The Shape of Perception: Prologue
The Cult of Vir-Sun
Vir-Sun was a Force adept, neither Jedi nor Sith, who perfected the art of Force perception manipulation, altering how another person perceived events through the Force. The Jedi considered such manipulation to be a Sith practice and refused to teach it. The Sith focused their skills on masking their presence from the Jedi.
Vir-Sun created five Holocrons to document his teachings and techniques. On his death, his senior disciples each took a Holocron and founded the Cult of Vir-Sun. But none of them ever fully perfected the craft, and as branches of the Cult became more active, the Jedi discovered them and destroyed them, considering them a threat to the Republic. The Sith learned the lesson well and remained hidden.
The Holocrons were lost, occasionally re-acquired by curious students who could never master enough of the skills to access all the Holocrons had to offer. During the reign of Emperor Palpatine, no student of Vir-Sun could match Palpatine's power. Students either abandoned their studies or were killed by Inquisitors.
After the second death of Emperor Palpatine, new, isolated pockets of the Cult of Vir-Sun bided their time to see what kind of Jedi Order would arise from the leadership of Luke Skywalker. The Jedi Order grew slowly, and fitfully. Its reach was short and its numbers were small. As the Jedi Order struggled to rebuild after its war with the Yuzong Vong, various factions of the Cult, along with other self-taught Force users not eager to see the Jedi return, vied for influence and membership. They were not allies. But some started to agree, the Jedi Order was ripe for a challenge...
The Shape of Perception: Rescue Mission
Wedge sat at the banquet table, bored. He hated these kinds of events. He was only here because Iella had to be, for her New Republic, Directorate of Intelligence, Assistant Director for Special Programs responsibilities. He was her "plus one." Tycho was around somewhere, because Winter was assisting Leia. Luke was also here, talking to whichever ambassadors and diplomats Leia needed him to talk to. None of it had slowed down in the ten years since the war with the Yuzong Vong ended. Leia had thrown herself into putting the galaxy back together and strengthening New Republic institutions. The political class had a lot of ideas (more like vague assumptions, Wedge thought) about Jedi participation in that, so Luke was here whenever Leia wanted him to be. Not that Luke didn't want to help her. But the past ten years had put considerable stress on both of them and they simply didn't communicate very well anymore.
Luke sat down next to Wedge and took a sip of water. He looked tired. But then, he always looked tired. The small handful of times a year Wedge saw him in person, or when calling him almost every week, Luke always looked tired. "Talk to anyone interesting?" Wedge asked.
"They're all interesting, in their own way," Luke said.
How diplomatic. "Talk to anyone without a political agenda?"
Luke raised an eyebrow. "I think that's a different event," he said, taking another sip of water.
Wedge smiled. Luke was the kindest person he had ever met, but even he wasn't above a bit of cynical humor.
Wedge swirled his drink around. The conversation Iella was having on the other side of him caught his attention.
"Do you have any children?" the diplomat asked her.
"Oh, life has been far too busy for that," Iella said.
It was true. They'd both been in their early 30s when they got married. Between his responsibilities on General Staff and Iella working her way up through the Directorate of Intelligence, there wasn't a lot of time for anything else. Even after he retired, she kept working. Wedge had always tried to make himself available to Luke and Leia and Corran's kids, as something of an extra uncle. The nine of them had all been good kids, but given how things turned out, he was glad he had not taken on the extra stress of parenthood that Luke and Leia in particular had experienced.
Iella pulled out her pocket communicator. "A couple of my friends have the two cutest grandkids though. Look." She leaned over to show him some images.
Wedge frowned and glanced over her shoulder as she pulled up images of three-year-old Evan and one-year-old Julie. They were the children of Corran and Mirax's oldest child, Lujayne, and her husband Corey. Wedge glanced over at Luke, who had shifted his gaze away from them. Corey was Luke's oldest child. But they hadn't spoken in eight years, since Corey and Lujayne had decided to leave Yavin and attend a regular university. Luke had argued with Corey about it, more than once. Luke argued with Corran about it. Luke had not been invited to the wedding reception. He had not met his grandchildren. Wedge had tried to get Corran to intervene, but the answer was always the same. It wasn't his job to tell Corey and Lujayne what to do. Wedge thought it was a mess of miscommunication and misunderstanding. Luke hadn't been against them going to university. Just going off on their own before their training was complete. But Wedge couldn't get anyone to listen. No one ever listened.
