Dawn's Early Light
Author: Lea-El
Era: Between ANH and ESB
Description: A OC's joining in on Luke's learning to use the Force. This is a challenge from my Master BrentusofGath to write a story without Yoda. (Why anyone would want to read a story without Yoda is beyond me.):-P
Disclaimer: Many standard years ago I entered the world of Master Lucas. I have never completely left it, though it does not belong to me. I am just glad that we are allowed to visit our friends there from time to time. Especially since that is usually where my daughter is to be found. If it hadn't been for my Sci-Fi geek husband reading the book, we might never have found our home here.
I would like to thank BrentusofGath for beta-ing this for me.
DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT
Part one: Terror in the night
Krista wandered the new base, looking for something to do. Her assignments were finished and sleep was the farthest thing from her mind. 'Please, just a minor disaster so I will have something to do.'
Unfortunately, all the ships were lined up perfectly, the supplies stored and the recruits sound asleep after a long day of maneuvers, everyone except Krista. The threat of the black monster that haunted her dreams kept her moving, kept her searching for things to stave off sleep.
Lately, even awake she could feel the monster closing in on her, feel the cold chill running up her spine as if he was near, more so at night. She checked her chrono. 'Ooh! Six more hours until the wake up alarm brings the base to life. Six more hour of torture.'
Then she heard the sound again. The sound of their demise, the sound that she would never forget. Before she was aware, she screamed the blood curdling scream only a woman terrorized could produce.
The sound was gone but half the base was soon standing before her and the base alert alarm was blaring. Everyone was looking for the cause of the alarm but all they found was a very embarrassed Krista.
"All right, where's the fire?" the temporary training officer announced. "I warned you, I need my sleep or I'm out of here. Okay Princess, was it you that screamed?"
"No! It wasn't me! Seeing you in the middle of the night is the last thing I would want. Nice drawers! Put some pants on, you're not a Wookie you know," Leia fumed.
Chewie brayed at Han.
"What do you mean I have a hole in my drawers? These are new drawers. Oh! Crap! These are my new drawers." Han inspected the hole to everyone's displeasure.
"Just put your pants on before I hurl," Leia ordered.
"What's going on? Are we under attack?" Luke asked as he joined the group. "Nice drawers Han. Purple hearts, who knew?"
"Don't encourage him or he will run around in them all the time," Leia said, indignant that he was still standing there trying to figure out how he tore the hole in his good drawers.
The base commander joined them and called out in his official voice, "False alarm, everyone go back to bed, everyone but Krista. I have an assignment for you."
He waited for the crowd to filter back into the barracks, then told her, "I want you to sweep and mop the whole hangar. I will be working in my white socks tomorrow and they will be clean at the end of the day."
"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" She hurried to the supply room and came back with a broom, mop, dust pan and bucket of warm, soapy water and began her arduous task.
'Be careful what you wish for.'
Later in the week, she was on guard duty for the third time since her middle of the night wake up call. The base commander decided to put her insomnia to work. She passed a darkened balcony, the same spot that caused her earlier waking terror. Tonight, she heard a voice talking to someone but not getting a response. The voice was kind and not at all terrifying so she approached.
"Luke?" she asked to his surprise. "What are you doing?"
"I... I was practicing my calming exercises, trying to hear the Force," he said matter-of-factly.
"Calming sounds good, but what is the Force?" she asked, puzzled.
"The Force is the energy that binds the galaxy together; if you are calm, it speaks to you," Luke instructed her.
"All I ever hear is ... well it's not good." Krista shivered.
"When you are at peace, it will be," Luke added.
"When I'm at peace I will be dead." Krista's jadedness surprised him, but it also triggered his desire to share what he was learning.
"Try this, come over here and sit down," he told her, pointing to a place a meter in front of him.
Krista bounced over the rail with a maneuver he never saw a girl use before and folded up fluidly on the spot. "What now?"
"Close your eyes, think of a safe place, take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Now, again. What do you hear?" Luke repeated the words he heard only moments before by Ben.
"Children playing and someone calling, 'Moma'," Krista said quietly.
"That sounds peaceful," Luke said naively.
