EDIT (nearly 2 years laters): So, hi! Let me cut straight to the chase: I started writing this fanfic when I was barely 15 and my writing style was horrific and the first 8 chapters were supposed to follow a completely different plot so I'm rewriting them. Nothing major, just correcting the grammar and making the lines less cringy. At the time of this notice I'm taking a short break between chapter 50 and 51 so I think it's safe to say that my writing has improved by leaps and bounds therefore I've decided to rewrite the first 8 chapters, but after that you're just going to have to watch as my writing improved. I apologise, but I can't rewrite everything. So, hopefully this version is better. Anywho, Enjoy!
=== SW: LB===
Chapter 1 - Kinrath
The planets that existed on the borders of the outer rim, nearly in the unknown regions, were mysterious and often deadly. Such a description fit the planet known as Ralak too. Ralak was a forest world, the third world in the system that was located not too far from Zonama Sekot -the Asterus system. Ralak seemed mostly uninhabited save for the small pesky creatures known as Chiskas and the spindly, venomous Kinrath. It was normally devoid of any fully sentient life, however, that did not appear to be the case on that particular day.
A young female Padawan raced through the forest, her feet rustling the fallen leaves from the towering trees and brushing against the long grass. She jumped over the chiskas, the small herbivores that seemed too lazy to get out of her way and vaulted over the obstacles that the forest seemed intent on throwing her way. She was fast, too fast for a normal human, her speed having been amplified by the Force. With the help of it she managed to head towards her destination much faster than she normally would have been able to.
Alana huffed as she ducked under a fallen log, easily sliding under it. Her Master was a total scatterbrain sometimes. What in the universe had possessed him to think that leaving behind their astromech on the ship was a good idea when they were going to unlock an old archive base?! Granted, the droid was incredibly annoying, but still. Naturally, the archive building ended up locked so, of course, she had to go back and fetch him which involved going through the forest and traversing serval fields swarming with kinrath. And people said her Master sheltered her. Alana exhaled again, reining in her temper and irritation. As she finally made her way out of the dark forest, Alana noticed a small cliffside come into view. Alana slowed her pace to a steady walk, approaching the rather large cave at the bottom of the cliff. Upon entering the cave, Alana found that the ship they'd left behind here, known as the "Guardian", was no longer there and she knew exactly what had happened. The young Jedi in training growled under her breath:
-Jaytoo, I swear, when I get my hands on you... I'm really going to turn that droid into spare parts!
It was a threat Alana often made, but had never gone through with it before though this time she was severely tempted to. R2-J2 was a very unique astromech to say the least. Alana had the sneaking suspicion that the gold and red droid with an attitude problem had a bit of a bug in his system, because for some reason or other the little astromech believed he was the best damn star pilot in the known galaxy and as a result he often took off with the Guardian for a joyride. She didn't pretend to know why her Master kept his patience with that pesky annoyance of a droid, but after spending six years with the droid Alana had to admit he had grown on her just a bit. In any case, that was completely beside the point right now! Alana sighed: honestly, one day he was going to end up being the death of them, that short-circuited red idiot. Shaking her head, Alana clicked on her comlink to contact her Master:
-Master, we, uh, may have a minor problem.
Alana's Jedi Master, a man named Kai Lionis, groaned on the other end of the line:
-Please tell me J2 isn't whining about the natives again.
-Um, no. Actually, J2 isn't here at all and,- Alana paused,- neither is the Guardian.
She heard her master facepalm:
-I should have know. He's gone off on one of his joyrides again, hasn't he?
-Most probably.
Alana agreed, hearing Kai sigh tiredly. There was a pause before the Jedi Knight asked:
-Well, is there no way to contact him?
-Give me a moment.
Alana pulled out a small tracking device from one of the many pouches of her belt. She checked the location of the ship via the tracker she had had the foresight to plant on the ship after J2's last joyride only to see it heading for an asteroid field not far from Taris. No doubt the reckless astromech was going to try and navigate through the asteroids for fun. He really was going to get the ship blown up someday. Alana shook her head even though she knew the older Jedi couldn't see it:
-No, he's left the system and is now heading for an asteroid field not far from Taris. He's probably going to try to pull off one of his reckless stunts again.
-What?! He's going to crash the ship!
