Greetings Good Readers! Yes… I know; I am often VERY slow on updates! I can NOT offer any excuses, however… I will say that quality DOES take time, and my 'Plot Demons' (Muses) sometimes have a tendency to walk away when I least want them too. I will PROMISE to you though, that I will NOT quit, give up, or otherwise abandon ANY of the stories that I have started posting. Now, Drakonian… (Guest) all I can say to you is that you need to re-read chapter 5, and examine Master Kataarn's visions of Talon's future. That is the ONLY clue I will give at this time. By the way Readers, reviews ARE inspiration…
Now… without further ado…
It was dark and cold, with every breath coming in a ragged gasp; yet still the pair of weapons whirled through the air. Every move of the weapons were accompanied by a deep toned whistle as they cut through the air. Arms that were stained with greenish blue and black gore all the way to the elbows controlled those two weapons with speed, precision, and the unstoppable power of the Force.
With a bellow of infinite rage, the creature charged forward in a blind rush. Instantly both weapons went into motion. Whirling them around in a counter clockwise pattern, with body spinning in that direction herself to add extra power to her strikes.
With one staff at waist level, and the other above the head, both of the weapons were moving with blinding speed. As soon as the creature entered striking range, it was hit with every gram of strength and power that was left.
The high staff slammed into the creature's shoulder, crushing its way inward almost to the center of its chest. The second staff hit the foul beast in the arm, forcibly amputating it by the simple fact that the staff continued inward until it was slicing into the abdominal section of the beast by sheer power.
Towering above at nearly three and a half meters tall, the Terentatek appeared to be exactly what it was… a creature that was straight out of nightmares.
Grand Master of the Jedi Order Kenth Hamner bolted upright sweating and gasping for breath. He could feel his heart racing and pounding in his chest, even as his lungs heaved for air.
'A nightmare… it was only a nightmare.' He thought in blessed relief as he slowly regained his self control. His breathing had almost returned to normal when he sensed… something. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but he left his quarters to see if he could gain a better sense of it.
As soon as he entered the corridor, Kenth knew that something was seriously wrong. Every Jedi; Knights and Masters alike were moving about, and all of them looked as shaken as he felt. That was when he heard it. The panicked cries of every youngling in the Temple. Some of the younger ones were speechless in terror, but all of them were frightened and most were crying.
Kenth moved through the halls and corridors swiftly. Everywhere he went, he could see older, more experienced Jedi trying to sooth the terrified younglings. Whenever he could spot one of the Jedi who had a second to spare, he asked what was going on. The reply was always a variation of the same thing. Everyone had experienced the same nightmare that he'd had. He entered one corridor just in time to witness Leia and her husband leave their own quarters. Han looked disheveled, haggard, and more than a little frightened. Leia on the other hand, was clearly shaken, but appeared to be more determined than anything else. He watched as the newest Master shook her head to clear her thoughts and quickly stepped across the hall. Kenth hurried over to her and asked about what she intended to do, since every youngling in the Temple was crying in fear.
"I'm going to put a stop to this." Leia snapped as she unlocked the door to Talon's quarters.
Kenth arrived at the doorway just after Leia entered and was met by a near freezing blast of cold air that rushed from inside the room. He was rather surprised to see that the girl he'd met that morning was actually still asleep in spite of the severe cold and the disturbance that was spreading through the Force.
"Talon…" Leia called out as she entered the room. She noted that this time, Talon was actually sleeping in the bed, instead of beside it as she had the night before, and as much as she was glad to see that, waking the girl was more important at the moment. She sensed more than saw both Grand Master Hamner, and her husband Han at the door, but she chose to ignore them while she concentrated on what she knew was the source of the disturbance in the Force. Leia called the girl's name again as she reached out to lightly touch the child's uninjured leg.
Talon bolted upright in the bed and stared at Leia's hand with a frightened, almost stricken expression. She glanced from the hand that was reaching towards her to see that it belonged to her new Jedi Master. She swallowed the lump of fear that had instantly wedged itself in her throat and tried to ask what her Master wanted, but no words would come out.
Leia pulled her hand back, and stepped around to the side of the bed. She saw that Talon was wearing the thin robes that had been made for her on The Alderaan, so she was decently covered from the eyes of the two men still standing in the open doorway. She had to ignore the piercing cold for the moment, because she knew that she'd be able to warm up again once she was back out in the hall. Right now, she needed to focus all of her attention on Talon, and that was exactly what she did.
