Chapter 27: Not this Crude Matter
The fleet was now surrounded, the precious gap of space for the Jedi to escape from had been sealed quickly, Jaina had waited too long before calling the retreat now they had no choice but to fight their way out. She was ordering the new organization of her fighters when she felt a shift in the Force and a moment later her diagnosis screen lite up in the violet hues of unidentified crafts.
''General the new arrivals are hailing us,'' her communications officer said, a glimmer of hope her water logged tone.
''Whose ships are they?'' she demanded, managing to keep her voice sounding commanding instead of the quake she felt in her heart.
''They look like Chiss design, General,'' her second in command, a long time friend of Jaina's, Lowbacca, howled from his consul.
Chiss, her heart pounded in burgeoning hope, dimmed only by the fact that the enemy had showed a spectacular array of ship design and could easily have a fleet of Chiss clawfighters to join the rest. ''In what sector did they pull out of hyperspace, Lowie?'' she asked.
''Sector 2187,'' came the avid roar.
Jaina closed her eyes and let the Force flow over her, sending seeking tendrils out to where that sector was. All she needed was a moment and she could identify whether or not Jag or any member of the Chiss Empire she had met was in that fleet. It felt like an eternity but actually it was only the seconds she needed before Jaina let out a large sigh of relief.
''Patch them through, Comm Officer,'' Jaina ordered, her voice suddenly much lighter then before.
''General Solo-Fel,'' a deep voice came over the loudspeaker. ''This is Admiral Jagged Fel from the Chiss Empire. We have been informed that you could use some backup.''
No matter what there previous problems had been, there was never a time that Jaina could remember where this much warmth had filled her from just the sound of Jag's voice. ''Indeed we do Admiral,'' Jaina answered laughingly. Abruptly another thought pierced her joy. ''Where are the kids?''
''Father has them, hanging back a few parsecs. I thought you might want to see them after we're done here, but I didn't want to put them in harms way,'' Jagged answered. ''I've got my fighters engaged. Shall we coordinate our attacks?''
Jaina smiled broadly. ''What do you suggest Admiral Fel?''
[hr][/hr]
After the initial shock of feeling Uncle Luke's injury, Anakin pumped his legs like never before, heading for his uncle and cousin. Ben's anger was a violent shimmer in the Force and Anakin feared if Ben's vision of darkness did have some plausibility after all. He had never felt Ben so angry, had never heard of him as such and it scared Anakin more then he wanted to admit. Ben had taken a certain place in Anakin's heart and the compulsion to protect his younger cousin had not diminished. It had only grown since he and Ben's track through the Yuuzhan Vong forests of Linnal, when Ben had been sick and Anakin had feared he would die.
Now the death was different, a spiritual one that would rob Ben of both his soul and his life. Anakin pressed his body to the limit, wishing that he was in a heavier laden Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology, his body always seemed to respond better when it was around the rapacious plant life. The medics had figured it had something to do with all his time spent in the [i]oombassl[/i], that his cells now craved the technology that had sustained his life.
He was nearly to where he could sense his uncle and cousin when he noticed that Analsa had been right with him the whole way. He certainly didn't want to put the girl in any further danger then she was already in, but Ben was in trouble and he couldn't afford to protect her either.
''Go back,'' he yelled over the howling wind.
''Not on your life. If Master Skywalker is in danger I want to help,'' she shouted back to him. ''I need to help.''
Anakin always hated pulling rank but he wasn't afraid to do it if he felt the situation called for it, which this one did. ''Analsa I am a Jedi Knight and your senior, I am giving you an order, fall back.''
''And I am disobeying that order,'' Analsa said, pushing her legs in faster to catch up with him. He was amazed that she could be this close without Force assist.
''The High Council will not like this,'' Anakin murmured as he leaped over a large canyon between buildings. He just had to go a little further, just a little further and he could stop Ben, help sooth the rage coursing through his cousin.
[hr][/hr]
Luke's grasp on life was tenuous at best. His breath was ragged and shallow, come in hard stuttered hisses. Nefarion was leaning over him and for the first time Luke caught sight of the face that lay behind the cowl and gasped, which sent him into a bought of raking coughs. He wouldn't make it much longer, Anakin had to hurry or Nefarion would take Ben with him now. He could feel his son, if not see him, charge the Sith Lord, and knew that Ben was far to week with his previous exertions to face Nefarion now.
With a clarity that surprised him, Luke could see the future up ahead, could see the titanic battle that Ben and Nefarion would have to wage and it sent shivers down his already freezing back. He was growing cold, the life Force inside of his body wavering, and he feared that Anakin wouldn't make it time for him to say his last goodbyes to his two boys.
[i]Force give me the strength to hold on just a little longer,[/i] he mentally pleaded fervently.
[hr][/hr]
Ben was beside himself, the closest to over the edge he had ever come to in his young life. The anger coursing through him he had never felt before, had never wanted to feel, not even when his mother had been killed. But because he had failed once the second time made it all the more painful, and pain misunderstood, was pain that was feared.
