Disclaimer: I do not own any of Star Wars, the right of ownership of Star Wars belong to Lucasfilm and I guess Disney too. The only thing I own is the characters you do not notice and the plot.
Year: 7 BBY
Chapter 25: Preparing for Day
Mark wakes up to the alarm clock blaring off on the nightstand in his quarters of the Jedi Order. He tries to figure out why is the alarm clock is going off. He was planning on sleeping in, but he have to teach a class today and after that he have to train his current Padawan in the Force.
Mark looks at the alarm clock and notice it was saying it was 5:30 in the morning. The reason why Mark wanted to sleep in was due to the fact that he had a hard time falling asleep and him and Rachelle stayed up late. He has invited Mara to come along, because if she reaches the rank of Master she might have to do some teaching. Not only are Jedi ranked Master teaches but also Knights. If it were only Masters, then it would be large classes because there are not a lot of Jedi Masters, they are outnumber by Jedi Knights.
Through classes does not start until 7, but Mark figures he needs to eat a decent breakfast, see that Mara is awake and take a shower before the day get started. He slowly stands up while using the Force to slightly move's Rachelle's sleeping head from the position on his chest.
Rachelle mumbles something in her sleep at the moment and curls up underneath the blankets. Mark bends down and gives her a soft kiss on the forehead. Mark looks around in the closet for some clean clothes and head into the shower.
Mark sighs as he steps in the bathroom and drops his clothes on a rack that was there. He pinches his nose and looks at himself in the mirror. His bright blue eyes stares straight back at him which was cover by some of his bangs. He will need to get his hair trim soon. He runs his right hand over his beard and yawns a bit. He walks over to the shower and turns it on to allow it warms up.
He then sits on the tub ledge resting his forehead on his fist, thinking. Once more he was thinking about Darth Sidious. He remembers seeing his spirit flies out of the dead husk and went toward the ship. Then he saw Darth Sidious full and full of energy. He might be an expert of the Dark Side, but he doe not know a lot about it. When one is studying the Dark Side, it is best to remain caution at all times, because you might find yourself become addicted to what you can do in the Dark Side.
He knows the Dark Side has stuff that can help cheat death, but there isn't much information out there about such topic. Then again since 1000 BBY, the Sith have been hiding themselves due to the Darth Bane's Rule of Two. Before 1000 BBY, the Sith were much more common. There used to be empires of the Sith that battles against the Galactic Republic. It is nothing like the Empires of today. The Empires of today are run by the Sith but does not have a lot of Sith in them.
He wishes Celestia Aluna or Dooku for that matter since they both spend time as a Sith. Celestia is out searching for the base of operations that Darth Vader has. For some odd reason she cannot remember it, through she knows she have been there countless times during her time as a Sith. Mark has a feeling that has something to do with the Dark Side of the Force that Darth Vader was using to surpass her memories of her time as a Jedi.
Dooku has been trying to break the control the Hutts have on some of the planets which funds a lot of the Empire stuff. It is common knowledge that the Empire has the Hutts within their side. Dooku really wanted to try to take down the Hutts and the Trade Federation so that they could weaken the Empire. Mark thinks it is something personal. They both somewhat help the Separatist cause during the Clone Wars and Dooku might take this as a way to atone for the deeds he have made when he was a Sith.
Both of them haven't been to the Jedi Temple in close to a year. Even through the Council recalls them back and the Chancellor, but they both denied and wants to do their part. Since it was not exactly an order they did not have to follow it. It was a request for them to do so. The Council was beginning to worry with all the fighting they have been doing might take a toll on them. Through he remembers Celestia stating that she will try to be there whenever him and Rachelle gets married.
No surprise that Celestia will say something like that, she actually does consider Rachelle as her own daughter. It was most likely this mother and daughter bond that breaks the Dark Side hold on Celestia when she was Darth Destria. Which once again proven his theory about love does not lead to the Dark Side. In almost all the cases, Jedi were redeemed because of love.