"Oh, they're adorable," the diplomat said.
"She's only one and she's already starting to walk and tries to climb on anything she can get to," Iella said. "She'll be a mover."
Wedge glanced over at Luke. He was staring into his water glass.
"That's lovely," the diplomat said.
Wedge considered intervening. But Luke hated it when he did that. He said it would just make other people annoyed with Wedge and that wasn't worth it. Come on Iella, stop, Wedge thought, as she kept chatting. Wedge caught another movement out of the corner of his eye. He watched Luke cautiously, surreptitiously, get up from the table and walk away. Wedge shook his head. It wasn't fair.
A few minutes later, Leia came up behind him and whispered. "Have you seen Luke?" she asked. "I thought he was over here."
"He got up a few minutes ago," Wedge said. "He didn't tell me where he was going."
Leia scowled a bit. "I wish he would tell me before he just walks off somewhere. I need him."
Maybe he needs some space, Wedge thought. "Sorry, I don't know," he said.
"All right, never mind, I'll find him," Leia said. "Thanks." She walked away.
Wedge took another sip of his whiskey. It never changed.
Wedge leaned against a railing as he watched people clear out of the banquet hall. He was hoping to catch Luke before he snuck out and went back to Yavin tomorrow. Wedge spotted him on the other side of the room, finishing up with some dignitaries.
"Hey, Wedge."
Wedge turned to see Tycho coming his way. "What's up?"
"A bunch of us are headed to a bar on level 538. You want to come? I thought I saw Luke around, I was wondering if he might want to come too."
Wedge paused. Luke almost certainly wouldn't want to, as he wasn't that comfortable in bars, even upscale ones. Still, he'd probably appreciate the invitation. "I don't know, go ask him," Wedge said. "He's over there."
"Didn't you tell me once that Luke doesn't drink?" Iella said as she joined them.
"What? He doesn't? Since when?" Tycho asked.
Wedge remembered the exact moment he stopped, right before Rogue Squadron left for the Tyferra mission. Luke had become very conscious of his image as a Jedi. Not in a vain way, but he felt he needed to maintain credibility, even when he didn't feel very credible. "I don't know, about...thirty-three years ago?" Wedge said.
Tycho's jaw dropped. "What? You didn't tell me that. Didn't you have wine on the tables at your wedding? He didn't have any?"
"I don't know." Wedge crossed his arms. "I put him at a table with you and Wes and Hobbie for a reason. You tell me."
"Oh. I don't remember," Tycho said.
"He's probably going to tell you no," Iella said to Tycho.
"I don't want to embarrass him," Tycho said.
"If you want him to go, ask him," Wedge said. "If you don't want him to go, don't ask him."
"Are you going?" Iella asked Wedge.
"No, I...promised Leia I'd help her with some stuff when this was over," Wedge said.
"Oh," Iella said. "Well, we're going to be on level 538, block 162, if you come out later."
"Okay," Wedge said. "I'll let you know." Wedge watched Iella and Tycho walk out of the banquet hall. Luke was still on the other side of the room, by himself now, as the dignitaries had also left. Wedge shook his head again.
Wedge walked with Luke on level 536. It was a bit chilly, for being late spring. But seasons didn't mean much on Coruscant. "Are you hungry?" Wedge asked. He didn't recall seeing Luke eat very much at the banquet hall.
"No, not really," Luke said. "This looks interesting though." Luke stepped over to the window of a nearby shop with a menu board posted outside. It was a tea shop. "See this tea?" he said, pointing to one of the options. "It's from the Erlong system. I was out there a couple of years ago to talk to some of their planetary supervisors. There's a really elaborate tea ceremony, about two hours long, to initiate significant events. My visit wasn't a significant event, but they wanted to show it to me. They're very proud of it."
"Is the tea good?" Wedge asked. He'd never been much of a tea drinker.
