Star Wars Infinities: The Master
Chapter 4
By: Christopher W. Blaine
e-mail: All of the characters and situations contained in this story are ©2003 by LucasFilm Ltd. They are used here without permission for fan-related entertainment purposes only. This original story is ©2003 by Christopher W. Blaine.
Slowly Leia opened her eyes and allowed her brain the time it needed to adjust to her surroundings. The overhead pipes, painted white with a fine layer of grease and grime above her told her that she was indeed on board the Millennium Falcon. The soft throbbing of the hyperdrive had allowed her to sleep soundly; that and the passionate sharing of love between her and Corran the night before.
She rolled over to see his face as he snored softly next to her. He had a beautiful and kind face, the face of a good and decent man. And, by far, Corran Horn was the most decent man Leia had ever met, though her Jedi teacher, Kyp Durron, four years her junior, was also respectable in his own way. The three of them were good friends, close friends and though there had been a sort of childish rivalry between Kyp and Corran for Leia's affections, Kyp seemed to have accepted his loss with grace. It was just another sign that sometimes the teacher could become the learner.
She didn't want to wake Corran, but she saw no way of being able to slip out of their bed and into the refresher without doing so. Corran was a very light sleeper most of the time and he especially hated sleeping on the Falcon. So, Leia allowed him the luxury of just a few more minutes of rest and she watched, wondering what dreams he was having.
Both of them were refugees from planets that had seen horror. Corellia was in occupied Tarkin space and Corran had not even been able to attend the funeral for his father, whom sources said had been murdered by the order of Tarkin himself. Leia was a princess from a dead royal lineage and the daughter of a disgraced monarch. She had no real home anymore. They were, like most of the Jedi of old, bound to the stars by fate and their paths in life.
In another life, she supposed she and Corran would never be together because she knew deep in her heart that while she loved Corran and cared deeply for him, there was just something about him that didn't quite set well with her. Leia had to admit that she liked a little roughness to her men and Corran was not rough. He was a gentleman. He would make a good husband, for she had already accepted his proposal. He just wouldn't be the man of her dreams.
She smiled, realizing that it was probably a good thing that she still had her naughty little fantasies of being ravaged by a dashing space scoundrel. It kept her young at heart, which was required in her line of work. Being one of only five known Jedi in the galaxy, and a Jedi padawan at that, and the only female, she represented the only chance the Order had of surviving. Any children she and Corran had would carry with them a legacy thousands of years old.
The Jedi would have to rise again if the New Republic was ever going to have a chance. Master Durron, Kyp's father, was quick to point out that at one time, the Jedi worked hard to protect the Old Republic. His goal was to make sure the mistakes of Master Yoda's regime never happened again, though Master Vos was always there to caution them not to rush into anything.
Yes, the last Jedi Council had been blinded by their arrogance, but that was bred out of a belief that their way was absolutely right. That was exactly how Master Durron thought about his philosophy.
Leia wished that her mother could teach them, for she had started to back when she had returned from the Dark Side. The politicians of the New Republic, especially those representing Corellia and Alderaan, however, wanted her put on trial for murder and crimes against the galaxy. They forbade the former Darth Deceptra from doing anything and surely would have executed her on the spot if not for the simple rules of protocol.
Before turning to the Dark Side, Padme Amidala had been the senator from Naboo. As such and because no new senator was ever elected, Padme had the right to a trial by the senate. It would be some time before the entire senate could be gathered on Coruscant for the trial, especially with that world under the control of the Empire.
"You're thinking about your mother again," Corran said. She looked down to see him smiling and she traced the outline of his beard. She wished he'd let it grow out as well as his hair, but he still kept himself military-clean. "Your brow furrows a certain way when you do."
"Can't you feel me in the Force?" she asked.
There was a troubled look on his face for the briefest of moments and then he let it slip away. Of the three of them, Corran was by far the least Force-talented. Reading another person through the Force took a lot of concentration on his part. Corran's talents were more attuned to split-second decisions as opposed to disciplined effort. Corran was a good combatant with the lightsaber, able to easily deflect blaster bolts but he could not levitate an object, considered one of the more basic skills.
It was something that troubled the young Corellian very much, especially whenever he compared his skills to that of Kyp. "I wasn't really trying," he admitted. "Of course, I am an ex-security man. I'm trained to read people's faces."