"Talon, I need you awake for a bit, okay?" Leia asked gently. When the girl nodded her head, she continued.
"I need your permission to enter your mind for a few moments. I promise that I won't hurt you, but there's something that I need to do and quickly." Leia explained softly.
Talon closed her eyes and nodded her head, even though she really didn't want to, because she knew what had always happened whenever a Master had entered her mind.
Jedi Master Leia Organa Solo closed her eyes, and stretched out with the Force. Entering Talon's mind was far too easy for her to be pleased with the situation, and she resolved to find out if there was anything that could be done to remedy that. Still, she found herself inside Talon's mind with ease, even though she was completely unable to achieve the same result with her own husband. As soon as she knew that she was actually within the girl's mind, she projected the image she wanted, so that she wouldn't be forced to see what she knew that Talon expected.
Once again, Talon found herself seated on a dais in a room she had only seen projected from the mind of her new Master. The soft music of tinkling splashes that originated from a thousand different waterfalls and fountains wafted through the air. Plants and flowers that she'd never seen in person were scattered among the fountains and falls, while that bright warm golden-white glow seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Upon realizing that she was fully clad in the clothing that her Master had obtained for her, she looked over to see Master Leia approaching her with a warm but light smile on her face.
Talon could feel the various emotions that flowed through the mind of her Master, but only one of them was familiar to her. That one single emotion was what her Master had called friendship. She couldn't help the fear that always rose within her mind at the presence of a Master, because she had no idea what Master Leia wanted from her.
Leia smiled at the mental image of Talon, and got up to walk over to her. She kept a light smile on her face, and made certain that she was projecting an aura of calming friendship as she approached. She knew that Talon unable to stop the broadcasting that she was created in the Force, and Leia intended to put that particular ability to work for her. She knelt down in front of Talon and increased the feelings of calm and safe security.
"Talon, I know you were dreaming about your escape from Korriban, but I want you to know, that you are safe here. No one is going to hurt you, and no one is going to punish you for anything you might have done so far, because you haven't done anything wrong. The reason I am in your mind right now, is because while you were dreaming, everyone else in the Temple experienced the same dream that you had. That dream frightened everyone a lot! I know that you can't help sending out what you feel through the Force. That is why I am visiting with you in your mind, so you will send out the state of calm that I am giving you. Do you understand?" The mental image of Leia asked gently while giving the girl a light hug.
Talon nodded her head, even though she wasn't sure exactly what it was that her Master wanted from her, or expected her to do, but she would certainly try.
Before Talon had the chance to think about anything else, the feeling of being safe, secure, and surrounded by that feeling that Master Leia had called 'friendship' filled her mind while a sense of calm that erased many of her fears came with it. There were several other feelings there as well, but she had no idea what they were called. What she did know, was that a strong sense of something pervaded throughout her mind, and Talon didn't ever want it to stop being there. It was the single most incredible feeling she'd ever encountered, and was something that she had only experienced while encompassed by the limitless power of the Force. That was when her Master began to withdraw from her mind.
Leia withdrew from Talon's mind while still emanating a soothing sense of calm, peace, and safety. She could tell at once that what she'd attempted had worked. The feelings that she'd sent through Talon's mind had been broadcast through the Force to begin calming everyone within the Temple.
"Thank you Talon. Now, I want you to go back to sleep, and get some rest. Don't concern yourself with the wake up chime, I'll come and get you for breakfast, okay?" Leia said gently as she left the room.
Talon nodded her head and lay back down. She still wasn't exactly sure why her Master had wakened her, but she hadn't been hurt at all. This was the third time that her Jedi Master had been inside her mind, and yet not once had she experienced any of the pain that Darth Magus and the other Sith Masters had always caused when they had entered her mind. What was really confusing to her was that not only had her Jedi Master not caused her pain, but Master Leia had also not done anything to make her be afraid. There were even the times that these Jedi had taken her fear away from her. It was as if they didn't want her to be afraid, even though her Sith Masters had always kept her and the other Fighters afraid at almost everything at all times.
