Chapter Six
Darth Vader and Jordan listened as the commanders of the other Star Destroyers reported in on the progress of chasing the Millenium Falcon through the asteroid field.
"……..and that Lord Vader, Commander Devans, was the last time they appeared on any of our scopes. Considering the amount of damage we've sustained, they must have been destroyed." One of the captains said, gravely.
"No, captain, they're alive. I want every ship available to sweep the asteroid field until they are found." Vader growled. As the hologram disappeared from before the Sith Lord and Dark Jedi, one of the Executioner's deck officers approached them.
"Lord Vader, Commander Devans, the Emperor commands you make contact with him." The officer said, calmly.
"This day just keeps getting better……………." Jordan thought, sarcastically.
"Watch your thoughts, Jordan." Vader's mental voice warned.
"Sorry Master." Jordan replied.
"Move this ship out of the asteroid field, so we can have a clearer signal." Vader commanded. The officer nodded, uttered a quick 'Yes, milord.' then jogged off. With Darth Vader leading the way, Jordan followed him into the largest holo room in the ship. It was then that Jordan was struck with a feeling a déjà vu; how like this situation was to the one when he had first met the real Dark Lord of the Sith.
"I was such a child back then…………..Now I am so much more. More than Kayla ever will be, since she probably won't get her training." Jordan mused, as he and Vader kneeled, and as a larger than life image of the Emperor appeared before them.
"What is thy bidding, my Master?" Vader asked.
"There is a great disturbance in the Force." The Emperor snarled.
"I have felt it." Vader replied.
"As have I." Jordan added, quietly.
"We have a new enemy. The young Rebel who destroyed the Death Star. I have no doubt that this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker." The Emperor said, matter-of-factly. Jordan could almost feel Vader reel back mentally in surprise, but did well to hide this physically.
"How is this possible?" Vader asked, some disbelief slipping through, despite the growling tone.
"Search your feelings, Lord Vader, you know it to be true. He could destroy us." the Emperor stated, golden eyes glaring at his servant.
"He's just a boy. Obi-wan can no longer help him." Vader argued.
"The Force is strong with him. The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi." The Emperor growled.
"If he could be turned, he would become a powerful ally." Vader suggested. The Emperor seemed to think this over for a moment, then smiled. This act alone made Jordan shudder; even after all this time, he still hadn't gotten used to that.
"Yes, yes. He could be a great asset. Can it be done?" the Emperor asked, ambitiously.
"He will join us, or die, Master." Vader declared.
"What say you, young Jordan? Are you against having the son of Skywalker here?" the Emperor asked, as he turned his attention to the younger man.
"No milord. But there is also my sister to worry about. She is also strong in the Force." Jordan stated.
"True. And there are also a few others that could pose a threat. What do you want to do with your sister?" the Emperor questioned.
"I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it, your majesty." Jordan replied, respectfully. The Emperor nodded, then his image disappeared.
"Ow! Sheesh! Could the ceiling be any lower?! Criminy!" Kayla muttered, wincing as she made her way over to where Luke and Biggs were sitting. The midget was busily making poultices for Dack's wounds, humming as he went.
"My folks will never believe me when I tell 'em about this!" Biggs mumbled, as he helped himself to some of the stew that was on the makeshift stove near them.
"Patience! For the Jedi, it is time to eat as well. Eat, eat. Hot." The midget sang, cheerfully. He ignored the four humans when they made grotesque faces at his culinary skills.
"Blech…………Smells and tastes like dirty gym socks! Gross." Kayla thought, guessing at what Luke's and Biggs' thoughts were on the subject.
"How far away is Yoda? Will it take us long to get there?" Luke asked.
"Not far. Yoda not far. Patience. Soon you will be with him." The midget said, soberly.
"Yeah. As in right in right in front of us. But I can't tell Luke that." Kayla mused, as she watched Yoda carefully apply yet another poultice to Dack's badly burned abdomen, and felt pity rise within her when she saw him grimace.
"Why you wish become Jedi? Hmm?" the midget asked. Luke's face took on a soft smile before he answered him.
"Mostly because of my father……..I guess." Luke replied.
"Your father was a Jedi, Luke?" Dack asked, a bit surprised by the news.
"Yeah. He was." Luke replied, with some sadness in his own voice.
"At this point, he still thinks his father was killed before his birth. I can't tell him the truth. That wouldn't be right." Kayla thought, grimly.
"Ah, father…………..powerful Jedi, was he……………..Powerful Jedi….." the midget murmured, somberly. Kayla, Biggs, and Dack recoiled when Luke snapped.
