In a white room aboard a ship in a galaxy still burning with the fires of war and betrayal, three figures sat and discussed the future of the galaxy. One was the Senator of Alderaan, Bail Organa. Another was the legendary Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The last was a smaller being, but the strongest of the three by far. He was Yoda, former Grandmaster of the Jedi Order.
According to most of the galaxy however, Obi-Wan and Yoda were not so-called paragons of justice, but rather violent criminals and terrorists. In truth, the two were the survivors of a horrifying war and the victims of a revenge plot that had festered for over a thousand years. A plan that culminated in the deaths of thousands and a galaxy united in the darkness of the Sith. Now the two were the last of the storied Jedi Order, but while they may have been the last of their kind, they refused to let the Sith retain their hold. Obi-Wan had been forced to confront the monster that had taken the place of his brother in all, but blood and Yoda had been forced to retreat against the wrath of Sidious.
Despite their setbacks however, the two knew that the Light would rise once more to challenge the Dark and so they had come to this moment. It was in this room aboard the Tantive IV that the future of the galaxy was being set in motion. Unlike what some may think however, the subjects were not armies and fleets, but rather two twins. A newly born boy and girl. These two infants did not yet know it, but one day they would be instrumental in the fall of the Sith.
For now, though, they would be kept apart and hidden for their own safety. After all these were no ordinary newborns, they were the children of the forbidden love between Padmé Amidalla, the former Senator of Naboo, and Anakin Skywalker, the now nearly dead Darth Vader. Kenobi and Yoda could feel the potential between the two, however for now the seas of power they contained were still calm and could be hidden away from the dark gaze of the mastermind of the chaos that had gripped the galaxy, Darth Sidious.
The third man in the room and the owner of the ship itself, Bail Organa, was not a Jedi like the other two. He was the Senator of Alderaan and the husband of its queen, but now he was helping to decide what would happen to his dead friend's children. Finally, with a sigh he broke the quiet of the room. "I will take the girl. My wife and I have been trying for a child and we can offer her a good home."
"And the boy," Yoda asked in a questioning tone.
Looking up at the former Grandmaster with a heavy gaze, Obi-Wan released a tired sigh. "I will take the boy to Tatooine. He still has family there and I doubt he would want to return there."
"Perhaps. Or perhaps not," Yoda said, his green eyes locked onto the exhausted Jedi Master. "An old friend has come; offered sanctuary he has. A place to rest and train the boy. And a place to begin your new training."
"New training?"
"Yes, under my new master. Your old one."
Obi-Wan's eyes widened as he listened to the old Jedi's answer. "Qui-Gon? But he's dead."
"He is. Become one with the Force, he has. But retained his consciousness and has come to teach us his lessons."
"And where is this sanctuary," Obi-Wan asked, leaning back in his chair.
"In the Unknown Regions, it is."
"The Unknown Regions?"
"Yes," Yoda said, gently nodding his head at Kenobi. "Guide you, the Force will."
Kenobi's blue eyes flicked up at him as he combed his hand through his hair. "Will you be joining us Master?"
"No. To another place I shall go to for my exile."
With this, Yoda sat back in his seat as the three beings prepared for the uncertain future they would enter.
Obi-Wan leaned on one of the pillars lining the hangar as Bail walked towards him with a silver and blue astromech droid following close behind. It had been a day since the Tantive IV had returned to Alderaan and three days since Yoda had left for Dagobah to go into exile. Obi-Wan shifted slightly as he turned to look at the Senator giving off an exhausted smile.
"I figured you could use the help," Bail said pointing at the small droid.
Recognition flared in Obi-Wan's mind as he smiled at the droid that had been beside him and Anakin throughout the war. "Hello, Artoo."
The droid gave a happy whistle and beep as it rolled over to his side. Looking back up Bail he moved his shoulders back as he pushed himself off the pillar and walked to his side. As he moved, he saw Bail reaching his hand up to shake his and with a tired look Obi-Wan grasped it.
"I can't guarantee that we'll be able to find you if you need the help, but please Master Kenobi don't hesitate to call us if you need it."
