The planet Ossus, twenty-five years after the battle of Endor
It was evening on the grassy plains of the southern continent, and the nocturnal sounds of the native creatures almost created a natural symphony in the darkened evening. Under the glow of Mim and Nerit, Ossus's two moons, the planet's ancient Jedi temple and library seemed to glimmer like a mirage under the light reflected by thew two planetary satellites.
The temple itself was a magnificent structure; a massive circular central tower, surrounded by several smaller towers, and a large octagonal wall enclosing the entire building. The Jedi had built the beautiful structure to fit into the natural landscape, giving the temple an appearance that it had been made of logs and wood.
Millennia ago, the ancient temple was built to be the home of the Jedi, after the order had moved to Ossus from the watery world of Ach-to. During the two-thousand years the Jedi had used this temple as their headquarters, they had built up a massive library of ancient texts on Jedi knowledge and the force. The structure and it's library had been abandoned and forgotten when the Jedi moved their headquarters to the Jedi temple on Coruscant.
Ossus had been so obscure and out-of the way, the empire never bothered to damage or destroy this Jedi temple, as they had so many others throughout the galaxy. After the battle of Endor, Luke Skywalker had located the Ossus temple and library from obscure ancient texts. And since the temple on Coruscant had been renovated beyond Jedi usage into the imperial palace, Skywalker had renovated the mostly intact Ossus temple, and made it the headquarters of his new Jedi order.
It was through the the temple's long and winding hallways that Jedi master Luke Skywalker now walked, a worried and concerned look darkening his still-handsome face. Barely into middle age, the great hero of the rebel alliance and the New Republic bore the weariness of an entire lifetime of battles and adventures on his shoulders. But there was still a fire that burned in his blazing blue eyes, the same fire that had burned in the eyes of a young farm boy, gazing at the twin suns on Tatooine. The Same fire that guided a padawan on Dagobah, and the fire that gave a young Jedi the will and determination to bring his father back to the light. This fire is what kept the Jedi master going every day of his life, and is what even drives his footsteps forward now.
Passing by the lightsaber training areas, the meditation rooms, and even the master's quarters, Luke heard voices arguing as he approached the Jedi council chambers. His fellow Jedi masters were arguing over matters again, something that had become more and more common for the Jedi council these days. Stopping outside the door to the council chambers for a moment, Luke took a heavy deep breath, before walking into the middle of another debate.
"There is a disturbance in the force, I know we've all felt it." Ezra Bridger stated, slamming his fist down onto the arm rest of his chair. "There hasn't been a disturbance this great, since the death of the last Sith at the hands of Anakin Skywalker."
"We are all well aware of the imbalance, Ezra. Even the padawans have felt it." Ashoka Tano agreed, leaning back in her chair. "The dark side of the force is resurging, and the galaxy is in danger of falling out of balance once more."
The Jedi council of Luke's new order, were made up of the pitiful few Jedi who had survived both order 66 and the emperor's purge. Luke had found the four of them scattered throughout the galaxy, and all of them had reluctantly agreed to come back ,and lead the New Jedi Order. The lost masters had become instructors at Luke's training academy, as well as Luke's advisors on training the next generation of knights.
"It's that slime bag, Supreme leader Snoke, who leads the first order." Quinlan Vos spoke up, brushing his greying dreadlocks out of his eyes. "We all know he's strong in the dark side of the force, even if he isn't a member of the Sith order."
"Then we should do something about it, and take that darksider out!" Ezra added, his blue eyes burning intently. "Every moment he's alive, that demon is a a menace to the entire galaxy!"
"No! To strike like that is not the Jedi way! We " Ashoka protested, as the other masters finally noticed Luke walking into the chamber, and sitting down. "Glad you could finally join us, Skyguy. We were just debating what to do about our latest problem, supreme leader Snoke."
"And we're divided on what to do about it." Quinlan Vos added. "The council is split on if we should wait for him to strike... or take the fight to him."
"He's already brought the fight to us!" Ezra pointed out. "Snoke's already sent several of his dark side apprentices to try and kill our students! Remember how Ashoka fought and killedy that darksider Jerec on Bespin? Or Quinlan's battle with that darksider Sedriss when he went back to visit his native world of Kiffu? Vos barely managed to slay that assassin, instead of it being the other way around!"
"As much as I don't want to admit it, Luke, Ezra has a point here." Quinlan continued the other master's line of thought. "Remember when you and your wife were on that mission on Coruscant? you were both ambushed by that Flint and Lumiyra chick. You two barely managed to slay them, and your poor wife still hasn't recovered from her wounds during that battle."
Luke looked over at Mrs. Skywalker's empty chair in the council room, and clenched his mechanical hand in anger. he remembered well the anger he had felt during that battle, the rage that had almost overtaken him when he slew those two darksiders. Luke Skywalker had another brush with the evil that day, and he realized just how dangerous the mysterious supreme leader of the First Order actually was.
