Disclaimer: Really? You need this here? Okay, still don't own. Happy now?
Oh yea, some characters will be original, but so far, I've just numbered them.
:}
Jade lay on the floor of the training room, feeling a sting in every part of her body. 'Owe.' She thought, trying to make her body move, stand. "Owe." she repeated.
"For your information, few Jedi or Sith can stop all the attacks of a repeating blaster." Four said, offering a cold comfort. "From my research, you lasted far longer then even some masters."
"But others were better?" Jade asked, focusing on her words instead of the pain.
"Yes, there are some who were said to have been able to deflect that many shots for far longer." The droid told her. "But for those who had the power, I believe the Jedi order developed a trick that solidified random debris as a form of shield. You might look into that technique. It'll save not just your life, but the lives of the people your defending."
"I know how to do that." Jade snapped. Once again, she tried to make herself stand, and found the pain in her body too much to take. "AAHH!"
Her father, who'd been quietly observing, gestured, and she rose into the air. "Jade, stop." He ordered. "I know your suppressing the pain, but your body, it needs that pain as a warning, letting you know that the stingers you endured, they did some damage. I'll have the medical droid look you over. Then, you set yourself in a healing trance, like the one we did earlier, but without my help. Tomorrow, we work on you diffusing the energy, so you'll be able to avoid that kind of damage."
Jade found herself in a small, almost inconsequential medical bay, a glorified closet filled by a single bed with a droid attached to it. "Jade's hurt. I need to know how badly."
"One moment." The droid said as it started scanning the girl. "Multiple shock burns from the training laser. Quite a few. I'd say she should have just let herself be dropped after the first dozen shots hit her. However, she should be fine, but her body will hurt for a while."
"No pain relief." Malcolm, the Lord Grey, instructed the droid. "She needs to practice healing herself."
Jade looked at the humanoid droid, lacking only a lower half. Instead, it was capable of moving along set tracks around the bed, giving it full access to the patient. "So, I take it your number five?"
"Negative, I'm healing module MPD14." The droid informed her. "You will be just fine. Now rest. I can monitor your healing, to better assist in your practice."
Jade was pulled out of her trance for dinner, and discovered that the damage was easy to heal. She felt strong, ready to go another few rounds with her father. Unfortunately, after dinner, that's what she did, finding herself growing stronger as the old lessons returned. Still, as the saying goes, he taught her everything she knew, and could deflect her best attacks. It was going to take time for her to learn enough variance in her maneuvers to catch her dad unaware, or find a weakness in his defenses. Meanwhile, Malcolm West was a brutal instructor, forcing the girl on the defensive, even as he preached the gospel of the strong offense.
"I spoke with Ashma." Gary was saying as the two practiced. Jade found it annoying that her stern father wasn't distracted by the conversation he was holding, despite being a part of it, while she had to focus to the point that she'd only remember what was said later, when she went over her performance in her post training meditation, and parsed together what the two men said. "She said that there was a low emissions shuttle that lifted off from withing the Hollywood Hills shortly before the attack on the Vega's happened. I'm guessing that once had the kids, and wanted them secured prior to killing the parents."
"That tracks." Grey replied. Jade had to remember, when he was like this, training her, fighting, a Gray Knight, he was to be called Lord Grey, Grey to his friends, or master by his students. "They probably had a cloaked ship hidden in shallow orbit, just high enough to avoid being detected by atmospheric disruptions."
"She did mention that the shuttle disappeared." Gary said.
"The Dark Order uses Snuke class star destroyers, capable of moving while cloaked." Grey informed the police officer.
"And that's special because?" Gary wondered. He'd seen plenty of science fiction where cloaked ships move, and fight, just fine.
"The cloaking systems work both ways." The Gray Knight explained. "Once the cloaking field is up, they can't see out. So the Snuke class star destroyer uses buoy's that are attached by wires, acting as drones, hovering just outside the cloaking field, often using passive sensors to see whats around them. These probes give the ship both an ability to know whats going on, see obstacles and the like, and a very low profile. The buoy's are small, low powered, have no generators of their own, and in general don't attract much attention. Of course, the Star Destroyer's got much better senors on board, but those are useless when cloaked. I expect they also have to move very slowly when they leave a planets gravity well, so we had a real chance to catching them. Only, it feels like they left as soon as they knew the assassination failed. By the time we were able to start pursuit, they were gone. I've been force to rely on Baron's visions to guide me towards the Star Destroyer. We must rescue the princesses."
