' Ash Blooms' (Chapter Thirteen)
By Ennon
A/N- swspacecadet- Thanks for liking my attempts at humoring the critics . Humor can help us be brave and thanks for appreciating the time and thought I've put into the writing. I know it may not seem like it to some but knowing where it ends isn't as much of a challenge as how to get there.
MadameOperaGhost- I hope you're not too upset over the cliffhanger (but I'm glad to see you read the eight chaps between your last review and this one (feel free to say what you want about any of them). Anyway, I'm ready to get started on the next chap so I hope the wait wasn't too long.
Miss Naye- Yeah, he WAS a slave again but how long he remains one will be demonstrated in this chapter.
CHAPTER BEGINS
Anakin stood at the base of the large quarry pit realizing that it was the rubble of the Coruscantic Capital Planet of Coruscant he'd been helping to break apart for his slavers, the Mong- but standing atop his very own embedded footprints in the altar of the very first Jedi Temple foundation caused him to remember what he'd been for 759 years before he and the other Coruscantic Galactic citizens had been taken away as slaves without memories 72 years before in the year.
"It's 786 AY! Obi-Wan help me get the Light Side to re-awaken my children, grandchildren and the other slaves here to who we REALLY are!" Anakin pleaded aloud.
" You have the capacity to retrigger that!" the Force Ghost of Obi-Wan (in his blue haze) exclaimed.
"The Force Lives in Us!" Anakin sang aloud- a second time.
"Nothing, am I to be the only one re-awake. ..?" Anakin asked.
Suddenly, he heard growling and barking coming from the Wookiee next to him-who picked up the solid collar that had been broken by Anakin via the Force just minutes earlier.
"Kitster! You were just a cub but you remember- and I can tell you have the Force wielding inside you just like your great-grandfather Ruwee did!" Anakin beamed as he hugged the74-year-old adolescent Wookiee.
"The Force Lives in Us!" several of Anakin's children by slave women echoed.
"My sons and daughters! Help the rest of the slaves remember!" Anakin pleaded.
"The Force Lives in Us!" all the Coruscantic slaves in the immediate area started to sing in literally hundreds of languages.
"YES! We can do it!" Anakin exclaimed.
"The Force Lives in Us!" Anakin and everyone else sang aloud in Coruscant and throughout the galaxy while the Mong slavers started to pick up their Obedience Sticks.
"My Son and True Master, how are we to overcome the Obedience Sticks?" Anakin asked Luke's Force Ghost.
"Use the Force!" Luke's Ghost pleaded.
"But there are so many of them- and they're from a different galaxy so how could it work?" Anakin asked.
"Chosen One, you were able to break the slave collars of many with the Force and they,too, were forged in that other galaxy!" Qui-Gonn's Force Ghost laughed- as he became visible with the blue haze.
"Master Qui-Gonn! You mean, the midichlorians have mutated to overcome their beings and molecules,too?" Anakin asked as he pointed to the Mong.
"The midichlorians are organisms smart enough to evolve to changing environments to survive- like the Tatooine frogs did when your home planet was transformed from swamp to desert!" Qui Gonn's Force Ghost exclaimed.
"My children and grandchildren! We've been given a tool in the Force to win our freedom and those of all the other slaves ! We must use it NOW!" Anakin exclaimed aloud (and via the Force).
At once all the Mongs in a 500 kilometer sphere around the rubble (which had once been Coruscant's Governmental District) were picked up off their feet and suspended in mid-air via the Force.
Anakin sunk to his knees again as he saw and sensed what had happened- as well as many smaller acts of rebellion against the Mong taking place throughout the galaxy via his children, grandchildren and thousands of other Force wielders!
"Leave us your largest carriers but then, leave this planet at once if you ever want to set your feet on solid surface again!" Anakin exclaimed aloud and via the Force to the Mong.
The Mong, quite puzzled with what happened and unable to think of any recourse (as their weapons were now useless against the Mutated-Force wielding Coruscants )and immediately took off. Coruscant was free for the first time in 72 years.