His Force assisted leap took him well over the ledge and he landed perfectly next to his failing father and the man who had ran him through. Ben could not see anything behind the shadowed cowl and the dark being looked more like a phantom then and actually personage. Ben barely took notice, all he saw was the red light blade that had plunged through his father and his own ability to stop it once more.
He leaped into a front flip, arching his lightsaber down as if to cleave the cloaked man in half, but this dark one was good and his blood blade blocked the blue of Ben's, overthrowing it over his head so that Ben flew over the cloaked being, landing hard against the floor and skidding to a stop. Ben, in his right mind, would never have tried such a sloppy move, but the disbelief of his father's situation and his own tiredness and fatigue from the long hours of battle were wearing down on him.
He arched his back and with a pump of his arm muscles, Ben was back on his feet, lightsaber in hand. The dark being turned to face him, and Ben got the feeling he had a pleased smile on his face, although the man's features were still shrouded underneath the cowl. ''Good young Skywalker. Fuel your anger and take your revenge.''
[i]Ben don't seek revenge,[/i] he heard his mother's voice in his head, from the memory of her death. [i]Vengeance may cost you what you desire most.[/i]
Shaking his head confused, a line grew between Ben's eyebrows as he frowned deeply. What did he desire most? Certainly he had never wanted to take another beings life in such a way before, never had he found joy in the though of running someone through with his lightsaber, why did he now? His grey shot eyes flickered to his father's prone form and his heart and mind suddenly linked together and he knew what he wanted. Time with his father, time to tell him the things he had never said before.
But the dark being was not about to allow him that time. He circled around Ben, dark and menacing like a demonic wraith that would always cling to him. The memory of his visage would, the way the dark being's lightsaber had so willingly burned through Luke's midsection.
''I can feel the hate in you, now release your anger,'' the dark taunted him, the tip of his lightsaber making mocking thrusts at Ben who was so tried that he could barely dodge them.
He could delve back into the Force but at his current mind set he could so easily lose the requisite control and fall too deeply into its waving energies.
This time the dark being leaped at him, the blood light blade arching so that Ben had to roll under it and he swung his legs at the vulnerable spot of where he thought the dark being's knees would be. He aimed too high and caught the man's thigh, toppling him over but not breaking the knees as he had hoped. The dark being turned his imbalance into a flip, dodging Ben's lightsaber swipe to his feet.
Ben no longer wished to kill the dark being, only to disable him so that he could spend the time with his father that he so desperately wanted, the time that he had not been given with his mother.
He upped his connection with the Force by a few notches and came at the dark being once again, his right leg coming up to snap a roundhouse kick to the shrouded phantoms solar plexis. The rush of expelled air that was heard only slightly through the torrential wind was the only sign that Ben had seen that the phantom was real and alive, and not some demon from stories.
''You're good young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet,'' came the cultured icy tones of the dark being yet again.
The crimson blade came at Ben in a wide arch swing to his midsection, Ben pushed off his feet and turned sideways, walking on the nearby wall as if he were walking on a city street, the shrouded beings lightsabers digging chips out of the wall. Ben landed behind the dark being and was expertly blasted by a Force-push that cracked his head when he crashed to the rooftop. Dazed he was surprised when he looked back up and the dark being was gone.
Struggling to his feet, fighting the nausea and the vertigo, he glanced around the area cautions, his lightsaber still held in guard position, expecting the shrouded beings disappearance to be a trick, that as soon as he let down his guard the man would merge from the shadows. But no attack came, and Ben staggered to his father's side.
''Dad,'' Ben whispered, his throat far too constricted by feeling to say more then that.
''Ben?'' It was said on a question as Luke's lined eyelids inched open. ''I was...so...worried,'' Luke breathed.
''I'm okay, Dad,'' Ben said, tilting his head ever so slightly so that there was no chance that Luke could see the blood running down the back of his skull. Lifting his father's head off of the pavement he tried hard not to stare at the charcoal ring that marked Luke's fatal injury, and cushioned his father's head in his lap.
''I wish there had been another way,'' Luke said in a voice as quiet as the Force itself. ''I so wanted to see you grow.''
Ben grabbed Father's hand and held it in a vice like grip as if to anchor him physically to this plan of existence. ''I did to,'' he said, using his other hand to swipe at the tears that were tracing down his face. ''You can't leave me, Dad. I still need you, you know.''
From behind came the thudding sound of rapid bootsteps and Ben did not have to reach out to the Force to know who it was. Anakin. Too late, but here none the less and Ben was grateful for his presence.
Instantly, Anakin was on the other side of Luke, tears caught in his ice blue eyes but not falling. ''Who did this?'' he asked looking at the grey eyed Ben to Luke's fragile form.
''Sith Lord,'' Luke answered. Ben could feel his presence wavering and a sob caught in a heave in his chest. ''Lord Nefarion,'' Luke finished. He pulled his eyes from his son and centered them on Anakin. ''Promise me, you'll look after my boy, Anakin. Train him. Balance must be brought through you two.''
