Chapter 21

THE LIGHT'S INVASION

WORDS ENTER THEIR MINDS nearly instantly as concerns and fatigue are soothed by Terra's essence. The base is clear, Terra says, but their base isn't, with the visual flavor of a ship.

"A ship? Where?" Luke says, but Terra was already showing them mental images.

A mile away from the base, hidden among hills, rests a ship that could hold a thousand stormtroopers.

But you don't feel him? It's only half the distance I was to you earlier.

"What...?" Luke says, but they already felt the flavor of a Sith Lord in Terra's words.

"I can't," Terigo informs.

Luke tries harder... "Maybe... I don't think I'm as Light as I was when I found you."

Well, now's our chance to kill him.

Luke says, "Our?—Are you crazy? We can't take on that many men. I know now the Light casts an illusion, so how do we know—"

Good questions, but I'm the only one that can't answer that. Judging oneself is arrogant. A Dark quality.

"Luke," Terigo says a little unsure of herself, "if he says we can, we can. We can trust him."

"(Can we,)" Luke mumbles to Terigo only. He starts to doubt her, and becomes a bit angry she would blindly trust Terra.

Terigo looks to Terra, embarrassed, knowing he read far more than what he didn't hear. She looks to Luke, doubtful of him too. She finds herself worried that she'll end up facing a choice on whether to appease Terra or Luke. A choice between being wrong or alone...

I would never make you choose such a thing, child.

Terigo, hopeful yet fairly sure, says to Luke, "...He's survived this long... What are the chances of sudden insanity?"

Luke sighs, trying to be annoyed by Terra's essence preventing him from being annoyed. At least he couldn't see his smile very well in the night's ambient glow. He looks to Terra and speaks with no real edge, "You're 700. You must be 700 times more capable than us, so why would our efforts even matter."

Well, for one, 700 divided by your age is 28 times more powerful, not 700. And two, if you had thought before you spoke, those words feeling pleasantly supportive, you could have easily seen it as: I would take several hundred of his men and you take what you can. But that's actually not what I mean: I've tried to kill him before. But my skills don't cut it, almost literally, with a chuckle and the flavor of a lightsaber.

"Then how—"

I have no use for lightsaber skills. The mind is far more powerful than the saber. But he evades my efforts when he senses me near, or overwhelms me. It's challenging to even get close enough to shoot him. But he won't run from you. He's after you, in a way, with a flavor of something Luke couldn''t determine. Red...

Great, Luke thinks. "What does that mean?"

I'm sure he'll tell you, and it's of no consequence to explain now. We should move. I have a lot to tell you about your father.

Luke and Terigo blink.

Luke says, "I thought—"

It's in exchange for trusting me. Trust for trust. No you're long from ready for the information, but I do sense a change in you, in you both, so I don't think it will kill you anymore. And killing a Sith Lord now serves the greater good in the long run, even if your growth is hindered by my words for some time, even if I'm hindered.

Luke doesn't know what to think, but now troubling thoughts about his father build again.

Ah, I see. Well, let's chat about that while we invade his favorite toy. Shall we?

Terigo says to Luke, "If you're not going..." she weighs a lot in her mind, a lot, and cheers up, "...I should at least go to weaken their forces. Destroy what I can and get out. Before they attack us again with full-strength."

Luke looks to her, trying to fight Terra's soothing so he could think with his own concerns. But that only meant letting Darkness in to push him away, which meant irrational thoughts. It was no use either way. He sighs through his nose, "Fine. We can at least do that. You and I."

.

Their speeders fly cautiously through hills, with Terra leading the two children: Luke and Terigo. They continually scan for enemies with the Force, until Terra tells them to slow down and park, using hand gestures just in case their young minds were too distracted by driving speeders.

With his interest beyond the next hill, Terra addresses the concerns he feels in the two kids, No, you know how Dark users are, 'you' meaning Terigo. Terra was referring to her experience with the Sith, and Luke. Terra continues, and this little one's just a baby like you two. So he can't sense us until we're well within his ship.

Terra closes his eyes to focus. He's glad to know the kids stay deathly quiet to allow the adult to do serious business, and he's further glad to see them start sensing too. After a moment, they all sense a captain coming closer, but Terra sends worry-free feelings to the kids to keep their lightsabers sheathed.

The captain comes into view and continues walking towards him, seemingly not noticing any of them. With Terra's pacifying essence and smile, the kids stand only half as alarmed as they would've been, but more alarmed than usual considering how disturbing it is to see an Imperial captain smile. He is happy to see Terra.