"You're full of bantha spit. That's what happened just before the black monster came and killed my parents. I hear it everytime I close my eyes. I wake up just as I hear the noise of their death." She bounded back over the rail quicker than she came and disappeared into the shadows.
Luke sat, shocked at her reaction.
"She's in a very dark place. It could be dangerous to teach her the things you are learning," Ben warned his new pupil.
"I know, but I think she really needs to calm down," Luke said sympathetically.
Krista saw Luke working on his lessons over the next few weeks but couldn't bring herself to approach him again. She wanted to know about this 'Force' he talked, about but she was so embarrassed at her behavior the last time. She never told anyone about seeing her parents die, mostly for fear the black monster would come get her. She spent the last ten years taking every chance she could to prove to herself she wasn't a coward for not running to their aid.
The eighteen year old Krista knew that there would have been one more burring sound and more burnt flesh in the pile, but she couldn't convince her eight year old self of that.
'Tonight, I am going up and talk to him; if he's there. I haven't run from anything in ten years and I am not running from my own stupidity…If he's there.'
Krista rounded the corner and heard Luke talking to someone, as usual; some unseen person. She bounded over the rail and asked much too forcefully. "Why are you talking to an Alderaanian Palm fruit?" Now she was embarrassed.
Luke calmly told her, after he junped about two meters. "I wasn't talking to the fruit." He tried to find the right words to explain. "I was talking to my instructor, Ben."
Krista turned slowly to the right then back to the left until she surveyed the entire balcony, seeing no one but them. "Ben?"
"Yes." A very proper Coruscant accent said, and before she realized what was going on, a blue glowing person was sitting beside them.
Krista jumped. 'Must be some new fangled military holo-emmiter.'
"May I join the lesson; I know I didn't do well on the last lesson, but I vowed to never run from that image again." Krista looked from Ben to Luke and back again.
Luke looked questioningly to Ben, pleading her case with his eyes.
"We have only one piece of fruit to work with," Ben said, glad not to have to say 'no' to the young girl that reminded him so much of another he knew so long ago.
Krista pulled a Corellian spice fruit from her pocket and placed it beside Luke's palm fruit.
Ben smiled his approval and started the lesson. "Okay, think about your respective fruits; think of the energy that makes up the fruit, the energy that surrounds it. Think of it coming to you and resting in your hand."
Luke's fruit wiggled and danced as if it was hearing music from and unknown source, but Krista's made no visible movement. She shifted her body then tried again, straining as she concentrated. The fruit made a small jerk, then squished, spraying juice all over Luke and her.
'Ah, one of the benefits of being a Force ghost,' Ben thought as the juice passed through his image.
Krista pulled a clean shop towel out of her uniform pocket and allowed Luke first shot at cleaning up with it. "I'm so sorry!"
"You are not the first person to have that happen. Maybe you should try it alone for a while, for everyone's comfort," Ben assured her.
"That is why I use Alderaanian palm fruit, they're less juicy," Luke assured his fellow student.
"Let's call it a night; I think I hear someone calling you, Krista," Ben motioned toward the sound.
"Oh! I'm on guard duty!" Krista hopped up and bounded over the rail, disappearing into the shadows.
Ben looked at Luke questioningly. "Are you sure about this?"
"She's cute!" Luke smiled.
"So is a Kashyyyk thunder cat, but they're deadly."
Krista was in the hangar, storing the latest shipment of hyper drive moderators, this planet was hard on them, when she heard the princess and the training instructor arguing.
"Why do you always want to cut and run just as we start to need you?"
"Well, you finally admitted it; you need me," He said in a suave voice.
"Yes, as much as I need a swarm of Dantooine razor hornets in my hair," Leia stormed.
"Will you miss me, Your Highness?" He leaned in toward her, smiling his crooked smile.
"I never miss anything I throw at!" grin Leia shouted, threw a hydro spanner at him and marched off. "Go! We don't want to teach the new recruits to run in the face of danger," she called over her shoulder as she left.
"Wow! They must be in love!" Krista said aloud to herself.
"No! They are not," Luke insisted a little too forcefully. "What planet are you from where that is love?"