Anakin closed his eyes and let the tears roll over his cheeks. ''I will, Uncle Luke. I promise.''
''No,'' Ben cried. ''You Dad, it's not too late. I can heal you. If I go deep enough, I can heal you.'' And he began to build a barrier around his father's living essence as strong as permecrete. He would hold on to his father and heal him through the Force. Just as Ben began to fall far too deep for his control, he felt the barrier shatter through the incredible power of his father. ''Please Dad,'' he begged. ''Please.''
And with a last breath expelled life left Luke Skywalker. Ben reached to pull his father into his arms, but he soon found that they grasped nothing but himself and sobs tore through his body. After a while he felt Anakin's strong arms around him, but even that comfort could not relieve the aching emptiness inside of him. He had not saved his parents and he could not save himself. His visions were sealed in stone and they could not be altered.
[hr][/hr]
Han and Leia were sitting to dinner with the returned Jacen and his wife Tahiri. It was used to distract them while the rest of the family was on Bellalt helping to stifle the oncoming onslaught. Han was smiling at the way his son and daughter-in-law were talking about baby names and what to do with the little ones nursery when both went as white as bedsheets and Jacen clutched at his stomach. Recognizing that it was something to do with the Force, Han turned to his wife in time to see her eyes roll up into her head and catch her as she slid in her chair.
Tahiri seemed to be the most alert and Han turned alarmed eyes onto the girl who was as dear to him as his own daughter. ''Tahiri, what happened?''
''It's Luke,'' she said, as if stating a fact that was true and yet could not be believed. ''He's dead.''
[hr][/hr]
The fleet was receding and Jaina felt a smile pull her features. With the help of the Chiss, the enemy fleet had been outnumbered and had started to retreat into hyperspace after many of their troop carriers had come from the planet and docked with the cruiser. It looked like Bellalt would be saved after all.
Smiling she was about to get a connection to Jag when her knees buckled from underneath her and the disturbance in the Force shattered the first Sword of the Jedi. Luke Skywalker, whose handle had been soft leather, but whose steal had been sharper then Krakana teeth. Tears stung her eyes and she clutched at her stomach, feeling as though the galaxy had shifted and that the light of justice had gone out and now darkness could come in.
[hr][/hr]
Baron Soontir Fel had been playing with his two grandchildren when they abruptly burst into tears uncontrollably.
[hr][/hr]
In the High Council room Master Skywalker's death was felt by all the Jedi members. They all looked at each other paled and disbelieving. Kyp Durron met Corran Horn's eyes before Corran lowered his head and said, ''This is a dark day.''
[hr][/hr]
Awareness came to Luke in a rush, like when your ears finally release the pressure after you change altitudes. His skin touched, his ears heard, his nose smelled, but it was in a greater and lesser way then before. Slowly he fluttered his eyes open and his corneas were seared by the brightest light he had ever seen, instantly he clamped the lids shut. The light was intoxicating and despite the expectation of pain, Luke cracked his sight to slits and was pleased to find that the pain was less intense and growing more so by every second.
It was like being in the middle of a star or how he had imagined it in his childhood when he had not understood that all stars were compacted gas. There was a wonderful warmth that filled him and he basked in it as if he were sunning himself on Garqi's beaches.
He didn't know how long he was there before he began to wonder if this was all there was to death. He had always thought that Mara would be there to greet him. Panic began to take hold when all of the sudden he felt a whack to the back of his calf. Looking down he saw a form that instantly brought him to his knees.
''Master Yoda,'' he said, and bowing his head before his old Master.
''Kneel before another Master do you, young Master Skywalker?'' Yoda said, a claw coming out to rest on Luke's shoulder
Luke felt a smirk come upon his face, with it a remembrance of youth and the brightness he could hardly contain when he was Master Yoda's apprentice. "Old habits die hard, Master," Luke said with a twist to the smile.
"Many students have I taught, many who I thought would never make to knighthood, and many proud I was to see succeed. Surpassed them all, you have," the aged Master said.
Luke was just beginning to contemplate this when immediately the world shifted from the warmth of the light into a circular room, not unlike the High Council room he had designed in the new Temple. Ringing the room were twelve Jedi Masters in chairs that were conformed to their particular species. Master Yoda now sat next to a dark skinned man with a shaved head and a calm collective countenance.
"Master Skywalker you have been brought her for judgment," the dark skinned Master said in a deep voice.
Luke nodded, instantly knowing that with his bouts of the Dark Side he had a lot to answer for. He bowed towards the Jedi. "I understand Master."
"You have organized a new Order," the Jedi said.
"Yes, Master, I have at the direction of Master Yoda who was the last of the old Order," Luke said smartly. He knew he had nothing to hide but being amongst the Masters of the old Order made him nervous.
The Jedi nodded. "Master Yoda has informed us of such. Upon what principles did you find this order and what reasons do you have from straying from those of the our Order?"
"If I strayed was because I felt that those principles would not work in the Order at the time I built it. There was documentation to prove that Jedi had loved before and had been allowed to marry, for one thing, in the case of our High Council, time and circumstances cause us to join more fully with the government as a whole. The Force is a constant but it is also fluid," Luke said.
