Disclaimer: Star Wars isn't mine….please don't sue me
Author's Note: Please for my sanity, please leave me some sort of review! Good or bad! I don't care. Even if you just say good job! Please, pretty pretty please!!!
Chapter 5: Vigilance:
"Daddy is you still going to teach me to be a Jadei?" Caylee asked the day after Luke, Han, Threepio, and Chewie had gotten back from Ord Mantell. Luke and Caylee were out for an afternoon walk.
"Jedi." Luke said correcting her. "And yes I am. Someday."
"Why not now?"
"I don't know. Why do you want to learn so bad?"
"So I can go and save Cray from the bad people."
Luke smiled at his daughter's determination. "Well how about I teach you a little at a time? Then once you have gotten good at one thing, we'll go on to another one. But you have to promise me that you will practice what I teach you."
Caylee cocked her head to one side and looked at her father confused. "Practice?"
"That is when you keeping doing what I taught you over and over again, but when I'm not with you."
She was still confused.
"Don't worry sweetie. You'll understand later on," Luke said as he picked up Caylee and carried her over to a bench. He set her down and he sat down next to her. "Now Caylee what has been bugging you?"
"Nothing daddy," the little girl said truthfully.
"That's not true. Aunt Leia told me that you had nightmares all the nights that I was gone and that for most of the nights, you slept on the floor in her room. She also said that you wouldn't tell her or Winter what was wrong and that you only wanted to tell me."
"I was scarred," she said looking down at her feet as they dangled off the edge of the bench.
"Why?"
"I don't want you to leave me like mommy and Cray did. And my dreams scarred me," she said quietly. Tears began to form in her eyes.
Luke lifted the little girl's chin up and looked deeply into his daughter's eyes. Tears began to gently fall from her light blue eyes onto his hand. That was when Caylee launched herself towards her father and wrapped her tiny arms around him. "Daddy don't leave me. I don't want to be alone," she cried into his robes.
Luke pulled Caylee closer to him and let her cry into his robes, while he gently rubbed her back to soothe her. "I won't leave you. That's why I came back so soon. I was worried about you."
Caylee sniffled and looked up at her dad's face. "Promise?"
He smiled and nodded yes as he wiped all the left over tears from her eyes. "Now are you going to tell me what happened in your dreams?"
The little girl began to tremble and almost cried more, but Luke sent warm, soothing feelings to her through the Force. He could tell that they were really bad if she was this shaken up. Caylee moved closer to him and laid her head against his chest and began to tell him, softly and slowly, about her dreams. As she told him about her dreams, Luke wrapped his arms around his daughter and held her close to him.
The first dream was the lightsaber dream again. Then the second and the third dream were a lot a like but were also different. In the second dream, Caylee had dreamt that these ugly white monsters attacked her daddy and killed him. But in the third dream, the white monsters killed her. From what Caylee told him about the second and third dreams, he figured that these were really dreams and not visions. Well that was at least what he hoped. But he wasn't sure…
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Luke wearily looked at the holomap in front of him. There were several red dots spread throughout the galaxy. Those were the systems that had reported to the New Republic that there were reports of children missing from their homes. And the reports had come from almost a third of the galaxy.
In the pit of his stomach, Luke knew that something was really wrong. What kind of person would kidnap innocent children from their homes?
He couldn't help think about Cray. He was certain that his son was still alive. If he had died, Caylee would have felt it. The twins' connection to each other was that strong. Well that was if it was if it was anything like the bond that he and Leia shared. But were the abductions of these children connected to Cray in anyway?
That was the largest question that Luke seemed to come up against. He figured that the only thing that he could do would be to sit by and wait for the Rouge Squadron to catch one of the bounty hunters that Threepio had obtained from the files on Ord Mantell.
A sudden shift in the Force caught Luke's attention. And he knew right where it was coming from. He got up from the hoverchair and walked towards Caylee's room. He stuck his head into her room and saw his daughter tossing and turning in her bed. Without even probing her mind, he knew that she was having a nightmare.
Luke wasn't sure what to do. Either he could wait until she woke up and came to find him or he could wake her up. He decided it would be best to wake her up. He gently sat down on the side of her bed and whispered her name.
He watched the fear from his daughter's face subside as her eyes gently opened. "Daddy?" she asked yawning.
"Yes sweetheart?"
"The white monsters were attacking us again," Caylee said starting to tear up.
"Don't cry sweetie. Its only a dream." Luke said wiping the tears away from her cheeks.
Caylee sniffled. "Are you sure daddy?"
"Yes hunny. Now do you want to sleep in here or in my room?"
"I don't want to go back to sleep daddy. The monsters will come again."
Caylee's tiny frame began to shake violently. Luke pulled his daughter close to him and gently rocked her back and forth to calm her down. He remembered the many nights that Mara did this when Caylee or Cray was sick. And hopefully it would work now.
