Disclaimer: Most of the characters featured are the property of G. Lucas.
No copyright infringement intended. I am NOT making any money with this.
ONLY TO BE ARCHIVED AT FANFICTION.NET
Timeline: Post- Vision of the Future, replacing Union
To M. For feedback, excellent company, fellowship in SW-madness and fun around the clock ;=) (Especially behind the wheel - I sure would like to see you with an X-wing!)
SPOILER ALERT: Planet of Twilight, Showdown at Centrepoint, Specter of The Past, Vision of The Future, Vector Prime as well as some later New Jedi Orders. (And naturally the Thrawn trilogy, how can anyone possibly avoid that? ;=)
WARPED UNIVERSE ALERT: For the sake of storytelling, Isard's not dead at all. Condolenses to those who get stomach cramps from the woman. I know what you're going through. Just thank the stars of Alderaan I didn't bring Callista back.
Star Wars: The Rising By Heidi Ahlmen (siirma6@surfeu.fi)
The scents of the Yavinian jungle tickling their noses, Leia, Jaina, Jacen, Anakin and Amarice hurried down a small, almost overgrown path to the main massassi temple where the living quarters were.
Middays were particularly hot on Yavin as the high-rising sun dried most of the humidity, scorching down and causing sunburns. Leia knew by experience that for Jedi candidates and Masters tarining on the planet, noons were a time of individual meditation. Or at least by name - most of the students, at least, seemed to make good use of the time by sleeping.
The twins along with Anakin turned right and disappeared into a side building to find the controls of the modest aerial defence shield that had been installed but which could probably not keep back anything bigger than a TIE bomber.
The doors to the Great Temple were open, inviting in any whiff of cooler air. Leia and Amarice walked the three steps into the massice structure.
Kyp Durron was waiting just inside the massive stone temple, dressed lightly in a tunic and loose pants.
"Leia, good to see you. What is it?" he asked, seeing the two women's faces and finding their distress in the Force. This was alarming as neither he nor the students had been spared from the strange tremor in the Force a day earlier. Kyp had thought it to be a war somewhere as blodshed and death always affected the Force and gave those sensitive to it at least nasty headaches.
"Kyp, we have to gather the students. has Luke been in touch with you?" Leia asked, gazing around. The spaceous antechamber of the Great Hall was empty.
"Not since three days ago, from Coruscant. " He seemed to notice Amarice for the first time since their arrival. They greeted briefly, and then Amarice hurried past him to go and find the students.
"What in the blazes is going on?" Kyp asked, watching Amarice run up the nearest stairs.
"The Empire are moving, and there's an attack planned on Yavin."
"We have to leave, then." He turned to hurry away, but Leia caught his arm.
"There's no time. Besides, they want the Jedi this time - that's why they're headed our way. They have a new leader, a Sith."
Kyp's eyes went wide. He'd never taken on a Sith before, if you didn't count Exar Kun, but he'd hardly participated in defeating him. Quite opposite, in fact. A pang of guilt hit him together with the slightest manifest of fear. They needed Luke.
Leia caught his thought. She might not be as powerful in the Force as Luke, but the ambivalence coming from Kyp was very clear. "Luke's gone to find Han and Lando. They were caught in the middle when the fleet left Bastion. We're going to have to tackle this on our own."
"What about the Sith? We just can't handle him without Luke." This wasn't exactly the truth, as a group of students had once saved Luke himself by joining forces against a Sith, but most of those student weren't present. And Kyp wasn't certain this motley group of new soon-to-be-Jedi were ready for that kind of confrontation yet.
Leia was more confident. "Luckily there's something who's already fought her."
"Her?" Kyp asked, "It's a woman?" Now this was new.
Leia nodded. "Luckily there's someone who's already fought her."
"Who?" Kyp cursed silently for having to sit everything out at Yavin. A lot, it seemed, was happening in the galaxy, and he was kept in the dark. Damned Luke as his affection for ascetism. Had Kyp had access to the Holonet he could've kept up with this. Although not all of this were probably holonet material.
"Amarice."
Kyp shook his head. Impossible. He knew the woman - wasn't much of a student, but kept up the best she could. She had fought a Sith and survived?
Leia sensed his disbelief. "It's true. Now, are we just going to stand here and wait for the Empire or go sticth up our defences?"
Kyp glanced at the lightsabre hanging from Leia's belt and felt more confident.