The Jedi frowned. "Are you saying that you alone interpret the Force?"
"Hardly Master, but change is a constant especially if the Force wills it. Perhaps at the time of the end of the Order there was more reason to restrain such relationships but I cannot say for sure because I was not there. I based what the Order needed for what the galaxy needed. We were small with the number of Force-users reduced by the Emperor's purges. I did what I felt necessary."
"And when the Emperor was resurrected?" the Jedi asked.
Luke swallowed, that time in his life he had thought that he was the only one to save the galaxy. Had tried in a very prideful way to save the entire galaxy by becoming what he had fought for with his father. "There is no excuse for my actions during that time. I cannot change them but I learn from them."
"And what have you learned, Master Skywalker?" A Cerean at the other side of Master Yoda interjected into the conversation.
"That I still have more to learn," Luke answered.
"Judgment set it has been, prepare yourself for the consequences," Yoda said.
Luke bowed once again and when his head came up found that his environment had changed again. He was inside a small hut, the one Ben Kenobi had taken him to right after the Tusken Raider attack on Tatooine he was sitting in the same place he had back then and Obi-Wan was there stroking his beard.
"Obi-Wan," Luke said with such great joy he could not believe it. His wife's father and his son's grandfather, the man who had watched him through all his life was much more dear to him.
"Hello, Luke," Obi-Wan greeted with a smile on his age lined face, not unlike Luke's own. "It's been a long time."
"Yes, it has," Luke agreed. "They said that I should prepare for the consequences of my judgment."
Obi-Wan sat up straighter and faced Luke more fully. "I am to be your final judge, since it was my life that I gave to save yours."
"Then judge, Master," Luke said, wondering if for his spurt with the Dark Side would result in him sharing the same fate that Obi-Wan had when he had lived on Tatooine, a life of solitude. Never to see his wife, his father or all the others that had passed into the Force.
Obi-Wan stood up, walked over to Luke, and cupped the younger Jedi's face in his hands, his azure eyes so much like Luke's son's burrowed into Luke's own. It was as if Obi-Wan was searching out every inch of Luke's soul to determine what lay inside it.
"You gave your life up for your son?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes," Luke answered.
"Can you give up your death?" said the older Jedi
Luke's brow furrowed in confusion. "I'm not sure I understand, Ben."
He backed up and as Luke's eyes traced him he saw that there were people behind him. A red head with sharp green eyes and a welcoming smile stood in front and middle of the group and Luke's eyes grew wide with surprise.
He tried to form her name, but his mouth seemed to have gone slack at the sight of her. She smiled at his inability and stepped forward. "Hello, Skywalker," she said in that way that made what would have been a mockery into an endearment.
Then she was in his arms and he kissed her with all the fervency of his love, all the times he wished for her at his side, and the hopes of never letting her go. "Oh, Mara, how I've missed you."
"I missed you too, Skywalker," she whispered into his ear as he still clung to her. "But there are others who have been waiting for you too."
His focus returned to the small group that Mara had come from and he found his father, Anakin Skywalker standing next to one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen and the resemblance to Leia was beyond coincidence. His eyes turned to Mara's in question and she nodded in agreement.
Taking his hand, Mara lead him up to his father and the woman and gestured to them. "Luke I would like you to meet your parents. Anakin and Padme Skywalker."
Anakin's large frame engulfed his son into a massive hug, so much so that Luke feared that Anakin would snatch the proverbial air out of him. "Father," he breathed, never having experienced a hug from the man who had been a part of his birth but never of his life.
"You saved me from my own darkness, my son. I am so proud of what you have become," Anakin whispered, ruffling Luke's hair.
Then Padme came forward in trepidation, her hand came up slowly, shaking, to his face to trace the contours of it. "Luke how I have waited for this day."
"Me too, Mother," he said and opened his arms to her, which she came in without hesitation. She was petite like Leia and Luke found he could rest his chin on her head. This was his mother and she was his in his arms. He could not believe it.
"Now he must choose," came a baritone voice that Luke had never heard before and he saw a tall Jedi Master with long flowing hair stepped next to his father and Obi-Wan. Luke belatedly recognized him as Master Qui-Gon Jinn who had guided Obi-Wan to knighthood.
Luke sought out Obi-Wan's face. "Choose?" he asked.
"Whether to stay or to do as I did and return to a plane in which you can be a hand in the path for balance," Obi-Wan answered.
"My son and nephew, yes," Luke murmured. He looked to the hand that Mara grasped to his parents that he so wished to know better and understand, and back to the two Jedi Masters that watched him. He looked back to Mara, "I have to go," he said.
She nodded. "I know. If you get the chance tell Ben that I am always with him."
Squeezing her hand he said, "He already knows but if I can I will tell him." He faced Obi-Wan. "I choose to give up my death."
"You will not be alone, Luke. I have been given permission to accompany you," Obi- Wan said. "I have waled that plane before and can give you guidance."
