I was seventeen then. I was ready to finally go to Yavin IV, after we'd picked up our last recruits on Coruscant, eager for the events to unfold. One of the Coruscant recruits was sitting right in front of me, and had been quiet, hadn't said a word the entire flight.
I folded my arms on top of the back of his seat, and leaned forwards.
"Hey there," I said.
He twisted around in his seat to look at me, a little surprised that anyone spoke to him.
"Um, hi," he replied. "Who are you?"
"Elle Ghilsiane at your service," I said, sticking out my right hand.
"Jaden Korr," he said, shaking it. "Where are you from?"
"Jakku," I told him. "You're from Coruscant, right?"
"Right," he said with a small smile. "I haven't heard of Jakku."
"Not many have," I said with a shrug. "It's right around Endor, a total desert planet."
"Sounds... Dry, there," he said, with a small shrug.
I laughed. "It was," I told him. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen," he answered. "How about you?"
"Seventeen as well."
We stared at each other for a moment. "Well, this academy should be fun if all the other students are as nice as you," he said.
"Well, thanks," I replied, blushing a little.
"We'll be arriving at the academy in a few minutes!" The pilot called through the open door to the cockpit.
"That would be so great!" A boy about my age with spiky black hair who was stretched out at the far end of Jaden's row announced. He sat up a little straighter, and then came over to us, touching Jaden's shoulder, which startled him.
"Aren't you excited? We're going to be Jedi!" He cried, getting a bit close to Jaden, and pretty much yelling in my ear. "Learning the ways of the Force, building a lightsaber," he continued, sitting down next to Jaden. "Of course, you already have one," he said, acknowledging the little cylinder I had missed that was laying right next to Jaden. "Of course, I'll be having one of those stupid training sabers and-"
"I wouldn't worry about that," Jaden interrupted.
The boy looked down at his lap, embarrassed. "Oh, I can't help it. I just wanna make a good impression."
"You seem really nervous," I noticed.
"Aren't you?" He asked, scooting closer. "I mean, I know you have a lightsaber, so you're probably way ahead of me."
There was a silence.
"I'm Rosh, by the way," he finally added. "What's your name?"
"Jaden."
"Elle," I added, giving a tiny wave.
"Well, Jaden," Rosh said, ignoring me completely. "Where'd you get that lightsaber?"
"It's a long story," Jaden began. "You see, I found myself on-"
The ship tilted and there was screaming as the emergency light began blinking. Like idiots, Rosh and Jaden stood up as I slammed against the wall. The ship went quite fast, and everything flashed white. When I woke up, I was in a stream.
I started coughing, not knowing anything about water, being from Jakku.
"Elle!" Jaden ran over and pulled me out of the stream. "Good thing that wasn't too deep."
No kidding, I thought as I let out spluttering coughs. "Thanks."
"No problem," he said with a genuine smile.
"Jaden!" The pilot's voice came over via the comm link that was attached to his wrist.
"I'm here with Elle Ghilsiane," Jaden replied.
"We can't get to you," the pilot told us. "Meet us at the Massassi Temple."
"Jaden!" Rosh called, and we whipped over to see him. "There's a tree you could use your lightsaber on to help me get across."
Jaden sighed and looked over at me. "Ready to hike through the jungle?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Good point." We started to wade through the river (much to my embarrassment, it wasn't that deep). Finally, we came to the tree Rosh was talking about, and Jaden activated his lightsaber, with a blade that was a bluefish hue, much like his own eyes, and threw his it with the Force like a boomerang, effectively cutting down the tree.
Rosh crossed it carefully. We followed the path of the stream, when an ear-splitting sound came from the bank.
"Howlers!" Rosh cried, pulling out a gun. I was regretfully unarmed. The lizards came forward, and Rosh shot one and Jaden sliced through another one. We crossed through till we were in front of two rocks, which Rosh inexplicably pressed against.
"Jaden, Elle, get down!" He hissed, and he peeked over the rock. "There's stormtroopers in the clearing."
I peered over the rock. Indeed there were, right before Jaden pushed me down. "You've got red hair, you'll be easily spotted," he decided to inform me. I looked up at him with minor annoyance.
"Maybe you should go check it out," Rosh whispered, peeking again.
Jaden pointed at himself in a 'who-me?' way.
"You're the one with the lightsaber," Rosh reasoned. Jaden reluctantly marched into the clearing, where the stormtroopers opened fire. I was watching in horror, when Rosh hissed my name.
"I think I hear something. I'm going to go check it out," he said, and he ran off. I stared in annoyance, and looked back to see Jaden dueling a man with a red blade. A Sith, I thought immediately.
He quickly hit the man right through the chest, and looked back to see me staring.
"That's everybody," he announced. "Where'd Rosh go?"
"He needed to check something out," I explained as I came out into the clearing.
"That's great," he replied sarcastically.
"Should we go after him?" I asked.
"No, let him be an idiot," he decided, and we began going through brush and waded up to our knees in water to a large, hulking temple. We climbed up the side, and peered over. There were three figures, one wielding a staff, and there was a beam focused on the temple.
I stared, trying to figure out what was going on. "What?" I heard a female voice bark, and the beam passed over us. I instantly blacked out.
AN: Jakku was borrowed from plot leaks of Episode VII, so I got a bit creative.