With a chuckle Kenobi took the comm from Bail's hand and offered an amused look. "Don't worry I won't."
Turning around to look at the sleek star yacht, Obi-Wan was struck by how simple it looked with a curved bow in the front and two wings stretching out towards the back in angled design.
"It has the best hyperdrive that I could afford and with the Seal of House Organa you should hopefully be able to avoid most checkpoints," Bail said in a proud yet serious tone before turning to Obi-Wan with a slight smile. "And I'm sure you know where most of the war zones are."
"You've done a lot for me Bail. Thank you."
"It's not just for you, I'm also doing it for him and because she would've wanted me to."
With a glance to the side Obi-Wan gave the Senator that had helped him and Yoda so much in the past few days a small smile of gratitude before it dimmed at the mention of her. Padmé. Thinking about her name inevitably drew his thoughts back to Anakin and ultimately back to that place. Mustafar.
I hate you!
The thought bit him like a hound. He felt his breathing hitch and chest tighten for a second as he remembered the heat and the ash. The sound of his lightsaber clashing with his former best friend. The smell of burning flesh. Anakin's screams filled with rage and pain.
Forcing himself to breathe, Obi-Wan pushed the thoughts out of his mind. "I'll be leaving now then Bail. May the Force be with you."
"May the Force be with you too, Master Kenobi."
Patting Artoo on the top of his dome, the two walked onto the ship's ramp. Giving one last look and nod to Bail, Obi-Wan closed the ramp and moved into the cockpit. Artoo had already plugged into the controls and he felt the soft shake as the ship lifted off the ground and soared out of the hangar into the black vacuum beyond.
To his left, a bundle slept in one of the chairs. Inside the bundle of cloth was a boy. An infant less than a week old and had already lost his parents and been separated from his sister. The boy had nothing except the tired Jedi Master sitting next to him and the droid plugged into the ship's console. He did have one thing that would be more important than anything in helping him in the future. Potential.
Obi-Wan could still feel that calm ocean in the boy. Not the controlled currents that Anakin had or the raging rivers that Maul had. Luke was a calm ocean that had yet to be tapped and controlled. That had yet to be used. When he did learn however, Obi-Wan felt he might end up as strong as his former best friend and despite what may have happened to Anakin, he would not fail Luke.
As the stars turned into a tunnel of light, Obi-Wan, for the first time in years, felt hope.
The tunnel of light collapsed as the ship entered the system. It was a small one with three gas giants, four rocky worlds, and one dwarf planet at the edge. At the center of the system a yellow star blazed, with its radiation and heat creating a habitable zone around its third and fourth rocky world. The fourth was a desolate wasteland with occasional pockets of ice around its poles. The third however was flourishing with life, and the sensors of the ship even detected civilizations spanning across its surface.
As he read the data returning from the ship's sensors, Obi-Wan couldn't help the surprise that filled him when he saw that whatever civilization was there only had satellites and a single, tiny space station in orbit. Closing his eyes, Kenobi let loose a breath as he let the Force flow through him and guide his hands around the ship's controls. Gliding towards the third planet, he began to slow down as he passed the barren world that was the fourth planet and prepared to enter the thicker atmosphere of the green and blue jewel.
The ship glided across the sky as he felt the Force pulling him to a crescent-shaped island and began preparations to land. Around him, he felt the slight shudder of the storm on his ship as the sky wept torrents of rain. Obi-Wan's face entered a scowl as his annoyance began to manifest.
He had flown through far worse situations, even chaotic messes like the Battle of Coruscant, and he was sure that he would survive the storm that blew around his ship. That still did nothing to change the annoyance he felt. He hated flying.
A sprawling city was growing underneath him as he neared the sprawling forests that covered the landmass for miles. With a quick jerk, Obi-Wan felt the ship slowing down and glided into a glade that he planned to use as a makeshift landing pad. A shudder told him that the landing gear were extended and with a final thud he felt the ship touch the ground. A hiss and the sound of motors could be heard as the ship leaned on its suspension.