Leia left Talon's quarters, and stopped outside the door. It hadn't been difficult at all to guess the code Talon used because the girl had asked if she could use the weight of her staves. That meant she had used either the combined weight or the weight of only one of those massively heavy weapons. That meant that there were only two numbers to be tried, and Leia's first guess had been correct.
The unspoken question of what was happening was all over Kenth's face as he looked at her, and Leia knew that the Grand Master deserved an answer.
"I'm sorry. I expected this to happen last night, but not with this level of consequences." Leia said quickly.
"What do you mean… 'you expected this to happen last night'; why is that?" Kenth asked suspiciously.
"Talon was having a nightmare."
"A nightmare? That's what caused all this panic?" Kenth demanded.
"Yes. A nightmare. One where Talon was reliving part of her escape from Korriban." Leia replied bluntly.
"Reliving?" Kenth whispered in stark disbelief.
"Yes, reliving. We can count ourselves fortunate that she didn't broadcast the beginning of the ordeal where she personally witnessed many of her fellow students and several of her Sith Masters getting slaughtered and eaten by those creatures. Had that happened, I don't know of anyone who would be able to calm everyone down except possibly my brother and he isn't here." Leia explained patiently.
Kenth Hamner gaped at the Jedi Master as various expressions of horror, shock, and disbelief vied for control of his features.
"Are you honestly telling me that her… that… that girl in there went through something worse than what I saw in that terrifying nightmare" Kenth exploded.
"Yes Kenth. She did. She had to face, fight, and kill those Terentatek for many hours while trying to make her way to the surface so she could escape that planet. In the process, she ate enough Keldor rations that she needed her stomach pumped free of the toxins after she was brought on board The Alderaan." Leia explained calmly.
"Now come on Princess, we didn't even have that much of a fight when we got caught by the Death Star and escaped after rescuing you and we were outnumbered by more than ten-thousand to one!" Han protested.
"I know." Leia said with a heavy sigh. "I know Han, but that's what she went through to come here."
"This just keeps getting better!" Han muttered sourly.
Talon woke up from a sound sleep. It was the first time she had actually slept in the bed in her quarters, and she found that she had to turn the temperature down just a bit so that she was comfortable beneath the blankets. It was the way that Master Leia had told her to sleep, and she wasn't going to disobey her master on something like that. Besides, it was much better than trying to sleep alone on the floor. Without the other Fighters to huddle up to and share body heat with, she felt utterly alone, and that made her very uneasy.
Talon looked around the darkened room trying to figure out why she had woken up. The morning chime was not sounding off, so that was not the cause of her sudden wakefulness. That was when she saw it.
The strangely transparent apparition slowly began to take shape in front of her, and Talon felt her blood run cold with sheer fright. She knew from the various holovids what, and more importantly who she was looking at, but she never would have dreamed of seeing The Dark Lord of the Sith in front of her, because she knew that Lord Vader was dead!
The Force ghost of Darth Vader looked at the girl lying in bed and staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. The mechanical sound of his breath was loud in the otherwise silent room. He casually looked over at the workstation where the girl had placed her lightsabers, and he summoned one of the single hilt versions to his hand.
"You will now show me your saber skills young apprentice." He stated in a deep menacing tone.
Talon was terrified. She quickly scrambled out of the bed and used the Force to call the other single hilt lightsaber to her hands. She immediately ignited the blade which flashed into existence with a snap-hiss and hummed angrily as she faced the Sith Lord while trembling in absolute fear.
Darth Vader began to circle the girl as he ignited the lightsaber in his hands. Once the girl had her back to the door, he attacked with a powerful downward sweep of the weapon. That attack was instantly blocked, and he knew that the power behind that block originated from nothing less than the Force.
Beneath the mask of Darth Vader, the spirit of Anakin Skywalker smiled. One attack after another was quickly blocked or deflected, but the girl had yet to counter attack him in anyway. Such actions told him most of what he wanted to know about her, and he continued to press the attack; driving the girl through the temple of the Jedi; herding her where he wanted. He had seen her squeeze her eyes shut in an effort to block out the lighting, and her thin robes were quickly becoming soaked from the sweat that began pouring from her after leaving her quarters. In spite of her phenomenal skill with a lightsaber, the Force ghost of Anakin Skywalker knew that he held every advantage in this battle.