Chapter 29

I found Wedge in his office as promised. As I came in, he stood up from behind his desk, came around it and gave me a handshake and a hearty backslap as he said: "You son-of-a-nerfherder! If you ever do a crazy fool stunt like getting captured again I swear that I'll court-martial whatever's left of you after the Empire is done You got that!"

I smiled and said: "Believe me Wedge, it wasn't planned. Besides, if I hadn't done what I had, Gabrielle would have been captured, not me. Furthermore, if I'm ever captured again and I escape, you'll have to wait until Gabrielle is done killing me then you can do whatever you want with what's left over."

Wedge laughed this time. He said: "I expect to see you on duty again as soon as possible." I said: "Well, the 2-1-B doesn't want to see me again anytime soon so that leaves Psychological and I suppose Command wants to debrief me." Wedge said: "Right on both counts Ronin! I've already cleared the way. You can go see the head-shrinkers as soon as you're done here and then Command will debrief you after your evaluation." I said: "Alright then. I guess I'll go take care of that right now then." Wedge said: "Damn right you will. I can't fly without an XO now can I?"

I left his office and went straight to Psychological. What followed was a series of interviews and tests to ensure that I hadn't been broken by the Empire. It was actually a unique experience trying to tell a fully trained psychologist how the Force enabled me to keep my sanity. Since the good doctor was fully trained in the science of mental medicine and logical, analytical diagnoses, telling them of the Force which in their learned opinion, shouldn't exist at all was positively humorous.

With a clean bill of mental and physical health, my Command-level debrief was scheduled for the next day. With nothing else that required my attention, I went to visit Warbler in Maintenance. He was fine and very happy to see me, in his words, 'fully-functional again'. I chatted with him for a little while and thanked him for the great landing when I was unable to. After that, I went to the gym and did a light workout of slow kata and sword forms. I missed my Muramasa sword and regretted being unable to reclaim it.

The next day was easily the most mentally exhausting day I had experienced since I first joined the Alliance all those years ago. It was early evening when Command was finally done with me. As my father used to say after a particularly hard day: 'My tail feathers were dragging'. As I neared the quarters I shared with my wife, I sensed a distraction coming from inside. Nothing serious, but a distraction just the same. The door opened and as I came in a small blur of motion ran headlong into my legs and fell down.

I looked down to see a little boy perhaps nine years old with jet black hair and steel gray eyes looking up at me. I heard Gabrielle call out: "Dieter! Watch where you're going!" I chuckled as I knelt down to his level to help him up. He said: "Gee, I'm sorry Master Jayks, I didn't see you." I smiled again and said: "Now, now Dieter. I'm not a Jedi Master yet and I might never be. I'm just a Knight and I'm happy with that." He said: "My mom used to tell me stories about the Jedi when I was real little and I hope to be one like you someday but I gotta go cause my mom just called me." With that, he took off down the corridor like a shot. I took my lightsaber off and set it on the table by the door and walked in.

Gabrielle stood in the central living area wearing her favorite off duty jumpsuit. She had dinner ready though I didn't ask her to make one. After dinner we sat on the couch as she slowly massaged my neck and shoulders. She said: "You look like you stood between two tractor beam generators when they turned the power on. Was your debriefing that bad?" I tiredly said: "Milady, you have no idea. It only took me two hours to really tell my story but then they had me rehash it from every possible angle over and over. Gabrielle giggled and said: "That's the military mindset for you." I had to agree and said as much.

A stray thought occurred to me just then. "Who was the little one? Dieter you said his name was?" I asked. Gabrielle said: "Oh, that's Dieter Bree." I said: "Bree? Any relation to Commander Bree of Gold Group?" She said: "Teeyara is his mother. I watch him from time to time. He's a total delight to look after and he's easy to love because he's so full of energy and questions about all sorts of things. He especially loves the stories of the Jedi. After you started showing me the Force, he asked me if he had any Force potential. All I could tell him was that I was just a Padawan Learner myself and that my emotions were probably in the way, so I couldn't read him."