She accepted the answer without any further comment and slipped out of the bed and walked naked into the refresher. Corran rolled onto his back and stared at the overhead, wondering of asking Leia to marry him had been the right decision. She loved him, he was sure, but he sensed some sort of hesitation on her part. They had been something of a couple for over five years now so surely there weren't too many secrets between them. He didn't understand what it could be except for his own failings.
He always had that nagging fear in the back of his mind, in the places he didn't normally travel to. Like most Corellian Jedi, he had limited Force potential, though history seemed to show that for the most part, Jedi Knights from Corellia tended to be great heroes. But he was far from that, he supposed. If he had been a real hero, he would have argued with his father to allow him to stay on Corellia and maybe then he could have prevented his father's death.
Leia exited the refresher and immediately sensed Corran brooding. If her fiancé were the artistic type, it would be charming, maybe even arousing. Corran, however, was not very artistic and so it was more annoying than anything else. "Your father's death wasn't your fault, dear," she said as she sat down next to him. She reached down to the floor and pulled out her bag. "I need a shower. Why don't you go relieve Kyp at the helm," she said.
Corran nodded and sat up. She gave him a quick kiss and returned to the refresher for a sonic shower.
Halfway into the passage that led to the cockpit, the first direct hit rocked the vessel. "We've got company!" Kyp yelled from the cockpit. Corran grabbed hold of a pipe as the Jedi at the controls threw the Falcon into a spin. I-PO, the protocol droid that Kyp had purchased to serve as his co-pilot, began shouting.
"What wonderful Jedi reflexes you possess, Master Durron," the droid remarked with a very sarcastic tone. "Perhaps you would endeavor to bring us closer to the patrol craft so they may have a better shot at us!"
Corran shook his head as he popped it into the cockpit. I-PO was simply not the typical protocol droid. Kyp had reprogrammed himself to ensure that he was unique. Leia had often remarked about a protocol droid named C-3PO that her "sister" Mara had kept. That droid had been very…prissy. I-PO was anything but. "Not now!" Kyp snapped and the silver-colored droid turned away and dimmed its photoreceptors as he reviewed the weapons panel.
Bail Organa had provided the Millennium Falcon to Ferrin Durron during the outbreak of the Clone Wars. While in exile, Ferrin had modified the ship as best he could with what he could find. The escaping Jedi Knights had taken very little in the form of ship technology with them, as they only thought they would need their vessels to take them out of the known galaxy and later bring them back.
"There are three Z-95 Headhunter fighters approaching from the port side," I-PO stated after checking the threat board. Corran popped his head in. "Ah, finished with your bestial lovemaking, I suppose," the droid said to Corran. The Jedi student blushed.
"An intermediate protocol droid should have some tact," Kyp reminded his co-pilot.
The droid made an electronic squeal that they all knew was a binary curse. "I am a one of a kind prototype, Master Durron…that part of my programming was never completed. Much like the Jedi piloting course you failed to finish." The Falcon spun and suddenly went into a dive along the Z-axis of the galactic plane, narrowly missing a concussion missile.
"Who the hell is firing at us?" Corran said, trying to see the threat board.
I-PO activated the hailing channel. "Unknown fighters, this is the New Republic Jedi Councilor vessel Millennium Falcon, carrying three of the most important members of the Republic inner political circle…"
"Why do you always do that?" Kyp asked. "Now they know…"
"This is one of the most distinctive freighters in the galaxy, Master Durron," the droid responded as he tied the Falcon's defenses into his command chair. "No doubt they recognized us for who we are already."
Kyp didn't argue and Corran understood why. I-PO was a pain in the rear, but he always knew the reality of the situation. It wouldn't have mattered if they were Jedi or slavers; pirates in the galaxy were getting bolder day by day as the civil war taxed the security resources of all of the governments. By broadcasting that there were Jedi aboard the ship, I-PO was simply letting the pursuers know that they would have a real fight on their hands.
Corran decided to make himself useful and got up to head the dorsal gun battery, his normal combat station. He nearly ran over top of Leia as she was making for the ladder herself. "How many?" she asked.
"Three so far; Zip-9-5's," he told her, using standard pilot jargon. "Probably pirates," he added as he dropped down the ladder. Inside the bubble for the quad-laser cannons, he quickly strapped in and put on his headset.
