Standard Disclaimer: George Lucas owns the expansive universe that is Star Wars, I only wish I did. This is a figment of my own creation twisting what already exists.
Chapter 10
By the time we had managed to make our way to the other side of the planet and the remains of the lost colony that were there, I had actually managed to regain some semblance of control again. And if I didn't feel like my normally sunny self, I was at least able to marginally falsify it. So it was that we came around at long last and descended towards Dantooine.
As Wedge had promised, there was really almost nothing left of the colony except for rubble so it was with a somber silence that we exited the shuttle and regarded the scene.
"It's like I said Dale," Wedge remarked grimly. "There's nothing here anymore."
"If the book's here, we'll find it," I told him my voice quiet as I wandered towards the rubble and began to search following my instincts.
The decimation of my father's home had been extensive but nothing could have compared to what I was now walking through. Echoes of fear and death filled the Force around us. Sad silence now as the planet attempted to recover. Grass had begun to grow over the scorch marks and the rubble.
Even still however, some pieces did remain whole beneath the cover of rock and dust. A simple and primitive rag doll made of some form of leather, battered and worn. A broken pitcher made of some very beautiful pottery. At one point we even found the top half of a skeleton that had been picked clean by some unknown animal. I even found a beautiful crystal and I couldn't help but notice that the decimation to that world was only going to be worse now. The radiation alone from the impact on the other side of the planet was already beginning to make its way through the atmosphere. Guilt nearly overwhelmed me again even as I pocketed the thing.
By this time the sun was setting, Wedge and I decided to make camp there and try again in the morning. We started a fire near the shuttle and pulled out the emergency kits from under the seats. A couple of glowrods provided us with more light and we wrapped ourselves up in the blankets. The ration sticks tasted dry and the refreshment bulbs of water tasted of metal but it was enough to survive on. The field generators were enough to keep the radiation that was slowly filling the air around us at bay.
"This isn't getting us anywhere Dale," He told me as he threw another piece of wood onto the fire.
"But it has to be here though," I shook my head. "Why else would the Force bring me here?"
"Maybe it was to face that Dark Force-Wielder you ran into," Wedge offered.
I thought about that briefly biting my lip before I had to shake my head.
"No, no, I don't think that's it," I finally had to admit. "The guy almost sliced me into tiny little nanobites. It's one t'lacking good thing I have the tremor of a rock otherwise, we'd be dead by now. Well, that, and I don't think he would expect us to stick around," I had to admit. "No, whoever he was, I don't think we met by accident."
"Well, it's like you say, there are no accidents," Wedge shrugged.
"I meant that he tracked me down," I corrected him.
"Oh."
I watched the fire biting my lip thoughtfully again as silence surrounded us.
"Well, one thing's for certain," I admitted. "You are right, we're going to have to rethink this," I remarked standing. "I'm going to go meditate for a while and see if I can come up with anything helpful," I told him.
Humor wafted to me on the Force as Wedge shook his head smiling.
"Is something funny Wedge Antilles?" I asked arching a brow.
"I'm sorry," He shook his head again. "It's just that I never thought of you- well, meditating before," He confessed. "I mean, it just seems a little too- well, serious for you."
I shook my head in amazement.
"Well, you will be happy to know that I meditate all the time," I stated. "In fact, most Jedi usually do. It kind've goes with the job in case you didn't know."
"You're right, I'm sorry," He shrugged. "It's just that I never pictured you being mystical before."
"Well then, you should probably know that yes, I do have my mystical side," I said and with that I left before the conversation could get any more embarrassing.
And of course, no sooner had I thought this then it got more embarrassing.
"Oh Dale," Wedge called to me.
"Yeah?"
"Don't wander too far, the fields only encompass so much area and with everything dying out there from the radiation well…."
"Wedge?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up," I told him rather pointedly. "It wasn't my fault."
Frankly, his teasing me about the crash was the farthest thing from my mind. In fact, I was far more concerned with his previous remark then anything else since, while I didn't want to admit it, Wedge's response to my comment about meditating had actually hit a nerve and one that I really hadn't had any desire to be forced into exploring before I absolutely had to. Which unfortunately, I realized I had to now, I couldn't help but observe as I went into the shuttle.