"Then shall we go," Luke said.
The fleet was now surrounded, the precious gap of space for the Jedi to escape from had been sealed quickly, Jaina had waited too long before calling the retreat now they had no choice but to fight their way out. She was ordering the new organization of her fighters when she felt a shift in the Force and a moment later her diagnosis screen lite up in the violet hues of unidentified crafts.
''General the new arrivals are hailing us,'' her communications officer said, a glimmer of hope her water logged tone.
''Whose ships are they?'' she demanded, managing to keep her voice sounding commanding instead of the quake she felt in her heart.
''They look like Chiss design, General,'' her second in command, a long time friend of Jaina's, Lowbacca, howled from his consul.
Chiss, her heart pounded in burgeoning hope, dimmed only by the fact that the enemy had showed a spectacular array of ship design and could easily have a fleet of Chiss clawfighters to join the rest. ''In what sector did they pull out of hyperspace, Lowie?'' she asked.
''Sector 2187,'' came the avid roar.
Jaina closed her eyes and let the Force flow over her, sending seeking tendrils out to where that sector was. All she needed was a moment and she could identify whether or not Jag or any member of the Chiss Empire she had met was in that fleet. It felt like an eternity but actually it was only the seconds she needed before Jaina let out a large sigh of relief.
''Patch them through, Comm Officer,'' Jaina ordered, her voice suddenly much lighter then before.
''General Solo-Fel,'' a deep voice came over the loudspeaker. ''This is Admiral Jagged Fel from the Chiss Empire. We have been informed that you could use some backup.''
No matter what there previous problems had been, there was never a time that Jaina could remember where this much warmth had filled her from just the sound of Jag's voice. ''Indeed we do Admiral,'' Jaina answered laughingly. Abruptly another thought pierced her joy. ''Where are the kids?''
''Father has them, hanging back a few parsecs. I thought you might want to see them after we're done here, but I didn't want to put them in harms way,'' Jagged answered. ''I've got my fighters engaged. Shall we coordinate our attacks?''
Jaina smiled broadly. ''What do you suggest Admiral Fel?''
[hr][/hr]
After the initial shock of feeling Uncle Luke's injury, Anakin pumped his legs like never before, heading for his uncle and cousin. Ben's anger was a violent shimmer in the Force and Anakin feared if Ben's vision of darkness did have some plausibility after all. He had never felt Ben so angry, had never heard of him as such and it scared Anakin more then he wanted to admit. Ben had taken a certain place in Anakin's heart and the compulsion to protect his younger cousin had not diminished. It had only grown since he and Ben's track through the Yuuzhan Vong forests of Linnal, when Ben had been sick and Anakin had feared he would die.
Now the death was different, a spiritual one that would rob Ben of both his soul and his life. Anakin pressed his body to the limit, wishing that he was in a heavier laden Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology, his body always seemed to respond better when it was around the rapacious plant life. The medics had figured it had something to do with all his time spent in the [i]oombassl[/i], that his cells now craved the technology that had sustained his life.
He was nearly to where he could sense his uncle and cousin when he noticed that Analsa had been right with him the whole way. He certainly didn't want to put the girl in any further danger then she was already in, but Ben was in trouble and he couldn't afford to protect her either.
''Go back,'' he yelled over the howling wind.
''Not on your life. If Master Skywalker is in danger I want to help,'' she shouted back to him. ''I need to help.''
Anakin always hated pulling rank but he wasn't afraid to do it if he felt the situation called for it, which this one did. ''Analsa I am a Jedi Knight and your senior, I am giving you an order, fall back.''
''And I am disobeying that order,'' Analsa said, pushing her legs in faster to catch up with him. He was amazed that she could be this close without Force assist.
''The High Council will not like this,'' Anakin murmured as he leaped over a large canyon between buildings. He just had to go a little further, just a little further and he could stop Ben, help sooth the rage coursing through his cousin.
[hr][/hr]
Luke's grasp on life was tenuous at best. His breath was ragged and shallow, come in hard stuttered hisses. Nefarion was leaning over him and for the first time Luke caught sight of the face that lay behind the cowl and gasped, which sent him into a bought of raking coughs. He wouldn't make it much longer, Anakin had to hurry or Nefarion would take Ben with him now. He could feel his son, if not see him, charge the Sith Lord, and knew that Ben was far to week with his previous exertions to face Nefarion now.
With a clarity that surprised him, Luke could see the future up ahead, could see the titanic battle that Ben and Nefarion would have to wage and it sent shivers down his already freezing back. He was growing cold, the life Force inside of his body wavering, and he feared that Anakin wouldn't make it time for him to say his last goodbyes to his two boys.
[i]Force give me the strength to hold on just a little longer,[/i] he mentally pleaded fervently.
[hr][/hr]
Ben was beside himself, the closest to over the edge he had ever come to in his young life. The anger coursing through him he had never felt before, had never wanted to feel, not even when his mother had been killed. But because he had failed once the second time made it all the more painful, and pain misunderstood, was pain that was feared.