Terra smiles wider, preparing his Light. Then he removes his essence from the kids and gently places his hand on the captain's forehead to make a large request. After a moment, the captain simply leaves and Terra returns his essence to the kids, The Force's connection is strongest through human touch, as if she wants us to be connected, as if our bodies all wish to become one being, with flavors of that ancient hologram presentation. This will give my requests enough time before they wear off.

Speaking of her, our mother, this planet, the Force...

"You believe the ancient hologram?" Luke asks.

I have a feeling... She's told me a few things since I got here, and long before. But she told you a little something too.

Terigo looks to Luke.

So 'Vader' means 'father' in this planet's ancient language. Interesting how he was one. Interesting how they called this planet Mother... Sith Lords pick their name, often an old word. His sounded ancient to me, but it's not in anyone's ancient texts. I imagine there wasn't much room for history books when they evacuated here. So how did he learn it?

The kids feel speechless, as he knew they would.

According to an old, vague prophecy that the Jedi Council believed, Anakin was the Chosen One, the one to bring balance to the Force. Whether he was or not, his incredible power—I'm sure—would have allowed him to connect to the Force in ways we cannot. So his name intrigued me. Maybe he saw the ancient past? Maybe he was able to connect to our Mother? Maybe she told him more about the prophecy? Or rather Palpatine did, as he was the one who chose Vader's name. But only Anakin would know how the Emperor had more interest in Luke than Vader, looking to replace him.

Terra senses Luke's thoughts about the prophecy.

So you think her words 'Father of Balance' could be about the prophecy? I wouldn't think so. The only time I ever heard the word 'balance' used about the Force was in the prophecy. The Jedi Council never talked about 'balancing' the sides; neither the Mids nor the Light ever wanted an equal number of Dark users. They wanted none at all. So the only way to interpret the prophecy's use of 'balance' is that it means 'peace'.

He senses Luke's feelings about the unbalanced sides of the Force—being trapped. He also senses how those feelings are pushing Luke to speak before thinking, causing him to believe that what he heard relates to something important like the prophecy. Luke says, "But all sides are unbalanced. What if the prophecy meant—"

That's a very dangerous idea, toying with using childish emotions. But I can understand wanting to find the good side of terrible things. I respect that.

The sound of a vehicle ends all thought on the subject. A truck pulls up with the captain driving it and Terra touches his forehead for a bit again. Terra has the three of them climb into the concealed back-end while the captain drives. The kids obediently following Terra's lead by keeping their essence focused on the outside as they ride for a bit. After stopping, the three wait, eyes closed, serene, until the captain opens the door.

Terra follows this wrinkled grey-haired child. The other two children follow Terra but stop when they see a stormtrooper facing them. Because the troops were of no further concern to him, the kids continue to follow. He takes note of how he needs to help them work on respectfully trusting their elders and reading his intentions, otherwise they wouldn't have stopped at all. He becomes further driven to help when he senses the kids seeing a few more stormtroopers facing them but don't realize what's going on until they see the people without helmets. That he had asked them all to close their eyes.

Yes, some here are informed that if they notice suspicious behavior, to report it as possible Jedi mind tricks. Well, only closing one's eyes is hardly noticeable, is it.

He has the captain lead them to a storage closet and hold out his blaster to him. "Thank you child," Terra says aloud. The captain was now nothing compared to the millions suffering right now. So in one smooth, carefree movement, as if the captain no longer stood there, he takes the blaster and moves to the door, with a shot hitting the captain dead before the blaster even left his hand.

He feels the near-horrified concern on Luke's face and comforts them by saying, He's seen too much. I can't erase memories, I can only prevent them by turning someone's gaze away. And he begins to focus beyond the door, eyes closed.

Terigo feels Luke about to interrupt with a protest about self-defense. So, a little disappointed in him, she reluctantly adds, "Luke, what did you expect. He can't mind-control them all, forever."

They both look at each other from the corner of their eye, concerned with the other one's morals and concerned with their own, both thinking: To be wrong or alone...

Terra opens the doors and they continue. The kids watch him and the halls, cautiously, and he feels glad that Luke notices his grace of invincibility, how it's similar to Terigo's, but more cloudlike. He occasionally stops them at corners and doors so he can sense beyond. Once they pass them, the kids notice stormtroopers and uniformed men standing as they were but with eyes closed.