"Oh, it's very good," Luke said. "It takes about fifty years to curate the leaves. I'm surprised they have it out here."
"Let's check it out," Wedge said. He led Luke inside and they sat at a booth along a side wall.
A server droid approached them. "Good evening gentlepersons. How may I be of service to you?"
"We'd like the Erlong-é tea, please," Luke said.
"Excellent choice gentleperson," the droid said. "Would you prefer cups or a pot?"
"How about a pot?" Wedge said.
"Very good gentlepersons. I will be right back with your order." Several minutes later the droid returned with a teapot, a warming plate, and two cups. "Do you require anything else?" it asked.
"No, thank you," Luke said.
"Very good gentlepersons," the droid said. "Please enjoy your beverage." The droid returned to the back of the shop.
Wedge poured two cups and pushed one over to Luke. "Cheers," he said.
Luke smiled a small bit. "Cheers," he said.
The tea smelled light and airy. Wedge took a sip. It wasn't floral, as he had expected, but more citrusy and organic. "This is really good," he said.
"The leaves are mixed with some fruit peels, if I remember right," Luke said. "Did Iella go home?" he asked.
"No, a bunch of them went to some bar, a couple of levels up," Wedge said.
"Oh," Luke said. "You...didn't want to go?"
Wedge took another sip of tea, hoping to hide whatever frustration was playing across his face. Why are you like this? "No, I didn't, really," he said. "Sounded like it would be crowded. I've had enough crowds today."
Luke nodded sympathetically. "Crowds can get oppressive," he said.
Wedge's pocket communicator chirped. He picked it up, then glanced at Luke. "Go ahead," Luke said.
Wedge opened it. "Text from Iella," he muttered.
Where are you? she asked.
Out with Luke, he responded.
Are you coming up here? she asked.
No, we're out. We're at a tea shop a couple of levels down from you. Wedge put the communicator back on the table, hoping he didn't look too annoyed.
"Everything okay?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, she just wanted to know if we were coming up to the bar. I told her we were at a tea shop."
Luke nodded. "You can go if you want," he said.
Wedge looked up at him. "If I had wanted to go, I would have," he said. "I didn't."
Luke gave him a slightly pained look, and looked back at his teacup. Wedge felt bad. That had come out a bit more harshly than he'd intended. "Do you want to go to the bar?" he asked.
Luke looked back up at him with a hint of sadness. "Wedge, nobody wants me there."
The same conversation, again and again. "Luke, that's not true," Wedge said.
"It's not really my kind of space," Luke said.
"That's not the same thing as no one wanting you there," Wedge said.
"It would just be awkward for everyone," Luke said.
"Also not the same thing," Wedge said as he picked up his communicator again.
A tea shop!? Since when are you a tea drinker? Iella asked.
Now Wedge was actually annoyed. I don't know. Since today. So what?
Touchy. Sorry.
Wedge let his communicator slide out of his hand onto the table. "Always the same," he mumbled. He looked up to see Luke frowning at him with concern. "Every time I want to do something that isn't what everyone else is doing, I get questions." Luke cocked his head to the side slightly. "Wes and Hobbie go do whatever they want and no one cares." Luke didn't say anything. "I see them all the time," Wedge said. "I see you maybe ten times a year."
Luke reached across the table and put his hand on top of Wedge's. "Wedge, you can't make anyone do anything they didn't already want to do," he said calmly.
Wedge sighed. "Yeah, I know, you tell me that all the time," Wedge said. "They could be nicer about it though."
Luke refilled Wedge's teacup. "You want to hear about the tea ceremony?"
"Yeah, I do," Wedge said.
Early the next morning, Wedge walked into his kitchen where Iella was doing some breakfast dishes before she went to work. "What time did you get in?" she asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
"I don't know. Late. Two, I think," Wedge said. He and Luke had stayed at the tea shop for about an hour. Wedge walked with him back to Han and Leia's apartment, where he always stayed when he was in Coruscant, even though he technically still owned the apartment across the hall. Then Wedge took a long walk by himself before going home. Iella had already gone to bed.
Iella eyed him carefully. "Wes made the comment about the tea shop, not me," she said.