"I get it, Holly would be devastated if anything happened to her girls." The police officer said.
"It's more then that." Malcolm stopped. "Jade, pause." He turned off his weapon. "You may not know this, but like Ashma, I'm not an exile. I could, in theory, just rejoin the empire at any time. While I have no desire to abandon my friend, my charge, or the oath I made that helped me find my way back to the gray, I do take time to stay as up to date as I can on galactic politics, technology, everything. I've even had Baron spying, just a bit, on the Dark Order, and their allies. That's how I knew about the way they circumvent their cloaking field. But the newest news I heard, just recently, from Ashma, is that the Emperor has been having problems with his family, squabbles and the like. Further, an outsider with a limited claim to the throne is pushing that claim, trying to convince the senate that he should be the next emperor. With the death of the empires previous heir, the Emperor needed some way of protecting himself while sorting out which of his family were loyal to the empire, and which one's would be a disaster to have ruling."
Gary didn't say a word as the Gray Knight paused, letting a silence fall upon the room, broken only by the still heavy breathing from Jade. Malcolm, the Lord Grey, swallowed, showing how hard this was to admit. "Not even Holly knows this yet, but the Emperor, he… He couldn't make an exile his heir, and of course, Holly was exiled. She's in exile, and usually that's that. But because she took it willingly, to save the empire, the emporer didn't make it in perpetuity."
"So Trina's…?" Jade started.
"Yes, he made Trina his heir." Grey affirmed. "It was a good move, because she wasn't likely to just claim the throne, while the other possible heirs would be forced to step back and wait as the emperor sorted his house out. However, that just brings us to the point." He looked his daughter in the eye, focusing on her getting how big this is. "Jade, Trina's value is unbelievable. If something happens to the Emperor before she's recovered, before he can change who his heir again, she'd be empress. We need to save her before the fiends behind the kidnapping use her to take the throne. I need you strong, stronger then you've ever been, because we must save her, the empire, everything. Even her sister isn't important compared to saving Trina, but Tori is still on my top ten list. Still one of the few things above your life."
"And I had the impression you didn't care about your children." Gary joked.
"Jade is a weapon, one of the best gifts I could hope to give my princess." Malcolm said. "Baron has his own value, I suppose, even if he has to be coddled. The only child I could have, could allow myself to care about, is Carl. He's Holly's gift to me, allowing me to have some happiness. No, I value Jade for what she is, what she may yet become for my friend and princess. Jade is my legacy, the warrior who will come after me, train a whole slew of others, be my lasting defender for the crown, assuming Holly or one of her children gets to wear it."
"See, he does value you." Four said to Jade. The goth just grunted, and set herself back to exercising, trying to drive the sadness that came from realizing how little her father really thought about her.
'Yes, he chizzing values me, like he values his saber, or his ship, or his fucking robots.' Jade told herself as a dangerous rage slowly rose in her mind. She felt it, red, hate and anger and loss, becoming almost as dehumanized as her fathers opinion of her were. The rage was intoxicating, promising her a release, a freedom, bathed in power. Jade felt her body shaking as the dark side started seeping into her body, giving her strength and focus beyond anything she'd yet felt.
"Jade, calm yourself!" A voice echoed in her head. "If you let your rage rule you, you may well be lost to the dark side, and in that moment you'd lose everything you ever loved. I know the price of the dark side. I know how it can drive you to lash out, destroying everything in front of you, until you have nothing. Calm yourself, find the strength that the rage gives, and release it. You have power enough without the darkness. When you draw upon it, it must be from a place of power, where you can use the full power of your anger, your hate, without losing yourself to it. I'll teach you, have taught you, but you must control you fear, your rage, and your hurt. So calm yourself, and I promise, you will come out of this ahead, assuming you come out at all."
Jade froze. Her mind was reeling. 'Who...'
"I'm the spirit who helped train you and your brother." The voice said. "When you are ready, I will introduce myself. But for now, just know, I'll be there, for you, helping you out until you can better use the rage inside you. We are not berserkers, we understand how to control our passions, using them to our advantages. I'll teach you how to ride your love to counter those hurtful emotions."