After a few minutes, Caylee was calmer then she had been. Luke stood up with Caylee in his arms and took her into the living room and laid her softly on the couch. "Daddy can I watch the Holonet?"
"Will you try to sleep?"
The little girl nodded her head, as Luke covered her with a blanket. Then he turned on the Holonet and put it on a channel that was playing soft music along with pretty landscape scenes from various planets across the galaxy. "Is this ok?"
Caylee nodded yes and she snuggled close to a pillow and watched the pictures. Luke watched her for a second or two then went back over to his desk where the Holomap was still up. He spent the rest of the night, starring at the map or watching over his daughter. Sleep was the last thing on his mind.
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Cray was growing to like his new home on Galena. There were lots of children his age for him to play with. And they all had lost their parents too. He had made a few friends with some of the other boys, but he really missed his sister.
One day, Namon came looking for Cray. He knew that this was the little boy was the chosen one. Part of it had to do with his lineage and part of it had to do with what the Emperor had foreseen so long ago. So Namon was going to make sure that this little boy would be under his control.
"When is my sister going to come here?" Cray asked, as he and Namon walked along in some woods.
"I'm sorry, but she died along with your parents. My medics tried to save her, but it was too late."
Cray's eyes began to tear up, as Namon picked the boy up and carried him back towards where they were now living. Cray couldn't believe that his parents and sister was really gone. But it didn't feel right to him. He couldn't figure out why he felt funny, but he was certain that Caylee was still alive. And that Namon was lying to him.
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"Where do they have them?" Luke asked sitting in the seat behind Chewie on the Falcon.
"Near Bespin. Wedge said that there are about 15 children on board the bounty hunters' ship. Some were even hidden in the smuggling compartments. Even I would have never done that!" Han said getting angry. Chewie growled in agreement.
"Han it will be ok," Leia said calmly, as she placed her hand on Han's shoulder from behind him.
He took a deep breath as the Falcon entered hyperspace. It would be a long few days. Once they were in hyperspace, Luke got up and went to check on Caylee. She had been brought along because Luke felt that she wouldn't be able to handle him leaving her again so soon. Plus she had been having dreams almost every night and that really worried Luke. He never had dreams or visions for that matter, this often.
Luke was shocked when he stuck his head into the cabin that Caylee was sleeping in. she was sound asleep with no signs of dreams. He sighed in relief.
"Is she doing better?" Leia asked coming up behind her brother.
"As far as I can tell," he said, yawning.
"I want you to go rest too. Now go!" Leia said pushing her brother towards the other bed in the cabin. "Rest. You need it and don't worry. Caylee's right across the cabin from you." Leia said as she shut the door from the other side.
Luke chuckled to himself a little as he lay down on the other bunk and drifted off to sleep.
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"Daddy what are all these kids doing here?" Caylee whispered to her father, as he carried her through Cloud City. Luke, Han, Leia and Caylee had just gone past the room where all the children were being kept for the time being.
"They were taken from their homes."
"Like Cray?"
"Yeah like Cray."
Caylee laid her head on her dad's shoulder. She fought back the urge to cry, but she just missed her brother too much.
Leia, Han and Luke all had bad memories of this city. Han was frozen in carbonite here and Luke found out that Darth Vader was his father along with having his hand cut off here.
"Daddy are you ok?" Caylee whispered to him a few minutes later.
"No sweetie. I'll tell you about it later."
She said ok and hugged her dad's neck and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.
They met up with Wedge in front of the holding cell. He said that the only name he could figure out was Nicola. And that he was human.
Sitting before the group, was two young males. One was human named Nicola and one was a Rodian, like Greedo.
Luke had let Caylee stand on her own and she hid behind his legs. She was scarred of these two figures. They looked really mean to her.
"Whom are you working for?" Han practically demanded, getting right in the face of the human.
"None of your concern."
Han starred the human down and was just about to reach out and strangle this guy, but Leia placed her hand on his shoulder to hold him back.
"Nicola, if you tell us who you are working for, then we'll release you. But without those children and on the condition that you never kidnap children again."
"What if we don't?"
"Then you will be taken to Courscant and put on trial for kidnapping." Luke interjected, as he tried to probe the young man's mind. That was when he came across something interesting in the young man's mind.
Leia, he doesn't know who he is working for. All he knows is what he was told by another bounty hunter. He was taking the children to Ord Mantell.
Leia looked up at her brother the responded back. Where are the children from?
Corellia.
Leia gasped and Han looked at her. Han saw the fear in her eyes and ordered Wedge to take these two as prisoners along with their ship.
"We'll take the children home." Luke said.
Wedge nodded and had two other members of Rogue Squadron take Nicola and the Rodian away.
"What was the gasp about?" Han asked Leia.