Wes' awaited hospitality indeed never came. After docking in, he and Luke had been escorted down to the detention block, thrown into a cell and, seemingly, left to rot.
The star destroyer was becoming livelier by the second. Troopers were running along the corridors, commands were yelled and Luke and Wes had during their fast-paced march to the detention level even seen the first TIE pilots hurrying off towards the hangar lifts.
There wasn't even a bunk in the cell to sit down on.
Wes sat on the floor and Luke remained standing. With no weapons, their chances of getting out were considerably slimmer, but on the other hand, Han and Lando were probably nearby.
Wes decided not to disturb Luke who was obviously trying to figure out what to do. Wes was still worried, but with Luke Skywalker on his side he knew there was more than a fair chance that they'd be out of there soon.
Luke decided not to share his thoughts with Janson. He'd broken out with star destroyer detention blocks before, but he'd usually had at least some wort of weaponry at his disposal. Reluctant to admit to himself that his plan had a few gaps, he went to inspect the door, running his fingers along the smooth metal, trying to find out how the lock mechanism worked. Fighter design had improved amongst the Imperials as well as in the New Republic army.
He kneeled down to inspect a wiring obviously going to a fuse box nearby. Suddenly the door flew open, knocking him on his back. Janson stood up, expecting to be hauled elsewhere by another group of troopers.
But the person standing at the doorway was not a stromtrooper, though it was hard to tell as the bright corridors lights kept the person's face side in shadows. Someone quite tall and slim, carrying a helmet. Luke regained his footing and stood up, gazing into the doorway in the semidarkness of the cell.
Recognition hit Luke like a stun bolt. "Mara?"
Mara stepped in, smiling and taking a good look at the two men's grim- looking surroundings. "Not again, Skywalker," sighed Mara in mock resignation, "I only have to be gone for a few days and you're already getting yourself in trouble." Wrapping her arms around Luke, she gave in for a quick kiss.
Then she noticed Janson. "Who's this?"
Janson regained his speech. "Lieutenant Wes Janson from the Rogue Squadron, Captain."
"Great. More hands to carry blasters."
"What the blazes are you doing here?" Luke remembered to ask, looking curiously at the TIE pilot's helmet she was carrying, and noticed that she was wearing the rest of the uniform as well.
"Long story," Mara replied. Then she dug out her spare blaster from her ankle holsters and clicked off the lightsabre she'd fastened into the utility belt, passing it to Luke. Tell you later, Luke heard in his mind and smiled.
"Why don't you take this and give me the blaster," Luke suggested.
Mara shot him a glance. "Because you're better with it and I'm the brains here."
Luke raised his hand in protest. "Hey - -"
"I know this ship and you don't. End of discussion. Tell you the truth, I was really expecting to find Han and Lando here and not you." She stood silent for a second, hands on hips, waiting for an explanation.
"We're looking for them," Janson offered.
"And a prijgin mighty job you're doing of it," Mara scowled, "Why just the two of you?"
Luke weighed his own lightsabre in his hands, the lightsabre that had once been his fathers, then his, and now belonged to Mara. "The rest of the fleet is waiting orbit around Dathomir for us to get back."
Mara felt like kicking something around. "Waiting for the entire Imperial fleet to just come and turn them into debris. Sometimes you just don't really think, do you?"
Feeling slightly embarrassed for getting this sort of sorting from his fiance in Janson's company, Luke went for the door. "Can't we just go?"
CHAPTER X:
On Yavin IV Leia stood on the warm, grey, rocky surface, staring at the afternoon sky. Yavin was from from the Core, with less than none commercial traffic.
For her the place was etched in memory, of desperation and anxiety, but also victory, for it had been in the close proximity of the mother planet Yavin that the first Death Star had been destroyed.
Next to her, on the roof of the Great Temple, stood her children along with eighteen of Luke's other students including Amarice Rieekan. A few metres below sat Kyp Durron. They were all lost in silent comtemplation, light sabres tightly clasped into their belts and robes on.
It was calm before the storm.
Stretching out to the Force as deeply as she could, she could still only feel reflections of emotions, not thoughts or vision as she sought out her brother and Mara, whose presence had grown stronger during the past few hours.
They continued their wait.
************************************************'
Thank you for reading. Reviews and feedback would be greatly appreciated - they're the fuel that feeds this creative furnace.