At once, Anakin's younger and stronger sons picked him up on their shoulders and tossed him in the air. Anakin, then remembered another of his capacites- and flew to the top of the ruined Senate Beehive Dome (now the tallest structure in the ruined Coruscant).
" Padmé, the views I showed you of this city were far different from these ruins we've been left with. How I'm thankful you and 28 generations of our progeny were spared having to witness this but this is where our freedom in this time has begun!" Anakin groaned as he looked over the vast ruins that he knew extended far past the horizon before he decided to address aloud (and via the Force) all the former slaves in Coruscant (including 256 of his children and grandchildren).
"With the Force, we have regained our voices and won our freedom but this may prove temporary if we don't act quickly! " Anakin declared.
"What about food?" the Wookiee named Kitster exclaimed in his language and via the Force.
" My Wookiee friend has asked a very relevant question about food. How to feed ourselves is our first issue. The Mong left behind rations of several weeks here but that won't sustain us indefinitely. There's too little rain and even less free soil on Coruscant to grow what we need," Anakin proclaimed aloud and via the Force.
"Father, where can we go?" asked Anakin's 26-year-old redhaired son H9 (who already looked a few years than his 831-year-old father with his perpetually 22-year-old physique) .
"Son, I want you and the others to choose your own names! No longer should we be referred to by numbers and codes. We are free!" Anakin exclaimed.
"I'll go by Patientless!" H9 exclaimed with a laugh.
"Definitely are MY son in that capacity," Anakin laughed.
"Where should we relocate?" Patientless asked.
" We can go to your half-sister Leia's planet of New Alderaan which had a large number of fruit trees, food crops and livestock that should sustain us for a long time until we can plan our next course of action," Anakin exclaimed.
The rest of the day, he and the few others who actually had memories of Coruscant helped those who had been born slaves to find where important sites were. By the ruined Government District's sundown, nearly every Coruscantic was able to find clothing from piles that had been once been Coruscants finest clothiers. Anakin found a sleeveless tunic shirt and a pair of brown slacks to his liking under the rubble.
Soon, Anakin and the others were camped out in the ruins, near the space port ready to use the Mong slave ships as a means to reach New Alderaan the next morning.
"Oh, My Son… My Firstborn Son and True Master, please beg your mother's forgiveness on my part. I was forced to sire 578 living half-siblings in the last 52 years," Anakin groaned late that night inside the Mong slave carrier as he checked the engines to ready it for its journey to New Alderaan.
"Yes, we know, Father!" Luke's Force Ghost laughed as he became visible again with the blue haze
"All those centuries of being faithful, walking in the Light Side and I held off . .knowing poor Miruba before our intended marriage but then. .." Anakin sighed.
"Brother, even when you were a memory-free slave, you DID walk in the Light Side- for the most part. We can forgive you being tempted to do more than just tighten the Mongs' necks when being sad over being separated from mates and offspring but this time, you didn't cross that line!" Obi-Wan's Ghost exclaimed.
"I TOLD you, he wouldn't!" Qui-Gonn's Force Ghost laughed as he banged Obi-Wan's ghostly back.
"Wasn't giving me seven centuries 'I-told-you-so's enough after Endor ?" Obi-Wan's Ghost sighed.
"Not after rejecting my belief there still existed a kernel of good in him every single time I visited you in Tatooine for nineteen straight years!" Qui-Gonn's Ghost proclaimed.
"As much as I'm tempted to bask, Master Qui-Gonn, there's still the issue of all these new offspring I've sired and none of them being by Padmé," Anakin groaned.
"Don't worry, Father! It may have been the greed of the Mong to expand their stores of human livestock through your seed but it was the Will of the Force that you sire them!" Luke's Force Ghost exclaimed.
"But how will I ever face your. ..?" Anakin sighed and shook his head in shame.
"It's okay! She helped will it to happen," Luke's Force Ghost beamed.
"But how. .?" Anakin asked aloud.
"Ani, Padmé's not a Force wielder but she had something more important than that or even your memories to her advantage. She has your heart!" Qui-Gonn's Force Ghost explained.
"So, all of us Force wielders who knew her put our resources together and helped her spirit recall the feelings you had for her rather than the actual memories!" Leia's Force Ghost finished explaining as she,too, became visible.