"I don't trust you." Jade said, thankful a moment later that her father wasn't there any more, having headed up to the bridge to check something out.
"It's good that you don't." The voice, very much male, said. "But you do know me, and will be thankful for my help. The light side blinds, so much that many have forgotten that temptation must be faces, overcome. Ignoring it, pretending it doesn't exists, is a great risk, because temptation is always there. This way, you will be strong when we need you strong."
'Lets say I believe you.' Jade thought, slowly finishing up her practice. 'Whats your game? What are you planning on getting out of this exchange?'
"You have no idea where all that power you have comes from, do you?" The voice asked. "The blood of Skywalker, diluted as it is over the centuries, the name lost to generations of daughters, flows through your veins, on both sides of your family. Your father, he felt it, the long dormant bloodline in your mother. You are a true heir of Skywalker, and as such, have the potential to end this war, bring peace, and order, back to the empire. I want that. The Jedi are caught in old ways, trying to stay out of the fights until they cannot move any more. Their order will rise again, but not until after they've lost many, because their enemies know how to hide, and seek places of power. No, this war must end, or the Jedi in two galaxies will suffer."
'Thanks for not piling on the pressure.' Jade thought, but she could already feel the voice fading. It was gone. 'Not gone, watching, waiting.' She decided. 'But he did it, calmed me down. I… He has experience with the darkness. I wonder...'
"Jade, please come to the bridge." Her fathers voice rang out.
The pale girl raced up to the bridge. Every step felt odd, like she wasn't fully connected with her body. She didn't even notice her father had used a word she believed he didn't know. However, she reached the top of the stairs, almost running to the hatch that led int the cockpit.
"Good, you're here." Malcolm said, sitting in the copilots chair. "Jade, Gary here has come up with a plan we believe might help us infiltrate the Dark Orders ship. However, I lack the piloting skills to make it work."
'Right, cause I'm in the right frame of mind to do this now...' Jade groaned inwardly. "So, whats the plan?"
Gary spoke next. "I was looking at the schematics of their ship, and found one blind spot in their sensor net." Gary said, pointing at a holographic image of the ship they were after. It was Huge, well over over three kilometers long, in a roughly pointed shape. "We attached right behind this large object, not as pronounced on this version, but they still have it. That's their sensor antenna. We get there, and their blind. So, I was thinking, we pretend to be..."
"You want us to attack their ship, avoid their anti-aircraft batteries, and attach to their ship, before their fighters launch and find us?" Jade asked.
"Which is where you come in." Malcolm the Grey said. "You're training included a lot more piloting then mine did. Honestly, I used to have a droid do all my flying. I only learned after someone shot up the droid. Four knows how to pilot as well, cause I prefer to have someone else do it. Three, as an astromech droid, can also fly the ship. However, neither of them are nearly as good as you are. Also, through the force, you will be able to predict where their shooting, give us the best chance of avoiding their batteries. So, this plan does sorta hing on you."
"Once attached, then what?" Jade asked.
"We will have to find a way into their ship, possibly while in Hyper, and find your friends." Her father said.
"Starship hulls are processed, their density increased, and most hand burners won't cut through them." Gary said. "That includes the plasma fields your weapons generate. However, we probably won't have to work that hard. The sensor antenna, or is it a dish? Whatever, they have jefferies tubes into them, so all we need is to find an access and force it. We have an astromech droid, and they, according to Grey here, can pick locks. Once in, we sneak around and find everyone. With luck, we can get them to this ship before anyone notices us. That's a big ship, gotta be a way to blend in. Also, their soldiers wear full body armor. We'll just have to appropriate some, hide in plain sight, and find the Vega's. Where the sisters are, we'll find everyone else."
Her father spoke. "I actually had no idea they were called jefferies tubes. I just thought they were access shafts."
"That's probably the real term, I just use the Star Trek name." Gary replied, smiling.
"As much as I love this bonding moment," Jade cut in, "can't help feel like this is all on me. I get us to the dish, or we fail."
"You were trained for moments like this." Her father shot back. "Jade, this is your duty. It's why you exist."