His Force assisted leap took him well over the ledge and he landed perfectly next to his failing father and the man who had ran him through. Ben could not see anything behind the shadowed cowl and the dark being looked more like a phantom then and actually personage. Ben barely took notice, all he saw was the red light blade that had plunged through his father and his own ability to stop it once more.
He leaped into a front flip, arching his lightsaber down as if to cleave the cloaked man in half, but this dark one was good and his blood blade blocked the blue of Ben's, overthrowing it over his head so that Ben flew over the cloaked being, landing hard against the floor and skidding to a stop. Ben, in his right mind, would never have tried such a sloppy move, but the disbelief of his father's situation and his own tiredness and fatigue from the long hours of battle were wearing down on him.
He arched his back and with a pump of his arm muscles, Ben was back on his feet, lightsaber in hand. The dark being turned to face him, and Ben got the feeling he had a pleased smile on his face, although the man's features were still shrouded underneath the cowl. ''Good young Skywalker. Fuel your anger and take your revenge.''
[i]Ben don't seek revenge,[/i] he heard his mother's voice in his head, from the memory of her death. [i]Vengeance may cost you what you desire most.[/i]
Shaking his head confused, a line grew between Ben's eyebrows as he frowned deeply. What did he desire most? Certainly he had never wanted to take another beings life in such a way before, never had he found joy in the though of running someone through with his lightsaber, why did he now? His grey shot eyes flickered to his father's prone form and his heart and mind suddenly linked together and he knew what he wanted. Time with his father, time to tell him the things he had never said before.
But the dark being was not about to allow him that time. He circled around Ben, dark and menacing like a demonic wraith that would always cling to him. The memory of his visage would, the way the dark being's lightsaber had so willingly burned through Luke's midsection.
''I can feel the hate in you, now release your anger,'' the dark taunted him, the tip of his lightsaber making mocking thrusts at Ben who was so tried that he could barely dodge them.
He could delve back into the Force but at his current mind set he could so easily lose the requisite control and fall too deeply into its waving energies.
This time the dark being leaped at him, the blood light blade arching so that Ben had to roll under it and he swung his legs at the vulnerable spot of where he thought the dark being's knees would be. He aimed too high and caught the man's thigh, toppling him over but not breaking the knees as he had hoped. The dark being turned his imbalance into a flip, dodging Ben's lightsaber swipe to his feet.
Ben no longer wished to kill the dark being, only to disable him so that he could spend the time with his father that he so desperately wanted, the time that he had not been given with his mother.
He upped his connection with the Force by a few notches and came at the dark being once again, his right leg coming up to snap a roundhouse kick to the shrouded phantoms solar plexis. The rush of expelled air that was heard only slightly through the torrential wind was the only sign that Ben had seen that the phantom was real and alive, and not some demon from stories.
''You're good young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet,'' came the cultured icy tones of the dark being yet again.
The crimson blade came at Ben in a wide arch swing to his midsection, Ben pushed off his feet and turned sideways, walking on the nearby wall as if he were walking on a city street, the shrouded beings lightsabers digging chips out of the wall. Ben landed behind the dark being and was expertly blasted by a Force-push that cracked his head when he crashed to the rooftop. Dazed he was surprised when he looked back up and the dark being was gone.
Struggling to his feet, fighting the nausea and the vertigo, he glanced around the area cautions, his lightsaber still held in guard position, expecting the shrouded beings disappearance to be a trick, that as soon as he let down his guard the man would merge from the shadows. But no attack came, and Ben staggered to his father's side.
''Dad,'' Ben whispered, his throat far too constricted by feeling to say more then that.
''Ben?'' It was said on a question as Luke's lined eyelids inched open. ''I was...so...worried,'' Luke breathed.
''I'm okay, Dad,'' Ben said, tilting his head ever so slightly so that there was no chance that Luke could see the blood running down the back of his skull. Lifting his father's head off of the pavement he tried hard not to stare at the charcoal ring that marked Luke's fatal injury, and cushioned his father's head in his lap.
''I wish there had been another way,'' Luke said in a voice as quiet as the Force itself. ''I so wanted to see you grow.''
Ben grabbed Father's hand and held it in a vice like grip as if to anchor him physically to this plan of existence. ''I did to,'' he said, using his other hand to swipe at the tears that were tracing down his face. ''You can't leave me, Dad. I still need you, you know.''
From behind came the thudding sound of rapid bootsteps and Ben did not have to reach out to the Force to know who it was. Anakin. Too late, but here none the less and Ben was grateful for his presence.
Instantly, Anakin was on the other side of Luke, tears caught in his ice blue eyes but not falling. ''Who did this?'' he asked looking at the grey eyed Ben to Luke's fragile form.
''Sith Lord,'' Luke answered. Ben could feel his presence wavering and a sob caught in a heave in his chest. ''Lord Nefarion,'' Luke finished. He pulled his eyes from his son and centered them on Anakin. ''Promise me, you'll look after my boy, Anakin. Train him. Balance must be brought through you two.''