"Love is the same no matter what planet you are from. And my parents fought like that and the monster had to go through my father to get to my mother!" Krista raged, pushing Luke back into the X-wing before she realized what she was doing. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean..."
Luke backed up as she came towards him. "I just wanted to tell you we have another lesson tonight. I think WE need to work on anger management."
Krista's face turned as red as the insignia on her arm. All she could manage was a nod of her head, right before she rushed from the hangar.
Ben and Luke sat looking at each other, wondering if Krista was coming when they heard a noise and she bounced over the rail and folded up in front of them. She pulled an Aderaanian Palm fruit out of her pocket and smiled sheepishly at Luke. "Just in case."
"Luke suggested we work on dealing with our emotions," Ben said, trying not to sound accusatory.
"As I said earlier, I have stopped running from my mistakes," Krista replied, only slightly embarrassed.
"I'm glad you came." Luke smiled at her and motioned he was ready.
Ben looked at his pupils and wondered, 'What have I gotten myself into?'
"Are you ready?" Ben asked Krista.
Krista adjusted her position and said, "Yes."
"Close your eyes and think of the thing that scares you most," Ben said in a calm voice.
Luke peaked out of one eye at Ben, thinking of the last time Krista's fears were dealt with.
Ben shook his finger at Luke, who closed his eyes again. "Now, give your fears over to the Force as if you were handing it to a trusted friend for safe keeping."
Krista peaked out at Ben. "Krista, is there a problem?"
"I don't... I have no trusted friends," Krista said in a quiet voice that sounded more like a small child that the strong young woman in front of them.
"You trust me, don't you?" Luke asked.
She thought for a long time then softly said, "Yes."
"The Force is much more trustworthy than Luke," Ben insisted.
"Hey!" Luke frowned at Ben's now flustered image.
"I mean the Force is more trustworthy than any one person." Ben was relieved when Luke relaxed and smiled.
"That's better."
"Close your eyes and trust the Force. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly; now, breath in again and out slowly. Do you feel the calm?" Ben could feel her fears fade but not go away completely. "I want you two to practice this several times a day and when you experience fear. That is all tonight. Krista, you did very well; no one was injured in the least in this lesson," Ben teased.
"Yes, I am improving," she teased back.
Krista watched as ship after ship came and went, looking for alternate sights for new bases. The Imperial droids were relentless in their search for the Rebels and they had a way of finding them that seemed beyond normal.
The base commander knew Krista could pilot most of the ships on base yet he refused to assign her on a long mission. He had witnessed many of her night terrors over the years since she started hanging around his base looking for work for food after her parents died. She could repair anything that broke and would have a commission as an officer if it weren't for her temper and her sleeplessness getting her in trouble.
Algis was aware of her feelings of guilt over her parents death and knew she wouldn't be able to send anyone to their death, which was always a possibility for assignments in this day.
He noticed the friendship between Luke and Krista develop, saw the changes in her attitude and was even aware she was sleeping better; no more alarms in the middle of the night. He mulled over a request from Luke that she accompany him on a mission, but finally he agreed.
"Krista, could you come to my office; I have an assignment for you," he called to her across the hangar bay.
"Yes, General Algis?" Krista snapped to attention after she closed the door behind her.
"I noticed you are doing better lately, no midnight fire drills, and I was wondering if you feel up to going on a mission. You have been requested to accompany Luke Skywalker on a mission to search for a new base, in case this one is compromised."
"Yes, sir, I am ready for a mission. I have been practicing some calming techniques and they are working quite well."
"Here is a requisition for a flight suit. It will be good to see you in something besides that mechanic's uniform. Now hurry and pack a travel kit; he is waiting," Algis ordered and watcher her attitude change as she rushed out and made preparations to leave.
A few minutes later she ran by, dressed in her flight suit and carrying a travel pack bursting at the seams with necessities. He heard her apologize to R2 for hitting him with her pack as she climbed in the scout ship beside Luke. He felt like a mother bird pushing her chick out of the nest and hoped she was prepared to fly.
TBC
AN: This was my first attempt at a Saga story. I hope you enjoyed it.