"My. .Firstborn Daughter! "Anakin exclaimed.
"If you'd been a pig to Mama when she alive, Luke and I would likely have hated you all over but every one of our half-siblings are Force wielders and they can help you free the REST of the Galaxy!" Leia's Force Ghost proclaimed.
"Why do I have the feeling Han probably wishes HE had had the chance to be with all those slave women," Anakin sighed.
"Don't you love our half-siblings? We do!" Luke's Force Ghost proclaimed.
"Of course but they weren't born of my heart the way you two were from your mother! " Anakin groaned.
"You always said one of your biggest regrets of turning to the Dark Side was missing out on helping to raise Luke and me- and I know how you tried to recapture those years with our own children," Leia's Force Ghost consoled.
"But that caused some resentment on Han's and Mara's parts," Anakin recalled.
"But now you DO have the opportunities with so many of these children. You have three yet to be born! You sly dog!" Luke's Force Ghost laughed.
"It's not the way I'd have wanted things," Anakin proclaimed.
"Neither was being raised on a desert rock, having my guardians murdered, finding out my father was Vader or thinking I'd have to resurrect the Jedi Order all on my own but . ." Luke's Force Ghost consoled.
"But the Force helped you use those terrible burdens to give you the strength you needed to leave the New Jedi a strong, thriving order at your death," Anakin beamed.
"As the Force did in helping me gather up a group of scared, scattered merchants, vendors and visitors who'd been on other planets when Alderaan was destroyed to make New Alderaan a place of renewal and hope," Leia's Ghost recalled.
"Oh, I really want to make things right with the Coruscantic Galaxy again!" Anakin exclaimed.
"That's one reason why the Force granted you fantastic strength and extended youth, Chosen One," Qui-Gonn's Ghost exclaimed.
"I hate to be discouraging but, while I have no doubt you'll be able to help countless former citizens, you need to remember that things can never exactly be the same and not all wrongs can be righted,"Leia's Force Ghost sighed.
"I remember My Angel telling you that on more than one occasion in your later years," Anakin recalled.
"But maybe at least some of the new things can be better than before !" Luke's Force Ghost exclaimed.
"Yes, I can get your many half-siblings to revive the New Jedi Order, rebuild the Yavin Temples, your statues and. ." Anakin beamed.
"Father, don't bother with my statues. I always thought they were too big and showy," Luke's Force Ghost sighed.
"Why didn't say so before?" Anakin asked.
"I DID say so before but I was always secure enough in my own deeds not to need glory and praise," Luke's Force Ghost shrugged.
"But I wanted future generations to know. ." Anakin gasped.
"Father, as long as they know the Light Side, that's all that matters to me," Luke's Force Ghost shrugged.
"But they need to . ." Anakin protested.
"Whether they reach by me, Master Qui-Gonn, Master Yoda, Master Windu, other teachers or just stumble on it on their own is irrelevant," Luke's Force Ghost exclaimed.
"Right as usual, My True Master," Anakin sighed.
"Father, you don't have to. .. " Luke's Force Ghost protested.
"But I want to. It makes me feel as though you're right with me when I do!" Anakin proclaimed.
"Brother, right now, you need your rest so you and your progeny can guide the others to New Alderaan tomorrow to start a new day for our galaxy!" Obi-Wan's Force Ghost proclaimed as he, Luke, Leia, and Qui-Gonn faded away.
Anakin was quickly able to teach one of his sons (a 45-year-old who called himself Velocity) to pilot the Mong slaver vessal before they and the 5 million other former slaves took off from Coruscant the next day but before they reached New Alderaan, they put the gigantic slaver ship into orbit around Yavin Four while Anakin took a small shuttle pod to the jungle moon's surface. Anakin wasted no time finding where the ruins were and seeking out the pile he'd left Artoo underneath.
"At least the barrenness of Coruscant kept the rubble somewhat identifiable but this jungle has made the ruins indistinguishable from the natural hills. How can I ever find. .?" Anakin asked aloud.