Through he highly doubts that it will work with Darth Asteria. From what he heard she was never a good person so she might enjoy being in the Dark Side of the Force, while Celestia was hold against her will, per say, when she was a Sith. For when he faced her she seems to be a very evil type of person. She loves to cause harm and suffering. Mark cannot get the manic laugh out of his mind, when he thinks about Darth Asteria.
Mark reaches over the shower and feels that the water is warm and begin to get ready to get in. It only took him 10 minutes to get shower, dried off and change when he realizes he forgot his Lightsaber back in the bedroom. He walks in the bedroom and find the sleeping Rachelle now have stolen his pillow and was hugging it. Mark put his fist to his lips to prevent him from laughing as he picks up his Lightsaber and clips it to his belt and clips it on his belt.
He also gives Rachelle another kiss on the forehead and went out to the dinning hall. At this early time there are only a few Jedi and employees of the Jedi Order in the dinning hall. There he was surprise to meet Mara sitting there happily talking to her mother.
"Mara, I thought you would be sleeping in more?" ask Mark. "Ah, Mom promises to show me some stuff about flying again. She showed me controls of some of the transports." say Mara excited. That was another thing Mara has in common with Luke, she loves flying a lot. Galen and Leia are not much big on flying, but they still do it and are good at it. Out of those 2, Leia is the one that is not a big f
"Good morning Mark, sleep well last night?" ask Maria. "No, had a hard time sleeping." mumble Mark as he walks past her so he could get something to eat. He got in line behind Mace Windu.
"Good morning… well I could say you seen better days." say Mace as Mark looks at him. "Yeah, I know, had a hard time sleeping. Keep on thinking about Sidious. As of right now, I consider Sidious a bigger threat than Darth Vader, because unlike Sidious, Darth Vader hadn't been killed, yet Sidious been killed and manage to live and I saw it with my own eyes this time." say Mark.
Mace sighs a bit as he looks at Mark. He too wants to find a way to stop Darth Sidious from returning. He knows he was short with Mark a couple days ago about doing just that, but yet he cannot find anything yet. He even check some of the Holocrons that they got that came from the Sith. The only reason why they keep them is to figure more out about their long term enemies. To keep people from falling to the Dark Side, only a selected few are able to view the Sith Holocrons and the majority of them are on the High Council.
There are a few people who could view them that are not on the High Council but they have to be Jedi Master. Even fewer of them are Jedi Knights. No Padawans or Youngling could look at them. Mark was one of the few Jedi Knights who was allowed to look at them before he became a Master. Before that he has to have permission from the High Council to look at them and a member of the High Council had to be there with him.
"Any luck with finding out how Sidious manage to cheat death?" ask Mark. "There is a bunch of ways it could happen. The most common way I think is intense hatred. Back before 1000 BBY, there was this Sith Lord named Darth Sion who was able to keep his body together out of pure hatred. Through the body was hold together with the Dark Side of the Force. Which I image would be would hurt a lot." say Mace Windu. Mark nods he heard of Darth Sion before. He died back in 3951 BBY, when he finally learned from a Jedi the pain and suffering that it is causing him for immortality.
"There was a reason why that Sith Lord was called Lord of Pain. Through I highly doubt that Darth Sidious will go through something like that. If that was his way, his body would have been gone when we put it into the sun. That was one of the reasons why I suggested that idea. Remember Darth Scion body was decaying, but hold together with the Dark Side of the Force. No Sidious would not do that, he would wants something better. Something that would leave his body weak like that." say Mark as he rubs his chin.
"Are you for sure he would attempt something like that. I know he haven't based upon your description. The way I told you is for keeping the body." say Mace. "Just like the Light Side of the Force, the Dark Side is endless. One could study it for there whole lives and they will not be able to claim that they know even a quarter of what the Force is." say Mark wisely as the Jedi in front of Mace was having problems with the culinary droid messing up his meals. Mark notice that Jedi was getting annoyed.
Mace follows Mark line of sight and couldn't help by shake his head as he crosses his arms. "That is the bed thing about getting up so earlier none of the cooking staff is up yet. Have to deal with droids, I think this one is malfunctioning." say Mace. Just after he said this, whatever the droid was trying to stir seem to fly everywhere. Mark and Mace duck down far underneath the glass wall that separates the droid and the line.