"But Snoke is the leader of the first order, and killing him would entangle our new Jedi order in politics once more!" Ashoka added. "Being involved in the government affairs of the Republic is what destroyed the old order! Didn't we swear we wouldn't let that happen again?"
"We could pull this off without the new Republic's military help." Ezra Bridger offered. "My wife Sabine, is a retired Mandalorian Supercommando, and it wouldn't take much from her to convince her fellow Mando warriors to go on a joint mission with one or two Jedi to take the creep out!" Ezra shook his head thoughtfully. "It would give her a good excuse to get off of Ossus for awhile anyway, something I think she would really enjoy."
"I say we Jedi masters can handle it ourselves." Quilan Vos growled, punching his fist into his palm. "Once Luke's wife gets better, the five of us will head out into the heart of First Order territory. Take a few X-wings, sneak our way onto the supremacy, fight our way past the few hundred first order stormtroopers... and put an end to this threat once and for all!"
"Luke, you know this is wrong!" Ashoka pleaded with the aged Jedi. "Look, Skyguy... I haven't agreed with a lot of your decisions regarding the new order, like allowing Jedi to form attachments and marry... but even you have to realize this is the path to the dark side!"
"When did you become so concerned about adherence to the old Jedi code, little miss rule bender?" Ezra snapped back. "Luke think about the danger Snoke represents to the Padawans. We already know he can reach across space and corrupt force sensitives with the dark side. And young Ben Solo has been showing some dark side leanings, lately..."
"I haven't noticed anything different in Ben." Luke protested, becoming defensive about his nephew. "Oh sure, he can be a little cocky and all, but-"
"Luke, he's getting more and more arrogant all the time." Quinlan pointed out. "Bragging to the other Padawans about how much better he is than the rest of them, insisting he doesn't need to part in the practice exercises. he's really starting to remind me of-"
"Ben's doing just fine." Luke interrupted his fellow Jedi master, dreading what he was going to say next. "None of you need to worry about it."
"Skyguy, we can all see it, why can't you?" The togruta Jedi asked Luke. "He's starting down the same road my master- your father- traveled down. It would be best to intervene now, before Snoke is able to get to him."
At those words, Luke got up from his grand master's seat in the council chambers and stormed out to think, leaving his fellow masters to continue their endless debates. Moving quickly through the hallways, he stepped outside of the temple's entrance, and into the cool night air of Ossus. Shaking his head, Luke turned Ashoka Tano's words over and over in his head. Had he really blinded himself to the darkness in his own nephew's heart? Had he ignored the warning signs of the dark side creeping into Ben Solo, not wanting to see the birth of the next Darth Vader? Thinking the matter over, Luke wondered if he had made the right judgement call in taking the boy as a student in the first place.
Luke slowly strode away from the temple, thinking to himself. The past twenty-five years since the battle of Endor had been an incredible career as a Jedi for Luke Skywalker. Taking down slavers and imperial remnant groups, battling pirates and the occasional darksider. It was a career filled with adventure and danger, enough to fill more than a hundred ancient printed paper books. Luke and his Jedi had even joined with the New Republic to defeat the fleet of grand admiral Thrawn, who had returned from the unknown regions, to try and restore the remnants of the empire.
During all of these adventures, Luke Skywalker had found his beloved wife: a young Jedi knight from the clone wars, frozen in carbonite in an aging Hutt crime lord's trophy room. She had joined the new Jedi council along with the other masters Luke had found during his wanderings. Luke and her had eventually fallen in love and married. And their twin children, Owen and Beru Skywalker, would one day become padwans themselves if they so chose. Over this long career, Luke had made very few decisions he had regretted. Things seemed to have gone well for the Jedi knight after he had redeemed his father, and helped restore freedom to the galaxy. So the more he thoguht about the troubles with his nephew, the more his own indecisiveness got to him.
Walking away from the temple itself, Luke slowly approached the simple wooden huts the twelve Padawns of the order currently lived in. Already, Master Skywalker could see the lights were out in each of the huts, meaning all of the students were already asleep. He thought of the Padawans in each of those huts; of Dev Sibwarra, the young boy strong in the force, who had been raised by a cruel race of lizards, of of Tahiri Velia, who had been raised by the sand people of Tatooine. He thought of Kyp Durron, the lowly slave from the spice mines of Kessel, who came with so much anger in his heart. Skywalker remembered Kirana Ti, the orphan who claimed she was descended from the now-extinct night sisters of Dathomir. He thought of Kyle Katarn, the young First Order stormtrooper who had defected because of his conscience, and he thought about Kam Solsar, the guardian of the Whills who came to Luke to learn more about the force. Master Skywalker was pleased with students who excelled quickly, like Corran Horn, the Coreillian security officer. Or Tionne, the young musician who idolized the Jedi ever since she was a child.