The problem of course, was simple and Wedge had easily summed it up. Throughout all of my life, I had been carefully suppressing my connection to the Force and all that went with it in order to hide the fact that I was Force Aware. Now however, on the verge of finding Corlyon's diary and therefore my salvation and entering the Jedi Academy to undergo training I had to admit that the time had come that the real me was ready to emerge. It was time to start acting less like a cosmic joke and more like the Jedi I was about to become.
The question was however, how does one unlearn an entire lifetime of carefully cultivated habits and attitudes in just a few days? As Wedge's comment had just reminded me, even managing to do so doesn't change other people's views. Wedge had honestly been amazed to discover that I was "serious" enough to meditate, what other illusions of me did other people have?
In other words, the harmless image I had carefully created to hide myself was now about to work against me. Much as my imperialite image had worked against me when I had joined the rebellion- or rather been allowed to join. Unfortunately, the dubious pleasures of that particular instance made me just a little bit worried about the upcoming change. If the last one was any indication, it was going to be a rather rocky year or so.
But all of that would come in time, I reminded myself as I sat down to meditate. My immediate concern was the book so I sat for a while and ran through some calming techniques before clearing my mind. The universe opened out before me, within me, whirling stars and burning comets, hot nebula and cool space.
My body relaxed as the tensions of emotions slipped away entirely from my mind. I merely was. Images and thoughts flitted through my mind, bits of the past, parts of the future, places far away.
A desert planet filled with dust… A Reklan standing next to the Prime Minister… My father racing to a transport with his bag in hand in the middle of the night… Lahleelah old now, smoking a pipe of magic flower before a fire… a desert planet… Jetta on the Phoenix… A desert planet…
Calmly and gently, I coaxed the image of the desert planet to appear again. Delposh had said something about a desert planet. It had to be there.
The scene was only a Hyperian heartbeat, standing in the midst of smoke and dust choking on it. But it was a scene that felt right. My goal at least partially set in my mind, I slipped out of the meditation, my eyes opening. I realized that it was just before dawn and, deciding that my news could wait, curled into my blanket on the other side of the now nearly dead fire from Wedge to catch a few nanos of sleep.
The morning came all too quickly for me. Not that I had ever really dreamed much since I was about 10, but over the last couple of years especially, dreams came only once or twice a year. So, to me, one moment, I had merely closed my eyes and the next, the sun was hitting them.
Yawning, I sat up and stretched my muscles and blinked blearily.
"Morning," Wedge greeted me.
"Hmmm," I yawned again. "I don't suppose that the emergency kits have any black tea in them?" I asked with useless hope.
"What do you think this is, a New Republican emergency kit?" He asked with a raised eyebrow before tossing me a ration stick and a refreshment bulb.
"You have got to be kidding me," I blinked in amazement. "The New Republic puts black tea in emergency rations these days?"
"I know," Wedge chuckled. "I remember when emergency rations were old stormtrooper rations we liberated from the Empire too."
"Weren't they the most disgusting things?" I laughed. "Oh those things were enough to make you want to eat the landscape."
Wedge laughed at the memory too and we chewed our sticks in comfortable silence for a while.
"So," He commented as I washed away the last of the chalky taste from my mouth. "Did you find out anything? Are we going after more Star Destroyers to blow up?"
"Well, firstly, it didn't blow up, it crashed and secondly I'll say it again: 'it's not my fault,'" I answered. "And, yes, I did get a flash," I answered. "Some dessert planet somewhere," I shrugged. "And Delposh did say something about a dessert planet."
"Well, Dantooine obviously isn't a desert planet," Wedge observed. "Yet," He added eyes sparkling. "So he must have gotten things mixed up in his mind."
"Right, so, we're going to have to take a look at what systems have a dessert planet in them," I remarked completely ignoring the comment.
"That's a lot of systems Dale," Wedge told me whistling appreciatively. "And of course that number's about to be added to by one," He added off-handedly. "Are you sure that we can even find the right system?"
