Chapter 2 Family

Edited: 10/2/21

Samal's speeder pulled up to their Naboo manor. It was a good distance away from the main city. Nice and quiet, peaceful. Their father owned an apartment complex in the city while their mother was a space pilot turned dentist. He and Elana got off and walked inside. Their mother Lisa Dicar stood in the kitchen nearby making dinner. She looked a bit like Samal, which was a coincidence as she'd adopted both her children. She had short dirty blonde hair and blue eyes.

"We're back!" Elana called.

"Oh… um… good. I'm almost done making dinner," Lisa said as she put a pair of tongs in pot full of noodles.

Samal looked at her, noticing her hesitation. "What's wrong mom?"

She looked at him sadly. "We will talk at dinner."

Samal and Elana went to their rooms and into the refreshers, cleaning their bodies of the sweat they had accumulated from their work out in Echani practice. They emerged from their rooms and made their way down the dinner table, passing their father's office where he was on his datapad checking for messages related to the apartments or just passing time.

"Dad," Samal greeted as he stepped inside.

"Oh you're back," he said. "How was class?"

"Good, we had a lot of fun," Samal said.

"Dinner!" Lisa called.

The family sat down. For a while there was silence as they ate. Then Lisa looked at her son.

"Sam, I got a transmission from my Jedi friend Ralon Ogan," she said. "He wants to take you to the Jedi Temple."

"Really?" Samal asked as he swallowed a piece of his shaak steak.

She nodded. "This isn't a pleasure trip Samal. The Jedi want you there for your safety. The Sith are getting close to here, and if they find you… who knows what they'll do to you?"

Samal shivered. He'd known for a long time that he had the potential to become a Jedi, he was strong in the force. When he'd been a child he'd been able to use some telekinetic powers. But by that time he'd been too old to begin training in the temple. Of course, his mother had wanted him to stay… knowing that even though the Jedi were considered heroes across the galaxy, their life was a dangerous one. Lisa wasn't someone who would willingly give up her child, unless she had to. Now, with the Sith getting nearer to Naboo, she knew that it was time to choose a side.

Samal's real mother had been a mysterious woman that gave birth here on Naboo and given him up for adoption. Whether or not she'd been force sensitive as well, Samal didn't know.

"So… they want me to become a Jedi?" Samal asked, unable to suppress a slight smile.

Lisa nodded. "I didn't want you to have to live a dangerous life."

Samal didn't say anything, silently disagreeing with her. There had always been a part of him that actually craved danger, adventure and excitement. He was a warrior at heart, he'd trained for eight years to prepare himself for it when it came. When the Sith had reemerged in the galaxy three years ago, Samal had hoped to join the Republic Army, but he was too young then. He'd thought about joining after he was done at school. He'd known he was meant to fight for good.

"You know that if you do become a Jedi, you will never be able to marry," Lisa said.

"I could never understand that about the Jedi, who in their right minds would ever forbid marriage?" Don asked.

"They do it because they believe attachment leads to jealous, and that's a lure to the dark side in their opinion."

Samal hardly listened. He was picturing himself in the brown Jedi robes he remembered oh so well from the occasional times he saw Jedi on the holonet and a lightsaber in his hand. The guardians of peace and justice. They stood up for what was right and protected the helpless. Some said that no one could kill a Jedi, but Samal had studied the history of them in School. He knew about the Mandalorian and Jedi Civil Wars. The Mandalorians, another warrior race like the Echani (but much more violent and aggressive) had started a war to try and conquer the galaxy. They began to slaughter and overwhelm the Republic armies. Though the Republic petitioned the Jedi for aid, the guardians of peace did not join right away. Only a few Jedi Knights did, lead by Revan and Malak. That war ended when Revan defeated Mandalore the Ultimate in a duel above the world of Malachor V, and the battle on that world had costed over a thousand Jedi Knight's their lives. That should have ended that war.

But it didn't. Revan and Malak took their fleet into the Unknown Regions of space, and returned as Sith. Now it was known by history that they had come into contact with the Sith Empire that had fought in the Great Hyperspace War. The Sith had existed for so long, it seemed as though they would never die out no matter how many times they were defeated. The Jedi had beaten Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, Revan and Malak, even the Sith Emperor who according to what Samal had studied from holobooks of Jedi History at the Academy had actually tried to 'devour' the whole galaxy! The Sith sounded like monsters!

But the fact that Malachor V had cost so many Jedi their lives proved that Jedi could be killed. Samal had known that no one was invincible. Echani, Mandolorian, Jedi, all of them lived dangerous lives as warriors or guardians of peace, whichever they called themselves. Samal wanted to experience a great battle, but he'd never want to hurt innocents like what the Mandolorians did in their war against the Republic. Even if he did have a taste for battle he still embraced the nobility of protecting people weaker than himself. He'd often wished to be a Jedi, but there was one problem.

Alia Henros, his crush at the Academy. If he became a Jedi, he would never be able to marry her (assuming their relationship actually progressed that far). Or any other girl for that matter. Samal did want to be a Jedi, though he wasn't sure the price was worth it. His other dream besides living a life of battle, adventure, and excitement was to have a family someday.

But now he was going to be taken in by the Jedi like he'd often wanted. A mixture of excitement and worry filled him. What was he going to do?

"Samal?"

He looked up, realizing he'd space out. "Sorry just lost in thought. When are the Jedi coming?"

"He should be here tomorrow," Lisa said.

Samal's heart sank. He was suppose to meet Yusano here for a sparring session tomorrow, and he'd also planned on meeting Alia for lunch. That was going to put a damper on things. He'd have to holocall them and let them know what was happening.

"And he will take me to the temple on Coruscant?" Samal asked.

"Yes,

After dinner Samal went to his room. It was a medium sized bedroom with a bed taking up most of it. A chair facing the holoplayer TV on top of the dresser on the left corner before the refresher. In the center just before the windows offering Samal a look outside was a wooden case containing his holodisk movies that he usually watched every night. On the side of the case stood Samal's quarterstaff, a weapon he'd gotten three years ago at the age of fifteen, and next to it was its electrostaff counterpart. Both weapons looked similar, though the quarterstaff was merely simple wood and the electro could light up with electricity that could stun a target. But Samal's most prized weapons lay in his closet.

Samal walked up to it, inserting his key cylinder. The doors to the closet parted and Samal looked inside the middle area to see several wooden sections containing a variety of items. And at the center shelf were his swords. An MEI Avenger Vibrosword, colored black and blue, a single handed Echani foil, and a vibroknife. In addition to the blades, he also had a standard republic blaster in the closet, its energy cell kept in another part of the closet and it was always set to safety unless Samal actually needed it.

He was going to have to leave all this behind soon. But would it be forever? The Jedi were only taking him in to protect him from the Sith, maybe… maybe if they defeated the Sith he'd be free to leave the Jedi if he so chose. They didn't torture or force people to do things like the Sith did after all did they?

…

On the bridge of a Sith Warship in a nearby system, the hooded figure of Darth Ferocus, the current Dark Lord of the Sith looked at the galaxy map of this sector. They had conquered Bothawui and were using the planets resources to build themselves new ships. But they had to keep pushing forward and conquer more planets, and he knew which one to go for next.

"Set course to Naboo," he said.

"Yes my lord," the Sith Fleet Commander said.

The ship engines whirring, they vanished into hyperspace to begin their newest conquest.

Well here's chapter 2 of the story. Please review as I haven't gotten a single one yet. I think I'll try and go for at least 52 chapters in this fic, the amount of scene in the movies. Hope you guys are enjoying the story thus far.