Luke Skywalker thought of other people he knew, who had family that had become Padawans at the academy. Chewie's nephew Lowbacca was a student, as was Cighal, who was from Admiral Akbar's family. Jacen Syndulla, the son of General Syndulla had joined the order in memory of his father. And even Quinlan's son Kortos Vos was a padwan here. Did any of them fear losing their loved ones? And he thought about Leia and Han; they had trusted Luke with their son, how would they react if Ben was lost to the dark side? As Master Skywalker approached his nephew's hut, he realized he would have to deal with this situation. Not as the boy's uncle, which he would have preferred, but as grand master of the Jedi order. No matter what happened inside that hut, Luke realized it was his duty to stay true to the light side, even if it meant doing something he would regret for the rest of his life. Taking another deep breath, Luke Skywalker enter the hut, and gazed down upon the sleeping form of his nephew.
Entering the hut, Master Skywalker gazed down at the sleeping form of his nephew, and reached out through the force. Much to his dismay, Luke felt an aura of darkness around the boy, a powerful stirring in the dark side of the force that troubled the Jedi master. His fellow masters were right; Something had to be done about young Ben Solo... for not only the sake of the order, but for the safety of the whole galaxy. But as Luke stepped forward and reached for his lightsaber, the force granted him a terrifying vision;
He saw himself pull out his lightsaber in a moment of anger, and saw Ben Solo awaken to find his master had betrayed him in a moment of weakness. He saw Ben Solo destroy the temple, and kill all the other padawans and masters, except for a few who would follow him into the darkness. He saw Ben Solo go to serve Snoke, and his twisted First Order. He witnessed Ben become Kylo Ren, an ardent admirer of Darth Vader, who sought to finish what his grandfather witnessed Han and Leia's marriage fall apart, due to their son's fall into darkness. He saw his own self-imposed exile to the watery world of Ach-to, filled with pain and guilt.
In his vision, he witnessed a weapon more terrifying than the death star destroy the capital world of the republic, and he saw the First Order spread it's terror across the galaxy, just as the empire had before them. Luke wanted to cry out in sorrow, as he witnessed Han die at the hands of his own son. Then, he saw a brave young woman, strong in the force, come to him for training, but he was too bitter and full of sorrow to actually help her. This bold young woman stood with her friends against the rising darkness of the first order, even as Kylo betrayed and killed Snoke, and replaced him as the galaxy's greatest evil.
In this vision, he saw his own life end, in a meaningless sacrifice that gave a few survivors of the resistance a chance to escape. Luke saw everything he and his friends had built- the New Republic, the New Jedi order- be destroyed by this selfish little monster. And all of this because he failed his nephew, by pulling out his lightsaber in a moment of weakness. And as the vision around him dissipated, Luke Skywalker decided what he had to do.
"Ben?" Putting his lightsaber away, Luke walked up, and gently nudged his groggy nephew awake. "we need to talk..."
...
Over the next several years, Ben Solo excelled at his studies in the force. He became the most powerful and gifted student at the Ossus Jedi academy, and Luke was certain he would one day sit on the council himself. Ben Solo was Luke Skywalker's most promising student, and did everything he could to follow his uncle's teachings. That little talk the two had had on that fateful night, shaped the rest of Ben's life, cementing him as a champion of the light.
Likewise, Han and Leia stayed together, in many happy years of marriage. Both parents were proud of the man their son had become, and showered Ben with attention every time he visited them on Hosnian Prime. Both the parents and child managed to work out their differences, and remained the happy family they were always meant to be.
Following the will of the force, Luke located the young woman from his vision on the planet Jakku, and he and the other masters were able to convince her to join the Jedi order. Young Ray seemed to get along the best with Ben, and the two formed an inseparable bond. All of the other Padawans looked towards Rey and Ben, as leaders of the new generation of Jedi Knights. Even Luke's own two children idolized the pair.
His ambitions to possess Ben as an apprentice thwarted, Snoke lured another force sensitive to the dark side, to become his apprentice, Kylo Ren. Luke's Jedi knights clashed with Snoke's Knights of Ren all over the galaxy, but the light side of the force always managed to triumph over the dark. The Jedi made many allies during their adventures, like the hotshot New Republic Pilot Poe Dameron, and the First Order stormtrooper who defected, named Finn. These brave heroes stood by the New Jedi Order in many battles, even managing to destroy the first Order's Starkiller base during one daring mission.
Eventually the New Republic and the Jedi faced the First Order in a terrible final battle, in which many lives on both sides were lost. While Kylo and Rey led the other students in battle agaisnt the knights of Ren, Luke and his fellow masters managed to fight Snoke in an epic duel, and slay the powerful darksider. The Jedi were hailed as heroes of the new republic, as they finally destroyed the last vestiges of the empire, forever.
Looking out of the council chambers large window, Luke Skywalker stared at Mim and Nerit, hanging serenely in their endless orbit of the planet. And with a contented sigh, the Jedi master realized all was right with the galaxy...