"You have the speed of an avian," I-PO remarked as he established the link with Corran and Leia. "If you are as accurate as you are quick to get to your station, then we should all be returned to the Maker very soon."
"Can it, tin-head," Leia said. She started the calibration for the gun sight, which would take thirty seconds. She used the time to look out into the cold vacuum to see if she could spot their enemy. "Any idea who it is?" she asked.
"Records indicate this is an area of high pirate activity," Kyp told them as he put more power to the aft shields. "We are really close to the annexed territories of the CSA."
"Could be Tarkinist's as well," Leia reminded him. She had become a literal encyclopedia of military information over the past five years. She committed every scrap of military intelligence to memory and through several Force exercises, had learned to improve that memory significantly. "Without the benefit of Seinar, they haven't been able to keep their TIE fleets up."
"Zip's are too hard to maintenance on a military scale," Corran added. "Incom is firmly with the New Republic and the only way to get parts for their ships is through the black market."
"My, this is so refreshing, listening to your ramblings about who knows the most about pointless subjects," I-PO groused, "but scanners have picked up an Imperial-class star destroyer long range." There was a pause. "It is identified as the independent warship Pirate's Chance under the command of a Devronian named Sallak."
I-PO, in his attempt to strike "fear" into the pilots of the Zips had instead signed their death warrant. "The star destroyer is launching more fighters. Several TIE's and X-Wings," the droid reported.
"We can't take them," Leia announced as her targeting computer came on-line. She tested it by firing a few test shots as one of the fighters passed by. One energy lance grazed the shields of the Zip, but it was otherwise unharmed.
In a straight on fight, the Falcon, especially with three Jedi onboard, would be more than a match for three snubfighters. Kyp even considered reaching out with the Force and simply blanking out the minds of the pilots, but pushed the thought aside. When he and his father had first returned to this universe, he had done that very thing, crushing a TIE fighter pilot's mind with the Force, not realizing how great his powers were. The entire experience had left him feeling dirty.
To simply destroy a mind and walk away was the path to the Dark Side. A Jedi warrior faced their foe with honor, allowing them the chance to use their skills as well, or else the balance of the soul could not be maintained.
Kyp wondered if possibly he could just disable their craft or jam their communications, but he couldn't stop piloting the ship to concentrate on that. Though he was a powerful Jedi, he still had many years to go before he would gain the emotional maturity to accomplish multi-tasking feats such as that. One day, though, he would be ready. "We should run," he announced even as Corran scored a disabling hit on a Zip that got too close.
The pilot must have been anxious and Kyp could now pick up the emotions coming from the wounded craft. The pilot had disobeyed orders; instead of waiting for reinforcements, he had come in for glory and had gotten burned.
"We always run!" Leia cursed. "I thought you were a militant Jedi!"
Kyp typed in a new evasion course to put more distance between them and the star destroyer. It would only buy them a few minutes as the TIE fighters were ripping across this distance at more than twice their speed. They must have been TIE Interceptors and the resources Booster had obviously been able to tap to get them impressed Kyp. "It is one thing to stand strong in a battle, it is another to cross into unknown territory and beat your chest!" Kyp lectured her. She was a difficult student and it, ironically, was one of the things that had always made her so attractive to him.
When Corran had proposed marriage to Leia, Kyp had immediately gone to his father and Quinlan Vos and begged to have her removed from him as a padawan learner. Neither Ferrin or Quinlan had learners and Padme, who had originally started training Leia, had always let it be known she wanted to continue doing so. Ferrin had refused the request, stating that Kyp had to put aside his emotions and focus on what was the best thing for all. He was the only Jedi Knight and like it or not, both Leia and Corran looked up to him besides the fact he was five years their junior.
"I want to fight!" she said and Kyp wondered if something else was bothering her. He had noted something of a cooling between her and Corran on this trip, a normal excursion to a planet to investigate rumors of Force-talented children. He wanted to ask her about it but they had not yet adjourned to a private lesson yet.
"And there will be many opportunities for you to display your abilities, Leia, but a Jedi does not beg for violence," he warned her. In the old days, her attitude would have cost her dearly, but Kyp was not only more lenient, he also understood Leia's heritage. She was the daughter of two Sith; she was prone to anger!
A blast rocked the ship. "Aft shields down by 50 percent, my captain," I-PO pointed out. Then the droid decided to add insult to injury. "Your evasion programming is wonderful if the intent was to place us in the path of a volley of concussion missiles."