"This reminds me of the time when Hunter was a youngling. She always like to eat so she had reprogram the droid to make her something late at night which it wasn't program to do so and the mess was almost like this." say Mace. "You say almost, how was it?" ask Mark.
"Let's just say, melting chocolate ice cream on the floor does not make a safe place to walk. Wake up one morning the whole area around the line was a sticky brown color. Even the Mouse Droids got stuck in it. Learn that day to never forget your boots." say Mace. "Must have been a lot of ice cream." say Mark.
Mace nods as he uses the Force to shut down the malfunctioning droid. "Yeah, almost 10 pounds of ice cream in storage. Celestia had a field day teaching Rachelle about her sweet tooth problem." say Mace rubs his bald head as they stand up.
"Hmm, she never told me that story." say Mark. "That is a surprise." say Mace as he looks back at Mark. The poor Jedi that had to deal with the droid malfunction storms away as he was covered from the waist up in whatever that liquid stuff. Yes, Mace is right that is a surprise, usually Rachelle tells him everything. Then again that subject might embarrass her greatly. She does not tell him every little thing, but she does tell him almost everything.
Mark remembers countless times sitting at night with Rachelle and she would go on and on about what she did before they meet. She would tell him about her days before becoming a Padawan, days of her being a Padawan. Sometimes she talks about the good and the bad stuff that happens around her. Most of the time she talks about her point of views of subjects and her feelings about how something happens.
To say that Rachelle Hunter and he got close is an understatement. It amazes him how close 2 people can get. The closeness they share is of people who grow up together since they were children and fall in love. Mark has not meet Rachelle until she was 20 years old and they start off as mentor and students. Through Rachelle did tell him that she had feelings for him since the beginning of 19 BBY, through she was confuse about those feelings. Basically it is amazing how much closer they have become.
Another droid came and served him and Mace. Mark went off to sit with Mara and Maria. Mara was sitting down and eating. Mark was surprise that she is not talking a lot like she usually does. Then again you have to take into account how early in the morning it is.
"So exactly how many classes you have to teach today?" ask Maria. "I have 3 to do. I have 1 in the morning before lunch and the other 2 after lunch but before supper. "Look like someone is going to have a busy day." say Maria looking at her daughter. "I think I am getting used to that fact. Master is always a busy Jedi, most likely because he is a Jedi Master and on the High Council." say Mara. "Jedi are busy people, we have to keep peace. If it is not galactic scale wars, we are trying to settle planetary conflicts and lesser conflicts." say Mark.
Mara nods to that statement. She knows that it is very true. Jedi are considered to be one of the busiest groups of people in the galaxy. Being a Jedi is not easy.
All the way on Korriban, Darth Vader seems amused about something. When a Sith Lord is amused, it is usually not very good. Like the True Empire, Darth Vader and his Empire have been busy in the Outer Rim.
They have taken the planet Abafar, which is great source of fuel within the Outer Rims. They also have taken the planet of Artus Prime which is a mining world for crystals. The planet of Altyr 5 decided to join the Empire due to the fact that they do not want to suffer from any attacks from them. They never truly have a representative in the Galactic Senate. For the resources they have taken control of Alzoc 3. The planet of Jabiim joined them once a lot of planets were getting attacked by the Empire. The government of Jabiim feared that the Galactic Republic might not help them until it was too late like they did in the Clone Wars. Then Zygerria joined the Empire so that it can help protect it slave empire from the Galactic Republic.
The reasons why the Empire have been so successful is that the Galactic Republic seem to be dealing with a lot of attack closer to home by the True Empire. So Darth Vader decides to take a sneaky option and gather more planets under his banner in the Outer Rim. The Galactic Republic has sent some military units out there and they either could not find the Imperial military or they were defeated by it.
Darth Vader also senses that his former apprentice, Darth Destria, have been searching for his base. He is glad for his manipulation of her mind when she served the Empire. When she betrayed the Dark Side of the Force he installed in her brain to make it harder for her to remember her past attack her memories of locations and very important things about the Empire.
The blast doors to the lift of his throne room slides open and enter the purple skinned Twi'lek Dark Lady of the Sith, Darth Solaris walking into the room and kneel in front of him.