Heidi Ahlmen siirma6@surfeu.fi
ONLY TO BE ARCHIVED AT FANFICTION.NET
Timeline: Post- Vision of the Future, replacing Union
To M. For feedback, excellent company, fellowship in SW-madness and fun around the clock ;=) (Especially behind the wheel - I sure would like to see you with an X-wing!)
SPOILER ALERT: Planet of Twilight, Showdown at Centrepoint, Specter of The Past, Vision of The Future, Vector Prime as well as some later New Jedi Orders. (And naturally the Thrawn trilogy, how can anyone possibly avoid that? ;=)
WARPED UNIVERSE ALERT: For the sake of storytelling, Isard's not dead at all. Condolenses to those who get stomach cramps from the woman. I know what you're going through. Just thank the stars of Alderaan I didn't bring Callista back.
Star Wars: The Rising By Heidi Ahlmen (siirma6@surfeu.fi)
The scents of the Yavinian jungle tickling their noses, Leia, Jaina, Jacen, Anakin and Amarice hurried down a small, almost overgrown path to the main massassi temple where the living quarters were.
Middays were particularly hot on Yavin as the high-rising sun dried most of the humidity, scorching down and causing sunburns. Leia knew by experience that for Jedi candidates and Masters tarining on the planet, noons were a time of individual meditation. Or at least by name - most of the students, at least, seemed to make good use of the time by sleeping.
The twins along with Anakin turned right and disappeared into a side building to find the controls of the modest aerial defence shield that had been installed but which could probably not keep back anything bigger than a TIE bomber.
The doors to the Great Temple were open, inviting in any whiff of cooler air. Leia and Amarice walked the three steps into the massice structure.
Kyp Durron was waiting just inside the massive stone temple, dressed lightly in a tunic and loose pants.
"Leia, good to see you. What is it?" he asked, seeing the two women's faces and finding their distress in the Force. This was alarming as neither he nor the students had been spared from the strange tremor in the Force a day earlier. Kyp had thought it to be a war somewhere as blodshed and death always affected the Force and gave those sensitive to it at least nasty headaches.
"Kyp, we have to gather the students. has Luke been in touch with you?" Leia asked, gazing around. The spaceous antechamber of the Great Hall was empty.
"Not since three days ago, from Coruscant. " He seemed to notice Amarice for the first time since their arrival. They greeted briefly, and then Amarice hurried past him to go and find the students.
"What in the blazes is going on?" Kyp asked, watching Amarice run up the nearest stairs.
"The Empire are moving, and there's an attack planned on Yavin."
"We have to leave, then." He turned to hurry away, but Leia caught his arm.
"There's no time. Besides, they want the Jedi this time - that's why they're headed our way. They have a new leader, a Sith."
Kyp's eyes went wide. He'd never taken on a Sith before, if you didn't count Exar Kun, but he'd hardly participated in defeating him. Quite opposite, in fact. A pang of guilt hit him together with the slightest manifest of fear. They needed Luke.
Leia caught his thought. She might not be as powerful in the Force as Luke, but the ambivalence coming from Kyp was very clear. "Luke's gone to find Han and Lando. They were caught in the middle when the fleet left Bastion. We're going to have to tackle this on our own."
"What about the Sith? We just can't handle him without Luke." This wasn't exactly the truth, as a group of students had once saved Luke himself by joining forces against a Sith, but most of those student weren't present. And Kyp wasn't certain this motley group of new soon-to-be-Jedi were ready for that kind of confrontation yet.
Leia was more confident. "Luckily there's something who's already fought her."
"Her?" Kyp asked, "It's a woman?" Now this was new.
Leia nodded. "Luckily there's someone who's already fought her."
"Who?" Kyp cursed silently for having to sit everything out at Yavin. A lot, it seemed, was happening in the galaxy, and he was kept in the dark. Damned Luke as his affection for ascetism. Had Kyp had access to the Holonet he could've kept up with this. Although not all of this were probably holonet material.
"Amarice."
Kyp shook his head. Impossible. He knew the woman - wasn't much of a student, but kept up the best she could. She had fought a Sith and survived?
Leia sensed his disbelief. "It's true. Now, are we just going to stand here and wait for the Empire or go sticth up our defences?"
Kyp glanced at the lightsabre hanging from Leia's belt and felt more confident.
