A/N: In case it isn't obvious, I am a huge Star Wars fan. I was in college when the very first one came out (yes - I am that old!) and I have loved them ever since. I have seen the first three (by release date) more times than can possibly be healthy. But I'm okay with that.

I realize that this is the third chapter I've posted today (the other two chapters belong to Epiphany and Red Number Days) and despite how it may seem, I really do have a life, sort of. But things aren't going as smoothly in my RL as I'd like right this minute so I tend to escape through my writing. Which is either a blessing or a curse for us both, depending on your perspective I guess.

And, incredibly enough, this is the second to the last installment of 26. It seems appropriate that it have 26 "chapters" and this is chapter 25. So the next one I post will be the last. I haven't written it yet and don't know what the topic will be. It makes me sad to think I'm coming to the end of this particular adventure. I may write a second series of 26, if my muses are of the same mind about it. These chapters are such great fun to write, I can't seem to help myself. Especially when my RL is less than... wonderful. (If you want to share with my muses your opinion of the possibility of a 2nd "26" I'm pretty sure they'd be interested in what you'd have to say.)

Sorry this note is so long. You might have noticed, if you've read any of my stories before, that I do tend to go on and on and on... Hmm... sorry.

Anyway, here you go:

26 Ways Jim Could/Would/Should Be a Jedi Knight, With Spock's Help Of Course

Admiral Pike has more than a passing resemble to Obi-Wan Kenobi, what with knowing Jim's father when Jim never did, and setting Jim on his new path, the one he was always supposed to follow, and how cool would have been if he had had a lightsaber to give Jim.

Before he joined Starfleet, Jim was reckless, always looking to where he was going, not to where he was, what he was doing.

C-3PO was fluent in over 6 million forms of communication, and Jim is sure Uhura is nearly the droid's equal, although not quite.

Deserts played an important role in both their lives, although Spock reminds him that Vulcan in no way resembled the fictional Tantoine but Jim generally prefers to ignore that fact.

Evil Empires threaten both their worlds and Jim knows one day he'll defeat the Klingons just as surely as Luke triumphed.

Flying through space faster than the speed of light is uber-cool whether or not you're a Jedi.

Growing up on a farm did nothing to prepare Jim or Luke for a career in space, and Jim can say with complete certainty that they never had any moisture vaporizers in Iowa.

Han Solo doesn't exist in Jim's world but even if he did, Jim wouldn't trade Spock by his side even if it meant he could really be a Jedi.

It helps that Spock has touch telepathy because Jim says that makes him like a Jedi too, and Jim doesn't want to have to leave Spock behind when he joins the other Jedi to save the universe.

Jedi Knights don't really exist, Bones periodically reminds him, but Jim just laughs knowingly and continues on his way.

Knights of any kind have not existed for millennia, Spock reminds Jim, and Jedi Knights were never real at any rate, to which Jim laughs knowingly, and if they aren't in bed together, continues on his way.

Lightsabers really do need to be invented, Jim tells Spock, and one day I'll succeed in doing it, because all Jedi Knights know how to construct them.

"Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious," sounds suspiciously like many of the bars Jim frequented before he joined Starfleet.

No one would have considered Jim or Luke anything special until they proved their worth and could no longer be dismissed as The Kids who seemed to be in the way.

Ordinary people cannot possibly appreciate what it means to be a Jedi Knight, Jim declares when Bones insists, yet again, that he is in fact not a Jedi.

Pike usually grumbles when Jim calls him Obi-Wan but he knows he'll never be able to stop him, and he really doesn't mind as much as he pretends to, taking it as a compliment.

Quit sayin' we're on Dagobah, Bones requests yet again when they visit the Mississippi delta during shoreleave on Earth.

R2-D2 would like being on the Enterprise because we mostly have ramps and not too many steps so it would be easy for him to navigate.

Seeing the future is one of the gifts of being a Jedi, Jim tells Spock, who only sometimes bothers to remind him that it is the Ambassador, not the Force, that reveals the future to Jim.

Try not. Do or do not. There is no try is Jim's motto, helping make it possible for him to believe there is no such thing as a no-win scenario.

Uncle Owen could have been nicer to Luke, Jim tells Spock, who hears the truth about Frank in Jim's voice.

Vulcan princes and Alderaan princesses have nothing in common and are not further proof that you are a Jedi.

Wookies would join Starfleet although we'd have to make the corridors taller because we didn't have them in mind when we designed them.

X-winger fighters are something else that we need, Jim tells Spock, and Spock cannot disagree with that statement as much as he would like to find a logical reason to do so.

Yoda could do a lot worse than having me as a student, although he might say I'm too old to begin the training, and might worry that I would not finish what I have begun, but I'm meant to be a Jedi.

Zebras have no history with Jedi Knights but Jim is sure that if Luke had ever seen one, he would have tried to ride it too.