"Master, I would like to report that our progress with the Death Star is coming along fine. Those slaves that the Zygerrians have sent us have made building our weapon much faster. We believed that by 0 BBY it should be all ready to launch." say Darth Solaris. "Good, but when the testing for the weapons array can begin?" ask Darth Vader looking down at his apprentice. "Well, the Turbolasers, cannons could be tested right now. The super laser will not be able to be tested at full power until close to around 3 BBY at the earliest, we still need to get a lot of crystals install to magnify the laser output." say Darth Solaris.
The reason why they are using crystals is amplify the smaller beams that will make up a single beam that could destroy a whole planet on full power. Once the whole project is done, the Galactic Republic and the True Empire will not be able to stand up to him. His Empire will be the most feared and will become the fraction that will rule the whole galaxy.
With that ace in his pocket then he could spend his time on hunting down and killing Jedi Master Mark Alan Zane to prove once and for all that he is better than him. Either that he could plan an attack on a Galactic Republic aligned planet and hopes of drawing him out.
"Darth Solaris, I want a unit and fleet be ready to mobilize on my command. I want our best soldiers and Dark Jedi be prepare for an attack." say Darth Vader as he stands from his throne. He did not tell her that he is hoping to draw out his rival with the attack. "What are we attacking?" ask Darth Solaris. "An important Republic planet, I am tired of all this sneaking around. I do not want to the Galactic Republic think I have gotten soft now, should I. I will let you know when I have decided." say Darth Vader have a perfect place in mind but he wants to consider all the options before hand. He wants to make it a planet far from the Core, so the Outer Rim has to do.
He could attack Bakura that will surely draw out Mark and the 3rd Legion to protect his homeworld but he is not foolish. By the time they could get Mark come, his fleet and army would have been seriously damage by the Bakuran Military. No he have to do another attack. Maybe on a planet that someone close to his friends' lives will do it. It is time to review all the options.
Mara watch in interest as Mark was teaching the classes about various basic things that the Force can do, such as increase your speed, height of jump and increases all your senses. He even told them that they can uses the Force to see through walls and darkness with the ability to call Force Sight and also Force Sight can be used to blocks the affect of Force Blindness.
Mara knows Force Blindness well, her mentor used it couple times. She remembers him blinding Darth Solaris and a group of Dark Jedi that was going to attack her. She could see as if it was happening as he was teaching. She was surrounded and Mark leapt in front of her, told her to close her eyes. Right before she closes her eyes she saw a very bright white light come out of Mark's hand. That was how they escape from that mess.
"Know just because the Force Sight can let you see through walls, it not as easy as you think. You have to take into account the thickness and material of the wall, which can offer some resistance. Through most does not know this. Remember to trust the Force, your eyes can deceive you." say Mark as he walks around the room.
"Now to prove to you, I have boxes of objects, My Padawan and I are going to walk out of the room. You duty is to place the objects along the ground and turn off the light. When you are done you will let me know and I will show you the Force Sight in darkness. I want all the windows to be closed." say Mark.
The younglings quickly scramble to do what they were told. Mark and Mara steps out of the classroom and closes the door. Mark stands with his back toward it. "How is this going to teach them Force Sight?" ask Mara. "It not, it only goes to prove them. Some of them might not even learn the skill. Some might learn it and decide they want to. I know how to you use it but I do not use it all the time. Like with everything it could be draining. To get a perfect view through a wall is hard to do so and that drains you. Plus this way is also fun for them. If I remember correctly young one, you also like how I teach when you were in my classes." say Mark.
The door opens and Mark turns around to a darken room. Mark focus the Force so he can use the Force Ability knows as Force Sight. His blue eyes glow a little bit as the room came into focus in a blue tint.
Mark looks over where the younglings are sitting and smiles. Mark walks paste a Blaster that he made to fire bullets at him that will shock him. He dodges all them. He sidesteps the puddle of oil that was on the floor and duck before a flying droid could hit his head.
Mark quickly draws his Lightsaber and begins dueling with an advance Lightsaber training droid. In a minute the Droid was laying in smoking pieces as the light comes on and he stops using Force Sight.