"Do you think you could do better?" Kyp asked, frustrated as the two undamaged Zips roared past, trying to cut them off. They had to be burning a lot of fuel to keep up with the Falcon.
I-PO's fingers, designed mostly for carrying papers or serving refreshments, danced across his modified keyboard. The Falcon suddenly veered to starboard and the outer edge of the shields encountered the shields of one of the fighters. There was a jarring and the more massive Falcon continued on for several kilometers before going into a loop. The Zip on the other hand was cartwheeling across the void.
"You're gonna tear us apart doing that!" Kyp cried out.
"Yes, but I shall do it slower than your method of providing a convenient target, Master Durron," I-PO replied as he pulled up a navigational chart. "We are within a microjump of the Bespin System."
"Dash!" Corran cried out, firing his cannons at the remaining Headhunter. He missed as the fighter maneuvered away.
"Dash," Leia said silently, her thoughts turning to the handsome, though arrogant, former Alliance operative. He had originally taken Corran and Leia to Dagobah to see Quinlan Vos. He had left shortly before the start of the civil war to take a job on Bespin with his former partner, Lando Calrissian.
Leia had always believed, vainly, that it was to be Corran and Dash who would compete over her, since it was obvious that Dash was interested in her. Leia, young and idealistic, had no real time for a man who followed credits towards destiny. Now that she was a little older, those qualities, along with his never-shaven face and corded biceps seemed so much more inviting.
She immediately focused back on the firefight with the remaining fighter lest her thoughts end up floating out on the Force for everyone to read.
"I am sorry but there is no planet nor city named Dash in the Bespin System," I-PO said as he began to ague with the navicomputer.
"Just make for Cloud City, Ippy," Kyp said. He looked out the viewport and could see the reflection of the system's sun glinting off of the solar panels of the approaching TIEs. He could not see the X-Wings or even the massive star destroyer, but he knew they were out there as well.
Bespin was an annexed territory of the Corporate Sector and Booster wouldn't dare cross that boundary line. The CSA possessed, quite possibly, the strongest naval force outside the Hapan Cluster and nobody was quite sure where it was located at any given time. In fact, best estimates indicated that the CSA had a full fleet of over five hundred capital class vessels.
The only reason why they did not go around conquering other worlds was there was no profit in it. The Corporate Sector lived for competition and the various economies of the galaxy provided a rich battleground where victory was measured in credits, not dead soldiers. The fleet was merely a way of keeping outsiders from intruding on their borders.
Two TIE Interceptors raced past, firing their quad lasers directly at the cockpit. The lights dimmed with the impacts and Kyp had no choice but to push with the Force. One of the fighters wobbled and arced away; the other was unaffected but flew right into the path of Leia's guns. It exploded with a flash of light but no sound.
"Three more flights incoming!" Corran called. "Three for me and three for you babe!"
Leia gritted her teeth, not understanding her resentment to Corran but allowing it to guide her actions. "Don't call me babe!" she said as she squeezed the triggers and rotated the gun to follow the Zip. Five shots hit, four of them defeating the starfighter's shields and the last burning away the cockpit.
Then suddenly, the stars stretched and became white lines. Ten seconds later, they returned to normal and a gas planet was several hundred thousand kilometers in front of them. Leia pulled off her headset and tore the front of her jumpsuit open, letting the semi-cool air of the ventilation system refresh her sweaty skin.
Her hands were shaking and she noted that her face was in a sneer. A thousand thoughts went through her mind from hormones to the excitement of battle to a genetic legacy she couldn't control. Her feelings were a jumbled mass and the excitement of battle had not provided the distraction she had hoped for. Instead, her thoughts were on the future and the man she loved.
Or at least thought she loved.
Was that her problem, she wondered? Was she really willing to get married to Corran or was there something else. She had been so responsible, even from a young age, always doing what was expected of her. Here she was, a young woman, marrying a safe, nice guy. He was training to be a Jedi, came from a good Core world and had even been a security agent for a while. He was the galactic version of a boy scout.
Any woman in the galaxy would be happy to marry him. He was handsome, strong, brave and loyal.
Leia continued to sit there, not answering when Corran poked his head up to talk to her. Her fiancé figured she was meditating and in a way he was correct.
She meditated on the future and it was a dark contemplation indeed.