm down." Kai teasingly told him, "You could shake to ground with how nervous you are."
"Sorry Kai, its just…" Luke began, "they're Force sensitive, at least the brown haired and red head human are. They both feel …. familiar" Kai nodded as the group came closer. One appeared in blue armor similar enough to a stormtrooper's armor to put Luke even more on edge, the other two were dressed in robes. The two groups studied each other for a moment.
"I do believe introductions are in order, I am Obi Wan Kenobi." So this is the one that thinks he's Old Ben Luke thought to himself as the other Force sensitive introduced himself.
"I'm Anakin Skywalker." Luke's world turned black as he registered what the man had said. This man was claiming to be his father, but Darth Vader was …. Luke vaguely heard Kai shout at him in the background and the world around him faded to black.