"I know," Wedge said. "He texted me last night to apologize."
"So what's the problem, then?" she asked. Wedge looked at her. "You're doing it again," she said.
"Doing what again?" Wedge asked.
"Being moody and annoyed by everything," Iella said. "So what is it?"
Wedge had walked around so much the night before debating whether to have this exact conversation. "You were being rude," he said.
"The comment wasn't mine," she said.
"Not that," Wedge said.
"Then what?"
"The pictures," Wedge said. "Luke was sitting right there. You know he's never met them. You could have at least waited until he got up again."
Iella put a dish away. "He could have come over to look."
"He wants to be invited," Wedge said.
"Luke is an adult, he can come over and ask," Iella said. "And you are not his babysitter." Iella's work communicator chirped and she picked it up. "Wessiri." She stepped away.
Wedge stepped over to finish the last few dishes. He's not going to come over and ask if he thinks you don't want him there, he thought.
Iella closed up her communicator. "I have to go," she said. "Early morning meeting with the Director's office. We'll talk about this later, okay?" She gave Wedge a quick kiss on the cheek, grabbed her jacket and left.
Wedge walked around one of the local docking ports. It was a good place for a stroll on a warm day, to watch the different types of ships go in and out, and do some people watching. Just normal Republic citizens going about their business.
Wedge couldn't really blame Luke for feeling like no one wanted him around. He'd taken a lot of blame over the past ten years for things that weren't...entirely his fault. He'd had arguments with Leia over what happened with Jacen and Anakin; arguments with Corran; arguments with his kids; arguments with Mara over how to manage and train his kids; arguments with Leia when one of his kids literally harassed Mara into leaving Yavin; arguments with Leia when her treasure box got exposed along with the family secret.
Mostly it was arguments with Leia. Except they weren't arguments so much as Leia venting her frustrations. But Luke believed he was responsible so he never argued back. He just did what she asked him to do, and grew more and more isolated.
"Hey, Wedge!"
Wedge turned around and waved. "Hi Cami," he said. Camilla Horn was Corran and Mirax's youngest child and current captain of the Pulsar Skate. She and her older brother Hal had left Yavin six years earlier, shortly after Yvonne, one of Luke's twin daughters, had also left Yavin. It had been a bad week. Cami took over her mother's import/export business.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked.
"Just out for a walk," Wedge said. "Good for people watching."
"You want to come out with me?" Cami asked. "I'm facilitating a transaction for a friend and I could use a ride-along."
Wedge looked down at his street clothes. "I don't really have anything with me," he said.
"Oh, it's fine," Cami said, taking his hand. "It's casual. And it's just a day trip. I was planning on being back here this evening. I can send my mom a note that you're with me."
"You know what? Sure, I'll come," Wedge said. It was something different to do and something else to think about for a while.
"Great, I'm parked this way."
Wedge followed Cami down the line of docked ships to the Pulsar Skate. The sight of the ship still made his heart happy. He had a lot of fond memories of it. He ran his hand along the railing as he walked up the ramp. He heard a twittering off to the side in the ship. "Hi Whistler," he said. "Staying out of trouble?" The droid twittered back at him with an almost dry sarcasm. Wedge laughed. "Yes, I have no doubt Cami gets into far less trouble than Corran ever did."
Wedge joined Cami in the cockpit as she finished signaling to Control their intent to depart. He sat in the co-pilot's chair and looked around inside. "It looks a bit different since the last time I was in here," he said.
"Yeah, I've been making some custom upgrades," Cami said.
Wedge wondered if custom upgrades were anything like special modifications. "If you're not careful you're going to have a ship as finicky as the Falcon," he said.
Cami snorted. "Yeah, except I actually take care of my ship," she said. Wedge raised an eyebrow at her. "Brianna told me once that that ship is supposed to be white inside." Wedge raised the other eyebrow. "That's disgusting," Cami said and went back to the console.
Wedge chuckled. Brianna was Luke's other twin daughter and the only one of the nine kids to stay on Yavin. She also had not one single diplomatic bone in her body. Still, Wedge had to admit that the Falcon probably was decades overdue for a good power washing, inside and out. Not that he would tell Han that.