After passing many halls, the kids notice he's avoiding locations dense with people and had been reading minds on how to get around. Glad they're learning, he praises, That's right, I can only ask about ten at a time before the first one's requests wears off. When they're not too far away from me.

In a tiny elevator, he senses past the doors as it stops. The doors open and they enter a long open-air passage. It's so narrow that they nearly brush shoulders with several repairmen as they pass by. Then he calls out, friendly, "Malic wait!" happy he gets to please someone with recognizing them as a person rather than a number.

The kids see an alarmed mechanic up ahead ready to run away, seeming fully in control. Terra waves him over, summoning feelings of how happy he is to see him, "Malic!" As expected, five people around them jerk to the noise—startling the kids. But their eyes were still closed, so he was already reaffirming his requests of them one by one. It only takes three seconds for the five people, and the kids relax.

As they get closer, the kids notice the man looks baffled that anyone would know his non-serial name. Terra informs the kids, I didn't have a strong enough connection at this distance to ask him to close his eyes, so I had to add a distraction.

As they got closer, the man's alarm had grown into delight. Terra asks him to lead the way, then has him open a closet and step inside. Things were going smoothly, so Terra hums as he shoots him in the back and closes the door as if putting away a tool. Without even a falter in his cloudlike steps.

Terigo feels Luke's vile concern, particularly directed at her lack of it. So she says, "I've never liked having to kill people, remember. I've only considered it rightful execution. I've only focused on the greater good it does for others. We can save them later. Not a few individuals, but the larger whole."

They begin approaching two stormtroopers guarding a door. Terra has one open the door for them and places his hand on this one's helmet. He learns about him as he himself had continued to walk inside without stopping.

Prison cells with about 100 people line the hall. Having seen terrible things for centuries, he continues to walk past them with no interest and waves the kids along. He senses Luke slowing to gawk while Terigo feels somewhere in between Luke and himself, due to her years with the Sith.

Fiddling with a switchboard, he informs, The arena is just over here. Cicatrice does a lot of personal training. He especially loves training his troops into smart and efficient men. These prisoners are targets and will be dead in a day. He plans on collecting more from the civilians and Rebels here. You two should go into the arena to scan for guards for us while I work on this.

The kids obey. Luke's Dark emotions of being disturbed and concerned were breaking past Terra's warmth and his own serene control. But he begins sensing with Terigo. Terra knew it was better they were busy with this distraction so they wouldn't misunderstand him and interfere. So when they were furthest away, he opens the cell doors and entrance.

When the guards come in, Terra shoots them and says, "Go! You're free. Take their blasters, and this one," tossing his to the most capable of them, "before the Sith Lord finds you." And they begin rushing out in a desperate mob.

But like skilled children, Luke and Terigo sense the lack of people around Terra. Terigo thinks they may be under attack but she feels Luke is terrified that Terra might be killing them. So they rush over.

Terra immediately turns to the two kids. There are too many stormtroopers where we're going. We need to thin them out with a distraction.

"Wait!" Luke calls to the last of the prisoners, and to Terra: "But they'll die."

The last 12 prisoners stop to this, more afraid than they were before.

Terigo feels Luke's painful gaze on her. She feels him hope she didn't think this was right, that he is expecting her to stop Terra or at least say something. But she could only stand there glancing between the two of them. She hopes Luke feels at least one of the dozens of emotions whirling inside her right now, hoping Terra wouldn't determine she was weak for being so conflicted.

Terra says, Well you won't be able to defend yourself from the 200 troops coming to stop them, and turns to find the exit across the area.

Unfortunately the kids are reluctant to follow, but not so much the prisoners. They didn't hear Terra's thoughts to Luke about using them. So one sees his radiant smile and could only help but smile back, pleased to be looked at in such a way. Terra wraps a comforting arm around this one and says, "So your name is Jurch. Did you know I can read minds?" The glee he feels from these kids when he learns about them had always made him feel good too.

Upon exiting, they're met with more stormtroopers than he could handle. As the kids ignite their lightsabers to prepare, he notes they still have yet to learn to use the Force instead of their toys. But they deflect enough shots to buy him enough time to ask the other stormtroopers shoot each other. However, it wasn't enough time to save Jurch, having held that one in front of him as a shield.

In the silence and sizzling, the two kids and the prisoners all step away from him and stand in shock. So he says aloud, "Had you discreetly used the Force instead of your obvious Jedi weapons, he could have been saved."