Anakin closed his eyes and let the tears roll over his cheeks. ''I will, Uncle Luke. I promise.''
''No,'' Ben cried. ''You Dad, it's not too late. I can heal you. If I go deep enough, I can heal you.'' And he began to build a barrier around his father's living essence as strong as permecrete. He would hold on to his father and heal him through the Force. Just as Ben began to fall far too deep for his control, he felt the barrier shatter through the incredible power of his father. ''Please Dad,'' he begged. ''Please.''
And with a last breath expelled life left Luke Skywalker. Ben reached to pull his father into his arms, but he soon found that they grasped nothing but himself and sobs tore through his body. After a while he felt Anakin's strong arms around him, but even that comfort could not relieve the aching emptiness inside of him. He had not saved his parents and he could not save himself. His visions were sealed in stone and they could not be altered.
[hr][/hr]
Han and Leia were sitting to dinner with the returned Jacen and his wife Tahiri. It was used to distract them while the rest of the family was on Bellalt helping to stifle the oncoming onslaught. Han was smiling at the way his son and daughter-in-law were talking about baby names and what to do with the little ones nursery when both went as white as bedsheets and Jacen clutched at his stomach. Recognizing that it was something to do with the Force, Han turned to his wife in time to see her eyes roll up into her head and catch her as she slid in her chair.
Tahiri seemed to be the most alert and Han turned alarmed eyes onto the girl who was as dear to him as his own daughter. ''Tahiri, what happened?''
''It's Luke,'' she said, as if stating a fact that was true and yet could not be believed. ''He's dead.''
[hr][/hr]
The fleet was receding and Jaina felt a smile pull her features. With the help of the Chiss, the enemy fleet had been outnumbered and had started to retreat into hyperspace after many of their troop carriers had come from the planet and docked with the cruiser. It looked like Bellalt would be saved after all.
Smiling she was about to get a connection to Jag when her knees buckled from underneath her and the disturbance in the Force shattered the first Sword of the Jedi. Luke Skywalker, whose handle had been soft leather, but whose steal had been sharper then Krakana teeth. Tears stung her eyes and she clutched at her stomach, feeling as though the galaxy had shifted and that the light of justice had gone out and now darkness could come in.
[hr][/hr]
Baron Soontir Fel had been playing with his two grandchildren when they abruptly burst into tears uncontrollably.
[hr][/hr]
In the High Council room Master Skywalker's death was felt by all the Jedi members. They all looked at each other paled and disbelieving. Kyp Durron met Corran Horn's eyes before Corran lowered his head and said, ''This is a dark day.''
[hr][/hr]
Awareness came to Luke in a rush, like when your ears finally release the pressure after you change altitudes. His skin touched, his ears heard, his nose smelled, but it was in a greater and lesser way then before. Slowly he fluttered his eyes open and his corneas were seared by the brightest light he had ever seen, instantly he clamped the lids shut. The light was intoxicating and despite the expectation of pain, Luke cracked his sight to slits and was pleased to find that the pain was less intense and growing more so by every second.
It was like being in the middle of a star or how he had imagined it in his childhood when he had not understood that all stars were compacted gas. There was a wonderful warmth that filled him and he basked in it as if he were sunning himself on Garqi's beaches.
He didn't know how long he was there before he began to wonder if this was all there was to death. He had always thought that Mara would be there to greet him. Panic began to take hold when all of the sudden he felt a whack to the back of his calf. Looking down he saw a form that instantly brought him to his knees.
''Master Yoda,'' he said, and bowing his head before his old Master.
''Kneel before another Master do you, young Master Skywalker?'' Yoda said, a claw coming out to rest on Luke's shoulder
Luke felt a smirk come upon his face, with it a remembrance of youth and the brightness he could hardly contain when he was Master Yoda's apprentice. "Old habits die hard, Master," Luke said with a twist to the smile.
"Many students have I taught, many who I thought would never make to knighthood, and many proud I was to see succeed. Surpassed them all, you have," the aged Master said.
Luke was just beginning to contemplate this when immediately the world shifted from the warmth of the light into a circular room, not unlike the High Council room he had designed in the new Temple. Ringing the room were twelve Jedi Masters in chairs that were conformed to their particular species. Master Yoda now sat next to a dark skinned man with a shaved head and a calm collective countenance.
"Master Skywalker you have been brought her for judgment," the dark skinned Master said in a deep voice.
Luke nodded, instantly knowing that with his bouts of the Dark Side he had a lot to answer for. He bowed towards the Jedi. "I understand Master."
"You have organized a new Order," the Jedi said.
"Yes, Master, I have at the direction of Master Yoda who was the last of the old Order," Luke said smartly. He knew he had nothing to hide but being amongst the Masters of the old Order made him nervous.
The Jedi nodded. "Master Yoda has informed us of such. Upon what principles did you find this order and what reasons do you have from straying from those of the our Order?"
"If I strayed was because I felt that those principles would not work in the Order at the time I built it. There was documentation to prove that Jedi had loved before and had been allowed to marry, for one thing, in the case of our High Council, time and circumstances cause us to join more fully with the government as a whole. The Force is a constant but it is also fluid," Luke said.