She couldn't answer him.
"The children are from Corellia. I probed Nicola's mind and found that out."
Han didn't say anything for a second or two. Then he finally spoke up. "Well then we better get them home. And what better way to travel then on the most famous Corellian ship out there!"
"The Katana fleet?" Luke asked as he picked Caylee back up. Leia laughed a little as Han stammered out a rebuttal.
"No! The Falcon! She's the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy!" he replied with a broad smile on his face.
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"Caylee how did you know that I wasn't feeling good earlier?" Luke asked Caylee as she sat in his lap in the gallery or the Falcon.
The little girl looked up at her father with her bright blue eyes and smiled. "I felt it."
"You felt it?"
"Un hun. It felt like the nice feelings that you send to me sometimes. But instead it felt like you were sad. Do you miss mommy and Cray?"
"Yeah I miss mommy and Cray. But also this place is really sad for me."
"Why?"
Luke sighed. He knew he had to tell her sometime. So he might as well do it now. "Well before grandpa died, we got into a big fight here. And because of that fight, I have a fake hand," he said holding out his hand to Caylee for her to see.
He could see her eyes get big as she looked down at the hand then up at him then back down at his hand. She then gingerly touched her father's fingers and moved them back and forth and then she put his hand against her face.
"But daddy it feels real to me."
Luke smiled. "That's because it's supposed to be that way. But look,"
He opened the little compartment on his wrist where he could tinker with it. He moved his fingers back and forth, so that Caylee could see the gears and gizmos work.
"Wow," she said in amazement.
He laughed a little.
"But daddy does it hurt?"
"Well it did at first, but it doesn't anymore."
"Why did grandpa and you fight? Were you in trouble?"
"No. We fought because he wanted me to do something bad. It would had hurt a lot of people if I had done this bad thing."
"But I thought grandpa was a good person."
"He was. But everyone makes mistakes in their life. And he made a really big one. And at the end of it all, he was good once again."
"Did you forgive him for hurting you?"
"Yes I did."
"Good cause grandpa really loves you and aunt Leia a lot!"
Luke softly kissed his daughter's forehead, just as Han, Leia, Chewie and an army of children came on board. The children's faces were full of fear and curiosity. They weren't sure what to think. But when all the children turned to look at Caylee, the fear seemed to disappear. She had a big smile on her face.
Luke watched as Caylee got up off of his lap and went and stood in the middle of the group of kids. "Do you like stories?" she asked. Some of the kids nodded yes and some didn't go anything. Caylee ran back over to her dad. "Daddy can Threepio tell us stories? I like his stories."
"Later sweetie. But you need to go up front and see Chewie. He's going to let you take the Falcon into hyperspace with Uncle Han."
"Really?"
"Yup," Han said picking the little girl up in one swift move. "You're gonna be a great pilot when you're older! Just like the rest of your family."
Han carried Caylee into the cockpit, talking to her the entire way, while Luke and Leia got all the children organized in the gallery area of the ship. "Where are Threepio and Artoo anyway?" Luke asked.
"They are getting food supplies. We didn't have enough for all the children. They should be back anytime."
Right on cue, the two droids came up the gangplank. Artoo was beeping wildly at Threepio. "Oh switch off!" Threepio said as he set the packages of food down.
Leia and Luke laughed briefly at the bickering droids, along with the children. "Artoo and I will watch the kids, while you and Threepio go up front and buckle up. I don't want you to miss Caylee's first flying lesson." Leia said.
"Mistress Caylee is flying! Oh master Luke do you think that is safe??" Threepio began protesting as they walked towards the cockpit. Luke reassured him that it would be fine. But in typical Threepio fashion, he started naming off all sorts of stats on flying.
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Caylee's face had the biggest and brightest smile on it the entire time that she was on Chewie's lap during lift off and entrance into hyperspace. Once they were safely into hyperspace, Caylee hugged and thanked her two uncles.
"Threepio will you tell all the children stories please? I love it when you and Artoo tell me stories." Caylee asked going up to the golden droid.
"Oh mistress Caylee, I'm not good at telling stories."
"Please Threepio?"
Threepio looked over at Luke and then down at Caylee. "I will."
Caylee opened the bulkhead door and ran out into the gallery, with Threepio in pursuit behind her. Once she was out of sight, Luke took in a big sigh of relief.
"You ok kid?" Han asked turning to look at Luke.
"I am now. I'm relived that Caylee is doing better. The nightmares have stopped coming every night and I haven't heard her crying herself to sleep anymore."
"That's good."
Chewie roared in agreement.
That was when children's laughter broke the silence. And that was a much-needed sound that they all needed to hear. Especially Luke.
When he reached into the Force, he could feel his daughter's happiness and that was the best thing he could feel at the moment. This was just beginning of the their new life…