I took in the information and then asked: "What happened to his Father?" Gabrielle took a breath and said: "You never met Dolan. He died on the patrol where you first joined up with Wedge and Jansen." I saw the shadow of pain in her eyes and said: "I'm sorry Gabrielle. I didn't mean to bring up any painful memories for you. I remember now what Jansen told me. I also remember seeing a door with the name 'Bree' on it. That was when I first felt the resonance of your mind. You were comforting Teeyara, weren't you?" Gabrielle said: "Yes. That's right. Now that I think about it, I do remember feeling something outside her door that day. Dolan was a friend of mine from before my involvement in the Rebellion. So that was you that day." I looked up to her and said: "Guilty as charged." Gabrielle said: "Even though your joining us came during a time of personal loss, I'm glad you're here, with me now."

She nuzzled my neck and kissed it, before resting her chin on my shoulder and asked: "What's on your agenda tomorrow?" I said: "I'm off to the gym for a solid workout and then back into the squadron rotation I go. If you want me to, I'll see if Dieter has any Force ability sometime." Gabrielle said: "That sounds like a good idea but right now I need some husbandly attentions." I said: "It would be my pleasure to see to my wife's needs." Gabrielle smiled and said: "That sir is only half of the objective."

The next morning, we woke up together and had breakfast. Gabrielle was going on deep patrol and would be gone for the next several days. We left our quarters together and walked until we reached a "T" junction in the hallway. Here we parted with a quick kiss goodbye and went our separate ways, her to the flight deck, me to the gym. Before parting she said: "I'll be gone until next week but when I get back, I want to discuss something with you that's really important. Until then, I love you." I said: "I love you too. May the Force be with you."

We went our separate ways when Gabrielle did something I would never have expected. The only warning I got was of her manipulating the Force. She pinched me on the butt. I jumped a little in surprise and said to myself: "Alright then my Wife, two can play at this game." Using my much finer control of the Force, I gave my wife a Force caress in a location too intimate to print. I heard a short screech from way back in the corridor and said to myself: "Payback is so sweet."

I entered the gym to see only a few people using it for its intended purpose. Much the same as the gym at the last base with its large variety of exercise equipment, there was also a pallet of ferrocrete blocks off to one side along the wall. Stretching out, I started on my kata from easiest to hardest. After my unarmed forms came my saber and seeker exercises. When I finished those, I focused on the blocks of ferrocrete.

I saw the sign on the pallet of blocks that said: "To be destroyed and recycled." Channeling the Force to strengthen my legs and fists, I levitated a block into the air and let it go. Focusing my intent, I leapt into the air: "Shoryuken." The block shattered upon impact. "Shoryuken." Another block shattered.

Again and again until half the pallet was gone. Bringing two blocks out, I put myself into a suspended split and placed my hands in a meditation form, forefingers pressing against the other. At first I felt the warm, pleasant sensation of the bond I shared with my wife. Delving deeper into the meditation, I felt the mind touch of one I hadn't expected; MasterYoda. In my meditation I spoke: "Master Yoda, It's good to sense you again. How have you been?"

In my meditative vision, I saw Master Yoda sitting there on a stump. He gave the rare smile he would show when I had intuitively grasped some piece of my training and said: "Learned much you have my former Padawan. Your wife is ready to finish her training." I said: "Master, I don't know if she can go away for five years like I did." Yoda smiled again: "Her path is started, yours to be made it did. She must come here. Only then, can she focus her attention fully on her goal. If as quick as you, she is, her training will take but a fraction of the time yours did." I said: "I understand Master. I will take her to you as soon as I am able."

