God I hate being poor. You know when I was little I always dreamed of one day becoming a master Jedi. The Jedi were heroes during the Clone Wars, they could take on entire droid armies with a single light saber. They would charge into battle and deflect lasers, slice through speeders, and cut through walls. The combined might of the republics clone army looked borderline pathetic compared to the strength of the Jedi council. Unstoppable, that's the word I'm looking for. These great warriors could use the force, a metaphysical magic of sorts that could be manipulated to the users will. The force with its opposing sides of dark and light had always seemed like this mysterious omnipotent power that only a truly powerful being could wield.
The trouble with omnipotent powers that you read about in books is that it doesn't always work out exactly the way you want it to.
My name is Gray and I am Jedi, sort of. I don't actually know how one would obtain the title or anything like that, I just know how to use the force. Well I can use the force, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm good at it or anything. I've never had any formal training, and ever since the clone wars ended there hasn't exactly been a lot of Jedi masters floating around. I've learned everything I know about using the force from various books and a couple stolen holograms. Yet for some reason I'm just not that great at using it. I have a lot of trouble with the levitating of objects and moving stuff, and doing those power jump things, I'm also not that great at fighting. Despite my extreme lack of every basic Jedi skill I do have one thing going for me. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I am absolutely stellar when it comes to mind control. Yes mind control, not exactly the most impressive thing that Jedi can do, but I have to say it comes in handy.
In case you are not already aware, if you have the force you are either killed immediately or turned to the dark side. Luckily I have not been caught doing anything that I couldn't talk my way out of. Though that might just be my mind control abilities now that I think about it. I call it mind control instead of a "Jedi mind trick" because I can go a bit deeper than that. The mind trick is a simple hand wave that makes people forget recent events, however I do it a bit differently. I started out with the simple hand wave, but I realized that it's the hands movement that makes it effective. So I experimented a little and learned all these weird kind of hand movements and other ways to manipulate the force. It got to the point that I could do the mind tricks without using a hand, though the gestures are needed for more involved things. I have spent a lot of time on the mind control bits since it's the only thing that I've made any real progress in. I started with a little haggling, now I could probably make storm trooper piss himself if I wanted.
I can usually take care of myself, the only issue I have is droids. Droids don't fall victim to mind control, and this makes me an easy target. Without a mind to control, I'm pretty much useless. I'm usually able to change the mind of droid owners and slip away from potentially dangerous encounters with the empire. This however, is not the way I want to live my life. The empire is basically a bunch of jerk wads who take things that don't belong to them. While I'm not exactly known for my high moral streak or anything I don't think anyone really needs any more of an excuse to hate the empire.
Now my back story isn't really that tragic, but some of this stuff should be cleared up. My father died when I was young, not killed by the empire or anything cliche like that, just a freak wagon accident. I didn't really get to know him to well since I was little when he passed, my mother however, that's a completely different story. My mom practically raised me on her own, she was a hard worker and a medic for the city we lived in. We were never rich but we always managed to pull through. She didn't know about my Jedi-ness but I always meant to tell her one day. All she ever wanted to do was help people, and I respected her for that. She joined the rebel alliance one day and I left home after that. As much as I wanted to stay and support her, I just couldn't take the risk of being a Jedi who was the daughter of a rebel. The connection would've been all too obvious and she would be in much danger as I was if the empire ever found out. She never knew where I went and I did a pretty bad job at keeping in touch. I send her a letter once in a while and I always include whatever credits I can spare, but unfortunately I have no way to receive correspondence so I don't even know if she is alive anymore. For her sake, and mine, I hope she is far far away. Knowing her she is out there somewhere, saving the galaxy. If I play my cards right, hopefully I can help out with that.
What I need to is become a proper Jedi. I've heard a lot about the Rebel Alliance lately, and how they are trying to make things go back to the way they were, trying to restore the old republic. This is what ordinary people, like my mother are doing. I'm grateful that there are still people out there who want to fight, people who are still willing to do the right thing. I however am a Jedi, and if I know anything about the force it's how to trust it. I was drawn to a book once, I got the store owner to fall asleep with a little mind magic, and I slipped the book off the shelf. I flipped to a certain page and was immediately entranced by its content. "The Holy Order of the Jedi Knights" was the title of the book. I read what I felt was right then flipped to another page. The symbol was stunning. It was the first time I had ever seen it, the emblem of the Jedi order. A simple line with a star in the middle, wings that proudly surrounded the design. I stole some paper from a nearby shelf and carefully traced the image. I would never hurt a book, there was no way I would be able to rip out the page. I carefully replaced the book in its rightful spot and roused the shop owner as I raced out the door. I later learned what the image depicted, not a stick with a star, but a light saber.
The Jedi order, it still seems like a dream. I am now determined to become a real Jedi, then I will start up the Jedi order once again. The greatness and power of that symbol still moves me, what it represents means even more. Users of the light side of the force, they both kept the peace and fought valiantly. I continue to learn about the hierarchy of the Order, however in these more desperate times I don't think anyone would mind if I bent just a few of the rules. Based on my current age I wouldn't really be considered a youngling anymore. Being more teenage in years it would be safer to go with the title Padawan. I think it would be pretentious to call myself a Jedi knight or master when I can barely use the force. So until I create my own light saber and find a way to go through some kind of Jedi trial thing, I'll consider myself a Padawan. Since I'm not really in training my master for now will be the force, and because I already have complete faith in it I know it will be the best teacher for me. I took a strand of hair from my ponytail and weaved it into the signature braid of a Padawan, I tucked it behind my right ear and committed myself to a new hope.
I know that the tradition is for a Jedi in training to build their own light saber, but since I am nowhere near any magic light saber crystal cave planets I might have to improvise. If I bought a light saber then I could just take the crystal out and make the rest from scratch. Only problem is that I am really freaking poor and let's face it, light sabers are expensive. The only place I've found that actually sells light sabers is at the black market, and those are the stupid red ones. I want to be a Jedi not some Sith empire scumbag. Those guys are upright jerks and there is no way I'm going to associate with a bunch losers like them. I want to recreate the Jedi order, there is no way anyone will take me seriously if I'm wielding the synthesized red crystal light sabers of the empire. For now I will survive the way I have been since I left home, defenseless, penniless, but with a dream.