"I know," I sighed ignoring the barb. "But, it's all we have to-"
Dale? A thought interrupted my words as it tremored to me on the Force. Dale?
"Dale? What's going on?" Wedge asked me worriedly.
"It Feels like Jetta," I told him.
"Well, answer her then!"
"It could be a trap though Wedge," I reminded him grimly. "Don't you remember that Dark Force-Wielder that tried to kill me yesterday?"
"But, what if it is her?" Wedge shot back.
Sighing my resignation to the fact that I really didn't have a choice, I closed my eyes and stretched my mind to its utmost.
Shh, I warned her. Danger.
Understood, came her stronger reply.
"Well, we should know soon," I told him opening my eyes.
We waited for over an hour before we finally spotted the ship in the sky. At first it was only a dot but all too soon, it resolved itself into a familiar shape and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"See?" Wedge told me. "It's them."
"Good," I nodded "We're going to need the Phoenix's computer."
The Phoenix put down near our position and everyone came out down the ramp to where Wedge and I greeted them.
"We noticed the usual handiwork on the other side of the planet," Jaymes told us.
"Yeah, really Dale," Lahleelah bared her teeth in humor. "Which one of you managed to pull that one off?"
"Yes, it was me," I sighed. "And it was an accident thank you."
"Dallayna, this group is notorious for their accidents," Jetta commented gently. "We've all had our fair share so, don't worry about it."
"The Star Destroyer by far wins the medal though," Jaymes chuckled. "At long last, I am no longer the worst!" He exclaimed triumphantly. "Thank you Dale. I mean, seriously thank you from the bottom of my hearts."
"So, how did you guys find us?" Wedge asked changing the subject.
"Oh that's easy," Matrix shrugged. "We knew that you'd both escape and eventually make your way here sooner or later. Dale's got more lives then a Volarian spider-cat."
"So, when we figured out the two of you had been captured we headed here," Jetta explained.
"Well, it's good to know you guys have confidence in my abilities," I commented honestly. "And it's also good that you showed up because I'm really going to need you on this one."
"You have a lead on the book?" Lahleelah's voice held a near growl of surprise.
"Yes I do," I answered. "It's not here," I continued. "It's on a desert planet somewhere just like Delposh said. We figure that he must have gotten the name mixed up somehow. So, we know it's out near the rim and we know that it's a desert planet so all we have to do is to go through the systems that have desert planets in them."
"That's a lot of systems Dale," Lahleelah pointed out.
"I know," I sighed. "But we really don't have much of a choice. The book isn't here on Dantooine and probably never came anywhere near this system. It's on a desert planet some-"
"-Oh for the love of the-!" Matrix exclaimed suddenly. "Of all the stupid- glaringly obvious!… Dale, I know where the book is," He told me snapping his fingers. "And furthermore, I might even know who has it," He crowed triumphantly. "You know, if you had bothered to tell me this before then I could have put it together a long time ago."
"What Matrix? Put what together?" I asked quelling my annoyance at Matrix's love of showing off.
"You said Delposh told you that the book was going to a desert planet right?" He pointed out his arrogance showing through already as he folded his arms cockily.
"Yes I did," I answered.
"He furthermore said that the merchant was heading to Dantooine, right?"
"Yes he did."
"Well, then you owe me a drink because Delposh did get the name of the system wrong," He told us. "The old geezer didn't mean Dantooine, he meant Tatooine," He pointed out. "I used to go to that planet all the time back in my old smuggling days- it's practically owned by the Hutts who are about the only people on that planet who could afford a rare, antique book. And we're in luck if one of them does have it because a Hutt'll sell his own mother if the price is right."
"You're kidding," I heard myself breathe. "You mean that all we have to do is ask around and just buy it?"
"With as much money as we have between us?" Jetta asked. "Of course we could buy it."
"But that's only if it's a Hutt that has the book though," Lahleelah pointed out.
"Well, if not then we can deal with that when we get there," Jaymes told her.
"I can't believe it, but I think we might actually have a chance," Wedge remarked.
"I think we do," I agreed smiling. "I honestly think we do."