I emerged from the meditation feeling much refreshed. I recovered from my split and used the Force to move all of the ferrocrete debris into a pile to be gathered by the next cleaning droid on its rounds. As I walked out of the gym, Dieter was dozing off with his back against the wall. I knelt down and gently touched his shoulder. His eyes snapped open. Seeing me, he wiped the sleep from his eyes and asked: "Will you please teach me to be a Jedi?" In answer, I focused on him with the Force but felt no innate ability.

I could not and would not lie to him. I told him the truth. I said: "I'm sorry little one, but you were meant for something else in life than to be a Jedi." He said: "I'm not surprised really. I've been thinking that was the case." This plainly stated fact surprised me. According to Gabrielle, he should have been crying his eyes out because he couldn't be a Jedi. I asked: "May I scan your mind little one?" He said: "It won't hurt will it?"

I said: "No it won't. Open your mind." As he opened his mind to me, I could sense in him a highly developed thought pattern for someone so young. I could sense strength, courage, and honor. I could tell his strength came about from enduring great hardship early in life. I withdrew my scan and remembered what Gabrielle had told me of Dieter's father, Dolan. A man I had never met yet for some reason, his son was looking to me for guidance.

Dieter said: "When my dad died, Gabrielle was there to help my mom get through it and when she thought you were dead; my mom helped Gabrielle through her pain." "I see." I said. "Do you like history Dieter?" He said: "I love the stuff. Why?" I said: "Though you won't wield a lightsaber to aid the Jedi, there is still a way you can help. If you want." Dieter's face lit up with excitement as he said: "Anything I can do at all, I'll do it!"

A vision came to me at that point. As Dieter described it to me later on, my voice took on a distant almost echo-like tone as I said: "You will be a Watcher. The first in the rebirth of the Jedi Historian, a caretaker of Jedi lore, legend and fact. If you accept this task, you will be marked by the Force and the path of your life will be determined for the rest of your days. Do you accept?" Dieter said: "I do. I do accept this task and all that it means."

Taking his right hand in my left I turned it over so the wrist faced out. Cupping my right hand over his wrist I focused the Force. When I removed my hand, a black "W" in the blocky script of Basic surrounded by a circle was there. The Force had marked him.

I came out of the trance but remembered all that had just happened. Dieter looked down to his wrist, his eyes glowing with pride as he said: "Thank you so much Jedi Jayks. I'll be the best historian I can be and if I have anything to say about it, the Jedi's history will never be forgotten again!" I said: "I know you will Dieter. You better get home and focus your schooling towards the task you have accepted."

Dieter ran down the hall like he had the first time I met him, a blur of motion. I went home, showered and had dinner after preparing a message to Command to request a leave of absence for Gabrielle. I would wait until Gabrielle got back from patrol before showing her the message and then forwarding it to Command.

I hoped Command wouldn't have a problem with releasing her for training. I hoped even more that Dieter's mother would be able to accept his destiny. All I could do though was cross those bridges when I came to them.

Chapter 30

The special diet prescribed to me by the medical droid wasn't all that bad. A lot of high nutrient foods to replace what I had lost while a prisoner. After I ate I relaxed and watched a holo-movie. Some pro-empire propaganda film with a popular child actor name "Lorran".

Marginally entertaining but otherwise good for little more than helping me to relax prior to bed. I was exhausted after my workout but it was the good kind of tired though. Brought about by solid, cleansing sweat. Even though Gabrielle was not in my arms, I would still sleep very well I thought.

Just as I was about to climb into bed, the door chime sounded. I put the robe on that Gabrielle had given me as an anniversary gift and tiredly sighed to myself: "No rest for the weary," and went to answer the door. I could sense a highly agitated mind on the other side of the door. I walked into the living room and said: "Enter."

Not surprisingly, Teeyara Bree was standing there and she was not a happy woman. She hissed: "We need to talk Jedi Jayks." I answered: "Please come in and have a seat Teeyara." She walked in and took the offered seat. I said: "Can I offer you something to drink?"