"Then what the holy fuck is a Skywalker?" Jade shot back.
"How…" She couldn't remember her father being that stunned by mere words. "Where did you hear that name?"
Jade's rage faded again, fast as before. "Um, there was this voice in my head, telling me to stay calm..."
"That's the guiding spirit that found us on earth, helped me train and raise you and Baron." Malcolm looked out into space. "All you need to know is that the spirit, it's very old, very wise, very powerful, and has strode on both sides of the force. But no dark side spirit would have the freedom to hop from person to person, or the will to train anyone in the light side. No, I believe I know who it is. I really do. However, I cannot, and will not share that information with you, because it has nothing to do with our battle."
"He said we were descended from the line of Skywalker." Jade wasn't ready to let go.
Malcolm just looked annoyed. "I had hoped to find out myself, before he told you." He glared at his daughter, and for once, she knew he wasn't disappointed in her. "You're the heir to Skywalker, huh?" He breathed out. "That makes a world of difference. Yes, I understand now. The ways of the living force are strange for me, but I get it now. You, my child, are the next incarnation of the great Skywalker. Don't be too afraid if the task ahead of you looks grim, because while the odds may seem astronomical, the Skywalker bloodline, the heir, always finds a way to at lest achieve some level of success. You'll save the galaxy. I just don't know if any of us will get to live in it."
Jade smiled, finding a dark irony in the whole thing. "Still just a tool, huh?" She asked. "Must hurt, knowing that other forces have been manipulating you, had their own plans, and you get no say."
"Ahh, Jade, you really don't know the ways of the living force, do you?" Lord Grey asked. "We have the right to choose, but it understands us, and knows we will make the choices we'll make. No, the living force is not pulling strings to make you come out here, save your friends and my princess. I'm pulling the strings, and it knew I would. You, my daughter, will make decisions, and know, right or wrong, they have consequences. The living force was willing to let the galaxy fall into darkness, more then once, to help it grow as a whole. So, whatever choices you make, they're yours, while still falling into the designs of the force."
"And now my head is starting to hurt." Gary joked. "So, how long until we overtake this ship we're after?"
"Another few days." Maclolm told him. "We're a faster ship, but without Barons help, I fear I would never knows where to go. So, we're gonna go into hyper for the next two days, and while there, I will continue to train Jade to the fullest of her abilities. Jade, I expect you to be strong. I need to make a gift of you to the princess."
Jade found her next two days filled with training. Not just her, but Gary and her father seemed to be pushing themselves, working on becoming stronger, better, more adapted to the new technologies they'd be facing. It turned out that twenty years, despite his staying up to date, meant a slew of technology her father had never dealt with before.
'Luckily, the larger galaxy advanced, at least technologically, at a much slower pace then we do on Earth, or dear old dad would be totally lost. We're catching up.' Jade thought as she worked on her reading list, the latest thing her father had added to her already intimidating training schedule.
By the time they came out of hyper space, Jade felt different. The force flowed more freely through her then it had on earth, something that almost scared her. However, she wasn't as out of control. The spirit, and her brother, had both visited a couple of times, helping her learn how to use the force, control it and herself, while at the same time understanding that the force is an energy, reacting to emotions, knowledge, skill, and a variety of other stimulus, and as such was a tool. I was just a semi self aware tool that had it's own goals. Jade hoped, some day, to understand just what she was dealing with there.
It was during her meditation, just before they'd drop out of hyper space, that she felt it, that part of her everyone but her knew about. 'Okay, what is this feeling?' Jade wondered as she followed what had started out as a barely there emotional thread. But the thinness was an illusion, and as she followed, it expanded, overtaking much of her emotional world. 'That feeling, it's kinda like what I felt for Beck, but much deeper, stronger, like an attachment...'
Jade focused with all her will, forcing her way through as much as she could, then relaxing to let the feeling come up naturally now that she wasn't expending such incredible amounts of her will and energy hiding it. 'It is an attachment. I-I know this feeling. I'm in love….'
Her scream shook the cockpit, and drew the others to her in a blind run.
:}
I wonder, what is it that affected jade so strongly? Guessing that, once she cleared the cobwebs out, she might have discovered more to her relationships then expected. At least she took it well.
Review. (Did the mind trick work? Only time will tell.)