-Master, when he gets back may I please scrap him? I swear I'll donate his parts to a good cause.
Kai sighed in exasperation:
-No, Alana, for the millionth time, you can't. As well as I understand your feelings we need J2 even if his remains would go to a good cause. So, what do we do?
Alana shrugged:
-I don't know. You're the Jedi Knight here, not me.
-I'm...I'm open to suggestions.
Kai sounded so lost and so out of his element that Alana couldn't help but smile. Her Master was normally very confident about everything they did. Alana chuckled:
-Wow. The great Kai Lionis actually has no idea what to do! Oh my, the world must be ending!
-Alana, shut up.
-No, no, Master, you sounded very inspiring back there.
-And you're the definition of sincere right now, my young padawan.
-Well, someone's got to lead the cheer squad.
Alana teased, grinning away without a care in the world. This banter was normal for them, this was how their Master-Padawan relationship worked. Kai snorted:
-Why thank you. Careful, that you don't trip over your pride there.
-Oh, Master, but that's actually your pride not mine. Mine's standing on that shelf over there, well below your ego.
-You cheeky little-
-Tut tut, Master, a Jedi must not know anger.
Kai groaned, making Alana laugh some more. She knew he really wasn't mad at her, but winding him us was so much fun sometimes. It wasn't like he didn't pay her back twofold either. Everything was well balanced. Kai decided to readdress the issue at hand, his tone turning serious again:
-So do you have a plan how to deal with our teensy tiny problem or not?
Alana bit her lip, a bad habit of hers she couldn't seem to break as she did it whenever she was thinking about something for a while. The original plan was to have J2 come with her and slice the controls to open the door since lightsabers couldn't cut through the annoying thing. However, now that plan had flown out the window. The building Alana and Kai were trying to get into was in fact a building that was identified as an ancient Jedi archive from who knows when and the Council wanted it investigated. After a moment of thinking, Alana replied:
-I have an idea we can try, but I'm not one hundred percent sure it will work...
-Do or do not. There is no try...
-Master, please don't try to be like Yoda. I mean, I know you have to be cryptic to be a member of the cool Jedi club, but that is just ridiculous. How can you do something without trying?
-My theory is he's talking about commitment, but then again with Yoda you never really know. Anyway, what's this idea of yours?
-Well, it involves me hotwiring the door to make it go KABLOOEY!
Alana could almost see the older Jedi roll his eyes. Her crazy ideas always gave him a headache. He sighed, way too tired to argue with his young, ingenious student:
-Yeah, sure, let's go with that. It's not like I have a better idea.
-Yes! I mean, thank you for approving of my plan, Master.
Alana mimicked the way normal padawans addressed their Masters, cringing at the awkwardness internally. Kai snorted:
-Drop the exemplary padawan act. I don't know how you manage to fool the Masters every single time, but it won't work on me. How long do you think I've known you?
Alana shrugged:
-Six years. I became your padawan when I was 10. Remember, there was this whole fuss about me being young to become a padawan not to mention the fact that I never was a youngling to begin with?
-Oh, right. So, basically you've been a pain to me for six years now. How quickly time flies, I forgot.
Alana grinned: he was leaving himself wide open. She was quick to comment in mock horror:
-Wow, getting old must be scary...
-I AM NOT OLD! I mean, what makes you say that?
Like master, like student he supposed. He really was a bad influence on her. Of course, Alana couldn't let him have the final word:
-Well, seeing as you keep calling me your young Padawan, when I'm already sixteen I figured that must make you an old man.
-Alana Sheelan, stop misinterpreting my words.
-Well, how am I supposed to know what you mean? You keep telling me to search for a deeper meaning in your words and now you're telling me not to! Make up your mind - which is it?
Kai ran a hand over his face, messing up his chestnut hair. He groaned:
-Ugh, just do me a favour and get over here so we can "kablooey" this door.
-Sure, but I may be a bit late. There are a lot of kinrath here and they don't exactly like me.
Alana added, looking at a nearby field positively swarming with the spindly creatures. Kai rolled his pale green eyes:
-I'm certain you can handle them. A big girl like you? Not a problem.