"Oh come on! How could you know my father? You don't even know who I am! Oh, I don't even know what I'm doing here. We're wasting our time." Luke growled, as he turned his back on the midget.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Luke! Don't take it out on the little guy." Biggs said, trying to calm the impatient young man down.
"I cannot teach him." The midget muttered, "The boy has no patience." All activity in the room ceased when another, ghostly voice answered the midget.
"He will learn patience." The voice said.
"Much anger in him………like his father." The midget argued.
"Was I any different when you taught me?" the voice asked.
"He's not ready. Nor are the other three." The midget snorted. This got startled responses from Biggs, Kayla, and even Dack.
"Us……..?" Kayla and Biggs asked.
"Jedi?" Dack finished, stunned by this bit of news. The midget nodded.
"Force sensitive, all of you are." The midget stated, calmly. Kayla and Biggs then gave Dack a peculiar look.
"You'd said that something important was about to happen, Dack. Were you expecting this?" Biggs asked, incredulously. Dack shook his head.
"No, I wasn't. I knew it was something important………….but I had no idea that it would be this." Dack replied.
"Waitaminute………..if he could sense Ben, then that means…………..Yoda!" Luke yelped, then added, "I'm ready! I…………..Ben! I can be a Jedi! Ben, tell him I'm ready!" Luke's three friends flinched when Luke went to stand up, and bashed his head into the ceiling.
"Ow." Kayla muttered. Luke ignored her as he sat down with a hand to his head.
"Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight-hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is trained!" Yoda said, seriously, as he pointed at Luke, then glanced at his three companions.
"A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched." Yoda continued.
"And yet, there are no others that can train these four as you can, Master Yoda." The voice Kayla had heard before said, quietly. Yoda stiffened.
"So, you argue their case as well, Qui –Gon?" Yoda asked, to the thin air in front of him.
"If I must, yes." The voice said again.
"Holy crap! It had been Qui-Gon Jinn talkin' to me the entire time!" Kayla thought, in disbelief. Yoda sighed.
"All their lives have they looked away………to the future, to the horizon. Never their minds on where they were. What they were doing." Yoda chastised, noticing when Kayla lowered her gaze. It was true; she had been looking elsewhere for something in the life she had once known, and now she had it. But at such a cost. She had been forced to grow up in the midst of a war-torn universe, and had been forced to give up on her younger brother.
"Now I'm paying for it. This is what I get for wishing." Kayla thought, sadly, as her thoughts turned to Jordan. His mental voice had been filled with hate, and she knew that she was to blame for that. Yoda continued his verbal chastising.
"Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things. All of you are reckless!" Yoda stated.
"So was I, if you would remember." Obi-wan's voice murmured, softly.
"And you know I was, Master Yoda. It cost me dearly." Qui-Gon's voice added.
"They are too old. Yes, too old to begin the training." Yoda argued, stubbornly.
"Then we came here for nothing, Master Yoda?" Dack asked, breaking his silence and giving the ancient Jedi Master a pleading look.
"Hmm." Yoda sighed, lowering his head for a moment.
"But I've learned so much." Luke objected. Yoda turned and looked at him.
"I won't fail you." Luke continued.
"Nor will we. Even though I'm still trying to come to grips with the fact that I can become a Jedi." Biggs said, with a slight grin. Yoda nodded slightly, then looked at him.
"Skywalker, I know. But I know not your names." Yoda said, as he pointed at Kayla, Dack, and Biggs.
"I'm Kayla Devans." Kayla said, introducing herself to the diminutive Jedi Master.
"And I'm Biggs Darklighter." Biggs continued. Now it was Dack's turn.
"Dack Starkiller." Dack stated, softly. This got a minor look of surprise from Yoda and Kayla.
"Starkiller?! That was George Lucas' original last name for Luke!" Kayla's mind yelped, in surprise.
"Starkiller? Hmm. Another powerful Jedi, from long, long ago…………" Yoda murmured, as he turned back to the stove.
"Master Yoda, I won't fail you. We won't fail you. We're not afraid." Luke declared, strongly. Yoda in turn gave the quartet a grave look before replying.
"You will be……………you will be." Yoda whispered, leaving an air of foreboding over the four. The next couple of days were grueling for three out of the four new Jedi candidates. Under Yoda's instruction, Biggs, Luke, and Kayla ran like the wind through the swampy woodland surrounding the diminutive Jedi Master's home.
"It feels like I am one with the wind." Kayla thought, smiling somewhat when she heard Biggs whoop before taking a flying leap over a lake.
