Note: This is part two of a three-part series begun with Flying Solo. I strongly suggest that you read this first in order to understand some of the concepts and events taking place. As I said before, I don't own Star Wars.
It was a little after the time when the sun was highest in the sky when the ship entered the hangar. I had been with the other Younglings up until just then, practicing with one of the Jedi masters. Shortly after the session had dismissed, I wandered alone rather aimlessly, looking for something to do. The Jedi temple was very big and it was my greatest dream to actually explore every inch.
They say there's no such thing as coincidence, and I'm willing to believe them because the minute I decided that it would be really fun to stay where I was in the hangar and watch the starships take off and land, a large, disc-like object was making its way inside. Curious, I crawled up onto a crate of goods dropped off earlier that morning. I'm not exactly very tall or strong, and being almost ten, I could still use this as a hiding spot without landing in whatever the contents were.
It was from this point that I noticed the disc had a cutaway section in the front, and there were two arm-like extensions on either side of the cutaway. This was a starship, I realized, come to deliver supplies to the Jedi. My heart began racing; from the time I was a little girl, growing up among the others in the temple, I had held an inexplicable infatuation with flight. All my worries that I was growing too old to become a Padawan and my fears of never having a master or worse, never becoming one, seemed to fade away as it finally landed.
Nerves took over as the front hatch opened up and a tall figure strode out; I couldn't move frozen with fear. The tall figure made a strange noise that I recognized from my study of Kashyyyk. The creature walked on two legs and had a few weapons strewn across its back, and its entire body was covered in thick fur: a Wookiee. It signaled to someone else inside the craft when it reached the hangar interior.
"All clear?" yelled a voice. The Wookiee nodded his approval and another figure, this one obviously human, exited the craft. He had dark brown hair and his skin was fairly tan, but what I noticed the most was the large blaster that rested in a holster on his belt. I gasped, remembering the discussions the masters and other Younglings had about pirates and smugglers. "Yeah, yeah," his voice boomed again, and I jumped in spite of my training. The crate teetered, and fell open, spilling both contents and me on the smooth stone floor.
The Wookiee howled. "What was that?" the human asked, turning his gaze in my direction. I was trapped between several more crates of supplies, so all I could possibly do was lift my head slightly, give a sheepish grin, and wave with my left hand. He crouched down so he could look me in the eye. "Someone must've delivered a shipment of little kids," he muttered, and I would've laughed, but it didn't seem like a joke to me.
"Uh, hi," I managed. "My name's Gracie and I got separated from the other Younglings, could you help me out? You see," I lied, "when I saw your ship coming I thought you might be able to help me. And I've always kinda had this love of flight so-"
"You sneaked away from your master so you could get a look at the hangar," he finished. Strange, I could sense no awareness of the Force in him, but he seemed to be able to read my thoughts. "Here," he said, sticking out a callused hand for me to grab onto. I stumbled to my feet and brushed the packing material out of my hair. "I'm Captain Solo, that's Chewbacca," he motioned to the Wookiee, "or Chewie for short. And this," he gestured the starship with a flourish, "is the Millennium Falcon."
"Wow," I said in awe. "She's the most amazing ship I've ever seen!"
"She?" The captain laughed. "I thought kids these days didn't have any respect for a good starship. Well, maybe I was wrong," he said, ruffling my hair, "or maybe you're just an exception. Heck, even my wife doesn't appreciate her. I guess we just have good taste. Want to look inside?"
"Boy, do I ever!" I yelled, jumping up and down. But I stopped abruptly as I remembered the timing. "But I have lightsaber practice now. Can I come back later?" He nodded, and I got a chance to look into his eyes. Remarkably, they were near to the same shade as mine. "Gotta go!" I shouted over my shoulder as I tore down the hall. "Bye, Captain!"
He yelled something back to me, but I was already too far away to hear. I ran faster, nearly knocking into Master Yoda. Lucky for me, he was strong enough in the Force to know I was coming. "Sorry!" I yelled to a couple of flustered Padawans, and finally I reached the room where practice was to be held.