The Jedi frowned. "Are you saying that you alone interpret the Force?"
"Hardly Master, but change is a constant especially if the Force wills it. Perhaps at the time of the end of the Order there was more reason to restrain such relationships but I cannot say for sure because I was not there. I based what the Order needed for what the galaxy needed. We were small with the number of Force-users reduced by the Emperor's purges. I did what I felt necessary."
"And when the Emperor was resurrected?" the Jedi asked.
Luke swallowed, that time in his life he had thought that he was the only one to save the galaxy. Had tried in a very prideful way to save the entire galaxy by becoming what he had fought for with his father. "There is no excuse for my actions during that time. I cannot change them but I learn from them."
"And what have you learned, Master Skywalker?" A Cerean at the other side of Master Yoda interjected into the conversation.
"That I still have more to learn," Luke answered.
"Judgment set it has been, prepare yourself for the consequences," Yoda said.
Luke bowed once again and when his head came up found that his environment had changed again. He was inside a small hut, the one Ben Kenobi had taken him to right after the Tusken Raider attack on Tatooine he was sitting in the same place he had back then and Obi-Wan was there stroking his beard.
"Obi-Wan," Luke said with such great joy he could not believe it. His wife's father and his son's grandfather, the man who had watched him through all his life was much more dear to him.
"Hello, Luke," Obi-Wan greeted with a smile on his age lined face, not unlike Luke's own. "It's been a long time."
"Yes, it has," Luke agreed. "They said that I should prepare for the consequences of my judgment."
Obi-Wan sat up straighter and faced Luke more fully. "I am to be your final judge, since it was my life that I gave to save yours."
"Then judge, Master," Luke said, wondering if for his spurt with the Dark Side would result in him sharing the same fate that Obi-Wan had when he had lived on Tatooine, a life of solitude. Never to see his wife, his father or all the others that had passed into the Force.
Obi-Wan stood up, walked over to Luke, and cupped the younger Jedi's face in his hands, his azure eyes so much like Luke's son's burrowed into Luke's own. It was as if Obi-Wan was searching out every inch of Luke's soul to determine what lay inside it.
"You gave your life up for your son?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes," Luke answered.
"Can you give up your death?" said the older Jedi
Luke's brow furrowed in confusion. "I'm not sure I understand, Ben."
He backed up and as Luke's eyes traced him he saw that there were people behind him. A red head with sharp green eyes and a welcoming smile stood in front and middle of the group and Luke's eyes grew wide with surprise.
He tried to form her name, but his mouth seemed to have gone slack at the sight of her. She smiled at his inability and stepped forward. "Hello, Skywalker," she said in that way that made what would have been a mockery into an endearment.
Then she was in his arms and he kissed her with all the fervency of his love, all the times he wished for her at his side, and the hopes of never letting her go. "Oh, Mara, how I've missed you."
"I missed you too, Skywalker," she whispered into his ear as he still clung to her. "But there are others who have been waiting for you too."
His focus returned to the small group that Mara had come from and he found his father, Anakin Skywalker standing next to one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen and the resemblance to Leia was beyond coincidence. His eyes turned to Mara's in question and she nodded in agreement.
Taking his hand, Mara lead him up to his father and the woman and gestured to them. "Luke I would like you to meet your parents. Anakin and Padme Skywalker."
Anakin's large frame engulfed his son into a massive hug, so much so that Luke feared that Anakin would snatch the proverbial air out of him. "Father," he breathed, never having experienced a hug from the man who had been a part of his birth but never of his life.
"You saved me from my own darkness, my son. I am so proud of what you have become," Anakin whispered, ruffling Luke's hair.
Then Padme came forward in trepidation, her hand came up slowly, shaking, to his face to trace the contours of it. "Luke how I have waited for this day."
"Me too, Mother," he said and opened his arms to her, which she came in without hesitation. She was petite like Leia and Luke found he could rest his chin on her head. This was his mother and she was his in his arms. He could not believe it.
"Now he must choose," came a baritone voice that Luke had never heard before and he saw a tall Jedi Master with long flowing hair stepped next to his father and Obi-Wan. Luke belatedly recognized him as Master Qui-Gon Jinn who had guided Obi-Wan to knighthood.
Luke sought out Obi-Wan's face. "Choose?" he asked.
"Whether to stay or to do as I did and return to a plane in which you can be a hand in the path for balance," Obi-Wan answered.
"My son and nephew, yes," Luke murmured. He looked to the hand that Mara grasped to his parents that he so wished to know better and understand, and back to the two Jedi Masters that watched him. He looked back to Mara, "I have to go," he said.
She nodded. "I know. If you get the chance tell Ben that I am always with him."
Squeezing her hand he said, "He already knows but if I can I will tell him." He faced Obi-Wan. "I choose to give up my death."
"You will not be alone, Luke. I have been given permission to accompany you," Obi- Wan said. "I have waled that plane before and can give you guidance."
"Then shall we go," Luke said.