The younglings look impressed. "Whoa!" say a male Twi'lek. "Well that is why he is a Jedi Master. Serious what hopes of our ideas of positioning the objects were going to beat him." say a dark skinned female human next to the male Twi'lek. The male Twi'lek nods to this. "Still you got to admit it was pretty amazing and we all saw it because of these night vision goggles." say the male Twi'lek as he took off his goggles that were resting on his forehead.
"Okay, settle down class. For the last few minutes of class, let get the meditation done with. Who can do it without any guidance?" ask Mark. About half the class raises their hands. "Okay, the other half will get guided by me or Mara. Mara looks shocked at first and then realize some of them might have her problem. While Mark is more of a old school meditation expert about focusing on nothing, she have learn that you can focus solely on one thing and uses then soon finding yourself focusing on nothing.
Mark helps those that need guidance to relax their body and mind. Those that have trouble focusing on nothing, Mara help them with her way of meditating that she has learned from Anakin.
In a couple minutes the whole class was in a meditate trance and Mark looks at Mara who was sitting down near the door meditating. Mark sighs as he pinches his nose. He sense something bad is in the making. Through him sensing that have been going on a lot since the start of the Triad War.
Through he knows this is not coming from Darth Sidious and his True Empire. This time he sensed that it might have something to do with Darth Vader and his Empire. The one thing he did not like, is that the Senate seem to focus more on protecting the planets closer to the Core then those in the Outer Rim. Mark knows that Darth Vader is most likely using this to gain followers in the Outer Rim. There only have few units out in the Outer Rim and the 2 major ones are leaded by Dooku and Celestia. He also knows that they have newer Clones that fill the majority of their ranks.
Mark has nothing against newer Clones. The 3rd Legion has some newer Clones and like any other thing, they need experiences and that lack of experience could be a problem. He does not know why they make majority of a unit of new Clones; they should have some experience Clones among the ranks to help the newer Clones.
He even tries to talk to Padme about this, but she said her hands were tied. The Senate as a whole agreed that they should focus most of their military to protect the Core Worlds and those in regions of space near the Core. Then again, what does the Senators really know about war.
At least when the Ministry of Defense if formed they might have better people thinking of what the military should do. Mark would have spread the military evenly throughout the galaxy.
Something is going to happen and if it involves Darth Vader personally, it might be very bad and not all the Jedi could handle a duel with Darth Vader in it. Hopefully the Senate wise up to the threat. He knows the Jedi Council have been talking about what they have been feeling. The only thing he can do is wait for whatever might happen and hopefully those in charge could make the right decision.
Sorry this took a bit longer to post up. Been busy trying to get a job.
Basically this chapter could be consider another filler chapter with some information.
In this story we have two events that happen because of the True Empire, so some of you might figure that the Galactic Republic is focusing more of it forces on the True Empire. So I taken to use it. I also put the reason why they were so focus on the True Empire. The True Empire have been attacking major planets within the Core and the regions between the Core and the Outer Rim. They want to protect those planets because they most likely have more to deal with the Galactic Republic. So with that it let Darth Vader secretly build up his Empire.
Now I bet you notice most of the planets that Darth Vader have gotten starts with A. I was researching planets on Wookieepedia and you know me, I usually chose planets that at least have a good picture of what it looks like so I can get a better understand of how it looks. So There are tons in the Outer Rim, so I went through and got tired of searching through them so that why most of them starts with A. I just happen to remember Zygerria from the Clone Wars series and put it in there.
I also want to talk about the Force Ability knows as Force Sight. Basically all it does is give your eyes the ability to see in darkness and through walls also it could be used to counter Force Blindness and Mind Tricks. So I really did not like this a lot because it seem to make it seem so easy. So I decide like with everything it will use up energy. So thicker the walls and depend on matterials will make it harder. Why I think this, even through it is a basic Force Ability, how come not everyone uses it.
The beginning of the story was just a funny thing that I want to put in. I could image something this happens. What do you expect when you have machinery doing stuff. Machines are not perfect, just like everything else in the world.
Until next time, enjoy!