Wes' awaited hospitality indeed never came. After docking in, he and Luke had been escorted down to the detention block, thrown into a cell and, seemingly, left to rot.
The star destroyer was becoming livelier by the second. Troopers were running along the corridors, commands were yelled and Luke and Wes had during their fast-paced march to the detention level even seen the first TIE pilots hurrying off towards the hangar lifts.
There wasn't even a bunk in the cell to sit down on.
Wes sat on the floor and Luke remained standing. With no weapons, their chances of getting out were considerably slimmer, but on the other hand, Han and Lando were probably nearby.
Wes decided not to disturb Luke who was obviously trying to figure out what to do. Wes was still worried, but with Luke Skywalker on his side he knew there was more than a fair chance that they'd be out of there soon.
Luke decided not to share his thoughts with Janson. He'd broken out with star destroyer detention blocks before, but he'd usually had at least some wort of weaponry at his disposal. Reluctant to admit to himself that his plan had a few gaps, he went to inspect the door, running his fingers along the smooth metal, trying to find out how the lock mechanism worked. Fighter design had improved amongst the Imperials as well as in the New Republic army.
He kneeled down to inspect a wiring obviously going to a fuse box nearby. Suddenly the door flew open, knocking him on his back. Janson stood up, expecting to be hauled elsewhere by another group of troopers.
But the person standing at the doorway was not a stromtrooper, though it was hard to tell as the bright corridors lights kept the person's face side in shadows. Someone quite tall and slim, carrying a helmet. Luke regained his footing and stood up, gazing into the doorway in the semidarkness of the cell.
Recognition hit Luke like a stun bolt. "Mara?"
Mara stepped in, smiling and taking a good look at the two men's grim- looking surroundings. "Not again, Skywalker," sighed Mara in mock resignation, "I only have to be gone for a few days and you're already getting yourself in trouble." Wrapping her arms around Luke, she gave in for a quick kiss.
Then she noticed Janson. "Who's this?"
Janson regained his speech. "Lieutenant Wes Janson from the Rogue Squadron, Captain."
"Great. More hands to carry blasters."
"What the blazes are you doing here?" Luke remembered to ask, looking curiously at the TIE pilot's helmet she was carrying, and noticed that she was wearing the rest of the uniform as well.
"Long story," Mara replied. Then she dug out her spare blaster from her ankle holsters and clicked off the lightsabre she'd fastened into the utility belt, passing it to Luke. Tell you later, Luke heard in his mind and smiled.
"Why don't you take this and give me the blaster," Luke suggested.
Mara shot him a glance. "Because you're better with it and I'm the brains here."
Luke raised his hand in protest. "Hey - -"
"I know this ship and you don't. End of discussion. Tell you the truth, I was really expecting to find Han and Lando here and not you." She stood silent for a second, hands on hips, waiting for an explanation.
"We're looking for them," Janson offered.
"And a prijgin mighty job you're doing of it," Mara scowled, "Why just the two of you?"
Luke weighed his own lightsabre in his hands, the lightsabre that had once been his fathers, then his, and now belonged to Mara. "The rest of the fleet is waiting orbit around Dathomir for us to get back."
Mara felt like kicking something around. "Waiting for the entire Imperial fleet to just come and turn them into debris. Sometimes you just don't really think, do you?"
Feeling slightly embarrassed for getting this sort of sorting from his fiance in Janson's company, Luke went for the door. "Can't we just go?"
CHAPTER X:
On Yavin IV Leia stood on the warm, grey, rocky surface, staring at the afternoon sky. Yavin was from from the Core, with less than none commercial traffic.
For her the place was etched in memory, of desperation and anxiety, but also victory, for it had been in the close proximity of the mother planet Yavin that the first Death Star had been destroyed.
Next to her, on the roof of the Great Temple, stood her children along with eighteen of Luke's other students including Amarice Rieekan. A few metres below sat Kyp Durron. They were all lost in silent comtemplation, light sabres tightly clasped into their belts and robes on.
It was calm before the storm.
Stretching out to the Force as deeply as she could, she could still only feel reflections of emotions, not thoughts or vision as she sought out her brother and Mara, whose presence had grown stronger during the past few hours.
They continued their wait.
************************************************'
Thank you for reading. Reviews and feedback would be greatly appreciated - they're the fuel that feeds this creative furnace.
Heidi Ahlmen siirma6@surfeu.fi