Cami got clearance from Control to depart. "Should take us about three hours to get there, once we're in hyperspace," she said. "Sit back and enjoy the ride."
A few hours later, the Skate came out of hyperspace. Based on what Cami had told him, Wedge had expected a bustling space lane with lines of ships waiting to enter and exit. This was...not that. There were a couple of orbiting satellites, but otherwise the space was barren.
"Hang on, this isn't where we're supposed to be," Cami said. "Whistler, check the coordinates." Whistler twittered angrily at her. "Yes, I know I put them in, just check them!" Cami got up to go to the back of the ship.
Wedge stayed in the co-pilot's chair. He didn't want to be in Cami's way. The two satellites he could see were slowly orbiting in their direction, with steady flashing lights. They didn't seem like anything special. They were on the day side of the planet, so he couldn't tell if there were any artificial lights below them. The scanners were picking up a few artificial buildings, but nothing significant. Wedge got up and headed to the back to see if he could give Cami and hand. Suddenly, the entire ship rocked and lurched to the side.
"What the hell was that!" Cami yelled as she ran back to the cockpit.
"That felt like something hit us," Wedge said as he sat back down.
Cami slid back into the pilot's chair. "Where did that even come from?"
"There's only those two satellites out there," Wedge said.
The ship rocked again. Cami flipped on the communicator. "Attention, this is the Pulsar Skate. We are not hostile, I say again, we are not - oof!" Another hit.
"Stabilizers out," Wedge said. "We're going to lose altitude pretty quick."
Cami jumped up and ran to the back again. "Whistler!" she yelled. "The stabilizers!"
Wedge slid into the pilot's chair. He would have been able to fly the ship fine, normally, but with the stabilizers out and the "custom upgrades" he was fumbling a bit. Just need to keep it level, he thought, as the ship entered the atmosphere.
Wedge tried to boost the reverse thrusters to slow the ship down, but they were only at twenty percent power. Better than nothing. He didn't really want to plow through kilometers of trees to slow down, but if he had to… He spotted a clearing about fifteen klicks in front of them. If he could just pitch down a small bit, he could slow down and land…
Another hit rocked the ship, throwing Wedge out of the seat onto the floor. He could hear Whistler screeching in the back. "No no no no no!" Wedge scrambled back into the chair, trying to regain what little control he'd had. One more hit threw Wedge back onto the floor. The side of the ship hit the ground, skidded, and finally came to a stop.
Wedge shook himself awake as he slowly pushed himself off the cockpit floor. Hopefully I've had worse landings, he thought. "Cami…" Wedge pulled himself up and ran toward the back of the ship. It looked like Cami had been thrown around more than he had. She was unconscious and had some superficial bleeding in a few places, but no other physical injuries that he could make out. Wedge gently picked her up and put her in the medical bay. He applied a few small Bacta patches from the medical storage and placed a blanket on her. Good thing I came along.
Wedge took a walk around the ship. Everything was out except the emergency power. Even Whistler seemed to have shorted out trying to fix the stabilizers. He plugged Whistler into the emergency power to recharge him. He let the ramp down to talk a walk around the outside. At least they'd landed right side up. The outside didn't look too bad. Everything seemed fixable, hypothetically. Assuming no one tries to hit us with anything again, Wedge thought.
He remembered the buildings that had been in the scanner earlier. But, good guy buildings or bad guy buildings? Wedge wondered as he walked back up the ramp. He couldn't do much, including call for help, at least until Whistler was back up and running. It might be worth a short walk to see if the buildings were even nearby. Wedge pulled a blaster and an extra power pack out of the weapons locker, checked on Cami one more time, and left the ship.
After about fifteen minutes of walking and not seeing anything more than trees, Wedge decided to get to the top of the crest that was in front of him, then head back. At the top of the hill, there were just...more trees. Wedge shrugged and started to turn around.
Wedge stopped and snapped his head to the side. Did I just see something? He carefully scanned as far as he could see into the trees while his hand went instinctively to his blaster handle. After a few moments, satisfied there was nothing there, he kept walking.
Wedge suddenly felt a sharp pain at the back of his head, and blacked out.