I mumbled an apology to the instructor, a slender human female with dark brown hair. Recognizing her from watching the mock duels held by the older Jedi, I immediately registered her as Master Janren. "Remember," she was saying as I entered, "the Force is your ally. With it you will be able to defeat the opponent you never imagined you could defend yourself against, and even sense the presence of other beings- such as the young one who just entered the room." There was a collective giggle; I felt my face getting hot. "Settle down, there's no need to make Gracie feel uncomfortable."
"How did you know my name?" I asked, bewildered. Although she spoke of not making me uneasy, her knowledge of me when I had only seen her once was doing just that. I tried telling myself it was just some sort of Force trick.
"A Jedi master knows many things. There is no ignorance; there is knowledge," she replied, citing the Jedi code I had memorized at a very young age. She nodded in the direction of an unoccupied seat, and I walked down the rows of children seated on mats, wishing vaguely that I proudly bore the Padawan braid. "There are three things in front of you: your lightsaber, a blacked-out helmet, and a remote. You are to put on the helmet with the shield down, activate your lightsaber-perhaps you should've done that first," she replied apologetically in response to the thuds of several Younglings falling on their faces, searching blindly for their weapons. "When I press the button to activate your remotes, you will try to feel their presence and seek them out, then destroy them. Are we all set?"
I couldn't see a thing inside my helmet, but I didn't have much trouble feeling the presence of the other Jedi younglings around me. Tuning them out, I focused solely on the remote that had recently been activated in front of me. As I became immersed in the Force, I rose my weapon and struck where the remote was, or should've been. But my blade met nothing but air.
Feeling some frustration, I reassessed the situation and found the remote again. This time I would strike it down, being one of the firsts in my class to complete the exercise, and then surely I would be assigned to a master. Determination was my fuel, driving me towards a cause I wanted to reach desperately.
I stepped forward and swung my blade, a cobalt beam that had been constructed by a master and not by me. But soon enough I would have my own, and I focused my attention solely on the stroke. The remote swiveled again, and I was not yet able to complete my task. I tried to push down my rage and it came to rest somewhere in my stomach, bubbling like lava. It was hard to remain in the Force with such emotion; I slashed forward, hacking into straw mat instead of machinery.
There was a cool hand on my arm, and another lifting the helmet from my eyes. "You are dismissed," I heard Master Janren say as the room came back into focus. The others were staring at me again; for the second time today I struggled to keep my resolve in front of the others. They scrambled out of the room, and the Jedi master kneeled down to talk to me on my level, another painful reminder of my feeble status. "Gracie, I'm disappointed."
The tears began flowing down my cheeks, stinging in the small cuts I had gotten from my fall into the crates. "I keep trying, and all I ever come up with is nothing, because I can feel the remote, but every time I find it, it moves, and I'm almost ten and I still don't have a master-"
"Gracie, calm down," she said in a serene voice, both soothing and reprimanding at the same time. "You just need a little more practice. I was no different at your age. Would you like me to help you?" I nodded.
Over the next few hours, we worked together to help me become more in tune with the Force. She taught me to look ahead of my opponent without losing track of the present. I made progress, though it was slow and rough going. But with the aid of my new friend, I learned much more in the ways of the Jedi. Confident in my skills, I headed off to my quarters for the night.
As I lay awake, I remembered what I had heard of Master Janren. She was said to be very powerful and highly respected among the Jedi, and yet, she had never been offered a position on the council, or had otherwise turned it down. Naturally, there were rumors, the most improbable of them being that there was a personal squabble between her and a member, so they had tried to keep her off the council. I knew that corruption and favoritism couldn't exist among the high council, and I didn't think that the kindly master would be capable of angering anyone.
The next day, I woke early and tiptoed past the other sleeping apprentices to the balcony that, all too conveniently, overlooked the landing pad. It was lucky that the freighters were already docking below, and luckier still that the Millennium Falcon was among them. I pulled on the simple garb of a child raised in the temple and walked out of the room again, even more quietly than before.