"Ageless One, have you forgotten in just one day? Use the Force!" laughed the 74-year-old teenaged Wookiee named Kitster (in Wookie).
"Of course! I can feel where my lightsabre is and now we just have to dig it out again!" Anakin proclaimed.
"So is this near where my great-grandfather and your fiancée. ..?" Kitster the Wookiee asked(in Wookiee)
"Yes, and one day we will return here to give them and all the others who fell a proper memorial service but right now I need to find," Anakin sighed.
"Here's a keystone! I can't budge the thing! Maybe with the Force. ." Kitster the Wookiee exclaimed (in Wookiee)
"No, we need to keep using the Force as much as possible to keep communicating with the other Force wielders all over the rest of the galaxy and help the other citizens regain their languages as we did in Coruscant," Anakin insisted- while he quickly tore the jungle vines and roots off the keystone as though they were mere spider webs instead of virtual ropes.
"Are you going to try to lift that thing? I know you're very strong but that's too much for even a Wookiee," Kitster the Wookiee protested as Anakin put both hands under the foundation.
"It's what I NEED to do!" Anakin grunted as he lifted the keystone of several hundred kilograms off the ground.
"I see a rusty metal can under here. Is that?" Kitster the Wookie asked (in Wookiee).
"Yes, it's Artoo and you need to pull him out! That's why you're here!" Anakin proclaimed.
Kitster did so.
"Old Friend! I don't know if I'm too late but as soon as we get to New Alderaan, I'll do everything I can to revive you! If any droid deserves to be part of the Force, it's you!" Anakin exclaimed as, to Kitster's astonishment, he hugged the rusty droid before they quickly reboarded the shuttle and took off for New Alderaan.
For the next week, Anakin frantically worked at scrubbing off the rust and welding new parts from metal ores for Artoo on New Alderaan while the Coruscant refugees found ample food growing wild for all 5 million of them and then came the day when he insisted on everyone gathering around a large mesa not too far from New Alderaan's capital city site of New Aldera City.
"My Firstborn Son and True Master Luke used to wonder if there was any reason for New Jedi to use Force Lightning- and now I can demonstrate that there IS!" Anakin exclaimed aloud and via the Force to the entire crowd gather while he made a single continuous and controlled electric charge zap from his right hand's fingertips to Artoo's power port.
Artoo beeped and whirled a great deal-then opened a hatch and popped out Anakin's Jedi blue lightsabre and japor pendent which Anakin immediately caught with his left hand and then using only his left hand (for his right was powering Artoo with the controlled Force Lightning to his power port), Anakin secured the lightsabre to his tunic's toolbelt then put back the japor snippet back on his neck after 72 years.
"Yes, Artoo,I agree! It's good being back! Are you ready?" Anakin asked.
Artoo projected a holovid from his lid over 100 meters in height in three dimensions for the entire crowd to see.
"This is where we live! The Coruscant Galaxy. Our capital planet of Coruscant is here!" Anakin explained aloud (and via the Force to the crowd)- as the holovid zoomed to the Core and highlighted the system and planet.
"We're now 500 light years away on New Alderaan but your ancestors called an infinite number of planets home and Artoo and I are going to show you a very tiny slice of what our civilization was capable of over the next three hours!" Anakin proclaimed.
"What good will showing that ancient history do us?" a Twi'lek named Pornem asked.
"It can give everyone something to find inspiration for our futures! The Force wants everyone to the best with the gifts we've been given! THAT's why it lives in all of us- Force wielders and others!""Anakin started to say.
As Anakin continued his talk, he couldn't help but feel that he had a very long mission ahead of him to free the other Coruscants from both his own and the Quechu-Mong galaxies- and he knew he'd have to be ready to confront the Mongs before they had a chance to catch up to the Coruscant fugitive ex-slaves. He wasn't sure but hope the Force could guide himself and the other Force wielders to defend themselves and the others. Oh, and he also hoped the Force could help him be the best father possible to his 578 living children from in utero to 51 years of age. He still wasn't wasn't sure if the Force could help him deal with all their many mothers (who now had very strong and diverse ideas on how they wanted him in their lives) though.