"Crazy, that one is." Yoda mumbled, getting some chuckles from Luke and Kayla in response.
"Well, he's as stubborn as a Wookie, and as spontaneous as a Dug." Luke said, pausing for a brief moment to wait for Kayla and Biggs to catch up (he'd pulled ahead in the unexpected race, and left the other two far behind).
"Still reckless. Now, continue on." Yoda urged, when he saw the other two catching up with them. With a nod, Luke vaulted off into the branches of one of the giant trees.
"Run. Yes. A Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware the Dark Side. Anger, fear, aggression. The Dark Side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the Dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will, as it did with Obi-Wan's apprentice." Yoda said, mentally telling Biggs, Dack, and Kayla this same thing. Within moments, they arrived at a different tree, where Dack sat, waiting for them.
"Feeling better, Dack?" Kayla asked, a bit surprised when she saw him sitting there. The younger man smiled back at her.
"I'm not one hundred percent yet, Kay, but my wounds are healing." Dack replied, calmly.
"That is the Force flowing through you. Heal you, it will, given time." Yoda said, as he got down from Luke's back and stood before the four would-be Jedi. As much as he hated to admit it, Yoda was impressed by their stalwart determination in the face of such odds (namely starting in their training so late, and their previous battle experiences). With a soft sigh, he remembered the younglings on Coruscant, and the rest of the Jedi Temple's inhabitants……………it seemed like a whole other lifetime to him.
"Now things come full circle." Yoda thought, as he reached into his robe, and pulled four, cylindrical objects from under it.
"These, my young apprentices,are lightsabers. Since Luke already has one, you will each receive one. But one of them is damaged; it needs a new focusing gem." Yoda said, as he handed the three others a lightsaber apiece. With a gasp, Kayla recognized the lightsaber she'd been handed almost immediately; with it's slightly bent handle and graceful lines, it had to be none other than Count Dooku's lightsaber!
"Ooh, boy. Jordan would've loved to have seen this…………and here I am holding it! But dang………..I wish I'd paid more attention to what happened to Count Dooku in the movies!" Kayla thought, as she turned the disengaged saber over in her hands, testing its weight. It was when she tried to ignite the saber that she was met with disappointment; out of the four lightsabers they had been presented with, she had to be the one to get the lemon! The four males must have guessed her mood by her expression because Biggs gently ruffled her hair to reassure her.
"You got the damaged one, didn't you?" Dack asked.
"Yeah." Kayla said, her tone betraying her.
"Then you are the one…………….who will restore that weapon's lost honor………It is as it should be." Yoda whispered, watching as Kayla gazed thoughtfully at the damaged weapon. It was then that something caught the attention of the four Jedi-in-training. An ominous chill was in the air; and it took Kayla a few moments to realize where they were.
"The Dark Side cave! Bloody hell, I'd forgotten about that!" Kayla's mind cried, as hers, and her friends', eyes were drawn to the shadowed opening.
"There's something not right here………" Luke murmured, "I feel cold…………"
"No kidding. It's as cold as death here." Biggs muttered, his unease very easily seen. Without uttering a word, Yoda pointed out the opening of the cave with his staff.
"That place is strong with the Dark Side of the Force. A domain of evil, it is. In, you four, must go." Yoda said, then added, "But one at a time." This got looks of discomfort from the four, especially Kayla.
"What's in there?" Luke asked, asking the question that was in each of their minds. Yoda lowered his gaze from them for a moment, then looked back at them.
"Only what you take with you." Yoda replied, softly.
"I'll go first." Luke volunteered, as he started to strap on his belt with his lightsaber and blaster on it. He paused when Yoda spoke again.
"Your weapons,….you will not need them." Yoda said, gravely. Kayla could tell that Luke was warring within himself as he held the belt in his hands, but then put it on and went in. Moments later, after Luke had disappeared into the tree, a blood-curdling scream was heard from inside.
"LUKE!" Kayla cried, before strapping on her own belt and dashing into the cave after him.
"Kay! Wait!" Dack and Biggs called, just as alarmed as she was, but were stopped from going in after her by a gentle motion from Yoda.
"My feet! They won't move!" Biggs yelped, as he struggled to free his legs from the invisible grip.
"Master Yoda, what did you do?!" Dack asked, appalled, yet still respectful, nonetheless. Yoda sighed, and gave both men a grim look.
"Pass this test, they must. But on their own. Your tests are coming, so be patient." Yoda replied.
"Kayla……………..Luke………….." Biggs muttered, as he stared at the cave's shadowed entrance, afraid for his friends, yet somehow knowing that they would come out a little bit stronger for it.