If Captain Solo would only remember his offer, and then agree to teach me how to fly, I thought as I closed the door behind me. He had been very generous, and there was something slightly suspicious in the friendly way he treated me. Breaking into a full run as I neared the stairs to the hangar, I nearly ran into someone again, although this time I managed to stop short of the brown-robed figure. "Master Janren!" I exclaimed, taking a step back. Despite her small size, small for a human at least, she held herself with an air of importance, which was both admirable and intimidating.
"Isn't it a little early for you to be up?" she inquired, and I panicked, but there was a glint in her eye. "Oh, of course, a diligent student such as you would be meditating since dawn. But where are you headed in such a hurry?" I thought it best not to lie to the Jedi master, for she would know, and I didn't want to anger one of the few friends I had.
"I'm going to see a friend of mine," I explained. "A captain from Corellia. He's really nice, and I thought he might teach me how to fly." Master Janren nodded in approval, and a thought popped into my head. "Do you want to come with me when I go talk to him? I'm sure he wouldn't mind." She began to shake her head, and I hung mine.
But she paused suddenly, and my spirits lifted as she said, "You know, I could probably use a little cheering up at the moment. Tell you what, I'll come and use a mind trick on him if he won't let you fly his ship." I smiled, and she started down the stairs with me next to her, the latter constantly rattling on about everything.
"Is it true that you're not on the high council? I think you should be. You're smart and pretty and brave and stuff!"
"Gracie, you only just met me yesterday."
"But I've been observing you from afar! You're everything I want to be when I become a Jedi knight. That is, if I ever become one," I sighed as we reached our destination. "I know I'm not alone, but it feels like I'll never become a real Jedi."
"It's not much in the way of reassurance, but there are other paths a Jedi can take while still within the order," Master Janren said sagely. "Forget that now. Which of these ships is his?" she asked, pointedly changing the subject.
"That one," I chimed, pointing to the Falcon. The master looked surprised, but one could never tell with the Jedi. As if on cue Captain Solo strode out of the ship, looking a bit cleaner than the time I'd seen him. "Captain!" I yelled, running up and hugging him despite my calm Jedi reserve.
"Gracie!" he yelled in response, spinning me around so my legs flew out behind me. "Master Jedi," he added politely as he set me down with a curt nod to Master Janren, though I detected a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Good to see you again, Captain Solo," replied the Jedi with a smooth tone, one that seemed to imply that they were already well-acquainted, though she could have just as easily used the Force to figure out his name. But something told me that she had lied to me before when she said that was how she had found out. "How's the trade market in Corellia?"
"Doing quite well, thanks. And the Jedi order?"
"Same old chaos," she said offhandedly. "Same rules, same jobs, same keepers of the peace that we've always been. But don't get me wrong, the familiar is always a comfort." I watched the conversation with interest, trying to get more out of the words than the captain could, detecting the fleeting emotions woven carefully in like golden thread in a while garment. "It was very good to see you, Captain, but I'm afraid the Younglings aren't supposed to be running around here instead of at classes." I smiled at the joke; she wasn't like any of the stiff older Jedi who lacked a sense of humor. Master Skywalker had become one of them, not smiling at me when I passed him or complimenting my efforts.
"Nice of you to drop by," Captain Solo replied. "But Jedi are always busy, and I suppose they'll always be. See ya later, Gracie. Bye," he called over his shoulder as he retreated through the front hatch, closing it behind him with a hydraulic whoosh that reverberated through the temple hangar.
Master Janren and I left in silence. I thought it a funny coincidence that the two greatest people in the galaxy, in my humble opinion, had already met and, I inferred, were close friends. But as I said before, there are no such things as coincidences. I suppose that if I had never ran into her on my way to visit the captain, I would have never come into contact with my worst fears, and might not have become as strong as I would become. In truth, I would have come across them, but at a later time. What I did had not affected this. The wheels had been set in motion long ago. The Jedi were on a long and bloody path to revolution, a revolution that would break many a Force-sensitive life form down, but also build them up again.
And, as Master Kenobi would've said, I had a bad feeling about this.