Alana chuckled after gasping in fake shock. She knew both of them were slightly abnormal and their relationship was all the more so. They put on a good show in front of the High Jedi Council and the other Masters, but when it was just the two of them (technically three if one counted J2) they dropped the exemplary Master and padawan act. Alana would still call him Master, but the way the liked to goof off and tease each other was more akin to a relationship between siblings. Alana backed up his comment:
-You know it, Master. I'll be there soon. I know we're on a schedule. We don't really want that patrol of clankers that have been tailing us since Bimmiel to catch up, do we?
Kai sighed:
-Be careful, Alana, don't pull anything crazy while you're coming back. The last thing I want to do is pull you out of a Kinrath Queen's mouth. It'd be like Felucia all over again.
-Master, your memory is really failing you. If you would recall correctly, that time the tribe wanted to feed both of us to the spider queen because of a smart ass comment you made and I saved us by invoking one of their ancient laws.
-Oh...Right.
-So, clankers?
-Don't worry about them. We could handle them no sweat.
Kai reassured her confidently, a bit of cockiness seeping into his tone. Alana decided to not let him get a big head by teasing him:
-Are you sure your old man back wouldn't give out, Master?
The teenage padawans cheerfully quipped, fully aware of her Masters true age. Kai Lionis was rather young, only 26, but details weren't important. Kai retorted:
-Call me old again and I'll leave you behind, little girl.
-You know you love me, old man.
-Just get moving, Alana.
-How'd you know I'm not moving yet?
-Because that teeny tiny presence that belongs to you hasn't moved in the last fifteen minutes.
Alana huffed in annoyance. She should have known he would sense her. It seemed the fun would have to take a momentary break, but there was no way Alana was letting Kai have the last word in this conversation:
-Yeah, yeah, I'm going...grumpy man.
She had added the last two words under her breath, but sure enough Kai hear her:
-I heard that!
-Good. You were meant to, Master Jedi.
-Just move your butt, kid.
Kai told her before the transmission ended and the comlink returned to their usual appearance, without the glowing green circle. Alana sighed and removed her green lightsaber from her belt just in case that swarm of very irritable kinrath decided to attack. The cool metal of the weapon against Alana's palm made her relax a bit, her fingers curling reflexively around the slender silver hilt while her thumb slid up to rest upon the ignition button.
Upon stepping out of the cave, Alana was instantly met with an unwelcome sight: five large, poisonous, clicking kinrath had decided to corner her. That was not smart on their part. Igniting her green blade with a familiar snap-hiss, Alana grumbled:
-Today is just not my day.
All of the Kinrath moved in at once, but Alana had no intention of becoming anyone's afternoon snack anytime soon and Force leapt over them. The Kinrath turned around hissing and clicking angrily, obviously they had not expected their snack to be able to fight back or use the Force. Alana quickly looked around for something she could throw at them, fortunately for her, there was a large rock just a few meters away. Using the Force, Alana threw the rock at them and decided to use the momentary confusion to put some distance between them and her. As soon as she was far enough, Alana sat down onto the ground in a meditative position.
Alana let the Force flow through her, letting it calm her and envelop her in it's protective warmth. As she slowly reached into the Force, Alana closed her eyes and assessed her options. Option number one: She could throw another boulder at them and hope to get away, but the chances of that plan being successful were rather slim. Option number two: She could kill the kinrath and hope not to get poisoned by their deadly pincers, but she really didn't like this idea. Option number three: She could use the Force to manipulate the kinrath's minds. She liked option three the best, so the young Force-user concentrated on feeling out the kinrath's Force presences. As soon as she found them she began filling their mind with peaceful emotions and soon they were more or less calm. Slowly and gently Alana started to whisper into their minds:
-You want to leave and go to sleep...You want to leave and go to sleep..
The kinrath obeyed her in their trance. They walked away from the cave but Alana knew that she couldn't release her grasp on them just yet, not until they fell asleep anyway. Luckily that happened almost as soon as they left. The kinrath folded their long spindly green legs under them and went to sleep, safe in their burrrows. As soon as they all fell asleep Alana's grip on them was automatically released. She stood up and streched, holding her lightsaber in her right hand:
-Well, I better go before Master rips all his hair out while worrying.
Muttering those words, Alana headed in the direction of the forest. She sincerely hoped that the rest of the day would be highly uneventful, but a nagging feeling told her that that would not be so.