Unbuckling himself from his seat, Obi-Wan stretched and arched his back as he moved around the cockpit. Moving over to the seat next to him, he unbuckled the sleeping infant and began moving to the ramp in the back.
As he prepared to press the lock and leave, he looked over his shoulder back towards the front where the cockpit sat. "Watch the ship for me, Artoo. We shouldn't be gone too long, but I'll keep in contact with you."
A whirl of confirmation echoed down to him and Kenobi smiled as he descended the ramp with Luke in his arms.
The rain pattered down on him as he rushed through the city. He had felt it earlier, a presence in the Force. It was strong, but nowhere near to some of the presences he had felt during the war. The feeling that had troubled him, was that it wasn't human, Obi-Wan was sure of it. Every being he had seen and felt on this world had all been human and yet this being was not.
Keeping to the shadows, he moved around buildings slowly. The alleys had kept him hidden so far, but he was certain that if he could feel the presence that was in the building up ahead then it could certainly feel him and maybe even Luke, he thought with a grimace.
With each step he came closer to the end of the alley, and with a deep breath he pulled Luke close to his chest with his left arm and prepared himself mentally to call his lightsaber into his right hand if he needed to. Looking to both sides, he couldn't see any of the humans that had populated this city and with a quick jog across the road he found himself in front of the door.
Raising his hand to knock on it, he hoped that whoever was in there at least knew Basic.
Miya Asama sat alone in the run-down house. Her husband, Takehito, had purchased it for them after she had left MBI and married him. She had loved it then, a place for her to be something other than a killer, but while she may have left MBI, Takehito had stayed. Now he had paid the price, she had found out a month ago that he had died there, and it felt as though her world had ended. Then a few days ago she felt it.
A wave of grief flashed over her, worse than anything she had felt when her husband had passed. It came like a torrent and then left her just as quickly. It had only lasted seconds, yet she couldn't help, but tear up as she remembered it. The wave of pain had left her feeling empty, and even now she felt as if she could hear screams of betrayal and pain.
She did not know if her Feathers had felt the wave as harshly as she had, but they had to have felt something. Unlike her, they had never experienced the culture of their home world that had burned in the fires of war millennia earlier. They had never been told the full scope of their powers and now what had been done to them through their "adjustments" had likely weakened their connection to the Gust. She remembered the war as it ravaged across the galaxy, tearing apart everything that it encountered until it had reached their home world and consumed that too.
In a last-ditch effort, she and seven other ships had come to this place deep in the void where few dared to travel. Then something had happened. The others had landed, and her fellow Pillars and their Feathers had interbred with the humans that had lived here. That had surprised her when she woken up those few years ago. Not that there were humans here, they had been almost everywhere in the galaxy, but rather how ignorant and primitive they were. None of them had met non-human life before and treated her like she was a fascinating discovery and to top it off, none of them had known Basic.
For years, she had adjusted to this new and primitive world she had landed on, learning the language and even being part of MBI's little enforcement group, until she had fallen in love with and married Takehito. Then a month ago her new life had fallen apart as she learned about her husband's death.
Sitting down on the floor of what had been their bedroom, Miya shuddered as she felt another faint scream reach out to her. Then she had felt something else, a calm presence was approaching her home. It wasn't one of her Feathers, of that she was certain, but she couldn't help the wave of curiosity that welled up inside her. She noticed it as the presence grew closer becoming two instead of the strong blur that had been there previously. One, the weaker, felt tired and wary, but the other one had made her eyes widen as she noticed how strong it was despite its apparent size and how young it felt.
Getting up she moved to the door, she tensed as she noticed it stopping in front before a small knock hit it. Her hand moved towards the handle as she prepared herself to either fight or scare away whoever had shown up. A loud creak echoed through the building as she opened the door, and she was stunned as she got a look at the person on the other side.
A tall man in a brown robe with auburn beard, she caught the smell of ash and sweat coming from him and a tired look in his blue eyes. What surprised her the most was the bundle of cloth radiating a calm power from it that, with a small adjustment in the man's arms, showed the face of an infant. Then in a voice that spoke in a language she had not spoken in years she had heard two words.
"Hello there."