Even Terigo is rude enough to open her mouth and contest—

"If I didn't," Terra says, "we would've both died, then everyone here would have died without me. That's only the fault of your impulsive attack, not mine." It was an instructional tone rather than blaming.

The prisoners now turn their shock onto Luke, blaming him for the death, not knowing who to trust.

Terigo watches Luke tells the prisoners he'll save them then turn to argue with Terra, but she could only stand in shock. Terra replies both to Luke and to what pieces of Terigo's thoughts he felt, You'll understand when you're older. When you look at the bigger picture, you'll see you'll save far less if you plan on trying to save every last person.

Terigo watches Luke walk around, feeling he's trying to figure out what to do with Terra or where to go without him but with 11 prisoners. Meanwhile, she was rethinking everything, Would I ever do such a thing? Certainly not now, but at his age? Relieving that child of his pain was different, or was it? It was also to save Leia and save the millions she will save by staying alive, and this is to save easily thousands by killing a Sith Lord. But did this person need to die, and he trusted him. Can Terra's act truly be from a sane point of view, to kill so easily for the greater good? Even if he isn't a delusional monster, he seems like it to everyone around. Even to his peers in the council. So he must be alone—And if he's alone and still thinks he's happy... then he's... He is insane.

Terra tries to help them see their error, If you had been reading me like you should be, you wouldn't have this wrong impression of my motives. As you realize now, that's the other reason it wouldn't benefit you to come with me. I plan on cleansing this galaxy much more thoroughly than others are capable of, without being burdened by the sorrow it would bring you. Darkness doesn't just affect Force-sensitives, the entire galaxy is plagued with it. Especially on desert planets. They can't be helped. There's not enough food or water to feed them, so they can only ever be in pain. You would know, Luke, with flavor of others' desperation on Tatooine, just like Luke's.

"What do you mean—"

It would be cruel to allow someone to continue to suffer when all they have is suffering to look forward to. Like the Jedi Council, the Rebels intend to preserve life in the galaxy as if it may have hope to live more than a meagerly content existence. These people pose no benefit to others if they could just as easily fall into Darkness as they could ascend into the Light. So I help them into peace when I can while I'm creating a new world. One that is pure, with pure Jedi.

His growing smile disturbs the kids now, no matter how genuine and sane it looks. The prisoners look at all of them like they're crazy, only seeing the kids yelling at a silent man.

You see, I know how to create people like your father now. Someone with pure, powerful blood, born from the Force. She is helping me to do this, with the flavor of this planet—the Force.

I don't just owe it to her by saving her children, I also owe it to everyone who died on Audinic... I'm the reason the Sith destroyed our home. It was one reason why I stayed away as much as I did. They didn't care about our home, only I was a threat. I didn't think they could sense me without the Light, but they tracked me without the Force. I still have some to learn about their inanimate magics—technology.

So it's only right that I devote myself to re-creating Audinic. If I don't, the Darkness of such tremendous guilt will surely take me. And it would help to have less of a plague that could infect my people, with the flavor of that plague being most people in the galaxy.

Terigo speaks up with a fire hidden by a respectful voice, "How is this not insane? How is even telling us not insane? Luke wants to kill you right now, I know you feel that, and I know you feel it in me too." To her relief, she sees Luke spin to stare at her and feels his burning essence lighten with incredible relief, for just a moment.

I realize now that even if he were to stay short-sighted, any desire to stop me would require him to continually grow more powerful. With his powerful hereditary potential, the sooner he grows up, the better it is for everyone.

Terigo could feel how Luke now hated Terra's warmth invading him. She feels him trying to push it out, and could see his anger too. She begins feeling the same, but Terra's warmth feels too similar to her own essence to push any out.

Luke growls: "Tell me how to get to the Sith Lord, I'm not following you—"

That's fine. You should be fine if we split up now. Cicatrice can be reached down that way, then he looks to Terigo.

She sees Luke look to her too, both waiting for a decision. So she tells Terra, "You're insane to me. I'm sorry if I'm still too young see that I'm somehow wrong, but this is wrong to me at my age now. This—"

I was your age once too. Of course I understand, and it's perfectly alright child. You two should get going. And he turns to start walking away as if this were all perfunctory. As he scans in his direction, he doesn't turn to add: There's two ways to destroy ships like this. Both will give you plenty of time. Find me if you need help escaping. He stops at a corner. Cicatrice has no intention of killing you Luke. It will be a good test in many ways. I'm glad. The more the better.

Then he walks sideways to wave goodbye, turning the corner, leaving the kids in shock to stand among confused prisoners.