Through the twisted trees and vibrant emerald grass, the river twisted and churned on and on, rough and dangerous. Past whistling birds and chittering creatures, the water found its way through a gated channel that ran under a cement wall, buzzing with energy. On the opposite side, the river reflected off beautiful yet humble buildings, lights flashing, faces smiling. The river grew happy, and the river grew calm and peaceful. Here lie the Jedi Temple of Yavin 4, where Leia Skywalker and Han Solo were currently twisting the peace that often lay here. "You know JUST as well as I do that we could lose him, Leia," Han ranted, the steam coming out of his head nearly palpable. He paced back and forth outside of the Millennium Falcon, hands snug on his hips.
"I know, Han, I'm the one that saw it, but this is the only way-" she started, but was cut off by Han, who whipped around and shoved a finger in her face.
"You saw his death. You saw him dying. And you're going to sit here and tell me that we give him away to that future? That we let that happen? No. It's not happening," he reasoned.
"First of all, get your finger out of my face. This is my son, too, you selfish bastard!" Leia shouted. Han cringed a little, feeling an that familiar, invisible force cause him to stagger backwards. "It is the only way. Evil still lurks out there… Luke and I can both feel that. You know by now to trust our instincts." Han could not argue with that one. Between the siblings, their "instincts" had gotten them out of more jams than he could remember.
"Leia," he began, tone growing softer. "I trust you. I trust your brother. I love you both. But you have to understand… this is our son, Leia! I can't lost him. We can't." She delicately reached her hand to his face and placed her palm on his cheek.
"And we won't. I'm sure of that. Whatever I saw- it can be prevented. That's why I quit my training, Han, and you know that. He needs to learn here, he needs to learn under the influence of the light side. We've seen his powers. I've felt his power, and I know you can feel his power too. He needs to be with Luke, whether you like to hear that or not. If he stays with us…" her breath hitched "…there's too many possibilities of what could happen. This is where he needs to be. I can feel it." For what felt like an eternity, there was silence as the couple drew their foreheads together and silently apologized to one another.
"Fine. We'll leave him here. But one thing goes wrong, he's back at home," Han gruffly replied, which drew a laugh from Leia.
"Even when he is home, it's not like you'll be there to see him. You don't even know what home is anymore."
The two found their way back up the ramp of the Falcon, and found Chewie tossing a ball around with a goofy six-year-old with neatly trimmed black hair. Leia always insisted that he look neat, for he was in the eyes of the entire New Republic. "Come on, Ben, we're going to go find your Uncle Luke now," Leia said, grabbing the boys hand. Chewie let out a few noises, prompting Han to roll his eyes. Grabbing a small bag packed specifically for Ben, Chewie followed the trio out of the ship and into the temple. The buildings here were modern and updated frequently with technology, but there was minimal everything. Luke insisted in no defense system, claiming that the Jedi could defend themselves. Still, that didn't stop Leia from forcing him to at least install a shielding system for the Temple. He cut corners wherever he could. Young Jedi needed little to thrive, and needed to be undistracted on their journey. Leia always felt at home within the beige and brown natural hues of the temple, but Han always felt creeped out. Not natural, he always said in regards to the force and the Jedi. Though, even he couldn't deny the Force with his own eyes at this point. Leia certainly had some tricks up her sleeve when it came to their relationship.
Luke was found in a large hall with about seven young teenagers, all meditating in the middle of the room. Some where levitating low above the ground, while others had their eyebrows furrowed in concentration, trying to achieve a state of inner peace and mindfulness. "Young ones, you may now exit your meditation exercise," Luke began to say far before Leia, Han, and Ben arrived to the room, sensing their presence the moment they touched down. The training Jedi apprentices all opened their eyes, some slamming to the ground, some gently lowering themselves. "Go to the mess hall," he grumbled. There was still a twinkle in his eyes as the apprentices all jostled against each other and made a break to go get lunch.
Turning, Luke's eyes met Leia's, and they embraced for a long time. "I didn't expect to see you guys here so soon," he announced as he went for a swift yet warm handshake with Han. Now Luke turned to Ben, immediately feeling power wash over him. Strange, Luke thought to himself. The boy's power was growing by the day. With a flick of his wrist, Luke threw the laughing boy into the air and back down into his arms. "Hey, Benny Boy!" Setting the child back down, a chill ran down Luke's spine when he saw his sister's face and felt her aura.
"Luke, Ben's powers surfaced. We… need to talk."
A red-headed man opened the door to respond to a radio call for help, only to find bodies of slaughtered First Order Stormtrooper trainees laying about Barrack 13. His heart dropped. If the Supreme Leader learned about this, he would be a dead man. It was never easy to pluck children from their protective and rightfully angry parents grasp to train them for war and inevitable death. Still, it was the way. The demise of the Empire brought the destruction of the wide-scale heavy-duty cloning technology required to sustain a proper army of clones. Thus, Operation
Excubitor was born, where the First Order made barren of children any worlds they came to control. It wasn't always an easy program to follow, especially in the newborn stages of the First Order. They lost many senior stormtroopers from citizens fighting back, so the Supreme Leader stressed the importance of the younglings taken into training.
And now, thirty of them were dead.
He carefully stepped through the bloodied and bashed bodies. Based on the state of the corpses and the destruction of the room and all of its contents, Hux determined that the cause of death was…
"They all killed each other," a deep and brooding voice said from behind Hux. Hux turned to see his superior, dark eyes lit with anger. As the man raised his hand, Hux winced, expecting the familiar feeling of air being forced from his lungs. Wincing, he waited for the feeling to come, yet it never did. Instead, Hux heard a whimper from the back of the barrack. It was strangely high-pitched, unusual considering odd numbered barracks were composed of strictly males. Hux slowly turned to see a blond child in the back of the room, her skin bare and exposed to the elements. One of her eyes was swollen shut. "And it's quite curious that this little one was the only one to survive." The tall, cloaked figure in the back stepped forward past Hux, making his way towards the shivering girl.
"Sir- why is she in here?' Hux inquired. The child was supposed to be contained in her quarters at all time, no exceptions, Stormtrooper guard at all times. He did not get a response. The dark-haired man simply reached his hand down to the girl. She whimpered and tried to retreat against the wall.
He lifted his hand and brought the girl into his arms himself, removing his cloak with one hand and covering the child with it. "Contact the Supreme Leader at once and tell him that it is time."