Teeyara said: "You can jettison the pleasantries Jedi Jayks. I'm not here for socializing. First of all, in case you're wondering why I'm here and not on deep patrol with Gabrielle, new instruction from Command says that squadron XO's can take their group out as well as the CO. Second, what the hell gives you the right to tell my son to be a blasted Jedi Historian instead of whatever he wants to be!"

Before I could answer her, she continued: "I'll tell you what right you have . . . NONE! The General is kindly disposed towards Jedi and I can tolerate my best friend and executive officer learning of the Force, but I draw the line at Jedi interference in my son's life! My Grandparents told me how the Jedi Order would select their students and I found it barbaric and cruel. So if you think that for one second, I'm going to let you take my son from me and train him in your sorceries, you are sorely mistaken Jedi Jayks. I will do whatever it takes to safeguard my son even if it means standing against my best friend's husband."

I stood there and let her vent. When she finished I said: "Since you want formalities Commander Bree, you can have them. First of all, I'm not trying to interfere in your son's life though it may seem like it. I too know of how the Jedi of the old Republic chose their students and I too found it barbaric and cruel as you put it. Gabrielle told me how you used to tell Dieter stories of the Jedi when he was still a small child. Let me remind you that those are stories. While the basic events in some of them are probably true, you and I both know how words can be exaggerated and stories expanded until they no longer resemble the events that started them."

I continued with: "Furthermore, Dieter came to me. He asked me to train him as a Jedi. When I scanned him with the Force, I found no innate ability. When I told him, he took the news incredibly well considering what I had been told of him. I also found an incredible reserve of inner strength that no child that age should have. I know that when his Father died, I joined up. I think for some reason, Dieter looks to me as a living hero or something. I'm no hero, just a man with a particular gift. The Force gave me a Foretelling. In it, Dieter helped to rebuild and safeguard the recovered knowledge of the Jedi Order. Even if you don't personally agree with the source of this vision, doesn't change the fact that it did happen."

I finished with: "I asked him if he liked history and wanted to accept this task. I asked, he accepted. I can do nothing more than point him in the right direction. Now I'm asking you, will you please support him in his choice?" Teeyara sat there in a kind of dumbfounded silence. When she spoke: "I guess we both have learned something today Ronin. I'll support his choice but I still don't have to like that my nine year old son has had the rest of his life decided for him. Goodnight Ronin. Sorry for jumping on you while you're off-duty." Teeyara left then and I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

Gabrielle got home the first day of the next week. Her patrol had been uneventful. I was busy in my office catching up on all the data-work I missed while being held prisoner. Confidential reports that some kind of Imperial super-weapon was being built and countermeasures that might be taken as well as lists of possible Rebel Base locations for consideration were towards the bottom of my pile.

When I caught up with Gabrielle at home that night, she was curled up on the couch wearing her favorite jumpsuit and reading a bookchip. I changed clothes and came back into the living room and started to give her a massage. Her bookchip drooped as did her head to allow me fuller access to her neck and shoulders. As I felt the tension work its way out, I gently kissed her behind both ears and on her neck.

In a soft voice I said: "You're Dieter's Godmother aren't you." It was more a statement of fact than a question and it caused Gabrielle to jump up off the couch as if she had just been stung. At first, she looked at me as if I had discovered a cosmic secret or something, then she started talking a mile a minute about how she was going to tell me soon.

I walked around to where she stood, took her in my arms and kissed her. She said: "How did you know?" I said: "I can't say it was a Force inspired deduction or anything. I just put together all the little pieces about your behavior around him and his around you."

Gabrielle started to apologize when I said: "What are you so worried about? You are my friend, my wife and most importantly of all, my partner. Your debts are my debts. Your word of honor given is my word of honor to carry out." Gabrielle stood there in my arms looking into my eyes and said: "Are you saying what I think your saying?" I smiled and said: "Looks like I've inherited a godson." Gabrielle embraced me fiercely and said: "Thank you my Knight. Thank you."